perhaps the most interesting card in my collection

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I really enjoy the history of baseball. I sat through and enjoyed thoroughly Ken Burns' Baseball. It ran probably 20 hours or so and I loved every minute of it.

Baseball is full of memorable moments. From the perfect games to the records broken. The home run races of 1961 and 1998. The years 1904 and 1994 in which a World Series was not played since it was introduced in 1903. Individual moments like the shot heard round the world. The catch. "The Giants won the pennant!!". Jackie Robinson taking the field in early 1947. Lou Gehrig's heartfelt and emotional farewell in 1939. The Babe's 'called shot'. The earthquake in 1989 before game three of the World Series. So many memories of a wonderful and glorious pastime.

Aside from the moments I have described above that are more than likely defining moments in many peoples lives who lived around the time they happened to witness them themselves, there have been a few moments that are oddities.

Canseco getting hit in the head by a fly ball that ends up fair and a home run. Larry Walker giving away a live ball to a fan. Merkle's boner. The list goes on.

One moment stands out for me as a real oddity that we will never see again.

Behold, Eddie Gaedel:

Eddie Gaedel played for the St. Louis Browns as a pinch hitter and had one major league at bat on August 19th 1951. He was 3 foot 7 and his jersey number was 1/8 and it is said that his strike zone was about a one inch square. As you can imagine he was walked on four pitches and was replaced with a pinch runner at first. He was also told that if he swung at any pitches he would be killed. I suppose Brown's owner Bill Veeck was serious. Here is a shot of him batting:

Eddie is known as the shortest player in history and has a 1.000 on-base percentage. His jersey is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Sure it may have been some dirty play to get a man on base to hopefully win the game (they didn't) but it sure made for a memorable moment in baseball history. It's moments like this and the ones mentioned above that stand as the reasons why I love this game and its rich and colorful history.


On another note, Kyle over at Juust A Bit Outside is holding a 8 box break with some interesting boxes. Check it out, its cheap ($15) and should be a lot of fun. Go now!

now that all the cranky fans are gone...

We can finally get back to some baseball. Around here I usually have to listen to Red Sox fans complain about the Yankees and Yankee fans gloat about how they're so much better than Sox fans. While I do lean to the Yankee side of things, I still don't need to constantly hear about it. Now that both teams have been eliminated it's almost as if no one cares what is going on with the playoffs over here. Damn them. This is the most exciting postseason I've witnessed. No, it hasn't been many but I'm sure if I had seen others and paid attention to them they way I am this year, I am positive this year would still be best.

When the wild card race was winding down and that night where there were four very important games deciding who was going and who went home, I was glued to MLBNet (the channel) until well into the midnight hour. The greatness just wouldn't end. The Cardinals won their game easy, so as long as the Braves lost, they were in. The braves did lose but not before going to extra innings and giving it all they had. Well played Braves. Same thing with the American League. I was SURE I would see the Sox as the wild card but they couldn't get it done and the "never-count-us-out" Rays beat the Yankees in an EPIC comeback for the ages. Just incredible.

When it broke down to there being eight teams, I was sure it would end up like this:

Rays over the Rangers
Yankees over the Tigers
Phillies over the Cardinals
Brewers over the DIamondbacks

Well, I got one right, although I thought the Brewers would take them in three. I am glad that all of these series (except the Rays/Rangers) went to five games. So much more excitement when the series is tied and everything is on the line down to the final game. Man were we all sure around here that it would be a Phillies/Yankees rematch in the World Series. You know what? I actually glad it's not. The Rangers, Brewers, Cardinals and Tigers all worked really hard to get here and they all really deserve to be. The interesting thing about the NLCS this year is that it is a rematch of the Brewers and Cardinals from the 1982 World Series, that the Cards won. The Brewers know this and I'm sure would LOVE to stick it to the Cards and go all the way. They're who I'm rooting for. All the way too. I'd love to see a Tigers/Brewers series.

Well, we will see what happens over the next couple of days and heres hoping these series go to seven games as well. It just shows that all four teams are playing there best and want it that much more. The worst is seeing a team get there and lose all four of the first four games to then be eliminated. With all that said, let's go Brewers!

standings

Usually my posts are baseball card (or just 'cards' in general) related. Today though, I would like to take some time and discuss a little bit about the game we all love...baseball! Well I have written about baseball before. Games I went to last season, be it minor league or major, or how the Jays were doing. This time however, I would like to talk standings. More specifically, the dreaded AL East. I don't usually pay too much attention to the other divisions, namely because 1; Toronto is in this division and 2; there is ALWAYS activity and excitement in the AL East.

Now, as it currently stands, at 2:49 PM on Thursday, the standings look like this:

Baltimore (4-1)
Toronto (4-1)
New York (3-2)
Boston (0-5)
Tampa Bay (0-5)

Which is quite surprising to say the least. With the worst two teams of the 2010 (in terms of this division), up out on top. With all the teams that fought for that coveted top spot, struggling to do much of anything. I watched the Yankees blow a 4-0 lead in the 8th the other night. I saw the end of the Boston game, in which they were behind the Indians, 3-1, bottom of the 9th, two men on and Otriz striking out for the final out of the game. My question is, what is going on?

