Tag Archives: baseball

BIZARRE BASEBALL CULTURE- The Time That Bullseye had a 2-issue Baseball Miniseries

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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 things you realize when you think about superhero fiction too hard is that a lot of the criminals could probably become rich using their technology or skills in more legal pursuits. For example, find the right quiz show for the Riddler, and he’s rolling in dough. Captain Cold or Mister Freeze could easily make a mint if they applied their freeze-weapons toward something like refrigeration. Heck, even the people who write the comics know this, and in the 1980s they turned Lex Luthor from a supergenius with lots of high-tech inventions into a corrupt supergenius billionaire superexecutive who had made his money from his many high-tech inventions.

Which leads me to Bullseye. Bullseye’s a Daredevil villain, created by Marv Wolfman and John Romita Sr. in the 1976 and perfected by Frank Miller in his run on Daredevil’s comic book. Bullseye’s entire shtick is that he basically has perfect killer accuracy with basically everything, even harmless stuff like playing cards. He’s arguably Daredevil’s second-greatest foe (after the Kingpin), and is directly or indirectly responsible for the death of at least two of Daredevil’s girlfriends (only one of whom got better).

But, still, that shtick with the accuracy, wouldn’t you think he could make a great pitcher?

Well, there was a 2-part miniseries at the turn of this decade that basically grabbed a hold of that idea and ran with it… Bullseye: Perfect Game.

It’s a surprisingly good short look at obsession and perfection, with some nice easter eggs for fans of baseball and of comics and a great ending that I’m sort of bummed out I’ll spoil in my summary…. BELOW THE JUMP:

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OOTP International Baseball Competition Part 8: Week 7 includes more USA-DR action!

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Throughout the year, I’ll be posting updates of a simulated league from Out Of The Park Baseball 2016 made up of national “dream teams” to determine what the greatest baseball country on Earth is… or something like that. Previous installments can be found here. This is a long post, so there is a JUMP after the first day. A glossary of storyline characters can be looked at here. Also, hit any picture to make it bigger and more readable.

May 11

Week 7 of the IBC began in Taiwan, where Venezuela was playing the Taiwanese. Taiwan had won the opening game of the series, and they’d win the second game too, 4-2. The two teams now had identical 23-15 records.

Later, the Dutch were able to tie their series with Japan with a 4-2 victory. However, veteran outfielder Andruw Jones was injured during the game, and the Dutch could only hold their breath waiting for a diagnosis.

And then… in the Western Hemisphere, there was another showdown between the baseball superpowers: USA at Dominican. It’d be Matt Harvey (4-1, 3.38) vs. Francisco Liriano (5-0, 3.05). And everyone was hyped.

At least, that was the hope. Some bad weather was going through the Caribbean, and the game in Puerto Rico between them and the South Koreans had already been delayed:

Screen Shot 2015-05-14 at 1.14.34 PMCoincidentally, Joe Maddon ran into Pedro Martinez during workouts that day under cloudy skies.

“Hey, Joe, think the game will happen?” asked Pedro.

Joe Maddon then entered into a sprawling explanation of weather systems, how rain forms, wind patterns and the differences between various forecasting models… before basically saying he had no idea.

So, go figure, by the time the game started, it was clear skies and a nice 80 degrees Fahrenheit, just in time for Matt Carpenter, Giancarlo Stanton and Andrew McCutchen to go down 1-2-3 against Liriano. Harvey was able to work around a lead-off walk to Carlos Gomez to similarly put down the Dominican in the bottom half.

That was a omen of things to come, as neither pitcher would let a run across, although both teams would threaten at one point or another. It wasn’t helping that the wind was blowing in: a would-be dinger from Stanton instead fell into the waiting glove of Carlos Gomez in the top of the 6th, for example.

That could possibly prove costly, as a Adrian Beltre single in the bottom of the 6th- made possible because of a Buster Posey passed ball on what should have been a inning-ending strikeout of Nelson Cruz- put the Dominican up 1-0. And then Edwin Encarnacion was able to bust it open with a 3-run home run, making it 4-0.

