July 22- Pittsburgh Pirates

This story takes place long before the date on the front-right panel of this Pittsburgh Pirates cap, and still stands as one of the most traumatic times in my life. In my Father’s Day post from June 16^th I touched on bits and pieces of a relationship I was in while I lived in Eugene, Oregon and went to school at the University of Oregon. I’ll do my best to not give a longwinded explanation of how everything went down, but what I can tell you is that she and I met in June of 2008 about a week after I finished treatment for intestinal parasites that almost killed me a month prior. From then until the end of August of 2009 we were together, and in roughly 60% of that span we were at each other’s throats. In those dark moments I developed a deep depression and began cutting myself and heavily considered committing suicide. Obviously the easiest solution would have been to end the relationship; however, when the other party threatens to kill themselves if you go, it kind of makes things worse. The last thing I wanted was the self-inflicted death of someone who is clearly mentally disturbed on my conscience. The breakup finally came in early September a few days after her birthday and roughly two-and-a-half weeks after I helped pack up her belongings and drive her and everything she owned to Anchorage, Alaska from Eugene as she locked up a job to teach German at an immersion school. For those of you who don’t know how far that is it’s a tad over 4,000 miles away. It took as about four-and-a-half days to drive it and only four hours for me to fly back into Portland. Crazy. We had no plans on splitting up, but she ultimately dropped the hammer not too long after she got settled. She had been talking to someone else before she left. I should have been surprised, but this wasn’t exactly the first time such an act of distrust was brought up in our relationship.

I know I shouldn’t have been miserable or depressed, but when you give so much of your time and energy to someone you can’t help but feel that the world is out to get you. Not to mention the fact that most of my money was gone after helping her achieve her “ideal dream” of getting as close to her happy place as she had when she lived, went to school and worked in Munich, Germany. In the months that followed I fell apart. The typical high school drama between quarrelling lovers took place via Facebook and emails and it got so bad that my life spun out of control. I lost my job working as a morning room service waiter and evening bartender at the Hilton, my grades started to slip and I began drinking heavily and screwing every woman in sight. “This is it,” I thought. “I have nothing to live for.” The moment had come a few days after the 2009 fall term ended that I ultimately decided that I was going to take my own life. All of my hopes and dreams for 2010 seemed irrelevant. The biggest one of which was to go to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup, something I had been planning and saving for since 2006, but the money was all gone. All spent on trying to make the one person happy that I never could.

To make a long story short, I obviously didn’t hang myself as I had planned and I was immediately checked into counseling at the behest of my mother and the psychologists on the U of O’s campus. Things had gotten so bad in my recover process that I was given a choice: Go home for winter break with my parents OR be institutionalized. Needless to say, option one was the most appealing. For three weeks my other and stepfather kept a close watch on me. I did my best to contact the outside world to let my friends know that I was still alive and they in return sent me well-wishes and dropped by to see me when they paid a visit to Portland. A steady stream of Lithium and sleep aids was really all it took to help right what was going wrong in my brain. Never in my life had I felt so helpless and scared, but as I sit here today, writing this piece I can’t help but be ever so grateful that I finally accepted hitting bottom only to rebuild myself with the help of the people I love most.

After a few more counseling sessions my psychiatrist and therapist both felt that I was no longer a danger to myself and allowed me the chance to do things on my own again. Me being me, I did things to the extreme and drove down to Pasadena, California to surprise all of my friends as our Ducks were playing in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. 

Maturity at its finest.

It was a bitter loss, but the overall experience of being with my friends was all that I needed to comfort me. The trip to Magic Mountain the next day really helped too.

When I returned to Eugene for the winter term a few days later I did it with a resilient stride. My grades improved. My writing became more profound, and much more detailed. I was reading more often and rediscovering all the things from my past that I held so dear growing up; things like video games, comic books, WWE and most important, baseball. Somehow I had disallowed myself to enjoy to goofier things in life after the responsibilities of life had kicked in when I moved out of my mom’s house. As I started dating all of those little things that make me who I am today had died out and become lost. I found myself trying to appeal to the person who I thought I wanted to be with as opposed to just being myself. If my hitting bottom taught me anything, it’s that the person that I was, the confused, scared shell of a man that I was evacuated itself from my body when I was going through recovery. The confident, life-loving adventurer is all that is left. I truly couldn’t be happier.

In February 2010, a few days after my 27^th birthday, I discovered a strange financial loophole in my taxes and grant money which essential put $4,000 into my pocket shortly after I filed my taxes and started the spring term. Back in 2006 when I started planning my World Cup trip I had figured it would cost me roughly $10,000 to be able to live in Johannesburg, South Africa for a month and be able to attend a fair portion of the games being played, including my favorite squad: the English National Football Team.

Sidebar

I realize it’s a bit weird for me, an United Statesman (American is an ambiguous term), to cheer for the Three Lions, but there is a very good reason as to why I’m treasonous in my soccer fanhood. The very first game I ever saw on television took place in 1990 during the World Cup in Italy. The first round match in question took place on June 11^th and pitted England against their political rival the Republic of Ireland. As a seven-year-old I didn’t really understand the impact the game would have in their respective countries, all I saw were two countries playing a game against one another. The other thing that I should point out is that I didn’t realize how much Irish blood coursed through my veins because as soon as Gary Lineker scored a goal to put England on top in the eighth minute I was sold. At that age, once you develop a kinship for something it’s hard to let it go over time. Kevin Sheedy scored for Ireland in the 73^rd minute, bring the match to a draw, but I stuck with England all the way to their fourth place finish as they lost to the host country in the third place match. And like a good Irish boy, my disdain for the Italian National Team was born. 

This little story might also help explain why my first tattoos were the Irish flag and the Three Lions crest for the English National Team on each arm. As contradictory as it may seem the other part of this story is that my two favorite all-time players, Damien Duff (Ireland) and Joe Cole (England), both played together on my favorite club team, Chelsea, from 2003-2006. Yah, all of my tattoos are extremely deep-rooted.

