Clutch 33-2016: Extra Innings

Mr. Clutch’s last blog post ramble on about “The End” and the excitability about going on a virtual vacation from baseball, blogging and maybe some other things that start with a “B”. Well, that was as short-lived as the executive career of that Pope that got poisoned. Mr. Clutch speaks is back for extra innings! The Ali-like return to the ring is partially because it’s hard to get away from something one likes doing and partially because there is more to report.

First, and quickly, two of the Clutch top-10 movies are referenced in the above paragraph. You are challenged to figure out what movies they are. The guess from Clutch laboratories is that a few of you (maybe one) will get one of the two, nobody will get both of the two and likely most will get none. Many movie references are name dropped into these blogs – but it’s rare to see two in the same paragraph. Feel free to leave a comment with your guess(es). There is a third bonus question – which there is 100% certainty that nobody will guess the answer to – even if you guess the two movies. There is an actor who played a very small supporting role in both films. Guess that and you will be deemed as almost as film critic worthy as Mr. Clutch himself.

The hard to get away part is tied more to writing than it is baseball. The Clutch creative writing division has many works in different stages of development. First, there is “Paranoid”, the critically acclaimed book published back in 2001. It’s available at amazon.com and more info is available there and on paranoidbook.com. “Paranoid” was put in front of a Hollywood producer back in the day and was almost optioned to become a major motion picture. It was also Pulitzer prize eligible in 2001 and ranked high on amazons book sales listing in the first quarter of 2002. It makes a perfect Christmas gift, and the author himself will sign any purchased copies and offer a 90-day “Answer” period where he will respond directly to a reader who has questions about the content.

Other books in the Clutch pipeline include “Year on the Felt” which documented a complete calendar year of Clutch’s poker play, and include much insight, philosophy and good stories about wins and losses. It’s in the editing stage at the moment. Then there’s “Hill 260” (working title) which is a non-fiction look at Clutch’s old man’s frontline experience in World War II. The content was strung together through interviews and research. This one is partially done, but mostly still in a virtual state. This one is probably a little more destined to be a movie than “Paranoid” and will likely star Ben Affleck as the current Mr. Clutch and Tom Hanks as his old man. Hopefully this will be coming soon to a theater near you.

The last work in the archives is this. It’s certainly the poster boy of a “Work in progress” as this group of blog posts is the skeleton or outline of the next great book on baseball. It’s pretty simple in that the 33+ blog posts will be chapters, and the current content of each blog post is the outline. All that needs to be done now is beef up each chapter by adding 3-7 pages of content to what’s there now. The end result will be a 300+ page book on the baseball adventures and thoughts of Mr. Clutch. Yes, writing a book *is* sort of kind of that easy.

The other reason for the extra frame is that Mr. Clutch himself stepped onto the diamond for the big annual wiffleball tournament held over in Jackson. It’s the one time of year that instead of speaking and writing that actual doing goes on. It’s a great day of fun, food, booze, banter and of course the kids American pastime “Wiffle-Ball”. Wiffle-ball perhaps was the easiest way for two friends or enemies to play the closest thing to baseball with a yellow plastic bat and white ball with holes in it as the equipment needed. A garage door would usually come in handy along with a pole or tree to indicate boundaries.

The annual pilgrimage to Jackson gives each of the 32 adults a periscope look back into the past. It’s a few hours of trying to do your best despite physical and aged limitations, when back in the day as a kid with a rubber arm and unbridled enthusiasm doing your best was just a day in the office. A player leaves all his problems at home that day and focuses solely on throwing strikes, banging out home runs and having the time of his life. This particular tournament has been going on for around 15 years with Mr. Clutch being a participant for around the past eight or so.

The tournament, which incidentally is what it’s called, is like the NCAA basketball March Madness in that many “Teams” are invited though only a handful of those signed up actually have a chance to win. For every Kentucky and Louisville in the tournament there are many Belmonts, Murray States and Iona’s. Unfortunately, and despite the abilities as a youth, Mr. Clutch represents East Tennessee State and not North Carolina.

The tournament is stacked with phenomenal athletes and ballplayers. Let’s see, for starters there is former Major League baseball player with 9 years as a pro and World Series ring. Then there is the guy who played AA ball for the Met’s before becoming an agent. And let’s not forget the pitcher who played college ball and the infielder who represented Italy in the World Baseball classic. Once guy spent many years as the Met’s bullpen catcher, which though you are an “employee” and not a “player” on the team, it’s still a position reserved for a great athlete who maybe was just a hair shy of being good enough to play on the team. There are also many “Amateurs” in this thing who throw gas, hit for power and make the wiffleball dance in the wind before reaching the batter’s box. It’s just too much for a guy who once, but no longer, has it to overcome.

The playing area is set up with four perfectly manicured and designed fields. This includes a plank of wood with a hole in it for the strike-zone, chalk fair lines down first and third, a home run fence literally made out of fence material, and lastly beautifully erected fair poles (thanks Tim McCarver otherwise they would be referred to as “Foul” poles) out in left and right field. The distance from the mound to home is the industry standard for wiffle-ball, with the final touch being a set of carefully thought out rules for the first round point system. 16 make it out alive after four games, and then from that point on its head to head games just like the old days. The day works its way down to two players – who play for the title.

Though winning the tournament and getting to sign the professional baseball bat in sharpie and carry it for a year “Stanley Cup” style is the goal, there is nothing out there better than just the feel, smell and overall excitement associated with stepping into the batter’s box or on the mound for the first of many times that day. Of course that great way of it gets reversed the next day (or two) when the elders are typically in pain from head to toe due to using muscles that laid dormant for close to 12 months. The pain, extreme at times and lasts longer the older a player gets, is well worth it’s safe to say that none of the 32 would ever give up that day regardless of the physical price paid.

Clutch 32-2016: This Is the End

“This Is the End” is a couple of things. The title, like some others of these blog posts, has been named after a movie or event. In this case it was the movie starring the modern day brat pack which was a humorous and pretty R rated look at the apocalypse. That’s not exactly or remotely close to what this is about – but a funny title nonetheless. It’s really about the end of a long journey. It was a journey that started in February and ended on a cool November Sunday. It was the marathon, and ironically on the day of the New York City marathon, of the baseball season.

Mr. Clutch is exhausted and looking very much towards taking a few days off before it gets started up again. Hurt feet, bags under the eyes and just general tiredness have all been experienced from the day to day labor associated with the Major League Baseball season. All this noted and filed by a person who didn’t step foot on a field, make a throw or have a single plate appearance during the whirlwind season.  It’s all the other baseball activities, including a new one that was added this year, which lent itself to this happy day or the end.

Likely sprinkled in over some previous blogs, Clutch of many ages has participated in the same fantasy baseball league (called Rotisserie baseball back then) since 1988. Yup, that’s 29 years of competing year in and year out against the same guys. Naturally some new teams came in, old teams went out, and it’s believed that one original team owner died of old age. But, the core teams have been together since then. Most probably know that running a baseball team, unlike fantasy football, is an everyday job with a focus required all the time. For those that want to win at this, it starts way before the season does and never really ends.

Team Clutch has been famous for “Discovering” players who at the time of being first fantasy drafted were an unknown that quickly became a household name. This is done through excessive research and development, most of which is worked on during the off season. Studying play in the domestic fall leagues and international winter leagues is where it starts.  Following players from rookie ball through the various single to multiple “A” levels of the minors is also a requirement to successfully make these discoveries. The Internet, invented after Clutch’s league was formed, has made it a little easier, but at the same time made it harder since it has generated more information and data to analyze.

The first such discovery was a scrawny kid coming up in the Atlanta organization in the late 80s. He became the Braves regular second baseman his rookie year – and did what the prototype at that position didn’t do back then – crack 20 homeruns and steal 20 bases. Power and speed is an all-out fantasy stud, and it’s a super-stud when you draft him for close to nothing (The league was an auction, not pick dract).  After that he switched to the outfield and was a staple to hit 30 homers and 30 steals a season. Being in or close to the 30-30 club was a top gem in the fantasy world. His name was Ron Gant. The name probably rings a bell to you now – but unlikely back in 1988 when his career started as a nobody. The dynamic and outgoing player, now well retired, co-hosts a TV talk show back in Atlanta.

It’s this type of hard-work and dedication that leads to a winning fantasy baseball team. Again, it starts way before the season starts and continues day in and day out during the season and after. The in-season discoveries are sometimes as valuable as or greater than the ones done pre-season. Two in-season studs that come to mind are both from the Cubs franchise. The first was the great Kerry Wood. Clutch snagged him after his first career start and had him on an active roster literally hours before Wood pitched one of the best games in Major League History. Kerry threw a complete game one-hitter (bunt single) with no walks and 20 strikeouts. He was 7 strikeouts and one less hit away from the ultimate perfect game.

The other Cubs gem found in the May timeframe was a current stud that everyone likely knows by the name of Jake Arrieta. Jake has only thrown a couple of no-hitters in the first few years of his past, now and future illustrious career. He joined the Clutch team in 2014 after he was a castaway from the Baltimore Orioles, and a “Throw in” in a trade to the Cubs. There were many other great finds over the couple of decades of this fantasy baseball life. Too many to name or discuss, most of which are past retirement age now. Mark Grace (also a Cub!), Pedro J., Chipper Jones and David Wright are a few worthy of bragging about.

