Baseball Stuff I Didn't Know

Seventeen or 18 years ago, I was covering a minor league baseball game in Charlotte, and I found myself sitting next to Hall of Famer Billy Williams. He was the roving hitting instructor for the Cubs then. I was in awe, of course, but Billy was one of the nicest people I've ever been around. He just started talking to me, asking me questions about my life, my ambitions, and he was so open and friendly that finally I asked him a question that had been bugging me since I was a kid.

I asked Billy Williams: "What is the difference between a curveball and a slider?"

There were four or five people within earshot of that simpleton question, and I remember them groaning. I was embarrassed. I do look back and think about what kind of nerve/innocence it took for a 22- or 23-year old kid to ask Sweet Swingin' Billy -- one of the game's great hitters -- a goofy question like that. It might have been like asking Hemingway the difference between a noun and a verb.

But that's not what I remember most -- no, what I remember most is Billy's answer. He asked me for a sheet of paper and a pen, and for the next 20 minutes or so he broke down the curveball ("See, you have to understand the curve moves slower and breaks more") and the slider ("From a hitter's perspective, it can look like a fastball, and then it will break late on you,"). He drew diagrams, he talked about the various challenges of hitting the two pitches (I remember he told me there was nothing on earth harder to hit than a 12-6 curveball). It was like taking a college course in hitting from a Hall of Famer -- I wish I had recorded it.

And at the end, he whispered to me: "That was a good question. Don't let those guys bother you -- they don't know the difference between a curve and slider either."

It remains one of my favorite memories as a sportswriter, and it taught me one of the most important lessons of my life: Don't pretend like you know. It seems like all the time I come across some new baseball fact or story that I probably should have known, but didn't.

So I'll pass along five bits of baseball info that I didn't know until recently. Who knows? Maybe this will become a regular feature.

-- Pitchers are called that because when the game began in the 19th Century, they were not allowed to throw overhand. They had to "pitch" the ball -- like horseshoes. Thus, they are called pitchers. I'm sure you knew that already, but I didn't until a little while ago. I learned that and quite a few other historical things from Alan Schwarz's terrific book, The Numbers Game.

-- In 1953, Al Rosen was one hit away from winning the Triple Crown. He led the American League in homers (43 -- one more than Gus Zernial) and RBIs (145 -- 30 more than anybody), but he lost the batting title by one point to Mickey Vernon, .337 to .336.

There are quite a few unsavory details in that batting title too. Apparently on the last day, Vernon dropped a bunt down the third base line and the third baseman didn't even try to throw him out. Also Vernon's teammates would say they purposely made outs so Vernon did not have to come up a fifth time on the last day. There have been those who have claimed that antisemitism against Rosen was a factor the last month of the season -- some did not want a Jew to win the Triple Crown.

I can't speak to that (though it's interesting enough to research), but I do wonder what Rosen's legacy might have been had he won the Triple Crown. Look at the other Triple Crown winners since 1900:

1967, Carl Yastrzemski: .326, 44, 121. First ballot HOF.
1966, Frank Robinson: .316, 49, 122. First ballot HOF.
1956, Mickey Mantle: .353, 52, 130. First ballot HOF.
1947, Ted Williams: .343, 42, 114.
1942, Ted Williams: .356, 36, 137. First ballot HOF.
1937, Joe Medwick: .374, 31, 154. HOF ... took 10 ballots.
1934, Lou Gehrig: .363, 49, 165. HOF
1933, Jimmie Foxx: .356, 48, 163. HOF
1933, Chuck Klein: .368, 28, 120. HOF
1925, Rogers Hornsby: .403, 39, 143.
1922, Rogers Hornsby: .401, 42, 152. HOF
1909, Ty Cobb: .377, 9, 107. HOF
1901, Nap Lajoie: .426, 14, 125. HOF

So you can see that every single player who hit for the Triple Crown is in the Hall of Fame (as is Hugh Duffy, who did it in 1894. Tip O'Neill, who hit for the Triple Crown in 1887 and Paul Hines who did the trick in 1878 are not). More than that, they are almost all viewed as all-time greats.

Rosen did not make it up to the big leagues full-time until he was 26 because of World War II and the star power of Cleveland's third baseman Ken Keltner. He retired when he was 32. So he only had seven full seasons -- but in those seven seasons, he hit, hit for power, walked, played terrific defense and almost won a Triple Crown. He was, for that short while, as good as any third baseman the game has known. Few remember him though (he did not even play long enough to be eligible for the Hall of Fame), but they would had he gotten one more hit in '53.

-- Eddie Stanky came up with a tag-up trick in 1945 -- when he was on third and a fly ball was hit to the outfield, he would take four or five steps BACKWARD into left field. Then as the ball was about to be caught, he would take off for home. He would touch the bag just as the ball was caught, and he would already be going full speed making it just about impossible to throw him out at the plate (he scored 128 runs that year). The maneuver was outlawed at the end of the year, but you have to say: It was pretty brilliant.

Then Stanky was always a little stinker. He used to jump up and down to distract hitters until that was outlawed. He hit .268 in his career, but he had a .410 OBP -- he walked 996 times and had 811 hits. Now that's a leadoff hitter. He also has a special place in the book "The Boys of Summer" as a nasty anti-Jackie Robinson racist.

-- The Baltimore Chop came from John McGraw (of course) who was the manager in Baltimore for a short while. He told the groundskeeper not to water the ground in front of home plate. So that ground was hard as concrete, and when the Baltimore players would crack the baseball into dirt, the ball would bounce high like a superball, and they would get base hits. Picked up that tidbit from Frank Deford's fun book "The Old Ball Game."

-- Boog Powell's nickname derives from "Booger." I love that.

A few other baseball-related thoughts:

-- Earlier in the week, with the Royals mired in yet another awful early season start, they had a rainout. The headline in The Kansas City Star was: "Buddy Hopes Rainout Will Help." My thought was, "Wow, that's what is has come down to ... the Royals are now hoping for rainouts to solve their problems."

But that wasn't the weird part. The weird part is how familiar it all seemed. It was like I had thought along those lines before. Then I realized we had almost the EXACT SAME HEADLINE a year ago. The Royals were playing lousy, and the Royals had a day off, and our headline was: "Buddy Hopes Day Off Will Help." You know I love Buddy Bell and all, but apparently things would be a lot better for the club if they had nothing but days off and rainouts.

