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New York Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
‘Once in a generation' – The All-Star throw that rocketed Dave Parker to Cooperstown
Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of the game. They had been teammates for one day, nearly four years earlier. One hit a game-tying homer and drove in the go-ahead run with a walk. The other nailed two runners on the bases with some of the most hellacious throws anyone had ever seen. Advertisement Dave Parker, the fielder, was the Most Valuable Player of that 1979 All-Star Game. Lee Mazzilli, the hitter, was not. Reunited with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1983, Parker reveled in the reminders. 'If you knew the Parkway, he was a trash talker, in a good way, to everyone,' Mazzilli, a Met in 1979, said by phone this week. 'It didn't matter who you were. It was always a good back and forth. I'd say, 'Yeah, the only reason you won it was because you misjudged the ball!'' Actually, Mazzilli said, Parker lost a Jim Rice pop-up in the roof of the Seattle Kingdome, only to recover it — in foul territory by the right field bullpen mounds — and fire a one-hop strike to third base to nail Rice. But that play, in the seventh, merely foreshadowed an even better one in the eighth, when Parker unleashed a rocket, on the fly, to cut down the go-ahead run. It was the kind of moment that sent a signal from the spire of the Space Needle to the halls of Cooperstown. And while it took decades to receive that message, the Hall of Fame finally elected Parker last December in a vote by the Classic Baseball Era committee. He will be inducted on July 27, four weeks after his death from Parkinson's Disease at age 74. 'He had a cannon,' said Larry Bowa, the National League's starting shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies in 1979. 'Not only did he throw good, the ball was always low, one-hop to the catcher. It was of those where you say: 'Once in a generation.' 'He took a lot of pride in defense, he could steal bases, hit home runs, hit for average. And he had that saying: 'When the leaves turn brown, I'll be wearing the batting crown.'' Parker had indeed won the NL batting title in 1977 and 1978, his MVP season, when he also led the majors in OPS (.979) and won his second of three Gold Gloves. Keith Hernandez, then with the St. Louis Cardinals, followed Parker as batting champion in 1979 and was co-MVP with Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell. Advertisement When Parker's Pirates won the World Series that fall, it further cemented a status widely shared by Hernandez and his peers. 'He was the best player in the game from '78 to the early '80s,' Hernandez said last week. 'I can only speak for myself, but he was the best player in the game.' Hernandez made the last out in the top of the eighth inning in the 1979 All-Star Game, after Mazzilli's leadoff homer off Jim Kern had tied it, 6-6. Leading off for the AL in the bottom of the eighth was Angels catcher Brian Downing, in the only All-Star appearance of his career. Downing played 20 seasons and actually compiled more bWAR than Parker (51.5 for Downing, who walked a lot, compared to 40.1 for Parker, who didn't). This was Downing's best season, and he made the most of his chance with a single off future Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter, a master of the split-finger fastball. After a sacrifice bunt, an intentional walk and a strikeout, Graig Nettles came up. Here's how the play looked on NBC: Downing, 74, lives on a ranch in Texas now and said he has never watched any highlights from his career. But, he said in a rare interview late last year, the details of the Parker play are etched in his memory. We'll let Downing describe it in full: 'Okay, so I'm thinking Bruce Sutter and Graig Nettles — just looking at the way Sutter throws it and Nettles' swing, he's going to either hit a hard ground ball up the middle for a hit, a hard grounder to right for a hit or, more likely, a one-hop drive right at frickin' Parker in fairly shallow right on a fast Astroturf field. 'So I'm going to get the best lead I can without getting picked off, and I'm going to get as good of a secondary lead as I can, which I've always done. And I have to assume he's going to hit that line drive on one hop, which, to my chagrin, that's exactly what happened. Advertisement 'I got as good a jump as I could get. I'm happy with all that because I was ready for it. And I made the turn and now I'm coming around third. And I have no problem with violence. Full speed, I don't care. But as I'm coming, I'm thinking of the Pete Rose play (with Ray Fosse in 1970) and all that, I don't want to hurt somebody. Because if you run into a catcher, which I was at that point, you're out 99 percent of the time, automatically. You're not knocking it loose unless you're Bo Freaking Jackson. And my theory when I was on second is that I'd have to run into him, assuming there's going to be a play at the plate. 'But from my vantage point coming around third, the front of the plate was wide open, if not the whole plate. And I don't even see Gary Carter because I'm concentrating on the plate. He's at least a full step away from the plate. So the plate is wide open and I'm going to take a headfirst dive, which I've always done, and try to grab the top, left-side corner. And at that point, when I start to do that, he's not around. 'So I'm in the slide, and all of a sudden he comes up and blocks my hand off. Carter made an awesome play. I was headed to a wide-open plate, and I never saw any of that. It was just like a magic trick. It showed up on me, there it is. I thought it was something I've done many times — headfirst, grab the plate before they can get me — and it didn't happen because two Hall of Famers made Hall of Fame plays, both of 'em.' Two years earlier, in 1977, Parker had recorded 26 outfield assists, a total unmatched in the major leagues since. Most runners knew better than to bait Parker, who gleefully accepted the challenge. 'I loved throwing out runners,' he said in December, in his conference call with reporters after the Hall of Fame election. 'And if they kept running, I would hit him in the back of the head with the ball.' In interviews after the All-Star Game, Parker said that he had wanted to make a one-hop throw to the plate, but it took off. He credited Carter — as Joe Garagiola did, effusively, on NBC — for saving the play. Carter, who was then with the Montreal Expos, told reporters it was 'the biggest play of my career.' Like Parker, Carter relished the spotlight. He would win two All-Star MVPs himself, in 1981 and 1984, but this one belonged to Parker, who was brash enough to tell his Pirates teammates, before leaving for Seattle, that he would win it. Advertisement In 'Cobra,' his 2021 memoir with Dave Jordan, Parker said that when commissioner Bowie Kuhn handed him the trophy, it meant more to him than his batting titles. 