Remembering Ricky Henderson-May 1st ,1991

On this date in 1991, Ricky Henderson (aka: The Man of Steal) passed the all-time base stealer Lou Brock stealing third base in the fourth inning against the New York Yankees for his 938 stolen bases. Born Ricky Nelson Henley in Chicago, Illinois, Henderson was named after the singer Rickey Nelson. His surname was changed after the passing of his father and the family moved to Oakland and his mother remarried. (Photo courtesy of TRB.com)

Henderson's talent of stealing bases was smiled upon by the baseball gods when Ricky was drafted (in the fourth round in 1976) by the Oakland A's: under skipper Billy Martin's unique approach to the game known as "Billy Ball" Henderson was given the green light to run and with Dwayne Murphy (a true fast-ball hitter) batting behind Ricky, pitchers had to throw Murphy the curve ball a perfect pitch to run on allowed Ricky to pass Brock's single-season record of 118 stolen bases in a season (Henderson would go on to steal 130 bases that season-a record he still holds).

Headed to Cooperstown
When Sabermetrics (Society for American Baseball Research) inventor Bill James was asked if Henderson was worthy of the Hall of Fame, James replied, "If you could split him in two, you would have two Hall of Fame pitchers." James is right not only did Henderson break Babe Ruth's record of 2,062 walks (ending with a career 2,190 base-on-balls) a record he held until passed by Barry Bonds, Ricky also passed Ty Cobbs record of 2,246 runs scored (with a career 2,295 runs) and holds the all-time stolen base record of 1,406 stolen bases. Trivia: In teammate Tony Gwynn's last game with the A's, Ricky had a lead-off home run, this game became the first and only time two players with over 3,000 hits have played in the same game.

Ricky Henderson will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, 2009.

Boston Red Sox @ the Anaheim (Los Angeles) Angels: Game 1 ALDS

Bottom of the 9th: The odds the Angels will score +2 to tie the game is 13.23%; the odds they will score +1 with nobody on is 28.24%

The first batter, Mike Napoli just went down on strikes as Red Sox pitcher Jonathan Papelbon just threw him the heat. Gary Matthews just singled to right. Aybar up to the plate, pinch-runner Morales just took 2nd on defensive indifference. Aybar down on strikes. Chone Figgins at the plate, quickly falls 0-2, now 1-2, with Garret Anderson on-deck. Got-em, Papelbon throws a fast-ball to the outside of the plate and Figgins goes down swinging. Game over, Red Sox just received their 10th consecutive win over the Angels: tying the record set by the Oakland A's (of wins by one team over another in the post-season) who defeated the Red Sox 10-consecutive times spanning the years of 1988 through 2003. Boston wins 4-1 to take Game-1!

Top of the 9th:
Adding to Jason Bay's 2-run homer off of a fast-ball offering from John Lackey in the 6th inning (the traded Manny Ramirez hit a solo-home-run, becoming the all-time post-season home run leader with 25 home-runs, for the Dodgers in their win earlier tonight over the Cubs) Jed Lowrie got on base and then was brought in by a right-field single from the bat of Jacoby Ellsbury (for his 5th time on base tonight). Pedroia is up and Ellsbury steals his second bag of the evening (this kid is on fire-go get his rookie card if you don't have it already). Pedroia grounds out to Scott Shields the pitcher. After being blanked all-night, Big Papi extended his post-season hit streak to 12 games by ripping a single up the middle off of Shields. Angels bring in Arrendondo to end the inning.

Bottom of the 8th:
Boston's Justin Masterson got through the meat of the Angels' line-up: getting Tex (Teixeira) to fly-out to center. Vlady Guerro singled to left and was followed by Tori Hunter's single to right, but as the ball dropped just out of Youk's reach, Vlady rounded 2nd heading to 3rd, not considering that Kevin Youkilis has a couple of Golden Gloves and was thrown out by Youk at third by about 10-feet. Last at bat for the Angels was Hendrick, who hit into a fielder's choice, Lowrie tossed out Hunter at second for the final out in the 8th inning.

The Red Sox will play the Angels again on Friday night with Dice-K taking the mound for Boston.

