eBay deal of the week

On eBay this week...


You will recieve on (1) ... Cy Young Cleveland Naps 8x10 Photo ... PERFECT FOR AUTOGRAPH


you will "recieve" "on" and if you don't know how many "on" is, you have it in parentheses to be sure (1).

Anyway, your Cy Young Cleveland Naps 8x10 Photo is PERFECT FOR AUTOGRAPH!

By who?

Cy Young died 53 years ago, you idiot. Am I supposed to go to the Peoli Churchland Cemetery in Peoli, Ohio and dig him up? And if I did, if I clasped a pen inside his disintigrating hand and scribbled "Cy Young" on the photo, would it count as an authentic Cy Young autograph?


And on the "Official Cy Young Website," you find this:

Did you know?
Major League Baseball's "Cy Young Award" is named in his honor.

Sonofabitch... so it's not a coincidence...

Alex Rodriguez in the Playoffs...

Alex Rodriguez is only "Bad" in the playoffs because it's trendy to say he is.

He's played in eight playoff series, and he's hit over .300 in FOUR of them. He's hit over .400 in TWO of them. He's hit under .200 TWICE, and he has seven postseason HR in 39 games. That's not quite the world's biggest choke artist, like everyone loves to call him.

Willie Mays, on the other hand, played in six postseason series, with only ONE .300 series. Furthermore, he hit a lone home run with 10 RBI in 25 career postseason games. Yet... nobody ever utters a word about Willie Mays' shortcomings in the postseason. I think it has something to do with the fact that everybody wants to call Willie Mays the greatest ever (personally, I'd take Hank Aaron in a heartbeat), and everybody wants to hate Alex Rodriguez.

Also, since Barry Bonds went 8/17 with 4 HR in the 2002 World Series, we seem to erase the fact that aside from that series, he's 29/134 (.216) in postseason play. Why is that?

Holiday baseball munchies...

Statistics from Outer Space!

This is a weekly feature on my radio program. I have edited all other sports out of it and here are the baseball ones:



1.) Hank Aaron compiled 6856 total bases in his career. Multiplied by 90 feet and converted into mileage, that is 116.864 miles.



2.) CC Sabathia led the majors with 3816 pitches thrown this season. Given the fact that an average pitch travels sixty and a half feet, that translates into a combined 43.725 miles traveled by Sabathia thron balls, and that doesn't even include warmups or pickoff attempts.



3.) Top ten under six feet tall home run hitters:

1. Willie Mays 660 - 5'11"

2. Harmon Killebrew 573 - 5'11"

3. Mickey Mantle 536 - 5'11"

4. Mel Ott 511 - 5'9"

5. Gary Sheffield 499 - 5'11"

6. Carl Yastrzemski 452 - 5'11"

7. Yogi Berra 358 - 5'8"

8. Dick Allen 351 - 5'11"

9. Willie Horton 325 - 5'11"

10. Ron Cey 312 - 5'10"



and top 7 who are 6'6" or taller:

1. Dave Winfield 465 - 6'6"

2. Dave Kingman 442 - 6'6"

3. Frank Howard 382 - 6'7"

4. Darryl Strawberry 335 - 6'6"

5. Richie Sexson 306 - 6'8"

6. Adam Dunn 278 - 6'6"

7. Tony Clark - 247 - 6'7"



4.) Pete Rose made an ML record 10,328 outs during his career. That's 382.52 complete 27 out games worth of outs.



5.) Satchel Paige tossed three innings of shutout baseball 9/25/65 on his 21,631st day alive.

Bill Monbouquette holds the record for striking out against the oldest pitcher (21,631 days old)

Carl Yastrzemski holds the record for getting a hit against the oldest pitcher (21,631 days old)



6.) The oldest man to get a hit was Jim O'Rourke, in 1904 at the age of 19,746 days old.



7.) Reggie Jackson struck out 2597 times. That's 7791 swings and misses. If you were to go to a batting cage at 15 swings for a dollar, you'd have to pay $520 to swing and miss that much.



