Playing in a ballpark known as a haven for hitters, Lance Berkman hit a couple of drives that would have cleared the wall in just about any stadium in the country. Berkman had his 29th career two-homer game, Jon Jay hit a three-run shot, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-6 on Thursday night to complete a three-game sweep.
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COOPERTSOWN, N.Y. ? Led by a member of the national pastime's most exclusive fraternity, almost two dozen Lehigh Valley IronPigs could be found roaming the corridors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum on Wednesday afternoon, awed by their historic surroundings.
Arriving via bus from their home in Allentown, Pa., members of the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies spent an off-day, on their way to a game in Pawtucket, R.I., gazing at exhibits, checking out the artifacts, and overall just enjoying the experience of visiting the game's most hallowed grounds. And at the forefront was the squad's skipper, Ryne Sandberg, whose bronze image the players made sure to find in the Plaque Gallery.
"This was a generous opportunity presented by the Philadelphia Phillies, who as an organization are going to bring one of their affiliates to Cooperstown each of the next five years," a casually dressed Sandberg said midway through his visit. "So we're the first team to do that, and for me to be their guide today, with a great bunch of guys that I already like, I just felt like they'd take right to this.
"Some have been here before and really enjoyed it, but for those who hadn't I thought it would be a treat that would last a lifetime. Not only will it affect them today but probably for the rest of their lives."
Sandberg, elected to the Hall of Fame in 2005, originally drafted by the Phillies and in his first season managing the IronPigs after having spent the previous four years as a skipper in the Chicago Cubs' minor league system, said he still enjoys every opportunity he gets to visit the Museum.
"It's still mind-boggling to me to think this game has been going on for so long," Sandberg said. "For me, I like to picture back to the person who was wearing a certain glove - what was their life like, what did they do on a daily basis, what kind of work did they do in the off-season, where did they live, what were the conditions? I put myself back in history that way the best I can, trying to picture myself back then. It's all about the history for me and going back in time."
A 10-time All-Star second baseman, Sandberg won nine Gold Glove Awards and seven Silver Slugger Awards during a 16-year big league career spent mainly with the Cubs. At the time of his retirement, his 277 home runs as a second baseman were a big league record.
"I've been doing this since I was 18 years old. When I signed my name to that first professional baseball contract I became a professional baseball player," Sandberg said. "To spend all those years in the game, I have an appreciation for what this game stands for. Going into the Hall of Fame in 2005 really was a time of reflection for me that year, thinking of all the people that helped me and all the trials and tribulations that I went through to have a career.
"And now I have a feeling of wanting to help younger players and any player get to the major leagues. I know the benefits from it, not only financial but just the experience of being part of a team and being part of history in this country."
Having walked amongst the fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and grandmothers and grandfathers who visited the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, Sandberg talked about the ability that the game of baseball has in connecting generations.
"It is a sport that you can enjoy with a simple game of catch," he said. "You can go to a baseball game and the game hasn't changed over the years. It's still the same dimensions on a baseball field. And just the fact that it's been a constant through so many years and generations.
"I think that people connecting with the game through generations has helped it become America's pastime."
Bill Francis is a library associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Source: http://baseballhall.org/news/museum-news/major-trip-minor-leaguers
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Source: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/blog_article/talking-ball-with-dick-williams/
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Last year before the 2010 season started I looked at how a couple different projection systems saw the season playing out. With this season just one day old, I wanted to do the same for the 2011 projections. Here I take a graphical look at the number of wins six systems project for every team and plot those out for each division separately. This gives a good picture of the range of predictions and how much consensus there is across systems.
I used five projection systems for which I could get win totals and the Vegas regular season over/under win totals. I grabbed the Marcel, Bill James and Cairo projections complied by the folks at RLYW who ran the player-level projections for those systems through the Diamond Mind Simulator to get win totals. I also used THT's Oliver and BPro's Pecota projections (as of March 30th). The Vegas lines are from Pinnacle Sports, so they are not really Vegas's numbers but the offshore ones (also as of March 30th).
