Townsend: Troy Tulowitzki denies accusing Madison Bumgarner of doctoring baseballs

That brings us to Coors Field on Friday night. For a few seconds it seemed like we may have been headed towards that inevitable flare up. It happened in the third inning with Troy Tulowitzki running on first base, D.J. LeMahieu at the plate, and Madison Bumgarner pitching. As it’s being reported, Tulowitzki asked first base umpire Tim McClelland to check the baseball. McClelland complied, stopping play to give it a once over before tossing it out of play.

Bumgarner had the outward reaction you’d expect. He didn’t appear pleased by the stoppage or the insinuation, and even directed some words in Tulowitzki’s direction, but it didn’t go beyond those words. That left many of us wondering what exactly the situation was. Had Tulowitzki played the gamesmanship card himself? Did he think something shady was going on? What did McClelland find, if anything?

Andrew Baggerly of Comcast Sports Net San Francisco has some of the answers. At least the ones straight from the players.

  “I wasn’t accusing him at all,” Tulowitzki said. “I have too much respect for him to do something like that. I didn’t think they were cheating.”

  Tulowitzki said he noticed the mark and pointed it out to umpire Tim McClelland, only to suggest that they put a fresh one into play.

  “You respect the game and there’s something on the baseball, so let’s get rid of it and move on,” Tulowitzki said. “You respect guys who compete. I have respect for him and hopefully he has the same for me.”

Kettmann: The S.F. Interview: Bruce Bochy

Ever since Michael Lewis’s Moneyball came out in 2003, there’s been this conception that baseball managers’ hunches and instincts don’t matter that much. But it seems to me that in your managing during last year’s postseason, you were definitely following a few hunches, weren’t you?

Sure. [Laughs] All the information you can get, it’s critical to your decision making. We have great advance scouts and an operations staff who really do a tremendous job of helping me. But at the same time, when you’re watching a game, you’ve gotta go with your instincts at times. There are times when these players have to know that you have trust and confidence in them. If it doesn’t work out, at least you can say, “You know what, I did it my way. That move didn’t work out, but I still believe that it was the way to go.”

So, basically, you take in as much information as you can from all your years of observing baseball, plus every statistic that you can get your hands on, but in the end, you still go with your gut?

My style is, I watch the game. You don’t see me writing down a lot of things or having to look down at stats. They’re important, but there are some things that you can’t see on a spreadsheet. How a player is performing at that time, the confidence he’s playing with. Or take it the other way: He’s really going through a difficult time, and he’s not comfortable at the plate or on the mound, or he’s not quite there with his delivery. All these things, they play a part in any move that you make, and that’s why you have to trust your gut, your instincts.

Thanks to Butch.

Murphy: Tim Lincecum Looks Like Tim Lincecum In Win Over Padres

The pitching motion isn’t what’s going to cause Tim Lincecum to break down as the scouts once feared. It’s age that’s going to cause the pitching motion to break down and that’s going to lead to Terrible Tim Lincecum. In the meantime, maybe in the death throws of his youth, we’ll see glimpses of The Freak we all remember.

Wow, this sounds like a eulogy when it couldn’t be further from the truth. Tim Lincecum remains a good pitcher. He was a great pitcher tonight. The Giants won the game in classic AT&T Park fashion. EVERYTHING IS FINE AND GREAT.

...It’s one game, so, it doesn’t really make much sense to say that the personal catcher arrangement Lincecum has with Bochy for Hector Sanchez should be tossed out the window, but I will say that the speculation about Tim Lincecum’s success in the postseason might also be true of why working with Posey could lead to more (sigh) consistency for Lincecum. In short: he’s on his toes. He’s *un*comfortable. Maybe it’s discomfort that brings out the best in Lincecum. Maybe a little anxiety causes him to focus more on the task at hand. Extreme weather is a physical thing, so, I don’t lump “Tim can’t pitch in the heat!” with this psychobabble. I’m not even sure the psychobabble stuff makes sense, but there was something to Tim not having time to think about his next start and just getting thrown into the middle of a game that might’ve brought out an edge in him that he needed to compensate for diminished skills.

