Autographs and No Hitters

I had to drive about two total hours today to take a deposition for work. It gave me time to think about whether I wanted to post today. I decided I did because depositions often suck. Today's pretty much did.

Depositions are sometimes fun, sometimes painful, and oftentimes frustrating. I sit in a conference room with a court reporter, another lawyer, and a witness -- in the simplest cases, that is...in more complicated cases, there may be 5 or 6 other lawyers in attendance in person or by phone and there may be a videographer present as well -- and I literally ask questions to the witness about events that took place one, two, or more years ago and expect the witness to have perfect recollection about seemingly inconsequential events that now have consequence. 

In the most frustrating cases, you end up with a witness who is long on generalities, short on specifics, but swears constantly that their generalities covered everything in the case perfectly. Then you ask them, "did you send an email about this" and their answer is "oh no, we did everything verbally."

No one does everything verbally anymore except witnesses who really didn't do what they said they did and are trying to claim they were perfect and your guys were the cheats, liars, scammers, and phonies.

It's a great system, let me tell you.

That said, last night about 12:45, the power flipped off in my house randomly for about 15 minutes. It woke me up, of course -- we have fans going in our room for white noise and to cool us off, and it gets deathly quiet without them. My nature is that I do not snooze or hit the snooze bar -- ever. Once I'm up, I'm up. That's a problem when I've only slept 3 hours, like last night. 

But, that inability to fall back asleep meant that I was awake at about 2:15 AM Eastern when Mike Fiers was trying to close out his second no-hitter of his career. I actually got to see the final out thanks to some guy on Twitter live streaming the TV feed using his camera on his phone, which was cool. 

It got me thinking today -- how many guys who have thrown no-hitters do I have autographs from? The answer was, "More than I thought."

There's the guy that started the discussion. Mike Fiers is one of only 35 pitchers to throw multiple no-hitters in his career, and he is one of only seven pitchers to throw no-hitters on more than one team -- Jim Bunning, Ted Breitenstein (1890s pitcher who threw a no-no in his first major league start), Randy Johnson, Hideo Nomo, Cy Young, and Nolan Ryan are the others.

Speaking of Nolan Ryan:

I'm pretty sure this is authentic. It was the result of an autograph request through the mail in the mid-1980s. While Nolan Ryan never threw a no-hitter against Milwaukee, he did win his 300th game against Milwaukee at Milwaukee County Stadium.

Speaking of the Brewers:

The one, the only is still Juan Nieves. Nieves threw his no-hitter in the middle of the 1987 Brewers 13-game season-opening win streak on April 15, 1987. He blanked the Baltimore Orioles 7-0 thanks to two great plays in the outfield -- one by Robin Yount and the other by the immortal Jim Paciorek -- and thanks to scattering 7 walks...

Two more Brewers ties. The first one is pretty weak, but hey -- I've got an autograph from the guy:

Carlos Villanueva never threw a no-hitter in the majors, but he was a part of a minor-league no-hitter as a Nashville Sound in 2006 in the Brewers system. I know -- kinda weak.

The next one is not weak, but he didn't throw his no-hitter as part of the Brewers:

Len Barker threw the first perfect game in the American League against a team using a designated hitter. He threw his perfecto on May 15, 1981 against the Toronto Blue Jays. Barker was never known for having good control, so his no-no may have been one of the most unlikely perfect games in baseball history.

Speaking of the Toronto Blue Jays:

Stieb returned the favor to the Cleveland Indians on September 2, 1990, throwing the first no-hitter in Toronto Blue Jays history. Stieb famously lost three other no-hitters previously by giving up hits with two outs in the ninth inning.

Many of us thought Dave Stieb had a chance for the Hall of Fame while he was pitching. He was good for a long time -- but not long enough.

Unlike the next no-hit hurler:

Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven threw a no-hitter on September 22, 1977 as a member of the Texas Rangers. He threw the no-hitter against the California Angels in his final start as a member of the Rangers. He was traded in the off-season to the Pirates in a four-team trade.

Blyleven was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Minnesota Twin. This next guy never threw a no-hitter as a Twin, but he did combine on a no-hitter in spring training.

I got Viola's autograph in-person at a Brewers/Twins game in 1986 or 1987. Viola, Hrbek, Brunansky, Kirby -- all of them were incredibly nice guys even to Brewers fans.

Three more left, and all of these guys threw their no-hitters in the National League.