-- I've always wanted to invent a maxim. OK, I'm exaggerating there, when I was a kid I wanted to eat candy and play second base for the Cleveland Indians, and when I was in high school I wanted to date Valerie Bertinelli, and when I was in college I wanted to date Winona Ryder (and yes I may be using "date" as a euphemism).

But at some point I got old and Winona was caught shoplifting, and now I want to invent a maxim. Every day, on my Google home page, I get some sort of maxim (Today's maxim comes from Bob Edwards: "A little learning is a dangerous thing but a lot of ignorance is just as bad") And a lof of them -- including Bob Edwards' maxim --aren't very good. We are lacking maxims in America today.

Anyway, here are my best attempts so far:

Maxim 1: The more a baseball team talks about fundamentals, the more certain it is that the team lacks them.

Editor's note: I just got an email from my friend Rany Jazayerli who says he came up with this maxim first: He wrote it in a Rob and Rany chat -- he says in May 1995, but I assume he meant May 2005. His version of the maxim goes like so:

A team's ability to execute the "fundamentals" is inversely correlated to the time spent discussing the importance of executing them."

That's better. Maxim credit goes to Rany. I will say, though, that if that shows up on my Google page I'm going to be ticked off.

Maxim 2: The chances that your favorite college sports team is cheating is exactly inverse to the average temperature on campus in the winter.

Maxim 3: When anyone uses the word "Frankly" or the phrase "I'll be honest with you" -- it is a sure bet that what follows will not be frank or honest.

Maxim 4: Never bet on Andy Roddick or the Phillies.

Maxim 5: It's just plain stupid to to promise blog readers that you will come up with an all-time Gold Glove team for every single team in baseball. That's a ridiculous amount of work. But, as the spider says in Charlotte's Web, a promise is a promise (yes, I have two young kids, which means I've watched Charlotte's Web -- the new version -- about 23 times). We'll start that defense series up again tomorrow or no later than Sunday. Tonight, though, we will be at Kauffman Stadium for some Royals-Twins excitement. Maybe we'll come up with a few thoughts live.

Movie Scouting Report 3

Ricky Vaughn, Cleveland Indians

Strengths: Plus-Plus fastball ... Four seam fastball was clocked consistently in mid-to-high 90s while pitching for Portland ... Fearless. Is not afraid to come inside with the fastball. ... Flashes an above average slider ... Two seamer has great movement -- a swing and miss pitch ... Can be an intimidating presence on the mound. ... Only 19 though he looks quite a bit older ... Rumor is that he took in brother and his son after a nasty divorce. ... Competitor.

Weaknesses: Awkward looking delivery -- looks like a breakdown candidate ... Wild. Buries his slider often and has no fastball command ... Has some character issues. Last seen pitching in the California Penal League after grand theft auto ... Doesn't take well to coaching.

Overall: Vaughn generates amazing power out of what looks like the motion of a guy who has never played above high school. You would swear he was throwing 70 mph, but the radar gun shows 96 ... Throws as hard as anyone in the big leagues. He has the fastball to dominate Major League hitters if he can learn to command ... Character questions are what led San Diego to release him after his arrest. ... Arm appears to be sound ... Could be worth a flyer if something can be worked out with law enforcement officials ... Doesn't have a third pitch. Might be better in the bullpen. ... Control problems have haunted him his entire career. Managers think he might have eye issues, but he's too vain to deal with them.

Movie thoughts: I've heard so many people say that Charlie Sheen's motion was "very realistic looking." I suppose it is compared to, like, the guy in "It Happens Every Spring." But it still looks like a high school motion, right? Nobody in pro ball finishes like that.

I've always been interested in the connections between Major League and the real Cleveland Indians. David S. Ward, the writer and director, is from Cleveland. Not only that, he's from South Euclid, my suburb. So, of course he's my hero (and if David is reading this, you know, Soul of Baseball could make a fine film!).

You can tell David's a real Indians fan -- at the end of the movie, the Indians only win their division. That's what qualifies as a Hollywood happy ending for Indians fans. David is enough of a Clevelander fan to know he couldn't have them win the World Series

Anyway, even though David's a few years older than I am -- he actually remembers the 1954 World Series fiasco. he generally seems to be picking baseball scenes from my childhood.

1. Eddie Harris is clearly supposed to represent Gaylord Perry, circa 1974. His body is covered with Crisco, Bardahl, Vagisil. "Any one of them will give you another 2-3 inch drop on your curveball," he says. Perry for years tried to get Vaseline to let him sponsor their product, and supposedly (though it could be apocryphal) got a postcard back from the Vaseline people saying: "We soothe baby's backsides, not baseballs."

2. Pedro Cerrano, the Cuban defector who practices Voodoo, crushed fastballs and couldn't hit the curve may very well have been based on Rico Carty. I would like to think so. Carty was an absolutely remarkable hitter when he was young -- in 1969 and 1970, he hit .342 and .366. He won the batting title in 1970. He was almost impossible to strike out, he hit with power, etc.

But by the time he came to Cleveland, he was a pure designated hitter, slower than Mondays, a double play machine -- but he could still hit the fastball. He was also pretty crazy; everybody in Cleveland has a good Rico Carty story. One of his teammates tells of a time they were driving in California, along the ocean, and Rico suddenly shouted, "Stop the car! Stop the car!" Then he had to go out and throw some piece of jewelry in the ocean. Apparently, he had seen the devil or something like that. I might not be getting the story exactly right, but close enough. Rico was out there.

3. The scene where the Indians are waiting on the tarmac for their junky private plane ... Indians center fielder Rick Manning said that absolutely happened in the 1970s. "We were just sitting there on the runway waiting for a plane to come," he says.

4. The idea of an owner who wanted to cut costs to "make the team tougher" ... that absolutely happened too. For years and years, the home clubhouse at Cleveland Municipal Stadium was not air conditioned. Not only that, but the everybody knew the only time the heater worked in there was during the summer. And it REALLY worked.

