Walk Off Bunts

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Ken Holtzman

Ken Holtzman’s misfortune was to break in with the Chicago Cubs in 1966, when the Cubbies would finish dead last in the National League. In his rookie campaign, he would finish with a record of 11-16 with an ERA of 3.79.

In 1969, on August 19, 1969, he would throw his first no-hitter besting the Atlanta Braves. June 3, 1971, Holtzman would no-hit the Cincinnati Reds at Riverfront Stadium. It would be the first no-hitter in that in the history of Riverfront Stadium. Holtzman was the first pitcher in modern baseball to toss two no-hitters.

After the 1971 season, he was traded to the Oakland A’s for an outfield named Rick Monday. Holtzman would have his best seasons in Oakland.

He was a two time all-star, three time World Series Champion with the Oakland A’s 1972-1974. The 1973 season would be his only twenty win season. He would finish his career with a record of 174-150 with an ERA of 3.49. He had 1,601 career strike outs. He made stops with the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and came back to finish his career with the Cubs.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

2017 Unbelievable Plays

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Pat Venditte Switch Pitcher

Switch pitcher Pat Venditte made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics on June 5, 2015 pitching two scoreless innings.

Venditte of this writing has a 2-2 mark in the major leagues with an ERA of 4.97. He has pitched for the Oakland A’s, Toronto Blue Jays, and is currently pitching at AAA Leigh Valley in the Phillies organization.

He is the first ambidextrous since Tony Mullane, who pitched in the Dead Ball Era. Greg A. Harris pitched to batters left handed after enjoying a 15 year career right hand pitcher. 

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Oakland A's Legend Vida Blue

Vida Blue made his debut with the Oakland A’s in at 19 in 1969. It would be 1971 before he would experience a full major league season, and what a season it was for Blue. In 1971, he would win both the American League Cy Young Award and American League Most Valuable Player Award.

He would finish the season with a won-loss record of 24-8 with a league leading ERA of 1.82. He would also toss 8 shutouts on the season. He fanned 301 hitters in 312 innings.

Blue would be a six time all-star, playing for the A’s, Giants, and Royals. He was a member of the 72-74 Oakland A’s World Series Champions. In three seasons he would win over 20 games, and finish his career 209-161 with an ERA of 3.27.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Frank Thomas: The Big Hurt

Frank Thomas made his major league debut in 1990, where he hit 7 home runs with 31 RBI and a .330 batting in official 191 at bats.

Frank Thomas would break out in his first full season. He hit .310/.453/.553 with 32 home runs and 109 RBI. He would finish his career after 19 seasons with 521 home runs, 1,740 RBI, and a batting line of .301/.419/.555.

Thomas was a five time American League all-star, a 4 time Silver Slugger Award winner, and he won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in back-to-back seasons (1993, 1994). His #35 has been retired by the Chicago White Sox. He was elected on the first ballot to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.

The Controversial Dick Allen

Dick Allen's rookie season gave Philadelphia fans their first glimpse of power that they hadn't seen since Jimmy Foxx or Chuck Klein. Phillies scout John Ogden stated in an article in the Philadelphia Bulletin on June 1, 1969, that Dick Allen was the only player saw hit the ball as hard as Babe Ruth. Allen would be the National League Rookie of the Year in 1964. He hit 29 home runs with 91 RBI with a slash line of .318/.382/.557. He led the league in with 13 triples, and striking out 138 times. It would be the first of the 9 straight seasons with 20 plus home runs.

In the racially charged 1960's Allen became a source of controversy. He was known as Dick most of his life, but the local media referred to him as Richie, a name Allen felt belonged to a boy, and not a man. He was involved in an incident with teammate Frank Thomas when Thomas hit Allen with a bat. The incident was covered up by the team with threats of fines iif the players spoke of the incident. Thomas was released the next day. He started wearing a battling helmet in field field as he was often showered with thrown objects and racial slurs in his home park in Philadelphia. Allen missed a double header in 1969 when he couldn't get to the ballpark being stuck in traffic. He had spent the day at a race track causing him to be suspended. 

Controversy seemed to follow Allen. Before the 1970 season, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for outfielder Curt Flood. Flood refused to report, and sued baseball attempting to overthrow the reserve clause. The Cardinals would send first baseman Willie Montanez to the Phillies as compensation. Montanez would end up breaking Allen's rookie record for home runs by hitting 30 in 1971.  In St. Louis, he would hit 34 home runs with 101 RBI and slash .279/.377/. 560 Allen spent only one season in St. Louis before being traded to the Los Angeles. His numbers dropped for the Dodgers, by Allen's standards anyway. He hit 23 home runs with 90 RBI with a line of 295/.395/.468. He was traded after the 1971 season to the Chicago White Sox.

