Jose Altuve is known for his height at 5’6″. His birthday shares the same numbers 5/6. What MLB players have the same birthday as their height?

You might recognize some of these names. HOF Charlie Gehringer (5/11 5’11”), TV Sportscaster Steve Lyons (6/3 6’3″), All-Star Raul Ibanez (6/2 6’2″).

Here are all 44 players who have the same birthday as their height.

Player photo	Player name	Birthday	Height	Birth year	MLB career	Total seasons
	Jimmy Bannon	5/5	5’5″	1871	1893-1896	4
	Jose Altuve MVP 9× All-Star 3× Batting Title	5/6	5’6″	1990	2011-current	14
	Tom Bannon	5/8	5’8″	1869	1895-1896	2
	Ross Barnes 3× Batting Title	5/8	5’8″	1850	1871-1881	9
	Floyd Robinson	5/9	5’9″	1936	1960-1968	9
	Wally Dashiell	5/9	5’9″	1902	1924	1
	Walter Prince	5/9	5’9″	1861	1883-1884	2
	Joe Borden	5/9	5’9″	1854	1875-1876	2
	P. J. Higgins	5/10	5’10”	1993	2021-2022	2
	Glen Barker	5/10	5’10”	1971	1999-2001	3
	Pat Hardgrove	5/10	5’10”	1895	1918	1
	Bill Davidson	5/10	5’10”	1884	1909-1911	3
	Harry Berte	5/10	5’10”	1872	1903	1
	John Cattanach	5/10	5’10”	1863	1884	1
	Jose Azocar	5/11	5’11”	1996	2022-current	3
	Jordan Yamamoto	5/11	5’11”	1996	2019-2021	3
	Frank Campos	5/11	5’11”	1924	1951-1953	3
	Gene Hermanski	5/11	5’11”	1920	1943-1953	9
	Dave Short	5/11	5’11”	1917	1940-1941	2
	Charlie Gehringer HOF MVP 6× All-Star	5/11	5’11”	1903	1924-1942	19
	Jessie Reid	6/1	6’1″	1962	1987-1988	2
	Sandy Wihtol	6/1	6’1″	1955	1979-1982	3
	Jim McKnight	6/1	6’1″	1936	1960-1962	2
	Guy Morton 1920 World Series	6/1	6’1″	1893	1914-1924	11
	George Decker	6/1	6’1″	1866	1892-1899	8
	John Ewing ERA Title	6/1	6’1″	1863	1883-1891	6
	Mickey McDonald	6/2	6’2″	1995	2022	1
	Chin-hui Tsao	6/2	6’2″	1981	2003-2016	6
	Wascar Serrano	6/2	6’2″	1978	2001	1
	Raul Ibanez 1× All-Star	6/2	6’2″	1972	1996-2014	19
	Mike Davey	6/2	6’2″	1952	1977-1978	2
	Jim Maloney	6/2	6’2″	1940	1960-1971	12
	Gene Michael	6/2	6’2″	1938	1966-1975	10
	Jerry Lumpe 1× All-Star 1958 World Series	6/2	6’2″	1933	1956-1967	12
	Charles Leblanc	6/3	6’3″	1996	2022-current	2
	Eric Lauer	6/3	6’3″	1995	2018-2023	6
	Brandon Waddell	6/3	6’3″	1994	2020-2021	2
	Travis Hafner	6/3	6’3″	1977	2002-2013	12
	Bryan Rekar	6/3	6’3″	1972	1995-2002	8
	Steve Lyons TV Sportscaster	6/3	6’3″	1960	1985-1993	9
	Jim Gentile 6× All-Star	6/3	6’3″	1934	1957-1966	9
	Kent Emanuel	6/4	6’4″	1992	2021-2024	2
	Dennis Blair	6/5	6’5″	1954	1974-1980	4
	Mark Schaeffer	6/5	6’5″	1948	1972	1

How I created this list

I was able to easily pull these names by running this R script

library(Lahman)
library(dplyr)

# 1. Create the career summary
player_career_stats <- Appearances %>%
  group_by(playerID) %>%
  summarise(
    first_year = min(yearID),
    last_year = max(yearID),
    total_seasons = n_distinct(yearID)
  )

# 2. Define the search criteria
search_criteria <- bind_rows(
  data.frame(day = 2:11) %>% mutate(month = 5, height_inches = 60 + day),
  data.frame(day = 1:11) %>% mutate(month = 6, height_inches = 72 + day)
)

# 3. Join, Format, and Build the Table
historical_results <- People %>%
  inner_join(search_criteria, by = c("birthMonth" = "month", 
                                     "birthDay" = "day", 
                                     "height" = "height_inches")) %>%
  left_join(player_career_stats, by = "playerID") %>%
  mutate(
    birthday = paste0(birthMonth, "/", birthDay),
    height_formatted = paste0(height %/% 12, "'", height %% 12, "\""),
    bbref_url = paste0(
      "https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/",
      substr(playerID, 1, 1), "/", 
      playerID, ".shtml"
    )
  ) %>%
  select(
    nameFirst, nameLast, birthday, birthYear, 
    first_year, last_year, total_seasons, 
    height_formatted, bbref_url
  ) %>%
  arrange(birthday, birthYear)

# 4. Download/Save the results as a CSV
# write.csv(historical_results, "historical_results.csv", row.names = FALSE)

# Confirmation message
# print("File 'historical_results.csv' has been created in your working directory.")

The post MLB players with same birthday and height appeared first on 57 hits.

MLB has a bracket challenge for the World Baseball Classic at worldbaseballclassic.com/bracket

Winner gets:

• $5,000
• 4 tickets to an MLB game of the winner’s choice (MLB says these tickets are worth $2,000)
• and $500 for MLBshop.com

The award goes out only if someone guesses all the bracket correct. Given the size of the bracket, I’m guessing there will be multiple people who get it.

Entries due Wednesday, March 4, 11pm CT.

Here’s my bracket:

I basically picked all the teams that MLB ranked as best: Ranking 2026 World Baseball Classic teams

There’s a lot of text on that page, so let me make it simple for you. Here’s the chart sort by best, and grouped by their pool.

WBC team rankings by pool

Tiebreakers

Since there will likely be a tie, MLB has several tiebreaker questions.

For the tiebreakers, I upped the amount from last WBC. Since the previous WBC in 2023 was so exciting, I think players might be more amped up this year, and thus slightly more HR and runs.

HR total
(How many home runs will be hit by all players during the 2026 World Baseball Classic?)
– 2023: 85
– My guess: 87

Runs total
(How many total runs will be scored by all teams during the 2026 World Baseball Classic?)
– 2023: 502
– My guess: 504

Runs in Final
(How many total runs will be scored in the Final?)
– 2023: 5
– My guess: 3

Best of luck to everyone.

Please join the challenge. I’ve LOOOOVE to see someone I know win.

The post 2026 World Baseball Classic Bracket Challenge appeared first on 57 hits.

The post Chicago Cubs in 2026 Topps appeared first on 57 hits.

One of my favorite baseball card sets is 1988 Score. The cards have crisp action shots. At the time, that was unusual—most sets featured a lot of static portrait shots, players staring blankly at the camera like they were getting their driver’s license renewed.

But Score’s 1988 set looked different because Score treated the photography like the star of the card. Lots of bold, action shots, and a printing/layout treatment that emphasized the photo. The design is clean: a colored border with a thin inner white frame around the photo. The set used six different border colors and a restrained nameplate/graphic treatment so the picture remained the focal point. The overall layout is bright but photo-centric.

The set has a fresher, more “photo-forward” feel than many of the other 1988 offerings. This was Score showing off.

Purple border, bold choice

Take Tom Herr’s card—#84 in the set. Full bleed purple border. How often did you see a purple border in cards before 1988? Answer: never. This is a bold card.

And the action? Tom Herr is jumping over a player in a double-play at Candlestick Park. Not just any player, either. The guy he’s leaping over appears to be Will Clark. If you’re talking about 1988 baseball, Will Clark is one of the big names—the Giants’ young superstar first baseman. To have Will Clark make a cameo appearance on someone else’s card is a fun surprise, like spotting a movie star in the background of your vacation photos.

The autograph that makes it personal

This particular card is signed by Tom Herr. Nicely signed at the bottom of the card. The autograph goes right over Will Clark, as if jumping over him wasn’t enough. Now Tom Herr is literally writing his name on top of him. The strong horizontal line in his first name goes in the same direction as Will Clark’s sliding body. That horizontal line also serves as an underline, highlighting Herr leaping over Clark.

And to top it all off, “John 3:16” is written as an inscription underneath the signature.

So much is going on in this card. I had to get it. The eBay seller made a low offer of $3.79 with free shipping. I jumped on it—much like Tom Herr jumped over Will Clark.

The detective work begins

But then the question hit me: What game does this play appear in?

There can’t be too many games in 1987 where this exact situation happened—Will Clark involved in a double play against the Cardinals at Candlestick Park. I went digging through Baseball Reference, and I narrowed it down to two games.

Option 1: Sunday, July 26, 1987

Giants vs. Cardinals
Giants win 5-2
Attendance: 41,256

A double play with Will Clark on first base happens in the bottom of the 3rd. Giants are behind 0-1.
José Uribe: Groundout: SS-2B/Forceout at 2B

Option 2: Wednesday, May 13, 1987

Cardinals vs. Giants
Cardinals 18-13 (1st place)
Giants 21-13 (2nd place, 0.5 games behind CIN)
Cardinals win 7-6
Attendance: 16,891

A double play with Will Clark on first base happens in the bottom of the 4th. Giants are behind 1-4.
Bob Melvin: Ground Ball Double Play: 3B-2B-1B, ends the inning.

