batmagadanleadoff

What to Eat at Citi Field - 2013 There's no reason to settle on a mediocre hot dog or $8 Bud Light at Citi Field � there are plenty of great options out there, if you know where to look. Try shrimp skewers from Esca's Dave Pasternack, Shack Burgers from Danny Meyer's now ubiquitous burger chain, pizza from mini-chain Two Boots, filet mignon sandwiches and more from star butcher Pat LaFrieda, sushi, Italian subs, smoked bologna sandwiches, and oh so much more. Now, in honor of the first day of the 2013 baseball season, here's a guide to what to eat at Citi Field and where to find it. Citi Field's Six Standouts 2009_05_citifield.jpgShake Shack: Citi Field has one of Meyer's growing number of ballfield Shake Shacks. Here they're serving the classic ShackBurger as well as the Shack-Cago Dog, cheese fries, frozen custards, and shakes. [section 139] 2013_3_PatLaFrieda.jpgPat LaFrieda's Steak Sandwich: Pat LaFrieda launched his filet mignon sandwich stand in the middle of last season and has added a second location, along with a larger-scale restaurant in the exclusive Delta Sky 360 Club, to cut down on wait times. [sections 139 and 414] 2012_3_elverano.jpgEl Verano Taco: Launched by Danny Meyer chef Floyd Cardoz, El Verano sells chicken mole Pipian, carnitas, vegetarian tacos, chile-marinated skirt steak, Barbacoa quesadillas, and more. [section 139] 2012_3_mamasciti.jpgMama's of Corona: Located in the World's Fare Market by Section 105 on the Field Level and in the Promenade Food Court, Mama's of Corona offers a few classic Italian subs from the original Queens sandwich mainstay, formally known of Leo Latticini. An excellent choice for sandwich lovers. [section 105 and 415] 2012_3_bluesmoke.jpgBlue Smoke: A satellite of Danny Meyer's famed Manhattan barbecue joint serving Kansas City spare ribs, a smoked bologna sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich, beer and desserts. [sections 140] 2012_3_catchoftheday.jpgCatch of the Day: Chef Dave Pasternack's Catch of the Day offers grilled shrimp po'boys, Long Island corn and clam chowder, and fried flounder sandwiches. A must for seafood-lovers and Esca fans. [section 102] * indicates special Eater recommendations Sterling Plaza Level Pat LaFrieda's Chop House at Delta Sky 360 Club: The limited access club behind home plate has a full-service restaurant from star butcher Pat LaFrieda, with a custom burger blend just for Citi Field, LaFrieda's sweet Italian sausage sandwich, and a handful of entr�es. Delta Sky 360 Bar, Coffee Bar, Marketplace: The bar in the Delta club features a shortened version of the Chop House menu. Field Level Champions Club: The all-inclusive club features Chef's Table Experience, full bars, in-seat service and high-definition flat screen televisions *Blue Smoke, Section 140: A satellite of Danny Meyer's famed Manhattan barbecue joint serving Kansas City spare ribs, a smoked bologna sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich, beer and desserts. *Shake Shack, Section 139: Citi Field has one of Meyer's growing number of ballfield Shake Shacks. Here they're serving the classic ShackBurger as well as the Shack-Cago Dog, cheese fries, frozen custards, and shakes. *Pat LaFrieda's Steak Sandwich, Section 139: Black angus filet mignon sandwiches from Mr. Pat LaFrieda himself. *Box Frites, Section 140: French fry concession selling fries with a variety of dipping sauces alongside fried pies, and a Buffalo dog. *El Verano Taqueria, Section 139: Launched by Danny Meyer chef Floyd Cardoz, El Verano sells chicken mole Pipian, carnitas, vegetarian tacos, chile-marinated skirt steak, Barbacoa quesadillas, and more. *Catch of the Day, Section 102: Dave Pasternack's Catch of the Day offers grilled shrimp po'boys, Long Island corn and clam chowder, lobster rolls, and flash fried beer battered shrimp skewers. * Two Boots, Section 141: Mini pizza chain Two Boots is offering a slew of their famous pies to Mets