Baseball

Didn't Cansenco completely murder one to the upper tier of the Toronto Skydome? That could've been one of the most amazing HR's I've ever seen...even though he was on the juice.

E

I think McGwire did put it on the Left Field roof, which was quite the rarity.  I don't remember if it cleared the roof or bounced back to the field, but either way it would have been quite a blast. 

This is from a Free Press article from earlier this week:

^^^^^^ 

Edited by Squonkman - April 24 2008 at 14:12

Squonkman wrote: Here is another baseball list to throw out when I got to thinking about what players I have seen. Name all the ballparks you have gone to games at, including (especially) the defunct ones:   1. Metropolitan Stadium--Twins not really an ideal baseball park, but certainly better than that huge Baggie Dome they now have up there. My Twins were winners of the newly created AL West in 69 and 70, and I got to see a lot of the old school AL players of the time, including my favorite, the Killer.   2. Wrigley Field--Cubs lived in Chicago area for a few years, so got to see the early 70s Cubs teams of Billy Williams, Fergie Jenkins, Santo, Beckert. Would later go to many many games at Wrigley of the best rivalry in baseball, Cards-Cubs. So I got to see pre luxury box and lights and post luxury box and lights Wrigley.   3. Comiskey Park--White Sox saw a few games at the old Comiskey, kind of a dank dark place with the old support beams (like Wrigley), and the old exploding scoreboard. Remember having no trouble moving up to prime seats behind the dugouts----hardly anyone there some games.   4. Old Busch Stadium (the multipurpose round one)   saw games there from 1974 to the end in 2005, I was there at the last regular season game, and the last game ever, Game 6 of the 2005 NLCS. Many many memories over 30 years:   ---seeing Gibson, Brock, Ted Simmons, Kieth Hernandez, Bob Forsch, George Hendrick play ---82 NLCS vs Braves and celebrating the 82 WS win vs Brewers and the championship parade the next day ---was at Ozzie's game winning HR, game 6 NLCS, 9th inning vs LA ---so many intense Mets-Cards games in the 80s vs the hated Pond Scum Gooden, Strawberry, Dykstra, Backman, Johnson etc, including some Tudor--Gooden gems ---the intense 7 game NLCS vs SF in 87 against Jeffrey one flap down Leonard and celebrating a pennant win ---Game 4 of the 87 Series vs Twins, Lawless hits improbable 3 run HR and flips bat over shoulder ---Ozzie Smith day in 96 ---McGwire and the HR ride of 98, including HR #62 which I was at ---so many playoff series in the 2000s they are hard to keep track of, but the fantastic 2004 year, with the intense NLCS vs Astros, including Game 6 walk off HR by Edmonds and Game 7 pennant win against Clemens. Unfortunately, no WS memories that year...... ---last game ceremony at Busch, with all the past stars.....amazing     5. New Busch (should have called it Busch Ballpark to differentiate it)   already memories of the 2006 magical NLCS win vs Mets, and I was at  all 3 WS games, including game 5 of the almost sweep vs Tigers to give us our first title since 82. Nothing like celebrating a World Series win you saw in person.   6. Kauffman Stadium--Royals   beautiful ballpark. still seems fresh and new, one of the first baseball only parks built before the Camden fad   7. Candlestick Park--Giants saw a great early September game vs Braves in the early 90s with huge playoff implications, packed house for a midweek day game. Saw the Braves hit back to back HRs twice (Justice/McGriff?)   9. Oakland Alameda(?)--As   on same vacation, snuck over and caught an As game, when Canseco-McGwire still there   10. PNC Park---Pittsburgh   simply the best of the new stadiums in my opinion. Classy looking and different, small intimate, great riverview   11. Great American Ballpark--Cincinnati   another great riverview, but not as nice as Pittsburgh's. Looks like they cheaped out a bit on this one. All white and red, kind of strange looking.   12. Comerica Park--Detroit   a great regret I have is not getting my butt up to Detroit to see old Tiger Stadium before it closed. Damn. But I did visit the old one and took a whole bunch of pictures of it just sitting there at the corner of Trumbull and Michigan. Then went to see the new ballpark, pretty impressive, very geared for kids, big and spacious, seems like they set the upperdeck back to far for some reason. Great view of the city, still not the greatest surrounding area.   13. County Stadium---Milwaukee   Did see that one a few times before it closed. Pretty darn good park for baseball, gave you that nostalgic feel, one of the last to go. Wierd that it sat out in that parking lot, would have had more character if it was more in the city limits. Great brats.   14. Miller Ballpark--Milwaukee   nice enough, a little gimmicky, seems like a lot of levels. The top looks like an airport hanger. Right in the same area as the old ballpark.   I think that's it. Still have yet to do an east coast ballpark trip which I need to do real soon. Then I will work on the west coast and south.

