August 10- Philadelphia Phillies

From May 10^th to May 30th I cataloged and wrote about all of the 2012 Major League Baseball Stars and Stripes New Era caps I was able to get my hands on in honor of the men and women who served their country in the United States military and the ties they have to each team I wrote about. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find all 30 teams, but I did promise to continue on as I was able to track down each of the remaining teams. Lucky for me, a few of the teams were issued multiple caps which all corresponded with how many game caps each team used on the field. This would explain why I wrote two posts on the Oakland Athletics on May 21^st and May 30^th. Nonetheless, my original plan was to buy all of them because I loved the concept so much; however, with time being a years removed from when they were worn I’ll be lucky if I’m able to find the remaining teams. As it stands I have nine teams left to go: San Diego Padres, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals, Minnesota Twins, Los Angeles Angels and the Chicago White Sox. There’s no telling when or if I’ll be able to find them, but the hunt and the stories that follow will be more than worth it.

You can go ahead and file this story under one of the more unusual, yet tragic stories that I have written about. Unusual in the sense that one man’s life path had so many close calls, but tragic because so many lives were lost along the way. Some of you may know this story, but I assure you I will do my best not to screw it up. I have my good friend Jason Cobb (@JasonMCobb) to thank for bringing it to my attention as my mind was really more focused on finding this Philadelphia Phillies cap as opposed to any good stories surrounding it. It was near the end of May when it was brought to my attention, right around the time when I was wrapping up on my Memorial Day posts. Jason had asked when teams I had upcoming as he is an avid reader of my blog. I rattled off the few caps I had and he asked if I had ever heard of Jack “Lucky” Lohrke. The name rung a bell, but I could put my finger on why. He then asked if I had a Phillies cap on order to which I said no. “That’s too bad,” he said. “If you get one you have to do a story on this guy,” he followed. I was intrigued. Jason has always been good about dropping some serious baseball knowledge on me and he would be the only person I’d humbly admit to knowing way more about the game than me. It was kind of a slow day at work so I was able to get a pretty thorough story before I went home and conducted my own investigation.

.190/0/1- Jack Wayne Lohrke was born Feb. 25, 1924, in Los Angeles, the second of three sons of John and Marguerite Lohrke. His father was employed by Fluor Corp, a global engineering and construction firm. Jack attended South Gate High School in LA where he dominated on the school’s baseball team. By the time he graduated (1942) he was playing semi-pro ball. His first minor league team was the Padres, but he played only seven games for them before joining a minor-league team in Twin Falls, Idaho, the Cowboys, a then-affiliate of the New York Yankees in the Pioneer Baseball League. He was named Twin Falls' most valuable player during his first year and met his future wife, Marie, who was the sister of another player. But, like a lot of his colleagues, when the time came to serve their country, Lohrke was not one to hesitate as he enlisted with the National Guard. Lohrke would soon find himself within the company of the 35th Infantry Division.

Lohrke was sent to train in San Luis Obispo, California. One day while riding on a train through California to ship off to war, the train Lohrke was on jumped off the tracks, killing three people around him while many more were severely burned by steaming water that rushed through the train car. Lohrke walked away without a scratch like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. As a member of the 35th Infantry Division, he fought in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, one of the costliest of human lives. On four separate occasions solders on both sides of him were killed in combat, yet he emerged unscathed. In 1945 Lohrke had fulfilled his duties and he was sent back to the States. Lohrke's good fortune continued when he returned to the US. A colonel had bumped him at the last moment from the passenger list of a military transport plane that was scheduled to fly from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey to his home in Los Angeles. Less than an hour after the plane took off it crashed in Ohio, killing everyone on board.

After the war, and following his transition back to civilian life, Lohrke resumed his baseball career. The summer of 1946 found him playing for the Class B Spokane Indians of the Western International League. On June 24, 1946, Lohrke was a passenger on the team bus carrying the team as it traveled toward Bremerton, Washington, to begin a road trip. At the time, Lohrke was the team's third baseman and was batting .345 in 229 at bats. His performance had earned him a promotion to the AAA Pacific Coast League's San Diego Padres but the team was unable to contact him as he was in transit between cities. The Indians’ business manager contacted the police along the route and asked that they relay the message to Lohrke, which they did when the team stopped for dinner. Lohrke, under orders to report immediately to the Padres, removed his gear from the bus, said goodbye to his teammates, and hitched rides back to Spokane. Later that evening, the team bus broke through a guard rail on a mountain pass, plunged down a hill, and crashed. Of the 15 players on it, nine were killed, including player/manager Mel Cole. The six survivors were badly injured.

"When the bus took off . . . I bummed a ride back to Spokane," Lohrke said in a 1990 interview with the Los Angeles Times.. "When I got there I found out both of my roommates had been killed." Although he was accustomed to being lucky, Lohrke said, war had conditioned him to deal with disaster. "Having been in combat, what's going to shock you?" Lohrke said in 1990. "I'm a fatalist. I believe the old song, that whatever will be will be."

From the time he joined the Padres after the accident, Lohrke was called, for obvious reasons, "Lucky"-Lucky Lohrke, the ballplayer who got off the bus in the nick of time, the soldier bumped from the plane that crashed. The name stuck. Who else, after all, had more right to be called Lucky? He's in the Baseball Encyclopedia that way: Lucky Lohrke. An amiable man, he lived with the nickname, but he never liked it, never wanted to be reminded of how close he had come to riding that bus into oblivion. But what could he do about it? –Sports Illustrated 1994

Lohrke played for seven years in the Majors, five of which came with the New York Giants from 1947-1951. From 1952-1953 he played in 37 games over two years with the Phillies, amassing a .190 average zero home runs and only one run batted-in. Lohrke’s time with the Giants was definitely more worthy of note (.244/22/95), but I already wrote about them.

After retiring from baseball in 1958, Lohrke worked in security for the Lockheed Missile and Space Co. in Sunnyvale, California and a few other companies all while living in San Jose. In April of 2009 Lohrke passed away, two days after suffering a stroke at the age of 85. Any bit of the legacy that he left behind is carried out in the few interviews he game to whomever came calling. Most notably, he lived and died by a quote he told Sports Illustrated in 1994 for a story headlined: "O Lucky Man" about the nickname he had bestowed upon him. He was known to have an aversion to storytelling or bragging about anything from his past. "My father didn't want heroes in our family." "When you're the age I was back then, you haven't got a worry in the world. You're playing ball because you want to play-and they're giving you money to do it. And then...well, sometimes those names spring back at me. I'll tell you this: Nobody outside of baseball calls me Lucky Lohrke these days. I may have been lucky, but the name is Jack. Jack Lohrke."

May 30- Oakland Athletics

I’ve finally come to the end of this journey, but I assure that this will not be my final Stars and Stripes post. I still have a few more teams to go, but I still need to track them down. Some day soon I’m sure it will all come together.

