John McDonald's final at-bat a bit quieter for this 40-year-old shortstop

With all of the attention in Major League Baseball this weekend squarely focused on Derek Jeter's victory lap around the circuit, the final stages of another 40-year-old shortstop's quietly sneaked under the radar.

John McDonald, a reserve infielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, potentially ended his career with a bang when he doubled off of Seattle Mariners reliever Danny Farquhar in the 9th inning of Sunday’s regular season finale.

The veteran of 16 major league seasons hit a milestone when he turned 40 last Wednesday, becoming only the 17th major leaguer over 40 to play shortstop since 1900.

McDonald fit the mold of a dying breed of the classic great glove, no-hit middle infielder, batting a career .233 with nine teams from 1999-2014. He was so valued for his defense, that the eventual 2013 World Series champion Boston Red Sox acquired McDonald in an August 31st trade with the Philadelphia Phillies despite his .098 batting average at the time. He was used as a late-inning defensive replacement to bolster their playoff run.

Unfortunately, McDonald was left off the Red Sox post-season roster and it looks like he will be absent from the Angels active roster when they start the ALDS on October 2nd. With the presence of Gordon Beckham, there appears to be little room for McDonald in their playoff plans.

Sitting at his locker after Sunday’s game, McDonald not only held on to the ball from what is probably his last-at bat, but the sentiments as well.

“It’s a good feeling to get one more hit,” McDonald said to MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez on Sunday. “It might have more meaning later.”

Read More

Tony Oliva takes the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Tony Oliva

Minnesota Twins legend, the 76-year old Tony Oliva, showed that you aren't too young to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

The 1964 American League Rookie of the Year cheerfully took a dip in ice water in support of ALS research.

He calls out Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Orlando Cepeda, and my good friend Paul Casanova to take the corresponding plunge.

Read More

A candid Willie Mays talking baseball with Billy Sample

Willie Mays

Billy Sample, former major league outfielder of nine major league seasons, talked shop with the legendary Willie Mays in the spring of 2004.

In this 15-minute interview, Mays is rather lucid as they discuss his career from humble beginnings in Alabama, making his way from the Negro Leagues all the way to the Hall of Fame.
 

Read More

Michael Conforto's outfield play turning heads in Brooklyn

Being a first-round draft pick carries high expectations from the moment a player signs their name on a million-dollar contract. In just over a month, Michael Conforto, the New York Mets 2014 first-round draft pick from Oregon State University, has been all that was advertised and then some.

Playing in thirty-six games thus far with the Brooklyn Cyclones in the short-season New York Penn League, Conforto has been a magician at the plate, batting .321 with two home runs and 18 RBIs. His prowess with the bat comes as little surprise to baseball insiders, as his hitting was the main factor in his nomination as a finalist for the 2014 Golden Spikes Award, the honor given to the top player in college baseball.

Going into the draft however, there was much speculation about Conforto’s abilities as an outfielder, with some analysts going as far as calling his outfield play, “a mess,” and saying that his arm strength leaves much to be desired.

Michael Conforto - N. Diunte

“He has a poor throwing arm that runners can take extra bases on,” said Christopher Crawford of MLB Draft Insider. 

In the short time that he has been in Brooklyn, he has laid the foundation to quell those naysayers about his defensive capabilities. He has five outfield assists and has made quite a few acrobatic plays in left field as well.

“The reports also said he was only an adequate defender; the same with his arm. But in the reports I've been sending back to the Mets, I'm telling them he's anything but that," Cyclones Manager Tom Gamboa said to the Staten Island Advance. "He threw out a runner trying to score (Monday night at RCCC), and tonight he made a diving catch. That's about the seventh or eighth diving catch he's made."

Conforto is glad that his defense is getting attention, as it was overshadowed by his strong bat throughout his entire college career. He recognizes that it is an area of his game that is continuing to be developed as he starts his journey in professional baseball.

“That's something that's been said that may be my weakness,” Conforto said to metroBASEBALL magazine, “so it's pretty cool that its been highlighted here. I've had the opportunity to be out there in left field every day and showcase my ability, so that's been pretty cool for me and it's helped me grow in a place where I really need to grow.”

