Subject: Baseball

Whew......enough about pitchers for a while........

Who was the *last* switch-hitter to win the AL MVP?

Very glad I got it!

Eddie Murray?

Nope.  Awesome guess, but Murray never quite won an MVP, actually.  Finished top ten 8 times.  Also had more RBIs than any other player in the '80s.

I looked up a guess of mine but he wasn't switch (or win MVP): HOFer Tony Oliva

*Would have been* a great guess....

[Hint - between 1960 and 1980.]

[*Further* hint - think a bit "outside the (batter's) box".]

I cheated...must I be mildly rebuked?

Well, no.  Again, this ain't no contest.  Just a fun thing with some interesting and/or quirky history acquired along the way.  I didn't think it highly likely someone would know that.  Sure is an interesting answer, tho, eh?

Shall I give it rest a bit........or do you all want more?  BTW.............in case anyone's wondering..........I'm not getting these from some book or website.  They're my own creations - but mostly generated/triggered from those little mini-"cartoons" on the backs of my old baseball cards.  And then I'm going back to older texts of them to friends and/or family, and grabbing to re-use.  And try to fact-check to make sure they're still accurate. 

Continuation is cool, but with players I enjoyed in youth ('70s and up)?

I wouldn't run out of guesses very quickly, either.

That's quite well done - but to say he's forgotten must be a generational thing.  It still very much surprises me that you, a solid baseball guy, weren't familiar.  History can be finicky....

[edit:  Not dissing your knowledge AT ALL, in case it appeared that way.  Just musing on how things like that get lost in the mists of time.  That fact is discussed all the time in that PBS show "Finding Your Roots".]

Like kids today not knowing the tragedy of Thurman or Marlins' Fernandez.

Cubbies crushing the Cards tonight. 🤠

Do they trade SP May? Their chances seem slim...Dude's pretty good, but he's up for a 20mil MUTUAL buyout...somebody'd want him, sure...

Then again, Anhueser-Busch has money to piss away...

Edit: On second thought (and I'm no agent), mutual buyout sounds unlike mutual extension, so, whatever...likely stays put.

On this date, back in '91: Montreal Expo Dennis Martinez' PERFECT GAME.

MIL SS (rookie) Cooper Pratt...1.3 WAR (and he's only been a month in The Show).

Always thought he was underappreciated.  Never won more than 16 wins in a season (almost certainly would have in '81 without the strike), but racked up 15 years with 10+, which is hard to do.  I'm not saying he should be in the Hall........but he's likely more deserving than a few who *are* in.

He was great, and his brother was good.

Brother?

Of course Tippy's career pales in comparison to his brother's, but he served well for over a decade, mostly O's baseball...All-Star quality in '83.

I'm about 99.9% sure they're not brothers.  And am pretty sure they're not closely related at all.

OK, this is not recent, as per a request, but involves such an iconic achievement that I'm posing it anyway.  It's "trivia" - or possibly even not, depending on how important one considers such things. The Oakland A's famously won 3 straight World Series, going back-to-back-to-back in 1972-1973-1974.  Before that, what team *not named the Yankees* went back-to-back? Either league qualifies.

Philly A's in AL, but like, way back, in the teens, Connie Mack and such.

It *was* the A's! - Connie Mack style, in 1929 and 1930. Then they lost the '31 Series.  So nobody other than the d*** Yankees won 2 in a row for over 50 years.  Pretty remarkable, especially considering there were only 16 teams then.  Cards won quite a bit back in that time frame, but didn't do a repeat.

And while we're on the W.S. topic..........an easy one is what team or teams have never won it?  And then........what teams have played in it but never lost?

Brewers, Padres, Mariners have never won...Padres have lost two, Brewers one, Mariners zero (close last year)...and oh yeah, Rays have lost one and never won one...and oh yeah, Rockies lost to Boston ('07, I think) never winning one.

All that's correct, I believe.  Now how about those team(s) who have won it, but never lost it?

Diamondbacks and Angels, I think...and I don't recall Reds or Pirates losing one, but they must have way back when...maybe also K.C., winning with Brett/Saberhagen/Quisenberry...

