Boston Herald/Borges: HBO take on Ted Williams simply Splendid

But to be great at such a solitary task a lot of other things had to suffer. As the film points out, those included three wives and as many children. For years, it also included the fans who bellowed his name but also booed it because as great as he was he never beat the Yankees and didn’t deliver in the only World Series he played.

Williams wept after his Series failures against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1946, when he had only five singles and one RBI in 25 at bats, but the fans didn’t. They booed out of frustration and because he often was, like many geniuses, a temperamental cuss so obsessed with one act that there was little room for niceties.

After stroking the ultimate “walkoff” home run in his final at-bat at the age of 41, Williams was sent back to left field. Trotting behind him was his replacement, Carroll Hardy. It was a last chance for his fans to cheer and him to acknowledge them. He didn’t.

According to Pumpsie Green, the shortstop that day and the first black player in Red Sox history, Williams mumbled as he went by, “Isn’t this a crock?”

What wasn’t was that the lion in winter was still no one to be trifled with, as he’d just proven to an upstart named Jack Fisher, who had thrown a fastball Williams missed one pitch before the 521st - and last - home run of his career.

“I was watching Fisher,” Williams recalled, disgust still evident in his voice. “He couldn’t wait to get the ball from the catcher. He thinks he threw it by me! He threw it to the same spot, same speed. . . . I won’t forget that one for sure. Closest I came to tipping my cap after playing for 22 years.”

Walkoff Walk: Tony Conigliaro Sings on the Merv Griffin Show - 1967

At least Merv didn’t call him a young rascal or something…

Part of the reason batters wear helmets with earflaps nowadays is the unfortunate incident that happened to Red Sox star Tony Conigliaro back in 1967. Just two seasons removed from leading the league in homers as a 22-year-old, the outfielder was smashed in the face by a Jack Hamilton pitch, crumpling to the ground with a broken cheekbone and a damaged retina. His career lasted a few more productive years before he was forced to retire due to worsening eyesight.

At the same time his baseball career was taking off, he was signed by RCA Victor to a recording contract and made a few appearances on the Merv Griffin show, as evidenced below:

Fornoff: Canseco-bashing not merited

Ratatat Remixes Vol. 3?

La Russa cares only about a player’s contribution to the success of the team. He has always had a reputation as a veterans’ manager and for good reason: La Russa does not mentor. He considers the main part of his job to be filling out the best possible lineup every day, which is why America’s hotel bars are littered with napkins containing his scribble. He fathered daughters, not sons, and has not been a father figure to his players.

This is by no means a flaw. La Russa has been successful, and so have his teams, which is what matters in the world of sport. After Dave Kingman embarrassed the A’s organization by sending me a gift-wrapped rat in 1986, La Russa wanted to bring Kingman back in 1987 because he felt Kingman’s bat would have lifted the A’s record. The A’s did not sign Kingman, and neither did anyone else. But La Russa would have; it wasn’t about character, it was about home runs.

...Disgraced or not, Canseco and Mark McGwire were the core Bash Brothers on a team that became generally known as such for its showy power and dominating offense. If Canseco was good enough for La Russa to put in the lineup every day he was healthy in 1989, he is good enough to share in the celebration of that season 20 years later.

Frankly, Rickey Henderson had the reputation as a “me first” player, and Lansford was a Hall of Fame whiner - but who cared as long as the A’s were winning? It’s just not going to be a party until Canseco and McGwire show up - and until La Russa, Stewart, Lansford and friends are big enough men to thank Canseco for the undeniable contribution he made to their legacies and their bank accounts.

Diamond Notes: Ned Colletti talks sabermetrics on XTRA Sports 1360 AM in San Diego:

“I think the sabrmetrics gets you interested. I think it gives you a chance to seek more information on somebody. But I’d have a hard time trading for a player or drafting a player that I really didn’t know what was inside his head and inside his heart and how he thought and how his priorities were set up and if he aspired for greatness and was willing to sacrifice. I’m not sure you’re going to get that off a stat sheet. But the numbers do tell part of the story. I think you have to have a mixture of all. Information is power, and as much information as you can get - whether it’s a number on a page or whether it’s a conversation with somebody - I think it adds to your decision-making process and helps you make better calls.”

