Put me in coach, I'm ready to play...

Thanks to John Fogerty for the lyric.

Saturday is my husband's 36th birthday. To celebrate, and because I'm feeling lazy, I had him write this week's Friday Five. My husband is the world's biggest baseball nerd, and that's okay. I'd much rather have him out at the ball park chasing pop flies than down at the bar chasing tail. He has an incredible head for baseball stats and facts. So I thought, why not give him a forum? For those of you who hate baseball, well, that's just tough. This one is for my husband. I've added Wiki links, just in case you need to check something.

Five Random and Somewhat Obscure Baseball Facts


1. The first baseball player to hit more than 20 home runs in a season. Babe Ruth? Nope. Ned Williamson. Yes, THE Ned Williamson. Who?

Ned Williamson, Chicago White Stockings, 1884, hit 27 home runs, which is a ton for the dead-ball era (when baseballs weren't wound as tightly as they were starting in 1920, and when one baseball was generally used for an entire game). So why so many homers? Perhaps because the Stockings played in a virtual Little League park...the distance to the fences were between 185 and 190 feet to the foul lines and 300 feet to center field. The MINIMUM allowable distance down the foul lines these days is roughly 315 feet.

Also, a teeny little rules change helped Ned. Prior to 1884, any ball hit over the fence was counted as a double. The rule was changed to make it a home run because 1884 was also the year that pitchers were allowed to throw overhand for the first time.


2. The oldest player in Major League Baseball history....Satchell Paige, pitcher, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. His best years were spent in the Negro Leagues, when black players were banned from Major League Baseball. He made his Major League debut in 1948 at the age of 41....maybe. You see, Satchell doesn't actually know when he was born, and there is good evidence he was 46 or 47 in 1948. So while he was officially 58 when he made his final big league start in 1965, he may very well have been in his early 60's.

Even more amazing, in that last game, Paige pitched three scoreless innings for the Kansas City Athletics against the Boston Red Sox. The last player ever to get a hit off Satchell was another Hall-of-Famer, Carl Yastrzemski, who four years earlier made his Major League debut....against the Kansas City Athletics.


3. Only one player played for my team, the Braves, in all three cities in which they have been located; Boston (1876-1952), Milwaukee (1953-1965), and Atlanta (1966-present). That player was Hall-of-Fame third baseman Eddie Mathews (yes, only one 't'). Best known as Hank Aaron's teammate now, but was probably a better hitter than Hank in the 1950's, and he played a tougher defensive position (third base vs. left field for The Hammer). Unlike Hank, Eddie only had a couple decent seasons after he turned 30 years old, whereas Hank was either great, or at least very good, until he turned 40.

(yes, I know this is too dang long, sorry... not a blog pro like the Mrs.)


4. The first player since 1900 to lead each league in home runs, as in he led the American League one season then led the National League later in his career. Not even the biggest baseball fan usually gets this one.....nope, not McGwire (AKA Muscles Marinara)...

Fred McGriff, who led the American League with 36 homers while playing for Jen's Toronto Blue Jays in 1989, then led the National League in 1992, hitting 35 homers for the San Diego Padres. Muscles first led the AL in his rookie year of 1987 with Oakland, then after discovering chemistry, led the NL with his then-record 70 dingers in 1998 with the Cardinals.


5. The last legal spitball thrown in Major League Baseball was sometime in September of 1934. The spitter and other doctored pitches were banned in 1920, but baseball allowed 17 pitchers to continue using it via a grandfather clause. MLB allowed teams to designate pitchers who threw mostly spitters and, theoretically, who would have been useless had they not been allowed to throw spitters. The last legal spitball was thrown by Burleigh Grimes, a Hall-of-Famer who (I think) really shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame...he was good, not great. Not sure of the exact date of his last game, but Grimes' last win came as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sept. 10, 1934, against the New York Giants.

Okay, y'all. That's the Friday Five. It's not particularly user friendly, but feel free to share equally random facts about your favourite sport in the comment section. Don't have a favourite sport? Use your favourite hobby. No hobbies? Get a life.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack...

Ah, the Great American Institution of Baseball. My husband loves this game. He can't remember where we had dinner last week, but if you ask him who won the World Series in 1962, not only can he tell you which team won, but how many games it took, and what the score in the final game was. I learned to love this sport from him, and some our happiest moments have been sitting up behind home plate in a minor league ball park, eating hot dogs and drinking beer.

We finally made it to our local team's game yesterday for the Fourth of July. As you can see, they play in an older stadium, it's not new or fancy, but given that we're in Savannah, a new ball park would make much sense. That, and the Savannah Sand Gnats (a New York Mets affiliate) only play Single A ball.





Oh, quick aside for folks who don't know anything about minor league baseball:

AAA (Triple A) league is closest to playing in the majors. Guys who play AAA usually move up pretty quickly.

AA (Double A) is the next league down.

A (Single A) is the bottom rung, where the youngest players are, or ones who need more development.

Here are some of the guys doing warm-ups before the game.

Attendance, as usual, was a bit low, but it meant we got those much coveted seats directly behind home plate, just up a bit.

We weren't the only ones interested in those seats. In the section just in front of us, talent scouts were everywhere with their radar guns and video cameras checking out the pitching prospects. My husband explained to me that the major league trade deadline is nearing, and so the scouts and "player development" folks were out in droves to see who might make a good trade for a major league prospect. Or some extra equipment maybe. Okay, just kidding on that one.

Here my daughter is being attacked by a giant Sand Gnat, the mascot.

His name is Gnate, he took over for his brother Gnic a couple of years ago. And Gnate has his own MySpace page. He's a tad vain, so friend him.

I tried to get a picture of Frank the Beer Man, the guy who roams the seats and bleachers selling the brew, but every time I bought a beer I was too busy paying him to get out my camera. Frank is going to be leaving us after many years as the beer man for Grayson Stadium, because he's getting married, which I think is lovely. Frank is a retired Army Major, and he sells beer here and at Jacksonville Jaguar games in the fall (football team, AMERICAN football, mind you). He went back up north to his high school reunion, met his old high school sweet heart and fell in love. I think it's a great story, and there was much congratulations all around from us. There's a link to the story about it in our newspaper, here.

There was a young guy behind us who was very vocal, but he always tried to keep it clean because he knew The Four Year Old was there. There was an old guy sitting next to us who talked Ray's ear off, because he used to be in radio, too. There was a family sitting up a few seats over and behind us, and their son got into a horn blowing contest with TFYO. They were practically nose to nose, blowing these silly little party horns that the stadium staff were handing out to the kids.

The grown ups also got some really cool stuff, including a bag full of skin care products from a foreign dermatology company and single servings of microwaveable Hamburger Helper- Just Add Water, Dried Beef Included! I'll have to make some of it, and show all of you unfamiliar with the dreck Hamburger Helper is. But they are one of the team sponsors, so we get free Hamburger Helper.

Oh, yeah, and we won, 6-2. Not bad, considering we lost pretty much the first half of the season.

O'er the Land of the Free...

Please check back here later for some great pictures and intelligent musings about the Fourth of July. Right now, I'm on my way to a minor league baseball game (the Savannah Sand Gnats are playing the Rome Braves) and then I'm going to watch a fireworks display over the river.

In the meantime, for everyone who celebrates it, Happy Fourth of July! And for those who don't, go have a nice day anyway. I give you permission to call in sick to work. Really, send me a note and I'll sign it for you.