Snapshots: 2015 05 23 Cooperstown Classic

Couple of Pictures from the Cooperstown Classic which was played just down the street from the Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday May 23rd 2015.

Team Knucksie: Yount, Fingers, Niekro, Baldelli, Trammell, A Soriano, Pudge, B Molina

The teams were broken down loosely into AL and NL squads although the AL Captain was Braves Rep Phil Niekro.

For the Alan Trammell supporters here we have a pix of the Tigers Shortstop at the Hall of Fame.

The Wizards: Smith, Glavine, Steve Woodard, Jack Wilson, E Taubansee, Kerry Robinson, Mark Loretta, John Franco, David Delucci, Ron Cey, Vinny Castilla, Bobby Abreu - Tony Perez Foreground, Baldelli and Trammell background

Apologies to Night Owl, but Ron Cey is shielded here. The Phillies had at least six alums in the game including Abreu, David Delucci and Perez.

Roy Oswalt vs Rick Ankiel

As you can see it was a Beautiful day for a game. Short time Phillies Pitcher Roy Oswalt represented the Astros.

Jim Eisenreich & Bobby Abreu

A pair of Phillies Outfielders at First Base.

Ozzie Smith and Rick Ankiel

 NL Captain Ozzie Smith taking care of some third base coaching duties

Jeff Idelson with Phil Niekro 

HoF Prez Jeff Idelson and Phil Niekro likely discussing Pete Rose's reinstatement prospects

Vinny Castilla 

Prior to the game there was a Home Run contest which was won by Colorado Rockies Thirdbaseman Vinny Castilla

Aaron Rowand

The Bob Feller award for Game MVP was given to Aaron Rowand who Homered off Steve Avery. For the HOF game Rowand who played a couple of seasons with the Phillies Represented the Chicago White Sox. 

Bob Dernier

Good Guy Award goes to Bob Dernier, although it may not be just because he is fan friendly. Bobby D was the RF ball boy and happened to be next to the stands and signed dozen of autographs between innings.

Quick Notes
--I have never seen a steal of Home in a real Game but saw one at the Classic, Brady Anderson the back end of a double steal.
--Saw two players lose bats into the stands (Ankiel, Homer Bush). That probably should not happen in an exhibition game of this type.
--I am pretty sure Brian Holman's career ended due to injury and I can see why. It took everything the man had to push the ball 60 ft 6 inches.
--Greg Cadaret who I am not at all familiar with was awful. In a game where the only job for a pitcher is to get the ball over the plate and every pitch is a strike Cadaret could not throw one.
--The Baseball Hall of Fame Jersey is Ugly (see Robin Yount in Pix 1 or Ozzie in pix 2 above)
--
Sources and Links
Baseball Hall of Fame
Baseball-ref

2010 Topps Heritage First Pack

My first 2010 Heritage pack was a Retail Pack from Wal-Mart, where the packs go for $3.16 including PA Sales Tax. The pack proved to be a bit insert heavy.

2010 Topps Heritage

#22 Ross Ohlendorf
#295 Rick Ankiel #251 Jarrod Washburn

Nice first couple of cards. Hats off to Ohlendorf for being the First Heritage card of 2010. Wonder if he has ever been first at anything else before. Ankiel is now with the Royals - not sure if he kept the -stache. Washburn remains a free agent, but still gets a Heritage card from the 2 months he spent with the Tigers in 2009.


#114 Buster Posey
#105 Tim Hudson
#180 Robinson Cano (b-side)

I like the second half of the pack much better. Three pretty decent young players. I chose Cano for the B-Side Rep basically because he is a stinkin Yankee. Buster Posey only needs a rookie cup to have three different rookie designations thrown on his card.


#BF1 Baseball Flashbacks Roger Maris
#61RM-13 Maris Chase '61 13th Homer
#TN7 Then and Now White Ford, Justin Verlander

I like the Baseball Flashback card. Nice action shot of a player that has basically been denied his place in history twice.

Can somebody explain the Maris Chase cards going for bonkers bucks on ebay?? several #13 cards that appear similar to this one have gone for $7 plus shipping. According to the packs they fall one every four packs. They cannot be that uncommon.

I am pretty sure the Then and Now came out of a different pack. If someone can explain to me why Mr Verlander has been married to Mr Ford on this card, It would be appreciated. According to the leader board on the flip side of the card Ford finished 3rd in the league in Ks while Vernlander led the league - no symmetry there. It's not like the Tigers didn't exist in 1961. How about Jim Bunning he was a Tiger and was among the strikeout leaders in 61.



#BF1 Baseball Flashbacks Roger Maris
#61RM-13 Maris Chase '61 13th Homer

The B-sides of the two Maris cards for anybody that's interested.

Not a bad start to the year. I have already decided I am collecting only the Phils, plus one player from each other team from the base set. Undecided on the inserts.

Steve Blass Disease

1972 Topps # 320 Steve Blass

This very well may be the highpoint of the Pirates season (perhaps the decade)

Steve Blass was in the news recently for knocking in not one but TWO HOLES-IN-ONE during a Pittsburgh Pirates Alumni Golf outing. Golf Digest estimated the odds of accomplishing the feat as something similar to hitting the Powerball Lottery.

Blass pitched a short time before I really was conscience of baseball, but from what I understand he was pretty impressive for a few years including winning game 7 of the 1971 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. Blass Outdueled Orioles starter Mike Cuellar for a complete game 2-1 victory. A replay was featured on MLB or ESPN Classic a few months ago - it was quite riveting.

But this all changed in 1973. Steve Blass literally Contracted/Developed/Discovered Steve Blass Disease.

Wikipedia refers to the condition as follows:

"The diagnosis is applied to talented players who inexplicably and permanently seem to lose their ability to accurately throw a baseball"

I am curious as to why this and similar conditions are particular to baseball. We have seen it happen several times recently and notably to Rick Ankiel during the 2000 NL playoffs. Fortunately for Ankiel, he is athletic and talented enough to be able to stay involved in baseball as an outfielder. There have been several other examples - I believe it ended one time Phil Kevin Saucier's career. Mark Wohlers career may have also been derailed by a condition similar to Blass's - Macky Sasser as a catcher for the Mets developed a condition where he could not make the return throw back to the catcher. Chuck Knoblach as a second basemen for the Yankees was unable to consistently make a throw to first base and once famously hit Keith Oblermann's recently passed mother in the stands.

Why does this happen in baseball but not other sports. Maybe there are examples from other sports, but I can't think of them. Or is it just that if it happens in another sport the athlete is simply deemed as ineffective or aging and there career ends?

I was trying to come up with the equivalents for other sports:

- Has a 90%+ foul shooter ever suddenly just lost his ability to get the ball near the basket?

- How about a golf equivalent - I remember seeing John Daly being unable to putt but that was a withdrawal scenario.

- I am not sure that Football and Hockey really have any situations that would lend themselves to examination - perhaps pass catching.

- Perhaps Tennis - Has there been a case of a good player all of sudden having a complete inablity to get a serve in?

Regardless of all this Steve Blass had a pretty decent career and was on the winning side of a World Series thats nothing to complain about, and neither is a pair of Holes in One.