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Baseball Thread

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    • Not news:
      Freddie Freeman has twins.

      News:
      Freddie Freeman found a way to top the double honors of winning the NL MVP and Hank Aaron Award. The Atlanta Braves first baseman's bigger thrill is having two new baby boys. He describes his babies, Brandon and Maximus Turner, as his “twins with a twist.”

      The twist is they were born six weeks apart.

      Freeman's wife, Chelsea, gave birth to Brandon on Dec. 30. A surrogate mother gave birth to Maximus Turner on Feb. 14, delaying Freeman's arrival to spring training by about a week.

      Freeman said his wife was told she may not be able to have another child following Charlie's birth by emergency cesarean section. The couple tried without luck for two years in their attempt to become pregnant again.

      “It just wasn’t happening,” Freeman said. “We chose the surrogate route and nine days before the embryo transfer, I come home from a workout and Chelsea tells me she’s pregnant. I was like just shocked. Not something we were expecting at all.”

      Freddie and Chelsea stayed with their new surrogate plan and made preparations for two babies in their home.
      2,000 miler

    • I learned something today.

      The headline read "Former MLB pitcher, Hall Of Famer dead at 53.

      I didn't recognize the picture, so I clicked.

      Rheal Cormier

      And it's the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

      Didn't know such a thing existed.

      You either need to be Canadian, or have done something significant in baseball for Canada. Which I guess explains Roy Halladay.

      baseballhalloffame.ca/
      2,000 miler

    • Wow, nice video, that is a great knuckleball. I had the pleasure of watching Tim Wakefield pitch for the Red Sox for so many years. When he had his knuckleball working it was a joy to behold.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”

      John Greenleaf Whittier

    • Pete Rose faced 809 different pitchers in his career.
      Nick Markakis has a base hit off of 811 different pitchers in his career.

      For Pete Rose that was in 15,890 plate appearances, and only 9,321 for Nick Markakis. Close to twice as many (1.7x). :rolleyes:

      Bob Dylan was right the times are A-Changing, or least they have in our lifetime.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • odd man out wrote:

      I honor of opening day, I offer this trivia question about a remarkable baseball statistic that came up on my trivia calendar today.

      Despite Ken Griffey Jr's prodigious career total of 2781 hits, he is still 850 hits short of the record for career hits by all left handed outfielders born on November 21 in Donora PA, that is held by whom?

      Display Spoiler
      Stan the Man Musial

      2019 population 4,598. Wonder what's in their water.

      You're the trivia expert around here -- did ya know it? I certainly didn't.
      2,000 miler

    • The commish sez...

      <snip>

      Major League Baseball announced Friday that its All-Star game, which had been scheduled for Truist Park in July, will be moved out of Georgia.The decision was a response to the state’s new voting law.

      “I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”

      <end>

      I'm glad the game is being moved for reasons not related at all to the suppression of voter rights legislation that was passed or the pandemic.

      Our county commissioners last week authorized the expenditure of $2 million for expenses -- primarily all security related -- necessary to hold the all star game in Cobb county.

      Why was this a taxpayer expense? Why does MLB get to hold a party, get paid millions of dollars from the networks, and the taxpayer picks up the tab?

      Good riddance.
      2,000 miler

      The post was edited 1 time, last by max.patch ().

    • odd man out wrote:

      I honor of opening day, I offer this trivia question about a remarkable baseball statistic that came up on my trivia calendar today.

      Despite Ken Griffey Jr's prodigious career total of 2781 hits, he is still 850 hits short of the record for career hits by all left handed outfielders born on November 21 in Donora PA, that is held by whom?
      FWIW, I knew that, but the spoiler for instance confirmation was nice. :thumbup:
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • max.patch wrote:

      The commish sez...

      <snip>

      Major League Baseball announced Friday that its All-Star game, which had been scheduled for Truist Park in July, will be moved out of Georgia.The decision was a response to the state’s new voting law.

      “I have decided that the best way to demonstrate our values as a sport is by relocating this year’s All-Star Game,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Major League Baseball fundamentally supports voting rights for all Americans and opposes restrictions to the ballot box.”

      <end>

      I'm glad the game is being moved for reasons not related at all to the suppression of voter rights legislation that was passed or the pandemic.

      Our county commissioners last week authorized the expenditure of $2 million for expenses -- primarily all security related -- necessary to hold the all star game in Cobb county.

      Why was this a taxpayer expense? Why does MLB get to hold a party, get paid millions of dollars from the networks, and the taxpayer picks up the tab?

      Good riddance.
      Manfred should be fired immediately! Why in the world should MLB be supporting voter fraud?
      You need an ID to do almost anything (cash a check, fly on a plane, rent a car, rent a hotel, get a vaccine, buy a gun, etc..) :huh:
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • Astro wrote:

      Manfred should be fired immediately! Why in the world should MLB be supporting voter fraud?You need an ID to do almost anything (cash a check, fly on a plane, rent a car, rent a hotel, get a vaccine, buy a gun, etc..) :huh:
      It's not really Manfred -- the impetus to move the game was started by the players. Manfred (depending on one's viewpoint) either agreed with the players or caved in to the players demands.

      To be honest, I figured this would eventually be resolved with the game staying in Cobb and MLB throwing money at some voters rights organization. Glad it's gone for the non-political reason I stated above.

      I wasn't going to get into politics, but I'll say that the legislation is not as bad as Biden makes it out to be, and is not all seashells and balloons as Gov Kemp says.

      Politicians lie -- and after 4 years of Trump that should be obvious to all of us.
      2,000 miler

    • Display Spoiler

      IMScotty wrote:

      HA, rather boring for the infielders when she is on the mound :)
      Thats how they like it.

