The last month of the Longball League regular season is here! Who will shine down the stretch and make the playoffs? Only time will tell.
Roster Moves
The Invisible Hands, San Pedro Sea Monkeys and AngelSox all dropped A. Pujols LAA due to injury.
The Invisible Hands and the AngelSox replaced Pujols with P. Goldschmidt ARI. The San Pedro Sea Monkeys replaced him with C. Davis BAL.
Who's Hot/Who's Not This Week:
Hot
Hitters: The Braves Brian McCann had a 3 HR 9RBI week.
Pitchers: Pittsburgh's Francisco Liriano won two games, and struck out 14 with an ERA 0.64
Not
Hitters: A-Rod. He's not gonna be hot for awhile.
Pitchers: The Angels Bullpen, they've picked up 4 blown saves this week.
This Week's Three Trivial Things
1. It would have been cool. If the Pirates had pulled off a five game series sweep over the Cardinals it would have been the first time the Cardinals had been swept in a five game series since 1916.
2. There was a pair of 15s on Sunday for two teams. The Indians picked up their 15th shutout of the season with a 2-0 win over the Marlins while the Cardinals got their 15 with a 15-2 win over the Reds.
3.
Cool Baseball Card of the Week: 1974 Topps #250B Willie McCovey
Back in late 1973, it looked like the San Diego Padres were going to be sold to a Washington D.C. area group that would move the team to nation's capital. That left the folks at Topps with a dilemma. Do they print the 1974 set with the players in Padres uniforms and just leave it as San Diego on the cards, or do they try to announce a rumored franchise move? Well, they did both, sort of. 13 of the cards featuring Padres players were also printed with a WASHINGTON "NAT'L LEA" designation where the team name should be on the card. Here's the version featuring Wille McCovey.
Well, the Padres were sold and stayed in San Diego which makes these variations a fun look at baseball history. The variations aren't that expensive to acquire with the McCovey topping out at around 30 bucks. However, I can't help to think how expensive a WASHINGTON "NAT'L LEA" variation would have been on card #456. #456 is Dave Winfield's rookie card.
Until next time folks, remember that August is an exciting month in the Longball League.
-The Commissioner
