Record-breaking night for the Tigers

On a windy and cool Friday night, a crowd of over 1,200 fans showed up at Simmons Field, drawn by the coverage and speculation about a possible historic record-breaking game. The energy and expectation in the crowd was apparent even before the first pitch. No one was really very sure how many innings it would take for Aaron Crow to set a new all-time national record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched (since no one really knows what the record is for sure), but they all wanted to be there to witness the event when it happened.

Just a few short minutes into the 1st inning, the anticipation crashed to earth as Aaron Crow showed that even Superman has his kryptonite. The excitement shifted from the crowd to the Longhorn dugout as the Texas players, obviously fully aware of the scoreless streak, celebrated at a level not usual for merely scoring the first run of a ballgame.

And by the time the Longjohned Longhorns had finished their seconf inning at bat, our Tigers were down 8-0. I saw a small number of faithless fans head for the exits at that point. Boy were they stupid.

MU answered back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd, Texas added a 9th run in the 3rd, and then the slumping Mizzou offense woke up like an angry man whose home had been invaded.

10 runs in the bottom of the 3rd was the first explosion, followed by more runs as the game went along, piling up to a final tally of 31 runs, against the Longhorns' total of 12.

The 10-run inning was the biggest inning for the Tigers since an 11-run second inning against Mississippi Valley State on May 6, 2006

Jacob Priday (aka The Incredible Hulk), led the attack with his own record-breaking performance.


Priday was 5-for-5 on the night. He set the single-game school record with four home runs, nine RBI and six runs scored. The four home runs is the most ever in the Big 12 Conference and is tied for third most in NCAA history.

With the four homers, Priday moves within one of the Missouri school record with 44 for his career. The nine RBI give him 218, which is four shy of the Mizzou career mark.

Every Tiger in the starting lineup had at least one hit and five had at least three. The 26 hits for Missouri tied a school record, which was set in 2005 against Navy.

The 31 runs are the most scored by the Tigers since they defeated Truman State 30-0 in 2003. It is the most runs scored by MU against a conference opponent since a 27-4 win over Nebraska in 1956. The all-time MU record for runs scored in a single game is 35, set in 1904.

The loss is the worst for Texas since a 25-6 defeat against Texas A&M in 1995. Friday was the first game in which Texas allowed at least 20 runs since 1998.

The 31 runs is the most ever allowed by any Texas baseball team in their ilustrious history.

But hey, they got to celebrate that first run they scored.

Oh, and the winning pitcher in the game?

Aaron Crow.


Records:

Jacob Priday
4 home runs
(previous record:3)
9 RBI (8)
6 Runs scored (tie)
18 Total Bases (13)

Team Records
26 Hits (tie)
65 Total Bases (45)
28 RBI (27)


Top run-scoring games by the Missouri Tigers against conference opponents

BIG 12

2003
MU vs. Baylor
23-18

BIG 8

1977
MU vs. Iowa State
23-5

BIG 7

1963
MU vs. Colorado
21-7

1958
MU vs. Kansas
25-14
MU vs. Kansas State
24-2

1956
MU vs. Nebraska
27-4

1953
MU vs. Kansas State
25-3

1948
MU vs. Iowa State
22-6

The record for most runs scored by MU in a game is 35, in a 35-2 game against William Jewell in 1902.

The 2008 MU Media Guide shows it as being a record set in 1904, but the Year-by-Year detailed records show that game in 1902.

Here in the MU Baseball History pages of SimmonsField.com we have a feature on the 1902 season. In doing that research, we found no record in the Columbia Daily Tribune archives of a 35-run game against William Jewell.

But I'm sure it happened some time.

Big 12 Conference Announces 2008 FSN Baseball Telecast Schedule Mizzou's April 27 game against Texas A&M to air on FSN.

(mutigers.com, 2/13/08)
IRVING, Texas-- - The Big 12 Conference has announced its 2008 baseball telecast schedule on FSN. Six games, including the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on May 25 from AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, will be televised.
Missouri's series finale against Texas A&M on April 27 in College Station, Texas will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.
Additional television appearances are possible through other Big 12 broadcast partners and institutional contacts and may be announced at a later time. Mizzou Sports Properties is also working with FSN Midwest to broadcast one of the Tigers games this season.
The six games selected for Fox Sports Net will be available to FSN's regional affiliates, reaching more than 82 million cable and satellite TV homes nationwide.
2008 FSN Big 12 Conference Baseball Telecast Schedule Saturday, March 29- Nebraska at Texas 6 p.m.Saturday, April 12- Texas Tech at Kansas 12 p.m.Sunday, April 27- Missouri at Texas A&M 1 p.m.Saturday, May 3- Baylor at Texas 2:30 p.m.Sunday, May 18- To Be Determined 3:30 p.m.Sunday, May 25- Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship AT&T Bricktown Ballpark; Oklahoma City 1 p.m.

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Tip of the Cap Awards: 2007

It's time for our annual year-end awards, named in honor of John "Hi" Simmons' signature gesture.

3,630 !!

The highlight and climax of the 2007 MU Baseball season was the first-ever NCAA Regional hosted at Taylor Stadium / Simmons Field.

In the weeks and days leading up to the regional, fans and followers debated whether the MU Athletic Department would show their support of the baseball program by submitting a serious bid to the NCAA (and by finding a way to move the MSHSAA Baseball championships away from Taylor Stadium); then there was some doubt that fans would actually show up in large numbers, given the average attendance during the regular season of just 574, last in the Big XII.

As Tim Jamieson said, "From everything we’re feeling around town, it’s going to happen. It’s almost overwhelming. We’ve played in front of some big, big crowds. But never here.”

And it did happen. A new record was set on Friday night. Then Saturday night's crowd broke that record (see attendance totals at right).

And so our first tips of the cap are for those involved in that weekend:

A tip of the cap to Tim Jamieson, who, as the Tigers continued to roll toward their best win total in TJ's tenure, gained confidence to speak his mind about the questionable level of support given to baseball from the Athletic Department:

“There’s a lot of support,” he said. “But in terms of getting the word out and marketing our sport, we need to do a better job. . . We wanted everybody, including the people within the university, to see things through our eyes. To see things the way they could be." (Kansas City Star)

A tip of the cap to Mike Alden, Tim Hickman and the rest of the athletic department, for defying the cynicism of long-time fans and moving heaven earth and the MSHSAA in order to bring the Regional to Columbia. And for their great job in organizing the weekend to be a great experience for everyone. Mike Alden himself was in attendance for the full 9 innings of nearly every game, sitting in the stands, absorbed in the game when he wasn't shaking hands with MU supporters.

