Yankee4Life

10 out of 10, 46 seconds. I needed this with tomorrow's tough questions looking me in the face. And honestly the questions today were not that bad.

The Dodgers, top to bottom, are what every team should aspire to be By Mike Lupica, New York Daily News Here is the bottom line for the Yankees and the Mets and their fans now that the greatest World Series any of us will ever see just ended with the greatest Game 7 there has ever been, and, yeah, that the includes Bill Mazeroski walking off the Yankees in the 1960 World Series: You may hate the Dodgers. But you ought to love who they are. You ought to love who they are and what they just did, even with all the big stars and even with the biggest baseball payroll. You ought to love the way they play the game and the way the team has been assembled and the way it’s managed and general managed, because they do that better than everybody else, too. And everybody ought to respect the way they came back from being two match points down in Games 6 and 7 — same as they were down two match points against the Padres in their division series last year — and won Game 7 the way they did. That means a Game 7 in which they led for — what? — about 15 minutes in real time. Of course the Yankees and Mets spend money. The Dodgers just spend theirs better. And are loaded with star power. But guess what? The Yankees had three former MVP’s in the lineup this season — Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt — and a former Cy Young winner, Gerrit Cole, on the sidelines. The Mets had Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, one of the home run stars of baseball from the time he was a rookie. But it is the Dodger stars who ended up winning it all, again: former MVPs Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman; Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who had a Japanese player not named Ohtani being MVP of the Series on their Bingo cards?); and even Clayton Kershaw (another former MVP) on his way out the door. The Dodgers do pony up the dough year after year. Our Yankees have been throwing crazy money around for a long time and have won one World Series in 25 years. The Dodgers just won their third in the last six. Did the Dodgers figure out a way to game the system by deferring so much of Ohtani’s $700 million. They did. It just means they have better accountants, too. Did the Dodgers save themselves with home runs in Game 7? They did. One from Max Muncy, another one from Miguel Rojas as Rojas joined the list of unlikely World Series home run guys, finally Will Smith’s shot over the left field wall in the top of the 11th. But they’re more than just home runs the way the Yankees so rarely are. The Dodgers also beat the Blue Jays with defense. There was Rojas — whom Dave Roberts had put in at second base the night before — throwing out Isiah Kiner-Falefa to keep the Dodgers in the World Series in the bottom of the 9th on Saturday night. Right after that came one of the most memorable and important outfield moments in World Series history: Enrique Hernandez and Andy Pages both chasing down the ball that Ernie Clement had just hit to deep-left center. Pages ended up catching that ball on the backhand after running Hernandez over. So twice the Dodgers have saved themselves with defense in what could have been the bottom of their season. And you know why Pages was out there? Because Dave Roberts had replaced Tommy Edman with him a few minutes earlier, on the occasion of Roberts having one of the best managing nights anybody ever had in a deciding World Series game. When that play was over, Kiké Hernandez was face down out there near the outfield wall. But it wasn’t because he was hurt. It was because he thought that because of the collision, the ball hadn’t been caught, and their team had just lost the World Series. When Pages told him he’d caught the ball, Kike’ Hernandez jumped up and yelled “Let’s go!” One more time, a great champion had showed it could take a punch and get back up. Maybe you think there have been better Game 7’s. I say that none of the others ever had more than this one, even before Yamamoto came out of the bullpen to finish Game 7 after starting Game 6 the night before, same as Randy Johnson did against the Yankees in ’01. You better believe Johnson was something to see that weekend. But he pitched 1.1 innings that night in Phoenix. Yamamoto pitched three. New York had its shot at Yamamoto when he left Japan. The Dodgers ended up with him. When the Dodgers identify who they want, they don’t get outbid, and weren’t with the guy who became the storied MVP of this World Series. But it really isn’t just their stars. It’s a guy like Kike’ Hernandez, made for October. It’s Pages, and Tommy Edman, and Muncy. When that ball got stuck at the base of the outfield wall on Friday night, both Justin Dean and Hernandez knew that Dean couldn’t touch it, because if he did it was no longer a dead ball, and at least one run would have scored there. Right after that, Hernandez was flying in from left and making that running catch, starting the 7-4 double play that ended Game 6. The Dodgers don’t just beat you in all ways, they don’t beat themselves when the money is on the table. Before the Series started I asked Dave Roberts about the grinders on his team and he said this: “We wouldn’t be here without them.” In the end, Roberts’ Dodgers won a World Series that made baseball feel like the biggest winner of all. Made the Series feel as big as it used to. Everybody who loves baseball should love that. And hate the idea that, a year from now, a sport just now honored this way — and mightily — might be shamed by another lockout.