The other baseball item of note, besides fantasy baseball, which has kept the Clutch camp extremely busy and in dire need of a “Vacation” is the addition of this. The this is what you are reading right now, and was mid-season named as “Clutch Speaks”. Adding that to an already full plate was challenging and fun at the same time., It’s the now 33 blogs that were thought up, researched, written, critiqued and posted during the course of the season.  All in that’s a lot of words.

Writing 33 blogs over the course of seven or eight month might not seem “Hard”, but try coming up with 33 different topics to discuss over one subject matter – which in this case is baseball. Every post needed to be unique, interesting and somehow tie to a current baseball event or have something to do with Mr. Clutch’s long baseball history. It got harder and harder as the season went on. Delivering great and fresh content week after week seemed like an eternity because it was.

Both blogging and following a kid who is currently playing in Rancho Cucamonga (A real baseball fan will know what this is) is just flat out exhausting and requires an official break. The itch and need to continue on both of those fronts will be just around the corner. Until then team Clutch is on vacation, will enjoy a little time off, and for the here and now: “This Is the End”. 

Clutch 31-2016: I Love Cheaters

Let’s first clear up the title of this blog. It’s not what you may think and it’s unlikely you would be able to guess it with 10 or 100 guesses. Mr. Clutch actually despises cheating, especially when it comes to blatant breaking of a law. Where the title comes from is while on one of the patented Clutch annual baseball pilgrimages a member of the Wolfpack noticed a women strolling down Margret Corbin Drive (Yes, that’s a real street) wearing a hat that bared that phrase. Since the topic of this blog is cheating and baseball – it seemed like a good fit.

It’s obvious that is “Cheating” occurs in every business in some faucet or another. Perhaps it’s something light like fudging numbers on a tax return or faking the original retail price on a factory outlet sale item. Sometimes it’s worse like stealing all of a customer’s money or cutting a corner that puts the public in danger. Cheating happens on a personal level all the time too. But – people who cheat on something individually usually don’t do it to perform better or work….or maybe they do?

To quote one of the movies on the Mr. Clutch all time roster: “The Firm”, Avery Tolar played by the immortal Gene Hackman described cheating well. He said something like “The difference between tax
avoidance and tax evasion is…” with multiple choice answers. Some of the answers were “Whatever the IRS (or powering body) says”, “A smart lawyer” or “10 years in prison”. The last option was “All of the above”.  Let’s take a look at that and convert this to baseball terminology.

Certain rules of the game are “Grey” area which means how they are interrupted, or in some cases their non-existence and non-assumption, is “Avoiding” versus “Evasion”.  The IRS is of course the baseball commissioner who can decide what is and isn’t a rule and also if a player broke one or not.  The smart lawyer is either the player or his representation trying to get around a rule. The 10 years in prison is a suspension if you get caught and then the commissioner determines that you indeed broke the law.

First there are the clear grey area items which the Clutch fact finding commission has determined is not really cheating, but more like taking advantage. “Stealing” signs from second base for example is something that is probably more unsportsmanlike than cheating. If a runner is on second base and can clearly see the next pitch battery signs of catcher instructions to pitcher, then it’s just something that’s out there. The runner has the option of reporting this information to the batter, and that’s probably where it gets grey. Now, stealing the team’s playbook prior to the game to gain the signs (cue Greg Brady) is a totally different story.  

Mr. Clutch’s long-time sensei, the late great Grandmaster John Kuhl, would often use the phrase “Steal with your eyes”, which somewhat correlates to the above notion of stealing a sign from the field. What Master Kuhl meant was that if you are preparing for a physical altercation with someone use the visuals around you to gain an advantage. How a person stands, clinches a fist and motions his body can easily determine his next move – just like in baseball.  When class wasn’t practicing sign stealing the students weren’t busy learning how to break necks and avoid being thrown off a rooftop.

Pitchers cheated all the time back in the day, and it seems to be something that has tapered off in recent years. There is that famous pre-cellphone camera footage of one of the Niekro brothers tossing a nail file off the mound into the grass before getting busted. It was Gaylord Perry who was infamous for throwing the “Spitball”. Scuffing or altering the ball in anyway gives the pitcher a clear unnatural advantage. Most recently (probably a few years ago) a Yankees pitcher got tosses for having some sort of grease on his glove. This is all cheating plain and simple.

Yes, returning back to the movies to find the gem when pitcher Eddie Harris in “Major League” gives the speech that describes it all. “Crisco, Bardahl, Vagisil. Any one of 'em will give you another 2-3 inches drop on your curve ball”. Apparently he used these substances to get his nose running so he could put snot on the ball. It was paying homage to the old pitchers named above who cut corners to get outs.

Hitters are not immune to cheating in the modern game. They are infamous for doing whatever they can to make the ball go farther and faster off the bat. The most common type is “Corking” the bat. This is simply coring out the meaty part of the bat where most contact is made and filling it with cork or any other rubbery bouncy type substance.  One of the most recent and more publicized version of this was when Sammy Sosa’s bat exploded when he grounded out that one faithful afternoon. He likely blamed it on the batboy.

Then there was the much ado about nothing famous George Brett pine-tar play. Long story short, Brett had 1” of extra pine-tar going up the handle of the bat which was noticed by manager Billy Martin. Brett hit a go-ahead home run in the 9th inning of that game versus the Yankees, but was declared out by the umpire when the measured the pine-tar and noticed it was illegal. As crazy as it sounds, the Royals protested the game and won! The commissioner (IRS) declared that though it was against the rules, it wasn’t done to gain unfair advantage in batting. The pine-tar clearly wouldn’t affect the distance or speed the ball would travel.

In closing, it wasn’t an accident that steroids, human growth hormones, Adderall, poppy seeds and other illegal substances weren’t mentioned here. That’s a subject that will be addressed in its own era.

Clutch 30-2016: Baseball Heroes (and Goats) don’t Wear Capes

In the Clutch (no pun intended) the big star players are supposed to deliver. That’s what and why they get paid an outrageous ridiculous amount of money. Getting a bunch of key hits or striking out the side at a bunch of important moments is where the team benefits from giving a star that long-term bloated contract. Of course these players are also supposed to deliver on getting a team to that moment in addition to pushing them over the top.

You see this with a fair amount of regularity with great players doing their usual thing in the playoffs and the crown jewel: the World Series. The booming power-hitter bashes a couple of homeruns, the Ace of the staff picks up a couple of wins and shuts down the opposition and on and on. Since this is typically expected it’s often overlooked among the games of the series. The feeling is that since a player is doing with he’s “Supposed” to do it doesn’t necessarily draw headlines or long-term memories.

It’s the anomalies that become back-page news, watercooler talk and things later on discussed over a beer. There are two types of these situations. The first, which is the positive, is when an unknown player comes out of the woodwork and delivers in one or many spots on the biggest stage such as the World Series. The other type is quite the opposite were that star player folds like a cheap suit or broken down valise. Both types probably get equal storage in the prefrontal cortex to be recalled later on during baseball chat sessions.

Let’s first take a look at a few success stories. The first comes from the Boone family. No, not Daniel Boone, but the baseball Boones. Forget about the fact that the Boone family lineage goes back multiple generations, and if you don’t want to forget about it see the blog from a month or so ago that focused on ancestry in the major leagues. For now, let’s look at the current generation of Boones which spit out two big leaguers. One you likely heard of as he had a pretty solid career in the game. That of course is Bret Boone who spent 13 years in the league, a handful of awards, and solid career stats.  

The lesser Boone whose name might not be top of mind is Aaron Boone, Bret’s brother. Aaron kicked around for almost the same number of years, but with way less stellar stats, awards of general player notoriety over his career. That said, Aaron Boone is a bit of a hero in New York.  He spent the back half of one season (2003) with the Yankees, where he was traded to from Cincinnati in one of those “Rent a player” deals. One at bat summed up his career in the Bronx which was game 7 of the ALCS versus the arch-rival Boston Red Sox where he hit a dramatic walk-off home run in the 11^th inning to win the game and the series for the Yanks and propelled them into the World Series. It’s fair to say that no Yankee fan will ever forget that moment or that player. Yankee brass, on the other hand, must have thought differently as Aaron was cut from the team the next spring during camp.

In the fall of 1986 there were a string of heroes across town with the Mets. They were the guys that created and maintained the most drama filled come-back and rally in World Series history, bar none. Unfortunately for the city of Boston, this scenario also ends with them losing. If you are not familiar with “Game 6” I advise you to google it to get the full details. The Clutch research team is confident that the entire famous inning is well documented anywhere on the Internet. The hero focus that will be looked at here is on William Hayward Wilson. Though the name sounds like that of a historical US President, he is more affectionately known in these parts as “Mookie”.

Mookie Wilson had a pretty decent baseball career. He played for around 10 years, with the lion’s share of that being with the Mets. As a matter of fact, kid Clutch was (and still is) infuriated when Wilson was traded to the Blue Jays in the twilight of his career. Mookie was never the same as a player and his playing career ended up in Canada just two years later. Luckily the Mets “fixed” that debacle by hiring Wilson into several positions in the organization after he hung him his spikes and batting gloves. As a side-note teenage Clutch kind of met the Met legend. After a game one Sunday afternoon while catching a ride home from Shea on the Grand Central parkway a glance to right presented Mookie driving home after a day’s work in a customized van.