And Liriano continued to dominate, ending up going 7.1 IP with 3 hits allowed and 12 strikeouts. Harvey, meanwhile, was replaced after the 7th inning… he’d given up 8 hits, had struck out six, and given up 4 runs… none of them earned due to Buster Posey’s passed ball allowing the Dominican to open the flood gates.

Perhaps to put an exclamation point on how big that one passed ball proved to be, it was Posey who would be the last out, as the Dominican won 4-0.

In other action:

  • Jorge Cortes homered for Panama in a 2-0 victory over Italy.
  • Alfredo Despaigne and Yulieski Gourriel both homered in Cuba’s 5-2 win over Colombia.
  • Mexico steamrolled Australia, 12-1.
  • A late Canadian rally was way too little, way too late, as Team Rest-Of-World beat them 9-5.

(GO BELOW THE JUMP FOR MORE)

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My Votes for the “Franchise Fours” (with one exception that you’ll see at Hall of Very Good)

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Tomorrow is the last day to vote for the “Franchise Four”, where you can vote on Mt. Rushmores of each franchise.

I, needless to say, have opinions on ALL of them (no write-ins allowed for the purposes of this article), and you’ll see them below, with one exception: I’m saving my picks for the Greatest Living Ballplayers for my next piece at “Hall of Very Good.”

So, this is a long post, so go below the jump for more:

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100 Years Ago Today: Babe Ruth’s First HR… it was, needless to say, a different time.

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It’s says something about how old baseball is that we can hold centennials for home runs. As in, individual home runs. Such as the case of today, where we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first of Babe Ruth‘s 714 home runs, which he hit May 6, 1915 at the Polo Grounds against the Yankees. He also made his first error that day, but that presumably won’t be commemorated. It wasn’t much noticed at the time- a cursory look at SABR’s online Sporting News doesn’t bring up anything (although certainly that doesn’t mean it isn’t there).

Perhaps that was because Ruth was, of course, a pitcher at the time. And on that day, he went all 12.1 innings of the game before finally he gave up the game-winning run in the 4-3 loss in 13 innings. He went 3-5 at the plate that day, though, moving his batting average to .417 on the season- he would end up hitting .315 on the year in 92 ABs.

It was, needless to say, a different time:

  • The career HR leader was Roger Connor, with 138.
  • The single-season HR leader was Ned Williamson, who had hit 27 for Chicago in 1884. Gavvy Cravath would give chase to that in 1915 with 24 HRs.
  • The active HR leader was Honus Wagner, who had 94 at the time.
  • Ruth’s 4 HRs in 1915 were good enough for being tied for 9th in the AL.
  • Shoeless Joe Jackson would take the career and active leads in slugging percentage in 1915 and finish the season with a career total of .527- his career would end with it at .517. By comparison, Babe Ruth’s final career slugging percentage would be .690, a record he still holds to this day.
  • The highest career WAR at the time- and this was long, long, LONG before WAR was a statistic- was 168.4, held by Cy Young. Babe Ruth’s career WAR, still a record, ended up being 183.6.
  • The highest career position player WAR at the end of 1915 was Wagner, with 128.5. Ruth would end his career with 163.1, still a record (Barry Bonds is second at 162.4).
  • Ruth would win 18 games in 1915, good enough for being tied for 9th in the AL that season. It would have tied him for the most wins in the AL in 2014.
  • Ruth ended up throwing 217.2 IP in 1915, which wasn’t anywhere good enough for a top 10 finish in the AL that season (the 10th place man that year, Jean Dubuc, had thrown 258 innings) … but it would have been good for 8th in 2014!
  • On the flip-side, his 4.631 SO/9, which was good for 8th in the AL in 1915, would be nowhere near the top 10 in 2014, where, for comparison, the 8th best (Drew Hutchison) had 8.968 SO/9.
  • The man who Ruth hit his first HR (and, coincidentally, his second) off of was Jack Warhop, who would give up seven that year- tied for the most in the AL. By comparison, the player gave up the most HRs in the AL in 2014 was Hector Noesi, with 28.
  • The consecutive games played streak was held by George Pinkney, at 577. Ruth’s teammate that day, Everett Scott, would on June 20, 1916 begin a streak of 1,307 games. Wally Pipp, who Ruth would hold to 1-6 with a strikeout on this day 100 years ago, would later go on to have a fairly long consecutive game streak of his own, only to be replaced one day by a man named Lou Gehrig, who would break Scott’s record.
  • The Yankees had won a grand total of zero World Series titles.
  • The team with the most World Series titles at the time was the Athletics, with three. The Red Sox would tie that when they won the World Series that year.
  • Hank Aaron had not yet been born. Josh Gibson was three. Lou Gehrig was 11. Guy Bush, who would give up Ruth’s 714th HR (and his 713th, by the way), was 13.
  • The Cubs had won two World Series. That, as we know, is still their number. The more things change, the more things stay the same.