'I carried that thing through the dugout, up the stairs to the clubhouse, out the stadium, back through the doors of the Olympic Hotel,' Parker and Jordan wrote. 'It sat beside me on the hotel bar while I cooled out with some of the fellas. I might've even bought it a drink. I stared at the trophy before I fell asleep. I carried it through Sea-Tac Airport like a damn Cabbage Patch doll. 'If you've ever won something you really wanted and everyone mocked you for holding on to it for days, guess what. I was right there with you, baby.' Parker won't be there in Cooperstown for the biggest honor of all. But he always knew his day was coming. When asked in December if he considered himself a Hall of Famer when he played, Parker had no hesitation. 'Without a doubt,' he said. One month ago Friday, the Mets' David Peterson fired the first shutout of his career, a six-hitter with no walks and six strikeouts in a 5-0 victory over the Washington Nationals. He seemed bound for another in Baltimore on Thursday, but manager Carlos Mendoza pulled him with a 1-0 lead after a leadoff single in the eighth. 'You're already in the eighth inning, 90 pitches,' Mendoza explained later, after the Orioles came back off Ryne Stanek for a 3-1 win. 'He did his part.' OUTS RECORDED AFTER THE SIXTH INNING THIS SEASON BY METS STARTERS David Peterson: 25 Everyone Else: 8 — Tim Britton (he/him) (@ July 10, 2025 at 1:56 PM Mendoza's decision – despite Peterson's reasonable pitch count – highlights the relative disappearance of the shutout, something only seven others have accomplished this season: Cincinnati's Andrew Abbott, Detroit's Tarik Skubal, St. Louis' Erick Fedde and Sonny Gray, San Diego's Michael King and Stephen Kolek and Texas' Nathan Eovaldi. Advertisement Baseball, then, is on a single-season record pace for fewest complete-game shutouts. Last year, teams threw 321 shutouts but pitchers went the distance just 16 times, tied with 2022 for fewest in a full season in AL/NL history. No active pitcher has more than three in a season, and the active leader, Clayton Kershaw, hasn't had one since 2016. Peterson, a first-round pick from the University of Oregon in 2017, threw 106 pitches in his shutout, seven shy of his career high from 2023. After Thursday's start, he is 6-4 with a 3.06 ERA, and his 109 innings easily lead the Mets' battered pitching staff. Here's Peterson with a few thoughts on the increasingly rare pitching gem. Strikeouts and shutouts don't always mix: 'I'm trying to go as deep as I can in every game. My goal is if I can go all nine, then I'll go all nine. But there's a lot to do with pitch counts and workload management and all that stuff that kind of gets in the way of guys getting to that position. A lot of people are fascinated with chasing the strikeouts and doing all this and doing all that. There's a price to pay that comes with that, which is usually the pitch count goes up if you're going to be trying to chase punchouts.' His last shutout, in 2017, was a big one: 'It was very special — I struck out 20 guys. It was like 128 pitches, I think. (Writer's note: Actually 123.) I knew (the strikeout total) because earlier in the year I had struck out 17 against Mississippi State, and after the eighth inning, I overheard somebody say where I was at. But it wasn't really like a thought in my mind until I overheared something.' Overanalysis hurts the cause: 'For me growing up, watching guys in the '90s and 2000s, they would be regularly at 110 pitches in a start. But now I feel like teams can take so many things into account, they probably overanalyze the situation a little bit: 'Well, he went 100 last start and he's getting close again now, and where are we in the season?' I think early in the year somebody had a chance to get a complete game, and they got pulled at like 85 pitches or something like that. So it feels like there's a lot more factors that work against it.' It helps to be a student of pitching: 'Andy Pettitte was a huge guy that I watched growing up — Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, all those guys. It didn't really matter for me, left or right. Josh Beckett, (Jered) Weaver for the Angels. And then Kershaw, (Max) Scherzer, (Justin) Verlander, that next wave, I felt like there was such an abundance of good starting pitchers to watch. There's a ton of guys and everyone did stuff differently and they had their own way of going about it. I felt like you could learn a lot from people just in terms of the individuality of their pitching style or the mechanics or how they go about the game on the mental side.' Advertisement One for the trophy case: 'Pete (Alonso) gave me the final out and then I got the lineup card, too. It was special for me and it was especially special to share with my teammates, because you only see it every now and then. As the game changes, some of those things get held in a different regard over time.' The Chicago White Sox's All-Star next week will be pitcher Shane Smith, a Rule 5 draft choice who earned the spot with a 2.37 ERA in his first 13 starts. Alas, Smith has lost his four starts since then, with a 12.33 ERA. It will be another year without a South Side Cy Young Award winner. The White Sox franchise has had only three, including Early Wynn, who fit last weekend in the square for a Cy Young winner with 200 career wins. Wynn, who shares a name with the stat (or a pronunciation, anyway) actually collected 300 exactly on his way to the Hall of Fame. Wynn won the MLB Cy Young in 1959, followed by LaMarr Hoyt (1983) and Jack McDowell (1993), who won the AL awards. Those were the only years the team made the postseason from 1920 to 1999, and the similarities don't end there. All three Cy winners led the majors in victories — Wynn and McDowell were 22-10, Hoyt 24-10 — and all three had an ERA over 3.00. They also rated lower than you'd think, analytically, collecting fewer than 5 bWAR in their award-winning seasons. The deserving winners, by bWAR: Larry Jackson in 1959, Dave Stieb in 1983 and Kevin Appier in 1993. Then again, this stuff tends to even out over time. The White Sox have had three pitching bWAR leaders in the Cy Young Award era, and all fell short: Wilbur Wood in 1971, Britt Burns in 1980 and Dylan Cease in 2022. If you're looking for a summer beach read, no matter how many times you've read it, 'Ball Four' always delivers. There's never been a more hilarious, insightful peek into the life of a ballplayer than Jim Bouton's diary of his 1969 season as a reliever for the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros. In the years that followed the book's publication, Bouton, who died six years ago Thursday at age 80, became a celebrity, appearing in movies, working as a sportscaster, writing more books and turning inventions like 'Big League Chew,' with Rob Nelson, into reality. Advertisement Lesser-known, perhaps, is Bouton's sitcom, also called 'Ball Four,' which ran for five episodes on CBS in the fall of 1976. Co-created with TV critic Marvin Kitman and sportswriter Vic Ziegel, Bouton starred as a pitcher for the fictional Washington Americans. 