A brilliant analysis, using today's advanced techniques, of Willie Mays' great catch on Vic Wertz' drive in the Polo Grounds in the 8th inning of Game 1 of the 1954 World Series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htZNlCZ6uqE

Believe it, or Don't !

Posted by d_rock97 on 2/2/2020 2:33:00 PM (view original):
Before you watch one of Jon Bois’s “Pretty Good”, just prepare to go down the rabbit hole and spend the next 10 hours watching the rest of them

Thanks ! both for the introduction to the "Pretty Good" videos, and for the warning ! I spent half a day watching a bunch of them, as you predicted.

How Old Hoss Radbourn Broke Baseball in 1884:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsiv0BWDdt0

Believe it, or Don't !

On July 3, 1963, Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal locked horns in one of baseball’s most storied pitching duels. The 42-year-old Spahn was in his 19^th season, while the 25-year-old Marichal was in the fourth campaign of his hall-of-fame career. In what has been called “The Greatest Game Ever Pitched,” both hurlers tossed shutouts through 15 innings. In the bottom of the 16^th, Willie Mays [Daily Dose, 8/17/15] hit a solo shot off Spahn—only the ninth hit he had surrendered all game–for a walk-off home run and 1-0 Giants victory.

Believe it, or Don't !

http://dailydsports.com/warren-spahn/

Seriously, I agree with the author that Spahn is probably the most underrated pitcher of all time.

Nice post, italyprof! Great photos at that link, too.

I was lucky enough to land Spahn in a prog. So far I've had him four seasons (1946-49), and his overall record is 85-36. I'm looking forward to him racking up about 400 career wins for me.

The 1949 season just ended with the pm2 cycle, and Spahn went 28-14. But he came in second in the Cy Young voting to teammate Tommy Byrne. A little background on Byrne: in the database, he's the 27th highest salaried pitcher of 1949. By ERC#, among pitchers with 150 or more innings, he's 33rd (ERC# of 3.71). For me he went 29-4 with a 2.97 ERA -- most wins in the league, best ERA.

You might figure with Spahn and Byrne, the team did well. You'd figure right. We went 113-49.

You might also figure we made the playoffs. There you'd be wrong. We finished one game short!

Believe It or Don't!

Yeah Byrne is another, nearly forgotten but excellent pitcher, and let's not forget Spahn's - eventually victorious - mound opponent that amazing night when they both pitched like gods only to have Spahn defeated by an even greater god - Willie Mays - namely Juan Marichal, probably THE underrated pitcher of the 1960s. Never won a Cy Young Award.

The fact that Marichal hasn’t won a Cy Young Award is a “believe it or not” for certain. But neither Spahn nor Marichal should be considered underrated. Spahn was the preeminent pitcher of the 50’s and no one else was close. Marichal was as great but probably somewhat overshadowed by Koufax and Gibson. Spahn has the distinction of being the most decorated MLB player as a soldier in WWII.

i have a prog league below av. AAA player who after 200 PA has zero BB but 15 triples batting .410 / .410........665 slugging.

Toronto catcher Reese McGuire was recently busted in Florida with his reese's pieces hanging out. The Toronto Sun—the NY Post of Canada (typical headline: Hooker Says "Cop Bit My Butt")—comes through with the front page money shot:



Believe It or Don't!

This might be the single greatest game I've ever been involved with at WIS.
https://www.whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=33570652&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=10

In case the link doesn't work, or becomes inactive, here's the TL;DR
20 inning game in which my Long Live the 1890s outlasted strainryan's Run for the Hills, 5-1, by scoring 4 in the 20th.
21 pitchers used in the game (9 by me, 12 by my opponent)
All but 2 of my players saw action (my 2 worst pitchers, thankfully, remained on the bench)
24 of the opposition's roster made it into the game
My starter Jim Hearn gave up 1 run in the first; after that we pitched 19 shutout innings.
We tied the game in the 7th on a couple of singles and an infield out.
Finally broke through in the 20th against a somewhat tired Howie Camnitz, who walked the bases loaded before Johnny Bassler and Walt Wilmot delivered a pair of 2-run singles.

Also of note, in the bottom of the 8th, Eric Davis of Run for the Hills, hit a two out single.
Why is that noteworthy? It was the last hit allowed by my pitchers. They threw 12 1/3 no-hit innings after that tally by Davis. In fact, they retired 37 of the last 38 hitters they faced. The lone baserunner? Eric Davis again, who walked and stole second with 1 out in the 17th. Eat your heart out Harvey Haddix.

Oh, did I mention that this was the 7th game of the World Series?

Several have had 4 20 game winners...

Who has had 2 40 game winners on the same team?

I got close. Walsh won 40, Viau 39. We lost a play-in game to discodemo...98 wins.

I have a few more teams going that might pan out.

Several have had 4 20 game winners...

And at least one has had 5 20-game winners!

I've posted this before, but I don't think in this thread. From my 1939 prog team:

Luke Hamlin 26-9, 4.52
Ken Chase 23-7, 4.22
Al Milnar 22-8, 4.20
Lefty Grove 20-2, 3.28
Ted Lyons 20-4, 2.72

Believe It or Don't!

Fire the GM Dept.

A few posts ago I mentioned my pitcher Tommy Byrne overperforming in a 1949 prog. Well, in 1950 I left him off my keeper list because his real life numbers are bad: 214 innings, ERC+ 84, ERC# 5.16. There are 76 pitchers in 1950 with 150 or more IP, and by ERC# Byrne ranks 74th.

Another owner picked him up in the 1950 draft. 64 games into the season, Byrne is 12-0 with a 3.60 ERA, and is 2nd in Cy Young voting.

Believe It or Don't!

Two 17 inning games in the same cycle

https://www.whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=33959502&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=9.95
https://www.whatifsports.com/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=33957067&pid=1&pbp=0&tf=9.95

Believe It or Don't!