July 1- New York Yankees

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a huge fan of talking about the stories from a team’s past that don’t quite get remembered except in passing moments and at the countertop during a bar room discussion by the most avid of baseball fans and historians. In the case of the New York Yankees, most long-lasting tales focus heavily upon the dominant teams featuring yesteryear’s stars like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford all the way up through the 1970s with Thurman Munson, Chris Chambliss and Reggie Jackson and on into the 1990s and 2000s with Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill. These are the teams of our grandfathers, fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers and extended relatives that we all laugh and smile about. But like any fairy tale story, there is always that moment of struggle and conflict that we can’t look beyond.

Unlike most of my other posts I have elected to start with a bit of history about the cap first so that I can wind up and lead into the heart of the story. Despite what most of you have seen through film and photos of the last 80 years or so on Yankees baseball, the team has actually gone through a surprising number of uniform and logo changes in their 113-year history. So far I’ve touched on one of the former caps that the Yankees reintroduced in 2012 in my post from February 9^th when they were still known as the Highlanders. It wouldn’t be until 1913 that the team would officially become the Yankees and begin play with the navy blue cap with the white “NY” logo that we’ve all become familiar with. Over the years the “NY” went through a few style modifications (all of which I’ll detail with individual posts) until they finally settled down on this particular style in 1992, right around the time that this scrappy no-namer was taken with the sixth overall pick in that year’s amateur draft.  

Now, some of you might be saying, “Hey Benjamin! Are you high? The Yankees have been using the same logo since the 1960s at least.” My response to that is, “WRONG!!!” It’s very close, and I used to think the same thing; however, years of baseball card collecting and a vested interest in authentic baseball caps has certainly made me the wiser man in this category. If you look closely in the Jeter photo above you’ll notice that the tips on the “N” and the “Y” curve up and outward and are almost sanded down to a fine 45 degree edge. Here’s a closer look.

Now, if you take a look at the logo on the cap used through the 1991 season, you’ll see that the tips of the “N” and the “Y” shoot out at the tips a little bit more, plus the shape of the “N” has a bit more of an off-kilter curve to it, making the “Y” appear to be a little bit tighter in closeness to the left arm of the “N.” 

I know this all sounds crazy, but it’s true. The main reason I bring all of this up is because at some point in time down the road when I write about the fraternal doppelganger of this cap, I don’t want any of you to think I’m cheating you by writing about the exact same cap. Even weirder, now that I have time stamped this cap that I’m wearing as a 1992-present cap, I’m now about to spin you a story or two from Yankees’ history from the era of the second cap. Yes, I realize none of this makes sense as I try to stay within the era of the cap and its use. The only problem is that I am saving an even better story for the second cap for October, and since this one straddles the end date of the second cap, I figure what the hell? Almost all of us witnessed the Yankees of the 1990s and 2000s so there’s really no sense in dragging anyone down that road again. Nothing personal against the Yankees or their fans; I just feel that there’s no sense in trying to rehash upon what so many others have all ready talked about for the last decade. That would be kind of like going out an making a film about World War II, hoping that your interpretation was somehow better than the dozens that have come before it. Once again, as well all should know by now, Quentin Tarantino pretty much put that baby to bed.

7/1/90: On the morning of July 1, 1990 the Yankees found themselves dead last (seventh place) in the American League Eastern Division with a record of 28-44. The Yankees had been in that position since May 26^th after a loss to the Kansas City Royals by the score of 4-9. Then-manager Bucky Dent, who I’ll be writing about down the road, was relieved of his managerial duties on June 5^th and replaced by Stump Merrill for the remainder of the season. Even with Merrill at the helm, the Yankees struggled to register a number in the win column despite the level of talent on the team which included Don Mattingly, Steve Balboni, Steve Sax, Jesse Barfield and a fresh-faced rookie by the name of Jim Leyritz. Andy Hawkins was on the mound for the Yankees that sunny afternoon in Chicago along with his 1-4 record in 13 starts on the season. Hawkins’s win came on May 6^th against the California Angels, but it was up to him to do battle against the White Sox in old Comiskey Park this day.

