Sports Then and Now

Al Simmons

The July Sports Then and Now Athlete of the Month hit .462 while starting the first three All-Star Games during a stellar 20-year career that ended with his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

One of the premier outfielders of his generation, Al Simmons was not as well known as Babe Ruth, but he was a steady run producer who helped the Philadelphia Athletics edge the New York Yankees for three straight American League titles from 1929-1931 while claiming two World Series titles. Read the rest of this entry →

Pete Rose knocks over Ray Fosse for the winning run in the 1970 All-Star Game.

With the Major League Baseball All-Star Game one week away, it’s time to take a look back at some great moments from All-Star Games past.

Here now, are the 10 Greatest MLB All-Star Game Moments.

10. 1933
It was only fitting that the first home run in an All-Star game is hit by Babe Ruth.

Ruth’s blast comes off Cardinals pitcher Bill Hallahan in the bottom of the third to give the American League a 4-2 in the inaugural All-Star game.

9. 1983
Fifty years later in the same ballpark, the first grand slam is hit as Angels center fielder Fred Lynn sends Atlee Hammaker’s 2-2 pitch over the wall.
It is still the only time a Grand Slam has been hit in the All-Star Game.

8. 1955
The National League pulls off the greatest comeback in All-Star Game history as they overcome a five-run deficit to pull out a victory in extra innings.

Trailing 5-0 entering the bottom of the 7th inning, the NL scores two runs in the inning, then score three runs in the eighth to tie the game, and then win the game in 12th when Stan Musial hits a solo home run. Read the rest of this entry →

Derek Jeter will be starting in the 2011 All-Star Game despite hitting .260 with 20 RBI.

Despite continual tweaking designed to make the process as fair and consistent as possible, the selections for the 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game follow the history of rewarding past accomplishments and dominant teams while overlooking a number of deserving players.

Selecting the players for the All-Star Game has been a challenge for generations.

The most egregious example of exploiting the system occurred in 1957 when ballot stuffing in Cincinnati led to the Reds having the top vote getter at seven of eight field positions. Eventually, two of the players were replaced in the lineup and fans lost the right to vote for the All-Star starters for slightly more than a decade.

Since fan voting was restored in 1970, the biggest problem has not been ballot stuffing, but instead a tendency for fans to vote some of their favorite players into the lineup regardless of whether they were having the best year of a player at that position.

Some all-time greats, including Brooks Robinson, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Reggie Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr., Ozzie Smith and Johnny Bench continued to be selected by the fans even in years when they were clearly not the best player at their position.

The unintended consequence of this desire to see certain fan favorites is that other deserving players don’t get the recognition of being All-Star starters in years when they were obviously the best player at their position.

One such example was first base for the American League during the late 1970s and early 1980s. After moving from second base, where he was an eight time starter, Rod Carew was voted by the fans as the starting first baseman every year from 1976 through 1984. Read the rest of this entry →

Last night, for the first time since my baby sister was born, the National League won the Major League Baseball All-Star game. For those of you who missed my running timeline of things that happened the last time the NL won an All-Star Game because you don’t follow me on Twitter (shameless plug: www.twitter.com/HubSportsLive), here’s the complete version:

• Last time the NL won an All-Star game, they didn’t play hockey in AZ and baseball’s most cherished records were held by guys named Maris and Aaron.

One of 1996's greatest highlights was also the scene of one of its greatest tragedies

• Last time the NL won an All-Star game, Bret Michaels was a musician, Tom Cruise wasn’t a theologist and Tiger Woods was a golfer.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star game, MTV played music videos, AOL was the preferred ISP and @UmpJoeWest didn’t have his own twitter handle
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Kirby Puckett was loved by everyone and Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones weren’t yet household names.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, “Macarena” was on top of the Billboard charts. Who Let The Dogs Out was, sadly, still four years out.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Betty White was a ripe, young 74 and Joe Torre was in his 1st year with the Yankees
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, the Yankees hadn’t won a World Series in 18 years and we thought we were done with Bush as President
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, neither Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning nor Alex Rodriguez were world champions. There’s a happy thought.
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Conan O’Brien wasn’t the name of the gum on Jay Leno’s shoe and Seinfeld was still filming new episodes
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game,  “The Rachel” was a popular hairstyle, leggings and cords were trendy and Blink 182 wasn’t yet famous
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, the Cowboys were America’s team, Nintendo 64 was released and a sheep named Dolly was a celebrity
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Robert Dole was a presidential candidate and not a Pepsi spokesperson

This look familiar? You must have been born after the NL won its last all-star game, then.

• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, OJ was a free man, Clinton wasn’t impersonating Kennedy and Tupac was still alive
• Last time the NL won an All-Star Game, Britney wasn’t a MILF, Miley was in diapers and nobody knew about Megan Fox.

Sad but true. Sad, but true.

We’ve made it through the July 4th weekend and we’ve reached the official midway point of summer: The All Star Game. That’s the Major League Baseball All Star Game. Far and away the best of the breed, perhaps because of timing, perhaps because of the much argued “home field advantage” gambit, far above similar offerings from the NBA, NFL, or NHL.

Congrats to the Senior Circuit for finally eeking out a “W”.

This week marks the midway point of the baseball season, itself. With each team having played eighty plus games, let’s take a look at how they are doing.

NL East

Atlanta Braves (52-36): B+

Jason Heyward: The biggest thing to hit Atlanta since Sherman.

Atlanta has outperformed most expectations, the average of which had them around third in a tough division. Their pitching has been pretty much what was predicted. Their top three starters (Tim Hudson, Derek Lowe, Tommy Hansen) all boast +.500 records while their bottom two (Kenshin Kawakami and Jair Jurrjens) have a total 2 wins in 22 starts.

The biggest story for Atlanta has been Jason Hayward, rookie phenom with 11 home runs, .251 average, and 45 RBI. The newest addition (to an offense that leads the NL in OBP (.343) and boasted a robust 37-19 in May and June) has given a bit of spark to both players and fans alike.

Pardon the cliche, but Atlanta seems to find a way to win this season, despite only slightly above average pitching and offense. They have also had some good luck by way of a Phillies squad that is sorely underacheiving. Read the rest of this entry →

David Ortiz captured the Home Run Derby title last night in a thrilling performance. The left-handed slugger came out hungry and while he was all smiles he had his eyes on the prize.

Papi did it with a smile per usual.

Coming out hitting sixth out of eight batters, Papi put up an eight spot which was good enough to move him onto the second round.

Then Papi got HOT.

He blasted 13 dingers in the second round which comfortably sent him to the finals where Ortiz met former Sox prospect Hanley Ramirez. Big Papi went first and set the tone with 11 bombs as he spread them between center, right center, and right field. Hanley could not come close to match his output and Papi claimed his first ever Home Run Derby Championship. David hit 32 homers over three rounds measuring in at over seven miles with the farthest going 478 feet.

This was Ortiz’s first appearance in the Derby since 2006 (he participated 2004-06) and he made it count. He was a class act all night cheering on his competition and his classic smile was ear to ear. A true ambassador to the game and a face of the Red Sox organization, Ortiz did good work for baseball on this evening.

The most consistent cog in this patched up Red Sox line up since May 1 (17 HRs), hopefully Papi saved some umph for the second half and doesn’t melt down like former champs (ie Bobby Abreau and Josh Hamilton).

Rather, perhaps this performance can spark his game like the Three Point Contest did for Paul Pierce and propel him and the team toward a run at the pennant.