Category: Little Things

An owner buys a team and hires a general manager. The general manager hires a field manager and together they go about building a championship team. Along the way there are hiccups and bumps, and wonderful and happy moments. The road is never straight, but the trials and tribulations — the journey — are what make the culmination that much sweeter.

Those same sentiments also pertain to parenthood. You and your spouse build a family. You raise your kids — you give them the basics, and allow them to grow into their own human beings. Then you teach them the advanced stuff, and allow them to grow into self-sufficient and self-confident teens. And then you send them off to college and allow others to get them to the next level — both in the classroom and out — about life and making your way in it.

Parenthood, like a baseball season — whether it ends in a World Series or the first pick in the draft — is neither straight nor smooth. But it is a joy to behold. Raising your children — whether they follow your guidance and rules and in your footsteps, or branch out on their own — is life’s greatest achievement.

Four years ago I wrote about a trip I took through the Midwest attending baseball games with my son as I prepared to send him off to college. Baseball is and has been our north star, which is the same for me and my dad. From tossing a rolled up sock to an oversized plastic bat in the living room to throwing batting practice at the state championship to playing catch in front of the house as recently as last month; from sitting on the couch watching a random game on a Saturday afternoon to being in Dodger Stadium when our beloved Boston Red Sox won their fourth World Series since his birth; from baking in the Progressive Field heat right before college to soaking up the beauty of Camden Yards on the eve of his crossing the next rubicon. Our story goes from me explaining the game to him, to him sending stats and highlights and pithy tweets to me. Baseball is and (hopefully) always will be our glue.

After that trip to the Midwest in the summer of 2021, we snuck in one more game in Anaheim — the Angels vs. the Red Sox. Boston squeaked out a one-run victory, and we left with smiles on our faces. As we drove home, I thought (and wrote) then that he dreamed of the future, while I remembered the past.

Well, dammit if it didn’t happen again. You see, four years of college — four years filled with baseball games in Milwaukee and Chicago and Oakland (to see the Coliseum before the A’s left town), in Boston and Anaheim, and of course, Chavez Ravine — only tightened that bond. Baseball continues to be the glue.

As a parent you hope you give your kids the building blocks for a successful future. You hope you have taught them how to deal with adversity and how to succeed. You hope that you have provided them with the resilience gene and a motor to make it in a world that is confusing and confounding and increasingly contrary to everything we were taught is fair and right. Self-doubt is part of the process; fear is part of the process; anxiety about their well-being is part of the process. One year, I gave all of the kids on my son’s travel ball team t-shirts that read: “Focus on the Process.” I wanted them to do things the right way — the way they were taught — and not worry about the outcomes, as those will take care of themselves. The same is true for parenting, to a degree. You have to worry about outcomes — about health, and a decent job, and surviving on their own. But you have to focus on and trust the process of your tutelage, too.

Last week I moved my son “to life.” He found the apartment, and I provided the furniture and the fridge full of food. He secured the job — in a field very different than my own, but which is his passion — and I explained to him the value of setting up his 401(k) on day one. My boy has done everything I ever could have asked from a son. He has excelled at school, worked hard, made good friends, and readied himself for success. The process seems to have worked. And, in keeping with a theme, he decided to live a literal stone’s throw from Nationals Park.

When he scheduled the date for his big move, he reminded me that the Red Sox would be in Baltimore. So I extended my trip by a day. We finished hanging his pictures, broke down the boxes, and made one more run to the grocery store before we headed north to Charm City. Camden Yards is one of the great treasures in baseball. We visited there years ago before I dropped him at camp. This was a decidedly different trip. The two of us sat behind the Red Sox dugout and watched a Boston team that is oftentimes infuriating and sometimes exhilarating. We ate Boog’s BBQ and watched a kid 18 months younger than my son hit a lead-off homer for our team. We saw a player who has overcome mental health issues slug a game-changing three-run homer. And, once again, we saw the Red Sox squeak out a one-run victory.

I was supposed to drop my son at the train station for his thirty-minute ride back to D.C. But I decided to drive him all the way back. We sat in the car and discussed the Red Sox, and life, and the future. I explained to him that if all goes as planned, you do well enough in high school to go to a good college, where you then learn to live and find something that you love. And then you graduate and begin “adulting” for real. It is all part of the process. And it is beautiful to watch, if not difficult to confront.