Through the first four innings Hawkins and White Sox pitcher Greg Hibbard had themselves a little bit of a pitchers’ duel at hand. Each had 12 batters come to the plate, and in each case both men sent the batters back to the dugout with their tail between their legs. In the top of the fifth inning Hibbard continued his pace, getting Balboni, Barfield and Leyritz out consecutively. Now, it was time to switch sides. Hawkins made short work of both Dan Pasqua and Ron Kittle with a flyout and popout respectively; however, he walked catcher Ron Karkovice after running him up to a full count. Hawkins then had a passed ball get by against second baseman Scott Fletcher, allowing Karkovice advance to second base. Hawkins then proceeded to walk Fletcher before getting Sammy Sosa to flyout to left field.

Hibbard’s perfect game was broken up by Yankees catcher and former-Oakland Athletics skipper Bob Geren in the top of the sixth inning with one out on a single to third baseman and current White Sox manager Robin Ventura. Hibbard would go seven innings and only allow four hits while striking out four throughout the game. As for Hawkins, his day was just getting started. Hawkins got through the sixth on three straight batters, but once again allowed a walk in the top of the seventh inning to designated hitter Ivan Calderon. Hawkins then took down Pasqua again, Calderon got caught stealing by Geren and Kittle went down watching the strikes go by.

If you couldn’t tell by now, the Yankees offense was pretty much non-existent. Hawkins was a lone-man on the mound with a no-hitter in tact through seven innings. In the eight, the wheels came off. Actually, that’s a poor analogy. It’s more like, the wheels came off, rolled down the street along with the car and somehow found themselves back on the hubs. Karkovice and Fletcher both succumbed to popflys to second baseman Sax, but on the next play third baseman Mike Blowers botched a routine ground ball hit by Sosa which allowed a baserunner via error on behalf of Blowers. Sosa then stole second as Ozzie Guillen was in the process of walking, which ultimately led to Lance Johnson receiving a free pass to first base himself, thus loading the bases with two outs for Ventura. At this point I should probably remind you that Hawkins’s no-hitter was still in tact. On the first pitch from Hawkins, Ventura swung for the fences but got under it, sending a deep fly ball to an eagerly awaiting Leyritz out in left field. On most days, this play would have been routine, but on a day like today with a non-no in tact and the wind blowing like crazy in the outfield, Leyritz made a rookie mistake and lost the ball at the last second as it careened off of his glove and onto the grass, allowing all three runner on base to score as Ventura pulled into second. Leyritz was charged with an error, but the White Sox now held a 3-0 lead despite the fact that they were still getting no-hit by Hawkins. Calderon was up next for the Sox, getting himself into a bit of a jam as Hawkins quickly developed a 1-2 count on him. With nothing really to lose, Calderon lifted a ball into deep right field where the sun and the wind played havoc with a slightly careless Barfield waiting under it. Like Leyritz, the ball was being acted upon by the elements, and the same result occurred. Barfield lost the ball in the sun which allowed Ventura to score from second, kicking the score up to 4-0 in favor of the South Siders. Pasqua came to the plate again, working himself into a full count before popping it up to Yankees shortstop Alvaro Espinosa to end the inning.

In the ninth, the Yankees offense didn’t stray too far from their original game plan. That plan being that they weren’t intending on scoring any runs. After getting closed out by Scott Radinsky, the Yankees lost the game by the final score of 0-4 and Hawkins’s no-hitter was still in tact. Well, for a year and two months it was recognized as such. As it would later come to pass, on September 4, 1991 the Committee for Statistical Accuracy, appointed by Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, changed the definition of a no-hitter to require that a pitcher throw at least nine full innings and a complete game. Since Hawkins (who never gave up a hit during a game against Chicago, despite the Sox winning the game 4-0) played for the visiting team, the Sox never batted in the ninth inning and Hawkins lost the credit for a no-hitter. Pretty stupid, eh? One could argue that this is one of Vincent’s stupider moves during his reign as commissioner; however, this same committee also ruled that Roger Maris is the one and only single season home run record holder, overturning the 1961 decision of former commissioner Ford Frick that Maris and Ruth's home run totals should be listed side-by-side for 154 and 162 game seasons (contrary to popular belief, Frick never mentioned using an asterisk). Sooooooooo… he redeemed himself significantly on that one.

Despite only being commissioner for four years (1989-1992), Vincent’s legacy will forever be tied to directly with the Yankees. Aside from the aforementioned tidbits above, it was Vincent who expelled Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner III just 29 days after Hawkins’s no-hitter after “The Boss” paid Howie Spira, a small-time gambler, $40,000 for "dirt" on his outfielder Dave Winfield after Winfield sued Steinbrenner for failing to pay his foundation the $300,000 guaranteed in his contract. Steinbrenner was eventually reinstated in 1993 (one year after Vincent left office).

