Smithsonian Magazine‘s website has an article up on the history of ballpark nachos. This is important, people.
Link of the undetermined amount of time: Nachos.
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Category Archives: Baseball
Picture of the Day: It Hit The Railing
As you can see, Adam Rosales’ hit struck the railing above the yellow line, meaning it should have been a game-tying HR.
MVP of Yesterday (May 7, 2013): Angel Hernandez
Angel Hernandez, Umpire, was instrumental in Cleveland’s victory over Oakland yesterday, somehow missing a call even with the help of replay that would have shown that Oakland’s Adam Rosales had hit a game-tying HR in the 9th inning.
But, instead, he declared that it was not a home run, and the Athletics ended up losing the game. And, what’s more, the Indians won thanks to Angel Hernandez!
(Note: The above is a joke, the actual MVP of Yesterday is Evan Longoria, who went 3-4 with a HR and 3 RBIs in a win against Toronto.)
MVP Standings (as always) are under the jump:
Quote of the Day (May 8, 2013)
Take it, YogI:
Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets.
Famous For Something Else: Rethinking Jim Thorpe’s Baseball Career
It’s sometimes said that Jim Thorpe, for all his great talent, couldn’t hit a curveball, and that baseball was his worst sport.
Well, maybe, but then you look at his statistics. Take a look:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | Pos | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 26 | NYG | NL | 19 | 36 | 35 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 9 | .143 | .167 | .229 | .395 | 12 | /O |
| 1914 | 27 | NYG | NL | 30 | 31 | 31 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .194 | .194 | .226 | .419 | 27 | /O |
| 1915 | 28 | NYG | NL | 17 | 54 | 52 | 8 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 16 | .231 | .259 | .327 | .586 | 81 | O |
| 1917 | 30 | TOT | NL | 103 | 404 | 308 | 41 | 73 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 40 | 12 | 14 | 45 | .237 | .275 | .357 | .632 | 96 | O97/8 |
| 1917 | 30 | NYG | NL | 4 | 69 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | 211 | 9/78 |
| 1917 | 30 | CIN | NL | 77 | 269 | 251 | 29 | 62 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 36 | 11 | 6 | 35 | .247 | .267 | .367 | .634 | 97 | O97 |
| 1917 | 30 | NYG | NL | 22 | 66 | 55 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 10 | .182 | .297 | .309 | .606 | 88 | O |
| 1918 | 31 | NYG | NL | 58 | 119 | 113 | 15 | 28 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 18 | .248 | .286 | .381 | .666 | 103 | O7/98 |
| 1919 | 32 | TOT | NL | 62 | 172 | 159 | 16 | 52 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 7 | 6 | 30 | .327 | .359 | .428 | .787 | 142 | O78/93 |
| 1919 | 32 | NYG | NL | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 101 | /O87 |
| 1919 | 32 | BSN | NL | 60 | 168 | 156 | 16 | 51 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 30 | .327 | .360 | .429 | .789 | 143 | O78/93 |
| 6 Yrs | 289 | 816 | 698 | 91 | 176 | 20 | 18 | 7 | 82 | 29 | 27 | 122 | .252 | .286 | .362 | .648 | 99 | ||||
| 162 Game Avg. | 162 | 457 | 391 | 51 | 99 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 46 | 16 | 15 | 68 | .252 | .286 | .362 | .648 | 99 | ||||
| NYG (6 yrs) | 152 | 379 | 291 | 46 | 63 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 21 | 11 | 15 | 57 | .216 | .262 | .323 | .585 | 78 | ||||
| BSN (1 yr) | 60 | 168 | 156 | 16 | 51 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 30 | .327 | .360 | .429 | .789 | 143 | ||||
| CIN (1 yr) | 77 | 269 | 251 | 29 | 62 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 36 | 11 | 6 | 35 | .247 | .267 | .367 | .634 | 97 | ||||
As you can see, early in his career, Thorpe was dreadful in his limited time playing baseball. But as time went on, he got better. By his final season in the big leagues, 1919, he was hitting a good .327/.359/.428 and his OPS was .787, which is above average. Hardly a world-beater, but definitely not the failure many make his baseball career out to be.
But, wait, what did he do in the minor leagues?