One year, as every Indians fan knows, the Indians signed Wayne Garland to a big money deal. Garland didn't pan out -- injuries crushed him -- but he's a pretty great guy. Garland was so fed up with the unbearable heat in the clubhouse that he went out and bought air conditioners for the whole team. And here was the great part: Gabe Paul and the Indians management were FURIOUS. When asked about that years later, Garland's reply was pretty simple: "It was hot in there."

5. Willie Mays Hays could have been based on about 500 different players -- a speed burner who thought he had power -- but I like to think of him as movie version of Miguel Dilone. ... Dilone hit .341 with 61 stolen bases in 1980; that might be the best single season for any Cleveland Indians player of my youth (competing against Gaylord Perry's Cy Young year in 1972 and Joe Charboneau's rookie the year season, also in 1980, but only because he could also open beer bottles with his eye socket). The next year, as I recall, Dilone banged a home run on Monday Night Baseball and from that day on he thought he was a home run hitter. He hit .235 in 1982, .191 the next year and was gone.

Here's one more movie bit: Apparently Dennis Haysbert, who played Pedro Cerrano and later was President on 24 and the guy narrating accidents on the Allstate commercials, is embarrassed about his "Major League" time. One of our reporters tried to talk to him about Major League, and he refused. Shame. He was brilliant.

The State of Home Runs

We're going to get back to all-Gold Glove teams here in the next few days, but I found the Nevada home run chart to be so interesting (Marty Cordova has the Top 7 spots) that I figured I might as well run every state's season home run leader. It's easy using the Baseball Reference Play Index. Here we go:

Alabama: George Foster and Willie Mays, 52.
Alabama has an amazing baseball history -- I count 11 different players from Alabama that have hit 30-plus homers in a season including: Foster, Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams, Lee May, Rudy York, my hero Andre Thornton, the amazing Bo Jackson, Oscar Gamble and Butch Hobson. Hard to imagine any state -- even California and Florida -- can match that group.

Alaska: Josh Phelps, 20.
Until Phelps came along, the record belonged to Randy Kutcher, who hit 7 homers in 1986.

Arizona: Hank Lieber, 24.
Forgot all about Arizona in the original posting of this blog, which is a shame because you would have to say this is one underachieving state. Hank Lieber hit 24 homers in 1939, and no Arizonan has surpassed him. Chris Duncan looks like the best bet among active players. The best player up to now born in Arizona is probably either Billy Hatcher or John Denny.

Arkansas: Pat Burrell, 37.
The home of Brooks Robinson, Dizzy Dean. Also, Johnny Sain and Rick Monday always gets me down.

California: Barry Bonds, 73*
Followed by Mark McGwire's 70*. Until the home run era, California's home run leader was Cecil Fielder with 51.

Colorado: Johnny Frederick, 24.
Post World War II, the record is held by the estimable John Stearns with 15. People talk about baseball cards that seemed to come in every pack -- how about that record breaker John Stearns card, the one that celebrated his record for stolen bases by a catcher. I must have gotten 284 of those.

Connecticut: Mo Vaughn, 44.
Big Mo has nine of the top 11 spots, the other two belong to Walt Dropo. Jim Piersall is on the list as well, which reminds me of a time years ago when Piersall was some sort of roving instructor for the Cubs and used to sit with us in the press box at Charlotte Knights games. He was ranting at us over something or other -- he loved to rant -- until finally somebody yelled at him, "Ah shut up Piersall, your Dad's Karl Malden."

Delaware: Kevin Mench, 26.
I don't think there was a single player in baseball that former Royals general manager Allard Baird coveted more than Kevin Mench. Seriously, he would PINE for Kevin Mench. Maybe he just loves people from Delaware, and Delino DeShields wasn't available.

District of Columbia: Don Money, 25.
Another of the Baseball Card Repeat All Stars, he and Sixto Lezcano seemed to be in every pack in 1977. Money has the Top 8 spots, followed by Lu Blue.

Florida: Luis Gonzalez, 57.
Interestingly, there are all sorts of fluke seasons near the top of the Florida list -- you have Gonzalez's 57 homer season, you have Andre Dawson's 49 from that goofy 1987 season and you have Davey Johnson's crazy 43 homer season in 1973. OK, well, I think it's interesting.

Georgia: Johnny Mize, 51.
The Big Cat and The Big Hurt (Frank Thomas) make up the Top 9 spots.

Hawaii: Mike Lum, 16.
Hawaii has done better with pitching -- that list includes Charlie Hough, Ron Darling and Milt Wilcox.

Idaho: Harmon Killebrew 49.
The Killer has the Top 13 spots from the Gem State. After that comes Vance Law. Idaho's motto is Esto Perpetua, which means "Let it be perpetual." I think we all can learn a little something from that.

Illinois: Jim Thome, 52.
Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen feels quite strongly that Indians fans should not boo Jim Thome. In fact, he feels like they should cheer Thome. In fact, he's in favor of Indians fans cheering all the White Sox players. In fact, he would like them from now on to boo their own players. Shawn Green is second in homers and, if you want to go back to the days before the home run rush, you will find The Big Klu, Ted Kluszewski, with 49 in 1954.

Indiana: Chuck Klein, 43.
Gil Hodges is second with 42. Great list of Indiana ballplayers includes Cy Williams, Don Mattingly, Scott Rolen and one of my all-time favorites, Ron Kittle.

Iowa: Hal Trosky, 42.
After I wrote a column about the magic of Iowa (in honor or Cedar Rapids native and Masters winner Zach Johnson), I got an email from a nice woman from Cedar Rapids named Grace Sharington. She said that she has written two songs for the Scorpions, and she pointed out that other Cedar Rapids' natives include her friend Kurt Warner, her old classmate Elijah Wood and, more recently, Ashton Kutcher. By the way, Trosky and Casey Blake fill the Top 8 Iowa spots.

Kansas: Bob Horner, 35.
The pride of Junction City. Other Kansas' home run leaders include Newton's Tony Clark, Wichita's Don Lock and Arkansas City's Darren Daulton.

Kentucky: Jay Buhner, 44.
For the longest time, the record belonged to Don Hurst, who hit 31 homers in 1929 at the age of 23. He actually seemed on his way to a brilliant career -- he hit .339 and drove in 143 runs in 1932. Then when he was 28, he was traded to the Cubs, hit .199 in 51 games, and never played another game in the Major Leagues. Weird.

