Part VII – The Mount Rushmore of … Orioles/Nationals

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Farrier David Larkin (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on September 29, 1872, at Red River, Texas. His citation reads:

Gallantry in action.

Corporal James W. Larrabee (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on May 22, 1863, at Vicksburg, Mississippi. His citation reads:

Gallantry in the charge of the "volunteer storming party."

Lieutenant Clyde Everett Lassen (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on June 19, 1968, in the Republic of Vietnam. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as pilot and aircraft commander of a search and rescue helicopter, attached to Helicopter Support Squadron 7, during operations against enemy forces in North Vietnam. Launched shortly after midnight to attempt the rescue of 2 downed aviators, Lt. (then Lt. (J.G.)) Lassen skillfully piloted his aircraft over unknown and hostile terrain to a steep, tree-covered hill on which the survivors had been located. Although enemy fire was being directed at the helicopter, he initially landed in a clear area near the base of the hill, but, due to the dense undergrowth, the survivors could not reach the helicopter. With the aid of flare illumination, Lt. Lassen successfully accomplished a hover between 2 trees at the survivors' position Illumination was abruptly lost as the last of the flares were expended, and the helicopter collided with a tree, commencing a sharp descent. Expertly righting his aircraft and maneuvering clear, Lt. Lassen remained in the area, determined to make another rescue attempt, and encouraged the downed aviators while awaiting resumption of flare illumination. After another unsuccessful, illuminated rescue attempt, and with his fuel dangerously low and his aircraft significantly damaged, he launched again and commenced another approach in the face of the continuing enemy opposition. When flare illumination was again lost, Lt. Lassen, fully aware of the dangers in clearly revealing his position to the enemy, turned on his landing lights and completed the landing. On this attempt, the survivors were able to make their way to the helicopter. En route to the coast he encountered and successfully evaded additional hostile antiaircraft fire and, with fuel for only 5 minutes of flight remaining, landed safely aboard U.S.S. Jouett (DLG-29).


If you saw Sonny’s post this past Friday, you saw him take an unprovoked, unnecessary cheap shot at me. Friends, I don’t know what brought on this rather unbecoming hostility from my upstate brother but I am sure when he has a second to settle down he will see that his low reading skills have simply caused him to mistake my words as an insult to him when really they were just meant to cause laughter at his expense. His rash actions this past Friday are very similar to those of that young fella in charge of North Korea. Have you seen that he’s cancelled the 1953 armistice that stopped the fighting in the Korean War (the Korean guy, not Sonny)? I’m interested to see how the US responds. I don’t know how the previous administration would have responded, but I like to think President Bush would have gone on TV and said something like, “Now you listen here you little Asian midget… You keep up that talk about shootin’ a nuke at ‘merica, I’m gonna bitch-slap you all the way back to the stone ages. I’ve had just about enough of your mouth. Even the Chinese aren’t backing you on this one, so why don’t you just be a good boy and go sit in the corner while the grown-ups have a beer and talk about this Mt. Rushmore stuff going on over at I’m just sayin… and Sonny’Side. I tell ya, that Greg fella just cracks me up. I pretty much start all of our meetings asking Condi and Donny and Dickie if they’ve seen the latest posts…”

Anyway, that’s how I like to imagine his response would be.

Speaking of North Korea… have you seen this picture (I’d usually save it for my other blog, but it’s too good not to share here).

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there...

Thanks to Wikipedia for the info…

The Mount Rushmore of the Baltimore Orioles

Cal Ripken, Jr. – While little brother typically out shines big brother in my family, things are a little different in the Ripken family. Cal Ripken, Jr. played for the Orioles from 1981 – 2001. During this time, he played a team record 3,001 games (which included a MLB record 2,632 consecutive games). He was a 19 time All-Star (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001), 8 time Silver Slugger Award winner (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994), two time Gold Glove Award winner (1991, 1992) and two time AL MVP (1983, 1991). Ripken was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 1982. He owns 14 Oriole records and a number of MLB records. He is given credit for helping save baseball after the owners and players tried to kill the sport in 1994. His #8 was retired by the Orioles in 2001. He was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 2003 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007. He received the highest percentage of votes ever for a position player with 98.53%. This leads me to ask the question every baseball fan should ask… Have voting privileges been taken away from the 1.47% who it seems were too stupid to vote for an obvious hall of famer? I sure hope so.