A tip of the cap to the people of Columbia, and to MU fans from all over the state, who shelled out more money than a season tickets cost to buy tickets for the weekend series in record numbers. Many of them expressed their enjoyment to me, and their surprise at how nice the stadium is, how exciting the games were, and how much they would like to come back again next season.

And most of all, a tip of the cap to the Tiger nine, a bunch of guys who were picked to finish 8th in the Big XII, a team that had to see article after article in the news well into the season, one after another mentioning the names of Scherzer and Culp before ever mentioning the players of 2007.

This was the scrappiest, gutsiest, most determined Mizzou baseball team I've watched in my time as a serious fan. They found ways to win games when it seemed impossible.

Like the Friday night game at Texas on May 4th, when the Longhorn catcher overthrew when tossing the ball back to the pitcher, sent it flying over his head, and Kurt Calvert stole home for the winning run.

The season was full of moments like that, with the Tigers taking advantage of every opportunity - no matter how unlikely - to score runs and win games.

Thanks for a great ride, guys!

For someone who learned to cheer and heckle in order to make up for the fact that the 100 fans who would show up at the old Simmons Field to cheer for the visiting team would invariably outnumber the 30 or so parents and girlfriends, plus Larry, myself, my son and at best 10 or 12 other fans . . . tonight was like opening up a Christmas present from the aunt who always sends hand-crocheted underwear, and instead finding in the box the keys to a new sports car.


For Love of the Game

A big tip of my cap goes to Christina Walden, MU student and baseball fan, who offered before this season began to write a blog on SimmonsField.com. I was happy to let her have some blog space, since I have found less and less time to devote the website in the past few years.

Her comments and musings have garnered a lot of attention and comments from fans at the ballpark, and have added a different flavor to the website.

She also received an e-mail from a certain nationally known sportswriter for a national magazine, complimenting her on her 108 Stitches of Passion piece.

I look forward to more of her thoughts at the Inside Corner through the off-season and into the 2008 season.

"A nudge helped me push myself back into a world I did not realize how much I missed. It's the area between the chalk lines, a place where history and tradition are as much a part of the game as the present and future of the sport. It is the place where instant replay does not affect an official's decision and where we all learned as kids that there are always 90 feet to first and a diamond is the best geometric shape. Baseball made its way back to me, or I guess I should say I made my way back to baseball."


The Jay Bell Award

Our annual award for the best performance against the Kansas Jayhawks was really no contest this season.

"How do you like your Jayhawks cooked? Evan Frey’d," quipped Matt Nestor in the Columbia Daily Tribune.

The Chickenhawks came to Simmons field on a rainy weekend at the end of March this year, and left having given up the series to the Tigers, 2-1.

The hero of the weekend was centerfielder Evan Frey. Frey had been hot for most of March and carried this streak into the MU-KU series.

Frey hit at a .438 clip for the weekend, with 4 runs, 9 RBI, 1 double and two home runs.

Both homeruns were big ones. The first, in the Saturday victory, was Frey's first homerun as a Tiger.

Frey's second career homer came a day later in the bottom of the ninth inning, with 2 outs and Brock Bond on base, Frey connected. The ball over the wall, the Tiger players and fans went crazy, and the poor Jayhawks went home with a series loss.

A quote from KU Coatch Ritch Price: “That’s about as tough of a loss as I’ve ever had,” coach Ritch Price said. “Especially when you’re down 8-0 and you play that hard to get back in the thing. We had some huge clutch hits along the way. Obviously it isn’t over until the final guy’s out.”

Comments from Tigerboard.com about the April 1st, 2007 game:

bolivartiger: Just wow. Probably the most exciting college baseball game that I have ever seen.

kegger: The look on Smith's face as the Tigers celebrated at home plate after his pitch wound up on the other side of the fence was one I will remember for quite some time. The way their whole team stayed at their positions as if the homer was going to be waved off or something was quite as enjoyable as well.

Our Tigers beat Kansas in the most cruel way possible. Not only taking the Friday night game and reversing it, but to do so with a deserving celebration at home plate after the one in the top of the inning... That had to be the baseball equivalent of ripping someone's heart out and showing it to them while it was still beating.


MySpace.com meets HeckleDepot.com

The award for the Easiest Player to Heckle goes to A.J. Ramos, Texas Tech's "Ace" pitcher. He made himself an easy target for heckling by failing to protect his MySpace page from the non-"friends".

That page revealed lots of information about A.J., including "Occupation: student/part time stripper". It also revealed his nickname for himself, "Papi Chulo Baby" (translation).

Armed with this info, the Simmons Field fans greeted the pitcher on Friday night with near constant cries of "Papi Chulo!" as well as a few other choice heckles based on his MySpace bio.

Poor Papi Chulo didn't do very well in that game, lasting just 2-1/3 innings, surrendering seven earned runs on 5 hits, 5 walks, 2 wild pitches and a hit batsman.

I suppose his coach thought he would be fresh on Sunday, having spent so little time on the mound Friday night, so with the game on the line in the 9th inning, Ramos was brought in to close the game.

The moment I saw him exit the bullpen, I knew the Tigers had the game won. As he approached the mound, the hecklers in the crowd went wild, chanting "Papi Culo! Papi Chulo!".

Ramos intentionally walked Priday, unintentionally walked Coleman, struck out Senne, then threw a trio of wild pitches that moved the runners around the bases, finally allowing Lollis to score from third.

And so, a tip of the cap goes to Papi Chulo for entertaining the animals in the Zou.


Hot Streak & Hot Tempers

Boo-ing is a practice not heard often at all at Simmons Field. Heckling - sure. But a Boo is reserved for the worst offenders.

An all-or-nothing third baseman from Los Angeles by way of Louisville, Dominguez had compiled a lowly .250 average with only 9 home runs during the course of his season.

Through the first two days of the Regional, he was noticed most when he stood next to (or, during one play, ran into) Louisville shortstop Chris Cates. Cates, generously listed on the roster at 5'3" was over a foot shorter than the 6'4" Dominguez.

