Hot Korner: Sam McDowell

Hey baseball fans!

I just put up my latest post in the Kids' Hot Korner section of New Jersey Baseball Magazine. This one is about Sam McDowell, a pitcher on the Indians in the 1960's and 1970's. If you want to read more about Sam, just click here.

Check back in a couple of days for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."

A Bird in the Hall of Fame?

Hey baseball fans!

Remember in my Gary Carter post where I said to stalk my blog like a hawk for new posts? Well, the reason I said that was because I was making a reference to another Expo Hall of Famer, Andre Dawson!

Andre "The Hawk" (got his nickname because his uncle said that he attacked ground balls like a hawk at a very young age). Dawson, ended his 21-year major league career with the Expos, Cubs, Red Sox, and Marlins from 1976-1996 with a .279 lifetime batting average, 438 career home runs, 314 stolen bases, and 1,591 RBIs. Known for his outstanding defense in center field and right field, the eight-time Gold Glove Award winner won NL Rookie of the Year with Montreal in '77 and NL MVP in 1987 with Chicago. The eight-time All Star actually underwent 12 knee surgeries during his career, making him the modern-day Mickey Mantle: got injured a lot and still put up great stats. He is just the second of four players (along with Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez) to be part of the 400HR/300SB club. He was elected into Cooperstown in 2010.

Overall, Andre is one of the greatest players in history and probably the best Expo outfielder of all time. Anyway, thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it. Check back in a couple of days for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."

Happy Cinco DiMaggio!!!!!!

Hey baseball fans!

At the end of my movie review of "42", I forgot to wish you all a happy Cinco DiMaggio!!! I know what you are thinking, "What in the world is Cinco DiMaggio?" It's pretty simple: it is a holiday made up by me that honors the great Yankee, Joe DiMaggio. Why is it on May 5th, you ask? Well, that's pretty simple, too: Joe's record-setting 56-game hitting streak started in May and he wore the number five.

So, remember that today is Cinco DiMaggio for the rest of your lives. I know you aren't all Yankee fans like me, but celebrate it just for me. If you don't want to celebrate it, maybe these Cinco DiMaggio customs that I've come up with will persuade you to celebrate this great holiday:

• Eat a spaghetti and meatball dinner with 56 noodles and five meatballs (Joe was Italian)
• Watch a video with Marilyn Monroe in it (Joe married this famous actress)
• At precisely 11:25 at night (Joe was born on November 25) make five seal noises so that you will receive a nail clipper under your pillow (Joe's nickname was the Yankee Clipper) from the Great Bay Seal (Joe started his career with the minor league San Francisco Seals) when you wake up the next morning

So, I hope you do these three simple tasks so that you may properly celebrate Cinco DiMaggio. Remember, I made this holiday up, so don't think that the baseball gods will smite you if you don't celebrate it. Anyway, check back in a couple of days for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."

My First Podcast Ever

Hey baseball fans!

Yesterday, I recorded my first ever podcast for my friends at Seamheads.com thanks to the help of head Seamhead, Mike Lynch.  Anyway, for my inaugural podcast, I spoke about who I think are the greatest hitters ever in baseball history. It was a lot of fun. If you want to hear what I had to say, just go to Seamheads.com and go down about a quarter of the page on the right column under where it says Baseball with Matt. Then click on the MP3 player and listen away. Hope you like what I had to say.

Thanks for reading (and listening) and check back again real soon for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."

A Kid in the HOF

Hey baseball fans!

I realize I haven't blogged about actual baseball history in about a week and I apologize for that. Today, I will be blogging about one of my favorite catchers of all time. Yes, I am a Yankee fan, but I'm not talking about Yogi Berra or Bill Dickey. I'm also not talking about Mike Piazza, who should be in the Hall of Fame. I'm also not talking about Carlton Fisk or Johnny Bench, but I do like them both a lot. I am talking about the catcher who started the rally in the bottom of the tenth of Game Five of the 1986 World Series, the rally that included Buckner's Blunder. This catcher is a Hall of Famer and is probably the most prominent Expos Hall of Famer of all time (well, maybe someone else, but I'll save that for my next post). Ladies and gentleman: Gary Carter!

One of the most exciting and enthusiastic on-field generals in baseball history, Gary "The Kid" Carter excelled at playing the position of catcher both offensively and defensively. An 11-time All Star who played from 1974-1992 with mainly the Expos and Mets, Carter hit 324 home runs and drove in 1,225 runs in his heralded career. The three-time Gold Glove Award winner is considered one of the greatest clutch hitters of all time and eared the All Star Game MVP Award twice. As I mentioned before, his clutch tenth-inning single in Game Six of the 1986 World Series started a legendary Mets comeback, leading them to a Game Six and a World Series win in seven games over the Red Sox. He was elected into the Hall of Fame in his sixth year of eligibility, making him the 14th catcher to be inducted into Cooperstown.

Sadly, Carter died on February 16th, 2012 due to brain cancer at the age of 57, but his enthusiastic behavior and helping hand that helped his teams to victory will never be forgotten in the hearts of baseball fans.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this post and thanks for reading it. More posts will be coming soon, so check back in a couple of days (but stalk Baseball with Matt like a hawk) for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."