July 9- Bakersfield Blaze

A full year has come and gone since I last set foot inside of Sam Lynn Ballpark in Bakersfield, California, where I attended my first Bakersfield Blaze game as a spectator since 2008 along with my friend, and fellow Oakland Athletics fan Toni Taylor (@Condorsfan06). Prior to the Blaze’s final game of the series against the Lake Elsinore Storm it dawned on me that it was slowly approaching 12 years since I had left my post as bat boy some time near the end of July in 2000. 12 years. Wow! Where does the time go? I know I’ve gone on about my bat boy days in a few posts all ready, but I don’t plan on doing much of that with this post. My fourth, and final Blaze post I have set for August will fill in a lot of the gaps I’ve left, as well as rekindle a few of the connections I had with players who have since faded into the record books and moved on to bigger and sometimes better things. But for this post, it’s all about the game which took place on July 9, 2012.

Toni and I had been talking since my campaign for the MLB Fan Cave kicked off in February of 2012. What started it was when the Bakersfield newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian, ran a reworded story about me and my time in Bakersfield based around the reel I had down for KEZI in Eugene, Oregon. Since the two of us were both A’s fans it became sort of a natural grown for conversation through Twitter and Facebook. When I made it to New York City Toni hooked me up with a Rollie Fingers bobblehead which she had gotten from her trip to the Coliseum early into the 2012 campaign. 

What’s funny about this is that until I received that Rollie bobblehead I never owned, nor had any desire to own a bobblehead. To me they always seemed like a very fragile space waster, but I have since changed my tune about that after other A’s loyalists joined in on the fun and hooked me up with their spare bobbleheads as well. I just can’t complain against that. Toni and I had chatted about catching a Blaze or an A’s game some times during the 2013 season as neither of us expected that I would ever be sent home from the Fan Cave to be able to make either teams’ games during the 2012 season. Well, as lady luck would have it, I was suddenly given a plethora of time around Memorial Day and I made sure to stick to my word once I figured out when I would be headed down to Southern California.

Toward the end of June I had started my Major League Baseball road trip, but also made to sure to include as many minor league games as I possibly could, which, at the time, meant a lot of Eugene Emeralds games. My original ballpark tour plans were only supposed to be relegated to the West Coast. It wasn’t until partway into July that I decided to expanded into Canada and the East Coast. Nevertheless, all of the stops on my West Coast tour were plotted out perfectly. After I made my run in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Anaheim and then San Diego I would have a week off in Bakersfield to relax before I made my way back to Oregon through a couple day stop in San Francisco and Oakland.

Originally I was supposed to make it from San Diego to Bakersfield on Sunday, July 8^th in time for the Blaze game that evening; however, I ended up going back to Anaheim for the final game of the Los Angeles Angels/Baltimore Orioles series with my friend Matthew James (@MattyJay27) which I’ll go into more detail in a not-too-distant post. But alas, I finally made it back home to Buck Owens country and made it to the game with Toni.

Now, I had at least two opportunities to catch the Blaze at home had I left Eugene like two or three days in advance. One of the biggest draws for me to get back to Bakersfield in good time was to be able to see their star player Billy Hamilton tear up the base paths as he was well on his way for setting the Minor League single-season stolen base record held by New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals great Vince Coleman. Before I had left Oregon Hamilton was still on the brink of triple digits and the Major League All-Star break was rapidly approaching. But since the MLB All-Star break didn’t affect the MiLB schedule I figured I was in the clear. Nope! What I forgot to take into consideration was that Hamilton might get called up for the MLB Futures Game, which takes place the day before the All-Star game and right before the Home Run Derby. Guess where Hamilton was when I pulled my car into the parking lot of Sam Lynn. Yah, Kansas City. Needless to say, I was in a pretty sour mood with myself once I became privy to that information. I mean, it was all ready bad enough that I wasn’t at the All-Star Game with the Fan Cave, a decision I’m still beyond confused about.

When I met up with Toni I did my best to keep all of my frustration from the day’s events inside; however, I was still pretty heated about being kicked out of the Fan Cave in the first place so I was a bit crabby for bits and pieces of the game. Some of it was brought up in casual conversation about my experience in New York; other bits came as a result of seeing fellow Cave Dweller Ricardo Marquez’s face on the top of the home run slide during Angels’ 3B/OF Mark Trumbo’s turn at the plate for the Home Run Derby.

The Blaze had gotten off to a hot start by building a 3-1 lead over the Storm which started with a RBI-double from current Cincinnati Red Donald Lutz who I wrote about back on May 6^th. But alas, the Blaze squandered the lead in the fourth, but got it right back in the fifth. It was around this time that Toni and I made our way to the team store to pick up some caps. I only had two of their caps at the time, one from my bat boy days and the other that I wrote about on January 16^th. Most New Era Caps start at about $34.99 no matter if they’re MLB or MiLB; however, in some rare cases quite a few MiLB teams will sell their caps for less than that. In the case of the Blaze caps they had their 2011-present home and 2011-present alternate cap (this one) for $25 each. Sold!!! They also had their Stars & Stripes cap available for the same price, but I said no to that one for some dumb reason. AAAAARRRR!!! 

After snapping a quick shark photo we watched the rest of the game from the comforts of right behind home plate. I’ve always been more of a right field bleacher kind of guy in Oakland, but at other parks I’ve always fancied sitting on either sides of the dugouts; rarely do I ever sit behind home plate. The Storm tied the game up in the top of the sixth inning, but the Blaze countered again by notching one of their own off of a Theo Bowe single. From the seventh inning on the game turned into a pitchers duel as the Blaze were able to maintain their 6-5 lead until the Storm succumbed to their final out.

After the game Toni and I shot the breeze for a bit while I walked over to the clubhouse entrance to snap a photo of Blaze manager Ken Griffey signing autographs for kids. Yes, that Ken Griffey.  

 What I wouldn’t find out until the middle of November of 2012 is that the red-headed kid on the left is the nephew of a regular customer of mine from when I worked at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) over the holidays. It was one of those “small world” moments for sure. Toni and I made our way back to my car where I had quite a few A’s hats for her to choose from as payback for the Rollie bobblehead she had hooked me up with. I definitely felt like the right thing to since she had been so generous to me.  And especially for spending time with me as I made the trip back to one of my favorite and most cherished places in the entire world, Sam Lynn Ballpark. 

#12/4-104: Back on March 24^th I wrote the what is technically part two of this story, but every now-and-then I like to get all Quentin Tarantino on y’all and write my stories out of sequence. Some of you might cite the film “Memento” as well, but this isn’t exactly backwards storytelling as it is foreshadowing. You know what, I’ve gotten way too technical with this, so let me steer this back on course…

Hamilton was drafted by the Reds in the second round of the 2009 amateur Baseball Draft out of Taylorsville High School in Taylorsville, Mississippi. With such a high draft position under his belt he went straight to the Rookie Leagues for two seasons: 2009 with the Gulf Coast League Reds and then in 2010 with the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League in Montana. In 2011 Hamilton found himself with the Class-A Dayton Dragons betting leadoff to the tune of a .278 average and .340 on-base percentage. Oh, and 103 stolen bases to boot while only getting caught 20 times. Hamilton also managed to muscle three home runs over the wall and leg out 18 doubles and nine triples that season. With such impressive numbers he was a guaranteed promotion to advanced-A Bakersfield in 2012.

