by Buddy Biancalana

I recently returned from baseball’s Winter Meetings. Reflecting back over the three days, one conversation I had is staying with me.  The conversation of which I intentionally did more listening than speaking, included Carlos Zambrano’s agent Barry Praver, Cub’s VP, Player Personnel, Oneri Fleita and MLB.com writer Carrie Muskat. They were discussing Zambrano’s challenges.

Certainly if Carlos could harness his emotions, overcome his reoccurring shoulder issues and pitch consistently like he can, there would be more joy in Wrigleyville.

When any athlete does not understand motion from the most fundamental level, it can kick off a chain of issues such as inconsistency, injuries and in Zambrano’s case, anger.

Image via Wikipedia

Let’s take a look at the interconnectedness of Zambrano’s three challenges.

Not understanding how to access the origin of motion can be compared to driving in an unfamiliar city without a GPS. It becomes a bit of guesswork, and now and then you will most likely get lost. Getting lost can certainly cause frustration and in some cases anger.

When mechanics start to break down for an athlete, confidence can start to diminish and create some concern or fear.  Fear is at the root of all anger.  At this point an athlete can start acting out by throwing or hitting things, yelling at team mates or through other various means. 

When things go wrong around Zambrano, if he understood how to pitch as well as he ever has by having a clear understanding of how to access the origin of motion, do you think his emotions would run rampant?  It is doubtful. His confidence would remain and anger and fear would stay dormant.

So how does this tie in to Zambrano’s shoulder issues? When a pitcher is not accessing the origin of motion, the bigger, bulkier muscles in the body will play a more dominant roll. This is multiplied in the case of a maximum effort pitcher like Zambrano.  A tug of war is created between the bigger muscles and the more subtle fast twitch muscles. This tug of war leads to injuries as doctors and trainers have told me.

If Carlos understood motion from the most fundamental level, he would get to enjoy the game and his team mates as much as his financial wealth.

Buddy Biancalana
Co-author, The 7 Secrets of World Class Athletes
www.zonetraining.net

“These guys have discovered something in all sports that is going to have a huge impact wherever it is taught.”  George Brett, Baseball Hall of Fame

Image taken from Google Images

We heard it a lot.  At the end of September and during every playoff series, we heard “this could be the last time Albert Pujols has an at-bat in a Cardinal uniform,” sometimes tweaked with the last home appearance.  So much so that someone made a chart out of how he did in those situations.  (Spoiler, not all that well.)

So I’m here to lay out the reasons why all of that was moot.  I’m staking my (not so) considerable reputation as a blogger that Albert will be back in St. Louis for 2012 and for many years to come.

I admit, I come at this from a St. Louis bias.  That’s pretty much to be expected when you read a post written by a Cardinal blogger, don’t you think?  However, I’ll lay out my numerous reasons and you can decide if it is sufficient for you to believe as well.  I’m sure there will be numerous objections to some of my reasons (that’s what the comments are for).  Even if you disagree with one or two, though, hopefully the others will make you think.

The first and biggest reason is that the market for Pujols is not as strong as you’d expect for a legend heading into free agency.

Let’s look at the teams in MLB:

Arizona

Atlanta

Baltimore

Boston

Chicago Cubs

Chicago White Sox

Cincinnati

Colorado

Cleveland

Detroit

Houston

Kansas City

Los Angeles Angels

Los Angeles Dodgers

Miami

Milwaukee

Minnesota

New York Mets

New York Yankees

Oakland

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

San Diego

San Francisco

Seattle

St. Louis

Tampa Bay

Texas

Toronto

Washington

Right off the bat, we can eliminate roughly a third of the league, the teams that just don’t have the financial resources to make a splash like this.  I’m counting the Dodgers and the Mets, who would normally be in the mix on this, but have ownership situations that create uncertainty and the inability to really make this kind of commitment.  Atlanta and Arizona also don’t strike me as the types that would be willing to spend this kind of money, but I’d be willing to hear other sides of that argument.

So what does that leave us with?

Baltimore

Boston

Chicago Cubs

Chicago White Sox

Cincinnati

Detroit

Los Angeles Angels

Miami

Milwaukee

New York Yankees

Philadelphia

San Francisco

Seattle

St. Louis

Texas

Toronto

Washington

The next step is to eliminate those teams that have a first baseman under contract already and wouldn’t be inclined to move him for Pujols.  Boston has Adrian Gonzalez, New York has Mark Teixeira (and most likely wouldn’t want to lock up their DH slot as Alex Rodriguez might be needing that in the near future), Cincinnati Joey Votto, the White Sox Paul Konerko, Detroit Miguel Cabrera, Philadelphia Ryan Howard.  Let’s take those teams out.