This was the first and only hat of the 2012 Stars and Stripes collection I ever intended on picking up. I bought it a few days before Father’s Day when I was hanging out and catching up with my friend Jason at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) in Clackamas. I was originally going to scoop it up while I was in New York during my time in the MLB Fan Cave, but unfortunately there was a “disagreement” between the powers that be and myself over retaining my employment. Basically, I wanted to keep my job, but they felt the exact opposite. It happens.

Actually, due to the fact that it’s an Oakland Athletics hat, they were pretty much non-existent throughout New York City. I had popped over the New Era Flagship store a few times as they were being released, but they had the New York Yankees, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox in stock. The Red Sox one was really weird for them to have, but then again I’m sure they sell. The Lids Web site had all three color variations of the cap, but for some reason I didn’t buy any of them there either. Actually, to be honest, the main reason I started collecting of these specific models is because of something I touched on in my post from May 20^th about the Atlanta Braves. 10 of the hats I picked up were being clearanced out for the price of 2 for $22. At that moment the only thing that mattered was that they were worn on the field at some point and I had no reason to not pull the trigger. It is my one rule (which I bend a few times) of my New Era collection, every hat must have been used on the field. There just isn’t that much history that can be drawn out of a custom cap… well, maybe one custom cap, but that’ll be kept a secret until later in the year.

Sorry to break off in a weird tangent, just had to bring everyone else up to speed. Anyway, this was the only color that any of the Just Sports stores had in stock. Since I was able to actually touch it and try it on I didn’t really have any reason to not buy it. It was also within this purchase that I bought my stepfather’s Los Angeles Dodgers cap for Father’s Day as well. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone, I always say.

The second I got home I absconded into my bedroom to do a bit of research and hat marking for this cap. It was interesting to see so many players from the turn of the century who had gone to war during the Connie Mack era, but none of them really seemed to fit my mold of an interesting story. So I combed along, changing my keywords and parameters until I came across one player, buuuuuuut… I’ll get to that in a moment. Sorry, I segued myself to the end a little too fast there. Sorry.

Since 1971, the Athletics third season in Oakland, they’ve gone 21-18 on Memorial Day with five days missed due to travel or off days, the most of any team I’ve written about. I found a feeeeeewww patters within their record, but something that could easily be refuted. In 1971 the Athletics played the Yankees in a double header. They lost the first game, but won the second. In 1972 they played they Texas Rangers in a double dip, winning both games as well as the World Series that season. In 1973 they beat the Yankees and went on to win the World Series that year as well. In 1974 the Athletics played and beat the Detroit Tigers and then went on to win the World Series for a third time. Now, up until this point anytime the Athletics beat a team twice on Memorial Day they went on to win the World Series; however, they only beat the Tigers once. Well, upon further research I found out that the Athletics beat the Tigers the next time they played… in 1977. The Athletics won every game leading up to the game as well. After that, everything falls apart. The Athletics beat the Kansas City Royals twice in 1976 and 1980, but no trophy. In 1985 the Athletics beat the Yankees once again and then followed that up with another victory in 1988, but they lost the World Series that year to the Dodgers. But not 1989. Basically, all these little facts and numbers really don’t mean anything other than what the writer (me) can spin out of the information. I thought this bit of history was fun to break down on a more unorthodox level.

Now, onto the marks.

19-’49: Leland V “Lou” Brissie was born on June 5, 1924 in Anderson, South Carolina. He didn’t play baseball in high school but played, instead, in the local textile league with the ware Shoals mill team. On the day he graduated from Ware Shoals High School, Athletics’ manager, Connie Mack, signed him to a professional contract and agreed to send the 6-foot 4-inch southpaw to Presbyterian College for three years.

Brissie was scheduled to report to the Athletics for spring training in 1943, but enlisted with the Army in December 1942. “I lost a brother in the war so I enlisted in the service,” Brissie explained. Brissie began basic training on March 25, 1943, and was stationed at Camp Croft, South Carolina. In June 1944, he pitched for the Monaghan semi-pro textile team of Greenville. Brissie struck out 22 of the Easley mill team batters in the contest but lost, 1-0, on a home run. The week before, pitching for Camp Croft against the Greenville Army Air Base Jay Birds, he struck out 19.

Later that year, Corporal Brissie was sent to Italy with the 88^th Infantry Division. He served as a squad leader with G Company of the 351^st Infantry Regiment. On December 7, 1944, Brissie's squad was hit by a fierce artillery attack in the Apennine Mountains in northern Italy. "Our unit suffered over 90 percent casualties," Brissie said. "Within minutes we lost three of our four officers as well as eight other men in the barrage," he recalled. Brissie was badly hit. His left shinbone was shattered in more than 30 pieces and his left ankle and right foot were broken. He had to crawl for cover through the mud and then lay there unconscious until he was found hours later. Brissie was rushed to a field hospital where his leg should have been amputated, but somehow he was able to persuade the doctors to ship him to an evacuation hospital where the limb might be saved. He was finally sent to a military hospital in Naples where Captain Wilbur Brubaker set about saving the young soldier’s leg. “Captain Brubaker did a marvelous job,” Brissie told sportswriter Joe O’Loughlin in 2005. “Once he operated on me, I didn’t wonder if I could make it back to pitch but how I could do it. I felt like the good Lord put Dr. Brubaker in my life. I really felt that God put me on the path that took me to all those hospitals over that three-day period to get me to someone who could help me.”

Brissie went through a total of 23 operations and 40 blood transfusions on the road to recovery. “They had to reconstruct my leg with wire,” he explains. “I wound up going to hospitals all over. I was the first guy in the Mediterranean Theater who was put on penicillin therapy.” During that time, Brissie received a letter from Connie Mack who said that when Brissie was ready to play ball he would see to it that he would get the chance. Brissie never wavered from his vision of pitching in the majors. “I’ll play ball again,” he told Scoop Latimer, sports editor of the Greenville News, “but it will be quite a while. I want to play ball. If God lets me, I’ll play it, too. That’s my ambition.”

In 1945, still on crutches and with a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts to his name, Brissie went to Philadelphia to see Mack. But at that time he was not ready to play. “Determination can do it,” Mack told reporters. "I know he'll make good. I'll never forget how he looked last summer, he had just undergone an operation and was about to undergo another one. He was on crutches and I thought ‘poor boy, he'll never be able to pitch again.'” But crutches and all, Brissie could not stay away from baseball. Although he suffered a re-infection of the leg in 1946, he received a contract from Mack for 1947.

He reported to the Savannah Indians of the South Atlantic League and went on to win 23 games that year with an incredible 1.19 ERA. "Brissie has had only one year of organized baseball,” Mack told the press. “But he has tremendous speed and a lot of stuff." 