Back to the story

With $4,000 in my pocket plus my new job at Max’s Tavern which I had started a few days after I got back from the Rose Bowl, the reality of being able to finally witness a World Cup was getting closer. The one downside of all of this, at the time, was that all of the tickets for England’s matches had all been scooped up do to the lottery system that had in place; however, for $80 I was able snag tickets for three games, the most notable of which was Ivory Coast vs. Portugal. What I didn’t count on was the fact that a roundtrip place ticket, even a few months out, was going to coast me $3,000. Then I still had to find a place to stay, eat, get around, etc. which meant that my original estimate of $10,000 wasn’t that far off. The reality of how much this trip was going to cost me set in, but didn’t really get me down. I did what I could to find a cheaper route, but nothing was available. After two weeks of intense research I had all but lost hope when an ingenious idea hatched. Rather than go to the country in which the matches are being held, why not go to the countries that are participating? I had gotten my passport a year prior to that realization and the idea of getting it marked up with multiple stamps on my first trip sounded awesome, so I went back to the computer and checked out flights into Europe. The cheapest I found was $1,300 roundtrip to Copenhagen, Denmark, and my travel timeline was good enough for two-and-a-half weeks as I still had to be back in Eugene for the start of summer term to receive more grant money so that I wouldn’t be dead broke when I got home. So, I bought the tickets, went to AAA and bought a month long Eurail pass (you can’t buy them in Europe), packed up enough clothes, my computer, my Ipod, a suit (classy), toiletries, a jar of peanut butter (no joke), my Waldo doll (seriously, no joke)… 

and a military utility blanket into a hiking backpack and flew 16 hours from Portland to Amsterdam to go through customs, and then finally landed in Copenhagen. 

The only time I'll ever see Greenland.

And boy, did I ever look marvelous when I got off the plane.

Key component: Mustache still in tact.

The most important thing to remember from this travel process is that I left sometime in the early morning on June 5^th and arrived in the afternoon on June 6^th. I bring this up because my time was limited in Demark as I was leaving for Amsterdam the next evening. Sooooooo… no sleep ‘til Amsterdam.

First bar I saw in the airport in Copenhagen. Seriously!?

Despite that fact that I didn’t speak Dane I somehow managed to find my way from the airport to the hostel which was tucked away behind an old church in a hard-to-find corner of town. And when I say it was hard to find I mean that it took meeting up with two other guys from the States, Steven and Richard from Pennsylvania, who were equally as perplexed in finding the hostel because there wasn’t a noticeable sign. But, we managed and checked in. I quickly unpacked and locked up my gear and hit the streets.

Of all the reasons why I wanted to visit Denmark, besides do some investigating on my dad’s side of the family…

I wanted to go to the brewery of my favorite beer company, Carlsberg. I developed a huge fascination for the lager years before at a bar in downtown Portland which no longer exists and there was only one bar in Eugene that carried it in bottle form called the Bier Stein, a world of beers sort of establishment. What I wasn’t expecting was that the brewery closed at 6:00 PM and that they were closed the next day, Tuesday. That part really confused me, but I guess Tuesday is some sort of form of Sunday in Denmark because everything was virtually closed the next day. Anyway, with a limited knowledge of the city, a few maps that I really couldn’t read and some shoddy directions I ventured out into Copenhagen to find my watering hole Mecca.

I wandered aimlessly for a solid two hours, taking in the sights, discovering a city that’s older than the country I live in… and getting lost.

But alas, I could sense that I was getting closer to my goal.

With about 45 minutes to spare and two quick photos because I’m clearly a 12-year-old at heart…

I found the correct path. However, I showed up right as the gates were closing. I was morose.

So, I did the next best thing; I found the closest bar and crushed about seven pints of Carlsberg. It was amazing. It was still a bit light out and I needed sustenance so I waltzed casually (drunkenly) into a pizza joint run by Turks and picked up a pepperoni pizza. Now, I said pepperoni pizza, but apparently that also means it comes with mushrooms. I don’t really understand the logic there, but I managed. The only problem from this point was walking all the way back to the hostel without getting lost.

I totally forgot that the official start of summer was upon us so it was ridiculously bright out around 9:00 PM as I arrived at my destination. I still had about half of my pizza left and Steven and Richard were both kicking it on the patio with a beer each. 

No, this isn't a concentration camp.

The two of them were on leave from the Navy and were doing a similar European tour during their free time, but neither cared much for the soccer that was about to go down. There was another girl, Kristi from Russia, and an Australian named Andrew who I ended up cruising around a small berg of Copenhagen called Christiania the next day with. As the sun set and the shift at the desk ended for the Swede named Elof, he brought us all out a round of Carlsberg dark and we shot the breeze. It was also around this time that I had a brief moment of clarity and retreated back to my room to retrieve my computer as the time was quickly approaching 1:00 PM in the States. What is this significance? Well…

6/7/10: World Cup was still only four days away and we all felt that something playing in the background would have made for an interesting conversation piece. This could have been music, a TV show or a sporting event. Remembering that the Chicago Cubs were hosting the Pirates in an early match I decided to kick on my MLB.tv and put the game on since I didn’t have to worry about blackout restrictions in Denmark.

Steven, as it turned out, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and grew up watching the Pirates his whole life. Andrew, Elof and Kristi didn’t have any real understanding of what baseball was so the three of us Statesmen did our best to keep up with the others’ questions as we got drunker into the night. The game itself wasn’t all that thrilling with the exception of Marlon Byrd going 3-4 with two RBI, but the Pirates had a few moments like: Andrew McCutchen legging out a triple and former Oakland Athletics Bobby Crosby roped two doubles and Dana Eveland took to the hill and gave up three earned runs.

There was an unusual feeling that came over me in that I traveled across the planet, had a great day taking in another culture, but still found myself enjoying the one bit of American culture that I love the most, baseball. Whether my new friends really tried to understand the game wasn’t really the purpose of what we were doing. All of us had a special little thing to share with one another, and all of us got away from our respective countries to end up in this part of the world, even for just a night. As I get older and look back on the things I accomplished this trip is by far the one I am most proud of, and the one where I truly felt that, even for one day, I had become an ambassador of baseball. The MLB Fan Cave will always have a special place in my heart as it served as the platform to spread my love of the game to a larger audience, but this moment was the first time in which I was able to share it with multiple cultures and walks of life. 

22: I suppose I should talk about the hat first before I really get moving into another topic. The Pirates introduced this cap at the start of the 2009 season and has served as the team’s alternate cap when they’re not celebrating Military Days or Throwback Sundays. Everything about the cap is identical to their normal game cap with the exception of the white outline around the “P.”

