Also 100 years ago today:

Washington Herald:

Cincinnati, May 21. -- There was no game here to-day in the United States League, owing, it is said, to small attendance. Monday's game drew only eleven paid admissions. No plans have yet been announced for to-morrow.

Plans? The fans plan to stay away.

Despite the presence of Bucketfoot Al, the Birthday Team's going to need a Herculean effort from Hriniak and a bunch of blown home run calls from Garcia if it's going to make much of an impact.

C: Al Shaw
1B: Hooks Cotter
2B: Frank Coggins
3B: Chad Tracy
SS: Jose Valdivielso
LF: Mark Brouhard
CF: Al Simmons
RF: Ed Morgan

SP: Tommy John
SP: Jim Colborn
SP: Julian Tavarez
SP: Bill Lohrman
SP: Pinky Woods
RP: Jose Mesa

Umpire: [url="http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?c>Rich Garcia</a>
Hitting Coach: <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hriniwa01.shtml"]Walt Hriniak[/url]
Designated Dutchman: Rick van den Hurk

Drew Sutton was traded twice in seven hours yesterday. Since August 6, 2010, Sutton has played in the Reds, Indians, Red Sox, Braves, Pirates, and Rays organizations.

What's the story on Sutton? Not enough glove to play shortstop in the majors? Seems like there's about 25 teams who could use a guy who can play 6-7 positions, get on base, and pop an occasional homer.

The AL West is playing entirely in-division right now, which I very much enjoy – and better enjoy while I can, because the Astros are coming ... The Rangers enjoy a 4-game lead despite playing very desultory baseball this month. The team as a whole is 9-11 in May. Injuries are punching in (Neftali Feliz out for several months). Mike Napoli has hit .220 in May with no HR; Michael Young .217 for May with 1 HR. It's a very vague impression, based somewhat on the small sample of games I've seen, but when the Rangers this year go into the late innings a run behind, they're not getting it done. Last year and in 2010, their bullpen would spring the occasional leak, but you just knew they could score a key run somehow (the 2011 postseason was a good example of that). This year, the bullpen has been better, but they're not claw-and-antlering their way anywhere, and sitting back and waiting for the home run has been less than effective. Josh can't hit four of them every day.

Fortunately or not, the team four games back is Oakland, who can best be described as "pesky." The Angels are a dismal eight games back, and Albert Pujols goes 1-for-4 every night to keep his batting average on an asymptotic climb toward .250 ...

TRIVIA:

One of the talking points about Jamier Moyer's start last night is that he's now pitched in 50 different ballparks during his career.

Which three major league ballparks did he NOT pitch in that are/were around during his major league career (1986-2012)?

Guesses:

Fulton-County, Qualcomm, Candlestick.

What's the story on Sutton? Not enough glove to play shortstop in the majors? Seems like there's about 25 teams who could use a guy who can play 6-7 positions, get on base, and pop an occasional homer.

I think you hit it with the shortstop piece. He really shouldn't be playing there in the Majors and obviously he doesn't hit near enough to be on a corner. He seems like a guy who is really useful as a utility man but you wouldn't trust him if he had to start with any regularity.

They just had him last year but he seems like he'd be a nice fit for the Red Sox. Good enough to play a day or two here and there at 3rd or short if necessary but if you get a long term injury you'd be able to slot in the kids (Middlebrooks/Iglesias). That kind of team seems like the right place for him. Most teams want their utility man to be someone who can step in and play regularly and Sutton probably isn't that.

Comiskey, Target Field, Exhibition Stadium?

SoSH gets two of the three (Target and Exhibition).

He won't pitch in Target Field this season (unless he gets traded or there is a Rockies/Twins World Series), and he only had a 2 month window to pitch at Exhibition Stadium (since he was in the NL for the first three seasons before interleague play, and SkyDome was used by the Jays (when Moyer was in Texas) after May 1989.

The last unnamed ballpark was also unattainable for Moyer because of the lack of playoffs/interleague play.

Mile High?

Ding!

Mile High, Target, and Exhibition Stadium.

