Yankee4Life

Updated to 12-22 ...Next month the 2020 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced and while it is always hard to surmise as to who will be lucky enough to give their speeches next summer in Cooperstown, one guy, namely Derek Jeter, is considered a shoo-in. He will get enough votes on his first try to get in but I believe that unlike Mariano Rivera he will not get in unanimously. Believe me I am someone who can recite the Jeter hype material chapter and verse. Rookie of the year, five-time World Series champion, World Series MVP, multiple All Star, 3,000 plus hits and on and on. All Hall of Fame material and I can’t argue with any of it. But he’s also the same guy who has never won an MVP award or a batting title and his defense that was scorned so much during his career is what I really think is going to cost him some votes. And there’s one other thing. When Alex Rodriguez first came to the Yankees in 2004 Jeter did not want to move to third base so that Rodriguez, the better shortstop of the two, could play that position for the Yankees. Rodriguez was forced to learn a new position at third base and no one to my knowledge ever came out publicly to criticize this move. Had it been the other way around and Rodriguez refused to change positions we all would have heard about it. Ted Williams cost himself a few votes for his bad relationship with the Boston press during his playing career and some of those writers resented him so much that they got even with him by not voting for him when he became eligible. Jeter was not like Williams personality-wise but he was just as hard an interview as he was and all I’m saying is this could become a factor. Jeter’s fans are going to be happy for him next month but just don’t expect a clean sweep. ...I know it may seem that I am an odd sort of Yankee fan because I never seem to be satisfied with anything that they do and I seem to hate more than half the team at any given moment starting with the has-been who’s behind the plate. I’m happy with the addition of Gerrit Cole as I am sure anyone would be had he gone to their favorite team instead of the Yankees. But I am really concerned about the loss of Didi Gregorius and Austin Romine, to Philadelphia and Detroit respectively. I’m not sure what loss is going to be the hardest. Gregorius is a great shortstop and he played the position so much better than Derek Jeter did. He had range that Jeter never had even in a video game. Romine may not have the home run power that Sanchez has but that’s all that he had on him. Romine’s a decent hitter and an outstanding defensive catcher. I never worried about passed balls behind the plate. With Sanchez it was just a matter of time. These are just two of the many reasons why I am not going along with the sudden declaration that the Yankees are the team to beat. It’s December and championships are not won before the arrival of Christmas. I don’t believe any of the hype that is said about this team now or in the spring. I’m hoping that Giancarlo Stanton can play in more than eighteen games next year but that remains to be seen. It’s been a long time since they’ve won and I just want to see them do that and any bit of buildup that surrounds this team is going to be ignored by me. I’ll celebrate just like anyone else next October. I just refuse to start early. ...I watched the Gerrit Cole Yankee press conference and when he put on his pinstriped uniform I had my first look at the Nike Swoosh logo on the front of it and I hated it. Sure, it’s a small addition that will be on every uniform but it doesn’t belong there and I had to wonder to myself what logo is going be next after Nike? Major League Baseball said that they agreed to have Nike logo on the uniforms so it “would appeal to younger consumers.” How thoughtful of them. And if by chance their younger consumers don’t fall in line to start buying jerseys at an alarming rate, the league can still rest easy because of the ten-year one billion dollar deal that they made with Nike to have that logo on the uniforms. In other words who needs the kids when you already cashed a one billion dollar check? ...I’m pretty used to watching players switch teams during every off season but it still looked pretty odd to me seeing Madison Bumgarner in an Arizona Diamondbacks uniform. I hope the Giants knew what they were doing when they let him go. ...Greed Rules, Dept: It was one week ago today that the Raiders played their last home game in Oakland. It was a day that I erroneously thought I’d never have to see again after they returned home in 1995 but twenty-four years later they did it again and this time there is no going back. The need for a new stadium was not the problem because everyone agreed that is what had to be done but once Mark Davis started looking at other places for the Raiders to play it wouldn’t have mattered if the city of Oakland built it themselves and given him the key to the place. Fan loyalty means nothing to the NFL who, when they mention something being all about the fans you should immediately look for additional hidden surcharges because money is the only thing that makes them stand up and take notice. The Raiders will be around next year but not the Oakland Raiders and the identity of the team will slowly fade away as the years go by. Once the novelty of having an NFL team in Las Vegas begins to wear off Davis may wonder if it was all worth it. By then I won’t even have cared anymore. ...I don’t watch college football at all and the only time it catches my eye is when an unbelievable play happens and it’s shown over and over again on ESPN, where in that case I can’t avoid it. Over the Thanksgiving weekend holiday there was something called the Egg Bowl that’s played between Ole Miss and Mississippi State and it has been going on since 1901. News of this was such a surprise to the rest of the country because they had no idea this all was taking place all this time since no one pays attention to anything that happens in Mississippi. In the closing moments of this game an Ole Miss wide receiver named Elijah Moore scored a touchdown to cut Mississippi State’s lead to 21-20. The game was headed into overtime because all the Ole Miss kicker had to do was hit a chip shot and the extra period would have begun. That is until Moore rumbled into the end zone and started his celebration where by the look of it he was either celebrating his touchdown or he suddenly had the urge to urinate really bad because he lifted up his leg just like you catch your neighbor’s dog doing when he is too close to your flower bed. The officials saw what happened and gave Ole Miss a fifteen-yard penalty for unauthorized urination. Faced with that extra yardage from this penalty it was almost expected that the Ole Miss kicker would miss the extra point and sure enough that is just what he did and Mississippi State won the game by one point. This may be the first football game ever played where a kicker missed an extra point or a field goal that ends the game and no one blamed him for the loss. No matter what level football is played on it has lost its sportsmanship. It’s all about showing up the other team these days. Defensive players posing with their arms crossed after they sack a quarterback. Running backs pointing straight down the field signaling for a first down after a long run. You’ll see this in the pros every week on every team. This Elijah Moore kid was wrong and he had no defense for his actions and he said all the right things at the end of the game. He better. He probably had a whole locker room full of his teammates who wanted to personally thank him for what he did with their fists. Moore’s got nothing to worry about though because if he is good enough the NFL will still come calling when it is time for him to be drafted. I grew up watching Walter Payton play and later on Barry Sanders. No matter how big the touchdown, they handed the ball to the official and