Baseball: 200,000 Games At The Major League Level

(Disclaimer: I use major league from the birth of the National League in 1876 to the present. For now, The National Association (1871 to 1875), The American Association (1882 to 1891), aren't going to be included.The American League joined the fray in 1901. I will include the Federal League, however, as one of my all time favs, Chief Bender, pitched one season and sported a 4-16 record. Must have been one tough league!)

So baseball approaches 200,000 games played tomorrow.

That many?

Through the years, it has provided some of the greatest excitement ever seen from sports fans.

Here, for your pleasure, is my Top 10 Most Memorable Games EVER In Baseball:

10)  Game 6, 1993 World Series, October 23, 1993. Joe Carter's homerun, I must have jumped so high, I hit my head on my basement ceiling!

9)  September 9, 1965: Poor Bob Hendley. He tosses a 1-hitter over 8 innings. That's enough to beat anyone. Anyone, that is, except for Sandy Koufax, who tosses a perfect game and wins 1-0.

8)  July 2, 1963: Warren Spahn is nearing the end of his career, while Juan Marichal was just sort of starting his. But it was Juan heck of a long game, that ended with Marichal on top 1-0...in 16 innings via Willie Mays' homerun!

7)  May 26, 1959, Harvey Haddix retires 36 straight batters to start the game, then ends up losing it somehow!

6)  Game 5, 1956 World Series, October 8th: Don Larsen commits grand larceny by throwing the only perfect game, or even no-hitter, in World Series history

5)  Game 1, 1954 World Series, September 29th: Mays makes THE CATCH!

4)  Game 6, 1975 World Series, October 21st: First Bernie Carbo's dramatic 3-run pinch hit homerun ties the game, then brilliant plays by George Foster and Dwight Evans keep it tied. And then Carlton Fisk leads off the bottom of the 12 and...

3)  Game 7, 1991 World Series, October 27th: Gene Larkin is sent up to the plate in the bottom of the 10th to pinch hit for DH (?!)  Jarvis Brown and delivers the blow that ended a World Series that, honestly, seemed to have no end in sight!

2)  Game 7, 1960 World Series, October 13th: Bill Mazeroski! Sorry Dad, that game!

1)  Game 3, 1951 National League Playoffs, October 3rd: Need I say more?


References

Anderson, Dave. Pennant Races: Baseball At Its Best. New York: Doubleday, 1994. Print.

Baseball's Greatest Moments. Prod. Major League Baseball Home Video. Perf. Warner Fusselle. Major League Baseball, 1991. Videocassette. Narrated by Warner Fusselle.

Bingley, Phil, et al. Another World: the Toronto Stars Tribute To The’ 93 Blue Jays. Toronto Star for Doubleday Canada, 1993. Print.

Brenner, Richard J. The World Series: The Great Contests. East End Publishing, 1989. Print.

Buckley, James Jr. Unhittable: Reliving The Magic And Drama Of Baseballs Best-Pitched Games. Triumph Books, 2004. Print.

Enders, Eric. 100 Years Of The World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Ford, Whitey, and Phil Pepe. Slick. New York: W. Morrow, 1987. Print.

Gallagher, Mark. Explosion!: Mickey Mantle's Legendary Home Runs. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Print.

Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print.

Golenbock, Peter. Fenway: An Unexpurgated History of the Boston Red Sox. Chicago, IL: Triumph Books, 2005. Print.

Kahn, Roger. The Boys Of Summer. Harper & Row, 1972. Print.

Kaplan, Jim. The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, and the Pitching Duel of the Century. Chicago, IL: Triumph, 2011. Print.

Mantle, Mickey, and Mickey Herskowitz. All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball. New York: HarperCollins, 1994. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Paper, Lewis J. Perfect: Don Larsen's Miraculous World Series Game And The Men Who Made It Happen. New York, NY: New American Library, 2009. Print.

Seaver, Tom, and Martin Appel. Great Moments in Baseball. New York, NY: Carol Pub. Group, 1992. Print.

Snyder, John S. World Series!: Great Moments and Dubious Achievements. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1995. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 23 Sept. 2011.

Baseball Playing Card Of The Day: Al Kaline

The famed #6 of the Tigers waited...

...waited for his chance to be in a World Series.

Year after year the Tigers had to deal with the Yankees, who they could not overtake. Then it would be the Twins in 1965 and the Orioles the next year. In '67 the Tigers lost to the Angels on the last day of the season to fall just a game short of the Red Sox.

But then in 1968, it all came together for Detroit. Denny McLain won 31 games, Mickey Lolich 17. Amazingly, Kaline was just a part time player that year, as Jim Northrup played 105 games in right field. Kaline, meanwhile, played 70 games in right, 5 in left and 22 at first base.

The problem here was Ray Oyler. Despite his 111 games for the Tigers that year at shortstop, he batted .135. Needless to say, Mickey Stanley, the centerfielder, would be at short as the World Series started. Northrup moved to center, Kaline back right.

The Tigers could do little with the Cardinals, Bob Gibson in the series opener. Kaline fanned three times, as Gibson K'd 17. Kaline, did however, hit a tremendous double to left in the sixth to move Dick McAuliffe to third with 2 outs. Gibson then fanned Norm Cash to end the inning. Kaline's K's, if you want to know, were in the 1st, 4th and 9th inning. The 9th inning one was Gibson's 15th.

After going 2 for 5 in game 2 (an 8-1 Tiger victory), the Tigers came home for games 3, 4 and 5.

Game 3 was a game of homeruns, and in the bottom of the 3rd with McAuliffe on first, Al faced Ray Washburn. The Tiger fans went wild when Kaline put in deep to left for a 2-0.

Alas, it was a game of homeruns. Tim McCarver would hit a 3 run homerun off reliever Pat Dobson, putting the Cardinals up 4-2 in the 5th. McAuliff's homerun in the bottom of the frame brought the Tigers to within one, but Orlando Cepeda's 3 run shot put the game out of reach in the 7th.

Game 4 was all Bob Gibson, as the Cardinals rolled to a 10-1 win. However, Kaline made a play that I will never forget in the 4th inning.

The Cardinals speedster, Lou Brock, tripled with no one out. Then Curt Flood flied out to right.

It was a short fly, but one that Brock could have scored on against many a right fielder.

But Al fired a perfect strike to home, right on the money. Brock dared not challenge his arm.

Imagine that: you've got the fastest runner in the game, showing the great arm a lot of respect by not going home.

It's a play, when you look in the box scores of a game that, doesn't show up, other than, "A fly ball to right". But what that doesn't say is that Kaline had a arm that was respected by everyone, even the fleet footed Brock.

Brock would score anyway, as the next batter, Roger Maris, grounded out.

Kaline got two meaningless hits that game, and the Tigers were now down 3 games to 1. Were they dead? Don't you dare think so!

Game 5 had the Tigers down 3-0 early, but Kaline's single in the 7th brought home the tying and eventual winning run. The Tigers would win, 5-3.