The clue in the background

Look at the card again. The outfield in the background is empty of fans—just bare green seats stretching into the distance. That’s the tell.

The July 26th game had 41,256 fans. The May 13th game had 16,891 fans. At Candlestick Park, 16,891 people doesn’t fill much beyond the lower deck. Those upper outfield seats? Empty.

It must be the May 13, 1987 game.

What happened that day

And what a game it was.

Will Clark went 3-for-4 with 2 home runs:

• In the 2nd inning, Clark hits a 1-run HR to tie the game, 1-1
• In the 6th inning, Clark crushes a 3-run HR to give the Giants a 5-4 lead

Tom Herr went 2-for-5 with a double. He eventually crossed home after his double when Terry Pendleton hit a HR to give the Cardinals the go-ahead run they wouldn’t surrender.

So on May 13, 1987, Will Clark had one of those days where he almost singlehandedly beat you with his bat. But the Cardinals still won 7-6, and somewhere in the fourth inning, Tom Herr jumped over him to complete a double play.

Score’s photographer caught that moment. The card company chose that photo. Tom Herr signed it years later. A seller offered it for $3.79.

And now I know exactly when it happened.

The post Tom Herr’s double play over a sliding Will Clark in 1987 appeared first on 57 hits.

Sports fans love the year their team wins the championship. But there’s something funny about fandom — we’re often more sentimental about the year before the title.

Take the Cubs. I find myself more nostalgic for the 2015 team than the 2017 team.

In 2015, the Cubs were young, scrappy, and full of wonder. They made it to the NLCS — one step away from the World Series. Hope was alive. Every win felt like a discovery.

In 2016, they won the World Series.

In 2017, they reached the NLCS again — the same result as 2015 — but it didn’t feel the same.

You’d think those two seasons would hold equal sentimental value. Both came one step shy of the World Series. But no — the 2015 team is far more beloved.

Why is that?

The psychology of the “year before”

It turns out, there’s real psychology behind why that almost there season feels so magical.

1. The anticipation effect

Anticipation is often more emotionally powerful than fulfillment. Psychologists call this the anticipation effect — we feel more joy looking forward to something than actually experiencing it.

In 2015, the Cubs’ future was wide open. By 2017, the magic of discovery had been replaced by expectation — and expectation dulls wonder. Look at the 2017 All-Star team. None of the Cubs from the 2016 champion team were all-stars in 2017. Only Wade Miller made it to the 2017 All-Star team. (Wade Miller was not on the 2016 Cubs).

2. The first-time effect

We feel stronger emotions the first time something amazing happens.

The 2015 Cubs gave fans that first glimpse of greatness. They were the “wow, this could really happen” team.
The 2017 Cubs were seasoned veterans. Familiar. The novelty was gone.

Once you’ve seen the mountain top, the view from base camp isn’t as breathtaking.

3. The hedonic treadmill

After success, our emotional baseline resets.

In 2016, the Cubs reached the ultimate joy — breaking the 108-year drought. But by 2017, making the NLCS felt routine. That’s the hedonic treadmill: what once thrilled us becomes the new normal.

The 2015 season feels special because it belonged to a time when hope still felt new.

4. The romance of becoming

Humans romanticize becoming more than being.

The 2015 Cubs were in the process of becoming champions — a story in motion.
Once you’ve won, that innocence disappears. The story shifts from “What if?” to “Can they do it again?” And sequels rarely carry the same magic as the original.

The 2025 Cubs: becoming or ending?

So what about this year’s Cubs?

Right now, in October 2025, it’s unclear what kind of team this is. Are these the 2015 Cubs all over again — the team right before something incredible happens?

If the 2026 Cubs go on to win it all, this 2025 team will take on mythic weight. They’ll be remembered as the beginning of something. The year the foundation set.

But if 2026 fizzles, the 2025 Cubs risk becoming like the 2007 and 2008 squads — playoff teams that fade from memory, swallowed by “what could’ve been.”

That’s the beautiful tension of fandom. We don’t know, in the moment, which years will become legend and which will disappear into the box scores.

Right now, it might feel like a loss this season would be the end of everything.
But maybe it’s just the setup. Maybe the story is still being written.

And that’s why we love it — the almost years hold the purest kind of hope.

The post Why we love the year before the championship appeared first on 57 hits.

• When Joe Maddon joined the Cubs, he was like that. He was off-the-wall. Magic came from creating joy and removing tension.
• Terry Francona (Red Sox, Guardians) – “Tito” has that dad energy. Super relatable, lets players be themselves. His laid-back approach works because players love him.
• Dusty Baker (Giants, Cubs, Astros, etc.) – Maybe the ultimate player’s manager. Wears wristbands, gives hugs, tells stories. Guys want to win for him.

When Craig Counsell joined the Brewers, he was like that. He’s this skinny, kinda quirky guy. Lovable. He brought local hero energy.

But when Counsell joined the Cubs, he was hired as a finished product, a genius savior — which erases the endearing, scrappy vibe that made him special.

You can see it in the dugout. Watching Counsell in the first two playoff games against the Brewers, he looked unsure. Of course, he’s watching his team fall apart. But still, managers are supposed to set the tone. To project confidence. Instead, he looked nervous — shifting eyes, taking off his hat, running his hands through his hair.

Maybe the best managers are the ones who make players feel like the game is theirs — whether that’s through quirkiness, looseness, or just being human.

The post Pat Murphy vs Craig Counsell appeared first on 57 hits.

I was just looking at a photo of Mariner Moose wearing shorts. For a moment, I found it odd how he’s wearing shorts. MLB players don’t wear shorts. Shouldn’t he be wearing pants instead?

But when you look at a mascot wearing pants, it looks WEIRD.

Take this photo. Look at the Texas Ranger mascot, Captain.

Focus on the body and legs. It looks like a regular player, but when you look at the head, it’s like YIPES! Why is there a horse head on that Texas Ranger player? The rest of the mascots look normal—as normal as mascots can be.

Now, let’s do the same with the Chicago White Sox mascot, Southpaw.

Pants on mascots look weird.

The post Mascots wearing pants appeared first on 57 hits.

Díaz had two hard-hit balls, but none for hits.

I had a gut feeling that I shouldn’t go with Díaz. But I get that gut feeling all the time. If I followed that feeling, I wouldn’t ever make a pick. I wanted to get high-confidence picks in before the September call-ups. No regrets here. It was a good pick, IMHO.

It would have been nice to get to 40. But heck, it was nice getting to 29, 30, 35, and 39. There were moments where I thought I might actually win the $5.6 million. Heh.

I’ve been playing Beat the Streak for 21 years. This was the longest streak I ever got. The second-longest was 29 games in 2019 (right at the same time when my second daughter was born).

I got into great detail about every day of the streak in the comments on the 2025 Beat the Streak discussion post.

It was a lot of fun. Hard to believe that it started all the way back on May 29. I got to hang onto that streak for three solid months!

I was telling myself all along, every streak must end. It’s fun when a streak gets long.

Well, actually, it’s fun playing when the streak is short too. It’ll be nice in the coming weeks to make fun picks that I don’t fret over. I might revert back to my strategy at the beginning of the season… pick the absolute worst players when my streak is zero. So whenever my streak gets longer, I can point out and say Nick Allen and Willy Adames started my streak!

I use those two names, because they lead MLB for most games without a hit (as a starter).

Well. I know my picks for tomorrow!

And for next year, I’ll have a very robust system that will help me make my picks. I’m excited to continue to improve my R scripts that automatically pull all the stats and do the comparisons. Ultimately, I want to get the system where it makes a simple suggestion for me. Currently, I’m still scanning around various stats, because I haven’t fully integrated them into one simple score.

So something good comes out of this streak… my cool script. Getting higher and higher in the rankings really made me push to add more stats to utilize when making my selections.

Here’s a screenshot of my final place on the leaderboard.

And as of September 2, my place in the overall season is 30th. After all that, if feels like I was in the top 10. But really I’m buried down at 30. So be it. There were an INCREDIBLE amount of streaks above 30 this season. Not sure if it’s all the analytics available. Or if the favorite players simply did very well.

We still have a month to play, so there will be people who will push me down the list. But I don’t imagine that many people will be continuing to play at this point in the season. If your streak resets to zero, you have no chance at breaking 56 games. We are simply out of games at the end of the season.

The players I used in my 39-game streak:

My goodness. For 23% of my streak, I picked Ohtani, the BB machine.

The post My 39-game streak is over appeared first on 57 hits.

The Milestone Mindset

Every time my streak increases, it feels like a new milestone.

• 36 is just 20 away from 56
• 35 is halfway through 30
• 30 is 30
• 29 was my previous best streak (from 2019)
• 25 is 25
• 20 is 20

Each time, it’s like wooo. Take a deep breath and keep going. I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far. There have been numerous close calls where I change a pick, and my original pick doesn’t get a hit.

Now that I’ve been analyzing my picks more closely, I’ve found that there are players who were my secondary choice. So close to making that secondary choice my actual choice. And they don’t get a hit. So now I’m even more aware of just how close I come every day to not getting a hit.

From Casual to Calculated

At the beginning of my streak, I didn’t pay much attention to my picks. I’d make picks in advance, just clicking on two of MLB’s recommended options. And moving on. Every week or so, I’d check in and see how I was doing. And that was it.

Then I had two good weeks of random luck doing the quick picks, and I reached 11, so I focused on making good picks from that point. My goal was to reach 20. Once I reached 20, my goal was 29. Previously, that was my longest streak, from 2019, when my second daughter was born. I sat on 29 for weeks, not making a pick. I was too focused at home with my newborn daughter. Then I finally made a pick, and boom, my streak ended.

