About Me:
Nooch is a lifelong sports fan who believes that Indianapolis ended up with a slightly better QB than San Diego in the 1998 NFL Draft, the Golden State Warriors may not make the NBA playoffs again in his lifetime (how was I supposed to know that Chris Mul
About Me:
Nooch is a lifelong sports fan who believes that Indianapolis ended up with a slightly better QB than San Diego in the 1998 NFL Draft, the Golden State Warriors may not make the NBA playoffs again in his lifetime (how was I supposed to know that Chris Mul
About Me:
Nooch is a lifelong sports fan who believes that Indianapolis ended up with a slightly better QB than San Diego in the 1998 NFL Draft, the Golden State Warriors may not make the NBA playoffs again in his lifetime (how was I supposed to know that Chris Mul
Thursday, October 11, 2007, 04:31 PM EST
[General]
Eight.
It's a number that probably tells you all you need to know about how West Virginia University fullback Owen Schmitt plays the game of football.
On a recent broadcast of a Mountaineers football game, someone made mention of the fact that Schmitt has apparently broken eight of his facemasks in his collegiate career. And in this day and age of single-back offenses and five-receiver sets, the very idea of a badass lead-blocking fullback playing with such old school ferocity that he could actually manage to mangle more than one facemask was duly compelling. That Schmitt had to make his journey to big-time college football from utter obscurity and on his own dime makes his story that much more remarkable.
In 2003, Schmitt ran for 1,063 yards at Division III Wisconsin-River Falls. Although it was a stellar season, it was at a school on the very fringe of college athletics and seemed about as far away from the bright lights of the national college football spotlight as one could get. So, Schmitt traded in his status as a big fish in a small pond (and, at 6'3", 260 pounds, he was a mighty big fish) for a chance at one of the fastest rising big-time football programs in the country, Rich Rodriguez's West Virginia Mountaineers.
The Mountaineers were Big East Co-Champions in 2003, and bigger things were expected in 2004. So, Schmitt literally walked into a program that was on the cusp of going from good to great. And the key for Schmitt was that he did, in fact, have to walk onto to the WVU practice field. He was not offered a scholarship to make the jump from Wisconsin-River Falls to Morgantown. Instead, he needed to make the team as a walk-on in 2004, pay his own way that year if he did, and then wait for the chance to be taken on as a full-scholarship member of the team. It was a situation that promised so little and so much all at the same time.
Driven by the lure of that scholarship and a chance at big-time college football, Schmitt was a scout-team marvel. Though he had little to no chance of ever actually seeing the playing the field in a live game that year, the big fullback wowed his coaches all season long with his drive and determination. He practiced as though his life depended on it. And, in truth, his football life probably did.
In 2005, all of his hard work paid off. Schmitt got his scholarship and the unexpected nod as starting fullback. And the West Virginia backfield was the place to be in 2005. A pair of freshman phenoms, QB Patrick White and RB Steve Slaton, vaulted the Mountaineers all the way up to the #5 ranking in the AP and the #6 ranking in the USA Today national polls en route to an 11-1 season. The WVU ground game was absolutely devastating. Slaton ran for 1,128 yards and 17 TD's while White befuddled defenses with 952 rushing yards of his own. All the while, big Owen Schmitt flattened anything that got in his way to create running room for both.
As a reward for all of those bruising lead-blocks, Schmitt wound up with 48 carries of own and made the most of them, gaining 380 yards - an impressive 7.92 per carry average - and two scores.
In 2006, the Mountaineers again won 11 games but losses to Lousiville and South Florida knocked them out of National Championship consideration. However, Slaton and White were even more spectacular as sophomores. While Slaton tore through defenses for 1,744 yards and 16 TD's, White even outdid that. The second-year QB not only passed for over 1,600 yards and 13 scores, but he ran for over 1,200 more (at a remarkable 7.39 per carry clip) and found the end zone 18 times.
And you-know-who continued his devastating lead-blocking ways.
In fact, Schmitt continued to show he was a dangerous runner in his own right. In 2006, he ran for 351 yards and scored 7 TD's of his own.
