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Post by inger on Jul 9, 2024 9:53:47 GMT -5
LEE MAZZILLI
During his career, I had no idea he was ambidextrous.
He played for NYM (2X), TEX, NYY, PIT & TOR. Although he could throw easily with either hand, Mazzilli took the advice of his professional coaches & settled on just throwing as a righty. Mets’ director of scouting, had described him this way: “Bats right-left. Throws right-left.”
He might have become an Olympian had he not chosen baseball.
Introduced to ice skating by his father, Lee became the standout and he won or shared national age-group Long Track national championships 3 X & won a Short Track national title 4 X.
Or he might have learned piano tuning.
Mazzilli’s father, Libero, immigrated with his family to the U.S. from Bari, Italy, where piano tuning was the family trade.
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Post by inger on Jul 9, 2024 15:03:17 GMT -5
RENNIE STENNETT
. Pittsburgh’s Max Carey helped his team toward their 1st WS championship by, in the game on 22‑Jun‑1925, getting 2 H in the 1st & 8th innings as they overwhelmed STL 24-6. Then on 16‑Sep-1975, PIT’s Stennett did the same against CHC at Wrigley Field, this time in the 1st & 5th innings. This of course in addition to his beeter known 7/7 game…
Part of Pittsburgh’s famous Lumber Company when reached free agency he signed what was considered a mega contract at the time.
In December 1979, Stennett signed a $3,000,000 5-year contract with SFG. He would only play 2 of those 5 years…
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 9, 2024 16:12:44 GMT -5
WEE WILLIE KEELER Willie has the most hits among all players born in Brooklyn. Keeler ended with 2,932 H. Other Brooklyn-born players include Lou Whitaker (2,369), Joe Judge (2,352), Joe Torre (2,342) & Tommy Davis (2,121). He had 200 hits in 8 consecutive years despite playing in less that 145 games in each… Year G Hits 1894* 129 219 1895* 131 213 1896* 126 210 1897 129 239 1898 129 216 1899 141 216 1900 136 204 1901 136 202 Avg. 132 215 *League champion (BLN) Keeler had a 44 consecutive G hitting streak for the Orioles to begin the 1897 season. That mark, still the NL record, was tied by Pete Rose in 1978. Keeler stands alone for the most G (longest streak) by a lefty… I love this post, Inger. Anything to do with Wee Willie or Brooklyn. A few other well-known Yankees from Brooklyn include Joe Pepitone, Phil Rizzuto (I would have thought he'd be further up the hits list, but I see he had 1,558, of course missing time in WWII) and Waite Hoyt. Willie Randolph was born in SC but grew up in Brooklyn, so he needs a shoutout as well. I think we could say that Sandy Koufax was the greatest baseball player ever from Brooklyn. Wee Willie was a fan favorite who regularly chatted with fans between innings in that much more casual era of more intimate ballparks. He became wealthy investing in mining properties after his career ended, but wound up losing most of it when values crashed after World War I. I always got a kick out of the story of his death on January 1 1923. He had been suffering from tuberculosis for years. He woke up to the sounds of all the noise ushering in the New Year. With the help of his brother who was by his bedside, he had a drink and a smoke and then told his brother he was going to settle in for a long sleep. What a great exit. |
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Post by inger on Jul 9, 2024 17:26:13 GMT -5
WEE WILLIE KEELER Willie has the most hits among all players born in Brooklyn. Keeler ended with 2,932 H. Other Brooklyn-born players include Lou Whitaker (2,369), Joe Judge (2,352), Joe Torre (2,342) & Tommy Davis (2,121). He had 200 hits in 8 consecutive years despite playing in less that 145 games in each… Year G Hits 1894* 129 219 1895* 131 213 1896* 126 210 1897 129 239 1898 129 216 1899 141 216 1900 136 204 1901 136 202 Avg. 132 215 *League champion (BLN) Keeler had a 44 consecutive G hitting streak for the Orioles to begin the 1897 season. That mark, still the NL record, was tied by Pete Rose in 1978. Keeler stands alone for the most G (longest streak) by a lefty… I love this post, Inger. Anything to do with Wee Willie or Brooklyn. A few other well-known Yankees from Brooklyn include Joe Pepitone, Phil Rizzuto (I would have thought he'd be further up the hits list, but I see he had 1,558, of course missing time in WWII) and Waite Hoyt. Willie Randolph was born in SC but grew up in Brooklyn, so he needs a shoutout as well. I think we could say that Sandy Koufax was the greatest baseball player ever from Brooklyn. Wee Willie was a fan favorite who regularly chatted with fans between innings in that much more casual era of more intimate ballparks. He became wealthy investing in mining properties after his career ended, but wound up losing most of it when values crashed after World War I. I always got a kick out of the story of his death on January 1 1923. He had been suffering from tuberculosis for years. He woke up to the sounds of all the noise ushering in the New Year. With the help of his brother who was by his bedside, he had a drink and a smoke and then told his brother he was going to settle in for a long sleep. What a great exit. Never having made the final rest stop myself, I assume that kicking off in your sleep to be the best route to the final destination… |
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2024 9:16:18 GMT -5
There was never a no-hitter thrown at Forbes Field (1909-1970)…
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2024 9:20:56 GMT -5
The stolen bases king of the 1990's was not Ricky Henderson (463).
