Yankee4Life

Well, they made the playoffs. And with the way this team depends on the home run and nothing else, they won't be there long.

Ken Singleton Over a ten year Orioles career that spanned more than 6,000 plate appearances, Ken Singleton batted .284/.388/.445 and finished in the top three of the league MVP voting on two separate occasions. For someone who's used to watching plate discipline-starved Orioles teams, it's Singleton's on-base percentage that stands out when looking back now. Singleton walked over 100 times in three different seasons and had another three seasons where he was in the 90s for number of walks. No surprise that he had an on-base percentage over .400 in four years. The Orioles have yet to have a player record 100 walks in one season since the 21st century began. The last was Albert Belle in 1999, although Nick Markakis did have 99 in 2007, but 99 is not 100. His .388 OBP in his O's career stands behind only Frank Robinson on the franchise leaderboard. That Orioles career began when the team cashed in on the end of Dave McNally's career, dealing him to Montreal, where Singleton spent three seasons in his mid-20s. It's good to draft well, but it's just as good to trade well. He turned in one of those 100-walk, .400+ OBP seasons in his first year in an O's uniform, dropping 37 doubles and 15 home runs in the process. Two years later, in 1977, he had one of those unicorns, a .300/.400/.500 season, on his way to finishing third in the MVP voting. With a 165 OPS+, he was 65% better than the average batter that season. That was the best he hit compared to his peers in his career, but over the decade he was on the Orioles, he was still 35% better than everyone else. Not many hitters are so much better than the league for a decade or more. That's what makes him one of the franchise best. As the team surged into the 1979 World Series, Singleton had another near-MVP caliber season in the eyes of the baseball writers. He finished second in the voting, coming in with a .295/.405/.533 batting line. This was one of his 100+ walk seasons, and he had a career-high 35 homers at the age of 32. Pitchers walked him intentionally 16 times, more than even the 12 intentional walks given to Chris Davis in his 53 homer season. Singleton was still going strong four years later when the team found themselves back in the postseason again. Though he was 36, by then a full-time designated hitter, he was still an important part of the team. If all you do is hit, you'd better be good at it. He hit .276/.393/.436, walking 99 times, 19 of which were intentional, and hitting 18 home runs. That'll do, indeed. The 1,446 games he played as an Oriole are eighth-most in the 60 years of Orioles history. He had 1,455 hits - sixth-most - meaning he averaged more than one hit per game played, and added 886 walks (fourth-most) besides. Within a single season, runs batted in don't reveal much, but it does show that he came through when it mattered that he had 766 RBI in his O's career, which is fifth on the franchise leaderboard. Double digit home runs in nine out of ten years left him with 182, coming in seventh. In every category you look, he's there.

With this pitch Jorge Lopez lost his perfect game tonight against Minnesota.

