B. Bonds is in L.A. to try for home run #755, won't be easy with 90% of the crowd BOOING you. PHR'S are dropping fast. Only 7 players are on track to hit 40 or more HOMERS this year. There is only a one (1) percent chance that anyone will hit 60 in 2007.
Here are the players on track to hit 40 or more homers this year.
player-----------------GP---HR---GL---PHR
A. RODRIGUEZ----------105---35---57----54
R. HOWARD--------------88---29---56----47
P. FIELDER------------106---30---56----45
J. MORNEAU------------101---28---56----43
R. ANKIEL(PCL-AAA)-----95---31---35----42
A. DUNN---------------105---27---57----41
D. LEON (MEX-AAA)------99---31---35----41
Note that two minor league players are 2ND 3rd on the home run totals list.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Frosty Kennedy
Here are some stories from the Plainview Daily Herald
that I found on their web site.
From the Plainview Daily Herald
´Frosty´ Kennedy hits a homer for hype
By Danny Andrews
Herald Editor
Anyone who lived in Plainview in the mid-1950s probably knows the name “Frosty” Kennedy, even if they never saw him play a game for the Plainview Ponies.
That was the minor league team that moved here in 1953 when the Lamesa franchise folded in the old West Texas-New Mexico League.
Twenty-seven-year-old outfielder Forrest Kennedy, who hit .403 for Lamesa, came along in the package and was an instant hit - no pun intended.
Many folks enjoyed summer evenings at Jaycee Park, watching the local team which finally folded after the 1961 season, briefly having an association with the Kansas City Athletics.
“He was a real character,” longtime Plainviewan Luther Bain recalled with a hearty laugh, echoing the remembrance of many others about Kennedy who died June 5 in Covina, Calif. at the age of 72.
Frosty sported massive arms and showed them off by wearing cutoff sleeves as did another more famous slugger of the day - Cincinnati first baseman Ted Kluszewski.
He always had a big chaw of tobacco, which liberally stained his uniform, and former Plainviewan Tom Locke recalls Frosty removing his chaw, wadding it up and rolling it toward the opponents´ dugout when he´d hit one out of Jaycee Park.
Discretion being the better part of valor - and arrogance - he probably didn´t do that on the road.
Those hometown homers earned him a wad of money stuck in the wire mesh screen by appreciative fans - he said he collected $269 for a game-winning shot against Clovis in the 13th inning of a playoff game.
Walt McAlexander, a 1962 PHS grad who served as the Ponies´ bat boy one season, says he used to listen to veteran KVOP sports announcer Tut Tawwater do the games - “live” here and by “re-creation” from the Western Union wire for road games. Walt recalls Frosty rumbling toward the mound after striking out his last time up on a night where he already had three or four hits.
Rather than fighting, Frosty wanted to congratulate the pitcher on finally getting him out.
Walt, who was a sports writer for the Lubbock paper for 14 years, then worked in sports information at Texas Tech, was excited about seeing Frosty´s name and picture at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. for being one of the 11 men to ever hit 60 or more homeruns in a season.
Of course, the first to do it was Babe Ruth, the legendary “Sultan of Swat,” in 1927, the year after Frosty was born.
Tut Tawwater alleges the league´s pitching in 1953 and again in 1956 when Frosty hit 60 round-trippers in the restructured Southwestern League, “was pathetic. . . about like high school.”
Former Herald Sports Editor Bob Carroll said Frosty took advantage of “invitingly close” fences at Jaycee Park (358 feet to center compared with about 400 now) for a number of “cheap” homeruns.
When I mentioned that to Frosty in a feature story I did back in 1985, he snorted, “Hell, I didn´t hit no cheap ones.”
He claimed he could have hit 120 homeruns in a well-lighted major league stadium.
Frosty recalled that he hit his Babe-matching 60th homer in San Angelo on the last evening of a 144-game season. Trying to help him, the San Angelo catcher was telling him what pitches were coming, but Frosty says he went 1-for-8 in a doubleheader the night before and it really didn´t help him.
His history-making homer in the third inning hugged the leftfield foul line and the umpire called it fair on a close decision.
In 1953 Frosty hit .410 with a 40-game hitting streak, 224 hits and 169 RBIs. Three years later (he played in Amarillo in 1954 and Yuma, Ariz. in 1955), he batted .327 with 184 RBIs (the major league record is 190) and scored 151 runs.
Playing for 12 different teams, Kennedy averaged .342 during a 10-year minor league career that began in 1948, hit 228 homers with 1,083 runs batted in and 1,572 hits.
Although he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, he never made it to the majors in an era when there were more than 400 minor league teams in America - soon to greatly dwindle with the popularity of television.
Frosty also said something else pretty brash in that 1985 interview: “I´m the greatest player ever. Babe Ruth hit 60 homers but never batted .400. Ted Williams and a lot of other guys hit .400 but never hit 60 homers. I did both.”
Considering that Joe Bauman hit an all-time record 72 homeruns and batted over .400 for Roswell in 1954, Frosty might have been just a bit, shall we say, off base about being “the greatest.”
