1.
Spanish naming customs
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Spanish naming customs are historical traditions for naming children practised in Spain. According to these customs, a persons name consists of a name followed by two family names. The first surname is usually the fathers first surname, and the second the mothers first surname, in recent years, the order of the surnames can be reversed at birth if it is so decided by the parents. Currently in Spain, people bear a single or composite given name, a composite given name comprises two single names, for example Juan Pablo is considered not to be a first and a second forename, but a single composite forename. The two surnames refer to each of the parental families, traditionally, a persons first surname is the fathers first surname, and the second one is the mothers first surname. From 2013, if the parents of a child are unable to agree on order of surnames, the law also grants a person the option, upon reaching adulthood, of reversing the order of their surnames. Each surname can also be composite, the parts usually linked by the y or e. For example, a name might be Juan Pablo Fernández de Calderón García-Iglesias, consisting of a forename, a paternal surname. There are times when it is impossible, by inspection of a name, for example, the writer Sebastià Juan Arbó was alphabetised by the Library of Congress for many years under Arbó, assuming that Sebastiá and Juan were both given names. However, Juan was actually his first surname, to resolve questions like this, which typically involve very common names, one must consult the person involved, or legal documents. A man named José Antonio Gómez Iglesias would normally be addressed as either señor Gómez or señor Gómez Iglesias instead of señor Iglesias, because Gómez is his first surname. Furthermore, Mr. Gómez might be addressed as José Antonio, José, Pepe, Antonio, or Toño Jose, Joselito, Josito, Joselillo, Josico or Joselín, Antoñito, Tonín or Nono. Very formally, he could be addressed with an honorific as don José Antonio or don José, colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez is sometimes incorrectly referred to in English media as Mr. Márquez, when it should be Mr. García Márquez or, simply, Mr. García. It is not unusual, when the first surname is very common, for example, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is often called simply Zapatero, the name he inherited from his mothers family, since Rodríguez is a common surname and may be ambiguous. The same occurs with another former Spanish Socialist leader, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, with the poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca, as these peoples paternal names are very common, they are often called with their maternal names. It would nonetheless be a mistake to index José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero under Z as Zapatero, a practical option to spare an explanation is using a single surname composed of two separate words. Parents choose their childs name, which must be recorded in the Registro Civil to establish his or her legal identity. With few restrictions, parents can now choose any name, common sources of names are the parents taste, honouring a relative, the General Roman Calendar nomina, legislation in Spain under Franco legally limited cultural naming customs to only Christian and typical Spanish names
2.
Starting pitcher
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In baseball, a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponents first batter of a game, a pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher. Starting pitchers are expected to pitch for a significant portion of the game, although their ability to do this depends on many factors, including effectiveness, stamina, health, and strategy. A starting pitcher in professional baseball usually rests three, four, or five days after pitching a game before pitching another, therefore, most professional baseball teams have four, five or six starting pitchers on their rosters. These pitchers, and the sequence in which they pitch, is known as the rotation, in modern baseball, a five-man rotation is most common. Under ideal circumstances, a manager of a team would prefer a starting pitcher to pitch as many innings as possible in a game. Often, a pitcher is subject to a pitch count. The most common pitch count for a pitcher is in the neighborhood of 100. Pitch count limits are especially common for starting pitchers who are recovering from injury, in the early decades of baseball, it was not uncommon for a starting pitcher to pitch three hundred innings or more, over the course of a season. In addition, there are accounts of starting pitchers pitching on consecutive days and it is believed that these feats were only possible because pitchers in the early years of the game, unlike modern starters, rarely threw the ball with maximum effort. A starting pitcher who can be counted on to throw many innings is known as a workhorse. An example of a modern-day workhorse pitcher is Roy Halladay, who was the leader in both complete games thrown and shutouts before his retirement in 2013. A starting pitcher must complete five innings of work in order to qualify for a win in a game he starts and it is possible to be credited with a loss despite pitching fewer than five innings. A starter who works six or more innings giving up three or fewer earned runs is said to have achieved a quality start. A starter that finishes the game without having to be relieved by the bullpen is said to have thrown a complete game, the pitcher that throws a complete game is almost always in a position for a win. Starting pitchers usually have a variety of pitches to choose from, fastballs, A pitch thrown hard and which generally follows a mostly straight trajectory. There are a number of different types of fastballs, the 4-seam fastball is the hardest thrown pitch, but also has very little movement or break to it. The 2-seam fastball is slightly slower than the 4-seam, but breaks slightly inward to the throwing arm as well as drop slightly
3.
Valencia, Carabobo
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Valencia is the capital city of Carabobo State, and the third largest city of Venezuela. The city is a hub that contains Venezuelas top industries. The population of Valencia and the metropolitan area reached 1,827,165 in 2010. Caracas lies some 172 kilometres away to the east, the area was already inhabited in the fourth millennium BC. The inhabitants were mainly hunters and gatherers who might have developed some elementary forms of agriculture. Between AD200 and 1000 an important settlement was formed close to Lake Valencia, around the year 1000, waves of migration started to come from the Orinoco river area, probably arriving along the Pao river. The fusion of previous settlements with these new populations gave rise to the Vacencioide culture, people in the area belonged mostly to Arawak groups. They were hunters and gatherers who also fished and grew maize and their houses were built on artificial mounds in valleys that were often flooded by water from Lake Valencia. Archaeologists have found pottery from that time. Valencia was founded by Captain Alonso Díaz Moreno on March 25,1555 – as the locals are proud of reminding visitors and it was the first Spanish settlement in central Venezuela and its official name was Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Nueva Valencia del Rey. It was named after Valencia de Don Juan, Province of León, the encomiendas put the Indians living in the region under the control of the Spanish settlers. They started to displace the population from the most fertile land. Spanish conquistador Lope de Aguirre entered the city in 1561, in 1677 it was raided by French pirates, who burnt down its City Hall, thus destroying many very important documents about the early settlement of Venezuela. The German scientist Alexander von Humboldt visited the city on his trip through the Americas and he reported that at the time of his visit the city had around 6000 to 7000 inhabitants. On June 24,1821 the battle of Carabobo was fought on the outskirts of the city, in 1830 Valencia became capital of Venezuela after it separated from the Great Colombia. It stopped being capital soon thereafter and became more the seat of the national government in 1858 after the Monagas was toppled. On November 15,1892 the University of Valencia, future University of Carabobo, was founded, when dictator Juan Vicente Gómez died in 1935, Nueva Valencia del Rey was a small city. The oil revenues and industrialization that came along lead to a population explosion, many immigrants, firstly from Europe and increasingly then from other Latin American countries, chose Nueva Valencia del Rey as the place to live in Venezuela
4.
