Author: Teddy Ballgame

Greg Maddux Announces his Retirement

With all the talk about the Hall of Fame, sure to be Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux announced his retirement as the 2008 Baseball Winter Meetings began. Maddux first appeared in the major leagues in 1986 with the Chicago Cubs as a pinch runner, stayed in the game, and picked up the loss in relief. He proved the loss to be a fluke, as he amassed a 355-227 record during his 23 year big league career.

Greg never was an overpowering pitcher, he’d spot his fastball & change speeds. No other 300 win pitchers has ever reached the 3,000 strikeout plateau, while walking less than 1,000 batters. His 355 wins are more lifetime wins than any righthanded pitcher since Walter Johnson, who retired in 1927.

Check out this story on mlb.com about Greg Maddux’ amazing career.

Congratulations Greg Maddux on a wonderful baseball career!!!

HOF VETS COMMITTEE GETS IT WRONG: JOE GORDON IN

The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee voted one new player into the Hall of Fame, Joe Gordon. Don’t get me wrong, Gordon was a fine player, both defensively & offensively (hitting home runs when secondsackers didn’t do such things), but the HOF? Joe was a ten time All Star, even was selected once as MVP, despite Ted Williams winning the Triple Crown that same year. Even though he was acknowledged the best keystone man of his day, his overall stats are somewhat less than impressive. I know anybody can lie, but if you wanna really lie, use statistics. But his lifetime batting average was .268. His stats compare almost identically with Bret (Prolly a Juicer) Boone.

Here’s what DonS had to say about Joe Gordon…

This is my favorite Joe Gordon Story.

Joe Gordon was manager of the Cleveland Indians when I started following baseball (1959). Jimmy Piersall (consider the source) says that when he played for Gordon, Joe was sometimes in a rotten mood by the fifth inning, because of the way the Tribe was playing. So he would head back to the Manager’s Office, where there was a bottle of whiskey in the desk drawer. About 10 minutes later, he would return to the dugout. Good mood, all smiles. Happy Days!!!

HOF ’09: Tommy John

My favorite pitcher growing up was Tommy John. John pitched for my Chicago White Sox. My White Sox team at this time were on the verge of going to Milwaukee. In an effort to keep the Sox in Chicago, we traded him to the Dodgers in exchange for Dick Allen. Attendance was down to nothing, we needed a savior, and that savior was Dick Allen.

So my team was safe in Chicago, but what about my favorite pitcher, Tommy John? Despite the fact that John had a losing record three of his last four years with the White Sox, but then he showed he was a winner with LA. In his first three years with the Dodgers Tommy was 11-5, 16-7, & 13-3, before his arm fell off. He missed the second half of the 1974 season & missed the entire 1975 season, recovering from Tommy John Surgery. John wasn’t the first pitcher to have the procedure to replace a tendon in his throwing arm, but he was the first to have a successful career following the procedure.

It didn’t happen over night, he was 10-10 in 1976. But then he bounced back to have the greatest success of his career. He posted records of 20-7 in 1977 & 17-10 in 1978, before leaving LA for the Yankees. With New York at the age of 36, John pitched more innings than ever before 276′ & 265′ innings, completing 33 games over these two years, with a record of 21-9 & 22-9.

He pitched an incredible 26 years in the major leagues, posting a record of 288-231, working 4,710′ innings, with a lifetime ERA of 3.69. Somehow his longevity may also be working against him, a lot of people remember him as a soft tosser, but nothing could be further from the truth. Sure he got by with guile while battling into his forties, but in his hay day, Tommy John could buzz them by you.

Hall of Fame
 

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.

HOF ’09: Jim Rice

I know it hasn’t happened yet, but I’m optimistic this will be the year Jim Rice finally gets inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. I’ve got a special place in my heart for Rice, I drafted him with my first rookie draft pick in the Illowa APBA League 35 years ago. My team was in need of pitching, when is more pitching not needed? Well anyway I bypassed my need and took a hitter, not an ordinary hitter, a real HITTER! Using the APBA card based on his 1978 MVP season, when in real life Jim hit 46 homers, drove in 139, and batted .315, he hit 66 round trippers for my Chicago Champions.

Yes, I do understand that APBA is not real life, and a player cannot be inducted into Cooperstown based on his performances at Crackerjack Park, using dice. But you can see why I love this guy! Besides his MVP year, Big Jim put together a pretty impressive career, finishing with a batting average two points below .300, missing out on 400 homers by eighteen, while driving in 1,451 runs, over 14 seasons as a regular with the Red Sox.