lovers. They'll be serving their classics pies and special stadium only pie called "Meat the Mets." Daruma of Tokyo, Section 105: Located in the World's Fare Market, they offer edamame, sushi, Asian salads. Candy Cart, Section 105: Candy and such. *Mama's of Corona, Section 105: Italian subs, Mets-themed cannolis, and other desserts. Gluten Free Stand, Section 105: Located in the World's Fare Market, this is the choice for those who want their puddings, hot dogs, burgers, beer and more gluten free. *Little Astoria, Section 105: In the World's Fare Market, this stand has wings, Bulguli rice bowls, and bibinbap salads, along with candies (both nostalgic and not), and other assorted snacks. Zachys Wine Bar, Section 105: If beer doesn't quite sound right, here's wine. Fried Dough, Section 105 and 132: They sell....fried dough Brooklyn Burger, Sections 112 and 123: Selling burgers (like Keith Hernandez's Mex Burger), veggie burgers, pastrami on rye, chicken tenders, french fries, and nachos made with pastrami and Thousand Island dresses (called Pastrachos). Hot Pastrami on Rye, Section 135: This stand has the eponymous sandwich option. Ittibitz, Sections 104 and 118: Large-grain ice cream a la Dippin' Dots. Keith's Grill, Section 132: For the backyard-grilling experience. Kosher Grill, Sections 114 and 130: Kosher versions of traditional ballpark items like burgers, hot dogs, peanuts, and pretzels. Dunkin' Donuts, Section 125: Coffee, iced coffee, hot chocolate. Excelsior Level Acela Club: A limited-access fine-dining restaurant with full views of the playing field featuring cuisine from Drew Nieporent. Caesars Club: Featuring a large bar and high-end concessions, and providing views of New York City. *Two Boots, Section 317: New this season, mini pizza chain Two Boots is offering a slew of their famous pies to Mets lovers. They'll be serving their classics pies and special stadium only pie called "Meat the Mets." Excelsior 1st Base Bar: Full service bar with liquor, wine, and beer Excelsior 3rd Base Bar: Full service bar featuring liquor, wine, and beer Brooklyn Burger, Sections 303 and 337: Selling burgers (like Keith Hernandez's Mex Burger), veggie burgers, pastrami on rye, chicken tenders, french fries, and nachos made with pastrami and Thousand Island dresses (called Pastrachos). Promenade Level Promenade Club An intimate club offering casual fare like home run wings, hot and sweet sausage topped with has browns and eggs, and corned beef sandwiches. *Pat LaFrieda's Steak Sandwich, Section 414: Black angus filet mignon sandwiches from Mr. Pat LaFrieda himself. *Mama's of Corona, Section 415: Located in the Promenade Food Court behind home plate, they serve big Italian hero sandwiches, antipasto, and desserts *Two Boots, Section 512: New this season, mini pizza chain Two Boots is offering a slew of their famous pies to Mets lovers. They'll be serving their classics pies and special stadium only pie called "Meat the Mets." Brooklyn Burger, Sections 406, 423, and 436: Selling burgers (like Keith Hernandez's Mex Burger), veggie burgers, pastrami on rye, chicken tenders, french fries, and nachos made with pastrami and Thousand Island dresses (called Pastrachos). All You Can Eat, Section 402: A grab-bag of ballpark eats. Fried Dough, Section 411: They sell....fried dough Ittibitz, Section 424: Large-grain ice cream a la Dippin' Dots. Kosher Grill, Section 528: Kosher versions of traditional ballpark items like burgers, hot dogs, peanuts, and pretzels. Also widely available throughout the stadium: Nathan's hotdogs, Sausage Premio, Carvel Ice Cream, Subway sandwiches, beer, and nachos from a place called Nachos Grande. Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches are available in the VIP clubs. And new for 2013, look for Eater's tips on Foursquare at Citi Field and other New York City stadiums and arenas. http://ny.eater.com/archives/2013/03/what_to_eat_at_citi_field_home_of_the_new_york_mets.php

