Headcases, nobodies, and power hitters named Carlos populate much of today's Birthday Team.

Not that being a power hitter named Carlos is a bad thing, mind you. Just an observation.

C: Wiki Gonzalez
1B: Carlos Pena
2B: Lou Chiozza
3B: Harry Riconda
SS: Leo Norris
LF: Carlos May
CF: Frank Mountain
RF: Jose Guillen

SP: Hal Carlson
SP: Pascual Perez
SP: Billy Hoeft
SP: Greg Mathews
SP: Al Mays
RP: Nick Masset

Negro Leagues Legend: Cool Papa Bell
Owner: Del Webb

I should also mention that today is Ace Parker's 100th birthday. He wasn't much of a baseball player, but he was (is) one of the great passers of the early NFL, a World War II veteran, and a deserving member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I'm about 5-10 years too young to remember much about Carlos May. Was there an obvious cause for the sudden disappearance of his power mid-career, or was it just one of those things nobody can explain?

Seemingly overnight, he went from being a guy who you could pencil in for 12-20 HR during the Second Dead Ball Era to a guy who was lucky to slug .340.

Seemingly overnight, he went from being a guy who you could pencil in for 12-20 HR during the Second Dead Ball Era to a guy who was lucky to slug .340.

Isn't May the player who lost part of a thumb in some sort of military accident during reserve training? If so that might help explain the loss of power.

Baseball history item at THT notes that today is the 10th anniversary of Giambi hitting a walk-off slam for a 13-12 Yankee win in 14 innings over the Twins.

Other May 17 items include: the highest scoring game of the last 85 years, a perfect game, the longest relief stint in the last 90 years, the centennial anniversary of Fenway's dedication, Clemente nearly hitting Wrigley's scoreboard, the first Houston no-hitter, that blooper play where three Indians run into each other, & Killebrew's death.

TRIVIA QUESTION:
The above link also notes today is the anniversary of the first time any NL player hit his 300th homer. Can you figure out who it is? (For the answer, just click on the link and read the 1934 item in bold; I won't necessarily be around to say if you're right/wrong, but you can look it up on your own there).

Isn't May the player who lost part of a thumb in some sort of military accident during reserve training? If so that might help explain the loss of power.

He lost nearly all of his thumb (I saw it up close when May made an appearance at my brother's Boy Scout troop) in 1969, so he played almost his entire major league career without it. A better answer would be that Dick Allen took Carlos under his wing as a young player, so May was the "beneficiary" of Allen's unique training methods.

Since it's his birthday, it's worth pointing out that Carlos May wore his birthday - MAY 17 - on the back of his uniform.

Since it's his birthday, it's worth pointing out that Carlos May wore his birthday - MAY 17 - on the back of his uniform.

Well now, that's just awesome!

Wow, first NL player to hit 300 home runs ... I should know that.

Johnny Mize? Er... no, 15 years too late.

Looking forward to the game where the Tigers play college players...

Mel Ott?

Chuck Klein?

EDIT: Wrong. I thought of the guy who did it but thought he didn't hit 300 -- I won't say why I thought he didn't hit 300 because that might give it away.

Hornsby?

Heh, Klein ended up with exactly 300, the last hit in 1941.

The article is wrong. That guy's 300th overall home run was hit for an AL team. He had 298 in the NL. He was the first guy who had played in the NL to have 300 total home runs, so maybe it's just misleading..

Anybody in Boston going to see Marcus Stroman and Duke against BC tomorrow?

[EDIT] AHHH! He is pitching today. #### fuck ####. I never checked the date and planned for tomorrow and cannot make today. ####.

The article is wrong. That guy's 300th overall home run was hit for an AL team. He had 298 in the NL. He was the first guy who had played in the NL to have 300 total home runs, so maybe it's just misleading..

No, it's not misleading, just wrong. I'll note the correction in the coments section. Thanks for the fix.

No, it's not misleading, just wrong. I'll note the correction in the coments section. Thanks for the fix.

Sorry, that reads a lot harsher than I meant it to.

No worries. I didn't take it that harshly. Thanks again for the correction.

My best friend had the 1987 version of Pursue the Pennant, and I got the 1988 version. We would play all sorts of games with them. More than once we combined both years to do various things, including once a giant draft. The first two starting pitchers selected were both Pascual Perez. He didn't play too much those years, but he didn't let anyone on base when he did.