The simple reason that Wilson could do no wrong since that famous day is that he singlehandedly saved the 86 Mets from a disastrous end of season. Long story short, and as noted it’s highly recommended to look this up and watch it, The Mets and Mookie down to their last strike and were a pitch away from losing a World Series that they were highly favored to win. What did Mookie do? He managed to foul off four (4) pitches before the sound heard around the world: “Little roller up along first, behind the bag it gets through Buckner”. Mookie became a hero in literally 2.5 seconds.

Staying focused on New York for another moment or two, there were a couple of opposite cases where someone expected to deliver and didn’t. It was the malaise of game one of the 2000 subway World Series with the Mets pitted against the cross-town rival Yankees. Ironically they were the two teams that caused all that angst in Boston. The Yankees were favored to win the series with the star-studded and expensive lineup while the scrappy Mets got there by piecing together a great season with a collection of very good players plus star Mike Piazza. Clutch fun-fact that Robin Ventura and Joe McEwing batted 5^th and 6^th in the lineup in game one of the series and a baker’s dozen years later would be coaching side-by-side for the White Sox.

That infamous, considered as such by Met fans, Game One was queued up for the Mets to win until two goat type moves. Timo Perez neglected to run out a Todd Zeile double, which would have delivered an all-important insurance run to the one-run lead being nursed by the Metropolitans. Then there was Armando Benitez, who was lights out all regular season, but just couldn’t get it down in the big situation. He blew the save in the 9^th inning causing overtime. Yup, the Mets lost it in 11^th inning – and there went the momentum of the series. To his credit Armando pitched OK the rest of the way, including a save in the only game the Mets would win in the series. That said – he will only be remembered for the game one performance!

On to 2016 where a young unknown named Kyle Schwarber is making some name for himself. The future star in his second season suffered a season ending injury after five (5) season at-bats. Schwarber made an “Ali like” return to the diamond in the World Series and was a key contributor in the Cubs “Must win” game two of the World Series. He even had a rare to find hit in game one where the Cubs bats were frozen. Fans spanning the country and possible the globe are all ears to see what he does the rest of the way.  The Clutch guess-o-meter says he puts on a performance that makes him an insta-hero in the Windy City.

Clutch 29-2016: Eve of the Eve of the Big Games

Mr. Clutch is coming to you live (well, live at the time of this writing) from somewhere between here and there. There is Philadelphia, PA and here is up in the air on a flight to Chicago. The guess is that the aircraft will be crossing over the Illinois border at some point soon. This normally wouldn’t mean much of anything except yesterday the Cubbies from the windy city reset the record books.  They are heading to the World Series for the first time since 1492.

OK, so it wasn’t 1492 – that’s when Columbus sailed the ocean blue and allegedly discovered America. The year was the early 1900s and in the paper today there was a fun article that listed all the things that didn’t exist the last time such an event occurred. It included most technology, color TV and probably most of the daily amenities that everyone takes for granted today. If time permits perhaps the exact list will make this post.

If the L.A. Dodgers, who by the way were on the list of things that didn’t exist last time the residents of Wrigley were in a world series, would have one won game six yesterday, then the Clutch team would be in route to watch game seven of the NLCS live between the two teams left from the National League. Those were the two teams that by the way the Mets motored through just a year ago in serious New York October baseball.  The coincidental trip to Chi-town could have been a bucket list knock off, and an elimination game no less.

Instead of witnessing some miniscule part of history, the 24 hours in the Windy city will likely not include a lot of baseball. That said, if time permits, which it certainly would of if a game was going to be played, a quick stop down at Wrigley field might be in order. The Clutch travel team believes that the excitement and aura of championship baseball will still be in air around the stadium despite the fact that the players will be on their way to Cleveland. The guess is that a fair amount of press, tourists and shocked locals will be wandering around the campus.

For anyone out there who is a baseball diehard seeing some places and possible games in being played in them are a must. On any list out there is Fenway park in Boston and Wrigley field in Chicago. They are two of the oldest old school stadiums that still exist and hold more history than any book or website. The best players of all time suited up and locked horns in these places. Records were set, classic games were played and of course these stadiums hold unbelievable historic significance.

As noted in a previous blog, Mr. Clutch and his gang from the old neighborhood visited Fenway a while back and was able to take in the full experience of a game, a tour and everything else that came along with visiting the great baseball town. Though during the off-season, and a time when the Cubs were playing poorly, Clutch, traveling solo like this trip, was in Chicago with time to kill.  The visit to the outside of Wrigley was relatively dull. It was cold, the tours were not running that day and not much was going on. The highlight was picking up some souvenirs to bring home. The hope is that this pilgrimage has better value.

Clutch is no stranger to being around World Series baseball.  Teenager Clutch was practically a resident of Shea Stadium back in October of 1986. Likely noted in previous blogs, ticket access was easy to come to that year and the Mets played home games in game one, two and six, seven (both if necessary). Four tickets to each game was obtained. These seats were right behind home plate and “Loge level”. For those not familiar with the seating chart of the old man, that was one level up and excellent seat.

What was the face value for these tickets? $1,000? $500? Keep going lower. The tickets were sold on the singular market for $30 each. It was hard to believe, and for those who don’t believe it there are many easy ways to validate it. Of course in this day and age the fastest way would be to “Google” the term “1986 Mets World Series ticket” and then click on images. That will bring up plenty of originals which you can select and zoom in on to see the price. Not that technically savvy? Then drive over to Clutch’s house, go down into his basement and look at the ticket from game six which is hanging in the LED lit glass shrine.

Having your team make it to a World Series is exciting. Having it happened when your team is coming off a pretty long losing streak like the Mets of 86 and now the Cubs of 16 is even more exciting. It brings people together and puts a smile on fans faces. The fact of the matter is that most fans of baseball are “Regular” folks with regular jobs and work to pay their bills and advance forward in life. Having a team that you cheer for get to or win a world title certainly brightens you day, week or year.

One final noteworthy item about the Cubs making it to the World Series comes from the same place the team they just beat does: Hollywood. Mr. Clutch is a fan of many things and after baseball is the great movie trilogy “Back to the Future”. In the sequel, BTTF 2, Marty played by the even greater Michael J. Fox, travels into the future from 1985ish to October 21, 2015 – which happens to be a year and two days ago today. While walking through the town square he sees a digital billboard with a joke which reads “Cubs win the World Series”. Like the self-tie laces and flat screens perhaps this fictional prediction was also right on – just a year late! 

Clutch 28-2016: Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Calm down everyone, this blog is not exactly about the song of the same name. Of course this is in reference to the Cyndi Lauper perennial hit from 1983. It’s amazing that Cyndi, the native New Yorker, is still going strong 33 years later. For those not keeping an eye on her career Lauper very recently compose the music for the Broadway smash hit “Kinky Boots”. To close out the bio info on Ms. Cyndi, she also was born and raised one town away from Mr. Clutch and the Mr. and Ms. spent a year (not at the same time) in the same high school.

Though a unsex sport for sure, Softball is typically thought of us as the girls or women version of baseball. In high schools like Adams, girls softball is offered. It’s also a non-popular, but scholarship level sport in college. There is not much along the way of professional softball leagues – though the sport was and will once again be a Summer Olympic event. The sports Olympic life started in Atlanta in 1996. It ended in 2008 in Beijing. The good old USA took gold In 96,00 and 04. They lost to the Japan team in 08 before the sport was removed from Olympic play. Rumor has it that it returns in 2020!

There are not many famous female softball players out there. Can you name one? The Clutch guess-o-meter says that your average person can name none and that a real all-sports fanatic can probably name one. That one would be Jennie Finch. The good looking right hander is legendary in the world of softball and of course was responsible for one of those USA Olympic gold medals. She shattered several records in college and had a phenomenal pro career, though as noted professional softball is an unknown sport. Jennie was also an accomplished power hitter and is married to Casey Daigle, a baseball player and also as pitcher, who had a cup of coffee with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Houston Astros. They have three kids, and the world waits to see their fastball.

Before digging into the crux of this blog, it is noteworthy that while not a female, Mr. Clutch was a softball Phenom in his own right. The early days of the career featured playing on two teams, of which each played a double-header every Sunday. It was mornings on schoolyard blacktop and afternoons on the grass. A power hitter by trade, Clutch was also a gold-glover on the left side of the infield. The highlight of the Clutch career was leading the 2000 Summerfield co-ed team to a 12-0 perfect season. The lowlight would be a few years later where this stellar career came to abrupt end on opening day of the JCC (Jewish league) season. Trying to get back to first base and not get doubled off Clutch’s cleet got stuck in the base causing a rolled and badly torn ankle. It was a season and career ending injury for the legendary hitter.

Only those movie buffs out there would know what the real topic is here. It’s the AAGPBL or All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. This league had absolutely zero notoriety until the hit movie “A League of Their Own” was released in 1992. Though fiction in plot, it was based on real events which was a women’s “Baseball” league that was in effect from 1943 to 1954. Baseball is in quotes only because it was a somewhat modified morphed version of the game. It was close to regular baseball except the ball was larger – closer to a softball – and the bases were 65 feet instead of 90.