bmfc1 wrote: Just the Mets: 1. Where they will finish in the NL East 2. What the final record will be 3. If you predict a wild card spot, say so 4. If you predict a playoff appearance, how far will they go? Last year's winners were G-Fafif and metirish (74-88). In 2011 the winner was Transmonk. Don't be a J.J. Putz and predict "162-0" or "0-162". 76-86, with not nearly as much gloom as many journalists expect. But this being the Mets, something will have to go absurdly wrong to confirm the Mets status as baseball's laughingstocks. Something like an unprecedented Summer monsoon hitting NYC during All Star Weekend, thus pushing back that game for more than a week, perhaps even threatening the game's cancellation. Harvey, Parnell and Ike will shine, providing real hope for a turnaround in 2014-15. I'm not predicting the Mets final spot in the standings because that implies predicting what the other teams do.

Santana the Guinea Pig? Johan Santana's Mets Career Is Over Johan Santana is done. He has another capsule tear, the same shoulder injury that sidelined him for all of 2011. He'll make the final decision this weekend whether to undergo surgery, the same surgery he had in Sept. of 2010, but this isn't the sort of thing that gets better with rest. He'll go under the knife, and won't play another game in a Mets uniform, and maybe not anywhere else either. Humans weren't meant to be pitchers, especially not ones as great for as long as Santana was. GM Sandy Alderson confirmed the MRI diagnosis last night, as the Mets were preparing to break camp. Santana has re-torn the anterior capsule in his left shoulder, his throwing shoulder. "I think in all likelihood Johan will be lost to the Mets for the season,� Alderson said. Santana signed a six-year, $137 million deal after being traded to the Mets before the 2008 season. He would only play parts of four seasons in New York, and for much of those he was great. Not as great as in Minnesota, where he was the best pitcher in the world for three years or so mid-decade and seemed destined for the Hall of Fame, but still dominant, with an out pitch�the circle change�that's supposed to put less stress on a player's arm. After missing all of 2011, Santana seemed to return to form last year. He looked like the Santana of old for the first half of the season, culminating in the first no-hitter in Mets franchise history. He stayed in that one for 134 pitches, a career high, and was never the same again. The Mets say they have no idea how Santana re-injured his shoulder, but there's going to be debate about leaving him in that magical night in June, a decision manager Terry Collins agonized over and Santa endorsed unconditionally. Here's a shocking fact: medical science is nearly helpless when it comes to Santana's specific injury. It seems odd, in a sporting landscape where a frayed ligament can be replaced by a tendon from the leg or from a dead person and we expect that player to come back stronger, but the shoulder capsule is a strange beast. The capsule is a mass of tissue that nearly completely surrounds the ball-and-socket joint of the shoulder. Rather than containing defined ligaments, there are thickenings of the tissue that serve the same purpose. When these tear, the ball can slip out of the socket on each pitch, causing pain and weakness. The human body was truly not designed to throw a baseball overhand. We don't know how to fix these tears permanently, at least not with anything close to confidence. The first capsule tear repair was performed just 17 years ago on Bret Saberhagen, and of the very few pitchers who have undergone the procedure, it's exceedingly rare to come back as anything close to 100 percent. The sparse list of pitchers now also includes Chris Young, Mark Prior, Chien-Ming Wang, Rich Harden and Dallas Braden. Because anterior capsule surgery has been performed so infrequently on pitchers, how Santana's recovery unfolds will contribute to determining the procedure's effectiveness in extending careers, Altchek had added. Santana is 34 now, a perfectly respectable age for a player to decline a painful and arduous yearlong rehab from an unproven procedure. (It's also the same age at which Roy Halladay, another "best of his generation"-type, started to go downhill last year.) He couldn't be blamed for not attempting a comeback, especially when available evidence says he'll won't be meaningfully effective again. His value now, though, is as a guinea pig. Maybe lessons learned in this second surgery will become common medical practice in coming decades. Maybe Santana's rehab will teach doctors something that one day saves a young phenom's arm. Maybe, years from now, one of the best pitchers the Twins and Mets have ever known will be more remembered for lending his name to the career-saving Johan Santana surgery. http://deadspin.com/johan-santanas-mets-career-is-over-462697591

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Johan will be the last Met (chronologically) whose jersey I ever purchase for myself. Why?