But give him a homer for hype - and no cheap shot either.
(Danny Andrews is editor of The Herald.)
____________________________________________6-8-98 Local baseball legend ´Frosty´ Kennedy dies
By DANNY ANDREWS
Herald Editor
A Plainview baseball legend has died in California at the age of 72.
Forrest “Frosty” Kennedy, a minor league slugger who was one of 11 baseball players to hit 60 home runs in a season, died Friday night of a heart attack in Covina, Calif.
Kennedy hit 60 home runs in a 144-game season while playing for the Plainview Ponies in the Class B Southwestern League in 1956.
He hit his 60th homer on the last day of the season in San Angelo - a ball called fair right at the foul line.
He batted .327 that year, with 184 RBIs, and scored 151 runs.
In 1953 at Plainview he hit .410 with a 40-game hitting streak, 224 hits and 169 RBIs.
Kennedy averaged .342 during a 10-year minor league career that began in 1948, hit 228 homers with 1,083 runs batted in and 1,572 hits.
In addition to Plainview and Riverside, he also played in Pensacola, Fla., Atlanta, Ga., Hartford, Conn., Miami Beach, Lamesa (in 1952), Oklahoma City, Burlington, Iowa, Amarillo (1954), Yuma, Ariz. and Boise, Idaho.
But he never made it to the major leagues in an era when there were about 400 minor league teams in America. He hit .411 at Riverside, Calif. in 1949 and again in 1953 at Plainview.
Known for his big chew of tobacco and muscular arms - displayed in cutoff sleeves like Cincinnati slugger Ted Kluszewski of the same era - Kennedy also was famous for his brashness.
“I´m the greatest player ever,” he said in a feature story in The Herald in 1985. Babe Ruth hit 60 homers but never batted .400. Ted Williams and a lot of other guys hit .400 but never hit 60 homers. I did both.”
Former Herald Sports Editor Bob Carroll said Kennedy took advantage of Jaycee Park´s “invitingly close” fences for some “cheap homers,” but Kennedy responded: “Hell, I didn´t hit no cheap ones.”
He claimed he could have hit 120 homeruns in a well-lighted major league stadium.
While
As was typical of minor league baseball when Kennedy played for the Ponies, he passed by the wire-mesh screen to collect cash stuck through the openings by appreciative fans following a homerun.
He said he collected $290 after hitting a 13th-inning homer in a 1953 playoff game with Clovis.
Kennedy said of Plainview: “I think of the people in Plainview all the time. I´ve said many times two of the best years I ever had were in Plainview and the best fans were there. It was my favorite city in the 10 years I played.
“It´s No. 1 in my heart. You couldn´t tell a cotton farmer from the guy who owned the bank. The people were very friendly. The best people I´ve ever known were from West Texas.”
Retired from Douglas Aircraft, in recent years he was the owner and operator of the BMX bicycle track at Whittier Narrows.
A standout in football and baseball at El Monte High School, Kennedy served three years in the Navy. Later, Kennedy played semi-pro baseball and softball, and signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He was a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Minor League Hall of Fame, and his photo and statistics are displayed in the Babe Ruth Wing at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
_
_____________________________________________
Maris, schmaris: What about Joe Bauman?
Everybody´s talking about Mark McGwire of the Cardinals and/or Sammy Sosa of the Cubs breaking Roger Maris of the Yankees´ 37-year-old major league homerun record of 61 in a season.
But neither of them hold a candle to Joe Bauman who hit 72 - that´s right, Seventy-Two - in 1954 while playing for second-place Roswell, N.M. Rockets in the Longhorn League.
It´s still the all-time record for professional baseball.
Now 76 and still living in Roswell where he operated a Texaco station for many years, Bauman was a 6-5, 235-pound lefthanded-hitting first baseman - a little smaller than the righthanded McGwire and playing the same position - when he sent those 72 homers out of the park.
Answering the inevitable questions of “how´d you do that?,” Bauman said the key was the same for McGwire and Sosa, who also bats righthanded, to break the record they´re shooting for: “Everything has to fall in place.
“I think it´s inevitable” that the record will fall but he figured lefthand-swinging Ken Griffey Jr. of Seattle would have the best shot at the homerun record because there are more righthanded pitchers in the majors and he plays home games in a more inviting park.
Lefties Ruth and Maris both benefited from Yankee Stadium´s short rightfield porch.
Bauman said the pitching he saw was “good to average”; the ballparks regulation with decent lighting, except for a smallish Big Spring field (“I couldn´t hit much in that park - I hated it”) and the ball probably less “jazzed” than it is now.
Roswell had 140 games scheduled that year but played only 138. Bauman - never sidelined by injury or fatigue - played in all of them (almost always night games with few doubleheaders).
His best game was four homers at home against Sweetwater. However, he remembers having few multi-homerun games.
While Maris´ benchmark was Babe Ruth´s 60 homers in 1927 - thus, his record has stood longer than Ruth´s did - Bauman was shooting for the 69 belted by Joe Hauser of the Minneapolis Millers in 1933 and matched by Bob Crues of Amarillo (where Bauman played for two seasons) in 1948.