Earned run average
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In baseball statistics, earned run average is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched, runs resulting from defensive errors are recorded as unearned runs and omitted from ERA calculations. Henry Chadwick is credited with devising the statistic, which caught on as a measure of pitching effectiveness after relief pitching came into vogue in the 1900s. Some criterion was needed to capture the apportionment of earned-run responsibility for a pitcher in games that saw contributions from other pitchers for the same team, a pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a batter who reaches base while batting against that pitcher. The National League first tabulated official earned run average statistics in 1912, recently written baseball encyclopedias display ERAs for earlier years, but these were computed retroactively. Negro League pitchers are often rated by RA, or total runs allowed, as with batting average, the definition of a good ERA varies from year to year. During the dead-ball era of the 1900s and 1910s, an ERA below 2.00 was considered good, in the 1960s, sub-2.00 ERAs returned, as other influences such as ballparks with different dimensions were introduced. Today, an ERA under 4.00 is again considered good, the all-time record for the lowest single season earned run average by a pitcher pitching 300 or more innings is 1.12, set by Bob Gibson in 1968. The record for the lowest career earned run average is 1.82, held by Ed Walsh, but a purported record based on so few innings pitched is highly misleading. Over the years, more than a dozen part-time pitchers have pitched 105 or more innings and had a run average lower than 0.86. Some sources may list players with infinite ERAs and this can happen if a pitcher allows one or more earned runs without retiring a batter. Additionally, an undefined ERA occasionally occurs at the beginning of a baseball season and it is sometimes incorrectly displayed as zero or as the lowest ranking ERA, even though it is more akin to the highest. At times it can be misleading to judge relief pitchers solely on ERA, because they are charged only for runs scored by batters who reached base while batting against them. Thus, if a pitcher enters the game with his team leading by 1 run, with 2 outs and the bases loaded. If he retires the batter, his ERA for that game will be 0.00 despite having surrendered the lead. Starting pitchers operate under the rules but are not called upon to start pitching with runners already on base. The relievers freedom to use their energy for a few innings, or even for just a few batters. ERA, taken by itself, can also be misleading when trying to objectively judge starting pitchers, the advent of the designated hitter rule in the American League in 1973 made the pitching environment significantly different
5.
Strikeout
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In baseball or softball, a strikeout occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means the batter is out, a strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denoted by K. Although a strikeout suggests that the pitcher dominated the batter, the style that generates home runs also leaves batters susceptible to striking out. Some of the greatest home run hitters of all time — such as Alex Rodriguez, Gorman Thomas, Reggie Jackson, and Sammy Sosa — were notorious for striking out. A pitched ball is ruled a ball by the if the batter did not swing at it and, in that umpires judgment. Any pitch at which the batter swings or, that in that umpires judgment passes through the zone, is ruled a strike. Each ball and strike affects the count, which is incremented for each pitched ball with the exception of a ball on any count with two strikes. That is, a strike may only occur by the batter swinging and missing at a pitched ball. A pitched ball that is struck by the batter with the bat on any count, a batter may also strike out by bunting, even if the ball is hit into foul territory. In Japan, this is called furinige, or swing and escape, in Major League Baseball, it is known as an uncaught third strike. When this happens, a strikeout is recorded for both the pitcher and the batter, but no out is recorded, because of this, a pitcher may occasionally be able to record more than three strikeouts in one half-inning. In baseball scorekeeping, a strikeout is recorded as a K. A strikeout looking is often scored with a backward K, and sometimes as a K-L, CK, despite the scorekeeping custom of using K for strikeout, SO is the official abbreviation used by Major League Baseball. K is still used by fans and enthusiasts for purposes other than official record-keeping. The K may be placed backward in cases where the batter strikes out looking, the use of K for a strikeout was invented by Henry Chadwick, a newspaper journalist who is widely credited as the originator of the box score and the baseball scorecard. As is true in much of baseball, both the box score and scorecard remain largely unchanged to this day, Chadwick decided to use K, the last letter in struck, since the letter S was used for sacrifice. Chadwick was responsible for several other scorekeeping conventions, including the use of numbers to designate player positions and those unaware of Chadwicks contributions have speculated that K was derived from the last name of 19th century pitcher Matt Kilroy. If not for the evidence supporting Chadwicks earlier use of K, Kilroy raised the prominence of the strikeout, setting an all-time single-season record of 513 strikeouts in 1886, only two years after overhand pitching was permitted
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.
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The game usually occurs on either the second or third Tuesday in July, and is meant to mark a symbolic halfway-point in the MLB season. Both of the major leagues share a common All-Star break, with no games scheduled on the day before or two days after the All-Star Game itself. Some additional events and festivities associated with the game take place each year close to, no official MLB All-Star Game was held in 1945 including the official selection of players due to World War II travel restrictions. The first All-Star Game was held on July 6,1933 as part of the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago, at Comiskey Park and was initiated by Arch Ward, initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one. The venue for the All-Star Game is chosen by Major League Baseball, the criteria for the venue are subjective, generally, cities with new ballparks and those who have not hosted the game in a long time—or ever—tend to get selected. New York City has hosted more than any city, having done so nine times in five different stadiums. At the same time, the New York Mets failed to host for 48 seasons, in the first two decades of the game there were two pairs of teams that shared ballparks, located in Philadelphia and St. Louis. This led to some shorter-than-usual gaps between the use of venues, The Cardinals hosted the game in 1940, and the Browns in 1948. The Athletics hosted the game in 1943, and the Phillies in 1952, the venues traditionally alternate between the American League and National League every year. This tradition has been several times, The first time was in 1951. Detroit Tigers were chosen to host the game as part of the citys 250th birthday. The second was when the format during the 1959–1962 seasons resulted in the A. L. being one game ahead in turn. This was corrected in 2007, when the N. L, San Francisco Giants were the host for the 2007 All-Star Game, which also set up the 2008 game to be held at the A. L. s Yankee Stadium in its final season. This decision was made following the announcement of Miami as host for the 2017 All Star Game, the coaching staff for each team is selected by its manager. This honor is given to the manager, not the team and this happened in 2003, when Dusty Baker managed the National League team despite having moved from the National League champion San Francisco Giants to the Chicago Cubs. This has also included situations where the person is no longer actively managing a team, mcGraw came out of retirement for that purpose. Dick Williams resigned after managing the Oakland Athletics to the 1973 World Series, in 1974, he became manager of the California Angels, whose uniform he wore for the game. Tony La Russa, who managed the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in 2011, in 1979, Bob Lemon managed the American League team after having been fired by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner
8.
2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 80th midseason exhibition between the all-stars of the American League and the National League, the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 14,2009, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, the game was the first all-star game held in St. Louis since 1966. This was the year in which the All-Star Game determined home field advantage in the World Series, with the American League winning all seven games up to. After the game, the National League lead, 40–38–2, but had not won since 1996, Fox televised the contest, with Joe Buck and Tim McCarver in the booth for the game broadcast, joined at the bottom of the 2nd inning by President Barack Obama. Pre-game coverage began at 5 PM US EDT on MLB Network, outside the USA, Rogers Sportsnet and ESPN America carried MLBs international feed with their own video feed and announcers. However the plans had not materialized by the time of the game, on April 22,2009, All-Star balloting began on MLB. com with eight position players from each of the 30 teams being nominated for fans to vote. As with last year, only 25 email ballots could be cast, Final rosters, with the exception of the final vote, were announced on July 5. Fans voted for up to three players per league to participate in the State Farm Home Run Derby, for the first time, the batting practice sessions were telecast on the self-owned MLB Network. By length of time, this was the shortest MLB All-Star game since 1988, at one point during the game, the American League retired 18 straight batters, the second most in All-Star game history. After the rosters were revealed, a ballot of five players per league was created for the All-Star Final Vote to determine the 33rd. The NL Winner was Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies and the AL winner was Brandon Inge of the Detroit Tigers, pablo Sandoval and Ian Kinsler finished a close second in their respective leagues. Both Hillman and Wakamatsu participated in their first All-Star game this year, National League manager Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies selected Tony La Russa of the host St. Louis Cardinals and Joe Torre of the Los Angeles Dodgers as his coaches. Torre previously managed the Cardinals from 1990-1995, La Russa has managed an All-Star team five times, and led the 2005 and 2007 NL teams. This was Torres first NL All-Star coaching position, he has managed an AL All-Star team six times, Manuel previously coached the AL All-Star team in 2002s tie game under Torre. Votes were cast online and at the 30 MLB ballparks, verizon replaced Monster as the sponsor of the online portion of balloting. There was a limit of 25 votes per e-mail address, the deadline to cast votes was July 2, and the results were broadcast on the TBS All-Star Selection show on July 5. Albert Pujols was the leading vote-getter in the majors with 5,397,374 votes, * This player did not start. # This player did not play, the Star-Spangled Banner was sung by Sheryl Crow
9.
