We haven't had a Video Fun Friday in a while, so I thought I'd rectify that with this fun little clip. It's Super Dave Osborne, so you probably shouldn't be surprised by what you get. But it does feature a couple of nice appearances from Father of the Year Steve Garvey and Role Model of the Decade Dwight Gooden.

Judging by the uniforms, the video comes from either 1985 or 1986 and seems to have been filmed in Dodger Stadium (despite featuring a San Diego Padre and a New York Met). Super Dave's show came about in 1987, according to the video, so I'd guess this was filmed in 1986.

But, hey, enough of me chatting. Just watch Super Dave stare down Dwight Gooden and wonder if Marty Funkhauser was in the stadium with his dad when it was filmed. (And didn't it seem like Gooden held back a little on that fastball? I'm blaming the drugs.)

Sorry I missed the July Month in Review post at the start of last month. It coincided with my trip to Atlanta for SABR 40, and, with the internet situation over there, it just didn't happen. By the time I got back home, it felt too late in the month to do it. So here we are now. Let's get started.

As I've done three times already, I wanted to take a little time here to see how things are working out so far in the world of home run trots. As I said at the beginning:

I started this series because I thought it'd be a fun way to watch the season. It hasn't disappointed yet. Watching every home run, and seeing how every player runs out their home runs, has given me a new way to enjoy the game. Is he running hard out of the box? Does he throttle it down halfway between first and second when he sees the ball clear the fence? Or does he put his head down and run hard for all 360 feet?

That is still definitely the case, even if I have watched nearly 3,800 home runs this year.

Let's get to the data. All stats below are as of home runs hit through August 31. If a home run trot was deemed unmeasurable (like when Mike Stanton's home run was initially ruled a triple before being overturned on replay), it was not included in any of the calculations. I think there's some interesting stuff in there.

This spreadsheet provides full player and team stats.

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In what cliched and uninventive sportswriters will surely cite as another example of 2010 being the "year of the pitcher", the Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda took a no-hitter into the eighth inning again last night before it was broken up by Shane Victorino on a solid line drive to rightfield. I haven't had a chance to count the actual- and near-no-hitters again like I did in May, but I think it's safe to say were on pace for a pretty good year in that regard.

Which got me thinking a bit on this whole "don't talk about a no-hitter while it's in progress" taboo that we keep running into this year. It seems to be happening more and more this summer. With the advent of Twitter and every other form of instant analysis/conversation, it's impossible to avoid crossing that taboo on a regular basis, which always seems to bring out the crazies who seem to think that, by mentioning the no-hitter while it's happening, the outcome is affected. It's 2010, people. That means we're ten years into the 21st century. There is no witchcraft or sorcery, and jinxes don't exist. I'm sorry.

But that doesn't stop people from talking about it. I've seen a number of blog posts written this year discussing the phenomenon (the author is usually defending himself for breaking the taboo). There's even this post from over the weekend over at The Baseball Codes, a blog by Jason Turbow, the author of the book with the same name. In it, Turbow tells a story of how Red Barber mentioned a potential no-hitter on air during the 1947 World Series before it was broken up. He was inundated with complaints.

Since I'm not breaking any ground in discussing this silly superstition, I thought I'd share a couple of stories I found in the Google News archive that deal with the decades old taboo. The first comes from May 1976:

The red telephone rang once.

Ken Leiker of the Topeka Capital-Journal picked it up and said, "No-hitter through seven." The voice of a New York sportswriter about 25 feet to his right followed with: "Shut up."

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Michael Jordan's minor league baseball career in the summer of 1994 was not all that productive, especially when you consider that Jordan retired from being the greatest basketball player ever only to struggle mightily in Double-A baseball. In 127 games, Jordan received 497 plate appearances. In that extensive action, he batted .202/.289/.266, with 17 doubles, 1 triple, 30 stolen bases (and 18 caught-stealings), and 114 strikeouts. He also managed to hit three home runs.

His first career home run came in the eighth inning on July 30, 1994, against the Carolina Mudcats' Kevin Rychel. It was a solo home run that went over the left field fence. Here's the video, recorded off my television (I don't have any of that fancy tv-to-computer technology, so this is the best I can give you):

That trot feels kind of slow, doesn't it? Well, as the proprietor of the Tater Trot Tracker, I can't not analyze it. Here's what I can tell you:

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Fun times tonight in Philadelphia when, due to a lack of bench players and a few interesting ejections in a 16-inning game, Philly pitcher Roy Oswalt, who had never played a single out away from the mound in his entire professional career, found himself playing left field. He even made a putout, catching a popup off the bat of Houston catcher Jason Castro, before grounding out to end the game (though he did show good plate discipline on a couple of close-calls).

As you can imagine, everyone had a lot of fun watching the All-Star pitcher hang out in left field. Who doesn't like to see something like that, especially when it seems so much more rare than the reverse (ie, a non-pitcher coming in to pitch)? It reminded me of a post I wrote last year looking at this exact same phenomenon. I've reprinted it below. There have been a couple of instances since then, and I'm pretty sure I missed one or two when I wrote this, but it holds up for the most part. You can see original comments to the article over at the old blog location. Enjoy (especially that Jesse Orosco/Roger McDowell story - too good!).

It's been an interesting year so far, with Greinke's dominance, the plethora of cycles, and everything else going on. One of the more interesting things that seems to be happening a lot this year is non-pitchers coming in to pitch an inning. With it happening again last night in the Reds-Brewers game, I can think of at least three times this year when it's happened. And every time it's happened, the tv guys seem to have a ball with it. After all, it is funny to see JJ Hardy or Gabe Kapler strike out to players who haven't toed the rubber in 5 or 10 years.

But I came across something equally interesting the other day and, seemingly, more rare (though I'm probably wrong about that): pitchers playing a non-pitcher position, such as rightfield or first-base. Reading through a list of pitchers who have had the most career games without a plate appearance over at Recondite Baseball, I wondered about Jesse Orosco and how long he went between plate appearances. His was an historically long career, and much of the last 10 years of it or so was spent as a lefty specialist, so I figured that he could've gone more games between his plate appearances than Buddy Groom had in his career. I wasn't even close, but I did notice something interesting on his BR batting page.

In 1986, Jesse Orosco played one game in right field. That struck me as borderline ridiculous: some manager at one time thought that his best option was to have soft-tossing, portly, and old (even at age 29) Jesse Orosco play rightfield? Wow.

But it's true. It happened on July 22, 1986, with the Mets playing the Reds in Cincinnati. In the bottom of the 10th, Davey Johnson brought in Orosco to pitch. After getting two outs and giving up a single to Pete Rose (which pinch-runner Eric Davis turned into a triple with two stolen bases), Orosco was shuttled to right while Roger McDowell finished off the inning. In the 11th, McDowell was again pitching and Orosco was still in right. Two outs and single into the 11th, McDowell and Orosco switched places again. Orosco finished off the 11th and pitched the full 12th (McDowell actually moved from right- to left- during the 12th). In the 13th, McDowell and Orosco switched places again, and it stayed that way through the 14th, when the game ended. Orosco even made a putout on a flyball by Tony Perez.

There was a lot more to the story than that, though. From the next day's LA Times:

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Doing something a little different today since the afternoon promises to be plenty busy. I'm posting the Home Run of the Day right now, but the slowest and quickest trots won't be up until this evening are up now. This Jose Bautista thing is just too good to wait...

Home Run of the Day: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays #2 (Trot Time: 28.74 seconds) [video]

Jose Bautista entered yesterday's game against the Yankees with 38 home runs, a total that would shock most people. In the third inning, he added to the total with a two run home run. After a pitch went too close to his head in the sixth, benches cleared for a moment but nothing happened. Bautista was not happy, though.

In the eighth, he made up for it, smacking his second home run of the day and his 40th of the year. It obviously meant something to him because he drastically changed his trot. Before yesterday's game, Bautista's slowest trot of the year (and remember, we're talking about 38 of them) was 22.64 seconds, making him one of the fastest big-time sluggers so far this year. The trot he pulled out in the eighth inning clocked in at a Papi-esque 28.74 seconds, good for 12th slowest trot of the year (look to the right to see the top 10). He would only have needed to be on the bases for an additional 0.16 seconds to break into the Top 10 - which I think would've been great, as it would've been our first clear spite-fueled top 10 trot. If you don't believe me, check out this quote he gave after the game:

"I don't know what his reasons were, but I dealt with it for the rest of the game and that's exactly why I took my time running the bases just to enjoy it. And I have no shame in it given what happened earlier in the game."

If only all home run trots had this much excitement...

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Later on today, Bud Selig will have his statue unveiled outside of Miller Park. As the man who fought hard to bring baseball back to Milwaukee after the Braves left for greener pastures, the statue is fitting. An owner with that kind of legacy is not soon forgotten.

Because Selig has been such an important figure throughout Major League Baseball these last 15+ years, it's hard to find a baseball fan who doesn't have a strong opinion about the Commissioner. Any words, then, that I might offer about the statue won't do much good. Instead, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at baseball over these last 40 years and play a little "what-if" and see how things might have been different if Selig wasn't able to buy up the bankrupted Pilots less than a week before the 1970 season started. Needless to say, things would have been pretty different...

April 1, 1970 - Provo, Utah
The moving trucks left Arizona last week, packed to the brim with balls, bats, gloves, uniforms, and all the other equipment a major league baseball club would need to operate for the season. The only thing these trucks lacked was a destination: would those uniforms be headed to the Pacific Northwest for a second year with the Seattle Pilots, or would they be headed east to the land of brats, cheese, and, of course, beer to spend a second consecutive year as the new-kid-on-the-block?

