Random Baseball Posts

[papalawrence]

Recent card purchases (I also collect non-sport)

1935 Goudey 4-in-1 Tigers

1929 Navin Field postcard

1942 Gum, Inc James Doolittle

1933 National Chicle Skybirds Red Baron

1911 T201 double folder Nap Lajoie 

 

 

 

[TJ Rollercoaster]

The Cleveland Guardians announced the death of owner Larry Dolan on Monday.

Dolan, who purchased the team in 2000, was 94. Dolan's ownership of the club was the longest tenure in the franchise's history.

“We are saddened by the loss of our Dad, but lucky to have him as part of our lives as long as we did,” Guardians chairman and Dolan's son, Paul Dolan, said in a statement. “He was a loving husband, father and grandfather who was passionate about his family, work, our community and his love of our local sports teams, including owning the Cleveland Guardians."

A native of Cleveland Heights, OH, Dolan bought the team through a family trust from Richard Jacobs for $323 million. Forbes' most recent valuation of the team in March of 2024 listed the Guardians at $1.35 billion, the 24th-most valuable franchise in Major League Baseball.

Under Dolan, the team reached the playoffs on three occasions and reached the World Series in 2016 where it lost to the Chicago Cubs in seven games.

Dolan was the brother of Charles Dolan and the uncle of New York Knicks and New York Rangers owner James Dolan.

[IdahoBert]

I’ve had this for a few years and hadn’t really read it, and read the 1980 Joe Falls article about Kaline. I didn’t realize Kaline was such an odd bird. Didn’t know much about his upbringing, his working class origins, or about his moodiness and ill-tempered outbursts. Didn’t realize that when he came up the Tigers only played a handful of night games so he spent his time in a hotel room not knowing what to do with himself.

[papalawrence]

Learned a couple facts about Hank Greenberg today. He served more months (47) during WW2 than any other player. Also, he was offered a contract by the Yankees out of high school, and he declined and chose college instead. He was intent on playing first base, and the Yanks had Gehrig. After his freshman year of college he signed with our Tigers. 

[Sports_Freak]

On 2/26/2025 at 11:37 AM, IdahoBert said:

I’ve had this for a few years and hadn’t really read it, and read the 1980 Joe Falls article about Kaline. I didn’t realize Kaline was such an odd bird. Didn’t know much about his upbringing, his working class origins, or about his moodiness and ill-tempered outbursts. Didn’t realize that when he came up the Tigers only played a handful of night games so he spent his time in a hotel room not knowing what to do with himself.

I read once that the sportswriters thought Kaline was full of himself because he never talked to others. It turned out, he was painfully shy. He was just a kid at the major league level, having no experience in the minors. Signed by Detroit and came right to Detroit. Pretty amazing...

[1776]

 This book releases tomorrow. The pre-release reviews are very high on the book. I’ve never been very knowledgeable of Weaver’s history so I’m ordering this one to get up to speed.

I really wish someone would write a book on Sparky comparable to what this author has attempted to do for Weaver.
 

 

[papalawrence]

Saw this on FB, pretty darn funny

 

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1062039925968217&id=100064866573416&post_id=100064866573416_1062039925968217

[IdahoBert]

53 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

Saw this on FB, pretty darn funny

 

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1062039925968217&id=100064866573416&post_id=100064866573416_1062039925968217

That’s pretty funny. In case you don’t have a Facebook account. 

[lordstanley]

Speaking of selfies:

 

[1776]

On 3/3/2025 at 8:26 AM, 1776 said:

 This book releases tomorrow. The pre-release reviews are very high on the book. I’ve never been very knowledgeable of Weaver’s history so I’m ordering this one to get up to speed.

I really wish someone would write a book on Sparky comparable to what this author has attempted to do for Weaver.
 

 

Ignore me at your own peril…this is an excellent book. This is one of the best baseball books I’ve ever read. Anyone that enjoys reading about the game through Weaver’s years in baseball will love this book. As I said earlier, I’d never been an Earl Weaver fan over the years simply because I have never been an Orioles fan. 
The Amazon reviews on this book are spot on if anyone is interested. 

[papalawrence]

Want a t206 Honus Wagner card? It'll cost ya. This one actually looks legit to me and will be authenticated with any sale. In 1974 one sold for $1500 and it made the cover of "the sports hobbyist." Bet that person wishes he'd hung on to it

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226415458469?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=H_ctcXfiRAC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=kqHvYtTeTyS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[papalawrence]

Had a random memory this am. I remembered Steve Kemp being called up from aaa Evansville in 1976. I was 10 and already a stat geek. His stat line at Evansville was insane. I just looked and didn't realize he was drafted 1-1. In 52 games in aaa he hit .386 with an ops of 1.203. Had he not suffered the injuries later he would have put up some very good numbers. I wasn't thrilled when Detroit traded him for Lemon, but clearly that worked out hugely in Detroit's favor.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=kemp--001ste

Then later that year the Pistons got Marvin "bad news" Barnes (rip) from the ABA. I had even higher expectations, but that one didn't pan out.

[gehringer_2]

48 minutes ago, papalawrence said:

Had he not suffered the injuries later he would have put up some very good numbers

Kemp could seriously swing a baseball bat.

[papalawrence]

Thinking about Matt Manning brought up a random memory of Pat Underwood's impressive start to his career in 1979. His first start was televised - went 8.1 innings, 0 runs, 3 hits, 1 bb. I remember it well, and being so excited thinking he could be the ace that takes over for Fidrych. Won his first 5 decisions. Ended 1979 6-4. Over the next 4 years he went 7-14 to finish his career 13-18 and was out of MLB at age 26. I believe he had arm injuries. Also brought up thoughts of Steve Searcy, Justin Thompson, Eric King, Jeff Robinson, Joel Zuzana........Amadeus, gumby and pokey, kc and the sunshine band.....had a client no-show and my mind drifts......