Bob Shawkey Prior to 1923, the largest attendance at a baseball game was 47,373 at Game 2 of the 1916 World Series. This record was shattered on Opening Day, April 18, 1923, when 74,200 fans filled the brand-new Yankee Stadium to see the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox. The Seventh Regiment Band, led by John Philip Sousa, played the national anthem, and New York Governor Alfred E. Smith threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The noise produced by the crowd was overwhelming. Yankee manager Miller Huggins selected 32-year-old Bob Shawkey as his starting pitcher. Amidst the din and excitement, Shawkey coolly delivered a complete game and allowed only three hits in a 4-1 Yankee victory. He singled in the third inning and scored the first run, and Babe Ruth smacked the first home run, in the stadium that became known as “The House That Ruth Built.” This game was “the greatest thrill of my life,” said Shawkey A four-time 20-game winner, Shawkey played on seven American League champion teams and won 195 games over 15 seasons. “He has a beautiful fastball with a great hop to it,” said Amos Rusie. Shawkey was also known for his sharp-breaking curveball. One of the smartest pitchers in baseball, Shawkey kept a mental book on hitters and their tendencies. “Pitching,” he said, “is first and last a study of the batter and a never-ending effort to give him something that he doesn’t want.” “Sailor Bob” (aka “Bob the Gob”) Shawkey served in the Navy in World War I. He taught baseball in Japan with Ty Cobb, and he mined for gold in Canada. He was industrious, adventurous, and affable. On July 16, 1913, Shawkey made his major league debut with the first-place Athletics, allowing two runs in seven innings to the Chicago White Sox. He shut out the Detroit Tigers in his third start and pitched a two-hitter against the second-place Cleveland Indians in August. He admired Mack and veteran pitchers Chief Bender and Jack Coombs who mentored him. “I was throwing too much with my arm,” said Shawkey. Bender “showed me how to get my body into it.” Bender and Coombs declared the 22-year-old phenom to be “one of the finds of the game. Shawkey was acquired by the Yankees midway through an uninspired 1915 season. His 1916 season was outstanding: a 17-10 record in 27 starts, plus a 7-4 record and league-leading eight saves in 26 relief appearances. His 24 wins were second in the AL behind Walter Johnson, and his 2.21 ERA ranked eighth in the league. Shawkey’s work as both a starter and reliever in 1916 was unusual: The only other pitcher in major league history to start at least 24 games, and finish at least 24 games as a reliever, was Mordecai Brown in 1911. Shawkey “is beyond any doubt one of the best right-handers in the game,” wrote Grantland Rice. In 1920, Shawkey again won 20 games, including eleven consecutive victories from May 12 to July 23. His 2.45 ERA was the best in the league. The Yankees finished three games behind the first-place Indians, despite Shawkey’s 6-1 record and two shutouts against the Tribe. His greatest nemesis was Indians outfielder Elmer Smith. “I couldn’t seem to fool him,” said Shawkey. “He would hit me no matter what I gave him.” Six of Smith’s 70 career home runs were launched off Shawkey’s pitches. “He was a good fastball pitcher,” said Smith, “but I hit him like I owned him.” Another nemesis was Clarence “Tillie” Walker, who hit eleven of his 118 home runs off Shawkey. For each season from 1919 through 1924, Shawkey ranked in the top four in the American League in strikeouts. During that period, he accumulated 743 strikeouts, and only Walter Johnson had more strikeouts (761) among AL hurlers. Shawkey “worked slowly and methodically” on the mound in a “steady, unemotional manner.” He was “the most maddening deliberate pitcher I ever saw,” said Waite Hoyt. Shawkey’s walk rate was average for a major league pitcher and noticeably higher than the walk rates of other elite pitchers. In games in which he walked six or more batters, though, he was “effectively wild” with a 14-7 record and 2.87 ERA. Shawkey's last season was in 1927. He finished with a 195 - 150 record with a 3.09 ERA.

Just for Gordo

Bill Terry Bill Terry's big league career almost ended before it began. Once he got his chance though, Terry became one of the National League's best first baseman of the 1920s and '30s, followed by a highly successful managerial career. Terry originally tried to make it as a pitcher in the mid-1910s. He had some fine seasons in the minor leagues, but was never signed by a big league club. He actually got out of professional ball for a time, taking a job with Standard Oil in Memphis. He continued playing for his plant's team though, and in 1922 he was brought to the attention of New York Giants manager John McGraw. Much to McGraw's surprise, Terry wouldn't join the Giants unless McGraw made it worth his while, and the two would always have a frosty relationship. McGraw eventually relented, and Terry cemented himself as the Giants' everyday first baseman in 1925 when he hit .319, the second best average on the team, in his first season as a regular. Terry never batted under .320 in the nine seasons in which he received over 500 at-bats. He finished second in the National League in batting three times but only captured a batting title once, when he hit .401 in 1930. He led the Giants in average every year from 1929-35. The left-handed hitting Terry concentrated on hitting balls up the middle and to left-center. While he did have three 20-home run seasons and hit 154 for his career, some observers felt he could've hit more if he'd taken advantage of the short porches down the lines at the Polo Grounds. Terry succeeded McGraw as the Giants' manager in the middle of the 1932 season. A year later, the 34-year-old Terry managed the Giants to the 1933 World Series title while continuing to be their leading hitter with a .322 average. Terry intended to end his playing career after the 1935 season, but he reversed course in the middle of 1936 and played through severe knee problems, continuing to hit while leading the Giants back to the World Series, though they lost to the Yankees. Terry did retire as a player after 1936, but he continued managing the Giants for another five seasons, including another NL pennant in 1937. He had over 800 wins as a manager when his career ended in 1941. "Bill Terry was the finest playing manager I ever saw," Giants second baseman Burgess Whitehead said. "He was always thinking ahead. He was a great fielder and when he was on first, I did not have to worry about my left."

