Easy winner on the worst signing list would be Keith Hernandez. He never seemed to have any interest in being with Cleveland and his performance lived up to that level of enthusiasm.

I don't recall we signed Brett Myers, I guess since he did nothing for us.

What about Brady Anderson? Probably cost little and they got rid of him quickly but he sure was a Zero. [online says he cost us $200000 for his 30 game stay]

Was Jack Morris a FA we signed or a midseason waiver pickup? I enjoyed his flights home to Montana between starts. Like Keith H his level of commitment was rather low. [baseballreference says he cost us only $350000. Somehow went 10-6 with his 5.60 ERA with the greatest offensive lineup in team history behind him]

And the return of Juan Gonzalez was an amazing story of a baseball rebirth. $600000 for one at bat. That could be the highest per/AB salary in baseball history. That would come to a pretty good $360M for a full season.

Thanks guys for bringing back memories of past players. The older we get, the more memories fade.

Cabin fever setting in?

Me too.

Too bad I threw away my 1965 APBA game a few decades ago. I could replay that season and post scores. That was a team with lots of favorite Indians:

C Joe Azcue and Duke Sims
1b Fred Whitifeld
2b Pedro Gonzalez and Larry Brown
ss Dick Howser and Larry Brown
3b Mike Alvis
lf Leon Wagner
cf Vic himself
rt Rocky
utility Chuck Hinton and Chico Salmon

P Sam McDowell, Sonny Siebert, Luis Tiant, Ralph Terry, Lee Stange Bullpen: Gary Bell Don McMahon
[only 20 player cards so that was my roster; there were 4 extra players who came on sheets of paper I had to glue to cardboard, and I only recall C Phil Roof OF Lou Clinton [who we only had a couple weeks] and 2 more pitchers I can't recall amazingly Wait: one was Floyd Weaver, the other may come to me later

Not to nit pick. Should be Max Alvis. And those were the days when your starter might pitch relief between starts.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Bryce Harper jersey that could have been worn this baseball season by the biggest Philadelphia Phillies fan is now a protective mask in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

Fanatics, the company that manufactures uniforms for Major League Baseball, has suspended production on jerseys and is instead using the polyester mesh fabric to make masks and gowns for hospitals in Pennsylvania and nearby states.

New York Yankees and Phillies pinstripes were still in vogue on baseball’s scheduled opening day — only stitched on the protective wear made by the apparel company.

Michael Rubin, the founder and executive chairman of Fanatics, was watching TV last week when he was struck by the idea to turn the 360,000-square foot facility in Easton, Pennsylvania, into a factory for the COVID-19 virus fight.

While Rubin considered how he could make it happen, St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem reached out to Fanatics late last week about the possibility of the company manufacturing masks. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro each contacted Rubin over the weekend and told Rubin the state was in “dire need” of more masks and gowns.

Fanatics developed a prototype that was approved by the state’s emergency agency and by Tuesday the company halted production of all baseball jerseys.

Rubin, a limited ownership partner of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and NHL’s New Jersey Devils, said he had the blessing of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to stop producing jerseys.

“We’ve got a million yards of fabric that we make these baseball uniforms from, what would you think if we take that fabric and make masks and gowns,” Rubin told The Associated Press. “He immediately said, ‘Great. I want to do it immediately. The most important thing is we’ve got to help the heroes on the front line and baseball can help play a role in it.’”

So with Manfred’s support, production on the $300 jerseys for Harper, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts and the rest of baseball’s brightest stars was stopped. The company makes the uniforms for MLB and Nike.

Fanatics stated fashioning masks and gowns on Tuesday and Rubin hoped to produce nearly 15,000 masks and gowns a day. Rubin, whose Reform Alliance lobbies for changes to state probation and parole laws, said the demand was for 95 percent masks. The production plant had been shut down as a nonessential business but about 100 workers have returned to work for Fanatics.

The company is making Level 1 masks, used for low-risk, nonsurgical procedures that are for single-use only.

Rubin said Wolf told Fanatics they would pay for the masks and gowns. Rubin, though, said he spoke to Manfred and Fanatics teamed with MLB to provide hospital uniforms at no cost to those in need in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

Rubin, who has a net worth of $2.3 billion according for Forbes, said it would cost Fanatics about $3 million to make the masks and gowns and the company would produce at least 1 million over the course of several months.

