Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Parade of Ridiculousness: Ty Cobb sporting the mustard & brown
Last week I stumbled into this fun concept with Babe Ruth in a 1976 Astros uniform.As promised, I present you with card #2 of this Parade of Ridiculousness set: Ty Cobb in the mono-mustard look of the 1972-73 San Diego Padres.
I am currently in the planning and feasibility stages with the suggestions of Chuck Klein in the 1979 Phillies mono-maroon Saturday Night Specials & Bob Feller in the 1975-77 all red Cleveland Indians "blood clot" threads. Once I get rolling one on of these, it is hard to stop.
Any other suggestions ? Keep them coming.
On this day... ending the season with a bang
The team suffered through it's first losing season since Allen became a major leaguer and finished in seventh place, 21 games behind the pennant winning St. Louis Cardinals.
As has been well documented, the atmosphere for Allen in Philadelphia during this time had become a nightmare for any ballplayer. Allen had been asking the team to trade him for over a year, with no relief. He was getting booed every at bat, he was receiving threatening hate mail, and those closest to him were concerned for his safety. Most everyone, including DA thought the game on September 29th, 1968 against the Mets at Shea would be his last in a Phillies uniform.
The Mets took a 2 run lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. In the top of the sixth, Allen hit a 2 run home run to tie the game. Dalrymple put the team ahead in the seventh with another 2 run shot. DA came up again the the eighth and blasted a solo shot to extend the Phils lead to 5-2. He got one more at bat in the ninth and cracked a grand slam.
Last three at bats of the season, three home runs, seven RBIs. This would be the only thee home run game of his career.
Every news report I could find of the game makes mention of his expected trade during the offseason. Unfortunately for DA, a trade never materializes. His wish to be dealt is not granted until after the 1969 season.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Happy Mike Schmidt Day
Happy 62nd Birthday to:
1) the greatest third baseman in the history of major league baseball
2) The greatest player in the history of the Philadelphia Phillies
3) The greatest white-guy afro ever
Monday, September 26, 2011
Bad News Bears - 1977 team set
If you follow this site, it probably won't come as any surprise when I admit I am a big fan of the original Bad News Bears movie. If you have never watched it, you need to find it and watch it from start to finish. The movie is much more than Walter Matthau working with a 10 year old Tatum O'Neal (although I was 10 when it came out, and Tatum was just about the most perfect female I had ever seen). The movie is full of fun, memorable and quotable scenes, a number of time period enhanced politically incorrect situations, and a couple of great lessons for parents and kids. If you have ever been roped into coaching a little league baseball team, the movie will be even more enjoyable. For my money, it is one of the top five best baseball movies ever made.
I was watching the movie (still fun after many dozens of times) on my iPad the other day on a long flight - and I had an idea about making a set of Bad News Bears baseball cards. I decided to use the 1977 Topps template, because the movie was made in 1976. I also searched to see if anyone had already done this, I discovered a couple of Kelly Leak and Amanda Whurlizer cards, but no one (that I could find) made the entire Bears team.
I was watching the movie (still fun after many dozens of times) on my iPad the other day on a long flight - and I had an idea about making a set of Bad News Bears baseball cards. I decided to use the 1977 Topps template, because the movie was made in 1976. I also searched to see if anyone had already done this, I discovered a couple of Kelly Leak and Amanda Whurlizer cards, but no one (that I could find) made the entire Bears team.
1976 NORTH VALLEY LITTLE LEAGUE BEARS (in jersey number order)
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Friday, September 23, 2011
Parade of Ridiculousness: Babe Ruth in tequila sunrise stripes
A couple of weeks ago I saw a tweet from the Mitchell & Ness blog linking to some interesting photos of a long forgotten Astros warm-up sweater. Seeing an old school gun-slinger like Nolan Ryan wearing the wacky combination of the old-school knit style sweater and the ultra modern Astros rainbow stripes was a shock to my system.
I shared these rainbow striped sweater images with a friend of mine, who happens to actually work for the Astros, and the banter was off and running. At some point I started joking about the concept of Babe Ruth sporting these uniforms. The conversation went something like this:
Him: "...The Babe would've looked good in the Astro rainbows....although his homerun output would have been hurt by the Astrodome outfield dimensions!Of course, I had to sit down and photo-chop a Houston Astros fantasy Babe Ruth card for him.
Me: "Playing in the 'dome, he might have gone back to being a full time pitcher."
