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 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 00-2016: An In-depth Look at the Met's and Scott Kazmir

No reason to go that deep.

As we all know the Mets traded the minor-leaguer in 2004 for Victor Zambrano to help with a playoff run. Victor wasn't even the best "Zambrano" in the league then, let alone a good pitcher.

1. The Rays (Devilrays back then) called Kazmir up from the minors immediately. Why didn't the Met's just do that? Kazmir won 2 games in 2004...Zambrano? "0".

2. Kazmir through a gem yesterday for the Dodgers...12 years later. Zambrano? Had a sub-par year in 2005 and then pitched 40 more innings combined in 2006/7 before hanging up his cleats. Where he is now? Parts unknown, weight unknown.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/170713950/scott-kazmir-strong-in-dodgers-debut

3. General note on the quirks and misunderstandings of baseball (This might be my next book). In ALL other major sports (NBA, NFL, NHL, etc.) a player competes in the big leagues when selected in a draft (either out of college, or high-school these days). They are ready to compete there and then. The only exception is MLB - where players need to be groomed for several years in the minor leagues, especially pitchers. I never quite understood that. The only recent exception to this is the NBA D-League where un-drafted players and castaways can fight their way to or back into the light. Even there, the D league is not pre-school for future NBA players. It's just a place to keep some reasonable talent fresh in the event that a current player twists an ankle. For the NBA  - the pre-school is called college. That's another Clutch rant for another day.