Baltimore

Chicago Cubs

Los Angeles Angels

Miami

Milwaukee

San Francisco

Seattle

St. Louis

Texas

Toronto

Washington

Still a good number of teams, but I think we can narrow it down some more.  If Milwaukee had the wherewithal to sign a big name first baseman, they’d resign Prince Fielder.  I exchanged some emails with bloggers today and got the sense that while Miami is going to raise payroll, Pujols would eat up that whole raise and they are not likely to do that.  The San Francisco bloggers tell me that the team is still focusing on pitching (which is really surprising, given their obvious issues on offense last year) and they are limiting their payroll to around $120 million, which doesn’t leave them room for AP.  Seattle is looking at about $95 million already in payroll and I can’t see them going much higher than that.  Let’s remove those.

Baltimore

Chicago Cubs

Los Angeles Angels

St. Louis

Texas

Toronto

Washington

The nightmare scenario is, of course, that Pujols goes to the Cubs.  Some even got more worried when Theo Epstein signed with the Chicago team.  However, my opinion is that Epstein is smart enough to know that the Cubs are more than one player away from being a contender, and by the time he’s able to strengthen the farm enough so that he has players to surround Pujols with, AP will be on the downside of his career.  I think Epstein is smart enough not to go big with Albert, knowing that he doesn’t have to make a splash in his first offseason.

Baltimore has tried for the big names before, pursuing Teixeira before he signed with the Yankees.  However, they weren’t able to get him and one of the drawing cards was supposed to be that he was a Baltimore native.  I don’t think they go high enough to get Albert and, even if they did try to spend the money, I think Pujols’s competitive nature wouldn’t want to be sitting on a fourth place team on a regular basis.

I don’t think Toronto is going to be in play, partly because of the AL East scenario again (though I think Toronto is on the way up) but also because of the major upheaval it would be to go to a different country to play half your games.  Also, I’m not sure exactly what AP’s relationship to Colby Rasmus was, but I’m thinking there’s a good chance they aren’t dying to play together.

So what’s left?

Los Angeles Angels

St. Louis

Texas

Washington

Four teams, and I think Washington is only on the fringes.  They obviously don’t mind spending money, as we saw with the Jayson Werth contract, and they have a lot of good talent such as Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper on the way.  Washington is in a position where the addition of Albert could make them favorites (or close to it) in the NL East, especially with Ryan Howard being out in Philadelphia most of the 2012 season.

Los Angeles has been rumored to be interested in Pujols for quite some time.  They are supposed to get Kendry Morales back, but he’s proven that you can’t plan on his health.  However, they have some serious payroll commitments and I’m not sure Arte Moreno is going to want to extend the payroll that far into the stratosphere, as a Pujols contract would likely have them into the luxury tax range if they made no other moves.

That brings us to Texas.  Texas could use a first baseman, that’s true.  They have no problem spending money, another plus.  They are obviously a winning organization, having gone to back-to-back World Series.  All the pieces are in play for them to try for a little revenge and steal away Pujols.

However, according to reports Texas is going to go the pitching route in the offseason, and you can’t really blame them.  They’ll either have to spend big or they’ll lose C.J. Wilson, so either option requires them outlaying a lot of their capital for the guys on the mound.  Plus, in that ballpark, either Mitch Moreland develops or they can go out and find a first baseman that normally hits 15-20 and get him up to 25-30 without too much trouble, just from playing in that hitter’s park.  There’s no reason to shell out big bucks to get Pujols, who won’t be that much of a step up for a team that already has plenty of big bats.

Process of elimination has very few competitors for St. Louis.  However, there are other reasons.

The second reason (and one that I think is huge) is the fact that the Pujols Family Foundation is based in St. Louis and Pujols has said it will stay here.

All we know about Pujols is his public persona, right?  From everything that we read, that we see, that we hear from others, his faith is a huge part of his life and the Foundation is the best way he can put that faith into action.  The Foundation does outstanding work both locally in the St. Louis area and in the Dominican Republic.

All of these works, though, take money.  There’s no doubt that Albert will be able to fund PFF with his next contract, but he can’t do it all.  If he leaves St. Louis, you have to figure that donations drop significantly.  (If he signs with Chicago, they drop by over half, I’d think, maybe more).  That’s got to weigh into his calculations.  Sure, his new city might step up and shower the Foundation with donations, but how long would that take?