So, without question, 2007 shaped up to be the pinnacle of not only Owen Schmitt's remarkable journey through college football but also for his WVU teammates. They were national championship contenders and had one of the most dangerous offenses in the country thundering on all cylinders.
Slaton and White were still lethal. In fact, White's ever-improving passing game made him even more dangerous. In leading the Mountaineers to a 4-0 start, he had completed better than 70% of his passes with 6 TD's and no interceptions. WVU had even added another spectacular RB to their already embarrassingly rich rushing attack. Freshman Noel Devine was quickly proving to be as much of a home run threat as either Slaton or White, with over 260 yards and a pair of scores on just 24 carries. And Owen Schmitt had done as he has always done - provided bruising blocks, tough inside running, and an unstoppable will to fight.
Two weeks ago, though, there was a hiccup against a tough South Florida team, and WVU's undefeated season was gone, 21-13.
However, another 11-win season remains a possibility for Rich Rodriguez's team, and the Mountaineers need only to look toward their senior fullback for reassurance that the fight is still on. Owen Schmitt, the Division III expatriate and former walk-on, has six regular season games left in his collegiate career, and he doesn't look like he's about to let-up on that throttle any time soon.
After all, eight broken facemasks are all you need as proof of that.
It is a moment that Oregon WR Cameron Colvin may well remember forever.
In the time it takes to blink, Colvin went from impending hero diving for the end zone to tie the biggest game of the season for his team to watching helplessly as the ball, the game, and Oregon's hopes for a dream season literally slipped through his fingertips.
Down 31-24 to Pac-10 powerhouse Cal at home in the closing seconds of the 4th quarter last Saturday, Oregon was in the midst of a furious comeback. They had driven all the way down to the Cal 5-yard line when Oregon QB Dennis Dixon threw a short swing pass to Colvin, who darted for the end zone pylon. But a funny thing happened on the way to a tied game, the intrigue of overtime, and two heavyweight offenses going toe-to-toe for a little while longer.
In a game that featured nearly 900 yards in total offense, it was the defense that had the final say. Cal DB Marcus Ezeff knocked the ball out of Colvin's hands as the WR was getting ready to extend it into the end zone, and the ball trickled harmlessly out of the end zone. Touchback. Game over. Stunned silence.
Perhaps, two of the most stunned people in the entire stadium were Oregon's biggest star players, RB Jonathan Stewart and QB Dixon. Both players had to be looking at this game as a clear opportunity to elevate themselves and their team into national prominence and chase away the ghosts of 2006. In 2007, both Stewart and Dixon seemed to have turned a corner of sorts. Whatever gaps existed in their respective games before simply did not appear to be there anymore.
In Stewart's case, he runs like a wrecking ball. Mass and force in cleats. At 5'11", 230 pounds, he looks too stocky to have any real speed, but appearances can be deceiving. Though he runs with power, he can also flash breakaway speed once he gets into the open field. It is that combination of strength and quickness that leads many to wonder how soon Stewart, if he hasn't already, will make a name for himself on the national level.
In the two games leading up to the showdown with Cal, Stewart ran for over 160 yards in each, picking up 325 yards on just 36 carries (a 9.03 per carry average) and scored 3 times, including a 88-yard bolt in a game against Fresno State. Now, the big, bad Cal Golden Bears were coming to Autzen Stadium for the biggest Pac-10 game of the young season, and Jonathan Stewart would be there waiting for them looking for a little payback.
Stewart's backfield mate, QB Dennis Dixon, was also looking for some redemption. His 2006 season went into tatters after a fast start. In 2007, he was again off to a brilliant start - 69% completion rate, 932 passing yards, 11 TD passes, and, most importantly, no interceptions.
However, the Cal game had marked the beginning of the end for Dixon, Stewart and the rest of the team in 2006. In last year's Cal-Oregon match-up, the Ducks were embarrassed, 45-24, in Berkeley. Dixon threw three picks (one on the very first play from scrimmage for the Ducks), and Stewart was given no running room. The Bears completely stifled him, holding him to just 25 yards on 18 carries.
