Pinch ran for Willie McCovey in his big league debut.
Hit a grand slam in his next game. Fifteen years later he hit 35 homers in his final season and never played in the majors again.
That stood as the record for homers in a last season until David Ortiz hit 38 in 2016.
In between came 442 home runs, the 1979 NL home run title with the Cubs, a three homer game in a 23 to 22 loss to the Phillies, and a 1977 summer spent with the Mets, Padres, Angels and Yankees.
That's one team in each of the four divisions baseball had at the time.
One team in each of the four divisions, can you name him?
Joe Girardi pinch hit for Alex Rodriguez in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS.
The 40 year old he sent up tied the game with a home run, then ended it with another one in the 12th. That hitter had been a 36th round pick in 1992 and didn't play every day until he was 30. He made his first All Star team at 37.
A year after that ALDS night he went back to Seattle and hit 29 homers at 41, matching the mark Ted Williams set for players that old. He retired with 305.
Can you name him before the 305?
Just dropped my tickets to the TTU game.
Honestly, when you’ve seen your school play in historic, 100k seat venues like DKR or Kyle, theres no allure in visiting a mid-tier Big 12 atmosphere. And when we win, its not like we get to dunk on a big SEC level fanbase. Its just Tech.
Pitchers talk about catching Molina in almost superstitious terms.
His case runs on nine Gold Gloves and nineteen years in one uniform, and on a defensive reputation that never really needed a number attached to it to be believed.
The power gap on this card is enormous. The on-base gap is not, and that surprises people who only remember the home runs.
Perez broke Bench's single-season home run record for a catcher in 2021, passing 45 in September and finishing with 48.
It is the most surprising line on either side of the card, because he has never been a patient hitter and the walk totals say so plainly. Power like that from a catcher usually comes with a hitter who works counts.
He also has a World Series MVP from 2015 that I could not fit anywhere on the graphic. Molina stays first for me on the whole body of work, narrowly.
Joe Morgan is listed at five foot seven.
He won back to back Most Valuable Player awards in 1975 and 1976 on a team stacked with bigger names, and he drew more than 100 walks in eight seasons, which is the part that gets lost. Small hitters are supposed to slap singles. He did not.
In the B row, Joe Sewell was five foot six and struck out 114 times in a 14 season career. Hack Wilson, the same height, drove in 191 runs in 1930.
Happy 76th Birthday to former Blue Jays right-hander Doyle Alexander!
His 1984 and 1985 seasons with Jays:
1984 - 17-6, 3.13 ERA, 261 2/3 innings, 11 CGs
1985 - 17-10, 3.45 ERA, 260 2/3 innings, 6 CGs
He also tossed a CG in their first division-clinching game on Oct. 5, 1985.
A truck carrying an estimated 40,000 pounds of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer was stolen in Montclair in what may be the biggest beer heist ever. The stolen truck was loaded with what is equivalent to more than 50,000 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon. https://t.co/sWE5lfi1Y0
Dr. Tobi Owotomo is no longer with the Thunder, per her LinkedIn account. She was previously the Thunder Physical Therapist/Athletic Trainer for the last 2 seasons