Friday, October 31, 2014

Al Kaline: Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 1980

Born: December 19, 1934

1942: Suffered osteomyelitis resulting in surgery

1953: Signed by Detroit Tigers (Bonus Baby)

Debut: June 25, 1953 (Tigers)

1955: Youngest batting champion (.340)

1955: Hit 2 home runs in one inning

1955: Three home run game

1955: .340, 27 HR, 102 RBI, 200 hits, 121 runs, 321 TB, .967 OPS

1956: .314, 27 HR, 128 RBI, 327 TB, .913 OPS

1959: .327, 27 HR, 94 RBI, .940 OPS

1961: .324, 19 HR, 82 RBI, 41 doubles, 116 runs, .909 OPS

1962: Broken collarbone

1967: Broke hand

1968: Broke arm

1968: Had big hit in Game 5 World Series

1968: Tigers win World Series

1968: Lou Gehrig Award

1969: Hutch Award

1972: Tigers win AL East

1973: Roberto Clemente Award

1974: 3,000th hit

1974: Retired

1975-2002: Tiger broadcaster

1980: Elected to Hall of Fame (88%)

1980: Tigers retire #6

1999: Finalist for All Century Team

2003-present: Special Assistant to Tigers GM

2011: Grandson drafted by Tigers


Accomplishments:
1968 World Champion

3,007 Hits

18x All Star

10x Gold Glove

1973 Roberto Clemente Award

1968 Lou Gehrig Award

1969 Hutch Award

1955 Batting Champion

Player of the Month (September 1974)

.297

399 HR

1,583 RBI

1,622 Runs

498 Doubles

1,277 Walks-1,020 strikeouts

.855 OPS

4,852 TB

100+ Runs: 2x

200 hits (1955): Led league

30+ doubles: 4x

41 doubles (1961): Led league

10 triples (1956)

100+ RBI: 3x

20+ HR: 9x

.300 average: 8x

.400 OBP: 4x

.500 slugging: 8x

300+ TB: 3x

Led league in slugging (.530): 1959

Led league in OPS (.940): 1959

Led league in TB (321): 1955

Led league in IBB: 2x

Postseason: .333, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .935 OPS (2 series)

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Late Middle Ages timeline

1315-17: The Great Famine

1321: The Divine Comedy written

1337: The Hundred Years' War begins

1347-51: The Black Death

1353: The Decameron written

1381: Peasant's Revolt (England)

1386: The Battle of Kosovo

1400: The Canterbury Tales written

1415-92: Height of Medici power in Florence

1415: Agincourt

1417: The Great Schism ends

1429: Joan of Arc takes Orleans

1431: Joan of Arc executed

1453: The Hundred Years' War ends

1453: The Printing Press

1453: Constantinople falls to the Ottomans

1485: The Battle of Bosworth

1492: Reconquista completed

1492: Columbus discovers America

1494: The Treaty of Tordesillas

1497: De Gama reaches India

Saturday, October 25, 2014

1907 World Series Game 5

Cubs: 2 Tigers: 0 (Cubs win series 4-0-1)

W: Brown (1-0)

L: Mullin (0-2)
Once again, both starters pitched a complete game. Three-finger Brown shutout the Tigers on 7 hits. George Mullin also allowed 7 hits, but surrendered 2 runs, 1 earned. Chicago scored single runs in the first and second innings while Detroit did not threaten Brown after a fourth inning threat. The Cubs won their first World Series in 1:42. The game would take twice as long today.

The Cubs pitching staff posted a 0.75 ERA in the 1907 World Series. They used four pitchers in the Fall Classic. Each pitcher posted a win. Hall of Famer Mordecai Three Finger Brown won his only start with a shutout. Meanwhile, the Tigers staff finished with a 2.15 ERA. George Mullin lost 2 games to the Cubs with a 2.12 ERA.

