Kellogg's Cereal Box Dream #9 - 16 Gold Gloves Doesn't Buy Enough HOF Votes Yet

Jim Kaat was a popular player for the White Sox in the 1970s even though he was better known as a Twin/Senator for 15 years.  He played less than three years in Chicago but managed two 20-win seasons there.  He played in parts of 25 MLB seasons from 1959 - 1983.   The only pitchers to play more seasons were Nolan Ryan and Tommy John.

1976 Kellogg's Jim Kaat #25

1976 Cereal Box rating -- 6    comment --   won 20 games in 1974 and 1975 for the White Sox,                                                                              but he was an older pitcher.  He'd already been                                                                                  traded from the White Sox by the time that this card                                                                         was issued.

2015 Rating                    -- 5    comment --    HOF votes don't come for guys with 283 wins and                                                                              16 Gold Gloves unless it's done in 16 years.   

Kaat's 16 Gold Gloves is the second most in baseball history for any position, trailing on Greg Maddux who earned 18 in his career.  His best season was 1966, the last year that the Cy Young award was only given to one pitcher in all of MLB.  Sandy Koufax took home that award in a year where Kaat would have easily been honored with the AL award if it existed.

Babe Ruth, Tom Hanks and - This Day in Baseball History

Babe Ruth played his last game on this day in 1935.  Ruth went 0-2.  My parents were born soon thereafter.  

The A.A.G.P.B.L. began on this day in 1943.  I've been trying to learn more about this league, especially about the team that played in Chicago.  I never see authentic items from these teams.  

To learn more about the women's league start with the movie A League of Their Own.  Besides being an interesting look at the league during WWII, the movie is quite funny with Tom Hanks, Jon Lovitz among others.  Here are a few of my favorite lines - 

"There's no crying in baseball".

"Start using your head.  That's the lump that's three feet about your ***".

"It's supposed to be hard.  If it wasn't, everyone would do it.  The hard ... is what makes it great".

"See how it works is, the train moves, not the station".  

Expect train references in future posts since trains were a big part of my family and baseball.

Kellogg's Cereal Box Dream #8 - A 630-Foot Homer? Take that Kris Bryant!

I'm going to stay on the Dave Kingman theme today.  Fortunately, memories of Kingman's power are newsworthy since Kris Bryant flexed his muscles at Wrigley Field a few days ago.

In 1976 Dave Kingman hit a wind-aided home run at Wrigley field that travelled past Waveland Avenue and onto someone's porch a few houses down the block.  It was reported as being a 630-foot home run.  I'm guessing that it can be viewed on YouTube.

Kris Bryant is making news for hitting one 477 feet this week.  Kingman's blast was later measured at only 530 feet.  Still, if you saw Bryant's homer, Kingman hit one 63 feet further.  That quite an easy distance to visualize since it's 2.5 feet longer than the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate.


1981 Kellogg's Dave Kingman #47

1981 Cereal Box rating -- 8     comment --   Great to get a Cub, an All-Star and HR hitter

2015 Rating                    -- 6    comment --    His 442 HRs don't get him HOF votes even though                                                                  he was a league leader with only 37 in the pre-steroid days.

Kingman has managed to be mention a lot of times already.  I think he'll be in again when I talk about the tallest and shortest players to appear on a Kellogg's card.  

Banks and Mays Again! They Didn't Have Lots of Kellogg's Baseball Cards

I'll find another reason to talk about the Cubs and Ernie Banks today.  Banks and Willie Mays are finding their way into a lot of these posts.  Both appeared on an episode or Mr. Belvidere.  

I liked the episode where George Owens (Bob Uecker) was treated like a dummy by everyone at home.  Wait, I think that was every episode that I saw.

Other players showed up with Mays and Banks, but I will need to watch the episode before I decide to add them to the story.

Remembering a Birthday and Celebrating a Number with Kellogg's Baseball Cards

I love baseball and its cards because of my older brother.  He did lots of things that shaped the way I am today.    Our trips to Wrigley Field are among the many reasons I became a Cub fan in a family and neighborhood of White Sox fans.  Hey, I never said my brother was perfect.

He was lucky to have a birthday during the baseball season.  I haven't watched the Cubs on TV in years, but I may do that today in honor of him.

