Mel Ott Joins the 500 Home Run Club

On this day in Baseball History August 1, 1945: In a game against the Boston Braves at The Polo Grounds, Mel Ott hit his 500th career home run against Johnny Hutchings, becoming only the third player after Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx to reach the 500 home run plateau. In doing so, Ott became the first National League player to hit 500 homeruns and would be the only NL player on the list until Willie Mays joined him on September 13, 1965.

An interesting anecdote on that day's achievement and the after party can be found on page 152 of the book Mel Ott: The Little Giant of Baseball by Fred Stein, Published in 1999. Here is how Stein describes it:

After missing a few weeks with injury, Ott returned to the lineup and continued to thump the ball at a .340 clip. In a night game at the Polo Grounds on August 1, the little manager clouted his 500th career home run. It was a typical Ott home run, a sharply pulled smash into the upper right field stands. Belted off mountainous righthander Johnny Hutchings of the Braves, the ball bounced back onto the field where it was retrieved by Giants trainer Willie Schaefer. At the time, the only players with more career home runs were Babe Ruth with 714 and Jimmie Foxx with 527.

Later that night there was a big party at Toots Shor's restaurant in midtown Manhattan to celebrate Ott's milestone. Before Mel arrived at the restaurant that night, Shor sat at a table with Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish bacteriologist who had been awarded the Nobel prize for his discovery of penicillin. When Mel walked in the door, Shor jumped to his feet and gave Sir Alexander an inadvertant putdown. "Excuse me, Alex" he said, "I've got to greet someone who just came in who is really important."

As was alluded to in the passage above was that what made Ott's achievement remarkable was that unlike the other two players ahead of him on the home run list, Ott was small in comparison. We all know what kind of shadow Ruth cast as he stood 6'2" and weighed 215 pounds. Foxx, who's nickname was The Beast stood at an even 6'0" and weighed a muscular 195 pounds. Ott stood at a 5'9" and a slim 170 pounds. He more than made up for it by utilizing a leg kick and powerful swing of the bat.

Many historians and baseball people believed that Ott's home ballpark: The Polo Grounds gave him a major advantage due to the park's dimensions. While the park had a cavernous center field, due to its bathtub shape, the park had short fences in right field (257ft.) and in left field (277ft.) If the park caused an unfair advantage, then why weren't all the Giants hitting home runs like Ott was. In the end he still had to hit the ball to take advantage of the porch. If he did, then so be it.

When Ott retired as a player in 1947, he had 511 career home runs, over 200 more than any other National Leaguer, and a total exceeded only by the aforementioned Babe Ruth (714) and Jimmie Foxx (534). Ott held National League career records in runs batted in (1,860), runs scored (1,859) and bases on balls (1,708). His records would all be broken in later years. For his career, Ott was named an All-Star 12 times, led the league in home runs six times, and retired with a lifetime batting average of .304.

Ott would be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America in 1951 with 197 out of 226 votes for 87.17% of the vote.

Regardless of his physical size, Ott was truly a Giant.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:

- Click Here to access Mel Ott's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to access the boxscore for the August 1, 1945 game between the Boston Braves and the New York Giants from Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here for an interesting article on Jimmie Foxx entitled Baseball, 1929 Jimmie Foxx by The Pop History Dig website

Nolan Ryan Wins His 300th Game July 31, 1990

On this day in Baseball History July 31, 1990: Nolan Ryan earned the 300th win of his career as the Rangers defeated the Milwaukee Brewers 11-3 in front of 51,533 supporting fans at Milwaukee County Stadium. Ryan pitched 7.2 innings, striking out 8, walking 2 and giving up 6 hits. He was pulled after 146 pitches. Amazing. This made Ryan just the 20th player in history to reach the 300th win plateau.