All of the projections systems see a pretty clear ordering of the five AL east teams, with a slight disagreement in the cellar dweller Toronto (Marcel, Cairo, Bill James, Pecota) or Baltimore (THT, Vegas). I was surprised to see Baltimore come out on top of Toronto in so many projections. Although not a difference in ordering, THT is not nearly as fond of Tampa Bay as the other systems are. And interestingly Vegas has a lower win total for the Yankees than any other system, I always assumed that there would be a pro-Yankees bias among bettors.
All six projections see the AL Central as pretty clearly two-tiered — with Minnesota, Chicago and Detroit competing for the division title and then Cleveland and KC a solid ten wins behind. Though everyone likes Cleveland more than Kansas City. As in the AL East THT has some outlier values, projecting more extreme values for Detroit, Cleveland and Kansas City
The AL West is similarly two-tiered — with Texas and Oakland at the top, and Los Angeles and Seattle bringing up the rear. There is only one disagreement in the ordering with THT thinking Seattle is above Los Angeles. THT also likes the top two teams much more than the other systems do. Vegas is pretty high on LA, seeing them just a slight step behind the Texas and Oakland. If you have faith in the projection systems over the bettors and bookmakers an under on the Angels is a clear play.
There is a farily well agreed upon ordering in the NL East,.THT is again something of an outlier projecting New York and Florida as fairly even while everyone else clearly prefers Florida, and is the only system that likes Atlanta over Philadelphia to win the division. If you trust the projections systems over Vegas this division offers two opportunities: the under on Philly and the over on New York.
Sorry about the color choice here. Both St. Louis and Cincinnati deserve red, but their lines are very close so to keep things distinct. So I went with black for Cincinnati and red for St. Louis. This is another two-tiered division with four teams fairly close at the top (though Chicago is at the bottom of the top tier in most systems) and then two bottom dwellers. Like the AL Central this is projected to be a pretty competitive conference. Again THT is something of an outlier liking Cincinnati and St. Louis much more than the other systems.
Five of the six systems like San Francisco to repeat at NL West champions, with Marcel the lone dissenter picking Los Angeles. THT is again the most bullish about the favorite's win total, as it is the only system projecting more than 90 wins for San Francisco. Vegas likes Colorado by a fairly big margin compared to the projection systems, so there is another play if you are so inclined.
Source: http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2011/03/comparing_2011.php
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The Orioles activated right-hander Alfredo Simon from the 15-day disabled list Wednesday and designated left-handed reliever Clay Rapada for assignment.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6717153&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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Phil Hughes thinks his next start should be with the Yankees.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6716844&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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The Los Angeles Angels drafted Matt Scioscia, the son of manager Mike Scioscia, in the 45th round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft on Wednesday. The younger Scioscia, listed in the press release as a 6-2/220 catcher from Notre Dame, was the 1,365th pick overall.
Scioscia started six times and played in a total of 16 games in his senior season. He went 6-for-30 with no extra-base hits and no walks. It appears as if Scioscia did not play in the field as he had no putouts, assists, or errors. Over his four-year career at Notre Dame, Matt hit .267/.323/.335 in 88 games and 195 plate appearances.
The Angels also drafted Scioscia out of Crespi Carmelite HS (Encino, CA) in the 41st round in 2007, but he opted to attend college. His bio on the Fighting Irish website claims he "would have been drafted much higher if not for his strong commitment to Notre Dame." Perhaps. But it's important to note that he wasn't selected after his junior season last year and has only been taken by the Angels twice and no other team in three separate drafts.
The father expects his son to sign with the Angels today. "He's excited just for the fact to get out there and play professional baseball. He's going to work hard on the defensive side. He can swing the bat. He is definitely excited for the opportunity."
I wonder how many college players with just six hits all season were drafted this year?
Nonetheless, there's hope for Matt, Mike, and the Angels. After all, Mike Piazza was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft, apparently as a favor to his godfather, who was none other than manager Tommy Lasorda. Piazza was the National League Rookie of the Year five years later en route to becoming the best-hitting catcher of all time in a Hall of Fame career that produced a .308 AVG/.377 OBP/.545 SLG, including 2,127 hits, 427 home runs, and 1,335 RBI.