One of the interesting theories that I’ve heard about the “P” itself, which was first used by the Pirates in 1948, is that it tells a bit about the city and the state. For instance, the bottom of the “P” is meant to look like a key as Pennsylvania is the Keystone state. The four points on the bubble of the “P” represent Point State Park (The Point, as it’s known) and the other three represent the three rivers. If that’s true, that’s ridiculously, mind-blowingly awesome.

Even though McCutchen only slapped a triple during that June 7^th game in 2010, there is no doubt that if there was one guy to represent as the fact of this generation of the franchise, it would no doubt be McCutchen… or possibly Jason Kendall if anyone outside of Pittsburgh remembers him.

Attending Fort Meade Middle School in Florida, McCutchen was eligible to play varsity baseball as an eighth grader at Fort Meade High School. He batted .591 that year. During McCutchen's varsity career, he batted .474, with his average for his senior season over .700, with eight home runs, 40 RBI, 45 stolen bases, and four strikeouts. He also ran track and was one of the top football recruits in the state of Florida, but opted for a career in baseball. He was also a part of a state title winning 4x100m relay his freshman year of high school.

McCutchen, who had signed with the University of Florida, was drafted 11th overall by the Pirates in the 2005 MLB Draft and signed with them instead of becoming a Gator. He started for the South Atlantic League's All-Star team in 2006, his first full season as a professional. At the end of that year, the Pirates named him the organization's Minor League Player of the Year. McCutchen was consistently considered a top prospect, being ranked a top 50 prospect in all four of his minor league seasons by Baseball America, peaking at number 13 before the 2007 season.

On June 3, 2009, after the Pirates traded starting center fielder Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves, McCutchen was called up to the majors for the first time. He made his debut the next day, playing the now vacant center field spot and batting leadoff against the New York Mets. He singled in his first career at-bat, off starter Mike Pelfrey. He ended the day with two singles, one RBI, three runs scored and a stolen base in four at-bats He recorded his first career four-hit game five days later, against McLouth and the Braves, in a 7-6 Pirates loss. Two of his hits were triples, making him the first Pirate with two triples in a game since Tike Redman accomplished the feat in 2003. McCutchen was named the Baseball America Rookie of the Year for 2009, but finished in fourth place on the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) list behind the likes of Chris Coghlan, J.A. Happ and Tommy Hanson. Yah, ridiculous.

But McCutchen took it all in stride. He put up modest, similar numbers his sophomore season, but really turned it on in 2010 when he hit 23 home runs, 89 RBI and stole 23 bases on his way to making his first All-Star Game appearance. In 2012 he bested all of his previous career numbers by hitting .327 with 31 home runs and 96 RBI, his first Gold Glove, his second All-Star Game bid, his first Silver Slugger Award and a third place finish for the National League MVP. Oh! And he also led the NL with 194 hits on the season. His WAR was only 14 points lower that that of Buster Posey’s, but who’s really counting?

The timing of the introduction of this hat and McCutchen’s arrival into Major League Baseball couldn’t have been anymore perfect. The man is quickly on his way to changing the face of Pirates’ baseball and leading them back into the Glory Days much in the same way Ralph Kiner, Bill Mazeroski, Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell all led their Pirates teams to successful seasons. I for one am happy to say that I’ve been able to witness something special since Day 1.

June 12- Pittsburgh Pirates

When I first started this daily New Era Cap blog quest I did with the anticipation that I would finally arrive to this date to write about this particular event. I’ve always been fascinated with the lesser known, and sometimes eccentric stories of Major League Baseball’s past to the point where it’s borderline obsessive. Call me weird, crazy or a bit off if you will, but this moment still ranks within the Top-five of the greatest spectacles this sport has ever seen.

I first heard about it in 2007 when I was sitting on the couch at my first house in Eugene, Oregon as I had just started my first term at the University of Oregon. My roommate Lyle Birkey had a copy of “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader” sitting on the coffee table and I immediately began flipping through it. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always had a thirst for knowledge. If there was ever a book I had never read before that looked interesting, I would stop what I was doing and flip through it for an hour or so. This particular habit has yet to escape me into my adult years. That day I learned more about particle combustion, how to make wine and a flurry of other useless facts and hobbies that I otherwise never would have given two thoughts about. When I reached the section on “unusual sports records” I knew I was in for a treat. There were quite a few that I knew about, but as I dug deeper and deeper I found myself wanting to go beyond the brief snippet I read in the book. Eventually I came to a section labeled “The LSD No-No” and zoned in with intent wonder… but I’ll get to the story of that here in a moment.

One of the things that really bothered me about my time in the MLB Fan Cave this last year was the amount of censorship that we were put through. Granted, we’re not talking about a dictatorship rule by Joseph Stalin in Russia kind of censorship, but a few, in my opinion, odd things that we weren’t allowed to mention publicly despite the fact that we were supposed to be representatives of MLB’s entire fan base. For instance, we could talk about fights that occurred on the baseball diamond. I always found this to be an unusual free pass considering that I’ve never been in favor of violence in sports. Yes, when adrenaline gets pumping in “the heed of battle,” things can blow out of proportion like in moments when a pitcher intentionally beans a batter. What’s even more unusual is that MLB has stockpiles of fight footage from the last 40 years to help back up my point. Now, of the things we weren’t allowed to talk about: PEDs, drugs, gambling, injuries, off color remarks and Jose Canseco rounded out the list. All of these topics have been hot discussions for the last 30 years, and are most prevalent topics of barroom and fan board discussion. However, in the Fan Cave it was all off limits. Take for instance that story I’m about to unfold. Even though I have a tattoo in tribute of the “LSD No-No,” I was never allowed to talk about it. And yes, this was a topic of conversation that was brought up a lot in my Fan Cave campaign and after I made it to New York City. To be honest, at this point in time, 43 years later, it’s really more comical if anything and something that sports fans alike can appreciate and tell their friends about. I don’t know. Maybe I was just brought up with a different set of moral values. I’m not saying that I advocate drug use or performance enhancing drugs of any sort, but there is something to be said about them as opposed to James Shields and Coco Crisp slugging it out in front of 37,000 people at Fenway Park and especially in front of the thousands of people watching at home. Most people have the mindset that drugs and cheating are wrong. It’s a rule that’s branded heavily into our minds when we’re kids. Likewise, we’re also brought up with the idea that violence should only be used in particular circumstances. Only bring up your fists as long as you intend to use them, but only if there isn’t any other option. I guess the last thing to be pointed out in all of this is that any kid, adult, thug or dweeb can pick up their hands and throw a punch without really thinking about the consequences. It takes a whole other set of mental commitment to consider, purchase and use any kind of drug or performance enhancer. Which do you think I more damaging?