'We wanted 'Ball Four,' the TV show, to be like 'M*A*S*H,' only in a locker room,' he wrote in the 1990 update to his seminal book. 'Instead it turned out more like 'Gilligan's Island.'… We were first in the American League and last in the hearts of our countrymen, according to the Nielsen ratings.' Officially the show ranked 76th in the ratings, and as you can tell from the opening credits, there was little star power in the cast. Bouton auditioned his old Pilots teammate Gene Brabender for the role of 'Rhino,' but it went instead to a retired football player, Ben Davidson. 'Our main problem with the show was a difficulty in conveying reality,' Bouton wrote. 'The CBS censor wouldn't let anybody spit, burp, swear or chew tobacco. Any similarity between the characters in the show and the real ballplayers was purely coincidental.' The credits open with an exterior shot of RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., and an interior shot of Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. A shirtless Bouton chuckles to himself as he writes in a diary, while game footage (from the Vet) mixes with scenes of clubhouse hijinks. And naturally, this being the 1970s, there's a delightfully cheesy theme song: There's a boy in me who comes alive each summer/Won't you come play ball with me? (Top photo of Dave Parker after the 1979 MLB All-Star Game: Associated Press)
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Major Burger Chain Announces a Change People Will Love
Summer is the perfect time to get outside an enjoy a fantastic burger, even though any season, really, is good for burgers. The summer season also brings late nights, because the sun is out so late, so the partying and fun tend to go into the early hours of the morning. When that burger craving hits late, there are usually limited options about what to do about it. Some grocery stores are open late, but who wants to grill a burger at midnight? Now, one major burger chain has announced a change that starts now, and it should help those who are hungry late at night. White Castle has been around for more than a century at this point. "In 1921, Billy Ingram launched a family-owned business with $700 and an idea, selling five-cent, small, square hamburgers so easy to eat, they were dubbed Sliders and sold by the sack," the company states on their website. Now, White Castle has announced expanded hours and special late-night deals to those in its loyalty program. Starting on the Summer Solstice, which was June 20 and marked the end of spring, the chain in offering new hours, branded merchandise and discounts with its Craver Nation Rewards loyalty program. According to White Castle, 91 percent of its restaurants will now be open until 1 a.m. or later, and 72 percent are open 24 hours a day. That's the most late-night hours White Castle has offered since 2020. Also, for the themed merchandise, visit White Castle's House of Crave site. "White Castle has always been there for our Cravers when it matters most — even when the clock strikes midnight and beyond," Jamie Richardson, vice president of White Castle, said in a statement. "Night Castle isn't just a moment in time — it's a state of mind. Whether it's summer nights, weekend outings or just a craving that won't quit, we're proud to be the place people turn to for craveable flavor, great value and unforgettable memories."Major Burger Chain Announces a Change People Will Love first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 22, 2025
New York Times
06-06-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
For Rockies lifer Warren Schaeffer, turning around the majors' worst team is personal
Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of baseball. When Jake Bird pitched in Triple A for the Colorado Rockies, his manager, Warren Schaeffer, noticed him playing chess on his phone. Schaeffer engaged him for a few games, and it wasn't close. Advertisement 'He's a lot better than me, and he took it to me,' said Bird, now a setup man for Schaeffer in the majors. 'He's just really smart. He's willing to see what guys like, willing to learn and communicate.' Schaeffer, 40, has spent 19 years in professional baseball, all with the Rockies, half a lifetime in checkmate. He replaced Bud Black as manager on May 12, and the Rockies lost 17 of their next 19 games. Winning baseball has always been elusive in Colorado, where — as Sports Illustrated's Steve Rushin once wrote — the team wears the colors of a bruise. For the folks who take pride in working there, this is the biggest challenge yet. 'This is extremely personal to me,' Schaeffer, a former minor league infielder, said before a game in New York last weekend. 'It's all I think about, day and night. I've only ever been a Rockie, and the Rockies have never won the West. The Rockies have never won the World Series. These are all things that are very, very important to me, and I think the opportunity is ripe at the moment to start building for that.' A few hours later, against the Mets, the Rockies led off by striking out on a pitch-clock violation. After a homer, the next 17 batters went down in order. The lopsided loss closed out May and clinched the team's 22nd losing series in a row, a major league record. The Rockies fell again the next day, becoming the first team ever to lose 50 games before winning 10. But that game was more competitive, the sixth out of seven losses decided by one or two runs. Losing is never acceptable, Schaeffer emphasized, but with actual victories in short supply, it helps to recognize moral ones. 'Well, we need to, because if you're just determined by the letter at the end of the game, we'd all be crushed,' said Clint Hurdle, who led the Rockies to their only pennant in 2007 and returned in April as a coach. Advertisement 'I mean, this is rare air. We were in an Uber the other day in Chicago and the driver had a White Sox hat on. We were having a conversation and he goes, 'By the way, will you guys start winning some games? Because it took us 60 years to beat the record last year, so people would actually talk about us for a little bit.'' The Rockies could still smash the 2024 White Sox's modern record of 121 losses in a season; they will greet the Mets at Coors Field on Friday with a 12-50 record, which works to a 131-loss pace. But things finally started turning this week in Miami, where the Rockies swept a three-game series from the Marlins. Schaeffer saw it coming. 