Now Batting: 24/7 Baseball News
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The month of July is a jam-packed one for Major League Baseball with three major events taking place; the home run derby, the All-Star game and the July 31st trade deadline. Since we are in the beginning of the month, we will talk about the first event on the schedule, the home run derby, and the changes it will see this season. [Read more…]
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Even though the unofficial start to summer is Memorial Day Weekend, it always feels like summer doesn’t really begin until we get to enjoy Fourth of July celebrations. Well, Independence Day is upon us, which means that millions of people across the country will be celebrating with barbeques, parties, trips to the beach and much more. [Read more…]
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With the first pick in the 1976 Draft, the Houston Astros selected left-handed pitcher Floyd Bannister out of Arizona State University.
The Detroit Tigers had the second pick in the draft and they took another left-handed pitcher, Pat Underwood, from Kokomo High School in Indiana.
Bannister and Underwood were two of six left-handed pitchers chosen in the first round, which had 24 picks overall. Exactly half of those picks were pitchers. [Read more…]
When Russell Wilson threw an interception at the goal line on Sunday night, all was right with the world again.
I had no rooting interest in this year’s Super Bowl, except for the fact that once it was over, it meant that all of the focus can shift to baseball once again.
Even though the Monday after the Super Bowl is dedicated to non-stop media coverage, the NFL season is over and we are just weeks from the reporting dates for Major League teams.
As a Phillies fan, I am not as excited this spring as in years’ past, but am still thrilled for baseball across all levels to begin.
Being a die-hard baseball fan, I follow and watch as many games as possible at the collegiate, Minor League and Major League levels.
The SEC television schedule is loaded this year, the inaugural year for baseball on the network. There will be hundreds of games televised on the SEC Network and the ESPN family of networks beginning with FSU at Georgia on February 21 at 4:30pm.
The entire SEC Tournament will be aired on television for the first time this year.
All of these games are in addition to the hundreds of college baseball games that will be aired throughout the spring from teams outside of the SEC, the regional playoffs and the College World Series.
Each year, Major League teams add more coverage to their Spring Training schedules, whether on TV, radio or digital stream. This makes the anticipation leading up to the regular season stronger than ever before.
As we prepare for Spring Training, we will be rolling out some new content over the next couple of weeks.
You will see division previews for the regular season, projected starting rotations and projected starting lineups for all 30 Major League teams, discussions on each team’s top prospects and predictions for the 2015 playoffs and World Series.
Baseball has always been the best way to get lost in excitement for a couple of hours per day, to feel like a child again and to enjoy the company of family and friends.
Here’s hoping that you enjoy the upcoming season and have the chance to bond with family and friends throughout the season.
With the San Francisco Giants winning three of the last five World Series, the rest of the league has taken notice and will look to end their reign in 2015. One thing the Giants have not done during their impressive run is win back-to-back World Series titles.
Will 2015 be the year that they finally repeat? We will find out soon enough.
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With the first pick in the 1975 First-Year Player Draft, the California Angels chose catcher Danny Goodwin out of Southern University.
After picking number one overall in 1974, the San Diego Padres picked left-handed pitcher Mike Lentz second overall in 1975 out of Juanita High School in Kirkland, Washington. [Read more…]
Good evening everyone. I hope you had a decent Saturday, especially for those of you along the East Coast following the snow and ice storm that hit late Friday night.
Two of my other sites, Rule 4 Draft and Rule 5 Draft, have now merged with At the Dish. All of the content from Rule 4 Draft can be found here on At the Dish. [Read more…]
How do you know when to fold em’? Many people who love to gamble do not know the answer to this question. Coincidentally, some professional Major League general managers also don’t know the answer to this question. General managers do not like to wave the white flag too early in the season, while others wait until it is too late to do anything productive at the trade deadline. Even though we are only in the month of May, there are some teams teetering on the brink of folding em’ right now. [Read more…]
Major League Baseball made changes to a couple of on-field rules prior to the 2014 season and after a month of play, those changes are causing a bit of havoc for managers, players and umpires alike. Now, the league has decided to change a couple of rules either back to their original state or to an edited state. [Read more…]
San Diego Padres Bill Almon. Credit: Topps.
