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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Primer Dugout 2-12-09

Happy Birthday to Chick Hafey.

Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: February 12, 2009 at 01:29 PM | 60 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: dugout

Reader Comments and Retorts

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1. Gamingboy Posted: February 12, 2009 at 02:43 PM (#3075368)

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT

That is all.

2. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: February 12, 2009 at 03:35 PM (#3075427)

HOORAY!

3. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: February 12, 2009 at 04:30 PM (#3075483)

4. The cushions are crowded for Edmundo

Posted: February 12, 2009 at 04:36 PM (#3075491)

Happy 200th birthday to Charles Darwin and Abe Lincoln. Is there any other day that has 2 HOF inner circle World Influencers? Lincoln is obviously a peak guy.

5. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: February 12, 2009 at 04:41 PM (#3075498)

Jesus and Rickey! But I suppose that The former's birthday was more likely around springtime.

6. The cushions are crowded for Edmundo

Posted: February 12, 2009 at 04:45 PM (#3075504)

Rickey is over 2000 years old? That makes his SB record even more impressive. You can't be saying that Jesus was really born in 1958 -- I was around then and I had heard of Jesus already.

7. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: February 12, 2009 at 04:53 PM (#3075515)

Oh, I heard day as day of the year, not as a unique day. Frank Thomas and Jeff Bagwell were born on the same day, but their legacy isn't much compared to that of a war president and a famous scientist.

8. The cushions are crowded for Edmundo

Posted: February 12, 2009 at 04:58 PM (#3075519)

Lincoln/Darwin>>>Thomas/Bagwell>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Joel Youngblood/me. :(

9. Davo Malvolio Posted: February 12, 2009 at 05:52 PM (#3075572)

Is there any other day that has 2 HOF inner circle World Influencers?

July 4 1826 saw the *death* of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...

10. Kiko Sakata

Posted: February 12, 2009 at 05:56 PM (#3075576)

July 4 1826 saw the *death* of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...

on the 50th anniversary of probably their greatest accomplishment, the Declaration of Independence.

11. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: February 12, 2009 at 06:05 PM (#3075582)

Our world greatness is not yet apparent, but A's pitcher Edgar Gonzalez and I were born on the same day.

12. esseff Posted: February 12, 2009 at 06:08 PM (#3075587)

Rickey is over 2000 years old? That makes his SB record even more impressive. You can't be saying that Jesus was really born in 1958 -- I was around then and I had heard of Jesus already.

OK, Jesus and Mel Brooks then.

13. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 06:10 PM (#3075588)

Wow, Edgar Gonzalez holds the coveted title of "first major leaguer younger than me".

But there will probably never be a major leaguer the exact same age as me.

14. esseff Posted: February 12, 2009 at 06:17 PM (#3075598)

July 4 1826 saw the *death* of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...

Followed by James Monroe 5 years later, making it three of our first five presidents to pass on Independence Day.

--

Most underreported deaths on the same day: Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis, both of whom died on Nov. 22, 1963, making it a death day trifecta.

15. jwb Posted: February 12, 2009 at 06:51 PM (#3075640)

Most underreported deaths on the same day: Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis, both of whom died on Nov. 22, 1963, making it a death day trifecta.

This is also my wife's birthday. Her third birthday party was a bit of a bummer. All the other parents came and took their children home when they heard that the "Narnia" author had passed away.

16. Alex meets the threshold for granular review Posted: February 12, 2009 at 07:04 PM (#3075658)

February 17th has both Michael Jordan, probably the greatest basketball player ever, and Jim Brown, arguably the greatest football player ever.

And me.

17. Teheran's Uranium Enriched Missiles Posted: February 12, 2009 at 07:06 PM (#3075659)

I heard Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and another musician called the Big Bopper died on the same day.

18. Gamingboy Posted: February 12, 2009 at 07:20 PM (#3075681)

February 17th has both Michael Jordan, probably the greatest basketball player ever, and Jim Brown, arguably the greatest football player ever.

Not on the same day though. MJ shares a birthday with Larry the Cable Guy. Jim Brown stands alone.

For what it's worth: Buster Olney was born on 2-17-1964.

19. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 07:59 PM (#3075710)

OK, it's been four months since I pieced together a list of all the players in the PI index ever to have more stolen bases than runs scored in a season (minimum 40 steals). It's still one of the most interesting lists, I think.

So, name those players!

_          year     R  SB
Player A:  1965    92  94
Player B:  1974   105 118
Player C:  1978    34  50
Player D:  1978    43  46
Player E:  1980    87  96
Player F:  1980    95  97
Player G:  1981    61  71
Player H:  1982   119 130
       H:  1983   105 108
Player I:  1984    59  60
Player J:  1985   107 110
       J:  1986    94 107
       J:  1988    77  81
       J:  1990    73  77
Player K:  1986    47  48
Player L:  1990    46  50
Player M:  1991    73  76
Player N:  1997    53  56
Player O:  2008    64  68 

Hint: the seasons were compiled with the following teams:

Cardinals  5 (2 players)
Expos      4
A's        3 (2 players)
Dodgers    2
Blue Jays  1
Pirates    1
Reds       1
Rockies    1
Royals     1 

That's right, four different Expos accomplished this illustrious feat.

20. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:02 PM (#3075713)

Of the top of my head ... Tony Scott. Rickey Coleman. Vince Coleman. Omar Moreno. Willie Wilson. Taveras.
EDIT: I meant Rodney Scott, not Tony Scott. And, uh, Rickey Henderson. Add Ron LeFlore while you're at it.

21. Eric J is Financed by a Rich Grandpa Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:03 PM (#3075714)

To knock out the easy ones first...

A: Maury Wills
B: Lou Brock
H: Rickey!
J: Vince Coleman

22. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:04 PM (#3075715)

Correct:

A is Maury Wills (Dodgers)
B is Lou Brock (Cardinals)
D is Willie Wilson (Royals)
E is Omar Moreno (Pirates)
H is Rickey Henderson (A's)
J is Vince Coleman (Cardinals)
O is Willy Taveras (Rockies)

Tony Scott, Rodney Scott and Rickey Coleman are unknown to me.

23. RJ in TO Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:05 PM (#3075717)

Player N: 1997 53 56

Combining this with the Blue Jays mention, I'm going to guess this one is Otis Nixon.

24. Athletic Supporter leads the nation in drifters Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:06 PM (#3075718)

O (as 20 alluded to) is indeed Willy Taveras.

N is Neon Deion, I think -- I know he had a season like this sometime and it must have been 1997 (91 is too early?)

25. Eric J is Financed by a Rich Grandpa Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:06 PM (#3075719)

M: Marquis Grissom

26. Hack Wilson Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:06 PM (#3075720)

1965 is easy, I guess Wills wasn't as valuable as I thought.

27. SoSH U at work Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:07 PM (#3075721)

Raines is G

28. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:07 PM (#3075722)

29. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:08 PM (#3075723)

Rodney Scott stole 63 bases for the Expos in '80 while on-basing .307 (.224/.307/.293 and got an MVP share!). He, alas, scored 84 times.

30. Eric J is Financed by a Rich Grandpa Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:10 PM (#3075725)

F: Ron LeFlore?

31. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:11 PM (#3075726)

F is indeed Ron LeFlore. Der Komminsk had the wrong 1980 Expo.

32. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:11 PM (#3075727)

Hey - I said LeFlore (albeit in an edit.)
EDIT: Why am I trying today... :)

33. _ Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:11 PM (#3075729)

I've been reading some Pitch/FX stuff recently at THT. Is there a good longform article that talks about the discoveries that researchers have made over the past couple of years? Most of the articles I've come across have a rather narrow focus.

Yes. They've discovered that when pitches are thrown down the middle with no movement and no velocity, those pitches tend to get hammered, whereas pitches on the outer edges of the strike zone thrown at high velocity with good movement tend to get batters out. And the spray charts are really neat to look at.

34. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:12 PM (#3075730)

Correct:

A is Maury Wills (Dodgers)
B is Lou Brock (Cardinals)
D is Willie Wilson (Royals)
E is Omar Moreno (Pirates)
F is Ron LeFlore (Expos)
G is Tim Raines (Expos)
H is Rickey Henderson (A's)
J is Vince Coleman (Cardinals)
M is Marquis Grissom (Expos)
N is Deion Sanders (Reds)
O is Willy Taveras (Rockies)

35. SoSH U at work Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:13 PM (#3075731)

Wild stab - Dave Collins is I.

36. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:14 PM (#3075734)

That is absolutely correct...Dave Collins, one of three players in the history of the AL to have more steals than runs scored in a season. (I assume you know it was for the Blue Jays)

That leaves C, K and L.

37. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:19 PM (#3075736)

You really ought to give L, Crispix, considering an earlier comment (I looked him up, since I was convinced that so-and-so had done it at least once) - people might skip him at this point.

38. Eric J is Financed by a Rich Grandpa Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:23 PM (#3075740)

I'll guess... Campaneris on C?
Edit: Nope - wasn't even still in Oakland in 1978.

39. SoSH U at work Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:23 PM (#3075741)

Never mind...

40. Tom Nawrocki Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:25 PM (#3075744)

Paul McCartney and Roger Ebert were born on the same day.

41. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:26 PM (#3075745)

We already know M is Marquis Grissom. L is Otis Nixon (also Expos), which someone guessed for the wrong year.

<u>C</u>'s career OPS+

year   OPS+   PAs
1974     1     3
1975  -100     6
1976    34    17
1977   -16    49
1978    65   292
1979    51   137
1980   120   566 (also 61 steals; 22nd in MVP voting)
1981    97   289
1982    63   412
1983    48    81
1984   105   189
1985    44   141 

<u>K</u> won 3 pennants and 2 World Series with 3 different teams. And was 3rd in ROY voting the year before his SB>R season.

