Blackball Tales, Rollicking, All New, True Adventures of the Negro Leagues by the Men who Lived and Loved Them

Blackball Tales, Rollicking, All New, True Adventures of the Negro Leagues by the Men who Lived and Loved Them by John B. Holway; 2008; Scorpio Books, Springfield, VA.; 225 pages; 978-159-526-7443; 11/2-11/4

I really wanted to read the last chapter first because it was a chapter on someone I have met. This book is a wonderful collection of oral history by the men who played in the Negro Leagues, not the Jackie Robinsons, Satchel Paiges or Monte Irvin, but the players who just wanted to play baseball and the only way they could do so was to play in the Negro Leagues. There are a few refrains repeated throughout, I wish I had been younger after Jackie broke the color line, we lived on buses, oh how I wanted to play, Willie Mays Dad was a better ballplayer, Piper Davis and Artie Wilson were the best double play combination and prejudice was actually worse in the North.

The final chapter is an interview with Artie Wilson, shortstop for the Birmingham Black Barons and the New York Giants. He bounced around quite a while in the Pacific Coast League. He was the last played to hit .400 in the Negro Leagues. He roomed with Willie Mays while they were both playing in Birmingham, he toured with Satchel Paiges All Stars and played in several All Star Games. He bought his first uniform as a kid for $2.98 with the money he made shining shoes for 2 cents a pair. He lost part of the thumb on his throwing hand in an industrial accident and squeezed a golf ball all winter to strengthen his thumb.

My wife is a custom tailor and years ago she got a call from a African American woman whose last name was Wilson and lived in town. I asked my wife to ask her if Artie was her husband, he was. After that when R went over to meet with D to talk about sewing, I would go with her and talk to Artie. It was a pleasure to hear him tell stories of Josh Gibson, Piper Davis, Cool Papa Bell, and Jackie Robinson among others.

Any well done book on baseball history is a winner in my opinion and this collection of oral history is a home run. RRRR

Bruce Bochy

Bruce Bochy managed the Padres for twice as long as he played for them. The last five years of his major league were played with the Padres. He was drafted by the White Sox in the 8th round of the 1975 draft, but did not sign. He was drafted by the Astros' in June of 1975 in the 1st round. He made his major league debut with Houston against the Mets on July 19, 1978. In February of 1981 he was traded to the Mets for Stan Hough and Randy Rogers, Bruce has one of the largest craniums in the game, wearing a size 8 and 3/4 cap. The Mets didn't have a batting helmet that fit him so they had to send to the minors for the one he had one worn there. The Mets released him and in February of 1983 he signed as a free agent with the Padres. He played for five years with them through the '87 season. He started managing in 1995, in the intervening years he coached in the minors for the Padres, I remember talking to him when he was a player/coach with Las Vegas when they played against the Portland Beavers at Civic Stadium. He was named the 1996 National League Manager of the Year, he was behind the plate when Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's hit record, he is the only Padres player to ever manage the team, he managed the Padres to a 951-975 records and is one of eight major leaguers to have been born in France. I got this card signed through the mail.

Baseball and the Blame Game, Scapegoating in the Major Leagues

I have another website readerman.net where I review everything I read. I have been posting reviews there since June of 2005. I will periodically post reviews of some of the baseball books I have read and as I read new ones I will post those also. If you have a baseball book that you are interested in purchasing, let me know. I run a used bookstore for the county library system and we sell items the library can no longer use for cheap. Good books are usually around $2.00, here is the first of the reviews. The dates are when I read it, and the RRRRR are out of five.

Baseball and the Blame Game, Scapegoating in the Major Leagues by John Billheimer; 2007; McFarland & Company Publishers, Inc., Jefferson, NC; 216 pages; Inter-Library Loan from the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT; 11/12-11/15

A very thorough examination of why some players who make misplays or commit error are forever blamed for their mistakes and others aren't. It examines why Fred Merkle shouldn't be blamed for failing to touch second, why Steve Bartman, Bill Buckner and Mitch Williams should not have received death threats for the mistakes they made. The author contends that a player likely to be remember for their mistakes if the play for an east coast team, if they are not a superstar, the play resulted in the lead being lost, if it was in the late innings and if it was a mental error. Since the author is a member of SABR there is a lot of math involved, complete with charts and graphs. It was interesting to read and very enlightening about Ernie Lombardi, Johnny Pesky, and Fred Snodgrass among others. RRRR

Doug Bochtler

Doug Bochtler has been in the organizations of three different expansion teams. He was drafted by the Expos in the 9th round of the 1989 amateur draft. In 1992 he was drafted by the Rockies with the 32nd pick of the expansion draft. In 1993 he was traded along with Andy Ashby to the Padres for Bruce Hurst and one of the Greg Harris'. In 1995 he made his debut with the Padres against the Giants. He played three seasons with the Padres going 9-14 with 6 saves, 159 strikeouts in 171.3 innings all in 151 games. In 1997 he was traded to the A's with Jose Velandia for David Newhan and Don Wengert. In March of 1998 he was purchased by the Tigers from Oakland, in October he was selected off waivers by the Dodgers from Detroit. In April of '99 he signed as a free agent with Toronto and in May the Dodgers purchased him from the Jays. And in December of 1999 he signed as a free agent with the Royals, where he pitched in six games, before calling it a career. I guess that makes four expansion teams, Padres, Expos and Royals were all in the 1969 expansion and the Rockies in the 1992 expansion. I got the card off of ebay.

