Average Baseball Players

Richard Hidalgo’s 2000 season owns 17% of my brain

Fellas, do any of you also wake up in the middle of the night and think about Tim Spooneybarger’s magical 2002 season with the Braves? Don’t be shy. I know you do!

A 2.63 ERA in 51 appearances? Incredible. I’m officially in a fight with elbow tendinitis as it prevented the baseball world from seeing more of Tom’s greatness!

Do the Braves win 101 games that year without Tactical Tim? I doubt it!

that today is the 19-year anniversary of when Brewers infielder Trent Durrington pinch ran for Wes Helms after Wes was hit by a pitch in the 10th inning of a 3-1 Brewers victory over the Phillies? It’s true!

While most casuals just remember Trent pinch running, the real ones remember that he also stole second in that same appearance!

What a ballgame it was for the Brew Crew. The victory brought their record to 55-55 on the 2005 season (they ended up finishing 81-81). However, the loss prevented the Phillies from making the playoffs that season? It’s also true!

The Phil’s ended up finishing at 88-74 that year which was one game behind the Astros for the Wild Card spot that year. Trent, Geoff Jenkins, and Damian Miller loved playing the role of spoiler, fellas!

Speaking of Geoff and Damian, they had themselves quite a day that game! Geoff launched a 2nd inning homer which still has not landed but projects it is going to touch land again sometime in 2026, so be on the lookout, fellas. Damian, in addition to going 1-4 with a double, called a heck of a game behind the dish as Brewers starter Ben Sheets went 9 innings and Matt Wise threw a scoreless 10th to secure the victory.

In Trent’s 5 MLB seasons from 1999 to 2005, he accomplished some pretty incredible feats. According to his Wikipedia which I update on a weekly basis, he was the first Australian position player to have pitched in the majors. In said appearance, he became the only player to throw just one pitch in the MLB since pitch count data started to be tracked in 1988 (he got José Vizcaíno to fly out to RF). Quick and efficient is the way to go! At least that’s what I told my ex-wife!

Fellas, let’s celebrate Trent Durrington today! Happy Holidays!

Happy birthday, Scott Linebrink! Today, the former right-handed middle reliever turns 48 years young!

Fellas, please forgive me for not posting Scott on a few days ago. As you all know, every August 1st (8/1) is in honor of his stellar 2005 season with the Padres in which he went 8-1 on the bump with a 1.83 ERA. I would’ve posted that day, but I was too busy celebrating. Whoever said you can’t get a hangover from having too many Diet Dr. Peppers in honor of Scott Linebrink is full of it!

Scott pitched in 12 MLB seasons from 2000-2011 with the Padres, Astros, White Sox, Giants, Braves, and Brewers. Across 656.2 innings pitched, he had a career 3.51 ERA and he also hit a double off of Jason Marquis in 2003.

Scott was as reliable as they got when it came to relievers, but he was incredibly effective against the best top-of-the-order guys of his era. For example:

- Ichiro Suzuki was just 3-16 (.188) vs. Super Scott
- Rafael Furcal: 1-14 (.071)
- Juan Pierre: 2-9 (.222)

Scott did his best to prevent speedsters from revving their engines on the base paths. If only I could prevent my wife’s boyfriend, Terry, from revving his engine. His car is much faster than my 2011 Hyundai Elantra! She seems happy though!

Nowadays, Scott is doing tremendous work with which aims to bring safe, clean water to developing nations and disaster areas. Scott was no stranger to cleaning things up on the mound when he’d enter ballgames, so it’s no surprise he’s doing some more cleaning up in his post-baseball days. When I grow up, I wanna be like Scott!

Scott is a true stand up guy and we’re all lucky to share this space with him. Cmon fellas, join me in wishing Scott a HBD!

Fellas, days like today are when I really miss Hideo Nomo on the bump. If Hideo got the starting nod today, there would be no need for me to buy $20 worth of Eclipse glasses from Walmart for my kids!

that on this day in 2000, Richard Hidalgo kickstarted his unbelievable season with the Astros with a 3 for 4 performance with a homer and 5 RBIs against the Pirates? It’s true!

Fellas, send this to one of your old pals you haven’t seen in awhile. Let ‘em know you’d like to dust off that old A2000 of yours and play a game of catch like the old days!

that today is the 22-year anniversary of Reds CF Ken Griffey Jr.’s game against the Cubs in which he went 1-4 with a single and a RBI sacrifice fly? It’s true!

Opening Day is always a special day but in 2002, it was a day fans at Cinergy Field in Cincinnati will not soon forget. Not only did they witness Ken’s magnificent performance which helped the Reds win in walk-off fashion against the Cubs by a score of 5-4, they were also witness to many other magnificent performances!

A Delino DeShields stolen base? Oh yeah, they got to see one of those.

