Dozens of all-time greats have worn pinstripes for at least one game, but as of 2012, the Yankees have only* retired 16 numbers in honor of 17 players.
NO. 21: PAUL O’NEILL
Some say that retired numbers should be reserved for life-long or near life-long Yankees. The antithesis to that argument is of course Reggie Jackson, whose No. 44 is enshrined despite “Mr. October” spending less than a quarter of his career in pinstripes, but O’Neill is one ...
EEEK! My Jack Zanger yearbooks just crumbled into a mound of old-world dust!
But the Rays coaching staff doesn’t care, saying his ability to hit for a high on-base percentage cancels out his low batting average.
“I think that totally blanks it out,” Rays batting coach Derek Shelton explained. “If you look at the difference between his batting average and his balls in play and how hard he’s hitting the ball, it (his average) is not something that’s overly concerning to us as long as he ...
blood on their cleats…blood on their cleats…blood on their cleats…
The incident in question occurred during the ninth inning of Boston’s 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay on Friday when Franklin Morales threw a series of inside pitches before finally clipping Scott on the knee with a fastball.
The benches immediately cleared and members of the Boston coaching staff – pitching coach Bob McClure and bench coach Tim Bogar – appeared to be the chief instigators in the crowd.
The Marlins held on for the 7-6 win Friday night, so Ozzie Guillen made the right move in the short term by lifting Heath Bell with one out in the ninth inning and the tying run on second base for the Giants.
...“I feel like I’m going out there pitching,” Bell said. “I’m trying to make my pitches. I have no fear of throwing any pitch at any given time in any count. I’m just not a meathead that rears back and throws the ball. I’m actually trying ...
In a nutshell, Clark (who now works with KTRS in St. Louis) is critical of LaRussa for not allowing any of the 80s Cardinals players to associate with his team, firing longtime personnel and hiding steroid use bringing in his own medical staff.
Tony was responsible for a lot of the cheating that went on. And, as a result, he hid it with his own medical people.
Buster Olney ~ Not saying that Paul Konerko is a Hall of Famer, but his HOF resume is getting very interesting.
Jon Heyman ~ is paul konerko (.384 to lead the AL) the most under-rated player of alltime? i think so.
Konerko is at 30.9 fWAR and 26.1 bWAR for his career. He is 36 years old. He’s played more than 95 percent of his career games at first base. If we zero out the baserunning and fielding components of the WAR equations (which isn’t a ...
In other Pirate news: Team eyes Charles Wilmoth as head of scouting.
I suppose that if, before the season, you squinted at McLouth in just the right way, you could have seen a functional bench outfielder in there, but his increasing problems hitting for average were red flags, and paying $1.75 million for him, as the Pirates did, was way too much. Here’s what I wrote about the signing at the time.
I’m not saying his batting average is the best indicator of his value, obviously, only ...
Star-Telegram columnist Randy Galloway brought it up this morning in an article in which he reiterated the need for re-signing Josh Hamilton. Suggested that the Rangers would be risking Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas if they did not.
Which had me dreaming up another scenario. Let’s say the Reds did not trade Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, Jack Blaudschun and Dick Simpson at those winter meetings. Instead it happened this way.
They’ve outdone themselves with the theme this time.
Joe Maddon thought up the Ken Rosenthal/Nerd road trip theme to raise money for BowTie Cause, a philanthropic initiative started by former NFL linebacker Dhani Jones.
...
Rosenthal, who is in Boston in anticipation of Fox’s broadcast of the Rays-Red Sox on Saturday night, tweeted he will meet the Rays plane and judge the nerdiest Ray.
One month until the geeks gather in the Gleeman homeland [for the SABR Convention], here’s what to nosh on while you are there.
10. Walleye on a Stick is a must have because walleye is the state fish.
....
6. The Nachos Helmet is exactly what it promises, a helmet full of nachos. I have not been able to get past how gross it looks, but maybe you can.
