All-Star Stuff

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:20 am

This'll be a long one...

Just some Stuff that you might want to know...or let your friends think you knew all the time.

Ted Williams once said, "They invented the All Star game for Willie Mays."

There is a lot of truth in that. Mays holds or shares several All Star records including...

75 at bats

24 games

23 hits

40 total bases

3 triples

In 1933 and 1934 the players and fans voted for all stars

1935-1946, Managers

1947-1957, Fans chose starters

1958-1969, Managers, coaches, and players

1970- present, fans choose starters, WS Managers from the year before select the rest of the players

Here are a few records that probably won't be mentioned during the game...

Mickey Mantle struck out the most. 17 Times over 16 games

Derek Jeter has the best average over nine games, he has hit .474

Don Drysdale, Lefty Gomez, and Robin Roberts each started 5 games

Dennis Eckersly and Mariano Rivera have each saved three.

Five players have led off the game with a home run including Willie Mays and Bo Jackson.

Mays and Hank Aaron were on 17 winning teams.

Brooks Robinson was on 15 losing teams

Satchel Paige was the oldest All Star at 47 years old

Dwight Gooden the youngest, he was 19.

Gary Sheffield and Moises Alou each played in the All Star game for five different teams.

In 1920 Carl Mays hit Ray Chapman with a pitch. Chapman later died as a result. This incident more than any signaled the end of the dead ball era.

Before this event, the usual practice was to use one ball for each game. The balls were, brown, soft, and mushy by the middle of each game. Remember, there were no night games and these balls became very discolored at twilight, the hardest time to see the ball. Pitchers were allowed to scar, spit, and scruff up balls to their specifications as well.

After the beaning, it was decided that all balls would be kept white and that pitchers were no longer able to scar, spit or scruff up the baseballs. 17 Pitchers were grandfathered or exempted from the rule as the spitball was there best pitch. Burleigh Grimes threw the last legal spitball in 1934.

Babe Ruth hit 59 home runs during that first year of "white balls". He out homered most other teams. A stat that a lot of writers use in claiming that he was the best player who ever lived. It was a different game though. Before that year, athleticism, and not power were what teams were looking for, after Ruth's 59 clouts, teams started looking for power as well.

A couple of notes about Jimmy Foxx, the next power guy after Ruth. For his time, Foxx was considered a physical specimen.

His nickname was "The Beast".

He was the first hitter to cut off his sleeves to show off his huge biceps.

A couple of comments from pitchers-

"Even his hair has muscles"

That Foxx wasn't scouted, he was trapped"

Foxx once hit a home run to the third deck in left field in Yankee Stadium. Because of distance and angles, it was rarely done. He hit it off Lefty Grove. When asked how far the ball went, Grove said, "I don't know but it took them 45 minutes to bring it back."

Last, Hank Greenberg.

Greenberg set a record in 1935 that still stands today. He had 103 rbi before the All Star break.

That year he would go on to be named the MVP of the American League and lead his Tigers to the World Series. And yet, even with his 103 rbi, Greenberg did not make the All Star game.

Anti-semitism was rampant in America then and included baseball. His own Manager Mickey "Black Mike" Cochrane left him off the team. After being left on the bench for the 1937 game and voted to the 1938 game, Greenberg refused to play.

While with Detroit, his roommate was JoJo White. White's real name was Joyner. He was from Georgia and had a deep georgian drawl, so deep that a lot of teammates didn't understand him. His name became JoJo. Upon meeting Greenberg, White didn't shake his hand. Instead he walked around him and just stared at him. Greenberg asked him what he was looking at. White said, " I ain't never seen no jew befow...you look like all the rest of us!"

Greenberg and White could always be seen together, fighting over which side was right in the Civil War. Before a game with the White Sox, an argument about a North-South battle carried to the ballpark. White knew how fond and proud Greenberg was when it came to rbi. Being the leadoff hitter, White was usually the one being driven in. On this night, White was on third base with Greenberg the batter. In a flash, the pitcher was all arms and legs and Greenberg felt rumblings around his ankles.... White had just stolen home. Later, Greenberg said, "He knew that just would burn me up!"

In 1940 his local draft board declared him ineligible for the military. At the time, rumors were flying that celebrities were bribing their draft boards in order to not do their service in the military. Jack Dempsey, especially, was receieving a lot of bad press.

Greenberg reapplied and was granted military service. He was honorably discharged a little more than a year later when Congress released all men 28 years or older. Greenberg was honorably discharged on December 5, 1941. Pearl Harbor was bombed two days later. Greenberg re-enlisted and served throughout World War II. A First Lieutenant, he was honorably discharged again in 1945.

