Baseball’s Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who Didn’t Live Up to the Hype
An excerpt from Patrick Montgomery’s new book, Baseball’s Great Expectations: Candid Stories of Ballplayers Who Didn’t Live Up to the Hype
American League
1980s 3,000 Hit Club
Nearly half of the players in MLB history to reach 3,000 hits played in the 1980s. Here is the list of those with ’80s ties.
1980s First Round Ratings
I took a look at every team’s first-round picks over the course of the decade and rated the best and worst.
The Day the World Series Stopped
Jon Leonoudakis was in attendance at Game Three of the 1989 World Series with a VHS camcorder and his still camera. He recently released a film on his experience and gives us a preview.
The Doug DeCinces Trade
The Baltimore Orioles made room for Cal Ripken Jr. by trading Doug DeCinces to the California Angels but the deal almost didn’t happen.
Yankees trades of the 1980s
The New York Yankees of the 1980s were on another level when it came to bad trades. Dealing Hall of Famer Fred McGriff was only one of the deals they lost.
Tom Seaver by the Numbers
Thirteen men threw more than 4,000 innings and finished their careers with an E.R.A. of under 3.00.
Tom Seaver is the only one who threw a pitch after 1930.
Robin Yount and the 1982 MVP Vote
Robin Yount missed being the seventh player to unanimously win the MVP by one vote in 1982.
Meet the man who said no.
7 minutes that explain the greatness of Rickey
A 12-pitch sequence from the 1989 ALCS shows the greatness of Rickey Henderson
Tricky Rickey
Rickey Henderson set a new stolen base record in 1982 but the mark would have come sooner had some shenanigans on the part of Billy Martin been allowed to play out.
No-No-Nieves
On April 15, 1987 Juan Nieves threw the first no-hitter in Brewers history… with a little help from Robin Yount
December 31st
Happy Birthday to Joe Simpson and the Cardinals re-sign One Tough Dominican on December 31st in 1980s Baseball
November 24th
Happy Birthday to Steve Yeager, Cal brings home some hardware, and its is the end of the road for The Big Bopper on November 24th in 1980s Baseball.
October 14th
Happy Birthday to Al Oliver, He Don’t Want to Walk You, and Billy Martin is headed to Cleveland on October 14th in 1980s Baseball.
October 13th
Happy Birthday to Frank LaCorte, the Tigers take a commanding World Series lead, and an unfortunate incident for Vince Coleman highlight October 13th in 1980s Baseball.
October 12th
Happy Birthday to Sid Fernandez, the Phillies head to the World Series for the first time in 30 years, and Orel Hershiser continues his dominance on October 12th in 1980s Baseball.
October 11th
Happy Birthday to Gregg Olson, the Expos win their first playoff series, and the loss of a Hall of Famer highlight October 11th in 1980s Baseball.
October 10th
Happy Birthday to Gene Tenace, a nice day if you’re named Vu(c)kovich, and Tommy Lasorda has trouble with the law on October 10th in 1980s Baseball
October 9th
Happy Birthday to a guy who got cut in high school, Boston brings Yaz back, and the Giants are head to the World Series for the first time since 1962 on October 9th in 1980s Baseball.
October 8th
Happy Birthday to Enos Cabell, the Braves make a change, and the 1983 World Series matchup is set on October 8th in 1980s Baseball
October 7th
Happy ’80s Birthday to Rudy Law, a big day for Rickey Henderson, and the Padres are going to the World Series on October 7th in 1980s Baseball.
October 6th
Happy Birthday to Oil Can Boyd, the Astros win a tiebreaker, and Wade Bogs wins a batting title on October 6th in 1980s Baseball.
October 5th
Happy Birthday to Onix Concepcion, George Brett caps an amazing season, and David Cone steps in it on October 5th in 1980s Baseball
October 4th
Happy Birthday to The Duke, Schmitty hits a huge dinger, and Greg Gagne pulls off a rarity on October 4th in 1980s Baseball
January 7th
Happy Birthday to Jeff Montgomery, Lou Brock gets the Hall Call and we lost Tommy on January 7th in 1980s Baseball.