Coming into a new place, you don’t automatically have the rapport and connections that you do in your old place.  I mean, the fans may love him, but would they love him any differently than any other free agent signing?  To some degree, until you’ve been in a place for a while, you are a mercenary, a hired gun.  People don’t often donate to hired guns.

(On the flip side, imagine what levels contributions might soar to if he stays in St. Louis!)

Third, I think that the Cardinals will make a competitive offer, one that will not be that far off of what he is looking for.

Let’s take a look back at the beginning of spring training.  Albertgeddon was huge and there was a press conference on the first day that both John Mozeliak and Pujols spoke at.  You can read some of the comments on this old post, but the sense I got from listening to both Mozeliak and Pujols was that the two sides weren’t miles apart.  Both of them seemed to indicate that the media didn’t have the full story, which was completely believable.

Just look at how well the front office kept the secret that Tony La Russa was looking to retire at the end of the season.  That’s huge news, but because only a couple of people, people that had integrity and character, knew about it, the news stayed secret and was a big shock when it was finally announced on Monday.  I don’t think there’s any doubt that the two sides could have been extremely close and neither side leaked it.  For all we know, there were some informal negotiations during the season that we weren’t privy to.  I just don’t think it’s a huge gap that these two sides have to bridge, which makes me optimistic that it can get done.

Fourth, Pujols knows and respects Stan Musial, hopefully to the point that he realizes just what he could be to this town if he stays.

Pujols has always shown deep respect for The Man, going so far as to dissuade people from calling him El Hombre.  He knows what the love for St. Louis is for Musial and he has to recognize that, if he stays his whole career under the Arch, he’s going to have that same sort of goodwill and adoration when he’s 90 as well.  It wouldn’t be a stretch to see people pushing for him to get the Presidential Medal of Honor, due to his on and off the field work.

This happens nowhere else.  He can’t go to Texas, put up 10 great years, and be that beloved.  First off, putting up 10 great years is a stretch at his age, we all recognize that.  But again, it’s the hired gun mentality.  It’s tough to fully embrace a guy that comes to you in the middle of his career.

Don’t get me wrong, if Pujols went to Texas or Washington or wherever, I know the fan base would go nuts for him, buy the Pujols jerseys, and honor him at the end of his career as one of their own.  But it’ll always have a different tinge, a different feeling to it.

For instance, Cardinal fans love Lance Berkman, even though he’s been here only a year.  I was excited when he signed his contract extension and I’m glad he’ll be around in 2012.

That said, do we as Cardinal fans think we even approach what Astros fans felt about Berkman throughout his career?  Watching him develop at the big league level and then leading them to their first World Series?  If he’d been able to stay in Houston, he’d have probably moved right into some sort of role with the club and been their icon for years to come.

It just seems different to me when you go through the trials and tribulations with a player versus when they come to you already developed, already having lots of success somewhere else.  It may be only in degree and it may not be much, but I think there’s a difference.

If Pujols leaves for somewhere else, yes, his number will likely be retired by the club, but he’ll never be held in the regard of Bob Gibson, Lou Brock or Ozzie Smith, much less the great Musial because he didn’t end here, he chose to leave.  If he stays, he’s the only person that might someday bump Musial out of the top spot as greatest ever.

Fifth, I think this playoff run reinforced what playing in St. Louis was all about.

If this team had limped to the finish line, winding up 8 or so games back, maybe it’d be easier for Albert to think that the best days of Cardinal baseball were behind them and that it’d be a while before this team really contended again.  He might have been more likely to mentally start disconnecting from the organization while playing his final games.  It might have made it more likely to leave.

Instead, this team put on a run for the ages with packed houses every night, full of fans going wild.  Not only getting to the playoffs but succeeding in them, bring home another trophy and reminding Pujols just what it’s like to win in Baseball Heaven.  There’s no way that didn’t affect him somewhat, giving him even more of a connection to the city and the fan base.

Along with that run, he can look and see that the window for this team isn’t closing anytime soon, that it will still be very competitive.  You get Adam Wainwright back next year.  Berkman is back.  Matt Holliday, Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia are all here.  Shelby Miller will be coming soon.  There’s a lot to like about this team.  It’s not one that looks to collapse any time soon.

Plus, it generated some unexpected money for the organization, money they could use to help shorten that gap between the two sides.  That’s what we call a “win-win”.

There are other reasons as well.  I think the fact that he has some great friends here, people like Yadier Molina who he is so close to, has to weigh into his decision.  There’s also the specter of setting some team records, which has to mean a lot when you think about the history of the Cardinals.  He’s already been passing some big names, but he could own the whole record book by time he is done.

