13/57 days

February 1, 2011

13 days until pitchers and catchers

57 days until Opening Day

Trivia: On this day in 1926 the Yankees sold Wally Pipp to the Cincinnati Reds. Pip had become redundant on June 2, 1925 when he sat out that day’s game against the Washington Senators and a young Lou Gehrig took his spot in the lineup. Gehrig would end up with the record for consecutive games started with 2,130.  Cal Ripken, Jr. broke that record by playing in 2,632 straight games. Who has the record for overall games played in a career?

DC side note: Wally Pipp went to Catholic U.

Also on this day: In 1995, during talks between the players’ association and the owners, the owners agree to drop their demand for a salary cap, instead settling for a luxury tax.  The Yankees win 4 of the next 6 World Series in an unrelated complete coincidence.

But they didn’t sign Johan Santana: The Mets did on this day in 2008, for $137.5 million.  To date they have paid him $56,005,062. That’s $1,400,126.55 for each win he’s chalked and $112,913.43 for each strikeout he’s thrown.

Wally Pipp – two time home run champion (with 12 HR in 1916 and 9 HR in 1917), and tied for 54th on the list of career triples leaders with 148.

Trivia Answer: Pete Rose holds the record for games played with 3,562. (That’s 1.19 hits per game if you were wondering.)