Louisiana: Albert Belle, 50.
Some great sluggers on this list as well -- Belle, Joe Adcock, Mel Ott, Will Clark, Vernon Wells, Reggie Smith. There has been some amazing talent to come out of the American South.

Maine: Del Bissonette, 24.
Extra value is what you get with Big Del Bissonnette. He has the Top 4 Maine spots and would have a lot more except for injuries. The biggest Maine home run hitter the last 75 years would be Ron Tingley, who hit four homers in 1995.

Maryland: Babe Ruth, 60.
How about Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Brady Anderson all being from Maryland?

Massachusetts: Jeff Bagwell, 47.
Yeah, that Red Sox trade really didn't work out too well. How many homers do we think Bags would have hit in Fenway Park? After Bagwell, the all-time Mass home run hitter is also the all-time Royals home run hitter -- Steve Balboni with 36 homers in 1985.

Michigan: John Mayberry, 34.
Big John makes the fourth great home run hitter whose nickname begins with "Big." Not too original, is it? I've got a million Big John stories, but we still have a lot of states left. Incidentally, second on the list is Stan Lopata -- and according to his bio, he is both a decorated World War II veteran and the first catcher to wear glasses. That's quite a combo.

Minnesota: Roger Maris, 61.
The rest of the Top 24 is made up of Maris, Dave Winfield, Terry Steinbach, Kent Hrbek and one big season for Walt Moryn.

Mississippi: Ellis Burks, 40.
George Scott is second with 36 -- I probably should have had the Boomer as my Gold Glove first baseman for the Red Sox since he did win eight Gold Gloves. But I was persuaded by Bill James defensive Win Shares -- which rated Scott a C+ first baseman -- that he was overrated. I don't know the answer there; it's tough to rank first basemen defensively. Bill Hall and Dave Parker are also on the Mississippi list.

Missouri: Ryan Howard, 58.
He blew right past St. Louis' Roy Sievers, who hit 42 homers in 1957. Others on the list include St. Louis' Nate Colbert, Kansas City's Bob Allison (well, Raytown, which is the same thing), Atherton's Walker Cooper, Liberty's Ken Boyer, Jefferson City's Joe Crede and St. Louis' Bernard Gilkey. Only THEN do you get to Yogi Berra.

Montana: John Lowenstein, 24.
I believe it was Lowenstein who first suggested moving first base a foot closer to home plate to eliminate all the close plays. Some other Lowenstein quotes from "Voices of Baseball:"

-- "Sure, I screwed up that sacrifice bunt. But look at it this way: I'm a better bunter than a billion Chinese. Those poor suckers can't bunt at all."
-- (On Goose Gossage) "He can make the ball look so small that you're not even sure there's a practical purpose for being up there."
-- "The secret to keeping winning streaks going is to maximize the victories while at the same time minimizing the defeats."

Nebraska: Bob Cerv, 38.
If you ever happen to be in St. Paul, Nebraska -- and I will bet that's the only time you will read those words today -- you should definitely stop by the Nebraska Major League Baseball Museum. It's small, sure, but it's a loving tribute to Nebraska baseball. It includes exhibits featuring the five Nebraska players in the Hall of Fame: Omaha's Wade Boggs, Tilden's Richie Asburn, Wahoo's Sam Crawford (known, surprisingly enough, as "Wahoo Sam Crawford"), Elba's Pete Alexander and Omaha's Bob Gibson. And there are plaques for every single Nebraska Major Leaguer. It's a neat place.

Cerv, incidentally, is one of those players who had his career stolen from him because of the reserve clause. He came up smack in the middle of the New York Yankees dynasty of the 1950s, and could not break through. The Yankees did not give him any at-bats, and they did not trade him until 1957, when he was 31. He smashed 38 homers for the KC A's when he was 32.

Nevada: Marty Cordova, 24.
Maybe Barry Zito will make the list now that he's in the National League.

New Hampshire: Phil Plantier, 34.
He hit 34 homers when he was 24, cut it almost perfectly in half to 18 the next year, cut it in half to nine the next year and cut it in half to four the next year. I just thought that was kind of interesting. Red Rolfe is third on the list with 14 homers.

New Jersey: Goose Goslin, 37.
Erik Karros dominates the Top 10 -- he's joined by Earl Williams, Joe Medwick and, the mayor, Sean Casey. Derek Jeter is 13th on the list with 24 homers in 1999.

New Mexico: Ralph Kiner, 54.
Ralph Kiner and Vern Stephens make up the entire Top 20. My favorite Kinerism was definitely (I'm paraphrasing), "It's Father's Day, so to all you fathers out there, happy birthday!" I was listening to that one live -- my friend Robert was a huge Mets fan -- and I about spit up my Diet Coke (actually, I'll bet I drank regular Coke then).

New York: Hank Greenberg, 58.
OK, it's not a bad list -- Greenberg, Lou Gehrig, Alex Rodriguez, Rocky Colavito, Yaz. Here's a trivia question for you: Who holds the Mets record for most homers in a season by a native New Yorker? Don't go looking it up ... I'll tell you when we get to Vermont.

North Carolina: Jim Ray Hart and Jimmie Hall, 33.
A guy named "Jim Ray" should be the North Carolina all-time home run leader. Being a North Carolinian at heart myself -- since I went to high school and college there -- I have to say I'm a bit disappointed by the North Carolina power hitter list. But it did remind me why Jim Piersall went off on the aforementioned rant; someone had asked him why Winston-Salem native Mark Grace didn't hit for more power. That's what led Piersall to shout, "More power? You sportswriters kill me. The guy hit .314 last year. What do you think you would hit in the big leagues?"

This led someone to say: "About .350." Which led Piersall to go even more bananas. Which led to the, "Aw shut up Piersall, your Dad's Karl Malden."

North Dakota: Travis Hafner, 42.
I guess I thought Roger Maris was born in North Dakota, but he was actually born in Hibbing, Minnesota (seems like a singer/songwriter of some renown was born there also, not to mention Kevin McHale, Vince Bugliosi, gay porn director Chi Chi LaRue) and moved to North Dakota as a young child. That leaves the top spot for Hafner, born in Jamestown. Darrin Erstad is also on the list, as is Ken Hunt, who hit 25 homers in 1961 and eight homers the rest of his career.

