Do you have a baseball story or interesting information about a player of the game?

Where do I begin! Thanks for the email btw! Clarifying the Josh Gibson myth seems to be one of the most difficult tasks of all. From Gibson's legendary 900 career home runs to the mythical shot clearing the facade at Yankee Stadium just adds to the frustration of knowledgeable baseball historians.

Gibson played a total of 16 seasons in the ***** Leagues. If there was anything "legendary" about his career it was his drug and alcohol problems. Considered an "average" defensively catcher at best, he was, in fact, an excellent contact hitter with "occasional power". That's correct! The "power" myth began and was generated strictly from the ***** League players and no where else.

Gibson played mainly against semi-pro opposition. Rarely were there opportunities to play against major league caliber talent. That is not to say that there were a number of players in the ***** Leagues that were good enough to be in the majors. We are, of course, talking about the 1930s thru the mid 1940s. Gibson played a total of 501 sanctioned games in his 16 year career. He hit a grand total of 146 home runs, never hitting more than 17 in any single season.

I know it's a great deal for the young baseball fans to shallow but these are the facts. The information has always been available to the public. It has always been a matter of people taking the time to research. 99% of baseball fans will usually take the word of those who hand information down from generation to generation. This is how myths become legends and legends somehow become facts.

Gibson died at the young age of 35 from a brain tumor. He recurring headaches over the last four years of his life probably contributed to the drugs and alcohol problem. Possibly a way to ease his physical pain.

From a personal perspective his induction into baseballs HOF is very quesitonable. Of course I have a great many issues with the BBWAA and the Veterans Committee. Another story for another time!

1. Some. Would have watched more if all countries fielded their best players. They seemed like glorified spring training games. Interest here in the US was minimal. 2. Cubblogging. 3. Of the players that come to mind, Kent, Maddux, Schilling. I can't say anyone of them was a favorite. 4. No. 5 My favorite team will embark on the 101st year in search of a championship in Houston against the Astros on Monday April 6. That's the Cubs for those of you who can't figure that out.

I don't think I've had any direct contact with any pro-baseball players, but a few second hand.

My brother used to hang out at Blue Jays games and actually gave Dave Winfield (while with the Yankees) a ride back to his hotel.

Todd Stottlemyre, while married, tried to pick up my friend at a bar.

One of the stories I use to illustrate a number of different points was from a direct quote from Craig Biggio.

I think in 96, the Astrodome was taken for the month of August with the Republican National Convention. As such, the Astro's had to go on a 26 day road trip. Apparently, in the majors, they give you meal money on the road and they give it to you for the entire road trip. So, if you get away for 4 days, they give you $300 ($75 per day).

So, at the start of this road trip, they gave everyone 26x$75. Craig Biggio, whose salary was $5,000,000 a year at the time was quoted as saying "The trouble with getting all this meal money at one time is you could spend it quickly on a few really good meals and then 'have' to eat at McDonalds the rest of the trip"

My initial reaction was "huh, you mean you'd chose eating at McDonalds over actually spending your own money??? You make $5 mil a year or $100,000 a week and you wouldn't flip $30 a dinner at a good restaurant??"

The reason Chase Utley bats left-handed instead of right-handed is because when he ws a kid and would practice hitting with his dad, when he hit right-handed a foul ball would roll down the street and his dad would always have to go get it (which happened a lot) but when he batted lefty the ball would just hit the garage. True story.

When he was with the Mets (and possibly afterward), Nolan Ryan used to deal with blisters on his pitching fingers by soaking his hand in pickle brine.

Which probably works on much the same principle as Moises Alou's more, um, organic approach to toughening the hands.

Short Life magazine article about Ryan with pics, 31-May-1968 issue: http://books.google.com/books?id=DVUEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=...

Bonus fun! Go to the Life link, scroll up two pages past the Ryan article for an electric typewriter ad -- have you ever seen one in real life? -- and then scroll back down one page for a Polaroid camera ad. Anyone here still shoot film on a regular basis?

Billy Wagner did the same as Tris.