Weekend Reading

Because we should all have some more Ziggy in our lives.

I'm sure most people try to get out and do something on the weekends, but I know that weather/apathy/lethargy sometimes sets in and changes plans. If that happens to you, here's some good stuff to read over the weekend.

- I didn't realize this until the other day, but Cardboard Gods is back up. After (I guess) finishing his book, Josh Wilker has started writing on the site again. I'll probably spend a while this weekend reading through the 8 or so posts I've missed.

- I went looking around for some history on the Trade Deadline. I wanted to know when it started and why, but I really couldn't find anything. I suppose most of it has to do with the glut of stuff going up at this point in the year anyway on the subject. I thought about doing some stuff on past deals, but luckily, Lar did all the work over at Wezen-Ball. He's got an awesome series of posts up this week covering several major deals and how they were viewed at the time. Short version, some things never change.

- If you want something a bit less baseball, I'd recommend reading Drown and/or The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, both by Junot Diaz. They are not sequels, but you do meet two of the characters in Oscar Wao that were originally in Drown. Both books center on the issue of immigration and the questions of assimilating into a new country, but I like Drown more than Oscar Wao. Diaz has a real knack for language, and they're both worth checking out and neither take very long to read.

This Day in Baseball History: July 31st, 2003

Not a good start with his new ball club, but the ERA (7.04) is a bit misleading (5.60 K/BB, 8.12 K/9, 3.61 FIP, 20.2 LD%).

On July 31, 2003:

John Smoltz becomes the fastest to 40 saves in a season.


From 1992 to 1999, John Smoltz was one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. Smoltz peaked from 1995 to 1999 with ERA+'s all above 134, and he won his only Cy Young award in 1996. Before the 2000 season got underway, he had to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair his elbow, and he lost all of that season. When he came back in 2001, he was ineffective in 5 starts, posting a 5.76 ERA, and for the stretch run, he became the Atlanta Braves' closer. Smoltz dominated in that role with a 1.59 ERA and 10 saves in 11 chances.

Smoltz returned to that role in 2002 and became the fastest to 40 saves on August 8th. Smoltz did it in Atlanta's 114th game, beating Lee Smith's record of 117 set in 1993. He would go on to set the NL record for most saves in a season with 55, and he finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting. However, Smoltz was only more dominating in 2003. He set the record for the fastest to 40 saves on July 31st (108 games), but an injury forced him to miss most of September, limiting his chances to break the single-season record. During that 2003 season, his K/BB ratio was an astounding 9.13 and his ERA was 1.12 as he seemed to thrive in his new role. The following season, he went backwards a bit, and he wasn't happy as the closer as his arm began feeling better. He wanted to start, and he returned to the starting role in 2005.

Francisco Rodriguez bested John Smoltz's record last season on July 20th (98 games) on his way to smashing the single-season record for saves. The closer's role has recently come under scrutiny, and the save is the biggest reason why. Managers choose to keep their supposed best pitcher for the ninth inning and a 3-run lead instead of bringing him in during the seventh with a 1-run lead and men on base. I believe that it does take "something more" to pitch in the ninth inning with the game on the line, but I also agree that any reliever should be able to nail down a 3-run lead with 3 outs to go. If I was a manager, I would keep a different leaderboard with other stats. The closer would now be called the relief ace, but I would grant that title to multiple relievers if they deserved it.

- Save: Come in with men on base and possible game-winning or tying runs in scoring position and don't let them score while ending the inning.
- Hold: Come in and allow zero runs in a full inning of work.
- Tough Hold: Same thing but with a one-run lead.
- Close: Finish the game with a one-run lead or the tying and/or winning run in scoring position.

Obviously, these overlap, but I, at least, think the names are more appropriate. Additionally, I think they are worth getting. But in the end, it's probably best to just leave it to K/BB, GB/FB, and OPS vs. LHB and RHB and screw the counting stats. But counting stats are easier for players to understand.


Trivia Time
On what day was John Smoltz traded to the Braves?

Yesterday's Answer --> Curt Schilling with 319 in 1997 with Philadelphia and 316 in 2002 with Arizona.

Rounding the Bases

Only part of this post was devoted to the above.

A few comments about things as the Trade Deadline gets here.

- Lots of trades on the penultimate day before the deadline. Are there usually this many trades on July 30th? If not, why this season? And for everyone saying that no one will take on salary, a lot of teams (even the Reds) are or are trying to do so. If that is, is the improving economic situation a factor, or have we all overestimated the impact of the recession on baseball? If so, will players start getting higher salaries next off-season?

- Lots of talk about the Cliff Lee deal yesterday, and a lot of criticism heading Cleveland's way. Now, I understand the "not getting enough back" criticism, and that part is fine. But I don't understand why everyone thinks the Indians would have competed next season. Even if Jake Westbrook is healthy, could you really count on him and Fausto Carmona to be the 2 and 3 guys in that rotation for next season? There are no other legitimate starting options (Carl Pavano, Jeremy Sowers, et al. are not very good) there. And for a team seemingly strapped for cash, they won't be able to go out and nab a top-notch starting pitcher to complement Lee. So, do you really think Cleveland was going to compete next season anyway? Instead, the Indians gave themselves two arms (one that will go in the rotation next season and one that is a bit away) and a decent middle infielder and catcher that can be used as trade fodder for another starting pitcher in the off-season, and with a young nucleus behind Grady Sizemore, Shin-Soo Choo, Matt LaPorta, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Carlos Santana (who will all be there for another 4-6 years), the Indians are trying to bulk up the number of pitching prospects, hoping they will team with Alex White to be a decent rotation in 2-3 years. Again, maybe they didn't get enough back, but I don't think they were going to compete next year anyway.

- Lots of shock at the Freddy Sanchez-Tim Alderson deal yesterday. Color me one of the people surprised that Nick Sabean gave up such a good young pitcher, but Keith Law makes a good point about Alderson's step (or steps) back this season. So, maybe it was a fair deal for Sanchez, who is underrated and is worth about 3.5-4 wins a season. But the point being left out in this is did Sabean have to give up Alderson. I doubt he did, and I bet Neil Huntington felt pretty good about his coup yesterday. He probably thought he'd get a couple decent prospects back. As for Alderson, I imagine that his body hasn't responded well to the 145 IP that occurred last season. If he bounces back, that trade could be huge for the Pirates. All of this said, the Giants traded from a position of strength at the deadline and still have pitching to burn.

- Lots of talk about Roy Halladay, but no deal appears imminent. Still a day to go and there might be some posturing going on, but I'm impressed with JP Ricciardi. He said he would have to be wowed, and when he wasn't, he didn't just take the best deal on the table because it was there. It's not a hard thing to do, especially after all the talk recently, but when he didn't get what he wanted, he stepped back. With the pitching coming back to Toronto next season, this is the anti-Cleveland Indians. Adding one more good starting pitcher to team up with Halladay, Ricky Romero, and others could make the Blue Jays into contenders. Of course, I retain the right to change my opinion if Ricciardi reverses course on this and acts like every other GM.

- I still think a Lyle Overbay for Casey Kotchman trade should be in order, but if the Blue Jays keep Halladay, that becomes awfully unlikely. The two players are very similar, but Overbay is a bit better with the stick while Kotchman is a bit better (though Overbay is better with the stick than Kotchman is with the glove) with the leather. However, the Braves would take on the additional salary, and the Blue Jays receive an extra year from Kotchman that they wouldn't have received from Overbay. When Overbay leaves, Freddie Freeman should be able to step in. Am I missing something here?

- Anyone else think tomorrow should still be fun? There's this feeling inside me thinking that the Rays and Red Sox will try to do outdo each other. Both have a lot of prospects, and I imagine that 2 of Halladay, Victor Martinez, and Adrian Gonzalez end up in the AL East by 5 PM tomorrow.

