March, 2007 | The Baseball Zealot

A Stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum

I’m on vacation through Kentucky and Tennessee and a stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory was definitely in order. We were lucky enough to go through the museum during working hours so that we could actually see the bats be made in the factory. Unfortunately, the rules are, No Photos Allowed in the … Continue reading “A Stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum”

I’m on vacation through Kentucky and Tennessee and a stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory was definitely in order.

Louisville Slugger Museum

We were lucky enough to go through the museum during working hours so that we could actually see the bats be made in the factory. Unfortunately, the rules are, No Photos Allowed in the actual factory and being a rather rule-oriented guy, I obeyed. It was pretty awesome. The factory was working on the Mets’ bats that day and Carlos Delgado’s bat was being made while we watched, according to the tour guide.

The tour guide seemed to make digs against the Cubs any chance he could. Either he was a Sox fan or a Cub fan in guise. I vote for the latter considering he would come up to me (in my fine Cubs shirt) and make knowledgeable comments about the Cubs.

banks plate

Here’s my daughter pointing to Jim Baumer’s bat plate. I really wanted her to point to Ernie Banks’ plate. She’ll learn. I was ignorant of Jim Baumer so I looked him up. Played two seasons separated by 11 years. Very interesting. He was also a White Sox player for his first year in 1949. My daughter knows how to pick ’em.

I’ll post more pics when I get home.

CACTUS LEAGUE REPORT: 3/20 Day & Night

Manny Alexander 3/20 Day: Before we even got our fannies into our seats the White Sox took a 1-0 lead off Rich Harden & the Oakland A’s, Pablo Ozuna got a leadoff double and scored on a two out base hit by Jermaine Dye. With Knuckleballer Charlie Haeger (KevinS has an in with the Sox) … Continue reading “CACTUS LEAGUE REPORT: 3/20 Day & Night”

Manny Alexander

3/20 Day: Before we even got our fannies into our seats the White Sox took a 1-0 lead off Rich Harden & the Oakland A’s, Pablo Ozuna got a leadoff double and scored on a two out base hit by Jermaine Dye. With Knuckleballer Charlie Haeger (KevinS has an in with the Sox) on the bump for the Sox I could taste the dollar coming my way from DonS via our friendly wager on who would surrender more runs, Harden or Haeger. But when Uncle Lou Merloni dropped a three run bomb on an un-knuckleball my dillusions of grandeur vanished. Sox dropped this one, 5-3, Josh Fields got two backward K’s, one with two on & two out to end the game.

3/20 Night: It was Manny Alexander in Peoria, AZ. After somebody who sounded alot like Teddy Ballgame yelled out, “Retire ya bum!” Manny lined an RBI extra inning two out single to mercifully end it, it was gonna end after 10 innings no matter what. Justin Germano, SD’s 2002 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, who was recently claimed off waivers from the Phillies, was the winning pitcher for the Padres. The Angels got a triple play against the Padres in the very first inning when Josh Bard swung & missed strike three, Todd Walker who was on 1st stopped running & was tagged out, and Brian Giles who was on 3rd strayed just far enough to be tagged out. DonS stated, “We eat teams that run the bases like that alive!”, but it wasn’t to be. Although Royce Ring of SD allowed 4 hits & walked in a run in 1/3 of an inning, which put the Halos up 6-3 after 5 1/2. Ervin Santana sat in the dugout far too long, and spit out the lead, surrendering 4 in the bottom of the sixth to put the Padres up a run. Alexander made an error, which woke up the fat guy in the stands, who bellowed, the error produced an unearned run off Trevor Hoffman, which setup Manny’s heroics, 8-7 SD. I pick both teams to win their divisions in 2007.

CACTUS LEAGUE REPORT: 3/18 & 3/19

wells

3/18: Saw the White Sox play the Padres in Peoria, AZ.
Peoria is alot farther than I’d remembered it being
from Phoenix, about 40 minutes. Got to the game with
tailgating time to spare before the game started. 95
degrees, very hot, but who’s complaining, with beer in
the house. John Danks is competing with Gavin Floyd
for the 5th spot in the Sox rotation, Danks threw
better, but Floyd put up the better numbers. Adrian
Gonzalez, a lefty hitter, bombed one 460 to center off
the southpaw Danks. And leftfielder(?) Russell
Branyan hit an opposite field drive to left, two
(charged) errors on him. Boomer Wells got boomered by
the Southsiders to the tune of seven runs in three
innings, they weren’t saying Boomer. Paul Konerko
nailed one to left and Ryan Sweeney rode one out to
right, late in the game. Good Guys two TD’s, SD 7.