This year I made it past 29, getting to 30. On Reddit’s r/BeatTheStreak, each user can set their own “flair.” That’s a string of text that appears under your name. Everyone uses the format Current: X | Season: X | Best: X (X being the number). Therefore, for the longest time, my “Best” was 29. I was proud of that 29, but man. To reach 30 would be incredible.

When I reached 29, I thought, “watch, my streak will end at 29, and I won’t be able to update my ‘Best’.” But then I thought that it would be cool to have “Best: 29 ×2” in my flair. That would show that I got two 29 streaks. I wasn’t just lucky getting one long streak; I’ve had two in my BTS career.

Then I reached 30, and I was glad to go up to the next decade of numbers.

The Psychology of Streaking

Getting this far, I’ve readily been aware of how a streak can end at any moment. As I mentioned earlier, I made last-minute changes and considered secondary options. However, sometimes there is a feeling like, “wow, there must be something here. Maybe I’m doing something right where I can make the right picks.” I have been using a more advanced system of importing in data. So that feels cool. And since I reached 11, I’ve been making very conscious selections. Did I really make that 25 happen? I know logically, that’s not true. It’s luck. No matter which system you use. It still comes down to a 75% chance. But when you keep making the right selections, there is a feeling of ‘I dunno’… That you are doing something right.

Building the Perfect System

Even when my streak ends (notice I didn’t say “if my streak ends,” it will surely end), I have gained a good system with dynamically pulling stats from Fangraphs via R programming with the baseballr library. I’ve gained some basic knowledge of R—admittedly, mostly through ChatGPT and Gemini. However, it’s been beneficial to see how to utilize R to obtain the desired results and data.

I still envision myself making my system easier to read. A nice dashboard would be great. Currently, most of my final data is in one dataframe (aka spreadsheet) that feeds from multiple dataframes. But at the end of all the processing, it’s really just one grid I’m looking at. However, I often reference numerous other statistics that I want to incorporate.

The Ultimate Test

My ultimate goal is to develop a formula and then apply it to the last ten years of seasons. Day by day. As if it’s like a live season. Where, each day in testing, I only have data from the past. No cheating and looking at the end of the season to see who has the best GHP. Nope. Just using what’s up to that point in the season.

I would run that model through every game and see how it does. Modify the formula slightly and rerun the simulation. And again, and again. To see exactly which formula works the best.

Honestly, that’s what I’m most excited about. Playing the game is really exciting. It’s cool to see which picks work and which don’t. But to run it through ten years and see what happens… that’s like playing the game over ten years at high speed and seeing the results. Man, that would be so cool.

A Long History with the Game

And I’ve been playing this game since at least 2004. I know that year for certain, because that’s the first blog post where I talked about Beat the Streak. I might have played in 2002 or 2003. Or maybe even in the inaugural year in 2001. But I never blogged about it, so I don’t have a record.

Oh, and just mentioning this for fun. Back in the 2010s, like 2011, I would try to recruit my friends to play Beat the Streak. A couple of weeks before the MLB season would start, I would buy a bunch of Topps Opening Day packs. And mail a pack to each person. A letter was included with the pack, inviting that person to play Beat the Streak and join my group/league.

Topps doesn’t make that series anymore, which is sad, because it was a wonderful set of cards. The packs were just $1.00 or $1.25 each. How much did other regular packs cost at the time? Like $4 or $5? I loved getting a pack of cards for a buck. And how fun it is to mail a pack of cards to people as a bribe to get them to play. I mean really, you get a pack of cards in the mail asking you to play a game where you can win 5.7 million dollars. Who can turn that down‽

Community and Continuation

Nowadays, the only person I know who continues to play Beat the Streak is my twin brother. But through Reddit’s r/BeatTheStreak, I’ve gotten to know other people online who play. And that’s cool. People who share helpful advice. People who cheer you on when you are doing well. It’s pretty rad.

The post Thoughts on have a 36-game streak in Beat the Streak appeared first on 57 hits.

Four weeks ago, I attended the Cubs game on July 23, 2025—the last day they would hold the best record in baseball.

The Chicago Cubs entered their matchup against the Kansas City Royals tied with Milwaukee for the best record in baseball at 60-41. Little did we know that July 23rd would mark the end of that brief moment at the top. What followed was a sweltering afternoon filled with wind-blown home runs, rookie milestones, and the kind of baseball memories that make scorekeeping an art form.

A scorching day at Wrigley

The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat warning with feels-like temperatures reaching 105-110°F. Adding to the conditions, 24 mph wind gusts were blowing straight out to the bleachers—a recipe for offensive fireworks.

The wind’s impact became immediately apparent when the game’s first batter sent a fly ball to right fielder Seiya Suzuki. What should have been a routine out instead became an error when the ball hit the pinky of Suzuki’s glove on the warning track. In 14 other ballparks, that would have been a home run.

Seiya’s redemption story

Suzuki’s early miscue carried extra weight given his history. Cubs fans remember his devastating error against Atlanta on September 26, 2023—a dropped routine fly ball that crushed the team’s playoff hopes and happened to occur during Ronald Acuña Jr.’s historic 40/70 season. Since then, Suzuki had been relegated to designated hitter duties.

This was his chance at redemption in right field. Instead, the very first batter exposed him again.

Eventually, he would score anyway on Vinnie Pasquantino’s home run with the wind. Pasquantino’s home run was legit. The wind didn’t need to help it.

Why was Seiya playing right field anyways? Well, Kyle Tucker was out with a sore knee. (Funny, on the card I wrote “Michael Tucker”—the journeyman outfielder from 1995 to 2006. Side note: Michael Tucker did play for the Cubs in 2001. Although he never played RF, but rather CF and LF)

Home runs by 23-year-old teammates

The game’s silver lining came from Chicago’s young core. Matt Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong both homered, marking the third time this season the 23-year-old duo went deep in the same game—a new Cubs franchise record.

The complete list of Cubs teammates (both age 23) homering in the same game:

• (3x) Pete Crow-Armstrong & Matt Shaw (6/7/2025, 7/19/2025, 7/23/2025)
• (2x) Albert Almora & Addison Russell (4/19/2017, 7/15/2017)
• (2x) Starlin Castro & Anthony Rizzo (7/9/2013, 7/31/2013)
• (1x) Christopher Morel & Nelson Velázquez (2022-08-08)
• (1x) Kris Bryant & Jorge Soler (2015-09-19)
• (1x) Anthony Rizzo & Junior Lake (2013-08-01)
• (1x) Byron Browne & Randy Hundley (1966-04-19)
• (1x) Augie Galan & Tuck Stainback (1935-07-11)
• (1x) Clay Bryant & Augie Galan (1935-06-13 game 2)

For perspective, the all-time record belongs to Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder, who accomplished the feat 11 times in 2007.

Apparently, many 23-year-old teammates have done this.

There is only one game where three teammates aged 23 years old hit a HR:
September 25, 1977: Andre Dawson, Larry Parrish, and Ellis Valentine each had one HR.

Matt Shaw’s home run

Shaw entered the All-Star break struggling (.198 average, .556 OPS), but had found his groove since, going 9-for-18 with three home runs. In the 7th inning, with the Cubs trailing 2-8, a fan behind us yelled, “Matt, you can do it!”

The very next pitch: home run.

As he circled the bases, they played “WHOOMP—THERE IT IS!” Hearing that song in 2025 is such a weird experience. I grew up with the 90s Bulls Dynasty. This was the anthem song for the Bulls winning their third championship in 1993. I just checked the dates.

• “Whoomp! (There It Is)” the song, was released on May 7, 1993.
• The single debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 29, 1993.
• The 1993 NBA Finals happened on June 9 to 20th.
  Although, hmm, that’s quite a tight turnaround for the Bulls to start using the song just two weeks after it hit the Billboard Hot 100. But man, I remember that song being played ad nauseam when the Bulls were winning. Maybe I’m remembering their second three-peat of 1996, 1997, and 1998.

Anyways, this isn’t the 90s anymore. If they are trying to appeal to people who grew up with this song, then it needs to be played MUCH less. If we hear “Woomp there it is!” It should be in a slightly ironic, isn’t-this-weird-we-are-playing-this way. People shouldn’t have to be subjected to this “Check it to wreck it” (although I am a fan of old school rap from the 80s.)

Speaking of music, I did start to scrawl down the walkup music for each player. Partway through the game I noticed that they put the name of the song on the secondary jumbotron. I kinda wish I captured them all.

• Seiya Suzuki: “Flying B” by AK-69
• Nico Hoerner: “Places to Be” (I think the artist is Fred again?)
• Reese McGuire: “All for You” by Stick Figure

PCA’s home run

Crow-Armstrong’s 27th home run maintained his pace toward potential 40/40 status (he had 28 stolen bases entering the game). Despite the Cubs trailing 8-3 in the eighth inning, I found myself critiquing his approach to my dad: “PCA is swinging like he wants a home run. We don’t need a home run down by five—we need baserunners.”

Naturally, he promptly launched one over the wall.

He hits a HR. Ok, I’ll take it. His home run gave the Cubs 1% more chance of winning.

In total, there were six home runs in this game

The longest home runs

1. Vinnie Pasquantino (KC): 414 ft (.680 xBA)
2. Vinnie Pasquantino (KC): 406 ft (.660 xBA)
3. Tyler Tolbert (KC): 391 ft (.160 xBA – wind assisted)
4. Salvador Perez (KC): 384 ft (.080 xBA – wind assisted)
5. Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC): 383 ft (.807 xBA)
6. Matt Shaw (CHC): 344 ft (.070 xBA – wind assisted)

The hardest hit ball was none of the six home runs. It was Vinnie Pasquantino’s double in the 3rd inning. 109.3 MPH

The next hardest hit ball also was not a home run. It was a lineout by Salvador Perez (107.3)

The third hardest hit ball is a homerun—but not by any of the Royals. It was Pete Crow-Armstrong’s HR (106.8)

It’s curious that PCA’s home run was the hardest hit home run, yet it was only 5th in distance. Some of the Royals’ home runs were assisted by the wind.

