Al Downing (baseball)
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Al Downing (baseball)
Alphonso Erwin Downing (born June 28, 1941) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1961 through 1977. Downing was an Major League Baseball All-Star Game, All Star in 1967 and the National League's Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award, Comeback Player of the Year in 1971. Downing allowed Hank Aaron's record breaking 715th home run on April 8, 1974. Early life Downing was born in Trenton, New Jersey. He participated in the Police Athletic League. Downing attended Trenton Central High School, Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Rider University, Rider College in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He also played baseball as a semi-professional. New York Yankees Downing signed with the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1961, and was promoted to the major league roster by July of that season. In 1963, his first full ...
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Pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closer. Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League(and later the National League) and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy. The Japanese Central Le ...
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Hank Aaron
Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. One of the greatest baseball players in history, he spent 21 seasons with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL). At the time of his retirement, Aaron held most of the game's key career power-hitting records. He broke the long-standing MLB record for home runs held by Babe Ruth and remained the career leader for 33 years. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973 and is one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. Aaron holds the MLB records for the most career runs batted in (RBIs) (2,297), extra base hits (1,477), and total bases (6,856). The total base record is remarkable in context: at the time ...
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Strikeouts
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denoted by K in scorekeeping and statistics. A "strikeout looking" — in which the batter does not swing and the third strike is called by the umpire — is usually denoted by a ꓘ. Although a strikeout suggests that the pitcher dominated the batter, the free-swinging 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, Reggie Jackson, and Jim Thome—were notorious for striking out. Rules and jargon A pitched ball is ruled a ''ball'' by the umpire if the batter did not swing at it and, in that umpire's judgement, it does not pass through the strike zone. Any pitch at which the batter swings unsuccessfully or, that in that umpire's judge ...
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1963 World Series
The 1963 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1963 Major League Baseball season, 1963 season. The 60th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion and two-time defending World Series champion 1963 New York Yankees season, New York Yankees against the National League (NL) champion 1963 Los Angeles Dodgers season, Los Angeles Dodgers; the Dodgers swept the Series in four games to secure their second championship title in five years, and their third in franchise history. Dodgers starting pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Podres, and ace reliever Ron Perranoski combined to give up only four runs in four games. The dominance of the Dodgers pitchers was so complete that at no point in any of the four games did the Yankees have the lead. New York was held to a .171 team batting average, the lowest ever for the Yankees in the postseason. Koufax was named the Worl ...
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Earned Run Average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number of innings pitched and multiplying by nine. Thus, a lower ERA is better. Runs resulting from passed balls or defensive errors (including pitchers' defensive errors) are recorded as unearned runs and omitted from ERA calculations. Origins 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. Prior to 1900—and, in fact, for many years afterward—pitchers were routinely expected to pitch a complete game, and their win–loss record was considered sufficient in determining their effectiveness. After pitchers like James Otis Crandall and Charley Hall made names for themselves as relief specialists, gauging a pitcher's e ...
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Win–loss Record (pitching)
In baseball and softball, a win–loss record (also referred to simply as a record) indicates the number of wins (denoted "W") and losses (denoted "L") credited to a pitcher. For example, a 20–10 win–loss record would represent 20 wins and 10 losses. In each game, one pitcher on the winning team is awarded a win (the "winning pitcher") and one pitcher on the losing team is given a loss (the "losing pitcher") in their respective statistics. These pitchers are collectively known as the ''pitchers of record''. The designation of win or loss for a pitcher is known as a ''decision'', and only one pitcher for each team receives a decision. A starting pitcher who does not receive credit for a win or loss is said to have ''no decision''. In certain situations, another pitcher on the winning team who pitched in relief of the winning pitcher can be credited with a save, and holds can be awarded to relief pitchers on both sides, but these are never awarded to the pitcher who is awarde ...
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Free Agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is allowed to solicit offers from other teams. In some circumstances, the free agent's options are limited by league rules. Types Terms Unrestricted free agent Unrestricted free agents are players without a team. They have either been released from their club, had the term of their contract expire without a renewal, or were not chosen in a league's draft of amateur players. These people, generally speaking, are free to entertain offers from all other teams in the player's most recent league and elsewhere and to decide with whom to sign a contract. Players who have been bought out of league standard contracts may have restrictions within that league, such as not being able to sign with the buy-out club for a period of time in the NHL, b ...
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Semi-professional
Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a considerably lower rate than a full-time professional athlete. As a result, semi-professional players frequently have (or seek) full-time employment elsewhere. A semi-pro player or team could also be one that represents a place of employment that only the employees are allowed to play on. In this case, it is considered semi-pro because their employer pays them, but for their regular job, not for playing on the company's team. The semi-professional status is not universal throughout the world and depends on each country's labour code (labour law) and each sports organization's specific regulations. Origin The San Francisco Olympic Club fielded an American football team in 1890. That year, the Olympic Club was accused by a rival club of enticing ...
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Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Lawrenceville is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.New Jersey: 2010 - Population and Housing Unit Counts - 2010 Census of Population and Housing (CPH-2-32)
P. III-4. , August 2012. Accessed November 20, 2012.
As of the , the CDP's population was 3,887.
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Rider University
Rider University is a private university in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. It consists of four academic units: the Norm Brodsky College of Business, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the College of Education and Human Services, and Westminster College of the Arts (consisting of the School of Fine and Performing Arts and Westminster Choir College). History The school was founded as Trenton Business College on October 1, 1865, by Henry Beadman Bryant and Henry D. Stratton, operators of the Bryant and Stratton chain of private business schools. The school was located in Temperance Hall at the corner of South Broad and Front Streets in Trenton, New Jersey. Andrew J Rider was appointed as its first president.Rider University - A Profile of Rider University i ...
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Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania and the state's third largest city, behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It is the largest city in both Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area in the U.S. as of 2020. Allentown was founded in 1762 and is the county seat of Lehigh County. Located on the Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, Allentown is the largest of three adjacent cities, along with Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem and Easton, Pennsylvania, Easton, in Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties that form the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylv ...
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Muhlenberg College
Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German patriarch of Lutheranism in the United States. History Muhlenberg College was founded in 1848 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as the Allentown Seminary by Samuel K. Brobst, a Reformed Lutheran minister. Christian Rudolph Kessler was the school's first teacher and administrator. Between 1848 and 1867, the college operated as the Allentown Seminary, the Allentown Collegiate and Military Institute, and the Allentown Collegiate Institute. In 1867, the college moved into Trout Hall, the former mansion of William Allen's son, James Allen, and was renamed after Henry Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran church in America. Muhlenberg's great-grandson, Frederick Augustus Muhlenberg, served as president of the college from 1867 to 1876. In 1905, the college purch ...
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