then they celebrated with their teammates because they knew that before long they’d be in the end zone again without looking foolish at the same time. These days it’s not good enough doing something good for your team because if you can’t rub it in the face of your opposition at the same time why bother? ...Well, you got to give them credit because they almost made it. With two weeks left in the regular season it was looking like the New England Patriots were going to go the entire year without having to answer to a cheating scandal but last week they got caught up in another one. It’s almost as if they can’t help themselves anymore. This time a videographer that was hired by the Patriots illegally filmed the field and the Cincinnati Bengals sideline during the Bengals’ December 8th game against the Cleveland Browns. Almost immediately after word spread around the league about New England’s latest bypassing of the rules the Patriots suspended the producer who took the video. It makes you wonder why they bothered filming the Cincinnati bench because they are a team who has struggled this year, winning only one game so far but they probably just wanted to make sure so they could give them the beating they deserve. Even though the Patriots said they had a legitimate reason for the film crew being there as they said they were filming a segment on an advance scout for the team their actions proved that this was just a ploy from what they were really trying to do. Now it’s up to Commissioner Roger Goodell to do something about. He will of course but just don’t expect too much. After all, it’s the Patriots. ...Vegas awaits, Dept: If this is a preface into what is in the NFL’s future then all I can say is that they asked for it. Defensive back Josh Shaw of the Arizona Cardinals has been suspended for the rest of this season and all of the 2020 season for betting on NFL games. Shaw has not played at all this year and has been on injured reserve since the preseason. He decided to go to Las Vegas with some friends of his from high school and instead of taking in a show while he was there he thought he’d have more fun placing a few bets because after all why go to Vegas if you can’t bet? Shaw was caught because he used his own player card and ID when laying down the bets. He is appealing the suspension but if he pays any attention to history he may as well forget it. Way back in 1963 Paul Hornung of the Packers and Alex Karras of the Lions were suspended for one year by Pete Rozelle for the exact same thing and for that entire year the only time they had a football in their hands was when they were autographing one. If those two guys didn’t get their bans cut short then Shaw won’t either. Professional sports leagues do not tolerate gambling, especially the kind when they don’t get a cut in it. Some of you out there with good memories might wonder why I didn’t include Art Schlichter here. Schlichter was also an NFL player and was caught gambling and eventually was suspended for it but he never bet on NFL games. He bet on everything else but left the NFL alone. He’s now in prison after stealing millions in a sports ticket scheme so while Shaw finds himself in a tough situation now it’s nowhere near as bad as Schlichter got himself into that ended up ruining his career and his life. With the Raiders preparing to open up shop in Las Vegas next year you almost have to stop and wonder who the next player is who is going to be caught gambling during their free time there. They wanted a team there so let them deal with the eventual fallout. It’s only going to get worse. ...I love watching Saturday Night Live especially when the gorgeous Cecily Strong is in the sketches because I think she is even funnier than Kate McKinnon. There’s nothing wrong with her either especially when she is imitating Rudy Giuliani but for the love of God why is Aidy Bryant taking up space there? Nothing she has ever done has ever been funny. If the woman went to a kindergarten class and made funny faces in front of them for an hour she still wouldn’t get a rise out of them. One time SNL had a pie throwing sketch planned but they had to scratch it because she ate all the pies. Even then she couldn’t get a laugh. And a child shall lead them, Dept: Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg was named Person of the Year by Time magazine for her tireless efforts to make the world more aware of climate change and she is the youngest person ever to earn this distinction. She has inspired kids from around the world to speak out and be heard about their concerns about climate change and has also addressed world leaders at the United Nations about this subject in an intelligent manner that was way beyond her sixteen years. What makes what’s she doing more amazing is that she has Asperger’s syndrome, a condition that significantly increases a person’s difficulties in social interactions and yet she does not let this stop her from speaking out on the most important issue facing the planet. I can not help but admire what she is doing and how her actions influenced so many people to follow her lead. All I can say is good for her and to never stop doing what she thinks is right because it won’t be long before her generation will be able to do more about this than just speak out. ...Probably for the past five years or so each time I have come across a Christmas movie on TV I would go on to the next channel as quickly as possible. It’s because I’ve seen them enough times and the Hallmark ones do not count because when you’ve seen one of those you’ve seen them all. I’m talking about movies like White Christmas or It’s a Wonderful Life. I’ve lived through many Christmas seasons and I would have to say if I had to guess that I’ve seen these movies over thirty-five times and what made me decide to start a new tradition and not watch them is when I realized I was able to quote dialog from these films word-for-word. That’s when you know you’ve seen a movie too many times. George Bailey was still going to jump in the river and Clarence was going to save him every single time whether I watched it or not so I let them have at it and I looked for other things to watch during the holidays, namely non-Christmas shows. However there was one movie, A Christmas Carol that I made an exception to. I actually read the book as a school assignment many years back and it made me appreciate the movies even more. There’s been many versions and takeoffs of the Dickens classic and I have enjoyed them all and if a new movie is made about the book I’ll watch it. Each time I would watch Scrooge as he looked at his past, present and future and I wondered how I’d feel if I had been in his place and somehow got the same chance as he got. I’m not saying I’m a rich miser like Scrooge was since I am neither rich nor a miser. But like him I do have regrets. Christmas was so much nicer for me when I was younger with my relatives still around and now that I am facing my second Christmas without my mother I don’t see a reason to celebrate much. What a gift that would have been to get that kind of glimpse in your past. Maybe in a way it is better that I can’t. ...And with that I want to leave off by wishing everyone on this website a very Merry Christmas. Thank you Trues for keeping this website going. It has been a pleasure to help out here since the doors opened all those years ago. I hope all our members realize that you and all the staff members here work to give them a well-run site that they can be proud to be a part of. But the modders are our heart and soul around here because no one logs in here for the excitement of finding out that a thread was locked. These guys who make the mods for Mvp and 2k are why people come here and I want to thank you again and the rest of the staff for what they do. Merry Christmas to you and have a safe New Year and above all in 2020 may it be a healthy one for you and your family. That goes for us all!

