True Tales from the Big Leagues

The guys go old school this week as they look back at the 1800s to find some true tales of the big leagues.

Parker regales us with some of the crazy rules from the early days of baseball, which helps explain the wild scores and then he tells us about the 1871 Chicago White Stockings.

Marty then shares the story of Guy Hecker, who would "unfortunately" win 50 games in one season, but was the Shohei Ohtani of his time (except he played first base when not pitching).

Sources:

Guy Hecker

1871 Chicago White Stockings

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Parker and Marty are back for the the third and final round of players who had one great season and then disappeared.

We chose the players independently and in different fashions.

Parker chose a player that debuted near when Marty was born and Marty accidentally chose another player from the 1980 Indians.

Sources:

Baseball-Reference.com - Joe Charbonneau

Baseball-Reference.com - Ken Harrelson

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Parker and Marty are back for the second round of players who had one great season and then disappeared.

We chose the players independently and in different fashions.

Interestingly enough, Parker chose a player from long before he was born and Marty chose a player from his childhood that he saw play in person many times.

Sources:

Baseball-Reference.com - Miguel Dilone

Baseball-Reference.com - Jim Finigan

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a brief hiatus, Parker and Marty are back to talk about players who had one great season and then disappeared.

We chose the players independently and today's pair debuted 63 years apart.

Sources:

Baseball-Reference.com - Bill James

Baseball-Reference.com - Mark Fidrych

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most baseball fans know that 11-time Gold Glover first baseman Keith Hernandez was a 42nd-round draft pick and Hall of Famer Mike Piazza was drafted in the 62nd round, but did you know there was an 83rd-round draft pick that made it to the Major Leagues?

This is Danny Young's story.

Resources:

Danny Bracy Young on Baseball-Reference.com

Danny Bracy Young on B-R Bullpen

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I had a childhood friend who pitched in the Major Leagues. He regaled me with stories of facing Don Mattingly, Wade Boggs, Mark McGwire and other superstars when we were in our early 20s.

One day he called me from the road to tell me the story of his first Major League save opportunity.

This is that story.

Sources for this episode are 

Baseball-Reference.com (Mike Cook)

The game in question

My Shakey Memory

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most baseball players spend thousands of hours practicing, playing and learning about baseball on their way to the to the Major Leagues, IF they’re even good enough and lucky enough to be one of the tiny fraction of players that make it to the Big Leagues.

Some become stars and/or stick around for 10 or more years, living out their childhood fantasies.

Some go up and down between AAA and the Big Leagues and of course, there's everything in between.

Today, Parker and I talk about a pitcher whose dream came true on a rainy June evening at Citi Field in New York in 2010.

Jim Leyland once said “15 minutes in the Majors means you’re a great baseball player”, when describing how hard it was to make it to the Big Leagues.

That rainy day in New York,  Jay Sborz fell about 2 and a half minutes short of that 15-minute mark as he debuted for the Detroit Tigers and the dream he had worked for most of his life came true, fell apart and ended, all within 12 minutes and 30 seconds…

Sources for this episode are 

Baseball-Reference.com (Jay Sborz)

YouTube.com (Sborz enters the game around the 2:09:00 mark)

“Where Nobody Knows Your Name”

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the things Parker and I like to do is meander through baseball-reference.com in our free time. OK, we're not very exciting.

But every once in a while we come across a gem like the one that took place on July 6, 1916 between the Phillies and Reds.

It started as a blowout, with the Reds taking a 10-0 lead. Then the 9th inning happened.

Parker found this one and he tells the story of what he believes is the weirdest game he's heard of.

Sources for this episode:

Baseball-Reference.com

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and this week mostly Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phlip Humber was the third overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft, but things didn't go as planned. He spent years in the minors and was released twice before making the White Sox in 2011.

Then, on April 21, 2012, in Seattle in his second start of the season, Humber did something only 20 pitchers in MLB history had accomplished at that time.

25 of the outs were relatively routine. One required a leaping grab on the warning track. The last out is the story of the game.

This is the story of the unlikeliest perfect game ever and Humber's journey that followed.

Sources for this episode:

MLB.com (includes video of final out).

Baseball-Reference.com

Wikipedia.com - Philip Humber's Perfect Game

True Tales of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and sometimes Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 2016 Oakland A's were one of the first teams that Parker ever followed. They weren't very good, but they were full of interesting players with names like Coco and Dull, not to mention Rzepczynski and Wendleken.

They lost 93 games, but many of their players went on to be World Champions and Superstars on other teams while others faded away, some for years before returning to MLB and some forever.

Parker explains how a kid from Texas became enchanted with a struggling team in Oakland, California and why he's nostalgic about the team enough for us to make a trip to O.co Coliseum this summer.

Sources for this episode include:

Baseball-Reference.com: The 2016 Oakland A's

Our eyes (No Link) and Brains (No Link)

True Tails of the Big Leagues is a Seldom Used Reserve Podcast and is narrated by Marty Coleman and he is joined this week by Parker Coleman. 

Co-executive producers are Parker Coleman and Marty Coleman.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.