 

 

OOTP International Baseball Competition Part 7

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Throughout the year, I’ll be posting updates of a simulated league from Out Of The Park Baseball 2016 made up of national “dream teams” to determine what the greatest baseball country on Earth is… or something like that. Previous installments can be found here. This is a long post, so there is a JUMP after the first day. A glossary of storyline characters can be looked at here. Also, hit any picture to make it bigger and more readable.

May 4th

Week 6 would begin in Asia with a game between Taiwan and the visiting Korean team. And the home crowd went home happy, as the Taiwanese won 8-4. Cheng-Ming Peng homered in the win.

Later, Japan hosted Mexico. Both Chihiro Kaneko and Jaime Garcia pitched well in the starts, but Japan was able to get to Garcia and the Mexican bullpen for three runs in the 8th to pull out a 5-2 win.

In San Juan, Joe Maddon awoke. He had not been visited by Babe Ruth’s ghost the previous night, but he was still wary. However, it was Star Wars Day (“May The Fourth Be With You”), so he instead decided he’d get his mind off of the spectral slugger by having a team-bonding activity by having everybody dress up in Jedi robes. It’d be hilarious.

In the earlier games in the hemisphere, though, things were hilariously crazy. Colombia, for example, at one point led Canada 10-1 after 4-and-a-half innings, only to ultimately lose 12-11:

Screen Shot 2015-04-26 at 2.45.15 PMAnd the Dominican utterly destroyed Panama, 23-3:

Screen Shot 2015-04-26 at 2.47.45 PMBy the time of first pitch in Puerto Rico, the internet had seen the viral sensation of seeing Team USA in Jedi Robes, and, in fact, the force proved strong for the Americans, as Team USA beat Puerto Rico 10-1 in 8 innings, with the game being called in the 9th due to bad weather that mercifully ended the slaughter. Mike Trout hit two HRs, and Giancarlo Stanton, Matt Kemp, and Jimmy Rollins also homered.

The Venezuelans beat the Netherlands 4-2, as the Dutch- once one of the last teams to be defeated during the season- fell to 14-18.

In Cuba, Yasiel Puig homered twice and Yulieski Gourriel also homered, and Raisel Iglesias had 12 Ks in a 8-hit shutout, as Cuba defeated Australia 11-0. Ned Kelly O’Shaughessy drank a lot of rum in response to this.

Finally, Yan Gomes hit his second HR of the season as Team Rest-Of-World beat Italy, 9-3.

MORE BELOW THE JUMP.

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OOTP International Baseball Competition Part 6: No-Hitter?

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Throughout the year, I’ll be posting updates of a simulated league from Out Of The Park Baseball 2016 made up of national “dream teams” to determine what the greatest baseball country on Earth is… or something like that. Previous installments can be found here. This is a long post, so there is a JUMP after the first day. Also, hit any picture to make it bigger and more readable.

April 27

Team USA manager Joe Maddon spoke to his team in the visitor’s locker room of Jamsil Stadium:

“Gentleman, Americans, lend me your ears,” he said, as bench coach Buck Showalter sat silently, “We have played extremely well so far. We have gone 22-2, including games against some quality opponents.”

