Hits and Runs XVI

Mar 03, 2025

“This is a strange game.” ~ Carl Yastrzemski

Well, 2025 is underway and this is the fifth post of the new year. I felt that since a lot of my notes and quotes have been sitting dormant it would be an excellent time to “clean house” and start anew. If you’re a long-time subscriber, you are familiar with this themed post; if you’re a newer subscriber (welcome and please tell others about us) or reader, I occasionally write these “Hits and Runs” to get rid of notes that I feel wouldn’t be a complete article, but that they have readability value as snippets. Enjoy and tuck some of these away for Trivia Night at your local bars.

Who holds the MLB record for most seasons with at least one stolen base without being caught? Greg Maddux had 10. Unbelievable.

Bob Gibson, a right-handed pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals had 122 complete games between 1968 and 1972. Since the 2000 season the Cardinals on a whole have only 117 complete games.

Let’s put Bob Gibson’s 1.12 ERA in the 1968 season in perspective. It means he allowed 38 Earned Runs in 304.2 innings. Yes, Gibby was a beast.

“I love the smell of fresh-cut grass in the morning and the sound of a baseball bat hitting a ball.” ~ Hank Aaron

“What a terrific spitball pitcher he was. Bugs drank a lot. He didn’t spit on the ball. He blew his breath on it and the ball would come up drunk.” ~ Rube Marquard on Bugs Raymond who pitched for the Detroit Tigers (1904), St. Louis Cardinals (1907-1908) and New York Giants (1909-1911).

“Nah, Thurman’s not moody. When you’re moody you’re nice sometimes. Thurman’s just mean.” ~ Sparky Lyle, Yankee Pitcher

Ice cream served out of a plastic baseball helmet tastes 600% better than in any other container. It’s “science” for sure.

Don Mattingly had 692 plate appearances in 1989 and only struck out looking once.

“Watching other teams in the World Series is like watching somebody else eat a Hot Fudge Sundae.” ~ Joe Torre

“You can’t compare me to my father. Our similarities are different.” ~ Dale Berra on his father, Yogi Berra.

“I sign every autograph I can for kids because I remember myself at that age. I think it’s ridiculous that some guys won’t sign for a kid.” ~ Jim Thome

In his career, Greg Maddux threw 109 complete games. In 26 of those games, he threw under 100 pitches, and it wasn’t because of a “pitch count” either.

The late Bob Uecker over his 54 years in the broadcast booth called approximately 2.5% of all MLB games in history. That includes games played before the advent of televised games and radio broadcasting. And I guarantee they were the most enjoyed games ever broadcast.

“John Fischer is a man of many sins and failures, but his worst is leaving fans no place to mourn Rickey Henderson. There’s no home of the Oakland A’s to place flowers at, no team to provide comfort, not even am open comment section on social media.” ~ Richard Staff on Twitter @RichardStaff

“I threw the ball pretty near every day of my life. I loved holding a ball. I loved throwing a ball. That was the love of my life – other than my wife of course.” ~ Rocky Colavito

The only player in MLB history to record 500 hits for four different franchises is Rusty Staub. He did this with the Houston (Colt 45s) Astros, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers and the Montreal Expos.

Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax combined to win 209 games with 2551 strikeouts and had 53 shutouts between 1962 and 1966. That is a successful righty / lefty combination.

“During my 18 years I came up to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ball player will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.” ~ Mickey Mantle

“I ought to get a Black and Decker commercial out of it.” ~ Don Sutton, on the allegation that he was scuffing the baseball.

The most stolen bases by a catcher record is held by John Wathan of the 1982 Kansas City Royals. He stole 36 bases that year and turned 33 years old the day after the regular season ended.

Dennis Eckersley coined the term “Walk-Off Home Run” after losing a game on a home run and watching the hitter “walk off” the field.

“Baseball is to football as blackjack is to bridge. One is the quick jolt; the other the deliberate, slow-paced game of skill. But never was a sport more ideally suited to television than baseball. It’s all there in front of you. It’s theater, really. The star is in the spotlight on the mound, the supporting cast fanned out around him, the mathematical precision of the game moving with the kind of inevitability of Greek tragedy. With the Greek chorus in the bleachers!” ~ Vin Scully. Oh, how I wish that the commissioner, owners and all the clowns trying to shorten the game and take some of the strategy away would realize that.

Lee Smith started his famous slow walk from the bullpen because “I had a lot of friends on the ground crew at Wrigley Field. I found out they got time and a half if the game went past 4:30 pm so I took my time getting to the mound. The slow walk to the mound became part of my routine.”