Him: "Very true! A rotation of Ruth, Ryan and Richard would have been awesome..."
This looks so ridiculous and I had so much fun making it, I think I have stumbled upon a new recurring feature. For my next act... Ty Cobb in the mustard yellows of the 1972-73 San Diego Padres. Anyone else have ideas?
Thursday, September 22, 2011
On this day...Cubs trade Dickie Noles for... DIckie Noles
A month later (October 23rd) two weeks after Detroit was eliminated by the Minnesota Twins in the ALCS, the Cubs and Tigers were unable to agree on the player to be exchanged. Rather than continue to haggle, Dickie Noles was sent back to the Cubs as the player to be named later.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Happy Birthday Jim Abbott
For those of you that do not know Jim's story: he was born without a right hand. He refused to let this "handicap" define him. He was a fantastic athlete starring in both football (as a QB) and baseball growing up in Flint, Michigan. He was drafted by the Blue Jays out of high school, but chose not to sign with them - instead going to the University of Michigan. At Michigan he was awarded the Golden Spikes Award in 1987, which is the college baseball equivalent to the Heisman Trophy. He also pitched the 1988 USA Olympic baseball team to a gold medal and was a first round draft pick (8th overall) of the California Angels. He made the the Angels big league roster during his first spring training and went on to have a solid major league career, highlighted by his 1993 no-hitter in Yankee Stadium as a member of the New York Yankees.
I went to school with Jim Abbott. I can tell you, there was no more humble and genuine person on campus than him. If you ever get a chance to hear him speak (he is a motivational speaker) I highly recommend you do so. Happy Birthday Jimbo!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Phive straight!
The Golden Age of Philadelphia Phillies baseball is upon us.
I am NOT taking one moment of this run for granted.
I am NOT taking one moment of this run for granted.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
On this day.... Reggie Jackson hits #500
September 17th, 1984. Exactly seventeen years after his first major league home run, California Angels designated hitter Reggie Jackson blasts Bud Black's first pitch (a fastball) of the seventh inning into the right field seats for his 500th career home run. This will be the only run the Angels would score in the Royals' 10-1 victory.At the time, Reggie was the only 13th major leaguer to join the 500 Home Run club. He would hit another 63 round-trippers before retiring after the 1987 season.
Reggie is elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Familiar Faces / Strange Places & On This Day: Bob Watson / Red Sox
September 15th, 1979. After hitting a single in the second, a double in the fourth, and tripling in the eighth, Red Sox first Baseman Bob Watson completes a natural cycle with a home run the in the ninth inning of the Red Sox 10-2 victory over the Orioles in Baltimore's Memorial Stadium. The win holds the Orioles magic number for the AL East crown at "1". He also becomes the first modern major leaguer to hit for the cycle in both leagues having already accomplishing the feat with Houston in 1977.Watson was originally a catcher in minors, but he was converted to a first baseman / outfielder by the time he made it to the majors in 1966. He spent most of his career as a solid and dependable contributor in Houston making it to two All Star games (1972 & 1975). A big strong player, there is no disputing the fact his power numbers were negatively impacted by playing in the Astrodome. Of the 184 career home runs he did collect, 117 of them came on the road.
One May 4th, 1975 Watson became the answer to an interesting (yet flawed) baseball trivia question. He was credited with scoring the 1,000,000th run in major league history. In the second inning, Watson walked, stole second base and scored Milt May's 3-run homer at San Francisco's Candlestick Park. It was known that the 999,999th run had already scored, with sponsored updates being provided by and to every ballpark. Despite the lack of in-game urgency, Watson ran at full speed, reaching home plate approximately four seconds before Dave Concepción, who had just homered in Cincinnati and was also racing around the bases. For his effort, Watson who won $10,000 and one million Tootsie Rolls provided by the event's sponsor. It has later been determined that inaccurate records prevent us from really knowing who scored the "one millionth" run.
After 14 seasons in Houston, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox in June 1979 for what turned out to be two unknown players (Pete Ladd and Bobby Sprowl) and cash. He played in 84 games as a member of the Red Sox before leaving as a Free Agent at the end of the 1979 season.
He signed with the New York Yankees before the 1980 season and played on two Yankee playoff teams (1980 and 1981) before being traded to the Braves seven games into the 1982 season. He ended up helping the surprising 1982 Western Division Champion Braves, managed by Joe Torre. He spent the next two seasons in Atlanta, mostly as a pinch hitter, and retired after the 1984 season.
