Monday, October 02, 2006 |
Today's Birthdays
Paul Doyle CAL b. 1939, played 1970, 1972
Ray Lucas BRO b. 1908, played 1933-1934, d. 1969-10-09
Scott Schoeneweis ANA b. 1973, played 1999-2003. The big thing the 2002 title did for the Angels is change their level of expectations, and Schoeneweis was the poster child for this change. A mediocrity, he finally got the boot from the rotation after an 11-5 shelling on June 25 at the hands of the Rangers; he told the media this afterwards:
"I'll have a job somewhere. If it's here, it's here. If it's not, it's not.... [Seattle Mariner pitcher] Freddy Garcia gave up 10 runs [Monday night]. Is his job in jeopardy? If I'm not good enough to pitch at this level or pitch here, it's not going to rule my life. I do everything I'm supposed to do. The results are just not there all the time."Rookie John Lackey had posted a quality start in his June 24 debut against Texas but got dinged with a loss in the 3-2 outcome. On June 29, Schoeneweis was out of the rotation for good; in 2003 Stoneman traded him to the White Sox, where once again he failed to impress as a starter. He since signed as a free agent with the Blue Jays, who moved him on August 17 to the Reds for a PTBNL.
Matt Walbeck ANA b. 1969, played 1998-2000
Maury Wills LAN b. 1932, played 1959-1966, 1969-1972, All-Star: 1961-1963, 1965-1966. Bill James's HOF Monitor makes him out to be a borderline Hall of Famer, but his littleball skillset makes it very unlikely he'll ever get inducted in an era where the longball is all. Famous as the man who changed Topps policy to sign every player when they didn't give him a contract on the advice of their scouts and Dodger scouts; Wills didn't hit well at first, getting shuttled back and forth between the Dodgers and Tigers, but he eventually improved his offensive game and finally turned heads with a .295 sophomore season.
Credited by some for reintroducing the stolen base into baseball after a decade of walk-and-knock offense, the Dodgers' leadoff man never had particularly good on base percentages, a failing that would haunt him in his later career. He did, however, score a league-leading 130 runs in his landmark 1962 season, one in which also obtained two important major league records: the all-time single-season stolen base mark (104, since broken by Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson), and the single-season games played record (165). In addition to his major league records, Wills is in the Dodgers franchise and Los Angeles top ten record book in these categories: single season: singles, since 1900 (179), at-bats (695), caught stealing (31); career marks: games (1,593), at-bats (6,156), runs (876), hits (1,732), triples (56), total bases (2,045), stolen bases (490, 1st in franchise history).
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