Hamilton started out the year wearing #12, but switched it to #4 throughout the season, hence the 12/4. The Reds wanted Hamilton to lower his strikeout numbers from 133 the previous year with the Dragons, as well as raise his batting average a bit. Hamilton did both with ease. In 82 games with the Blaze Hamilton hit .323 and raised his on-base percentage to .413. Hamilton also managed to match his total number of doubles and triples as he did in 2011, but the one thing to look at is the fact that Hamilton played in 135 games (53 less) than what he was at in Bakersfield. Oh, and just because he could, Hamilton swiped 104 bags, one more than he did in Dayton. You want to talk about the next great base stealer? Talk about the next great leadoff man. And to reiterate what I had said earlier, I missed seeing this kid play live by about two days. If this post has a lesson to be taught, it’s definitely that you should support your local Minor League Baseball team. You never know when you might be able to say, “Wow! I remember when I saw him before the Majors.”

The rest of Hamilton’s 2012 season is featured in the Pensacola Blue Wahoos post linked here or above.

July 8- Cincinnati Reds

If there has ever been a moment of a “complete lapse of judgment” in any of these New Era Cap posts today has certainly become the day to show it. Actually, I really shouldn’t be so hard on myself. After all, this is actually the first Cincinnati Reds cap I purchased. 

It was some time during the summer of 2010 when I strolled into the Lids at Valley River Center in Eugene, Oregon to buy this and a few other caps merely off of a whim. See, I hadn’t quite hatched the plan to purchase all of the game-worn Major League Baseball caps just yet. At this point in time I was still in the “one cap for every team” phase. With the Reds I wasn’t particularly picky. The Lids store in question happened to have all three styles from the last few years available and I simply picked out the one that looked the best on my noggin. The winner of the mix? This lucky fella which served as the Reds’ home and road alternate cap from 1999-2000, served full-time as the home cap from 1999-2006 and the team’s road and alternate cap from 2003-present. Actually, it’s a really complicated mess of years and uniform combos which make it really difficult to give a straight answer; so, for the sake of argument, this cap has been used by the Reds since 1999 and is still being used today.

What’s really interesting about this cap is that it ushered in one of the more dramatic changes in any teams’ cap design. Yes, I realize that to most the cap looks virtually identical to their other caps since the 1970s, but I say you’re not looking hard enough. For example, this cap introduced the black bill, which is a pretty significant change when considering that the Reds’ hats were completely red with the exception of their 1993-1998 pinstripe home caps, which I can’t find anywhere. But the most important feature, the one that has caused bits of grief for some Reds fans, is the shadow added to the “C” logo.

Personally, I don’t mind it. From an art perspective it gives the logo a bit more depth; however, from a fan perspective I can how this could be considered frivolous.

Now, keeping in mind with what I said earlier about only making this my one Reds cap purchase it will help explain why I chose the numbers I did for this cap. With almost all of my other caps I’ve done a great job of keeping the stats, dates and people within the timeframe of when the cap was used on the field; however, based on those standards I totally blew this time around. But, I did it all for the sake of the two most important figures (to me) in Reds history who had the greatest impact on my youth years.

#11- 1990 was a weird year for me. I was seven-years-old, in first grade and playing my second year of T-ball… as a member of the Reds. When the season started I didn’t think much of it, nor did I really know how much getting the jersey with the #11 on the back was going to impact the next decade of my life.

I realize that saying you were one of the best players on your T-ball team is incredibly silly, but it was true. Aside from being able to hit a ball that doesn’t move with ease, I was actually a phenomenal defensive threat. Yes, I am aware of how ridiculous this sounds, but how many seven-year-olds do you know of that were capable of pulling off not one, but TWO unassisted triple plays. Oooooohhhhh you don’t know of any? Exactly, now you do. Granted, in both cases the only reason I was able to pull them off is because the kids on the other team forgot that you’re supposed to go back to the base when a pop fly has been caught, but at the same time I looked pretty good for knowing what I could pull off at such a young age. And like I said, not once, but twice. Only one other time in my life have I been privy to such defensive awareness from someone so young. So yah, the next time you look at that photo of the freckled kid above, just know that behind those eyes is a Gold Glover waiting to embarrass your team.

Enough reminiscing about my “glory days,” Barry Larkin has always been one of my favorite/most hated baseball figures in my life. For those of you who don’t know, I’m a life-long Oakland Athletics fan. That bit of information alone should fill in all the gaps, but I’m not one to leave empty details. Larkin, like Pete Rose, was born and raised in Cincinnati and attended Archbishop Moeller High School where he was a second round draft pick of the Reds as an outfielder. Rather than sign on the dotted line, Larkin passed on their offer and decided to go to college instead. For college, Larkin grew the largest set of balls the state of Ohio had ever seen as he opted to enroll at the University of Michigan. 

He's wearing an extra special cup made of gold.

The funny thing about this move is that Larkin was originally set to play football under Bo Schembechler in 1982. Larkin never saw one play on the field for the Wolverines in football, and it was by chance later that year, Schembechler allowed Larkin to pursue baseball. Good thing he did as Larkin ended up becoming a two-time All-American (1984-1985), led the Wolverines to two College World Series berths, won the 1983 Big-10 Tournament MVP, was the 1984 and 1985 Big-10 Player of the Year and even played on the 1984 US Olympic baseball team. Oh, and he also graduated like a boss. Despite “missing his window” right out of high school the Reds came crawling back and took Larkin with the fourth overall pick in the 1985 Major League Baseball amateur draft.

Larkin played in a total of 175 games in the minor leagues for the AA Vermont Reds (72) and Denver Zephyrs (103) from 1985-1986 before making his MLB debut on August 13, 1986. Larkin only played in 41 games that season but still hit .283 with three home runs, 19 RBI and eight stolen bases. His performance managed to get him one percent of the vote for the National League Rookie of the Year award in what is arguably one of the best campaigns in MLB history as that year also featured the debuts of Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Robby Thompson, Todd Worrell (who won), John Kruk and Barry Bonds. Crazy! What many may not remember about Larkin is that he was a platoon shortstop for the first two years of his career as another prospect, Kurt Stillwell, had been called up exactly two months earlier. Luckily for Larkin the Reds front office saw the potential in him and ended up trading Stillwell to the Kansas City Royals at the end of the 1987 season. In 1988 Larkin played in 151 games and had 588 at-bats. Why is this significant? Well, Larkin only struck out 24 times that season, the least in the Majors that season. In fact, the most Larkin ever struck out during a season was 69 times in 1998, a year in which he won the eighth of his nine total Silver Slugger awards.

For 19 years (1986-2004) Larkin was a regular fixture of the Reds lineup. He made 12 All-Star Game appearances, 11 of which came between 1988 and 2000 and won three Gold Gloves from 1994-1996. Keep in mind, Larkin was still battling St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith for these spots and awards most of the time. Larkin maintained a .295 batting average throughout his career, had 2340 hits, 960 RBI, 198 home runs and stole 379 bases. The best statistical season of his career came in 1995 when he went .319/15/66 with 51 stolen bases and his second Gold Glove which were good enough for him to take home the National League MVP award that season. Only five other times in his career would Larkin finish in the top-25 for the NL MVP. What’s even more interesting is that in 1996 Larkin finished 12^th for the award despite hitting .298 and becoming the first shortstop to ever hit 30 or more home runs (33) and steal 30 or more bases (36) in a season.

After his retirement in 2004, Larkin was hired as a special assistant to the general manager in the Washington Nationals organization. In 2008, he signed with the MLB Network as a studio analyst. In 2011 he moved to ESPN to serve as a Baseball Tonight analyst. Larkin received great applause from Reds fans when he helped host Baseball Tonight's on-the-road coverage of Sunday Night Baseball at GABP on July 24, 2011. Crowd chants of "Barry Larkin" and "Hall of Fame" often caused the anchors to have to talk very loud to be heard. Larkin was coincidentally in Cincinnati for Baseball Tonight on the day of the 2011 Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. He was the bench coach for the United States at the 2009 World Baseball Classic and managed the United States' second-round game against Puerto Rico when U.S. manager Davey Johnson left to attend his stepson's wedding. On July 20, 2008, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum inducted Larkin, César Gerónimo, August "Garry" Herrmann, and Joey Jay. In 2012, he was invited by the Brazilian Baseball Federation to manage their national team in the qualifiers for the World Baseball classic. Surprisingly Brazil beat the home country Panama qualifying for the first time ever for the event and played in Japan. They were originally scheduled to play in Puerto Rico, but because of the huge Japanese baseball influence in Brazil they made the switch and the team played Cuba and China besides the home country. The team went winless in its WBC debut and was eliminated after the first round. One thing to be noted is that Larkin speaks Spanish and Portuguese. Yes, the man is a legend.