On September 28, with his leg in a specially designed brace, Brissie was on the mound for the Philadelphia Athletics in his major league debut, donning the #17. Facing the Yankees in their last game of the season, the lefthander went seven innings and struck out four against Bill Wight in the 5-3 loss. "It was a great day," Brissie later recalled. "I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I lost the game, but it was still a great experience."

Brissie returned with the Athletics for the 1948 season and changed his jersey to #19, posting a 14-10 record with a 4.13 ERA and 127 strikeouts, as Mack’s team finished a surprising fourth in the American League. Brissie finished in fourth place for the AL Rookie of the Year award and 24^th place for the AL MVP. In 1949, he went 16-11 with 4.28 ERA and 118 strikeouts. ’49 would also be the year he’d make an appearance in an All-Star Game. He pitched three innings, giving up a few runs including a home run to Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth inning. Regardless, the American League won the game 11-7.

Brissie pitched for the Athletics until the middle of 1951 when he was traded to the Cleveland Indians, where he’d stick it out until the end of the 1953 season.

#30/36 On July 23, 1939 an unknown Athletics player named Harry O’Neill was brought into the game as a defensive substitution at catcher for every day guy Franklin Hayes. The two innings he’d end up recording were the only six outs he’d ever make in his professional career. He never had an at-bat; he also never had a consistent jersey number for the few games he saw from the bench, #30 and #36.

O'Neill distinguished himself as a very gifted college athlete. At Gettysburg College, the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder sometimes called "Porkie," led the school's baseball, football and basketball teams to league championships. After graduation, he was the subject of a bidding war between two American League teams, eventually signing with his hometown A's. After spending two years in the minor leagues, O'Neill enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942, and rose to the rank of first lieutenant with the 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division. Fighting in Saipan, he was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel, treated for weeks back in the U.S. Soon after, he was shipped back to the Pacific to Iwo Jima, where he was killed by a sniper. O’Neill has the unfortunate distinction of being one of two MLB players to be killed during the war. In 1980, Harry M. O'Neill was inducted into Gettysburg College's Hall of Athletic Honor for baseball, football and basketball.

May 21- Oakland Athletics

I should first point out that this is the one, and hopefully, only post that I’ll be writing in which I don’t actually own the cap. This Oakland Athletics cap is one of two that I’ve been trying to track down since last season with very little luck; however, it is one that I really wanted to write about so I was lucky to find someone who owned it.

This last weekend I was fortunate enough to travel down to Oakland for the Athletics’ three-game series versus the Kansas City Royals. For the last two years my friends Anson Casanares (@AnsonCasanares), Omar Gonzalez (@OmarInTheOF), Charlie Fernandez (@CharliesTheorys), James Sanos (@EastBay_Sports), Ross Retzler (@roscoe), Will MacNeil (@RFWill149), Jorge Leon (@Jorgeleon17), Quintona Branch (@Wiggi_Marley), Samuel Ligosky (@samligosky) Drew Martin (@DrewMartin6), (@TonyTwo_Tone), Andy Cho (@RFDrummer149), Dennis Biles (@Denny149), Spencer Mills, (@Sniff009), (@Lopsided50), Michael Dehl (@Dehlman1), Will Schlies and anyone else who I may have forgotten have been the official pioneers of Bacon Tuesday at the Oakland Coliseum. For those who don’t know, Bacon Tuesday started on Monday September 5, 2011. One long-standing traditions of right field is a healthy dose of banter between the crew and whomever is playing right field for the rival team. On this particular night Jeff Francoeur was the “victim.” Throughout the game jibber-jabber was exchanged back-and-forth between each party until the topic of bacon was brought up. Francoeur, a bacon lover himself, joined in with much enthusiasm. The Royals ended up winning the game 6-11, but the loss didn’t sway the attitude amongst the right field faithful. Instead, they got creative. On Tuesday the gang of roustabouts I mentioned above gathered before the game equipped with bacon-related delights. The Coliseum is one of the few places where outside food is allowed into the stadium so the right field gang packed what they could carry to enjoy during the game. After the A’s lost again 7-4 the gang met up with Frenchy over by the Royals dugout after for chatter, photos and autographs. At the end of the meet and greet Frenchy told them he’d have a surprise for them the next day, but nothing else was said beyond that to give a hint as to what it might be. Basically, everything I just tried to describe is painted more colorfully with this video: Bacon Tuesday!!!

On Wednesday the right field faithful showed up as they do to every other regular season home game awaiting their surprise. During warm-ups Frenchy called to the crowd and tossed a baseball up: Frenchy Gifts!!! It’s one thing to toss an autographed ball up; it’s a completely different thing to strap a $100 bill (which has still yet to be spent) around it for drinks on the house, a true class gesture. 

Now, I wasn’t there for either of the first two games, nor did I know any of the guys at the time, but I was in the house for the third game of that series which resulted in a 7-0 victory for Guillermo Moscoso and the Athletics. Sadly, it would be another few months before I even knew about Bacon Tuesday, but the timing on my new discovery was met with perfect timing.

During my MLB Fan Cave campaign I came across all of the videos posted to YouTube, as I’m showing you now, about Bacon Tuesday. At the time I didn’t really know much of what was going on with the fans at the Coliseum and I wanted to make some new friends, who in my opinion were way more deserving of being in the Fan Cave as the Athletics representative than myself. Nothing against myself, I think I’ve done a pretty solid job, but at the same time I can’t say that I’ve been there for as many games as any of these guys. They inspire me to be a bigger and better fan. We of course all clicked instantly; passing jokes back-and-forth to one another, cheering on our boys in green and gold, bust most of all just enjoying the game together… even if we were 3,000 miles apart.

The second Annual Bacon Tuesday was slated for April 10; a dark and dreary day in Oakland, but not for the right filed faithful who went to town on making more bacon-related wares. For this even Omar had made t-shirts for the crowd which he was nice enough to send Ricardo Marquez and me for the game. Sadly, we got them two days later on account of package delivery being rather sucky in New York City. No matter, we were both happy to get them. That night’s game was one of the few to ever get called on account of rain at the Coliseum. The Royals won 3-0 in eight innings, but Frenchy was nice enough to meet up with the gang again after the game: Bacon Tuesday, Part 2: The Revenge

Like the previous season, Frenchy kept to his word and bought Round Table mini pizzas for the crowd... and a little something extra: More Frenchy Gifts. Once again, a gesture that very few would ever do for their own fans, let alone a rival team’s fan base. I couldn’t help but think about how much of a drag it was to be stuck in New York merely watching these events unfold on TV. I knew I had to do something big to repay Omar and the gang for their hospitality, and luckily it came in the form of Frenchy himself. On Tuesday, May 22^nd Bruce Chen, Aaron Crow, Brayan Pena, Billy Butler and of course Frenchy stopped by the Fan Cave before their game against the New York Yankees that night. With two days notice I sent a message to Anson and Omar to make a video for Frenchy’s arrival which they happened to make at the Athletics game the night before his arrival: Message to Frenchy.