I wondered if 53 different ballparks was a large number for a career, and how that compared to other sports.

In one 12 year span (1992-2003), there were 52 different arenas used for official NHL games.

Thirteen teams used one arena, seventeen teams used 2 arenas, 4 teams used arenas and then moved, and there was one outdoor arena used (for the first Heritage/Winter Classic (EDM vs MON)).

Thirteen teams used one arena, seventeen teams used 2 arenas, 4 teams used arenas and then moved, and there was one outdoor arena used (for the first Heritage/Winter Classic (EDM vs MON)).

Are you including regular-season games played during that time frame in Europe and Japan?

Along those lines, there were more than 53 parks used for MLB games during Moyer's time in the big leagues (offhand, parks in Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico and, most unsettling of all, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.).

Along those lines, there were more than 53 parks used for MLB games during Moyer's time in the big leagues (offhand, parks in Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico and, most unsettling of all, Lake Buena Vista, Fla.).

Vegas (A's)

Along those lines, there were more than 53 parks used for MLB games during Moyer's time in the big leagues

Good point. I guess by playing games in those parks, they become "major league". Only Puerto Rico really would qualify as a "home stadium" since the Expos played more than one series there.

Didn't MLB also play in Cuba? Or was that for exhibition games?

Are you including regular-season games played during that time frame in Europe and Japan?

I did miss one location: Tokyo Japan.

They played 6 regular season games in that time span (1992-2003) in Japan (3 series, 2 games each).
Any other international location was a pre-season game/tournament.

I think the Rays played a few games at the Disney Wide World of Sports in Orlando, where their AA team used to play.

I remember the game where Vinny Castilla went 4 for 5 in his home nation. Was that the only MLB series in Mexico?

Wait, Retrosheet has a list of all neutral-site games.

I was unaware that the Dodgers played a bunch of games in Jersey City in 1956 and 1957, presumably while threatening to move there.

Also did not remember the Cardinals-Padres series in Honolulu.

Why is Torii Hunter missing two weeks of games just because his son was arrested?

[17] EDIT: I was unaware that the Dodgers played a bunch of games in Jersey City in 1956 and 1957, presumably while threatening to move there.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Will the Rays and Stu Sternberg go the way of the Brooklyn Dodgers and Walter O’Malley?

   18. bobm Posted: November 08, 2010 at 07:55 AM (#3685725)
[15] I swear I read that O'Malley had Brooklyn play some number of home games in New Jersey (in a much smaller park) around this time, no?

Yes, 7 regular season games in Jersey City, in a park 75% of the size of Ebbets Field.

FTFA:

Despite a 22-2 start in ’55, attendance stagnated, as many Brooklyn fans, angry at O’Malley’s threats to move, sat at home glued to their newfangled TV sets. In mid-season O’Malley announced that in 1956 seven home games would be played in Jersey City.

From http://mlb.mlb.com/la/history/ballparks.jsp


DODGERS BALLPARKS ...

Ebbets Field ...
• Capacity: ... 31,902 (1952) ...

Roosevelt Stadium
• Opened: April 23, 1937
• First Dodgers game: April 19, 1956
• Capacity: 24,167 ...

The Dodgers played seven home games at Roosevelt Stadium in 1956 (going 6-1) and seven in 1957 (4-3), but the most historic moment at the ballpark came a decade earlier, when Jackie Roosevelt Robinson stepped into the batter's box on April 18, 1946, as a member of the Dodgers' minor league Montreal Royals. It was Robinson's first plate appearance after Dodgers GM Branch Rickey signed him and ended segregation in the National Pastime.


In a move that was ahead of its time, the Dodgers apparently sold the 7 Jersey City regular season games and 1 exhibition game as a package of 8, thus further suppressing the attendance.


DODGER 'PACKAGE' IRKS JERSEY CITY; Plan Would Require Buying Tickets for All 8 Games -- Civic Leaders Meet
By JOSEPH O. HAFF
Special to The New York Times.
August 31, 1955,
JERSEY CITY, Aug. 30 -- Brooklyn Dodger baseball fans who want to watch their team play in Jersey City's Roosevelt Stadium next season learned today it will be a case of "all or nothing."