Offensively, Harry Steinfeldt batted .471 with a double, triple, 2 RBI, and 1.197 OPS. If there was a MVP, Steinfeldt might have won it. Johnny Evers hit .350 for the Cubs. Hall of Famers Frank Chance and Joe Tinker both finished with a .154 average. On the Tigers side, Claude Rossman hit a healthy .450 with 2 RBI and 1.026 OPS. Outfielder Davy Jones batted .353. Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Sam Crawford performed poorly. Cobb hit .200 and Crawford .238.

Both teams returned to the Fall Classic in 1908. Once again, the Cubs skunked Detroit. The Cubs have yet to win another World Series. The Tigers would win the 1909 AL Pennant, but lost a 7 game thriller to Pittsburgh. Detroit would finally win a World Series in 1935.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

1907 World Series Game 4

Cubs: 6 Tigers:1 (Cubs lead 3-0)

W: Overall (1-0)

L: Donovan (0-1)
Orval Overall led the National League with 8 shutouts in 1907. Overall, he won 23 games with a 1.68 ERA. He faced Wild Bill Donovan in a rematch of Game 1. Both pitchers went the distance and posted quality starts. Donovan allowed only 3 earned runs to Overall's 1. However, Tiger defense allowed 3 unearned runs.

Detroit scored first in the fourth inning. Ty Cobb tripled with two out. Claude Rossman singled in the Georgia Peach for a 1-0 lead. The next two batters reached base to fill the sacks. A hit could blow the contest open. However, shortstop Charley O'Leary struckout to end the threat. Detroit did not score again.

Overall helped his cause with a 2-run single in the top of the fifth. The game remained 2-1 until the seventh inning. The Cubs scored three unearned runs in the frame to put the game away. The tacked on an insurance score in the ninth for a 6-1 victory.

Monday, October 20, 2014

1907 World Series Game 3

Chicago: 5 Detroit: 1 (Cubs lead 2-0)

W: Reulbach (1-0)

L: Siever (0-1)
The Cubs led 5-0 by the fifth in a battle of Eds. Detroit started 18 game winner Ed Siever while the Cubs utlized 17 game winner Ed Reulbach and his miniscule 1.69 ERA. The game was never really in question. Johnny Evers had three hits, including two doubles, and an RBI. Harry Steinfeldt had two hits and a RBI. Sam Crawford drove in Detroit's only run and Claude Rossman had two singles. Reulbach went the distance allowing 6 hits, 1 run, walked 3, and struck out 2. Siever went four and was replaced by Ed Killian. Killian went 4 and allowed 1 run.


 

Saturday, October 18, 2014

1907 World Series Game 2

Cubs: 3 Tigers: 1 (Cubs lead 1-0)

W: Pfiester (1-0)

L: Mullin (0-1)
The Tigers blew Game 1, but played well enough to win. They pinned their hopes in Game 2 on 20 game winner Wabash George Mullin. The Cubs started 14 game winner and NL ERA champion Jack Pfiester. Detroit also replaced Game 1 goat Boss Schmidt with Fred Payne. Payne provided Detroit's only run with a RBI single in the second.

Payne's battery mate Mullin walked a lot of batters. In fact, he issued 100 free passes in five consecutive seasons. The walk came back to bite the pitcher in the second. Mullin walked Joe Tinker with the bases loaded to tie the game.

The game remained 1-1 until the fourth. Chicago scored two runs off Mullin to take a 3-1 lead. Pfeister made the runs hold up despite allowing 10 hits. Detroit only really threatened again in the eighth with two on and two out, but the Cub ERA champ escaped when Davy Jones was thrown out trying to steal third. Detroit wasted a 4-for-4 performance by Claude Rossman.

Both pitchers hurled complete games. Mullin went 8 innings, allowed 8 hits, 3 earned runs, walked 4, and struck out 6. Pfeister pitched 9, surrendered 10 hits, 1 earned run, walked one, and struck out 3. Johnny Evers and Jimmy Slagle had two hits each for the Cubs. Slagle, Tinker, and Jimmy Sheckard drove in the Cub runs. Davy Jones had two Tiger hits.

