250 Hit Club

Batters with at least 250 hits in a single season.

 

Player            Hits         Year

Hornsby........... 250........ 1922

Klein................ 250........ 1930

O'Doul............. 254........ 1929

Simmons......... 253........ 1925

Sisler............... 257........ 1920

Suzuki............. 262........ 2004

Terry................ 254........ 1930

 

ICHIRO SUZUKI [Wiki] finished his career tied with Ty Cobb on the all-time home run list, with 117 HR. Ichiro won a Gold Glove Award in each of his first ten seasons, 2001-2010. He went on a hit streak of 20 or more games seven times in his career. George Sisler also had 7 such streaks. Willie Keeler, Ty Cobb and Pete Rose had 8 each. He is the only player to hit an inside-the-park home run in a major league All-Star game, on 10-Jul-2007 at AT&T Park In San Francisco. He was voted MVP of that game.

 

BILL TERRY [SABR Bio] was the last first baseman to hit twenty triples in a season, in 1931. Led the majors. Counterintuitively, he was the first player to have 600+ at-bats in a season without a stolen base. In 1934 602 AB. He was the first Hall of Famer to hit a grand slam on Opening Day, on 12-Apr-1927. He drove in Hall of Famers Edd Roush and Rogers Hornsby as well as LF Ty Tyson ahead of himself on that blast. Terry also finished the day a triple short of the cycle (Tyson had one that day, but he wasn’t giving it up).

 

GEORGE SISLER  [SABR Bio] the one-time Washington Senator’s final career pitching victory was a 1-0 shutout over Walter Johnson. Won on 17-Sep-1916 Sisler’s only career shutout in his 24-game MLB pitching career. He finished 5-6 with a sparkling 2.35 ERA. Sisler played for WSH for 20 games in 1928. As a qualifying batter, he owns the second-highest single-season American League batting average of the 20th century. Hit .420 in 1922 (Nap Lajoie’s .426 in 1901 being the gold standard). In his fifteen-year career in the majors, he received MVP votes only once—the year he won it - MVP 1922  In three successive season, he hit the exact same number of triples, once leading the majors, once leading the league, once leading his team. Playing for SLB, he hit 18 3B in 1920, 18 3B in 1921 & 18 3B in 1922.

 

CHUCK KLEIN [SABR Bio] is tied with Barry Bonds for the most National League extra-base hits in a season - 107 XBH in 1930 wth 59 doubles, eight triples, and 40 home runs. Klein was the first outfielder to hit four home runs in a game - 4 HR on 10-Jul-1936. Ed Delahanty, in Cooperstown as a LF and played 73% of his career G as an OF, was playing 1B on 13-July-1896 when he hit 4 HRs. Klein won an MVP, placing second in the voting the year prior and the year following - NL MVP 1932; 2nd in 1931 (behind Frankie Frisch) & 1933 (behind Carl Hubbell).

 

LEFTY O’DOUL [SABR Bio] holds the major league record for most runs allowed by a left-handed relief pitcher in a single appearance. He debuted in the majors as a pitcher and had a disastrous day 7-Jul-1923. Pitching for the Red Sox, he gave up 16 runs in just 3 innings of work. The fielding behind him was most of the problem: Only three of the runs were earned, but his 11 hits and eight walks allowed certainly didn’t help much either. He led the majors in hitting as a Phillie and as a Dodger. Hit .398 in 1929 for PHI. Hit .368 in 1932 for BRO. He was born in San Francisco. The SABR chapter in that area (the Lefty O’Doul Chapter) frequently meets at “Lefty” O’Doul’s at 145 Jefferson Street. Twice he finished in the top three in National League Most Valuable Player voting. Finished 2nd in MVP voting in 1929 then 3rd in 1932.

 

The supposed real story of the first Thanksgiving, shared by Aunt Corrine:

 

http://www.berkeleyplantation.com/first-thanksgiving.html

 

Busy here at work, despite working six hours on Friday. It’s the last day of the month.

