A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

Baseball

Good game… let’s go eat!

The year was 2004.

I was in my first season of covering professional baseball. My beat was the Oneonta Tigers, the short-season Single-A team of the Detroit Tigers. I, of course, was in heaven as I was being paid (somewhat) to cover baseball. It had been one of my professional goals. No matter the level, I wanted to cover professional baseball.

And in 2004, it came true.

Besides covering the Tigers, however, I got to see all the other teams. The prospects, the players. I got to see some talent.

One of those talents was Hunter Pence.

Pence was part of a Tri-City ValleyCats team that went 50-25 that season, winning the Stedler Division by 14.5 game over Vermont and 16.5 games over Oneonta.

Even back then, however, I knew Pence was a talent. I probably saw him play 4-5 times that season and he was unorthodox. But he could run. He could hit. He could field. He had the arm. And he had the look. He’s one of those ones that even after he moved onward and upward, I always paid attention to him to see how he did. He became a favorite of mine that season.

I kept tabs on him all through the minors and into the majors. I’ve tried to get Pence for my fantasy baseball team, to no avail. And despite playing for another NL team, he’s remained one of my favorites.

That Tri-City team was something special, too. Three others on that Tri-City team have reached the majors, whether on a full-time basis or on a callup. Pitcher Chad Reineke, infielder Drew Sutton and second baseman Ben Zobrist.

Though they were likely the best team I saw that year, a championship wasn’t to be had for Pence and the ValleyCats that season as they fell to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the championship, falling 2-0 in the best-of-three series.

So why bring all this up now?

Because Hunter Pence is on the Phillies, of course!

Last week, the Phillies traded for the right fielder in a good move a couple of days before the trade deadline. It’s not a one-year thing, either, as Pence is team-controlled for the next couple of years. I couldn’t be happier about that. It gives the Phillies a right-handed bat, which was needed, and a great overall player. Not to mention that since Pence came aboard, the Phils haven’t lost (4-0) since acquiring Pence.

Oh, as for the title of this blog?

Pence scored the winning run in a 6-5 victory over Pittsburgh this past weekend. He had doubled and scored when Raul Ibanez doubled. After, Pence was interviewed by Gary “Sarge” Matthews, who asked Pence what was going through his head when he rounded third.

Pence’s reply?

“Good game, let’s go eat!”

Classic.

As for some of the other players in Oneonta I got the fortune to cover over the years, some time, I’ll sit down and see about some of them and see where they are now. (One other that I know of is also in the Phillies organization. Jeff Larish is playing at Triple-A Lehigh Valley). Some are in the majors and doing well. It’ll be fun to see where they are going and for me to go down “memory lane.”

For the record, covering that 2004 Oneonta team was a blast. It gave me the chance to learn a lot of things. And it wasn’t as if there weren’t some future major leaguers on the team, including current Atlanta Braves pitcher Jair Jurrjens. Also on that team was pitcher Christhian Martinez, who is currently pitching for the Braves and pitched several strong innings in that recent 19-inning game where umpire Jerry Meals did his best impression of being blindfolded when umpiring a game. (But that’s a story that I won’t need to deal with…)

As for position players, Dusty Ryan, Brent Dlugach, and Jeff Frazier all reached the majors at some point.

It’s fun watching them move up the chain and know I got to see most of them in their first professional season. Baseball is great, isn’t it?

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Why July 31 is one of the best days of the year!

I love July 31.

And if you are a baseball fan, I’m sure you, too, love July 31.

For those who aren’t baseball fans, July 31 is the trade deadline for players to not have to go through waivers. It’s when teams make their pushes to add players to move forward and go down the stretch toward the playoffs.

It’s been even better the past few years for me as the Phillies have made impact moves nearly every year. From Cliff Lee to Roy Oswalt to Hunter Pence this season, the Phillies make the deadline really fun.

However, it’s also time to watch other teams either load up or go on a selling spree (such as the Astros this year). Though the Phillies got stronger, so did top rivals Atlanta and San Francisco. The Texas Rangers in the AL made two impact moves to make their bullpen one of the best in baseball.

But it’s not just the moves that is exciting — it’s the deadline overall.

This year, with it falling on a Sunday, it was awesome.

I had the MLB Network on the television as they did something like 10 hours of live coverage. Leading into the 4 p.m. deadline, they had insiders and others talking rumors, trades and potential moves.