2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The 2011 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 82nd in-season exhibition game between the All-Stars of the National League and the American League, the leagues composing Major League Baseball. The event was held on Tuesday, July 12,2011 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, the game ended in a 5–1 win for the National League, their second straight All-Star victory. It was the first MLB All-Star Game to be held in Arizona, with a combination of injuries and rule enforcements, a record 84 players were named to the All-Star rosters. This broke the record of 82 players that were on rosters for the 2010 game, as with each All-Star Game since 1970, the nine starting position players of each league were elected by fan balloting. The remaining players were selected by a vote, each leagues team manager. In all,32 players were selected to each leagues team, Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin confirmed on April 10,2009 that Arizona would host the 2011 All-Star Game and it was officially announced by Commissioner Bud Selig the next day. Phoenix had never hosted the All-Star Game before, the last first-time host city was Denver, the game was the ninth straight All-Star Game to decide home-field advantage in the World Series. Prior All-Star games had used the designated hitter rule when in American League parks. However, the 2011 game was the first to feature a DH in a NL park following a change in 2010. The NL came into the game having won the years match. Others considered asking club owners, sponsors and even players to boycott the All-Star Game if the law was implemented, however, Selig announced on May 13,2010 that the game would remain at Chase Field in Phoenix as planned. Balloting for the 2011 All-Star Game starters began online April 26, fan voting also took place in each MLB stadium, beginning May 10 and ending on June 24. The top vote-getters at each position and the top three among outfielders, were named the starters for their respective leagues, the results were announced on July 3. A record 32.5 million votes were cast, beating out the record from 2009 by roughly 9 million. José Bautista was the leading vote-getter with 7,454,753 votes, easily breaking the previous single-player vote record of 6,069,688 held by Ken Griffey, three other American League players also topped Griffeys record. Ryan Braun was the National Leagues leading vote getter, receiving a NL record 5,928,004 votes, the winners of the final vote were Paul Konerko of the Chicago White Sox and Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies. Victorino became the first ever two-time Final Vote winner, having won in 2009. Adrian Gonzalezs home run off of Cliff Lee and Fielders home run off of C. J. Wilson makes it the first time in All-Star Game history where there were two lefty-versus-lefty home runs
10.
2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
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The 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 86th edition of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The game was played at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio on Tuesday and it was televised nationally on Fox. The American League All-Stars defeated the National League All-Stars by a score of 6–3, on January 21,2013, then-Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, announced the 2015 All-Star Game would be hosted by the Cincinnati Reds. This was the first time the city of Cincinnati has hosted the All-Star Game since the 1988 All-Star Game was played at Riverfront Stadium, on July 15,2014, Selig also announced that Pete Rose would not be prohibited from participating in the 2015 All-Star Game ceremonies. Rose was an All-Star for 13 of the 19 seasons he played on the Reds and was a member of the Big Red Machine, in 1991, Rose was permanently banned from MLB for baseball betting. On May 12,2015, the Reds announced that Todd Frazier would serve as the 2015 All-Star Game spokesperson, Mike Trout, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels, was named the 2015 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player for the second straight year. Balloting for the 2015 All-Star Game starters began online April 23, the top vote-getters at each position and the top three among outfielders, were named the starters for their respective leagues. The results were announced on July 5, a record 620 million votes were cast, surpassing the record of 391 million votes in 2012. Josh Donaldson was the leading vote-getter with 14,090,188 votes, bryce Harper set a new NL record for votes this year with 13,864,950 votes. MLB however canceled at least 65 million ballots on grounds of fraud, at one point during the balloting, the top vote-getters for eight of the starting nine positions for the American League were Kansas City Royals players. After the rosters were finalized, a ballot of five players per league was created for the All-Star Final Vote to determine the 34th. The online balloting were conducted from July 6 through July 10, brett Gardner of the New York Yankees was removed from the ballot on July 9 after he replaced Alex Gordon on the roster due to injury. The winners of the All-Star Final Vote were Mike Moustakas of the Kansas City Royals and Carlos Martinez of the St. Louis Cardinals. The first score of the game occurred in the top of the first inning when Mike Trout of the Angels led off with a run off NL starter Zack Greinke to give the AL a 1–0 lead. The NL tied the score in the bottom of the second when Jhonny Peralta drove in Paul Goldschmidt with an RBI single off AL starter Dallas Keuchel. In the top of the fifth, Prince Fielder, who was hitting for Nelson Cruz. The next batter, Lorenzo Cain, hit an RBI double to score Albert Pujols to make it a 3–1 ballgame, in the bottom of the sixth, Andrew McCutchen homered off Chris Archer to make it a one-run game. In the top of the seventh, Trout walked and was lifted for pinch runner Brock Holt who scored on an RBI double by Manny Machado to give the AL a 4–2 lead, Machado then scored on a sac fly by Fielder to make it a 5–2 game
11.
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
12.
Venezuela
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Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a federal republic located on the northern coast of South America. It is bordered by Colombia on the west, Brazil on the south, Guyana on the east, Venezuela covers 916,445 km2 and has an estimated population of 31775371. The territory now known as Venezuela was colonized by Spain in 1522 amid resistance from indigenous peoples and it gained full independence as a separate country in 1830. During the 19th century, Venezuela suffered political turmoil and autocracy, since 1958, the country has had a series of democratic governments. This new constitution changed the name of the country to República Bolivariana de Venezuela. Venezuela is a presidential republic consisting of 23 states, the Capital District. Venezuela also claims all Guyanese territory west of the Essequibo River, oil was discovered in the early 20th century, and Venezuela has the worlds largest known oil reserves and has been one of the worlds leading exporters of oil. Previously an underdeveloped exporter of commodities such as coffee and cocoa, oil quickly came to dominate exports. The recovery of oil prices in the early 2000s gave Venezuela oil funds not seen since the 1980s, the Venezuelan government then established populist policies that initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending, significantly reducing economic inequality and poverty. However, such policies later became controversial since they destabilized the economy, resulting in hyperinflation, an economic depression. According to the most popular and accepted version, in 1499, the stilt houses in the area of Lake Maracaibo reminded the navigator, Amerigo Vespucci, of the city of Venice, so he named the region Veneziola Piccola Venezia. The name acquired its current spelling as a result of Spanish influence, where the suffix -uela is used as a term, thus. The German language 16th century-term for the area, Klein-Venedig, also means little Venice, however, Martín Fernández de Enciso, a member of the Vespucci and Ojeda crew, gave a different account. In his work Summa de geografía, he states that they found people who called themselves the Veneciuela. Thus, the name Venezuela may have evolved from the native word and it is not known how many people lived in Venezuela before the Spanish conquest, it has been estimated at around one million. In addition to indigenous peoples known today, the population included historic groups such as the Kalina, Auaké, Caquetio, Mariche, the Timoto-Cuica culture was the most complex society in Pre-Columbian Venezuela, with pre-planned permanent villages, surrounded by irrigated, terraced fields. They also stored water in tanks and their houses were made primarily of stone and wood with thatched roofs. They were peaceful, for the most part, and depended on growing crops, regional crops included potatoes and ullucos
13.