He paused for a second, “But we are about to enter one of the toughest parts of our schedule. Every game we have from now until May 13 is against a team that is .500 or very close to it. Korea, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Japan, the Dominican. So… go out there and make your country proud.”

He decided not to mention the whole “Babe Ruth ghost” thing.

And so, at 5:05 AM on the East Coast of the USA, Team USA took the field against Korea, a Kershaw-Ryu matchup.

In the top of the second, it looked like Team USA would score. Trout was HBP, Goldschmidt walked. Posey infield-flied, but then Ryu let loose a wild pitch against Tulowitzki that moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd. But then, Tulowitzki flew out to mid-shallow center, and Yong-Kyu Lee was able to unleash a tremendous throw in to get the tagging-up Mike Trout at the plate for the rare 8-2 double-play to end the inning.

And after that, the game was a pitching duel…. until the bottom of the 6th, when Dae-Ho Lee took advantage of a controversial HBP call that allowed Hyun-soo Kim to get to first by hitting a 2-run home run off of Kershaw to make it 2-0. Ho-Joon Lee then got a hit, then got to second after an equally controversial balk call, allowing him to score and make it 3-0 when Jung-Ho Kang was able to bounce one into left. A Jeong Choi double later, and it was 4-0, and Kershaw was yanked for Steve Cishek.

Team USA would score a run in the top of the 7th, but that would be all they’d get, as Korea pulled off the 4-1 win. Hyun-Jin Ryu was named the player of the game for his 7 innings of 5-hit ball.

But perhaps, Joe Maddon mused, they should have given the player of the game to Babe Ruth’s ghost. After all, Team USA had lost two of the three games it had played since he’d first shown up.

The other game in Asia that day was Netherlands at Taiwan, and the Dutch continued to struggle, falling 7-6 despite a HR from Wladimir Balentien.

 

As morning broke in the Western Hemisphere, news already came up that the Mexico-Venezuela game would not be played due to a forecast of bad weather in Caracas:

Screen Shot 2015-04-17 at 2.21.09 PMIn Toronto, where weather is no worry thanks to the dome, the Canadians beat Australia 5-2. That was just the start of the bad news for Australia, though, as David Kandilas got hurt in the field and suffered a 2-week elbow contusion and Justin Huber bruised his elbow and would also be out for 2 weeks. In face of this news, Ned Kelly O’Shaughessy ordered a Molson and a Labatt, then poured them both together and mixed them, and then drank. A lot.

The Panama-Puerto Rico game had a short delay in the second inning due to rain, but it didn’t stop the home team Puerto Ricans from beating Panama 12-5 as Carlos Beltran went 3-4 with 2 RBIs.

The night games would be an eclectic mix: Italy and Colombia would be a match-up between two of the teams with the worst records in the league, Japan and Cuba would be a match-up between two of the best. And Dominican-Rest of the World looked like it could be a massive rout.

The Italy-Colombia game, in Colombia, was won by Italy, 7-4, moving them to 3-22 on the year and tying them with Colombia in the standings. Mario Chiarini homered.

Japan beat Cuba 6-3 in Havana, as Seiichi Uchikawa went 2-5 with a triple and a homer, racking up 4 RBIs. Yoshio Itoi also homered, while Masahiro Tanaka went 8 innings.

And, finally, the Dominican hit five home runs as they routed Rest-Of-The-World, 9-3.

GO BELOW THE JUMP FOR MORE:

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Recurring Characters of the OOTP International Baseball Competition

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Many of you have likely been following the International Baseball Competition here, in which I simulate a season-long World Baseball Classic-style competition between national baseball teams and also add in some storylines and cast of characters to spice things up. But if you haven’t read all of them, or simply are having trouble remembering, there’s a rundown of some of the cast of characters after the jump. It will be updated occasionally as the IBC season goes on:

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OOTP International Baseball Competition Part 5: The Haunting of Joe Maddon by the Bambino George H. Ruth

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Throughout the year, I’ll be posting updates of a simulated league from Out Of The Park Baseball 2016 made up of national “dream teams” to determine what the greatest baseball country on Earth is… or something like that. Previous installments can be found here. This is a long post, so there is a JUMP after the first day. Also, hit any picture to make it bigger and more readable.

