Announcing a new feature that will very irregularly appear here:

Basically, I will use three main sources: my collection of books of Baseball's great games and players, one or two on famous sayings about baseball and by baseball people, and the "stories" - facts and sayings - that flash by in between events on Out of the Park Baseball, a high-tech simulation game that is oft-played solitaire. These will be supplemented where available by baseball-reference and other sites. 

Anyone is welcome to post here in the spirit of the forum thread and with comments, criticisms, and the like.

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The only pitcher ever to face Babe Ruth AND Mickey Mantle - Al Benton, who also pitched against Lou Gehrig and Joe Dimaggio

http://www.libaseballmag.com/al-benton-the-only-man-to-face-ruth-gehrig-dimaggio-and-mantle/

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Carl Erskine on how to pitch against Stan Musial:

"I have had success throwing him my best pitch and then backing up third base."

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Sparky Anderson: "The problem with Wockenfuss getting on base is that it takes three doubles to drive him in."


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Tuesday, July 2, 1963, , Candlestick Park Attendance: 15,921, Time of Game: 4:10				Support us without the ads? Go Ad-Free!
Braves 0 38-39 ? Lost 2 ? 6th, 7 GB Bobby Bragan	at	Giants 1 45-34 ? Won 1 ? 3rd, 1 GB Al Dark	W: Juan Marichal (13-3) L: Warren Spahn (11-4)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Braves 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 8 1 Giants 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1   1 9 1 Winning Run scored with 1 out

Ha! That Erskine quote is great.

We're gonna need a separate thread for Tim Kirkjian

Along with becoming the first Japanese player to start and win a World Series game, Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka also had two RBIs.
How many Red Sox pitchers have ever had two RBIs in a World Series game? The answer is Cy Young, Babe Ruth and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

That is some pretty awesome company for Matsuzaka !

Interesting fact I just saw. As of 2013, Jamie Moyer pitched so long, he pitched against 8.9% of ALL hitters in baseball history

Unbelievable stat, could only have been accomplished after expansion, and interleagie play When you think about it, the leader in that stat at any time in in ml history, that is, who currently has faced the most different hitters in his career, would be a fascinating list to look at. I'll bet cy young had the lead for a while.

A graph of the leading percentage would be neat to look at too. Very high percentages dropping rapidly in 1901.....pitchers who spent significant time in both leagues. Probably names like Jim Bunning and Nolan Ryan would pop up.

Curious fact: 

Ralph Kiner is the only player ever to have led the league in home runs for 7 years in a row. They were his first seven years in the majors !

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kinerra01.shtml


Curious fact: 

Joe Sewell struck out onl 114 times in 8333 PA  in a 14-year career. From 1925-29 he never had fewer than 650 PA and never struck out more than 9 times in a season. In his last season, 1933, he struck out 4 times in 609 PA. His lifetime OBP was .391. 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/seweljo01.shtml

Curious fact: 

A curveball thrown on Mars would become a screwball, but if hit successfully, would travel three times as far (or about the same as in Coors field ! :-)). 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/849717/posts

Curious fact:

Don Baylor played in three straight World Series, 1986, 87 and 88 for three different teams: Red Sox, Twins and Athletics. 



Curious fact: 

Giants' manager Alvin Dark told reporters in 1962 that men would land on the moon before pitcher Gaylord Perry ever hit a home run. On July 20, 1969, 20 minutes after Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon's surface, Perry hit his first major league home run: 

http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/perry.asp

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196907200.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perryga01.shtml


Curious fact: Ken Ash, pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, is the only pitcher to get a win after throwing only one pitch in a game. He did it on July 27, 1930 against the Cubs, pitching in the top of the 6th with his team behind and the Cubs with two men on and no outs. He pitched and the batter hit into a triple play. The Reds scored the winning the runs in the bottom of the 6th, having pinch-hit for Ash during the rally:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN193007270.shtml

Great thread, italyprof!

But the wording on the last one above (Ken Ash) doesn't seem right.  Ash may be the only pitcher to throw one pitch in a game and get three outs and leave, but I'm sure other pitchers have thrown a single pitch and gotten a W for it.  Bases loaded, tie game, 2 outs, reliever gets the out on one pitch, then his team scores to get him the win.  Or am I missing something?

Okay, did a little Googling, and there have been at least a couple of pitchers who got a W without throwing even one pitch!

m.mlb.com/news/article/5756884/

crazystengel, I thought it was strange myself. I will look the source up and try to double-check it. You are probably right. Still an interesting game because of the triple play pitch.

GOOD THREAD