Jackie Mitchell, a 17-year-old girl, struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in six straight pitches a week after being signed. A few days later, Commissioner Landis voided her contract because baseball was “too strenuous” for women.”

Gene Conley is the only person to win a World Series and an NBA Championship. He accomplished this as a pitcher for the Milwaukee Braves in 1957 when they beat the New York Yankees. His NBA Championship (actually, three of them) came when he was the backup center for the Boston Celtics, playing behind Bill Russel.

“They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it.” ~ Willie Mays

“I get the ball, I throw the ball, and then I take a shower.” ~ Mariano Rivera, Yankee Relief Pitcher

In 2024, with the DH in both leagues, the MLB average strike out per 9 innings was 8.6 batters. In 1968, the “Year of the Pitcher” and with pitchers batting, the MLB average strikeout per 9 innings was 5.9 batters. During his remarkable 1968 season, Bob Gibson’s strikeout rate was 7.9 batters per innings, much less than today’s average pitcher. Is today’s average pitcher much better than Gibson was in 1968 or are today’s hitters that much worse at making contact? Thoughts? Gibby is one of the best pitchers and competitors the game has ever seen, at least in my humble opinion.

If you ever think you’re not appreciated, just remember Tim Fortugno was once traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to the Milwaukee Brewers for a bucket of baseballs. The actual transaction was $2,500 and 12 dozen baseballs.

“Hey, I think it’s easy for guys to hit .300 and stay in the big leagues. Hit .200 and try to stick around as long as I did; I think it’s a much greater accomplishment. That’s hard.” ~ Bob Uecker

“Baseball has been very good to me since I stopped playing it.” ~ Whitey Herzog, St. Louis Cardinals manager

Tony Gwynn got his 2,000^th and 3,000^th hits on his mom’s birthday.

There have only been two players in MLB history with the last name of Moyer. Ed and Jamie Moyer.

Ed died on November 18^,1962. Jamie was born on November 18, 1962.

They are not related.

“You know what? In this entire country, there are only 15 big-league baseball games being played tonight, and we’re lucky enough to be at one of them.” ~ Steve Palermo, former MLB umpire.

“Look at him. He doesn’t drink, he doesn’t chew, he doesn't stay out late, and he still can’t hit .250.” ~ Casey Stengel on 2^nd baseman Bobby Richardson

To have hit a ball out of dead center at the Polo Grounds in New York City, home of the Giants, you would have had to hit it approximately 550 feet.

Ron Wright played his one and only career game on April14, 2002 for the Seatle Mariners and recorded three at bats. His results? Strike out, grounded into a double play, and grounded into a triple play.

“A corncob thrown with force will take all kinds of odd shoots and jumps and is hard to hit. I played that game by the hour. I could follow those erratic cobs along every zigzag of their flight. I learned timing in that barn lot as I could have learned it nowhere else in the world.” ~ Paul Waner on how he learned to hit.

Stephen Strausburg officially retired from professional baseball on April 6, 2024. He signed a $245 million extension in 2019 but threw only 530 pitches in the big leagues after that.

MLB: We want to grow the game!

Also MLB: Has the first game of 2024 MLB season at 3am PST and blacks it out for California residents. The game was between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers. And it seems like they will do it again this year with the Cubs and Dodgers in Tokyo, we shall see.

“He told me, ‘A player’s got to have a nickname,’ and asked me what I liked to do. ‘Hunting and fishing,’ I said, and he said, ‘Let’s call you “Catfish.” ~ Jim “Catfish” Hunter on how he got his nickname from A’s owner Charlie Finley.

“I was a first baseman when I was 14, and the kid who was a pitcher on our team left and went to another team because they had better looking uniforms. We were only a week from starting play in our league and I threw hard, so I became the pitcher.” ~ Billy Pierce

Madison Bumgarner had more grand slams than Price Fielder, who had more inside-the-park home runs than Rickey Henderson, who had fewer steals of home than Babe Ruth, who had as many shutouts as Pedro Matinez. Strange.

“Baseball must be a great game to survive the fools who run it.” ~ Bill Terry

Bill White visited Phil Rizzuto in a rehabilitation center, Rizzuto couldn’t speak “Instead, he held up his hand and I took it in mine. For the next 45 minutes, we sat there, holding hands. Two old men, old baseball players, holding hands in a sunbeam. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but I’m pretty sure Phil would have wanted me to laugh”.