Finally, though, today may have been the clincher on the whole argument.  Today, a statue of Pujols was unveiled in front of his restaurant in Westport Plaza.  Now, really, if you thought you were going to leave a fandom as passionate as St. Louis’s, do you really think you’d put up a statue?

Apparently the funds were provided two years ago by an anonymous donor.  Even granting the time it took to make the statue and all of that, would you really want to dedicate that just weeks before you left town?

If you were going to leave, wouldn’t you perhaps just quietly put the statue out if you had to do something with it?  Not have the big ceremony and hoopla?  Because you know that if you walk out of St. Louis, that statue is not going to look very nice unless you put 24-hour guards on it.  Would the restaurant even stay in business if he went somewhere like Los Angeles?  You’d think the dropoff in business would be pretty significant.

All in all, putting up a statue like this seems to scream that, if at all possible, Pujols wants to stay in St. Louis.  I think the organization is going to make that possible.  It might take some creativity, it might take some bending by both sides, but I think it’s going to get done and we’re all going to feel much better.

Put all of that together and I don’t see how he can walk away from St. Louis.  That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but I think the odds are very low.  Of course, until the contract is signed, you just never know!

Image taken from Google Images

This post made possible by Pro Dunk Hoops basketball goal systems

Michael Jordan – 1994-04-07 – White Sox vs. Cubs

An interview with Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray (even though Jordan was a member of the White Sox, the other Chicago MLB team).

Michael Jordan’s Minor-League-Baseball Career

This video includes his first HR, conversation with his AA hitting coach, Michael himself, Terry Francona (his AA manager). He stole 30 bases with 50 RBIs. One person even thought he was progressing enough to become a major league baseball player.

MICHAEL JORDAN – Playing on his LAST day with the Chicago White Sox – 1995

http://youtu.be/AUpmXMgiwsg

Image taken from Google Images

Image via Wikipedia

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Few words scare any team executive, coach, or even player quite like the dreaded “vote of confidence.” In fact, according to a Wall Street Journal study done last year, 20% of coaches who receive a vote of confidence from their boss are pursuing gainful employment within just the next month, while others are fired shortly thereafter. So when Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said that the plan was for GM Jim Hendry to stay on for the foreseeable future last week, Hendry might as well have simply started to clean out his office. Though switching GMs midseason can have drastic effects on the culture of the organization, the Cubs’ decision not to retain Hendry will likely be a boon to them as they approach the offseason. Though Hendry certainly proved he was a talented evaluator in his service to the Cubs over the last 16 years, his nine-year tenure as GM made it clear that he didn’t have equal aptitude for player valuation and the negotiation skills required of an MLB GM. He survived a vote of confidence last year, but was unable to do the same after another year of mediocre results.

Hendry had been consistently been rated among the worst GMs in the league, and just a quick glance at his big-name signings makes it clear why. The last time Hendry made a big investment, it was his 2009 signing of Milton Bradley for 3 years at $10M per. Uglier contracts negotiated by Hendry include Carlos Zambrano’s 5-year, $91.5M deal and Alfonso Soriano’s 8-year, $136M monstrosity that is currently considered one of the biggest albatrosses in the game. So, with nearly $50M opening up in budget space for next offseason, including a projected $10M increase for their few big-time arbitration cases, the Cubbie brain trust decided the ship needed a new captain to steer the ship and perhaps decide whether Albert Pujols or another big-name free agent finds a home in Chicago.

The end result is that Hendry’s tenure was marked by expensive, underachieving teams. Cubs payrolls since 2009 have averaged $137.7M, and yet the team hasn’t made a playoff appearance in that span and are below .500 overall. They currently have the second highest payroll in the NL, even after dealing Kosuke Fukudome’s big contract to the Indians, but they’re the second worst team in the league, at 55-70. With the team heading toward what could be a huge offseason that will shape the fortunes of the club for years to come, the decision to find a new GM will likely be a boon to the franchise. Though Ricketts gave Hendry the vote of confidence last week, he had actually informed Hendry that he would be relieved of his duties on July 22, but Hendry stayed on to facilitate a smooth transition after the trade and draft signing deadlines. Immediate control will turn over to Assistant GM Randy Bush, but the team will begin their search for a long-term replacement as soon as possible. Hendry’s tenure did provide some success for the Cubs, but in the end he hasn’t done enough to turn dollars into wins, especially recently. The Cubs will look for a more statistically oriented GM, according to Tribune Cubs writer Paul Sullivan. The decision for the Cubs to start catching up with the rest of baseball from an analytical standpoint could be the first step to ending their century-long Series drought.