And if you are one of the few Phillies fans left who doesn’t have a Harper jersey but want one?

“I think we’ve got them, but I’m not 100% sure,” Rubin said with a laugh. “I know we can get a mask and a jersey made from one.”

There was a bit of a dust-up this week when the Devils and 76ers did an about-face on cutting salaries for employees making more than $100,000. A day after announcing the temporary 20% pay cuts because of the economics effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the teams’ co-owners rescinded them.

“As an organization, I don’t believe we got right up front,” Rubin said. “But I believe we got it right. I think people who know me, know I’m a transparent person. I believe when you get something wrong, you just kind of fix it. Ultimately, as an organization, we fixed it. I’m proud the organization came together and did the right thing by our employees. I think we’ll be rewarded by our employees who will feel we did the right thing. We got to the right place.”

But when it comes to Fanatics assisting in the coronavirus fight, Rubin added, “we’re less worried about manufacturing jerseys and more worried about just saving lives.”

How did get Max's name wrong! No. 10.
I probably know most of the rest of the uniform numbers since was back when I'd go to abou5t 15-20 games a summer
Jose 6 Duke 9 Wingy 15 Pedro 24 Larry 16 Dick 18 Chico 17 Daddy Wags 27 Vic 25 Rocky 21 Chuck 23
Sa 48 Sonny 42 Luis 33 Stange I think 34 Terry ? Bell 38 or maybe 9 McMahon 44???

I dont' remember much bullpen work by Sam or Sonny or Luis --- we're not back quite in the days of Jack Cheesboro or Cy Young.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agreed to a deal on the shortened 2020 season Thursday evening, according to both Jeff Passan with ESPN and Ken Rosenthal with The Athletic.

As part of the deal, there were also new details about the state of the 2020 draft, with MLB gaining the right to shorten the 2020 draft to five rounds, though that could be “increased at MLB’s discretion” per Rosenthal. MLB has yet to decide on a date for the draft, but Rosenthal writes it will not be later than July.

Passan also reports international signing day, typically July 2, could be delayed as late as January 2021.

While the amateur draft and the international market remain the cheapest sources for big league teams to acquire talent, owners are hesitant to spend the typical amount for draft bonuses due to lost revenues from the novel coronavirus outbreak that has delayed the season.

In 2019, teams spent $316,563,984 on signing bonuses. Of that sum, $237,345,700 was paid to players selected among the top five rounds, or about 75 percent of the total bonuses.

The 2020 class is among the deeper draft classes in recent years. With a significantly shorter draft, colleges will now face a roster crunch as they face more would-be draftees returning to school and additional eligibility for certain players. The NCAA is still determining how an additional year of eligibility will be enacted. The Division I council will vote on that issue on March 30.

On top of that, teams and agents expect fewer high school players to sign this year, with fewer opportunities and less money to go around.

“What is MLB trying to do?” asked one agent. “Get as many athletes into the game as possible? What’s going to happen when you have five rounds? Kids are going to play basketball.

“For amateurs to just always be the sacrificial lamb in the draft or international draft. Like, guys, it’s one thing after another over the last decade on this, to overcompensate.”

Starters doing regular relief stints extremely rare, and thought would instead of side work they were available. Couple times I remember Sam going to play 2base while a relief pitcher would face one batter and Sam would go back to pitching.

One famous game when Sam went to play 2nd. I was lucky enough to be there that night and one of my favorite memories of all time was when Eddie Leon, moved over to 3rd when Sam took 2nd, with his weak fielding arm couldn't throw out a hitter from all the way across the diamond and instead tossed to Sam at 2nd for the force; Sam jumped on the bag and raced out of the way.
That's the only time I believe Sam was in the field.
I think Mike Paul played 1st once
And Jim Rittwage 3rd
Those were all Alvin Dark moves.

]More in depth BA story on the shortened draft: It is nice how the major league players are happy to join the owners in screwing the new kids coming out of high school and college to save the big money for the big leaguers]

Facing cash flow issues because of the delayed 2020 season, Major League Baseball entered its negotiations with the Major League Baseball Players Association looking for ways to cut its spending this season. Facing the uncertainty of potentially long lawsuits to fight for service time and MLB players’ salaries if a 2020 season was not played, the MLBPA was looking to ensure service time and some portion of MLB salaries were guaranteed for 2020.