Bloomberg: Levinson: What Does It Mean for the Jews With Youkilis, Braun, Kinsler?

Uhh...they can now completely forget Ross Baumgarten’s year with the Pirates?

Jewish fans of baseball—fascinated with Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and Lou Boudreau—may have a new crop of athletes to dote upon at this year’s All-Star Game.

Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkilis and Ian Kinsler lead in balloting for the squads, and pitcher Jason Marquis had the most wins in his league through June 30, meaning the four Jewish players are favorites to earn invitations to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game on July 14. It would be the first time four Jews were named to the event.

“We’re in a glory time for Jewish baseball players,” said Howard Megdal, author of “The Baseball Talmud: The Definitive Position-by-Position Ranking of Baseball’s Chosen Players.” “The fact that you have three stars in Kinsler, Braun and Youkilis all under the age of 30 and all seemingly continuing to improve is a very impressive thing.”

...“Third base is a paradox for the Jewish people,” according to Megdal’s “The Baseball Talmud.” “Given the lack of Jewish players at the position, you’d think the bag was made of pork.”

“That’s pretty funny,” Braun said in an interview when read the excerpt. Rather than Kosher considerations, he suggested that the inactivity and tendency for short hops at third base were the reasons he struggled there for a season before being moved to left field.

Olbermann: Well, You Can Call Me Ray, Or You Can Call Me Jay… UPDATED

Update, 12:15 AM EDT 7/2: I forgot! The aforementioned Mr. Wally Jose Bryan was also a little off on his age, which invokes the greatest baseball biography ever written, on the back of the 1964 Phillies’ Rookie Card featuring Dave Bennett (the top one here). If the wonderful image of a man getting younger before your very eyes doesn’t register, read the write-up outloud.

Seamheads: El juego casi perfecto de Tom Seaver (Tom Seavers’ Almost Perfect Game)

(just in case you really, really don’t want to remember...)

Seaver también rememora que mientras calentaba el brazo sintió una rigidez en el hombro que se mantuvo los dos primeros innings. Con los dos lanzamientos iniciales de Ken Holtzman, los Mets se fueron arriba 1-0 mediante triple de Tommie Agee y doble de Bobby Pfiel. En el segundo marcaron otras 2, Seaver remolcó una con un doble. En el séptimo Cleon Jones la sacó del parque para poner el juego 4-0. Sus impresiones sobre el aislamiento que trata de realizar el pitcher para neutralizar la tensión del juego, explican como a medida que avanza un juego sin hits, la situación se dificulta cada vez. En las tribunas estaban su esposa Nancy y su padre, quién había viajado desde la costa occidental. Había 60000 personas en Shea Stadium, la primera vez que Seaver lanzaba ante tanto público.

Luego que Seaver dominara a Hundley con rolling al montículo. Me senté en la cama y estiré el oído hacia el radio, toda la tensión se desdibujó cuando el narrador dijo”… es una línea de hit de Jimmy Qualls hacia el centerfield, se acabó el perfecto, se acabó el juego sin hits. Tom Seaver mira hacia el cielo, se va detrás del montículo….” Aún sentado en la cama escuché como terminó el juego dominando a Willie Smith y Don Kessinger con elevados inofensivos.

Seaver regresa al dugout y nota que Nancy tiene lágrimas en los ojos. “¿Por qué estás llorando? Ganamos 4-0”.

NYT: Jack Clark Takes Jabs at Mets of Mid-’80s (RR)

More like a Carlos Monzon crushing jab to the face…

As it turns out, the old feuds continue to simmer. Jack Clark, the cleanup hitter on those St. Louis teams, called those Mets a bunch of cheats and showboats Tuesday in an interview on KTRS-AM radio, which broadcasts Cardinals games.

Clark told McGraw Milhaven, the morning host at the station, that the mutual hatred ran so deep that he purposely snubbed the Mets when they played together in All-Star Games.

“I wanted to let them know I wasn’t glad to be there with them and their teammate, didn’t want to be on any team or be a teammate with them, and we were going to battle,” said Clark, who provides commentary on some Cardinals games and manages the Springfield Sliders, a summer collegiate league team in Illinois.