Send it to me again in a PM and I will take care of the rest.

I can send you my catalog file of you want to see it.

PM sent.

Yes it is. It took me as long as this site has been around to do this. I have the discs cataloged on this wonderful free utility called Gentibus CD. Now if you go and download that and let me know when you do it I can upload the file where you can see what is on all seventy of those discs. I certainly do not want PC baseball games lost to time. I keep these CD's in cases and put away at all times unless I need to grab something for someone. I also must confess I don't know what the cloud does, how to access one, how to get one and how to use it. All I know about a cloud is it stores stuff. And here is your file. I grabbed it last night. Included in this zip file is the read me file. Triple Play Player Editor.zip

Yes I do. KC, I have 70 DVD's full of mods and I doubt if I have the time for something like that. Besides, I've never done cloud storage. The DVD's are mods from Mvp '04, Mvp '05 and the '05 mods include mods that were only hosted on EAmods, High Heat 2002, 2003 and 2004 along with some stragglers. Also are backups of different versions of season mods and things of that nature.

Updated to 11-24 ...For those of you reading this edition of Random Thoughts you may want to breeze past this first passage since I plan on getting my Yankee bashing out of the way before I move on to other more important things. It has been over a month now that the Yankees were eliminated in the ALCS and I'm not even close to being over it, which should surprise no one. I am as curious as anyone else to see what they will do in these coming months but the only thing that I am certain is that whatever happens this winter and when spring training starts do not believe the hype that this team will try to start selling you when they get the Tampa next February. But I am happy that C.C. Sabathia will no longer be pitching anymore. He had a 5 - 8 record with a 4.95 ERA in 107 1/3 innings for the Yankees but also was on the disabled list four separate times. That means he lasted a little over twenty-six innings on on the mound before he got hurt again. I'll never accuse the guy of being a bad teammate because he wasn't but his body quit on him over the season and the Yankees were still obliged to send them out there. Having him retire improved the pitching staff immediately. I wish him a lot of luck and the next time I hope I see him out on the mound at Yankee Stadium will be at an old timers game. I’m glad they parted ways with Jacoby Ellsbury and Greg Bird because we all know how much those two helped the Yankees win games over the past two seasons. But I have a feeling that as soon as Bird signs with another team he will suddenly get healthy and hit .320. I’ve said enough about Sanchez. The Yankees won’t get rid of him because like everyone else they are in love with the home run and as long as this slug can keep doing that he will keep playing. I’d like to see them nab Gerrit Cole but I am not optimistic. All I want for them to do is not do anything stupid and there is a better chance of it being 85 degrees with a warm breeze on Christmas day than for this to happen. ...There is something I don't understand about what happened at the World Series last month with those two girls who lifted up their shirts to show everyone what they had hiding underneath them. They were thrown out of the ballpark and were banned from attending any major league game for the rest of their life. I read one article where it said baseball had to do this because of the kids watching the game. I don't know if the baseball official who said that said it with a straight face but I can just picture someone like Joe Torre saying that to a reporter because he can say this crap with a straight face and believe it. Baseball does not care about the kids because this happened in the seventh inning of game five and they were in bed long before this little peep show took place. This was all about their image and kids had nothing to do with it. Anyway on with my question. How is major league baseball going to enforce the permanent ban of these two women? The way I see it there is no way they can. If they want to go to a game someone else would buy the tickets. I can see that happening because all they got to do is not lift their shirt up again and they will be able to sit in the box seat tickets or anywhere else and if they want to make sure that they are not recognized all they have to do is dye their hair. The point I'm trying to make is baseball has more security issues that they have to go through for every game than looking for two bimbos who showed their natural assets on national TV. ...From all I have heard about the investigations on the sign stealing cheating scandal that the Houston Astros were involved in is that they are going to be facing some very stiff penalties handed down by baseball. I will believe that when I see it because I have a hunch that whatever the Astros are going to be slapped with the one thing everyone is going to agree to is that they got off easy. My idea was to have a representative of Major League Baseball sitting in their dugout for all of their games for the next few years or so making sure that everything was on the up-and-up there and no cheating took place. And if the Astros complain that only they are having a MLB babysitter the answer to that would be that they were the ones who did the cheating and they should try to win a home game without the aid of someone banging on a garbage can. ...Because of the Astros sign stealing issue the news about how Tyler Skaggs died and what led up to it has almost been forgotten. Almost. Mark my words we are going to hear a lot more about this and probably before the start of next season. When it was discovered that one Angels employee gave Skaggs oxycodone and along with taking the drug with him he provided federal investigators with the names of five other players who he alleged to be using opiates. So what we have are five players out there who are waiting to be questioned by federal authorities about the abuse of oxycodone and their possible link to Skaggs' death. Something like that makes sign stealing a very minor offense. When Skaggs died many wonderful things were said about him and I'm sure he deserved all of it. But the last time I checked the age of twenty-seven is old enough to know what a person is doing and if it is right or wrong and it also made me wonder how many of those guys on his team when they found out what happened knew exactly why he died? There is no way some if not all of his twenty-five teammates did not know what was going on. Maybe they were protecting Skaggs' image and the five players who were also doing this by staying silent. So far it's still working but eventually it's going to stop. ...What is it with professional sports and the city of Oakland? Now baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is warning the Oakland city officials to drop their lawsuit over the Coliseum land sale to the Athletics or they can risk the team moving to another city. The commissioner pointed out that Bay Area fans will soon be going to Las Vegas to see the Raiders and that unless things changed, Bay Area fans may be going to Las Vegas or elsewhere to see the A's as well. If that doesn't sound like a form of extortion I don't know what does. Oakland has already lost the Raiders and the NBA Warriors. Many years ago they even had a hockey team called the Golden State Seals. That team moved to Cleveland to become the Barons and then they merged with the Minnesota North Stars and now that team is now known as the Dallas Stars. Maybe Oakland didn't want them but neither did anybody else. If the A's leave Oakland will have nothing and even if you aren't a fan of any of their teams you have to see the injustice in that. ...Of all the major sports leagues the National Football League has probably the most rules and most of the dumbest ones. I'll give you one example. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was fined $5,000 by the NFL for wearing an Apple watch on the sideline in a game he didn’t play in and could not have played in after the season-ending elbow surgery that he had. All he was doing was watching the game and keeping one eye out to make sure that no one knocked him over. Roethlisberger was upset about the fine because he didn’t receive advance warning that he had violated a rule. All he got was the letter stating he’d been fined. But that's how the NFL works. Fine first, answer questions later. If I can ask the NFL one question about this it would be this. How come they can see a watch on a man's wrist but cannot see a blatant pass interference call? ...Oh and that reminds me have you ever noticed when you are watching your favorite NFL team play that just about every time the opposing team throws a long pass and it gets broken up or the ball was overthrown that a pass interference call will be called? But when your team does the same thing no flags are ever thrown? I think I have seen this and every single Oakland game I have ever watched in my life. ...Lately I have been watching an old 1980s crime drama called Crime Story. It was only on for two seasons and that was only because NBC, for reasons known only to them moved the show to Tuesday nights opposite Moonlighting, which was a very successful show on ABC at the time starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard. Anyway I bought the complete season on Amazon for $15.99. It's pretty rare you get a good deal on a series like this but that's because after over thirty years a lot of people have never heard of it. The show starred Dennis Farina, a man who had a scowl that can intimidate an entire room and Anthony Denison who later starred in The Closer and Major Crimes. A lot of famous people today guest starred on this show like Julia Roberts, Gary Sinise, Andrew Dice Clay and many more. Many shows have been described as being before their time but this one really was. So if you're looking for something different to watch this winter give this one a shot. It won't even cost you twenty dollars. ...Colin Kaepernick tried again to rejoin the NFL fraternity recently and once again was given a polite thanks but no thanks by the big shots who run the league. If he plays again or not is not my concern because I am neither on his side or the NFL’s. The league promised him he’d have a workout in Atlanta where twenty-five teams were going to show up to see if he had anything left worth looking at but before that took place they wanted him to sign a waiver that went beyond the standard injury protections that are typically afforded to the NFL and its teams. In that waiver they snuck in some legalese that may have ended up giving the league reason to argue that he would also sign away some of his employment protections. In other words if he took a kneel again they could give him the boot. Kaepernick did not sign the waiver and his workout was moved sixty miles away and instead of twenty-five teams showing up only eight decided to make the hour-long trip. During the workout Kaepernick wore a Kunta Kinte t shirt that made me ask myself if he actually knew who Kunta Kinte was. (Watch the ABC miniseries Roots from 1977 to find out who he was or read the book.) You see, it is hard for me to be sympathetic to an athlete wearing the name of a slave on his shirt when he has earned forty-three million dollars in six years playing for the 49ers. The NFL has done their best keeping this guy out of uniform for the past 2 1/2 years and in the end they’ll probably win because it’s their game and their ball and you can’t play unless you play by their rules. It may not be right but it is going to be very hard to find someone to go against what the NFL wants because the pressure they’d apply is something you’d never read in the papers. ...As if his life was not screwed up enough, Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Felipe Vazquez, who was arrested back in September for soliciting a child for sex now has received twenty-one additional child sex-related charges during the investigation into his contact with minors. We all know what that means concerning his future in professional baseball. Babe Ruth has a better chance of suiting up next year than Vazquez and he’s been dead for seventy-one years. Despite all that I still expect someone to request a cyberface for Vazquez sometime during this off-season. ...It’s about time, Dept: To the San Antonio homeowners association that sent a letter to one of their neighbors demanding that they take down their Christmas decorations until it got closer to the holiday, THANK YOU!!! The neighbors in question decorated their front lawn back on the first of November and I don't care how much holiday spirit you have that is way too early for anyone to have to look at Santa and Rudolph and company every time they go out and throw out their trash. Every year Christmas is pushed on us earlier and earlier in the last thing anyone needs to see is a plastic Frosty waving at them for two months. ...Finally, the Thanksgiving day football schedule because it’s never too early to change the channel. As usual it's a lousy one but that really isn't a surprise. The NFL owns this holiday so why bother attempting to make it interesting? The first game is the Chicago Bears at the Detroit Lions. The way these two teams are playing their own fans may not even watch it. Next up the Buffalo Bills go to Dallas to take on the Cowboys. I think it bears repeating but I think it's good that Dallas plays on Thanksgiving because when you're done with dinner you can sit in front of the TV and have the Cowboys put you to sleep. Works for me every year. And finally the night game is the New Orleans Saints at the Atlanta Falcons. A lot of tickets remain for that game in Atlanta because all the good 'ole boys down there will be hunting deer instead of watching football. Have a good Thanksgiving everyone and enjoy your weekend!