Fernando Valenzuela threw a no-hitter on June 29, 1990. Earlier that same day, his former Dodgers teammate Dave Stewart had thrown a no-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays. Having watched that, he turned to his teammates and supposedly said, "That's great, now maybe we'll see another no-hitter." And Fernando went out and blanked the St. Louis Cardinals, scattering three walks and an error.

Perhaps the autograph most dear to me in recent vintage is this Charlie Lea card. I got this from Charlie about a year before he died. More importantly, I got the card because I was working at the time with his son Brian, who himself pitched some but who is an academic and legal stud who clerked for Justice Clarence Thomas on the U.S. Supreme Court. Brian passed along that his dad loved that I remembered him for this very card -- the huge wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth featuring, of course -- so Charlie sent me an autographed one and one of his 1981 Fleer cards.

And finally, a story about no-hitters and autographs would not be complete without this ball. It's a late-in-life autograph of the great Warren Spahn that my good friend Wes f/k/a Jaybarkerfan sent me a couple of years ago as part of our monster trading war. Those were fun days, what with seven priority mail boxes packed full of Brewers and Milwaukee Braves showing up in the space of less than a month.

So, what about you -- do you have any autographs from guys who threw no-hitters?

Thirty Years Ago Today

Time's passage is inexorable. It hardly seems possible that the most magic April in Milwaukee Brewer history took place 30 years ago. 

Thirty years ago, Juan Nieves threw the only no-hitter in Brewers history: https://t.co/LRsdbVpM4P (h/t @FlyersDeura)

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) April 15, 2017

Through the magic of YouTube, we get the late Mike Hegan calling the game in full color with play-by-play announcer -- and local Milwaukee sports legend -- Jim Paschke right here:

That Nieves no-hitter remains the only no-hitter ever thrown by a Milwaukee Brewers pitcher. In fact, as Kyle Lobner pointed out today, the Brewers have gone 4,785 consecutive games without having a no-hitter. That's the thirteenth longest streak ever in MLB History.  

If you watch the game, you'll notice that Nieves hardly threw a gem -- that, in many respects, this was a lucky no-hitter. It was, definitely. Nieves was the beneficiary of a few defensive gems -- in particular the diving play by Jim Paciorek in the second inning (a far more difficult play than the one Robin Yount made to end the game). 

Add in the fact that Nieves walked five while striking out seven. Nieves had control issues during his whole brief major league career

Between the two teams, there were four Hall of Famers who took the field -- Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, Cal Ripken, and Eddie Murray. Each of them finished their careers with over 3,000 hits and two of them were the rare "One-Team" players. 

On the other hand, you also get to see some lesser lights -- guys that many folks will not remember -- such as Paciorek (Tom Paciorek's brother) playing left field for Milwaukee. Nieves himself is not remembered by many these days outside of Milwaukee, and perhaps outside of the Puerto Rico, as he was the first Puerto Rican pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter. 

There are plenty of the "pretty good" guys in this game too: Cecil Cooper, Lee Lacy, Ray Knight, Rick Burleson, Greg Brock, and Jim Gantner among them.

With that being the first no-hitter by a Brewer at the time, the team's official outlets feted the occasion with a fervor reserved for MVP awards. For instance, the May 1987 issue of the official team magazine, "What's Brewing?", featured Nieves on its cover in a not-at-all awkward pose -- kneeling on a dugout holding up what looks to be a wine glass filled with plastic pellets of some sort:

Thereafter, Nieves was treated to a congratulatory pregame presentation at some point during the 1987 season after the Brewers returned to Milwaukee from Baltimore. 

After the handshakes, of course Juan got to tell the fans all about his no-no:

Juan was a very gracious autograph signer. Of course, at the time he threw the no-hitter, he was just 22 years old. Everyone thought that he had a bright future -- that he'd lead the staff as he grew into his stuff and started to command it better. 

But, as often happens in baseball, hoping and wishing and projecting success gets derailed by reality. In Nieves's case, it was a torn rotator cuff that ended his baseball career as a Brewer after the 1988 season.

The Brewers cut him after the 1990 season. Nieves hooked up with the New York Yankees organization then, signing a minor-league contract with a $300,000 salary if he made the major league squad. He never did make it back. 

Instead, by the time he was in his late 20s, he had transitioned into coaching. He started with the Yankees. After a brief comeback attempt at the age of 33, he moved on to the White Sox. He made it to the majors as a bullpen coach for the White Sox in 2008. After five seasons in that role, he was hired by the Red Sox to be their pitching coach for the 2013 season. Nieves picked up a World Series ring that season, but ended up fired and looking for a new job on May 7, 2015. He spent the rest of that year out of baseball before hooking up with the Miami Marlins as their pitching coach.

