trivial occurrences 2020

A reader on James's site:

"Over the course of his career, Vin Scully called a game involving a manager who was born in 1863 (Connie Mack), and a game involving a player born in 1996 (Julio Urias)."

Derek Law, making history for the Tigers in Toronto: The first pitcher to allow a homer, commit an error, hit a batter and throw a wild pitch in a single relief appearance.

— Ryan Ford (@theford) July 30, 2022

George Kirby of the Mariners: 24 strikes to start the game.

https://www.mlb.com/news/george-kirby-throws-24-straight-strikes-to-start-a-game

Had to look him up--rookie, 17 starts. Doubt that anyone without exceptional control could do that, and sure enough, only 13 walks in 90 IP. He needs more innings, but he might get a few ROY votes.

Got me reading up on the other George Kirby, who I'm guessing most of you (mookieproof, maybe) don't know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Kirby

Old, weird trivial occurrences (from something on my FB wall): "Trammell and Whitaker got their first major league hit off the same pitcher (Reggie Cleveland), and their final major league hit off the same pitcher (Mike Fetters)."

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/why-are-the-atlanta-braves-bunting-at-all/

the braves have only made four bunt attempts this season, by far the fewest bunt attempts by a team since bunts have been tracked. all four bunt attempts were unsuccessful (one would have been successful but michael harris II tried to stretch a bunt single into a double and got thrown out)

only four bunts! That’s kind of amazing.

From The Baseball 100: on Sept. 26, 1975, both Gaylord and Jim Perry had career W-L records of 215-174.

Still plugging away with the Posnanski book. Maybe I knew this already, but I'm not sure: George Brett (29th) and Mike Schmidt (30th) were drafted consecutively in the second round of the '71 draft.

wrong sport but i feel like i must honor this level of triviality

on Saturday, Trent Alexander-Arnold could become the first player to play a Premier League game next to a river that shares his first name since Don Hutchinson for Everton away at Sheffield Wednesday in September 1999 pic.twitter.com/WNyaZn3swF

— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) October 20, 2022

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FfpIHoiXoAIP2PG.jpg:small

From Posnanski's book: Rickey Henderson was named after Ricky Nelson. "Travelin' Man'--makes sense.

Had no idea Whitey Herzog played alongside Satchel Paige (at least 51 at the time).

I cannot verify the truth of this--turned up on my FB wall:

"In high school, Joey Gallo tossed a no-hitter and then took Greg Maddux's daughter to prom the same night."

(If true, had to have her home in fewer than 100 pitches.)

He definitely struck out

One of those things that turn up on your FB wall: Brett Gardner vs. last year's White Sox.

https://phildellio.tripod.com/brett.jpg

Not sure which is weirder: the closeness, or that somebody out there noticed this in the first place. (Of the key categories they left out, Gardner's better: sizable leads in BB, triples, and SB.)

don't know where else to put this, but it's all trivial so maybe here.

i was looking at the phillies' 2023 ZiPS projections today and saw that the #1 player comp for bryce harper this hear is Len Koenecke. (for those that don't follow zips, the comps are for historical seasons by players of that same age. so in this case, it's saying that the mean projection for 2023 bryce harper, his age 30 season, is the age 30 season of Leo Koenecke for the dodgers, in 1934).

i had never heard of Koenecke. he has an interesting MLB career! he only played 3 years in MLB: 1932, 1934, and 1935. he spent most of his career playing for the Indianopolis Indians in the American Assocation and a year with the Buffalo Bisons in the International League. john mcgraw signed him for $75,000, which seems like a huge amount of money considering the era.

anyways, in 1935 he was cut mid-season, and as people of that era seemed compelled to do, he immediately started drinking.

The Dodgers were in St. Louis preparing for a series against the Cardinals when Koenecke was informed that his season was over. Koenecke caught an American Airlines flight back to New York City via Chicago and Detroit.[6] During the flight, he drank a quart of whiskey and became very drunk. After Koenecke had harassed other passengers and struck a stewardess, the pilot had to sit on him to restrain him as he was shackled to his seat. He was removed unconscious from the flight in Detroit. After sleeping on a chair in the airport, he chartered a flight to Buffalo in the hopes of rejoining the Bisons. En route, he had a disagreement with the pilot and a passenger, and attempted to take control of the aircraft.[6][8]

In order to avoid a crash, Koenecke was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher by both the pilot, William Joseph Mulqueeney, who had left his controls, and the other passenger, Irwin Davis.[5][6][9] Now lost in Canadian airspace, Mulqueeney made an emergency landing at Long Branch Racetrack in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada where it was found that Koenecke had died of a cerebral hemorrhage.[5][6] The two men were charged with manslaughter but were found not liable by a coroner's jury soon after.[10][8][11][12]

He was buried in Mount Repose Cemetery at Friendship, Wisconsin.[13]

i hope to never be drunk like that, but i hope one thing we can all try to remember in such a state is that, no matter how much you think it makes sense to overrule the pilot and take over the craft, you are definitely wrong about that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPVw8MJzY08

The Rays must have been bad for longer than I remember--I would have guessed their numbers would be much better.

Rays and D-Backs team stats since joining MLB as expansion teams in 1998, via @JayCuda: pic.twitter.com/9fiHnyozsM

— The Game Day MLB (@TheGameDayMLB) February 22, 2023

they were terrible for a while before they started their whole... i don't know what to call it. the thing they do.