Wind-assisted home runs

Tyler Tolbert’s home run is normal out 82% of the time. But since the wind blew the ball out, it was a home run. The combination of 94.2 exit velocity with a 31° launch angle results in a hit only 18% of the time, because 82% of the time it will land in the outfield for an easy out. But since the wind blew the ball out, it was a home run.

Same with Salvador Perez’s HR. 92% of the time, that would be an out. That had only an 8% chance of being a hit.

As it goes with the wind at Wrigley.

Some interesting articles about wind-assisted home runs:

• Wind effect: These ballparks, players were most impacted by the weather (February 7th, 2025)
• Weather Applied Metrics in Major League Baseball | by Clay Nunnally | MLB Technology Blog (March 6, 2023)

The Vinnie Pasquantino Show

Who? This guy hits two home runs. I mean, he can’t be THAT bad, because he’s batting third in the lineup. This is his 4th year in the majors, all for the Royals.

Ok, so he’s decent. He also was 3rd for AB per SO in the AL in 2024. That’s cool. I love players who don’t strike out.

There’s also a quirky thing the Royals do for Pasquantino. The Royals organization celebrates each Pasquantino base hit with a Sasquatch-costumed employee walking across the left field roof—a nod to his nickname “Pasquatch” (Pasquantino + Sasquatch). His scraggly beard certainly fits the part.

Pasquantino played for the Italian team in the World Baseball Classic in 2023, and plans to play again for them in 2026. Over 5 games, he was 4-for-20, .200 AVG, .473 OPS, 0 HR, 7 SO. (He led team Italy in strikeouts.)

So far, this game has been Pasquantino’s best game ever. (3-for-4, 2 HR, 1 double, 1 walk)
The next closest would be July 4, 2025 (3-for-5, 2 HR)

Biggest impact plays

1. Salvador Perez HR, top 3rd (16%)
2. Vinnie Pasquantino HR, top 1st (14%)
3. Nico Hoerner, Double Play, bottom 2nd (12%)
4. Vinnie Pasquantino, HR, top 5th (12%)
5. Reese McGuire, Single RBI, bottom 2nd (-9%)

Pick to click

Back in the 1990s the White Sox TV announcers would each make their “Pick to Click” from the White Sox roster. I like to continue that tradition with both teams.

• Royals: Salvador Perez (with Bobby Witt out, you have to go with the future HOFer)
• Cubs: Pete Crow-Armstrong

I didn’t make these selections as my official picks for Beat the Streak. I was carrying a 23-game streak and didn’t want to make any selections until there was a larger sample size after the All-Star break.

The Cubs design of the scorecard

Anytime I would erase some pencil marks on the scorecard, the resulting area would turn blue. Very odd. My eraser is not blue. Why would the page turn blue when I erase it?

The Cubs designed this scorecard with a fine red/yellow tint to warm up the overall color. Now that I scanned my scorecard in high-res, I can confirm: the Cubs went with blue-white paper but printed a fake warmer color over the entire card.

Whenever I erased something on my scorecard, the inks that made up the warmer color got erased, leaving behind a bluer sheet underneath.

New scorecard techniques: sandpaper

This is the first time I’ve sanded a scorecard—with real sandpaper. I’ve previously worn down an eraser trying to remove ink, but I really wanted some completely gone, so I turned to fine-grit sandpaper.

I completely sanded off the top of the scorecard. The original design had the team names really big, which felt redundant since the team names already exist at each half of the scorecard. Plus, I wanted the space at the top for my header text about the heat warning.

Original top

See how “Kansas City Royals” repeats itself twice? That’s silly. After sanding off the top part, I had more room to make the text really strong. I was going for a sort of 80s brush style.

Gameday stamp

There are people who get their scorecards stamped with an official ballpark stamp. It’s so cool to have your scorecard authenticated.

Before the game, I looked up the passport stamp validation at Wrigley. You’re supposed to buy the official passport book to get it stamped. But I wanted to see if they’d stamp my scorecard. The cheapest passport book is $20 online (+$5 shipping). I’d buy the book and ask them to stamp my scorecard instead.

Someone on the Baseball Passport Facebook Group said recently: “They have them in the left field team store, but they are less expensive if you go on the website”

Once we got to the park, I checked out the left field store to see what the situation was with the stamps. First, the store was confusing. The signage above the store said something like LIDS or Nike or some brand. The sign didn’t indicate that it was a Cubs store, but instead it appeared to be some branded store. Looking around the left field concourse, this was the only store in the area, so I went inside.

It’s a tiny store with the typical stuff. I didn’t see any PassPort books, so I asked the ladies behind the counter if they do the stamps for scorecards. They sighed a little and said, “yeah, we usually only stamp the passport books, but we can stamp your scorecard.”

They were so nice that I said, “You know what? I’d like to get one of the PassPort books, just to make it legit.” I bought the cheapest one for $25—the same price you’d pay online with shipping.

They seemed confused that I wanted the scorecard stamped, not the book. They were very considerate about placement. It definitely felt like they weren’t used to stamping scorecards. Stamp it at the top? Nawww, not enough space. Down here at the bottom? Hrmmm, about here in the middle on the side? There’s some space there. Sure. That sounds good!

So now whenever I go to an MLB ballpark, I’ll bring my PassPort book and ask them to stamp my scorecard instead.

New techniques: including player’s age

This is the first time I’ve included the ages of all the players. Recently I started making a scorecard for the “Ryne Sandberg Game” from 1984. Looking up stats for the players, I saw their ages and it was striking to realize how some players were quite old, and others quite young.

I like this tidbit on the scorecard, because it’s handy to see the player’s age—without having to look it up.

This touches on my philosophy with scorecards. I don’t believe in making scorecards hard to read. (LOL. I know, this coming from a guy who overloads his scorecard with so much information that it can be hard to read.) But really. A scorecard should be enjoyable to read. Not some hieroglyphics that you have to interpret.

E9 doesn’t do much for me on its own. Who is 9? The right fielder. Who was playing right for the Cubs that day? It takes too much time to figure that out. Just put the name on there. “Seiya drops ball.” Boom, the card is much more informative and easy to read.

Actually, to tease the Sandberg scorecard that I have coming up. That scorecard introduces a new format that I’ve been working on for a long time that really shows how runners advance on the basepath. Oh man. I’m so excited about it.

Anyhow, so I put ages on there so we can easily see where a player is at in their career. It’s hard to believe that PCA and Matt Shaw are only 23 years old! Years from now, it’ll be nice to remember that.

Scorecard art

Focusing on PCA

I’m pretty pleased with how the PCA drawing turned out. One thing I’ve learned about scorecards is that it helps to have one main focus image. Coming out of the game, the focus felt like how the Cubs got absolutely destroyed by a mediocre team. They hit four home runs against us, and we never had a chance.

But I’d rather focus on a positive aspect from the Cubs’ angle. After all, we got to see two Cubs home runs. That’s pretty cool. They paled in comparison to the Royals’ home runs, but in most games, I would gladly take two Cubs home runs.

Digging further, I uncovered the 23-year-old aspect. I didn’t find that anywhere else online.

Matt Shaw has been the hotter player lately, but he’s not nearly the star that PCA has become this year. At this point in the season, PCA is a superstar. Pete Crow-Armstrong led all National League outfielders with 3,021,265 All-Star votes.

He homers, he steals, he’s breaking defensive records. It’s amazing what Crow-Armstrong is doing this season.

Hence, I made PCA giant on the card. 27 isn’t any landmark home run. In fact, four weeks later, that 27th home run is his most recent.

Circles

The sun forms a circle in the upper left groups together the headline. The circle from the GameDay PassPort stamp also mimics the circle from the sun.

Flames

I used flames in the head warning header. And repeated the flames on the strikeout guess. And some gentle flames on PCA’s header.

Cloud and scoreboard flags

One of my favorite combinations is how the windy cloud works with the flags on the scoreboard.

• The cloud tells us it was a windy day.
• The scoreboard flags tells us that the Cubs have the best record in baseball

They work together, because at Wrigley we look to these flags to see if the wind is blowing out.

Ticket

Years ago I started writing down our seat location by using a ticket stub. The shape of the stub is nice for separating out this bit of information. Thinking back, I should have included a description of where we are sitting, becuase who knows what section 209 means? (it’s third base side, under the upper deck. Row 6 is the same row as the poles holding up the upper deck)

Food

In the 8th inning, my brother and his kids went to get us ice cream. Remember, this is a hot 105° day. Thankfully, we were in the shaded part of the park, but it was still hot. Ice cream sounded good.

Heh. Well, when they came back, they were carefully balancing Cubs helmets of ice cream, melting all down their legs. But most of the ice cream was still intact. The part that became ice cream soup was good for a good milkshake.

Here’s a weird vertical pano of Wrigley Field, my ice cream, and my scorecard.

After the game, we drove my dad back to the south side of Chicago. We got dinner at Horse Thief Hollow Brewery on Western Avenue (where the famous Irish South Side parade goes). It’s always amusing to eat at a restaurant after a Cubs game when we’re all wearing our Cubs stuff, especially in “enemy” territory with the South Side White Sox.

I ordered the Double Stack Smash burger.

