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Aug-22-15
 | | WannaBe: I remember Shawn Green smackin' 4 HRs at Milwaukee once, but they weren't Homer-Cycle. It's already hard enough to have 4 HR game, much less a Homer-Cycle! =)) |
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Aug-22-15
| | WannaBe: Y. Cespedes only went 5-6, with 3 HRs. He sux! =))
And TOR adds another run to their lead in Anaheim... |
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| Aug-22-15 | | Travis Bickle: I remember Mike Schmidt of the Phillies blasting 4 homers off the Cubs on a windy day... : O |
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| Aug-22-15 | | Travis Bickle: What 2 players almost hit the old manual scoreboard in Wrigley Field? |
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Aug-22-15
 | | Penguincw: 7-1 in the 7th, looks like the division lead for the Yankees is going be a half game down. Important series for both teams, but also notable, as not only is it a potential wild-card preview, but it's excellent grist on who should win the AL MVP: Donaldson or Trout (it should be obvious who I want to win it, and also who I think deserves it). |
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| Aug-22-15 | | Travis Bickle: Because so many of you are anxiously waiting for the answer to my question... ; P The 2 baseball players who just missed hitting the scoreboard at Wrigley are Bill Nicholson who missed it just to the right & Roberto Clemente who just missed it to the left. P.S. Here's some literature to go with the homeruns at Wrigley... https://www.facebook.com/notes/3921... |
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| Aug-22-15 | | morfishine: 1969 was a pivotal year sportwise for me since all of my favorite Baltimore teams lost to New York teams: Namath and his big mouth defeated the unstoppable Colts while the Miracle Mets downed my O's. Meanwhile, in the NBA, the NY Knicks knocked off the old Baltimore Bullets in the first round, sweeping them 4-0 The loss to the Mets was stunning, unbelievable really. I was living in Maryland at the time so everybody everywhere was a die-hard Oriole fan. I was in the 5th grade and the Elementary school actually allowed the teachers to bring a radio into class so the kids could listen to the game (which then always started in the afternoon). Imagine that For awhile, I despised the Mets and vacillated between disgust and denial, I just couldn't believe it; but lots of Mets made great diving catches, not just Swoboda; and besides, Donn Clendenon killed the O's with 3 home runs. Whats interesting is the '69 Mets had Tom Seaver, Tug McGraw and Nolan Ryan, all rookies, on their pitching staff, balanced by the veteran jerry Koosman. But the O's had McNally & Cuellar (both 20-game winners) and up and coming Jim Palmer who had 16 wins. The next year all three won 20-games (capped by winning the Series vs the Red), while in 1971 the O's had four 20-game winners !!! but lost the series to another miracle team: The Clemente led Pirates I guess around the Mid 1980's I started liking the Mets, mainly because I hated and still hate the Yankees LOL ***** |
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Aug-22-15
 | | Phony Benoni: <Travis> Swish Nicholson! Hadn't heard that name for a while. <morfishine> Those were great Oriole teams around the turn of the 70s: pitching, defense, and 3-run homers. My "NL" team is, first of all, the Cubs,. Second, anybody who plays the Yankees in the World Series. Perhaps that is sort of a geographic thing, though I understanding from Mr. Bickle's dissertations that Cubs fans are, at best,lukewarm about the White Sox. |
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| Aug-22-15 | | playground player: <Esteemed Baseball Mavens> Which do you consider a more remarkable achievement? *Enzo Hernandez, in 1971, coming to bat 549 times... and only getting 12 RBIs? *Or John Vukovich managing to hang on in the major leagues for <ten years!>... with a lifetime batting average of .161? |
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Aug-22-15
| | Penguincw: You know, perhaps the teams were desperate for players, and didn't have anyone else (who could play their positions). I don't think this is the case, but maybe the stats were biased. Maybe Hernandez was a leadoff hitter, and didn't get many RBI chances. Maybe Vukovich was a power hitter who struck out a lot. Okay, back to the original situation. The "12 RBIs in 549 ABs" doesn't really surprise me, since I think Buck Martinez had a season like that too. So, IMPO, I would have to say the 2nd one (Vukovich) is more impressive. Even though it can be super hard to get hits (and it was probably in the pitching era too), if you bat .161 <lifetime>, I don't even know how you can hang around that long in the majors. One would probably be benched if that happened. Plus, it's possible to have one really bad season (like Hernandez), but .161 is not just one bad season... (no research was done, so I'm making uninformed decisions here) |
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| Aug-22-15 | | Jim Bartle: <*Enzo Hernandez, in 1971, coming to bat 549 times... and only getting 12 RBIs?> This brings up an interesting question. We all know pitcher is such an important defensive position that batting ability plays no role in determining whether a pitcher plays or not. But what about other positions? How good a fielder would a shortstop have to be to play every day despite being completely unable to hit? Say he had greater range than Ozzie Smith, a rocket arm, and never made an error. Would you play him if he batted .100? Or a catcher? What if a catcher threw out 100% of base stealers and always called the pitches the batter was least expecting. And he could frame pitches 4 inches outside to look like strikes. Would you play him if he couldn't hit at all? |
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| Aug-22-15 | | Jim Bartle: Charlie Silvera was on the Yankees for nine years, 1948 to 1957. He had 429 at bats. If you take out one year he played for a month replacing injured Berra (130 ABs), he had 300 at bats in 8 years, 37 a year. He hit a decent .280 but had no power at all. I guess Stengel liked him. |
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Aug-22-15
| | Penguincw: < Jim Bartle: ... But what about other positions? How good a fielder would a shortstop have to be to play every day despite being completely unable to hit? Say he had greater range than Ozzie Smith, a rocket arm, and never made an error. Would you play him if he batted .100? > I know it's only a hypothetical situation, so FTR, if someone told me they were that good despite batting .100, I wouldn't let them play. :p But anyway, a shortstop making no errors!? I already like the sound of that. Even if he bats .100, that's only like one less inning to score/game (just put him in the 9 spot, below the pitcher). Also, the range and arm should compensate for so. < Or a catcher? What if a catcher threw out 100% of base stealers and always called the pitches the batter was least expecting. And he could frame pitches 4 inches outside to look like strikes. Would you play him if he couldn't hit at all? > A catcher is also important, but if players figured they couldn't run on him, perhaps they would just play small ball (and avoid hitting the ball to that SS). Also, I'm not sure if framing a pitch is good, because that's almost entirely up to the umpire. :P Yes to the SS, undecided to the C. |
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| Aug-22-15 | | Jim Bartle: I think having a really outstanding defense gives confidence to a teams' pitchers. Whitey Herzog wrote in his books he told his pitchers, "Throw strikes, you've got a great defense behind you which can run down most balls." |
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Aug-22-15
| | Phony Benoni: Here are likfetime stats for Vukovich and Hernandez: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...
