Opening Day?

So I heard today that the Yankees will be playing the Red Sox on opening day. Not just opening day for the Red Sox, but opening day for Major League Baseball. This struck me as strange because the Yanks and Sox have only faced each other on their own opening days 29 times before. Never on the MLB’s opening day. The record for this opening day rivalry between the Red Sox and Yankees is 18 wins for the Yankees, 10 for the Red Sox, and one tie. This made me think “I wonder what would happen if these two teams faced each other on opening day, with their best players on the team in the team’s history.” So I made up an all star lineup for each team. (Babe Ruth is not in it because he was on both teams.)

                                RED SOX                         

Starting pitcher: Dick Radatz

A terrorizing pitcher from 1962-1966 Dick Radatz had a career 2.65 ERA.

Catcher: Victor Martinez

 

Sure, he may not be the best catcher in Red Sox history, but you can’t keep a guy with four MVP’s out of the lineup can you? Plus, he’s a switch hitter.

First Base: Mo Vaughn

 

328 home runs and 1,064 RBI’s? How many other first baseman's have done that?

Second Base: Dustin Pedroia

OK, he’s only played for four years. But in those four years, he has a .307 career batting average, an MVP, a Silver Slugger, a Golden Glove and two all-star appearances. 

Third Base: Mike Lowell

 

A good third basemen, and the MVP of the 2007 World Series for the Red Sox.

Shortstop: Nomar Garciaparra

No doubt Nomar is the best at short in the history of the Sox. No doubt at all.

Left Field: Duffy Lewis

Played with the Sox from 1910-1917 and had 1,248 hits with the Sox.

Center Field: Tris Speaker

A flat out amazing player, he was part of the “million dollar outfield” with Duffy Lewis and Harry Hooper.

Right Fielder: Tony Conigliaro

Although he only played 876 games, he did get two MVP’s.

                                    YANKEES

Starting Pitcher: Whitey Ford

One of the Yankees many retired numbers, Whitey Ford is a very popular Yankee, and a Hall of Famer.

Catcher: Yogi Berra

 

A 15 time all-star, Yogi is one of the best catchers in history.

 

First Baseman: Lou Gehrig

 

One of the greatest first basemen of all time, the iron horse has 11 MVP awards, and is a 7 time all-star.

Second Baseman: Robinson Cano

 

Though many people have doubts about Robinson Cano being the best Yankee second baseman ever, he sure shows good stats.

Third Baseman: Alex Rodriguez

The youngest player EVER to hit 500 home runs, a-rod is a strong possibility for the hall of fame.

Shortstop: Derek Jeter

The greatest shortstop in Yankee’s history without a doubt, Derek Jeter has the most hits in Yankee’s history with 2,747, 11 MVPs, 10 all-star appearances, 4 Silver Slugger awards, 4 Golden Gloves, and he won rookie of the year in 1996.

Left Fielder: Mickey Mantle

 

One of the most loved Yankees, Mickey was a powerful switch hitter and great outfielder from 1951-1969.

Center Fielder: Joe DiMaggio

 

With 361 home runs, Joe DiMaggio is a Yankee legend known even by Yankee-haters.

Right Fielder: Roger Maris

A four time all-star with 275 home runs, Maris was one of those under-estimated Yankees.

 

So that concludes my dream roster that I’d love to see in action, if that were possible. I just wonder who would win. Hhmmm…

Johnny or Curtis?

So today the Yankees played the Tigers…or should I say Johnny Damon played Curtis Granderson. I say so because secretly, all the Yankee fans have been wondering ‘is Curtis Granderson really worth Phil Coke?’ and ‘Johnny might be better than Curtis, I mean Johnny was an experienced veteran and was good in the lineup.’ Meanwhile all the Tigers fans have been wondering ‘No more Curtis Granderson, do the Tigers have a chance at all this year?’ and ‘Johnny Damon? He’s too old to play anymore!’ But today was the day that the Yankee and Tigers fans realized the truth. And it pains me to say it, being a Yankee fan and all, but it seems the truth is that Curtis Granderson is worth more than Phil Coke and Johnny Damon put together. And also that Johnny Damon probably should have retired. Sorry Yankee and Tigers fans, but it is the truth. I mean look at Johnny Damon in a tigers uniform,

it looks odd and unusual doesn’t it? And Curtis Granderson in a Yankee uniform,

well, that looks a little odd too. I guess I’m just not used to it. We’ll see how the season goes, maybe I’ll be wrong. Anything’s possible.

The 2010 Season

Well with less than a week until the first spring training game, I think everybody is getting excited in baseball, including the players. Take a look at how thrilled they look.