Willie Randolph Willie Randolph was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the seventh round of the June 6, 1972, free-agent draft. He started out with the Class A Gulf Coast League Pirates in 1972, appearing in 44 games and batting .317. The following year he was with the Charleston Pirates of the Class A Western Carolinas League, where he batted .280. By 1974 he was with the Thetford Mines (Quebec) Pirates of the Double-A Eastern League. He finished that season with a batting average of .254, an on-base percentage of .397, and a fielding percentage of .966. He played his final minor-league baseball in 1975, with the Charleston (West Virginia) Charlies of the Triple-A International League, batting .339 with a fielding percentage of .965. He was called up by the Pirates in July of that year, and made his major-league debut on July 29 at the age of 21. He appeared in 30 games for the Pirates in 1975, batting only .164 but posting an on-base percentage of .246. He played in two games against Cincinnati during the National League Championship Series, going hitless. Cincinnati won that series. On December 11, 1975, the Pirates traded Randolph and pitchers Ken Brett and Dock Ellis to the New York Yankees for pitcher Doc Medich. Randolph was the Yankees’ starting second baseman in 1976, appearing in 125 games. He had a batting average of .267, drew 58 walks, and had an on-base percentage of .355. He would remain the Yankees’ starting second baseman through 13 seasons, until 1988. During those years with the Yankees, Randolph was a consistent batter, especially with runners on base, a patient hitter who drew a lot of walks, and an excellent fielder. In 1976 his batting average was .267, his slugging percentage .328, his on-base percentage .356, and he had 37 stolen bases. He did not hit well during the ALCS or the World Series that year, but he was named to the American League All-Star Team and the Topps All-Star Rookie Team, and won the Yankees’ James P. Dawson Award, which is given to the best rookie at the end of spring training. In 1977 Randolph’s numbers improved, and he posted a batting average of .274, an on-base percentage of .347, and a slugging percentage of .387. He was once again named to the American League All-Star team, and set an All-Star Game record for most assists (six) by a second baseman in a nine-inning game. During the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals, he had five hits and 2 RBIs in 18 at-bats. In the World Series he had four hits and scored five runs as the Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers. Randolph continued to play well in 1978, getting 139 hits and 36 stolen bases in 134 games. His batting average was .279, his on-base percentage .381, and his slugging percentage .357. In 1979 he appeared in a career-high number of games (153), and had 682 plate appearances and 574 at-bats, both career highs. He had 155 hits and had a career-high fielding percentage of .985. He was first in the American League in putouts at second base (355), assists (478), and double plays by a second baseman (128). In 1980, Randolph’s batting average was .294, his on-base percentage .427 (second in the American League), and his slugging percentage .407. He led the American League in bases on balls with 119. He scored 99 runs, the most in his career. In the ALCS against Kansas City, Randolph batted .385. He was named to the American League All-Star team and won the Silver Slugger award among second basemen. Between 1982 and 1984 Randolph was a consistent player, with a batting average between .279 and .287, an on-base percentage between .361 and .377, and a slugging percentage between .348 and .349. In 1984 he had a career-high 162 hits, and led the league in double plays by a second baseman (112). His numbers remained in the same range in 1985, when he tied his career-high fielding percentage of .985. In a game against the Oakland A’s on September 5, 1985, Randolph had four hits, including two home runs, in four at-bats. In 1986 he had a batting average of .276, an on-base percentage of .393, and a slugging percentage of .346. He did, however, lead the league with a career-high 20 errors. On November 12, 1986, Randolph became a free agent, and the following January he re-signed with the Yankees. In 1987 he had his best year as a Yankee, driving in a career-high 67 runs, scoring 96, and sporting a batting average of .305. His slugging percentage was the highest of his career, .414. He was once again named to the All-Star team. He played his last year with the Yankees in 1988, appearing in 110 games with a batting average of .230. His on-base and slugging percentages remained high, however, standing at .322 and .300 respectively. At end of his career with the Yankees, he ranked among the team’s all-time leaders in games played (1,694), runs (1,027), hits (1,731) and stolen bases (251). He was also valuable to the team in other ways. According to T.J. Quinn, although Randolph was very quiet, he was a major key to motivating the team. During his 18-year career with six different teams, he appeared in 2,202 games and had 2,210 hits (including 316 doubles and 54 home runs), with 687 RBIs, 1239 runs scored, and 271 stolen bases. His batting average was .276, his slugging percentage .351, and his on-base percentage .373. His fielding percentage was .979. Randolph never committed an error in a postseason game. Three times during his career with the Yankees he had four hits in four at-bats, and twice he drove in five runs in five at-bats. Once with the Yankees and once with the Dodgers, he had three doubles in four at-bats.

