Baseball History Will Be Made Tonight!

[Teddy Ballgame]

- No matter which team wins, it is almost certain that baseball history will be made tonight in the game at Houston between the Astros and the Atlanta Braves, televised at 8pm EDT on the Atlanta Superstation.

- If the Atlanta Braves win, manager Bobby Cox will record his 2009th victory and pass Leo "The Lip" Durocher as the eighth winningest manager of all time. Leo was of French Canadian stock (all the great ones are Canadians, LOL) and despite speaking no English until he was about seven and having less than grade school education and being a smallish player with marginal physical talent, he used his aggressiveness, drive, brains and charisma to become a decent major league player, a great major league manager, a big time gambler (but never on baseball), a pal of Sinatra and Bugsy Siegel and a host of other Hollywood and Vegas celebrities, and a ladies man of renown. I met Bobby Cox a few times in his Toronto Blue Jays days and can't think of a person less like the loquacious and flamboyant HOFer Durocher than is our bland Bobby. Nevertheless, he has done well for along time and it is indeed an honour to pass The Lip in baseball history.

- If the Astros win and starter Roger Clemens is the winning pitcher (NB: the most likely scenario here by far), The Rocketman passes Lefty Steve Carlton with victory number 330 and takes sole possession of the ninth spot among pitchers for lifetime wins. Roger has been magnificent so far with two seven inning stints in both of which he struck out nine and in one where he gave up five hits and one run and the other where he yielded just two hiys and no runs. But he is 42 and the end could happen at any time just as the Babe at age 41 after a game in which he hit three home runs including the only one ever hit out of the old Pittsburg stadium (Forbes Field?) suddenly completely lost his batting touch and played just five more games with a couple of singles, a .087 BA and nothing out of the infield before retiring suddenly in acute embarrassment.

- This is one game I intend to watch.

GO ROCKET!!! AND remember - when you win, you're an old pro; when you lose, you're an old man - so make sure to win.

[PopTop]

And if Craig Biggio gets a hit, he will pass none other than Teddy Ballgame on the all-time hits list. Talk about a coincidence.

[Teddy Ballgame]

And if Craig Biggio gets a hit, he will pass none other than Teddy Ballgame on the all-time hits list. Talk about a coincidence.

- TP - Thanks for that, I had no idea.

- Because he missed five years in two wars and another season and a half with injuries, and also because he walked more often per time up at bat than anyone in history, Ted is way down in the hits parade, probably no longer in the top 100.

- It will have taken Biggio more than 1556 extra official at bats before he passes The Thumper.

- But it is still something to be proud of and Biggio is a fine second basement who hits for average (.287 lifetime BA) and has great pop for a second basemen (235 homers).

- I hope he does it tonight while I'm watching and that there is some mention of the feat (and the guy he passed) when he does.

[Baseball Guru]

Good ol' Teddy Ballgame is still in the top 65 as far as hits go in baseball history....

Looks like Bobby got the piece of history in this one as it was a FABULOUS pitched game with both Hudson and Clemens pitching gems and the Braves winning in the 12th from an unlikely hero: rookie-Ryan Langerhans

[Teddy Ballgame]

- BG - YES, you're right, Ted is still 64th or 65th all time in hits which surprised me because he only has about 7600 at bats.

- Truly a beautifully pitched, dramatic game last night and I was especially impressed with Clemens when he opened the seventh inning allowing runners on second and third with nobody out and was still able to keep Atlanta from scoring in that inning and to get the ball up to 94 and 95 MPH on four or five key pitches. (I thought of the great Tom Seaver who at a press conference upon the signing of a contract with the White Sox when he was 40 or 41 was asked if he still threw as hard as ever said, "Yes, I still throw as hard as ever but the ball just doesn't get to the plate as fast as it used to". Only the two Texans Clemens and Ryan plus Randy Johnson in the modern era have been able to throw constistently in the mid 90s after age forty. Maybe Curt Shilling will be the next old, bold pitcher still able to challenge the hitters with heat in his forties but I guess we'll have to see that next year when he turns forty.

- On another channel, the Yankees were reacting to Steinbrenner's latest tongue lashing by hitting the ball out of the yard almost every inning and beating some other club 18 or 19 to 8 or 9 but needless to say I spent almost all the time watching real baseball on the Atlanta channel and only clicked on the blow out Yankee game during commercials.

- It was great to see old time baseball again in the Astros-Braves game and kind of nice to see someone I have actually met and spoken to set a little history when Bobby Cox passed The Lip for eight place among all time wins as a manager.

[Baseball Guru]

(I thought of the great Tom Seaver who at a press conference upon the signing of a contract with the White Sox when he was 40 or 41 was asked if he still threw as hard as ever said, "Yes, I still throw as hard as ever but the ball just doesn't get to the plate as fast as it used to"


lol:laff:

Thats a GREAT quote:thumbsup:

[PopTop]

Bidge had a pair of hits in Tuesday's win over the ATL's to give him 2,656 and move him into 63rd all-time ahead of Ted Williams' 2,654. Biggio also scored a run to give him 1,611 for his career and move him into 39th all-time ahead of Lou Brock (1,610).