Yeah, Pascual didn't spend much of his career giving away free bases. He was keeping the free base for himself. /rimshot

In all seriousness, though, he was a consistently good-to-very good SP from 1982-1991, other than that (drug-induced? injury-caused?) abyss he fell into in 1985 and 1986.

Game of the day (yesterday): Orioles 4, Royals 3 (15). Shocking choice, right? The teams put a few runners on first early, but the first real threat came in the top of the third when Baltimore's first two runners reached. They added a single later in the inning, but a double play grounder in between kept the rally from producing any runs. The Royals put two on with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but the inning ended on a line drive double play, the third DP Kansas City hit into in the first four innings. The Orioles tried again in the fifth, once more putting two on with one out, this time stranding the lead runner at third. Kansas City finally broke through in the bottom of the inning; Jeff Francoeur led off with a double, Alcides Escobar was hit by a pitch, and after both runners moved up on a groundout, Humberto Quintero drove them both in with a two-out single. Baltimore finally scored its first run in the eighth (after Felipe Paulino was removed having gone 7 shutout innings), with back-to-back doubles from JJ Hardy and Nick Markakis, but the Royals countered in the bottom of the frame on an RBI double by Alex Gordon, and brought in Jonathan Broxton with a two-run lead to start the ninth. With one out, Wilson Betemit homered to cut Baltimore's deficit in half. Chris Davis singled, and after the second out, so did Xavier Avery, putting the tying run in scoring position. Hardy singled as well, knotting the game at 3 and, after the Royals wasted a leadoff single in the bottom of the inning, sending it to extras.

Innings 10-14 can be glossed over pretty quickly, given that there were a total of 3 plate appearances with runners in scoring position (Hardy singled and advanced on a flyout in the 12th, Nick Johnson doubled with one out and was left on in the 13th). Obviously, the excellent performance of the two bullpens (Dana Eveland and Kevin Gregg for Baltimore, Tim Collins and Nathan Adcock for KC) should be noted here. Adcock was in his fifth inning of work when Adam Jones finally got him, hitting a one-out homer in the fifteenth that provided the eventual winning margin. You don't see a pitcher give up a game-losing homer in extras and still have a positive WPA too often; Adcock pulled it off and then some (+.244).

Given the muted nature of the extra innings, the game doesn't grade out too spectacularly by 15-inning game standards. But it was still 15 innings, and it did have a game-tying rally in the ninth, so it's still the #6 game of the year so far at 6.59.

Side note: Anyone know how to build a BR-PI search for the most really, really late inning home runs in a season? Because Adam Jones now has two homers in the 15th or later this year.

Game of the day (last year): Marlins 2, Mets 1 (11). Florida stranded a runner at second in the second; New York matched them in the third. The Marlins put two on with two outs in the fourth, but the first run of the game came in the New York half of that inning. Jason Bay led off with a single, but was caught stealing second; Daniel Murphy then singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on a double by Justin Turner. The Marlins put another runner in scoring position in the fifth before Chris Coghlan lined into a double play; in the bottom half, the Mets put runners on the corners with one out (Jose Reyes singled, stole second, and moved to third on an infield hit) before stranding them. Florida finally got to Mike Pelfrey in the seventh when the artist who was then known as Mike Stanton led off with a game-tying home run; they went on to once again strand a pair of runners, this time at the corners. The Marlins put two more on in the ninth before being retired; not to be outdone, the Mets loaded the bases without scoring in the bottom half, then put two more on in the tenth before a double play ended the threat. Finally, in the top of the eleventh, the Marlins got their first and only hit with runners in scoring position on the day, a two-out RBI single by none other than relief pitcher Burke Badenhop. In the bottom of the inning, with two outs, the Mets sent up starting pitcher Jon Niese as a pinch hitter; he tripled, but was left on third when Reyes fanned to end the game.

It's a pitcher's duel, but one that featured numerous scoring threats, albeit mostly unsuccessful. It comes out with a score of 5.09, edging into the 95th percentile for 2011 to date.

Of course, the most important result of that game wasn't the Florida win; it was the fact that it marked Josh Johnson's last appearance of the 2011 season, which I believe qualifies this victory under the heading of "Pyrrhic."