Halfway point on a 1969 Mets photo

1969 Mets reunion 2.0

Nearly one year ago (Jan. 30, to be exact), I got the first autograph on this photo. This weekend, I added two more to reach the halfway point.

First, on Saturday, I drove up to White Plains for a show to get Jerry Koosman's signature. It was iffy, though -- the snow wasn't cooperating. So the ride took a little longer than usual, but I made it with no hassles. I parked -- for $5, which is lame (last time at this venue, the Westchester County Center, I accidentally parked in a small back lot, where there was no attendant) -- and went inside to buy my Koosman autograph ticket. There was no line, so I walked right up to get the signature, then browsed a few dealers for an Al Jackson card, because he was the free autograph with admission. I found a 1965 Topps card for a few bucks and got that signed, too.

Then today, it was out to Citi Field for a Mets 50th Anniversary show. Tom Seaver was scheduled to sign from noon to 2 p.m. I'd prepurchased my admission and Seaver ticket online a few weeks ago, so I picked them up right about noon. But this wasn't like usual MAB shows; other than a small section of Mets merchandise and the MAB table selling baseballs and photos for autographs, and one window selling hot dogs, soggy Nathan's fries (as per usual) and drinks, the Caesar's Club was just a bunch of mostly Mets fans waiting. (There was one instigator in Phillies garb -- a 2009 NL champs shirt, not even an '08 World Series champs shirt -- and I saw one Yankee cap, but the rest was blue and orange and some Giants red and blue.)

Despite the posted noon start time, the first Seaver tickets weren't called until 12:45. After 90 minutes, they'd only gotten to No. 30 (I had No. 75) when the announced that he'd be taking a break for the scheduled 2 p.m. Q&A with Jim Palmer. So annoying. But then, inexplicably, 15 minutes later, they resumed Seaver with tickets 1-50, so I guess they either realized the folly of putting him on hold for a Q&A, or enough people complained. Shortly after the resumption, they called 1-80, and I entered the area of signing tables.

A rope line wound around four times, with probably about 30 people in it, and it took 15-20 minutes to get to the front. Seaver -- who I'd heard could be cranky, or short, was pleasant enough, but I didn't try to engage him in conversation or anything. After being there for three hours, and with a long line still behind me, I got my autograph and left.

So now I'm down to Nolan Ryan, Jerry Grote and Duffy Dyer. I missed a chance at Dyer last March when I had a conflict, so I hope he and Grote come back to the NYC area soon. Ryan is less likely, of course, because of his job with the Rangers. I suspect that once I get the other two, I might take a trip to Texas and try to get him at the ballpark, or at a show if I see one advertised.

And so the project continues ...

Barry Larkin as an All-Star for the last time

I suppose I'm a couple days late on the Barry Larkin post, but that's because I don't really have anything to add. I never had a strong feel either way for his candidacy, but I suppose I now see him as more a Hall of Famer than not. He was among the shortstops who "changed the position," as they like to say (not the shortstops themselves, saying that, but other people), and he was probably the National League equivalent of Cal Ripken Jr. -- only without the consecutive games played streak or the Q rating. Plus, now the 1990 Reds have a Hall of Famer.

But then I remembered I had this photo -- taken during his last season, when he was named to his last All-Star team. It's one of my favorite shots from that weekend, when I was in Houston to cover the celebrity softball game but got to stay for everything else -- and then fly back to Newark sitting next to one of Tom Gordon's sons before chatting with Harold Reynolds at baggage claim.

The other Larkin memory I have is how he rejected a trade to the Mets in 2000 because they wouldn't give him a three-year extension. I'm not sure Larkin would have been the difference in the 2000 World Series, so in hindsight it looks like a wise move by the Mets considering that Larkin only played more than 70 games once in those three seasons from 2001-03, and Jose Reyes debuted in June 2003.

Jim Qualls vs. Tom Seaver

Part of my 2011 Christmas haul

I finally watched the recent episode of Studio 42 with Bob Costas in which he sat down with Tom Seaver up in Cooperstown to talk about Tom Terrific's career. There was some great stuff in there, particularly Seaver's opinion of the use of today's pitchers. But he also talked about his "imperfect game" in 1969. When asked about Jim Qualls, who got the lone hit -- who was the only baserunner -- in that game, Seaver said he'd never faced the guy before, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever faced him after that.

So of course I had to look it up. I went to Baseball Reference's Play Index and drew up all of Qualls' appearances against Hall of Fame pitchers:

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP	missG
Tom Seaver	6	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167	.167	.167	.333	0	0	0	0	0
Don Sutton	6	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0	0	0
Bob Gibson	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Don Drysdale	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Juan Marichal	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Gaylord Perry	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0	0	0
Catfish Hunter	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Phil Niekro	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/28/2011.

Not much there. The hit in the ninth against Seaver on July 9, 1969, was Qualls' only one against The Franchise, and he had only three other hits -- of 31 in his career -- off future Hall of Famers. Seaver wasn't sure if he'd faced Qualls outside of that game, but he did, the following week in Chicago. Seaver allowed five hits and a walk and lost, 1-0. Qualls went 0-for-3.

But back to 7/9/69 -- how unlikely was Qualls' hit against Seaver? Qualls' career was so brief (144 plate appearances in three seasons, spread over four years with three teams) that he has no comparables on Baseball Reference. And a search of other players with 130-150 career PA and an OPS under .600 (Qualls' was .540) mostly gives you pitchers. So a present-day comparison might be Argenis Reyes -- or any number of pitchers -- breaking up a Justin Verlander perfecto with two outs to go. Or, from the last perfect game in the Majors, Roy Halladay against the Marlins in May 2010, the equivalent might be Bryan Peterson getting the hit in the ninth to spoil perfection.

