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Sunday, January 26, 2025

The Day Double D and the D died on the Vine

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The answer to our most recent question was the four catchers who were traded for Bob Uecker were Jim Coker, Pat Corrales, Gary Kolb and Gene Oliver. It should be noted both Kolb and Oliver were multi-positional players but did catch at some points. 20 points toward the person's total

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: You will still be required to enter the drawing as usual. However,  through June 2025 you will get points depending on the complexity of the questions. Enter each week and correct answers will get those points-one guess per person per week. The reader with the most points after June's final column will get a $50 Starbucks Gift Card. Ties will be placed into a drawing. Tell your friends and sports fans who like trivia. We will keep track of your points. - YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Name the four switch-hitters who played for the 1965 Los Angeles Dodgers? TOTAL 10 POINTS

August 8th, 1965 is a day every ballplayer dreams of and every ballplayer dreads. It's when one team so blasted the other they could only hope to go home early. The game started harmlessly enough with the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers going 1-2-3 against Jim Maloney and the Cincinnati Reds. When the Reds came to bat it was obviously going to be a rough day for Don Drysdale.

Tommy Harper started it off with a bunt single and rode home on a Pete Rose double. Before the inning was over, Drysdale walked a batter, followed by an error, a flyball and an error. It was 4-0 Reds. After another perfect inning the Reds went up 6-0 after Drysdale hit Tommy Harper and Vada Pinson and Gordy Coleman got hits to drive in more.

Los Angeles finally got a man on based and wasted a triple by Wes Parker in the third but the Reds continued to pound out the hits with another run. This time it was Jim Brewer. Drysdale was long gone. Before the contest was over Pinson, Rose and Harper had homered and Maloney was masterful. He allowed just four hits, four walks and pitched a 12-0 shutout. It should be noted this was a Dodger club which won the pennant and went on to beat the Twins in the World Series. 

It was not because of their hitting however, with the likes of Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and Claude Osteen on the hill. On this day however, they were the inferior team.

TRIVIA CONTEST; 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 the end of the calendar year based on the total points acquired via weekly contests.

                              brillpro@gmail.com 
 ==========================================================
I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my Amazon page or at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA.

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my books after reading this column.
  

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.

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Mr. Belvedere Passes On - Just a bit outside

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The answer to our most recent question was Dick and Dick Schofield, father and son who played for the Dodgers at age 32. 50 points toward the person's total

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: You will still be required to enter the drawing as usual. However,  through June 2025 you will get points depending on the complexity of the questions. Enter each week and correct answers will get those points-one guess per person per week. The reader with the most points after June's final column will get a $50 Starbucks Gift Card. Ties will be placed into a drawing. Tell your friends and sports fans who like trivia. We will keep track of your points. - YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Name the four players who played catcher and were part of trades involving Bob Uecker (excluding Uecker himself)? TOTAL 20 POINTS

NOTE: While we were safe during the most recent California wildfires, my job as a newscaster in L-A took some precedent over writing a new column. We're back on sked.

Most people loved Bob Uecker and when he passed this journeyman catcher, who was more famous for not playing baseball, was the talk of every baseball conversation. Uke, Bob Uecker was one of the greats. Not on the field but off it.

From his nightclub act where he laughed at his baseball "career," to his tremendous role in Major League the movie, he made people forget Mr. Belvedere. Uecker played George Owens in 118 episodes of the sitcom which ran for five years on ABC, which also starred Christopher Hewett as Lynn Belvedere. He was an English housekeeper who lived with Uecker's family in Pittsburgh. It was not a great sitcom, and Uke was pretty terrible in it. However, maybe it was a training ground.

His comedy act was hilarious and he was in demand on late night TV, such as Carson. He was a hit at functions as a comedian/speaker, but then came Major League. Harry Doyle is one of the most quoted film characters of all time. 

How many times have you, as a sports fan, said "just a bit outside," stretching out that phrase coined by Uke's character, Doyle. Then that great line "Ball eight, Ball Twelve." Hilarious. And he returned in ML 2 to reprise his role.  Where else but in America, can a journeyman low level ballplayer (albeit good defensively) become an international icon on TV and in film, let alone his long broadcast career on radio as one of the most memorable characters in media history.

Bob Uecker was one of a kind and we will miss him. 

TRIVIA CONTEST; 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 the end of the calendar year based on the total points acquired via weekly contests.

                              brillpro@gmail.com 
 ==========================================================
I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my Amazon page or at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA.

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my books after reading this column.
  

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.

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Dick McAuliffe - the Spark Plug of 68

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The answer to last weeks question was that in my youth baseball days I played for the following five teams; Cubs, Cardiinals, Indians, White Sox and Beckman Motors. The others were real teams but I never got to play for them. Kudos to those of you who read my book and learned of at least two of the teams I played for and of course the book cover above shows me in a White Sox uniform. No one got more than three and the annual winner of the $50 Starbucks Gift Card for garnering the most points is Tim Fealy of Punta Gorda, Florida, who finished with 915 points. Congrats to Tim. Runners up and in contention were Ken Levansoure 835, Dave Rolfes 755, and Scott Hitchcox 760. We start all over again this week with the contest ending June 30, 2025The Prize: 50 points toward the person's total

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: You will still be required to enter the drawing as usual. However,  through June 2025 you will get points depending on the complexity of the questions. Enter each week and correct answers will get those points-one guess per person per week. The reader with the most points after June's final column will get a $50 Starbucks Gift Card. Ties will be placed into a drawing. Tell your friends and sports fans who like trivia. We will keep track of your points. - YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  This is the first new question of 2025. At age 32, this father and son played for the same NL franchise (although in different decades) and played a combined 93 games between them for that franchise during their age 32 year. Who were they? TOTAL 50 POINTS

The 1968 Detroit Tigers were a pretty amazing bunch. Of the top seven players who received MVP votes that season, four of them were Tigers. While 31 game winner Denny McClain got 20 First Place votes to walk away with the prize, Bill Freehan, his catcher was second and both Willie Horton and Dick McAuliffe were there as well. In the top 25 were Norm Cash, Mickey Stanley and Jim Northrup. Surprisingly, Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline did not receive the votes.

McAuliffe, the second sacker only hit .249 but was the lead-off catalyst for much of the season. The open stance was extreme but he played in 151 games and led the league in Runs Scored with 95. His 50 Extra Base Hits were key including 16 home runs. He was a force to be reckoned with.

In the second game of the season he homered off the Red Sox Jose Santiago. 

More importantly for the Tigers, McAuliffe, who batted at the top or second in the order he had an amazing statistic and a powerful one. In 570 AB's he did not hit into a double play, not one. He always kept the inning going and when you are followed by the likes of Kaline, Cash, Freehan, Northrup and Horton, staying on base and not giving up a second out meant runs, runs and more runs.

He would have better years but none as important. Take 1966 for instance. He hit .274 with 23 homers and 83 runs scored. His WAR was an amazing 6.0, the best of his career. On that 1968 club however there were five players with a WAR above 5 and McAuliffe was one of them. McLain was off the charts at 7.4 and Freehan was right behind him at 6.9. 

McAuliffe died in 2016 at the age of 76. He still lives in the hearts of Tiger fans.

TRIVIA CONTEST; 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 the end of the calendar year based on the total points acquired via weekly contests.

                              brillpro@gmail.com 
 ==========================================================
I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my Amazon page or at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA.

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Thank you to those of you who purchased my books after reading this column.
  

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.