Baseball Numbers And Oddities Today

A note from a reader yesterday afternoon asked why I did not call out June 2^nd as “Lou Gehrig Day”.  The answer is that it simply slipped my mind and it should not have.  June 2^nd is important because two events took place on that day:

• June 2, 1925:  Lou Gehrig pinch hit in a game for the Yankees; that was game 1 of his consecutive games streak that stretched to 2130 and that record stood until the mid-1990s when Cal Ripken Jr broke it.
• June 2,^, 1941:  Lou Gehrig died from complications caused by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – – known in the medical profession as ALS and by baseball fans as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”.

            A cursory look at Gehrig’s career and stats points to his greatness.  He was a member of the 1927 Yankees’ team – – considered by some to be the best team ever.  Don’t get wrapped around the axle in that debate but consider this:

• In 1927, Babe Ruth batted third for the Yankees and hit 60 home runs and drove in 164 runs.
• In 1927, Lou Gehrig batted fourth for the Yankees – – hitting with no one on base at least 60 times to be sure – – and Gehring hit 47 home runs while driving in 175 runs and hit .373.

Lou Gehrig is also the first player in MLB to have his number retired by his team.  That happened on July 4, 1939 – – at the ceremony made famous by Gehrig’s declaration that he was the “luckiest man on the face of the Earth”.

Baseball is a game of numbers and another “number” that seems to be out of reach involves the 1971 Baltimore Orioles.  In that season, the Orioles had 4 starting pitchers who each won 20 or more games in the season:

1. Mike Cuellar:  24-8  ERA = 3.43   Complete Games = 21
2. Pat Dobson:  20-8   ERA = 2.90   Complete Games = 18
3. Dave McNally: 21-5  ERA = 2.89   Complete Games = 11
4. Jim Palmer:  20-9   ERA = 2.68   Complete Games = 20

Those four starters threw 70 complete games in 1971.  For the 2025 MLB season, the total number of complete games in the 2,460 MLB games was 29.  Moreover, no one threw more than 2 complete games in the entire 2025 season.

One more baseball oddity today.  Back in 1993, José Canseco was patrolling the outfield for the Texas Rangers.  A fly ball destined to hit the wall bounced off Canseco’s noggin and went over the fence for a home run.  Wordsmiths hopped all over that event naming the home run a “dome run” and a hearty chuckle was had by all.  Well, it happened again this week with an added element of unusualness.  Jo Adell was in centerfield for the Angels, and a long fly ball nicked the edge of Adell’s glove and then bounced off Adell’s head and then hit the wall over the yellow line making it a home run.

When I was a kid playing HORSE, you had to call your bank shots.  I have not seen any reports that the batter – – TJ Rumfield – – called that bank shot.  That would have started a kerfuffle on the playground…

The mention of José Canseco makes me realize that we have not heard of any outrageous statements or actions by him for quite a while.  Forget a complete list, just recall that Canseco’s life events include:

• Aliens have taught him to time travel and that all it takes is quantum physics and consciousness.
• He met Bigfoot and Bigfoot let him know that Bigfoot is an alien.  And for a fee of course, Canseco will introduce you to Bigfoot.
• Canseco shot his finger off while cleaning a gun; doctors were able to reattach the finger but somehow it fell off again in the middle of a poker game.

And now you can see why I miss having José Canseco in the news cycle…

Finally, back in December 2015, there was a “Twitter Exchange” where people were to offer up New Year’s Resolutions in 5 words.  Here is Canseco’s contribution to that “Twitter Exchange”:

“Merge the Great Lakes”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………