Wednesday November 26, 2003
 

BASEBALL NEWS

BLOG SPOTTING

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL

It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow, and what do we all love to do on Thanksgiving? Watch football? Well, yeah, but mainly, we all LOVE to eat. So, I thought I’d see if anything baseball would be related to all the food we will be eating. I found a few good Thanksgiving names. We’ve got some Turkey and Ham. We may not have mashed potatoes or gravy, but Spuds are represented. And hey, we even have some dessert. Let’s get to it right away and let the tryptophan into your system a little early.

TURKEY GROSS –

Born in 1896, Turkey Gross made his major league debut for the Boston Red Sox in 1925. He played in 9 games and had 3 hits in 32 at bats. One of them was a triple. Unfortunately, that was Turkey’s only appearance in the big leagues. So, his season, and his career numbers were .094/.171/.156. He had 2 runs and 2 RBI. The shortstop did have a .976 fielding percentage in his 42 chances.

TURKEY TYSON –

(Cecil) Turkey Tyson got exactly one plate appearance in his big league careers. The big 225 pound lefty got his at bat for the Philadelphia Blue Jays of the National League at the age of 29, in 1944. Oh, he got out.

TURKEY STEARNES - 

Born in 1901 in Tennessee, Norman “Turkey” Stearnes never got a chance to play ball in the Major Leagues. He did put together a Hall of Fame career in the Negro Leagues though. A few months ago, I wrote about the Hall of Fame Negro League players. Here is what I wrote about Stearnes:

Turkey Stearnes was known as a speedy power hitter.  But the obvious question is, Where did the nickname “Turkey” come from?  Well, when Stearnes would run, his head bobbed, his arms flapped, and basically ran like a crazed turkey. But also, he had an ability to turn on a dime at full speed.

In his first season, 1923, Stearnes hit .365 with 17 home runs. He led, or tied for the lead, in home runs 7 times. In 1932, Stearnes did something no other professional hitter has ever done. He led his league in doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases.  With his power/speed combination, Stearnes could easily be compared to Rickey Henderson. In 1935, he hit .430. In 750 career games, Stearnes hit .350, with a .664 slugging percentage, with 175 homers.

Cool Papa Bell once said, “If they don't put Turkey Stearnes in the Hall of Fame, they shouldn't put anybody in."

JIMMY GOBBLE -

22 year old Jimmy Gobble made his major league debut this August with the Kansas City Royals. He made 9 starts for them, pitching 52 2/3 innings. He went 4-5 with a 4.61 ERA. Clearly, he does have some improving to do; he gave up 1.35 WHIP per inning. I would think that Gobble would be given a shot to be in the Royals 2004 starting rotation. A tall, lanky lefty, Gobble stands 6-3 and weighs just 190 pounds. In 1999, Gobble was a Sandwich pick of the Royals.

HAM ALLEN -

Ham Allen was born in Connecticut before the Civil War, in 1846. He played shortstop and outfield in 16 games for the 1872 Middletown Mansfields of the National Association. In 66 at bats, he hit .273, with just one extra-base hit, a double, to go with 17 singles. That was it for major league experience for him.

RALPH HAM –

Another one season player in the National Association, Ham played for the Rockford Forest Cities. That season, 1871, the team went 4-21. In 114 plate appearances, he had just one walk. The OF/3B batted .248/.254/.283 with 4 doubles and 12 RBI.

HAM SWEIGERT –

In 1890, Sweigert played in 1 game for the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association. He was 0-1 with a walk, but he also stole a base. He did have a putout and an assist in the outfield as well!

HAM IBURG –

In 1902, Iburg made 30 starts (20 complete games) for the Philadelphia Phillies.  He pitched 236 innings, walking 62 and striking out 106. At 24, he went 11-18 with a 3.89 ERA. The League average ERA the season was 2.81.

HAM WADE –

Ham Wade played for the New York Giants in 1907. He made two putouts in a game in LF. He got just one plate appearance in that game… and he got hit by a pitch! Nice career. Then again, I would be very thankful this Thanksgiving if I was able to play Major League Baseball for just one at bat even if I did get hit!!

HAM PATTERSON –

In 1909, 31 year old Ham Patterson played 17 games with the St. Louis Browns before moving on for 1 game with the Chicago White Sox. In total, he hit .192/.208/.212 with a double and 5 RBI. He split time between 1B and the OF.

HAM SCHULTE –

At the age of 27, in 1940, Ham Schulte played in 120 games for the Philadelphia Phillies. The 2B hit .236/.288/.294 in 436 at bats. He had 18 doubles, 2 triples and a homer, with 21 RBI. AND… he led the league in… Sac bunts, with 20! Apparently that wasn’t good enough, as Schulte never got the chance to pitch in the big leagues after that. My guess is that he probably went to World War II? If anyone knows, please e-mail me.