Once again, the San Diego Padres pick number one in the amateur baseball draft, this time in 1974.
Since their inception, the Padres picked number one overall three times including this draft.
They chose second overall once up to this draft in history.
In the same breath, the Texas Rangers have had quite a few picks in the top five since their inception.
Texas has chosen number one overall once as the Washington Senators and once as the Rangers.
This pick at number two is the first in franchise history.
Almon was drafted as an infielder out of Brown University. He was one of six players drafted out of the collegiate levels in the 1974 draft. He spent parts of 15 seasons in the majors with the Padres, the Montreal Expos, the New York Mets, the Chicago White Sox, the Oakland Athletics, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the Philadelphia Phillies. He had two stints with the Mets.
Almon debuted in the Majors with San Diego in September of 1974, playing in 16 games, posting a .316 batting average. He was not able to become a full-time player until 1977, in which he played 155 games for San Diego.
Almon posted a career .254 average with 36 homeruns, 296 RBIs, and 846 hits in 1,236 games. He played the most games of his career with San Diego, totaling 429 appearances with an average of .255, four homeruns, and 81 RBIs. He also recorded 337 of his career hits while with the Padres.
The best year of his career came with the Padres in 1977. He played in a career-high 155 games with a .261 batting average, two homeruns, 43 RBIs, and a career-high 160 hits. Almon posted a career-high seven homeruns twice, once in Oakland and once in Pittsburgh. Those years were 1984 and 1986. He had a career-high 63 RBIs with Oakland in 1983.
Almon never played on a team that made it to the playoffs during his career, but all things considered, Almon had a decent career after being drafted number one overall.
Texas Rangers Tommy Boggs.
The second overall pick in the draft, Tommy Boggs, was taken by the Texas Rangers. Boggs was drafted by the Rangers as a pitcher out of Lanier High School in Austin, Texas.
Boggs was a bit of a draft bust, appearing in only 114 career games with the Rangers and the Atlanta Braves. He spent two stints with the Rangers during his career.
He did not debut in the majors until 1976, in which he posted a 1-7 record with an ERA of 3.49. He strictly was a starter in his rookie season. For his career, Boggs posted a record of 20-44 with an ERA of 4.22. He started 94 games in his career. He started just six games in 1977 for the Rangers and was traded in the off-season to the Atlanta Braves.
He returned to the Rangers in 1985, in which he pitched in just four games, all of them out of the bullpen. For his career with Texas, Boggs posted a record of 1-10 with an ERA of 4.48 in 23 games, 19 of them starts.
His best season came with the Braves in 1980. He posted a record of 12-9 with an ERA of 3.42 in 32 games, 26 of them starts, both career-highs. He threw four complete games, with three of them shutouts. Boggs also never appeared in the playoffs during his career.
Some notable players in the 1974 draft taken after the first two picks include the following:
The next installment of our draft history series will detail the 1975 draft. The number one overall pick was Danny Goodwin, chosen by the California Angels. Mike Lentz was chosen second overall by the San Diego Padres.
WBC Champs Dominican Republic. Credit: Mike Blake/Reuters.
Over the past couple of years, Major League Baseball officials have talked about instituting an international draft, or making the current Rule 4 Draft open to international players. Since we posted our first mock draft of the 2013 season, we are now tackling the idea of an international draft in baseball.
Many believe that an international draft is very close to occurring because of the new restrictions placed on international spending for amateur free agents who are not eligible for the draft in the United States. The new restrictions on signing bonuses take effect on June 1, 2013, but an international draft would not occur until at least 2014 if it is approved. [Read more…]