Lennie Merullo
Leonard Richard Merullo (May 5, 1917 – May 30, 2015) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) shortstop who played for the Chicago Cubs from 1941 to 1947, and scouted for MLB from 1950 to 2003. Chicago Cubs A native of East Boston, Massachusetts, Merullo played shortstop for the Chicago Cubs for seven years in the major leagues in the 1940s. He appeared in three games during the 1945 World Series against two-time MVP Hal Newhouser, pitchers Virgil Trucks, Tommy Bridges, and slugger Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers, who defeated the Cubs in seven games in the Series, the last one the Cubs played in until . With the death of Andy Pafko on October 8, 2013, Merullo was the last surviving member of the 1945 team, as well as being the oldest living former member of the Cubs. Merullo's major league career began in 1941, and in 1942-45 he won the shortstop job, with Stan Hack playing third base and Merullo's roommate, Phil Cavarretta, at first. In 1946, Billy Jurges, Bobby ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shortstop
Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who were typically poor at batting and were often placed at the bottom of the batting order. Today, shortstops are often able to hit well and many are placed at the top of the lineup. In the numbering system used by scorers to record defensive plays, the shortstop is assigned the number 6. More hit balls go to the shortstop than to any other position, as there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the ball slightly. Like a second baseman, a shortstop must be agile, for example when performing a 4-6-3 double play. Also, like a third baseman, the shortstop fields balls hit to the left side of the infield, where a strong arm is needed to throw out a batter-runner befo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andy Pafko
Andrew Pafko (February 25, 1921 – October 8, 2013) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs (1943–51), Brooklyn Dodgers (1951–52), and Milwaukee Braves (1953–59). He batted and threw right-handed and played center field. Pafko was born in Boyceville, Wisconsin. In his 17-year MLB career, he was an All-Star for four seasons and was a .285 hitter with 213 home runs and 976 runs batted in (RBI) in 1,852 games. In 1999, he was named to the Chicago Cubs All-Century Team. Early years Pafko grew up in Boyceville, Wisconsin. The small village did not have a baseball team. Pafko was signed as a 19-year-old by the Class D baseball team in nearby Eau Claire. Pafko learned about the interest from team manager Ivy Griffin while working on his father's farm. "I still remember the day he pulled into the driveway at the farm in that nice new car", Pafko said. "It took me about five minutes to get off the threshing machi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The franchise was established as an expansion team and began play in 1998. The team plays its home games at Chase Field, formerly known as Bank One Ballpark. Along with the Tampa Bay Rays, the Diamondbacks are one of the newest teams in MLB. After a fifth-place finish in their inaugural season, the Diamondbacks made several off-season acquisitions, including future Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson, who won four consecutive Cy Young Awards in his first four seasons with the team. In 1999, Arizona won 100 games and their first division championship. In 2001, they won the World Series over the three-time defending champion New York Yankees, becoming the fastest expansion team in major league history to win the World Series, and the only majo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and plays its home games at Guaranteed Rate Field, located on Chicago's South Side. The White Sox are one of two MLB teams based in Chicago, the other being the Chicago Cubs of the National League (NL) Central division. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the White Sox were established as a major league baseball club in as the Chicago White Stockings, before shortening their name to the White Sox in . The team originally played their home games at South Side Park before moving to Comiskey Park in , where they played until . They moved into their current home, which was originally also known as Comiskey Park like its predecessor and later carried sponsorship from U.S. Cellular, for the 1991 season. The White Sox won t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Matt Merullo
Matthew Bates Merullo (born August 4, 1965) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) catcher who played for the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, and Minnesota Twins between 1989 and 1995. Playing career Merullo attended the University of North Carolina, and in 1984 he played collegiate summer baseball with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League. He was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 7th round of the 1986 MLB Draft. He made his major league debut on April 12, 1989 and final game for the Minnesota Twins in 1995. Personal life Born in Winchester, Massachusetts, he is the grandson of MLB player Lennie Merullo. He currently lives in Madison, Connecticut Madison is a town in the southeastern corner of New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, occupying a central location on Connecticut's Long Island Sound shoreline. The population was 17,691 at the 2020 census. Madison was first settled in 16 .... References External links 1965 b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Association in 1881 under the name Pittsburgh Allegheny, the club joined the National League in 1887 and was a member of the National League East from 1969 through 1993. The Pirates have won five World Series championships, nine National League pennants, nine National League East division titles and made three appearances in the Wild Card Game. Despite struggling in the 1880s and 1890s, the Pirates were among the best teams in baseball shortly after the turn of the 20th century. They won three consecutive NL titles from 1901 to 1903, played in the inaugural World Series in 1903 and won their first World Series in 1909 behind Honus Wagner. The Pirates took part in arguably the most famous World Series ending, winning the 1960 World Series agains ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philip Wrigley
