The Tom Kelly Rule:
You don’t know what you have with a young hitter until he has 1000 PA at the MLB-level.
The Smiley Corollary:
A replacement player is a replacement player until proven otherwise, see the Tom Kelly Rule.
Why am I just seeing this now? This might be the greatest MLB X account interaction. A lot of screenshots but definitely worth your time. Follow along in the thread below because this might be the best thing you’ll see on here all week.
I wonder if these two are married or still together.
"It was late in 1968, and Mick was going for his 535th home run to pass Jimmie Foxx on the all-time list.
We were in Detroit at Tiger Stadium, and Denny McLain was pitching.
Denny was the last guy to win 31 games and he was just lights-out that year.
Detroit was really beating us -- it was 6-1, I think, in the 8th inning -- and Mickey was going up to bat.
I hit behind him, so I was watching from the on-deck circle.
Anyway Denny calls the catcher Jim Price out to the mound, and tells him to go tell Mickey he's going to lay one in there for him.
So Mickey says to Jim when he gets back to the plate:
"Hey, what'd he say?"
And Price says Denny's going to lay one in, and Mickey must not have believed him because he took the first pitch right down the middle.
Denny threw up his hands and hollered at him.
The next pitch, Mickey fouls back.
Then Mick yells to McLain:
"How about a little farther outside?"
And the next pitch, Mickey put it over the roof, home run, No. 535.
McLain comes over to home plate and shakes his hand, and Mickey says thank you.
And I hear all this going on.
So McLain goes back to the mound and I come up to bat.
I say:
"Hey, are you still in a good mood?
How about a fastball down the middle?"
Denny shakes his head.
I say, "OK, a curveball?"
Denny shakes his head again.
No.
Denny threw right at my head, layed me right down.
I get up and he's laughing, and when I turn to look at the dugout Mickey Mantle is on the front step, laughing his butt off right along with him."
Joe Pepitone.
Pepitone and Mantle.
A pop fly behind home plate, and Austin Martin tags up on it, realizing nobody is covering third.
Heads up and hustle at its finest. Austin is becoming a really good player.
(https://t.co/oajouIkl7P)
A buddy of mine snapped this picture while I was watching my son play baseball last night. Honestly, it probably captures something I didn’t even realize in the moment.
Like many parents, I sometimes get wrapped up in these games. I think part of it comes from knowing these moments won’t last forever.
Deep down, we know we’re living through moments we’ll someday miss more than we can explain.
These games become more than wins and losses. They become memories.
And while I know there’s still plenty of baseball left, I also know there will come a day when I’d give just about anything to sit in a folding chair one more time and watch my kids play ball again.