A: Absolutely. And not only should it happen, it is coming soon to a city near somebody — Nashville, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Charlotte, Portland and even a return to Montreal are under consideration. I am deeply in favor of having 16 teams in each league and maybe they’ll do away with interleague play, which I strongly favor so that the two teams in the World Series won’t already have played each other six times.
Q: Has any MLB player ever hit five home runs in one game? — D-MIKE, Dayton.
A: Never. Four is the limit, done 21 times by 21 different players. Four home runs in one game is more rare than a perfect game. There have been 24 of those, nobody more than once. No player has hit four home runs in a post-season game, but New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. Kyle Schwarber, the last to hit four in a game, had a fifth chance but popped up. Former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Mike Cameron hit four for Seattle and cowardly Chicago White Sox pitcher Mike Porzio hit him with a pitch when Cameron had a chance for five.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: What three players had the sweetest swings you ever saw? — STEVE, Brookville.
A: I’m tempted to say Ken Griffey Jr., Ken Griffey Jr. and Ken Griffey Jr. His swing was picture-perfect every time, home run or strike three. But you asked for three so No. 2 is Ted Williams and, yes, I saw him in person when I was 9-years-old. His was the scientific swing, every part of it pieced together perfectly. No. 3 is Tony Gwynn, owner of the perfect swing for every pitch, up or down, inside or out and line drives galore.
Q: With a baseball strike looming, do you believe they will come to an agreement on a salary cap? — JASON, Beavercreek.
A: Another strike would turn off so many fans, but I fear it might happen. The owners are so dead-set on a salary cap, which is needed to make MLB more competitive. But the Players Association is just as dead-set against it because they want their players to make as much obscene money as they can. Many fans already are turned off by the $700 million contracts the Mets and Dodgers gave out. How much money does a player need to put five luxury cars in their garages?
Q: Who would you like to see as baseball’s next commissioner? — TIM, Xenia.
A: I’m available, if not for just one day so I could get rid of the ghost runner. Author Jane Leavy has a great book called, ‘Make Me Commissioner.’ Read the book and if you are old-school baseball you might say she would make a great commissioner. But the owners will put in some lackey they can control.
Q: What’s your opinion on MLB parks not being standardized with the outfield fences at different distances and with the walls at different heights? — MIKE, Phoenix.
A: In the old days, they squeezed ball parks into small plots of land, mostly in the inner cities. That dictated distances. With all the new parks built in recent years, they could have mandated the same distances and same heights. The way parks are these days, some are cigar boxes and some are as big as prairie, that makes home run accomplishments skewered. A home run in Great American Ball Park or Yankee Stadium is a pop fly in San Diego’s Petco Park or San Francisco’s Orale Park. Baseball is the only major sport that doesns’t have the same playing dimensions in all venues — basketball, football, hockey, soccer — all the same.
Q: Do you miss pitchers batting or are you OK with the designated hitter? — RICHARD, Bloomington, Ind.
A: I do not like the DH, never have and never will.
Yes, most pitchers can’t hit, but some can. Pitcher Tony Cloninger hit two grand slams in one game. Joe Nuxhall knew which end of the bat to hold. Reds manager Sparky Anderson used pitcher Don Gullett to pinch-hit. Dodgers pitcher Don Newcome hit .359 with power one season. Carlos Zambrano had 24 career home runs. Bob Gibson was not only fearsome on the mound, he could be scary in the batter’s box. He hit 24 homers and drove in 144 runs in his career and in 1970 he hit .303. But now we have to watch a player who doesn’t even need to own a glove.
Q: What do you think about the way players dress to play these days? — JEFF, Springdale.
A: Doesn’t the word uniform mean the same? Not in MLB. The recent trend of players wearing their pants above the knees is ugliness personified, even worse than wearing their pants tucked into their shoes with no sock showing. Bob Howsam must be spinning in his grave. Not to pick on Elly De La Cruz, but I will. Button your shirt and quit wearing a jewelry store around your neck. Of course, he isn’t alone at displaying bling. I would love it if MLB would ban jewelry on the field of play. Of course, Reds manager Tito Francona could keep his Rolex.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Q: Which were the best and worst cities you visited as a traveling beat writer? — GEORGE, Morton Grove, Ill.
A: The best is easy. San Diego had it all — weather, restaurants, resort hotel, great ball park and beaches. A writer once wrote, “Every year they say the San Diego Padres are going places this year and they always do. . .to the beach.” The worst? New York City. Too crowded, too much traffic, bad ball park (Shea Stadium) that was difficult to get to, a hassle on the No. 7 subway line. It was OK for a three-day visit, but I couldn’t wait to get to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, that’s how much I disliked NYC.
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