Dominguez made himself known in the Sunday Missouri-Louisville game, though, when he hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning that went on to be the game-winner. (He would hit two more home runs on Monday to help the Cardinals win the championship game).

But it was what happened AFTER the homer that really grabbed attention. After standing and admiring his homer, he mouthed some unidentified trash-talk in the direction of MU Catcher Trevor Coleman, then proceed to run the bases, tossing more trash, grins and finger-pointing at the Tiger infielders as he passed.

This created quite an uproar on the field, with MU players and coaches demanding the umpires discipline Dominguez, the U of L coach doing a lot of shoulder shrugging, and a large percentage of the 3,400 fans shouting and screaming and Boo-ing.

I'd like to give a tip of the cap to the umpires for following through on the guidelines laid down by the NCAA before the tournament began, to the effect that no sort of trash talk or disrespectful actions would be tolerated.

I'd like to give a tip of the cap to Dan McDonnell, the Louisville head coach, for removing Dominguez from the game and voluntarily sitting him out of the next game.

Instead, I'll keep my cap on this time.


Hit the showers

It was a great idea - market Big XII Baseball to the people in Kansas City by playing a "non-conference" game between the Tigers and Jayhawks, and put on the show in Kauffman Stadium.

Unfortunately, this game fell victim to the same fate as three other midweek Mizzou games, being rained out.

Hopefully, the idea will be resurrected again, so the folks in KC can see how fun it can be to watch MU beat the ChickenHawks.

Rainfall on Mid-Week Game Days

April 3rd, Southern Illinois @ Sauget, IL
.96 inches

April 10th, St. Louis U @ St. Louis
.82 inches

April 25th, Kansas @ Kauffman Stadium
.41 inches

May 2nd, Missouri State @ Simmons Field
1.56 inches


Bad Call of the Year

While Bill Speck did everything he possibly could to earn this award by refusing to exercise his authority in reagrd to Chris Dominguez of Louisville, even that see-no-evil approach leaves him a distant second.

The worst call of the year took place in Austin, TX, when Jim Garman called Evan Frey out at first base. In the 6th inning, Garman ended a Tiger rally prematurely by disagreeing with nearly everyone in the ballpark, all of whom saw clearly that Frey beat the throw by a Texas mile.


"We taught him how to do that!"

One of the small highlights of the season for me was the weekend when Jim Senne introduced to me a young man who had driven all the way to Columbia from Rochester, MN to watch Aaron Senne play ball. Turns out this was one of Aaron's coaches along the way, in Legion ball (I did not catch his name).

As the team played Texas Tech that weekend, I was not sitting far from Aaron's old coach, who had claimed a front row seat for himself. At one point, when Aaron hit a long ball that he stretched into a double, the coach's face lit up like the 4th of July. He turned around to Aaron's dad and I could easily read his lips amid the crowd noise as he shouted, "We taught him to do that! You and I taught him to do that!"

A tip of the cap to Aaron Senne's Legion coach - and to all the coaches in Little League, High School, American Legion, summer leagues, and wherever they toil, patiently training young boys in how to play the game. And they do it simply for the love of the game, which is where the boys learn to love the game so much.

HBP

John McKee made a name for himself by being a magnet for baseballs, setting a new MU single season record in 2006 of 35 HBP. He got hit 23 times in 2007, matching his HBP numbers of both '04 and '05, for a career total of 104.

This season, though, he carried on a season-long competition of sorts with fellow masochist Brock Bond, who wound up with 24 HBP in the end. (In the end of the season, not . . . well, never mind).


Base Cadet of the Year

Brock Bond continues his streak of "Base Cadet" awards for his adventurous approach to baserunning.

In spite of finding himself stranded off base several times during the season, he showed that his aggressive baserunning could have good results, too.

For example, in the Tigers' April 17 game against the Missouri State Bears, Brock took off from second on a Kyle Mach base hit and aggressively laid claim to 3rd in spite of the presence of MSU SS Tanner Mattson in the basepath. While the collision brought back memories of Brock's 2006 run toward 3rd during the Kansas series, at the cost of a Price, this battle turned out better when the umpire awarded Mr. Bond not only 3rd but home, ruling fielder interference.

If and when Brock Bond gets drafted and works his way toward the Big Leagues, we'll miss the fun of watching him on the basepaths.

He'll have company if he makes it to the bigs, though, since one past winner of our Base Cadet award is Ian Kinsler, another 2nd baseman.


Talking head of the year

J.C. Field stepped into the broadcast booth this season, sharing the booth with the veteran Tex Little. After the usual breaking-in period for a Tex Little side-kick (learning to do more than read from the Press Guide, learning when not to interrupt Tex), J.C. turned out to be a knowledgable and enjoyable color commentator. His knowledge of the individual players, plus his experience as a catcher dealing with pitchers, gave him an insight that was invaluable.

The one moment I remember most was when J.C. accurately predicted a certain play (I think it was a hit-and-run), and Tex turned to J.C. and quipped, "So, I take it the coaches are using the same signs as last year?"

J.C. admitted that maybe that was the case.

Here's a tip of the cap to you, J.C. We missed your voice at the end of the season, but wish you well int he Frontier League.

Tex told me that when J.C. left for the Frontier League, he joked with the catcher that he expected he'd be back in the booth by the NCAA Tournament. No such luck. He's still calling pitches and barking at umpires.


Media Mogul

A tip of the cap for best job in the covering MU Baseball goes to a young man who has quickly distinguished himself in being a national media voice for all of college baseball. Kendall Rogers, webmaster of CollegeBaseball.Rivals.com, has emerged in the last couple of years as one of the leading media experts on NCAA Baseball. He first started online as a high school student with Big12Baseball.com, graduated to RosenblattReport.com, and now has matured in his writing and his reach with what has become the most popular College Baseball site on the web.

Kendall scored a real coup with an interview with Tim Jamieson in mid-May in which the Coach spoke plainly and confidently for the first time in the media about the historic lack of support for MU Baseball, challenging the athletic department to step up and make a Regional hosting happen:

"If we hosted a postseason tournament, I'm pretty sure we'd have good crowds," Jamieson said. "We've had 1,500 fans at our games at times this season. That's impressive considering we've yet to devise a marketing plan to get fans out to games."

