I should mention that I found SABR's Lefty Russell biography extremely useful in learning more about Russell's post-1912 career. Hat tip to them.

One more (non-baseball related, but fun nevertheless) note from the Milwaukee Journal of August 15, 1912:

Louis Haverkamp, age 37, a well-known local sportsman...was the guest of honor at the Tanners Creek Athletic club dinner, and was awarded the honors in the eating contest.
...

Haverkamp stowed away six pounds of fish, three squirrels, a spring chicken, twelve biscuits, a dozen ears of corn, eight cups of coffee, six bottles of beer, a half dozen baked potatoes, a pound of limburger cheese, three apple dumplings and a quantity of slaw and tomatoes.
...

Haverkamp...ate a thirteen pound goose on a wager last winter.

Today's Birthday Team has more World Champion managers than great baseball players. That's never good.

C: Jack Warner
1B/Manager/Owner: Charlie Comiskey
2B: Jeff Huson
3B: Scott Brosius
SS: Walter Hackett
LF: Doggie Miller
CF: Chris Singleton
RF: Billy Conigliaro

SP: Bill Sherdel
SP: Joey Jay
SP: Oliver Perez
SP: Nino Espinosa
SP: Ernie McAnally
RP: Mike James

Backup Manager: Tom Kelly
Not that one: Randy Johnson
Quarterback/Minor League Outfielder: Bubby Brister

mfranknba: [kyle] Kendrick goes 7 scoreless, 0 walks, 6 Ks [against the marlins last night]. He has allowed 2 ER or less in 10 of 16 starts. 5 ER or more in other 6. #Phillies.

a pound of limburger cheese

QF Holy shitness.

Just realized I forgot to link to the eating contest story. Linky.

Quarterback/Minor League Outfielder: Bubby Brister

You have to appreciate that he was Bubby Brister of the Bristol Tigers

I'd rather eat a pound of limburger cheese than three squirrels. Or even two squirrels.

Valentine should never have left him in that long.

This tweet seemed interesting:

Carrie Muskat ?@CarrieMuskat

Oneri Fleita dismissed as #Cubs player personnel director. This was his 12th year overseeing team's Minor League operations

Tracy Ringolsby added that Fleita was given a new multi-year deal just a year ago.

Robothal tweet:

Just announced by #MLB: #SFGiants' Melky Cabrera suspended 50 games without pay after testing positive for testosterone.

ust announced by #MLB: #SFGiants' Melky Cabrera suspended 50 games without pay after testing positive for testosterone.

Woah!

Remember on July 28, when Andrew Baggarly tweeted that he'd heard a rumor that Melky Cabrera had failed drug test and was going to be suspended 50 games, and then he apologized profusely for reporting unsubstantiated rumors? Me either. But anyway, Melky Cabrera has apparently tested unnaturally high for testosterone and is being suspended 50 games.

Edit! too slow.

Apparently he admits it (from MLB's Twitter):

"My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used ... I am deeply sorry for my mistake." - Melky Cabrera.

White Sox acquire Jose Lopez. Keep John Danks.

"My positive test was the result of my use of a substance I should not have used ... I am deeply sorry for my mistake." - Melky Cabrera.

I thought cooking up a farfetched and weak excuse was obligatory for a caught player. Melky should get a medal for sparing us that.

Has Jeff Francœur cleared waivers? The Giants could use a guy like that all of a sudden. The Royals need starting pitching. Make it happen!

Tracy Ringolsby added that Fleita was given a new multi-year deal just a year ago.

IIRC, Fleita basically built the Cubs' international system from scratch. I'm pretty surprised by this news.

Also, his extension was made before Epstein was hired and paid him a pretty hefty sum.

12 - I do. Iirc, "our" stance was to give baggarly a pass, based on rep.
He's also the guy who was on jeopardy recently.

King Felix perfect through 6.

Through 7 now-- game cut-ins being shown on MLB Network.

Game of the day (yesterday): Reds 3, Mets 0.

Jay Bruce hit a walkoff 3-run homer in the ninth.

Just thought I'd get the boring stuff out of the way first.

Mat Latos started for the Reds, Chris Young for the Mets. Latos pitched quite well. Young, meanwhile, got hit around just about as much as is possible for a pitcher who didn't give up any runs. To wit:

First inning: Leadoff single by Zack Cozart, nothing else.

Second inning (after the Mets put two on with two out - single by Jordany Valdespin, then Andres Torres reaching on catcher's interference, which happens what, five times a year?): Leadoff double by Jay Bruce; two-out intentional walk to Ryan Hanigan to bring up Latos, who struck out.

Third inning (after Ruben Tejada doubled and was left at third): Leadoff double by Cozart, bunt moved him to third, Brandon Phillips walked behind him, Ryan Ludwick and Bruce flied out. Ludwick's flyout moved Phillips to second (presumably on the throw home), but neither of them could bring Cozart in.

Fourth inning: The Mets threatened enough to graduate past parenthetical status. Ike Davis drew a walk, Daniel Murphy singled, and Valdespin bunted the runners over to second and third. Torres struck out, Josh Thole was intentionally passed, and Young lined out to leave the bases loaded. In the bottom of the inning, Hanigan doubled with two out, Latos drew a walk, and Cozart picked a bad time to make his first out of the game, stranding both of them.

Fifth inning (after Mike Baxter singled with one out and was left on): Drew Stubbs led off with a hit, but Phillips lined into a double play. Ludwick followed with the fourth Cincinnati double in four innings, but Bruce whiffed to keep him at second.

Sixth inning (after Latos set the Mets down 1-2-3): Young recorded two easy outs. Hanigan then singled, as did Latos. Young wild pitched the runners to second and third, then walked Cozart to load the bases; unsurprisingly, he was pulled for Ramon Ramirez, who induced Stubbs to ground out and strand the runners.

Seventh inning (after Latos worked around a leadoff hit by Thole and a sac bunt): Bobby Parnell came in and walked Phillips. He struck out the next two Reds, then allowed a hit to Todd Frazier that put runners on the corners. Xavier Paul walked to load the bases, but Hanigan grounded out, leaving them that way.

Sean Marshall replaced Latos in the eighth, which was tame enough to allow a return to normal paragraph format. David Wright drew a leadoff walk, but Marshall struck out the next two Mets, and on strike 3 to the second of them, Wright was thrown out trying to steal. Jon Rauch retired the Reds in order in the bottom of the inning, marking the first 1-2-3 frame from a Met pitcher on the day.

Jose Arredondo entered for the ninth and retired the first two New York hitters. Thole then walked, and Scott Hairston singled him to third, then stole second to put another run in scoring position. Tejada lined out, however, sending the game to the bottom of the ninth.

Manny Acosta walked Phillips and gave up a single to Ludwick. Josh Edgin came in for Acosta and went ahead of Bruce 1-2; Bruce then fouled off at least 3 pitches, because his walkoff homer came on the seventh pitch of the at bat.

Apart from the seven pitches, Bruce's homer was like an instruction manual on how to hit a relatively boring walkoff homer:

1. There were multiple runners on base; a long single would have worked just as well.
2. There was nobody out - barring a triple play, someone else was going to have a shot.
3. The game was tied - there's risk associated with failing to score, but it's not do-or-die.

On the other hand, it's still a walkoff home run. So there's that. And the fact that it came after the Reds had left 14 runners on base and gone 0/9 with RISP to this point in the game was probably quite nice.

Overall, it's not 1991's Game 7, but it's a fine game in the same mold: double shutout with plenty of runners on base.

King Felix perfect through 6.

And it's the MLB.TV free game of the day! Sweet!

3 outs to go.

2-0, don't do a Pappas!

Game!!!

Woo perfect game! And with that, we return to your regularly scheduled programming.

Game of the day (last year): Blue Jays 5, Angels 4 (10). LA jumped out to an early lead when Bobby Abreu singled with two out in the first and Brett Cecil followed with a 2-run homer. After three straight perfect half-innings (one from Cecil, two from Dan Haren), the Angels tacked on an extra tally in the third as Peter Bourjos tripled and scored on Alberto Callaspo's sac fly. Haren was spotless again in the third, as was Cecil in the fourth.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth, the Jays broke up Haren's perfect game in one of the more emphatic ways possible - with back-to-back homers by Eric Thames and Jose Bautista. The Angels answered with a run in the fifth as Bobby Wilson and Bourjos hit consecutive doubles, and the starters followed that with two more perfect half-innings. Toronto cut its deficit in half in the sixth; John McDonald led off with a double, moved up one base on a flyout and another on a groundout to bring the Jays within one. After Cecil worked a 1-2-3 seventh, Haren allowed a leadoff hit to Edwin Encarnacion in the bottom of the inning, then stranded him at first, which makes that the first half-inning of the game to feature a baserunner but no runs.

The top of the eighth was not the second such half-inning, as Casey Janssen entered and retired three straight Angels. John McDonald led off the bottom of the inning with a hit against Scott Downs, and moved to second on Yunel Escobar's bunt, but was thrown out trying to advance to third on Rajai Davis's grounder to short. Davis was pulled for pinch runner Mark Teahen, which I assume means he got hurt, because Davis is substantially faster than Teahen. Anyway, Bautista singled to put the tying run back in scoring position, but Adam Lind grounded out to end the inning.

Abreu led off the ninth with a single against Frank Francisco. He stole second, then third after Hunter popped out. Mark Trumbo then grounded to third and initiated one of the weirder plays I've encountered in a while: Abreu broke for home and was easily hung up in a rundown; the grounder was not the kind one scores on. After tagging Abreu out, Brett Lawrie discovered that Trumbo had rounded first a bit too far, and caught him in a second rundown, resulted in a second out and the end of the inning.

That play became quite important quite quickly, because with one out in the ninth, Colby Rasmus and Lawrie hit consecutive doubles against Jordan Walden, tying the game and putting the winning run in scoring position. Lawrie then stole third, but was left there when JP Arencibia struck out and McDonald popped up. Jon Rauch worked a perfect tenth for the Jays, however, and in the bottom of the inning, Fernando Rodney sandwiched a strikeout between two walks. Hisanori Takahashi came in for Rodney and got Lind to pop up, but Encarnacion followed that out with a walkoff RBI single to center.

There were 20 half-innings in this game, and in 10 of them, no runners reached base (which I suppose means the two pitching staffs combined on a 10-inning perfect game). Despite that, the game wasn't exactly low-scoring, and featured a game tying rally in the ninth and stuff. Also, the first 19 of those half innings included nary a walk; Rodney issued the first two, and was the losing pitcher. That's not exactly a staggering coincidence.