Betcha didn't know

[9RoyHobbsRF]

I guess the antidote if I were a Dodger fan to refer the the SF Giants anytime I refered to them, a player who plays for them now, played for them in the past, coached for them, manager for them///..


"Cy Young Winner Tim Lincecum, of THE TEAM THAT HASN'T SNIFFED A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN 55 YEARS AND NEVER ONCE IN THEIR WEST COAST HISTORY San Francisco Giants ....."

has about as nice ring to it as the HATED dodgers

[west coast orange and black]

ipitch: That's a good one. It was actually 1985 though.

many thanx for the correction, ipitch.

[west coast orange and black]

9royhobbsrf: in this case, for the unitiated, it reads HATED dodgers great MAURY WILLS ... not Maury Wills of THE HATED DODGERS.

yer right, i got the grammar wrong.

[west coast orange and black]

9royhobbsrf: "Cy Young Winner Tim Lincecum, of THE TEAM THAT HASN'T SNIFFED A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN 55 YEARS AND NEVER ONCE IN THEIR WEST COAST HISTORY San Francisco Giants ....."

if you would actually use those 19 words each and every time preceding "san francisco giants" knock yerself out.
really.

[west coast orange and black]

9royhobbsrf: THE TEAM THAT HASN'T SNIFFED A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN 55 YEARS AND NEVER ONCE IN THEIR WEST COAST HISTORY

please define "sniffed" as used here.

[west coast orange and black]

the first-ever all-black starting outfield was comprised of (left-to-right) monte irvin, willie mays and hank thompson of the giants during the 1951 world series.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

9royhobbsrf: THE TEAM THAT HASN'T SNIFFED A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN 55 YEARS AND NEVER ONCE IN THEIR WEST COAST HISTORY

please define "sniffed" as used here.

0 for 1955-2008

[west coast orange and black]

^
28 teams would've enjoyed sniffing where the giants did in 2002.

[west coast orange and black]

the st. louis browns and the washington senators swapped pitchers dick coffman and carl fisher on 9 june 1932, then again six months later at the winter meetings. (!)

[west coast orange and black]

the result of lou boudreau’s initial deployment of the defensive shift against teddy ballgame was, ironically, a four-pitch bases on balls.

[RuthMayBond]

9royhobbsrf: "Cy Young Winner Tim Lincecum, of THE TEAM THAT HASN'T SNIFFED A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN 55 YEARS AND NEVER ONCE IN THEIR WEST COAST HISTORY San Francisco Giants ....."

if you would actually use those 19 words each and every time preceding "san francisco giants" knock yerself out.
really.

Wow Tony, he's a grammar policeman AND not very concise

[9RoyHobbsRF]

the result of lou boudreau’s initial deployment of the defensive shift against teddy ballgame was, ironically, a four-pitch bases on balls.

read the book about 1946 season called when the boys came back and you will see that williams became surly and was criticized by the media for not giving in and always trying to pull the ball, even against the shift. his temper worsened and there were bitter arguments between williams and his teammates. when the red sox clinched the pennant (at one time they were 50-20, mathcing the 1927 yankees record of .714) williams did not attend the celebration party.

later when the first ever tie resulted in a playoff in the national league, a group of al all-stars kept the red sox in shape by playing some exhibition games. one pitcher hit williams with a pitch and his attitude, problems with teammates, refusal to adapt to the shift, amd the minor injury led williams to hit .200 for the series and hitting a weak popup with the game on th eline in game 7

the shift affected him mentally and in unseen ways

[VTSoxFan]

In a matchup between the Red Sox and Blue Jays on August 17, 2004, each team had a starting infielder named Orlando (Cabrera, Red Sox, SS; Hudson, Blue Jays, 2B) and a starting outfielder named Gabe (Kapler, Red Sox, RF; Gross, Blue Jays, LF).

Both Orlandos batted second; both Gabes batted 8th.

Box Score

Incidentally, both Gabes are playing for yet another AL East team - Tampa Bay - this season.

[Utter Chaos]

Rafale Palmeiro won the 1999 AL Gold GLove playing 28 of the 162 games at first base (17%)

He also won the Outstanding Designated Hitter award in the same season (now known as the Edgar Martinez award).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Martinez_Award

[9RoyHobbsRF]

just read this in one of my books....

In 1987 the Cardinals scored 4 or more runs in 16 consecutive games. This had not been accomplished since 1950.

1950 had rule changes that redefined the strike zone, making offense somewhat easier

Apparently due to the home run infusion of 1961, in 1963 the strike zone was changed back to its original definition

After 1968, the strike zone was redefined to an even smaller area than the 1950 rule changes.

In 1969, we also know the mound was lowered but I was not aware that 5 teams moved their fences in, according to the same book Philadelphia moved its CF fence in from 447 to 410 feet

[Buzzaldrin]

Between 1962 and 1971, no AL player managed to make one hit for every three trips to the plate (.333).

It actually goes back to 1959 if you don't count Norm Cash's 1961 season when he admittedly used a corked bat.