He got to Ruth´s mark of 60 with about 20 games left and hit three on the last day of the season in a doubleheader to break and pad the all-time record.
“I probably picked up $700 or $800 (money was stuck in the fence behind home plate as the tradition of the time dictated for a homerun) that day,” Bauman recalls.
“I liked the low pitches,” he says, recalling that he was frequently walked.
He also batted an even .400 in 1954. Told that former Plainview Ponies star Frosty Kennedy, who died earlier this summer, said he (Kennedy) was the greatest player ever because he hit 60 homeruns AND batted over .400 in his career - feats accomplished individually by Ruth and Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams - Bauman chuckled, “Frosty was pretty confident.”
But he didn´t comment on whether, by Kennedy´s yardstick, he would be the best player of all time, especially since he did both in the same season.
Bauman says he has no idea what his longest homerun was but believes the balls are livelier now because “even middle-sized guys get fooled on pitches and hit them out of the park with one hand.”
Bauman, whose exploits are recorded on a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. (which he has never visited), played for Capitol Hill High School in his hometown of Oklahoma City, then signed with independent Little Rock.
Although his contract was eventually purchased by the National League´s Boston Braves, he never played a day in the majors, ending an off-and-on 15-year career when he refused to have surgery on his ankle after the 1956 season.
“There were just 16 major league teams then (and about 400 minor league teams after the war, so too much talent) and you could make as much or more money in a decent job in the business world,” he said.
Bauman also says he lost four prime years to military service in World War II.
He agrees players are more physically developed now due to better training and nutrition methods. “The evolution of mankind kind of takes care of some of that,” he surmised. “When I was playing, the clubs wrote you letters forbidding you to swim because they didn´t want you to get muscle bound.”
Bauman figures his record probably will never be broken - at least at the minor league level: “If somebody was hitting a lot of homeruns, they wouldn´t leave them down in the minors long.”
Even if it does fall, he can be proud of having held it for more than 40 years and he´ll be in some mighty fine company.
(Danny Andrews is editor of The Herald.)
that I found on their web site.
From the Plainview Daily Herald
´Frosty´ Kennedy hits a homer for hype
By Danny Andrews
Herald Editor
Anyone who lived in Plainview in the mid-1950s probably knows the name “Frosty” Kennedy, even if they never saw him play a game for the Plainview Ponies.
That was the minor league team that moved here in 1953 when the Lamesa franchise folded in the old West Texas-New Mexico League.
Twenty-seven-year-old outfielder Forrest Kennedy, who hit .403 for Lamesa, came along in the package and was an instant hit - no pun intended.
Many folks enjoyed summer evenings at Jaycee Park, watching the local team which finally folded after the 1961 season, briefly having an association with the Kansas City Athletics.
“He was a real character,” longtime Plainviewan Luther Bain recalled with a hearty laugh, echoing the remembrance of many others about Kennedy who died June 5 in Covina, Calif. at the age of 72.
Frosty sported massive arms and showed them off by wearing cutoff sleeves as did another more famous slugger of the day - Cincinnati first baseman Ted Kluszewski.
He always had a big chaw of tobacco, which liberally stained his uniform, and former Plainviewan Tom Locke recalls Frosty removing his chaw, wadding it up and rolling it toward the opponents´ dugout when he´d hit one out of Jaycee Park.
Discretion being the better part of valor - and arrogance - he probably didn´t do that on the road.
Those hometown homers earned him a wad of money stuck in the wire mesh screen by appreciative fans - he said he collected $269 for a game-winning shot against Clovis in the 13th inning of a playoff game.
Walt McAlexander, a 1962 PHS grad who served as the Ponies´ bat boy one season, says he used to listen to veteran KVOP sports announcer Tut Tawwater do the games - “live” here and by “re-creation” from the Western Union wire for road games. Walt recalls Frosty rumbling toward the mound after striking out his last time up on a night where he already had three or four hits.
Rather than fighting, Frosty wanted to congratulate the pitcher on finally getting him out.
Walt, who was a sports writer for the Lubbock paper for 14 years, then worked in sports information at Texas Tech, was excited about seeing Frosty´s name and picture at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. for being one of the 11 men to ever hit 60 or more homeruns in a season.
Of course, the first to do it was Babe Ruth, the legendary “Sultan of Swat,” in 1927, the year after Frosty was born.
Tut Tawwater alleges the league´s pitching in 1953 and again in 1956 when Frosty hit 60 round-trippers in the restructured Southwestern League, “was pathetic. . . about like high school.”
Former Herald Sports Editor Bob Carroll said Frosty took advantage of “invitingly close” fences at Jaycee Park (358 feet to center compared with about 400 now) for a number of “cheap” homeruns.
When I mentioned that to Frosty in a feature story I did back in 1985, he snorted, “Hell, I didn´t hit no cheap ones.”
He claimed he could have hit 120 homeruns in a well-lighted major league stadium.
