Author: metbaseball

Cy Young Lives On

Posted on by metbaseball

For more than 60 years, baseball has recognized its mound stars with a plaque that memorializes the achievements of a man whose 22-year career began in 1890.

When he retired at age 45, Denton True “Cy” Young had won 511 games and, until his next-to-last year in 1910, never lost more games in a season than he won.

Young’s greatest achievement may have come on May 5, 1904, when at the age of 37 he pitched the first perfect game in American League history – just the third in the major leagues and the first from the 60-foot-6-inch pitching distance. 

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dae2fb8a

Young died in 1955. A year later Major League Baseball awarded the first Cy Young Award, to Don Newcombe, who got 10 of the 16 first-place votes.

Since Newcombe, 117 more pitchers have won the prize.

During those first 11 years, just one pitcher won it more than once. Sandy Koufax won it three times. While others won it three times, only Roger Clemens (7), Randy Johnson (5), Greg Maddox (4), and Steve Carlton (4) won it more than three times.

Koufax was also one of five winners who pitched for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Dodgers winning the prize five years in a row.

Further, five of the first 11 winners made it to the Hall of Fame: Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, Whitey Ford, Don Drysdale, and Sandy Koufax.

In 1966, Koufax was the last sole winner in a season. After his final receipt of the award, it was given to the best pitcher in each league.

Cy Young won 477 complete games, fully 60 more than Walter Johnson. Only five times did he win a game that he had started but not completed.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dae2fb8a

At first, those winning it were starters who had won at least 20 games. That ended in 1973 when members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America awarded it to Tom Seaver though he had a 19-10 record.

A year later, the first reliever won the Cy Young. Mike Marshall, pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers, finished the 1974 season with a 15-12 record. He stood on the mound in 106 games, 30 more than Rollie Fingers, and pitched in 208.1 innings, starter’s numbers. So he averaged just under two innings a game. Despite all those appearances, his ERA was just 2.42.

Though Marshall had 21 saves, he did not lead the lead in that category, coming in second to Terry Forster who had 24 in 59 games. Despite being the runner-up in saves, Marshall was named the The Sporting News’ Fireman of the Year. 

After Marshall, eight other relievers have won the Cy Young, but none since another Dodger, Eric Gagne, received it in 2003.

Among all pitchers, both starters and relievers, only 11 have won the award in back-to-back seasons. Among them is Jacob deGrom, Mets standout, who received it in both 2018 and 2019, winning 21 games. However, unlike Gaylord Perry, those wins were not in one season but two, 10 in 2018 and 11 in 2019. Those two win totals were the lowest ever for a Cy Young Award winner who was a starter.

Cy Young threw a baseball until his right arm could no longer obey his mind’s commands.

“All us Youngs could throw,” he said. “I used to kill squirrels with a stone when I was a kid, and my granddad once killed a turkey buzzard on the fly with a rock.”

https://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quoyung.shtml

He was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1937.

On his tombstone, above his name and that of his wife, is a winged baseball.

In 2020, the game will change — so must we

Posted on by metbaseball

The world is facing a foe whose challenges make hasty responses very risky.

While the president favors haste as he seeks to sow “division and confusion” — his way of dealing with complexity and uncertainty, Major League Baseball is taking a more deliberate approach.

Player by Lucky Creative/Shutterstock.com

MLB released a 67-page report stating what needs to be done to protect players and support personnel when the sport resumes. Among the issues covered in the report are how often to test, what to do when someone tests positive, and how to lessen chances of both players and other team personnel both contracting and spreading the virus.

Among the proposed restrictions according to The Athletic article are “No spitting, using smokeless tobacco and sunflower seeds in restricted areas. Any physical interactions such as high-fives, fist bumps and hugs must be avoided at club facilities.”

The game of baseball will be different.

And as MLB is offering its resumption plan, the Miami Marlins have reopened their facilities for player use.

A bigger problem is that even if MLB fully implements what is in its report that will not stop the virus’ spread. Further, as Andy McCullough and Marc Carig stated in an article in The Athletic,

the protocols may not be enough to blunt an almost inevitable outcome, the price for transporting thousands of people around the country to play games while a highly communicable virus still lurks throughout the nation: People in baseball will still get sick.

https://theathletic.com/1827299/2020/05/21/infections-are-going-to-happen-experts-talk-risks-reality-of-mlbs-protocols/

And that possibility is on players’ minds.

If players expect to receive a full season’s salary for a partial season of play, there might not even be baseball this year.

