things I learned about in baseball this week/how i learned to stop worrying and love baseball

Last post for a bit, else I'll never shut up...If you're interested in individuals, not just games, I'd suggest Reggie's 3-HR game in the '77 Series, Brooks Robinson in the '70 Series, and Roberto Clemente in the '71 Series. Not sure which specific games to look for with Robinson and Clemente.

5. Buster Posey grew up playing baseball in a purpose-built batting cage on his parents' 50 acre farm.
6. "Soft hands" - this is such a weird term omg?

Can I just point out, I made this thread as a way of giving some relief to the people I was no doubt boring to death about it, so please don't worry. And yes I am interested in individuals too!

G6, 2011--the David Freese game

Maybe this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ypIakgaR2c

The whole game's on YouTube too--almost four hours.

post season baseball is the absolute best and I'm sad I can't really afford bt sport anymore to record the games and watch them during UK friendly hours. at least I got to see the Atlanta baseball team win the WS for the first time since my beloved maddux/glavine/smoltz era.

You could fall down the rabbit hole for weeks with these recommendations, but if I had to pick one game from the last decade it has to be Game 7 of the 2016 WS, Cleveland vs Chicago Cubs. The history and backstory won't ever be repeated (176 combined years between the two teams since their last championship) and the game has at least five or six "WTF did I just see????" moments.

good one

oscar bravo i guess you might cite the 1991 World Series? it comes up a lot in “the best ever played” conversations. the beginning of the Smoltz/Maddux era in Atlanta.

would recommend game five of the 2015 ALDS between toronto and texas

it was toronto’s first playoff appearance in 22 years. the blue jays lost the first two games at home, then won both games in texas to force a decisive fifth game. the seventh inning alone — top and bottom — is among the craziest single frames in history

would also recommend game one of the 1988 world series between the dodgers and a’s. it has a legendary conclusion and the announcer was vin scully, who was peerless

I remember that 2015 game (how did I not think of that first?)...Another insane one with the Jays: G4, 1993. I don't know that it's famous for any one hit or play, but I think it was the longest Series game ever at the time (4:14), and maybe the highest scoring (15-14). Mitch Williams took the loss, a bit of foreshadowing.

I am excited for you to be in a position to watch an entire season next year! Baseball is best when you can let it ambiently drift by for a summer and take in the rhythms by osmosis (“he’s having a good year…” you’ll nod to yourself when your 2B is slashing 240/300/275. “Whaddabum…” you’ll say about your fringey reliever who’s pitched 50 innings of low-leverage ball to the tune of a 2.00 era)

Off the dome shit:

Kerry Wood’s 20K game

A’s at dodgers WS 88 game 1

Any supercut of Pedro Martinez strikeouts

Any supercut of Bonds’ HR in 2001, to see what peak performance looks like

I have also recommended the book “Class A” by Lucas Mann as a contemporary look at the low minors.

The Rhys Hoskins bat spike this weekend was rad

xp on Kerry Wood & Pedro Martinez but I appreciate specific recommendations, tysm!

Also commit this to memory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn28Dz4RUxc

gyac, I assume you've seen this classic moment:

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

Fun fact you might enjoy:

Left-handed relief pitcher Billy Wagner (known for his absurd strikeout rate) is actually a natural right hander but after breaking his right arm twice as a kid he learned to throw with his left arm. And now he’s probably going to wind up in the hall of fame for being such a dominant pitcher.

Game 7 of the 2016 series is also my pick. Classic Cleveland clutch comeback to tie it coupled with a classic Aroldis Chapman meltdown, finished off with a determined Cubs team scraping out two runs (and Cleveland making it tense at the end too.)

Ten cent beer night is an event that encapsulates baseball in Cleveland in the 70's

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

I will respond to all these posts in time but I’m watching this alds game atm. However I am nearly finished A Band of Misfits, about the 2010 Giants, and I’ve seriously watched this clip about ten times & also Clark’s homer against Nolan Ryan in his first big league at bat (!)

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

Lmao both at the guy going “you’re overmodulating” and Clark going “HUH??? NO WAY!” And also the guy stepping in from the side to clearly try to calm him down, and Clark shakes his hand instead.