When we pulled in front of his apartment, he asked me when I thought I would be back. I said probably in the spring — “we’ll go to a Nats game.”

Standing on the street we hugged, hard. He thanked me for giving him the best childhood he ever could have imagined (and for building all of his furniture!). I thanked him for all of the joy he has brought to me and our family; and I told him how so very proud I am of him. He is 22, full of dreams and wonder and nerves and anxiety. I am much older and full of all the same…for him.

It was a wonderful and tearful moment on a small street in a big city on the verge of a new life. And while I have doubts that the Red Sox have what it takes to win it all this season, I have no doubt that he will succeed.

As I was about to get back into the car for the drive back to Baltimore, my son turned and said to me: “Remember to send me my glove; my roommate has his, and we want to play catch.”

For twenty-two years I focused on the process. The outcome took care of itself.

PLAY BALL!!

Sometimes it is fun to look at two wholly different players and see how very similar they were. Today we will look at two guys who essentially played on opposite sides of second base*, one of whom stayed on the Hall of Fame ballot for 15 years, topping out at 28.2% of the vote; and one of whom barely made it to year two, and then fell off the ballot the following year after receiving only 1.8% of the vote.

DON MATTINGLY

Don Mattingly – “Donnie Baseball” – was an institution in New York in the ‘80s. The sweet swinging first baseman came up for seven games at the end of the 1982 season, played in 91 games in 1983, and then made his mark in 1984. That year, Mattingly led the league in hits (207), doubles (44), and won the batting title hitting .343. He came in fifth in MVP voting.

That was just a stepping stone to his 1985 campaign, when he had 211 hits, 48 doubles, 35 homers, led the league with 145 RBI and 370 total bases, had a 156 OPS+, made his second All-Star team, won a Gold Glove, won a Silver Slugger award, and then won the AL MVP.

All of which set the stage for 1986, when all Mattingly did was again lead the league with: 238 hits, 53 doubles, a .573 slugging percentage, a .967 OPS, 388 total bases, and a (career high) 161 OPS+. This got him all of the same awards as 1985, except he came in second in MVP voting to Roger Clemens.

1987 was pretty much more of the same for the mustachioed slugger, as he smashed 30 home runs and accumulated 318 total bases, while still slashing .327/.378/.559, for a 146 OPS+. That was good enough for seventh in MVP voting.

A back injury in the middle of 1987 was the beginning of the end. While he still put up impressive numbers the rest of that year, things began to slow down in 1988. Over the 1988-1989 seasons, Mattingly hit a total 41 homers and had 201 RBI, and still won two more Gold Gloves.

In 1990, Mattingly’s back caused him to miss a big chunk of the season, and he ultimately played in only 102 games. That was the first of his two negative bWAR seasons (-0.3, along with -0.2 in his final year, 1995).

Mattingly bravely played out the final years of his career. From 1991-1995, he managed 752 hits and 154 doubles. But the power was zapped – he hit only 53 homers over those five seasons, and only drove in 340 runs. He hit .291, but slugged just .416. (By way of comparison, from 1984-1989, he hit .327 with a .530 slugging percentage.)

Mattingly went on to coach and manage in the big leagues, and still does not have to buy a drink anywhere in New York. The man is a legend, who many believe would have been a surefire Hall of Famer but for the bad back.

*Mattingly played third base when play resumed for the infamous “pine tar” game.

NOMAR GARCIAPARRA

The Boston Red Sox drafted Nomar Garciaparra with the 12^th pick in the 1994 draft out of Georgia Tech. He made his major league debut in 1996, playing in 24 games. In his official rookie campaign, 1997, “Nomah” led the league in hits with 209, and triples with 11. He was an All-Star, won a Silver Slugger award, finished 8^th in MVP voting, and was the American League Rookie of the Year.

In his sophomore season, he hit more homers, drove in more runs, had better slash numbers, and a higher OPS+. That was good enough for second place in MVP voting.

In 1999 and 2000, Garciaparra won back-to-back batting titles, while also hitting 48 home runs, smacking 93 doubles, and accumulating 638 total bases over the two seasons. That gave him two more All-Star appearances and two more top-10 MVP finishes.

A wrist injury postponed the start of his 2001 season until July 29^th. The injury reared its head again at the end of August, and Garciaparra finished the year with just 83 at-bats.

