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| Jul-19-09 | | suenteus po 147: <Phony Benoni: Unfortunately, I chose the summer we're renovating the library, and everything is in such chaos that I fear the request may fall through the cracks.> I certainly hope it gets to you safe and sound. <I'm trying to finish up the 1977 collection tonight. Can't seem to stop chatting.> Distractions are a huge hinderance to collection building. I usually put on my headphones and try to drown out all other activities when I'm putting together a tournament, especially one the size of a USSR championship. Otherwise a single tournament would take me all day. <After this, I'll send you 1980/81, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1990. That's all I have on my list for now.> Excellent. I look forward to them all! <Later, I'll go back and look at the early ones (1920, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1933). Even if we don't have every game, I might be able to at least figure out round-by-round pairings and do partial collections.> Even incomplete tournaments can make for historically important and complete collections. I don't mind the gaps and lacuna if you don't :) |
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| Jul-21-09 | | Jim Bartle: I was looking through some reccords, and found that the 68 Tigers are a good example that a high batting average isn't necessarily the key to a good offense. The team average was .235 (no regular hit better than .285), yet they scored the most runs in the AL by a large margin. Of course that was the year of the pitcher, with no teams doing much scoring. The rules were changed the next year to give batters a chance. |
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| Jul-21-09 | | playground player: <DredgeRivers> We shouldn't be cluttering up Phony Benoni's forum with politics, so I will not answer your silly comment. <Jim Bartle> Who was the first baseman on that '82 Giants team? Somehow the obscure name of Scott Thompson comes to mind. I think I have a 1982 Giants autographed ball around here somewhere, but I'd have to rummage around for it. |
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| Jul-21-09 | | Jim Bartle: I think it was Reggie Smith, converted outfielder. |
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Jul-21-09
 | | Phony Benoni: A look here:
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... shows that Reggie Smith seemed to be the usual starter and Dave Bergman the late-inning defensive replacement. Speaking of Bergman, I see that SF traded him to the Phillies, who sent him to Detroit with some obscure relief pitcher named Guillermo "Willie" Hernandez. I think the Tigers won that trade. <JB> The '68 Tigers were around the middle in batting average, but their secret was hitting 40% more home runs than the next best team in the majors.
Plus, they had one of those years where all the clutch hits went their way. They were thus able to overcome Ray Oyler, who didn't have a hit after July 13th. Imagine having a batting average of .162, then going into a slump. |
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| Jul-21-09 | | Jim Bartle: "I was hitting .162, but I went into a slump!" The thing is, your average wouldn't drop that slowly even if you stopped hitting entirely. Didn't they try to sit him for the Series so Kaline could start, moving Stanley to short? (As I may have said earlier, Stanley is one of my all-time favorite defensive players, could really cover some ground.) The thing about the batting average vs. home runs is that in 1968 I, and I think most fans, thought batting average was the key offensive stat, even as we were staring at teams like those Tigers, cleaning up with their power. Now maybe the clutch hits went their way that year, but they won 103 (!) games and won by 10 games are so, so there can't be too much luck there. Having your top two pitchers healthy and at their top of their games was more important than clutch play. That's referring to the season, not necessarily to the World's Serious. |
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Jul-21-09
| | Phony Benoni: Now this year's Tigers aren't taking advantage of their chances. They got swept by the Yankees over the weekend, scoring five runs in three games and going 1 for 26 with runners in scoring position. So tonight they score five in the first inning against Seattle. By the way, did you catch this game last night?
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/me... |
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| Jul-21-09 | | Jim Bartle: I'll say yes without even looking. Sure looked like the guy was safe at home. Only chance he was out was if his right foot missed the base. What struck me is the positioning of the pitcher, BEHIND home plate, like he didn't want any contact. Lance Parrish would be rolling over in his grave, if he were dead. And coming back from 10 runs down? In Oakland? At night? Where fly balls go to die? |
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Jul-21-09
| | Phony Benoni: I'm sure if the pitcher had Lance Parrish's shin guards, he might have tried to block the plate better. It's hard to say. The pitcher had the ball in plenty of time, and his glove was over the leg before the foot hit the plate. But you can't tell if he's touching the leg or not. |
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| Jul-21-09 | | Jim Bartle: You've got a point. Exciting play in any case. |
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Jul-22-09
| | Phony Benoni: <Game of the Day>: July 22, 1964 http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Willie Stargell gets on his cycle. By the way, note how he got one hit off each Cardinal pitcher. |
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| Jul-22-09 | | Jim Bartle: Looks like Craig should have thrown a few more "juuuuust a bit outside." |
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| Jul-22-09 | | Jim Bartle: I'm looking forward to Rickey Henderson's HOF induction speech, and not only to see if he says "Rickey's very honored to be here today." I assume he will be the leadoff inductee, and will be walked to the podium. One of my favorite anecdotes:
Rickey, standing on first: "Hey, I used to play with another guy who wore a helmet in the field." Olerud: "That was me, Rickey." |
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| Jul-22-09 | | A.G. Argent: < A's game> Oh man!!!-He was sooooo safe. Without a tinge of doubt. And speaking of slumps, always remember how to put the subject in it's proper perspective by recalling what Yogi said about the matter; "I ain't in no slump, I just ain't hittin'." |
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| Jul-22-09 | | Jim Bartle: That Yogi quote is funny, but it also reveals a reason why great athletes are great: they have confidence in themselves, and don't overanalyze. Here's a story I like told by Billy Beane. I read it in SI, but I think it was an excerpt from Moneyball (apologies if I've written this before): Beane, a minor leaguer but a top prospect, was sitting in the dugout with fellow prospect Lenny Dykstra before a spring training game against the Phillies. Beane: Look, Lenny, there's Lefty warming up.