Only one Hall-of-Famer was born on May 27th.  White Sox slugger Frank Thomas was born on this day in 1968.  Sixty years ago (1955) today former White Sox pitcher Ross Baumgarten was born in Illinois on this day - the same day as my brother.

So I will celebrate the name Dave and the number 60, the age he would have been today.

Not every Kellogg's set has 60 or more cards.  Of the 13 sets, seven have 60 or more cards.
From 1972 through 1974 there were only 54 cards.  Then from 1975 through 1978 there were 57 cards.

1970 - Bobby Murcer
1971 - Jim Palmer
1979 - Jim Sundberg

He was a Cub as well.  I mentioned in an earlier post how Harry Caray had trouble with the similarly-named Cubs.

1980 - Rod Carew
1981 - Mike Flanagan
1982 - Cecil Cooper
1983 - Bobby Grich

Here is how I would divide the players who appeared as #60 in a Kellogg's set.  You can probably easily figure out how I divided them.

HOF - 2
Deserving Star - 4
Lucky to get a card - 1


I didn't realize how common of a first name that Dave is on Kellogg's cards.  Only one first name has appeared on a Kellogg's card more frequently than the 36 times that Dave has shown up.  Can you guess which edged out Dave by having 37 cards?  The top names will be listed sometime soon.

Here are the players named Dave.

Cash
Concepcion
Goltz
Johnson
Kingman

A fun player to watch at Wrigley Field.  Like today's home run hitters, he took a big swing at everything.  Once he homered to center field with one hand on the bat.

Lopes
May
McNally
Parker
Roberts
Rozema
Stieb
Winfield

Left-Handed Catchers and Kellogg's Baseball Cards - Since the Cubs Last World Series Win in 1908

Yes, a lot of things have happened since the 1908 World Series.  In that time only four left-handers have been inserted into an MLB lineup as the catcher.   None made an error in their short stints wearing the tools of ignorance.  I barely survived one day of practice in Little League.

Benny Distefano was the most recent, playing for the Pirates in 1989.  He got into three games for a total of six innings.

Mike Squires played two games at catcher for the White Sox in 1980.  He only played two innings in this position.

In 1958 Dale Long played two games and less than two innings with the Cubs.  He was the first left-handed catcher in the majors since 1905.

The only other left-handed player to be listed as a catcher did so under odd circumstances.  Chris Short was listed as catcher by the Phillies for a 1961 game.  Why?  Manager Gene Mauch was not sure who would be the opposing pitcher in the second game of a doubleheader so he listed Chris Short as catcher.  Short didn't bat or take the field, but the rules in place at that time give him credit for being catcher in the game.  Here is a great recap of the game and the reason that Short was in this situation -   Pitchers in the Starting Lineup in Other Positions.

Memorial Day - Thanks to Those who Served the Country. Some Even Got on a Kellogg's Card

Ernie Banks and Willie Mays both served in the military early in their careers.  Today is a day to honor all of those who served the country.

Both of these players appeared briefly in the Kellogg's sets as they retired in 1971 (Banks) and 1973 (Mays).

Mr. Cub certainly did it all in his long life.  As I said last time, he will be the subject of many posts going forward.

Certainly the Say Hey Kid will be a regular entry in this blog going forward.  

So, run a 5k, eat something from the grill and remember someone who served the country.  If you are fortunate enough to not know anyone who died while serving the country, remember those you've seen honoring their loved ones at one of the walls in D.C.

The answer to yesterday's question - President F.D. Roosevelt.  He served 13 years as president, he had two cards in the 1954 Scoops set and Washington teams were always "first in war, first in peace and last in the American League".

Who Turned on the Lights in Cincinnati? And Why Didn't He Get a Kellogg's Card?

On May 23rd, 1935 the first MLB night game was rained out.  Sounds a lot like the first night game at Wrigley Field in 1988 which also was washed out.  The Phillies were the visiting team on both occasions, so let's put the blame on them.

In 1935 the Phillies were the opponent again on May 24th.  In 1988 the Cubs played the Mets the next day.  Baseball changed a lot during the 53 years between these games.  The 1935 game took 1:35 and the 1988 game lasted 3 hours and 3 minutes.

So, Mike Schmidt can say he was there for the first night game at Wrigley Field.  And Phil Bradley can say he hit the first home run.  But, the game was washed out so neither officially happened.