That Time I Met Dan Gladden
Note: This is a guest post from Dan Leritz I grew up in Northern Minnesota in a small mining town called Mountain Iron (about an hour from Duluth). I grew up a big Twins fan and attended my first game was in 1982 when I was just 3 years old. For the next 4 years, …
The Incredible Journey of Kirby Puckett
If you weren’t paying attention it would have been pretty easy to miss a key moment in the Minnesota Twins franchise beginning its upswing after years of futility. The date was January 12, 1982, and temperatures in Minneapolis were in the single digits when Major League Baseball held its January draft. A baseball draft during …
6 Amazing Wade Boggs facts
Wade Boggs was one of the most dominant hitters in baseball during the decade of the 1980s. Here are six facts that back that up. On Base Machine From 1983 through 1989, Wade Boggs got on base via hit or walk an average of 314 times per season. 200 Hits Wade Boggs hit .352 in …
16 Ridiculous Nolan Ryan Statistics
How can a man who struck out nearly 900 more batters than anyone else in the history of the game be overrated? When his name is Nolan Ryan. How can a man who walked nearly 1,000 more batters than anyone else in the history of the game be underrated? When his name is Nolan Ryan. …
Missed it By That Much – The Danny Goodwin Story
There were three future Hall-of-Famers picked in the 1971 Major League Baseball draft. Danny Goodwin was selected ahead of all three of them. The 1975 draft featured one future Hall-of-Famer. Danny Goodwin was selected ahead of him, too. Danny Goodwin was a high school superstar; the kind of prospect you build a franchise around. There …
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When Reggie Flirted with Ted Turner
“Reggie Jackson is the ”straw that stirs the drink” on the Yankees now. Unless a serious problem develops in the negotiations of Jackson’s new contract and Reggie feels that George Steinbrenner has adopted Dave Winfield and abandoned him.” -Dave Anderson, New York Times, 12/16/80 When the Yankees signed Dave Winfield, his new teammate Reggie Jackson had a piece …
Why June 8th, 1980 was the most important day of the 1982 World Series
Nearly every World Series has a turning point; a moment that shifts the balance in favor of one team or another. Be it Dickie Noles flipping George Brett in 1980, Kirk Gibson’s homer off Dennis Eckersley in 1988 or Kirk Gibson’s other homer off Goose Gossage in 1984, there is often one moment that defines …
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Chris Browne: A Baseball Life
George Bell made history in 1988 and Chris Browne was there. He had one of the best seats in the house, but you can’t buy the ticket. The seat was reserved for a select few. These days, Chris Browne is the General Manager of the Kansas City T-Bones, an independent baseball team in the American …
A Conversation with the man behind Gummy Arts
Baseball Twitter is better because Mike Noren is part of it. Noren is the brains, and the pencils, behind Gummy Arts, a Twitter account and related website that showcases hand-drawn baseball cards and lots of nostalgia. The process began in 2015 when his girlfriend bought him a “doodle a day” calendar and he began doing …
The decade begins
The first Opening Day of the new decade brought baseball fans a brand new statistic and the season highlight in an otherwise horrible season for one pitcher. Here’s how things went down on April 9th, 1980. Reds 9, Braves 0 Filling in for an ill Tom Seaver, Frank Pastore draws the Opening Day start for …
7 Amazing Rickey Henderson Stolen Base Facts
Rickey Henderson was the best leadoff hitter in the history of the game and also one of the most exciting. Here are seven things Rickey did that will likely never be done again. 1: From 1970 through 1989, Rickey stole 283 more bases than anyone in baseball. He didn’t make his debut until 1979. Despite …
Ballpark Ghosts: Tiger Stadium
Bob Busser shot his first ballpark photographs in 1967 with a brownie camera. Since then he’s been to nearly 800 venues, capturing more than 75,000 images. His work is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York and I recently got the chance to talk to him about his travels and, …
The Best of 2017 on ’80s Baseball