I have to say that I really lucked out in picking up this hat as I literally was able to purchase it five-and-a-half hours before I started writing this. Before this season it was one of the hardest hats to find. The Pittsburgh Pirates rocked this cap in 1970 as their alternate cap and used it as their full-time game cap from 1971-1975, ditching the classic black cap with a yellow “P” until it resurfaced again in 1987. Like the Chicago White Sox, the Pirates have been great about reviving their classic uniforms and caps for the last 10 years, wearing them on their Retro Sunday days at PNC Park. Had it not been for this season, I probably would be wearing this cap as we speak. The one thing that needs to be pointed out about this particular model is that it’s not a straight-mustard yellow like most people are lead to believe. If I had to call it anything, I would go with Dijon. No so much Grey Pupon, more Heinz Spicy Brown, because after all, Heinz IS Pittsburgh. In fact, the yellow caps that most people mistake for being mustard yellow back in those days are the batting helmets. Batting helmets generally don’t change throughout the season, even on special throwback days in a lot of cases. Yes, there have been a few moments where this has occurred; however, back in the 1970s this was not the case. Everyone pretty much used “their” batting helmet from Opening Day until the last game of the season, and it rarely ever varied in look.

I promise I’ll do this story some kind of justice. Something as big as this is something I don’t particularly want to screw up on, so please go easy on me if I blow it. I’m fragile. :D

6/12/70: A little history first: Dock Phillip Ellis, Jr. was born and raised in Gardena, California. Ellis first started taking recreational drugs when he enrolled at Gardena High School at the age of 14 in 1955. He played for the school's basketball team, recording 21 assists in one game. He also played baseball as an infielder for a local semi-professional team called the "Pittsburgh Pirates Rookies", along with future major leaguers Bobby Tolan, Roy White, Ron Woods, Reggie Smith, Don Wilson, Bob Watson, and Dave Nelson; the team was managed by Chet Brewer. However, Ellis refused to play for the Gardena High School baseball team, because a baseball player referred to him as a "spearchucker". When Ellis was caught drinking and smoking marijuana in a high school bathroom during his senior year, the school agreed not to expel him if he agreed to play for the school's baseball team. He appeared in four games and was named all-league. Ellis then attended Los Angeles Harbor College (LAHC), a junior college.

While Ellis attended LAHC, various MLB teams attempted to sign him to a professional contract, but as he heard the Pittsburgh Pirates gave out signing bonuses of $60,000, he held out until the Pirates made him an offer. He was arrested for grand theft auto, and given probation. Brewer, working as a scout for the Pirates, signed Ellis to the Pirates; as a result of the arrest, the Pirates offered Ellis $500 a month and a $2,500 signing bonus. He was happy to accept it.

Ellis played for the Batavia Pirates of the A New York-Pennsylvania League in 1964. The next season, he played for the Kinston Eagles of the Class A Carolina League and the Columbus Jets of the AAA International League. Ellis pitched in an exhibition game for the Pirates against the Cleveland Indians in July, receiving the win. After the season, the Pirates added Ellis to their 40-man roster.

In 1966, Ellis played for the Asheville Tourists of the AA Southern League, pitching to a 10–9 win-loss record, a 2.77 earned run average (ERA), and an the All-Star Game appearance. The Pirates called Ellis up to the majors near the end of the season, but the team did not use him in a game that year. Ellis started the 1967 season with Columbus. He believed that he wasn't on the major league club because the Pirates already had a number of African American players; he felt that the team did not want to alienate white fans. Ellis was sent down to the Macon Peaches of the Southern League, which Ellis believed was due to the length of his hair. Ellis said that he was promoted back to Columbus after shaving his head. He had a 2–0 win-loss record with Macon and a 5–7 record with Columbus.

During his minor league career, Ellis once chased a heckler in the stands with a baseball bat. He also used pills when he pitched, specifically the amphetamines Benzedrine and Dexamyl. Stressed by the pressure of his "can't-miss" status as a prospect, Ellis became addicted. Ellis later said that he never pitched a game without using amphetamines. He eventually needed 70 to 85 milligrams (1.1–1.31 gr) per game, between five and twelve capsules, depending on their strength. Ellis acknowledged that he began to use cocaine in the late 1960s.

Ellis held out from the Pirates in February 1968; he came to terms with the team in March. The Pirates optioned Ellis to Columbus, who moved Ellis from the starting rotation to the bullpen. At Columbus, Ellis credited his work with manager Johnny Pesky and pitching coach Harvey Haddix for improving his performance. Finally, on June 18, 1968, Ellis made his Major League debut; one inning of relief in which he allowed one hit and struck out Ken Boyer in the Pirates 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Ellis was credited with the win. Ellis went 6-5 with a 2.50 ERA and 52 strikeouts that season. He started five of those games, going the distance in two of them.

In 1969 Ellis was a full-fledge member of the starting rotation. That season he had one of the worst years of his budding career. He went 11-17 with a 3.58 ERA and 173 strikeouts. As a result of the ever-building stress he was under to succeed, he popped pills like tic-tacs, trying to “overcome the fear of defeat.”

By the time June 12^th had come around Ellis was 4-4 on the season with a 4.28 ERA; not exactly top notch stuff. His last outing before that day was a game against the Dodgers on June 6^th in which he only lasted five innings and a no decision in the Pirates’ 7-6 victory over the Dodgers. Now, it’s June 11^th, a day off for the Pirates before playing a double header against the San Diego Padres the next day. For this part you have to watch this video put together by the New York City-based clothing line called No Mas. Some of you may have seen this video in the past, and if you have, watch it again. It’s truly an amazing spectacle in narration by Ellis and flawless animation.

