Edmonds Retires. Satche Debuts. Ozzie flys. Nellie has a shiner. Sweet Lou as a Beaver.
This last Friday Jim Edmonds announced his retirement from Baseball. I always loved watching the guy play and even when he had his short (and horrible) stay with the Padres back in 2008 I still wished him the best after he was released. I was hoping he would come back and get to Homerun #400 this season but looks like that wont be the case. I can honestly say that he very well may be the best defensive Center fielder I have seen in my life. During his prime years as a member of the Angels & Cardinals he made so many jaw dropping plays on a regular basis that after awhile it was expected from him to catch almost any ball hit his way regardless of the difficulty…and he usually was successful in doing so.
Is the Hall of Fame in future for ole’ Jimmy Ballgame? With 8 Gold Gloves and almost 400 Homeruns he very well may be considered in due time. So here’s to you Jim Edmonds, congratulations on a brilliant Baseball career. Oh yeah one more thing, this now means his last career at-bat in which he attained his injury which ended his career was a Homerun, kinda cool in a way.
(Thanks to Mike at Old Time Family Baseball for finding this video.)
July 9th, 1948. A very cool photo of Satchel Paige’s Major League debut as a member of the Cleveland Indians. Paige faced 7 St. Louis Browns that night, allowing 2 hits, striking out 1, and allowing no runs. Not bad for a 42 year old “Rookie” if you ask me.
1979. Ozzie Smith of the San Diego Padres attempts to literally fly past Pittsburgh Pirates Catcher Ed Ott on his way to home plate.
Minnie Minoso and Hall of Fame Second Basemen Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox were teammates from 1951 to 1957. I am not sure when this photo was taken but I think it captures old school Baseball perfectly in the sense that the dudes back then were way more tough than current players. In most cases now days if a player gets hit in the face like Fox above did, you probably can expect a short stay on the DL or at least miss a handful of games. My gut feeling tells me Fox didn’t miss more than 1 game.
Lou Pineilla as a member of the Portland Beavers. Sweet Lou played for the Beavers from 1966 to 1968 while the team was an affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. I love the Beavers and their long and storied history from their PCL days to their AAA days as a Padres affiliate. Last night I was researching the team online and trying to find a photo of Satchel Paige from when he played with them in 1961 (no luck on that, any help?) and instead found this great photo. It’s really too bad the city of Portland lost the Beavers this last season, I hope in time they can get the team back in some capacity. The organization has been around far too long and is in my opinion a Baseball tradition in the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast.
ninety feet of perfection. 
I was actually just trying to locate a photo of Satch in a Beavers uniform the other day too. It truly blows my mind that we don’t have a baseball team here now, so people can bandwagon onto soccer for a few worthless years. I was really hoping that I would have the opportunity to have a son, and then go to a Beaver’s game with 4 generations of Sitner men, but it’s not looking too likely anymore.