'We're going through a gauntlet of a schedule right now,' he said. 'It's just — the difference is in the margins, the in-game execution on a more consistent level to take those one-run games and flip them. Honestly, I don't think we're far off from winning games because the past two weeks we've been playing good, solid baseball.' This is the Rockies' seventh losing season in a row since 2018, the last time they reached the playoffs. The last two years were the worst in franchise history, each with more than 100 losses, but there was reason to expect at least some improvement. Three veteran starters — Kyle Freeland, German Marquez and Antonio Senzatela, who make $38 million collectively — were all finally healthy. They've made all their starts but gone 4-25 with a 6.37 ERA. Some young position players offered hope; shortstop Ezequiel Tovar and center fielder Brenton Doyle won Gold Gloves last season and first baseman Michael Toglia slugged 25 home runs. All have regressed, with Toglia now in the minors. 'It was kind of the perfect storm,' general manager Bill Schmidt said, mentioning the struggling rotation and several injuries. 'I thought we'd play better defense, but at one point we had four shortstops in the IL. I mean, even the guys we brought from the minor leagues went on the IL; I had to go out and get Alan Trejo, who used to play for us, just to have a shortstop. Advertisement 'It is what it is. We're trying to get better. I feel bad for our fans. They're loyal, they care. Our ownership's good, they care. We've got to turn it around somehow.' Schmidt disputes the idea, widely held around the league, that the Rockies are too insular, too loyal to their employees and prospects to cultivate new voices or accept the reality that they've fallen behind other organizations. But Hurdle, who guided Pittsburgh to three playoff berths in the 2010s and re-joined the Rockies in December 2021 as a special assistant, concedes that it's a valid point. 'There's too much information out there, there's too many other teams doing things well in areas that we could use improvement to not knock on some other doors,' Hurdle said. 'And I think we're doing more of that. We have added to the R&D staff, because three years ago it was pretty much non-existent and now we've got (about) 20 people and it's become more real. We put ourselves probably behind the pack in some areas and it's made it tough. Now we're catching up, and it is tough to play catch-up, initially.' Institutional knowledge can be important, of course, and Schaeffer — technically the interim manager, as Hurdle is an interim hitting and bench coach — managed several of the Rockies in the farm system. Only one manager in the majors, the St. Louis Cardinals' Oli Marmol, 38, is younger than Schaeffer, who looks as if he could still play. 'He's just a super hard-working dude who gets the most out of players,' outfielder Sam Hilliard said. 'Guys want to play hard for him, guys want to work for him and win for him. And he always makes it clear, like: 'This is the standard we want to hold you to. I know we've lost a lot this year, but we can't get into that rhythm of, 'Oh, we lost again, it's OK.' It's never OK.'' Every team needs outside ideas to grow, Schaeffer said, but he'll fiercely defend the purple and black. He said he would always be grateful to owner Dick Monfort for paying the minor league staff in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the season's cancelation. And he's still a bit astonished that the Rockies hired him in the first place; Schaeffer hit just .214 in their system, then became a Class A hitting instructor. Advertisement 'He was a grinder,' said Schmidt, the Rockies' lead scout when the team drafted Schaeffer from Virginia Tech in 2007. 'His baseball IQ was real good. There are certain types of guys you identify: they're baseball people.' In Colorado, the baseball people are trying to avoid baseball infamy, celebrating subtle improvements in hopes of more winning weeks. 'It'll be a summer of coaching and teaching,' Hurdle said, 'and we're gonna have to have a lot of patience.' The Seattle Mariners announced this week that they will retire Randy Johnson's No. 51 in a ceremony during the 2026 season. It's a long overdue honor for Johnson, whose extraordinary pitching in 1995 helped save baseball in Seattle. Johnson, whose 4,875 strikeouts are the most ever by a lefty, shares 51 in Mariners lore with Ichiro Suzuki, who asked his permission to wear it when he signed with Seattle after the 2000 season. Johnson, by then, was pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team he represents in the Hall of Fame. 'He had written a nice letter asking if he could wear the number 51, knowing that I had worn it for 10 years, and I had no problem: 'Wear it and enjoy it,'' Johnson said on Monday. 'And then he went on to have a Hall of Fame career. But there really was never any significance to me wearing the number 51.' The Mariners will actually retire the number twice: first for Suzuki on Aug. 9, after his ceremony in Cooperstown. That's how Johnson wanted it. 'I know the significance of Ichiro and his accomplishments, and I didn't want to interfere with his Hall of Fame induction this year or his number retirement this year,' Johnson said. 'And so the one contingent factor that I had was that if this was going to happen, that I didn't want to take away anything from his deserving day, and it would have to be done a different day, a different year.' Advertisement Johnson, who wore 51 with Arizona, switched as a New York Yankee because Bernie Williams already had it; his children suggested 41, to match his age at the time. He also wore 57 briefly with the Montreal Expos and pitched two games for Seattle while not wearing 51. Mired in a five-start losing streak in July 1992, Johnson reversed his digits and wore 15 for a start at Yankee Stadium. He walked nine that day, lost again, and switched back to 51. The next season, he wore No. 34 for a start at the Kingdome on Sept. 26, when he reached 300 strikeouts in a season for the first time. Johnson wore 34 that day to honor Nolan Ryan, who had suffered a career-ending elbow injury on the same mound four days earlier and was instrumental in turning around Johnson's career. During that frustrating 1992 season, Texas Rangers pitching coach Tom House invited Johnson, a fellow USC alum, to watch Ryan throw in the bullpen before a game. Ryan demonstrated the proper way to land in a pitcher's delivery — on the ball of your foot, not your heel — and Johnson used the tip to streamline his momentum to the plate and finally harness his overpowering stuff. After leading the majors in walks in 1990, 1991 and 1992 (each time with at least 120), Johnson never walked 100 again. He went 75-20 over the next five seasons and was on his way to becoming the last pitcher to earn 300 victories — maybe ever. 