That 1987 season was a rollercoaster ride for Brewers fans. I believe it was the Sports Illustrated article about the 13-0 start that led to Brewers' and Packers' fans adopting the cheesehead moniker and taking it from what otherwise might be seen as a derisive name and turning into a term of pride. 

I recall this game well. I did not get to watch the game live except for the final out. That year was my freshman year of high school, and we had our forensic team banquet that night. My mom was driving me home and we had the game on the radio. We heard Bob Uecker say, "Nieves just needs three more outs to get there" or something to that effect, and it didn't take long to figure out what he was talking about. I walked into the house and got to see the very last out of the game: Robin Yount's diving catch that he admitted later in his career he did not need to dive for. 

It's hard to believe that this was thirty years ago. But, as I said, time moves inexorably. I hope I am around to see the game's sixtieth anniversary too. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Bowman Sorting

I decided to take a week off from blogging this week to try to get my Bowman team sets and assorted parallels and inserts organized. I'm getting closer on that process -- I mean, I've finally got what I consider to be good want lists put together for all of the base sets from 1989 to 2007 (which is what fit into the new binders I've employed) and, then, from 2008 to the present.  

I think it should be pretty obvious as to why I'm working on Bowman right now. Bowman is the prospector's set -- particularly the Draft Picks and Prospects set since its debut. Since I've gotten only a few cards into my collection recently, I thought I'd take my opportunity instead to look at past Brewers prospects to hit the Baseball America Top 100 Prospects. 

BA started its ranking back in 1990, so we have 26 years to work with. And, since I enjoy cautionary tales as much as I enjoy success stories, let's focus on the overhyped and overrated. Let me tell you -- there are plenty of those.

Narciso Elvira

That's Elvira's 1991 Bowman card, of course.  

Of course, for those of us old enough to remember the early 1980s, the name "Elvira" really brings to mind only one thing:

Brewer fans' hearts were on fire for Narciso Elvira in 1990 and 1991. On BA's inaugural Top 100 Prospects list, Elvira was the #23 overall prospect in all of baseball in 1990. He dominated at lower levels -- averaging over 10.6 K/9 over 251 innings over two seasons in the California League at the ages of 20 and 21 in 1988 and 1989. 

Unfortunately for Elvira, his pitches must have looked like cherry wine after that. Two issues were going on here. First, the Brewers Double-A and Triple-A outposts at that point were a gauntlet for pitchers -- Double-A El Paso, Triple-A Denver. I mean, how about just take a sledgehammer to their arms instead? At least that pain goes away quickly rather than lasting six to eight months.

The second issue is that Elvira was small (5'10" tall) and plagued by shoulder trouble. This being the Brewers under Sal Bando, that meant that minor league coordinator Bruce Manno spoke of Elvira in almost disparaging terms: "You're only a prospect so long and then you become a suspect. He has to establish what kind of pitcher he's going to be." 

He did: it was a Mexican leaguer. Elvira pitched only 5 total major league innings, walking 5 and giving up 6 hits and three earned runs in 1990 while striking out 6. The Brewers let Elvira go after 1991, and Elvira's career wandered from Triple-A to doing nothing for the years between 1992 and 1996, then back to Triple-A in 1996 and 1997 to the sidelines again then to Japan in 2000 to Mexico and Korea in 2002 and 2003, back to the sidelines in 2004, and back to the mound in 2005 and 2006 in Mexico, then 2007 and 2008 off before getting into 2 games in 2009 in Mexico at the age of 41. He even pitched a no-hitter in Japan on June 20, 2000 for Kintetsu. Here's the 9th inning of that game:

Antone Williamson

Antone Williamson was another multiple year Top 100 prospect according to Baseball America, showing up at #64 in 1995 (the Brewers' only representative on the list that year) and at #81 in 1996. The Brewers drafted WIlliamson in the first round of the 1994 draft, taking him with the fourth overall pick that year.  Playing the "what-if" game, the Brewers could have selected Paul Konerko,, Jason Varitek, Nomar Garciaparra, A.J. Pierzynski, Aaron Boone, Javier Vazquez, Troy Glaus, or Jay Payton, among others, with that pick. It wasn't a great draft, to be fair, with Garciaparra enjoying the most career WAR in that draft at 44.2. For comparison's sake and through August 6's games, Mike Trout has 45.9 career WAR according to Baseball Reference.

