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Throwaway stuff, useful to few, useless for most...



The longest running nickname in Major League Baseball is ???



Think about that one, the answer will be at the bottom of the post.



Many people, inside and outside of baseball dislike the Indians name for Cleveland. Before settling on the Indians monicker, Cleveland had a cool nickname before, The Cleveland Spiders.



At least 92 baseball players have committed suicide either during or after their playing days. 'At least' because some deaths may have been suicides, but ruled something else out of respect for families.

No Hall of Famers have committed suicide. Don Wilson with over 100 wins in the 1960's and 70's and Donnie Moore with almost 100 saves in the 70's and 80's would be the most noteworthy. Ron Luciano, an umpire in the 70's and 80's also died at his own hands.



Strange but true- More baseball players have died in the cold off season months of December and January then any other month.

The months that baseball players are least likely to die are in the middle of the season, June and July.

I'd wager that those stats will hold up for diehard fantasy players as well.



Eddie Gaedel is a name that will live forever in baseball lore. He is the midget (little fellow for the anally politically correct) that Bill Veeck signed, and was told not to swing at any pitches. He drew a walk in his only MLB at bat.

Before coming up to the plate, the umpire motioned for the Manager to prove that he was under contract and on the roster. Veeck had the foresight to send the league office all of the paperwork on a Friday afternoon, knowing it would be rubberstamped and not looked over till Monday. Gaedels game was on Saturday He already had a roster spot due to injury. Veeck made sure the Manager had all the paperwork needed to get Gaedel in the game.

After his walk, Gaedel stopped on his way to first base two times to bow to the hysterical crowd, before being taken out for a pinch runner.

Gaedel was 3 feet, seven inches and weighed 65 pounds. Major League records that will never be broken. His number was 1/8 and he wore elf slippers on his feet.



In 1946, Harry Truman became the first President to throw a lefthanded first pitch for a game. He topped that four years later by throwing two 'first pitches', one left, one right.



The only time a President(Clinton) and Vice President (Gore) attended a game together was in 1995. It was Cal Ripken's 2131st game.



The answer to the longest running nickname in baseball....

The Philadelphia Phillies. They were formed in 1883.

One of the bad things that accompanies having the same name for so long is that the Phillies have lost more games than any other franchise in sports.

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

Eddie Gaedel is a name that will live forever in baseball lore. He is the midget (little fellow for the anally politically correct) that Bill Veeck signed, and was told not to swing at any pitches. He drew a walk in his only MLB at bat.

Before coming up to the plate, the umpire motioned for the Manager to prove that he was under contract and on the roster. Veeck had the foresight to send the league office all of the paperwork on a Friday afternoon, knowing it would be rubberstamped and not looked over till Monday. Gaedels game was on Saturday He already had a roster spot due to injury. Veeck made sure the Manager had all the paperwork needed to get Gaedel in the game.

After his walk, Gaedel stopped on his way to first base two times to bow to the hysterical crowd, before being taken out for a pinch runner.

Gaedel was 3 feet, seven inches and weighed 65 pounds. Major League records that will never be broken. His number was 1/8 and he wore elf slippers on his feet. The Eddie Gaedel saga was always my favorite. I read the following some time ago but cannot opine on it's accuracy:



"Much is known of that day on August 19, 1951. The 26-year-old Eddie Gaedel stepped up to the plate for the St. Louis Browns against the Tigers as the first batter in the second game of a doubleheader. Wearing number 1/8, he walked on four straight pitches from Bob Cain. He was pinch-run for by Jim Delsing and his career ended as abruptly as it had started.



Ordinarily, the story would end there. Stories about ex-major leaguers who played in only one game are not newsworthy, even the story of a pint-sized player. Nobody bothered to find out much about Gaedel after his fifteen minutes of fame. Nobody could tell you about Eddie the man instead of Eddie the ballplayer which is forever inscribed into the game's annals.



But the story of Eddie Gaedel the man is worth telling.



After his famous game, St. Louis baseball writer Bob Broeg found him and started asking him questions. The first few questions were routine and Gaedel gave routine answers. Broeg then told him that he was what he always wanted to be, an ex-big leaguer. Eddie then became very proud of himself. The men shook hands and that was it.



Bob Fishel was the Brown's publicist and spent a few days with Eddie before the game, the only baseball man to have a chance to know the man personally. "Veeck was looking for a midget, not a dwarf. When we saw him, there was no question that he was right. However, I didn't think the world of him" without elaborating further.



Eddie appeared on several TV shows in the following weeks earning $17,000 a very large amount for those days. His playing contract had been for $100.



Three weeks after the game, on September 2, Eddie was arrested in Cincinnati for screaming obscenities. He tried to convince a policeman he was a big league player. He was arrested for disorderly conduct and released on a $25 bond. According to an interview with his mother Helen in 1971, Eddie's tiny size had gotten him in trouble for a good part of his life.



Born in Chicago, his growth was stunted from the age of three by a thyroid condition. He was picked on as a kid according to his mother. He made it through high school and was an errand boy for Drover's Daily Journal, a Chicago newspaper. He worked as the Buster Brown shoe man appearing at store openings in Chicago and St. Louis. He also worked in the Ringling Brothers Circus in the 50s and as a promotion man for Mercury Records but refused to go with the company to California because he was scared to go out.



In 1961, Veeck now the owner of the White Sox hired Gaedel and other midgets as salesmen in the box seats. This was because fans were complaining about vendors blocking their view.



The end was near however. Eddie was suffering from high blood pressure and enlarged heart. On June 18, 1961 he was mugged on a Southside Chicago street corner for the $11 he had with him. After the mugging, he apparently staggered home and died in his bed of a heart attack as paramedics were unable to revive him. The coroner reported he had bruises on his face and knees.



His mother, penniless and out of touch with her other children was devastated. Adding insult to injury, she was swindled out of Eddie's bats and Browns uniform by a man claiming he was representing the Hall of Fame Museum. The only remnants the Hall of Fame has are pictures of his brief career with catcher Bob Swift on his knees to receive a head-high pitch.



Gaedel's death attracted little notice. The only person connected with baseball who attended his funeral was Bob Cain. "I never even met him but I felt obligated to go" said Cain who was by then retired from baseball after a six-year career. "It kind of threw me for a loop that no other baseball people were there", said Cain."



RIP Eddie Gaedel...the King of the OBP Leagues!

From what I know, that is all true, Wayne.

Not a lot of people liked him according to most accounts.

A few collectors have told me that his autograph is worth more than Babe Ruth's or Ted Williams. Although the Gaedel story is amusing, give me the Babe's or Ted's ball any day.