Tagged: Brauny
Daily Minyan – July 17, 2009
On this date in 1917, Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau was born in Harvey, Ill. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 1970.
Boudreau, who was the son of a French-American father who played semipro baseball and worked as a machinist and a Jewish mother. His parents divorced when he was young and he did not get along with his stepfather after his mother remarried. Boudreau was raised by his father and brought up as a Christian.
He graduated from Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, excelling in sports at both schools.
Thornton High Basketball Team Photo
He was captain of the basketball and baseball teams at the University of Illinois when Cleveland Indians general manager Cy Slapnicka paid him an undisclosed sum in return for agreeing to play baseball for the Indians following graduation. Boudreau’s father complained to the Big Ten Conference, and league officials ruled him ineligible for collegiate sports. During his junior and senior years at Illinois, he played pro basketball with the Hammond All-Americans of the National Basketball League.
Boudreau made his Major League debut on September 9, 1938 for the Cleveland Indians, at the age of 21, playing first base. In 1939, manager Ossie Vitt informed Boudreau, who normally played third base, that he would have to move to shortstop as Ken Keltner already had the regular third base job.
In 1940, his first full year as a starter, he batted .295 with 46 doubles and 101 RBI. He was also selected to play in his first All Star Game.
Boudreau helped make history in 1941 as a key figure in stopping the 56-game hitting streak by Joe DiMaggio. After Ken Keltner made two fine stops at third base earlier in the game, Boudreau snagged a bad hop grounder at short barehanded and started a double play to retire Dimaggio. He finished the season with a .257 batting average and a league leading 45 doubles.
After the season, owner Alva Bradley promoted manager Roger Peckinpaugh to general manager and appointed Boudreau as the player manager, becoming, at age 24, the youngest person to have taken on the job of manager at the beginning of an MLB season. Boudreau managed the Indians throughout World War II.
One of the best defenders of his time, he led American League (AL) shortstops in fielding percentage for eight seasons. Boudreau was also a productive hitter and had a lifetime average of .295. He led the AL in hitting in 1944 with a .327 average and led the league in doubles three times. Boudreau was an eight-time All Star selection, starting three times. He won the 1944 AL batting title (.327), and led the league in doubles in 1941, 1944, and 1947. Boudreau still holds the record for hitting the most consecutive doubles in a game (four), set on July 14, 1946.
The 1948 season was the pinnacle of Boudreau’s career. That year, he managed Cleveland to the AL title and World Series championship while hitting for a .355 average with 18 home runs and 106 runs batted in. In 1948, Boudreau also led the league’s shortstops in fielding percentage and was selected as the AL Most Valuable Player. After 13 seasons with Cleveland and two more with the Boston Red Sox,
Boudreau stopped playing baseball in 1952 to become a full-time manager. He spent six seasons managing the Red Sox and the Kansas City Athletics
before retiring to join the broadcast team of the Chicago Cubs. Boudreau briefly came out of retirement to manage the Cubs for the 1960 season, after which he returned to broadcasting Cubs games, where he remained until 1988.
As a Cubs Announcer (above and below)
Lastly and certainly not least, here is a picture of Lou and his wife Della all dressed up:
Brad Ausmus, C – Los Angeles Dodgers
Brad didn’t play in the Dodgers loss to the Astros on Thursday.
Ryan Braun, OF, 3B – Milwaukee Brewers
Coming off being in the starting lineup for the NL All Stars as the cleanup hitter, Ryan snapped an 0-for-16 skid, by going 1-for-4, scoring a run, stealing his 8th base and throwing out the plodding Ramon Hernandez at home in the Brewers win over the Reds. His average rose to .310.
Brauny scoring his run and….
the end result of his outfield assist, which prevented a run!
Notice the lack of hustle from Ramon! One big reason why he is no longer an Oriole.
Craig Breslow, P – Oakland A’s
Craig didn’t pitch in the A’s loss to the Angels on Thursday.
Scott Feldman, P – Texas Rangers
The Rangers had the day off on Thursday.
John Grabow, P, Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates had the day off on Thursday.
Gabe Kapler, OF – Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays had the day off on Thursday.
Ian Kinsler, 2B – Texas Rangers
The Rangers had the day off on Thursday.
Jason Marquis, P – Colorado Rockies
Jason didn’t pitch in the Rockies win over the Padres on Thursday.
Aaron Poreda, P – Chicago White Sox
The Chisox had the day off on Thursday.
Scott Schoeneweis, P – Arizona Diamondbacks
The D-backs had the day off on Thursday.
Kevin Youkilis, 1B, 3B – Boston Red Sox
The Sawx had the day off on Thursday.
