Harry

For me, the voice of Harry Kalas is what a Major League Baseball game is supposed to sound like.  As a kid growing up in the mid-to-late '70s, just starting to learn the Grand Old Game and its rich history, Harry and his Whiteness, Richie Ashburn, were my teachers as well as my fellow Phillies fans.  In the days before every sports broadcaster mimicked the ridiculously hyperbolic ESPN SportsCenter style or did their damnedest to look and sound just like Bob Costas (looking at you, Joe Buck), Kalas stood out among his peers not because he constantly drew attention to himself, but rather because he was clearly a fan who enjoyed the game as much as the fan sitting at home watching or listening to him. He just happened to be a fan blessed with one of the most fantastic voices in broadcasting history.

There was probably no one better suited than Harry to be behind the mike through those many years of awful Phillies teams in the mid-‘70s and late-‘80s.  Somehow he made us feel with each new season – with each new game – that this collection of ragtags and oddballs really could just possibly win. And when they did, no one was happier than Harry. To hear him transform from measured professional play-by-play announcer to overly excited fan as a particularly remarkable play unfolded, you could not help but be swept along for the ride. Harry’s voice would rise sharply in both pitch and volume when reciting his famous home run calls: “Long drive! Deep right center field! Way, way back! It’s outta heeeeeere!”  He became the neighborhood boy on the pick-up field trash-talking the opposing team when one of their batters was whiffed: “Struh-Keem-Out!”  And, he was the grandfather figure to many a fan in his later years, happily crooning his wobbly versions of “High Hopes” in an effort to lift the Phillies to one more win.

It's hard to believe today marks 4 years since we lost Harry, shortly before a game against the Washington Nationals.  There was no one like him, and he is deeply missed.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

The 2012 Major League Baseball Regular Season officially opens tonight at 7:00 with the Cardinals v Marlins - the Phils open tomorrow against Pittsburgh!

So let those two glorious words ring out throughout the land: "PLAY BALL!"

bugs bunny - Baseball Bugs

Six Word Sunday

Let's go Phillies! Beat those Cardinals!

Six Word Sunday

O joyous day! Spring training begins!

Almost Perfect...Again!

Back on March 30 of this year, as a part of my Countdown to Opening Day series of baseball lists, I discussed one of the rarest, most difficult feats of pitching prowess there is to accomplish in Major League Baseball: to have pitched, during the course of one's career, both a Perfect Game and at least one other No-Hitter.  It is so rare and difficult that it had only been done by six pitchers:  Cy Young, Addie Joss, Jim Bunning, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson and Mark Buehrle.

I did not expect that post to become obsolete so quickly, but there is now a need to add a seventh name to that list.  Last night, in the opening game of the National League Divisional Playoff Series, Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay threw a No-Hitter against the Cincinnati Reds, leading the Phils to a 4-0 victory and a 1 game to 0 lead in the best-of-five series.

On May 30, just two months after I posted that particular piece, Halladay took the mound against the Florida Marlins and retired 27 batters in a row to notch a Perfect Game.  Last night, he not only joined an extremely elite group of pitchers by accomplishing the incredible, he did it not simply within a career but within the same season - something no other pitcher on that short list had done!  He also became only the second pitcher in history to throw a No-Hitter in a post-season game (the other being Don Larsen, who threw a Perfect Game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers).

In fact, Halladay came within a hair's breadth of actually throwing a second Perfect Game last night! The only mar on the performance was a fifth-inning walk of Jay Bruce - other than that, Halladay was perfect.

There would have been only one more thing I wish could have been in order to make the game perfect: if only the great Harry Kalas were still with us to have called it.  TBS's announcers are as bland as dry toast, and when they had the chance to speak to Halladay immediately after the game, the interviewer's take on it was, "Well, that was an interesting way to start off a post-season."  Um, how about "historic"? "Astounding"? "Incredible"? Nope, to TBS, it was simply "interesting."  Kalas would have brought out all of the drama and emotion of the moment in a way this broadcast team could never even imagine.

But who am I to complain? I saw history last night, and the Phils are starting off their march back to the World Series with a bang!  Congrats, Roy...and let's go Phillies!

PERFECT!

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Settled in last night to watch the Phillies take on the Marlins in the second of a three-game set, hoping to see them build off of the previous night's victory and climb fully out of the slump they've been in since last weekend. With their new ace on the mound, chances seemed good, even though Roy Halladay has met with some rough waters in previous two outings.

I'll admit I was among those who were not happy that the acquisition of Halladay over the off-season meant that the Phillies would give up the amazingly gifted Cliff Lee. I'll also now stand up and say I was wrong - this did turn out to be a pretty sweet deal. Halladay came into the game at 6-3 with 4 complete games and 2 shutouts already under his belt - a remarkable first two months considering we live in the age of the specialized pitcher, and starters are seldom expected to go more than 6 or 7 innings.

With Marlins' star hurler Josh Johnson on the mound for his team, the game had the makings of a classic pitcher's duel from the words "Play ball!" The early innings did not disappoint. In fact, a pretty stellar performance from Johnson was overlooked in the excitement last night.

You see, Johnson was outstanding, but Halladay was perfect.

I had watched only one no-hitter from start to finish before in my 30+ years of baseball fandom, that being Kevin Millwood's gem against the Giants in 2003. But I had never had the experience of watching every pitch of a perfect game as it happened. Considering this was only 20th perfecto thrown in the history of Major League Baseball, it's not an experience that one has many opportunities for!