If you have any further questions can you create a thread and post them in there? This is the Windows 10 support thread for Mvp '05.

Houston at Oakland Tony Kemp homers in the ninth. Too little, too late. The graphic says it all.

Washington at Chicago. This deserves another look.

haha haha

Updated to 7-29 ...While many people in here have told me more times then I can remember how happy I should be because of the Yankees start to this season I just can't buy it. If one looks close you can find underachievers all over the roster. Forget Gary Sanchez for a second. I've been pointing out how worthless this guy's been since opening day. And you know what? I was right. The most he ever hustled was his half-ass run to first base in Tampa last month that landed him on the disabled list. When Greg Bird got injured again in spring training I said to myself that I wouldn't have been shocked to find out he wasn't coming back until next year. I got a laugh when Mark Teixeira said that the Yankees should be “very concerned” about Greg Bird’s inability to stay healthy. This is a guy who couldn't stay healthy if his kids lives depended on it and he's the one who talks about Bird? This team gets hurt so much that sometimes I am afraid to read the papers the next day. It hasn't been all bad, I'll even admit that. It's been nice watching Luis Severino and rookies Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar play but I can't say the same about Aaron Judge. I have seen the guy go games without getting close to hitting the ball but as soon as he hits a home run it's all forgotten. Since I have been watching baseball I have watched players before him that I thought were strikeout machines, for example Mike Schmidt, Reggie Jackson, Alfonso Soriano and Adam Dunn to name a few but Judge in his second year has a better than average chance to pass them all up. He's one of the most inconsistent hitters I have ever seen but the hype on this guy is what saves him. And that right there is the problem with this year's Yankee team. They are inconsistent because they are not good enough. ...Not that it means anything to me, well maybe it does a little because I respect baseball history but not to long ago the Boston Red Sox renamed Yawkey Way outside the ballpark back to its original name of Jersey Street because of allegations of racism in the namesake’s past. Red Sox owner John Henry asked to change the name of the street, which before games becomes a pedestrian walkway, to distance the franchise for Yawkey’s racist reputation. I feel he is doing this as a publicity ploy because besides him and a few others that think like him most people could care less. That's the problem I have with this.Yawkey turned around that horses*** franchise when he bought it but that didn't matter. To their credit a lot of Red Sox fans are upset about this because Yawkey was a beloved figure around Boston and the foundation that was founded a year after his death in 1976 has given away $453 million in grants since it started. Not bad for a man they want to sweep under the rug now. If they had to go as far as changing back the name of the street because of cries of racism then maybe then the charities should give back the millions he donated and call it even. ...I've heard of bullpen miscommunications before but what the Indians pulled right before the All-Star break was simply stupid and borderline lazy. During a game against the Reds Terry Francona got on the phone to Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis and he asked him to warm up “O.P.” in the bullpen, meaning lefthander Oliver Perez because that is who he wanted to match up against lefty hitting Joey Votto. Instead, Willis heard “O.T.,” which meant that right hander Dan Otero was to warm up. So Otero said sure, why not? And when Francona made the pitching change in trotted a puzzled Otero while Perez remained in the pen as an interested observer. When Votto saw that a righty was coming in he smiled and said to himself that he was going to make the Indians pay and that's exactly what he did when his bases clearing double helped Cincinnati to come from behind and win. I don't know if this will happen again, at least not in Cleveland. It would have taken Francona an extra millimeter of a second to saying the player's full name instead of his initials. Maybe he can get one of his coaches to call down for him just in case one of his players is batting out of order again. ...Last Friday I went to see Jurassic World:Fallen Kingdom and not that I am going to give any spoilers away for those of you who have not seen it yet but I am very, very happy that this was just a movie because if those dinosaurs went after me I'd have no chance. ...No pictures please, Dept: I guess if you really had to you can file this one under the category of "thinning the herd." A man in India was driving people home from a wedding when he suddenly realized that having a lot to drink at the reception would eventually catch up to him and if he didn't find a restroom soon the pants he was wearing would become soaked in one certain area. With no port-a-pottys around he then decided to pull over to the side and take care of business. While he was doing that he looked around and saw a bear not to far away from him that was obviously injured in some way. Stupid is as stupid does, he got the idea of walking over to the bear to try and take a selfie with it. It was his bad luck that this was an extremely shy bear because the bear gave him one warning in the form of a growl and when that didn't work the bear mauled him to