Dr. Doug Feldmann, author of Gibson’s Last Stand: The Rise, Fall, and Near Misses of the St. Louis Cardinals, remembers the first and only time he saw Bob Gibson pitch. It was 1974. Gibson was 38 years old, Feldmann was four.

“This Gibson guy is horrible,” Feldmann remembers telling father on the car ride home after the game.

Feldmann’s dad, who played professional baseball, quickly explained where Gibson was in his career. Doug had missed the good stuff; like 1968 when Gibson started 34 games, pitching 304 innings, including 28 complete games to finish 22-9 with a season ERA of 1.12.

Feldmann never saw Gibson pitch in his prime, which he compiled five 20-win seasons and seven seasons where he pitched 20 or more complete games. By the time Doug set eyes on the Hall of Fame pitcher, his skills had diminished setting the stage for Feldmann’s book.

As you will hear in the latest edition of Voices: A Sports Podcast, Feldmann talks about the least memorable, less chronicled days of Gibson’s otherwise storied career – 1968-1975. While Gibson remained on top of his game through 1973, age and the events surrounding him were beginning to catch up with him.

As the publisher describes, from 1968-1975 Bob Gibson struggled to maintain his pitching excellence at the end of his career, changes in American culture ultimately changed the St. Louis Cardinals and the business and pastime of baseball itself … Gibson mourned the end of the Golden Era of baseball and believed that the changes in the game would be partially blamed on him, as his pitching success caused team owners to believe that cash-paying customers only wanted base hits and home runs. Yet, he contended, the shrinking of the strike zone, the lowering of the mound, and the softening of the traditional rancor between the hitter and pitcher forever changed the role of the pitcher in the game and created a more politically correct version of the sport.

You can listen to Dr. Feldmann reflect on Gibson’s later years in this edition of Voices …

Gibson’s Last Stand: The Rise, Fall, and Near Misses of the St. Louis Cardinals is available at all major booksellers. You can purchase the book on Amazon.com here.

Time magazine called the moment “the most iconic play in sports” for 2010. Veteran Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce has no explanation. “I can’t even explain the feeling, because there are no words,” he told ESPN.com. Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galaragga, on the other hand, calls it a perfect game — still.

On June 2, 2010, Joyce was umpiring first base in Detroit for the Tigers and Cleveland Indians game. Galaragga was clinging to a major league roster spot. On this night he did more than that. He retired the first 26 Indians consecutively and was on the brink of immortality.

Indians rookie Jason Donald hit a routine ground ball to first base. Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera fielded the ball cleanly, flipped to Galaragga covering first and … bang (the ball smacked Galaragga’s glove), bang (Galaragga’s foot hit the bag), bang (Donald’s foot hit the bag) and bang (Joyce’s life turned upside down).

Joyce called Donald safe when he was clearly out. Without the aid of a replay, it seemed everyone except Joyce knew the call was wrong. After the game, Joyce admitted it too, but still the replay, the interviews, the phone calls and letters poured in for days, weeks and months.

The next morning, New York author Dan Paisner called his agent at William Morris agency, both baseball fans, to ask if he’d seen the play. Paisner floated the idea of writing a book to his agent. The result: Nobody’s Perfect: Two men, One Call and a Game for Baseball History was released in late May 2011, almost one year to the day of the event.

Paisner joined me via phone from his home in New York for the latest edition of Voices — A Sports Podcast. We discuss the play, the player, the umpire, the historical significance and how the event effected both Galaragga and Joyce.

Nobody’s Perfect: Two Men, One Call and a Game for Baseball History is available at all major booksellers. You can purchase the book on Amazon.com here.

Major League Baseball has had its share of troubled times. In terms of sheer dirt, three scandals rise to the top: Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox, the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials, and the steroid era. The former and latter have been covered extensively. Yet there has never been a book detailing the biggest drug trials in baseball history. The Pittsburgh Cocaine Seven tells the whole story in all its shocking details.

The MLB participants were among the game’s elite, as a virtual all-star team had come to Pittsburgh. Implicated as cocaine users: Keith Hernandez, Dave Parker, Lee Mazzilli, Dusty Baker, Lonnie Smith, Joaquin Andujar, John Milner, Dale Berra. Mentioned as using amphetamines: Willie Mays, Willie Stargell.

