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Showing posts with label Baltimore Orioles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baltimore Orioles. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 1, 2020

UECKER For the Hall - OOPS he's already there!


                   FOR MORE GENERAL TRIVIA CHECK OUT MY YouTube Channel ! 

 TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Rich Klein of Plano, TX who correctly identified Daryl Patterson and Pat Dobson as the two players who led the Detroit Tigers in Saves in their 1968 Championship Season. The Prize this week: Starbucks Gift Card.


NEW TRIVIA CONTEST:  IF YOU ANSWER THE TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU WILL BE 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 WE CAN SEND YOUR GIFT IF YOU WIN.

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TRIVIA QUESTION: When the Braves traded for Bob Uecker during the 1967 season, which player did they send to Philadelphia for the future Hall of Fame broadcaster?. 
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: Daryl Patterson and Pat Dobson were the two Detroit pitchers who led the Tigers in Saves in 1968.

Bob Uecker would never make the Hall of Fame for his playing days, he never managed and he certainly wasn't an executive contributor. For his "contributions," the elevation and the "fun" of baseball he certainly should be. Besides that, the lifetime part time, .200 hitting catcher who holds the dubious distinction of being in the Top 10 all time for Passed Balls in a season despite only playing 76 games, Bob Uecker homered off of Hall of Famer, Sandy Koufax.

In his later days as a broadcaster (which is why he is in the Hall), comedian, and ambassador as Mr. Baseball, Uecker often joked the homer he hit off Koufax that day could have kept the Dodger Ace out of the Hall of Fame. Not likely, but as one of the 14 home runs Uke hit in his career, it was an important one, if only for a day.

It was a beautiful and balmy July 24th evening game in 1965 when the St. Louis Cardinals invaded Dodger Stadium. The Cards were a .500 club, the Dodgers were a game up in first place in the National League. L-A's best pitcher was on the mound facing Ray Sadecki in a battle of lefties. The house was nearly full with a pair shy of 49,000 fans in attendance. It was Dodger baseball at its best. 


A pair of sacrifice flies by Lou Johnson and Ron Fairly gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead into the fifth. With two out in the fifth, Uecker approached the plate as he always did knowing he was unlikely going to get a hit. Add the blazing Koufax on the mound and Uke figured a third out was a sure bet. He couldn't have even felt bad if the Dodgers walked off the field (ala Satchel Paige) and let Koufax do it all on his own. That didn't happen, but what did happen was pure magic.

Uecker found a pitch to his liking, or maybe Koufax let one slip (nah, for fun's sake we'll let Uecker play Super Man here). Uecker took Sandy deep to left and outta here for a home run. As Uecker rounded the bases he was probably in more shock than anyone of the 48,998 fans in the park. The score was now 2-1. 

Curt Flood would later hit a sac fly to tie it up and after nine it was still tied 2-2. Don Drysdale pinch hit for Koufax and Ron Perranoski came in to pitch the 10th. A muffed fly ball by centerfielder Willie Davis brought home the unearned run and the Cards went on to win 3-2 in 10 innings. 

As it figured Uecker's home run was the only hit which drove in a run in the entire game. Three sacrifice fly balls and an error on another fly ball confirmed the other runs scored. A moment of "greatness" for Uecker? Sure why not. Although the year before he did get two hits off Koufax in a game, so maybe he had Sandy's number. Nah. 


That milestone for Passed Balls? In 1967 he caught 59 games for Atlanta and allowed 10 Passed Balls. It can be argued he was the catcher for Phil Niekro and his knuckleball. He often joked
the best way to catch a knuckleball was to wait until it stopped rolling and pick it up. That season he was traded to the Braves by Philadelphia and finished the season with 76 games played and a league leading 27 Passed Balls!

For the record Uecker hit .200 lifetime, 14 homers, 74 RBI with his best season being 1966 with Philadelphia. He only hit .208 but drove in 30 runs (almost half his lifetime total and whacked 7 of his 14 career homers. And he fielded one of his best seasons .985 allowing only four Passed Balls. Unfortunatley he only threw out 12 of 44 base runners for a miserable 27%. It wasn't his worst in that category either.

 And YES -- He still belongs in the Hall and it is a show of the best of humanity that he IS in Baseball's Shrine.

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 each week based on correct answers with the odds being based on the number of correct entries.  Please cut and paste or enter the following email into your email system.
                             SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com  
 ==========================================================
Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book "Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties"  for $15 Shipping Included 
 
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 book after reading this column. 
 

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Brooks the Iron Man



FOR MORE GENERAL TRIVIA CHECK OUT MY YouTube Channel !
 
TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Steven Tighe of Bridgeville, PA, who correctly identified Lew Krause as the Oakland A's pitcher to start the very first A's home game in Oakland April 17, 1968. The Prize this week: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST:  IF YOU ANSWER THE TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU WILL BE 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 WE CAN SEND YOUR GIFT IF YOU WIN.
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TRIVIA QUESTION: In what year did Brooks Robinson win the MVP of the Major League All-star game? 
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The Oakland A's pitcher who started the A's first home game in the bay area was Lew Krause. The A's opened at home in game six on April 17th, losing to Baltimore and Dave McNally 4-1
. They also lost their Road opener to Baltimore on April 10, 3-1

The fact Brooks Robinson was destined to be a Hall of Famer, is a well known fact. Few doubt he is among the best fielding third basemen ever. He was a clutch hitter and a team leader. Four times in his career he either hit above .300 or flirted with it. Six times he cranked at least 20 homers in a season in an era where 20 was considered an accomplishment. What you may not realize is that he was truly an iron man.
                         
(Brooks and Frank in the 1966 World Series)
From 1961-1968 he played in every single game of the season in four of the eight years. In 1963 he played in 161 of the 162. All five times he either led or tied for the league lead in games played. In two of those years he played in 163 games when the schedule called for 162. That in itself may be a record.

In 1961 he led the AL in at bats with 668 while in 1964 he led the league in RBI with 118. It was  his finest season batting .317 and banging 28 homers. All three were career highs. For his efforts he was voted the American League's Most Valuable Player. The team finished over .500 but fourth in the AL, 18.5 games behind the Yankees.
When 1966 rolled around and he was teamed with Frank Robinson under Hank Bauer, there was no stopping the Birds. The first World Series against the Dodgers showed complete dominance over a very strong Dodger club.

For all his cat like reactions on the field he left all of that behind on the base paths. Not built for speed he owns the record he wished he did not; hitting into four triple plays in a career, two in one season. Twice he led the league in double plays grounded into. No one said he could run, but he could field, oh how he could field. The 1970 World Series, won by the Orioles over the Reds was a Robinson clinic on fielding.

If ever there was any doubt he belonged at the top of the fielding charts for third basemen, they were erased in that series.

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 each week based on correct answers with the odds being based on the number of correct entries.  Please cut and paste or enter the following email into your email system.
                             SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com  
 ==========================================================
Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book "Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties"  for $15 Shipping Included 
 
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 book after reading this column.