Frosty recalled that he hit his Babe-matching 60th homer in San Angelo on the last evening of a 144-game season. Trying to help him, the San Angelo catcher was telling him what pitches were coming, but Frosty says he went 1-for-8 in a doubleheader the night before and it really didn´t help him.
His history-making homer in the third inning hugged the leftfield foul line and the umpire called it fair on a close decision.
In 1953 Frosty hit .410 with a 40-game hitting streak, 224 hits and 169 RBIs. Three years later (he played in Amarillo in 1954 and Yuma, Ariz. in 1955), he batted .327 with 184 RBIs (the major league record is 190) and scored 151 runs.
Playing for 12 different teams, Kennedy averaged .342 during a 10-year minor league career that began in 1948, hit 228 homers with 1,083 runs batted in and 1,572 hits.
Although he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, he never made it to the majors in an era when there were more than 400 minor league teams in America - soon to greatly dwindle with the popularity of television.
Frosty also said something else pretty brash in that 1985 interview: “I´m the greatest player ever. Babe Ruth hit 60 homers but never batted .400. Ted Williams and a lot of other guys hit .400 but never hit 60 homers. I did both.”
Considering that Joe Bauman hit an all-time record 72 homeruns and batted over .400 for Roswell in 1954, Frosty might have been just a bit, shall we say, off base about being “the greatest.”
But give him a homer for hype - and no cheap shot either.
(Danny Andrews is editor of The Herald.)
____________________________________________6-8-98 Local baseball legend ´Frosty´ Kennedy dies
By DANNY ANDREWS
Herald Editor
A Plainview baseball legend has died in California at the age of 72.
Forrest “Frosty” Kennedy, a minor league slugger who was one of 11 baseball players to hit 60 home runs in a season, died Friday night of a heart attack in Covina, Calif.
Kennedy hit 60 home runs in a 144-game season while playing for the Plainview Ponies in the Class B Southwestern League in 1956.
He hit his 60th homer on the last day of the season in San Angelo - a ball called fair right at the foul line.
He batted .327 that year, with 184 RBIs, and scored 151 runs.
In 1953 at Plainview he hit .410 with a 40-game hitting streak, 224 hits and 169 RBIs.
Kennedy averaged .342 during a 10-year minor league career that began in 1948, hit 228 homers with 1,083 runs batted in and 1,572 hits.
In addition to Plainview and Riverside, he also played in Pensacola, Fla., Atlanta, Ga., Hartford, Conn., Miami Beach, Lamesa (in 1952), Oklahoma City, Burlington, Iowa, Amarillo (1954), Yuma, Ariz. and Boise, Idaho.
But he never made it to the major leagues in an era when there were about 400 minor league teams in America. He hit .411 at Riverside, Calif. in 1949 and again in 1953 at Plainview.
Known for his big chew of tobacco and muscular arms - displayed in cutoff sleeves like Cincinnati slugger Ted Kluszewski of the same era - Kennedy also was famous for his brashness.
“I´m the greatest player ever,” he said in a feature story in The Herald in 1985. Babe Ruth hit 60 homers but never batted .400. Ted Williams and a lot of other guys hit .400 but never hit 60 homers. I did both.”
Former Herald Sports Editor Bob Carroll said Kennedy took advantage of Jaycee Park´s “invitingly close” fences for some “cheap homers,” but Kennedy responded: “Hell, I didn´t hit no cheap ones.”
He claimed he could have hit 120 homeruns in a well-lighted major league stadium.
While
As was typical of minor league baseball when Kennedy played for the Ponies, he passed by the wire-mesh screen to collect cash stuck through the openings by appreciative fans following a homerun.
He said he collected $290 after hitting a 13th-inning homer in a 1953 playoff game with Clovis.
Kennedy said of Plainview: “I think of the people in Plainview all the time. I´ve said many times two of the best years I ever had were in Plainview and the best fans were there. It was my favorite city in the 10 years I played.
“It´s No. 1 in my heart. You couldn´t tell a cotton farmer from the guy who owned the bank. The people were very friendly. The best people I´ve ever known were from West Texas.”
Retired from Douglas Aircraft, in recent years he was the owner and operator of the BMX bicycle track at Whittier Narrows.
A standout in football and baseball at El Monte High School, Kennedy served three years in the Navy. Later, Kennedy played semi-pro baseball and softball, and signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He was a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) Minor League Hall of Fame, and his photo and statistics are displayed in the Babe Ruth Wing at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
_
_____________________________________________
Maris, schmaris: What about Joe Bauman?
Everybody´s talking about Mark McGwire of the Cardinals and/or Sammy Sosa of the Cubs breaking Roger Maris of the Yankees´ 37-year-old major league homerun record of 61 in a season.
But neither of them hold a candle to Joe Bauman who hit 72 - that´s right, Seventy-Two - in 1954 while playing for second-place Roswell, N.M. Rockets in the Longhorn League.
It´s still the all-time record for professional baseball.
Now 76 and still living in Roswell where he operated a Texaco station for many years, Bauman was a 6-5, 235-pound lefthanded-hitting first baseman - a little smaller than the righthanded McGwire and playing the same position - when he sent those 72 homers out of the park.