Here's one I nailed: batmagadanleadoff wrote: I don't know about no 3.60 ERA but I'm expecting more of the 8.27 Santana ERA. Ordinarily, I'd add that I hope I'm dead wrong, me being a Met fan and all, but this year, I think that I could care less about Santana. In my eyes, I've written him off. I think he's done. Fork done. I actually think it's comical the way many fans were hoping that he could pitch Opening Day. Hope I'm dead wrong, though, what with me being a Met fan and all. The guy's had more surgeries than body parts ferchrissakes.

I see Tejada as a placeholder. But not a bad shortstop. He's not the Mets worst problem, and besides, where the hell are the Mets going in the near future, anyways when Marlon Byrd is a middle-of-the-order hitter slated for, perhaps, hundreds of PA's?

Here's what the 2013's look like. Armando finally gets some love. Celebrating Mets All-Stars. All-Star themed ticket faces. Because the Mets are hosting this year's All-Star Game. Orange star in background. The star is for all-stars.

From Baseball Prospectus 2013: Harvey made his much anticipated debut in 2012 and did not disappoint, posting strikeout numbers that border on ridiculous for a rookie starter, including 11 whiffs in 5 1/3 innings in his first game. He comes over the top with heat that averages 95 and has the ability to leave the pitch up in the zone without getting hurt, as his fastball managed a whiff rate on par with those of Gio Gonzalez and Neftali Feliz. The future is not only bright, it is now.

From Baseball Prospectus 2013: If Harvey is the number-one young pitcher in the Mets organization, then Wheeler is number 1A. Or maybe vice versa. Choosing between the two doesn't matter, but it's a fun parlor game. Wheeler's ETA is 2013, though Collins has called the chances that he makes the Mets out of spring training "slim," and rightfully so. While Wheeler has advanced mechanics for such a young pitcher, resulting in a mid-90s fastball and a slow curve along with a slider and change, his fastball command can still use fine-tuning. Still, if there's any young pitcher who understands the importance of command, it's Wheeler. Few young pitchers, especially those with his overpowering stuff, manage to develop the baseball intelligence and understanding of how to manage an at-bat that Wheeler has. Wheeler is going to be good. If he can put together the physical tools with the existing aptitude, he can be great.

Shaun Marcum faces possible DL trip http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/9099339/shaun-marcum-latest-new-york-mets-starter-dealing-injury Riveting. Yawn.

Edgy MD wrote: Somebody's posting from 1974. Impressive. 1973

G-Fafif wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: He did do something nice for a new dad once. Wait, are you implying somebody is neither all bad even if he's not necessarily all good? I'm not sure the Internet can tolerate that sort of perspective. Based on first-hand observation and interaction plus the input of those who might know more intimately, his heart was sometimes in the right place. Take that as you will. I'm ashamed of myself.

Mets season ticket holders were truly consoled when they were informed that the view from their seats was diminished rather than obstructed. Good fucking riddance, jackass.

NYM (Tom Seaver) @ Phil (Steve Carlton) StL (Bob Gibson) @ Pitt (Steve Blass) Mon (Mike Torrez) @ ChiCubs (Fergie Jenkins) SF (Juan Marichal) @ Cin (Don Gullett) HOU (Dave Roberts) @ Atl (Gary Gentry) LA (Don Sutton) @ SD (Clay Kirby)

...continued vtmet wrote: A slow singles hitter with a High OBP is not going to score as often as a faster hitter with Extra Base hit power that may have a slightly lower OBP but still a decent OBP.... If I was managing a team that was destined to generate a walk, a single and a home run, all in the same half inning, I'd want the home run to be the last of those three events. Wouldn't you?