Tim Lincecum has always been considered unconventional, from his personality to his pitching motion. The conventional wisdom is that pitchers rely on routine and certainty to bring out the best in them. Maybe Lincecum works in reverse.

Thanks to Mohl.

Wife of Willie Mays, Mae Louise Allen Mays, dies at 74

Baseball legend Willie Mays and the San Francisco Giants announced that Mae Louise Allen Mays, Willie’s wife of 41 years, passed away peacefully in her sleep Friday morning in the couple’s Bay Area home after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 74-years-old.

Mae and Willie were married in November, 1971. Late in life, Mae waged a 16-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She remained in their family home with Willie until her death.

“Mae died peacefully and without pain,” Mays’ family attorney Malcolm Heinicke said. “Willie is now grieving the loss of his beautiful wife of more than four decades, but he is staying strong by remembering all of the many experiences they enjoyed together.

“Willie appreciates all of the well wishes of his friends and fans during this difficult time.”

Mercury News: MLB Commissioner Bud Selig rebuffs San Jose mayor’s meeting request

SAN JOSE—Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has brushed back San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed’s formal request last week for a personal meeting to resolve issues holding up the Oakland A’s desired move to his city.

And Selig in his April 4 response added that Reed’s reference in an April 2 letter to “additional litigation” over the proposed A’s move “is neither productive nor consistent with process that the Athletics have initiated under our rules.”

Selig wrote that the committee he appointed more than four years ago to study the A’s plan for a downtown San Jose ballpark has been in “frequent contact” with the city.

“If you believe there is additional information that Major League Baseball should consider in completing its assessment,” Selig wrote, “the best way to proceed at this time continues to be for you to contact Robert Starkey or other members of the committee.”

Reed said Wednesday that he would follow the commissioner’s suggestion to set up a meeting with Starkey, a sports consultant and former accountant who had worked with Selig on stadium issues for the Minnesota Twins. Reed called it encouraging to get a response from the commissioner.

“It’s movement, it’s a little something,” Reed said. “I’d just like to have that conversation. What are the problems?”

The Baseball Show with Rany and Joe - 4/2/13

Now sponsored by Baseball-Reference.com’s Play Index!

- Joe is a character in the new MLB: The Show video game.  (So is Aaron Gleeman, BTW.)  Since Joe isn’t a video game player, he doesn’t really know the details, but he’s happy.

- Playoff predictions:
Rany: TOR, DET, LAA, TB (wild card), TEX (wild card), WAS, CIN, ARI, ATL (wild card), STL (wild card); play-ins: TB d. TEX, ATL d. STL; World Series: WAS d. TOR
Joe: TB, DET, TEX, TOR (wild card), LAA (wild card), WAS, CIN, SD, SF (wild card), ATL (wild card); play-ins: TOR d. LAA, ATL d. SF; LCS: TB d. TEX, WAS d. CIN; World Series: WAS d. TB

- Award predictions:
AL MVP: Rany: Mike Trout (LAA), Joe: Evan Longoria (TB)
AL Cy: Rany: Justin Verlander (DET), Joe: Felix Hernandez (SEA)
AL Rookie: Rany & Joe: Wil Myers (TB)
AL Manager: Rany: Jim Leyland (DET), Joe: Joe Maddon (TB)
NL MVP: Rany: Joey Votto (CIN), Joe: Bryce Harper (WAS)
NL Cy: Rany & Joe: Stephen Strasburg (WAS)
NL Rookie: Rany: Julio Teheran (ATL), Joe: Kolten Wong (STL)
NL Manager: Rany: Davey Johnson (WAS), Joe: Bud Black (SD)

Joe sings an Animotion parody.