Brooks Robinson – Brooks Robinson played for the Orioles from 1955 – 1977. He was an 18 time All-Star (1960 (x2), 1961(x2), 1962(x2), 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974), a 16 time Gold Glove Award winner (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975) and two time World Series champion (1966, 1970). Brooks was the AL MVP in 1964 and the World Series MVP in 1970. His #5 was retired by the Orioles in 1977 and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. He is considered by many to be the greatest player in franchise history (with Cal being the other player usually in the conversation). He is a charter member of the Orioles Hall of Fame with Frank Robinson.

Frank Robinson – While also a star for the Cincinnati Reds, I’ve got Frank on this list because of the great job he did while playing for the Orioles from 1966 – 1971. While with the Orioles, Frank was a 5 time All-Star (1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971) and a two time World Series champion (1966, 1970). He was the AL MVP and World Series MVP in 1966… the same year he won the Triple Crown. His #20 has been retired by the Orioles and, as I mentioned above, he is a charter member of the Orioles Hall of Fame with Brooks Robinson. Frank was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. I know this is a “players only” list, but I have to mention that Frank Robinson was the first black manager in MLB (and was AL Manager of the Year in 1989).

Jim Palmer – Palmer played for the Orioles from 1965 – 1984 (making him the only player on this list to play with all the other players on this list). He was a six time All-Star (1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1978), three time AL Cy Young Award winner (1973, 1975, 1976) and four time Gold Glove Award winner (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979). In a 19-year career, Palmer compiled a 268–152 record with 2,212 strikeouts, a 2.86 ERA, 521 games started, 211 complete games, and 53 shutouts in 3,948 innings. He never allowed a grand slam in his major-league career nor did he ever allow back-to-back homers. In six ALCS and six World Series, he posted an 8–3 record with 90 strikeouts, and an ERA of 2.61 and two shutouts in 17 games. Jim Palmer is the only Oriole to have played in every single World Series six total in the team's history (66,69,70,71,79,83). His #22 was retired by the Orioles in 1985. He was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.


The Mount Rushmore of the Washington Nationals

Before they were the Washington Nationals, they were the Montreal Expos… so most of my list is made up of former Expos.

Andre Dawson – “The Hawk” played for the Expos from 1976 – 1986. While with the team he was a three time All-Star selection (1981, 1982, 1983), five time Gold Glove Award winner (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985) and three time Silver Slugger Award winner (1980, 1981, 1983). He was also the 1977 NL Rookie of the Year. While with the team, he set many single season records. His #10 was retired by the Montreal Expos. Andre was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010. One measure of a player is how his teammates feel about him. After he played with the Expos, Hawk went to play for my Cubs. His former Cubs teammate Ryne Sandberg campaigned for Dawson's induction during his speech at his own Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2005: "No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen. I watched him win an MVP for a last-place team in 1987 [with the Cubs], and it was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way, and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday." I don’t know if anyone could say it better than that right there.

Gary Carter – Carter played for the Expos from 1974 – 1984 and 1992. He was a seven time All-Star (1975, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984), three time Gold Glove Award winner (1980, 1981, 1982) and three time Silver Slugger Award winner (1981, 1982, 1984) while with the Expos. He was a great catcher whose youthful love of the game earned him the nickname “Kid”. His #8 was retired by the Montreal Expos. Gary was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Tim Raines – Tim played for the Expos from 1979 – 1990. During that time he was a seven time All-Star selection (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987) and a Silver Slugger Award winner (1986). At one point he owned about 10 different Expos records (he may still own them, my research budget didn’t allow me to check). The Expos retired his #30.

Ryan Zimmerman - So the Expos and Nationals only really have three great players in their history… which means I’m going to have to dip into the pool of current players. For this, I’m going with Ryan Zimmerman. Zimmerman is a current member of the Washington Nationals (joining the club in 2005) and is a leader on the team. In his short career, he already has 1,110 hits (including 153 home runs) and 593 RBIs. He is an All-Star (2009), Gold Glove Award winner (2009) and two time Silver Slugger Award winner (2009, 2010).


