Baseball
April 3rd, 1989 - In his very first Major League at-bat Ken Griffey Jr. hits a rocket double to left centerfield off Oakland A’s pitcher Dave ‘Smoke’ Stewart. Junior went 1-3 with a walk in the 3-2 Mariners loss.
Did you know Gary Carter hit a home run on four straight Opening Days? ‘The Kid’ did this between 1977-1980 when he was a member of the Montreal Expos.
March 31st, 1998 - In the sixth inning of the Inaugural game of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Wade Boggs hit the 1st home run in team history. Way to Go Wade!!
Happy Birthday Ivan Calderon! ‘Ivan The Terrible’ had his lone All-Star appearance in 1991 as a member of the Expos. Here he is climbing the fence in Tiger stadium to rob Allan Trammel of a home run. Calderon was shot and murdered in his native Puerto Rico in 2003. RIP
In July of 1987, 40 year old relief pitcher Kent Tekulve made his 900th mound appearance, becoming just the 5th pitcher to do so. ‘Teke’ would go on to appear in 1,050 games before his career was over in 1989. He holds the records for game appearances and innings pitched without ever having been given the nod as the starter.
Happy Birthday to everybody’s favorite Punk Rock Pitcher Scott Radinsky
Punk Rock Pitcher by Gary Waleik
Center Fielder Cesar Geronimo was an integral part of the 1970’s Cincinnati Reds ‘Big Red Machine.’ The defensive wizard won four straight gold gloves from 1974-1977.
Cesar is featured here for another reason than his swift glove. He owns the Doobieous Distinction of being the 3,000th strike out victim of not one, but two Hall of Fame Pitchers.
Can anyone name them
Wishing a 69th Birthday to Mr. Fred Lynn! During his 9th All-Star Appearance, the Angels Centerfielder became the 1st All-Star to hit a Grand Slam during the Mid-Summer Classic! It happened back on July 6th, 1983 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Fred’s Grand Salami gave the American League a 9-1 lead in just the 3rd Inning. They went on to win 13-3. It was the American League’s first All Star Victory in 12 years.
For a Free Issue of Blaze. Who can tell us the NL Pitcher who gave up an All-Star Record 6 hits & 7 runs in less than an inning’s work that night? For a Bonus Point. Which Pitcher took the Loss?
On May 12th, 1970 Ernie slugged the 500th home run of his career during an 11 inning 4-3 Cubs victory at Wrigley. Can any of you Dudes tell us the Atlanta Pitcher & future corrupt Georgia Sheriff who served up that fateful blast?
⚾Defunct Statistical category⚾ --The Game Winning RBI. Only existed from 1980-1988. Given to the player who drove in the run that put a team into the lead for good. No matter if it was a bloop single in the 3rd that drove in the 1st run of a 5-0 win or a bottom of the 9th walk off HR. (17) Keith Hernandez is the all time leader with 129 of these, including a record 24 in 1985.
Keith actually picked up a game winning RBI on June 14th, 1987. Be sure to check out #amazingblazezinenumber 5 for the rest of the story.
Can anybody out there name this pair of All-Star Baseball Bros. who were the first siblings to face off against one another in the Mid-Summer Classic? Find your answer in Blaze # 12
Over his 24 seasons Phil started 716 career games. That’s good for 5th All-Time in MLB History. What’s crazy is that he didn’t start his 2nd game until he was already 28 years old! He’s also the last pitcher to Both Win & Lose 20 games or more in the same season. He went 21-20 in 1979 for the last place Atlanta Braves.
In 1979, Seattle Mariners Shortstop Mario Mendoza reached career highs in plate appearances, hits & rbi’s. He hit safely in 74 of 373 plate appearances to finish with a .198 batting average for the season ,making him only the fourth major leaguer to play as many as 148 games in a season and fail to break .200. The Mexican League Hall of Famer earned the nickname ‘Manos de Seda’ or Silk Hands for his Defensive Abilities at Shortstop. Have a good weekend Dudes!
Just a reminder dudes Issue #1 of our 3 part zine series dedicated to the Negro Leagues is still available in the shop! Just $12 and 25% of sales on the site go towards benefiting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
Padres era Jack McKeon was the best! Looking just like my Uncle Stan (RIP) ‘Trader Jack’ was actually the General Manager and architect of the Padres club who would reach the World Series in 1984, before he took over the Manager position in 1988. Jack only lasted until the All-Star Break of the 1990 season before he pulled himself out. He lost the General Manager position just two months later.
