Thursday, June 25, 2015

marco's baseball blog-o-roonie all star kerfuffle






TODAY'S CATEGORIES:

*1.HOYT WILHELM AND THE KNUCKLEBALL PEDIGREE
*2.THE ALL-STAR KERFUFFLE
*3.RANDOM NOTES FROM MLB
*4.FUNNY STORY FROM BASEBALL PAST
*5.NEW STUMPER

Scan through for areas of interest!

*1.HOYT WILHELM

There he is....good old Hoyt Wilhelm. (His nickname was “Ol' Sarge”), the correct answer to last issue's brain teaser...”Who hit a homer in his first at bat in the majors and never hit one again in a twenty year career?” Several people got it right and for that you deserve hearty congratulations and free beer if you care to join me in my garage in Austin Texas anytime.

Hoyt is a Hall of Famer who is considered to be the greatest relief pitcher of all time...only challenged perhaps by Mariano Rivera and one or two others for that title. Hoyt was the first reliever to get into the Hall.

He made a rare spot start in 1958 and threw a no-hitter
against the Yankees. It was a 1-0 gem over the eventual pennant winners. (Strangely enough, the player who had maybe the second best knuckler in baseball at that time was Yankee outfielder Mickey Mantle. Mick used to baffle his own teammates in batting practice)

Hoyt came back in 1959 and threw 8 innings of no hit ball over the Yankees and also in '59 pitched 8 and 2/3 innings of no hit relief in an 18 inning game.

He was known as the Grandfather of the knuckleball because he taught it to a few other players who passed on the secret down the line so that this weird pitch remained alive in baseball.

Wilhelm himself learned the knuckler as a young man when he saw a photo of Dutch Leonard, a knuckleball pitcher from 1933 to 1953, demonstrating his grip. Hoyt taught himself the pitch, figuring it was the only way he would make the majors. He did make it, but like most knuckle ball specialists, it took a while to master the pitch. Wilhelm made his debut at 28...but he lasted til he was almost 50 and pitched in more than 1000 games! Ted Williams said his was the best knuckleball he ever saw.

One of the pitchers Hoyt taught the pitch to was Phil Niekro. Phil taught it to his brother Joe who pitched for the Astros in the '80s...giving the Houston team one of the strangest pitching rotations in history. (I'm obviously off on a tangent here!)

In 1981 the Astros had Nolan Ryan (who struck out over 300 batters 6 times) and J.R.Richard (struck out over 300 twice) sandwiched around Joe Niekro and his knuckleball. I wonder what that knuckler looked like coming into hitters who had faced Ryan the previous day and would face Richards the next. Must have been disorienting.

Richards got the blood clot and was finished after the next season. In 1983 the Astros got Mike Scott (struck out over 300 once), who perfected his split finger to go with a blazing fastball and was a big winner for Houston for years.

What kind of rotation would that have been if Richards hadn't gotten hurt? Three 300 K pitchers and a knuckler!


*2.THE ALL-STAR KERFUFFLE

In 1957 some Cincinnati radio station started promoting a get out the vote campaign on behalf of the Baseball Redlegs and elected the whole starting eight to the starting squad. (Except for first baseman George Crowe, who couldn't beat out Stan Musial no matter how many votes got stuffed.) Commissioner Ford Frick (remember him from my last post?) removed Wally Post (Hey! It's serendipity!) and Gus Bell from the starting outfield in favor of Willie Mays and Hank Aaron (gee I wonder why?) But that still left travesties like Roy McMillan at short over Ernie Banks (43 homers that year).

Frick changed the rules next year and removed the vote from the fans and gave it to the players, managers and coaches who did a great job picking the deserving All Stars of the leagues. But in 1970 they gave the vote back to the fans.

This year the Kansas City Royals have 7 regulars leading the voting,including Omar Infante at second base who,
at .548, owns the third lowest OPS for regulars IN ALL OF BASEBALL! Omar's a good fielder but he ain't THAT good!

