things I learned about in baseball this week/how i learned to stop worrying and love baseball

99% chance my first MLB park I visit is pnc in April 🤗

A man so fiercely modest and private that while at the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship, he didn't tell his parents back in Brooklyn that he was also on the baseball team. The man whose mother requested one of the first copies of his 1966 autobiography, Koufax, so she could find out something about her son. ("You never told me anything," she said to him.)

"When Hideo Nomo was getting really, really big, Sandy told me, 'He'd better learn to like room service,'" O'Malley says. "That's how Sandy handled the attention." Koufax almost never left his hotel room in his final two seasons for the Dodgers. It wasn't enough that he move to a creaky, charmingly flawed farmhouse in Maine with a leaky basement, he quickly bought up almost 300 acres adjacent to it.

It was this bad: Koufax couldn't straighten his left arm--it was curved like a parenthesis. He had to have a tailor shorten the left sleeve on all his coats. Use of his left arm was severely limited when he wasn't pitching. On bad days he'd have to bend his neck to get his face closer to his left hand so that he could shave. And on the worst days he had to shave with his right hand. He still held his fork in his left hand, but sometimes he had to bend closer to the plate to get the food into his mouth.

His elbow was shot full of cortisone several times a season. His stomach was always queasy from the cocktail of anti-inflammatories he swallowed before and after games, which he once said made him "half-high on the mound." He soaked his elbow in an ice bath for 30 minutes after each game, his arm encased in an inner tube to protect against frostbite. And even then his arm would swell an inch. He couldn't go on like this, not when his doctors could not rule out the possibility that he was risking permanent damage to his arm.

if you foresee visiting more parks in your future i think ballpark stamping is really fun - https://mlbballparkpassport.com/

$76 + shipping for the passport is kind of steep but they sell a more modest one without bells and whistles for $22. it's a one man passion project so part of the high cost is to cover licensing fees from MLB. also in the grand scheme of how much souvenirs and concessions cost at a park it's not a terrible price... also apparently if you buy one at a stadium teams put their own markup on it, i hear it costs like $100 at fenway.

other souvenirs to get - customer service at parks will give you a 'first game certificate' for free, generally. scorecards. souvenir team baseballs, mini baseball bats, pins. soft serve in a collectible hat. collectible beer cup. unfortunately parks don't really do ticket stubs or programs anymore...

Yeah I don’t know, it might be a bit of an ask with not living in the US. It’s a really nice idea though, if you went to games regularly it would be really worth doing.

Happy you're going to get to a game, gyac!

Finished The Science of Hitting! Ok, it’s not very long but I’m very distracted by Mario Wonder and sleeping.

Things I learned about Ted Williams & his thoughts on hitting:

- good hitters “guess” the pitch coming - based on previous experience. You see this all the time during games now - they’ll say “he was waiting on that fastball” or similar. This was apparently not widely accepted at the time.
- “75% of an outfielders job is to hit.” Is this because Teddy was an ordinary fielder at best?
- DON’T SWING AT THE FIRST PITCH. He says even if you take a strike first time out, you learn by that strike how the pitcher is throwing and how his stuff is looking and can adjust accordingly…If you’re a good hitter, that is.
- a good swing should be from the hips up. I think a lot of guys must do this nowadays going by how big some of their thighs are and how hard they hit the ball, but Teddy knew about torque!
- he could not hit the knuckleball, at all.
- he was like, I respected Ty Cobb but he was a slap hitter and his swing was about half the size of mine
- (related to previous): Ty Cobb was trying to give him advice on how to hit with a shift on, Ted in addition to the above is like staring into the distance and thinking of all the Boston baseball writers who hated on him for not going oppo, and like the meme, Ted is like “none of these people knew I couldn’t hit the opposite way!!!!”
- anyway he did eventually learn to hit oppo
- his most crank opinion is SWITCH HITTING ISN’T REAL, USE YOUR DOMINANT HAND
- to which I reply: watch these swings, frozen head Ted

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRa-ir8mpw8
- make good use of time outs!

But yeah, a good read, I think I mentioned that the impetus for me to look into this book was this very good Fangraphs article with redacted player name. It made me wonder how much of modern hitting is based on his approach.

re t. ballgame’s fielding, i’ve seen him referred to as ‘a statue’ in left

i don’t think he’s wrong though

Yeah you’re obviously not going to give too much of a shit about the glove when he can hit like that

it's amazing how he lost almost five peak-era seasons to military service and never missed a beat upon his return from both wars. i think if anything TW is vastly underrated vs what his accomplishments were. you'd be looking at a player with 700+ HR and 2500+ rbi if he'd never gone to war, which is probably a fairly accurate extrapolation.

Not sure if you saw it, but NTBT had a good post upthread about this!

things I learned about in baseball this week/how i learned to stop worrying and love baseball

I’m watching the 2004 ALCS documentary 4 Days in October and I hadn’t realised that this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQyY-azd2vk

Was from that series.

