Countdown to Christmas - 95 Days

Wow... September 21. Another year older. I share my birthday with 56 current and former major leaguers, including Cecil Fielder, Sam McDowell, Scott Spiezio, Joe Haynes and Tom Brown, who played for 17 seasons from 1882 to 1898 with stops in Baltimore, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Boston, Louisville, St. Louis, and Washington! So happy birthday to all 56 players that did make, or are making, this wonderful game our national (and my favorite) pastime!

95..... only one significant person comes to mind in baseball when I think of 95, and that's Cal Ripken, Jr. Wait, didn't he wear number 8? Yes, but it was in 1995 that he broke the Iron Man's record for consecutive games. I remember watching many an Oriole game in my basement in the early to mid 90s, and even listening to them on the radio with Jon Miller and Joe Angel, and during the 94 and 95 seasons, Cal would stay after signing autographs for an hour after the game. In 1995 I had a silent auction to raise money for the Leukemia Society and contacted his office. He graciously sent over a couple of autographed items for me to auction off. But it was on Wednesday September 6 of that year that he practically brought me to tears when he played in his 2,131 consecutive game before a nationally televised audience. Won't bore you with all of his stats, you can look them up... or better yet, you can check last year's countdown!! But thanks for the memories, Cal, and for all you do with youth baseball!

Oh, if anyone cares, below is the list of players I share a birthday with. Pictured below is Sam McDowell of the Yankees, from my baseball card collection.

Jeremy Jeffress
Antonio Bastardo
Joaquin Arias
Carlos Rosa
Greg Burke
Billy Sadler
Brian Tallet
Pedro Santana
Doug Davis
Manuel Barrios
Scott Spiezio
Shannon Withem
Ben Shelton
Jason Christiansen
D.J. Dozier
Cecil Fielder
Troy Afenir
Rick Rodriguez
Danny Cox
Frank MacCormack
Art Gardner
Gary Gray
Gary Lance
Aurelio Lopez
Jim Todd
Bill Wilson
Sam McDowell
Jerry Fosnow
Jerry Zimmerman
Billy Muffett
Jim Clark
John McHale
Joe Haynes
Ed Walczak
Max Butcher
Elden Auker
Al Blanche
John Bogart
Del Lundgren
Herschel Bennett
Ad Swigler
Elmer Smith
Gil Britton
Pete Shields
Art Bader
Bris Lord
Frank McManus
George Blackburn
Jim Garry
Joe Daly
Bill Joyce
Jack Horner
Tom Brown
Frank Bishop
Dick Buckley
Al Thake

Countdown to Christmas - 96 Days

96..... true, that's about what I shot on the FRONT 9 at Mangrove Bay in St. Petersburg during the summer of 1979 in my first ever round of golf.... and I'd like to say it's my best total ever for a full 18 but sadly we only started the countdown at 99 days..... In '96 I ran the second annual Disney Marathon in Orland, FL, and at mile 22 choked on a Powerbar and nearly passed out before getting water about a 1/4 mile later. It was my third marathon (and second finish) and had a blast. I'd still like to run Disney again someday.

In '96, Dodger Chan Ho Park became the first South Korean pitcher to win in the majors, throwing four scoreless innings in relief of Ramon Martinez for the 3-1 win. Also in '96, umpire John McSherry died of a massive heart attach after calling time from behind home plate just seven pitches into a Reds-Expos games in Cincinnati. In 1896, Ed Delahanty of the Phillies hit FOUR inside the park homers and had 7 RBIs, but it wasn't enough for the Phils as they lost 9-8 to the Chicago Colts! Delahanty lead the league that year in doubles (44), homeruns (13), RBI (126) and slugging (.631). Delahanty played 16 years in the big leagues, mostly with the Phillies. A lifetime .346 hitter, he died in a tragic accident at Niagara falls during the 1903 season. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1945.

I know you are wondering "but what about number 96?" Well..... Bill Voiselle, who played 9 seasons with the Giants, Braves and Cubs between 1942 and 1950, wore number 96. He appeared in 245 games with a lifetime record of 74-84. His best season was 1944, going 21-16 for the Giants, with a 3.02 ERA. He was named Sporting News Pitcher of the Year that year. In 1947 He went to play for the Braves, and changed his number to 96 to honor his hometown of Ninety Six, South Carolina. Voiselle passed away in 2005 and is buried in Elmwood Cemetary in Ninety Six, SC.

Countdown to Christmas - 97 Days

Short post tonight, with just 97 days to go until Christmas. This pirate was out on the water in a new kayak today in search of treasure. Didn't stumble upon any wenches, though. Guess that will have to wait until Gasparilla in Tampa next February!!