It’s too early to speculate on the list of GM candidates, but odds are that they could look just south to White Sox Assistant GM Rick Hahn, a very well-respected executive among baseball circles who would be an excellent choice to fill the void. Kim Ng, a former Dodgers Assistant GM and current Senior VP for Baseball Operations for the Commissioner’s office, would be an incredibly interesting name as well, as she’d become the first female GM in the history of major American sports. She’s exceptionally qualified, and has been interviewed for several GM jobs in the past, so it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if she was asked to contend for the position. With several enticing GM candidates filling other smaller executive positions throughout baseball, the Cubs will have a number of possible choices. Cubs fans should feel better about handing any of these candidates the reins than they would have had Hendry retained his position. Especially with such a crucial offseason coming up, the decision to part ways amicably with Hendry and find a new direction could allow his replacement to shift the club’s fortunes somewhat quickly, despite having $65M committed to Soriano, Fukudome, Ryan Dempster, Marlon Byrd, and Carlos Marmol for next season.

This is my first article for Baseball Reflections and I’m very happy to be here.

What a great name for the site.

It got me thinking about my personal baseball reflections.

I’ve always thought memories are a lot like reflections, especially when it comes to baseball memories. Sometimes, but not often enough, the memory is like a reflection in a modern-high tech bathroom mirror. Crisp and clear enough to count your nose hairs.

Other memories are way out of whack. Like those distorted surreal images you see reflected in those old-school amusement park funhouse mirrors.

A lot of my baseball memories from my childhood fall into a third category. These are more like the cloudy, out-of-focus reflections you see when you look into one of those greasy metal mirrors you might find in a gas station men’s room mirror in a bad neighborhood.

It gets even trickier when the reflection is coming off a rearview mirror.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

There was the time I saw the great Enos Slaughter when he played for Yankees hit a ball so hard it splintered a seat in Comiskey Park’s left field bleachers.  Slaughter’s ninth inning home run broke a 1-1 tie and the White Sox lost a heartbreaker 2-1.  I’ve probably told variations of this story hundreds of times. Like any time I sit in the leftfield bleachers at any park.  Or any time a player hits a shot that gets out of the yard on the line and in a hurry, you can count on me to say something like, “Yeah, but me and my dad and uncle once saw Enos Slaughter hit a ball so hard…” I’ve even done that at Little League games; once when my own son drilled one out on the line and down the line that went over the fence 180 feet away and busted up some sunflowers.  My brother-in-law said something like, “Wow, he really hit the snot out of that one and I started the Enos Slaughter story. But did the Slaughter shot really splinter a seat or is this one of those gas station or funhouse mirror memories?

There’s also the story I tell every time I see a guy pitch a great game. This one is about the time me and my dad saw Billy Pierce of the White Sox shut out the Red Sox 4-0 and strike out Ted Williams four times. Again, I’ve told this story at games I’ve attended at all levels with the exception of tee-ball games where there wasn’t any pitching to get me started.  But did little Billy really strike out the great Williams four times on the same night? It seems hard to believe when I really think about it. But that’s the reflection I have burnt onto my brain.

Other memories and stories go beyond single moments and single games. Like the story I tell based on my belief that I personally started or at least was there at the beginning of the Chicago Cubs‘ epic 1969 collapse.  I tell the story of how I went to my first-ever Cub game not as a Cub fan but more to see for myself what the hell was going on. The Cubs had a commanding lead and the Mets were in town so I go to the game and Bill Hands pitches a nice game for the Cubs but nothing much else happens and the Cubs lose 1-0. The Mets go on to sweep the series then go on a tear, catch the Cubs and eventually finish eight games ahead of them and win the World Series.

As often as I’ve told these tales, no one has ever questioned their veracity. Maybe this is because I’ve polished them over the years but more likely because I think the best baseball stories can take on mythological proportions.  That is, if they could have happened and ring a bit true who cares if they aren’t 100 percent verifiable or accurate? I mean, does it really matter whether or not Babe Ruth actually called his shot in the 1932 Series at Wrigley Field?

But I’m a curious guy so I decided to put my reflections to the test.

I started by checking out my Cubs collapse story.  I found the season schedule and box score of the game I was looking for online courtesy of Baseball Almanac.  It was played July 14, 1969 and the score was as I remembered it, 1-0.  I was also right about nothing much happening; only one extra base hit. And Bill Hands did pitch a nice game: 8 2/3 innings allowing only 6 hits.

