Stolen Base Pioneer Lou Brock Was An MLBbro Game Wrecker
Mark Gray goes “Black In The Day” to celebrate HBCU legend, World Champion and stolen base pioneer Lou Brock, who was the ultimate MLBbro party starter.
Brooklyn Dodgers MLBbro Joe Black Created A Legacy In Baseball & Business | HBCU’s First Melanated Mound Marauder
Mark Gray goes Black In The Day on pioneer pitcher Joe Black, a legendary HBCU star at Morgan State and Renaissance man who pitched for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also a roommate of Jackie Robinson.
1994 Montreal Expos Had The Flow & MLBbros To Win World Series | A Strike Killed All That Noise
This isn’t a story about a team that won it all, it is a story of a supremely talented baseball team that never got a chance to take its place among the greatest teams of the 1990s.
In the field, the 1994 Expos had one of the most diverse and Uber talented rosters in the majors.
Though they weren’t the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates, they held a solid collection of Black and brown talent.
Among the 16 position players on the roster, four were Black and four were Latino. Starters Marquis Grissom (CF) and Cliff Floyd (1B) were two of five Montreal starters to hit .280 or better.
Lenny Webster and Rondell White were solid reserve options for manager Felipe Alou.
Strike Three, MLB Out
On August 12, 1994, Major League players went on strike. The strike eventually led to the cancellation of nearly 1000 games, including the playoffs and World Series.
Prior to the shutdown of the season, it seemed that two teams were on a collision course to meet in the Fall Classic, the New York Yankees and the Montreal Expos. While the Yankees were rising from a nearly two-decade funk, the Expos had quietly put together one of the most exciting young cores in baseball.
By 1994, Montreal had strung together consecutive winning seasons; winning 87 games in 1992 and 94 in 1993.
The 94 wins were the second-most in franchise history but still weren’t enough to reach the postseason.
The Expos had generally been good, but never great over the first 24 years of the franchise’s history. Between 1979 and 1993, Montreal had finished .500 or better 12 times.
Then came 1994.
Montreal was stacked. The pitching staff led the NL in wins (74), winning percentage (.649), ERA (3.56), saves (46), and only allowed three more runs than the Atlanta Braves, who were in the middle of the Maddux/Glavine/Smoltz era.
On offense, they scored more than five runs per game with a well-rounded offensive attack.
The Expos’ .278 batting average made up for the fact that they finished ninth in the league in home runs with just 108.
Montreal tore up the basepaths with 137 steals and punished the gaps, racking up 246 doubles and 30 triples.
Then there was the defense.
The Expos were second only to the San Francisco Giants in defensive efficiency and finished second to the Braves in runs allowed per game at just under four. In other words, they had no holes. They could beat any team in any way you could think of.
Five Expos made the All-Star team, including pitcher Ken Hill, who led the National League with 16 wins.
Happy Birthday Expo Ken Hill. Expos 1992-1994. All-Star and NL Win leader in 1994. Part of the best team in baseball. #GoExposGo pic.twitter.com/uayGM8N8Mq
— Expos Baseball fans (@MEBF_ExposFans) December 14, 2016
Hill was the ace of a staff that included a young Pedro Martinez, who had been traded to Montreal for Delino DeShields, Jeff Fassero, and John Wetteland. Ironically, Wetteland would join the Yankees the next season and win a World Series with them in 1996.
As the negotiations began to break down between the Players’ Union and the owners, Montreal kept playing like a team on a mission, winning 20 of their final 23 games before the strike. The Expos were on pace for 106 wins, which would have tied for the seventh-highest total in baseball history at the time, and the most ever in a 162-game season.
Then, just over a month later, any dreams the Expos had of claiming their first championship were gone when Bud Selig announced that the remainder of the season would not be played.
The expos got shafted in 1994. That team was great. Larry Walker, Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, John Wettland, Marquis Grissom..sad.