But the guys who took the fall for these superstars were just average fans, not heavy hitters or major drug dealers, and this book reveals the often comic circumstances of how they set up deals–and how they got busted.In 1985, it seemed the league was poised to implement a drug testing policy for the players. Obviously, that didn’t happen, and because of this inaction, the steroid era came along–and with it all of the broken records that transformed the sport. That’s what makes this story so relevant today.

Related Links:

PittsburghCocaineSeven.com

Buy the Book:

• Amazon.com
• Barnes and Noble

Dave Hudgens relationship with the New York Mets started in 1969 — as a fan. Six years later, in 1975, the Mets drafted Hudgens in the fifth round of the January draft, but he never signed a contract.

“It’s kind of ironic that I get to work for them now,” Hudgens said during a phone interview from Venezuela on Thursday. “I never really thought I would get the opportunity because I really didn’t know anyone. When Sandy (Alderson) called, I was really excited.”

When Alderson took over as the general manager of the Oakland Athletics in 1984, Hudgens was on his way out. The organization told him he could keep playing in Triple-A or he could take a minor league managerial job. Hudgens heart said keep playing; his head told him get into this while you’re young and maybe you can make baseball a career.

As he sat around the table interviewing with Alderson, new Mets manager Terry Collins, Jeff Wilpon, J.P. Riccardi, Paul DePodesta and John Ricco, Hudgens began to sense the confirmation he had been waiting for since he decided to coach 26 years earlier. His instincts were officially confirmed Monday, when the Mets announced Hudgens would the team’s next hitting instructor.

During the interview, Hudgens sold the Mets brass on his hitting philosophy which can be summed up in two words: smart and disciplined. Get used to those terms Mets fans, because Hudgens will encourage his hitters to be smart,  disciplined and patient — working deep into the count of every possible at bat.

“Some people say it’s an unaggressive approach,” he explained. “But over the 20 years I’ve been coaching in Oakland and Cleveland, it’s an aggressive approach, but it’s a smart approach. You have to be disciplined.”

Hudgens is managing in Caracas, and will continue until the season ends sometime in mid-January. He confessed he hasn’t had the opportunity to study video of Mets hitters, but he is expecting a box full of videos arriving from New York any day now. Call it an early Christmas gift from the Mets. Hudgens said he plans to spend Christmas in Caracas, studying video and taking notes on his new pupils.

What he has seen are statistics — and what’s on paper tells a story too. “Everybody’s seen the numbers,” said Hudgens. “They’re pretty obvious, but they have a bunch of quality hitters. The potential is there, the hitters are there, the talent is there.”

While Hudgens is expected to get up-to-speed on the entire roster, both he and the Mets know the value of getting Jose Reyes on base. Hudgens has seen Reyes’ plunging statistics too. In 2010, Reyes’ on-base percentage leading off an inning was .321, a full 50 points lower than his career best (.372) in 2006. He recorded a 27% swing rate at non-strike pitches. Reyes walked a career-high 77 times in 2007, while stealing a career-high 78 bases; in 2010, 31 walks and 30 stolen bases in 133 games.

Mark Simon at ESPN-New York also dug up this numerical nugget: According to Bill James Online, last season, the Mets scored 87 runs in the 83 innings in which Reyes led off by getting on base (1.05 per inning). In the 163 innings he didn’t reach, the Mets scored 35 runs (.21 per inning).

“I’ve seen him play and admire his talent,” said Hudgens. “If you get a guy like that at the top of your lineup that’s getting on base, with that has explosive speed … all your numbers are going to go up. Jose knows what he’s doing. He knows what he has to do. I’ll just be there to remind him.”

Hudgens said he plans on sitting down with Reyes in Spring Training and discuss his past and present approach before giving feedback to the Mets leadoff hitter.

“Most of the time, when guys start getting away from being high on-base percentage guys, they’re trying to help the team, they’re trying to get on base and a lot of times they end up going out of the strike zone and helping the pitcher out,” explained Hudgens. “When you go out of the strike zone against major league pitching it’s tough to get hits. When pitchers know you’re going out of the strike zone you’re going to see fewer good pitches to hit. That just comes from being a little but overly aggressive and usually in the past I found it was from guys who were just trying too hard, they’re trying to do too much, instead of just relaxing, playing their game and using their ability.”