It was Otis Nixon (478), who is #14 on the all-time steals list but never once appeared in an All-Star Game, and one of only 6 players ever to steal 6 bases in one game...
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2024 9:25:09 GMT -5
In the 1979 draft the Royals chose two future HOF players. John
Elway and Dan Marino…
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2024 9:32:43 GMT -5
A.J. Minter had a three pitch inning on 7/9/24…
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 10, 2024 11:29:52 GMT -5
The stolen bases king of the 1990's was not Ricky Henderson (463). It was Otis Nixon (478), who is #14 on the all-time steals list but never once appeared in an All-Star Game, and one of only 6 players ever to steal 6 bases in one game... Until I just checked on baseballref, I didn't realize that Otis Nixon never had as many as 200 ABs in a season until he was 29 years old. He even spent part of his age 29 season in the minors. His career 76.9 SB percentage was higher than that of Lou Brock or Willie Mays He was originally signed by the Yankees, but after playing only 13 games for them in 1983 he was traded to Cleveland for Toby Harrah, who had his own brief fling with the Yanks. He was a very good defensive CFer, but had almost no power -- only 11 HRs in 5,115 career ABs for an OPS+ of 77. That has to be pretty far down there for fewest HRs per AB for anyone with over 5,000 ABs, but I couldn't find any stat for that (not that I looked too hard.) His brother Donnell played for several teams over a brief career. Otis has had lifetime struggles with cocaine addiction and is today a motivational speaker for trying to get people to stop. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 10, 2024 11:35:08 GMT -5
It's fair to say that the two greatest left-handed hitters ever to come out of Donora, PA are Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr. Amazingly enough, they were both born on November 21; The Man in 1920 and Junior in 1969.
Another Griffey Jr. factoid that I at least found a bit surprising -- he never led the league in hits, doubles, triples, walks, BA, OBP, OPS or OPS+. He did lead in HRs four times, but only once in RBIs and once in SLG.
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 10, 2024 11:45:54 GMT -5
I have long thought that the gap between Babe Ruth and whoever was number two in all-around offense and Mariano Rivera and whoever was number two in relief pitching are the widest of any other aspect of baseball. Now I have discovered an area where Babe and Mo are one and two in the same category. For pitchers with at least 1,000 IP, Mo has the lowest opponents' OPS in history at .555. The Bambino is second at .577.
I was a little surprised that Babe pitched over 1,000 innings (1,221 -- you can do that with a couple of 300-plus seasons.)
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Post by chiyankee on Jul 10, 2024 11:50:20 GMT -5
It's fair to say that the two greatest left-handed hitters ever to come out of Donora, PA are Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr. Amazingly enough, they were both born on November 21; The Man in 1920 and Junior in 1969. Another Griffey Jr. factoid that I at least found a bit surprising -- he never led the league in hits, doubles, triples, walks, BA, OBP, OPS or OPS+. He did lead in HRs four times, but only once in RBIs and once in SLG. Griffey did lead the league in crying about the Yankees. |
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Post by pippsheadache on Jul 10, 2024 12:01:03 GMT -5
It's fair to say that the two greatest left-handed hitters ever to come out of Donora, PA are Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Jr. Amazingly enough, they were both born on November 21; The Man in 1920 and Junior in 1969. Another Griffey Jr. factoid that I at least found a bit surprising -- he never led the league in hits, doubles, triples, walks, BA, OBP, OPS or OPS+. He did lead in HRs four times, but only once in RBIs and once in SLG. Griffey did lead the league in crying about the Yankees. Yeah, he must have played golf with Smoltz in the off-season. |
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2024 13:02:14 GMT -5
The stolen bases king of the 1990's was not Ricky Henderson (463). It was Otis Nixon (478), who is #14 on the all-time steals list but never once appeared in an All-Star Game, and one of only 6 players ever to steal 6 bases in one game... Until I just checked on baseballref, I didn't realize that Otis Nixon never had as many as 200 ABs in a season until he was 29 years old. He even spent part of his age 29 season in the minors. His career 76.9 SB percentage was higher than that of Lou Brock or Willie Mays He was originally signed by the Yankees, but after playing only 13 games for them in 1983 he was traded to Cleveland for Toby Harrah, who had his own brief fling with the Yanks. He was a very good defensive CFer, but had almost no power -- only 11 HRs in 5,115 career ABs for an OPS+ of 77. That has to be pretty far down there for fewest HRs per AB for anyone with over 5,000 ABs, but I couldn't find any stat for that (not that I looked too hard.) His brother Donnell played for several teams over a brief career. Otis has had lifetime struggles with cocaine addiction and is today a motivational speaker for trying to get people to stop. He also has the most stolen bases (620) of any player not in the Hall of Fame. Pretty amazing player. Now an amazing man to be a motivational speaker after his own cause… |
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Post by inger on Jul 10, 2024 14:49:50 GMT -5
JEFF RUSSELL
A forgotten player, and s as poster boy for the failed starter becoming a reliever, Russell played for CIN in 1983 & 1984, the latter being when he took losses 18 X. Playing for the Rangers in 1989, he racked up 66 GF and led the AL in saves with 38.
He attended and was drafted from Wyoming HS in Wyoming, Ohio, a Cincinnati suburb.
His son, James Russell, pitched in relief in the NL 2010-2016… make that two forgotten players…
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