A look back at July 25, 1999 - George Brett Day at the K
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There have been a million words written about George Brett. Even though he was my all-time favorite Royal, there’s probably not much I can add to that conversation. If you want to read good Brett stories, I’m sure Joe Posnanski has some. If you wish to read a good biography, check out Russell Bergtold’s excellent piece on SABR.
Brett had an outsized influence on Royal fans and on the entire Midwest. I’m fairly certain there are scores of 35- to 45-year-old men, especially in Kansas and Missouri, whose parents named them Brett, thanks to #5. Maybe even some women.
In 15 days, Major League Baseball begins to roll out the 2021 season. As a manager, I was always early, said Howe during a recent telephone conversation from his home in suburban Houston, Texas. I had my coaches arrive early, too. We would discuss what we would be doing in the upcoming season, and I d pick their brains. I wanted to know if there was a better way to do things than what I had mapped out.
Howe wanted to build on camaraderie between himself and his staff. There were dinners together and other outings done as a group. More than anything, as the club s skipper, Howe wanted to be prepared for when the players arrived.
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HOUSTON Two of the most memorable debut seasons in Astros history came from hotshot sluggers who went on to win Rookie of the Year Jeff Bagwell in the National League in 1991 and Yordan Alvarez in the American League in 2019. But it would be hard to top the impact three legendary pitchers had in their Houston debuts.
After coming out of retirement in 2004, Roger Clemens helped launch Space City into the baseball stratosphere. And there were the blockbuster trades to acquire former Cy Young winners Randy Johnson (1998) and Justin Verlander (2017), where both aces worked their magic for the Astros down the stretch and into the playoffs.
RedBall Plays Money Ball Billy Beane s proposed deal with Fenway Sports Group fell apart but he still wants to buy into a team. Stocks quotes in this article: RBAC, MANU, BATRA
My son and I have an ongoing argument about the movie
Moneyball, which is somewhat loosely based on the 2003 Michael Lewis book about General Manager Billy Beane and the 2002 Oakland A s. I think the acting is brilliant, and it is one of those films (like
The Shawshank Redemption), that I will watch whenever I run across it while channel surfing. My son does not like the inaccuracies of the story, and what s ignored (such as the entire starting pitching staff), as well as the real role of Manager Art Howe, but to each his own.
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HOUSTON What’s in a number? Well, quite a lot when they’re worn by baseball players. The wearing of a particular jersey number is something most players take very seriously, while some are just glad to have any kind of number below their name on a big league uniform.
The Astros have 10 retired jersey numbers, including Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 that was retired around baseball prior to the 1997 season. The last number retired by the Astros was the No. 7 worn by Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, who actually broke into the Major Leagues wearing No. 4. And did you know 14 players wore No. 24 after Jimmy Wynn before the Astros decided to retire it in 2005?