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The stories, chapters and tales of our baseball heroes have gone invisible for some time. In order to fill the void and provide the fanatics of our sport with information on the happenings of the Brewers Baseball League, we will be bringing you a new column much like the one you're getting ready to read right now.
This is where you'll go if you want written analysis; if you need a deeper, in-depth look at the statistics; if you just can't get enough of your BLB news.
With a new beginning in the chapter of the BLB, it only makes sense to cover the new beginnings of a few select men that found themselves in new uniforms in 1994.
Finley Kinsey
1994 Stats
After 7 years in Hyundai, two Stout Sluggers and over 1,000 career hits, Kinsey signed a $131 million contract with the Dallas Snappers this off-season. It stands as one of the largest in league history and will pay Kinsey an average of $26.2 million a season. To understand the significance, you don't have to look any further than the Wilmington Wildcats who have built a team for the mere cost of $21 million.
A slow start worried some fans and created a silent stir among executives who believed the price was too high for the designated hitter turned outfielder.
"I know he can hit," said one league exec, "but a $27M option [when he's 35] for a player who already can't field, has a "fragile" durability, and missed a month and a half last season? Yikes."
Fielding was a major concern during Free Agency. While Kinsey has always displayed a fantastic control of his swing - having led the league twice in hitting - he has routinely shown an inability to field the same baseball he can hit so skillfully.
1994 has been no different for Dallas as Kinsey has accumulated (or is the correct word: dissipated) a disturbingly low -26.5 Zone Range Factor in leftfield.
But, he still hits and he's done so to the point of a league leading .338 average.
The question remains, however, if his bat (and bloated contract) will be enough to make the playoffs a reality in Dallas. Thus far the team finds itself under .500 and falling out of the Pilsner race.
Harry Keppel
1994 Stats
The Missing Link is now 36 and age hasn't been too kind to the league's all-time hits leader, and until a surprising streak winning 9 of 12 ballgames scoring an average of 5.2 runs a contest, Pawtucket had been reeling without his help.
For 16 years, fans in Hyundai had one sure thing to look forward to: Harry Keppel wearing their uniform and lining a base hit into the outfield. He was a 6-time Stout Slugger, 9-time All-Star and the face of the Dinos.
Now fans in Hyundai have arrived in their ballpark bearing signs for a player that no longer wears their uniform, but joking that his hitting spirit (and ability) remains in the cozy confines of Sonata Stadium.
Catching onto the wave is Hyundai's new GM, Jimmy Romance. "Thats what [they] get for taking Harry Keppel out of Hyundai," he said. "He is slowly poisoning [Pawtucket] player's moral. He's our corporate saboteur."
Saboteur or declining ballplayer, the fact remains that Keppel has not adjusted well. But don't expect other execs to show much sympathy for Pawtucket.
Hector Carbajal
1994 Stats
Despite winning a Brewmaster's with few star power players and a careful mix of veterans and youth, Los Alamos threw a shocking $135 million contract at Syracuse's former 1989 Stout Slugger and four-time DWI award winner in hopes that his bat would provide much needed punch in the lineup.
The signing was met with execs fumbling over Carbajal belonging in the discussion of a top-tier talent at 29-years-of-age. While his defense was never questioned - fueling one exec to state, "If anything, I think Carbajal is more valuable than Kinsey just because he's spectacular defensively" - a major injury that sidelined him for 3 months in 1993 and zapped power out of his bat, made others question the sanity of Carbajal's demands.
An executive who preferred to remain anonymous stated after intense negotiations, "[Carbajal] wants over 23 per now. That's insane."
Virginia GM Clay Shaver proudly proclaimed after both Kinsey and Carbajal signed, "I think these two are going to make Woodbury look like a bargain at $22 [million]."
Perhaps both are right. Perhaps Carbajal's former General Manager Jake Wolf had the right of it during negotiations in 1993.
"At least free agency will be interesting this year."
- It's late June which means a collection of young high schoolers, collegiate athletes and foreign stars have joined minor league affiliates across the country.
The consensus number one pick Erik Keifer landed in Wilmington and began play in Aberdeen as expected. But it isn't he that's generating the most buzz. That title goes to unknown Pepperdine pitcher Alex Martinez.