I’d be shocked if I found out that you watched that whole thing without falling asleep. My point is, everybody is making such a big deal about spring training this year and they all seem to think that the players are as pumped up as they are. These guys are in the MLB, they do this every year!

No more Tom Glavine?

Well, Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves has officially retired. I am quite upset by this. I mean the guy did play for twenty two seasons and all, but I’m going to miss him. Though I’m not a Braves fan, I sometimes watch replays of old world series, one of those series being the 1995 world series, which he was the MVP in. Sure, I knew it was coming, but it’s still a bit of a downer for me. So I found a few photos of Tom Glavine, and put them together below.

Photo from cdn.picapp.com

Photo from sportsmemoribilia.com

Photo from sportsmaven.files.wordpress.com

Yes, he was on the Mets too.

Photo from assets.espn.go.com

Photo from media.scout.com

And if you’re wondering why I miss Tom Glavine, it’s because he was a pitching genius with 305 career wins. But, there’s still some pitchers in the league that I’ve been watching lately. Ricky Romero from the Blue Jays seems like a real future prospect to me.

Girls Should Play Baseball

I had a request in the comments for a post on girls playing baseball. I found that no girl ever played in the major leagues, but that there was quite a famous girls league during World War Two. Take a look:

 

I also discovered that there was one girl in the Minor Leagues that struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig back to back. Here’s the story.

In 1931 the owner of the Southern Associates AA Chattanooga Lookouts, Joe Engel, signed a 17 year old pitcher named Jackie Mitchell. On April 2, 1931, Chattanooga played an exhibition game against the Yankees. The manager, Bert Niehoff, began the game with Clyde Barfoot, but removed him after he gave up a double and a single. Niehoff put in Jackie Mitchell, who was to face Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Tony Lazzeri. She threw the Babe ball one, then two strikes that he swung at, and a third strike that he looked at. Then came Lou Gehrig who swung at all three of her tricky little curveballs, and went back to the bench. Then came Tony Lazzeri who walked, at which point Niehoff removed Mitchell and put Clyde Barfoot back in. The Yankees ended up winning, 14-4. When I first learned all this, a thought to myself, there are men to this day who can’t even strike out a bench warmer, men who won’t even give girls a chance to prove that they can play ball, and yet, those men know on the back of there minds that there was a girl who struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and still they won’t give girls a chance to play real baseball. And I think the girls of the world deserve a chance. A chance to play and live up to Jackie Mitchell, because really, how many pitchers do you know of these days that might’ve been able to do what Jackie Mitchell did? To strike out two of the greatest hitters of all time.There really isn’t a written rule that states that girls can’t play in the MLB, but every time you mention it to someone high and mighty in baseball, they just laugh at you. Always. But, girls and baseball have made progress. There have  been some female major-league umpires, and here’s an interview with a particularly famous one

here. Hopefully, there will be more girl umps in baseball in the future, and maybe even girl players.

Target Field

With so many things going on with free-agents this off season, everyone seems to be forgetting some of the other excitements of the winter in baseball. For example, I haven’t heard anyone mention the Twin’s new ballpark that will open on April 12. It’s a mystery to me why I haven’t heard anything because it is going to be the Twin’s sixth ballpark since the team started as the Senators. And it’s the first field specifically made for the Twins. 

Picture from TwinsBobbleHeads.com

Pretty nice stadium right? Of course everybody’s going to make a big deal out of it once the season starts, but I’ll be the only one who talked about it before hand. Maybe I haven’t heard about it because I don’t live near any Twins fans? I don’t know. Here’s a little history about the Twin’s old field, The Metrodome.

• The Metrodome opened officially in 1982
• The Vikings and Twins wanted a new stadium since the early sixties, but the city of Minneapolis rejected for years
• It cost The Industry Square Development Corporation 14.5 million dollars for the land where the Metrodome is
• Construction on the Metrodome started in December, 1979

And so, I still wonder why I haven’t heard anything about the Twin’s new stadium. The Twins must feel so unpopular right now.

Carlos Ruiz, still a Philly.

Yesterday the Phillies signed Carlos Ruiz to a three year contract extension for 8.85 million. Now Ruiz seemed like a very decent player to me, but personally, I think the Phillies have gone a little crazy trying to sign and resign all the same players that have been on or are on the team. For example, they also recently signed Chad Durbin, Shane Victorino, and Joe Blanton. It seems to me that they’re going crazy trying to make the perfect team for this year so they’ll win the World Series. Thing is though, they don’t need the perfect team. They won the National League Pennant two years in a row and won the series in 2008. They already have a great team if they accomplished that. Nobody’s going to want to play them anyway especially since they have star pitchers Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Here’s a look at Carlos Ruiz from photobucket.com

 

So, the Phillies may have gone completely wild, but Carlos Ruiz was a good choice for a catcher.