Perfection is not easy -- duh -- and though the Mets one day will pitch a no-hitter (they have to, right?), there's no telling if any of us will see a perfect game from the Amazin's anytime soon. If anyone was going to do it, it probably would've been Seaver against those Cubs in the summer of '69, just one week before Apollo 11 launched for the Moon.

Someone like Jose

OK, so Jose Reyes' departure snapped me out of my (unintended) blogging hiatus. I found it in myself to read more posts on Reyes from some other blogs over the past two days. I always appreciate good writing, even when it's tough to stomach. Maybe even more in those cases ...

Well-written (psycho)analysis from Ted Berg

A true fan's view from Paul Hadsall (who I owe a belated thank you for acknowledging me in his Thanksgiving post). He also looks at what Marlins bloggers are saying.

Wonderful sarcasm from Mets Police

A pragmatic look from Brad Bortone

 Vinny Cartiglia has fans' reactions on Twitter over at Metsblog.

And a collection from the folks at Amazin' Avenue ...

Matthew Callan knows it hurts

Eric Simon helps you decide who to blame

Chris McShane channels The Simpsons

And, finally, Amazin' Avenue's Applesauce presents a roundup of even more coverage. I've linked to the whole post because it gave me the idea for the (intentionally cheesy) photo presentation below.

Adios

I wasn't sure I was going to write about Jose Reyes. I thought about just letting this day go by without weighing in, without dwelling on it, and just try to focus on other things -- fantasy football, bowl season, Christmas -- in the hopes that I might miss any press conferences or introductions in order to lessen the impact. Then, before I knew it, it would be Opening Day and, so what? It's like he wasn't even here.

But that, of course, is not possible. Reyes is arguably the most dynamic player the Mets have ever developed and he sure was fun to watch. He loves the game, he has fun, and his smile shows that. If he's on your team, you can't help but root for him. If he's on the other team, you really want to beat him. And that's what makes this new destination, in South Florida, all the more perplexing. A few years ago, when the Phillies and their fans complained about what they perceived as Reyes showboating, the Marlins also got in on that meme. (Ironically, if you google "Jose Reyes showboat," you find a lot of Phillies blogs slamming him, particularly in '08 -- as well as several advocating that the team sign him this offseason.) I always felt the Marlins had no ground to stand on with that complaint, because Hanley Ramirez has never been known to put his head down and run out a double. And now they've gone and signed the guy they think has a little too much fun out there.

I'm certainly torn between wishing Reyes well and hoping his contract becomes an albatross to the Marlins. I like the guy, and good for him for getting his payday. And the Mets, if Sandy Alderson is being truthful, made a competitive offer, which is all I could hope for out of this scenario. Well, yes, I hoped the Mets would re-sign the guy, but not at six guaranteed years and something north of $100 million. I think their alleged offer of five years in the $90 million range, with a sixth-year option to push it over $100 million, was a competitive offer. But Reyes clearly wanted the guaranteed money -- and potential to reach the playoffs. Yes, let's be honest here, the Mets are looking like the worst team in the NL East for 2012, despite what looks to be a wide-open division. It's too early to say who the favorite is, because a lot of player movement is still to come, but I can't envision the Mets being better than any of the other four clubs.

But does Reyes push the Marlins over the top? I'm not so sure. He's averaged just 98 games the past three years, and his addition means franchise player Hanley Ramirez will have to move to third base. Good luck smoothing that one over, Ozzie Guillen. The club's ace, Josh Johnson, didn't pitch after May 16 this past season, and despite all the Phillies' other holes, the front of their rotation is still solid, so the Marlins can't match that. I will say this, though: For once, the expectations of the Marlins' ownership may be justified, for the first time since about 2003. They've set the bar too high in recent years and run off a couple of good managers as a result of inflated hopes. But as I said, it's early. These Marlins are looking to spend like hedge-fund managers during the Bush years. They may add more important pieces, which would change the outlook. But building a team through free agency rarely works. Teams tend to have better track records with a successful core that is then supplemented by free-agent pieces to fill the holes. The Marlins' holes are more than a shortstop -- and not even that -- and a closer.

I could be wrong. Time will tell. These are just the initial thoughts and feelings not even 24 hours after a guy we've come to love watching out there left for a team only a mother could love.

Adios.

What I didn't know about the DH

I know a lot about baseball. I'm not saying that to brag, just as a piece of background information. I'm not claiming to be all-knowing or a trivia savant (off the top of my head, I can't tell you who won the 1962 AL Cy Young Award or '63 World Series), but I do have a firm grasp of a lot of history, especially that which took place since I was born in 1976.

But this one stunned me: The designated hitter, introduced in '73, wasn't used in the World Series until 1976, and then only in alternating years -- regardless of ballpark -- through '85. I learned this from a Joe Posnanski post written nine days ago that I only read today. (Some of the numbers he has in there are interesting.) So yeah, even in '73, the first year of the DH, when the Mets opened the Series in Oakland, starter John Matlack took a turn at bat (and walked). And in '76, when Cincinnati hosted Games 1 and 2, Lou Piniella and Elliot Maddox of the Yankees and Dan Driessen of the Reds stood in at bat for the pitchers.

