With Spring Training well underway, baseball's teams are split between the Cactus League in Arizona, and the Grapefruit League in Florida. While attempting to uncover any tidbits regarding the naming of the leagues, we ran into some interesting bits of information.
Earlier this month, Milwaukee Brewers' reliever Francisco Rodriguez stepped on a cactus and was unable to make his first start of spring. A cactus related injury in the Cactus League. What about funky Grapefruit related injuries in the Grapefruit League? Let's go back to 1915 for this one.
The Brooklyn Dodgers were in Daytona Beach, Florida for that year's training camp. Their newish manager, Wilbert Robinson, was about to a part of an incident for which he would come to be best known for. Ruth Law, a local aviator, was making daily flights in the area, dropping golf balls as a publicity gimmick for a local golf course. Someone came up with the great idea of catching a baseball dropped from the plane. When none of the players found the guts to try to catch it, Robinson volunteered. The day came, and Law forgot the baseball back in her hotel room. Improvising, she substituted a grapefruit from the lunch of one of her ground crew at the last minute. The grapefruit landed in Robinson's mitt and exploded, knocking him down and drenching him in warm Grapefruit juice. Thinking he was covered in his own blood, Robbie called for help. The players rushed over and began ribbing him when they realized what had happened. Thus, we have the closest grapefruit related injury in the Grapefruit League.
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Showing posts with label milwaukee brewers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label milwaukee brewers. Show all posts
Monday, March 31, 2014
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! |