Ricardo and I knew it would be a tragedy if we didn’t have bacon for their visit so we both had $20 worth of bacon delivered to the Fan Cave from a café three blocks away. 

With bacon in-hand we showed Frenchy the video the right field crew made and made sure to record one back for them: Message to RF Bleachers.

Three things I need to point out with this video:

1. Notice “the shark” in the background from production crew member Andrew Benestante. I never noticed that until today.

2. I’m wearing the Bacon Tuesday shirt underneath my Royals jersey.

3. Jeff Francoeur stuck to his word.

Getting down to Oakland was a huge priority for me. Any other game this season I could have totally lived with missing, but the Third Annual Bacon Friday (Sponsored by Bacon Tuesday) was one I truly would have regretted had I missed. Unless you follow me on Twitter most of you don’t know how close I was to missing this. Air travel was too expensive and taking the train or bus was way too much of a hassle. Someone had suggested that I hit up Craigslist for a rideshare down to the Bay which I quickly dismissed. Who was to say that I wasn’t going to be murdered and left in a ditch? With my options running short I decided to take the Craigslist route. Oddly enough I was able to lock up a ride in less than an hour with a group of hippies who were heading down for the weekend as well. Plus, it only cost me a tank of gas ($34), I dare you to beat that price. Another thing that I should point out is that I kept selling the idea that I was going to miss out on the event. I really wanted it to be more of a surprise… which I inevitably blew on account that the first tweet I sent when I got to San Francisco had the location tagged on it. Oops! With the cat out of the bag Vanessa Demske (@vdemske) and I headed out Oakland and arrived at the Coliseum around 3:00 PM with beer, pickles, ketchup and mustard in tow. If anything, I really wish I had the money to bring down two dozen bacon maple bars from Voodoo Doughnut. Drat!

It’s pretty amazing what some people can do with bacon and an imagination; the most spectacular of which was the bacon loaf with consisted of a cream cheese core, pork sausage and bacon wrapped around it. Other notables included bacon cup cakes, tacos in which the shell is bacon strips, chicken drumsticks wrapped in bacon, and on and on. There comes a point when you’re eating all of this that you SHOULD worry about your heart exploding, but this day was not that day. 

In keeping with the theme of last season Omar had more shirts made to toast the occasion. Around 5:00 PM the master of ceremonies, Frenchy, made his way into section A4 of the parking lot. Now, I’m still incredibly miffed as I took well over 30 photos and not a single one of them saved to my phone, so everything I have I pilfered from others who were there. Sorry guys. Frenchy made sure to give anyone who asked a photo, sign autographs for the younglings and even take part in a game or two of corn hole and Battle Shots with Sara Dunaway (@BARThaiku). 

For a guy who isn’t even part of our team to be so beloved is really saying a lot.

Anson, Omar and the gang made sure to pack away enough treats for Frenchy and his buddies in the clubhouse, but the really unfortunate part of the day was that he had the day off as David Lough started in his place. Our praises would have to wait until the next night. Before he headed back inside Frenchy did his best to thank everyone individually and even gave a special public service announcement to those who didn’t make it out: A Message from Our Sponsor. With a jovial smile affixed to his face and a box of goodies under his arm he was off. We all went back to business, completely mesmerized by what had just taken place. Just as we were coming down from our high Josh Reddick came out of nowhere and joined in on the fun as well. 

Needless to say, it was a crazy day in the parking lot. Being able to finally be a part of this tradition is one of the biggest highlights of not only being an A’s fan, but for having such incredible, caring friends. It’s a very rare thing for fans to transcend the game and become just as much of a draw as the players, but in right field of the Coliseum it’s just another day at the ballpark.

 On to the hat: I didn’t come across this cap until the end of the third game of the series in which the Athletics were able to get a nice little three-game sweep under their belt. I was finishing up with my round of goodbyes to everyone when fellow Athletics Fan Cave hopeful Taylor Hensely (@TaylorAHensley) popped over to cut it up with us. Taylor had come with her family so we walked back over to the area where they were parked to hang out and chat for a bit. Throughout the conversation I noticed that her younger brother Hunter was running around with this hat on his head. I was a bit gloomy about it considering the fact that he’s actually a San Francisco Giants fan. Either way I snatched it from off of his head and boxed him out as I took photos for this post before handing it back over. He wears a size 7 while I wear a 7 3/8, which will help explain why it’s sitting on my head as awkwardly as it is. The one downside of this is that I wasn’t able to mark any numbers or names on it; however, what’s to stop me from coming up with some ideas in case I am able to track one down ever?

I still have another Athletics Stars and Stripes hat to write about on Memorial Day, so I’ll hold off on writing about their past games and such until then. I think I’ve been blatherskithing on long enough with this post.

TB- On September 2, 1871 Thomas Berry played in one game for the Philadelphia Athletics in the National Association. Berry went 1-4 with a single, but very little is mentioned aside from that about his baseball career.

If you couldn’t tell by the date Berry fought for the North in the US Civil War. This is an excerpt from SABR’s research project about Berry and other men who were enlisted during this time. In 1864, Grant’s army in Virginia had suffered horrendous casualties and Jubal Early’s Confederates were in the middle of a raid that took them to the gates of Washington DC and Baltimore and had even penetrated into southern Pennsylvania. In response, the government issued a call for 100 days’ regiments, most of which came from Pennsylvania and the affected areas. These short-duty volunteers were originally sent to threatened Baltimore, and after that threat subsided they ended up guarding bridges and prisoners, mostly in Pennsylvania and Maryland. The 192nd-197th Pennsylvania volunteer regiments were among the respondents, and they included a disproportionate number of ballplayers, including many members of the Philadelphia Athletics. One of them was Thomas Berry, who enlisted as a 2nd Lieutenant on July 15, 1864, and was commissioned in Company A, 197th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania. He was mustered out on November 11, 1864, in Philadelphia. The ballplayer died in June of 1915 and his wife filed for a widow’s pension the following month. Her application is difficult to read, but appears to list the 197th as one of his regiments, along with another, unreadable one.

April 28- Philadelphia Phillies

I’ve never been that big of a fan of wearing red, so for this post I opted to swallow my pride and suck it up. I should start off first by talking about the shirt I’m wearing. My good friend and former boss at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) Jason Cobb (@MrCobbyCobb) was the mastermind behind this gem. As some of you may remember from my Pittsburgh Pirates post from January 2 I was sporting a sweet “Portland” shirt which featured the same typeface as the Pirates. With this shirt Jason did the same thing but with the Philadelphia Phillies typeface from the 1997-2007 season. I’ve run across a lot of sweet baseball shirts in my days, but these two definitely take the “Awesome Shirt of the Day” award. Now, I realize that I totally made that award up back in February; however, as many of you should know by now, I have yet to steer any of you wrong in this category.