— Mike Alexandre (@MikeAlexandre17) January 30, 2014
What should have been the beginning of a potential dynasty, with Montreal only having two players on the roster over 30, was really just the beginning of the end for the Expos.
Walker, Grissom, Hill, and Wetteland were all gone by the start of the next season. Floyd got hurt, and the team finished 66-78 in 1995.
The Expos had only three winning seasons in their final decade in Montreal, as crowds began to get smaller and their home field, Olympic Stadium began to fall apart.
In 2005, they made the move to Washington, D.C., and rebranded as the Nationals.
In 16 seasons, the Nats have made five trips to the postseason, including a World Series championship in 2019, but none of those teams were as talented or as dominant as the ‘94 Expos.
It was disappointing that the Nationals didn’t include some of those Montreal greats, including the players who helped build the franchise up from its expansion roots, like Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, and Warren Cromartie.
Many of the top players from that 1994 team did go on to find their own success elsewhere. Grissom won his championship with the Braves in 1995.
Floyd and Alou collected their own with the Marlins in ‘97. The Marlins also had a Black catcher named Charles Johnson who is the last #MLBbro backstops of note in MLB history.
Martinez became the ace of the Red Sox in 2004 when they broke the Curse of the Bambino.
The 1994 Montreal Expos were one of the greatest teams ever, and no one remembers them.
Maybe now they will.
MLBbro Ron LeFlore Went From Armed Robbery To Stolen Base King
MLBbro Ron LeFlore’s path to The Show wasn’t typical. He outran the suffocating cellblocks of Jackson State Prison to take his rightful place alongside diamond-mining legends.
On the field, he was a blessed bag-swiper and All-Star who once had a 30-game hitting streak. Off the field he was anamoly, who beat the odds like grandma with the switch.
Brandon Carr introduces you to one of the most inspiring sports narratives of the twentieth century.
From 1984-1998 No MLB Player Had More RBI Than Joe Carter
By Devon POV Mason | MLBbro.com Contributor
There are few moments in sports more exciting than a walk-off homer in baseball.
At one moment, the outcome of the contest is hanging in the balance. A moment later, it’s over.
In baseball history, few players have participated in a walk-off home run more dramatic than Joe Carter’s in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series.
The Toronto Blue Jays were up 3 games to 2 in the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies but trailing in the bottom of the ninth inning in Game 6.
With runners on 1st and 2nd, Phillies reliever Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams threw a 2-2 fastball to Carter who deposited it over the left field wall for a 3-run home run.
One that walked it off for victory and delivered the city of Toronto it’s second straight World Series Championship.
The call is one for the ages.
Five years after Carter won the World Series, he played his last game, finishing his 16-year MLB career with 396 home runs and 1,445 RBI.
In 2004 he was eligible for the Hall of Fame on the baseball writer’s ballot but received just 19 votes, a 3.8% share that was just shy of the 5% minimum required to remain on future ballots.
Joseph Chris Carter player college ball at Wichita State, and was an RBI man long before he entered the majors, driving in a then NCAA record 120 runs in 1981.
Carter was selected by the Cubs second overall in the 1981 MLB Draft. He was considered a five-tool player, with power, speed and strong-arm (he was a quarterback in high school).
He hit 22 home runs, while stealing 40 bases at AAA Iowa. In 1984, the Cubs were considered contenders and dealt Carter to the Indians in a trade that brought eventual Cy Young winner Rick Sutcliffe to Chicago.
This would be the first of three times that Carter would be involved in mega-trades involving players of significance.
With stops in Chicago, Cleveland, San Diego, Toronto, Baltimore and San Francisco.
From 1984-1998 no player in MLB had more RBI than Carter’s (1444), with Cal Ripken a distant second (1319), followed by Eddie Murray (1220), Barry Bonds (1216) and Jose Canseco (1214).
