The Sunday Notes: 2015 Awards Edition

The 2015 award season has come and gone, ending the year. For the twelfth straight year, average attendance per game topped 30,000 and overall gate went up, barely, over last year. All told, 73,760,020 purchased tickets to Major League Baseball games in 2015. Would you believe the first year the average topped 20,000 was 1979 […]

ML”what would”B: What if Sandy Koufax Was Never Plagued With Arthritis?

Hey baseball fans! I just put up another ML”what would”B post on More Than a Fan. In every ML”what would”B alternative history post, I discuss what would have happened if a famous event in baseball history had gone differently than it did in reality. For my latest post, I wrote about what would have happened […]

Motor City Mickey

Hey baseball fans! A little over a week ago, someone who is very important to baseball history celebrated his 73rd birthday. He is not in the Hall of Fame currently, but was a key contributor to his teams. If you didn’t guess who I’m talking about, let me just tell you: Mickey Lolich! Lolich pitched for […]

Feliz Cumpleaños a Gaylord Perry

Hey baseball fans! As some of you know, I share a birthday with no Hall of Famers. The only person who is close to becoming one is Alan Trammell. However, the people celebrating a birthday tomorrow do have a Hall of Fame birthday buddy: Gaylord Perry! Perry played with the Giants, Indians, Rangers, Padres, Yankees, Braves, Mariners, […]

Harvey vs. Scherzer is Like Deja Vu All Over Again

Tomorrow’s bout between the New York Mets and Detroit Tigers at Citi Field would most likely be ignored outside of New York and Michigan but for the anticipated match-up of two of the game’s best pitchers—24-year-old phenom Matt Harvey and 28-year-old all-but-guaranteed-to-win-the-AL Cy Young Award, Max Scherzer.  Granted the Tigers don’t have anything clinched yet, […]

What If They Held an Induction and No One Came?

Back in January, when Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson announced that the BBWAA had resisted the temptation to elect the all-time home run champ, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, two guys with more than 3,000 hits, and other significant ballplayers to the Hall of Fame, I sent him an e-mail. It read: “For […]

Steve Carlton

Hey baseball fans! I recently thought to myself: “Who was the best pitcher ever on the worst team?” I didn’t want to write something about Walter Johnson, because his name regularly appears in my articles, so I decided to go with the next best person: Steve Carlton. Steve Carlton was a very tough competitor, which is why […]

Kid Blogger Interviews the Gator, Ron Guidry

Hey baseball fans! I have another interview for you! This one is with New York Yankees pitching great: Ron Guidry! Some of you probably have no idea who he is, which is why I will tell you all about the “Gator” in the next paragraph. Ron Guidry played for the Yankees from 1975-1988. In those years, […]

Proficient Pitchers – Part Two

Hey baseball fans! Here’s part two of my blog of the Proficient Pitchers greatest nicknames ever: The Rocket - Roger Clemens Clemens is called “The Rocket” for a reason. His blazing fastballs were a big part of why he won seven career Cy Young Awards, far more than any other player. Clemens is the only pitcher to start […]

Proficient Pitchers – Part One

Hey baseball fans! As I promised in my last blog about fielding nicknames, today I will be blogging about some of the best baseball pitching nicknames of all time.  I will be splitting this topic in two blogs, because I have many good pitching-related nicknames, so here’s blog number one: Dr. K - Dwight Gooden We all […]

Breaking Down the 2012 N.L. Cy Young Race

Pitching in the National League this season has seen its fair share of surprises; both the good and the bad. Former stalwarts have seen injury (Roy Halladay) and inexplicable decline (Tim Lincecum), but into those voids have stepped other hurlers looking to establish their own legacies. The result has been some inspired pitching, contributing to […]

Hot Baseball Cards: The Postseason Edition

It is often said that art imitates life. That is especially true when it comes to baseball cards. Baseball’s annual Fall Classic provides an opportunity for fans to stock-up on their cardboard heroes, connecting them closer to the player, the game and the memories of October. The playoff run thus far has already seen dramatic […]

The Most Egregious Cy Young Award Snubs of All Time (at Least on Paper)

I recently listed the most egregious MVP snubs of all time and thought it was time to give the pitchers a little love (although not the ones who were awarded a Cy Young they didn’t deserve based on my WA2RB formula).  Rather than plagiarize myself and explain my thoughts and formula, you should head over […]

Koufax or Ryan? Tough choice for Torborg

Don’t ask Jeff Torborg to choose between Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan. The only man to catch no-hitters thrown by both can’t make up his mind. A former back-up catcher for the Dodgers and Angels, Torborg caught a perfect game thrown by Koufax in 1965 and no-hitters thrown by Bill Singer in 1970 and Ryan […]

If Montreal Gets Stadium, Indy Team Will Follow

     The French counterpart to the word “if”, I am told, is “si”.  Well, si got considerable attention north of the United States border this week.       Miles Wolff, the commissioner of  the Canadian-American League, which this corner tends to shorten to Can-Am, sat down to talk baseball in bustling Montreal this week, along with […]

Clearing The Bases: Starting Pitchers

Clearing The Bases                                                                                                                                          March 30, 2011 By George Kurtz Once again Starting Pitching is generally an area I will select later on in my drafts as I’m a big believer in loading up on hitting early on.   Sure I would love to have a top notch starter to anchor my staff, but I’m not willing […]

