Elsewhere 100 years ago, Tex Covington's MLB career is hanging by a thread because, in his manager's "quaint way of putting it", he refuses to take care of himself.

...and the Richmond Times Dispatch continues its Baghdad Bob-esque coverage of the U.S. League's implosion with a report that the league's troubles seem to be at an end.

More interesting stories than good ballplayers on the Birthday Team. That pitching staff won't stop anybody from scoring runs, but they're in good shape if a pickup football game breaks out.

C/Manager: Roger Bresnahan
1B: The Other Frank Thomas
2B: Dave Cash
3B/Coiner of Nicknames: Bill Selby
SS: Jose Reyes
LF: Ron Jones
CF: Jimmy Stewart
RF: Mike Davis

SP: Odalis Perez
SP: Wheezer Dell
SP: John Doherty
SP: Ernie Nevers
SP: Tom Baker
RP: Yhency Brazoban

Fun Name: Pop Joy
Depressing Story: Charlie Hollocher
Inspiring Comeback: Adam Pettyjohn

I turn 34 this week. When I was born....

The NFL had 28 teams, now it has 32
The NBA had 22 teams, now it has 30
The NHL had 18 teams, now it has 30
The SEC had 10 teams, now it has 14
The National League had 12 teams, now it has 16

And the American League had 14 teams....it still has 14 (until next year). Remarkable!

Up at THT, it's my first ever out-and-out negative review of a book. Oh, there is a section where I note some positives, but the overall tone it clearly critical.

In related news, today is the first day that Dag chased a kid off his lawn.

Game of the day (yesterday): Yankees 5, Mets 4. The Mets took an early lead in the second. Scott Hairston started with a double against Andy Pettitte, and scored on a one-out hit by Vinny Rottino. Rottino stole second (no small feat with Pettitte on the mound), and watched the bases load behind him on a walk to Omar Quintanilla and an error by Robinson Cano. Jordany Valdespin then doubled in a pair; the bases reloaded on a walk to Andres Torres, but Jason Bay and David Wrigth both struck out to limit the damage to three runs. In the bottom of the second, the Yankees' first two runners reached on a walk and a single, but Met starter Jonathon Niese got a bunt forceout at third and a pair of strikeouts to escape the jam. The game settled down from there, with neither team putting a runner in scoring position through the fifth. Pettitte also worked a perfect sixth; Niese allowed singles to Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson to start the bottom of the inning, but once again worked out of trouble, getting a forceout from Mark Teixeira and a double play grounder from Alex Rodriguez. Pettitte was relieved by Clay Rapada in the seventh, and the new Yankee pitcher worked a perfect inning of his own; in the bottom half, Niese gave up a leadoff hit to Robinson Cano, but erased him on a Nick Swisher double play, and followed that by getting Andruw Jones to ground to third... where David Wright made a throwing error to put Jones on base. Russell Martin followed that with a 2-run homer, putting the Yanks on the board for the first time.

The Mets went down quietly in the eighth, managing only a walk against Cory Wade. Bobby Parnell entered to pitch the bottom half, and just like last time they'd batted, Jeter and Granderson started the inning with singles. This time, however, Teixeira and A-Rod matched them, and those singles drove in a run a piece and chased Parnell from the game with the lead blown. Tim Byrdak and Jon Rauch combined to keep the Yankees from scoring any further, but the damage was done.

Rafael Soriano entered for the ninth, and promptly made the home fans wish for Mariano Rivera by serving up a game-tying pair of doubles to Lucas Duda and Ike Davis. (To be fair, it looks like Soriano's been quite good this year.) Davis got himself thrown out at third on a grounder by Quintanilla; David Murphy singled, putting Quintanilla at third with one out, but Josh Thole and Kirk Niewenhuis were retired, leaving the go-ahead run in place. Russell Martin led off the bottom of the inning against Rauch, worked a full count, and then ended the game with a solo homer, his second of the day.

This one was relatively dull for the first 6 innings, and then it went rather nuts. Which is how it often goes in these games; the good ones tend to be made in the late innings.