Supposedly he used The Thrill is Gone as his answering machine message as well. Legendary.

smoothest swing of all time

there's also a whole thread about BASEBALL MOVIES that i haven't really paid attention to

would recommend:

BULL DURHAM - it's long since passed into cliche (and tim robbins very obviously cannot pitch) but it presents the cliches in a nice manner, and also i used to live in durham and know where that house is

SUGAR - pretty honest look at what it's like to be a (dominican/puerto rican/venezuelan) kid left to fend for himself in the minor leagues. needless to say, there are a lot of non-success stories

NO NO: A DOCKUMENTARY - the story of 1970s pitcher dock ellis, who once threw a no-hitter (for the pirates, no less) while tripping on LSD. among other crazy shit like plunking four straight cincinnati reds to start a game. he was a troubled and interesting man

This, along with Aaron's 715th, is my favorite baseball memory ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4nwMDZYXTI

I remember that 2015 game (how did I not think of that first?)

These days Toronto vs Texas G5 is the first thing I think of when it comes to games/moments that I want to rewatch. But I didn't want to be accused of homerism by recommending it first ...

Game 7 of the 2016 series is also my pick. Classic Cleveland clutch comeback to tie it coupled with a classic Aroldis Chapman meltdown, finished off with a determined Cubs team scraping out two runs (and Cleveland making it tense at the end too.)

And that's only the last three innings!

This week has been rough and I’ve barely watched any baseball.

More things I learned specifically about “Surfin” Barry Zito from reading excerpts from
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61frVWPOc1L.jpg

- Barry Zito did meth in his teens
- the first chapter opens with a quote from someone saying “if San Fran wins the World Series, does Barry Zito get a ring?” (Ouch - though I am a fan of brutally honest sports autobios).
- Barry Zito’s grandfather started a newspaper with Mussolini (!)

I need to read this book, there’s nothing more boring than reading stories of endless success from people who go to bed early and never do anything bad.

watch game 5 2012 NLCS giants vs cardinals if you want some more zito lore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8S-PI7HZ8o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Meay49NgGXI
giants down 1-3 in the series and he gets the start despite a very poor showing in the series before. giants win the next three then zito wins game 1 of the world series vs verlander which you mentioned.

I was thinking about which game I would recommend watching and actually realised the games I got the biggest kick out of weren't necessarily epic important ones. Like any Greg Maddux 85 pitch complete game shutout with like 2 strikeouts and upward of a dozen groundouts + handful of weak pop flys is amazing viewing imo. Especially with how different baseball is now.

Or Tom Glavine locating his fast ball consistently just outside the outside edge the strikezone with such monotone regularity that the umpire starts calling it a strike.

(xpost) You've almost perfectly described Maddux's G2 win against the Yankees in the '96 Series:

86 pitches, 6 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 0 runs. He didn't pitch a shutout, though--Bobby Cox brought in Wohlers for the 9th. He didn't let Maddux finish his Maddux.

yeah those 90s braves pitchers were clinical, hated them of course.

For what it's worth, Maddux was more of a strikeout pitcher than he's generally remembered as (with some help from the umps): 6.1/per 9 for his career, 6.9/per 9 during his '92-'98 peak. My favourite pitcher then--travelled to Montreal to see him somewhere in the middle there.

I did get the chance to see Smoltz's 3,000th career strikeout in person, that was epic. Still much love for him in the ATL.

I was thinking about which game I would recommend watching and actually realised the games I got the biggest kick out of weren't necessarily epic important ones. Like any Greg Maddux 85 pitch complete game shutout with like 2 strikeouts and upward of a dozen groundouts + handful of weak pop flys is amazing viewing imo. Especially with how different baseball is now.

ALCS game 3 2003

One that I forgot to recommend, on YouTube in its entirety: Mark Fidrych vs. the Yankees, June 28, 1976, 48,000 people in Yankee Stadium (on a Monday), ABC's Monday Night game, Fidrych 7-1 with a 2.18 ERA going in, the biggest story in baseball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwGj4VfCreg

For style, Luis Tiant.

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

Yes! I have been meaning to check out Fidrych as well!

xps
I'm glad!! He was my favourite player back when I first started watching baseball. used to love andruw jones as well. and in the non atlanta baseball players division it was tony gwynn and his incredibly flat no uppercut swing. then later i was all about ichiro.

(xp) I think you'll fall in love. I was so lucky to have watched that game (14 years old). It's just hard to convey today how one baseball player could so thoroughly capture the public's attention and imagination. It happened again a few years later with Fernando, although I don't know that there's one single game of his where it all coalesced so perfectly.

xp Parker looking cool af.

