Excuse the personal reference, but it fits the subject of this column. It’s about kids and baseball, specifically kids pitching baseballs.
Jericho Scott pitches baseballs in the Liga Juvenil de Baseball de New Haven. That is, he pitched baseballs in that Connecticut youth league until league officials told him he could no longer pitch. They said he threw too hard — 40 miles an hour — and made it difficult for kids on other teams to hit him.
About 15 years ago a major league committee, chaired by then Commissioner Fay Vincent, redefined a no-hitter and in so doing took no-hitters away from several pitchers. Now a major league committee is in position to give a pitcher a no-hitter. If it happens, it would be a joke. But it wouldn’t be funny.
CC Sabathia is the pitcher who could benefit from the committee’s decision. Sabathia, the wondrous Milwaukee pitcher, allowed only one hit Sunday in raising his National League record to 9-0 in 11 starts, all of which the Brewers have won.
As a baseball fan growing up in Pittsburgh, I watched some pretty awful Pirates teams. The names of the players are probably remembered only by Pirates fans and diehard fans in other cities:
Clem Koshorek, Bobby Del Greco, Tony Bartirome, Eddie O’Brien, Johnny O’Brien, Vic Janowicz, Dino Restelli, Pete Castiglione, George Metkovich, George Strickland, Paul LaPalme, Dick Hall, etc., etc., etc.
As bad as the Pirates of those days were – the 1952 team won 42 games and lost 112 – they did not eclipse the Pirates of these days for consistent futility. These Pirates are days away from matching a major league record for consecutive losing seasons. By losing a few games this week, these Pirates can insure their 16th consecutive losing season, a streak achieved by only one team in major league history.