Per Fay Vincent's interview on WFAN (NY) on July 14, 2010 (the day after Steinbrenner died), Vincent had wanted to suspend Steinbrenner for only two years. It was Steinbrenner who asked for a lifetime ban as he was tired of baseball and wanted to help run the US Olympic effort. Steinbrenner knew he could not run the Olympic effort if he was suspended, so he asked for a lifetime ban, which he received. Steinbrenner then applied for (and received) reinstatement after two years.

Other highlights in Vincent’s career include the indefinite suspension of World Series champion, and repeated drug offended Steve Howe in 1992, who became the second player to be given a lifetime ban for drug-related issues. The first player was Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins in case you were wondering. Vincent was also the only man who had the balls to slap the MLB owners with a $280 million bill after the orchestration of collusion to prevent any free agents to be signed from 1985-1987, a topic I will get to later in the year as well. All in all, not too shabby of a four-year stretch for a guy who was paralyzed from the waist down after falling from a four story ledge in college.

#19- Going back to my earlier statement about bar room conversation, there is probably one topic that comes up more often than most people would think when it comes to sports banter. That topic; worst #1 draft picks of all-time. This conversation is usually relegated to NBA or NFL conversation, as they’re the only two leagues truly at the forefront of polarizing the draft; however, there are some analysts and critics who carry out this same discussion with MLB picks. If you ever find yourself deep in the midst of this conversation, always remember to bring up Brien Taylor.

Taylor was born in Beaufort, North Carolina, to parents Willie Ray, who worked as a mason, and Bettie, who was a crab picker at the local seafood plant. He was the second of four children, named for the lead character in the movie Brian's Song. Taylor attended East Carteret High School. In his senior season, Taylor threw 88 innings, striking out 213 hitters while walking 28. His fastball often hit 98 and 99 mph. In 2006, MLB super agent Scott Boras claimed that Taylor was the best high school pitcher he had seen in his life.

The Yankees selected Taylor with the first overall selection in the 1991 Major League Baseball Draft, and offered him $300,000 to sign a minor league contract, the typical amount given to the first overall draft choice at that time. However, Boras, acting as an advisor, advised the Taylor family that the previous year's top-rated high school pitcher, Todd Van Poppel, was given more than $1.2 million to sign with the Oakland Athletics, giving up a scholarship to the University of Miami in the process. The Taylors held out for a three-year $1.2 million contract, "Van Poppel money," even though they had less leverage because Brien's poor grades in high school prevented him from getting a major college scholarship offer. They threatened the Yankees that Taylor would not sign and instead attend Louisburg College, a local junior college, as leverage to get the Yankees to agree to their terms. The Yankees were without the official services of owner George Steinbrenner, who was serving his lifetime banishment at the time, but through the media, Steinbrenner said that if the Yankees let Taylor get away, they should be "shot." Taylor signed for $1.55 million the day before his classes were set to begin. Further delay would have meant the deal could not be signed until after the school year ended, which coincided with the following year's draft.

Initially, the Yankees had hoped that like Dwight Gooden, Taylor would be ready for the big leagues at the age of 19. However they found he needed a better move to first base to hold base runners. In 1992 he was 6-8 for the Class-A Advanced Fort Lauderdale Yankees, but with a 2.57 ERA and with 187 strikeouts in 161 innings. The next year as a 21-year-old with the AA Albany-Colonie Yankees, Taylor went 13-7 with a 3.48 ERA and with 150 strikeouts in 163 innings. He also led the Eastern League with 102 walks. Nonetheless, Baseball America named him the game's best prospect and he was expected to pitch for the AAA Columbus Clippers of the International League in 1994, and start for the Yankees in 1995. The Yankees had asked Taylor to report to an instructional league so he could spend the winter of 1993-94 working on fundamentals. However Taylor declined the Yankees' request, claiming he was tired from the pressure of the season. He said he needed the rest and chose to remain near his North Carolina home.