Whoever cut the explanation “A-Rod says it’s just his running motion!” to the shot of A-Rod doing a stiff-armed running motion to the umpires is a genius. I laughed for a solid thirty seconds.

yes!! that series had everything

Why the fuck did Pedro pitch in game 7

yeah that was weird. i don’t remember the reasoning. boston was up big. who knows. maybe he begged tito.

What I remember about that series was working a job at the time with a Yankees fan during the alcs, which was on the TV in the kitchen every night. And after that 19-8 shellacking he was really feeling his oats, just crowing about the new Yankee dynasty. Little did he know of course that that was basically the last day of the Yankee dynasty. With every Yankees loss, he withdrew a little bit more until that Johnny Damon grand slam and...

https://media.tenor.com/6C-6YhMqTPYAAAAC/the-simpsons-heart-broken.gif

second best moment in baseball history behind Willie Mays making The Catch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsuYIN7y8Ew

That 2003 series ended less satisfyingly than 2004 but it sticks out more in my memory because I'd never seen cops lining up against the walls during the game (near the end of game 7 IIRC) before.

lol. I had no knowledge of the Damon grand slam before watching this series so when he gets thrown out at the plate to start the game, I was like, oh ok cos I already knew the outcome…little did I know.

The Ortíz slash line for that series is filth 😮‍💨

.387/.457/.742, OPS of 1.199

I was on baseball reference looking that up and then I was like, Manny didn’t really seem to do much that series, wonder if he had a better WS?

Looked further up the page and see that he was the WS MVP so I guess it turned out fine

That 2003 series ended less satisfyingly than 2004 but it sticks out more in my memory because I'd never seen cops lining up against the walls during the game (near the end of game 7 IIRC) before.

honestly i remember where i was in 2004, talking to my dad long-distance on the phone, saying to him look, i know it looks bad, we’re down 3-0 in the series, but if we can just win this one then we got pedro, we got schilling, and then it’s game 7 and anything can happen

a lot of people forget the key contributions of curtis “the mechanic” leskanic to win game 4 (in fact his name is missing from the back of my commemorative t-shirt from that year, though everyone else on the postseason roster is there). his 1 2/3 innings of shutout ball in game 4 were the last pitches he’d ever throw in the majors.

something i didn’t know about the mechanic until now

His cousin Katrina Leskanich was the lead singer of Katrina and the Waves, known for their 1985 hit "Walking on Sunshine."[3]

My discovery of old gamedays on mlb.com leads me to once again conclude that the universal DH is a crime

https://i.postimg.cc/KzYs4ZLC/IMG-1404.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/TPfsMjPd/IMG-1405.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/zvbtS0xj/IMG-1407.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/fyGHHmFh/IMG-1408.jpg

Impressed with the Zito single already but hitting young Verlander’s high velo 😮‍💨

you know that felt good

https://i.postimg.cc/KjZ6tRjN/IMG-1417.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjOeJTsKDE8

lol most “excuse me” swing ever

EXCUSE ME FOR RAKING

LOOK AT THAT OPPO POWER

I was going back through this thread looking for classic games to watch so I’m collating the links here for winter

1975 WS game 6 recommended by clemenza - this video has far better quality than some much later games.

1986 WS game 6 - recommended by PBKR

Red Sox-Yankees 1st July 2004 - recommended by PBKR

2003 ALCS - recommended by PBKR

2004 ALCS -recommended by PBKR

ALDS game 2 2007 (CLE-NYY, midges) -recommended by PBKR

1995 ALDS (NYY-SEA) - games 1 2 3 4 5 - recommended by PBKR

2011 WS game 6 - recommended by clemenza

2016 WS game 7 - recommended by NoTimeBeforeTime

2015 ALDS game 5 (Toronto-Texas) - recommended by mookieproof

1988 WS game 1 - recommended by mookieproof

1993 WS game 4 - recommended by clemenza

Kerry Wood 20 strikeout game - recommended by Jimmy the Mod

Let me tell you, when there’s an accidental space between the link and the = in one of those bb links? Not a good time

Have you ever seen footage of Craig Counsell's batting stance when he was a player?

here's a fun one:

Rangers defeat Orioles 30-3

xp I have not…Hunter Pence esque?

I will add your game to my list omar cos I watched game 7 2016 yesterday and I have thoughts about that but I need to finish hoovering my house first

https://www.mlb.com/video/backstory-of-counsell-s-stance-c1869982183

I’m speechless, I couldn’t have predicted that in a million years

2016 World Series, Cubs - Indians, Guardians, ugh, Indians

I read the story of this game 7 in SI a while ago and although that detailed out the key happenings of this in detail, that was a whole 162 games ago for me and I’d forgotten. So I was watching thinking, k this goes to extras but how? Hendricks was cruising, the Cubs were grinding out runs here and there, and then…they take Hendricks out early.

He looked how I felt watching it seven years later: like he wanted to kill someone. Insane if they took him out an inning early and ended up getting walked off.

I’d forgotten how many star names were on the rosters - a very young Lindor! A very young Kyle Schwarber! A baby faced Jose Ramirez! Drone injury clown Trevor Bauer! so I had some nice moments of recognition throughout. Anyway back to the game. I was trying to remember how the lead slipped away and then Jon Lester came in.