Further, for how long can games be played in empty ballparks before the fans watching TV games start losing interest? In a New York Times essay, Jeré Longman writes about the importance of fan-filled seats in stadiums:

For those watching on television, spectators are necessary surrogates. They provide jersey-wearing pageantry, face-painted tribalism and adrenaline for the players. Their responses of jubilation and anguish verify our passionate responses. Their voices become our soundtrack, collectively rising in anticipation, thunderously exhaling in joy or disapproval.

Without those spectators, those on-site enthusiasts, even televised games may lose some of the magnetism they have had.

But then, they might not.

Those empty stadium games could still be well worth watching.

Jason Stark wrote, “If there is, in fact, an 82-game baseball season, stuff will happen. Stats will happen. Winning (and losing) will happen. History will happen.”

It is unlikely a hitter will break the home run record or that a pitcher will strike out 300 batters, but a batter could hit .400 and a pitcher could break the record for the most consecutive strikeouts in a nine-inning game, the current record 10 by Tom Seaver on April 22, 1970, a game in which Seaver struck out 19 batters, one shy of the Major League record.

Let’s give baseball a chance to still keep us on the edge of our seats even if those seats are in our homes.

Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong

Posted on by metbaseball

About a week ago, I participated in a free Zoom workshop offered by Energy Arts, a Colorado-based company that offers instruction in meditation, qigong, tai chi, and bagua, all with a Taoist focus.

The workshop was on Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong, a form of qigong that has been shown to be of value to people with medical problems; however, its benefits are not limited to that group.

Qigong, also spelled chi kung, is pronounced chee-gung. It means “energy workout.”

Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong contains only seven movements. They are done slowly, mindfully, and precisely. In this video, Paul Cavel, a senior Energy Arts instructor, demonstrates the form.

Don’t be deceived by the slowness of the movements. In the workshop, Craig Barnes did three sets of the form, doing each movement 20 times. If you do not think that is a good workout, you either have never done it or are not doing it correctly.

In his webpage titled “What is Qigong?” Bruce Frantzis, the founder of Energy Arts, defines it as

a form of gentle exercise composed of movements that are repeated a number of times, often stretching the body, increasing fluid movement (blood, synovial and lymph) and building awareness of how the body moves through space.

One thing that differentiates qigong from both exercises people in the Western world do is that it is not just an external (physical) exercise.

Frantzis writes,

When you practice and learn a qigong exercise movement there are both external movements and internal movements. These internal movements, or flows, in China are called neigong, or ‘internal power’. These internal neigong movements make qigong a superior health and wellness practice.

Need more evidence that qigong works?

According to Frantzis, “qigong has been proven in China by its beneficial impact on the health of millions of people over thousands of years.” No Western exercise can match that claim.

For more information about Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong, view this video narrated by Frantzis. Besides a demonstration, it offers background information on Dragon and Tiger.

Exercise Can Both Improve and Protect Your Health

Posted on by metbaseball

My parents walked, weather permitting, for at least 30 minutes even when in their eighties. But that was not their only exercise. My mother continued her tai chi lessons, attending William C. C. Chen’s class in New York and my father would go to a gym.

They were convinced that exercise was a life-extender. They were right.

“Regular physical activity can actually slow the aging process on a cellular level and potentially add years to your life,” according to an article by Michelle Crouch on the AARP website.

Exercise can more. It can help both improve and protect your health.

Thus, it is even more important now when a pandemic threatens all of us and the federal government’s response has been haphazard and the medical system is being overwhelmed by too many patients and too few supplies. As a result, each of us needs to assume more responsibility for our health.

A tweet by Dr. Howard Luks highlighted the connection between exercise and the immune system:

The above tweet links to an article Dr. Luks wrote in which he said, “Exercise is the best medicine. Aside from social isolation and masks, it is also possible that it’s your best strategy to minimize the risk of having severe issues with COVID19.”

But which exercise?

Given that many Americans are abiding by the “shelter in place” guideline, that reduces the number of viable exercises.

One form of exercise not widely known in the United States is one that many more Americans should consider doing. It can be done at home. No equipment, special clothing, or athletic ability is required.

It is called qigong — pronounced chee-gung.

On his website, Bruce Frantzis, one of the leading qigong practitioners and authors in the world, describes qigong this way:

Qigong (alternatively spelled chi gung or chi kung) is a form of gentle exercise composed of movements that are repeated a number of times, often stretching the body, increasing fluid movement (blood, synovial and lymph) and building awareness of how the body moves through space.

There are many different types of qigong. Some that Master Frantzis teaches are Dragon and Tiger Medical Qigong, Heaven and Earth Qigong, and Gods Playing in the Clouds Qigong.

In this video, Paul Cavel demonstrates Heaven and Earth Qigong.

In my next post, I will continue this talk.