Also, other than Tony Oliva (.337 in 1971) and Rod Carew three times (1973-1975), no one else would do it until George Brett in 1976.

In the NL from 1961-1976, only twice did the league fail to produce a .333 hitter. This discrepancy may explain why the NL won every single all-star game in the 60s and 70s except for one in 62 and one in 71.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

This discrepancy may explain why the NL won every single all-star game in the 60s and 70s except for one in 62 and one in 71.

most baseball researchers think that the NL was a much more balanced league, with much faster integration throughout the leagues teams. The faster integration most believe made it an overall superior league (yes I know the Yankees World Series record). In the NL many team could be pennant contenders every year and a key injury could knock a team out of contention. In the AL it was basically the Yankees, then the Tigers (mainly hitting), The Indians and White Sox (mainly pitching), while the Red Sox, Senators, Browns.Orioles and A's were second division weaklings. 1950 is a great example. You had 4 excellent teams at .597 or better and 4 horrible teams at .435 or worse, 3 of them, under .399.

the AL's first African American MVP was Elston Howard in 1963, who won it more by default than anything else. The NL had AA MVPs in the 50s like Banks, Mays, Campanella, Aaron. The Red Sox did not even integrate until 1959.

[west coast orange and black]

willie mays is the only hall of famer to reach 20 in doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases in the same season.
1957: 26 doubles, 20 triples, 35 home runs and 38 swipes

[west coast orange and black]

of the 27 members of the 3,000-hit club, only rod carew, rafael palmeiro (and nap lajoie, if you're counting who played pre-1900) did not play in a fall classic.

[ipitch]

just read this in one of my books....

In 1987 the Cardinals scored 4 or more runs in 16 consecutive games. This had not been accomplished since 1950.

That must be just the NL. The 1978 Red Sox started their season with a 18 game streak of 4+ runs.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

That must be just the NL. The 1978 Red Sox started their season with a 18 game streak of 4+ runs.

I got that from Men At Work - cant find the exact page but it had to do with consistency

[9RoyHobbsRF]

There have been 26 Cy Young Award Winners who had losing seasons the following year (listed below):

Other random notes:
The most losses by a Cy Young Winner the following year was 1973 Steve Carton with 20
The fewest wins by a Cy Young Winner the following year was 2006 Bartolo Colon with 1
The biggest reduction in wins following a Cy Young Year was 21, by 1970 Denny McLain
For 7 consecutive years 1979-1985 at least one Cy Young Winner followed with a losing season
The only pitcher to go undefeated following a Cy Young Year was Randy Johnson who went 5-0 in 1996
After winning 4 straight Cy Youngs from 1999 to 2002 Randy Johnson went 6-8 in 2003
After going 25-7 in 1980 and winning the Cy Young, Steve Stone won a total of 4 more major league games
Both 1967 Cy Young Winners had losing seasons the following year
Both 1989 Cy Young Award Winner shad losing seasons the following year
Bret Saberhagen won 2 Cy Young Awards and had losing seasons the next year both times
Randy Jones, after winning the Cy Young award in 1976 never had a winning season again

The List
1956 Don Newcombe (first winner) 27-7 to 11-12
1958 Bob Turley 21-7 to 8-11
1960 Vern Law 20-9 to 3-4
1967 Mike McCormick 22-10 to 12-14
1967 Jim Lonborg 22-9 to 6-10
1969 Denny McLain 24-9 to 3-5
1971 Vida Blue 24-8 to 6-10
1972 Steve Carlton 27-10 to 13-20
1973 Jim Palmer 22-9 to 7-12
1974 Mike Marshall 15-12 to 9-14
1976 Randy Jones 22-14 to 6-12
1979 Bruce Sutter 6-6 to 5-8
1980 Steve Stone 25-7 to 4-7
1981 Rollie Fingers 6-3 to 5-6
1982 Steve Carlton 23-11 to 15-16
1983 Lamarr Hoyt 24-10 to 13-18
1984 Willie Hernandez 9-3 to 8-10
1985 Bret Saberhagen 20-6 to 7-12
1988 Frank Viola 24-8 to 13-17
1989 Mark Davis 4-3 to 2-7
1989 Bret Saberhagen 22-6 to 5-9
1990 Bob Welch 27-6 to 12-13
1992 Dennis Eckersley 7-1 to 2-4
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 Randy Johnson (17-9, 19-7, 21-6, 24-5) to 6-8
2005 Bartolo Colon 21-8 to 1-5
2007 Jake Peavy 19-6 to 10-11

[Buzzaldrin]

In 1976, Randy Jones was 18-4 at the end of July. He went 4-10 the rest of the way and still managed the Cy Young, BUT from August 1976 until the end of his career in 1982, a total of 35 months, he only had a winning record in 9 of them. What happened to him in 1976?

[Andy K]

The last switch-hitter to win the AL MVP was.......Vida Blue!

I've won a lot of beers using that one!

[west coast orange and black]

ted williams once held out in the beginning of a season because he wanted to make less money. he cited a pending divorce as his reason.