Anyway JL is a Sox/Cubs legend and yeah…that wild pitch off David Ross’s head? That felt like something that could only happen to the Cubs, and it did. But after that they pulled the score back to 6-3 and I was like, ok, where is this going?

Aroldis Chapman is coming out of the bullpen?

Yeah. I’m sure his blown saves are like actually less than his converted but at the same time you’re like…how the fuck does this guy have a job? And the Cubs ended up using three catchers in this game. I didn’t even know you could carry three on the roster.

Spent most of the ninth wondering where is this rain delay? And then it happened. Obviously I knew how it turns out but it felt when Cleveland didn’t walk it off in the end of the 9th that they weren’t going to, because that and the rain were a huge break for the Cubs.

What a thrilling double from Zobroist, though. The man went 0-4 and still stepped to the plate in the biggest moment of his life and got it done. NOT TRYING TO DO TOO MUCH. Rizzo freaking out on third as he realised they’ve scored the go ahead run and the inning is still going is one of the most endearing things I’ve ever seen in a game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE_1ShFSrY0

That’s got to be the biggest Cubs hit of all time, right? None of these guys should ever pay for anything in Chicago again. This also made me realise that Rizzo hasn’t been back to Wrigley since he was traded. I looked up the Yankees schedule for next year and it’s finally happening - in September. I hope he has a healthy year next season, but also, fuck the Yankees for jeopardising his health.

Bryzzo getting the final out was perfect. I only saw 2023 Kris Bryant play and he was incredible. What can you say? But his Cubs years are eternal.

Going to post this before I lose this post (happened once already!) and then paste the notes I took on my phone

Notes:

- Schwarber being ruled safe after bad Kluber fielding - lmao what even was that? Disastrous.
- Kluber era under 1 entering this game (!) - this was prime Kluber (and it made me sad watching him a bit, having watched his Red Sox non-season this year). He was pitching well but they got him.
- Rizzo to Fowler: WE NEEDED THAT - lol Dexter Fowler’s first inning homer. Rizzo was so much the heart and soul of this team. You can see it a mile off and seven years out.
- Kyle Schwarber stole a base?! - lol
- Jose Ramirez the best hitter “out of nowhere” - I was like, wtf, but then I looked up his br page and his 2015 was horrific.
- Ramirez pickoff - this was cruel but funny
- Schwarber TOOTBLAN - some guys can try for two, but not everyone can or should!
- Bryant slide at home - this was pure magic, what a perfect bit of baserunning
- “irregardless of what happens on the pitching front” - Smoltz 😑
- David Ross micd up talking to Rizzo (Rizzo: I’M AN EMOTIONAL WRECK RIGHT NOW) - this was the cutest omg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQKhf--Gxw0
- Bryant scoring from 1st (more baserunning masterclass)

Also the intentional walks used to be a joke? They used to make the guy stand there at the plate while they threw four balls?????

We have letters from my grandfather (lifelong Cubs fan) he wrote home from Sicily and Italy while fighting in WW2 where he says, "maybe this is the Cubs year?", so it was so awesome that he got to see them win it all at age 98. I wasn't a Cubs fan but I was rooting so hard for them that series for his sake. Even my Mom stayed up to watch Game 7 and she dngaf about baseball.

That’s incredible. I’m so happy he got to see it!

There's definitely an entire generation of Chicago baseball fans whose parents or grandparents never saw their preferred hometown team win a World series title. The White Sox won in 1917 and then finally in 2005, and of course the Cubs hadn't won in 108 years when they won in 2016. My dad's mom, a Northside Cubs fan, was born in 1911 and died in 1994. My mom's parents, southside Sox fans, born in 1918 and 1920, died in '98 and '99.

Also the intentional walks used to be a joke? They used to make the guy stand there at the plate while they threw four balls?????

― mojo dojo casas house (gyac), Monday, November 6, 2023 4:57 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

it was silly that they had to stand there but if not for that we never would have had this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6YzVvtxoaY

lol, was that considered against the unwritten rules

Or this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR0jGrfQCu4

That was the trade-off: 100 years, 10,000 boring IBB, two memorable highlights.

Also the intentional walks used to be a joke? They used to make the guy stand there at the plate while they threw four balls?????

And we liked it that way!

We have letters from my grandfather (lifelong Cubs fan) he wrote home from Sicily and Italy while fighting in WW2 where he says, "maybe this is the Cubs year?", so it was so awesome that he got to see them win it all at age 98. I wasn't a Cubs fan but I was rooting so hard for them that series for his sake. Even my Mom stayed up to watch Game 7 and she dngaf about baseball.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Monday, November 6, 2023 2:23 PM bookmarkflaglink

Love this so much

They used to make the guy stand there at the plate while they threw four balls?????

was there ever an instance of a catcher being busted for stepping out from behind home plate too soon?

5.02 (a): the catcher must stand with both feet within the lines of the catcher’s box until the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand.
PENALTY: Balk

the ritual of the intentional walk is so good, hate they got rid of it

OTM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBMm70kRgo

PLAY THE GAME