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | Lev | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | TB | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1909 | 22 | Rocky Mount | ECAR | D | 44 | 138 | 35 | 4 | 0 | 1 | .254 | .304 | 42 |
| 1910 | 23 | 2 Teams | 1 Lg | D | 45 | 128 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .242 | .289 | 37 |
| 1910 | 23 | Rocky Mount,Fayetteville | ECAR | D | 45 | 128 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 0 | .242 | .289 | 37 |
| 1910 | 23 | Rocky Mount | ECAR | D | 29 | 76 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .237 | .289 | 22 |
| 1910 | 23 | Fayetteville | ECAR | D | 16 | 52 | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 | .288 | 15 |
| 1915 | 28 | 2 Teams | 1 Lg | AA | 96 | 370 | 112 | 13 | 7 | 2 | .303 | .392 | 145 |
| 1915 | 28 | Newark/Harrisburg,Jersey City | IL | AA | 96 | 370 | 112 | 13 | 7 | 2 | .303 | .392 | 145 |
| 1915 | 28 | Jersey City | IL | AA | |||||||||
| 1915 | 28 | Newark/Harrisburg | IL | AA | |||||||||
| 1916 | 29 | Milwaukee | AA | AA | 143 | 573 | 157 | 25 | 14 | 10 | .274 | .419 | 240 |
| 1920 | 33 | Akron | IL | AA | 128 | 522 | 188 | 28 | 15 | 16 | .360 | .563 | 294 |
| 1921 | 34 | Toledo | AA | AA | 133 | 505 | 181 | 36 | 13 | 9 | .358 | .535 | 270 |
| 1922 | 35 | 3 Teams | 2 Lgs | AA-A | 131 | 501 | 168 | 26 | 15 | 10 | .335 | .507 | 254 |
| 1922 | 35 | Portland | PCL | AA | 35 | 120 | 37 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .308 | .392 | 47 |
| 1922 | 35 | Hartford | EL | A | |||||||||
| 1922 | 35 | Hartford,Fitchburg/Worcester | EL | A | 96 | 381 | 131 | 23 | 13 | 9 | .344 | .543 | 207 |
| 1922 | 35 | Fitchburg/Worcester | EL | A | |||||||||
| 7 Seasons | 720 | 2737 | 872 | 134 | 66 | 48 | .319 | .468 | 1282 | ||||
| AA (5 seasons) | AA | 535 | 2090 | 675 | 105 | 51 | 38 | .323 | .477 | 996 | |||
| D (2 seasons) | D | 89 | 266 | 66 | 6 | 2 | 1 | .248 | .297 | 79 | |||
| A (1 season) | A | 96 | 381 | 131 | 23 | 13 | 9 | .344 | .543 | 207 | |||
These minor league stats, as incomplete as they are, seem to suggest that Thorpe definitely had a talent at baseball- perhaps not against MLB pitching, but certainly good enough to wreck havoc upon lower levels. But, take a look at those years after his 1919 season- the one season where he hit pretty well in MLB. He kept hitting above .300- at times well above it, and in pretty good leagues like the International League and American Association.
So, what happened? Why didn’t he return to the big leagues after 1919? SABR’s BioProject suggests it was because he started to focus more on professional football- he was the first commissioner of what would one day become the NFL, for example. We’ll never know what he might have accomplished in any one sport if he had focused solely on it- but Thorpe was too great an athlete to be held to just one. Or two. Or three…
And that is and was a good thing.
The Favorite Memories of Baseball Writers, Bloggers, Analysts and Fans
For this first anniversary, I decided to write. Not just articles, though. I decided to write people– as many of the baseball writers, analysts and bloggers I could think of. I asked what seemed to be a simple question: what is your favorite baseball memory?
My reasoning for this little project was all over the place. Partly, it was because it seemed like something that would be interesting. Partly, it was because I was curious to see who would answer. And, of course, partly it was because I thought perhaps it could tell me, and all of us, a bit about baseball fans.
For that reason, it was a rather eclectic group I sent the question to, ranging from big names that everyone has probably heard of, to the proprietors of smaller or more specialized pieces of the web. I also tried to ask the fans, bloggers or writers of a variety of teams, since the fans of one team would, of course, probably have a different favorite memory than fans of another.
In the end, I received responses from less than half of the people I sent the question to. But, hey, hitting in the upper .300s is nothing to sneeze at.
So what did I learn?