[papalawrence]

This guy scored one heckuva baseball card collection from 1952-1956

 

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/fabulous-50s-find-rhode-island-dealer-buys-stunning-lot-of-1950s-topps-cards/

[1776]

On 4/16/2025 at 1:36 PM, papalawrence said:

Want a t206 Honus Wagner card? It'll cost ya. This one actually looks legit to me and will be authenticated with any sale. In 1974 one sold for $1500 and it made the cover of "the sports hobbyist." Bet that person wishes he'd hung on to it

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226415458469?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=H_ctcXfiRAC&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=kqHvYtTeTyS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

At first I thought…$30,000,000!!! Are they freakin’ crazy! Then I saw FREE SHIPPING, so it’s all good. 

[Tiger337]

On 3/3/2025 at 8:26 AM, 1776 said:

 This book releases tomorrow. The pre-release reviews are very high on the book. I’ve never been very knowledgeable of Weaver’s history so I’m ordering this one to get up to speed.

I really wish someone would write a book on Sparky comparable to what this author has attempted to do for Weaver.
 

 

I have not read the book, but I think Weaver was a very different kind of manager han Anderson. Weaver was a brilliant stategist/analyst ahead of his time whereas Anderson was more of a people person who knew how to deal with egos and motivate players (supposedly). 

[CMRivdogs]

Quick Weaver memory. When the Tigers hosted the All Star Game in 2005 I had the chance to attend the media party the night before the home run contest.

I was sitting on a bench in Comerica, waiting on my wife. There was a short pudgy older gentleman sitting across from me nearby. It dawned on me as he got up to leave it was Earl Weaver. Maybe it was a good thing, I usually don't openly encounter famous people like that, I would have probably made a snarky remark about the 1979 Orioles.  

[papalawrence]

Weaver is probably my favorite non-Tigers manager. There are some great YouTube clips of him in action

[RandyMarsh]

It's funny as a kid up to a young adult in the late 90s/early 00s I could name most if not all MLB managers. They just seemed to be more visible and had more character, now I'd be lucky to name a third of them. 

 

[gehringer_2]

5 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

It's funny as a kid up to a young adult in the late 90s/early 00s I could name most if not all MLB managers. They just seemed to be more visible and had more character, now I'd be lucky to name a third of them. 

 

I would agree - for one thing there are far fewer mound visits when you see them and they cut away as fast as they can when one happens, but for me another thing that has happened is that I watch fewer games live, or start them after they have started and skip dead time to catch up to real time, net result is I listen to a lot less commentary during a game on average than I used to. And other factor is the change in how the broadcast is done. On that score, you have a lot more content to fill the time during the broadcast when your long baseball history PBP team might have been talking about things like the opposition manager back in the day. For instance FanDuel with its too many competing faces trying to get on the air with mostly total fluff stuff you already know about your team (I see you Natalie & Daniella), and we also have a ton more stat and graphics data to fill time on a broadcast that might have been spent on something else in an earlier era.

[Tiger337]

49 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

It's funny as a kid up to a young adult in the late 90s/early 00s I could name most if not all MLB managers. They just seemed to be more visible and had more character, now I'd be lucky to name a third of them. 

 

Same here.  I think they are smarter now, but not as interesting.  

[chasfh]

Also, we were younger back then and had less stuff we needed to keep in our head, so there was room for all the managers in baseball to live up there.

[1776]

13 hours ago, chasfh said:

Also, we were younger back then and had less stuff we needed to keep in our head, so there was room for all the managers in baseball to live up there.

In that this is the Random Baseball Posts thread…

I know you’re also a baseball roadie so, 

We traversed to Spartanburg, SC this past weekend to see a game at the new ballpark there. They did an excellent job with the ballpark. There is a parking deck immediately beside the park for parking. I don’t know, when or if, I had ever been downtown Spartanburg. The area around the park is nice in that there are several eateries, coffee shops, bars, and an eat-in brewery. RJ Rockers is a local brewery there and I give it a 5 star. Being in S.C. I had to try the ‘Son of a Peach’ beer. The food is very good there. We were pleasantly surprised at how the area surrounding the ballpark was such an updated attraction for visitors to experience the entertainment & leisure vibes, nice. 

We stayed at the AC (Marriott) Hotel. This hotel is top shelf and one block from the park and immediately across the street from RJ Rockers. 

That’s my Readers Digest Review. 
 

 

Edited Tuesday at 12:10 PM by 1776

[chasfh]

32 minutes ago, 1776 said:

In that this is the Random Baseball Posts thread…

I know you’re also a baseball roadie so, 

We traversed to Spartanburg, SC this past weekend to see a game at the new ballpark there. They did an excellent job with the ballpark. There is a parking deck immediately beside the park for parking. I don’t know, when or if, I had ever been downtown Spartanburg. The area around the park is nice in that there are several eateries, coffee shops, bars, and an eat-in brewery. RJ Rockers is a local brewery there and I give it a 5 star. Being in S.C. I had to try the ‘Son of a Peach’ beer. The food is very good there. We were pleasantly surprised at how the area surrounding the ballpark was such an updated attraction for visitors to experience the entertainment & leisure vibes, nice. 

We stayed at the AC (Marriott) Hotel. This hotel is top shelf and one block from the park and immediately across the street from RJ Rockers. 

That’s my Readers Digest Review. 
 

 

I have not done much baseball roadwork in the part of the country (Virginian, North Carolina, South Carolina), and that has got to go on the list at some point. I’ll make sure to make Spartanburg a stop along the way.