Game of the day (last year): Giants 3, Reds 2. San Francisco opened the scoring in the first on the always amusing sequence that scores a run and ends the inning - Cody Ross singled in Miguel Tejada from second, and was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. From there, Cincinnati's Travis Wood and San Francisco's Ryan Vogelsong kept working into and out of trouble; both pitchers put multiple runners on in the second and third innings, but no runs scored until the top of the fourth, when Scott Rolen led off with a triple for the Reds and scored on Ryan Hanigan's single. Cincinnati would end up with the go-ahead runs on second and third with two out before leaving them there, but they rallied again in the fifth, with hits by Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce sandwiched around a walk to Joey Votto loading the bases with nobody out. They managed a go-ahead run scoring groundout by Chris Heisey, but left two more runners on, and the Giants made them pay for that in the bottom of the inning when Tejada hit his second double of the day to drive in Chris Stewart and retie the game.

Vogelsong was lifted after the sixth, having allowed 8 hits and 3 walks, but only 2 runs, giving way to a bullpen that worked two perfect innings (Jeremy Affeldt in the seventh, Sergio Romo in the eighth). Wood, meanwhile, stayed in the game and kept getting into and out of trouble, walking two Giants in the seventh before inducing an inning-ending double play, then giving up a pair of hits in the eighth, the runners making it as far as second and third with two outs before Stewart flied out to leave them there. Wood's day ended at that point, with a final line possibly even more adventurous than his opponent's - 8 innings, 11 hits, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts, and also only 2 runs allowed.

Brian Wilson pitched a scoreless ninth for the Giants with the help of a double play; Jose Arredondo pitched the bottom half for the Reds, and started with an ill-conceived walk to Andres Torres. Torres moved to second on a sac bunt, then saw Miguel Tejada intentionally passed behind him, which says something about the Giants' lineup. Brandon Crawford whiffed for the second out, but Cody Ross drew the third walk of the inning to load the bases, and Nate Schierholtz followed with the inning's first hit, a walkoff single.

The Reds left 9 runners on, the Giants 12. That's not counting all the other squandered runners - three double play grounders, an outfield assist, and a runner caught stealing. 31 baserunners total, and only 5 of them scored... that's some dramatically effective pitching, that is.

Trivia:

Through yesterday's games, Joey Votto is leading the NL in slugging; he's doing this despite the fact that his 10 home runs on the season don't rank in the league's top 10. If my count is correct, this combination (leading the league in slugging, outside the top 10 in home runs) has been done 12 times from 1901 through 2011 - 9 in the AL, 3 in the NL. No player has done it more than once. The most recent of these seasons (Joe Mauer in 2009) was correctly identified in the Dugout over the weekend.

Name the other 11 players to do it. If you're feeling really bold, name the seasons in which they did it as well.

Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby.

Two more (with years):

Carew 1977
Brett 1980

Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby.

Speaker and Cobb yes, Hornsby no.

Ted Williams 1958
Nomar 1999/2000
Earl Webb 1931
Barry Bonds 2007
John Olerud 1993 (or '92, the year he hit .360)

Edgar Martinez?

None of the above, in either the years listed or any others. Olerud's '93 is pretty close; he missed the slugging title by 33 points. That kind of season is what you're looking for.

Musial?

Gwynn in 94?

Musial yes. Gwynn no; Bagwell led the league in slugging in '94. It's been much tougher to pull this off in the last couple decades than it used to be.

It's been much tougher to pull this off in the last couple decades than it used to be.

Yeah, it's got to be mostly high-average seasons in low-homer eras. (Or, a modest power guy who lost playing time to injury but appeared in enough games to win the slugging title).

Wade Boggs 1987?
Johnny Mize 1938?

Pete Rose? Stan Musial? Yaz? Paul Molitor? Craig Biggio? George Brett?

Trying to think of guys with lots of doubles and a good batting average.

Boggs didn't lead the league in slugging (he was third, his only top-10 finish, 30 points behind McGwire). Mize was third in homers in '38, his lowest finish in any of the 4 years he took the slugging title.

(Or, a modest power guy who lost playing time to injury but appeared in enough games to win the slugging title).

Oooh, one more guess: Ted Williams in 1960?

Edit: Oh, wait. Just read above. Never mind.

a modest power guy who lost playing time to injury but appeared in enough games to win the slugging title

Sure, I'll bite with some SWAGS: Cesar Cedeno, Eric Davis

Pete Rose? Stan Musial? Yaz? Paul Molitor? Craig Biggio? George Brett?

