Last season when Scott came into a game, Dodger fans held their breath. Their supposed closer had a disastrous season. Signed to a four-year contract, he was not performing like a star reliever. He did manage to log 23 saves on the year. But it was the 10 blown saves that the fans talked about. One disaster after another. He was 1-4 with a 4.74 ERA, a full two runs…
You look at the players who play in the majors now, and some of them a huge physical specimens. Arron Judge, Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, James Wood. All are 6’4″ or taller. Large does not always mean better, but you are more likely to be a power hitter with some size to you. But being small does not mean you cannot excel in the major leagues. Nutrition, exercise, are just part…
#8 on your scorecard, RF, Reggie Smith. Carl Reginald Smith was born on April 2nd, 1945, in Shreveport Louisiana. His dad Lonnie, caught for a single season for the Jacksonville Red Caps, a Negro American League team that folded after one season. Both his father, and his mother, Nellie, were capable musicians. When Reggie was a young child, they relocated to Los Angeles. The neighborhood where they lived was known…
Since the Guggenheim Group took over, the fortunes of the Los Angeles Dodgers have changed significantly. From the beginning, the one thing ownership has consistently said is that they want to field championship caliber teams every year. On that promise, they have delivered. The deal closed to purchase the team on May 1st, 2012. The season was already in progress when they took over, so most of the management team…
He was signed to a $5,000 dollar bonus in the spring of 1952 after being invited to tryout while the Dodgers were in Cincinnati, by scout, Hugh Alexander. His hosts for his weekend were Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe. They treated the wide-eyed 19-year-old to a room service steak. “This is the way I want to live.” he thought. He would later regret not going to college. He was born…
In the Dodgers first ten seasons in Los Angeles, they had 10 different opening day third basemen. Dick Gray opened at 3rd in 58. In 59, Jim Baxes. In order from 60-67, Gilliam, T. Davis, Darryl Spencer, McMullen, Werhas, Kennedy, Lefebvre. The first player in LA history, to start at 3rd on two consecutive opening days was Steve Garvey in 70-71. Grabarkewitz, and McMullen opened there before Cey began his…
Many years ago, 1973 in fact, when the Mets were fighting the Cubs for the division title, a fan showed up with a sign that said “You gotta believe” The phrase itself was coined by Mets reliever, Tug McGraw. Fans picked up on it, and it was seen throughout their run to the World Championship. Dodger fans rarely have used catch phrases when the team is gunning for a championship….
Hitting for the cycle happens at about the same rate as no-hitters. Although with pitch counts the way they are, it is going to take a special effort by a starter to notch a no-hitter. Many of the cycles in baseball, are not accomplished by power hitters. There have been to date, 349 times. 42 of those were done before 1900. The first one occurred on June 14th, 1876. The…
Combinations of brothers in major league baseball are pretty rare. But there have been several cases over the year. Brothers on the same team are much rarer. There have been 461 sets of brothers play in the majors. Some have pretty famous last names, others, not so much. One page I read did mis-identify Barry and Bobby Bonds as brothers when they are actually father-son. The record for most home…
At a very early age, I loved to read. When I began to love the game of baseball, I read every book in the school library I possibly could on the subject. Some were novels about the game like John R. Tunis’s series about the Brooklyn Dodgers. Others were biography’s written specifically for young kids. One of the first I read was about Lou Gehrig. No, I never got to…