Porcello joins the ranks of those lending support following Hurricane Sandy

Way to go, Rick Porcello! The Jersey guy had a chance to pick up a little gift in exchange for a couple of digits, but he chose a different route instead.

Torii Hunter asked his new teammate for No. 48, which Hunter has worn his whole career (since 1997) and Porcello has donned throughout his career -- which only goes back to 2009. In cases like these, the veteran usually gets his number -- for a price. But Porcello, to his credit, didn't want any money or a watch. He asked that Hunter donate the money to Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

Porcello joins a growing list of ballplayers and teams lending a hand, either by volunteering their time or making a donation, in the aftermath of the storm. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are a few of the more notable instances:

 Foley's NY -- the self-described "best baseball bar in New York City" (and it's hard to argue) -- invited David Cone, Cecil Fielder and Joe McEwing in as guest bartenders last week and donated all proceeds (video). (Would have loved to have been there, but I was working.)

 The Lakewood BlueClaws will be participating in "Restore the Shore" Fridays until Memorial Day and joined with representatives from the Phillies, Trenton Thunder and Philly affiliates Reading and Lehigh Valley for a community clean-up day on Monday. I wish I'd known about that one ahead of time to make plans to join them.

 Major League Baseball and the Players Association donated $1 million to the Red Cross. The Yankees donated $500,000 to the Red Cross and will also donate 20 percent of proceeds from sales at nyyankeesfragrance.com (whatever that is) through November and December. Joe Girardi and CC Sabathia also greeted fans (video) who made donations at Yankee Stadium.

 The Mets held a food drive that benefited Sandy victims and Johan Santana joined Jeff Wilpon on Coney Island to assist in the recovery (video).

 And in a gesture that really struck home with me (having grown up just a few miles from Sea Bright), the Orioles collected supplies and had them driven directly to several Shore towns hit hardest: Toms River, Belmar, Sea Bright, Union Beach and Hazlet.

As I said, I easily may have missed some, so feel free to leave any additions in the comments.

From ND to MLB: Brad Lidge

Brad Lidge is one of two baseball players whose time at Notre Dame coincided with mine. He pitched from 1996-98, putting together a 13-5 record and 4.86 ERA, with 143 strikeouts in 129 2/3 innings. Though he's worn No. 54 throughout his Major League career, in South Bend Lidge donned No. 20, the same digits worn for the Irish by former Expos hurler Dan McGinn and current Phillies farmhand Jeremy Barnes.


From the 2011 Notre Dame Media GuideIn '98, Lidge and third baseman Brant Ust were the fourth Irish teammates to earn the Big East's player and pitcher of the year awards in the same season, when Lidge was 8-2 with a 4.15 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 80 1/3 innings. He started 15 of the 16 games in which he appeared and his 93 strikeouts are 10th all-time in Irish history heading into this season, tied with two others (Alex Shilliday in '98 and Brian Dupra last year). On April 18, 1998, Lidge struck out 12 in seven innings in a game vs. Pittsburgh at Three Rivers Stadium, the seventh-highest total by one pitcher in a game for the Irish.

After his junior season in '98, Lidge was the Astros' first-round pick, taken 17th overall -- the highest selection ever used on a Domer and the same slot used by the White Sox to take catcher Ken Plesha in the first draft in 1965 and by the Diamondbacks on outfielder A.J. Pollock in '09. It took Lidge four years to reach the Majors, however, mostly because of shoulder and elbow injuries. He pitched in just four games in the minors in '98, six in '99, eight in 2000 and five in 2001 -- that's 23 games (and 100 innings) total in his first four professional seasons. They were all starts, however, as the Astros continued to groom the hard-throwing right-hander as a starting pitcher.

In '02 that changed. Lidge pitched 24 games at Triple-A New Orleans and another five at Double-A Round Rock, combining for 10 relief appearances between the two levels and racking up a career-high 122 2/3 innings. He also made his Major League debut that season, on April 26 at Atlanta. One week later, he appeared in a game at home against the Mets before being sent down until September.

The next year, Lidge made the Astros bullpen out of spring training and quickly teamed up in the late innings with Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner, whom he credited for taking him under their wings. The mentoring paid off as Lidge posted a 0.69 ERA in his first nine appearances, all coming in the Astros' first 17 games. Almost immediately, Lidge was a key part of the bullpen.

The formidable late-inning trio was perhaps no better than the night of June 11 at Yankee Stadium. Roy Oswalt started that game but aggravated a groin injury in the second inning and was pulled having faced three batters without allowing a hit. Five relievers followed, none of them yielding a hit, either, completing the first no-hitter consisting of six pitchers in Major League history. It was the first no-no against the Yankees since 1958 and the first against them at Yankee Stadium since '52. Lidge pitched the sixth and seventh perfectly, striking out two, and was awarded the win. Dotel pitched the eighth and Wagner the ninth.

At the end of the season, Lidge's ledger showed a 6-3 record, 3.60 ERA, one save and 97 strikeouts in 85 innings. Houston (87-75) finished second, a game behind the NL Central champion Cubs and four games behind the wild-card winning (and eventual World Series champion) Marlins. Lidge finished in a tie for fifth with the Marlins' Miguel Cabrera in the NL Rookie of the Year voting (won by Florida left-hander Dontrelle Willis) and his emergence allowed the Astros to trade Wagner to the Phillies for three prospects, making Dotel the closer and Lidge the eighth-inning guy.

The Astros started the 2004 season strong, never falling more than 2 1/2 games out of first place through the first two months. But a mediocre first three weeks of June, during which they went 10-10, saw Houston fall as far as fifth place and seven games off the pace. After a 7-2 loss to the Pirates on June 23, the Astros were 37-34 and five games behind the first-place Cardinals. The next day, Houston general manager Gerry Hunsicker acquired Carlos Beltran in a three-team trade that saw Dotel shipped to Oakland by way of Kansas City. Lidge, who had saved two games so far that season, was promoted to closer.