After the fifth inning, Phillies' announcer Tom McCarthy mentioned that Halladay had retired the first 15 consecutive batters he had faced. That was the first inkling that a no-hit bid was in the works. By the seventh inning, my Twitter feed, which is usually filled with lively conversation during a Phillies game, had gone as quiet as the Phillies' dugout must have seemed to Halladay. If you aren't aware, there are two very strong superstitions in baseball regarding no-hitters in progress: first, the rest of the team stays as far away from the pitcher in the dugout as possible; second (and most important), no one - NO ONE, not player, not manager, not coach, not announcer, not fan - mentions what is happening. Breaking either tradition risks "jinxing" the game. So, even though we all wanted badly to tweet about what we were watching, nobody dared to post a word.

By the time Halladay took the mound for the ninth inning, even the Marlins' fans stood and applauded, realizing they were watching history unfold. And when pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino grounded out to third baseman Juan Castro to end it, Twitter and Facebook both virtually exploded with celebratory posts. One of the neat things about social media is to be able to share a moment like that with literally hundreds of people all across the world.



Marlins' centerfielder Cameron Maybin was certainly not perfect - his misjudgment of a Chase Utley fly ball in the third resulted in a three-base-error that pushed Wilson Valdez across the plate with the game's lone run.

It was a thing of beauty to watch arguably the best right-handed pitcher in the game right now achieve such a pitching feat. I'm so glad I had the chance to see it!

Recommended Reading: Baseball Has Marked The Time

Can you name the pitcher who threw the first curve ball ever? The only player ever killed during the course of a Major League Baseball game? The African-American catcher who suited up and played for a Major League team sixty years before Jackie Robinson? Can you name at least two other Major Leagues besides the American and National Leagues? Can you sing all the verses to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game?" Myka Diller can, and tidbits of baseball's colorful history such as these are the basis of her blog, Baseball Has Marked The Time.

A fan of the Grand Old Game for most of her life, Myka is as knowledgeable when it comes to baseball history and trivia (if not more so) than many of the folks currently sitting behind microphones calling or reporting on the games. She began sharing her love for the game and its history with the launch of her blog this past December. It would have been easy to become just another in the seemingly endless parade of cookie-cutter baseball blogs authored by wanna-be SportsCenter hosts cluttering up the Blogosphere, but Diller quickly carved out her own niche. Focusing almost exclusively on 19th- and early 20th-century baseball, she takes her readers to a time and a game that was simpler, yet no less exciting, dramatic, or fascinating than today.

Diller is fan, trivia buff, historian and teacher all at once. Each post focuses on a specific person or event. She doesn't merely recite the facts; she provides cultural context for the history she discusses, and highlights the parallels between the stories from the diamond and the daily lives we lead. For diehard fans like me who treasure the game's rich past and are already familiar with the names and happenings Myka chooses for her posts, she brings a fresh perspective that breathes new life into those old stories.

Here is Myka Diller discussing her blog in response to the Five Questions I've asked each blogger in this series:

What or who inspired you to begin blogging?
MD: Certainly being on twitter and seeing other people talk about blogging put the idea in my mind, I don’t think I ever would have thought about it before that but what actually gave me the idea for my specific blog was a training that I was doing for work. As referenced in my first post, one of my trainings uses baseball as an example of an industry that uses data well – they collect statistics, analyze them and publicize them and we teach non-profits that they need to do the same. I was wrapping up my training by explaining my love of baseball and sharing a quote from an old book that I had and as I ended I said “I think this is just one of the many life lessons we can learn from baseball!” Later I was thinking about how true that statement was and how much fun I had looking through all my baseball history books looking for a quote to fit my presentation so I thought it would be fun to start a blog about interesting stories from baseball & how they relate to my life.

Is there a story or meaning behind your blog or its name?
MD: The name is from a quote in Field of Dreams, which is my favorite baseball movie. In college I had the quote written in huge letters and posted on my dorm room wall. Most of my friends thought I was weird, but the baseball fans got it. I just think it sums up how I feel about baseball and why it’s so much more than a sport to me!

Which post would you choose from your archives if you had to provide only one that best represents what your blog is all about?
MD: I think A Sickening Thud. The story of Mays-Chapman is interesting but then it also gets you thinking about the importance of facing your fears.

When you first log on to your computer each day, what is the first site you go to?
MD: I typically only use my computer for work – but from my iPhone it’s Twitter, of course. Why? Because I’m addicted! Also, it’s like checking in on your friends in the morning, seeing what kind of mood everyone’s in, finding out if I missed out on any good jokes after I fell asleep. It’s a great way to wake up.

What one other blog would YOU recommend that you read regularly, and why?
MD: I have to find a better system of reading blogs. I generally just read the ones that people tweet. I don’t use a reader or anything – I want to because I think I’m missing lots of good stuff. So I guess the one I read most regularly is Inkling Media’s because he posts pretty much every day. I like the variety of information and the fact that it’s interesting to me even though I’m not in the social media business or marketing world. I love the guest posts and comics. It is very relevant and I do often share the posts with people when we get into conversations about the benefits of social media.

Both the casual fan and the student of the game will enjoy Baseball Has Marked The Time; but I especially recommend the blog to those of you who don't "get" the game or why those of us who love it can be so taken by it - you'll be provided with somewhat different insight into the joys of the game.

My thanks to Myka Diller for taking the time to share her responses as part of this series. She is forgiven for being an Atlanta Braves fan.

1 Thing Left to Say

Here it is, folks! Opening Day! And to conclude the 12 Days 'til Baseball countdown, only one thing remains to be said:

PLAY BALL!

2 Phillies Who Performed "2nd Ever" Unassisted Triple Plays

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

With 2 days left to Opening Day 2010, our 12 Days 'til Baseball Countdown continues with my list of the 2 Philadelphia Phillies who have pulled off the extremely rare feat of completing unassisted triple plays - each of which was the 2nd ever of its kind!