Most of the concepts that were displayed in the movie were real including the short dress uniforms and the players being sent to charm school during spring training.  There really was a Rockford Peaches team and they won the title multiple times during the leagues existence. The purpose or reason that the league existed to begin with was to keep professional baseball alive during the war. Also like the movie, attendance and interest in the games started to grow over time, though not in the initial season.

The girl’s league was the brainchild of Philip Wrigley, the gum mogul and of course the moniker that appears in that still famous baseball stadium in Chicago.  I guess the heirs weren’t keen on using the name in the movie since they changed it to “Harvey” and called the guy a chocolate guy instead of gum, sugary nonetheless. They only changed the name of the Tom Hanks character who was the drunkard manager and former star player.  Jimmy Dugan from the movie was actually Jimmy Foxx, the slugger and all around great hitter who played 20 years in the bigs and amassed 534 HRs, a shade under 2,000 RBIs and a .325 BA during that period.  Oh, and by the way he also executed the “Triple Crown” in 1933. Not too shabby.

Madonna and Rosie O’Donnell played for the Hanks team. They are of specific interest, unlike some of the other star studded cast members like Geena Davis and the great Lori Petty, because they were also New Yorkers. Rosie a native, and Madonna moved to the big apple as a teenager trying to make it in show business, and wow did that work out. Madonna’s baseball career ended when filming wrapped. Rosie would reprise her role as a ballplayer in arguably one of the best episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm”. Her softball team plays against Larry’s and let’s just say that the plot of the show was about Larry “Juicing” to succeed in the game and in a love triangle where he and her were chasing the same girl.

Girls in baseball had reminded relatively quiet through the years until 2014 when little leaguer Mo’ne Davis came along. What came along with her was a 70mph fastball and a winning team. The uniqueness of this player, mainly being a girl succeeding in a boys sport, brought on tons of fanfare and media. Mo’ne was quickly a star in many ways, including the SI cover, an ESPY, book deal and so on. Mr. Clutch ran into Mo’ne at a sweet 16 birthday party recently where Clutch Ms. Jr. was being dropped off. Wow two celebrities in the same place at the same time. And of course at an event where girls just want to have fun! 

Clutch 27-2016: Managing the Manager

Like all major sports baseball has a “Guy in charge” on the field. In baseball he/she is of course called the “Manager”. Football uses “Head Coach”, basketball uses the term “Coach” and in growing up in an area where hockey was way down the totem pole, not sure what the sports calls it – perhaps “Ice Captain”?

Back in the good old day’s life was simpler in a many ways. Rants about cell phones and cable TV are a few, but they don’t apply to baseball. In baseball back then the buck kind of started and stopped with the manager. He reported up to a general manager who reported up to an owner. There wasn’t much more in terms of additional levels or other baseball people coming in on a 45-degree angle. The manager managed the team, the GM took care of the player roster and the owner paid the bills.

The physical attributes of a manager back then were typically the same through the league. Of course there were some outliers and slight differences, but generally they were the same. A stereotypical manager was an old short guy with a beer gut. He had an “Average” career as a player back in the day and for some reason or another was never in a good mood. This guy would waddle out to the mound to make pitching changes and usually held his job for a long period of consecutive time. Lastly  - he made all the baseball field decisions.

Today managers come in all shapes and sizes. Many of them are “In shape” physically and tend to be a little younger than the managers of old. In the past a manager would typically work his way up from the “A” level to the major leagues just like a player does. Current trends are that retired players get popped right into managing a major league ball club. Mr. Clutch doesn’t understand the philosophy behind that, but it is becoming ever popular. That said, a number of these green managers end up getting fired before completing one cycle through the season.  Of those, some of them never return to managing.

The baseball player to manager fraternity has been pretty solid. There are practically no managers in the history of the game that didn’t play the game at some professional level. Most, as noted, had major league careers of sorts. An interesting one is current Mets manager Terry Collins (shout out to Long Island City!). Terry kind of fits two of the modern and non-normalized molds. He never played in the bigs, though he did have a minor league career, and the Met’s hired him though he had limited to no big league managerial experience. He actually came to the Mets via the Orix Buffaloes of the Japan league!

In addition to the dynamic of the manager profile changing so has the responsibilities. One day out of nowhere came this new position called a “Bench coach”. This new position is considered second in command and is the manager’s right hand person. They take over when he gets the boot and typically whispers general advice in the manager’s ear during a game. It’s Clutch’s guess that the bench coach also handles other duties like keeping the players in order, etc. This just seems like an unnecessary layer and more of a “Friend” of the manager and assisting in times of need.

Teams have also more recently added other egghead executives who sit up in the press box in front of a laptop and think they are playing a modern day version of strat-o-matic baseball. These guys have all the advanced analytics at their disposal along with more charts and graphs than you would ever want to see. Mr. Clutch is studying some of the underlying methods and language (“R”) that generates these values, and there is certainly some validity to the output. Not to be confused with is seen on the idiot box, i.e. how many times Cecil Cooper hits a line drive to right field, this information goes ions deeper.

These guys are looking at information (for one example) like speed in which the ball goes from the hitters bat to a certain point on the field and how long it takes a fielder to react to that and get to that position for one. Weather, see Mr. Clutch’s friends at Playanlytics.com for more details on this, factors into that equation along with many other measures and components.  The end result is that a guy in street clothes literally calls down to the dugout and informs the manager that the left fielder needs to move three steps to the right when a certain hitter digs in to the batter’s box. It’s just an additional case of the machines taking over.

General Managers who typically make trades have in recent times gotten more involved on the day-to-day activities going on between the chalked lines. For a good example of that, fused with some early day analytics, take a look at the movie “Moneyball”. Though the crux of the movie was how Billy Beane, as GM of the A’s, built a winning team with little money, one of the subplots was how he was trying to force manager Art Howe to start a certain player at first-base over another.  Billy was basing this on analysis done by Paul DePodesta. Paul was an assistant who crunched numbers and recommended decisions to the GM who fought over them with the manager. Just more layers to the layers.

Regardless of how one looks at it – computer controlled or decisions made with gut of a true baseball person, it’s a Clutch opinion that baseball is the furthest from other major sports on results being decided by managerial choices. Yes, decisions are made on pitching matchups (kind of important) a lineup (not really important) and moving players around on the field (even less useful), but the players still need to play the game and execute. Of course the same can be said for all sports, but baseball is certainly not as micro-managed with play calling. With all the additional cast of characters some human and some robotic helping managers these days – major league baseball ownership certainly doesn’t share that opinion! 

Clutch 26-2016: Injuries and Worse

Generally speaking natural instinct is to not purposely do anything that would jeopardize one’s ability to do their job. That could be said for the short-term as well as something that would affect the ability to do the job ever again. Your job is typically your livelihood and one would not want to put that risk. This goes doubly if the person has no other skills or ability to get “Another” job that they would be physically able to with a similar compensation level.

It’s fair to say that this would be a main and golden rule if your job pays up in the higher stratosphere like a major league baseball player. Now, unlike professional football, an MLB player generally has a longer career which brings with it a longer ability to make money. Smart players would “Make hay while the sun shines” and try to best capitalize on the amount of years that they are granted. Even those who stay involved in the game after retiring as an active player can make a few bucks, but nothing like what they made on the field.

There have been many intentional, kind of intentional and accidental while at risk incidents that have happened through the years with active baseball players. These all ended with bad results, some not too bad, some pretty bad and some flat out fatal. In all cases a player’s action or lack of led to their career going sideways or ending. That leads to deeper affects like how their families could be supported, etc.

The first player to discuss is the reason for this blog due to the close timing of the incident. This is referring to the budding star from the Miami Marlins, 24 year old pitching sensation Jose Fernandez. From all accounts Jose was a great guy on and off the diamond. He was only at the beginning of what was going to be a long and prosperous career with Jose likely being a perennial all-star and a feared pitcher. During an off-day in Miami Jose and two friends were excessively speeding on a boat recklessly in the literal middle of the night. They crashed and all three of the guys died on the scene. RIP #16.

That case is of course a tragedy on all counts and for all reasons. What makes it just worse than worse is that someone in Jose’s position should not be participating in fun activities that put his life at risk. Really nobody should, but especially when you are a public figure of sorts with a tremendous revenue upside and you are someone beloved by a global fan base. In Jose’s case his fiancé has a baby on the way and will now need to find ways to support that. Things happen and Clutch’s handbook doesn’t say that players or regular people should not leave the house, but controlled risk is probably a better option.

There are also many cases of reckless activities on the field that led to injuries of all shapes and sizes. These cases usually only put a team’s ability to win at risk, but can cause a player his career. There is a couple from the Clutch archives of a “Lighter” note than above. Met icon Pat Zachry once kicked the dugout bench after getting the hook during a bad outing. This lead to a broken leg and missing most of the season. Of course this was during the bad Met era of the late 70s so it didn’t affect “Winning” too much.

