1987
Tom Condiotti goes the distance as the Indians top the Blue Jays‚ 3-1. Toronto's only run is George Bell's 35th homer and extends Bell's hitting streak versus Cleveland to 34 games (as noted by Retrosheet: streak started June 1‚ 1985). Bell's sits out tomorrow's game and will go hitless in the firtst encounter with Cleveland in 1988.
The theme of this story and others is that after Glavine, there will be no more members of the 300 win club.Tom Glavine was a teenager when pitchers Gaylord Perry and Steve Carlton notched their 300th career victories in 1982 and 1983. Two years later, Tom Seaver and Phil Niekro reached the milestone. A year later, so did Don Sutton.
Five 300th victories in five years.
"You would have thought every year, another guy makes it," Glavine says.
Now Glavine, and everybody else, knows better.
Since that parade of pitching greats joined the 300 club in the 1980s, only three other hurlers have accomplished the increasingly rare feat — Nolan Ryan in 1990, Roger Clemens in 2003 and Greg Maddux in 2004.
Follow the link for the list.In case you somehow missed it, Tom Glavine won his 300th game on Sunday night.
This caused various people to talk about how Glavine might be the last 300 game winner.
Now, I think some of this talk is simply shortsighted. People look at the active players with the most wins, and don't see much hope in the near future. Randy Johnson is only 16 away, but he's 43 and out for the year. After him is Mike Mussina at 245, but he's 38 and hasn't won more than 15 games since 2003. And after that it's a bunch of guys who are 40+ and still a long way away.And that's fine. It's reasonable to say that we might not have a 300 game winner in the next decade.
But to say that there will NEVER be a 300 game winner again? Olney was on ESPN after the game talking about this, and said something to the effect of "Well people are so careful with pitchers now, they're more likely to go on the DL and miss time".
Well, yeah, I guess that's true, but isn't this a point for there being another 300 game winner. Isn't the more advanced medical technology helpful for these guys? It seems to me that missing a few starts now is helpful if it tacks on another year at the end of your career.
Over at AA, OMDQ also had a problem with this argument, disagreeing with ESPN's use of a stat showing the demise of the complete game.
Anyway, I thought I'd take a look at which of the younger guys (under 32) have the best chances of getting to 300 wins.
This week, the organization finally decided that it could wait no longer.
The phenom outfielder had nothing left to prove in the minors, where he was hitting over .300 with power. So with the pennant race raging, the team called him up to The Show and hoped for an infusion of youthful energy, as well as a jolt of needed offense.
I'm talking, of course, about the Arizona Diamondbacks, who on Thursday summoned Justin Upton, generally considered the top prospect in baseball, from Class AA Mobile.
Upton, just 19, will take over right field for the Diamondbacks, who have shot to the top of the National League West.
"He's not going to be here to sit," manager Bob Melvin told reporters.
The move, of course, mirrors that of the Mariners, who brought up their own uber-prospect, 22-year-old Adam Jones, from the minors on Friday. The Mariners plan to ease Jones into the majors as a spot starter.
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It's a time-honored tradition in baseball, the midseason promotion of the young phenom, rivaling the trade-deadline acquisition as the bastion of hope for a contending team.
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The most famous example in history occurred in 1957, when the Milwaukee Braves needed to dip into the minors in late July to replace injured outfielder Bill Bruton. They summoned 26-year-old Bob Hazle. It was a stroke of genius. Hazle, known forever after in baseball lore as "Hurricane Hazle," hit .403 in 41 games for the Braves, with seven homers and 27 RBI. The Braves won the NL pennant, then defeated the Yankees in the World Series.Hazle would play just 63 more games in his major-league career, derailed by a beaning that left him hospitalized for a week. But he was immortalized that summer.
Teams don't always hit with their call-ups, of course. The 1983 Braves faltered after calling up highly touted outfielder Brad Komminsk in August. He hit .222 with no homers and four RBI in 19 games as the Braves lost the division by three games. Of course, it didn't help when Bob Horner injured his wrist a few days after Komminsk arrived.
"Our fulltime staff will be having a mustache growing contest throughout the whole homestand," Zerjav said with a laugh. "And for our game day staff and fulltime staff, we're going to do more spirit week ideas, like having a wacky hat day. Just things like that to keep people entertained and motivated."What will I look like with a mustache?
