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Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Edgy MD Apr 04 2016 03:05 AM

Keith Hernandez was a 42nd round draft choice.

Edgy MD Jun 25 2016 12:45 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Royals pitcher Lary Sorensen wasn't named Lawrence. His actual name is just "Lary" named in honor of then-future Met Frank Lary. Sorensen was born in Detroit in the mid-fifties, when Lary was a hot young pitcher.

Edgy MD Jul 30 2016 12:09 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

The St. Louis Browns mascot character was a brownie.

Edgy MD Dec 08 2016 04:34 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Bullet Joe Rogan was also a star centerfielder on days he wasn't pitching.

Farmer Ted Dec 08 2016 05:12 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Pete Rose was the matchmaker for Doug Flynn and his wife, Olga, a former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader. I didn't know that!

Benjamin Grimm Dec 08 2016 05:19 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

How did Olga and Woody get along?

Lefty Specialist Dec 08 2016 05:46 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Dave deBusschere pitched (fairly decently) for the White Sox, going 3-4 with a 3.09 ERA and 10 starts in 1962-63, all while playing for the Detroit Pistons as well.

Edgy MD Jun 06 2017 01:22 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Johnny Bench, greatest catcher in Major League history, is one-eighth Choctaw.

cooby Jun 06 2017 01:58 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

According to Tim McGraws song, Indian Outlaw, he's half Choctaw.

Edgy MD Jun 06 2017 02:30 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Don't know the song. I don't tend to read mysteries, but I'm reading one now, and a Cheyenne man whose lost his legs to diabetes gets visited by the sheriff, who confirms rumors that the Cheyenne was a ballplayer in his youth, as he observes photos on the wall of the man with the Cubs (with Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins), the Cardinals (with Lou Brock and Joe Torre), and finally the Reds (with Tony Perez and Johnny Bench). "After I saw him coming up," the man says, "I just didn't see any reason to go on playing. He's part Indian too, you know. Choctaw. Mm, hmm ... Yes it is so." I wonder how many minor league careers come to an end like that when the player crosses paths with a future star who is just playing a different game than they are. I remember meeting a former minor leaguer who was coming up through the White Sox system as a second baseman, a year ahead of Willie Randolph. Once he made the mistake of asking a team executive where he stood in the organization, and the guy honestly answered, "Well, we really like this kid Randolph." He said he told the executive, "Randolph? That guy couldn't carry my glove." He was a year ahead of Willie and since Little League, he'd been able to look down on the younger players while he was moving up ahead of them. But that all stops at the bigs, where nobody moves up. And when he hit major league camp the same year as Randolph, he knew it was, in fact, him who couldn't carry Randolph's glove.

SteveJRogers Jun 06 2017 03:03 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

cooby wrote: According to Tim McGraws song, Indian Outlaw, he's half Choctaw. I doubt its autobiographial for the singer of the song as its written by Tommy Barnes, Jumpin' Gene Simmons and John D. Loudermilk.

SteveJRogers Jun 06 2017 03:08 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Edgy MD wrote: I wonder how many minor league careers come to an end like that when the player crosses paths with a future star who is just playing a different game than they are. I remember meeting a former minor leaguer who was coming up through the White Sox system as a second baseman, a year ahead of Willie Randolph. Once he made the mistake of asking a team executive where he stood in the organization, and the guy honestly answered, "Well, we really like this kid Randolph." He said he told the executive, "Randolph? That guy couldn't carry my glove." He was a year ahead of Willie and since Little League, he'd been able to look down on the younger players while he was moving up ahead of them. But that all stops at the bigs, where nobody moves up. And when he hit major league camp the same year as Randolph, he knew it was, in fact, him who couldn't carry Randolph's glove. You mean Pittsburgh of course?

Edgy MD Jun 06 2017 10:47 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Indeed.

Fman99 Jun 06 2017 12:20 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Edgy MD wrote: Indeed. I never knew he had not come up in the MFY system, ironically, until reading this post.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 06 2017 12:48 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I remember reading the headline in my favorite news outlet, SPORTS EXTRA.