The shortstop was healed in 2002, slashing .310/.352/.528, with 56 doubles to lead the league. He was, once again, an All-Star. 2003 – his last full year in Boston – was very similar to 2002. Unfortunately, negotiations between the team and the player for a long-term extension stalled, leaving the shortstop’s future with the club in limbo.

Garciaparra started the 2004 season on the injured list with an Achilles issue. When he got back to action, his bat returned to normal, but his defense faltered. And the requirement of extra rest to keep him healthy meant that even his bat could not be counted on every day. At the trade deadline, Boston’s youthful and ambitious general manager, Theo Epstein, decided that he could replace Garciaparra’s bat and improve the team’s defense by sending the fan favorite to the Chicago Cubs as part of a four-team trade, which netted the Sox Orlando Cabrera (a much better defensive shortstop) and Doug Mientkiewicz (a fine defensive first baseman).

Epstein was not wrong. Starting in 2004, Garciaparra became negative total zone rated shortstop (-12 in 2004; -5 in 2005). He did have a +4 in 2008 when he played 31 games at short for the Dodgers. But, as with many aspects of the game, Epstein could see the future, and he planned for it. It is not lost on Red Sox fans that Cabrera had a 10-game hitting streak between Game 1 of the 2004 ALCS and Game 3 of the World Series; nor is it lost on them that Mientkiewicz recorded the put-out that ended an 86-year World Series drought.

Garciaparra signed free agent contracts with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2006-2008 seasons, and has become an institution with the team. He has been a broadcast mainstay for years — he now does commentary for local stations — and can be seem at the ballpark most days.

WHO YOU GOT?

But if you were to ask the average fan on the street who had a better career, Mattingly’s name would roll off tongues. You wouldn’t hear many arguments that “but for” anything in particular that Garciaparra would be in the Hall of Fame. You don’t see many Nomar jerseys in the stands at either Fenway Park or Dodger Stadium. Both players had “what-if” careers. It is just how they are viewed that is so different. However, when you look at them side-by-side, they are not that different at all.

July 4th marked the 40th anniversary of what has colloquially become known as the “Rick Camp Game.” But, as you will see, it was a whole lot more than that.

As is typical for a 4th of July game, this battle between the visiting New York Mets and the hometown Atlanta Braves, was scheduled to begin around 7:30 p.m., with a fireworks show planned upon its conclusion.

Rain in the Atlanta area pushed the first pitch back about 90 minutes, which may have been a sign of things to come. The Mets started Dwight Gooden, who was off from the start, while the Braves countered with Rick Mahler. Gooden couldn’t get through the third inning, and Mahler couldn’t get through the fourth, which may have been a sign of things to come.

Both teams scored in the first inning, and the Mets led 6-4 after six. The Mets extended their lead by scoring one run in the top of the eighth, but the Braves roared back with four in the bottom half — three on a Dale Murphy bases-clearing triple —to take the lead, 8-7. At this point, Atlanta and their faithful were just three outs away from a come-from-behind win and a spectacular fireworks display. But the Mets had other ideas.

With future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter on the mound looking for his 15th save of the season (and 275th of his career), third baseman Ray Knight struck out. Two outs away. But three consecutive singles by Howard Johnson, Danny Heep, and Lenny Dykstra brought in the tying run. It may have been a sign of things to come.

The teams went scoreless in innings ten through twelve. In the top of the 13th, after a Ray Knight single, HoJo his a two-run homer to stake the Mets to a 10-8 lead. But, in the bottom half, Rafael Ramirez led off with a single, and after two outs (meaning the Mets were just one out away from ending this game and giving the fans at least 50% of what they came for), Terry Harper hit a game-tying two-run dinger. After thirteen innings, the score stood 10-10.

The 14th through 17th innings were uneventful, although the Bravos did get two runners on with two outs in the 16th. Alas, a Paul Runge fly out ended the threat. On they went.

Johnson led off the 18th with a single, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt plus a throwing error. Dykstra followed with a sac fly to make it 11-10 in favor of the Mets.

In the bottom of the 18th, Gerald Perry grounded back to the box, and Harper grounded to first unassisted. The Braves, now completely out of position players, had no choice but to send pitcher Rick Camp to the plate. Atlanta was again down to its last out. And this time they had a player with a career .060 batting average and 83 strikeouts in 167 at-bats, with nary a single home run to his name. So, what did Camp do? To the Mets? To the long-suffering fans? You already know the answer. He hit an 0-2 curveball over the wall in left field to tie the game. Prior to the second pitch of the at-bat, Pete van Wieren said to his broadcast partner:

“Ernie, if he hits a home run to tie this game, this game will be certified as absolutely the nuttiest in the history of baseball.”