Though, as the saying goes, that was then and this is now. Whatever partisan pick-me-up the Bears got from a jam-packed Memorial Stadium last October was transferred 500+ miles to Eugene and moved over to the opposite sideline. With Dixon looking as confident as he's ever been, Stewart coming off of two of the biggest games of his collegiate career, and Jeremiah Johnson ready as that shifty, change of pace back just waiting in the wings to catch a defense off-guard, the Ducks looked hungry enough to chow down on a hearty plate of redemption. And they needed to be plenty hungry, because the Bears showed that they're no shrinking violets on offense.
WR DeSean Jackson proved that he may be the fastest player in the conference. RB Justin Forsett answered any questions about his ability to replace last season's star RB Marshawn Lynch. And Cal even had a secret weapon - freshman RB Jahvid Best, who's little more than a blur once he gets to full speed and who averaged a gaudy 12.4 years per carry in limited action coming into the game.
Though Best was a non-factor on offense (he did make a brilliant special teams play forcing a fumble on a botched Oregon kick return), Jackson and Forsett were every bit as dangerous as advertised. Jackson, in particular, simply owned the second half of the game. After a modest first half, Jackson burned the Oregon D with a pair of electrifying scores - one, a dazzling stutter-step streak down the sidelines. Cal's brilliant home run hitter finished the game with 11 catches and 161 yards, both career highs.
Forsett also started slowly, the combination of a stout Oregon defensive effort in the first half and conservative play calling keeping him contained. However, once Cal's passing game opened things up, Forsett found enough room to finish the game with just over 100 yards rushing and two scores, the last of which capped the scoring and provided the final margin of victory.
For his part, Jonathan Stewart kept the Ducks close, rumbling for 120 yards on 21 carries (a far cry from the 18-carry, 25-yard disappearing act in the 2006 game). In fact, as the game went on, Stewart did what all elite backs seem to be able to do - he got stronger and tougher to bring down. Just ask Cal freshman DB Chris Conte. On one of Stewart's runs in the second half, the big RB lowered his shoulder and simply ran right through Conte. Were Conte to wonder what the license plate number of that particular truck was, the answer would be "28" in big yellow numbers.
Also, somewhat lost in the shuffle, were two brilliant moments by Stewart's backup, Jeremiah Johnson. Johnson, who is all about speed and elusiveness, used his ability to change direction in an instant in turning a simple dump off pass into an amazing 26-yard open field gain on Oregon's ill-fated final drive. Earlier, he had an equally impressive 26-yard run on the Ducks' first scoring drive, proving that you simply cannot tackle what you can't reach.
Unfortunately, for Oregon, Dennis Dixon had no such similar renaissance. He'd played 19 quarters of nearly perfect football in 2007, but picked the absolute worst time to show his flaws. His ill-timed interception deep in Oregon territory (his first pick in nearly 130 attempts) led to Cal's go-ahead (and, ultimately, game-winning) TD shortly after. Four plays later, he threw another interception as the Ducks were driving for a tying score when a tipped pass intended for Stewart was gobbled up by Cal DT Tyson Alualu at the 17.
Though Dixon finished the game with 306 passing yards and both a passing and rushing TD, his two interceptions were backbreakers. By the time Colvin's fumble sealed Oregon's fate, the Ducks had turned the ball over four times, and their heretofore opportunistic defense had created none. And minus-4 in the turnover battle is difficult, if not impossible, to overcome, particularly against an elite team with a scary offense.
Still, give Cal credit, they walked into one of the most hostile environments in the conference - a place they haven't won at in 20 years - and kept their undefeated season alive. They made the big plays they needed them most and cashed in on enough of Oregon's miscues to stay in front. With so many of the perennial national college football powers falling by the wayside like so many bowling pins, Cal looks to be on a collision course with USC for the upper hand for at least one of the spots in the BCS title game.
For Oregon, it's a bye week, seven more days to stew over what might have been. It is also time to contemplate how to keep the fight and fire going in the wake of serious injuries to star WR Brian Paysinger (knee - out for the season) and defensive leader LB A.J. Tuitele (broken foot - out 6-8 weeks). Though disheartening, the Cal game should have shown the Ducks a number of things.
