Baseball Digest articles from November 2002

Baseball Digest archives from November 2002

The fans speak out. (Letters To The Editor).(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2002... The passing earlier this year of pitcher Joe Black reminded my family and me of those wonderful Brooklyn Dodger teams of the 1940s and 1950s. Could you provide a list of the players who were on the 1955 World Series Dodger team who are...

Warnings to pitchers about hitting batters stir up controversey. (Warm Up Tosses).
November 1, 2002... IT HAS BEEN A LONG-HELD OPINION IN THIS CORNER THAT COMMON SENSE should prevail in game situations during which pitchers are warned about throwing at batters. In the past season, these warnings seemed to emerge quite frequently in major...

Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki makes it big in the majors; Mariners star right fielder continued to impress in his second season in the show. (Hitting Machine).
November 1, 2002... WHEN ICHIRO STEPS INTO THE BATTER'S box, no one--the pitcher, the shortstop, the fans, even his teammates--has any idea what he is planning. "It's kind of funny," said Mariners teammate Edgar Martinez, a man with an eye for fine hitting....

Baseball Digest's all-star comeback team for 2002 season: some top performances by players returning to action after sub-par or injury-plagued seasons are those of Jose Rijo, John Smoltz, Nomar Garciaparra, Mike Lieberthal and Pedro Martinez. (Baseball Digest's).
November 1, 2002... NO COMEBACK BY A PLAYER IN 2002 came close to matching that of pitcher Jose Rijo for dramatic impact, heart-warming sentiment, and inherent improbability though it was hardly, the most significant of such recoveries to usual form and...

Barry Bonds with baseball history: giants slugger, only the fourth player to reach 600 career home runs, has a shot at reaching Hank Aaron's mark of 755.
November 1, 2002... IN A SUPER BOWL TV COMMERCIAL for a brokerage firm, Barry Bonds is taking batting practice in an empty ballpark when a mysterious voice fills the air. "Barry Bonds, it's time. It's time to retire." Bonds looks up to the press box and...

Never-say-die-guys: when everything goes right, teams seemingly out of the pennant race can overcome insurmountable leads to win.
November 1, 2002... SURE, THINGS DON'T LOOK SO bright for fans in the heat of August and mid-September when their team is ten or more games out of the pennant chase--but baseball can be a funny game. "When you're eight games behind, it's like eight miles,"...

Cardinals' Albert Pujols shows no complacency in his play; National League Rookie of the Year in 2001 continues to produce as St. Louis' big gun in a powerful lineup. (Sophomore Jinx? ... Never Heard of It).
November 1, 2002... FOR A YOUNG MAN FROM THE Dominican Republic who grasped English after one year of high school in the United States, St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, coming off one of the greatest rookie seasons in baseball history, doesn't seem to...

Baseball quick quiz.
November 1, 2002... Collect ten points for each question answered correctly. Answer 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 most of the 2002...

The big game pitcher: with back-to-back 20-win seasons, Curt Schilling of the Diamondbacks has become one of the most productive starters over the last two years.
November 1, 2002... HIS TEAMMATES KID HIM about the Scooby Doo boxers and the Scooby Doo stuffed doll he places above his locker, but there's no joking about Curt Schilling's accomplishments this year. Through August 26, he was leading the majors in victories...

Sustaining a long career: despite weak hitting abilities, some catchers make an impact in the major leagues strictly on their defensive expertise.
November 1, 2002... IN A TIME WHEN EVEN middle infielders are expected to hit for power and average, is there any way for a player of modest offensive skills to have a lenghty big league career? Just look behind the plate to find the answer. Catchers who work...

A-Rod, Jeter, Nomar, Omar ... and Miguel Tejada are best all-around shortstops in majors; Oakland's All-Star middle infielder has performed at a level that places him among the elite players at his position.
November 1, 2002... MIGUEL TEJADA HAS greatness in him. He continues to let it out, every drop of it, and thus has become the centerpiece of the Oakland A's, a player who robs opponents of base hits, pitchers of their dignity and spectators of their breath. ...

Jorge Posada: New York Yankees. (Baseball Profile).
November 1, 2002... FULL NAME: Jorge Rafael Posada, Jr. AGE, HT., WT: 31, 6-2, 205 Born: August 17, 1971 HOME: Tampa, Florida STATUS/FAMILY: Married with one child Nickname: Georgie LIFE OUTSIDE BASEBALL: Very relaxing. Going out ot eat...

1950: when Philadelphia's Whiz Kids won the N.L. pennant; memories still rich for those who brought Phillies their first National League title in 35 years. (Turn Back The Clock).
November 1, 2002... "IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK IN THESE old woolly buggers!" shouted Whiz Kid Bob Miller to the alumni of that famed Phillies team as they pulled on authentic jerseys from that era. The occasion, which took place at Veterans Stadium, was the fifty-year...

Why I like baseball.
November 1, 2002... * Peanuts, five cents a bag, in the streets outside Ebbets Field. * Maris and Mantle, batting back to back, and two balls landing in the lower deck of Yankee Stadium, back to back. * Dwight Evans, looking straight into the sun, making...

Season batting records for each position.
November 1, 2002... LISTED IN THE FOLLOWING CHARTS BELOW ARE THE SINGLE-SEASON HIGH MARKS--IN selected hitting categories--for players at each position. To qualify, players must have played a minimum of 100 games at their particular position (outfielders must have...

Baseball rules corner: umpires have to be careful in determining a player's intent.
November 1, 2002... INTENT IS AN AREA THAT UMPIRES, like courtroom judges, must take into consideration when issuing certain penalties. Is a pitcher purposely throwing at a batter? Did a runner intentionally get hit by a batted ball to kill a potential double...