The 30, Week 8: Feeling Streaky

"With less than one-third of the season in the books, it's still early enough that one big streak can dramatically affect our view of a given team. Last week saw several clubs reel off four-, five-, and six-gamers in either direction; one sad bunch ran their losing streak to 12. Players getting healthy, players getting hurt, and players starting to earn the first 1/240th of their contracts have all swayed the standings. Some people even took Streak Week literally. Let's pull our pants back up and get to it. It's Week 8 of The 30."
Grantland

Bob Feller

Wikipedia - "Robert William Andrew 'Bob' Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed 'The Heater from Van Meter,' 'Bullet Bob,' and 'Rapid Robert,' was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. One of the best right-handed pitchers in baseball history, Feller was a prodigy who entered the major leagues when he was 17. Feller played 18 seasons, all with the Cleveland Indians, from 1936 to 1956, his career interrupted by four years of military service during World War II. He became the first pitcher to win at least 20 games in a season before the age of 21, threw three no-hitters and 12 one-hitters (both records at the time of his retirement), led the American League in strikeouts in seven seasons, and pitched 279 complete games."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
SI Vault: Bob Feller
NYT - Last Word: Bob Feller (Video)
YouTube: Bob Feller Demonstrates Pitching, 1936-17 Year Old Bob Feller
U. Texas: The Mike Wallace Interview, Bob Feller, 8/4/57
Bob "Bullet" Feller

Geoff M. Pope - "Fastball from My Dad"

Back in the '50s, my father
played minor league baseball
with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Bruce B. Pope was a lefty, and he hurt me,
hurt my hand bad when I was almost 11 -
after I blurted out something like, “Dad,
throw me one of your real fastballs, will ya?”

I watched his hesitation and the familiar but slightly
different windup this time; it was more pronounced,
just more dramatic, I thought. Then the pitch –
and my barely seeing it fly into my mitt.
I can still hear the hit, the violent Pop!

I tried hard not to cry when I caught it then dropped it.
I started bawling across the front yard, the palm
of my left hand stinging then throbbing,
the glove left on the ground…

me thinking something broken
and blurry like I will nev-er
question the pow-er
of my fath-er
a-gain.


Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine

Jon Miller

Wikipedia - "Jon Wallace Miller (born October 11, 1951) is an American sportscaster, known primarily for his broadcasts of Major League Baseball. He is currently employed as a play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco Giants. He was also a baseball announcer on ESPN from 1990 to 2010. Miller received the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010."
Wikipedia
YouTube: Jon Miller wins the 2010 Ford Frick award, Voice of the Orioles Jon Miller, Jon Miller on preparation for games

Phillip Wellman blew top

"The much-needed rain we got in Chattanooga today helped clear the air and cool things down, except for Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman. He took center stage, and
a couple of bases. Let's just say he got worked up. He argued balls and strikes
in the first couple of innings, and then he blew his top."
YouTube

Donald Hall - "Couplet"

Old Timers' Day, Fenway Park, 1 May 1982

When the tall puffy
figure wearing number
nine starts
late for the fly ball,
laboring forward
like a lame truckhorse
startled by a gartersnake,
- this old fellow
whose body we remember
as sleek and nervous
as a filly's -

and barely catches it
in his glove's
tip, we rise
and applaud weeping:
On a green field
we observe the ruin
of even the bravest
body, as Odysseus
wept to glimpse
among shades the shadow
of Achilles.


Hummers, Knucklers, and Slow Curves

Eephus League of Baseball Minutiae

Comiskey Park, 1957. Sherm Lollar catching unidentified pitcher as Ted Williams.
"Baseball is a living, breathing entity. It has its own traditions, language and rules. And this entity is always growing. Baseball has remained relatively unchanged throughout its history, but new players, coaches, commentators and fans pass through each day and add to its culture. Baseball is obsessed with record keeping. Every pitch, out and hit is recorded by hundreds of people each day. Anyone who has ever lived in the land of baseball has been immortalized and codified on a stat sheet. The Eephus League of Baseball Minutiae is an offshoot of that spirit of codification and history making."
Eephus League of Baseball Minutiae
MAY 2012: There is but one game
The Eephus League Baseball Scorebook Revival Project (Video)
Bound | The Eephus League

2010 September: Baseball Scorekeeping
2010 August: Box Score

The On Deck Circle

Shoeless Joe Jackson
"I was a young boy, age 11, when I went to Shea Stadium in the mid-1970′s to see my first Major League baseball game The sounds, the smells, the sheer excitement of the spectacle overwhelmed me. I began to collect packs of baseball cards by the fist full. I played pickup games of baseball in the parking lots, streets and empty fields of my hometown, Bridgeport, CT. Mostly, I just wanted to be part of what I’ve always thought is the most perfectly beautiful game ever invented."
The On Deck Circle

