The ’52 Topps Coin-Flip Guy Finished What Kershaw Could Not
Picked up by the Braves on the results of a coin toss, Vern Bickford threw a no-hitter that would be in line with modern pitch counts.
CardBoredom
Woody Main and the Wooden Fence
The story behind the wooden fence appearing in the background of so many 1950s Pittsburgh Pirates cards.
The Cubs Want a New Pitcher, This One’s Broken
Paul Minner had been playing off and on in the Majors since 1946, though it would take the expanded checklists of 1952 for him to finally get rookie cards from Topps and Bowman.
Moonwalking With Sandy
There’s a favorite stat that gets passed around whenever Mariano Rivera is discussed: More people have walked on the moon than scored against him in 16 years of postseason play. Taking the story further, fewer players homered off of Rivera in the postseason than travelled with the Apollo 11 spacecraft in the first lunar mission. Neil Armstrong became the first to touch the lunar surface, and Cleveland Indians catcher Sandy Alomar, Jr. became the first to touch Rivera for a postseason homerun in 1997.
Never Injured, Bob Friend Spent a Lot of Time with the Nurse
Bob Friend was durable. He was never on the disabled list at any point in his career, but that didn’t stop him from hanging around the office of the team doctor. He married the resident nurse.
Catch. The. Ball.
A catcher’s primary purpose, to put it in the simplest form, is to catch the ball. In terms of catching a ball, Charles Johnson may have been among the best ever.
The Non-Yankee Yankee Card in ’52 Topps
He’s wearing a Yankees cap. There’s a Yankees logo in the lower left corner. He pitches for the Washington Senators.
Mapping a Nomadic Summer Road Trip
Mike Morgan nearly set a record for the number of teams played for. Could the dozen teams he pitched with be assembled into an epic road trip?
Good News: Jermaine Dye is a HR Hitter. Bad News: Jermaine Dye is a HR Hitter.
Which set of stats should I believe? Jermaine Dye showed some very good batting skills over the course of his career, averaging nearly 30 HRs/100 RBIs per 162 games. Joe Posnanski pointed out that Dye’s 2006 season would have won him the 1988 National League Triple Crown. Yet he barely averaged one win above replacement over the same period and his wOBA is just in the .350s.