Friday, October 17, 2014

1907 World Series Game 1

Tigers: 3 Cubs: 3
The White Sox shocked the Cubs in the 1906 World Series. The Sox did not repeat as AL champs, but the Cubs did win another NL Pennant. The Cubs won 107 games behind Hall of Famers Frank Chance, Three Finger Brown, Johnny Evers, and Joe Tinker. Meanwhile, the Detroit Tigers rose to the top of the American League behind Hall of Famers Hughie Jennings, Ty Cobb, and Sam Crawford. 1907 was the first World Series to feature a Hall of Fame umpire. Hank O'Day and Jack Sheridan both reached Cooperstown as umpires.

The series opened in Chicago with Wild Bill Donovan squaring off against Orval Overall. Donovan had a career year for the Tigers. He went 25-4 with a 2.19 ERA.Cub starter Overall also had a career season with a 23-7 record, 1.68 ERA, and league-leading 8 shutouts. The Tigers had the Cubs by the tail, but blew it.

The Cubs led 1-0 into the eighth inning. The Tigers rallied for three against Overall. Sam Crawford raked a two-run single and then Claude Rossman's sacrifice fly gave the Tigers a 3-1 lead. They took that lead to the final frame looking to continue the Cubs World Series problems.

Chicago came out swinging in the ninth. Chance singled to right. Harry Steinfelt was hit by the pitch. Johnny Kling popped out to first. Evers reached on an error to load the bases. Wildfire Schultz grounded out to first to score Chicago's second run. Then, Boss Schmidt allowed a third strike to get past him to allow the tying run to score. Johnny Evers was caught trying to steal home to end the inning, but the damage was done. Schmidt had committed a major error. This might be the greatest blunder in Tiger history. The game went 12 innings, but ended in a 3-3 tie. Darkness forced the game's end.

Davy Jones and Sam Crawford each had three hits for the Tigers. Schmidt added two. He also committed the big error to allow the Cubs to tie the game and surrendered 9 Cub steals. Jimmy Slagle, Kling, and Evers slapped two hits each for the Cubs. Wild Bill Donovan pitched a complete game, allowed 10 hits, allowed 1 earned run, walked 3, and struck out 12. Overall went 9, allowed 9 hits, 1 earned run, walked 2, and struck out 5. Ed Reulbach pitched three scoreless to finish for the Cubs.

Game 1 was the Tigers only look at the World Series. The Cubs swept the next four games. Schmidt's error turned the entire series around. Had he held on, then perhaps the Tigers pull the upset as the Sox did in 1906.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

History Shorts: The Battle of Bannockburn (1314)

Scotland won a decisive victory in their War of Independence against England. Robert the Bruce defeated the weak Edward II in a pitched battle. The Scots were undermanned and outnumbered, but Bruce routed the English on the battle's second day. Edward II fled in fear igniting a full scale panic on the English side. In the wake, Scotland began raiding into England and invaded Ireland. Eventually, Scotland earned their independence, but England never truly recognized it.

Song about Bannockburn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65L2MDzCghM



CG of the battle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlBKO7eCE-c

Saturday, October 11, 2014

High Middle Ages timeline (1001-1300)

1025: Basil II died

1040: Moveable Type created

1049-54: Pope Leo IX

1066: Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest

1071: Battle of Manzikert

1073-85: Gregorian Reformation

1075-1122: Investiture Controversy

1095: Urban II declares the First Crusade

1096-99: The First Crusade

12th century: Revolution in thought, Rise of Universities, and Monks deemphasize learning

1120: Knights Templar form

1152-90: Frederick Barbarossa

1154-97: Hohenstaafen family vs. Italy

1170: Thomas Becket murdered

1176: Myriocephalam

1187: Battle of Hattin

1187: Saladin takes Jerusalem

1190-92: Third Crusade

1204: Capetian ascendancy

1204: Crusaders sack Constantinople

1206-1337: Mongol Invasions

1214: Battle of the Bouvines

1215: Fourth Lateran Council

1215: Jews marginalized by Fourth Lateran Council

1215: Magna Carta

1229: Inquisition established

1250: Frederick II dies

1260: Battle of Ain Jolut

1261: Greeks retake Byzantine Empire

1265: First English Parliament

1274: Samma Theologica (Thomas Aquinas)