In game 6, Kaline was the big bat of the game, as Kaline was 3/4 with 3 runs scored and 4 runs batted in. Kaline had two of his hits in the third inning, as the Tigers scored 10 runs. In the 5th, Al added a homerun. It was down to one last game!

They had to beat Bob Gibson, 6-0 in his last 6 World Series starts! The odds seemed dim. But Mickey Lolich was 2-0 in the series, and matched Gibson in 0's on the score sheet until the 7th.

Then Detroit got a break.

Mickey Stanley and Kaline went out, and Gibson had retired 20 of the first 21 batters he faced. But suddenly, Norm Cash and Willie Horton singled. Northrup was up, and he sent one to center, where Curt Flood misgudged it, (He later said he lost sight of it in the white shirts behind home plate). The Tigers added another run before the innings was over. 3-0 Tigers!

In the ninth, the Tigers nipped Gibson for another run, and the Cardinals finally got on the board when Mike Shannon homered in the St Louis half. But when McCarver popped out to Bill Freehan, the Tigers were World Series Champions!

They would not have done it without Kaline. Taking nothing away from Lolich's 3-0 record, it was Kaline who hit .379 (second on the team to Cash), 2 homeruns (tied for first with Northrup), 8 RBIs (again tied for team lead with Northrup) and 6 runs scored (tied for team lead with Horton). Amazingly, Kaline did not draw a single walk in the Series!

But it was typical of Kaline, who did so much but didn't get noticed. In his career he only once lead the league in hits, batting average and total bases, and that all came in 1955. A guy by the name of Mantle made it tough to lead the league in much of anything the next year.

Al did, however, lead the league in S% and OPS, plus also IBB in 1959. In 1963, he again lead the league in IBB.

He ended his career with a .297 batting average, 399 homeruns, and 3007 hits. A shame he couldn't hit one more homerun, as Al Kaline would have been the first player to have 3000 hits and 400 homeruns. That honour would go to Carl Yastrzemski.

In 1980, Al received his highest accolade when he was inducted into the Hall Of Fame.


References


World Series Of 1968. Dir. Dick Winik. Perf. Curty Gowdy, Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals. Major League Baseball Promotion Corp., 1968. DVD. Narrated by Curt Gowdy. DVD released in 2002.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 17 Sept. 2011.

1961 Yankee Of The Day: Bill Stafford

Bill Stafford was tall and imposing, and had not pitched much for the Yankees the year before. Yet suddenly, there he was, at 21, in the starting rotation for most of the 1961 season.

He kicked off hi s 1961 season by finishing two games (April 15th and 20th) and getting credit for the save in both. He pitched 5 more times that month with little effectiveness.

In May however, he got his first start. On the 16th he faced Washington. However, he was driven off the mound in just 3 innings. He would pitch only three more times that month (exclusively in relief), getting hit hard in the first two, but then firing 4 innings of no hit ball against Boston on the 30th for his first win. But at this point, he had already suffered two losses.

Then in June, Bill was in the rotation. And he responded with a 7-hitter against the White Sox, a 5- hitter against the Athletics and a 4-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels. He picked up the win in all of those games.

He was hit hard in his next three starts, yet amazingly, he still won two of them (The other, a June 16th start, was a loss against Detroit). Now, Stafford was 6-3 with a 2.55 ERA.

But it was back to the drawing board after his first start of July, as the problems of April and May returned. He didn't get charged with the loss against Washington on that day, but then he lost a game that he pitched in relief against Detroit on Independence Day.

He really rebounded splendidly against the Cleveland Indians in his next start, just two days later. Not only did he go the distance and pick up the shutout, but Stafford allowed just two hits (to Willie Kirkland and Mike de la Hoz) and no walks. He even singled in the Yankees second run in the 7th as the Yankees triumphed, 4-0.

He beat the White Sox in his next start despite only going 6 innings. Then he tossed 9 innings of 6 of six hit ball in a 12-0 win over the Sox on July 25, the second game of a doubleheader.

But the month ended on a sour note as he lost 4-0 to the Orioles.

He failed to get a decision in his first August start against the Twins, then another no decision followed against Angels, but he gave up nine hits in 5.1 innings. His next start on August 12th was little better, and he lost 5-1 to the Senators.

A fine 7-hitter over 8 innings meant Stafford had reached double figures in wins, but then on August 22nd he lost again, this time to LA. Loss #7.

Stafford was superb in his next outing, a 3-hitter and 8 Ks against KC on August 26th. 4 days later he tossed a 4-hitter and a shutout against Minny.

September 3rd hard Stafford toss 7 innings and give up just 6 hits against the Tigers. Alas, it was a no decision. Then he beat the Indians again for win #13.

The Tigers got some revenge when they tagged Stafford for 10 hits in only 7.1 innings. Stafford didn't lose that game, but he lost his next two starts, both against the Orioles.

Oct 1st was the season's final game. And while Roger Maris did hit his 61st homerun in this game, it was Stafford (6 IP 3H 0R/ER 1BB 7K) who was the winning pitcher in an 1-0 Yankee win.

So Bill Stafford finished 1961 with 14 wins 9 losses 2 saves, an ERA of 2.68 (2nd in the league behind the Sens Dick Donavan) and 3 shutouts (tied for 6th with 5 others) in 195 innings.

Stafford did pitch in the World Series. He was the starting pitcher in game 3, which to me was the most important game of the series.

He set down the Reds again and again, yet trailed 1-0 going into the 7th.

But Yogi Berra singled home a run to tie the game. The Reds weren't finished either, and reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the frame, when Eddie Kasko singled home catcher Johnny Edwards.

That was all for Stafford as Bud Daley took over. The Yankees, on homeruns by Johnny Blanchard and Roger Maris in the 8th and 9th innings respectively, won the game 3-2, to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Stafford didn't pitch again that series.


References


1961 World Series: New York Yankees vs. Cincinnati Reds. Major League Baseball Productions. DVD.

Golenbock, Peter. Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000, pp.  405-445. Print.

Smith, Ron. The Sporting News Presents 61*: The Story Of Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle And One Magical Summer. St. Louis: Sporting News, 2001. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 8 Sept. 2011.

Baseball Playing Card Of The Day: Carl Hubbell

Whenever I talk about Carl Hubbell, the subject of the 1934 All Star Game comes to mind.

Now, me personally, I don't put much stock into them. I've never been to one in any sport. Everyone is in it for fun. You're only their based on half a season.

But in Hubbell's case, it's part of his legacy, so why not?

It was the second ever All Star Game, July 10, 1934 at the Polo ground. Hubbell, who would win 21 games that season, stated for the NL.

Leading off for the AL was Charlie Gehringer. He greeted Hubbell with a single, and then advanced to second on center fielder Wally Berger's error.

When Heinie Manush walked. it was first and second, nobody out.

The batter was Babe Ruth!

Yet Hubbell struck him out with a screwball.