Ohio: Mike Schmidt and Frank Howard, 48.
My Dad loves Frank Howard -- for years, he would tell me about some immense foul ball he saw Howard hit once. It got me to thinking about the hardest hit balls I've ever seen. Off the top of my head I would have to say: (1) A homer that Mark McGwire hit off of Glendon Rusch. It was hit so hard and so far that afterward you could tell Rusch was almost proud to be part of it. (2) A homer that Van Snider hit in the minor league game when Bo Jackson hit his first professional home run. I just remember that the pitcher, whoever he was, knocked Snider down with two pitches in a row, and Snider was hot. He hit the next ball like 800 feet. (3) A homer that Russell Branyan hit off the Royals in a spring training game back at Baseball City. It was impressive.

Oklahoma: Mickey Mantle, 52.
How about a Top 10 featuring Mantle, Johnny Bench, Willie Stargell and Joe Carter. That's really not too bad. Oklahoma has an amazing baseball history, really. It would be tough to beat an Oklahoma All-Star Team.

1B: Willie Stargell, Earlsboro.
2B: Johnny Ray, Chouteau.
SS: Alvin Dark, Comanche
3B: Harlond Clift, ElReno
C: Johnny Bench, Oklahoma City.
OF: Paul Waner, Harrah
OF: Mickey Mantle, Spavinaw.
OF: Joe Carter, Oklahoma City.
Backup catcher: Mickey Tettleton, Oklahoma City.
Utility: U.L. Washington, Stringtown or Jerry Adair, Sand Springs.
Defensive outfielder: Paul Blair, Cushing.
Pinch hitter: Bobby Murcer, Oklahoma City or Lloyd Waner, Harrah.

Pitchers: Allie Reynolds, Bethany; Ralph Terry, Big Cabin, Lindy McDaniel, Hollis. And then we might cheat a bit and put two pitchers not born in Oklahoma but who always called Oklahoma home -- Carl Hubbell and Warren Spahn.

Manager: Bobby Cox, Tulsa.

Not bad. Not bad at all. That team could probably hold its own against any state in the Union.

Oregon: Dave Kingman, 48.
Richie Sexson, Dale Murphy and John Jaha make up the bulk of the list. I remember the year Kingman hit those 48 homers, he had 29 at the All-Star break, and at the time that just seemed mind boggling. We really thought he might break Maris' record. Later that month, he hit 5 homers in two games against the Mets -- he hated the Mets. By August 10, he had 39 homers (he was just two behind Maris' pace!). Then he cooled off. He did end up hitting .364 with nine homers in 17 games against the Mets.

Pennyslyvania: Ken Griffey, 56.
How about Ken Griffey and Stan Musial both being born in Donora? Reggie, Roy Campanella, Mike Piazza, Dick Allen -- Penn holds its own.

Rhode Island: Paul Konerko, 41.
Gabby Hartnett is third on the list with 37 homers in 1930. Davey Lopes is here too.

South Carolina: Jim Rice, 46.
It looks like the Jim Rice Hall of Fame train has really started to move ... I think he will get voted in now. I still don't see him as a Hall of Famer, but a lot of smart people around baseball tell me I'm just flat wrong. Gorman Thomas is on the list, as is Al Rosen. I had no idea Al Rosen was born in South Carolina.

South Dakota: Mark Ellis, 13.
Yikes. Couldn't North Dakota trade them someone like Darren Erstad? Terry Francona is on this list -- and did you know Francona never hit more than three homers in a season?

Tennessee: Todd Helton, 49.
Daddy Wags, Leon Wagner, is on the list, which should be a cue for me to tell a Wags story from my book Soul of Baseball (since this is a promotional blog). But everyone seems tired of me pushing the book. Steve Finley is on the list as is Jim Hickman, an original New York Met, who banged 32 homers for the Cubs in 1970.

Texas: Frank Robinson, 49.
Frank Robinson, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, Adam Dunn, Lance Berkman and a personal favorite, Gus Zernial make up the Top 11.

Utah: Duke Sims, 23.
Chris Shelton has a chance to take the top spot from the irrepressible Sims, who until 2002 had all Top 10 spots.

Vermont: Carlton Fisk, 37.
It's Fisks-away -- the first nine spots belong to him. In fact, Fisk and Pat Putnam have every one of the Top 22. ... We owe you an answer to the Aflac Trivia question. Aflac. Ask about it at work. The question was: Who holds the Mets record for most homers in a season by a native New Yorker? The answer: Bobby Bonilla. He was born in the Bronx, and he hit a career high 34 homers for the Mets in 1993.

Virginia: Todd Hundley, 41.
Jim Lemon is second with the 38 homers he hit in 1960. Then he got hurt and was never the same. Willie Horton is on the list too.

Washington: Ryne Sandberg, 40.
I have a friend -- a Cardinals fan, naturally -- who despises Ryne Sandberg. I mean, she readily admits that it's an unhealthy dislike, but she can't help it. She can't stand the guy. Sandberg does seem like one of those players (sort of like Duke basketball players) who rile up deep emotions in people, both love and hate. Geoff Jenkins is second on the list, and Ron Santo who just can't get that Hall of Fame nod is third.

West Virginia: George Brett, 30.
I can see the finish line, so no Brett stories for now. Toby Harrah, another childhood hero, is second on the list. And further down you can see Bill Mazeroski.

Wisconsin: Andy Pafko and Al Simmons, 36.
Here's a weird side note about The Boys Of Summer -- which is my favorite baseball book. The first half of the book is, of course, about those great Brooklyn Dodgers seasons, and the second half features Roger Kahn going back to find out what happened to the boys of summer (I can tell you my love for you will still be strong after the boys of summer are gone). And I remember reading the book the first time when I was like 15, and there was a chapter on what happened to Andy Pafko, and I thought: "Andy Pafko? Who is Andy Pafko? Was he even mentioned in the first half of the book?"