8.) In 2003, the Dodgers paid Darren Dreifort $9.4 M

In 2004, the Mets paid Mo Vaughn $17,166,667

In 2005, the Dodgers paid Dreifort another $13.4 M

In 2006, the Yankees paid Carl Pavano $8 M,

The Astros paid Jeff Bagwell $19,369,019

Mike Hampton was paid $14,503,543

In 2007, Hampton collected another $14.5 M

Not a single game was played by any of the above in those given seasons.

$96,339,229 for nothing... and your chicks for free.



9.) In 1952, Virgil Trucks of the Tigers, was 5-19. Three of the wins were shutouts, two of the shutouts were no-hitters.



10.) Top 10 home run hitters to attend USC.
1. Mark McGwire 464
2. Dave Kingman 442
3. Fred Lynn 306
4. Bret Boone 252
5. Geoff Jenkins 221
6. Ron Fairly 215
7. Jacque Jones 165
8. Roy Smalley 163
9. Steve Kemp 130
10. Aaron Boone 126

...And the top 10 who attended Arizona St.
1. Barry Bonds 762
2. Reggie Jackson 563
3. Sal Bando 242
4. Rick Monday 241
5. Bob Horner 218
6. Alvin Davis 160
7. Hubie Brooks 149
8. Ken Phelps 123
9. Mike Devereaux 105
10. Ken Landreaux 91

11.) the top 10 lefty home run surrenderers:
1. Jamie Moyer 464
2. Frank Tanana 448
3. Warren Spahn 434
4. Steve Carlton 414
5. David Wells 407
6. Jim Kaat 395
7. Randy Johnson 392
8. Tom Glavine 356
9. Mickey Lolich 347
10. Kenny Rogers 339

12.) Top 9 Canadian HR hitters
1. Larry Walker (L) 383
2. Matt Stairs (L) 254
3. Jeff Heath (L) 194
4. Jason Bay (R) 149
5. Justin Morneau (L) 133
6. Corey Koskie (L) 124
7. George Selkirk (L) 108
8. Pete Ward (L) 98
9. Terry Puhl (L) 62

8 of 9 are Lefties. Crazy Canadians

Cranky Old Baseball Analyst

Today is the 137th birthday (don't you love how I say it as if they're still alive; like I'm Willard Scott) of Louis "Chief" Sockalexis. He was, supposedly, the first Native American to play in the majors, playing for the Cleveland Spiders of the National League from 1897-99. His physical skills were legendary, and this Penobscot Indian (around Maine) would have been an all-time great had he not drank (drunk, drinked, drinken) himself into obscurity by the tender age of 27. He went to Notre Dame and got kicked out because he threw furniture out of a window of a dormitory or something. Great...

Yesterday, I did not watch the World Series... yet I did watch the highlights. And one thing I saw that makes me completely ill was Ryan Howard versus the shift. And how did he go about facing the shift? Hitting right into it. What a joke. You're given an opportunity for a free base without relinquishing an out, and you choose not to in favor of something that happens, at the very best, once every twenty plate appearances? What stupid baseball. If I were a manager, I would bench any player who didn't accept the free hit. This is the difference between real baseball and the crap you see nowadays. This is why a team from years past would embarass these fools playing today. That stuff wouldn't fly back in the teens and twenties and thirties. And there wouldn't be a bunch of fools falling on their face trying to hit the ball as hard as humanly possible every time.

Next, I will complain about the obnoxious amount of off-days during the playoffs. Cut them out. During the course of the season, this didn't happen. Teams are built with five man rotations, and this is how divisions are won. A team with a weak pitching staff can get cheap wins in playoff serieses because their weak back ends of the pitching staffs are never exposed. This is entirely unfair to teams that take the time to develop a strong rotation one through five. Plus, fans can't stay enthused with all these days off. The excitement of game two gets lost as you have to sit through a travel day to get to game three. This is terrible. The World Series should be a non-stop thrill where you don't have time to stop thinking about it. Plus, stop complaining about the ratings. Fans don't seem to care about Tampa Bay because they're all young unknowns. They don't have any marquee players to boast of. Fans cling to marquee players. David Ortiz. Alex Rodriguez. Manny Ramirez. But real fans appreciate the fact that the two teams in the World Series are there because they beat every other team in their path, and will watch anyway.