I started this blog at the beginning of 2016 as a companion to a book I was writing. I’m happy to say the book is finished and should be out at some point in the summer of 2018. I didn’t post on the blog nearly as much as I wanted to this year because I was …
Dream Season: Rickey Henderson
Every player longs for that dream season. The one where they stay healthy and just produce. I’m going to crunch the numbers and create dream seasons for notable 1980s stars. This time I’ll take a look at Rickey Henderson. March/April 1988 By 1988, Rickey was well established as the premier base stealer of the time, …
A Conversation with John Giancaspro
It started with Ivan DeJesus. John Giancaspro opened a pack of 1982 Donruss baseball cards, pulled an Ivan DeJesus Diamond King card, and a life-long love of sports art was born. “I was only 12 at the time,” said Giancaspro, “and I thought a painted card was the coolest thing ever. I knew I wanted to do …
A Discussion with Sean Kane
Your average fan uses a baseball glove to, you know, catch baseballs. Sean Kane uses them to create amazing pieces of art. For more than fifteen years, Sean Kane has been creating one-of-a-kind painted glove pieces that have earned him national recognition and a sizable following which includes many of the players he features. It all …
A Discussion with Tim Carroll
Growing up, we learned to take care of our baseball cards because they would be valuable some day. We may even be able to sell them to pay for our kids’ college! Tim Carroll ignored that advice and the result is something wonderful. Carroll cuts up baseball cards and turns them into unique works of art, which …
Dream Season: Wade Boggs
Every player longs for that dream season. The one where they stay healthy and just produce. I’m going to crunch the numbers and create dream seasons for notable 1980s stars. This time I’ll take a look at Wade Boggs. March/April 1983 Boggs hit a cool .349 as a rookie in 1982 and didn’t miss a …
Mark Fidrych Roundtable Discussion Part II
Note: This is the second part of a virtual “roundtable discussion” with baseball authors, and Mark Fidrych specialists, Dan Epstein and Doug Wilson about The Bird, his legacy and the sad end to his career. Read Part I here. The Detroit Tigers sent Fidrych back to AAA during spring training in 1980 and The Bird wasn’t …
Mark Fidrych Roundtable Discussion Part I
Mark Fidrych walked off the mound at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto on October 1st, 1980 after throwing five innings against the Blue Jays. He surrendered five runs (four earned) on seven hits while walking three and striking out three. He also earned his 2nd win of the season. It wasn’t his best performance or his …
(Mark) Clear as Mud
Not many guys can go from getting seriously knocked around in the Appy League to becoming a Major League All-Star in less than five years, but that’s exactly what Mark Clear did. Clear was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 8th round in 1974 and spent his first professional summer with the Pulaski Phillies …
Cecil Cooper and the Forgotten Summer of 1980
Like the character in the movie Airplane!, who picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue, Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Cecil Cooper picked the wrong season to have a career year. Like Jan exclaiming, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” on The Brady Bunch, Cooper was well within his rights to exclaim, “Brett, Brett, Brett!” That’s what happens …
Brewer Bombers
It took the Milwaukee Brewers all of 11 innings to assert themselves as one of the top offensive teams of the early 1980s. After beating the Boston Red Sox 9-5 on Opening Day of the 1980 season, they treated their fans to an offensive explosion in the second game of the new decade. When Mike Torrez …
All-’80s Baseball Hoops Team
It’s NCAA Basketball tournament time and that can mean only one thing: Baseball! Not only were the ‘80s a great decade for baseball, you could make a pretty solid hoops team from guys who played baseball in the 1980s. Here’s our team: Point Guard: Tony Gwynn Not only was Tony Gwynn one of the top …
Dream Season: George Brett
Every player longs for that dream season. The one where they stay healthy and just produce. I’m going to crunch the numbers and create dream seasons for notable 1980s stars. Next up is George Brett. March/April 1983 There are quick starts and then there’s the jump George Brett got on the 1983 season. In the …