Anything less than a packed house for a Regional would be considered a disappointment for Jamieson and the Tigers.

"If we host a Regional, the stadium should be packed - no excuses," he said. "Right now, baseball is not a high priority. But if we hosted, I think that attitude would change in the postseason."

"Attendance is probably the missing ingredient for this program," he said. "We need the community to rally around the program and hosting a Regional would accomplish that. It would also help our athletic department see things through our eyes."

Here's to you, Kendall, for a great job as an ambassador and chronicler of college baseball.


Norm!!!

Among the many local "celebrities" who showed up at the NCAA Regionals at Simmons Field (including all the various Tiger sports coaches, Mike Alden, Mario Moccia, Mayor Darwin Hindman, Chief Randy Boehm, US Rep. Kenny Hulshof) was a notable veteran of the 1954 College World Series Champion Missouri Tigers, none other than Stormin' Norman Stewart himself.

I first spied him across the aisle during the Saturday afternoon game between Miami and Kent State. Norm seemed only mildly interested in the contest - I heard later that someone in his family had told him the Tigers would be playing at 1:00, so they came to the ballpark.

Saturday evening, before game time, I met a fellow Tigerboard.com poster who had come to the game from his home in Manhattan, KS. We talked awhile and he was looking forward to the MU-UL game that night.

A few minutes later, as I was back in my own seat, here came Norm Stewart again, with his family. As they walked into the row and took their, seats, Norm in the lead, I saw my Manhattan friend look to his left to see who was sitting down next to him, and his eyes grew large as he recognized that most recognizable of Mizzou faces.

I saw later that Norm was often leaning toward his new seat-mate, chuckling and talking a lot.

The next day, when my Tigerboard friend arrived at this seat, I asked him how it was to sit with Norm during the game.

"That was worth the price of the whole weekend pass," he said. "Norm sat there and told me stories about playing for old 'Hi' Simmons, and about the Colelge World Series, and made comments on the current players and the action on the field."

He showed me the bill of his MU ballcap, which had Norm Stewart scrawled across it.

"I usually don't bug people for autographs," he explained, "but how can you pass up an opportunity like that? Norm said he was used to it."

Here's a tip of the autographed cap to Norm Stewart and all the other notables who not only put in an appearance, but actually stayed around and watched the games. Mike Alden was sitting at the far end of my row for the entirety of every game of the weekend except one, his attention on the field except whenever people would come by to talk or shake his hand (which was often). Mike Anderson also really seemed to be enjoying the game.

Gary Pinkel, who stole Cindy Stein's seat for one game, was fascinated by the little hand held scorecard gadget being used by John Thies to chart pitches. When the sprinkles began in the middle of one game, only one person in the entire lower tier of seats put up an umbrella to stay dry - Mr. Pinkel, of course. This lasted for about an inning until the temp-service event staff finally found a veteran event staffer brave enough to ask him to please put his umbrella down, as they are not allowed.

Chief Boehm sat in the cheap seats up behind home plate on Saturday evening - and returned again to watch the game the following night.

All over the ballpark were folks who showed up because Taylor Stadium was "the place to be" that weekend. And then they discovered it was a really fun place to be.

Unassisted Trripleplay

You can read my thoughts on baseball in two places:

· SimmonsField.com

· http://mizzousanity.blogspot.com/

Tip of the Cap: 2006

It's time for our annual year-end awards, named in honor of John "Hi" Simmons' signature gesture.

Bloody good tune

Without a doubt the most memorable tune to come out of the Taylor Stadium speakers in years was The Blood of CuChulainn.

An obscure song from the movie "The Boondock Saints", Senior Outfielder Zane Taylor chose it to be his at-bat intro song. The Irish jig caught the attention and the fancy of the Simmons Field crowds, inspiring an outburst of dancing and foot-stomping that majored in enthusiasm even if it lacked in dancing skill (or even rhythm).

A couple of times during the season, the opposing coach was kind enough to come out to the mound to make a pitching change after Zane stepped up to the plate, prompting the guys up in the booth to leave the song playing for more of its considerable length.


The Jay Bell Award

I'll never forget March 24, 1998, the day when senior pitcher Jay Bell took the mound against the Jayhawks in a mid-week game and pitched one of the quickest, most dominating shutouts I've ever seen. (Read the Columbia Daily Tribune's account of the game) When the game was over and everyone was celebrating, my son asked me why it was such a big deal.

"It's just a shut-out," he said.

"No, Cody," I explained. "It's not just a shut-out. It's a shut-out of the Jayhawks."

I proceeded to explain to him the depth of the rivalry between MU and KU. He's been a diehard Beaker-hater ever since (Just ask his cousins, who live in Kansas).

And so, we honor Jay Bell by invoking his memory as we honor the best performance against the Jayhawks.

Unfortunately, the Tigers were 1-2 against the Jayhawgs at Hawglund Field back on April Fool's weekend, and lost their contest with the 'Hawgs in the Big XII Tournament.

The one performance definitely worthy of the Jay Bell award in that series was Nathan Culp's complete-game victory on Friday night of that series. that performance was typical of Culp's gutsy leadership on the mound in 2006.

Special notice does have to be awarded, though, to Brock Bond. His {ahem} aggressive play against KU during that Tourney game may have, in the end, cost the Tigers the game, but not too many Tiger fans looked down on Brock for his anti-Jayhawk zeal, exacting a "Price" from the "Beakers".

Jay Bell would be proud.


Take me out to the ballgame

2006 brought a notable increase in attendance at Simmons Field.

The total home attendance was 23,906, for an average attendance of 885.

This compares to 16,965 in 2005, a 707 average (the 2004 average was 637).

The 41% increase could be attributed to any number of causes. Certainly the preseason expectations (and hype) surrounding the team's prospects for success helped early on. Also, the attention in the media given to Max Scherzer helped.

And yet, even when the team showed definite signs of struggling to live up to those expectations, and even when Max was out with injuries for several weeks, the attendance still was improved from 2005.

In part, it can be attributed to the efforts of people like Lance Edwards (see below, "Promoter of the Year") to bring more students out to the ballpark. Longtime denizens of "Johnny Hi" noted an obvious increase in the student body representation.

The temperatures cooperated for much of the season as well, offering a number of pleasant baseball-weather weekends.

Whatever the reasons, it was great to see the stands rocking.

