OnlyBucs

In 1927, Lou Gherig had 173 RBI.

He batted 60 times AFTER Babe Ruth had cleared the bases.

On the last day of the 1985 season, Phil Niekro won his 300th career game. He pitched a complete game beating the Blue Jays. He threw only two knuckleballs, the last two pitches of the game.

Surgnbuck wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2024 9:38 pm In 1927, Lou Gherig had 173 RBI.

He batted 60 times AFTER Babe Ruth had cleared the bases.

Sounds almost impossible. Sure is amazing.

bucs607179 wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2024 11:31 am

Surgnbuck wrote: ↑Thu May 09, 2024 9:38 pm In 1927, Lou Gherig had 173 RBI.

He batted 60 times AFTER Babe Ruth had cleared the bases.

Sounds almost impossible. Sure is amazing.

Yankees scored 976 runs that year. the next closest MLB team was Detroit with 845, more than 100 fewer runs. The MLB average was 554. Gehrig's astounding 173 RBI barely edged out Ruth's 165. Two other Yankees topped the 100 mark. Bob Meusel had 103 batting behind Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri had 102 batting behind Meusel.

Good stuff here ladies and gentlemen. Some really interesting facts.

Little memory quiz. Not a random fact, sorry.

There were two sets of two players with the same first and last names for the Pirates.

First pair: One played for the Pirates for two years, and hit the most famous home run in Pirates history….most famous for a brief time, anyway! The second was a coach pressed into service in an emergency for four games in the mid 60s. They played the same position and had the same first and last names as each other.

Second pair: One played for the Pirates for three seasons in the late 80s. The second was with the Bucs in the early 90s and if you blinked you missed him. They both also played the same position and had the same first and last names as each other.

Hint: You could make two batteries out of these four players.

Can you name them?

#1 The Hal Smiths.

#2 Jeff Robinson???

Fun fact about the second Hal Smith. ST.L. catcher who retired abruptly in June 1961 at age 30 when diagnosed with a heart problem. Was a coach for the Pirates in 1965 Pags, Crandall and Virgil were all hurt. Smith was activated, started a game on July 1 and appeared in 3 other games within the week before resuming coaching duties. He did not seek a medical clearance to play. When asked how his wife felt about him playing, he said "I didn't tell her."

There have been three times in major league history that a first baseman played an entire game without recording a putout or an assist. Bud Clancy of the White Sox, Ripper Collins of the Cubs, and Gene Tenace of the Athletics were the players.