Here is the list of the other 19 300-game winners at the time Ryan joined the club (in the order in which they reached the plateau):

1. 1888 Pud Calvin
2. 1890 Tim Keefe
3. 1890 Mickey Welch
4. 1891 Charles Radbourne
5. 1892 John Clarkson
6. 1900 Kid Nichols
7. 1901 Cy Young
8. 1912 Christy Mathewson
9. 1915 Ed Plank
10. 1920 Walter Johnson
11. 1924 Grover Alexander
12. 1941 Lefty Grove
13. 1961 Warren Spahn
14. 1963 Early Wynne
15. 1982 Gaylord Perry
16. 1983 Steve Carlton
17. 1985 Tom Seaver
18. 1985 Phil Niekro
19. 1986 Don Sutton

Here is some footage of Ryan winning his 300th game:

On a side note, does anyone out there remember The National Sports Daily aka The National? I remember the fanfare when Editor-in-Chief Frank Deford started publishing this sports newspaper. It just didn't last.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle


For Further Reading:
- Click here for the box score for Nolan Ryan's 300th win against the Milwaukee Brewers July 31, 1990 from Baseball Reference.com

Mathews and Aaron hit the 500 HR Plateau on the Same Day One Year Apart

On this day in Baseball history July 14, a year apart (1967 and 1968), against the same opponents, former teammates Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron hit their 500th homeruns against the San Francisco Giants.

On July 14, 1967, as a member of the Houston Astros Mathews hit his 500th homerun against future Hall of Famer Juan Marichal at the Houston Astrodome. Mathews became the seventh player to reach the 500 homerun plateau, doing so two months after Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees hit his 500th.

On July 14, 1968, the 500th homerun plateau was once again reached against the San Francisco Giants. This time it was Hank Aaron who hit his 500th against Mike McCormick at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Aaron became the eight player to reach the 500 homerun plateau.

At the time of Aaron's reaching 500 homeruns, here is how the list looked like (with date of reaching the 500 homerun plateau):

1. Babe Ruth August 11, 1929
2. Jimmie Foxx September 24, 1940
3. Mel Ott August 1, 1945
4. Ted Williams June 17, 1960
5. Willie Mays September 13, 1965
6. Mickey Mantle May 14, 1967
7. Eddie Mathews July 14, 1967
8. Hank Aaron July 14, 1968

Aaron and Mathews would combine for a total of 863 homeruns as teammates from 1953-1965. An amazing accomplishment by teammates who often are overlooked when talking about the best one-two combinations in a major league lineup.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click here for the box score from July 14, 1967 between the San Francisco Giants and the Houston Astros from BaseballAlmanac.com
- Click here for the box score from July 14, 1968 bewteen the San Francisco Giants and the Atlanta Braves from BaseballAlmanac.com

Lou Gehrig's Luckiest Man Speech July 4, 1939

On this day in History July 4, 1939: New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig, afflicted with a fatal illness, bid a tearful farewell at in front of 61,808 fans at Yankee Stadium in New York:

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.

"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that’s the finest I know.

"So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for."

- Lou Gehrig

May you continue to Rest in Peace. Thank you for your class, grace, strength and determination both on and off the field of play.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

What Is The Rhubarb

I'm currently reading the book Southern League: A True Story of Baseball, Civil Rights, and the Deep South's Most Compelling Pennant Race by Larry Colton. I highly recommend it in terms of both Baseball History and Social History of the United States during the Jim Crow era in the South. While there have been many things that have stood out to me, one particular term caught my eye. On page 175, Colton talks about how manager Haywood Sullivan of the Birmingham Barons would end up earning the respect of his players by engaging in one of Baseball's oldest activities, interestingly referred to as "The Rhubarb". Here is how Colton describes it:

No sport embraces its eccentricities as much as baseball, with its seventh-inning stretch, ubiquitous spitting, interminable statistics, and the time-honored skirmish between manager and umpire, aka the rhubarb: two grown men face-to-face, jaw-to-jaw, chest-to-chest, mere inches apart as they unload verbal tirades and sprays of spittle, the veins in their necks pulsing with rage. They kick dirt, madly gesticulate, and throw hats, performing the signature gestures of ritual tantrums whose sum effects are zero.

Should behavior such as this happen in a corporate office, a courtroom, or a university lecture hall, the involved parties would be unemployed the next day, if not arrested. Yet within baseball, a failure to argue against any perceived injustice is seen as a sign of weakness, revealing a lack of passion for the game. Fiery managers and players are beloved by hometown fans. With children, temper tantrums beget scoldings, time-outs, and in the days of yore spankings. In baseball, they are celebrated, encouraged, demanded. If a player pitches a fit at the ump, he needs to know the skipper has his back. Sullivan was about to state his case.

Now Barry and I at the bar have touched upon how the rise of instant replay might seem to spell the end of the manager umpire arguments in the mold of Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, etc. Don't tell that to Red Sox manager John Farrell who seems to have had his share of arguments this season after losing numerous instant replay challenges. I decided to check online to see where the use of the word Rhubarb came from in reference to a Baseball argument.

