What Would You Ask For If You Caught An Important Home Run Ball?

On Wednesday, Colin Curtis hit a memorable home run into the rightfield stands. It was memorable because he came on with an 0-2 count in a big spot, battled back to make the count 3-2 and then hit the home run. It was also memorable because it was his first Major League home run. It was "must see TV", as Curtis, a baby-faced cancer survivor hit it out of the park and rounded the bases with a huge, thrill-of-a-lifetime smile on his face. It is hard not to root for Curtis--who never was a great hitter even in the minors--and his dad was doing so back home. Curtis got a curtain call form the Yankees crowd and amazingly got the ball back from the fan who caught it.

There was a condition to getting it back, though. The fan who caught it exchanged the ball for a signed Derek Jeter and a signed A-Rod ball. So that brings me to my question: what would you ask for in exchange for a ball like this? Would you ask for anything different? Try to sell it? Just give it to the kid?

Personally, I would ask for a baseball signed by each of the "Core Four". I think that would be a reasonable trade for the first home run ball. But if whoever is in charge of making these trades (I'm guessing a Yankee representative) said that it was too much, I'd settle for a signed ball from Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. I already have a signed ball from Mark Teixeira and I'm not sure there's another player I would want as badly as those two. A-Rod is not a bad choice, however.

But there's another important ball that's about to head into the seats and it will probably land there this weekend: and that's A-Rod's 600th home run ball. The people at SeatGeek have done an awesome job at tracking where that ball will land and the expected profit from sitting in that seat from catching the ball. The best place to sit seems to be Section 136 so I'm sure there will be quite a few people heading there this weekend against the Royals (my vote is for tomorrow against Kyle Davies who A-Rod also hit #500). So let's say that the ball doesn't land in the bullpen or hit something (like the foul pole) and head back into play and you're the one who catches it--what do you do?

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Trivia Tuesday: Home Run Futility

A day after the Home Run Derby, I figured it was a good time to look at those that haven't quite left the park.

Since 2000, only 5 guys have finished an entire season with no homeruns while qualifying for the batting title. One of those guys, Juan Pierre in 2007, also has none in a league-leading 384 plate appearances in 2010. There are 6 other players who qualify for the batting title but are yet to knock one out of the park. Can you name them?

Bonus Question: Besides Juan Pierre, there is one other player who has zero home runs this year as well as in another full season they qualified for the batting title. Who is this person?

Put your answers in the comments below and I'll reveal the correct answers later on

Picture from LAist

Trivia Tuesday: Before the Power Surge

On Sunday, Alex Rodriguez tied Frank Robinson on the all-time home-run list. At the end of the 1998 season Frank Robinson was 4th all-time on that list and there were only 15 members of the 500 home run club. Today, Robinson is tied for 7th and there are 25 members of the 500 home run club. But let's turn our dial back before the home runs flew out of the park due to steroids or HGH...can you name the other 14 members (besides Frank Robinson) of the 500 home run club as of the end of 1998? Bonus points if you can tell me the order they were in.

No cheating. Put your answers in the comments below. Good luck!


Bonus question: There are only five active (as in still playing) Major Leaguers who have more home runs than recently-elected Hall of Famer Jim Rice (382) but less than the 500 home run club. Can you name those five between the two?

The Mets REALLY Need to Swing for the Fences

If there wasn't incentive enough before, now there's real incentive for the Metsies to take a page out the book of their cross-town Bronx Bomber friends: hit some home runs. Why? Because at least when they do so in 2010, it'll go to a good cause. From the New York Post:

If there are Mets fans who don't know who Stewart Rahr is, they will soon enough. The Brooklyn-born billionaire -- a k a Stewie Rah Rah -- is donating $1,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation every time a Met hits a home run at CitiField, and $5,000 every time David Wright does, as he did on Opening Day. Later in the season will be "Home Rah Rah Day" with giveaways of Rahr's trademark yellow sunglasses.

Last season the Mets hit 95 home runs which was dead last in the National League--well dead last in any league. Their leading homerun hitter was Daniel Murphy  with 12 and they had 4 people (David Wright, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Beltran, Jeff Francoeur) tie for second with 10. They had the longest streak of games without a home run in 2009, when they had an 8 game drought from July 3rd to July 11th (they also went 7 games in May). So let's just say, they need to hit some more home runs in 2010. That's why they signed Jason Bay, wasn't it?