- Justin Verlander extension: Joe doesn’t like it because in the two years between now and the time the extension kicks in, there’s too much risk of injury.  He likes the Adam Wainwright extension better because it’s only one year forward.  Rany speculates that Verlander’s ability to “dial it up” within a game indicates that he isn’t a “max effort” pitcher and thus is less likely to be injured.  Joe thinks that makes a lot of sense, but points out that there have been logical arguments why previous pitchers with solid health records would keep it up, yet they then proceeded to get hurt anyway.  Joe compares late-era Bill James to late-era Gary Busey.

- Buster Posey extension: Joe thinks that the Giants “bought high” on Posey, paying him as if he will consistently repeat 2012, which is very unlikely.  Rany thinks Posey is worth the money - “given where offensive numbers have dropped, [Posey] is very, very close to Mike Piazza as a hitter, and better as a catcher.”  Joe clarifies that he likes it better than the Verlander deal, but does feel that the Giants overpaid.

- Ned Yost’s managing: Joe criticizes Yost’s decision not to pinch-hit George Kottaras for Jeff Francoeur against closer Addison Reed on Opening Day.  Rany doesn’t like it either, but points out that most current managers also wouldn’t have pinch-hit with their sole backup catcher.  Rany: “The state of managing in baseball, overall, generally sucks.”

Swartz: San Francisco Giants ride Techball to the top

Before anything…they should secure the goofy Techball rights from Scirra Arcade.

The Giants are more circumspect about their use on tech on the baseball side, where teams are fiercely secretive to gain a competitive edge. Assistant General Manager Bobby Evansoffers that the team contracts more than 10 firms — among them, Inside Edge and Sportvision — for the best available data, video and technology. The team was the first to use FieldF/X, a system within ballparks that captures defensive data.

Within the organization, there are three programmers who maintain the baseball information systems and two analytics experts.

“The baseball side is different,” Evans says. “You can use technology in a unique way to market a team in San Francisco, but you don’t want to openly share what you do on the field against 29 other teams. We don’t know how other teams are using technology, so it would be presumptuous for us to say what we do is unique.”

Before games, coaches, players and staff pore over video and charts to analyze the performance of pitchers and hitters. The team’s proximity to Silicon Valley has afforded it the ability to get an early look at services that assiduously use reams of data to study hitting mechanics, based on video; fielding range, through the use of charts; a breakdown of every pitch thrown during a game; and players’ effectiveness when hurt.

“We’re in many businesses — baseball, which is No. 1, content, technology, customer-service, community and entertainment,” Giants CEO Larry Baer says. “And we have to be good at all of them to succeed.”

Succeed, they have, with a blend of baseball smarts and tech that ranks the team among the most popular in baseball on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+. Plus, there are those two gleaming trophies from title teams in 2010 and 2012.

This clearly isn’t for show, even though the team is nestled near the heart of tech’s heartland. The Giants want to create a global brand, pump up revenue and continue to hoist championship flags.

Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants agree to 9-year contract

Buster Posey and Justin Verlander could team up to buy the Royals!

At 26 years old, Buster Posey already is a two-time World Series champion and the National League’s Most Valuable Player. Now he could be a Giant for life.

Posey and the Giants agreed to a nine-year contract on Friday, one that covers his three remaining arbitration years and buys out his first five years of free agency. The deal includes an option for 2022.
Posey had previously signed a one-year, $8 million deal to avoid arbitration and wasn’t eligible to be a free agent until after the 2016 season. But the Giants have spent much of spring training quietly negotiating with Posey’s agent, Jeff Berry, in an effort to lock the franchise catcher into a long-term deal.

Passan: Pablo Sandoval gives himself two seasons before he’s forced to confront weight issues

I like food, food tastes good!
I like food, food tastes good!
Juicy burgers, greasy fries,
Turkey legs and mom’s arepas

Sandoval recognizes and acknowledges all of these things as truth, and it’s why as he nurses another injury – this an irritated ulnar nerve threatening to keep him out opening day after back-to-back seasons in which he missed at least 45 games – he knows he must adapt.