Ok, that's my piece. Go Baseball.

And back to our usual business...

Top 10 most career homers given up by lefties:

1. Jamie Moyer 464
2. Frank Tanana 448
3. Warren Spahn 434
4. Steve Carlton 414
5. David Wells 407
6. Jim Kaat 395
7. Randy Johnson 392
8. Tom Glavine 356
9. Mickey Lolich 347
10. Kenny Rogers 339

and the top nine Canadian born home run hitters in history...

1. Larry Walker 383
2. Matt Stairs 254
3. Jeff Heath 194
4. Jason Bay 149
5. Justin Morneau 133
6. Corey Koskie 124
7. George Selkirk 108
8. Pete Ward 98
9. Terry Puhl 62

What's interesting about this? Only Bay is right handed... the other eight are lefties. Crazy Canadians...

Enough.

When did Cub fandom turn into group therapy? It seems to me that with every passing year, you hear more and more Cub fans with this overly emotional attitude, using phrases such as, "broken heart," "inner turmoil," and other phrases saturated with sappy "chicken soup for the soul" type nonsense.

What is it about this god-forsaken team that gives a bunch of middle aged idiots the idea that they can go around moping and hugging each other and crying on one another's shoulder and carrying on like they've lost a pet? Punch something, throw around a few f-bombs, and get on with it like a real fan.

Enough of this obnoxious mass pity party. These are a bunch of grown men playing a game. Men spitting tobacco juice on each others' shoes. Men who get paid millions and could really care less about Frank Chance... or Phil Cavaretta... or Ernie Banks... or Ryne Sandberg for that matter.

And if I see one more middle aged idiot talking about one hundred years when he's not even half that age, I'm going to regurgitate.

Cub fans: your team loses every year. Learn to live with it or find something else to irritate the world with.

Birthday of Victory

I'm still mystified by the save statistic. It's sorta like someone making a big deal over some jackass who comes into the local Walgreens which closes at 10, and works from 9 to 10. Just comes in and works the last hour of business. Does the same thing as any other employee, just does it later. Starter has to work five innings to get a win, yet you can get a save for just a third of an inning's work.

Anyway...happy birthday (even though he's long dead) to Charlie Faust, another figure in baseball history, the likes of which will never be seen again.

Charlie "Victory" Faust was a Kansas native who at age 30 was told by a fortune teller that he'd pitch the New York Giants to a championship. So he met up with the Giants one day in 1911 in St. Louis and demanded that John McGraw give him a roster spot. McGraw, sensing that this guy was a lunatic, decided to have fun with him and had Faust "try out" by running the bases. Faust was wearing his Sunday clothes, and eventually had holes in his clothes and rashes and bruises on his legs and arms. The Giants won that day 9-0. McGraw kept Faust around as a good luck charm. The Giants would go 36-2 on days Faust was on the bench in uniform, yet he still begged McGraw to pitch. Finally, October 7th, Faust pitched the ninth inning of a game. He would pitch another ninth on the twelfth and put together two innings of work on the season, yielding two hits and one run. Faust's luck would run out in the World Series, the Series where the Giants ran into The Philadelphia A's and their mascot, hunchback dwarf Louis Van Zelst, but more importantly Frank "Home Run" Baker. This would be the Series where he acquired his nickname by hitting homers in consecutive games off of two Hall of Fame pitchers, Rube Marquard (also born Oct. 9) and Christy Mathewson. Faust returned in 1912, although at his own expense. The Giants jumped out the Gate with a 54-11 record, but Faust continued to bother McGraw to pitch. And no longer was it a joke. Faust's begging this time was more like "a demented threat." Faust was finally urged to go back to Kansas, but his desire to come back to the team never waned. Faust was picked up in Salem, OR wandering the streets, and admitted into a mental hospital, and he died of tuberculosis in 1915.

Cust's Last Stand

Jack Cust is on the cusp of history. After setting the AL record for strikeouts in a season, eclipsing the immortal Rob Deer. Cust is a legendary minor league slugger with 200 career minor league homers.