As I mentioned above this hat was used from 1997-2007, but it was only used for interleague games which started during the ’97 season. I have never really been that much of a Phillies fan, but I do give them praise from time-to-time, mostly for the sake of Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, John Kruk, Lenny Dykstra, Chase Utley and the cast of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Outside of those folk I’ve been an ardent smack-talker of the Phillies. Granted I really have no reason to show any angst against them, especially when considering the fact that I’m a die-hard Oakland Athletics fan; however, there have been some moves on the business end of things which have swayed my attitude in this direction. Almost all of it stems from this 11-year time frame.

At the end of the 1996 season the Phillies finished with an atrocious 67-95 record under then managerial journeyman Jim Fregosi. Fregosi’s best season as a manager came in 1993 when the Phillies won 97 and faced off against the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series, a post I went into great detail on February 11. Hoping to the right the ship, they hired rookie manager Terry Francona. Francona had been a manager in the Minor Leagues for the Chicago White Sox. His biggest bit of notoriety came in 1993 when he led the AA Birmingham Barons to Southern League championship. Very few recall that Francona had won the Southern League Manager of the Year award, not to mention that the team had won the championship, as the biggest story to come from that season was the addition of then-retired Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan playing for the team. Francona also managed in the Dominican Winter Leagues from 1995-1996, winning the league championship and the Serie del Caribe that season with the likes of future MLB stars Manny Ramirez, Miguel Tejada and Tony Batista on the squad. The Phillies liked what they saw out of Francona and brought him aboard.

From 1997-2000 Francona never had a season above 77 wins. His 285-363 record was one of the worst in franchise history. Francona obviously carried on bravely after his four-year stint, winning two World Series rings as the skipper for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007, but it’s really hard to look past his humble beginnings. In 2001 the Phillies looked internally for their next skipper, former 1980 World Series champion and shortstop Larry Bowa. Bowa, from my perspective at least, was the catalyst the team needed. From 2001-2003 Bowa went 252-234, finishing second or third in the National League Eastern Division. In 2004 Bowa was fired with two games left in the season, despite the fact that the team finished in second place again with an 85-75 record. Interim manager Gary Varsho went 1-1. Only in Philly can a manager maintain a winning record and get canned. While the move did prove to be successful after hiring Charlie Manuel in 2005, I still don’t particularly agree with it. With the talent coming up through the ranks that Manuel was served Bowa could have easily led the team to their 2008 World Series season as well, if not more.

Now, since this hat was only used for interleague games I decided to keep with the theme. It wasn’t easy, but I was able to pull some numbers which focused primarily through this 11 year range. After combing through the stats for every season, there was one guy who stood out among the pack. And no, it is not Gregg Jefferies, unfortunately.

.318/22/89- Originally a free agent signing by the Houston Astros back in 1990 out of Venezuela, Bobby Abreu was once the toast of Philadelphia or at least from what I saw. From 1998 through the middle of the 2006 season Abreu donned #53 for the Phillies and was one of the most potent pieces to the team’s lineup. In the nine years he played for the Phillies he finished in the Top-27 for the NL MVP five times, the highest of which came in his final full year when he finished 14^th after going .286/24/102, which oddly turned out to be one of the worst years of his career from a batting average perspective. As most people fail to remember Abreu hit .303 while he was in Philly, not to mention the 21 home runs and 90 RBI he averaged per season during those years as well.

What’s even more remarkable was what he was able to accomplish during the 13-18 interleague games per season. It certainly took me a while, but I was remarkably able to pull all of his stats from each of these games and find a career interleague stat total. In only three of the nine years he was with the Phillies Abreu hit below .300, barely. His career interleague average (with the Phillies) is an astonishing .318. On top of that he was able to club 22 of his 195 Phillies home runs during this frame along with 89 of his 814 RBI. Abreu also swiped 32 bags, only getting caught four times. He also walked 113 times and compiled an OPS of .948 during this stretch. Now, the regular season is 162 games long. Abreu played in 148 interleague games during his time with the Phillies. Basically what he was able to accomplish over a handful of games over a nine-year period is the equivalent of what everyone in MLB, let alone in the National Baseball Hall of Fame strive to even come close to hitting for one season of their career. What’s even more frightening is that he’s not even in the Top-10 for best interleague average. The top spot for that goes to Baltimore Oriole Nick Markakis with a .353 average. Abreu only cracked the Top-10 in one interleague category; hits with 275, which is only the fifth best of all-time.

Any way you look it, whether he hit the top spots or not, Abreu came to play every single day. He only won one Silver Slugger award in 2004, made only one All-Star Game appearance the same year and only won one Gold Glove award in 2005, his final full season with the Phillies. He was steadily pushing a possible Hall of Fame bid through 2010, but found himself seeing less time in the field which translated to fewer at-bats. He has 2437 hits for his career in only 17 years of playing. At 39-years-old he probably could have pushed an extra three years out if someone wanted him, but for now he remains a free agent.

March 28- Philadelphia Phillies

I don’t watch a terrible amount of television these days; however, there are a small handful of shows that I couldn’t live without: “The League,” “South Park,” “Justified” and most important “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” If you’re reading this article and you’ve never seen “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” seriously stop reading this right now and go watch all seven seasons immediately. I’m dead serious! You’re not only missing out on one of the most creative and clever shows on television, but you’re also missing out on an essential component of my dynamic.

Believe it or not I’ve seen every episode at least five times; the first through third seasons I’ve plowed through at least 20 times each.  With the exception of “The Simpsons” and maybe the short-lived “Ben Stiller Show,” never has a television program had such a profound impact on my day-to-day life. For example, the last three years of my life were spent schlepping beers and shots at a public house in Eugene, Oregon called Max’s Tavern. The really interesting things about Max’s is that

1.”The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening modeled Moe’s Tavern after Max’s as it was his old drinking hole in college, much like myself.

2. Kaitlin Olson, the actress who plays Sweet Dee Reynolds on “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” also used to drink at Max’s when she went to school at the University of Oregon.

3. I just graduated from the University of Oregon and I drink at Max’s when I’m not working.

Ok, maybe that last part wasn’t interesting at all, but the first two definitely are. Almost every night behind the bar, for me at least, was like channeling Mac, Dennis and Charlie. I didn’t put up with anybody’s crap, I cleaned up after people a lot and I flirted with anything that had boobs. As for the Frank and Sweet Dee traits, I’m a pretty decent businessman and I suppose I do have some bird-like qualities. I mean, my school’s mascot is a duck. But like in the spirit of “It’s Always Sunny…,” I never really know when to shut my mouth.

For those of you who have followed me for the past year, I congratulate you. I know at times I tend to just fire some pretty out there opinions on major issues, but with that I’m also not one to flip-flop. I stand by my word. I also never stab people in the back, which I suppose is the one quality I don’t share with the gang. But, like the gang, we’re all baseball fans.

