By Hal McCoy
UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave, remembering the day Joey Votto approached me and said, “Hal, you’ve been around this game a long time. If I ever change, will you please tell me?” He changed, but it was for the better and I never had to tell him he changed for the worse.
—VOTTOMATIC: Of all the glossy numbers Joey Votto put next to his name, one stands out for me. Fans and players always talk about Tony Perez being Mr. Clutch with runners in scoring position.
Former manager Dave Bristol said, “If there is a way to win a game, Tony Perez will find it.”
But The Big Dog is not in the all-time top ten list of batting averages with runners in scoring position. Joey Votto is. He is seventh with a .321 average.
The best? Rogers Hornsby, who hit .424 in 1924 for the St. Louis Cardinals, had a career RISP of .372. Babe Ruth? .343.
And here is one that nearly slipped through the cracks when the Reds came back from a 6-0 deficit to beat Toronto, 11-7.
Spencer Steer, Jonathan India, Noelvi Marte and Elly De La Cruz all had a home run and stole base. It was the first time in MLB history that a team had four players hit a home run and steal a base in the same game.
—QUOTES: From Rogers Hornsby, who hit .424 in 1924: ”I don’t like to sound egotistical, but every time I stepped to the plate with a bat in my hands, I felt sorry for the pitcher.”
“People ask me what I do in the off-season and I tell them I sit by the window waiting for spring training.”
—A MONTAS MONTAGE: Does it mean anything that the Milwaukee Brewers are 5-0 in games started by Frankie Montas since the Cincinnati Reds traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers?
Montas pitched seven shutout innings Tuesday in Milwaukee’s 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. But in those five games Montas is only 2-0.
What it says to me is that Milwaukee’s offense gives him run support. In the other five games he started Milwaukee scored 5, 16, 8 and 9 runs.
—HOME RUN STUFF: Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hit back-to-back home runs for the fifth time this season for the New York Yankees on Tueday
Sound like a lot? Well, from 1997 through 2002 Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent went back-to-back 78 times for the San Francisco Giants. From 1926 through 1934 Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig did it 73 times.
Judge has 49 home runs and Soto has 35, 16 short of 100. In 1961 Roger Maris (61) and Mickey Mantle (54) combined for a record 115 for the most combined by two teammates.
—BYE BYE, BIRDIE: In 1966, the Cleveland Indians had a left-handed pitcher who was the American League version of Sandy Koufax.
His name was Sudden Sam McDowell and he routinenly threw 100 miles an hour fastballs and hairpin turn cureveballs.
There was a game that year against Baltimore that he pitched 12 innings, threw 203 pitches and lost.
And he was incensed after the game when some of the Orioles told him they knew most of the time what pitch he was going to throw.
Why? Cleveland manager Birdie Tebbetts was telling McDowell what pitches to throw with hand signals from the dugout. The Orioles could see him, figured out the signals and relayed them to the hitters. A lot of good it did.
McDowell complained to general manager Gabe Paul, saying he wanted to call his own pitches. Later that year Tebbetts was fired and McDowell drew some of the blame because the press incorrectly said McDowell demanded that Tebbetts be canned.
And there was a game in Detroit when he pitched against 31-game winner Denny McLain, a complete game in nine innings during which McDowell threw 209 pitches.
Didn’t they have a 200-pitch limit in those days?
—POPULATION EXPLOSION: My. how times change. In 1975, the Cincinnati Reds used only 28 players, 12 pitchers.
So far this season, and counting, the Reds have used 43 players, 23 pitchers.
And how about this one? The Los Angeles Dodgers so far this season have had 12 different pitchers record at least one save.
—THE MOON WALK: When Neil Armstrtong walked on the moon, there was a baseball connection
In 1964, spitball pitcher Gaylord Perry hit a couple of balls over the fence in batting practice. Baseball writer Harry Jupiter told manager Alvin Dark, “Perry might hit a few home runs for you.”
Said Dark, “There will be a man on the moon before Perry hits a home run.”
Five years later, on July 20, 1969, Perry was on the mound for the San Francisco Giants when during the game they made the announcement, “Neil Armstrong has just walked on the moon.”
In the bottom of the next inning, Perry hit his first major league home run. And he hit one home run in each of his next three seasons.
But none were real moon shots.
—MATTY IN CINCINNATI: Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson pitched 551 games in 16 years for the New York Giants — 372 wins and 187 complete games.
And he had one more win and one more complete game. . .for the Cincinnati Reds. The Giants traded him to the Reds so he could manage the Reds.
He started himself in one game and won it, but his earned run average was 8.00. He gave up eight runs and 15 hits, but pitched a complete game win, 10-8, over the Chicago Cubs.
And what is it about the Reds and strange managers. One of baseball’s most famous umpires was Hank O’Day. He called balls and strikes in the majors for 30 years, umpired 3,986 games.
But he took one year off to manage the Reds in 1912. He didn’t like it, especially when the Reds were 75-78.
The next season he was back to umpiring. Wonder how many arguments he had with umpires the year he managed?
—ONE FOR THE REDS: All baseball aficionados know that Cy Young won 511 games and a year after he died baseball came up with ‘The Cy Young Award’ for the best pitcher in each league.
What most don’t know is that after Young retired to his New Philadelphia, OH. home, he coached some local teams. One of his players was Wayne Woodrow ‘Woody’ Hayes.
Wonder whatever became of ol’ Woody?
—GUMMING IT UP: Baseball players are known to be superstitious to the enth degree. There are common ones like players refusing to step on the foul lines running on and off the field, crossed bats are bad luck and don’t anybody dare touch another player’s glove.
But. . .When Hall of Fame second baseman Eddie Collins played for the Philadelphia A’s, he took his gum out of his mouth when he batted and stuck it on top of his hat (There were no batting helmets then). If he got two strikes on him, he popped the gum back into his mouth.
He should have been playing in Wrigey Field.
—THE MISTAKE METHOD: From fellow baseball writer Kevin Kernan’s ballnine web-site column, quoting a baseball man: “The thing is, you know how to win in baseball today? You don’t have to be great, you just have to let the other team make the mistakes. If you can do that, you’ll win 95 games.”
No truer words. . .
—PLAYLIST NUMBER 84:
Leather And Lace (Stevie Nix & Don Henley), Hushabye (The Mystics), Faithfully (Journey), Sounds Like Something I’d Do (Drake Milligan), End Of The Line (The Traveling Wilberts), Like A Rolling Stone (Bob Dylan).
Rockin’ In The Free World (Neil Young), Tougher Than The Rest (Bruce Springsteen), Never Had A Reason (Josh Turner), Let’s Go (The Cars), Brandy, You’re A Fine Girl (Looking Glass), Heart Of Gold (Neil Young).