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Ask Hal: Chapman, Valaika start strong

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By Hal McCoy, Contributing writer 9:41 PM Saturday, September 4, 2010

Hall-of-fame baseball writer Hal McCoy knows a thing or two about America’s pastime. If you want to tap into that knowledge, send an e-mail to halmccoy1@hotmail.com. For more Ask Hal, log on to DaytonDailyNews.com/reds.

Q: You wrote Aroldis Chapman threw two pitches at 105 miles an hour (for Louisville), so are these radar guns required to be certified before these numbers are published? — Dave, Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek.

A: Do you ask the trooper if his gun is certified when he clocks you at 60 in a 55 mph zone? The FoxSports gun is certified to one-tenth of a second, and it had Chapman at 102.7 when the stadium gun showed 102. And when a pitch is over 100, what’s the difference, a batter can’t see it anyway. They only hear it and complain to the umpire, “That sounded like a ball.”

Q: How rare was it for Chris Valaika to get a base hit on the first major-league pitch he saw? — Rick, Cincinnati.

A: Amazingly, not rare at all among the more than 16,000 who have played in the majors. In fact, 23 have hit home runs on the first pitch they saw. The first was Pittsburgh outfielder Walter Mueller in 1922, and the last was Cleveland’s Kevin Kouzmanoff — and his was a grand slam. The first three pitches I saw in high school were strike one, strike two and strike three.

Q: Can you remember as much fanfare for a pitcher coming to the Reds as Aroldis Chapman? — Neil, Dayton.

A: Never, ever. There was much anticipation for Homer Bailey and for C.J. Nitkowski, both No. 1 draft picks. But they didn’t sign for $30 million, and they never threw a pitch 105 miles an hour. When the bullpen gate swung open and Chapman came onto the field for the first time it was like Ricky Vaughn in the movie Major League, only they didn’t play the song “Wild Thing.” And why should they? In his first two appearances he threw 19 pitches, 16 for strikes. When he comes in, they should have Don Meredith singing, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over.”

Q: Seeing Jay Bruce take a shaving cream pie to the face during his post-game interview got me to wondering what was the best clubhouse prank you ever saw? — Frank, Milford.

A: The pie in the face routine is getting old, almost a cliché. Everybody does it and I can’t understand why players aren’t looking for it. It is as boring as The Wave. I’ve seen tons of pranks, but one of the best was when Scott Brown came to the majors armed with nothing with a fastball. When he saw other pitchers throwing curveballs he wondered how he could do that. So they sent him to a sporting goods store to ask for a box of curveballs. He actually went, and the players called the store to let them in on the gag. They sold a dozen balls, and when he used them and they didn’t curve he went back to the store demanding his money back.

Q: I was surprised to learn the first Cincinnati Reds player to be elected to the Hall of Fame by the baseball writers was Johnny Bench in 1989, and as a member of that august group how do you explain it going 52 years before the writers voted in a member of the Reds? — Tim, New Jersey.

A: Curious, isn’t it, knowing the Reds were the first professional team in 1869. But the Reds haven’t been that successful over the long haul, and in doing some quick research I discovered the Reds never had a slam dunk candidate until the emergence of The Big Red Machine. Many were on the cusp, but the Reds never had a Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Bob Gibson or Sandy Koufax. But I think they’re making up a plaque for Aroldis Chapman.

Q: What do you think about ESPN radio’s Colin Cowherd saying that Joey Votto is a fraud and didn’t belong on the All-Star team? — Larry, New Carlisle.

A: If Cowherd believes that, they should check to see if somebody is spiking his Metamucil. I’d wager he has never seen Votto play, and maybe he can’t read numbers. Talk radio is a schtick — those guys say outrageous things to get noticed. In Cowherd’s case, it worked. He is getting mileage out of his statement. And we all know who is the fraud in this matter.

Q: It was reported that Tony La Russa lost his lunch four times during his team’s sweep of the Reds in Cincinnati. With his team losing so much is he carrying a trash can to the dugout? Bill, Monterey, Ky.

A: The way the Cardinals played prior to this weekend’s Reds series is enough to make a grown man cry and sick at the same time. La Russa owns a law degree and is probably checking baseball’s voluminous rule book to find a loophole that will erase about 15 of his team’s losses.

Q: The Reds have a World Series winning streak of nine straight games (one against Boston in 1975, four against the Yankees in 1976, four against Oakland in 1990), having not lost since Carlton Fisk’s home run in Game 6 in Boston, and you think they can make it 13 this year? — Gary, Bjerkvik, Norway.

A: Oh you optimist. Yes, the Reds winning streak is the longest unbroken streak. But they best concentrate on getting there first. They’ve won seven straight at one point this season, but that wasn’t against the Yankees or Tampa Bay or Texas. But who thought they’d take the Yankees in four straight in ’76 or the A’s in four straight in ’90? Not me. I picked the A’s in five games.

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