Clark took particular aim at Gary Carter, the Mets’ catcher in those years, saying that he “talked his way more into the Hall of Fame than deserving it.” Carter, he said, craved the spotlight, which was “pretty sickening and disgusting to everybody else.”

Thanks to Can’t Stop the Bleeding.

GRANEY: Lee Smith’s exclusion from Hall of Fame puzzling

Same with The Canadian Beadles...but that’s just me.

Smith pitched 18 seasons and retired in 1997 with 478 saves, then the most in history. He was among the top five in Cy Young Award voting three times and owned the major league career saves record for a 13-year span. He also has been on the Hall of Fame ballot since 2003 and annually receives between 35 percent and 45 percent of the necessary votes for inclusion.

The guy is Peter O’Toole nominated for an Academy Award, up to this point a sure bet not to hear his name called.

“I think one thing that hurts Smith is that he is not associated with any one club,” said Tim Sullivan, a sports columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and Hall of Fame voter from 1991 to 2005. “He played for eight teams. To some extent, he is a victim of not being identified with one club like Rivera with the Yankees and Hoffman when with the Padres. I think that helps you gain a base of support from people in those towns and works to your advantage.”

Hard to believe: Smith spent his first eight seasons with the Cubs but pitched in St. Louis only for four. It seemed twice that long. It also seemed Farrah Fawcett was on “Charlie’s Angels” for a decade instead of one season. Go figure.

But not being recognized as wearing one uniform for most of his career shouldn’t exclude a player with otherwise deserving numbers. Jeff Reardon is another closer not in the Hall of Fame. The subjective joke continues.

Acorn: Dorman: So Manny reasons to cheer baseball’s non-cheaters

Association of Community Organizations for Refills Now!

There are players who didn’t cheat Major League Baseball during its lie to our faces performance-enhancing drug era, and on this Fourth of July weekend we should take a minute to honor those brave ballplayers instead of hailing the return of a fake like Manny Ramirez.

...Second base: David Eckstein

The 2006 World Series MVP with St. Louis looks like your younger brother and has probably never shaved.

The guy’s career-high RBI total is 63 as a member of the 2002 Anaheim Angels, and he’s never hit more than eight roundtrippers in a season. Others have put up better numbers than Eckstein, but he’s the prototypical overachiever, and every team needs a guy like that.

On the bench: Chase Utley and Ryne Sandberg.

Center field: Willie McGee

Have you ever seen Willie McGee play? Is there any doubt that his 6-foot-1, 175-pound thin-as-a-rail frame was all natural?

This speedster was a National League MVP with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985, a fourtime All-Star and two-time batting champ. Oh, and he hit a grand total of 30 home runs in the 1990s.

If McGee, who retired after the ‘99 season, was dirty, then everything we know about performance-enhancers must be a lie.

On the bench: Ken Griffey Jr. (only because McGee was less obvious).

Fraley: A’s GM Beane not so far ahead of the pack

Fraley is some quarters of Garbool Sector 12-NEEB is pronounced Paullebowitz.com

This will also be Oakland’s fourth consecutive losing season. The Athletics’ progress is more the stuff of a comedy than a celebration of big brains with laptops, but the “Major League” franchise cornered that market years ago.

The Beane-led Athletics had good ideas, but the organization was not as far ahead of the pack as the book would have had readers believe. Six years after the publication of “Moneyball,” Oakland is nowhere close to being a playoff club. The Athletics’ new-wave plan is to develop young pitchers and trade them, an approach that keeps the club trapped in a down cycle.

...The irony of “Moneyball” is that while the book relentlessly paints the Athletics as discovering the hidden value of on-base percentage, their lineup has been terrible in that area.

Through June, Oakland ranked last in the AL for on-base percentage at .312. A year ago, the Athletics tied Seattle for last in on-base percentage at .318.

Who would want to watch a movie about that?

Goldstein: Sony’s Amy Pascal speaks out about ‘Moneyball’

Zaillian’s script was anchored by on-screen monologues by Bill James, the oddball guru of modern-day baseball statistics (who today works in the Boston Red Sox front office). James functioned as a Greek chorus for the film, offering wry, Yoda-like explanations about the complexity of the game.