Well, consider it certified.

The jog around the bases may have tired Camp out, as he allowed a Gary Carter single to start the 19th, and then, after a sacrifice and an intentional walk, Knight doubled in the Mets’ 12th run. Another intentional walk preceded another Danny Heep single, which ultimately cleared the bases due to a Claudell Washington throwing error. Two batters later, Wally Backman’s singled plated Heep, extending the Mets lead to 16-11. Ironically, Keith Hernandez, who hit for the cycle in the game (it took him 12 innings and seven plate appearances to pull it off), grounded out to end the threat.

Even trailing by five; even though it was well past 3 o’clock in the morning, the Braves were not yet done. After a ground out, Hernandez committed the rare error, allowing Washington to get to second. A Ramirez fly out got the Mets — once again — one out away. But then Ron Darling walked Dale Murphy, and then walked Gerald Perry, before a Terry Harper single combined with a Howard Johnson error allowed two runs to score. The Braves were then just one batter away from bringing the tying run up to bat. Unfortunately, Rick Camp didn’t have any additional magic in his bat, and he struck out struck out to end the game.

What may be the most shocking tidbit from this game is that the Braves gave the remaining fans exactly what they were promised: a fireworks show. At just about 4 a.m. it commenced, scaring local residents who thought that war with Russia had begun.

Over a 17-year career, former Toronto Blue Jay, Florida Marlin, and New York Met Carlos Delgado slashed .280/.383/.546/.929, which totals a 138 OPS+. Over those years, he won three Silver Slugger awards, was named to two All-Star teams* and was in the Top-10 in MVP voting four times.

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*In retrospect, only two is a crime.

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In 2000 and 2001, the first baseman played in all 162 games.

The 2003 season may have been the pinnacle of his career: 161 games played; .302/.426/.593/1.019 (an OPS that led the league); 161 OPS+; 42 home runs (just below his career high of 44 in 1999); 81 extra base hits; and a league-leading 145 RBI. That year he was an All-Star for the second time, won his third Silver Slugger award, and came in second in MVP voting. Interestingly, he lost the MVP race to Alex Rodriguez who scored seven more runs, hit five more dingers, but had a lower OPS (.995 vs. 1.019). Rodriguez tallied 8.4 bWAR (Delgado only had 5.9), which was buoyed by the then-Rangers’ shortstop’s 1.7 dWAR (compared to Delgado’s -1.4 dWAR at first base).

Delgado played twelve of his 17 seasons in Canada, so he didn’t become a household name. It wasn’t until he landed in New York, and then played ten postseason games with the Mets in 2006, that casual fans learned about him. Over two playoff series, he slashed .351/.442/.757/1.199, with four home runs and 11 RBI. New York lost the NLCS to the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, and, unfortunately, the Puerto Rican star never saw any further postseason action.

Signed by the Blue Jays in 1988 as an amateur free agent, Delgado made his major league debut in 1993, playing the final two games of the season, going 0-for-1 with a walk. He got his first big league hit in his first at-bat of the 1994 season, a single off Jack McDowell. He didn’t become an everyday player until 1996, when he logged 138 games and hit 25 homers. And then he became an institution north of the border. From 1997 through 2004, he never hit less than 30 dingers for the Jays.

Delgado entered free agency after the 2004 season, and signed with the (then) Florida Marlins. The following year Florida traded him to the Mets (despite his 32 home runs and 99 RBI) for three players who never amounted to anything in the big leagues. The Marlins have become synonymous with fire sales and making bad trades, and this one joins the ignominious list.

In four seasons in New York, Delgado had a 122 OPS+, with 104 home runs and 207 extra base hits. He batted only .267 (below his career mark), but his on-base percentage was still .351. And there was that 2006 playoff run.

He again became a free agent after the 2009 season, and remained unsigned until the Red Sox took a flier on him in August of 2010; but, he never played in Boston. In April, 2011, while at home in Puerto Rico, Delgado formally announced his retirement from baseball.

Eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2015, Delgado was only named on 3.8% of the ballots, and thus was not eligible for further consideration (a player needs at least 5% of the vote to remain on the ballot the next year).

