According to Wikipedia:

In 1980, after being hit in the back of the neck on the basepaths with a thrown ball, Lowenstein was taken off the field on a stretcher, only to sit up abrubtly as he reached the dugout and pump his fists for the crowd.

This card is from the regrettable 1991 Leaf Studio set, which is a good example of baseball cards in the early 1990s. Following the launch of Upper Deck in 1989, all of the baseball card companies starting putting out “premium” sets, which got more ridiculous looking each year. The Leaf Studio set exclusively featured black and white portraits that looked like yearbook photos.

Instead of stats, the back of the card lists hobbies and interests. For Mr. Gomez, his hobbies include going to church and listening to contemporary Christian music.

Thanks to Dr. Nerd for remembering Mr. Nolan from his days of working for the Orioles.

What is happening in this photo? It looks like Nolan is trying to navigate some sort of catwalk.

In addition to being an Albert Brooks look-a-like, Nolan was also a pretty decent part-time catcher. In 11 seasons, he never had more than 264 at-bats and posted a 95 OPS+, which is actually not bad for a part-time catcher. Even though this is a 1986 card, Nolan did not play in 1986 at all. In fact, his final game in the majors was June 25, 1985.

Mr. McKnight, throughout two different stints with the Mets, wore more uniform numbers than any other player in history*. He wore numbers 5, 7, 15, 17, and 18. While with the Orioles, he wore number 38.

*100% conjecture

There was nothing particularly savvy or skillful about it, of course. They were dealing with Scott Boras, so they knew that honor and integrity would play no part in the process.

Just money. Lots and lots of money.

I hate to break it to Callahan, but we’re not talking about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, so cut the “honor and integrity” moral high ground crap. We’re talking about baseball and free agency. It’s a business, players are commodities, and the name of the game is to maximize earnings and profit. Why is he talking about “honor?” I’m so sick of the phony outrage over Scott Boras. It’s been done to death and it’s just so boring.

In other words, it was a New York Yankees kind of deal right from the start, a chance for them to buy the biggest house on the block and act like they built it with their bare hands.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman didn’t even have to travel to Mark Teixiera’s [sic] home to grovel. All he had to do was sit back, checkbook in hand, and let Boras do his thing. In the end, the slimy superagent did not let him down.

What does this even mean? The Yankees offered Teixeira a ton of money and he took it. That’s how free agency works. If you’re Teixeira and the Yankees, Orioles, and Nationals all offer you $180M, why wouldn’t you go to the Yankees?

Also, is there now something wrong with just buying a house? I didn’t realize that the classy move was to build your house personally (and hope that everything passes inspection). And this metaphor is strange: what exactly would building it with their bare hands entail? Drafting Teixeira out of high school and developing him into a star? Nobody did that (the Red Sox did draft him, but he didn’t sign) and I don’t remember the Yankees pretending that the Teixeira signing was anything more than a free agent signing.

Also, I know Teixeira’s name is hard to spell, but you work for a newspaper, or at least a tabloid. Get it right.

Boras used the Orioles and Nationals and Angels until he used them up, as Bill Withers would say, and then he played your Boston Red Sox like they were his new Guitar Hero game.

Nice cultural reference – it’s only a few years old. Also, is there some documentation that Boras plays Guitar Hero? If not, this line doesn’t make any sense.

The Sox desperately wanted to bring Teixeira to Boston, and for a while, actually thought they had a shot at the switch-hitting first baseman. Even though they already had a pretty good first baseman and third baseman, the Sox didn’t try to hide their affection for the best free agent on the market. They pounced on Teixeira like Brian Williams on Barack Obama. They made a bold offer of about $170 million over eight years.

Well, at least, Theo Epstein thought it was an offer. In truth, it was a signal from Boras to Cashman, who might as well have been sitting outside in a white van. Their scheme was coming together. Those rubes up in Boston played their part and drove up the price. Now it was time for the Yanks to pony up and close the deal.

Cashman did as he was told. He topped the Sox by a sizable margin. Final number: $180 million over eight years with a full no-trade clause.

So let me get this straight: There was a conspiracy between Boras and Cashman, whereby Boras would let the other teams drive up the price on Teixeira and then, when the price was maxed out, signal Cashman that it was time for the Yanks to sign him. Why would Cashman be complicit in a scheme that resulted in Teixeira’s price going up? That doesn’t make any sense and wouldn’t require Cashman’s involvement at all. Callahan: in order for there to be a conspiracy, there has to be more than one party involved.

Also, you can’t posit a hypothetical scheme by using the phrase “in truth.” That would only make sense if you were actually saying something that was true. This guy is really lazy.

Recession? What recession? The taxpayers of New York helped the Yankees build their new revenue-generating palace, and the Yanks turned around and shared the wealth with Teixeira.

Callahan says this as if Yankees fans didn’t want the Yankees to sign Teixeira.

It is easy to say the Red Sox should have known better, but after lavishing outrageous contracts on other Boras clients, including J.D. Drew and Daisuke Matsuzaka, maybe the Sox thought Boras would give them a fair shake. They thought wrong, and they got burned. The Red Sox ended up with a miffed Mike Lowell, which hasn’t been a problem for them, while New York ended up with one of the best all-around players in the American League, which, as it turns out, has been a big, big problem for the Sox.