On the computer, I was watching the Phillies rally to beat Pittsburgh and earn a series sweep. For the record, Pence doubled in the 10th and scored on Raul Ibanez’s double. Awesome.

I was also glued to Twitter and other sports news sites, looking at info all day. Twitter made it that much more fun as following many big sports writers was a lot of fun.

The social media really has taken the deadline to new levels. People are so plugged in and know things extremely quick.

It’s a blast.

And that it was on a weekend made it even better as the majority of games were being played during the deadline.

This is just one of the reasons why I live for baseball. All the football moves that have been happening? Nothing on baseball’s trade deadline. Nothing.

I’ll catch up with football after baseball is over.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

 

HooHaa 9: Sleeper Sullivan

Who is Sleeper Sullivan, you may ask?

Until the other day, I had never heard of Sleeper Sullivan. Turns out he was a professional baseball player in the 1800s.

Before I get into Sleeper Sullivan, however, let me give you a backstory.

If you are a fan of baseball statistics, you’ve likely heard of or have been to the website Baseball-Reference. It’s an amazing tool to be able to look up so many items on the game. Statistics, results and pretty much anything you can think of when it comes to baseball numbers.

Over the years, I’ve sponsored pages — which is a way to give the site money as support and in return, get something on the site for you. A message, a link, whatever.

I’ve had players such as Shane Victorino, Pat Burrell, Tom Brookens and Larry Christenson, among others. One thing about the site is that the page price is based on hits and such. I got lucky the year Cole Hamels was a rookie and nabbed him for $10. I’ve held onto him since, paying no more than $40 one year for him. Last year, he dipped to $30.

He comes up for renewal in late October. If I were to renew now, it would cost me $265, which seems grossly high, especially seeing as I paid $30 for him last October.

Now, I don’t know how it works in regard to pricing. Maybe that’s because it’s an early thing? Who knows. I’ll see come late October how much it’s going to cost me. If it’s $265, I’m going to have to say goodbye to Cole’s page, which is something I had hoped to avoid. I wanted to keep him through his entire career (especially if he stayed with the Phillies). Alas, even if I had a high-paying job, I wouldn’t be paying $265 to sponsor a page. I don’t get many clicks to my blog from Cole’s page, so that would be a terrible investment. Instead, the page will likely be scooped up by one of the larger sites that try and grab team players etc.

Still, I like to give back.

The other night, I had a chat about this with a friend, Jerry. A fellow baseball guy and someone who runs an interesting Hofstra blog over at Defiantly Dutch noted that he sponsors a cheaper player — Hal Manders.I think he said he paid $2 or $5 per year for this fellow.

So I set out in search of a new person to sponsor, just in case Cole prices himself out of my range (hey, I feel like a small-market blog… I can’t afford the big players!)

Thomas Jefferson Sullivan, a catcher and right fielder who was nicknamed “Old Iron Hands,” was born in Ireland in 1859. In my search for info on Sleeper Sullivan, I’ve yet to find out an actual date or town he was born in. A righty thrower and batter, Sullivan stood 5-foot-7 and weighed 175 pounds. He debuted in 1881 and played through 1884.

Sleeper Sullivan

When I found this fellow, I knew I had the person I needed to sponsor — and he was only $5.

But several hours of research has turned up not much on this man. I know that he is listed as dying on Oct. 13, 1909 in St. Louis, Mo., at the age of 50. He’s apparently buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. However, when you look at his page on Find A Grave, it shows his date of death as Sept. 25, 1899 in Camden, N.J. I tend to lean with the baseball date as most major baseball sites have that same date, and I would think that someone dying in 1899 in Camden wouldn’t likely be moved to St. Louis to be buried. I could be wrong, but for now, I’d go with the death listed on the baseball sites.

I wanted to request a photo of Sleeper’s grave on Find A Grave, but apparently I can’t. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s listed as “famous” person or something else, but the option isn’t there as it is with other people listed on that site.

So what do we know about Sleeper?

According to Baseball-Reference, he played four seasons in the “majors,” one with the Buffalo Bisons (National League), parts of two with the St. Louis Brown Stockings (American Association) parts of one with the Louisville Eclipse (American Association) and one with the St. Louis Maroons (Union Association).

He played in 97 games, hitting a whopping .184 (64-for-347) with seven doubles and four triples. He finished his big-league career with a zero home runs. He had 15 RBIs for Buffalo in 1881, but RBIs aren’t listed for his other years, so I’m not sure if they were kept as a statistic or not.