In 2010, his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame, Larkin was not elected, garnering 51.6 percent of the vote (75 percent is needed for election). In 2011, he received 62.1 percent of the vote, the highest of non-inducted players and third overall. In 2012, his third year of eligibility, Larkin was voted into the Hall of Fame with 86.4 percent of the vote along with Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo. He was the eighth Reds player and 24th shortstop inducted to the Hall of Fame. On August 25, 2012 his number 11 was retired in an official ceremony at Great American Ball Park.

#17- I can’t remember where I heard this story or from whom, but somebody I know once asked former Reds pitcher and “Nasty Boy” Rob Dibble who the craziest person from the early 1990s Reds team was. The person who asked had originally assumed the answer was going to be Dibble or fellow “Nasty Boy” Tom Browning. Nope! “Chris Sabo was the craziest motherf---er I’ve ever met” was the quote I was told via hearsay from Dibble. Either way, growing up he was my brother Adam’s favorite player.

Sabo brew up in Detroit and attended Detroit Central Catholic High School. In 1980 Sabo was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 30^th round of the amateur draft, but elected to go to college as opposed to signing out of high school. His college, the University of Michigan. From 1980-1983 Sabo played baseball for the Wolverines, two of those years alongside his future Reds teammate from above. When his college career came to an end the Reds came calling, selecting him with their second round pick in 1983.

Sabo’s minor league journey started in Class-A with the Cedar Rapids Reds before he spent his next two season with the AA Vermont Reds as he corrected his swing mechanics. Sabo spent 1986 in Denver with the AAA Zephyrs before moving to Nashville with the Sounds in 1987 as the Reds switched their AAA affiliate. That season Sabo was batting .292 with seven home runs, 53 RBI and 23 stolen bases and more than likely would have still been stuck in the minors had it not been for an injury to Reds’ starting third baseman Buddy Bell before the 1988 season started. As a result Sabo was named the starting third baseman for the Reds that season.

Spuds, as he was called by manager Pete Rose because of the Bud Light Spuds MacKenzie advertisements, played in 137 games his first season and hit .271 with 11 home runs, 44 RBI, 146 total hits and 46 stolen bases. His campaign was good enough to land him his first of three trips to the All-Star Game and he even edged out Chicago Cubs legend Mark Grace for the NL Rookie of the Year award that season. Not too shabby of a first year, especially for a guy who looks like the MLB version of Kurt Rambis.

1989 proved to be a pretty rough year for Sabo, but he bounced back in 1990 and 1991 where he made the All-Star team his final two times and cracked the top-20 for the NL MVP each of those years. His best season coming in 1991 where he hit career highs in average (.301), triples (3), hits (175), home runs (26), RBI (88) and OPS (.859). Unfortunately for Sabo, he only managed to produce one more solid year in 1993 before he bounced around to the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Cardinals and back to the Reds where he retired in 1996 amidst to a bit of controversy. In July of that season, Sabo shattered his bat which was filled with cork. As a result of the incident, Sabo received a seven-game suspension. Sabo maintains that he had never corked a bat in his life. He claimed that the bat in question belonged to another player (whom he would not name). He argued that his performance that season (3 home runs in 52 games) was hardly "an endorsement of the cork industry."

Sabo was inducted in the Cincinnati Reds Hall Of Fame, along with Pedro Borbón and Tony Mullane on July 17, 2010. The Cincinnati Reds gave away Chris Sabo bobblehead dolls to fans in attendance that evening.

Now, you’re probably all wondering why or how I could forget to mention the fact that both Larkin and Sabo were members of the 1990 World Series team. Well, as I mentioned earlier, 1990 was kind of a dark time for me being on the Reds for T-ball and being an A’s fan all-around. Like 1988 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, I tend to just gloss over the fact that those two World Series actually took place. I mean, c’mon!!! The A’s should have won easily like in 1989, but instead got smoked by two of the most rag-tag teams ever assembled. It was hell to watch, even at ages five and seven.

What’s truly remarkable about the 1990 World Series team is that Larkin and Sabo hardly get mentioned for their performances. Most of the talk always comes back around to MVP Jose Rijo, Dibble and Browning; however, even though Rijo did pitch and amazing series with two wins, a 0.913 WHIP and 0.59 ERA, Larkin played in all four games and had the third-best batting average of the Series (.353) along with six hits, a double, a triple, two walks and one RBI. Billy Hatcher and Eric Davis put up great offensive numbers as well, but no one mashed as well as Sabo did with his two home runs in Game 3 along with his .563 average and five RBI for the series. You don’t get pawned off as the star player for the Series only to not get named MVP for coming up huge. Right? 

To make matters worse the Reds sweep ended in Oakland which marked the second time I’ve ever cried at the end of a baseball game. The first time I’ll get to later. You know, after reliving these dark times I’m glad I screwed up on marking up this cap. :P

June 6- New York Giants

It’s funny how much the game has evolved in a little over a century. Pitchers can top out at a little over 100-MPH, home runs are hit on a near game-after-game basis and no one has managed to hit or top the .400 batting average mark since Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox bested that mark during the campaign of 1941. But with all of the records that have come to be shattered over the last 15 to 20 years or so very few people have any idea how or when a lot of the more obscure stats came to be. Yes, we have ESPN and the Elias Sports Bureau to help out on occasion with literally the most random of stats that we all secretly enjoy reading in our heads using Tim Kurkjian’s voice, but very few of us really know anything about those particular games. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if most of you read the rest of this pot with Kurkjian’s voice providing the narration.

I should first point out that I received a heavy amount of bad intel about this cap, which, in the end, is really my fault for not double-checking my sources. I bought this New York Giants cap off of the Lids Web site a few months through their Cooperstown Collection line as I have been trying to build up my collection of older caps as they tend to have better stories that have proven the test of time. Based on the colors alone I knew that it was a cap used before the 1950s as the cap worn in their later years pretty much resembled an all black version of the current home New York Mets cap. Basically it’s the most iconic of all New York era Giants caps. What every few people outside of the New York era seem to remember is that there was a vast time period in which the Giants’ team colors where blue, white and orange, the colors that the Mets wear today. If you read my post from June 5^th you’d know that the two sources I use the most are Sportslogos.net and BaseballHallOfFame.org. Now, when researching this cap I did in fact use both of those sources and in both cases they said that this cap was used from 1936-1939, which is perfect for the story and my marking below. However, upon further review from various other hat Web sites including Mickey’s Place, I have come to find out that the cap used from 1936-1939 resembles the modern day Mets cap but with a white “NY.” I verified this through five Web sites, all of which are shops based out of Cooperstown. What’s even more unusual is that the logo on this cap was in fact used on the jersey for a much longer time from, but in an array of colors. For instance, this shape of the “NY” logo with a blue border and white interior was used from 1936-1939. The version currently shown on this cap was used on the jerseys from 1940-1946. This exact hat was only used for one year in 1948. After finding all of this out I about had a cow. If there’s one thing I hate it’s having all of the wrong facts because the last thing I want to do is mislead all of you, the readers. Rather than be frustrated I continued my search to figure out why the intel I had received from such reliable sources in the past could be so wrong, especially considering the fact that after scanning through several photos on the Hall of Fame Web site my original findings appear to be correct. So, I did one more search to figure out what the problem was. This time I typed in “1948 New York Giants cap,” and much to my approval, I found out that I was only off by one year. The all black with an orange “NY” logo was first used in 1947. This particular cap was used from 1940-1946. I could have been a lot worse I suppose. Granted, I did have a few posts earlier in the year where I made a mistake or two in my research, which I really hoped wasn’t going to happen again.