Zaillian’s deft renditions of James’ maxims were funny and always to the point, allowing the audience the opportunity to see inside the game. In one monologue, James says: “If you score three runs and the other team scores four, you can be inspired as all hell but you still lost. The numbers represent the ineluctable sum of victories and defeats, and that cannot be made one iota larger or smaller than it is by PR campaigns, personal animosities or any of the greater and lesser forms of B.S.” But in Soderbergh’s draft, the James material had all vanished, presumably to be replaced by interviews with Beane’s real-life associates.

...Sony would also have to find a new director who is not only a good fit for the material but would pass muster with Pitt, who has director approval on his films. To find a director with enough stature or buzz to attract Pitt won’t be easy. The most likely options would be for the studio to go in more of a comic direction—possibilities being Jay Roach or Jason Reitman—or toward a more dramatic choice, like Gary Ross or even George Clooney, who is putting the finishing touches on a two-year production deal with the studio. (My own pick would be someone with a sharp, subversive edge, like Pete Berg.)

Pascal insists there’s no bad blood between her and Soderbergh, saying the two plan to meet in the coming days to discuss other possible projects. In the meanwhile, she remains an ardent believer in the film. “We love this movie, we always have and we still want to make it. It’s a completely innovative way to tell a baseball story. It’s about wanting to believe in magic, which is what baseball is all about.”

Thanks to Matt Welch.

Minihane: Would Lou Gehrig Have Been a Hero in 2009?

Lou Gehrig: All the arguing in the world can’t change the decision of the umpire...yeah, but now that the umps have Instant Replay!

July 4th will mark the 70th anniversary of perhaps baseball’s most famous moment. (And maybe the most famous speech in sports history—is “Win one for the Gipper” close?) Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” farewell to roughly 60,000 at Yankee Stadium took place on July 4, 1939. Can any athlete ever again be as beloved as The Iron Horse was during his 277-word farewell? Is it possible? If Gehrig had to deal with the 2009 world back in 1939, would he have been looked at the same way when he stepped up to the microphone at Yankee Stadium?

How could he? Can you imagine one of the three or four best hitters of all time going through what Gehrig went through, but having it happen today? It would be disgusting, 50 times worse than Jade Goody. You’d have TMZ parked in the Mayo Clinic. Some guy who was teammates for an hour and a half with Gehrig 15 years ago would come out with a scandal-filled book (yup, my money would be on Wally Pipp, too). And yes, you’d hear the whispers. “Well, his power numbers really spiked in 1927. How does someone go from 16 homers to 47?” It would never end. Probably some girl he dated as a freshman at Columbia would wind up as “The Bachelorette.” And all because a guy could hit a baseball.

craigslist: Ty Cobb home videos need director.

Please someone engage this man before Ken Burns or Norm Coleman get their hands on the tapes.

Rare never before seen footage of one of the greatest baseball players of all time.........TY COBB. I have 1923-1928 home movies shot by Ty himself as well as friends and family. Traveling through europe as well as japan and hawaii. Incredible quality for its age. I am looking for a producer with contacts in the sports entertainment world. I am also looking for anyone with access to a studio with HDSR tape machine to offload to hard drives for editing. This is no story or any way fake....... please dont email me unless you are interested in the project. Thanks

* Location: anywhere
* it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
* Compensation: TBD. Contract

Biz of Baseball: Inside MLB Attendance - Interleague 2009

I’ll bet my Palmer Vreedeez viewfinder...that the end is near.

With Sunday’s games in the books, Interleague Play for MLB in 2009 is nearly concluded (a June 16th rainout between the Cubs and White Sox still needs to be replayed), seeing average attendance drop from last year’s record setting pace.

The National League/American League match-ups drew an average of 33,351, down 6.66 percent from the 2008 record average of 35,573. Average attendance for the season was also down from 2007’s Interleague average attendance mark of 34,905, or down 4.66 percent. 2009 will mark the first time in three consecutive seasons that record attendance was not reached for Interleague Play.

The 2009 Interleague average is 16.1 percent higher than this season’s current

intraleague average of 28,727 per game.

Since its inception in 1997, Interleague Play has drawn 12.0 percent more fans than intraleague games; Interleague Play has averaged 33,260 fans per game, compared to the intraleague average of 29,706 fans per game during the same span.