Answering the inevitable questions of “how´d you do that?,” Bauman said the key was the same for McGwire and Sosa, who also bats righthanded, to break the record they´re shooting for: “Everything has to fall in place.
“I think it´s inevitable” that the record will fall but he figured lefthand-swinging Ken Griffey Jr. of Seattle would have the best shot at the homerun record because there are more righthanded pitchers in the majors and he plays home games in a more inviting park.
Lefties Ruth and Maris both benefited from Yankee Stadium´s short rightfield porch.
Bauman said the pitching he saw was “good to average”; the ballparks regulation with decent lighting, except for a smallish Big Spring field (“I couldn´t hit much in that park - I hated it”) and the ball probably less “jazzed” than it is now.
Roswell had 140 games scheduled that year but played only 138. Bauman - never sidelined by injury or fatigue - played in all of them (almost always night games with few doubleheaders).
His best game was four homers at home against Sweetwater. However, he remembers having few multi-homerun games.
While Maris´ benchmark was Babe Ruth´s 60 homers in 1927 - thus, his record has stood longer than Ruth´s did - Bauman was shooting for the 69 belted by Joe Hauser of the Minneapolis Millers in 1933 and matched by Bob Crues of Amarillo (where Bauman played for two seasons) in 1948.
He got to Ruth´s mark of 60 with about 20 games left and hit three on the last day of the season in a doubleheader to break and pad the all-time record.
“I probably picked up $700 or $800 (money was stuck in the fence behind home plate as the tradition of the time dictated for a homerun) that day,” Bauman recalls.
“I liked the low pitches,” he says, recalling that he was frequently walked.
He also batted an even .400 in 1954. Told that former Plainview Ponies star Frosty Kennedy, who died earlier this summer, said he (Kennedy) was the greatest player ever because he hit 60 homeruns AND batted over .400 in his career - feats accomplished individually by Ruth and Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams - Bauman chuckled, “Frosty was pretty confident.”
But he didn´t comment on whether, by Kennedy´s yardstick, he would be the best player of all time, especially since he did both in the same season.
Bauman says he has no idea what his longest homerun was but believes the balls are livelier now because “even middle-sized guys get fooled on pitches and hit them out of the park with one hand.”
Bauman, whose exploits are recorded on a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. (which he has never visited), played for Capitol Hill High School in his hometown of Oklahoma City, then signed with independent Little Rock.
Although his contract was eventually purchased by the National League´s Boston Braves, he never played a day in the majors, ending an off-and-on 15-year career when he refused to have surgery on his ankle after the 1956 season.
“There were just 16 major league teams then (and about 400 minor league teams after the war, so too much talent) and you could make as much or more money in a decent job in the business world,” he said.
Bauman also says he lost four prime years to military service in World War II.
He agrees players are more physically developed now due to better training and nutrition methods. “The evolution of mankind kind of takes care of some of that,” he surmised. “When I was playing, the clubs wrote you letters forbidding you to swim because they didn´t want you to get muscle bound.”
Bauman figures his record probably will never be broken - at least at the minor league level: “If somebody was hitting a lot of homeruns, they wouldn´t leave them down in the minors long.”
Even if it does fall, he can be proud of having held it for more than 40 years and he´ll be in some mighty fine company.
(Danny Andrews is editor of The Herald.)
Saturday, July 28, 2007
A. Ankiel(PCL) 91 games 29 home runs 42 games left PHR 41
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A. Rod 102 games 32 home runs 60 games left PHR 55
R. Howard is closing fast. He has not played in 18 games this year, yet his PHR is second only to A. Rod.
PHR----PLAYER----------------------GP--HR--GL
55-----A. ROD---------------------102--35--60
49-----R. HOWARD------------------ 84--29--60
47-----P. FIELDER-----------------102--30--60
45-----J. MORNEAU------------------97--28--60
42-----A. DUNN--------------------102--27--60
41-----R. ANKIEL-------------------91--29--42
If Ankiel was playing a 162 game season his PHR would be 48, but the Pacific Coast League only plays 140 games.
Oh, Um, I guess we now wait for Bond to set the record, it could happen any day now. Bonds will not hit 35 homers this year. I think there is less than a 5% chance than anyone will hit 60 homers this year.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Brandon Watson streak ends at 43
Full Name: Brandon Eric Watson
Born: 09/30/1981
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 170
Bats: L
Throws: R
06/18/2007 10:39 PM ET
Watson's hitting streak ends at 43 games
Call it the ghost of Rochester if you will, but Brandon Watson's International League-record 43-game hitting streak ended Monday in the same place Jack Lelivelt set the previous record in 1912.
Watson entered the 40 or more hitting streak club on June 14 when he tied Frosty Kennedy who hit in 40 straight games in 1953. He becomes only the 20Th player to join the 40 or more list in Organized Baseball history.