The move didn't pay immediate dividends as the Astros slipped to 44-44 heading into the All-Star Game at Minute Maid Park. The day after the Midsummer Classic, manager Jimy Williams was fired and Phil Garner took over, guiding Houston to a 48-26 second-half record and the NL Wild Card berth. Lidge finished the season with a 6-5 record and 1.90 ERA -- still a career best over a full season -- and 29 saves. He also struck out 157 batters in 94 2/3 innings, the fourth-most in MLB history for a pitcher with no starts, and his 14.93 strikeouts-per-nine innings ratio is also fourth among relievers with at least 70 innings, behind Wagner's 14.95 in 1999, Eric Gagne's 14.98 in '03 and Carlos Marmol's 15.99 in 2010. When the Astros dispatched the Braves in a five-game NL Division Series that October, it marked the first postseason series win in franchise history. The run ended there, though, because the Cardinals won the NLCS in seven games.

In 2004 as Houston's full-time closer, Lidge came back to earth a little bit, going 4-4 with a 2.29 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 70 2/3 innings. He did save 42 games, though, good for third in Astros history, just two behind the record 44 posted in 2003 by Wagner and matched in 2008 by Jose Valverde. And Houston won the NL Wild Card again, turned away Atlanta in the NLDS again, and faced St. Louis once again in the NLCS. Lidge saved three games against the Cardinals, but he also lost a memorable Game 5 that you may remember.

Lidge came on in the ninth with a 4-2 lead and Houston needing three more outs to reach its first World Series. He struck out John Rodriguez and John Mabry, both swinging, for two quick outs. David Eckstein and Jim Edmonds were the next two batters up before Albert Pujols, and Eckstein grounded a single to left field and Edmonds walked. Then Pujols, on an 0-1 count, crushed a towering home run that would have left Minute Maid Park had the roof been open. The win forced Game 6 back in St. Louis.

The Astros recovered, though, winning Game 6, 5-1, to advance to their first World Series, where they'd face the White Sox. Chicago took Game 1, and Lidge made his first appearance in Game 2 with the score tied 6-6 in the ninth. After retiring Juan Uribe on a fly ball to center, Lidge yielded a walk-off home run to Scott Podsednik to put the Astros in an 0-2 hole heading home for Game 3. The White Sox completed the sweep at Minute Maid Park.

Lidge pitched two more seasons in Houston, saving 32 and 19 games, before a November 2007 trade to the Phillies with Eric Bruntlett for three prospects. The 2008 season, of course, stands as Lidge's finest in a Major League uniform. He went 41-for-41 in save opportunities in the regular season, winning two other games without a loss and striking out 92 in 69 1/3 innings. The BBWAA voted him fourth in the NL Cy Young Award balloting, the only reliever among the six highest vote-getters. He added seven more saves without a hiccup in the postseason, allowing just one run in 9 1/3 innings across three series, culminating in the final out of the World Series win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

That made Lidge the sixth Domer to win the World Series -- the first since Craig Counsell and the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in 2001. And like Counsell in '97 with the Marlins, Lidge had a hand in the final play; Counsell scored the winning run in a walk-off Game 7 win. The other Series winners who once suited up for the Irish are Ed Reulbach (1907-08 Chicago Cubs), Jean Dubuc (1916 Boston Red Sox), John McHale (1945 Detroit Tigers) and Ron Reed (1980 Philadelphia Phillies).

The past three years haven't been as fruitful. Lidge went 0-8 with a 7.21 ERA in '09 (saving 31 games), then managed 27 saves and a 2.96 ERA in 2010, missing chunks of time in April and May. His 2011 season didn't begin until late July, after rehab stints with Lakewood and Reading, and consisted of only 19 1/3 innings over 25 games. He saved one game, matching his 2003 total. He hadn't had fewer than 19 since then.

This year, Lidge begins a new chapter in his career after signing a free-agent deal with the Washington Nationals. I spoke with him last September in Philadelphia.

Were you following Notre Dame before looking for colleges?
I enjoyed watching them on TV. I watched a little bit of college football, so I was very aware of their mystique and legacy and everything else. But, to be honest, I never thought I'd be going there. When I was in high school, I never really thought I'd ever have a chance to play at a Division I school until I was a senior. It happened kind of late. When I knew it was a possibility, my parents were like, "You're so lucky. It's unbelievable."

What was it that made you ultimately choose Notre Dame?
Recruiting trip. I already kind of felt like it's going to be tough to beat a school like this. The coaches in the baseball program at the time -- Paul Manieri, Brian O'Connor -- they were awesome, even just as a recruit there, and I knew that's where I wanted to be.

In the fall of '97, Craig Counsell came back after the Marlins won the World Series. I covered it for the South Bend Tribune. Do you remember that? Were you in the room for that?
I was. I do remember that. I don't remember exactly what he said. I do remember it was a really cool thing to know that somebody from our school had just done that. And hey, if you can get to the point where you keep playing well, you have a chance to do that too.

One of the things he said to the group was, "One of you guys could be in this position one day."
Right. Which is, obviously, ironic.

I think you're one of five ND alums who's won a World Series. One pitched for the Cubs in 1908.
Oh really? That's going way back. That's awesome.

You were drafted in '98 by Houston. What do you remember about that experience? Do you remember getting that call?
Oh yeah. You never know what to expect, but you hear a lot of stuff. On the actual day of the draft, I had some family and some friends over at my house.

[Jimmy Rollins cuts in after hearing about a draft: "Are you talking about fantasy football?"]

You know, if I was playing fantasy football as far back as '98, I would be a pioneer.