Red Sox win Game 1 of the ALDS

There is a reason Josh Beckett is the only twenty-game winner in the American League and he showed it tonight, allowing just four hits in his complete game shut-out against the Anaheim Angels in Game 1 of the ALDS. After giving up a hit in the first, Beckett retired 19-straight, blast you Vlady! This is Beckett's coming out season and he hasn't thrown this well since four years ago when he showed the Yankees that fanning isn't just something that gets rid of the vapors down in Florida.

Most Citadel guys will tell you that the name John Lackey will strike fear in any cadet's heart (he gave the Bushido 120-tours, no cuts, no amnesty), but alas, there was no Assistant Commandant Army Colonel on the mound for Anaheim and the Red Sox didn't fear this Lackey-they just treated him like the definition in the dictionary. The Cincinnati Kid, Kevin Youkilis smacked a 92-mph pitch from Lackey deep in the first for a solo-home run. Big Papi followed with a two-run shot in the third inning. After Lackey walked Manny Ramirez and then he advanced to second-base on a wild pitch, Mike Lowell did what he does best with a RISP (Runner-in-scoring-position) he hit a single up the middle to knock in Manny.

For the record:
(Stat: Lowell is currently leading the Red Sox with 120 RBIs) I hate to think about it now, but I hope Theo brings Mike back next season. Also, Boon was at the game tonight, I'll edit in a picture from him as soon as I get them.

Game Two:
Matsuzaka, aka: Dice-K (15-12, 4.40 ERA) will face off against the Angels' Escobar (18-7, 3.40 ERA) on Friday for game two, in the best of five, of the ALDS.
Posted by The Bushido

Curtis Granderson joins the “20-20-20-20 club”

After going 4-for-4 on Sunday against the Mariners, Detroit center-fielder and member of the Bushido Braves fantasy team, Curtis Granderson joined Willie Mays (1957-NY Giants) and Frank "Wildfire" Schulte (1911-Cubs) as the third major leaguer to have at least 20 stolen bases, 20 doubles, 20 triples, and 20 home runs in the same season. This remarkable feat of entering what’s known as the “20-20-20-20 club” was acknowledged with a standing ovation at Comerica Park to which Mr. Granderson responded in a very stoic manner by simply nodding his head and waving to each side of the park.

Make no doubt about it, Curtis Granderson is a class act and that is why he is on my fantasy team. Well that and Granderson has an OPS of .913 with a .301 average. For those of you unaware of the sabermetrics (science of baseball), OPS is On-base percentage plus Slugging. Granderson has a .359 OBP plus a .554 SLG for a total of .913 OPS. And knowing this is one of the strategies (OPS = Winning %) I used to go from last place to second after the All-Star Break.

Remembering Eddie Gaedel and Blackie rides the Santana-Smoltz train

On this date in 1951, Eddie Gaedel became the first dwarf to play in a major league baseball game. Do I mention this because a FOB just 6-inches shorter than the Bushido had an amazing day with his fantasy team and I am expressing my discontent of being relished back to third place in our league? Of course not, it just happened to be the sequence of the days were the same and I thought what better way to remember Eddie Gaedel than to tell his story. And as a story within a story, we can also honor the recent passing of Yankees' short-stop, Phil Rizzuto.

Fun is so good that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree
On Friday, August 17th, 1951, maverick owner of the St. Louis Browns, Bill Veeck signed all 3 feet, 7-inches and 65 pounds of a young man named Eddie Gaedel. Quite the strategist Veeck was, as even today we find that our government will take a page out of his book: if you want to slide something past the people, announce it at ten till five on Friday, most people won't notice until Monday morning. And that is what Veeck did. Knowing that the Commissioner's office would probably not agree with the contract of a dwarf in the major leagues, Veeck sent Gaedel's contract in on Friday afternoon. And practically nobody did notice Gaedel's name on the roster except for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat sports writer, Harry Mitauer, who found a tight-lipped Browns' PR department.

That Sunday as the Detroit Tigers were in town for a double-header, Veeck sent Gaedel out in between games to jump out of a paper-mache cake in tribute to the American League's 50th Anniversary and as a promo for Falstaff Brewery. The crowd had a laugh, but the folks at Falstaff weren't impressed, that was until the 3rd inning of the second game.

