1.
Tim Hudson
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Timothy Adam Hudson is an American former professional baseball pitcher of Major League Baseball. With the Giants, he won the 2014 World Series over the Kansas City Royals, during his 17-season career, Hudson established himself as one of baseballs most consistent pitchers and until 2014 had never had a season where he suffered more losses than wins. Hudson was also named an All-Star four times, twice with Oakland, once with Atlanta, before retiring in 2015, Hudson was the winningest active Major League pitcher, as well as one of four active pitchers with at least 200 career wins. With a win against the Oakland As on July 26,2015, he has won a game against every team in the majors, the 15th pitcher to do so. Hudson is one of twenty-one pitchers in Major League history to win at least 200 games, of those twenty-one, fourteen are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Hudson attended Glenwood School in Phenix City, Alabama where in his season he led the team to the 1993 AISA state championship. He finished his school career with a 12–1 record and a 1.78 ERA. Despite his record, Hudson was considered undersized by scouts at 60 tall and 160 pounds and was not drafted nor was he offered a scholarship to a major college, Hudson decided to attend a local two-year college, Chattahoochee Valley Community College. In 1994, his year at CVCC, he earned First-team All American honors while leading his team to the AJCCC Division II championship. He also led CVCC team in batting average, home runs, RBI, wins, strikeouts, as a sophomore, he was named Second-team All American and set a school and conference record with 117 strikeouts which also led the nation. As a hitter, Hudson batted.345 with 5 home runs and his sophomore season ERA of 1.95 was the team and conference best. Prior to his year, Hudson transferred to Auburn University where he would play two seasons. He is still at or near the top of school records. In 1997, he played all 65 games for the Tigers while both pitching and playing outfield and that season, he hit.396 with 18 home runs and 95 RBI. As a pitcher, he finished 15–2 with a 2.97 ERA to earn SEC Player of the Year, tim was the first player to be named First Team All-SEC at two positions in the same year. He was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 6th round of the 1997 amateur draft, Hudson was drafted by the Oakland Athletics twice, in the 35th round of the 1994 MLB Draft and again in the 6th round of the 1997 MLB draft, signing in 1997. He made his Major League debut with a five inning start on June 8,1999 against the San Diego Padres and he recorded his first career win in his next start, on June 13 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He allowed only one run in seven innings of the 9–3 victory, in his rookie season, Hudson had an 11–2 mark and finished 5th in the AL Rookie of the Year vote
2.
Mark Mulder
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Mark Alan Mulder is a former American professional baseball player. A left-handed starting pitcher, Mulder pitched in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics, Mulder attended Michigan State University, where he played college baseball for the Michigan State Spartans. Mulder was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the second pick in the 1998 Major League Baseball draft. He was placed on the fast track to the leagues and made his major-league debut on April 18,2000. He had a start to his MLB career, going 9-10 with a 5.44 ERA. In 2001, Mulder played his first full season and quickly became a dominant pitcher. Leading the American League with 21 wins, he was in contention for a Cy Young Award, anchoring a powerful Oakland rotation along with Barry Zito and Tim Hudson, called the The Big Three. He continued to do well in 2002, winning 19 games, limited by injuries in 2003, he would only log 26 starts, he still won 15 games and had a career-best 3.13 earned run average. 2004 was an inconsistent year for Mulder and he started the season strong, and was chosen to start that seasons All-Star Game. However, he had a higher ERA and walked more batters in the half of the season. The As traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals on December 18,2004, for pitchers Dan Haren and Kiko Calero, Mulder, Hudson, and Zito were able to carry their team to the postseason four seasons in a row, from 2000 to 2003. Mulder competed in the playoffs in 2001 and 2002, logging two starts each against the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins and he carried over his strong regular-season performance by pitching 24 innings in the four playoff starts, with an ERA of 2.25 and 19 strikeouts. After the 2004 season, the Athletics traded Mulder to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for Dan Haren, Kiko Calero, in the 2005 season, Mulders first with the Cardinals, he pitched well, 16-8 with a 3.64 ERA. His efforts helped the Cardinals reach the NLCS, where they lost to the Houston Astros, Mulder began the 2006 season strong, with a 5-1 record and 3.69 ERA through May 17. However, his six starts were mediocre to awful. He turned out to be suffering from rotator cuff and shoulder problems, in August he was taken off the disabled list and made several starts in the minors. On August 23, he made his first ML start in two months and gave up 9 runs, all of which were earned, in 3 innings. After undergoing rotator cuff surgery, and with a return for the opening of the 2007 season unlikely, after being re-activated on September 5,2007, he continued to struggle with his command, losing all three of his starts with an ERA of 12.27
3.
Barry Zito
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Barry William Zito is an American former professional baseball pitcher and musician. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Oakland Athletics and his pitching repertoire consisted of a curveball, a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a circle changeup, and a cutter–slider. Zito attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles Pierce College, drafted three times while in college, Zito signed with the Athletics when they chose him in the first round of the 1999 MLB draft. A year later, he was in the leagues, finishing fifth in American League Rookie of the Year Award. He struggled to begin the 2001 season but improved greatly down the stretch and he won 23 games in 2002 and won the Cy Young Award. His record was only 14–12 in 2003, but he made the All-Star team for the second year in a row. In 2004, he had his worst season at the time and he became Oaklands Opening Day starter in 2005 and finished fifth in the AL with 171 strikeouts. In 2006, he made the All-Star team and posted a 15–1 record when receiving two or more runs of support, following his seventh season with the Athletics, Zito signed a seven-year deal with the Giants in December 2006. At the time, it was the largest contract given to a pitcher. He posted double-digit wins in his first three seasons, and in 2010 he helped San Francisco win their first championship since 1954, however, he struggled the last month of the season and he was left off the postseason roster. After sitting out much of the 2011 season with a foot and ankle injury, he came back in 2012 and flourished, finishing with a 15–8 record, his best season in a Giants uniform. The same October, Zito helped lead the Giants to their second World Series title in San Francisco history by going 2–0 with a 1.69 ERA in three postseason starts. In his first career World Series start, he outdueled Tigers ace Justin Verlander in Game 1, Zito struggled in 2013 but received a standing ovation from the fans in his final appearance as a Giant. Following the year, he became a free agent, Zito was born May 13,1978, in Las Vegas, Nevada. His family moved to San Diego, California, to help him concentrate on his baseball career and his father even stopped working to coach him. He transferred from El Cajons Grossmont High School to University of San Diego High School, Zito then attended UC Santa Barbara where he earned Freshman All-America Honors with 125 strikeouts in 85⅓ innings. In his sophomore season, Zito transferred to Los Angeles Pierce College so that he could be eligible for the Major League Baseball draft. At Pierce, he posted a 2.62 earned run average, went 9–2 with 135 strikeouts in 103 innings and he then transferred to the University of Southern California, where he was a first-team All-America selected by USA Today Baseball Weekly, Collegiate Baseball, and Baseball America
4.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
5.
Oakland Athletics
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The Oakland Athletics are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League West division. The club plays its games at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The club has won nine World Series championships, the third most of all current Major League Baseball teams, the Athletics 2017 season will be the teams 50th season in Oakland. One of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Philadelphia and they won three World Series championships from 1910 to 1913 and two in a row in 1929 and 1930. The teams owner and manager for its first 50 years was Connie Mack and Hall of Fame players included Chief Bender, Frank Home Run Baker, Jimmie Foxx, the team left Philadelphia for Kansas City in 1955 and became the Kansas City Athletics before moving to Oakland in 1968. They won three World Championships in a row from 1972 to 1974, led by players including Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, ace reliever Rollie Fingers, after being sold by Finley to Walter A. Haas, Jr. The film Moneyball, and the book on which it is based, the As made their Bay Area debut on Wednesday, April 17,1968, with a 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at the Coliseum, in front of an opening-night crowd of 50,164. The Athletics name originated in the term Athletic Club for local gentlemens clubs—dates to 1860 when an amateur team, the team later turned professional through 1875, becoming a charter member of the National League in 1876, but were expelled from the N. L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the American Association from 1882–1891, McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously. By 1909, the As were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters, over the years the elephant has appeared in several different colors. In 1963, when the As were located in Kansas City and this is rumored to have been done by Finley in order to appeal to fans from the region who were predominantly Democrats at the time. Since 1988, the Athletics 21st season in Oakland, an illustration of an elephant has adorned the sleeve of the As home. Beginning in the mid 1980s, the on-field costumed incarnation of the As elephant mascot went by the name Harry Elephante, in 1997, he took his current form, Stomper. Through the seasons, the Athletics uniforms have usually paid homage to their forebears to some extent. Until 1954, when the uniforms had Athletics spelled out in script across the front, furthermore, neither Philadelphia nor the letter P ever appeared on the uniform or cap. The typical Philadelphia uniform had only a script A on the left front, in the early days of the American League, the standings listed the club as Athletic rather than Philadelphia, in keeping with the old tradition. Eventually, the city came to be used for the team
6.