On December 18, 1993 the normally mild-mannered Taylor suffered a dislocated left shoulder and torn labrum while defending his brother Brenden in a fistfight. The New York Times reported that Brenden confronted a man named Ron Wilson, who he had fought with in Harlowe, North Carolina. Brenden suffered head lacerations. Once Brien found out his brother had been hurt, he and a cousin went to Wilson's trailer home to confront him. There, Taylor got into an altercation with Jamie Morris, Wilson's friend, and Taylor fell on his shoulder. According to Wilson, Taylor attempted to throw a “haymaker” at Morris, and missed, which caused the injury.

In the hours following the altercation Boras told reporters the injury was a bruise. However when the Yankees had Taylor visit Dr. Frank Jobe, a well-known orthopedic surgeon, who called the injury one of the worst he'd seen. Jobe repaired a torn capsule and a torn labrum in Taylor's shoulder. Initially Jobe told Taylor that he would throw again with similar velocity and that his shoulder might even be more durable. However, he was never the same pitcher again. When he returned after surgery, he had lost 8 mph off his fastball and was unable to throw a curveball for a strike. He was at AA before the incident but spent the bulk of the remainder of his professional baseball career struggling in A-ball.

Taylor was able to get his fastball back into the low to mid 90's, and he had also filled out, gaining 35 pounds from when he first signed. However, he had control problems. In 1995 he pitched for the Yankees Gulf Coast League team, and walked 54 batters in 40 innings. In 1996 he pitched for the single-A Greensboro Bats, and walked 43 batters in 16 ¹⁄₃ innings, going 0-5 with an 18.73 ERA. At Greensboro again in 1997, he walked 52 batters in 27 innings, going 1-4 with a 14.33 ERA. He was released by the Yankees at the end of the 1998 season, and pitched for minor league affiliates of the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians until retiring in 2000. In his final stint with the Indians' Columbus affiliate in 2000, he gave up 5 hits, 9 walks, and 11 runs (8 earned) in 2 ²⁄₃ innings.

After baseball, Taylor moved back to North Carolina and picked up a job with UPS as a package handler and later a beer distributor. His life never mirrored his potential as he bounced around from job to job, fathering five daughters and having brushes with the law. In March 2012, Taylor was charged with cocaine trafficking after undercover narcotics agents purchased a large quantity of cocaine and crack cocaine from him over a period of several months. He was federally indicted on cocaine trafficking charges in June 2012. Taylor plead guilty in August 2012 and was sentenced to 38 months in prison, followed by three years' supervised release. Taylor, inmate #56437-056, is currently serving his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix. 

So much talent gone to waste as a result of a bad decision to some, but the definition of a protector of his family to others. It’s hard to watch sometimes, but it’s all part of the cycle of fame and fortune. Hopefully more kids trying to reach stardom latch onto and learn from this story.

February 25- California Angels

I realize tonight that I’m stepping over into the Dark Side with my hat of choice, but I think it’s fair to say that you should all expect to see it happen quite a few more times throughout the year. What can I say? I have a lot of Angels hats. It’s not my fault. Take it up with the organization for changing things so often.

Back in July of 2011 I picked this guy up off of one of my favorite hat Web sites MickeysPlace.com. If you haven’t been, give it a look. It’s by far the premier place to pick up old school hats made to the exact specifications of when they were originally made. Since I was picking up at least one of every team I had my sights set on this particular California Angels hat for well over a decade. The Angels wore it from 1972-1992 (1990-1992 featured a wider version of the logo) and it is still hands down my favorite hat they ever wore. There’s something about the simplicity of the straight-barred “A” with the little halo about that makes it incredibly alluring. To be honest, I think a lot of it also has to do with the nostalgia that comes with those particular uniforms being worn in the “Naked Gun” as well.

Despite my obvious ties to the Oakland Athletics, I always had a soft spot for our division rivals. I blame a little bit of it on RBI Baseball on the old school Nintendo, but most of it has to do with two particular guys who are still, in my opinion, faces of the franchise; but I’ll get to that in a minute. The order I had placed with Mickey’s Place for this hat was the first one I had done. Unlike Lids, I couldn’t just walk back into the store and swap it for something else or return it. Mickey’s Place is a shop based out of Cooperstown, New York and sits about two blocks away from the National Baseball Hall of Fame. If the hat didn’t fit, I was pretty much screwed. On July 24th it arrived, along with a Chicago White Sox and a Houston Colt .45s hat, both of which I’ll be writing about in the future. I took the box into the bathroom and tried all of my acquisitions on. Thankfully they fit perfectly. Without much question I took them back in to my room, grabbed a silver Sharpie marker and tagged it immediately with two of my childhood heroes.