Friday, October 10, 2014

Sci-Fi History: The Bionic Woman (1976)

Jaime Summers was introduced in a 1975 episode of The Six Million Dollar Man. The character is nearly killed in a skydiving accident, but is saved with bionic implants. The series premiered as a mid-season replacement in January 1976. The show was amazingly popular and won Lindsay Wagner an Emmy. Despite this, ABC cancelled the show, but it was picked up by NBC. The network shift eliminated any possibility of crossover appearances by Lee Majors and may have hurt the show. It ended after the third year. Both Majors and Wagner reprised their roles in several TV movies from 1987-94. The show was an example of feminism's impact on pop culture in the seventies. Wagner portrayed a strong, independent woman.

Intro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcba-ZgtsT4

Monday, October 6, 2014

History Shorts: Dante's Inferno and the Renaissance (1321)

The Renaissance, or rebirth, of European culture began in the early 14th century and continued into the 17th. It produced a rediscovery of classical learning as well as an artistic explosion. Some consider Dante's Inferno as the beginning of the Renaissance. In the work, also known as The Divine Comedy, is political satire through the use of an allegorical afterlife. The Renaissance pulled the west out of the Middle Ages and provided the cultural and intellectual bridge to the modern era.

The World's Oldest surviving feature length film (1911):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS4We4MDheg

An animated version (2010):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw8bDRa6Lt4

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Sci Fi History: Wonder Woman (1974)

In 1974, Cathy Lee Crosby starred in a movie entitled "Wonder Woman." However, the character and movie did not have any of the superpowers WW is known for. In 1975, Lynda Carter starred in the role based on the comic character. The series was initially in World War II and co-starred 70s superstar Lyle Waggoner. ABC dropped the show despite good ratings because of expense. CBS picked it up, reimaged it in the modern world, and it ran for two more seasons. Carter's Wonder Woman was a forerunner of the strong female heroine archetype prevelent in today's culture.

Intro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhCnM-E5sl0

Friday, October 3, 2014

Dark Ages: Timeline

476: Rome falls to Odavacer

483-511: Clovis unites Franks

493: Odavacer overthrown by Ostrogoths

527-65: Reign of Justinian I

  -529-34: Justinian compiles Corpus Juris Civilis

535-54: Gothic War

541-42: Plague of Justinian

547: St. Benedict dies

568: Lombards invade Italy

590-604: Gregory the Great is Pope

610: Muhammad's vision

  -610-32: Muhammad spreads Islam

  -622: Flight from Mecca

  -630: The Return

610: Heraclitus I assumes power

627: Battle of Ninevah breaks Sassanid power

632-732: Muslim Conquest

  -717: Assault on Constantinople

  -732: Battle of Tours

730-87: Iconoclast Controversy

782: Verdict of Verdun

793: Viking raid on Lindesfarne

800: Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emperor

814: Charlemagne dies

867-1056: Macedonian Renaissance

919: Gunpowder used at The Battle of Long-Shan Jiang

1000: Vikings discover North America

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Quotes of the Month: September 2014

Quote of the Month: "Israel was using its missiles to protect its children. Hamas was using its children to protect its missiles."


-Benjamin Netanyahu

 
Stupid Quote of the Month: "My son as attorney general, the year in Iraq, came back and that’s one of the things that he finds is, was most in need, when he was over there in Iraq for a year, people would come to him and talk about what was happening at home, in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being, I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas."


-Joe Biden

 

and the rest...
"We will follow them to the gates of hell until they are brought to justice. Because hell is where they will reside. Hell is where they will reside."


-Joe Biden
"Rock is finally dead."


-Gene Simmons
"If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven."


-Barack Obama
"Hello Iowa---I'm ba-ack!"


-Hillary Clinton
"One cannot win the war with blankets."


-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko
"The man's got a point, they can be cold...especially when I'm looking at a serial bomber."


-Megyn Kelly responding to Bill Ayers
"The same mistakes can never be repeated."


-Roger Godell
"I played my last game at shortstop."


-Derek Jeter