I had my friend's dad hook up the internet for us, because that was a big deal in '98. I mean, it wasn't too big of a deal, but it was still -- we didn't have it at our house. I remember following it live as it was happening. People were saying first round [for me], but you don't know. Sixteen picks go by, and I'm like, "Man, I hope I'm not a fourth-round guy." But then, 17 came up and I got drafted and we had a little bit of a party with family and friends.

I'm glad to see the draft getting more attention in baseball. Obviously, the guys don't go right into the big leagues, but it's still very important to the sport.

The draft was an awesome experience for me. I think for a lot of guys, if it becomes more important, it will be a lot more exciting [to follow] for everybody.

Coming up, you overcame a lot of injuries, didn't you?
I did. Right away, I had four surgeries in three years, my first three years in the minor leagues. To be honest, that's maybe the toughest point in my career. I'd say definitely the toughest point in my career, actually, because it's at that point, you don't know if you're ever going to play in the Major Leagues, if you're body's ever going to allow you to do it. I was fortunate in that when I was on the field, I pitched well, so I was able to move up each year, but it was a slow move. Obviously, with the injuries, even though I was throwing the ball well, it still took me four years to get to the big leagues because of the injuries.

What do you remember from your big league debut?
I remember we were in Atlanta. It was a blowout game and it was like the third inning, and our manager was like, "Alright, let's give this rook a try." I went out there and my legs, they felt like jello. That's the most nervous I've ever been, a hundred percent, no doubt, for sure. Miraculously, the first inning, I think I had a 1-2-3 inning, and they sent me back out for a second inning and the wheels fall off. I think I gave up a walk, a double, a single, another walk ...

I looked it up to be sure. I believe you did give up a single to B.J. Surhoff, to lead off, but then you did retire the rest in order. The next two you got strikeouts. And then yeah, the next inning is when the runs came.
Yeah, exactly. It's one of those bittersweet things where you wish it would've gone perfect, but you're just so happy you just got in there, too. But of course, then, two innings, two runs, you're sitting with a 9.00 ERA, too. I think I got in one more outing, against the Mets, and then I got sent back down for a while in 2002. It was really cool, but not exactly what I wanted.

Of your whole career, what's your best memory so far?
Yeah, we'll go with the 2008 World Series. That being said, there are some other memories that stick out that were amazing. In 2003, my first full season, we threw that no-hitter in New York. That was pretty cool. That was a pretty unique experience, if nothing else. I think for me, the clinching games where I got to pitch in Houston. Where we went to the playoffs and won a series for the first time in the history of the franchise, that was a really cool experience for me as well. But I think nothing will be able to compare to 2008.

You said your debut was the most nervous you've ever been, but '08, coming in for the last inning, not so much?
Not as much nervous, but I could feel a more palpable energy at that point than I've ever felt in my career.

What was it like to go back to campus after winning the World Series and be introduced on the field [with the Notre Dame baseball team] prior to a football game?
That was one of the proudest moments of my life. It's cool to go back to your high school and be recognized, but to go back to your college -- and a big-time college like Notre Dame -- is something else. I got to go back with my dad, stand on the field where I watched so many big games and wave to the student body. It was awesome.

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: Ron Reed

I've already profiled a couple of two-sport stars to come out of Notre Dame and make it to the Major Leagues, but Johnny Mohardt's second sport was football and Shaun Fitzmaurice's was track and field. (On this blog, baseball is always No. 1.)

For Ron Reed, the other sport was basketball. In fact, basketball was the first sport, with baseball as the No. 2, which isn't surprising for a guy who stands 6-foot-6.

"I went to Notre Dame on a basketball scholarship, and only played baseball my senior year," Reed told me in an e-mail. "Growing up in LaPorte, Ind., about 30 miles from campus, getting a full scholarship to N.D., even if it was for basketball, was a dream come true. Basketball was always my first love."

In three years (1962-65) with the Irish cagers*, back when freshmen couldn't play on the varsity, Reed scored 1,153 points and pulled down 872 rebounds. He still holds the single-season Irish rebounding average: 17.7 boards per game in 1963-64. His 18.9 points per game rank eighth all-time, his 872 rebounds remain 10th on the list and his 14.3 rebounds per game still stand as the third-highest mark in Irish history. As a senior in '64-65, he was named to the NABC All-Star Game and the Division I All-District Third Team and received an honorable mention on The Sporting News' All-America team, which featured Bill Bradley on the first team and Rick Barry and Jerry Sloan on the second team.

*Basketball players are never referred to as "cagers" anymore, but they were then. Turns out, the term has New Jersey roots -- the first cage around a basketball court was built in Trenton.

My dad arrived at Notre Dame the year after Reed did, so I asked him if he remembered the two-sport talent. "Yeah, he was a tall guy," Dad said. "Very good basketball player, but he was a fireballer, too." (It was 48 years ago; I wasn't expecting a full scouting report.)

Two-sport pro

The Detroit Pistons chose Reed in the third round of the 1965 NBA draft, taking him 20th overall, but he also signed with the Milwaukee Braves as a free agent.

"My first baseball contract was signed in June of 1965, just after I got out of N.D.," Reed recalled, "for $500 a month and a plane ticket to West Palm Beach, Fla., to pitch for the Milwaukee Braves' Class A team in the Florida State League."

Reed compiled a 3-2 record and 1.47 ERA in seven games (five starts) at West Palm, earning that first victory on Aug. 25 in a 1-0 win over the Miami Marlins. The one run was a rout, relatively speaking; Reed had lost his two previous starts by 1-0 and 4-0 scores.

That fall, he reported to the Pistons for his rookie season in the NBA. He played 57 games for coach Dave DeBusschere -- who, in 1962 and '63, pitched in the Majors and played professional basketball himself -- averaging 7.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.

