Maury Wills was such a longshot to make it in the Major Leagues that Topps turned down the opportunity to sign him to a $5 baseball card contract. Maury Wills is a true Los Angeles Dodgers legend. The Dodgers won their first championship in Los Angeles in Wills' first season and went on to win two more titles during his first tenure with the team (1959-1966), with Wills being the team captain from 1963-1966. Wills made the All Star Game in five separate seasons and received the very first All Star Game Most Valuable Player Award ever in 1962! That same season, Wills beat out Willie Mays to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award. In 1962, Wills also won his second Gold Glove at shortstop and set a new Modern Era (post-1900) Major League record for the most stolen bases in a single season with 104 (the first player ever to steal over 100 bases in the Modern Era). Wills' revival of the stolen base is probably his greatest legacy. Before he stole 50 bases in 1960, no National Leaguer had stolen 50 bases since 1923! Players like Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman were all inspired by Wills. However, while Wills was setting records and showing up on Most Valuable Player ballots there was one place he was conspicuously absent - packs of Topps baseball cards! Wills did not have a Topps baseball card until 1967, nearly a decade into his Major League career! For a card company that prided itself on having basically every Major Leaguer in the game, Wills was a notable exception. What makes it even more notable is why Topps did not have a Maury Wills card. You see, Topps did not feel Wills was worth paying the $5 it would have taken to sign to a baseball card contract! http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2011/10/did-topps-turn-down-a-deal-on-maury-wills-because-he-was-such-a-bad-prospect.html
Tommy John was created to treat a full tear of that ligament, not a partial. But around 2000, about twenty years since the surgery was first performed, more partial tears began to be steered towards the procedure. If the procedure treated full tears so well, why not try it with a partial? The surgery now has a high rate of success (85% or better), so the invasiveness and lengthy rehab now seems worth the risk for either type of tear. Two years post-surgery, a successfully rehabbed pitcher will report at least pre-injury strength, if not better. For a pitcher approaching their mid-30s, like Lackey, that increased strength may extend their playing career. Lackey is signed with the Sox until he’s roughly 36. If everything goes right with his rehab, that gives him that best-ever strength in the year his contract runs out. http://www.sportsgirlkat.com/2011/10/26/john-lackey-boston-red-sox-tommy-john-surgery/#more-2125
Mark Lemke is the prime example of a player who came out of nowhere to lead his team offensively in the playoffs. During the 1991 season, the Braves second baseman hit a paltry .234/.305/.312. His wOBA was .279 and he managed a wRC+ of just 70. Not typically the stats of a future postseason star. But in the 1991 World Series, Lemke was the Braves’ most-potent offensive force, batting .417/.462/.708 in 24 at bats over six games. In three games he batted seventh; in the other three he batted eighth. The next most-productive Braves hitter in the Series was Terry Pendleton, who hit .367/.424/.667 in 30 at bats over seven games. Pendleton hit second in all but one World Series game; in the other, he batted third. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/mike-napoli-stands-alone-at-the-bottom-of-the-order
Entering last night’s Game 6, the Cardinals-Rangers matchup was on pace to become the lowest-rated World Series ever. Fox Sports’s coverage averaged an 8.3 national rating through five games, according to Nielsen. The World Series in 2008 (Rays-Phillies) and 2010 (Rangers-Giants) are tied for the lowest rating (8.4). But this year’s Series is expected to avoid a low-water mark because interest tends to peak as a series runs longer. The disappointing numbers were jarring enough to have CNBC business reporter Darren Rovell take to Twitter with a poll asking why baseball has a ratings issue. (His options: “wrong teams,’’ “the broadcast team,’’ “not a baseball fan,’’ “too much competition,’’ and “late start times.’’) http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2011/10/28/lowly_world_series_wins_back_to_back_matchups_with_nfl
The problem is not that anyone watching was robbed of a dramatic hit; it's that anyone watching was robbed of the prospect of a dramatic hit. Most of watching baseball is waiting for something to happen. But the waiting's okay, because we know the waiting might be rewarded with something exciting. And then along comes an intentional walk, spoiling it for everyone. Look, the fundamental problem with the intentional walk is that no baseball players are actually involved. Sure, the batter stands there while the pitcher lobs a few plateward and the catcher catches them. But far more than anything else that happens on the field, the players are divorced from the action. http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/10/25/2512355/intentional-walks-the-scourge-of-the-game
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