Then Lou Gehrig came to bat.

Hubbell fanned him, two. I guess there was too much excitement at this point because Gehringer and Manush pulled off a double steal. They caught 'em napping!

Hubbell was unruffled. He struck out Jimmy Foxx to end the inning.

The top of the second began with Al Simmons going down on strikes.

Joe Cronin followed suit. Hubbell had fanned 5 straight Hall Of Famers.

But Bill Dickey broke that up with a single. Hubbell fanned pitcher Lefty Gomez. Gomez also went to the Hall Of Fame. 6 of 7 Hall Of Famers K'd!

As it turns out, Hubbell was through for the day, and the AL ended up winning the game 9-7, as Mel Harder tossed 5 innings of 1 hit ball for the senior circut.

That takes nothing away from the above.

Yet when I think of Hubbell, I think of one of Babe Ruth's last great performances.

See, after the 1934 season, the 15 year marriage of The Bambino and the Bronx Bombers was over. So he was back to Boston, but this time with the Braves.

So his very first game as a National Leaguer was against the Giants. And Hubbell was starting!

(Understand this about this blog's author. Anytime someone does something spectacular against some team or someone, I always like to know what happens the next time out.)

So this was Ruth's first time facing Hubbell since the All Star Game the year before. It was also the first time he'd faced Hubbell in a non-allstar game.

Ruth, true to his flare for the dramatic, singled in the game's first run in his very first at-bat. He then scored a run himself later that inning. Then King Carl fanned him in the second inning

In the fifth, Ruth came up with a man on and crashed a 2 run homerun. Later that game, he made a great catch to rob Hubbell of a sure hit. Hubbell managed to fan him later that game.

In the 1933 World Series, the last World Series to feature the Washington Senators (Here that Nationals?) Hubbell held off the Sens 4-2 in game 1, then went 11 innings before emerging a 2-1 winner in game 4. The Giants went on to win the series in 5 games.

Carl would face the Yankees in the World Series (sans Babe Ruth, of course) in 1936 and 1937.

He beat Ruffling and the Yankees 6-1 in the '36 opener, a fine 7 hitter. But he couldn't hold off the inevitable, and lost game 4, 5-2, allowing 3 earned runs and 8 hits in 7 innings. The Giants managed to win game 5 in extra innings, but the Yanks won game 6 easily.

In '37 the Yankees were even stronger. Hubbell was routed off the mound in game one. Hubell managed to hold the Yankees off for 5 innings. But in the sixth, the Yankees scored 7 times off him.

The Giants soon found themselves down 3-0 in the Series, but Hubbell would save them from total embarrassment.

He must have smiled as the Giants scored him 6 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. The Yankees scored a run off him in the first and third, and still another in the ninth, but Carl spun a fine 6 hitter to win 7-3. The Yankees would win the series the next game.

As for Hubbell, he would live long enough to watch another screwball master, Vernando Valenzuela, strikeout Don Mattingly, Cal Ripken Jr., Jesse Barfield, Lou Whitaker and Teddy Higuera. Kirby Puckett the got ahold of one and grounded out.

Hubbell would carry on until 1943. He died on November 21, 1988 in Scottsdale, Arizona. He had been elected to the Hall Of Fame in 1947.

References

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 6 Sept. 2011.

Baseball's Greatest Moments. Prod. Major League Baseball Home Video. Perf. Warner Fusselle. Major League Baseball, 1991. Videocassette. Narrated by Warner Fusselle.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9opTAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OjgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=1584,5537937&dq=babe+ruth&hl=en

Seaver, Tom and Marty Appel, Great Moments In Baseball, Birch Lane Press, New York, 1992.

1961 Yankess Of The Day: Rollie Sheldon

Sheldon is similar to Jimmy Coates in that his contributions to the great 1961 Yankees have been forgotten. But rest assured, he helped make the Yankees of that year, that much better.

He made only two appearances in April. His second, the nightcap of a doubleheader against the Senators on April 30th, was a loss despite allowing just 5 hits in 7 innings.

Following two relief appearances in May, he got his second start on May 21st against the Orioles.

Again, he piched 7 innings.

Again, he gave up but 5 hits.

Again, he took the loss.

Another relief appearance followed a week later, and the he was back starting on the last day of May against the Red Sox. He didn't quite last 7 innings (6.2), and (here we go again!) he gave up 5 hits, plus 3 earned runs. But Sheldon and the Yankees emerged victorious, 7-6.

June was argurbly Rollie's best month as he went 3-0 with a 2.86 ERA and batters hit less than .200 against him (.197).

He pitched a total of 7 games, 4 of them starts. His first three appearances were the second game of doubleheaders.

First he went the distance and beat the Twins, 6-1 on June 5th. Then he pitched a perfect ninth in a 9-6 loss to Kansas City. Finally, he beat the expansion Los Angeles Angels 5-1 with a pitching line that consisted of 8 innings, 6 hits,6 walks, and 6 Ks!

On June 19, he started against Kansas. This time, he allowed only 2 walks and 5 hits in his 8.1 innings. It would be a no decision, however, and the Yankees eventually lost 4-3.

Then he won a wild one against Minnesota on June 24th.

Shelly lasted less than 6 innings and surrendered 6 hits and 5 (earned) runs. Yet he won the game 10-7 to lift his won-loss record to 4-2. His last appearance in June was on the 27th as he tossed a perfect 8th inning (1 strikeout) against the Angels.

July was Sheldon's busiest month as he pitched nine times, six of them starts.

Actually, he started with a fine relief appearance (5.1 innings) against the Sens on the very first day of July. He didn't get a decision, but he allowed only 2 hits and 2 walks.

Following another relief appearance 3 days later against the Tigers, he was back starting against the Indians. Despite 4 hits and 5 walks allowed, he finished with a shutout.

Four days later, he pitched another shutout, this time a 5 hitter, no walks and 7 Ks.  This dropped his ERA to 2.28.

But then he staggered in his next two starts.

First he allowed 6 runs in only 5 1/3 innings work against Chicago on July 14. Then he allowed 3 earned runs and 7 hits against Washington. His effort against the Red Sox on the 22nd was no better as Rollie was shelled for 4 earned runs in only 3.1 innings of work.

He gained a little revenge by beating the White Sox on a fine 4 hitter, but in his last July start, he was knocked out on 5 hits in only 1.1 innings work.

He waited 6 days in August before getting a start against Minnesota. 8 hits allowed but only 2 runs scored, and Roland had his 8th victory.

Chicago again had his number in his next start, but on August 20th, he won his 9th game with another 8 hitter, this time against the Tribe.

He pitched three more times that month: A good relief appearance, a bad relief appearance, and then a very short start (5 hits and 4 runs in 2 innings) for his 4th loss on the season.

Having pitched six times in August, Sheldon was destined for the same in September.

His first two September starts we nothing of note, and in his third he retired one batter and gave up 5 earned runs. His ERA was now at a season high 3.76. And it was his 5th and final loss on the year. Sheldon was destined for the bullpen for the rest of the year.

