Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest » Nolan Ryan

Nolan Ryan Says Military Impacted his Mets Development

Friday, March 16th, 2012

The gang over at the Kult of Mets Personalities scored a great guest, Hall of Famer and current owner of the Texas Rangers, Nolan Ryan. Of course, we all know that Ryan started his career with the Mets. In five seasons he was 29-38 with a 3.58 ERA. The deal that sent Ryan to California for Jim Fregosi is […]

Seaver On Pitch Counts: “I Had My Own Pitch Count”

Monday, August 8th, 2011

Marc Malusis did a great in studio interview on WFAN with “The Franchise” Tom Seaver. It was inevitable that pitch counts would come up during the conversation. When asked his thoughts on pitch counts he told Malusis “I had a pitch count. Whose pitch count was it? It was mine.  I know where I felt my effectiveness […]

Beware Verlander, The Future Starting Rotation, Munson and Teixeira HOF Credentials

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

The dog days of August start to build separation in the standings. In the AL Central, both Detroit and Cleveland made deadline deals. Cleveland made the big splash landing Ubaldo Jimenez, who will start Friday versus Texas. It may not be soon enough as the combination of newly acquired Doug Fister, and Jacoby Ellsbury‘s walk off home run […]

Morning Digest: ALF, Pitching Injuries, HOF

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

Mets Police has a video of a FOX Game of the Week Commercial with Mike Piazza as a Dodger. This one might be my favorite Piazza commercial of all They say the human arm is not built to throw a baseball at big league velocity. Certainly, these pitchers would agree. On Tuesday, Foley’s NY Inducted […]

Mike Francesa: A Modern Day Dick Young

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

Back in the 1950s through the 1970s, here in New York City, there used to be a curmudgeonly sports columnist named Dick Young He was a right-wing conservative in every way and a brilliant baseball writer. He was the best-read and best-known writer in this huge market but as he got older, he became angrier […]

Jeff Nelson, Joe McEwing Nominated for Irish American HOF

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Each year, Foley’s NY Pub & Restaurant Recognizes Players, Executives, Journalists and Entertainers of Irish Descent. There are a ton of New York luminaries up for nomination in 2011, including former Yankees reliever Jeff Nelson and former Mets utility man Joe McEwing. Other recognizable names from the New York baseball landscape include Wee Willie Keeler […]

Watch: Wally Backman on Doc Gooden vs. Cards

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

Courtesy of John Fitzgerald of Playing for Peanuts. I love the story Wally tells about Gooden going after the Cardinals in 1985.

If Allowed, Mark Cuban Will be the Next Steinbrenner

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Major League Baseball is the good old boys club. Think country club, politics, and old money. I suspect if the league knew what they were getting with George Steinbrenner he never would have been allowed to purchase the Yankees from CBS in 1973. Now that he is gone I doubt we will ever see someone […]

What’s the Fastest Pitch Ever Thrown?

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Last night Kevin Burkhardt interviewed Indians Hall of Famer Bob Feller during the ballgame. Feller is known to tell it like it is and tout his accomplishments, however I had to do a double take when he claimed he threw a pitch at 107.9 mph back in the mid forties. It got me thinking what […]

Listen: The Baseball Codes

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Want to hear the official authority on the unwritten rules of baseball? Jason Turbow spent five year researching baseball’s unwritten codes of conduct. During yesterday’s show he joined me to chat about his new book: The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Steal, and Bench Clearing Brawls. We talk about Alex Rodriguez/Dallas Braden, look back at Shawn […]

Watch: Top 10 Baseball Brawls

Monday, April 19th, 2010

Found this courtesy of our good friend Michael Baron of Metsblog. Top Ten Baseball Fights - The best video clips are right here

Prediction: Alomar Will Be Only One Elected to HOF

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Tomorrow the 2010 Hall of Fame will be announced. If you haven’t been following BBTF HOF Ballot Gathering Machine, head over there and check it out. Each year, Repoz tabulates writer’s ballots that are made public in order to predict who the next class will be. As of this writing (Jan 5) it appears there […]

Whitey Herzog and What Could Have Been

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Whitey Herzog was a deserving candidate for election into the Hall of Fame today. Many don’t realize that Herzog had an eight year career as an outfielder. His best season came in 1961 with the Orioles as he batted .291 with 5 homers and 35 RBI. Of course, the “White Rat” as affectionately referred to […]

Two Days Rest?

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Another bit of evidence how baseball has changed in 40 years was revealed in an MLB Network broadcast last week. The channel aired Game 7 of the 1965 World Series between the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers featuring the late Ray Scott as the Twins voice and, naturally, Vin Scully as the voice of […]

Pitch Counts

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Here’s a quick fact. In the 70s, Earl Weaver used to break spring training camp with 7 or 8 pitchers, or about 5 less than are on most major league rosters right now. Here’s another fact, by way of Tim Kurkjian: “In 2000, there were 454 starts of at least 120 pitches. Last season, there […]