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.
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.
Tuesday’s late night trade of Francisco Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers made perfect sense – or maybe cents is the more accurate term given the New York Mets financial condition. The deal came down to simple mathematics: Rodriguez was in the final season of a guaranteed three-year, $37 million contract with a vesting option for $17.5 million if he finished 55 games before the season ended. At the All-Star break, Rodriguez had finished 34 games, well ahead of pace on the option. Meanwhile, the Mets are hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. You don’t need an accounting degree to do the math.
Lee Mazzilli sat on the bench at The Kingdome in Seattle for seven innings, watching the 1979 Major League Baseball All-Star unfold. Mazzilli, then the 24-year old New York Mets center fielder who was named to the team by National League manager Tommy Lasorda, was soaking it up like a sponge.
It was Mazzilli’s first and, eventually, only All-Star appearance and from the beginning it must have felt more like a circus freak show than a showcase of baseball’s biggest stars.
I am a 25-year media/marketing/public relations professional. I have worked in radio, television, print and digital media. I contnue to pursue journalism as a freelance sports reporter for print and digital publications. You can follow me on Twitter @johnstrubel, friend me on Facebook or +John Strubel on Google. Story ideas? Comments? Questions? Email me at: john@johnstrubel.com.© 2012 John Strubel | Powered by JGS MEDIA INC.