vtmet wrote: ... I just wanted to point out that your username would have been the perfect example to counter the Mets Merized Online article from yesterday titled: "How On Base Percentage Directly Relates to Runs Scored"... http://metsmerizedonline.com/2013/03/featured-post-how-on-base-percentage-directly-relates-to-runs-scored.html I'm not saying that OBP is not important, but it's only a contributing factor to batting leadoff and/or scoring runs...A slow singles hitter with a High OBP is not going to score as often as a faster hitter with Extra Base hit power that may have a slightly lower OBP but still a decent OBP... Dave Magadan had a career .390 OPB but his "162 game average" for runs scored was 53 runs; Juan Pierre (fast guy, no power) has a career .346 OBP but his "162 game average" for runs scored is 89 runs; Jose Reyes has a career .342 OBP but his "162 game average" for runs scored is 110 runs. I could be wrong, but my math skills are telling me that out of the 3 guys, the one with the highest OBP would be the crappiest Leadoff hitter of the 3... To relate to the 1988 team....Mookie had a crappy career OBP of only .314, and his "162 game average" for runs scored was still 84 runs, and he barely had more power than Pierre... Bill James, in one of his 1980's abstracts, had made this same criticism about Magadan. Of course, Magadan batted 6th, 7th or 8th in about one third of all his Mets starts. That had to reduce his runs scored total. By the time Magadan was playing regularly, Mookie was gone (Dykstra, too) and the Mets just didn't have anybody even in Mag's area code as far as getting on base (.417, .378, .390). Mag's three-year OBP for the years 1990-92 was just shy of .400 at .396.; as far as I'm concerned, his misuse, by a pennant contender, no less, represented a colossal and costly under-utilization of talent. Less Harrelson/Torborg and more Earl Weaver is what I advocate - take advantage of a player's good skills. Mag's ability to get on base was MVP caliber. Also, the Mets had nobody on those teams with Reyes's offensive skill set, but if they did and I was in charge, I'da battedmagadanleadoff, nevertheless. Batting orders are not made in a vacuum: they're dependent on the composition of the rest of the team. I wouldn't advocate battingmagadanleadoff on a team with Rickey Henderson, for example, but on those early '90's teams....

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Thanks, BML! By the way, I'm also in the market for both a sharp oral-nerve probe and an extraneous, discomfiting nonmedical rectal insert. Any recs? With or without anesthesia?

Tom Verducci wrote: The team's fall from perennial contender to laughingstock is a testament to the destructive power of mismanagement December 20, 1993 Verducci probably had no idea just how prescient he was when, 20 years ago, he described the Mets as a "laughingstock".

