Lawless wasn't the type of player to show the pitcher up with the bat flip or the HR trot. I think he was more stunned than anyone that it went out...

It is funny that he of all people is the one traded for Pete...

Mark Whiten, he of the 4 home run 12 RBI game, sure had a good arm in right field, but I didn't know he ever pitched. In '98 for the Indians he worked 1 inning. Allowed a run on 1 hit, and struck out 3...

Sharp cookie. On the Cards telecast over the weekend, Ricky Horton mentioned something from a conversation with Ted Simmons during spring training. Simmons, a long time scout, said the kid playing SS should be on the Cards roster, and if not, on someone's opening day roster. The player? Paul DeJong...

Oh yeah, he started playing short in the 2016 Fall League...

Just won a World Series with zero team quality starts...

1967 Gary Peters and 1972 Marty Pattin each recorded 81 starts for the '72 Red Sox team in escwhartz's Franchise Progressive Twist League... none of them getting the "QS" designation... Peters finished 3-18, Pattin finished 1-13...

Of course, I also had 1972 Sonny Siebert (80 G, 28-11) and 1972 Luis Tiant (75 G, 30-6)...

I love Tandem Rotations...

Believe it or Don't!

Sparky brings in a pitcher to pinch hit in the bottom of the twelfth.

Of course, as everyone would expect, he hits a walk-off home run. His first homer, and only second hit of the season.

http://www.whatifsports.com/x.asp?r=614781&u=/slb/Boxscore.aspx?gid=29118192.ppid=1.ppbp=0.ptf=10

With 18 games to go in the 1939 season of the 100 Year War progressive, Ted Lyons wins his 20th for my New York Yaks. What's so special about that? He's the 5th pitcher on the team to reach 20 wins!

Believe It or Don't!

I believe you crazy

Posted by uncleal on 8/25/2017 7:46:00 PM (view original):
Just won a World Series with zero team quality starts...

1967 Gary Peters and 1972 Marty Pattin each recorded 81 starts for the '72 Red Sox team in escwhartz's Franchise Progressive Twist League... none of them getting the "QS" designation... Peters finished 3-18, Pattin finished 1-13...

Of course, I also had 1972 Sonny Siebert (80 G, 28-11) and 1972 Luis Tiant (75 G, 30-6)...

I love Tandem Rotations...

Believe it or Don't!

This is pretty awesome

Now playing Second Base...Henry Aaron !

MLB119562

My thanks to farleyfustle who used 1955 Hank Aaron at 2B in a theme league, bringing that Aaron season to my attention. I had never known there was a Henry Aaron iteration with a 2B rating.

Aaron in 1955 is a C-/A+ fielder - good range compared to others that year at that position, weak fielding. But presentable, which allows for a third outfielder on an OL team, and since OFs cost less for the bang, it really means a four OF offense at low cost.

So I built an OL team, the Motown Manifestos (extra points for whoever gets the reference), put them in Tiger Stadium, had a low budget, low HR four man rotation and we won 98 games and made the playoffs in a VERY tough division as the wildcard team (barely - my compliments to the other teams in the division).

Aaron hit .300, 16 HRs, 129 RBI. Two of my outfielders had OBPs of .386 and .402, while the third stole 51 bases.

Mr. Aaron made 28 errors, but had 24 "good plays" at 2B.

We'll see how we do in the postseason shooting gallery, but I have to consider the experiment a reasonable success.

?Believe it or Don't !!

(anyone get the Motown Manifestos reference?) I will give you a hint - before Saturday Night Live...aw, what the heck, I will just give it to you -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuBhwEgi8qU

at 20:18 - but watch the whole video when you can, you will see a lot of familiar faces !

Chris Guest does a pretty good Dylan early in that clip. Is he the best musician ever among comic actors? I would think so, unless we count Will Ferrell's Tull-inspired flute playing from Anchorman.

Tim Robbins, of "Bull Durham" fame did a whole political parody movie where he plays a folk-singing right wing politician called "Bob Roberts". He does pretty well. The movie paves the way that led to you know who as well.

I saw that film when it came out, and a couple times since. Gore Vidal had a nice role in it, and a younger, slimmer Jack Black is good in his brief appearance, too.

For years I looked for the Woody Guthrie song that played at the end of it. I don't think I found it until youtube came along.

Hope this wasn’t mentioned already...

Pete Milne, a career .233 hitter with 9 career RBI only had 1 homer his entire career.

”In the 7th inning of a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 27, 1949, Milne came into the game as a pinch hitter against Pat McGlothin with the bases loaded. Milne proceeded to hit an inside-the-park grand slam which gave the Giants an 11–8 lead. That wound up being the final score of the game.”


Believe It or Don’t!

In 1957, a 25 yr old Mickey Mantle set a career high in BA and OBP, batting
.365/.512/.665

He didn’t lead the league in any of those categories because 38 yr old Ted Williams batted
.388/.526/.731

None of those were career highs for Williams.

Believe It or Don’t!

There was a thread recently about "tanking" games. My own views on the subject are that I'll start rookies/scrubs during the regular season, sometimes with great frequency, in order to rest my best players for division and wild card rivals and ultimately, if all goes well, for the playoffs. I'm not trying to lose those rookie/scrub games; I'm just saving my best lineup for more important games.

This AM, my OL team started the season with a rookie SP on the mound (effectiveness rating 1) and behind him six rookie bats and two 200K scrubs. Starting for my opponent was 2002 Pedro Martinez (current salary just a hair under $9M, ERC# 1.85).

My pitcher ID'd as 2005 Oliver Perez, ERC# 6.24, HR/9# 1.71. Since we were playing at home -- Yankee Stadium (III), +4/+3 for HR -- I figured the rook might give up half a dozen or so dingers.

Nope. The rook pitched his heart out, threw 5.1 innings of shutout ball, then the rookie reliever (effectiveness rating 5) hurled another 1.2 innings of shutout ball, then the closer came in to wrap things up. Final score, 1-0.

Believe It or Don't!

P.S. One of my division rivals also fielded an all rookie/scrub opening day lineup. Didn't fare quite as well: he lost 36-0.