42. Tom Nawrocki Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:33 PM (#3075749)

C is Miguel Dilone.

43. Kiko Sakata

Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:33 PM (#3075750)

C's career OPS+

Wild stab: Miguel Dilone? I vaguely remember him being completely worthless except for one complete fluke season.

44. Repoz

Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:36 PM (#3075751)

Paul McCartney and Roger Ebert were born on the same day.

I buried Pauline Kael...

45. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:36 PM (#3075752)

Miguel Dilone indeed. In that great 1978 season he also achieved the even rarer feat of having more times caught stealing (23) than RBIs (14).

46. Eric J is Financed by a Rich Grandpa Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:41 PM (#3075754)

K won 3 pennants and 2 World Series with 3 different teams. And was 3rd in ROY voting the year before his SB>R season.

Wow, not only that, but he played for another world champ in the seasons before and after they won. Not during the actual championship season, though.

(I looked up who it is, so I won't give it away.)

47. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:42 PM (#3075755)

I know who the holdout is - but only count one Athletic (Rickey). Who was the other?
DUH: I was thinking Dilone was still a Pirate that year.

48. Tom Nawrocki Posted: February 12, 2009 at 08:43 PM (#3075756)

Dilone was the other A, although he had his biggest seasons for the Indians.

49. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: February 12, 2009 at 09:04 PM (#3075778)

Brewers claim P Nick Green off waivers from Anaheim.

50. Davo Malvolio Posted: February 12, 2009 at 09:57 PM (#3075855)

K won 3 pennants and 2 World Series with 3 different teams. And was 3rd in ROY voting the year before his SB>R season.

Wild stabs... Alfredo Griffin? Tom Herr?

51. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: February 12, 2009 at 10:25 PM (#3075907)

nope. like griffin, he was a dodger.

52. Sleepy supports unauthorized rambling Posted: February 12, 2009 at 10:45 PM (#3075928)

July 4 1826 saw the *death* of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson...

Followed by James Monroe 5 years later, making it three of our first five presidents to pass on Independence Day.

Charles Stross could do something really interesting with that, i think.

53. Athletic Supporter leads the nation in drifters Posted: February 12, 2009 at 11:01 PM (#3075941)

Juan Samuel?

54. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 11:06 PM (#3075948)

Although not Alfredo Griffin, I did always confuse him with Alfredo Griffin. Like the last three wrong guesses, he was a middle infielder.

He played in World Series with the Reds, Phillies, and Yankees, and played in the NLCS two other times with the Reds and Dodgers.

That should be enough clues, gosh darnit. I thought Dave Collins and Miguel Dilone would be the hard ones to guess.

55. Athletic Supporter leads the nation in drifters Posted: February 12, 2009 at 11:25 PM (#3075966)

Mariano Duncan!

I would never, ever have gotten it without the clues.

56. bads85 Posted: February 12, 2009 at 11:32 PM (#3075978)

Followed by James Monroe 5 years later, making it three of our first five presidents to pass on Independence Day.

Fireworks safety must have not been as important back then.

57. Davo Malvolio Posted: February 12, 2009 at 11:35 PM (#3075985)

What a strange career--he was made for BBREF's Play Index, hah. A 48 steal, 47 run season to start his career, then a .340/.352 BA/OBA one to end it.

58. Crispix Attacks Posted: February 12, 2009 at 11:39 PM (#3075991)

And there you have it, the 15 players who have had seasons with 40 or more steals, and had more stolen bases than runs scored.

Lou Brock
Vince Coleman
Dave Collins
Miguel Dilone
Mariano Duncan
Marquis Grissom
Rickey Henderson
Ron LeFlore
Omar Moreno
Otis Nixon
Tim Raines
Deion Sanders
Willy Taveras
Maury Wills
Willie Wilson

Truly the entire spectrum, from near-unanimous Hall of Famer to Miguel Dilone.

Someone else can figure out how many players have had more times caught stealing than RBIs, in a season where they had at least 200 at-bats. I mean, that's almost impossible. Dilone, Luis Castillo, and that might be it. Gary Pettis, Billy North, Rodney Scott, Otis Nixon and Alex Cole all came close.

59. Good cripple hitter Posted: February 13, 2009 at 12:12 AM (#3076012)

Sign that I really need the baseball season to start:

I had a dream last night where I got very excited because I was drafting my fantasy team and Russ Branyan was listed as a shortstop. This became the centre of my drafting strategy.

I'm consoling myself with the fact that I'm less than a month away from seeing live baseball.

60. bunyon Posted: February 13, 2009 at 12:18 AM (#3076023)

Most underreported deaths on the same day: Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis, both of whom died on Nov. 22, 1963, making it a death day trifecta.

Wow, talk about slipping out inconspicuously.

That was a great trivia question but I arrived late. I only knew a few.

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