Cubs Trivia

[wcplummer]

Tony LaRussa played for the Cubs and he scored his only run (game winning) with the team on opening day 1973.

Thanks to my Cubs Trivia Calendar. How did I never know that that dipshit wore a Cubs jersey?

[veryzer]

here's some more tony larussa trivia: as a manager of the white sox he was once fisted repeatedly by greg luzinski. thats why he walks with a limp.

[leonardsipes]

Imagine a Jeopardy where one of the subjects is ass and another is baseball. Tom would stand a decent chance of winning that day.

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo(post=19736:date=Feb 23 2009, 01:02 PM:name=leonardsipes)-->QUOTE (leonardsipes @ Feb 23 2009, 01:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Imagine a Jeopardy where one of the subjects is ass and another is baseball. Tom would stand a decent chance of winning that day.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]

[Captain]

<!--quoteo(post=19728:date=Feb 23 2009, 12:38 PM:name=veryzer)-->QUOTE (veryzer @ Feb 23 2009, 12:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->here's some more tony larussa trivia: as a manager of the white sox he was once fisted repeatedly by greg luzinski. thats why he walks with a limp.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

'tis true.
With Luzinski's left fist nonetheless.

That thing was the size of Pujols head.

[VanSlawAndCottoCheese]

Just looked at the box score; wanna know something even more ass-smelling?

La Russa was pinch running for Santo in that game, the last of La Russa's major league career.

[kbwsb]

That box score included Jim Hickman, a Cub who Bill James often cites as a guy who had one outlier year (1970) that was so much better than the rest of his career, that it almost doesn't make sense.

I kind of feel sorry for the guy. Have you ever looked at his career?
He kicked around the minors for a <i>real</i> long time, and didn't get to the majors till he was 25. And that was with the infamous 1962 Mets, widely regarded as the worst team of all time. (120 losses is still the record).
He was the Met starting RFer for their first five seasons, during which they lost:
120 games
111
109
112
95
They came in 10th place (last) in <i>each</i> of his first 4 seasons, before coming in 9th place when they "only" lost 95 games. (of course the Cubs came in 10th that year).

All that losing has got to wear on a guy. I'm assuming that that Met 5-year run of losing is, by far, the worst run any team has ever had. During Hickman's time with the Mets, they lost 2 out of every 3 games...for 5 straight years.

So then he gets traded to the Dodgers. He's gotta be rejoicing...at that time, the Dodgers were the class of baseball, having won the pennant in the NL the 2 previous years, and having won 3 of the last 4 pennants, including 2 of the previous 4 World Series.
From the cellar to the penthouse, right?

But then Sandy Koufax retires at age 30, and the Dodgers two other HOF pitchers (Drysdale and Don Sutton) have off years, combining to lose 31 games between them.
The Dodgers come in 8th place, 28 games out of first.

Then he's traded to the Cubs, and is an integral part of their gut-wrenching 1969 season. He finally has his Brady Anderson year (a year too late), and then stays with the Cubs through a few more near-misses (they came in 2nd place 3 times during his brief Cub period.)

Then he's traded to the Cardinals in '74, and they spend almost the entire season in first place, only to lose out to the Pirates on the final weekend of the year, and finish a game out of first.
The end. After that he retires.

Was he a bad-luck charm? Or just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Very weird career.

[Coldneck]

My name is James Hickman. So I have that going for me.

[Runnys]

<!--quoteo(post=19927:date=Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM:name=Coldneck)-->QUOTE (Coldneck @ Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My name is James Hickman. So I have that going for me.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Or against you depending on how you look at it.

[leonardsipes]

<!--quoteo(post=19935:date=Feb 24 2009, 11:12 AM:name=Runnys)-->QUOTE (Runnys @ Feb 24 2009, 11:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=19927:date=Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM:name=Coldneck)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Coldneck @ Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My name is James Hickman. So I have that going for me.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Or against you depending on how you look at it.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Are you from a long line of James Hickmans that have been Cubs fans since 1909?