1. Mickey Morandini, 2B, September 10, 1992
In the 6th inning of a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Mickey Morandini achieved the feat courtesy of a line drive off the bat of Jeff Kent. Morandini caught the liner (out #1), and stepped on second base before Andy Van Slyke could get back to the bag (out #2). Barry Bonds has taken off from first base at the crack of the bat, and ran right into Morandini's tag for out #3. This play made Morandini only the second secondbaseman in MLB history to pull off the UTP; the other was Cleveland Indians 2B Bill Wambsganss, who did it on October 10, 1920 in Game 5 of that year's World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers!

2. Eric Bruntlett, 2B, August 23, 2009
By the time Bruntlett achieved his UTP last season, a few other secondbaseman had joined the club. But Bruntlett's play was only the second time in MLB history that a UTP ended a game! In the 9th inning of that day's game against the New York Mets, Jeff Francoeur hit a sharp liner that Bruntlett caught easily as he moved to cover the bag. Stepping on second base to double up Louis Castillo, Bruntlett turned around to find Daniel Murphy trying in vain to reverse momentum and backpedal toward first. It was hard to say who was more surprised when Bruntlett reached out and tagged Murphy for the third out! The only other time a UTP ended a ballgame was May 31, 1927, when Detroit Tiger Johnny Neun became one of the few firstbasemen in history to make the play.

One more day; one more list (can you have a list with one item?) - and then the 2010 Baseball Season is here!

3 Strikes

Image via Wikipedia

Opening Day is almost here...3 days left! Continuing our countdown, and remembering that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it, we celebrate the fact that we have baseball by looking back on a few times when we didn't: 3 of baseball's official player strikes:

1. April 1, 1972 - April 12, 1972
For the first time in MLB history, the players refused to take the field and it looked as though we might be faced with no MLB season. Thankfully, players and owners came to an agreement fairly quickly, that saw $500,000 increase in MLB pension fund payments and Salary Arbitration added to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. 86 games were lost to the strike, with each team's season shortened by about 5 or 6 games.

2. June 12, 1981 - July 31, 1981
The Players Union would strike again nine years later, this time taking a chunk out of the middle of the season's schedule. This time, the agreement that eventually brought the season back favored the owners: teams that lost a "premier" player to Free Agency would now be able to be compensated by selecting a player from a pool of the unprotected players on all other teams (not just the team that signed that the Free Agent), and Free Agent status would be limited to players with six or more years of Major League service. But 713 games were lost to the strike, and an inelegant split-season format was used for the playoffs which saw the teams with best overall records for the year sitting on the sidelines. Attendance dropped precipitously as the fans indicated their frustration by simply not showing up for much of the second half of the season and into the next.

3. August 12, 1994 - April 2, 1995
The infamous strike of 1994 basically revolved around the idea of a salary cap. The owners wanted one, claiming that otherwise small-market teams could simply no longer compete in the Free Agent Era; the players did not want one, fearing that it would simply be a tool for the owners to artificially manipulate player salaries. between 931 and 948 games were lost to the strike, including the entire 1994 post season (which accounts for the imprecise number of games lost, based on the minimum and maximum number of post-season games that might have been played). It was the first time in 90 years that no World Series was played. The owners threatened to play the 1995 season with replacement players ("scabs"), further infuriating the players union and seemingly bringing all attempts to reach agreement to an end, until then Federal Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a preliminary injunction against the owners, effectively bringing the strike to an end. The players returned to the field on April 2. However, the fans stayed away in droves, to paraphrase Yogi Berra. Plummeting attendance meant plummeting revenues for each team and for the league. Three strikes and you're out, the saying goes - that may well have been the case for the MLB had the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run race of 1998 not brought the fans back.

Here's hoping we never need to live through another strike again!

4 of Baseball's Famous Flakes

Image via Wikipedia

The countdown continues...4 days until Opening Day of the 2010 Baseball season! Since today is also April Fool's Day, I thought it appropriate that today's list look at 4 of baseballs daffiest players:

4. Jay Johnstone
Over a 20-year big league career, Johnstone was well known as both a solid utility player and one of baseball's great clowns. Whether it was dressing up as part of the groundskeeping crew and dusting off the infield between innings of a game, or climbing over the top of the dugout and marching through the stands in full dress uniform to go get a hot dog, Johnstone always something mischievous up his sleeve.

3. Babe Herman
Often called "The Daffiest Dodger," Herman was a good player who just seemed to get into odd situations. Decades before it happened to Jose Canseco, reporters insisted a fly ball had bounced off of Herman's head into the stands - not true, Herman insisted! It bounced off his shoulder... Herman is also the only man in history to double into a double play. Trying to stretch a double into a triple, he failed to see that the runner ahead of him was already standing there - or that the runner heading home had turned around and headed back to third, leaving 3 men on one base. Of course, his reputation was made when he was summoned to the phone while chomping on a cigar. Herman put the cigar in his coat pocket and took the call. Afterwards, he pulled the still-lit cigar from his pocket and resumed puffing away as though nothing were amiss...

2. Rube Waddell
In the early part of the 20th century, few pitchers were as accomplished as Waddell. He had pinpoint accuracy and an array pitches that flabbergasted hitters. He also had a bad habit of disappearing from the club, sometimes in the middle of an inning. He was entranced by fires, and if he heard a firetruck pass he drop whatever he was doing and run to chase it. Opposing teams' fans discovered they could easily distract Waddell by holding up small puppies. Waddell was one of a kind.