41Forever Jun 06 2017 12:54 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I knew because I was forever chasing this rookie card -- for the other guy!

Benjamin Grimm Jun 06 2017 12:56 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Big fan of Dave McKay?

batmagadanleadoff Jun 06 2017 01:22 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

[fimg=555:bibs5lbb]https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4249/34124083673_205c8ac2df.jpg[/fimg:bibs5lbb]

Edgy MD Jun 06 2017 01:33 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Great shot of the beat up field at Shea. It was, of course, Rich Gossage who joined the late seventies Yankee dynasty by was of the White Sox, but he had put in several years without quite getting over the hump, and even started his final year, before coming to the Yankees. Randolph was traded after only 30 games as a Pirate.

41Forever Jun 06 2017 01:46 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Big fan of Dave McKay? Aren't we all? I know Staiger also had a card in the 1977 set. But I have no recollection of seeing him actually play. Just checked his stats, and he actually appeared in 95 games in 1976 and had 335 at bats. I'm guessing that he got those after Garrett was traded in July. (Traded by the New York Mets with Del Unser to the Montreal Expos for Jim Dwyer and Pepe Mangual.)

Edgy MD Jun 06 2017 02:04 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

My recollection was that Staiger played under Joe Frazier in AAA and Joe was a true believer, and was committed to giving Roy the chance he wasn't getting. Sort of like Wally Backman and Davey Johnson, only not. Was there a AAA player that Bobby Valentine believed in more than the organization that he was committed to giving a shot to?

batmagadanleadoff Jun 06 2017 02:09 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Staiger was hyped as a superstar fielder. Also, he was involved in a strange Mets game where he batted out of order for three or four at bats. There are so many screwy details to this story that I'm not gonna go into it. Also, I probably don't remember all of them screwy details off the top of my head anyways, without me having to look them up.

Ceetar Jun 06 2017 02:18 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Edgy MD wrote: The St. Louis Browns mascot character was a brownie. mascots? The current Astros mascot, Orbit, zapped and killed the former mascot General Admission in the second to last game at the Astrodome.

Frayed Knot Jun 06 2017 02:27 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I have this memory lodged in the back of my head somewhere that Roy Staiger had actually served in Vietnam. Ballplayers weren't exempt from the military in those days although very few of those who were drafted wound up serving much time and rarely if ever saw combat. If my memory of Staiger is correct, the timing would indicate that he did his military service prior to being a professional which would explain why he was 'in country' as they used to say.

41Forever Jun 06 2017 03:13 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I'd forgotten that he was one of our rare trades with the MFYs, swapped for Sergio Ferrer. Staiger was in Triple-A for a whole season, then played four games for the MFYS. His only ML experiences were with both the New York teams. Players who cam claim that is probably a pretty small club.

seawolf17 Jun 06 2017 03:16 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

41Forever wrote: His only ML experiences were with both the New York teams. Players who cam claim that is probably a pretty small club.

Benjamin Grimm Jun 06 2017 03:22 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

41Forever wrote: His only ML experiences were with both the New York teams. Players who cam claim that is probably a pretty small club. It is: [list] Yogi Berra Brandon Knight Phil Lombardi Hal Reniff Roy Staiger [/list:u]

Edgy MD Jun 06 2017 03:35 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Roy doesn't make this list of 111 baseball Vietnam vets. That sounded high until I realized that the majority were minor leaguers, including those killed in action. Metly figures on the list include Jim Bibby (originally signed by the Mets but traded before debuting at the big league level), Rich Folkers, the aforementioned Wayne Garrett (listed, but I don't know that any of the time he missed in 1971 when his reserve unit was called up was actually in country), Phil Hennigan, Bob Johnson, Jim Kern (paper Met), Larry Miller, Dave Schneck, and Leroy Stanton. The last active Vietnam vet in uniform was umpire Jerry Crawford, who retired after the 2010 season. Biographies of Bill James say he was the last Kansan sent to Vietnam, but he never saw action there. Unless I'm wrong about Wayne Garrett, his inclusion leads me to question the accuracy of this list. I imagine at least a few names I didn't recognize were Met minor leaguers. Former Met Danny Graves is the only major leaguer born in Vietnam.

