THIS DAY IN SP78 HISTORY
May 19, 2009
In SP78 Game #1200, the last game of a three-game set at Wrigley Field, the Dodgers made it a sweep with a convincing 10-1 drubbing of the Cubs, a nighttime contest I played at ‘AZ8’ in Peoria, Arizona. After defeating the Cubbies in a doubleheader the previous day, by scores of 16-3 and 7-3, the Dodgers continued their run-scoring barrage against their frustrated hosts, scoring seven off loser Ray Burris (5-8), three off Gil Hernandez, and one more off Donnie Moore before Bruce Sutter shut them out over the final two frames. LA outfielder Reggie Smith connected for a double and his 34th HR of the season before leaving with an injury in the seventh, while Burt Hooton improved to 10-4 with the win, despite allowing twelve hits. Catcher Joe Ferguson also homered for LA, his fourth. (Game #1200, 7/17/78)
I never think of Tom Seaver as a Red, I don’t know why. The two images I have of him are early 70′s Mets, the “Tom Terrific” years, and then the “Vegas Elvis” version of him in the mid 80′s with the White Sox – in that ugly uniform, hanging on for one more start to get to 300 wins. Then Carew gets his 3,000th the same day and steals a bit of the spotlight from Tom. I miss the early 80′s man!
And I always think of Seaver as a pitcher for the Reds, probably because I have so many Reds programs and media guides that I’m always checking out. I rarely think of him as a White Sox pitcher, however, and never, ever as a Braves catcher. And Carew always was a media hog, but for supreme spotlight stealing, wasn’t it Nolan Ryan who tossed a no-hitter the same day Rickey Henderson broke a stolen base record?
Ahh, the train trip to SLO town – I’d love to have done that. My trip was always the 5 to the 405 to the 101 on asphalt and concrete. We have no passenger train station in this town unfortunately, just cars, cattle and hobos.
It would’ve been awesome if the Dodgers-Padres rivalries in the 70′s were as good as SP78′s. I remember a year, I believe where the Dodgers were 16-2 or 17-1 against the Pads if I’m not mistaken.
That train trip to San Luis Obispo was a lot of fun; the train stopped at a quaint station on the edge of town, and Julie and I walked a few blocks through residential neighborhoods to our hotel on Monterey Street. The trips you and I took to SLO were cool, too; if it weren’t for our concrete-and-asphalt mode of conveyance, we never would’ve played catch at that park outside of town, or saw a movie in Morro Bay, or spent a day at Pismo Beach!
The current head-to-head record between the Dodgers and Padres in SP78 action is 4-2, in favor of the Pads. The Cards-Dodgers meetings were usually pretty exciting, too, with several games being won by one run, and a few going into extra innings. The record between the two is currently 6-6.
Tony Perez in an Expo uniform never looked right to me. Kaat and the Phillies are headed for a 1964-style collapse. I like the Cardinals’ chances – they’re only 22½ out with 63 to go. Can we add a big bat before the trading deadline?
Trust me, as a Reds fan in 1977, Tony Perez in an Expos uniform looked absolutely horrible. And the only way the Phillies will collapse is if the team bus goes off a cliff. Although that would be outstanding if the Cardinals made some sort of comeback; I recently studied the Reds lineup and pitching roster, and created a new rotation and batting order in hopes of sparking some sort of comeback bid…I can do the same for the Cardinals. And as far as trading for a big bat, I decided at the onset that there’d be no trades in SP78, so instead I can call up a big bat from Springfield of the American Association. How about Bob Collucio, Mike Ramsey, Ken Oberkfell, Wayne Garrett, or Jim Lentine?
Or wait…how about an early call-up for 15-year-old rookie phenom Todd Benefiel, who has the coolest Statis Pro card numbers ever? Singles 11-25, doubles 26-34, triples 35-36, no home runs, no strikeouts, walks 37-67, and HBP 68-71, with a steal rating of ‘A’? All calculated per Statis Pro numerical ratings using the actual stats from my 1978 California First Bank Cardinals Little League season! It was my plan to bring myself up for one game in September, but perhaps I could be persuaded to promote me to the bigs on, say, August 1st. Maybe inspire the other Cards to play with a little more grit and confidence, and perhaps bring in more money at the gate.
Sounds like the young Mr. Benefiel might get the offense started – heck his on base % has to be awesome! And definitely he’ll bring the 14 year old Cardinalettes out to the ballpark.
