Monthly Archives: July 2012

The Yankees are just trying to play their role now

Posted on by
Reply

The Yankees have traded for Ichiro. A few years ago, this would have been earth-shattering news that would have caused large amounts of hair to be pulled out, rioting would have engulfed the Northwest (it still might- they still are justifiably angry about losing the Sonics) and every person with a keyboard would have declared this another sign of the inequity of baseball’s markets.

Now though, it seems almost as if the Yankees are doing this just to remind everyone that, yes, they are the Yankees, and, yes, they are willing to get well-known players who are past their prime in order to aid in the yearly quest for a world title.

This isn’t to say this is a bad deal: Ichiro still definitely has his moments, and has enough talent that he could easily go on a tear for the rest of the season. In addition, the two pitchers they gave up (D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar) don’t seem to be anything special- it’s not like they are trading Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps. It’s just that I don’t this is the big deal that some may make it out to be. Ichiro is a legend, a future HOFer, and still one of the best quotes and most exciting players in baseball on his best day, but this is hardly the deal that will win the Yankees the pennant.

The 1942 Service All-Star Team

Posted on by
Reply

In 1942, the AL All-Stars played a team of players who had entered military service but who had yet to go to the Atlantic or Pacific Theatres. There is information on that game in the 1943 Baseball Guide by the Sporting News (available on archive.org), as well as this picture of the team (you can click the photo to see it bigger, so that the names are more visible):

Among the players you can find in this photo are Bob Feller, Mickey Cochrane (who managed), Hank Gowdy (who was a coach) and a variety of other major leaguers such as Cecil Travis, George Earnshaw, Mickey Harris, Sam Chapman, Pat Mullin, Benny McCoy, and others.

Party like an Aught-Star: Ben Sheets and the Oakland Athletics

Posted on by
1

Ben Sheets is now 2-0. The Athletics have beat the Yankees three straight to open their series. Although I can’t be sure, I’m going to have to guess that I’ll be playing a Nintendo Gamecube tomorrow, as soon as I finish the last chapter of the latest Harry Potter book.

Yes, it is true, we have seemingly done a time-warp into the first decade of the 21st century. The Aughts, as they are sometimes called, since saying “The 2000s” is kind of unclear as to whether you are talking about the decade or the century.

The Aughts were good to the Oakland Athletics and to Ben Sheets, but they had fallen on hard times by the 2010s. Now, however, they seem to be turning things around.

Continue reading →

In the 1940s, you could actively stalk baseball players

Posted on by
1

Before the internet, or even The Baseball Encyclopedia, stats for previous seasons often were in the form of baseball guides, often from The Sporting News.

Also in there, however, were more strange things. Some of them, for example, had a listing of where the visiting teams stayed. Now, even today you can often figure out where visiting teams stay in town due to ads that might say “Official Hotel of the Boston Red Sox” or something similar, to the point where most baseball players have aliases that they check in with that don’t reveal their fame (although Rickey Henderson, ever the master of disguise, went by the alias of “Richard Pryor”)

Anyway, if you are caught in a time warp and find yourself in the early 40s and want to visit some players, you can find them here, from the 1943 edition of the Baseball Guide and Record Book (found for free on archive.org):

Taking a day off

Posted on by
Reply

I was going to write a off-topic story about what I was looking forward to with the release of The Dark Knight Rises. But after hearing the tragic news from Colorado this morning, I feel as if it would be in some ways insensitive to do so.
My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

The Second Episode of 2012’s “The Franchise” saw Ozzie Guillen say the F-Word about 18 times, and other observations

Posted on by
1

The second episode of this season of The Franchise wasn’t as long or as good as the first, but it still entertained while providing a unique look at the Miami Marlins, focusing primarily on Giancarlo Stanton’s surgery, Logan Morrison’s trip back to his hometown of Kansas City, and the unexpected rise of Justin Ruggiano, but still getting in some good Ozzie Guillen sounds before the end, as he chewed out the team immediately following the All-Star Break. Thoughts and the “Ozzie Guillen ‘Carlin Words’ Counter” after the jump:

Continue reading →

“Moneyball” is a book that has shaped America. No, seriously.

Posted on by
2

The Library of Congress recently released a list of 88 Books that Shaped America, which are part of a current exhibit at the Library. It’s a pretty good list of books (which had to either be written by an American or by somebody who became an American), and it’s hard to argue with most of them. However, it’s missing something big: sports. America is the most diverse and sports-loving country on Earth. Most countries focus on only one sport (usually soccer), but America has many sports, and it affects our language and culture. We ask for ballpark figures and play Monday morning quarterback. Something that is a certainty is a slam dunk. It’s one of the last few universal experiences: at a sporting event, nobody cares (or at least 99.9% of people don’t care) what party you vote for or what you do for a living.