He was named as the General Manager of the Houston Astros at the end of the 1993 season becoming the first black man MLB history to hold that role. He later became the GM for the New York Yankees and teamed up with Joe Torre to deliver the 1996 World Series championship. He has worked in the MLB front office since 1997, were he has been in charge of discipline, rules and on-field operations. In 1997 he has been lampooned by the Boston media for his efforts to make sure manager Terry Francona wears the proper uniform.
Phillies Mural Design
Towering nearly eight stories high, The Phillies Mural will be at 200 South 24th Street in Center City facing the Schuylkill River and I-76 Schuylkill Expressway. The mural's planned completion target is next year.
The featured subjects in 3,750 square-foot design include (listed from top left to right): Brad Lidge, Charlie Manuel, Mitch Williams, Cole Hamels, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Larry Bowa, Darren Daulton, Dallas Green, Tug McGraw, Ed Delahanty, Mike Schmidt, Ryan Howard, Chuck Klein, Tony Taylor, Dick Allen, Shibe Park, Jim Bunning, Veterans Stadium, Roy Halladay, Citizens Bank Park, Robin Roberts, Harry Kalas, Richie Ashburn, Steve Carlton, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and the Phillie Phanatic. In addition, they have announced there is space for one more player - to be chosen by fans via online voting. John Kruk? Pete Rose? Juan Samuel?
If it isn't obvious, I think it is great the Phils are including Richard Anthony Allen in this awesome mural. Regardless of what the Baseball Hall of Fame voters may think about his career -- in my mind he is easily one of the top ten players in Phillies history. From the looks of the mural design image, it looks like they are planning on using this photo of DA from this 1976 home game against the Reds for his portion of the mural.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Hello Kitty
Ever wonder why you would see a big league player carrying a pink backpack? Here is a New York Times article explaining the tradition.
Basically is boils down to this:
Basically is boils down to this:
The most junior reliever on each major league team is in charge of carrying the stash of snacks, drinks and pain medications from the clubhouse to the bullpen. For decades, an extra equipment sack or plastic shopping bag sufficed. But leave it to big leaguers to find new ways to torment their tenderfoots.For most of the season Mike Stutes has been the low man on the bullpen totem pole, but recently he was able to hand "the bag" to Michael Schwimmer. Nothing like the site of a 6'8" relief pitcher carrying a pink backpack complete with a boa. Brad Lidge is responsible for the pink feather boa the Phils "bag carrier". He thought it would be a nice addition and purchased it when the team was in San Francisco.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
On this day.... Frank Robinson hits #500
After connecting for career home run #499 earlier in Game one of a doubleheader, Orioles right fielder Frank Robinson takes a ninth inning Fred Scherman offering deep into the night of Baltimore's Memorial Stadium left field bleachers for #500. It doesn't make a difference, because the Tigers win this contest 10-5.
Here is a great article written by the then 21 year old kid that caught the ball "on the fly". You don't need much more than this to show you things were simpler back in 1971.
At the time of his 500th bomb - Frank was only the 11th member of the club. Today the group has literally exploded with 25 current or former players claiming more than 500 home runs. Ten of those players joined the club from 1999 to 2009 -- calling into question what was once considered to be an automatic ticket into Cooperstown. Currently only confirmed PED users Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro are the only eligible 500 HR Club members that have not been elected to the Hall. Rest assured that "on the outside looking in" list will grow in the near future as Bonds, ARod, Sosa, Manny, and Sheffield all become eligible.
Here is a cool AP article about Frank's 500th HR, including a definitive statement about his desire to become a big league manager.
Astros shorts
I was at the Phillies/Astros game last night when I snapped this image during the pregame ceremonies. Now, I've seen this guy for years in the Astros dugout, but it never dawned on me he is actually wearing shorts to match the player uniforms. Very impressive. I did a pretty exhaustive search of the UNIWATCH archives before I concluded I couldn'tt find anything about this interesting uniform oddity.
A little research (greatly aided by the name on the back of his uniform jersey) and I quickly learned the guy in the shorts is Astros Strength and Conditioning Coach Gene Coleman. He is a professor at the University of Houston at Clear Lake and the author of the book: 52 Week Baseball Training (featuring former Astro Craig Biggio on the cover). Based on his resume, Dr. Gene started working with Astros in 1976. I have not yet been able to locate an image with him in a shorts version of the Tequila Sunrise Rainbow design made famous by the Astros. Rest assured, my quest has just begun and the search will continue.