Drafted 5th overall by New Orleans, Martinez was quickly offered his cup of coffee and within three days found himself in Rocky Top Park facing the Denver Bulls as a representative of the Dukes.
His debut was splendid tossing 6 innings and surrendering only one earned run in a 4-3 loss.
Our stat gurus at StatsLab couldn’t take us far back enough to find out the last time, if ever, a player made a debut straight from draft day, but we were able to find the last two players to make a debut the same season they were drafted.
Just three seasons ago, both Elman Amilakhori and Hans Gordinho appeared in BLB games the same season they were picked by a BLB franchise.
Gordinho beat out Amilakhori by a few months making an appearance in late June after throwing only one shutout inning in AAA.
- When 22-year-old South Korean pitcher Ki-hyeon Lim was selected 2nd overall by the Pawtucket Patriots in 1990, no one expected it would take Lim four years to reach the BLB.
In that time, 42 of the 265 picks made their BLB debut and competed against something other than minor league talent, yet Lim found himself traveling between AA Lawrence and AAA Lynn before being traded to the Kodiaks in 1992 and spending a full season in AA Sacramento.
From that point on, California GM David Lint found himself explaining to fans and league officials the reasons behind keeping Lim in AAA Bakersfield rather than pitching for the struggling Kodiaks.
A major shoulder injury that knocked him out for six months appeared to be the scape goat, but scrutiny followed Lim despite his set backs.
Finally, now 26 and the owner of 95 career starts in the minors, the Lim Dynasty made its debut for California against the Carolina Tobs on June 22, 1994. The highly anticipated start didn't meet the hype, but Lim can finally call himself a BLB player...for now.
- 0-2, 2 BB, 1 RBI, 1 Run.
That was Mel Woodbury's stat line on June 24. Not spectacular for the 37-year-old star, but important enough because of one RBI.
It may have gone unnoticed by most fans, but that single RBI helped Woodbury become only the 4th player in BLB history to collect 1,500 RBI.
TRIVIA: Mel Woodbury is 5 runs away from scoring his 1,500th career run. When he does so, he will join only two other players with 1,500 runs and RBI on their stat sheet. Name the other two men.
To helped magnify the significance of this historic moment, we turned to our StatsLab gurus for a more in-depth look at how Woodbury achieved the feat despite only twice driving in 100 runs in a season before turning 30.
- By being an active player at the start of the 1994 season, only two players held claim to a run that had not been shared by any other player in BLB history: being an active player for every pitch of every game played in BLB history while playing for one organization. That honor belonged to veterans Enéas Sanchez and Pedro Zamarida until Zamarida was suddenly traded to Philadelphia last week.
The move surprised many despite Denver being out of contention since May and placed an exclamation point on a year that has seen many familiar faces trade places.
"Now there's a guy that it's going to be weird seeing in another uniform," said Dave Roberts, GM of New Orleans.
ANSWER: Harry Keppel and Pedro Zamarida
It was a move predated by Denver's position in the standings and an organization's appreciation for the sweat, blood and tears shed by its most iconic figure.
"He deserves a shot at a championship run," said Denver GM Carlos Hernandez, "rather than the rebuilding catastrophe that is Denver at the present moment."
Despite the move, Zamarida joins only Harry Keppel as ballplayers who played at least 2,000 games with one organization. And no matter their accomplishments for their new teams, fans all over, as well as the HOF committee, won't have to think twice about what cap they should wear when inducted.
That's it for this installment. We covered the new beginnings of future Hall of Fame veterans; a young draftee finding himself in new territory; a minor league star beginning a new dynasty; a perennial Stout Slugger adding a new milestone to his illustrious career; and a franchise icon finding a new home. May their new paths bring them as much success as those before and may the same be said for us.
LINK
This is where you'll go if you want written analysis; if you need a deeper, in-depth look at the statistics; if you just can't get enough of your BLB news.
With a new beginning in the chapter of the BLB, it only makes sense to cover the new beginnings of a few select men that found themselves in new uniforms in 1994.
