Category Archives: MLB Historical Series
How Pitcher Dave Davenport Fought His Way Out of Baseball
Fighting with your boss is usually a losing proposition, no matter who is on the right side. Nobody learned this harder than former right-handed pitcher Dave Davenport, who literally saw his professional career come to an end after a skirmish with his manager with the St. Louis Browns in 1919.
Matt Miller: Baseball’s Side-Armed Pitching Dynamo
The sheer thrill of playing professional baseball must be enormous. Imagine the feeling one would have after making the major leagues after toiling for seven years in various levels of independent and minor league ball. Former pitcher Matt Miller is someone who is very familiar with this, as he had a lengthy, yet ultimately satisfying journey through his baseball career.
Classic Milwaukee Brewers Opponents – The 1980 Toronto Blue Jays
The Milwaukee Brewers played in the American League East division from 1972-93. In 2017, the Brewers will play many of their old foes from the East in Interleague matchups. Baltimore, Boston, Toronto, and the New York Yankees are all on the schedule this season. To celebrate the glory days of the old AL East, I’ve created a “classic opponents” series of blog posts. I’ll be covering great games, opposing teams, and even individual players from the East, particularly from Milwaukee’s golden baseball era of 1978-82. I’ll be keeping this series fair and balanced – so Milwaukee isn’t always crushing Toronto or striking Reggie Jackson out four times in a game.
Since the Brewers are in Toronto for an Interleague series this week, let’s kick things off with the 1980 Toronto Blue Jays.
The Forgotten Rivalry: The Reds and Dodgers Battle for Supremacy of the ’70s
Sometimes over the course of the schedule you manage to find that occasional game which encapsulates a club perfectly. One which showcases the superior firepower it’s truly armed with. The type of firepower that comes along once in a generation, if that. For Cincinnati, Saturday, May 19, 1973 was one of those games. As the Reds cruised to a 10-4 pasting of San Diego, Pete Rose banged out two doubles and a triple and scored three runs. Johnny Bench blasted his 10th home run of the year and drove in five runs. Joe Morgan actually got no hits at all – the box score shows him officially going 0-for-0.
That’s because in four trips to the plate, Morgan walked three times and drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. He was in the middle of nearly every Cincinnati rally, helping to pad Bench’s RBI total. After walking in the first inning, he induced Padre pitcher Mike Corkins into an errant pick-off throw and wound up on third base, from where he’d score on a Bench groundout. Then in the fourth inning, the Padres decided to walk Morgan intentionally with runners on second and third, which set up Bench’s two-run single. In the sixth, he walked in front of Bench’s homer, though he didn’t score that time because Anderson decided to give him the rest of the afternoon off and pinch-run Chaney, who finished out the game at second base. READ MORE ON PLATE COVERAGE.COM
Milwaukee Brewers Follow-up: Ray Peters
I feel fortunate to have made some connections with ex-Brewers in the past two years. Not everyone wants to talk of course, and some guys say the number games they played combined with the passage of time make their memories not reliable enough to share. Others have been very giving with their time and memories. One such connection I made is with 1970 cup of coffee pitcher Ray Peters.
Did Bony Knees Cost Lou Gehrig A Hollywood Acting Career?
Lou Gehrig was only 35 when he was diagnosed with ALS. He had to retire right away and came back for what some would consider ‘the greatest speech of all-time’ on July.4, 1939. It was the “I am the Luckiest Man on the face of the Earth” speech. Gehrig died June.2, 1941 at the age of 37. –Photo courtesy of ultimateyankees.com
Andrew Martin (Featured BBBA Fantasy Baseball Writer/Owner – baseballhistorian.blogspot.com)
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Lou Gehrig is an iconic figure in baseball history, both for his legendary career with the New York Yankees as a slugging first baseman, and because of his tragic death from an eponymous disease at the age of 37. Despite his exploits on the field, he nearly had another star turn—that of Hollywood actor.
At one point he was actually poised to assume the role of Tarzan in the movies but was ultimately passed over; possibly due to knobby knees.
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Milwaukee Brewers – Opening Day Memories
Chris Zantow (Featured BBBA Writer/Owner – chriszantowauthor.wordpress.com) Follow @zantow_chris
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Attending baseball’s Opening Day means a lot of different things to fans. Depending on the stadium and team, as I like to say, your mileage may vary.