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
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Perfect game
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A perfect game is defined by Major League Baseball as a game in which a pitcher pitches a victory that lasts a minimum of nine innings and in which no opposing player reaches a base. Thus, the pitcher cannot allow any hits, walks, hit batsmen, or any opposing player to reach safely for any other reason. The feat has been achieved 23 times in MLB history –21 times since the era began in 1900. A perfect game is also a no-hitter and a shutout, a fielding error that does not allow a batter to reach base, such as a misplayed foul ball, does not spoil a perfect game. Weather-shortened contests in which a team has no baserunners and games in which a team reaches first base only in extra innings do not qualify as perfect games under the present definition. The first confirmed use of the perfect game was in 1908. Although it is possible for multiple pitchers to combine for a game, to date. In Nippon Professional Baseball, no-hitters or perfect games that use two or more pitchers are considered unofficial, the first known use in print of the term perfect game occurred in 1908. Several sources have claimed that the first recorded usage of the perfect game was by Ernest J. Lanigan in his Baseball Cyclopedia. The Chicago Tribune came close to the term in describing Richmonds game in 1880, Richmond was most effectively supported, similarly, in writing up Wards perfect game, the New York Clipper described the perfect play of Providences defense. The definition of game was made to parallel this new definition of the no-hitter. There has been one game in the World Series, thrown by Don Larsen for the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 8,1956. By coincidence, the second Yankee pitcher to throw a game, David Wells in 1998, graduated from the same high school as Larsen - Point Loma High School in San Diego. The most recent perfect game pitched in Major League Baseball was thrown by Félix Hernández of the Seattle Mariners against the Tampa Bay Rays on August 15,2012 and he struck out the side twice and struck out twelve total batters in the 1-0 victory over Tampa Bay. Since the beginning of the 2009 MLB season, it was the time that the Tampa Bay Rays were on the losing end of a perfect game. The only perfect game thrown in a Little League World Series championship was by Angel Macias of the Monterrey, Mexico, the Perfect Game, A Classic Collection of Facts, Figures, Stories and Characters from the Society for American Baseball Research. More Than Merkle, A History of the Best and Most Exciting Baseball Season in Human History, Perfect, The Inside Story of Baseballs Seventeen Perfect Games. The Greatest Game Ever Pitched, Sports Illustrated,27 Men Out, Baseballs Perfect Games
15.
Tampa Bay Rays
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The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball as a member of the American League East division, since its inception, the teams home venue has been Tropicana Field. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays began play in the 1998 Major League Baseball season and their first decade of play, however, was marked by futility, they finished in last place in the American League East in all but the 2004 season, when they finished second-to-last. Since then, the Rays have been consistent contenders, gaining postseason berths in 2010,2011, the Tampa Bay Rays chief rivals are the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Regarding the former, there have been several notable on-field incidents, the Rays also have an intrastate rivalry with the National Leagues Miami Marlins, whom they play in the Citrus Series. Unlike in the case of Green Bay, Wisconsin, there is no municipality known as Tampa Bay, the Tampa Bay in the names of local professional sports franchises denotes that they represent the entire region, not just Tampa or St. Petersburg. Former civic leader and St. Petersburg Times publisher, Jack Lake, the notable influences Lake held in the sport are what led to the serious discussions that changed St. Petersburg from a spring training location to a major league city. He spoke to anyone who would listen about his desire to see the city of St. Petersburg have a Major league baseball team and his colorful direction dominated the mindset in both sports and business circles dating back to 1966. He was said to have the foresight and prominence to make it happen, local leaders made many unsuccessful attempts to acquire a major league baseball team in the 1980s and 1990s. The Florida Suncoast Dome was built in St. Petersburg in 1990 with the purpose of luring a major league team and that same year two separate groups, one in Tampa and another in Sarasota, were seeking to get an expansion team. When MLB announced that it would add two teams for the 1993 season, it was widely assumed that one of the teams would be placed in the Dome. However, in addition to the application from St. Petersburg, the two National League teams were awarded to Denver and Miami instead. In 1992, San Francisco Giants owner Bob Lurie agreed in principle to sell his team to a Tampa Bay-based group of investors led by Vince Naimoli, who would then move the team to St. Petersburg. However, at the 11th hour, MLB owners nixed the move under pressure from San Francisco officials, finally, on March 9,1995, new expansion franchises were awarded to Naimolis Tampa Bay group and a group from Phoenix. The new franchises were scheduled to play in 1998. The Tampa Bay area finally had a team, but the stadium in St. Petersburg was already in need of an upgrade. In 1993, the stadium was renamed the Thunderdome and became the home of the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, after the birth of the Rays, the naming rights were sold to Tropicana Products and $70 million was spent on renovations. The records of the Rays last five seasons in Major League Baseball and these statistics are current through the 2016 MLB season
16.