But oddly enough, once there, he pitched very well.

He didn't recieve a decision in a fine relief appearance against the Tigers on September 15th, which was the second game of a doubleheader. But three innings, no hits and five strikeouts made him a winner eleven days later against the O's.

Rollie Sheldon's last regular season game came three days later, as he pitched the eighth and ninth innings of a 2-1 win over Boston. It was Sheldon who got the win thanks to 2 shutout innings. It would be his last time he tossed a pitch on the mound that year.

Sheldon's final record of 11-5 was the same as Jim Coates. His ERA (3.66) was higher, but he managed to toss more innings (162.2) and start more games (21) then Coates.

But perhaps, dissapointing to Sheldon, was his lack of World Series play that year. Sheldon would be the "odd man out" on the mound in the fall classic against Cincinnati.


References


Golenbock, Peter. "1961." Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print. pp. 405-445.

Smith, Ron. The Sporting News Presents 61*: The Story Of Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle And One Magical Summer. St. Louis: Sporting News, 2001. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 29 Aug. 2011.

1961 Yankee Of The Day: Jim Coates

Jim Coates had an on and off 1961 season on the hill.

But when the money was on the table, so was Jim.

He started the season in the bullpen. He even pitched one inning of the season openor against Minnesota. Coates gave up 1 run and the Yankees took a spanking, 6-0.

Then he started his first game 11 days later against Baltimore, in the second game of a doubleheader. The game is notable because it was actually called after 7 innings. Coates pitched 5 innings, gave up 7 hits and 3 earned runs an left with a 5-3 lead.

He was denied his first win, however, as the Orioles scored twice in the bottom of the 7th inning of Bill Stafford.

Coates would pitch just once more in April, on the last day of the month. It was a scoreless inning in a 2-1 Yankee loss to the Senators.

In May, Jimmy would pitched 11 times, all in relief. He would be quite effective as he went 5-2 with 2 saves in those appearances. His 5th win was most impressive, as he tossed 6 innings of scoreless, 2-hit relief against the Chi Sox in a 5-3 Yankee win.

Earlier, he pitched in both games of a May 14th doubleheader against the Tigers, who would hound the Yankees all season long. In the first game, he tossed a scoreless 11th inning (using the number 11 alot, eh?) for his second win on the season. Then in the nightcap, he tossed 5 innings of 1 run, 2 hit ball for his third win.

These fine performances dropped his ERA to 2.48 by the end of the month, and a spot in the starting rotation in June.

June 5th brought in a win (against the Twins) for Coates, who was now 6-2. He allowed 8 hits and just 2 earned runs in 8 innings of work. But his next 2 starts saw him allow 11 earned runs in 7.2 innings. So it was back to the bullpen, where he would earn two more saves, but no more wins.

July was a month of exclusive relief, but Coates wasn't any more effective. Curiously, he didn't suffer any losses, nor did he pick up a win or a save.

But of the 8 games he pitched that month, he was routed in 4 of them, pushing his ERA to 4.74.

Manager Ralph Houk must have had faith in him, because in August, Jim was inexplicably back in the rotation. But it proved to be a fine move.

First, he went all the way in a 2-1 nailbitter over the Twins on the 5th (4 hits allowed). Then he shutout the expansion Angels on another complete game 4 hitter. On Auguest 13, in the second game of a doubleheader against Washington, he again went 9. This time, though, he allowed 10 hits and 4 runs. The Yankees scored 9 runs themselves, however, and Coates' record was now 9-3.

Just when he finds his grove...

The wheels then came off the chariot!

Aug 18 vs Cleveland, 2.2 IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 0K

Aug 24 vs Los Angeles, 3.2 IP, 6H, 2ER, 5BB, 1K

So it was back to the bullpen, where he pitched 3 innings, 1 run, 4K against the Twins on last day of August. He did not get a decision, and the two above losses sent his record to 9-5.

In September, Coates was back in the starting rotation and this time he really came through.

Another 4 hitter, this time against Minny on September 5th, brought him to double digits in wins. Then his next start, a 6 inning, 5 hitter against the Indians, put him to 11-5, and that would be his last decision of the season.

His next start was his last on the season. Against the Chicago White Sox on September 14, again the second game of a doubleheader, Coates pitched 7.1 innings, gave up 8 hits, but just one run. The Yankees eventually lost the game 4-3. Coates, though, he brought down his ERA to 3.66.

And it continued to drop despite just pitching out the 'pen. He was credited with a hold on September 23 against the Red Sox, pitching 3 fine innings. Then against Baltimore four days later, he tossed 3 innings of 1 hit ball. Finally, on the 30th, he went 2 innings, gave up 2 hits, no runs and had 3 strikeouts for the save, his 5th of the season.

Coates' final numbers for 1961 were: 11-5, 5 saves, 1 hold, and an ERA of 3.44 for 141 1/3 innings pitched.

In the World Series, Coates came to the mound in the 6th inning in game four after starter Whitey Ford hurt himself by fouling a ball of his foot in the sixth. Ford had just broken Babe Ruth's record for consecutive shutout innings in a World Series (32).

Ford actually started the inning. Right off the back, Elio Chacon singled. That was it for Ford. 

So it was Coates pitching in the 6th inning, harnessing a 4-0 lead, a runner on first and no one out. Eddie Kasko flied out, Vada Pinson grounded out. Chacon was now on second, but Wally Post flied out to end the inning.

The Yankees added three runs in the top of the 7th to extend their lead to 7-0 and Coates continued his fine outing by retiring Gene Freese, Gordy Coleman and pinch hitter Gus Bell in order.

Pitcher (and later, writer) Jim Brosnan, who had given up the three runs in the seventh, settled down, and did likewise to the Yankees in the top of the eighth. Coates had to face another pinch hitter, Jerry Lynch in the bottom of the frame, but Jim struck him out. Chacon this time could only pop out, and Kasko grounded out to Tony Kubek.

The Reds third pitcher of the game Bill Henry easily retired the Yankees on two strikeouts and a pop-up in the top of the ninth. Now Coates was just three outs away from preserving the shutout.

Pinson popped out to Skowron at first. But then Frank Robinson walked and then Post singled to left. Coates was going to have to earn it.

He bore down to strikeout Freese.

Then Coleman flied out to Hector Lopez in right. The Yankees had won 7-0, Coates had gotten then save. They would win game 5, 13-5 to win the series 4-1.

References

The World Series Of 1961. Dir. Lew Fonseca. Prod. Dick Borden. Perf. Mel Allen. Major League Baseball Productions., 1961. DVD. 

Golenbock, Peter. "1961." Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print. pp. 405-445.

Mantle, Mickey and Herskowitz, Mickey. All My Octobers. Harper Collins, 1994, pp. 129-145.

Smith, Ron. The Sporting News Presents 61*: The Story Of Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle And One Magical Summer. St. Louis: Sporting News, 2001. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 16 Aug. 2011.