Legendary Baseball writer Robert Creamer gives the following etymological note on the use of the word Rhubarb in Baseball from the June 11, 1956 issue of Sports Illustrated:

Sports Illustrated June 11, 1956

The word "rhubarb," meaning in baseball a fight or argument, is of recent origin. In 1938 a Brooklyn Dodger fan shot and killed a New York Giant fan in a barroom argument over baseball. A bartender described the incident to Baseball Writer Tom Meany as a "rhubarb," though no one is quite sure why. Meany repeated the word to Baseball Raconteur Garry Schumacher, and Broadcaster Red Barber picked it up after hearing both Meany and Schumacher use it. Barber later utilized the word frequently on his radio broadcasts of Brooklyn Dodger baseball games. He had an immense listening audience and the word soon passed into the language.

Leave it to a Brooklyn bartender to have come up with the term randomly.

So while instant replay in Baseball seems to have cause manager/umpire arguments to decline somewhat, we shouldn't forget that these entertaining interactions are called rhubarbs. At the very least, it provides for good Baseball conversation when one happens or during a rain delay.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

Tony Gwynn (1960-2014)

Today I woke up to the news that Hall of Famer, Tony Gwynn (1960-2014) had passed away at the age of 54. Now instead of going into Gwynn's stats and accomplishments during his playing days, I wanted to touch on something that I happened to talk about last night at the bar.

My friend John and I were discussing the whole Inter-league in MLB and how John feels that the All-Star game no longer has a place due to diminishing interest in the game. That years ago he would have a crowd come into the bar he worked to watch the game and now he's lucky to get one or two customers joining him to watch the game. I believe that the advent of the 24-hour sports cable networks, the ability to watch a game nightly on any combination of channels and the ability to follow your team either at home or online for a yearly fee has made it easier for fans to watch not only their team but any team on a regular basis. Here is where a player like Tony Gwynn comes in.

To show my age, I grew up in an era where I consider myself lucky compared to other fans. In an era before Inter-league Baseball, I could watch the Yankees play the American League teams on WPIX 11 while I could watch the Mets play the National League teams on WWOR 9 on network tv. So in theory I could see players from both leagues that other fans didn't have a chance to see regularly. Add to this we had the Baseball Game of the Week which was shown on Saturday afternoons and for a brief time ABC Monday Night Baseball then Thursday Night Baseball in the 1970's through the late 1980's.

Sportscenter? Fughettaboutit. I would catch up on player accomplishments by pouring over the box scores in either the New York Daily News or the New York Post, watching the Mel Allen narrated This Week in Baseball (How About That!!!) usually on before the Baseball Game of the Week and late night on the weekends with The George Michael Sports Machine. So to watch players like Tony Gwynn was a special treat that came along once in a while. Since the Padres weren't in the playoffs very often, the only time I really got to watch Gwynn was in the Mid-Summer Classic.

To watch the very best of the Major Leagues on the same field during the All-Star Game was (and I still believe that it is) a very special thing. Granted, like John states that the popularity of the game has diminished, I still think the pomp and circumstance surrounding the game still makes it something special. I really can't point to any particular at-bat that Tony Gwynn had during the All-Star games I saw him in. But the fact that back then in the era where Baseball fans had limited options to see opposing players, I have small moments in time where I saw players like Tony Gwynn ply their trade.

The world today lost a good man. Gwynn was a teacher and an amazingly classy role model in a world of selfish sports figures. He spoke with his bat rather than his mouth. He wasn't built with the best physique. He didn't have to. Gwynn was the player who came closest to the magical .400+ batting average in 1994 with a .394 average. If the players strike didn't prematurely end the 1994 season, who knows where he would have finished. His hero, Ted Williams was the last player to finish with a .400+ average in 1941 with a .406 average. He represented his hometown of San Diego with pride and given the chance to leave the Padres for potentially more lucrative contracts elsewhere, Gwynn decided to spend his entire 20-year career in San Diego. As Gwynn was quoted in the New York Times during his final season: “Twenty years in one place, one city. It looks good.”

Indeed it does. Thank you for the memories Tony. That is one dominant lineup with you and the Splendid Splinter batting in front of you at the big ballpark in the sky. May You Rest in Peace.