Frayed Knot Jun 06 2017 03:40 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I was conflating Schneck and Staiger

John Cougar Lunchbucket Jun 06 2017 03:50 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I remember Staiger as a tall, boxy guy who wore No. 2. Seemingly lots of chances to stick but didn't. As a poster on UMDB points out, he was an unknown victim of the '77 Midnight Massacre, being sent to the minors as a result of the new guys who arrived (I guess Valentine in particular), who one day would inherit his No. 2 jersey and make Mets HI2TORY

Frayed Knot Jun 06 2017 03:55 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Edgy MD wrote: Roy doesn't make this list of 111 baseball Vietnam vets. That sounded high until I realized that the majority were minor leaguers, including those killed in action. I wonder how many of those in that list were actually 'in country' as opposed to just Vietnam-era vets. One name not mentioned is George Hendrick although I remember a story about him calling up Charlie Finley and telling him "I'm in Vietnam, man" - although it's possible that his message was more like 'they're sending me to Vietnam'. Whatever the case, a few phone calls later and Hendrick's tour was finished state-side.

Edgy MD Jun 06 2017 04:28 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Roy doesn't make this list of 111 baseball Vietnam vets. That sounded high until I realized that the majority were minor leaguers, including those killed in action. I wonder how many of those in that list were actually 'in country' as opposed to just Vietnam-era vets. Yeah, I tried to clarify that. Unless someone can correct me, I'm pretty sure Wayne Garrett was the latter.

Edgy MD Aug 20 2017 01:21 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

If a guy pinch hits and the team bats around, giving him a second at-bat in the inning, it doesn't count as a pinch-hit at-bat. Gary called it a "Zombie at-bat," a term I've never heard. It seems to me that the plate appearance has to be credited to him either as a pinch-hitter or as a pitcher.

Frayed Knot Aug 24 2017 05:46 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

One-time teammates -- Ron Darling, Frank Viola, Sid Fernandez, and David Cone -- were all drafted in the first three rounds of the same draft class (1981) RD = 9th overall by Texas FV = 37th - Twins SF = 73rd - Dodgers DC = 74th - Royals

Edgy MD Aug 24 2017 06:15 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

John Franco went in Round 5 that same year, #125 overall by the Dodgers, 18 picks after the Mets went for Steve Phillips

seawolf17 Aug 24 2017 08:15 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Other teammates Kevin McReynolds (6th) and Daryl Boston (7th) in that draft too.

Edgy MD Aug 24 2017 08:34 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

That's also the draft memorialized in this book, a favorite of Lunchie's, if'n' I recall correct:

bmfc1 Aug 25 2017 01:47 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

This must be unusual: 2 days in a row, the winning and losing pitchers of a game had the same name--Thursday, MIA and PHI, Garcia and Garcia; Wednesday, OAK and BAL, Castro and Castro.

dgwphotography Aug 25 2017 11:36 AM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Frayed Knot wrote: One-time teammates -- Ron Darling, Frank Viola, Sid Fernandez, and David Cone -- were all drafted in the first three rounds of the same draft class (1981) RD = 9th overall by Texas FV = 37th - Twins SF = 73rd - Dodgers DC = 74th - Royals Darling and Viola met for the first time at this game. Franco didn't pitch, but was in the bullpen...