Joe Torre the Player

I remember back in the late 1990's when I told my dad that Joe Torre (the symbol of the Yankees to me) was the scum of the earth, and I also remember my horror (at the time) when my dad told me he was both a player and a manager for the Braves.

Ranking fifth (for now) on the all-time managerial wins list, Joe Torre will make it into the Hall of Fame, but lost in his brilliance and success as a manager is what some (but probably isn't) might call a Hall of Fame playing career.

After a brief call-up in 1960 as a 19-year old catcher, Joe Torre would become more of an everyday player in 1961 on a Milwaukee Braves team that included Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews. His first season was a pretty good one as he went on to come in second in the Rookie of the Year voting (to Billy Williams, who had an awesome rookie season) with a .278/.330/.424 line with 10 home runs and 21 doubles. After a frustrating 1962, he broke out in 1963, and for the next 7 seasons, he would be one of the best catchers in the National League.

Over that time (1963-1970), he made 6 All-Star appearances, won a Gold Glove, and played in 135 game in all but one of those seasons. His OPS+ usually sat in the 120-140 range, which is pretty good for a catcher but he was playing quite a bit at first base as well. In 1966 (the first in Atlanta), Torre had his best season during the stretch hitting .315/.382/.560 with 31 HR, 101 RBI, 20 2B, and only 1 more strikeout than walk (61 to 60). He fell off a bit the next season and even more the following season, and he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals prior to the 1969 season for Orlando Cepeda, who played fairly well for a couple of seasons but was clearly no longer the force he was in San Francisco at the beginning of the decade.

Joe Torre revived his career in St. Louis, but it was mostly as a first baseman and third baseman. In 1969, he bounced back by playing 144 of the 161 games at first, but he did play over half of his games at catcher in 1970. During both of those seasons, his batting average and power went back up, and he drove in 100 runs in both seasons. Prior to the 1971 season, the Cardinals and Torre decided it would be best if he played third base to clear a spot for young 21-year old Ted Simmons, who went on to do pretty well that season. But Torre did better. Having his best season at the age of 30, Torre hit .363/.421/.555 with 24 HR, 137 RBI, and 230 H. The average and RBI totals were league-bests, but his 24 home runs were no match for Willie Stargell's 48. Torre was named the MVP for the first and only time.

Torre remained a solid player for the next few seasons, but he never neared his 1971 totals again. He was traded to the Mets after the 1974 season where he served as a player-coach and player-manager before retiringas a player in 1977 to focus on full managing responsibilities.

This Day in Baseball History: July 30th, 1980

They were supposed to be the fearsome twosome in 1980.

On July 30, 1980:

JR Richard suffers a stroke before the Houston Astros game.


James Rodney Richard was a high school phenom. In his entire high school career, he never lost a game, and during his senior season, he didn't even give up a run. At 6'8", he received lots of scholarships to play basketball (he was good at that, too), but he decided to put his name in the 1970 draft. With the second pick, the Astros selected Richard.

Being able to throw a 100 mph fastball and 93 mph slider will move one through the minor-league system pretty quickly, and in September of 1971, Richard earned his taste of the majors. Over the next four years, he wouldn't pitch very much (39 games) as he bounced between AAA and the minors, but he received his first real chance in the rotation in 1975 when the Astros traded away Claude Osteen and when Don Wilson committed suicide. Richard was a bit wild and unsuccessful in his first real season, but he followed it up with a breakout 1976 season in which he won 20 games. Over the next 3 seasons, he would become one of the better pitchers in the National League, winning 18 games each season and leading the league in strikeouts twice.

On July 30, 1980, Richard was having an outstanding season with a 10-4 record and 1.90 ERA, but before the game that night and while playing catch, he suffered a stroke. During his previous starts, he had complained of a "dead arm" and not being able to see the catcher's signs. Some took this as a sign of mental weakness in the 30-year old, but when he checked into a hospital, the blood pressure in his right arm was almost non-existent due to a blockage in an artery. However, the hospital believed nothing was seriously wrong and sent him back to the team just days before suffering a stroke.

But Richard was determined to make a comeback. In 1982 and 1983, he climbed the ladder again, attempting to prove he could pitch, but when he reached AAA, he struggled. Late in 1983, a graft in his left leg closed and needed surgery. Fearing the consequences of continuing to pitch, Richard retired after the Astros released him in November.


Trivia Time
In 1979, JR Richard's 313 strikeouts were the most by an NL right-hander in a season. One righty has beaten that record. Who is it? How many strikeouts did he have? And how many times has he beaten Richard's 313 strikeouts?

Yesterday's Answer --> George Lee Anderson

Tom Browning Out in Right Field

Haven't read it, but I might have to go find it. Browning seems to be my kind of guy.

Tom Browning was an average major-league pitcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1994 and the Kansas City Royals for a few games in 1995. As a rookie in 1985, he set a major-league record by being the only rookie pitcher ever to win 20 games in his first season, but he wasn't particularly good as he did have a 3.55 ERA (107 ERA+) and a 2.12 K/BB ratio. In 1988, Browning became the first Cincinnati Red to throw a perfect game, which is odd considering how old the franchise is, on September 16th. A year later on Independence Day, he almost threw another one before losing it in the ninth. He pitched several more years and helped the Reds win the 1990 World Series, but after a nasty shoulder injury in 1994, he was done.

But one of the more interesting things he did was actually in 1993. On July 7th, the Cincinnati Reds were playing the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field. At the time, the buildings past the outfield fence had started to add unofficial bleachers to the tops of the buildings for people to watch the game. It became a legal matter when the tenants started charging money to sit up there, but not all of them charged. Why does this matter? Because Browning decided to watch a game from up there.

He went to a Sheffield Street building (out to right field) in his full uniform, and he watched the game while dangling his feet off the edge. Before the game, Browning told the pitchers to be on the look-out for him, but they had little idea he would pull that stunt. How he got out of the stadium and to the top of the building without anyone (players, coaches, security, or fans) noticing is a mystery, but Browning was apparently a sneaky man (he wore a suit over his uniform to get across the street, but you figure someone would have noticed before he left the stadium).

Apparently, he tried to make it to the top of the scoreboard in center field but was unable, and therefore, he headed to the building across the street. While up there, a few fans offered to buy him some hot dogs and beer, but he declined.

Manager Davey Johnson stated that he didn't know Browning had done it until after the game, but if the players realized during the third inning what happened, I think Johnson probably figured it out as well. Johnson went on to fine Browning, but because the fine was a whole $500, he didn't seem too upset. I imagine everyone thought it was pretty funny.


Fun story, and I'd like to think Lar from Wezen-Ball for sending me the story. Below is the newspaper article (I couldn't find a link), but the best story of the day might be the one at the bottom of the article.

Copyright USA Today Information Network Jul 8, 1993

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL; BEHIND THE SEAMS; BASEBALL'S ODDS & OFFBEAT

Instead of "Where's Waldo?," the Cincinnati Reds played "Where's Tom?" in Wednesday's 4-3 win against Chicago at Wrigley Field.

Pitcher Tom Browning told teammates to look for him in the third inning but wouldn't say where.

Come the third inning, and - lo and behold - Browning was spotted on the rooftop of a brownstone on Sheffield Avenue behind Wrigley Field's right-field bleachers.

Yes, the game was in progress, and yes, Browning, who last pitched Sunday, was in full uniform. He'd worn a warm-up suit over his attire to travel across the street incognito.

"It was kind of neat to have that available at a major league park, to be able to sit across the street and watch a game," Browning said after he'd come to ground level and back to Wrigley.

"They (the fans watching from the roof) offered me a couple of beers and a hot dog, but I said `no.' "

Browning actually had intended to climb into the ballpark's manually operated scoreboard in center field but couldn't get in.

"I told my pitchers to look for me in the third inning, and I'm not going to tell anybody where," said Browning, who did tip off Tim Belcher.

