Category: Uncategorized

Chris Capuano

I was talking with Brad, the owner of Uptown Pizza, the last time I was in Waupaca, WI and he was saying how he checks out the Baseball Zealot from time to time and would appreciate a little coverage on his Milwaukee Brewers. So here you go Brad, your wish is my command.

It seems as though a lot of times in sports a team will take a huge step forward, only to take a step back the following year. This seems to be the case with the Brewers. The 2005 Brewers overachieved, while the 2006 ballclub struggled to reach high expectations. I think the 2007 Milwaukee baseball team will step it up. And here are some reasons why…

Their starting rotation is tough. Ben Sheets is as good as anybody’s number one, then they’ve got Chris Capuano, Doug Davis, and Dave Bush rounding out the starting four. Not to mention Carlos Villanueva (who had flashes of brilliance) in the fifth slot.

The pickup of closer Francisco “Coco” Cordero was huge! The 2006 Brewers would have had a much better record had they just had a closer to hold onto a 9th inning lead.

Kevin Mench, Tony Gwynn, & Corey Hart are young, talented, and ready to put up some big league numbers in the outfield. But the real talent is on the infield. Prince Fielder will contend for the home run crown, while Rickie Weeks is one of the most exciting players in baseball, J.J. Hardy at SS, and Bill Hall at 3B give Milwaukee one of the best hitting infields in the NL. And Damien Miller will be a stabilizing influence behind the plate.

I’m sure the ROAR of GO BREWERS GO will be heard all over Cheeseland as soon as the Packers are through messing around.

Preston Wilson

Jeff Weaver

Preston Wilson started the season with the Houston Astros, but was released after hitting only nine homers in a little over 100 games. Wilson hooked on with the St. Louis Cardinals who were looking for warm bodies. Preston hit nine more homers in 33 games with the Redbirds and ended up picking up a ring in the process.

More amazing is the ride Jeff Weaver was on. Jeff signed a big contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but struggled with them. So much so that the Halos released him. Dave Duncan must’ve seen something in the lanky righthander and under his guidance Weaver turned it around. He was 3-10 with the Angels with an ERA over six, but pitched much better with the Cards, 5-4. Weaver even started and won the deciding game of the 2006 World Series.

I remember when an unconditional release was the kiss of death, but not for these two rejects who turned it around to become World Champs.

Bill Szijarto, from Port Robinson, Ontario, missed his chance to make $1 million by kicking a 50 yard field goal at a halftime event during a Roughriders/Argonauts game (that’s CFL, folks).

Ok, he’s not that old. He’s only 43. But either he lied about his age or they really age fast in Canada. Yikes.

Tommy John

I’ve always been an American League fan, but I have to confess to the fact that I was rooting for the 1968 St. Louis Cardinals to beat the Detroit Tigers. Here’s why, my favorite pitcher on my favorite team was Tommy John of the Chicago White Sox. Imagine my horror when Dick McAuliffe of the Tigers charged the mound and tackled Tommy John when a 3-2 pitch sailed over McAuliffe’s head in 1968. I have let that incident go and am able to root for the Tigers this year.

Here’s what Tommy John had to say…
Everyone knows about my ligament transplant, but that wasn’t my first serious injury. In 1968, I was 10-5 with a 1.98 ERA and pitching against the Tigers in August. A 3-2 pitch slipped out of my hand and sailed over Dick McAuliffe’s head. I didn’t throw at him, but McAuliffe was yelling at me as he went to first, and he charged the mound.

My first thought was to tackle him. McAuliffe drove his knee into my left shoulder and separated it. Dr. Levinthal (the White Sox physician) wanted to operate, but I got a second opinion. The white Sox were quite upset about it, since no one did that in those days. They examined my shoulder in spring training in ’69 and said it was good and tight.

This afternoon I was talking baseball at a party and gave my opinion of Game 1 tonight. I felt with Verlander going against Reyes, Detroit would have a definite advantage.

Boy, was I ever wrong!

Reyes was solid through eight innings allowing only one run. When Craig Monroe banged one out in the bottom of the ninth, he was taken out. Nonetheless, a surprisingly good outing from the 25-year old. He was helped by some timely hitting by Rolen and Pujols.

Verlander allowed 7 runs in his 5 innings. To his credit, the Tigers left their gloves in the dugout committing 3 errors. Verlander did strikeout 8 and only allow only 6 hits so it was a matter of bad timing.

