Baseball Digest articles from July 2003

Baseball Digest archives from July 2003

The fans speak out. (Letters To The Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 2003... In George Vass's article on "sparkplug players" (May Baseball Digest), there was one player he failed to mention: shortstop Johnny Logan of the Milwaukee Braves. Logan was a fiery type of player, hardnosed, and he did whatever he had to do...

Oldest Hall of Fame member revives some baseball memories. (Warm Up Tosses).(Al Lopez)
July 1, 2003... IT WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING, AND THE OLDEST LIVING MEMBER OF THE HALL of Fame was talking baseball. "Billy Pierce," said Al Lopez, "belongs in the Hall of Fame. He was a good pitcher. He had control, and he had good movement on his...

Baseball's elite: to build the perfect major league player, special talents of the game's most gifted athletes would have to be compressed into one.
July 1, 2003... CREATING THE PERFECT BASEBALL PLAYER IS NOT AS SIMPLE AS SOME imagining an amalgamation of Barry Bonds' power and Andruw Jones' defensive talent or Barry Zito's curve and Curt Schilling's fastball. The issue goes beyond purely physical...

Deficient defenders: many players have earned reputations as "good hit, no field" performers.(descriptions of play of baseball players)
July 1, 2003... BREVITY BEING THE SOUL OF WIT, no memorable baseball quotation comes close to matching the verbal economy, elegance and exactitude of Mike Gonzalez's classic scouting report of the 1920s that described a young Moe Berg as "Good field, no hit."...

Magglio Ordonez: a superstar in disguise: White Sox slugger rates among the most productive players in the majors, but still receives little recognition.
July 1, 2003... SPRING 1999, FENWAY PARK, WHITE SOX AT RED SOX. TWO OUT, PROMISING young player on second. Promising young player bolts for third base, is caught stealing. Rally snuffed. Manager shakes head in dugout. A moment later, Jerry Manuel took his...

A hitter's game: rule changes promoting offense have favored batters over pitchers.
July 1, 2003... ONE OF THE MOST QUOTED ADAGES in baseball says that you can never have enough pitching. That seems to be true, except that in 1968, it was too close to call. Denny McLain won 31 games. Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA and 13 shutouts. Don...

Baseball quick quiz.
July 1, 2003... 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. Through the 2002...

Pitching as an art: Hall of Fame Hurler Tom Seaver discusses his favorite topic.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... TOM SEAVER, UNQUESTIONABLY the most important player in New York Mets history, received the highest percentage vote ever in balloting for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, 98.6, in 1992. He is widely regarded as a pitcher of...

Cardinals look to Edgar Renteria for leadership: St. Louis shortstop helps generate a winning atmoshere.
July 1, 2003... AS THE SUN GLISTENED ON another Florida morning last spring, the St. Louis Cardinals snapped through a brisk session of infield drills at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter. The baseball popped in and out of gloves and sizzled from station to...

Vladimir Guerrero: baseball's quiet super talent: Expos all-around performer excels on the field despite limited publicity with Montreal's small fan base.(Montreal Expos outfielder)
July 1, 2003... PUBLICLY, AT LEAST, VLADIMIR Guerrero is a man of very few words. Recently, he spoke, not at great length, but enough to leave some impressions. Guerrero is a great hitter, a tremendous all-around talent but, for the purposes of media...

Baseball profile: Johnny Damon--Boston Red Sox.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... FULL NAME: Johnny David Damon AGE, HT., WT.: 29, 6-2, 190 Born: November 5, 1973 in Fort Riley, Kansas HOME: Overland Park, Kansas STATUS/FAMILY: Married with two children (twins) NICKNAME: JD LIFE OUTSIDE BASEBALL:...

All-Star surprises: players who were called for duty despite unimpressive statistics.
July 1, 2003... MENTION THE ALL-STAR GAME, and thoughts of baseball's greatest players immediately come to mind. While it takes consistent excellence to be a perennial All-Star, there are other ways to qualify for the honor on a one-time basis. Since the...

Turn back the clock: former player and A.L. President Bobby Brown recalls his Yankee career: second baseman was an off-season medical student during his career and managed to hit .439 in 17 World Series games.
July 1, 2003... ROBERT W. "BOBBY" BROWN, A LEFT-HANDED batting infielder who averaged .279 during eight seasons with the New York Yankees, saved his best heroics for the postseason. In true Yankee fashion, Brown batted .439 lifetime as the Bronx Bombers won...

Club history Detroit Tigers.(Illustration)
July 1, 2003... The Detroit Tigers have been a part of major league baseball and the American League since 1901. All Statistical records listed are from 1901 and through the 2002 campaign. Club Nicknames * Tigers (1901-present) World Series Winning...

7th Inning stretch.(baseball players who have hit home runs for at least seven teams)(Illustration)
July 1, 2003... Players Who Hit A Home Run For Most Teams EARLIER THIS SEASON, TODD ZEILE BECAME THE FIRST PLAYER, SINCE 1900, TO HIT A HOME RUN FOR 10 DIFFERENT MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS when he homered for the New York Yankees. Listed below are 35 players who...

Baseball rules corner: non-playing personnel sometimes involved in interference calls.
July 1, 2003... RULE 3.15 ALLOWS BAT BOYS AND bat girls on the playing field during games. If they are inadvertently struck by batted or thrown balls or unintentionally make contact with a player on the field, the ball is alive and in play. Conversely, if they...