When it came to marking this cap up I came across a stat from 1939 which trigged this whole research and hat purchase mess. And while it started with one particular game I soon came to find out that it has become a pleasant surprise for some teams and a truly nightmarish reality for one team.

6/6/39- Hall of Fame manager John McGraw’s final year as manager of the Giants came about a quarter of the way through the 1932 season. He had gone 17-23 that season and decided to hang it up for good. McGraw only managed one more professional game in his lifetime, the 1933 All-Star game as an honorary manager. In 1934 McGraw died at the age of 60 due to uremic poisoning, a condition caused by poor kidney functioning which causes urine to contaminate the blood.

After McGraw had stepped down in 1932 the Bill Terry era begun as he finished the season with a 55-59 record. In his first full season in 1933, Terry and the Giants finished the season with a record of 91-61, the best in the National League. The Giants then squared off against a Joe Cronin managed Washington Senators team who had gone 99-53 in the World Series. The Giants won handily four games to one. Despite four consecutive 90+ win seasons following their World Series victory the Giants only made to one more Series in that stretch in 1937 in which they lost to the New York Yankees in five games. After that loss, the dark years came for Terry as he was replaced by Hall of Famer Mel Ott at the end of the 1941 season.

In 1939 the Giants went 77-74 on the season, good enough for a fifth place finish out of the eight teams that made up the National League. Despite how tenacious the Giants teams of yesteryear were, only three players from this squad ended up making the Hall of Fame: Mel Ott, who I mentioned a moment ago, Carl Hubbell, one of the greatest pitchers of his era and Tony Lazzeri, a player who was voted in by the Veterans Committee and probably wouldn’t have been given a second glance in today’s era. There was one other player on the team this season who should be in the Hall of Fame based on his name alone and that’s Johnny “Ugly” Dickshot, whose only year with the Giants came in ’39.

When June 6, 1939 came around it was pretty much just another day at the ball yard. The 19-24 Giants were playing host to the 29-14 Cincinnati Reds at the Polo Grounds just on the cusp of Harlem, New York. Right off the bat this story gets interesting. The starting pitcher for the Reds was Johnny Vander Meer. For any baseball historian this name should ring a bell. Almost a full year prior (June 11, 1938) Vander Meer threw a no-hitter against the Boston Bees and four days later he threw another no-hitter against the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the only person in history to throw no-hitters in back-to-back starts (I’ll go into more detail on this feat in a later post). A year later, he was set to make history again, sort of. Vander Meer only lasted two outs as he gave up three quick runs to the Giants. His replacement, a righty named Peaches Davis, closed out the side. Davis then got tagged for a few runs himself through the next nine outs as he got to two outs in the fourth inning with catcher Harry Danning coming up to bat.

With no one on base Danning tagged Davis for the first home run of the game. Next up, Ott… who hit a single. Next up, first baseman Frank Bonura who hit a single as well. Next up, centerfielder Frank Demaree… who took Davis yard with a three-run shot. Giants. Next up, Lazzeri… who hit a single. Next up, second baseman Burgess Whitehead. With a runner on first Whitehead cranked back and swung for the fences, just like his teammates before him. 12-0 Giants. After the third home run Reds’ manager Bill McKechnie had seen enough of Davis and called to the bullpen for righty Wes Livengood. The next batter, pitcher Manny Salvo. Prior to his at-bat Salvo was batting .077 on the season. With numbers like that, Livengood thought he had an easy final out on his hands. Nope! Salvo cranked a solo shot over the left field wall to give the Giants a 13-0 lead. Next up, left fielder Jo-Jo Moore… who hit a solo shot himself. 14-0 Giants. Next up, shortstop Billy Jurgess… who struck out to finally end the fourth inning.

By the end of the game Ott would get himself a home run off of relief pitcher Junior Thompson and Moore would hit his second of the day for a total of seven home runs hit by the Giants in their 17-3 routing. Seven home runs had been hit in a game before; however, this ended up being the first time in MLB history which five home runs would be hit in a single inning, let alone with two outs.

In MLB history there has yet to be a game in which a team has hit more than five home runs in an inning. In fact, only five times, including this game, has a team hit five home runs in an inning. Of the five games in which this has happened the Reds were the losing/pitching team in four of them. That’s ridiculous!

June 3- Indianapolis Indians

If there’s one thing I’ve taken comfort in over the years, it’s certainly baseball. Whether it’s at the professional level, collegiate, high school or even the occasional Little League game I can be as happy as a clam in the seats. I’ve learned rather quickly that anything can happen at the most random of times in a baseball game, not necessarily life-altering, but merely something I may never see again within the confines of the diamond. One moment in particular I wrote about on April 22^nd. I was attending the Little League game of a friend of mine’s son Robert in New York City when he had a blooper hit to him just behind the pitchers mound which he caught and then proceeded to tag second and first base to complete and unassisted triple play. That’s right; an eight-year-old pulled that off. Since then, everything has looked rather pedestrian. Kidding of course. But seriously, one should not take the professional game for granted, even just the Major League level, because it’s when you don’t pay attention to the smaller teams and leagues magical things can happened.

A few weeks ago I bought this hat off of the Lids Web site after running across a truly amazing stat within the team’s history… but I’ll get to that later in this piece. This cap was introduced at the start of the 1993 season by the Indianapolis Indians. It's also a little funny that I would be buying this cap considering the fact that Lids is based out of Indianapolis, Indiana. Hmmmm... The Indians are a AAA team in the International League whose Major League affiliate at the time was, you guessed it… the Cincinnati Reds. Wait! Wait a sec… the Reds? Yes, with a name like the Indians one can’t help think of the OTHER Ohio-based MLB franchise. “How did this come to be?” you may be asking your self. Well…

Professional baseball was first played in Indianapolis in 1877. After 15 years of various franchises competing in various leagues (including four years in the National League and one year in the American Association), the current Indianapolis Indians franchise was founded as an original member of the American Association in 1902. That year's team won 95 games, and the first of 21 pennants.

The ballclub played its early seasons at several ballparks, including two on Washington Street, before Norm Perry, who took ownership of the team in 1929, built a new stadium on 16th Street in 1931. He named the park Perry Stadium in honor of his brother James who had been killed in a plane crash. That ballpark, which was renamed Victory Field in 1942 and Bush Stadium in 1967, remained the Tribe's home until July 1996, where they still play today. They are currently on their eighth team of affiliation, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior to that they were the Boston Braves (1946-1947), Cleveland Indians (1952-1956), Philadelphia Phillies (1960), Chicago White Sox (1957-1959, 1962-1967), Montreal Expos (1984-1992), Reds (1939-1941, 1961, 1968-1983, 1993-1999), Milwaukee Brewers (2000-2004) and now again the Pirates (1948-1951 and 2005 to the present). In their 111-year history the Indians have won seven class titles, 10 League titles and 23 division titles. Their most recent International League title came in 2000 behind the likes of Ben Sheets and Marco Scutaro.

As I was saying above, this hat was first introduced in 1993, an interesting move which has been known be more of a curse to the team than a blessing. In this case, the changes were rather dramatic. In 1992, the final season the Indians had under the Expos, their uniforms looked like this…

They were basically Expos uniforms and Expos hats except with an “I” as opposed to the multi-colored “M.” And yes, I really want that hat. When 1993 rolled around and the Reds become the parent clubs of the Indians, uniform changes were desperately in order as to look more like the Major League club and not of the team who just left town. Thus, these were born…

The Indians have elected to keep the logo and colors going for the last 20 years, which is pretty smart considering how unique the logo is. Although, this logo from 1969 would make for a pretty awesome cap nowadays, even for just a “turn back the clock night.”