1. Bill Lee
Any player whose nickname is "The Spaceman" has got to lead this list! Lee earned his nickname basically through his outspoken, offbeat opinions and philosophies about the game and the world, most famously, The Cosmic Snowball Theory: "A few million years from now the sun will burn out and lose its gravitational pull. The earth will turn into a giant snowball and be hurled through space. When that happens it won't matter if I get this guy out."

5 Opening Day Milestones

Image via Wikipedia

With only 5 days remaining in our countdown to Opening Day of the 2010 Major League Baseball season, let's review 5 of the most important milestones achieved on Opening Days past:

1. Opening Day, 1907
Roger Bresnahan, catcher for the New York Giants, takes the field wearing shin guards such as those worn in the British game of Cricket. It is believed that Bresnahan on this day became the first catcher in MLB history to wear such protective equipment. In short order, the rest of the catchers in the league would (probably gratefully!) follow suit.

2. Opening Day, 1910
In Washington, DC, the Washington Senators begin their season at home. President William Howard Taft tosses out a ceremonial first pitch, making him the first President to do so.

3. Opening Day, 1940
One of my favorite baseball trivia questions is, there has been exactly one game in MLB history where an entire team's roster finished the day with the exact same batting averages they had coming into the game - how did it happen? Answer: Bob Feller, on this day, took the mound for the Cleveland Indians and threw the only Opening Day No-Hitter in MLB history. The Chicago White Sox players all began the game with batting averages of .000; when they left the field hitless, those averages were still .000!

4. Opening Day, 1947
Jackie Robinson takes the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Major League Baseball's sixty-plus-year-old color barrier is broken.

5. Opening Day, 1974
Hank Aaron connects for his 714th career homerun, tying Babe Ruth's lifetime total. Four days later, Aaron would pass the Babe, and then go on to finish his career with 755 - a record that would stand until Barry Bonds passed Aaron in a cloud of controversy. Bonds may have the higher total in the record books, but for my generation, Aaron will always be baseball's Home Run King.

Please feel free to share some of your favorite Opening Day moments in the comments below!

6 Pitchers Who Were Perfect...And Then Some!

Pitching a Perfect Game in Major League Baseball is one of the most difficult feats in all of sport. A Perfect Game is one in which the pitcher faces the minimum number of batters possible (27) and retires every one of them. No opposing player reaches base during the entire game by any means. In the history of the game, it has only been done 18 times.

More common is the No-Hitter, where no batter on the opposing team hits safely during the game, although opposing batters may reach base by other means, such as a walk or an error. Major League Baseball has seen 263 No-Hitters in its history, including those 18 Perfectos - still an enormously difficult feat to accomplish, but certainly more likely than a Perfect Game.

No pitcher has ever thrown multiple Perfect Games; a mere 23 have thrown multiple No-Hitters. But only 6 have ever accomplished the amazing, and thrown a Perfect Game and at least one other No-Hitter. With 6 days remaining to Opening Day, let's recognize those six for achieving the nearly impossible!

In chronological order:

1. Cy Young
Young tossed three No-Hitters in his career. The first came on 10/15/1892, when Young, pitching for the Cleveland Spiders, no-hit the Cincinnati Reds. On 5/5/1904, Young became the first player to join this Select Six by throwing a Perfecto for the Boston Americans against the Philadelphia A's. Young would add a final No-Hitter on 6/30/1908, again for Boston (who by now were called the Red Sox) against the New York Highlanders.

2. Addie Joss
Joss pitched his Perfect Game on 10/2/1908 for the Cleveland Naps vs. the Chicago White Sox. His second No-Hitter came a year and a half later, on 4/30/1910, again leading the Naps to victory over the White Sox, making him the only pitcher on this list to shut down the same team twice!

3. Jim Bunning
Bunning is one of two pitchers on the list who tossed a No-Hitter in each League. His first came in the AL, when he was with the Detroit Tigers. On 6/20/58, Bunning no-hit the Boston Red Sox. By 1964 Bunning was in the NL with the Philadelphia Phillies, and on Father's Day (6/21) of that year, he spun a Perfect Game against the New York Mets...one day after the six-year anniversary of his first No-Hitter!

4. Sandy Koufax
Koufax has the most No-Hitters on the list. He tossed four of them, all with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and all in successive seasons. On 6/30/1962, Koufax sent the New York Mets home hitless; 5/11/1963 was the day he did the same to the San Francisco Giants. He celebrated 6/4/1964 by no-hitting the Philadelphia Phillies, and on 9/9/65, he finally got his Perfecto vs. the Chicago Cubs. Think of what he might have done had his arm not hurt all the time!

5. Randy Johnson
It would be almost four decades before the next pitcher would join this list. Randy Johnson threw his first No-Hitter for the Seattle Mariners against the Detroit Tigers on 6/2/1990. Fourteen years later, on 5/18/2004, Johnson took the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks and tossed a Perfecto against the Atlanta Braves.

6. Mark Buehrle
Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle became the sixth man in MLB history to accomplish this impressive pitching feat just last year. Having one No-Hitter already under his belt (4/18/2007 vs. the Texas Rangers), Buehrle achieved perfection against the Tampa Bay Rays on 7/23/2009

There you have it: the only 6 pitchers in MLB history to have thrown a Perfect Game and at least one other No-Hitter. If you can think of a more difficult pitching accomplishment, I'd love to hear it!