Allie Reynolds Allie Reynolds was a 20-game winner once in a 13-year career that saw him win 182 games, lose 107 and save 49. He also pitched 36 shutouts on the way to a career earned run average of 3.30. Reynolds, a right-hander, twice led the league in strikeouts and once in e.r.a, a brilliant 2.06 in 1952, when his record was 20-8. But it was in the post-season that Reynolds's talents really came to the fore. He appeared in 15 World Series games for the Yankees, with a 7-2 record, four saves and a 2.79 e.r.a. Reynolds's Series highlight remains a two-hit, 1-0 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1949 Series opener. But his legend was built after World Series calls to the bullpen. When the Yankees defeated the Dodgers in a seven-game Series in 1952, Reynolds won two games and lost one. The second victory came in relief in the seventh game at Ebbets Field. In six World Series relief appearances, Reynolds recorded either a victory or a save each time, including the clinching games in the 1950, '52 and '53. "Reynolds was two ways great, which is starting and relieving, which no one can do like him," Stengel once said. "He has guts and his courage is simply tremendous." Reynolds reached the majors to stay with the Cleveland Indians in 1943 and was acquired by the Yankees after the 1946 season in a trade for the All-Star second baseman Joe Gordon in which Joe DiMaggio had some input. Cleveland, the story goes, wanted Gordon so badly that it offered the Yankees any pitcher but Bob Feller. When the Yankee executive Larry MacPhail consulted DiMaggio on the matter, he is said to have replied: "Take Reynolds. I'm a fastball hitter, but he can buzz his hard one by me any time he has a mind to." Reynolds was 19-8 with an American League-leading .704 winning percentage in his first season in New York. In 1950, he won 16 games despite pitching with bone chips in his elbow. The following season he was 17-8, but two of the victories were no-hitters: one was a 1-0 verdict over Feller and the Indians and the other was an 8-0 decision over the Boston Red Sox, in which Ted Williams made the final out on a pop foul after the catcher Yogi Berra's misplay of an earlier pitch on a foul pop had prolonged Williams's turn at bat. Reynolds always played down the significance of his double no-hit season, saying: "A no-hitter is not the best standard by which to judge a pitcher. That's just luck. I've pitched four games better than the no-hitters and lost three of them." Reynolds's career ended after the 1954 season because of a back injury he suffered when the Yankees' team bus crashed into an overpass in Philadelphia. Although several of his former teammates -- DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Johnny Mize and Phil Rizzuto -- have been elected to the Hall of Fame, Reynolds never was. Reynolds also contributed to the game off the field. As the American League player representative, he was instrumental in negotiating an agreement with the owners that led to the major league players' pension fund.