Cameras caught Browning with his legs dangling off roof, waving his Reds cap. But manager Davey Johnson didn't find out about the escapade until after the game. "Maybe he wanted to be a fan," Johnson said. "I'd hate to think what we'd be like, if we were in a tight pennant race. We'd all be crazy."

Johnson then called Browning into his office, saying the pitcher would "make a contribution," (read pay a fine) in return for his fun.

Browning didn't care. He loved being a bleacher bum in - or slightly out of - Wrigley.

"I had fun," said Browning. "I think baseball is at its purest here." - Carrie Muskat

CRUISIN': Atlanta's Terry Pendleton couldn't wait to show off his new toy to his teammates. He arrived at Fulton County Stadium this week driving a new Ford Cobra, a replica of the '67 original.

He didn't keep it secret that he was dying to show it off.

"I just love that car," he said. "I love the curve and the waves on it."

Pendleton ordered the car from Unique Motor Cars in Gadsden, Ala., then had Ernie Elliott, brother of NASCAR racer Bill Elliott, build an engine.

Which means the car will go pretty fast. How fast? Pendleton won't say exactly - and since the speed limit in most places he drives is 65, he won't say, either, if he's taken the car to its limit.

THE LAST LAUGH: The security staff at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium evened a score with New Britain (Conn.) Red Sox infielder Scott Bethea last week.

During a rain delay in a Class AA Eastern League game against the Bowie (Md.) Baysox May 16, Bethea pulled street clothes over his uniform, ran onto the field from the stands and slid on the infield tarp a la former Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey.

Bethea then sprinted to the visiting bullpen and shed the street clothes. When security arrived, he pointed vaguely and told them, "I just saw him go that way."

But when the Red Sox returned to Baltimore last Thursday, New Britain manager Jim Pankovits wanted to teach his infielder a lesson. He arranged with Jack Boehmer, director of stadium operations, for in-house security to "arrest" Bethea. They came into the locker room, put handcuffs on him and led him off.

As they were walking down a hallway, Pankovits asked Bethea what he thought of the dilemma. "What the hell am I supposed to think?" Bethea replied.

Said the manager: "I think you're on Candid Camera." - Mike Dodd

This Day in Baseball History: July 29th, 1986

Does anyone know where "Sparky" came from?

On July 29, 1986:

Sparky Anderson wins number 600 in the American League.


As a player, Sparky Anderson wasn't much. Anderson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953 as a second base prospect. Like most middle infield prospects, he was a pretty good fielder but a poor hitter. In the minors, he hit .263 with a .325 slugging percentage. Finally at age 25, he received his chance in the major leagues, but he didn't do much. His glove couldn't make up for a .218 average in over 500 at-bats when there was no pop (o HR, 9 2B). After that 1959 season, he was returned the minor leagues, where he would stay for four more seasons.

Fortunately while with the Toronto Maples Leafs (of the International League not the National Hockey League), Jack Kent Cooke saw Anderson's leadership qualities and began trying to convince Anderson that his abilities would be best used in a managerial role. In 1964 and following several tough minor league seasons, Anderson relented and became the Leafs manager. Five years later, Anderson returned the major leagues but this time as a coach. He became an Angels coach in the following off-season, but the Cincinnati Reds called with a managerial position a few days later.

Anderson, of course, accepted the position, and the rest is history. In his first season, he won 102 games and an NL pennant. He and the Reds won 2 World Series titles in 1975 and 1976 as part of the Big Red Machine. In 1979, he left for the Detroit Tigers, and he became the first manager to win a World Series in both leagues in 1984. Two years after that and on July 29, 1986, he won his 600th game as a Detroit Tiger. Combined with the fact that he won over 600 in Cincinnati, Anderson became the first manager to win 600 games in each league.

Only five managers (John McGraw, Connie Mack, Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, and Joe Torre) have won more games than Anderson's 2,194.


Trivia Time
What is Sparky's real name?

Yesterday's Answer --> Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Pirates

This Day in Baseball History: July 28th, 1971

When I was younger, I used to think he was Frank Robinson, and it took me a while to distinguish the two.

On July 28, 1971:

Brooks Robinson does the unthinkable.


In 1983, Brooks Robinson was elected to the Hall of Fame. During his career, he was a decent hitter. Over 23 seasons, Robinson hit .267/.322/.401 with a decidedly average 104 OPS+. In fact, one of the few offensive records he set was hitting into 4 triple plays during his career. However, he didn't win a plaque at Cooperstown for his stick. Instead, he won it with his glove.

Known as the "Human Vacuum Cleaner" (someone really needs to come up with a better nickname for a defensive whiz), Robinson nabbed an incredible 16 consecutive Gold Glove awards from 1960-1975, and he is considered to be the best defensive third baseman of all-time. His career fielding percentage was .971 with 263 errors (about 11 a season). In every way, he was an awesome third baseman.

But every dog has his day, I guess. On July 28, 1971, Brooks Robinson committed 3 errors in the same game. The fifth inning was the culprit as it appears that he made all three in that inning on two consecutive plays. Adding to his misery, he went 0-for-3 on the day. The Orioles, however, went on to win the game in an exciting fashion as the other member of the Robinson family, Frank (okay, they aren't really related), bashed a walk-off home run to win the game, 3-2. The only 3 Oriole runs came on that one hit. Interestingly enough, the Orioles and the Oakland Athletics both had a 63-38 record at the end of the game.


Trivia Time
Robinson forgot this game and helped the Orioles win 101 games and make it to the World Series. Who did they play and who won the 1971 World Series?

Yesterday's Answer --> Willy Taveras' best streak was 171 games and 666 at-bats. 70 and 285 would be the best after that. Womack's second best was 62 and 265, but he had several double-digit streaks as well.

Tony Peña

After talking about his son earlier today, I figured a post on Tony Peña, Sr. was appropriate.

Born on June 4, 1957, Antonio Francisco Padillo Peña grew up in the Dominican Republic. His brother Ramon and he were taught to play baseball by their mother who was a softball star. He learned several of his quirky habits from her and his youth in the Dominican Republic. One of his most famous quirks was sitting on the ground while catching with one leg stretched out. Another one was taking a bat to a new glove for half an hour in order to break it in. A final oddity was using lamb grease and oil to heal arm injuries.

Peña began his professional career when the Pittsburgh Pirates signed him in 1975, and he spent the next 4 and a half years in the minors. Late in 1980, he received a brief call-up, and in 1981, he didn't play a whole lot, though he did come in 6th in the Rookie of the Year voting. A year later, he received his chance and made it count. A .296/.323/.435 line helped him earn an All-Star nod, and his additional defensive skills combined with that offense to make him a fan favorite in Pittsburgh. The following season, 1983, was probably his finest. He boosted his average and OBP about 10 points and hit a career-high 15 home runs, and adding in his first Gold Glove, Peña came in 12th in the MVP voting. By putting up similar numbers in 1984 and winning his second of 3 consecutive Gold Glove awards, he was blossoming into a young star.

1985 was a small step back as his average dipped down to .249, but he still won a Gold Glove. Fears were quieted when he rebounded with a solid 1986 an another All-Star nod, his fourth in 5 seasons (oddly, he wasn't in the game in 1983). During the following off-season, he was surprisingly traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Andy Van Slyke and Mike LaValliere, who would be instrumental in the last great Pirate teams. His first season in St. Louis wasn't pretty, but he rebounded to post decent 1988 and 1989 seasons. St. Louis, however, had its young stud catcher in Todd Zeile, and they let Peña walk in the 1989 off-season.

Peña went on to sign with the Boston Red Sox, but after a decent 1990 season, the now 33-year old catcher was on the decline. His playing time began diminishing, and following the 1993 season, he headed to the Cleveland Indians to split time with Sandy Alomar, Jr. Still unproductive, Peña's playing career would end with the 1997 season.