Everybody is wringing their hands and fluttering about...all terribly upset but incapable of doing anything to keep the All Star game from turning into a popularity contest and a farce.

Well sorry, Lords of Baseball, but when you let the internet become the only place you could vote and let everybody have up to 35 votes, this kind of thing was bound to happen.

Shame on the fans for ignoring the whole point and not having the best interests of the game at heart when they voted. If you really think Omar Infante deserves to start in the All Star game over,say,Jason Kipnis... then go ahead and vote for Omar 35 times. You, Sir or Madam, are an idiot.

Shame on the Lords for making the game determine who gets home field advantage in the Series.

Hooray for Me because I am about to fix everything.

The starters should be voted in by the players, managers and coaches. The fans still get to vote but their picks determine the reserves (this is just opposite of the current system). After a full team is picked, the manager picks the starting pitchers and then ADDS ONTO THE ROSTER extra players to fulfill the “at least one player from each team” rule. This can help alleviate any injustices from over-eager fan support. And the manager chooses who to put in and keep out of the game.

They've already expanded the rosters to 33 guys, so there is nothing sacrosanct about adding a few more. Also, limit online voting to 5 votes per household computer (some kind of average family size compromise).

The Lords won't do this because they want as many people going to the website to vote as possible so they can get them to read the stupid pop up ads. Just saying.


*3.RANDOM NOTES FROM MLB

AL EAST:

TORONTO got the bats warmed up but don't have the pitching to sustain their winning streak. They need a relief pitcher and another starter.

BOSTON chum-in-the-water-Sox have buried themselves. They are 9 games behind in a division where everybody else is above .500. Too bad. They've finally started hitting a little. Now injuries to Pedroia and Swihart are a concern.
They sent Rusney Castillo back to Pawtucket. Brock Holt, Pedroia, Betts and Bogaerts are keeping them in games with occasional homers from Hanley Ramirez. Of course Hanley gives up a run a game with bad fielding. (I never thought I'd miss Manny Ramirez' defensive prowess!)

I predicted that if two of their three hot rookies had decent years they could win. Well, Castillo is a no show but Bogaerts and Betts are producing and the Sox still suck. Ortiz and Napoli just haven't done enough in the middle of the order. And the pitching is so inconsistent.

Losing their starting catcher Vasquez to Tommy John made them lean on rookie Swihart too fast and he wasn't ready to handle a major league staff. He'll be good someday but they need defensive help behind the plate. For their pitchers' sake.

This division was winnable...why didn't they trade for a pitcher or two when they saw it going south?

AL CENTRAL:

DETROIT finally got Victor Martinez back. They really needed that left-handed bat to break up the line-up of Kinsler, Cabrera, Cespedes and J.D. Martinez who all hit from the right side. They were seeing nothing but right-handed starters.

Warm weather= Latin Players Hit Better.
But can they pitch enough to win some close ones when they can't bludgeon people? Or will they wilt like I expect Toronto to?

I don't think Detroit can catch the...

KANSAS CITY ROYALS. Even if they aren't really all All Stars, they are good and fast and playing good defense and their bullpen is on a roll.

AL WEST:
The other night, HOUSTON had 13 hits, 2 walks and 17 strike outs. They scored 8 runs to win. How many teams have struck out 17 times in a nine inning game and won? I betcha not many.

This is a team full of Dave Kingmans*, some of whom can run. Altuve is the happy exception and I hope they keep winning. Their new shortstop Carlos Correa looks like the real deal. They are scary at Minute Maid.

*Dave Kingman (nicknames “Kong” and “Sky King”) played for 7 teams from 1971 to 1986. In about 12 full years his batting average was .236, his on base percentage was .302 and he averaged 37 homers and 150 strikeouts per year. One of his fellow players once said that having Kingman on your team was like “having a toothache that makes your whole mouth hurt”.

