Hits and Runs IX

Nov 18, 2023

“There are only two seasons – winter and baseball.” ~ Bill Veeck

From time to time, I go through my written notes or things I’ve saved on my iPhone to save on clutter and see if what I have can be a full blog post or not. Today, I cleaned out the last (at least for now) of my miscellaneous notes. I’m pretty sure these quick stories or quotes wouldn’t become stand-alone features, so sit back and enjoy. As I’ve mentioned before, my analytics from this platform show these posts are popular, so here comes another.

Gary Maddux threw a total of 8,006 called balls to 8,025 batters he faced from 1995-2003, a span of that stretch from his 4^th Cy Young season to his last year in Atlanta. That’s less than one ball per batter.

“When a pitcher’s throwing a spitball, don’t worry and don’t complain, just hit the dry side like I do.” ~ Stan Musial

In 1972, the Philadelphia Philles had a record of 59-97. Of their 59 wins, Steve “Lefty” Carlton had 27 of them.

“Pitch me outside, I will hit .400. Pitch me inside, and you will not find the ball.” ~ Roberto Clemente

Warren Spahn amassed 363 victories and 363 hits in his 21-year career split proportionally among the three teams he played for. The Braves (356 wins and 356 hits), the Mets (4 and 4) and the Giants (3 and 3). He also matched his wins and hits in his postseason appearances. (4 and 4).

In 88 games that Sandy Koufax started at Dodger Stadium, he posted a 1.36 ERA.

“No need to steal the sign. I’ll tell you what I throw. It’s an 89 MPH sinker, and you won’t even swing at it.” ~ Greg Maddux

Roberto Clemente is the only player in history to hit a walk-off-inside-the park-grand slam home run. He did this against the Chicago Cubs on July 25,1956. Unfortunately, there is no video available of this event.

Shohei Ohtani announced that he is donating baseball gloves to every single elementary school in Japan, totaling 60k gloves to 20k schools.

On his Instagram account he posted: “I’ll be looking forward to sharing the field one day with someone that grew up using this glove.”

“Think about the feeling you have when you give someone a “High Five” … I had that feeling before anyone else.” ~ Glenn Burke (November 16, 1959 – May 30, 1995) who executed the first high five with Dusty Baker after he hit his 30^th home run in 1977.

Earl Weaver nicknamed pitcher Don Stanhouse, “Full Pack”. It was the amount of cigarettes Earl would smoke when watching him pitch.

“He has muscles in his hair.” ~ Lefty Gomez talking about Jimmy Foxx circa 1937

(Photo of Jimmy Foxx. Found on the internet. Assuming Public Domain.)

Charles O. Finley was the owner of the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics. He was always coming up with unusual promotions. He also was a proponent of the Designated Hitter and proposed the use of an orange-coloured ball. This ball was used in an exhibition game on March 29, 1973, between the Oakland Athletics and the Cleveland Indians. Luckily, it wasn’t implemented in league play.

(Photo of Charlie Finley’s experimental ball. Found on the internet. Assuming Public Domain.)

“It takes a lot of years watching baseball to learn not to follow the ball every second. The true beauty of the game is the ebb and flow of the fielders, the kaleidoscopic arrangements, and rearrangements of the players in response to a foul ball, an extra-base hit, or an attempted stolen base.” ~ W.P. Kinsella

James “Deacon” McGuire (November 18, 1863 – October 31, 1936) is credited as the first catcher to pad his glove. Since there wasn’t any material designed to do this, he used a piece of raw steak and stuffed it into his mitt. (He had a great mustache too).

He played in 26 major league seasons which was the record until 1993 when Nolan Ryan broke it. (Something tells me it was a heck of a lot harder on McGuire).

He holds the records for the most games caught with 1,612, the most career assists as a catcher with 1,860. He also holds the record for most runners caught stealing in a season with 189 and in a career with 1,459.

(Photo of Deacon McGuire. Found on the internet. Assuming Public Domain.)

“EBBETS FIELD, written large in the setback, just below the ballpark’s crown, a flag rising precisely in the middle above, testified silently to the beauty of an immortal piece of Americana, and with it, the promise of what the American summer would bring.” ~ Bob McGee

(Photo of Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. Found on the internet. Assuming Public Domain.)

If you are new to “Comments” feel free to browse the Archives for past articles. If you enjoyed this one, please click on the previous posts of this subject, “Hits and Runs”, “Hits and Runs II”, “Hits and Runs III”, “Hits and Runs IV” “Hits and Runs V”. “Hits and Runs VI”, “Hits and Runs VII”, and “Hits and Runs VIII”.

Thanks for your support.

~ Coach Mike

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