Exactly like that!
By the way, the latest Mehring Monday is up on the Rattler site. Who said watching too much TV would never pay off?
1981
NL owners agree to the $20.5 million sale of the Cubs to the Tribune Company. In three weeks‚ Cubs stockholders-led by Bill Wrigley's with 81 percent-will approve the sale.
There is a blog Downtown Fort Wayne Baseball and a section of the Wizard Website with more information and artist conceptions. Here is one of the drawings of the stadium:Hundreds of people packed Grand Wayne Center on Thursday evening to get the latest glimpse of condominiums, retail and the baseball stadium aspects of Harrison Square.
City leaders, along with Hardball Capital and Barry Real Estate, hosted an open house to give residents an update on how the project will look.
The vast majority of the 300 people at the open house expressed support for the project and dozens expressed an interest to live in the condominiums even though prices weren’t revealed and final floor plans haven’t been completed.
1921
The first radio broadcast of a ML game is heard over KDKA in Pittsburgh when Harold Arlin announces the Pirates-Phils game. The Pirates score 3 runs in the 8th inning‚ beating the Phils 8-5. Arlin broadcast the first football game between Pittsburgh and West Virginia. His grandson Steve will pitch for the future San Diego Padres.
Longtime baseball executive Roland Hemond is returning to the Diamondbacks as a special assistant to the president, ending a nearly seven-year run as an adviser with the White Sox.
Hemond is one of the most respected executives in the game and had previously worked for the Diamondbacks from 1996-2000 as a senior executive vice president. He will now assistant [sic] Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall in a variety of roles, including "special projects, industry relationships and international initiatives," according to a team release.
"I am indeed very happy to rejoin the Diamondbacks organization," Hemond said. "It is gratifying to be welcomed back by Derrick and other members of the front office. I have been impressed by what has transpired with the Diamondbacks recently and I want to lend my experience to contribute in any way I can to make this organization even more successful for years to come."
Foxes halt record loss streak at 15
CLINTON, Iowa -- Woody Eppinette, with ninth inning relief help from Ron Slingerman, made a first-inning outburst stand up Sunday as Appleton beat Clinton, 4-2, to end its season-opening losing string at 15 games.
The Foxes exploded for four runs in the first inning as seven of the first eight men collected hits. The big blow of the inning was a 2-run triple by Joe Pomykala.
The 15-game losing streak set a club record and tied the league mark for consecutive losses.
Epinette toiled eight innings and....
allowed two runs on eight hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
Slingerman allowed one hit in a scoreless ninth inning to help the Foxes end their losing skid and move their record to 1-15.
Lespier started the first inning rally with...
...a single to left. Nyls Nyman grounded a single between short and third and Bob Stolarick's line single to left scored the first run. After a pop out; Pomykala lashed his triple into left-center. Bill Bagwell scored Pomykala with a single to right.
Bagwell's hit brought on Jim Harris in relief of loser Bob Moran, now 1-1. Bagwell was thrown out stealing before George Enright and Johnny Johnson singled. Johnson was picked off first by catcher Emmanuel Toledo for the third out.
Clinton scored its first run in the second on Phil Mancosky's single, a fielder's choice and hits by Quinomes, Mark Wagner, and Toledo.
The Pilots added another run in the third on Jim Eschen's leadoff double and sacrifices by Bill Baldwin and Mancosky.
"I guess they have something to do, but this is a totally different league," Guillen said. "I understand he's a good prospect and if they think he's ready, then hey, we'll see. He's going to have to come here and prove that to us.
"Because this team has been good with what we have and I don't think that's what we need. ... I just completely don't understand that move right there."
Lower down at that link is this item on Eric O'Flaherty and his 7-0 start this season:I'll tell him it's nothing personal," Guillen said. "Hey, I'll help him out if he needs my help. He's a good kid. But it doesn't change how I feel about it."
Jones got the start in left field Friday, having been officially added to the roster earlier in the day. Fourth outfielder Jason Ellison, a popular player among veteran Mariners and throughout the clubhouse, was designated for assignment.
"I can't control that side of the game," Jones told reporters when asked about Guillen and how his arrival could impact clubhouse chemistry. "All I can control is what I do on the field. I'm not going to say anything about anybody. I'm just going to go out and play."