He also has 101 walks to go with those 188 strikeouts. In only 563 plate appearances!

The current leader in SO + BB for a season is Mark McGwire, with 317 (162 BB, 155 K) in 1998.

Mark McGwire 317 (162 BB, 155 K, 1998) 681 PA
Ryan Howard 306 (107 BB, 199 K, 2007) 648 PA
Adam Dunn 306 (112 BB, 194 K, 2006) 683 PA
Adam Dunn 303 (108 BB, 195 K, 2004) 681 PA
Adam Dunn 298 (128 BB, 170 K, 2002) 676 PA
Jim Thome 298 (127 BB, 171 K, 1999) 629 PA
Jim Thome 296 (111 BB, 185 K, 2001) 644 PA
Jay Buhner 294 (119 BB, 175 K, 1997) 655 PA
Jim Thome 293 (111 BB, 182 K, 2003) 698 PA
Jimmy Wynn 290 (148 BB, 142 K, 1969) 653 PA
Jack Cust 289 (101 BB, 188 K, 2008) 563 PA


Adam Dunn appears on this list several times... and he too is in line for a milestone this season. He is currently at 38 homers for the season. If he hits two more, he will have his fourth straight season with exactly 40 homers. Earlier research has uncovered the fact that the highest total of homers hit four straight seasons is 24, done by Ken Boyer from 1961-64. Fred Lynn hit 23 each year from 1984-87.

Worst 2000 strikeout pitcher ever?

Last week, White Sox pitcher Javier Vazquez became the 62nd member of the 2000 strikeout club (Andy Pettitte, barring a freak injury, will become the 63rd in his next start). I thought to myself, "Could Javier Vazquez possibly be the worst 2000 strikeout pitcher in history?" Of course, I had to take action and dig through the rubble to annoint someone as the worst 2000 strikeout pitcher in history.

I narrowed the list of finalists for worst 2000 strikeout pitcher down to eleven: Frank Tanana, Chuck Finley, Jerry Koosman, Charlie Hough, Tommy John, Camilo Pascual, Dennis Martinez, Bobo Newsom, Rick Reuschel, Andy Benes, and Javier Vazquez.

All of the above pitchers have multiple All-Star appearances except Benes, Vazquez, and Hough, easily the bottom three on the list; Vazquez, Pascual, and Hough (and Newsom, who played before the Cy Young Award was established) never made a top 10 in Cy Young voting. Tommy John never broke 150 K's; He, Martinez, Benes, and Reuschel never made 200. Vazquez and Martinez (who did it twice) topped out at 16 wins in a season. Newsom was sub .500 for his career, but he did have three twenty win seasons, and made four all-star games. Plus he was constantly traded, and played with several abysmal Browns clubs. Hough and Vazquez are at an even .500.

Benes has a strikeout crown in 1994 going for him and two top ten finishes in Cy Young voting. Hough has a decent 3.75 ERA (over a full half run better than Vazquez), and a stellar 7.77 H/9 IP rate (60th all time) compared with Vazquez's 8.97. I have to go with Vazquez as the worst.

Javier Vazquez, among all pitchers to amass 2000 strikeouts, has the highest career ERA (4.28), and, as we know, pitchers (ones not named Roger Clemens, at least) experience decline in the later years of their career. That being said, we have Javier Vazquez, who at age 32, is likely in his prime.





I took three quality pitchers from three different time periods and saw where they stood through age 32, and compared them to the end of career totals.





Eddie Plank: 2.19 through 32, 2.35 through end of career.


Bob Gibson: 2.72 through 32, 3.01 through end of career.


Kevin Brown: 3.01 through 32, 3.28 though end of career.





I could have done extensive research with many more samples, but I don't have the time, and this demonstrates my point enough. Basically, you can say Vazquez will probably end his career in the 4.45-4.60 range. Only two other 2000 strikeout pitchers have a 4+ ERA; David Wells, and Jamie Moyer, and both of these guys have 230+ wins, a much better winning percentage, and 20 win seasons under their belts.



