Does anyone know the origin of the term "clutch"?

Does anyone know the origin of the term "clutch"?

Didn't Thorn discover that the first reference was June 26, 1974 on some yellowing papers signed by Charles and Dorothy Jeter at Pequannock Hospital?

Ted Lilly and the Pharmacists

I prefer Lilly Allen, myself.

Looking at the Tigers schedule, I think they have an excellent shot April 24 against Texas to get a win. The Rangers are scrappy, but still young and inconsistent. The Tigers also have San Fran on June 16. Its a road game, but the Giants are pretty awful. The Tigers might actually win two games there.

So I don't think there's a very good chance of them going 0-162.

So I don't think there's a very good chance of them going 0-162.

Something tells me the Tigers won't be using that as their slogan any time in the future.

Does anyone know the origin of the term "clutch"?

If anyone has Dickson's Baseball Dictionary handy the answer is in there somewhere. I may go home at lunch and check it out.

McGee vs Volstad tonight. Section 210.

-- MWE

"McGee vs Volstad tonight. Section 210."

Give us a scouting report tomorrow?

Give us a scouting report tomorrow?

Could be.

-- MWE

McGee vs Volstad

Wasn't that the case that led to the repeal of Prohibition?

Does anyone know the origin of the term "clutch"?

Merriam-Webster gives 1944 as the first appearance of the adjective, but unhelpfully does not give a quotation. OED doesn't give the sport-related sense at all.

Ted Lilly and the Pharmacists

So if he beat the Brewers, would he "Shake The Sheets"?

Paul, I'm not hip enough to know stuff like that. I've just been hearing alot of ads for the Pearl Jam tour and he's the opening act.

"Could be."

Sweet. I trust your opinion at least as much as any pro prospect guru's.

I posted this in another thread:
Does anyone know a good book about Bobby Bonds? I read Pearlman's book on Barry, in which the author rips Bobby for many things, but especially for his drinking. I was looking at Bobby's stats yesterday and was stunned that he could put up those numbers if he was drinking as much as Pearlman indicated.

Ted Leo puts on a ridiculously good live show. Highly, highly recommended. Although I could really do without Pearl Jam, so I'm not going to go see him on this tour. *ducks in preparation for attack from Pearl Jam fans*

So if he beat the Brewers, would he "Shake The Sheets"?

Yep, and if he beats the A's, he breaks the Hearts Of Oakland.

Nomar Garciaparra/Me And Mia joke in 3...2...1...

Paul, I'm not hip enough to know stuff like that. I've just been hearing alot of ads for the Pearl Jam tour and he's the opening act.

That reference did seem like it was a bit out of your comfort zone.

Trivia:

I noticed this last night when looking for the worst hitting teams ever.

There might be several, but...name a player who was a starter ("starter" by BB-ref's definition; got the plurality of time at his position) for two different expansion teams in their first year of existence. I know of one.

Godspeed to Doug Davis. Although, I'm a little bit upset that I found out he was 32 (!!!), which means I'm older than he is (which I hadn't realized before).

I am thinking about going to the FSU-Boston College series this weekend. Any players on FSU I should pay attention to? Which game of the series would be the best starting pitchers matchup?

There might be several, but...name a player who was a starter ("starter" by BB-ref's definition; got the plurality of time at his position) for two different expansion teams in their first year of existence. I know of one.

Chris Cannizzaro, 1962 Mets (59 games only though) and 1969 Padres.

Quenton McCracken?

("starter" by BB-ref's definition; got the plurality of time at his position)

How does this apply to pitchers? I think there has to be a different criteria for them. And don't get off track like I did because there's a different meaning of "starter" for a pitcher.

That criterion aside, the same starting pitcher not only played for two different expansion teams in their first year of existence, he started the first game of each team's existence, and both teams were from the same city.

Diego Segui, '69 Pilots and '77 Mariners

I've really been disappointed with BP's content since opening day.

Any players on FSU I should pay attention to?