First off, as probably could be expected, a lot of the memories involve fathers. Pirates blogger Pat Lackey, for example, remembered going to a doubleheader with his father and seeing new-dad Rob Mackowiak have the day of his life. Others treasure memories of playing baseball with their children or going to their first game with them.
Secondly, the favorite memories in many (but certainly not all) cases involve actually going to games. And, again, I’m not surprised by this. Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, is one that is best when seen in person, where you can get a true feel for the crowd, take in all of the unique sights, sounds and smells, and see the shifts and strategies at work. On TV, it just isn’t the same.
Third, and connected to the second thing, a surprising amount of favorite memories had nothing to do with a team winning a championship. Oh, sure, there are some, but for many, it was comparatively small things like scrambling to get tickets to see Rick Ankiel make his position-player debut, like Daniel Moore of Viva El Birdos did, or hearing that your their favorite childhood player had just hit their first (and only) big league home run, as Joe Posnanski remembered.
But lastly, what’s great is that everybody’s favorite baseball memory is unique and personal. It’s not like a bunch of people all had the same memory (although there were a few that were close), no, everybody had something unique, with a special meaning to them. For some cases, it was because it made them fall in love with the game. For others, it was seeing or experiencing something they never had before. And still for others, it was just something special, something that can’t be duplicated and will forever stick in their minds.
In other words… they were all reasons why we love to watch baseball.
So, after all of that, want to see the responses I got? Go below the jump:
Bizarre Baseball Culture: The Shield must solve “The Ballpark Murders”
In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.
One of the main types of Superhero is the patriotic hero, wrapped in the flag, fighting crime and evil not just to protect a city, but to protect a country. The quintessential patriotic hero, of course, is Captain America. But, contrary to popular belief, he was not the first. No, that honor goes to The Shield, “G-Man Extraordinary”, who first showed up in Pep Comic #1 in January 1940. By contrast, Captain America didn’t appear until March 1941. The Shield- created by MLJ Comics (which eventually became Archie Comics)- is actually Joe Higgins, who gained his rather generic superpowers (strength, invulnerability, etc) from a chemical formula (much like, yes, Captain America eventually did).
Anyway, given his patriotic get-up, it was probably inevitable that the Shield would one day crossover with the National Pastime. And, in fact, it happened rather quickly in Pep Comics #7, which came out later in 1940. It can be found here, written by Harry Shorten and drawn by Irv Novick.
Anyway, onto the story:
We begin with the standard organized crime villains (these ones belonging to “Al Moroni”), not unlike the ones we’ve seen in plenty of previous installments of Bizarre Baseball Culture. It’s sort of weird that we don’t really ever seem to run into actual supervillains in these things, especially considering that the vast majority of these Bizarre Baseball Culture stories involve superheroes.
(JUMP for the rest of the story)
The Two Rules that Could Speed Up the Game
The biggest complaint about baseball is that it can go very, very long, and is more-or-less getting longer as batters are encouraged to work the count. But what can be done? You can’t just tell players they can’t try to work the count, for example. And to try to put a type of “shot-clock” on hitters or pitchers would never be able to get past the rules committee.
Oh, wait, in a way, they already have. The problem is that they never are enforced.
Rule 6.02 deals with hitters and states, essentially, that a batter must take their position at the plate in a prompt manner. Subrule C says that if they don’t, then… well…
(c) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batters box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out.
So, in theory, if a batter is taking too long to go into the box, he should be getting strikes called against him.
To the best of my knowledge, I have never, ever seen this called. Ever. On any level. No matter how much of a human rain delay is up.
If enforced, it would certainly make the game move faster, but the hitter is but one part of the equation. What of the pitchers? That’s where rule 8.04 comes in.
Rule 8.04 reads:
When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call Ball. The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball.
The intent of this rule is to avoid unnecessary delays. The umpire shall insist that the catcher return the ball promptly to the pitcher, and that the pitcher take his position on the rubber promptly. Obvious delay by the pitcher should instantly be penalized by the umpire.
In other words, by rule, if there are no men on, the pitcher has 12 seconds from getting the ball and the batter entering the box to throw a pitch. Otherwise, it’s a ball. Like Rule 6.02 section C, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this enforced. If I have, it must have only been once or twice.
So, why aren’t these rules ever enforced, especially since their enforcement would probably shorten the game at least a little?
