Jack Billingham, who was a hurler on the Big Red Machine teams, is actually a distant cousin of Mathewson.
Today and tomorrow I get the Keith Hernandez Seinfeld episodes.
Back to Andruw Jones...........if one looks closely at his batting metrics, he doesn't quite measure up. (IMO) But TEN Gold Gloves gets him across the line. Rather shocking how low his vote totals were early in his eligibility. And I think increasing weight gradually being given to his D is at least part of what's going on there. But still.......a somewhat generous admission?
It'll be cool to see the Pirates take it to red birds in Pitt this weekend...watching STL drop like a turd in standings is funny.
Because this is the best Pirates team since McCutcheon went MVP.
This Marlins team had better break this X-game losing streak...though they have shown much improvement till...it's their bullpen that's lacking...
Fox does baseball much better than ESPN.
Jason Benetti is the best voice in baseball right now.
I just saw the odds: Dodgers even money to take WS...Brewers +950...but they were like +3000 in March.
I love Ken Rosenthal's analyses, but as I merely watch him here now muted (since I'm listening to radio), it's obvious how much he's starting to look like a hobbit, in his mature age.
Meaning: He must be heard...wisdom.
Warning - I'll be closing out that last trivia question later tonight, probably, and throwing out another 1 or 2 unless you all have had enough for awhile.
Two more guesses, for consecutive scoreless innings streak, in regular season and World Series before Drysdale and Ford (respectively), correct?
Oof! Cubbies the hammer down on Skenes and the Buckos.
Yes, Brew Crew, that is correct. You were 'all around' the answer to the regular season question. Not sure anyone hazarded a guess on the post-season one. Or if so, no one's put forth a reasonable one.
To summarize...........
Hershiser (59) > Drysdale (58) > ??
Rivera 33 1/3 > Ford (33) > ?? (for all of post-season)
Ford > ?? (for W.S. only, and likely never to be broken?)
Walter Johnson Dennis Eckersly Smokey Joe Wood--yes yes my guesses.
🛎🛎🛎🛎 on The Big Train (Johnson), who was also a true horse, with12 20+ win seasons, and 531 CGs. But again, that was back when men were men. His feat was way back in 1913 - 55 years before Drysdale, with 55 2/3 scoreless innings. Of note...........Christopher Sanchez of the Phillies went to 50 2/3 on June 3 of this very year, which is a new record for lefties. Also...........whilst Drysdale's stretch was ongoing......Gibson started one of his own that reached 47 innings. (And remember, this was "The Year of the Pitcher".)
And guess what? Johnson's 55 2/3 is *still* the AL record - 113 years later 😲.
==============================
Good guesses on the post-season characters - but no. The previous W.S. record before Ford was........(drum roll)...........Babe Ruth, who had held the record for 43 years at 29 innings.
https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/inside-pitch/ford-breaks-ruth-record
And guess what again? Christy Mathewson still holds the NL record at 28 innings, set from 1905 to 1911.
[Addendum factoid -- only 2 pitchers have chalked up multiple 40+ inning scoreless streaks: Big Train and El Tiante.]
Ok......
Before Mickey Lolich won 3 games in the '68 W.S. to beat the Cards...........another pitcher won 3 (complete) games to down the evil Yankees in the '57 Series. 2 were shutouts, and in the other he allowed only 1 run. What team and what player? ((subtle) Hint: knowing the team doesn't guarantee knowing the player.) (And yes, easy to look up if one is so inclined.)
I'm fully aware that was the Braves championship, though your hint tells me it wasn't Spahn...Sain?
I don't know any other pitchers from that roster off top of the head.
Krukie doing color commentary on national TV? With a (non-clip on) tie and (almost) fully facially shaven, wow!
I have been watching the Philly broadcasts lately. He has been positively perky.
SORRY!
(How the heck could I forget Lew Burdette?)
During the '48 post-season,a Boston Post reporter wrote this famous phrase for the Boston Braves,which had two aces and a few faces... First we'll use Spahn,then we'll use Sain,Then an off day,followed by rain,Back will come Spahn,followed by Sain,And followed,we hope,by two days of rain. Weather didnt cooperate,they lost the Series to Cleveland in 6.