One of the things that I first need to point out about this video, other than the fact that it’s absolutely hilarious, is the part about second baseman Dave Cash. If you ever find your self looking at the boxscore you’ll see that Cash was not playing second base during that game; Game one to be exact. Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski had defensive duties at the keystone for that game while Cash took over duties for Game two. Anytime Cash mad reference to the “no-no,” it was while the team was in the dugout for their at-bats. The offensive hero of the game was Hall of Famer Willie Stargell who provided the entire offense for the Pirates by crushing two solo home runs for the 2-0 victory. Lastly, the manager, Danny Murtaugh. I only bring him up because his name is awesome. It would have only been made better if one of his assistant coaches’ names happened to be Riggs. In the end though, Ellis walked eight batters and plunked Padres centerfielder Ivan Murrell, but still escaped with the only known no-hitter under the influence of a controlled substance. In conjunction with my point about MLB and their avoidance of something so taboo, try finding any copy of the actual footage from that game. It's almost as if it doesn't exist.

Ellis went on to win 13 games and lose 10 with a 3.21 ERA and 128 strikeouts. In spite of his spot in history, Ellis’ best came in 1971 when he went 19-9 with a 3.21 ERA and 137 strikeouts. That season he made his one and only All-Star Game appearance as the starter for the National League. He also finished in fourth place for the NL Cy Young award, his only finish in his 12-year career. The Pirates also won the World Series that season. Ellis went 138-119 with a 3.46 ERA and 1136 strikeouts for his career. Despite pitching in only three games out of the bullpen in 1979, he won a second World Series ring that season.

On May 5, 1972, Ellis, Stargell, and Rennie Stennett missed the team bus to Riverfront Stadium. A security guard asked the three for identification; Stargell and Stennett complied and were allowed in, but Ellis did not have identification with him. The guard said that Ellis did not identify himself, appeared drunk, and "made threatening gestures with a closed fist." Ellis countered that he was showing his World Series ring as evidence of his affiliation with the Pirates. In response, the guard maced Ellis. Ellis was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

The Cincinnati Reds sued Ellis for assault and Ellis countersued. Before going to trial, the Reds dropped the suit and wrote Ellis a letter of apology. The municipal court dropped the charges against Ellis, though Ellis stated that this incident made him "hate better". Ellis finished the 1972 season ninth in the NL in ERA (2.70), sixth in winning percentage (.682), fourth in walks per nine innings pitched (1.818), and first in home runs per nine innings ratio (0.331). The Pirates won the NL East that year and faced the Reds in the 1972 NLCS. The Pirates pitched Ellis with a sore arm, but the Reds won the series.

Ellis said that the scariest moment of his career was when he attempted to pitch while sober in a 1973 game. During pre-game warm-ups, he couldn't recreate his pitching mechanics. Ellis went to his locker, took some amphetamines with coffee, and returned to pitch. In August 1973, pictures circulated of Ellis wearing hair curlers in the bullpen during pre-game warm-ups.

The Pirates told him not to wear curlers on the field again. Ellis agreed, but charged that the Pirates were displaying racism. Ebony devoted a spread to Ellis about his hairstyles, which was inspired by the hair curlers.

After Ellis defeated the Reds by a score of 1-0 in a 1973 game, Joe Morgan claimed that Ellis threw a spitball. Anderson had the umpire check Ellis, but found no evidence. In his 1980 book, Ellis admitted that wearing hair curlers produced sweat on his hair, which he used to throw a modified version of a spitball.

Ellis attempted to hit every batter in the Reds lineup on May 1, 1974, as he was angry that the Pirates were intimidated by the Big Red Machine. Ellis admired Pete Rose and was concerned about how he would respond, but Ellis decided to do it regardless. Ellis hit Rose, Morgan, and Dan Driessen in the top of the first inning. Cleanup batter Tony Pérez avoided Ellis's attempts and drew a walk; the first pitch to Perez was thrown behind him and over his head. Ellis threw two pitches that he aimed at the head of Johnny Bench, at which point Ellis was removed from the game by Murtaugh. Ellis's box score for the game reads as follows: 0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. Ellis tied eight other players for the MLB record with the three hit batsmen in the inning. Ellis retired from baseball in the spring of 1980, saying that he lost interest in the game. That year, Ellis entered drug treatment, staying for forty days at The Meadows in Wickenburg, Arizona. In 1984, he revealed that he had pitched his no-hitter under the influence of LSD.

Ellis lived in Apple Valley, California. He worked in Victorville, California as a drug counselor. He also counseled prisoners in Pittsburgh and at a prison in Adelanto, California. The New York Yankees hired Ellis in the 1980s to work with their minor league players, including Pascual Perez, who he counseled for drug problems. In 2005, Ellis began teaching weekly classes for individuals convicted of driving under the influence. Ellis also appeared in the 1986 film Gung Ho, directed by Ron Howard.

In 1989, Ellis served a player/coach for the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the Senior Professional Baseball Association and went 0–2 with a 1.76 ERA and seven saves as a part of the team's bullpen. In 1990, he allowed no earned runs and recorded two saves for the Pelicans before the league folded. He continued to play in the Los Angeles Veterans League.

Ellis was diagnosed with cirrhosis in 2007 and was placed on the list for a liver transplant. Though he had no health insurance, friends from his baseball career helped him to pay his medical bills. However, Ellis suffered heart damage in his last weeks of life, which made a transplant impossible. Ellis died on December 19, 2008 at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center due to his liver ailment. Services were held at the Angelus Funeral Home. He is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

If you didn’t notice from the picture at the top of the screen I’m wearing a limited edition No Mas shirt commemorating Ellis’s no-hitter. This is hands down one of my favorite shirts of all time especially when it comes to unusual attention to detail. To me, the first that that springs out is the placement of Ellis’s name on the back, “Ellis D.” It’s definitely one of the more mindboggling coincidences for a particular feat to have your name also closely spelling out the substance in which he was on when he chucked his no-no.

Lastly, the tattoo.

There’s actually a double meaning going on here that most people are completely unaware of. First, look at the eyes of the Pirate Parrot, the mascot of the Pirates. I had them filled in with different colors as well as added the marks above its head to emphasize how Ellis felt on the mound that day. I pretty much have the animation in the video to thank for that. The second thing has to do with the Pittsburgh cocaine trials of the 1980s, something I’ll go more in-depth on down the road, but one of the biggest figures in the trafficking of the drug amongst players was in fact Kevin Koch, the man who was inside the mascot outfit. Like I said, I’m a sucker for detail.