With his major-league career in the past, he went back to the Dominican Republic to manage some Winter Ball teams and led them to championships. In 2002, he became the manger for the Kansas City Royals, and a year later, the Royals had their first winning season since 1994 as Peña won Manager of the Year honors. Unfortunately, fortune turned against him and the Royals in 2004 and 2005, costing Peña his job. He moved to the New York Yankees as the first-base coach the following year and interviewed for the managerial position after Joe Torre's departure, and he now serves as the Yankees' bench coach.

Monday Frivolities

He used to be one of the Braves better prospects, but Erik Cordier (who the Braves got for Peña) isn't doing great in the Braves system, either.

It was only a matter of time, but Tony Peña, Jr.'s hitting has finally classified him as a pitcher. I didn't know that poor hitting could actually reclassify your position. I thought that you had to, you know, play the position, but I guess, you know you're pretty special when something like this happens.

Anyway, in honor of Tony Peña, Jr. hopefully finally making Joe Posnanski happy, I've decided that today's post needs to center around "Non-Pitchers that Pitch". Of course, bear in mind that he probably won't be able to live up to his first appearance (July 21, 2008 -- 1 IP, 0 H, 1 K, 0 ER, 0 BB).

- Kid Gleason spent the first 8 years of his career as pitcher and was decidedly average (104 ERA+, though it's a bit odd to use that statistic for a guy who pitched in the 1890's). He split time during those years at pitcher and the middle infield, and in 1896, he switched to second permanently. As a second baseman, he wasn't a particularly good hitter, but by grabbing a couple at-bats in 1912, he became one of the few to play in 4 decades. He soon became a manager and was the manager for the 1919 Black Sox team, though he supposedly knew nothing of the conspiracy. (299 games as a pitcher)

- John Ward also spent his first few seasons (7) primarily as a pitcher, but after an arm injury in 1883, he taught himself to throw left-handed in order to play the outfield. The second pitcher to throw a perfect game and Bill James' 15th best non-pitcher, Ward would become a Hall of Famer. But before that, he was a lawyer fighting for the players' rights against the National League. (292 games)

- Did you know that Babe Ruth pitched? He was actually pretty good. (163 games)

- Johnny Cooney spent his first 6 seasons on a mound before eventually giving way to being a first baseman/outfielder. He, like Gleason, was a pretty average pitcher, but he was fairly below-average as a hitter. In his entire 20 season career, he hit 2 home runs, and they came on consecutive days in September of 1939. (159 games)

- Elmer Smith spent his American Association days as a pitcher, and in 1887, he led the league in ERA. Once the National League began, he became a member of the Cincinnati Red Stockings and was a pretty good hitter/outfielder. For his career, he hit .310/.398/.410. (149 games)

- For the five seasons up to the turn of the 20th century, Cy Seymour was the perfect example of an average pitcher (exact 100 ERA+). He was a decidedly better center fielder. In 1902, he had a really impressive 1905 when he hit .377/.429/.559 with 40 doubles, 21 triples, 8 home runs, and 121 RBI, narrowly missing out in leading in all of these categories because a jerk had to hit 9 home runs. How inconsiderate. (140 games)

- John Coleman wasn't a very good pitcher. In 1883, he threw 583 innings with a major-league record 48 losses, 772 hits, and 291 earned runs (501 overall -- how many errors did his team, who was 17-81, make?) for one season. Granted, he pitched a lot, but it's still impressive. At least, he was an average hitter (100 OPS+). (107 games)

- Rube Bressler (I might name one of my kids or dogs Rube) wasn't a very good pitcher, either, and after being sent to the minors in 1917, he was only brought back in 1918 due to a shortage of ballplayers caused by World War I. In 1921, he became a first baseman/outfielder, and he was a decent hitter. (107 games)

And so ends our list of players who spent most of their major-league careers as position players but were multi-talented enough to have made 100 appearances as a pitcher as well. Here's to Tony Peña, Jr. even getting the chance to pitch once in the majors (or twice, I guess). It is, however, worth mentioning that all of these players did the exact opposite of what Peña is attempting, and what Peña is attempting is probably harder.

This Day in Baseball History: July 27th, 1998

I guess the reason teams keep giving guys like this a job is to give us a chance to be entertained by useless trivia like this.

On July 27, 1998:

Tony Womack doesn't hit into a double-play ... again.


Let's get this straight right out of the chute -- Tony Womack wasn't a good ballplayer. His .273/.317/.365 slash line is light, even for a middle infielder, and even worse, he wasn't a particularly good defensive player. After piddling around in Pittsburgh and Arizona for the beginning of his career, Womack had his best season in 2004, at the age of 34, with the St. Louis Cardinals. His .307/.349/.385 line was at least good enough for a 91 OPS+ in 145 games as the St. Louis second baseman. The Yankees, who picked him up after the mirage, should have known better as a result of Womack's .338 BABIP (a good 30 points over normal). Womack rewarded the Yankees' 2-year/$4 million contract with a .249/.276/.280 season and was traded the following off-season. He was out of baseball after 2005.

But the one thing Womack could be counted on for was his speed. He was like Willy Taveras that way. Teams continue to give him a job seeing eye-popping stolen base numbers, and they hope to catch lightning in a bottle (a good BABIP year). It usually doesn't work, and neither player could take a walk to save their life. But as I said, Womack was fast and could steal bases, which should count for something. From 1997-1999, he led the National League in steals with 60, 58, and 72, respectively. For his career, he stole 363 bases in 437 attempts, good enough for an impressive 83% clip. As I said, the man was fast, and his only real marketable asset was probably his speed.

But there's something more impressive that he did with his speed, and no, it wasn't his game-tying, Game 7, bottom of the 9th in the 2001 World Series hit (that has nothing to do with speed, unless it was an infield hit which I don't think it was). During the 1997 and 1998 seasons, he racked up 219 consecutive games and 915 at-bats without hitting into a double-play. Roger Repoz had the longest game (313) and at-bat (891) streak (in the Retrosheet Era) before this day when Womack broke the at-bat streak. Womack never got to the game streak, but all in all, it's pretty impressive that a guy with a career 1.73 GB/FB rate didn't hit into a double-play for that long. He was, indeed, really fast.


Trivia Time
What is Willy Taveras' longest game and at-bat streak without hitting into a double-play?

Yesterday's Answer --> Carlos Baerga and Mark Bellhorn of all people.

Rounding the Bases

Man after my heart.

So, July hasn't been the greatest month for blogging. Lots of going out of town and random events of movies, shopping, and golf have put a little of the kabosh on such things. However, I've made a vow to myself to get things going again, but I'm changing some things around. Obviously, the "This Day ..." feature will remain every day. Frivolities will now take place on Monday. Tuesdays will have a Hall of Fame post. Wednesdays will hopefully be Weird. Thursdays will now have this post to help round out the week. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will just be random posts. Other than that, I hope to get an extra random post in on most of those days (a third on Monday-Thursday and second on the weekend). I've found that numbers go down on the weekends because most people are out doing their thing, so instead of forcing you to really scroll back to find posts from the weekend, I'll just save them for the week. Sound good? And as always, any suggestions as to things you think I should post on or would like me to post on or have heard of and want me to find out more are always welcome. Just send me an email so I can put it in a folder.

And now, on to my new love affair with Martin Prado.

- Chances are that unless you follow the Braves or have been desperately looking for a second baseman for your fantasy team, you haven't really heard of him.

Kelly Johnson began the season as the Braves second baseman. He started off a bit slow, hitting only .203/.295/.391, but the walks and power were encouraging. When he went to a scorching May, everything seemed to be working out well. For the month, he hit .295/.333/.495 with an amazing 10 doubles. But Kelly has always been streaky, and as soon as that hot streak ended, a worse cold streak began. His line for June was a ghastly .125/.229/.167. Later, he went on the DL with tendinitis in his wrist, so there seems to be a reason that Johnson was that bad (he goes on streaks, but they usually aren't that bad). One of the promising young bats was now out of a lineup that didn't need any more problems.