I’m a Milwaukee Brewers fan and attend games at fan-friendly Miller Park – which believe me was important this week with temperatures in the 30’s with blustery winds and occasional blasts of snow.
I dare say attending Opening Day is now a tradition for me as this was my tenth straight opener. Of course this may seem Little League to others – especially to the guy I hear interviewed on the radio every year.
He’s been to every Brewers home opener since 1970. Talk about a streak! So with a few of my own under my belt, in this post I’d like to take a look at some of the things that make Opening Day special – and how I got started going in the first place.
In 2006 I started thinking about taking my Dad to Opening Day. It was one baseball “thing” that had eluded us since he started taking me to games at Milwaukee County Stadium.
Dad had a hard time landing Opening Day tickets during those pre-internet days, yet somehow he got us into the ’82 playoffs. Go figure. He had a couple opportunities to get us on the “Drunk Bus” as he called it, but after a night game incident that went awry, he never went that route.
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Milwaukee Baseball History – 50 Years Ago: The Opening Day that Wasn’t
Chris Zantow (Featured BBBA Writer/Owner – chriszantowauthor.wordpress.com) Follow @zantow_chris
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In early April, 1966, Milwaukee County Stadium sat silent for the first time since 1953. It was a quiet time in Milwaukee baseball history – and certainly no April Fools’ Day joke. The field didn’t need any special attention, stadium workers weren’t hired for the season, and concessions weren’t purchased. The Braves skipped town after the 1965 season and there would be no professional baseball played in the Cream City for the first time in 80 years.
Tickets were sold in Atlanta for the 1966 season starting in January of that year. The team was caught between two state court injunctions. In Wisconsin, Judge Elmer Roller ordered the team to play in Milwaukee until a replacement franchise could be obtained. Judge Sam Phillips of Atlanta issued a temporary injunction that called for the Braves to play games that season in Atlanta.
Braves owner, insurance industry executive Bill Bartholomay, acknowledged both injunctions in interviews. Yet he said, “The Braves fully intend to honor our contract with the Stadium Authority and all our larger obligations to the citizens of Atlanta, of Georgia, and the entire southeast, as the Braves have always honored our agreement with the county of Milwaukee.”
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Larry McLean’s Unusual Baseball Contract Demand
Andrew Martin (Featured Baseball Writer/Owner – baseballhistorian.blogspot.com) Follow @historianandrew
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Haggling over contracts is nothing new in professional baseball. For years, players and management have gone back and forth over getting the perceived upper hand when it comes to determining worth.
In the days before free agency and player representation, teams could more or less dictate the terms, which could lead to some pretty unhappy exchanges and counter proposals.
Perhaps none were as bizarre as hard-drinking catcher Larry McLean, who tried to negotiate the payment of 25 cents for every drink he refused during the 1911 season with the Cincinnati Reds.
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Mets All-Time Top 10 by WAR
AP
This week’s list is all about WAR or Wins Above Replacement. This is an attempt by the sabermetric baseball community to summarize a player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic.
There are a bunch of baseball fans who hate sabermetrics, but I really dig WAR and it lends itself to great conversations.
The Miracle Mets of 69, the World Series team of 1986, the 2000 Mets and the 2015 club that lost World Series, who on this list makes that?
For a franchise that has been around for 53 years going 54, they have placed just 2 members into the Baseball Hall Of Fame with Gary Carter being inducted as an Expos player – only Tom Seaver and now Mike Piazza have been enshrined in Cooperstown.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – January 13, 2016
Monte Irvin‘s wonderful life ended yesterday after 96 years. He was a pioneer in the integration of the game and a Hall of Famer.
And he was so close to taking the role assumed by Jackie Robinson.
We honor legacy of a great man on this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.
Sully Baseball Daily Podcast – December 20, 2014
Can we ever shake our first impressions?
Can we ever change what we think?
I take a look at first impressions in relation to Bud Selig and to Connie Mack.