Gorman Texas Ranger
“They know when to cheer and they know when to boo. And then know when to drink beer. They do it all the time.” –Gorman Thomas on Brewers fans There are players who will always be associated with certain franchises. Gorman Thomas is one of those players. He spent time in Cleveland and Seattle, but …
The Best of 2016 on ’80s Baseball
I started this blog 364 days ago. Since then, I’ve published 64 posts, including guest posts, for which I’m very grateful. It’s been a great year and I thought I’d take a look back at the Top 5 posts of 2016 based (unscientifically) on page views. Number 5: George Brett’s amazing 1980 Brett was absolutely ridiculous …
The Day I Worked for My Favorite Baseball Team (Oh, and I Was 13-Years-Old)
Note: The following is a guest post from Matt Sammon. I had always liked sports as a kid, although I was far from athletic, or a kid who needed to play sports 365 days a year. While I played tee ball as a youngster, and later soccer and bowling, I was perfectly content with playing …
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That Time I Wrote George Bamberger
Note: This is a guest post from Christopher Zantow I grew up in Wisconsin as a Milwaukee Brewers fan, but when I first started following the team in the mid-70’s, they were nothing to write home about. I probably started paying attention when Hank Aaron decided to do his two-year farewell tour with the Brewers. …
Baseball Nivrana
I’ve been a collector for my entire life. You never know when you may need a 37-year-old pocket schedule and I don’t want to be unprepared. So I packed up my sons and headed to Chicago for the Fanatics Authentic Sports Spectacular. One of the big draws of shows like this is the autograph pavilion. There …
The Remarkable Rookie Year of Mitchell Page
The Pirates bus sat waiting for a trip to Lakeland when someone told Mitchell Page to report to the team office. “I knew I was being traded,” he said of the 1977 Spring Training deal. “I just prayed it wasn’t to a contender. I wanted to go somewhere that would offer me an opportunity to play.” The …
That Time I Met Sixto Lezcano
Note: This is a guest post from Christopher Zantow I grew up watching Sixto Lezcano patrol the outfield for the Milwaukee Brewers in the late 1970’s. My Dad started to take me to games at Milwaukee County Stadium in 1978 and liked to sit along the first base line, so we often got to see …
Missed it By That Much – The Mike Parrott story
Every baseball player has bad years. Both Cy Young and Walter Johnson posted 20-loss seasons. Mike Schmidt hit .196 in his first full year. But few players had a year as miserable as Mike Parrott‘s 1980. Mike Parrott was a first-round draft choice of the Baltimore Orioles in 1973. He worked his way up to …
Rick Langford: Iron Man
Billy Martin strode to the mound at Arlington Stadium to talk to his starter, Rick Langford. “I think it’s time now,” he said. It was September 17th, 1980 and the Oakland A’s were up two in the 9th inning with two outs. But Rusty Staub‘s 2-run homer in the inning was followed by a Bump Wills …
Missed It By That Much – The Drungo Hazewood Story
The runners were tense at the starting line. The 1960 Summer Olympics were about a year away, but there was still a lot at stake in this race. On the line were bragging rights and the opportunity to affect someone’s life forever; someone who would be a big part of their lives forever. “Go!” …
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George Brett and the Amazing Summer of 1980
If you’re going to hit .400, or even have a shot, it helps to put together a summer like George Brett did in 1980. The Royals third baseman got off to a slow start, hitting just .259 in the first month of the season. Brett was just starting to get hot in June when …
George Brett: The Pine Tar Game
Note: This is a guest post from Rocco Constantino July 24, 1983 The old baseball cliché is that you see something new at the ballpark every time you go to a game. It could be something as simple as a player recording his first major-league hit or achieving a team record; however, sometimes something so …
Reggie Jackson Cheated Death in 1980… Twice
Reggie Jackson had a pretty good year in 1980. He hit .300 for the only time in his career, led the AL in homers, including the 400th of his Hall of Fame career, finished 2nd in the MVP balloting and led his team to the playoffs. He also almost died. Twice. Nothing Good Happens After …