Just not yet.

“I’ve got this year and next year to change all the things,” Sandoval said. “It’s going to take me a while, but I can do it. I know I can do it.

“You need to learn. You need to grow up. You need to step up and know the difference between what you can do and what you can’t.”

...At some point, the reasoning goes, his lack of conditioning will catch up. Sandoval thinks it’s at 30 years old, when his metabolism may go to hell and send him up toward three bills. And it’s why he’s giving himself two years. He turns 27 in August and wants to allow a grace period for slip-ups, as all attempts at resolutions in the past – who can forget Operation Panda? – ended back where they began.

“It’s part of my job,” Sandoval said. “People want to help me. They want the best for me. I always say thank you to people when they try that. I never get mad. I never get pissed. It’s one of the things they’re doing to help me to be in the big leagues.

“It is difficult. You’ve got a lot of things outside the field. But you need to learn and understand things you can do.”

Tim Lincecum’s struggles continue as his spring ERA creeps into double digits

Level

It would have put to rest so many questions if Tim Lincecum had just come out and had a strong spring. Not even a dominating spring or a return-to-Cy-Young-form spring.

Just a promising one. Just good enough that the San Francisco Giants could say, “OK, there’s some of the old Tim Lincecum we used to know. That’s one thing we don’t have to worry about right now.”

That hasn’t happened this spring and it definitely didn’t happen Saturday, as Lincecum struggled in three innings against the Oakland Athletics. Before Saturday’s start, Lincecum had given up eight runs in 7 2/3 innings. A blister on his middle finger caused him to miss two starts.

Things didn’t get better against the A’s. Lincecum gave up five run on six hits and three walks, taking the L in the Giants’ 12-5 defeat. His spring ERA? It’s in the double digits — 10.97.

Most of carnage was his own fault. Lincecum got too deep into counts and lacked command.

“Some good moments,” Lincecum said, “and some pretty bad ones. Letting batters get away and not finishing guys off. That’s a little rough. Outside of that, I had the strikeouts. Stuff was moving around pretty well. It just goes back to location.”

Edgar Renteria officially retires from baseball

Not a kid anymore: Edgar’s winter.

Longtime major-league shortstop Edgar Renteria officially announced his retirement from baseball on Thursday, he told RCN Television in his native Colombia.

  “I’m definitely retired from baseball and it will soon be announced in the majors,” Renteria said, according to a rough translation of his comments at CBS Sports. “I decided to retire from baseball and try to spend all my time with my family.

  “I always wanted Colombia to know before the rest of the world. This is my official retirement,” he added. “I feel proud, I feel satisfied with what I did, my heart is telling me that’s enough and it’s time to retire. You have to know when to retire and that’s why I took a year and a half to rest and think about what I was going to do. This is the right time.”

Renteria hasn’t played in the majors since 2011, when he appeared in 96 games with the Cincinnati Reds. The 36-year-old won two World Series titles — and two World Series MVP awards.

SF Gate: Baseball struggles to reach black America

But the push to bring baseball to all corners of the globe comes as one of the sport’s key demographics continues to vanish right here at home.

For the first time in memory, the Giants, reigning champions, have no African American players in camp this spring. It’s a stunning development on a team whose history is molded by Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, Frank Robinson and Dusty Baker [...]

MLB’s Urban Youth Academy is designed to support those who want to go further in the sport, providing year-round instruction and educational programs for young baseball and softball players.

There are seven academies in place and plans to expand throughout the league. The longest-running program is in Compton (Los Angeles County), and according to Darrell Miller, MLB’s vice president of youth and facility development, the academies have served more than 10,000 kids in seven years and more than 100 of those have been drafted.