Philip Knight Wrigley (December 5, 1894 – April 12, 1977), often called P. K. Wrigley, was an American chewing gum manufacturer and a Major League Baseball executive, inheriting both of those roles as the quiet son of his much more flamboyant father, William Wrigley Jr. Biography Wrigley was born in Chicago in 1894. He graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1914, and briefly attended the University of Chicago. His father, William Wrigley Jr., died in 1932, elevating Philip's role in the family business. He presided over the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, and also the family hobby, the Chicago Cubs, as owner until his death. He turned over the presidency of his chewing gum company to his son William Wrigley III in 1961, while retaining the presidency of the Cubs. While the gum industry prospered, the Cubs grew less competitive over the decades. After an appearance in the 1945 World Series, they only had seven winning seasons in the next 32 years, including 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau
The Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau is a centralized scouting resource that operates under the auspices of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. Headquartered in Ontario, California, the MLBSB's efforts supplement the independent, proprietary amateur and professional scouting operations of the 30 Major League Baseball clubs. In 2012, the MLBSB employed 34 full-time and 13 part-time scouts in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. In 2010, it announced plans to expand its activities beyond Puerto Rico to other countries in Latin America. According to MLB.com, the MLBSB's scouts "provide information on amateur prospects as a part of its mission to support the efforts of MLB clubs in the First-Year Player Draft. The MLBSB also provides professional scouting services, including the collection of video footage of players throughout the professional ranks, both domestically and internationally." It maintains an eligibility file on amateur players — many of them teenag ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Moe Drabowsky
Myron Walter Drabowsky (July 21, 1935 – June 10, 2006) was an American professional baseball pitcher, best-remembered for throwing scoreless innings of relief to win Game 1 of the 1966 World Series. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago White Sox. A noted practical joker, Drabowsky engaged in such antics as leaving snakes in teammates' lockers or phoning the opposing team's bullpen to tell a pitcher to warm up. He batted and threw right-handed. Born in Poland to a Jewish family, Drabowsky emigrated to America in 1938. He excelled as a pitcher in high school and college and was signed as a bonus baby by the Chicago Cubs. He debuted for the Cubs in 1956 and finished tied for second in the National League in strikeouts in his rookie season. In 1958, he gave up Stan Musial's 3,000th hit. An arm injury that year curtailed his eff ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Relief Pitcher
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather delays or pinch hitter substitutions. Relief pitchers are further divided informally into various roles, such as Closer (baseball), closers, setup men, middle relief pitchers, left-handed specialist, left/right-handed specialists, and long relievers. Whereas starting pitchers usually pitch count, throw so many pitches in a single game that they must rest several days before pitching in another, relief pitchers are expected to be more flexible and typically pitch in more games with a shorter time period between pitching appearances but with fewer innings pitched per appearance. A team's staff of relievers is normally referred to Metonymy, metonymically as a team's bullpen, which refers to the area where th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mike Royko
Michael Royko Jr. (September 19, 1932 – April 29, 1997) was an American newspaper columnist from Chicago. Over his 30-year career, he wrote over 7,500 daily columns for the ''Chicago Daily News'', the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', and the ''Chicago Tribune''. A humorist who focused on life in Chicago, he was the winner of the 1972 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Young reporter Royko grew up in Chicago, living in an apartment above a bar. His mother, Helen (née Zak), was Polish, and his father, Michael Royko, was Ukrainian (born in Dolyna). He briefly attended Wright Junior College and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1952. On becoming a columnist, Royko drew on experiences from his childhood. He began his newsman's career as a columnist in 1955 for The O'Hare News (Air Force base newspaper), the City News Bureau of Chicago and Lerner Newspapers' '' Lincoln-Belmont Booster'' before working at the ''Chicago Daily News'' as a reporter, becoming an irritant to the City's polit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bobby Sturgeon
Robert Harwood Sturgeon (August 6, 1919 – March 10, 2007) was a shortstop and second baseman in Major League Baseball who played between 1940 and 1948 for the Chicago Cubs (1940–1942, 1946–1947) and Boston Braves (1948). Listed at , 175 lb., Sturgeon batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Clinton, Indiana. Sturgeon was one of many major leaguers who saw his baseball career interrupted when he joined the US Navy during World War II (1942–45). His most productive season came for the 1946 Cubs, when he posted a career-high .296 batting average. In a six-season career, Sturgeon was a .257 hitter (313-for-1220) with one home run and 80 RBI in 420 games played, including 106 runs, 48 doubles, 12 triples and seven stolen bases. Sturgeon died in San Dimas, California San Dimas ( Spanish for "Saint Dismas") is a city in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 34,924. It historica ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |