A: Unheard of. And why should they apologize? They do their best and don’t want to embarrass themselves. When fans pay their money, there are no guarantees the home team will play magnificently. Most players/managers are willing to explain what happened, why things went bad, but apologies are superfluous.
Q: As much as I dislike seeing position players pitch, will we ever see Elly De La Cruz toe the rubber in a blowout game? — STEVE, Springfield.
A: While I, too, despise position players pitching, that would be interesting. During an early-season game in 2025 in San Diego, StatCast supposedly clocked his throw to first base at 106.9 miles per hour. MLB, though, said it wasn’t clocked. Whatever, that throw was so hard first baseman Jeimer Candelario missed it and De La Cruz was charged with an error. It is doubtful, though, De La Cruz will ever mount the mound. He is too valuable to risk injury — to him and to opposing batters.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: Was Great American Ball Park built purposely to be home run friendly? — GEORGE, Morton Grove, Ill.
A: No, not on purpose. They wanted the park downtown and the only land they could acquire was a small piece on the Ohio River called The Wedge. So they wedged the $290 million park into that land, Great American Small Park. General manager Jim Bowden wanted to make the distance down the right field line just 300 feet to accommodate Ken Griffey Jr., but MLB said no. It is 325 feet, still an easy poke for the weakest of hitters.
Credit: File photo
Credit: File photo
Q: At a recent Reds game, I noticed game-used baseballs handed to a man in the dugout and he put a sticker on the ball and entered something on a computer, so what’s that all about? — JOHN, Eaton.
A: He is an authenticator. When something special or historic happens, the ball is given to him to authenticate that it was the ball used on that play. And sometimes it is not so exotic. He is marking it as used in a game to sell in the gift shop. When I threw out a couple of first pitches before games they did not authenticate the ball. But I have them, signed by whomever caught them.
Q: In a recent game, Elly De La Cruz struck out to end the game and his bat left his hands and stuck in the screen, so have you ever seen that happen before? — DON, Dayton.
A: Yes, I have seen it a couple of times. Joe Morgan took a swing at a game in Chicago and it stuck in the screen. But it was low enough that the bat boy extracted it and handed it back to Joe. I’ve seen several bats fly into the dugout. Former Reds third baseman Brandon Larson got ambushed in the leg by a bat slung into the dugout by Hal Morris. But I’ve never seen a bat stick so high as Elly’s did that they needed a crane to retrieve it after the game.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: What becomes of the special wear-them-once uniforms and hats MLB teams wear for special occasion games? —GREG, Beavercreek.
A: It varies. Some go to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Some are sold at auctions for charity. And some end up in a team’s stadium gift shops. It amazes me how many different uniforms teams wear, the expenditures that go into it. The Reds wore specially designed uniforms for the Bristol Speedway Classic and we’ll never see them again, except maybe on the racks in the shops at GABP. Bring big bucks with you.
Q: Wasn’t there a bigger baseball crowd for a World Series game at the Los Angeles Coliseum than the crowd for the Reds and Braves at the Bristol Speedway? — TOM, Dayton.
A: Indeed there was. That’s why they called the 91,307 at Bristol the largest regular-season crowd. Before Dodger Stadium was completed, the Los Angeles Dodgers played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For the fifth game of the 1959 World Series against the Chicago Go-Go White Sox, they drew 92,706. And that wasn’t even the biggest. That same year the Dodgers played an exhibition game to benefit and pay tribute to catcher Roy Campanella that drew 93,103 and they turned away 15,000. The narrow oval shape of the Coliseum was not designed for baseball, so the left field fence was only 250 feet from home plate, with a 40-foot high fence. Dodgers outfielder Wally Moon became adept at lobbing high fly balls over that screen, so home runs over that fence became known as Moon Shots.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: Some teams trade players a year or two earlier than necessary to optimize return value or cut players not producing, so with all those minor leaguers scratching at the door, should the Reds adopt this strategy? — MIKE, Indianapolis.
A: The current front office doesn’t subscribe to that system, preferring to hoard talent. They may have to adjust, though, because they have enough shortstops lined up in their system to fill the table at The Last Supper. They also have an excellent supply of pitchers, but with pitchers up and down MLB rosters getting hurt daily, pitching is something to keep. What’s the old saying? You never have enough pitching.
Q: Have you ever seen two baseball teams each score eight runs in the eighth inning to tie the score? — AL, Columbus.
A: Yes, last week when Atlanta scored eight in the top of the eighth to take an 11-3 lead and the Reds scored eight in the bottom of the eighth to tie it, 11-11. I assume you mean did it happen in any other game. Not that precise — 8 and 8 to tie it in the eighth. I didn’t see it, but in 2007 The Chicago White Sox scored eight in the top of the second and the New York Yankees scored eight in the bottom of the second. The White Sox won, 13-9.
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