Running 2011 Baseball Thread, Vol. I: Dedicated to spnited

Trivia time: In the DH era (1973 on) there have been 16 pitchers who have hit over .300 in a season with a minimum of 50 at-bats. Only two have done it twice. Who were they?

 

Mike Hampton has to be one.

And since it's coming up right now, it's probably someone active, so I'm guessing Zambrano is the other.

 

Hampton is one (.344 in 2002, .311 in 1999).
Zambrano is not, although he did do it once.

 

OK, I'm getting ready to go to bed and don't want to leave that hanging until morning.
The second guy is Rick Rhoden (.308 in 1976, .333 in 1984), who's also a tremendous golfer if memory serves.

 

Ah, I should have gotten that. But I am still claiming Z as correct because according to B-R, he hit .300 on the nose once (24 for 80) and he's hitting .318 with 48 PAs this year, so under the batting average rules he has had a .300 season even with an 0-for-2.

So there.

 

Add this to the likes of injuring your back while sneezing:

Matt Holliday had to leave Monday night's game after a moth got stuck deep in his ear.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/chi-cardinals-holliday-leaves-game-after-moth-stuck-in-ear-20110822,0,1036061.story

 

Rhoden was such a good hitter that the Yankees eschewed their DH once in the late 80s so he could bat.

 

Rhoden couldn't run. As a kid he was playing on a slip-n-slide and there were rusty scissors that ripped up a leg and caused lots of internal damage. He certainly found his niche despite that challenge.

 

Blue Jays trade Aaron Hill and John McDonald to Arizona for Kelly Johnson.

 

I was intrigued by this, and looked it up. Turns out Rhoden had osteomyelitis, and had to have part of one leg removed so it would not outgrow the other leg.

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=rick_rhoden_1953

 

Toronto continues to pile up other teams' malcontents/castoffs. First Yunel Escobar, then Colby Rasmus, now Kelly Johnson. And didn't really give up much for any of them.

However, if Johnson hits .210 with a whiff every 3.25 at-bats in the NL West, I shudder to think what AL East pitchers will do to him.

 

Brandon Allen for the A's just crushed an HR to right field at Yankee Stadium.

They haven't showed a good replay of it, but the announcers think it went into the upper deck.

I think that would be the first one ever hit there. A couple have hit the facade, but I'm pretty sure no one has gotten one onto the third deck yet.

His teammates, and even the Yankee crowd appeared stunned by how far he hit it.

OK -- just showed a replay. Yeah, it was a third decker.