I’m saying the obvious here but winning the first game and winning in Detroit is big for St Louis. But it’s just one game. Fellow TBZer LeekNay observed to me that so far this postseason, the underdog has won every time. I thought about it and he’s probably right (some folks might question the A’s/Twins series but I’ll give it to him). That fact may help the Cardinals.

Or at least give them hope.

Someone asked me how they’d recognize loved ones in heaven because people change so much in their lifetimes, not to mention after they pass. My response was that you recognize your husband even though he has changed alot since your wedding day. It’s kinda like that when I look back to the first Major League Baseball game I attended with my father, uncle, & cousin back when I was soon to be 12 years old in April of 1968. The game was an exhibition game between my team the Chicago White Sox and my cousin’s Team the Chicago Cubs played at County Stadium in Milwaukee, WI. Guess Chicago wouldn’t have been cold enough to play this Boys Benefit game on April 7th. It was just days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the whole country was pretty much in an uproar. I was concerned as to whether the riots on the South Side of Chicago would find their way to the North Side where I lived. I’ve been a North Sider my whole life, having moved a few blocks when I was three to my present address which has been my home the last 47 years. Yikes, where has the time gone? We almost didn’t go to Milwaukee because of the unrest, the cold weather, and there was talk the game wouldn’t be played in out of respect for the passing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or the cold weather.

Well the game was played and I’ve been able to tap into a special place in my mind where the memory of the day still lives on, even though my uncle left this earth far too soon, about thirty years ago. I can remember bundling up for the cold weather and driving all the way to Milwaukee, now I go to Waupaca alot, but back then Milwaukee was really far away. The White Sox were the home team for this game and even played ten regular season games North of the border in 1968. The Braves had left for Atlanta and Milwaukee hungered for baseball. Bud Selig was trying to entice the White Sox to make County Stadium its home, but fortunately that wasn’t to be. I can still remember the excitement of coming up the tunnel on the way to our seats and seeing the green grass. It was so exciting! And even though the game didn’t count this was before interleague play and this was about as close to the World Series as either team would get.

Even though the White Sox defeated the Cubs 3-2 in ten blustery innings, the Cubs finished the regular season in 3rd place with 84 wins, while the White Sox ended up in 9th place with 95 losses. Both teams had scrappy skippers who would do anything to win, Leo Durocher for the Cubs and Eddie Stanky for the White Sox. The Cubs featured pretty much the same team as they had in 1969 when they would be immortalized as one of the most remembered teams in Cub history, but not necessarily in a good way, the 1969 Miracle Mets passed them up on their way to a World Series Championship, when the Cubbies had a major collapse. Still those Cubs are held dear in Cub fans hearts even today. On the other side of town, Luis Aparicio was back after four years with the Orioles. Lou Johnson was the first batter I saw step to the plate in a big league game against Joel Horlen, but Little Louie was the first White Sox batter I saw hit, against Ken Holtzman.

Others of note appearing in the game were… For the Cubs… Ferguson Jenkins would be a 20 game winner in 1968, 20-15, 2.63 ERA, in 308 innings of work. Lee Elia was their starting SS for the day, with Jose Arcia at 2B (I still remember Cub announcer Jack Brickhouse calling him Josey Arcia. Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Mr. Cub (Ernie Banks), Randy Hundley, & Glenn Beckert all played. Future veterinarian Rich Nye took the loss in relief, allowing two runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings pitched. No-neck Walt Williams was the hustling leftfielder for the South Siders, with Ken “Bandit” Berry in CF, & Buddy Bradford in right. Sandy Alomar, Sr. was Luis Aparicio’s double play partner at second. Behind the plate was Duane Josephson, with Tommy McCraw at 1B & Pete Ward (who’s base hit would end the game) at the hot corner. A couple of knuckleballers would appear out of the pen, Wilbur Wood & Hoyt Wilhelm. But the youngster Cisco “Kid” Carlos would pick up the victory, he’d only have four wins in the regular season against 14 losses. Besides Jenkins & Carlos’ 1968 stats, here’s what some other guys who appeared in this game’s 1968 stats would be,… Joel Horlen finished with a 12-14 mark, despite having a nifty 2.37 ERA. Wilbur Wood was a workhorse out mostly out of the pen, pitching 159 innings, to go along with a 13-12 record, with 16 saves, & a 1.87. Tommy Davis tied Pete Ward with 50 RBIs, which was the most on the team, Ward also had 15 long balls to lead in that category as well. Remarkably Tommy Davis playing everyday only had five doubles & three triples. Ken Berry had the highest team batting average at .252, while the most runs scored was 55 runs by Luis Aparicio. Cubbies Ron Santo & Billy Williams had the most RBI on the team, 98. Sweet Swingin Billy Williams had a .288 batting average bested only by Glenn Beckert’s .294 mark. Mr. Cub had 32 homers to lead the team, edging Williams by two.