Buster Posey (C) and Tony Delmonico (SS). Both are probable high-round picks in 2008. Posey is the best player (he's played SS in the past); he runs well, and he also pitches (4 SV in 5 appearances this year). Jack Rye (OF) and Dennis Guinn (1B) are also having good seasons, but neither projects as a high pick.

FSU is ranked either #1 or #2 (behind arch-nemesis Miami) in most of the rankings.

As far as pitching matchups go: sophomore lefty Matt Fairel has been outstanding this year, moving ahead of junior transfer Elih Villanueva in the pecking order. Freshman Geoff Parker appears to have taken over as the Saturday starter, replacing senior Ryan Strauss. Fairel vs Terry Doyle on Friday is probably the best matchup.

-- MWE

Quinton McCracken didn't play a big role for the Rockies until 1996. He was indeed a starter for the '98 Devil Rays, though.

Cannizzaro is the one I was thinking of.

Any more?

Godspeed to Doug Davis. Although, I'm a little bit upset that I found out he was 32 (!!!), which means I'm older than he is (which I hadn't realized before).

Yeah, I just found out this morning that he has thyroid cancer. How long has that been public? My wife's been dealing with thyroid cancer for a few months now...she's had two surgeries and has radiation coming up, but the prognosis is really, really good.

I hope things work out for Davis as well as they've worked out for us. So far, it hasn't seriously impacted our lives, other than having that scary C word looming over us.

There might be several, but...name a player who was a starter ("starter" by BB-ref's definition; got the plurality of time at his position) for two different expansion teams in their first year of existence. I know of one.

Worth mentioning: While he didn't play a game for one of them, Lou Pinella was on the roster of two first year teams in the same season (started in Seattle, traded to KC).

Ah, I've got one:

Ron Fairly was traded to Montreal in 1969 and started a majority of games for the rest of the season (70 out of about 110). In 1977, he was Toronto's DH.

Oh yes, Sweet Lou is another interesting case.

I'd like to know what palayer has been on the active roster of the most expansion teams in their first year.

I'd like to know what palayer has been on the active roster of the most expansion teams in their first year.

Here's an interesting one, Freddie Velazquez.

Purchased by San Diego in 1968 (prior to their first year). A couple of months later, Rule 5 drafted to Seattle. A year later Rule 5 drafted to Montreal a year later (after the '69 season). So between the end of the 1968 season and the start of the 1970 season, he was on the roster of 3 1969 expansion teams.

Has anyone yet been a player for all four 90's expansion teams?

I count Quinton McCracken, Charles Johnson, Dan Miceli, Matt "Often confused with Dan Miceli" Herges, and the late Joe Kennedy as playing for three of the four.

I like the idea of going to Pitt baseball games, and have been to three already in three years, but they've all been randomly chosen.

I know the Big East is not a hotbed of prospects, but of the upcoming home games (vs. St. John's, Georgetown, Cleveland State, Central Michigan, Coppin State (the latter two in some sort of 3-way meet situation), Akron, and UConn), which would be the most interesting? No home games against Notre Dame this year.

Has anyone yet been a player for all four 90's expansion teams?

Jason Smith played for Tampa Bay, Colorado, and played four games with Arizona.

Others with three of the four: Bobby Witt, Damion Easley, Craig Counsell, Lenny Harris, Jorge Julio, Greg Colbrunn, Mike Myers, BH Kim, Vlad Nunez

Doesn't look like anyone has ever played for all four of the 1969 Expansion teams.

of course, BH Kim played for the Rockies, Marlins and Dbacks all in just last year! Come on, Rays, he's a free agent! What do you have to lose!

Doesn't look like anyone has ever played for all four of the 1969 Expansion teams.

Trivia question that I suspect will be pretty easy for many of you: What Hall-of-Famer played for the first four expansion teams and no other franchises in his career?

which would be the most interesting?

Of the MAC teams, Central Michigan is probably the best. Won the MAC West last year, picked to win it again this year. Cleveland State is pretty awful - lost 44 games last year and picked next-to-last in the Horizon League.

