Wildcard Wednesday: From Starlin Castro to Queen Victoria

I haven’t put up a good old fashioned Wildcard Wednesday post in a few weeks, so I figured it was time…

Skinna Marinky Linky Links:

I don’t know how Starlin did this, but I think the evidence suggests he might be made of magic.

What is the opposite of clubhouse cancer? A clubhouse miracle drug? Regardless what you want to call it, that is what Ryan Dempster is. And this is why if/when the Cubs trade him we should all be really sad. Randy Wells talks a little about why Ryan Dempster is so awesome in this lovely article from Comcast Sportsnet.

This has nothing to do with the Cubs, or baseball. Or… anything. But, did you know that the National Zoo has a live video feed of its red panda that you can look at all day long if you want to? And I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to. Red pandas are the cutest things since baby sloths.

Happy Birthdays in baseball today: Kendry Morales, Kevin Gregg, Carlos Lee, Dickie Thon, Red Barbary and Pryor McBee (I don’t know who he is, but his name rocks).

Other birthdays: Errol Flynn, Audie Murphy, Martin Landau, Olympia Dukakis, Brian Wilson (the Beach Boy, not the pitcher), Lionel Ritchie, John Goodman and Cyndi Lauper.

And the rest of historical happenings on this day:

-Congress approved the United States seal and the bald eagle as its symbol (1782)
-King Louis XVI was caught trying to escape the French Revolution (1791)
-Eli Whitney applied for a patent for his cotton gin (1793)
-An 18-yr-old Queen Victoria ascended to the British throne following the death of her uncle, King William IV (1837)
-West Virginia was admitted as the 35th state (1863)
-President Andrew Johnson announced the purchase of Alaska (1867)
-Caroline Willard Baldwin became the first woman to earn a PHD (1895)
-New York Giant player Josh Devore stole four bases in a single inning (1912)
-Joe DiMaggio recorded his 2,000th hit (1950)
-Brooks Robinson recorded his 2,000th hit (1970)

 

Wildcard Wednesday: The 1899 Cleveland Spiders

I know everyone has been bemoaning the ineptitude of the Cubs lately (although we have won 2 whole games in a row now… whoo!) Honestly, it isn’t unfair. The Cubs have been pretty bad.  To make everyone feel just a little better about our sad squad of baby bears, I thought we might take a look back at the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, the worst team in Major League history.How bad were the 1899 Cleveland Spiders? Their “ace” pitcher was a chap by the name of Jim Hughey. His record that year was 4-30. I’ll bet he and Ryan Dempster could talk.

The Spiders’ overall record as a team was 20-134. After averaging less than 200 fans per game in their first month or so of contests at home, other teams refused to come to Cleveland to play the Spiders (the revenue wasn’t sufficient to cover traveling expenses) and they were forced to play the rest of their games on the road. Their home record was 9-33, their road record 11-101 (that makes for a .098 winning percentage, folks.)

You thought the Cubs losing streak was bad? Well, the Spiders had streaks of 11 or more straight losses six different times. Their longest streak was 24 losses, which is still good enough (or bad enough, rather) for a Major League record. Their longest winning streak was two, a feat they accomplished only one time.

According to Sports Illustrated, the Spiders were so abysmal that when Baltimore Orioles pitcher Johnny Nops ended up losing to them, his manager John McGraw had him fined and suspended.

A Cleveland sports writer named Elmer Bates noted the following five advantages to following the Spiders that season:

1) There is everything to hope for and nothing to fear.
2) Defeats do not disturb one’s sleep.
3) An occasional victory is a surprise and a delight.
4) There is no danger of any club passing you.
5) You are not asked 50 times a day, ‘What was the score?’ People take it for granted that you lost.

I hope Cubs fans, as well as supporters of other underachieving franchises, will take a spot of comfort from the sorriness of this historical team.

Wildcard Wednesday: Here’s to web gems, boredom, Tony Gwynn, and lawnmowers.

Congratulations, World. You’ve made it through half of another week. As a prize, I bestow upon you this video. It depicts one of the more ridiculous catches you are likely to ever see, made by an Astros farmboy named Austin Wates. Minor league, schminor league. This one belongs in the Major Leagues of coolness.

And then there’s this. I think most of us know that, when bored, baseball players are capable of remarkable displays of creativity and silliness. Ivy League boys are no exception. A contingency of the Harvard baseball squad prove that here:

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Happy baseball Birthdays today go out to Prince Fielder, Brandon Webb, Aaron Harang,  and Tony Gwynn.

And, as always, I leave you all with today’s historical events…

Births:

Dante Alighieri (1265), John Brown (1800), Albert Finney (1936), Billy Joel (1949)

Stuff:

-Christopher Columbus left Spain on his fourth and last trip to the New World (1502)
-England’s King William III declared war on France (1689)
-English parliament accepted the abolishment of the slave trade (1788)
-The first “horseless carriage” exhibition took place in London and featured ten models (1896)
-The lawn mower was patented (1899)
-President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother’s Day a National holiday (1914)
-New York Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell no-hit the Pittsburgh Pirates (1929)
-Czechoslovakia was liberated from Nazi occupation (1945)
-Jim Gentile of the Baltimore Orioles hit two grand slams in a single game against the Minnesota Twins (1961)
-Johnny Bench hit three homers in a game for the second time in his career (1973)
-The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6 in 25 innings. The game began on May 8th and is Major League Baseball’s longest timed game at 8 hours, 6 minutes.