Don’t forget to check out Sonny’Side to see if he picked the same guys as me or if he just picked the wrong guys…

Friday we’ll take a look at the A’s and the Diamondbacks.


Picture Tuesday

Mary Ruth having a little snack (and some cake) at Wyatt's birthday party over at The House of Kevin

Daniel and Mary Ruth swinging at the party

Daniel having a little fun in the train that they had there

Daniel on a big boy swing

Susie and Daniel having some fun at the party... no, they are not twins

Susie LOVED the swing

This is the splinter that I pulled out of The Wife's finger the day after the party... You would have thought her finger was about to fall off

We went out to lunch with some friends from our Sunday School class... I was sitting talking to Danny (yes, that Danny) when it was brought to my attention that something was going on on the other side of me... Susie was feeding Daniel her applesauce and, like a good boy, he was eating it

One last pic from the party... This one of Susie, Daniel and Mary Ruth playing together



Part VI – The Mount Rushmore of … Cardinals/Mariners

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Lieutenant James Patrick Lannon (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on April 22, 1914, during the engagement of Vera Cruz. His citation reads:

For extraordinary heroism in battle, engagement of Vera Cruz, 22 April 1914. Lt. Lannon assisted a wounded man under heavy fire, and after returning to his battalion was himself desperately wounded.

Specialist Fourth Class Joseph G. Lapointe, Jr. (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on June 2, 1969, at Quang Tin province, Republic of Vietnam. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Lapointe, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2d Squadron, distinguished himself while serving as a medical aidman during a combat helicopter assault mission. Sp4c. Lapointe's patrol was advancing from the landing zone through an adjoining valley when it suddenly encountered heavy automatic weapons fire from a large enemy force entrenched in well fortified bunker positions. In the initial hail of fire, 2 soldiers in the formation vanguard were seriously wounded. Hearing a call for aid from 1 of the wounded, Sp4c. Lapointe ran forward through heavy fire to assist his fallen comrades. To reach the wounded men, he was forced to crawl directly in view of an enemy bunker. As members of his unit attempted to provide covering fire, he administered first aid to 1 man, shielding the other with his body. He was hit by a burst of fire from the bunker while attending the wounded soldier. In spite of his painful wounds, Sp4c. Lapointe continued his lifesaving duties until he was again wounded and knocked to the ground. Making strenuous efforts, he moved back again into a shielding position to continue administering first aid. An exploding enemy grenade mortally wounded all 3 men. Sp4c. Lapointe's courageous actions at the cost of his life were an inspiration to his comrades. His gallantry and selflessness are in the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

Corporal Smith Larimer (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on April 6, 1865, at Sailors Creek, Virginia. His citation reads:

Capture of flag of General Kershaw's headquarters.


Thanks to Wikipedia for the info…

The Mount Rushmore of the St. Louis Cardinals

Stan Musial – Stan “The Man” Musial played for the Cardinals from 1941-1963 with a couple of years off to take part in the sequel to World War I. He was a 24 time All-Star (1943-1944, 1946-1963 including twice each year from 1959-1962). His Cardinals won the World Series in 1942, 1944 and 1946 and Stan was named the NL MVP in 1943, 1946 and 1948. He had a career batting average of .331 with 3,630 hits (including 475 home runs) and 1,951 RBIs. His #6 has been retired by the Cardinals. Stan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.

Bob Gibson – Bob Gibson was one bad motha(shut yo’ mouth). He was a pitcher for the Cards from 1959 – 1975 and was so great in 1968 that MLB lowered the pitcher’s mound by five inches and reduced the height of the strike zone. He was a 9 time All-Star (twice in 1962 and then once each from 1965-1970 and in 1972) and a 9 time Gold Glove Award winner (1965-1973). His Cardinals won the World Series in 1964 and 1967 (Gibson was named World Series MVP both times). He won the NL Cy Young Award in 1968 and 1970 and was the NL MVP in 1968. He holds the record for strikeouts during a World Series (35), strikeouts in a World Series game (17) and ERA in a season (1.12 in 1968). The Cardinals have retired his #45 and, in 1981, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. There are two stories I’ve seen that, frankly, make me love Bob Gibson and wish I could have played with him. The first was a story I read in a book (can’t remember which one) about how Pete LaCock hit a game winning grand slam off of Bob Gibson in his (Gibson’s) last pitch of his career. Years (and years) later, LaCock faced Gibson in an Old-Timers Game. Gibson drilled LaCock in the back with his first pitch. The other story (by Dusty Baker) goes like this:

