Rev Beezer lends dignity to what otherwise be considered a classless brawl.

He is Vernon (The Preacher) Law.

Law was a very good pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 50s and 60s. He pitched pretty well for some horrible teams in the early to mid-50s. Then the Pirates got good and so did his record.

He was maybe the best pitcher in baseball in 1959 and won the Cy Young with a 20-9 record for the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. He pitched very well in World Series winning two games and starting the famous game 7. He pitched well in that game too but had to leave early with a bad ankle. His relievers gave up a bunch of runs and he didn't get the win but he got a ring so what the hell.

Eem can only be Law's longtime team mate -- Bob Friend.

Friend was a very good pitcher for a lot of years. He started very young and pitched for the bad Pirates of the early 50s. His record in his time with those teams was 28-50 despite pitching well much of the time. He started and relieved in 1955 and went 14-9 with a sparkling ERA of 2.83 which led the league for a 60-94 Bucco team in 1955,

He became mostly a full time starter after that. He pitched well to very well for many years but compiled some odd records:

17-17; 14-18; 22-14; 8-19; 18-12; 14-19; 18-14; 17-16; 13-18.

He might be one of the great examples of a pitcher that can't be judged by his won/loss record. He was MUCH better than his career 197-230 mark.

Known to had had many times for laffs.

Smutty what the fuck. I hope you haven't been sandbagging as a boring old hack all these years. Or are you just on shrooms? Will u write a guest post on my weblog

smitty wrote:Rev Beezer lends dignity to what otherwise be considered a classless brawl.

He is Vernon (The Preacher) Law.

Law was a very good pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 50s and 60s. He pitched pretty well for some horrible teams in the early to mid-50s. Then the Pirates got good and so did his record.

He was maybe the best pitcher in baseball in 1959 and won the Cy Young with a 20-9 record for the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. He pitched very well in World Series winning two games and starting the famous game 7. He pitched well in that game too but had to leave early with a bad ankle. His relievers gave up a bunch of runs and he didn't get the win but he got a ring so what the hell.

Awesome. But I thought he was the Deacon. Regardless, I love cool little snippets like this.

This is probably my favorite thread of all time on BSG.

Law was known as both Beez. I just went with The Preacher 'cuz it worked better. The Deacon is cool too though. Glad you like this stuff 'cuz I do too.

Barry Jive is:

The "Boomer" David Wells.

Big lefty pitcher who was a late bloomer. Became a regular starter for the first time at 30. Before that he'd pitch out of the bullpen more than start although he piled up lots of innings and wins.

After becoming a full time starter he pitched another 15 seasons piling up wins and innings. He was good nearly every one of those years and was really good for many of them. He moved around a lot, pitching for ten different teams.

Boomer liked to party. He had many laffs with friends. He also liked to speak his mind which got him into hot water at times. But he was always entertaining and a helluva pitcher.

"We certainly all loved Boomer here," Peavy said. "The man's had a great career. I hate to see a good friend go. I know Boomer gave us all he had. A lot of teams talk about his antics and his beer-drinking and this and that, but there's something to be said for being wanted for 20 years on a major league roster. That's pretty special."

Became a broadcaster after his playing days were over. Tossed a perfect game in '98 and almost threw another one that same year.

Not to be confused with Greg "Boomer" Wells who starred in Japan.

Also, both of them liked to eat pizza at 3 AM.

YES

thanks, smitty. that's perfect.

Disco Stu is Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Great natural ballplayer. Hall of fame career. He had all the tools. Hit for good power for the era and was a fast runner and a fine outfielder. Banned for life from baseball after a scandal.

Woody wrote:Smutty what the #$&!. I hope you haven't been sandbagging as a boring old hack all these years.

Goddam, woody, I'm trying to think of a really funny way to contrast smitty's unheralded brilliance in this thread with all the loud hype associated with the wheelies to make you look bad again and I can't it's just really pissing me off. Can you make a funny joke out of it or something?

Nice one,

Your pal

wiz.

smitty wrote:Barry Jive is:

The "Boomer" David Wells.

smitty is on it. yeah. that there is the good shit.

smitty wrote:Barry Jive is:

The "Boomer" David Wells.

So I'm not alone in having imagined Jive thus

EDIT: wiz, didn't even see your post on the same matter.

There is a zone for what Smitty's up to, and he is in it

Bucky is not Bucky Dent but rather -- Bucky Harris.

Harris was a pretty good 2Bman for the Senators and the Tigers in the 20s, fashioning a nice 12 year career. But like our own Bucky, he was better known for his work in another aspect of the game rather than as a player.

He wasn't an umpire, but a manager, and one of the best ever. He had a 29 year managerial career and according to Bill James, he ranks pretty high up on the list of managers whose teams won more games than expected.

Harris first managed when he was only 27 and still playing for the Senators. He led the normally sorry Washington club to two pennants and World Series title -- the only WFC in the Senators history. (He also won one WS with the Yankees in 1947).

Harris was a clever guy. He used pitcher Firpo Marberry as a relief ace -- and he was brilliant in the role winning and saving lots of games. At the time, the bullpen was reserved for failed starters to do scrub work. Games were often "saved" by one of the Ace starters on the team. Starting pitchers like Walter Johnson and Ed Walsh and Christy Mathewson and Waite Hoyt and other starters would often lead their teams in saves. Harris' use of Marberry was probably a big reason he was able to win pennants and a WFC with the sorry Sens.

