An excellent birthday team today:

C: Mark Parent
1B: Mickey Tettleton
2B: Desi Relaford
3B: Gordon Beckham
SS: Robin Yount
LF: Mel Hall
CF: Tim Raines
RF: Heinie Mueller

SP: Orel Hershiser
SP: George McConnell
SP: Roger Moret
SP: Gary Ross
SP: Ed Sprague
RP: Paul Shuey

Yes, it's a weird injury, if that's what really happened. It doesn't pass the smell test with me.

Yeah, right up there with breaking your wrist while washing your pick-up.

According to his SABR Bio, Smith was a heavy drinker. It's entirely possible (likely?) he was wasted and put his leg through a window.

will be out of the game for the remainder of the season

Must've been a pretty long game.

Today marks 15,000 days since Ed Spiezio ruined a Bob Gibson perfect game by banging out a pair of singles, which must've been especially annoying because Gibson hadn't thrown a no-hitter yet at that point in his career.

Then the piece lists other items that celebrate their "day-versary" or anniversary today, including: Thome's 500th, Clemens' finale, Bobby Bonilla with the coolest home run you'll ever see, the 3,000th hits for Molitor and Winfield, Randy Johnson has a Game Score of 97 in a no-decision, Tom Browning has the first NL perfect game since Jim Bunning, the biggest blowout shutout of the 20th century, an 18th inning walk-off walk, McCovey's 500th, Warren Spahn finally gets his no-hitter - and sets a new personal K mark in the process (not bad for a 39 year old), Joe DiMaggio becomes the 8th member of the 300 homer club, Lloyd Waner's 77th straight game w/out a K, the game that put Jim Bottomley in the Hall of Fame, left-handed Willie Keeler plays second base, and the 1903 pennant winners agree to World Series - there's an idea that'll catch on.

According to his SABR Bio, Smith was a heavy drinker. It's entirely possible (likely?) he was wasted and put his leg through a window.

And I'm guessing he was trying to enter/exit through it.

An excellent birthday team today:

C: Mark Parent
1B: Mickey Tettleton
2B: Desi Relaford
3B: Gordon Beckham
SS: Robin Yount
LF: Mel Hall
CF: Tim Raines
RF: Heinie Mueller

SP: Orel Hershiser
SP: George McConnell
SP: Roger Moret
SP: Gary Ross
SP: Ed Sprague
RP: Paul Shuey

The 5 best (Tettleton, Yount, Hall, Raines, Hershiser) overlapped heavily since they were born 1955-1960. In the majors all at once 1984-1992.

I remember poor Shuey being left out there on the mound during the 30-3 drubbing the Rangers put on the O's back in 2007. Didn't the Orioles have a mopup position player who could pitch with the team being down oh I don't know...say 24-3 at the start of the 9th?

Robin turns HOW OLD?

Cripes.

For the younger folks you missed out not seeing Robin. Always hustled. Always. Before they began analyzing baserunning I told folks Yount was the best there was and now we have the metrics to prove it. Just a pleasure to see running the bases and never anything but smooth.

And he could hit and field a little too

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Unless Smith's artery was actually severed by a velociraptor, it's not weirder than Glenallen Hill's defense against imaginary spiders.

TRIVIA QUESTION.

Set up:
There are 14 holdovers on the upcoming 2012 ballot (meaning they got between 5% and 75% of the ballot last year and didn't run out of time. Those 14 guys played for a total 14 teams in their career.

The question(s):
1) What are the six teams that had no backloggers play for them?

2) Or, to flip it around, six other teams had three different HoF-eligable backloggers play for them -- what are those teams?

Chris

I would play but I don't understand the question.

Geez

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I'm pretty sure a trip to a certain Amarillo Dumpster will eventually do the trick.

Harv,

Here's a list of the guys who will be on the 2012 HoF ballot. The top 14 are the returnees (in other words, the definately serious candidates. In their playing careers, they appeared for 24 teams. What are the six teams none of them played for? What are the six teams that three of them played for?

Hope that helps.