The Brewers were very excited by the pick. Stories in The Milwaukee Journal hyped the pick. Williamson's own quote in the story, however, wraps up why Sal Bando was an unmitigated disaster (for the most part) in terms of making draft picks: "They drafted me because they needed a corner man."

See, that's a mistake. Draft the best player available. Draft the one who projects well, has upside, has tools, has ability, is the best baseball player available at the time you pick. Don't pick a guy because you "need a corner man" -- especially because those guys are on the right side of the defensive spectrum (left is hard side, right is easy side) and can be developed by moving a shortstop with a bat over.

Williamson failed not because he couldn't hit, to be fair. He failed because of injuries. Specifically, in 1996, he was playing in a spring training game and dove for a ball. He hurt his left shoulder badly enough that it hurt to swing. This was after having a history of problems with his right shoulder.

He returned, eventually, to make the major leagues in 1997 at the age of 23, but he hit just .204/.254/.259 -- pitifully bad stats in the age of the steroid freaks like McGwire and Bonds and Sosa -- over the course of 60 plate appearances. The Brewers gave up on him after the 1999 season. No other takers stepped up, so he played a season in the Texas-Louisiana League and "slugged" .303 in 182 plate appearances. That's where his trail ends.


To be fair, most of the guys who appeared in BA's Top 100 as Brewers prospects at least made the major leagues and, in fact, even went on to have pretty good careers. For example, the Brewers had 6 guys in the top 100 in 2004: #84 Mike Jones (a pitcher who did not make it past Triple-A), #69 Manny Parra (who pitched around the fringes of baseball through last year), #48 Brad Nelson (who also did not do much), #19 J.J. Hardy, #10 Prince Fielder, and #5 Rickie Weeks.

After the recent trades, though, if only 3 players turn out to have good careers as those guys in 2004 did, it would actually be disappointing. After all, 2016's crop includes #8 Orlando Arcia, #16 Lewis Brinson, #49 Trent Clark, #57 Brett Phillips, and #59 Jorge Lopez (who has been godawful terrible this year) -- and that does not include the changes in the ratings thanks to results this year which pushed Josh Hader up in the rankings and the drafting of Corey Ray. And that doesn't even include guys working their way back from injury like Nathan Kirby.

Farm systems are a place for eternal hope and optimism. But, for the first time in a long time, that optimism might actually be more than wishcasting. Bowman is the place for that optimism.

Merry Christmas to me from A Cracked Bat

A Merry Christmas from the Atlanta area, where our meteorologists supplemented the NORAD Santa Tracker with a tracker for Noah and his Ark.

While the rain has returned after about a 12-hour respite, I'm thinking that we probably still will not need that $73-million ark being built at the "Creation Museum" in Kentucky, scheduled to be completed next summer. Of course, I'm not sure of the need for a $150-million theme park to try to promote creationism either, just as I'm really not sure about the need for the Hunger Games Theme Park here in Atlanta.

None of that really has any relation to the cards I'm showing off today. My good trading friend Julie from "A Cracked Bat" sent me a fantastic Christmas Card -- a "Michigan" Christmas:

I particularly like "Seven Vernor's Ginger Ales a Fizzing," as that is a local delicacy apparently that I have yet to sample.

Making this card even cooler were the two incredible baseball cards accompanying it.  



On the right, of course, is a 1953 Bowman Black & White Lew Burdette -- a card that goes perfectly in my Burdette player collection.

But, let's talk for a second about Jim Wilson. Wilson's 1953 Bowman color card accompanied the Burdette. More interestingly and from a historic perspective, Wilson holds the distinction of being the first Milwaukee pitcher to throw a no-hitter. On June 12, 1954, he held the Philadelphia Phillies hitless. In fact, the Milwaukee Braves had four no-hitters total and Wilson and Burdette had the first two -- both against the Phillies. 

The other two were both by Warren Spahn -- one against the Phillies and the other against the Giants. Of course, the Brewers have had just one no-hitter in their entire history -- a 5-walk, 7-strikeout performance by Juan Nieves against the woeful Baltimore Orioles in 1987 in the midst of the Brewers 13-game season-opening winning streak punctuated by Robin Yount's diving catch in center field to finish off the game.

Thank you, Julie, for the fantastic cards and the ability to get a little baseball history lesson on Christmas day.  To all the rest of you, have a happy holiday!