Casual Diehard

We have no doubt that our friends at The Sickos Sentinel will have their own thoughts on this, as Commissioner Escalante was so enthusiastic on the episode, but we need to bring our own research to the academy on the most important question in footballogy: what is Long Snapper U.?

The rankings at BNB Football, the most trusted source for long snapper rankings because it has ranked long snappers for the last eight years, go back eight years. The top 10 for the last eight years should give us a good idea of who’s cranking out the long snapper products, who is Long Snapper U.

The answer is remarkably clear.

There are 13 schools who have landed multiple long snappers on the top 10 list of NFL Draft prospects.

Twelve of those schools have had two: Air Force, Alabama, Baylor, Florida, Iowa State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Oregon, San Diego State, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

One school has had three big-time long snapper prospects. And why not, since they’re the pinnacle of the sport? Georgia.

Thanks again to the Commish for joining us, and congratulations to the Sickos on forming their LLC. We loved having Brooke on to talk baseball (see below), loved doing this show, and look forward to a long and happy friendship with the Sickos. Yes… HA HA HA… YES!

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When you come across an “it’s been a while since the Knicks did a thing in the playoffs” stat, it generally means you have come across any historic Knicks playoff stat. But, hey, do you know the last time the Knicks closed out a series with a Game 5 road win?

Of course you do, it’s the Allan Houston game.

That was one of nine all-time road Game 5 victories that the Knicks have ever had. The eighth, to be exact, because in the Eastern Conference finals, Latrell Sprewell put 29 points on the Pacers to break a 2-2 series tie, followed by Reggie Miller shooting 3-for-18 and scoring eight points in Game 6, which the Knicks won, 90-82, to go to their most recent NBA Finals.

An aside: We as a nation should be talking more about the time Reggie Miller came to Madison Square Garden with the season on the line and put up the John Starks game from the 1994 Finals. Three-for-eighteen instead of two-for-eighteen, and a made three-pointer on eight tries compared to Starks’ 0-for-11, but still, eight lousy points and have a nice summer. Only, John Starks wasn’t a Hall of Famer carrying the 1994 Knicks. He was a dude who had a bad night. Reggie Miller, on the other hand, is a Hall of Famer and also a choke artist whose signature moment only happened because he shoved Greg Anthony and somehow got away with it.

It was Knicks in six in that Eastern Conference finals, which of course was best-of-seven, but the first round at that time was best-of-five, which is why Houston’s shot kind of feels like it was in a Game 7.

Not to take away from the achievements of the Knicks teams who won do-or-die Game 5s on the road — at Detroit in 1984, at Boston in 1990, at Miami in 1998 in addition to 1999 — but that’s a different kettle of fish. A nearly equal sized kettle, as it accounts for four out of the Knicks’ nine Game 5 road wins ever. We are not going to simply overlook Bernard King scoring 44 at Joe Louis Arena, or Patrick Ewing dropping a 31-8-10 at the Other Garden, nor Starks connecting for 5-for-9 from downtown in a win-or-go-home game in which the running-on-fumes Knicks started Terry Cummings and gave legit minutes to Anthony Bowie, and won by 17 points.

Of the four times the Knicks have won a Game 5 on the road in a best-of-seven series, two have been series clinchers and two have not. The first was decidedly not, as the 1951 Knicks needed every bit of Connie Simmons’ 26 points and Max Zalsofsky’s 24 to stay alive in the Finals against the Rochester Royals. The Knicks forced a return trip to western New York for Game 7, but fell, 79-75 — two of those Rochester points scored by Red Holzman.

Two decades later, Holzman guided the Knicks to all the rest of their road Game 5 wins. First was Game 5 of the 1972 Eastern Conference semifinals in Baltimore, where Jerry Lucas led the way with 20 points and 16 rebounds. The Knicks went home and won Game 6 and the series, 107-101, with incredible balance that saw Lucas and Walt Frazier score 22 apiece, with 20 each for Dave DeBusschere and Bill Bradley.

That Game 6, by the way, is the last time the Knicks had four 20-point scorers in a playoff game. The Lakers did that in Game 1 against Memphis this year with Rui Hachimura (29), Austin Reaves (23), Anthony Davis (22), and some guy named LeBron James (21). Actually, if D’Angelo Russell (19) could have gotten one more bucket, the Lakers would’ve been the first team with five guys scoring 20-plus in a playoff game since Game 5 of the 1987 Finals (Danny Ainge, Larry Bird, Dennis Johnson, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish). Problem for that Celtics team was, the Lakers did the same dang thing in Game 2 with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Cooper, Magic Johnson, Byron Scott, and James Worthy, and Los Angeles won the series in six.