Source: http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2011/06/all_in_the_fami_1.php
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Scott Baker struck out nine while pitching neatly into the eighth inning and Ben Revere had two hits to help the Twins to a 1-0 victory over the Dodgers on Wednesday.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=310629109&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams defended his decision to sign Adam Dunn, despite the slugger's .173 batting average, seven home runs and 29 RBIs.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=6712181&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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Source: http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/031388.php
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Clayton Richard won for the first time in 12 home starts since August and the San Diego Padres beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 on Tuesday night for their third straight series win.
Source : Seattle Times
Explore : Baseball Players, Clayton Richard, Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres, Sports
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Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran hit grand slams in consecutive innings -- after the Mets had gone nearly two years without one -- and New York routed the Detroit Tigers 14-3 on Tuesday night to move back above .500. The Mets (40-39) have a winning record ...
Source : Lone Star Mets
Explore : Baseball Players, Carlos Beltran, Detroit Tigers, Jason Bay, Sports
Source: http://wik.io/info/US/274484951
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Source: http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/031386.php
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The Kansas City Royals plan to go with a six-man pitching rotation at least until the All-Star break.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6711090&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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*All results from games played on Monday, June 27th, 2011 Send all of your questions about the Mets farm system to AAProspectMailbag@gmail.com ! AAA - Buffalo Bisons (34-45) _______________________________________ NORFOLK 3, BUFFALO 4 ( Box ) A first inning drum roll of singles, a second inning error-bunt-single-sac grinder, and the Herd had enough to smallball them through the Norfolk Tides.
Source : Amazin' Avenue
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Source: http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/prospect-three-day-weekend8/
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Multiple clubs are showing interest in Dodgers right-hander Hiroki Kuroda, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The Rockies and Reds had scouts at his most recent start. The 36-year-old right-hander has a 3.10 ERA with 6.8 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in 101 2/3 innings for the Dodgers. His average fastball velocity (91.7 mph) and ground ball rate (44.6%) have dipped slightly so far in 2011. Kuroda...
Source : MLB Trade Rumors
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Source: http://wik.io/info/US/274249692
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Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomSports-TopStories/~3/DMnO7WUFThE/1
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Source: http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/031379.php
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Rookie right-hander Dillon Gee overcame an early case of the jitters and 94-degree heat to keep a potent Texas lineup relatively quiet and beat the team he followed as a kid. Gee pitched six effective innings and Jose Reyes had four hits and scored three runs to lead the New York Mets past the Rangers 8-5 on Sunday.
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Mariners starter Doug Fister again tossed eight innings of one-run ball Sunday night and it was enough to keep the Dustin Ackley Show running long enough for his team to notch a 2-1 win in bizarre fashion over the Florida Marlins.
Source : Seattle Times
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Source: http://wik.io/info/US/274066985
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The Los Angeles Angels drafted Matt Scioscia, the son of manager Mike Scioscia, in the 45th round of the 2011 First-Year Player Draft on Wednesday. The younger Scioscia, listed in the press release as a 6-2/220 catcher from Notre Dame, was the 1,365th pick overall.
Scioscia started six times and played in a total of 16 games in his senior season. He went 6-for-30 with no extra-base hits and no walks. It appears as if Scioscia did not play in the field as he had no putouts, assists, or errors. Over his four-year career at Notre Dame, Matt hit .267/.323/.335 in 88 games and 195 plate appearances.
The Angels also drafted Scioscia out of Crespi Carmelite HS (Encino, CA) in the 41st round in 2007, but he opted to attend college. His bio on the Fighting Irish website claims he "would have been drafted much higher if not for his strong commitment to Notre Dame." Perhaps. But it's important to note that he wasn't selected after his junior season last year and has only been taken by the Angels twice and no other team in three separate drafts.
The father expects his son to sign with the Angels today. "He's excited just for the fact to get out there and play professional baseball. He's going to work hard on the defensive side. He can swing the bat. He is definitely excited for the opportunity."
I wonder how many college players with just six hits all season were drafted this year?