death. The people that were with him tried to get the bear off of the guy but the bear wasn't having any of it. Not even the picture that the guy was able to take before the bear swatted his big paw at him was clear enough to post on Facebook. That got them madder because it would have got a lot of likes. ...Ok, ok. Just one more selfie story and that's it. A British woman and Australian man fell one hundred feet to their death when they were attempting to take a selfie at beautiful Pescadores beach in Portugal. They probably wouldn't have had a problem with it but they tried to take the picture at night and then at one point they dropped their phone. As they bent down to get it they both fell over the side straight down to the beach below. It's anyone's guess as to who hit the ground first. Maybe the man. He weighed more. It would not be a mistake on anyone's part to assume alcohol was involved here but it would certainly answer some questions. Like why are you taking a selfie at the edge of a cliff in the dark and why lean over that same cliff trying to retrieve a phone? Anyways, it's good to know that Australian and British tourists don't have any more good sense than American ones. ...A kid's meal, literally Dept: A leopard at the Queen Elizabeth National park in Uganda snatched and ate a park ranger's three-year-old son recently when the kid wandered out to the unfenced staff quarters in the safari lodge at the park. The child was under the care of his nanny and she was unaware that he followed her outside until she heard him scream and by then it was much too late to do anything. Leopards, like most good predators are fast and this one was no different because it disappeared back into the wild as fast as he came out of it. This was a terrible tragedy and I feel for the family but I can't help wondering one thing. Why were the staff quarters unfenced? Something tells me they are now. I read about this park. People come here from all over to watch leopards roam around and after this if I were one of those tourists I'd ask myself while I was watching those animals walk around, thrilling as that may be, could it be that they are watching you too at the same time? The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles vs. Yankee4Life: A spoiler alert for everyone. I lose and I lose big. I had no chance here. On Wednesday on the 11th of this month I went to the DMV to apply for the enhanced driver's license because I heard that after October of 2020 you could not board a plane without one. In New York you need four things to accomplish this. (1) Your current driver's license (2) your social security card (3) a utility bill and (4) your birth certificate. I also had my DD-214 with me so they can put a veteran's status on the licence for me. Anyhow, I am in line that day with all of my paperwork and I was confident that, because I had everything required, I would be able to complete my business there that day. After waiting in line just to be seen for almost a half hour I was able to talk to an employee there. She had a new employee by her side as she was giving her on-the-job training, presumably teaching her ways to look for things to screw the customer. Well, everything I had was perfect and I had a feeling that this was bothering her because of her intent to impress the new trainee. Then it happened. Her frown was immediately erased by a look of self satisfaction as she told me that my birth certificate was not acceptable. When I tried to explain that this was the one issued to me when I was born she said that she was sorry but my paperwork did not have an official stamp on it and if I wanted to get one with the required stamp I would have to go to the Vital Records office to get one. Oh and by the way that will only cost me thirty dollars. She was done with me as I left and went home. But I had to wait another day for round two. Thursday morning I went to the Vital Records building and sure enough I had to pay thirty dollars for a Xeroxed piece of paper with a stamp on it. These people who work here obviously have nothing to do with the DMV because I was in and out of there in less than ten minutes. After that it was back to the DMV and this time I only had to wait about twenty minutes before I was helped and unlike the day before everything I showed them was in perfect order and for my reward they gave me a ticket and I sat down and waited to be called. And I sat and sat and sat. Any one of you guys who have had to wait at your DMV will agree that these are not the most motivated people holding down a job. One guy in particular that caught my eye would help someone and then when they were done he would look or walk around for about five minutes before calling on the next customer. Everyone else who worked behind the counter with him also did some form of this song and dance but this guy did it after every person and he did it longer than anyone else. He must have been the one with the highest seniority. It took me over two hours of waiting that day but finally I got everything done, or rather they did. The good thing about all this is the the licenses last for eight years. The bad thing was having to go through all this for two days which took over three hours of my time. The next time I feel the need to be tortured for that long I'll tune into a Yankee game. ...Lately it seems that black people and other minorities across the country have been getting in a lot of trouble for simply living their lives and minding their own business. Each time these incidents have taken place the police have been involved and each