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http://bruce.mlblogs.com/ - From Horace Clarke to Robinson Cano, historian and author Bruce Markusen provides observations on baseball history, nostalgia, and the stories of today.
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Despite a number of gaffes in the field and on the basepaths, and a continued inability to hit with runners in scoring position, the Angels find themselves alive in their Division Series against the Red Sox. In a series filled with talented position players on both sides of the field(Vlad ...
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MLB
Los Angeles Angels
Los Angeles Dodgers
Torii Hunter
As a lifelong resident of New York state, I have to confess that the start of the 2008 postseason has brought me mixed feelings. The postseason has always been one of my preferred times of the year, but the lack of New York teams this October is disconcerting. After all, it marks the first ...
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MLB
Chicago Cubs
Lou Piniella
Chicago White Sox
Kosuke Fukudome
Representative of a different era in baseball, former major league shortstop Eddie Brinkman mastered the glove but was overwhelmed by the bat for most of his 15-year career. Brinkman, who died on Wednesday at the age of 66, was the kind of player who would have found it tough being ...
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MLB
Detroit Tigers
Vic Davalillo--Topps Company--1973
Little Vic Davalillo was one of my favorite players from my early years as a fan. Why did I like Davalillo so much? First, you have to love the name, pronounced DAV-AH-LEE-YO, which flows through the vocal chords. Then there is Davalillo's Latin ...
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MLB
St. Louis Cardinals
When the White Sox signed Alexei Ramirez over the winter, the move generated few headlines, even in the Windy City. By most counts, Ramirez was a project, a former Cuban League shortstop whom most scouts tabbed as not being ready for the major leagues. By most accounts, he was ...
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MLB
Manny Ramirez
Chicago White Sox
Alexei Ramirez
Minnesota Twins
Frankly, the Mets should be ashamed of themselves.
It's not just about losing one game either. It's about playing embarrasingly bad baseball for two straight Septembers, about coughing up a three-and-a-game lead over your last 17 games, about losing six of your last nine to conclude a ...
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MLB
New York Mets
Johan Santana
So who has the advantage between the Brewers and Mets, who are currently locked in a flat-footed tie for the National League wild card? Both teams will be at home for the final weekend, but both face potentially annoying competition. The Brewers will host the Cubs, the best team in the league ...
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MLB
New York Mets
Milwaukee Brewers
Larry Gura--Topps Company--1973
Originally taken by the Chicago Cubs in the second round of the 1969 draft, Larry Gura arrived in the Windy City one year later. Pitching sporadically over his first four seasons, Gura failed to impress the Cubs and never gained the trust of ...
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MLB
St. Louis Cardinals
Chicago Cubs
We lost one of the good ones on Wednesday, when Mickey Vernon passed away at age 90, the victim of a stroke he suffered one week ago. I had the pleasure of meeting Mickey twice, most recently at a June event in the Philadelphia area in which he spoke about his tenure in the military during ...
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MLB
Philadelphia Phillies
On Monday, the San Francisco Giants announced the formation of a "Wall of Fame" that would be displayed at AT&T Field beginning with the 2009 season. The inaugural class of Wall of Famers would include over 40 members. The criteria for making the Wall are simple: a retired player becomes ...
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MLB
San Francisco Giants
Baseball has a remarkable symmetry that borders on the supernatural. On September 30, 1973, a fading, aging backup catcher named Duke Sims hit in the final home run in the history of the original Yankee Stadium. On September 21, 2008, a light-hitting backup catcher, Jose Molina, perhaps the ...
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MLB
Chicago Cubs
Lou Piniella
Yankee Stadium
My father first took me to Yankee Stadium in 1973, when I was all of eight years old. I didn't realize it until last night--when I looked up the game on Retrosheet--that it was actually the final night game in the history of the old Yankee Stadium. More specificially, it was the night of ...
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MLB
Yankee Stadium
Detroit Tigers
Jose Cardenal--Topps Company--1973
"Bunt the ball, Jose," the Topps cameraman might have yelled to Jose Cardenal as he sought just the right pose for his 1973 baseball card. Cardenal could bunt. Heck, he did seemingly everything well on the playing field, but ended up settling ...
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MLB
St. Louis Cardinals
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Roy White--Topps Company (1973) As impressionable youngsters growing
up in Westchester County in the late sixties and
early seventies, we reveled in imitating unusual batting styles and stances. Our favorite style to mimic was that of Willie ...
Is a young George Steinbrenner running the Brewers? Or, if you'll give forgive me for a hockey reference, maybe an old Phil Esposito? That's my immediate reaction to Monday's stunning news that the Brew Crew have fired manager Ned Yost, replacing him with bench coach Dale Sveum. In fairness to ...
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MLB
Robinson Cano
Chicago Cubs
Ned Yost
Milwaukee Brewers
The pitch count preachers are in full terror mode after hearing that the Giants allowed Tim Lincecum to throw 138 pitchers in shutting out the Padres on Saturday night. Words like "reckless," "criminal," and "horrible" have emerged from computer keyboards in reaction to the Lincecum ...
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MLB
Tim Lincecum
Bruce Bochy
San Francisco Giants
Rawly Eastwick--Topps Company--1978 (No. 405)
Other than former Pirates relief ace Kent Tekulve, I can't think of anyone who looked less like a ballplayer than Rawly Eastwick. At six feet, three inches and 175 pounds, Eastwick bested Tekulve by a few pounds, but he still looked ...
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MLB
St. Louis Cardinals
Let's credit a recent thread over at Baseball Think Factory for sparking this blog idea. Who's the best fielding third baseman you've ever seen? As a fan and observer of the game, my memories go back to the early 1970s. So forgive me for selecting an old favorite like Brooks Robinson, who had ultra-soft hands, excellent range, an accurate arm, and a surprising degree of athleticism ...
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MLB
Robinson Cano
For much of the 1970s, the Yankees tried to acquire some extra right-handed hitting. In 1973, they purchased Jim Ray Hart, who lasted only a calendar year as a platoon DH before it became obvious that he was washed up, in part because of his problems with drinking. After the season, the Bombers acquired switch-hitting Bill "Suds" Sudakis from the Texas Rangers. Sudakis succeeded in one ...
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MLB
St. Louis Cardinals
I can't recall a player seemingly resurrecting his career in mid-season the way that Carlos Delgado has for the Mets in 2008. By the middle of June, I had joined the chorus of doomsayers who had declared Delgado finished, the victim of a slowing bat and fading reflexes. Some extreme pessimists had actually recommended the Mets deal Delgado to the cross-town Yankees for the equally slumping ...
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Card Corner--Roy White