Starting pitcher Colin Rea

The starting pitcher for the Cubs, Colin Rea, was a new name to me. Here are the teams he’s played for, in order:

Padres, Marlins, Padres, Cubs, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Brewers, Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, Brewers, Cubs.

My goodness. This guy likes to return to former teams. The team in Japan made sense. He joined the team on June 3. His wife gave birth in late July. He didn’t really want to go back to Japan and leave his newborn baby. So he left the Hawks. A couple of weeks later, he signed with the Brewers.

Ryne Sandberg

Also, I didn’t publish this scorecard immediately. I finished the art five days after the game. That same day, Ryne Sandberg passed away. It felt odd posting this random scorecard during a time when we were all focused on Sandberg.

Instead, I started to make a scorecard of “The Sandberg Game” on my iPad. WOW. I love working on the iPad. It enables me to fit more notes into the card. That scorecard will be published hopefully soon. I still have to listen to the radio archive of the game, so I can add more notes.

Why this scorecard matters

Sure, the Cubs got shellacked 8-4 by a team that had no business hitting four home runs against them. But this scorecard introduced techniques I’ll use for years: player ages for historical context, sandpaper for design modifications, and official authentication stamps.

Most importantly, it captured Shaw and PCA’s franchise record—something that didn’t show up in any game recap or highlight reel. That’s exactly why I keep score. The real stories hide in the details.

The post Remembering when the Cubs had the best record in baseball appeared first on 57 hits.

Kyle Schwarber made history on July 15th, 2025, winning the All-Star Game for the National League with the first-ever tie-breaking Swing-Off. The new format proved to be exactly what the exhibition needed—dramatic, entertaining, and mercifully brief. Like hockey’s shootout, it delivered tension without dragging on endlessly. But while the format was a home run, the player selection left much to be desired.

Three swings: the perfect number

When they announced that each player gets only three swings, I thought that was crazy. Wouldn’t they need something like 6 or 10 swings? Three is barely anything. However, the way it ultimately played out was really good. The players take a bunch of pitches. So 10 swings would have been too long.

Three swings is just the right amount. Three is a baseball number. Three strikes. Three outs. Three created urgency and made every swing count. Three swings allows for dramatic performances like Schwarber’s perfect three-for-three. That is just completely epic. Getting all three swings as home runs. C’mon. That’s not just incredible; it’s the stuff of legend.

Plus, this comes from a guy who just exudes home runs. I witnessed in person Schwarber’s monster postseason home run in 2015 that landed ON TOP OF Wrigley’s Jumbotron. Schwarber is perfect for this sort of competition. So is Pete Alonso. He’s a HR beast.

The player selection problem

The swing-off participants were:

American League:

• Brent Rooker
• Randy Arozarena
• Jonathan Aranda

National League:

• Kyle Stowers
• Kyle Schwarber
• Pete Alonso

Who exactly are Brent Rooker, Jonathan Aranda, and Kyle Stowers? I didn’t know half of the players in the swing-off. The managers clearly mixed established power hitters like Schwarber, Alonso, and Arozarena with lesser-known players to give them spotlight time. While the gesture is admirable, it undermines the format’s potential. I want the master mashers to be in the three-player selection.

The American League could have fielded an epic lineup:

• Aaron Judge
• Cal Raleigh
• Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The National League had even more star power available:

• Shohei Ohtani
• Manny Machado
• Ronald Acuña Jr.
• Kyle Tucker
• Pete Alonso
• Kyle Schwarber

I love the selections of Alonso and Schwarber. Both are HR beasts. Toss in Ohtani, and you have an epic lineup. Although I read that Ohtani and Judge were no longer in the stadium. Hopefully, in the future, the game’s best players won’t leave the ballpark before the game is over.

Update: Yahoo Sports reports: “But as AL manager Aaron Boone confirmed, the lineups for the swing-off were actually determined Monday; the Stowers-for-Suárez swap was the only change.”

So that is rather bizarre. Why would you intentionally pick Brent Rooker and Jonathan Aranda? They could have selected Judge and Guerrero Jr on Monday.

Consider this historical parallel: imagine if the 1965 All-Star Game featured a swing-off, but instead of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Ernie Banks representing the National League, managers selected Johnny Edwards, Ed Kranepool, and Cookie Rojas. The reaction would be bewilderment.

A different approach

Baseball History Dork asked people what they thought about the swing-off. One commenter, Jeffrey Bates, offered an interesting idea: “Instead of being able to pick any three batters, it should have been the next three batters due up in the lineups. Once the batters were announced, the outcome was too obvious, which took away any potential drama.”

This approach has logical merit. Since the swing-off is a continuation of the game, you’d have the next three batters in the lineup swing. However, for the All-Star Game specifically, star power should take precedence. I want to see the big mashers up there for the finale.

The All-Star Game functions like a fireworks show: lots of bright explosions and entertainment from baseball’s best, building to a grand finale of the biggest displays. The swing-off is that grand finale, and it demands the most epic players on the stage.

The future of the format

The swing-off format is a keeper—it’s everything the All-Star Game should be when extra innings threaten. It’s dramatic without being interminable, and it showcases pure power in its most distilled form.

But for future editions, MLB needs to ensure its biggest stars stick around for the finale and that managers prioritize marquee matchups over feel-good stories. The format is perfect; now it just needs the perfect cast.

The post MLB All-Star Game Swing-Off: A great format that requires great players appeared first on 57 hits.

Of course, my primary stat is GHP (games with hit percentage). But I often look at a player’s average in the past 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days. Average is a general picture, but it completely shuts out walks. In Beat the Streak, walks are essentially outs. We don’t really want players who walk a lot. The batting average doesn’t include walks.

H/PA gives us a better idea of how a player is performing for getting hits.

Players with a high H/PA, but a low GHP

Something really interesting happens when you combine GHP with H/PA. You end up seeing which players spread their hits out over games, versus players who bunch up multiple hits in individual games.

Of course, we want players who spread out their hits. We don’t want guys like Michael Busch or Javier Baez who get a bunch of hits per game.

1. All you need is one hit to continue your streak.
2. If a player has a high H/PA, but most of their hits come from individual games, then it’s less likely that they’ll get a hit in a game.

Use this formula to find those players. GHP-(H/PA) The players with the lowest number will be the type who get multiple hits in a game.

The players who tend to get most of their hits from multi-hit games.

Players who spread their hits out

And on the other end of the spectrum, players who spread their hits out.

Ok, so how do you select players on a daily basis?

I’m adding together GHP and H/PA. So the formula is GHP+(H/PA)

Previously, I was looking only at players with a GHP of 70% and higher. That is currently 33 players.

With this new stat GHP+(H/PA), I’m looking for a 94% and higher. That’s currently 40 players. And yeah, Matt Olson is still on the list. Even though his H/PA is only 22.8%, his GHP is 74%. Giving him a total of 97% (ranked 6th)

The post I’m using a new stat to analyze who to pick for Beat the Streak appeared first on 57 hits.

Every July 1st, baseball fans turn their attention to Bobby Bonilla Day—the day he gets his now-famous deferred payment from the Mets. It’s a quirky piece of baseball lore. But let’s not forget: Bobby Bonilla was really good at baseball.

Before he became the face of a contract punchline, Bonilla was one of the brightest stars of the late ’80s and early ’90s.

I would like to remember something about Bobby Bonilla other than his contract. His Sabr bio revealed some good points. I’ll be quoting the bio extensively through this post.

A star with a smile

Bonilla was the smiling face of baseball before Ken Griffey Jr. ever flipped his cap around. His megawatt smile and upbeat attitude earned him comparisons to Ernie Banks. People magazine wrote, “Perhaps not since Ernie (‘It’s a great day for a ballgame’) Banks retired… has baseball seen a man with a sunnier disposition swing a meaner bat.”

One teammate said it was a lift just seeing Bonilla’s smiling face at the ballpark.

The Pirates were really good in 1990, 1991, and 1992

The Pirates had become the dominant team in the majors, winning three straight division titles in 1990, 1991, and 1992.

Bonilla finished second in the National League’s 1990 MVP voting (behind teammate Bonds) and third in 1991 (Bonds was second to Terry Pendleton of the NL Champion Atlanta Braves).

The Spring 1991 issue of Topps Baseball Card magazine featured Bonilla and Bonds on the cover, calling them the “Killer B’s.”18 Topps correctly realized that the double B’s of Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla, combined with their first-second and second-third place MVP finishes, and the Pirates’ natural bee-colored black and gold uniforms, made the duo the perfect “Killer B’s” of all time.

Bonilla was really good from 1988 to 1991

Offensive WAR
1988 NL 5.3 (9th)
1989 NL 6.3 (5th)
1991 NL 5.1 (5th)

Batting Average
1987 NL .300 (10th)
1991 NL .302 (7th)
1995 ML .329 (8th)

Slugging %
1989 NL .490 (8th)
1990 NL .518 (10th)
1991 NL .492 (10th)
1993 NL .522 (8th)

Home Runs
1988 NL 24 (9th)
1989 NL 24 (9th)
1990 NL 32 (6th)
1993 NL 34 (7th)

Bonilla and Bonds were teammates and close friends

When we think of Barry Bonds, we typically think of his incredible home runs as a San Francisco Giant. If we dig further back, we remember Bonds being really good as a Pirate. But I think many of us lose the fact that Bonds was teammates with Bobby Bonilla.

In minor league Class A ball, Bonilla met Bonds. As Sabr says, “There he met Barry Bonds, who was to become his closest friend in baseball.”

In December 1991, Bonilla left the Pirates to sign a contract with the New York Mets, Bonds accurately assessed the situation:

Barry Bonds accurately framed the difference between himself and his good friend. “I can handle New York because I don’t get my feelings hurt the way Bobby does. I don’t give a __ what people write about me or say. Bobby does. He’s too sensitive. I told him before he went there that he wasn’t going to be able to deal with it but he didn’t believe me. Now, he believes me.”