time no charges were brought against the person or persons in question. Keep in mind these are all recent occurrences and have nothing to do with each other except for the fact that none of the people were white and if they were white the police would have never been called. In Rialto, California, a group of four women, three of them who were black, were met by seven police cars as they checked out of their Airbnb that they were renting. An elderly white woman alerted the police because the departing guests didn't wave or smile at her. They were kind of busy as they were dragging their luggage to their car when police showed up and the next thing they knew they had their hands in the air and by then it was too late to wave. The old busybody only called the police on the "three suspicious black people" and didn't bother mentioning the white girl. The three women are suing the Rialto police and the old woman later said that she'd have never reported them if they'd only waved and done a little dance for her and taken out her garbage. Two Chicago CVS employees found themselves out of a job after one of them called the police on a black woman who presented a coupon they suspected was fraudulent. They refused to accept the coupon and told the woman to leave before they call the police. She told them to go right ahead and she'll wait for them to arrive. The man wasn't joking either because the Chicago Police Department confirmed the call saying it was reported as an “assault in progress.” CVS backtracked faster than you could have imagined. Besides firing the two employees they apologized to the woman for what happened and just to show that they are really nice people once you get to know them, they honored her coupon. Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it? In another example of wasting the police department's time the Grandview Golf Club in York, Pennsylvania called the police on and then later apologized to a group of five black women that they said were playing too slowly and refused to leave the course. The women, who were all members of the club were told they were not keeping the pace of play on just the second hole by the owner of the club. They told the owner that they were keeping pace with the group ahead of them and they didn't understand what the problem was. After they finished the front nine three of the women left because they were upset about what went on and before they started the tenth hole they were once again met by the owner and also by some of employees. This time they gave the women five minutes to leave the club and that police had been called. The reasoning, they said, was that they had taken too long of a break on the turn. The police arrived, asked questions, conducted interviews and when it was all done no arrests were made and the only damage that was done was by the officers when they attacked the buffet table at the club. In California recently a woman brought out her inner Donald Trump as she chided a Mexican landscaper for being a "rapist and a drug dealer." Showing amazing restraint this man asked her who he raped and what drugs has he sold. She said that the president said that is how Mexicans are and that was good enough for her because as everyone knows Donald Trump never lies and is never caught in one either. Caught in dozens of them, sure. But that's another topic. The woman was attacking the wrong guy here because this so-called rapist and drug dealer has a full-time job Monday through Friday and on weekends he does landscaping and construction. What the hell, if that guy did either one of those things maybe he'd get a day off once in awhile. One day one of these Trump worshippers are going to go up against someone that is not going to show remarkable self-control that this man displayed and is going to get his nose broke over even worse. Their hero is protected and can say what he wants. They're not. This one was pretty recent and it involves a dangerous criminal disguised as an eight-year-old girl selling bottled water near AT&T park in San Francisco. The girl, who is black, was running her con out in front of her apartment building when the eagle eye of a woman named Alison Ettel caught what was going on and immediately called the police on her because she told her she did not have a permit to sell water. The backlash was strong with this one because as it turned out this woman owned her own cannabis company and after the video of her calling the police on the child went viral stores all over the San Francisco area stopped carrying her products. A few days later she got herself all dolled up, well at least as much as she could, and went on TV to apologize for her actions and that she was embarrassed by it and as if she were following a set script, she cried at exactly the right time. For the little girl it ended very well. She's still able to sell her water and the lady who turned her in got all wet. Finally at Yale University a graduate student was writing a paper and while she was preparing it she got tired and fell asleep on the couch in the common room of their dorm. When another student came in the room and saw her sleeping she woke her up and told her she didn't belong there and was going to call the police. True to her word the cops showed up and it took them around twenty minutes to come to the conclusion that the woman did belong there and did live there. They went as far as having her prove that she lived there because a black woman going to college is something they weren't familiar with. She opened her dorm room with her key and showed them her student