 

 

Wildcard Wednesday: 5/02/2012

It’s Wednesday again. Time for our weekly history lesson…

Baseball Birthdays: Neftali Feliz, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Keith Moreland (Happy Birthday, guys!)
May 2 Births: Catherine the Great (1729) Dr. Spock (1903) Bing Crosby (1902)
Deaths: Joseph McCarthy (1957), J. Edgar Hoover (1972)
And other stuff:
-King Henry VIII (creep) accuses Anne Bolyne of adultery and incest (1536)
-Ross Barnes hits the first home run in the history of the National League (1876)
-The US stops minting the 20-cent coin.
-The first publication of “Good Housekeeping” is released (1885)
-Hannibal W. Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film (1887)
-The territory of Oklahoma is born (1890)
-Georges Méliès’ “A Trip To The Moon”, the world’s first ever science fiction movie, is released (1902) You can watch the whole thing (all 11 minutes of it) on YouTube. How cool is that?
-Honus Wagner steals second base, third, and home in the first inning of a game against the Cubs (1909)
-Cincinnati’s Fred Tooney and Chicago’s Hippo Vaughn pitch a dual no-hitter through regulation. Vaughn given up 2 hits and a run in the 10th, and Cincy wins 1-0. (1917)
-First US air passenger service starts (1919)
-The first game of the National Negro Baseball League is played in Indianapolis (1920)
-Walter Johnson pitches the 100th shutout of his career (1923)
-Pearl Buck wins the Pulitzer Prize for “The Good Earth” (1932)
-Thornton Wilder wins the Pulitzer for “Our Town” (1938)
-Lou Gehrig’s 2,130 consecutive game streak comes to and end (1939)
-Stan Musial hits 5 home runs in a double header (1954)
-The US performs atmospheric nuclear tests at Christmas Island (1962)
-The Indians’ Andre Thornton ties a record with 6 walks in a 16 inning game (1984)

I cannot resist posting this here for your viewing pleasure.

Wildcard Wednesday: Wahoo!

It’s Wednesday again already. How did that happen?

I know things have been quiet here lately. Blame it on a combination of writer’s block and Cubs stinkiness.

Let’s hope both issues are soon gone with the wind (it doesn’t look too good for the latter at this point, though.)

It’s Wednesday, so here is the usual MLB and historical hodge-podge for your perusal.

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Jamie Moyer: How ’bout this guy? Yesterday he became the oldest pitcher to record a win in the Major Leagues at 49. Before you know it, Disney’s gonna come calling.

In all seriousness, congratulations to Mr. Moyer. In no seriousness at all, I can’t resist imbedding a link to this old Onion article.

My-oh-Miami: Myself and other Cubs fans got to see the Marlins fancy-schmancy new home run sculpture doo-dad in action last night. Is “monstrosity” a strong enough word to describe it, do you think? I’m not so sure that it is.

And those bright green walls… ick. It’s like the whole park is decked out with green screens. Unless someone is planning on overlaying images of robots and such during broadcasts, I can’t understand it.

Worst Slide Ever?: Boston catcher Kelly Shoppach has earned a distinction that he probably wasn’t looking for… worst slide in baseball history. In all fairness, you can hardly even call this a slide. It starts out that way, but ends up as more of a stumbling belly flop/faceplant.

I couldn’t look at that without remembering the best slide ever. Here’s the video, in case you’d forgotten. I love this. So much.

Today’s Happy Baseball Birthdays: Miguel Cabrera, Marcos Mateo, and Wahoo Sam Crawford. History!:

In April 18ths of the past…

-Hayley Mills (1946), Rick Moranis (1953), and Conan O’Brien (1963) were born.

-David Livingstone (1874), Charles Ebbets (1925), and Albert Einstein (1955) passed away.

-Paul Revere made his midnight ride (1775)

-Battle of Harper’s Ferry, WV took place (1861)

-John McGraw made his managerial debut at the age of 36 (1899)

-Denmark became the first country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals (1902)

-San Francisco earthquake destroyed 75% of the city and left nearly 4,000 dead (1906)

-Mickey Mantle made his major league debut, going 1-for-4 (1951)

-Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to strike out the side on 9 pitches (1964)

-Mike Schmidt hit his 500th home run (1987)

 

 

Happy Birthday, Bill Murray!

Today’s birthdays:

1866- H.G. Wells
1947- Stephen King
1950- Bill Murray

Happy Birthday, Bill.

Today’s other stuff:

1893- Frank Duryea drove the firstst US made gas propelled vehicle.
1897- NY Sun ran the famous “Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus,” editorial.

                                                    (In September? How curious.)
1906- Yankee 1st baseman Hal Chase recorded 22 putouts.
1934- St Louis Card Paul Dean no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers.
1934- A typhoon struck Honshu Island, Japan, killing 4,000.
1937- “The Hobbit”, by J.R.R. Tolkien, is published.
1956- The Yankees set a dubious record, stranding 20 men on base. Mickey Mantle hit a 500′ plus homer, but the Red Sox still won 13-9.
1970- The Oakland A’s Vida Blue no-hit the Minnesota Twins.
1971- The American League okayed the Washington Senators move to Arlington.
1981- Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice.
1981- Steve Carlton struck out his NL record 3,118th batter.

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And here’s a little video for you. You’re welcome in advance.