“Most kids who are playing at a higher level are in travel ball, paying to play and paying for instruction,” Miller said. “But a lot of kids can’t afford that kind of support. We try to give kids more opportunity.”

The forces at work against minority players are numerous, from the high cost of travel ball programs - the primary platforms where young players can be noticed - to the lack of college scholarships.

Under NCAA rules, Division I baseball programs are allowed 11.7 scholarships to divide among a roster of about 35 players. In contrast, football offers 85 full scholarships for a roster of 70 and basketball offers 13 full scholarships for a roster of 15.

While football and basketball players are guaranteed full rides, a player opting for baseball will still be stuck with most of an enormous tuition bill or have to enter the general financial aid pool.

Zohn: Chili Davis, baseball and wine

“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any ####### Merlot!”

Here’s how it all started. Oh, I’ll let Davis tell it:

“I always drank like white wines, chardonnay. When I look back, Mike Krukow was the guy who initially got me interested in red wine. I’d gone to his home for dinner. He and his wife cooked a nice meal and had a bottle, I think it was either a Grgich or J. Lohr cab. I remember saying, ‘Krukie, I’m not a red wine drinker. You got any white wine?’

“He goes, ‘Hey, big boy, you’re not a red wine drinker because you haven’t had good red wine. Taste this.’

“And I drank it. It didn’t have that tart, kind of bitter finish I was used to in the cheap red wines I’d tasted. It had a smooth long finish to it. And it was just nice, velvety.”

...“I think I have, for the last year or so, one or two glasses of wine every night,” he said. “I don’t overdo it. I don’t allow anyone to overdo it. Sometimes, people want me to open one more bottle and I say, ‘This is enough.’

“You don’t drink wine to get drunk. You drink wine to socialize. You drink it with meals. It’s not to be abused. It’s a sipping thing. It’s not something to pound.”

I looked at him. I smiled. “Imagine you and I talking about wine,” I said. He smiled back, a smile that drew me back three decades.

And I thought, with some emotion: Life improves with age — what am I searching for here? — like a good merlot. Except, I don’t like merlot.

Scott Proctor whose career detoured through a bottle, seeks SF Giants job

The right-hander is a recovering alcoholic who said he has been sober for four years and sees his career and life on an upswing. In two Cactus League games for the Giants he has faced eight batters and allowed no hits, with one walk.

The popular narrative of Proctor’s downfall as a pitcher held that his arm blew out because Yankees manager Joe Torre overused him in 2006 and 2007. He pitched in 83 games both year, including 31 for the Dodgers after a midseason trade in 2007.

Proctor tells a different story.

“I think some things that happened and some poor choices on how I lived my life led to it more than anything,” he said.

Part of that was not eating right or sleeping enough, the basics of being a good athlete, but that was not the killer. He said he had a “serious drinking problem,” a binge drinker who stopped when he ran out of booze or passed out.

His teammates saw it. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera was not shy about telling Proctor he needed to stop. In 2009, he said, he did stop while rehabbing after Tommy John surgery.

“Mariano had been on me a long time about just making wiser choices,” Proctor said. “Then I had a bullpen coach, Steve Foster, a really good Christian guy who tried to help me make a change in my life, and thank goodness I’m married to a great woman (Carrie) who has been supportive throughout my career, through the good and bad, and I owe a lot to her.”

Thanks to Phil.

Musmeci: Melky Cabrera Doesn’t Deserve a World Series Ring

No Melky ring today, my love has gone away!

I am a fan of the team and will cheer for anyone on the roster.  For the past three seasons, management has put on the field a team that brought the first two World Series Championships in the San Francisco Giants era.

But as of today, I am mad at the San Francisco Giants.

...I’m mad at the Giants for not taking a stand against giving Cabrera a ring.  If he did not get a ring, what’s Melky going to do?  Complain?  If he complains, the fresh-start he’s been given by the Toronto Blue Jays would start off in a negative fashion – not exactly the quiet start he wants.  Are the Giants afraid of the MLB Players Association filing a grievance?  I think there’s more than enough evidence to support the team’s desire not to give him a ring.

