Tag: MLB

Seattle Mariners vs. St. Louis Cardinals 09.09.2025

September 16, 2025

Yours truly spent the week last week in the Seattle area. Now that I have been back home a few days and have semi-caught up on my usual routines, it is time to share my experience attending the Mariners game I attended whilst there.

We took the light rail out to T-Mobile Park on Tuesday evening, September 9th. It was my first time on Seattle’s light rail, but it was not my first time in this ballpark. I attended a Mariners game almost twenty years ago — the stadium still called Safeco Field at the time — watching the action from the left field bleachers. This time around, we were able to get lower-level seats just to the third base side behind home plate.

T-Mobile Park, 2025

It was a giveaway night, and we made a point to arrive early enough to snag a Logan Gilbert Funko Pop. I’ve never owned a Pop prior to this one, but I suppose if I’m going to have one, it’s nice to have one of a baseball player.

Logan Gilbert Funko Pop

And I am a huge fan of having a hot dog while at the ballpark, so we traversed the concourse until we were able to score Seattle Dogs and cans of cider.

Seattle Dog and cider, T-Mobile Park, Seattle, 2025

The game itself proved an exciting one, complete with home runs, a couple stolen bases, a caught-stealing, double plays on both sides, and more. St. Louis struck first, scoring two runs in the top of the second. Then Seattle took the lead in the bottom of the third before the Cardinals tied it up in the top of the fourth. However, the Mariners managed to pull ahead, 5-3, in the bottom of the fourth, and this went on to be the final score for the game. As a Royals fan, it was quite satisfying to watch the Cardinals lose.

T-Mobile Park, 2025

Quote of the day

September 7, 2025

Failure is a part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.

~Hank Aaron

Hank Aaron, 1974 (public domain)

This day in baseball: York’s home run record

August 31, 2025

On August 31, 1937, Detroit Tiger Rudy York smashed his 17th and 18th home runs of the month, breaking the major league record previously held by Babe Ruth. The rookie catcher’s round-trippers on the last day of the month helped the Tigers defeat the Senators at Navin Field, 12-3.

York’s one-month home run record would last until 1998, when Sammy Sosa hit 19 in June.

Rudy York, 1945 (Acme News / public domain)

Why We Love Baseball, by Joe Posnanski

August 12, 2025

Joe Posnanski wrote for the Kansas City Star throughout my teenage years. In retrospect, I have come to realize that he is a big part of the reason that I became a Royals fan. Because during those years, the Royals were bad. Like, really bad. All the other kids at my middle school and high school would not be caught dead wearing Royals gear, that’s how embarrassing this baseball team was during those years.

Every weekend, my dad would buy the Sunday edition of the Kansas City Star. And every Sunday, I would snag the sports section out of that bulky stack of newspaper and spread out on the floor to read anything that looked even mildly interesting.

It was not long before I became a regular reader of Joe Posnanski’s columns, because this man can write. And he wrote about the Kansas City Royals in a way that I just could not help but love the team, no matter how badly they played. So when my parents gifted me a copy of Why We Love Baseball this past Christmas, I knew I was in for a treat.

The book is subtitled A History in 50 Moments, and the combination of the two titles sum up the book quite aptly. Posnanski writes about fifty moments over the course of the history of the game that demonstrate exactly why we love baseball so much. From Babe Ruth to Shohei Ohtani, from Shoeless Joe to Cal Ripken, Jr., this book curates the greatest moments and retells the stories behind them in a truly captivating style.

But the book doesn’t stop at just those fifty moments. As a bonus, Posnanski throws in multiple collections of five shorter stories. For example, “Five Barehanded Plays” or “Five Catches” or “Five Blunders.” And just before revealing the number one moment in the book, there is “A Moment for Every Team,” that way every fan can find something they can enjoy, regardless of which MLB team they might root for.

And that, I think, is the true value that this book presents: it is a book that any baseball fan can find pleasure in. I also love the fact that this book does not have to be read continuously to be understood. It is essentially a collection of short stories, and, as such, it can be picked up at one’s leisure, anytime the reader is in the mood for a little baseball.

And in the same way Posnanski made me fall in love with the Royals, this book will make any reader fall in love with baseball all over again.

Quote of the day

August 4, 2025

On TV the people can see it. On radio, you’ve got to create it.

~Bob Uecker

Bob Uecker of the Milwaukee Brewers talks with manager Kirk Gibson of the Arizona Diamondbacks before the Major League Baseball game at Chase Field on July 18, 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

This day in baseball: Cobb’s 4,000th hit

July 18, 2025

On July 18, 1927, Athletics outfielder Ty Cobb became the first major leaguer to collect his 4,000th career hit. Cobb hit a double off his former Tigers teammate, Sam Gibson, at Navin Field in Detroit. The hit came in the first inning of a 5-3 loss for the A’s.

Cobb retired after the 1928 season with 4,191 hits, a record that will stand until Pete Rose breaks it in 1985.

Ty Cobb, 1916 (public domain / Wikimedia Commons)

How Lou Whitaker got into the Smithsonian

June 27, 2025

In the 1985 season, Detroit Tigers second baseman Lou Whitaker was selected for the All-Star Game for the third consecutive year. However, upon arriving at the Metrodome in Minnesota, Whitaker realized he had forgotten to bring some crucial parts of his uniform. While he had packed his socks and uniform pants in his suitcase with his clothes, Whitaker didn’t have a cap, jersey, helmet, glove, spikes, or batting gloves. He requested that an emergency uniform be sent, but the uniform got lost in transit, and Whitaker was forced to improvise.

Whitaker purchased a replica jersey at the park and stenciled his number 1 on the back of it with a marker. He also managed to purchase an adjustable mesh Tigers cap. His All-Star teammates also stepped up to assist: Cleveland pitcher Bert Blyleven let Whitaker wear his helmet at the plate; Baltimore’s Cal Ripken, Jr. had an extra glove; and Damaso Garcia of the Blue Jays was able to provide batting gloves (I haven’t been able to discover what he did about spikes). Starting at second base, he went 0-for-2 in the game before being removed in the sixth inning, and the American League lost, 6-1.

But the story doesn’t end there. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. was so fascinated by his case of forgetfulness that they requested the garment. Whitaker obliged, and the jersey that he wore in that All-Star Game is still in the Smithsonian’s collection today.

Lou Whitaker, 1985 All-Star Game (legendsrevealed.com)
Lou Whitaker, 1985 All-Star Game (legendsrevealed.com)