 

Saturday I watched KY@FL, Pitt@Clemson, and GA@SC. TV too complicated to find Duke@GT. I was able to follow Duke@GT football on my phone. Same with the two basketball upsets GeorgiaState@GT and Mercer@GT. Could be a long year for the Jackets. Much easier to find games on my TV at home. Later we had on Bears@Packers. Last night I watched Seinfeld on last Thursday night’s Tonight Show. Peyton Manning has new episodes of his show “Peyton’s Places” out, that I need to watch.

 

Got up Sunday and packed the car. Didn’t leave until almost 11 am. Stopped in Augusta at Ceil’s store. While she was there I got gas and McDonalds. Traffic not too bad except on I-20 just before 285. Made it home by 5 pm. Watched a little Saints@Denver and KC@Tampa. Grits and eggs for supper.

 

When writing, be mindful about the tone you are projecting. Tone is how attitude and emotion are expressed in writing. Ask how do you feel about what you are writing about? What are you trying to accomplish? Consider what you want your reader to feel - Intent and Empathy. Tools to use: vocabulary finding the right word for what you’re trying to communicate, and style – formal vs informal. Read your words out loud: Helps to find phrases that may trip up your reader. Reread your writing to look for mistakes. Reread to make sure the message will be received as intended. Avoid contractions or fragments.

 

Phil Mickelson’s 5 best, funniest lines from The Match: Champions for Change

 

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__golf.com_news_phil-2Dmickelson-2D5-2Dfunniest-2Dlines-2Dmatch_-3Futm-5Fcampaign-3Dforecast-26utm-5Fsource-3Dgolf.com-26utm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fcontent-3D-257Bdate-2528-26utm-5Fterm-3DGOLFcom-2520Top-2520Stories-2520Newsletter&d=DwIFAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=rVOCWi_mGcpwYcQc9v2KWBaNN0zk4zOIp3usxHuc3UQ&s=-izLDtk7dTDkSXchnXXhdwbH95As0MvWs0nwWF3NcNE&e=  

 

9 outrageous Charles Barkley golf stories you need to know

 

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__golf.com_news_charles-2Dbarkley-2Doutrageous-2Dgolf-2Dstories_-3Futm-5Fcampaign-3Dforecast-26utm-5Fsource-3Dgolf.com-26utm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fcontent-3D-257Bdate-2528-26utm-5Fterm-3DGOLFcom-2520Top-2520Stories-2520Newsletter&d=DwIFAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=J20_Pqz8aBfGU1oeXAGAXi5Ul-jxfL9pqI4Fnol2vCE&s=aiP5RTIAx9bSF7POZWJYtkIB0GijWvQ9lUcz6HqpX_w&e=  

 

Rickie Fowler: Why Michael Jordan is so hard to beat at MJ's new course

 

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__golf.com_news_rickie-2Dfowler-2Dmichael-2Djordan-2Dbeat-2Dnew-2Dcourse-2Dgrove_&d=DwICAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=B_2YMui_w8UnsMH1VeYG7agnpzIomcRSuCwm3Un5NF8&s=QDbGch0DxSsyI1eOei7__tK2q3Ib2rWJhTR96xCxw_g&e=  

 

Twelve subtle mistakes in film and TV golf scenes that only golfers would notice

 

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__golf.com_lifestyle_mistakes-2Dfilm-2Dtv-2Dgolf-2Dscenes-2Donly-2Dgolfer-2Dnotice_-3Futm-5Fcampaign-3Dforecast-26utm-5Fsource-3Dgolf.com-26utm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fcontent-3D-257Bdate-2528-26utm-5Fterm-3DGOLFcom-2520Top-2520Stories-2520Newsletter&d=DwIFAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=te007NObYBDh_lD_4jc2GP2L2frrWGppJ2aBFW3A-ik&s=Za5s5c5xYtUOEBdLAamERUL9pHqkOz5htcAZAPS8U_M&e=  

 

College Football Recap

JT Daniels not quite as sharp against SC, but good enough. Looks like he has some NFL "experts" fooled. He's good, but was I the only one to see numerous balls underthrown in both games? Still, in Athens everyone is sporting the JT Daniels part down the middle haircut - even the girls. Starting to look a little like David Brenner.