How Jim Maloney Almost Had 4 No-No's in 1965, Part 2: Jim Never Met John Lewis

On June 14, 1965, Jim Maloney took the hill to take on the lowly Mets.

The Mets had a histoy of being no-hit. Sandy Koufax threw one against them in their inaugural campaign back in 1962. Then Jim Bunning threw a perfect game against them in 1964. Now it was 1965, and the Mets were 21-39, in 10th place again.

Maloney got Billy Cowan to bunt foul for strike three, then he fielded Chuck Hiller's ground ball for the second out. Charlie Smith flied out to end the inning.

Ed Kranepool broke up the perfect game bid by leading off the second with a walk, but Maloney got the next three batters in order, two via the K.

The third inning was easy as Maloney K'd the side. He now had 6 strikeouts.

Smith was the 7th strikeout with one out in 4th. The ball got away from Johhny Edwards and it was scored a wild pitch. Jimmy beared down and got Kranepool to hit into a double play.

In the fifth, Johnny Lewis took a called strike three, and then Ron Swoboda also fanned. His bid for anothing inning of strikeouts ended when Roy McMillan flied out. The sixth would bring no strikeouts. However, a pair of infield outs and a lineout to center brought Maloney to within nine outs of a no-hitter.

Gord Coleman took Chuck Hiller's grounded for an unassisted putout to open the top of the seventh. After Smith became Maloney's 10th strikeout victim, Kranepool ended the frame by flying out to Tommy Harper in left.

Lewis, Swoboda and McMillan went down swinging in the 8th, as Maloney still had the no-no, not to mention 13 strikeouts. It was still only the eighth inning, but now only 3 more outs remained.

The ninth inning started with a pinch hitter. Catcher Chris Cannizzaro had no luck with Maloney, so Jesse Gonder was sent in to bat for him. But all he could do was fly out to Frank Robinson in right.

Joe Christopher batted for pitcher Frank Lary and struck out swinging. One out to go!

The batter was Cowan.

Strike three called!

Alas, this didn't end the game. The Reds had their own hands full all night with Lary, managing 5 hits but no runs. Maloney must have felt like Harvey Haddix.

The Reds could get a run off of reliver Larry Bearnarth in the bottom of the ninth. Robinson walked, and that was all the Reds could muster.

In the top of the 10th, Maloney continued his mastery by getting Hiller to line out to right. Smith and Kranepool both fanned. 17 strikeouts and a no-no through 10!

Could the Reds finally put this one on ice?

Edwards opened with a single, and Chico Ruiz came in to pinch run. Leo Cardenas laid down a bunt to advance Ruiz to second. Jim Maloney then batted himself and grounded out to shortstop McMillan, but Ruiz

still made it to third. The inning ended however, as Harper grounded out to Smith at third.

The top of the 11th saw Lewis lead off with...a homerun. There goes the no-no. After Swoboda went down on strikes for K #18 of the day for Jim, McMillan kept the inning going with a single to center. Maloney beared down and got Gonder (who had stayed in the game as the catcher) to ground out. The Reds needed a run.

But Bearnarth retired Pete Rose on fly to left. Vada Pinson swung and missed for strike three. Frank Robinson singled to keep Maloney off the hook. The game would end, however, as Coleman grounded out to McMillan.

Worst thing about all this? At the time the game was still considered a no-hitter, since Maloney had not given up a hit through 9 (and 10 for that matter). But in 1991 this game, among others, was removed from the no-hit list when a new ruling on no-hitters was created. For it to be considered a no-no a pitcher had to give up no hits, even if the game went past nine innings.

References

Buckley, James Jr. Unhittable: Reliving The Magic And Drama Of Baseballs Best-Pitched Games. Triumph Books, 2004. (DVD Insert).

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 3 Aug. 2011.

Baseball Playing Card Of The Day: Lefty Grove

Lefty Grove

Lefty Grove, what a season he had in 1931!

Grove, whose given first name was Robert, was looking for his 17th straight win. One more win and Walter Johnson's and Smokey Joe Wood's name would be erased from the record books for most consecutive wins in one season. 

Then, on August 23, in the first game of a doubleheader, the Athletics faced the lowly St. Louis Browns. Easy pickings!

 But Al Simmons would miss his third straight game in which Grove started. The A's managed only three hits off Dick Coffman and lost 1-0, even though Grove gave up just seven hits himself.

Just a momentary setback as it turns out. Lefty would be around a while, and he had no intentions of one loss hurt him.

But just to add an exclamation to that, he would win his next six straight games before dropping his last start to the Yankees, to finish an astonishing 31-4!

But that was just another great season for Grove, who would finish his career with exactly 300 wins (As later would Early Wynn).

Look at his years from 1929 to 1931, and you find his W-L is 79-15. His team, the Philadelphia A's, won pennants in each of those three seasons. Twice in those years, Philly won the World Series. Their 1930 one was the last time the Athletics would win while playing for the city of Philadelphia.

Later, Lefty was sold by Connie Mack to the Boston Red Sox for $125,000. His winning ways continued, however, as he would post season win totals of between 20 and 31 over the course of the next seven seasons.

Lefty Grove was once almost hit by a ball that was lashed back through the box at batting practice while still with the Red Sox. Grove made sure that the next pitch sent the batter scrawling to the ground!

He twice won the pitcher's Triple Crown (leading the league in Wins, ERA and Strikeouts), which were back to back (1930-31) and his World Series record was 4-2 with a 1.75 ERA in 8 games, 5 starts and 51.1 innings.

As for his career ERA of 3.06, that might not rank up there with the other immortals, but he led the league in ERA an impressive nine times.

Grove was elected to the Hall Of Fame in 1947.

He would die on May 22, 1975 at the age of 75.

References

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 03 Aug. 2011.

Thorn, John, and Pete Palmer. Total Baseball. Vers. 1994. Portland, OR: Creative Multimedia Corp., 1994. Computer software. CD-ROM.

1961 Yankee Of The Day: Bud Daley

Bud Daley



Bud Daley came to the Yankees on June 14th, 1961 in a deal that sent a pitcher (Art Ditmar) and a catcher (Deron Johnson) to Kansas.

Daley's record at the time of the trade was 4-8. His career record was 39-39. But Bud really came through for the Yankees that year, a team he'd be with through the 1964 season. He was with a team that wouldn't hesitate to turn to him, even in the biggest game of the year.

His record would be 4-9 after his first Yankee outing. He surrendered 6 earned runs in just 1.1 innings of work against the Tigers.

But from there he settled down and soon brought his record to 8-10 by making three fine starts against the Senators, Red Sox and Orioles in July.

Then the wheels came off the chariot.

He lost five straight games and saw his ERA shoot up to 5.19 at one point. His W-L record wasn't much better, 8-15.

But then it clicked again, for the last two months and in that year's World Series.

