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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
As noted here yesterday, MLB home run leader Pete Alonso of the Mets got bad news on his wrist after he was struck by a Charlie Morton pitch in the first inning Wednesday night. He’ll miss 3-4 weeks with a sprain and bone bruise, meaning he may or may not also miss the 2023 All-Star Game slated for July 11 . . .
Although he placed third in American League Cy Young Award voting last year, Opening Day starter Alek Manoah has lost his roster spot in Toronto. The Blue Jays optioned him all the way to the Florida Complex League — one day after he was rocked for six runs in one-third of an inning against the Astros, bloating his ERA to an unsightly 6.36 . . .
Entering play Tuesday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone had been ejected more often (30 times) in his six-year tenure with the team than Astros pilot Dusty Baker in his 26 years of managing (25). Boone has also been booted more over the past season-and-a-third (13) than Dodgers manager Dave Roberts over his nine seasons (10) . . .
In a 2-1 White Sox win over the Tigers a week ago, all three runs scored on wild pitches . . .
Jon Singleton, returning to the majors for the first time since 2015, had a hit and scored a run for Milwaukee in a 10-8 win over the Reds . . .
No surprise that the Dodgers have the biggest wild-card lead in the majors but how about the Orioles having the biggest edge in the American League? . . .
Angels rookie pitcher Ben Joyce once threw a pitch timed at 105.5 mph at the University of Tennessee . . .
Ed Kranepool, promoting his new book, was 17 and fresh out of Monroe High School in the Bronx when he joined the 1962 Mets on the same day Sandy Koufax no-hit the hapless expansion team in Los Angeles.
Leading Off
Reflections on Baseball
By Paul Semendinger, Ed.D.
When I think back to the constants in my life, there are only a few: things that have been with me almost, it seems, from the start. There is family. There is God. And there is baseball. (There are, of course, other things, but for the sake of this essay, those are the big three.)
Baseball.
When I first became a baseball fan, the players such as Graig Nettles, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Ron Guidry, and Sparky Lyle were real-life superheroes to me. They were bigger than life and as talented and as real to me as Superman and Batman and Robin Hood. I thought they could do anything. I thought they'd live and play forever.
Baseball was a constant in my life. If I wasn't watching the Yankees on TV, I was playing baseball, Wiffle Ball, Strat-o-Matic Baseball, looking at and sorting my baseball cards, or reading about the game. I was baseball-obsessed.
So much of my life was centered on baseball.
I learned the difference between left and right by remembering that Roy White played in left field.
In fact, a lot of my learning came from baseball.
My mom didn't understand how I couldn't remember my Spanish, but that I knew what Lou Piniella's batting average was and that Graig Nettles led the American League with 32 homers in 1976.
I didn't like doing my math homework, but I would figure out the batting averages of baseball players for hours on end. I was also probably the first kid in my grade level to know how to calculate a pitcher's Earned Run Average. I may not have aces all my spelling tests, but I absolutely knew how to spell "Yastrzemski."
I eventually grew up and became a history teacher, but long before I ever knew the Preamble of the Constitution or the Gettysburg Address by heart, I could recite, in character, the entire Who's on First routine. Before I could name every United States President in order, I knew the starting lineup for the 1927 Yankees. Before I knew the dates of any specific historical events, I knew that Don Larsen pitched a perfect game on October 8, 1956.
There haven't been many days in my life when I haven't thought about baseball.
I'm now in my mid-50s. I still play the game. I pitch on two different teams against players who are decades younger than me. I don't throw all that hard and my curveball is best when there is a strong wind blowing from left to right, but I'm still winning games pitching inning after inning.
I love toeing the rubber and looking at my catcher 60 feet and 6 inches away and going into the wind-up. Like Satchel Paige, I want to pitch forever. (I am especially fortunate: my 24-year-old son plays on the team with me. There is a unique and special joy to be able to play baseball, real baseball, with my son.)
I always wanted to know everything about baseball because my dad did (and still does). I was always amazed at his knowledge of the game and his love of the sport. My dad is 84 years old. We still have catches in the backyard. Is there anything better than that?
The Lord brought light to the world and saw that it was good.
I feel similarly about baseball. I see baseball, and I know it is also good.
I remember where I was the moment I heard that Thurman Munson died. I was crushed. I also remember the sadness that came when I learned that the Yankees had traded Graig Nettles to the San Diego Padres. So many of my life's memories are tied to baseball.
I still cry when I watch Field of Dreams and when Roy Hobbs' long fly ball hits the light tower. (Listen closely, you can hear the theme song playing right now...)
I went to the Field of Dreams in Iowa with my dad and my mom just so we could have a catch. That was more than seven years ago, but the photo sits on my bookshelf and I'm reminded of that wonderful time each and every day.
When the new Yankee Stadium opened for the first time, I was there with one of my sons. It was his birthday. What could have been better?
When each of my sons were growing up, I coached their recreation teams. I hold those memories close to my heart.
The day before my youngest son went to college, we sat in the dugout of a nearby baseball field and opened packs of baseball cards together. That was his idea. I cried that day too.
