Baseball Digest articles from August 2004

Baseball Digest archives from August 2004

The fans speak out.(Letters To The Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
August 1, 2004... Is Pittsburgh the only city to win both the World Series and Super Bowl in the same years? This happened with the Pirates and Steelers in 1979. Jenny Gerace Glendora, NJ. In 1969, New York also laid claim to both titles, with...

Despite his age, Roger Clemens remains a compelling figure in the majors.(Warm Up Tosses)(Cover Story)
August 1, 2004... IT WAS ONLY A LITTLE MORE THAN A YEAR AGO THAT ROGER CLEMENS SAT DOWN on a chair before his locker in the Yankee clubhouse at Legends Field in Tampa, Florida to chat with a visiting writer. On that mid-March day during spring training, he...

Mind over age: Randy Johnson still dominating hitters at age 40: last May, left-hander became oldest pitcher to toss a perfect game in major league history.
August 1, 2004... RANDY JOHNSON, THE FIVE-TIME CY Young Award winner with the long legs and golden arm, found out last year that one limb is only as good as the other. Randy Johnson's right knee may be more important to his success than his left arm. ...

For the love of a glove: a baseball mitt just isn't a necessary piece of equipment, it's a part of life for many players.
August 1, 2004... THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT the smell of a new mitt (or even better, an old mitt)--"the smell of baseball," as former Mariners infielder Rafael Bournigal once said. There's just something about the look of a mitt, new or old--as...

Fluke seasons: some players recorded one extraordinary productive year in an otherwise so-so career.
August 1, 2004... BASEBALL LINGO IS EVER CHANGing, for better or worse, and among the fresher descriptive phrases flung around liberally in recent years--along with "going yard," "walk-off homer," "quality start"--is the complimentary "career season." Babe...

Florida's Miguel Cabrera: a star in the making: at 21, Marlins right-handed hitting slugger has fun making the game look easy and promises to make a big impact in the majors.
August 1, 2004... THE LAST DOMINO HITS THE table with a loud clack, and boyish baseball prodigy Miguel Cabrera bursts out of his seat to celebrate a winning play. Two teammates laugh at his enthusiasm. Another stalks away, feigning anger in defeat, only to...

Baseball quick quiz.
August 1, 2004... Collect ten points for each question answered correctly. Answers on page 90 (If you score 80 or better, you are a baseball expert; 70 or better, superior; between 60 and 70, good, and between 40 and 60, average. 1. My only major...

Have glove, will travel: players with talent may move often, but usually find a major league home.
August 1, 2004... USUALLY ONE OF THE GAME'S more cerebral sorts, Jamie Moyer has to admit that he's lost track of the count. Best he can remember, it's up to "sixty-something." That's the number of times Moyer, the 41-year-old ace of the Seattle Mariners...

Baseball profile: Esteban Loaiza--Chicago White Sox.
August 1, 2004... FULL NAME: Esteban Antonio Loaiza (Veyna) AGE, HT., WT.: 32, 6-3, 215 Born: December 31, 1971 HOME: Southlake, Texas STATUS/FAMILY: Single NICKNAME: Estie LIFE OUTSIDE BASEBALL: I walk around. I like to go out and eat...

Last three outs require mental toughness on the part of a closer.
August 1, 2004... HE HAD LOADED THE BASES again, and the crowd was groaning again. Or panicking. Or probably both. Billy Koch always does that to White Sox fans. It was the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians in a game last April at U.S....

Players who left the game on their own terms: former infielder Spike Owen: ex-shortstop won two National League fielding titles with the Expos during his 13-year major league career.(Curtain Calls)
August 1, 2004... SOME WOULD SAY THAT WITH A name like "Spike" he was destined to be a major league baseball player. And yes, for the record, Spike Owen is his real name. "My mother's maiden name was 'Spikes,'" explained the former big league shortstop....

Bunting his way to the top.(Baseball Notebook ...)
August 1, 2004... Tigers leadoff hitter Alex Sanchez has proved that prolific bunting can elevate an accomplished hitter into a candidate for the batting championship. Sanchez entered June with a .352 average, third in the American League. He had 19 bunt...

Joining elite company.(Baseball Notebook ...)
August 1, 2004... Unlike the joy from his other recent historic stroke, Edgar Martinez felt no glow last May. His 500th career double sent Safeco Field in Seattle rocking and the Mariners to a win over the New York Yankees, but his 300th career homer and...

Bonds--Ruth comparison incomplete.(Baseball Notebook ...)
August 1, 2004... Sometimes as a reader you get zapped by a most inconsequential statement. It happened to me earlier in the season. I was reading a great article comparing the records of Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth. The sentence was lost in a long paragraph...

For Rolen, a friendship is closely held.(Baseball Notebook ...)
August 1, 2004... Through Spartanburg and Clearwater, then Reading and Scranton-Wilkes Barre, Philadelphia Phillies farmhands Scott Rolen and Dan Held dreamed of going to the big leagues together. Now, nearly 10 years after they started on this journey, they...

Catching up with former pitcher Ken McBride.
August 1, 2004... TIME GALLOPS ONWARD. KEN McBride, who spent parts of seven years in the majors, is 68. More than 40 years ago, on July 9, 1963, he was the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star game held in Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. ...

Reminiscing with ... Al Lopez: 'the Senor' had a Hall of Fame career that included catching Walter Johnson and managing two pennant-winning clubs.
August 1, 2004... THE OLD SENOR'S EYES STILL sparkled, his handshake firm, belying his 95 years, and as we chatted in the den of his modest ranch home on the shoreline of Tampa Bay, there was no escaping the wonderment of those hands that once were on the...

Dave Dravecky: the game I'll never forget former Giants pitcher recalls his first game back from cancer when he worked eight innings and defeated the Cincinnati Reds.
August 1, 2004... IN MY CASE, THERE WERE TWO GAMES I'LL NEVER FORGET. THOSE WERE THE games I pitched for the Giants in 1989 after coming back from cancer surgery on my left (pitching) arm and shoulder. Most of my deltoid muscle was removed during the surgery, so...

Turn back the clock ... 1943: owner William Cox, the last man banned before Pete Rose.
August 1, 2004... PETE ROSE WASN'T THE FIRST TO admit he had bet on baseball. More than a half-century ago, in 1943, William D. Cox, then the rookie owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, also came clean and acknowledged he had been betting on his team. Bucky...

Pitchers who have struck out 15 or more batters in a game.(Baseball Statistics)
August 1, 2004... "From 1900 through May 21, 2004, there have been 96 pitchers who have struck out 15 or more 'batters in a major league game, a feat accomplished 235 times--128 m the American League and 107 in the National League. Randy Johnson leads all...

Baseball rules corner: problems result when a player bats out of turn.
August 1, 2004... I'M SURE THAT YOU REMEMBER THE famous line in the movie, Cool Hand Luke, "What we have here is a failure to communicate." Batting out of order or perhaps more appropriately put, "failure to bat in turn," normally results from the manager...