He defeated Los Angeles on a fine six hitter, got routed by Washington, then he was used in mop up duty as August ended.

September brought in Daley's finest month. First he beat Washington again with a fine 6 hitter. Then another complete game victory over Cleveland (5-hitter). Finally, he closed the month with a loss to Detroit, another five hit complete game gem against the Orioles, a 6 inning, six-hitter against Baltimore, and a scoreless inning against the Red Sox on the second last game of the season for the hold.

Daley's final numbers, broken down:

Total: 12-17, 4.28 ERA, 193.1 IP

KC: 4-8, 4.95 ERA, 63.2 IP

NY: 8-9, 3.96 ERA, 129.2 IP

In the World Series that year, Bud got into two games. Bud no doubt welcomed the opportunity. Great as the Yankees were that year, they'd really need him in those two games to contribute!

In game three, he pitched to one batter in the seventh inning. With two down, and the Reds just having scored a run against Bill Stafford to make it 2-1 Cincy, Daley retired Vada Pinson on a fly to right to end the inning. New York came back in no time, don't you worry!

In the top of the eighth, Johhny Blanchard batted for Daley with the Yankees still behind, 2-1. On Mickey Mantle's advice, he swung on the first pitch by Bob Purkey, and sent it into the right field stands to tie the game. The Yankees went on to win 3-2.

Daley didn't get credit for the win in that game (Luis Arroyo did), but in game 5, with starter Ralph Terry knocked out early with the Yankees ahead 6-3, Daley took over with one out in the bottom of the third.

He allowed a single and double in that inning, but escaped without further harm. Then he pitched a 1-2-3 fourth.

But in the fifth, with the Yankees now up 11-3, Daley faced Pinson again, who was leading off the inning. He singled, but was thrown out trying for a double by Roger Maris. After Frank Robinson (who had hit a three run homerun earlier) fouled out, Gordon Coleman reached first when Bud dropped a throw by Moose Skowron while covering first on a grounder to the first baseman. This proved to be costly as not only did the inning continue, but Wally Post then smacked a home run to deep left field.

This proved to be but a temporary lapse in concentration, however. Daley got it together, the Yankees added two more runs to offset Post's home run, going on to win 13-5 And this time our Buddy got credit for the win (6.2 IP 5H 0BB 3K). That game won the World Series for the Yankees, 4 games to 1.

The most amazing thing about Daley the lefty?

He pitched his entire career with a withered right hand.

References

Gallagher, Mark. Explosion! Mickey Mantle's Legendary Home Runs. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Print, pp. 160-177, 345-353.

Golenbock, Peter. "1961." Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964. Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary, 2000. Print, pp. 405-445.

Mantle, Mickey and Herskowitz, Mickey. "The M&M Boys." All My Octobers. Harper Collins, 1994. Print, pp. 129-145.

Nemec, David, and Scott Flatow. "Handicapped Players."Great Baseball Feats, Facts, Firsts (2010). New York, NY: Signet, 2010. Print, pp. 200.

Smith, Ron. 61* The Story Of  Roger Maris And Mickey Mantle And One Magical Summer. The Sporting News, 2001. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 03 Aug. 2011.

The World Series Of 1961. Dir. Lew Fonseca. Prod. Dick Borden. Perf. Mel Allen. Major League Baseball Productions., 1961. DVD.

1961 Yankee Of The Day: Hal Reniff

For whatever reason, Reniff is my favourite relief pitcher on the Yankees in the early to mid 1960s. Porky, as he was known, was but a 23 year old rookie in 1961.

He made his major league debut in the second game of a June 8th doubleheader against the Kansas City Athletics.

He came in the game in the top of the fifth inning to relieve Art Ditmar (who would pitch just one more game for the Bronx Bombers before being traded to, you guessed it, KC) who himself had relieved starter Danny McDevitt. The was only one out.

Reniff walked the first batter he faced, Haywood Sullivan. That loaded the bases. And when Bob Boyd grounded out, the A's were now on top, 9-5. Reniff then got former Yankee Andy Carey to lineout to Clete Boyer.

The opposing pitcher, Jim Archer, led off the 6th with a K, Reniff's first ever at the major league level. When Dick Howser grounded out, it looked like Reniff was out of the inning.

Alas, another ex-Yankee, Hank Bauer, not only singled, but caught everybody napping with a steal of second base. Leo Posada ended the inning by flying out to Hector Lopez in left.

In the bottom of the frame, Bob Cerv batted for Reniff and fanned. Tex Clevenger, who I mentioned in my previous 1961 post, and Rollie Sheldon mopped up from there for the Yankees.

In an August 2nd doubleheader (second game), Reniff recorded his first ever save, and later that month won a game against the Twins by tossing 3 no-hit innings (13, 14 and 15). Another save came on August 11th against the Senators.

On September 4th, again a doubleheader (but this time the first game), Reniff won his second and final game of 1961 by turning back Washington again. He tossed another two innings of hitless ball. In the last game of the regular season, the game in which Roger Maris hit his 61st homerun, Reniff pitched a scoreless 7th inning for the "hold".

Reniff's finest hour of the 1961 season came on September 14th. Called on to relieve Sheldon in the first with only one out, Porky went 6 2/3 innings and gave up 4 hits and 6 walks. Only one (earned) run would score against him. However, as the Chi Sox ended up scoring 5 runs in the first and the Yankees scored only 3 the entire game, it was already a lost cause.

Of his 25 appearances, 16 of them resulted in games finished. 21 times he held the opposition scoreless. In only 4 of his games pitched, did he go 3 or more innings. And did I mention he never started a game? Actually, Reniff never started a game at the major league level.

It can be assured that the Yankees would have won the 1961 World Series without Reniff. Still, to omit his contributions (45 1/3 IP, 2.58 ERA) would certainly be an oversight.

References

Gallagher, Mark. Explosion! Mickey Mantle's Legendary Home Runs. New York: Arbor House, 1987. Print, pp. 160-177, 345-353.

Golenbock, Peter. "61."Dynasty: The New York Yankees 1949-1964. Contemporary Sports Classics, 2000. pp. 405-445.

Mantle, Mickey and Herskowitz, Mickey. All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball. Harper Collins, 1994, pp. 129-145.

Smith, Ron. 61* The Story Of  Roger Maris And Mickey Mantle And One Magical Summer. The Sporting News, 2001.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 29 Jul. 2011.

The World Series Of 1961. Dir. Lew Fonseca. Prod. Dick Borden. Perf. Mel Allen. Major League Baseball Productions., 1961. DVD.

Baseball Playing Card Of The Day: Juan Marichal

Juan Marichal was "3" of the big three pitchers of the 60s, behind Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax. He never won a Cy Young award.

He hailed from Laguna Verde, Monte Cristi in the Dominian Republic, and was renown for his extreme high leg kick that he made in his delivery.

I rank him below Koufax and Gibson like most people, but you didn't want to bat against him, believe me.

And just that, he wasn't that far off those two.