Now, I know it is terribly early in the season for all this talk but maybe it says something about the teams. New York has had some issues with their pitching staff. Well, maybe issues with putting together a cohesive, working pitching unit. Boston spent tons of money getting Gonzalez and Crawford and are showing nothing as of yet. Tampa, which I was kind of expecting, is in shambles after the free agency and all the players leaving and signing with other teams. Baltimore and Toronto are very different though. Baltimore had a terrible start to last season but an excellent finish. After signing Vlad and Lee, I knew combined with all their great young talent, they would be a force to be reckoned with. Toronto on the other hand, completely befuddles me, in that they lost a lot of guys in the off season but seem to be holding up pretty well.

I feel all that will change though. I predicted before the season started, what the final standings in the AL East would be. Here is how I see it going down come September:

Boston
New York
Baltimore
Tampa Bay
Toronto

Now, I have to explain that this is how I feel currently. Originally I had thought the same outcome but with Baltimore and Tampa switched. With Baltimore's recent explosive show of greatness, I switch it up and have them take third. The thing with Boston and New York is that usually when they get on a roll, they plow through everyone else. I see Boston on top due to the Yankees lack of a great pitching staff. Boston is pretty solid all around. Tampa Bay will continue to struggle all year and I seem to believe that Toronto will just fall apart soon. Ideally, if things end the way I would like to see them, they would look something like this:

Toronto
New York
Baltimore
Tampa Bay
Boston

Sorry Sox fans but I am kind of enjoying this 0-5 start. If I had to pick a side between New York and Boston, it's NY all the way. In fact, I usually consider them my second favorite team. Them being the wife's favorite team helps this consideration. I know Toronto will NEVER see first place, especially at the end. Hey, I can hope right?

So I guess it's all up to the boys now. I'll have to check in at the end of the season to see how close I was to hitting the mark. What do you think?

a moment of silence...

Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider, September 19, 1926 - February 27, 2011

rumours...

Word on the street...well...the internet....street, is that the Blue Jays organization interviewed Don Baylor as a potential manager for next season. His first managerial position was with the then new Colorado Rockies in 1993, and led them to their first winning season in 1995 (77-67). He stayed until 1998, then became the Chicago Cubs Manager for the 2000 to 2002 seasons. He worked mainly as a hitting coach in between and after those two tenures. I think he would make a good addition to the Jays as their skipper. They have the talent to play, and Cito led them in a great direction, and I think Don could do the same. We'll see what happens. He isn't the only name being thrown around, nor are the Jays the only team to be looking for a new manager. They join the Braves, Brewers, Pirates and the Mets in that category.

where we'll be

I will be attending today's game between the Mets and the Nationals at Citi Field. I bought these a little while ago with only a few weeks of baseball left, I wanted to get tickets for one more game. Then there was an issue with the tickets not shipping, yadda yadda, and here we are! Today is the day for baseball. I saw the Yankees in early Sept., and wanted to try another stadium. Plus it is the Nationals and they are a new favorite. It'll be a good day, plus its another excuse to get to the city.

jose!

Being a fan of the Blue Jays on Facebook, I get their updates regularly. The post up results from the previous nights game, the line-ups for the forthcoming game, posts about upcoming events at the stadium and sometimes polls asking what fans think about different things. One such topic that has come up a few times in the past couple of weeks, is asking fans how many home runs Jose Bautista will hit this season. He has already passed the franchise record of 47 set by George Bell in 1987. With 49 hit so far, and 14 games (including today) left in the regular season, I think its fair to guess he will hit around 52. Thats my guess anyway. I had guessed around 52 about a month ago, seemed fair. I don't think I would be surprised if he did hit a couple more beyond that but 52 is where I'll stay. Its also good to see SOMETHING come out of Toronto, seeing as how the playoffs are a definite no go. With 229 (as of right now) home runs this season by the whole team, they are way ahead of everyone else in terms of homers (with Boston being in second with 195), its just too bad they couldn't win some games with those numbers! Anyway, what total do you guys think Bautista will end up with?

in the city!

Today's starting pitchers in New York for the game we're at:

Javier who isn't a Brave anymore, and Mr. I still can't pronounce his last name.

Lets hope for a Jays win! (and good weather)

cito! (i mean clarence...)

Good to see Cito lead the Jays to two victories over the Yankees this week. Here is hoping for a win come Sept. 4th!

attendance

Yay!! Baseball!!....I'll be attending my first Major League game on August 4th. It will be the Blue Jays vs. the Yankees in New York. I originally wanted to go in June, but the budget didn't allow it. It does now though! I can't wait. We plan on taking the train out probably from Stamford (and past WWE headquarters), right on over to the stadium, then an adventure in the city. Its going to be great. Maybe we'll see a Jays win, who knows.

don't count them out!

It will certainly be an uphill battle. Yes they are currently 10.5 games behind New York, but the Blue Jays seem to be firing on all cylinders. After winning their last 5 out of 6 games, hitting 8 home runs in the second battle with Tampa, nearly no-hitting in the third and blowing away the league in home runs (175, with Boston being second with 147). Their batting average is well...average, but they have shown they can definitely win games. Brandon's performance on Sunday was awesome, he was totally in the zone. It's too bad Aaron Hill missed that final hit by Longoria, to upset the no-hitter, but Hill did all he could to try and get that ball. What is it with the Rays and being the guys that always seem to have the no-hitters thrown on them? Just weird. The Jays are in 4th in the division, and its highly unlikely they will move past that position with the three phenomenal teams ahead of them, but we can hope right?