Just reg'lr trivia?

[BigDDude]

Orioles were one of the teams that had forward-thinking front office people. Weaer knew the sort of team he needed and went out and got it.

Much like the Cardinals of the 80's, with Whitey Herzog. He/they tailored their lineup to take advantage of the fast turf they had there. I forget who, but they had a guy lead that team with 10 maybe 15 homers, and the same guy knocked in over 100. Tommy Herr maybe. But still, a similar situation.

 

[BigDDude]

The ugliest uniforms ever?

I recall the Padres and the Pirates looking like mustard and the Indians looking like tomatoes.

Aside from this Orioles joke, not so much about the four guys pictured.

One must never forget ( or get the vision out of your mind ), the "tequila sunrise" unis the Astros had in the 80's, and of course the White Sox, and the shorts.

For individual honors, I think Boog Powel in the tomato red Indians uni, or Greg Luzinski in the Sox shorts would be the worst looking ballplayers ever.

 

[JohnU]

Much like the Cardinals of the 80's, with Whitey Herzog. He/they tailored their lineup to take advantage of the fast turf they had there. I forget who, but they had a guy lead that team with 10 maybe 15 homers, and the same guy knocked in over 100. Tommy Herr maybe. But still, a similar situation.

I can't recall everyone from that team.
Willie McGee
Vince Coleman
Jack Clark
Tommy Herr
Darrell Porter
Ozzie somebody
Pendleton?

Some changes off and on there ... damned plastic grass.

 

[BigDDude]

damned plastic grass

They probably made better use of it than anyone, followed by the Jays teams in the 90's. One team/Org that should have got on board with this but never really did were the Astros of the Astrodome era. They should have had 9 fast "punch and judy" type guys in that yard.

 

[JohnU]

They probably made better use of it than anyone, followed by the Jays teams in the 90's. One team/Org that should have got on board with this but never really did were the Astros of the Astrodome era. They should have had 9 fast "punch and judy" type guys in that yard.

Houston never really matured as a franchise, aside from a few years of contending.
They had, what ... 1981 ... and not much else until the Biggio-Bagwell teams.
If anybody has a reason to be disappointed with their history, it's Houston.
Ballpark Digest has a Facebook feature dedicated to old ballparks. This one is on there.
Old Colts Stadium next to the Astrodome.
Astrodome not as impressive in size as we tend to imagine.
I read some horror stories about Colts Stadium. Not much hope of hitting a home run there.
But mosquitoes were fairly common.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Yeah, the Colts stadium was a poke AND a joke. Probably didn't help a few of their "big" hitters were little guys like Jimmy "toy cannon" Wynn and some midget named Joe Morgan. The Stros have had plenty of talent roll through Houston, just couldn't seem to put enough on one team to do much for long.

 

[BigDDude]

Houston never really matured as a franchise, aside from a few years of contending.
They had, what ... 1981 ... and not much else until the Biggio-Bagwell teams.
If anybody has a reason to be disappointed with their history, it's Houston.
Ballpark Digest has a Facebook feature dedicated to old ballparks. This one is on there.
Old Colts Stadium next to the Astrodome.
Astrodome not as impressive in size as we tend to imagine.
I read some horror stories about Colts Stadium. Not much hope of hitting a home run there.
But mosquitoes were fairly common.

Let me share a link I have, which has lots of info on both past and present ballparks.

Ballparks of Baseball - Your Guide to Major League Baseball Stadiums

Use in good health!

 

[JohnU]

Ha, I remember the Reds playing the Dodgers at the ballpark in Jersey City in '57. It was even televised back to Cincy. I recall at the time wondering why they were playing in Jersey, other than the announcer saying it was a "special" game. He obviously didn't share the details that O'Malley was in a grudge war with Brooklyn over a new stadium.

Ebbets Field - history, photos and more of the Brooklyn Dodgers former ballpark

 

[JohnU]

 

[JohnU]

This chick can also ride a buffalo without a ...

Or a saddle either.