Hitting streak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In baseball, a hitting streak refers to the consecutive number of official games in which a player gets at least one base hit. Games in which a player does not have any official at bats due to walks, or sacrifice bunts, or being hit by a pitch, are ignored (neither break the streak nor add to the streak). However, if a player has a sacrifice fly, then the game is not ignored, and he must get a hit or his streak is over. [1]
Joe DiMaggio claimed the major league record of the longest hitting streak with 56 consecutive games with a hit in 1941. Joltin' Joe got his first hit of the streak on May 15, 1941 against the White Sox, going 1 for 4. He would get a hit in every single game the Yankees played for two months before going 0 for 3 in a game against Cleveland on July 17. DiMaggio hit .408 during his streak (91 for 223), with 15 home runs and 55 RBI.[2]
Major League Baseball records
There have been 46 occurrences in Major League Baseball where a player had a hitting streak of at least 30 games. Multiple streaks in the same season have occurred in 1922 (George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby), 1987 (Paul Molitor and Benito Santiago), 1997 (Nomar Garciaparra and Sandy Alomar, Jr.), 1999 (Vladimir Guerrero and Luis Gonzalez), and 2006 (Chase Utley and Willy Taveras). In addition, 1924 included one whole streak (Sam Rice) and the beginning of another (George Sisler). A similar event occurred in 2006 with two whole streaks (Utley and Taveras) and the end of another (Jimmy Rollins).
Major League
Rank Player Team Games Year(s)
1 Joe DiMaggio New York Yankees 56 1941
2 Willie Keeler Baltimore Orioles 45(44) 1896-97
3 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 44 1978
4 Bill Dahlen Chicago Colts 42 1894
5 George Sisler St. Louis Browns 41 1922
6 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 40 1911
Minor League Baseball record
The longest streaks in the history of Minor League Baseball
Rank Player League Games Year(s)
1 Joe Wilhoit Western League 69 1919
2 Joe DiMaggio Pacific Coast League 61 1933
3 Roman Mejias Big State League 55 1954
4 Otto Pahlman Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League 50 1922
5 Jack Ness Pacific Coast League 49 1915
Harry Chozen Southern League 49 1945
7 Johnny Bates Southern League 46 1925
8 Brandon Watson International League 43 2007
Eddie Marshall American Association 43 1935
Orlando Moreno Longhorn League 43 1947
Howie Bedell American Association 43 1961
12 Herbert Chapman Southeastern League 42 1950
Jack Lelivelt International League 42 1912
14 Frosty Kennedy West Texas-New Mexico League 40 1953
DiMaggio set the Minor League record as a member of the San Francisco Seals. Unrecognized by Minor League Baseball is the 69 game hitting streak by Joe Wilhoit in 1919. Wilhoit was in the independent Western League at the time and his record is considered the all-time Professional Baseball record.
Born: 09/30/1981
Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 170
Bats: L
Throws: R
06/18/2007 10:39 PM ET
Watson's hitting streak ends at 43 games
Call it the ghost of Rochester if you will, but Brandon Watson's International League-record 43-game hitting streak ended Monday in the same place Jack Lelivelt set the previous record in 1912.
Watson entered the 40 or more hitting streak club on June 14 when he tied Frosty Kennedy who hit in 40 straight games in 1953. He becomes only the 20Th player to join the 40 or more list in Organized Baseball history.
Hitting streak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In baseball, a hitting streak refers to the consecutive number of official games in which a player gets at least one base hit. Games in which a player does not have any official at bats due to walks, or sacrifice bunts, or being hit by a pitch, are ignored (neither break the streak nor add to the streak). However, if a player has a sacrifice fly, then the game is not ignored, and he must get a hit or his streak is over. [1]
Joe DiMaggio claimed the major league record of the longest hitting streak with 56 consecutive games with a hit in 1941. Joltin' Joe got his first hit of the streak on May 15, 1941 against the White Sox, going 1 for 4. He would get a hit in every single game the Yankees played for two months before going 0 for 3 in a game against Cleveland on July 17. DiMaggio hit .408 during his streak (91 for 223), with 15 home runs and 55 RBI.[2]
Major League Baseball records
There have been 46 occurrences in Major League Baseball where a player had a hitting streak of at least 30 games. Multiple streaks in the same season have occurred in 1922 (George Sisler and Rogers Hornsby), 1987 (Paul Molitor and Benito Santiago), 1997 (Nomar Garciaparra and Sandy Alomar, Jr.), 1999 (Vladimir Guerrero and Luis Gonzalez), and 2006 (Chase Utley and Willy Taveras). In addition, 1924 included one whole streak (Sam Rice) and the beginning of another (George Sisler). A similar event occurred in 2006 with two whole streaks (Utley and Taveras) and the end of another (Jimmy Rollins).