I know nothing about the Big East or Coppin State.

Trivia question that I suspect will be pretty easy for many of you: What Hall-of-Famer played for the first four expansion teams and no other franchises in his career?

Nolan Ryan.

AG#1F: Correct

"I know the Big East is not a hotbed of prospects, but of the upcoming home games (vs. St. John's, Georgetown, Cleveland State, Central Michigan, Coppin State (the latter two in some sort of 3-way meet situation), Akron, and UConn), which would be the most interesting? No home games against Notre Dame this year."

Go to the St Johns series. Thats probably the best team in the Big East this year and they usually have a few guys drafted too. Too bad Louisville, a World Series team last year, already came to town. Cincy would be a fun team to watch, with much improved pitching this year, a couple speedster IFs and toolsy, slugging OF Cameron Satterwhite but that is on the road.
Notre Dame is solid but not great this year., they have had a weird year.
They are 17-9 but somehow lost to Albany, Tex A/M-Corp Christi, UT-Pan Am, Liberty and Lehigh.
If they had won the cupcake games like they should have they might be having an excellent year.
They are the most consistent program in the Big East and usually one of the most talented too.

Coppin State is one of the worst teams to ever play college baseball.
They made news by not only setting an NCAA record for longest losing streak in history last year but they were never even close in their games. Their pitchers all had double digit ERAs and wih one or two exceptions their hitters all hit under .200.
They snapped that streak this year by scheduling two games against an even worse team, startup team NC Central

Jose Guillen played for Tampa and Arizona and 5 minor league games for Colorado.

Joe Kennedy also played for those three teams.

"Of the MAC teams, Central Michigan is probably the best. Won the MAC West last year, picked to win it again this year. Cleveland State is pretty awful - lost 44 games last year and picked next-to-last in the Horizon League."

CMU is one of the best programs in the MAC, an underrated conference IMO, but they are underachiving a little this year. They lost to South Utah, a crap Cleve St team, ND St and 14-1 to Vermont.

Their bats have slipped a little this year but they are really being affected by the loss of pitching depth from last year with Collmenter going pro and Chris Richard (the best arm on the team) transferring. They still have some players though and would be a decent team to watch play.
Hoorelbeke has a couple slugging brothers in the minors and can hit the long ball himself and OF Tyler Stovall is a pretty good all around player. They still have 3 or 4 good pitchers but, like most smaller programs, they lack of good pitching behind that is killing them.

Ball State, usually one of the top teams in the conference, is once again back at the top of the pack but with more hitting and less pitching than they usually have

One my fav MAC teams, Miami(OH), has gone to the crapper since coach Tracy Smith left for Indiana. He did a supberb job of developing pitching.

Kent State might be the most talented team in the MAC but is realllllly struggling.
Stallings, Kyle Smith and Cris Carpenter are all athletic, pro-caliber arms but are not pitching well. Their freshman OF Olbyrchowski (or something) is a pretty good all around ballplayer

Does anyone know the origin of the term "clutch"?

According to Dickson, it came from an article about Gabby Hartnett in Colliers back in the late '30s.

Thanks, Jon. You're a good man in spite all of the awful things I've said about you.

There might be several, but...name a player who was a starter ("starter" by BB-ref's definition; got the plurality of time at his position) for two different expansion teams in their first year of existence.

Jack Manning:

1876 Boston
1883 Philadelphia

Bob Ferguson started for three, one of which (Philly) survived.

Fred Lewis did it for two teams in one year - Philly & St Louis.

Trivia question that I suspect will be pretty easy for many of you: What Hall-of-Famer played for the first four expansion teams and no other franchises in his career?

This doesn't answer your question, but I thought it impressive that until 2005, Randy Johnson played for four different expansion teams, all with different starting years.

Expos 1969
Mariners 1977
Astros 1962
Diamondbacks 1998

Now, if he'd only played for Florida or Colorado those two years.