Friday, February 27, 2015

A 2015 Interview With Ty Cobb; Baseball With Matt



Posted: 25 Feb 2015 06:55 PM PST

Hey baseball fans!

Today I have a special interview! It's with the Hall of Famer who has the best lifetime batting average of all time (.366), Ty Cobb! But wait: Ty Cobb has been dead since 1961, so how could I have possibly interviewed him? Good question. Remember my "interviews" with Jackie Robinson and Babe Ruth, where I asked someone who knew a lot about one of the hitters to answer questions as if he was him? Well, I did the same thing with this interview. The person who answered my questions as if he was Cobb is Norm Coleman, an actor who actually plays Ty Cobb on stage for the past eight years in the play "Tyrus Cobb." Norm's answers were awesome and I think they sound exactly like how Cobb himself would answer the questions.

The real Ty Cobb below:
Ty Cobb
 

But before I present the interview, click here http://baseballwithmatt.blogspot.com/ . The link will actually take you to where you can buy my book, "Amazing Aaron to Zero Zippers: An Introduction to Baseball History, " which I highly recommend. If  you flip to chapter three in the book, you will see a whole section on "Cantankerous (meaning argumentative) Cobb." Hope you find the biography interesting. Anyway, let's get to the interview.

Matt: You faced a lot of tough pitchers during your playing days, but who was the toughest to hit against?
Ty: The two most difficult pitchers for me to handle were Babe Ruth when he pitched for Boston and Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators. Both entered the Hall of Fame with me in 1936. The Babe threw only two pitches, fastball, up high and in tight, and a curve, low and away. You knew they were coming and sometimes he’d yell at me, telling me what was coming. He dared you to hit it and if you got a hit, he’d scream at me, "You got lucky Ty."
 
I went 22 for 67 with a batting average of .328 against George. No one threw faster than Walter Johnson. If they had radar guns back then, his fastball would clock near 100 mph. Johnson feared hitting a batter, afraid he might kill him if he hit the batter in the head. So I would step in closer to the plate, making Walter throw a little outside, making it a little easier for me to hit the ball to left and get 120 hits in 328 at-bats for an average of .366.
 
Every hitter has one guy he can’t hit. For me, there was a little fellow named Bill Bayne (pictured below), pitched for the St. Louis Browns between 1919 and 1924. I faced him 36 times and got only 5 hits, which was a batting average of .139. I never could figure him out.
 
Read more at: http://baseballwithmatt.blogspot.com/
Bill Bayne


Monday, February 23, 2015

Don Johnson Dies at 88

Don Johnson was born Nov. 12, 1926, in Portland, OR.  In high school, he excelled as a pitcher attracting the attention of major league scouts and was signed by the New York Yankees in 1943. WWII interrupted Don's early baseball career. He served two years in the U.S. Army.

Don Johnson
At the age of 20, Don made his major league debut with the 1947 Yankees, going the distance against the Philadelphia Athletics in a 10 inning 3-2 victory.

Don's professional baseball career spanned 16 years with the Yankees, St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants. He also pitched for Toronto in the International League. He led the league in ERA and strikeouts and in 1957, was named the league's MVP.   v

 

So You Think You Know the Browns


Difficulty level: 6

  1. Who was the first Saint Louis Brown to play in an All-Star game?
    1. Beau Bell
    2. Harlond Clift
    3. Rick Ferrell
    4. Rollie Hemsley
    5. Sam West
  2. Who was the only Saint Louis Brown to twice win a batting title?
    1. Beau Bell
    2. George Sisler
    3. Vern Stephens
    4. Jack Tobin
    5. Ken Williams
  3. Who was the only Saint Louis Browns pitcher to pitch 36 complete games in one season?
    1. Red Donahue
    2. Fred Glade
    3. Harry Howell
    4. Barney Pelty
    5. Jack Powell
  4. In what year did the Saint Louis Browns win their one and only American League pennant?
    1. 1902
    2. 1906
    3. 1922
    4. 1944
    5. 1945
  5. Who was the first Saint Louis Brown to lead the American League in RBI?
    1. Del Pratt
    2. George Sisler
    3. Moose Solters
    4. Vern Stephens
    5. Ken Williams
  6. Who won the most games while pitching for the Saint Louis Browns?
    1. Red Donahue
    2. Bobo Holloman
    3. Barney Pelty
    4. Jack Powell
    5. Urban Shocker
  7. Who holds the Saint Louis Browns record for most hits in one season?
    1. Beau Bell
    2. Heinie Manush
    3. George Sisler
    4. Vern Stephens
    5. Jack Tobin
  8. Who did not throw a no hitter for the Saint Louis Browns?
    1. Bob Groom
    2. Earl Hamilton
    3. Bobo Holloman
    4. Harry Howell
    5. Ernie Koob
  9. Who was the last owner of the Saint Louis Browns?
    1. Philip Ball
    2. Donald Barnes
    3. August Busch
    4. Robert Hedges
    5. Bill Veeck