All posts filed under: Baseball

New National Dunn Looking Good at the World Baseball Classic

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It is exciting to hear that new Washington National Adam Dunn has had a great start at the World Baseball Classic.  Dunn had a home run in each of the first two victories, but it was his enthusiasm that led Ted Lilly, the starting pitcher for Team USA, to say, “Adam Dunn is a lot of fun,” Lilly said…. “He’s got a lot of energy and he keeps things light. It hasn’t taken him long to kind of warm everybody up.” Dunn has homered in both United States victories here. One home run was a line drive to left-center field, and one was a towering blast pulled to right. The United States manager, Davey Johnson, compared his power to that of Willie McCovey, a Hall of Famer. “I’ve seen a lot of big guys that swing the bat hard,” Johnson said. “But he has a really good eye for a big, strong guy.” A new National compared to Stretch McCovey, one of my heroes as a young boy.  Come on opening day! Read the entire story at the …

Pitchers and Catchers Report in 14 Days

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On the weekend of the Super Hype Bowl, the Washington Nationals web site notes that we’re 14 Days and 13 Hours (as of this posting) until pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  To celebrate, let’s check out question #1413 from Obsessed With Baseball. Which one of these Hall of Fame pitchers did NOT reach 300 career wins? A.  Mickey Welch  B.  Early Wynn  C. Robin Roberts  D. Kid Nichols And the answer is….C.  Robin Roberts Spring is around the corner. More to come… DJB

Baseball, Blues, and Bluegrass – Do Christmas Gifts Get Any Better?

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In the midst of a strong recession, everyone expected downsizing in holiday gift giving.  But the generosity of family and friends showed me that downsizing can still result in gifts that touch the heart. My colleague Dolores shares my passion for baseball, so her gift of Obsessed with Baseball was perfect.   This is Jeopardy for the baseball set…2500 questions that the electronic widget embedded in the book asks you to answer.  For instance – to take a random example – Question 54:  Who led the majors in RBIs in 2006?  A.  David Ortiz, B. Albert Pujols,  C. Ryan Howard, or D. Lance Berkman.  If you typed in “C” for Ryan Howard, the widget tells you “correct” and you are 1 for 1 or 100% correct.  It is easy to spend all day answering questions about Heavy Hitters, Hall of Fame, The Playoffs, and more. Want to try another one?  Question 1505:  Name the future big-league manager who hit 30 or more home runs 11 times in his 21 season playing career.  A.  Gil Hodges, B. Frank Robinson, C. …

Hot Stove League (Continued)

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In an earlier post I got it half right.  Despite a good effort by the Nationals and their owners the Lerners, the big free agent catch Mark Teixeira got away…but to the Evil Empire (a.k.a. New York Yankees) instead of the Boston Red Sox.  With that signing, the Yankees now have the four highest paid players IN BASEBALL HISTORY on their team at one time.  What recession?  Jeez… But I’m going to take the positive view about this from the Nats perspective.   At least they finally decided to play in the big leagues of free agency, and they went after the right player this time as well.  I think in my heart of hearts I knew the Nats were on the margins in the Teixeira chase even with their strong offers.  But they can’t stop here.  A career 48-59 pitcher with a 5.05 ERA for the Orioles can’t be the big news out of the Hot Stove League for our Nationals.  Fans deserve more than a Triple-A team playing in a major league ballpark.  That’s my Christmas wish …

Hot Stove League

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It is 30 degrees outside, we’re approaching winter solstice, so naturally a young man’s thoughts turn to…baseball! Yesterday at work I used the term Hot Stove League in a memo to some colleagues, referring to rumors about projects that were heating up.  A friend who loves baseball said she wasn’t familiar with the term, so as is usual I sent her the link from Wikipedia.  According to that source of all knowledge: The Hot Stove League is a baseball-related term, referring to the off-season. Therefore, it is not actually a “league”, but the term instead calls up images of baseball fans, anxious for the start of the new season, gathering around a hot stove during the cold winter months discussing their favorite baseball teams. The term has also come to refer to the wave of off-season player transactions (trades, re-signings, free agency, etc.) that occur between seasons, especially during the winter meetings.  Since most free agent signings and trades occur during the off-season, this time of significant player transactions (including rumors and speculation about possible trades), is …