#21- If you recall my post from Salt Lake City Bees post on January 28, you’d know that I was raised in a Mormon household. My faith has always been prevalent in my life, but I don’t speak about it often unless Mormons somehow come up in a conversation. Throughout my life I was always teased about it. Even now I always seem to find myself around people who like to bash or poke fun at Mo-Mos. I will admit that what Trey Parker and Matt Stone have done in regard to the Mormons is quite hilarious, but I’ve never understood why people would hate on a group of people that love their God, love their family and love to share their faith. I’m not one to press my views or my faith on others, even though I feel like I’m doing that a little bit now, but I do like to openly discuss it with anyone who has any allusions about say: the planet thing, the magic underwear thing, the temple thing, etc. Anyway, there weren’t exactly a lot of people within the church to look up to as a kid, but there was one particular dude who made me proud to be Mormon, Wally Joyner. Wally really didn’t look like much of a baseball player when I go back and look at his photos and baseball cards, but man could that cat play ball.

He was drafted in the third round out of BYU in the 1983 amateur draft and made his Major League debut in 1986. That year he finished in second place in the Rookie of the Year voting, hitting .290/22/100, and getting edged by 12 points by some no-namer who goes by Jose Canseco. He finished eighth in the MVP vote and made his only All-Star game appearance of his career that season. He played a total of seven years with the Angels, the first six coming from 1986-1991 and the last in his final year in 2001. Throughout his Angels career he went .286/117/532, while his only trip to the World Series came with the 1998 San Diego Padres. He always looked like he could be Matthew Broderick’s brother, especially after the first time I saw “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” What’s even funnier about that is that he actually did have a few roles in some Latter-Day Saint produced movies called “The Singles Ward,” “The RM,” “The Home Teachers” and “The Singles 2^nd Ward.” In both “Singles Ward” films he played Brother Angel, and coincidentally my uncles were in the first three films I listed. Wally Joyner, a great ball player and a heck of a Mormon.

#25- From 1989-1999 there was no one in Major League Baseball that I idolized or was inspired by more than Jim Abbott.

I feel bad for any young baseball fan who never had an opportunity to see him pitch for the mere sake that every time he stepped on the mound he defied the odds. For those who don’t know, Abbott was born without his right hand. Yah! But to put things into a better perspective of how talented he was throughout his career, he was the eighth overall pick in the 1988 amateur draft out of the University of Michigan. The dude is a legend right off the bat. Abbott played for the Angels from 1989-1992 and then again from 1995-1996. He played above average in his first two seasons, but his third season was clearly his best. In 1991 Abbott went 18-11 with a 2.89 ERA and 158 strikeouts. Need I remind you, dude pal only had one hand. He finished third in the Cy Young award voting, losing to Roger Clemens who had borderline equal numbers (18-10 and 2.62 ERA) with the exception of 241 strikeouts. But it was with the New York Yankees that Abbott will mostly be remembered. On September 13, 1993 Abbott tossed a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians. As a 10-year-old I recall watching the game from start to finish, applauding in my living room after the final out was made.It's still one of the few games that I will go back and watch over-and-over on You Tube.

Only one time in my life was I ever lucky enough to see him pitch in person, which came in 1990 when my dad and stepmom scored a suite through their work (PG&E). Despite being seven-years-old with a wide assortment of food all around me, I made sure to stay focused every time it was the Angels' turn to play defense. Throughout my Little League days my friends and I would try to mimic Abbott’s glove transfer when we threw. To us, it was mind-boggling to watch him throw, put his glove on and snag the occasional ball shooting right back at him.

I know I have a bit of a “against the grain” attitude about a lot of things in my life, but I can’t help but be a big softy when I reflect back on Wally and Abbott. They were both upstanding human beings within the community, and both played the game a high level of grace. Kudos to you gentleman.

February 24- Kansas City Royals

It’s so good to be back home, back to the familiar. But mostly it’s great to be back with my large assortment of hats. I realize that being so attached to a material possession is probably not a good sign, but they give me a feeling of comfort at the start and end of all of my days. It’s the same for anyone who collects anything really: coins, baseball cards, Hot Wheels cars, or even severed heads. Wait, what!? Sorry. But you get what I’m saying.