Frayed Knot Aug 25 2017 01:23 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

seawolf17 wrote: Other teammates Kevin McReynolds (6th) and Daryl Boston (7th) in that draft too. And in the midst of all that, the Mets used the 4th overall pick on OF Terry Blocker who went on to have 244 ML ABs, 15 of them with the Mets. I looked all this up because Ronnie brought up the story a couple nights ago I have never heard, namely that the Mariners, picking first that year, approached Darling with the proposal to use that pick on him if he pre-agreed to sign for a particular amount. Ron declined and so the M's wound up using the selection on a different college right-handed, Mike Moore out of Oral Roberts, leaving Darling for the Rangers eight picks later and we all know the rest. Moore actually went on to have a career fairly similar (even if much more anonymous) to Darling's - accumulating more career WAR (28.5 vs 20.2 acc to BB-Ref) due mostly it seems to Moore virtually never missing a start for over a ten year stretch and therefore appearing in some 75 mo(o)re games. In all, five of the first nine picks that year wound up as Mets at some point in their careers, in addition to the later choices mentioned above 1 - Moore 2 - Joe Carter (Cubs) 3 - Dick Schofield (Angels) but later a NYM in 1992 4 - Blocker 5 - Matt Williams (Blue Jays) no, not that one, a pitcher from Rice U who wound up with 10 careers ML games 6 - McReynolds (Padres) 7 - Boston (White Sox) 8 - Bob Meachum (StL - but traded to the Yanquis where he'd play SS for parts of six seasons) 9 - Darling Other NYM draftees from that year to become Mets at some point in their careers: John Christensen (38th overall), Mark Carreon (185), Lenny Dykstra (315), and Lou Thornton (471st -- although not before going through several other teams first then coming back to the Mets to end his career in '89-'90 with a total of 13 ABs and a couple of pinch-running appearances)

Benjamin Grimm Sep 07 2017 12:51 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Baseball Reference doesn't have a picture of Jose Canseco. When I visit that site each day (more or less) to paste stats and box scores, I play a little game with the twelve faces that appear on the left side of the page. I try to see how many players I can recognize. (Usually I get two, sometimes three, once in a great while four. Today I was able to identify Aaron Haaaraang, Pascual Perez, and, in a Cleveland cap, Asdrubal Cabrera.) Today, one of the faces was a generic image that looked like this: I figured it was probably somebody very obscure, like Moonlight Graham, but it turned out to be Jose Canseco!

Frayed Knot Sep 07 2017 01:01 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Benjamin Grimm wrote: When I visit that site each day (more or less) to paste stats and box scores, I play a little game with the twelve faces that appear on the left side of the page. I try to see how many players I can recognize. I do the same thing! Not that I then record and track the results or anything, but I think my record may be seven. oe: just went over there and got five (they change the lineup every couple hours): recognized Lee May, Jon Matlack (some of them are gimmes), Kenny Lofton, Ken Caminiti, and Ellis Burks Struck out on Wes Parker, Rich Harden, Al Oliver, and a couple of back and white guys including Black Sox manager Kid Gleason (he didn't look a thing like actor John Mahoney).

Edgy MD Sep 07 2017 01:19 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

With the Baseball-Reference thumbnails, today I got Ken Caminiti, Jon Matlack, and Kenny Lofton. I ken my Kens! As far as "thinks Ya Didn't Know," part of what I do is promote fair trade. How exciting to learn on Monday that David Robinson, Jackie Robinson's surviving son, runs a fair trade coffee cooperative in Tanzania.

Benjamin Grimm Sep 07 2017 01:24 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

From that group, I was only able to recognize Jon Matlack and Al Oliver.

Edgy MD Sep 07 2017 01:26 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I recognized Oliver, but couldn't place it, and guessed it might have been young Doc Ellis. Oliver spent ten years with the Pirates, but I associate him with the vagabond second half of his career.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 07 2017 02:25 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

I went 3-for-12 today. Like I needed another distraction!

MFS62 Sep 07 2017 04:15 PM Re: Things Ya Didn't Know (Baseball Division)

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I figured it was probably somebody very obscure, like Moonlight Graham, but it turned out to be Jose Canseco! I'm pretty sure Canseco's picture been on my Post Office wall. Why couldn't Baseball-Reference have gotten a copy from the DEA? Later