MLB Thread

[ProudMary]

Oh my God, Rickey Henderson died. He would have been 66 on Christmas day. He had been hospitalized for pneumonia. This is SO sad.

There are the greats and then there's a whole different level. Rickey was that and one of the all-time characters in baseball history.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/12/21/rickey-henderson-oakland-as-died-yankees-hall-of-fame-mvp-man-of-steal/

[Lantern7]

I think of it as the final kick to the groin for baseball fans in Oakland this year. Unrelated note, has anyone checked in on Reggie Jackson recently?

[Is Everyone Gone]

3 hours ago, ProudMary said:

Oh my God, Rickey Henderson died. He would have been 66 on Christmas day. He had been hospitalized for pneumonia. This is SO sad.

There are the greats and then there's a whole different level. Rickey was that and one of the all-time characters in baseball history.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/12/21/rickey-henderson-oakland-as-died-yankees-hall-of-fame-mvp-man-of-steal/

Omg such sad news. He was such a colorful, funny character. People like that you just want to live forever.

[Salacious Kitty]

25 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

I think of it as the final kick to the groin for baseball fans in Oakland this year. Unrelated note, has anyone checked in on Reggie Jackson recently?

I'm crushed. 😭

[ProudMary]

16 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I'm crushed. 😭

I'm so sorry for you and all the fans. 😥 It's awful. Oakland fans won't have the opportunity to come together to collectively mourn the passing of their all-around greatest player on opening day or on a specially named Rickey Henderson Day. They should open the stadium just for a tribute to Rickey. I bet thousands would come.

Everything about this sucks. I had seen video from the final game at the Coliseum in September and Rickey seemed to be in great shape, as you'd expect. He always kept himself in shape. It's one of the reasons he had such a long and productive career. If there was ever someone you'd think could outrun death, it would have been Rickey. To lose him at 65 is almost unfathomable. To be honest, I shed quite a few tears yesterday afternoon as it was such a shock. 

Also, it didn't help matters any that this site was down for most of the day and we couldn't talk about it here.

[mojoween]

23 hours ago, Jane Tuesday said:

Paul Goldschmidt to the Yanks on a one-year deal. 

Goodnight, sweet prince. 😞 

and Anthony Rizzo goes … ?

[ProudMary]

6 minutes ago, mojoween said:

and Anthony Rizzo goes … ?

Rizzo's a free agent. The Yanks let him walk. 😥 

[smittykins]

According to Wikipedia, Rickey was named after singer Ricky Nelson.  And he was born in the back seat of an Oldsmobile on the way to the hospital.  He once joked “I was already fast, I couldn’t wait.”

[ProudMary]

This, by Tyler Kepner, is the best Rickey Henderson tribute I've read. It's from The Athletic, which is under the umbrella of The New York Times, but I don't have a subscription and I was able to access it without hitting a paywall.

Always on the move, Rickey Henderson leaves legacy as one of baseball’s greatest showmen

[shoregirl]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DD3i_Osx-Tv/?igsh=MXdmZ3JkeXhva2M3ZQ==

Jimmy Rollins grew up in Oakland and idolizing Rickey Henderson. His tribute to him on Instagram is lovely.

MLB Network also shared this on Twitter

 

 

[mojoween]

I got to 10 and then got stumped.

I can name every NFL division in alphabetical order but with baseball after the AL East I’m all 🤷🏽‍♀️

 

Edited December 25, 2024 by mojoween

[ebk57]

I only got 9.  And I haven't even started drinking yet.

[Salacious Kitty]

I only got 9 as well. I suck. 😭

11 now. 

Edited December 25, 2024 by Salacious Kitty

[DMK]

I got ‘em all.

[Salacious Kitty]

I missed KC. Drat. 

[mojoween]

13 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

I missed KC. Drat. 

Oh I did too!  Now I’m at 11 with help, heh.

[Salacious Kitty]

The guy in the video gave away about half of them. I was like "I didn't need the help!" I don't know how I missed KC. smh

Edited December 25, 2024 by Salacious Kitty

[DMK]

My mother did horrible. She probably got 4 on her own and I had to drop hints for the rest.