The answer, more than likely, is a mix of tradition and habit. For one thing, for years baseball games moved along fine without these rules being enforced. It was only once required television breaks, working the count, and more pitching changes came around that they started to become longer and longer. For another, the fact that these haven’t been enforced means that the players don’t expect them to be- and to suddenly start enforcing them, it may be thought, could be more annoying than it is worth for the umpires.
But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try. Test out having those rules heavily enforced in a place like the Arizona Fall League or one of the rookie-level leagues. See if they make a difference. Because, if they could be put into force, baseball could speed itself up without having to change anything in the rules.
Thank You, Capitalism: Five Baseball Things You Need to Own (By Michael Clair)
And now, a special guest post by our friend Mike Clair from Old Time Family Baseball:
Sure, anyone can purchase a throwback jersey, have a wall dedicated to obscure bobbleheads, and even tattoo phrases like “TOOTBLAN” on their toot-maker (I’m talking about your butt). But in case you ever need to prove that you’re not just a baseball fan, but that you’re a tastemaker, a thought leader, and a person ready and prepared for the challenges of tomorrow, well, these are the objects you need to purchase right now.
TEAM BOOB MUG
Yes, you already have your team’s beer stein and perhaps some plastic $10 souvenir cup, but until you have your club’s logo monogrammed on a mammary, well, you’ve got nothing.
Even better, not only can you choose which team you want painted on your very own Large Boob Mug, you can also choose between an open and closed nipple. That’s Freedom. That’s America.
(via Etsy)
BASEBALL DIAPER
When creating a hybrid spawn of yourself and your significant other and/or person you met one night while staying at the Ramada Inn outside of Tulsa, it’s important that they reflect your interests.
And there’s no better way to do that than with diapers! While your newborn infant may not know how to control their bowel movements, they should at least look good while…not controlling their bowel movements.
(via eBay)
SPUDS MACKENZIE POSTER
Are you a 35-year-old man who, because of a hilarious mix-up, has to go back to college in order to claim an inheritance? Then make sure your new roommate knows what a rad baseball-loving party animal you are with this classic and chic Spuds Mackenzie poster.
(via eBay)
THE YOUPPI LISTENING EXPERIENCE
While some think th
e Expos move to Washington was a carefully executed scheme by Jeffrey Loria, the truth is actually far more sinister. It turns out that foreign spy agencies were actually forcing political prisoners to dance around in the Youppi costume while his theme song was used for sick and twisted mind control experiments. To this day, Youppi is the nuclear detonation code in some provinces.
This is all true, by the way. You just have to go to the right websites.
(via eBay)
THE MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL CASKET
Because when you’re going to rot in a hole in the ground, you may as well do it with officially licensed MLB gear.
Michael Clair runs Old Time Family Baseball. To the best of the Baseball Continuum’s knowledge, he does not actually own any of these items, but you’d have to check with him to make sure. -DG
MVP of Yesterday (May 7): Matt Harvey
Okay, Matt Harvey is the MVP of Yesterday- I mean, if not for a Alex Rios infield-hit he would have had 9 perfect innings (although who knows what may have happened in the 10th, assuming he still would have pitched, which is definitely in the air). But, well, let’s take a second to look at Harvey.
He made his debut last season, and immediately impressed, giving up only 3 hits and striking out 11 in 5.1 IP in his first game. That was a new Mets record for Ks in a debut, by the way, and when you consider that Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden and Nolan Ryan have made their debut with the Mets, you realize how impressive that is, although admittedly Ryan’s debut was in relief. While his record in 2012 ended up being an unimpressive 3-5, that hides the fact that he had an impressive 2.73 ERA and a 10.6 SO/9 that would have been the league leader if he had had enough innings to be eligible.
But this year, he really has shown his stuff. Quite frankly, while the season is still young, he must be considered the early leader for NL Cy Young (barring injury or a downturn), and is a near-certainty (assuming his rotation schedule holds up) to start for the National League in Flushing this All-Star Game. He has a microscopic 1.28 ERA that is behind only Jake Westbrook, he has the lowest WHIP and H/9 in all of MLB and he has the best WAR in all of baseball when going by Baseball Reference.
If he can keep anything like this up, by the end of the year Harvey may be the king of New York. Which doesn’t happen all that often when you are a Met.
MVP standings after the jump:
The Baseball Continuum 