ID. Even after she did that the police told her that they were in a Yale building and they just wanted to make sure she belonged there. What else could she have showed them, her tuition bill? Yale's response was as you would expect from a stuffed shirt institution like theirs. They said they were going to be putting into action "listening sessions" so students can talk about these problems when they arise and they lightly scolded themselves to become "truly inclusive" for all students. I would think a place of higher learning should have been that way already. We’ve turned into a selfish society where common decency and courtesy no longer exist. When that student saw that woman sleeping she should have just left her alone. How hard would that have been? In all these examples I believe what we are seeing right now in the way people of color are being treated is tied to the rise of white supremacy. And it's not just black people. Mexicans and other Latin Americans are included here also. White supremacy is erupting, in part, because of Trump's words and actions — his seal of approval. There’s renewed energy in racist behavior — and it’s showing up in everyday life. Just ask Starbucks. This hit them were it hurt the most - their pocketbook. They closed the doors of more than 8,000 company-owned stores for racial bias training that cost them twelve million dollars in lost profit. A steep price to pay for calling the cops on two black men who were waiting patiently and quietly for another man to show up at one of their Philadelphia locations. If it was a white guy who was talking really loud on his cell phone for a half hour they'd of never said a word. Serves them right. ...Last week MTV announced that Bristol Palin was going to be the newest member of the reality show Teen Mom OG. The OG is short for Oh God, I'm pregnant! Palin is a very odd choice to join this show since she is twenty-seven, has three kids and has yet to master birth control. Her mother Sarah is very excited for her daughter to have this opportunity because she said that she is going to become a great messenger for overcoming a little bit of challenge and doing well in life. Well that's true. The challenge was so little for Bristol that she met it head on three times as she popped out three kids with two different guys and she did well because she had a mother rich enough to help take care of them. Not everyone that has an unexpected pregnancy can say the same thing. Of course Sarah is ok with her daughter being on this show. She's a publicity seeker herself, and has trained her daughter well. The only thing Bristol can say to these other girls on the show that will help them is that the next time they are getting it on with their boyfriends is to make sure to tell them to pull out. ...A waitress from Missouri lost her job and was kicked out of the Air Force reserve just days after her enlistment after a Snapchat video was released when she and some friends of hers had rifles and were laughing amongst themselves because they were going out “n----- hunting.” Her excuse was that she was drunk at the time and that she was really sorry and besides she had black friends and didn't mean what she said. Well, she used to have black friends. Not anymore. Maybe she was telling the truth and she was drunk but when you record yourselves when you are intoxicated you're eventually going to say or do something you regret. It seems you can say anything nowadays as long as you say you're sorry. You can fluff it up if you want and say you went a bit too far or that you were taken out of context but that won't cumulate a lot of sympathy for you. Every word you write on social media and everything you say in a video you are answerable for these days. For a twenty-year-old woman who was raised on the rules of social media she should have known better. She knows now. All it did was cost her her job and military career. ...I compare social media to the dog that people warn you to stay away from but because the dog looks so nice and friendly you find yourself reaching out to pet it and the next thing you know the dog has made a meal out of your hand. I'm not on social media myself but from what I have noticed and read about it over the years is that there is very little room for error on it. One mistake, one lapse in judgment on your part and you are looking at a lot of unwanted attention directed at you and it won't go away until the next person messes up. The good news is that this usually takes place the next day or the day after. That's why no one cares about this woman from Missouri anymore. She's still not getting her job back but no one cares about her. But then there are cases where I believe people use social media to scrutinize people needlessly. Take Josh Hader of the Milwaukee Brewers. In only his second year in the major leagues Hader made the National League All-Star team. He didn't enjoy it as much as he should of because someone uncovered some "racist" tweets that he made seven years ago when he was seventeen. This is what it comes down to? People reading and pouring over old tweets from a seventeen-year-old kid? I don't know what Hader said and I don't care because I don't care what any seventeen-year-old has to say whether he is saying it on Twitter or not. If I were Hader I would want to find out who had it in for him because these tweets were brought out into the open at just the right time so the entire country would find out. ...And finally I have one question to the mother from Texas who sent her kid to school wearing this shirt. Where did you get it?