TEXAS! SECOND PLACE! GO RANGERS! Rumours are that they will make a trade for Hamels from the Phillies. An ace could get them into the playoffs since the rest of the AL West looks so feeble. Rookie call-up Joey Gallo hits 500 foot homers and Ks 4 times a game. They should trade him to Houston where he'd fit right in.


I think Kazmir from the A's would be a better trade since he already knows the league and is pitching great this year but I doubt that Billy Beane would trade him to a division rival. Oakland is kind of waking up and playing better. They should move out of the cellar soon and let Seattle ease on in. God what a disappointment Seattle is!

CALIFORNIA ANGELS...Albert Pujols has 25 homers to lead the league. It's either “what's he on?” or a resurrection. Pujols, Trout and Calhoun...if only they had a little more help.

NL EAST:

NY METS. I thought you guys were from New York? You're in second place in a weak division and have your best chance since 2006 to make the playoffs. You need bullpen help and a shortstop and one more bat. What are you waiting for? You've got oodles of good young players you can afford to trade. Make a run why don't you? Bernie Madoff didn't take all your money, did he? The Mets would be dangerous in a short playoff series with those starters they have.

It is now my happy task to mention some good news for worst team-in-baseball PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES. Mikael Franco looks like Adrian Beltre crossed with Albert Pujols. He swings like Albert and goes down low with his knees like Adrian. His defense looks good with a cannon arm. Hitting .292 with better plate discipline than he once showed.

Reason to live, Phillie fans!

WASHINGTON NATIONALS. With all the players they've lost to injuries, Harper carries them. If something happens to him (and it has every year so far in his career) they could be in trouble. Only Scherzer has pitched to expectations.

I'm so glad that Giancarlo Stanton of the FLORIDA MARLINS has come back so well from that scary beanball last year. He leads the league in homers and ribbies. Wonder if he wants out of his contract yet?

NL CENTRAL:

CHICAGO CUBS. Can it be? Are the cubs actually interesting again? Rizzo on first, Bryant on third, Addison Russell at second, Soler(currently DL) in right and this new guy Schwartzkopf...(actually Schwarber) looks good as a future catcher/outfielder. He can hit a ton. That's relatively exciting. They just brought him up to DH for 6 games while they played the American League.

Can Theo Epstein do some genius work and get them another pitcher or two and maybe that cagey inspirational veteran bat that will lead them to the playoffs? Or is this merely foreplay?

I would love to see a good three-way race with the CARDINALS and PIRATES. I really, really want a down-to-the wire pennant race like days of yore.

The PIRATES are doing their part, keeping the heat on St. Louis...even at a semi-distant 6 games back.

NL WEST:

Why can't SAN FRANCISCO win at home? They have a losing record there. Injuries piling up on them. I expect them to make the playoffs though.

LOS ANGELES seems to be able to sleepwalk through the season and still remain in first place in that division.

If SAN DIEGO continues to suck expect a bloodbath. They already fired Bud Black as manager and it did no good at all. They'll probably trade all those expensive stars they just got in the off season. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Don't try to build your team around hitting in a pitcher's park.

Goldschmidt of ARIZONA is in the top five in most hitting categories and is even about top fifteen in steals with 12! MVP!

FUNNY STORY:

When Mel Ott was managing the Giants he had an iron clad rule for his pitchers: if they went to 0-2 on any batter, they absolutely MUST throw a waste pitch. Any pitcher who threw a strike on 0-2 was fined. He nailed one poor sap for $500.

Well one game this rookie pitcher goes 0-2 on a hitter and tries to throw one off the plate. But mistakes happen and he clips the corner. The ump goes
Strike three....Yer Out!”
and here comes the rookie pitcher off the mound, screaming at the ump:
That was a ball! What are you tryin' to do? Ruin me?”

BRAIN TEASER:
What baseball brothers (any number) have hit the most combined major league home runs?”

Play fair and don't get out your google machine.

You can email your answers or any comments to:



Until next time I remain your faithful scribe:

Marco