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Steubenhoosier

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2 minutes ago, jv1972iu said:

One minor correction to the story.  The box score for that game shows Billy Martin was playing second for the Yankees.  Bobby Richardson was only 19 in 1955 and appeared in 11 games for NY.  In 1957 he began his tenure at second until 1966.

You're right, it was 3rd baseman Gil McDougal that got doubled off. Thanks👍

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1 minute ago, IUFLA said:

You're right, it was 3rd baseman Gil McDougal that got doubled off. Thanks👍

It's funny because as a kid I can remember thinking/feeling that Richardson played second for the Yankees FOREVER.  😊  I looked at the box score out of curiosity and was surprised he wasn't listed.  He was a much more memorable player for a kid my age than Martin.  

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1 minute ago, jv1972iu said:

It's funny because as a kid I can remember thinking/feeling that Richardson played second for the Yankees FOREVER.  😊  I looked at the box score out of curiosity and was surprised he wasn't listed.  He was a much more memorable player for a kid my age than Martin.  

That's true, but you have to give Billy Martin his due as a player, particularly in big games. I know he hit over .300 in World Series play. And there was this play in 1952...

 

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7 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

That's true, but you have to give Billy Martin his due as a player, particularly in big games. I know he hit over .300 in World Series play. And there was this play in 1952...

 

Oh absolutely!  Martin had his moments both on and off the field.  😊   But he and Richardson were total opposites as people and players, as I view them and their careers.  I remember Martin from one season in Cincinnati.  He was done as a player, at that point.  Richardson was a quiet, rock solid player for his entire NY career.

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1 hour ago, Billingsley99 said:

Not vintage I know and I am very biased but IMO the best catch of all time is right here. No offense Mr Mays.

 

Flashback Friday: Ken Griffey Jr. Makes Ridiculous Backhanded Catch, Hurts  Wrist | Bleacher Report | Latest News, Videos and Highlights

The "Say Hey Kid" wouldn't be offended because he and this other Kid played in different eras.  Both were magnificent centerfielders.  And isn't it interesting that they both wore #24.  😊

Edited by jv1972iu
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Cy Young's career win total is obviously untouchable.  But, another MLB record that I don't think will ever get broken is Hack Wilson's single season RBI total of 191 set in 1930.  This one has always intrigued me more than Cy Young's, because with Young pitching 50+ games a season was commonplace.  But, hitters didn't get more plate appearances in 1930 than they do now.  And, an RBI is still an RBI.  

Yet, in this century, the closest anyone has come is Sammy Sosa with 160 in 2001.

See the source image

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, 5fouls said:

Cy Young's career win total is obviously untouchable.  But, another MLB record that I don't think will ever get broken is Hack Wilson's single season RBI total of 191 set in 1930.  This one has always intrigued me more than Cy Young's, because with Young pitching 50+ games a season was commonplace.  But, hitters didn't get more plate appearances in 1930 than they do now.  And, an RBI is still an RBI.  

Yet, in this century, the closest anyone has come is Sammy Sosa with 160 in 2001.

See the source image

 

 

 

If you ever see a full length pick of Hack, he wore like a size 6 shoe...

122418-wilson-ruth-gehrig.jpg.a733c43612174a351d3d571e50698063.jpg

Edited by IUFLA
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13 hours ago, IUFLA said:

Great catch by the 3rd best outfielder I ever saw, but I always thought this one was just a bit better...

 

Cannot argue with that. That one was impressive as well. Made it look so easy and had do.mich fun playing the game. The reason I like the 1st one better is because it exemplifies how he always played  he broke his wrist making an unbelievable catch.

Edited by Billingsley99
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11 minutes ago, Billingsley99 said:

Cannot argue with that. That one was impressive as well. Made it look so easy and had do.mich fun playing the game. 

I'm truly glad the juicers like Bonds, Sosa, and McGwire got exposed. For the longest time they overshadowed how great Junior and other guys like Jim Thome really were...

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On 8/26/2021 at 9:43 PM, Steubenhoosier said:

Don’t care about any significance to this. This is just an awesome photo

image.png.803aea69e36360cfe7d33c454d9a432d.png

Ted Williams stepping into the batter’s box 

Ted Williams last at bat...

"Fisher threw the third time, Williams swung again, and there it was. The ball climbed on a diagonal line into the vast volume of air over center field. From my angle, behind third base, the ball seemed less an object in flight than the tip of a towering, motionless construct, like the Eiffel Tower or the Tappan Zee Bridge. It was in the books while it was still in the sky. Brandt ran back to the deepest corner of the outfield grass; the ball descended beyond his reach and struck in the crotch where the bullpen met the wall, bounced chunkily, and, as far as I could see, vanished.

Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn’t tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted “We want Ted” for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters"

John Updike

Edited by IUFLA
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9 hours ago, 5fouls said:

Eddie Gaedel.  Perfect lifetime on base percentage.

See the source image

"Veeck as in Wreck" is a great book on the life and times of Bill Veeck who dreamed up this stunt...

I use to love the shots of him sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley using a hole bored in his wooden leg as an ashtray...

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Power Ranking Top MLB Stars of Every Decade Since the 1900s 

Written in 2013, so it doesn't account for the 2010 decade...

Interesting some of the names left off because their careers split decades...note: the first 4 players in the 1970s wore a Reds uniform...

And Ryne Sandberg isn't even mentioned in the assessment of the 1980s...

Edited by IUFLA
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Reading through "Veeck, as in Wreck" this weekend, I came across something I had forgotten...

In 1952, Cardinals owner Fred Saigh had run into some tax problems that forced him to sell the team. Both the Cardinals and the Browns (then owned by Veeck) played in old Sportsman's Park, but the Browns owned the facility, leasing space to the Cards.

The best offer Saigh got was from a group in Houston, who wanted to move the Cardinals to Texas. Veeck was thrilled. He wanted St Louis all to himself...

But at the 11th hour, the owner of Anheuser-Busch, Gussie Busch, put in a much lower bid than the Houston group, and Saigh sold the franchise to Busch...

Veeck knew he didn't have deep enough of pockets to keep up with Busch, so a year later he sold the Browns to a group from Baltimore who renamed them the Orioles...

Wonder who @Stlboiler23would have rooted for... The Houston Cardinals or the St Louis Browns? 😁

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2 hours ago, IUFLA said:

Reading through "Veeck, as in Wreck" this weekend, I came across something I had forgotten...

In 1952, Cardinals owner Fred Saigh had run into some tax problems that forced him to sell the team. Both the Cardinals and the Browns (then owned by Veeck) played in old Sportsman's Park, but the Browns owned the facility, leasing space to the Cards.

The best offer Saigh got was from a group in Houston, who wanted to move the Cardinals to Texas. Veeck was thrilled. He wanted St Louis all to himself...

But at the 11th hour, the owner of Anheuser-Busch, Gussie Busch, put in a much lower bid than the Houston group, and Saigh sold the franchise to Busch...

Veeck knew he didn't have deep enough of pockets to keep up with Busch, so a year later he sold the Browns to a group from Baltimore who renamed them the Orioles...

Wonder who @Stlboiler23would have rooted for... The Houston Cardinals or the St Louis Browns? 😁

STL all day baby. 

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47 minutes ago, rico said:

Browns baby.

The Browns were the sad sack franchise in the AL...

They didn't win an AL pennant until 1944 (and I think they had the advantage during the war years of having an inordinate amount of 4Fs) and lost the World series to their crosstown rivals, the Cardinals. The franchise wouldn't win a World Series until 1966 when, as the Baltimore Orioles, they beat the Dodgers...

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