First, they gave the now-#3 team in the country everything it could handle. Second, despite getting creamed in the turnover battle, the offense rolled to nearly 500 yards in total offense and came within a few feet of tying the game in the closing seconds. Third, Jonathan Stewart's occasional disappearing act from 2006 seems to be a thing of the past. Fast, strong, and angry 230-pound running backs are in short supply, and the Ducks should consider themselves fortunate to have one of them on their side.
On the other hand, Oregon had a number of tough lessons to learn as well. Though Dennis Dixon had been nearly perfect in 2007 leading up to the Cal game, his tendency to commit crippling turnovers still lurks ominously. The defense, which played well in the first half, got burned in the second half when they failed to pressure Cal QB Nate Longshore consistently. Longshore, who had all sorts of time in the pocket in the second half, simply picked apart Oregon's overworked secondary, because the defensive line never got real any push into the backfield. The absence of team leaders like Paysinger and Tuitele means others will have to fill those voids. How Colvin's last second fumble affects his ability to do that remains to be seen.
So, at 4-1, the Ducks can still have a great season. However, in order to do so, they need to recognize how little separates good from great and joy from heartbreak. Like a fumbled football just inches away from the goal line.
Friday, September 14, 2007, 12:18 PM EST
[General]
Recently, someone paid $2.8 million for a baseball card.
That's right, someone actually opted for a piece cardboard with a baseball player's picture on it over any number of palatial pieces of real estate. And that's not even the most absurd part of it.
Somehow, a true baseball legend has been reduced from icon to oddity with every wild appraisal of that tiny piece of cardboard. And make no mistake about it, the player on that card was a true icon of the game. His name, of course, was John Peter "Honus" Wagner, and he may have been one of the greatest players ever to take the field.
He once said, and it's one of my favorite quotes about baseball, that there wasn't much to being a ballplayer...if you're a ballplayer. And Wagner knew a thing or two about being a ballplayer. The man they called "The Flying Dutchman" was an exceptional combination of power, speed and defensive quickness in measures few had ever seen before and, some might argue, have rarely been seen since. In 21 big league seasons, Wagner collected 3,415 hits (still good for 8th place All-time), stole 722 bases (still 10th All-time), and won 8 batting titles (tied with Tony Gwynn for most ever by an NL hitter), despite not looking the part at all. Brawny and bold-legged with impossibly long arms, he appeared to have no grace whatsoever, yet once he took the field his agility looked effortless. Perhaps, he was right all along. There wasn't much to it for him...because he was most definitely a ballplayer, and a great one at that.
With Wagner leading the way, the Pittsburgh Pirates captured four pennants and a World Series title. In Pittsburgh's World Series triumph in 1909, Wagner squared off against Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers and outplayed Cobb, hitting .333 with 6 steals to Cobb's .231 average and 2 steals. And the Pirates took the Series in seven.
And Wagner was the antithesis of Cobb in lot of ways. Where Cobb was mostly disliked and avoided by teammates and opponents alike, the easy-going Wagner was admired by his peers. While Cobb took a twisted sort of pride in his open racism, Wagner considered a comparison of equivalent baseball skills to Negro League star John Henry "Pop" Lloyd a compliment. Cobb raged while playing the game; Wagner played with the ease and demeanor of someone relaxing in his favorite chair. However, both achieved a level of greatness and proficiency in the sport that few others can claim. It's just that Wagner seemed to enjoy that journey. Cobb, by most accounts, did not.
Though, that's how the Dutchman appeared to take life, with an ease and grace that belied his exceptional skill on a ballfield. Perhaps, he saw baseball merely as a diversion, a reprieve from the coal mines and steel mills of his hometown of Chartiers in Western Pennsylvania. Whatever the reason, his ability on a baseball diamond was as natural as the grass and dirt on which he played. There was something organic about his game, something innate and symbiotic. How else could one explain how he was able to play at least 50 games at every position on the field except pitcher and catcher during his career and handle the defensive chores at each with as much skill as nearly all of his contemporaries? Speaking of pitching, he did throw 8 1/3 innings in his MLB career without yielding an earned run, almost as if to say, "Yeah, I can do that, too."