Cardinalettes! I think I’ll be reporting to the parent club ASAP! However, the problem will be convincing manager Ken Boyer to play me; Garry Templeton played 155 games at short for the Redbirds, and is currently hitting .340. Maybe I could be a late-inning replacement, to give Garry a rest every now and then. The interesting thing will be to see how many times I walk with that 37-67 range; when I do, you can bet I’ll be trying to steal every base imaginable!
At the rate that you’ve played games in the past year, you’ll reach the end of the regular season by 2026, by my calculations. But if you get to Sept 1 by 2020, I think you should take a month off of your job, stock your pantry up with hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and soda, and commit to playing September in “real time” – all games get played on the correct day in September of 2020 (Well, maybe the hot dogs should go in the fridge). What do you think?
A most interesting concept! At up to 13 games played per day, estimating that each game would take an hour to set up and play, that would be 13 hours per day spent playing SP78 for one solid month, and I would have to assume that I wouldn’t have time to do stats or keep up with the website. PLUS…that would mean my season would be over!
Still, it’s tempting. Very tempting. We’ll see what’s going on in my life in 2020. Which, I’m guessing, will be exactly the same as what’s going on now.
Oh good heavens. Don’t be so sure. You never know where life will take you. But one thing’s pretty certain… you’ll be playing Statis Pro.
Yes, that’s one certainty in my life…I’ll always be playing Statis Pro. Which is exactly what I’m doing right this second! And if life ever takes me anywhere, I hope to hell it lets me bring this ridiculous game!
So, with today’s news regarding the stat guide, am I to take it as your way of saying, “Quit asking me questions and look it up yourself!”? Because I sold mine on eBay to pay for my health care.
That’s funny, I sold my Season of Champions Mid-Season Stat Book through Christie’s last year simply so I could post bail! And since you’ve sold the most valuable resource a fan of SP78 could possess, I guess you’ll have to continue asking me your outrageous questions regarding my game.
In researching the ’79 Pirates, I found this info on Baseball Almanac
1979 Pittsburgh Pirates Salaries
Bert Blyleven $500,000.00
Dale Berra $21,000.00
Doe Boyland $21,000.00
Gary Hargis $21,000.00
Alberto Lois $21,000.00
Steve Nicosia $21,000.00
Don Robinson $21,000.00
Enrique Romo $21,000.00
Ed Whitson $21,000.00
Geez, Bert – spread the love, huh?
Through June 30th of my SP78 season, Bert Blyleven was 9-5 with a 2.65 ERA, for a 3rd-place Pirates squad. At the other end of the dugout bench, Dale Berra was hitting .211, Ed Whitson was 1-4, and Don Robinson was 3-7 with a 5.25 ERA.
That’s why Mr. Blyleven had no interest whatsoever in sharing the love!
Thereafter, going 2 outs into the 9th with a perfect game and giving up a hit to a PH became known as “Halicking”. Milner was a good PH in SOC, but I’ll always remember Milner, Willie Mays and the “red juice”.
So, what other pitchers have done some ‘Halicking’ in their careers, besides Milt Pappas? And I had to look that up about Willie Mays…I thought you’d goofed somehow, and put the wrong name! I don’t remember that aspect of the situation at all: Say hey rookies, come on over to my locker for some fruit punch!
The “Halicking” List
1884 – Al Atkinson (Lost it playing “Nolan”)
1953 – Curt Simmons (Single)
1954 – Robin Roberts (HR)
1966 – Woodie Fryman (Single)
1981 – Jim Bibby (single, but it was a strike year, so it doesn’t count)
1982 – Jerry Reuss (Double)
1993 – Chris Bosio – (2 Walks)
2006 – John Lackey (Double, but it was after 1994 so it doesn’t count)
2010 – Armando Gallaraga (Bad Ump call at 1st)
2012 – Yu Darvish (single through the wickets, but doesn’t count because a) it’s post 1994 and b) Yu is a dumb name).
And, there’s no doubt that Darrell Johnson was intoxicated.
I never realized Milt Pappas was in such good company! Well, maybe not ‘good’, per se, but perhaps ‘extensive’. And true to form, I’ve heard of all the players listed between 1953 and 1993, but not one post-1994. Thanks for doing the research on this; I’ll now use this info to…pick up girls at bars?
