2024 MLB Thread

[lordstanley]

17 hours ago, oblong said:

I almost got to be a clubhouse kid or bat boy for the Red Sox but I wasn’t 16. My sister had a connection somehow and said at work that day they were looking for someone. 

My grandpa, born in 1914, went to Cass Tech. So this would have been late ‘20s, early 1930s. He got a job as a sweeper at Navin Field, cleaning up after the games - all matinees of course back then - finished up. Would take the streetcar after school. He said it was a steady job but was hired basically day to day. Once they knew you, you’d be hired day after day but if you missed a day there was a risk you’d be out of the rotation. So some pressure. He tried to get promoted to clubhouse attendant, and my understanding is he did not get the job but was asked to go into the visitors’ lockerroom a few times to help clean up. 

[Motor City Sonics]

Derek Bender is the name of the minor league catcher who was tipping pitches to our Lakeland hitters so his team would lose because he wanted the season to be over.      Obviously the Twins released him right away.      Will this guy ever get another shot?   He was a good hitter in college.      

[gehringer_2]

7 hours ago, lordstanley said:

My grandpa, born in 1914, went to Cass Tech. So this would have been late ‘20s, early 1930s. He got a job as a sweeper at Navin Field, cleaning up after the games - all matinees of course back then - finished up. Would take the streetcar after school. He said it was a steady job but was hired basically day to day. Once they knew you, you’d be hired day after day but if you missed a day there was a risk you’d be out of the rotation. So some pressure. He tried to get promoted to clubhouse attendant, and my understanding is he did not get the job but was asked to go into the visitors’ lockerroom a few times to help clean up. 

for any who wonder at the connection, you could walk from Cass to Navin Field in few minutes.

[Tenacious D]

9 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

for any who wonder at the connection, you could walk from Cass to Navin Field in few minutes.

Was that the same era as the coked out Tigers icon?

[oblong]

23 hours ago, casimir said:

Oh, those sticker books from Topps?  Those must have come to be due to the more broad sticker collecting craze of the time.  Yeah, I think I’d have enough money to buy the annual book and then maybe a few packs and that’d be it.  I should have just stuck with the traditional baseball cards (which, ok, I don’t have those anymore either).

Yes.  I’d say like 81-83?  Some of them were gold and silver.  

[papalawrence]

17 hours ago, lordstanley said:

My grandpa, born in 1914, went to Cass Tech. So this would have been late ‘20s, early 1930s. He got a job as a sweeper at Navin Field, cleaning up after the games - all matinees of course back then - finished up. Would take the streetcar after school. He said it was a steady job but was hired basically day to day. Once they knew you, you’d be hired day after day but if you missed a day there was a risk you’d be out of the rotation. So some pressure. He tried to get promoted to clubhouse attendant, and my understanding is he did not get the job but was asked to go into the visitors’ lockerroom a few times to help clean up. 

Very cool story - would have been a dream job of mine to work at Tigers stadium in the 70s or 80s

[papalawrence]

Speaking of Navin Field, I just bought a postcard of Navin Field from the 1910s on eBay. It's en route 

[1776]

3 hours ago, papalawrence said:

Speaking of Navin Field, I just bought a postcard of Navin Field from the 1910s on eBay. It's en route 

Website vintagedetroit.com has some postcards like that. I believe they have the one you described here and others.

Edited December 24, 2024 by 1776

[Tenacious D]

Very well done 

 

[casimir]

On 12/23/2024 at 9:14 PM, oblong said:

Yes.  I’d say like 81-83?  Some of them were gold and silver.  

Yeah, now that I think of it, maybe they were Fleer rather than Topps.  But that was the time frame.

[CMU97]

I had mountains and mountains of those, and everything else baseball related during that era.

Topps started the. Sticker Book in 1981. Those had a white border, and there were pages for each team, and all stars. Same in 1982, except the national league had a blue border, and AL had Red. Or vice versa, i'm going by memory. 1983 and have 84 basically stayed the same.

 

Fleer started stickers in 1982, although they called them "stamps", and they came in this little plastic thing similar to a pez dispenser. It was impossible to pull the stamps out without ripping them to shreads and you had to open the dispenser. 

 

In 1984 Fleer did regular stickers in a sticker book like Topps, and those had a gold border. That was probably my favorite sticker set from that era.  I'm not sure how long the sticker fad lasted, they weren't worth much. and I stopped collecting them. 

My favorite favorite odd ball set from that era was the 1981 Topps Scratch off cards. They were about the size of an old lottery ticket, and you could play a complete baseball game with them. I believe they had red, green, and blue versions. All of this is by memory, so I may not be 100% accurate in my recollection. 

[lordstanley]

 

[papalawrence]

Burnes is 29 and has pitched 903 innings. His career era is 3.19, fip is 3.21, whip is 1.06. He signed for 6/210.

Unless Skubal continues at his current level or even improves, he isn't getting 400 million. 

Cole did get 9/324 at age 29. Skubal has had significant injuries. Maybe he gets similar, maybe 9/344? I doubt 400. The Dodgers will offer him 10/600 with half deferred and a lifetime pass to Disney 

[1776]

I read last night that the Giants had an offer on the table for Burnes for some time but were ready to move on because he wasn’t interested. I don’t know what the years/$ were. 
 

[Tenacious D]

1 hour ago, 1776 said:

I read last night that the Giants had an offer on the table for Burnes for some time but were ready to move on because he wasn’t interested. I don’t know what the years/$ were. 
 

Apparently the Giants and Jays offered more, but Burnes wanted to play in AZ.

Seems like both of those teams are frequently the bridesmaid when it comes to attracting free agents.

[KL2]

36 minutes ago, Tenacious D said:

Apparently the Giants and Jays offered more, but Burnes wanted to play in AZ.

Seems like both of those teams are frequently the bridesmaid when it comes to attracting free agents.

Taxes

[Tenacious D]

5 minutes ago, KL2 said:

Taxes

I get it for Toronto, but LA and SF residents pay the same, correct?

[KL2]

2 hours ago, Tenacious D said:

I get it for Toronto, but LA and SF residents pay the same, correct?

Was more just responding to your comment about why sf and Toronto seem to end up as bridesmaids

Not this specific signing.

[smr-nj]

Just posting this to make someone/anyone feel something uplifting. 😎

[1776]

The Dbacks have had some tough luck for several years with free agent pitchers. Bumgarner, Erod, and Montgomery all were/are busts to date. 
Maybe Burnes works out for them.

[1776]

2 hours ago, KL2 said:

Taxes

Generally the states with the higher taxes (CA/NY) compensate the player through their salary to cover the higher tax burden. 
If I’m not mistaken, when Josh Hamilton was traded from the Angels to the Rangers there were some adjustments to his existing contract to consider the lighter tax burden in Texas as opposed to California. I don’t recall the details but thought that was an unusual circumstance. 

[casimir]

1 hour ago, smr-nj said:

Just posting this to make someone/anyone feel something uplifting. 😎

It’s unseasonably warm here today.  I took the bicycle out for a spin.  (1) It’s been a while, so it wasn’t the easiest of treks.  (2) The unseasonably warm was being blown in by some fairly strong gusts, so it wasn’t the easiest of treks.  Regardless, it was a better time than shoveling snow would have been.

[Tenacious D]

55 degrees in SE Michigan is a good day to host prospective free agents.

[Tenacious D]

Bleacher Report has our system at #3.  I’d put Lee on the list over Hall, but this has the usual suspects.

 

[Tiger337]

Another legendary player has passed away.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=7613330848743283

https://www.mlb.com/video/randle-blows-ball-foul-c31267713