It was remarkable that I was a White Sox fan, growing up on the North Side of Chicago, and considering the shape of the two ballclubs when I started following baseball in 1968, but for some reason all the kids growing up around my house were Sox fans. I knew so little about baseball in 1968 that a Johnny Vasta’s brother Sal wrote positions on my baseball cards for the outfielders, CF is penciled in on an otherwise vintage Willie Mays card. You’d have thought I might have been able to have figured that one out.

I am in debt to the library’s ditto service of the Milwaukee Public Library for making copies of the April 7, 1968 Milwaukee Journal to enable me to complete a nice ride down Memory Lane. Hope you enjoyed the trip. I’d love to hear about your first Major League game or one that particularly stands out in your mind.

CBS reports the story of FOX firing Steve Lyons and then the LA Times reported he had been warned.
How strange is it that a guy with the nickname Psycho! I mean, doesn’t his nickname offend crazy people? I don’t know Steve Lyons to know whether he was insinuating that because Lou Piniella was hablaing espanol that he might have taken Lyons’ wallet. But I remember hearing the chatter going on back & forth and I thought Lyons’ comment referred to the fact that he was still back where he was still looking for his wallet and the fact he didn’t want Piniella near him had to do with the strange analogy Piniella had used in referring to Marco Scutaro not being a player to be counted on. Then there were the comments about the blind fan with the contraption on his head, both announcers were equally insensitive, and neither was particularly bright in their comments, but I don’t feel either was malicious. The other two “racist” incidents don’t seem to amount to much either in my book, although I personally didn’t hear either one. One had to do with Shawn Green not playing in a game for the Dodgers because of a Jewish holiday and the other had to do with saying something about a couple of players’ names appearing to be diseases rather than monickers on their backs. Steve said he was trying to bring some levity to a serious situation in the case of Green and Pierzynski & Mientkiewicz have names that do look more like diseases than handles. Come on FOX, give the kid a break, it’s not like he pulled his pants down on national television. What do you think?

Just read the book When Chicago Ruled Baseball, which is a great story of how the underdog White Sox defeated the greatest team ever (116-36) the Chicago Cubs in the 1906 World Series. I knew about the great Chicago Cubs of this era, Harry Steinfedt & Johnny Kling, not to mention Tinker to Evers to Chance, but it was their pitching staff headed by Mordecai Brown, Jack Pfiester, Ed Reulbach, Carl Lundgren, Jack Taylor, & Orval Overall. Believe or not the Cubs won four NL titles and two championships from 1906-10, sad to say an organization’s best days happened a century ago.

It was great to see this White Sox team come alive behind Doc White, Ed Walsh, Nick Altrock, Frank Isbell, & Fielder Jones. I lived to see the 2005 team win the World Series and knew a little about the 1917 World Championship team (a dynasty in the making, torn apart by the Black Sox scandal in 1919), but knew little about the 1906 Sox. Really the 1959 Go-Go White Sox were legendary even though they lost in the World Series to the LA Dodgers, the City of Chicago even set off the fire sirens throughout the city to celebrate the Sox capturing the AL Crown.

Baseball Prospectus comes at us with a hodgepodge of interesting stats like:

-Longest Plate Appearances of the Year
-Batters reaching on Error
-Pitchers and Batters with the most 3-pitch strikeouts

… and a lot of others.

Check it out. Very cool.

FOX TV Talking Heads were going on and on about the CHOICE of headgear worn by a fan. I knew at the time they’d have egg on their face. Tonite they fessed up to their oversite, it turns out the space age headgear worn by this fan was to help him SEE the game. Any idiot, but the two broadcasting the game, could tell this was a contraption worn by a visually impaired fan. Maybe being physically challenged I’m more aware of things used to help challenged people lead normal lives. But what irked me most was the way the FOX TV Talking Heads kept going on about how this fan must be from outer space, at least they acknowledged their mistake.