Seattle Mariners
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The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League West division. The team joined the AL as a team in 1977. Since July 1999, the Mariners home ballpark has been Safeco Field, the Mariners name originates from the prominence of marine culture in the city of Seattle. They are nicknamed the Ms, a featured in their primary logo from 1987 to 1992. The current team colors of Navy blue, Northwest green, and silver were adopted prior to the 1993 season after having been royal blue and their mascot is the Mariner Moose. The organization did not field a team until 1991, and any real success eluded them until 1995 when they won their first division championship. The Mariners won 116 games in 2001, which set the American League record for most wins in a single season, through the 2016 season, the franchise has finished with a losing record in 27 of 40 seasons. The Mariners are one of eight Major League Baseball teams who have never won a World Series championship, the Mariners were created as a result of a lawsuit. Confident that Major League Baseball would return to Seattle within a few years, King County built the multi-purpose Kingdome, the name Mariners was chosen by club officials in August 1976 from over 600 names submitted by 15,000 entrants in a name-the-team contest. The Mariners played their first game on April 6,1977, to a crowd of 57,762 at the Kingdome. The first home run in history was hit on April 10,1977. That year, star pitcher Diego Seguí, in his last major league season, the Mariners finished with a 64–98 record, echoing the record the 1969 Pilots once held. In 1979, Seattle hosted the 50th Major League Baseball All-Star Game, after the 1981 season, the Mariners were sold to California businessman and future U. S. Ambassador to Spain George Argyros. During the 1992–93 offseason, the Mariners hired manager Lou Piniella, Mariner fans embraced Piniella, and he would helm the team from 1993 through 2002, winning two American League Manager of the Year Awards along the way. In doing so, the broke the 1998 Yankees American League single-season record of 114 wins. On October 22,2008 the Mariners announced the hiring of Jack Zduriencik, formerly scouting director of the Milwaukee Brewers, weeks later, on November 18, the team named Oakland Athletics bench coach Don Wakamatsu as its new field manager. Wakamatsu and Zduriencik hired a new coaching staff for 2009
7.
Texas Rangers (baseball)
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The Texas Rangers are an American professional baseball team based in Arlington, Texas, located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Rangers franchise is currently a member of the West division of the American League in Major League Baseball, since 1994, the Rangers have played in Globe Life Park in Arlington in Arlington, Texas. The teams name is borrowed from the law enforcement agency of the same name. After the 1971 season, the new Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, in 2010, the Rangers advanced past the Division Series for the first time, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays. Texas then brought home their first American League pennant after beating the New York Yankees in six games, in the 2010 World Series, the franchises first, the Rangers fell to the San Francisco Giants in five games. They repeated as American League champions the year, then lost the 2011 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. At the winter meetings that year, it awarded a new team to Los Angeles as well as a new team in the nations capital and this new team adopted the old Senators name, but was considered an expansion team since the Twins retained the old Senators records and history. The Senators and Angels began to fill their rosters with American League players in an expansion draft, the team played the 1961 season at old Griffith Stadium before moving to District of Columbia Stadium. For most of their existence, the new Senators were the definition of futility, the teams struggles led to a twist on a joke about the old Senators--Washington, first in war, first in peace and still last in the American League. Frank Howard, known for his home runs, was the teams most accomplished player. Ownership changed hands several times during the stay in Washington and was often plagued by poor decision-making and planning. Owner Elwood Richard Quesada once wondered why he should have to pay his players because he believed they didnt belong in the majors and he later agreed to a 10-year lease at D. C. Stadium — a move that would back to haunt the Senators. In 1963, Quesada sold his stake in the club and resigned, Washington stockbrokers James Johnston and James Lemon owned the team briefly, suffering massive financial losses. Johnson died in 1967 and Lemon sold the team a year later to hotel and trucking executive Bob Short, Short named himself general manager and hired Hall of Famer Ted Williams as manager. Although Williams had never coached or managed at any level of baseball, Williams kept them in contention for most of the season, their 86–76 record would be their only winning season in Washington. The success though was brief, as Short borrowed most of the $9.4 million he had used to pay for the team, as the Senators general manager, Short was forced to make many questionable trades to lower the debt and acquire amounts of the much-needed revenue. As a result, the team fell back into the American Leagues cellar position
8.
San Diego Padres
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The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball franchise based in San Diego, California. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division, along with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers. Founded in 1969, the Padres have won the NL pennant twice, in 1984 and 1998, as of 2015, they have had 14 winning seasons in franchise history. The Padres are the major professional sports franchise to be located in San Diego. The Padres adopted their name from the Pacific Coast League team that arrived in San Diego in 1936 and that minor league franchise won the PCL title in 1937, led by 18-year-old Ted Williams, the future Hall-of-Famer who was a native of San Diego. The teams name, Spanish for fathers, refers to the Spanish Franciscan friars who founded San Diego in 1769. In 1969, the Padres joined the ranks of Major League Baseball as one of four new teams, along with the Montreal Expos, the Kansas City Royals. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the PCL Padres whose interests included banking, tuna fishing, hotels, real estate and an airline. The teams fortunes improved as they won five National League West titles and reached the World Series twice, in 1984 and in 1998. The Padres main draw during the 1980s and 1990s was Tony Gwynn and they moved into their current stadium, Petco Park, in 2004. As of 2016, the Padres are the team in the MLB yet to throw a no-hitter since their addition to the league in 1969. The team has played its spring training games at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria and they share the stadium with the Seattle Mariners. From 1969 to 1993, the Padres held spring training in Yuma, due to the short driving distance and direct highway route, Yuma was very popular with Padres fans, and many fans would travel by car from San Diego for spring training games. Throughout the teams history, the San Diego Padres have used six different logos, the original team colors were blue and red before changing to gold and brown in the 70s. Their first logo depicts a friar swinging a bat with Padres written at the top standing in a sun-like figure with San Diego Padres on the exterior of it. The Swinging Friar has popped up on the uniform on and off ever since although the head of the friar has been tweaked from the original in recent years, in 1985, the Padres switched to using a script-like logo in which Padres was written sloped up. That would later become a script logo for the Padres, the teams colors were changed to brown and orange and remained this way through the 1990 season. In 1989, the Padres took the scripted Padres logo that was used from 1985 to 1988, in 1991, the logo was changed to a silver ring with the Padres script changed from brown to blue
9.
Los Angeles Dodgers
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The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division. Established in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York, the moved to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. They played for four seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving to their current home of Dodger Stadium in 1962, the Dodgers as a franchise have won six World Series titles and 21 National League pennants. 11 NL MVP award winners have played for the Dodgers, winning a total of 13 MVP Awards, Eight Cy Young Award winners have pitched for the Dodgers, winning a total of twelve Cy Young Awards. The team has also produced 17 Rookie of the Year Award winners, including four consecutive from 1979 to 1982 and five consecutive from 1992 to 1996. In the 20th century, the team, then known as the Robins, won pennants in 1916 and 1920. In the 1930s, the changed its name to the Dodgers. In 1941, the Dodgers captured their third National League pennant and this marked the onset of the Dodgers–Yankees rivalry, as the Dodgers would face them in their next six World Series appearances. Following the 1957 season the team left Brooklyn, in just their second season in Los Angeles, the Dodgers won their second World Series title, beating the Chicago White Sox in six games in 1959. The 1963 sweep was their victory against the Yankees. The Dodgers won four pennants in 1966,1974,1977 and 1978. They went on to win the World Series again in 1981, the early 1980s were affectionately dubbed Fernandomania. The Dodgers share a rivalry with the San Francisco Giants. Both teams moved west for the 1958 season, the Giants have won two more World Series, the Dodgers have won 21 National League pennants, while the Giants hold the record with 23. When the two teams were based in New York, the Giants won five World Series championships, after the move to California, the Dodgers have won five in Los Angeles, the Giants have won three in San Francisco. The Dodgers were founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Atlantics, taking the name of a team that had played in Brooklyn before them. The team joined the American Association in 1884 and won the AA championship in 1889 before joining the National League in 1890 and they promptly won the NL Championship their first year in the League
10.
Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award
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In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is annually given to one player from each league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America. The award was established in 1940 by the Chicago chapter of the BBWAA, the award became national in 1947, Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers second baseman, won the inaugural award. One award was presented for both leagues in 1947 and 1948, since 1949, the honor has been given to one each in the National. Originally, the award was known as the J. Louis Comiskey Memorial Award, the award was renamed the Jackie Robinson Award in July 1987,40 years after Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color line. Of the 140 players named Rookie of the Year,16 have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame—Jackie Robinson, five American League players, and ten others from the National League. The award has been shared twice, once by Butch Metzger and Pat Zachry of the National League in 1976, Sam Jethroe is the oldest player to have won the award, at age 32,33 days older than 2000 winner Kazuhiro Sasaki. Michael Fulmer of the Detroit Tigers and Corey Seager of the Los Angeles Dodgers are the most recent winners, from 1947 through 1956, each BBWAA voter used discretion as to who qualified as a rookie. In 1957, the term was first defined as someone with fewer than 75 at bats or 45 innings pitched in any previous Major League season. This guideline was later amended to 90 at bats,45 innings pitched, the current standard of 130 at bats,50 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club before September 1 was adopted in 1971. Since 1980, each voter names three rookies, a choice is given five points, a second-place choice three points, and a third-place choice one point. The award goes to the player who receives the most overall points, edinson Vólquez received three second-place votes in 2008 balloting despite no longer being a rookie under the awards definition. The current definition of status for the award is based only on Major League experience. This issue arose in 2003 when Hideki Matsui narrowly lost the AL award to Ángel Berroa, jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune said he did not see Matsui as a rookie in 2003 because it would be an insult to the Japanese league to pretend that experience didnt count. The Japan Times ran a story in 2007 on the labeling of Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kei Igawa, past winners such as Jackie Robinson, Don Newcombe, and Sam Jethroe had professional experience in the Negro Leagues
11.
Los Angeles Angels
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The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are an American professional baseball team based in Anaheim, California. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League West division. The Angels have played games at Angel Stadium of Anaheim since 1966. Wrigley, the owner of the Chicago Cubs at the time, in 2009, the Angels won the AL West division championship for the third straight season. The team name started in 1892, in 1903, the name continued in L. A. through the PCL. After the Angels joined the Major Leagues, some players from the Angels PCL team joined the Major League Angels in 1961. The Angels were one of two teams established as a result of the 1961 Major League Baseball expansion, along with the second incarnation of the Washington Senators. The team then moved in 1962 to newly built Dodger Stadium, which the Angels referred to as Chavez Ravine, the teams founder, entertainer Gene Autry, owned the franchise for its first 36 years. During Autrys ownership, the made the playoffs three times, but never won the pennant. When The Walt Disney Company took control of the team in 1997, it extensively renovated Anaheim Stadium, the City of Anaheim contributed $30 million to the $118 million renovation with a renegotiated lease providing that the names of both the stadium and team contain the word Anaheim. The team was renamed the Anaheim Angels and became a subsidiary of Disney Sports, under Disneys ownership and the leadership of manager Mike Scioscia, the Angels won their first pennant and World Series championship in 2002. In 2005, new owner Arturo Moreno added Los Angeles to the name in order to better tap into the teams history. He also stated that as Los Angeles is the second largest market in the U. S. its addition would benefit the team greatly. In compliance with the terms of its lease with the city of Anaheim, which required Anaheim be a part of the teams name, local media in Southern California tend to omit a geographic identifier and refer to the team as the Angels or as the Halos. The Associated Press, the most prominent news service in the U. S. refers to the team as the Los Angeles Angels, the mantra Win One for the Cowboy is a staple that is deeply rooted in Angels history for fans. The saying refers to the Angels founder and previous owner, Gene Autry, years went by as the team experienced many losses just strikes away from American League pennants. Autrys #26 was retired as the 26th man on the field for the Angels, Angel Stadium of Anaheim is nicknamed The Big A. It has a section in center field nicknamed the California Spectacular, each game begins with the song Calling All Angels by Train being played on the P. A. with Norman Greenbaums Spirit in the Sky being played during the teams starting lineup announcement
12.
2000 Major League Baseball season
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A record 5,693 home runs were hit during the regular season in 2000. Ten teams hit at least 200 home runs each, while for the first time since 1989, Commissioner Bud Selig says he will listen to what the doctors say before deciding what punishment—if any—will be handed down to the pitcher. January 11 – The baseball writers elect catcher Carlton Fisk and first baseman Tony Pérez to the Hall of Fame, Fisk is chosen in his 2nd year on the ballot, while Pérez is picked on his 9th try. January 31 – Braves reliever John Rocker is suspended from baseball until May 1 by Commissioner Bud Selig for his racial, hes also fined $20,000 and ordered to undergo sensitivity training. February 10 – The Seattle Mariners accommodate center fielder Ken Griffey, Cincinnati resisted giving up infielder Pokey Reese. February 29 – Manager Sparky Anderson, 19th-century star Bid McPhee, march 1 – Independent arbitrator Shyam Das cuts Braves pitcher John Rockers suspension from 28 days to 14 days. Rocker, who is allowed to report to spring training with the team, also has his fine cut. March 29 – The Chicago Cubs open the league season in the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, by defeating the New York Mets 5–3. Jon Lieber gets the victory and Mike Hampton takes the loss, Shane Andrews hits the first home run of the season. Mark Grace and Mike Piazza also homer, April 3 – Andrés Galarraga hits a home run in his first game back after missing the entire 1999 season following cancer surgery. Atlanta defeat the Colorado Rockies 2–0, April 3 – The Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the Montréal Expos 10–4, behind Eric Karros grand slam. Right fielder Vladimir Guerrero hits a pair of runs for Montreal as a new major league record for Opening Day is set with five players having multiple home run games. April 4 – Expos closer Ugueth Urbina strikes out the Dodgers in the top of the inning on nine pitches. April 7 – A total of 57 home runs are hit in the 15 games played, the previous mark of 55 was set in 17 games on August 13,1999. There were 36 homers hit in the AL, eclipsing the mark for a single league. April 7 – The Tampa Bay Devil Rays open their home schedule playing home games at Tropicana Field on the new FieldTurf artificial surface and they lose to the Cleveland Indians, 14–5. April 9 – The Minnesota Twins defeat the Kansas City Royals 13–7, in the process, they become the first teams in major league history to each hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the same game. April 10 – Colorado beats Cincinnati 7–5, despite Ken Griffey, at age of 30, Griffey is the youngest player in major league history to reach that milestone
13.
2001 Major League Baseball season
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The 2001 Major League Baseball season, the first of the 21st century, finished with the Arizona Diamondbacks defeating the New York Yankees in a Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. The September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D. C. pushed the end of the regular-season from September 30 to October 7, because of the tragedy, the World Series was not completed until November 4, therefore, it was called The November Series. The 2001 World Series was the only World Series to end in November, until the 2009 Series, World Series champion, Arizona Diamondbacks Postseason, October 9 to November 4 ±hosted the MLB All Star Game Hank Aaron Award, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds. Rolaids Relief Man Award, Mariano Rivera, Armando Benítez, all-Star Game, July 10 at Safeco Field, American League, 4–1, Cal Ripken, Jr. MVP Home Run Derby, July 9 – Luis González, Arizona Diamondbacks Major League Baseball standings 2001
14.
2001 American League Division Series
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The teams were, Seattle Mariners vs. Cleveland Indians, Mariners win series, 3–2. New York Yankees vs. Oakland Athletics, Yankees win series, the higher seed had the home field advantage, which was determined by playing record. The Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees went on to meet in the AL Championship Series, the Yankees became the American League champion, and lost to the National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series. New York won the series, 3–2, Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington In Game 1, the Indians held the Mariners scoreless. Bartolo Colón pitched brilliantly, giving up six hits and no runs in eight innings while fanning 10, the highlight for Seattle was the hitting performance of Ichiro Suzuki, who went 3 for 4 in his playoff debut. Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington In the first inning, Seattle made up for Game 1 by scoring four runs in the first inning, David Bell helped the cause with an insurance homer in the fifth. Jamie Moyer kept the Indians at bay with one run in six innings, and the trio of Jeff Nelson, Arthur Rhodes, jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio The Mariners drew first blood early on after a walk by John Olerud drove in a run. Seattle left the bases loaded in that inning, but it didnt matter as Cleveland overwhelmed the Mariners by winning 17–2, starter Aaron Sele was knocked out after giving up four runs in two innings, but his replacement, Paul Abbott, was far worse. In three-plus innings, Abbott surrendered eight runs on nine hits, on the pitching side for the Indians, CC Sabathia gave up just two runs in six innings, and four more pitchers pitched scoreless ball the rest of the way. Up two games to one in series, the Indians were ready to pull one of the greatest upsets in sports history. Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio The Mariners, in a do-or-die spot, the Mariners trailed 1–0 going into the seventh inning, but staved off elimination thanks to some clutch hits by David Bell, Ichiro Suzuki, and Mark McLemore, resulting in a three-run seventh inning. Seattle tacked on some runs in the eighth and ninth to tie the series at two games apiece and forced it back to Safeco for Game 5. The difference came in the inning, when Mark McLemore knocked in two runs on a single. Jamie Moyer got his win of the series by pitching six innings while giving up only one run. For the Indians, it marked the time in six seasons they had lost the ALDS. Cleveland, a playoff team throughout the late 1990s, would not return to the postseason until 2007. 2001 ALDS, Seattle Mariners over Cleveland Indians Yankees win series 3–2, yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York Roger Clemens, coming off a 20–3 regular season record, struggled in Game 1, lasting four innings while giving up two runs. Johnny Damon singled to lead off the first, stole second, moved to third on a groundout, Terrence Long then homered in the fourth
15.