By all practical considerations, Delgado is not a Hall of Famer. He only led the league in any category eight times, while the typical HOFer does that 27 times. By Baseball Reference’s “Hall of Fame Standards,” where 50 is an average Hall of Famer, Delgado scores a 44. And by Jay Jaffe’s JAWS analysis, Delgado falls short in (a) total bWAR, (b) 7-year peak, (c) bWAR over 162 games, and (d) total JAWS score.

However, that is nothing to be ashamed of. Delgado had an incredible career. He made more than $146 million. He is safely ensconced in the “Hall of Very Good,” and in 2013 he became the 10th player inducted into the Blue Jays’ Level of Excellence, which honors tremendous individual achievement.

The most important thing is that we as fans don’t forget Delgado’s career. Sometimes we get so fixated on the flashy and the fabulous, that we lose track of the solid and steady.

PLAY BALL!!

Note: A version of this article first appeared in the IBWAA’s “Here’s the Pitch” newsletter on June 3, 2025.

A version of this article first appeared in the May 13th edition of the IBWAA “Here’s The Pitch” newsletter.

In the last two weeks, two former big leaguers sat in the stands and watched their sons come through in the clutch.

In the sixth inning of a 1-1 game two Saturdays ago, Minnesota Twins infielder Kody Clemens, playing his first game at Fenway Park, smacked as two-run home run into the bullpen to give the visiting team a lead they would not relinquish. Kody did this in front of his proud dad (and mom) in the ballpark where that dad made his major league debut and starred for thirteen seasons.

Similarly, two Sundays ago in Milwaukee, Brewers right fielder Daz Cameron had a key run-scoring single in the sixth inning to help knock out Cubs’ ace Shota Imanaga, helping his club as they eventually completed a 4-0 victory. Daz did this with his father, Mike, sitting in the stands at the aptly named American Family Field. Cameron père played in Milwaukee for two of his 17 years in the majors.

There have been more than 250 father and son combinations in MLB history. We know the big ones, like the Ken Griffeys as well as the Cal Ripkens, not to mention the Jose Cruzes, Fernando Tatises and Vladimir Guerreros. But, more than just providing DNA and/or coaching progeny to help them reach the highest level of baseball, at its most basic level, the sport is simply about fathers and sons.

This past weekend I watched my son walk across the stage and receive his college diploma (well, he walked across a stage to receive a certificate, and the diploma will come in the mail). I have provided my baseball-loving son my DNA, and like Roger Clemens and Mike Cameron, watched games at Fenway and American Family Field. However, in my case, my son was sitting next to me, and not standing in the batter’s box.

My son and I have visited a dozens of ballparks and seen countless games. Those are some of our best times together. But just because he has grown up and finished college, that doesn’t mean anything has to change. Heck, I took my dad to Wrigley Field just a couple of years ago, so there is no reason that baseball will not continue to be a form of connective tissue in our future.

If you are reading this newsletter, you don’t need me to tell you what Field of Dreams was all about. A kid just wanted to have a catch with his dad; and he literally moved the earth to do it. There is a reason these stories resonate with us. There is a reason why we get misty when we watch a parent (not always a father) cheering on his (or her) son as he takes the field for the first time. Who didn’t get the “feels” when the camera caught Matt Gorski’s family celebrating his hitting a home run in his first major league at-bat just a few weeks ago?

Sunday was Mother’s Day, so we cannot give mom short shrift. Cubs’ sensation Pete Crow-Armstrong was just discussing with a Cubs’ beat reporter how much it meant to him to have him mom at Coors Field when he entered his first game as a pinch runner. It is now widely believed that Abner Doublebay didn’t actually invent baseball, so that fact that he didn’t have any children is perfectly on-brand. (Alexander Cartwright, who maybe did invent baseball, had three boys.) From its inception, this has been a game of fathers and sons.

It was Freddie Freeman jumping into the netting to high-five his dad after hitting the triumphant walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of last season’s World Series. It was Max Muncy giving his father credit for getting his career back on track by throwing batting practice to him at a local high school. There is Doug Glanville candidly discussing how his career faltered when his father got sick and eventually passed away. The stories are legion.