D-Backs did lose one, recently as a matter of fact.  Correct on the Angels.  Two more teams have played but not lost.  Oh, and I think we both forgot the Rockies, right?  In terms of never winning a W.S., as they had that torrid streak to make it in at all, but then got swept by the BoSox in the Series.

I recall Ron Washington's Rangers losing consecutively to Giants and STL, and never winning...but I get some teams' origins mixed up, like Senators become Twins or Rangers or, etc....

Besides the Angels, the other 2 teams who've won it but not lost it are the Nats, and the Marlins (twice).

I should have recalled the Nats, since when I think of them, I recall that interrupted season ('94) when everybody thought the Expos would win it all...Niño Pedro's Expos...

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/49483412/unsuspecting-fan-gets-popped-head-rafael-devers-foul-ballhttps://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/49483412/unsuspecting-fan-gets-popped-head-rafael-devers-foul-ball.                                                                                                                                                             DIRECT HIT.

MLB standings at this moment reveal top 8 teams have positive run differential-the next 7 are negative. Well,6 actually. D-Backs are even. Only top 6 teams,ending at Yankees,are really over .500. The Red Sox are surging though. Only 6 or 7 teams really playing worthwhile ball. 

altho not at all a Twinks fan this seemed pretty notable:

https://www.mlb.com/news/kody-clemens-hits-walk-off-grand-slam-in-twins-win-vs-royals

I bet Royals had already written W in the book.

MrFixit

What’s your issue with Twinks?

I had no idea The Big Unit was still pitching.  That said...........(yeah, *sorta* a "made-up" stat, but as MrFixit notes, "pretty notable") (And I'm betting a computer was used somewhere along the line to determine this.):

"But it was not just an ultimate slam. It was a two-out ultimate slam, on an 0-2 pitch, in a game where the Twins had been no-hit for six innings. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Clemens’ slam marked the first time in Major League Baseball history, including the postseason, that a team broke up a no-hitter in the seventh inning or later, then went on to hit a walk-off grand slam."

It brings in that certain magic in baseball you cant get in any other sport-that very "eternity" part. Any inning,or game,can go on forever. Its really not over-TIL ITS OVER. No clock needed. Though a games chances of that happening have been greatly diminished recently.

I'd like to see one of those "Ultimate Grand Slams" like this...in WS Game 7.

...I saw this one live, and jumped from my seat screaming like a teenybopper at a Beatles concert back in 1964.

Gotta be the farthest "homer" ever caught. Trout had been camping there at least a week before the ball even arrived.

Piersall (apparently) caught one in amongst the monuments that used to reside in deeeep CF in Yankee Stadium - but that was not a case of "robbing".  If I can find a story about it, I'll return with same.

.....Can't find an accounting of it.  I *did* hear about it once upon a time, and this was different from the more famous incident where he sort of hid out there amongst them for a short while.  If there's video of either one I don't think I've ever seen them.

That guy was interesting. 

Yeah, he was a character, for sure.  But.........as they say, "he couldn't help it".

Oh jeesh that's my friend's nickname for the Twins. Typed it without even thinking about it.

MrFixit

That Marlins dude is sitting in that recently departed, famous "pink hat" dude's seat tonight at Wrigley...what, next to dead guy's wife? THE (adulterous) NERVE!

Too bad Manfred doesn't ban that cock from any MLB attendance.

I thought that was the same dude...and it was: Fear Strikes Out

I just *assumed* even casual baseball fans knew at least the basics of Piersall.  Oh, well - sorry.  Here's the short (yes) version......

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/jim-piersall/

Dodgers get Skubal.

A little insurance with Ohtani struggling with a couple of injuries. Also keeps Skubal away from the competition. 

BrewCrew, in response to an earlier question by you back on July 23............. On Sept. 24, 1971........Milt Pappas had one ("immaculate inning") against the Phillies.  Don't know which inning, but I'm sure you can find it.  And I didn't go looking for this tidbit - just came across it.