Hands down one of the funniest episodes from the show is “World Series Defense.” I’ll try to break it down: Dennis goes to court with the gang due to an insane amount of parking tickets he received while he and the gang were locked in a utility closet at the Oliday Inn (I didn’t spell that wrong) in an attempt to go through the visiting team’s secret tunnel in order watch Game 5 of the World Series after their tickets went missing. Throughout the episode we find out that Sweet Dee will try to fun onto the field when “the Phillies go up by a ton of runs in the bottom of the ninth at which Dennis and Mac will start fighting each other to create a diversion.” Yes, I see everything wrong with the sentence, but it’s all correct information. When Frank realizes he left the tickets back at his and Charlie’s apartment he, Sweet Dee and Mac go to fetch them while Charlie and Dennis go to Citizens Bank Park to scalp tickets… or con somebody out of theirs. Sweet Dee, Frank and Mac get poisoned because Frank forgot the apartment complex is spraying for bed bugs but only after Mac admitted that he’s in love with Chase Utley (like a brother) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU4w9FaSZ5M, Dennis gets hit by a car trying to fake an injury after Charlie pushed him in front and then Charlie got his ass hammered by passionate Phillies fans after Charlie got big leagued by, and took down the Philly Phranetic (spelling is correct). I feel like I’m rambling on much too long on this synopsis, but I guess that’s your fault for having not seen the episode or show… if you haven’t that is. The point is, I love baseball, and I love “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” Here’s proof…

I’d say up until this point about 90% of what I wrote was merely a lead-in about my tattoo. What can I say? I can ramble at times. This hat; however, has been around since the start of the 2008 season and has served as the Phillies alternate cap for that time. One thing about this is that it’s actually a modified re-release of the team’s alternate hat from the 1994 season. The only difference is that the 1994 hat had blue panels and a blue bill. You know what? Now that I think about it, in conjunction with last night’s Detroit Tigers post, there were a lot of hats only used for a handful of games in 1994. What upsets me about this realization is that it is next to impossible to find the ’94 alternate Phillies cap. I’ve only known two people to have it: my friend Eric and fellow Cave Dweller Gordon Mack who rubbed it in my face that he had it and I didn’t. I really should have stolen it. Oh well.

As for the numbers, I have to refer to the “It’s Always Sunny…” episode “The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods.”

#11- Actually, this one not so much. Jimmy Rollins is a hell of a ballplayer. He was drafted in the second round of the 1996 amateur draft out of Encinal High School in Alameda, California. A lot of Oakland Athletics fans, including myself, would have loved to have him on the team. It took him a while to get through the Minors, but he made his debut in 2000 and made his rookie campaign in 2001. In his first full year he went .274/14/54 with a League leading 12 triples and a League leading 46 stolen bases. Somehow those numbers weren’t good enough to finish higher than third in the National League Rookie of the Year vote. I suppose that’ll happen when you have to go against Albert Pujols.

Rollins has been a spectacular five-tool player: he’s won four Gold Glove awards at shortstop, one Silver Slugger award in 2007 and has made three All-Star Game appearances. Even though this hat debuted in 2008, it was Rollins’s 2007 that made him a top tier player in MLB. That season Rollins took home his only NL MVP of his career as he went .296/30/94 and led the League with 20 triples and a League leading 139 runs. Oh yah, he did all of this as a leadoff hitter too. Basically he put all of Lenny Dykstra’s 1993 to shame. One other import detail about Rollins is that he a 38-game hit streak that lasted the last 36 games of 2005 and the first two games of 2006.

#26- So now I have to re-establish the episode “The Gang Gets Stranded in the Woods.” Frank donated a ton of money to the SPCA and they decided to reward Frank for his service by throwing a reception in Atlantic City. Frank was also able to spring for Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to make an appearance at the party as well. I should point out that the whole reason Frank did this was to flaunt his leather suit and tell the SPCA off; however, Frank hates to pay tolls and decided to take all the back roads from Philly to AC at which Mac caused them to veer off the road as a squirrel ran out into the road. Only Dennis and Charlie decide to go for help at which the two run across a shady truck driver played by Tom Sizemore. Yaaaaahhhh… after he gets them to AC he offers to “tender their services” in the form of “opening him up like a coconut.” Use your imagination. Anyway, Dennis and Charlie make it to the hotel where the party is at and the two take on the roles of Frank (Charlie) and Mac (Dennis). And then this happened… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShjZ_PR3gIw

Dennis sends the photo he took to Mac and he becomes upset. As for Utley, he’s had a pretty solid little career. He was the 15^th overall pick by the Phillies in the 2000 amateur draft out of UCLA and made his MLB debut three years later. As Mac said in the first video, Utley certainly is a power-hitting second baseman, a rare quality. His best years were from 2005-2010 as he finished in the Top-15 for NL MVP voting in all of those years except 2010 and he made the All-Star team every year except for 2005. Funny. He’s a career .288 hitter and has so far tagged 199 home runs and 739 RBI. He’s led the Majors in hit-by-pitch three years in a row from 2007-2009 and is arguably one of the most liked players in Phillies history. This is saying a lot because Phillies fans are ruthless.

One thing I wanted to happen during my time in the Fan Cave was to meet Utley so I could talk to him about what his initial thoughts were on the subject of Mac's man-crush. Very rarely do we ever get insight from a player's mind when they are referenced in pop culture, kind of like the guy who made the Madden video of Green Bay Packers' wide receiver Greg Jennings "putting the team on his back" and scoring a touchdown with a broken leg. Jennings took it lightly and had fun with it. I could only hope Utley would do the same. I even thought having Utley write a letter back to Mac would have been funny. It could go either way: embracing it or being creeped out by it.

#6- Sweet Dee prefers the company of Ryan Howard compared to the rest of the Phillies. Who could blame her? The guys rakes! Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Howard was a fifth round draft pick for the Phillies in the 2001 amateur draft out of Missouri State. This has always boggled me because with the power he possesses what the hell were the other schools thinking? In 2004 he got his September call-up and played 19 games in the Show and hit two home runs in 39 at-bats. In 2005 he played in 88 games and went .288/22/63, which was good enough for the NL Rookie of the Year award. Not too shabby for only half of a season.

Howard proved he was a marquis player the following season as he hit .313 with a League high 58 home runs and a League high 149 RBI which were more than enough to get the votes for the NL MVP. I should point out that he struck out 181 times that season as well, and he still hit .313. Wow! From 2007-2011 Howard made the Top-10 in NL MVP voting and he has made the All-Star team three times in his career. Howard currently sits at 300 home runs and is #134 on the most ever home run list and you can see him all year long plugging Subway sandwiches; which reminds me of how hungry I am.