Safeco Field
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Safeco Field is a retractable roof baseball stadium located in Seattle, Washington. It is located in Seattles SoDo neighborhood, near the terminus of Interstate 90. The first game was played on July 15,1999, during the 1990s, the suitability of the Mariners original stadium—the Kingdome—as a MLB facility came under doubt, and the teams ownership group threatened to relocate the team. In September 1995, King County voters defeated a measure to secure public funding for a new baseball stadium. Shortly thereafter, the Mariners first appearance in the MLB postseason, as a result, the Washington State Legislature approved an alternate means of funding for the stadium with public money. The site for the stadium, just south of the Kingdome, was selected in September 1996, Major non-baseball events that have been held at Safeco Field include the 2001 Seattle Bowl, as well as WrestleMania XIX in 2003 which attracted the stadiums record attendance of 54,097. Naming rights to the stadium are owned by Seattle-based Safeco Insurance, Safeco reportedly paid $40 million to have its name on the stadium for 20 years. The bonds issued to finance Safeco Field were retired on October 1,2011, Safeco Field is located in the SoDo district of downtown Seattle, bounded by Dave Niehaus Way South to the west, and Edgar Martínez Drive S. to the south, S. Royal Brougham Way to the north, and BNSF railroad tracks to the west, the stadium is located near the western terminus of Interstate 90. Parking is available at the parking garage located across Edgar Martínez Drive. Public transportation is available along the streets surrounding the stadium. Additionally, the stadium is convenient to Sounder commuter rail service at nearby King Street Station, Safeco Field is also served by Sound Transits Central Link light rail line and local Metro bus routes via the nearby Stadium Station. On March 30,1994, King County executive Gary Locke appointed a task force to assess the need for a new stadium to replace the rapidly deteriorating Kingdome. Many feared that the Mariners would leave Seattle if a new stadium was not built, in January 1995, the 28-member task force recommended to the King County Council that the public should be involved in the financing of the stadium. The task force concluded that a tax increase of. 01% would be sufficient to fund the stadium. King County held an election in September 1995, asking the public for this sales tax increase. Taxpayer suits opposing the actions and the taxes failed in the courts. On September 9,1996, the site was selected for the new stadium, in response, Mariners ownership held a news conference stating that they would either sell the team, or move the team from Seattle
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Randy Johnson
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Randall David Randy Johnson, nicknamed The Big Unit, is a former American left-handed pitcher who played from 1988 to 2009 for six teams in Major League Baseball. He played primarily for the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks and his 303 career victories rank as the fifth-most by a lefthander in major league history, while his 4,875 strikeouts place him second all-time behind Nolan Ryan and are the most by a lefthander. He holds five of the seven highest single-season strikeout totals by a lefthander in modern history, Johnson won the Cy Young Award five times, second only to Roger Clemens seven, and he is one of two pitchers to win the award four consecutive times. In 1999 he joined Pedro Martínez and Gaylord Perry in the feat of winning the award in both the American and National Leagues. He is also one of five pitchers to pitch no-hitters in both leagues, with his second no-hitter in 2004, he became the oldest pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game. He is one of the few pitchers in history to record a win against all 30 MLB franchises. One of the tallest players in league history at 6 feet 10 inches. He regularly approached – and occasionally exceeded –100 miles per hour during his prime and he also threw a hard, biting slider. Randy won the triple crown in 2002. Johnson was named co-MVP of the 2001 World Series, with three pitching victories, leading the Diamondbacks to a championship in only their fourth year of play. His.646 career winning percentage ranks sixth among lefthanders with at least 200 decisions and he also finished his career first in strikeouts per nine innings pitched, third in hit batsmen, and tenth in fewest hits allowed per nine innings pitched. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2015, his first year of eligibility, Johnson was born in Walnut Creek, California, to Carol Hannah and Rollen Charles Bud Johnson. By the time he entered Livermore High School, he was a star in baseball and basketball, in 1982, as a senior, he struck out 121 batters in 66 innings, and threw a perfect game in his last high school start. He also played on a Bercovich team that assembled top players from throughout California, after high school, he was drafted in 1982 by the Atlanta Braves in the 4th round and offered $50,000 to sign. Instead, Johnson accepted an athletic scholarship to play baseball for the University of Southern California. While at USC, he also played 2 years of basketball and he was a starter at USC under coach Rod Dedeaux, but often exhibited control problems. Johnson was drafted by the Montreal Expos in the round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. After joining the Mariners during the 1989 season, Johnson led the AL in walks for three seasons, and hit batsmen in 1992 and 1993
18.
Jamie Moyer
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Jamie Moyer is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2015, at the time of his final game, he was the oldest player in the major leagues and had the most wins, losses, and strikeouts of any active MLB pitcher. He was likened to Phil Niekro, on April 17,2012, Moyer became the oldest pitcher in MLB history to win a game. On May 16,2012, he broke his own winning-pitcher record and he also holds the Major League record for most home runs allowed with 522. Moyer made the All-Star team in 2003, while with the Mariners, Moyer is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in MLB games in four decades. At the time of his retirement, Moyer had faced 8. 9% of all MLB hitters ever, Moyer attended Souderton Area High School in Souderton, Pennsylvania, where he played baseball, basketball, and golf. Moyer pitched at Saint Josephs University, where in 1984 he set the schools records in wins, with 16, earned run average, with 1.99. In 1997 he became the only Saint Josephs baseball player to have his number, number 10, retired. The Chicago Cubs selected Moyer in the round of the 1984 amateur draft. Moyer was selected a New York–Penn League All-Star in 1984 and he made his major league debut with the Cubs on June 16,1986, against Steve Carlton and the Philadelphia Phillies, and earned his first win. Later that year, on August 16, he threw his first shutout against the Montreal Expos and he was also the starting pitcher for the Cubs on the day that Greg Maddux made his major league debut. In 1987, Moyer ranked tenth in the National League in strikeouts with 147, following his then-best season in 1988, he was traded to the Texas Rangers as part of the 9-player Rafael Palmeiro for Mitch Williams trade. Moyer was on the disabled list with a left shoulder for much of a disappointing 1989 season. 1990 saw Moyer spend time in the bullpen before regaining a spot in the starting rotation, Moyer was released as a free agent after the 1990 season and was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals. He made seven starts for the Cardinals in 1991 before being sent to the minor leagues on May 24, and was released on October 14. In 1992, Moyer went to spring training with the Chicago Cubs, on December 18,1992, Moyer signed with the Baltimore Orioles. Moyer began the 1993 season in the Oriole minor leagues, before being called up on May 30 and he tied his career-high total in wins with 12 and a new career-low ERA of 3.43. The strike-shortened 1994 season was disappointing for him, but he was third on the staff in innings pitched, in 1995, Moyer again found himself in the Baltimore bullpen, but worked his way back into the starting rotation
19.
Maracaibo
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Maracaibo is a city and municipality in northwestern Venezuela, on the western shore of the strait that connects Lake Maracaibo to the Gulf of Venezuela. It is the second-largest city in the country and is the capital of the state of Zulia, the population of the city is approximately 1,495,200 with the metropolitan area estimated at 2,108,404 as of 2010. Maracaibo is nicknamed La Tierra del Sol Amada, the name Maracaibo is said to come from the brave cacique Mara, a young native who valiantly resisted the Spaniards and died fighting them. Legend says that when Mara fell, the Indians shouted Mara kayó, thus originating the city name --although it would be strange for them to shout in Spanish. Other historians say that the first name of land in the local language was Maara-iwo meaning Place where serpents abound. The first indigenous settlements were of Arawak and Carib origin, around the main group were the Añu tribe who built rows of stilt houses all over the northern riviera of the Lake Maracaibo. The first Europeans arrived in 1499, the city was founded three times, the first time was during the Klein-Venedig period, when the Welser bankers of Augsburg received a concession over Venezuela Province from Charles I. of Spain. In August 1529 the German Ambrosius Ehinger made his first expedition to Lake Maracaibo which was opposed by the indigenous Coquivacoa. After winning a series of battles, he founded the settlement on 8 September 1529. Ehinger named the settlement New Nuremberg and the lake after the valiant chieftain Mara of the Coquivacoa, the city was renamed Maracaibo after the Spanish took possession. The lack of activity in the zone made Nikolaus Federmann evacuate the village in 1535 and move its population to Santa Marta near the capital of Venezuela Province. A second attempt by Captain Alonso Pacheco in 1569 suffered a setback when the city had to be evacuated in 1573 due to ferocious attacks by native local tribes. Nueva Zamora comes from Mazariegos place of birth, Zamora, in Spain, since its definite foundation, the town began to develop as a whole. It is based on the side of Lake Maracaibo, the dominant feature of the oil-rich Maracaibo Basin. Favoured by prevailing winds and a harbour, the city is located on the shores of the lake where the narrows. The Dutch corsair Enrique de Gerard plundered Maracaibo in 1614, in 1667, lOlonnais with a fleet of eight ships and a crew of six hundred pirates sacked Maracaibo and Gibraltar. En route, lOlonnais crossed paths with a Spanish treasure ship, a few weeks later, when he attempted to sail out of the lake, Morgan found an occupied fort blocking the inlet to the Caribbean, along with three Spanish ships. These were the Magdalena, the San Luis, and the Soledad and he destroyed the Magdalena and burned the San Luis by sending a dummy ship full of gunpowder to explode near them, after which the crew of the Soledad surrendered
20.