7 of the Worst Trades in Baseball History

The negotiations for trading players between major league ballclubs can be tense, drawn-out matters, because you just never know what you're actually going to get or give away (especially when it comes to prospects) until the deal is done. With 7 days remaining until Opening Day, here are my picks for 7 trades that I'll bet each club would love to have been able to take back:

#7: 12/9/82 Philadelphia Phillies trade FIVE players to Cleveland Indians to get Von Hayes
During his unremarkable stint in Philadelphia, Von Hayes was known as "Old 5-for-1" thanks to this deal. One of the baseball trivia questions is: Can you name the five players the Phillies dealt away for Hayes? Answer: Manny Trillo, Julio Franco, George Vuckovich, Jay Baller and Jerry Willard. The biggest names there, Trillo and Franco, were at the end and beginning of their careers respectively, and Hayes was a hot commodity at the time, but five players for one?

#6: 1/27/82 Philadelphia Phillies trade Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg to Chicago Cubs for Ivan DeJesus
Yeah, a month later, the Phils made an ever more lunkheaded trade, again sending away a supposedly aging veteran and an untested rookie to get a fair-to-middling player. In this case, Bowa put in some decent years with Chicago and Ryne Sandberg went on to have a Hall-of-Fame career. Ivan DeJesus? Not so much...

#5: 12/10/82 San Diego Padres trade Ozzie Smith to St. Louis Cardinals for Gary Templeton
Whatever was affecting the minds of the Phillie's brass when it came to trading in the winter of '82 was also in the air in San Diego. Smith was still early in his career, but his abilities certainly were not a question. Gary Templeton was a decent shortstop, but nowhere near The Wizard's level. What were they thinking?

#4: 7/31/97 Oakland A's trade Mark McGwire to St. Louis Cardinals for TJ Matthews, Blake Stein and Eric Ludwick
Fifteen years later the Cardinals were still stealing bargains from California-based teams, this time picking up one of the game's most noted (and most controversial) sluggers for the equivalent of a handful of magic beans.

#3 8/30/90 Boston Red Sox trade Jeff Bagwell to Houston Astros for Larry Andersen
Ah yes, the classic prospect-for-veteran trade. The Astros were looking for late-season pitching help, and figured, hey, it's only going to cost us one prospect. Bagwell turned out to be one helluva prospect, and Andersen still chuckles about being involved in this trade.

#2 12/9/65 Cincinnati Reds trade Frank Robinson to Baltimore Orioles for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson
The Reds figured that at age 30, former NL MVP Frank Robinson's best years were behind him, but that he'd be enough of a name on trading market to bring them a few good prospects. Pappas was probably the best of the three they picked up, and he wasn't that good. Old Man Robinson? Oh, he just went on that year to win the Triple Crown and AL MVP honors for Baltimore...

#1 12/10/71 New York Mets trade four players for Jim Fregosi
One shy of matching the Von Hayes 5-for-1 deal in numbers, this may have been the worst trade ever. Fregosi would be much more successful as a manager than as a ballplayer, although he was no slouch on the field. Three of the four players the Mets traded (Don Rose, Leroy Stanton and Francisco Estrada) didn't accomplish a whole heckuva lot. But the fourth player they traded away in the deal? Some hard-throwing pitcher the Mets didn't feel had the control to be successful. He went on to prove them very, very wrong. His name was Nolan Ryan.

Any head-scratchers I missed? Share your favorite terrible trades in the comments section below!

The 8 Ways a Batter Can Reach First Base

Image by Keith Allison via Flickr

Getting on base is key in helping your team win ball games. After all, runs cannot be batted in unless someone gets on base! According to the rules of Major League Baseball, there are exactly 8 ways a batter can reach first base. Can you list them all?

In case you're stumped, here they are:

1. Hit
2. Walk
3. Hit by Pitch
4. Fielder's Choice
5. Reached on Error
6. Dropped Third Strike
7. Catcher's Interference
8. Fielder's Interference

Now, you will find people who argue additional ways exist, but they are almost always variations of one of the 8 listed above. For example, yes, a batter can reach first on a wild pitch with 3 balls already in the count, but folks, that's still a walk, covered in #2.

And for you wise-acres who want to add "Being inserted as a pinch-runner," clever but wrong. The list is ways a batter can reach first, and a pinch-runner ain't a batter!

There also happen to be exactly 8 days until Opening Day 2010...can't wait!

The Best 9 Position Players Ever in One Game

9 is the baseball number: 9 innings in a game, 9 players in a lineup, 9 positions in the field, and today, 9 days left until Opening Day!

And so, I share with you my pick for the best 9 to ever take a field in a single game. It happened in 1946, for a little-known team called the Tea-Totallers:

1. Catching: Bugs Bunny
2. Left Field: Bugs Bunny
3. Right Field: Bugs Bunny
4. Pitching: Bugs Bunny
5. Third Base: Bugs Bunny
6. Center Field: Bugs Bunny
7. First Base: Bugs Bunny
8. Shortstop: Bugs Bunny
9. Second Base: Bugs Bunny

From the classic 1946 cartoon, Baseball Bugs:

10 Damn Good Reasons to Be a Phillies Fan

In the list of the 20 worst seasons in MLB history, the Philadelphia Phillies appear four times. The only other team whose name appears on that list more than once is the long-defunct St. Louis Browns. The Phillies are a team that one year finished 62½ games out of 1st place, in a 154-game season. This is the team that, in 1964, blew the National League pennant that they needed only one more win to clinch by losing 10 straight games, 7 of them at home. Life as a Phillies fan has not always been a bed of roses. Over the past four decades that I've been on this planet, the Phils have had many a season where cheering them on was an exercise in painful futility.

The Phillies also have always had some of the most loyal fans any team can hope to have. From the joyous successes they have achieved in the past few years to the darkest days of the late '80s and early '90s, the Phillies Phaithful have always been there. Why? Well if you love the game of baseball, with all its ups and downs, its quirks and follies, its moments of exultation and its moments of despair, you can't help but love the Phils - they've seen it all, experienced it all, and have had more staying power than any other club (since 1883). They embody everything baseball is and hopes to be.