Bonilla, Bonds, and Pedro Guerrero all had bit parts in the 1993 baseball movie Rookie of the Year.

In 1996 the Giants traded third baseman Matt Williams. The Giants tried to sign Bobby Bonilla. Bonds said, “I’m going to miss Matty a lot. We had a good relationship. I thought we complemented each other pretty well. He was a quiet-type person, and I’m the entertainer. That’s what Bobby Bonilla and I are like. We complement each other.”

Six teams, possibly including the Marlins, Cubs, Indians and Dodgers, also have bid for Bonilla. It is believed the Giants offered a three-year contract worth about $15 million. Dan Horwits, one of Bonilla’s agents, said the Giants “have made a good start, but it’s not where we want to be.” Bonilla wants a four- or five-year deal averaging at least $5.8 million a year.

That very contract, being talked about in 1996, would become the basis of the infamous deferment contract.

The real Bobby Bonilla Day

Long before his famous deferred contract, a Bobby Bonilla Day was declared by a Bronx school president. Bonilla grew up in the Bronx, so it was a big deal that the slugger was coming back to play in his hometown. The New York Times reports on February 4, 1992:

the Bronx Borough President, Fernando Ferrer, declared it to be “Bobby Bonilla Day in the Bronx.” Saying the occasion reminded him of the day that another former Bronx resident, the four-star general Colin L. Powell, returned for a visit, Mr. Ferrer expressed what great pleasure it was “to welcome back the four-star slugger of the south Bronx, Roberto Bobby Bonilla!”

Now about that contract

Bonilla was playing with Bonds and the Pirates.

In 1991 The Yankees were interested in either Bonilla or Bonds from the Pirates but were rumored to prefer Bonilla because of his upbeat attitude. The Mets brought Bonilla to New York City with the highest dollar contract ever in the major leagues at the time, $5 million for five years.

Funny how the Yankees and Mets favored Bonilla over Bonds because of Bonilla’s positive attitude. We all know how Bonds was a bag of sour grapes. But here’s tangible evidence of that. Because of that, New York missed out on having eventual home run king Barry Bonds.

When the Sabr bio talks about Bobby Bonilla signing the largest contact in MLB history in December 1991, I thought this was the deferment deal. It wasn’t. The largest contract ever signed in 1991 lasted from 1992-1996.

The deferment deal came from the 1997-2000 deal he signed with the Marlins. 4 years for $23,300,000 (average $5,825,000)

Yahoo’s Chris Cwik explains it well.

While the Marlins handed Bonilla that contract, the team never intended to pay it all out. After helping the team win a World Series in 1997, Bonilla was traded away the following year in the team’s infamous fire sale. He spent a half season with the Los Angeles Dodgers before he was traded back to the Mets for the 1999 MLB season.

Bonilla struggled that season, hitting just .160 over 141 plate appearances. At the end of the year, the Mets told Bonilla he was going to be released. But Bonilla still had $5.9 million remaining on his contract.

Instead of paying out that $5.9 million to Bonilla immediately, the team wanted to defer payments on the deal, believing it could make more profit through investments with Bernie Madoff. As a result, the Mets agreed to pay Bonilla $1,193,248.20 every year, with those payments starting in 2011 and going until 2035.

Bernie Madoff played a part of the deferral contact

Mets owner Fred Wilpon was able to make the deferrment deal with Bonilla, in part because of scam artist Bernie Madoff. Wilpon was one of the investors Madoff defrauded of $17 billion for which he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Wilpon had been receiving 10-15 percent annual gains from Madoff. Had Wilpon earned even 10 percent on the $5.9 million owed Bonilla in 2000, by 2035 Wilpon would have netted a $49 million profit.

A deal that paid dividends—for the Mets, too

According to SABR, the cash saved on Bonilla’s deferment allowed the Mets to sign Derek Bell, Todd Zeile, and Mike Hampton—who helped lead them to the 2000 World Series.

And when Hampton signed with the Rockies afterward, the Mets received a compensation pick that turned into David Wright, one of the best players in franchise history.

Funny how the Bonilla deal—so often ridiculed—helped produce the foundation for the Mets’ next generation.

(also, in 2034 and 2035, Bobby Bonilla day will coincide with Shohei Ohtani Day. Bonilla gets paid $1.19 million/year. Ohtani will get $68 million/year)

More than a meme

So yes, laugh about the contract. Celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day. But also remember:

• He was a four-time Silver Slugger.
• He made six All-Star teams.
• He helped lead a mini-dynasty in Pittsburgh.
• He had one of the most joyful smiles in baseball.

Bobby Bonilla deserves more than a punchline. He deserves a proper baseball legacy.

The post Remembering Bobby Bonilla the ballplayer beyond the payday appeared first on 57 hits.

Today marks exactly 40 years since the fictional events of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” supposedly took place. According to the film’s producer, Ferris skipped school on June 5th, 1985—making today the perfect time to examine one of cinema’s most beloved baseball scenes with the precision it deserves.

Here’s the fascinating twist: while the movie depicts June 5th, 1985, the actual filming at Wrigley Field happened months later on September 24th, 1985. But the baseball footage we see on screen? That’s from the real June 5th Cubs vs. Braves game. This unique production detail creates an interesting opportunity to fact-check Hollywood against baseball history.

Let’s dive into the actual MLB box score and see how the movie stacks up against reality.

Scene-by-Scene Analysis

The setup: runner on first

What we see in the movie: Harry Caray announces, “Runner at first base. Nobody out.” The camera shows Leon Durham (#10) at first base with Paul Zuvella (#18) as the runner.

The reality: This detail is spot-on. Paul Zuvella did indeed reach first base with a single in the 11th inning of the actual June 5th game.

Accuracy: ✓ Correct

The pitching change

What we see: Harry Caray notes, “That’s the first they’ve had since the 5th inning. Only the fourth hit in the game. Oh and two, the count.” Lee Smith is on the mound facing Claudell Washington (#15).

The reality: The movie gets the details right again. Lee Smith did enter the game in the 11th inning, and the Braves had exactly three hits up to that point: two doubles by Ken Oberkfell and Rafael Ramírez in the 3rd inning, plus another Oberkfell single in the 5th.

Accuracy: ✓ Correct

Ferris’s foul ball catch

What we see: Harry Caray calls “There’s a drive… left field… twisting… and it’s into foul territory” as Ferris makes a spectacular catch in the stands.

The reality: Without detailed ball-by-ball records from 1985, we can’t verify whether Claudell Washington actually hit a foul ball to the third-base side during his at-bat. However, what happens next in the real game is perfectly fitting.

Accuracy: ? Uncertain

The score controversy

What we see: Principal Rooney asks about the score, and the pizza parlor’s cook responds, “nothing, nothing.”

The reality: This is where Hollywood takes its biggest liberty. The actual score at this point was 2-2, not 0-0.

Accuracy: ✗ Wrong

The ironic ending

Here’s where the story takes a deliciously ironic turn. In the movie, we see Ferris and Cameron enthusiastically taunting the Atlanta batter with “Hey batta batta batta, sa-wing batta!” What the movie doesn’t show us is what happened next in the real game.

Claudell Washington, the batter being taunted, flew out to left field (fitting, since he had just fouled to left in the movie). But the next batter, Rafael Ramírez, stepped up with the runner still on first base and launched a two-run homer, putting the Braves ahead 4-2. The Cubs failed to score in the bottom of the 11th, losing the game.

So while Ferris and Cameron were playfully encouraging the opposition to swing, they were actually cheering on what would become the game-winning rally. Talk about unintended consequences!

The detective work: tracking down props

One fascinating detail visible in the crowd scenes is a fan holding a Cubs scorecard featuring Ryne Sandberg on the cover. This creates another timeline puzzle since the crowd footage was shot in September, not June.

Through careful research and eBay hunting, I’ve found a scorecard from the August 31, 1985, Cubs-Braves series that matches the design seen in the movie.

I know this scorecard is from August 31, because Chris Chambliss hits a pinch-hit home run in the top of the 9th inning.

However, since teams sometimes changed scorecard covers throughout the season, there’s still a chance the June 5th version looked different.

The hunt for an authentic June 5, 1985 scorecard continues—it would be the holy grail for completing this fact-checking mission.

Wrigley Field bleachers are accurate

As the TV tracks the foul ball that eventually lands in the hands of Ferris Bueller, the seating in the left field can be seen as empty.

No fans. That’s odd. Why is this section of the ballpark not filled? The attendance for that day was 25,557. While that’s not a sell-out, it does mean a good-sized crowd. Those seats should have fans, right?

That section of Wrigley Field was known as the catwalk. Before 1985, it never had seats or bleachers. The day after the Bueller game, the seating in the catwalk opened as the family section on Thursday, June 6. The Chicago Tribune reported:

Certainly enough, on Saturday, June 8th, we see fans sitting in that section. (I couldn’t find pics or video of June 7th)

I partly bring this section up, because it was my family’s favorite place to sit in Wrigley Field. It was in the outfield, but it had seats instead of bleachers. It was known as the “family section” because there was no alcohol there. It was only three rows deep with a tall fence behind you, so any balls hit that way would come to you.

In 2014, the Cubs sadly eliminated these seats with the bleacher expansion. We had 29 years of enjoying this section. To see it show up as a trivia point in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is entertaining for me.

Why this matters

This deep dive reveals something fascinating about how movies blend reality and fiction. The filmmakers clearly did their homework, incorporating genuine details from the actual game while taking creative liberties where needed for storytelling purposes. The result is a scene that feels authentic to baseball fans while serving the movie’s narrative needs.