Read More

Dick Teed, former Brooklyn Dodger and longtime scout passes away at 88

Dick Teed wore the Brooklyn Dodger uniform for only one at-bat in the major leagues, but the experience left memories that lasted a lifetime. Teed struck out in his only plate appearance against Milwaukee Braves pitcher Max Surkont on July 24, 1953, but he didn’t go down without a fight.

''What I'll always remember,'' he said Richard Goldstein of the New York Times in 1982, ''is that I was up there challenging Surkont. I struck out, but I went down taking good cuts.''

Teed, who stayed with the Dodgers organization as a scout for 17 years, passed away August 17, 2014, in Newport, Rhode Island. He was 88.

Dick Teed Signed Photo / N. Diunte

A native of Windsor, Connecticut, Teed was a three-sport star at Windsor High, excelling in baseball, soccer, and basketball. Shortly after his 1944 graduation, he entered the Marine Corps, serving for over two years during World War II. His tour included action in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. After completing his military duty, he signed with the Dodgers in 1947. They started him at the bottom of their farm system with their Class D team in Thomasville, North Carolina.

He moved quickly through the ranks, reaching AAA with Montreal by 1950. Only one step away from the major leagues, Teed saw the light at the end of the tunnel approaching.

“If I improve my batting somewhat, I think I have a pretty good chance of sticking,” he said to the Sunday Herald in 1950. “They tell me my catching is satisfactory.”

While Teed became a top-notch receiver, the Dodgers were looking for a way to remedy his struggles at the plate after he hit only .222 at St. Paul in 1951. During spring training, they found a solution – switch-hitting.

He spent the whole season at Mobile in the Double-A Southern Association in 1952 working on hitting from both sides of the plate. A natural righty, Teed improved his batting average to .273.

“I’ve got more confidence this time after what I did at Mobile,” he said to the Sunday Herald in 1953.

With Roy Campanella and Rube Walker ahead of him and the Dodgers returning from a World Series appearance, there was little room for Teed on the roster. He returned to Mobile to start the 1953 season, but when Rube Walker injured his left hand in July, it was Teed's chance for the major leagues.

“Everything seemed different in the big leagues - magnified,'' he said to the New York Times. ''The lights were brighter, the crowds were larger. I even thought the sound of the pitches hitting Campy's glove was louder.”

After striking out in his aforementioned debut, Teed remained positive about his chances for redemption.

''I wasn't down, I figured there'd be another day,'' he said.

Sadly, that opportunity never came. Teed rode out his stay with the Dodgers on the bench until Walker returned. The Dodgers sent Teed back to Mobile and despite spending over another decade in the minor leagues, it wasn’t enough to warrant another call to the big leagues.

"I went back to Mobile and finished the season," Teed told the Hartford Courant in 2013. "My only complaint is that I never really got a chance to show what I could do."

After finishing his playing career in 1963, Teed coached in the Philadelphia Phillies organization from 1964-1967, winning a division title with Spartanburg his final season as a manager. In 1968, he turned his attention to scouting, working with the Phillies until 1977. That is when he returned home to the Dodgers organization.

As a Dodgers scout in the Northeast, his first major coup was Brooklyn’s own John Franco from St. John’s University.

I will miss Dick Teed, he believed and took a chance on me. I will never forget him for that. My prayers are with his family.
— John Franco (@TEAMFRANCO45) August 21, 2014

He also helped the Dodgers to ink an unknown first baseman from Norristown, Pennsylvania, who was selected with the Dodgers’ last pick in the 1988 draft.

Teed, who was on his way to Montreal to sign another Dodgers’ prospect, met Mike Piazza in the Philadelphia airport to sign him for $15,000. It was an unlikely setting for a signing, but such was the life of a traveling scout.

He stayed with the Dodgers as a scout until retiring in 1994. In 2001, he was inducted into the National Scouts Hall of Fame. His grandson Bryan Barnoswki kept the family tradition alive, playing minor league baseball for the Boston Red Sox from 1999-2003.

Even though he had only a brief stay in the majors, Teed told me during a 2008 interview that being a member of such a legendary team was the highlight of his career.

“How could you get a better lineup than what they had?” he asked. “Campy, Hodges, Snider, Reese, Jackie ... what a team. I didn't play long, but I enjoyed it. I was in baseball 49 years and that was my best experience; being in the dugout and the locker room just for the short time I was there. It gave me a lot of memories.”

Read More