All I know about Netball is that it made me miss two questions. 🤷‍♂️

Oh, you're good!! 😂 By the way how are you feeling?

4 out of 10, 69 seconds. Typical Tuesday. I had two Netball questions and that brings me to ask what is Netball?

That makes you a winner in my book Jim. 👍

8 out of 10 88 seconds. I went slow not by choice but because I had a hard time on most of these questions.

Jim it is wonderful to see you back here and I am very happy you are doing much better. All you have to do now is take it easy and recover and I'm sure your family will help you a lot. That White Sox 2005 World Series question really was not that easy because honestly who cares how many games it took? It was only the White Sox! Also, nice to see Muller back here. He's a good player. Oh, 10 out of 10, 31 seconds. I'm satisfied with it.

You read that wrong.

7 out of 10, 57 seconds. These were more difficult than usual today. I was stumped on five of them. Here are the final standings for October. I am hoping that Jim can return soon for our new month.

10 out of 10, 33 seconds. A slight hesitation cost me plenty.

4 out of 10, 48 seconds. Now these were supposed to be easy today? Sabugo they gave me a question today that you would have guessed with no problem. He's Portuguese and has been considered the 2000 Best Player in the World by the renowned French Football Magazine 'France Football': I guessed Zinedine Zidane. I mean who knew? The right answer was Luis Figo.

4 out of 10, 70 seconds. These questions were brutal today.

Same here Jim!

7 out of 10, 55 seconds. Somehow I got the first seven in a row right and then I blew it on the final three.

You're right Jim. I should have included that important part too.

6 out of 10, 95 seconds. This was a bad one all around. Score and time was bad today.