Geoff Blum

9 is a important number to for Geoff Blums' major league debut. He made his major league debut with the Montreal Expos on 9/9/99. He was drafted by the Expos in the 7th round of the 1994 draft. In 2002 he was traded to the Astros for Chris Truby. In 2003 he was traded from Houston to Tampa Bay for Brandon Backe. In December of 2004 he signed as a free agent with the Padres and played there until he was traded to the Chicago White Sox. As part of the White Sox he played in the 2005 World Series hitting a tie breaking home run in the 14th inning of game 3. In November of 2005 he signed as a free agent with the Padres, in November of 2007 he signed a free agent with the Astros' and played 2008 in Houston. He has played in 309 games for the Padres over 2 and a half seasons. I got this signed through the mail during the 2007 season, I remember because I sent him the purple sharpie.

Hiram Bocachica

Hiram made his major league debut on my 43rd birthday, September 13, 2000 with the Dodgers against the Diamondbacks.

Hiram was drafted by the Expos' in the first round of the 1994 draft. In 1998 he was traded with Mark Grudzielanek and Carlos Perez for Peter Bergeron, Wilton Guerrero, Ted Lily and Johnathan Tucker. He made his debut in 2000 with the Dodgers. In 2002 he was traded to the Tigers for Jason Frasor. In 2004, 2006 and 2007 he signed as a free agent with the Oakland A's. In May of 2007 he was selected over the waiver wire from the A's by the Padres and played in 27 games. He had 63 at bats with 15 hits, 1 home run and hit .205. He was released by the Padres in July of 2007, and I mailed this to him and he sent it back.

12 Days From Tribecards

I just got my package for the 12 days of Christmas from Tribe cards and here is what I got
1-Derek Lee
2-Xavier Nady
3-Eric Owens
4-Tim Flannery
5-Jake Peavey
6-Fred Mcgriff
7-Joey Hamilton
8-Benito Santiago
9-Phil Nevin
10-San Diego Charles
11-Trevor Hoffman
12-Tony Gwynn (including a great Tony Gwynn pin)

Thank you.

Looking out my front door

The ladies at Dinged Corners requested a picture out of our front door in honor of the great Ernie Snow Banks, whom today at our house was heard to say let's get two shovels working so Mom can get back in the driveway. This was the view out our front door at 9:40 AM on December 24, 2008. And yes I realize how bad the paraphrase of Ernie's classic remark was.

Kyle Blanks

Kyle Blanks has a birthday that will get overshadowed by the observance of a national disaster for the next few decades, he was born 9/11/86.

Kyle was drafted in the 42nd round of the 2004 draft by the Padres and signed just days before the 2005 draft. He is a 6'7", 280 pound first baseman who is working his way through the Padres minor league system. He may have to stay there another couple of years as the Padres have Adrian Gonzalez at first. Although once Adrian becomes a free agent and wants to be paid better, the Padres will probably say goodbye and bring up the kid who just turned 22 this year.

This year at AA San Antonio, Blanks in 478 AB, had 73 runs, 157 hits, 19 Home Runs, 51 walks, hit .322, had an on base percentage of .402, and a slugging percentage of .507. I am looking forward to seeing him play at Portland next year. I got the card from a friend who traded for it at his card shop, Heaven Sent Sports Cards in Tualatin, Oregon.

Willie Blair

Rent a Player #321. The way these guys come and go is amazing. Willie Blair was drafted by the Blue Jays in the 11th round of the 1986 draft. He made his major league debut with the Jays April 11, 1990 against the Texas Rangers. In 1990 he was traded to the Indians for Alex Sanchez, '91 he was traded to the Astros with Eddie Taubensee for Kenny Lofton and Dave Rohde. In 1992 he was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the Expansion Draft. In 1994 he signed with the Padres as a free agent, and pitched in 100 games over 2 seasons, with a 9-11 record and 1 save. In '96 he was traded to the Tigers with Brian Johnson for Joey Eischen and Cam Smith (never heard of either of them). In 1997 he signed as a free agent with the Diamondbacks, they traded him in July of 1998 with Jorge Fabregas and cash for Nelson Figueroa, Bernard Gilkey and cash. In December of 1998 he was traded to the Tigers for Joe Randa, in February of 2001 he signed as a free agent with the Indians, then in June of 2001 he signed as a free agent with the Tigers. He was released by the Tigers and hasn't played since. I got this certified card from a dealer on ebay.