Running game was back. UGA ended the game with a 9 minute drive, electing to run out the clock instead of scoring another TD. Seemed like every call and bounce went the Gamecocks way, but it didn't help. Dawg defense still gave up a ton of yards, bending but not breaking. SC converted on 3rd & 4th down at will, despite missing four key players and starting a freshman QB.

Tech beat Duke. Evidently this was such a big deal that they carried their coach off the field. And why is it on social media only 10% of the game photos are the players playing football, but 90% of the photos are players celebrating?

Trevor Lawrence took back the Heisman lead, passing for over 400 yards and rushing for a few as well. Lawrence makes the game look easy, playing at a much higher level than most other players. Though Trevor has another season of eligibility remaining, he graduates next month. He ran down the field alone, ahead of the team, and was honored with the seniors - the first class in Clemson history to go undefeated at home all four years. Senior Will Swinney, Dabo's son, did not run down the hill with the seniors, instead opting to return next season to play out his last season of egibility. Will's brother broke his collarbone this week during practice.

Vandy lost their offense vs Mizzou. Their new kicker didn't get to score, and only kicked off once. Next week the Commodores travel to Athens.

Michigan State usually wears good looking uniforms. Not this week. Northwestern wore their sweet striped jerseys.

With 30 seconds remaining in the first half Florida trailed Kentucky 10-7. Then the Wildcats gave up a punt return TD, and that was all she wrote.

0-5 Penn State looked good against lowly Michigan. Ohio State's game against powerhouse Illinois was cancelled, ending the Heisman hopes of Justin Fields.

Bama rolled against Auburn, without Saban on the sidelines. Bama looks hard to beat.

#2 Notre Dame struggled to beat lowly UNC.

Denver Broncos are without all four QB's Sunday against the Saints.

Finally: The 2020 Peachtree Road Race

 

Saturday November 28, 2020. I ran finally the Peachtree Road Race this morning. The ”virtual” Peachtree Road Race. Not in Atlanta, but in Jefferson South Carolina. The original July 4 race was moved to Thanksgiving, then changed to a virtual race. Then the window to run was expanded from one day to the entire weekend.

With large family meals on Thursday and Friday, I waited until Saturday morning to run. Temperatures have been unseasonably warm, and a brief rain shower passed through by ten. I pulled on a short sleeve black Nike dri-fit tee over my white long sleeve Nike dri-fit tee, dri fit Under Armour shorts, my blue Hoka Bondi running shoes, and white Sonic the Hedgehog socks. Also my black Macon Bacon cap. Normally I don’t wear a cap to run, but it was still a little chilly (55 degrees) and wet. I also wore my glasses. I usually don’t, but wanted to be able to operate the app, check my heartrate, and make sure of the race distance and time.

At 10:18 am I activated the PTRR app on my phone, then my Apple Watch, and I was off. Down the driveway and north on North Lee Street for a block, then east, then south on the easternmost street in the Jefferson checkboard of streets. Crossed the main east west highway and continued south, then west up the hill back to Lee Street, Right on Lee back north, past the house, following Lee Street as it curved left, up to Main Street.

My first mile was my fastest, despite stopping to snap a picture of the water tower. I headed south on Main through the heart of downtown, snapping pictures. Above: downtown.

Above: First Baptist Church, where we got married.

Below: Mr. Miller’s old grocery store. 

Below: the Golden Nugget restaurant, where we've eaten plenty a meal over the years. Should’ve snapped a picture of Honey’s gas station, but I hurried past since the station was probably full of local men discussing the issues of the day.

Turned right at the Methodist church, then continued to make right and left and right turns, running/walking on just about every street in town. I slowly made my way from east Jefferson to the west side of town.

Snapped a picture of Bette Ingram’s house (above), where we’d had a wedding shower back in the day. Bette passed away a couple of month's ago, and this week her sons had stopped by to go through things. The morning clouds were clearing, and the cap kept the sun out of my eyes. Looped around the old ball field, now given over to weeds.