September 28, 1951: Allie Reynolds throws his second no-hitter of the season Allie Reynolds, New York Yankees. "I knew it all the time,” said Yankees right-hander Allie Reynolds jokingly after holding the Boston Red Sox hitless in the first game of a doubleheader on September 28. “How could I help it? The scoreboard was right there.” Described as a “smashing triumph” by John Drebinger of the New York Times and a “mound masterpiece” by Springfield (Massachusetts) Union correspondent Dutch Robbins, the no-hitter was Reynolds’ second of the season and guaranteed the Yankees at least a tie for the AL pennant. That point was moot when the Bronx Bombers, behind Vic Raschi’s complete game, mauled Boston in the second game,11-3, to capture their third straight pennant and 18th in 31 seasons. “After all these years,” lamented syndicated columnist Red Smith, “the Yankees just had to find a new way to make sure of finishing in first place.” An outright pennant was far from guaranteed when the Yankees (93-56) prepared to play five games against their rival Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on the final three days of the regular season. New York owned what appeared to be a comfortable 2½-game lead over the Cleveland Indians; however, skipper Casey Stengel’s squad was playing its worst ball of the season at the most inopportune time. They had split their last 14 games, and were coming off an uninspired 4-1 loss to the second-division Philadelphia Athletics two days earlier. Though New York led the AL in home runs (140) and finished second in runs scored (798) in 1951, the club did not incite the same fear in its opponents that the previous two pennant-winning teams did. Injuries and age seemed to have crept up on them. Joe DiMaggio was having his worst season and Phil Rizzuto’s offensive output had fallen off dramatically from his MVP performance a year earlier, but the team found a way to win behind its “Big Three” pitchers, Eddie Lopat, Raschi, and Reynolds, who combined for 59 victories and just 27 defeats. Manager Steve O’Neill’s Red Sox (87-62) were in a free-for-all, having lost their last four games and seven of eight. Trailing New York by six games, Boston had no chance for a pennant, but wanted nothing more than to play the role of spoiler, or at least make the Yankees and their fans squirm. The pitching matchup in the first game featured two two-time All-Star hurlers. Boston’s ace, 29-year-old southpaw Mel Parnell (18-10) relied on a fastball and an assortment of breaking balls (sliders, curves, and sinkers) to fashion a stellar record of 78-38 in parts of five seasons. New York’s Reynolds was a 34-year-old right-hander with a career-record of 135-88 in parts of 10 seasons, including 16-8 thus far in ’51. A member of the Creek nation, the Oklahoma-born Reynolds was known as “Superchief.” Sportswriters regularly made reference to his Native American background, calling him a “noble red-man” and oft times much worse. Described by Tommy Holmes of the Brooklyn Eagle as “one of the truly magnificent competitive pitchers in the game,” Reynolds had tossed a no-hitter on July 12, outdueling the Indians’ Bob Feller at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, 1-0. Reynolds, bothered by chronic elbow pain all season long, hoped to put off impending offseason elbow surgery to remove bone chips as long as possible. If that weren’t enough, Reynolds was suffering from a cold, and was concerned about his wife, who had supposedly fainted a day earlier before leaving their home in Oklahoma to join her husband for the final weekend of the season. As the crowd of 39,038 settled into its seats in the “House That Ruth Built” on a Friday afternoon, Reynolds walked the leadoff hitter, Dom DiMaggio. In what was arguably the most important defensive play of the game, Rizzuto fielded Johnny Pesky’s grounder back through the mound, stepped on second, and fired to Joe Collins for an easy twin killing. The Yankees led off the bottom of the first with consecutive singles by Rizzuto, Jerry Coleman, and Hank Bauer, the latter of which resulted in the first run. After rookie Gil McDougald drew a one-out walk to load the bases, Yogi Berra hit a slow roller between the mound and first base to drive in Coleman, but was easily thrown out at first. With a chance to break the game open, Gene Woodling grounded weakly to Pesky to end the inning. After Reynolds set down the Red Sox in order in the second and third, the Yankees scored two more in the third to make it 4-0. Coleman led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on McDougald’s two-out single to center field. Berra followed with a single that center fielder DiMaggio booted, allowing McDougald to score and Berra to scamper to second. The Yankees tallied another run in the fourth when Collins led off with a double off reliever Ray Scarborough and subsequently scored on Coleman’s sacrifice fly. “The crowd became no-hit, no-run conscious in the sixth inning,” wrote Joe Looney of the Boston Herald. While many in the stadium held their breath every time a Red Sox batter swung his bat, Reynolds seemed impervious to the mounting tension, and was “breezing along at times,” according to Dutch Robbins. Given yet two more runs when Collins belted his ninth home run of the season with Woodling on via a single for a seemingly insurmountable 7-0 lead in the sixth inning, Reynolds appeared to be enjoying every minute of it. He was “laughing on the mound” in the seventh while facing Ted Williams, whom he had struck out in the first and walked in the fourth. This time the Splendid Splinter grounded out. Reynolds’ mood changed in the eighth when Lou Boudreau and Fred Hatfield belted hard-hit balls to deep right field that Hank Bauer caught easily. Bearing down, Reynolds heaved a fastball to Aaron Robinson. From the sound of the ball connecting with the bat, Reynolds was concerned. “I didn’t even look back at it,” said the hurler after the game. “I was sure it was out of the park.” Bauer snagged it or the last out of the frame. The Yankees tacked on another run in the eighth on Woodling’s 15th home run, and Reynolds took the mound for a date with history. He was three outs away from joining Cincinnati’s Johnny Vander Meer as the only pitchers to toss two no-hitters in one season. Jack Hand of the Associated Press described the ninth as a “fantastic thrill.” Reynolds retired pinch-hitter Charlie Maxwell on a grounder to second. After Dom DiMaggio drew a walk, Reynolds’ fourth free pass of the game, the stout, 6-foot hurler caught Pesky looking at a wicked curve for his ninth punchout of the game. Up stepped “Teddy Ballgame,” who had managed only six hits and two RBIs in his previous 30 at-bats. Williams hit a high popup behind the plate for what appeared to be the last out. The normally sure-handed Berra misjudged the ball as it moved in the wind. The ball “squirmed out of his glove,” wrote New York Times sportswriter John Drebinger, and the catcher tumbled, “sprawling on his face.” Reynolds, after colliding with Berra and concerned that he might have stepped on his All-Star backstop’s hand, went back to the mound. Armed with what Joe Looney called a “blazing fastball” all afternoon, Reynolds fed Williams another heater which “The Kid” popped up again. This time Berra caught it easily to secure Reynolds’ no-hitter, completed in 2 hours and 12 minutes. Reynolds needed 119 pitches to record the fifth no-hitter in Yankees history and his league-leading seventh shutout. Other than Reynolds’ four walks, which pushed his season total to 100 (the seventh consecutive season he broke the 100-barrier), the good-natured hurler tossed a flawless game. According to both the Boston and New York press, the Red Sox did not come close to collecting a hit, and the Yankees’ fielders needed no stellar play to preserve the no-hitter. “I had a good curve out there,” said the proud pitcher, “but didn’t put it where I wanted.” It was the major leagues’ fourth no-hitter of the season. (Cleveland’s Bob Feller and Pittsburgh’s Cliff Chambers threw the other two.) Boston had not been held hitless since Bob Burke of the Washington Senators turned the trick on August 8, 1931, at Griffith Stadium. The Yankees had little time to celebrate Reynolds’ gem. Both teams were soon on the field again to play the second game. Trailing 3-0, New York erupted for seven runs in the second inning and cruised to an 11-3 victory to capture the pennant. It was a “fantastic and dramatic conclusion to the American League pennant race,” opined Bob Holbrook of the Boston Globe. The party in the Yankees’ clubhouse was subdued compared with those of seasons past. “It’s still a thrill,” said Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio. New York capped off the season by sweeping Boston and then defeated the New York Giants in six games to win their third of five consecutive World Series titles. Allie Reynolds (left) looks on as Yogi Berra clutches the game ending out, a pop up off the bat of Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams.