In stepped Martin Prado. All of this started at the end of June. In the past 28 days, he has hit .374/.441/.556 with 10 doubles and 3 home runs. Other stats:

- For the season, he is .320/.387/.489 in 231 at-bats.

- His K% is 10.8 and his BB% is 9.8. He doesn't walk a lot, but he doesn't strike out, either.

- His LD% is 18.9, and adding on the 12.0 for what his BABIP should be, his BABIP of .340 is a
bit high (should be .310). However, his career line drive rate is 20%, so he's not hitting too over his head.

- His HR/FB of 8.8% isn't ridiculous at all.

- Usually, batters swing at outside of the zone pitches around 24% of the time. Prado does only 19% of the time.

- His inside the zone contact rate is 95%.

- Defensively, he's not great at second, but Johnson wasn't, either. But adding to Prado's value is that he's a well above-average first and third baseman. When someone goes down, he can move over and let Johnson (now recovered and hitting well) in the lineup. Versatility is awesome, and today, Chipper gets a day off as Prado moves to third with Johnson at second.

- According to WAR, he's already worth 2.3 wins.

- He's always been valuable as a defensive guy off the bench, but what's changed in his hitting? Take a look at the hit chart. Instead of simply slapping the ball the other way, he's turning on it and driving it.

He can stay.

This Day in Baseball History: July 26th, 1950

Yep, that's a Dodgers card but a Braves hat.

On July 26, 1950:

Jim Russell hits a home run from both sides of the plate.


A 23-year old Jim Russell began his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1943. He was a fairly good hitter with an OPS+ of 108 for his career. His best season was 1944 when he hit .312/.399/.460 with 34 doubles, 14 triples, and 8 home runs and 66 RBI. Russell followed that up with a solid 1945 and 1946, but then, a childhood illness came back. As as youngster, he contracted rheumatic fever twice, and the resulting heart disease would ultimately slow him down and end his career in 1951.

But before his career ended, Russell made a place for himself in baseball history. A switch-hitter, Russell whacked a home run from each side of the plate in a game in 1948, and two years later, he made history by being the first to do it at least twice in his career. Russell was never a home run hitter (his career-high was 12 and mostly stayed around 8 or 9), so it would be impressive enough for him to hit 2 home runs in a game, period. To add the extra difficulty of doing it from both sides of the plate made the feat even more impressive. He would have 4 2-HR games in his career.

But we need to know about all of history, now don't we? The first time this happened was back on September 8, 1916 by Wally Schang. Mickey Mantle was especially impressive by doing it 10 times in his career, but the cool thing about it was that no one else did it in baseball during his first 9 times. Ken Caminiti tied Mantle, but Eddie Murray topped them both with 11 (Caminiti and Mantle hold the respective league records while Murray hit 9 in the AL and 2 in the NL). Bernie Williams (twice), Chipper Jones, and Milton Bradley are the only ones to do this in a playoff game. As for in one season, Tony Clark, Nick Swisher, and Ken Caminiti hold the record with 3.


Trivia Time
Who are the only two players to hit a home run from each side of the plate in the same inning?

Yesterday's Answer --> Eddie Collins

This Day in Baseball History: July 25th, 1966

If there was ever a man born to be a hitter, it was me. Can't disagree.

On July 25, 1966:

Ted Williams makes his Hall of Fame acceptance speech.


To say that the Splendid Splinter was one of the best players of all-time is no exaggeration. In fact, he may be one of the top 5 players of all-time, and he is definitely in the top 5 of all hitters. Of all players with at least 1000 plate appearances, Ted Williams ranks second all-time in OPS+. Babe Ruth, of course, leads with 207, but Williams' 191 is not too shabby. He was pretty good in the field as well. Not fleet of foot, he had a strong arm and sure glove.

Off the field, he was almost as admirable. Although he didn't have the greatest relationship with the media or the fans, Williams is still one of the most beloved Red Sox ever. He served in two wars as a fighter pilot (World War II and the Korean War), shunning cushy positions in favor of actual battle missions. Williams was also one of the few players to take a real stand on race relations. When Pumpsie Green became the first African-American Red Sock, Williams was among the first to welcome him to the team.

But his most memorable contribution to African-Americans and baseball may have been in his induction speech. Late in his speech, Williams declares:

Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel. Not just to be as good as anybody else, but to be better. This is the nature of man and the name of the game. I hope some day Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson will be voted into the Hall of Fame as symbols of the great Negro players who are not here only because they weren't given the chance.

Five years later, Satchel Paige, who didn't become a major-leaguer until he was 41, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Gibson came next in 1972, and more Negro Leaguers have since been added.

All of this makes me wonder what Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice will say tomorrow. Will they simply thank the committee and the writers, or will they make a statement about the game in general? If they do, will they make it a good one?

Trivia Time
What Hall of Fame player does Williams feel especially indebted to for helping him?

Yesterday's Answer --> Catfish Hunter took a line drive in the second inning and would be out for a couple weeks following the injury.

This Day in Baseball History: July 24th, 1973

I like it. Simple.

On July 23, 1973:

Willie Mays makes his last All-Star appearance.


Willie Mays needs no introduction. He was one of the best players of all-time, and in my opinion, he's the most valuable player of all-time (we can argue about him and Ruth). In his 22 seasons, he won the Rookie of the Year Award (1951), 2 MVP Awards (1954, 1965), 12 Gold Gloves (1957-1968), and a record 20 All-Star Games (technically 24 when you count those end of the year All-Star Games). More than that, he made 20 consecutive All-Star Games from 1954 to 1973. It takes a lot of talent (obviously) and durability (obviously) to make those games. Seriously, he had to be one of the top 6 or 7 outfielders in the National League each season. Sure, after a few and once you become a superstar, you can get away with not being that good for half a season, but his lowest OPS+'s during that streak were 124 (not exactly bad in any way). And all of this forgets that he was drafted into the Army part of the way through 1952 and for all of 1953 for the Korean War.

But 1973 was a little different for Mays. After a rough 1972, the first half was of 1973 wasn't any better. He was hitting .214/.292/.351 by the break, and in no way did he deserve an All-Star bid. But Bowie Kuhn expanded the rosters a bit, and Mays was brought to the team as a sentimental pick. For his career, Mays hit .307 with 2 doubles, 3 triples, and 3 home runs in those All-Star Games, but in this All-Star Game, Mays received one at-bat in the eighth and struck out.

Ron probably knows a little about this game. It was held at Royals Stadium (now known as Kaufmann Stadium). What's interesting is that this was the first season for Royals Stadium, and it wasn't even 4 months old at that point. Originally, it was going to be built for the Athletics, but after they moved, Kansas City demanded a new team as the stadium plans were already in place. Also interesting about this situation was that it was one of the first times that separate stadiums were built for the football and baseball teams. Conventional wisdom said it was inconceivable and economically irresponsible. That's conventional wisdom for you.


Trivia Time
Who was hurt in the game?

Yesterday's Answer --> Fernando Tatis

Perfect Games

And you can't forget the shaving cream.

In case you haven't heard, Mark Buerhle threw a perfect game today. No-hitters are amazing enough, but perfect games are downright brain-meltingly good. There have been 263 no-hitters in Major League Baseball history, but there have only been 18 perfect games. Of course, perfect games are much more difficult (apparently 14.6 times more difficult). You can't have an error. You can't give up a walk. You can't hit a batter. And of course, you can give up no hits. Let's run through some stuff on perfect games.

- Of the 18 perfect games, 11 were done by American League pitchers.

- Only 5 of the 18 were performed before the Retrosheet Era.

- Only 1 was pitched during a World Series game when Don Larsen did it in the 1956 World Series. No other pitcher has even thrown a no-hitter during the World Series.