So the first National League park to experience the DH -- something that has been offered up as a way to spice up Interleague Play, by swapping the DH rule -- was Riverfront Stadium in '76, and Dodger Stadium ('78), Veterans Stadium ('80), Busch Stadium ('82) and Jack Murphy Stadium ('84) followed suit. The 1985 World Series was the last no-DH Fall Classic, and the Mets' win over the Red Sox was the first to use the current format, which uses the rules of the league of the home team.

This is fascinating to me. In 1973, when the American League -- back when the leagues were truly separate entities -- altered its rules to have a designated hitter for the pitcher, Major League Baseball decided (or refused?) that this affront to the game could not be used to decide that year's champion. It took four seasons before it was allowed. And then, when MLB decided to allow it in the Series, it chose to do so arbitrarily, alternating its use by year, just as it did with home-field advantage back then. However, it implemented the DH rule opposite the American League's home-field schedule. That is, it began use of the DH in the World Series in '76, a year in which the National League team would host Games 1, 2, 6 and 7. Why it was decided to use the DH throughout the Series or not at all for the first 10 years, instead of based on the home team in each game, is a curious choice, for sure -- and, as Posnanski touches on, perhaps had as much as an impact on the games as where it was played. For those who thought alternating home-field advantage each year was stupid and arbitrary, how about alternating DH use? Crazy.

There's always something to learn about this game. And there's always something to see. This has been an amazing World Series, a thrilling and exciting postseason, starting with the last day of the regular season. I've been watching it all and hope to take some time to write out some thoughts after it's over and I've had time to recover and digest it all.

One more game. Let's see what this season gives us for a finale.

Parting shot

Until next year ...

Summer time has come and gone, and everybody's home again
Closing down for the season, I found the last of the souvenirs

-- Billy Joel, "Famous Last Words"

I took this shot after the final game of the season back on Sept. 28, but I've been busy and it took me a while to go through the photos and post them. The rest of the shots -- including Jose Reyes' bunt and bolt -- are here.

Carp-e diem! What you missed if you missed last night

I can understand the view of the fan who, frustrated over another disappointed season by his team, finds no interest in the postseason. And I know what it's like to see your team, which seemed destined -- even a lock -- for the playoffs at the All-Star break, fall short on the final day of the season. But as much as I love college football, I can't let go of baseball. I love October weekends of football-full days and playoff baseball nights. And if you love the national pastime, it doesn't get much better than last night.

The Brewers' walk-off win over the Diamondbacks was remarkable in its own right, but the nightcap -- Cardinals at Phillies, Chris Carpenter vs. Roy Halladay -- was pretty close to perfection for a fan of the game. As a Mets fan, sure, I probably had a greater rooting interest for the Cardinals. But even in a series in which I bear little ill will against either team (the upcoming ALCS between the Tigers and Rangers falls into that category), I tend to develop an affinity for one team over the other during the course of the game or the series.

But anyway: last night. While Arizona and Milwaukee were in the 10th inning at Miller Park, Rafael Furcal stepped to the plate in Philadelphia to start Game 5 of that series and tripled to open the game. A triple is exciting whenever it happens, but the first batter against Halladay, when half the ballpark might be expecting him to flirt with a no-hitter in a must-win game? A thing of beauty, particularly when you realize that the leadoff runner on third doesn't necessarily mean a run against an ace like Halladay. Just look at Game 2, when Furcal led off with a triple and Cliff Lee stranded him there by retiring the next three Cardinals.

Halladay wouldn't be so lucky. The next batter, Skip Schumaker, battled Halladay in a 10-pitch at-bat, culminating in a double to the right-field corner to bring home Furcal. It had the makings of a big inning, but Halladay then bore down to get out of the inning with just the one run scoring. With an ace like Carpenter on the mound for St. Louis, one run might be enough. If you're a Cardinals fan, you hope so, but you want more, just to be safe. While the Phillies lineup might not be the efficient juggernaut it appears to be (it relies more on the three-run homer than manufacturing runs), at home at cozy Citizens Bank Park a home run can change the game in a hurry.

And that's what made this game so great: Every batter the rest of the way was a big one, an important one. Every out Carpenter recorded brought the Cardinals closer to the NLCS; every baserunner the Phillies got -- there were just five -- brought them closer to tying the game on a double or taking the lead on a homer. In a 1-0 game, every pitch matters to the team trailing.

So while I may not be able to watch my favorite team this postseason, after one week I've already been able to see three thrilling winner-take-all games that have had me creeping closer to the edge of my seat with every pitch in the late innings. There hasn't been a day without baseball yet this October, and tonight the ALCS begins with one of the few pitchers better than Halladay this year, Justin Verlander, putting his stuff up against the formidable Texas lineup in its own hitter-friendly home.

I'll be watching.

From ND to MLB: Billy Burke

One hundred years ago today -- Tuesday, Sept. 26, 1911 -- the Boston Rustlers arrived at Chicago's West Side Grounds for a getaway day doubleheader against the Cubs. It would be the 11th and 12th games in the last nine days on the Rustlers' current road trip, one that would last another 12 games and 13 days through the end of the season.


It was the final pair of games scheduled between two also-rans in the National League. The Cubs (84-57) were in the last days of a pennant race, in second place behind the Giants, 7 1/2 games out with 12 to play. The Rustlers, on the other hand, were the worst team in baseball, 54 games out of first place with a 36-102 record and a .261 winning percentage -- well behind their pythagorian mark of .316 based on their 622 runs scored (12th out of 16 teams) and 948 allowed (last, 188 more than any other team had given up).

The home team sent a 28-year-old right-hander out of the University of Notre Dame, Ed Reulbach, to the mound in the first game. The visitors countered with a 22-year-old southpaw from the same school, Billy Burke. It is, I am pretty certain, the last time two former Irish hurlers squared off on a Major League mound.