So, Carter is ahead by a considerable amount. Carter was also 4th in home runs (behind 3 players linked to steroids), and 5th in doubles over those 15 years.
Durability played a huge role as Carter was definitely available on game day. He played in all but 65 games from ‘85 to ‘97.
If Carter were to ever get that call to the Hall, he’d join Bill Mazeroski, as the only two players to end the Fall Classic on a homer and be enshrined in Cooperstown.
Point blank Joseph Chris Carter was an “RBI Man.”
When it came to driving men in, he didn’t play cute. He simply got the job done as well as any run producer of his generation.
Hall of Fame? Maybe. There’s definitely players in Cooperstown that can’t hold his jock strap as a run producer. There are a few clearly better.
But less than a handful of them can claim to be as clutch as “Touch Em All Joe.”
Never Forget | Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn Was A Hoops Star Too
By Devon POV Mason | MLBbro.com Contributor
Tony Gwynn was a two-sport athlete growing up in California. The young talent mastered the crafts of baseball and basketball. The teenager that would one day go on to rewrite the book on modern era hitting, attended Long Beach Polytechnic, which was a high-profile and very competitive school for sports.
Gwynn starred on both the basketball and baseball teams.
His individual success couldn’t hide the fact that the baseball and basketball teams were moving in opposite directions during his final two years of high school.
The basketball team went 53-8, while the baseball team went 3-25-2 during his junior and senior years.
Gwynn considered quitting baseball and focusing solely on basketball, but his mom talked him out of it. It turned out to be a life-saver for Gwynn and the storied history of Major League Baseball.
A gaping chapter would be missing in Baseball’s Bible if Gwynn decided to drop the diamond and hit the hardwood full time.
Coming out of high school, Gwynn received multiple basketball scholarship offers, but none for baseball. He eventually signed with the San Diego State Aztecs with the opportunity to play both baseball and basketball.
In college he played four years of basketball and three years of baseball.
Although he was a two-time All-American in baseball, believe it or not, he was even better on the court. He set multiple school records for assists playing the point guard position. He was named All-WAC Second Team twice as a member of the basketball team.
Ultimately Gwynn made the right decision to focus solely on baseball after his four-year hoops commitment to the Aztec program was completed.
He may have had an NBA career if he put the same focus and diligence into hoops as he did into constructing his rise to baseball immortality.
In the end, both sports contributed to his Hall of Fame destination. Playing basketball helped Gwynn’s baseball skills out a lot as far as his agility and developing quick hands.
Gwynn spent 20 seasons in the majors playing for the Padres, he was selected by San Diego in the 1981 MLB Draft. He only spent one season in the minor leagues and made his debut during the 1982 season. He appeared in 54 games and finished with a .289 batting average. It was a solid rookie season with numbers that paled in comparison to the prolific hit totals Gwynn would amass in the future.
By 1984, Gwynn had San Diego in the World Series.
In his third season, Gwynn broke out and put MLB on notice. He made his first All-Star team and won his first Silver Slugger award.
Never a power hitter, Gwynn knew how to get on base and was one of the first players to utilize video to study his own hitting tendencies and that of opposing pitchers and used that to his advantage.
Looking at his career, he never had a full season where he didn’t bat over .300. He was the model of consistency and that’s why the National League Batting crown is named after the eight-time batting champ.
From 1984-1997 it was pretty much Gwynn and then everybody else when it came to diligence, technical hitting prowess and patience at the plate.
Baseball is a sport where many don’t have success, and especially for the length of time that Gwynn did. His baseball career was long and glorious, but his life was cvut short. Gwynn passed away at the age of 54 after battling cancer for years.
During his career he made 15 All-Star teams, and at one point he made 11 consecutive.
He finished his illustrious Hall of Fame career with an impressive .338 batting average, 3,141 hits, 135 home runs and 1,138 RBIs. The stats say it all.
Point blank and period “Mr. Padre” was a “Pros Pro” and a “Professional Hitter.”