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
They changed the rules of baseball to stop Bob Gibson. That's the only epitaph you need.— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) October 3, 2020
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 3 October 2020 23:35 (three years ago) link
Was reading Joe Posnanski's obituary for Gale Sayers from 10 days ago, and there's this:
The basics of his career are well known. He was a prodigy in Omaha, Neb. — where he was coached for a time by Baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson’s brother Josh — and he became a star at the University of Kansas.
Besides the coincidental timing, I didn't know Gibson had a brother named Josh.
― clemenza, Sunday, 4 October 2020 00:09 (three years ago) link
https://www.mlb.com/video/bob-costas-reflects-on-bob-gibson?t=remembering-bob-gibson
Bob Costas (who I've never minded)--you probably know the story of Gibson's final pitch and the aftermath, but if not, it's here.
― clemenza, Sunday, 4 October 2020 01:02 (three years ago) link
Pete LaCock... I had forgotten it.
What's really impressive is the time he faced two or three hitters with a broken leg.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 4 October 2020 03:07 (three years ago) link
xpost i had never heard of the pete LaCock story, thank you
that's a really godo one
― idkwtf (Karl Malone), Sunday, 4 October 2020 04:21 (three years ago) link
you know what i mean
;_;
Pete LaCock is the son of Peter Marshall (Hollywood Squares). Did he actually think it was a good idea to change his name from Marshall to LaCock? I mean, I know you don't want to live in your father's shadow, but still.
― clemenza, Sunday, 4 October 2020 04:43 (three years ago) link
Ralph Pierre LaCock (born March 30, 1926, is better known by his stage name Peter Marshall. He is an American television and radio personality, singer, and actor. (Still alive at 94.)
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Monday, 5 October 2020 19:39 (three years ago) link
Duh...that actually occurred to me after I posted--maybe it was dad who changed his name.
― clemenza, Monday, 5 October 2020 22:10 (three years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ej5YT3IXgAMnJxK?format=jpg&name=small
― mookieproof, Friday, 9 October 2020 16:06 (three years ago) link
noooo
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Friday, 9 October 2020 16:11 (three years ago) link
Not sure if I got this from Ball Four or not: if Cronin's name wasn't stamped on straight, he could make the baseball drop.
― clemenza, Friday, 9 October 2020 16:59 (three years ago) link
Ford's autobiography was one of my favourites growing up, I read it countless times.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Friday, 9 October 2020 17:58 (three years ago) link
The last of Casey’s Whiskey Slicks
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Friday, 9 October 2020 18:19 (three years ago) link
really?! what makes it so interesting? (i know nothing about the man outside of his stats)xpost
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 9 October 2020 18:20 (three years ago) link
His off the field stories are interesting (plenty of stuff about partying all night in New York clubs), his takes on baseball personalities come across as real, three dimensional opinions, obviously he glosses over some of the seedier stuff that was surely going on but the book feels more honest than those by many of his contemporaries that I read at the time. He admits to cheating in the 60's when he was losing something off his fastball -- it was rare (maybe unprecedented?) to read something like that from a HOFer of his calibre.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Friday, 9 October 2020 18:48 (three years ago) link
Thanks, I might make that my next book!
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 9 October 2020 19:06 (three years ago) link
Whitey Ford: A HOF Cheaterby The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Friday, 9 October 2020 19:09 (three years ago) link
joe morgan
― mookieproof, Monday, 12 October 2020 14:37 (three years ago) link
What a month this has been, jfc
― ✖, Monday, 12 October 2020 14:50 (three years ago) link
Christ.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 12 October 2020 15:06 (three years ago) link
RIP
Reading his capsule bio, I had no idea he was 5'7".
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, 12 October 2020 16:32 (three years ago) link
Glad I witnessed his historic '75/76 peak.
― clemenza, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:09 (three years ago) link
That's what, five HOFers who passed away in the past month? Can 2020 get any worse?
His '75-'76 peak was really something, no 2Bman since then has really come close to his combination of power/speed/patience/defense.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:29 (three years ago) link
I always thought it ironic how much Morgan hated sabermetrics etc, but as a player he excelled at a lot of the stats that advanced Stats people loved.
― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 12 October 2020 17:35 (three years ago) link
indeed
New Favorite Joe Morgan stat I discovered today.His line in the 1976 NLCS: .000/.462/.0000-for-7 with 6 BB, 2 SB, 2 R(And the Reds swept the Phillies)— Matt Meyers (@mtmeyers) October 12, 2020
― mookieproof, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:48 (three years ago) link
As I've mentioned before, I was a huge Reds fan in the early '70s, before the Jays. Between Rose, Morgan, and Bench (not so much Perez), they had an arrogance about them that I'm not sure any baseball team has equaled since. Maybe those '90s Yankees teams, but that felt more like a revolving cast (with a core, true), and there was also the late '80s A's.
― clemenza, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:49 (three years ago) link
Xpost to Thermo
Definitely. His reasoning was that it was his job to set the table so it made sense for him to take a walk, whereas other guys had to drive him in and thus shouldn't be taking walks. I think he understood the value of what he was doing but for him every player has a label that he couldn't escape. Like why can't an RBI guy also work the count? Why can't a middle infielder be a power hitter? He just never got it.
― NoTimeBeforeTime, Monday, 12 October 2020 17:54 (three years ago) link
I'm probably one of three living people who's read his autobiography--I bought a remaindered copy for the free baseball card!
http://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514kY1EQj+L._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
― clemenza, Monday, 12 October 2020 18:34 (three years ago) link
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/514kY1EQj+L._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Best 2B I ever saw. RIP.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 13:04 (three years ago) link
class a greensboro grasshoppers bat dog miss lou lou gehrig, aged 9
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EkOIT3jXYAAkSwE?format=jpg&name=small
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 13 October 2020 16:03 (three years ago) link
goddammit. miss lou :(
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 17:48 (three years ago) link
Forgot about this, from Ball Four--someone posted it on Facebook.
http://phildellio.tripod.com/mfc.jpg
― clemenza, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 16:16 (three years ago) link
― clemenza, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 16:17 (three years ago) link
I don't get that at all...is Tripod blocking images now? Anyway.
Weird...They seem to be blocked on Chrome (along with every poll image I've ever posted on ILX: Neil Young, road films, etc.) but not Explorer.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 16:22 (three years ago) link
MLB is deeply saddened by the passing of 34-year Major League Umpire Derryl Cousins at 74. The Californian worked nearly 4,500 games & three World Series ('88, '99, '05). He was behind the plate for the White Sox clincher in '05 & the '08 ASG at Yankee Stadium (pictured below). pic.twitter.com/lSRd89ZsxW— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) October 20, 2020
― mookieproof, Tuesday, 20 October 2020 19:51 (three years ago) link