In 1966, Reed opened the season with the Kinston Eagles in the Carolina League, going 5-2 with a 1.76 ERA before a promotion to Austin in the Texas League to take the place of Bob Daniel, who left the team for his two weeks of Army duty. Reed won his debut with the Austin Braves in the second game of a doubleheader against El Paso on June 9. The first game of that twin bill was noteworthy for what Reed and his teammates wore for that one and only game: Red shorts cut from pants the club had worn in previous years. I sent that clip from The Sporting News over to Paul at Uni Watch when I came across it last week, then checked in with Reed again to see what he remembered.

"The shorts were worn in that first game as a trial to see if they would be appropriate for the Atlanta Braves players," Reed told me. "Summers in Georgia are rather hot so some genius figured shorts might be better for the players rather than the wool uniforms they wore at that time. After a couple of our Austin players came back to the dugout with giant 'strawberries' on their knees and thighs from sliding into second, third, and home plate during that first game, the shorts idea was abandoned, thank God. Obviously there is no protection at all when bare skin meets the dirt around all of the bases when sliding."

A month after his Austin debut, Reed picked up his third victory after two weeks away from the team for his own military duty. He defeated the Dallas-Ft. Worth Spurs, 3-1. Mike Lum, who was "married shortly before game-time," according to The Sporting News, opened the game with a 345-foot home run.

That's all the Braves needed to see from Reed at that level. After going 3-1 with a 1.20 ERA in just four starts with Austin, Reed was moved up again, to Triple-A Richmond in the International League, just one step away from Atlanta. In 14 games (11 starts), he went 5-2 with a 3.52 ERA.

With the Braves in the Governor's Cup finals for the International League championship, Reed pitched two noteworthy games over three days in September. On Sept. 12, he was a hard-luck loser in a 2-0 defeat at Toronto, a game in which the R-Braves were held to one hit by the Maple Leafs' Ed Rakow. With Atlanta pitching coach Whitlow Wyatt on hand specifically to see Reed pitch, the 23-year-old right-hander struck out 10 and yielded eight hits. Then on Sept. 15, with just two days' rest and the Braves facing elimination, Reed went the distance to defeat Toronto, 4-1, back in Richmond. He scattered four hits, walked one and struck out five. The lone run allowed was unearned. Reed contributed on both ends, delivering an RBI single that scored Tommie Aaron in the Braves' four-run fifth inning. Alas, the Maple Leafs won the title the next night, four games to one, when Tony Horton's two-run homer in the ninth gave Toronto a 6-5 victory and its second straight Governor's Cup.

Making the Majors

Overall in 1966, Reed went 13-5 with a 2.57 ERA in 26 games (21 starts) across the three levels. Though no one knew it as such in '66, he posted a 1.08 WHIP and, in 168 innings, he struck out 129. (Baseball-Reference's strikeout totals for that year are missing his Kinston total, but through June 3, 1966, according to The Sporting News on June 18, he was among the Carolina League leaders with a 1.76 ERA, 5-2 record and 39 strikeouts in 51 innings -- his total for the year at Kinston before his promotion. Consider that blank filled.) His performance in the bushes earned him a callup to the parent club in September. Reed made his Major League debut on Sept. 26, 1966.

"My Major League debut was as a starting pitcher for the Atlanta Braves against Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal and the San Fransisco Giants," Reed wrote to me. "The third batter that I faced that game was the great Willie Mays. Yes, I got him out. The fourth batter that I faced was the geat Willie McCovey. No, I did not get him out -- he hit a home run over the center-field fence in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium. It was a long time ago, but the memory of that night is still with me."

The Giants won that game, 8-2, with Marichal going the distance and striking out 11 Braves. Reed lasted just 2 1/3 innings and took the loss, but only allowed those two runs on four hits and two walks. He struck out two.

He got a second start in the season finale on Oct. 2 at Cincinnati. According to a story in The Sporting News, "Reed trying to mix hill, cage efforts," on Oct. 22, 1966, Braves manager Billy Hitchcock decided to use the last game of the season to evaluate a slew of minor league prospects. The Braves finished fifth that season, 10 games behind the Dodgers. Reed allowed just three hits and walked two in six shutout innings to earn the win.

"I was really nervous that first time I pitched," Reed told The Sporting News. "But not the last time [in Cincinnati]. I guess it was because I looked behind me before the first pitch and saw all those guys from Richmond. After that, it was just like pitching at Richmond against Buffalo."

Both Hitchcock and Wyatt, the pitching coach, praised Reed's potential -- "For a youngster," Wyatt said, "he really knows how to pitch. He's a real prospect." -- and the Braves hoped Reed would give up basketball to focus on his pitching. But Reed wasn't ready to do that.

"Basketball is a tough game," Reed said in the story, "and it will take me at least two weeks to get in shape. But it's something I want to do. I don't think it will affect my baseball."

Reed signed with the Pistons for another season, but decided that this would be his final year playing both sports (The Sporting News, Dec. 31, 1966, right). He said he'd make a choice of which sport to pursue full-time following the 1966-67 NBA season. In 62 games that winter, Reed averaged 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds, but it was mostly as a backup. The Braves, meanwhile, told Reed they considered him a starting pitcher -- this back in the days when relievers were mostly pitchers who weren't good enough to start. After a meeting in Atlanta with Braves vice president Paul Richards in early February 1967, Reed made the decision to quit the Pistons in time to join the Braves in West Palm Beach for spring training.

But the basketball gods made one final pitch. As described in The Sporting News story from March 4, 1967 (click the article for a larger view), Reed had decided that he'd tell DeBusschere, Detroit's player-coach, of his decision after the Pistons' Feb. 15 game against the 76ers. The Braves were to open camp in Florida the next day. But DeBusschere was sick and pulled himself from the game, inserting Reed in his place. Reed played 36 minutes and scored 22 points in the 127-121 loss, and it was almost enough to make him reconsider.