Wearing the number "1/8", Eddie Gaedel was sent in to pinch-hit for Frank Saucier in the 3rd inning. Despite objections, Veeck and his manager had a copy of Gaedel's contract and Eddie was allowed to "step-up" to the plate. With a strike-zone of only one and one-half inch, Gaedel was walked with four straight balls from Tiger's pitcher Bob Cain. Eddie made it to first where he was subbed for a pinch-runner, thus unable to re-enter the game. A.L. President Will Harridge voided Gaedel's contract on Monday, August 20, 1951, on grounds that Veeck was making a mockery of the game. To which Veeck responded that perhaps, Yankees' short-stop, "Phil Rizzuto was just a tall-midget and that Eddie should be allowed to play". Veeck's defense fell on deaf ears and Eddie Gaedel's MLB career was over, with an 0-0 batting average, a 1.000 SLG% and the league minimum of $100 for playing in the game.

Eddie Gaedel died of a heart attack after being mugged in Chicago in 1961. Currently, his autograph is worth more than Babe Ruth's (mainly because Gaedel didn't sign many items of memorabilia) and his number "1/8" jersey is hanging in Cooperstown. At Gaedel's funeral there was only one representative from Major League Baseball, Mr. Bob Cain, the only pitcher he faced during his career.

Even in Fantasy, you've got to be kidding me
The Blackmon Braves lost this week to the Bushido Braves in 7 categories. We tied in 1-category (Wins by a pitcher) but Blackmon's Braves won in two categories: Strike-Outs and Batting average (.245 to the Bushido's .244). You might ask, how did Blackie pull out the strike-outs after trailing by 6 Ks? Two words: Smoltz and Santana.

John Smoltz passed Phil Niekro as the all-time leader of strike-outs as a Braves' pitcher, fanning Mark Reynolds of the D-Backs in the third-inning for Smoltz' 2,913 th K, as he retired 12 batters and walked 3 for his first win since July.

Johan Santana broke the Twinkies' franchise record, previously held by Bert Blyleven's 15 Ks (August 1, 1986) against the Oakland A's with 17-strike-outs in 8-innings as the Twins beat the Rangers 1-0.

Posted by The Bushido

Dice-K and Bedard Riding For The Bushido Braves!

I joined a Fantasy Baseball League this year and one of my first draft picks was the newly acquired (keeping with my Red Sox loyalty) and much hyped pitcher from Japan Daisuke Matsuzaka, aka "Dice-K". I have to say, he's lived up to the hype setting a new record by a Red Sox pitcher with 159 strike-outs. After Curt Schilling went down with injuries near the All-Star break, I picked up Eric Bedard from Baltimore. I was a bit hesitant at first because the O's had just fired their manager and weren't doing so hot. But once again, my instincts proved correct as Bedard is a strike-out machine! Photo credits of Andrew "Dice-K" from Moyamedia.com)

Breakdown:
Matsuzaka --- Bedard
13-8 --- W/L --- 12-4
3.59 --- ERA --- 3.11
159 --- K's --- 199
.240 --- Opp. BA --- .212

Stats as of August 11, 2007
Posted by The Bushido

Glavine joins the 300 wins club

Late last night, Tom Glavine became the 23rd player in MLB to earn his 300th career win. From his first win against the Pittsburgh Pirates back in 1987, a game where he pegged a young Barry Bonds for (his signature) crouching in on the plate, to tonight's victory at Wrigley Field, Tom Glavine has demonstrated that great pitchers don't just throw 95 mph; they throw smart pitches, with lots of movement and precision placement. For Tom Terrific pitching is an art, much like the beautiful dance of a bull-fight; treating the poised batter as a worthy and respected adversary instead of a man with a stick that a pitcher needs to sneak a ball past at very high speeds. Much like other greats of the baseball, Glavine is a student of the game, but now we celebrate as the student as become a master. Congratulations Tom!

Baseball Trivia:
Not only is Glavine the 23rd pitcher to reach 300-career wins, he also joins a more elite club, becoming one of five left-handed pitchers who have reached 300-career wins.

