Comments on: Major League Leading Firemen, 1975

By: jamesguitarshields

jamesguitarshields — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:39:51 +0000

when i think “fireman”, i think of bruce sutter
he had some decent facial hair as well…

By: JL25and3

JL25and3 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:29:19 +0000

36. 35 From the New York Times, 5/14/78: Jackson, meanwhile, had also starred in the only off-beat element of this game, a waiting contest with Al Hrabosky, the relief pitcher who likes to give himself a pep talk behind the mound before pitching... ...Hrabosky came in to face Jackson. Every time Hrabosky stepped back, pumped himself up and climbed back on the hill ready to be ferocious, Reggie called time and stepped out himself. Eventually, the count reached 3-2 and Reggie delivered the run with a solid fly to center. --- Thanks to the sac fly and the home run, Reggie's career line against Hrabosky (including postseason) is a rather remarkable .125/.111/.500.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:02:11 +0000

35. 34 : If the at-bat was in the regular season, Hrabosky got him out. Reggie faced him six times during the ’78 and ’79 regular seasons and was 0 for 6 (with two RBI). In the playoffs, of course, Reggie went deep:

http://tinyurl.com/2rtac7

By: JL25and3

JL25and3 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:03:48 +0000

34. One of the most entertaining at-bats I ever saw was Reggie hitting against Hrabosky, when the Mad Hungarian act was in full flower. Al walked to the back of the mound, rubbing up the ball manically and angrily, muttering to himself. Then he slammed the ball into his mitt and charged up onto the rubber, ready for the kill.

And Reggie asked for time.

When he stepped back into the box, Hrabosky had to start the whole routine over again. Stomped to the back of the mound, rubbed up the baseball angrily, muttered to himself, slammed the ball into his mitt, charged back onto the rubber. And Reggie stepped out again, grinning.

I don’t for the life of me remember how long this went on – it had to be three or four times – or who finally caved, or how. By that point I was laughing so hard it didn’t matter.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:47:30 +0000

33. 31 : Great clip. Thanks for sharing that.

By: player to be named later

player to be named later — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:25:58 +0000

32. Lee Smith as Muddy Waters? There's the Chicago connection, and between playing for the Cubs and failing to make the Hall of Fame, Smith definitely knows the blues...

By: Zernialophile

Zernialophile — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 02:22:48 +0000

31. 29 Fan-baiting aside, I grew up in downstate Illinois so I also forget the “relative anonymity” of Hrabosky. When you see a nationally-televised game from St. Louis, it always seems like the announcers comment on how well-supported the Cardinals are despite it being a “small market.” While technically being a small market, the Cards always had great, widespread regional radio coverage back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. As a result, huge parts of the Midwest, the Ohio Valley, and the South predominantly root for the Cardinals. Which means that if those Sun Records boys were baseball fans, they probably cheered for the Cardinals.

Like Hrabosky, Harry Caray was a Cardinals announcer for a very long time and, sure enough, one of the rockabilly boys was apparently a fan of his…

By: sly jones

sly jones — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:44:16 +0000

30. If he had pitched a generation or so earlier, I would suggest Steve Howe = Bobby Fuller.

By: P Bu

P Bu — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:43:52 +0000

29. As a Cards fan who watches Hrabosky nightly from April to October and who drives by Hrabosky's bar on my way to work every morning, I forget that the Mad Hungarian (yes, he's ethnically Hungarian) is relatively anonymous outside the 314 area code. I'd address Zernialophile's Cards fan baiting, but I've got to go clean the memorabilia from the many, many WS titles and pennants the Cards have won in my lifetime (not to mention my parents', grandparents', and greatgrandparents' lifetimes).

By: Basilisc

Basilisc — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:27:03 +0000

28. Hey, was Hrabosky really Hungarian? His name sounds Slavic, maybe Ukrainian. This just occurred to me, after 30 years of knowing him as "The Mad Hungarian".