o_O
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 7 April 2020 18:33 (four years ago) link
No dad jokes on the obit thread?
I was going to say he was one of the few players of his caliber where it could be argued his best season was his first full one, but his age 20 season (didn’t turn 21 til December of that year) was actually his second full one.
― omar little, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 00:53 (four years ago) link
no, it was solid
tbf, he made 18 all-star games, so *someone* recognized he was good
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 01:45 (four years ago) link
I quoted the battery line on Facebook!
― clemenza, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 02:22 (four years ago) link
Kaline was definitely highly thought of by other players. All-Star voting wasn't handed over to fans until 1970; I assume all those AS appearances were voted on by players?
― clemenza, Wednesday, 8 April 2020 02:26 (four years ago) link
Brooks Robinson said he was the best he played against
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 11:18 (four years ago) link
gen believed he forsook some power for average and walks
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/remembering-al-kaline-mr-tiger-1934-2020/
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 8 April 2020 11:57 (four years ago) link
Al Kaline’s family put a “regular” obit in the Sunday @freep. By blending in, it’s an example of how one-of-a-kind he really was. pic.twitter.com/CR7ej9aZAT— Matt Friedman (@mattfrieds) April 12, 2020
― Andy K, Sunday, 12 April 2020 16:06 (four years ago) link
Glenn Beckert:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/former-chicago-cubs-star-glenn-beckert-dies/
One of those random stats that will stick in my mind forever: he hit .340 one year, when Rod Carew was the only second baseman who did that. (Okay, I checked--.342.)
― clemenza, Monday, 13 April 2020 00:49 (four years ago) link
hank steinbrenner, 63, non-covid-related
https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/hank-steinbrenner-yankees-co-owner-dead-at-63/
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 14:59 (four years ago) link
jim frey, 88
https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/04/14/former-royals-cubs-manager-jim-frey-dies-at-88
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 14 April 2020 18:50 (four years ago) link
Within a few months of Tony Fernandez, Dámaso García.
http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/04/15/long-time-blue-jays-infielder-damaso-garcia-dies/
― clemenza, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 18:30 (four years ago) link
RIP I remember being super bummed as a 9 or 10-yr old when he was included in that Chambliss trade
And being down on Rick Cerone
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 21:40 (four years ago) link
Steve Dalkowski, a wild left-hander who was said to have been dubbed "the fastest pitcher in baseball history" by Ted Williams, died this week in New Britain, Connecticut. He was 80.Dalkowski, who once struck out 24 batters in a minor league game -- and walked 18 -- never made it to the big leagues.Writer-director Ron Shelton, who spent five years in the Orioles farm system, heard about Dalkowski's exploits and based the character Nuke Laloosh in 'Bull Durham' on the pitcher.
Dalkowski, who once struck out 24 batters in a minor league game -- and walked 18 -- never made it to the big leagues.
Writer-director Ron Shelton, who spent five years in the Orioles farm system, heard about Dalkowski's exploits and based the character Nuke Laloosh in 'Bull Durham' on the pitcher.
― mookieproof, Friday, 24 April 2020 18:31 (three years ago) link
The A's are mourning the loss of former Athletic minor leaguer Miguel Marte, who passed away earlier this week due to complications from COVID-19. Marte played in the A's system from 2008-2012. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.https://t.co/PV7UEuAuvL pic.twitter.com/mVeLdOUciU— Oakland A's (@Athletics) May 1, 2020
― mookieproof, Friday, 1 May 2020 19:41 (three years ago) link
journeyman Matt Keough, AL All-Star as a rookie in 1978 & was selected AL Comeback Player of the Year in 1980, both for the A's.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Sunday, 3 May 2020 23:39 (three years ago) link
Tonight my dad and hero Bob Watson has passed away after a long fight with kidney disease.. #Astros #Yankees #RedSox #Braves #Athletics #USABAseball #MLB #1stBlackGM pic.twitter.com/obKe1mwJYc— K Dubb (@TheReal_KDubb) May 15, 2020
― Andy K, Friday, 15 May 2020 12:45 (three years ago) link
Understand that I realize why, but Watson was the very definition of what James called "the RBI guy with mystique," something you can't have in the era of analytics.