Gibson posted a 22-9 record in 1968, the year of the pitcher. Denny McLain won 31 games to lead the American League. But it was Marichal who lead the NL in wins with 26, and also in innings pitched (325 2/3).

And he completed 30 of 38 starts that year!

Actually, we should look at that entire decade of the 60s when we talk about Marichal.

Trivia question: What pitcher won the most games in the majors in the 1960s?

Answer: Juan Marichal

When I think of Marical, I think of two things. 1) The night he almost killed John Roseboro, the Dodger catcher, and 2) The pitching duel with Warren Spahn in 1963.

The first was a rather gruesome incident. August 22, 1965, Dodgers and Giants. Frustrated when Roseboro returned a pitch of Sandy Koufax's too close to Marichal (who was batting), he swung his bat and hit John in the head, injuring him.

The other is much more pleasant and will make anyone who loves a pitcher's duel, mouth water.

It was on July 2, 1963. Marichal and Spahn were in, as I like to call it, "The Pitching Zone" where no one can hit you.

Actually there were a plenty hits in the game. But they were spread out!

How this for a pitching line?

Marichal: 16 IP, 8H, 0R 0ER, 10K, 4BB

Sphan: 15 1/3 IP, 9H, 1R, 1ER, 2K, 1BB

Willie Mays won the game with a dramatic walkoff homerun in the bottom of the 16th.


References


Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Information. http://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. 25 July 2011.

Kaplan, Jim. The Greatest Game Ever Pitched: Juan Marichal, Warren Spahn, And The Pitching Duel Of The Century. Chicago, IL: Triumph, 2011. Print.

Tinley, Scott. "Nearly Half Century Later, Spahn-Marichal Duel Still The Best Ever." SI.com. Sports Illustrated, 1 July 2011. Web. 25 July 2011. <http://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichal>

Vilas: The Man The Djokovic Is Chasing!

Flyers' 1979/80, 36 game unbeaten streak.

Lakers' 1971/72, 33 game winnings streak.

DiMaggio's 1941, 56 game hitting streak.

Williams' 1949, 84 game reaching base safely streak.

Orel Hershiser's 1989, 59 consecutive (it could actually be considered 67 if you include the ALCS) scoreless inning streak.

These are all examples of amazing winning/hitting/shutout streaks in sports history.

In tennis, the record for consecutive matches won is 46 by Guillermo Vilas. Second on the list is Ivan Lendl, with 44.

Djokovic is at 43 wins, with the first two comming last year. Although, the reality is that it should be tied with Lendl. His quarter-finals opponent (Fabio Fognini), had to default.

But does anyone think he could have beaten The Joker?

A shame that match wasn't played. We can assume Djokovic would have won to tie a record set by John McEnroe in 1984. Most wins to start the season (42). We can be very serious about that, John!

But if he beats Federer tomorrow, he'll tie it anyway. A win over Nadal or Murray (Really, I think we have to go with Rafa on this one, don't we?) in the finals on Sunday will break the record and leave him three short of Vilas' 46, set back in 1977.

Let's take a look at Vilas' streak shall we.

It started right after Wimbledon, where Vilas was knocked out in the third round by Billy Martin (not to be confused with the New York Yankees fiery manager at that time). A rather meek loss, it nevertheless launched Vilas into invincibility!

He came to an event in Kitzbuhel, Austria, held on a surface to his liking: clay.

He mowed down Britain's Buster Mottram, Croatian's Zeljko Franulovic and Czech Jan Kodes to win the title. Kodes, who Vilas had beaten in the first round at Wimbledon (Jan won the event in 1973), pushed Vilas to 5 before falling.

Then Vilas was in another clay court tournament in Washington DC. The event was notable for a few things:

1) He beat both the Gottfried's

2) He overcame 2 French Open finalists (Brian Gottfried and Victor Pecci)

3) He beat one of the "Bagel Brothers", Eddie Dibbs.

Then Vilas won a tournament in Louisville, Kentucky, by beating a past-his prime Ion Tiriac (Boris Becker's future coach), Phil Dent (Taylor's dad), and Dibbs again in the final three matches. The streak was at 17 matches.

At Southern Orange, Vilas won still another clay court tournament. He only had to play 5 matches, but the last two were against John McEnroe (6-0, in the deciding third set), and Roscoe Tanner, who had beaten him in the finals of the January, 1977 Australian Open (The event was held twice that year!)

At Columbus Ohio, in the first week of August, Vilas swept through the field and avenged his loss to Martin at Wimbledon by losing just two games to him, then making almost as short work of Brian Gottfried in the finals. Brian won three games in two sets. Poor Brian, this was one of three times he would lose to Vilas this year, none worse than the 1977 French Open finals: 6-0, 6-3, 6-0!

So it was off to the big show. The US Open. It would be the last year it was held at Forest Hills. It was clay again, but for you serious tennis fans: Hard-Tru!

Vilas rolled through, again.

He beat a fading Manuel Santana in the first round, polished off Gene Mayer, the American, in the second round. Then he beat Denver's own Victor Amaya (his claim to fame was taking Bjorn Borg to five sets in the first round of the 1978 Wimbledon) to get to the round of 16. There he topped Roger Federer's future mentor  Jose Higueras, then routed nondescript Raymond Moore to reach the final four. At this point, the closest anyone has come to winning a set of him is four sets of 6-3 Vilas.

Harold Solomon (The other bagel brother, by the way) was close in the second set. But Vilas won it 7-6 and surrounding it were a pair of 6-2 sets. The only man left was Connors, the defending champion.

But Vilas rose to the challenge.

Connors won the first set, but that just woke up Vilas, who took the second easily, then outlasted Jimmy in the third set tiebreaker. Connors didn't win another game.

Vilas became more diplomatic in his next two matches, part of the Davis Cup tie against Australia. Clay again, if you are wondering.

He won both his singles matches against Phil Dent and John Alexander, the last great Australian player prior to Pat Cash. Now he was up to 37 straight matches won.

He won his next tournament, held in Paris, France, by beating a few obscure players. Hans Gildermeister, who is currently the Chilean tennis team coach, went down meekly in the quarters. Then Patrick Proisy (1972 French Open finalist) of France pushed Vilas to 5 sets. The finals was a routine straight setter (although the third was a tie-breaker) over Christope Roger-Vasselin of Britian. 42 straight. Bravo, Guillermo!

The last week of September saw Vilas try his luck at France again. The event was held in Aix en Provence.

He overcame doubles specialist Peter McNamara in the round of 16, despite losing the first set. Then he beat Higueras in two close ones. He reached the finals by taking down homeboy Eric Deblicker, despite losing second and third set tiebreakers (the semis were best of five). 46 straight. And actually, 52 straight on clay at this point! And only the Joker of his time, an over-the-hill Ilie Nastase (31 years old) to worry about. What could go wrong?

Nastase knew every trick in the books to getting opponents of their game. Sometimes he resorted to rule bending. But note I didn't say breaking. No!

