Week 20

Hey All, seven days are all that's left in the regular season for the Longball League.  Several teams are still in the hunt for the playoffs in a race that will come down to the wire.

Roster Moves

8/24/2012
Invisible Hands drop Miguel Cabrera (DET) and pickup Jose Bautista (TOR)


In honor of the Dodgers-Red Sox deal, trades will be the focus of:
This Week's Three Trivial Things...

1. One of the worst trades in MLB history occurred on July 23, 1910.  The Philadelphia A's sent 2B/3B Morrie Rath and a player to be named later to the Cleveland Naps for OF Bris Lord.  The player to be named later was sent to Cleveland a week later. That player was Shoeless Joe Jackson.  The A's gave up on Jackson after just using him in 10 games over two seasons.

2. Catcher Harry Chiti spent 10 seasons in the major leagues. At the end of his career he was traded from Detroit to the expansion New York Mets in 1962. Chiti was traded for a player to be named later.  Chiti underwhelmed the Mets so much that they returned him to Detroit to fulfill the terms of the trade.  That makes Chiti the first player in MLB history to be traded for himself.  

3. He had 3,000 hits and was traded for a dinner.  This happened to Dave Winfield.  In 1994, Winfield was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later. However, before he could don an Indians uniform, the players went on strike and the rest of the season was cancelled.  The Indians never sent a player to Minnesota as Winfield's contract expired at the end of the season.  So, to settle the debt, the Twins front office staff took the Indians front office staff out to dinner to complete the deal.  Winfield would play for the Tribe in 1995, but it was under a new contract.

Baseball Card of the Week

In honor of his one-man deal, Harry Chiti gets a spot in the blog.  Here's a look at Harry's 1960 Topps card #339.

Until next week folks, remember the trade that brought Vernon Wells to the Angels may go down as one of the worst in MLB history.

-The Commissioner

Week 19

Hey All,

Wow, it is time to do some scoreboard watching.  The regular season for the Longball League is almost over.  Wasn't spring training just yesterday?

Roster Moves
8/13/12

Anadods: Dropped Carlos Gonzalez (COL), added Miguel Cabrera (DET)

This Week's Three Trivial Things: Perfect Game Edition

1. Felix Hernandez hurled the first perfect game in Seattle Mariner history last Wednesday, throwing nine perfect blanks for a 1-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was just the 23rd perfect game ever thrown in the history of Major League Baseball.

2. Hernandez's perfecto is the third perfect game this season in MLB. That's the most perfect games ever to happen in one MLB season. It's the seventh perfect game have a final score of 1-0.

3. Nobody has thrown two perfect games, but Sandy Koufax almost did. On June 4, 1964 Koufax threw a no-hitter v. the Philadelphia Phillies. What kept it form being a perfect game was that Koufax walked the Phillies' Dick Allen with two outs in the top of fourth inning.  Koufax still faced just the minimum   27 batters because Allen was caught stealing to end the inning.

Baseball Card of the Week

This is a no-brainer, King Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners receives this week's honor.  Here's a look at Felix's 2012 Topps Archives card #153.

Until next week folks remember that you can't buy championships.
-The Commissioner

Week 18

Hey all,

We are just 22 days away from the end of the regular season in the Longball League.  Is your team set up for the stretch drive?  Still have a shot at the playoffs? A lot of teams still do and that's what makes it fun.

Roster Moves
8/6/2012
San Pedro Sea Monkeys drop Josh Hamilton (TEX), pick up Mike Trout (LAA)

8/7/2012
Invisible Hands drop Andrew McCutchen (PIT), pick up Miguel Cabrera (DET)

8/10/2012
San Pedro Sea Monkeys drop Matt Cain (SF), pick up Felix Hernandez (SEA)


This Week's Three Trivial Things

1. I don't ever remember seeing this in a game, but it did happen.  Last Friday night v. the Mariners, Mike Trout of the Angels came to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning.  Trout then hit a deep fly to the right field corner for a sacrifice fly that scored Howie Kendrick from third and Erick Aybar from second while the Mariner defense fell asleep on the play. It went down as a 2-RBI sacrifice fly. So, how rare a play was that?  There have been only five 2-RBI sacrifice flies in the majors in the last 10 seasons, while there have been 38 triple plays recorded over the same timespan.

2. With all the talk about Washington planning to shut down their ace, Stephen Strasburg after 160 innings pitched this season, I couldn't help thinking about how many innings pitchers used to hurl in a season.  Most pitchers from the inception of the professional game through the dead ball era threw an outrageous number of innings, but in the modern era, Wilbur Wood stands out.  Wood pitched primarily for the White Sox.  He was a knuckleballer who from 1971 through 1974 pitched over 300 innings a year, with a career high 376 innings pitched in 1972.

3. The Houston Astros will be moving over to the American League West next year and the division couldn't get a worse team. I got these facts from Jayson Stark's column at ESPN.com. The Astros have gone 4-34 in their last 38 games.  Nobody has been that awful this late in the year since the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (They were an NL club then) went 1-40 in their last 41 games of the season.  hey are an abysmal road team.  The Astros are just 11-46 on the road this season.  Gee, what an awful addtion to the AL West they will be.

Baseball Card of The Week

The Houston Astros are so bad, I thought I'd give this week's honor to their manager Brad Mills.  I'm also thinking Mills gets fired at the end of the season.  He'll be the answer to this trivia question: Who was the last Astros manager before they moved to the American League?  Here's Brad on his 2011 Topps Heritage card. It's #12 in the set.

Until next week folks, remember that this is the home stretch of the season!

-The Comissioner

Week 17

Hey all,

The pennant races are very exciting in the big leagues with many teams still holding post season  aspirations.  That can also be said of the teams in the Longball League.

Roster Moves
None

This week's Three Trivial Things...

1. The Angels' Kendrys Morales blasted two homers in one inning last Monday as the Halos downed the Texas Rangers, 15-8.  Morales became just The 25th man in baseball history to homer twice in one inning. However, if that isn't rare enough of a feat, he became just the third man in baseball history to homer from both sides of the plate in a single inning. The other two men to accomplish this feat were Cleveland's Carlos Baerga in 1993 and the Mark Bellhorn of the Cubs in 2002.

2. The popular theory about the origin of Aluminum bats were that they were invented in the 1960s and then became popular in the 1970s.  Yes, they did find widespread use in the 1970s, but I read an article the other day that at least dates their invention back to the late 1940s.   In an Associated Press article dated September 19th, 1944, Aluminum bats with metal plugs were being made and readied for release by the Light Metals Laboratory at the Washington State College's Schools of Mines (Wazzu). The "Joe Di Maggio model was tested by ballplayers in Spokane to rave reviews according to the article.

3. Did you know that the first ever athlete to appear on a Wheaties Box was baseball player?  It was, and that player was Lou Gehrig. The Iron Horse graced the cover of the cereal box back in 1934.

Baseball Card of the Week

For his great homer feat earlier in the week, the Angels' Kendrys Morales gets the nod.  Here's a look at Kendrys' 2012 Topps Heritage card #79.

 

Until next week folks, remember that Vernon Wells is 0 for 15 with five strikeouts since being activated off the the disabled list by the Angels.

-The Commissioner