Cy Young Award
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The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball, one each for the American League and National League. The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award was given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, but in 1967, after the retirement of Frick. Each leagues award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, as of the 2010 season, each voter places a vote for first, second, third, fourth and fifth place among the pitchers of each league. The formula used to calculate the scores is a weighted sum of the votes. The pitcher with the highest score in league wins the award. If two pitchers receive the number of votes, the award is shared. The current formula started in the 2010 season, before that, dating back to 1970, writers voted for three pitchers, with the formula of 5 points for a first place vote,3 for a second place vote and 1 for a third place vote. Prior to 1970, writers voted for the best pitcher. The Cy Young Award was first introduced in 1956 by Commissioner of Baseball Ford C, Frick in honor of Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young, who died in 1955. The award would be given to pitchers only, originally given to the single best pitcher in the major leagues, the award changed its format over time. From 1956 to 1966, the award was given to one pitcher in Major League Baseball, after Frick retired in 1967, William Eckert became the new Commissioner of Baseball. Due to fan requests, Eckert announced that the Cy Young Award would be given out both in the American League and the National League. From 1956 to 1958, a pitcher was not allowed to win the award on more than one occasion, the first recipient of the Cy Young Award was Don Newcombe of the Dodgers. In 1957, Warren Spahn became the first left-handed pitcher to win the award, in 1963, Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to win the award in a unanimous vote, two years later he became the first multiple winner. In 1978, Gaylord Perry became the oldest pitcher to receive the award, the youngest recipient was Dwight Gooden. Dickey became the first knuckleball pitcher to win the award, in 1974, Mike Marshall won the award, becoming the first relief pitcher to win the award. In 1992, Dennis Eckersley was the first modern closer to win the award, a total of nine relief pitchers have won the Cy Young Award across both leagues
16.
2002 American League Division Series
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The teams were, New York Yankees vs. Anaheim Angels, Angels win series, 3–1. Oakland Athletics vs. Minnesota Twins, Twins win series, 3–2, the higher seed had the home field advantage, which was determined by playing record. The Division Series saw the wild card-qualifying Angels beat the league champion Yankees. The Angels and Twins went on to meet in the AL Championship Series, the Angels became the American League champion, and defeated the National League champion San Francisco Giants in the 2002 World Series. Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York The game went back, Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia brought in Scott Schoeneweis to pitch to Jason Giambi, who tied the game with an RBI single. Scioscia then brought in Brendan Donnelly to face Bernie Williams who hit a homer to take an 8–5 lead which would hold. Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York It was a game of home runs at Yankee Stadium in Game 2, derek Jeter and Alfonso Soriano each hit solo home runs for the Yankees. Tim Salmon and Scott Spiezio hit home runs for the Angels, garret Anderson and Troy Glaus did so for Anaheim giving them the lead for good. John Lackey came in for the Angels and gave up two runs, giving New York a 6–1 lead. Anaheim responded by pecking away at the Yankee lead off Mike Mussina to tie the game after seven innings and they took the lead in the eighth with an RBI double by Darin Erstad off Mike Stanton. Steve Karsay relieved Stanton and served up a shot to Tim Salmon, giving Anaheim a 9–6 lead for good. Edison International Field of Anaheim in Anaheim, California With New York facing elimination, the Yankees had a 2–1 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning when the floodgates opened. Shawn Wooten opened the inning with a run to tie the game. Ramiro Mendoza relieved Wells and gave up three runs and was relieved by Orlando Hernández, but the damage was done. The eight-run inning gave the Angels a commanding 9–2 lead, the Yankees had a few one-run innings, but it was too little too late. The Angels were going to the ALCS, anaheims victory secured their place in the American League Championship Series. They trailed 5–1 after the first two innings, Oakland starter Tim Hudson could not hold the lead, giving up a home run to Twin third baseman Corey Koskie and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. Minnesota took a 6–5 advantage in the inning on a Koskie RBI groundout
17.
Minnesota Twins
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The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area comprising Minneapolis and they played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009. They played their game at the newly completed Target Field on April 12,2010. The team was founded in Washington, D. C. in 1901 as one of the eight teams of the American League. Manager Clark Griffith joined the team in 1912 and became the owner in 1920. The franchise remained under Griffith family ownership until 1984, in 1960, Major League Baseball granted the city of Minneapolis an expansion team. Washington owner Calvin Griffith, Clarks nephew and adopted son, requested that he be allowed to move his team to Minneapolis and instead give Washington the expansion team. Upon league approval, the moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season, setting up shop in Metropolitan Stadium. Success came quickly to the team in Minnesota, through the 2016 season, the franchise has won three World Series championships, and has fielded 18 American League batting champions. The Washington Senators spent the first decade of their existence finishing near the bottom of the American League standings and their fortunes began to improve with the arrival of 19-year-old pitcher, Walter Johnson, in 1907. Johnson blossomed in 1911 with 25 victories, although the Senators still finished the season in seventh place, in 1912, the Senators improved dramatically, as their pitching staff led the league in team earned run average and in strikeouts. Johnson won 33 games while teammate Bob Groom added another 24 wins to help the Senators finish the season in second place, the Senators continued to perform respectably in 1913 with Johnson posting a career-high 35 victories, as the team once again finished in second place. The Senators then fell into another period of decline for the next decade, the Senators faced John McGraws heavily favored New York Giants in the 1924 World Series. The two teams traded wins back and forth until the reached the seventh and deciding game. Two runners scored on the play, tying the score at three, an aging Walter Johnson then came in to pitch the ninth inning, and held the Giants scoreless into extra innings. In the bottom of the inning with Ruel at bat, he hit a high. The Giants catcher, Hank Gowdy, dropped his protective mask to field the ball but, failing to toss the mask aside, stumbled over it and dropped the ball, thus giving Ruel another chance to bat
18.
Boston Red Sox
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The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League East division. The Red Sox have won eight World Series championships and have played in 13, founded in 1901 as one of the American Leagues eight charter franchises, the Red Sox home ballpark has been Fenway Park since 1912. The Red Sox name was chosen by the owner, John I. Taylor, around 1908, following the lead of previous teams that had known as the Boston Red Stockings. Boston was a dominant team in the new league, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first World Series in 1903 and winning four more championships by 1918. Following their victory in the 2013 World Series, they became the first team to win three World Series trophies in the 21st century, including championships in 2004 and 2007. Red Sox history has also marked by the teams intense rivalry with the Yankees. The Boston Red Sox are owned by Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Liverpool F. C. of the Premier League in England. The Red Sox are consistently one of the top MLB teams in road attendance. From May 15,2003 to April 10,2013, the Red Sox sold out every home game—a total of 820 games for a professional sports record. Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline has become an anthem for the Red Sox, the name Red Sox, chosen by owner John I. Taylor after the 1907 season, refers to the red hose in the team uniform beginning 1908. Sox had been adopted for the Chicago White Sox by newspapers needing a headline-friendly form of Stockings. The team name Red Sox had previously used as early as 1888 by a colored team from Norfolk. The Spanish language media sometimes refers to the team as Medias Rojas, the official Spanish site uses the variant Los Red Sox. The Red Stockings nickname was first used by a team by the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Managed by Harry Wright, Cincinnati adopted a uniform with white knickers and red stockings and earned the famous nickname, the Boston Red Stockings won four championships in the five seasons of the new National Association, the first professional league. Other names were used before Boston officially adopted the nickname Braves in 1912
19.
Billy Beane
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William Lamar Billy Beane III is an American former professional baseball player and current front office executive. He is the Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations and minority owner of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. Prior to his front office career, he played in MLB as an outfielder between 1984 and 1989 for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and he joined the Athletics front office as a scout in 1990. He was named manager after the 1997 season, and promoted to executive vice president after the 2015 season. A first round pick in the MLB draft by the Mets, Beanes playing career failed to meet the expectations of scouts, in his front office career, Beane has applied statistical analysis to players, which has led teams to reconsider how they evaluate players. He is the subject of Michael Lewis 2003 book on economics, Moneyball. Beane grew up in Mayport, Florida and San Diego, California and his father, a naval officer, taught him how to pitch. Beane attended Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, where he excelled at baseball, football, the high school coach added Beane to the varsity baseball team for the last game of his freshman season. Beane batted.501 during his sophomore and junior years of high school, in his senior season, his batting average dropped to.300. Despite the decrease in batting average, scouts were enamored with Beanes talent, Beane gave up football to avoid an injury that could prematurely end his baseball career. The New York Mets, who had the first overall selection of the 1980 Major League Baseball Draft, were enamored with Beanes talent, after visiting the Mets clubhouse, Beane decided to sign with the Mets for a $125,000 signing bonus. Beane notes his decision to sign with the Mets instead of going to Stanford as the decision he would ever make in his life about money. Beane struggled in his first season, batting.210 and he was unable to make the adjustments that were necessary when playing tougher competition. The Mets promoted Beane to the Lynchburg Mets of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League in 1981, after a solid season, he was promoted to the Jackson Mets of the Class AA Texas League in 1982. While Strawberry was the leagues most valuable player, Beane batted.220, Beane began questioning himself, while his new roommate, Lenny Dykstra, succeeded with unwavering confidence and superior mental focus. Beane remained in Jackson until 1984, when he received his first promotion to MLB, in 1985, Beane spent most of the season with the Tidewater Tides of the Class AAA International League, getting called up to the 1985 Mets for eight games. He batted.284 for the Tides in 1985, leading the team with 19 home runs and 77 runs batted in. Following the season, the Mets traded Beane with Joe Klink and Bill Latham to the Minnesota Twins for Tim Teufel and Pat Crosby, a minor league player
20.