Indianapolis is a rather interesting city. I used to go there once or twice the years with my father to watch Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers play back in their heyday. Victory Field sits only a few blocks away from the RCA Dome, where the Indianapolis Colts play, and only a few more blocks away from Bankers Life Fieldhouse (formerly Conseco Fieldhouse) where the Pacers play. My dad and I drove by Victory Field numerous times during our stays, but it was never during baseball season. I hope to get back there again some day soon. I would love to catch a game.

When coming up with a mark for this cap there was only one thing that made sense.

5/20/1998: In my introductory paragraph I talked about magical moments that seldom happen, and if you don’t pay attention, you could miss it. On May 20, 1998, one of those moments occurred, and it’s only happened twice ever during a professional game.

Now, I would love more than anything to stretch this into an amazing story; however, I am unable to. I scoured the internet for hours over the last few days and came up with nothing but cold trails. I even took to the Indianapolis Star’s Web site to go through the archives for the newspaper from May 21, 1998, the one that would have the boxscore from the game as that’s all I really need. Unfortunately, I have to pay $3.95 to be able to look at it. I mean, I’m all for supporting newspapers, but not that much for what I need. So I apologize for being frugal and not being able to give you a more in-depth story, but I’ll give you a story nonetheless.

Based on what I’m seeing the Indians were at home against the Pawtucket Red Sox. It also doesn’t say who the pitcher for the Red Sox was; however, based on the stat sheet on Baseball-Reference.com I can safely assume that it was Jim Farrell, Peter Munro, Brian Barkley or Brian Rose based on their ERAs and home runs allowed. Now, one thing I do know is that all of this takes place during the fifth inning which is how I deduced my conclusion. Indianapolis players hit for a "Homer Cycle". Pete Rose, Jr. opens the inning with a solo home run, Jason Williams connected for a 3–run shot, Glenn Murray slugged a grand slam, and Guillermo Garcia finishes the scoring with a 2–run blast. The Indians won the game 11–4. Like I said, amazing stuff. This was the only time during a professional game that, not only did the team complete the home run cycle in one inning, but they hit for it in general. Only one other time has a home run cycle ever occurred, but that story will have to wait for another night.

One thing that I should point out, which may be a valid reason as the why most people don’t know about this stat, is because of the timing. In 1998 the internet was still in its early going process in the average American home. On top of that, news from a Minor League game was not exactly worthy of national attention, even something like this. In most cases there would be a brief blurb in the local paper; however, that means it would have been printed on May 21, 1998, the day after it occurred. I don’t know how it was how it was where you live, but on that day there was only one headline grabbing national attention, and then took place in Thurston, Oregon, about 10 miles east of Eugene. A boy named Kip Kinkle had been expelled from school the previous day for carrying a gun in his backpack to class. After senselessly murdering his parents he went to Thurston High School and unloaded his carnage up the student body killing two and injuring 20. I was living and going to high school in Bakersfield, California at the time, but it was still chilling to see. Baseball at the time just didn’t matter, and the stat faded into the record books unnoticed by many.

I didn’t move to Oregon until I was 17-years-old in 2000. Between 2005 and 2007 I worked for Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) as a store manager in Woodburn, the same town where Kinkle is serving a 112-year sentence in a youth detention facility. I moved to Eugene in 2007 and worked for a soccer shop in 2008. Around Memorial Day of that year I had to work the sales tent during a soccer tournament at Thurston High School. For the first few hours of the day I didn’t really think much of it. In fact, I didn’t even remember what had taken place. I overheard someone talking about in passing and a chill ran up my spine. Once you know you’re in a place where something tragic happened the feeling never seems to go away.

UPDATE (5/16/14): Today my lovely girlfriend Angie and I decided to venture out near our apartment to try and find a new bar we can call home. Since we moved here at the beginning of February we had hit quite a few places up on the east side of the I-580 freeway in the Lake Merritt area, but tonight we opted to hit up the west side. As luck would have it, we found our new public house. The bar is called Portal, and they offer a great assortment of beer and food during happy hour, not to mention their lunch and dinner menu is out of this world as well. As we sat at the bar, enjoying the assortment of delectables they had to offer, we watched the Oakland Athletics game as they took on the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field in Cleveland. We missed the Athletics' first time at the plate but were soon "treated" to Indians' first baseman Nick Swisher's solo home run off of Athletics' pitcher Sonny Gray to draw first blood. Even though it was only one run, Angie and I both felt that this might be how the night goes for the A's. Needless to say, we were wrong. 

In the bottom of the second inning with the bases full of Athletics, outfielder Josh Reddick teed off on Indians' pitcher Zach McAllister for his second career grand slam. Not too long after that Athletics' third baseman Josh Donaldson took McAllister yard for a three-run home run. That closed the book on McAllister. In the bottom of the third inning Athletics' shortstop Jed Lowrie crushed a solo home run off of Indians' relief pitcher Kyle Crockett (no relation to Don Johnson's character on "Miami Vice") and then finally in the seventh inning Reddick hit his second home run of the night off of Indian's relief pitcher Carlos Carrasco, a two-run shot making the Athletics the first team in Major League history to hit for the home run cycle. As happy as I was and how cool historically as this is, I found myself thinking about one unusual coincidence immediately after Reddick went yard for the second time, the school shooting at Thurston High School. 

The reason why this is so unusual, at least in my mind, is because a few years after the shooting (2004) Oakland Athletics' pitcher Dan Straily's family moved to Springfield during Dan's junior year. And, as fate would have it, Straily attended Thurston High School for the remainder of his high school years. No other player before or after Straily time at Thurston has gone on to play in the Majors. It's also a bit strange that even though both games took place 16 years apart, the game date was a difference of four days. It's a very unusual connection amongst the three points in history, but a connection nonetheless. 

May 24- Cincinnati Reds

As much as people, and history, want to claim that upstate New York is the birthplace of the game of baseball, it’s hard to contest what the Cincinnati Reds have done with the game dating back to Harry Wright and the original professional team of the 1880s. Because of this stage in the evolution of the professional game the Reds have become the beacon, or the epitome, and therefore are celebrated every Opening Day of the season. By this I mean that Opening Day in Cincinnati has become the “official” Opening Day for all of Major League Baseball. Talk about streaks, only three times since 1882 have the Reds not opened the season in Cincinnati. The dates are even more surprising; 1885, 1888, 1966 and 1990. The reason I bring this up is because the Reds are one of the few organizations that rarely sways away from tradition. As the oldest professional team in baseball history that’s really saying a lot.

Baseball, like apple pie or Norman Rockwell, is a deep-rooted staple of American culture. Unfortunately, so has become war. Our forefathers had to fight to establish this country we love so much, and even later they fought against one another. As the years passed by we unified and fought to preserve freedom for ourselves, as well as other countries who didn’t have the power to fight back. It is because of these brave men and women who gave their lives for their country that we celebrate Memorial Day; however, honoring those who served their country shouldn’t be a one day event. The Reds know, and understand this well.

Back in the 1960s current team president and Chief Marketing Officer Bob Castellini graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in economics and enlisted in the Army for two years as an officer. Castellini, as well as a group of investors, bought into the team in 2006. Since then he has done everything he can in his best efforts to honor the men and women who serve. On of the more recent collaborations started in 2011 with the Hometown Hero program which began as a pregame activity on special occasions, but with the overflow requests and suggestions the Reds were getting from military families and friends for first pitch honorees it evolved into the every-day occurrence it now is. The program is filled up for the remainder of the 2013 season and already on a waiting list for 2014.