Not buying that? OK, then how about, with 10 days to go until Opening Day, I give you 10 damn good reasons you should be a Phillies fan starting with the 2010 season (if you're not one of us already!)?

10. "High Hopes"
The Phillies' version of "Win one for the Gipper." The Phillies' legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas would lead the club and the fans in the singing of this song after they clinched the 1993 National League Championship, the lyrics being perfect for a team that went from worst to first. When Harry left us last year, the song began being played after every home victory, and the entire stadium sings along!



9. The Phillie Phanatic
Named "Best Mascot Ever" by Sports Illustrated and one of only three mascots enshrined in Cooperstown, The Phanatic is the team mascot all other team mascots wish they could be! All the antics your local team's mascot does? The Phanatic did 'em first, and with more personality! Other mascots have come and gone - including San Diego's fabled Chicken - but the Phanatic endures and continues to entertain!

8. Bull's BBQ
As the slugging left-fielder on the great Phillie teams of the '70s through their World Championship 1980 season, Greg "The Bull" Luzinski was beloved by Phillie fans. As the creator of Bull's BBQ, home of the greatest pulled pork and pit beef sandwiches you'll ever find at any ballpark anywhere, The Bull has endeared himself to a whole new generation of Phillie fans. It's a must-visit concession when you're at Citizens Bank Park. And if you're lucky, The Bull himself might serve up your sandwich and sign your ticket!


7. Phillies Tradition
To be a Phillies fan is to be steeped in tradition. The club's moments of glory are ingrained in every Phanatic. Parents tell their children, who learn and recite their Phillies history as well as they do their multiplication tables. Even the youngest generation of Phillies fan knows about - and those who were there can and happily will tell you all about - The 1950 Whiz Kids, Jim Bunning's perfect game on Father's Day in 1964, Rick Wise hitting two homeruns while pitching a no-hitter in '71, the "Shootout in Chicago" in 1979 when the Phillies beat the Cubs 23-22 in ten innings, Schmidtty's 500th homerun, the Divisional Champ teams of '77 & '78, the World Champs of '80 & '08, the Wheeze Kids of '83 and the Worst-to-First misfits of '93. Phillies fans celebrate these and many more as if they happened just yesterday - it's a team whose history remains alive!

6. Harry & Whitey
Speaking of tradition...being a Phillies fan means honoring the memories of the finest, funniest, most knowledgeable and most entertaining duo ever to broadcast a ballgame. For many a fan my age, the voices of Harry Kalas and Richie "Whitey" Ashburn are what a baseball game is supposed to sound like. They were two old friends sitting down to watch a game and share some stories; we were lucky enough to be within earshot. They brought the game to life on radio, and added to the game we watched on TV. They rode every emotional roller-coaster the Phillies took us on with us - they were the ones in the front car, screaming their heads off at the most exciting points. Ashburn left us in 1997, and Harry passed last year, but to Phillies fans everywhere, they still call the games.

5. Leslie Gudel
For the past 10+ years now, Leslie Gudel has been covering the Phillies (and other sports) for Philadelphia's Comcast Sports. You can keep your Jeanne Zelaskos, your Erin Andrewses, your Melissa Starks, your Hazel Maes...Leslie beats them all! She became Philadelphia's first female sports anchor She knows her stuff, and while she's definitely a fan of the Phillies, she's not afraid to speak up when they screw up. Over her time in Philadelphia, she's become one of the best, male or female!

4. Larry Anderson
Simply put, L.A. is the best color man in the business, bar none. When Whitey passed away in 1997, Anderson stepped into to the booth. He never once tried to fill the shoes of His Whiteness (no one ever could); instead, L.A. brought his own brand of story-telling, strategy explanation, and game description to the booth, and helped us heal from the loss of Whitey without replacing him. Paired with Harry Kalas, L.A. became more confident behind the mic with each season. That he's a naturally funny guy helped, but his love of the game comes through every word, and that is what connects with the fans. Now paired with Scott Franzke in the radio booth, there are many, many fans who wish that we could have L.A. back on TV! I know I'm not alone in occasionally watching the game with the TV muted and the radio broadcast supplying the soundtrack!

3. Charlie Manuel
Charlie Manuel took over the managerial reigns of the club from Larry Bowa in 2004. It took a little while for Manuel to find his footing with the club and for Philadelphia to fully embrace Charlie, but he has proven himself over his tenure with the Phillies to be the perfect manager for this club. Manuel's public style is relaxed and down to earth, and he believes in his players - sometimes supporting them to a point that drives fans crazy, such as his decision to stick by Brad Lidge last year as his closer despite disastrous outing after disastrous outing. But you can't argue with success, and I'd say leading the club to three straight NL East pennants, two straight National League pennants, and two trips to the World Series - winning one of them - is success by anyone's measure.

2. Chooch, J-Roll, The Flyin' Hawaiian, Hollywood, Ra-UUUUUL!, and more
You have to love a team with personality, and the Phils have personality in spades! Just look at the nicknames on the team right now. And what makes this team work is that there are no prima-donna superstars. Everyone plays his role, and they celebrate each other's successes, stepping back to allow each teammate their share of the spotlight. Come on, could you ask for a better infield than Howard, Utley, Rollins and Polanco? Or a better outfield than Ibanez, Victorino and Werth? Ruiz has proven himself to be a valuable captain behind the plate and quite the clutch hitter when he's up to bat. With the addition of Roy Halladay and the return of a revived Cole Hamels, the pitching staff will again be among the toughest in the league. This is a team that's been to the Series twice, and still has its best years ahead!

