Although I realize that Mike is likely to show up in the Hall of Fame wearing a Mets cap, its hard for True Blue Dodger fans not to claim him for ourselves. Every Dodger knows the Ballad of Mike Piazza, and it speaks to everything that was great about the Dodger family, and everything that went sour in the FOX era.

Mike Piazza was born to a Dodger family. As Tommy Lasorda’s godson, he was raised on little jars of blue baby food and dodger dogs. When it was time for Mike to make the jump to the big leagues, the Dodgers brought him home in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft as a favor to Tommy. Like any good fairy tale, the almost unwanted foundling turned out to be a true prince. An all around nice guy and team leader, Piazza put up stats unrivaled amongst major league catchers.

But every fairy tale needs to have its wicked witch. In our story, the evil witch wore a grey suit with a FOX logo. When the O’malley family sold the Dodger franchise to FOX, the corporate suits tried to run it into the ground. One of their first, and worst choices was to dump their team leader Piazza. Not only did they drop him, but they did it months early, behind their GM’s back and below market. We’ve been told that Piazza cried when told that he’d no longer be bleeding Dodger Blue. A lot of fans cried that day too, those that didn’t spat and cussed and cursed the evil FOX Suits.

After years of wandering in the desert, a broken, losing team with no spirit, no loyalty and no sense of what it once meant to be a Dodger the team was finally dumped off on an untried and untested parking lot guy from Boston. Step by step over the past couple of years, that parking lot guy has shown LA that he understands what the Dodgers were, and how they can climb back to greatness.

The McCourt era Dodgers have stayed away from buying flashy hired guns, and instead have opened the clubhouse to young kids and workhorses with heart. The Dodgers feel like Dodgers again.

Which brings us back to our fairy tale ending for the Ballad of Mike Piazza. The Dodger’s should bring Mike back and put him in Dodger Blue this season. Do it after the break when teams step up their rosters, or even better, do it tomorrow while Gary Bennett is on the DL. Russell Martin needs to rest his knees every once in a while anyways. Give Mike a chance for a last grand tour, and let the NL fans thank him and send him on his way. It might help win a few games, but it will certainly help win back the old Dodger Soul.

Ex-Yankee catcher? Ex?!? Made me think of some x-rated expletives! Thurman Munson never played for any other team. When he died in an airplane crash he was the captain of the Yankees. He died a Yankee.

A better and more accurate title could and should have been Yankee catcher’s memorabilia goes to auction.

Did Abraham Lincoln become an ex-President after he was assassinated? He died in office. JFK was NEVER an ex-President.

EXTON, Pa. (AP) — Thurman Munson’s World Series rings, MVP trophy and the uniform that the former New York Yankees catcher wore for his final home game before he died in a 1979 plane crash will be auctioned off in connection with this summer’s All-Star game at Yankee Stadium.

“There could not be a more appropriate place to offer the collection to the public then New York City on the occasion of the final All-Star game to be played at Yankee Stadium,” Munson’s wife, Diana, said. “Thurman so loved that stadium and the fans who shared his many years with the team.”

Also part of the July 14-15 auction are Lou Gehrig’s warmup jacket dating to the final game of his streak of playing 2,130 consecutive games, the ball from Babe Ruth’s 712th home run and a bat used in a game by Jackie Robinson.

The Munson collection consists of more than 140 items, including a custom-made Mercedes-Benz convertible and a replica World Series trophy made for him after the Yankees’ 1978 title.

“My three children and I have held on to some items of great personal meaning to us but the time has come to share the collection with the public who so adored Thurman as a player with the Yankees,” Diana Munson said. “Along with thousands of Yankees fans, we have so many fond memories of Thurman and the memorabilia items help to tell the story of his life.”

Neyer does a spectacular forensic study in his new book “Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Legends“ of a story I read years ago about Thurman Munson and repeated as recently as two weeks ago at my office.