"It's games like this that make you think about it," Reed is quoted as saying. "Then there are the others when you sit on the bench."

DeBusschere, of course, could understand where Reed was coming from, having made his own decision to quit baseball back in 1965 to play and coach the Pistons. But while maybe DeBusschere the player could sympathize, DeBusschere the coach wasn't happy to be losing 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds a game.

"My only contention was Reed was to be with us till the end of the season," DeBusschere told The Sporting News. "We needed him fighting for the playoffs and he had signed a contract."

The Pistons finished 30-51 that season, but DeBusschere's comment about the playoffs wasn't just coach-speak. Back then eight out of 10 teams made the postseason in the NBA. Detroit, unfortunately, was one of the two that didn't, finishing three games behind the Chicago Bulls in the Western Division.

Full-time hurler

Reed had an auspicious debut in Florida. Now referred to as "ex-pro basketball player Ron Reed" in The Sporting News, he threw three shutout innings in Atlanta's first intra-squad game. But he didn't do enough that spring to stick with the big club to start the season. (In one box score I found, from March 18 when Reed gave up three runs -- two earned -- on four hits in four innings, fellow Domer Dick Rusteck pitched in relief for the Mets.) In fact, he spent nearly all of '67 in Richmond as Atlanta went with Denny Lemaster, Ken Johnson, Pat Jarvis, Tony Cloninger and Phil Niekro in the rotation. (Niekro started just 20 of his 46 games that year and finished with an interesting stat line that included 207 innings, 20 starts, 20 games finished, 10 complete games and nine saves.)

After starting out 1-4 with Richmond -- again with some feeble run support, yielding just four runs on 12 hits over a three-game span -- Reed began to turn his season around. He two-hit Jacksonville, 3-0, on May 29, and followed that up with a five-hitter, an unearned run and seven strikeouts to beat Rochester, 12-1, on June 3. On June 8, he struck out 10 in a complete-game, 2-1 victory at Syracuse. After a seven-hit shutout of Toronto on June 13, Reed's record stood at 5-4. Two more wins later -- that's six in a row -- he was 7-4 with a 1.91 ERA that stood second in the International League to Tug McGraw's 1.87 at Jacksonville.

Reed finished that season 14-10 with a 2.51 ERA and 172 strikeouts in 222 innings. He ranked seventh in ERA and, as best I can tell (because you can't sort columns in PDFs of microfilm scans), he was second only to Jerry Koosman's 183 strikeouts for Jacksonville. Reed completed 17 of his 27 starts, with five shutouts, and posted a 1.05 WHIP. The R-Braves won the International League pennant, but fell in the first round of the Governor's Cup playoffs.

The scan of the team photo below is of terrible quality, but you can still make out Reed in the top row, second from right.

Following the season, Reed was one of three pitchers who earned honors as the best pitching prospects in the International League, based on a vote of the circuit's managers. Syracuse's Stan Bahnsen and Rochester's Mike Adamson were the others, and Reed was tabbed the pitcher most ready for the Majors.

As he was in '66, Reed was called up to Atlanta to finish out the regular season, again going 1-1. In three starts, he compiled a 2.95 ERA over 21 1/3 innings. The Braves finished seventh in the NL that year, 24 1/2 games behind the Cardinals, prompting Hank Aaron to express his frustrations about the heart and desire of some of his teammates. But Aaron was optimistic, according to The Sporting News:

Despite what Aaron called the Braves' lowest morale in years, he sees better times ahead for the club because of youngsters like second baseman Felix Millan and pitchers Ron Reed and Jim Britton.

It seems Reed had caught the eye of more than the Braves' brass.

After the season, Richards, the Braves' vice president, decided to take a page from the book of the third-place Cubs, who finished 87-74 on the strength of four starters under the age of 26: Fergie Jenkins (24), Rich Nye (22), Joe Niekro (22) and Ray Culp (25). Richards laid out a plan to fortify the Braves' lineup and dip into the farm system for pitchers, citing Reed, Jim Britton and George Stone. Atlanta didn't go quite so young in its rotation, but under new manager Lum Harris, and with Reed going 11-10 in 35 games (28 of them starts), the Braves improved to 81-81, good for fifth place. Britton and Stone combined to go 11-10, making 19 starts between them (among 51 appearances).

From then on, Reed was a big leaguer for good and the Braves took another step forward in '69, winning the new NL West division with a 93-69 record. Reed got the start in Game 2 of the NLCS, opposite Koosman and the Mets, but was tagged for four runs on five hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings. He struck out three but took the loss as the Mets went on to sweep the series before winning the World Series over the Orioles.

A broken collarbone sustained in spring training in 1970 robbed Reed of the first two months of the season, but it could have been worse.

The 6-7 pitcher was going all out, running from home to first, when he got his size 14-AAs tangled and tripped over the bag.

The Braves' skipper was advised that Reed, 18-10 last season and 9-2 down the important stretch, will be out from three to four months.

"But it probably means the season," said [manager Lum] Harris. "Although knowing Ron, if anybody can overcome it, he would be the one."

--The Sporting News, March 28, 1970

Overcome it, he did, returning to the Braves on June 19 and going 7-10 that season.

A part of history

Reed spent 10 seasons in Atlanta, and not only was he there for Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run on April 8, 1974, he was the starting and winning pitcher. Aaron's two-run homer -- this never seems to get mentioned -- tied the game at 3 in the fourth inning. Al Downing faced two more batters, walking them both, before being replaced, and Atlanta scored two more runs to take the lead for good. Reed allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings, but that was enough in a 7-4 Braves win. It's one of Reed's personal top two career highlights. The other would come six years later.