3/19: Went to see the Cubbies do battle against the
Brewers in Maryvale (Maryvale – see generic, no
frills, new ballpark, in bad part of Phoenix). The
beers were going down easy before the game. Wanted to
see three kids and saw all three, Ryan Braun, Felix
Pie, & Jake Fox. If I were the Cubs (thank God I’m
not) I’d play Pie in CF, Alfonso Soriano in LF, &
Jones in right. Alfonso was a no show, with Felix in
RF & Jacque in center, Murton was in left. There were
some 16 year old bikini clad girls hooting it up for
Matt, his face turned as red as his hair. Braun
fouled off three 0-2 pitches before getting all of a
three run bomb to center. Jake Fox (one of at least
six Cub catchers) was called out when an 0-2 pitch
crossed the plate. Final score 11-7 Cubbies over the
Brew Crew.

US Celluar Field has Y2K issue

Rich B from the Home Run Derby crunches the home run numbers on US Celluar Field. Apparently, they are WAY up since year 2000. The most impressive renovation was in 2004 with the removal of the last eight rows of the stadium (6,600 seats the Sox weren’t selling anyway) and the addition of a roof … Continue reading “US Celluar Field has Y2K issue”

Rich B from the Home Run Derby crunches the home run numbers on US Celluar Field. Apparently, they are WAY up since year 2000.

The most impressive renovation was in 2004 with the removal of the last eight rows of the stadium (6,600 seats the Sox weren’t selling anyway) and the addition of a roof which covered almost the entire upper deck. The roof and other adjustments have made the park both more aesthetic and much more potent …

US Cellular HR Numbers

1991-1999: 150.9 HR/YR, 34.85 AB/HR

2000-2006: 232.3 HR/YR, 23.92 AB/HR

Honestly, I have never noticed this before. Surprised none of my Sox friends brought this up.

Anyway, Rich has a simply snarky tone in his posts. That’s not ALWAYS bad, is it? Not if you have the numbers to back it up, I guess.

Illini Baseball Whip the Ivy League

As an Illini fan, I’m celebrating. Someone asked me, “Did you hear about the Illini?” Not thinking, I said, “Yeah! Whew! 17-5! What a win!” Then I realized they were talking about the basketball team’s loss in the March Madness tourney. Sorry, my faux pas. I’m on baseball mode year round. Anyway, the Illini weren’t … Continue reading “Illini Baseball Whip the Ivy League”

Anyway, the Illini weren’t short on offense the past two games, scoring 37 runs. They beat Yale 17-5 and Dartmouth 20-10. Granted, the Ivy League is not what it used to be when Lou Gehrig donned a Columbia uni. The composite record for the conference is 26-45.

Still, this has got to be a confidence-builder for the Illini who went into the week with just two wins. Again, it was some new guys as well as some old favorites who are getting the job done. I am starting to look for Brandon Wikoff’s name in the box score. He seems to get in the game somehow. On Sunday’s game against Yale, he was 3 for 6 with 3 runs. Craig Lutes, freshman outfielder came into that game and spelled Kyle Hudson in center and responded by hitting a three run homer, his first of the season.

lutes

Freshman Outfielder Craig Lutes

Hartleb must have liked what he saw since there was Craig in Monday’s game against Dartmouth in the DH role. Lutes didn’t disappoint. He went 2 for 4 with his second homerun and 3 rbis

Illinois is off today (their only off-day for the week) but good news… they get to play Dartmouth two more times this week.

Go Illini!!

Ducksnorts: 2007 Baseball Annual out

Just so you know… I haven’t forgotten 1984… That said, I’ll still help out Geoff Young from Ducksnorts. Ducksnorts, if you haven’t checked it out is probably the best San Diego Padres blog out there. And now, Geoff’s got a book out called Ducksnorts: 2007 Baseball Annual . Here’s the summary: Recap of the 2006 … Continue reading “Ducksnorts: 2007 Baseball Annual out”

Ducksnorts

Just so you know… I haven’t forgotten 1984…

That said, I’ll still help out Geoff Young from Ducksnorts.