And although my son stopped playing baseball his junior year of high school, he (and I) have never let go of the game. It is our generational lingua franca. Nearly four years ago I wrote about a pre-college trip where we traveled through the Midwest to watch baseball. I wrote about how East Ninth Street in Cleveland was a Rubicon. We went from “let’s go” to “letting go,” as he was about to embark on college, and I was about to let my first born out into the great wide world.

Well, Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin represented another Rubicon this past weekend. He completed what he set out to accomplish less than four years ago. Our time apart gave us space, but did not create distance. And now that he truly faces the real world, with a potential job even farther away, with adulting in the offing, baseball (among many topics) remains.

As Terence Mann says in that seminal film: “The one constant through all the years…has been baseball.” ‘Twas ever thus.

PLAY BALL!!

Two weeks ago, Matt Gorski of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit his first major league home run in his first major league at-bat, on the first pitch he saw. With that swing, Gorski became the 136^th member of this not-so-exclusive club – the first MLB at-bat homer club. And he joined an inclusive subset of that club, becoming just the 31^st player to do so on the first pitch.

Interestingly, of the 136 times this has happened, 90 have done it in the last 50 years. From 1895–1974, only 46 players hit a home run in their first big league at-bat, with Joe Harrington of the Boston Beaneaters being the first, on September 10, 1895. There is really no rhyme nor reason as to who does this. Aaron Judge did it, but so did James Outman (just called up from Triple-A).

Luke Stuart did the deed in 1921, and that was his only hit in the majors. Keith McDonald did it for the Cardinals on July 4, 2000, and never hit another home run. Hoyt Wilhelm, known for his knuckleball – which was good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame – hit a home run in first at-bat, never hit another, and finished his career with a .088 batting average.

My personal favorite happened on April 8, 1986, when rookie sensation Will Clark took future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan out to dead center in the Astrodome in his first big league at-bat. Historically, the Astrodome was a pitcher’s park, with bad lighting and dead air that did not allow the ball to carry. To hit a dinger to dead center off Nolan Ryan was quite the feat. Clark has discussed how the wily veteran, known for his “Ryan Express” fastball, started him with a curve. “Welcome to the big leagues, rook!”

On June 12, 2010, Daniel Nava made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox with the bases loaded. He deposited Joe Blanton’s first offering into the bullpen for a grand slam.

This phenomenon is becoming almost old hat. Since the start of the 2020 season, it has happened 16 times. Noted first-timers include:

Akil Badoo (Tigers, 2021). Badoo also did it on the first pitch, and used that as a jumping off point for the best year of his now four-year career.

Christopher Morel (Cubs, 2022). Morel, now with the Rays, has fallen off the last two seasons since his trade to the American League.

Brett Baty (Mets, 2022). Baty has not hit enough to become the everyday third baseman the Mets had hoped for, and after that first dinger, he has hit only 15 more.

Spencer Steer (Reds, 2022). The Reds have high hopes for Steer, who hit 23 home runs in 2023 and then another 20 in 2024. A shoulder injury has slowed him this year.

Josh Jung (Rangers, 2022). Injuries have derailed a strong start to Jung’s career. He played in only 46 games last season, and a finger laceration has sidelined him again this year.

Davis Schneider (Blue Jays, 2023). Schneider came to the big leagues like a house on fire, accumulating 1.8 bWAR in just 35 games, while hitting seven more home runs after that initial blast. Since then, the results have been considerably more muted.

Jasson Domínguez (Yankees, 2023). “The Martian” was supposed to be a savior for the Yankees, but he has not yet lived up to the hype. He has two home runs this season in 98 at-bats, and has only hit seven since his initial shot.

Jhonkensy Noel (Guardians, 2024). “Big Christmas” hit one of the biggest and loudest home runs of the post season last year (see below), which was on top of the inaugural dinger. This year has only hit two, while slashing .164/.186/.269.

Hitting a home run in your first major league at-bat is, more than anything, a fluke. It does not bode anything for the rest of your career. But it does provide an incredible moment for the player and his family if they were able to make it to the yard in time for the game. And really, at the end of the day, aren’t those special moments one of the main reasons why we love the game?

PLAY BALL!

My wife is always giving me hard time about playing the sliding doors game. She thinks it’s a waste of time. I had a colleague who once gave me a t-shirt that reads: “What if there were no hypothetical questions?”. And one my favorite books is Mike Pesca’s anthology, “Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs In Sports History.” (As an aside, if you haven’t done so already, be sure to pick up a copy. The Muhammad Ali and Tom Brady stories alone are worth the cover price.)