In a nutshell, the story goes that Munson is annoyed that a sportswriter writes that rival Carlton Fisk has two more assists to lead in that defensive category. In the next game, Munson proceeds to drop called strikes and throws out the batter at first base. He does this enough times to pass Fisk in assisted putouts.

Neyer goes on a forensic journey to determine when the game happened. Read on.

Still doesn’t change my mind that Munson was by far the superior catcher and leader.

On a tangent, there’s a story about a rabbi (see next to last paragraph) called the Chofetz Chaim. Early in the 20th century the rabbi is taken to court in Europe. An attorney describes the rabbi and about the many legends told about him, some even involving miracles. The incredulous judge motions the attorney for a sidebar and says “You don’t really expect me to believe all this, do you?” The attorney replies “No, your honor, but they don’t tell stories like that about you and me.”

This tells me that legends do orbit the legitimately legendary, from saintly rabbis to those who wear the tools of ignorance.

Dear friends and family, I’ve put this on my Amazon wish list. Wink wink nudge nudge. Another disclaimer — I’ve already written here about Munson being my favorite player.

Way to go, Troy. You put fanatic in the word fan.

The trap I fell into was thinking of starting pitchers and began thinking of 15, one pitch per batter for 5 innings in a rained-out game. Then someone at my office said 1, a reliever comes in in a tie game with 2 outs in the 9th inning, gets the batter out, and the home team wins in a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th.

At the office today we were discussing Los Angeles Dodger Joe Beimel’s one-pitch win over the Florida Marlins. Scott Proctor relieves Hideki Kuroda and retires the first two batters with a ground out and a strikeout. Proctor is relieved by Joe Beimel who gets a pop-out for the 3rd out and left the game. In the top of the 9th, the Dodgers score 2 runs and Takashi Saito gets the save, retiring all three batters including two K’s.

In theory, a reliever could come in to pitch in a tie game in the 9th with 2 outs and a runner on base, pick off the runner before throwing a pitch and then the home team scores a run in the bottom of the 9th. That would be a win with no pitches.

Has it ever happened?

I am trying to dig up stats on 1-pitch and theoretical 0-pitch wins. Please comment.

The haunted expression of the construction worker who dug up the jersey of the Red Sox’s David Ortiz in the concrete of the Yankee Stadium-to-be tells me that more than a few fans believe strongly in jinxes.

The first baseball jinxes I remember were of my little league coach George Pierre telling me to never let bats on the ground cross and to never step on the foul line. I just learned from Wikipedia that we’re merely two years from the centennial anniversary of the use of the word “jinx” to refer to something other than a bird fortelling misfortune seems to have been in the context of baseball; in short story The Jinx (1910) (later collected in the book The Jinx: Stories of the Diamond (1911)), Allen Sangree wrote

“By th’ bones of Mike Kelly, I’ll do it! Yes, sir, I’ll hoodoo th’ whole darned club, I will. I’ll put a jinx on ‘em or my name ain’t Dasher, an’ that goes!”

And..

But the ball players instantly knew the truth. “A jinx, a jinx,” they whispered along the bench. “Cross-eyed girl sittin’ over there back o’ third. See her ? She’s got Th’ Dasher. Holy smoke, look at them eyes!” Like the discreet and experienced manager he was, McNabb did not chasten his men in this hour of peril. He treated the matter just as seriously as they, condoling with The Dasher, bracing up the Yeggman, execrating the jinx and summoning all his occult strategy to outwit it. “

and later referenced in Pitching at a Pinch (1912), Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson explained that “a jinx is something which brings bad luck to a ball player.”

Baseball’s most common “jinx” belief is that talking about a pitcher’s ongoing no-hitter will cause it to be ended.