- The fewest strikeouts in a perfect game was 2 by John Ward in 1880, but because that doesn't really count because it was done before pitchers threw overhand (how do you throw a complete game throwing underhand like that?). Cy Young (1904) and Addie Joss (1908) come in second with only 3 strikeouts.

- But it usually helps to strike batters out in order to avoid as many Dewayne Wise catches as possible. Sandy Koufax (1965) made it the easiest on his defense by striking out 14, but Randy Johnson (2004) came close by striking out 13. Buerhle struck out 6.

- John Ward was the youngest to throw a no-hitter at the age of 20, but Catfish Hunter (at age 22) is the youngest in the modern era. Randy Johnson, at the ripe old age of 40, is the oldest to accomplish the feat.

- Harvey Haddix and Pedro Martinez lost perfect games in extra innings. Haddix lost his in the 13th because of an error, and Martinez lost his in the 10th off of a hit.

- Nolan Ryan threw 7 no-hitters but never a perfect game. According the odds, that's not too big of a shock, and considering how many people he walked anyway, it's even less of a shock.

- Shockingly, Buerhle's no-hitter was not the fastest in history (2:06). That belongs to Cy Young with 1:25. It's actually not all that shocking considering the TV restrictions that elongate games now.

- No one has ever thrown 2 perfect games.

- The New York Yankees have thrown the most perfect games with 3 (Larsen, David Wells - 1998, and David Cone - 1999). The Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox are second with 2.

- 9 perfect games have been lost on the last out. 10 others were lost to the leadoff hitter and the pitcher went on to retire the next 27.


Congrats, Mr. Buerhle.

This Day in Baseball History: July 23rd, 1925

A little has changed since then. Manny has a nice chance to break Gehrig's record, but no other young, active player is particularly close.

On July 23, 1925:

Lou Gehrig hits his first grand slam.


Everyone knows that Lou Gehrig was probably the best first baseman to play the game and that he was one of the game's premiere hitters. He hit .340/.447/.632 for his career along with 493 home runs and 534 doubles. Of course, his numbers (at least the counting numbers) could have improved had he not had ALS, but that's water under the bridge now. For most of his career, he lived in the shadow of Babe Ruth, and whatever Gehrig did, Ruth seemingly always did better. But Gehrig beat him in one category (at least -- I'm not looking all that up right now).

That category is career grand slams. Babe Ruth hit an impressive 16 during his major-league career, but that's only good enough for 9th (tied) all-time. On July 23, 1925, Lou Gehrig hit number 1 of a major-league record 23 career grand slams in a game against the Washington Senators.

And I'm guessing we all want some trivia because I do.

- Manny Ramirez is second (and first on the active list) on the list with 21. Eddie Murray is next with 19, and Robin Ventura (who only hit 294 home runs) and Eddie Murray are tied for fourth with 18.

- In 1987, Wade Boggs (in a Ty Cobb-type moment) seemingly decided to hit some grand slams to prove that he could when he belted a record 6 in one season, and of course, those were the only ones he ever hit. Travis Hafner has since tied (2006) this record, but Boggs gets the nod because what he did was just awesome.

- Several players have hit grand slams in consecutive games, but only Babe Ruth did it twice (so he has that over Lou Gehrig, who never did it). Really weird, though? David Eckstein did this once.

- Alexei Ramirez has the most for a rookie with 4 (last season).

- 6 pitchers have 2 career grand slams. Tony Cloninger, with the Atlanta Braves in 1966, did it on the same day, the only pitcher to do so.


Trivia Time
Who is the only player to hit 2 grand slams in a single inning?

Tuesday's Answer --> In the bottom of the eighth while trailing 1-0, Preston Gomez pinch-hits for Clay Kirby, who has a no-hitter going, with no one on and 2 outs. The reliever gave up 2 runs in the following inning as the Padres lose to the Mets 3-0.


Sorry for the nothing yesterday. I went to see the Harry Potter movie with my dad (Like the others, it was very entertaining and the a/v stuff is awesome, but there's still little to no depth to the story. Read the books). Afterward, a few friends came over and we had a Jason Bourne marathon. Nothing was accomplished yesterday.

This Day in Baseball History: July 21st, 1959

Though a shortstop prospect, he played most of his games at second.

On July 21, 1959:

Elijah "Pumpsie" Green makes his debut.


Heading into the 1959 season, Elijah Green was a highly-touted shortstop prospect for the Boston Red Sox. The 25-year old had spent 5 and a half seasons in the Boston farm system, hitting a bit but mainly just playing well in the field. Blocking him from a spot in the majors was Don Buddin, a fellow 25-year old shortstop with some pop. Buddin had only hit .237 the year before and wasn't good defensively (31 errors), but he drew enough walks (82) and hit enough home runs (12) to be valuable. Essentially, Green needed to hit to win the job.

After a quick start to Spring Training, Green fell off a bit and lost out on the starting job to Buddin. Normally, this would just go down as one of the transactions filling the following day's newspaper, but this situation wasn't like any other. Since Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, every major-league team had employed a black player except for the Boston Red Sox, and you guessed it, Green was black. Immediately following Green's demotion to the minor leagues, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed suit against the Red Sox for racial discrimination. For 12 years, the Red Sox avoided signing African-Americans. They passed up on players such as Robinson and Willie Mays.

Of course, the Red Sox denied any such claims. They had 7 black players in their farm system, and the organization believed that proved their innocence. But there's a significant difference from having a player hidden on the farm and bringing him up in front of a national audience. In addition, it had been 12 years, and still zero black players had put on a Red Sox uniform. However, in Green's situation, it may not have been racism as much as just a normal baseball decision. Buddin had showed some promise the season before and Green hadn't exactly ripped minor-league pitching. Given the chance to get Green more seasoning to make sure, it wasn't really a bad baseball move on the Red Sox part, but it was a PR disaster.

In the end, Green forced the Red Sox's hand. 98 games, a .320 batting average, and 7 home runs later in AAA, Green was showing what he could do and hitting enough to be brought up to the major leagues. The Red Sox had no more excuses as the young man had done everything asked of him. On July 21, Green made his debut as a pinch-runner in the top of the 8th. Green went on to have a nondescript major league career, and he played in five seasons but never hit enough to keep an everyday job. Granted, he was only started 185 times in those seasons. Racism or just baseball?


Trivia Time
Poor Clay Kirby. What did his manager do to him to break one of baseball's unwritten rules? (Hint: Kirby was a pitcher)

July 16th Answer --> True.

Munson: The Life and Times of a Yankee Captain

Go buy it.

Marty Appel was involved with the Yankees organization for the better part of the 1970's, and he was the Public Relations Director for a few of those. Aside from his stint in New York, he is president of Marty Appel Public Relations and has authored several books. Among those, he has done some biographies and ghost-written some autobiographies, including one for Thurman Munson. Recently, Appel published a second book about Munson, this one a biography, entitled Munson: The Life and Times of a Yankee Captain.

When contemplating his first book on Munson, Appel notes, "I have reread that book over the years, I've always felt that Thurman held back too much, skirting over personal matters, as was his right" (10). The Yankee captain would reveal his baseball secrets and stories, but emotional matters concerning his family and childhood were largely left untouched due to Munson's shyness, and possibly even shame. In this book, Appel reaches for a softer, more complex side to Munson, one mostly unseen by baseball fans who mainly saw him as a grumpy, moody, and maybe even self-absorbed professional athlete.

Appel starts, as does life, with Munson's childhood. The son of an abusive and neglectful father in a blue-collar town, it's no wonder how Munson ended up being the man he was. He was a hard-worker and a man's man, but he was still guarded and intense. His relationship with his father was "always, at best, strained" (20), and the two never patched things up, ending with his father's outburst at Thurman's funeral.

Despite this, Munson wasn't all cold-hearted and robotic. He had three loves in his life: baseball, his family, and flying. Appel weaves the tale of a powerful romance between Munson and his wife Diana and displays Munson's inner tenderness as the normally stoic man would drop everything for his children. Being away from them during the season was painful for him, and Munson considered retiring around the age of 30. But baseball had its pull as well.

