In Memoriam: Ralph Kiner

1950 Bowman

Hall of Fame outfielder passed away earlier today at the age of 91.  He spent his career mostly with the Pittsburgh Pirates that began in 1946 and ended in 1955.  He led the league in home runs for seven straight seasons from 1946 to 1952 and was six time All Star, all the while playing in Pittsburgh.  Kiner fishished his career with 369 home runs and 1,105 that enabled him to be elected in baseball Hall of Fame in 1975 and to have his uniform number 4 retired in Pittsburgh.
Kiner's successes was partially contributed to fellow Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg,  During Greenberg's only season as a Pirate and final one overall in the majors, he gave Kiner instruction in becoming a better hitter.  Kiner's home run and strikeout numbers improved subsequently after Greenberg's tutoring.  Kiner was also aided by a short left fence in old Forbes Field that became known as "Kiner's Korner".
Kiner is also famously known to author the quote, "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs, while singles hitters drive Fords."
He finished his career after short stays with the Indians and Cubs before embarking on a second career in baseball.  He was hired to become an announcer for the expansion New York Mets team in 1962.  He stayed in the Met broadcast booth through the 2013 season with his later years in a more limited capacity. 
Ralph Kiner was a true baseball legend and lifer and will be missed. 

Happy 80th Birthday Hank Aaron

1960 Topps

Perhaps the greatest living Hall of Famer, Hank Aaron turns 80 years old today.  On this day of celebration, I will give you all some fun facts you may or may not know about Mr. Aaron.

-Held career record of 755 home runs when he retired.  Broke Babe Ruth's 714 mark in April of 1974 while geting racial and death threats from fans during his chase.

-He also holds career MLB records for RBIs (2,297), total bases(6.856) and extra base hits (1.477).

-Even though he hit 755 career homers, he never hit 50 in one season.

-Finished his career with 3,771 hits. If you take his 755 home runs away, he still has over 3,000

-Was 25 time All Star, another MLB record

-Is a 2x batting champion, 4x home run and RBI league leader each

-Won 3 Gold Gloves

-Won his only NL MVP and World Series in 1957

-his #44 uniform is retired for both Braves and Brewers

-1st ever player to play for Brewers to be inducted in baseball Hall of Fame

-teaming with younger brother, Tommie, holds record for career record for home runs as brothers (768)

-last active player in MLB  history to have played in Negro Leagues.

Card of Week: 2013 Panini Cooperstown Vin Scully

In my attempt to attain at least one card of each member of the baseball Hall of Fame, I concentrate on the former players only.  I am not really interested in owners, executives, announcers and managers.  But I made an exception with Vin Scully.
Not because of my fond memories of listening to him do NBC's Game of the Week with Joe Garagolia during my childhood, but mostly because he was the Grand Marshall of the 100th Tournament of Roses Parade this past January.
This is significant to me because this Rose Bowl pitted my alma mater, Michigan State against the Cardinal of Stanford University.  One of the duties of being the Grand Marshall is that he/she flips the opening coin toss prior to the game.  When I was watching this, it gave me a hunch that MSU would win the game.  Scully called many Dodger games that involved former MSU greats Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey and Ron Perranoski and felt this is all meant to be.  When MSU won the coin toss, it reaffirmed my feeling for the outcome.
On the back of the each card in the set, it gives the line score of a game he participated in.  For the Scully card, Game 1 of the 1988 World Series is featured.  Of course, it quotes Scully's famous call on Gibson's dramatic walk off home run.
MSU did end up winning the game.  Now whenever I look at this 2013 card of Vin Scully, I automatically think of MSU's 2013 Big Ten Championship season and 2014 Rose Bowl victory.  

One of Baseball's Best Known Rants

This past week Southern Illinois mens basketball coach Barry Hinson went on a rant following their loss to Murray State.  During his little tirade to the media, Hinson said he had a bunch of "mama's boys" on the team and his wife could make more baskets than his team.
This rant brings back memories of Allen Iverson's "practice", Jim Mora's "playoffs" and Herm Edwards' "We play to win the game" among others.  Baseball, of course, is not immune to post game rants to the media.  One of the most famous ones is authored by former Dodger manager Tom Lasorda in 1978.
Lasorda was asked of Cubs' Dave Kingman's performance against him that day.  Kingman only hit three home runs with eight RBIs.  You can hear the tirade here:

**warning: Not safe at work and parental discretion advised due to language

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A "Royal" Inspiration For A Hit Song

One of the top singles currently is "Royals" by New Zealand teenager Lorde.  Here is the song if you are not familiar with it:

During an interview , Lorde explains that part of the inspiration behind the song is a photo from an old National Geographic of a baseball player in a Kansas City Royals uniform signing baseballs for a group fans.  She later explained that she took the word, "royal", and used as a theme of aristocracy for the song.
Here is the photo that inspired the hit song:

The photo, of course, is of Hall of Famer George Brett.  I guess we could add one more hit to his career total.