(Oops--the Fidrych game was in Tiger Stadium, which makes the 48,000 people even more remarkable. The mid-'70s Tigers were not good.)

I love they have the commercials too in that broadcast!

I’ll be honest, a thing I found - and find, tbh - really difficult about watching baseball both live and classic is the number of ad breaks! How does that not drive people mad?

“At that time, I often thought that if I had had to live in the trunk of a dead tree, with nothing to do but look up at the sky flowing overhead, little by little I would have gotten used to it.”

— Albert Camus

Fidrych throwing 250 innings and striking out 97(!) that season is always really amazing to me. 9.6 bWAR!

xp lmao

xp baseball as a tv spectator sport simply isn't designed to hold your attention 100% of the time, you gotta pair it with something else that can be done in fits and starts such as browsing the internet or chopping vegetables or playing a turn-based video game

Parachuting in to say that I am a 51-year-old American male human with exactly one sports allegiance. And that allegiance is to the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals. Not the Cardinals in general, not St. Louis teams in general. Pretty much just that one spectacular season.

I was exactly the right age to be excited by a baseball team. Especially, a locally beloved and long-storied team that suddenly caught on fire in a particular way. Was it slugfesty? No it was not. Was it Sabermetric? No it was not. Was it especially steroidal? No it was not. It was a style of play based on baserunning, stealing, speed, fielding, contact. It was called "Whiteyball" after the (in retrospect) rather unfortunately nicknamed manager Whitey Herzog.

Ozzie Smith. Lonnie Smith. Willie McGee. Keith Hernandez. Bruce Sutter. Joaquin Andujar. It's been 40 years and no sporting persons have dislodged those names from my memory. Nor will they.

Since then, I have watched a few other sporting contests, with varying amounts of interest. But none has matched the passionate intensity of being eleven years old in a red hat in terrible seats in that cranky old Busch stadium with a scorecard on my lap and a fire in my heart. Personally I am fine leaving it there: a whole life of fandom in a few humid evenings in 1982, eating ice cream from a novelty batting helmet.

xp baseball as a tv spectator sport simply isn't designed to hold your attention 100% of the time, you gotta pair it with something else that can be done in fits and starts such as browsing the internet or chopping vegetables or playing a turn-based video game

That's beautiful, YMP.

^

eating ice cream from a novelty batting helmet

i have one from every stadium i've been to in the last 8 years (4 total) and my kids love these. they were bath toys until my youngest recently decided to elevate the jays and yankees ones to the "display"shelf in her room that was normally reserved for her fancy in-the-box dolls.

ymp are you . . . me?

i have said this before: it's a gimmick, and not actually pittsburgh lore

i'm told there's some kind of hot dog-pierogie thing though, which would be vaguely lore but nevertheless not something i can recommend

clark bar is lore but i'm not sure it even exists anymore

also my mom worked for heinz when i was born, so i support ketchup on everything

You guys are jaded rusted-out souls. Absolute madness.

#freeippeei

i had a primanti brothers sandwich in state college in high school. still remember/think about it to this day. probably because my brain was young and malleable then. i'm sure i'd find it more average now.

it's a good candidate for PASTA SANDWICH

I appreciate all the recommendations and will report back laterback!

I appreciate all the recommendations and will report back laterback!

Thanks phone/slow brain

Sox are injured/bad but Bello is pitching and I love him so much 🥺

This game ruled. Bello was missing his spots early on but still getting outs and then he settled and started striking guys out. My large adult son Wilyer Abreu hit a fucking moonshot that I honestly thought went into the Allegheny; after that Triston Casas hit a bomb with a crack of the bat that was probably audible a mile away and it was oppo. Cook!

Felt sorry for the Pirates pitcher especially cos after he gave up the home run to Abreu a fan across the aisle stood up and yelled, Welcome to the big leagues, kid! Same fan also shouted “Go Bobby D, ya finally got a hit, no more 0-21, go Bob!”

We were sitting near first base and Casas was constantly throwing balls into the crowd. I witnessed a grown man with a glove rush forward and plead for a ball, crying “Triston throw me a ball baby!”

I didn’t know that they don’t play walk up songs for the road team.

Cam Booser, who the Sox just called up from triple A, made his big league debut and struck out Cutch. He gave up a triple and a run scored but was able to get three outs to end the game. After the game his family came forward and onto the field and he embraced them and was crying. He’s got a really interesting story and he’s been shoving in triple A so hopefully he sticks.