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Hudgens said he hasn’t had discussions with Collins or Alderson about individual players instead the focus is on “the team concept.” That does discount the importance of Reyes production, or David Wright for that matter, who has slipped into a two-year hitting funk. The numbers don’t lie, as Simon pointed out in an article for ESPN-New York earlier this:

From 2005 to 2008, Wright ranked seventh in the majors in two-strike slugging percentage; over 2009-10 he ranked 146th. Wright’s two-strike OPS at home is down 135 points from what it was in 2008 (from .835 to .700) … His road OPS has sunk 261 points (from .731 to .470), largely due to his significantly larger strikeout rate on the road. As for pitch-type issues, he’s had a lot of problems with the slow stuff (breaking balls and changeups). Against those pitch types, Wright had an .888 two-strike OPS in 2008 and that’s dipped to .469 in 2010. Most surprising was a huge performance drop against two-strike slow stuff from lefties — from a 1.329 OPS in 2008 to .583 in 2010.

“A lot of times it’s about not swinging at the wrong curveball (or breaking ball), but getting the one that is up in the zone to hit,” explained Hudgens. “I found over the years that most all good hitters are hunting the fastball and when they do hit a breaking ball it’s the one up in the zone. When a pitcher gets guys out on breaking balls it’s generally the one that’s in the dirt or off the plate. It’s about recognition. If you see ‘spin down’ you try to be disciplined, take it and not go out of the strike zone. It’s taking advantage of the one you can hit. I guarantee when David Wright’s looking for a breaking ball and gets one up, he’s gonna hit it. He wouldn’t be where he is today if he couldn’t hit a breaking ball.”

Hudgens has been teaching the same fundamentals for the past 20 years. In fact, his work is featured on SwingAwayBlog.com. Hudgens laughs at the reference confessing, “I wrote a program for kids; it was written with Johnny Little Leaguer in mind. My son puts in on Swing Away, which I have nothing to do with. It’s a blog, but I don’t own that blog; it’s just information I’ve written in the past. I just kinda laugh when people say I blog.”

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Hudgens also answered some questions from Mets fans and bloggers. Here is the transcript of that Q&A:

Do strikeouts bother you — if so, what does he plan on doing about the massive amount of them in the middle of the order?

“Sometimes a strikeout is OK, if the guys right on the pitch and just misses it. Strike outs bother me if they’re going out of the zone a lot – chasing that pitch they shouldn’t chase. One of the keys about teaching the approach that I like to teach is having a good two-strike approach because a lot of times if hitters are afraid to go to two strikes, if they’re afraid to strike out or afraid to get deeper in the count, they swing at the first close thing they see to the plate. Guys can’t be afraid to get deeper in the count, hunt their pitch … but you’re gonna to have some strikeouts, but hopefully we can minimize them with a good two-strike approach and battle with two strikes to make that opposing pitcher get his pitch count up.”

How do you teach clutch hitting — is it about mechanics of the AB or the mental aspects of relaxing, confidence and putting self in good count?

“I think it’s a combination. A lot of it is the mental part of the game, not trying to do too much. When a guy is in scoring position, the hitter tries to do everything they can to get the guy in and a lot of times they swing at pitchers pitches early in the count because maybe they’re not patient enough to wait for their pitch. Sometimes a guy may try to pull the ball instead of staying in the middle of the field. It seems over the years, to me, good clutch hitters are able to hit with runners in scoring position by using the middle of the field or the whole field, and not try and pull the ball. Pitchers go to a lot more breaking balls with guys in scoring position, that’s why you want to be able to use the whole field, so you’re not coming off the ball and getting that rolling over to third base, which happens when guys are trying to pull the ball too much.”

Have you had a chance to watch any video of the Mets hitters?

“Just what I’ve seen on the Internet. They (the Mets) are sending over a box of videos. When I get back to Caracas I will watch them over the Christmas holiday.”

Have you thought about how the pressure of coaching in New York might affect you?

“I am just going to concentrate on what I can control and what I can do, be true to myself and try not to get into any of that. I’ve got eight million Venezuelans and Caracas people yelling at me right now. Of course, I don’t speak the language so I don’t know what the heck they’re saying, but believe me, I can tell what they’re saying when we’re not playing well. It’s a good training ground.”