Lenny Dykstra hit the first official home run past a Cub outfield of Andre Dawson and Rafael Palmeiro.  I've complained before about Dawson not having a Kellogg's card.

Keith Hernandez, another regular due to his work in TV shows and commercials, was 0-4 in the game.

********************************************************************************
Do you know who performed the ceremonial turning on of the lights before the 1935 game?

Hints:

1.  He spent 13 years in the highest league
2.  He has two cards in a 1954 Topps set
3.  The answer is not Ted Williams who was 16 years old at the time
4.  The answer is not Frank Robinson who was born later in 1935
5.  His team was known to be first, first and last
********************************************************************************

Bonus Question - Who hit the first home run in a night game during 1935?

a.  Lou Gehrig
b.  Babe Ruth
c.  Bath Herman
d. Herman Munster
e. Pee Wee Herman


I will give you the answer to the bonus question today.  For the other question you will need to check back tomorrow.

The answer is Babe Herman.  Gehrig was in the A.L. and Ruth was retired in 1935 just six days after this game and one day before the second major league night game.

Herman Munster hit plenty of home runs while Leo Durocher watched, but he never made the Big Leagues.  More on Durocher in the future.

Pee Wee Herman didn't hit any home runs.  He had a problem holding onto his bat.

Kellogg's Cereal Box Dream #7 - Wynn Some...Lose Some. How Did He Only Get on One Kellogg's Card?

Jimmy Wynn was a three-time all-star and someone I remember as an all-around player - stealing bases, hitting home runs and making great plays in the outfield.  He probably would have made more All-Star teams if fans didn't vote.  The fan vote allowed teams like the Reds to get most of their players on the All-Star team every year.

1970 Kellogg's Jim Wynn #9

1970 Cereal Box rating -- 5     comment --   A good player in so many ways

2015 Rating                    -- 3    comment --    Sadly, if you aren't in the HOF you are forgotten

On this day in 1965 Wynn can't see a routine fly ball during a game in the newly-opened Astrodome in Houston.  The game marks the 18th baseball game held in the Eighth Wonder of the World.

The roof was designed in such a way that a glare came through the plastic roof panes.  As a result, Wynn had no idea where the ball was headed.  Jim Ray Hart ended up with an inside-the-park three-run homer that was the difference in a 5-2 San Francisco win (or Wynn?).

The next day, the ballpark's ceiling was painted to help fielders see the ball better.  The result leads to the stadium being converted to Astroturf the next season since the grass no longer grows inside as well with the newly-painted ceiling.

Luckily, I got to see a game in the Astrodome years ago.  More on that as I discuss no-hitters and other ballparks in a future post.

Maybe I Can Find 1971 Kellogg's Cards in Nice Condition on the Oregon Trail?

On this day in 1843 over 1,000 people headed west on the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri.  For the record, no I wasn't on this trip.  I was probably busy at a track meet.  For my friends from Missouri - how bad was it to live there when the option of risking your life was better than staying in the Show-Me state?

It took the wagon train five months to get to Oregon.  The 125 major league players born in Oregon appreciate the efforts of the early travelers.  Only four of those players found there way onto a Kellogg's card.

Dave Kingman (1973, 1977, 1980 - 1982) has been mentioned before since he played on lots of different teams while he was still a big home run threat.  He actually went to high school in Illinois.

Mickey Lolich (1970, 1972, 1973) went to Lincoln H.S. in Portland.  He was an easy choice for the early Kellogg's sets since he was a star pitcher.  As you can guess from an earlier post, I was a big fan of Lolich since he was both a Tiger and a lefty.

Wayne Twitchell (1974) and Dale Murphy (1983) both attended Woodrow Wilson H.S. in Portland.   Murphy was a fan favorite because he just did his job and stayed out of the limelight.

Were all high schools in Portland named for presidents?  The school has had nine players drafted, but only these two made it to the big leagues.  They are 2 for 2 with getting onto a 3-D card.  My school is 1 for 3.  More on that in a future post.

Somewhere, Somewhere, Somewhere

"Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville -  ........."

Thanks to Ernest Lawrence Thayer for these words.

Joy will return to Mudville someday, but not today.
We miss you already big brother.

1970 Kellogg's Baseball Card Proofs - Just a Few of the Kellogg's Items From a Recent Auction

As mentioned in an earlier post, I made a few mistakes with my first attempt at bidding in Beckett Auctions.  I did purchase a few 1970 Kellogg's card proofs.  These will be mentioned in future posts.