One place that Munson could feel comfortable was the baseball field. From early on, he was supremely talented. He could do everything -- hit, play defense, and run --, and he even played the two toughest positions on the diamond -- catcher and shortstop. Munson was always in total control. At the plate, he sprayed line drives at will, and Appel states, "no one questioned his hitting from April 20 [1970] on through the rest of his career" (57). In addition, pitchers loved throwing to him as Munson always called a good game and had a fantastic arm. The Yankees even defied tradition for him, making him the first Yankee captain since Lou Gehrig. And possibly most important, his teammates loved him as a person. Munson was a leader and not afraid to guide the team, but he had a softer side, a joker with a unique ability to relate to and gain the respect of anyone.

But outside of baseball, aviation was a home away from home. Baseball brought him money and fame, but it also brought him attention (something he didn't want at all) and long road trips (time away from his family). Flying was his panacea to these woes, and ironically his instrument of death. Piloting an aircraft, all at once, gave him a sense of independence and freedom (no one bothers you a few miles up and in a small airplane) and got him home faster. It also ended his life.

Thurman Munson was a complicated man. Stoic yet light-hearted. Tough but tender. Confident and paranoid. Marty Appel does a superb job of revealing all of these sides throughout the book. Oddly enough, I had two main emotions while reading the book. I wanted to laugh because of the great stories, but I wanted to cry because I knew the ending. Maybe this was Appel's goal in writing the book. To show a man that brought so much joy to so many people, but tragically, what brought him joy (baseball, family, and flying) ultimately combined to bring his premature death.

Munson: The Life and Times of a Yankee Captain by Marty Appel is excellent and an easy read. But be prepared for heartbreak.

I would like to thank Marty Appel Public Relations for sending me the book. It was very nice of them to do so, but it did not have any bearing on how I read the book. :)

Don't Kill Me

Sadly, I won't be at a game this weekend. Are they even at home this weekend?

So ... I'm headed out of town again this weekend. Last week was Lexington. This week is Chicago to see some family up there. I won't be back until Monday, so there won't be anything up until that night. Go read some of the All-Star stuff I've put up lately, and after you're done with that, head over to these sites:

- Just to whet your appetite, Josh over at Jorge Says No! did a book review on the new Thurman Munson biography. I am also reading the book, and I will have a review up sometime early-to-mid next week. Once you're done looking at that, look at Rollie Fingers still rocking the 'stache.

- Seriously, if you make up your own "Lineup for Yesterday" (well, I guess "today" in this case), either you have too much time, too much creativity, or you're just a big baseball fan. Not sure which describes Bill, but he made up his own. Due to the difficulty and time to do such, you are obligated to read it.

- Lar takes a look at recent history by reviewing pre-season predictions. Needless to say, mine aren't very good, and I would have made the Edinson Volquez mistake of voting for Pablo Sandoval for ROY. Actually, don't look at that. Go look at this, this, or this.

- Back to the too much time thing, I've started reading 1924 and You Are There!! Jeff Polman goes back to 1924, plays Strat-O-Matic, and then tells you what happened in the contemporary lingo. I'm glad someone does this because it's just cool, but that's a lot of work.

- Luis Tiant does not equal Aroldis Chapman and Jose Contreras, and Ron tells us why. I didn't even know Luis Tiant existed. Does that make me a bad person? I can't be expected to know all the players in history, can I?

- Kid Nichols and dealing with World Series rain. Okay, the second part isn't factual, but seriously, DMB has rain? Awesome.

This Day in Baseball History: July 16th, 1897

Remember Cap Anson. For more, go here.

On July 16, 1897:

Cap Anson becomes the first major-league player to net 3,000 hits.


When talking about the great players of baseball history, Cap Anson is often left out. Mostly, it's because he played his entire 27-year career (yes, 27) before the turn of the century. But make no mistake, he could rake (hey, that rhymes). For his career, he hit .333/.393/.445 for a 141 OPS+, and he was one of the premier hitters of his era. On the other hand, he didn't field very well as he holds the major-league record for errors with 657, but remember, he didn't have a glove and he did play for 27 years.

Other than just being a really good player, Anson was also extremely influential. After becoming the player-manager of the Chicago White Stockings, he created some of the tactics that are commonplace now but revolutionary at the time -- the hit and run (he says), spring training, the third-base coach, signals, and backing up fielders. He was so good that Adrian Constantine Anson received the nickname "Cap" for captain. When he was fired after the 1897 season, the White Sox were momentarily called the "Orphans" because of the loss of direction. Anson also helped promote baseball, and he joined Albert Spalding in organizing and executing a World Tour in 1888, investing almost $4,000 in the venture.

Anson was also known for being racist, but that wasn't peculiar for the time. He once (at least) refused to play a team that had a black player, but again, that wasn't peculiar for the time. However, many believe that he was one of the key players in the gentleman's agreement to keep African-Americans out of the major leagues. Still, I'm not sure how much more racist he was than the rest of the country at the time. I feel that we often retroject our values on a different time and then judge people accordingly. Yes, Anson was probably racist, and while extremely regrettable, he was just a product of his time. Had he been born today, he would probably not be the same man. Just remember that when people continually bring up racism and older players. Unfortunate but understandable.

Anyway, back to the 3,000 hits. His place as the first isn't exactly in cement. Prior to the 1887 season, walks were also counted as hits. He also garnered 423 of his hits in the National Association. So, do you count those or not? If you don't, then he ends up with a grand total of 2,995 hits, and he is not the first to 3,000 hits. But remember, Anson is likely to come beat the crap out of you if you take them away. Just sayin'.


Trivia Time
True or False? Anson still holds numerous Cubs franchise records including RBI, runs, hits and doubles.

Yesterday's Answer --> Honus Wagner

Special All-Star Answer --> Maury Wills

All-Star Game

The first home run couldn't have been more fitting.

With the World's Fair to be held in Chicago in 1933, the entire city was abuzz with trying to figure out how to really showcase the city itself and the United States of America as a whole. Chicago seemed to be the perfect place -- big city and lots of immigrants. The Chicago Tribune also got involved as one of the city's main newspapers, and as part of their effort, they tried to find a sporting event to truly show off American culture. Sports editor Arch Ward was up to the task. The later creator of the Golden Gloves boxing tournament and College All-Star Game (football) would make his first creation a doosy. Baseball was America's pasttime, and with each league having a scheduled off-day on July 6th, Ward convinced the two leagues to play an All-Star Game, though some owners weren't exactly on board (traditional battle lines and no real profit for the teams.), by footing the bill and donating the profits.

The first All-Star Game was a huge success. Rosters were chosen by fans and coaches, and the two teams headed to Comiskey Park with the game's best. It all went according to plan. Major League Baseball's premier player, Babe Ruth, hit the first ever All-Star home run and later made a spectacular diving catch. The American League went on to win the first All-Star Game 4-2. The success of the event tranformed it from a one-season novelty into an annual tradition.

Each league would host the game in alternating seasons, and that has happened uninterrupted except for 1945 when wartime travel restrictions forced the cancellation of the game. Other than that, no other games have been cancelled. The 1961 game was shortened due to rain in the ninth inning for the first ever tie, and the 2002 game also stopped as a tie. 1952's game was also shortened due to rain, but the National League held a 3-2 lead for the victory. Strikes haven't even cancelled them. In 1981, the game was postponed due to the mid-season strike, but they played it on August 9th to bring back interest to the game. The 1994 game was played before the strike began.

From 1933 to 1949, the American League dominated. They won 16 of the 19 games. In 1943, the first night All-Star Game was held at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. Managers primarily chose the rosters during this time, but in 1946, the fans were given the right to vote on the starting position players (someone still needs to explain to me why we can't vote for pitchers).