This afternoon on ESPN Classics, relive Game Four of the 1988 NL Playoffs. (That's right. Playoffs. Not this newfangled NLCS bullshit, which implies extra rounds and lame wild cards). Watch Mike Scioscia effectively put to bed the Davey Johnson era Mets. Or as Tom Verducci would write five years later in an end of the year Sports Illustrated piece, "the end to the dynasty that never was". The Amazin' Collapse Of The Mets The team's fall from perennial contender to laughingstock is a testament to the destructive power of mismanagement Ddecember 20, 1993 excerpt: It was 1988, one of those years of imperfect glory for the New York Mets, before the upper deck of Shea Stadium was closed for lack of interest and before any of the team's players were slapped with felony charges. Deep into the chilly night of Oct. 9, Dwight Gooden stood on the mound with the baseball in his hands and a two-run ninth-inning lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Three outs and the Mets would lead the National League Championship Series three games to one. "It's in the bag," thought Met senior vice-president Al Harazin. Gooden had permitted the Dodgers only three hits�all singles, none of them after the fourth inning. "Doc's going to win his first post-season game." Gooden quickly had an 0-and-2 count on John Shelby, the easiest hitter in the league to strike out. Yes, the Mets were nearly a lock to play the Oakland Athletics in a titanic World Series, the first matchup of 100-win teams in 18 years. Except something began to go wrong. Gooden walked Shelby in what turned into an eight-pitch at bat. He seemed to labor on the last two deliveries, fastballs high and away. He had thrown 125 pitches. Reserve in fielder Dave Magadan squirmed in the Met dugout and thought, "Scioscia's up, Myers is in the bullpen.... Please put him in the game." But the lefthanded Randy Myers was not ready to face the lefthanded Mike Scioscia. Myers wasn't even warming. No one was. "He's still in control," manager Davey Johnson thought about Gooden. "If I bring in Myers, they'll pinch-hit Rick Dempsey anyway. He's more of a home run threat than Scioscia." Scioscia had hit three home runs all year, only one since June. Met catcher Gary Carter, knowing Scioscia liked to take a pitch or two with a runner on first, flashed his index linger to Gooden. After walking Shelby, the pitcher knew exactly what was needed: just a good get-ahead fastball squarely over the plate. It was 11:02 p.m. when Gooden threw the pitch. It arrived slightly above belt high. It would have been strike one, absolutely. But then Scioscia swung. There is a line of demarcation that runs roughly along the crest of the Rocky Mountains through North America. Water on one side of the line flows toward the Pacific. On the other it flows in the opposite direction. The moment Scioscia hit that two-run home run, the Mets had reached their Continental Divide. "If we had won that game, we would have won that series," says Joe McIlvaine, then the Met vice-president of baseball operations and now an executive vice-president with the team. "There's no doubt in my mind. It was a flash point." The Mets lost that night in 12 innings and again the next afternoon. They lost the series in seven games, and they have not played another postseason game since. The course of the franchise's fortunes began flowing the wrong way, first in a trickle and then in a rush. Two second-place finishes followed, though those turbulent years were more corrosive than anyone knew. It was the end to the dynasty that never was. The Mets were one of eight teams ever to finish first or second for seven consecutive seasons, but the only one of that group to not emerge from such a run with more than one pennant. Then came three losing seasons, each worse than the last. No team in baseball has been worse over those past three years, especially the most recent, a 103-loss horror in which the Mets, with conduct even more odious than their play, were reduced to being pathetic objects of late-night television humor. Baseball's Buttafuoco. [***] In the past three years three teams have gone from worst to first in successive seasons. Another, Oakland, took the reverse route last year. "A lot has changed since 1988," Wilpon says. "It's a much more volatile business now." The crash of the Mets, though, took on historic proportions. They became only the fourth team in history to lose 100 games within five seasons of winning 100. But unlike Oakland last season, the Mets collapsed without the excuse of fiscal restraint. They are a monument not so much to the vagaries of modern baseball but more to the destructive forces of mismanagement. The most ruinous of their mistakes took three basic forms: miscalculation or outright ignorance of the intangibles winning players need, particularly in New York; quick-fix trades that recklessly disregarded long-term effects; and the disastrous breakup of what was supposed to be a seamless passing of the front-office command from chief operating officer and general manager Frank Cashen to his lieutenants, McIlvaine and Harazin. Wilpon is positively penitential in acknowledging all three elements. "Not enough emphasis was placed on the mix of people and the chemistry that are essential to winning," Wilpon says. "It was almost like Rotisserie baseball." Whole article here http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1137963/1/index.htm

From Baseball Prospectus 2013: Davis's 2012 was reminiscent of those old Tony Bautista seasons where the home runs make you perk up right before the on-base percentage lets you back down. Talk of Davis's nightlife habits surfaced simultaneously with trade rumors in September, but rebuilding teams don't get anywhere by trading young, cheap players at the nadir of their value. Unless there's a real problem in his behavior, he's a bounce-back candidate: He swings at the pitches that power hitters should swing at, takes his walks, hits the ball in the air, and has consistently shown plenty of pop, including posting the 18th-best isolated slugging in baseball last year. Comparables: Don Mincher, Mark Teixeira, Joey Votto Most similar batters through age 25 (from Baseball Reference) Bob Robertson, Carlos Delgado, Mo Vaughn

That winter, the Mets acquired George Foster, and the Yanks acquired Ken Griffey and Dave Collins. The Newsday backpage headline at the start of spring training: "NOW PLAYING IN NEW YORK: REDS."