This followed years of obstacles in Booser’s development, including Tommy John surgery, labrum surgery, a broken back following a bike accident, a 50-game suspension for testing positive for marijuana and self-admitted attitude problems. After the 2017 season, Booser decided to call it quits.

So instead of building a career as a pitcher, Booser moved home to Seattle and built something else: acoustical ceilings.

Booser joined the Northwest Carpenters Union in the area, Local 41, to work for the company that his father had worked at for many years. He admits that in terms of construction, he was a Minor Leaguer compared to his coworkers who could “do it in their sleep.”

Sweet stuff :)

Mitch Keller tomorrow and he’s a great pitcher

he absolutely is not. he's 28 years old and has a 4.70 ERA (90 ERA+) over 104 career starts

in scouting terms, he 'flashes' 'top stuff' before reality sets in. but i thank you for throwing me a bone

Ok, he’s fine. He’s got a FIP of under 4 his last three seasons though!

smdh

The scoreboard said Cutch is one single away from 1000 so hopefully we get to see that

Best game report/posts on here in years, tyvm gyac.

🫡
A no doubter home run off the bat sounds unmistakeable. You hear commentators talk about it all the time but it’s something you need to experience irl. And there were three in this game! The Abreu home run didn’t sound like this on TV but it was unmistakable irl:

Rob Refsnyder (1)
2-Run Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Quinn Priester
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/MA3utJFeLZ

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 20, 2024

Wilyer Abreu (1)
Solo Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Quinn Priester
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/HKn1vm6tah

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 19, 2024

Ceddanne Rafaela (1)
Solo Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Roansy Contreras
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/R2yR7hLAkr

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 20, 2024

Oh yeah the Refsnyder one is not a no doubter; it was only gone in 9/30. This was a no doubter.

Triston Casas (6)
Solo Home Run

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates
Pitcher: Quinn Priester
Date: 4/19/24 pic.twitter.com/iVe2du98xU

— Red Sox Home Runs (@RedSox_HR) April 19, 2024

Oh yeah, video I got of our view which I forgot about until I got back. I checked already and we’re not in view at any point, but we had a great one.

https://streamable.com/u7ea2a

Yay!

Man oh man. Casas drew a walk in the first inning, then had clutched at his side and was subbed out after the inning.

Me: 🙃

To recap, the starting infield for this team:

SS: Trevor Story - season ending injury
2B - Vaughn Grissom - groin strain in spring training, working through a rehab assignment
3B - Rafael Devers - sore shoulder, bone bruise on knee
1B - Triston Casas - “left field with left rib discomfort”

Fucking brutal. Hopefully he doesn’t miss too much time, but at least I got to see him hit a home run yesterday.

Saw Yoshida go 3-4 with a home run today and he was great. Kutter Crawford got into a jam in the sixth inning, Cora left him in and he got out of it. Joely Rodriguez came in to pitch the seventh and I was looking on my phone for Casas and when I heard Joely was coming in, I went, FUCK! I was right though.

Kenley came in for a save and was actually fine. Pirates manager got tossed for arguing an automatic strike call. Please don’t miss too much time, Casas!

gyac please stop killing my hometown baseball team

my man Mitch Keller might have injured the least healthy infielder

btw I cheered for Cutch when he came on to pinch hit

Also I talked to lots of Pirates fans

<3

Surprise win today with a patchwork lineup. Have I mentioned that on all three days that we were sitting in seats that we ended up realising were the wrong ones on two separate occasions and having to move? I have not.

Today Wilyer Abreu went 3-5 and drove in two runs; as someone who’s a nl Abreu truther based on his eye and his arm (both great), this was incredible for me. Ceddanne playing shortstop was great too; it remains to be seen if he’ll be as good there as at CF but I definitely felt good about him fielding the position and he made some plays.

Connor Wong was catching today and he was fine. He played well too.

Reese McGuire pinch hit and drove in two runs; did this prevent us from making fun of him? Reader, it did not.

Oh yeah, Aroldis Chapman came on to pitch and I booed him. I could not have told you I had that in me.

