Baseball Digest articles from September 2003

Baseball Digest archives from September 2003

Letters to the editor. (The Fans Speak Out).(Letter to the Editor)
September 1, 2003... Sammy Sosa's corked bat incident (on June 3 against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Wrigley Field) adds to why baseball is, in my opinion, America's greatest pastime. A true symbol of the United States would not be complete without a shadow of...

Jays' Carlos Delgado, Vernon Wells destined to join majors' RBI elite? (Warm Up Tosses)(Cover Story).(Toronto Blue Jays)(Cover Story)
September 1, 2003... THERE ARE SOME ONE-SEASON, MAJOR LEAGUE HITTING RECORDs THAT HAVE withstood concerted challenges over the years, and at this point in time still seem virtually unattainable. Rather than mention such apparently out-of-reach, individual...

Road to 300: with Roger Clemens becoming the 21st pitcher to win 300 big league games, here are the stories of seven others who reached the same milestone.
September 1, 2003... Warren Spahn wanted to get 400 victories WARREN SPAHN FOUGHT IN THE Battle of the Bulge. He earned a battlefield commission. He led his engineering unit to repair the last remaining bridge on the Rhine River--while the Germans were still...

Baseball profile: Doug Mientkiewicz--Minnesota Twins.
September 1, 2003... FULL NAME: Douglas Andrew Mientkiewicz AGE, HT., WT.: 29, 6-2, 200 Born: June 19, 1974 in Toledo, Ohio HOME: Ft. Myers, Florida STATUS/FAMILY: Married (wife Jodi) NICKNAME: Mint LIFE OUTSIDE BASEBALL: Non-stop fishing...

Chipper Jones--baseball's best switch-hitter: Braves star believes the best is yet to come even though he has already earned MVP, All-Star and World Series honors.(Atlanta Braves)
September 1, 2003... HE HAS DRIVEN IN 100 OR MORE runs in seven consecutive seasons, scored 100 or more in six of seven seasons and been booed lustily by opposing fans at an untold number of stops along the way. He has hit more than .310 in five consecutive...

Major feats in the minors: some big league individual records have been overshadowed by lower-level achievements in the game.
September 1, 2003... IT'S EASY TO OVERLOOK, IGNORE, dismiss or even be unaware of major feats in the minor leagues, remarkable as many have been, because the focus of most fans and media is almost exclusively on the big leagues. That's true in part because the...

Armed behind the plate: Veteran Benito Santiago and youngster Yorvit Torrealba give San Francisco plenty of firepower from catching position.
September 1, 2003... THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS have two 38-year-old sluggers in the heart of their batting order--one frequently refers to the aging process and admits he is slowing down, while the other plays like a frisky youngster. Barry Bonds--who spends...

The hot corner: third basemen no longer expected to produce the offense they once did.
September 1, 2003... THE TERM IS LOVING AND FULL OF praise, at least in the baseball sense. Nobody outside the game would want to be singled out as a "big eater" in their peer group. A big eater isn't a player renowned for wolfing down a postgame spread and...

Getting to the height of the matter: some executives believe the taller the pitcher, the better: often a player's size will dictate how teams make decisions regarding draft selections.
September 1, 2003... MARINERS ACE JAMIE MOYER isn't easily intimidated anymore, but when he was 21, he found one lineup overwhelming. "I remember in rookie ball, the first time we played the Yankees' rookie team," Moyer said of the 1984 matchup. "It was like a...

Baseball quick quiz.
September 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. In 1930, Hack...

Barry Bonds' swing: makes him the most feared hitter in the game.
September 1, 2003... COMPACT, QUICK, SELECTIVE, smooth, explosive and sweet are some of the adjectives that describe the bat swing of Barry Bonds. But ask the San Francisco Giants' slugger about it, and that subject is off-limits. Like a gourmet chef with a...

Robin Yount: the game I'll never forget: Brewers Hall of Famer recalls 1982 season finale when Milwaukee clinched division title over Baltimore Orioles.
September 1, 2003... I DON'T REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT MY first game for the Brewers, but I remember the first grounder that was hit to me. We were playing the Red Sox, and a high chopper was hit over the mound. Cecil Cooper, who became a teammate later, was on...

Turn back the clock: memories from former shortstop Joe DeMaestri.
September 1, 2003... ON DECEMBER 11, 1959 JOE DeMaestri got the best Christmas present of his life. After eight consecutive years as a shortstop for deep second division denizens of the American League, he had had enough. It was time to go home to the family beer...

Statistical analysis.(players)(Illustration)
September 1, 2003... Statistical Analysis LAST JUNE, BARRY BONDS BECAME THE FIRST PLAYER IN MAJOR LEAGUE HISTORY TO ACCUMULATE 500 career stolen bases and 500 home runs. Below is a breakdown of how many lifetime homers were hit by players who stole 500 or...

Club history Cleveland Indians.
September 1, 2003... Club History Cleveland Indians The Indians have been a part of major league baseball and the American League since 1901. All Statistical records are from 1900 through the 2002 campaign. Club Nicknames * Blues (1901-1904) ...

Baseball rules corner: major leagues need clarification on illegality of dugout catches.
September 1, 2003... THE SECOND QUESTION OF MY annual rules quiz created a bit of a stir among some observant readers. My answer was right and wrong-if that's possible. The true or false question read: "Steve Cox of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (Travis Lee would...

7th inning stretch: Bill Mueller, Red Sox third baseman.
September 1, 2003... Q: You have played with Barry Bonds in San Francisco, Sammy Sosa in Chicago and Nomar Garciaparra in Boston. Who is the best of that group? A: "It's hard to rank just one person because each guy offers a lot. Nomar offers so much to our...