1. The Phans!
Philadelphia fans may have a bad reputation outside of the City of Brotherly Love, but those of us who live the Phillie-Phan life know that those on the outside are simply misinterpreting our passion for our beloved Phillies! Phillies fans will strike up conversations with you, debate strategy, talk about the old days, whatever - whether they've known you for years or just met you by sitting in the same row. New Phillies fans are welcomed with open arms. The excitement in the stadium is electric, and again, when the whole stadium joins in singing "High Hopes," well, there's nothing better! The fans here are the best - but they are fiercely loyal. (Walk into Citizens Bank Park wearing a Mets jersey if you doubt our loyalty!)

So what are you waiting for? Declare your Phillies Phandom today, and join us in cheering on Your Defending National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies as they begin the journey back to the World Series and regain the championship!

11 of My Favorite Baseball Quotes

The history of Major League Baseball echoes with the wise (or wise-acre) words of those who have played the game. With 11 days remaining until Opening Day 2010, I offer 11 of my favorite baseball quotes:

11. "Good pitching will always stop good hitting, and vice-versa." - Casey Stengel

10. "Well boys, it's a round ball and a round bat, and you've got to hit the ball square." - Seattle Pilot's manager Joe Schultz

9. "If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher 20 wins but might take five years off his life, he'd take it." - Jim Bouton

8. "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

7. "They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it." - Willie Mays

6. "Baseball? It's just a game, as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, a business, and sometimes even religion." - Ernie Harwell

5. "Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical." - Yogi Berra

4. "Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you." - Satchel Paige

3. "Why does everybody stand up and sing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' when they're already there?" - Larry Anderson

2. "You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all." - Earl Weaver

1. "Hit 'em where they ain't." - Wee Willie Keeler

Your turn - have any favorite baseball quotes to share?

12 of the Greatest Baseball Player Names in History

We are headed into the final stretch of Spring Training. Only 12 days remain until Opening Day of the 2010 Major League Baseball Season! Honestly, I cannot wait - it's been a long, cold, snowy winter, and I'm ready for the Boys of Summer to take the field again; to sit in the stands with a beer and a hot dog and root, root, root for the home team; to hear the crack of the bat and smell the pine tar.

These last two weeks are always the longest, so to pass the time, I'll be posting a different baseball-related list each day from now until Opening Day. Call it "The Twelve Days 'til Baseball."

To kick it off, here are my picks for the 12 greatest baseball player names in history. These may not be the greatest players ever, but their names are either so melodic, so perfect for the game, or so odd as to never be forgotten. To get the full effect, in your mind imagine James Earl Jones intoning each name in that deep, rich, Darth Vader voice.

Let's count 'em down, shall we?

12. ELIAS SOSA
A right-handed relief pitcher who bounced around among 8 teams in his 12-year major league career, Sosa's lifetime W-L record of 59-51 with 83 saves and lifetime ERA of 3.32 are respectable enough numbers. He makes my list out of personal nostalgia: when my brother and I were collecting baseball cards as kids in the '70s, it seemed as though every other pack of cards we bought contained Elias Sosa. We would announce the acquisition of yet another duplicate of his card by saying his name in a very sing-songy way, running the two names together and dropping pitch on the first syllable of "Sosa." We thought that was hysterical. We were 6 and 10 at the time, OK?

11. JOHN MONTEFUSCO
Named the National League Rookie of the Year in 1975, and a member of the 1976 National League All-Star Team, John Montefusco's last name alone is a thing of majestic beauty: MonteFOOSko. But, combined with his nickname, John "The Count of" Montefusco, he is elevated to pantheon of great names.

10. CHIPPER JONES
Even though he plays for a team I, as a Phillies fan, consider "the enemy," I must begrudgingly give Jones his due. Over the past 16 seasons he has proven himself to be one of the best in the game, and good thing too. I mean, with a name like Chipper Jones, what else would he do besides play baseball?

9. CATFISH HUNTER
Jim Hunter was a damn good pitcher - good enough to be elected to the Hall of Fame. But in his early days with the (then) Kansas City A's, infamous owner Charley Finley decided all of his players needed flashy, catchy nicknames. Hunter had very little flashy about him at the time, so Finley invented a story out of whole cloth about Hunter catching the largest catfish anybody in his hometown had ever seen when he was a boy, and from that day forth, he was Catfish Hunter. I think a nickname with no connection to the real world at all deserves mention on this list!

8. WILY MO PENA
Yep, that's how he spells it. One L. Drives me nuts every time I see it - I keep wanting to call him "Wiley". Still, his name is fun to say. And after his being released by both the Nationals and the Mets last year, who knows how many more chances we'll get to hear sportscasters say it?

7. BAKE McBRIDE
Arnold Ray "Bake" McBride lasted ten seasons in the majors with the Giants, Phillies, and Indians. Over that time, "Shake 'n' Bake" (as he was affectionately called as he sped around the bases) not only sported one of baseball's greatest names, but also one of baseball's greatest afros - second only, perhaps, to the legendary Oscar Gamble afro (just wait...)

6. TIE: BLUE MOON ODOM / VIDA BLUE
Teammates on the legendary pitching staff that was part of the Oakland A's dynasty in the early 1970s, Vida Blue and John "Blue Moon" Odom had opponents singing the blues game in and game out. But what were the odds of having two outstanding pitchers with "Blue" in their names on a team whose colors were green and gold?