How exactly did the Red Sox get burned? If they wanted Teixeira, they could have just offered more than the Yankees. How about $200M? That would not have been a good idea, but it would have gotten the deal done. I fail to see how the Red Sox didn’t get a “fair shake.” In Callahan’s world, every team that misses out on a free agent somehow got ripped off and taken for a ride.

We don’t know yet if the Yankees finally bought themselves a World Series, but we know this: As they take the field against the Red Sox tonight, the Yankees bought themselves first place (or a piece of it, at least), and they did it primarily with one move. After years of foolish free agent signings from Kevin Brown to Carl Pavano to Jason Giambi to Kei Igawa, Cashman and the Yankees got one very right this year.

Does Callahan really not know that Kevin Brown was acquired in a trade with the Dodgers (for Jeff Weaver) and not as a free agent? And does he honestly think it was solely Teixeira’s signing that has improved the Yankees and not Sabathia?

Also, the Red Sox offered Pavano an identical contract to the one he signed with the Yankees. There was good reason to believe that Pavano was going to be overpaid and not great, but no one could have predicted the colossal cluster-F that would be Pavano’s four years in New York.

Finally, I’m sick of everyone claiming that the Giambi contract was a disaster. It certainly didn’t work out as planned for the Yankees. Giambi was overpaid, had the steroid situation, some bizarre injuries, couldn’t play defense, and declined as he stopped using steroids and got older. He was, however, pretty damned productive with the bat over his seven years in New York. He actually posted a .925 OPS (143 OPS+) over the term of the contract.

[Boring section of column deleted]

Teixeira and the Yankees, meanwhile, have won 18 of their last 24 and look nothing like the team that lost all five games to the Sox in April and May. For the last decade, they have spent more than a billion dollars in pursuit of a World Series title and come up empty. Books have been written. Inside stories have been told. Like Jon and Kate, the Yankees’ poor planning has become legendary.

Again, Callahan nails the cultural reference. Did he pick up that Jon and Kate zinger on the checkout line at Shaw’s?

And, really, the Yankees poor planning has become legendary? This is a non-sequitir. The Yankees have made many bad personnel decisions over the last decade. The Red Sox are a smarter organization. But 2008 was the first time the Yankees failed to reach the postseason since 1993 (no postseason in 1994). If you think that’s “poor planning,” speak with fans in Pittsburgh and Washington/Montreal.

But the Yankees, who were a mess only a month ago, come to Boston tonight in first place, and we can’t help but wonder if they finally got one right. This time the blind squirrel didn’t find a nut. Just the opposite. Cashman got himself a real pro, as close to a sure thing as there is in baseball.

Again, this is so goofy. How do you honestly describe a perennial postseason team as a “blind squirrel” that may have “finally got one right?”

Callahan should not be allowed within 200 feet of a newspaper or radio microphone. I sincerely hope that this guy does not have a Hall of Fame vote.

1) He was the 2nd ever Asian American to play Major League Baseball.

2) He was part of one of the coolest sounding games ever — On August 24, 1983 the Orioles rallied to tie their game against the Blue Jays in the bottom of the ninth inning. While doing so, they were forced to replace their starting catcher, AND his backup, so Mr. Sakata was put behind the plate to start the 10th inning. Three consecutive Blue Jays reached first base in the top of the tenth, and each of them (thinking it would be easy to steal second with Sakata catching) were picked off by O’s pitcher Tippy Martinez. Sakata then hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the tenth.

3) While mostly a utility player, Mr. Sakata followed the nerd M.O. of playing professional baseball without being able to hit. Over the course of his ten year career, he was employed by the Brewers, Orioles, and Yankees. He appeared in over 550 games, with a career OPS+ of 71, and a career OBP of .286. His 1984 season ranks as a particularly low-point for nerds, where he played in 108 games with 168 plate appearances and an OPS+ of 33!!! On the bright side, you’ve got to love the hair.

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“In Roberts’ case, that meant measuring how fast players with plate discipline and doubles power have tended to mature as they push into their mid-30′s… Nobody knows whether Roberts will follow those trends, but looking at similar players helps eliminate guesswork.”

MacPhail and Matt Klentak,  director of baseball operations for the O’s, suggest that they now routinely evaluate their players and free agents in this fashion, especially when big money is at stake, as it was with Roberts and Nick Markakis, whom the O’s recently signed to a 6 year, $66 million extension.

“Intuitively, we felt pretty good about walk and doubles rates aging fairly well for a player like Brian,” said Klentak.”I think the conclusion that we reached about his instincts and how that may offset what history might suggest would be a significant regression in stolen bases was something we learned in the study. “

Interestingly,  Brian Roberts expressed some skepticism that the careers of other players could predict how he might perform over the coming years, suggesting:

‘”Comparisons are good for some things and inaccurate on others. Honestly, I can’t tell you what I’ll be like at 34, but neither can they,” Roberts said. “There are plenty of good players that didn’t end up playing much past 29, and there are others where you say, ‘Holy cow, he’s 39? I never would’ve guessed.’ And the game is totally different, even from the 1980s and early ’90s. You can’t sit there and say, ‘Well, this guy was your size, played the same position and just fell off the map at age 32.’ OK, great. He was also probably pretty good at age 24, while I wasn’t.”‘

In any respect, it’s heartening to see the O’s raise their game to try to keep up with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays in the AL East, and this type of player evaluation stands in stark contrast to the reckless actions of MacPhail’s predecessors.  While I don’t see the O’s as contenders this year, they do seem capable of making smarter decisions that will benefit them in the long run.