The fact that we can still fact-check a 40-year-old movie scene against historical baseball records speaks to both the enduring appeal of Ferris Bueller and the meticulous record-keeping that makes baseball unique among sports.

Want to see the real game?

If you’re curious about the actual highlights from June 5, 1985, here’s a 25-second clip of the real game footage on YouTube. Fair warning: there’s no sign of Ferris in the stands, but you’ll get to see the actual baseball action that inspired one of cinema’s most beloved scenes.

For more deep dives into movie trivia and Chicago sports history, check out our other posts about finding Ferris’s exact vest on Amazon and the hidden details in classic film scenes.

The post How accurate was the Cubs game in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? A frame-by-frame fact check appeared first on 57 hits.

I’m tempted to buy an issue of Beckett Baseball to see what it’s like. But the cover price is an astonishing $12.99. Looking around online, a 12-month subscription can be bought for as low as $35. I’d even be willing to have a digital subscription (if it keeps the same layout as print).

Today, I found that my local library allows me to read Beckett baseball magazines online for free. YES!

What’s my impression of the magazine? Overall, it still looks good. I remember the magazines from the late 1980s and 1990s having some editorial in the front, printed on magazine paper. And tons of pricing in the back, printed on newsprint paper. The format remains pretty much the same today.

Editorial

The editorial in the front looks good. I didn’t read anything closely yet. But a nice mix of current players (Paul Skenes), old players (base stealers of the 1980s), and really old players (Luis Aparicio). I wonder if they stick to that same range of players for other issues.

Hottest cards

The 25 hottest cards is kinda cool to look at. 

• Shota Imanga‘s 2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs makes the list at #21. 
• Odd to see Jac Caglianone ranked as #5 (value $125-$300). He’s the 6th overall pick in the 2024 draft. He had his first MLB game yesterday. He went 0-for-5. Royals won 10-7. (Stick that on a Topps Now card!) 

Price guide

The price guide in the back is TWO-HUNDRED pages long. And it effectively starts with the year 2000. They have only four sets listed from the 1990s. 

• 1993 Donruss Elite
• 1994 Upper Deck Diamond Collection
• 1995 Donruss Elite
• 1999 Upper Deck A Pieces of History 500 Club

I have never heard of any of these sets. Curious that they picked these four. 

Thus, the 200 pages of prices are for newer cards. I frankly don’t have an interest in those cards, because I don’t pay the big bucks for stuff. I like the more affordable cards under a buck.

Comparing the price of older players in a new set

To keep my interest in the price guide, I did a search for Ryne Sandberg. My brother collects Ryne Sandberg. Where does he stant in this ocean of card variations and high prices?

Sandberg appears 13 times in this issue. Let’s take one example. His 2023 Panini Prizm is $0.50/$1.25. 

To see how old-time players compare against each other, let’s use Ryne Sandberg as the baseline.

2023 Panini Prizm

Lower than Sandberg $0.40/$1.00
– Ichiro
– Greg Maddux
– Ozzie Smith
– Buster Posey
– Mariano Rivera

Same as Sandberg $0.50/$1.25.
Oddly, there are no other older players in this set priced the same as Sandberg’s $0.50/$1.25

Higher than Sandberg $0.60/$1.50
– George Brett
– Pete Rose
– Willie Mays

Much higher than Sandberg $0.75/$2.00
– Babe Ruth
– Ken Griffey Jr.
– Cal Ripken

These rankings pretty much make sense, except for a couple:
– I don’t get Ichiro being cheaper than Sandberg.
– I’d think George Brett would be more on the same level as Sandberg.

The 2024 Stadium Club has more older players listed

Beckett probably lists more cards for this set, because it’s newer. This is a nice set to start to put the vintage players into tiers. We have five tiers.

Some observations about the 2024 Stadium club pricing/tiers:

2024 Stadium Club

Tier 5: .40/1.00
– Greg Maddux
– Mariano Rivera
– Anthony Rizzo
– Miguel Cabrera
– Ichiro
– Buster Posey
– Roger Clemens
– Ozzie Smith

• Fans love Ichiro. Some could make the case that he’s the hit king. Ichiro deserves at least tier 4.
• As great of a pitcher Roger Clemens is, his illegal substance use tanks him.

Tier 4: .50/1.25
– Ryne Sandberg
– Ty Cobb
– Mike Schmidt
– Albert Pujols
– Mark McGwire

• Ty Cobb ranking as much as Sandberg is pretty hilarious. But I suppose there aren’t that many Ty Cobb collectors out there.

Tier 3: .60/1.50
– Ted Williams
– Hank Aaron
– George Brett
– Don Mattingly
– Willie Mays

• Don Mattingly is in a higher tier than Ryne Sandberg? That’s shocking. Mattingly is not even in the Hall of Fame (whereas Sandberg is). I guess that’s the Yankee aura for ya.
• Willie Mays in tier 3? Yipes. I’m biased, because I’m a Willie Mays fan.

Tier 2: .75/2.00
– Cal Ripken
– Babe Ruth
– Derek Jeter
– Roberto Clemente
– Ken Griffey, Jr.

• Derek Jeter being on the same level as Babe Ruth makes me throw up a bit. But Jeter is more recent.
• Cal Ripken in tier 2? Does he really continue to draw that many fans?

Tier 1: 1.00/2.50
– Nolan Ryan
– Mickey Mantle

• The hobby still loves Nolan Ryan and Mickey Mantle. Growing up, Ryan and Mantle were featured all the time. That aura continues today. I wonder what younger fans think of Nolan Ryan. Maybe they know him only as the guy who got in that fight and beat up a batter (Robin Ventura)
• I’m a bit surprised by Mickey Mantle. Sure, he continued to be hot long after his playing time because he’s a Yankee. People remembered him—in the 1990s. But today, in 2025, not many collectors can say they remember when Mantle played. I would think his popularity would start to wane. Really. Ask the average collector today, what card would he rather have from 2024 Stadium Club: Mantle or Ruth. I’d imagine more people would say Ruth.

• Ty Cobb ranking as much as Sandberg is pretty hilarious. But I suppose there aren’t that many Ty Cobb collectors out there.
• Derek Jeter being on the same level as Babe Ruth makes me throw up a bit. But Jeter is more recent.

Closing thoughts on Beckett Baseball magazine today

I’m glad I didn’t fork over $13 on a single issue. $35 for 12 issues sounds like a good deal. For I’ll read the few articles at the front of this issue. Maybe in the future, I’ll check out the latest digital issue from my library again. We already get enough magazines at home that I don’t read, so I’ll hold off on the subscription. But I encourage anyone to get a subscription to Beckett Baseball magazine.

The post What does the inside of a Beckett baseball magazine look like in 2025? appeared first on 57 hits.

What started off as looking into an unusual team card ended up being a research project that reveals the family ties through the years of Boston Red Sox trainers. Dates still have to be filled in, but we have the rough outline of who trained the Red Sox for the first half of the 20th century.

1. Dr. Charlie Green

• Lived ????-????
• 1915-1918: trainer for Boston Red Sox

This 1915 Boston Red Sox postcard is a rare gem—it features a young Babe Ruth during his first full season, captured alongside teammates like Tris Speaker and Harry Hooper. But what caught my eye wasn’t just Ruth. Standing off to the right is someone less famous but equally important: “Green, Trainer.”

At first, I misread his label as “Green Trainer,” like he was new on the job. But no—his name was Green, and he had plenty of experience.

A line from the Fenway Park Diaries paints a vivid picture:

“This has been a hard week for trainer Green with an assortment of aches and pains for him to deal with. Most of the pitchers are over six feet tall, and he is a small man, but with a lot of experience.”

We know his name is Charlie Green, because of this excerpt, also from Fenway Park Diaries

March 10, 1916
 … The first players left Boston for Hot Springs at 10AM this morning.  The party includes manager Bill Carrigan, Hal Janvrin, Olaf Henriksen, trainer Charles Green, and vice-president Paul Lannin as well as Lehigh University pitcher, Charles Anderson.  In St. Louis, the party will be joined by Babe Ruth, Herb Pennock, Pinch Thomas and Pat Haley.  After St. Louis the train will arrive at Hot Springs on Sunday morning.

The Omaha Daily Bee, October 14, 1916, Page 12, Image 12 ran a story about the 1916 Red Sox splitting the money awarded for winning the World Series.

FYI, $500 in today’s money would be $14,194.47

His full title is Dr. Charles Green as seen on this post about Martin Lawler, trainer for the 1918 Red Sox.

Martin Lawler was working in Palestine, Texas, when he was contacted by the Red Sox in early 1918. He replaced Dr. Charles Green as the team’s trainer.

2. Martin Lawler

• Lived ????-????
• 1906-1910: trainer for Philadelphia Athletics
• Graduated from Philadelphia’s Orthopedic Institute in 1907
• 1910-1918: trainer for St. Louis Browns
• 1918-????: trainer for Boston Red Sox

3. “Doc” Roland Kickapoo Logan

• Lived 1908-1984
• ????-1938: trainer for Boston Red Sox

“Kickapoo” began his career at the University of Kansas as a football player. In 1930 he became an Assistant Coach and the university’s Athletic Trainer. He worked in this position for 22 years. After leaving Kansas, he worked at West Point Military Academy, Pittsburgh University, and with the Boston Red Sox. He has invented and manufactured over 2 dozen athletic products and co-authored a textbook. He was inducted into the NATA Hall of Fame in 1971. He also has been awarded a medal by the American Institute of Fine Art.
(via Mid America Athletic Trainers Association)

Co-wrote “Techniques of Athletic Training” in 1953

Roland “Kickapoo” Logan (1908-2000) was probably one of the most storied artists, growing up in the Kickapoo area of Leavenworth County, to become a football star at Leavenworth High and the University of Kansas where he later coached and trained to become coach at George Washington University, the University of Pittsburg, West Point, and for the Boston Red Sox. Other careers included Naval commander, author, singer and lecturer, and manufacturer of athletic and surgical products. He took his final retirement in 1964 to devote his time to painting and became known for his seascapes and mountain and desert landscapes. One of his paintings hung in the Oval Office during the Presidency of Richard Nixon and several decades ago he donated a mural of the Salt Creek Valley that hangs in the county courthouse.