I personally talked to a number of non-student first-time fans who came because of the hype and stayed around because they discovered how much fun a trip to Simmons Field can be, and what a great game is played at the Division I college level.


Take me out to the ballgame: The bad news

Missouri is still in last place in the conference, both in total attendance and average attendance.

Two reasons often given for poor attendance at Simmons Field are (a) the weather, and (b) lack of a dominant winning team.

I notice, though that the #2 team in attendance is Texas A&M, which finished dead last in the Big XII standings. And the #3 team in attendance is Nebraska, a team which undoubtedly has the worst location for weather.

So now how do we explain it?

Mizzou does not have any significantly smaller student body than the other Big XII schools. Columbia is not a significantly smaller town than the other Big XII cities (larger than some).

Is it just a matter of tradition? True, Texas A&M has a long-standing tradition of supporting Aggie Baseball.

But Mizzou once had a strong tradition of supporting Tiger baseball, as well. In researching the history of MU Baseball, I found several references in the past 100+years of Tiger baseball referring to much larger crowds and a greater level of excitement and support from the University and from Columbia.

Somewhere along the line, that support dwindled.

Hopefully someone will come up with the ideas and the energy to rebuild that tradition, and thus beef up the attendance.

Speaking of which . . .


Promoter of the Year

Toward the conclusion of the 2005 season a Mizzou student from the state of Texas was bemoaning the sub-par attendance and lack of enthusiasm at MU Baseball games, especially as compared to the college baseball atmosphere he had grown up with at schools in his home state. And so he decided to do something about it.

Lance Edwards, a journalism student at MU, went to the Athletic Department offices and talked to the people in charge of promoting Mizzou Baseball and shared his enthusiasm and his ideas with them.

At least one suggestion became a reality. Read Lance's comments from Tigerboard.com on February 27th (he posts under the board-name of Quadrupleplay, a friendly dig at some guy who goes by the name Trripleplay):

"Today, the marketing department handed me 1500 student vouchers and the Tiger Crew (aka diamond darlings 'hey bat girl') an additional 500 free tickets to this weekend's games. The idea behind these vouchers is to push students, especially the younger ones living on campus in the dorms, to attend as many baseball games as possible. The 2000 are only used once, but if we get 600 students each day, that would be amazing. Who knows how this will go but it is an attempt placed in my hands so I'm trying to push attendance and hopefully the team can wake up at the plate and put together a nice home-stand before going to Aggieland.

"Also beware, Coach J suggested that our new student section sit behind the visitors dugout (which kind of opens up the flood gates) for the reason of making team support visible to the player in the dugout, to get them more pumped. I agree, most student sections are behind opponents dugouts in colleges around the nation. So if your particular seat on the first base side is your favorite in the house, then I warn you that the rowdy Friday night crowds will be right beside you hopefully all season. The goal is to fill one lower chairback section and the entire upper GA section."

Rowdy they were indeed, sometimes even more than us old fogies could believe (fortunately I do NOT have a photo of Lance at the Texas series with his shirt off, displaying Zane Taylor's Number 18 shaved into his back). But the atmosphere at Simmons Field ratcheted up a notch this season, as did the attendance, with so many students around.

Here's to you, Lance and Friends, for spicing up the old ballpark.


Missing Max

The Tigers missed Max Scherzer for much of the 2006 season, due to his injuries. No one can really say whether Max's travails were the instigator that trickled down into the rest of the team, resulting in an uneven and less-than-expected performance this season.

I can say, however, with great confidence, that we will all miss Max now that he is gone.

Tim Jamieson put it well in a Baseball America back in January: "For me he's a once in a lifetime type of guy. You can't think that you'll ever coach another player like this."

For fans and followers of the Missouri Tigers, the sentiment is the same. I've not seen any player - even those on the visiting teams - that impressed me like Max. I will especially remember the April Fool's Party Max threw for the Texas Tech Red Raiders last year.

The thing that I will remember the most, though, is that Max is just Max. You expect a guy who is a potential superstar, a stud athlete, a future millionaire, to be arrogant and aloof, keeping himself separate from the common folk.

But not Max, he is just a goofy young guy who loves to throw a baseball and loves to hang out and have fun with his friends.

I got to know his parents, Brad and Jan Scherzer, better over the past three years than I did Max, It's easy to see where Max got that easy-going personality. His dad and mom deserve kudos for raising a down-to-earth son.

We won't be seeing them or their son around Simmons Field much anymore. We do, though, expect to see Max in the future, his goofy smile and mismatched eyes looking out from an Upper Deck baseball card sometime in the near future, his intensity and fastball lighting up the TV screen.

I never bothered to get an autographed official Big XII ball from Max, to place next to my Ian Kinsler ball. But a lot of people have autographs.

I have memories. And you can't take those away or put a value on them.

Here's to you, Max.

"He reminds me of a predator. He can't sit still. It's almost like the movies where you see the dinosaur on the hunt. His head's never still. He's looking for something all the time."
Tim Jamieson, 3/4/06

"You need to come out when he pitches on Friday nights when he pitches, because you may never get an opportunity to experience something like that again in college baseball. It doesn’t come around very often.. It’s electric. You have the chance to watch a guy who’s going to be in the big leagues pretty soon."
Tim Jamieson, 2/6/06

"My biggest concern with this year's team are the number of draft-eligible players we have and the number of potential high-draft players we have. Frankly, we haven't been in a position like that before. So I think the attention is something we haven't had. The scouts, the number of guys that are going to be at our games, especially early in the year, we're going to have to make sure that the whole team is focused, but Max is probably the one guy that I'm not particularly concerned about."
Tim Jamieson, 1/26/06


Nickname of the Year:

Legion of Doom, also known as the relief staff. On the flag are a skull and two swords in place of the crossbones, which the group of Tigers pitchers say symbolizes the attitude of the legion.

“It’s a cocky, ‘we’re the best, we’re going to come out and get to you,’” senior left-hander Taylor Parker said. “We’re always talking about going to war, which is kind of a little extreme, I guess, but ... we’re going to attack and throw strikes to get ahead.” (Columbia Missourian, April 14, 2006)

And speaking of the Legion of Doom . . .