Larry Stone wrote in a 2005 Seattle Times article:

10 great moments in baseball superstition history

1. One of the earliest examples of obsessive adherence to superstition occurred in 1927, when Pirates manager Donnie Bush wanted star outfielder Kiki Cuyler, a future Hall of Famer, to move from third to second in the batting order. Cuyler refused to do so because of his superstitious devotion to hitting third — and superstitious fear of moving to the No. 2 hole. Bush — already upset with Cuyler for not sliding hard enough for the manager’s liking to break up a double play earlier in the season — suspended Cuyler just before the World Series. The Pirates, batting just .223 as a team, were swept by the Yankees — and Cuyler was traded to the Cubs in November.
2. Ron Wright of Kamiakin High, once a top prospect in the minor leagues, got in the habit of shaving his forearms when he played for the Macon Braves in Class AA. He originally shaved to facilitate a bandage wrapping for a jammed left wrist, but began hitting so well that he incorporated the manscaping into his routine for years.

   “I’ll keep shaving them until I have a bad year,” Wright said in a 1997 interview.

   There is no official word on the status of Wright’s forearms when he finally made his major-league debut, with the Mariners in 2002, after eight years kicking around the minors.

   Called up when Edgar Martinez went on the disabled list, Wright started one game as designated hitter, on Aug. 13. In his major-league debut, Wright struck out against Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers. In his second at-bat, he grounded into a triple play. In his third at-bat, he grounded into a double play. Three at-bats, six outs, surely a major-league record for singular futility. Wright was sent back down to Class AAA Tacoma shortly thereafter without another plate appearance, and has never returned to the major leagues.

3. Back in 1984, Minnesota Twins pitcher Frank Viola noticed a large banner at the Metrodome that said “FRANKIE SWEET MUSIC VIOLA.” He also noticed that whenever the banner appeared, he seemed to pitch well, and, in fact, never lost. According to Sports Illustrated, the banner’s creator, a fan named Mark Dornfield, introduced himself to Viola in 1987, and the two talked for two hours. That season, Viola went 15-0, with four no-decisions (all Twins victories) in banner games.

   The Twins made the World Series that season, and Viola learned that Dornfield didn’t have a ticket. That prompted Kathy Viola, Frank’s wife, to call Dornfield up and offer him tickets to Games 1 and 7. As SI reported, “With the banner proudly unfurled, Viola won both games and was named Series MVP.”

4. Teams and players have come to dread being on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and for good reason. In 2002, researchers at the magazine pored over 47 years worth of covers, and reported that 37.2 percent of the time (913 out of 2,456 covers to that date), something negative happened to the cover subjects. That includes nearly 12 percent that suffered injuries or death.

   The so-called “Sports Illustrated Jinx” starts with Milwaukee Braves slugger Eddie Mathews, who was on the very first SI cover while the Braves were in first place. Mathews promptly hurt his hand, missed seven games, and the Braves fell out of first place.

5. Baseball fans are intimately familiar with the Curse of the Bambino, which mercifully ended its reign when the Red Sox won the 2004 World Series — 84 years after Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

   Most baseball fans are also acquainted with the Curse of the Billy Goat, which according to legend was bestowed upon the Cubs when Chicago tavern owner William “Gus” Sianis was upset that his pet goat was denied entrance into a World Series game in 1945. Sianis supposedly declared that no World Series would ever again be played at Wrigley Field, and despite numerous efforts by the Cubs and their fans to lift the curse, the World Series has continued to evade the Cubbies.

6. Only hard-core fans, and devotees of Japanese baseball, are aware of the Curse of Colonel Sanders. The victims are the Hanshin Tigers, who are the Japanese equivalent of the Cubs and Red Sox — one title in 68 years. That came in 1985, and in celebration, fans resembling Tigers stars leaped into Osaka’s toxic Dotonbori River in celebration. However, no one could be found who resembled the Tigers’ burly American star Randy Bass, so resourceful fans went to a nearby Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, stole a statue of Colonel Sanders, and tossed it in the river.