Javier Vazquez is currently a .500 career pitcher. And, looking at his year to year win/loss totals, he has been a detriment to his team when in contention. His best seasons were ones that he spent on a lowly Expo team, and the one season the White Sox were out of it early on (2001: 16-11 for 68-94 Expos, 2007: 15-8 for 72-90 White Sox). When he was on a contender (or one of the 83-79 Expo teams in '02 and '03, where a standout performance may have been good enough to put them over the hump), he couldn't produce. Only 14-11(.583) with a 101-61 (.623) Yankee team in 2004, and on strong White Sox teams in 2006 (90-72, .556) and 2008 (84-68, .553), Vazquez posted sub-.500 seasons in each (11-12 in '06; 12-14 in '08 thus far).



Vazquez nibbles around guys who hit around .200 and tries to throw breaking stuff to guys to put them away instead of going with his best pitch. He posts gaudy strikeout numbers, but in between those punchouts, he gives up a lot of home runs (never fewer than 23 in a season in which he made 30+ starts) and while he doesn't walk a lot of guys nor gives up a lot of hits, he gives them up at bad times.

Vazquez will probably make 3000 strikeouts for his career, at which point I will have to reevaluate this ranking, but until then, Vazquez: worst 2000 strikeout pitcher ever.

Relax, Frankie...

Yesterday, Francisco Rodriguez tied the Major League record for saves in a season with 57. I've gone on forever about how unimportant the save statistic is, and furthermore, I've explained how misused the closer role is.



Well, Francisco Rodriguez broke the save record with a barrel of one inning saves. Not one of these 57 saves were over an inning. Four were one-out saves, two were two-out saves. The average amount of outs required for these 57 saves was 2.8947. He averaged less than a full inning per save.



I would say without hesitation that Rodriguez isn't even the best closer in his league THIS YEAR. Among guys with at least five saves, Rodriguez ranks 9th in the AL in ERA. Joe Nathan, who IS the best closer in the American League, has an ERA of less than HALF of Rodriguez, a 1.03 mark. From that same five or more save group, NOBODY has given up more walks than Francisco's 31, roughly a walk every two innings, a very high mark.



Compare Rodriguez with Bobby Thigpen's 57 save season in 1990. Thigpen had a better ERA (1.83 to 2.42), a better WHIP (1.038 to 1.263), and way more innings pitched (88.2 to 63.1).



It's also interesting to take a look at this outs per save statistic I put together.



Compare Rodriguez (2.8947) to Thigpen (3.2982). Then compare Thigpen to Righetti in 1986(4.5435), who held the record before Thigpen. Then compare Righetti to Dan Quisenberry in 1983(5.8000), who held the record before Righetti. We've certainly come a long way in a quarter century. Quisenberry had ELEVEN (11!) three inning saves in that season.

So, before you jump up and down like a jackass (which you did last night after recording your majestic three outs against the pitiful Seattle Mariners with a three run lead), think about how little work you've done to get your record compared to the players of the past.

If anything, I relish any opportunity to discuss how great Dan Quisenberry was. A man with several fine quotes, such as,

"I've seen the future and it's much like the present, only longer." and

"I found a delivery in my flaw."

September eighth, two thousand eight

Today is the 54th birthday of Don Aase, who is fourth alphabetically all time on the Major League Baseball all time roster. He was third during his playing career, but he (and the brothers Aaron) were both bumped by David Aaaaaaaaaaaardsma (or Aardsma for people who are anti pirate). I wonder if the extra A was an add-on to give him alphabetical dominance over all other MLB players. Much like Chad Ocho Cinco was a change to give the wide receiver dominance over all other jackasses who can't seem to get enough attention.

But this is a baseball blog, so that's enough about him.

Don Aase shall go along with Mel Queen (both of them; as well as Billy Queen), Ray King (and 17 other MLB kings) , and several hundred guys named Jack to complete the all-time playing cards team.

More interesting posts to come in the next few days. I promise.

Jim Thome: Thirty-eight Year Old Man.

Today, we celebrate Jim Thome's 38th birthday with 38 facts.

