Craig Tyson Adams

  He’d call it before you saw it Tim McCarver was a baseball savant. Whether you liked the way he called a game, or didn’t, he knew his shit. There was no better proof than what happened during the 2001 World Series. McCarver’s analysis when he described what might happen actually did seconds later. Tim McCarver was a baseball lifer. He had seen everything that could happen on a diamond. McCarver was the catcher on the Stl Cardinals when Bob Gibson had his best years. Gibson arguably had the best season a pitcher could have in 1967. 22 wins and a 1.12 ERA with 268 strikeouts. He won the NL Cy Young award for best pitcher and the NL MVP. Pitchers rarely win both. Tim McCarver was his personal catcher, calling all the pitches. McCarver caught Gibson’s Game One start of the 1968 World Series when Bullet Bob struck out 17 on the way to a victory. McCarver had a way with pitchers that had a mean streak. Gibson was as mercurial as a bad tempered thoroughbred horse. He also knew Steve Carlton

Every ballplayer hears the same thing from coaches throughout the beginning of the player’s career. If you respect the game, the game will pay you back. A small fraction of players makes the majors straight out of the draft. Most make the big show after refining their skills for a few seasons in the minor leagues. A few bounce back and forth between the majors and minors before eventually sticking and finding their place. Then there are the players that have enough talent to keep around, but not quite enough to make the jump to the majors. They’re the depth guys. They are uniquely talented in rare skills, but lacking in areas that would permit them to move forward. They’re like singers that have the chops but sound like someone famous. Like, a talented painter whose works have the same attributes as a master but not the full complement.  They possess an uncommon skill but are common as a player. The player can hit, but can’t field or run. He can field like a vacuum cleaner, but can’t h

Some guy pitched an MLB no-hitter. His name is Tyler Gilbert . If you don’t know who he is, that’s okay, me either. I’ve been following baseball since 1974. His name has never come up.  There have been a record 8 no-hitters thrown this year. That’s a lot. Like Larry King getting married a lot. The thing that makes Gilbert’s accomplishment for the Arizona Diamondbacks stand out is that it was his first major league start. That’s rare. It’s only happened 4 times since 1876.  The first two times a pitcher hurled an MLB no-hitter in his first start was back in the 1890s. Baseball was different back then. Home runs didn’t happen unless a fielder made a mistake, and the ball got by him. There weren’t pitching mounds back then, and they pitched from 55.5 feet away. Today’s pitchers throw from 60 feet and 6 inches.  Both no-hitters happened on the last day of the season, so my guess is the players wanted to get out of there and get to the pub. There were different priorities before players m