You know who else beat the Celtics? The 1972 Knicks, in five games, including 111-103 to padlock the arena by North Station for the summer. Or, for exactly one week before Game 1 of Bruins-Rangers in that year’s Stanley Cup Final.

That was the first time that the Knicks closed out a playoff series with a Game 5 road win. The second time, and the only other time that they did it in a best-of-seven?

It was the last time the Knicks won the NBA title, with Earl Monroe scoring 23 and Willis Reed adding 18 and 12 to give New York its second title in four seasons. That’s the last time the Knicks closed out a best-of-seven with a Game 5 road win, and the last time they won a title — 20 years before this retrospective piece that’s now 30 years old.

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Aaron Rodgers is a Jet now, which sounds like, “hey, that’s the guy to rewrite the record books for this sad-sack franchise.” What’s easy to forget is that Rodgers is going to turn 40 next season, and he’s coming off a year in which the only Jets records he would have broken were starts (17) and completions (350).

Aside from that? Rodgers has a lot of ex-Jets looking at his 2022 season and feeling pretty good about staying where they are on this graphic, except for the graphic needing to be edited to look better. You know what we mean. Anyway, feel the excitement!

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The Knicks, the New York Knicks, the professional basketball team from New York City, the Knicks, ore formally known as the New York Knickerbockers… are one win away from reaching the second round of the playoffs for the first time in a decade.

Being up 3-1 in a playoff series isn’t really something to celebrate, is it? Uh, yeah it is.

Knicks fandom, in my lifetime, has been a constant series of gut punches, butt punches, nut punches, really all kinds of punches. I was born eight years after their last championship, and I’ve seen two Finals appearances and more heartbreaks than I can count.

If you can’t enjoy going up 3-1 in a series, especially in a series that you weren’t favored to win, especially when you haven’t seen a series win in 10 years… what’s the goddamn point of being a fan? Tracy Morgan gets it, and so should you.

But about this 3-1 thing. The Knicks did lead the Celtics by that margin in that last series win, in 2013… after having led 3-0 and before leading 3-2.

Before that, do you know the last time the Knicks were in this solid control of a best-of-seven series? NINETEEN NINETY-NINE. But the Knicks swept the Hawks in that series, so technically they weren’t up 3-1.

The last time the Knicks went from up 2-1 to up 3-1 in a series, to get the feeling that they have leading into Game 5 in Cleveland — a chance to close out and momentum — was the second round in 1997 against the Heat. The Knicks lost the series.

When’s the last time the Knicks won a Game 4 to take a 3-1 series lead, and then went on to win the series? The second round of the 1993 playoffs against the Charlotte Hornets.

Before that? 1973. Did it three times, in fact. Beat the Bullets in five, the Celtics in seven, and the Lakers in five.

So, yeah, New York is pretty fired up about being up 3-1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. We don’t get to experience this much, and when it does, we’re gonna enjoy it.

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The other day, I wrote on the We Can Pod It Out show notes, “an extensive accompanying newsletter that I hope to write” could be part of this episode. Sorry to tell you that it is not, but glad to tell you that my digital journalism urge to do power rankings of baseball managers’ celebratory throwability was beaten back. Instead, please enjoy this video of Tsuyoshi Shinjo, whose exploits in Japan we discussed on this show, throwing out Robin Ventura by so much at third base, Ty Wigginton had to look for him.

That play was in 2003, when Shinjo hit .193/.238/.246 with no stolen bases and only four extra-base hits in 124 plate appearances… and still was above replacement level (0.2 bWAR) because of his defense.

That got me curious, and rather than expand on things said on a podcast, why not stay true to Willets Pen style, and use this as an opportunity to learn something weird.

Thanks to Stathead, here are the most plate appearances in a season for players with positive WAR and negative oWAR (the offensive component)…

Warren Cromartie, 1979 Montreal Expos: 710 (1.8, -0.3)

Rico Brogna, 1999 Phillies: 679 (0.2, -0.2)

Bill Collins, 1910 Boston Doves: 660 (0.2, -1.0)

Rick Bosetti, 1979 Blue Jays: 657 (0.5, -0.3)

Manny Trillo, 1976 Cubs: 649 (0.2, -0.2)

…and for Britt’s sake…

Pedro Feliz, 2006 Giants: 644 (1.8, -0.2)

The top one of these seasons for the 21st century, when we have more reliable WAR components, is something for sure.

