Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: Should we give up on the 2025 Cincinnati Reds? — BERYL, Fort Recovery.
A: I have a card resting on a book shelf in my office that says, “Never, never, never give up.” But, doggone it, the Reds make it tough. But why should anybody give up until the standings say they’re eliminated. And that’s a long way off. History, though, is daunting. The Reds have not won a post-season playoff series since 1996, 29 years ago. That’s the longest stretch of abject futility for any MLB team and it isn’t even close. The next longest belongs to the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have not won a playoff series since 2006, 19 seasons ago.
Q: Why isn’t the catcher charged with an error on a passed ball and a pitcher not charged with an error on a wild pitch? — JEFF, Union.
A: I have covered baseball for 52 years and never ever thought about that. And it makes sense. If the first baseman misses a throw, it’s an error. If the shortstop makes a bad throw, it’s an error. So why do they have separate categories (passed ball, wild pitch) for the catcher and pitcher? Short answer. I have no clue. I asked a long-time official scorer and he shrugged and said, “Because it’s in the rulebook.”
Q: Has any player ever hit five home runs in a game? — JORDAN, Huntington, W.Va.
A: Not in the majors. There have been 18 MLB players hit four. The closest to hitting five was Lou Gehrig in 1932 in Philadelphia’s old Shibe Park. He homered his first four at bats and on his fifth at bat he hit one toward the center field wall, 468 feet from home plate. Al Simmons caught it against the wall. Five homers were hit in a 1923 Pacific Coast League game by Vernon Tigers right fielder Peter J. Schneider against the Salt Lake City Bees. He had two grand slams, hit two homers in the seventh inning and drove in 14 runs. Amazingly, he was a pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds from 1914 to 1918, hurt his arm, and played out his career in the minors as an outfielder.
Q: Why do so many Japanese pitchers seem to wear uniform number 18 when they pitch in MLB? — JENNIFER, Austin, Texas.
A: It’s Japanese tradition that started in the 1960s with the Tokyo Giants, the New York Yankees of the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization. The Giants always gave their No. 1 starter number 18 and all the teams picked it up. So when Japanese pitchers come to America, they ask for 18. Some examples: Kenta Maeda, Hiroki Kuroda, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Shota Imanaga, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Good thing none of them played for the New York Mets when Daryl Strawberry wore 18 or with the Boston Red Sox when Johnny Damon wore 18. It would take a lot of yen to pry 18 from them.
Q: Whatever happened to New York Yankees first baseman Wally Pipp after Lou Gehrig took his job? — GREG, Beavercreek.
A: Pipp’s had the most painful headache in baseball history. He didn’t play one day due to a headache and Lou Gehrig took his place... for 2,130 straight games. The Cincinnati Reds purchased Pipp from the Yankees for $7,500 in 1926 and he retired after the 1928 season to write a book about stock market investing and was a factory worker during World War II. Pipp is the reason I tried to play every game in Little League, American Legion, high school and college. But my coaches would have none of it.
Q: Does a major league player’s salary take a hit when he is sent to the minors on a rehab assignment? — RICHARD, Bloomington, Ind.
A: Absolutely not. They are paid their MLB salary, just as they are paid fully while on the injured list. And their meal money is $117.50 a day. What a lot of MLB players on rehab do is on their last day with the minor league team, they cater in a meal from a nice restaurant for the entire team.
Q: Why is John Franco not in the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame? — TOM, Deer Park.
A: In six seasons with the Reds, Franco saved 148 games, third on the all-time list. First is Danny Graves (186) who is in and second is Francisco Cordero (150) who is not. But Clay Carroll, with only 119 saves and fifth all-time is in. Franco spent 14 years as a New York Met after the Reds traded him for Randy Myers, who became one-third of the Nasty Boys bullpen with Rob Dibble and Norm Charlton. And, yes, I’d vote for Franco, if I had a vote. As with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Reds version has a Veterans Committee that would be Franco’s only way in.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: What has changed the most from when you first start covering baseball until today? — JOE, Kettering.
A: That was in 1973, ancient history. Back then, players didn’t make much more money than we lowly scribes. We actually associated socially. Then free agency hit and salaries went over the roof. Next was the DH, which I still abhor. Mostly, though, I went from typewriters to several levels of ever-improving portable computers. My current Apple Powerbook makes it all so easy now.
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