Ask Baseball America By James Bailey
Download 1 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- 1912 (Stockholm, Sweden)
- 1940 (Tokyo)
- 1956 (Melbourne, Australia)
- 1964 (Tokyo)
- International Baseball League close to reality
October 17, 2000Let's start off today with a couple of comments about Mike Hampton, since he's sort of the hero of the day. How many folks saw this coming when he walked nine Cubs in a 5-3 loss in Japan on "Opening Day"? I have to confess I didn't. I didn't figure he'd walk nine batters a game all year, but I really expected he'd drop off from what he was with the Astros in 1999. But other than his win-loss record, there's not a lot of difference in his numbers from last year. My other thought on Hampton revolves around how he'd look in Yankee Stadium tonight—pitching for the Mariners. Long after Eric Anthony washed out of the Kingdome, the infamous Hampton deal continues to make Mariner fans seethe on the inside. Not that the Mariners didn't have enough pitching this year, but it would have been nice to see Hampton in that rotation. Anyway, let's move on to another playoff participant who didn't have quite the strong finish that Hampton enjoyed. What do you think about Rick Ankiel's control problems? Is it possible that he is injured? What other reason could have led to his wild control? Ken Bumbaco Virginia Beach, Va. If you told me two weeks ago that the Cardinals would be happy that Ankiel walked two and threw two wild pitches in two-thirds of an inning, I'm certain I wouldn't have believed you. But that's the spin they're putting on Monday night's outing, and it just goes to show how awful his previous two games were. Altogether in four postseason innings, he threw nine wild pitches. He had just 12 in the entire regular season. There have been no reports of any physical ailment in Ankiel's case, so that leaves only the mental side as a possible root. Considering Ankiel's past success and the confidence and determination that have gotten him where he is, he's one of the last guys I'd expect to be hit with something like this. He said he believed the wildness was caused by him not finishing his pitches properly, and he didn't have the same problem with his curveball because he was finishing those off. But detecting a symptom and curing a disease are two different things. The name people throw around in a case of sudden wildness like this is Steve Blass. And no one really saw it coming in his case, either. He went from an all-star to a wildman overnight. In 1972 Blass made the National League all-star team, going 19-8 with a 2.49 ERA and 84 walks in 249 2/3 innings. The next season he went 3-9, 9.85 with 84 walks—and 27 strikeouts—in 88 2/3 innings. He pitched just one more game, in 1974, and his career was over. That's a guy who entered the '73 season with a 100-67 record in eight big league campaigns. I have a feeling the Rick Ankiel we'll see next spring is the same one who showed up all year for the Cardinals during the regular season this year. But you can't be sure until we get there. What was the first year that baseball was played in the Olympics? Lorin Slade Manchester, Mass. The modern incarnation of baseball in the Olympics began in 1984 in Los Angeles, when it was a demonstration sport. Baseball became a medal sport in 1992 in Barcelona. But baseball's history in the Games dates back a lot further than that. In our 1996 Olympic Preview, we went into some detail on the history of baseball in the Olympics. Here's what we had in our Olympic Timeline then: 1912 (Stockholm, Sweden)—The United States beats Vesteras of Sweden 13-3 in the first Olympic baseball exhibition. 1936 (Berlin)—A crowd of 125,000 watches a night game between two U.S. teams. Carson Thompson throws four innings of no-hit relief to lead the World Amateurs past the USA Olympics 6-5. 1940 (Tokyo)—Baseball is scheduled to be an Olympic sport, but World War II forces cancellation of the games. Baseball is dropped from the Olympic Games. 1952 (Helsinki, Finland)—A group of U.S. players from the Olympic Village, coached by the manager of the U.S. soccer team and using borrowed equipment, wins a practice game against Venezuela 14-6. The United States then scores seven runs in the first inning en route to a 19-1 victory over Finland's top team in an official demonstration game before 4,000 fans. 1956 (Melbourne, Australia)—Sergeant Vance Sutton's grand slam keys an 11-5 victory for a team of U.S. military personnel stationed in the Far East over an Australian team. The beginning of the game, played at the stadium used for track and field competition later that day, is witnessed by just a few thousand fans. Early-arriving track fans reportedly swell the crowd to nearly 100,000 by the end of the game. 1964 (Tokyo)—University of Southern California coach Rod Dedeaux guides the best-organized U.S. team at that point in Olympic history to a 6-2 win over Japan. Team USA, which featured future major leaguers such as Chuck Dobson, Mike Epstein, Ken Suarez and Gary Sutherland, toured Japan and played Far East all-star teams before the Olympics. So as you can see, the history of the game in the Olympics dates back nearly 90 years. But baseball as it's currently organized is a relative newcomer to the Games. In mid-September, the Mariners sent a team of 22 farmhands from Everett and the Arizona League to play some games in Japan and China. For some reason there has been no coverage of this tour in the local papers. I even asked the Mariners about it on their Website and received no answer. Do you have any idea how this tour went? Joe Hamilton Shoreline, Wash. Mariners farmhands went 3-2 against teams from Japan and China. They were scheduled to play six games, but the first contest in Japan was rained out. That left only one game in Japan, against a farm team of the Orix Blue Wave in Kobe. The Mariners won that game 7-4. Third baseman Miguel Villilo, the No. 2 prospect in the Rookie-level Arizona League, went 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to lead the attack. First baseman Brian Hertel pitched in with three RBIs of his own. Lefthander Steve Kent struck out five and allowed only one hit in three innings of relief work. The Seattle farmhands split four games in China against a team from Beijing, losing 10-5 in the first game, then sweeping a doubleheader 4-3 and 4-2 before dropping the last game 1-0. The Mariners don’t have box scores handy for the games in China, so they had no individual highlights to report. I saw in your Fall/Winter Baseball News that there is a tentative opening date of Nov. 29th in Australia. What are the plans and is this going to be an alternative to the California Fall League? Chris Cameron Plantation, Fla. The International Baseball League Australia is not a replacement for the California Fall League. It's just a newer version of the league that's operated in Australia for years. The league has undergone a lot of change in the last two winters and it seems like it's still evolving heading into this season. For information on the league, I went to the IBLA Website, and this is what they had to say: International Baseball League close to reality A truly International Baseball League hosted by Australia is closer to reality as the IBLA gets set for season 2000/2001. Plans are well and truly underway for the IBLA to host at least three International and the Australian national team in its inaugural International tournament. Capitalising on the level of interest generated by the Olympic games and the indication by International teams to send their players to Australia, fans can look forward to the beginning of a first class competition. With final preparations predicted to be complete shortly, the IBLA welcomes you to keep an eye on this space for schedule, venue and team announcements. Well and truly, indeed. What I take from that explanation is that they still don't know the exact composition of the league, though they're only six weeks away from opening the season. It sounds like it will be completely different in structure from past years, when some Americans went over to play on rosters that were stocked mostly by Aussies. But my advice for anyone interested in the league is to keep checking the IBLA Website, because eventually they're bound to know more than they've revealed thus far. Directory: mlb mlb -> By Ken Gurnick mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> 2010 – What’s the name of the umpire whose errant call cost the Tigers’ Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010? (Jim Joyce) gabp mlb -> Wednesday, September 23, 2015 headlines: Verrett stumbles in the fifth as Mets lose to Braves 6-2 mlb -> All-Star History In what city was the first All-Game played? (Chicago, 1933) Baseball & Pop Culture mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> The Impact of Television Revenue on Major League Baseball mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips Download 1 Mb. Share with your friends:
|