Joining the Legends

This past Sunday was the baseball Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown, NY. Craig Biggio, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz, and Randy Johnson were inducted into the Hall of Fame. In honor of my favorite childhood pitcher, Randy Johnson I thought I would shared my favorite my Johnson card that I own.

Being left handed I have always tended to like left handed pitchers. Well the Big Unit was the best one of my generation. I grew up a Detroit Tigers fan, but being 25 years old now I was in the generation that watch Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners. I was never really a Mariners fan, but I loved Griffey and Johnson.

In his 22 year career Johnson would win 303 games with an ERA of 3.29 and 4,875 strikeouts which is good for second all time behind Nolan Ryan. He would win 5 Cy Young awards including four straight from 1999-2002. An amazing stat from his career is that his lowest finish in strikeouts was 8th which was during his final season in 2006 and his rookie season in 1990 when finished 6th. Every other season he would finished no worse then 3rd.

#MyCardMonday

Over the past couple years it seems that if you are a young pitcher with a lot of promise you there is a high probability that you could have Tommy John surgery and be out of commission for a year. Well, the Arizona Diamondbacks' young rookie pitcher, Archie Bradley last week went on the disable list with a different injury. In a scary incident he took a line drive off of the face from the Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. He suffered a right sinus fracture and was placed on the 15 day DL and is hoping to be able to get back to throwing this week.

I somewhat have followed Bradley the past few seasons after getting this card. I was hoping he would have made the majors last year, but again to an injury his season was cut short. He did make the team this year and looked really good early on in the young season. For #mycardmonday I thought I would wish Bradley a quick recovery and I hope he has good long career!

Trade #3: They meet again

Back in 2009 the Detroit Tigers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and the New York Yankees would do a three team trade. The Tigers would send Edwin Jackson to the D'backs and Curtis Granderson to the Yankees in return of Phil Coke from the Yankees, Max Scherzer, and Daniel Schlereth of the D'Backs. The Yankees would also send Ian Kennedy to the D'backs as well. Now going into the 2015 season these three teams would match up again to pull off a three team trade.

Didi Gregorius was part of a crowd middle infield in Arizona. With Chris Owing, Aaron Hill, Cliff Pennington, and Nick Ahmed, the D'backs needed to move someone. They flipped Gregorius to the Yankees. The Yankees needed another option at shortstop now with Derek Jeter's retirement. Gregorius is not known for his bat, but more for his glove. He has big shoes to fill in New York and it will be interesting to see how he handles it.

Robbie Ray was first traded from the Nationals to the Tigers in the off-season in 2014. He was part of the Doug Fister trade. A lot of Tigers fan were upset with this trade. The Tigers are known for having one of the worst farm systems and Ray going into last season was the highlight for their farm system. With injuries last year Ray made his debut for the Tigers on May 6th. After one season in Detroit, the Tigers flipped Ray to the D'backs along with Dimingo Leyba, a shortstop prospect.

The New York Yankees would part ways with their young back end of the rotation pitcher Shane Greene. He would have a okay rookie season with an ERA+ of 103. He best start was probably against the Tigers when he pitched 8 innings giving up 5 hits and no runs and lead the Yankees to a 1-0 win. I have heard comparisons of Greene to Doug Fister and even John Smoltz predicted Greene to surprised people this season.

I would say it is safe to say the Detroit Tigers won the trade in 2009 with what they got from Austin Jackson, Phil Coke, and Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. This trade the Yankees and the Tigers addressed their needs and the D'backs added depth to their rotation. It will be fun to watch how this trade plays out for all three teams.

#TBT: June 26, 2011

Every year I try to make it down to at least one Tigers game. I live four hours north of Detroit, so unfortunately for me making it to one game a summer is an accomplishment. Back in 2011 I had bought tickets to see the Tigers take on the Arizona Diamondback with my Dad, my Grandpa, and my Aunt. It was a hot June Sunday day game. The stadium was packed with just over 41,000 fans. It was a special day for the Detroit Tigers. The Diamondbacks were being managed by former Tigers Kirk Gibson and Alan Tramell. They were also retiring Sparky Anderson, their former manager who lead them to the 1984 World Series number 11 before the game. It was an amazing ceremony to be at and see one of the great Tigers having his number retired. They also gave out this pretty cool picture to the fans.

Sorry for the blurry image. I couldn't get a good picture but the quote at the top says "The players make the manager, it's never the other way." Now the game started off pretty slow. You had Brad Penny starting for the Tigers and Joe Saunders for the D'backs. Jhonny Peralta hit a solo home run in the 2nd to give the Tigers and early 1-0 lead. In the top of the 7th the D'Backs put two on the board to take the lead. Then the bottom of the 8th inning happened. The Tigers put 7 runs across the plate. It was hit after hit and the crowd was going wild in Comerica Park. The final score would be 8-3 for the Tigers. A good way to honor the late Sparky Anderson. Click here to check out the box score.

 Sparky managed two teams in his 26 year career. He spent his first 9 years, starting in 1970 with the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds were a loaded team during the 70's with Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Tony Perez to name a few. He would lead them to four NL pennants and two World Series. The next 17 seasons he would lead our Detroit Tigers from the the dugout. He might not have had as much success with the Tigers as he did with the Reds, but he did lead the Tigers to our last World Series title in 1984. He would win over 1,300 games with the Tigers and have a final win total of 2,194 with 5 pennants, 3 World Series and would be the first manager to win a World Series in both the National and American League. He would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee in 2000.