For the Mets, the guy you’d probably expect is on the team list (on which Shinjo’s 2003 ranks 52nd in team history), but not at the top…

Hubie Brooks, 1983: 624 (0.2, -0.7)

Rey Ordoñez, 1999: 588 (2.8, -0.4)

Jeromy Burnitz, 2002: 550 (0.1, -0.1)

Ordoñez, 1996: 530 (0.9, -0.1)

Jeff Francoeur, 2010: 447 (1.1, -0.6)

For a full career, Ordoñez ranks 11th in baseball history at 3,407 plate appearances with a 1.2 career WAR and -3.7 career oWAR. The top 10?

Tim Foli (1970-85): 6,573 (5.6, -0.3)

Neifi Pérez (1996-2007): 5,510 (2.6, -3.4)

César Izturis (2001-13): 4,679 (6.1, -0.9)

John Corkhill (1883-92): 4,614 (5.1, -2.1)

Pedro Feliz (2000-10): 4,544 (5.6, -0.7)

Malachi Kittridge (1890-1906): 4,464 (1.6, -0.2)

Jimmy McAleer (1889-1907): 4,423 (1.5, -3.0)

Mike Lum (1967-81): 3,999 (5.1, -0.1)

Hugh Nicol (1881-90): 3,825 (4.1, -0.9)

Mark Lemke (1988-98): 3,664 (6.1, -1.7)

Kittridge is interesting because his name jumps out, and because he’s 45th all-time in career passed balls with 202. But for context, that’s one fewer than Hall of Famer Jim O’Rourke, 108 fewer than Hall of Famer Connie Mack, 158 fewer than Hall of Famer Buck Ewing, 218 fewer than Hall of Famer King Kelly, 289 fewer than Hall of Famer Wilbert Robinson, 303 fewer than Hall of Famer Deacon White… and 561 behind all-time passed ball king Pop Snyder.

Want to talk about the unbreakable records in sports? Pop Snyder had SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-THREE PASSED BALLS. Drew Smith threw 780 pitches for the Mets last season. Casey Stengel sure was right about the Mets picking Hobie Landrith at the start of their expansion draft, that without a catcher, you have a lot of passed balls… but in the era he grew up in, it didn’t seem to matter.

The active leader in passed balls, Yasmani Grandal, has 92. There were seven seasons in the 19th century where that wouldn’t have led the league, from Rudy Kemmier’s record 114 in 1883 to Doc Bushong’s 95 in 1881.

Only one post-integration player is even in the top 50 all time for passed balls, and it’s eight-time All-Star Lance Parrish, who had 192 of ‘em from 1977-95 with the Tigers, Phillies, Angels, Mariners, Cleveland, Pirates, and Blue Jays.

In 600 major league games this year, there’s been a total of 31 passed balls. In 1884, there were 3,907 in 3,074 games. So, from 1.27 passed balls per game to 0.05 passed balls per game, all in just a matter of 139 easy years!

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Regular readers of this newsletter/podcast accompaniment knew last night that Pete Alonso didn’t just reclaim the major league home run lead all by himself with his blast in San Francisco, he tied a Mets team record with his ninth dinger in 20 games to start the season.

Dave Kingman got to nine homers in 18 games in 1976, while Neil Walker hit his ninth dinger of 2016, like Alonso, in game 20. In all three cases, the players appeared in each of the Mets’ first 20 games.

Walker stopped going deep so much after his blistering April for the defending National League champions that season. His 10th homer came in Denver on May 14, his 34th game of the season and the Mets’ 36th. As for Kingman, his 10th homer of 1976 came in his and the team’s 23rd game of the year, on May 4 to help Tom Seaver get a 5-3 victory over his future Reds teammates.

And Kingman stayed hot, as his 14 homers in his first 30 games of 1976 (he played the first 39, for the record), still the most in Mets history, ahead of… also Kingman, with 12 in 1982. Yoenis Céspedes hit 11 in his first 30 games of both 2015 (after coming to the Mets) and 2016 (taking the team lead from Walker in the latter), while Mike Jacobs got to 11 in 30 in 2005 and Carlos Delgado in 2006.

Alonso already has matched his own career-best start, which was nine homers in his first 30 games in 2019. The others he’ll join in double figures with one dinger in the next 10 games? Frank Thomas (1962), Ron Swoboda (1965), Todd Hundley (1997), Benny Agbayani (1999), Mike Piazza (2001), Richard Hidalgo (post-trade 2004), Cliff Floyd (2005), Carlos Beltrán (2006), and John Buck (2013).

And if you’re wondering about Darryl Strawberry, his best start was nine homers in his first 30 games of 1988, matching Alonso’s 2019, Jeff Kent (1994), Piazza (2000), Rod Barajas (2010), Walker, and Jay Bruce (2017).