Yet, Honus Wagner - the Flying Dutchman, one of the first five men ever inducted into the Hall of Fame, beloved Pittsburgh Pirate icon - is now mostly known for the absurd price of a baseball card.
However, Wagner likely wouldn't understand what all of the fuss was about. After all, to him, there wasn't much to what he did in etching one of the great careers in the game. Though, to the rest of us, there was a whole lot to it. In fact, most of us can hardly fathom what the view must have been like from that pinnacle. I'd imagine it was pretty spectacular, certainly much more so than the flat sound of an auctioneer's gavel.
So, if you hear Honus Wagner's name, think of the ballplayer first and the circus surrounding his baseball card second. If anything, one of the game's true legends deserves at least that much. Even if he didn't think so.
Monday, September 10, 2007, 05:02 PM EST
[General]
In nature, a duck has virtually no chance against a wolverine. On a football field, though, things are different. In Ann Arbor this past Saturday, a group of Ducks from the University of Oregon showed just how different.
The Michigan Wolverines, who were still reeling from their opening week loss to 1-AA Appalachian State, had an entire week to stew over one of college football's most stunning upsets. In so doing, they had one of two ways to respond in their next game - they could either play like the angriest team in the country, taking out their frustration on the next team that got in its way or they could sink with the pieces of their seemingly shattered season dragging them down.
Honestly, I had hoped for the latter but feared the former, and expected Oregon to walk right into the offensive buzzsaw of Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and Mario Manningham with 110,000 loud, angry Michigan fans cheering them on.
It didn't happen.
Although Hart, Henne, and Manningham all had their moments early in the game, moving the ball well against the Ducks' defense, turnovers and stalled drives limited the damage to just 7 points despite rolling up over 190 yards in the first quarter alone. Whatever questions those sustained Michigan drives seemed to raise on the Oregon sideline went away quickly.
On an afternoon where the Ducks had all of the answers, Oregon's senior QB Dennis Dixon provided the loudest one late in the first quarter. After Michigan had taken a 7-3 lead on Henne's 7-yard TD pass to Adrian Arrington, capping an impressive 10-play, 71-yard drive, Dixon delivered the game's biggest dagger, an electrifying 85-yard strike to Brian Paysinger that put the Ducks back in the lead for good. Dixon's pass, a perfectly thrown dart that hit Paysinger in full stride, served notice that Oregon's offense could and would strike from anywhere on the field.
For Dixon, his history with the Ducks has been a jagged one, at times brilliant but maddeningly inconsistent. In 2006, he threw for over 1,000 yards with 6 TD's and 2 interceptions in leading Oregon to a 4-0 start. However, in Week 5, he had a turnover-filled disaster in a blowout loss to Cal and seemed to implode from there. In his final seven regular season games, he threw 11 interceptions and was eventually benched for the season finale against Oregon State. The uncertainty of whether "Good Dennis" from the start of the season or "Bad Dennis" from the middle and end of the season would show up on a given week finally proved too much, and the steadier but far less spectacular Brady Leaf piloted the team in the final two games of the season, both losses and put a disappointing end to an underwhelming 7-6 season.
However, to say that "Good Dennis" has been on the field for both of Oregon's games in 2007 is an understatement. Against Michigan, Dixon wasn't just good. He was great.
Completing 16 of 25 passes for 292 yards and 3 scores, Dixon ran the Ducks' spread offense to perfection. When he didn't have open passing lanes, he used his elusiveness to scramble for significant yards. Few things are more demoralizing to a defense than having a pass play shut down only to yield a first down on a QB scramble. And Dixon's elusiveness was never more evident than on a 9-yard TD run in the second quarter when he faked a "Statue of Liberty" style handoff and practically walked into the end zone while the defense, the television announcers, most of the crowd, and probably some of his own teammates were duped by his brilliant sleight of hand. A particularly telling sign of Dixon's increased effectiveness as a runner - his 76 yards on the ground against Michigan and his devastating 141-yard performance against Houston in the season opener have both already topped his 2006 season-high of 69 yards.