Atlanta Braves
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The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball franchise based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The franchise competes in Major League Baseball as a member of the National League East division, the Braves played home games at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1996, and Turner Field from 1997 to 2016. Since 2017, their stadium has been SunTrust Park, a new stadium 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta in Cumberland/Galleria, Georgia. The Braves play spring training games in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in January 2017, the Braves announced a formal agreement to move their spring training home to North Port, Florida. The Braves name, which was first used in 1912, originates from a term for a Native American warrior, from 1991 to 2005, the Braves were one of the most successful franchises in baseball, winning division titles an unprecedented 14 consecutive times in that period. The Braves won the NL West 1991–93 and the NL East 1995–2005, the Braves advanced to the World Series five times in the 1990s, winning the title in 1995. The Braves are the only Major League Baseball franchise to have won the World Series in three different home cities, the Braves and the Chicago Cubs are the National Leagues two remaining charter franchises. The Braves were founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1871, the team states it is the oldest continuously operating professional sports franchise in America. After various name changes, the team began operating as the Boston Braves. Then, in 1953, the moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The teams tenure in Atlanta is noted for Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruths career home run record in 1974, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, established in 1869 as the first openly all-professional baseball team, voted to dissolve after the 1870 season. The original Boston Red Stockings team and its successors can lay claim to being the oldest continuously playing team in American professional sports. Two young players hired away from the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, turned out to be the biggest stars during the NAPBBP years, pitcher Al Spalding and second baseman Ross Barnes. Led by the Wright brothers, Barnes, and Spalding, the Red Stockings dominated the National Association, the team became one of the National Leagues charter franchises in 1876, sometimes called the Red Caps. The Boston Red Caps played in the first game in the history of the National League, on Saturday, April 22,1876, defeating the Athletics, although somewhat stripped of talent in the National Leagues inaugural year, Boston bounced back to win the 1877 and 1878 pennants. The Red Caps/Beaneaters were one of the dominant teams during the 19th century. For most of time, their manager was Frank Selee. Boston came to be called the Beaneaters in 1883, while retaining red as the team color, the 1898 team finished 102–47, a club record for wins that would stand for almost a century
21.
St. Louis Cardinals
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The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League Central division. Busch Stadium has been their home ballpark since 2006, with origins as one of the early professional baseball clubs in St. Upon the discontinuation of the AA, St. Louis joined the NL in 1892, at time, they were called the Browns. One of the most successful franchises in history, the Cardinals have won 11 World Series championships. Their 19 National League pennants rank third in NL history, in addition, St. Louis has won 13 division titles in the East and Central divisions. While still in the AA, St. Louis won four league championships, the Cardinals have won 105 or more games in four different seasons and won 100 or more a total of nine times. Cardinals players have won 20 league MVPs, four batting Triple Crowns, and three Cy Young Awards. Baseball Hall of Fame inductees include Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bob Gibson, Whitey Herzog, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Medwick, Stan Musial, Branch Rickey, Red Schoendienst, Ozzie Smith, and Bruce Sutter. In 2016, Forbes valued the Cardinals at $1.6 billion, making them the 7th-most valuable franchise in MLB, their revenue the year was $300 million. Since their purchase in 1995, owner William DeWitt, Jr. s investment group has seen enormous growth from the $147 million purchase price, John Mozeliak is the general manager and Mike Matheny is the manager. Professional baseball began in St. Louis with the inception of the Brown Stockings in the National Association in 1875, the NA folded following that season, and the next season, St. Louis joined the National League as a charter member, finishing in third place at 45-19. George Bradley hurled the first no-hitter in Major League history, the NL expelled St. Louis from the league after 1877 due to a game-fixing scandal and the team went bankrupt. Without a league, they continued play as a barnstorming team through 1881. For the 1882 season, Chris von der Ahe purchased the team, reorganized it, and made it a member of the American Association. 1882 is generally considered to be the first year existence of the St. Louis Cardinals, the next season, St. Louis shortened their name to the Browns. Soon thereafter they became the dominant team in the AA, as manager Charlie Comiskey guided St. Louis to four pennants in a row from 1885 to 1888. Pitcher and outfielder Bob Caruthers led the league in ERA and wins in 1885 and he also led the AA in OBP and OPS in 1886 and finished fourth in batting average in 1886 and fifth in 1887
22.
San Francisco Giants
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The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball franchise based in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, and renamed three years later to the New York Giants, the team moved to San Francisco in 1958. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League West division. As one of the longest-established and most successful baseball teams. The team was the first major team based in New York City. They have won 23 NL pennants and have played in 20 World Series competitions – both NL records, the Giants eight World Series championships rank second in the National League and are tied for fourth overall. The Giants have played in the World Series 20 times –14 times in New York, six in San Francisco –, the Giants franchise has the most Hall of Fame players in all of professional baseball. The Giants rivalry with the Dodgers is one of the longest-standing, the teams began their rivalry as the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers, respectively, before both franchises moved west for the 1958 season. The Giants have won six pennants and three World Series championships since arriving in San Francisco and those three championships have come in 2010,2012, and most recently in 2014, having defeated the Kansas City Royals four games to three during the 2014 World Series. The Giants began as the baseball club founded by millionaire tobacconist John B. Day and veteran amateur baseball player Jim Mutrie, the Gothams, as the Giants were originally known, entered the National League in 1883, while their other club, the Metropolitans played in the American Association. Nearly half of the original Gotham players were members of the disbanded Troy Trojans, Louis Browns in a pre-modern-era World Series. They repeated as champions the year with a pennant and Championship victory over the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. It is said that one particularly satisfying victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, Mutrie. From then on, the club was known as the Giants, the Giants original home stadium, the Polo Grounds, dates from this early era. It was originally located north of Central Park adjacent to 5th and 6th Avenues and 110th and 112th Streets, the Giants were a powerhouse in the late 1880s, winning their first two National League Pennants and World Championships in 1888 and 1889. But nearly all of the Giants stars jumped to the upstart Players League, whose New York franchise was named the Giants. The new team built a stadium next door to the Polo Grounds
23.
2014 World Series
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The Giants defeated the Royals four games to three to clinch their third World Series championship in a five-season span, and their third overall since the clubs move to San Francisco from New York. It was the Giants eighth World Series championship in franchise history, the Giants won Game 1 behind a strong pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner while the Royals won Games 2 and 3 as their pitchers limited San Francisco to 2 runs per game. The Giants won Games 4 and 5, thanks to 11 runs in Game 4, Kansas City tied the series in Game 6, shutting out San Francisco and scoring 10 runs, which forced a Game 7. The Giants won the game, 3–2, thanks to timely hitting, including the game-winning RBI by Michael Morse to score Pablo Sandoval. Bumgarner pitched five innings in relief on two days rest to clinch the championship, claiming the series MVP award. The World Series was the Giants second trip to Kauffman Stadium in 2014, the Royals had home field advantage in this World Series as a result of the American Leagues 5–3 victory in the 2014 All-Star Game. During that game, the American League took a 3–0 lead in the first inning and this caused several writers to question the integrity of the rule awarding home field advantage in the World Series to the winning league in the All-Star Game. San Francisco won the series, 4–3, both teams sent their respective aces to the mound for Game 1, James Shields for the Royals and Madison Bumgarner for the Giants. The Giants scored the first run in the inning when a Pablo Sandoval double scored Gregor Blanco from second base. The next batter, Hunter Pence, hit a run to center field. The Royals did not threaten until the third inning, Omar Infante reached on an error by Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, and Mike Moustakas hit a double down the line to move Infante to third. Bumgarner struck out both Alcides Escobar and Norichika Aoki, but walked Lorenzo Cain to load the bases, Eric Hosmer grounded out to second base on the first pitch to end the threat. The Giants threatened again in the top of the fourth when Pence doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, Michael Morse then singled to score the fourth run of the game, which knocked Shields out of the game. After allowing a sacrifice bunt to Juan Pérez, Duffy allowed two walks to Crawford and Blanco, bringing the fifth run in for the Giants. He retired the two batters to end the inning. The score remained 5–0 until the top of the seventh, when Blanco drew another walk, Joe Panik hit a ball to right fielder Aoki, which he misplayed, allowing Blanco to score and Panik to reach third. Tim Collins was brought in and allowed a single to Sandoval after Posey lined out, the Royals scored their only run on a Salvador Pérez solo home run with two outs off Bumgarner, which proved to be the only run given up by Bumgarner in the series. That homer also ended Bumgarners consecutive scoreless innings streak in the World Series at 21, Collins and Jason Frasor each pitched scoreless innings for the Royals, while Javier López and Hunter Strickland closed out the game for the Giants with scoreless eighth and ninth innings
24.