Much has been asked in recent days about the process of evaluating Babe Ruth’s 1920 New York Yankees road uniform that was sold last weekend by Sports Cards Plus for $4.4 million. On Monday, the MEARS office received a call from New York radio station WFAN asking if we would consent to an interview about my authentication of the garment. While on the air I was able to describe the evaluation process without the listeners having the ability to view the supporting images and other evidence ...
The Pittsburgh Pirates (.217/.266/.346) are basically Jeff Torborg (.214/.268/.265) using Dale Torborg’s muscles.
The following players have done nothing to merit their current roles, be they starters or backups: Clint Barmes, Casey McGehee, Jose Tabata, Michael McKenry, Yamaico Navarro, Nate McLouth, Gorkys Hernandez
Exempted are Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, Rod Barajas, Pedro Alvarez and Garrett Jones, either for current or previous contributions. That’s not to suggest they can’t be ...
Hey, I’m still calling for a MLB probe of LeTrostvine going around lying about the dimensions at the New Yankee Stadium.
The denials offered by the two Yankees suits were tepid compared to what Trost delivered. For a guy used to a six-watt light bulb spotlight, Trost was all star shine, jacking up rhetoric and taking his protest to an entirely different level. It almost seemed as if he has something personal at stake.
Trost more than suggested those responsible for providing the Daily News ...
Hell…even Hummer Winblad sounds like a scout’s dream.
Bill James started this Sabermetric movement in the early 80’s, claiming that by using complicated data you can predict every outcome. They also believe that you can predict a players future worth so when a player hits a down trend it’s time to let him go. Johnny Damon was a good example, Boston let him go because of back to back down trend years yet, Damon made several playoff runs with the Yankees and Rays, while Boston hasn’t been able ...
Wadj were also an Egyptian fertility god…but that’s neither here nor there.
Recently a friend mentioned that the Yankee winning percentage with Derek Jeter playing was the same as without Derek Jeter playing. This prompted me to consider that there might be such a thing as Wins Above Derek Jeter: WADJ, pronounced the way it’s spelled for the comic effect.
For the Yankees to improve they need to replace Jeter with a player who has WADJ.
Many years ago Bill Dean manually researched the runs ...
As soon as Dan Haren started to pitch, it looked like he was in absolute command. And he remained in absolute command throughout, such that, at the end, he was charged with but a single line drive. Haren faced 31 batters, and he struck 14 of them out. He’d never before struck out more than a dozen batters in a game. Since joining the Angels, he’s averaged about seven strikeouts per nine innings. Tonight he quite literally doubled that. And he ...
Tiffany water is circus lemonade compared to the way this glorious athlete thing goes to a boob’s think nubbin. Note, Tyrus Raymond Cobb, Esq., of Georgia, sah!
...
Stabbed night watchman in hotel Euclid, Cleveland, when watchman remonstrated because he was on floor other than that housing Detroit club at 2 a.m.
Beat up negro street cleaner in Detroit.
Went auto riding season of 1910 and forgot to come to ball park in time for game. Happened twice.
The incident occurred just as the Cardinals completed batting in the bottom of the sixth inning when a fan down the right field line jumped over wall and immediately took off his clothes.
The man then took off running completely naked into the Busch Stadium outfield as fans cheered, flashbulbs popped and security chased towards him….
It was our much-anticipated quarterly lunch with Tim Kurkjian, baseball analyst extraordinaire, wherein George Will and I bathe in a constant flow of obscure statistics, Kurkjian oddities, and ribald anecdotes, like the one about the Red Sox beat writer who accidentally walked in on a players’ prayer meeting and was greeted by the burly right fielder, newly born-again and not yet practiced in the language of Christian fellowship, bellowing “Hey! Can’t you see we’re having f—— chapel ...