1. Dodger Stadium - Lived in L.A for 30+ years. Still a gem after 45 years. It still looks new.

2. Anaheim Stadium - (see above) Got to see Nolan Ryan pitch there.

3. Busch Stadium - 2nd busch in the 3. Have yet to see a game at the new Busch, maybe next month.

4. Three Rivers Stadium - Caught a double header with the Reds during Dave Parkers time with the Pirates.

5. Municipal Stadium(Cleveland) - Saw a Tribe/ChiSox game back in '66.

6. Kaufman Stadium - Love this ballpark, nice views.

7. Wrigley Field - Caught 2 games back in '99. All ballparks need to have the charm that this place has.

Squonkman, I've deleted my original post (which wasn't easy because I spent a lot of time on it) because I see where this is going.

You believe what you believe. You've made a good point, and I feel I made some good points and we'll just leave it at that.

I've learned my lesson well over the weekend. Not going through it again.

E


Edited by E-Dub - April 24 2008 at 08:37

Squonkman wrote: E-Dub wrote: crimhead wrote: they will always be second to the Cardinals in Missouri. Maybe so, but it wasn't the case in 1985. E     Thanks to Don Denkinger.

OK, I'll see your Don Denkinger and raise you:

1. The Royals batting close to .300 for the series when the Cardinals couldn't even reach .200.
2. The Royals spotting the Cardinals a 2 games to 0 lead with the series going back to St. Louis, and they couldn't close it out there. The teams came back to Kansas City with St. Louis leading the series 3 games to 1.

9th inning of game 6:
3. You're right, Jorge Orta was out at 1st; however, he was forced out at 3rd, therefore his run never counted.
4. A missed opportunity for an out when Jack Clark muffed a pop foul (Funny how people always mention the Denkinger miscall, but never remember Jack Clark's gaff as another missed opportunity).
5. A passed ball that allowed the runners to advance, thus setting up Dane Iorg's bloop single that scored Jim Sundberg from second (due to that passed ball) to score the winning run.

Game 7:
6. The Cards ace, John Tudor, couldn't last past the 3rd inning, thus leading to his tirade in the dugout.
7. Andujar completely imploding.
8. The Royals skunking the Cardinals 11-0 in game 9. 
9. The headline on the front page of the St. Louis newspaper that read, "OUT-PITCHED! OUT-HIT! OUTCLASSED!" (Not a reason why they lost, but even the St. Louis media were clear headed enough to see it. Just sad to think most St. Louis fans [and Squonkman] blame the entire series on one man).

So, please don't use the Denkinger play as an excuse because there are so many reasons why the Cardinals lost the series. OK, the series went to a game 7,  but championship teams find a way to put that game behind them and attack the next day. St. Louis tucked their little tails between their legs and allowed the Royals to stomp on their throats.

If you are going to use that one single, solitary play as the sole reason why the Royals won, then you have to look at the other side.

E


Edited by E-Dub - April 23 2008 at 22:35

I think that Morris belongs in the Hall as well.  I believe that he had more wins than any other pitcher during the decade of the 80's.  He was a mean SOB when it came to dealing with reporters though, so that is one of the things that is probably keeping him out.  I think that his ERA might be higher than anyone else in the Hall too, but he was definitely a consistent workhorse, won a lot of games, struck out a lot of hitters, and if my memory serves me right he won 3 World Series rings with 3 different teams, including a 10-inning shutout of a 1-0 game. 

Tram played from 1977 to 1996, all with the Detroit Tigers.  On paper, his statistics are quite comparable to Ozzie Smith's stats for both hitting and fielding, but Ozzie was a flashier player.  Tram was a very reliable fielding shortstop and could get to a lot of balls, but he obviously didn't have the same level of range as Ozzie had (but then again, very few had the same range as Ozzy).

Of the players that you listed above, the only two that I am pretty certain that I saw play in person are Cal Ripken and George Brett (and also Fred Lynn, but that was because he ended his career with the Tigers), but I have gone to so many games over the years I don't have any specific memories.  In your honorable mentions, I am pretty certain that I have seen Rod Carew, Nolan Ryan, and Orel Hershiser (when he was pitching for the Indians) play in person, but again no specific memories, and I definitely saw Pujols play multiple times in recent years, including the World Series in 2006. 

Edited by rushfan4 - April 23 2008 at 14:41