Why is Bucky Dent in my Mailbox?

So I opened my mail last night … and there he was.

Bucky Dent. 

Well, at least a three and a half inch cardboard facsimile of him in near-Mint condition.

Someone is anonymously sending baseball cards to baseball bloggers and writers ... including David Pinto, Will Carroll and Craig Calcaterra

WFAN: Murti: Ruthian Impact

Sometimes when you are constantly cut off when speaking by the aorta-boiling King of All Beige Dockers...mindless pyramidal off-track oozing like this can happen.

I’ve written before in this space that you can make the case Mariano Rivera is the most important Yankee since Babe Ruth. Think about it.

The Yankees don’t win four World Series titles in five years if Mariano Rivera is not their closer. If the Yankees don’t win four World Series titles in five years they don’t draw 3-4 million fans every year for the last decade. If the Yankees don’t win four World Series titles in five years and draw 3-4 million fans every year for the last decade they don’t erect that shiny new building that in the Bronx.

Almost ninety years ago the Yankees imported Babe Ruth from Boston and the fortunes of the franchise changed forever. They built a spectacular new stadium that came to be known as the House That Ruth Built. Mariano Rivera’s arrival was less heralded, but has his status as the greatest closer in history been any less important to this franchise?

The game has changed over the years, so much so that the lockdown closer is as important as the big slugger. Ruth used to make opposing teams quake when he came to bat. How do you think teams feel when they see Rivera come into a game?

Here’s another important aspect to Rivera’s greatness. By nature of the position he occupies, every one of the 500 saves he’s racked up obviously resulted in Yankee victories. The math is a little fuzzy from the Ruth era, but I’m quite certain he hit plenty of home runs in games the Yankees lost.

S.I.: Posnanski: Talkin’ about the age-33 falloff phenomenon, with Bill James

Shot at age 33? Definitely, in Ray Vitte’s case.

Joe: This amazes me… you know from 1983 to 1990, Alan Trammell put up a 124 OPS+. Over those same eight years, Cal Ripken Jr. put up an OPS+ of ... yes, 124. I personally believe Trammell is a Hall of Famer, but I don’t think he will get elected and the reason seems to be that he never played a full season after age 32.

Bill: Maturity in a player is the development of talents; not the development of NEW talents, but the development of those talents that the player has always possessed.

Aging is a narrowing of talents, and the narrowing of talents begins long before the player reaches the major leagues. Players, as they age, don’t run as well, don’t throw as well. They continue to develop those talents that they have, but the range of talents continues to narrow. What I’m trying to get to ... I don’t think that “maturing” as a player is one thing and “aging” is a different thing. I think it is one continuous process, that helps the player up to some point, and hurts him beyond that point.

Joe: You will hear players say, all the time, “I wish I knew then what I know now.” There’s no doubt that David Ortiz is a smarter hitter now than he ever was. No question that Alex Rodriguez knows more about how pitchers are trying to get him out now. No question that Lance Berkman knows more about the game than he did at 26 when he mashed 42 homers and drove in 128 runs.

That’s the cruelty of 33 for so many players ... and every player eventually hits that age. The brain is sharper than ever, but the body can’t quite get them there.

Bill: It’s like baking bread, or cooking an omelet. The baking of the bread helps the bread up to a point, and then, if you leave the bread in the oven beyond that point, the same things continue to happen, only they don’t HELP the bread any more; they begin to ruin the bread.

Hochman: Logos say a lot about teams

Stan Hochman...hey, at least he dislikes Frank Crosetti.

They talked softly because Manny Ramirez totes a big stick. They patiently explained that the team was called the Isotopes, and that an isotope is any of two or more species of atoms of a chemical element with the same atomic number and position in the periodic table and nearly identical chemical behavior but with differing atomic mass.

Manny was OK with that, especially when they told him the air was thin and the fences cozy and the pitching mediocre. And yo, testosterone-breath, the team logo was cool, an abstract A with no crossbar. Just two of those slanted circles featuring an atom or a proton or a neuron, whatever.

It is a cool logo because it refers to the secret place outside of Albuquerque where scientists perfected an atomic bomb that blew away huge chunks of two Japanese cities and brought a swift end to World War II, making the world safe for democracy once again.