Another Met that was the recipient of a bizarre injury that kind of was a negative turn to the Met season and may have put the kibosh on a possible World Series win. It also wound up ending his career, which was a shame. His name was Duaner Sanchez, and he was the setup man for the 2006 club. With him and Billy Wagner the Mets had a pretty dynamic back of the bullpen.  On a summer night he went out to dinner after a game with a few guys and was in a taxi when a drunk driver hit the taxi connecting the two cars and separating Duaner’s shoulder.  He missed a season and a half with the injury, made a short comeback and then was released. Middle to late inning relief guys can usual play forever, or until they stop throwing strikes. Sanchez had around a five year career and was last seen a few years after his last Major League appearance trying out for Long Island Ducks.

Though the name escapes Clutch’s memory banks there was a player recently who broke his leg during a home-plate celebration. He had just hit a game winning homerun and his teammates met him at home plate where everyone proceeded to jump around hooting and hollering. The end result was a trip to the ER and a cast on the leg. This clearly could have and should have been avoided. This was basically a super-sized version of getting injured while issuing or receiving a high-five.

The last Met who was victim of preventable injuries is the great Bobby Ojeda. Ojeda was a key cog of the 1986 championship Mets. Though he had a pretty good career it was derailed by two pretty preventable incidents. The first was when a year after winning the title he lost part of a finger or two on his pitching hand while trimming the hedges at his house. You would think he would hire someone for that. A few years later during spring training with the Cleveland Indians Bob went on a boat ride with two fellow players, Steve Olin and Tim Crews.  Crews was legally drunk and the boat crashed. He and Olin died, while Ojeda survived but missed the entire season and was never the same.

Things happen all the time and there were many active players’ fatalities over the years for one reason or the other. As noted earlier it’s a matter of controlled risk. Players and their entourages should be smart enough to not do anything to put their livelihood in jeopardy. Maybe they think their invincible because of the ability to throw a hard to hit curve-ball or hit a ball over the fence at will. That works and is likely true in the game, but doesn’t apply to real life. This blog is dedicated to all the players we lost way too early. 

Clutch 25-2016: The Brothers Reuschel

It doesn’t seem that baseball “Runs in the family” as most as it did it in years past. The same can probably said for any line of business in the modern era. This possible could be due to the increased numbers of “Things to do” in the world as well as the theory that a generation wants to be a rung up on the previous. Parent, in some respects, have a job of giving their kids the better opportunity than they had. Back in the day more folks did what their fathers or brothers did as it what all they knew.

That said, there are some relatives in baseball today. The first one that comes to mind is the Seager brothers. Most of us know about at least two of them, Kyle (Mariners) and Corey (Dodgers). Low and behold there is a third Seager brother Justin, who is currently in the minor leagues also with Seattle. It’s an interesting dynamic in that all three of these guys are excellent players. This has happened in the past, but many of the brother combinations were that of a slanted scale with one being great and the other just getting by.

Many moons ago Mr. Clutch worked, not in sports, with a gentleman by the name of Geno. It was Geno DiSarcina to be exact. The relevance of this is that Geno was the younger brother of Gary. Gary of course had a better than average 10+ year career at SS for the California Angels. Why it’s also relevant is that there was also a third brother here Glenn who was drafted by the White Sox. Glenn’s claim to fame was that he played for the Birmingham Barons in the minor leagues with – you guessed it; Michael Jordan. The best part about this is that Geno, who never played baseball at any professional level, claimed he was the best of the three!

There have also been many generational players in the game of course. The most famous ones that come to mind are The Griffey’s, with both Ken’s being phenomenal players, with the latter of them being a first ballet hall of famer. Ken and Ken also hold the pretty cool distinction of being the only father and so duo to play in an MLB game together. It was August of 1990 when Ken Sr. was on his way towards retirement and Jr. was just starting to make his mark.

There were also a few odder family tree relations in the game. Mr.Clutch’s favorite player, or at least one of, Dr.K Dwight Gooden was the Uncle of Gary Sheffield the power hitter from the Marlins. One of Mr.Clutch’s confidants and personal friends Joe McEwing’s former brother-in-law is also Bristol, PA native Jeff Manto. Matt Franco, former Met utility guy, is the nephew of famed actor Kurt Russel. One could argue that’s a stretch since Kurt “played” a role in sports movies, but – little known fact that Kurt played minor league ball in the early 70s for the Angels!

There are some better known tandems who played together, meaning in the same time, from back in Kid Clutch days. These are combinations that we, we meaning people of similar age, likely recall with a grin. George Brett was a great hitter, while Ken Brett was a mediocre pitcher. The Forsch brothers were both mediocre pitchers if memory serves correctly. Then there were the Niekro’s Phil and Joe who were both high quality pitchers. Phil was the top half of that and a hall of famer.

Twins have also factored into the MLB relative landscape. Controversial player and former “Smash Brother” Jose Canseco has an MLB player twin brother named Ozzie. The strange thing about this is that they were identical twins, which would make you think that they had the same DNA strand and the same skills. This was not the case here, as the career HR difference between the two was 462. That also happens to be the number of career HRs hit by Jose. Ozzie had no dingers in his three year limited career. He actually only had 65 At bats over that span. The twins did play together in Oakland for the A’s in 1990. That alone is an interesting dynamic. The Clutch research staff just returned some information that you probably assumed they would. Ozzie often “Subbed” in for Jose at autograph signings and other promotional events. Twin shenanigans with these guys, would anyone think otherwise?  

Last of the list of those from the same era is the Reuschel brothers. Rick and Paul Reuschel both had major league pitching careers. Similar to the common theme of the majority of the DNA going one way, Rick had a much better career than Paul. Rick had 214 career wins, over 2,000 strikeouts and a respectful career ERA of 3.37. Brother Paul, on the other hand, only played in the big leagues for five years and ended up with a 16-16 record. One of the interesting factoids about these guys is they are, and likely will continue to be, the only brothers to pitch a combined shutout, which was for the Cubs back in 1975. It’s also noteworthy that towards the end of Rick’s career he appears on a baseball card and was the spitting image of kid Clutch’s 11^th grade Spanish teacher.

What spurred a discussion on sibling athletes is that Mr. Clutch recently listened to an interesting lecture on Catholic faith recorded live on CD by a gentleman named Darrell Miller. It would take too long to explain how and why this happened, though the short of it is that the CD cover had a baseball field on it with the title being “More than a game” or something like that. Darrell had a brief nondescript career with the Angels from 1984 to 1988. The interesting part is that he is the big brother of Reggie Miller (NBA Pacers HOF) and Cheryl Miller (Women’s basketball in many HOFs). What a talented family!    

Clutch 24-2016: Evolution of the Game

Regardless of your beliefs in “Evolution” the fact of the matter is that everything and everybody changes over time. Some change for the better, some for the worse and some change is sideways. Evolution by definition is the gradual development or advancement of something. What’s noteworthy and possible overlooked is that the definition doesn’t have an “End” or time in which that something is completed.

Baseball, like everything else, has certainly evolved over time. Some of the evolution has been more natural and closer to the vest of the definition while other parts were more forced change for various reasons. Within that, some was “Change for the sake of change”, while some was change for the betterment of the game. Lastly, some was so the game can continue around evolution of other things.

Let’s start with what’s most important, which is the on the field stuff. Fortunately, the look and feel is that the basic “Rules” of the game have not changed in a long while. The number of strikes, outs and innings have all remained the same. It’s probably fair to say that if you pick up an “Official” major league baseball rule book from 50 years ago it would still be relevant today. As a purist around statistics (more to come on this shortly), Mr. Clutch is very glad that this is the case and that the core game is still that.

Once obvious glaring change in the game is the concept of “Instant replay” and call reviews. This is a case of technology driving the evolution of umpiring a game. Back in the day this was not possible from a functional standpoint as there was not six zoomed in camera angles of every play, which were incidentally instantly available for review and in high definition. At best you had a single camera shoot in black and white, with a 30-minute lag time to “Review” a play. The question at hand is what’s right? Getting the call exactly correct? Or keeping the ruling on the field human?

A Clutch guess would be that most people would vote for getting the call “Exactly” right and that reviewing calls is a good thing. A small minority of purist might think it changes the integrity of the game and that good and bad calls are part of the game. Recalling what was stated above – call review was born by nature of being technologically available. This would mean that if it was possible to review calls back in the day, baseball probably would. That sort of kind of proves the case that it’s a good thing. The other reason instant replay works is that an umpires call is and never will be an “Opinion”. A runner is either safe or out, a fielder either did or didn’t make the catch and a ball is either fair of foul.

The players on the field have of course physically evolved over time. Some of this is due to extreme workouts and paying more attention to shape, while others were artificially driven through drugs and what not. Just think back to the greatest players of the previous generation and what they look like. Take Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio for example. Two icons of the game that let’s face it – never exactly looked like a modern athlete. Clutch’s vision of the Sultan of Swat is that he was always an old out of shape guy. The Bambino never seemed to have a youth and/or a prime as it related to being in shape. DiMaggio was in shape per-se, but looked nothing like the star players of today.