That the LoC would so ignore this aspect of American life is disappointing, especially because there are plenty of good sports books out there that have shaped America. Jim Bouton’s Ball Four was one of the first books to openly tell things like they were and show the public’s heroes with all of their flaws. Buzz Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights highlighted the importance of football in small-town Texas, and later was made into a movie and TV series. Juiced was hardly a triumph of literary genius, but it can’t be denied that Canseco shaped not only baseball but America, leading to the government hearings and efforts by all sports (although people only cared about what baseball did) in trying to fight it.

However, if I could add in one sports book to the Library of Congress list, it would be Michael Lewis’ Moneyball.

(jump)

Continue reading →

Billy Hamilton is the fastest man alive

Posted on by
3

Watching the Futures Game out of the corner of my eye a few weeks ago, a guy named Billy Hamilton (Reds Organization) hit a triple. A very, very, fast triple. A triple that, if the outfielders had been slower or the outfield walls has been deeper, he could easily have attempted to make into an inside-the-park home run.

A few days ago, he did hit a inside-the-park home run. Not only that, but he did it in 13.8 seconds… while not even going full-speed near the end. Oh, and he has 109 stolen bases between A and AA this season. The all-time pro record for a season is 145, which Vince Coleman pulled off in A-ball during the 1983 season.

(more after jump)

And Hamilton isn’t exactly a one-trick pony, he hit .323 in a half-season of A-Ball. Barring injury, he could end up as a runner-off-the-bench for the Reds come September. After all, he’s way too fast to just be left in the minors once crunch-time comes, especially for a National League team.

By the way, Hamilton’s dash around the bases in 13.8 seconds- roughly 360 feet- is in itself a impressive athletic feat. It means he was averaging about 17.79 MPH during the run. If Hamilton were to hold that speed for just 100 meters, he’d finish in about 12.57 seconds. That isn’t exactly Usain Bolt, but then again it wasn’t exactly a straight sprint and Hamilton was running on dirt and grass instead of smooth pavement, so the comparison doesn’t really work… does it?

Interestingly, Billy Hamilton was also the name of a Hall of Famer from the late 19th century. “Sliding Billy” Hamilton also was quite the base stealer: he had 914 in his career, which was the most of all time until Lou Brock broke his record in 1978. He still is third overall.

So keep an eye out for Sliding Billy 2.0, he’s running his way through the minors, and it is probably only a matter of time before he is testing the arms of MLB catchers.

Obituary: The 2012 Baltimore Orioles’ Playoff Hopes

Posted on by
5

The Playoff Hopes of the Baltimore Orioles passed away last night at the age of 89 games, dying shortly after a 19-7 trouncing at the hands of the Minnesota Twins, who sometimes don’t even seem to score 19 runs during a single month. Although Hopes, who had not been seen this late since 1997, is still technically alive, doctors confirm that the prognosis is extremely grim and that it is only a matter of time before it is overtaken and destroyed by the American League East and the tough competition for the AL Wild Card spots due to a lack of starting pitching.

The Orioles’ Playoff Hopes leaves behind it’s brother, fellow Baltimore native Michael Phelps Olympic Hopes, as well as it’s distant cousin, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Playoff Hopes.

Services are the rest of the season. In lieu of flowers, send quality starting pitchers.

Kevin Youkilis returns to Boston (AKA: The People vs. Bobby Valentine)

Posted on by
Reply

I was in Boston, it was perhaps two or three days after Kevin Youkilis was traded to Chicago, exchanging his red for white. Figuring that Youkilis gear would now be on sale, I went to a Red Sox store on Lansdowne Street with my father. To our surprise, there still was plenty of Youkilis gear, up all around as if he still was set to to start that night at third. When my father asked an employee about that, there came (roughly) this response:

“Guy gave over eight years to this franchise and won two rings, we’re not just going to forget him overnight. He’s the Greek God of Walks, after all.”

He added that they’d probably end up taking them down and/or discounting them after the end of the homestand.

Right about now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the stores in Boston are still selling Youkilis jerseys. Because, as the Red Sox become the most volatile playoff-contending team since the Bronx is Burning Yankees, Youkilis very well may have been elevated to a martyr-esque cult figure. While he’s been producing in Chicago and writing nice notes to Red Sox Nation, manager Bobby Valentine has been quoted as blaming Youkilis for all of the problems the two of them had, saying that Youkilis never wanted to get over a comment Valentine had made in April about how he thought Youkilis wasn’t “into it”.

This is not something that is going to help Bobby Valentine’s reputation in Boston, much less the Red Sox locker room. Not like he will care, as he is seemingly turning the Red Sox around by making all of them have a common enemy: him. They are far behind in the AL East race, but are very much in the Wild Card race.

Here’s another anecdote: when at a Red Sox-Blue Jays game at Fenway, there was a mid-inning montage on the jumbotron of final games by Red Sox greats in Boston uniforms. It finished with Youkilis, and that part drew a big cheer.

I’m going to guess he’ll get a similarly big cheer tonight. The reaction to Bobby Valentine when he goes to the pitcher’s mound will probably be more… mixed.