Both MLB and the MLBPA got a lot of what they wanted in a new deal that is expected to be ratified today. The MLBPA received service-time guarantees for MLB players, even if the 2020 season is canceled. The MLB dramatically cut the amount of money it has to spend in 2020 on amateur talent acquisition.

That agreement came at a significant cost to MLB draftees, who in many cases will find the door to playing pro baseball closed in 2020 unless they are willing to accept well below-market value signing bonuses. The deal also potentially pushes back the date of the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 international signing periods by six months apiece. MLB has the flexibility to move back the start dates of those signing periods for each of those years to as late as Jan. 15.

Under the terms of the deal hammered out between MLB and the MLBPA, the 2020 draft will be cut to no fewer than five rounds (MLB can expand it if it so chooses and several scouting departments hold out hope that it could be expanded to 10). The draft will be held as early as the current June 10 start date and as late as July 20. The dates for both periods are fluid because of the evolving novel coronavirus situation. If the signing period is pushed back, the current signing period, set to expire on June 15, will also be extended, but no rising 16-year-olds will be eligible to sign until the next period begins.

The draft’s signing deadline will be Aug. 1 at the latest, although it could move up based on the draft date. The expectation is that MLB will set a draft date roughly one month before the draft takes place to give teams time to prepare. While no details have been formalized, it is expected that the current draft date will be used to set the cutoff date for draft-eligible 21-year-olds even if the draft date itself is pushed back.

For both the 2020 and 2021 drafts, there are provisions for voluntary showcases before the draft (dependent on prevailing conditions around the country) to attempt to help MLB teams see players whose seasons have been cut short by the coronavirus.



A reduction to five rounds would be a dramatic change for what has always been major U.S. sports’ largest draft. For nearly four decades the MLB draft ran until the last team decided to stop selecting. In 1996, the Yankees picked for 100 rounds, setting the all-time record that will likely never be broken. The draft was cut to 50 rounds in 1998, then slashed to 40 rounds in 2012.

Cutting the draft to five rounds would be reducing the draft in one year by 86 percent. Last year there were 167 players taken in the top five rounds. There were 1,217 players drafted overall and 960 players who signed.

And for the next two years, teams will have no flexibility when it comes to spending on undrafted free agents. In past years, teams could use money left over from their bonus pool allotment to exceed the $125,000 limit for a player who went undrafted. Most famously, the Reds spent $700,000 to sign TJ Friedl, who was undrafted and then impressed scouts while playing for Team USA. The Reds could do so because they had leftover money they were allowed to spend as part of their total bonus pool. For the next two years, the draft spending will be “use it or lose it.” It can only be spent on players who are drafted. Anyone undrafted will be limited to a maximum $20,000 bonus.

Such a decision will make a major impact, as some teams have been very aggressive in spending in later rounds while other teams are much more conservative in spending as the draft wears on. Last year, 14 teams spent more than $1 million after the 15th round. Four teams spent less than $700,000. The Braves were the most aggressive, spending $2.83 million after the 15th round. The Dodgers spent $2.28 million, including five undrafted free agent signings, three of whom signed for $100,000 or more. Others teams were less aggressive. The Cubs spent $672,000 after the 15th round, while the Athletics spent just $345,000—the lowest of any team.

This will likely force a significant number of high school prospects to go to school. Some will opt to head to junior college to re-enter next year’s draft while others will keep to their NCAA Division I commitments to enter the 2023 draft (and in some cases 2022 if they are old enough to qualify). But those incoming freshmen will face crowded rosters. Many draftable juniors will also likely be left out of the draft in this arrangement. This agreement will make the NCAA’s decision next Monday for Division I players even more important.

The NCAA is yet to decide whether to extend an extra year of eligibility for all Division I spring-sport athletes, just seniors or none at all. If the NCAA decides to extend eligibility for no D-I spring sport athletes or only seniors, it would leave undrafted juniors with a pair of poor choices. In a normal year, a college junior picked between the sixth and 15th rounds could expect to normally sign for between $125,000 and $250,000. In 2020, if they go undrafted, they can either sign for a maximum of $20,000 or return to school, knowing their negotiating leverage will be limited the following year as a senior sign. Depending on the NCAA’s decision on eligibility, they would also have to risk returning and competing for bonuses next year with a much larger pool of senior players on top of competing for playing time with an extremely talented incoming freshman class.