New York Yankees
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The Essendon Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League, the sports premier competition. Formed in 1871 as a club and playing as a senior club since 1878. It is historically associated with Essendon, a suburb in the north-west of Melbourne, dyson Heppell is the current team captain. A founding member club of both the Victorian Football Association, in 1877, and the Victorian Football League, in 1896, the club claims to have over at least one million supporters Australia wide. Essendon has won 16 VFL/AFL premierships which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the competition, the club was founded by members of the Royal Agricultural Society, the Melbourne Hunt Club and the Victorian Woolbrokers. The Essendon Football Club is thought to have formed in 1872 at a meeting it the home of a well-known brewery family, the McCrackens, whose Ascot Vale property hosted a team of local junior players. Robert McCracken, the owner of several city hotels, was the founder and first president of the Essendon club and his son, Alex, Alex would later become president of the newly formed VFL. Alexs cousin, Collier, who had played with Melbourne, was the teams first captain. The club played its first recorded match against the Carlton second twenty on 7 June 1873, Essendon played 13 matches in its first season, winning seven, with four draws and losing two. The club was one of the junior members of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. During its early years in the Association, Essendon played its matches at Flemington Hill. In 1878, Essendon played in the first match on what would be considered by modern standards to be a field at Flemington Hill. In 1879 Essendon played Melbourne in one of the earliest night matches recorded when the ball was painted white, in 1883 the team played four matches in Adelaide. In 1891 Essendon won their first VFA premiership, which they repeated in 1892,1893 and 1894, one of the clubs greatest players, Albert Thurgood played for the club during this period. Essendon was undefeated in the 1893 season, at the end of the 1896 season Essendon along with seven other clubs formed the Victorian Football League. Essendons first VFL game was in 1897 was against Geelong at Corio Oval in Geelong, Essendon won its first VFL premiership by winning the 1897 VFL finals series. Essendon again won the premiership in 1901, defeating Collingwood in the Grand Final, the club won successive premierships in 1911 and 1912 over Collingwood and South Melbourne respectively. The nickname first appeared in print in the local North Melbourne Advertiser in 1889 and it was known firstly as Essendon Town and, after 1905, as Essendon
21.
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
22.
Everett AquaSox
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The Everett AquaSox are a Minor League Baseball team in Everett, Washington, in the short-season Class A Northwest League. The team began play in 1984 as the Everett Giants, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, eleven years later, the Everett Giants and Bellingham Mariners switched cities for the 1995 season, and the Seattle Mariners affiliate was renamed the Everett AquaSox. One of the logos, used on road caps and jerseys, is based on the trident insignia used by the Mariners in the early 1980s. Previously, the mascot for the Everett Giants was a giant hot dog named Frank, in 2010, Everett won its first Northwest League championship as the AquaSox, although they had also won the league championship in 1985 as the Giants. The AquaSox play home games at Everett Memorial Stadium, opened 33 years ago in 1984, the manager in 2014 was Dave Valle, a former catcher with the Seattle Mariners. A plaque on the marks the site just outside the left field wall at Everett Memorial Stadium. 1985, Defeated Eugene 1-0 to win championship,1987, Lost to Spokane 2-1 in finals. 2002, Lost to Boise 3-0 in finals,2010, Defeated Vancouver 2-1 in semifinals, defeated Spokane 2-1 to win championship. 2012, Lost to Vancouver 2-0 in semifinals,2013, Lost to Vancouver 2-0 in semifinals. 2015, Lost to Tri-City 2-0 in semifinals,2016, Lost to Eugene 2-1 in finals
23.
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers
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The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers are a minor league baseball team of the Midwest League, and the Class A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. The team is located in Grand Chute, Wisconsin, just outside of Appleton, and are named for the timber rattlesnake, the team plays its home games at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium, which opened in 1995 and seats 5,170 fans. The Timber Rattlers have won nine championships, most recently in 2012. World Series-winning Managers Earl Weaver and Jack McKeon were Managers at Appleton, Baseball Hall of Fame members Pat Gillick, Earl Weaver, and Goose Gossage played for Appleton. Five future Cy Young Award winners and three Most Valuable Player recipients were on Appleton/Wisconsin rosters, the Papermakers had played in the Wisconsin–Illinois League before starting the franchise again decades later in the Wisconsin State League. The Foxes joined the Midwest League in 1962 after the Three-I League disbanded, with the move, the Foxes took the new name of Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in an effort to attract fans outside the immediate Appleton/Fox Cities area. The franchise set its attendance record of 253,240 in 2009. The Timber Rattlers are a club governed by Appleton Baseball Club. Appleton Baseball Club has a 12-person board of directors and it has 168 active shareholders and 347 shares as of September 2008. Appleton, Wisconsin in the Midwest League, Appleton Baseball Hall of Fame inductees. Official Timber Rattlers website Fox Cities Stadium Photos, http, //digitalballparks. com/Midwest/FoxCities. html Goodland Field Photos, http, //www. digitalballparks. com/Midwest/Goodland. html
24.
All-Star Futures Game
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The All-Star Futures Game is an annual baseball exhibition game hosted by Major League Baseball. Started in 1999, a team of minor league prospects from the United States. It is played as part of the festivities of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, early versions of the game created marginal interest in the baseball community, but the event has drawn significance each successive year. Rosters for the Futures Game are selected by Baseball America magazine, in conjunction with MLB and all 30 major league teams. Every organization is represented, with no more than two players from any organization, and 25 players per team, divided into U. S. and World teams based on place of birth. Players born in Puerto Rico are part of the World team despite being U. S. citizens by birth, because that territory has its own baseball federation. Games last nine innings, with up to two extra innings available to settle a tie after playing all regulation innings, if after 11 innings total, a tie still remains, pitchers can pitch up to three outs. Rosters are selected by a joint committee consisting of Major League Baseball, MLB. com, any player selected to the All-Star Futures Game but promoted to the majors prior to the game is replaced. Two major changes took place in the 2008 game, For the first time, the game lasted nine innings in regulation, rather than seven. Note, For the award winners, see the MVP column in the Results section, each year, an award is presented to the games most valuable player. * This award should not be confused with the Larry Doby Legacy Award, All-Star Futures Game all-time roster Major League Baseball Baseball America
25.
Inland Empire 66ers
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The Inland Empire 66ers are a minor league baseball team in San Bernardino, California, United States. They are the Class A – Advanced affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the 66ers play home games at San Manuel Stadium. The 66ers began when the Salinas Spurs moved to San Bernardino, the team was bought by Elmore Sports Group soon afterwards. The team originally played at Fiscalini Field until 1996 when the team moved to San Bernardino Stadium, nicknamed The Ranch in concert with the new name. Later, the stadium was re-christened San Manuel Stadium sponsored by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians with their casino. The team name was changed to the teams current name. In September 2006, the 66ers announced that it was renewing its affiliation with the Los Angeles Dodgers beginning in the 2007 season and that affiliation would last through the end of the 2010 season. In September 2010, the 66ers announced they have agreed to an affiliation with the Anaheim Angels to be the MLB clubs minor league High A ball affiliate. The team was unique for having a National Public Radio affiliate, KVCR-FM. However, in 2008 the team changed its station to commercial talk station KCAA, San Bernardino Spirit San Bernardino Stampede Inland Empire 66ers Inland Empire 66ers Official website
26.
