EDIT: snippier than justified, sorry

..... what? I'm not understanding what you mean.

He means homicide bomb.

Bakestar wrote:EDIT: snippier than justified, sorry

youve bottomed out.

Intervention time

"we're all here because we love you"

Going through the fitness thread, I ran into this:

Slowhand wrote:I hadn't weighed myself in about a year since I began working out until the other day at the grocery store. I had put on 20 lbs. I figured the scale had to be wrong. Weighed myself again on a different scale and sure enough, 20 lbs.

Made me think of Brian Downing.

Downing was the first ballplayer that I know of who lifted weights in earnest. And it worked. He transformed himself into a pretty terrific offensive player.

He was always good at getting on base but the added strength from weight lifting added a bunch of power to his batting line, and despite not having a high batting average most years, his OPS was always very good.

In 1982, Gene Mauch recognized the Value of Downing's ability to get on base and he became the biggest, slowest lead off hitter in history (I guess). Anyways, it worked as well as he scored 109 runs for the Division Champion Angels.

Downing started out as a catcher. But after some injuries, he became mostly an outfielder and occasional DH. He had a very fine 22 year career and is one of the great stories in baseball history.

I kinda like this comp with Slowhand.

Wow, I didn't expect to be mentioned. Solid player, I'll take it. Thanks, smitty!

I'm now working on guys I've struggled with. The first is Housh, who I've decided is Carl Yastrzemski -- a man called Yaz.

Yaz became the regular left fielder for the Red Sox at the age of 21 and was a star at 22. He won a triple crown in 1967 (.326/44/126). and led his Cinderella team to within one game of a WFC. In 1968 he hit .301 with 23 home runs and 74 RBIs. Doesn't sound so hot. But that was good enough for a second batting title and a 170 OPS plus. 1968 was a real Year of the Pitcher.

Yaz was interesting because at one time he was thought to have some dog in him (someone called him a Hall of Famer from the neck down). But I remember him as being an extremely hard working guy who got the most of his ability. He was well liked by his team mates and respected around MLB.

He was a very fine LFer and a smart player with a very good arm who specialized in throwing guys out at 2B on drives off the Green Monster at Fenway. He was an outstanding 1Bman as well when he played there.

He was a pretty intense guy who smoked a lot and was constantly fiddling with his batting stance. He ended up playing until he was 43 and he was still pretty good -- an above average hitter when he retired.

Some criticized him as a guy who accumulated a lot of hits and homers because he just played a long time but he was a big hero in New England and deservedly so. (I remember one of buds from Vermont would sometimes sing the Carl Yastrzemski Song from 1967 -- "Carl Yastrzemski!; Carl Yastrzemski; Carl Yastrzemski; the man we call Yaz"!!!!!

Pretty kewl.

The two Wheels. Wheels Fell Off and Wheels Tupay. I went with the two Reggies -- Jackson and Smith.

I considered a guy who was a war vet for WFO but I couldn't come up with anything I thought fit.

So I went with pairing the two Wheels guys together. Both, like their player comps, are very good. Both players played much of their careers at the same time; Jackson from 1967-1987 and Smith from 1966-1982. So the similar names and the coinciding careers did the trick for me.

Reggie Jackson was very flamboyant -- but he was also a helluva player. He didn't hit for high averages and he struck out a lot -- this led to some to think he was over rated. Today's more in tune folks would look at his ability to get on base; his tremendous power; his speed and defense (he was good at both for a long time -- his defense did decline when he got older).

He was a smart player and he led a lot of winning teams. In many ways, he was the straw that stirred the drink. I think the fact that he almost punched out Billy Martin is a point in his favor, too.

Reggie Smith was nearly as good as Jackson. His peak years weren't as good as Jackson's but he was a heckuva player for a long time. He was pretty under rated but he got on base a a very good pace; hit for good power; was a very fine defensive player; and had a lot of very good to outstanding seasons. He was a fast runner and a good enough outfielder to play some CF as well as his normal RF. What more could you ask for? He was traded twice for some pretty mediocre talents so I think you can conclude he wasn't as appreciated as he should have been.

I like our two Wheels. And I like both the Reggies. Some folks probably don't like Reggie Jackson much because of his self-promotion and his ego and stuff. Those things weren't really part of my comp. I think he was kinda kewl in many ways (remember when he hip checked the ball in that run down in that World Series game -- that was awesome). And that's what I'm getting at with this comp.

Right now I'm working on Grotewold; DAJAFI; My cousin Mose and a few others. This is getting more difficult so bear with me. Dick Groat and Jerry Grote just didn't work for me for Grotewold.

For some reason DAJAFI reminds me of Catfish Hunter.

JFLNYC wrote:For some reason DAJAFI reminds me of Catfish Hunter.

overrated and died young? Yikes.

ye; I'll take Yaz

Smitty for HOF

Flamboyant and overrated? I'll take it!

Thanks Smitty

dajafi wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:For some reason DAJAFI reminds me of Catfish Hunter.

overrated and died young? Yikes.

Now you know that's not what I meant. Catfish was a great pitcher, especially in his prime years from 71-75. I remember scoring one playoff game he started and he never went to 3 balls on any hitter. But if you want to take it wrong, then just be that way!

Was the first huge FA signing by the Yankees

I think Dajafi is Alan Trammel.

I went with Al Kaline for DAJAFI. I was rooting around on the interweb and found some study that had Kaline amongst the smartest baseball players since 1954.

Kaline skipped the minor leagues and went straight to the Tigers in 1953 at 18. He was a star by the age of 20 and continued to be one for the remainder of his 22 year career.

Al was a bit overshadowed by the other star OFers of his era -- Mays; Mantle; Aaron; Clemente; Maris; Colovito and others. Detroit was kind of a backwater team as far as national attention went. But Kaline was a terrific player. A great defensive RFer with a very strong and accurate arm, Kaline was also a very fine hitter. Patient and normally a .300 or better hitter, he also had good power.

He was bothered by a lot of injuries, often caused by being born with a deformed left foot. He missed a lot of games so he never hit 30 homers and rarely scored or drove in 100. But he was an awfully good hitter. His career numbers are further hurt by playing through the pitchers era of the early 60s through the early 70s.

He retired with a lot of interesting numbers like a .297 BA and 399 home runs. He did nudge over the 3000 hit mark finishing with 3007.

A true gentleman, Kaline has been a member of the Tiger organization since his retirement as a player in '74. He is a special consultant to the GM.

JFLNYC wrote:

dajafi wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:For some reason DAJAFI reminds me of Catfish Hunter.

overrated and died young? Yikes.

Now you know that's not what I meant. Catfish was a great pitcher, especially in his prime years from 71-75. I remember scoring one playoff game he started and he never went to 3 balls on any hitter. But if you want to take it wrong, then just be that way!

Sheesh, NOW you call the guy out for having less balls than others