When it wasn't Dixon punishing the Michigan defense, it was junior running back Jonathan Stewart. Stewart, an impressive combination of power and speed, ran angry against the Wolverines. Plowing his way through defenders, Stewart finished the game with 111 yards on just 15 carries (a 7.4 per carry average) and a score. And that score was a big one. It was a bruising 4th-and-goal run that put Oregon up 18-7 and set the rout in motion.
Even Stewart's back-up, Jeremiah Johnson, put up impressive numbers, picking up 89 yards on 13 carries. In all, Oregon ran all over the Michigan defense for 331 yards. Despite the graduation of last year's leader, center Enoka Lucas, the big, experienced offensive line seems not to have lost a beat.
With the running game clicking on all cylinders, the Ducks were able to open the passing game up as well. In addition to Dixon's brilliant scoring strike to Paysinger, he was able to connect on two other long scoring passes, a 61-yard bomb to Derrick Jones and a 46-yarder to Jaison Williams that sealed the scoring in the game and cemented the Ducks' 39-7 win. At 6'5", 240 pounds, Williams creates size and speed mismatches every time he steps on the field. The only things preventing him from being one of the elite receivers in the country are his suspect hands. He continued his pattern of dropping catchable passes by booting several against Michigan.
Defensively, the Ducks played well but did look vulnerable at times against the Wolverines before Hart and Henne left the game with injuries early in the second half. With the lopsided score rendering the Michigan running game useless and a true freshman QB (Ryan Mallett) in to replace the senior Henne, Oregon was able to apply pressure to an inexperienced, one-dimensional offense. However, after Houston's Anthony Alridge torched the Ducks' run defense for 205 yards in the season opener and Mike Hart ran for over 100 yards in the first half of the Michigan game, the interior play of Oregon's D needs to improve.
Still, the defense has forced four turnovers in the each of their two games in 2007, and the starting secondary of Walter Thurmond III, Willie Glasper, Patrick Chung, and Jairus Byrd has played well in each. It is the defensive line that has been problematic for the most part. In addition to the aforementioned run stopping difficulties, the D-line hasn't shown it can mount a consistent pass rush when the game is still close and run-pass options both remain viable.
Of course, when you drop 39 points and 624 yards in total offense on a team, a bruising defense becomes more of a luxury item than a true necessity. However, the Michigan game does beg the question, are the Wolverines really that bad or are the Ducks just that good? I suspect the answer, as with much in life, lies somewhere in between those extremes. Still, putting a 32-point beatdown on a traditional CFB power in their house on national TV speaks well of a team trying to forge an identity in the early weeks of a new season.
How high the Ducks will fly this year is still to be determined. However, looking to nature for an answer probably wouldn't tell you that much. Like how little chance a duck would have against a wolverine.
On a football field, it's a different story. Ducks can roar, Wolverines can be mauled, and both "Good" and "Bad" Dennis may have just been replaced by Dennis the Great.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007, 11:07 AM EST
[General]
A Giant History - My Case for My Team
[Author's note: Currently, Socratesofswat is holding a blogging contest where one blogger is assigned to "make a case" for their favorite team. See contest details, here. With that, I give you my case for my team, the San Francisco Giants.]
Chicks dig the long ball. In fact, if rule changes, park dimensions, and attendance figures are any decent barometer, apparently, so do the rest of us. And when it comes to hitting the long ball, few franchises have done it better over their collective history than the Giants.
The San Francisco Giants (and before that, the New York Giants) have nearly always been about power. Whether launching baseballs into the short right field porch at the Polo Grounds, the windswept bleachers at Candlestick Park, or the impossibly perfect scenery of McCovey Cove at AT & T Park, some of the game's most prolific home run hitters have plied their trade for the franchise. As if to add an exclamation point to that, Barry Bonds passed Hammerin' Hank this season atop the All-time home run list. However, he's not alone in franchise lore. Before him, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Mel Ott combined to hit over 1,650 homers in their respective careers. Including Bonds, all are members of the 500-home run club, and Bonds and Mays rank number 1 and 4 on the All-time home run list. As if that weren't enough, the team has always had other star players who could reach the cheap seats with some regularity as well. Although they weren't top-tier greats like Bonds, Mays, and McCovey, they brought their share of venom at the plate.
