Wish I could have been there

[VanillaGorilla]

It is this sort of thing that makes me wish for an Out of the Park Baseball-Tonight video recap.

[ShaneCarson]

Shame on you Al Pratt. Shame on you.

[JohnHoward]

Al Pratt needs to pick on somebody his own size. Like Tom Cruise.

Pratt is listed as 5'7 and 140 lbs in Baseball Reference!

[Nunyer]

Veeck had it all wrong! Hitting .261 with some decent pop in under 400 ABs... Gaedel had some game!

[VanillaGorilla]

Originally Posted by Nunyer

Veeck had it all wrong! Hitting .261 with some decent pop in under 400 ABs... Gaedel had some game!

That was in AAA, though.

However, that season he did set the AAA single-season record for walks (198) and OBP (.531).

The mental image I have of him charging the mound is priceless.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

It is this sort of thing that makes me wish for an Out of the Park Baseball-Tonight video recap.

Hahahaha! This is great. You're right, the visuals that come to mind . . .

Although, it does point to a fault in the game in that it does not really know history - we all know and accept that - but that the game should have:

• Accurately recorded that this player was only 3 feet 7 inches tall, and
• Adjusted his performance for being height-challenged by either:
  • Having him "wash out" early with an abysmal batting average, or
  • Make the Hall of Fame with an amazing OBP (all walks, of course).

[eriqjaffe]

I wonder who he hit the homer off of.

[JohnHoward]

Originally Posted by eriqjaffe

I wonder who he hit the homer off of.

I'm guessing Ted Abernathy or Dan Quisenberry, etc. for obvious reasons ...

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by JohnHoward

I'm guessing Ted Abernathy or Dan Quisenberry, etc. for obvious reasons ...

Submariners . . . clever.

[Hoiles]

My guess is the HR was an inside the parker off of Randy Johnson, who had trouble tagging him

[David Watts]

Hmmm, wonder if anyone has had Herb Washington show up in a random debut league yet?

[VanillaGorilla]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Hahahaha! This is great. You're right, the visuals that come to mind . . .

Although, it does point to a fault in the game in that it does not really know history - we all know and accept that - but that the game should have:

• Accurately recorded that this player was only 3 feet 7 inches tall, and
• Adjusted his performance for being height-challenged by either:
  • Having him "wash out" early with an abysmal batting average, or
  • Make the Hall of Fame with an amazing OBP (all walks, of course).

There is no DH in either league, now. That means he has to play defense...awesome!

Gaedel has started 245 games at 1B in the ML. He has an EFF rating there, for his career, of 0.912....yish.

ALSO, he has made 5 starts at catcher! He never made an appearance at C that was not as a starter, so his 45 IP@C indicate full games. Talk about a DIRE emergency starter.

How did he do? Well, 13 runners attempted to steal on him. All 13 made it.


Save this for the next time you read a "catcher's arm doesn't matter!" post.

BTW, I have 5 rds of drafting. Gaedel was high a 3rd rd selection.

[VanillaGorilla]

The following pitchers have served up HR balls to Eddie Gaedell in my current league:

Bobby Bolin
Tom Browning
Dick Ellsworth
Don Kirkwood
Roscoe Miller
Ray Poat
Mike W Thompson

ADD: Though he did not hit a HR off of him, Gaedel has gone 6 for 8 vs Joey Hamilton. Talk about being cut down to size.....

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

ALSO, he has made 5 starts at catcher!

Wow. He probably had to use his entire little body to frame pitches! Maybe he wore a catcher's mitt as his uniform?

[JohnHoward]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

Gaedel has started 245 games at 1B in the ML. He has an EFF rating there, for his career, of 0.912....yish.

Yeah, but he is great on the short hops.

[JohnHoward]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Hmmm, wonder if anyone has had Herb Washington show up in a random debut league yet?

I haven't made it to the Herb years yet but in my 60's historical replay league Allan Lewis of the A's has been a mystery for the AI. Pure pinch-runners don't really fit the logic of baseball, so no wonder they can't be modeled well.

SORRY for going off topic, just wanted to quickly respond to this. Back to Mr. Gaedel, please!

[joefromchicago]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

Gaedel has started 245 games at 1B in the ML. He has an EFF rating there, for his career, of 0.912....yish.

I would have guessed he'd play short.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by JohnHoward

Yeah, but he is great on the short hops.

Ba dum dum, tssh!

Originally Posted by joefromchicago

I would have guessed he'd play short.

Ba dum dum, tssh!

Folks, these guys are in town all week! Try the veal and don't forget to tip the waitresses!