09/13/2004 NL Montreal NL Florida U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago IL (3)
09/14/2004 NL Montreal NL Florida U.S. Cellular Field, Chicago IL (3)

I don't remember this. Hurricane-related? EDIT: I see, reasons are given below. Hurricane Ivan.

I also don't remember the Honolulu game.

I don't remember this. Hurricane-related?

It was just to see if anyone would notice.

Fortunately or not, the team four games back is Oakland, who can best be described as "pesky."

Don't forget "gimpy." They are gimpy AND pesky.
But, boy, when they get Anderson and McCarthy and Braden and Inge and Cespedes back... look out!

In one 12 year span (1992-2003), there were 52 different arenas used for official NHL games.

Thirteen teams used one arena, seventeen teams used 2 arenas, 4 teams used arenas and then moved, and there was one outdoor arena used (for the first Heritage/Winter Classic (EDM vs MON)).

Well, besides these venues, in 1992-93 the NHL expanded the regular season schedule to 84 games, adding a number of neutral site games. If you start counting in 1992 the total is going to be far greater than 52 arenas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992–93_NHL_season#Complete_list_of_neutral-site_games

Two more days, two more extra-inning selections...

Yesterday: Giants 4, Brewers 3 (14). Buster Posey started things off with a literal bang, hitting a 3-run homer in the top of the first to give San Fran an early lead. The Brewers loaded the bases with one out in the second before Cesar Izturis helped Madison Bumgarner escape the jam by hitting into a double play. Bumgarner rolled from there, allowing only one runner to reach in the next three innings, but with two out in the sixth, Ryan Braun singled and Aramis Ramirez doubled him home, finally putting Milwaukee on the scoreboard. Melky Cabrera tripled with one out in the San Francisco eighth, but was thrown out at home on a grounder to defuse the rally, and in the bottom of the inning, Braun launched a 2-run homer off of Bumgarner (still in the game, albeit not after this at bat) to tie the score at 3. The Giants drew a pair of walks from John Axford in the ninth, but stranded both runners; this was especially notable because neither team put a runner in scoring position for the next two and a half innings. Both teams would put two on with two out in the twelfth; neither would score. Finally, in the top of the fourteenth, Hector Sanchez mercifully led off with a home run; the Giants stranded two more runners, and more importantly, Milwaukee did the same with their only hitter to reach in the bottom of the inning.

Not a great game by the standards of 14-inning games; in particular, the Brewers only had 3 at bats with runners in scoring position. But it was still a 14-inning game with a rally late in regulation, so it still comes in around the 96th percentile for the year so far.

Last year: Braves 5, Angels 4 (12). LA opened the game with a 2-run homer by Bobby Abreu in the bottom of the first. In the third, they put runners on second and third (on a hit, a steal, a walk, and a double steal) with one out, eventually loaded the bases, and stranded all of them. They made up for that in the fifth on a two-run single by Torii Hunter, albeit one on which he was thrown out going for second. Atlanta closed the gap in the seventh, starting with a 3-run homer by 9th hitter Joe Mather (his only homer of the year), then tying the game on doubles by Martin Prado and Brian McCann. The Braves went on to strand two runners in the eighth and ninth, one in the tenth, and two again in the eleventh. Meanwhile, the Angels only had one runner reach base during that span, and he was doubled up on a failed sacrifice attempt. With two out in the top of the twelfth, Alex Gonzalez singled and took second on an error; that brought up Mather again, and he doubled home the go-ahead (and eventual winning, despite the Angels finally getting a runner on and advancing him to third in the bottom of the inning) run to cap off what I assume is probably the best day of Joe Mather's career: 4/6, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, .464 WPA, and one time caught stealing.

Fairly long game, and at least one team was putting a good number of runners on, even if they were mostly with 2 outs. Much like yesterday's game, it's around the 96th percentile for the season to date.