California League
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The California League is a Minor League Baseball league which operates throughout California. It is classified at the Class A-Advanced, three steps below Major League Baseball, most players reach this level in their third or fourth year of professional play. All of the current teams are playing in stadiums that have built or extensively renovated since 1990. The League is divided into a Northern Division and a Southern Division, the California League will contract from ten to eight teams in the 2017 season as the Bakersfield Blaze and the High Desert Mavericks will cease operations. The first organized California League lasted from 1887–1889, then followed in 1891, and 1893. This led to differences in the quality of teams competing with each other. In 1907, the San Francisco team was 3-34, while later in 1908 San Francisco was 9-67, Oakland and San Francisco competed in every year of these various state leagues, with San Francisco having two teams during 1887-88. The current California League was founded in 1941, and included teams in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and it reorganized and came back in 1946, adding teams in Visalia, San Jose, and Ventura by 1947. Further east, Reno, Nevada joined the league in 1955 with the movement of the old Channel Cities Oilers in Santa Barbara, modesto has hosted a California League team longer than any other city, hosting a team in all but two of the CLs 65 seasons. There were 15 inductees in 2016, Baseball awards#California League California League web site
27.
San Antonio Missions
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The San Antonio Missions are a minor league baseball team based in San Antonio, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres major-league club, the Missions play in Nelson W. Wolff Municipal Stadium, located in San Antonio. Opened in 1994, the seats over 6,200 fans. The San Antonio Missions logo features famous local attraction the Alamo, the teams official mascot is Ballapeño, a baseballing jalapeño. San Antonio was home for one of the members of the Texas League back in 1888. Since that inaugural season the town has hosted a number of Texas League franchises, Baseball was absent only a few of the early years and again when World War II occupied most would-be ballplayers between 1943 and 1945. Initially the team went by the names Missionaries, Gentlemen and Bronchos—a Spanish twist on the name Broncos, during these years, nearly 250 players reached the Major Leagues. The current Missions moniker was coined with the teams first Major League affiliation and they remained a Browns affiliate through the Texas Leagues temporary demise after the 1942 season due to World War II and until 1959, when they struck up a partnership with the Chicago Cubs. While with the Browns/Orioles, the team saw well over 100 players reach the Majors, including Hall-of-Famers Willard Brown, the Missions name was used for the teams affiliated with the Cubs, through 1962. In just four years in the Cubs’ system, more than 50 alumni reached the Major Leagues—including Ron Santo, the Missions changed their name to the Bullets in 1963, when the team joined the new Houston Colt. 45s organization. The idea behind the name was that the prospects would be the bullets to the gun of the. 45s team. The Bullets boasted 30 prospects that would go on to see time in the Bigs, including Hall-of-Famer Joe Morgan, in 1965 the San Antonio franchise moved to Amarillo. Baseball returned to San Antonio for the 1968 season, again taking on the Missions name, again playing as a Cubs affiliate, another 42 future Big Leaguers took the field over a four-year stretch. After the 1971 season the team packed up again and moved to Midland, Texas, with the affiliation change to the Brewers, the franchise took the parent clubs nickname—which it kept despite changes in affiliation to the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers. The Brewers nickname fit the city almost as well as it fit their single-season affiliate in Milwaukee, the future Big Leaguers continued to pour onto the field through the affiliation changes, and more than 30 San Antonio Brewers made it to the top. Among them was Hall-of-Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, an Indians farmhand who tore through the Texas League in 1974, the team became the San Antonio Dodgers with a change in affiliation to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977. While the franchise kept the Dodger moniker for eleven seasons, locals referred to them occasionally as the Missions. The Dodgers responded by changing their nickname back to Missions for the 1988 season
28.
Joe Mauer
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Joseph Joe Patrick Mauer is an American professional baseball player for the Minnesota Twins. He has played as a catcher, designated hitter, and first baseman for the Twins in Major League Baseball and he is the only catcher in MLB history to win three batting titles, and the only catcher to ever win a batting title in the American League. He also won three consecutive Gold Glove awards, and the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player Award, Mauer played football, basketball, and baseball for St. Mauer attended the high school as Baseball Hall of Famer and former Milwaukee Brewer Paul Molitor who is his current manager. Molitor has said that Mauer has the best swing he had ever seen, jim ONeill, Mauers baseball coach at Cretin-Derham Hall, said his former student has been groomed for this job since he was a little boy. Mauers dad, Jake, created a contraption for Joe he later named the Quickswing, the device dropped balls down a tube from eye level and released them at waist level. Mauer had been asked to leave his T-ball league at the age of four, another guy that came from Cretin-Derham Hall, Paul Molitor, was very similar, had a good short swing, ONeill said. And theyre both able to wait on the ball so long because they dont have the big swing, like anything, you keep simple and keep it small or short, theres not a lot of holes in it and not a lot of room for errors. A stand-out in baseball, Mauer struck out once during his four-year high school career. Years later, Mauer laughingly told an interviewer, I can remember the time I did strike out and it was junior year, and it was in the state tournament. I came back to the bench and everybody thought something was wrong with me, Mauers high school batting average exceeded.500 every year. He also set a Minnesota high school record and tied the national preps mark by hitting a home run in seven consecutive games, Mauer caught for the Team USA Junior National team from 1998 to 2000 and hit.595 during his final year on the team. He was voted best hitter at the World Junior Baseball Championship in Canada in 2000, in 2001, Mauer was voted the United States District V Player of the Year. Mauer averaged more than 20 points a game as a point guard for Cretin-Derham Hall and he was also named to the All-State team during his final two years on Cretin-Derhams basketball team. Mauer had an accomplished high school football career. In 2000, he appeared in the Faces in the Crowd section in Sports Illustrated, during his senior season as the Raiders quarterback, Mauer completed 178 of 269 passes, for 3,022 yards,41 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. S. Mauer was also named National High School Quarterback of the Year in 2000 by The National Quarterback Club, after committing to play football at Florida State University, Mauer ultimately decided instead to enter the Major League Baseball Draft. Mauer was selected by the Twins as the first overall pick of the 2001 draft, ahead of college pitcher Mark Prior, Mauer was part of the United States roster at the 2003 All-Star Futures Game at U. S
29.
Tacoma Rainiers
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The Tacoma Rainiers are a Minor League Baseball team that plays in the Pacific Coast League and is the Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseballs Seattle Mariners. A team located in Tacoma, Washington has been in the PCL every year since 1960, the Rainiers are based only 26 miles south of Seattle, the shortest distance between a Triple-A team and its major-league parent. Tacomas first team in the PCL was the Tacoma Tigers, who joined the league in 1904, the 1904 Tigers won Tacomas first PCL pennant, finishing first in both halves of the split season schedule, seven games over the runner-up Los Angeles Angels. The 1905 Tigers won the championship, then moved back to Sacramento, finishing out the season as the Sacramento Solons. The PCL would not return to Tacoma for another 55 years, the current PCL franchise was founded in 1960 when the Phoenix Giants, an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, moved to Tacoma and became the Tacoma Giants. The Giants were the first team to play at brand-new Cheney Stadium, the Giants first win at Cheney Stadium came on April 16, 1960—an 11–0 victory over Portland in game two of a doubleheader. Future National Baseball Hall Of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal worked the victory, the 1961 iteration of the club posted a 97–57 record under manager Red Davis, who steered a team led by Gaylord Perry, Ron Herbel, Eddie Fisher, and Dick Phillips. Following a season in which he hit.264 with 16 home runs and 98 RBI, the club played as a Cubs affiliate for six season, compiling a 410–466 record. The Tacoma Cubs were managed by Whitey Lockman for their first four seasons, the 1969 Cubs pitching staff compiled a 3.01 team ERA, and bested Eugene for the league championship 3–2 in a best-of-five series. Following the 1971 season, the Chicago Cubs left town, through six seasons as a Twins affiliate, Tacoma compiled a 422-441 record with no league championships. During the Twins era, infielder Rick Renick slugged his way to 72 home runs, in the midst of a 1977 season in which he hit. For one season, the Tacoma franchise found themselves affiliated with the New York Yankees, after the 1978 PCL Championship series with Albuquerque was cancelled due to rain, Tacoma and Albuquerque were named PCL Co-Champions. Following an affiliation change to the Cleveland Indians, a local contest was held and long-time Tacoma resident, Gary W. Grip won with his entry, Grip drew his inspiration for the name from the many tugboats in the Tacoma waters. The franchise was renamed the Tacoma Tugs, marking the first time the nickname did not align with its major league club. After one season as the Tugs, the returned to the Tigers nickname in 1980. The team finished with identical records in both years as a Cleveland affiliate, going 74–73 in 1979, and 74–74 in 1980. Following their brief stints with the Yankees and Indians, the team moved their affiliation to the Oakland As, while the affiliation with Oakland provided five playoffs appearances for Tacoma fans, it produced no league championships. Future American League Rookies of the Year Walt Weiss, Jose Canseco, scott Brosious, Tacomas current hitting coach, also played for Tacoma during the Oakland era
30.
