It’s been a busy summer, and with the Mariners and Cubs both sucking, and the Seahawks and Bears not looking too promising, I’ve lain low. But this entry in Today in Baseball History had to be shared with the Slog Mob:

In 1990 Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr. become the first father and son to play in the same major league lineup. The 40-year old left fielder and his 20-year old offspring both score a run in Mariners’ 5-2 victory over the Royals at the Kingdome.

Anyone there that night?

And as long as we’re on that site, a couple of other August 31 events that seem worth pondering:

If you always thought these lines in Bull Durham (sorry I cannot find the video) were unrealistic

THE MANAGER’S OFFICE — A tiny cubicle, a desk, phone Larry
joins him with the pitching charts. Skip studies the charts.

SKIP
He walked eighteen?!

LARRY
It’s a league record.

SKIP
Struck out eighteen…

LARRY
League record.
(beat)
And he hit the Radio Announcer, a
Sportswriter, and the Bull Mascot
twice—also league records—
(beat)
Joe, the guy’s got some serious
shit.

Well, in 1957

Minor league fireballer Steve Dalkowski strikes out 24 Bluefield Dodgers, but wildness (18 walks, four hit batters and six wild pitches) costs the New Britain, Connecticut native the game as Kingsport loses in Appalachian League action, 9-8.

(By the by, any fan of Bull Durham ought to read the script; some things that got cut are very interesting, and make the movie much darker and more complex.)

And on this date in 2001, the guy whose name Ron Shelton stole for his main character, Crash Davis, died. Synchronicity is a bitch.

15 replies on “Long time no slog”

  1. Can’t believe you missed the fact that the Sounders played the Chicago Fire this past Saturday, with over 36,000 in attendance at Qwest Field. Sounders won 2-0, ruining the “homecoming” of Freddie Ljundberg.

  2. I love Bull Durham. And I’m happy to see that my Rockies are shaking off the doldrums and making a run for it, but I’m sure it’s too late – their runup in ’07 was made possible by the other teams ahead of them losing series as well as the Rockies winning theirs, and it’s way too much to ask for that to happen again. Besides, Ubaldo has basically blown it – no Cy Young for him unless he suddenly catches on fire again and the other leaders catch whatever’s been holding him back.

    Hey CF, can we trade Tim Tebow to Chicago? I don’t want that bible thumping moron in my city.

  3. Hey Matt:

    We already took one malcontent overrated QB off your hands in Cutler, don’t ask for more.

    And as for Sounders beating the Fire, no one born in Chicago cares(the fan base in Chicago for this team is almost entirely Latino and Eastern European immigrants–you hear more chants in Polish and Spanish at the games than English. . . not that there’s anything wrong with that). And I’m sorry, but after this great World Cup and just having been to England and seen several Premier League games on “telly” I cannot get into MLS. the level of play just seems AA to me.

  4. I wasn’t at the first game, but I know I was at one of the other games in that series. I also still have a commemorative card, I think from Mother’s cookies(?), with the two of them posing.

  5. I saw the two Griffeys play together in one of my first baseball games after moving to Seattle in 1991.

    What a shitty shitty season this has been. Bad enough that it’s almost ground out all my love of the sport…

    Bull Durham was a fantastic movie.

  7. I remember Sr. when he was with the Big Red Machine (gotta capitalize that or Pete Rose will hunt me down and spike me). Man, what a team. Griffey, Rose, Johnny Bench behind the plate. If not for the Yankees, they would’ve won 3 or 4 World Series in the 70’s.

  11. But hey, how ’bout that Manny Ramirez deal? (As a lifelong Red Sox fan, I wouldn’t wish that clown on my worst enemy. No, not even the Yankees.)

  12. Remember that time when the Mariners were playing the Angels, and Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run, and then Ken Griffey Sr. hit a home run right after him? That was awesome.

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