1. He is the Cleveland Indians career HR leader (334)
2. He holds the Indians season record for HR in a season (52 in 2002)
3. He has the top six season BB totals in Indians history ('96,97,99,00,01,02)
4. He has the most career HR of any IL born player (535)
5. He is 5th all time in postseason HR (17)
6. He hit the most HR in a season at Veteran's Stadium (28 in 2003)
7. He holds the White Sox record for HR in a season by a DH (39 in 2006)
8. He holds the White Sox record for HR in a season by a lefty (42 in 2006)
9. He is 7th all time with 438 HR off righties
10. He is 12th all time with 295 solo HR
11. He is 22nd all time with 164 2 run HR
12. He is tied for 14th all time with 68 3 run HR
13. He is 12th all time with 297 HR hit at home
14. He is the first player to hit his 500th HR on a walkoff shot
15. He is one of two players (Griffey , Jr.) with back to back seasons of 40+ HR in each league
16. He is one of two players (A-Rod) with a 40 HR season for three different teams
17. He has hit the most HR as a visitor at US Cellular Field - 17
18. He has the most all time interleague play HR - 55
19. He has homered in 37 different parks
20. He scored a run in his first 17 games of the 2006 season - a record
21. He hit the last homer ever at Veteran's Stadium - 9/27/2003
22. He became the first Indian lefty to hit 30 HR in four straight seasons in 1999
23. He hit a HR in seven consecutive games 6/25 to 7/3/2002
24. His 38 HR as a third baseman in 1996 is an Indians record for third basemen
25. He was a thirteenth round pick in 1989
26. He and Manny Ramirez homered in the same game 48 times. 13th best among tandems
27. He is 6th on the all time HR list among lefties
28. He holds the Indians record for most consecutive 30 HR seasons (9)
29. He has two career three HR games - 7/22/94 and 7/6/01
30. He has 41 career multi HR games
31. He has 10 career walkoff HR
32. He hit a HR in three consecutive games 24 times
33. He is 4th all time in AB/HR ratio (13.50) behind only McGwire, Ruth, and Bonds
34. He is 3rd all time in strikeouts
35. He collected a career high six RBI on four occasions
36. He struck out more times against Brad Radke (21) than any other pitcher
37. He led the league in both walks and strikeouts in 1999
38. He is 14th on the all time AL HR list with 439

Iron Glovage

This past monday on my show, I presented my iron glove team. Worst defensive player at each position. It was lovely. A few surprises.

C - Benito Santiago.
Yes, he won three gold gloves (88-90), but he led the league in errors 1987,88,89,91,92,93. Led league in passed balls 1987,89,93. Only catcher since 1907 to have 20+ errors and 20 + passed balls in the same season (1987).

1B - Dick Stuart.
Known as Dr. Strangeglove, he committed 29 errors at first base in 1963! Stuart on his own defensive futility: "One night in Pittsburgh, 30,000 fans gave me a standing ovation when I caught a hotdog wrapper on the fly."

2B - Jorge Orta.
85 errors in 469 games at second. Rob Neyer on Orta: "Quite possibly the worst defensive second baseman ever to play as many games there as he did."

3B - Ryan Braun.
Yes, only one season at the hot corner. However, that .895 fielding percentage in 2007 cannot be ignored. Same with those 26 errors in just 112 games. Gary Sheffield (.899, 34 E in 133 games in 1993) a close second.

SS - Jose Offerman.
.943 FP in 5065 innings at SS. Played three seasons of 115+ games there, and led the league in errors each time. (42 in 1992, 37 in 1993 both with LA Dodgers, and 35 in 1995 with the Royals)

LF - Adam Dunn.
6'6" 275. An offensive lineman playing in the outfield? Bewildered by fly balls. .969. Bad.

CF - Hack Wilson.
5'6" 190 (More like 225). Think Kirby Puckett, only shorter and with a thicker torso and a bigger head. Truly one of the most entertainingly disproportionate looking baseball players of all time. Had no business in CF, but definitely could hit (.356, 56, 191 in 1930 with Cubs).