But I had a couple of things wrong. It was the Cubs that won, not the Mets. And even though the Cubs did drop the next two games, the schedule reveals that that series really wasn’t the beginning of the Cubs’ catastrophic collapse.

Actually, the Cubs extended their lead after July 14.  By August 16, they were 75-44, up by a season-high nine games over the Mets. By September 2, they were 84-52 but their lead over the Mets had fallen to five games. It was from there that the Mets went on a tear, going 23-7 to finish the season while the Cubs lost 17 of their last 25 games.

So how did this reflection get so distorted? I think it was guilt.

See if you were born Catholic in the South Side neighborhood when and where I was, you were baptized a White Sox fan. You were taught to hate the Yankees. But you were allowed to talk about the Yankees as in “Damn Yankees,” or “I hate the$*&^#% Yankees.”  But you were not allowed to discuss the Cubs. Better to talk about cannibalism at the dinner table or get caught telling fart jokes in church than get caught talking about the Cubs. I think the reasoning was that talking about the Cubs would be like acknowledging the Cubs were a Major League team when in fact the only Major League team in Chicago was the White Sox.

So that morning when my mom asked me what I had planned for the day and I told her I was going to check out the Cubs, she was beyond horrified.  It didn’t matter to her that I was a week away from my 21^st birthday, a few months away from an Army discharge, and had been to Vietnam and Hong Kong and all over the southern states.  To her knowledge, her little boy had never been to the “other side” of town.  (Not exactly true. I had made several clandestine trips to the Riverview – the notorious north side amusement park before it closed in 1967.) She wasn’t afraid for my life or anything but afraid of what the neighbors would think should any of them ever find out.  I also think me being 20 made my plan even more heartbreaking for her. I mean here I was after a lifetime of doing things that neighbors didn’t always approve of, now finally on the verge of respectability but about to disgrace the family yet again. But despite her whining and crying, I went to the game and I swear she looked sadder than the day I left for the Army.

I lived with the dark secret of my trip to the “friendly confines” for over a year. But I confessed to my friends the next time I visited Wrigley.  It was the following fall and we went to see the Bears play the Lions.  One of the guys I was with became suspicious because I seemed to know my way around the joint more than I should have.  Sometime during the 3^rd quarter, he smacked me in the back of the head and said, “You been here before, you piece of @#&%.” So I confessed; confessed that I had gone that Monday to put an end to the Cubs’ season.  I’d gone to lay a South Side curse on the Cubs and I’d succeeded. Then, over the years I apparently started to believe my own BS and once inter-league play began and it was okay to go to Wrigley to see the Sox beat the Cubs, I repeated and sharpened it.

But enough Cub talk. Still brings on a guilt trip.

What about the Enos Slaughter shot?  I found the box score of the game I’m talking about online. August 21, 1957. The Yankees did beat the Sox. Slaughter’s home run was the winning run. But he hit it in the 11^th inning, not the ninth.  Now I also remember that was my first extra-inning game. The box score also reminds me that “Tricky Dick” Donovan pitched all 11 innings for the Sox.  But the box score won’t tell me if Slaughter’s shot splintered a seat in the left field bleachers. So I investigate further and pull up some Enos Slaughter bio sites.  I mean if Slaughter really did splinter that seat, it must be mentioned somewhere.  I should also point out that all this research would not be necessary if I had access to the extensive records I kept of everything White Sox when I was a kid. However, my boxes and piles of score cards, news clippings, scrapbooks, and several vintage men’s adventure magazines were allegedly destroyed by a basement flood of biblical proportions that occurred sometime in 1968 while I was overseas. I say allegedly because when the flood waters receded apparently my folks were forced to tile the floor, put up that cheap fake wood paneling and install a suspended ceiling made of those asbestos panels  hung at  a toxically low level and put in a wet bar in the corner where I kept my Sox stuff. I also question the flood story because I was never told about it until I got home. When I asked my parents why they didn’t write me with the bad news, they said they felt I had enough to worry about over there and didn’t want to further traumatize me. This despite weekly letters often full of bad news like my dog developing diabetes, relatives with tumors, strokes, heart attacks, my dog going blind and even a murder and suicide involving a former coach.  But all that is another story.

Researching Slaughter, I find no mention of a seat-busting bash and, worse yet, discovered he was a left-handed hitter and his power seemed to be diminished in 1957. He would only hit five homers that year.  Not very likely he shattered a seat going to the opposite field and, besides, now I’m clearly remembering a right-handed hitter slamming that shot.  I go back to the box score. Hank Baur also homered in that game but in the 3^rd inning.  It had to be Baur.  So I go check some Baur bios looking for a line about seat busting and wondering how I could have gotten it so wrong.