He did score 39 runs.

Old Iron Hands pitched in one game as a 25-year-old with the Maroons in 1884. He went 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA, pitching six innings. He gave up six runs (three earned) on 10 hits. He struck out three and walked none.

Of 99 games played in the field, he caught 90 of them. He had 82 errors in 551 chances for a stellar .851 fielding average (I think we know where the Old Iron Hands comes from…). Yes, 82 errors! Now, I realize that these guys didn’t have top-of-the-line gloves, but still…

In 16 chances in the outfield, Ol’ Sleeper had four errors for a .691 fielding percentage. Heck, he even found a way to commit an error in his one game as a pitcher and had a .750 fielding percentage.

Mix it all together and Iron Hands had a career fielding percentage of .847.

During his career, he did appear on some leader boards. He was fourth in games as a catcher in 1882 (51), fourth in putouts as a catcher in 1882 (232), fifth in assists as a catcher in 1882 (46) and third in errors as a catcher in 1882 (53). Oh yeah, he was also second in passed balls that same year with 97!

Not much else seems known about Sleeper Sullivan.

The bullpen part of Baseball-Reference shows a few tidbits about Sullivan:

The Buffalo Express of March 3, 1881, carried an article about Sullivan’s arrival in Buffalo. The article stated he was of medium height and had played ball for four years.

His minor league career ran through 1892, when he played for Rochester, a team on which he and Ed Swartwood both played.

Baseball-Reference has some of his minor league stuff and it looks like he played a little better in the lower levels of professional baseball. In 1887, he played with two teams — Reading and the Danbury Hatters. Combined, he hit .311 (87-for-280) with six doubles and a home run. He didn’t catch, however, in that season. He played shortstop in 60 of 62 games that he played in the field. There are no stats, so we’re not sure how Old Iron Hands did.

There are no stats available, but he also played for the following minor league teams: Lowell Ladies Men (1877), Evansville Red (1877), Lynn Live Oaks/Worcester (1878), Dubuque Red Stockings (1879), New York Metropolitans (1881), Meriden Silvermen (1886), Hartford Dark Blues (1886), New Haven (1889), Wilmington Blue Hens (1890), Newark Little Giants (1890), Lynn (1891), and the Rochester Flour Cities (1892).

The thing I find interesting is how he seemed to average two teams per season. I imagine it’s probably something where one ended and he could go to another? Not sure, but it’s interesting.

I can’t seem to find much more on Sleeper. However, I’m now a proud sponsor of his page on Baseball-Reference. I hope to, at some point this summer, visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library to research a few things. If I get a chance to do that, I’ll look to see if I can do some research on Sleeper Sullivan, too.

Just remember — don’t mess with Old Iron Hands!

See what Sleeper Sullivan has to say, too, as he’s on Twitter!

Sources (click on the source to reach the page): 

Baseball-Reference.com Sleeper Sullivan page

Baseball-Reference.com Bullpen page on Sleeper Sullivan

Baseball-Reference.com minor league page for Sleeper Sullivan

Sleeper Sullivan’s Find A Grave memorial page

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. This entry is also a part of the HooHaa 9 project.

The Hall Classic is really fun as a fan

A perfect day for the Classic!

It’s a different feeling sitting in the stands.

For the majority of my professional career, I’ve worked in the media. I’ve covered events. I’ve interviewed, reported and written the accounts as I see them unfold. It made it hard, at times, to be a fan. As the old saying goes, “there’s no cheering in the press box.”

So, even when I was off, it was tough to go somewhere and be a fan.

When I was laid off this past February, it gave me the chance to see things in a different light. I did that today when I decided, at the last minute, to take the jaunt up to Cooperstown and watch the third annual Hall of Fame Classic, a Legends game featuring several Hall of Famers and many former Major League players.

I was always a fan of this game. I called for this type of game in a column when the Hall of Fame game was yanked from under the Hall’s rug. When it was announced the Baseball Hall would do this, I applauded them. I had a huge smile on my face when I witnessed Bob Feller face THREE batters at age 90 during the inaugural Hall of Fame Classic.

In fact, the column I wrote following that was one of three that was submitted en route to helping me win the 2010 New York State Associated Press Association’s first-place award for sports column.

So I was ready to see this in a new light. And I’m glad I did.