Wyoming: Mike Devereaux, 24.
Kind of a downer way to end, but, hey, I didn't invent the alphabet. John Buck could conceivably have a big year and knock Devereaux off his Wyoming perch.

Saturday Night Thoughts

-- The Royals are 3-9 now. So I guess that "quick start" they were hoping for is pretty much out of the question now, isn't it? How many games would you say make up an official "start?" I'd say 12 games is enough -- in which case, this is tied for the third worst start in team history.

Kansas City's worst starts
1992: 1-11
2006: 2-10
2007: 3-9
2001: 3-9
1993: 3-9
1981: 3-9

Since 1990, the Royals have been .500 or worse after 12 games every year but two -- 2000 (when they had the great offense and a historically bad bullpen) and 2003 (the miracle start, they were 11-1 after 12 games). That's one thing you have to admire about the Royals in recent years. They crush hopes early.

-- It needs to be said: Mike Sweeney looks absolutely awful. It is true that Mike generally heats up a bit later in the year -- his .278 career average in April is his lowest for any month -- but I've never seen him look this sluggish before. It isn't just that he has 5 hits in 28 at-bats. It isn't even that he has zero extra base hits (or, if you prefer, "four fewer extra base hits than Tony Pena Jr."). No, it's more that he looks like he's swinging his bat underwater. Scouts told me all spring that Sweeney's bat has really slowed, but I didn't see it so much then. I'm seeing it now.

-- I have started a deal with Royals radio broadcaster Ryan Lefebvre: I give him a word he has to use on the broadcast, and then he gives me a word I have to get into the column. I think it should be a three-for-one because Ryan gets to use a lot more words, but we can still work out the logistics. In any case, his word for tonight was "sparkly." I listened to most of the broadcast, though, and didn't hear him say it. Did you?

-- I guess Curt Schilling seems to be fine -- except when he's facing that vaunted Royals lineup. He threw eight shutout innings tonight against the Los Angeles Mighty Ducks, which leads us to a couple of fascinating (and utterly meaningless) statistical observations.

First, there's a Curt Schilling breakdown:

Schilling vs. the Royals: 0-1, 11.25 ERA, 8 hits, 5 K, 2 walks.
Schilling vs. other guys: 2-0, 0.60 ERA, 8 hits, 10 K, 2 walks.

More importantly, here is the Royals lineup against starting pitchers:

Curt Schilling: 4 innings, 5 earned runs.
Josh Beckett: 5 IP, 1 ER.
Dice K: 7 IP, 1 ER.
Justin Verlander: 6 IP, 0 ER.
Mike Maroth: 5 IP , 4 ER
Jeremy Bonderman: 6 IP, 2 ER
A.J. Burnett: 6 2/3 IP, 1 ER
Josh Towers: 5 2/3 IP, 3 ER
Gustavo Chacin: 5 IP, 3 ER
Steve Trachsel: 7 IP, 1 ER
Erik Bedard: 6 IP, 1 ER
Daniel Cabrera: 5 IP, 3 ER

This means that other than Schilling, starters have posted a lovely 2.75 ERA against the Royals. The Royals need more Schilling. I hope Curt puts something about that in his blog.

-- Jimmy Rollins has six home runs in 11 games. If he keeps hitting homers at that pace he will ... OK, never mind. But I've always loved small sample statistics like this because when I was a kid we used to play this poor man's Strat-o-Matic game called "Statis Pro" -- do they still have that game? And in that game, they didn't care how few at-bats the player got -- they would get a card that would reflect his stats.

The first year we played it was 1979, so the best player by FAR was Pittsburgh's Matt Alexander, who had hit .538 in 44 at-bats and stole 13 bases. Matty was like Ty Cobb on greenies. I seem to recall that a couple of years later, the big star was Mickey Klutts (yep, in 1981, he hit .370 with 5 homers in 46 at-bats).

If Jimmy Rollins quit tomorrow, he'd have one of the great Statis Pro cards in baseball history.

-- So you were wondering: "Hey, who is the single-season home run record holder among players born in the state of Nevada?"

Glad you asked: It's Marty Cordova with 24 in a season. Second is Marty Cordova with 20. Third is Marty Cordova and fourth is Marty Cordova, but fifth is, well, yeah, Marty Cordova. Yes, sixth is Marty Cordova, but seventh is, all right, fine, that's Marty Cordova too.

Eighth is Justin Leone. He was born in Las Vegas and hit six in 2004. Ninth, naturally, is Marty Cordova. I was expecting to see Greg Maddux on the list, but apparently he moved to Las Vegas later in life -- he was born in San Angelo, TX.

-- Take away the Royals, and every single team in the American League is within three games of .500 on the plus or minus side. I suspect this doesn't mean anything at all, but it just seems like nobody in the league has established anything yet. Except the Royals.

-- One final thought: I was doing some newspaper research on Willard Brown for my book and also for my Sunday column and I came across a fascinating story that I knew nothing about ... apparently there was actually some consideration to move the St. Louis Cardinals to CHICAGO in 1947. The one story I saw was kind of convoluted so I couldn't tell exactly what the point of the move was (like, were they really going to have three teams in Chicago?). But apparently it was a very real thought, even if only for a moment. See, that would have made the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry that much more exciting, no?

The Best Defense ... AL Central

OK, we're watching Baltimore-Kansas City, and here's Gil Meche on the mound. He just struck out Aubrey Huff with one heck of a curveball. We'll try to throw a few live comments out there through the night. But mostly, we're hoping to make it all the way through and name the all-time Gold Glove team for each team in the American League Central. That's five teams, so it will be a challenge.

Remember the three rules:

1. A player has had to play at least 750 games for that team (I originally had it at 1000, but it eliminated too many players).
2. We will try to break up the outfielders by position, but no promises.
3. We may or may not name a pitcher, depending on if one jumps out at us.

One correction from yesterday: Vernon Wells is a better outfielder than Joe Carter ... for some reason he did not show up on my computer program.

OK, here we go (updated throughout the night):

Cleveland Indians

First base: George Stovall. As a player, he's probably best known for a defensive play -- he made a brilliant scoop of a bad throw to preserve a perfect game by Addie Joss. He was also called "Firebrand," and he played with on of my favorite teams: The Kansas City Packers. I really think there should be another team called the Kansas City Packers.