Musial was already (correctly) guessed. Yaz and Brett are also correct; the others are not. (Just now noticed SoSH's edit to #7 from earlier - Brett is correct, but not in 1980. Carew isn't.)

So far we've got Cobb, Speaker, Musial, Brett, and Yaz, with no seasons guessed. (Not that picking out Cobb and Speaker's seasons would be especially doable, given the nature of their era. But the others could be picked.)

Larry Walker?

edit - or maybe a slugging catcher (since they don't play 160 games) like Bench or PIazza?

Sam Crawford?

The guy with 36 triples in a season - what's his name? Owen Wilson - no that, can't be it. (Looks up his name). Chief Wilson - he's my real guess.

Earl Webb?

Harry Heilmann?

James Samuel Tilden Sheckard?

Davis is a pretty good guess, but no - actually, he's got 0 black ink for his career, which seems off. Missed the slugging title by 4 points in '87, but was 4th in the league in homers anyway.

Cedeno, also no.

Larry Walker was incredibly close in 1999 - led the league in slugging, 10th in homers. Neither Bench nor Piazza ever won a slugging title.

Weirdly enough, Sam Crawford never led the league in slugging. He came in second 4 times and third 3 more.

Chief Wilson's actual name is in fact Owen, or at least John Owen. Didn't lead the league in slugging in his big year, though. Neither did Webb or Heilmann - Heilmann had lousy timing for someone who wanted to lead the league in slugging, given that he was an exact contemporary of a guy who won 13 slugging titles in 14 years.

Sheckard (actually Samuel James Tilden Sheckard, according to B-R) led the league once, but was second in homers that year.

Joe Morgan, Honus Wagner, Arky Vaughan, Paul Waner?

Sheckard (actually Samuel James Tilden Sheckard, according to B-R)

That's especially odd because Samuel Tilden ran for president in the wildly close/contested/controversial 1876 election. I assume that's how Sheckard is named after.

My favorite is Tommy Bridges's entire name: Thomas Jefferson Davis Bridges.

(Yes, I know about Cal McLish, but I don't have it memorized and it's a bit too over the top of my tastes).

Joe Morgan, Honus Wagner, Arky Vaughan, Paul Waner

Wagner, yes; I'm a little surprised he lasted this long.

Waner never won a slugging title, which is surprising. Vaughan came quite close in 1935, winning his only slugging title and finishing 8th in homers; Morgan was rather similar in '76, winning his lone slugging crown and finishing 5th in homers.

That's especially odd because Samuel Tilden ran for president in the wildly close/contested/controversial 1876 election. I assume that's how Sheckard is named after.

I'd imagine so... it would make sense if Tilden's middle name was James, but Wikipedia lists it as Jones.

George Grantham?

Robin Yount 1982? (Yeah, I know I said I was done.)

Edit: And Rickey Henderson 1990?

Joe Jackson?

Joe Torre, 1971?

Robin Yount 1982?

Bingo - first correctly-guessed season.

Grantham, Rickey, and Jackson are incorrect; Jackson's the only one to win a slugging title, and his 7 homers in 1911 were good for 4th in the league.

The four remaining unguessed answers all occurred between 1940 and 1980.

Joe Torre, 1971?

Didn't lead the league in slugging.

Keith Hernandez, 1979?

Edit: Nope.

So I'll try, Dave Parker.

Delahanty? Lajoie?

Keith Hernandez, 1979?

Dave Kingman actually took the slugging title that year; you can probably guess that he didn't do it without hitting quite a few homers.

Delahanty appears to have done it in 1892, but that's outside the scope of the original question; still, bonus points.

Parker and Lajoie, no and no.

Fred Lynn, 1979?

woohoo - bonus points. I was going to guess Anson too but I think his whole career was before 1901.

Last guess - Mattingly?

Fred Lynn, 1979?

Lynn, yes, but not in 1979.

Mattingly, no - and Anson, amazingly, never led the league in slugging. He was second 4 times, and in the top five 9 times.

The four remaining unguessed answers all occurred between 1940 and 1980.

And one was Fred Lynn, eh?

Let's see...

Rod Carew?
Cecil Cooper?
Ron Santo?
Vada Pinson?

Rod Carew?
Cecil Cooper?
Ron Santo?
Vada pinson?