Passed a stand of young pine trees, then realized they were growing in and around the remains of an old metal grandstand. 

From there the road turned back left through a picturesque wood, back to the main road. I enjoyed this loop so much that toward the end of my 6.2 miles, needing extra ground to cover I made the same loop again. In general I tried not to retrace my steps, but there were a couple of questions.

Spied a tiny black kitten checking me out, so I stopped to say hello. Not much traffic out on the Jefferson streets, allowing me to run on the most level side of the street. Waved hello to most of of the drivers passing by. Passed one walker on Main Street just north of downtown. Said hello to the one lady sitting out on her front porch. Quite a change from the thousands lining the six miles of the Peachtree. 

I didn’t listen to music, book, or podcast during my run. That’s not my thing. I’d rather listen to nature (and for approaching cars). Plenty of birds, including the huge buzzards - first watching from the water tower, and later circling something in the distance. Lots of barking dogs, though none threatened my life.

 

Plenty of time to think, not only on what’s going on, but also about past Peachtrees. Thought of Jimmy Light, whose string of Peachtrees has come to an end after his recent knee replacement surgery. I decided to dedicate my Peachtree to Jimmy, whatever that means.

 

There was no throng of runners to use as an excuse for my poor time. Far fewer hills than the regular Peachtree course. The longer north to south streets of Jefferson were generally flat. I tried to maintain my admittedly slow pace, trying to speed it up as I closed in on each mile marker on my watch. But as the miles piled up I could feel my left hip tightening up. My form had to change, from sprints to a trot to almost a waddle. Considering the hip, my time was decent. Without that discomfort I might’ve bettered last years’ time, which had been my fastest in several years.

I could tell early on that the PTRR app tracked the miles slower than my watch. As I neared the finish it appeared my watch showed 2/10ths of a mile to go, while the app showed 4/10ths. But not long after I stopped my watch after 6.21 miles, and saved the workout, I looked at the app and saw my race was complete there as well. But my watch said I’d covered the 6.2 miles a full six minutes faster than the app said. Not sure why – the GPS I suppose. Hopefully I can post the faster of the two times. 

So my 33rd Peachtree is in the books. For the record I’ve run 31 straight, every year since 1990. A couple of years I missed out on the lottery and had to secure a number by other means. Twice in the 80’s I volunteered for the race, working at the finish line inside Piedmont Park, before the finish line moved to 10th Street near Grady High.

 

Sadly the virtual Peachtree was far less fun, not at all the great experience the “real” Peachtree always is. But as I say every year, every Peachtree is different – always an adventure. Sure hope next year we get to do it together next year.

Black Friday

Next year the Braves will celebrate 150 years as a franchise by wearing this patch on their jersey sleeves. They'll also be wearing the 2021 All Star Game patch.

Current view of what used to be the Turner Field blue lot, filling up with Georgia State student apartments and parking decks, with space carved out for a Georgia State baseball stadium. Ground was recently broken just north of left-centerfield for the new Georgia State basketball arena. To the south is old Turner Field, now Georgia State's football stadium.

Did I mention Rodrigo Blankenship won last Sunday's Colts game, booting a field goal in overtime to beat the Packers on the Fox game of the week. Hot Rod currently leads the Pro Bowl fan vote.

The 17 eating here today were spread out between three tables. Each table was in a different room. Six diners were older than me. Three more about my age. Youngest were recent college graduates, all at the other tables. Kinda like eating with a small party at a restaurant.

Thursday breakfast was the rest of the leftover BBQ, to free up space in the fridge. Hardly ate any supper Thursday night, just a piece of buttermilk pie. Leftover turkey, dressing, and mac & cheese for supper tonight. 

Saw an interesting show last night for the first time, I think called "The Wall". A young lady and his grandmother played together to win $1.6 million, the game's largest sum ever.

This morning I heard some beeping outside, and realized the garbage truck was coming on. Good thing I had on shoes. Had to race out back and run the dumpster down the driveway. The truck had already passed, but it saw me out in the street waving, and turned around. Worked today (Black Friday) from like 3:30 this afternoon to almost 9 pm. This no overtime sucks. So much to do. 

