Born in 1960: Mike Marshall

for some of you (probably those over 40) I am speaking of the "other" Mike Marshall; not the 1974 Cy Young award winning relief pitcher for the Dodgers. This "other" Mike Marshall, born in 1960, was also a Dodger but throughout the eighties.

This Marshall spent the majority of his playing days in LA (1981-1989), was a one time all-star (1984) as well as earning a world series ring with the 1988 club.

Being born in 1960 is one thing he and I have in common. He was born in Libertyville Illinois and went to the local high school in Buffalo Grove, a town I moved to in 1987. No I never met him nor have anything else in common with him (kind of).

A career .270 hitter with 148 HR's, Marshall "greatest" accomplishment might have been in 1981 as a minor leaguer. He actually won the triple crown for the Albuquerque Dukes, the triple A team in the PCL; hitting .373, blasting 34 HR's and 137 RBI's. From there his promising career turned into a respectable utility role and 11 year MLB career.

A couple of footnotes to his career were:

a) he gained much unwanted "fame" for dating then rock-star Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go's (most currently of Dancing with the Stars)

b) when Harry Caray said that Marshall needed to get "back to LA to get some cocaine for his foot" . . . quickly corrected by booth partner Steve Stone saying "Harry, that's Novocaine"

c) and, in his very first at bat in September of 1981, he hit a rocket towards (over) the right field wall at Dodger Stadium. Being hit so hard, it bounced off the stairwell and right back onto the playing field where Jack Clark (of the S F Giants) scooped it up, threw it towards the infield and Marshall had a double. Not sure if it was days or years later but Clark did admit to Marshall that his first hit should have been called a homerun !

d) he also is included in my "duplicate initial" archive: M M

So there you have it . . . born in the same year as I, lived in the same town, dated a rock star (my wife was in high school and college theatre !) and hit a "homerun" in his first major league at bat. Not so bad for being the "other" Mike Marshall.

Duplicate Initials: D.D.

In my ongoing "irregular special feature" that is called Duplicate Initials I am up to D.D.

There are many players with D.D. as their initials like: Doug Dascenzo, Darren Daulton, Doug DeCinces and Delino DeSheilds. There are old-timers Dizzy Dean and Dom Dimaggio. And I could not forget to mention Doug Drabek, Dan Driessen or Dave Duncan.

But D.D. is more complicated than that. I sort of wanted to present, Dave DeBusschere but . . . . . . he is more of a NBA star. One of only eleven (11) other players to play in both the MLB and the NBA, DeBusschere did pitch for the Chicago White Sox in 1962 and 1963, going 3-4 with a .290 ERA. DeBusschere really made his mark as an NBA star for twelve (12) years playing and coaching for the Detroit Pistons and N Y Knickerbockers. An eight (8) time NBA all-star and elected to the NBA Hall of Fame in 1983 Debusschere would certainly have been a good choice.

But D.D. is a struggle for me because there is also Dodger (Brooklyn and Los Angeles) great Don Drysdale.
The 1962 Cy Young winner, played 14 years going 209-166, Drysdale was one of the greatest pitchers of his day. I will leave it at that, since there are so many Dodger bloggers out there I could not do Drysdale justice.

But those two aside my pick as my "favorite" D.D. is . . . . Dave Dravecky !

For those of you who remember, Dravecky was a solid starting pitcher for the Padres and Giants for the better part of eight years (1982-89) having a career record of 64-57. However, Dravecky's career will always be remembered for that one day in July of 1989, pitching for the Giants, in the sixth inning facing Tim Raines . . . when his arm and body went forward to pitch and his humerus bone broke - right there on the mound, his arm breaks and he is writhing on the mound in excruciating pain. This was after a tremendous fight and successful return from cancer in October of 1988 and bouncing back to pitch in the majors in less than a year.

The Giants went on to win the pennant in 1989 and in the post-game celebration Dravecky would break his arm again and during the examination doctors would notice the cancer had returned. Just three weeks later Dravecky would retire from baseball. That year he would earn the Willie Mac award for courageous spirit and leadership.

What makes Dravecky a personal choice for me is two things: one he is a cancer survivor and a battler (need I say more) yet secondly is that on July 18, 1991, after two more surgeries, his arm and shoulder were amputated -the exact same day (almost to the minute) as my daughter was born.

Dravecky has gone on to be an author and motivational speaker as well as my favorite D.D.