David Wright was the real disappointment of 2009 on the power front only hitting 10 home runs after hitting 33 the year before. Wright has the Mets only home run so far this season (pictured to the right from The Star-Ledger), so that's $5,000 in the books. It must be The Situation and Vitamin Water (H/T Ari). According to FanGraphs, the projections for Wright's 2010 home run total lie between 19 and 25. Let's hope that he finds his power stroke again. Come on David, it's for the kids!

Stat of the Day: Most Hits for Home Runs

In 2009, Carlos Pena hit 39 home runs but only had 107 hits. That means over 36.4% of his hits went out of the park. Only three players in history have ever had over 36.4% of their hits got for home runs (thanks to Baseball-Reference's Play Index):

• Roger Maris, 1961 (38.4%)

• Mark McGwire (4 times), 1996-1999 (39.3%, 39.1%, 46.1%, and 44.8% respectively)

• Barry Bonds, 2001 (46.8%)

The theme of those three? Each one broke the previous home run record. Babe Ruth's high was in 1920 when 31.2% of his hits cleared the fence. 29 players have had a higher percentage than Ruth had that season.

Trivia Tuesday: Yankees Post-Season Walk-Off Edition

This season has been the one of the walk-off for the Yankees (15 to be exact). A few of those memorable games have ended on walk-off home runs.

The Yankees have 10 walk-off home runs in the history of the playoffs, double the total of any other team (the Red Sox have 5 followed by the Mets at 3) and a quarter of the total of all playoff walk-offs (according to Baseball-Reference, there's only been 40, the first coming in 1949). Tommy Henrich hit one off of Don Newcombe in Game 1 of the 1949 World Series, Mickey Mantle hit one off of Barney Shultze in Game 3 of the 1964 World Series, and then Chris Chambliss hit one off of Mark Littell to end the 1976 ALCS.

Since Chambliss hit that home run (and was subsequently mobbed by fans and teammates in a famous scene at the Old Yankee Stadium), the Yankees have hit 7 postseason walk-off home runs. Can you name all 7 (year, series, pitcher and team against)?

Post your answers in the comments (if you're reading elsewhere, go to http://www.noyoureatowel.net/ to post your answer in the comments) and I'll reveal the answers later tonight.

Update 10:20: well that was over quickly. Ben got all the answers in 17 minutes, a new NYaT record.

New question to answer: Can you name the Red Sox 5 and/or the Mets 3 walk-off postseason home runs?

Trivia Tuesday: Mariano Rivera Edition

On Friday night, Ichiro Suzuki joined a very select group of players to hit a regular season walk-off home run off Mariano Rivera. Four others had done so before that. Can you name those four players to walk-off against Mo in the regular season (and bonus points for the year the home runs occurred)?

Put your answer in the comments below. I will post the correct answer tonight. Good luck!

(Side note: Going through Baseball-Reference, I learned that Mariano Rivera has never walked in the winning run in the regular season. And he only has 15 walk-off hits against him in total)

Answers:

2002

Car# Yr# G# Date Tm Opp Batter Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit R Play Desc.
+-----+----+---+-------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----------------------+
1 1 1 2002-07-14 NYY @CLE Bill Selby ahead 7-6 b 9 123 2 2-2 6 4 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run; Vizquel Scores; Burks Scores; Thome Scores

2004

Car# Yr# G# Date Tm Opp Batter Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit R Play Desc.
+-----+----+---+-------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----------------------+
2 1 1 2004-07-24 NYY @BOS Bill Mueller ahead 10-9 b 9 1-- 1 3-1 5 2 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball); McCarty Scores

2006

Car# Yr# G# Date Tm Opp Batter Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit R Play Desc.
+-----+----+---+-------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----------------------+
3 1 1 2006-07-20 NYY @TOR Vernon Wells tied 4-4 b11 --- 1 1-0 2 1 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to LF-CF)

2007

Car# Yr# G# Date Tm Opp Batter Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit R Play Desc.
+-----+----+---+-------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----------------------+
4 1 1 2007-04-15 NYY @OAK Marco Scutaro ahead 4-2 b 9 12- 2 0-2 3 3 *ENDED GAME*:Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep LF Line); Walker Scores; Kendall Scores

Home Runs Aplenty For The Yankees

Sometimes work really gets in the way of blogging. I was preparing a post today about how the Yankees had really gotten power production from a lot of sources this season, and then, before I could finish it, I saw Peter Abraham had posted the same thing. So a few more points:

The Yankees now have 7 players with 15 or more home runs. According to Baseball Reference's Play Index, only three times in Yankee history have they had 8 players with 15+ home runs (1998, 2000, and 2004). Melky Cabrera has 11 homers and Derek Jeter has 13. So it's conceivable that they could have 9 players with 15+ home runs. Only two teams in baseball history have had 9 (the 2005 Cleveland Indians and the 2005 Texas Rangers).