Finley Kinsey
1994 Stats
Code:
G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG SB 52 204 69 11 4 7 28 29 34 .338 .424 .534 1
After 7 years in Hyundai, two Stout Sluggers and over 1,000 career hits, Kinsey signed a $131 million contract with the Dallas Snappers this off-season. It stands as one of the largest in league history and will pay Kinsey an average of $26.2 million a season. To understand the significance, you don't have to look any further than the Wilmington Wildcats who have built a team for the mere cost of $21 million.
A slow start worried some fans and created a silent stir among executives who believed the price was too high for the designated hitter turned outfielder.
"I know he can hit," said one league exec, "but a $27M option [when he's 35] for a player who already can't field, has a "fragile" durability, and missed a month and a half last season? Yikes."
Fielding was a major concern during Free Agency. While Kinsey has always displayed a fantastic control of his swing - having led the league twice in hitting - he has routinely shown an inability to field the same baseball he can hit so skillfully.
1994 has been no different for Dallas as Kinsey has accumulated (or is the correct word: dissipated) a disturbingly low -26.5 Zone Range Factor in leftfield.
But, he still hits and he's done so to the point of a league leading .338 average.
The question remains, however, if his bat (and bloated contract) will be enough to make the playoffs a reality in Dallas. Thus far the team finds itself under .500 and falling out of the Pilsner race.
Harry Keppel
1994 Stats
Code:
G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG SB 73 279 72 9 1 11 36 34 31 .258 .336 .416 0
The Missing Link is now 36 and age hasn't been too kind to the league's all-time hits leader, and until a surprising streak winning 9 of 12 ballgames scoring an average of 5.2 runs a contest, Pawtucket had been reeling without his help.
For 16 years, fans in Hyundai had one sure thing to look forward to: Harry Keppel wearing their uniform and lining a base hit into the outfield. He was a 6-time Stout Slugger, 9-time All-Star and the face of the Dinos.
Now fans in Hyundai have arrived in their ballpark bearing signs for a player that no longer wears their uniform, but joking that his hitting spirit (and ability) remains in the cozy confines of Sonata Stadium.
Catching onto the wave is Hyundai's new GM, Jimmy Romance. "Thats what [they] get for taking Harry Keppel out of Hyundai," he said. "He is slowly poisoning [Pawtucket] player's moral. He's our corporate saboteur."
Saboteur or declining ballplayer, the fact remains that Keppel has not adjusted well. But don't expect other execs to show much sympathy for Pawtucket.
Hector Carbajal
1994 Stats
Code:
G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K AVG OBP SLG SB 74 288 64 14 1 9 33 30 79 .222 .304 .372 2
Despite winning a Brewmaster's with few star power players and a careful mix of veterans and youth, Los Alamos threw a shocking $135 million contract at Syracuse's former 1989 Stout Slugger and four-time DWI award winner in hopes that his bat would provide much needed punch in the lineup.
The signing was met with execs fumbling over Carbajal belonging in the discussion of a top-tier talent at 29-years-of-age. While his defense was never questioned - fueling one exec to state, "If anything, I think Carbajal is more valuable than Kinsey just because he's spectacular defensively" - a major injury that sidelined him for 3 months in 1993 and zapped power out of his bat, made others question the sanity of Carbajal's demands.
An executive who preferred to remain anonymous stated after intense negotiations, "[Carbajal] wants over 23 per now. That's insane."
Virginia GM Clay Shaver proudly proclaimed after both Kinsey and Carbajal signed, "I think these two are going to make Woodbury look like a bargain at $22 [million]."
Perhaps both are right. Perhaps Carbajal's former General Manager Jake Wolf had the right of it during negotiations in 1993.
"At least free agency will be interesting this year."
- It's late June which means a collection of young high schoolers, collegiate athletes and foreign stars have joined minor league affiliates across the country.
The consensus number one pick Erik Keifer landed in Wilmington and began play in Aberdeen as expected. But it isn't he that's generating the most buzz. That title goes to unknown Pepperdine pitcher Alex Martinez.
Drafted 5th overall by New Orleans, Martinez was quickly offered his cup of coffee and within three days found himself in Rocky Top Park facing the Denver Bulls as a representative of the Dukes.
