Book Brings Back Baseball Memories
ALSO: YOUTHFUL SEATTLE MARINERS FIGURE TO FACTOR INTO AL WEST TITLE CHASE
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
The 15-card Topps Now 2021 World Series set had two serious errors: it said the Braves won the World Series in five games and the team’s manager was Dusty Baker . .
Brian Snitker, the actual Braves manager, has often been asked to add “We Did It For Hank!” to his signature . . .
Former World Championship managers Cito Gaston, Jim Leyland, and Ned Yost, plus current pilot Tony La Russa are among the well-wishers who called to offer their congratulations to Snitker . . .
Aaron Judge, who turns 30 in April, is open to a contract extension from the Yankees but also open to testing free agency for the first time this fall . . .
Actor Tony Perkins, who portrayed Jimmy Piersall in Fear Strikes Out, was a natural left-hander who had to learn to throw right-handed for the 1957 movie.
Leading Off
Exploring Baseball’s Great Moments
By Ben Abel
As someone who loves baseball and began watching it at 15 years old, I wasn’t around for many of the great classic moments in the game.
My first World Series proper was the 1989 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics. That World Series was a sweep by the Athletics with the exciting earthquake happening before Game Three.
When I discovered Baseball’s Great Moments this past summer in a “free” store, I needed a book to read while on holiday and thought I should grab it and take a read.
The classic moments
Now there are literally so many great moments in baseball that one book couldn’t really take in all of them. This book alone covers 1946 to 1981. The book itself was updated in 1982.
The forward was written by none other than Stan Musial, a baseball legend who needs really no introduction to even the casual baseball fan. He explains that Joseph Reichler himself was a writer with the Associated Press as an editor and then later moved to the Commissioner of Baseball’s Office. To say that Reichler has the credentials would be an understatement.
The chapters in the book
Given the size and scope of the book and the number of events covered there, I’m really at a loss to pick which events are the most important. One thing that did strike me though is how the writing is so captivating. I actually felt like I was living those events while reading about them.
Roger Maris’ controversial 61-homer total is here, of course, as you would expect it to be, but so is a breakdown of the careers of pitcher Warren Spahn (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Spahn) and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Stan Musial.
Spahn pitched for the Boston and then Milwaukee Braves and concluded his career with the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants. They faced each other for 18 years (1946-63) in the National League. Spahn lamented that Musial knew how to hit pitches off him including over 100 hits with 14 being home runs.
Spahn had some truly dominant moments in those seasons and at age 39 and 40 threw no-hitters and in August of 1961 won his 300th game.
How about a re-write with some newer events?
The 1980s
Now that in itself would be a tall task but I am willing to hazard a guess about a number of impactful events in the game of baseball since the book ends with The Los Angeles Dodgers’ dramatic win over the Montreal Expos in the 1981 NL pennant race.
One of the most dramatic moments of the 1980s, as many well know, is the1988 World Series between the Oakland Athletics and the same Dodgers.
In Game One, an injured Kirk Gibson hobbled to the plate and hit a home run off A’s reliever Dennis Eckersley.
Just one year later, the A’s were part of more World Series drama when the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit the Bay Area, postponing the start of Game Three.
Earlier in the 1989 season, Pete Rose received his ban from baseball when Commissioner Bart Giamatti was able to substantiate claims about Rose betting on baseball games.
The 1990s
The 1990s too had many great moments, including Jim Abbott’s no-hitter in 1993.
Abbott pitched with only one hand, his left, because he was born without a right hand.
As much as Abbott’s no-hitter was inspirational, there was Mark McGwire’s breaking of the home run record, previously held by Roger Maris, when he hit 70 home runs in 1998.
It wouldn’t be until 2010 that McGwire admitted to using steroids in his career, including the 1998 season.
Barry Bonds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Bonds) would later hit 73 home runs in 2001 and, like McGwire, has been the subject of ridicule for his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds holds the record for most home runs not only in a season but also in a career. (https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/HR_career.shtml) He finished with 762, seven better than Hank Aaron, but writers voting for the Hall of Fame refused to reward him.
Ben Abel has been an avid sports fan since the 1980s. He has contributed to Sports Betting Dime and Overtime Heroics, covering hockey, baseball, and football as well as other sports. He lives in Vancouver, Canada. Contact him on Twitter @lebaneb or via email at info@abelmarketing.ca
Cleaning Up
No Longer Sleepless in Seattle
By Dan Schlossberg
Forget Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.
The Seattle Mariners seem poised to erupt even sooner than Mount Rainier.
After missing the playoffs for 21 consecutive seasons — the longest stretch of mediocrity for any American sports franchise — the M’s should pick up where the 1993 film left off.
Their 90-72 record last year was their best since 2003 and their farm system is even more encouraging: ranked No. 1 among all 30 clubs by Baseball America.
The authoritative tabloid lists four Seattle prospects among the game’s top 50 prospects. They are catcher Harry Ford, shortstop Noelvi Marte, outfielder Julio Rodriguez, and pitcher George Kirby.
Activitist general manager Jerry Dipoto, who makes more trades than the New York Stock Exchange, signed second baseman Adam Frazier and AL Cy Young Award winner Robbie Ray over the winter and is on the hunt for a right-handed bat with punch.
Despite the lockout, Dipoto is in Peoria, Arizona for minor-league spring training and hopes locked-out major league players join them soon.
“It’s just nice to see baseball players again,” he told Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY. “There are a couple of dozen we really haven’t had a chance to lay eyes on.
“Now we get to know the kids a little bit. Of all the things we do, draft and development is my favorite.”
Six of Seattle’s top 10 prospects are there too, with Ford, Kirby, and pitchers Emerson Hancock and Brandon Williamson the headliners.
Future Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki, now 48, is there too in a dual role as coach and good-will ambassador.
For Dipoto, it’s the third straight spring that hasn’t sprung the way he had hoped. In 2020, Covid split training camps into two sessions months apart. Protocols for the coronavirus made things crazy in 2021 too. Now there’s a labor war that is wiping out the exhibition schedule and threatening the March 31 start of the regular season.
“It’s been a really weird couple of years,” admitted the GM, whose varsity coaching staff is also enjoying the Arizona sunshine. Manager Scott Servais and all of his coaches are getting a first-hand look at the club’s kids.
Once the season starts, Seattle seems certain to join Houston, Los Angeles, and the rapidly-rebuilding Texas Rangers for supremacy of the American League West. Only the Oakland Athletics, who are openly paring payroll, seem more like pretenders than contenders.
HTP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ has covered baseball spring training since 1971. He covers the game for forbes.com, Latino Sports, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and makes frequent public appearances to promote his books. E.mail him at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
Warren Spahn is even more remarkable when his record of pitching on two days of rest is considered: in 39 such starts, the great lefty went 25-12 with a 2.56 ERA and 25 complete games . . .
Jeffrey Leonard had extra incentive to win Most Valuable Player honors in the 1987 NL Championship Series: agent Tom Reich convinced the Giants to add a clause to his contract that he’d get a $50,000 bonus if he won that award . . .
Before Zack Wheeler did it in 2021, the last Phillies pitcher to lead the NL in strikeouts was Hall of Fame hopeful Curt Schilling (1997-98) . . .
At age 37, Yuli Gurriel tied Barry Bonds as the oldest first-time batting champ and joined Tony Oliva as the second Cuban batting champ . . .
Mets broadcaster Keith Hernandez missed a week on the air after he fell off his own hot tub while pruning roses and had eight stitches in his toe.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Brian Harl [bchrom831@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.