The "Baby Bull", Orlando Cepeda, got his start with the Giants. Cepeda made five All-star teams while with San Francisco and hit a career-high 46 bombs for the team in 1961. In 1951, Bobby Thomson hit one of the most famous home runs in baseball history (off the rival Dodgers, no less!) and gave Russ Hodges an excuse to make one of the greatest calls anyone has ever heard. The Giants win the pennant, indeed. In fact, Giants' home run hitters have been around from the very start. Roger Connor, whose 138 career homers topped the category until the Bambino passed him in 1921, was a Giant. Bill Terry, the last NL player to hit .400, cranked out 23 homers and slugged over .600 that year (1930) as a Giant. The aforementioned Mel Ott spent all 22 of his big league seasons with the team and led the NL in home runs six times.
In 1986, Will "The Thrill" Clark homered in his very first MLB at-bat, an impressive blast to dead center in the cavernous Astrodome against the great Nolan Ryan. Three seasons later, he had an NLCS for the ages, hitting a blistering .650 with a pair of homers and 8 RBI in 5 games against the Cubs. (As an aside, one of my favorite Will Clark stories supposedly happened in the NLCS that year. Just before he sealed the deal with a go-ahead, run scoring base hit in Game 5, he was getting set to leave the on-deck circle when he was encouraged by teammates to "Just do it." Clark responded by answering emphatically, "It's done.") Speaking of the postseason, Jeffrey "Hackman" Leonard hit 4 homers in 24 at-bats during the 1987 NLCS against St. Louis and proceeded to circle the bases with "one flap down" each time. In the 1954 World Series, a little known reserve outfielder and pinch-hitter extraordinaire named Dusty Rhodes launched a pair of homers in the team's sweep of the Cleveland Indians.
And the list goes on. Names like Matt Williams, Jack Clark, Kevin Mitchell, and Jim Ray Hart conjure up yet more images of towering home runs for the team in Black-and-Orange.
You want pitching? Christy Mathewson won all but one of his 373 career victories with the Giants. In 1905, he started three games for the team in the World Series against the A's and threw three complete game shutouts. 27 innings pitched and zero runs allowed, earned or otherwise. In 1908, he won 37 games with a 1.43 ERA and 11 shutouts.
"King Carl" Hubbell might best be known for striking out five of the game's greatest hitters (Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin) in a row during the 1934 All-Star Game. However, his Hall of Fame career includes more than just that one spectacular moment. Armed with a devastating out pitch, the screwball, Hubbell dominated in the hitter-happy 1930's. He routinely posted an ERA over a full run below the league average, leading the league in that category three times. He also won two MVP awards (1933 & 1936), a remarkable achievement for a pitcher.
The "Dominican Dandy", Juan Marichal, was one of the first great Latin American pitchers. Before Pedro Martinez or Johan Santana, there was Marichal. With his signature high leg kick, Marichal set the standard for other great Latin American pitchers to follow. With 243 career wins (at a .631 winning percentage clip), a 2.89 career ERA, and 52 shutouts, it was an impressive standard.
You want defense? How about "The Catch"? You don't even have to mention who made it or when it happened. It is one of the enduring images of the game, seared into the memories of baseball fans everywhere. The great Willie Mays, the "Say Hey Kid" himself, on a dead run with his back turned completely to the plate simply reached up and plucked Vic Wertz' thundering drive out of the air with the ease of someone picking an apple off of a tree.
You want trophies and hardware? The franchise has 5 World Series titles and 20 NL Pennants. Their players have accumulated over 30 Gold Gloves, 13 MVP awards, and 5 Rookie of the Year awards. Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Juan Marichal , and Willie McCovey alone have made 47 All-Star teams among them.