It was about noon when word came down, and the look on the executives' and drivers' faces alike said it all: the twelfth-hour reprieve that the city of Seattle and Pilots' owner Dewey Soriano received was just a bit unexpected. The Pilots will play the 1970 season back in Seattle while Soriano and William Daley look for a suitable buyer. The situation will be tough, one official says, but Major League Baseball and the City of Seattle will be better off if the Pilots are given a chance at survival.

Milwaukee Brewers President Allan "Bud" Selig, who has been working tirelessly to bring Major League Baseball back to Milwaukee ever since the Braves headed south to Atlanta, told the press that he would continue to fight for a team. With no plans from the Commissioner's Office for further expansion, though, Selig may be forced to lure an existing team away from their current city to the Brew City, much like the way Atlanta snatched the Braves from Selig's hometown.

Whether that'd even be possible, or if Selig would even have the courage to do it, is up for debate...

April 6, 1977 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
The Milwaukee Brewers, the newest member of the American League, hope to get their franchise started on the right foot today when they play host to the Angels of California in the newly renovated County Stadium. It's been twelve years since the stadium has hosted professional baseball involving a team that wears "MILWAUKEE" on their road jerseys. Officials are expecting a sell-out crowd of 55,000+ Milwaukeeans on Wednesday in the 27-year old stadium.

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This is typically the purview of the excellent blog Vin Scully is My Homeboy, but I was so excited about it I couldn't wait to see if he'd get around to doing it himself.

UPDATE: Courtesy of Deadspin, here's the audio:

Check out this transcript of Vin Scully's call of Troy Tulowitzki's sixth-inning at-bat last night in the Rockies-Dodgers tilt:

MLB.tv cuts in mid-sentence

Vin
...made an off-balance throw and he got Blake at first base and, in reading the Colorado paper about the game, they said his throw was just a little bit longer than the mullet that he wears.

Partner
What?!

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This is not a post about announcers and home run calls. That's coming in the future. This is something a little different (and maybe a bit rambly - sorry for that)...

On Tuesday night, Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox hit a home run off of Minnesota's Matt Capps in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game at five. White Sox fans all over the Southland and throughout the country celebrated the blast by jumping out of their chairs and screaming "Yes! Hell yes!" As a passionate fan of your team, it's a pretty natural thing to do. One of those screaming White Sox fans was someone special, though: Chicago television broadcaster Ken "Hawk" Harrelson. His scream of "Yes! Hell yes!" was broadcast over the air to WGN subscribers all over the world as part of his home run call [watch the video and listen to the call]. This wasn't a "talking under your breath and accidentally get picked up by the microphone" kind of moment; he intentionally meant to say those words on the air.

I've made comments before about how much I dislike Hawk. Thankfully, I don't have to watch him 160 games a year, but I have heard him call dozens of home runs so far this year. His "Stretch! Stretch! You can put it on the booooooooard! Yes! Yes!" home run call is easily the worst one that I have to listen to on a regular basis. My limited experience with Hawk has made one thing clear: I do not like Hawk Harrelson as a baseball announcer.

But I'm not the perfect guy to ask. I'm not a fan of the White Sox. When I hear these celebratory calls from Hawk, I am, at best, a disinterested observer trying to see my 30-seconds of video. At worst, I am actively rooting against the Sox, and any emotion from the tv booth (remember, there's no cheering in the press box) is an unwelcome nuisance. In either case, Hawk makes things tough.

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Last night, MLB Network showed a great program called "Triumph & Tragedy: The 1994 Montreal Expos". Besides being the perfect vehicle for our good friend Jonah Keri to talk about the biggest travesty in the history of Montreal sports - not only can you see Jonah in the film itself, but you can also read his thoughts on the hour-long piece over here - the program did a really good job of showing just how great of a franchise the Montreal Expos really were and highlighting the long-lasting effects the 1994 strike had on baseball up north. If you haven't seen it yet, it's replaying on MLB Network on Friday.

About halfway though the program, as the narrator was telling the story of the 1981 Expos (a team that was one heartbreaking home run from Rick Monday away from reaching the World Series after going on a tear to end the second half of the season) they showed a brief video clip of the celebration in the clubhouse after the 'Spos had clinched a playoff berth. It was October 3, and Montreal had just beat the Mets to clinch the best record in the second half and a spot in the NLDS against the Phillies. Champagne was popping, players were celebrating, and actor Donald Sutherland was walking through the clubhouse with his arm in a sling and champagne getting poured on his head.

Donald Sutherland?

Yes, Donald Sutherland. Canadian actor, star of MASH, horror-movie superstar, and father to soon-to-be terrorist-butt-kicker Keifer, Donald Sutherland was a fixture at early-'80s Expos games. As surprising as it may be to us 30 years later, Sutherland was the Jack Nicholson of Expos baseball and Montrealers apparently loved him. Not just anyone gets playoff-celebration clubhouse access, after all.

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