10/54 days

February 4, 2011

10 days until pitchers and catchers
54 days until Opening Day

Retirement Trivia: Andy Pettitte is going to announce his retirement today. My favorite part of watching Pettitte pitch always was waiting for the pickoff. You knew it was coming, so did the runner, so did half the stadium. Yet he kept nabbing napping baserunners. He will retire as the second most prolific picker off of baserunners (well, since 1920 anyway, when they started keeping track of such things) with 94 pickoffs. Who is number one on the list?

Bonus Lunch Trivia!: There have been 27 pitchers with at least 50 career pickoffs. Only six of them were right-handed. If you can name three of the six I will buy you lunch.

Betcha Didn’t Know “Cy” Was Actually a Nickname: On this day in 1956 the Cy Young Award is established. Denton True “Cy” Young died in 1955 and Baseball felt an award in his honor was an appropriate way to honor the man who holds several unbreakable records, the most ballyhooed of which is his untouchable 511 wins. From 1956-1966 one award was given for both leagues; Don Newcombe won the first.

After 22 years of pitching he went home to toil on his farm, not unlike George Washington. Young is tied in first place for most career perfect games thrown (1) with Dallas Braden, among others.

Not So Surprising From a Guy Who Once Banned Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle: On this day in 1971, Takoma Park, MD native and baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, in one of the biggest publicity flubs in the history of not thinking things through, proclaims that former Negro League players will have a separate (but equal, surely) wing in the Hall of Fame. The predictable controversy that ensued led to the Negro League players’ rightful inclusion in the Hall alongside everyone else.

Speaking of Banned Players: On this day in 1991 the Hall of Fame board of directors voted unanimously to ban Pete Rose from the ballot.

Maybe Better Than Charlie Hustle: On this day in 2004 the St. Louis Cardinals give Albert Pujols a deal of $100 million for the next seven years. Little do they know that exactly seven years later they will wish they had signed him for $250 million for 15 years, which would have been a huge bargain.

Got 'em.

Retirement Trivia Answer: Steve Carlton is in first place with 144 pickoffs.

Bonus Lunch Trivia Answer: Charlie Hough (73 pickoffs), Rick Sutcliffe (56), Jamey Wright (53), Phil Niekro (51), Don Drysdale (51), Jack Sanford (50).

11/55 days

February 3, 2011

11 days until pitchers and catchers
55 days until Opening Day

Trivia: One of today’s birthday boys, Fred Lynn, was the first player to win Rookie of the Year and his league’s MVP award in the same season. Only one other player has achieved that feat. Who is it?

“You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball”: On this day in 1886 Albert Spalding forms the company that will bear his name and manufacture the first official baseball. Spalding made the official baseballs for MLB until 1977 when Rawlings took over.

So that’s why the museum is in Kansas City: On this day in 1920 in Paris of the Plains the Negro National League is formed. The league consisted of 8 teams; 3 were named Giants (Chicago, Chicago American, St. Louis) and 2 were named Stars (Cuban and Detroit). The creatively named teams were the Dayton Marcos, the Indianapolis ABCs, and the Kansas City Monarchs. The Cuban Stars were not based in Cuba. They were actually two teams, one based out of New York and one based out of Cincinnati. Most of the players themselves were Cuban. In a lot of ways things were much more complicated back then. And less politically correct.

(Kansas City is called Paris of the Plains because it has more boulevards than any city outside the real Paris.)

Baseball birthday: Chicken Hawks, 1896. He played two seasons, one for the Yankees (shared the outfield with a guy named Ruth) and one for the Phillies. Most well-known for having a preposterous name.

Also birthed today: Fred Lynn, 1952. Lynn might very well hold the record for Number of Unusual Achievements, and therefore is the answer to many trivia questions. Lynn was the first player to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season.  He is the only player to hit a grand slam in an All-Star Game. He hit exactly 23 home runs 4 years in a row. He won ALCS MVP in 1982 even though his team lost the series (he hit .611).  On June 18, 1975, he recorded 16 total bases in one game against the Tigers (only 16 other players have ever had 16 total bases or more in a game). He finished his career with 1,111 RBI; an impressive but otherwise insignificant number, nevertheless one that stands out because it’s just so darn symmetrical. Believe it or not, he’s one of two in the history of baseball to have that exact number (the other being George Hendrick).

There are 108 double stiches on each baseball.

Trivia answer: Ichiro Suzuki won AL MVP and AL Rookie of the Year in 2001. He had a ridiculous 242 hits while hitting .350 and stealing 56 bases for the 116-win Mariners.