All-Star week potpourri
All the things you need to know
With the All-Star break upon us, summer in full swing and the Royals hopefully heating up, I figure it’s a good time to hash together some smaller stories.
There have been a lot of similarities between the 2025 version of the Royals to the 1985 squad. After 84 games, the 1985 team stood at 42-42. They played .500 ball much of the first-half before heating up and eventually winning the West division by one game over the California Angels.
After 97 games, the 2025 Royals are sitting at 47-50. Both teams were led by a singular superstar (George Brett, Bobby Witt Jr.) and a motley crew of supporting cast members. The pitching staff is the strength of both teams. The 1985 team had a better outfield (Willie Wilson, Lonnie Smith, Daryl Motley, Pat Sheridan, and Lynn Jones) while the current team has a better bullpen. The 1985 team caught fire after they acquired Smith from St. Louis, in a trade that turned out to be a steal. The 2025 team has yet to pull the trigger on that type of deal. I’m not sure they can make the playoffs without making a similar trade.
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Clayton Kershaw recently recorded his 3,000th strikeout, and there has been a lot of discussion about whether he could be one of the last to achieve that milestone. Speaking of the 1985 season, on July 11, Nolan Ryan became the first pitcher to record 4,000 career strikeouts in a game against the New York Mets. Ryan would play another eight seasons and end his career with 5,714 punch-outs, a number that will most likely never be broken. Ryan also holds the major league record for throwing the most no-hitters, with seven. And most one-hitters, with 12. And the most two-hitters, with 18. Hell, why stop there. He’s also got the record for the most three-hitters with 31.
I saw him pitch against the Royals in 1977 when I thought he was past his prime. Even though the Angels won the game, Ryan “only” went six innings, giving up just two hits, but walked seven while giving up three runs. Both of those hits came in the sixth inning. The guy had the potential to throw a no-hitter every time he took the mound.
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I stumbled on this strange piece of trivia last week.
Royals killer Madison Bumgarner had more grand slam home runs than Prince Fielder.
Prince Fielder had more inside-the-park home runs than Rickey Henderson.
Rickey had fewer steals of home plate than Babe Ruth.
Babe Ruth threw as many shutouts (17) as Pedro Martinez.
Baseball.
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The hockey season ended recently with the Florida Panthers defeating the Edmonton Oilers in a classic Stanley Cup final. I was pulling for the Oilers only because a Canadian team hasn’t won the Stanley Cup since 1993, which must hurt, since they basically invented the game. There’s nothing quite like playoff hockey, which I have always said is the most exciting of all the major sports. Jason Gay, a sportswriter for the Wall Street Journal and a new convert to the joys of playoff hockey said, how am I supposed to watch golf now?
The answer: you don’t. I still watch pieces of The Masters, just to remind myself that spring (and baseball) are finally here. It would be nice if baseball found a way to spice up its postseason.
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On October 24, 1913, the Chicago White Sox and New York Giants played an exhibition game in Blue Rapids, Kansas. Blue Rapids is a smallish burg about 45 miles north of Manhattan. In 1913, it had a population of about 1,700. Today it’s less than a thousand. Post-season barnstorming was common during that age. Players weren’t paid like they are today, so many either worked regular jobs after the season ended, or they barnstormed.
Each team had some players from other major league rosters. Blue Rapids was the smallest town (and the only Kansas town) on the tour, which required a $1,000 guarantee. Thus, Blue Rapids now owns the title of the smallest town in the United States to have hosted a major league baseball game. More than 3,000 fans showed up for the game, which the White Sox won by the score of 8-5. There is a sign and a nice display in the city park marking the event.
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When the National League expanded prior to the 1962 season, they awarded a franchise to the city of Houston, which was named the Colt .45’s. The .45’s (later renamed Astros) played their first three seasons at Colt Stadium, which seated 33,000 and offered no respite from the brutal Houston summers. The team moved to the Astrodome, then called the Harris County Domed Stadium and the Eighth Wonder of the World for the 1965 season.
