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(12 votes, average: 4.83 out of 5)
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I was extremely disturbed to see that Mr. Manrique has been knocked out of the #1 all-time spot by Kent Tekulve 2.0. So I thought I should remind everyone of Mr. Manrique’s greatness. Vote anything less than 5 stars at your own risk.
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(12 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Apparently, Mr. Harris was a switch-pitcher! From Baseball Library:
Harris’ unusual ability to pitch with both hands led to some tension between him and the Red Sox, who forbade the ambidextrous hurler from throwing lefty. GM Lou Gorman insisted it would “make a mockery” of the game, leading Harris to grumble, “Boston is so conservative. People are afraid to try anything.” In a muted show of defiance, Harris usually chose to wear an ambidextrous glove on the mound.
But just before his retirement, while pitching for the Expos in 1995, the veteran hurler finally became the only twentieth-century pitcher to throw from both sides of the mound. After Harris (pitching righty) retired Reggie Sanders to start off the ninth inning of a game against the Cincinnati Reds on September 28, 1995, he turned around to face the left-handed Hal Morris.
Harris issued a free pass, thus becoming the first ambidextrous major-league pitcher since Elton “Ice Box” Chamberlain of the American Association in 1888. Nerve-wracked, he stayed a southpaw and induced a ground-out from Eddie Taubensee, closing out the inning by retiring Bret Boone as a righty. The last pitcher to use both hands in a pro game had been Bert Campaneris, who did so in 1962 while playing for Daytona Beach in the Florida State League.
Pretty awesome stuff. Hopefully we’ll see something similar from Yankees farmhand Pat Venditte in the not-too-distant future.
Click the stars to vote: (14 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)
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Mr. Gantner played baseball at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and had his uniform number retired there. In the majors, he once went 1,762 consecutive at-bats without hitting a home run.
Click the stars to vote: (12 votes, average: 4.25 out of 5)
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From Wikipedia: “Espinoza joins Ruppert Jones, Ricky Lee Nelson, Dave Kingman, José Canseco, and Kevin Millar as the only players in MLB history to hit a fair ball that got stuck in a stadium obstruction.” Pretty exclusive company.
Click the stars to vote: (13 votes, average: 3.85 out of 5)
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From Wikipedia: “Durham appears briefly in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He is the first baseman in the sequence where Braves outfielder Claudell Washington hits a foul ball caught by the titular character.”
Also, Durham was pretty good at baseball. In over 1000 career games, he posted a .277/.356./.475 line (125 OPS+). In 1982, he put up a .312/.388/.521 (151 OPS+) line with 22 home runs. He was a first round draft pick in 1976.
Click the stars to vote: (15 votes, average: 2.80 out of 5)
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According to Wikipedia, Mr. Eichhorn seems to have had an amazing career. In 1982, only 38 innings into his pro career, he suffered a major shoulder injury, which robbed him of his velocity. He didn’t resurface in the majors until 1986, with an extreme sidearm delivery. That year, he pitched 157 innings, AS A RELIEF PITCHER! His ERA was 1.72, his WHIP was .955, and he struck out 166 batters. Had he pitched five more innings, he would have qualified for the AL ERA title.
In his 11 seasons in the pros, Mr. Eichhorn had three seasons in which his ERA+ was over 200, and five more seasons when it was over 123.
Oh, and for part of his career, he was the setup man for Tom Henke.
Click the stars to vote: (13 votes, average: 4.62 out of 5)
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Mr. Weiss played only 22 games in his MLB career, all with the Dodgers.
Click the stars to vote: (20 votes, average: 4.75 out of 5)
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Mr. Tunnell was arrested in October of 2009 for allegedly soliciting an internet prostitute.
I was planning on a post congratulating Barry Larkin and Roberto Alomar on becoming the newest first-ballot-hall-of-famers, and Bert Blyleven on finally getting the call. Whoops.
Anyway, here’s the nerdiest card from a hall-of-famer that I could find through a very quick google image search.
Click the stars to vote: (14 votes, average: 3.57 out of 5)
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Thanks to Night Owl Cards for this image.
Click the stars to vote: (15 votes, average: 3.87 out of 5)
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Mr. Walter tied the AL record for most balks in a game, with 4, on July 18, 1988. The 1988 season proved to be Mr. Walter’s last in the majors, depite his card coming from the 1989 Topps set.
(4.83 out of 5) (4.80 out of 5) (4.75 out of 5) (4.72 out of 5) (4.71 out of 5)