Farewell to a Great Pitcher

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I just learned that Greg Maddux – perhaps the smartest pitcher ever in Major League Baseball – has decided to retire at age 42.  As a long-time Atlanta Braves fan, I followed his career closely.  Those four Cy Young awards in a row? Amazing.  Those 355 career wins (more than any living player)?  Just as mind numbing in this age of the specialist.  Finishing number 10 on the all-time strikeout list?  Now that’s a stat that really does shock me, because I never think of Maddux as a strikeout pitcher.  But I do think of him as just the smartest guy on the field at all times. ESPN’s web site has a great column on Maddux written by Gene Wojciechowski.  He includes a wonderful story about Maddux’s smarts: In 1996, just before Maddux and the Atlanta Braves faced the New York Yankees in the World Series, pitching coach Leo Mazzone met with his starters and relievers and read them the detailed scouting reports. Maddux raised his hand after Mazzone read the report on Yankees slugger Bernie Williams. “That …

Do I love baseball quotes? You betcha!

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The Philadelphia Phillies win the 2008 World Series in one of the strangest ways imaginable – closing out a game that began in the bottom of the 6th after a 46 hour rain-delay – and the morning papers are full of the great quotes and writing that make baseball such a delight.  Can you imagine getting an intelligible quote out of a football coach after the Super Bowl?  Of course not.  But even the lowliest man on the World Series roster can provide some wonderful, thought-provoking line that brings a smile. Here are a few gems I picked up from today’s Washington Post and New York Times. The Phillies and Rays turned a mess into a mini-masterpiece, transforming a suspended game into a tense, 79-minute suspension of disbelief. Tom Boswell, Washington Post A game that began with a deluge has washed away an epic drought. The Philadelphia Phillies have won the World Series.  Tyler Kepner, New York Times Rays Manager Joe Maddon said he considered using phenom lefty David Price from the start Wednesday night, …

Baseball on the Radio

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I love driving in a car and listening to baseball on the radio.  That’s a good thing.  Because I’m looking forward to tonight’s Game 6 of the ALCS between the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays AND as the father of teenagers who don’t drive, the weekend means that I run a taxi service.  I expect I’ll listen to as much of tonight’s game on the car radio as I watch on television. ESPN radio carries all the baseball post-season games, with the wonderful Jon Miller doing the play-by-play.  Miller is even better on the radio than he is on the Sunday night TV games.  He’s thoughtful, entertaining, smart enough to know when to stop talking, and he’s not Tim McCarver. It speaks volumes about what’s been wrong with the Baltimore Orioles under the ownership of Peter Angelos that Miller – only a Hall-of-Famer-to-be announcer – was fired by Angelos as the voice of the Orioles.  So in anticipation of hearing Miller tonight, I’ll repeat a quote of Miller’s from Paul Dickson’s Baseball’s Greatest Quotations: There’s just …

Free Baseball

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I love October baseball.  Friday’s games – the first between the Phillies and Dodgers followed by the Red Sox vs. the Rays – were both terrific.  And tonight, the Sox and Rays just went into extra innings – or what Skip Carey use to call “Free Baseball.”   And as I was typing those words, lo and behold, Ernie Johnson, Jr., whose dad was Carey’s longtime broadcast partner with the Braves, just used that term.  Skip lives! Yesterday, Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia was rocking – and I was reminded of my visit there just two short weeks ago when I saw the Phillies take a win that may have been the pivotal one towards the division championship.  The view (see photo at right) was very similar. More to come… DJB

Searching the Internet and Finding…October Belongs to Baseball

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This is another one of my “I was searching the Internet and found something I had to share” posts.  On the InterSportsWire (motto:  “Because there aren’t enough sports blogs”) there’s this beautiful post entitled October Belongs to Baseball which has a “great sports folk song about the mystical aura of baseball.”  The song is by Sam Baker.  Click on the link to October Belongs to Baseball to see this video and give yourself a treat. More to come… DJB