@ BrewCrew -- right, how could you? He had a quite solid decade or so there. Obviously(?) that question was also aimed (mostly) at you. But, yeah.....🛎🛎
I've tried to talk to my Dad about it all, but his memory is (beautifully but) terribly sparse...when I was a kid I bought him a framed plaque of the '57 Championship Team...used to hang in the house, but still hangs in the garage...shame on me for not looking at it more closely...
But you do recall my meeting with Johnny Logan that I posted about long ago? Rest in peace, Johnny--great guy...
I should post a couple pictures of the cool old baseball stuff I have...albeit not much...
Yes, I actually do remember that; been 3-4+(?) years. Good ol' County Stadium......
Obviously the knee-jek reaction to that question is Spahn - which is why it's an interesting question. The Lolich/McLain question is a bit more well-known. It's more recent, but it also included the factors of Gibson and his great season, vs. McClain and his 31 wins. So the obvious answer there (to the casual fan) is McClain.
Now that we've settled that............
Bob Gibson famously had an ERA in 1968 of 1.12 (2nd all-time) (along with an eye-popping 13 shutouts 😲). Less known is that the AL leader that year ("the year of the pitcher") also was sub-2.00. Any idea who that was (without peeking)??
Nope. Pretty good guess, but was he already on the scene in '68? Maybe; might be close. But no.
🛎🛎🛎🛎🛎 El Tiante. Good job on that one....
Nice addenda stuff: https://www.lavidabaseball.com/luis-tiant-magical-1968/
Now..........on to the MUCH harder follow-up: there were actually other pitchers that went that low in '68. Big ups if'n you could name them as well.
I peeked at Mike Marshall expecting he was only NL, he was waaaay effective back then.
Koufax retired by then?
Drysdale?
Hoyt Wilhelm?
None of those guys - and see El Tiante addenda above for more info.
I recall as a kid imitating his delivery.
I read that there were zero RBIs in the '68 ASG!
Right. I believe Mays scored in the first on a Fielder's Choice DP - and that was it! But my memory may be spotty on that...
P.S. -- it's hard to appreciate in this day and time how seriously the players took the AS games back then. It was a BIG deal.
Nightcap:
Who was the first black pitcher to win 20 games in the AL? (Hint: he was also the first black pitcher to win a World Series game for the AL.)
...yet ASGs meant nothing back then. Was that pitcher Stewart?
Nope, but pretty good guess. And I would definitely disagree that A-S games meant nothing back then - as I noted above in my post about the '68 game.
[As an added hint..........both events listed in my question were prior to Stewart's heyday.]
And since we're talking about pitching and A-S games here................who was the first pitcher to start the All-Star game for *both* the AL and NL - and I'm not gonna tell which happened first - at least yet?
Vida Blue? (I have difficulty coming up with someone before him, since FERGIE never made it.
It's too bad no Marlins' fan posts here regularly...their tailspin has been instant.
🛎🛎🛎🛎 on Vida Blue for that last query. Well done!
But he is *not* the answer to the previous question about the first black pitcher to achieve those two noted milestones.
[Addendum: started it for the AL in '71; for the NL in '78.]
Too bad Satchel didn't pitch for the pennant-winning '48 Indians...he would have won three WS games...
I might have to cheat to figure which 20-game winner/WS-game winner was first...
Here's a rabbit outta my hat (but I looked him up): MUDCAT GRANT!
Ima gonna go ahead and answer that earlier trivia. Ranks fairly tough on the difficulty scale.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudcat_Grant
1965 was the year he won 21, the only time exceeding 20 in his career, and also won 2 games in the W.S. that year versus the Dodgers with Drysdale and Koufax - altho the Dodgers ultimately prevailed 4 games to 3.
Also......as that site notes....he was the starting pitcher for the first ever Expos game, in April 1969. He later authored a book about all (at that time 13; now 14) the black pitchers who had won 20 or more:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Aces
(And in case it's not common knowledge to some of you, Don Newcombe was the first black player of either league to win 20, way back in the early '50s.)
Well you beat me to it as I took awhile to compose that packed post. 😁