And it was the last game of Burke's career. At least at the highest level -- he'd pitch two more years in the International League before giving up the game for good.

William Ignatius Burke was born on July 11, 1889, in Clinton, Mass., a town incorporated 39 years earlier and named (allegedly) for the DeWitt Clinton Hotel in New York for the simple reason that the town's founders were fond of the place. Situated near the Nashua River 13 miles northeast of Worcester, Clinton became an industrial mill town, which in turn attracted the railroads. The building of the Wachusett Dam from 1897-1905 formed the Wachusett Reservoir, which was filled by 1908 and displaced the residents of several towns in the valley that were now under water, including parts of Clinton. While some towns were relocated, Clinton's local ballfield remained in place. Now known as Fuller Field, it is recognized as the world's oldest baseball diamond still in use in its original location and orientation. It's possible that a young Billy Burke first picked up the game on these basepaths in Clinton.

From central Massachusetts, he made his way to St. Charles College and Seton Hall University before landing at Notre Dame in 1909. In one season on campus, he threw five shutouts and compiled a scoreless streak of more than 42 innings. But a year later, not yet 21 years old, Burke found himself vying for a spot with the National League's Boston Doves. It seems his collegiate career was cut short when the Notre Dame administration discovered that he had been playing semi-pro ball under an assumed name -- either "Connolly" or "Conway" -- for two summers in the New England League. Perhaps authorities as St. Charles and/or Seton Hall also made the same discoveries.

Inconsistencies in spelling -- not to mention Burke's attempts at disguise -- make it difficult to pin down a definitive timeline, but archives of Sporting Life show a Connely/Connolly pitching for New Bedford in July 1908 and Lynn on Aug. 4 of that year. Ten days later, a box score shows that Conway came on in relief for Lynn. Conway often came on in relief -- perhaps Burke went so far as to be known as Connolly when he started games and Conway when he didn't. Or maybe he found Conway put up better statistics and decided to stick with that name.

On Sept. 11, 1909, Sporting Life reported that Boston's National League team had drafted Conway from the Lynn club, along with Moran from Providence, Cooney from Haverhill and Wolfgang from Albany. The following month, the paper provided the briefest of scouting reports: "Cooney, the youngester secured from Haverhill, looks as if he had in him the makings of a mighty good player, and Conway, the Lynn kid, also looks good." "Cooney" looks to have been Bill Cooney -- playing under his own name in the New England League -- an outfielder, shortstop and sometimes pitcher from Boston who played at Princeton, but saw action in just 13 games with the Doves in 1909-10, encompassing his entire Major League career.

Manager Fred Lake's Doves were a young squad in 1910, averaging 26.5 years of age. Burke seemed to be among the promising prospects that offseason, according to contemporary newspaper reports. "Good things" were expected of the hurler "destined to become an artist" on the "slab roll," for he had "all the earmarks of a comer." He even handled the bat fairly well, going 3-for-3 in one exhibition game against the University of Tennessee ballclub, and he appears to have played one inning -- the bottom of the eighth -- in right field during a game in Brooklyn later in the season.

But when Lake's club broke camp in April, Burke was shipped off to Montreal in the International League. He wasn't there long, earning a recall to the Doves and making his debut on April 30, 1910, against Brooklyn. In all, he would appear in 19 games for the Boston Nationals that year, starting one of them and mopping up to complete 16 others. He earned one win against no losses, struck out 22 in 64 innings and allowed 68 hits and 29 walks. Twenty-nine earned runs resulted in a 4.08 ERA.

The Doves, though, were horrendous. A 53-100 record in 1910 prompted a change at the helm, and Fred Lake was replaced by Fred Tenney. Burke was reserved by the Boston club over the winter, and a Sporting Life account the following spring cited Tenney in saying that Burke was expected to help the club "a great deal" in 1911. Yet, after a one-inning appearance against Brooklyn in April, Burke was released to Fall River of the New England League and later found himself back in Montreal, where he teamed with fellow Domer Jean Debuc on a formidable staff. Both were chosen by one newspaper as among the best players in the Eastern League that year, and Burke finished with 16 wins. At the end of August, he was recalled to Boston.

Burke's Major League career lasted all of 21 games, just two of them starts. On Dec. 12, 1911, Burke was released again to Montreal, where he pitched in '12 and '13 before giving up the game at 24. Other than a few scattered photographs that have popped up -- whether on his Baseball-Reference profile or in some online archives of the Reach or Spaulding guides -- there is not much to represent Billy Burke's professional career. And so I thought I would piece it together for the record, presenting a game log of his 19 appearances for the Boston National League club.

Boston, Saturday, April 30, 1910. Brooklyn 10, Boston 3: Burke pitches an inning in relief, finishing the game but allowing two runs.

Boston, Sunday, May 15, 1910. Chicago 4, Boston 0: Burke goes four innings to finish off another game, allowing one hit and two walks, striking out two.

Brooklyn, Monday, May 30, 1910. Brooklyn 3, Boston 1 (Game 2): Another one-inning outing to close the game, allowing a run on two hits.

Boston, Friday, June 3, 1910. Chicago 9, Boston 0: Burke goes two innings against the Cubs, yielding three runs on two hits with a walk and a strikeout.

Boston, Saturday, June 18, 1910. St. Louis 8, Boston 2 (Game 2): In the longest outing of his career to date, Burke mops up with seven innings of four-hit ball, allowing two runs, walking four and striking out one.