Even the players have become involved over the years. Reds’ right fielder Jay Bruce hosts “Bruce’s Battalion” which is a free ticket program for service members to Sunday home games. Bruce took over the program that former pitcher Aaron Harang started up. Every Opening Day the Reds and Cincinnati Bell host a group from Impact A Hero, a national foundation that helps wounded military men and women with both emotional and financial support. Founded by Fairfield’s Dick Lynch in 2004, Impact a Hero assists between 400 and 500 service members every year.

Since 1971 the Reds have been one of the more successful teams to play on Memorial Day, going 25-14 with only five of those days off due to travel/off days. Their best run of consecutive Memorial Day wins came from 1972-1979 when the Reds went 9-0, which included a doubleheader against the Montreal Expos in 1976. In 1980 the Reds played a doubleheader against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but lost the first game, killing the streak in spite of winning the nightcap as well as the next season’s game against the San Francisco Giants. Another interesting pattern I found occurred from 1985-1988, the four seasons in which Pete Rose was the full-time manager. In all four years the Reds played the Chicago Cubs, tallying a 1-3 records against the North Siders with their only win coming in 1987.

With a long, history-filled past like the Reds have, it made it a bit difficult to whittle down just a few players to pay tribute to. Most of these guys you’ve never heard of, but that’s kind of half the fun of this.

DA- Douglas Allison played as a catcher for the original Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first fully professional baseball team. Allison was one of the first catchers to stand directly behind the batter, as a means to prevent baserunners from stealing bases. He was considered a specialist, at a time when some of the better batsmen who manned the position normally rested, or substituted at other fielding positions. Most catchers of his era stood twenty to twenty-five feet behind the batter. His technique of moving closer to the batter proved effective in curtailing baserunners from stealing bases. In the 1860s, it was common for teams to score fifty or sixty runs a game. As the technique of moving closer to the batter became more widespread among other catchers, run production began to plummet helping usher in what became known as the Dead-ball era. Allison was the earliest known player to have used a glove, when he donned buckskin mittens to protect his hands in 1870. His brother Art Allison also played in the Major Leagues.

Like so many Philadelphia ballplayers, Doug Allison served a 100-day enlistment in Company L of the 192nd Pennsylvania Infantry in 1864. He enlisted as a private on July 12 and was mustered out on November 11 at Philadelphia. Allison later became partially deaf, and researcher David Arcidiacono discovered an article in the Boston Globe on March 24, 1876, in which his deafness was attributed to his Civil War service: “Allison was a gunner in Fort Sumpter [sic] during the late war, and is the only survivor of three batches of gunners of six men in each batch. His service during the war accounts for his impaired hearing.” Since Allison’s regiment saw no combat duty, this account must be taken with a grain of salt, although it’s always possible that he suffered some injuries. David Lambert examined Allison’s military records at the National Archives and found a 1912 disability pension application signed by Allison. – SABR

#18- Eppa Rixey Jr. was a left-handed pitcher who played 21 seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies (eight years) and Cincinnati Reds (13 years) from 1912 to 1933. Rixey was best known as the National League's leader in career victories for a lefty with 266 wins until Warren Spahn surpassed his total in 1959. Rixey’s MLB career started off slow; his best year with the Phillies coming in 1916 when he went 22-10 with a 1.85 ERA and 134 strikeouts, numbers that any current left-handed pitcher would kill for. His next season; however, did not fair well at all… sort of. He went 16-21 (most loses in the Majors for a pitcher), but his ERA still hung around 2.27.

In 1918 Rixey joined the war effort by enlisting in the Army serving with the Chemical Warfare Division in Europe along with Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb, Rube Marquard and Branch Rickey. His return from the military, marked by rustiness and dissatisfaction with Phillie managers Jack Coombs and Gavy Cravath, led to two abysmal seasons (6-12 and 11-22) with last-place teams. On February 22, 1921, he was happy to be traded to Cincinnati in exchange for Jimmy Ring and Greasy Neale. He was back playing for Pat Moran.

Rixey’s career rebounded exponentially upon his move to Cincinnati. He would go to win 179 games and have three seasons of 20 or more victories, his best year coming in 1922 when he went 25-13 with a 3.53 ERA. His 25 wins were the most in the NL that season. In 1924 he made hi only appearance on a NL MVP ballot when he finished in 22^nd place after posting a seemingly mediocre 15-14 record with a 2.76 ERA. His strikeout total that season was 57. The reality behind this is that Rixey really had no chance of winning the award, but the Baseball Writers Association of America opted to throw a few guys a bone on the ballot. For his career he went 266-251 with a 3.15 ERA.

He was married to Dorothy Meyers of Cincinnati and had two children, Eppa Rixey III and Ann Rixey Sikes and five grandchildren, James Rixey, Eppa Rixey IV, Steve Sikes, Paige Sikes, and David Sikes. After his retirement from baseball, he worked for his father-in-law's successful insurance company in Cincinnati, eventually becoming president of the company. He died of a heart attack on February 28, 1963, one month after his election to the Hall of Fame, becoming the first player to die between election and induction to the Hall of Fame. He is also the only pitcher in the Hall of Fame to be wearing a Reds hat.

When Rixey started playing, he was considered an "anomaly". He came from a well-off family and was college-educated, something that was rare during his era. He wrote poetry, and took graduate school classes in chemistry, mathematics and Latin. During the off-season, he was a Latin teacher at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and was also considered among the best golfers among athletes during the time period.

May 6- Bakersfield Blaze

It should be noted that this is one of the four hats I had my mother mail to me in Florida. The craziness of the timing of this cap and post comes together at the end. It still blows my mind.

The Minor Leagues are kind of a sad place. I should know. I was a bat boy for two amazing seasons with the Bakersfield Blaze in 1999 and 2000 and I saw my fair share of joy and disappointment. The main reason I say it’s a sad place is because it’s hard to build connections with guys, because unlike the Majors, the talent doesn’t stay in one place for too long.

Believe it or not I used to be an incredibly punctual person. This blog is a prime example of how time has sort of gotten away with me over the years; however, when I was still in high school I had to take the Golden Empire Transit (GET) bus to Sam Lynn Ball Park right after school in order to get ready for batting practice and warm-ups anytime there was a home game. Because the buses I needed to catch worked on weird intervals I always figured it was best to be 45 minutes early rather than five minutes late. Besides, it gave me more time to get a jump on my home work and take the field to play catch with a few of the players before practice really kicked into gear. Unfortunately, with punctuality occasionally came the few random times that I would walk into the clubhouse just as a player who was called into an early meeting with the skipper was rolling in as well. I think during my time I was present for six players who either got demoted from advanced-A (which is what the Blaze are) down to the intermediate-A Salem-Keiser Volcanoes or given their outright release. What’s become interesting over the years is that the Volcanoes are still an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants and are roughly 45 minutes away from where I live now. But even at that, no player wants to get sent down, and no player especially wants to get cut. Getting close to a few of these guys only to see them leave the stadium in tears is still one of the most gut-wrenching moments of my life.  

But as hard as it is to see someone leave for the worst reasons, it can be an even more confusing feeling when they get promoted. A few guys I knew from those times were the happiest people in the world when they got the call to go to Shreveport, Fresno and even to The Show. The one player’s reaction who I’ll never forget is former 2002 Giants World Series stud Chad Zerbe. Dude pal sobbed like a baby and even gave me a hug goodbye. He was a really sweet dude, and it was great to see that he got his promotion. Even cooler was when he hooked me up with tickets to Pac Bell Park for his home debut game, but that story might have to wait for another time. While I realize that I’m merely reflecting on my own personal dealings with these guys, it’s the loyal fans who truly feel it even harder in some cases. These are the folk who always make the new kids feel right at home. They cook them meals, they collect money for them in the home run buckets when they go yard and even in some cases they give them a place to stay as a family sponsor. The inner-workings of the fan/player relationship at the Minor League level is actually quite fascinating, but with each close of the season there is no assurance that any of the players will be back for another season. Every beginning of the season is an uncovered mystery, and with that emotional ties are tugged upon in the never ending cycle that is the farm system.

