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Post by pippsheadache on Mar 1, 2024 10:58:08 GMT -5
I wouldn't have guessed Danny Graves if you gave me 20 chances. I barely remember him, and yet he is the Reds' all-time saves leader by a fairly wide margin. Helped I am sure by the fact that he spent nine seasons with the Reds and by the way relievers are used compared to Clay Carroll's day. Numbers two through five all make sense to me. Without looking up anything, I would have put guys like Rawley Eastwick or Pedro Borbon or Will McEnaney ahead of him. The only MLB player born in Vietnam, for the reasons you would probably guess. Soldier boy Kisses girl Leaves behind A tragic world… Pretty much. Although in his case he and his parents got out of Saigon just before things crashed around them. |
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 6:03:22 GMT -5
It’s hard to remember now, but a 35-year old Orlando Cepeda
(.289/20/86) won the first award for designated hitter… That was his only year in Boston, and he faded quickly the next season…
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 6:10:17 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 6:16:26 GMT -5
When Benito had a 34 game hitting streak he set three still standing records:
Longest hitting streak for:
A catcher
A rookie
A Padre
Man, that guy could throw when he first hit the MLB scene…in 1988, he nailed 45%* of NL would be base thiefs vs a league percentage of 29%.
* led NL…
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 6:22:13 GMT -5
John Valentin and Troy Tulowitski are the only two players to have both an unassisted triple play and hit for the cycle in the history of MLB. Nothing has anything to do with the other of course. It’s just an oddity…
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 11:45:16 GMT -5
When Benito had a 34 game hitting streak he set three still standing records: Longest hitting streak for: A catcher A rookie A Padre Man, that guy could throw when he first hit the MLB scene…in 1988, he nailed 45%* of NL would be base thiefs vs a league percentage of 29%. * led NL… Lol. Thanks for realizing that I meant Benito Santiago, since I left his last name off… it was like 3:00 AM or so, I think… |
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 11:53:51 GMT -5
Mike Blowers was born in Wurzburg, Germany. He played three different stints for the Mariners. He was one of the victims of Valentin’s UTP… In the 6th inning on 08-Jul-1994, BOS’s SS John Valentin’s UTP retired Blowers & Keith Mitchell by catching Marc Newfield’s line drive, stepping on 2B where Blowers had left and tagging Keith Mitchell who had run almost all way from 1B to 2B as Valentin jogged cooly back to the dugout. I hope this video of it works here: youtu.be/YXJuw4Rd0ck?si=uPbjy8ogr_GCcFOO |
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 11:59:02 GMT -5
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 12:13:53 GMT -5
Jim Northrup
Northrup once tied for the MLB record for grand slams in a season. I personally saw him hit one on TV vs. Baltimore that season. I was overjoyed to see the Orioles defeated that day.
BAL’s Gentile had 5 GS in 1961, tying the NL’s Ernie Banks mark of 5 in 1955. Northrup tied them in 1968, hitting 2 of his GS in 1 G! His 5th one, however came in the WS. The regular season AL batter who tied Gentile actually passed him—Don Mattingly with 6 in 1986. Mattingly was later tied by Travis Hafner in 2006.
At small Alma College, Northrup not only excelled there in football and baseball, but was a forward on the basketball team, ran track & golfed. His great love was baseball. He signed with DET in 1961. He was offered contracts by both the Chicago Bears of the NFL and the Net York Titans in the AFL, but decided to pursue his first love instead.