Reed's tenure with the Braves ended in May 1975 when they traded him to the Cardinals for Ray Sadecki and Elias Sosa. Following the '75 season, Reed was dealt to the Phillies, who made him a reliever, in exchange for Mike Anderson. Reed would make only nine more starts in his career, but he also appeared in the postseason six times in an eight-year span from 1976-83, including two World Series (winning in '80 and losing in '83). He also had his seventh and final 10-win season out of the Philadelphia bullpen in 1979.

Between the personal highs of winning the game in which Aaron hit No. 715 and winning the 1980 World Series (his other top personal highlight), Reed cited the '76 postseason as the lowest moment of his career.

"We had a two-run lead in the third game of the playoffs [the NLCS] going into the bottom of the ninth, and I gave up back-to-back home runs to George Foster and Johnny Bench to tie the game," he said. "We lost in extra innings and lost the playoffs."

That would be the game the Reds needed to sweep the series after winning the first two contests in Philadelphia. In what is likely more coincidence than an indication of how Reed performed, his first nine postseason appearances came in games his team lost. From Game 2 of the 1969 NLCS through Game 2 of the 1980 NLCS against the Astros, the Braves and Phillies dropped each one. But then Reed appeared in four straight winners for those '80 Phillies: Games 4 and 5 (the clincher) of the NLCS and Games 2 (which he saved) and 5 of the World Series. Tug McGraw was the Phillies' closer in '80, finishing 48 games and saving 20, but Reed was second in both categories, finishing 29 and saving nine.

Reed stayed with the Phillies through the 1983 season -- a total of eight summers in Philadelphia -- before he was traded to the White Sox that December for a player to be named later. In February 1984, the player sent back to Philly was the former Met Koosman. The White Sox had plucked Tom Seaver from the Mets on Jan. 20, but traded Koosman on Feb. 15, meaning the one-time teammates were just that once again for a little more than three weeks.

Reed was 0-6 but had a solid 3.08 ERA and a team-leading 12 saves in 51 relief appearances for the '84 White Sox. It would be his final season. Chicago released him on April 5, 1985.

After 19 years ...

Among Domers who reached the Majors, Reed's 19 seasons rank third overall and are the most of any pitcher. Outfielder Cy Williams also played 19 seasons, and Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski (23) and Cap Anson (27) are the only Domers who played more. Reed is also among the many players between 1947 and '97 who wore No. 42, a number he can now see on the wall at just about every ballpark.

Reed still lives in Atlanta, where he works for an event management company called Marketing Event Partners.

"We put on various types of events, mostly golf tournaments, for organizations that raise money for various charities," he said.

And the Irish are still very much on his radar.

"I 'BLEED' blue and gold," he wrote in his e-mail. "I follow as many of Notre Dame sports that I can, but especially football, basketball and baseball. I've met [football] coach [Brian] Kelly and I have been good friends with [basketbal] coach [Mike] Brey since his arrival on campus. Coach [Dave] Schrage is still a good friend even after his dismissal as baseball coach at N.D."

Because he had such a long career that began in the '60s and ended in the '80s, there is no shortage of Ron Reed baseball cards, photos and autographs, particularly on eBay. So I chose his rookie card, 1968 Topps No. 76, featuring Reed and Jim Britton.





"I was really young then, and had very little Major League experience at that time," Reed told me when asked about it. "No real thoughts concerning this particular card."

As for why I chose the rookie card over all others, I suppose it represents the transition from Notre Dame through the minors to the Majors, the final step (but not the completion) of the journey. It shows the player as a Major Leaguer, but also as close to his Notre Dame years as possible. I could've gone with a later card, a 1984 Topps perhaps, showing Reed in that bright blue Phillies road uniform. That card would represent the longevity of his career and overlap with my own card-collecting past (just barely). But I like the image of a fresh-faced young prospect not far removed from college on the cusp of a career that would last nearly 20 years and include a World Series championship and one of the game's greatest historic moments.

Sports Illustrated baseball preview history: The 2011 update

It's really not a surprise, is it? The Phillies go out and land Cliff Lee, giving them -- on paper -- the best starting rotation since the 1993 Braves, and it lands the starting five on the cover of Sports Illustrated's baseball preview issue.

The only reason I balked and wondered if they'd go with Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford in Boston is because this Phillies cover is unprecedented. (Plus, a Boston cover wouldn't have been a stretch; the magazine does pick the Red Sox to beat the Giants in the World Series.) A team has been represented as the main cover image in consecutive years -- the Yankees in 2002-03, with the entire starting rotation on that '03 cover -- but never before has one player appeared in the cover's main image in back-to-back springs. Until now, until Roy Halladay. He had the cover to himself last year, and this week he's off to the side as the other four stand behind Lee, but the placement doesn't matter. In becoming just the fifth player to appear on the cover's centerpiece twice (joining Willie Mays, Steve Garvey, Mark McGwire and Derek Jeter), Halladay is the first to do it two years in a row.

I won't rehash the full breakdown from last year, but I will update the relevant statistics.