And I’m afraid to say that a lot of us ‘lost it’ while playing Nolan…
Ahh, the “Geisel” – probably a great venue for SP78. I spent many hours there in 1978 researching American literature (and checking out old Sports Illustrated magazines). Way to go, Petey! (Commenting from Oregon, again)
Your ‘Geisel’ comment threw me off at first…I thought you were referring to Dave Geisel, a rookie pitcher with the Cubs in 1978! But I finally figured it out, and yes, that was a cool place to hang out, grab a snack from downstairs, and play Statis Pro at a desk with a fantastic view of the countryside and sunset. Afterwards, when Julie was done with her class, we’d usually go out to dinner somewhere in the La Jolla area.
Having fun in Oregon? This would probably be a good time to start up your Season of Champions again…
“Lenny Randle had one hit but reached base five times”.
What happened, did he blow four bunts fair, or did he have four girls in the clubhouse?
Ha, my good man, ha! Well, his hit was a sinking line drive to left that went for a double, and that came in his last at-bat. The results of the first four at-bats were, in order: walk, walk, fielder’s choice to short, and fielder’s choice to third. And those four girls in the clubhouse? In order: Marianne, Ellen, Trixie, and Siobhan.
The name of the bridegoon is “Rick”, not “Bick”.
(Reference to how Tony P. got his 2,999th hit before he got his 2,000th hit).
Ha! Just changed it! Derf! That’s what I get for being in a rush! And what’s funny is, when I went back to fix the ‘erratum’, I almost replaced the 9′s with 0′s! I think I need to take a shat nap now…
Steve Ontiveros Day – perhaps the greatest day in SP78 history (well, maybe the 2 no-hitters, but . . .). I’m glad I visited before the day was over.
I would say definitely the greatest day in SP78 history…glad you could make it, then and now! Can you believe it’s been 25 years since you made the long drive from San Diego, watched someone else play a board game on a folding card table, indulged in a few Nagasaki Dogs, and enjoyed some Round Table Pizza afterwards? I’m sure my Mom still thinks you’re the guy we held the festivities for!
Well, Sixto was quite the stand-up guy. And I had forgotten that he was the other player in the Templeton-Smith trade also. Life’s been good, Sixto, but don’t stand so close to me, OK?
Counts as three jokes!
I started looking at John Denny’s batting stats (0 career HRs until Knepper grooved this one). He had a noticeable drop off in ABs between ’80 and ’82 that I had trouble explaining to myself until I realized it was for CLE-AL, and he had Joe Charboneau doing his “woodwork” for him. My baseball memory is getting weak . . .
Seriously, what Indians player in the early ’80s didn’t have his wood worked by Super Joe? And my first thought concerning Denny’s drop in AB’s would’ve been two words: bullpen delegation. But then again, my memory isn’t what it used to be, either; I keep forgetting, did professional baseball end after the 1993 season, or is it still being played?
And here’s something I never knew: Joe Charboneau was one of Robert Redford’s teammates in The Natural!
So now that we know that Caldwell’s next outing is a ShO, you’re going to have to feature a different game on that day – one where we don’t know what happened already.
Like you seriously didn’t expect Caldwell to throw a shutout in his next appearance! Okay, okay, I’ll feature a different game where you don’t know the outcome…how about the one at Municipal Stadium, where the Angels blanked the Tribe 6-0?
OK, so has there been a successful SB by a pitcher? The most career SB by an active pitcher is currently 5, and one former Cy Young runner-up is 3-7 lifetime.
On June 28th at Wrigley Field, Mets baserunners Lenny Randle and Pat Zachry attempt a double steal; the throw from catcher Dave Rader, trying to nail Zachry at second, sails wide of Manny Trillo’s grab and skips to the warning track, allowing both runners to score. Though both NY runs are unearned due to the throwing error, both Randle and Zachry are credited with stolen bases, and thus Zachry becomes the first and only pitcher to steal a base this season.
Who was the former Cy Young candidate with three SB’s?
Mike Hampton was the hurler with the need for speed.
He also had the need for physicians, having spent most of his career missing games (and entire seasons) due to injuries. However, he is considered to be the worst free agent signing in major league history, so he must’ve been doing something right.
The phrase “eleven total outcomes” makes me think that there might also have been a rainout or postponement for some reason. Eight shutouts in eleven outcomes – seems about as exciting as Robin Yount’s 3100th hit. How hard was it to shut out the Blue Jays in 1978?
Yes indeed, one of the games scheduled for that day was postponed due to thunderstorms…and hey, I was there for Yount’s 3,100th, and I seem to remember partying all night in Wauwatosa to celebrate it! And it may not have been too hard to shut out the Jays, but the Chisox were a different story: they currently have the worst record in SP78, yet were the last of all 26 teams to be shut out! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, American League!