Well, all of these “Hams,” lasted just that one season in the big leagues. Maybe that tells us that Ham doesn’t last and that it should all be eaten right away!!! But wait…

HAM HYATT –

Ham Hyatt played SEVEN seasons in the big leagues between 1909 and 1918. He played 1B and the OF with the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees. His biggest season was 295 at bats in 1915 with the Cardinals. For his career, in 465 games, he hit .267/.321/.388 with 36 doubles, 23 triples, 10 homers and 146 RBI.

SPUD JOHNSON –

Johnson had a three year career, two with the Columbus Solons and one with the Cleveland Spiders. In those three years, Johnson played in 331 games and hit .302/.368/.392 with 45 doubles, 31 triples, 4 homers and 238 RBI. He was primarily an OF, but did play some 1B and 3B as well.

SPUD CHANDLER -

Chandler spent 11 seasons (from 1937-1947 with the New York Yankees. The right-handed pitcher was a four-time All-Star and won the 1943 AL MVP when he went 20-4 with a 1.64 ERA in 253 innings (his first of two 20-win seasons). A three-time World Series Champion, he was 2-2 with a 1.62 ERA in the Series. For his career, he was 109-43 with a 2.84 ERA with an OPS+ of 132.

SPUD DAVIS –

Davis made his major league debut catching for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1928, but after just two games went to the Philadelphia Phillies where he stayed until 1933. He went back to the Cardinals for three seasons before heading to Cincinnati. He was there until midway through the 1938 season when he went back to the Phillies. In 1940, he went to the Pittsburgh Pirates where he played the 1940 and 1941 seasons, went off to war, then came back for 1944 and 1945. Through all that, he was a career .308/.369/.430 hitter with 244 doubles, 22 triples, 77 homers and 647 RBI. When he was done playing, he actually managed the Pirates for 3 games in 1946, going 1-2.

PIE TRAYNOR –

And for dessert, how ‘bout some Pie? Traynor’s Hall of Fame career began as a 20 year old shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1920. He played the majority of his career as a 3B. 17 seasons (1,941 games, 2,416 hits, 371 doubles, 164 triples, 58 homers, 1,273 RBI, 1.7 BB/K, .320/.362/.435 and an OPS+ of 107) later, he finished a very good career. However, he became a player/manager for the club in 1934. In his six years as manager of the Pirates, he had a record of 457-406.

Any thoughts or comments? Did I miss anyone? E-mail me.
 

BASEBALL NEWS

The Cubs acquired Derrek Lee yesterday from the Florida Marlins. Last season, they used Hee Seop Choi, Eric Karros and Randall Simon there. Derrek Lee was one of the better 1B in the National League last year. This is a huge improvement at that position. It did cost the Cubs a little. They traded Choi to the Marlins, along with a player to be named. The future of Choi is probably still bright. But having the opportunity to grab a player of the caliber of Derrek Lee makes it more than worth it. Lee made $4.25 million with the Marlins last season and should be in line for a significant pay increase in 2004. Will Carroll apparently, ok certainly, doesn’t like this deal from the Cubs perspective though!
 

BLOG SPOTTING

Be sure to check out yesterday’s posting on Aaron’s Baseball Blog. In it, he developed a new statistic, GPA. It’s really interesting and Aaron explains it very well. Today, Aaron discusses the Derrek Lee/Hee Seop Choi trade.

Ben Jacobs wrote a great “Gleeman-length” posting giving quotes from the movie A League of Their Own. It’s well worth the read!

The Twins Geek discusses the mess that is called the Milwaukee Brewers organization.

Wait Til Next Year looks into the Salary situation by all of the major league teams.
 

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

Well, Aaron Gleeman won last week with a 14-2 record to take the overall standings lead. This is obviously a short week, so I need to thank the panelists for getting me their picks so early to accommodate Thanksgiving.

Summary –

Green Bay @ Detroit – Packers 9-0

Miami @ Dallas – Cowboys 9-0

San Francisco @ Baltimore – Ravens 6-3

Atlanta @ Houston – Texans 8-1

Arizona @ Chicago – Bears 9-0

New England @ Indianapolis – Colts 5-4

Minnesota @ St. Louis – Rams 9-0

Buffalo @ NY Giants – Giants 8-1

Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh – Bengals 8-1

Philadelphia @ Carolina – Eagles 6-3

New Orleans @ Washington – Redskins 7-2

Kansas City @ San Diego – Chiefs 9-0

Cleveland @ Seattle – Seahawks 9-0

Denver @ Oakland – Broncos 9-0

Tampa Bay @ Jacksonville – Buccaneers 8-1

Tennessee @ NY Jets – Titans 6-3

So, that’s it for today! There won’t be a new posting tomorrow (Thanksgiving Day). I’m not sure at this point if there will be a posting on Friday as I will be out of town. If I get enough e-mail responses, I may post a reader’s mailbag posting. So, be sure so send me your thoughts, or just ask me questions about baseball, basketball, football, hockey, politics, the stock market, anything. That could be fun!

Be sure to check back and tell all of your relatives that you’re dining with on Thanksgiving about the website!! Tell them to check it out! Ha! Anyway, if you have any questions or comments on anything you’ve read, please send me an e-mail. Also, be sure to check out the Archives Page over the weekend to see if I’ve written anything you might have missed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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