The evolution of the man baseball player has certainly led to a shift in statistics. For example, in previous eras a short-stop was hired to play the field only, and in most cases batted eight and was a usual out. An average SS back in the day would hit an occasional homerun and get on base every now and again. The perfect example of this was great Met Rey Ordonez. Rey would literally (and uncanny) hit one (1) homerun every year. He did this in five of the six complete years that he played. Rey had a power surge in 2001 where he hit three. He batted in the .240 range and knock in around 40 runs a year. These prestigious stats earned Ordonez a $6mm salary in his last few seasons in the game. That’s $8mm adjusted for inflation. He earned that salary by way of being a phenomenal fielder and all said one of the best at his position during that time.

Fast forward to 2016 – the year of the power hitting short-stop. Let’s start with Colorado Rockies rising star SS Trevor Story.  Trevor had 27 HRs in 400 ABs before getting injured. The interesting stat here is that he had seven (7) HRs by April 10^th, a mere single week into the season.  More interesting is that in the 2016 season 20 starting Short-stops had 20 HRs or more for the season. In 1985 – there was one, and that was Cal Ripkin, one of the clear exceptions to the rule. Remove that outlier and you are down to none. It’s safe to say that this position has evolved. Anyone wanting to play it at a high level needs to bring both a glove and bat to tryouts.

To step off the field and into the stands for a moment, the fan experience and concept of attending a major league baseball has evolved off the charts. Just look at any of that old grainy footage from yesteryear to get an idea, and then compare it to the game watching of today. There are many aspects of this to analyze, with today’s focus being on fan representation and stadium offerings. These probably represent two of the biggest changes in fandom and one could think that they both evolved for the worse.

Old footage shows fans sitting in the stands wearing two or three piece suits, dresses, derbies, neckties and shoes. Going out to the ballgame was an event that required dressing up and looking your best in a respectful manner. It was the equivalent of going to the ball, not playing ball. Fans also quietly watched the game in awe of what was being seen. Today attire for attending a game is printed t-shirt or jersey, and gym shorts. Oh have times changed! Also, fans of today seem to have a vested interested in cursing out the opposing teams and players, starting brawls in the stands and of course finding a need to tweet a play by play.

The in stadium experience has clearly taken a turn for baseball purist worse. Back in the day you sat down and watched nine or more innings of baseball and possible kept score in this thing called a scorebook. It got you intimately close to the game at hand. Maybe you ran to the restroom in-between innings and grabbed something quickly at a concession stand if the concession in question wasn’t hand delivered to your seat by a vendor. Today, stadiums have pools, wiffle-ball fields, numerous sit-down restaurants and a plethora of “Other” things to do during the game. When cameras flash to foul balls, many of the seats are often empty during sell outs. It has become an unnecessary necessity to add entertainment to an entertainment event.

Darwin where are you? He’s likely turning over in the grave over certain portions of the evolution of the game. 

Clutch 23-2016: And Down the Stretch They Come

For those reading this at time that’s not today, it’s the final week of the baseball regular season and there are a couple of heated pennant races still going. As of this writing there are three teams battling for two “Wild card” spots in the National league. It will certainly be an exciting 72 hours as two will rise to the top and one for sink to the bottom. The result of who moves on and who doesn’t will likely literally come down to the final out Sunday night. Until then the fans of the respective teams, which is the Mets, Giants and Cardinals in this case, will sit, pray, sweat and hope that things work out for them.

Assuming everything is still at stake on Sunday everyone will look at the result of that game as the make or break for the season. What gets overlooked is that the same can be said for any of the other 161 regular season games. A heartbreaking loss back in April carries as much weight as serious October baseball. A players mental mistake, physical error or not delivering in the Clutch in what seemed to be an average day now comes back to haunt the team. Likewise is a possible blunder of a decision made by the third-base coach, pitching coach or manager. This is why the “Every” rule should be in effect. Every player and coach should play every game like it’s the seventh game of the World Series.

Let’s take a look in to the Cardinals, who are currently at the bottom of the three-way dash. Earlier in the month there was an ESPN sub-headline about how the manager made a bad decision that cost them the game. Nobody thought much of it back then as it was one game among a sea of others. Now, not so sure about that. Fast-forward to yesterday, which was the fourth to last game of the season and a much win for the team. The umpire made a wrong decision in the bottom of the ninth which allowed the Cardinals winning run to cross the plate. Since that “ended” the game, the players and umpires left the field before the opposing manager was able to argue and request a replay. The Cards got away with one there, and it kept their season alive for at least one more day. It’s the ying and the yang, and the two decisions seemed to even themselves out.

Then there was the race of 1985, which coincidentally also involved the Mets and the Cardinals. The Mets had 95 wins with six to play. The Cardinals had 98 wins with six to play as well. The math said that the Mets were still in control of their own destiny to at least guarantee a tie. Sweep the three games versus the Cards and then both teams would be in dead heat heading until the final weekend. Obviously this means that those three games needed be all be played like a game seven.

The first game was a gem for the ages. Both starters, Ron Darling for the Mets and John Tudor for the Cards, threw nine innings of shut-out ball. Tudor actually pitched 10 innings of no-run ball! The Mets won it in the 11^th courtesy of a key hit by Daryl Strawberry and two innings of shut-out relief by the immortal Jesse Orosco. Orosco was just about literally immortal as the Mr. Clutch statisticians believe he pitched deep into his sixties. Ok, that’s a little fun and exaggerated. Jesse did pitch for 24 seasons and was 45 years old when he hung up his spikes.

Game two also went to the Mets in what was also an iconic game. Here is was more of an individual season full stat that stands out in that game. It was Dwight Gooden’s last regular season start in what would go down as one of the best seasons pitched by any pitcher in any year on any planet. Doc ended the season 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA, 268 Ks, 8 shutouts and on and on. Ironically, that game was one of Doc’s “Worst” performances of the year, which was giving up two runs over a complete game nine innings with 10 Ks. It’s worst from the perspective that it “Raised” his ERA!  The Met’s won that game 5-2 and Doc even contributed with an RBI that game. He was the closest thing to Superman in a pinstripes. Oh, and by the way the “Losing” pitcher in that game was Joaquin Andujar, who had 21 wins himself. These two would clash now and again during the season. As a sidebar – RIP Andujar who Mr. Clutch just found out quietly passed away just about exactly a year ago.

Here’s where the rub comes into play. First, let it be known that Mr. Clutch never was fan of Mets manager Davey Johnson. Clutch always thought of him as a “Bad” manager who managed a great team. He made many during the season decisions that likely cost the Mets 10 games or so. With someone else skippering the team there probably would be no discussion here as the Mets would have been five or so games ahead coming around the clubhouse turn. Instead, the team had to sweat in fall.

For those Cardinal historians out there, you already know that the 1985 team was built around speed and the ability to “Manufacture” runs by way of using that speed. The starting lineup for the team had a shade under 300 stolen bases for the season. That’s almost two a game for those keeping track. The catcher had six and then even had a bench player with 12. This was also the rookie season of Vince “Van Go” Coleman who only swiped 110 that year. Another interesting stat is that the entire Mets roster that year stole 116, which is six more than Coleman. The point of over explaining this is that the Cardinals planned on running all over the place in this game and manager Davey Johnson though he had the answer.

Sid Fernandez was schedule to pitch this pivotal and very important game. That’s pretty good news in that El Sid was having an excellent statistical season. His win-loss record didn’t reflect it too much at 9-9, but he had a 2.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP (Hits and walks divided into innings pitched) and most importantly he averaged almost 10 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. To kid Clutch it seemed obvious that Sid should get his normal start that day. He likely won’t allow many runners on base, strikes out a ton to keep the ball off the field and would probably give up under three runs. This no-brainer became a brain-teaser to the not-so-great Davey Johnson. 

Davey decided to start Rick Aguilera instead and his reasoning was that Aguilera had a quicker delivery to the plate and would “Do better” at keeping the Cardinals jackrabbits in check at first or second base. Rick had a way higher ERA, WHIP and struck out about half the amount of batters than Sidney. This means more Cardinals would be getting hits and putting the ball in play. It also meant more potential runs would score.  Another note on this is that Fernandez was left handed and southpaws traditionally do a better job than righties on keeping runners on since they are facing the base while in positon. Kid Clutch was disgusted about this decision and was convinced that the Mets season was over before the game started.

Sure enough Aguilera gave up four runs in six innings, which included a wild pitch and a balk. Vince Coleman had three hits that day and knocked in two of the four runs. Aguilera gave up 12 hits and walks over the six innings, which is a WHIP of 2.00. It was no surprise as he did exactly what the stats said he was doing to do. To give a little bit of useless credit to Johnson that was the only game in the series that the Cardinals did not steal any bases. Unfortunately they were busy knocking in runs.  

Why did that game not “Really” matter? Because that nit-wit Johnson cordially allowed Doug Sisk to pitch that year. Sisk must have had 20 blown holds during the season. He was a reliever with a five plus ERA (5.30 to be exact). Johnson kept marching him out there April through September because he was trying to have him build up confidence and get passed the acres of bad outings. This teachable moment came at the expense of the Mets losing around 10 games that they should have won. And BOOM goes the dynamite.