May 23- Pittsburgh Pirates

I really can’t explain why, but I’ve always had a soft spot for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Prior to last season of all the ball parks that I ever wanted to visit, let alone the city, Pittsburgh’s PNC Park was slated in at #2 behind Fenway Park in Boston. I think a lot of it has to do with the Pirates’ storied past, the players who played day in and day out in the infamous black and yellow, but it’s really hard to answer that considering that I had never been there. When I finally had the opportunity this last August I was at peace every second I was there. I realize that I’m probably one of a very small percentage that feels this way, but from everything I encountered and everyone I interacted with it quickly became one of my favorite places I’ve ever traveled to. If you ever get the chance to get out to a game, or even just take a trip to the city, make it happen.

Pittsburgh has always been an ardent supporter of the troops. It’s shown for decades with every ounce of steel that gets produced in the city and sent to the battle lines in some form. I wrote about the Pirates’ ties with the military back on May 5th, but I really should have focused on this moment. On April 5, 2012 the Pirates kicked off Opening Day with an unfortunate loss to their in-state rival, the Philadelphia Phillies. As much as the loss may have stung a few fans, the overall attitude of the day was set during the pre-game festivities. The Pirates had invited Jeremy Feldbusch, a Pennsylvania native, to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Feldbusch graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in biology before joining the Army in August of 2001. He became an elite infantry soldier, graduating from airborne school and joining the Army Rangers where he quickly climbed the ladder up to the rank of sergeant. On April 3, 2003 Feldbusch’s life was changed when an artillery round landed 10 meters away from him while he and members of his unit (3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment out of Fort Benning, Georgia) were working to seize the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates River in Iraq. Everyone else in his until took cover and Feldbusch was the only person physically affected by the blast. Feldbusch lost his right eye and the shrapnel severed the optic nerve of the other. Shrapnel embedded in the left frontal lobe of his brain and he spent six weeks in a medically induced coma. The events that caused his permanent disability never got him down. Feldbusch and his mom have teamed up with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) to help raise awareness for the needs of injured service members. Jeremy became the first national spokesman for the WWP, an organization he sees as his second family, and was one of the individuals who spoke in Washington, D.C. for the creation of traumatic injury insurance. With all of his accolades and service within the community it was no surprise that Feldbusch was an appropriate member of the Pittsburgh community to be given the honor of throwing out first pitch. With his guide by his side he aimed out the area in which to throw and fired a pitch in to Charlie Morton. With only a rough idea of where the ball would go the ball sailed right down the middle for a strike. The sold out crowd in attendance at PNC Park gave Feldbusch a standing ovation.

Since 1971 the Pirates have gone 25-17 while only missing three games on Memorial Day. Their best stretch came from 1971-1976 when the Pirates went 8-1 with the first seven of those wins coming consecutively as the Pirates won both end of doubleheaders against the Philadelphia Phillies in 1972 and the San Diego Padres in 1974. Their streak came to an end against the New York Mets in the first game of a doubleheader in ’76; however, they won the nightcap easily. Their best record on Memorial Day is 3-0 against the Florida Marlins which took place 2000-2001 and 2005. They also currently have a four-game winning streak against the Chicago Cubs which dates back to 2002.

Of all the players who have gone through the Pirates organization and enlisted or been drafted into military service there was one player in particular who came to mind when marking up this cap. The story of how I got to it is a bit unusual; however, I’ll do my best to show how it all makes sense.

.279/369/1015- This particular post is written with a great deal of personal irony when compared to where I was around this time a year ago. Somewhere around the second week of May I was sitting around the MLB Fan Cave, more than likely watching that day’s baseball games because I was pretty much the only person who actually took pride in that part of the experience. I’m having a bit of difficulty remembering the exact date and which game I was watching when Tyler Hissey, the content advisor who runs the Fan Cave Facebook page and Twitter account, came over and asked me if I would write an article based on an interview the New York Times did on whether or not Johnny Damon is Hall of Famer. My reply to him was, “No.” He looked at me in a confused manner, waiting a moment and then asked, “how come?” I then starting firing off a few of Damon’s stats and his lack of accomplishments, to which Hissey interrupted me with a smile on his face as he had misread my original answer. After we clarified each others’ response I agree to take it on later that night.

I was all ready prepared to give it a hard “no,” but I looked over the NYT article for reference and double checked a few stat sites to make sure my answer were correct. Sure enough, they were. It took me about 20 minutes or so to put it together, and other five minutes to edit it before I sent it in. On May 14^th the article was posted to the Fan Cave Web site and almost immediately I received a lengthy complaint of someone calling me an “asshat” and trying to make an argument that I was wrong because of other players who were all ready in the National Baseball Hall of Fame with worse numbers than Damon. Being the reserved person that I am (sarcasm) I took to the message board and ripped him/her a new one simply based on the facts, not necessarily my opinion. For the chatter that led to this, including the article I wrote, click on the link here. The first two responses are our chatter.

One thing that I should point out is that I got reprimanded for responding to the instigators response. This was a common theme that I dealt with in the Fan Cave as I’m not the kind of person to let ignorance and aggression toward me go without having a say. No matter how many times I was told not to engage, I still did it. I never called names; I just let the facts do all the talking for me. The response I got from the powers that be was not something I was particularly going to adhere to for the sake that I’m not, and will never be a voiceless puppet. Anyway, I’ve rambled. So, with my setup in place, I give you Ralph Kiner.

Ralph M Kiner was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico on October 27, 1922. Kiner's father died when Ralph was young and his mother moved to California. He played baseball at Alhambra High School and was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates immediately after graduating. His professional career began in 1941 as an outfielder with the Albany Senators in the Class A Eastern League. In two seasons with the Senators he batted .288 and .268 and hit 14 homers in 1942 which led the league.

Kiner joined the Toronto Maple Leafs of the International League in 1943, but within a few weeks he was inducted in the Navy. As a cadet he attended St Mary's Pre-Flight School in California and earned his pilot's wings and commission at Corpus Christi in December 1944. He flew Martin PBM Mariners from Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station in Hawaii on submarine patrols, accumulating 1,200 flying hours and playing hardly any baseball during that time.

Kiner had his Major League debut on April 16, 1946 and played 146 games for the Pirates that year. His stats: .247/23/81. Kiner’s 23 home runs were the most in the National League which helped land him in 30^th place in the NL MVP vote that season. Kiner more than likely would have won the Rookie of the Year award; however, it would be another year before that honor was created.