Last week I streamed “Fight For Glory,” the three-part Apple TV documentary about the 2024 World Series. It is an incredible watch, as the cameras and microphones were able to see and hear so much that we as viewers of just the Fox telecast could not. Having cameras in Freddie Freeman’s house, being with his family, and then in the training room with him prior to a game, gives us fans an entirely different vantage point and appreciation for what he went through to become a World Series hero.

The documentary does a fantastic job of interweaving actual game footage and various broadcast feeds. And whether it was Joe Buck on Fox, or Michael Kay and Suzyn Waldman on WFAN, or Steven Nelson and Rick Monday AM570, there was one consistent theme we heard over and over as the World Series progressed: “If and when Aaron Judge gets hot, he can carry this team to a championship.” As the documentary makes clear, each broadcaster said this nearly every time Judge came to the plate over the first four games.

As a reminder, through the first four games (well, through his first three at bats of Game 4), the eventual AL MVP was 1-for-13 with seven strikeouts and seven runners left on base. In the first three games of the Series, Judge swung and missed 18 times.

In the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 4, Judge laced a 107.8 MPH single to left. That at bat, that swing, that hit, felt different. He would end game 1-for-3, but he had to be feeling good about coming to the plate four times and not swinging through any pitches.

Judge’s first at bat of Game 5 resulted in a 108.9 MPH missile to right center for his first home run of the Fall Classic. On the Fox call, Joe Davis proclaimed: “Sleeping giant has awoken.”

Two at bats later he hit a ball 101 MPH to deep left for a fly out. Then in the eighth, he hit a 100 MPH double to left. At that point, it was clear to everyone watching that Judge was locked in and doing damage. Unfortunately for Yankees fans, Judge never got another at bat in the series. As we all know, the Dodgers came back to win Game 5 and with it, the World Series.

But what if the Yankees had not lost Game 5. What if they had not choked away a no-hitter and a 5-0 lead? What if they had held on to their 6-5 advantage late in the game? What if the series went back to Los Angeles, with Yankees having won three straight and having all the momentum and with the Dodgers on the ropes? Well, we will never know.

The Dodgers never had to throw another pitch to the six-time All-Star, two-time MVP, American League single-season home run champ, the man who had hit 196 home runs the previous four seasons combined, while still batting .300 with a 1.056 OPS and a 191 OPS+. In a different universe, there would have been two more World Series games. How would Judge have fared? It is impossible to know for sure, but we can speculate based on his next two official games.

On Opening Day (which would have been Game 6), Judge went 1-for-4 with a double, striking out twice. The next day, the Yankees second game of the 2025 season (what would have been Game 7), Judge went ham. How about 4-for-6 with three homers, eight RBI, and 14 total bases. What would that have looked like in Chavez Ravine, on the biggest stage, in a deciding game, on national television?

Just for kicks, Judge hit a home run the following day as well, while walking three times and scoring four runs.

Would the Judge of early 2025 (.417/.481/1.167 with five home runs through his first six games) have been who the Dodgers would have contended with in the final two games of the World Series? Probably not. But they would have had to contend with the guy whose previous seven World Series at bats went like this:

• 92.8 MPH fly out
• 107.8 MPH single
• 108.9 MPH home run
• Walk
• 100.9 MPH fly out
• Walk
• 100.1 MPH double

Does anyone think that the shaky Dodgers rotation and/or bullpen wanted to face that version of Aaron Judge with the title on the line? Does anyone think that Judge wouldn’t have had at least a couple of memorable at bats in Games 6 and/or 7? Does anyone think that the Dodgers weren’t thanking their lucky stars that they came home with the Commissioner’s Trophy rather than trying to figure out how to get the suddenly red hot Aaron Judge out eight or ten more times?

Sliding doors. They are fun to think about.

PLAY BALL!!

Last Thursday was MLB’s Opening Day. A day of renewal, as teams start the season with a clean slate and great hope for the future. The same is true for the players. While they all start with a .000 batting average, that can only go up from there.

Some players get their seasons off to brilliant starts, having Opening Days for the ages. This year was no exception, two players remarkable games:

Kyle Manzardo of the Cleveland Guardians walked in his first at bat of the year. In the top of the fourth, he tripled and ultimately scored. In the sixth inning, he hit a solo home run. After striking out looking in the eighth, Manzardo took advantage of extra innings, hitting a two-run double in the top of the tenth to ultimately win the game for the Guardians. When all was said and done, Manzardo was a single shy of the cycle—which would have been only the second Opening Day cycle in MLB history (more about that below)—with four RBI.