Last night was interesting to say the least. I started this blog as sort of a personal mission to not only educate everyone about something that’s important to me, as well as help keep me in a better habit of writing every single day. Not only was I able to talk about a hat, I was also able to tell a detailed story about someone very important to me. Granted, I could have made the tale much longer, but I didn’t want to bore anyone. That is another challenge of this journey, let alone for any writer; keeping the audience coming back and growing. My viewership has jumped significantly this month. At the end of January I was averaging a little over 100 viewers a day. Now I’m bringing in around 150 a day. Something I am truly thankful for from all of you.

So with that, it’s back to business.

I’m not the biggest fan of taking the bus, but when you’re left with little to no choice, the idea sounds much better than walking 110 miles back to your house. My parents bummed me $50 and I was able to snag a ticket for $18. Luckily it was at night, so I didn’t have to worry about being chatted up too much by a random stranger with something hanging out of their nose. I propped my head against the window and kung fu gripped my computer just in case. After two and a half hours I was back on Eugene soil, with my friend Jared Clark waiting to pick me up. My original plan was to head straight home and crash, but I couldn’t forget to do my post tonight. Instead, I had him take me home to grab a new hat and then drive me on down to the library to crank this sucker out.

I picked this cap up some time in April after we got our first stipend check for our “work” at the MLB Fan Cave. My first order of business was going across the street to pick up all the hats I salivated over at the New Era Flagship shop across the street, as well as raiding the Lids Web site for a few hats I had my eye on for a few months. This was not one of those hats in the purge… sort of. Anytime I bought hats through the Lids Web site I always had them delivered to the shop three blocks away from the Fan Cave because it was free. When I went in for my first shipment I saw this guy kicking it at the top of the rack. I shuffled through all of the 7 3/8s and pulled at the one the fit the lowest to my head. I was such a happy kid when I left with me large box, but so overprotective on the trek back. There was no way I was letting any dubious roughians get there mitts on my wares.

Anyway, the Kansas City Royals wore this cap from 2002-2005, and it was also the hat used by a Bakersfield club team when I was growing up called the Kern County Royals. Clever. 2002 and 2005 were very interesting years for the Royals organization as five managers shuffled through in just those two years alone. Tony Muser, John Mizerock and Tony Pena in 2002. Tony Pena, Bob Schaefer and Buddy Bell in 2005. During that stretch the Royals only finished with less than 100 losses once in 2003 when they went 83-79 to finish in third place in the American League Central during Tony Pena’s first full year at the helm. Despite the rough outings, the Royals had a few bright spots in those years in the form of a few up-and-coming stars, as well as a few guys giving it their last hurrah.

#4- Here’s a name that will take you back, Angel Berroa! He was originally an amateur signed by the Oakland Athletics in 1997, but didn’t make his MLB debut until 2001 with the Royals. In his first two seasons Berroa played a total of 35 games, but it was in 2003 where he made his mark. The Royals have only had four Rookie of the Year award winners in their history dating back to 1969: Lou Pinella (1969), Bob Hamelin (1994), Carlos Beltran (1999) and Berroa in 2003. In 2003 Berroa had his only truly notable year on record by going .287/17/73 and 21 stolen bases in 158 games at shortstop. It should be noted that Berroa beat out Hideki Matsui and Mark Teixeira for the award that year.

#11- With four World Series rings under his belt, Chuck Knoblauch ended his career in 2002 after playing only one season with the Royals. Despite being a career second baseman Knoblauch filled in throughout the outfield and as the team’s designated hitter in 80 games going .210/6/22. I was 19 at the time and for some reason this always seemed really weird to me. I had witnessed all four of Knoblauch’s World Series victories, and couldn’t understand why or how he ended up in Kansas City. The thing that I will always be grateful to him for is that he always got my streak started in MLB.com’s Beat the Streak. My longest record is a modest 12, but Knobby was the guy who started it all for me. Thanks Chuck!

#29- 2002-2005 was an especially baller time period for Mr. Royal himself Mike Sweeney. Talk about a guy who never really got his due, but went out every day and played his guts out; Sweeney became a household name at the start of the 2000 season when he made his first of four consecutive All-Star game appearances, but 2002 was one of the best seasons he ever had. 2000 was hands down his best offensive production year on record; however, in 2002 Sweeney had his best average of his career when hit .340 in 126 games. Now, he hit .333 in 2000 with 159 games under his belt, but hey; I’m the writer here. Sweeney tagged 24 homer runs and knocked in 86 runs in the process, giving him a respectable 20^th place spot in the American League MVP voting.