Major League
Rank Player Team Games Year(s)
1 Joe DiMaggio New York Yankees 56 1941
2 Willie Keeler Baltimore Orioles 45(44) 1896-97
3 Pete Rose Cincinnati Reds 44 1978
4 Bill Dahlen Chicago Colts 42 1894
5 George Sisler St. Louis Browns 41 1922
6 Ty Cobb Detroit Tigers 40 1911
Minor League Baseball record
The longest streaks in the history of Minor League Baseball
Rank Player League Games Year(s)
1 Joe Wilhoit Western League 69 1919
2 Joe DiMaggio Pacific Coast League 61 1933
3 Roman Mejias Big State League 55 1954
4 Otto Pahlman Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League 50 1922
5 Jack Ness Pacific Coast League 49 1915
Harry Chozen Southern League 49 1945
7 Johnny Bates Southern League 46 1925
8 Brandon Watson International League 43 2007
Eddie Marshall American Association 43 1935
Orlando Moreno Longhorn League 43 1947
Howie Bedell American Association 43 1961
12 Herbert Chapman Southeastern League 42 1950
Jack Lelivelt International League 42 1912
14 Frosty Kennedy West Texas-New Mexico League 40 1953
DiMaggio set the Minor League record as a member of the San Francisco Seals. Unrecognized by Minor League Baseball is the 69 game hitting streak by Joe Wilhoit in 1919. Wilhoit was in the independent Western League at the time and his record is considered the all-time Professional Baseball record.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
60 HOMERS CLUB, 2007 SEASON
PHR-HR-GP-GL-PLAYER
-56-34-97-65-ALEX RODRIGUEZ
-50-30-97-65-PRINCE FIELDER
-48-27-80-65-RON HOWARD
-44-26-93-63-J. MORNEAU
-43-26-97-65-A. DUNN
-40-26-86-44-RICK ANKIEL (P.C.L.)
-38-26-95-45-VAL PASCUCCI (P.C.L.)
-38-27-97-43-MIKE HESSMAN (INTERNATIONL)
ODDS OF SOMEONE HITTING 60 THIS YEAR IS 5%
-56-34-97-65-ALEX RODRIGUEZ
-50-30-97-65-PRINCE FIELDER
-48-27-80-65-RON HOWARD
-44-26-93-63-J. MORNEAU
-43-26-97-65-A. DUNN
-40-26-86-44-RICK ANKIEL (P.C.L.)
-38-26-95-45-VAL PASCUCCI (P.C.L.)
-38-27-97-43-MIKE HESSMAN (INTERNATIONL)
ODDS OF SOMEONE HITTING 60 THIS YEAR IS 5%
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
60 HOMERS CLUB MEMBER
New York Yankee outfielder Roger Maris, of Fargo, North Dakota, is best known for hitting sixty-one home runs in 1961. His 61 in '61 set a new major league record, breaking Babe Ruth's previous mark of 60 hit in 1927.
Roger and teammate Mickey Mantle entertained baseball fans throughout the summer of '61 as the two New York Yankee sluggers chased the record many called the most cherished in all of sports. Mickey dropped out of the home run race early due to an illness, but finished with a career high 54 home runs. Roger tied Ruth on September 26, hitting his 60th home run. He then hit his 61st home run on the final day of the season, October 1, 1961, against the Boston Red Sox to set a new record. The Yankees won the game, 1 to 0, and later went on to win the World Series.
60 HOMERS CLUB, 2007 SEASON
These are the top Home Run hitters by there total homers hit so far.
player------------------GP----GL-----PHR------HR
Alex Rodriguez----------92----70-----56-------32
Prince Fielder----------93----68-----52-------30
Mike Hessman------------94----46-----40-------27
Rick Ankiel-------------82----46-----40-------26
Adam Dunn---------------93----67-----45-------26
R. Ankiel and Mike Hessman both play in 140 game minor league.
They are tied or lead all MLB players but 3 in Home Run totals.
I now put the odds of someone hitting 60 HRs this year at 8%
player------------------GP----GL-----PHR------HR
Alex Rodriguez----------92----70-----56-------32
Prince Fielder----------93----68-----52-------30
Mike Hessman------------94----46-----40-------27
Rick Ankiel-------------82----46-----40-------26
Adam Dunn---------------93----67-----45-------26
R. Ankiel and Mike Hessman both play in 140 game minor league.
They are tied or lead all MLB players but 3 in Home Run totals.
I now put the odds of someone hitting 60 HRs this year at 8%
Monday, July 16, 2007
60 HOMERS CLUB, 2007 SEASON
Three games after the All-Star game and this years 60 homers race has slowed to a crawl. Nobody in the minors is on track to hit even 45 and only 4 players in MLB are on pace to hit over 45.
The top four are:
player--------------------G-----HR-----PHR
A. Rodriguez-------------89-----31-----56
P. Fielder---------------90-----30-----54
J. Morneau---------------87-----25-----46
A. Dunn------------------90-----25-----45
I put the odds of someone hitting 60 this year at 10%
The top four are:
player--------------------G-----HR-----PHR
A. Rodriguez-------------89-----31-----56
P. Fielder---------------90-----30-----54
J. Morneau---------------87-----25-----46
A. Dunn------------------90-----25-----45
I put the odds of someone hitting 60 this year at 10%
Sunday, July 08, 2007
60 HOMERS CLUB, 2007 SEASON
Rick Ankiel leads all minor leagues with 26 homers(Thrid highest in all baseball). Rick plays for the Memphis Redbirds of the AAA Pacific Coast League (MLB parent club is St. Louis)
We have made it to the ALL-STAR break and A. Rodriguez has 30 homers, I did not think he would make it. I realy upset that his last two homers came against the ANGLES, my home town team. I was was right about B. Bonds not hitting 22 homers now, it's a lot harder to hit homers when you know you might get drug tested at any time.