Gleyber Torres scores on a wild pitch

Those clips were from a TV show down in Brazil. I watched that coffin one again and I said to myself that this would never happen in America because some whiner would immediately run to a lawyer. Anyway, here are more of those zany Brazilians. The guy laughing off camera is what really made me laugh here. He's really having a good time. Hilarious! I don't know what the hell is being said but I can follow it. Someone would kill this guy if it happened in America. And I mean literally.

Ok I admit it. I would have screamed too. In honor of the new Jurassic Park movie.

GHughett, this is not a support thread for you, myself or anyone else here. It is a thread made ten years ago by someone to help answer some basic questions about the game. You already have a thread you started right here and you need to post your question over there, not here. Thank you so much and your understanding is appreciated.

Ron Hunt In his 12-year career Ron Hunt batted .273 with 39 home runs and 370 RBIs in 1483 games played. He was also one of the most difficult batters to strike out, fanning 382 times in 5235 at-bats, or once in every 13.70 at-bats. In 1973, he set an Expos record by only striking out 19 times in 401 at-bats, the fewest ever in franchise history by a player who had at least 400 at-bats on the season. But it was his talent for getting hit by pitches that made him famous. Pull up a chair and read on. In 1964, Ron Hunt was a young second baseman just starting to make his bones in the big leagues. He played for the Mets, a terrible team still years away from transforming into Amazin’ glory. On May 9 of that year, they were playing the mighty Cardinals, a loaded team that would go on to win the World Series. The man on the mound that day was Bob Gibson, one of the best and most terrifying fireballers in baseball history. Gibson had staked the Cards to a big lead, and he now needed just two more outs to bag a complete-game win. Hunt was due up next, and he knew all about Gibson’s blazing fastball, his tendency to come inside with it, and his neverending quest to intimidate batters into submission. “I started messing with my shoelaces,” said Hunt 51 years later, speaking in short, hard-edged bursts from his farm in Wentzville, Missouri. At the time, he figured that fiddling with his laces and stalling for time would do one of two things: Break Gibson’s concentration, piss the big right-hander off, or both. A warning rang out from the dugout: “ ‘Gibson is gonna drill you!’ Sure enough, he hits me.” Shaking off the impact of the pitch, Hunt spotted the ball coming to rest near his feet. He picked it up, turned toward Gibson … and flipped it back to him. Trotting down to first base, Hunt was greeted by first baseman Bill White, who wanted to know if Hunt was OK after getting drilled by the one fastball that caused more nightmares than any other of his generation. “Yeah, I’m all right,” Hunt replied indignantly. “Now tell that blankety-blank to go warm up!” In 1971 he was hit by 50 pitches when playing for the Montreal Expos. This is how he did it, in his own words. “First I would blouse the uniform — this big, wool uniform, I would make sure it was nice and loose,” Hunt said. “Then I’d choke way up on the bat, and stand right on top of the plate. That way, I could still reach the outside pitch. That was the Gil Hodges philosophy on hitting: The two inches on the outside corner were the pitcher’s, the rest was his. I thought, ‘If I can take away those two inches, and he’s not perfect, I can put the ball in play and get some hits. And if he comes inside, I can get on base that way, too.’ ” Expos broadcaster Dave Van Horne: “The ball would be headed toward his elbow or his ribcage,” said Dave Van Horne, who called Expos games on TV and radio for the first 32 years of the franchise’s existence. “He would turn his back away from the pitcher and deflect the ball with that spin move, so that he avoided those direct hits. To the average person, it would look like he was trying to get out of the way of the pitch, when, in fact, he just wanted to stand in there and take it.” “Did the umpires know what he was doing?” Van Horne asked rhetorically. “Sure. But I don’t think they wanted to get into many arguments with him!” At 6 feet tall, 186 pounds, Hunt wasn’t the biggest guy, even if he was strong for his size. But it was his fearlessness, as well as his quick and nasty temper, that earned him respect within the game. No other player, then or now, had the courage to flip baseballs back to pitchers after getting hit. Most players don’t want to piss off the guy who could hold your life in his hands, and really don’t want to do it when that guy is Bob Gibson. Never was Hunt’s win-at-all costs approach better on display than in 1971. His HBP pace started relatively slowly that season, with Hunt getting hit seven times in his first 33 games. Then on May 26, he put on a clinic, reaching base four times in five trips to the plate, via a walk, a trademark slap single, and two plunks in an 11-1 over the Braves. On June 6, Padres lefty Dave Roberts fired a nine-hit shutout against the Expos … and Hunt still found a way to get hit twice. On June 25, he absorbed three blows in a single day, with one HBP in the first game of a doubleheader, and two more in the nightcap; that first one came against Nolan Ryan, whose fastball could bore a hole into Fort Knox. Finally, on Aug. 7, Hunt led off the game against Reds right-hander Jim McGlothlin … and got nailed for the 32nd time that season, breaking the 20th-century record held by long-ago Cardinals outfielder Bobby Evans. But he still had 18 bruises and one major brawl to go. Ten days later, Hunt led off the top of the third against Padres righty Steve Arlin. He took a fastball in the ribs, winced, then watched the ball come to a dead stop right next to him. Keeping with tradition, Hunt picked the ball up and gently tossed it back to Arlin. His next at-bat came in the fifth, with a runner on first and nobody out. Again Arlin tried to come inside with a fastball. Again he whacked Hunt with the pitch, this time on the arm. The ball bounded a few feet up the first-base line. Hunt walked toward it, ready to scoop the ball up and lob it back. Padres catcher Bob Barton, widely regarded as a nice guy, had had enough of Hunt’s act. Barton scurried to the ball, and grabbed it before Hunt could get it. Hunt turned toward Barton, ripped his mask off with two hands, and punched him right in the jaw. A fight ensued, the benches emptied, and in the end Hunt was the only player ejected. He returned to the lineup the next day and got drilled by Padres lefty Fred Norman. While being known for the talent to get hit by pitches Hunt was also a two-time All-Star and he finished second in the 1963 National League rookie of the year voting behind Pete Rose of Cincinnati.

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