Most interesting career as a Tiger

In the 2003 version of our ""Tip of the Cap" awards, Travis Wendte won the "Most Interesting Pitcher to Watch": He led the team in saves with 8. He could blow batters away at times - he struck out 27 batters in 28.1 innings. He was an honorable mention to the All-Big XII team.

And he always made it "interesting" (that's not my word - it was used by a fellow Tiger player to describe Wendte's pitching appearances).

In those 28 innings he had allowed 37 hits, walked 9, threw 5 wild pitches, got called for 1 balk, allowed 2 triples and 2 home runs, and somehow finished the year with an impressive 3.45 ERA, the best on the team.

Travis Wendte has been with the Tigers now for five long years. Many fans who followed the 2006 Tigers might not even remember the names of the other "young guns" that joined Wendte in the great Freshman pitching class of 2002, part of one of the top recruiting classes in the nation, according to Collegiate Baseball: Justin James, Abel Newton, Garrett Broshuis (redshirt freshman).

Wendte has continued to be "interesting", but always for those same reasons named back in 2002. As the ring-leader of the "Legion of Doom" bullpen, Wendte was one of the most reliable arms in the relief corps in 2006. His performance in that 14-inning game against UC-Irvine in Malibu was key to the Tigers' ultimate Regional victory.

We're going to miss you, Travis.

Youth Movement

In 2005, Tim Jamieson played only one Freshman regularly (Jacob Priday), plus two others only occasionally (Evan Frey and Dan Pietroburgo). Compared to that, 2006 saw a veritable explosion of young blood on Simmons Field. Ryan Lollis, Aaron Crow, Rick Zagone and David Cales all saw significant playing time, and Kyle Mach saw some action as well.

At the Malibu Regional, the fabulous freshmen would prove to be valuable indeed, as Zagone and Crow through back-to-back complete games on Sunday, and Ryan Lollis provided what had to be the pinch hit of the year, breaking up the 14-inning marathon against UC-Irvine by delivering a pinch hit single to drive in the winning run.

And speaking of pinch hitters:

Pinch Hitters of the Year

What a joy it was to tune in to KTGR for the first game of the Pepperdine Regional and hear the voice of former catcher Ryan Pickett alongside Tex Little in the broadcast booth. "Pick" provided color commentary a few years ago (I think it was during the 2003 season) and excelled in that role.

To hear him again was not only a treat for his own sake, but also because it was a breath of fresh air compared to the insipid comments heard all year long from Mike Willington (or was it Wellington, or Willingham, or maybe Willing-but-not-at-all-capable). How many times can one "color" man tell us where such and such a player went to high school? Reading bio material from the Press Guide seemed to be the extent of his knowledge and insight.

His blessed departure after the Texas series (I never did hear the whole story on what happened with him that weekend), also opened the door for another pinch hitter: Mario Moccia. The Senior Associate Athletic Director is always a welcome addition to the booth, where his personally history as a player (New Mexico State MVP in 1998 and 1989; Detroit Tigers' organization, '89-'90) and his obvious love of the game make him an interesting and insightful counterpoint to the always enthusiastic Tex Little.

Easiest opponent to heckle

On the first weekend in May, someone had the brilliant idea of scheduling some gratuitous entertainment for the Simmons field Faithful, in the person of Mississippi Valley State. While the Tigers outscored the Delta Demons 50-4, we were all treated to the sight of their centerfielder hilariously misplaying easy fly balls (his coach - disguised as Santa Claus - unceremoniously pulled him from the field in the middle of the 2nd inning).

This was later followed by the even more entertaining performance of the right fielder, who lost sight of a fly ball, only to suddenly discover it heading straight for him - whereupon he threw his hands over his head and ducked, allowing the ball to hit to drop at the base of the wall.

Internet Quote of the Year

By NSUDemon on TigerBoard.com, February 12, 2006: "Here is a team with all the talent and TJ will coach them to another 4th place finish and 2-3 games and out in the regional."


Base Cadet

Our annual award for the most creative approach to base-running has to go to Brock Bond, who distinguished himself by getting picked off between 1st and 2nd two games in a row (during the Nebraska series).

We deliver this award with tongue in cheek, and with a reminder that our first ever "Base Cadet" award went to "Shortstop Ian Kinsler distinguished himself above his fellow road-kill candidates during the Texas series, and never let go of his claim to the title of Base Cadet." Mr. Kinsler has done fairly well for himself since then.


From Underdog to Top Cat

Tim Jamieson has been at the helm of Missouri Baseball for a dozen years now, and he has to be one of the most underestimated and underappreciated head coaches in Division I.

Sure, I'll grant you that his overall record over those 12 years is not in the same league as more celebrated succesful coaches, like Texas' Augie Garrido

But you cannot simply dismiss TJ's abilities by focusing on the negatives. Not when he has so many positives on his resume:

Jamieson and Garrido are the only two coaches in the Big XII who have taken their teams to the NCAA Regionals over the past four years straight. That's quite an accomplishment considering the tigers had failed to even make it to the Big XII Tournament the two years prior to the beginning of that streak. Bad coaches - even mediocre coaches - don't make that kind of turnaround and maintain it for that long.

All year long the media have put Max Scherzer under a microscope, examining his career and his potential. One thing every article mentioned was that when Max was in high school, he was erratic. As Jamieson was quoted, "he was very violent, with a lot of body parts moving in different directions."

At least one of Jamieson's critics wondered how much better Scherzer could be if he had spent his college years under a really great coach, instead of someone like Jamieson.

Apparently Max's coach was good enough to turn him into a top collegiate pitcher and a first round draft pick. Give Tim Jamieson credit where it's due.

And then there's the 2006 season. A really good coach, goes the argument, would not have taken a team ranked #10 pre-season and knocked it down so far they were unranked in the polls by the end of the regular season.

But Tim Jamieson, magician extraordinaire, pulled a rabbit our of his hat by pushing this team to peak at the right time, sweeping through Texas and on into a strong run in the Big XII Tournament, and all the way to somehow grabbing that last spot on the NCAA bracket.

And, to top it all off, Tim Jamieson put his name permanently in the NCAA Division I record books by coaching the only 4th-seeded team to ever win a Regional.

Coach J, you deserve an unreserved, long overdue tip of the cap (or perhaps, a tip of the magician's hat). We're proud to have you as the Tigers' head coach.