Nelson Figueroa started 17 games, compiling a 2.25 ERA, for the Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A) in 2009, before being promoted by the Mets in late August. Over the final six weeks of the 2009 season, he was the Mets most consistent and effective arm, despite losing five games.

Figueroa went on to pitch winter ball, including a complete game three-hit shutout for the Dominican Republic in early February. This spring, in three appearances, he has pitched eight innings, allowing no runs.

Could he be the Mets No. 5 starter in 2010? No one in the Mets organization is saying, one way or another. As a matter of fact, no one — including Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen, manager Jerry Manuel or GM Omar Minaya — has told Figueroa he is in consideration for the No. 5 spot.

Today, I talked to the 35-year old veteran about his recent success, the frustration that comes from not knowing where he stands and the communication between he and the Mets this spring …

I sat down with Mets right fielder Jeff Francoeur to talk hitting. We discussed his history of streaky hitting (including a few prolonged slumps) and what he and New York Mets hitting instructor Howard Johnson are doing this spring to develop a more consistent approach at the plate …

… and this, my friends, is Spring Training …

Journalist and filmmaker Brian Biegel has a new book in stores called Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard ‘Round the World. It chronicles his two-year search to find the Bobby Thomson’s home run ball from October 3, 1951.

Biegel is our special guest on Voices, the exclusive podcast of JohnStrubel.com. You can listen to the streaming audio here:

… or you can download the podcast through iTunes here.

The book is on sale now and is available online at:

Barnes and Noble
Amazon.com

Here’s is the press release from Random House:

The captivating, utterly improbable but ultimately true story of one man’s quest to solve sports’ greatest mystery: What happened to the most famous of all home-run balls–the holy grail of sports?

October 3, 1951. Giants third baseman Bobby Thomson hit the most dramatic home run in the history of baseball. The moment occurred in the bottom of the ninth inning of a sudden-death playoff game between the New York Giants and their arch rivals from Brooklyn, the Dodgers. People across the nation watched on their new TV sets, and the home run became known as “the Shot Heard ’Round the World.”

But after clearing the left-field wall, the central artifact of the play–the ball itself–inexplicably went missing. The mystery of what happened to the legendary baseball has remained unsolved for a half century.

Until now.

Miracle Ball is the gripping account of author Brian Biegel’s two-year effort to unravel the mystery that experts said could never be solved. After his father, Jack, finds a baseball at a thrift store with clues dating back to 1951 and believes it could possibly be the most coveted piece of sports history, father and son begin a journey to prove its authenticity. Biegel becomes consumed with the quest–recognizing it as the only chance to rescue himself from an emotionally devastating personal crisis that had long been crippling him.

Visit Brian Biegel online

New York Times reporter and author Bruce Weber has a new book out, titled As They See’em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires.

Weber attended the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring, called balls and strikes himself and interviewed more than 200 people for the book including more than 20 current major league umpires and long list of players, managers and front office personnel (Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine, Barry Zito, Paul Lo Duca, Kenny Lofton, Ron Darling, and Robin Yount, as well as former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland).

Simon and Schuster adds:

Weber reveals how umps are tutored to work behind the plate, what they learn to watch for on the bases, and how proper positioning for every imaginablesituation on the field is drilled into them. He describes how they’re counseled to respond — or not — to managers who are screaming at them from inches away with purposeful inanity, and tells us exactly which “magic” words result in an automatic ejection. Writing with deep knowledge of and affection for baseball, he delves into such questions as: Why isn’t every strike created equal? Is the ump part of the game or outside of it? Why doesn’t a tie go to the runner? And what do umps and managers say to each other during an argument, really?

Here’s the streaming audio podcast …

 The book is available online at:

Amazon.com
BarnesandNoble.com
Simon and Schuster

Ed Hearn is a Hall of Fame person. The former New York Met catcher and member of the 1986 World Championship team talks about his playing days and his post-career challenges on this edition of Voices.

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Related Links:

EdHearn.com

On this edition of Voices, Washington Nationals play-by-play man Bob Carpenter talks about the team’s future, Lastings Milledge, Elijah Dukes and his final trip to Shea Stadium. You can listen to the streaming audio here:

… or you can download the podcast through iTunes here.