I ended up purchasing the Reggie Jackson proof shown below.  I was quite surprised that my early bid ended up being the highest bid for this great card. 

The other proofs that I purchased are near and dear to me, but this Reggie Jackson may not stay in my collection.  I might need to sell it to pay for my other purchases in the auction which will show up here sometime soon.

I haven't seen these proofs for sale often and I have no idea which players are available as proof cards.  If anyone can point me to that information that would be great.  There are no PSA graded 1970 Kellogg's proofs.  

My Family Again - Along With Matty Alou, a Rusty Gate and A Missing Kellogg's Player

This is my fourth straight post with some family involved.  That makes sense since I think only my brothers read this blog.  How do I know that?  They leave nasty comments and correct my grammar.

My baseball coach called me Matty Alou for some reason.  I didn't bat left-handed and I certainly never won a batting title.

Every time I took a swing in the four years that he was my coach he would immediately say "you swing like a rusty gate".  That didn't help my baseball swing since I had no way to know what he was talking about.  I can blame my older brothers for not helping me swing like maybe, a well-oiled gate I guess.  Would that be better?

Maybe the coach should have just told me to swing like Matty Alou.  Besides his batting title he had a .307 career average and had more hits than games played.

There will be more on the Alou family later.  I wonder if Matty blamed older brother Felipe like I can do with my brothers.   I know nephew Moises didn't have a problem blaming someone else when he couldn't catch a foul ball.

Too bad Jesus Alou didn't get a Kellogg's card.  Maybe I can create one in a future post?        

My First Memory of Wrigley Field - Someone Please Protect Me!

It took a few years to do so in Little League, but I finally managed to hit a home run.  I don't know about your little league, but in ours it was scored a home run when you hit a ball to the pitcher and the defense committed four errors allowing you to run around the bases.  Mine didn't go like that at all.  I clearly remember hitting it to the guy at second base who was distracted from fielding since he was still scared from going to the movies to see Jaws.  Or maybe he had the same problem that Steve Sax had with making the throw to first base.  Either way - HOME RUN from whoever was the volunteer official scorer dad for the pee-wee Tigers.

So when I finally collected on the trip to Wrigley Field that was a prize from my brothers for my monumental hit I was in for quite a memorable day.  We started by waiting for a bus on the corner closest to Midway airport.  I still remember the experience of a landing plane flying directly over us about 50 feet from the runway.  If you haven't been to Midway you'd be amazed at how small it is and how close White Castle is to the runway.  FYI - the previous White Castle building was even closer to Cicero Avenue.

Next was an "L" ride from downtown to Wrigley.  The "L" started underground and it was painfully loud.  My brothers also added to the experience by having us walk between cars while the train was in motion.  Only a useless chain-link railing protected me from the emergency room.  I clearly remember the sign stated that we shouldn't walk between cars when the train was moving.  My brothers were rebels I guess, but it was totally scary and worth it.

A few miles before the ballpark the train rose to the elevated tracks that fans see when watching Cubs games.  The stop at Addison Street was amazing.  The train pulled up directly to Wrigley Field.  Well, really about 1/2 of a block, but from above ground it sure was close.  

Although as an adult I preferred left field for the hundreds of games I attended, we sat in right field that day.  We were early and I was ready for batting practice.  Or so I thought.

Willie McCovey was taking batting practice and there weren't many people in the bleachers yet.  I thought my chances were good to get a baseball.  He hit one about 20 feet from me and an adult scurried away instead of trying to catch it.  It made quite a loud thump on the bleachers and bounced back onto the field.

I quickly realized that the next one could easily hit me with the same force.  I don't remember much about the rest of batting practice so I probably stayed out of harm's way and begged my brothers to get me a Ron Santo pizza or a Frosty Malt.  A future post will compare the ice cream specialties at Wrigley Field and Old Comiskey Park.  Stay tuned.  

That was as close as I got to a BP home run until about ten years later.  That's another story that also doesn't say anything good about me.  More on that later too.

What's Up with Right Field Peter, Paul and Mary? It's Good Enough for Al and Me

When I was playing pee-wee baseball my first team was the Tigers.  Those were the good old days when six-year-old kids could play for the Tigers without fear of being sued by Major League Baseball for using the name Tigers.

