July, 2010 | The Baseball Zealot

The Corn Crib hosts Illini night Aug. 26

As we were passing by going north of Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, I got took this photo of the home of the Normal Cornbelters.

The Cornbelters who are in the independent Frontier League, have one of the more original names for a ballpark, in my opinion. It’s called “The Corn Crib”.

My city-dwelling friends are snickering already. I know it. But as a farm kid who had a “corn crib” not too far away from the house, I think it’s pretty cool.

The Corn Crib is officially sponsored by the Illinois Corn Farmers. In this day and age of sports sponsors that consist of wireless phone companies, soda drinks manufacturers, and insurance companies, that’s a little refreshing in my opinion. Note the tractors out front of the stadium.

For those University of Illinois sports fans, the Cornbelters have declared August 26th, “Illini Night” and have even convinced men’s basketball coach Bruce Weber to come down and throw out the first pitch. There’s added significance since the Cornbelters will be playing a team in the vicinity of Weber’s former team, the Southern Illinois Miners. More info at the Normal Cornbelters website.

Dawson: Cub, Expo, what does it matter? He’ll be in.

I did a quick poll of the top stories of Andre Dawson entering the Hall of Fame. Of those articles with photos of him playing, the ratio of him in a Cub uniform as opposed to an Expo uni was about 2 to 1.

But I’m not jealous. Really. I’m just happy he’s getting in. And part of me is glad the Expos aren’t forgotten. But Joe Jaffe from ESPN thinks Tim Raines should have been the first Expo, though.

and what’s this… more talk about Lou Piniella eventually getting into the Hall? So says soon-to-be inductee Whitey Herzog.

My cat’s getting hopped up on her treats

I chuckled a bit when the wife brought these Feline “Greenies” treats home for our cat. Whatever gets our cat through her day, I guess.

My first thought? Pete Rose.

I ran this by a younger baseball fan (by younger, I mean someone born after the Ford Administration). He gave me a blank stare. Perhaps the more “seasoned” baseball fans out there remember the significance of “greenies” in baseball.

Oh yeah, drugs aren’t funny.

Meaningless manager streaks

I’m still on this manager kick. Bear with me.

Has anyone heard of Jim Clinton or Joe Miller? Yeah, me either. They share the distinction of having lost the most games as a manager without a win. Interestingly, they both did it in 1872 and managed eleven games without taking home a win. Clinton did it with the Brooklyn Eckfords as a player/manager. He did go on to have a ten year career after that.

While Germany-born Miller did technically bat for the Washington Nationals (yeah, haha) in 1872, it was only four times so calling him a player/manager would be a misnomer. Calling him a ballplayer would almost be a stretch since he only played one more year after 1872.

To look at the other side, you won’t find as extravagant streaks on the winning end. You only have to go as far as Mel Harder. Yes, THAT Mel Harder. The All-Star Cleveland Indian pitcher managed three games and won them all. And that’s as the most games a anyone has managed without losing a game.

Harder did this over a period of two years, 1961-62.

I guess this proves that it’s easier to lose than to win.

Do as I say…

What do MLB managers Jim Leyland, Manny Acta and Jim Riggleman have in common?

None of these managers have ever played baseball at the major league level. In fact, of the current 30 managers, seven haven’t ever played in the bigs.

Here’s the list:

Rk	Mgr	Yrs	G	W ?	L	W-L%	Plyof App	WSwon	PennWon
1	Jim Leyland	19	2944	1461	1481	.497	5	1	2
2	Jim Riggleman	11	1345	596	748	.443	1	0	0
3	Joe Maddon	7	793	392	401	.494	1	0	1
4	Manny Acta	4	505	198	307	.392	0	0	0
5	Fredi Gonzalez	4	555	276	279	.497	0	0	0
6	David Trembley	4	470	187	283	.398	0	0	0
7	Trey Hillman	3	359	152	207	.423	0	0	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/22/2010.

Leyland is obviously the most successful with 1461 wins, more than double than the #2 guy, Riggleman. He’s also seen plenty of postseason time, too.

Who exactly is doing the drug testing of the minor league players?

Major League Baseball has now implemented random drug testing for minor league baseball players. It’s all part of the plan… the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program to be specific.

Who will be doing the actual testing? A company called the National Center for Drug Free Sport.

For those interested in clicking deeper, you can find out the details on Drug Free Sport’s methods of specimen collecting (the SCAN method, Secure Collection Automated Network) and specimen analysis (they test for Anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs, drugs of abuse, and masking agents, urine manipulators, adulterants).

Drug Free Sport has a wide clientele indeed. They are being used by the NCAA, the PGA, MLB and the NBA.

Lou Piniella, lame duck

Some quick thoughts on Lou Piniella’s retirement and a few questions.