That Time I Met Robin Yount
Note: This is a guest post from Christopher Zantow I feel fortunate to have grown up in what many consider to be the greatest era of Milwaukee Brewers baseball: 1978-82. My Dad first started taking me to games in 1978 and loved to sit along the first base side of Milwaukee County Stadium in the …
Doug Ault’s Cleveland Laser Show
Early August in a nearly empty stadium with two bad teams going head-to-head isn’t exactly the setting you’d expect for a memorable performance. But Doug Ault provided it anyway. When the Toronto Blue Jays came to Cleveland to face the Indians for a mid-week series on August 4th, 1980, the two teams were a combined …
The 1980s were a Rough Decade for the Yankees
Note: This is a guest post from Eric Kabakoff I first started following baseball in 1985, shortly after that year’s midseason players’ strike. My father was a lifelong Yankees fan who’d grown up watching Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford and their teammates dominate baseball for years, and I settled in to watching games …
Missed it by that Much – The Britt Burns story
“If that kid’s not Rookie of the Year, there’s no such thing,” said White Sox skipper Tony La Russa after Britt Burns made his final start of 1980. “I think (Joe) Charboneau, (Dave) Stapleton and (Damaso) Garcia… had fine rookie years,” he continued. “But there’s no way anyone had a better year than Burns.” Unfortunately …
Missed it by that Much: The Dan Graham Story
If you happened to read the transactions section on December 8th, 1979 you probably would have missed it. The previous day, the Detroit Pistons fired their General Manager, a guy named Dick Vitale. At the winter meetings in Toronto, the Montreal Expos pulled off a big trade for Ron LeFlore, who would lead the N.L. …
That Time I Met The Orioles
It’s tough to be the new kid. Having someone introduce you helps. Having someone introduce you to about half the Baltimore Orioles is another thing entirely. In the summer of 1978, Rich Stanfill and his family moved to Cockeysville, Maryland, a small town whose claim to fame was a quarry that produced some of the marble …
Missed it by that much: The Karl Pagel story
If there was a Futures Game in 1980 he would have been a headliner. Karl Pagel was a can’t miss star. He was a high draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 1976 and absolutely tore up the minor leagues. He hit .344 in AA in 1977 with 28 homers and 104 RBI and was …
And Barfield in Right
NOTE: This is a guest post from Andrew Forbes I recently attended a game with another writer whose task, appointed him by a Canadian newspaper, was to listen to me expounding for nine innings on why baseball was worth one’s attention. It’s something I’d have been happy to do, of course, even if I wasn’t …
The 1980 All-Star Game
There have been 87 All-Star games in major league history. Exactly one of them took place at Dodger Stadium. Watching the game today on YouTube brings you right back to the era, complete with Keith Jackson, Don Drysdale and Howard Cosell in the booth. Love him or hate him, there’s nothing quite like listening to …
Jimmy Piersall Loses It… Again
The summer of 1980 was brutal. A heatwave swept across the southeast which resulted in nearly 150 deaths across seven states. From Alabama to Texas and up to Missouri, people looked for any relief they could find. The search became more difficult when temperatures caused roads to buckle in many states. Wichita Falls reached a record 113 …
That Time I Met George Brett
NOTE: This is a guest post from Tim Harms. Manners matter. More on that in a moment as I share the story of meeting my baseball hero and getting his autograph. My formative years as a baseball fan came in Wichita, Kansas, in the late 1970s. Kansas City is a three-hour drive from Wichita, and …
The weirdest day of the 1980 season
“Is it a full moon or somethin’?” That’s what my mother-in-law says when weird stuff happens. June 20th, 1980 must have featured multiple full moons because some bizarre crap went down. On the field, it began in Boston when the Red Sox hosted the California Angels. The Angels were decimated by injuries but the lineup …
Super Joe Charboneau