"(Hank Aaron told me) 'Don't dig in against Bob Gibson, he'll knock you down. He'd knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don't stare at him, don't smile at him, don't talk to him. He doesn't like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don't run too slow, don't run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don't charge the mound, because he's a Gold Glove boxer.' I'm like, 'Damn, what about my 17-game hitting streak?' That was the night it ended."

Rogers Hornsby – Rogers Hornsby… If not the greatest second baseman to ever play the game, he’s at least on the very, very short list. He played for the Cardinals from 1915-1926 and again in 1933. He had a career batting average of .358 with 2,930 hits (including 301 home runs) and 1,584 RBIs. He was a World Series champion in 1926 and was the NL MVP in 1925 and 1929. Hornsby won the Triple Crown twice in his career. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1942 and had he worn a number during his playing days with the Cards, the team would have retired that number.

Ozzie Smith – While Sonny gets caught up in home runs (which is odd, since he didn’t hit many), I have a great appreciation for the defensive part of the game. Ozzie Smith was a wizard when it came to defense. Ozzie is perhaps the only player (at least in recent times) to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame based mainly on his defensive play. The Wizard played for the Cardinals from 1982 – 1996 and was an All-Star every year except 1993. He was also a Gold Glove Award winner for his first 11 seasons with the team. His Cardinals won the World Series in 1982 and Oz was the NLCS MVP in 1985. He won the Silver Slugger Award in 1987. At one time he held the record for career assists (8,375) and double plays (1,590) by a short stop (not sure if he still holds both… my research only goes so far). He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2002. The Cardinals have retired his #1.

Honorable Mention: Lou Brock, Dizzy Dean, Bruce Sutter, Albert Pujols


The Mount Rushmore of the Seattle Mariners

Ken Griffey, Jr. – Junior played for the Mariners from 1989 – 1999 and again from 2009 – 2010. He was an All-Star with the team from 1990 – 1999, winning a Gold Glove in each of those seasons as well. He also won the Silver Slugger Award seven times (1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999). He was the AL MVP in 1997 and the AL home run champion in 1994, 1997, 1998 and 1999. He ended his career with 630 home runs. While not retired by the team, his #24 hasn’t been worn since he left the team. He is scheduled to be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame this season.

Randy Johnson – Randy Johnson played for the Mariners from 1989 – 1998 where he was an All-Star in 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1997. He also won a Cy Young Award in 1995. Johnson pitched a no-hitter for the Mariners in 1990. He is a member of the Mariners Hall of Fame.

Jay Buhner – Buhner played for the Mariners from 1988 – 2001. He was an All-Star selection in 1996 as well as a Gold Glove Award winner in 1996. Buhner hit 310 career home runs and had 964 RBIs. While it hasn’t been retired, his #19 has not been worn by any other Mariners since he retired. He was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2004.

Edgar Martinez - Edgar Martinez played for the Mariners from 1987 – 2004 as a Third baseman and, later, DH. He was a 7 time All-Star (1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003), 5 time Silver Slugger Award winner (1992, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2003) and a two time winner of the AL batting title (1992, 1995). Martinez had a career batting average of .312 with 2,247 hits, 309 home runs and 1,261 RBIs. In 2004, MLB renamed the Outstanding Designated Hitter Award in his honor. While the Mariners haven’t retired his #11, they also haven’t had anyone wear it since his retirement. Martinez was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame in 2007.


The I’m just sayin… Proverb of the Week
Proverbs 8:35-36

35 For those who find me find life
         and receive favor from the Lord.
36 But those who fail to find me harm themselves;
         all who hate me love death.”