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Monday, December 23, 2013
Astrodome
Earlier this month, demolition of Houston, Texas's Astrodome began. While too outdated to be renovated now, when it opened on April 9, 1965, it was a state-of-the-art facility, the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium. It's home team baseball team, the Houston Astros, has changed their name from Colt .45s upon moving into the Astrodome. Their old name played a large part in why the honorees decided rather than to use a traditional shovel for the ground breaking ceremonies, a different...tool, would be more appropriate.
Monday, December 16, 2013
Disaster Draft
It's something you may (or may not) have thought about before. What would happen in the catastrophic event that a Major League Baseball team were to lose a large portion of their team? A charter bus goes off the road, a plane loses an engine, or some other terrible event? Well that, my friends, would call for a "disaster draft."
In the event that a team disaster ever occurred in which at least five players were dismembered, disabled, or killed, MLB has a contingency plan, built around some sort of "disaster draft" designed to restock the team in the event of such a tragedy. This plan is covered in Rule 29 of its official rules. The way it would work would be that each team has to make five players available for a draft taken from its active list (or if it's during the off-season, during its reserve list.) This list would include a pitcher, a catcher, an outfielder, and infielder, and one more player of any position. A player with a no-trade clause in its contract would not be made available, unless the player waives that clause.
It makes sense to have a plan in place, but it would be a heavy undertaking to do. How would players moving to the new team feel, knowing their are replacing deceased players? Let's hope we never have to find out.
In the event that a team disaster ever occurred in which at least five players were dismembered, disabled, or killed, MLB has a contingency plan, built around some sort of "disaster draft" designed to restock the team in the event of such a tragedy. This plan is covered in Rule 29 of its official rules. The way it would work would be that each team has to make five players available for a draft taken from its active list (or if it's during the off-season, during its reserve list.) This list would include a pitcher, a catcher, an outfielder, and infielder, and one more player of any position. A player with a no-trade clause in its contract would not be made available, unless the player waives that clause.
It makes sense to have a plan in place, but it would be a heavy undertaking to do. How would players moving to the new team feel, knowing their are replacing deceased players? Let's hope we never have to find out.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
We'll Never Be Royals
This year has seen the rise of 16-year-old New Zealand singer Lorde in the music world. Helping her popularity has been her hit song, "Royals." What does any of this have to do with baseball? Well, it's recently been discovered that one of the sources of her inspiration for this song is a photograph of Hall of Famer George Brett in his Kansas City Royals uniform!
In an interview with VH1, Lorde explained how she “had this image from the National Geographic of this dude signing baseballs. He was a baseball player and his shirt said, ‘Royals.’... It was just that word. It’s really cool.”
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| George Brett |
National Geographic has confirmed that this is the only photo in the archives of a Royals baseball player signing autographs. There you have it!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Strikeouts
April 2013 was a historic month in baseball for strikeouts. There were more strikeouts this April than in any other April in any season in major-league history. Furthermore, it was the 2nd-highest in any month in MLB history!
Here's some nice perspective Going into this year, only one players had every struck out 40 times in April. That honor was owned by Preston Wilson, who accomplished that feat in 2000 playing for the Florida Marlin.
This year, there were three players to accomplish that feat: Chris Carter of the Houston Astros, Mike Napoli of the Boston Red Sox, and Jay Bruce of the Cincinnati Reds.
And remember... Joe DiMaggio never struck out 40 times in a SEASON!
Here's some nice perspective Going into this year, only one players had every struck out 40 times in April. That honor was owned by Preston Wilson, who accomplished that feat in 2000 playing for the Florida Marlin.
This year, there were three players to accomplish that feat: Chris Carter of the Houston Astros, Mike Napoli of the Boston Red Sox, and Jay Bruce of the Cincinnati Reds.
And remember... Joe DiMaggio never struck out 40 times in a SEASON!
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| Joe DiMaggio, probably not striking out |
Monday, April 15, 2013
The rare lefty catcher
Something that I've failed to notice in all my years of watching baseball is how rare a left-handed catcher is. Think about it, when's the last time you saw someone throwing the ball back to the pitcher with their left hand? If you said anything more recent than 1989, you'd be wrong!
On May 14, 1989, in a game between Pittsburgh and Atlanta, the Pirates moved Benny Distefano from first base to catcher as part of a double switch. Distefano was a lefty, and no other team has had a left catcher in a game since then. In fact, no lefty catcher has started a game since 1900, when Jack Clements retired after playing 10 games behind the plate for the Boston Beaneaters.
This season, the Milwaukee Brewers have Logan Schafer as their emergency catcher. Schafer is a lefty, so although highly unlikely, we may get to see the first lefty catcher in 24 years!
On May 14, 1989, in a game between Pittsburgh and Atlanta, the Pirates moved Benny Distefano from first base to catcher as part of a double switch. Distefano was a lefty, and no other team has had a left catcher in a game since then. In fact, no lefty catcher has started a game since 1900, when Jack Clements retired after playing 10 games behind the plate for the Boston Beaneaters.
This season, the Milwaukee Brewers have Logan Schafer as their emergency catcher. Schafer is a lefty, so although highly unlikely, we may get to see the first lefty catcher in 24 years!
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| Benny Distefano in 1989. Lefty! |
Thursday, April 11, 2013
The Upton Brothers
At the beginning of this week, B.J. and Justin Upton did something that had never been done before: they became the first brothers to end a baseball game with back to back home runs in the 9th inning.
Justin Upton's solo home run in the 9th tied the score 1 to 1 against the Chicago Cubs. One out later, B.J. hit a solo shot that ended the game. They also became the 25th tandem of brothers to homer in the same major league game.
This follows up another unique feat they achieves last year.
On August 3 2012, B.J. hit the 100th home run of his career. A mere 44 minutes later, Justin hit his 100th. So what were the odds of them both hitting No. 100 on the same day? Well, of the six brother acts to hit 100 apiece, there had only been one time before that that any of those brothers had hit any number on the same day. Who were they? Why the Uptons themselves had hit #99 on the same day as well!
Justin Upton's solo home run in the 9th tied the score 1 to 1 against the Chicago Cubs. One out later, B.J. hit a solo shot that ended the game. They also became the 25th tandem of brothers to homer in the same major league game.
This follows up another unique feat they achieves last year.
On August 3 2012, B.J. hit the 100th home run of his career. A mere 44 minutes later, Justin hit his 100th. So what were the odds of them both hitting No. 100 on the same day? Well, of the six brother acts to hit 100 apiece, there had only been one time before that that any of those brothers had hit any number on the same day. Who were they? Why the Uptons themselves had hit #99 on the same day as well!
Monday, April 8, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Opening Day Payrolls 2013
Alex Rodriguez's salary for the 2013 MLB season will be $29 million, making him the highest-paid player of 2013. The Houston Astros' estimated payroll for the entire team is $25 million.