I leave you with a small video by the National Baseball Hall of Fame entitled The Baseball Hall of Fame Remembers Tony Gwynn:


Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click Here to access Tony Gwynn's career statistics from BaseballReference.com
- Click Here to accces the article by Chad Finn entitled Tony Gwynn: A Kindred Spirit Of Ted Williams, A Favorite Of Anyone Who Loves Baseball from Boston.com dated June 16, 2014
- Click Here to access Matt Snyder's article entitled Did the 1994 strike cost Tony Gwynn a .400 batting average? from CBS Sports Eye on Baseball website dated June 16, 2014

What's Going on With Manny Machado

I touched upon this on my Twitter feed yesterday and spoke to a couple of customers about it after watching the replay of Manny Machado's actions during the A's/Orioles game in Baltimore yesterday afternoon. Here is what I posted:

What's going on with Manny Machado. His smile is gone, picking fights with the A's. If he's frustrated just look in the mirror #mannymachado
— Baseball Sisco (@BaseballSisco) June 8, 2014

Donaldson did nothing wrong with his tag Friday and he got thrown at twice. A's just returned the favor to Machado. #mannymachado
— Baseball Sisco (@BaseballSisco) June 8, 2014

I have no problem protecting your teammate but to me Machado was the aggressor. Looking for a fight #joshdonaldson #mannymachado
— Baseball Sisco (@BaseballSisco) June 8, 2014

Add to these remarks, the two backswings that hit A's catcher Derek Norris on the head. The second of which caused Norris to be removed from the game and be examined for a potential concussion. To further add insult to injury, it would seem from the replay that Machado was smiling while Norris was being attended to and Machado never once asked if Norris was fine as per the unwritten rules of Baseball.

Machado burst upon the scene in 2012 as an outstanding 19-year old rookie and followed that up with a 2013 campaign that saw him hit a league best 51 doubles, 14 homeruns and 71 RBI. His slash line was .283/.314/.432 for a OPS of .746. His bat was complimented with outstanding defense that earned him the 2013 American League Gold Glove at third base on top of an All-Star appearance and a top ten finish in AL Most Valuable League voting.

His 2013 season came to an abrupt end when on September 23 Machado tore a ligament in his left knee which required surgery and rehab that kept him out until May 1, 2014. Something has seemed to change within Machado. Gone is his smile. That youthful exuberance that he seemed to show has been replaced with what seems like bitterness and frustration. Granted I haven't watched too many Orioles' games but the few I have seen it seems as if Machado is not the same player that we saw take the league by storm in 2013. Which takes me to Friday night.

His lashing out at Josh Donaldson on what looked like a simple tag out at third base on Friday night took me aback. I can see if Donaldson made the play blocking the bag or applying a strong tag to Machado's surgically repaired knee. But Donaldson applied a tag to Machado's chest. Machado feel back and it seemed as if he was favoring his left leg in the way he fell. Which is understandable. But the outburst looked to me as if he was lashing his frustrations out on Donaldson. Even the look on the third baseman umpire's face showed a mix of amusement and surprise at how Machado exploded. Not surprising coming from a team managed by Buck Showalter, Donaldson was thrown at and plunked by Orioles pitcher Wei-Yin Chen. Surely this wasn't the end to this situation.

Jump to Sunday and we find the two swingbacks by Machado, the removal of Norris from the game, the smile by Machado and his at-bat against Oakland A's reliever Fernando Abad produced this:


Machado insists that it was an accident. This just looks bad not only on Machado but on the game. I'm not saying that he shouldn't show emotion. He's human. But he needs to show better judgment. What if he angles that bat throw differently and it lands in the dugout or the stands next to third base rather than down the line near the umpire. What if the bat struck the umpire, Alberto Callaspo of the A's, the third base coach or even worse a fan. I realize that Machado isn't even 22-years old yet but Buck Showalter needs to pull him aside and let Machado know that that kind of behavior is not what he should be exhibiting.

I know this season has been a big disappointment for Machado. His performance paled in comparison to 2013 and other nagging injuries have caused him to not play at the level that he is probably used to. I'm sure that MLB will levy a hefty penalty in terms of a fine and suspension. They should. Having bats thrown in anger is a recipe for disaster. Maybe the time on suspension will help Machado cool off and recompose himself. To take some pressure off of himself before he explodes again and hurts someone if not himself.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco

For Further Reading:
- Click Here to Access Manny Machado's career statistics from Baseball Reference.com