Boston, Monday, July 4, 1910. Philadelphia 6, Boston 5 (Game 2): Another long outing, this one covering 6 2/3, sees Burke allow four runs (though not all earned) on six hits and four walks, with three strikeouts.

St. Louis, Monday, July 11, 1910. Boston 9, St. Louis 6: It's unclear from the box score how many innings Burke pitches, but he allows one walk and a strikeout.

Chicago, Thursday, July 21, 1910. Chicago 3, Boston 0: Burke finishes the game with two hitless innings, allowing a walk.

New York, Monday, Aug. 1, 1910. New York 4, Boston 0: Another solid seven-inning outing in relief. The Giants manage six hits but just one run, drawing two walks and striking out once.

Boston, Saturday, Aug. 6, 1910. Pittsburgh 10, Boston 2: The Pirates collect a run on three hits, striking out once, as Burke pitches the ninth.

Boston, Monday, Aug. 15, 1910. Boston 8, St. Louis 1 (Game 2): In the second game of a doubleheader, Burke gets his first start -- and finishes it, too. The Cardinals manage seven hits but just a single run, walking twice and striking out four times. It is, by far, the best outing in Burke's career and prompts praise in Sporting Life from Boston correspondent J.C. Morse.

Chicago, Monday, Aug. 22, 1910. Chicago 7, Boston 0: Back to the bullpen, Burke pitches six innings in relief, allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out one.

St. Louis, Sunday, Aug. 28, 1910. St. Louis 6, Boston 5: Mastery of the Cards continues with a scoreless ninth inning, allowing one hit and a walk.

Boston, Friday, Sept. 2, 1919. Brooklyn 8, Boston 0 (Game 2): A rough four innings against the Superbas, yielding four runs on four hits and four walks. Burke records one strikeout.

New York, Saturday, Sept. 10, 1910. New York 6, Boston 1 (Game 1): Some redemption as Burke finishes off the game with four innings of three-hit, one-run ball, walking three and striking out none.

Boston, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 1910. Chicago 11, Boston 0 (Game 2): Burke throws a scoreless ninth, allowing a hit and a walk while recording a strikeout.

Boston, Thursday, Sept. 29, 1910. Chicago 8, Boston 3: Not only does this late-season outing represent the first time Burke pitches on consecutive days, but it's also the first time he faces the same opponent in back-to-back outings. This time, the Cubs touch him for three runs on five hits and two walks in three innings. He strikes out one.

Boston, Saturday, Oct. 1, 1910. New York 12, Boston 4: The Giants score a run on three hits in the ninth against Burke.

Boston, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 1910. New York 17, Boston 9: In his final appearance of the season (though not Boston's last game on the schedule), Burke comes on in the sixth to finish out the game with 3 2/3 innings, giving up four runs on nine hits and three walks, striking out two.

Boston, Thursday, April 13, 1911. Brooklyn 7, Boston 2: A new season and a new nickname bestowed upon the Boston club -- the Rustlers -- but the same results for Burke. He finishes the second game of the year with an inning on the mound, allowing two runs on three hits while walking one and striking out no one. After this, he is shipped out until the end of August.

Chicago, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 1911. Chicago 10, Boston 2 (Game 1): Burke makes just the second start of his career, facing off against a fellow Notre Dame man in Ed Reulbach, and is knocked around for five runs on five hits and four walks in just 2 1/3 innings. He strikes out one batter in what would prove to be his final Major League outing.

Boston went a combined 97-207 (.319) in the two years Burke appeared in a game for the club, so it's not too surprising that of his 21 career games, the team was 2-19 (.095) -- though the gap between the two winning percentages is much wider. But based on how Burke was used, it seems he was thought of as little more than a mop-up reliever in an era when relievers were nothing more than failed starters. Some newspaper reports may have spoken highly of Burke's potential, but either he never realized it, or his managers saw his ability differently.

Billy Burke died on Feb. 8, 1967, in Worcester, having worked for the city's traffic bureau, according to a brief obituary in The Sporting News. He is buried in St. John's Cemetery in Lancaster, Mass., near his hometown of Clinton.

With no tobacco cards made or photographs available to purchase for my collection, I went to visit Billy in Lancaster. My wife and I stopped off at the cemetery last month on our way up to Maine, finding Burke's name engraved on the base of an obelisk topped with a cross in a section near the treeline in the back. After spending some time there on a warm but breezy New England summer evening, we found a tavern in town for dinner. Pennants hanging from the ceiling, with Notre Dame among them, and we wondered the local boy working down in Worcester who once pitched for Boston had ever ducked in for a drink.

Next year's stamps, all together

Don't these look beautiful? They'll be great to have -- one sheet to keep, others to use -- next summer*.

*Assuming the Post Office still exists.

From ND to MLB: John Axford

Have you ever watched pitchers in the outfield during batting practice? Probably not, right? Why would you? Maybe there's one you're keeping tabs on hoping to get a ball tossed your way, or one of the guys is a target for an autograph on a card you've got in your binder. But generally, they stand around chatting with one another until a ball comes their way, when one of them breaks from the pack into a jog to catch it or toss his glove into the air in an attempt to knock it down.

And then there's John Axford. Before the first game of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium during the last week of June, he took his spot out in right field for batting practice. Like a lot of pitchers, he spent some time with his arms crossed, turning his head and watching as moon shots from the likes of Prince Fielder and Mat Gamel soared into the second deck and beyond. But as the Brewers worked through their groups, as the hitters changed, so did Axford's focus.

