“The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love.” ~ Bryant Gumbel, Sportscaster.
Let me take this opportunity to welcome all our new subscribers to “Comments”. Thank you for joining us and I hope you enjoy the content. If you’d like to view related past posts, just click on the hyperlinks included or go to the Archives Page (for the complete library), which is hyperlinked below.
It’s again time to clean out some blog notes that I know (or at least suspect) won’t become full posts. From the number of opens and views in the site analytics, these posts are popular, and they sure do clear out pieces of papers in my notebooks and space on my iPhone. So here goes.
I’ve posted about Bobby Bonilla and his contract (CLICK HERE). Well, along that vein, here is a partial breakdown of the Cincinnati Red’s payroll for the year:
1. Joey Votto ($25M)
2. Mike Moustakas (18M) – Designated for Assignment
3. Wil Myers ($6M) - Designated for Assignment
4. Ken Griffey, Jr. ($3.6M) – Retired in 2010
5. Kevin Newman ($2.66M)
6. Luis Cessa ($2.65M) - Designated for Assignment
7. Curt Casali ($2.5M)
Money well spent for sure.
Earl Weaver was a solid and colourful manager for the Baltimore Orioles. He was known for his arguments with umpires. Here’s one of his “tamer” exchanges. (CLICK HERE for another Earl “colourful moment”)
Earl: “I’m going to check the rule book on that.”
Ump: “Here, use mine.”
Earl: “That’s no good, I can’t read braille.”
Rickey Henderson on July 5, 1993, became the first player in MLB history to leadoff both games of a double-header with a home run.
“I may not drive in 100 runs a year, but I can prevent 100 runs from scoring against us.” ~ Ozzie Smith, Hall of Fame Shortstop
Bob “Fats” Fothergill was the only player to ever pinch hit for Ty Cobb. Cobb was the player-manager of the Tigers who sent him up to the plate in his own place on May 5, 1922.
“Don Drysdale would consider an Intentional Walk as a waste of three pitches. If he wants to put you on base, he can just hit you with one pitch.” ~ Mike Shannon, former player, and announcer for the Saint Louis Cardinals
Donora, Pennsylvania had 4,781 people according to their 2010 census. They also had 6,411 Major League hits as it is the hometown of Stan Musial (3,630 – exactly 1,815 at home and on the road) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (2,781).
On May 28, 2017, Cory Burns, a pitcher for the Binghamton (New York) Rumble Ponies stumbled on the mound as he released a pitch which understandably got away from him, and the ball ended up rolling to the first base line. The batter, Josh Fuentes of the Hartford (Connecticut) Yard Goats who was at the plate, took a “practice swing” but unfortunately was still standing in the batter’s box, with a 1-2 count, the ump rung him up and it was recorded as a strike out of course. Perhaps, the worst strikeout in baseball history. Fuentes said later that he must have missed that rule in the clubhouse meeting, at least he had a sense of humour. Don’t you just love the AA team names?
On May 15, 2013, Jack Pesta, from Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford, Connecticut pitched a 7-inning perfect game while throwing a mere 56 pitches. Also rather unusual, he recorded zero strikeouts in his outing.
Our congratulations to Aaron Boone, the New York Yankee’s manager for the quickest ejection in baseball history. It occurred in the first inning on May 21, 2023, at 11:52AM EST.
No catcher ever enjoyed being on the receiving end of a knuckle ball pitcher (at least I didn’t and still don’t), but Baltimore Orioles catcher, Clint Courtney did make history on May 27, 1960, by wearing a 45-inch specially designed mitt to squat behind the plate for pitcher Hoyt Wilhelm who was one of the best knuckleballers ever.
Speaking of knuckle ball pitchers, the art is not dead. Matt Waldron, a right-handed pitcher for the San Diego Padres pitched against the Washington Nationals this past Saturday, the 24th. He pitched 4.2 innings and scattered in 13 knuckleballs, of which 7 induced swings and one resulted in a swinging strikeout. The last knuckleball pitcher, not counting position players who pitched was Mickey Jannis on June 23, 2021, who took the mound for the Orioles.
Lou Gehrig’s consecutive game streak and unfortunately his career came to an end when he played his final game on April 30,1939. The Yankees lost 3-2 to the Washington Senators and the “Iron Horse” went 0-4.
There are always “firsts” in the game of baseball. (CLICK HERE to read about another “first”). Sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw. Let’s take a look at the very first MLB Run Batted In and Run Scored. The date was April 22, 1876, in the first Opening Day game that Tim McGinley scored from third base on Jack Manning’s sacrifice fly ball in the second inning which gave the Boston Red Stockings a 1-0 lead over the host team, the Philadelphia Athletics. The final score was a Boston win 6-5.
Tony Gwynn was just an outstanding hitter. In his career he batted 69 times with runners on second and third with two outs. He NEVER struck out.
“It’s high time something was done for the pitchers. They put up the stands and take down the fences to make more home runs and plague the pitchers. Let them revive the spitter and help pitchers make a living.” ~ Casey Stengel, former player and manager, Hall of Famer. I don’t disagree with him.
If you are new to “Comments” feel free to browse the Archives for past articles. If you enjoyed this one, please click on the previous posts of this theme, “Hits and Runs”, “Hits and Runs II”, “Hits and Runs III”, and “Hits and Runs IV”.
Lastly, I would like to wish one of our most active subscribers (views, likes and comments), Mary Kay a very Happy Birthday.
Thanks for reading.
~ Coach Mike
AUTHOR’S NOTE: My Facebook account was hacked on the 16th of June. As of this posting, Facebook has not given me any indication if it is recoverable or not. I may have to create a new account and re-build. (Not a proposition that excites me.) Since I can not put this link up on my pages, I am asking you, all my loyal readers to share the post’s link on your pages. Facebook is one of my main avenues of new subscribers, your word of mouth keeps “Comments” growing. Thanks!
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So happy to see your blog today! I was afraid since your Facebook account was hacked, we would not be receiving these fun, informative and great columns. I will definitely share this on Facebook and hope to see you get a new account SOON! Miss all your posts!
Good Luck and Thank You! And, yes, Happy Birthday to our long time friend, Mary K.
Thank you👍