ninety feet of perfection.

October 5th, 1947. There are not many things better in Baseball than a well executed takeout slide at Second Base. Jackie Robinson shows Phil Rizzuto how it’s done during game 6 of the 1947 World Series.

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If you wanna talk about great double play combos in Baseball history you can not leave out Alan Trammel and “Sweet” Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers. For 19 seasons this duo wore the Tiger orange with pride and held down the Detroit infield like it was no one else’s buisness. Unfortunately they often get overlooked in the grand scheme of things but it seems like in the last couple years I have heard more writers and Baseball people giving them much deserved credit for their acomplishments.

An interesting article that you should read is “Why Alan Trammel and Lou Whitaker Deserve to be in the Hall of Fame” which was written in 2009 and published by the Bleacher Report. I may not agree with the title of the article (and it seems like the author doesn’t either completely) but you can not argue with some of the numbers these studs put up year in and year out.

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San Francisco Seals Manager Ike Caveney introduces the newest member of the team to local sports writers: a 17 year old named Joe DiMaggio. What were you doing when you were 17 years old?

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September 28th, 2008. To celebrate the last regular season game at Shea Stadium, the Mets organization brought out members of the team from the past. I came across this photo of these Hall of Famers and fell in love with it. Former Mets Manager & Catcher Yogi Berra along with another former Mets Catcher, Gary Carter. I didn’t realize until after finding this photo that both men wore #8 for the Mets, kinda cool.

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August 13th, 1944 at the Negro League East vs West All-Star Game in Chicago, Illinois.  In my last post I mentioned that Roberto Clemente was one of my “Time Machine Players” as in, if I had a time machine I would make it a point to go back and see him play. Well, if I could go back and see ANY event in Baseball history it would be to go back and see one of the Negro League East vs West games. How the players played the game in the Negro Leagues was unreal and to see the All-Stars showcase this to a packed house at Comiskey Park almost makes me hurt inside when I think that I was not able to witness this with my own eyes. This photo captures it perfectly as Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays slides into home safely behind Catcher Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe of the Chicago American Giants. The West defeated the East, 7-4 that day.

I think this is one of the coolest photos I have ever come across and added to 90 feet of perfection, I gotta admit what I love the most about this is the fact that Ted Radcliffe is the Catcher. I recently started doing some research on Radcliffe, who was the self proclaimed “Greatest Baseball Player of All-Time” and I got to admit, he may not have been all that far off. The dude could play ball, go ahead and read his wiki page HERE and be amazed by his life in Baseball. I recently ordered his Autobiography entitled “Ted ‘Double Duty’ Radcliffe: 36 years of Pitching & Catching in Baseball’s Negro Leagues,” so expect a book review soon on this.

~ by duaneharris19 on January 28, 2011.

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Tags: 1947 World Series, alan trammel, baseball, brooklyn dodgers, Chicago American Giants, detroit tigers, gary carter, Ike Caveney, jackie robinson, Joe DiMaggio, josh gibson, lou whitaker, MLB, negro leagues, new york mets, new york yankees, pacific coast league, PCL, phil rizzuto, san diego padres, san francisco seals, Ted Radcliffe, yogi berra