None of the above - actually, no slugging titles in the group.

Johnny Callison?
Carl Furillo?
Enos Slaughter?

I guess I'm trying to name people who might have lucked into a slugging title by hitting 55 doubles.

Speaking of which, Joe Medwick.

Clemente?

Still no. The three remaining guys include one who fit the high-average, lots of doubles mold for a pretty long time, one guy who fit it briefly and brilliantly, and one fairly obscure guy who played during WWII.

Joe DiMaggio?

Joe DiMaggio?

Only 2 slugging titles, thanks largely to Williams (5 second place finishes). Led the league in homers in '37, finished third in '50. (That may be the longest gap between two slugging titles - actually, I'd be surprised if it isn't.)

high-average, lots of doubles mold for a pretty long time

Enos Slaughter?

one guy who fit it briefly and brilliantly

Norm Cash?

I'll pass on guessing the "fairly obscure guy". If he played 20+ years before I was born and I've heard of him, he's probably not "fairly obscure".

Snuffy Stirnweiss, 1945 AL

Snuffy Stirnweiss, 1945 AL

Yahtzee.

The longer-career guy of the remaining two is more recent than Slaughter; the shorter-term guy is older than Cash.

The longer-career guy of the remaining two is more recent than Slaughter; the shorter-term guy is older than Cash.

Paul Molitor, Monte Irvin

Harold Baines ??

Tony Oliva? Al Kaline? I think Crawford get finishing behind Cobb and Shoeless Joe - tough league back then

No to all three, although Baines was close (slugging title in 1984, 9th in the league in homers). The longer-career guy isn't necessarily an actual long-career guy, as he did have injury issues; they just weren't as severe as those of the shorter-career guy, who's a famous flameout.

Larry Walker ??

Oh, Tony Oliva is a good guess (wish I had thought of it)

Nomar?

Tony Oliva? Al Kaline? I think Crawford get finishing behind Cobb and Shoeless Joe - tough league back then

Oliva is correct. Kaline did take a slugging title in 1959, one of Mantle's rare relative down years; his 27 homers put him ninth in the league that year.

Flameout - Al Rosen? Think he had too much power though

For further reference, the correct answers so far in chronological order:

(Bonus: Delahanty, 1892)
Wagner, 1904
Cobb, 1914
Speaker, 1916
(Last remaining unguessed person)
Musial, 1944
Stirnweiss, 1945
Yaz, 1965
Oliva, 1971
Lynn, 1975
Yount, 1982
Brett, 1983
Mauer, 2009
(So far: Votto, 2012)

No to Nomar, Walker, and Rosen.

Is there only one guy left? Have we established the league?

Lefty O'Doul?

Rob - way up top Eric said there were 9 AL & 3 NL. So the last guy left should be in the NL.

Pete Reiser?

Is there only one guy left? Have we established the league?

Indeed. League is NL; it's not O'Doul, who slugged .600 twice but finished 5th and 9th in the league in those seasons, because it was 1929 and 1930.

(checks).

Holy crud, I'm right! It's Pete Reiser. Just randomly trying to think of someone in the early 1940s NL. What are the odds?

Pete Reiser?

That's the guy, in 1941.

Ok, I've got a wild guess that I think is right but don't wanna end the fun for others. After his playing days were over was he a Cubs coach?

Dag Nabbit, I just thought of Reiser too late.

For what little it's worth, I just checked the 19th century leaders as well; apart from Delahanty in 1892, you get a couple of guys from the prehistoric days in Ross Barnes (1876 NL, led the league in slugging with 1 homer) and Lip Pike (same thing as Barnes but in the 1874 NA - actually led the league in homers 4 times, just not that year). You also get Dan Brouthers, who pulled it off twice (1883 NL and 1891 AA) among his 7 slugging titles; he also led in slugging twice while leading the league in homers. Brouthers was a really, really good hitter.

Anyway, nobody has pulled off this combination in the NL since Musial in 1944, so it'll be at least mildly interesting to see if Votto can do it this year.

Top 10, of course, is not what it used to be...

Its a lot more select with 1.5-3 times more players depending on the era you are comparing to.

RIP former Seattle (among other teams) scout Roger Jongewaard, dead from a heart attack at 76. Partially responsible for Griffey + A-Rod signings; also the catcher in the old Home Run Derby show.