April 20

Another week of IBC action also began a new set of series: Panama at Korea, USA at Taiwan, Dominican at Colombia, Mexico at Netherlands, Australia at Italy, Cuba at Venezuela, Japan at Canada and Puerto Rico at Rest-Of-World.

Korea started the action with a 9-1 win over Panama, taking advantage of an 8-run 4th inning.

In Taiwan, Team USA again steamrolled a hapless opponent, routing Taiwan 13-0 with home runs by Matt Kemp (his 5th) and Paul Goldschmidt (his 3rd) along the way with Matt Harvey going 8.1 IP with 8 Ks and only 6 hits given up. Late in the game, Joe Maddon sent Josh Donaldson up to pinch-hit for Evan Longoria, “just so that I have something to do today.” He also put in Sean Doolittle to end the game after Harvey hit his pitch-count.

Nelson Cruz homered twice and Adrian Beltre and Starling Marte also hit round-trippers in a 11-1 Dominican win over Colombia, but Jose Bautista had to leave the game after getting hit by a pitch. His diagnosis was pending.

The Netherlands’ funk continued, as they lost to Mexico, 4-2. After beginning the season 9-0,  the Dutch had gone 4-6.

In Nettuno, the Italians found themselves down to the Australian, 5-4, going into the bottom of the 9th. Three Grant Balfour strikeouts later, and it was over. Ned Kelly O’Shaughessy, of course, celebrated by drinking some of the local wine.

Later, in the Western Hemisphere, Jhoulys Chacin had a heck of a game as Venezuela beat Cuba 8-0, giving up only 4 hits over seven innings of work.

Up in Toronto, the Canadians upset Japan, 3-1, on the strength of a 2-run HR by Justin Morneau in the first inning and a nice performance by Shawn Hill and the Canadian bullpen.

A 3-run 8th by Team Rest-Of-World tied up the game with Puerto Rico at 3-3…. and that would be all until the bottom of the 10ths, where Jonathan Albaladejo walked Jabari Blash with the bases loaded for a walk-off walk and a 4-3 Rest-Of-World victory. Edwin Rodriguez could be seen with his face in his palm as the winning run walked across the plate. What a way to go.

(GO BELOW THE JUMP FOR MORE)

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There was a baseball reference on Arrow tonight….

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20150415_213952You may have trouble seeing it in my crummy phone camera picture there, but it says up there that the evil laser-eye-shooting killer from tonight’s episode of Arrow was last seen at Gantner and Yount.

Obviously, somebody in the Arrow writing room is a fan of the Brewers teams of the 1980s.

(Also, a requisite link to the Green Arrow installment of Bizarre Baseball Culture.)

 

 

On the Red Sox-Yankees 19-inning marathon

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It’s all my fault. Sometime late in the 6th inning, I wrote this:

God, I was so stupid. Because I then went and watched the first episode of Daredevil, and when that was over, we turned to ABC WHAM-13 (which the Yankee game was simulcasting on here in Rochester) expecting to see the end of the news. And not only was the game on and in extra innings, they were in a blackout delay because of some problems with the lights.

  And when they did start again, the game went on, and on… and on…

David Ortiz hit a home run, but the Yankees then tied it up. The game went to the 17th inning.

 

Some began to lose it:

Other became philosophical:

Some tried to look towards survival:

But, eventually, it finally ended:

What do we do, indeed. Oh, and kudos to Dutch actress Clarice Van Houten (AKA Melisandre from Game of Thrones), who proved her Honkbal cred by staying for the entire game:

And now…maybe, we can go to sleep.

 

NAAAAAAHHHH, more games start today at one! We can sleep during the off-season!