With fewer balls hit far over the short right-field fence came more opportunities to make a play, and that's what Axford did. He sprinted to his right into the gap and loped back and to his left onto the warning track to make catches. And for those balls that traveled only 319 or 320 feet? Axford positioned his 6-foot-5 frame at the base of the wall and jumped, reaching his glove over the top of the eight-foot fence and pulling back a batting practice home run off the bat of fellow Notre Dame alumnus Craig Counsell.

"I just jumped and put up my glove and somehow it went in it," Axford said the next day in the clubhouse. "And I just remember my arm going back and I was like, 'YES!' You gotta wait until Craig Counsell hits them, because he's putting them kind of close right over [the top of the wall], so that I can get close to robbing them. If it's Prince and Gamel, pffft, they're putting them everywhere I can't reach.

"It was Counsell's ball that I robbed. I told him about it after. 'Hey, did you catch me? I robbed your home run.' He still hit like eight home runs, though, so he was pretty excited about that."



John Axford is a visual guy. He's a self-described "mustache afficionado" who has carefully groomed his facial hair into a Rollie Fingers handlebar, a full soup-strainer with a soul patch and a devilish Fu Manchu (and used it all for a good cause). In college, he majored in film, television and theatre (that's how the major is spelled in South Bend), so it seems appropriate that one of the first things that drew him to Notre Dame was the mail.

"That bright gold 'ND' on the top of the envelope that I got with the recruiting letter. In all honesty, that thing just stood out more than anything," Axford said when asked about his college choice. "All the others came in letter size and I'm getting this big envelope with this huge 'ND' on there. I was like, 'Wow, this is amazing. This is one of the few schools I've ever heard of.' Being Canadian, you don't hear of many stateside schools, especially if you're not focused on going to school, which I wasn't at the time. I was thinking more pro."

But Notre Dame's interest changed that line of thought. Axford then attended a fall baseball camp on campus to get a look at the school and have the coaches get another look at him.

"I figured throwing in front of the staff would be the best way to do it," he said. "They saw me at the Chicago Area Code Games, which is where I think they initially saw me. But seeing me on their field up close and personal, I figured, would be the best way. Apparently they loved me immediately and offered me a scholarship on that day that I was throwing. I kept holding out, because it was expensive. My family, it wasn't something we were really able to afford, and luckily held out to get a little bit more of a scholarship."

The visual stimulation also played a part among the trees and tan (gold?) brick buildings beside St. Joseph's and St. Mary's lakes.

"But I knew right away, once I went there [for a visit], I wanted to go there," he said. "That was the school for me. The campus was absolutely beautiful, the ballpark was fantastic, beautiful ballpark. And the coaching staff was fantastic. I'm glad I did. Four straight years of Big East championships and the College World Series. Last a lifetime, that's for sure."

From the ND Baseball media guide

Axford arrived on campus in the fall of 2001 and, after considering majors in sociology ("I wanted to be a teacher ... but you had to take a lot of the teaching classes over at Saint Mary's, which I just wasn't going to be able to do with practice.") and psychology ("Took one class -- I was out pretty quick."), he looked into a course of study that drew on his past experiences.

"I did a lot of A.V. in high school," he said. "I did a lot of editing, actually, a lot of film editing, because all our announcements that we had were on TVs in class, so I would actually run promos, film promos, and edit those and run those and do some of the graphics for TV for the announcements in the morning. And I loved that, so I wanted to see what their film program was about, so I checked it out and I loved it. Just kept going with it. And then they built the beautiful Regis Philbin theater center there -- it was perfect for my senior year to hang out in and enjoy."

On the field, Axford endured an up-and-down career at Notre Dame. The Irish reached the College World Series in 2002, his freshman year, when he went 5-2 with a 3.95 ERA, striking out 64 in 70 2/3 innings. He pitched once in Omaha, 1 1/3 innings (no hits, two walks, one strikeout) in Notre Dame's season finale, a 5-3 loss to Stanford.

His sophomore year, in 2003, saw some improvements -- a 9-3 record, 69 strikeouts in 71 innings and a drop in walks from 59 to 50 -- but also an increase in wild pitches (from seven to 14) and a rise in ERA, to 4.13, the result of three more earned runs (34) despite allowing eight fewer overall (37). But 2004 was a lost year, literally, as he recovered from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. He pitched just three innings in '05.

Thirteen players who appeared in Notre Dame's three games at Rosenblatt Stadium in '02 were eventually drafted, including Steve Stanley (second round) and Brian Stavisky (sixth round) by the A's that month. But Axford is the only one to reach the Majors -- yet, he didn't get there with any of the teams that drafted him, nor the one that signed him to his first professional contract. The Mariners selected Axford in the seventh round in 2001, when he was coming out of high school. He chose to go to college instead. In 2005, following his senior season at Notre Dame, the Reds drafted Axford in the 42nd round, but concerns about his control problems turned them off.

"The first one was the more difficult one, obviously, coming out of high school," he said. "Being in the seventh round, I was offered a little bit better than seventh-round money. But I knew education was important and that's what I wanted to do."

But the decision did not come easily.

"It wasn't my dream to play college baseball," Axford said. "It was my dream to play pro ball and play in the Major Leagues. And I remember that's what I was thinking: If I don't get this opportunity, am I going to regret it? But the more I thought about it, the more I thought it's not a guarantee I'm going to be playing in the Major Leagues. But this is a guanratee that I can go to a school with a pretty much 100 percent graduation rate. I can go here for four years, even three years, and maybe get drafted again. Eventually, I kind of came to my senses, with my parents' help, and realized that education is the important thing right now. It was something I was focused on, something I was passionate about too. I wouldn't be able to beat that education."