When there is a reunion of the 2012 World Series Champions in the year 2022, will Cabrera be invited?  I can go on record and say absolutely NOT.  So if he’s not even welcome at an reunion game, he shouldn’t bear the ring of a miracle season that he was only a minor part of … not to mention it was all illegal in baseball terms.

In a bit of good news, NO MORE “MELK-MAN” OUTFITS.

That alone may deserving of a ring.

Alfonso Soriano willing to accept trade

Wait….I had something for this.

Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano told reporters on Monday that he’d accept a trade to “six or seven” other teams (ESPN Chicago).

As Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune reminds us, Soriano last year had the chance to approve a trade to the Giants, eventual winners of belt and title, but opted not to do so. This time around, Soriano adds that he’d give the go-ahead for a team in the “east or center,” so perhaps nothing’s changed when it comes to his willingness to be shipped out west.

In any event, Soriano’s no-trade clause is just one obstacle to dealing him. The fact that he’ll make $18 million in each of the next two seasons is also a notable impediment. Unless the Cubs are willing to throw in towering stack of bills—marked or unmarked—it’s going to be impossible to trade Soriano. The near-deal with San Francisco, of course, suggests the Cubs are indeed willing.

Dodger’s praise warms Brandon Crawford’s heart

Damn. Now I have to take a break from a Whorish Boorish fest to find all these Minor League levels that Brandon Crawford says he hit at.

Of all the compliments Brandon Crawford heard last year, this one struck the sweetest chord.

“I’m prepared to say with confidence that Brandon Crawford is the best defensive shortstop in baseball. His combination of instincts, hands and arm strength separates him from the rest.”

Any Giant could have said it, but none did.

It was a Dodger, catcher A.J. Ellis, in one of the daily World Series analyses he wrote for the Los Angeles Times.

...Crawford hit .285 with 10 extra-base hits in 130 at-bats over the final two months of the season after many months of trial-and-error adjustments to find the right stance and approach.

He believes he has not reached his ceiling, saying, “I’ve hit at pretty much every level. Hopefully I’ll get enough hits this year that it won’t matter that I miss one base - that I supposedly miss one base.”

Giants’ Brandon Belt says Dodgers ‘can’t buy chemistry’

Whoa! This belt buckle is bigger than the one worn by faux hippie Scott Muni when he paunchingly visited our HS!

Oh, it’s on now.

OK, maybe the rivalry between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers goes back a little further, like to when they all played in New York City. Regardless, Giants slugger Brandon Belt pumped it up a little by saying what’s been on a lot of people’s minds as new Dodgers ownership has added salary this offseason. L.A. is looking at a 123 percent-plus increase in payroll, you know.

Reporter Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area, shadowing the Giants as usual during the team’s fan fest over the weekend, jotted down the key quote:

  When Belt was asked about the free-spending Los Angeles Dodgers, he replied, to a thunderous ovation, “All I can say is, you can’t buy chemistry.”

  That statement will be sure to end up on a few blue bulletin boards.

Jon Bois: Superlatives for the most ridiculous Costacos Brothers sports posters

LEAST INTERESTING POSSIBLE CONSTELLATION

A face appeared in the heavens. “BEHOLD!” it said. The people of the world stared and trembled. “I AM PETE HARNISCH!” it bellowed. The people of the world said, “oh,” and went back to whatever they were doing.

Tim Lincecum has nwe haircut, attitude

A young philosophy professor? A high-tech hipster nerd?

Elvis Costello? Mr. Peabody’s friend Sherman?

That was Friday’s fun question: Who did Tim Lincecum look like with his new short hair and faux glasses?