Macher (Big Shot) of the Day – Brauny
Cool T-Shirt!!!
Daily Minyan – All Star Game Recap
Hey, where have I been? You might ask. I’ve been here, not on vacation or travel, but my quality time to devote to this blog has been fleeting of late. So, after some time away, I’m back with my All Star game update!
As you know, three members of the minyan were on All Star teams: Youk in the AL, and Brauny and the Marquis in the NL (I’m going with nicknames right now). However, my man Ian
got royally dissed (you know what word I really want to say, but this a family blog!). Not only did Pedroia somehow beat him out for the starting spot, but he was edged by Brandon (no HR in the HR Derby!) Inge for the Final Man slot. I actively campaigned for Ian on both Facebook and Twitter as did my friend Jen of AJRoxmywhitesox http://ajroxmywhitesox.mlblogs.com/. However, there appeared to be an alliance with the Shane Victorino voters to vote for both, thus Ian got dissed once again. And Joe Madden was no friend of this blog either, due to the fact that he picked Ben Zobrist (he of the stupid Zorilla nickname) as a sub when Pedroia had to back out due to family health issues. Maybe Cliff of Rays Renegade http://raysrenegade.mlblogs.com/ can shed some light on the dim-witted decision by Joe Maddon, because I sure can’t!!
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Darn, I could have had a V8 or picked Ian!
Anyway, I promised an update, so how did our boychiks do in the big game?
Brauny, OF, 3B – Milwaukee Brewers
Brauny was in the starting lineup for the NL and batted cleanup!!!
You heard that right, Ryan Braun batted cleanup!!! Not Triple Crown Candidate Albert Pujols
or slugger Raul Ibanez,
but our guy Brauny!!! Somewhere in heaven, Hank Greenberg must be kvelling!!!
Brauny flied out to deep center in the 2nd inning and ground out to short in the 3rd, while fielding his position flawlessly.
Brauny, congratulating teammate Prince Fielder on winning the HR Derby
The Marquis, P – Colorado Rockies
Jason participated in all the workouts and the pre-game festivities but was solely a spectator at the game.
Youk, 1B, 3B – Boston Red Sox
Youk pinch hit for his BoSox teammate, Jonathon Papelbon in the 8th inning and singled into center. 
Macher (Big Shot) of the Day – YOUK!!
Check out the unique batting stance and grip!
Daily Minyan – May 13, 2009
I am proud to present the first Macher of the Month to none other than Ryan Braun, who is so good that he merits his own logo!
Ryan Joseph Braun, was born on November 17, 1983, in Mission Hills, CA, won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, during which he led the National League in slugging percentage. He also won the Sporting News NL Rookie of the Year, the Baseball America Rookie of the Year, the Baseball Prospectus Internet Baseball NL Rookie of the Year, and the Players Choice NL Most Outstanding Rookie Awards. Over the prior decade, the only other NL hitter to win all 5 awards was Albert Pujols, in 2001.
In 2008, Ryan was included on the 2008 NL Sporting News All Star Team, won the 2008 NL Outfielder Silver Slugger Award, and was third in the voting for the 2008 NL MVP award, with 139 points, behind Pujols and Ryan Howard, for which he received a $50,000 bonus.
Ryan’s father, Joe, is Israeli-born and immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. His nickname is “The Hebrew Hammer,” which references his Jewish heritage, former Brewer Hank Aaron (whose nickname was “Hammerin’ Hank”), and the movie The Hebrew Hammer, starring Adam Goldberg.
It is also the nickname of former teammate Gabe Kapler and in the past was a nickname for Al Rosen
and Hank Greenberg.
Ryan is one of the highest-drafted Jewish ballplayers in the history of professional baseball. The New York Yankees made Ron Blomberg the number one pickin the 1967 draft. Ryan was considered the best Jewish minor league baseball prospect in 2006, and became major league baseball’s first Jewish Rookie of the Year the following season. In each of 2007 and 2008, Ryan hit more home runs (34 and 37) than all but 3 of the top 10 career Jewish home run hitters had hit in their best seasons. Only Hank Greenberg (58), Shawn Green (49), and Al Rosen (43) hit more in a single year.
“Braun” was, coincidentally, the family name of Sandy Koufax, until his mother remarried and he took his stepfather’s name. “There’s no (family) connection that I know of,” Braun said, “but it’s kind of cool.” In another coincidence, Ryab lived for a time with his maternal grandfather in a house that previously belonged to Jewish Hall of Fame outfielder Hank Greenberg. Ryan’s grandfather has lived in the house for over 40 years.