Rotator cuff
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In anatomy, the rotator cuff is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the shoulder. The four muscles of the rotator cuff are over half of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, the four muscles are the supraspinatus muscle, the infraspinatus muscle, teres minor muscle, and the subscapularis muscle. The supraspinatus muscle fans out in a band to insert on the superior. The greater tubercle projects as the most lateral structure of the humeral head, medial to this, in turn, is the lesser tuberosity of the humeral head. The subscapularis muscle origin is divided from the remainder of the rotator cuff origins as it is deep to the scapula, the four tendons of these muscles converge to form the rotator cuff tendon. The insertion site of the rotator cuff tendon at the tuberosity is often referred to as the footprint. The supraspinatus is most commonly involved in a rotator cuff tear, the rotator cuff muscles are important in shoulder movements and in maintaining glenohumeral joint stability. These muscles arise from the scapula and connect to the head of the humerus and they hold the head of the humerus in the small and shallow glenoid fossa of the scapula. The glenohumeral joint has been described as a golf ball sitting on a golf tee. In other words, without the rotator cuff, the head would ride up partially out of the glenoid fossa. The anterior and posterior directions of the fossa are more susceptible to shear force perturbations as the glenoid fossa is not as deep relative to the superior and inferior directions. The rotator cuffs contributions to concavity compression and stability vary according to their stiffness, however, the supraspinatus is more effective for general shoulder abduction because of its moment arm. The anterior portion of the tendon is submitted to significantly greater load and stress. The tendons at the ends of the rotator cuff muscles can become torn, leading to pain, a torn rotator cuff can occur following a trauma to the shoulder or it can occur through the wear and tear on tendons, most commonly the supraspinatus tendon found under the acromion. Rotator cuff injuries are associated with motions that require repeated overhead motions or forceful pulling motions. This type of injury also commonly affects orchestra conductors, choral conductors, after experiencing a rotator cuff tear, minimally invasive surgery is needed in order to repair the torn tendon. After surgery, the rehabilitation of the cuff is necessary in order to regain maximum strength. Physical therapy progresses through four stages, increasing movement throughout each phase, the tempo and intensity of the stages are solely reliant on the extent of the injury and the patient’s activity necessities
25.
2006 American League Division Series
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They were, New York Yankees vs. Detroit Tigers, Tigers win series, 3–1, Minnesota Twins vs. Oakland Athletics, Athletics win series, 3–0. The higher seed had the home advantage, which was determined by playing record. The Athletics and Tigers met in the AL Championship Series, where a Detroit sweep made the Tigers the American League champions, the Tigers then faced the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 World Series, and lost, four games to one. In the AL East, the New York Yankees clinched the division when the Boston Red Sox were eliminated from the playoffs by the Minnesota Twins on September 20, Minnesota had set a torrid pace since June 7, after a horrible start. The Twins sewed up their playoff berth with an 8–1 win over the Kansas City Royals and they clinched the Central Division title, their fourth in five years, with a 5–1 victory and a 10–8 Detroit loss to the Royals on the last day of the season. The Twins 96–66 mark is their best since the 98–64 AL West Champion Twins of 1970, †, Game was postponed due to rain on October 4 Oakland won the series, 3–0. Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York The Yankees struck first with a third inning off of Nate Robertson. Bobby Abreu doubled to score both men, Gary Sheffield singled in Abreu, and Jason Giambi capped the scoring with a home run. The Yankees added to their lead in the sixth off of Robertson when Damon singled with two outs, then Jeter doubled before both men scored on Abreus single. Curtis Grandersons home run in the seventh off of Mike Myers made it 7−4 Yankees, mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth while Jeter batted 5-for-5 in the game, becoming the sixth player to record five hits in one postseason game. Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York Game 2 was postponed for one day due to rain, in the second inning, Craig Monroe doubled with two outs before scoring on Marcus Thamess single to give the Tigers a 1–0 lead. In the fourth, Johnny Damon launched a home run off Justin Verlander to give the Yankees a 3–1 lead. That would be last time the Yankees would lead a game in the series, Jamie Walker and Joel Zumaya shut the Yanks down for the rest of the game. The Tiger hitters clawed their way back off Mike Mussina, in the fifth, Thames hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly from Curtis Granderson to the cut the lead to one. In the ninth, Todd Jones earned the save by getting Johnny Damon to fly out to center with one man on to end the game, rogers was throwing as hard as 92 mph in the eighth inning, topping his usual top speed by 3–4 mph. Joel Zumaya used his 103-mph arm to close out the inning, and Todd Jones closed the game for the second time, but did not earn a save, as the Tigers were not in a save situation. Offensively, the Tigers got on the board off of Randy Johnson in the second on three straight singles, the last of which by Sean Casey scoring Carlos Guillen
26.
2006 American League Championship Series
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The 2006 American League Championship Series, the second round of the 2006 American League playoffs, began on October 10 and ended on October 14. Magglio Ordóñezs game-winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 4 sealed the pennant for the Tigers and this ALCS marked the 5th different AL pennant winner in as many years. The Athletics had defeated the Minnesota Twins 3 games to none in the AL Division Series, the Tigers faced the National League champions St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series but fell to them by 4 games to 1. The Athletics had home-field advantage because the Athletics were a division champion, the Tigers hosted Games 3 and 4. The Athletics were seeking their first AL pennant since 1990, while the Tigers captured the title for the first time since their win in the 1984 World Series. The series was a rematch of the 1972 American League Championship Series, Detroit manager Jim Leyland, who led the Florida Marlins to the 1997 World Series title, became the seventh manager in history to win pennants in both leagues. † Lyons commentated through Game 3, but was fired by FOX for comments, tuesday, October 10,2006 at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, California Oakland was 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while Detroit turned four double plays. Tigers first baseman Sean Casey left the game in the bottom of the sixth inning due to an apparent leg injury. Brandon Inge homered with two outs in the third off Barry Zito, who allowed a double and two walks to load the bases before Magglio Ordóñezs single scored another run, next inning, Iván Rodríguez hit a leadoff home run off Zito, who then walked Craig Monroe. Marcus Thames then hit into a forceout, advancing to second on DAngelo Jiménezs error, Inge moved to third on Curtis Grandersons groundout, then scored on Plácido Polancos single. Oakland avoided a shutout when Milton Bradley doubled to lead off the eighth off Joel Zumaya, moved to third on Frank Thomass groundout, in the third, Kotsay doubled with two outs off Verlander before Bradley homered to put Oakland up 3-1. In the sixth, Monroe doubled off Loaiza with two outs before Gomez homered to put Detroit up 7-3, Eric Chavezs leadoff home run off Verlander in the bottom of the inning cut the lead to 7-4. Next inning, Bradley homered with two outs off Wilfredo Ledezma made it 7-5 Detroit, but the Tigers got that run back in the ninth on Grandersons leadoff home run off Huston Street. In the bottom of the inning, Oakland got three straight singles off Todd Jones to load the bases, but Frank Thomas flew out to center to end the game. Since the ALCS has been increased to a series, no team has come back to win the series after losing the first two games at home. Kenny Rogers also continued to dominate, not allowing the As to score once for his victory in the postseason. Curtis Granderson walked to lead off the first off Rich Harden, moved to third on Craig Monroes single, Magglio Ordóñezs sacrifice fly made it 2-0 Tigers. Monroes leadoff home run in the fifth off Harden made it 3-0 Tigers, Todd Jones picked up his second save with a 1-2-3 ninth
27.