Thank you Jim. You beat me to it. Let me add TBJ1977 that any newer computer, well any computer made in the past fifteen years or so has these requirements. In fact I should say longer than that.

10 out of 10, 35 seconds. Honestly I thought I was faster today. This is not going to be good enough today!

7 out of 10, 72 seconds. I don't know what happened here. I was so slow but at least I got seven. That will not be good enough today.

I realize that this thread has not been updated in eight years but after I was reading my latest baseball book something in it made me stop and wonder what was being talked about. I’m going to talk about two rules that were in baseball up until 1950. None of us can go back that far and that’s why these rules have been lost to time. Read on. It seems that Babe Ruth had people run for him and I originally thought that they were talking about spring training or exhibition games. I was wrong. There used to be substitute runners or courtesy runners up until 1949. Here’s the rule: 3.05 A player whose name is on his team’s batting order MAY NOT BECOME A SUBSTITUTE RUNNER for another member of his team. Through 1949, “courtesy runners” were allowed. Rule 17, Section 3 had read, “A base-runner shall not have another player whose name appears in the batting order of his team run for him except by the consent of the manager or captain of the other team.” The 1950 overhaul of the rules included a prohibition of such runners, even with the opposing team’s consent. Here’s another one that you are not going to believe. Before 1950 the home team had the choice to bat first or last in the game. Today it would not even be considered but this did happen before 1950. You can see it here. 4.00 – Starting and Ending a Game 4.02 The players of the HOME TEAM shall take their DEFENSIVE POSITIONS, the first batter of the visiting team shall take his position in the batter’s box, the umpire shall call “Play” and the game shall proceed. (N)Previous Rule 26: The choice of innings shall be given to the manager or captain of the home team.The 1950 rules were the first to mandate that the home team would take the field first. I have also included the .PDF file Baseball Playing Rules Changes Year by Year Since 1950. It is amazing what you can learn about this great game. Baseball Playing Rules Changes Year by Year Since 1950.pdf

10 out of 10, 35 seconds. Very good but not fast enough for all of you. I messed up on two of them even though the questions were easy.

Starting tomorrow night in Toronto it is the Dodgers against the Blue Jays for the World Series championship. Who will win?