Being an Indians fan is hard. REALLY HARD. But in the spring of 1980, there was a glimmer of hope and it came courtesy of an injury to one of their best players. During spring training, first baseman Andre Thornton, who led the team in home runs in 1979 with 26, tore cartilage in his …
Schmidt & Brett in 1971
The most important day of the 1980 baseball season may very well have taken place in June of 1971. June 8th was draft day. The Chicago White Sox held the #1 pick and chose a high school catcher named Danny Goodwin from Peoria Central High School. Goodwin was the consensus #1 choice, a 6′-2″ 195 …
1980’s Longest Hitting Streak
DiMaggio: 56 Other DiMaggio: 34 Landreaux: 31 Wait… what? From 1941 through 1980, the three longest hitting streaks in the American League belonged to Joe DiMaggio (56 in 1941) , Don DiMaggio (34 in 1949) and Ken Landreaux. The two DiMaggio brothers are household names, but Landreaux, not so much. Ken Landreaux was selected by …
It’s Rainey in Boston
Quick: Name the American League Pitcher of the Month in May 1980. Steve Stone won the Cy Young award, though a legit argument could be made for Oakland’s Mike Norris. But neither of them were pitcher of the month in May. Stone won in June and Norris never won the honor, despite finishing the season with …
Reggie vs. Koosman
Reggie Jackson may have been the straw that stirred the drink, but it took a few years after his arrival in New York for the drink to be served. By 1980, Billy Martin was gone, as was Chris Chambliss, Mickey Rivers and, tragically, Thurman Munson. The Yankees were finally Reggie’s team and Jerry Koosman may …
Billy Martin vs. the Marshmallow Man Part II
The story of how Billy Martin lost his job with the Yankees after a fight with a marshmallow salesman in October of 1979 is well known. But there’s an under-the-radar marshmallow story that’s just as good and perhaps even more volatile. In April of 1980, Martin brought his new team, the Oakland A’s, to Bloomington, MN …
Al Bumbry
On my Facebook page, I like to find stories about guys rather than just post their batting average or home run totals. While doing that, I found a few stories about Bumbry’s service in Vietnam. Bumbry attended Virginia State College on a basketball scholarship and with the war raging in Vietnam he was certain to …
Send in the Qs
April 13th, 1980 began like just another day. But by the end of the evening, some 17,000 plus baseball fans could rightly tell their kids they witnessed a major league baseball first. The Kansas City Royals led the Detroit Tigers 1-0 in the 7th inning when KC starter Paul Splittorff began to struggle and was …
Desperado: The Jerry Terrell Story
967-1. That was the vote. On April 1st, 1980, players across the major leagues voted on whether or not to strike that season. Of the 968 votes cast, there was but one dissenter. As spring training wound down, one issue loomed above all others: The threat of a players’ strike. Ever since Peter Seitz’s ruling …
John Wathan and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad May
A great month can make a season. In July of 1980, George Brett hit an amazing .494, en route to leading the major leagues with a .390 batting average. Likewise, some players perform exceptionally well against certain teams. Over his career, Babe Ruth slugged .744 against the Detroit Tigers. Ted Williams hit .374 against Orioles and Ty Cobb …
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Tinker Tailor Pitcher Spy
George Bamberger took over as the Brewers manager prior to the 1978 season after serving as a pitching coach under Earl Weaver in Baltimore from 1968 through 1977. A baseball lifer, “Bambi” won 213 games in the minor leagues between 1946 and 1963, which included an impressive 1958 streak of 68 and 2/3 consecutive innings …
The 80’s are my 50’s
I grew up reading Angell, Halberstam, Kahn and others wax nostalgic about baseball in the 1950’s. The pictures they painted of sun-drenched afternoons at Ebbets Field or the Polo Grounds made the era come to life. I’m sure it was a magical time with great baseball. They can have it. This isn’t an indictment of …
Welcome to 1980!
“He really mows ‘em, doesn’t he?” asked Howard Cosell. “He is spectacular.” replied Cosell’s ABC broadcast partner Don Drysdale. “He’s the one guy that if you met him on the street in civilian clothes he’d be the last person you’d think was a major league pitcher.” And yet here Kent Tekulve was, bent at …