Angel Villalona Gets Visa, Will Be In Giants Big League Camp

Villalona had been charged with the September 2009 murder of 25-year-old Mario Felix de Jesus Velete in the Dominican Republic at a bar in La Romana, where Villalona is from. Villalona eventually settled with de Jesus Velete’s family, reportedly for around $139,000. A prosecutor was planning to move forward with the case, but the charges were dropped.

Bill James Mailbag - 2/6/13

And what better day for it than the Babe’s birthday, pt. 2…

At the time Babe Ruth allegedly corked his bat, was that against the rules?

Yes.  And he didn’t “allegedly” cork his bat; he was caught using a bat glued together from three pieces of wood.  Sisler and Kenny Williams were caught with funny bats at about the same time.

Are NFL offensive linemen the only subgroup of players in the big 4 sports for which POSITIVE statistics aren’t kept? Or is there some statistic of measurement used for offensive linemen that i’m not aware of? I’m thinking that all other the other players in the NFL have some stats kept on them; same for all of MLB, NBA, and NHL players, right? Just curious.

It’s a good question.  Do they keep stats in hockey?

Regarding the question about Malcolm Gladwell and authors you like, recently I have been reading Noam Chomsky, and I have to say his style reminds me a lot of your style. And for this reason I find it very enjoyable, even though I disagree with nearly every single thing the man says. But he explains his points in bracingly clear prose, like you do.

Thanks, Jules.  I always enjoy being compared to a raving lunatic.

I recently moved to the SF Bay Area and have been told several times by old Giant fans that Willie Mays would purposely stop at first base on a sure double in order to have McCovey bat with a runner on first. Could this be true? Mays taking himself out of scoring position?

You know, I’ve read that.  I doubt that it is true… I would suppose that what happened is that Mays, in some situation, turned down an effort to make a double because it was kind of a breakeven gamble, and then EXPLAINED what he had done by saying that he wanted to keep the hole for McCovey.  Looked at in that way, it actually reflects extremely sophisticated on-field decision making from Mays:  That, in calculating whether to push the gamble of trying for a double, he adjusted his calculations to include the fact that even if he succeeded, he would be closing the hole for McCovey.  Mays was an extremely sophisticated player in those ways, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he DID do that.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-31-2013

On page fourteen of the linked newspaper, Milwaukee Journal, January 31, 1913:

There was much lifting of eyebrows and quiet speculation today as to just how the Giants will look when they step on to the Polo grounds wearing violet uniforms.

Frequenters of Broadway concluded Johnny McGraw’s crew would be about the sweetest looking bunch of men on any diamond. The manager of the Giants asked what were the colors of New York university, and when a friend told him violet, he said:

“That sounds good to me. Violet it is. Violet stockings, belt, caps, and, maybe, violet shoes.”

I don’t really care for purple uniforms, but these are actually kind of sweet.

Giants: Sandoval hospitalized with abdominal inflammation

Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval remained hospitalized Thursday in Venezuela with abdominal inflammation but was expected to be released in 24 to 48 hours.

Manolo Hernandez-Douen, who writes the blog Beisbol Por Gotas, reported that the Navegantes del Magallanes, the Venezuelan Winter League team for which Sandoval has played part of the season, announced that the 26-year-old was hospitalized with stomach pains Wednesday.

Doctors examined Sandoval and found no physical complications, said the ballclub, which also issued the estimated stretch of time regarding Sandoval’s likely release from the hospital.

Magallanes is currently with four other teams for the Venezuelan Winter League title in a five-team round-robin competition.

Thanks to Nestor.

A Portrait of Kenny as a Young Hooper

The Wildcats celebrated their coming out party [the Great Alaska Shooutout championship] with a good old-fashioned snowball fight, and Lofton played a starring role in that battle, too. “Basically, it was Kenny versus the rest of us because he had such a ridiculous arm. He was throwing snowballs like 100 miles per hour, just knocking guys off their feet,” Mason Jr. remembers. “Afterwards, we said to him, ‘Man, you should play baseball.’”

He listened.