Recent Posts
Monday, June 30, 2014
World Series Champions
I found a neat infographic from Scott J. Haselwood regarding past World Series champions on his website. In it, each team is represented by a circle and the size of each circle represents the total number of World Series wins for each team. It is neat that he was able to incorporate that fact that some teams have World Series from different cities.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Tony Gwynn
One of the game's greatest players passed away last Monday. Tony Gwynn was a lifelong San Diego Padre, and was known for both the impact he made on the field and off the field.
Speaking of the former, here are some ridiculous stats on Gwynn:
Speaking of the former, here are some ridiculous stats on Gwynn:
- Tony Gwynn struck out 434 times in 10,232 plate appearances (PA). He faced Pedro Martinez 36 times, and never struck out. He faced Curt Schilling 43 times, striking out only twice. Both pitchers are members of the 3000 K club. Greg Maddux never struck him out.
- Tony Gwynn lifetime only had 434 strikeouts in 10,232 PAs over 20 years. For some perspective, Mark Reynolds had 434 strikeouts in 1258 PAs in 2009-10.
- Select 3000 hit club members, % of PA's they struck out:
- Tony Gwynn 4.2%
- Craig Biggio 14.0%
- Derek Jeter 14.6%
- Wade Boggs 6.9%
- Rod Carew 9.7%
- Pete Rose 7.2%
- Paul Molitor 10.2%
- Tony Gwynn could have gone 0-for-4 in another 295 games and still had a lifetime batting average over .300.
It's also well known that Tony Gwynn is the only player to seriously come close to batting .400 for a seaon since Ted Williams did it in 1941. The guys over at Baseball Reference actually broke down a stretch of 162 games (the equivalent of a season) where Gwynn hit over .400. Had it not been for the baseball strike in 1994, we may have seen it occur during a standard season.
RIP Tony.
Monday, June 16, 2014
The Spy
Moe Berg had a 15-year Major League career spanning four different teams. It wasn't his achievements on the field that set him apart though, rather it was the profession he chose after putting away his bat that sets him apart.
At seven-years-old, Berg began playing baseball. More importantly was the intellect he showed at an early age, speaking seven languages. Berg went on to study modern languages at Princeton, where he continued to play baseball, often choosing to speak only in Latin or Sanskrit on the field. After graduating magna cum laude from Princeton, Berg studied French at the Sorbonne in Paris and law at Columbia University.
After 15 undistinguished seasons as a ballplayer, he went to work as a spy for the United States during World War II, parachuting into Yugoslavia for the Office of Strategic Services and interviewing Italian physicists about the German nuclear program. He spent 10 years working as a spy. His baseball card is on display at CIA headquarters.
Berg died in 1972, never getting around to writing his memoir where he planned to tell his entire story. Some are left to wonder whether his baseball career was also a big rouse, a coverup for the American spy.
At seven-years-old, Berg began playing baseball. More importantly was the intellect he showed at an early age, speaking seven languages. Berg went on to study modern languages at Princeton, where he continued to play baseball, often choosing to speak only in Latin or Sanskrit on the field. After graduating magna cum laude from Princeton, Berg studied French at the Sorbonne in Paris and law at Columbia University.
After 15 undistinguished seasons as a ballplayer, he went to work as a spy for the United States during World War II, parachuting into Yugoslavia for the Office of Strategic Services and interviewing Italian physicists about the German nuclear program. He spent 10 years working as a spy. His baseball card is on display at CIA headquarters.
Berg died in 1972, never getting around to writing his memoir where he planned to tell his entire story. Some are left to wonder whether his baseball career was also a big rouse, a coverup for the American spy.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Eddie Gaedel
There's a player who has his jersey hanging at the Baseball Hall of Fame. His on-base percentage was an unbelievable 1.000, but this isn't the reason why jersey number "1/8" is in the Hall.
Eddie Gaedel played one game for the St. Louis Browns and had one at bat. Gaedel was a dwarf signed by the Browns in 1951 to help out sales. With legitimate contract in hand, he took his at bat measuring 3'7". This made his strike zone a meager inch and a half in height. The opposing pitcher that day, Detroit Tigers' pitcher Bob Cain, threw four straight balls, all high. Gaedel took his base and was replaced by pinch-runner Jim Delsing. The 18,369 fans in attendance gave Gaedel a standing ovation.
Eddie Gaedel played one game for the St. Louis Browns and had one at bat. Gaedel was a dwarf signed by the Browns in 1951 to help out sales. With legitimate contract in hand, he took his at bat measuring 3'7". This made his strike zone a meager inch and a half in height. The opposing pitcher that day, Detroit Tigers' pitcher Bob Cain, threw four straight balls, all high. Gaedel took his base and was replaced by pinch-runner Jim Delsing. The 18,369 fans in attendance gave Gaedel a standing ovation.
Monday, June 2, 2014
First Pitch
Last week, rapper 50 cent threw out the ceremonial first pitch during the New York Mets/ Pittsburgh Pirates game. Here's the video below:
As the announcer says, his pitch was "not great." But was it the worst ever? A chart generated by the Washington Post suggest that it may indeed be the worst first pitch ever. While it was "highly unscientific," it's still fun to see where different people's pitches ended up.
As the announcer says, his pitch was "not great." But was it the worst ever? A chart generated by the Washington Post suggest that it may indeed be the worst first pitch ever. While it was "highly unscientific," it's still fun to see where different people's pitches ended up.