Detroit Tigers
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The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit, Michigan. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the American League Central division. One of the ALs eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in 1901 and they are the oldest continuous one-name, one-city franchise in the AL. The Tigers have won four World Series championships,11 AL pennants, the Tigers also won division titles in 1972,1984 and 1987 while members of the AL East. The team currently plays its games at Comerica Park in Downtown Detroit. The Tigers constructed Bennett Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Trumbull Avenue in Corktown, in 1912, the team moved into Navin Field, which was built on the same location. It was expanded in 1938 and renamed Briggs Stadium and it was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961 and the Tigers played there until moving to Comerica Park in 2000. The club is a member of the American League, one of four clubs still located in its original city. It was established as a member in 1901. The Tigers played their first game as a league team at home against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 25,1901. After entering the ninth inning behind 13–4, the team staged a comeback to win 14–13. The team finished third in the eight-team league,11 years later, an elegant stadium was constructed on the site of Bennett Park and named Navin Field for owner Frank Navin. In 1938, it was improved and named Briggs Stadium, and was subsequently renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961, Tiger Stadium was used by the Tigers until the end of the 1999 season. Since 2000, they have played in Comerica Park, there are various legends about how the Tigers got their nickname. One involves the orange stripes they wore on their black stockings, Tigers manager George Stallings took credit for the name, however, the name appeared in newspapers before Stallings was manager. Another legend concerns a sportswriter equating the 1901 teams opening day victory with the ferocity of his alma mater and they had played significant roles in certain Civil War battles and in the 1898 Spanish–American War. The baseball team was informally called both Wolverines and Tigers in the news. The earliest known use of the name Tigers in the media was in the Detroit Free Press on April 16,1895, upon entry into the majors, the ballclub sought and received formal permission from the Light Guard to use its trademark
28.
Nashville Sounds
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The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. They are located in Nashville, Tennessee, and are named for the association with the music industry. The team plays its games at First Tennessee Park which opened in 2015 and is partially located on the former site of the historic Sulphur Dell ballpark. The Sounds previously played at Herschel Greer Stadium from its opening in 1978 until the end of the 2014 season, established as an expansion team of the Double-A Southern League in 1978, the Sounds were replaced by a Triple-A American Association team in 1985. The Triple-A Sounds carried on the history of the Double-A team that preceded it, the Sounds later joined the PCL in 1998. The team has served as a club for seven major league franchises. A total of 26 managers have led the club and its more than 1,100 players, through the 2016 season, the team has played in 5,587 regular season games and compiled a win–loss record of 2, 877–2,710. The Sounds have reached the postseason on 14 occasions and they have won ten division titles, two conference titles, and three league championships. Most recently, they won the PCL Championship in 2005 as the Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, the team has an overall postseason record of 42–41. The team fielded in 1980 was recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time, the 2006 team tied the record for the longest game in PCL history. Of the three nine-inning perfect games in the history of the PCL, two have been pitched by members of the Sounds, in 2016, Forbes listed the Sounds as the 19th-most valuable Minor League Baseball team with a value of $30.5 million. Nashvilles professional baseball history dates back to 1885, beginning with the Nashville Americans and they were followed by the Blues, Tigers, Seraphs, Centennials, and Vols. The city was without a baseball team for 14 years after the Double-A Vols ceased operations after their 1963 season. In 1978, the Nashville Sounds were added as a team in the Double-A Southern League. Fans responded well to the return of baseball to the city, President and part owner Larry Schmittou, head coach of the Vanderbilt University baseball team from 1968 to 1978, was instrumental in bringing professional baseball back to Nashville. Schmittous business philosophy revolved around earning profits not from ticket sales and this philosophy also involved promoting entertainment value, or fun, instead of promoting the baseball game. The franchise was recognized for its promotion efforts when it won the Larry MacPhail Award for outstanding minor league promotions in 1978,1980. The club played their games at a newly constructed facility, Herschel Greer Stadium
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Baseball-Reference.com
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Baseball-Reference. com is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advanced baseball sabermetrics in addition to traditional baseball counting stats, founder Sean Forman began developing the website while working on his Ph. D. dissertation in applied math and computational science at the University of Iowa. While writing his dissertation, he had also been writing articles on, formans database was originally built from the Total Baseball series of baseball encyclopedias. The website came online in April 2000, after first being launched in February 2000 as part of the website for the Big Bad Baseball Annual and it was originally built as a web interface to the Lahman Baseball Database, though it now employs a variety of data sources. In 2004, Forman founded Sports Reference, the company was incorporated as Sports Reference, LLC in 2007. In 2006, Forman left his job as a professor at Saint Josephs University in order to focus on Baseball-Reference full-time. In February 2009, Fantasy Sports Ventures took a minority stake in Sports Reference, LLC, in addition, there are a number of what the website calls Frivolities, e. g. The Oracle of Baseball, which any two players by common teammates in the way the pop culture favorite Oracle of Bacon website does. Another one of their Frivolities is the devoted to Keith Hernandezs mustache. Baseball-Reference. com has its own encyclopedia, a wiki called Baseball Reference Bullpen. As of July 2015, the Baseball Reference Bullpen contains over 77,200 articles
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Sports Illustrated
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Sports Illustrated is an American sports media franchise owned by Time Inc. Its self-titled magazine has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million people each week and it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. Its swimsuit issue, which has published since 1964, is now an annual publishing event that generates its own television shows, videos. There were two magazines named Sports Illustrated before the current magazine began on August 16,1954, in 1936, Stuart Scheftel created Sports Illustrated with a target market for the sportsman. He published the magazine from 1936 to 1938 on a monthly basis, the magazine was a life magazine size and focused on golf, tennis, and skiing with articles on the major sports. He then sold the name to Dell Publications, which released Sports Illustrated in 1949, dells version focused on major sports and competed on magazine racks against Sport and other monthly sports magazines. During the 1940s these magazines were monthly and they did not cover the current events because of the production schedules, there was no large-base, general, weekly sports magazine with a national following on actual active events. It was then that Time patriarch Henry Luce began considering whether his company should attempt to fill that gap, at the time, many believed sports was beneath the attention of serious journalism and did not think sports news could fill a weekly magazine, especially during the winter. A number of advisers to Luce, including Life magazines Ernest Havemann, tried to kill the idea, but Luce, the goal of the new magazine was to be basically a magazine, but with sports. Launched on August 16,1954, it was not profitable and not particularly well run at first, but Luces timing was good. The popularity of sports in the United States was about to explode. The early issues of the magazine seemed caught between two opposing views of its audience, after more than a decade of steady losses, the magazines fortunes finally turned around in the 1960s when Andre Laguerre became its managing editor. A European correspondent for Time, Inc, in May 1956, Luce brought Laguerre to New York to become assistant managing editor of the magazine. He was also one of the first to sense the rise of national interest in professional football, Laguerre also instituted the innovative concept of one long story at the end of every issue, which he called the bonus piece. His genius as an editor was that he made you want to please him, Laguerre is also credited with the conception and creation of the annual Swimsuit Issue, which quickly became, and remains, the most popular issue each year. Regular illustration features by artists like Robert Riger, high school football Player of the Month awards. In 2015 Sports Illustrated purchased a group of companies and combined them to create Sports Illustrated Play. The magazines photographers also made their mark with innovations like putting cameras in the goal at a hockey game, by 1967, the magazine was printing 200 pages of fast color a year, in 1983, SI became the first American full-color newsweekly
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ESPN
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ESPN is a U. S. -based global cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc. a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Corporation. ESPN broadcasts primarily from studio facilities located in Bristol, Connecticut, the network also operates offices in Miami, New York City, Seattle, Charlotte, and Los Angeles. John Skipper currently serves as president of ESPN, a position he has held since January 1,2012, as of February 2015, ESPN is available to approximately 94,396,000 paid television households in the United States. In 2011, ESPNs history and rise was chronicled by These Guys Have All the Fun, Bill Rasmussen conceived the concept of ESPN in late May 1978, after he was fired from his job with the World Hockey Associations New England Whalers. One of the first steps in Bill and his son Scotts process was finding land to build the channels broadcasting facilities, the Rasmussens first rented office space in Plainville, Connecticut. However, the plan to base ESPN there was put on hold because a local ordinance prohibiting buildings from bearing rooftop satellite dishes and this helped the credibility of the fledgling company, however there were still many doubters to the viability of their sports channel concept. ESPN launched on September 7,1979, beginning with the first telecast of what would become the flagship program. Taped in front of a live audience inside the Bristol studios. ESPNs next big break came when the acquired the rights to broadcast coverage of the early rounds of the NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Tournament. It first aired the NCAA tournament in March 1980, creating the modern day television event known as March Madness. The channels tournament coverage also launched the career of Dick Vitale. In April of that year, ESPN created another made-for-TV spectacle, the next major stepping stone for ESPN came over the course of a couple of months in 1984. During this time period, the American Broadcasting Company purchased 100% of ESPN from the Rasmussens, for years, the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball refused to consider cable as a means of broadcasting some of their games. However, with the backing of ABC, ESPNs ability to compete for major sports contracts greatly increased, later in 1984, the U. S. ESPNs Sunday Night Football games would become the highest-rated NFL telecasts for the next 17 years. In 1992, ESPN launched ESPN Radio, a sports talk radio network providing analysis. It became the fastest growing cable channel in the U. S. during the 1990s, ownership of ABC, and in effect control of ESPN, was acquired first by Capital Cities Communications in 1985, and then by The Walt Disney Company in 1996. In 2012, ESPN generated more revenue for Disney than any of its other properties combined, alongside its live sports broadcasts, ESPN also airs a variety of sports highlight, talk, and documentary-styled shows. 30 for 30 started airing in 2009 and continues airing to this day, each episode is through the eyes of a well known filmmaker and has featured some of the biggest directors in Hollywood
32.