Baseball has brought generations of my family together. We relish in the games, the sport, the memories, and the moments.
We still find magic in the little things that are so much a part of the sport.
When life slows down enough and we allow ourselves to get immersed in the game, that same joy from my childhood sometimes comes right back. Last week when Aaron Judge made an amazing catch crashing into (and breaking) the right field wall in Dodger Stadium, that special feeling I felt as a kid, that same feeling that I was watching a superhero, engulfed me, if only for a moment.
Of course, as a ballplayer, I still think that I have a chance to make it to the major leagues. Aaron Judge might be a superhero at one moment, but in other moments, I imagine standing on the mound, facing him, and striking him out. Why not? Isn't that also part of the magic of the game?
The sounds of baseball constantly surround me. It's a part of my life. It always will be.
It's more than a game.
Jim Bouton said it best, "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."
Dr. Paul Semendinger is a retired principal. He still teaches at the collegiate level. If you haven't read his novel Scattering the Ashes, you should.
Cleaning Up
What Braves Should Go to Seattle As NL All-Stars?
By Dan Schlossberg
I’m heading to Seattle to cover the 2023 All-Star Game and hope the fans will finally vote fairly and independently for the most deserving players.
History suggests that’s too much to ask, especially since teams beat the drums for “hometown favorites” and the system is so skewed that fans can vote five times — or is it five times a day?
Maybe we should really make a mockery of the process by adding electoral votes.
Even though there’s some input from uniformed personnel and media, the All-Star rosters will never be fair again until MLB reverts to the old system of entrusting players, fans, and coaches to vote without allowing them to vote for teammates or vote multiple times.
That was fair and it also ensured the best players went not just the ones whose names fans recognize.
Personally speaking, I’m hoping the National League roster has lots of Atlanta Braves on it, as it did last year in the wake of the club’s 2021 world championship.
But this is a different year and several different players deserve to go.
Obviously, the 2023 NL All-Stars will not include Max Fried, who finished second in last year’s Cy Young Award voting, or Kyle Wright, who led the majors with 21 wins.
Both are injured and not expected back until the second half of the season, though Fried might beat that timetable.
That makes the best bets among the Braves as Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, and pitchers Spencer Strider and Bryce Elder.
Obviously, not all of them will go.
Olson, for example, has high-octate power and a good glove but also a propensity for far too many strikeouts. Plus he plays first base, where Pete Alonso and Paul Goldschmidt obviously rank ahead of him.
Albies, on the other hand, is a two-time All-Star who has never started the game, though he did have a 30-homer, 100-rbi season not too long ago. The compact switch-hitter can run, field his position, and hit — especially right-handed. Finding a better second baseman might be difficult, though Jeff McNeil of the Mets has a batting crown on his trophy shelf.
Acuna is a no-brainer. The rifle-armed right-fielder from Venezuela was the top All-Star vote-getter last year and could be the top vote-getter this year when MVP ballots are counted. His torn ACL healed, he’s headed for an unprecedented 70-30 season (7-0 steals and 30 homers).
Murphy also deserves to start. He’s having the best year of any major-league catcher — offensively and defensively — and will probably retain the Gold Glove he won in 2022 even though he has switched leagues. The fact that he’s batting cleanup for a first-place team speaks volumes.
Not so sure Riley deserves to make the team again, especially since Nolan Arenado will probably be the third baseman by acclamation. Riley is a notorious streak hitter, torrid when he’s hitting and putrid when he’s not. Like Olson, he’s solid in the field but not quite as sharp as he was last year. His power is down too.
As for the pitchers, Strider and Elder have done a great job of making the Braves forget Fried and Wright are unavailable (forearm and shoulder injuries, respectively).
Strider has become baseball’s top strikeout pitcher, while the soft-tossing Elder has spent the first few months leading the majors in earned run average.
With Phillies manager Rob Thomson set to manage the NL squad — if he isn’t fired first — there’s a natural animosity toward all things Braves.
But there shouldn’t be, at least not if he expects to win.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ writes for forbes.com, Latino Sports, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Here’s The Pitch, and many more. He’s also the author of 40 baseball books. Write Dan via ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“We have to figure something out fast.”
— Phillies manager Rob Thomson on the slow starts of Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner
The Brooklyn Dodgers, plagued by poor attendance at Ebbets Field, played seven games at Jersey City’s Roosevelt Stadium in 1956 and eight more in 1957. The 25,000-seat stadium was not filled to capacity on all seven occasions, but Dodgers games there drew an average of 21,196 fans per game, 5,400 more than games at Ebbets Field. In 1957, however, attendance fell to 16,014 fans per game, but that was still better than Brooklyn.
The Milwaukee Braves existed for only 13 years but established a major-league record during their tenure: they were the only team that never had a losing season . . .
Hank and Tommie Aaron homered in the same game three times — all during the 1962 season . . .
If the 1959 Topps set didn’t have the best design ever, that’s because the 1960 and 1965 editions gave it some serious competition.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@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.