Dykstra: Who?
Beane: Lefty. Steve Carlton. One of the best pitchers of all time. Hope he doesn't embarrass me.
Dykstra: Aw, he doesn't look so tough. I can hit him. And the tall-and-strong Beane never made it, while the stumpy Dykstra became an All-Star (and created toxic waste dumps in every centerfield in the NL). Of course Dykstra also seems to demonstrate this attitude may not work so well in the financial sector. |
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| Jul-22-09 | | Jim Bartle: Was Orta soooo safe as well?
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/... Sorry. When your team has won zero championships since it came to town, you get jealous of those who have won four. Actually, I'd say the Cards' most undeserved WS loss was in 87, winning all three games at home but unable to win any in the unfamiliar weirdness of the Metrodome. |
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| Jul-22-09 | | playground player: My vote for the 1968 World Series MVP goes to Mayo Smith, the Tigers' manager. Would anybody else have thought of putting Stanley at short? Then again, one wonders whose inspiration that was originally. |
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Jul-22-09
| | Phony Benoni: The Tigers didn't have mutch hitting on the left side of the infield that year. Besides Oyler, regular third baseman Don Wert hit .200. Reserve infielder Dick Tracewski hit .156. And the other reserve infield, Slugging Tommy Matchik, managed .203. Stanley was probably the best athlete on the team; I can't imagine Northrup or Willie Horton playing shortstop. I do recall one game where they tried Kaline at third base, but that was a disaster. Still, it was an inspired idea. Wherever he got it from, he had time the last week of the regular season to try it out, with sufficiently good results. Stanley remains one of the few SS in World Series history to have three putouts in one inning. |
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| Jul-22-09 | | Jim Bartle: Concerning Mayo Smith, in August of either 87 or 89 Roger Craig made a switch of three or four pitchers from the rotation to the bullpen, or vice versa. It worked beautifully, so Craig was hailed as a strategic genius.
Craig's reaction was restrained: "If I'm a genius for doing it today, why aren't I an idiot for not doing it in May?" I liked that. Don't mean to suggest the Tigers should have put Stanley at short the whole season. If you have a great centerfielder you use him there. Aside from the tangible value of all the hits taken away, a guy who can cover ground and catch out there gives pitchers the confidence to throw strikes rather than nibble. |
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| Jul-22-09 | | suenteus po 147: <Phony Benoni> Thanks for posting the 1954 USSR Championship! 51 games missing and/or incorrect in the database is no small number to sneeze at. It's definitely going to take some work before it's ready to present and put on <Benzol>'s list. I'm working on some side stuff at the moment building up to my 300th game collection (I have a big historic tournament planned to celebrate the occasion) but once that's done I'll set to work on Kiev and Averbakh's victory. |
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Jul-22-09
| | Phony Benoni: <suenteus po 147> At least <chessdreamer> came through with the scores of the disputed games. Doesn't make your task any easier, but at least chessgames.com will be right where so many others are wrong! |
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Jul-22-09
 | | SwitchingQuylthulg: Phony Benoni chessforum <Phony Benoni: Naturally, while researching the above, I ran into players with a lot of games against each other.What's the record?
Well, I think we all know who the leaders probably are, but what about the top ten? Here is a tentative list I've put together. Have fun finding all those obvious ones that I've missed! 1. Anatoli Karpov vs. Garry Kasparov (187 games)> This should be updated, with the inclusion of lots of new games by John Cochrane. (Funnily enough the Karpov-Kasparov count has also gone up by 3.) 1. John Cochrane vs Mohishunder (448 games) 2. John Cochrane vs Somacarana (197 games) 3. Anatoli Karpov vs Garry Kasparov (190 games) |
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Jul-22-09
| | Phony Benoni: <SwitchingQuilthulg> So Karpov and kasparov now trail by 258 games? Well, that's only another eleven 24-game matches. Get a move on, guys! |
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| Jul-22-09 | | Jim Bartle: A's 15 Minnesota 1 in the 7th. A chance to get some revenge for Monday. Of course Cuddyer thrown "out" at home the day before, hit the game-winning triple in the 10th yesterday. Must have felt better than most hits. |
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Jul-22-09
 | | chancho: Isn't it messed up that Teddyballgame is now Teddypopcycle? Do you guys believe that a man as gung ho as Williams was, would want to preserve himself in that way? |
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