U.S. News & World Report
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U. S. News & World Report is an American media company that publishes news, opinion, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis. Founded as a magazine in 1933, U. S. News transitioned to primarily web-based publishing in 2010. The rankings are popular in North America but have drawn criticism from colleges, administrations, and students for their dubious, disparate. The ranking system by U. S. News is usually contrasted with the Washington Monthly, United States News was founded in 1933 by David Lawrence, who also started World Report in 1946. The two magazines covered national and international news separately, but Lawrence merged them into U. S. News & World Report in 1948 and subsequently sold the magazine to his employees. Historically, the magazine tended to be more conservative than its two primary competitors, Time and Newsweek, and focused more on economic, health. It also eschewed sports, entertainment, and celebrity news, important milestones in the early history of the magazine include the introduction of the Washington Whispers column in 1934 and the News You Can Use column in 1952. In 1958, the magazines circulation passed one million and reached two million by 1973. Since 1983, it has become known primarily for its influential ranking and annual reports of colleges and graduate schools, spanning across most fields and its print edition was consistently included in national bestseller lists, augmented by online subscriptions. Additional rankings published by U. S. News & World Report include hospitals, in October 1984, publisher and real estate developer Mortimer B. Zuckerman purchased U. S. News & World Report. Zuckerman is also the owner of the New York Daily News, in 1993, U. S. News & World Report entered the digital world by providing content to CompuServe and in 1995, the website usnews. com was launched. In 2001, the won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence Online. In 2007, U. S. News & World Report published its first list of the nations best high schools and its ranking methodology includes state test scores and the success of poor and minority students on these exams, and schools performance in Advanced Placement exams. Starting in June 2008, the magazine reduced its frequency in three steps. It switched in June 2008 from weekly to biweekly, in November 2008 it decreased to monthly. In November 2010, it was reported that U. S, moving forward, the publication expressed its plans to focus mainly on research and the provision of relevant information to students pursuing higher education. Its rankings and university guide books are available in print at the majority of bookstores and magazine vendors in the United States, selling millions of copies on an annual basis. In June 2008, citing the overall magazine circulation and advertising, U. S. News & World Report announced that it would become a biweekly publication
33.
Oakland, California
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Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island
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San Francisco Bay Area
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The San Francisco Bay Area is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco. The Bay Areas nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California, the fifth-largest in the United States, the Bay Area has the second-most Fortune 500 Companies in the United States, and is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is known locally as the East Bay, the inner East Bay is more densely populated, with generally older buildings, and a more ethnically diverse population. The word Lamorinda was coined by combining the names of the cities it includes, Lafayette, Moraga, walnut Creek is situated east of Lamorinda and north of the San Ramon Valley and, together with Concord, Martinez, and Pleasant Hill comprises Central Contra Costa County. The cities of Antioch, Pittsburg, Brentwood, Oakley and the areas surrounding them comprise East Contra Costa County. The Tri-Valley consists of the Amador, the Livermore, and the San Ramon Valleys, dublin and Pleasanton comprise the Amador Valley, Livermore lies in the Livermore Valley, and the San Ramon Valley consists of Alamo, Danville, Diablo and its namesake, San Ramon. The outer East Bay is connected to the inner East Bay by BART, Interstate 580 to the south, and State Routes State Route 4 to the north, the outer East Bays infrastructure was mostly built up after World War II. This area remains largely white demographically, although the Hispanic and Filipino populations have grown significantly over the past 2–3 decades, the region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the North Bay. This area encompasses Marin County, Sonoma County, Napa County, the city of Fairfield, being part of Solano County, is often considered the easternmost city of the North Bay. With few exceptions, this region is affluent, Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the state. The North Bay is relatively rural compared to the remainder of the Bay Area, with areas of undeveloped open space, farmland. Santa Rosa in Sonoma County is the North Bays largest city, with a population of 167,815 and a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 466,891, making it the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area. The North Bay is the section of the Bay Area that is not currently served by a commuter rail service. The area from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley, geographically part of the San Francisco Peninsula, is known locally as The Peninsula, many of these families are of foreign background and have significantly contributed to the diversity of the area. Whereas the term peninsula technically refers to the entire geographical San Franciscan Peninsula, in local terms, San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides, the north, east, and west. The city squeezes roughly 870,000 people in under 47 square miles, on any given day, there can be as many as 1 million people in the city because of the commuting population and tourism
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History of the Philadelphia Athletics
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The Oakland Athletics, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Philadelphia. This article details the history of the Philadelphia Athletics, from 1901 to 1954, see also, Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame The Western League had been renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Bancroft Johnson, and declared itself the second major league in 1901. Johnson created new franchises in the east and eliminated some franchises in the West, Philadelphia had a new franchise created to compete with the National Leagues Philadelphia Phillies. Former catcher Connie Mack was recruited to manage the club, Mack in turn persuaded Phillies minority owner Ben Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack himself bought a 25% interest, while the remaining 25% was sold to Philadelphia sportswriters Sam Jones, the new league recruited many of its players from the existing National League, persuading them to jump to the American League in defiance of their National League contracts. One of the players who jumped to the new league was second baseman Nap Lajoie and he won the A. L. s first batting title with a.426 batting average, still a league record. The Athletics and the American League received a setback when, on April 21,1902, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated Lajoies contract with the Athletics and this order, though, was only enforceable in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Lajoie was sold to Cleveland, but was out of road games in Philadelphia until the National Agreement was signed between the two leagues in 1903. In the early years, the As established themselves as one of the dominant teams in the new league, winning the A. L. pennant six times and they won over 100 games in 1910 and 1911, and 99 games in 1914. The team was known for its $100,000 Infield, consisting of Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry, Rube Waddell was also a major pitching star for the As in the early 1900s. According to Lamont Buchanan in The World Series and Highlights of Baseball, Plank holds the franchise record for career victories, with 284. In 1909, the As moved into the leagues first concrete-and-steel ballpark. This remains the second and last time in history where a new ballpark was built specifically for the As. Later in the decade, Mack bought the 25% of the stock owned by Jones. Shibe ceded Mack full control over the side while retaining control over the business side. In 1914, the Athletics lost the 1914 World Series to the Miracle Braves in a four-game sweep, Mack traded, sold or released most of the teams star players soon after. In his book To Every Thing a Season, Bruce Kuklick points out there were suspicions that the As had thrown the Series, or at least laid down. Mack himself alluded to that years later, but debunked it
36.
History of the Oakland Athletics
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In 1954, Chicago real estate magnate Arnold Johnson bought the Philadelphia Athletics and moved them to Kansas City. Although he was initially a hero for making Kansas City a major-league town, hed also bought Blues Stadium in Kansas City, home of the Yankees top farm team, the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. After Johnson got permission to move the As to Kansas City, he sold Blues Stadium to the city, the lease gave Johnson a three-year escape clause if the team failed to draw one million or more customers per season. The subsequent lease signed in 1960 also contained a clause if the team failed to draw 850,000 per season. Major-league rules of the time gave the Yankees the major-league rights to Kansas City, however, the Yankees waived these payments as soon as the purchase was approved. This, combined with the Yankees thinly concealed support for the sale, rumors abounded that Johnsons real motive was to operate the Athletics in Kansas City for a few years, then move the team to Los Angeles. Whatever the concern about the move to Kansas City, fans turned out in numbers for the era. That number would never be approached again while the team was in Kansas City, Johnsons previous business ties to the Yankees resulted in several trades between the Athletics and the Bronx Bombers that helped keep the New York dynasty afloat. Invariably, any good young As player was traded to the Yankees for aging veterans, however, with few exceptions, the trades were heavily weighted in favor of the Yankees. On the positive side, Johnson devoted attention to development for the first time in the history of the franchise. Previously, Connie Mack either did not or could not spend any money building a farm system, when Johnson bought the team, the As only had three scouts in the entire organization. Johnson did make some improvements to the system, but was unwilling to pay top dollar for players that could get the As within sight of contention. Johnson was returning from watching the Athletics in spring training when he was stricken with a cerebral hemorrhage. He died in West Palm Beach, Florida on March 3,1960 at the age of 53, on December 19,1960, Charles Charlie O. Finley purchased a controlling interest in the team from Johnsons estate after losing out to Johnson six years earlier in Philadelphia. He bought out the minority owners a year later, Finley promised the fans a new day. In a highly publicized move, he purchased a bus, pointed it in the direction of New York and he called another press conference to burn the existing lease at Municipal Stadium which included the despised escape clause. He spent over $400,000 of his own money in stadium improvements and he introduced new uniforms which had Kansas City on the road uniforms for the first time ever and an interlocking KC on the cap. This was the first time the franchise had acknowledged its home city on its uniforms and he announced, My intentions are to keep the As permanently in Kansas City and build a winning ball club
