Posted by Andy on August 27, 2011
I hope everyone on the North American east coast stays safe in the wake of Hurricane Irene.
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August 27th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/weimeja01.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ryancy01.shtml
August 27th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
Good luck JA, Duke, Andy, and all the others* residing within the cone of uncertainty.
*Other whats? We need a snappy name for the members of our blog community. B-Reffers? Breffers? Brefs?
August 27th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
@1
And don't forget Clint Hartung, the Hondo Hurricane.
August 27th, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Hartung is linked in my original post (or rather shows up in the linked search.)
August 27th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
@5
Sorry Andy, I never looked at that link.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Andy, one of the guys in your search link, Bob (Hurricane) Hazle, lived up to his name briefly by destroying NL pitching at the end of the 1957 season. He joined the Braves at the end of July as a replacement for the injured Bill Bruton. He participated in 41 games batting .403 with 7HR and 27 RBI and helped the Braves win the pennant. After his first 22 games he was still hitting .506. One of his hits broke up a Johnny Klippstein no-hitter with 2 out in the 9th inning.
The next season he came down to earth. By the middle of May he was hitting .179. When Bruton finally returned from his injury Hazle was sold to the Tigers. 1958 was his last year in the majors.
August 27th, 2011 at 6:25 pm
The end of the 1938 NL schedule was also affected by a hurricane, causing four or five days of postponements on the east coast. Ah, memories of those youthful days of old, living in libraries, researching stuff that's now obtainable with a few keystrokes...
August 27th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/davisst02.shtml
August 27th, 2011 at 7:06 pm
@6: Hurricane Hazle was nicknamed after the devastating 1954 storm Hurricane Hazel which ran a path similar to what Irene seems to be running -- smacking into the Carolinas and working its way up to New York City (where its impact led to several deaths) and north.
August 27th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
@10: Hazel is also the worst Hurricane to ever hit central Canada. We don't get hurricanes here, but it was still a Class I storm when it hit us. 81 dead, and the Holland Marsh area (which is a huge farming region north of Toronto) was turned into a lake. The highway I often to drive to work was ten feet under water in places and there's little natural drainage out of its basin so it took a month to pump the water.
Wikipedia has a picture of the golf course near where I used to live (and a hoity-toity club it is -- membership costs in the low six figures) completely under water: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Hurricane_Hazel_--_Weston_Golf_Club.jpg
August 27th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Good night, Irene. Come on, Irene, or Eileen.
August 27th, 2011 at 10:11 pm
My prayers are with everyone living in or near the path of Irene.
I was born and raised in southwestern Connecticut and remember vividly Hurricane Doria in 1971 and Gloria in 1985.
My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and one of my best friends lives in Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey..right on the path.
No two storms are the same, saying you have experience means nothing.
Godspeed to those in the way.
August 27th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
***OFF TOPIC***
Corey Hart today wound up with a 2B, 3B, and HR - a single shy of the cycle. I remember a blog post cycles missed by various kinds of hits. What I'm wondering, though, is how many times a player did what Hart did today. That being, he walked, and thus wound up standing on first anyway. So I wonder how many players have missed the single, but wound up with a BB or HBP in the game.
August 27th, 2011 at 10:50 pm
#13: The BB/2B/3B/HR near-cycle seems to happen about once a season on average -- 91 times since 1919 according to the PI. This season Shane Victorino did it in June, and Jose Bautista in April did it with two walks in addition to the 2B/3B/HR. In 1927, Jim Bottomley had three walks in a game to go with a 2B/3B/HR. Had never been done by a Brewer before; however Brady Clark had an HBP/2B/3B/HR game for the Brewers in 2003 (one of only seven times that combo shows up in the PI -- the first time by Reggie Jackson in 1969).
August 27th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
This may be stupid but is Irene Cabral female? I'm aware of female minor league umpires and female fast pitch softball players pitching to major leaguers but I also have a hazy recollection of a female minor league player as well. Is my memory playing tricks on me?
And how sick is it that Jake Weimer's 2.39 ERA in 1908 was only good for an ERA+ of 97.
Best of luck to everyone in Irene's path.
August 27th, 2011 at 11:28 pm
I seem to recall reading once where Elbie Fletcher once played several innings for the Bees in a hurricane -- and didn't even know it!
Braves Field -- in Boston, for the chronologically challenged {a.k.a. young squirts} -- was known for such oddities, which is why I have always doubted whether or not that condition helped Ruth to achieve his famous three-homer swan song back in '35.
In a more serious tone, I will encourage everyone to pray for the folks on the East Coast, as I assure you I will.
August 27th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
P.S. -- Reading all of these memories of hurricanes make me glad I settled here in Ohio, where it's too boring for hurricanes.
August 27th, 2011 at 11:43 pm
JT, good luck to you, too.
To your question, I'll throw one out there in jest:
The Blorg
"Prepare to be statsimilated."
August 28th, 2011 at 1:08 am
Wind is picking up here in Westchester.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/blowemi01.shtml
Let's hope it doesn't get too ugly.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mossido01.shtml
August 28th, 2011 at 1:19 am
John, don't get all statsy on us and do something foolish like try to measure wind velocity — I don't care how good your scientific equipment is.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/windhgo01.shtml
Prayers from this calm place. Catch you on the other end of the tunnel. (Sorry, no Lee Tunnell link.)
August 28th, 2011 at 1:34 am
So is Jim Thome the oldest player ever to homer on this birthday?
August 28th, 2011 at 1:51 am
@20, KT -- Oh, excellent!
But I'm off to my Hidden Rigor Now.
August 28th, 2011 at 1:52 am
@21, Jimbo -- You should post that on the recap thread:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/blog/archives/14449
August 28th, 2011 at 1:54 am
@21, Jimbo -- The answer is (for the searchable era, anyway) -- Yes, in a tie with Darrell Evans, who also homered on his 41st B.D.
August 28th, 2011 at 8:40 am
Re post 16
The Babe's 3 hr swan song took place at Forbes field and one of the HRs cleared the right field roof the first one to do so..
August 28th, 2011 at 9:36 am
@14
Thanks, Birtelcom!
August 28th, 2011 at 11:22 am
now is montreal heavy rain
il pleu en criss
August 28th, 2011 at 3:54 pm
So did any of our Brefren take a hit from Irene?
August 28th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Brefren - well done, JT.
August 29th, 2011 at 9:00 am
@28-JT, it was pretty wild. The primary damage is from the immense amount of rain. Downed trees and power lines, floods. The best line of the weekend comes from a friend who was up at his weekend house in Vermont (no power, closed roads) "Scotch is a real comfort food".