THE BILLY-BALL SUNDAY NOTES
FROM THE BILL CHUCK FILES
“PURE, UNADULTERATED DISGUST”
“Pure, unadulterated disgust” is how Bob Nightengale described the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s reaction to the MLB’s first official salary cap proposal since 1994. The union’s response came from the interim union chief Bruce Meyer, who said, “For generations, our members have fought against cap systems because they harm players at all levels, erode or eliminate contractual guarantees, pit player against player, lead to more work stoppages, not less, and get worse for players over time.”
“Caps don’t lower ticket prices for fans, eliminate tanking or ensure teams are run with equal competence,’’ Meyer also said. “They suffocate competition by offering owners an all-purpose excuse for inaction and mediocrity.”
Nightengale closed his outstanding USA Today column by writing, “In other words, let baseball’s labor war proceed, with a whole lot of arguments, rhetoric, and hostility coming to a ballpark near you.
This could be a doozy.”
Ken Rosenthal, in The Athletic, writes, “Forgive my cynicism, but the owners created this unfortunate landscape, insisting the sport’s competitive balance is out of whack when the standings, again, indicate otherwise.
The four first-place low-revenue clubs already are undercutting the owners’ view that teams with lesser resources are doomed. Per FanGraphs, the Brewers rank 19th in payroll, the A’s 26th, the Rays 28th, and the Guardians 29th, respectively.”
Let me make clear what you already realize: I am a pro-labor columnist. As someone who battled weight issues for most of my life, I’m well aware of self-control issues when it comes to food. Since the advent of free agency, the owners have had self-control issues when it comes to spending money on free agents. Now they are looking for help in reining in their spending. Yet, their greed will continue to come at the expense of players and, more importantly, the fans. They care less about their team's quality than about their team's revenue. But I assure you, they are making gobs of money.
Rosenthal closed his column by writing, “I’m just waiting to see whether the Brewers, along with the Rays, Guardians, and A’s, will even dare pursue significant upgrades with a labor battle looming. Those teams already are wrecking the owners’ claims that baseball lacks competitive balance. Something tells me the owners wouldn’t be too happy if one or more of those clubs makes moves to further demonstrate they are wrong.”
LET’S TALK HOMERS
I love watching games through the MLB app. I just look for close games and announce teams I like. Invariably, that leads me to the Padres and Don Orsillo, who I find to be as enjoyable a listen as any play-by-play guy in the game. He is fun, his partner(s) are fun, and not only does he do a really good job on the game, but everybody enjoys the experience. Speaking about partners, I’m really sick of lousy former players who are even worse behind the mic. And no, I’m not naming names.
In any case, yesterday I got to see Fernando Tatis Jr. hit his first home run of the season after 207 AB. First, Tatis faked a bunt, then he hit a shot that Statcast-projected 451 feet to deep left field at Nationals Park. This was after Manny Machado passed Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Williams and tied Orlando Cepeda and Tony Perez for 76th place on the all-time HR list, with 379 (thanks, Mr. Baseball).
MOST CONSECUTIVE PLATE APPEARANCES WITHOUT A HR BY A PLAYER WHO PREVIOUSLY HAD A 40 HR SEASON - MORE FROM MR. BASEBALL
Carl Yastrzemski 1972 250
Fernando Tatis Jr. 2026 238
Jim Rice 1988 199
Marcus Semien 2022 190
David Ortiz 2009 163
Greg Vaughn 2002 158
The Padres lost 9-4 to Washington, but by then I had lost interest and switched to the Cleveland broadcasters. The Guardians lost too.
Yandy Diaz had his 24th career leadoff HR. Everyone else in franchise history has combined for 12. The Rays were creamed by the Angels.
Ronald Acuna Jr. has homered in 3+ consecutive games for the seventh time in his career. He also had his 15th career multi-HR game. The Braves beat the Reds. It helped that Matt Olson passed Anthony Rizzo and tied Steve Finley for 162nd place on the all-time HR list with 304.
Friday night, Kyle Schwarber hit his MLB-leading 22nd homer of the year. With that homer, he passed Joe DiMaggio, moving into 91st place on the all-time HR list, with 362. Paul Goldschmidt passed Norm Cash and Jeff Kent and tied Manny Machado and Matt Williams for 78th place on the all-time HR list, with 378. Roger Clemens’ son, Kody, homered off a 100.1 MPH pitch from Pittsburgh’s Jared Jones. It was the fastest pitch anyone has homered off this season.
As I said, Schwarber has an MLB-leading 22 homers, and he’s followed by Yordan Alvarez and Munetaka Murakami, who each have 20. Murakami is on the IL with a hammy, at a bad time. In June, the White Sox will play series against the Phillies, Braves, Dodgers, Yankees, and Guardians.
Alvarez leads the majors with 14 solo homers. Schwarber is next with 13, and the Braves’ Drake Baldwin has 12.
Aaron Judge leads the majors with eight two-run homers. Schwarber and Murakami are next with seven. Judge also leads the majors with six Sunday homers.
The Dodgers’ Andy Pages leads the majors with five Earl Weaver Specials. Jake Bauers and Jarren Duran each have four three-run homers.
Harrison Bader and Jeremiah Jackson are the only two players with two grand slams.
Shohei Ohtani, Byron Buxton, and James Wood are the majors’ leaders with four leadoff homers.
Twenty players have hit an extra-inning homer.
Colton Cowser is the only player with two walkoff homers this season.
Judge and Schwarber lead the majors with 10 go-ahead homers.
Randle Grichuk, Michael Conforto, Derek Hill, and Kyle Manzardo are the MLB leaders with two pinch-hit homers.
A QUESTION FOR YOU: Who is the all-time leader in pinch-hit homers?
On this date in 2008, Manny Being Manny, more commonly known as Manny Ramirez, hit his 500th career home run. He was the 24th player in major league history to have socked 500 and was right in the middle in terms of age, being 12th-youngest and 13th-oldest. He finished his career with 555 homers, but who knows how many were PED-fueled.
STARRETT’S STATS
I believe this is an exclusive. Well, at least I haven’t seen anyone else writing about this brilliant take from Jason Starrett of TruMedia. Finishing strong often correlates with overall success, and that’s especially true for MLB teams within a series.