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Editor’s note: We did a Willets Pod “heavy” episode last night, so watch for that on the feed, along with an extensive accompanying newsletter that I hope to write… and also I made the following cursed image which… I’m not sure who should be angriest about it. Let us know in the Discord?

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Editor’s note: A better editor would’ve had something to say about Darryl Strawberry here, but instead I created Father Sickobocker.

Hey, it’s still 1-1 coming back to Madison Square Garden, no matter how bad Game 2 was. And soon you’ll see me with a Father Sickobocker t-shirt and a Golden State Warios t-shirt because what is this if not an excuse to make clothes for myself?

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Hi, Jesse here. The delay in this episode is (as usual) on me, in this case because I had a lot of thoughts that I want to expand on from what we talked about on the show… but also I don’t. Maybe eventually, like how I didn’t really want to take the episode in that direction… but deep down, I did. Anyway, semi-publicly dealing with issues that include the lines in life between public and private, it gets to hurting the ol’ brain sometimes. So here we are. Hope you enjoy the episode.

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After yesterday’s Ron Swoboda rabbit hole brought to you by the second of Brandon Nimmo’s catches in Oakland, Nimmo went out last night and demanded not only an update to our Instagram video, but an accompanying piece on Tommie Agee.

Agee, like Swoboda, was on the 1969 Mets but not the 1973 Mets, as he was traded to the Astros for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris after the 1972 season. It wasn’t really good for anyone, as Agee hit a steep decline after a 1971 campaign in which he hit .285/.362/.428 with 14 homers — already a step down from when he finished sixth in the 1969 MVP vote and won a posted a career-best .812 OPS in 1970.

Agee played only 84 games for the Astros, was traded to the Cardinals for Dave Campbell in August, then on to the Dodgers for Pete Richert in December of that year. Los Angeles cut Agee before the 1974 season — the Dodgers went on to follow the 1973 Mets by winning the pennant, while Agee never played professionally again.

Chiles only got into eight games as a Met, all in 1973, as he went 3-for-25 and drove in one run. The Mets released Chiles the following April, and he wound up spending the entire 1974 season in the minors with the Hawaii Islanders of the Pacific Coast League, a Padres affiliate that included Bernie Williams — a different one who wound up starring in Japan for a few years. Chiles played 1976 with the Astros and 1977-78 with the Twins before finishing up with the 1979 Tacoma Tugs (Cleveland affiliate) and 1980 Portland Beavers (Pittsburgh affiliate).

Harris, meanwhile, played zero games with the Mets. He did pitch alongside Bob Apodaca and Craig Swan while going 8-11 with a 3.11 ERA for the 1973 Tidewater Tides, but that was it. Harris pitched seven games for the Mexico City Tigers in 1974 and that was all for him.

That’s not as exciting as all the Metsness that flowed in Swoboda’s wake… perhaps because of a different history ore in Agee’s. That final trade, the one that the 1973 Dodgers made to try to catch the Reds (they finished 3.5 games behind in the NL West that year), let’s go back to Pete Richert and why that’s a familiar name.

For one thing, it’s because Richert was part of the 1963 Dodgers and 1970 Orioles, so he’s got two rings — although he only had nine batters faced across four different postseason in which he appeared, and that doesn’t include ‘63 because he didn’t.

Richert also was part of three other trades in his career, all involving guys named Frank. In 1964, it was Richert going from the Dodgers to the second edition of the Washington Senators, along with Frank Howard, Ken McMullen, and Phil Ortega, for John Kennedy, Claude Osteen, and Dick Nen. Richert’s exit from Washington was a quick trip to Baltimore when the Senators traded him in 1967 for Frank Bertaina and Mike Epstein. Finally, in 1971, Richert returned to the Dodgers, in a trade that sent Doyle Alexander, Bob O’Brien, Sergio Robles, and Royle Stillman to Baltimore. The Dodgers also got Frank Robinson in that deal.

That brings us back to the Mets, and although it’s really to Swoboda again, it does come home to Agee, quite literally. It was Robinson who scored the tying run when Swoboda made his spectacular grab to rob Brooks Robinson of extra bases and the go-ahead RBI in the ninth inning of Game 4 in 1969.

After Tom Seaver recovered from giving up the lead to get through a scoreless 10th inning, Dick Hall gave up a leadoff double to Jerry Grote and an intentional walk to Al Weis. The Orioles called to the bullpen for Richert, the Mets sent up J.C. Martin to pinch-hit for Seaver, and Agee was on deck when Grote came home to score the winning run on Richert’s throwing error.

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