'I think if someone's going to do it, it'll be Justin Verlander,' Johnson said. 'And then after that, I don't think you'll probably see that happen again.' Verlander, 42, is winless in 10 starts for the San Francisco Giants this season and is on the injured list with a strained pectoral muscle. He has 262 career victories. Wade Miley returned to the majors this week for the 15th season of a highly eventful career. Miley, who had Tommy John surgery in February 2024, rejoined the Cincinnati Reds when Hunter Greene landed on the injured list with a groin strain. Advertisement Miley, 38, was a rookie All-Star for the Diamondbacks in 2012. He's never made it back to that stage, but along the way — with Boston, Seattle, Baltimore, Milwaukee (twice), Houston, Cincinnati (twice) and the Chicago Cubs — he's done a whole lot of other stuff. That includes some things he can't really do anymore. Miley once homered in a game in San Francisco, long before the NL adopted the designated hitter. In 2018, he started consecutive games for the Brewers in the NLCS — the first as a surprise opener, when he faced just one hitter. That won't happen again because of MLB's three-batter minimum rule. Miley recently offered a memory of five different achievements — well, technically four, and another that wasn't memorable at all. Hitting a home run in 2013: 'What made that one really, really cool was that none of us had gotten a hit yet. And when I got off the bus, right when I got to the clubhouse, for whatever reason, I was like: 'I'm hitting a freaking homer today!' I don't know if I was calling my shot — I was just talking (smack), I probably did that before every game.' Giving up Adrián Beltré's 3,000th hit in 2017: 'There was pressure in that moment. I went 3-0 (in the count) and I was getting booed. I was like, I've gotta throw him a strike. And then he got me. But it was cool, it's a very special hit for him and I get goosebumps looking back. He signed some stuff for me, and I've always been a huge Beltré fan. So that was cool. Félix Hernández was upset with me, though, because they were coming in the next night and he was due to face him. They're like best friends and he had told him not to get it off me.' Starting as an opener in the 2018 NLCS: 'I knew the plan. I didn't necessarily love it, but that's what we thought would be the best. It was weird, being able to do that for a warm-up and get to a decent intensity, knowing I'm starting the next game as well. There was a fine line of how hard I went at it.' Throwing a no-hitter for the Reds in 2021: 'What stands out about that was the excitement it brought everybody, the way the team embraced me afterwards and how it was so special for them. I'll never forget turning around, watching Kyle Farmer throw across the diamond, Tucker (Barnhart) just being in my lap. I couldn't believe how soon they all got to me.' Advertisement Pitching an immaculate inning in Arizona on Oct. 1, 2012: 'I don't even remember doing that. Where was that?' You're excused, Wade. Nobody else seemed to notice, either. The broadcasters weren't even narrating the action: The Marlins have employed 114 first basemen in their 33-year history, from Jeff Conine (1,014 games) to Jack Winkler, who made his major-league debut last week. Only one earned a measure of infamy simply by catching a foul ball. That was Peter O'Brien, who played for seven teams as a pro but reached the majors with only Arizona and Miami, hitting .209 from 2015 to 2019. As the Marlins' first baseman on Sept. 29, 2018, O'Brien had the distinction of ending the career of the Mets' captain, David Wright. With his career effectively over because of spinal stenosis, the 35-year-old Wright returned to the Mets for two games at the end of the 2018 season. In the last, he was scheduled for two plate appearances and walked in his first. When he came to bat again, the 43,298 fans rose from their seats at Citi Field. Wright took a ball, then swung at a high fastball, lofting it toward the first base stands. O'Brien drifted over, unsure of how close he was to the wall. He stuck out his glove and snared it, as the crowd howled. 'Part of me felt bad for O'Brien as I walked back to the dugout, staring at my bat, a goofy grin on my face,' Wright wrote in 'The Captain,' his memoir with Anthony DiComo. 'Most of me was just stunned. Was that really it?' It was. But at least O'Brien got a cool souvenir from it. A Marlins clubhouse attendant scrawled a note on a baseball, ripping O'Brien for making the catch — and adding Wright's signature. When O'Brien found it at his locker and learned it was a prank, he sent the ball to the Mets' clubhouse for the real Wright to sign. Wright did, and added an inscription of his own: 'No, really. You should have let it drop.' Don Drysdale worked 3,270 1/3 innings in his 1957-68 prime, the most in MLB in that stretch. It's also about 1,200 more innings than the major-league leader in the dozen seasons before 2025, Max Scherzer, who threw 2,073 1/3. As you may have noticed, times have changed. Drysdale, a towering figure who spanned the Dodgers' Brooklyn and Los Angeles eras, is the subject of a riveting biography published earlier this year: 'Up and In: The Life of a Dodgers Legend,' by longtime Orange County Register columnist Mark Whicker. This week marks the 57th anniversary of the sixth and final shutout in Drysdale's 58-inning scoreless streak. Advertisement Another Dodger, Orel Hershiser, broke the record in 1988 with 59 scoreless innings to end the regular season and eight more to start the playoffs. Both pitchers paid dearly with their shoulders: Drysdale was finished in 1969, at age 33, and a shoulder reconstruction saved Hershiser's career in 1990. Here's Drysdale cashing in on his streak with a cheeky ad for Vitalis in 1968, co-starring San Francisco Giants manager Herman Franks. It plays on Drysdale's reputation for loading up his turbo sinker. Cheating used to be so fun. 'Vitalis has no grease, and spreads easily through your hair,' the announcer intones. 'If we all used Vitalis, we could help put an end to the greaseball.' (Top photo of Warren Schaeffer: Dustin Bradford / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Malaysian Reserve
07-05-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
The Ultimate Combo: White Castle and Heelys Team Up to Introduce Fun, New Footwear Available May 15