[Coldneck]

<!--quoteo(post=19943:date=Feb 24 2009, 11:30 AM:name=leonardsipes)-->QUOTE (leonardsipes @ Feb 24 2009, 11:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=19935:date=Feb 24 2009, 11:12 AM:name=Runnys)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Runnys @ Feb 24 2009, 11:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=19927:date=Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM:name=Coldneck)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Coldneck @ Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My name is James Hickman. So I have that going for me.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Or against you depending on how you look at it.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Are you from a long line of James Hickmans that have been Cubs fans since 1909?
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

My grandapa was a James Hickman, but he wasn't a Cubs fan.

[kbwsb]

<!--quoteo(post=19935:date=Feb 24 2009, 10:12 AM:name=Runnys)-->QUOTE (Runnys @ Feb 24 2009, 10:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=19927:date=Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM:name=Coldneck)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Coldneck @ Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My name is James Hickman. So I have that going for me.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Or against you depending on how you look at it.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm starting to think that the ballplaying Hickman was fantastically lucky, not the opposite.
I reality, he really wasn't good enough to play MLB. At the age of 25, he was a career minor-leaguer, and would have likely either had to face the reality of not fulfilling his dream, or of ending up like Crash Davis.

But out of nowhere, for the first time in MLB history, they have expansion! The AL expands first, in 1961, but he's not good enough to make one of their two new teams. But the next year, the NL <i>also</i> expands, and he manages, by the skin of his teeth, to latch on to the very last team.

That team is the biggest collection of laughable talents in the history of the sport, so he even manages to get playing time. He gets to say he played under Casey Stengal. Despite keeping an OPS+ well below 100 (for an OFer!) he's basically an everyday player for <i>years</i>.
He finally figures it out extremely late...he has the only good year of his career at age 33. I seriously doubt that has ever happened. By that age, most guys with his talent are coaching JC, or selling auto parts.

And it's SUCH a good year that he makes the all-star team. So he gets to have that incredible experience, plus, for the rest of his life, he's introduced as "Major-League All-Star, Mr. Jim Hickman," which vastly overstates his talent, but sounds pretty good to the casual fan.

So Coldneck, I consider your moniker to be a blessing, and I wish you the same luck as your namesake.

[Coldneck]

<!--quoteo(post=19998:date=Feb 24 2009, 05:01 PM:name=KBwsb)-->QUOTE (KBwsb @ Feb 24 2009, 05:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=19935:date=Feb 24 2009, 10:12 AM:name=Runnys)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Runnys @ Feb 24 2009, 10:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=19927:date=Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM:name=Coldneck)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Coldneck @ Feb 24 2009, 08:19 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->My name is James Hickman. So I have that going for me.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Or against you depending on how you look at it.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm starting to think that the ballplaying Hickman was fantastically lucky, not the opposite.
I reality, he really wasn't good enough to play MLB. At the age of 25, he was a career minor-leaguer, and would have likely either had to face the reality of not fulfilling his dream, or of ending up like Crash Davis.

But out of nowhere, for the first time in MLB history, they have expansion! The AL expands first, in 1961, but he's not good enough to make one of their two new teams. But the next year, the NL <i>also</i> expands, and he manages, by the skin of his teeth, to latch on to the very last team.

That team is the biggest collection of laughable talents in the history of the sport, so he even manages to get playing time. He gets to say he played under Casey Stengal. Despite keeping an OPS+ well below 100 (for an OFer!) he's basically an everyday player for <i>years</i>.
He finally figures it out extremely late...he has the only good year of his career at age 33. I seriously doubt that has ever happened. By that age, most guys with his talent are coaching JC, or selling auto parts.

And it's SUCH a good year that he makes the all-star team. So he gets to have that incredible experience, plus, for the rest of his life, he's introduced as "Major-League All-Star, Mr. Jim Hickman," which vastly overstates his talent, but sounds pretty good to the casual fan.

So Coldneck, I consider your moniker to be a blessing, and I wish you the same luck as your namesake.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Just when I was thinking of changing it to Kentucky Waterfall.

[wcplummer]

Worthless Trivia-
In between games of a 1922 DH the Cubs traded outfielders with the opposing team. Those 2 players ended up playing for 2 different teams in the same day. What was the other team and who were the players?

[veryzer]

the other team was the cardinals but i don't remember the players.