It is a lasting impression episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast
Tampa Bay Rays In Payroll 2014 + Contracts Going Forward: They Should Also Trade David Price To St. Louis For Matt Adams
David Price became a 20 game winner for the first time last season, and it won him the American League Cy Young Award. That is really hard to match, but early struggles and injuries held him back in 2013. He was still 9 – 8, with a 3.39 ERA. Since he is due a payraise – to the $13 – $15 MIL range in Arbitration, it is my feeling the team should trade him for a slugging 1B. How about Matt Adams of the Cardinals anyone? The St. Louis team will need an ace to replace Chris Carpenter – and could bridge the gap for the team before Free Agency eligibility in 2016. It was too bad Hak-Ju Lee was hurt for some of 2013, as that would have been a perfect package to help bringing back another Starter. Perhaps the Rays should use Matt Joyce also as bait? Maybe they could a prospect Starter after all. The team figures to be around $55 – 57 MIL before Price.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Analyst/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024:
I am of the belief that the Andrew Friedman and Stu Sternberg have been the ‘model franchise’ in the AL over the last 6 years.
Not only do they compete in the vaunted AL East versus the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, but they have made the playoffs 4 times in that span, including a World Series Loss to the Philadelphia in the 2008 year.
Had Evan Longoria not been hurt for the majority of the 2012 season, one could argue that the club was poised to make another playoff appearance to make it 6.
So how are they doing this? Their team payroll is roughly one-third of the Yankees and the 40 % of the Red Sox total Payroll.
The Rays are smart enough to let their higher priced Free Agents walk, or even trading them before they are due significant pay raises.
They are also using the philosophy of the ‘John Hart‘ Indians of the Pre-Milennium Cleveland Indians. Once it was established that Evan Longoria could play at the MLB Level, they signed him to an 8 year contract.
They did the same thing with Starting Pitching Matt Moore last year with a 5 year deal for the rookie based on one playoffs of decent pitching.
It is a risk sometimes to do this, yet the rewards can save you Millions in future payroll if the new player (s) outperforms his/their contract (s).
Rays Highlights 2013:
The Arizona Diamondbacks: The Best Pitchers 1998 – 2013: Part 3 Of A 3 Part Article Series
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Johnson is by far the most illustrious pitcher that has pitched for the franchise. He holds multiple pitching records for the team, and it will take some time for someone to even come close to breaking those records. The “Big Unit” came to the desert in 1999, and his impact was felt immediately, by him winning 17 games in his first season with 271.2 innings pitched and he struck out 364 batters. he would go on to win the CY Young Award his first four seasons with the club, while averaging 354 strikeouts per season in his first four years in Arizona. Johnson is 2nd all-time in MLB history with 4,875 career strikeouts.He along with Curt Schilling was crucial was in bringing a World Series title to the desert in 2001. He had a SO/9 of 11.5 during the eight seasons he spent with the Diamondbacks.
By Chris Lacey (Lead Baseball Columnist/Minority Website Owner) Follow @aecanada12
The Diamondbacks have had good years and bad years in terms of pitching for their club. The first season for the club which was in 1998, they lost 97 games and 69 of those losses were from the rotation, which caused to finish last in the National West Division.
Their rotation consisted of Andy Benes, Brian Anderson, Omar Daal, Willie Blair, Amaury Telemaco, and Jeff Suppan. The closer for them that season was Gregg Olson.
Click the Link Below to see the Hitters version
The Arizona Diamondbacks Best Hitters (1998 – 2013): Part 2 Of A 3 Part Series
Luis Gonzalez’s walk off hit Game 7 World Series 2011
The Tampa Bay Rays: The Pitchers 1998-2012: Part 3 Of A 5 Part Article Series
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Note from Chuck Booth: I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history. 2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4. The Teams Payroll going into 2013 and 5.The Ball Park that they play in. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.) Be sure to check my author page with a list of all of my archived articles section here.
James Shields enjoys most of the Teams ALL-Time Pitching Records so far. David Price may not take very long to surpass all of his Franchise Records with Shields heading to KC now.
Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer/Website Owner): Follow @chuckbooth3024
The Rays had several lean years of pitching before a starter really made his mark. Out of the gate, Roberto Hernandez had helped the team with closing at least. In the early years, the best pitching was done by Rolando Arrojo, followed by Victor Zambrano, before he was traded for Scott Kazmir. The Mets/Rays trade was the foundation for the pitching staff finally evolving. Soon James Shields was up with the big club. In 2008, the teams 5 starters towed the hill for all season in what would be an eventual World Series Birth. Newly acquired Matt Garza, joined Shields, Kazmir, Edwin Jackson and Andy Sonnanstine for double-digit wins and winning records.
David Price was next to join the staff in 2009 and he has not looked back since. Jeff Niemann, Wade Davis, Jeremy Hellickson and Matt Moore joined the pitching staff in the next few years after that. The stable of bullpen relievers keeps coming and going. J.P. Howell has been the biggest mainstay there. Even with departing starters of Davis and (the Franchise Leader in several pitching categories) Shields, the team is not bare at the kitchen cupboard. The Rays finished 1st in Team Pitching ERA last year for all of the MLB. The next closest team in the AL was the Oakland – at almost a third of a run more.
The Rays have been blessed with some great years recently out of lower salaried closers. Whether it was Troy Percival, Kyle Farnsworth, Rafael Soriano or Fernando Rodney, Andrew Friedman has had a knack for gluing together a bullpen on a shoestring budget. With David Price winning the Cy Young Award in 2012, the best pitching may be yet to come for the AL East Team. Honorable Mentions went to these players, but they were not the same caliber as everyone else: Esteban Yan, Andy Sonnanstine, Kyle Farnsworth SP/RP Rick White RP Lance Cormier and RP Jim Mecir.
Scroll Down past the Franchise Links for the Pitchers or click on the Read The Rest Of This Entry Icon just past the Video Clip.
Franchise Series Links:
Franchise History: The Tampa Bay Rays: The Franchise 1998-2012: Part 1 Of A 5 Part Article Series
The Hitters The Tampa Bay Rays: The Hitters 1998-2012: Part 2 Of A 5 Part Article Series
2013 Team Payroll Part 4 of 5: Tampa Bay Rays Payroll 2013 And Contracts Going Forward: Updated for Myers Trade Dec.11/2012
Tropicana Field Expert Part 5 of 5: An Interview with Tropicana Field Expert Kurt Smith
The Toronto Blue Jays Franchise 1994-2012: Part 2 of a 7 Part Series
Wednesday, Nov.28th, 2012
Note from Chuck Booth: I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5-7 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history. 2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4. The Teams Payroll going into 2013 and 5.The Ball Park that they play in. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.) Be sure to check my author page with a list of all of my archived articles section here.
Today’s Part 2 Feature of the Blue Jays Franchise will be written by our Baseball Writer Alex Mednick. To do this franchise series service, Alex has studied this club a lot more than I have in the last 20 years and will do this article better justice for you the reader!
Alex Mednick (Baseball Writer and Analyst):
Note from Alex Mednick: Chuck Booth offered to me the opportunity to step in to his Franchise Series and cover the Blue Jays history from 1994-Present. I gladly accepted the honor.
In Part 1 of this series, Chuck covered the Blue Jays history from their humble beginnings at Exhibition Stadium in 1977, through the glory years in the late 80s and early 90s. The story dropped off right after the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Championships in 1992 and 1993. We closed the books with the walk-off winning home run by Joe Carter to win the World Series, and the parties and celebrations that were to follow across Ontario, Canada. I will pick it back up at the beginning of the 1994 season, when the Blue Jays had high hopes to win a third consecutive world championship.
(Scroll Down Past the Links or Click the READ MORE OF THIS ENTRY ICON.)
Franchise Series Links:
Franchise History Part 1 1977-1993: https://mlbreports.com/2012/11/09/jays1/
The Hitters: The Toronto Blue Jays Franchise Hitters: Part 3 Of A 7 Part Article Series:
The Pitchers: The Toronto Blue Jays Franchise Pitchers Part 4 Of A 7 Part Series
Skydome: An Interview with ‘Rogers Centre Expert’ and “MLB reports Founder” Jonathan Hacohen Part 5 of 7
2013 Team Payroll: https://mlbreports.com/2012/09/10/tor/
Special Bonus Fan Blog Of 2013 Team Payroll: https://mlbreports.com/2012/09/12/torfanalex/
MLB Reports 
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