With a year of college eligibility remaining in 2006, Axford enrolled at Canisius College in Buffalo, not far from his home in Ontario, and continued to work his way back from the surgery. That August -- following a stint in the Western Major Baseball League in Canada -- Axford signed with the Yankees following a tryout on Staten Island and a "callback" in Tampa. He made his professional debut the next spring, pitching a combined 26 games at three levels of Class A ball (Staten Island, Charleston and Tampa) and getting a cameo at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. His combined statistics showed a 1-4 record, 3.29 ERA, 67 strikeouts, 45 walks and 14 wild pitches in 63 innings. He started five of the 27 games in which he appeared.

"When I was with the Yankees, they just had me bouncing around quite a bit," Axford said. "I played at four different levels. They had me spot-start a few games. I was doing the old piggy-back thing, backing up one of their younger high draft picks down in Staten Island. So I was throwing five innings at a time, so basically like a starter."

That younger high draft pick -- at least at times -- was Zach McAllister, who was the player to be named when the Yankees acquired Austin Kearns last August.

But that December, the Yankees cut Axford loose. Another tryout followed, leading to a contract with the Brewers in March 2008. This arrangement stuck, but it took some adjustments. Axford spent that entire summer pitching for Milwaukee's advanced Class A affiliate in Brevard County, Florida. He started 14 of his 26 games, walking 73 in 95 innings and throwing 12 wild pitches. He compiled a 5-10 record and 4.55 ERA, with 89 strikeouts. Those strikeouts -- and the high-90s radar-gun readings -- still tempted the Brewers, despite the wildness.

The first solution was to consider another role for Axford.

"My first year with the Brewers in '08, they were grooming me as a starter, but I started piggy-backing one of our prospects early," he said. "He was coming back from surgery, so he'd throw two or three [innings], then I'd pick up the rest of the game if I could. Then after he was moved up, I was starting myself. I think I ended up getting 14 starts that year, some good, some definitely not good. Walks were just the thing that were catching up with me. I remember some games where I would just cut it loose for the first three innings, and I had nothing left after that, so I would only last maybe another two or like one and a third or something, so I wouldn't get five innings in. And I think maybe they slowly realized that maybe we'll just try him in relief."

That transition happened in 2009, beginning in spring training. But there was still the issue of control. A high walk rate from a reliever is not something Major League teams will tolerate.

"In spring training [2009], I was playing with the Double-A squad," Axford said. "I don't know if they were making me a reliever or starter. I was just throwing some innings, and thing were not going well. I didn't even know if I was going to make a team. They sent me back down to A-ball. I was supposed to throw four innings on the A-ball side. I pitched one, and then I went out for the next, didn't get an out. ... I gave up like nine runs and walked like a ton of people and kept giving up home runs and doubles off the wall. I don't think I was throwing that hard because I was just trying to throw strikes. I was just laying the ball in there all the time. I was just so frustrated.

"So I didn't even know if I was going to make a team. Luckily, they held on with me long enough. They sent me back down to Brevard, to A-ball, try to get things together."



One day early in the 2009 season in Dunedin, where the Blue Jays train and their Florida State League team plays -- and where a certain Cy Young stud was once teetering on the edge of flameout as a struggling prospect -- Axford was pulled aside for a bullpen session by Brewers minor league pitching coordinator Lee Tunnell and Brevard pitching coach Fred Dabney.

"They said, 'We're going to try to do a couple things, hope you're open to it,'" Axford recalled. "'I'm open to anything,' is what I said. 'Whatever's happening right now isn't the way I want to pitch, because this isn't working.' I was doing OK down there, maybe a 3.00 ERA or two-something. But I knew there was still more in there, so that's what they tried to work with.

"The first thing they said to me was, 'Do you know Roy Halladay?' Yeah, yeah, of course. 'Just try to pitch like him right now,' that's all they said. I'm like, 'Alright, what do you mean?' They said, 'Just do, whatever you think he looks like, try and do that right now.' And I think that their intention -- obviously, because I don't look like him by any means -- their intention was to try to get me to load a little bit better, get my hip back, get my [arm] angle down. And I started doing that, started leaning back, getting a little more angle forward, my arm slot lowered just a little bit -- I'm still very high, but my arm slot lowered enough -- that I started keeping the ball down better and I started actually picking up velocity because I was becoming more athletic through my delivery.

"It was just night and day, it was unbelievable. In the matter of one bullpen session, I could tell that I was throwing harder."

And the results could be seen on the field. Now pitching exclusively in relief, Axford went 4-1 over 19 games with a 1.63 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, walking 16 and striking out 43 in 27 2/3 innings for the Manatees. Impressed with his progress, the Brewers promoted Axford to Double-A Huntsville. After four games -- essentially a quality start: three runs, seven hits, three walks and nine strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings -- and a save, he was on the move again, to Triple-A Nashville.

"That year, when they just kept me in relief, I think it was kind of like a light switch," Axford said. "'Alright, this is it!' I did have a couple three-inning outings here or there, but mostly it was one or two innings. They put me in some pressure situations pretty quick, setting up games, closing out games, coming in with the bases loaded, and I thrived in it. I really loved those situations and I loved being in those moments. I think that was it, that's what I needed. My mindset before, in the years when I was in college, was toward starting, and I think it was just a completely different atmosphere when it came to pro ball and my mentality kind of just changed, and I think this role is definitely suited and fitting for me right now."

In 22 games with the sounds, Axford was 5-0, finishing 11 contests and allowing 13 runs, 23 hits and 19 walks in 33 innings. He struck out 37 and posted a 1.27 WHIP. Then the next call came: to Milwaukee. In the course of one season, Axford went from a struggling reliever in spring training to advanced Class A to Double-A to Triple-A to the Majors.

