Trivia and Pie in the Sky

Matt Alexander laughs at Herb Washington. http://www.baseball-reference.com/playe ... ma01.shtml

Alexander actually batted and played the field sometimes. He ended up his career with 111 runs scored, on 36 hits and 18 walks, but no famous pickoffs.

Here's one: August 24th will be the 31st Anniversary of Len Sakata, an infielder, being used as an emergency catcher by the Baltimore Orioles in the top of the 10th inning. He hit the game winning home run in the bottom of the tenth. What other significant event in baseball history took place in this game?

In the top of the 10th, all three Blue Jays to bat got on base... and promptly got picked off before they could run on Sakata. Think it was Tippy Martinez. It's the only time that a pitcher had three pickoffs in an inning.

Scumby Jr wrote:

Couldn't remember if Jack Morris' 1984 no-hitter was on opening day. It was his second start.

I have a funny story about that no-hitter. If you recall that no-hitter was thrown on "The Game of the Week" (Saturday, April 7th 1984) and remember watching it on TV like it was yesterday. Well I was in the Air Force at the time and I was a loadmasters on a cargo plane. A couple of days later I was on one of our regular runs in the Pacific and we were in Guam on Saturday April 14th. Well in 1984 Guam didn't have regular satellite TV so what the TV station did there was to have NBC programming flown in on video tape once a week from the Los Angeles NBC affiliate. Well the problem was it was a week old so you would watch last weeks programming. You would also get all of the LA commercials like Cal Worthington and his dog Spot trying to sell you used cars. Weird. Well anyway I'm in Guam a week later on Saturday April 14th and this very game is on. A week late of course. Well if your a baseball fan you already know Morris has tossed a no-hitter. Well I just happened to be on a crew where I am apparently the only baseball fan because when I went over to another guy's room to see if he wanted to get something to eat there is the whole crew watching Jack Morris throw his no-hitter a week late. When one of the guys commented that "This Detroit pitcher is throwing a pretty good game." I said "I tell you what I'll bet you he throws a no-hitter. I think it was the 5th inning and we decided the stakes would be dinner. So after the inevitable no-hitter was tossed I had to fess up to the whole situation and said you guys know that all the TV is a week late here. He didn't buy me dinner but did buy me a beer and I bought him one for being a good sport. So we both won.

Ed

Great story Lanier64, thanks for sharing!