- This topic has 8 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
good Cardinal, will be missed, just didnt really fit any more…im a little surprised the PAdres took him, I dont really see the appeal on their team and depth chart
I understand why Garcia was let go but we had better hope Munoz improves his defense dramatically if he is going to be the utility guy.
I figured it would come down to Garcia or Sosa. This wasn’t about money but it may have been about options.
A perfect fit in San Diego. Best wishes Greg! Every now and then the player and the city match up perfectly….Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter and Thurman Munson in The Big Apple….Poppy, Wade and Yaz in Beantown…..Lenny Dykstra, Ryan Howard and Greg Luzinski in The City of Brotherly Love….Willie Stargell, Sterling Marte and Bill Mazorowski in The Steel City….Boots Day, Rusty Staub, Ron Fairly and John Boccabella in Montreal……Adolpho Phillips, Randy Hundley and Rick & Paul Reuschel in The Windy City……Buster Posey, Jim Ray Hart and Gaylord “The Commodore” Perry in The City By The Bay…. Stan The Man, Lou Brock and of course, Jose Cardenal in St. Louis. Now we have Nate Colbert, Khalil Greene and Greg Garcia in San Diego.
Always liked Garcia – a solid backup infielder. Munoz seems to have more talent, but his defense is as bad on the infield as the guy we traded for him is in the outfield. But then it might be that if Munoz ever plays on a consistent basis at one spot, he would improve in the field.
Pugs, don’t forget the Splendid Splinter in Boston, and Tony Gwynn in San Diego. And that’s Bill “Mazeroski” for Pittsburgh – perhaps the greatest defensive second baseman of all time. Incredible on the double play turn. Another guy who could really turn it, but did not play all that much was Denny Doyle.
Just saw that Willie McCovey passed away. One of my favorite non-Cardinals. I met him at a local collectibles show maybe 10 years ago, and have an autographed 8×10 of him in my home office room. He always seemed like a real down-to-earth, sort of gentle man. Huge hands – I shook his hand and felt like a kid shaking hands with an adult.
Indeed BicyleMike….it is truly amazing that SF could not haul in a world series trophy with the likes of McCovey, Mays, Hart, Marichal, the Perry brothers and Ronnie Herbel anchoring down the pen. And speaking of Ron Herbel, I recall hearing a story about him when I was a kid. Since it was told to me by a fellow 8 year old, I really cannot vouch to it’s authenticity. I guess Ron Herbel had the reputation as being one of the game’s worst hitters of all time. He literally couldn’t hit a beachball served up by Wally Cox. It appeared that Mr. Herbal had a terrible fear of being hit by a pitch and thus on those rare occasions when he attempted to make contact with the ball, he would just flail at it like a 6 year old. In one season when Herbel amassed a fair amount of at bats due to being a starter, he had one lone hit ….an astro turf aided squibber that just barely eluded the SS and 3rd baseman. As the story goes, the Giants were tied in the late innings of a crucial game and were forced to have Herbel bat with runners in scoring position. To make matters even worse for Herbel, the winds at Candlestick Park were howling in at about 25-30 miles per hour. The opposition, knowing that it would be a miracle of epic proportions for Herbel to even loft a routine fly ball, brought all 3 outfielders in to occupy positions around the infield to prevent any lucky infield hits. On the very first pitch, Herbel’s bat somehow someway connected perfectly with the ball and sent it sailing back….back!….back!!…to the center field fence!!!….and off the top of the fence for a double!!!! What amazes me more than Ron Herbel’s unbelievable hitting feat was the fact that he only could make it to 2nd base with all the fielders so darn far away. Certainly he was not only the game’s all time worst hitters, but also the slowest ML runner too……Yadi included.
Ron Herbel was legendary in his lack of hitting ability. He single-handily swung the DH debate to the “pro” side. Well, maybe not, but he was deplorable. His lifetime numbers are 6 hits (4 singles, 2 doubles) in 206 ABs, 125 strikeouts against 8 walks. That works out to an .029 batting average and a .104 OPS. He started his career 1 for his first 134, for the almost unbelievable Sean Connery batting mark of .007. He might be the only person in MLB history with over 100 ABs that has not been able to get over the “Connery line”.
He then became a real threat at the plate, going 3 for 72 over his final seasons, for an .042 mark – a six-fold increase from his early career ineptitude.
Oh, one correction in your comments on those powerhouse Giant teams of the mid-to-late ’60s. Only one Perry brother pitched for them, younger sibling Gaylord. Jim Perry spent most of his career with the Indians and Twins, winning 20 games in 1969 and 24 in 1970 for Twins teams that won their division.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.