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Post by Allen Wiener on Jan 6, 2011 14:17:58 GMT -5
I must have missed Sandy Alomar's career, somehow, despite the fact he played in Baltimore for a while. The only thing I remembered about him was the notorious spitting incident. However, his lifetime stats are more impressive than I thought:
Batting average .300 Hits 2,724 Home runs 210 Runs batted in 1,134 Stolen bases 474
* 12× All-Star selection (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) * 2× World Series champion (1992, 1993) * 10× Gold Glove Award winner (1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001) * 4× Silver Slugger Award winner (1992, 1996, 1999, 2000) * 1992 ALCS MVP * 1998 All-Star Game MVP * Toronto Blue Jays Level of Excellence
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Post by Hiram on May 30, 2011 14:59:37 GMT -5
The list of MLB veterans is too long to mention; but here is a link to members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who served during times of war.
t.co/wCuadFt
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Post by Allen Wiener on May 30, 2011 20:23:55 GMT -5
The list of MLB veterans is too long to mention; but here is a link to members of the Baseball Hall of Fame who served during times of war.
t.co/wCuadFt Interesting. Didn't the (then) 2 St. Louis teams play each other in the Series one year during WWII? Player quality had nose-dived due to everyone being in the military and one headline read "Neither Team Can Win!"
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Post by Hiram on May 30, 2011 23:47:36 GMT -5
The Cardinals managed somehow to dodge the dip in the talent pool, winning the pennant in '42, '43, '44; so as a Redbirds fan I take a certain amount of umbrage with that headline.
As you said, Allen, it was an all St. Louis October classic, known as "the St. Louis Showdown."
Although the Cardinals were the more successful of the two franchises, they were actually tenants of the Browns in old Sportsman's Park, and though heavily favored, the crowd was definitely rooting for the Browns. Here's a recollection of "The Man"...
"The funny thing about that World Series, the fans were rooting for the Browns, and it kind of surprised me because we drew more fans than the Browns during the season. The fans were rooting for the underdog, and I was surprised about that, but after you analyze the situation in St. Louis, the Browns in the old days had good clubs. They had great players like George Sisler and Kenny Williams, and the fans who were there were older fans, older men, old-time Brownie fans. But it was a tough series."
The Cardinals won the series 4 games to 2, and ten years later the Browns played their first home game in "The Old Grey Lady of 33rd Street", aka Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
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Post by Allen Wiener on May 31, 2011 7:37:52 GMT -5
This reminds me that I began collecting baseball cards during the Browns final season in S.L. and clearly recall their move to Baltimore in 1954. I even remember getting a free Orioles cap from a box of cereal by just mailing in the box top. The Browns were pretty much an afterthought by that time, but 12 years later the Os (the "baby birds") would sweep Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers in the Series. Palmer became the youngest man in Series history to pitch a shutout, beating Koufax 1-0.
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Post by Hiram on May 31, 2011 11:45:30 GMT -5
That was a wonderful time, as the upswing of the O's coincided with the downturn of the Yankees...ahhh the memories! ;D
BTW, the original name of the National League team in St. Louis was the Browns, but they moved to a different ballpark (Robison Field) and changed colors (brown to cardinal.) Coincidentally, the original name of the National League team in Chicago was the White Stockings, or White Sox.
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Post by Valerie Hyatt Martin on Dec 31, 2012 11:45:49 GMT -5
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Dec 31, 2012 18:10:12 GMT -5
Growing up a scant 35 miles from Boston in the '50s and '60s, I watched Ted Williams play every weekend on my folks old B&W TV. Curt Gowdy was "The Voice of the Red Sox", asnd used to do "live" Narraganset beer ads from the booth. "Hi, neighbor. Have a 'Gansett."
But getting back to Teddy Ballgame, he lost playing time to both WWII and Korea. As impressive as his career and stats were, can you imagine what might have been had he not missed those years to two wars?
Paul
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jan 1, 2013 22:38:05 GMT -5
I've often thought about that re: Williams. Also, imagine if he'd been on all those Yankee pennant winners and got the same press lesser players on the Yanks got; he'd be the only other guy in Babe's league. Less nauseatingly, imagine instead that the Sox had won all those pennants instead of the Yanks! Same result.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Jan 3, 2013 22:32:28 GMT -5
Williams was a heck of a guy --- the year he hit .400 (the last ballplayer to do so), the manager wanted him to sit out the last game with his average secure. Williams insisted on taking his chances at the plates. He got his hits and finished with his average.
Then there's the face her homered on his ast career at bat. What a way to put an exclamation point on such a career.
Paul
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Post by loucapitano on Jan 6, 2013 12:58:07 GMT -5
Ted Williams will always be among the greatest. Too bad he's also among the greatest "might have beens." What if the Wars didn't take him a way twice? What if he played for a World Series winning team" It's always coulda, woulda, shoulda. But I'll never forget his incredible ovation he got at his last Old Tmer's Day appearance! Great Ball Player and Great American! Lou from LI
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Post by Hiram on Jan 10, 2013 22:53:49 GMT -5
I want to thank the majority of the BBWAA for maintaining the integrity of the Hall of Fame. I challenge the rationale of Buster Olney who believes that since the culture of baseball was responsible for the PED Era, he is personally absolved from any responsibility in maintaining the voting principles of the HOF which state:
Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.
So Buster...by voting for McGwire, Bonds, Clemens...you are claiming that these three players exemplified integrity, sportsmanship, and character? And if you're not, then you have personally chosen to ignore the criteria for enshrinement.
BTW, the names of these three players, and other players such as Pete Rose and Joe Jackson are all over the Hall. They just don't have plaques.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jan 11, 2013 15:13:51 GMT -5
I'm even more cantankerous on this point. I heartily agree with your endorsement of the vote, but I also think that any records they may have be expunged from the record books. By the way -- speaking of that -- is the 1919 World Series actually officially in the record books, even though we know the Sox threw it?
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Jan 11, 2013 20:20:50 GMT -5
I have to agree with Allen. I guess what makes this difficult is absent a finding or verdict supporting the allegations, does the Hall have any real basis to act as if these guys are guilty as charged? In a law court, it wouldn't fly, certainly not on mere suspicion. This is not to say I'm advocating for Clemens and company to have a plaque and place of honor in the Hall. Looking at the stated basis for admission ("Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."), the Hall can bar admission to those who clearly tainted the game.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jan 11, 2013 22:47:42 GMT -5
That is a good point, Paul, but I don't know if this can be proven with clear evidence. Nonetheless, in some ways it seems pretty obvious. If you look at Bonds when he was with Pittsburgh and then with SF, he looks like he's been blown up with a bicycle pump. And it always seemed odd to me that the 60 homer plateau was virtually unreachable, then all of a sudden 2 guys slam 70. But I don't know if the evidence is there; Clemens' case was tossed.
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