This guy was one of the most feared hitters in the game. He was an eight time All Star and a two time Silver Slugger winner. Rice was so strong that he once broke a bat checking his swing, when bats were bats, none of this Maple BS.

Did I tell you he wore my favorite number 14 and was born on the same date as my first girlfriend Alice & Harris Davis?

 

Hall of Fame
 

Hall of Very Good
  Why is he even on the Ballot?

 

While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.  Read the rest the of the profiles.

FLOWERS FOR VAZQUEZ

The White Sox packaged the extremely talented righthander Javier Vazquez and bullpen lefty Boone “They’re not saying Boone” Logan to the Braves for C-1B Tyler Flowers, SS Brent Lillibridge, 3B Jon Gilmore, and southpaw reliever Santos Rodriguez. Vazquez has a dynamite fastball, an explosive curveball, and very good control, yet he is two games below .500 in his career, despite the fact he has over 2,000 strikeouts. Down the stretch, when the White Sox needed him most, Ozzie Guillen & Vazquez, himself, lost confidence. This game is hard enough, but there is no way to succeed when you don’t believe in your stuff. That, in a nutshell, seems to Javier’s problem, not believing in his ability. It seemed, from my vantage point 34 rows behind home plate, Vazquez would be getting batters out, overpowering them, when all of a sudden he’d start trying to fool hitters, rather than just get them out. He’d get ahead 0-2, then nibble, rather than take advantage & put the hitter away. Still in this pitching starved era, this 32 year old will give you 33 starts & 200 innings, not bad, but he’ll drive you crazy, good luck Atlanta! Then there’s the case of Boone Logan, a herky jerky motion, from the leftside, couldn’t get my grandmother out in the second half of the season. In fact 97 year old granny was two for three, with a homer against Logan.

Now here’s what we got back, it was better than a half eaten bag of potato chips, so I’m happy. Tyler Flowers is a 6’4″ 245 pound righthanded hitting catcher/firstbaseman out of Georgia. Flowers played in High Class A ball for the Braves in 2008, where he hit 17 homers & 32 doubles, while hitting .288, with 98 bases on balls. But where Tyler really shined was the Arizona Fall League, where he was the home run leader with 12 home runs in only 20 games, with a batting average of .387. Atlanta drafted him in the 33rd round of the 2005 draft out of a junior college, then he was suspended fifty games for testing positive to taking performance enhancing drugs. A knee injury may limit him to a career at firstbase.

Brent Lillibridge was the Bucs shortstop of the future when he was drafted out of the University of Washington in the 4th round of the 2005 draft. In 2003 at the age of 19 Brent batted .388 with some pop at Washington. Even though he batted .220 with 90 strikeouts in 2008 with Richmond, it’s hard to think he’s washed up at the age of 24, in fact the Braves brought him to the majors for a cup of coffee, where he batted .200 in 80 at bats with the big league club. The book on Brent is that he’s a good fielder, with speed, who needs to re-find his stick.

Jon Gilmore is an interesting prospect, drafted by the Braves with the 33rd pick in the 2007 draft out of high school. This, 6’3″ 195 pound, 20 year old, thirdbaseman was born in Florida, but played his high school ball in Iowa City. 2008 was a split decision for Gilmore, as Jon batted .337 with 23 doubles in only 258 at bats in rookie ball, but then really struggled at Class A, hitting only .186.

Then there’s 20 year old lefty reliever Santos Rodriguez. It’s hard to get a read on Santos, as he’s only pitched two years of rookie ball. But in 2008 Rodriguez struckout 45 batters in 29 innings, with a nifty 2.79 ERA.

All in all, I like the deal. Sure we gave up a solid member of our rotation, but we got back value, and Vazquez had pitched on the Southside long enough, let the Braves enjoy him. Kenny Williams has been a genius and I’m not going to second guess him at this point.

HENRY BLANCO’S BROTHER MURDERED

In Venezuela, Carlos Blanco, the 39 year old brother of major league catcher, Henry was murdered by kidnappers after he was abducted Sunday in Guaranis, a Caracas suburb. Police believe the kidnappers were seeking ransom. Carlos’s bullet riddled body was discovered Monday.