...We’ve had our share of woeful logos in the city. Take the A’s symbol, an elephant perched on a ball with a bat in its trunk. Ugh.

It was bad, but not as awful as the Red Sox, represented by a pair of red sawx, appropriate for a laundromat but not a big-league baseball team.

Deep Left Field: Lyricism is just another four letter word

Sam...last of a breed dying over something or another.

Last Thursday night John Smoltz stepped onto the field wearing his new team’s colors, toed the rubber of Nationals Park and threw a pitch in anger. It was his first start without a tomahawk on his chest in twenty-plus years. He was amped up, wild and very hittable in his first inning of work, but then settled down and turned in a useful performance. In all honesty it looked quite a bit like his first start upon returning to the rotation in Atlanta, after his closer years. No matter how hard I grimaced and whispered vile curses under my breath, his shoulder did not fall off. Sometimes Little Baby Jesus is just plain worthless.

Prior to the start the Washington Times ran a piece by Thom Leverro headlined “Smoltz is the last of a dying breed.” Ignoring for the moment that Smoltz is not in any way shape or form the last of a dying breed; hurlers across baseball, from Smoltz’ new teammate Josh Beckett to his old team’s newest phenom Tommy Hanson are proof positive that smoke-throwing righties with wicked breaking balls are far from joining the dodo and long relief specialist on the extinction rolls; I must protest.

Generally I avoid the “a sportswriter wrote something wrong” meme. There just doesn’t seem to be much sport in shooting those poor barrelled up fish. Rather than venting about something less than insightful someone else said, I’d rather spend my time saying something insightful. Or in the absence of that, blindly yelling rage into the void until some god of some heathen realm brings me a second bloody World Series banner. But in this case, I must protest.

Post-Gazette: Forbes Field relics score rare memories

It’s a restrained but rare collection of memorabilia that celebrates the 100th anniversary of Forbes Field now on display at the Senator John Heinz History Center and Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.

From the well-preserved uniform of a Homestead Grays player to the diaries of Barney Dreyfuss, the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates and builder of the ballpark, “Forbes Field: A Century of Memories” is a microcosmic portrait of what once was Western Pennsylvania’s sports mecca.

Anne Madarasz, director of the center’s Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum, said several items, including Dreyfuss’ diary, opened to June 30, 1909, the day the park opened, have never been displayed before.

“The rarest is the Grays’ uniform,” she said. “We think it’s only one of two still in existence.” (The other is elsewhere in the museum.)

...Other first-time artifacts:

• A 1909 caricature of Barney Dreyfuss as a swashbuckler holding a Detroit Tiger by the tail. Pittsburgh defeated the Tigers in the World Series that year.

From the Bochmann Collection (my neighbor)...Forbes Field - 1945.

THT: Jaffe: The 10 worst lineups ever no-hit

Includes sweet Schneck/dreck drop.

2. Bill Stoneman vs. the New York Mets, October 2, 1972.

Remember how the 1981 Jays had the worst batting average of any team in the last 37 years? Well, the 1972 Mets were the team from 37 years ago with an even worse batting average: .225. Here’s their lineup on Bill Stoneman’s big day:

Name	          Avg
Barnes, 2B	0.236
Fregosi, 3B	0.232
Milner, LF	0.238
Kranepool, 1B   0.269
Sudakis, C	0.143
Schneck, CF	0.187
Hahn, RF	0.162
Martinez, T, SS	0.224
McAndrew, P	0.047
  

What dreck.

Please note that not only does Ed Kranepool possess the above lineup’s best batting average, but he has a lead of over 30 points on anyone else. That should never happen. I don’t care if Kranepool is the Mets’ franchise all-time leader in career games played, at-bats, plate appearances, doubles, hits, singles, and total bases, there’s still no excuse for having a lineup where no one’s within 30 points of him.

Knapp: Maris’ 61 homers before era of steroids mean HOF should finally call

With Knappster...transferring logic is a snap!

The next round of screening begins in summer 2010. If Maris couldn’t reach the finals last year, he’ll need a major attitude adjustment from the old-timers to go all the way to Cooperstown. If the dismay over the steroid scandal can be turned into anything positive, this would be it. Maris didn’t get his due in 1961 because of an expanded schedule and because of the legend of the man he was surpassing, Babe Ruth.