Team appearances:
Red Sox, 7
Yankees, 6
Phillies, 5
Cardinals, 5
Dodgers, 5
Orioles, 3
Giants, 3
Reds, 3
Mariners, 2
Indians, 2
Royals, 2
Twins, 2
Mets, 2
Pirates, 2
Tigers, 2
Brewers, 1
D-backs, 1
Rockies, 1
Cubs, 1
Rangers, 1
Padres, 1
A's, 1
Expos, 1
Angels, 1
Nationals, 1

That's a total of 61 teams on the covers (accounting for two or more players sharing the spotlight in some years). Through last season, 22 of those 60 teams (before this year's Phillies) made the playoffs, with the results as follows:

Won World Series, 6
Lost World Series, 5
Lost ALCS, 2
Lost NLCS, 1
Lost ALDS, 6
Lost NLDS, 2

The Phillies last year became the first featured club to fall in the NLCS. When it comes to regular-season standings, the editors have hit on top-two teams more than the other positions combined:

1st, 20
2nd, 13
3rd, 15
4th, 6
5th, 2
6th, 2
7th, 2

Here are a few more team-related numbers:

Won 100, 6
Lost 100, 2
Player with a new team, 12
Defending champs, 13

As for individual accolades, Halladay became the third player whose cover appearance foretold a Cy Young season, the third to win 20 games, the 36th to have an All-Star season and the 10th to lead the league in at least one major category:

Hall of Famers, 16
Retired, 2
MVP, 2
Cy Young, 3
All-Star, 36
Broke record, 2
20-game winner, 3
Led league, 11

And finally, by putting the Philly five on the cover, SI has widened the gap between starting pitchers and any other position (each player counts once, not as a group, meaning the starters went from 20 to 25):

C, 4
1B, 10
2B, 1
3B, 6
SS, 5
OF, 19
SP, 25
Manager, 2
Owner, 1

Moving forward, we have regional inset images to consider. They began in 2009 with Carl Crawford, Justin Morneau, Dustin Pedroia, Manny Ramirez, David Wright and Carlos Zambrano. Last year, they included Matt Kemp, John Lackey, Brian McCann, Albert Pujols, CC Sabathia and Troy Tulowitzki. This year, we have Robinson Cano and, presumably, others, but they're not online yet. I'll update when they appear.

ND to MLB: Dick Thoenen

You're forgiven if this is the first time you've heard of either of these players. Of the roughly 17,364 men who have played Major League Baseball, 964 of them never got into another game after their debuts -- and these are two of them. 


I don't know about you, but that seemed pretty remarkable to me -- that two guys who share the same rookie card ended up appearing in one game each, for three combined innings, and never got into a second game. As it turns out, they both now live in Oregon, which struck me as another interesting coincidence. I was able to find an address for a Richard Thoenen, now 67, and wrote him a letter at the beginning of the month. The return envelope arrived yesterday, with a few brief answers written beneath the questions I asked.


Born in Mexico, Mo., in 1944, Dick Thoenen was a three-sport star at Mexico High. In 1959, he pitched and played outfield on Mexico's Junior Legion team. The big right-hander -- listed at 6-foot-6, 215 pounds on his Baseball-Reference page -- arrived in South Bend in the fall of 1961. "I went to [Notre Dame] on a basketball scholarship," he told me. 


He signed with the Phillies in 1963, after one season with the Irish back in the days before freshmen could play with the varsity. Asked what he remembered about signing that first contract, he said, "Shaking while writing," no doubt excited, nervous or both. He was assigned to Spartanburg in the Western Carolinas League, where he went 10-13 with a 3.36 ERA. In mid-June, he stood atop the leaderboard with a 0.70 ERA. He pitched a four-hitter for the Spartanburg Phillies on July 29, fanning 10 Rock Hill Wrens to earn his ninth victory.


His second season was also solid but not spectacular. In a career-high 178 innings for Bakersfield in the California League in '64, he went 11-11 with a 3.64 ERA. On June 15, he pitched a gem against Reno, allowing two hits after the second inning and striking out seven in a complete-game six-hitter, winning 2-1.

Thoenen's 1965 season was split between Chattanooga in the Southern League and Eugene of the Northwest League. After six starts with the Class AA Lookouts, in which he went 0-2 with a 3.44 ERA, he was sent to Class A Eugene. He finished the season with a combined 9-10 record and 3.90 ERA.


In 1966, he opened the season with Macon, making one start -- the last of his career -- before moving to the bullpen for good. On June 12, he came on in the fourth against the Columbus and held the Yankees to to one hit, allowing the Peaches to mount a comeback in a 7-4 win. He appeared in 40 games that year, split between Macon, like Chattanooga a Class AA team, and San Diego, his first experience at Class AAA. That October, Thoenen was among several Phillies farmhands who had their contracts acquired by the big club. An infielder from Spartanburg named Larry Bowa was among the moves reported in The Sporting News on Oct. 29, 1966. 


In January 1967, beginning what could be considered his finest year in the game, Thoenen was included in the weekly paper's list of big league birthdays (as was former Notre Dame hurler Jim Hannan, then with the Senators). Based on the game accounts I could find, it appears that Thoenen was one of the top relievers on his team in '67, often closing out games before the term "closer" had been used to refer to a relief pitcher.


After spending much of spring training with the Phillies, Thoenen was sent to minor league camp in April and started the season with their Class AAA affiliate in San Diego. He earned the save -- before the statistic was tracked daily -- on May 10 when he came on with the bases loaded and a one-run lead at Phoenix, inducing Ozzie Virgil to ground out, preserving an 8-7 Padres win. On July 24, Thoenen came into a game started by Larry Colton with the Padres trailing, 4-0, and pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three singles, as San Diego rallied for a 6-4 victory over Hawaii. Thoenen doubled in what proved to be the winning run and scored twice.


In an Aug. 7 column in the Arizona Republic, Bob Eger speculated that the Padres -- who had led the Pacific Coast League's Eastern Division for "most of the season" -- might not be able to hold their lead, which stood at just 1 1/2 games over Indianapolis and Oklahoma City on that date:

Diamond Jim Gentile, who's hammered out 19 home runs, will be lost to San Diego for at least two weeks due to a leg injury. 

Most insiders figure he's through for the season.

Two key pitchers, starter Larry Loughlin and reliever Dick Thoenen, will be missing for two weeks due to military obligations.