Obviously all three guys got World Series rings in 2008, at which I think all three can pool some cash together and help Dennis pay for his parking tickets. Something that always confused me why he never brought that up in front of Howard and Utley when considering that they gang will fire off about anything important to them no matter who is in front of them. Kangaroo court!!!

February 11- Philadelphia Phillies

This post is in dedication to Edith Houghton, the first female scout in Major League Baseball who worked for the Philadelphia Phillies from 1946-1952. It was pure chance that I threw on my Phillies cap today.

Chew and mullet in tact!

1993 was a year packed with adversity. I was a plucky fourth grader, learning the harsh reality that some teachers truly are witches, the Oakland Athletics finished the season with the worst record in the American League (68-94) and the film Jurassic Park made me believe that velocitraptors were lurking behind every closed door in my house. Needless to say, it was one of my worst years in existence. On the other side of the country things were rockin’ in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Phillies had struck the final blow of my wasted year by fending off my Montreal Expos for the National League Eastern Division title before dropping a 104-win Atlanta Braves squad in the NLCS; paving the way for their first World Series appearance since they lost to the Baltimore Orioles in 1983, the year I was born.

On the bright side of the MLB season, the San Francisco Giants won 103 games (tied for the most season wins in SF with the 1962 team), but failed to make the playoffs as a result of the Wild Card not being added until 1995. Too bad (sarcastic sad face). Despite the ups and downs of what went on in my life, 1993 proved to be quite the memorable year. And the thing I remember most… is the mullets. If hair growing and styling was somehow factored into the power rankings for MLB teams, the 1993 Phillies would be in the Top 3 along with the 1972-74 Athletics and any team which suited up Oscar Gamble and/or Ross Grimsley.

Having gone on long enough about what I personally remember from 1993, I suppose I should talk about the hat now. The Phillies introduced this cap at the start of the 1992 season and still use it today. In fact, last year was its 20^th birthday. Yay!!! I actually recall being furious when they brought this hat out because I loved the maroon and powder blue uniforms along with the swirl-style “P” logo. Just something about that looked reigned badassery; plus, I was a huge Mike Schmidt fan growing up, and with the new look it meant that it was time to move on from his era (real sad face). Even though 2008 proved to be a solid year for the Phillies as they won their second World Series title, I couldn’t help but reflect on ’93 when making my choices for marking up my hat.

#4- My first memory of Lenny Dykstra came during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series when he was the lead off batter for the New York Mets. BUT, Dykstra never came to the plate during the 10^th inning rally, so he really wasn’t that memorable. Even though he got the ring in ’86, it’s his time with the Phillies that I remember most, especially with every wad of chew he had stuck in his cheek that was printed so diligently on my Topps and Donruss trading cards.

Nails got dealt to the Phillies a little over a third of the way into the 1989 season and played the rest of his career in Philadelphia which came to an end in May of 1996 as a result of injuries. Nails may not have been the greatest player in baseball history, but as Athletics GM Billy Beane said about Dykstra in the book Moneyball, he was, “perfectly designed, emotionally” and had “no concept of failure.” In 1993, this mentality came to light. Dykstra hit .305 for the season and led the League in walks (129), runs (143), at-bats (637), plate appearances (773) and hits (194). He also tagged career highs in home runs (19), stolen bases (37) and RBI (66); not too shabby for a leadoff hitter. Dude, as he was also known, finished in second place for the NL MVP which went to Barry Bonds, his first with the Giants. This is one of the few times where I can honestly say that Dykstra got screwed.

#29- A career .300 hitter, John Kruk was my favorite member of the Phillies throughout the 1990s. One of the more memorable things I remember about Kruk in ’93 was that he humorously portrayed by Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live a number of times. See…

My only issue with his look is that they didn’t make the jheri curl mullet powerful enough. See…

Iconic acting and hairdos aside, Kruk, like Dykstra, was traded to the Phillies about a third of the way into the 1989 season from the San Diego Padres, and hung around Philly until the end of the 1994 season. And like Dykstra, 1993 proved to be quite the landmark year for Kruk. On the season he went .316/14/85 and tagged career highs in walks (111), runs (100) and hits (169). Even more important, Kruk finished 16^th on the NL MVP ballot; which leads me to the conclusion that the voters really hated the Phillies in 1993. Kruk is still one of those guys that I love to go back and watch highlights of. Like Tony Gwynn, the two didn’t look the part of professional athletes, but very few could play the game better than they could.

January 1- Philadelphia Athletics

As a huge fan of the Oakland Athletics, I had to kick the year off with a hat from their past. 

I could have started with a hat of theirs from and even earlier time; however, it didn’t really match my outfit. This hat in particular is a tribute from the Athletics' time in Philadelphia, specifically from 1931-1949. From 1929-1930 the A’s had worn an all white with a navy bill, which also featured the “A” logo in the center of the front panels… but that is a hat I will feature later in the year. A particular note in the history of the A’s and their hats is that they never featured any kind of a logo of their hats from 1901-1928. During that time the A’s had won four World Series, while their fifth, and last in Philadelphia, came in 1930. Therefore, the all navy blue road addition with the white “A”, which I am featuring could in fact be considered a bit of a curse of the franchise as they were subsequently relocated twice after the 1954 season and never found World Series success again until the 1970s.

The A’s went 107-45 under manager/owner Connie Mack that season; in fact, the A’s won the American League pennant, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in the World Series. An even more important detail of 1931, this is the first year the A’s put numbers on the backs of their jerseys. My personal addition to this hat does in fact date back to 1931. I figured; why not start at the beginning? Of all the players to choose from, I had to stick with three who were enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame, but most importantly, three guys who were the faces of the franchise that particular year.

#2- Born in Bridgewater, Massachusetts in 1903, Mickey Cochrane was educated at Boston University, where he played five sports, excelling at football and basketball. Although he considered himself a better football player than a baseball player, professional football wasn't as established as major league baseball at the time, so he signed with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in 1924. Holla! P-Town in the house!

After just one season in the minor leagues, Cochrane was promoted to the Majors, making his debut with the Athletics on April 14, 1925 at the age of 22. He made an immediate impact by becoming Connie Mack's starting catcher in place of Cy Perkins, who was considered one of the best catchers in the Major Leagues at the time. A left-handed batter, he ran well enough that Mack would occasionally have him bat leadoff. He hit third more often, but whatever his place in the order his primary role was to get on base so that hard-hitting Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx could drive him in. In May, he tied a twentieth-century major league record by hitting three home runs in a game. He ended his rookie season with a .331 batting average and a .397 on base percentage, helping the Athletics to a second place finish. Cochrane would finish in 10^th place for the American League MVP that season, and probably would have won the Rookie of the Year award had it existed.