Vukovich was a utility infielder who was a lousy hitter; little power at all. His busiest year was 1971, on a Phillies team with a generally poor-hitting infield. players like Denny Doyle (.231), Don Money (.223), and shortstop Larry Bowa (.249). Bowa, like Enzo Hernandez, was the lead-off hitter, and only drove in 25 runs in 659 at-bats. Kead-off hitters, particularly when they are powerless shortstops, aren't going to get a lot of RBI opportunities when a lead-footed catcher bats eighth and the pitcher ninth. But that 12 RBIs is still remarkable. Why, Bobby Richardson, batting lead-off for the Yankees, had 12 RBIs just in the 1960 World Series! But he didn't have much to work with. Look at the team page. 486 runs. That's 3.00 per game. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Generally, teams seem willing to accept weak-hitting for defense "up-the-middle; particularly catcher and shortstop, to a lesser extent second base and center field. The corner positions are where they stick the Killebrews and Foxxes. You don't see a lot of players stick around because they are good-fielding first-basemen; Jim Spencer was one of the exceptions, and even he could hit the ball a little. http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... |
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| Aug-22-15 | | Jim Bartle: SI has a story, "Where does Jorge Posada rank among the Yankeed catchers?" I'd say he's miles away from the top three, Berra, Dickey and Munson, and probably a good distance short of Elston Howard. http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/new... |
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Aug-22-15
 | | OhioChessFan: < Jim Bartle: ... But what about other positions? How good a fielder would a shortstop have to be to play every day despite being completely unable to hit? Say he had greater range than Ozzie Smith, a rocket arm, and never made an error. Would you play him if he batted .100? > No < Or a catcher? What if a catcher threw out 100% of base stealers and always called the pitches the batter was least expecting. And he could frame pitches 4 inches outside to look like strikes. Would you play him if he couldn't hit at all? > Yes. FWIW, any catcher for the Braves in the 90's apparently had the ability to frame pitches 4 inches outside to be called as strikes. ;) |
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Aug-22-15
| | Penguincw: Oh my, the Jays are crushing the Angels 11-3. Donaldson is the first in the majors to 100 RBIs, and is just a triple shy of the cycle. The division deficit should be just a half game now. But I must say, entering this series, there's this huge debate on whether Donaldson or Trout should receive the MVP award. Right now, it looks like Donaldson looks more convincing, as he is the better player playing for the better team, which is good. |
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Aug-23-15
 | | Tabanus: Frank Fritz Weinberg, at 99% certainty. Plus see W N Wells (needs more info). I made no progress on L H Wight and R Zahrobsky, but perhaps "Robert F Zahrobsky". |
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Aug-23-15
| | Phony Benoni: <Tabanus> Changes made on Weinberg. Thanks. I may take a quick scan through "Chess Life". Back in the day, They sometimes publish local tournament reports with full names, and I've actually found a couple of cases in their list of delegates to the annual meetings. Unfortunately, it's prohibitively laborious to do a thorough search. |
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Aug-23-15
| | Penguincw: With just 39 games to go, the Jays are tied with the Yankees for the AL East. Jays are playing in their 124th game, and it's a crazy one, as they trailed 5-1 but now lead 6-5. |
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Aug-23-15
| | WannaBe: Back-to-back games the Dodger's bullpen have blown the game for Kershaw... =( |
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| Aug-23-15 | | Travis Bickle: http://famousdeadmormons.org/images...
Good afternoon Phony... This is Harry Carey writing to you from the Paradise Lounge. The Cubs have swept the Braves in their 4 game set today with the aide of the long ball! 4 Cubs hit Dingers, 2 for Kris Bryant!! Holy Cow!! Here's the Highlights...
http://m.cubs.mlb.com/chc/video/v40... |
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Aug-23-15
| | Phony Benoni: Good evening, Harry -- oh, wait. You're in Cubs Heaven. It's always afternoon there. Well, the Tigers just went 1-3 agaisnt the Ranges, scoring nine runs <total> in the four games. The Cubs pitching staff is moaning, "Why us? Why us?" |
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| Aug-23-15 | | Travis Bickle: Dear Mr Benoni, I feel your pain being a lonnnnng time Cubs sufferer... The Tigers are going through growing pains right now. They need a few new arms and they will be right as rain with that outstanding line-up you have! If not the Wild card this year the winter hot stove meetings will prove fruition for your beloved Tigers! You Pal forever, Harry |
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