“You don’t want to make that one mistake and give up a hit. I could feel my knees a little bit, a little shaken, a little extra adrenaline going into the ninth inning. I can’t believe I did it.” ~ Mark Buehrle on his 2007 no-hitter

“…everyone in this room has a PhD in hitting or pitching. We’re in the top 600 in the world at what we do. In an industry that makes millions of dollars, and we have to sign whatever contract they give us? That’s insane.” ~ Jim Bouton talking about salaries with his Yankee teammates.

“In 1992, I was sitting at my locker staring at my first MLB check. Kirby Puckett walked by and said, “first big-league check, huh?” I nodded with a proud smile. Puck them reached into his pocket, pulled out a big roll of money, and asked “you want me to cash it for you?” ~ Mike Trombley

“Baseball hasn’t forgotten me. I go to a lot of Old Timers games, and I haven’t lost a thing. I sit in the bullpen and let people throw things at me. Just like old times.” ~ Bob Uecker

“The next time somebody comes in here and says he’s me, take him out in the back and have somebody hit a few balls to him. If he catches them, you know he’s a phony.” ~ Lefty O’Doul to a bartender that had accepted a forged check in his name.

Tony Gwynn faced Maddux, Pedro, Glavine, and Smoltz a combined 323 times. He struck out 3 times.

Rickey Henderson is the only player with 3000 Hits and 2000 Walks.

When Preacher Roe was asked what is the best way to get Stan Musial out, he replied, “I throw him four wide ones and then try and pick him off first base.”

“You don’t have pigeon shit on your shoulders yet, swing the f****** bat.” ~ “Spaceman” Bill Lee

Despite having over 9,000 career at bats, Tony Gwynn struck out only 434 times, That averages to a K every 21,4 Abs, or one every 5 games, for 20 seasons.

In 2024, there were more Tommy John surgeries in MLB than in the first 25 years after the surgery was invented in 1974.

“Solo home runs usually come with no one on base.” ~ Ralph Kiner, power hitting outfielder and an announcer after his playing career.

“The only way I’m going to win a Gold Glove is with a can of spray paint.” ~ Reggie Jackson

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

“The other day they asked me about mandatory drug testing. I said I believed in drug testing a long time ago. All through the sixties I tested everything.” ~ Bill Lee

“He could have hit .300 with a fountain pen.” ~ Joe Garagiola on Stan Musial.

On May 26, 1977, an 18-year-old Rickey Henderson stole seven bases against the Fresno Giants, setting a California League record that still stands today.

Elly De La Cruz led MLB in 2024 with 67 steals and was caught 16 times. He was 22.

Rickey Henderson led MLB in 1998 with 66 steals and was caught 13 times. He was 39.

“They say I was born too soon. I say the doors were opened too late.” ~ Cool Papa Bell.

“If it’s round, and it has some stitching on it, he’s (Vladimir Guerrero) swinging.” ~ Ron Darling.

Rickey Henderson’s Rules for a long career:

Run 3-5 miles every other day.

Do 200 sit-ups and 100 push-ups a day.

Stretch before bedtime.

Eat plenty of ice cream.

Billy Herman (with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943) and Pie Traynor (with the Pittsburg Pirates in 1931) are the only players post 1900 with a season of 100 RBIs and only two Home Runs.

“Ten million years from now, when the sun burns out and the Earth is just a frozen ice ball hurling through space, nobody’s going to care whether or not I got this guy out.” ~ Tug McGraw, relief pitcher.

Every season has its peaks and valleys. What you have to try to do is eliminate the Grand Canyon.” ~ Andy van Slyke

“Jesus Christ had long hair and a beard, why can’t we?” ~ Lou Pinella to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in regard to his strict hair and facial hair policy.

“See that pond? Walk across it and you can wear your hair and beard as long as you want.” ~ George Steinbrenner’s response to Lou Panella

After Michael Jordon scored a career-high 69 points in one game, his teammate Stacey King said, “I’ll always remember this as the night that Michael Jordon and I combined to score 70 points.”

If you are new to “Comments” feel free to browse the Archives for past articles. If you enjoyed this one, please click on the hyperlink of the previous posts of this theme, “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”, “Hits and Runs VIII”, “Hits and Runs IX”, “Hits and Runs X”, “Hits and Runs XI”, “Hits and Runs XII”, “Hits and Runs XIII”, “Hits and Runs XIV (Pitcher’s Edition)”, and “Hits and Runs XV”.

Thanks for your support,

~ Coach Mike

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