Lifes Balancing Act

Many of us, especially in my age bracket (going to be 50 next year), have experienced (or suffered through in some cases) the challenge of balancing family, work, home and community into ones life.

This balancing act of such has taken turns and shifts through the years and as I sit here in my quiet home (no wife, no child, no pets) fumbling through (actually the never ending task of sorting, organizing and storing of) my baseball cards I came across this 1991 Topps #659 of Oscar Azocar card that seemed pertinent to this balancing act of life.

While his career lasted all but 202 game, 439 at bats, a .226 BA over three seasons and two teams Yankees (1990) and the Padres (1991, 92), Azocars' skill of balancing seems remarkable.

Here's to lifes balancing act.

Just One Shy

Today (Sept 2) marks the 37th anniversary of Chicago Cub Milt Pappas' razor thin close call with perfection (in 1972 for those math challenged). After retiring the first 26 batters in a row and reaching a 3-2 count on the 27th batter (Larry Stahl of the San Diego Padres) Pappas was one pitch shy of perfection. Unfortunately the call was a ball (lets not over react to a correct call made by then plate umpire Bruce Froemming) and perfection was "ruined". Pappas did however retire the next batter to secure the no-hitter and an 8 - 0 victory at Wrigley Field. Still today, Pappas has the unique honor of being the only pitcher to have a perfect game "ruined" by a base on ball to the 27th batter.

{1973 #70 love those "earmuffs"}

Pappas's career began in1957 with the Baltimore Orioles appearing in only 4 games, yet 1958 began a string of eleven years in a row of double digit victories. Prior to that infamous day in 1972, Pappas was probably best known for being traded to the Cincinnati Reds during the off season of 1965 for the "old" superstar Frank Robinson.

{1958 # 457 "oh so young"}

Two and half years in Cincinnati and a couple of stints with the Atlanta Braves, Pappas was traded to the Chicago Cubs in June of 1970. Arguably, his finest year was in 1972 as Pappas compiled a 17-7 win-loss record and a top ten in the Cy Young award voting.

Pappas finished his career in 1973 with a 209 - 164 record, 3186 innings pitched and a better than 2 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio (1728 to 858). With 110 wins as an Oriole, Pappas came within one win shy of achieving 100 wins in the NL as well. Pappas would have been just the eighth pitcher to achieve 100 wins in both leagues joining; Cy Young, Al Orth, Jim Bunning, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan, Ferguson Jenkins and Dennis Martinez.

Once again, Pappas was just one shy of being part of an exclusive club. So today I honor Milt Pappas and being just one shy . . .

Today in Baseball History: the first black manager

most of you are thinking that Frank Robinson was the first black manager in major league baseball but technically speaking it is actually Ernie Banks.

Coach Banks had to act as manager for one day, today May 8, 1973, when then manager Whitey Lockman was ejected in the 11th inning against the San Diego Padres.



No other coach was available on the bench so "Mr Cub" Ernie Banks stepped in for the final two innings as the Cubs outlasted the Padres 3 -2 in 12 innings. Banks never again "played" manager and left coaching a few years later with a 1 - 0 won/loss record.

It would be two years later that Robinson would become the first full-time manager in 1975 for Cleveland. The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide for 1974 states that on May 8, 1973 "Ernie Banks became the major leagues first black manager, yet only for a day".

Topps 1970: card # 11 Nate Colbert

Being the first San Diego Padre star it is very appropriate that he is the first Padre to show up in this 1970's set.

Colbert was an expansion team draft pick for the Padres (from the Houston Astros, having played in only 39 games in two years) but in 1969 (the Padres inaugural year) Colbert led the team in home runs (24), triples (9) and RBI's (66). The Padres only won 52 games in 1969 but Colbert was an emerging star first baseman.

A three time all-star (1971, 72 and 73), Colbert had his career day on August 1, 1972 - belting 5 home runs and driving in 13 runs in a doubleheader (tying Stan Musials HR record and breaking his previous record of 11 RBI's). His 1970's card shows his intense look and a very young clean shaven face; both of which would change drastically over the years.

Nate Colbert is the all-time leader in San Diego team history for home runs (163) and is in the top ten in many offensive categories including; 5th in total bases, 5th in at bats, 4th in slugging percentage and 7th in games played. The San Diego Padres have since recognized Colbert by inducting him in the team Hall of Fame in 1999.

Colbert's career spanned 11 years with his only productive years coming in San Diego (1969 - 1974); playing in 866 games and hitting 163 of his career 173 HR's and driving in 481 of his 520 career RBI's whle in a Padre uniform.

Nate Colbert . . . the first San Diego Padre star . . . the first Padre in 1970 . . .

MLB vs WGN ? !

Somewhere, somehow, someway I got very confused early this evening. Maybe a fellow Cubs fan or anyone else with WGN can help me.

In my early Friday evening remote control scanning I ended up on the MLB Network and the Cub vs Padres game was on. I thought to myself good for the MLB Network, broadcasting a a Cub game !

The game was in the top of the third inning with the Padres leading 2 to 1. At the end of the inning I went remote control scanning again and after about 50 channels and finding news, news, stock market, history, drama, infomercials, more news and more financial stuff to bore me greatly (it was a Friday night just waiting to go out), I came across WGN.

The Cubs / Padres game was on and it was in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Cubs were leading 4 to 2. Had I really spent three innings of channel surfing ? It seemed to be only 45 seconds or so !

Both WGN and the MLB Network were broadcasting the game but about 30 minutes delayed. I have heard of a seven second delay on tv but not three innings worth !

Does anyone have a rational answer to why this has happened or am I going to just chalk it up to an odd programming thing that confused the heck out of me. By the way the Cubs did win 5 - 3 an if I was a betting man I could have made some money on those only watching the MLB Network.

Thanks to WGN and MLB I got to watch an unofficial doubleheader.

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.