I come across a photo of Baur and I know.  It was because I was a kid and the guy scared the crap out of me.  Baur was a bad ass, an ex-Marine hero. He had a permanently damaged nose. Tommy Lasorda described Baur like this, “This guy’s tough. He had a face that looked like it’d hold two days of rain.”

Tommy was being kind. Now I can remember that face staring at me as he rounded third base that night. I remember the nightmares.  My fuzzy reflection isn’t the product of declining mental capacity. I’ve merely been suppressing severe childhood trauma.

I move on to happier times. All this looking back is making my memories clearer.  Like I’ve just done a Windex job on my rearview mirror. I remember it was the next year, I saw Billy Pierce strike out Ted Williams four times.  I easily find the box score I’m looking for, June 17^th, 1958. White Sox 4, Boston 0. Just like I remember and there it is, Williams was 0-4.  The only thing that maybe bothers me a bit is Billy only struck out four that night. Is it possible all four Ks were Williams? I figure I could go rummage through the Chicago Tribune archives or something and find out for sure. I could also maybe find out if Baur really blew up that seat. But I won’t. Both things could have happened and that’s enough for me.

I think baseball historian Jim Beady put his finger on the way I feel about it when he was asked whether or not the Babe really called his shot in the 1932 Series.  Beady said:

“I’ll go to my grave not knowing for sure, but frankly not giving a damn. I am glad the legend exists, of that I am sure.”

I’m thankful for my legends, too, regardless of the quality of the reflection.

Baseball season has arrived and it’s time for fantasy baseball. But not the average, full-season, six-month type that seems to never end. I’m talking about a one-night showdown on Friday, May 13th. Yes, Friday the 13^th!

We have teamed up with DraftStreet.com to offer an exclusive free contest to BaseballReflections.com readers. The freeroll will have $100 in cash prizes, the top 4 get paid, and it is totally free to sign up. How can you not get in on this?

Pit yourself against me (Peter Schiller, owner, writer & lead editor of Baseball Reflections) and possibly other Baseball Reflections writers in this one day freeroll event! Players can be selected by more than one player in the freeroll so don’t worry about not being able to get the best players if you sign up later than most. I’m sure the kind people of DraftStreet will let you enter into the freeroll up until 7pm on Friday (the 2:20pm game between the Giants and Cubs in Chicago will NOT count in this freeroll)!

Here’s how you play:

Fill your roster (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, 2 U, 2 SP, RP, P) while staying within the budget of $100k. Player salaries are set by DraftStreet based on fantasy production. So, if you want to put Roy Halladay on the mound it might cost you $16k, which means you’ll have to find some bargains to fill out the rest of your squad.

Here is how the scoring is calculated:

You can sign up now for free! Just build a team (you can adjust your roster up until the games start), then check out the scoreboard when the games start and watch your team win you cash.

Registration for the competition on Friday (May 13^th) night starts now & you can sign up by following the link below…

Click Here to join in on the FUN!

Here are the tentative starters for Friday’s games…

Photo of the broken Maple bat that hit Colvin taken from the Yellon article linked below

The latest incident in MLB concerning the dangerous use of maple bats comes at the expense of rookie OF for the Cubs, Tyler Colvin. While on third base as a baserunner, Colvin headed towards the plate on contact when in his sprint towards home he was pierced in the upper chest by the broken off barrel of the batter’s bat. Here’s the You Tube footage of this incident…

According to what was reported by SN Nation writer Al Yellon in his article “Does Someone Have To Be Killed Before MLB Does Something About Shattered Bats?”, the sharpened end of the bat’s barrel pierced Colvin’s chest, just missing puncturing his heart by a few inches! That’s just too close for comfort. It took the death of 1B coach Mike Coolbaugh during a game on July 22, 2007 for MLB to mandate the wearing of batting helmets for all first and third base coaches. Coolbaugh was struck on the head by a batted ball while coaching 1B. The report stated that he was killed on impact per the Wikipedia page on Coolbaugh. As Yellon suggests in his article, do we need to wait for a death before MLB officials do anything about the dangers that go along with how maple bats are breaking?

Please go to Al Yellon’s article for more details. Yellon reminds the reader of other incidents that have occured inthat article. For a lighter look into this serious topic, please go back and read my 2008 (humorous) rant in the link provided.

