During WWII, as the nation entered a hysteria after the Pearl Harbor attacks, Americans of Japanese descent were rounded up and moved into internment camps. One of the great shames of American history, the internees none-the-less formed communities inside the camps- and that included creating baseball teams, as can be seen in this famous photo by Ansel Adams, which I found on the Library of Congress feed on Flickr.
From Lefty Gomez, an underrated source of baseball quotes:
“The secret of my success was clean living and a fast outfield.”
Matt Kemp visited a disabled Dodgers fan after a Giants-Dodgers game last weekend and signed a ball for him.
And gave him his hat.
And his jersey.
And his cleats.
Yesterday’s MVP was Stephen Drew (beating out, amongst others, Andrelton Simmons), who went 4-5 with a HR and 3 RBIs, including the game-winning double in extra innings.
MVP Standings (after jump):
Bob Uecker:
The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then to pick it up.
Justin Verlander may have had a no-hitter through seven, but Yu Darvish struck out 14 and gave up only 4 hits (although two of them were homers) as he got the tough-luck no-decision against the Red Sox yesterday.
Darvish is having quite the year in his second season in North America and is an early Cy Young contender, and already has 72 strikeouts this season. By comparison, second place for strikeouts in the AL is Max Scherzer… with 54.
MVP Standings after the jump:
Bill Veeck:
If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can’t get you off.
Continuum Global News has been delayed until the First Anniversary Spectacular this Wednesday. In it’s stead, here is a cool link.
The Hall of Fame is opening an exhibit about scouting, which is neat. But even cooler is that they’ve started a website that has a searchable database of old scouting reports! While there aren’t that many for more recent players (you won’t find any scouting reports for Buster Posey, for example), it’s full of stuff for older players.
Here are some neat ones I’ve found:
A 1985 scouting report of the Cubs’ affiliate in Peoria: Rafael Palmeiro hits well to all fields, but Greg Maddux is not strong enough to be a starter, according to Duffy Dyer.
Orioles scout John Stokoe discusses Mariano Rivera, who he notes threw a rain-shortened no-hitter against Rochester and who he is impressed with. However, he notes that Rivera doesn’t really have any off-speed pitches, and would need one for future success. Turns out he didn’t need a true off-speed pitch. Much like everyone else, Stokoe never sees the cutter coming.
Mariners scouting report declares Alex Rodriguez is “similar to Jeter only bigger and better.”
Satchel Paige‘s faults in 1956? Too old. In 1958, a scouting report on him has “?” for age.
The Royals scout a young amateur Jim Thome… who was a shortstop at the time. Let that sink in. Jim Thome… was a shortstop. Oh, on a similar note, Frank Robinson was a 3B, and Joe Nathan was being scouted as a shortstop.
Mark McGwire pitched a bit in High School, had a body like Dave Kingman and his father was a dentist, according to a 1984 scouting report by Boston scout Joe Stephenson.
And that is just scratching the surface of what this site has… check it out.
The Baseball Continuum 