Clutch 22-2016: No, No-No Doesn’t Mean Much

You would think that when a pitcher throws a no-hitter it’s a “Great” accomplishment. Though the pitcher might dub it as so, it’s really not. It’s sort of kind of a great accomplishment for the individual and a rare enough occurrence that it makes the news, but a no-hitter is generally a day of luck. The strikeouts help and are pitcher positive, but the rest of the outs are typically guys hitting the ball at people. A perfect-game is similar, but with a little additional flair since no walks or errors included in the outing.

Before thinking this is more statistical malarkey, the thought around the luck of the no-no is more personnel based. Take a look at the list of pitchers who recently threw a no-hitter of perfect game. You will notice that most, not all, of the names are people you never heard of. Well, at least you never heard of them before they tossed the no-hitter. And then you quickly forgot about them shortly after.

Sure some of the greats tossed a no-hitter. Though there is no disputing that, there is also no disputing that more great pitchers did not throw a no-hitter than did. Now, that said, it’s very likely that these great pitchers without a no-hitter under their belt likely tossed a bunch of one-hitters, two-hitters and shut-outs. The one-hitter, though it doesn’t come with the glamor or a no-hitter, is if you think about just as good with possible one ball being hit an inch or two to the left or right.

Of course in the last two seasons (2015-2016) this theory holds little water. Jake Arrieta and Max Scherzer both tossed two during that time period! Wow, that actually is amazing and something that likely hadn’t happen before or will happen again. Scherzer took it one level higher by getting *both* of his no-hitters in the same year! These two guys are clearly star players and the exceptions to the rule.  It’s very likely that these special pitchers whip up more of these achievements during the course of their careers.  Clutch’s bet is that Arrieta chalks up more though.

Other “Current” no-hitters tossed over the past few years were by Mike Fiers, Hiashi Iwakuma, Chris Heston, Henderson Alvarez and Phillip Humber (He threw a perfect game!). My guess is you may not have heard of some or all of these guys. One of them only had a three plus year career in MLB and one will definitely go down in history as the worse guy to ever throw a no-hitter. It’s clear that none of them are or will be household names. Most of them had or are having bad pitching careers and will hang their hat on that one lucky start.

Pedro J. Martinez is arguably the best pitcher of the current era. As a minimum he’s deep in the conversation like the age old question of is Michael Jordan the best NBA player ever?  Pedro J. was a first-ballet hall-of-famer and has phenomenal career stats. Pedro J. had a 7-year season run where he was almost literally unhittable. That includes two seasons with a sub-two ERA and five seasons with a sub-one WHIP. Pedro is referred to as Pedro J. because during part of his stellar career there was another pitcher kicking around by the name of Pedro “A”. Martinez. “A” was a mop-up man for around five seasons or so.

You probably guessed by now why Pedro J. was brought up and his career outlined. It’s because he has zero no-hitters during his historic and likely never to be duplicated career. For as many complete game shut-outs to his credit (17) he always surrendered at least one hit. There are two interesting footnotes to Pedro’s career of no no-no’s. The first is that there is no-hitter in the family. Pedro’s brother Ramon Martinez, who had a decent but forgettable career, tossed a no-hitter in 1995 for the Dodgers. At that point Pedro J., who also started his career in Hollywood, was around gone and in Montreal.

The second footnote is as far as Mr. Clutch is concerned two of the more interesting outings in baseball history. Pedro J. pitched a nine-inning “Perfect game” for the Montreal Expos in 1995 versus the San Diego Padres. The issue though was that the Expos had scored no runs in the game to support the Martinez effort. Pedro J. took the mound in the 10^th inning and gave up a lead-off hit (The Expos won the game in 10). The other was a year previous where Pedro J. had tossed seven perfect innings against the Reds. In the top of the eight he hit Reggie Sanders with a pitch. The reason it’s a footnote is that Sanders charged the mound inciting a brawl after the HBP. It’s probably a pretty good guess that Sanders was the only person in the stadium or watching the game on TV that thought Pedro J. did it on purpose!

Then there is the infamous Armando Galarraga game. Who? Exactly, that’s the point. Galarraga was one out shy of a perfect game when the 27^th batter he faced hit a typical ground-ball that should have been the making of history. Well it was, but the history made turned out to be the worst call in no-hitter history. The batter in question was “Out” at first by a country mile, but called “Safe” by the umpire. Galarraga lost the perfect game due to human error that had nothing to do with him or another player in the game. Before you lose too much sleep over this, Armando had one of the worst careers in starting pitcher MLB history. His career was three years deep at the time of this game, and ended two seasons later with a career ERA around 5.00 and eight more losses than wins over the span.  

What’s your favorite no-hitter story? The fact that Nolan Ryan has seven (7) no-no’s and (12) one-hit almost no-no’s? There are likely folks out there that think Nolan can still throw one today at 70 years old! Or how about Dock Ellis who tossed a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD. It was such an interesting story that a full-length documentary was made about it. Fill in your blank of one of those or Johan Santana, Doc Gooden, Jim Abbott or the Forsch brothers. Or possible the one no-hitter tossed by Kid Clutch back in 1981!

Clutch 21-2016: Collectible Care Instructions

From the French word of the same name, as odd as that sounds, a souvenir is a physical keepsake or token of remembrance.  They are typically associated with a vacation or visit to a place that you’ve never been to. It’s also notable that though a souvenir is to “remember” a place or thing, they are traditionally purchased for someone who was not there or did not experience that thing. Sounds more like a “Wish you were here” or more like a sentiment for feeling bad that your relative or friend was unable to have that same great time you did.

In baseball, and other sports, a souvenir for yourself is more closely referred to as memorabilia or a collectible. The act of collecting it usually happens by chance when you are at the right place at the right time. When you think about it, the whole concept of collecting memorabilia is a little strange. One takes something home and hangs it on a wall, places it on a mantle, puts it in a book or sometimes closes it in a drawer for the sole purpose of looking at it once in a while.

We all know there is more to it than that. The purpose of seeking out and obtaining a collectible is so that one someone else sees it and comments positively about it so you can then recant the exciting tale of when and how you made the acquisition. Perhaps the story starts to fray from realism to a tall tale over time. What once was “I bought it in a store” turns into a yarn about an intergalactic battle.  Either way, one of the novelties of owning a collectible is to talk about it. Baseball collectibles likely have pretty good stories behind them, regardless of how close they are to fact.

Mr. Clutch is not without a short to medium size list of pretty good baseball collectibles. They range from cool to odd to something that probably only a handful of existing humans would care about. Be that as it may they are all special to the owner regardless of value, society’s care or what Fonzie thinks about it.

Steve Henderson was a player for the Mets during the not-so-hey days.  He fit well into the Clutch group of well-liked players because he was one of those “Pure” hitters. Though Steve didn’t have a stellar career he did have a couple of pretty solid seasons in the league. He will best be known for being part of one of the worst trades in Met history (We all know about the others). Henderson came to the Mets along with Zachary and Flynn for…Tom Terrific, Mr. Tom Seaver. I guess there are worse things to be remembered by.

Through brother Clutch, who noted in a previous blog worked the ins and outs of Shea Stadium, kid Clutch was one day presented with an authentic game used Steve Henderson bat.  It was Christmas and an anniversary of birth all wrapped in one! What would or should one do with such a fantastic relic? Hang it in the bedroom next to the ABBA poster? Place it in a safe deposit box? Nah.The recently double-digit mind decided to play baseball with it on the busy 164^th avenue. Hitting balls out to a friend and running the bases seemed like the best idea until the Q-41 bus came barreling down the street. Bus met bat and the bus won. Though Mr. Clutch still proudly displays the bat, it is not without battle scars of chips and cracks from being used in an MLB game mixed with a little bit of pure insanity.

With the same acquisition method came two sets of batting gloves, again game used, from Lee Mazzilli and John Stearns. Two pretty decent players in their own rights, who both got caught up with being on a lousy team. First is Maz, who was the New York success story. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Maz made it to the bigs playing just across town for the Mets, and was a first round draft pick no less. Maz had a decent and pretty long career which included some power, speed and occasionally hitting for average. Mr. Clutch’s personal highlight was when Mazzilli hit a home-run in the 1979 All-Star game where he was the only Met representative. Here’s a couple of factoids on Maz: First, he was on the 1986 WS Champion Mets, though Mr. Clutch has no memory of this. He also had three stints with New York clubs which were the Mets, 1976-81 and 86-89 and the Yankees in 1982. Lastly, and this is an insider fact, other players on the team secretly nicknamed him “Chicken wing” due to his poor throwing arm. It will be impossible for you to verify that, even with the Internet.

Stearns was also a Clutch favorite, probably due to the unique speed for a catcher.  He had 25 steals back in 1978, which was unheard of for a battery player. He got caught 13 times that year, so in all he wasn’t that fast. One should feel bad for Stearns as his entire baseball career, with the exception of literally two ABs with the Phillies in 1974, was with the Mets during the worst of times. The Mets basically finished in last place every season of John’s career.

What’s a kid to do with batting gloves from two then legendary speedy Mets? What else – play the iconic game of “Running bases” with them. For those not lucky enough to grow up near grass back yards, this was a game that required three players. Two would man a base and toss a ball back and forth. The third player had to run from one base to the other while the ball was in motion. Make it and you got a point. Got caught and you got an out. Three outs and then the next kid got in the middle. It involved a lot of sliding which over time took its toll on the gloves. Unfortunately both sets are no longer with us and this is just another example of how now to care for a collectible! 