Nonetheless, there's hope for Matt, Mike, and the Angels. After all, Mike Piazza was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft, apparently as a favor to his godfather, who was none other than manager Tommy Lasorda. Piazza was the National League Rookie of the Year five years later en route to becoming the best-hitting catcher of all time in a Hall of Fame career that produced a .308 AVG/.377 OBP/.545 SLG, including 2,127 hits, 427 home runs, and 1,335 RBI.
Source: http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2011/06/all_in_the_fami_1.php
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Ryan Braun extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a tiebreaking home run and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Minnesota Twins 6-2 Sunday.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=310626108&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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COOPERSTOWN, NY ? Ken Gallinger has visited the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum regularly for the past 20 years. But when the Ormstown, Quebec, resident entered the Museum at 3:48 p.m. on Friday, his annual trip to Cooperstown became a part of Hall of Fame history.
Gallinger became the Museum's 15 millionth visitor since the Museum first opened its doors on June 12, 1939, when he entered with his Museum Membership card in hand, just days before the Museum's 72nd birthday.
"I was a little worried when I first came in and saw the folks waiting for me," Gallinger said. "I thought maybe I left my headlights on or something. But ? Wow! ? this is really cool."
Gallinger was greeted by Hall of Fame officials, including President Jeff Idelson, who presented him with a Membership upgrade to the President's Circle level. As a President's Circle Member, Gallinger will receive two tickets to the premium seating area for the July 24 Hall of Fame Induction. The longtime Toronto Blue Jays fan will be able to watch former Jays star Roberto Alomar and former Toronto general manager Pat Gillick receive their Hall of Fame plaques along with Bert Blyleven, the third member of the Class of 2011 at the Hall of Fame.
"My favorite player was Dave Stieb, but I'll always remember my first trip to the Hall of Fame for another Canadian team, the Montreal Expos," Gallinger said. "My first trip to the Museum was (July 28, 1991) ? the day Dennis Martinez of the Expos threw a perfect game. Obviously, you never forget something like that."
Gallinger visited the Museum on Friday with friends Marc Brindle of Mercier, Quebec; Nick Ross of Ormstown and Robert Mahon of Long Sault, Ontario ? which is located just over the Canadian border from New York State near Cornwall, Ontario. Gallinger is a native of Long Sault.
Dressed in a Jays pullover and fresh off a round of golf in Cooperstown, Gallinger was already making plans for his return trip to Cooperstown.
"We used to come to the Hall of Fame every year on Opening Day, but now we come a little later so we can play golf too," Gallinger said. "This is the best Museum in the world."
Gallinger is the first visitor from Canada to become a "millionth" visitor to the Hall of Fame. The complete list of millionth visitors includes:
MILLIONTH VISITORS
MILLIONTH DATE NAME HOME
one...............06/29/56.....John H. Morrissey.............. Bronxville, NY
two...............06/15/63.....Robert Wilson.................... Schenectady, NY
three............06/28/69......Arthur Greenwood............. Chelmsford, MA
four..............08/20/73.....Robert Buraczewski........... Dickson City, PA
five..............10/21/77......Elaine Parachini................. Silver Spring, MD
six...............09/18/82......Ann Hall............................ Wallingford, CT
seven..........07/08/87......John Rourke....................... Gloversville, NY
eight............06/22/90......Alan Agins......................... Westerly, RI
nine............10/09/92.......Dave Halsey, II.................. Mattydale, NY
ten..............08/09/95.......Brett Hornby...................... Glen Ridge, NJ
eleven........10/05/98.......James Mitchell................... Ellenwood, GA
twelve........08/14/01.......Bobby Duley...................... Cape Elizabeth, MA
thirteen......08/17/04.......Gail Millar.......................... Silver Spring, MD
fourteen....08/17/07........Lauren Kohout................... Gloucester Township, NJ
fifteen.......05/13/11.........Ken Gallinger..................... Ormstown, Quebec, Canada
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is open seven days a week year round, with the exception of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. The Museum observes regular hours of 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. from Labor Day until Memorial Day Weekend. From Memorial Day through the day before Labor Day, the Museum is open from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. seven days a week. Ticket prices are $19.50 for adults (13 and over), $12 for seniors (65 and over) and for those holding current memberships in the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and AMVets organizations, and $7 for juniors (ages 7-12). Members are always admitted free of charge and there is no charge for children 6 years of age or younger. For more information, visit our Web site at baseballhall.org or call 888-HALL-OF-FAME (888-425-5633) or 607-547-7200.