In December 2007, Ryan was the only Jewish athlete invited by President George W. Bush to the annual Hanukkah Dinner at the White House, where he talked baseball with the President.
Now on to the updates. As far as I know, none of our boys played on Monday, so this update only covers yesterday’s games.
Brad Ausmus, C – Los Angeles Dodgers
Brad didn’t play in yesterday’s Dodgers’ loss to the Phillies.
Ryan Braun, OF, 3B – Milwaukee Brewers
Ryan went 1-for-4, and scored a run in the Brewers victory over the Marlins. Ryan lowered his average to .342.
Craig Breslow, P – Minnesota Twins
Craig didn’t pitch in yesterday’s Twins victory over the Tigers.
Scott Feldman, P – Texas Rangers
Scott took a shutout into the seventh and gave up one run and four hits in 6 1-3 innings for the first-place Rangers. He also walked 2 and struck out 2 in the Rangers victory over the Mariners. Scott left with game tied 1-1. The Rangers exploded for 6 runs in the bottom of the 7th, giving the victory to rookie Derek Holland, who earned his first career victory. Scott’s stellar pitching performance lowered his ERA to 4.85.
John Grabow, P, Pittsburgh Pirates
John didn’t pitch in yesterday’s Pirates win over the Cardinals.
Gabe Kapler, OF – Tampa Bay Rays
Gabe went 1-for-2, with a single and knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly in the Rays loss to my O’s. His raised his average to .234.
Ian Kinsler, 2B – Texas Rangers
Ian went 3-for-5, and hit his 10th double of the year. He raised his average to .316.
Jason Marquis, P – Colorado Rockies
Jason didn’t pitch in yesterday’s Rockies big victory over the Astros.
Scott Schoeneweis, P – Arizona Diamondbacks
Scott pitched a scoreless 9th inning, with one strikeout, in the D-backs loss to the Reds. He lowered his ERA to 1.80.
Scott gets the Chai 5 for the second time in a row!
Kevin Youkilis, 1B, 3B – Boston Red Sox
Youk was placed on the 15-day disabled list–retroactive to May 5–because of a strained oblique on his left side.
Macher (Big Shot) of the Day – Scott Feldman
Daily Minyan – May 5, 2009
The Orioles finally won a game!!!
Let’s see what other good news there is in the Minyan
Brad Ausmus, C – Los Angeles Dodgers
Brad didn’t play in the Dodgers win over the D-Backs.
Ryan Braun, OF, 3B – Milwaukee Brewers
Ryan, who was supposedly unavailable to play in the game, pinch hit for Chris Duffy and clubbed a two-run double, which tied the game that the Brewers eventually won 7-4, over the Pirates on Monday night. Ryan’s long day began with an early morning MRI exam that showed no structural damage in his inflamed back, continued with a rushed flight to Pittsburgh which allowed him to join the team mid-game.
“Unbelievable game,” said Braun, who didn’t play the previous two days. “I was not anticipating playing, that’s for sure. It’s kind of a crazy day, something I’ve never experienced before.”
In a rare occurence for this blog, Ryan’s hit came off one of the minyan, John Grabow.
Ryan is now batting .322 and increased his RBI total to 18.
Craig Breslow, P – Minnesota Twins
Craig didn’t pitch in the Twins win over the Tigers.
Scott Feldman, P – Texas Rangers
Scott watched the Ranger victory over the Mariners from the bench once again.
John Grabow, P, Pittsburgh Pirates
John blew his first save chance in the Pirates loss to the Brewers when he gave up Ryan Braun’s pinch hit double. He entered with 2 outs and gave up a walk and 2 hits and struck out the last batter to get out of the inning. John, who still has a very respectable ERA of 2.84, has been having some less than stellar outings lately.
Gabe Kapler, OF – Tampa Bay Rays
Gabe didn’t play in yesterday’s loss to my O’s.
Ian Kinsler, 2B – Texas Rangers
Ian went 0-for-5, and struck out once in the Rangers victory over the Mariners. He’s now batting .321. I find it interesting that Ian can dominate a game with his hitting then get dominated the next day. Goes to show you how hard a game baseball really is!
Jason Marquis, P – Colorado Rockies
Jason chilled out on the bench and watched the Rockies beat the Padres.
Scott Schoeneweis, P – Arizona Diamondbacks
Scott didn’t pitch in the Diamondbacks loss to the Dodgers.
Kevin Youkilis, 1B, 3B – Boston Red Sox
Youk went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in the Red Sox victory over the Evil Empire. He also left 4 men on base. His average fell to .393.
Macher (Big Shot) of the Day – Ryan Braun
Jews on First 