RF - Vladimir Guerrero.
With the rocket arm he has, could he seriously be on this team? Yes. Atrocious .963 career fielding percentage, ranks with outfielders who played when gloves were primitive pancake pieces of leather. Yes, he has 125 assists... but what about the 122 errors! Doesn't move well at all, he's all ass and thigh. Sloppy on ground balls and makes several throwing errors. Led league RF in errors nine times (1997-03, 06, 07)

P - Jose Contreras.
Murder on grounders. Torture on throws. Nightmarish on holding runners. Career may very well have ended while trying to field his position. Fitting.

August 19th

Today is August 19th. The 57th anniversary of Eddie Gaedel's sole major league appearance. Wearing # 1/8, the 3'7" 65 lb. Gaedel was originally scheduled to pop out of a cake between games of a doubleheader, celebrating the 50th birthday of the American League, and the birthday of the Falstaff brewery. Bill Veeck didn't know what Falstaff's birthday was, but he didn't care. Why not celebrate? Fans were given a can of beer, a piece of birthday cake, and a box of ice cream at the gate.



Veeck decided to have Gaedel pinch hit in the second game of the doubleheader. Gaedel was told by Veeck to not swing at any pitches under any circumstances. He told him he had a high power rifle and would shoot if he even looked like he was going to swing. Gaedel pinch hit for CF Frank Saucier and walked on four straight pitches from Tiger pitcher Bob Cain. Veeck estimated Gaedel's strike zone to be one and a half inches. Prior to the at bat, umpire Eddie Hurley demanded to see a contract, and it was promptly shown. Jim Delsing came in to run for Gaedel. The Browns went on to lose 6-2.

Bill Veeck's little stunt, for which he paid Gaedel $100 and took out a $1M insurance policy, made AL President William Harridge furious, and he insisted that all midgets would no longer be allowed to play within major league baseball.

Also, this August 19th is Gary Gaetti's 5oth birthday.

Gaetti and Gaedel are the only major leaguers whose names begin with G-A-E.

In random other news, I've decided that the old Tampa Bay Buccaneers logo --that orange guy with the knife in his mouth -- is Dennis Eckersley.

Things I'd rather do than watch Boone Logan pitch

from monday morning's sports lounge program...

1) Get a tattoo on my eyelid from a guy with severe epilepsy and parkinsons disease while riding a dune buggy during an earthquake

2.) Go outside naked in -5 degree weather and have someone hose me down, then jump face first on a large metal sheet and roll around

3) Make love to a cactus while being beaten with several other cactuses, and then going swimming in a sea of iodine

Boone Logan was optioned to Charlotte on sunday. Luckily, Charlotte games are not aired here.

8-7-08 Happenings

Red Sox put in a waiver claim for Brian Giles today. Just doesn't seem to be a big deal on August 7, 2008. But consider this... I present the ALL TIME top 20 list in OPS through 2002:

1. Babe Ruth 1.164
2. Ted Williams 1.116
3. Lou Gehrig 1.080
4. Jimmie Foxx 1.038
5. Todd Helton 1.032
6. Barry Bonds 1.023
7. Hank Greenberg 1.017
8. Rogers Hornsby 1.010
9. Manny Ramirez 1.010
10. Frank Thomas 1.000
11. BRIAN GILES .986
12. Mark McGwire .982
13. Jim Thome .982
14. Mickey Mantle .977
15. Joe DiMaggio .977
16. Stan Musial .976
17. Vladimir Guerrero .973
18. Larry Walker .973
19. Jason Giambi .968
20. Jeff Bagwell .965

Giles 11th? Well, his 4 year run of 1999-2002 is unreal. Average of 37 HR, 109 RBI, 109 BB, .309 AVG.

Today on the Towelboys show, we discussed comparing ballplayers to cars. I came up with...
- Paul Konerko is like a 2008 Dodge Viper. Expensive and tops out at about .220
- Juan Uribe is like a Ford Festiva. Compact, not too fast, tacky, and Spanish is usually heard coming out of it.


Yesterday, Jim Thome hit his 6th career homer off Justin Verlander. Owns him, eh? That's not even close for the record for most homers hit off one pitcher. Duke Snider hit 19 of his 407 bombs off Warren Spahn. My dream is to compile an extensive historical batter vs. pitcher log, and I've started an excel sheet with batters who have hit 10+ HR off a given pitcher. Stay tuned...