Ceetar wrote: I expect nothing. He'll pitch like he did last year, post no- hitter. That is, he'll suck. Then he'll get injured again. Is he a Hall of Famer? He's certainly got the peak. But has he done enough career-wise? I'll take the 3.6 ERA and an average of 6 IP over the 5 other starts in June(Post no-hitter, pre Reed Johnson) prorated to this year. From The Hardball Times: It is true that there is more hope than an ordinary projection would suggest, largely on the back of Johan Santana, who was excellent in his first 11 starts (3-2, 2.38 ERA, with a strikeout per inning) before going to pieces (3-7, 8.27 ERA) and being shut down thereafter. I don't know about no 3.60 ERA but I'm expecting more of the 8.27 Santana ERA. Ordinarily, I'd add that I hope I'm dead wrong, me being a Met fan and all, but this year, I think that I could care less about Santana. In my eyes, I've written him off. I think he's done. Fork done. I actually think it's comical the way many fans were hoping that he could pitch Opening Day. Hope I'm dead wrong, though, what with me being a Met fan and all. http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/content/article/five-questions-new-york-mets-2013/

If this all sounds familiar it's because the incident became the basis for the fictional Roy Hobbs in the book and later movie, 'The Natural'. The two-time All-Star Waitkus nearly died and underwent six operations, although did return to play a full season for the pennant winning 1950 Phils and in the majors through 1955. Not only The Natural, but the Naked City TV episode (9/26/62), Idylls of a Running Back was based on the Waitkus incident, guest starring Aldo Ray as the Waitkus based star running back and Sandy Dennis as the disturbed fan. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0656796/

From Baseball Prospectus 2013: Did you hear that the Mets finally threw a no-hitter? No! Well, they did. Santana tossed the gem on June 1, then missed about a month from July to August with an ankle sprain before finishing the year on the disabled list with back inflammation. Santana is not what he was, and he has almost no chance of being worth his $25.5 million salary in 2013. While he struck out batters at his best rate since leaving Minnesota, he also posted his worst walk rate since becoming a full-time starter. Even more alarmingly, after a career spent keeping his BABIP's at .285 or less (frequently much less), he finished worse than the league average in 2012. Were he simply a 33 year old former great, one might guess at bad luck or bad defense. As a 33 year old former great coming off a major shoulder injury and less able to find the strike zone than ever before, one suspects a more sinister and lasting cause. All of that said, Santana still has talent sufficient to be a number-three starter, and if the Mets are willing to eat his salary, a contending team might take him on that basis. Through the first 98 innings, it was .254 babip. Yes, his fastball velocity was down, but not as much as his slider and changeup velocity, meaning the differential actually got higher. Perhaps the .5/9 increase in walks was a result of being less willing to challenge a hitter with reduced velocity. He threw his slider twice as much in 2012, a pitch I would suspect is more often thrown out of the zone to induce swinging strikes? But if you do that more often, you're going to have guys smart enough to lay off more often too. I think the BABIP increase is a red herring. Johan'll probably win two Cy Young Awards in 2013. Probably throw 100 complete games, too. A pitcher could probably dominate major league hitters with a 28 mph fastball because it's really all about speed differential. He could offset his slow fast ball by rolling changeup towards home plate, at about, say six mph. That'd fool the hitters, for sure.

From Baseball Prospectus 2013: Did you hear that the Mets finally threw a no-hitter? No! Well, they did. Santana tossed the gem on June 1, then missed about a month from July to August with an ankle sprain before finishing the year on the disabled list with back inflammation. Santana is not what he was, and he has almost no chance of being worth his $25.5 million salary in 2013. While he struck out batters at his best rate since leaving Minnesota, he also posted his worst walk rate since becoming a full-time starter. Even more alarmingly, after a career spent keeping his BABIP's at .285 or less (frequently much less), he finished worse than the league average in 2012. Were he simply a 33 year old former great, one might guess at bad luck or bad defense. As a 33 year old former great coming off a major shoulder injury and less able to find the strike zone than ever before, one suspects a more sinister and lasting cause. All of that said, Santana still has talent sufficient to be a number-three starter, and if the Mets are willing to eat his salary, a contending team might take him on that basis.