TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Mickey Bauchen of Flint, MI, who correctly named the four 1969 Padre pitchers who did pitch in the post season during their careers as Tom Dukes, Dave Roberts, Joe Niekro and Johnny Podres. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.
NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: By answering the TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY you are automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a Starbucks Gift Card. YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN. Don't forget to put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.
Just a note to add; If you look at the top right hand corner of the side bar you will see a link to daily sports scores. We made an agreement with Baseball 24 in a mutual sharing situation. Hope its helpful to fans of several sports.
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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Which team in the major leagues did Bill Virdon originally sign with?
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: The
four 1969 Padre pitchers who did pitch in the post season during their
careers as Tom Dukes, Dave Roberts, Joe Niekro and Johnny Podres.
Former ROY, NYY and Astros Manager and centerfielder for the Pirates, Bill Virdon died this past week. This week we re-run an article which his daughter said he read and loved. RIP Bill Virdon. As an eight year old starting Little League, he was the player I wanted to be. I found out I was a better infielder than an outfielder and not long after Bill Mazeroski became my hero. I still had a great fondness for Virdon as my first hero.
If ever there
was a more curious case for a lead off man in the big leagues there were
few more curious than the 1960's lead off hitter for the Pittsburgh
Pirates. Bill Virdon
came to Pittsburgh after being Rookie of the Year in St. Louis and in
1956 had his best season, batting .334. However, what happened when the
1960's rolled around remains a big question mark.
Virdon was a
key player in the Pirates World Series victory in 1960. He was an
outstanding center fielder on a team where he was flanked by the even
more outstanding Roberto Clemente on one side, and the average Bob Skinner on the other. His defense kept him in the line up because as a hitter, and certainly as a lead off hitter, he was sub par.
In the Series he made a game saving catch in Game 4 and other outstanding plays during the series on defense. On offense it was his sharp ground ball which hit Tony Kubek in the throat and opened a big inning for the Bucs.
He eclipsed 80 Runs Scored only twice and was under 60 Runs the other three years. His best hitting year as far as average (a key benchmark in the 1960s) since his breakout 1956, was his last year 1965 (it took him 10 years to achieve achieve better than .269 to finish at .279).
At 34 he came to the end of the road in 1965. It's when the Pirates made perhaps the biggest trade in franchise history sending lefty reliever Joe Gibbon to the Giants for outfield Matty Alou. Alou assumed Virdon's lead off position and his position as the new center fielder. He quickly established himself as the key to solving the Bucs inconsistent hitting.
Alou led the
league in 1966 (his first year with Pittsburgh) with a .342 average, and
a .373 OBP. In his first four years in Pittsburgh he would hit .342,
.338, .332, and .331 getting edged out by Pete Rose for a second batting
title by .003 points. In 1969 he led the NL with 231 hits.
Virdon came
back in 1968 to play in six games going 1-for-3 at the plate, but he did
excel as a manager with both Pittsburgh and New York, with stops in
Houston and Montreal along the way. He twice won more than 90 games on
his way to 995 wins and .519 winning percentage. Twice he led his teams
to first place in their divisions.
TRIVIA CONTEST; After reading this column you can enter the weekly trivia contest for a chance to win a Starbucks Gift Card. Enter via the following email. Send 1) your answer to the trivia question at the top of the column, 2) your name, address and email so where we know where to send the card if you win 3) any
comment you have on the column. One winner will be selected at random
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number of correct entries. Please cut and paste or enter the following
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