Hahahahaha!!! You said it better than I did! 👍

Updated to 10-6 ...I’m not here to defend Domingo German or to make excuses for what he did because the way I see it you don’t go around hitting a woman. But I don’t understand why he could not have begun to serve his suspension at the beginning of next season. By not letting him play in the post season it penalizes the entire team. The Yankees post season roster is weaker because of this and I do not see a good reason why this had to occur. Yes, suspend him for what he did because he was in the wrong but don’t make the other players suffer. ...I don’t know about any of you but I am so tired of hearing the words Statcast AI Powered by AWS come out of the words of baseball announcers after someone hits a home run. It’s obvious to me that these people paid Major League Baseball a ton of money and in return every announcer or color commentator must say those five words right after another ball flies over the fence. Then we get the launch angle and exit velocity of the home run because if we don’t have that information we won’t be able to watch the rest of the game. Maybe it’s me but I miss the days of watching baseball without all of the unnecessary things being thrown at you. ... Bryce is nice Dept: Bryce Harper recently completed his first year in Philadelphia after the Phillies spent three hundred thirty million dollars to bring him over from Washington with the intent to help improve their ball club and to be fair that is exactly what he did. The Phils finished with an 81 - 81 record which was a one game improvement from 2018. If they keep it up at that pace the Phillies will win ninety games by 2028. That's fine by Harper since he's not planning on going anywhere because the city and its fans compliment his sulking and discontented attitude perfectly. The only time he cracked a smile recently was when he realized he didn’t have to play baseball this month like the rest of his former National teammates. But it’s not like he is going to have anything to do this off season especially after he and his wife welcomed their first child into their home in late August. He told his wife that because of the new baby he wanted to show his appreciation to the kids in the Philadelphia area by making their Halloween and Christmas something to remember before it was time to head back down to Florida in the spring. He said that any kid who came to his house for trick-or-treat would get Bed, Bath and Beyond coupons instead of candy and if any of them objected he would let his dobermans out after them and in the weeks heading into Christmas he plans on visiting sick kids in the Philadelphia area hospitals to give away baseballs, sign autographs, pose for pictures and most importantly, to let all of them know that there is no such thing as Santa. ..Not that the Yankees have asked, but if I had a wish list for things to do before spring training starts it would be something like this: 1. Buy out the remaining year of Jacoby Ellsbury's contract and wish him well. This guy for whatever reason has not played in two years. I don't even remember if he got a plate appearance back in spring training. His time on the Yankees has passed and other players have shown that they can be more dependable and healthy than him. 2. Release Greg Bird. You all remember him don't you? Left-handed hitting first baseman with a decent glove? That's him! But his problem was he got hurt as much as Ellsbury and guys like Luke Voit and Mike Ford showed the Yankees that Bird was no longer an option. In fact he’s not even a consideration. 3. I know I may be in the minority about this but I would love to see the Yankees get rid of Gary Sanchez. The guy has to be one of the most stupidest and laziest ballplayers I've seen on this team since Alfonso Soriano and Robinson Cano left. The guy has not shown one bit of hustle since being called up to New York but a few weeks ago he got it into his head to try and steal second base. He was out of course and immediately after that he had another groin pull. If I had it my way I'd of kicked him in the groin because then at least I would've known I had his attention because hitting him in his head would've done nothing. He's a terrible catcher and I feel more comfortable with Austin Romine behind the plate. 4. Yeah Sabathia is gone and what I most like about this is how he finished his season because he ended it so bad that there is no way he's going to change his mind and come back for one more year and if he still wants to do that the Yankees should tell him to do it in Kansas City. 5. Brett Gardner is another story. He actually had a great year and his homerun output was unbelievable. But it is better to get rid of a player one year too soon than one year too late. That's something that Branch Rickey used to say when he was running the Cardinals and Dodgers and it is still true today. ...Now if you all want to know what a definition of a pipe dream is just read that last entry over again. 😀 ...If there is one thing you could say about the Cubs collapse this year is that you can't blame this one on Steve Bartman. Whether you are a fan of theirs or not you have to agree that they fell apart as the end of the season got closer and closer. After they destroyed the Pirates at Wrigley Field they couldn't seem to do anything right. And just like always when players fail to play up to their potential they let the manager go. Joe Maddon did a wonderful job with that team and his reward for leading Chicago to their first championship in over 100 years is his walking papers. Already there are rumors about Maddon going to the Angels. Another article I read had him going to the Padres and if that's true he will fit in perfectly with all the young talent that San Diego has. Wherever he goes I know one thing and that's he deserves much better than Chicago. ...No matter what the Tampa Bay Rays do in the playoffs they have already proven that they're a team to be reckoned with in the foreseeable future. They won 90 games last year and this year they did even better by winning 96. And what's most impressive is that they're doing this on a payroll that is a fraction that the major market teams have like Los Angeles, Boston and the Yankees. They are an impressive young team and they do not quit. As a Yankee fan I always pay attention to them and at the same time I wonder how they would be if they had an owner who spent a little bit more money on bringing in players. ...I don’t give a damn how good a player Ronald Acuna, Jr. is supposed to be. The guy has proven twice recently that he is someone that only wants to make himself look good during his home run trots. Unfortunately two times that he was loafing the ball stayed in the ball park and he ended up looking foolish to everyone but himself. To me, I don’t care what this guy can do. It’s what he doesn’t do that really sticks out. For too many years I watched the lethargic play of Alfonso Soriano and later on Robinson Cano and I see the same thing in Acuna. Acuna’s going to hustle for awhile but then for no reason at all he is going to do the same thing all over again. ...There are many problems and issues that cities in the United States must deal with every day such as traffic, housing, pollution and crime just name a few. But for Berkeley, California all these things have taken a backseat to more important matters as they are banning some commonly used words in favor of more gender-neutral alternatives. From now on there are no manhole covers on the streets of Berkeley. They're still there but they will now be called "maintenance holes." Gone are the words sorority and fraternity. They've now been replaced with the term "Collegiate Greek system residence." This should now give every frat boy a built-in reason to sleep over at his favorite sorority since they're all the same now. If you have a brother or sister you cannot refer to them as that anymore. From now on they are your sibling. Isn't it refreshing to see a city tackle the real problems of the day? Drugs and crime will always be around to deal with but taking care of those manhole covers could not wait another day. ...Last month Sarah Palin's husband Todd filed for divorce from her after thirty-one years of marriage citing an “incompatibility of temperament between the parties such that they find it impossible to live together as husband and wife.” In other words he had enough. Coincidentally the filing was made on his fifty-fifth birthday because he probably figured he wanted a birthday present this year that he can really enjoy. He deserves the medal of freedom for staying with her for that long. Don't feel bad for Sarah though because now she is free to go on the lecture circuit with her daughter. While Bristol talks about abstinence while conveniently the neglecting to mention that she had two pregnancies and was never married once, Sarah can talk about the sanctity of marriage. It's funny when you think about it than eleven years ago she almost would've held the second highest office in the country had John McCain won in 2008. Now she's battling to try and keep the big screen TV and dining room set. ...Recently a couple that was vacationing in New Orleans saw a McDonalds and decided to stop inside to get something to eat because they figured they knew what they were facing there and not what was in the chicken gumbo. When they picked up their order and walked back to their table the guy noticed that his fries were cold and he went back to complain to the staff about it. Apparently grumbling about your fries doesn’t go over so well down there because the employee yelled at the man to get out and when he didn’t do it fast enough he pushed him and put his hands around his neck and punched him in the head. The guy stood there and let it happen because he knew a lawsuit when he saw it and not all the Big Mac sandwiches in the world was going to get McDonalds out of this one. Speaking of Big Macs, that’s what he ordered but he got a fish sandwich instead. I don’t know what he did for the rest of his vacation in New Orleans but I do know that he was able to turn cold fries into cold cash. ...Last week motorists driving through a Detroit suburb along Interstate 75 were stunned to see a pornographic video playing on an electronic billboard. Police from Auburn Hills said the video played on the billboard for about thirty minutes before the images were removed. As you can imagine many people called 911. Some to complain and others to ask if they knew the name of movie. A tour bus driver bringing back a group of senior citizens after a day trip pulled over to the side of the road claiming that he was “lost.” The men didn’t seem to mind but the women were a bit put off. Many people thought the billboard was advertising for a strip club and were angry that an address was never posted. What happened was that two men broke into a small building and loaded porn on a laptop that’s connected to the billboard. The amazing part about all of this was that for the length of time the video was being played there were no accidents of any kind reported. You’d at least think one car would get rear-ended but the drivers were really safe. The rear-ending only happened in the video. 😁

