Cardinal Numerology

On a night when seven became three and five became four, it was seriously good that it all added up to six. Batting order probably is overrated and it is hard to know if the swap of Matt Holliday to third and Albert Pujols to fourth really had that much of an impact.  I think […]

Hall of Fame Killers

Any Seamheads reader should know by now that there’s a lot of good information at baseball-reference.com. In particular, in the Play Index. For instance: in the last decade, Miguel Tejada led the majors with 223 groundball double play, 28 more than runner-up Paul Konerko. That is only one ground ball short of Jim Rice’s 224 […]

Casos excepcionales (Exceptional situations)?

Escribir los reglamentos de una institución requiere luego demostrar la disciplina necesaria para hacer cumplirlos. Sin embargo a lo largo de la historia se puede comprobar que han existido excepciones a las reglas. Desde esta óptica me atrevo a sugerir que instituciones como El Salón de la Fama de las Grandes Ligas y el Salón […]

Adams Still Learning, But Impressing

It’s a tough transition for any player this late in the game to switch from being a position player to a pitcher full time, or vice versa. That player has spent years gaining experience and building credibility at a specific position, only to have to start from square one again and practically learn a new […]

Touring the Bases With…Roger LaFrancois

Boston Red Sox catcher Roger LaFrancois spent only eight games at the Major League level but made the most of it, batting .400 with a double, a run, and an RBI in 10 at-bats in 1982.  Drafted by Boston in the eighth round of the 1977 amateur draft, LaFrancois spent most of his nine professional […]

Second Rate

After the sweep by the Astros, the Cardinals needed a series win to stay ahead of the Reds in the division standings.  It didn’t happen. Friday (4-3 win) Hero: Ryan Ludwick.  Three hits, including a two-run home run that proved to be the difference. Goat: Ryan Franklin.  Didn’t blow the save, but he did his darndest. […]

Parity Exists, But Injuries and Player Losses Make the Challenges Tougher

Parity appears extremely strong three weeks into the Atlantic League season with every team within two games of the division lead, but the challenge to managers and player personnel bosses to keep it that way is certain to build now that the expected roster-juggling has started. It seems every person this typist talks to has […]

Former MLB Hurler Dick Drago to Appear on “What’s On Second” Podcast

Former Major League hurler Dick Drago will appear on “What’s On Second: The Seamheads.com Radio Hour” on Monday, May 17 at 11:00 PM Eastern (8:00 Pacific).  Drago began his major league career with the expansion Kansas City Royals in 1969 after spending four years in the Detroit Tigers’ minor league system, where he went 50-41 […]

Strasburg in Syracuse: Start Two: Dwarfing, Part I

Ballplayers, they say, are superstitious; which doesn’t mean that everyone else isn’t, too. After Saturday’s interruption at Alliance Bank Stadium, I simply do not have the heart to drive back to the scene five days later. Through no fault of its own, the park is now a cursed site for me. I am at my […]

Who Will Be Next to Majors? Lindsey Stays Hot, Weber Warming Up

Michael Ryan had not been in the majors since 2005 until joining the Angels last weekend, and Cuban-born Raul Valdez had never been there until the New York Mets added the onetime Can-Am Leaguer (New Jersey Jackals and Nashua, NH) a few weeks ago.  And, it is anyone’s guess on where lightning will strike next, […]

Laying An Egg

No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth or been thrown into some big glowing light on a remote island.  My work schedule has made it tough to blog this week and the Cardinals’ play has keep the motivation to blog down as well.  Let’s take a quick look at the Houston series […]

Minor Happenings: McFarland Having A Breakout Season

“Minor Happenings” is a weekly column which covers the important developments and news in the Indians farm system. While most of the information in this report is from my own research and through interviews I have conducted with organizational personnel, some information in this report is collected and summarized from the various news outlets that […]