Venezuela is a dangerous place. I was reminded of this statement made by a major league scout, whose assignment was going to be to go to Venezuela to sign some amateur ballplayers. He told his major league club, he’d need to bring with someone who spoke Spanish, he’d stay in a first class hotel, he wasn’t going off the beaten path, and it would cost about $5,000. The major league club decided to skip the trip, which was alright with this major league scout. That said, I feel bad about the senseless death of Carlos Blanco, my heart & condolences go out to Henry & the entire Blanco family.

THE PITTSBURGH INDIANS???

Remember when I was in Arizona for the Arizona Fall League the beginning of November I was telling you about a couple of East Indian pitchers who were trying out for major league scouts in Tempe? Well, the Pittsburgh Pirates have signed both hurlers. A White Sox fan friend out west was telling me, although the righthander threw harder, he thought the lefthander had a better shot at the big league, both were all over the place during the tryout.

Let me refresh your memory, Barry Bonds agent held a Million Dollar Arm Contest in India, whereby the winner would receive $100,000, specialized instruction from pitching coach Tom House, and a tryout in front of major league scouts. Dinesh Patel (20 years old), the 5’11” righty, threw 91-92 MPH, while Rinku Singh (19 years old), the 6’2″ lefty, threw 89-90 MPH.

While these two youngsters do have a shot at becoming the first major leaguers from India, they already are the first Indians ever to sign a professional contract outside of India. Recently the Pirates also signed a switch-hitting South African SS Mpho Ngoepe.

With 1,129,866,154 people in India with a Bucco rooting interest, can Pittsburgh really be considered a small market ballclub?

PHOENIX 5-PEATS AS AFL CHAMPS

The Phoenix Desert Dogs are howling after winning their fifth straight Arizona Fall League Title. In 2008 the five teams that made up the Desert Dogs were the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, and the Toronto Blue Jays. Each year there new players on each team of the AFL, which makes Phoenix’ five year run even more amazing.

The Mesa Solar Sox took on the Phoenix Desert Dogs on November 22nd in Phoenix. Atlanta Braves Tommy Hanson handcuffed the Desert Dogs, allowing only one run, over the first five innings, leaving the game with a 3-1 Mesa lead. Two of those Solar Sox runs came off the bat of Jeff Larish who ripped a two run 4th inning blast off Phoenix starter Minnesota Twins (Golden Domer) Jeff Manship.

The Desert Dogs batters went to work once Hanson was removed from the game, scoring nine runs in two innings, overcoming a three run deficit, cruising to a 10-4 win. Big Josh Donaldson of the Oakland A’s provided much of the offense, driving in four, three on a 7th inning big fly. Another offensive hero was Edwardsville’s own, Arizona Diamondback, Evan Frey, who drove in three.

Congrats to the Phoenix Desert Dogs!

MOOSE, STAY AWAY FROM ALASKA!

Here’s a word of warning to Mike “Moose” Mussina, who today announced his retirement, stay away from Alaska! Sarah Palin’s no longer got a shot at being VP, so she’s now focused her sights on shooting moose, ya betcha . All kidding aside, Mussina did announce his retirement, after winning 20 games this past season for the first time in his career, Sandy Koufax is the only other pitcher in the history of major league baseball to retire after winning 20 games in a season. Mike finishes tied with Burleigh Grimes for 33rd on the alltime win total with 270, two ahead of Jim Palmer. He also finished 19th alltime in strikeouts with 2,813, ten ahead of Cy Young. Not bad company at all.

Mussina was 147-81 with the Baltimore Orioles and 123-72 with the New York Yankees. So now the question has got to be, when/if he gets the call from the Hall of Fame, does he go in as an Oriole or a Yankee? Hats off to Moose on always being a professional and on a great career!

MARINERS: I THINK I’M TURNING JAPANESE

The Seattle Mariners named former White Sox catcher Don Wakamatsu their new skipper. Wakamatsu becomes the first Asian-American manager in major league baseball history. He is a fourth generation Japanese-American, born in Hood River, OR, to a Japanese-American father and an Irish-American mother.

Don last managed in 2000, when he guided the Erie SeaWolves of the Eastern League to a 12th place finish, with a record of 47-94, which would be seven losses better than the 2008 Mariners 101 losses, and there is no way they could finish in 12th place. Wakamatsu’s bloodlines might give him an edge in managing Seattle’s Japanese players, Ichiro Suzuki & Kenji Johjima, but more important than that are his baseball bloodlines. He’s paid his dues, is a baseball man, seems qualified for the job, and was on the Texas Rangers short list when the Rangers went with Ron Washington.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish him, Gokouun o inorimasu, which is Good Luck in Japanese.