Source: http://baseballhall.org/news/museum-news/hall-fame-welcomes-15-millionth-visitor
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A couple weeks ago Mike Fast posted two graphs showing the average plate location of each pitcher from 2007-2010 to LHBs and RHBs. I thought it was a very cool idea as it offers some insights into how pitchers attack the zone differently. It is particularly interesting to see the outlier pitchers: Derek Lowe has the lowest (ha) pitches, and Livan Hernandez pitches the farthest away to both left-handed and right-handed batters. And without being presented the data I would never have guessed that Ervin Santana throws the farthest inside to left-handed batters of any pitcher. With most pitchers throwing extremely away to lefties I wanted to see what was going on with Santana.
*As a quick side note, I think that these are the raw values straight from gameday and not Mike's corrected values (Mike can correct me if I am wrong). But recently both Mike and Max Marchi described park correction systems to the plate locations they developed. Though take slightly different approaches they seem to get similar results, which is reassuring. Also they both come to the conclusion that for most parks on most days the data are probably off by less than an inch or two, also reassuring. But still I think the correction process is an important one, and I hope to give it some thought soon.*
Turning back to Santana, although he occasionally throws a change up he is largely a two-pitch pitcher throwing his fastball 59% of the time and his slider 36% of the time (he stopped throwing a curve in 2007) . This is the case even to left-hand batters, to whom he still throws his change up under 10% of the time and throws his slider over 30% of the time. For a right-handed starter is this is a very high percentage, maybe one of the highest in the league, for slider use to left-handed batters.
I think this is a big part of the reason he throws so far inside to left-handed batters. Sliders have glove-side movement compared to fastballs, so from right-handed pitchers they move away to right-hand batters and in to left-handed batters. Thus from a right-handed pitcher they often end up inside to left-handed batters. Since Santana throws more sliders to left-handed batters than the almost any right-handed pitcher he will tend to throw more inside pitches. And his sliders are even more inside than the average right-handed pitcher's:
So Santana is throwing sliders to left-handed batters much more than other right-handed batters do and throwing them even farther inside than others do. Most right-handed pitchers throw fastballs and change ups to left-handed batters and when they do they throw them outside. Santana throws his share of fastballs to left-handed batters, but when he does he throws them slightly more inside than average:
When you add up all these parts — fastball not as extremely outside as other RHPs, lots of inside sliders rather than outside change ups — you get Santana's extreme inside pitches to left-handed batters. But does it work? What are Santana's numbers against LHBs like?
Santana has averaged a 4.7 FIP against lefties versus a 3.94 FIP against righties — a pretty reasonable platoon split and generally an okay performance against lefties. Also his slider is better against lefties than his change is, getting more whiffs (17% versus 10%), more out-of-zone swings (35% versus 24%), fewer in-zone swings (53% versus 72%), and a lower slugging on balls in play (.583 versus .626). So given what he has to work with it looks like Santana is right to go with his inside slider against LHBs so much over his change. And as a result of this he is the only pitcher whose pitches on average end up on the inside half of the plate to left-handed batters.
Source: http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2011/03/ervin_santanas.php
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Source: http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/031382.php
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Albert Pujols is hurt - it's just a matter of degree. And even though the Cardinals are off today, it might be the most significant day of the season so far.
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When it comes to hitting, it's been night and day for Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton this season -- and the reigning American League MVP has a theory as to why: blue eyes.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=6696741&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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What did Anne Hathaway have to say about the legacy of Catwoman? Which Doctor Who star dressed up as Batman this week in Hollywood? What superhero is a former Congressman using to attack his political rivals? Marvel is bringing two stars to San Diego Comic Con this year, who are they? And is Ghost Rider really becoming a girl? Read about that all and more in today's Superhero Bits. Anne Hathaway,...