Their 175 home runs lead the American League. Part of that has to do with their home park. They've hit 107 of those home runs at home (61%) and their opponents have similar splits, hitting 78 out of their 135 home runs against the Yankees in the Bronx (58%).

Beyond the Boxscore looks at Derek Jeter's home runs and thinks that his are enhanced by the new park, but despite that, he's probably not going to come close to his career high for home runs (24). Mark Teixeira is on pace for 42 but he hit 43 with Texas. Hideki Matsui is on pace for 25 but he hit 31 in 2004. And Nick Swisher and Alex Rodriguez will come well short. But Robinson Cano (on pace for 26) and Johnny Damon (on pace for 32) will set career highs. And Melky Cabrera has already reached his career high.

Other Yankees news:

-Gene Wojciechowski writes for ESPN that Derek Jeter would be his last straw for steroids use. I would have to agree. I've said that the only two names that would shock me and make me rethink my rooting would be Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. Mariano Rivera would upset me greatly, but the fact he's still doing what he's doing at this age is going to bring doubt into people's mind. I think Mo's totally clean and I would be really upset if anything came out about him, but it would not be the same shock of Derek Jeter.

-Speaking of Jeter, he didn't look so good after being hit yesterday, as shown by WCBS

-Rick Reilly had a great piece for ESPN about one part of the Yankees HOPE Week, one of the best things the Yankees have done for fans since I've started following baseball

-The Purist Bleeds Pinstripes says the bleeding Pinstripes is good for the economy

-River Ave Blues says that the bullpen and bench has always been in flux

-Big League Screw says that Kate Hudson is the ultimate slumpbuster and MSNBC says that Kate Hudson wants to have some little A-Rods

-NESN writes about how the Yankees control their own destiny the rest of the season

The All Star Game Is Upon Us

Some ideas I have for the All-Star Week:

• Stop having the game count for something. It's ridiculous. I rather it be rock, paper, scissors or heads or tails. How about this? Just make the best record have the advantage? With interleague play and an unbalanced schedule, it's not more unfair than having record decide who gets home field in the League Championship Series when those teams may play only two series during the year. And since the play different teams in interleague play and different strengths in their own division, it's not like those teams have an equal footing. Just give teams a reason to keep on winning at the end of the season even when they clinch. What could be better for baseball?
• Add a skills competition to the All-Star Week. Cycle competition. Imagine guys like Jose Reyes, Carl Crawford, Chone Figgins, Juan Pierre and, even Brett Gardner, racing around the bases to see who can score the quickest. Fastest Pitch. Warm them up and let them rip. 5 Pitches. Fastest ones advance. Fielding Competition. Have two guys from the other league alternate hitting hit groundballs to the fielder until they let one get passed them. I don't know which ones of these you could do. But there is much more skill than hitting a home run in baseball and you might as well bring it out if you can.
• Shrink the Home Run Derby. Two rounds. 4 from each league. Best in each league makes it to the final. Let it fly.
• Get rid of the pitcher hitting. I can sort of understand keeping this during real games, but you can't have it during an All Star Game. Who watches to see Roy Halladay or Dan Haren hit? What if one of these guys gets hurt hitting or on the basepaths? Just stupid if you ask me

A little All-Star Game version of the links before we get the Midsummer Classic started:

• Rob Neyer gives his all time AL All-Stars. Did we really need a Seattle Pilot? I think that some of these are a little bit of a stretch but I think overall, it was a nice job.
• The OC Register has a different type of All-Star team -- the all-tainted All-Star team.
• President Obama will throw out the first pitch with all the other living presidents there. Think security will be tough?
• The New York Times says that some players have prepared questions for the Commander-in-Chief
• Joel Sherman has some ideas on how to improve the Home Run Derby
• IIATMS has some thoughts on the Home Run Derby as well
• So does Shysterball's Craig Calcaterra (via NBC Sports)
• Bert Blyleven says that Bud Selig has given the All Star Game meaning again. I have to disagree. This sounds like a man kissing butt to feel like a Hall of Famer. What meaning does the game really have?
• The Star-Telegram says that Bud Selig can't have it both ways: meaning it can't be an exhibition and count for something (basically what I said above).

Enjoy!

A Note As You Watch The Last Round of the Home Run Derby

From Jordan: "Make sure to point out that ESPN will only show Erin Andrew's left side profile because she was hit on the right side of her face by a foul ball off the bat of Alex Cora last Wednesday"

Thanks!