Bonus slots will be identical to what they were in 2019 and will remain fixed at that amount in 2021 as well. Previously, they were set to rise by 3 percent.


Potentially even more important, teams will be limited to spending no more than $20,000 to sign any undrafted player. Previously teams could spend up to $125,000 on any late-round pick and undrafted players without reaching into their bonus pool. Such a provision ensures cost-containment for owners at the expense of limiting opportunities for prospective pro players. Of the 960 players who signed last year, 680 signed for more than $20,000.

civ ollilavad wrote:One famous game when Sam went to play 2nd. I was lucky enough to be there that night and one of my favorite memories of all time was when Eddie Leon, moved over to 3rd when Sam took 2nd, with his weak fielding arm couldn't throw out a hitter from all the way across the diamond and instead tossed to Sam at 2nd for the force; Sam jumped on the bag and raced out of the way.
That's the only time I believe Sam was in the field.
I think Mike Paul played 1st once
And Jim Rittwage 3rd
Those were all Alvin Dark moves.

And I am pretty sure Dean Chance came in to relieve McDowell in the 8th in that game. McDowell came back out in the 9th. I may be embellishing but I seem to remember he struck out the side and had a bushel basket of strikeouts that day.

I was having trouble remembering who the RH was, I was leaning toward Stan Williams, but don't recall for sure. Let me look on line for some more game detail

everything is easy to find nowadays First of all Sam's baseball reference fielding history shows him with 1 game at 2nd and 1 game at 1st [so I was wrong he was stuck in the field twice] in 1970. The check his fielding game logs and lo and behold it was July 6 1970 [did I go to the game with my Dad on his birthday? ] [Sam's 2/3 inning at 1st base without any fielding chances was 9-2-70]

And his pitching line for July 6 was 8 2/3 innings with 15K so he could well have fanned the side in the 9th. Otherwise not his best night: 4 runs on 11 hits and 5 walks. No one's going to throw that many pitches in a night now: no pitch count listed.

And you got the reliever right too! Dean Chance came in to intentionally walk Frank Howard [Sam couldn't have done that?] and that got the famous 5-4 force play. [Chance was the reliever on Sept 2 also]

Former and future Indians worked in relief for the Senators that night, Horacio Pina and Jackie Brown. Joe Campbell the starter and loser.

Duke Sims playing RF with 2 homers and 3 RBI; Graig Nettles doubled and homered too.

Mike Paul was Alvin Dark's first self-reliever: June 7 1968 in his 5th major league game he moved to 1st base and returned to the mound. And this was the time Stan Williams was the interim pitcher.

Rittwage, a Cleveland native whose career consisted of only 8th major league outings, was moved over to 3rd base Sept 25 1970, with lefty Rick Austin the interim reliever. Other barely memorable relievers: Vince Colbert, Phil Hennigan and Rich Hand finished up that night. I believe I impolitely nicknamed Hennigan "Boom Boom" in reference to the 28 homers allowed in his Indians career 237 IP. [which is nothing compared to Tomlin; whose 25 homers in 70 2018 IP was truly breathtaking; and 36 in 174 in 2016 was pretty stunning too]

civ ollilavad wrote:everything is easy to find nowadays First of all Sam's baseball reference fielding history shows him with 1 game at 2nd and 1 game at 1st [so I was wrong he was stuck in the field twice] in 1970. The check his fielding game logs and lo and behold it was July 6 1970 [did I go to the game with my Dad on his birthday? ] [Sam's 2/3 inning at 1st base without any fielding chances was 9-2-70]

And his pitching line for July 6 was 8 2/3 innings with 15K so he could well have fanned the side in the 9th. Otherwise not his best night: 4 runs on 11 hits and 5 walks. No one's going to throw that many pitches in a night now: no pitch count listed.

And you got the reliever right too! Dean Chance came in to intentionally walk Frank Howard [Sam couldn't have done that?] and that got the famous 5-4 force play. [Chance was the reliever on Sept 2 also]

Former and future Indians worked in relief for the Senators that night, Horacio Pina and Jackie Brown. Joe Campbell the starter and loser.

Duke Sims playing RF with 2 homers and 3 RBI; Graig Nettles doubled and homered too.

civ - apparently we were at that same game. I do remember it well...I was 12 at the time.