Wow, just wow.

I should clarify--by "I would have guessed their numbers would be much better," I meant better than the D-backs. Except for the three or four years in and around their WS win, I don't remember Arizona as ever being anything special, whereas it feels like the Rays have been good for a long time now.

From '99-02, the D-backs were 102 games over .500 (.579); the rest of the time, they're 1,537-1,761 (.466).

most starts on the second day of the season, all-time: a three-way tie between ron darling, andy pettitte and tom glavine with eight

Did you know this guy is now married to Tomi Lahren?! He keeps pictures of her of Twitter but they’re all over his Instagram

JP Arencibia dating Tomi Lahren is a level of hell I wasn't expecting. What other 2010s Blue Jays are dating alt-right figureheads? Is Aaron Hill going steady with Lauren Southern, is Ryan Goins an item with Kent State Gun Girl? https://t.co/n1VUFLjlLy

— ℳatt (@matttomic) February 14, 2021

the other day adam duvall became the first-ever player who, needing a single to complete the cycle, hit a walk-off homer instead

oops

Sandy Alcantara missed a Maddux by one pitch tonight, but it feels more like he had a super-Maddux: CG shutout, 100 pitches, game time of 1:57.

actually got this, although it took me two minutes plus

Quick, name the only player in MLB history whose first and last names are state capitals. You have one minute...

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) April 25, 2023

i can't figure it out. i keep getting stuck on Montgomery

Albany Bismarck

I got it but it was a guessed combo, didn't remember the guy specifically.

An absolute goldmine in the Athletic’s article about media guide trivia, including!

The Rockies reliever who is a published author. Tbf pitching for the Rockies has to be the worst. The Amazon reviews are great, though. Fair play.

Or ask the writer: children’s book author and Rockies reliever Brent Suter, who wrote “Binky Bandit” after he was inspired by his dog, Wally, a miniature goldendoodle. You can find the book, which has been translated into multiple languages, at your local library.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brent Suter is a pitcher for the Milwaukee Brewers. He led Major League Baseball with twelve relief wins in the 2021 season. Outside of baseball, Brent is a graduate of Harvard University, with a degree in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and is an outspoken advocate for conservation efforts with Players for the Planet, an organization of professional athletes who aim to make positive environmental change. He resides in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife Erin, his son Liam, and of course, Wally, the inspiration for this book. The Binky Bandit is his first published book.

Ji Man Choi sees dead people. Choi says he is terrified of ghosts and believes he’s had many encounters with them, including receiving invisible hugs and hearing whispers. Choi’s first ghostly encounter came while he was recovering from back surgery in 2011, when he felt a “spirit” on his chest and awoke as he felt the bed slump. He also had an encounter at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, where a number of major leaguers have claimed to experience the paranormal.

"I was scared at first," Choi said, "so I didn't want to open my eyes. I dealt with that a lot more times after that."

Those other times include once when Choi was laying on his side and felt a spirit crawl up behind him to hug him, and another whispered into his ear.

Reliever Andrew Chafin tried selling his truck while mic’d up by FOX Sports Arizona during BP in 2017: “If anybody’s interested in a truck, I’ve got a 2012 GMC Sierra 3500HD Denali with a fully built twin turbo. With a fully built Allison transmission for sale. Just shoot me a tweet if you are interested. … Please put that on there for me. I’m really trying to sell this truck.”

Inspired the Miguel Cabrera thread revival I went down a baseball reference rabbithole and just found out there are only four active players, with enough career PAs to qualify for the career batting average leaderboard, who are hitting over .300 for their career. I'm giving away one here, if anyone wants to guess the other three go for it.

Besides Cabrera, I would guess Goldschmidt, Freeman, and Trout. But that seems too obvious, so I'm sure at least one is wrong.

Only got one of three. One of the other two I should have had one for sure; the other guy, I wouldn't have thought of.

in case you were wondering

Blake Sabol of the @SFGiants is the first rookie catcher in MLB history to hit a walkoff HR when behind in the count with his team down to its last out. pic.twitter.com/CqYdsqamPL

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) April 26, 2023

finally, been waiting for a long time, taking bets on when that was going to happen

of course we are all already familiar with the storied list of rookie catchers to hit walkoff HRs when down to their last out when *ahead* in the count

don't forget the legendary 1 ball and 1 strike walkoffs

those were crazy because the count was even, and then boom, the hitter went WAY ahead with a major league home run

yes each one totally unforgettable, kennedy assassination level

Clemenza, I'd have guessed one of the other two and the one of the three you picked correctly. It's definitely interesting that there are so few guys whose career BA hits that mark. I didn't dig deep so I don't know if there are any guys who are about to become eligible who will enter that club, but I really would have thought there'd be more players on the list. But I guess it makes sense

If Cano can get signed again somewhere he'll also join that list (but he's at .3008 so if he plays too much he'll probably fall off of it)

Luis Arráez, 26, is sitting at .321 right now, but not even 1,500 career AB. What is the threshold of eligibility?

i've literally only seen arráez play against the mets in their opening series this year, but . . . he is awesome

even keith hernandez was all like, that kid can [fuckin] hit

The cutoff for BR at least is 3000 plate appearances.

Votto finished the 2021 season at .302; last year's .205 pulled him under.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mipc-JxrhRk