By the start of the 1926 season, Cochrane was already considered the best catcher in the major leagues. He won the 1928 AL MVP, mostly for his leadership and defensive skills, when he led the American League in putouts and hit .293 along with 10 home runs and 58 runs batted in. He was a catalyst in the Athletics' pennant-winning years of 1929-1931 when he hit .331, .357 and .349 respectively. He played in those three World Series, winning the first two, but was sometimes blamed for the loss of the 1931 World Series, when the St. Louis Cardinals, led by Pepper Martin, stole eight bases and the Series, although, in his book, The Life of a Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher, author Charlie Bevis cites the Philadelphia pitching staff's carelessness in holding runners as a contributing factor. But notwithstanding this, the blame for the 1931 World Series loss would dog Cochrane for the rest of his life.

1933 would ultimately be Cochrane’s last year with the Athletics as he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers at the end of the season where he went on to win his second AL MVP award as well as make two consecutive All-Star Game appearances in his first years. The first All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park in 1933 and was the main reason why Cochrane never made it with the Athletics.

For his career Cochrane hit .320 with 1652 total hits, 119 home runs and 832 RBI despite only playing for 13 total years. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1947 on his sixth ballot.

Cochrane was also a player I really should have written about during my Stars and Stripes Memorial Day articles, so having blown that opportunity, I’ll make it up now. Cochrane joined the Navy in 1942. He was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Training Station where he coached their formidable baseball team until 1944. On July 7, 1942, Cochrane managed an All-Service team that played against an American League all-star squad at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium. Before 62,059 fans, the American League beat the servicemen, 5-0.

Tragedy struck Cochrane in 1944, his only son, Gordon Jr, was killed at Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Former major league pitcher, Elden Auker, wrote in his autobiography, Sleeper Cards and Flannel Uniforms: “The bullet that killed him [Gordon, Jr] had some kind of range. It traveled all the way across the Atlantic, lodged itself into the spirit of Gordon's father, the great Mickey Cochrane, and slowly killed him. Mickey's gravestone shows he died June 28, 1962, but he started dying June 6, 1944. Consider this another life claimed by World War II.”

#3- James Emory Foxx was born in Sudlersville, Maryland on October 22, 1907 to Dell and Mattie Foxx who were farmers. Dell Foxx had played baseball for a town team when he was younger and he instilled a love for the game in young Jimmie. Foxx did well in school but truly excelled in sports, particularly soccer, track and baseball of which he played all three in high school. He dropped out of high school early to join a minor league team managed by former Athletics great Frank "Home Run" Baker. Foxx had hoped to pitch or play third base, but since the team was short on catchers, Foxx moved behind the plate. He immediately drew interest from the Athletics and New York Yankees. Foxx signed with the A's and made his major league debut in 1925 at age 17.

The A's catching duties were already filled by Cochrane, so by 1927, Foxx was splitting time between catching, first base, and the outfield. In 1929, installed as the A's regular first baseman, Foxx had a breakthrough year, batting .354 and hitting 33 home runs.

In 1932, Foxx hit .364, with 58 home runs with 169 RBI, missing the Triple Crown by just three points in batting average. Boston Red Sox first baseman Dale Alexander hit .367, but in just 454 plate appearances; he would not have won the batting title under current rules, which are based upon 3.1 plate appearances per team games played. Foxx did win the Triple Crown the following season, with a batting average of .356, 163 RBIs, and 48 home runs. He won back-to-back AL MVP honors in 1932 and 1933, the first player to ever pull off this accomplishment.

Foxx was one of the three or four most feared sluggers of his era. The great Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez once said of him, "He has muscles in his hair."

In 1937, Foxx hit a ball into the third deck of the left-field stands at Yankee Stadium, a very rare feat because of the distance and the angle of the stands. Gomez was the pitcher who gave it up, and when asked how far it went, he said, "I don't know, but I do know it took somebody 45 minutes to go up there and get it back."

When the Great Depression fully hit in the early 1930s, Connie Mack was unable to pay the salaries of his highly paid stars, and was obliged to sell off a number of them. In 1936, Mack sold Foxx's contract to the Boston Red Sox for $150,000, following a contract dispute.

Foxx’s Athletics career only lasted 11 seasons, ad the majority of his accomplishment occurred during this time frame. He made the All-Star Game every year in its first three years (1933-1935) and made six more over the next six years of his career in Boston. He won two World Series rings (1929 and 1930), both of which came in an Athletics uniform. 302 of his 534 career home runs were hit with the A’s, same with 1492 of his 2646 career hits and 1075 of his 1922 RBI. He won a third AL MVP award in 1938 with the Red Sox, led the league in home runs three times and twice in RBI with the Athletics and hit .339 for them as well. His career average was .325. But despite playing more years, winning championships and more MVPs with the Athletics, Foxx was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1951 on his first ballot… as a member of the Red Sox. Ridiculous.

#10- Arguably one of the Top-three greatest left-handed pitchers of all-time, Robert Moses Grove (Lefty) was born in Lonaconing, Maryland in 1900 and made his MLB debut on April 14, 1925. That’s right, the same day as Cochrane. Grove battled injuries as a rookie and posted a 10-13 mark (which would prove his only losing record in 17 major league seasons), despite leading the league in strikeouts. Grove then settled down in 1926 and won the first of a record nine earned run average (ERA) titles with a mark of 2.51. In 1927, Grove won 20 games for the first time, and a year later he led the league in wins with 24.

On August 23, 1928 Grover struck out the side in the second inning of a 3-1 win over the Cleveland Indians to become the third American League pitcher and seventh pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat. On September 27, he did it again in the seventh inning of a 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to accomplish the feat twice in a career; since then, only Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan, both Hall of Famers, have joined him. Grove, however, remains the only pitcher to do it twice in the same season. The sportswriter Arthur "Bugs" Baer wrote, "Lefty Grove could throw a lamb chop past a wolf."

During the Athletics' championship run (1929-1931), Grove led the way as the league's top pitcher, posting records of 20-6, 28-5 and 31-4. In 1930, Grove led the league in wins, ERA (2.06), strikeouts (175), winning percentage, complete games, and shutouts. His 2.06 ERA was 2.32 runs below the league average. He was also chosen as the AL MVP in 1931, making him one of only a handful of pitchers to achieve this honor. His MVP award is the only one not enshrined in Cooperstown, instead being housed at the Georges Creek Library in Lonaconing.

In 1933, Grove became the first player in MLB history to strike out five times in a nine-inning game. On December 12, 1933, team owner Connie Mack traded Grove, along with Max Bishop and Rube Walberg, to the Boston Red Sox for Bob Kline, Rabbit Warstler and $125,000. Basically, as great as Mack was for the Athletics, he was an even bigger prick in the same regard. Grove’s career in Boston wasn’t as fortunate.

Grove was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1947 on his third ballot, believe it or not. He led the league in strikeouts seven years in a row from 1925-1931. He led the league in wins four times in his career, all with the Athletics.