The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers

Wikipedia - "The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers ... is a non-fiction baseball reference book, written by Rob Neyer and Bill James and published by Simon & Schuster in June 2004. In the text on its dust jacket, it bills itself as a 'comprehensive guide' to 'pitchers, the pitches they throw, and how they throw them'. The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers is divided into three main sections. The first section contains a series of 11 chapters dealing with eight different pitches, such as the fastball, spitball, curveball, change, slider, knuckleball, forkball, and screwball. These chapters detail such matters as the origin of these pitches, the history of their nomenclature, a description of any sub-types, and citations of different pitchers who were noted for their skill in throwing particular pitches."
Wikipedia
amazon: The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers: An Historical Compendium of Pitching, Pitchers, and Pitches
ESPN: The Mighty Fastball
Scoresheetwiz: The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers

The 30, Week 7: East Coast Bias

"Nine out of 10 teams at .500 or better. Nine out of 10 teams with more runs scored than allowed. Veteran stars and electrifying rookies. You can't call it East Coast bias if AL and NL East teams are categorically better. Hitch a ride on the Acela and make the rest of the country hate you. It's Week 7 of The 30."
Grantland

Bill Davis - "The Boys"

Walter lets the boys in through Gate B
about an hour before game time.
Carlo and Tommy and Skunk
and Silver and Gus.
About thirty or forty in all,
depending on the night.
Some younger guys,
but most of them
had been in right field for years.
A lot of money changed hands.
Silver and Richie
hung over the railing of the bullpen
then went back up and reported.
("He's pissed off - doesn't like his curve -
throw in high - but you know how he is --")
Tommy would go out to make a call.

If a game got lopsided quickly
most of them would leave,
unless there was a big Yankee game
they kept track of on the scoreboard.
The day after Gus died,
two young guys were waiting around,
asking about Gus,
asking about money they had coming
after a late rally win by the Indians.
Carlo paid them the money,
told them to leave,
then sat down and
opened the evening Herald
to read the pitcher's summary.


Local 254, 1974

1986 Mets: A Year To Remember

"A great ballclub, a beautiful demonstration of what talent can do when assembled with planning and guided by intelligence." - Bill James, on the 1986 New York Mets
Walrus Video (Video)

2011 December: 1986 World Series

Vermont Reds

Wikipedia - "The Vermont Reds are a defunct minor league baseball team. They played in the Eastern League at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vermont from 1984 to 1987. They were affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. The team won the Eastern League Championship in 1984, 1985 and 1986."
Wikipedia
Category:Vermont Reds players
W - Vermont Mariners
Hall-bound Larkin sped through Minors
The Ballpark Guide: Centennial Field

Can the Orioles Buck History and Stay Above .500?

"You can be forgiven if, as a fan of another team, you are captivated by the Baltimore Orioles' hot start and you start believing in their playoff chances. If you are a fan of the Orioles, you have no such excuse. That's the first place to start when analyzing the first-place Orioles: They've done this before. The Orioles haven't had a winning season since 1997, but over the last 14 years they've lured fans in with one false spring after another. As you'll see, over the last decade the Orioles have been a bigger tease than Danica Patrick's GoDaddy ads."
Grantland

John Lambremont, Sr. - "Progeny"

Age-old Southern faces,
tight-lipped and grim,
in their batting helmets,
their chins tucked in,
raise their steel barrels
and dig in again.

Remnants of their ancestry,
descendants of their kin,
that stared down steel barrels
and charged again,
knowing that their chances
to survive were slim.

The batteries of the enemy
are usually going to win.


Spitball: The Literary Baseball Magazine

Beanball (bean, headhunter, etc.)

Armando Benitez drills Tino Martinez | May 19, 1998
Wikipedia - "'Beanball' is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking him such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player's head (or 'bean' in old-fashioned slang). A pitcher who throws beanballs often is known as a 'headhunter.' The term may be applied to any sport in which a player on one team regularly attempts to throw a ball toward the general vicinity of a player of the opposite team, but is typically expected not to hit that player with the ball."
Wikipedia
SI: It's dangerous business, but sadly beanballs are probably here to stay
Baseball Reference
The Hardball Times: 10,000 days since baseball’s nastiest beanball war
Beanball battle: Minoso vs. Quentin
wordnik: beanball
Jim Bunning Still Beaning

Elston Howard

Wikipedia - "Elston Gene Howard (February 23, 1929 – December 14, 1980) was an American Negro League and Major League Baseball catcher, left fielder and coach. During a 14-year baseball career, he played from 1955–1968, primarily for the New York Yankees. The first African American player on the Yankees roster, he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player for the 1963 pennant winners after finishing third in the league in slugging average and fifth in home runs, becoming the first black player in AL history to win the honor. He won Gold Glove Awards in 1963 and 1964, in the latter season setting AL records for putouts and total chances in a season."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference
SABR: Elston Howard
Elston Howard: A Yankee Pioneer
Yanks' Howard followed in Jackie's footsteps (Video)