― clemenza, Friday, 15 May 2020 15:10 (three years ago) link
http://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/arizona-diamondbacks-player-wife-dead-spt-trnd/index.html
― clemenza, Tuesday, 19 May 2020 18:54 (three years ago) link
biff pocoroba, 66
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 27 May 2020 19:37 (three years ago) link
Not sure where to post this, but this is a must read (and pretty devastating):
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29224260/inside-roy-halladay-struggle-pain-addiction
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Thursday, 28 May 2020 22:25 (three years ago) link
Sad MLB news. Claudell Washington passed away this AM...— Full Dissident (@hbryant42) June 10, 2020
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 10 June 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
Wasn't he basically the star of the team for a season after Finley got rid of everyone or they cleared out?
― clemenza, Wednesday, 10 June 2020 18:40 (three years ago) link
Checked, and no--he was gone by '77 himself, and in '76, Tenace, Campanaris, Bando, Rudi, and North were still there. Really, only Jackson, Hunter, and Holtzman were gone.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 10 June 2020 18:45 (three years ago) link
he had a very nice age-20 season, which was before my time. i only remember him with the barves
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 10 June 2020 18:49 (three years ago) link
a linchpin of the 1980 Mets
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 10 June 2020 19:11 (three years ago) link
I seem to remember Claudell Washington making an unbelievable catch when he was with the Braves where at full speed goes up the wall catches the ball then goes over the wall. To my memory, it was in the part of the wall back at the old Braves stadium when the walls were like plexiglass and visible through them, so in the clip you see him falling behind the wall.
Looked and could not find the clip, but I seem to remember it being in one of those "best all time catch" clips you would see back in the 80s.
― earlnash, Thursday, 11 June 2020 00:25 (three years ago) link
1967 NL cy young winner mike mccormick, 81
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 16 June 2020 16:49 (three years ago) link
Mike Ryan
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29442904/former-catcher-long-coach-mike-ryan-dies-78
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 12 July 2020 12:09 (three years ago) link
Heartbroken today with the news of Tony Taylor’s passing. To me, he was more than a former teammate... he was my best friend and one of finest human beings on the planet pic.twitter.com/enXxCvzu1k— Dick Allen (@DickAllen_15) July 16, 2020
― mookieproof, Thursday, 16 July 2020 17:25 (three years ago) link
Earlier this week, Johan Maya welcomed his pregnant wife home after she recovered from COVID-19. Then the Diamondbacks scout got sick. He died on Thursday, leaving a hole in the baseball community.With @jakemkaplan:https://t.co/N2ZvRkjU7F— Zach Buchanan (@ZHBuchanan) July 24, 2020
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 25 July 2020 13:46 (three years ago) link
by all accounts a good guy, was in minor league baseball forever
Awful news. Longtime MiLB owner Lou Schwechheimer, currently owner of the new AAA club in Wichita has passed away from the novel coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/KO6LGeFjWJ— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) July 29, 2020
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 29 July 2020 20:57 (three years ago) link
John McNamara
https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/07/29/former-red-sox-manager-john-mcnamara-dies-at-88/
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 30 July 2020 14:32 (three years ago) link
avatar of a blessedly crap Yankees era
Column: RIP Horace Clarke, who unwittingly lent his name to an era of #Yankees futility but never let a terrible case of bad timing alter the fact that he loved his life and cherished his memories. https://t.co/Sf96AGGvGv— Mike Vaccaro (@MikeVacc) August 6, 2020
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 August 2020 20:24 (three years ago) link
:(