Various pictures that are mainly zoomed the fuck in or moving closer to the field when the game ended/before it started, so sorry for the mostly poor quality. I regret not being able to get a video of Bello dancing in the dugout:

https://i.postimg.cc/KcD5q11z/IMG-9511.jpg
Bello! I love him so much and I was glad I was there to see him pitch well. Today he was in the dugout wearing his hoodie up and dancing to music played between innings. He’s adorable.

https://i.postimg.cc/HsS9mF41/IMG-9518.jpg
The man himself on the right.

https://i.postimg.cc/5y48dmXt/IMG-9665.jpg
Our view before we realised we were sitting in the wrong section (!) and had to move.

https://i.postimg.cc/3JrFP3GZ/IMG-9679.jpg
Kutter Crawford after his first win of the year (his ERA over five starts is like 0.77).

https://i.postimg.cc/26FnKt8J/IMG-9704.jpg
Alex Cora today. He was out throwing batting practice earlier and will sometimes join in with the infielders as well.

https://i.postimg.cc/BnXcnNML/IMG-9711.jpg
Andrew Bailey and Jason Varitek going to the bullpen before the game.

https://i.postimg.cc/tg63hJ09/IMG-9727.jpg
Connor Wong.

https://i.postimg.cc/GmVP8Y5M/IMG-9734.jpg
Chris Martin, ???, Kenley Jansen. Possibly the middle guy is Bailey, I know all the relievers on this roster and I can see Joely Rodriguez and Bernie in the background. Everyone else was used.

Fun photos. Always love being able to see the bridge in the outfield.

Trip to Clemente museum

Went to the Clemente museum a few days back, felt like a necessary visit. Had a great time. It’s basically set across two floors with exhibits laid out across the floors and you can just walk around and explore within your time slot. They limit the number of people in there in every given hour so there’s a chance for everyone to see everything.

One of the first things we saw was this very morbid exhibit: a wing from the small plane that Clemente died in.

https://i.postimg.cc/J4Ym9mHQ/IMG-9613.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/XNQ0C3L0/IMG-9614.jpg

They had shirts and bats and other expected memorabilia:

https://i.postimg.cc/bvcXhvy1/IMG-9621.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/c4rPt36Q/IMG-9632.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/RVyy70n2/IMG-9635.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/tRmMbgD7/IMG-9636.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/ZqcwMYCb/IMG-9654.jpg

But also some less expected stuff, like his custom golf clubs, his fashion suit(!) and my favourite of all, a pot he made for his wife after he got into throwing pottery while suffering from insomnia:

https://i.postimg.cc/nz2NBYv1/IMG-9628.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/0QPLzHJQ/IMG-9630.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/SKqZdYQ1/IMG-9639.jpg


I didn’t get a picture of it, but he messed up the side of the pot and drew a little heart with his name on it there instead.

There were guides who were very helpful; they were mainly people who’d seen him play and one man told us that he and his brother overheard Clemente give his number to a reporter and they’d ring him after games. He said Clemente always answered and was kind to them.

One of the guides told us that Clemente would rent buses in his earliest days for the black and Latin players because often they couldn’t go to the same places as their white counterparts and he tried to help them out whenever he could. I’d seen a RETIRE 21 sign at PNC so I asked about it; his number is obviously retired by the Pirates but they are pushing for league wide recognition to have the number retired like Jackie Robinson’s.



Some signed shirts belonging to visiting players; the Giants one is Posey.

There’s a picture of Javy Baez wearing the Clemente suit jacket in the museum which you can see in my photo, more on this here: https://www.mlb.com/cut4/javy-baez-wore-a-jacket-from-the-roberto-clemente-museum-at-the-home-run-derby-c

I love Javy Baez. I asked my hometown Cubs friend the other day his favorite player from the 2016 Cubs team and we agreed it's Javy Baez. That suit looks perfect on him, so styling ~~

Yes! His bat is terrible now but I don’t think that man will ever need to pay for a drink in Chicago for the rest of his life. Truly a blessed team

My last few pictures didn’t load, think I messed up bb code. Player shirts:

https://i.postimg.cc/XvcP6cD0/IMG-9647.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/5yjKvc9x/IMG-9648.jpg

Other pics:
https://i.postimg.cc/PJc3Q6N1/IMG-9646.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/LsMWW0DT/IMG-9644.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/sgW8wRYx/IMG-9633.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/d3SXSsNk/IMG-9626.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/brCccHrv/IMG-9625.jpg

xp Folks in Detroit keep hoping he'll get his groove back. He's still a great fielder and base runner. He did have an RBI yesterday.

He is! I’ve been following him.