Pacific Coast League
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The Pacific Coast League is a Minor League Baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern, and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball and it is officially named the Pacific Coast League of Professional Baseball Clubs, Inc. The PCL maintains its headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, during the first half of the 20th century, the Pacific Coast League developed into one of the premier regional baseball leagues. With no major league baseball team existing west of St. Louis, although it was never recognized as a true major league, its quality of play was considered very high. During 1945 the league voted to become a major league, some players made a career out of the minor leagues. One of the better known was Frank Shellenback, whose Major League pitching career was brief, many former major-league players came to the PCL to finish their careers after their time in the majors had ended. The mild climate of the West Coast, especially California, allowed the league to play longer seasons, sometimes starting in late February and this allowed players to hone their skills, earn an extra month or two of pay, and reduce the need to find off-season work. The longer playing season also allowed for games on the schedule. Teams sometimes played more than 200 games in a single season, during the 1905 season the San Francisco Seals set the all-time PCL record by playing 230 games. Even just prior to the 1958 reshuffling, the league was playing 170–180 games per season, one consequence of such lengthy seasons was that a number of the all-time minor-league records for season statistical totals are held by players from the PCL. In 1952, the PCL became the minor league in history to be given the Open classification. This limited the rights of major clubs to draft players from the PCL. The shift to the Open classification came just as minor league teams from coast to coast suffered a drop in attendance. The hammer blow to the PCLs major league dreams came in 1958, when the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, as a result, three of the PCLs flagship teams were immediately forced to relocate to smaller markets. Additionally, the PCL lost customers to the league teams which now occupied the same territory. The league never recovered from these blows, the Pacific Coast League reverted to Triple-A classification in 1958, and soon diminished in the public eye to nothing more than another minor league. The Oakland Oaks had moved to Canada two years before the arrival of the Giants, the San Diego Padres and Seattle Rainiers were displaced by Major League teams in 1969, but by this time the PCLs decline was already far advanced. The league now stretches from Western Washington to Middle Tennessee, despite its name, the league now has as many teams east of the Mississippi as it does near the Pacific coast
31.
Disabled list
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In Major League Baseball, the disabled list is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Players are placed on either the 10-day or the 60-day disabled list, a player may be shifted from the 10-day to the 60-day DL at any time, but not vice versa. The rule about rejoining the team only applies to active duty, placing a player on the disabled list opens a spot on the active roster. Another player from the leagues, free agent pool, a traded player. This allows a team to avoid being penalized because it avoids the disadvantage of playing with a reduced roster, retroactive placement may be made at most 10 days after the time of injury. Starting with the 2011 season, Major League Baseball instituted a new disabled list, the idea is to prevent long-term brain damage which may take up to 7 days by current standards. If a player is not activated from the concussion DL after those 7 days have passed, also in 2011, Major League Baseball instituted a paternity list. This allows a team to replace a player who is an expectant father for 1–3 days on the roster to be available for the birth of his child. A player may be placed on the bereavement list upon attending to an ill member in the players immediate family or to a death in the family. The bereavement list may span from a minimum of three to a maximum of seven games, umpirings bereavement list for death in the immediate family may span up to a full season. Minor League Baseball uses a 7-day disabled list for all injuries, players who are on the 40-man roster but get hurt in the minor leagues are placed on the minor league DL, but not on the major league DL. The freed-up roster spot can be valuable, leading to occasional creative use of disabled lists by MLB teams. There are rules against blatantly gaming the system in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and the league. A team may keep a player on the roster but keep him listed as day-to-day to indicate that the medical staff is unable to determine when the player can resume normal playing activities again. Players recovering from an injury may appear in a number of minor league games while still on the disabled list in order to prepare for reactivation. Non-pitchers may stay in the minor league club for up to 20 days, the categories and variety of disabled lists have changed numerous times over the years. The 15-day disabled list was introduced in 1966, joining 10-day, 21-day and 30-day options, the 10-day disabled list was dropped in 1984 but restored for the 2017 season, and the 21-day and 30-day options were dropped in 1990 with the introduction of the 60-day disabled list
32.
Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year Award
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The Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best rookie player in minor league baseballs Pacific Coast League. Managers from the 16 Pacific Coast League teams and media representatives in each city across the league vote for the winner of the award, in 1998, Jeremy Giambi won the first ever Pacific Coast League Rookie of the Year Award. Second basemen, with 4 winners, have won the most among infielders, followed by first basemen and shortstops, one player who won the award was a pitcher. Nine outfielders have won the award, the most of any position, four were center fielders, three were left fielders, and two were right fielders. General Pacific Coast League Rookies of the Year, Pacific Coast League Special Award Winners
33.
Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year Award
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The Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year Award is an annual award given to the best pitcher in minor league baseballs Pacific Coast League. Managers from the 16 Pacific Coast League teams and media representatives in each city across the league vote for the winner of the award, from 1927 to 2000, PCL pitchers were eligible to win the Most Valuable Player Award as no award was designated for pitchers. A total of 10 pitchers have won the MVP Award, in 2001, Denny Stark won the first ever Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Year Award. General Pacific Coast League Pitchers of the Year, Pacific Coast League Special Award Winners
34.
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
35.
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
36.
Double (baseball)
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To hit many doubles, one must have decent hitting skill and power, it also helps to run well enough to beat an outfield throw. Doubles typically drive in runs from base, second base. When total bases and slugging percentages are calculated, the two is used for the calculation. The all-time leader in doubles is Tris Speaker, with 792, a two-base hit awarded by an umpire when a batted ball is hit fairly and bounces out of play is referred to as a ground rule double. The batter is awarded second base and any runners advance two bases from the base occupied at the time of the pitch. Prior to 1931, such hits were considered home runs, a two-base hit awarded because the batter hit into a special situation defined in the ground rules is also defined as a ground rule double. An example of this occurs where the rules of Chicagos Wrigley Field award a ground rule if a batted ball is lost in the vines on the outfield bleacher wall. The rules of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis awarded a ground rule if the ball became stuck in its Teflon ceiling