Stewart Pitches No-Hitter vs. Arkansas

Razorbacks Lose Opener By 2-0 Count
(Columbia Daily Tribune, Saturday April 14, 1956)

Norm Stewart

Norm Stewart, who had started three games and wearied off the mound in each before it was over, went the route for the first time yesterday - and chalked up a no-hitter for himself in Missouri's 2-0 victory over Arkansas in the first game of a two-game series with the Razorbacks. Wade LaDue, erstwhile reliefer [sic], was scheduled to start against the visitors in the second game of the series this afternoon.

If Stewart was getting tired against Arkansas yesterday, he didn't show any signs of it in the late innings. With a no-hit game in sight he bore down hard in the last two frames. He struck out three in the eighth and another in the ninth, with the other two final inning outs on infield balls.

Only four Arkansas players reached first in the game. Stewart struck out 10 and walked only three. It was a masterful performance to add to the honors he won earlier in the year as he set new individual scoring records in virtually every department in varsity basketball.

Stewart's three previous starts were against Oklahoma A. & M., Tulsa U., and Washington U. LaDue was his relief in all three games. LaDue got credit for the victories over the Oklahoma teams and Stewart was the winner against the Bears. Yesterday, with Stewart never looking like he might get into trouble, it was no game for relief action.

Stewart also led the attack. He singled in the third, advanced on a sacrifice and a passed ball, and then scored when Arkansas' Everett Thomas walked three men in a row. Jay Hankins, one of those walked, scored on a bad throw to first by Joe Kretschmer, Arkansas shortstop from Jefferson City.

MU All-Time No-Hitters

Norm Stewart
4/13/1956
vs. Arkansas

Ernie Nevers-Don Miller-Ralph Schultz
4/10/1957
vs. Washington (Mo)

Larry Bohannon
4/7/1962
vs. Iowa State

Dennis Musgraves
4/25/1964
vs. Kansas State

Steve Shockey
4/19/1977
vs. Saint Louis

Craig Fitzpatrick
3/8/1980
vs. Purdue

Dave Spreckles-Bob Baker
3/15/1981
vs. Iowa

Jim Maddock
5.3.1981
vs. Nebraska

Max Scherzer-Michael Cole
4/1/2005
vs. Texas Tech

Bryce Montes De Oca-Giovanni Lopez-Nolan Gromacki
3/2/2018
vs. Univerity of Maryland - Baltimore County

Tip of the Cap: 2005

It's time for our annual year-end awards, named in honor of John "Hi" Simmons' signature gesture.

25-0

The highlight of the season came on April Fool's Day, when I had the pleasure of watching a no-hitter, the first this old fan has ever been in a ballpark to see first-hand. A crowd of 677 gathered for the game, but only about a third of them stayed around to see the no-hitter to through to the end. Most of the rest left early after watching the tigers jump out to a 21-0 lead after just two innings. Nothing more to see here. Let's go home!

Some of them were kicking themselves when they heard the final outcome the next morning.

In the second inning, the Tigers scored 17 runs on just 6 hits. They garnered eight walks and four HBP, and benefitted from three balks and an error.

That second inning lasted so long, Max Scherzer had to go to the bullpen to warm up all over again, throwing an inning's worth of pitches while he waited.

And because of those extra pitches, Max was running on will-power alone by the 7th inning. Coach Jamieson went out to the mound in the 7th inning to talk to his ace. The crowd was thinking he surely would not pull Max in the middle of a no-hitter.

In the end, Scherzer finished the 7th inning and was relieved by Michael Cole, a seldom-used pitcher. Eyebrows raised all over the ballpark. Can Mike finish off Max's no-no?

Mike, Tiger fans will always remember you were a Tiger, if for no other reason than you came in and struck out 4 of the 6 batters you faced and earned yourself a spot in the Mizzou Baseball record books for all time.

We tip our cap to you, Max and Mike - and to all the Tigers who scored those 25 runs - for an evening none of us will soon forget.


MU's HBP & OBP MVP

John McKee only managed a .268 batting average for the season, 8th among regular starters. There were times, to be totally (and brutally) honest, when it seemed Johnny Mac wouldn't finish with a batting average even that high, especially during that woeful mid-season slump.

But even in the midst of that slump, a careful perusal of the MU statistics showed an unbelievable irony. The guy who struggled to pile up hits was among the team leaders in On-Base Percentage and Runs Scored.

In fact, at season's end, McKee finished just 2 thousandths behind James Boone for 2nd place in OB% at .455 and finished tied with Hunter Mense for 2nd on the team in Runs Scored (62, 1 behind Derek Chambers' 63).

The secret to Johnny Mac's success? He led the team with 53 bases on balls (far outpacing #2 James Boone's 38 and finishing 2nd in the Big XII behind Nebraska's Alex Gordon) and outdid everyone with 23 Hit-By-Pitch.

It became a spectator sport in its own right to watch McKee lean in while the pitchers threw inside. John would then artfully spin "out of the way" while somehow managing to still get thumped with the baseball and earning a free pass to 1st base. I can only remember one time (there may have been more) when an ump said he didn't try hard enough to get out of the way. Spoil-sport.

In the end (which is where many of those pitched balls hit Johnny Mac), McKee broke the old MU single season record of 19 HBP set by John Hay back in 1993.

A Tip of the Cap to John McKee for getting on base - and getting back home - any way he can.

PTA Award
(Parents of Tiger Athletes)

Karen Rallo, who had a virtual lock on this title for 8 years, was no longer around in 2005, so Glenda Admire stepped up to the plate and served as the central conduit for information between the families and friends of the players, organizing meals for the players, tailgate parties for everyone and who knows what else. You deserve a Tip of the Cap, Glenda, for all your hard work.