— via Leavenworth County Historical Society

4. Charles Winslow Green (aka Win Green)

• Lived 1892-1964
• Nephew of Charlie Green
• 1927-1938: trainer for Boston Bruins
• 1938-????: trainer for Boston Red Sox

5. Daniel Charles Green

• Lived 1955-2010
• ????-????: trainer for Boston Red Sox

Could Dr. Charles possibly have a son (or grandson) who was also a trainer for the Red Sox? I found an obituary for Daniel Charles Green on legacy.com:

He ultimately landed a job as team trainer with the Boston Red Sox, a strange irony for a die hard and life time Yankee fan

Daniel Charles Green lived from 1955 to 2010, so this would not be the same Dr. Charles Green. But it’s really odd that two people with the name “Charles Green” were both trainers for the Red Sox. Perhaps Daniel Charles Green was named for his father, or perhaps his grandfather?

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The Colorado Rockies aren’t just having a bad season—they’re having a historically catastrophic one. With a 9-45 record through 54 games, the Rockies are on pace for 135 losses, which would obliterate the current record and cement their place in baseball infamy.

The worst start in baseball history

The Rockies’ 9-45 start isn’t just bad—it’s the worst 54-game beginning to a season in modern baseball history:

1. 2025 Rockies: 9-45 ← We are here
2. 2023 Athletics: 10-44
3. 1932 Red Sox: 11-43

To put this disaster in perspective, even the teams that currently hold the all-time loss records had much better starts. The 2024 White Sox, who fumbled their way to 121 losses and broke the 62-year-old record set by the 1962 Mets (120 losses), were merely 15-39 through 54 games—ranking as only the 29th worst start ever. The 1962 Mets? They were 16-38 at this point, the 34th worst start.

Both the White Sox and Mets had to completely tank the rest of their seasons to set all-time loss records. The Rockies are saying, “Hold my beer”—they’re already there.

Introducing the 2025 Rockies Loss Tracker

Download the PDF, print it out, and start keeping track! The card folds down to the same size as a baseball card, so you can keep it with your collection for the memories.

Last year, I created a loss tracker card for the White Sox as they approached the record. Every circle filled in brought them one step closer to history. It was surprisingly engaging to follow their march toward ignominy.

This year’s Rockies tracker comes with several enhancements:

Monthly color coding: Each month gets its own color, creating a visual timeline of how the Rockies’ season unfolds. So far, the pattern shows no signs of improvement as we progress through the calendar.

Losing streak tracking: I’m marking every losing streak—and remarkably, every single loss this year has been part of a multi-game losing streak except for their home opener (which was mercifully only a one-game streak). This demonstrates just how incapable they are of stopping the bleeding once it starts.

Winning streak tracking: On the flip side, I’m tracking their winning streaks to show how rarely they can string together victories. Through 54 games, they’ve managed to win back-to-back games exactly twice. That’s it.

If you fold the card, there is a cover for the front. To get this front, print the second page of the PDF on the back of the card.

When the season is over, you can write the final record for the Rockies, and then store the card with the rest of your trading cards.

The race to infamy

The bottom of the tracker features two critical numbers: 122 (in a thick circle) represents the losses needed to break the record, while 41 (also circled) shows the wins needed to avoid setting the record.

This creates the season’s most compelling tension: Which will the Rockies reach first—41 wins or 122 losses?

Other tidbits about the card

I posted an image of this card on Reddit. A lot of the comments were very helpful. Someone identified I had the win-count incorrect. It should be 41 wins to prevent the record from being broken.

Here’s some other insights I shared on Reddit:

I did a test-run using crayons to fill in the circles. It got too messy. I’m using colored pencils instead.

I designed this to fold down to baseball card size, so long-term, I can store this folded with the rest of my cards.

A couple people said I should have added more circles for losses. Ha! I was tempted to add another row, but I ran out of room. I kept the size so it can fold down to a baseball card size, so it can be stored with the rest of my cards. Thus, the space was somewhat defined.

I could have used 12 or 13 circles per row, allowing enough space to add more numbers, but I liked the legibility of 10 per row. Or I could have made the circles smaller. But this size is good to color in easily.

Besides, I’m looking forward to hand-drawing a bunch more circles along the side. Which will make it all the more ridiculous.

A funny thing to note. On Reddit, each user can set their own “flair.” It’s a short text string to help identify yourself further in the community. In the r/baseball community, you can set your flair to your favorite team. That way, people know where you are coming from with your comments.

I posted the Rockies loss tracker on Reddit when the Cubs were facing the Rockies in a three-game series. Some Rockies fans noticed my user “flair” indicated I was a Cubs fan. They said, “This hurts more seeing your flair.” Here’s my response:

Yeah, sorry about that. When things come across my head, sometimes they develop into ideas. I’m not out trying to destroy whoever the Cubs are playing. Actually, rather the opposite. I like the stories in baseball. If the Cubs were going to set a new loss record, I would make a loss tracker for the Cubs and laugh (and cry some) along the way.

Now that being said, I did enjoy making a loss tracker last year for the White Sox. But that was a mix of interest there, because I’m a rare Chicagoan who roots both for the Cubs and the Sox. Although, I am much much more a Cubs fan, but I do wish well for the Sox. Like this year when it was revealed the Pope is a White Sox fan, I found that so awesome. In fact, I absolutely loved it how the Cubs shoved their foot in their face when they first thought the Pope was a Cubs fan. That just makes the story all the better that the Cubs make this error, and now the White Sox get to have him as a fan. It’s all about the stories.

The path forward (or downward)

Here’s the remarkable thing: the Rockies don’t even need to be historically bad for the rest of the season to break the record. They just need to cruise along with a 31-77 record over their remaining 108 games—a .287 winning percentage that’s merely “very bad” rather than “apocalyptically terrible.”

Can the Rockies turn it around? After the first couple of weeks, I thought they might stabilize (see my comment on this blog post). But we’re now one-third into the season, and they’ve shown no signs of improvement. The question isn’t whether they’ll break the record anymore—it’s by how much.

At this pace, we’re not just witnessing a bad baseball team. We’re watching history unfold, one entertaining loss at a time.

Download the PDF and start tracking along with me.

The post Tracking the Rockies’ march toward the all-time loss record appeared first on 57 hits.

I’m thinking of adding cardstock pages to my pocket notepad to make drawings of baseball players for those in-between waiting moments.

The post Baseball card sketches appeared first on 57 hits.

He’s made a bit of a resurgence as TV analyst for the Cubs in 2020. That didn’t last too long, in the same year, he was suspended from Marquee Sports Network’s Cubs broadcasts for derogatory comments he made about his ex-wife on-air.

In 2023, he was elected into the Cubs Hall of Fame, along with my favorite Cub, Shawon Dunston. (I collected both Grace and Dunston in the early 90s). It was fascinating for me to see Grace and Dunston do interviews together in 2023.

After his time with the Cubs, Dunston mostly stayed away from the Cubs, because he saw himself as a failure. At the start of his career, there were high expectations for the #1 draft pick of 1982. He was supposed to be the next Ernie Banks! But alas, he did play with a joy of the game, with a passion. But his stats didn’t match up to the expectations. So Dunston never really returned to the Cubs. But now, seeing all the Cubs fans so excited for Dunston to come back, he was really surprised. He didn’t think that he would be so welcomed back.

In short, Dunston was humble. Grace, on the other hand, was the… well, in his playing days, he would often talk to the media. He was the face of the team. Sure, that’s great. But now in these 2023 interviews, it showed how much Grace likes the attention. He’s a showman. Showmen are ok. Having showmen in baseball is a good thing. But when you pair up the showman with his other questionable activities, it shines a different light on Grace’s showman side.

In one interview, Grace talked about how he and Sutcliffe would go out to the bars all the time after the games (again, going to bars is ok, but the DUIs are definitely not ok). Grace would go on to say how Dunston never went out to the bars, because he had a kid and was a family man. That again showed very clearly the dichotomy between Grace and Dunston. Grace was a party kid. Dunston was a responsible, loving man for his children.

Today, I find it hilarious that I got one of Grace’s cards for one penny with free shipping. Shows how much it’s worth. I can’t say that I have a favorite Grace card anymore, because how can I call any of his cards a favorite? In fact, when my wife and I attended our first Cubs game when we were dating, it was Cubs baseball card day. In the pack with other Cubs cards was a Mark Grace card. I tore Grace’s card in half at the game.

To get one of his cards for a penny, with free shipping? That’s hilarious. This is most likely my favorite Grace card. Bonus points for the card not giving Grace the honor of wearing a Cubs logo on his hat.

The post Mark Grace for $0.01 appeared first on 57 hits.

In the past 25 seasons, the teams with the least sub-.500 seasons
NYY    0
LAD    2
STL    2

Teams with the most sub-.500 seasons
PIT    22
COL    20
KCR    19
MIA    19

My goodness. The last time the Yankees were below .500 was 1992.

1992 was also the year when it was the last time the Dodgers finished in last place.

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