Over the next 9 years, the National League turned things around, winning 6 of 9. During those years, the voting changed again. As a result of the 1957 ballot stuffing, voting was taken away from the fans. Mickey Mantle started the first-ever 7-game hitting streak in the All-Star Game, only matched later by Joe Morgan and Dave Winfield in the next decades. In 1951, the alternation of hosting the ballparks was momentarily interrupted as Detroit held the game in order to celebrate the city's 250th birthday.

The 1960's and 1970's saw utter domination by the National League. 22-4-1 was their record from 1959 to 1980. One might notice the odd number of games. From 1959 to 1962, a second game was held after the season in order to raise money for the player's pension funds, but the two games severely weakened the appeal of the game, causing all games 1963 and on to be "Midsummer Classics" only. In 1970, the fans were given the right to vote again as another effort to boost enthusiasm for the game, and another note about the voting, the distinctions between outfielders was stopped. The 1967 game, however, is of particular interest among all of them as it was the longest game in history until last season's game (both went 15 innings). This era also saw the only two MVP's that played for the losing team -- Brooks Robinson in 1966 and Carl Yastremski in 1970 (though the MVP Award for All-Star Games didn't start until 1962, and as the bonus trivia question, who won that first award?).

Lady Luck began to turn on the National League in the 1980's. After winning the first 5 of 6, the American League took the next 7 of 8. Toward the beginning of the run, a momentous thing happened -- the 1989 game played in Anaheim was the first to use a DH. Four years before that, the first Home Run Derby was held as an official Major League Baseball event (the MLB had nothing to do with the previous ones). The 1988 game had some ballot stuffing accusations, but when Terry Steinbach (the player in question) won the MVP, the incident was partly forgiven. Two years earlier, Fred Lynn made some home run history himself when he belted the only grand slam in All-Star Game history.

The American League's domination was momentarily stopped from 1994 to 1996, but they haven't lost since. However, only two of those games have been decided by more than 3 runs, and 8 have been decided by 2 or less. The famous 2002 game ended in a tie, and the "This Time It Counts" rule began the following season.

What does the future hold? No one knows. The NL has run into serious bad luck in the past 13 seasons, but such runs have happened before. Next year's game will be held in Anaheim and Arizona will host the 2011 game, but it's undecided after that. Municipal Stadium in Cleveland and Yankee Stadium hold the record for most games hosted with 4, but the Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Rays have not yet hosted a game (the D-Backs will shortly but the other two will probably have to wait for a new stadium, and the Nationals hosted the 1982 game in Montreal).

The National League leads the series 41-37-2.

This Day in Baseball History: July 15th, 1988

Maybe SI should have come out with this a few years before.

On July 15, 1988:

Roger Clemens makes the Kansas City Royals miserable ... again.


Roger Clemens was in the midst of the finest 7-year stretch of his career. From 1986-1992, he went 136-63 and never won fewer than 17 games. His ERA only eclipsed 3 once during the stretch, and that was in 1989 with an ERA of 3.13. Otherwise, he sat in the mid to upper 2's with 1990 perhaps his best season with a 1.93 ERA. Clemens led the league in ERA 4 times, wins twice, complete games twice, and strikeouts twice. As for his awards, he won 3 Cy Youngs and his only MVP Award. He was an awesome pitcher, and the Royals just had a really, really hard time with him in 1988.

On May 9th, Mark Gubicza made a valiant attempt to take down the mighty 25-year old, but his 8.1 innings of 2-run ball was much too little. Clemens would only surrender 3 hits and a walk on the day on his way to a complete-game shutout. In addition, Clemens struck out 16 Royals. Every batter struck out at least once, and only 3 (Willie Wilson, George Brett, and Danny Tartabull) struck out only once. Steve Balboni had a really tough day, striking out 3 times in 3 at-bats. The Royals made it interesting in the 9th by getting 2 runners on, but 2 more strikeouts and a deep fly later, the Royals lost to the Red Sox 2-0.

Independence Day was a bit better for the Royals, but it all came to the same result. Ted Power tried his hand against Clemens, but he wasn't worthy to spit-shine Clemens' shoes. 2 innings and 5 runs into his start, Power had lost all his energy and was removed from the game. Clemens was strong again, but he wasn't invincible. He surrendered 2 runs on 9 hits, and he only struck out half as many Royals. Clemens, however, did make Willie Wilson pay for only striking out once in the first game by K'ing him 3 times. George Brett seemingly was the only one to figure out Clemens, garnering 2 hits and RBI's without striking out once.

Almost two weeks later, the Royals were convinced that they had massacred a bunch of innocent children in a past life as they had to face Clemens again. On July 15th, Brett Saberhagen made a valiant effort, but he would come out the loser after his 6-inning 3-run performance. Clemens was lethal again. He would give up one run (not earned), but he struck out 16 more Royals, the second time that season. 3 Royals struck out 3 times (Wilson, Kurt Stillwell, and Bo Jackson), but Brett, for the second time, and Bill Buckner escaped without being struck out. It didn't matter as Clemens had won his 3rd dominating game against the hapless Royals.

Just to recap, this was Clemens line against the Royals in 1988:

3-0, 0.69 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, 26 IP, 2 CG, 1 SHO, 40 K (13.85 K/9), 2 BB (0.69 BB/9), 20.1 K/BB, 19 H


Trivia Time
Whose card was sold for $1.1 million on this date?

Yesterday's Answer --> Dave Duncan. Well done, Ron.

This Day in Baseball History: July 14th, 1970

Certainly doesn't make Rose any more likeable, does it?

On July 14, 1970:

Pete Rose nails Ray Fosse at home plate.


Ray Fosse was a 23-year old catcher in his first full season for the Cleveland Indians. By the break, he was hitting .312/.366/.527 for an OPS+ of 147. Pete Rose was a 29-year old Cincinnati Reds outfielder actually in the midst of one of his worst seasons, but by the time of the All-Star Game, he was hitting .323/.395/.500 for an OPS+ of 149. Both deserved to be at the All-Star Game, and they were both headed to Rose's home Cinergy Field.

The July 14th game was a tough one. The AL All-Stars took advantage of a strong Fosse performance, as the young man went 1-for-2 with a walk, RBI, and run, to pull out to a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, but things went wrong for the AL. Catfish Hunter entered the game and promptly delivered one up to Dick Dietz, who crushed it for a home run. Two singles and an out later, Willie McCovey drove in another run with a single to make it 4-3. Roberto Clemente followed him up with a sacrifice fly to tie the game. With a man on, Pete Rose struck out to end the inning. No one scored until the 12th inning. Rose singled with 2 outs, and Billy Grabarkewitz, in the midst of his only productive season, followed with another single, bringing up Jim Hickman. He promptly sent one out to center, and Rose made the turn for home. The throw from Amos Otis was on target, beating Rose to the plate, but never one to back down, Rose ran right through Fosse at the plate, separating Fosse's shoulder.

This play has often been cited as Fosse's undoing, but that's not really correct. Fosse had a few more productive seasons, even playing the 1971 All-Star Game, but the real problem came in 1974 when he tried to separate fellow Oakland A's Reggie Jackson and Billy North. Fosse received a crushed neck in the tussle, and he was never productive and durable again. Without Rose running into Fosse, Fosse could have continued being an All-Star for much longer, but we could have a laundry list of players who have flamed out after a productive first half.

Rose, however, was criticized for taking out the young catcher. On one hand, this was just an exhibition game, and the incident was a bit over the top. But on the other hand, players are expected to play hard, and the crowd wouldn't have been happy if Rose just gave up. Sure, he could have just tried to slide around, but that wasn't Charlie Hustle.

Weird factoid: Fosse had Rose as a dinner guest the night before.


Trivia Time
What current pitching coach did the Indians receive in exchange for Fosse in 1973?

Yesterday's Answer --> Kruk stole 18 bases in 1987, but he was also thrown out 10 times.