"First in the Standings; Last in Attendance"

At one point in the season, the Tigers really were in first place in the Big XII, but in last place in Big XII home attendance. Overall, the attendance figures looked like this (ranked from highest attendance to lowest):


Kansas Saturday 05/14/2005 2143
Kansas Friday 05/13/2005 1904
Kansas Sunday 05/15/2005 1426
SMS Tuesday 05/03/2005 871
Oklahoma Saturday 04/23/2005 851
Texas A&M Saturday 04/09/2005 832
Oklahoma Sunday 04/24/2005 821
Oklahoma Friday 04/22/2005 787
Texas A&M Friday 04/08/2005 694
E. Michigan Friday 03/04/2005 688
Texas Tech Friday 04/01/2005 677
Texas A&M Sunday 04/10/2005 673
E. Michigan DH Saturday 03/05/2005 629
Texas Tech Sunday 04/03/2005 608
E. Michigan Sunday 03/06/2005 465
Youngstown St Saturday 03/12/2005 452
Texas Tech Saturday 04/02/2005 408
SEMO Wednesday 04/13/2005 367
N. Dakota St Friday 03/18/2005 334
N. Dakota St Sunday 03/20/2005 297
N. Dakota St DH Saturday 03/19/2005 280
Youngstown St Sunday 03/13/2005 272
Youngstown St Monday 03/14/2005 262
Illinois State Wednesday 03/09/2005 224


Promoting & Publicity

2004-2005 was an athletic season that many Mizzou fans would rank as one of the lowest in the school's storied history. The Football team fell fall short of over-blown expectations, and the Men's Basketball team suffered what was without question one of the most disastrous years on record, what with disppointing on-the-court results, NCAA sanctions and the unfortunate problems with the naming of the new arena (not to mention the disappointing attendance in its inaugural season).

And yet it was an excellent season in MU Athletics overall. One report shows that MU ranked 4th in the Big XII in overall sports results. The reason is that the "Olympic" sports, the non-revenue sports, did remarkably well this year.

Baseball was among the leaders in that charge to excellence, posting its first 40-win season since 1991, being the only Big XII school besides Texas to make the NCAA Regionals for the third straight year, putting a consistently exciting "product" on the field, led by the best pitcher in the Big XII.

But where, oh where was the publicity and promotion for the Baseball team (or any of the other Olympic sports)? It was so little as to be easily missed entirely.

Quite late in the season, fliers were mailed out advertising some late-season Big XII matchups. Free tickets were distributed liberally for the Kansas series (the final 3 home games of the season).

A late-season game was designated as Greek Night, with special events and contests planned for the fraternities and sorrorities. The only problem was that most of the events that evening were poorly planned, even more poorly executed, and left most in attendance wondering what was going on.

I'm no expert in promotion and publicity, but surely a University known for its Journalism and Public Relations programs could come up with a way to market Tiger Baseball.

From Tigerboard.com:

Eggs: Why is virtually no effort made to market MU baseball? Arguably this program has had more success since the Big 12 started then football or basketball. Hell, we finished 4th this year. How many times in the last 10 years has that happened in football or basketball? We have a very nice stadium here in Columbia and a lot of times some nice weather. I would go out and tailgate and have a great time and then go watch the game. I think with just a little bit of marketing they could make this much bigger. We also seem to have a coach with this team that is easy to get behind in Jamieson. Missouri is a great baseball state. Why does this program seem to get virtually ignored? I know $$$ has something to do with it, but I even think marketing this program could help them with that.

fpsloo: Every team that finished below Missouri has a better operational baseball budget and the coaching staff makes more in salaries. You can look it up

Attendance in 2005 averaged just 70 more than in 2004. Most of that increase was realized in that final Kansas series, the only series that was promoted with any intensity at all. Without the KU attendance (average 1,824), the season attendance average drops to 547.


Wash-out of the Year

Once again, the Oakland A's Spring Training Tournament turned out to be much less than the Tigers expected, managing to play only one game out of the tournament schedule, due in part to rains in the Phoenix area but also due to the Oakland A's preoccupation with keeping their fields in pristine condition for the upcoming Spring Training.

The worst part of losing those games, in retrospect, was losing the scheduled two games against Oregon State, a team which is now headed for the College World Series and would have provided the tigers with an early challenge against a worthy opponent, as well as a much-needed RPI boost.

Here's a tip of our cap to the MU Coaching staff if they manage to find an alternative sunny location to play in February.


If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all . . .

Longstanding fans of the Tigers were pleased to see Abel Newton rejoin the Tigers for 2005, after a long and winding road that carried him away from MU after his impressive Freshman season in 2002. He was an All Big XII Freshman Team selection that season, but was hampered by nagging injuries.

Following that season, Abel underwent surgery, and for the next 2-1/2 years went on and off the rehab list while briefly appearing on the rosters of Arkansas-Fort Smith and Southwest Missouri State.

He returned to the MU roster in time for the 2005 Spring semester, reportedly feeling 100% and ready to go.

He looked good through 14 innings and 5 appearances, posting a 2-0 record with 1 save and an impressive 2.57 ERA.

But then came another injury, a torn labrum in his shoulder, which required yet another season-ending injury.

We wish Abel the best and a speedy and healthy recovery. And we tip our caps to him for being a battler.


Tim Jamieson continues to confound the nay-sayers

Coach Tim Jamieson finally seems to be getting a little of the respect he has earned. And rightfully so.

After a few disappointing seasons, when voices were calling for Jamieson to be replaced, the coach has turned things around.

Despite being picked to finish in the cellar each of the past three years, the Tigers in 2005 posted their first 40-win season since Gene McArtor's 1991 team, and became one of only two Big XII teams (besides powerhouse Texas), to earn an invitation to the NCAA Regionals for the past three years straight.

Coach J has garnered some well-earned attention as a result, including being whispered as a possible candidate to replace Larry Cochell as the head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners.

We will tip our cap to Mike Alden if he manages to hang on to Tim Jamieson, and we will tip our cap to T.J. no matter where he is coaching next year.


Freshman of the Year

Jacob Priday earned this honor both by merit and by default. Only one other Freshman saw playing time in 2005 (Evan Frey had 55 at-bats in 28 games). But Priday grabbed onto a starting position early in the season and went on to lead the team in home runs and slugging percentage.

Transfer of the Year

Derek Chambers had the most impact for the Tigers as a position player, ably filling the shoes of the departed Cody Ehlers, both at first base and at the plate.
Andrew Johnston did the same for the pitching staff, becoming the Tigers' long-relief man and sharing closing duties with Taylor Parker.

Comeback of the Year

Zane Taylor struggled in the 2004 season with a bad shoulder, his average dropping to .270. Zane came back to post the third highest batting average on the 2005 team at .321


...and a Tip of the Cap to

The 2005 Tigers

An exciting team that got fans excited more than any year for a long while. And with so much of the core of this team returning for 2006, we look for next year to be a truly amazing season.
Thanks, guys, for a great time!