Hopefully I can run the virtual Peachtree Road Race tomorrow morning. Not the same running by myself. It's not the Peachtree unless I'm surrounded by runners the whole way. It's flatter here than Atlanta. Then Pitt@Clemson, Duke@GT, and GA@SC. 

First Bite: PYG Pizza

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a good day? Yesterday I ate leftover BBQ for lunch yesterday. Worked from 7:30 until about 6 pm. Still got tons to do. Drove to the grocery store. Plenty without masks. They should have checkout lines for those with masks, and other lanes for people without masks.

Picked up pizza and salad from PYG Pizza in Pageland, a new place owned by wiz-kid Billy Hogge, the man with all the toys. The pie was okay, crust a little undercooked, far from crispy. Not much on TV that I can remember. 

This morning I helped straighten for Thanksgiving dinner. Kept re-arranging the chairs every time I remembered who was and wasn’t coming. Watched the Macy’s Christmas parade.

Rusty grilled marinated chicken quarters. Also baked beans with ground beef and sausage. C baked a mixture of potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and brussel sprouts. There was also rolls, pecan pie, buttermilk pie, pecan squares, and Ceil’s Russian fruitcake, topped with coconut. I didn’t eat as much as usual. We had ten for the lunch. 

This afternoon we watched Texans@Lions, then ESPN commercials. Now Ceil has the Hallmark Channel on, a Lindy Booth / Treat Williams made for TV movie, Rocky Mountain Christmas. Was showing Ceil’s Aunt Corrine some of Lang’s cooking, and she watched the entire ten minute turkey video.

Will had to work. So did MC’s dad. So Anna, Matthew, Mary-Clayton, and her mother went for lunch together at a Summerhill restaurant near Matthew’s place. Earlier M baked scones for his roommates. Ceil and I sent in our photos for the 2020 family Christmas card that Anna is cobbling together. 

Tomorrow is the big turkey lunch. At least 14 set to attend.

Rogers Hornsby & the Horses

Hot Stove story: Rogers Hornsby loved to bet the horses. Before games he would stop in to talk to the pharmacist across the street from Wrigley Field, asking which trainers from the nearby horse track had come in lately. That’s how Hornsby knew which horses were in bad shape, and didn’t bet on them.   

ROGERS HORNSBY  [SABR Bio] has the highest career batting average among National League players. His career average of .358 trails only Ty Cobb’s. Hornsby was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame between 1940 and 1944 - HOF 1942. He was the first position player to win a second MVP - MVPs in 1925 w/STL & in 1929 w/CHC.  

C went to the grocery late yesterday to pick up stuff for Thanksgiving. She cooked hamburgers with onions, broccoli, baked potato, and tossed salad. Rusty and his family stopped by. Watched a rerun of The Weakest Link.

Up early this AM to work. Plenty to do today. At some point this weekend I’m supposed to run the virtual Peachtree Road Race. Working out details with Will. 

Had an idea for a great 2020 Christmas card. Even Anna liked it. We’re working to get it made up. Gotta write my Christmas letter at some point.

Denison: “if we choose to be an optimist, studies show that we are likely to live better and longer. Researchers have discovered direct links between optimism and better cardiac health, a stronger immune system, better lung function, mindfulness, compassion, kindness, and having a strong sense of purpose in life. Now a new study reports men and women with the highest levels of optimism had an 11-15% longer lifespan on average than those who practiced little positive thinking. The highest-scoring optimists also had the greatest odds of living to the age of 85 and beyond. So, how can we be more optimistic? Psychologists encourage us to imagine our best possible self, keep a journal of positives, take a few minutes to practice gratitude, and bring to mind people who have helped us. I'd like to suggest an additional approach that is especially relevant for this Thanksgiving week. Writing for Christianity Today, pastor Jay Y. Kim notes Christian hope is based not on us but on God. More specifically, on what God has done and on what he will do.”