A. Rod has only 77 games left. so the odds are still aginst him hitting 60 homers this year.
Here are the three homer run hitters this year:
player-----------------------G.----H.R.----PHR
ALEX RODRIGUEZ----------------85-----30------57
PRINCE FIELDER-----------------87-----29------54
RICK ANKIEL--------------------75-----26------44(140 GAME SEASON)
ODDS OF SOMEONE HITTING 60 HOMERS THIS YEAR ARE 15%
Friday, July 06, 2007
60 HOMERS CLUB MEMBER
Richard Lee Stuart (November 7, 1932 - December 15, 2002) was a Major League Baseball first baseman from 1958 to 1969. Throughout his baseball career, Stuart was known as a fine hitter, but a subpar fielder, garnering the unique nickname of "Dr. Strangeglove" for his poor defense. That was a play on words of the movie Dr. Strangelove, which was released in the middle years of Stuart's career. Similarly, the movie Goldfinger inspired another nickname, "Stonefingers". [1] In 1963, he set a record by committing 29 errors, a major league record for first basemen that still stands.
Stuart played the bulk of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox. He hit 228 home runs in his Major League Baseball career, with a batting average of .264. He was elected to the All-Star team in 1961. While Stuart never led the league in home runs, he finished in the top ten in five seasons (1959-61, 1963-64). As a minor league player, Stuart smashed 66 home runs for the Lincoln club of the Class A Western League in 1956; it remains one of the highest totals in the history of minor league baseball.
Stuart was a member of the Pirates' 1960 World Series-winning team. He was on deck when Bill Mazeroski hit the ninth inning home run off Ralph Terry to win the 1960 Series at Forbes Field.
Stuart grew up in Redwood City, California graduating from Sequoia High School. Stuart died of cancer in Redwood City.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
60 HOMERS CLUB, 2007 SEASON
Craig Brazell had 7 homers in 30 games in the Texas League before being sent to the Pacific Coast League were he sofar has 23 homers in 54 games. His 30 home runs leads all players in all leagues. Since his totals are from two teams his stats won't count as a combined stat. His PHR would have been 50 (140 game season) thrid highest in all PRO BALL.
Alex Rodriguez remains eligible to start on Wed. after an injury on Mon. that took 24 hours to tell how well he would be doing. They probily will not use him much in the next week or so to make sure he is 100% and that will slow down his PHR quite a bit. He will need 2 homers in the next 5 days to have any chance at 50 homers this year. HR: 28 Games: 81 PHR: 56
Prince Fielder is also in a slump. He has 27 homers in 83 games for a PHR of 53.
The odds of someone hitting 60 homers this season I now put at 20%
Here are the home run leaders from 2001 - 2006. Random drug testing begain in 2003.
2001- B. Bonds 73, S. Sosa 64, L. Gonzalez 54, A. Rodriguez 54
2002- A. Rodriguez 57, J. Thome 52
2003- A. Rodriguez 47, J. Thome 47
2004- A. Beltre 48
2005- A. Jones 51
2006- R. Howard 58, D. Ortiz 54
So as you can see only 9 players in all of Pro Ball hit 50 or more HR's. Only 2 hit sixty or more and in 2003 when manditory drug testing started no body hit even 50 HR's. I think the evedence in clear. McGuire, Sosa and Bonds should not have the single season home run stats ever be allowed to stand in the Hall-of-Fame.
Bond will beat Aarons Home Run record this year, but not untill after the All Star break, as I told you before the season started, He only needed 22 at the start of the season, and I think he will not get 40 by years end. Unless he plays another year or two and maybe get to 600 homers, his record will always be suspect.
Monday, July 02, 2007
60 HOMERS CLUB MEMBER
Full Name: Samuel Sosa
Born: 11/12/1968
Birthplace: San Pedro de Marcoris, Dominican Republic
Height: 6'0" Weight: 225
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
College: N/A
MLB Debut: 06/16/1989
Only player to hit 60 home runs in a season three times, but never won the home run title.
Married, wife's name is Sonia...They have 4 children, daughters Keysha and Kenia, and sons Sammy Jr. and Michael...In addition to his on-field honors, he was selected with Mark McGwire as the 1998 Sportsmen of the Year by both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News...Also in 1998, he was chosen the 1998 Roberto Clemente Man of the Year by Major League Baseball...He was honored by his fellow players as the 1999 Players Choice Man of the Year...In 1998, he won the Gene Autry Courage Award, honoring athletes who have demonstrated heroism in the face of difficulty or adversity, overcoming hardships to inspire others...One of his brothers, Jose, played in the Cubs' minor league system.
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