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John Papa
John Paul Papa (born December 5, 1940) is an American former professional baseball player. Papa, a right-handed pitcher, appeared in three Major League games, all in relief, for the Baltimore Orioles in –, and spent the remainder of his career in minor league baseball. He attended the University of Bridgeport and the University of New Haven, stood tall and weighed . Papa signed with the Orioles in 1958 for a $65,000 bonus. That season, Major League Baseball rescinded the infamous "bonus rule" that would have mandated that the Orioles keep Papa on their 25-man roster for two full seasons; the rule was blamed for wrecking the careers of numerous "bonus babies" whose talents rusted on the bench, rather than being developed in the minors. Sent to the Baltimore farm system, Papa hurt his arm in his third pro season, trying to throw the slider in Class B. But he made the Baltimore opening-season 28-man roster in 1961 at the age of 20. In his big-league debut, on April 11, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitch (baseball), pitched ball or draw a base on balls, walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, left-handed specialist, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closing pitcher, closer. Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League(and later the National League) and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team has played its home games at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California. The franchise was founded in Los Angeles in 1961 by Gene Autry as one of MLB's first two expansion teams and the first to originate in California. Deriving its name from an earlier Los Angeles Angels franchise that played in the Pacific Coast League (PCL), the team was based in Los Angeles until moving to Anaheim in 1966. Due to the move, the franchise was known as the California Angels from 1965 to 1996 and the Anaheim Angels from 1997 to 2004. "Los Angeles" was added back to the name in 2005, but because of a lease agreement with Anaheim that required the city to also be in the name, the franchise was known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim until 2015. The current Los ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bases On Balls
A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08(a). It is considered a faux pas for a professional player to literally walk to first base; the batter-runner and any advancing runners normally jog on such a play. The term "base on balls" distinguishes a walk from the other manners in which a batter can be awarded first base without liability to be put out (e.g., hit by pitch (HBP), catcher's interference). Though a base on balls, catcher's interference, or a batter hit by a pitched ball all result in the batter (and possibly runners on base) being awarded a base, the term "walk" usually refers only to a base on balls, and not the other methods of reaching base without the bat touching the ball. An importan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Gardner
William Frederick Gardner (born July 19, 1927) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. During his ten-season active career in the major leagues, Gardner was a scrappy, light-hitting second baseman for the New York Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. His only significant time on any team was with Baltimore, where he spent four consecutive full seasons from 1956 to 1959. He threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . After retiring as a player, he spent over 20 years as a coach or manager, and managed the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals during the 1980s. MLB playing career Born in Waterford, Connecticut, Gardner was signed by the Giants in 1945 and came up with them on April 22, 1954, but he could not break into the contending team's lineup. In early 1956, he was purchased by the Orioles. Gardner picked up a career-high of 10 steals, but in his best season of 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Battey
Earl Jesse Battey, Jr. (January 5, 1935 – November 15, 2003) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox (1955–1959) and Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins (1960–1967). In the early 1960s, Battey was one of the top catchers in the American League, winning three consecutive Gold Glove Awards between and . Major League career White Sox Born in Los Angeles, Battey attended Jordan High School in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was signed as an amateur free agent by the Chicago White Sox prior to the 1953 season. Battey was assigned to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox in the Single-A Western League where he began his baseball career by hitting only a .158 batting average in 26 games. The White Sox demoted him to the Waterloo White Hawks in the B-level Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League and Battey responded with a .292 average and 11 home runs in 129 games. In , Battey was promoted to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strike Out