We wore a plain t-shirt with the team name in the front in the appropriate color.  On the back was our sponsor - thanks Imperial Gardens.   Since we couldn't afford a garden, or pool for that matter, we didn't shop there at all.

The hat was not even a real Tigers hat.  I think it was just Tigers color.  I don't think team-licensed hats were even available at that time.  If they were, no one in our neighborhood could afford them.

My older brothers told me about Al Kaline the best player on the Tigers.  He played right field, just like me!  I was easily convinced that this must be a key position on the team.  Peter, Paul and Mary certainly agreed with me.

I became an Al Kaline fan, but he was at the end of his career.  By the time I moved up to an older league I didn't align myself with the team I played on.

My brothers also offered an incentive.  If I hit a home run they'd take me to a Cubs game.  It took a few years to collect on that one.  My vague memories of that game will be the story for tomorrow.

Why is a Cub Fan Fighting Over an Early 1970's White Sox Souvenir Coffee Mug? Is It's Someone's Birthday?

We picked up a few 1970's White Sox coffee mugs at a game one year.  Maybe they were given away two years in a row?  It turns out that the mug was made like a thermos so we found a great use for it --------------- homemade milk shakes!

The thermal component just worked great with ice cream being mashed into a shake with a bit of milk and sometimes some chocolate sauce.  

The mug was popular at the house for this reason.  It also helped that the mug featured White Sox players Wilber Wood, Carlos May, Bill Melton, Jorge Orta and Terry Forster along with manager Chuck Tanner.  

I bought a new one a few years ago and it sits proudly in our china cabinet.  Maybe my family will notice it next time they are at my house.  I hope I've got ice cream on hand.  

The player selection wasn't bad.  Forster was the only one of the five players that didn't earn Kellogg's card status.  He pitched in over 600 games in 16 seasons.  Tanner moved on to eventually coach a major league team.  

Today give a cup of ice cream to Carlos May who is celebrating his birthday.  Did you know that May wore his birthday on his jersey for the White Sox?  Yes, May was #17.  Expect to see more posts about Carlos.

It turns out that Carlos' older brother Lee, also a long-time big leaguer, wore May 23 for a long time.  Sorry Lee, that doesn't work as well when you were born on March 23rd.  More about Lee May and Lee Maye in a future post.

Baseball Players Acting #2 - "This Player Leads the League in Most Offensive Categories, Including Nose Hair...

...when this guy sneezes, he looks like a party favor."

"Haywood swings and crushes this one towrd South America. Tomlinson is gonna need a Visa to catch this one, it is out of here, and there is nothing left but a vapor trail."

In the movie Major League announcer Harry Doyle, played by Bob Uecker, seems to enjoy making  these sarcastic comments about players including fictional Yankee slugger Clu Haywood.

1982 A.L. Cy Young Award Winner Pete Vuckovich played Clu Haywood.

He played mostly in the A.L., but he also had 3 years with STL.  He had 33 career hits in 208 AB including 0 HRs.  Not really much of a slugger, but an intimidating batter as Haywood.

He was a decent pitcher going 93-69 in this 11 years.  He was 14-4 in the strike-shortened 1981 season and then 18-6 in 1982 when he won his Cy Young Award.  A torn rotator cuff ruined the remainder of his career.

More on Vuckovich and Bob Ueker in future posts.  

Kellogg's Cereal Box Dream #6 - Players Don't Have Off-Season Jobs at All Now and None Would Take This Job

Richie Hebner played 19 MLB seasons, 10 of them with Pittsburgh.  He managed to get a Kellogg's card without ever being an All-Star.  I will need to add another post where I find out who else did that.

Hebner worked in the family business in the off season since most of these guys didn't earn the truckloads of money that today's players make.  His longevity as a player is probably related to how his job kept him fit in the off season.  His family owned a cemetery in Massachusetts and he was a grave digger in the days before it was all done with the aid of machines.

It is no surprise that his nickname was "The Gravedigger".

1975 Kellogg's Richie Hebner #57

1972 Cereal Box rating -- 3     comment --   A good player on a good team.
2015 Rating                    -- 4    comment --    It helps that he played for the Cubs in his career.

**** note the rating is for a nice card out of the box.  The card pictured below must have had an interesting history to get that well-used look.