Ducksnorts, if you haven’t checked it out is probably the best San Diego Padres blog out there. And now, Geoff’s got a book out called Ducksnorts: 2007 Baseball Annual . Here’s the summary:

Recap of the 2006 season * In-depth look at the Padres’ game of the year against Colorado on September 4, 2006 * Retrospective of the Padres’ 1998 World Series appearance and Tony Gwynn’s 3000th hit * Analysis of Kevin Towers’ trades as Padres’ GM * Best by position through Padres’ history * Deconstruction of pitching prospects * How to succeed despite having limited resources, including the art of building a bullpen for cheap Featuring a foreword by Padres CEO Sandy Alderson, the Ducksnorts 2007 Baseball Annual
will make an excellent companion for any fan of the Padres throughout the ’07 season and beyond. It will also be of interest to general baseball fans who want to learn what makes one organization tick.

You can order the book here.

Summer Ball web site

Illini fans know that our ball players don’t stay idle during the summer season. They hone their craft in summer colliegiate leagues. Andrew is doing a good job keeping tabs on these leagues at his website called Summer Ball. Feel free to contact him with info about any summer college leagues in your area and … Continue reading “Summer Ball web site”

Illini fans know that our ball players don’t stay idle during the summer season. They hone their craft in summer colliegiate leagues.

Andrew is doing a good job keeping tabs on these leagues at his website called Summer Ball.

Feel free to contact him with info about any summer college leagues in your area and he’ll put up a link.

GOODBYE MR. COMMISSIONER

Bowie Kuhn

Bowie Kuhn was the Commissioner of MLB from 1969 to 1984. This was the time of my youth, when I came to know and love baseball. I was touched upon learning of his March 15th death. Somehow it seemed Kuhn should’ve been older than 80, he’s been out of office for over 20 years, and he seemed old back then. Oh, how perceptions change.

Bowie’s reign was not without controversy. He denied Curt Flood’s request to become a free agent, when Flood challenged the reserve clause rather than report to the Philadelphia Phillies. He reinstated Mike Andrews to the Oakland A’s roster during the 1973 World Series, Charles O. Finley forced Andrews to sign an affidavit saying he was injured after Mike made two errors in the 12th inning of game #2. He voided the sale of A’s players for $3.5 million to the Yankees & Red Sox, saying it was bad for baseball.

There were also racial issues. In 1971 when the decision was made to induct Negro Leagues players into the Hall of Fame, Kuhn stated their plaques should be in separate wing, public outcry resulted in Negro Leagues players’ plaques to be included with the others. Bowie was not on hand to see Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. He added Carl Yastrzemski to the 1983 All Star Game, Yaz’ last season, but did not do the same thing for Willie Stargell in 1982.

This story about Bowie Kuhn on drugs is classic. After being in office for over ten years, Kuhn had grown a strong reputation for being hard on players who abused drugs. Kuhn was quick to punish players who used drugs with heavy fines and suspensions. Cardinals catcher Darrell Porter told the Associated Press that during the winter of 1979-1980 he became paranoid, convinced that Kuhn knew about his drug abuse, was trying to sneak into his house, and planned to ban him from baseball for life. Porter found himself sitting up at night in the dark watching out the front window, waiting for Kuhn to approach, clutching billiard balls and a shotgun. Ironically, when Porter was named the most valuable player of the 1982 World Series, Kuhn was on hand to congratulate him.

TSN issues have been archived at Paper of Record

Paper of Record claims to have the largest searchable archive of historical newspapers. Fortunately for us baseball fans, one of those newspapers is The Sporting News. Let the searching commence! Paper of Record seems to have issues of TSN dating back to 1886. Here’s a screen cap from a 1905 issue: Needless to say, there … Continue reading “TSN issues have been archived at Paper of Record”

Paper of Record claims to have the largest searchable archive of historical newspapers. Fortunately for us baseball fans, one of those newspapers is The Sporting News.

Let the searching commence!

Paper of Record seems to have issues of TSN dating back to 1886. Here’s a screen cap from a 1905 issue:

laj

Needless to say, there is a plethora of sports information at your fingertips. A caveat: you will need to go through a painless registration process before you can embark on your historical journey.

Hat tip to CLuke who pointed this out to me.

Help Wanted sign out at the CICL

Looks like the Central Illinois Collegiate League is taking applications for commissioner. Start date was supposed to be today by all reports, the position hasn’t been filled.

The job is not a full time position but looking at the job description, you wouldn’t know it. Sounds like like a labor of love.