1980 AL Cy Young Race Revisited

Mike Norris celebrates his 56th birthday on March 19. He was the runner-up for the 1980 Cy Young Award in which he and Baltimore starter Steve Stone compiled career years, but did he deserve to win the award? Player Background Mike Norris was a 1st round pick by Oakland in the 1973 draft and made his debut […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: NL Central – Milwaukee Brewers

Brewers all-star 1B Prince Fielder  Milwaukee Brewers (2010 record: 77-85) The Milwaukee Brewers front office entered the off-season with one primary task: improve the pitching staff. The club finished last season with the third-worst ERA in the National League – the primary reason the club finished with a sub-.500 record. General Manager Mark Attanasio immersed […]

Measuring a Pitcher’s Ace Factor

Below is a statistical collection of the seasonal performances of every starting pitcher between 1950 and 2010. Each pitcher’s season, represented by a blue diamond, was measured by a calculation that didn’t consider any of the usual suspects typically used in measuring a pitcher’s effectiveness, such as ERA, strikeouts, WHIP, shutouts, or even ground ball percentages, contact […]

Strat: ’94 Expos Dominate Fall Classic, Sweep the ’31 A’s

The 1994 Montreal Expos will go down in history as one of the ultimate “What If?” teams after jumping out to a 74-40 record through their first 114 games, a .649 winning percentage, 105-win pace and a possible date with destiny before a work stoppage kept them from finishing what they started. Thanks to the […]

Phils to Have Best Rotation of the Live Ball Era?

On my way in to work last evening, one of the talking heads on local sports talk radio insisted the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies have the best rotation he’s ever seen, and this before they’ve even thrown a pitch as a unit. Bringing Cliff Lee back to a threesome that includes two-time Cy Young Award winner […]

The Day the World Met the Ryan Express

Nolan Ryan was far from the perfect pitcher. He walked the most batters in baseball history (2,795), 52% more than the next highest total belonging to Steve Carlton (1,833). He lost the most games of any pitcher (292) except for Cy Young (316) and Pud Galvin (310), two players who peaked in the 1800s. He […]

Braves endure schizophrenic campaign

No wonder Bobby Cox is retiring: he can’t stand the schizophrenic play of his ballclub. The Atlanta Braves have had a nine-game losing streak. They have also had a nine-game winning streak. Their long-time icon, Chipper Jones, said he would retire at the end of the season if he didn’t hit better than he did […]

Two Cy Young Winners Play the Outfield

The Dodgers used their entire roster, playing both a reigning and a future Cy Young Award winner in the outfield, to outlast the Cubs 2-1 in a 21-inning marathon. Extending over two August afternoons, the game took six hours and ten minutes to complete, establishing a new mark for the longest game ever at Wrigley […]

Atlantic League Managers Provide Wonderful Material For Major League Trivia Buffs

It is probably an understatement of sizeable proportions to say that the eight men who manage Atlantic League teams have quality career baseball profiles.  After all, they have a combined 109 seasons—an average of 13.6—as major league players. The popular nation-wide group SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) took note recently when it made the […]

Touring The Bases With…Randy Jones

Former major league hurler Randy Jones spent only 10 years in the bigs and lost more games than he won, going 100-123 for the San Diego Padres and New York Mets, but for two magical seasons, he was among the best pitchers in the game.  After leading the National League in losses with 22 in […]

2010 MLB Draft: A Family Affair

One thing that I always find fascinating to follow when it comes to the MLB Draft is seeing young kids drafted who have some relation to a current or former Major League player, coach, or executive. This year’s draft has had a number of such cases that I thought I’d take a look at. Some […]

Dousing the Flames

My, have the one-time accessories known as pitchers evolved. You see, when baseball began, pitchers served as a launching pad for batters’ rockets. Standing 50 feet from their counterpart, only a few moments snuck by before their rockets went up, up and away on contact. As recently as 1980, relievers milled around in the shadows. […]

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, […]

Jackie Robinson, Alex Rodriguez Picked by MSG Panel of Experts

Over the last few weeks, an MSG Network  panel of experts composed of Fran Healy, Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, former Cy Young Award winner Sparky Lyle, New York Magazine contributing editor and baseball aficionado Will Leitch, and executive vice president of the Elias Sports Bureau Steve Hirdt, have begun to build the ultimate […]

Bo Belinsky-Livin’ the Life

Perhaps no one got more mileage from a mediocre career than Bo Belinsky. Winning 28 games while losing 51 over an eight-year period (1962-1970) hardly qualifies one for baseball notoriety, even with a no-hitter. It was in his fourth big league appearance that the legend of Robert Belinsky of New York, New York began. On […]

Letters From Quebec: Remembering Willie Davis…

“There was only one Jackie Robinson and he was fantastic,” Willie Davis said about the Dodger immortal who broke baseball’s colour barrier, first with the old Montreal Royals and then with Brooklyn Dodgers.  Then he added, “There’s only one Willie Davis, and I’m fantastic too.” Willie Davis, to Montreal Gazette journalist Tim Burke, June 12, […]

Gagne Headed Back To Dodgers; Raul Valdes and Roger LaFrancois Also In the News

Can you go back home? This is not a reference to Tiger Woods, but rather to onetime unbeatable Los Angeles Dodgers relief ace Eric Gagne. Gagne’s problem seems much simpler of the two. His is more a question of how much speed and movement remain on his bread and butter pitches. The Dodgers and Gagne […]