Some people might argue that drugs were around in Maris’ day. But even the earliest steroid users lifted weights, a practice most baseball players mocked well into the ‘70s, saying it would damage their swings. As for the amphetamines used back in that era, they might have been dangerous and foolish, but they lacked the staggering performance-enhancing powers of synthesized hormones.

Next to today’s sluggers, Maris would look like a sylph. But those 61 homers keep getting bigger all the time.

Fans can go to the Hall of Fame Web site and register their opinion about nominees. But the veterans should really see this on their own, and give Maris and the game itself a little justice.

Kurkjian: Today’s players striking out more than ever before

Thirty seasons later, Rangers first baseman Chris Davis hit the 100-strikeout mark on June 20, the earliest in history that any player has reached it. Davis won’t be alone at 100 for long, and by the end of the season, there might be 100 players with 100. Last year, 90 players struck out at least 100 times—that’s more 100-strikeout seasons than there were from 1900 to 1962 combined (80). The Nationals’ Adam Dunn was, as always, one of the 100.

“One hundred already? I’m the king, but good lord!’’ said Dunn, who had 73 on June 20. “That’s … good.’’

Ryan Zimmerman knew of Davis’ 100, looked at Dunn, laughed and said, “Are you jealous?’’

LA Times: The bible of baseball cards

Provided courtesy of Brett Gideons International:

Boyd and Harris were twentysomething baseball geeks who worked together at a Boston bookstore. The idea, Boyd remembers today, came when a customer requested a book about baseball cards and he and Harris realized that there was none. After the store manager, Richard McDonough, left to become an editor at Little, Brown, he signed the pair to write their baseball card book.

At once irreverent and nostalgic, “Great American” is a hybrid of Roger Kahn’s “The Boys of Summer” and Mad magazine. The first section is devoted to Boyd’s memories of collecting cards in the 1950s and early 1960s, at “corner stores that were never on corners. Variety stores completely lacking in variety. They were generally owned by middle-aged men with psoriasis—paunchy citizens with sallow complexions and sour outlooks, who wore plaid woolen shirts no matter how hot it was and little felt hats that had repeatedly been stepped on.”

Ex-Tiger Pudge Rodriguez on a mission to get 3,000 hits

And he’s already at exact final year Biggio-ugly level. This should be fun!

.254/.285
.251/.285

“That’s a goal,” Rodriguez said. “I’m not that far away—300-something hits away. I can do that.”

He needs 342 hits to reach 3,000. That’s a few seasons’ worth, presuming he continues to play regularly.

“A lot,” he said, asked how many more years he wants to play. “I love what I do, and if you love what you do, you play the game a long time. Physically and mentally, I feel great.”

Tigers manager Jim Leyland said: “Without a doubt, Pudge is on a mission to get 3,000 hits. It wouldn’t surprise me if he does.”

Rodriguez looks in terrific shape, as always. He is on a one-year contract with Houston. Judging by the two men he just overtook atop the list of games caught, he could play many more years.

Dodgers.com: Brooklyn Dodgers fan’s dream comes true

McCourt arranged for Pierre, 71, to fly out from New York on Friday on JetBlue so that he could take in a game at Dodger Stadium, as well as go on a special tour on Saturday with his fellow commentators on the Inside the Dodgers blog.

“It’s like a dream,” Pierre said during his tour. “It’s nice of him to do this. I don’t know how to explain this. I can never thank him enough. I’ll never forget this for the rest of my life.”

Pierre’s dream-come-true of visiting the stadium he’d seen on television so many times really started last October when one of the regular commentators on the Inside the Dodgers blog asked Dodgers vice president of communications, Josh Rawitch, who also runs the blog, if he could arrange a special stadium tour for the regulars on the site.

“I threw it out there not thinking it would ever happen,” said Mike Corrigan, who posts as “perumike.” “I just thought it would be cool to get a tour and see a game.”

“It’s great to see someone as happy as he is right now,” McCourt said. “He’s a lifelong Dodger fan, and he’s never been here before, and he said it’s like a dream come true. He got a behind-the-scenes tour and he’s watching the game and he said he’s living his dream. It’s a great statement. It’s his team. This is what it’s all about. He’s one of a legion of fans that are emotional stakeholders in the franchise and you can feel their emotion.”