Chuck Tanner was the manager of the White Sox at the time, and decided to not move Allen around. Various teams had played him at third base, first base, and outfield. Some feel this contributed to his perceived poor defense, and rash of injuries he had suffered over the years. He rewarded Tanner by leading the American League in home runs (37), RBI (113), on base percentage (.420), slugging percentage (.603) and an outstanding 1.023 OPS.  He was named American League Most Valuable Player.  A fractured fibula cut short his 1973 season, where he had only 288 plate appearances.  1974 would be the last of the great seasons for Allen. He hit 32 home runs with 88 RBI, his slash line of .301/.375/.563, he slugging percentage led the American League. He feuded with Ron Santo (in his only season with the White Sox) and left the team two weeks before the end of the season.

Allen's contract was sold to the Atlanta Braves for $5,000, he refused to report and retired from the game. The Phillies talked him out of retirement, and we spend two seasons a shadow of his former self, and close out his career with the Oakland A's in 1977. 

Allen's career numbers of .292 batting average 351 home runs, and 1,119 RBI make him one of the most prolific hitters in the game that isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He missed (along with Tony Olivia of the Minnesota Twins) being selected for the Hall of Fame by one vote in 2014  by the Golden Era Committee,  which votes every three years.

Jim "Mudcat" Grant

Jim "Mudcat" Grant made his Major League debut in 1958 with the Cleveland Indians. He was given the nickname Mudcat by roomate Larry Doby. Who claimed he was "ugly as a Mississippi Mudcat." The name stuck, and Grant won ten games in his rookie season winning, in which he made 28 starts and 14 appearances out of the bullpen.

Grant would write his own chapter into baseball history by becoming the first black pitcher in the American League to win twenty games. He did it in 1965 with the Minnesota Twins, when he went 21-7 with an ERA 3.30. His 21 wins were the best in the American League, along with a league leading 6 shutouts in the leading the Twins to the American League pennant. In the World Series, he would become the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, and in game six of the series he launched a three run homer, making him only the second pitcher from the American League history in accomplish the feat.  He was honored by The Sporting News that season as their Pitcher of the Year.

Grant was an American League all-star in 1963 and 1965. After 1966, he worked out of the bullpen, and as with many relief pitchers it was have arm will travel.  He made stops with the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates and two tours with the Oakland Athletics.  He finished with a won-loss record of 145-119 with a career ERA of 3.63. He earned 54 saves along the way.

Grant wrote a book titled The Black Aces: Baseball's Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners. Featuring a chapter on each of the African-American pitchers who have accomplished the feat.  A book I can recommend.

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Nolan Ryan Hurls 6th No-hitter

June 11, 1990, Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers, at 43, becomes the oldest pitcher to throw a no-hitter in major league history. He also became the first pitcher to accomplish the feat for three different, and the first to do it in three different decades. It is the 6th career ho-hitter for the hard throwing righthander. In this game he defeated the Oakland A's 5-0.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Randy Velarde's Unassisted Triple Play

May 29, 2000. Oakland A's second baseman Randy Velarde completes only the tenth unassisted triple play in major league history against the New York Yankees,

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Jason Giambi Hits 400th Career Home Run

May 23, 2009. The Oakland A's Jason Giambi hits his 400th home run off the Arizona Diamondbacks righty Dan Harden. He is the 44th major league player to accomplish the feat.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Barry Bonds Ties Babe Ruth With 714th Home Run

May 20, 2006. Oakland A's southpaw Brad Halsey serves up the of the home run moves Barry Bonds into a second place tie with Babe Ruth. Bonds had gone through a streak of 29 at bats without a home run before crushing the pitch against Halsey at the McAfee Coliseum.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Felix Hernandez Registers 2,000th Strikeout

May 15, 2015. Felix Hernandez whiffs the Oakland A's Sam Fuld to become the fourth youngest pitcher to the 2,000 strike out mark. The Mariners go on to beat the A's 4-3. Only Bert Blyleven, Walter Johnson, and Sam McDowell were younger we they reached 2,000 strikeouts.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Dallas Braden Pitches Perfect Game

May 9, 2010. Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game over the Tampa Bay Rays winning 4-0. His perfect game was the 16th in Major League Baseball history. Braden would finish his career with a won-loss record with an ERA of 4.16. His career was cut short by arm troubles.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h

Catfish Hunter Pitches Perfect Game

May 8, 1968. Jim "Catfish" Hunter of the Oakland A's tossed the first perfect game in the American League in forty-six years over the Minnesota Twins 4-0. Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox had been the last to accomplish the feat in 1922. Only 6,298 witnessed the perfect game.

Joe Glasgow is a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h