O'Flaherty couldn't help but laugh when he discussed his two-pitch outing Wednesday night that resulted in win No. 7 for him this season. That's a Mariners record to start a career and one more victory than Horacio Ramirez, the Mariners' starter, took into the game Friday.
O'Flaherty's propensity for picking up victories is becoming somewhat of a clubhouse joke.
But O'Flaherty says it's a tribute to the ability of Seattle's offense to come through with late runs.
It is the injury that provides the most pain, if not the worst consequences. How do we put this delicately? It is the injury that comes from being hit in the crotch.
1985
In a day of milestones‚ Tom Seaver becomes the 17th pitcher to win 300 games and Rod Carew becomes the 16th player ever to collect 3‚000 career hits. Seaver pitches the White Sox to a 4-1 six-hit victory on Phil Rizzuto Day at Yankee Stadium as 54‚032 New Yorkers cheer him on‚ while Carew bloops a single to left off Frank Viola in the 3rd inning of the Angels 6-5 win over the Twins.
What a country!
A little context...Third floor...No screen in the window...That white thing is the roof of the bus...That gray building is the Indiana Real Estate Academy...That brick building in the distance is the International Business College...This...is...Fort Wayne.
1948
Before 72‚434 in Cleveland‚ ancient Satchel Paige makes his first start pitching seven innings against the Senators‚ before being relieved by Eddie Klieman. Paige picks up the win‚ 5-3‚ which moves Cleveland (56-38) into a four-way tie for first.
It’s been rumored to be happening for months, it’s been falsely reported at least once and it’s been begged and pleaded for by Mariners fans. But finally it appears top prospect Adam Jones is being called up from Triple-A Tacoma to join the Mariners on Friday.
Seattle manager John McLaren included the news matter-of-factly in his postgame press conference, saying, “We’re calling up Jones,” in the midst of his postgame comments.
McLaren mentioned Jason Ellison as the likely person Jones would replace on the 25-man roster.
1930
Playing under Kansas City's portable light system‚ the Pittsburgh (later Homestead) Grays 44-year-old hurler Smokey Joe Williams (27 strikeouts) spins a one-hitter to defeat the Monarchs' Chet Brewer (19 strikeouts‚ including 10 in a row starting in the 7th) 1-0 in a fiercely contested 12-inning matchup. Oscar Charleston scores the only run.
[after Maris hits #59, he sits down next to Mickey] George Spelius has no intention of letting the problems of another Class A minor league spill over into the Midwest League.
But Spelius, the Midwest League president, worries that Minor League Baseball might not like his solution.
Spelius said the problems of the low-Class A South Atlantic League --which is spread from south Georgia to New Jersey -- is having with travel are not something baseball's other two Class A leagues, the Midwest and Carolina Leagues, should also have to endure.
"If people don't realize baseball needs to cut down on travel, they should," said Spelius, the league's president since 1987. "Baseball at all minor league levels need a little realignment. But what needs to happen is that Major League Baseball needs to talk with the minors."
Spelius said his ideal solution would be for either one or both minor league teams in Lake County, Ohio, and Lexington, Kentucky, be asborbed into the Midwest League. That would help balance the Midwest League into truer East/West divisions. In the long run, those additions would limit travel in the league as teams would play more games in their own division.
Spelius said the current Midwest League setup of pairing six Eastern Division teams with eight Western Division clubs is "a pain in the butt.
9-8, 3.24 ERA, 25 games started, 161 innings pitched, 137 hits allowed, 58 earned runs allowed, 63 walks, 140 strikeouts
Cloude was a workhorse for the Rattlers in their inaugural season, averaging over 6 1/3 innings pitched per start. His four complete games would be a team record, along with teammate Derek Bieniasz, until T.A. Fulmer topped it in 2003. His strikeouts, innings pitched, and ERA are all in the top 10 in Timber Rattler history.
1978
The Braves trounce the Reds 16-4 and stop Pete Rose's record hitting streak at 44 games. Larry McWilliams and Gene Garber are the Atlanta pitchers. Rose goes 0-for-4. Rose's streak is the 2nd longest in ML history. He goes 70-for-182 during the skein‚ an average of .385. Rose grumbles about using a relief ace with an 11-run lead‚ "You would have thought it was the seventh game of the World Series‚" after Garber uses his best stuff to strike him out to end the game.