Duplicate Initials: C.C.

Players with the initials "C.C." are not as prevalent as the previous B.B. but there are plenty of players that come to mind. First many of you might think of C.C. Sabathia but sorry I meant first and last initials.

There is Cecil Cooper, Carl Crawford and Coco Crisp. Lesser knowns, Clay Carroll, Chris Carpenter, Chien-Ming Chang, Carmelo Castillo and Casey Cox. I could have also been a homer and just used a Chicago Cubs team photo or even non-players with cards like Charles A Comisky or former President Calvin Coolidge.

No, instead I went with a "star" from the early seventies, billed a "the next Willie Mays" by Leo Durocher in 1972 (then the manage of the Houston Astros). A supreme talent who burst onto the big league circuit at the age of 19; a rocket of an arm, blazing speed, a solid glove and a bit of pop in his bat. Five time Gold Glove winner, four time all-star and had 20 HR's and 50 stolen bases three consecutive years (1972, 73, 74).

While he never lived up to that super-stardom label (nobody else has managed to do that either), Cesar Cedeno was a very good player; career numbers of 199 HR's, .285 BA and 550 SB. Mostly known for hs days in an Astros uniform (1970-81) but also played for the Cincinnati Reds (1982-85), St Louis Cardinals (1985) and finished his career with the Los Angeles Dodger (1986). Historian Bill James ranks Cedeno as the 21st best center-fielder of all time.

I found a quote from The Baseball Page written by Dan Holmes and Kirk Robinson that best summarizes Cedeno: " A talented player in the mold of Willie Mays, Cesar Cedeno never reached superstar status for many reasons, some beyond his control. The Dominican-born Cedeno was involved in a scandalous off-the-field episode that resulted in the death of his girlfriend; played much of his career for a team that rarely made headlines above the Oklahoma border; suffered from playing in the Astrodome, a stadium that cost him power numbers that may have gave him notoriety; and finally, injuries and attitude problems cost him playing time. Despite all of that, Cedeno had a very good career, winning five Gold Gloves and finishing among league leaders in steals, batting average, and doubles on many occasions. "

There you go . . . my entry for Duplicate Initials: C.C. . . . Cesar Cedeno . . .

Duplicate Initials: B.B.

The second letter of the alphabet and my second entry of my "irregular special feature" called Duplicate Initials must highlight the letter B, or in this case B.B. as the players initials.

Many of you might have already thought of "stars" Bobby Bonds or Barry Bonds or Bert Blyleven. There is also Bob Boone, Bob Brenly, Bob Bailey and Bobby Bonilla. There's Bill Bene and Billy Beane and so many others from various decades. "B.B." is not uncommon . . .

My choice is a player who "starred" for the Cubs yet came to into the League as a Dodger and came to "fame" as a Red Sox (or should I say Red Sock). None other than Bill Buckner !

I like this 1970 card, since I am 92 % of the way to complete the 1970 set, but more importantly for this blog post, Buckners card represents a double Duplicate Initial with Jack Jenkins appearing with him.

So there you go . . . my second in my simple series of Duplicate Initials. Next entry will be C.C. . . .who is your favorite C.C. . . . who will I "feature" ?

New "irregular special feature" beginning now

For some reason I feel compelled to start a new "irregular special feature" on my blog and I give all the credit (or blame) to my wife. Prior to marriage her initials were K.K. (now they are K.P.) so she is my unofficial inspiration to baseball players that have the same first and last initial, {right now many of you are saying I know someone who has that but so what}.

Just something to think about . . . since there are three teams that also fit this category; Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and of course the Chicago Cubs !

Today I start with A.A. - Andy Allanson.

A.A. (Allanson) was a Topps All-Star Rookie selection in 1987 (probably his kiss of death), played for 8 years and five different teams, mostly for the Cleveland Indians. He never lived up to his status given out by Topps by hitting only 16 career HR's driving in 140 runs and having a lifetime BA of .240.

But nonetheless, A.A. is my first entry in my new "irregular special feature" that I will be calling . . . drum roll please . . . "Duplicate Initials". If I can submit an entry weekly, that means this task will be done in 26 weeks (or less if I can not find Q.Q. or a Z.Z.).

Just wait until next week . . .I know your brains are working already trying to figure out who will be my B.B. or C.C. or D.D . . . ? ! Please tune in again next week . . .