TenuredVulture wrote:

meatball wrote:Smitty is the best poster.

Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, or Babe Ruth?

Smitty certainly hits for power,but he's got other stuff going on, character-wise. I fancy him a Staub-ian figure. Further, Staub's known for his cooking, and who among us has not paused to dab drool from his chops whilst reading Smitty's enticing posts about his barbecue menus?

Were it not for Staub's unfortunate choice of employers during his playing career, and the appalling clump of comparable players as Baseball Reference figures them, I'd be more adamant about this suggestion.

maybe Eddie Murray?

drsmooth wrote:Staub's known for his cooking

Ahem.

JFLNYC wrote:

drsmooth wrote:Staub's known for his cooking

Ahem.

he sews, too?

The only thing he doesn't do is mend straight.

JFLNYC wrote:The only thing he doesn't do is mend straight.

and Murray's a switch hitter

I guess both my suggestions are out

Could Smitty be Dave Wingfield?

TenuredVulture wrote:Could Smitty be Dave Wingfield?

how does he feel about seagulls?

Quick Winfield tangent. I went to a game in '78 and was seated down in the picnic area at the Vet. That was down in left field, about mid-way out. Anyway, the Padres were in town and us Cub Scouts were getting autographs. That meant that we were getting Padre autographs. So I have this game day cover to the Phillies magazine with Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith and others scratched on it. Somehow my mother put it aside and returned it to me two years ago! At first I assumed recycling, but it is a rather nice piece of memorabilia for that particular day.

thephan wrote:Quick Winfield tangent. I went to a game in '78 and was seated down in the picnic area at the Vet. That was down in left field, about mid-way out. Anyway, the Padres were in town and us Cub Scouts were getting autographs. That meant that we were getting Padre autographs. So I have this game day cover to the Phillies magazine with Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith and others scratched on it. Somehow my mother put it aside and returned it to me two years ago! At first I assumed recycling, but it is a rather nice piece of memorabilia for that particular day.

good story, but you're gonna have to pep it up if you're gonna get prime minutes on Antiques Roadshow with it

drsmooth wrote:good story, but you're gonna have to pep it up if you're gonna get prime minutes on Antiques Roadshow with it

That's for my kids to do, right: "My daddy died and I was going through his crap and found this. What did dead daddy leave me... tell me now... I wanna be rich."

For some reason, The Crimson Cyclone (TRT) and Meatball go together. So I'm going with Robin Roberts (TCC) and Curt Simmons for those two stalwarts. I always think of Roberts and Simmons together since they were the Big Two for the Whiz Kids for so many years.



Roberts, of course was the best pitcher in MLB during the 50s. He won 20 games every year it seemed and it wasn't because of great run support or BABIP luck any of that new fangled nonsense. The guy was flat out great. He was abut the best pitcher in the NL -- and often in the whole MLB from 1950-55.

He was the best player in baseball in 1952 but somehow lost out to Hank Sauer -- yeah, that's right, Hank Sauer -- for the MVP. He went 28-7 with a middling club.

After throwing around a billion innings during those six great seasons, Roberts lost some of his stuff and became a different pitcher. He had some up and down season for the Phils until they dumped him after a 1-10 1960 season. But he was still a mostly good to very good pitcher into the mid-sixties for Baltimore and Houston.

He was also a terrific organizer. He was a key guy in getting the Players Union together overcoming tremendous odds. It was Roberts who supported the players hiring Marvin Miller and the rest, as they say, is history.

His plan for the Players Union to have a really cool banner to bring to negotiations never got off the ground though.

Meatball reminds me of Simmons for the reasons stated above. Although Roberts is a HoF guy and Simmons isn't, they are linked very strongly in my mind as are TCC and Meat.

Simmons was a great young pitcher from Egypt, Pa. The Phillies were so stoked to sign him up, they sent their big league team to little Egypt to play an exhibition game vs. Simmons' town team. He dazzled the Phils, striking out 11 and nearly winning the game.

Simmons pitched great in 1950, going 17-9 and he was a big key to the Whiz Kids winning the unexpected pennant. He missed the end of the season and the World Series due to Military obligations. That happened a lot during the Korean War (and later the Vietnam War).

He missed more time due to military obligations in 1951 when he spent the entire season in green rather than red. But he returned with a flourish with another really good year in 1952, starting the All-Star game and leading the league in shutouts.

In 1953, Simmons lost more time after chopping off part of his left big toe whilst mowing his lawn. I had always heard when I was young that he was never any good after the toe incident. Apparently it effected his pitching style but he was still a very good pitcher for a long time afterwords. He pitched for some bad Phillie teams and did well although his records weren't that great.

He had some arm trouble and the Phils foolishly released him. He went on to pitch for many more years. He had several great season with the Cardinals in the early 60s and famously was a key guy in 1964 as he was greatly responsible for the Cards beating out the Red Caps for the pennant that year. He was 18-9 that season including 4-0 against our doomed Phils.

Simmons pitched for 20 season and was a class act the whole time.

Smitty

Thanks, bud Perfect.

wait are you saying I burned out?

forgot to thank you smitty, i appreciate it

well it is nice to be a HOFer, thanks Smit

traderdave wrote:Smitty, nobody has more insight into you as, well, you. So, which ballplayer do you remind yourself of?

This is interesting and something I have to think about. Swish came up with Steve Hovely. JFLNYC with Bobby Shantz. Doc Smooth with Rusty Staub (who might be gay but who cares?).

All of them are good choices for the reasons given.

Grotewold has been kinda tough because I keep thinking Dick Groat and Jerry Grote but I don't like those comps.

However, when I read Grotewald's posts I often think he is "The Man." I don't think of Chase Utley when I think of "The Man" though -- I think of the original and one and only: Stan "The Man" Musial.

Musial, of course, was one of the all time greats. He is a Pennsylvania guy, but from the other side of the state. He started his career as a pitcher in the minors but he also was a good hitter so he played the outfield too. He hurt his shoulder one day playing in the field and his pitching career was over.

He became a full time outfielder and he was a star from the beginning as a 20 year old who hit .426 in 12 games at the end of the 1941 season. He went on to hit for average, draw lots of walks and smack tons of doubles, triples and home runs during a very long 22 season career.

He was a three time MVP and played on three World Championship teams.

Musial had a very unusual batting stance. Well, here:

He was noted for his unique batting stance, a crouch in which his back was seemingly square to the pitcher.[29] This stance was later described by pitcher Ted Lyons as "a kid peeking around the corner to see if the cops were coming".[30] According to a 1950 description by author Tom Meany, "The bent knees and the crouch give him the appearance of a coiled spring, although most pitchers think of him as a coiled rattlesnake."[

Musial was a class act and a big hero in St. Louis, where he spent his entire career. He was an entertaining guy as well, famous for playing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" on his ever present harmonica.

Mickbayne is the one guy I actually know here. He's a great guy who spent a lot of time in Seattle so I'm gonna go with: Edgar Martinez.

Martinez was a third baseman who the Mariners didn't give a chance to play much until he was 27. But from that point on, he was one of the best hitters in baseball until he retired after his age 41 season.

Although he began his career as a 3Bman, Edgar became a full-time DH early on in his career and was probably the best in baseball history. He was a 7 time All-Star and finished 3rd for the MVP once and 6th once. The dude could really hit.

Gar was (and is) one of the most popular Mariners ever. He has a street named after him and everything.

smitty wrote:Stan "The Man" Musial.

I blushed and ordered a harmonica