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denoted by K in scorekeeping and statistics. A "strikeout looking" — in which the batter does not swing and the third strike is called by the umpire — is usually denoted by a ꓘ. Although a strikeout suggests that the pitcher dominated the batter, the free-swinging style that generates home runs also leaves batters susceptible to striking out. Some of the greatest home run hitters of all time—such as Alex Rodriguez, Reggie Jackson, and Jim Thome—were notorious for striking out. Rules and jargon A pitched ball is ruled a ''ball'' by the umpire if the batter did not swing at it and, in that umpire's judgement, it does not pass through the strike zone. Any pitch at which the batter swings unsuccessfully or, that in that umpire's judge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area which includes the two adjoining cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The franchise was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1901 as the Washington Senators. The team moved to Minnesota and was renamed the Minnesota Twins for the start of the 1961 season. The Twins played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009. The team played its inaugural game at Target Field on April 12, 2010. The franchise won the World Series in 1924 as the Senators, and in 1987 and 1991 as the Twins. From 1901 to 2021, the Senators/Twins franchise's overall regular-season win–loss–tie record is 9,012–9,716–109 (); as the Twins (through 2021), it is 4,789–4,852–8 (). Team history Washingto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Out (baseball)
In baseball, an out occurs when the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a batter or runner is out, they lose their ability to score a run and must return to the dugout until their next turn at bat. When three outs are recorded in a half-inning, the batting team's turn expires. To signal an out, an umpire generally makes a fist with one hand, and then flexes that arm either upward, particularly on pop flies, or forward, particularly on routine plays at first base. Home plate umpires often use a "punch-out" motion to signal a called strikeout. Ways of making outs * The most common ways batters or runners are put out are when: ** The batter strikes out (they make three batting mistakes, known as ''strikes'', without hitting the ball into fair territory); ** The batter flies out (they hit the ball and it is caught before landing); ** a baserunner is tagged out (they are touched by the ball, held in an opponent's hand, while not on a base); ** a baserunner is forced o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuck Estrada
Charles Leonard Estrada (born February 15, 1938) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher from to , playing for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets. After his retirement from the major leagues, Estrada served as pitching coach in the majors. Early years After completing high school, Estrada was signed by the Milwaukee Braves as an amateur free agent on September 27, 1956. Estrada's manager with the 1959 Vancouver Mounties, Charlie Metro, had this to say of his ace: "Chuck Estrada was another fine young talent who went up and won 18 games for the Orioles in 1960. He got a sore arm a couple of years later, and they accused me of ruining his arm. It was rumbled around, and I had to straighten everybody out. I said, 'Chuck had two great years after I had him at Vancouver. How could I have ruined his arm?' With Estrada, I had orders that he wasn't supposed to make more than seventy-five pitches in a seve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starting Pitcher
In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pitchers are expected to pitch for a significant portion of the game, although their ability to do this depends on many factors, including effectiveness, stamina, health, and strategy. A starting pitcher in professional baseball usually rests three, four, or five days after pitching a game before pitching in another. Therefore, most professional baseball teams have four, five or six starting pitchers on their rosters. These pitchers, and the sequence in which they pitch, is known as the ''rotation''. A team's best starter is known as the ace, and is almost always the first man to pitch in the rotation. In modern baseball, a five-man rotation is most common. In contrast, a pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Cerv
Robert Henry Cerv ( ; May 5, 1925 – April 6, 2017) was an American professional baseball left fielder. Prior to his professional career, he was a collegiate baseball and basketball player at the University of Nebraska. He was born in Weston, Nebraska and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Career Cerv signed with the New York Yankees in 1950 and was a little-used reserve outfielder on the perennially World Series-bound Yankee teams of the early 1950s. According to sportswriter Robert Creamer, interviewed for the Ken Burns series ''Baseball'', one afternoon in 1956, Yankees manager Casey Stengel approached Cerv in the Yankees' dugout, sat down nearby, and commented, "There's not many people that know this, but one of us has been traded to Kansas City." However, this sequence of events did not really happen. In fact, Cerv was sold for cash to the Kansas City Athletics on October 15, 1956, five days after the Yankees had ended the 1956 World Series with a Game 7 victor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Kluszewski
Theodore Bernard Kluszewski (September 10, 1924 – March 29, 1988), also known as "Big Klu", was an American professional baseball player known for his bulging biceps and mammoth home runs in the 1950s decade. He played from 1947 through 1961 with four teams in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent 11 of his 15 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds as a Kluszewski was a four-time National League (NL) All-Star who hit at least .300 seven times and 40-or-more home runs in three consecutive seasons. He retired with a .298 lifetime batting average, 279 home runs and 1,028 RBI in 1,718 games. Kluszewski ranks among the all-time Reds leaders in home runs (sixth), slugging percentage (sixth), on-base plus slugging percentage (eighth) and RBI (ninth). His .642 slugging percentage, 1.049 OPS and home run rate of one per 11.4 at-bats in the 1954 season have been team records for seven decades. On August 25, 1959, Kluszewski returned to his South Side Chicago roots when the White Sox acqui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