2B Chase Utley photo by Icon SMI

The story in July was in every way a roller coaster for the Phillies.  The Phils entered July having already gone through a historically awful offensive slump in May and June, so when Chase Utley was injured on June 29 and it was announced on July 1st  that he would need surgery and would be out a couple months, fans had real reason to panic.

When July began, the Phillies were 41-35 and in third place in the division.  With Utley out of the lineup and after losing a series to the Reds, the Phillies travelled to Pittsburgh to play the hapless Pirates.  However, the Phillies once again couldn’t get their act together and lost three of four to the last place Bucs.  That was not exactly the momentum the Phils needed before a series at home against the Braves.  This was clearly the biggest series of the season at that point, since the Phillies were five games in back of the Braves.  But after winning the first game, the Phillies promptly dropped the next two.  That put them six games back of the Braves and just three games over .500.

The Phillies needed some magic desperately with one series left before the All-Star break, and they got just that in a series against the first place Reds.  Although they did not score many runs, the Phillies pulled off three walk-off wins to sweep the Reds heading into the all-star break.

Could that be the spark they needed to start yet another amazing second-half on their way to the playoffs?

The Chicago Cubs quickly brought the Phillies back to Earth.  They lost three of four games to the Cubs and lost the first three games against the Cardinals to bring them to just two games over .500.  With a 1-6 record on the road trip, the Phils were able to finish the trip on a positive note with a weird game against the Cards.  Cole Hamels and the bullpen combined to throw 11 innings of one-hit ball and Placido Polanco hit the game winning single in the eleventh.

That was the spark the Phillies needed as they returned home to sweep the Colorado Rockies en route to an eight game winning streak.

SP Roy Oswalt photo by Icon SMI

The streak couldn’t have come at a better time, because it put the Phils in position to be a true buyer at the deadline.  Ruben Amaro took advantage and pulled off another pretty decent trade for another ace pitcher, trading JA Happ and a couple picks to Houston for Roy Oswalt along with $11 million dollars.

All said, the Phillies went 15-13 in July.  Those aren’t the kind of numbers we expect from a Charlie Manuel team in July but it isn’t all that bad considering they started 2-5.  After huge up and down stretches, the Phils ironically started and finished 3.5 games back of the Braves.

Biggest streaks:

Winning streak: 8
Losing streak: 4

Here is a quick gauge of where they stood at certain points during the month:

7/1 – 3.5 games back in 3rd place
7/11 – 5.5 games back in 3rd place
7/21 – 4 games back in 3rd place
7/31 – 3.5 games back in 2nd place.

Kaleb and Delino photo published/authorized by Gatoraide

13-year MLB veteran (most recently of the Chicago Cubs) Delino DeShields helped surprise Kaleb Cowart of Abel, Georgia with the 2009-10 Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award. The Gatorade Player of the Year program is celebrating its 25^th year in recognizing elite high school athletes throughout the nation.

Delino surprised Kaleb with the news that he is this year’s winner while Kaleb was taking a baseball team photo at Cook High School. Delino himself earned both State Baseball Player of the Year honors and State Boys Basketball honors in 1986. (Picture of Delino surprising Kaleb with the award is attached – let me know if you would like additional shots and I can send over).

Kaleb: photo published/authorized by Gatoraide

Kaleb joins two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard (2003-04, Southwest Atlanta Christian, Atlanta) and 2010 NCAA Final Four MVP Maya Moore (2006-07, Collins Hill, Suwanee) as the only high school athletes from the state of Georgia to earn Gatorade National Player of the Year recognition in any sport.

In celebration of the larger 25^th anniversary, Gatorade will host 10 polls online that will allow consumers to decide who is the greatest all-time Gatorade Player of the Year in boys football, girls volleyball, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, boys baseball, girls softball, and boys and girls track & field.

You can cast your vote for your favorite athlete of all-time once per sport, per day at http://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.

Former notable Gatorade Players of the Year include:

•        Peyton Manning, Super Bowl Most Valuable Player

•        Lisa Leslie, WNBA all-time leading scorer and rebounder

•        Alan Webb, Reigning American record-holder in the mile

•        Emmitt Smith, NFL all-time leading rusher

•        Cat Osterman, Softball Olympic gold medalist

In addition, make sure to enter the Gatorade Player of the Year sweepstakes where you could win a trip to the 2010 Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year Awards ceremony and the ESPY Awards.

For more information about The Gatorade Player of the Year program and its 25^th anniversary celebration, please visit http://playeroftheyear.gatorade.com.