Former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s video game company, 38 Studios, has laid off all of its employees in the wake of financial difficulties, according to a company insider who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Shawn Green enjoyed quite the professional baseball career: In 13 seasons, he clubbed 328 home runs, drove in 1,070 runs, batted .283, was a two-time All-Star and retired in 2007 holding or sharing seven Major League records. The former Dodger also twice refused to play on Yom Kippur.
He isn’t finished yet. Green now will come out of retirement to play for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic (WBC) qualifiers in November, according to team manager Brad Ausmus. Green is eligible because ...
David, as it turned out, did have things to say and wrote well, but it has now been more than two years since he contributed. He had gone to work for the San Diego Padres and felt he was not in position to comment on other teams or players, or the industry as a whole. It is for the same reason that we have finally gotten around to removing his name from the heading, the blogs themselves and all comment responses.
Part of me has wanted to slip OPS or WHIP into the Chronicle, though I haven’t wanted to rock the boat. It’s not my place, and I’m not sure if I could feasibly get the stats in even if it was. Agate is driven by what comes off the Associated Press wires, mostly an issue of grabbing items as they become available, inserting them into the next day’s paper, and formatting them for style. If the AP sends out sabermetric stat leaders, I haven’t seen them, ...
Does the National Hockey League’s Winter Classic doesn’t even need winter? The new Dodgers owners don’t think so. The new owners of the team hope to host the NHL’s annual outdoor showcase at Dodger Stadium.
“They put a man on the moon,” Dodgers chairman Mark Walter told the Los Angeles Times. “They can make it work.”...
While it would seem that Los Angeles would be an odd choice for outdoor ice, the Kings have done it before. In 1991, the team played ...
Looks like a cool project that will leave for Anaheim in ten years.
The Cardinals unveiled their latest plan for Ballpark Village on Monday. It is smaller than the last one, but one that the Cardinals say is more likely to succeed.
The baseball team and its development partners showed off a 100,000-square foot retail and entertainment complex to be built north of Busch Stadium, anchored by a team Hall of Fame and big outdoor event space. On the rest of the 10-acre site, they will lay the ...
Congratulations to Bud Selig for beating out inanimate carbon rod!
Major League Baseball was named Sports League of the Year at the 2012 Sports Business Awards presented by SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily last night in New York. The award recognizes the success baseball enjoyed in 2011 coupling unparalleled drama on the field with record business performance and innovative fan engagement. Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig accepted the award on behalf of the league.
If this bobblehead is the truth, Halladay is either a famous LEFT-handed pitcher who’s been faking us out, or a righty who has sustained a head injury, thinks he’s a lefty and doesn’t know how to wear a glove or stand on a pitching mound any longer. He also looks like Billy Bob Thornton from “Sling Blade.” Or some combination therein.
Note: MLB.com has since removed the Halladay bobblehead from its site.
In the longest game in Major League baseball history, on May 1, 1920, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves played to a 1-1 tie after 26 innings. Braves second baseman Charlie Pick has “the bad day” at the plate, going 0 for 11 (poor Charlie made an error that day, too).
8. TAKING IT EASY
On June 25, 1976, Texas Ranger shortstop Toby Harrah played a doubleheader and never touched a batted ball nor had a single ball hit to him -no chances, no putouts, no ...
The hostess with the moatest…or how the Yankees messed a pearl.
Which reminds of something else that’s disappointing ... The New York Yankees are supposed to epitomize class. But with the arguable exception of Derek Jeter’s appearances still announced by the (now) disembodied voice of Bob Sheppard, there is almost nothing classy about Yankee Stadium. The Yankees could have afforded to eschew advertisements on the outfield walls, but they didn’t. They could have jettisoned “YMCA”, but they ...
MLB sought to increase video review this season to include trapped balls, fair-or-foul rulings down the lines and fan interference all over the ballpark. But it requires approval of MLB and the unions representing the umpires and the players, and any expansion was delayed until 2013 at the earliest.
“I’ve had very, very little pressure from people who want to do more,” Selig said.
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