[ProudMary]

Ultimately, I got all 12, but it took me several minutes to get the final one. I did it geographically, working my way  all across the country and only came up with 11. I did the same thing in my brain two more times before realizing I never crossed the northern border. I can't believe it was an AL East team that almost stumped me.🤦‍♀️

[DMK]

For shame! You’re only staring at them 13 times a year!

[Jane Tuesday]

I got all 12, but I have to admit I eventually wrote out all 30 teams by division before I remembered them all. (I can never remember where the Tigers and Guardians fit without listing all of them out.) Kansas City was the final 3-word one I came up with. Apparently even I have coastal bias! Lol

I guess that answers my other question... Tampa Bay or just Tampa? 

[smittykins]

I’ve always seen it written as Tampa Bay.

[mojoween]

1 hour ago, smittykins said:

I’ve always seen it written as Tampa Bay.

Same.

I was reading the paper at lunch today and I said aloud “wow!  Ozzie Smith is 70 today!” and my darling husband of 28 years looks at me and says 

“who’s Ozzie Smith?”

[Notabug]

15 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Same.

I was reading the paper at lunch today and I said aloud “wow!  Ozzie Smith is 70 today!” and my darling husband of 28 years looks at me and says 

“who’s Ozzie Smith?”

This may be grounds for divorce.

[baldryanr]

How can someone not know who the shortstop for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's softball team is?

[Jane Tuesday]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

“who’s Ozzie Smith?”

Heresy!

[smittykins]

I was going to say, “You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.”  🤣

[mojoween]

Bye Gleyber 😢

[ProudMary]

I've been quite pleased with Cashman's moves this off-season, but letting Gleyber walk has me furious. I always loved that kid, even through the bone-headed base running, (which was never as bad as Jorge Posada's, for example, and Jorge's got his number retired) and sometimes missed defensive plays. He's just 28! He took a one-year deal with the Tigers. He would have taken any contract the Ysnkees put in front of him! He wanted to stay in the Bronx so badly. He got many, BIG hits for the Yankees and looked like he was becoming the kind of lead-off hitter the Yankees have been missing. This is a mistake. 

I like Jazz a lot, but I would have liked a tandem of Jazz and Gleyber much better. Barring a surprise signing or trade, Jazz moves back to his old position at 2nd and third belongs to Cabrera and LeMahieu. How does that improve the infield?

Also, I can't imagine that Aaron Judge is happy about the Yankees letting Gleyber, and especially Rizzo, walk, when he was tight with both of them. 

I wish Gleyber all the best with the Tigers.

[ProudMary]

On 12/21/2024 at 6:49 PM, Lantern7 said:

Unrelated note, has anyone checked in on Reggie Jackson recently?

I've been thinking of Reggie since you brought this up @Lantern7, so I searched a bit and found this month-old article from the New York Post, via MSN. Also, Reggie was at a WS game in the Bronx. Sounds like Mr. October would like the Yankees to hire him once again.

Reggie Jackson leaving Astros front office gig, doesn’t rule out Yankees return

[ProudMary]

I am SO glad the Red Sox didn't get Teoscar! 

From Jon Heyman, via Bluesky:

Quote

Teoscar Hernandez goes back to Dodgers

Quote

BREAKING: Corbin Burnes to Diamondbacks, $210M, 6 years. opt out after 2 years

Edited December 28, 2024 by ProudMary

[twoods]

After getting used to all these mammoth contracts, I actually think that Teoscar is underpaid at 20 million a year. Never thought that I would think that a guy who plays baseball gets underpaid with a 3 year 60 million contract. 

[Jane Tuesday]

I know we talked in this thread about Salvy Perez playing backyard ball with some kids in KC. He was awarded a Musial Award for his actions a couple of months ago in St. Louis. The Musial Awards celebrate sportsmanship across all sports and all levels, and is named in honor of the great Stan Musial.

(An aside...Stan was known to drive around STL with signed balls and pictures in his trunk in case he ran into a kid who wanted a signature. That's why items he signed aren't really valuable, because he gave away so many! He would have loved "Salvy's Sandlot" game. ❤️ )

Anyway, just dropping in a plug here that the entire Musial Awards ceremony will be broadcast tomorrow on CBS and Paramount+ at different times. On my listings, it shows up as "CBS Sports Spectacular". 

Other baseball-related folks being recognized include Bob Costas and a team each from the Baseball and Softball Little League World Series(es?). 