This last July was the first time I had been back to Bakersfield for a game since 2008 when they were an affiliate of the Texas Rangers. It’s kind of wild to look back on then and realize that Elvis Andrus and Chris Davis were both playing that day. Hell, Davis crushed one of his 24 bombs of the year that day. That was six years ago, and look at both of them now. I do my best to keep up-to-date with the team as much as possible. Even though I have several teams closer where I’ve lived over the past decade, I still have a connection to the Blaze that will never cease to be.

When I stopped in for the first of three games I watched this last season I made sure to pick up as many of the Blaze caps as I could, pretty much needing all of them. I picked up two that night; this one and another which I’ll write about it July. This cap has served as the team’s home hat since the 2012 season. I’ve never been a huge fan of orange, but for some reason this one works. I think the two white front panels take away most of the orange focus and point directly into the “B,” thus making it much more comfortable on the eyes. If you didn’t know it, orange, safety orange to be exact, is actually the most noticeable color for our eyes. So to be able to use it and not make it too distracting is actually quite an impressive design. Once again, if you haven’t noticed from earlier posts, I know way too much about random stuff. Anyway, my timing on finally getting out to a game was beyond poorly timed as most players of note on the season had been promoted merely 24 hours before I set foot inside the stadium. It was quite funny actually, but there wasn’t much I could do about it besides enjoy my time with the team that was playing in front of me. Luckily for my sake though, one guy I wanted to see was still in town.

One guy in particular I marked on this hat played in a few more games before getting called up and the other guy had been called up after a few starts in June. Even more astounding is that both of the guys I marked this cap with are playing in the Majors with the Cincinnati Reds right now, which is an incredibly crazy transition to go from A ball to the Majors in such a quick time frame. Oh, and the last bit… none of them are named Billy Hamilton.

#13- Tony Cingrani was a third round pick for the Reds in the 2011 amateur draft out of Rice University. He played 13 games with the Billings Mustangs that season before making the jump to advanced-A ball in Bakersfield in 2012. Like I said, he didn’t last long with the Blaze. He started in 10 games and went 5-1 with 71 strikeouts and a 1.11 ERA in that time frame. When he made the move to Pensacola to play with the Blue Wahoos he was just as deadly, going 5-3 with a 2.12 ERA and an additional 101 strikeouts. This season he only lasted three starts with the Louisville Bats before getting called up to the Majors on April 18 to make a start against the Miami Marlins.

Cigrani saw a little bit of time in the Show in 2012, but only a few appearances out of the bullpen. This season has been the real deal. In just four starts thus far he has pitched at least six innings per contest and amassed a 2-0 record with a 2.63 ERA, 33 strikeouts and a 0.833 WHIP. At the rate he’s currently going don’t be too shocked if you see him take home the Rookie of the Year award.

#39- Donald Lutz has been with the Reds organization ever since he signed as a free agent in 2007 out of Watertown, New York, but lived in Germany for most of his life. From 2008-2011 he bummed around the Rookie and low-A ranks until finally getting a shot with the Blaze in 2012. He lasted 63 games, including all three I was able to attend. During his time he hit .265 with 17 home runs and 51 RBI. Unfortunately I can’t track down a boxscore anywhere; otherwise I’d tell you how he did. As sharp as my memory is, I forget a few things from time-to-time. He finished out the season in Pensacola and played in 21 games there again at the start of this season.

Now, what’s really weird about Lutz is that he was batting .211, but he had two triples, five home runs and 14 RBI under his belt in that time. Apparently that was more than enough for the Reds to give him the nod as he made his Major League debut on April 29^th in St. Louis against the Cardinals. He pinch hit for Mat Latos and popped out. Lutz would play in two more games until getting his first hit on May 5^th, a single off of Shawn Camp in the seventh inning. Lutz would end up stealing second and scoring his first run of his career, which ended up being the run to give the Reds the lead over the Chicago Cubs for the 7-4 win. Lutz’s final at-bat ended up going down as a RBI sacrifice groundout, but his day was quite historic as he became the first German-developed player in Major League Baseball history. So all-in-all he had a pretty solid little Cinco de Mayo. And by that I mean he had a terrific day at the plate yesterday. Wow! I really could not have time this post any better.

April 16- Cincinnati Reds

Getting older is kind of a drag. The body slows down, summer vacations are pretty much non-existent, you have to pay taxes and everything you thought was cool as a kid for some strange reason comes back into style 20 years down the road. One of the biggest reality checks for me took place over the last year as a member of the MLB Fan Cave. I touched on this issue before in my piece about the Australian World Baseball Classic hat on March 20 so I won’t get too lengthy with it. I am one of the few people who represents two of the four sides of Major League Baseball. By this I mean you have

1. The business end.

2. The players.

3. The fans.

4. The media.

You could possibly expand upon that, but I’m merely speaking in generalities. During my time in New York I represented the fan side (obviously) and the media side as a correspondent for my team, the game and for the fans. The fact that I graduated with two degrees in journalism from the University of Oregon also came in handy. Something always felt off about me being there and it wasn’t until this last December that the reality sunk in—most of the players in the game today are younger than I am.

With all the players and I met, interacted with and have gotten on friendly terms with, I’m older than every single one of them, with the exception of Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer George Brett. Now, let’s be honest, anyone who really knows me is well aware of the fact that my brain and attitude seemed to be permanently locked in the age range of 18-22, but my grizzly beard and graying of the hair would tell otherwise.  As a kid, professional baseball players, whether it be in the Majors or Minors, always looked and seemed much older than their swagger would lead you to believe. But even at that, they all seemed to personify what it meant to be a man in American lore; kind of like cowboys, cops or fighter pilots. All of those illusions went away when I was 16-years-old, the first year I took over as bat boy for the Bakersfield Blaze.

For the first few days all of the guys still had that sense of being elders, but it all got dashed away once they warmed up to me. And if you didn’t know, baseball players are probably some of the most immature people on the planet, but in a good way. I mean, they play a game for money for crying out loud. The average age on the team hovered around 21-years-old, so there really wasn’t much of an age gap between us. We all liked the same music, we all played the same video games before every home game and we all wanted to bang every chick with a great set of curves who walked by (just being honest). Those were the days.

The last decade or so has been especially strange from a baseball perspective. A lot of the legends from the old days passed away and I found myself seeing more and more faces from the Major League clubs getting sent down to the minors; guys like Bobby Kielty, Tony Torcato, Sean Burroughs, Jack Cust and Khalil Greene. These were all guys who had drafted right around the time when I graduated high school in 2001. All of them were killing it in AAA, but none of that really seemed to matter for various reasons of rosters being too tight, getting more at-bats in the Minors, etc. etc. One guy in particular blew me away every time he stepped on the diamond; a guy I never had the privilege of seeing play live: Ryan Freel.

I had originally picked this hat out back in February, but found myself struggling to find a player or event that I felt was important to talk about. This hat served as the team’s alternate hat in 1999, but then took over as the road cap from 2000 until the end of the 2006 season. Keeping that in mind I scrolled through photos, stats and videos in an attempt to write a story about a moment in which the hat was actually used. Oddly enough, it was a highlight video cut in Japan that helped trigger this, which you’ll see later in this post.