In early February 1965, the Astros brought in former Kansas City Monarchs (and future Kansas City Athletics) pitcher Satchel Paige to the Astrodome to test pitching conditions, specifically how the indoor, air-conditioned environment affected the break on curve balls. After Satch, in full uniform, put on a show for Astros brass, he raved about the Astrodome, saying “it’s a pitcher’s paradise. I’ve pitched in more places than any other man, living or dead, but there’s no place like the Astrodome Stadium in Houston. Man, that place is something else.” Paige believed that the controlled environment could have extended his already legendary career by another ten years. There’ll never be another one like Satchel.
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There was a recent survey done on the 50 most miserable (as in suffering) fan bases. No Kansas City, or local, teams made the list, which is a win, although the former Kansas City Kings made it with a well-deserved #26. The Kangs, as they’ve become known as, probably should have been higher on the list. The Nebraska Cornhuskers came in the #10 spot, which is a bit of a surprise, primarily due to their detachment from reality on the state of their football program.
There were several baseball teams on the list: The Oakland/Sacramento/Las Vegas A’s were at number 3. The Los Angeles Angels came in with the #8 spot while the New York Mets sat at #13. The Colorado Rockies were listed at #20, the San Diego Padres clocked in at #23 while the long-suffering Cleveland Guardians pulled up at #35. The Chicago White Sox made the list at #47. The list was well represented by the usual suspects with multiple teams from Cleveland, Buffalo, Oakland and Toronto.
Check out this photo from the 1976 season. There’s a lot going on in this picture. The White Sox are having a pre-game beer carton stacking contest. This team is comprised of Goose Gossage and Ken Brett. It appears they are at least 12 boxes high. Plus, the boxes are of Hamm’s beer, former sponsor of the Royals. The Land of Sky Blue Waters. The beer refreshing. Hamm’s always had the best advertising. Yes, those are shorts the players are wearing. The shorts were the brainchild of Sox owner Bill Veeck, who was a bit of a mad genius. He once signed a 3’7 Eddie Gaedel to pinch hit. Veeck broke the American League color barrier in 1947 with the signing of Larry Doby and later signed the previously mentioned Paige at the age of 42, making him the oldest rookie in major league history. The Sox finally broke out the shorts on August 8 against who else? The Royals. The Sox won their shorts debut game, 5-2, while enduring constant ribbing, most of it coming from John Mayberry.
Personally, I think the uniform is pretty snazzy and hope that the Sox will resurrect this look on some throwback day.
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Speaking of uniforms, there’s been a lot of ink spilled (and many videos made) of Little League baseball players who are swagged out. Swagged, as in designer sunglasses, slick uniforms, colorful arm sleeves, body armor, and of course the ubiquitous designer sliding mitts. Which begs the question, why does a 12-year-old need a sliding mitt, aside from trying to look cool? Has this baseball clothing and accessories arms race gotten out of hand? I don’t want to come across as an old man shouting at kids to stay off my lawn, so I loaded my wife into the car for some baseball research.
We pulled up to a local field last week under false pretenses. She thought we were just going to see a kids’ game on a nice summer eve. My intent was to see firsthand if the local kids were in fact big hat, no cattle-type of players.
Our side trip ended better than I could have expected. We pulled up on a tee ball game. The players, co-ed, couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years old. They skipped out to their defensive positions with a joie de vivre that I hadn’t witnessed in years. A coach got them positioned as best they could. Most batters needed four or five whacks to make contact with the ball. Their hits rarely made it past the pitcher. During the two innings we watched, the defense didn’t make a single out. It appeared they had a ten-batter limit, which both teams maxed out.
The shortstop of one team sat in the dirt, drawing shapes with his finger. The last batter, a small boy, took a massive cut. The ball rolled through the legs of three players and almost made the outfield grass. The little sprite sprinted to first and kept going, second, third, and finally home while the defense threw to the base he had just sprinted past. A true “little league home run”. When the game concluded, neither team appeared to be bothered by what the score was. They were just happy to be playing ball, and it was a joyous sight. And the upshot? We didn’t see a single arm sleeve or sliding mitt. Just a bunch of kids having a great time playing ball.
Sometimes, when we get bogged down by our favorite teams’ struggles, it’s good to go back to the origin and rediscover the joy of baseball.