The merger of food and fashion results in White Castle-branded shoes on wheels COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Move over fries and cheese sticks. White Castle has a new sidekick, and this one has wheels. The shoes blend menu-inspired visuals and White Castle's recognizable color palette with Heelys signature style. The family-owned business, founder of The Original Slider®, is partnering with Heelys, the company behind the original wheeled shoe, to introduce a limited-edition collection of White Castle branded Heelys shoes. The shoes will be available exclusively on Heelys website beginning May 15, also known as National Slider Day in recognition of the burger that turned White Castle into a household name. 'Just like our Sliders, these shoes are one-of-a-kind, craveable and made for memorable moments,' said Jamie Richardson, vice president at White Castle. 'We're always seeking fresh and fun ways to satisfy cravings beyond the menu. Partnering with Heelys to design these exclusive shoes does just that.' The shoes, available in two colors, blend menu-inspired visuals and White Castle's recognizable color palette with Heelys signature style. The first version is white with royal blue trim and laces and splashes of orange, while the second version is Night Castle inspired black with orange trim, white laces and splashes of royal blue. Both versions feature the White Castle logo on two sides, a tongue that looks like a Cheese Slider, and small illustrations of Sliders, fries and soft drinks. This is a limited-edition drop, so fans are encouraged to get these shoes before they're gone. Both the lighter white version and the darker black version are available in sizes youth 13 to mens 13 and cost $75 plus tax and applicable shipping fees. 'White Castle is a fun and authentic brand, so it's been really exciting to work with them on this collaboration,' said Sara Arbelaez, social media and partnerships strategist at Heelys. 'The design turned out so well. We know White Castle Cravers are going to enjoy flaunting their love for Sliders wearing this unique and playful version of Heelys.' Heelys are shoes with removable wheels located in the heel. The wheels transform the shoes into stealth skates, giving users the freedom to seamlessly transition from walking or running to skating by shifting their weight to the heel. When the wheels are removed, the shoe performs just like any other footwear. About Heelys Heelys encourages kids and people of all ages to explore their world and lead active and healthy lifestyles through movement, whether it's walking, running or skating. With Heelys, it's your choice. Heelys dares its wearers to be themselves and encourages them to make their own place in the world! About White Castle® White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain, has been making hot and tasty Sliders since 1921. Based in Columbus, Ohio, the family-owned business owns and operates about 340 restaurants as well as a retail division providing its famous fare in freezer aisles of retail stores nationwide. As part of its commitment to offering the highest quality products, White Castle owns and operates its own Slider Provider meat plants, bakeries and frozen-Slider retail plants. White Castle has earned numerous accolades over the years including Time magazine's 'Most Influential Burger of All Time' (2014, The Original Slider®) and Thrillist's 'Best Plant-Based Fast-Food Burger' (2019, Impossible™ Slider). In 2021, Fast Company named the fast-food pioneer one of the '10 Most Innovative Dining Companies.' White Castle is known for the legendary engagement of its team members and has received the Great Place to Work® Certification™ for an extraordinary four consecutive years spanning 2021–2024. White Castle is beloved by its passionate fans (Cravers), many of whom compete each year for entry into the Cravers Hall of Fame. The official White Castle app makes it easy for Cravers to sign up for the CRAVER NATION REWARDS™ loyalty program, access sweet deals and place pickup orders at any time. For more information on White Castle and how to Follow Your Crave, visit View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE White Castle
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Sliders: Eugenio Suárez is streaky, superstitious — and now he's made his mark on baseball history
Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of baseball. Sportswriters often honor a player with a 'Good Guy' award for cooperation with the media. Eugenio Suárez won it last year from writers covering the Arizona Diamondbacks. He also won it a few years ago, in Cincinnati. His personal mantra is 'Good Vibes Only,' and by all accounts he lives it. Advertisement 'Geno is the same guy every single day — the epitome of it, literally,' said the Mets' Jesse Winker, a teammate with the Reds and Seattle Mariners. 'He's happy every single day, man. He's a great teammate, a great person, just a great dude to be around. And he uplifts everybody.' Given all that, it seemed likely that Suárez would be up for a chat about one of the greatest offensive performances in baseball history. He belted four home runs against Atlanta last Saturday, becoming just the 19th player ever to do it. Yet, when the Diamondbacks arrived at Citi Field on Tuesday, Suárez kept quiet. He chatted amiably with fans on the field, and politely accepted a reporter's congratulations on his big game. But an interview? Well, that wasn't happening. The Diamondbacks said that Suárez had done some interviews the last time he was in New York, at Yankee Stadium in early April, when he had five home runs through the season's five games. Then he plunged into a three-week tailspin: a .139 average (10-for-72) with one home run in 21 games. Sports scientists have yet to determine the jinxing powers of your humble Sliders correspondent. But Suárez was taking no chances. Superstitious, perhaps? 'Might be,' said Joe Mather, the Arizona hitting coach. 'Sometimes over-talking about what you're doing can really mess you up. It's a real thing at times and not at others, but if a player is feeling it, then I don't fault them.' When you're as streaky as Suárez, 34, you'll do anything to limit the lulls. Consider last season, his first with the Diamondbacks. Suárez entered July hitting .196 with six home runs in 80 games. His OPS was .591. It was reasonable to think that his roster spot was in peril. A lot of money was at stake: Suárez would either make $15 million in 2025 or get a $2 million buyout if the Diamondbacks declined his option. But there was also professional pride for one of baseball's stealth sluggers. Advertisement In the past 10 seasons (2016-2025), Suárez ranks fifth in the majors in home runs, trailing only Aaron Judge, Kyle Schwarber, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado. He has five seasons with at least 30 homers, peaking with 49 in 2019, and never wants a day off. Suárez played all 162 games for the 2023 Mariners. He joined Arizona in a trade that November, but struggled to justify his playing time for the first three months of last season. Manager Torey Lovullo had to be blunt with Suárez: If he wanted to play every day, he had to work harder. 