      But to be blunt..theres about 40 or so really good competitive softball programs in all of NCAA. Out of about 300 D1, 750 D2, and 1500 ish D3.

      Of those, probably 35 are D1. A few are D2, and maybe 1 D3. Maybe. Its all about the pitching, and the speed. Very few great pitchers get "overlooked" by the top schools. Or for that matter, great players.

      Out of those, there are maybe a dozen that are really "Super D1", that are in a class by themself.

      Its just not a level playing field for comparisons. A lot like D1 football. Cant relate Podunk U to Alabama, etc.
      Display Spoiler

    • That would be an interesting search, of all the perfect games ever pitched, which one had the fewest number of pitches? I don't know if that makes it 'more perfect', but it should be good for bragging rights anyway.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”

      John Greenleaf Whittier

    • Tying some new things out in the Atlantic League. Not sure about move the mound back to 61'6". Wish they would get rid of the DH, but if going to keep it (much less it universal), they should consider the loosing it once you take out the starting pitcher.

      msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/atlan…1/ar-BB1fEsDI?li=BB15ms5q
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • IMScotty wrote:

      That would be an interesting search, of all the perfect games ever pitched, which one had the fewest number of pitches? I don't know if that makes it 'more perfect', but it should be good for bragging rights anyway.
      In MLB, now that you can do an intentional walk with no pitches, the "perfect" game would be zero pitches. You intentionally walk each batter with no pitches and then pick them off first without pitching to the plate. I'm not holding my breath.

      I read an article that defined an indicator of pitching efficiency as a complete game shutout with less than 100 pitches. He called it a Maddux after Greg Maddux who accomplished this feat twice as many times as any other person. You need 9 pitches to strike out the side. When doing a Maddux, you probably are going to have a number of sub-9 pitch innings. If I were crunching the numbers, I would be more generous and define a Maddux as a complete game WIN with less than 100 pitches (who cares if it's a not a shutout if you win?). Then you can include Maddux's 76 pitch 4-1 win. The Cubs manufactured their only run with a single, stolen base, sacrifice to advance the runner, sacrifice to score the runner. Maddux exchanged a run for two outs on three pitches. Not a bad deal when it's the top half of a double header and the wind is blowing in.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by odd man out ().

    • odd man out wrote:

      In MLB, now that you can do an intentional walk with no pitches, the "perfect" game would be zero pitches. You intentionally walk each batter with no pitches and then pick them off first without pitching to the plate. I'm not holding my breath.
      I imagine that would be a real snoozer of a game. If I was attending or watching I'd find something else to do.

      Lets say a perfect game happens; but the score is tied 0-0 after 9 innings. The 10th inning starts and a player starts at 2nd base. It's not the pictchers fault -- but it's not perfect anymore.
      2,000 miler

    • Astro wrote:

      Local giirl pitched at our D2 school Freshman year, and was an All American. Next year she was at U of Kentucky.
      one of my daughters teammates was NCAA freshman of the year, took her team to WCWS as true freshman.

      2 years later she was on bench watching someone else *better* pitch. Finished senior yr at a small regional D1 school.

      At top schools.....coach is always looking to replace you with someone better. Fact of life. They are paid to ......win. Saw a lot of girls have poor experiences, have to switch schools after a couple of year to get to actually play. Too enamored by being able to say they were on XYU team..that they couldnt see they would never actually set foot on field....as Michael Lotief at ULL admitted " teams need players to carry gear at practice, and cheer in dugout" . He carried 35 players.......12 played.

      He knew, like Bear Bryant did......if you can put those players on your bench....you dont have to play against them. Most softball games are still played regionally.....close to home

      The post was edited 2 times, last by Muddywaters ().

    • Astro wrote:

      Local giirl pitched at our D2 school Freshman year, and was an All American. Next year she was at U of Kentucky.
      Autumn was good pitcher. Nice young lady too .She was one overlooked. Thats what a D2 has to luck into to really be competitive. Not common.

      Of course, she didnt stay overlooked. And thats the problem.

      The post was edited 3 times, last by Muddywaters ().

    • Zach Greinke is always doing something neat. Going to miss him next year, but for his sake I hope he gets to go back to NL and hit (please no universal DH).
      Here he starts to field a line drive >100 miles an hour and then must have decided a double play to get out of the inning would be better. Sort of like the reason we have the infield fly rule, but probably around 99% of pitchers could not have pulled it off anyway.

      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

    • Astro wrote:

      Zach Greinke is always doing something neat. Going to miss him next year, but for his sake I hope he gets to go back to NL and hit (please no universal DH).
      Here he starts to field a line drive >100 miles an hour and then must have decided a double play to get out of the inning would be better. Sort of like the reason we have the infield fly rule, but probably around 99% of pitchers could not have pulled it off anyway.
      Coincidentally, a similar video showed up in my feed this morning where the shortstop made a nice catch on a line drive, dropped it, and started a double play. The ump didn't buy it, called it a catch, and sent the runner back to first.
      2,000 miler

    • max.patch wrote:

      Astro wrote:

      Zach Greinke is always doing something neat. Going to miss him next year, but for his sake I hope he gets to go back to NL and hit (please no universal DH).
      Here he starts to field a line drive >100 miles an hour and then must have decided a double play to get out of the inning would be better. Sort of like the reason we have the infield fly rule, but probably around 99% of pitchers could not have pulled it off anyway.
      Coincidentally, a similar video showed up in my feed this morning where the shortstop made a nice catch on a line drive, dropped it, and started a double play. The ump didn't buy it, called it a catch, and sent the runner back to first.
      Probably some position bias. You expect the shortstop to make the play, but not the pitcher (and they are nearly half the distance closer).

      But deal with Greinke is if they let him do what he wanted he would have been an allstar caliber shortstop. But GMs realized he had HOF talent as a pitcher. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General