He wound up the hero in the last World Series played without having to qualify through a playoff:
Northrup hit a triple over the head of 7-time Gold Glove-winning CF Curt Flood, off reigning 1968 WS MVP Bob Gibson in the 7th inning, driving in Norm Cash & Willie Horton. Divisional play with accompanying postseason playoff games began in 1969…
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Post by azbob643 on Mar 2, 2024 12:16:32 GMT -5
Northrup once tied for the MLB record for grand slams in a season. I personally saw him hit one on TV vs. Baltimore that season. I was overjoyed to see the Orioles defeated that day. Didn't you grow up in Maryland? If so, curious as to why you weren't an O's fan. |
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Post by rizzuto on Mar 2, 2024 13:47:09 GMT -5
When Benito had a 34 game hitting streak he set three still standing records: Longest hitting streak for: A catcher A rookie A Padre Man, that guy could throw when he first hit the MLB scene…in 1988, he nailed 45%* of NL would be base thiefs vs a league percentage of 29%. * led NL… Lol. Thanks for realizing that I meant Benito Santiago, since I left his last name off… it was like 3:00 AM or so, I think… Until you said that, I had no idea Mussolini even played baseball.  |
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 16:11:08 GMT -5
Northrup once tied for the MLB record for grand slams in a season. I personally saw him hit one on TV vs. Baltimore that season. I was overjoyed to see the Orioles defeated that day. Didn't you grow up in Maryland? If so, curious as to why you weren't an O's fan. Strange story. My mother would not allow me to watch baseball. That was “stupid”. So instead we watched such cultural fare as professional wrestling, Larry Ferrari, who was a local organ player from the Philadelphia area, the intellectually driven soap operas, etc.. At about five years of age I discovered the baseball cards on the back of cereal boxes. Probably because of the need for me to develop coordination, mom encouraged me to cut them out. I liked the Yankee insignia immediately. I had heard of a guy named Mickey Mantle that was supposed to be the best player, and that the Yankees won something called World Series every year. We lived very remote from any other children at that time. Once we moved into a town when I was 9.5 years old and everybody was an Orioles fan around me I decided to be an Oriole hater. Still am. I mean… Brooks Robinson… who could really hate him? It wasn’t HIS fault he was a Yankee, right? … So that’s the short version. I won’t go long but a big piece of the long story is that my dad loved baseball and would play after work instead of coming straight home. They were divorced when I was a fetus. Anything my dad did, my mother hated. I paid a price for that. Late start in baseball. Other boys played it at recess, but I was clueless and would just kind of go outside and watch other kids doing stuff I hadn’t been exposed to. Soccer, baseball, basketball. When we moved into that town one of the neighbor kids wanted me to have a catch. “Uh, not today”. A couple days later I finally told him I had no idea how. I was relieved when he said “Don’t worry about that kid, we’ll teach you” hooked on baseball by age eleven I caught up in ability and quickly bypassed most of the other kids. It even delayed my interest in girls, which of course changed when they started to fully develop. But even then… I needed help figuring out what to with them… 🤓 Drove my ass crazy… |
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Post by inger on Mar 2, 2024 16:11:49 GMT -5
Lol. Thanks for realizing that I meant Benito Santiago, since I left his last name off… it was like 3:00 AM or so, I think… Until you said that, I had no idea Mussolini even played baseball. 😂 |
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Post by azbob643 on Mar 2, 2024 16:55:21 GMT -5
Didn't you grow up in Maryland? If so, curious as to why you weren't an O's fan. Strange story. My mother would not allow me to watch baseball. That was “stupid”. So instead we watched such cultural fare as professional wrestling, Larry Ferrari, who was a local organ player from the Philadelphia area, the intellectually driven soap operas, etc.. At about five years of age I discovered the baseball cards on the back of cereal boxes. Probably because of the need for me to develop coordination, mom encouraged me to cut them out. I liked the Yankee insignia immediately. I had heard of a guy named Mickey Mantle that was supposed to be the best player, and that the Yankees won something called World Series every year. We lived very remote from any other children at that time. Once we moved into a town when I was 9.5 years old and everybody was an Orioles fan around me I decided to be an Oriole hater. Still am. I mean… Brooks Robinson… who could really hate him? It wasn’t HIS fault he was a Yankee, right? … So that’s the short version. I won’t go long but a big piece of the long story is that my dad loved baseball and would play after work instead of coming straight home. They were divorced when I was a fetus. Anything my dad did, my mother hated. I paid a price for that. Late start in baseball. Other boys played it at recess, but I was clueless and would just kind of go outside and watch other kids doing stuff I hadn’t been exposed to. Soccer, baseball, basketball. When we moved into that town one of the neighbor kids wanted me to have a catch. “Uh, not today”. A couple days later I finally told him I had no idea how. I was relieved when he said “Don’t worry about that kid, we’ll teach you” hooked on baseball by age eleven I caught up in ability and quickly bypassed most of the other kids. It even delayed my interest in girls, which of course changed when they started to fully develop. But even then… I needed help figuring out what to with them… 🤓 Drove my ass crazy… Very interesting. For some reason, I have a soft spot for the Orioles...don't exactly know why. In fact, I'll pull for them if the Yanks aren't in it, and I really like today's team. Maybe it was the unique Black & Orange color, possibly reinforced by the play of Mark Belanger, a SS I admired, as I played that position from my 2nd year in Little League on. I love Camden Yards, a ballpark I've been to many times, surpassed only by YS1, Anaheim Stadium & Coors Field. And I love the area around the ballpark and the Inner Harbor area. Always a good time when we've visited. |
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Post by bomberhojoe on Mar 2, 2024 16:56:52 GMT -5
When Benito had a 34 game hitting streak he set three still standing records: Longest hitting streak for: A catcher A rookie A Padre Man, that guy could throw when he first hit the MLB scene…in 1988, he nailed 45%* of NL would be base thiefs vs a league percentage of 29%. * led NL… Lol. Thanks for realizing that I meant Benito Santiago, since I left his last name off… it was like 3:00 AM or so, I think… Oh Santiago!!?? I thought you meant Mussolini! |
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