These Are the Good Ole Days

Washington baseball fans are wracked by what Carly Simon once called “Anticip-pay-yay-shun.  They are waiting for the Amazing Mr. Strasburg who has stirred more excitement than anything since 1933–the last year fans had to wait for the sale of World Series tickets in early October.  Today’s rumor in the Washington Post set Strasburg’s first major […]

Talking Expos: Talking Books – in Two Languages

Baseball is a pastoral game. You don’t play a pastoral game in a concrete stadium under a dome. – Charles Bronfman, Expos first owner, September 24, 2004. *     *     * Gone? Indeed. But forgotten – not by a long shot. Not if the spate of recent books about the Montreal Expos means anything. By that […]

Touring the Bases With…Meghan Mahrholz

Meghan Mahrholz is Stadium Operations Coordinator for  the Oakland Athletics in Oakland, California. SEAMHEADS: What does your job consist of? MEGHAN MAHRHOLZ: My job consists of many operational tasks. I am responsible for radios, stadium signage, gate setups, First Aid Nurses and offices. Staff and many other responsibilities that make it possible to run an […]

Fortunate Sons

Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey, Jr. Once they were inextricably linked. Both were the spawn of superstars. Both came to the game with great fanfare and great expectations. Throughout the 1990’s, they exceeded the wildest hopes of fans and experts alike. It was easy to see them as opposites. Griffey was “The Kid,” cap backwards, […]

Once Considered Jewels, Baseball Cards Have Lost Luster

Remember the days when “gem” referred to the rock on a lady’s finger or to a pitcher’s performance? Remember the days when you’d scrounge up three or four dollars for a pack of cards, hoping that you’d find that 1:150 insert? Today we journey back to yesteryear with Dave Jamieson’s “Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards […]

Strasburg in Syracuse First Start: Game, Interrupted

Dedicated to ‘Andres:’ Cesar Andres Corrales Moya Of Quito, Ecuador And his father Julio Corrales Leon (1962-2010) He has been promoted. I drive now out of the cluster of mountains in northern Pennsylvania through the long, glacially carved ridges and valleys of New York state. I pass through Elmira, where I spent much of my […]

Somerset Nears Lead for Graduates Getting to Majors; St. Paul Has 15, Patriots 14

Michael Ryan’s recall to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim brings Somerset, NJ within reach of tying for the all-time (1993-2010) record of the most alumni from one Independent team reaching the major leagues. The St. Paul (MN) Saints, who got a five-year jump on the Patriots since they started play in the Northern League […]

Spring Ups and Downs

The NL West-leading Padres and the NL East’s second place Nationals are two surprises that belong in this spring’s “Up” category.  Are they showing spring growth that is starting to take hold or will it whither in the summer heat? Conversely, the Mariners and Braves are “Down.”  Were expectations over blown or just yet to […]

“What’s On Second: The Seamheads.com Radio Hour” Launches Tonight

After a year or two of kicking the idea around, we’ve finally decided to pull the trigger and launch our very own podcast – “What’s On Second: The Seamheads.com Radio Hour.”  The show will be hosted by Steve Lenox, former Aberdeen IronBirds play-by-play man and host of XM Satellite Radio’s “MLB Home Plate” and “XM […]

A Little Concern, A Little Relief

Let’s do the quick recap of the Pittsburgh series before we talk about what came out of it. Friday (4-3 win) Hero: Yadier Molina.  Smart thinking in the eighth to tag out the right runner, game winning double in the ninth for his fourth hit.  Man does it all. Goat: Ryan Franklin.  All of the […]

Zajc to Leave SABR

SABR Executive Director John Zajc has announced that he is leaving SABR effective September 30. “I am privileged and honored to have served the SABR membership for the past twenty years,” Zajc said, “but it’s time for me to step aside and explore new and different challenges and opportunities. I believe a fresh perspective at […]

A glance from the top of the stand (Una mirada desde lo alto de la tribuna)

