Ted Simmons is a beast, or, My Baseball Project

So do you have a category for multihit games by retired players with statues built in their honor?

 

Random weird shit ...

-- I saw speedsters Mark Brouhard and Tony Armas hit triples.
-- Hank Aaron's last game was also Bill Freehan's last game.
-- Don Money absolutely blew with me in the house, he hit .133 and had just four hits, but two of them were HRs.
-- The "other" Brian Giles, that is to say, the mega-shitty middle infielder more famously connected to the Mets, never failed to get a hit with me in the house when George Bamberger inexplicably drooled over him in his return to the Brewer dugout.
-- I had completely forgotten that Robin Yount's move to the outfield began in LF, where I saw him play four games. I also saw Ben Oglivie play a game at 1B.
-- Finally, name that Beniquez! I saw much-traveled Juan Beniquez play one game. Can you guess what uniform I saw him in?

 

Shit. Baines can't hold a candle to Robin Yount in that regard.

 

Just want to make sure you have all your bases covered.

 

I thought you'd be more interested in God-awful shitty Sox utility players like Tim Hulett or Bryan Little.

 

Got any info on reserve 1B Russ Mormon? Saw him hit his first career HR, I believe, and a triple in a game in the mid-80s at the old Comiskey Park.

 

Sadly, I had not seen Russ Mormon up to '85. The late Joe DeSa? Oh yeah. 1-for-1 in a pinch-hitting appearance.

 

Julio Cruz?

 

Julio Cruz was 2-for-10 with 3 SBs and 2 RBIs in three games, but only one those games was with the Sox. The other two were Seattle.

 

For anyone interested in compiling a list of your games -- maybe not as detailed/nerdy as mine or Bubbler's -- here's a few tips:

- Old ticket stubs are the most convenient way to keep track, of course, but there's a ton of resources you can tap to stir up your memory. If you have any photos from a game but don't know the date, you might be able to narrow it down by looking at context clues (i.e., day/night game, unique signage around the field, ID'ing obscure players in the lineup or even the dugout). Another way is to talk to the people you went with, and see if they have any memories of the game.

- Once you start narrowing it down, you can utilize the best resource on the Web for looking up old box scores: www.retrosheet.org. You can search by player, by team, by year, or by any number of factors.

All you need is one vivid memory to start your search.

For instance, when Rusty said he remembered Barry Larkin hitting five home runs in back-to-back games, I went to Larkin's top performances page on Retrosheet and saw that the only 3-HR game he ever had was June 28, 1991. Right below it, the list shows that one of his 2-HR games came June 27, 1991. Bingo.

Here's another example: I remembered that I saw Nolan Ryan pitch in Baltimore sometime in the late '80s. That's the only memory I had. Now, because Ryan pitched in the AL only from 1989-93 -- he had been in the NL with the Astros since 1980 -- I used Ryan's 1989 pitching gamelog to find out that he only made two starts in Baltimore that year: May 29 and Aug. 5. Well, we had moved away from Maryland in early August of that year, so I knew it couldn't be the latter date. That left May 29. And from that one memory of Ryan pitching in Baltimore, I was able to figure it out.

Finally, one last example: I found an old set of photos at my mom's house recently from a Cubs-Braves game in the early '90s. Didn't know the date, but there were two clues in the photos: 1) a young David Justice was playing first base for the Braves; 2) the San Diego Chicken was at the game. So, automatically, that first clue narrowed it down to 1990, because Justice's fielding record shows he played 69 career games at 1B and all of them came in his rookie season. Then, I did a search on the AJC archives for "chicken braves cubs" between January and December 1990. It came back with a result for May 15, but the blurb said the Chicken didn't arrive until the 7th inning because of a travel delay. Well, it turns out that David Justice didn't play that day, but checking his 1990 gamelogs, he made his first appearance on May 16 -- against the Cubs, at first base. And that was my game: May 16, 1990.

 

The beefed up BaseballReference is also wonderful for old box scores and other info.

The even more beefed up FootballReference.com, which includes NFL boxes well into the 70s, is calling me for my next project, though baseball will take lots of time. I'm not even through half my games yet.

 

Off the top of my head, I was the game when...

Chase Utley hit a grand slam for his first ML home run - http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B04240PHI2003.htm

Kevin Millwood tossed the no-hitter against the Giants - http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2003/B04270PHI2003.htm

The Phillies went to 14 innings with the Nationals - http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/B09270WAS2006.htm

...And then I went back the next night when it didn't start until 11 p.m. - http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/B09280WAS2006.htm

Game 3 of the 2008 World Series: "The Rain Game" - http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2008/B10250PHI2008.htm


More to come