Baseball Things You Didn't Know Until 2020 (or, at least, I didn't)

[Edgy MD]

Ervin Santana's actual first name is Johan. He just pulled "Ervin" out of his ass to avoid being confused with some other guy.

[Frayed Knot]

I actually did know that.

Seems like a wild coincidence that two Hispanic pitchers would both carry the decidedly non-Spanish name of Johan but, as the Ivans and Vladimirs of the league could tell you, it is at

least in part of nod to various Russian and other eastern European communists who were active in Caribbean countries, as are the 'Y' names which are particularly common in Cuba.

[vtmet7]

The Alou family is really the Rojas family...I knew that the Rojas family was related, I just didn't know that Alou isn't the proper last name of the Alou family, it's the mother's (grandmother's for some) maiden name...immigration apparently screwed up when the Alou brothers first came to America...



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alou_familyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alou_family

The Rojas family, more commonly known in English-speaking America by their matronym, Alou, is a prominent Major League Baseball family from the Dominican Republic. The family name in the Dominican Republic is the paternal family name of Rojas, but Felipe Alou and his brothers became known by the name Alou when the Giants' scout who signed Felipe mistakenly thought his matronym (Alou) was his surname. The Rojas Alou brothers' maternal grandfather, Mateu Alou, was an immigrant from Felanitx, Spain, who immigrated to the Dominican Republic in 1898. In 1963, while all playing for the San Francisco Giants, Felipe, Matty and Jesus became the first all brother outfield in the Major Leagues.

[Chad ochoseis]

Mario Cuomo was a centerfielder in the Pirates organization in 1952. According to BBRef, he played for the Brunswick (GA) Pirates of the Class D Florida-Georgia League and hit .244 in 254 ABs.

[Edgy MD]

Yup, he joins the baseballler-turned-politico family of Walter Johnson, Jim Bunning, Vinegar Bend Mizell, Steve Garvey (sorta), Tim Tebow (pro'ly someday), Frank White, Pamela Frisella, George H.W. Bush, John K. Tener, Ronald Reagan (sorta), Fred Brown (from Roosevelt's cabinet), Happy Chandler, and others.



And I'm guessing that no small crew of major and minor leaguers have served in office in Venezuela, The Dominican Republic, and Mexico. Nicaragua, too, probably.

[Willets Point]

Curt Shilling (sorta). He's gotten as far as announcing he would run for Senate before backing down.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, he fits nicely into the Garvey category.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Chad ochoseis wrote: Mario Cuomo was a centerfielder in the Pirates organization in 1952. According to BBRef, he played for the Brunswick (GA) Pirates of the Class D Florida-Georgia League and hit .244 in 254 ABs.

Cuomo was a guest narrator in Ken Burns's 1994 Baseball documentary, where he spoke about his pro baseball past. He was a big fan of the sac bunt, too, if I recall.

[Frayed Knot]

Not politics (at least not yet) but I just learned recently that Billy Bob Thorton once tried out for the Royals (born in 1955 so we're probably talking early '70s) but was released

due to an injury. This surprised me mainly because I get the impression there are baseball bats built thicker than BBT. He remains a St Louis Cardinals fan to this day (from

Arkansas which is big StL territory) to the point where he gets it put into TV/movie contracts that he have access to their TV games if shooting on location during the season.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

Joe West is 65 games shy of tying Bill Klem for the all time record for number of games umpired.

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Joe West is 65 games shy of tying Bill Klem for the all time record for number of games umpired.

Which means he'll have to umpire into next season in order to break the record.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I suppose if it was important enough to make the effort, West could find a way to ump 65 games this year. He'd have to skip his days off and do one game each day. It would involve cooperation from the league, and it's not at all something that should be prioritized in a year like this. So no, I'm not suggesting anything of the sort actually occur, just saying that it is mathematically possible.



Of course, the wild card here is that Bill Klem may decide to stop being dead and come back and add to his career total.



https://natedsanders.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/28295.jpg>

[Edgy MD]

It's a subjective opinion, but I've had the idea that West hasn't looked like he's belonged out there for the last decade or more.



They've really set the hurdle high for inducting umps into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Only 10 have been inducted, only two of which went in this century, and one of those was from the pre-integration era. It'd really be a shame if the only way for an ump to fully show his merits is to stay on the field until he's collapsed in his boots.

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I suppose if it was important enough to make the effort, West could find a way to ump 65 games this year. He'd have to skip his days off and do one game each day.

There will be 60 games over 66 days in this regular season so, yes, it would be just possible.

On the other hand, such a brutal schedule sounds like it would slow West down ... oh wait, that's not possible!

[Edgy MD]

Mike Trout is not yet 29 years old and he is already the [CROSSOUT]Rangers'[/CROSSOUT] Angels' top all-time player, according to both WAR and fWAR.



And it's not particularly close.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: Mike Trout is not yet 29 years old and he is already the Rangers' top all-time player, according to both WAR and fWAR. And it's not particularly close.

Which is especially amazing seeing as how he doesn't even play for the Rangers!

[Edgy MD]

I was looking at Rangers players at the same time as Angels players.

[MFS62]

The first no-hitter thrown by a member of the Mets organization was by a minor league lefty starter named Frank McGraw in 1964.

You may know him better as Tug McGraw.

Later

[A Boy Named Seo]

Frayed Knot wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Mike Trout is not yet 29 years old and he is already the Rangers' top all-time player, according to both WAR and fWAR. And it's not particularly close. Which is especially amazing seeing as how he doesn't even play for the Rangers!

Mike Trout is just that good.

[Edgy MD]

Ron Reed, at the beginning of his baseball career with Atlanta, also played two seasons for the Pistons in the NBA.

[MFS62]

Both Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds were razed (4 years apart) by the same wrecking ball that had been painted to look like a baseball.



Later

[Frayed Knot]

Tommy John's son, also named Tommy, is a doctor.

Don't know if he performs Tommy John surgeries though.

Would be kind of cool if he did.

[Edgy MD]

I guess any surgery he performed could be called a Tommy John surgery.

[Frayed Knot]

Maybe he's a proctologist and (in a nod to our other thread) he could perform Tommy John surgery on your anus. Or, better yet, he could do interplanetary surgery and perform Tommy John surgery on your anus on Uranus!

[Fman99]

I don't know abotut you guys but I want less Tommy John and more Jimmy John in my anus.

[MFS62]

I guess I intuitively knew it, but had never put it together:

Baltimore's current baseball and football teams each used to be named the Browns.



Later

[MFS62]

Steve Cohen owns the "Buckner ball".

https://sports.yahoo.com/mets-owner-steve-cohen-details-010335278.htmlhttps://sports.yahoo.com/mets-owner-steve-cohen-details-010335278.html

And he's going to put it in the Mets museum at CitiField.



Later