En el juego decisivo de la Serie de Campeonato de la Liga Nacional de 1972, los Rojos de Cincinnati llegaron perdiendo 3-2 ante los Piratas de Pittsburgh en el cierre del noveno episodio, quién ganaba pasaba a la Serie Mundial. El manager filibustero trajo a relevar a Dave Giusti en medio de una ensordecedora multitud […]

Meet the new Park Factors — Part III

Taming the Wind “This will be one of the most beautiful baseball parks of all time.”—Vice President Richard Nixon, 1960, opening day at Candlestick Park So many were fooled. Players, sports writers, and even future presidents were in awe of the new home of the San Francisco Giants. Mesmerizing visitors with its lush green grass […]

So Long, Mr. Harwell

The Detroit Tigers happened to be out of town this past May 4th–playing at the new Target Field in Minnesota. Soon came the seventh-inning stretch and a picture of a smiling Ernie Harwell graced the stadium’s bright, new big screen. The news was then announced–though many fans were already privy to the inevitable: the Hall […]

Muoio In Familiar Territory

Steve Muoio may be over 900 miles from home, but the Webster resident finds himself in familiar territory. His Georgia College and State University Bobcats claimed first place and the number one seed in the upcoming Peach-Belt Conference tournament.  Success on the baseball diamond is something the Webster-Thomas graduate has known for much of his […]

Moms

Joe Shrode is a father, and a 19-year youth baseball coach. He is the author of “Between the Lines: A Father, A Son, and America’s Pastime.” BTL goes beyond balls an strikes, hits and outs, and wins and losses. It’s about relationships. To see excerpts, visit www.btlfatherson.blogspot.com.             There is no game tonight, so Sam […]

Remembering Baseball’s Heroes on VE-Day

As we celebrate the 65th anniversary of VE-Day, let’s take a moment to remember the 58 professional baseball players who lost their lives in the fight against Nazi Germany. As you look through the list of names you will notice Herman Bauer, brother of Hank Bauer; Lefty Brewer, a promising young left-hander who spent some […]

Buying A Manager

“I came here with $100,000 to get a new manager and two new players for the Chicago club.” said Chicago Cubs President Charles H. Weeghman as he arrived in New York City for the annual National League baseball meetings of 1916. “I have in mind for a leader two men who have attained national prominence […]

Stephen in Syracuse

Beginning with a low rumble on draft day 2009, the Stephen Strasburg hype built gradually in the city of Syracuse, spiking after each successful start for the Double-A Harrisburg Senators and peaking gloriously Friday night, when The Phenom took the mound at Alliance Bank Stadium for his first Triple-A start.

Tigers Brass Show Their Class

How could I not go? I told myself back in September when I attended the Ernie Harwell farewell/tribute game that this was going to be my formal goodbye to my childhood radio friend. It was a tearful and joyous day and I was at peace with myself and the fact that the voice of my […]

That Night, They Were Men

Recently I was showing the photo album of my bar mitzvah to some long-lost cousins who only vaguely remembered attending it. Even with the help of the photos, I don’t remember all that much about it myself. I do know that it was the last time I ever spoke–much less chanted–in Hebrew. I ate, danced, […]

El Irlandés Silbador (The Whistling Irishman)

Hace alrededor de unos tres años recibí un correo de SABR (Sociedad Americana de Investigadores de Béisbol) solicitando aficionados que quisieran escribir alguna anécdota sobre el magnífico manager de los Piratas de Pittsburgh, Danny Murtaugh. La idea era que la historia estuviera relacionada con la cotidianidad del escritor para darle más profundidad. La nieta de […]

The “Not-So-Lazy” Days Of Summer

Yes–as the current summer approaches and the hot, scorching days are within earshot, I reflect upon my own summer vacations as a kid from long ago; yes, though “Father Time” has left his mark, certain memories still remain vivid. It was the 70’s: no video games/computers to corrupt our minds, no iPods to play our […]

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