Baseball Quiz: Name the 5 pitchers who appeared in at least 1,000
games. Answer below.
Cooperstown
It has been 18 years since I visited Cooperstown, home of the
National Baseball Hall of Fame. That is 18 years too many.
I”ve got to tell you, my last two days here have been a blast.
For starters, however, you certainly don”t come to Cooperstown to
“get in trouble.” I arrived Sunday afternoon, purposefully in time
for the Jets – Tampa Bay game. So I sought out a watering hole for
a few adult beverages and football comraderie.
Now downtown Cooperstown is all of one block but I thought I had
found a cool, 1890s type bar (it said so on the sign). Alas, I
felt about as welcome as John Rocker in Queens. So I worked my
way to another spot and.bottom line.ended back at my hotel.
But we”re getting off message here.
Aside from the Hall of Fame, there are two other nice museums.
The Farmers Museum (which will be the subject of some upcoming
bar chat) and the Fenimore Art Gallery, a classy joint that
actually let me in.
But today, Tuesday, was devoted entirely to baseball. And the
minute I walked into the Hall I hit the Wall of Records, where
all of the names are listed under various categories. Like the
300-Homer club.look, there”s Willie Horton at 325! Hey, my main
man, Dave Kingman, 442! And the most underrated slugger of
all time, Harmon Killebrew, 573.
Walking through the vast room, looking at these huge lists, you
seek out your favorites. And then it really hits you, even though
you already know it. Baseball, unlike any other sport, has a
statistical history that will survive forever (as long as we start
cracking down on the steroid abuse). And you also say to yourself,
“Gosh, I love this game!”
Eddie Delahanty may always be #4 all-time in batting average,
.346. Milt Pappas will always be on the 200-victory list, 209.
The pictures of the 300-victory men will forever include John
Clarkson (#10 with 328), Kid Nichols (#7 with 360), and Pud
Galvin ((#6, 361).
And there are guys who, for special reasons, will always be in the
Hall (though, admittedly, some may be relegated to the storage area
as time goes on). Men like.
–Del Unser, whose bat is enshrined because he hit 3 consecutive
pinch hit home runs in 1979.
–Art Shamsky (bat), for his 4 home runs in consecutive plate
appearances over two games (8/12-8/14/66)
–Bob Johnson (bat), who had 6 consecutive pinch hits for the
Orioles in 1964.
–Jim Gentile (bat), for his 2 consecutive grand slam home runs on
5/9/61, also with Baltimore.
And the pictures of all those who threw no-hitters, including less
notable hurlers like Jack Kralick (1962, Minnesota), Lon Warneke
(1941, St. Louis), Cliff Chambers (1951, Pittsburgh), Jim Wilson
(1954, Milwaukee), and Dick Bosman (1974, Cleveland). Let
alone one who Johnny Mac wrote of earlier in the summer, Bobo
Holloman.
Barry Halper is in the Hall, too. Halper is the super fan who, as a
youth growing up in Newark, NJ, started asking ball players for
their uniforms. His first one was the Tigers outfielder Barney
McCosky. By the time he was out of high school Halper had 74,
the start of the greatest personal collection of baseball
memorabilia ever. He finally sold it off and the Hall has about
20% of it.
There is the case of Halper contacting the great Shoeless Joe
Jackson”s widow in Greenville, SC. He asked for her husband”s
jersey. Mrs. Jackson handed over one from 1919. Amazing. And
of course, Halper had one of those rare Honus Wagner cards.
And as you pass through the Hall of Fame Gallery which contains
the plaques, you pause at your favorites. I told George Harold
Sisler that I helped him protect his record for hits in a single
season, 257, all summer as the Angels Darrin Erstad made a
legitimate run at it. No way it was getting broken, Mr. Sisler;
not by some guy who hit .250 the year before.
You pause at Rogers Hornsby. All he did was hit .424 in 1924.
Then you work your way into the Home Run Chase room. Why
there”s the bat that pitcher Tony Cloninger used to hit 2 grand
slams in one game, 7/3/66.perhaps my first firm statistical
memory as a kid. And Rick Wise”s bat and glove. On 6/23/71,
Wise threw a no-hitter for the Phillies.but he also hit 2 homers in
the game!
Who was the oldest player to hit a home run? Jack Quinn, 1930,
for the Philadelphia Athletics, at the age of 46.
The youngest was Tommy Brown, 1945, a shortstop for the
Brooklyn Dodgers, 17 yrs. 8 months.
In 1945 the Washington Senators hit only one home run at home,
and it was of the inside-the-park variety. That”s because it was
405” down the left field line and they had a super high wall in right.
Hoyt Wilhelm has quite a distinction. Wilhelm is in the Hall for
being one of the great relief pitchers of all time. But this is a man
who homered in his very first major league at bat. He never
clouted another in his 21-year career.
And how about Dino Restelli? Dino who? In 1949, Dino came up
with the Pittsburgh Pirates and hit 8 homers in his first 10 games.
Two years later he was out of baseball, having hit just 5 more.
Oh well, I”m probably boring you to tears, unless you”re a baseball
junkie. But sorry, folks, there”s a lot more in coming weeks. And I
have to thank David at the Hall who allowed me to use the research
facility where I spent a few hours poring over baseball stories from
1959 (just picked it out of the air) and I”ll be sharing my findings.
In addition, Johnny Mac will be detailing the Black Sox scandal for
us during the baseball playoffs.
Did I tell you I saw the bat that Dave Kingman used to hit his 400th
home run? Or the fact that on 4/14/76, Kong, in a game at Wrigley
Field, cleared Waveland Avenue and the ball sailed until it hit the
3rd house down on Kenmore Street?
On Friday, I”ll give a brief history on the 9 minor leaguers who hit
60 home runs in a single season.
Trip Tips
If you go to Cooperstown, come in late September / early October.
The leaves are beginning to turn, the air is crisp and clean, and it”s
not crowded. The Hall is open 9-9. I left and went back a few
times during the day and the best time was around 7:00 p.m. There
were about ten people in the whole place.
Also, if you can, come before year end. There is a fabulous
Charles Schulz exhibit. [Ten percent of “Peanuts” strips had a
baseball theme.]
Howard Cosell
Sportscaster / writer Dick Schaap relates the following tale:
“I was writing a book with Joe Namath in 1969, and one night we
were in his apartment with Howard Cosell. Joe”s roommate was
Ray Abbruzzese, a Jets player, who was sleeping in his bedroom at
the time. Cosell was talking, and he woke Ray up. Ray walked
out of the bedroom, walked over to the TV set and pushed the off
button. But he still heard Howard”s voice. ”What are you doing
here?” Abbruzzese said, looking at Cosell. ”I just turned you off!””
.ba-dum-dum. [Source: James Barron / New York Times]
Henry Chadwick
Chadwick was the first American sportswriter. He wrote the
following for Sporting Life, back on November 14, 1888.
“The two great obstacles in the way of the success of the majority
of professional ball players are wine and women. The saloon and
the brothel are the evils of the baseball world at the present day;
and we see it practically exemplified in the failure of noted players
to play up to the standard they are capable of were they to avoid
these great evils.” You didn”t mess with this scribe.
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/28/74: #1 “Rock Me Gently”
(Andy Kim) #2 “I Honestly Love You” (Olivia Newton-John)
#3 “Nothing From Nothing” (Billy Preston)
Baseball Quiz Answer: Jesse Orosco (1,096…not sure when this is
as of), Dennis Eckersley (1,071), Hoyt Wilhelm (1,070), Kent
Tekulve (1,050), Goose Gossage (1,002).
Next Bar Chat, Friday.
