A: Because you refer to the smile, you are referring to Billy Hamilton. The smile is genuine and not cheesy. And he doesn’t have the lowest batting average on the team. That distinction belongs to Adam Duvall (other than the pitchers). Hamilton is a natural-born smiler, so should he change his personality and wear a fake frown just because things aren’t going his way? Nobody is more frustrated than Hamilton himself. He isn’t alone. He has plenty of teammates not producing much, including all his outfield buddies, Duvall, Scott Schebler and Jesse Winker.
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Q: With the upcoming draft, would you say the Reds need to focus on pitching? — JAY, Englewood.
A: With three straight last -finishes and a fourth almost a certainty, I would say they should draft the best player available when it is their turn to pick, be it a pitcher or a position player. Pitching, of course, is the most important piece of any baseball puzzle and the Reds continue to fail in developing their own pitching. They took Hunter Greene No. 1 last year and he is showing at Class A Dayton that he is a long, long way away from the majors. To me, drafting the best available player, regardless of position, makes the most sense because baseball drafting is not scientific. It is a crap shoot. Luck trumps science in a baseball draft. Just remember that 24 teams passed over Mike Trout before the Angels grabbed him with the draft’s 25th pick in 2009, including the Reds, who took pitcher Mike Leake.
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A: Oh, the fables and tales. Babe Ruth claims that he was with his barnstorming team on tour in Fort Wayne, Ind., and hit one that landed in a moving train, “And that was the longest home run I ever hit.” He also hit one in St. Petersburg, Fla. in spring training that crossed a street and crashed into a hotel and an engineer estimated that, “It traveled 610 feet in the air, at least.” In 1960, Mickey Mantle cleared the roof of Tiger Stadium, cleared Trumbull Avenue, landing in Brooks Lumber Yard. It was measured at 643 feet. And neither the players nor the balls were juiced back then.
A: Never a full game. No matter how speedy the two outfielders are, they couldn’t cover that much ground. It has been done often for one or two plays late in a game, usually with the bases loaded in a tie game and a team wants to cut off a ground ball through the infield. Sometimes it looks as if Billy Hamilton could cover the entire outfield by himself, but he would need oxygen after every inning.
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Q: If a pitch lands in the dirt in front of the plate and the batter makes contact is the ball considered dead or is the ball still alive? —RON, Cincinnati.
A: The ball is very much alive. I once saw Chris Sabo swing at a pitch that bounced in front of him and he hit it into left field. It was a single. If he had hit it to the third baseman and he caught, it would have been an out. Vlad Guerrero was famous for swinging at bouncing balls and more than once he hit one for a base hit. It’s the same thing if a ball bounces in the dirt and hits the batter it is a hit batsman and he takes first base. Guerrero would have been a great cricket player because every pitch, delivered by a ‘bowler,’ bounces in front of the ‘batsman.’
Q: Does Adam Duval have any options left and can he go to Class AAA Louisville to get his groove back? — JOHN, Fairfield.
A: How the mighty do sometimes fall. Remember when Duvall was an All-Star and remember when he was in the Home Run Derby? Yes, he has one option left. If the Reds were a contender, a dose of Louisville might be wise. But what really would be gained by sending Duvall to the minors, other than to give Jesse Winker, Billy Hamilton and Scott Schebler all the outfield playing time. But none of them is productive right now. Sending Duvall to Louisville, his hometown, would be like sending him home.
Q: Was there ever a Reds player that reporters were afraid to interview? — ALAN, Sugarcreek Twp.
A: During my 46 years covering the Reds, I was leery of only one. A pitcher named John Denny was not approachable. He sat at his locker with steely gray eyes and dared somebody to talk to him. He did punch a Cincinnati writer while we were in Philadelphia. I was told that after he retired he became a minister and I wondered if it was the Church of Latter Day Contradictions.
Q: If you had to choose another team to cover during your illustrious writing career which team would it have been? — JOE, Kettering.
A: That’s a LeBron James slam dunk, Joe. I grew up in Akron and I rooted for the Cleveland Indians all my life and was one of the few fans who wandered into old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. I’ve hated Willie Mays ever since he made that famous catch on Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series. I covered the 1997 World Series and died a thousand deaths when the Tribe blew Game 7 to the Florida Marlins. Yep, I would have loved covering the Indians. But it probably wouldn’t be a good idea because I would have a hard time being objective.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Q: Who was the first major league player to wear batting gloves? — JAN, Eaton.
A: Ted Williams spent so much time in the batting cage that he would develop blisters. His personal manager was Fred Corcoran, who also managed pro golfers Sam Snead and Babe Didrickson. He gave Williams golf gloves for batting practice in the mid-1950s, but he didn’t use them in games. The first to do it in a game was Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, who loved golf more than baseball. He played 27 holes one day in 1964 before a night game, believing he wouldn’t be in the game. But he was in the lineup, so he wore his golf gloves just that one time. The first to begin wearing them in every game was Le Grande Orange, Rusty Staub, in the late 1960s and other players called Big Sissy. Now players don’t leave the dugout without them.
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