These Players Didn't Get on Kellogg's Baseball Cards by Being Pitchers. Well Maybe One Player Did

Baseball-Reference.com and the Lahman databases are fun to analyze.  I compared the list of Kellogg's cards to these databases to find position players with a Kellogg's card who also ended up pitching at some point.

Most of these were probably in lopsided games, but I was surprised how many players were on this list.  There are certainly many more players who have done this, I remember Larry Biittner doing this, but I'm specifically looking at those who appeared on a Kellogg's card.

For the old timers, Ty Cobb pitched 5 innings in his career and even earned a save.  Saves weren't a stat until 1969, but they have awarded them by looking back at box scores.

Everyone knows that Babe Ruth was a star pitcher winning 20+ games twice.  Honus Wagner pitched 8 innings, Tris Speaker pitched one inning and George Sisler pitched a lot (5-6 record with 3 saves; 24 starts and 9 complete games over 14 years).  That didn't surprise me since the game was different in those times.  

I wish one of the two Babe Ruth cards in the Kellogg's set showed him as a pitcher.

I remember Dave Kingman (4 Innings Pitched) and Bert Campaneris and Cesar Tovar  (1 IP when they played all nine positions in a game), but I can't remember these others.

Tovar was the second player to play all nine positions in a game, accomplishing this in 1968 near the end of the season.

Campaneris accomplished this feat in 1965, long before he was winning rings with the 1970s A's.  I like to provide useless information in this blog so I might as well continue.  Bert is the cousin of one of my favorite Cubs - Jose Cardenal.

Here are the others who found time to pitch - Sal Bando 3 IP, Matty Alou 2 IP, Jim Hickman 2 IP, Cookie Rojas 1 IP, Greg Gross 1.2 IP, Bob Bailor 2.1 IP, Craig Reynolds 2 IP, Wayne Nordhagen 2 IP, Jeff Newman 1 IP, Dave Concepcion 1.1 IP.

Name That Tune #2 - Kellogg's Baseball Card Style - Billy Joel Makes Headlines Today

So, here's a chance to redeem yourself on another song that mentions a baseball player.  The lyrics below are from the Billy Joel song Zanzibar.  Your job is to name the player mentioned only by last name.

CHORUS
I've got the old man's car,
I've got a jazz guitar
I've got a tab at Zanzibar
Tonight that's where I'll be

**************, he knows he's such a credit to the game
But the Yankees grab the headlines every time

The player mentioned knows he's such a credit to the game of baseball.  Just ask him and he will tell you about it.

Here are your choices.  Do they look familiar?

(a) Rickey Henderson

(b) Pete Rose

(c) Joe Charboneau

(d) Willie Wilson

I remember this song but I don't want to tell you what year it was released since that could impact your answer.  



If you guessed (a) or (c) you must not have figured out what year the song came out.

The correct answer is once again Pete Rose.  Listen and enjoy the song.  On round three I promise that the answer will not be Pete Rose or Joe DiMaggio.

There will be plenty of other posts about the players listed above.  Stay tuned.  

Did Anyone Notice the New Background - A 1973 Kellogg's Baseball Card Uncut Sheet

I bought this uncut sheet in an auction recently.  It contains two complete sets of 1973 Kellogg's cards.  The item was listed just as an uncut sheet, but because of its history I will check it closely to see if any cards differ from those issued.

There is quite a history behind this sheet.  According to Beckett Auctions, the owner was a former photographer for the companies that made cards for Kellogg's.  He did have many other proof sheets in the auction, so I might as well check this one.

The cards are placed in numerical order on this sheet.  From opening other Kellogg's factory sets and looking at other uncut sheets, this doesn't seem to be the case.  Maybe 1973 was different because there was a different supplier of Kellogg's cards that year.  This set is the only one without the 3-D effects.

I've got some odd 3-card, 4-card and 6-card panels.  I'll need to check them with this panel to see if they make sense.  That will be part of a future post.  

Name That Tune #1 - Kellogg's Baseball Card Style....With Help From Jimmy Buffett

So, I've got some Jimmy Buffet lyrics below.  I've always liked this song but it isn't one to ever appear on a radio station or on Pandora.

Song Title - Growing Older But Not Up from 1981

I rounded first never thought of the worst
As I studied the shortstop's position
Then crack went my leg like the shell of an egg
Someone call a decent physician
I'm no __________, I can't pretend
While my mind is quite flexible
these brittle bones don't bend

I'd rather die while I'm living then live when I'm dead.

