270. Lee Elia‘s incredible NSFW tirade
Baseball managerial tirades are a fun thing. Who doesn’t love those old clips of Earl Weaver laying into Bill Haller or Lou Piniella chucking bases around the diamond and kicking dirt on umpires’ shoes? One of the more legendary explosions came from Elia, the Chicago Cubs manager, in a post-game press conference. Despite the fact that no video exists, the audio recording is certainly good enough. Elia lashed into Cubs fans who were booing the home team after a 5-14 start to the 1983 season. The concentration of foul language makes the transcript unfit for print, but he was particularly salty towards the Cubs fans who come out to day baseball rather than working. “Eighty-five percent of the…world is working, the other fifteen percent are here.”
269. John Rocker‘s is a hate-filled bigot
Even the most hated baseball villains seem to have their supporters. Players like Rob Dibble, Jose Canseco and Barry Bonds were never model ambassadors for the sport, but they certainly had their share of admirers. Perhaps the one player who really pushed those limits was the Atlanta Braves Rocker. Rocker’s despicable comments in a 1999 Sports Illustrated article insulted such a wide range of people that it earned him a 14-game ban to start the 2000 season. The remarks were the beginning of the downfall of Rocker’s once-promising career and he was out of baseball by 2003.
268. Greg Maddux wins 350th game
When Nolan Ryan won his 300th game, the common sentiment was that he may be the last person to cross that threshold. The five-man rotation was now commonplace and pitch counts designated when a starter was done, so the opportunities for wins just weren’t as plentiful as they had been in the past. Fourteen years later though, Maddux joined the 300 club, but he didn’t limp to the finish line the way others have. Maddux absolutely blew past the mark and didn’t stop until he got to 355. He notched win number 350 in 2008, becoming the first pitcher to pass 350 wins (without the help of steroids) since Warren Spahn did so in 1963.
267. Ron Santo Day
Like any sports-crazed city, Chicago reveres their legends. Santo was extremely popular during his Hall of Fame career and became one of the faces of the Chicago Cubs during his lengthy broadcasting career as well. Because he was so visible, Santo’s battle with diabetes, which eventually claimed his life, was largely fought in the public. However, during his playing career, Santo kept his battle quiet from fans, teammates and management. That all changed though on August 28, 1971 when the Cubs honored Santo with “Ron Santo Day” despite the fact that he was still an active player. During the ceremony, Santo public acknowledged that he had battled diabetes for his entire adult life. Over the next three decades, Santo was an inspiration to all who not only battled diabetes, but to anyone struggling with illness or amputation.
266. Pete Alexander‘s rookie year
Sure, baseball was a completely different game in 1911, so Alexander’s stats should be taken with a grain of salt. But when a 24-year old can burst onto the scene and turn in the best pitching performance of the season despite playing alongside Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson, that’s pretty impressive. Alexander led the National League with 28 wins, 31 complete games, seven shutouts and an incomprehensible 367 innings pitched. In addition to starting 37 games, he closed 11 more, appearing on the mound in nearly one-third of his team’s games that year. Alexander finished third in the league in the MVP voting as a rookie, in perhaps the greatest rookie season for any pitcher in any era.
265. Nick Adenhart‘s dies in automobile accident
Anytime tragedy strikes the baseball world, it’s creates a sad and shocking sentiment throughout the sports world. The death of California Angels pitcher Adenhart seemed like so much more of a shock though. Adenhart was a promising young pitcher on a very good team who was just starting what most figured would be an outstanding career. Adenhart started three games as a rookie in 2008 and then made his 2009 debut on April 8. He pitched six shutout innings, retiring the side in order in his last frame on seven pitches. With his pitch count at 98 though, the young pitcher was removed to protect his arm. Just hours later, a car in which Adenhart was a passenger, was struck by a drunk driver who ran a red light. Adenhart and two other passengers were killed in the accident.
264. Chuck Klein sold to the Phillies
It seems that a lot of the unilateral decisions made by baseball Commissioners in the first half of the 20th century wouldn’t fly by today’s standards. One of those decisions led to the Philadelphia Phillies acquiring one of the great players in their franchise history. A young Klein was tearing through the St. Louis Cardinals system and about to be called to the majors. However, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis discovered that the Cardinals had two minor league teams playing in the same league. He ordered the team from Fort Wayne be sold to the Phillies, along with the rights to all its players. Those players included the future Hall of Famer Klein. Four years later he was the National League MVP and became one of the great sluggers of the 1930s.
263. Ralph Kiner hits 54 home runs in 1949
When looking back, there’s no debating that Kiner had a remarkable Hall of Fame career. However, one wonders what could have been had Kiner nbot been forced to retire at the age of 32 due to a back injury. Kiner led the National League in home runs the first seven years of his career and OPS, slugging percentage and walks three times each in that span. His best season came in 1949 when he belted 54 home runs, just two shy of Hack Wilson’s National League record. Between 1931 and 1997, no National Leaguer hit more than Kiner’s 54 home runs. That season, he also became the first National Leaguer to top 50 home runs twice.
262. Charlie Finley’s moustache brigade
It’s hard to believe, but for much of the first half of the 20th century, there were more no-hitters pitched than players who stepped on the field wearing facial hair. That all changed when the 1972 Oakland A’s began a movement that dragged baseball from the buttoned-up game it has always been to a more flashy version that ultimately led to bat flips, over-the-top uniforms and elaborate handshakes. The story goes that Reggie Jackson showed up to Spring Training in 1972 with a moustache and said he wouldn’t be shaving. Instead of battling his budding superstar, owner Charlie Finley embraced the idea and before long, he was awarding players $300 if they grew a moustache. This not only led to the signature looks of Jackson, Rollie Fingers and Catfish Hunter, but also ushered in a movement where baseball started to move away from the staid, proper game it had been for decades to the dynamic product it evolved into over the past 40 years.
261. George Brett wins three batting titles in three different decades
Without question, Brett is among the short list of the best pure hitters of the past four decades. He was a dynamic, clutch force throughout the first decade of his career and then he developed into just a pure professional hitter during the latter part of his career. He won his first batting title in 1976 with a .333 average and then flirted with the magical .400 mark in 1980, falling just shy at .390. At the age of 37 in 1990, Brett got off to a slow start, even contemplating retirement. However, the legend turned back the clock, batting .386 during an extended torrid stretch to end the season. He passed Rickey Henderson to take over the AL batting lead late in the year and held off his fellow Hall of Famer to become the first player to win a batting title in three different decades.
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