Passing that along to you. Final round is just starting. I'll take Prince Fielder. He has hit some BOMBS. If they decide to trade him in the next few years as he gets closer to free agency, someone will give up a lot for that man.

I love the kids of the players at the Home Run Derby, especially all those rooting on Albert Pujols's on as The Machine tried to win this thing.

I always have liked the Derby. Unlike the Slam Dunk Contest (until the past two years) or the Hardest Shot, watching guys hitting balls out of the park never gets old for me. I just wish they would replace the announcers.

Do They Get Credit For A No Hitter?

Arizona and San Diego just finished an 18-inning marathon. The most amazing part of the contest: The Padres were held hitless through nine extra innings by four relievers. Their only baserunners in extras came on three walks. So the Diamondbacks' relievers threw a 3 walk, 9 inning, no hitter in extra innings. Not too bad, right? But this was after the Diamondbacks relievers gave up a 5 run lead in the 9th inning! So much for the importance of set-up men and closers, right?

And the guy with the game-tying 3-run homerun in the 9th? That would be David Eckstein, who had NO homeruns in 2009 before today and who has 32 homeruns in his career, and, according to Baseball-Reference, he had only ONE game-tying homerun before today. And his only other game-tying homerun was the first homerun he ever hit in the major leagues (off of Tim Hudson in 2001) over 8 years ago!

At least we can take solace that one of the relievers who pitched well in extras for Arizona was our man, Clay Zavada

But this game certainly proved that every time you go to the ballpark, you'll probably see something really unique and interesting. This was no difference. They got to see two games of innings (18) for the price of one game. Though I do wonder how many people stayed to see the end; the game took 5 hours and 45 minutes.

Another Win, Another Pie!

Great job by the Yankees there. Right before the win, I sent a message to Ari, a Mets fan, saying "Lidge's slider is crazy. Only way the Yankees get to him, is if he leaves a fastball up and then they need to crush one out".

And what happened? A-Rod hit one out (after a HUGE walk by Damon).

And Melky followed (after Cano reached base and stole second) with another walk-off hit. Cano and Melky got pies in the face (and Susyn Waldman got some on her as well). Great win by the Yankees.

"Can they win one 10-3?" my dad asked. "I love these wins, but they need a no-doubter once in a while."

I agree. Also happy tomorrow's broadcast is not on Fox. They were horrible today. Besides having Buck and McCarver who are horrible as it is. They found the wrong John Mayberry on his son's first homerun, they didn't turn on Ken Rosenthal's mic, and many other errors. Someone is getting fired there.

Another great win for the Yankees. As I said in my last post, they can use the homerun and the way the park plays small to their advantage, but they can't rely on it. And what did they do, they drew their walks and stole their bases, but they used the small park to their advantage and got the big single when it counted. Great, great win. Now let's go Mets!

The Biggest Problem With The Yankees New Ballpark/Bandbox

The Yankees biggest problem with their park may not be the home runs they give up, but the home runs they hit. Sounds strange? Let me explain. The problem with hitting so many home runs is that teams get homer happy, especially when they fall behind. The Yankees thus far this season have seemed to live and die on the big hits. And if they want to win going forward, it can't continue. Sure, they can use the big blast from their powerful lineup every once in a while, but the problem is that when they've gotten behind this season, you can see the batters all aiming for the fences and not working at-bats like they do so well.

This also seems to happen against bad/inexperienced pitchers. Through 5 innings against J.A. Happ today, the Yankees only mustered one run and only made Happ throw 60 pitches.

The Yankees during their winning streak were hitting a fair share of homeruns, but were working in walks, singles, doubles, and even triples. They moved over runners and did the little things they needed to do to win. They didn't jump out of their skin every time up and the patient at bats not only meant they drew walks, but it also meant they got into the weak bellies of the opposing bullpens early in the game where they did serious damage. To win, the Yankees need to continue to do that.

Buster Olney seemed to echo my thoughts this morning:

• I mentioned in Friday's blog that while the Yankees certainly don't want their park to play like a bandbox in future years, the way the park plays might actually be in the Yankees' favor this year, because generally speaking, the staff has power pitchers and the team's lineup is powerful. But you do wonder if the Yankees' lineup will become so accustomed to generating runs via home runs that it will grow stagnant on the road, the way the Red Sox teams of the late '70s seemed to; when the home runs stopped coming for those Boston teams, their one-dimensional offense seemed to sputter.

Let's hope the Yankees don't become a one-dimensional offense.