So, this is a multiple choice question.  Here are your choices.


(a) Rickey Henderson

(b) Pete Rose

(c) Joe Charboneau

(d) Willie Wilson

If you are a Parrothead you were probably looking for a way to enter a contest here.  Sorry, the blog is for entertainment value only.  



Did you figure out the answer yet?




The answer is Pete Rose.  I don't know why he's mentioned so I will need to do some research on Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band who like to play concerts at baseball stadiums. 

Baseball Players Acting #1 - The Second Spitter, My Baseball Glove and Wrigley Field

Many of you have seen Keith Hernandez on Seinfeld.  He has another story line on the show but today I'll be talking about his role in the magic looggie/second spitter episode.

Kramer and Newman describe an incident where Hernandez spit toward them after Hernandez had a bad game and Kramer sarcastically says "nice game pretty boy".  Seinfeld deduces that the spit from Hernandez could not have done what Kramer suggested unless it was either a magic loogie or there was a second spitter.

Hernandez finally says there was a second spitter - Roger McDowell from behind the bushes.  McDowell is remembered for being a fan favorite even in towns where his Met teams were not liked.
Chicago is one of the towns that liked McDowell.  Why?  Among his many fan friendly ideas was that on hot days he was known to grab a hose and spray the fans in the bleachers.  He constantly interacted with fans during batting practice.

One day, just for fun, I brought my 1940s Waite Hoyt model glove with me to the bleachers for batting practice.  As you can see from the photo, this glove hardly resembles the gloves of today.

From my normal seat in row one of left field, McDowell spotted me and we started talking.  Roger, now that we are talking I figure we are on a first name basis, asks if he can check out the glove.  I quickly said no to that request but added that the answer would be yes if he threw his glove up to the bleachers for me to use.  I threw my glove down to him and much to my surprise he tossed his glove into the bleachers to me.

Batting practice became lots of fun as he kept missing every ball since he's accustomed to a glove that is certainly a lot larger.  In the bleachers, the glove was passed around amongst all of my bleacher friends.  I didn't catch anything with it, but I think one of my friends caught a BP homer with it.

Too bad we didn't have phones back then.

More Seinfeld cameos to come on this blog.

We Need More Baseball Players Like Tony Gwynn, Tom Seaver, Robin Yount and Harold Baines

Today would have been Tony Gwynn's 55th birthday.  The eight-time batting champion died of cancer last year.  Though I spent lots of time at Wrigley Field, I never saw him much from my usual left-field seats since he roamed right-field and center-field for most of his career.

When players got injured at Wrigley Field they were taken the the emergency room where my wife worked.  When Gwynn had an issue during a game, he was dropped off and could barely stand.  The guy checking him in asks his name and hears Tony say "Anthony Gwynn".  My wife quickly realizes who he is, but the other worker needs to see him before realizing that it's Tony.

Gwynn started too late to get a Kellogg's card.  It would have been great to have Gwynn, Ripken, Sandberg, Boggs and Mattingly on Kellogg's cards.

I always liked Tom Seaver even though he never played for the Cubs.  I tried to get my brother to get us to New York to see him attempt (and win) his 300th game, but that fell through.

On this day in 1984 Tom Seaver pitched 8 1/3 innings to get the win against Milwaukee.  He threw  pitches including his last one that ended up as a homer by Robin Yount.

Just another game for Seaver unless you know what happened a few hours before that.  On May 8th, the White Sox and Brewers played for 18 innings until the game was suspended due to time.  Innings 19 through 25 were played the next day before the regularly scheduled game.

Seaver pitched the top of the 25th inning getting Yount to ground into a double play.  He got the win when Harold Baines homered to end the game.  Yount's stats for the game were 3 for 10 with 3 steals while grounding into 3 double plays.

The box score is a great read.  One of my favorite announcers, Tom Paciorek, had five hits in nine at-bats.  White Sox pitchers Ron Reed and Floyd Bannister batted and Seaver was in the lineup but his turn at bat didn't happen thanks to Baines.  Don Sutton started for Milwaukee and Rollie Fingers blew a save, not for Sutton who left the game in a 1-1 tie.

I remember watching these games.  I guess I'll need to see what other starting pitchers won two games on one day.  Old-school pitchers and knuckle ball pitchers are probably going to show up on that list.