#2 - Baltimore, Montreal and Detroit? I'm confident of Baltimore (Raines, Palmeiro, Smith), not so sure on the other two. I want to say Lee Arthur pitched for the Expos at some point (plus Raines and Walker). Detroit is a WAG, Trammell, Gonzalez and one of the other nomadic types.

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Which, oddly, is not the most obscene sports mascot I've ever seen. (Probably NSFW.)

Chris

Sorry for being dense. That question was too convoluted for these old synapses.

Overload, overload!

Jose - Baltimore is one. Detroit is one. Montreal/Wasingotn is one. Detroit has Trammell, Morris, & Juan Gone. You named the Blitmore ones. Expos had Raines, Walker & Lee Smith.

That's half of the teams with three guys.

Harv - no apology needed.

Oh hell, I read it as three teams, not six, I'm an idiot. And how do I forget Morris?

My answer for the first part is; KC, Florida, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, San Francisco and Arizona. I'm probably being dense but I'm missing who played for the Mets.

Rock Raines played for Florida for a little bit.

Jose,

Mets - correct. They had Alomar last year, but he went in this year.

Florida - no. How soon they all forget the Tim Raines era in Florida.

Pitt - Yup. They had Dave Parker last year, but his time on ballot expired. They also had Blyleven, but he went in.

Brewers - Yup. None of them.

San Fran - Yup. Defending champs? Big deal - they got no one in the backlog.

Arizona - Yup. They also had Alomar last year, but again, he's gone in.

So that's five out of six. NYM, PIT< MIL, SFG, ARI --- and one more to guess.

As to the second question (which six teams have three guys), half have been figured - MON/WAS, BAL, DET, but the other three answers are still out there.

St. Louis had three (McGwire, Smith, Walker)

St. Louis had McGwire, Smith and Walker.

edit: Coke to Jose.

Cubs had Smith, Palmeiro and McGriff?

STL is the fourth team with three, and those are the guys.

Two of the teams with 3 guys to go. And one team shutout to go.

Cubs are a fifth team - and it was Lee Smith, Rafael Palmerio & Fred McGriff.

Just one of them to go.

WAIT - time out. I miscounted like an ass. FIVE teams are shutout on this year's ballot, and Jose named them all - PIT, ARI, SFG, NYM, and MIL. GREAT job there.

Yankees had Smith, Raines, and Mattingly

FIVE teams are shutout on this year's ballot

Who am I missing that played for Kansas City? Was that a Juan Gonzalez landing spot?

EDIT: Checking my own work thanks to Chairman Sean, yup.

NYY are the last team.

KCR had Juan Gone.

Who am I missing that played for Kansas City? Was that a Juan Gonzalez landing spot?

Yes, for 33 games in 2004.

NYY - Mattingly, SMith, Raines
BAL - SMith, Raines, Palmerio
DET - Morris, Trammell, Juan Gone
DCN - SMith, Raines, L.Walker
CHC - SMith, McGriff, Palmeiro
STL - Smith, Walker, McGwire

(so five of the six teams above had Lee Smith)

TOR - Morris, McGriff
CLE - Morris, Juan Gone
OAK - Raines, McGwire
TEX - Palmeiro, Juan Gone
ATL - McGriff, D. Murphy
CIN - Larkin, L. Smith
COL - L. Walker & D. Murphy

Box- L. Smith
TBD - McGriff
Min - Morris
CWS - Raines
KCR - Juan Gone
CAL - L. Smith
SEA - E. Martinez
FLA - Raines
PHI - D. Murphy
HOU - Bagwell
SDP - McGriff
LAD - McGriff

None: NYM, PIT, MIL, ARI, SFG.

The last Giant to get 5% of the ballot was Rich Gossage. I'm sure we all remember his days with the Giants. The last Brewer was, yes, Paul Molitor. On the 2004 ballot.

EDITED to add in Cleveland.

4 more HR allowed by Bronson Arroyo tonight. That gives him 44 on the season. Two starts left and within shouting distance of both the NL (48, Limatime!) and the MLB (50, Blyleven) records.