What every few expected over the next six seasons was for Kiner to be one of the most dominant power hitters the game has ever seen. In 1947 Kiner went deep 51 times, the most in the Majors. On top of that he brought in 127 runs and batted .313 on the season while only striking out 81 times. Kiner somehow only managed to finish sixth that year for the NL MVP, a problem he would face throughout his entire career. From 1946-1952 Kiner lead the NL, and the Majors a few times, in home runs. Even more impressive is that his batting average during this time was a steady .279, including three years when he hit .309 or better.

Kiner only played seven-and-a-half years for the Pirates, the other two-and-a-half years came with the Cubs and the Cleveland Indians respectively. Kiner dealt with serious back problems throughout his career which forced him to retire at the end of the 1955 season. Therefore, his career numbers of .279/369/1015 in eight years with the Pirates is something to truly marvel at. Not to mention the fact that he was a pilot in World War II before his career even started.

Kiner, as I mentioned in my Fan Cave article, made the Hall of Fame in his last year of eligibility in 1975. Aside from his home run dominance he also made six All-Star Game appearances and has had a stellar broadcasting career with the Chicago White Sox, and most notably the New York Mets. At 90-years-old he is still one of the few older players still sitting behind a microphone for games. Oh! And with that, he’s also the third-longest tenured broadcaster for any team. The first two guys? Jaime Jarrin, the Spanish voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers and some guy named Scully. Maybe you’ve heard of him.

May 5- Pittsburgh Pirates

Of all the New Era Caps I had my mother mail to me I thought this Pittsburgh Pirates hat was a winner. Of course, in my head I was under the impression that the Pirates had taken a page out of the San Diego Padres playbook and repped this Military Day hat primarily on Sundays. Nope! Here’s how it all went wrong, and then righted itself out.

If you’ve been following my tales for the last couple of days you would know that I decided to stay in Florida with my girlfriend Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) for an extra week. Well, what I forgot to take into consideration was that I was going to run short on hats to write about very fast. Hence the momentary delays in the last few days’ worth of posts. Anyway, my large assortment of hats are all chillin’ in my bedroom at my parents’ house because it’s a much safer place than in my storage unit in Eugene, Oregon. Going simply off memory, I sent a detailed email to my mother to round up enough hats to get me through the rest of my time with Angie. She did. And yet for some strange reason I chose this hat; even with the aid of the computer to guide me on my request. At the time when I sent the request I thought that this particular Pirates hat was one they had worn for every Sunday game in 2012; kind of like the way the Padres pay tribute to the military every Sunday home game in San Diego. My theory had been built up on the basis that I knew it wasn’t the 2012 Stars & Stripes Memorial Day cap the Pirates wore as I also own that cap as well, and I can point out the various differences between each.

When it, and a few others, arrived at Angie’s house on Saturday I still didn’t think much of it. I had planned to write about it tonight anyway so I didn’t see any reason to do any research on it the day before. I’ve grown accustomed to the challenge of doing “on the spot” research under a time crunch, but at the same time, as I mentioned above, I thought I had this one taken care of. So, Angie and I went out on out last date together before I would have to catch my plane back to Portland at 8:00 AM EST. We didn’t do anything too spectacular, just dinner and time together, which is all we ever really need. I’ve mentioned this on Twitter several times, but very few people seem to take me serious on it; I’m actually kind of a boring person in real life. I read all the time, I listen to a wide variety of music, I watch a lot of movies, and I cook, all for the sake of building a more intellectual style of writing and comedy. Most of the times it comes out right… I think. Angie and I are virtually identical, which is why we can be at peace with one another in the most pedestrian of situations; however, our brains are always churning with thoughts of jokes and baseball. Even though we were going out to dinner at one of her favorite restaurants in Fort Lauderdale I still rocked this Pirates cap. I didn’t wear it at dinner. I can be a gentleman at times, but Angie has grown accustom to my style and habits, and this is one that she can appreciate.

Traffic was absolutely absurd along the coastline of Fort Lauderdale. We had both neglected the fact that it was Cinco de Mayo. Personally, I’ve never been one to care for Cinco de Mayo.

1. I don’t drink that much.

2. The reason “we” celebrate the holiday has become lost over the years.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not Mexican Independence Day; that actually takes place in September. But I suppose I can’t give to much grief to such an event, especially considering that my March 17^th post of the St. Patrick’s Day Boston Red Sox cap was written on a drinking holiday as well. Moving on; the main reason I bring this up is because I wanted to stop by a restaurant in the area to take a photo for this blog post. The restaurant; Primanti Brothers. I’ll dabble into greater detail in a future post, but what I can tell you now is that it’s a Pittsburgh-based restaurant that makes amazing sandwiches. So, being the clever guy that I am, I figured what better place to take a photo with this hat on than in front of a Pittsburgh-based establishment? In so few words, let’s just say that it was a bit high in foot traffic to be able to take a decent shot. Also, parking was lacking for our benefit. Without very many options we decided to press on back home. It was getting late and I needed to crank this bad boy out for the night.

Before we had gone out I made sure to get a few searches started involving some factoids about this hat, but I didn’t look over a single one of the until we got home. When I sat down and scanned through the first two pages my smile was unfortunately turned into a frown. What I thought had been a season long tribute had now turned into a weekend tribute. The Pirates only wore this hat for two days: May 26 and 27 against the Chicago Cubs in which both ended with the raising of the Jolly Roger. Well, at that moment I was in a bit of a panic. I was looking forward to go through several box scores to put some kind of a correlation or story together, but instead I had two games to work with.

For a while I thought this was an interesting point in time for the Pirates to use this hat; especially when considering that on Monday, May 28 they would be wearing the Stars & Stripes model for Memorial Day. I have something all ready reserved for that hat so I don’t want to spoil it with this. From my personal experience I know that these dates were two of my last days in the MLB Fan Cave, but nothing of real note occurred. Nope, this one was driving me a bit crazy for a good chunk of the night.