 

[JohnU]

Scherzer is now 12-0. Anybody remember the Reds righthander who won his first 13 decisions in 1956?

 

[chico ruiz]

brooks lawrence. i know this one because he's an ohio son who grew up not far from dayton. of course, i could be mistaken. played for miami university also. or maybe it was dayton. anyway, my grandfather had a soft spot in his heart for that '56' team, and would occasionally reminisce about them.

 

[JohnU]

'56 team crashed out 221 HR, which at the time tied the record for a season.
A funny story with all those bombers, Roy McMillan hit 2 or 3 that year and got ribbed for being a dink hitter. Mac just said, "you guys wouldn't have tied the record if it wasn't for me."
That team was only 2 games off the pace at the end. I can't recall what the turning point was. I do recall it was Frank Robby's rookie year.
They scored a LOT of runs.

Had a reliever named Herschel Freeman, who pitched in 64 games -- quite a feat in those days for a relief pitcher to get that many games. He didn't "close" either. Usually pitched 3 innings if they called on a pinch hitter.

 

[chico ruiz]

roy mcmillan. according to my grandaddy, roy was the best fielding shortstop the reds ever had. although, he was very impressed by concepcion. now i'm reminiscing. i can't help it. the love of reds baseball handed down from generation to generation, etc. nevertheless, there is one thing that has always baffled me about mr. mcmillan. how did he win the gold glove in '59,' but only play in 79 games?

 

[JohnU]

If you look at Mac through 1956 and later in 1961 (not with the Reds) he was easily the best SS in the league. Exactly how that related to the GG vote, I could only guess. I suspect Mac was hurt in '59 because no way is Kasko a better shortstop.

He and Temple were sheer poetry at the keystone, however.

The problem with the Redlegs defense in '59 was the insistence that Frank Robby go to 1st base. I saw him play it a few times. Ah ... brutal. Didn't hurt his offense, though.

Roy McMillan Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

 

[Redsfan1507]

I don't remember Robinson as a Red, only as an Oriole, and he played OF then. I know he has a GG, but Votto is on pace for a brutal year at 1b this season. Scoring a lot of runs often makes people overlook the D... something unlikely to blur our vision this year. Choo may be the 5th best CF on this team. Frazier is only average at 3b.

Pete Rose, Perez, Lee May, Foster weren't exactly great gloves but swing the stick. Nick Esasky and Dan Driessen were terrible at 3b, as was Edwin Encarnacion. Alex Johnson and Kal Daniels were every bit as bad/lazy in LF as Adam Dunn, IMO.

 

[JohnU]

I never heard a good reason for Robby being moved to 1B, other than Mayo Smith was the manager until Hutch replaced him. Hutch used Robby at 1B a little as well, but not all that much. So looking at the Reds OF in '59, Jerry Lynch in LF would be probably a step up over Donald Lutz.

Pinson, a rookie, in CF and Gus Bell in RF ... I guess it was Robby being better at 1B than Lynch. But the Reds in those years truly sucked. Robby was not a great outfielder but he was smart.

Bell was a great CF, for what it's worth. Robby came up as a LF and ended up in RF.

In Crosley, you had to know how to play the terrace and the wall. Otherwise, just bring a bat with you.

 

[chico ruiz]

don newcombe and billy martin played on those teams.

 

[JohnU]

I saw Newcombe pitch a couple of games with the Reds. He was still pretty good, though not the great pitcher of his early days with the Dodgers. Newk was a real good hitter too. Had one of the nicest changeups I ever saw.

After Martin left NY, he was all over the place. That tells you something. I honestly thought he was probably not nearly as good as the New York media wanted us to think he was.

Here's a guy from that era that I had forgotten about. He was one of the first players to get out of Cuba after Castro took over.

Rogelio Alvarez Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

 

[chico ruiz]

it was more about what martin did in the world series w/ the yankees. he rose to the occasion when the championship was on the line. his post-season numbers are other-worldly. for better or worse, that's what ny fans remember.