Bud Black

Bud Black has two World Series Rings and a last place finish to his credit. Unfortunately the rings are not with the Padres, but the last place finish is. He has rings as a player and a pitching coach, as a player with the Royals in 1985 and as the pitching coach with the Angels in 2002.

He was drafted by the Giants in 1977 in the 3rd round, but did not sign. Later in the secondary phase he was drafted by the Mets but again did not sign. In 1979 he was drafted by the Mariners in the 17th round and made his major league debut on September 5, 1981 against the Red Sox. He was traded to the Royals for Manny Castillo. He played for seven seasons for the Royals, winning the world series ring in 1985. In 1988 he was traded to the Indians for Pat Tabler, and released and signed as a free agent by the Indians. 1990 brought another change of scenery as he was traded to the Blue Jays with Mauro Gozzo for Steve Cummings and Alex Sanchez. Later that year he signed as a free agent with the Giants, where he pitched for four years. In 1995 he signed with the Indians as a free agent for his final season. He was signed as the Padres manager before the 2007 season when Bruce Bochy signed as the Giants manager after many years in the Padres organization, as a player, coach and manager. This is the first of the managers that I have signed. I have a signed card from each of the managers. I got this signed through the mail after the update cards came out in 2007.

Dann Billardello

I got this card signed through the mail when Dann Billardello was managing a minor league team in Columbus, Georgia.

Dann was first drafted by the Mariners in the third round of the 1978 draft, but did not sign. In the secondary phase of the 78 draft he was drafted by the Dodgers in the first round and did sign. He played in the minors for several years and was chosen by the Reds in the rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut with the Reds on April 11, 1983 against the Cubs. In '85 the Reds traded him with Andy McGaffigan, John Stuper and Jay Tibbs to the Expos for Bill Gullickson and Sal Butera. In '86 the Expos released and then he resigned with them as a Free Agent in February of '87. March of '87 he was purchased by the Pirates, in July he was bought by the Royals. In 1989 he was signed as a free agent by the Pirates, and released by them in 1990. In January of 1991 he was signed as a free agent by the Padres. He played in 32 games in the '92 and '93 seasons, and was released by them in November of 1992. He signed with the Mets as a free agent for Christmas of '92, but has not played in the majors since 1992 with the Padres.

Cabin Fever in a Winter Wonderland

The mail made it through the snow today. Out our front door is our driveway which is usually about six inches below the berm, now you can't tell where one ends and the other begins. When we moved in the only place for me to have my own space was in a shed in the back yard. My sons insulated it and put it plywood on the walls and ceiling. I ran power out to it and have a space heater, lights and tunes out there. That is where all my cards and stuff are, I have stuff almost ready to go to some of you, but it might not get out for a few days, we won't be getting out to the post office for a few days. The mail person brought me 50 Edgar Gonzalez Bowman DPP rookie cards and a box of 1986 Topps. Once I get out to the clubhouse I will start putting it together in a binder and seeing what I need and can trade with some of you. I decided to start with this set and eventually work on the 82-88 Topps sets. For me I will work on one at a time, I managed to get this box pretty cheap off of ebay.

I have been looking for Upper Deck Documentary Padres team sets on ebay. I found three of them at $24.99, $79.99 and $129.99. I think I will be trying to get them all through lots and trading, although I haven't seen any packs anywhere around here. The two shops I normally frequent are not carrying it at all and I haven't seen it at Target or Walmart. Is anyone else trying to get team or player cards from Documentary.

Well as we are being confined by the snow, I hope you are all having fun where you are.

Dave Bialas

Dave Bialas is another coach who never played in the major leagues but has a lot of exprience managing and coaching. He was drafted by the Cardinals in 1972 as a catcher out of Bellaire, TX. He spent 10 years in the Cardinals minor leagues mostly in the high minors. He started managing in 1982 in the Cardinals organization and managed minor league teams until 1992. In 1993 and 1994 he was the Padres bullpen coach. From 1995-1999 he was the Cubs bullpen coach, then he managed for two years in the Cubs minor leagues, in 2002 he was the Cubs third base coach. Since 2003 he has been the Cubs minor league field coordinator. I sent this card to him and he signed it for me. I also have all the other coaches signed on various cards.

R.I.P. Dave Smith

It was announced today that former Astros and Cubs pitchers and Padres pitching coach Dave Smith has passed away. He died of a heart attack at age 53. He was named to the Astros all star Astrodome team and recorded double digit saves every year from 1985-1991, once reaching as high as 33. This is something of a shock as he is only two years older than I am.