A flawless one-batter relief performance from Kyle Farnsworth ? You better believe they’ll be telling their grandkids about that one.

There’s no way Jason LaRue hit a double that day too, is there? Think again, fellas!

Fellas, what a game it was! Also, what a career it was for Ken Griffey Jr.! Mostly known for his accomplishments as a member of the White Sox, Ken also took his talents to Seattle and Cincinnati during his playing days. His main highlights included having 8 career sacrifice bunts and a guest appearance in an 1992 episode of ‘The Simpsons.’ I couldn’t find much more about this guy’s career. Sorry, fellas!

One more thing - Happy April Fool’s Day, fellas!

Happy New Years, fellas!

that today is the 9-year anniversary of Kyle Blanks signing a deal with the Texas Rangers? It's true!

Earlier this week, I had the absolute honor of speaking with Kyle about his life and baseball journey over the phone. When I told him about today's anniversary, he said "I did not know that." So don't feel bad if you forgot that today was the 9-year anniversary because Kyle did too, fellas!

Listed at 6'6", 265 lbs, Kyle didn't have many peers when it came to size at the MLB level. On a human level, I can assure you that Kyle doesn't have many peers when it comes to just being an awesome dude!

Kyle was a 42nd round pick out of Moriarty HS in NM in the 2004 Draft by the Padres. He told me that as an amateur player, he used a wooden bat as opposed to the metal bats because he wanted to prepare himself for the next level.

Whenever his teammates were able to convince him to use metal, these ABs were almost guaranteed to end in a homer! It was a real-life Aluminum Power Bat from Backyard Baseball scenario!

Kyle first reached the bigs with the Padres in 2009, and launched 10 HRs in his rookie year. He went on to play 7 years in the bigs with 3 different teams. He had tons of great stories, but it was his story about being teammates with Matt Stairs which really stood out to me.

In 2010, Blanks and Stairs were teammates in SD. Before a game, Kyle had given Matt some sunflower seeds. A few moments later, Kyle was informed by Chase Headley that Stairs had been laying down, sick as a dog from the seeds. Stairs, unbeknownst to Blanks, is allergic to pickles and the dill pickle seeds left him in rough shape!

Kyle was scared to death that he had just taken out Stairs. He approached Stairs to apologize and he said to Kyle, "You think you got me good? I got you better because you thought you had killed me!" What a good sport! Who would've thought Matt Stairs' kryptonite was dill pickle seeds, fellas?!

Nowadays, Kyle is hoping to better people's lives through the use of CBD products. Kyle's desire to help others is second to none and it was a true pleasure speaking with him. Give his pages a follow, fellas!

Thanks again, Kyle!

With the start of the MLB regular season being just 97 days away, I figured today would be a wonderful opportunity to honor the wonderful career of Franklin Gutiérrez who had 97 career home runs!

Anyone that knows me knows that ‘Mr. 3000’ starring the late, great Bernie Mac is one of my 26 favorite baseball movies of all time. I think a spin-off featuring Franklin and his quest to reach 100 career homers would be a box-office smash hit. Give the people what they want and make a comeback, Franklin!

Given his movie star looks, I believe Franklin would have the ability to star as himself in this hypothetical film, fellas!

Not only does Gutiérrez have unmatched handsomeness, his range in the outfield was unrivaled by his MLB peers. With a 2010 Gold Glove to his name, Franklin earned the nickname of “Death to Flying Things” due to his ability to track down everything hit in the air at Safeco Field. Oddly enough, “Death to my Self-Worth and Joy” is the nickname I gave to my wife after she took the kids and house in our divorce. Am I right, fellas?

Franklin played in 12 MLB seasons from 2005 to 2017 with Seattle, Cleveland, and the LA Dodgers. He led the league in defensive WAR in 2009, had 31 career sacrifice bunts, and has the 69th best stolen base percentage of all-time (80.41%). Nice!

After his playing days ended, Franklin rejoined the Mariners organization as a special assignment coach. Although he may not be able to teach players how to look as naturally cool as he did in the outfield, I know he is helping them get better one fly ball at a time. They’re lucky to have him back!

I don’t know about anything financially, but I do know that there is nothing better than deferring tomorrow’s problems!

Citing the unmatched fan atmosphere at Steele Stadium and his close friendship with future teammate Mikey Thomas, Shohei Ohtani has SHOCKED the baseball world by signing with the Crazy Melonheads for the 2024 season.

Player/Manager Sally Dobbs had this to say about the signing, “While my younger brother Ronny will be quite disappointed to lose at-bats to Shohei, we could not be more excited to have Shohei in the Melonheads lineup in 2024.”

Fellas, how many homers do you think Shohei will have at the hitter friendly ballpark of Steele Stadium?