Card of Week: 1981 Topps Kirk Gibson

I am going to show off some of my Spartan pride and mention that MSU is Rose Bowl bound and Big Ten Champions.

1981 Topps

One of the stars of a past MSU Big Ten title team is Kirk Gibson.  Gibson was an All American wide receiver of the 1978 team.   MSU did not play in the Rose Bowl because they had to sit it out due to being on probation from the NCAA.
Gibson ended up being drafted in seventh round in the NFL draft by the St. Louis Cardinals.  He fell in the draft mostly because of his baseball career.  He played one year of baseball where he hit .390 16 home runs and 52 RBIs in 48 games.  He was drafted in the first round by Detroit Tigers and had a fine MLB career winning two World Series titles.
His son, Cam, is a current member of MSU's baseball team. 

All Time Red Sox/Yankees Players

With free agent outfielder and former Red Sox Jacoby Ellsbury signing with the Yankees on Tuesday, it got me thinking of other players who played for both franchises.  It is not a rarity.  There has been more than 300 players who played for both sides of this heated rivalry.
Here is a position by position look at these players.  I included Babe Ruth as an outfielder because he spent most of career as an outfielder and there are fewer outfielders than pitchers.  Also, the middle infield is very weak compared to the rest. I picked one in each to fill out the roster and they were chosen only because they were starters on pennant winners.
Outfield:
Babe Ruth (Bos 1914-1919, NY(1920-34)
Rickey Henderson (NY 1985-89, Bos 2002)
Johnny Damon (Bos 2002-05, NY(2006-09)
Jackie Jensen (NY 1950-52 Bos 54-61): World Series Champ w/ NY and AL MVP w/ BOS
Duffy Lewis (Bos 1910-17 NY 1919-20):  Babe Ruth wasnt the only star sold from Bos to NY that began the curse.

3rd Base:
Wade Boggs (Bos 1982-92 NY 1993-97)
Mike Lowell (NY 1998 Bos 2006-10)
Kevin Youkilis (Bos 2004-12 NY 2013)
Shortstop:
Spike Owen (Bos 1986-88 NY 1993)
Second Base:
Mark Bellhorn (Bos 2004-05 NY 2005)
First Base:
George Scott (Bos 1967-71, 77-79  NY 1979)
Doug Mientkiewicz (Bos 2004 NY 2007): famously caught the last out that ended the curse and later played for NY
Catcher:
Elston Howard (NY 1955-1967 Bos 1967-68)
DH:
Don Baylor (NY 1983-85 NY 1986-87)
Jose Canseco (Bos 1995-96 NY 2000)

Starting Pitchers:
Hall of Famers:
Red Ruffing (Bos 1924-30 NY 30-46)
Jack Chesbro (NY 1903-09 Bos 1909): NY was known as the Higlanders during his days
Waite Hoyt (Bos 1919-20 NY 1921-30)
Herb Pennock (Bos 1915-22 NY 1923-33)
other starters of note:
Roger Clemens (Bos 1984-1996 NY 1999-2003, 2007)
Luis Tiant  (Bos 1971-78 NY 1979-1980)
Wes Ferrell (Bos 1934-37 NY 1938-39)
Bob Turley (NY 1955-62 Bos 1963)
David Cone (NY 1995-2000 Bos 2001)
Derek Lowe (Bos 1997-2004 NY 2012)
David Wells (NY 1997-98, 2002-03 Bos 2005-06)

Closers:
Sparky Lyle (Bos 1967-71 NY 1972-78)
Lee Smith (Bos 1988-90 NY 1993)
Tom Gordon (Bos 1996-99 NY 2004-05)

Manager:
Ralph Houk (NY 1961-63,  66-73 Bos 1981-84)
Don Zimmer (Bos 1976-80) NY bench coach 1996-2003)