Monson was impressed by McCourt offering to fly out Pierre and pay for him to stay at the Hilton Glendale for two nights as well.

“It was generous and respectful of McCourt to offer to do this,” Monson said. “This was a very class move and something he didn’t have to do.”

Kurkjian: Today’s players exceeding the 100-strikeout mark more than ever before

K as in ʞurkjian.

Forty years ago, there were 11.55 strikeouts per game. Thirty years ago, it dipped to 9.55 strikeouts per game. But in 1989, it rose to 11.23, then to 12.02 in 1999. This year, the rate is 13.63 strikeouts per game. In part this is a function of today’s swing-as-hard-as-you-can-in-case-you-hit-it mentality. Hitters today are hacking the same on 0-2 as they are on 3-0 because the game has become so tolerant of strikeouts.

“The old-time players with tell you to choke up with two strikes and put the ball in play,’’ said Red Sox manager Terry Francona. “But almost everyone in the game today can hit the ball out. The ball is harder, bats are lighter, guys are bigger, ballparks are smaller. The game has changed.’’

...Adam Dunn is a perfect example of today’s hitter. He is in his ninth season, and he has, by a healthy margin, more strikeouts than Williams and DiMaggio combined. But he also has a career on-base percentage of nearly .400 thanks to all his walks.

In 2004, he walked 108 times, but struck out 195 times. Of those, 72 were called third strikes, which means he struck out more times looking that season than Williams struck out—looking or swinging—in any season.

“It would be a lot harder to take if I didn’t get on base a lot,’’ Dunn said. “If I went to the plate and swung at the first three pitches every at-bat, I would not strike out at all, but I wouldn’t be helping my team win, either. I’ve tried to be more aggressive early in the count and eliminate strikeouts, but that didn’t go too well, either. I guess you are who you are.’’

Pleskoff: The View from Under the Big Straw Hat

Bernie Pleskoff was a Professional Scout for the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners.  He lives in Cave Creek, Arizona and writes for Rotowire.com

...People often ask me about the best baseball players I have ever seen.

...Here they are in order:

1-Roberto Clemente-pure poetry in RF for the Pirates.  He could hit for average, hit for power, run, throw with accuracy and with arm strength and field his position better than most right fielders I have ever seen.  The ball jumped off his bat.  He played with flair and the greatest of skill.  There really wasn’t anything this man couldn’t do on a baseball field.

6-Ted Williams-I did get to see Williams play at the end of his career.  He had a tremendous, very disciplined swing.  He was the supreme contact hitter with power.  Bat speed and selectivity were the keys to his success.  He got just enough loft in that swing to carry the ball over the fence.  He is best known as a great hitter, but he could really do it all.

11-Omar Vizquel- No list of mine can be complete without the name of this great defensive shortstop.  He could make plays other middle infielders only dreamed of.  My favorite?  Scooping a ball up bare handed, planting his feet and just getting the runner at first by a step.  Or how about going to the hole, planting his feet and barely getting the runner with the gun he called an arm.  And how about the way he could smoothly glide behind the second base bag and without planting his feet fire a strike to first to get the runner!  He did the same thing day after day, game after game.  Simply the best!  (Note:  Alcides Escobar of the Milwaukee organization is showing some of the same defensive qualities as Omar.  While I doubt lightning can strike again, he could be a very good shortstop).

Lives in Cave whatever is correct…

Over the line, Smokey!: Kershaw watch, part 2

Koufax as of 10/15/57, age 21y 9mo, Kershaw as of 6/26/09, age 21y 3mo.

Koufax IP 205.2 W 09 L 10 H 182 ER 91 K 182 BB 108
KershawIP 190.1 W 10 L 10 H 171 ER 85 K 183 BB 99

Koufax ERA=3.99, WHIP=1.41, K/9 innings=8.0
KershawERA=4.01, WHIP=1.42, K/9 innings=8.7

If you don’t think that’s spooky, you’re not paying attention.

In other Dodgers news, Cory Wade was optioned to Triple-A to allow Eric Milton to start on Sat.