You want managers? How about John Joseph McGraw? McGraw, whom the playwright George Bernard Shaw once called "the one true American", was an icon in the game. He was savagely competitive and baited umpires relentlessly. However, he was also was a supreme motivator and regularly molded his players into winners. So great was his ability to transform raw eager youngsters into confident, competent ballplayers that it was noted "he would take kids out of the coal mines and out of the wheat fields and make them walk and talk...and play ball with the look of eagles." He managed the team for 31 seasons and won 2,583 games and 3 World Series titles while at the helm. Along with Connie Mack, McGraw remains probably the greatest combination of longevity and success ever to manage an MLB baseball team.
You want ballparks? People like to wax poetic about Fenway's Green Monster or Wrigley's ivy-covered walls, but the image of home run balls landing in the chilly waters of McCovey Cove at the Giants' new home, AT & T Park, competes favorably on an aesthetic basis with any ballpark that was ever built. Add to that a perfect view of the Bay Bridge just over the left field bleachers and cable car bells ringing and fog horns blasting with every homer off the bat of a Giants' player, and you have an experience that is uniquely San Franciscan. By the way, the stadium's actual address is 24 Willie Mays Plaza. Enough said.
Some may argue that the counterpoint to the outstanding ambience at AT & T is the Giants' old home, Candlestick Park. A cold, concrete basin built in the middle of a wind tunnel, Candlestick achieved some degree of infamy for its lack of charm and equally inhospitable playing conditions. However, many locals will tell you that that was precisely what made Candlestick oddly great in its own twisted way. You didn't go to watch a game there sipping lattes and getting a tan. You sat there with a cup of joe, freezing half to death solely because you wanted to watch a baseball game and were willing to put up with the elements howling in your face just to do it. And the more opposing fans and players groused about the conditions, the more the locals embraced the place. Yes, it was a dive, but it was OUR dive. In a brilliant bit of marketing, the team started to offer "Croix De Candlestick" pins to fans who stayed all the way through extra inning night games as a reward for their "bravery" in enduring the elements. Adding to the legend was the moment during the 1961 All-star Game when Giants reliever Stu Miller was allegedly forced into a balk by one of the 'Stick's infamous gusts. Though many have disputed how much Miller was actually affected by the wind that day, a balk was, in fact, called, and most who were familiar with the conditions at Candlestick had no trouble accepting the fact that the wind was definitely strong enough there to cause a pitcher to lose his balance on the mound.
Even the team's New York home had tremendous character. The Polo Grounds were shaped like a horseshoe and included, in various incarnations, a daunting centerfield wall over 500 feet from home plate. However, that nearly unreachable distance was offset by the shallow distances directly down each foul line. Right field was particularly inviting, just 257 feet away from hitters. And it was the place where John McGraw presided like baseball royalty. It was the place Ralph Branca and Vic Wertz were made famous in anguish when guys for the home team made history against them. And, sadly, it was a place that met the wrecking ball in 1964 after the team left for the West Coast. Sometimes, we are in such a hurry to get to the future that we trample the past to get there.
However, in the Giants' case, there is plenty to celebrate about one of baseball's most storied franchises. The San Francisco/New York Giants are the team of Christy Mathewson and Willie Mays. They are the team of baseball's All-time home run leader and a legacy of home run hitting legends. They conjure up images of "Splash Hits" and windblown infields and horseshoe configurations. They are unforgettable because of "The Catch" and "The Shot Heard 'Round the World". They are Russ Hodges screaming about won pennants in the broadcast booth and Lon Simmons telling home runs goodbye.
Mostly, they are about the cities they have played in. While in New York, they were McGraw's tough guys, giving no quarter to the enemy. In San Francisco, they have been controversial but independent and resilient. And they are my team. Always have been and always will be. Perhaps, it is fitting that they play Tony Bennett's "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" after every home game, because when he sings about cable cars climbing halfway to the stars it reminds me that sometimes certain things are so connected to certain places that they simply cannot be seen anywhere else. Like watching my favorite team play in my hometown.
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