In 1977, the big fad in tennis had been about new strings that were sort of wider. Called "Spaghetti Strings" by the tennis establishment, they produced strange bounces and even wilder spins. They were woven from the second string on the left hand side of the racket frame, to the second last right string on the right side.

Nastase trotted out with one such racket.

And won the first two sets, 6-1, 7-5.

At this point, perhaps Vilas knew the jig was up. He walked to the umpire's chair and defaulted. And probably had no way of knowing that 34 years later, someone would approach his record!

Oh, and the string? The ITF stepped in shortly thereafter and permanently banned it. That's why I expect Vilas to have some spaghetti if his streak is broken, to keep up with the tradition in a legal way!

References

Collins, Bud. The Bud Collins History Of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia And Record Book. 2nd ed. Washington, D.C.: New Chapter, 2010. Print.

Kirkpatrick, Curry. "GUILLERMO VILAS." SI.com. Sports Illustrated, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2016. Orginally published in Sports Illustrated, May 29, 1978 <http://www.si.com/vault/1978/05/29/ 822681/the-mild-bull-of-the-pampas-introspective-articulate-exceedingly-sensitive-guillermo-vilas-of-argentina-is-a-world-apart-from-compeers-jimmy-connors-and-bjorn-borg>

Official Site Of Men's Professional Tennis. Emirates, n.d. Web. 03 June 2011.

"Valley News from Van Nuys, California, Page 40." Newspapers.com. Valley News, n.d. Web. 09 Oct. 2016. Originally published December 7, 1977. Page 4, Section 4. <https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/30399618/>

(Dead Link)

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IaBSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Vn0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6719,2621035&dq=vilas+tennis+nastase&hl=en

Stanley Cup Finals 2011 Prediction



Vancouver (1) West VS Boston (3) East

The last Stanley Cup parade in Boston was 1972.

The last Stanley Cup parade in Vancouver was 1915.

There were no Canucks in 1915, just Millionaires.

The NHL was formed in 1917/18.

The Bruins came in in 1924/25 and have made the playoffs 66 times and won the Cup 5 times.

Vancouver came into the league in 1970/71 (with Buffalo) and have made the playoffs 24 times. 2 of those times, 1982 and 1994 resulted in a Stanley Cup Finals loss to a team from New York.

Boston has never faced Vancouver in the playoffs, let alone the Stanley Cup finals.

Now this year.

Both their coaches have been behind the bench of the Montreal Canadians in the 2000s.

Offence

Vancouver

Thank god (for all you Canucks fans) that Henrik (I'm tired of typing in "Sedin", so there!) isn't a pitcher in baseball and his goals aren't wins and his assists aren't losses.

He's picked up this postseason where he left off this regular season. He has only 2 goals so far in the playoffs. Yet, he has 21 points to lead the Canucks!

Kesler is a little better goal wise with 7 plus 11 helpers. From there, we have Daniel with 8 goals and 8 assists. Then we have Alex Burrows with 7 goals and 7 assists.

Two left wingers, Mason Raymond and Chris Higgins, have 8 and 7 points respectively.

From the point, you have Christian Ehrhoff with 11 points, although like Henrik, only two of them are goals. Bieksa and Edler have 9 points each.

Oh, I haven't talked about Malhotra. That eye injury rivals Crosby's concussion as career threatening. However there is talk of him returning. As to when? I'm looking at Game 3 at the earliest. In the regular season, he had 11 goals and 19 assists.

Boston

David Krejic and Nathan Horton have 17 points each, and then two strong centers. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand have 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Another center, Chris Kelly has 11 points, while Micheal Ryder also has 11.

The team's top left winger is Milan Lucic with 9 points.

Rich Peverley has eight points.

Look out for Mark Recchi, 43 years young. But this is his third team to make the final two that he has played with. He has 7 points.

The teams top two defenceman (in points) are Dennis Seidenberg and Thomas Kaberle. Each also has eight points. Don't overlook Andrew Ference, who has 7 points as well. Boychuk has 6.

And yes, another will he play? Should he play or should you know, Tyler Seguin? Actually, when he has played, he's played quite well. All of 19 years old, he looks like the playoff warrior with 6 points in 7 games. Sometimes being in the Stanley Cup finals makes injuries go away quicker!

Edge: (Slight) Vancouver

Defence

Vancouver

Bieksa lead the 'Nucks with a +10, but several other players need to up it come right now!

Dan Hamhuis is a +5, Aaron Rome is a plus 2 in only 11 games. Alexander Edler is only a 0 in all 18 games. Salo and Ehrhoff are both minuses.

It's a little better up front as Jannik Hansen is a plus 6 and left winger Burrows is a plus 4. Another left winger,  Chris Higgins is a +4 and Raffi Torres is a plus 3. Maxim Lapierre is also a +3. Raymond is a plus 2.

Both the Sedin's are minus 4, however.

Boston

Big Z is still a plus 11, but that's nothing to take lightly. Nor is Dennis Seidenberg's +8. Kaberle is looking erratic at times, making Maple Leaf fans rejoice at the thought of, "We didn't need him after all". But he's still a plus 7, and Ference is right behind with a +6. Boychuk is a plus 5 as is Johnny McQuaid.

Actually, the only defenceman without a plus is vetran Shane Hnidy, who has played only three games and is a zero.

Up front, Horton is +10 for second on the team, and then Bergeron and Kelly are both +9. Marchand and Ryder are both +6. Peverley and Krejci come in with +5, and right behind them is Recchi with a plus 4. Seguin's +3 is far from bad when you consider the amount of games played.

Edge: (Wide) Boston

Goaltending

Vancouver

So Luongo stole the last two games against San Jose? Can he keep doing it? We'll see say the hockey gods.

I really think he's been getting better with every round, now that he's upped his record to 12-6 and S% to .922. His GAA is down enough (2.29) for the offence to be off and still come out on top. Better still, many of the goals that San Jose scored were on the power play. So if the Canucks can just stay out of the box...

Corey Schnieder has made 3 appearances without getting a decision. Will he play here? It will depend on how well, Luongo plays, of course. But I can't imagine him getting a start.

Boston

Having said all that, the same could be said of Thomas. Hey, nothing too small about a game 7 shutout, especially if it sends you into the Stanley Cup finals. That's two game 7 victories under Timmy's belt. Now to up the ante. For the first time, he'll be looking at home ice disadvantage.

12-6, 9.29S%, 2.29 GAA. Hey! The W-L and GAA is exactly the same as Luongo's. Plus his S% is almost identical.

This one is going to be tough to call.

As for Rask, when Niagara flows upward!

Edge: NIETHER!

Prediction: Vancouver in seven games


















And Phoneix in Quebec in 2012/13, hopefully!



References


"Official Site of the National Hockey League” NHL.com. National Hockey League. Web. 01 June, 2011. <https://www.nhl.com>

Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 01 June 2011.