Firstly, a couple of notes:

• It's the final day of the regular season, and it certainly is exciting. All eyes will be on the Phillies, Mets, Padres, and Rockies. I'm inclined to think there will be at least one playoff game on Monday.
• If you would like to place your votes for NL MVP, please do so by noon on Monday so I can add up all the votes. Place your votes in the comments for this post.

Now, I want to talk a little bit about Dale Sveum.

In a recent post, I mentioned a couple of the dumbest baseball quotes I had ever heard, and that reminded me of my all-time favorite quote. The only place I have ever seen it referenced was in the sports section of the Philadelphia Enquirer on August 20, 1992, in an article by Frank Fitzpatrick. This was about 10 days after the Phillies had traded Sveum to the White Sox, in the dog days of yet another losing season for the Phillies. (Little did anyone know they'd make the World Series the following year.)

Anyway, the quote, directly from Fitzpatrick's piece is:

Someone in center field brought a banner that read: "Bring Back Sveum." Last week, Dale Sveum, now with the White Sox, said he missed Philadelphia like a hole in the head. That prompted Phils general manager Lee Thomas to say: "Did he say anything about the hole in his bat?"

Oh, SNAP! Isn't that the best comeback you've ever heard? Lee Thomas was never afraid to speak his mind, but that was an unusually harsh statement.

Sveum has made more news in his career over bad issues than good one, his bitter departure from Philly a good case in point. Most famously, he broke his leg in a collision with teammate Darryl Hamilton (which was not Sveum's fault.) More recently, Sveum was let go as third-base coach of the Red Sox after getting more than his fair share of runners thrown out at home. (Of course, they did win a World Series in 2004 with him in that job...)

Since this blog is supposed to be all about the use of the PI, I had better throw in a few tidbits.

He had 2 homers off 6 different pitchers:

(He had no more than 2 against anybody.)

He did, though, have a 3-HR game and a few 2-HR games:

  Cnt Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B **HR** RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+------+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
    1 1987-07-17    MIL  CAL W 12-2   4  4  3  3  0  0    3     6  0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th 2B        

    2 1999-08-18    PIT @CIN W 12-6   5  4  2  2  0  0    2     4  1   0  2   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 4th 1B
    3 1988-06-12    MIL @CHW W 16-2   5  5  2  2  0  0    2     5  0   0  3   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 7th SS
    4 1987-08-14    MIL @BAL W  6-2   4  4  2  2  0  0    2     4  0   0  2   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 6th SS

In the 3-HR game he had 6 RBI from the 9th spot in the batting order, and that's tied for the lead for games in 1987:

  Cnt Player            Date          Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR **RBI** BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-----------------+-------------+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
    1 Dale Sveum        1987-07-17    MIL  CAL W 12-2   4  4  3  3  0  0  3     6    0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th 2B
    2 Bob Brower        1987-06-21(2) TEX @OAK W 13-3   5  4  3  3  0  0  2     6    1   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th LF        

    3 Mark Salas        1987-05-29    MIN @DET L  7-15  2  2  2  2  0  0  2     5    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th C
    4 Jim Gantner       1987-05-01    MIL @SEA W 10-8   4  4  3  4  1  0  1     5    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  1  0 9th 3B        

    5 John Marzano      1987-08-16    BOS  TEX W 12-2   5  4  3  3  1  0  2     4    1   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th C
    6 Dwayne Murphy     1987-08-15    OAK @CAL W 13-3   5  4  1  2  0  0  0     4    1   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th 2B CF
    7 Jim Sundberg      1987-07-08    CHC  SDP W 12-8   1  1  1  1  0  0  1     4    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th PH C
    8 Kenny Williams    1987-07-05    CHW @CLE W 17-0   5  4  3  2  0  0  1     4    1   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th CF
    9 Greg Gagne        1987-06-16    MIN @MIL W  7-3   4  4  0  3  2  1  0     4    0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th SS
   10 Tom Brookens      1987-06-03    DET @CLE W 15-3   5  5  2  3  0  0  1     4    0   0  0   0  0  0   1   0  0  0 9th SS 3B
   11 Tom Brookens      1987-05-29    DET  MIN W 15-7   5  4  1  2  0  0  1     4    1   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th 2B 3B
   12 Darnell Coles     1987-05-12    DET  CAL W 15-2   5  5  1  2  1  0  1     4    0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th 3B
   13 Tom Brookens      1987-04-12    DET @CHW W  7-1   5  4  0  3  0  1  0     4    1   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th SS

Go Tom Brookens!

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