Source : /Film
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Fox Sports will reportedly not stand by Frank McCourt if he tries to get a bankruptcy court to approve a TV deal that MLB rejected.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/news/story?id=6696069&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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The St. Louis Cardinals were already injury-plagued in 2011. This is turning into a 100-year flood.
Albert Pujols, the face of the franchise, is out for four to six weeks with a broken forearm, a break just above the wrist. They're fortunate it wasn't in the small bones of the wrist, because that injury would have been a season-ender.
...Source: http://baseball.about.com/b/2011/06/21/albert-pujols-out-until-august-how-to-replace-him.htm
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A federal judge on Thursday gave prosecutors more time to decide whether home run record-holder Barry Bonds should face another perjury trial.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6696893&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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Watch a video about the Buck O'Neil Award
View a transcript of the conference call with Roland Hemond
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. ? Roland Hemond has lived his life by the slogan enjoy the moment. He did that Tuesday after the announcement that he is the 2011 winner of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award.
"I did enjoy the moment today and will relish it for the rest of my life," he said. "I am overwhelmed by what has happened today. When I was told by Jane Forbes Clark that I had won the Buck O'Neil Award it left me speechless and very emotional."
Hemond revolutionized front-office management and strategy during a seven-decade career in baseball, while spending his post-general manager days assisting baseball family members in need. He will receive the Award on July 23 as part of Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown.
"Roland Hemond has touched the lives of so many throughout the baseball family in his 60-year career, always exemplifying the traits that made Buck O'Neil such a revered figure in our sport's history," said Jane Forbes Clark, Chairman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an individual for extraordinary efforts to enhance baseball's positive impact on society. It is presented by the Board of the Directors of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum at its discretion, though not more frequently than every three years.
"When you read a description of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award - character, integrity, dignity, extraordinary efforts and positive impact - you truly are reading a description of Roland Hemond," said Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the White Sox and a member of the Hall of Fame's board. "No one in baseball is more deserving of this honor, so it is very appropriate that Roland follows Buck as the second recipient."
The Award was established in 2007 to honor an individual whose efforts broadened the game's appeal and whose character, integrity and dignity is comparable to the late O'Neil, who passed away in 2006 after eight decades of contributions to the game. O'Neil was honored as the first recipient of the Award in 2008.
"I got to know him quite well before his passing," said Hemond. "I was touched by his personality and generous love for people. He was supportive of youth and our game in every way possible and it was his humility that stood out. I revered the opportunity to get to know him. Buck personified being charitable and kind."
Hemond first rose to prominence in the late 1950s as the assistant scouting director for the Milwaukee Braves. Hemond helped assemble a Braves team that won National League pennants in 1957 and 1958, along with the 1957 World Series, while the Braves won at least 83 games per season from 1953 through 1966. He would become a three-time Executive of the Year recipient and helped to build winning franchises in Chicago, Baltimore and Arizona.
Hemond became the scouting director for the Los Angeles Angels in their debut season of 1961, remaining with the franchise until 1970, when he became the Chicago White Sox's general manager. With the Sox, Hemond orchestrated a 31-game improvement over the course of the 1970-72 seasons, winning the Sporting News MLB Executive of the Year award in 1972. Hemond remained the White Sox's general manager through the 1985 season, assembling the team ? led by manager Tony LaRussa ? that won the 1983 American League West title. Hemond won his second Executive of the Year honor in 1983.
Hemond took over as the Baltimore Orioles' general manager in 1988, this time producing a 33-game improvement in just one season. After the 1989 campaign, when the Orioles won 87 games and came within two games of a playoff berth, Hemond was again named the Sporting News MLB Executive of the Year. His work in the Orioles' front office laid the groundwork for the 1996-97 Baltimore teams that advanced to the American League Championship Series.
Hemond served as the Senior Executive Vice President for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1996-2000, guiding the franchise through its debut season of 1998. Hemond worked as an executive advisor for the White Sox from 2001-07 before returning to the Diamondbacks as a special assistant to the president in 2007, where he continues to serve Diamondbacks leadership.