Second base: Who else? Yeah, the Indians had Nap Lajoie, who was celebrated for being a brilliant defensive second baseman. They had Bobby Avila, a fabulous defender and one of the first great Latin players in the Majors. But anyone who knows the author of this blog knew that the only choice here is Duane Kuiper, my childhood hero, and the man who dove for more ground balls hit right at him than any player in baseball history.

Shortstop: Lou Boudreau. An astonishingly tough choice -- maybe the toughest so far. On the one hand, you have Boudreau, who was one of the great defensive shortstops ever. On the other hand, you have Omar Vizquel, who was one of the great defensive shortstops ever. I saw Vizquel, and loved watching him play, which in a weird way is a disadvantage for him. I grew up listening to how great Boudreau was -- so his greatness is lodged in my imagination.

In addition, Bill James thinks Vizquel was overrated defensively, and everyone knows how much I trust Bill.

Third base: Buddy Bell. He made all the plays, had a great arm -- is he the greatest player to never even come close to the playoffs? The worst defensive third baseman, by far, was Brook Jacoby, who was also a hero, though honestly I cannot remember why. All I really remember about him now was his very famous 32 homer, 69 RBI season.

Fewest RBIs with 30-plus homers:
1. Rob Deer, 1992: 32 homers, 64 RBIs.
2. Felix Mantilla, 1964: 30 homers, 64 RBIs.
3. Brad Wilkerson, 2004: 32 homers, 67 RBIs.
4. Brook Jacoby, 1987: 32 homers, 69 RBIs.
5. Jose Valentin, 2004: 30 homers, 70 RBIs.

Outfield: Earl Averill, Tris Speaker and Kenny Lofton. I wanted to find a place for Rick Manning, another personal hero, but he really wasn't as good as Lofton. And I couldn't find a spot for Rocky Colavito either, though one of my most powerful memories as a child was watching Colavito -- by then a coach -- stand at home plate and throw the ball over the center field fence.

Colavito, apparently, was the worst batting practice pitcher in the history of baseball. Everybody complained about it. He had an incredible arm, but he could not throw the ball over the plate at all. So every BP session before games sounded like this, "Damn it, Rock, throw it over the plate .. DAMN .. Rock, are you even trying, THROW THE BALL OVER THE DAMN PLATE ... DAMN IT ROCK .. Rock, if you ever throw it over the plate I'm going to hit a line drive off your head ... Get out out of there Rock. Get out!"

As for the three who did make the team, Averill was a legendary outfielder. Speaker was also picked for the Red Sox Gold Glove team. And Lofton ran down everything.

Catcher: Jim Hegan. He has a reputation as one of the best defensive catchers ever. He's another one I grew up hearing about in Cleveland.

Pitcher: Mike Garcia. I don't really know if he's the best fielding pitcher in team history, but he does have the best quote. In 1956, (according to this wonderful SABR bio) he changed his pitching style so he could finish in a better fielding position. He finished 11-12 that year and said, "I became a great fielder and a lousy pitcher."

Just as a tease, I just got Bill James' all-time Royals Gold Glove team via email ... so stick around through the night. And by the way, have you bought a book yet?

Detroit Tigers

First base: Norm Cash. From what I can tell, Cash, Rudy York and Hank Greenberg were all good defensive first baseman and picking one is tough. But we mention Cash because he had a game at first base in 1963 when he did not touch the ball once. No putouts. No assists. No nothing. And it wasn't even a big strikeout game -- only six. The third baseman caught four pop-ups/line drives, the second baseman caught three, the catcher caught one, the right fielder (Kaline) caught six, the center fielder caught four .. and that's all 24 outs.

Second base: Lou Whitaker. Sweet Lou really got jobbed by the Hall of Fame voters. I'm not sure he's a Hall of Famer, but 15 votes his one year on the ballot? He deserved more consideration.

Shortstop: Alan Trammell. You pick Whitaker, you have to pick Trammell, right? Billy Rogell, a great defensive shortstop in the 1930s, might have been better, but I'm keeping the double-play combo intact.

Third base: Aurelio Rodriguez. I just remember that guy had a bazooka. Doesn't it seem like third basemen used to have better arms? I'm sure that's just memory, but I recall Buddy Bell, Aurelio Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Doug Decinces, Graig Nettles, George Brett -- all of them having amazing arms. Then, I remember numerous quarterbacks of the 1970s and 1980s (Dan Pastorini, Bert Jones, Steve Bartkowski, Vince Ferragamo) having stronger arms than anyone today. So either arms have weakened or my memory has.

(Incidentally, while watching the Royals game tonight, I've noticed: Alex Gordon seems to have a pop-gun arm. I know the scouts say he has a strong arm ... and maybe he's just aiming the ball now because of his early struggles. But so far anyway that arm looks pretty wimpy).

Outfield: Al Kaline, Mickey Stanley and Chet Lemon. You know, all the stories I've heard and read about Ty Cobb, I've never really gotten a good picture of how he played defensively. You would have to think with his speed and his intensity, he was an outstanding outfielder. But here's an interesting question: Cobb did make 254 errors in his career with the Tigers. Who the heck were the scorekeepers then? I've seen scorekeepers in Kansas City get yelled at by Tony Graffanino ... and back down. You would have to think those guys had some serious guts, giving Cobb that many errors.

Kaline won 10 gold gloves, Stanley won four, and Chet Lemon stole almost as many hits from the Indians as Nettles.

Catcher: Bill Freehan. Very close with Lance Parrish.

Pitcher: No idea. How about Mickey Lolich. Pizzas had no defense.

Chicago White Sox

First base: Joe Kuhel. He was known for being a terrific defensive first baseman in the 1930s ... and a terrible manager in the 1940s. Lost 97 and 104 games his two years as skipper for the Senators. So it goes. I have a special affinity for Kuhel. He was born in Cleveland, and he died in Kansas City. Not that I'm feeling sick or anything.

Second base: Nellie Fox. He just barely edges Eddie Collins. Not that this means anything, but Nellie Fox was caught stealing more times than he was successful (80-76). I just thought that was weird.