To start, Rob Neyer examines Lou’s HOF potential and thinks he comes out pretty well. More on that later.

Piniella came to the Cubs with the rep as hot-tempered, base-throwing skipper. What we got was a grandfather-type who usually didn’t sweat the details. Usually.

Many have lauded Piniella for what he’s done as a Cub manager. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked him just fine but much of his success came from a team that he inherited and he rode that wagon as long as he could. It seemed evident when he took over that this would be his “sunset” team considering his age and stage in his career.

My take on Piniella for the first part of his reign of the Cubs is this: His managing ability to get the Cubs to the postseason was fine. Once they got there, they stalled. Does Piniella share some of the responsibility of not inspiring his team when the going got tough? Maybe.

My questions…

Was his retirement a surprise?

Not to me. This is Lou’s last year of his contract. With grumblings already about his performance, I just didn’t see him re-upping.

Is Piniella really retiring?

Yeah probably. Piniella deserves some retirement and I mean that in a nice way. I just don’t see another team picking him in the future. Look to see him as an analyst behind an ESPN desk soon.

What’s next for the Cubs?

Fortunately, the Cubs have time to think about this. I’m not as pro-Sandberg as some might think. If I had my druthers, I’d like to see them pry Joe Giardi away from the Yankees (yeah, dream on) or give Alan Trammell a shot.

While we’re changing leadership, is Jim Hendry’s job safe?

Yes. There are a lot of fans calling for Hendry’s head at any given time. That said, for any bad move he’s made (and there have been some), he’s made some quiet deals that have kept the team afloat.

Piniella in the Hall of Fame? Really?

I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. Between his above average performance as a player plus his seven postseason appearances as a manager, he has a shot. He ranks 14th all-time in wins which isn’t too shabby. I wouldn’t count it out.

Interesting addendum: Gene Mauch is the only non-active manager with more wins than Piniella who is not in the Hall of Fame. He has 1902 wins.

Perhaps the fact that Mauch has only two playoff appearances (and no World Series ring) in 26 years has something to with it. That and his losing record (.483).

Al Hrabosky the Mad Hungarian

Bruce Markusen has a very well-researched piece The Hardball Times all about a player I remember from one of my favorite era of baseball, the 70s- Al Hrabosky.

I remember the Mad Hungarian well. What I didn’t know was how he got his nickname:

The unusual routine prompted a nickname from the Cardinals’ front office. The team’s public relations director, Jerry Lovelace, began calling Hrabosky “The Mad Hungarian.” The name, which accurately reflected his heritage, caught on with writers, broadcasters and fans, giving Hrabosky one of the most identifiable alter egos of his time, or any other for that matter.

Just think, the club front office not only approved but capitalized on Hrabosky’s behavior.

No doubt I’ve said this before but I wonder if Al’s stomping around the mound and talking to the ball would be tolerated in today’s world. The 70s were a more colorful time (in more ways than one… you’ve seen the uniforms) and probably a little more tolerant of differences and eccentricities.

Sadly, if Hrabosky tried to pull what he did in 2010, someone would complain, there would be an investigation by an appointed MLB committee and a 50-page policy written up detailing what is acceptable and not acceptable.

Miss you. Al.

The GMS curse: The NL wins one

On the heels of the announcement of George Steinbrenner’s passing, the National League finally win an All-Star game… their first since I was in my early 30s.

It was a simple win with good pitching and a nice clutch hit by sub Brian McCann who was responsible for all three of the NL’s runs. Indeed, all of the NL’s offense came from the bottom of the order, much from the substitutes. The top four in the order were a combined 0-11.

Kudos goes to my Cub Marlon Byrd who was one those runs McCann drove in during the seventh inning. More importantly, Byrd gunned down David Ortiz at second for a 9-4 assist. Byrd can probably be thankful it wasn’t anyone else besides slow-footed Ortiz but nonetheless it was a ninth inning rally killer.

Final score NL 3 AL 1

And thought you have most likely have seen the box score already, check out the one done by Baseball Reference. It’s the most comprehensive and interactive out there.

New patches will be worn in memory of Yankee legends

In light of the recent deaths of Yankee legends Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner, the New York ballclub’s graphic designers have been busy coming up with a patch that will adorn the uniforms of the Yankee players.

Both are stark black and white to match the Yankee uniforms. The Steinbrenner patch includes his full name plus his initials “GMS”. At the bottom, it says The Boss”. Nice touch.

Sheppard’s patch is a nicely done graphic of an old time PA mike within a baseball diamond and simply says, “Bob Sheppard The Voice of Yankee Stadium”.

The GMS patch will be worn above the NY on the left breast on the home jerseys and above the YORK on away jerseys.

You’ll find the Sheppard patch on the Yankees’ left sleeves.