He also started a righty pitcher named Curley Ogden in a deciding World Series game to nullify rookie Bill Terry, who was used as a platoon guy by the Giants and terrorized righty pitchers. Harris lifted Ogden after two batters and brought in a lefty. Terry was removed early in the game, then Harris brought in a righty and the Nats eventually won the game and the Series.

While many of the great managers of all time had alcohol problems, Harris did not (although he may have had an addiction to diet mountain dew).

smitty wrote:A very good read, Brosnon pulled no punches in his disdain for announcer Harry Caray among other interesting insights into te life of a big league.

+1 for Smitty. I could not stand Harry Caray. Back in the old days before watching baseball games on the internet and before realignment, I watched many Phillies-Cubs games on WGN because I moved away from Philly. I saw more games broadcast on WGN than any other station. I had to listen to that awful Harry Caray instead of Harry Kalas. It didn't help that their names were so similar. I would say something about Harry Kalas to my wife and she would think I was talking about that moron Caray and that would send me into a rage because I couldn't stand the comparison.

Phan in Phlorida (PiP) has gotta be Wally Pipp.

Everyone knows the legend of Wally Pipp, who lost his job because he missed a game due to a headache and Lou Gehrig replaced him and Pipp never got to play again. All because he had a headache. As with many stories, this one wasn't exactly true. Pipp was replaced because the Yanks were having a bad season and manager Huggins was replacing older guys with young guys to try and spark the team:

http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/pipp.asp

Ironically, Pipp almost died one month after the "headache" game when he was hit in the head by a ball thrown by a young pitcher trying to impress the Yankees with his heater. He ended up with a pretty bad skull fracture.

Pipp was actually a very fine player, perhaps the best fielding first baseman of his era. He also was a pretty good power bat for the time and he was a key member of three straight pennant winners. He received MVP votes in three different seasons.

But today, when a veteran player misses a game and is replaced by a youngster, he is kidded about being Pipp'ed.

Here at BSG, you can also get Pip'ed but it's a little different.

phdave wrote:

smitty wrote:A very good read, Brosnon pulled no punches in his disdain for announcer Harry Caray among other interesting insights into te life of a big league.

+1 for Smitty. I could not stand Harry Caray. Back in the old days before watching baseball games on the internet and before realignment, I watched many Phillies-Cubs games on WGN because I moved away from Philly. I saw more games broadcast on WGN than any other station. I had to listen to that awful Harry Caray instead of Harry Kalas. It didn't help that their names were so similar. I would say something about Harry Kalas to my wife and she would think I was talking about that moron Caray and that would send me into a rage because I couldn't stand the comparison.

PTK's data base has been quite helpful in this enterprise.

I also watched a lot of WGN back in the old days when I had that station on my cable in the 80s in Oklahoma. The only really good thing about Carey was the guys who imitated him. Some of them were funny.

Do you know this Carey story?:

After the 1969 season, Caray was unexpectedly fired as the Cardinals' lead broadcaster (his broadcast partner Jack Buck replaced him). Golenbock, other Cardinal historians, and Caray's former wife have suggested the cause was a purported affair Caray had with the daughter-in-law of Cardinals owner August A. Busch, Jr. (who also owned Anheuser-Busch brewery, the club's broadcast sponsor); Caray first called it a business grudge while never necessarily denying or affirming the rumors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Caray

I remember first reading/hearing about that when I lived in Missouri.

There are many sorry examples of nepotism in the arena of sports broadcasting; I'd go so far as to say that Kenny Albert (son of Marv) is the only second-generation sportscaster who isn't an abomination in some way or other. The Carays were the worst--and they went to a third generation in the sorry person of Mr. FISTED!

Phight On! is Big Ed Delahanty.

A big guy and a helluva hitter back in the olden days. He was one of the best sluggers and all around offensive players in the 1890s and into the turn of the century. He hit .400 three times and was the first big leaguer to homer four times in one game.

Big Ed liked to drink and fight too. He spent his money as fast as he made it. Unfortunately, he met a tragic end in a still mysterious fall from a railroad bridge into the Niagra River and over the Falls.

I also managed the Phillies (while we were the "Blue Jays") in 1943! I love it!

This spurned some research. I had an inkling that Walter "Buddy" Harris, who was drafted from my neighborhood in 1968, and had a couple cups of coffee with the 'stros in '70 and '71, had a dad name "Bucky Harris", whom the Textile gym (now "Philadelphia University") is named for. Turns out they're not the same guy. But *my* Bucky Harris is a way cool guy! Lots of seasons (29) as a manager. HOF (Veterans Committee) in 1975. Grew up in Pennsylvania Coal Country. Was traded as a player/manager! And there is an unbelievable *third* "Bucky Harris" who played in the minors from 1928-30.

And....in probably the most coolest thing I could ever hope for...my Bucky was "mentioned in a version of Abbott & Costello's famous Who's on First? routine". I now have a quest to FIND THAT VERSION!

Thanks Smitty!!