Shortstop: Luis Aparicio. The White Sox actually have a great history of terrific defensive shortstops, going back to Buck Weaver (started as a shortstop and apparently was a good once despite his back-to-back 71 and 70 error seasons) and Chico Carrasquel (once went 53 straight games without an error) and even Ozzie Guillen (once went off on me after I went off on him for picking Mark Redman for the All-Star Game). But I'll go with Aparacio, both for his reputation and because he was another favorite of my Dad.

Third base: Willie Kamm. Robin Ventura was good too, but Kamm according to his Baseball Library entry was adept at the hidden ball trick. That's a tiebreaker.

Outfield: Fielder Jones, Jim Landis, Ken Berry. Wow, the White Sox have really had some great outfielders through the years. Johnny Mostil was an amazing outfielder and so was Mike Kreevich. I've already said how much I admired Chet Lemon. Jim Rivera was a good outfielder too. I would say no team has had more good defensive outfielders than the White Sox.
So how choose? You have to take a guy named Fielder - and he was the first outfielder to ever pull of the unassisted double play. Jim Landis was the centerfielder for the Go Go Sox -- he could Go Go. In fact, you had to wake him up before you'd Go Go (Hey, it's getting late, and I still have two more teams to do. And the Royals just went into extra innings). Ken Berry is one of those guys that ever old Sox fan can remember making some sort of ridiculous catch.

Catcher: Ray Schalk. He's in the Hall of Fame and couldn't hit a lick, so I'm assuming he was a special defensive catcher. I saw Ron Karkovice: He could really throw.

Minnesota Twins

First base: Kent Hrbek. It's not an overwhelming group of defenders (though when you go back to the Senators, you have the ever-present Joe Kuhel available), and I think Hrbek was underrated defensively.

Second base: Bucky Harris. Not a lot to choose from here. I think Chuck Knoblauch actually was a good second baseman, I think, until his Yankees days. But Harris was a star defender for the Senators in the 1920s.

Shortstop: Greg Gagne. Joe Cronin was a good fielder (despite his 62 error season). We'll give it Gagne With A Spoon. He also hit two inside-the-park homers in the same game once.

Sorry for the interruption: But the Royals just lost 2-1 in extra innings. They brought Jason Standridge to start the 10th because, I suppose, Buddy Bell had to get home. The Royals are now 3-7, and though the seem to be better, the truth is there is no real evidence to back that up at the moment. Gil Meche pitched well, at least. OK, back to the regularly scheduled blog.

Third base: Gary Gaetti. He looked awkward but he pretty much made every play. I would have something more to say about Gaetti, but the game is over and it's time to get through this thing.

Outfield: Kirby Puckett, Sammy West and Torii Hunter. I would say that the Torii Hunter of 2003 or so was just about the best defensive center fielder I have seen since becoming a sports columnist. There simply wasn't a ball he couldn't run down. Puckett was, of course, brilliant. And Sammy West was a great outfielder for the Washington Senators ... he apparently learned his defense from Tris Speaker.

Catcher: Muddy Ruel. I think in the long run Joe Mauer will be here.

Pitcher: Jim Kaat. Finally, an obvious choice. You know, Kaat cannot get much support for the Hall of Fame, even though he won 283 games. The feeling seems to be he was never a great pitcher. But I'm wondering ... how much should it matter that he might be the greatest fielding pitcher of all time? The guy won 16 Gold Gloves -- as many as Brooks Robinson. How much should Hall of Fame voters think about that?

OK, it's on to the Royals.

Kansas City Royals

We are now joined by guest blogger Bill James!

First base
Bill: Wally Joyner. Despite sentimental support for John Mayberry.

Joe: John Mayberry. Not only am I sentimental about Big John, but Joyner doesn't have the necessary 750 games.

Second base
Bill: Frank.

Joe: Of course Frank White. And I have to share a story, one where I'll keep the names secret to protect the guilty. Apparently there was a young reporter who had just met Frank White. A couple of hours later, he was in a car with other reporters, and he was going on and on about what a nice guy Frank is (and he is a very nice guy).

Finally the young reporter says: "What position to Frank play?"

A gasp echoed through the car. But hey, he was young, new to town, you give those kids a break. So someone said, "Second base," at which point the young reporter did the unforgivable. He said two words: "You sure?"

You sure? That's what he said. Frank White is one of the greatest defensive second basemen in the history of baseball. Because he played on turf, he virtually had to reinvent how you play second base. And he said: You sure?

It was quiet in the car for a while after that. And then one grizzled reporter offered up a two word quote for the ages. He said in an exhausted voice: "Pretty sure."

Shortstop
Bill: Greg Gagne ... Gagne was unbelievable. . ..great field awareness. Extraordinarily quick and smooth. And reliable.

Joe: Fred Patek. Actually, he's the only Royals shortstop who qualifies under the 750 game rule. Plus, we gave Greg Gagne some love already. ... I know he doesn't qualify. But for pure hands and arm accuracy, I've never seen a better shortstop than Rey Sanchez. He didn't get to much (he wasn't exactly known for exerting himself), but he caught everything and he never made bad throws. Ever.

Third base
Bill: Joe Randa.

Joe: OK, Joe Randa. Really good when he was young, solid when he was old. But I will say that George Brett was better than his reputation, especially in 1985. He earned that Gold Glove.

Outfield
Bill: Willie Wilson, Amos Otis and Carlos Beltran. With apologies to Brian McRae, who was very good, and Johnny Damon, who was very fast, and Bo Jackson, who was faster than Damon and could throw harder than Barfield, but not always on target.

Joe: Yep, Wilson, Otis, Beltran. I will tell my kids I saw Carlos Beltran when he was young and untamed and still threw with abandon. Of course, my daughters seem to show no interest in baseball, so they won't care. Maybe my grandkids.

Catcher
Bill: Jim Sundberg (duh. Boone may have been just as good, but Sundberg caught more games for the Royals, and was closer to his prime when he did it).

Joe: Mike MacFarlane. Only Royals catcher who qualifies. Sundberg was obviously a lot better and so was Boone. Mac was solid, though.

Pitcher
Bill: Tom Burgmeier.

Joe: Bret Saberhagen.

OK, that's it. I'm done. I'll fix all the mistakes in the morning. Thanks for hanging in there.