"I only spent a couple of weeks in Double-A and then I was in Triple-A," he said. "Before I knew it, it was time for the All-Star break, and before I knew it after that, I was in the big leagues in September."

The Brewers brought Axford to the big leagues on Sept. 7, 2009, which was Labor Day and the start of a three-game series at Miller Park against the Cardinals (who would sweep the set). After an off-day, the Brewers flew to Arizona and swept the D-backs, but Axford watched from the bullpen each night. From Phoenix, it was back to the Midwest and Wrigley Field, where the Cubs won the series opener, 2-0, on Monday, Sept. 14. And still Axford, a uniform on his back, a Major League per diem in his wallet every day, had yet to pitch in a game.

His debut came the next night at Wrigley. In the bottom of the eighth, with the Cubs holding a 12-5 lead, manager Ken Macha called on Axford to pitch the last inning. The first batter, Bobby Scales, flied out to left on an 0-1 pitch. Then Jeff Baker singled to right (on a 1-2 count) and Ryan Theriot drew a walk.

Kosuke Fukudome came up next, and on a 1-0 count, Axford threw a wild pitch, allowing Baker and Theriot to move up to third and second, respectively. But Axford worked his way back to even the count at 2-2, then got Fukudome swinging for his first Major League strikeout. The wildness returned, with Derrek Lee and Micah Hoffpauir drawing walks -- Hoffpauir's scoring Baker -- before Geovany Soto flied out to left-center.

That account is easy to find in the game's play-by-play, but Axford remembers only select parts.

"I literally remember like three pitches -- no four," he said. "I remember my first pitch, because it was a strike. I remember my strikeout of Fukudome, it was a curveball in the dirt; I remember knocking Derrek Lee on his back on a fastball up and in, obviously unintentional, and I remember my very last out, because I thought it was a home run. Bases were loaded and the guy crushed the ball, it was kind of into the wind, maybe just got it off the end and it ended up being a flyout. Those were literally the only four pitches I remember out of probably almost 25 or 30 I threw on that day."

From a Notre Dame standpoint, there are two other key points to note from that game: Aaron Heilman earned the win in relief for Chicago, and Cubs manager Lou Piniella used Jeff Samardzija to mop up for the home team, meaning three Domers took the mound that night, with one throwing the final pitch for each side.

"It was awesome to have it at Wrigley Field," Axford said. "I had to wait around a little bit, wait about eight or nine days before I got my debut. ... It was a little tough waiting, but it was definitely worth it. It was nice to be able to sit there kind of take it all in, too, for just over a week and enjoy it."

Axford pitched in six more games that September, finishing five others and even saving one. After walking three, allowing a hit and striking out one in one inning in his debut, Axford walked two allowed four hits and two runs and struck out eight in his other 6 2/3 innings. In fact, if you remove a two-inning outing in Colorado on Oct. 1, when he allowed two runs on four hits and two walks, he allowed only one baserunner (on a walk) in five of his last six outings, covering 4 2/3 innings. And on Oct. 4, in the season finale in St. Louis, Macha brought Axford on to close out a 9-7 win in the 10th inning. He struck out two in a perfect frame, locking down the win for Trevor Hoffman, who had allowed a run in the ninth to blow the save.

That experience helped in 2010. Axford began the season back at Triple-A, then was recalled on May 15, appearing in that night's game against the Phillies and allowing a run. By the end of the month, he was closing games while Hoffman, who had struggled early in the season, worked out his issues in middle relief. Hoffman, stuck on 596 career saves, wouldn't record another one until August. He then became the first closer in history to net 600 saves when he held off the Cardinals on Sept. 7, 2010 -- one year to the day Axford first got the call to the Major Leagues. And Axford was right there in the middle of the celebration after Craig Counsell threw to Prince Fielder at first base for the final out.

"I couldn't have asked for a better teacher, and Trevor Hoffman, his work ethic is unbelievable," Axford said of his former mentor. "It's unparalled from what I saw day-in, day-out. And for him to be there, to help me at the same time, while he was going through some of his hardships that he went through a little bit last year at the beginning of the year, but still working as hard as he could to get to his goal and working to get back to what he was capable of. Along the way, he was still a friend and mentor. Really helped me a lot. I couldn't ask for anybody better, that's for sure."




Hoffman earned one more save last year, finishing with 601, and retired. Axford entered this year as the Brewers' closer, with no question marks or uncertainty in spring training. He's tied for second in the Majors -- alone in second in the NL -- in saves as of this posting, and his status at the head of Milwaukee's bullpen makes him one of the two most prominent Notre Dame alums active in the game today, along with the Phillies' Brad Lidge.

All of which makes it a sight to see -- and a somewhat surprising one -- when the 6-foot-5 closer is exerting himself in right field at Yankee Stadium, chasing after fly balls with vigor. But then, after this season's over, he'll pack up his truck in Milwaukee and head south down I-94, around Chicago, then turn east below Lake Michigan on his way home to Ontario. But like many Domers, he'll make a quick detour on the way.

"I go back [to campus] every year when I drive back home," he said. "It's just a short little stop off the highway. Milwaukee back home is only about an eight-hour drive, so I just drive it. I always stop off at campus, see what's being built, what's new. There's always something new there, every single year. The law school looks absolutely amazing. Haven't been back to a game, I think, since 2007, but I just like going back to campus and walking around and checking it out."

Just like any other Irish alum, except this one throws 97 mph.