"From his achievements over 23 years as a general manager, his impact on the game through programs like the Major League Baseball employee pension plan and forward-thinking ideas like the creation of the Arizona Fall League, Roland has left a lasting impression on the game," Reinsdorf continued. "But the award is about even more than lasting accomplishments. It also recognizes and honors the attitude, optimism and positive approach Roland brought to the ballpark each and every day and the wonderful friendships he has maintained within the game and with literally thousands of baseball fans over the years."
Hemond also serves as the president of the Association of Professional Baseball Players of America, which provides financial assistance and college scholarships to current and former players, scouts and others connected with pro baseball. Hemond also helped found the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, designed to provide assistance to longtime scouts who are in need of special support.
Hemond was named "King of Baseball" in 2001 by Minor League Baseball and also has baseball awards named in his honor by three organizations, recognizing his service to the game: the Chicago White Sox, "Baseball America" and the Society of American Baseball Research.
"I do believe Buck O'Neil was more satisfied helping others succeed," said Hemond. "I'm happy that during my years I've helped some people along the way. How fortunate I've been in my lifetime to be in this great game."
Samantha Carr is the manager of web and digital media for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Source: http://baseballhall.org/news/museum-news/continuing-buck%27s-legacy
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Phillies right-hander Roy Oswalt left his start against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday night after two innings because of tightness in his lower back.Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6698561&campaign=rss&source=MLBHeadlines
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During this weekend's Boston-Minnesota series there was another Joe West kerfuffle and the play-by-play guys brought up Joe West's history with Boston. They mentioned West's comments last year that he did not like the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankee style of play, particularly those teams' long games. Setting aside one's own opinion game length and how appropriate it is for an umpire to criticize particular teams, I am sure that umpires — like everyone else — notice when games drag on. But unlike everyone else they are in a unique position to do something about it. So based on West's comments I wondered whether umpires expand the strike zone during long games to speed things along.
To look at this I used the, conveniently time-stamped, pitchf/x data. I collected all pitches made in the sixth through eighth innings and the looked at how long into the game each was made. For example, the average pitch in the sixth inning was made 1 hour and 48 minutes after the start of the game. Then I formed two subsets of these pitches, those in the top 5% of length for their half inning, and those in the bottom 5% of length for their half inning. For example the 'long' group included pitches from the bottom of the eighth inning that were thrown 3 hours and 14 minutes or more after the game started. Pitches from the bottom of the eighth inning were included in the 'short' group if they were thrown before 2 hours and 1 minute since the game started. And similarly for other half innings. The top and bottom of the inning were done separately so that pitches from the top of innings didn't over represent in the 'short' group and bottom of the inning pitches in the 'long' group.
So these pitches come from situations where the game has already gone on for a very long or short time when they were thrown. Now we are interested in how the strike zone was called on these two groups. Unfortunately there might already be a sampling bias in the data. 'Long' games might have umps with smaller strike zones, that being why the game has gone on so long. So a more clever WOWY approach would be preferential, but I couldn't come up with one.
With that limitation in mind let's see how the strike zones of the two groups compared. To first see how the top and bottom of the zone were called I considered taken pitches that were clearly in the zone horizontally ( -0.5 > px < 0.5), and looked at their called strike rate by normalized pitch height.
Effectively no difference. The top and bottom of the zone were called at close to the same spot for both samples of pitches (and very close to sz_bot and sz_top, showing that the stringers do a pretty good job with these values).
Turning to the horizontal zone I similarly looked at pitches that were clearly in the zone vertically (pz in the middle half of the interval between sz_top and
Again there is almost no difference. And if anything there is a very slight difference on the right edge of the zone (from the umpire's perspective), with the 'long' zone slightly smaller. The opposite effect if the umpire was trying speed the game up. Although the difference is tiny.
So overall, at least by this methodology, there is no difference in how the zone is called in long versus short games. If the umpires are annoyed by having to call a game going into its third hour in the seventh inning they don't seem to let it affect their strike zone. Score one for the boys in blue.
Source: http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2011/05/does_the_ump_ca.php
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