Ryan Freel was born in Jacksonville, Florida on March 8, 1976, just a year ahead of my oldest brother Matthew. He attended Tallahassee Community College where he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 14^th round of the 1994 amateur draft, but opted to keep playing college ball. He transferred to Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee where he was then selected by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 10^th round of the 1995 amateur draft. From 1995-1997 Freel jumped up from the intermediate-A St. Catherines Blue Jays to the advanced-A Dunedin Blue Jays where he played along side Roy Halladay until the duo were moved up to the AA Knoxville Smokers. In 1998 Freel and Halladay both started in Knoxville, but both moved up to the AAA Syracuse Sky Chiefs by mid-season. On September 20^th of that year Halladay got the call to the Majors; Freel would wait another three years before getting his shot. Freel had some shaky years in the Minors, barely hitting around .280 with only a few home runs here and there. Freel, as his former coaches would say, was all heart. He played every game as if it were his last; the kind of player that any team would love to have in the clubhouse. Unfortunately for Freel, that clubhouse was not the one in Toronto.

On April 4, 2001 Freel got the nod and made his Major League debut. Freel only served as a defensive replacement at second base in that game, and he only made an appearance in eight other games that season. At the end of the year he was granted free agency; the Tampa Bay Devil Rays signed him to a one-year deal at which he spent the entire season in AAA with the Durham Bulls. He hit .261 with eight home runs, 48 RBI and 37 stolen bases. On November 18, 2002 Freel signed with the Cincinnati Reds.

Freel tenure with the Reds started off with AAA Louisville Bats for the first 54 games of the season; however, his time back in Show was just around the corner. Freel would play in 43 games with the Reds that season under interim manager Dave Miley, whom he had built as solid report with in Louisville. He ended up hitting .285 with four home runs and 12 RBI. In 2004, Freel became a regular fixture in the Reds lineup.

4/16/2004- As I said above, I never saw Freel play live, but I did see him in a hell of a lot of games on TV. One game in particular took place nine years ago today at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs. In the bottom of the first inning the Reds were all ready up 2-0. With Todd Walker on first base after a lead-off single, Corey Patterson opted to bunt to push Walker to second base as Sammy Sosa and Moises Alou were both waiting on deck and in the hole. Reds pitcher Aaron Harang threw a hard fastball at which Patterson fouled off toward the Cubs dugout. What he, and no one else watching the game expected was an up-and-coming 28-year-old third baseman to leap out and make the catch. Watch it here, but fast forward to the 8:33 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsSO5cTN7Do

 Freel didn’t care about is body. In his mind, and according to the Reds clubhouse manager, it was almost an insult if his jersey wasn't covered in dirt and grass stains before the game ended. Freel became and instant fan-favorite as he channeled the raw hustle and grit like that of a young Pete Rose.

Freel on the Reds reminded me a lot of Brian Urlacher in the early years of his career with the Chicago Bears. No matter what play the offense is trying to run, Urlacher would always be in the picture. Between 2004 and 2006 Freel hit .265 with a total of 15 home runs and 64 RBI. He was not a great hitter by any means, but he was decent and he could steal bases to the tune of an average of 36 per season during that stretch. What he lacked in offensive production he certainly made up for with his defensive prowess. Freel made numerous highlight reels in the five years that he played in Cincinnati; however, with all of those amazing plays came a lot of missed games. Not necessarily on the DL either. Before the start of the 2007 season, the Reds signed Freel to a two-year $7 million extension.

Freel suffered a tremendous amount of head trauma throughout his career, and even before he joined the league. In an interview he gave with MLB.com, Freel casually mentioned that he had sustained somewhere around “nine or 10” concussions. The most sever of which came on May 28, 2007 when he collided with teammate Norris Hopper at the warning track as the two were trying to run down a fly ball in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Freel was knocked unconscious before he hit the ground.

"I think it knocked him out, because he hit the ground pretty hard, but he was limp," [said Hopper]. "I went over and got real close to his ear and screamed, ‘Freel, Freel,' about four times. He opened his eyes slowly, and I said, ‘Just lay there. They're coming."'

He was transported by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was reported to be coherent with feeling in his extremities. He began working out on June 15, about 2 weeks after the collision and was briefly sent to Louisville for rehabilitation. Freel began getting random headaches and pains in his head, which delayed his return for another 2 weeks. On July 3, 2007, 1 month and 5 days after the accident, Freel returned to play for the Cincinnati Reds and was healthy until being placed on the 15-day DL with torn cartilage in his right knee on August 7.

On December 9, 2008, Freel was traded along with two minor leaguers including Justin Turner to the Baltimore Orioles for catcher Ramón Hernández. In 2009 with the Orioles, he was hit by a pickoff throw in the head while on 2nd base. He was put on the Disabled List after the injury. On May 8, 2009, Freel was traded once again, this time to the Cubs for outfielder Joey Gathright and cash considerations. On July 2, 2009, Freel was designated for assignment to create roster space for the newly acquired Jeff Baker. On July 6, 2009, Freel was dealt accompanied by cash considerations to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later. On August 5, 2009, Freel was designated for assignment by the Royals. He was released on August 13, 2009. On August 28, 2009 Freel signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers. He was released 2 days later. He retired on May 17, 2010. Post-retirement, Freel was a youth baseball coach with Big League Development.

Freel, according to the media and teammates, was a bit of a mixed bag. There was a good Freel and a bad Freel. Even before his collision with Hopper people noticed it. He had an imaginary friend named Farney who he openly talked about with anyone. He said this during a post-game interview in 2006:

"He's a little guy who lives in my head who talks to me and I talk to him," said Freel, acting as if he finally crashed into too many walls, ran into too many catchers and dived into too many dugouts. "That little midget in my head said, 'That was a great catch, Ryan,' I said, 'Hey, Farney, I don't know if that was you who really caught that ball, but that was pretty good if it was.' Everybody thinks I talk to myself, so I tell 'em I'm talking to Farney.' "

He also had issues with drinking back in 2005, having been arrested twice for driving under the influence. He ended up paying a fine for the first incident, and the second was later dropped. The drinking then arose again in January of 2012 when Freel was arrested at a pool hall in Tampa, Florida for disorderly intoxication.

Freel had gone off the radar, so to speak. By that I mean he vanished from the public eye, focusing more on himself in a world without playing baseball professionally. He “backed away” from the youth developmental baseball gig he was a part of and sunk into a deep depression. I had stepped out for a quick cigarette break at work when I scrolled through the news and saw Freel's name pop up.

On December 22, 2012 Freel’s body was found at approximately 4 PM. He had stuck a loaded shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. He was 36. While the amount of trauma Freel’s body has taken may seem like an indicator, there is still no conclusive evidence to prove what he did was caused by his concussions, but it’s hard not to speculate. Two days after, both major athlete brain banks—the Garrett Webster-fronted Brain Injury Research Institute and Chris Nowinski's Sports Legacy Institute reached out to Freel's family to hopefully find an answer to this question.

It’s hard to imagine that someone so young, so talented and so beloved by friends and family alike would walk down that path. Over the last few years it’s felt almost like a common place to hear about an athlete who decided to take their own life. In most cases it’s been a former NFL star whose brains took a similar, if not more intense beating than Freel’s did. But then again, another MLB star from my youth, New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu, hung himself in 2011.

The innocence of the game is slightly lost upon me these days. While I still do my best to hold on to child-like wonder when I go to the ball park, at some point the reality sets in that the “game” aspect of baseball quickly goes away once a player hits the professional level. It’s no wonder these guys seem so much older than they are. With the amount of stress and punishment the body gets taxed on in an effort to make a huge payday, these kids age more rapidly than the rest of us. I don’t think the average fan really appreciates nor understands that aspect of the player too often.

I will always love the game, but more important, I will always respect the athletes who display their talents for 162 games a season. It’s a damn shame that Freel too the route he did. There are too many “what ifs” that present themselves, and perhaps all it could have taken was for one extra person to really listen and observe what was going on. All anyone can do is learn and move on, and hope that another tragedy like this can be prevented.