Yes there is! You can use a uniform set made for Mvp 2004 into Mvp 2005 but unfortunately you can not do the opposite.

Hideo Nomo Hideo Nomo started playing baseball with his father at age 5 and by the time he was 12 his dream was to become a professional ballplayer. In the fifth grade he invented his corkscrew “tornado” windup to impress his father, and to fool batters. “By twisting my body and by using this force, I was able to throw harder. And at the same time, with that motion, it would be difficult for batters to pick up the ball,” he explained. Many years later Nomo earned a spot on Team Japan, which won a silver medal in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. The next year he received offers from a record eight teams in the 1989 Nippon Professional Baseball draft. Nomo signed with the Osaka-based Kintetsu Buffaloes and received a bonus of 100 million yen (roughly $1 million US) and a guarantee that the team would not try to change his pitching form. After the 1990 season, the Japanese all-stars battled the visiting major-league all-stars, winning four games in the best-of-seven series. Nomo’s performance caught the eye of several Americans, including Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson. The Big Unit approached Nomo at a private dinner in Japan and told him, “You belong in MLB.” With Johnson’s praise, and the strong influence of Kintetsu teammate Masato Yoshii, Nomo could not shake the thought of going to America to compete in the majors. After the 1994 season Nomo met baseball agent Don Nomura, who had translated the Japanese Uniform Players Contract searching for loopholes to recruit players to the United States. With the help of California-based agent Arn Tellem, they found one – the voluntary-retirement clause. It stated that if a player retired and returned to NPB, he was bound to his former team. However, there was no provision for players who retired and went to another country to play. This was Nomo’s out. After the ’94 season, he declared his retirement from NPB at age 26. After interviewing with several major-league teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and Seattle Mariners, Nomo found a personal connection with Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley and signed with the team in February 1995. In his major-league debut, Nomo pitched five scoreless innings, allowing one hit. He left the 0-0 game after the fifth inning and did not get a decision. (The Dodgers lost to the Giants 4-3 in 15 innings.) Among the 200 members of the media present, most were from Japan. Only 16,099 fans paid to see the game at Candlestick Park (just 28 percent of the 58,000 capacity). However, millions in Japan watched the game live on television, where the first pitch was thrown at 5:33 A.M. At the end of the season Nomo was named NL Rookie of Year after notching a 13-6 record and a 2.54 ERA, and leading the league with 236 strikeouts in 191⅓ innings. “I think I had a great year with the Dodgers, and I'm satisfied,” he said. “My next goal is to pitch for the Dodgers in the World Series.” Unbeknownst to him and those around him though, his career began its downward spiral in 1997. The critical moment occurred on July 26 when the Phillies’ Scott Rolen knocked Nomo out of a game with a line drive off his pitching arm. Rolen’s shot was the only hit Nomo allowed in 3⅔ innings. The Dodgers won the game, 4-1, but the smash changed everything for Nomo. He quickly returned to pitching, but by the end of the season his elbow required surgery to remove bone chips and calcium deposits. In hindsight, the career-altering impact of Rolen’s line drive off suggests parallels to the beanball that leveled Boston Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro in 1967. Both athletes eventually returned to the field and displayed flashes of their former brilliance, but neither was ever truly the same player again. The 1998 season marked the beginning of the end of “Nomomania” in Los Angeles. With a 2-7 record and 5.05 ERA, the 29-year-old right-hander was removed from the Dodgers’ 40-man roster after complaining when he learned that his name had been included in trade talks with Seattle for Randy Johnson. Both the Yankees and Mets expressed an interest in Nomo, but the Mets appealed to him most because of familiar faces in the clubhouse. Among them were rookie pitcher Masato Yoshii, one of Nomo’s best friends from Japan; his former Dodgers catcher, Mike Piazza; and Dave Wallace, his former Dodgers pitching coach, now a senior adviser for New York. On June 4 the Dodgers traded Nomo with Brad Clontz to the Mets for Greg McMichael and Dave Mlicki. He spent two more years in Los Angeles before signing with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the 2005 season. An elbow injury in 2006 forced Nomo to go to Venezuela and the American minor leagues for rehabilitation. He tried to make a major league comeback in 2008 but was released by the Kansas City Royals after appearing in just three games as a relief pitcher.