1. Warren Spahn (Braves) 363 wins
2. Steve Carlton (Phillies) 329
3. Eddie Plank (Athletics) 326
4. Lefty Grove 300-who is most known for going 31-4 in a season during a hitter's reign of the game.
   

Posted by The Bushido. (Photo credits: Metslifers.blogspot.com)

Big Tex Comes Home

The Atlanta Braves' GM John Schueholz announced Tuesday a seven-player trade with the Rangers that will have Southpaw pitcher Ron Mahay and Georgia Tech alum, 1st baseman Mark Teixeira (that's Tah-share-ahh, Brad & Blackie) would be doing the tomahawk chop this week; in exchange for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and four minor league players, including infielder Elvis Andrus, right-handed pitcher Neftali Feliz, left-handed pitcher Matt Harrison and left-handed pitcher Beau Jones.

Big Tex
With two-consecutive Gold-Glove Awards, Mark Teixeira is not only an extra (switch-hitting) bat in the line-up for Atlanta; he fills a solid hole at first-base and strengthens the line-up quite possibly making this Braves batting order the most formidable line-up in baseball. Teixeira is durable as well, playing all 162 games in 2005 and 2006 and despite having missed a little more than a month this season, due to a strained left quadriceps, (I know because I have him on my Fantasy Team) Big Tex has played in 81 games. Currently batting .333 for the month, Teixeira has 90 hits in 301 at-bats, 16HRs 56 RBIs, combined with 47 walks for a .398 on-base-percentage, .548 slugging-percentage and a .299 batting-average for 2007. Big Tex went 1-4, with a home-run and 4 RBIs in his Braves debut on Wednesday (see video). Well worth his $9-million salary.

Down on the Farm
If there is one thing the Atlanta Braves have is an incredible front-office and Farm-system. As you Braves fans known, when someone is hurt "and can't work" the AFLAC of baseball fills those holes with players from Richmond (the Triple-A team for the Braves). When Brian McCann was out with injuries we saw rookie, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, advance to the Big Leagues and smack a .284 average with four homers and 12 RBIs in just 47 games for the Atlanta. Which makes the Rangers front-office the "smart-money" for catching on and picking up some players from the Braves' farm system.

Hard Decisions
I hate to see "Salty" leave the Braves and I hate to see the Braves release Julio as well, but as Brian McCann said after the addition of Teixeira, "This Team now has the makings of a National Championship season" and to get there you have to make the tough decisions. Which had I not joined a Fantasy Baseball League this year and realized you have to put aside your "team and player sympathies" and pick the best player for the spot; I would be screaming "foul" at John Schueholz for dropping Salty and Julio. And with that lesson learned, I went from last place to third, two-back from B-Rad and 12-games out of first, but Big Tex just so you know, I drafted you.
Posted by The Bushido

Happy Birthday to Barry Bonds!

Today is Barry Bonds' 43rd birthday. Trailing Hank Aaron's record of 755 by two-home-runs, Bonds and the Giants face the Atlanta Braves tonight. Will Bonds hit one out of the park or two to tie the record? Regardless, Bonds received an early present from Commissioner Bud Selig as Bud (taking the "high road") announced today he would follow Bonds (when possible) until he breaks the record. (Photo credit: Bloodsox)

Trivia: Who had the home-run record before Babe Ruth?
Answer: Roger Conner. Originally signed to the Troy Trojans in 1880 as a third-baseman, Conner was traded to the New York Gothams and became the first batter to hit an out of the park home-run at the (Gothams' home-stadium) Polo Grounds in New York. Conner's record was 138 home-runs until Ruth passed him, hitting almost five-times as many home-runs, holding the record until 1974. Conner would play for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1892 and was traded to the St. Louis Browns in 1894 where he finished his career. After baseball, Conner returned home to Waterbury, Conn. where he died in 1931. Roger Conner is ranked 450th on the career-home-run list.

Historical Note: The record of 122 home-runs was held by Harry (Duffield) Stover of the Worcester Ruby Legs until Conner passed him in 1895. Stover is currently ranked 529th on the career-all-time home-run list.