   In subsequent years, the Tigers plummeted back to the basement, and according to legend will not win another championship until the Colonel is found. Numerous efforts to recover the statue have been undertaken, to no avail.

7. Countless players observe the time-honored superstition of not stepping on the foul line (except for the ones who observe the time-honored counter-superstition of stepping ON the foul line).

   Mel Stottlemyre, the Yankees’ longtime ace and current pitching coach, told how he came to believe in the power of foul-line avoidance. He said that a Yankees coach, Jim Hegan, told him one day before a game with the Twins that it was a silly belief, and that stepping on the foul line would have no effect on his performance.

   Stottlemyre thought he might have a point, and cavalierly stepped on the foul line as he went out to face the Twins. Here’s his account of that day’s game in “The Baseball Almanac”:

   “The first batter I faced was Ted Uhlaender, and he hit a line drive off my left shin. It went for a hit. Carew, Oliva and Killebrew followed with extra-base hits. The fifth man hit a single and scored and I was charged with five runs. I haven’t stepped on a foul line since.”

8. “The Baseball Almanac,” written by Dan Schlossberg, gives perhaps the most comprehensive examination of baseball superstitions available anywhere.

   Here is a small sample of some of the superstitions, jinxes, hoodoos and curse-breakers he lists from the course of baseball history:

   • Touch cross-eyed person (Chris Von Der Ahe, 1887).
   • Yellow dog mascot (Cincinnati Reds, 1887).
   • Pebbles in pocket (Jack Glasscock, 1890s).
   • Wooden horseshoes with four-leaf clover, jade monkeys and totems, batboy Eddie Bennett (Babe Ruth, 1920s).
   • Someone touching his glove (Van Lingle Mungo, 1938).
   • Rub batboy’s head (Dolf Camilli, 1938).
   • Stick of gum in back pocket for each win, stuffed bear in uniform (Ron Bryant, 1960s).
   • Kukailimoku war god statue (Milt Wilcox, 1975).
   • College long johns (Rick Cerrone, 1979).
   • Two dollar bills in back pocket (Al Holland, 1984)
9. One classic baseball superstition requires that teammates must not talk to a pitcher who is working on a no-hitter. It’s an obligation that usually results in the pitcher sitting in isolation on the bench in the latter innings, as illustrated below. The Yankees’ Don Larsen, en route to the only World Series perfect game in baseball history in 1956, tested this superstition in the seventh inning, when he sidled over to teammate Mickey Mantle and said, “Hey, Mick — look at that. Two more innings. Wouldn’t it be something?” Mantle got up and walked away without responding.

   President Ronald Reagan deferred questions about upcoming elections by citing his days broadcasting Cubs games. Asked in 1984 if he thought the presidential election would be close, he said he never mentioned no-hitters on broadcasts as they unfolded. “I kind of feel the same way about campaigning,” he said.

   Some current broadcasters follow Reagan’s philosophy of avoiding mention of no-hitters, but not the Mariners’ Dave Neihaus, who has called more than a dozen.

   “I start mentioning it from the sixth inning on,” he said. “I don’t think you’re doing your job if you’re not telling the true story.”

10. Former pitcher Charlie Kerfeld, now a Mariners scout, was a renowned flake who gained some national attention for his lucky “Jetsons” T-shirt. Kerfeld, who pitched four seasons, mainly for the Astros, said he bought it in San Diego while out learning to surf on an off-day, and rolled off six or seven wins in a row.

    “That was it,” he said. “I just kept wearing it every day. Everyone thought I was nuts anyway, so it really didn’t matter. It worked good for me.”

    He kept wearing the Jetsons shirt, Kerfeld said, “Until I couldn’t get anyone out anymore. ‘Til they wouldn’t let me pitch.”

    And now? “It’s still in my closet somewhere. It has some rat holes in it. My wife won’t let me take it out, but it’s in there.”

Know of any jinxes NOT mentioned? Please comment.

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