Clutch 20-2016: The Boston Clutch Party

On the eve of another baseball road-trip, memories of its origin come to mind. Though it seemed like just yesterday, seven years ago Mr. Clutch had one of those eventful, round number anniversaries of birth. Technical you only have one “Birthday” which is your date of birth. When that dates rolls around from year to year it’s the anniversary of that event, thus the use of that term when referencing the date back in 2009. It was a good year, though from a depression perspective a time when one starts to officially feel “Old”. The number of the anniversary will remain unknown. The question is begged of why we celebrate these things anyway. Is it because we “Made it” another year? Sounds like an archaic ritual.

The idea popped up of taking a baseball weekend road trip with some old childhood friends who were around close to the actual birthday. Little was it known that the celebratory activity would spin into an annual event. Mr. Clutch and three amigos headed up to Boston to watch the rematch of the Mets and the Red Sox. It was the first time they were to play each other since the bulls locked horns in Flushing those cold 1986 nights in October. Mr. Clutch saw those games too – 23 years earlier. This time the Mets were on the road, playing at the iconic Fenway Park.

If you are a baseball fan, or play one on TV, there are at least two stadiums you need to see in up close and personal. The place we were embarking too and of course the immortal Wrigley field. The experience of watching a baseball game, regardless of who were playing and/or the outcome is a must for any bucket list. These places look, feel, sound and smell just like you think it would: An old-school ballpark.

First there is the fact that Fenway is one of the best “Walk-up” stadiums around. Before even getting within a football field distance of the place the aroma was simply delicious. No big modern everlasting parking lots, industrial building surrounds or empty open pitted areas leading to the stadium like most of the others. Instead on foot you follow the rest of the livestock on the way home. While walking through the neighborhood streets the views of baseball jerseys and earshot listening of baseball chatter went on for blocks and blocks. It was two hours plus before the game and all the attendees had already long forgot their life problems and were locked in and focused on one thing which was that night’s game.

The pre-game ritual of hanging out on the street behind the stadium was just awesome. Blocked off for ticket-holders only, it was the party before the party. Beer was flowing, dead pig on a grill was being consumed and Boston’s version of Mardi Gras was in full swing. There and then the pastime feel continued to intensify. Because it was slightly more than your average weekend series with the “Rematch” over two decades in the making, there was some additional television reporters and press on the scene. One of the Clutch entourage was actually interviewed for the local news.

The seats were field level behind home plate. The actual seats themselves were narrow, wood, uncomfortable and phenomenal all at once. It was quickly noticed that most of the fans in the surrounding area actual knew each other. Sure the concept of the “Season ticket” is an old one, but it’s rare to actually see it being executed on that level. It was clear that these people actually committed 81 days or nights to come hang out with their game day friends. Though the Clutch posse was on foreign turf sitting around the enemy, everyone was just fans of the sport that night. Friendly folks and pure fans of the game filled in the entire stadium.

The Mets won that night courtesy of Johan Santana’s arm and a collaborative effort with the team bats. It was a great night of baseball, with the gang sucking in every moment that the ballpark afforded. It was the perfect night of baseball with the slight exception of Ramon Martinez making two errors at SS. Oh how many missed the days of the sure-gloved Rey Ordonez, or even Frank Taveras. Here’s one interesting factoid on Ordonez, who was certainly one of the best defensive middle infielders of his day; he would never oil up or break in his glove. This was because he never actually “Caught” the ball in his glove, meaning close the glove with the ball in it. He would use the glove to “Stop” the ball and then transfer it out in a quick and seamless motion.

The walk from the ballpark back to the hotel after the game brought about clearly the funniest moment of the weekend. As all the dejected Sox fans passed the first hotel closest to the stadium, a bunch of Met fans were up in their room on the third floor with a window facing the street. Next would be something that is classic New York style, and would only really be expected by fans of that ilk. A guest yelled something along the lines of “Hey Red Sox fans”, and then cordially mooned the entire city of Boston out the window. Yes, exposed buttocks out with the big dipper and other stars of the night. It would be considered juvenile to most, but pure comedy gold to others.

The next morning featured a tour of the stadium. This included seeing the HOF area, Green Monster, Budweiser porch and all the other ins and outs of this baseball shrine. The tour was given by and old guy who was likely doing it for 30 years and probably worked at Fenway as a kid 30 years before that selling peanuts for .5 cents a pop. He knew the history of the team and explained it flawlessly. The story of Babe Ruth going across the street for a beer during a game was quiet interesting, though possible a fable at best. What a weekend and way to celebrate a round number anniversary of birth!

Clutch 19-2016: Cardboard Paradise

Outside of playing and watching America’s pastime, the next best thing was collecting imagery and ink of it. A committed kid’s favorite candy store brand was Topps and not Hershey. Then there was this fascination with having a name written on any kind of paper in cursive. It was the baseball fans two favorite non-active hobbies of collecting baseball cards and autographs.

In Clutch’s early days Topps was tops, not sort of pun intended. For a while it was the only game in town, and then like anything else successful dusty roads formed as others started to roll in to town. Fleer and Donruss were two that come to mind. Topps really controlled the market though and their cards were considered the industry standard. Unfortunately baseball cards are one of many victims of the Internet. Cards value from an information perspective is just no longer there.

The buying process was pretty simple and streamline. The purchaser would work hard to scrounge up the .35 cents needs to buy a “Pack”. A pack was a sealed package of 10 or so cards that came with what else? A stick of gum was included. It’s kind of impossible to think about that as a good idea. Fusing a food product with a collectible is something that just wouldn’t fly in current times. Likely some marketing executive at the company thought the gum would entice the kid to make the purchase. Good idea, but it was exactly the opposite of that. Nobody in the history of modern times purchased a pack for the sugary benefit. We had bazooka-Joe for that.

Opening the pack and zipping through the random players received was 10 seconds or so of Xanadu. Kids at the time had no concept of the potential “Value” of the cards and just sought out their desires. Those were almost always local team players, all-stars and just players that they may take a fancy to. The things typically not wanted and frown worthy were team photo cards, scrubs, odd stat cards and of course the dreaded “Check-list” card. Little did anyone know that the true value was held in things such as “Rookie card” status on players that would go on to be super-stars regardless of the team they played for.

The question was what to do with the mass-produced card-board? Well, first was to just look at it. The front was normally an action or pre-posed photo, but the back was where the action was. It held the players life-long stats including of course the past season, which was usually of most interest. It also typically had other information such as all-star game appearances, league leading categories and the all-important player demographics like height, weight and hometown. Some cards included trivia or a player factoid such as where he worked during the off-season! All of this data is now a mouse-click away and no longer needed to be obtained by digging through files for a hard-copy version.

If out of cash and having the want to get “New” or “Different” cards, you would find a fellow collector of baseball cards and barter one of many ways. The first was the straight out trade where you proposed and negotiated a deal. Commonplace was to trade off “Doubles” (Multiple copies of the same card received via bad luck in additional packs purchased) of decent players.  You can also trade players from teams that our trade partner was a fan of while you were not. This was easy in cities that had multiple teams like New York.  Though not a normal part of the deal other items could be thrown into to close deals. Those items could be a Spaulding ball, mini high-bounce ball (Those were fun for a limited time), cash, candy or anything else that one had in their pocket at the time of sitting down at the negotiation table a.k.a. sidewalk.

There was another non-commerce way to obtain cards – which was the part-sport part-gambling game called “Flipping”. Two competitors entered the arena with an evenly amount of cards scrambled in random order. You entered the game knowing the result could be additional stock of cards, or leaving with nothing. How it worked was each kid put a card face-up in a single pile. Cards back then all had a solid colored border, typically the rainbow was used and the colors closely matched the team. Anyway, the “War” kept going until a kid dropped a card atop the pile that equally matched the border color of the previous card. You then got the entire pile, placed it behind the cards already in hand and the game started over again. It would end when one contestant ran out of cards, submitted or got called home for dinner.

When the real baseball season ended and the cold weather hit the card collecting season ended to. Most kids piled all their years keep in one or more shoeboxes, sorted by team, and then tucked the box of gold away in the back of the your room closet behind other things that were decreed as much less valuable. Not to fear as a few short months later, though it seemed like an eternity, a regular trip to the local candy store for that sugar rush would generate smiles. The next year batch of cards arrived! It was time to start the process all over again.

There are plenty of stories out there by disgruntled male adults who are specifically mad at their mothers. The reasons are all the same in that when these boys-to-men went away to college, the military, got married or for any other reason vacated “Their room”, mom followed up with a major cleanup part and parcel with converting a bedroom to a lounge or guest space. With that came mass exodus of toys, matchbox cars, planet of the apes action figures and those boxes in the back of the closet filled with cards.

For those like Mr. Clutch who were lucky enough to preserve their past and get the goods out before the primitive version of 1-800-555-JUNK got to it, history is saved. Perusing through and touching those cards from time to time brings back specific memories of where, when and how they were obtained. It’s a glimmer back into a childhood that didn’t have the technological advantage of documenting every step via a photo.  Great times come back alive and still exist, as does Al Oliver, Vida Blue and George Brett rookie cards.