'I called him in, I'll never forget,' Lovullo said. 'I just said, 'Look, you've got to practice a little bit differently. You've gotten to a certain point in your career where your age tells you that you have to do things a tiny bit differently.' So we talked about getting on a program through the course of the week and following it, offensively and defensively, with some high-intensity training — and he did. He and the hitting coach just figured it out and that's when he got hot.' Earlier in his career, Mather said, Suárez could 'kind of wake up, roll out of bed and hit.' Last summer, he wanted to help Suárez re-train his fast-twitch movements and reaction times by working daily with a high-velocity machine in the batting cage. Suárez responded, hitting fastballs better than he had in a full year since 2019 — .290, with a .499 slugging percentage. From July on, he reclaimed his status as one of the sport's most dangerous hitters, slashing .312/.357/.617, ripping 24 homers and driving in 69 runs — the most in the majors from July 1 on. Included in that stretch were four four-hit games and four five-RBI games. The only other player in the past century with four of both after July 1: Babe Ruth. 'It was as good a second half as I've ever seen,' Lovullo said. 'I mean, it was awesome. It reminded me of J.D. (Martinez). J.D. seemed like he was hitting a home run a game there for the month of September (2017). But that's what he can do. He just has to be stubborn to what his strengths are, and he's figured that out.' Advertisement Martinez was the last major leaguer before Suárez with a four-homer game, doing it for the Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 4, 2017. It made an impression throughout the organization. 'I remember when J.D. Martinez was with us, he hit four homers in 2017 — I was at the (Dominican) academy, and I saw it on TV,' shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said. 'And seeing that in real life, it's kind of crazy. I was talking with a couple of my teammates: 'What about if (Suárez) hit the number four right now?' And he did. It was special to see that. It sucked because we lost, but this is baseball and you never know what's going to happen.' The last four-homer effort to come in a loss was by Atlanta's Bob Horner in 1986, in a game when the Expos' Al Newman — a popular utility infielder of the era — hit his only career home run. The Diamondbacks recovered after Saturday's loss with a win on Sunday and a series victory in New York. Alas, despite keeping a low profile before that series, Suárez went 1-for-12 against the Mets and headed to Philadelphia for the weekend with a .196 season average. But thanks to the scorching start and a night for the ages, he also had 10 home runs, tied with the Yankees' Aaron Judge and Seattle's Cal Raleigh for the most in the majors. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who seem determined to be first in everything, barged into the lead on an unwanted list at the last possible moment on Wednesday. OK, so it's not a record they'd like to have. But still, when Jack Dreyer and Tony Gonsolin started the Dodgers' final two games against Miami this week, it made the Dodgers the first team ever to use 11 different starting pitchers before May. Besides Dreyer and Gonsolin, the Dodgers have used Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki for six starts each, Tyler Glasnow and Dustin May for five, Landon Knack and Blake Snell for two and Ben Casparius, Bobby Miller and Justin Wrobleski for one apiece. Glasnow and Snell are on the injured list with shoulder inflammation, while Knack, Miller and Wrobleski are now in the minors. Advertisement According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only five other teams have used 10 starters before May: the 1912 Browns, 2002 Cardinals, 2021 Blue Jays, 2021 Rays and this season's Milwaukee Brewers, who have burned through Freddy Peralta (seven starts), Chad Patrick (five), Quinn Priester and Jose Quintana (four), Tyler Alexander (three), Nestor Cortes, Tobias Myers and Elvin Rodriguez (two) and Aaron Civale and Logan Henderson (one). The difference between the Brewers and the Dodgers (and the 2021 teams) is that none of Milwaukee's 10 starters was designed to be an opener. The Dodgers have used Casparius and Dreyer in that role, but have another reinforcement coming back soon: Clayton Kershaw, who is recovering from toe and knee surgeries, threw 66 pitches for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Wednesday in his third rehab start. Uniform numbers were not standard across MLB until the early 1930s. Sixteen franchises were around back then, which means that many players cannot be honored with a retired number. A few teams do include long-ago greats alongside their numbered brethren: Ty Cobb in Detroit, Rogers Hornsby in St. Louis, John McGraw and Christy Mathewson in San Francisco. And then there's Philadelphia. The Phillies now honor five Hall of Famers from the time before numbers. Grover Cleveland Alexander and Chuck Klein were already included in a display above the outfield concourse at Citizens Bank Park. On Thursday — the anniversary of the franchise's first game in 1883 — three 1890s stars joined them: Ed Delahanty, Billy Hamilton and Sam Thompson. Owners John Middleton pulled the curtain over their names (and block-P logos) in a pregame ceremony, calling them 'extraordinary superstars' in a scoreboard segment. He's not wrong: Delahanty hit .400 three times; Hamilton held the majors' stolen-base record from 1897 to 1977 (with 914); and Thompson, a .331 career hitter, once drove in a record 61 runs in a month — a record. Thompson also knew how to rock a mustache, with a panache memorialized in his Philadelphia Inquirer obituary in 1922: 'Although great changes took place in the game during Thompson's stay in the big show, he always stuck to his long sandy mustache. Old time fans never forgot the habit Sam had of curling up his mustache just before he came up to hit and probably many a pitcher carried the picture to his grave of Thompson walking slowly up to the plate, with his short black bat tucked under his arm, while one hand was busy curling that long mustache before he took a cut at the ball.' Advertisement Doug Glanville might be the king of all baseball media. After a nine-year playing career for the Cubs, Phillies and Rangers, from 1996 to 2004, Glanville has forged a distinguished second act on just about every communications platform. His transition to the other side came naturally. 