You can find out more about the Musial Awards here: https://musialawards.com/.

 

[ProudMary]

I'm keeping an eye on the voting as the BBHOF ballots that are made public are tracked. With a little over 15% of the votes in, here are the current standings. The 2025 inductees will be announced on January 23rd.

 

At 59 ballots/~15.2% known:

Ichiro - 100%
CC - 91.5%
Wagner - 88.1%
Beltrán - 76.3%
-
Andruw - 69.5%
Utley - 49.2%
A-Rod - 45.8%
Manny - 44.1%
Pettitte - 33.9%
Félix - 30.5%
Abreu - 18.6%
Rollins, Vizquel - 16.9%
Pedroia - 13.6%
Buehrle, K-Rod, Wright - 10.2%
-
Kinsler, Martin - 3.4%
McCann - 1.7%

[Salacious Kitty]

Looking good for local boy CC. Hope the trend continues. 

[Fukui San]

I haven't watched the "Name all 12 teams with three word names" video, but I'm ready to be furious that they're apparently counting "Los Angeles Angels OF ANAHEIM" as three words.

I guess I'd be furious at the Angels to changing their name to something less stupid whilst I wasn't paying attention.

[DMK]

Yeah, they dropped the “of Anaheim” quite awhile ago.

[ProudMary]

Lenny Randle has died at the age of 75.

We've lost way too many MLB players in 2024. 😞

Former MLB star Lenny Randle dies at 75 as tributes pour in

[ProudMary]

In lighter news:

Several days ago, I read that Aaron Judge and his wife are expecting a baby girl sometime in 2025. I didn't bother to post it then, because it's more gossipy than newsworthy. 

Yankees star Aaron Judge’s wife, Samantha Bracksieck, is pregnant with a baby girl

But then today, I saw this. Are these two having a contest? 😄

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, wife expecting first child together: ‘Little rookie’

Edited December 31, 2024 by ProudMary

[mojoween]

This guy woke up and chose violence, and it hurts my feelings 

 

[Jane Tuesday]

You know what they say... "Comedy is tragedy plus time." You just need more time. ;)

[mojoween]

Half a century ought to do it!

[Jane Tuesday]

In 50 years, the Yankees will undoubtedly win multiple World Series to soften the memory. And the Dodgers will still be paying last year's payroll. Lol

[mojoween]

This cannot be true.  That is just a regular pocket, yeah?

 

[Notabug]

22 minutes ago, mojoween said:

This cannot be true.  That is just a regular pocket, yeah?

 

It is a regular pocket sewn to the inside of the jersey; a customization of Weaver's shirt done to allow him to keep a pack of cigarettes with him but out of sight.  Back in the 70's, baseball ruled that players and other team personnel were not allowed to smoke in the dugout, the locker room, etc and there were to be no cigarettes in view anywhere.  This was mainly due to TV viewers complaining about it and the notion that it set a bad example for kids who were watching.   Weaver, an inveterate nicotine fiend, got around it by carrying his smokes out of sight and sneaking into the tunnel to light up during the game.  I remember hearing about it back in the day.

 

[ebk57]

34 minutes ago, mojoween said:

This cannot be true.  That is just a regular pocket, yeah?

 

Jim says it's real

 

[smittykins]

I remember Yankee Stadium having a Marlboro billboard until the mid-90s.

[smittykins]

The MLB app shows Goldy’s number as 46.

NOOOOOOOOOO! That’s Andy’s number, and it’s retired!

(I hope it’s just a placeholder.)

[Jane Tuesday]

Goldy rather famously hasn't cared what his number is, and only started wearing #46 when he came to St. Louis. I suppose it's possible Pettitte offered it up, or Judge arranged something, but I imagine it's just a holdover.

Either way, I say with 100% confidence Goldy would never ask for it. Guy is as humble as they come. 

(Still love you, Goldy. Sorry they made you shave. *sob*)

[DMK]

In lieu of an official announcement when a players changes teams, the app defaults to their previous number. For instance Garrett Crochet was #45 on the White Sox and when he was traded to the Red Sox, it said that was his number for awhile but it’s retired for Pedro Martinez. Now it says #35. 

So be patient. I doubt Goldy is THAT attached to #46, it wasn’t even his number when he was with Arizona.