― singular wolf erotica producer (Hadrian VIII), Friday, 7 August 2020 21:01 (three years ago) link
tom seaver
― mookieproof, Thursday, 3 September 2020 00:57 (three years ago) link
:( rip
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 3 September 2020 01:05 (three years ago) link
paul giamatti's dad waxes hardcore rhapsodic on seaver after the mets traded him: https://harpers.org/archive/1977/09/tom-seavers-farewell
― mookieproof, Thursday, 3 September 2020 15:26 (three years ago) link
this is pretty cool
Every Mets player has dirt on their right knee as a tribute to Tom Seaver, who’s knee would hit the ground as a result of his delivery 🧡 pic.twitter.com/3QkXueO8di— SI MLB (@si_mlb) September 3, 2020
― mookieproof, Thursday, 3 September 2020 22:02 (three years ago) link
Nice tweets from Palmer ("Baseball lost the best pitcher of my era") and Jenkins. One of my favourite SI covers:
http://phildellio.tripod.com/toughest.jpg
― clemenza, Friday, 4 September 2020 03:10 (three years ago) link
Mr Baseball to me
His beginnings:
https://mcusercontent.com/70117f7e29064e68418377637/files/9ac95a1f-1d62-433b-8de2-44f0e9716a50/20073_Seaver_Beginning.pdf
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 5 September 2020 13:38 (three years ago) link
RIP Jay Johnstone, who played for 8 teams in his 20-yr #MLB career (1966-1985). A excellent PH & role player, Johnstone was one of baseball's great pranksters & fan favorite. He was 74. His @sabr bio https://t.co/a82uL7ta16 pic.twitter.com/81At5sLOu4— SABR BioProject (@SABRbioproject) September 28, 2020
― mookieproof, Monday, 28 September 2020 19:25 (three years ago) link
Bob Gibson
RIP to a real one
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 3 October 2020 04:00 (three years ago) link
damn, within a couple weeks of lou brock, too.
RIP Bob Gibson. :(
― idkwtf (Karl Malone), Saturday, 3 October 2020 04:06 (three years ago) link
One of the two times I was in Cooperstown, he was on the street signing autographs--not near anything, just sitting there on his own. I remembered reading something where he wished fans would just shake his hand instead of asking for autographs, so, very proud of myself, that's what I did, walked up and asked to shake his hand--not thinking that there might be a difference between signing for money and getting interrupted in a restaurant and signing. He put out his hand, half looked away, and gave me the deadest handshake in the history of handshakes.
I view it as a funny, embarrassing story. I in no way stopped being a fan or anything. I cut major slack for any African-American player who came up through the '50s.
― clemenza, Saturday, 3 October 2020 04:33 (three years ago) link
World moves on...sad to see them go.
I remember Jay Johnstone having some big pinch hits for the Cubs back in 84.
― earlnash, Saturday, 3 October 2020 05:11 (three years ago) link
I dunno, clem, I don't think Ernie Banks or Buck O'Neil would've done that.
The Roger Angell profile of Gibson I posted two weeks ago:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1980/09/22/distance
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 3 October 2020 14:35 (three years ago) link
They wouldn't have, no, but I understand both reactions. The whole signing business--I'm not part of that world, but my collector friend is immersed in it, so I hear all his stories--is bizarre.
― clemenza, Saturday, 3 October 2020 15:34 (three years ago) link
In my telling, Gibby watched a nine-pitcher shutout in October and decided he’d seen enough.— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) October 3, 2020
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 3 October 2020 22:56 (three years ago) link
Wow. Also a close friend of Bouton's (or at least was described that way in Ball Four). If you don't know about the notorious part, look him up!
― clemenza, Saturday, 13 April 2024 19:11 (one week ago) link
"I always did my best work when I was scared stiff. In fact, if I'm not scared for a game I'll create some critical situations in my mind. Like, I'll pretend it's a World Series game and that it really counts big. I told Fritz Peterson about how I felt about being scared and one day before I was going to start a game he came over and whispered in my ear: 'If you want to see your baby again you'll win today.'"