'I felt a certain camaraderie with the media,' Glanville said. 'They weren't my teammates, but I got just as much enjoyment from talking to the writers and people who were interviewing me, because they provided so much context and history and perspective that I found valuable to shaping how I thought about something or how I approached something. So that was always a draw to me.' Glanville — who is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Connecticut's Neag School of Education — shared his thoughts on the joys and challenges of five mediums: writing a book, broadcasting on TV and radio, podcasting with The Athletic's Jayson Stark, and managing his new Substack, Welcome To Glanville, which opened for business in March. Radio: 'The surprise of radio is, you would think because you have to talk all the time, you can talk about anything. But I think you have less time to talk versus TV, because you have to paint the picture. It's too important to describe what's happening. So you can't just be like, 'Let me take three pitches now to talk about something, where TV you can get away with that because people are seeing. And with the pitch clock, it became even harder, right? Because it was like, 'OK, this guy's working really quickly. I don't have as much room to tell these stories, I guess.' But I love working with my play-by-play, whoever it is, but Jon Sciambi … Roxy Bernstein, Mike Cousins, Beth Mowins, doesn't matter. I have such a great respect for all of them and what they do.' Television: 'The best advice I got was from Gerry Matalon, he was a talent officer at ESPN. You'd come in after (a show), almost (for) an autopsy of it. So one day I walked in and he has both his hands in fists with his arms outstretched. I was like, 'Well, what's that?' He's like, 'Just tap them.' So I tap and he opens both hands and there's Starbursts in each hand. One of them is pristine, it's in the wrapper, and the other one looked like it'd been run over by a car, still in the wrapping. So he asked me, 'Which one do you want?' I was, like, 'Well, obviously this one is all wrapped.' And he's like, 'Same content, different packaging. It matters how you deliver. This is a communications job. This is not a baseball job. There's a bunch of people that play baseball that can then talk about it. But can you communicate it? Can you deliver it? Can you sell it? Can you share it? That is where you need strategy, skills, practice, and I'm going to give it to you.' That was how it went. From that day forward, I learned this is a communications job. I love baseball and I can talk about baseball, and I do, but it's not enough for me to be like, 'I played the big leagues.' You have to convey information, you have to reach people, you have to be clear.' Book writing: 'The hardest part is that I realized I'm an essayist real quick. Because if I have to sit down and someone says, 'Hey, write this whole chapter 15,000 words,' I get kind of lost in my own words. I'll get like 5,000 words in and say, 'Wait did I say that before? I might have said that already.' And this is how good my publisher was. He said, 'Look, write the whole book as a chain of essays. Then we'll categorize those essays, make chapters of them, and then we'll fuse them together. So that's how I wrote it. I wrote in, like, 52 pieces and then bridged it together. Because I figured out pretty quickly that it was just hard for me to just write a chapter.' Podcasting: 'I just love talking to people. I love learning, and any chance you have to talk to anybody, new or not new, I feel like you learn so much. It's a real chance to explore that curiosity. … It's current events, it is live — well, not live in the exact sense, but it's straight talk and it's recorded as-is, and we just get to talk to these amazing people around the game.' Advertisement The Substack: 'I think what Substack has given me is the ability to just write freely and not be in the box. The box will tell you baseball is only relevant in these places, and that I reject that 100 percent. It's a proxy for life. It's teamwork. It's sport. It's social justice. It's change. It's anything — it's cookies, it's aliases (on the road). As a player and having these experiences, I felt that baseball deserves to be showcased in all these ways. And it's harder to pitch to each individual place and say, 'Hey, I have this idea.' It's more like, 'Hey, give me your one-off piece and I might call you in four years and ask you to write another one.' I just think it's hard to be able to be a conscience of something, because you don't get the rhythm. I like that these publications are getting many different kinds of voices. There's an ensemble that I appreciate. But I think as a person trying to write consistently, that's pretty hard today. … So I think Substack is freedom, and it's also an elevation of baseball. I refuse to limit it to just, 'Oh, I hit .350 this week.' There's so much more to baseball, and I've witnessed it firsthand in my life.' Daulton Varsho's stumbling, tumbling catch in Toronto this week is rightly being considered among the best plays ever. All that was missing was a compelling game situation: Varsho did it in the fourth inning of a game the Blue Jays were losing by five runs. For both degree of difficulty and historical importance, it's hard to beat the catch of DeWayne Wise's life, which saved Mark Buehrle's perfect game on July 23, 2009. Two of our weekly features join forces this week in honor of Wise, an Immaculate Grid superstar who produced a highlight clip for the ages. Wise played for six teams from 2000 to 2013, appearing at every outfield position and twice as a pitcher. He qualified for the left-field/right-field square in Monday's Grid, but made his biggest impact in center on a midweek afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays. Inserted for defense in the top of the ninth inning, Wise got his chance immediately when Gabe Kapler drove a pitch to the wall. Wise, who was playing shallow to guard against a bloop single, raced back, leaped, reached over the fence to pull back the ball, then bobbled it as he fell — and caught it with his bare hand, mid-tumble. 'It was crazy, man,' Wise said a week or so later, when I talked with him in Chicago. 'That situation, a dead sprint out there. Every time I look at that I just get chills, like, wow, how did I make that catch?' Here's something else to give you chills: Wise made his leap in front of a mural of Billy Pierce, a star White Sox lefty who once lost a perfect game on the South Side with two outs in the ninth. (Top photo of Eugenio Suárez: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