Call it fate, or just my mind blasting in a weird direction as it tends to do, but just as I was about to reach by boiling point my brain started scanning through comedies I had watched over the years when it randomly landed on “Dude, Where’s My Car?” It’s really not as random as you would think though. A few days prior Angie and I had been discussing Cameron Crowe movies as two of her favorite films of his are “Singles” and “Almost Famous.” Having not seen “Singles” I can’t say anything good or bad about it; however, “Almost Famous” is one of my least favorite movies. As much as I love music and film, it’s just one of those few that I can’t stand. Our Crowe battle continued and I poked fun at the fact that Crowe actually wrote the screenplay for “Dude, Where’s My Car?”… or so I thought. For 13 years I could have sworn that I remember seeing his name in the credits, but as it turned out it was Phillip Stark. She opted not to challenge me on that bit of knowledge, but I’m pretty sure she will after reading this. Anyway, the one thing about “Dude, Where’s My Car?” That suddenly crept back into my head was this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RenOUsGvS90

For those of you who don’t remember from last season… at the end of April the Pirates started doing the Zoltan symbol anytime they got an extra-base hit. Where did they get the idea? “Dude, Where’s My Car?” I had luckily stumbled upon an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to confirm this story, as Cameron Crowe had screwed me for the better part of 13 years. Here’s the link for that: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/pirates/dude-whats-the-z-pirates-explain-643229/

So, now that we’re dealing with extra-base hits I had a clearer mission at-hand. Unfortunately for the Pirates in their game of the 26^th they had only hit singles, so nothing to go from there; however, on the 27^th I got a bit more to wring with.

Z- I didn’t want to even attempt drawing to hands on my hat, so I just went with the “Z” for Zoltan. Don’t judge me.

#31- Even though Andrew McCutchen cranked a home run and popped the Zoltan that day, I figured it was too easy to roll with him, so I’ll save him for another post. Jose Tabata on the other hand, today’s your day.

Tabata went 2-3 on May 27^th, which included and single, a triple and a big pop of the Zoltan. Tabata was in his third year with the club in 2012 and actually produced his worst season to date for the year. A .299 average in his rookie season had been the initial stepping stone in his Major League career, and it even laded him in eighth place in the National League Rookie of the Year vote. However, since we are talking about the NL here, Tabata hasn’t seen more than 103 games in a season on account so many players to rotate on account of pitching matchups and a lack of the designated hitter. But for that one day in May, Tabata got the club and fans fired up.

#46- This guy has been my fantasy baseball savior in back-to-back seasons to the point where I had to give him a fitting nickname. Garrett “Motherf---ing” Jones is one of those guys who can sneak up and bite a time when they least expect it. Pirates’ manager Clint Hurdle knows this all too well which is why Jones plays first base and the outfield and is utilized almost as often as McCutchen. In fantasy seasons passed I would spot start Jones when I knew he would be getting a lot of quality at-bats, and sure enough, he came through for me. The nickname I gave him also fits perfectly with the name, which is something that I had a tendency to shout a lot in the Fan Cave whenever he had a clutch hit; like on May 27^th for example.

Jones was probably the clutch-iest dude on the Pirates that day, going 2-4 with a double and a home run. For those playing at home that equals “double Zoltan.” Dude pal might as well have gotten that tattooed across his chest. Equally as much, I did a power run through the home run slide for him that day.

March 22- Pittsburgh Pirates

I realize that with all the hats I have if I were to tell you that I didn’t want this one in particular you probably wouldn’t believe me. I should actually word that better. At some point in time I was going to buy this; however, when I did pick it up it had more to do with impulse, rather than necessity. About two weeks before I left for New York City to be in the MLB Fan Cave my friend Leif Carpenter shot me a text and asked if I wanted to go hat shopping. Yes, hat shopping. You know? It’s like when women goes shoe shopping, except for the fact that we come back with something awesome and not something that looks cute and will cause our ankles to swell/bleed. This Pittsburgh Pirates hat was his favorite one to wear and he always try to get me to buy it any time we went to the Lids at Valley River Center in Eugene, Oregon. On that fateful day I rummaged around, looking behind random stacks in case they were styles not showing, but… the reality set in; I had actually bought every game worn style the store carried. So, without a good reason to not pick it up, I did. I think Leif was happier about it than I was.

The Pirates rocked this hat for all of their road games from 1997-2000 under than coach and current Detroit Tigers third base coach Gene Lamont. Lamont is one of the few guys in baseball I hate merely on the principle that he’s terrible at his job. Seriously, watch a Tigers game some time and watch Miguel Cabrera blow through every sign Lamont puts up. Even Miggy knows what’s up. It’s actually a known fact that the main reason Lamont still has his job with the Tigers is because he’s great friends with Jim Leyland. What’s really interesting about this fact is that Leyland’s last managerial year with the Bucs came at the end of the 1996 season. Lamont’s first year with the Pirates? 1997, at which he lasted until the end of the 2000 season with a record of 295-352. Bad.

I can’t exactly say that the Pirates had some stellar players during this time frame; however, they did have a few diamonds in the rough. Unfortunately I’ve all ready written about the two best players (Jason Kendall and Brian Giles) back on January 2, but I was able to find a few good ones to mark proudly on this cap.

#22- Before he became a lights out pitcher with the San Francisco Giants, Jason Schmidt was just another guy to take the hill for the Pirates. Originally an eighth round pick for the Atlanta Braves in 1991, Schmidt made his debut in 1995 with the Bravos, but was traded midseason to Pittsburgh during the 1996 season. Schmidt played for the Pirates until the middle of the 2001 season when he was dealt to the Giants, but he only found modest success in the National Eastern division. During his run Schmidt went 44-47 with 4.39 ERA and 596 strikeouts. He never won any awards, and the one stat he ever led the League in was wild pitches with 15 in 1998.

#28- If you haven’t noticed by now, I have a huge respect for former members of the Montreal Expos. A former third round pick for the ‘Spos in 1987, John Vander Wal was a well-known name, but not exactly the touting prospect everyone imagines he’d be. He made his debut in 1991 and hung around Montreal until the end of the 1993 season. From there he went to the Rockies from 1994- the middle of 1998 when he got dealt to the San Diego Padres until 1999. In 2000 Vander Wal found himself with the Pirates and made an impact quickly. That season he was a regular fixture in the lineup and received a career high 461 at bats… which led him to hit .299 on the season, a career best based on plate appearances. He also got career highs in home runs (24) and RBI (94), both of which were the second best for the team behind Brian Giles’s marks. But, like Schmidt, he was dealt to the Giants. In fact, the two were traded for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong. Funny how that one worked out for everyone.