-- Ball Four
― clemenza, Sunday, 14 April 2024 00:51 (one week ago) link
despite peterson’s notoriety, i was not expecting to receive a new york times push notification about his death
― mookieproof, Sunday, 14 April 2024 05:46 (one week ago) link
if we're going by ny baseball fan importance jerry grote (rip) way more notable than sex freakazoid peterson, his nice run with the non-competitive yankee clubs not withstanding
― buzza, Sunday, 14 April 2024 08:44 (one week ago) link
When Kenny Holtzman was a rookie in 1966, his start against Sandy Koufax was a big event for many of us — two Jewish left-handers going head-to-head a day after observing Yom Kippur. Holtzman pitched eight no-hit innings and the Cubs beat the Dodgers 2-1 at Wrigley Field. RIP. https://t.co/ahs4DJbn5V pic.twitter.com/IwDT6LI1uK— Mark Potash (@MarkPotash) April 15, 2024
― j.q higgins, Monday, 15 April 2024 23:34 (one week ago) link
Just heard about this from a friend. Kind of overshadowed on the A's dynasty by Hunter, Blue, and Fingers.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 01:35 (one week ago) link
When I was growing up, they would always show those retrospective programs covering the World series and they always showed ones from the Athletics dynasty. Holtzman was one of the singular guys I remembered, and growing up he loomed larger in legend for me than almost anyone from those teams outside of Reggie. When you look at his statistics, it's kind of unbelievable he never received a single Cy Young vote.
― omar little, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 01:47 (one week ago) link
https://i.postimg.cc/gJNYQhwk/kevin.jpg
Don't remember him at all.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 03:51 (one week ago) link
Holtzman won game 7 of the 73 series versus the Mets, hit a double and scored a run. I'll never not miss pitchers batting, yes I'm old. Also, very good Grid choice because of brief and mostly forgotten Orioles and Yankees years.
― buzza, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 04:32 (one week ago) link
I didn't know that Holtzman played for the '77 and '78 Yankees, he won five WS rings! And yeah, it's surprising that he never got a CY vote with those pitching lines, but then again it's not surprising considering his competition on those WS winning teams.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 05:15 (one week ago) link
Happy trails Whitey Herzog
― Its big ball chunky time (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 16 April 2024 15:58 (one week ago) link
My first thought was that he was one of the very last autocratic old-school managers, but he retired in 1990, so I guess there were a number of them still around.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 16:15 (one week ago) link
ESPN: "A crew-cut, pot-bellied tobacco chewer who had no patience for the 'buddy-buddy' school of management..."
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 16:19 (one week ago) link
The Dodgers mourn the passing of one of the team’s all-time greats, Carl Erskine, at the age of 97. Carl was an All-Star, a World Series Champion, a true ally to Jackie Robinson and more in the pursuit of equality, and a pioneering advocate for those with special needs, inspired… pic.twitter.com/1MPNDnz9HR— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 16, 2024
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 21:53 (one week ago) link
Seems apropos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RUIeX6UCT8
― clemenza, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 22:00 (one week ago) link
Don't think I knew this (from Posnanski's obit):
In a nine-day span in June of 1949, the New York Yankees signed two 17-year-old prospects from the Midwest; one a shortstop out of a town called Commerce and the other an outfielder from a place called Belleville. The Yankees gave each of them a $1,500 signing bonus and something to dream about.
The shortstop was a kid named Mickey Mantle.
The outfielder was Rellie Herzog. Well, Rellie was a nickname. His full name was Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog. A few months later, while playing in an Oklahoma town called McAlester, a local sportscaster noticed his light hair and gave him a new nickname.
And that’s how he became Whitey Herzog.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 17:07 (six days ago) link
Whitey was one of the first non-Cubs managers I remember making an impression (along w/Earl Weaver and Billy Martin.) i'm pretty sure i thought he was about 70 in the '80s, he just looked like one of those old-time lifers. which he was, he just wasn't as old-time as i thought. i feel like the tobacco chaw no BS guys are few and far between these days, the guys who look like they've been through some shit already. Clint Hurdle was a recent-ish one i guess.
― omar little, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 17:12 (six days ago) link
They're extinct--just doesn't work with guys making this much money. Which is good; having played for such coaches when I was younger, it's a way of behaving that should be extinct.
Having said that, when I see something like this, some irrational nostalgia for the Herzog/Weaver/Martin style of managing lingers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuT2PMNQ54
― clemenza, Wednesday, 17 April 2024 17:22 (six days ago) link
journeyman dave mccarty, 54
― mookieproof, Sunday, 21 April 2024 00:14 (two days ago) link