Story of the day

cobra_kai · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 9:53 pm

From the AP story about my beloved Phils blowing another game:

Quote:

Atlanta called up top prospect Jarrod Saltalamacchia from Double-A and put him right in the lineup for his major league debut. As soon as the game became official, ``Salty'' claimed the distinction of having the longest last name in baseball history â€” 14 letters, for those counting.

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Wed May 02, 2007 10:14 pm

Sportswriters love notebook items like that.

My favorite, from a 2004 Mariners game, was the note that when Texas' Nick Bierbrodt pitched to Seattle's Jolbert Cabrera, it was the first verified matchup in baseball history between gunshot victims.

(Bierbrodt was shot three times during a 2002 drive-by shooting at a Hardee's in Charleston. S.C. Cabrera was shot in the buttocks during a 2003 carjacking in Cartagena, Colombia.)

At least "Salty" will be known for more than his name. He's a legit prospect, and may even push the Braves to deal Brian McCann â€” who's one of the best catchers in baseball right now.

gberendzen · **Posted:** Thu May 03, 2007 8:40 pm

When Jack Buck was the primary Cardinals announcer he had the habit of spelling most players' names at least once in the broadcast "for all of you out there keeping score at home."
Too bad Jack and "Salty" never crossed paths.
I miss Jack on the broadcasts, but I still don't keep score at home.

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Thu May 03, 2007 8:52 pm

There should be a baseball spelling bee. I bet "Schoendienst" would be the winning word. Or maybe "Kluszewski."

Redaktor · **Posted:** Fri May 04, 2007 6:36 am

Mientkiewicz.

I love it when radio announcers say things "for those keeping score at home." I did when I was a teenager. /drift

wordygurdy · **Posted:** Fri May 04, 2007 9:58 pm

Yastrzemski.

Wakamatsu. I still remember the tremendously entertaining and congenially low-key Hank Greenwald, when he was doing Yankee games in 1987-88 and Wakamatsu was a backup catcher with the White Sox, introducing him and noting, "That's the traditional spelling. D-O-N."

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Fri May 04, 2007 10:22 pm

Don't forget Dodgers "legend" Billy Grabarkewitz. Or former Padres catcher Doug Gwodsz. And Gary Gaetti should trip up a fair many.

gberendzen · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 2:38 am

Mark Grudzielanek

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 3:19 am

Bill Nahorodny. Gene Stenschulte. Garth Iorg.

gberendzen · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 3:46 am

I'm a bit more partical to Garth's brother, Dane.

Wabberjocky · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 12:10 pm

Partical?

Because Dane smoked the big pinch hit in the ninth inning of Game 6 of the 1985 "I-90" World Series? Because he became a Royals World Series legend alongside such luminaries as Greg Pryor, Lynn Jones and Buddy Biancalana?

That had to be one of my favorite World Series-es of all time, actually. I was a big reader of Bill James's Baseball Abstracts at the time and he turned me on to how to analyze game tactics through his hometown Royals. (He grew up in Lawrence, I believe.) And his recounting of that Series and its triumphant aftermath in the 1986 Abstract was one of the finest pieces of sportswriting I've ever read:

Quote:

It's funny. I've been as a big a baseball fan as a person can be for all my life, but I never knew a baseball game could make you feel so good.

Did you ever read Dane's book about that Series, "Wallflower At the Iorgy"?

ndugan1 · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 7:32 pm

"I-70" World Series, actually. And as a Cardinal fan, that's all I have to say about that. Well, that, and the fact that I don't recall the Royals making the postseason since.

onceahack · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 10:24 pm

ndugan1 wrote:

And as a Cardinal fan, that's all I have to say about that. Well, that, and the fact that I don't recall the Royals making the postseason since.

Just like a Cardinal fan to think that winning is everything. In the long run, it's more important to have fun. (Just ask any Cubs fan.)

gberendzen · **Posted:** Sat May 05, 2007 11:24 pm

OK, it was 3:45 a.m. ... I meant partial. I'm not going back to edit.

Like Niko, I have nothing good to say about the I-70 Series. However, in my baseball book, Dane gets a pass for the KC thing because he batted .529 in limited duty in the 1982 World Series.

That was my first year working full time on the copy desk of a St. Louis suburban. The paper had a box at the ballpark, and the publisher handpicked 22 people from the paper to get a full set of tickets to the series. I was new, but he knew I bled Cardinal red, so I got to go. Seventh game of the World Series, home team wins, everyone goes crazy, and somewhere along the line I got to shake hands with Dane Iorg. That's why I'm partial to him.

I'm betting he hasn't done anything horrible in the interim to change my mind, absent playing for the Royals in 1985 ... and we all know who's to blame for that.

Plus, I can assure you I had fun last fall. Not so much now, though. Carpenter might be out for the year and we have no rotation at all.

ndugan1 · **Posted:** Sun May 06, 2007 7:05 pm

onceahack wrote:

Just like a Cardinal fan to think that winning is everything. In the long run, it's more important to have fun. (Just ask any Cubs fan.)

You'd be surprised how rosy your outlook can be with no pitching and your 4-5 batters hitting a combined 1-for-38 when you've won the World Series the year before.

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