On with the countdown!

Joe Beimel wears number 97 for the Colorado Rockies. Beimel is a relief pitcher who made made his major league debut with the Pirates in 2001 and has also played for the Twins, Rays, Dodgers, and the Nats. He wears number 97 for the year his first child's birth. In 2007 Beimel set a Dodgers record by appearing in 83 games (3rd in the NL that year).

Sorry gang, but after taking 9 months off from the blogging thing, it's tough to get started again. Maybe I'll take a couple months off until we get to the 40s, then it's easier to find good players! Not a slam against Beimel, but.....

I could always bore you with my latest running exploits and what keeps me motivated, but I'll just save that for random facebook posts!

Countdown to Christmas - 98 days

Well, if you thought #99 was a bit of a stretch, try finding a #98 in baseball history! Girly sports like football have Tony "Goose" Siragusa, who played 12 years in the NFL. But baseball numbers, for the most part, are traditionally low. Part of that is based in history. The first team to ever wear numbers on their back on a regular basis was the 1929 Yankees. Prior to that, some teams experimented with wearing numbers on their sleeves. And even then, the numbers the players wore were assigned by where they were in batting order. So Earle Combs wore number 1, Mark Koening wore number 2, Babe wore number 3 and so forth. The rest of the team filled in after the starting 8.

So lets go a little history for today. In '98 we saw a batter hit a grand slam in his first ever major league at bat. While there was no Triple Crown winner that year, the leauge leader in avg. hit .385 and also lead the league in hits with 216. On the mound, the league leader in ERA had an impressive 1.88, and one player actually had 42 complete games and finished the season with a 15-29 record. No, we aren't talking about 1998, we are looking back to 1898!!

In what could be considered a drop off year, Wee Willie Keeler hit .385 that year while playing in 129 games for Baltimore. A drop off year? In the '97 campaign, Keeler hit .424. Starting in 1894, "Hit 'em where they aint" Keeler started a string of 8 consecutive seasons of 200 or more hits, a record matched only by Pete Rose. Also at the dish, Bill Duggleby of the Phillies hit a grand slam in his first ever major league at bat, something not accomplished again until Jeremy Hermida repeated the feat for the Marlins in 2005.

Clark Griffith, who later became the long time owner of the Washington Senators, lead the league with an impressive 1.88 ERA in what was agruably the best season of his storied 20 year professional career as a player. He won 24 games that year for the Chicago Orphans, with 4 shutouts over 325 innings pitched. His 36 complete cames didn't come close to Jack Taylor, though, who had 42 complete games and pitched an amazing 397 innings! Taylor pitched just one more season, and retired with a lifetime record of 120-117.

And in 1898, the commissioner with THE best name ever, Happy Chandler, was born!

And don't worry folks, there actually IS a ball player with #97 that we can read about tomorrow. In the mean time, I want to leave you with the Oscar winning performance of Derek Jeter this week.

Countdown to Christmas - 99 days

Wow.... has it really been since January?? My feable attempt to be an active blogger has failed. So much has happened since January. Most folks know all that has happened so I won't go into them here, but it's been a roller coaster ride to say the least. Lots of highs, and some valleys along the way. But the good news is.... the Countdown is back!

Coming up with a baseball 99 was tough. There are other sports where 99 is a fairly common number. There's the Great One. Also Warran Sapp. There's a song about that many balloons and also that many beers on the wall (probably my normal monthly consumption as well). And my favorite secret agent from Get Smart. But good luck trying to find a good number 99 in baseball. Manny Ramirez wore number 99 while with the Dodgers, and former Phillies star Mitch Williams wore number 99. Both are excellent choices to start the countdown, but not the top choice.

I'm going to back into the 99 today by using a baseball icon's age. Bob Sheppard, long time announcer for the New York Yankees. Bob passed away this summer at the age of 99. "The voice of God" announced more than 4,500 Yankee games in the Bronx over 56 years. Yaz once said, "You're not in the big leagues until Bob Sheppard announces your name." He also announced for the NY Giants. During my first trip to Yankee Stadium in 2003, I remember actually getting goosebumps when I heard him announce "Good afternoon... ladies and gentleman... and welcome... to Yankee Stadium." Sheppard passed away on July 11, 2010. The Yankees' July 16, 2010 home game against the Tampa Bay Rays, the first after Sheppard's death and the first with the new Sheppard uniform patches, was played, in his memory, with an empty PA booth and no public address announcements.

I can't say I heard him often as I have only seen 2 Yankees games in person, but Bob, you are missed.