Greenberg would come back to baseball. He had two great years with Detroit. In 1947, Greenberg had a salary dispute with the Tigers and was traded to Pittsburgh. He became the first player to hit 25 home runs in both leagues.

Greenberg ended up actually playing in only two All-Star games, while being an MVP twice as well.

He finished his career with 331 home runs but served in the military during his prime athletic years, robbibg him of the 500 home run club.

I've blathered on long enough about the old all-stars. If you're still here, thanks for the listen.

And for you guys, some modern stuff about the home run hitting contest. It started in 1985, the most unlikely winners were probably Tino Martinez and Wally Joyner, but only one player has won more than once...

Ken Griffey Jr. won three times.

[ July 13, 2009, 01:05 PM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:35 am

Very nice read, Dan.

Some great stuff here...especially the change to white balls and the Greeberg story.

...and these were great!

""Even his hair has muscles"

That Foxx wasn't scouted, he was trapped"

[ July 13, 2009, 12:41 PM: Message edited by: sportsbettingman ]

Joe Sambito · Post by **Joe Sambito** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:44 am

It's so great when you can get these stories first hand from someone who has been there.

Thanks Uncle Dan.

sportsbettingman · Post by **sportsbettingman** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:45 am

As far as today and tomorrow (a sportsgamblers worst three days of the season)...

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - Jul 14

80TH ALL - STAR GAME BUSCH STADIUM - ST LOUIS, MO

5:20 PM

945 AL-ALL-STARS , Pitcher: ACTION -1½+140 o9½-115 -115

946 NL-ALL-STARS , Pitcher: ACTION +1½-160 u9½-105 -105

HOMERUN DERBY HOMERUN DERBY - Jul 13

12:00 PM 2009 HOMERUN DERBY

21301 ALBERT PUJOLS +185

21302 RYAN HOWARD +260

21303 ADRIAN GONZALEZ +350

21304 JOE MAUER +850

21305 PRINCE FIELDER +400

21306 NELSON CRUZ +850

21307 BRANDON INGE +1100

21308 CARLOS PENA +700

I like the National league...seems like a group of tougher outs at the plate.

As far as the derby...(aside from hoping Cruz sucks and is out first round to not screw up his swing)...I'd have to go with Howard...and Pena as a long shot.

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:57 am

Great stuff!

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:00 am

Originally posted by Joe Sambito:

It's so great when you can get these stories first hand from someone who has been there.

Thanks Uncle Dan. Damn young whippersnappers!

DOUGHBOYS · Post by **DOUGHBOYS** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:14 am

Sort of a p.s. to both of the Mays-Chapman story and Greenberg story...

Although those changes were enacted after the Chapman beaning, batting helmets were not worn till 1941, when Pee Wee Reese and Joe Medwick were the first to wear one.

About Greenberg, the year he hit 58 home runs, he had one washed away by a rain out. Also, he drew a lot of walks near the end of the season. Some pitchers were blatantly anti-jew and didn't want a jew to have the home run record, while others had a soft spot for the Babe and didn't want his record broken.

Cseitl · Post by **Cseitl** » Mon Jul 13, 2009 3:13 pm

I know this is off topic, but I thought I saw a comet shoot out of Busch Stadium. Didn't we already have a debacle with glowing pucks a few years back?

Edwards Kings · Post by **Edwards Kings** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 12:40 am

Originally posted by DOUGHBOYS:

Sort of a p.s. to both of the Mays-Chapman story and Greenberg story...

Although those changes were enacted after the Chapman beaning, batting helmets were not worn till 1941, when Pee Wee Reese and Joe Medwick were the first to wear one.

About Greenberg, the year he hit 58 home runs, he had one washed away by a rain out. Also, he drew a lot of walks near the end of the season. Some pitchers were blatantly anti-jew and didn't want a jew to have the home run record, while others had a soft spot for the Babe and didn't want his record broken. Makes Aaron's overall homerun record all the more amazing because he certainly encountered the same thing year in and year out. And by overall homerun record, I mean the one that was not steroid-aided.

Plymouth · Post by **Plymouth** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 4:25 pm

Nice post, I enjoyed it.

Dirt Dogs · Post by **Dirt Dogs** » Wed Jul 15, 2009 2:37 am

Tim Wakefield got robbed! The guy waits 18 years to make the team and is the oldest all-star on the team and he dosent even get to throw one pitch. This is why i think having the all-star mean something takes away from what it's real purpose is. To honor those players that are currently the best on the field after the first half.

Determine home field in the world series another way. Wakefield deserved to play but because the game had meaning and no catcher could catch the knuckle he didnt.