The 30, Week 5: Braves Are Bourn Again

Michael Bourn
"The problem with ranking every team 1 to 30 is one of degree. As we near the quarter-pole, both leagues look top-heavy. Only six American League teams own a positive run differential, and five of them reside in the AL East (none in the AL Central). The National League features a handful of legitimate pennant contenders, followed by a big batch of suspect-to-awful teams. This week's rankings might tell us more if we could jump from, say, nine to 12, or 21 to 26. Until the bosses allow Fibonacci-style rankings, we'll search for clarity with what we have. It's Week 6 of The 30."
Grantland

Sarah Freligh - "Al's Answer"

"Ain't you got no heart, boy?"
- Dino DiMino, Al's pitching coach

There. It's there, he knows, just below his right
hand I pledge allegiance to the flag
there under skin and bone, caged tight
in the prison of his ribs, a heavy bag
of muscle, a ham-pink fist punching away
in his chest, a heavyweight contender under
God indivisible, no quit in this baby,
none, no way will Al Stepansky ever
give up. He'll go the distance, give you
nine innings of flat-out goddamn great
ball, wring his guts out, tear his soul in two
trying to show up those rubes at the plate,
goddamn dying to prove he's the best,
a winner, prove to you he's got a heart.


Sort of Gone

Cleveland Stadium

Wikipedia - "Cleveland Stadium (commonly Lakefront Stadium and Cleveland Municipal Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium, located in Cleveland, Ohio. ... The stadium was built for football as well as for the Cleveland Indians, who played their first game there on July 31, 1932, losing to the Philadelphia Athletics' great pitcher Lefty Grove 1-0 while attracting a then-major-league-record crowd of 80,184. The Indians played all of their games at the stadium from the middle of the 1932 season through 1933. However, the players and fans complained about the huge outfield, which reduced the number of home runs. Moreover, as the Great Depression worsened, attendance plummeted. In 1934 the Indians moved most of their games back to their smaller previous home, League Park."
Wikipedia
ballparksofbaseball: Cleveland Municipal Stadium (YouTube)
Cleveland Municipal Stadium
Clem's Baseball Blog
Ballparks
SI Vault
Baseball Statistics
YouTube: Cleveland Municipal Stadium 1993, 1959 Cleveland Indians/Minnie Minoso, Baseball All Star Game 1954

1924 Colored World Series

Wikipedia - "The 1924 Colored World Series was a best-of-nine match-up between the Negro National League champion Kansas City Monarchs and the Eastern Colored League champion Hilldale. In a ten-game series, the Monarchs narrowly defeated Hilldale 5 games to 4, with one tie game. It was the first World Series between the respective champions of the NNL and ECL. It was the second year of existence for the ECL, but no agreement could be reached in 1923 for a post-season series, owing primarily to unresolved disputes between the leagues. Five members of the Baseball Hall of Fame participated in the series: Biz Mackey, Judy Johnson, and Louis Santop played for Hilldale, while Bullet Rogan and José Méndez played for the Monarchs. In addition, Monarchs owner J.L. Wilkinson was also inducted into the Hall."
Wikipedia
Baseball Reference
The First Negro League World Series
Monarchs were Kansas City's first champions
amazon: Baseball's First Colored World Series: The 1924 Meeting of the Hilldale Giants And Kansas City Monarchs

Summer in the City: New York Baseball 1947-1957

"Between 1947, when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers, and 1957, when the Dodgers and the New York Giants played their last season in the East, New York baseball teams appeared in ten World Series. In seven of those years, either the Giants or the Dodgers vied for the championship with the lordly Yankees. These were truly the glory years of New York baseball, when the city breathlessly followed the game in the tabloids rather than on the tube. And the New York Daily News, the nation's largest newspaper, had the best photographers, the best equipment, and the best field position to record the action, bringing the art of baseball photography to its highest pitch."
amazon

Charles North

Charles Olson 3b

Primo Carnera 2b

Peter The Great lf

Abraham Lincoln cf

Julia Child 1b

Ed (Too Tall) Jones c

John Kenneth Galbraith rf

Randy Johnson ss

Bill Tiden p


Complete Lineups

The 30, Week 5: Bird Is the Word

"...3. Baltimore Orioles, 19-9 (131 RS, 97 RA) (last week: 8). A week ago, we expressed concern over Baltimore's pending schedule, starting with three games in New York and three in Boston. Five wins in a row later, it's time to slot the O's with baseball's elite teams. Every time we promote Jason Hammel, he one-ups himself, striking out 13 batters and allowing just four runs over 12 2/3 against the Yanks and Sox and moving into the top 10 among MLB starters in Wins Above Replacement. Meanwhile, Matt Wieters and Adam Jones both rank in the top five for AL position players."
Grantland
Grantland - The 30, Week 4: Don't Mess With Tampa