MacKenzie Gore of the Washington Nations threw six innings, allowing just one hit, while striking out 13 Phillies. Gore matched Bob Gibson (more about that below) as the only pitchers in AL/NL history with that many strikeouts and no walks in a scoreless outing on Opening Day.

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While those were quite the performances for one guy who with 156 previous big league at bats and only 15 runs batted in before Thursday afternoon, and one guy who only has 73 big league starts to his credit, they pale compared to some of the greatest Opening Days of all time. Here are just a few, starting with the pitchers:

Walter Johnson, pitching for the Senators in 1926 tossed 15 innings, giving up no runs while striking out nine against three walks in the their 1-0 win over the Athletics (then in Philadelphia).

Bob Feller, throwing for the then-Indians in 1940 what is still the only AL/NL Opening Day no-hitter. He struck out eight but issued five walks.

In the first of his nine straight Opening Day starts in 1967, Bob Gibson threw a complete-game shutout against the Giants, allowing just five hits and striking out 13 without issuing a single walk. Pretty good company for Mr. Gore.

Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw fell short of Feller and Gibson in 2013, allowing four hits, but he handed out no walks while striking out only seven. Kershaw also added his own home run. (At the plate, Feller went 0-for-3 in his gem; Gibson, alas, went 0-for-4.)

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Now, for the hitters, including a few from Detroit:

In 1937, Gee Walker of Tigers hit for the cycle and went 4-for-4 while also scoring twice in the Detroit’s 4-3 win over Cleveland.

On Opening Day in 1986, future October hero Kirk Gibson went 4-for-4 without cycling: he hit two home runs and drove five home, helping push the Tigers past the Red Sox, 6-5.

On that same day, Jim Presley of the Mariners went 3-for-4 with two home runs and 6 RBIs in a ten-inning, 8-4 win over the Angels.

Coming off a 47-homer season in 1987, George Bell rang in 1988 with three dingers against the Royals in a 5-3 Blue Jays win.

On Dwight Gooden’s final Opening Day as a Met, Karl (“Tuffy”) Rhodes hit three homers off Doc at Wrigley Field. The bad news: it was not enough, as the Cubs fell to the Mets, 12-8.

In 1999, Dodgers’ outfielder Raúl Mondesi tried his best to match the best previous Opening Days: going 4-for-5 with two homers and six RBIs, plus a walk. That helped the Dodgers to an 8-6 win over the Diamondbacks.

Corey Patterson of the Cubs went 4-for-6 with two homers and seven RBIs as his Cubs drubbed the Mets, 15-2 in 2003.

Another Tiger, Dmitri Young went wild in 2005, hitting three home runs with five RBI in a 4-for-4 day (plus a hit-by-pitch) as Detroit throttled Kansas City, 11-2.

The Royals were victimized yet again in 2018 as Matt Davidson crushed three homers in the White Sox’s 14-7 win over the Royals.

Most recently, in 2023, Adley Rutschman went a cool 5-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and four RBIs, as the Orioles edged the Red Sox, 10-9.

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Baseball analysts are always quick to downplay “small sample size” assessments, so there is no need to extrapolate anything from any of the above games. Johnson, Feller, Bob Gibson, and (eventually) Kershaw are Hall of Famers, so their Opening Day success is not shocking.

But Walker went on to slash .335/.380/.499 in 1937 for the second-highest OPS of his career, making his only All-Star team. Kirk Gibson’s 1986 turned out to be relatively pedestrian, but Presley’s was the second-best season of his career.

Bell’s 1988, Rhodes’ 1994, Mondesi’s 1999, Young’s 2005, and Davidson’s 2018 were all middle-of-the-road. Patterson’s 2003 was his best. And Rutschman ended 2023 as a Top-10 Most Valuable Player Award vote-getter while winning a Silver Slugger Award.

Long story short, it is best simply to appreciate these great Opening Day performances, as there are absolutely no conclusions that can be drawn from them. After that one great game, there are still 161 to go.

PLAY BALL!!

A version of this story appeared in the April 2nd edition of IBWAA’s “Here’s the Pitch” newsletter.