Bobby Richardson Bobby Richardson played second base for the New York Yankees from 1955 to 1966, a key contributor during one of the Yankees' most successful stretches in their legendary history. Richardson was by all accounts a slick, rangy glove man and a steady stick man. He won the Gold Glove Award five times, he batted over .300 in two different seasons, and he was selected to the American League All-Star team eight times. And when the October spotlight was turned on, Richardson excelled. His lifetime regular season statistics include a .266 batting average, a .299 on-base percentage, and a .335 slugging percentage. In World Series play, however, he batted .305 with a .331 OBP and .405 SLG. Richardson played in seven World Series, 36 games in all including a major league record 30 consecutive World Series games, and he holds several remarkable World Series hitting records as well: he is one of only four players to have 11 or more hits in two different World Series, he has the most RBIs in a World Series [12], and the most RBIs in a single World Series game [6]. His total of 40 World Series hits places him at #13 on the list of Most World Series Hits in a Career, as of this writing. Richardson is the only second baseman and the only player from the losing team to win the coveted Sport Magazine World Series MVP award. Bobby Richardson was inarguably one of the best second sackers in his day, and a convincing case could be made that he is the greatest all-time Yankee second baseman after Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri. Richardson's most productive year was 1962. He led the American League and recorded personal career best performances with 754 total plate appearances, 692 official at-bats, and 209 hits. As of this writing, his 692 ABs and 754 TPAs still ranks Bobby among the top five of all time in the American League in those two single-season categories. With a mere 24 strikeouts, Bobby struck out only one time for every 28.8 official at-bats that year. And with opposing pitchers not wanting to walk Bobby in front of Mantle and Maris, Bobby racked up several other personal-best batting performances that year: .302 batting average, 38 doubles (led the team; fourth in the American League), 8 home runs, 59 RBIs, 99 runs scored (led the team), 37 walks, a slugging average of .406 and an on-base percentage of .337. He also led the Yankees and the league with 20 sacrifice bunts. He won his second Gold Glove Award and finished second to Mickey Mantle in the voting for the American League's Most Valuable Player Award. The 1962 World Series against the San Francisco Giants was notable for both franchises. The San Francisco Giants and their fans remember this World Series as the most heart-wrenching of the three Series they lost after moving to the West Coast. The New York Yankees and their fans remember it as the last World Series victory until 1977. Game 7 at Candlestick Park was a genuine nail-biter, a pitching duel between the Giants' Jack Sanford and Yankee ace Ralph Terry, both of whom were able to pitch even though they pitched Game 5 because of the three days of rain that postponed Game 6. The Yankees scored the only run in the game when Bill Skowron crossed the plate as the Giants were completing a 6-4-3 double play on a Tony Kubek ground ball in the fifth inning. The ninth inning has been written about extensively, but here's how Richardson remembers it: Pinch-hitter Matty Alou led off the bottom of the ninth with a drag bunt base hit that I could not get to in time. Felipe Alou attempted to bunt him over but was unsuccessful. He struck out, as did the next batter Chuck Hiller. Then Willie Mays slapped a double down the right field line. Roger Maris made a wonderful play to cut the ball off before it reached the corner. He threw the ball to me at the cutoff position and I got rid of the ball quick and it was on line. When Maris got me the ball, third base coach Whitey Lockman held up Matty Alou at third. But as it turned out my throw took a high bounce and Ellie Howard had to reach up for it. Who knows? Had Alou been trying to score, he might have been able to slide under the tag. With the tying and winning runs on third and second base, Ralph Houk visited the mound to check with Terry, the same Ralph Terry who gave up Bill Mazeroski's home run in Pittsburgh two years earlier. Terry and Houk decided to pitch to Willie McCovey--even though he tripled in his previous at-bat and homered off Terry in Game Two--rather than pitch to the on-deck batter Orlando Cepeda whom Terry already struck out twice in the game. McCovey hit a long foul ball down the right field line on the first pitch. On the second pitch, he hit a line shot right at Richardson that Bobby caught shoulder high and the Yankees won the Series. "People often suggest that I was out of position on that play," recalls Bobby. "But McCovey hit two hard ground balls to me earlier in the Series, so I played where I thought he would hit the ball." Richardson finished his career with 1,412 regular season games and a .266 lifetime batting average. He led the league three times in at-bats (1962-1964). Although Richardson did not draw many walks, he was a splendid batter at the top of the Yankee order. He was tough to strike out (only 243 in 5,780 career plate appearances), tough to double up (only 100 times in his career), and a great bunter--he had 98 sacrifice bunts in his career, good enough to finish in the AL's top ten in that category seven times, and twice (1962 and 1964) he led the league.

Elston Howard With African Americans making their way in Major League Baseball, the most successful team in baseball, the New York Yankees, needed to break their color barrier. Elston Howard was the man to do that. On April 14, 1955 Howard made his Yankee debut against the Boston Red Sox. He had one at-bat in his first game, one hit, and one RBI. While he loved catching behind the plate, Yankee skipper Casey Stengel was content with Yogi Berra catching the Yankee hurlers. But Howard was so versatile; he could catch and play the outfield, a quality Stengel liked. He caught nine games in ’55 and played 75 games in the outfield. In 1955 overall, Howard played in 97 games, averaged .290 at the dish, hit 10 home runs, and drove in 43 runs. He also played in his first career World Series, and homered in his first Fall Classic at-bat against Don Newcombe in the second inning of game one. Unfortunately, the Yankees lost the series to the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. In 1956, Howard played in 98 games for the Yankees, one more than the previous season. He caught 26 games and played 65 from the outfield. His numbers declined slightly from 1955, but overall he crushed five homers, knocked in 34 runs, and averaged .262. Howard had one of his better years in 1958, hitting .314 with 11 home runs and 66 RBI for the season. He caught a grand total of 67 games behind the plate for the Yankees, and played in 103 games. Stengel regarded Howard as the best platoon man in the game at the time. “You can say that Howard is our most valuable utility player,” Stengel said. In 1963, Howard made history. With his batting average at .287, his home run total at a career-best 28, an incredible .528 slugging percentage, and an RBI count at 85, Howard won the American League Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the first African American to ever accomplish this feat. After his ground-breaking accomplishment in being the first African American to win the AL MVP, the Yankees headed into a bit of a decline. Although they made it to the Fall Classic in 1964, the Yankees would not see another title while Howard was with them. In 1967, Howard would say good-bye to the Yankees, as he was traded to the rival Red Sox on August 3. He was sent to Boston to aid the Red Sox in winning the ’67 pennant, which they did with Howard’s assistance. Although only hitting .147, he was essential in handling the pitching staff. Tony Conigliaro, a pitcher for the Red Sox that season, once said, “I don’t think I ever saw a pitcher shake off one of his signs. They had too much respect for him.” In 1979, Howard was diagnosed with myocarditis, a rare heart disease that causes rapid heart failure. He had considered a heart transplant, but his condition quickly worsened and claimed his life on Dec. 14, 1980. He was only 51 years old. Howard accomplished so much over the course of his career. Four World Series titles as a player, two as a coach, nine All-Star game appearances, the 1958 Babe Ruth Award, the 1963 AL MVP Award, two Gold Glove Awards, and his number is retired. What some people may not know is that Howard is the player who is credited for inventing the doughnut. The circular weight that the batters use for practice swings in the on-deck circle is Howard’s responsibility. Just as George Washington Carver invented peanut butter and James Forten invented the sail hoist, Howard was an inventor of a device still used by players today.