5. EPPA RIXEY
The early part of the 20th Century was a haven for great and unusual baseball names, but one of my favorites of the era was Eppa Rixey. In my lifetime, I've never known of any other person with either that first name or that last name. Rixey pitched for twenty years in the majors, splitting his career between Philadelphia and Cincinnati, and retired in 1933 as the winningest pitcher in National League history until he was surpassed by Warren Spahn.

4. BOOG POWELL
When a 6'4", 230-pound gorilla tells you he wants to be called "Boog," you call him "Boog". The Oriole legend became known first as an all-star first baseman, then, after his career ended in 1977, as a beer commercial pitchman. Nowadays, he can be found sometimes manning the grill at Boog's Barbecue in Camden Yards. If you see him there, say "Hi Boog!" Just try to say it without laughing.

3. BUDDY BIANCALANA
"Buddy Biancalana." It rolls mellifluously off the tongue. Try it: "Buddy Biancalana." His name became famous in the mid-80s thanks to David Letterman. As Pete Rose was counting down to passing Ty Cobb's all-time major league hits record, Letterman began the Buddy Biancalana countdown. Buddy retired a little shy of Cobb and Rose, with 113 career hits, but as he quipped to Letterman, "I'm closer to Cobb than you are to Carson!"

2. JOE CHARBONEAU
"Super Joe" Charboneau is one of baseball's all-time great flops. When he burst on the scene with the Cleveland Indians in 1980, his 87 RBIs and .289 batting average were good enough to earn him AL Rookie of the Year honors, and baseball thought they had their next big star. The media played up his charismatic personality and quirky off-field behaviors (he drank beer through his nose and did his own dental work). The next year, he struggled to get his average as high as .210, and became the first Rookie of the Year to be sent back to the minors the following season. He came back to the Indians for 22 games in 1982 but played even more poorly, and that was it. Still, the name lent itself so well to the hype: for that one great summer, cries of "Go Joe Charboneau!" could be heard all around Cleveland.

1. VAN LINGLE MUNGO
Far and away the greatest name ever in Major League Baseball. A fair-to-middling pitcher for the Dodgers and Giants in the 1930s and 1940s, his name was so singularly fantastic that in 1969, David Frishberg had a minor hit record with a bossa-nova number called "Van Lingle Mungo." Stringing together nothing but names of ballplayers from the past as lyrics, Mungo's name became sort of an odd refrain repeated occasionally throughout. Enjoy Frishberg's composition in the following video clip:



OK, those are my picks. Any names you want to add to the list?

Just 6 Days Away...What are Your Traditions?

Image via Wikipedia

We here on the East Coast are slowly digging out from the Blizzard of '10. Nearly three feet of snow over two storms within days of each other, not to mention winds of up to 40 mph whipping all that white stuff into drifts twice as deep. I happen to love the stuff (yeah, even with all the shoveling!), but I know many, many folks who have seen enough snow now to satiate them for the next two winters.

Despite the snowy tundra that surrounds us, conversations among a certain group of my friends has turned to the coming spring, and how none of us can wait for the 2010 Baseball Season to start! Our wait is not that much longer: pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training this coming Wednesday, February 17, for most teams (a few teams don't report until Thursday or Friday - you can check your favorite team's schedule here.)

It's still a bit early for me to lock in my predictions for the season, but, just as many ballplayers have their superstitions and rituals they must follow in order to feel that everything will be as it should, so I have my annual rituals to ring in the new baseball season:

1. The Annual Reading of Ball Four: Jim Bouton's first hand account of a season spent trying to survive in the major leagues with the woefully doomed Seattle Pilots (and other teams) as an eccentric knuckleballer (hmm...are there any other kinds?) is simply my favorite piece of baseball writing ever presented for public consumption. Highly controversial in its day for shattering the myth of ballplayers as paragons of virtue that had long been the public image presented by all those ghost-written autobiographies that crowded library shelves in the '50s and '60s, it is hysterically funny, highly quotable, and much tamer in today's world than it seemed at the time of it's publication 40 years ago.

2. The Annual Viewing of Game 6 of the 1980 World Series: Lifelong Phillies fans like myself will forever be able to tell you where they were and how they felt at 11:29pm on October 21, 1980 when Willie Wilson swung through a 1-and-2 fastball, Tug McGraw leapt from the Veterans Stadium mound, and the Phils were MLB's World Champions for the first time in the franchise's long history. I watch that game at the beginning of every Spring Training, hoping to see the Phils go all the way again. Since then, they've been to the Series four more times, but only won it once more. This year...this year!

3. The Annual Listening to Tug McGraw Reading Casey at the Bat: I was pleased several years back to find a vinyl copy of the Tugger reading Casey at the Bat with The Philly Pops providing orchestral accompaniment. I usually give it a spin on the turntable the night before Opening Day.

This year, I'll be adding a fourth tradition: While the Phillies are, always have been, and always will be my team, I am also fascinated by the story of The Seattle Pilots (see tradition #1, above). The shortest-lived team in modern MLB history played exactly one season, 1969, before being moved to Milwaukee and transforming into the Brewers - and, unfortunately, providing Bud Selig with his ticket into Major League Baseball. In celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Pilots' lone season, a new documentary began production last year. Finally finished, the filmmaker, Steve Cox, is now accepting pre-orders for the DVD, scheduled to ship March 5. The Seattle Pilots: Short Flight Into History looks to be an outstanding collection of memories and rare media clips from an unusual blip in baseball's storied past. Check out this clip:



I'll be reviewing the documentary here once I've received it, but I highly recommend you get in line for one as well, before they're gone - the team only lasted one season; who knows how long the documentary will be here!

In six days, these traditions will begin here in Ruttville in celebration of the coming baseball season. How about you? What are your annual traditions that ring in the baseball season for you each year?