Yup! Those were some unfortunately mediocre years for the Royals, but it’s always good to look on the bright side of things.

February 13- Casper Ghosts

Today has been an especially unusual day, and I feel that the hat I’m wearing has some partial blame to it. I’ve always been a pretty superstitious guy, especially when it comes to baseball. I always jump over the chalk, I furiously brushed my teeth before every game like Turk Wendell and I always find patterns in the things that I do/wear when things seem to be amiss. Today is only the third day that I’ve worn this Casper Ghosts cap since I bought it back in August of 2011, and all three days have been especially trying.

The first day I wore it I ended up doing poorly on a photography assignment. Specifically, all of the photos I took were over or underexposed. The second day I wore was during Game 4 of the American League Championship series. The entire day I had been wearing my Detroit Tigers home cap in the hopes that the Tigers would tie the series with the Texas Rangers. It was going really well too; the Tigers and Rangers were tied at the end of the seventh inning. My friend Benji, a huge Tigers fan from Lansing, Michigan had been riding me the whole game for me to go home and grab my Ghosts hat for him to look at, but I wasn’t quite in the mood; at least until the Tigers came back from blowing a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth. I lived about a 9-iron shot away from the bar I work at, Max’s Tavern, so I ran home to grab it for the remainder of the game. Over the next three innings the Tigers had an effort to score a few times, but came up empty every time. Finally, in the top of the 11^th inning, the Tigers turned to Jose Valverde to put a stop on the Rangers offense. He failed. The Rangers won the game 7-3 and I went home and threw the cap across the room. Today, the MLB Fan Cave Top 30 was announced and two of my friends (Tom Bentley- Mariners and Evan Wansbrough- Blue Jays) didn’t make the cut despite garnering a lot of attention over their campaign. I feel partially responsible for them not making the cut, but not because of the hat. The hat merely aided in the depression that followed.

For those who don’t know too much about this hat, let alone the team, the tale is quite interesting. The team was first established in 2001 when the Butte Copper Kings from Montana had relocated after the 2000 season. From 2001-2007 the Rookie League team was known as the Casper Rockies in honor of their Major League affiliate, the Colorado Rockies. Wanting to bring in new fans and revenue the team held a contest for fans to chime in and rename the team. This process had proved successful in 2003 when the Calgary Cannons had relocated to Albuquerque Dukes had moved to Portland to become the Beavers at the end of the 2001 season. (If you haven’t noticed yet the Beavers and Portland come up frequently in my Minor League hat posts) By an overwhelming 67% majority the fans had chosen the Isotopes as their team name. But I’ll go into more detail in a later post. Unsurprisingly, the fans had chosen the Ghosts as the new team name for the Casper Rockies to start the 2008 season. The team name stuck from 2008-2011, but the team itself did not as they relocated to Grand Junction for the 2012 season. Bad luck all around for everyone it seems.

Keeping with the bad luck theme I did some research and found some interesting choices for my marks. Just a heads up; trying to find jersey numbers for big names in one day in Rookie Leagues is not an easy task, but I think you’ll all approve.

#17- If you know the Rockies, then you certainly should know this number. In 2010 Todd Helton made a rehab trip to Casper for three games: two against the Orem Owls and one against the Ogden Raptors, both of whom have pretty sweet hats. It’s not uncommon for players to do rehab stints, but very few go as far down as Rookie League. In this case the Ghosts were the only nearby affiliate of the Rockies to be playing at home for Helton to get some practice in. Luckily for his sake, he did pretty well. In the three games he played Helton went 5-10 with a double, five RBI and two walks. Just imagine if he had a bad showing.

#40/50- I’ve kept this open for a moment until I can get confirmation of the jersey number, but back in 2009 the Rockies had signed free agent and four-time World Series champion Mike Timlin to a Minor League deal. Guess where he had to start out? Timlin played in two games and threw two scoreless innings for the Ghosts before immediately jumping up to their AAA affiliate the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Unfortunately the 43-year-old was released two weeks later. As far as the 40/50 is concerned, I’m pretty much making an educated guess as to which number he used since those were the two numbers he wore during his time in the Majors. He wore #40 from 1991-2000 and #50 from 2001-2008. Based on logic I would assume he rocked #50, but I’d rather play it safe until I get confirmation. So, if anyone knows the answer, it would be more than appreciated.