During that time the Padres will be knocking heads with their chief contenders including nine games in one six-day stretch.

On Aug. 22, San Diego -- which would lead the Pacific Coast League with 134 home runs -- hit five in a 9-7 win over Tulsa. Thoenen came on with one out in the first (starter John Tsitouris was charged with six unearned runs) and earned the win with 5 2/3 innings of three-hit, one-run ball, fanning five. He also joined the hit parade with a solo shot in the sixth that briefly gave the Padres a 7-6 lead before the Oilers tied it again.


The Padres not only held on to win the PCL's Eastern Division, they expanded their lead to finish 8 1/2 games ahead of Indianapolis, earning the right to face Western Division winner Spokane for the circuit's title. Thoenen, who was 6-2 with a 1.67 ERA in 35 relief appearances for San Diego that season, earned the win in the first game. He pitched two perfect innings on Sept. 6 to close out the contest and benefited from San Diego's eight-run eighth -- in which he contributed a single and a run. The Padres won the best-of-7 set in six games, taking the decisive game, 5-3, on Sept. 12 after opening a five-run lead. Thoenen was on the mound for the final out, coming on in the eighth with no outs and three runs already in. He got the last six outs, allowing nothing more than two hits.

His minor league season complete, Thoenen earned a promotion to Philadelphia. His San Diego teammate Colton and Bowa, who played that year in Reading, also got the call, but neither would appear in a game. On Sept. 16, four days after closing out the Padres' championship, Thoenen was in the bullpen at Connie Mack Stadium. Despite beautiful weather for a ballgame -- upper 60s/low 70s, with a strong breeze -- just 5,549 fans were on hand to watch the fifth-place Phillies face the eighth-place Dodgers. A 21-year-old Rick Wise, in his third season, started for Philly but was pulled in the third inning for a pinch-hitter after allowing three runs on six hits. When the home team took the field for the top of the fourth, Thoenen went out to the mound to warm up, No. 43 on his red pinstriped jersey.


Dodgers third baseman Bob Bailey, batting seventh in the lineup, led off with a double to left field. Second baseman Luis Alcaraz followed with a single to left that scored Bailey, giving Thoenen a career ERA, at that moment, of infinity. Pitcher Don Sutton came to the plate to sacrifice, bunting it back to Thoenen, who got the out at first, allowing Alcaraz to move to second. Los Angeles' leadoff hitter, Nate Oliver, came up next and lined out to left fielder Tony Gonzalez. Thoenen then retired Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker on a comebacker to get out of the inning.


The Phillies' 3-4-5 hitters went down in order in the bottom of the fourth, and though Thoenen had often pitched multiple innings in relief for San Diego, Philadelphia manager Gene Mauch sent Grant Jackson out to the mound to pitch the fifth. There was no way of knowing it at the time, but Thoenen's Major League career was complete: one inning, five batters faced, two hits, one run, no walks, no strikeouts, two assists. "It was somewhat of a blur," he wrote to me.


When the Phillies' postseason shares were distributed after the season, Thoenen was one of 10 players who received one-fifth of a share -- $39.43. A full share for the fifth-place Phils that year was $197.18. He spent that offseason pitching for Lara in the Venezuelan winter league, with Bobby Cox as one of his teammates.


In 1968, after spending much of the spring with the Phillies, Thoenen was optioned back to San Diego to start the season. He closed out the Padres' first win of the season when he struck out Indianapolis' Frank Obregon with the bases loaded to preserve a 5-4 victory. Not long after that, Colton saw his only Major League action, pitching two innings, allowing one run, in a blowout loss at Cincinnati's Crosley Field.


That year was San Diego's 33rd and final campaign in the Pacific Coast League before the club joined the National League. Thoenen also had a role in the season finale, hitting a home run in an 8-7, 10-inning win, but the Padres finished second to the Tulsa Oilers. In 36 games, he went 1-3 with a 2.41 ERA, striking out 40 and walking 31 in 71 innings. 


(I also thought it was worth mentioning this gem that came up in my research: Roughly midway through the season, on July 28, 1968, Colton allowed a home run to Tucson's Jim Dunegan on a 3-2 pitch to lead off the game -- and then held the Toros hitless the rest of the way in an 8-1 victory.)


With the Padres becoming a big-league team in 1969, the Phillies moved their top farm club to Eugene, Ore. Thoenen, in what would be his final professional season, was with the Emeralds, who ran away with the PCL's Southern Division title -- finishing 13 games ahead of the Phoenix Giants. He appeared in just 12 games, throwing 22 innings with a 4.09 ERA, but his contributions were enough to earn him a spot in the team photo (which of course could have been taken at a time when he was with the team; I was unable to determine why he pitched so few innings). The Emeralds also featured a 23-year-old Bowa in his final minor league season.

After retiring from baseball, Thoenen began his second career ("Sales" is all he wrote in response to my question about his post-playing life) and, I can only assume, liked the Beaver State enough to settle there. He's now one of 104 pitchers whose career lasted exactly one inning in one game. Colton is one of 88 whose one-game career lasted two frames. After hanging up his spikes, he taught in the Portland school system and then became a writer and founded the Community of Writers.

Thoenen's responses to my questions were short -- he wrote only in the spaces I left between questions, not on the back or on another sheet of paper -- and, in one case, difficult to read. I'm not complaining; he didn't have to respond to me at all. But the one answer I couldn't make out was to the last question I asked him: if he had any thoughts when he looked at his rookie card now, 43 years -- his uniform number -- after it appeared. I couldn't quite make out what he wrote, but he signed the sheet as well. Looking at it now, it appears it could say, "What a kid." 

------
Research sources included The Sporting News and other online newspaper archives, plus Cappy Gagnon's Notre Dame Baseball Greats.