His debut was splendid tossing 6 innings and surrendering only one earned run in a 4-3 loss.
Our stat gurus at StatsLab couldn’t take us far back enough to find out the last time, if ever, a player made a debut straight from draft day, but we were able to find the last two players to make a debut the same season they were drafted.
Just three seasons ago, both Elman Amilakhori and Hans Gordinho appeared in BLB games the same season they were picked by a BLB franchise.
Gordinho beat out Amilakhori by a few months making an appearance in late June after throwing only one shutout inning in AAA.
- When 22-year-old South Korean pitcher Ki-hyeon Lim was selected 2nd overall by the Pawtucket Patriots in 1990, no one expected it would take Lim four years to reach the BLB.
In that time, 42 of the 265 picks made their BLB debut and competed against something other than minor league talent, yet Lim found himself traveling between AA Lawrence and AAA Lynn before being traded to the Kodiaks in 1992 and spending a full season in AA Sacramento.
From that point on, California GM David Lint found himself explaining to fans and league officials the reasons behind keeping Lim in AAA Bakersfield rather than pitching for the struggling Kodiaks.
A major shoulder injury that knocked him out for six months appeared to be the scape goat, but scrutiny followed Lim despite his set backs.
Finally, now 26 and the owner of 95 career starts in the minors, the Lim Dynasty made its debut for California against the Carolina Tobs on June 22, 1994. The highly anticipated start didn't meet the hype, but Lim can finally call himself a BLB player...for now.
- 0-2, 2 BB, 1 RBI, 1 Run.
That was Mel Woodbury's stat line on June 24. Not spectacular for the 37-year-old star, but important enough because of one RBI.
It may have gone unnoticed by most fans, but that single RBI helped Woodbury become only the 4th player in BLB history to collect 1,500 RBI.
TRIVIA: Mel Woodbury is 5 runs away from scoring his 1,500th career run. When he does so, he will join only two other players with 1,500 runs and RBI on their stat sheet. Name the other two men.
To helped magnify the significance of this historic moment, we turned to our StatsLab gurus for a more in-depth look at how Woodbury achieved the feat despite only twice driving in 100 runs in a season before turning 30.
- It took Woodbury until his 33rd birthday to drive in his 1,000th career RBI.
- Of the other men that have driven in 1,500 runs, none were older than 31 when their 1,000th RBI crossed the plate.
- Since driving in that 1,000th run back in 1990, only one active player has driven in more runs: former All-Star Don Alexander and he only currently leads the way because he hasn't officially announced his retirement.
- Not surprising at all, the four men with 1,500 RBI have a combined 12 Stout Sluggers among their hardware. What is surprising is that the 12 are split evenly between only two of those four, and at his current pace, it's likely Woodbury could add a 7th which would be the most all-time.
- By being an active player at the start of the 1994 season, only two players held claim to a run that had not been shared by any other player in BLB history: being an active player for every pitch of every game played in BLB history while playing for one organization. That honor belonged to veterans Enéas Sanchez and Pedro Zamarida until Zamarida was suddenly traded to Philadelphia last week.
The move surprised many despite Denver being out of contention since May and placed an exclamation point on a year that has seen many familiar faces trade places.
"Now there's a guy that it's going to be weird seeing in another uniform," said Dave Roberts, GM of New Orleans.
ANSWER: Harry Keppel and Pedro Zamarida
It was a move predated by Denver's position in the standings and an organization's appreciation for the sweat, blood and tears shed by its most iconic figure.
"He deserves a shot at a championship run," said Denver GM Carlos Hernandez, "rather than the rebuilding catastrophe that is Denver at the present moment."
Despite the move, Zamarida joins only Harry Keppel as ballplayers who played at least 2,000 games with one organization. And no matter their accomplishments for their new teams, fans all over, as well as the HOF committee, won't have to think twice about what cap they should wear when inducted.
That's it for this installment. We covered the new beginnings of future Hall of Fame veterans; a young draftee finding himself in new territory; a minor league star beginning a new dynasty; a perennial Stout Slugger adding a new milestone to his illustrious career; and a franchise icon finding a new home. May their new paths bring them as much success as those before and may the same be said for us.
LINK
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