After deciding to head to the Classic, I drove up to Cooperstown, parked at the Clark Sports Center (where the Hall Induction Ceremonies are held) and walked the near-mile to Doubleday Field. I hopped into line to purchase a ticket and the day got even better as a nice gentleman walked by and asked if I was buying a ticket. When I said yes, he gave me his and said he was leaving.

Score!

After realizing the seats were on the side I wanted, I headed in. After taking a moment to stop by the press area (my former working place, of course) to extend hellos to the staff I knew and a few newspaper people, I walked to the corner of the third-base side where there was a lot of room.  I picked a spot and stretched out to watch a couple of hours of baseball. (The photo at the top of the page was from the seat I chose to sit at).

As I said before, I’ve always been a big fan of the concept of this game. And in the past, the games were fun to watch. But as a fan, this was so much better as I could laugh and enjoy all the antics going on.

That being said, I did put the ol’ reporting gloves on for a little bit today as I jotted some notes from the game, specifically, of course, for the blog.

First, it was a perfect day. The blue sky really meshed well with the crisp green grass. The field looked incredible. To me, there aren’t many more beautiful things in this world than a well-groomed baseball field.

Though the crowd wasn’t huge (I would say in the 6,000 range, maybe a little bigger), they seemed very vocal and had a lot of fun, which is what this game is about. The “Goose” chant for Goose Gossage (who pitched two innings and sent a few solid fastballs past players) was loud.

The game even had an old-school feel as there was a kid with a ladder in his yard up against the back side of Doubleday Field on the third-base line. Funny stuff.

Several Hall of Famers took part in the game, including Gossage, Phil Niekro (who also pitched two innings and snared a hard shot off fellow Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith), Andre Dawson and Jim Rice.Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams managed both teams.

There was also a powerful moment during the ceremonial first pitch. Feller, who died in December, had been an advocate of this game. His widow, Anne, delivered the ball to the mound along with Hall officials. In a very nice move, she placed the ball on the pitcher’s mound rubber.

Once the game started, there was fun, humor and some halfway decent ball. Some of the items I noticed:

– During an interview before the teams took the field. Ozzie Smith referred to Goose Gossage as Sparky Lyle. That got a chuckle from some of the crowd (who got the joke!) and a quick stare from Gossage.

– Niekro, now 72, was then interviewed and noted the 82-year-old Williams had Niekro on a 10-pitch count. But Niekro then noted that might be per batter. He then quipped, “I’m going two innings, whether he likes it or not.” Niekro came through on his promise.

– Goose’s first pitch sailed over former outfielder Willie Wilson, getting some looks and laughs.

– Niekro delivered a ball that almost looked like a high-arc pitch to lefty Bill “Spaceman” Lee, a former pitcher who then sent the ball down the third-base line for a double. It’s especially funny because Lee used his version of the eephus pitch during his 14-year major-league career.

Bill Lee leads off second.

Speaking of Lee…

The Spaceman was in full gear as the team’s “designated humorist.” Decked out in a uniform that looked like it probably came from early 1900s, Lee also donned a glove from that era. He played the outfield, hit, pitched and inning and even caught an inning — with that glove and without full body protection. Good stuff.

Former Detroit Tiger Jon Warden, always a funny man, had some great things during the game, entertaining fans of all ages.

The game itself wasn’t the greatest of baseball skills. After all, many of these guys are long past their primes. However, it did what it was supposed to do. It entertained. It was well worth seeing this game and I enjoyed the afternoon. It was nice to sit back, eat a couple of hot dogs and enjoy the antics of some of the players.

As for the players, there were some pretty decent names there, too, besides the Hall of Famers. Dale Murphy, Doug Glanville, Rick Wise, Reggie Sanders, and Dmitri Young were among the former major leaguers who played in the game.

Doug Glanville warms up before the game.

Young won the pre-game hitting contest and was also named the Bob Feller Player of the Game as he was the lone player to homer during the game.

Players on the field as Dmitri Young is named the Bob Feller Player of the Game.

Hopefully, this Father’s Day tradition will continue at the Hall. It’s a great way to enjoy the game in Cooperstown and those who attend seem to really enjoy all the antics and the play that goes on.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.

Book review: Fifty-nine in ’84

Old Hoss

If you are a baseball fan — especially of the history of the game — this book is for you.

This is the tale of Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn(e), who pitched the Providence Grays to the National League pennant in 1884. That he did that wasn’t just the story, however. It’s of how he took the Grays upon his back and carried them to the championship by winning 59 games (or 60, pending on sources) during the regular season. Despite pain and without the courtesy of modern training regimens, Old Hoss did something likely never to be duplicated in the game of baseball. (Or, base ball, as it was known back then).

Edward Achorn takes us through a bit of Radbourn’s career, but specifically the 1884 season. His writing style is interesting, especially as he shows a bit of the 1884 “sportswriter” way of doing things. His research is deep and it shows that some things will never be uncovered as at times he has to presume or assume certain things, but makes sure to point out things like that. It was, after all, 1884 and I’m quite sure certain things were not recorded as they are today.

Achorn takes us through Radbourn’s battled with fellow star pitcher Charlie Sweeney and manager Frank Bancroft. He gives us glimpses of some of Radbourn’s colorful teammates, such as catcher Barney Gilligan and first baseman Joe Start. In fact, Achorn gives us a solid glance for most of the 1884 Grays, showing some interesting folks along the way. He also does a good job in showing some great battles Radbourn and the Grays had with heated rivals the Boston Beaneaters and Chicago White Stockings (who would, eventually, become the Cubs).

Old Hoss Radbourn was quite a character. Quiet and trying to stay out of the limelight, he was something else and he’s portrayed well in this book. The reader really gets a chance to dig into this person and get to know him as well as possible, considering he died before the turn of the century into the 1900s.

If you love baseball history, this book is probably something you could delve into. It’s filled with interesting things from the game’s early years.

Now for my thoughts…

The good

I had been looking forward to reading this book for a while. I finally ponied up and got it for my Kindle (though I think a hard copy might be better, considering some of the items Achorn has picked out to have as images. Some of the things were hard to read on the Kindle, such as scorecards and such, but that’s not Achorn’s fault by any means).

The research in this book is quite good. It really paints a good picture not only of what baseball was like in 1884, but what life was like in those times. Things weren’t easy. Baseball wasn’t easy. With no gloves, it was quite tough to play the game. Especially being as the National League, at that point, had switched to the new pitching rule to allow overhand delivery. Catchers took a beating. Players took a beating.

This book shows all of that.

The descriptions of the players, rivals and game was excellent. I could easily picture the stadiums, the players, the uniforms, the pitches and outs by the way it was written. It took me back to 1884, which is something I would want in a book like this.

The best part of this book is the history, without a doubt. The game as it is today is nothing compared to 1884. It really shows one what the game has done over time to blossom and grow. If I could hop into a time machine and morph back to 1884 to watch a game between Boston and Providence at Messer Street Grounds, I feel I would be aptly prepared because of this book.  I would gladly pay 50 cents to watch that game.

The bad

The book tends to get jumpy at times. With quite long chapters, Achorn bounces around a bit in each one. He’ll start on something, which will then lead to a side story or two. Then, he’ll pop back to the original story. At times, it got confusing and frustrating to read this style. It might have been good to have some sub-titles and such inside the chapters, just to break it up a little. I liked the side stories, don’t get me wrong, I just didn’t like that it seemed at times that they just showed up etc.

And this might be the journalist/English teacher in me, but sometimes the writer would use a quote and say something like “Bancroft recalled…” I understand that the quote came from the research and from a newspaper or something along those lines, but I would have liked to have seen a little more attribution with it. To be fair, the back of the book has so much attribution, it’s not funny. Still, it’s something that was pounded in my head during college and during my years of working at a newspaper, so sometimes I cringe when I see things like that!

Overall thoughts

Again, I would highly encourage baseball history fans to read this book. It’s an excellent read. However, it’s not what I would call a “page turner.” It’s not one of those books that I couldn’t wait to get back to or would sit reading for several hours each night. With the long chapters, I often found myself reading one chapter in a night and calling it good. There were a few times I would go a couple of days without reading. But I was always interested in the next chapter and in watching how the season unfolded. I never wanted to stop reading the book, which is a good thing, and I did really enjoy it. It’s a slower-paced book that really gave a history lesson. For that, I was happy.

Rating

Originally, I wanted to give this something in the 3.5 range, but after thinking about it, I think it’s a solid 4 stars. It’s a strong read. Though the style, at times, is maddening, overall it’s a very good book and worth reading. Especially if you are a baseball or baseball history fan.

On a side note, you can see Old Hoss in modern times on Twitter.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com.