Tag: Home Run King

Redding thinks Mike Basick is pretty groovy

There have been rumors before but Tim Redding came right out and said it.  On the radio. 

He accused former teammate Mike Basick of throwing a fat pitch to Barry Bonds when Barry broke Hank Aaron’s career homerun record.

"I mean, the guy that gave it up, I never want to speak ill of anybody," Redding said. "Mike Bacsik is a stand-up guy. He’s a little quirky, but he’s a nice guy, means well. I think he wanted to give it up. And he can say what he wants in defense or whatnot, but doing the chart, I mean, every ball that Barry hit, the ball was center cut, right down the middle, fastball. You know, I think maybe inside he was thinking he was going to get a little bit more publicity. Maybe, you know, publicity and some money out of it, appearances, stuff like that. But it is what it is. I would have had no problem giving it up. The next night I actually gave up the new record. I gave up a home run [to Bonds] that night, his first at-bat, he kept one fair down the right-field line. And I was the next new record, until the next guy gave one up."

As a curious aside… F.P. Santangelo was one of the radio co-hosts interviewing Redding.  Always wondered what happened to F.P.

Who Was the HR King Before the Babe?

connor Kids of my era all grew up with the number 714 ingrained in us, it was written into our DNA. But I wonder if there’s anybody out there who would know without googling, what the Home Run Record was before Babe Ruth shattered it and who held that record. Yesterday’s White Sox tear-off calendar asks the question, “In 1921, Babe Ruth became the all-time career home run king. Whose record of 138 career home runs did he eclipse?”
A. Roger Connor

I had no idea, so I looked up Roger Connor, and this is what I found. The 6’3″ 220 pound Hall of Fame firstbaseman played from 1880-97, amassing 2,467 hits in 8,837 at bats, for a .317 lifetime batting average. He hit 441 doubles, 233 triples, & 138 home runs, swinging from the leftside.

Connor entered the National League in 1880 as a member of the Troy Trojans. He later played for the New York Gothams, and, due to his great stature, gave that team the enduring nickname “Giants”.

Roger is credited with being the first player to hit a grand slam in the major leagues and being the first to hit an over-the-wall home run at the Polo Grounds. His grand slam came with two outs and his team down three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Another notable fact from Connor’s career: in his first year in the Majors with the Troy Trojans, he teamed with future Hall-of-Famers Dan Brouthers, Buck Ewing, Tim Keefe and Mickey Welch, all of whom was just starting out their careers.