Old Pitchers

August 6, 1952: 46 year old Satchel Paige pitches a 1-0 shutout in 12 innings against the Tigers.

I always tend to root for old guys. Maybe it's because it makes me feel better about getting older if guys who are old are still accomplishing magnificent athletic feats. I have a habit of making a note on my radio show every time Jamie Moyer wins a game. He's 45 years old and is 10-7 this year. I'm sure nobody else is as amused with Jamie Moyer as I am, and I don't care. Something about the guy who refuses to retire that satisfies me.

The top 11 list of career wins including and beyond age 40 seasons:

121 Phil Niekro
96 Jack Quinn
76 Jamie Moyer
75 Cy Young
75 Warren Spahn
71 Nolan Ryan
67 Charlie Hough
63 Randy Johnson
61 Roger Clemens
54 Hoyt Wilhelm
54 David Wells

Welcome to The Louisville Sluggernaut

It's August 4th, 2008. Welcome aboard.

Happy 46th birthday to Roger Clemens. Also, happy 35th birthday to Bobby Howry. Is it a coincidence that these two gentlemen share a birthday? Positively.

Also happy birthday to Scott Linebrink. Sadly, your streak of 70+ appearance seasons seems to be coming to an end this year. Injuries... The streak of seven straight 70+ appearance seasons (1996-2002) held by the legendary Wedsel "Buddy" Groom, Jr. is safe for now.

How's this for a coveted Major League record: Mike Stanton has the most career appearances for a pitcher with fewer innings pitched than appearances (1178 appearances spread over 1114 innings).

Anyway, today in baseball history... Joel Youngblood has a truly one of a kind day. As starting centerfielder for the Mets in a game at Wrigley Field, he goes 1 for 2 with 2 RBI on a 2 RBI single off of Fergie Jenkins, then leaves the game in the 4th... because he was traded to the Expos. He goes to Veterans Stadium that very day and replaces Jerry White in right field in the bottom of the 6th. Then in the top of the 7th, he singles off Steve Carlton. Amazing! A hit for two different teams off two different hall of fame pitchers in one day!

This weekend was a lot of interesting.
- Ken Griffey, Jr. goes 3-7 with 2 RBI for the White Sox
- Manny Ramirez 8-13, 2 HR, 5 RBI for the Dodgers
- Jason Bay 4-11, HR, 3 RBI for the Red Sox

- Randy Johnson wins # 293 Friday
- Mike Mussina wins # 264 Saturday
- Greg Maddux wins # 352 Sunday

- Ichiro ties Ellsbury with 35 SB on the season. Ichiro hadn't stolen a base since July 5th. Ellsbury hasn't stolen one since July 1st.

- The White Sox gave up 19 hits on Saturday AND Sunday. You have to go back to July 21 and 22 of last year to see something worse: Yankees rack up 20 hits vs the Devil Rays on the 21st and 25 more the next day.

I think Ozzie Guillen has a brilliant plan: Tire out those Royals by running bases after base hits. Give up about 11-14 in the first few innings and by that time, they'll be tired and the White Sox offense can start swinging away. Didn't work. Especially since Boone Logan came into the game, and as we all know, Boone Logan is the cause of more runs than an onslaught of Taco Bell burritos.

Saturday, we were also teased with a Paul Konerko home run. By the time he was done on sunday, he was comfortably back at .212 following a signature 0-4 performance including a tailor made double play ball, the 206th occurance of such an event. He is now tied for 72nd all time in double play groundouts.

Day off for the Sox, Ehren Wassermann needs to recharge. And the team needs to watch a tape of saturday's game so they can 1) identify right away (like Leo Mazzone did) that balls up and out over the plate will be crushed and 2) identify that Trey Hillman was able to identify that his starting pitcher (Kyle Davies) didn't have it before the game got out of hand.

Anyway, that's all for me today. Tune in Tuesday 1:30-3 PM icbsportschicago.com

I gone.