Monthly Archives: November 2009

The major league season is over, alas with no Game 7 in the World Series. But there is more baseball out there, seamheads, and it’s coming to a TV screen near you Saturday night. The Arizona Fall League’s Rising Stars Showcase will air at 7 p.m. on MLB Network. Craig Kimbrel, who impressed as a reliever for the Mississippi Braves last season, is on one of the rosters, along with Atlanta’s No. 1 pick last June, left-hander Mike Minor. Ole Miss alumnus Zach Cozart, a shortstop in the Cincinnati system, is scheduled to play, along with a host of other prospects such as Buster Posey, Jordan Danks, Dustin Ackley, Ike Davis, Jemile Weeks and Joshua Fields. Overall No. 1 pick Stephen Strasburg, the right-hander with the 100-plus mph fastball, has been scratched from his appearance, but this is a game worth checking out. You’ll see a lot of the players in The Show very soon.

It shall be called the Cool Papa Bell Award, in honor of the only Mississippi-born player in the Baseball Hall of Fame. It shall be awarded to the Mississippian (native or college alumnus) who is judged here to have had the best season in the major leagues. In what was pretty much a two-horse race, the 2009 Bell goes to Chris Coghlan, the Ole Miss product who could win National League rookie of the year honors. Coghlan, playing out of position in left field, energized Florida’s run at a playoff berth by hitting .321 with 84 runs, 9 homers and 47 RBIs in 128 games. He gets the nod over Seth Smith, another UM alumnus who hit .293 with 15 homers and 55 RBIs in 133 games for Colorado. Smith was a pinch hitter extraordinaire. Others who rated consideration: former Meridian CC star Cliff Lee, who went 14-13 with a 3.22 ERA overall and 7-5, 3.39 for Philadelphia, and ex-Mississippi State standout Jonathan Papelbon, who posted 38 saves in 41 chances and a 1.85 ERA for Boston. Lee, of course, did his best work in the postseason, but those numbers aren’t considered for the Bell.

Unless you are a New York Yankees fan, you’re rooting for a Game 7 in the World Series. A winner-take-all game at Yankee Stadium … does it get any better than that? One of the most intriguing angles if there is a Game 7 is the possibility that Meridian Community College alumnus Cliff Lee will start for Philadelphia. The left-hander, who won Games 1 and 5, pronounced himself “available” to go Thursday night on short rest. He’s 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in the postseason. He’s pitched 40 1/3 innings. He could be good for a few more, especially with a world championship and perhaps a Series MVP award on the line. Southern Miss coach Scott Berry remarked in 2008, when Lee was with Cleveland and en route to the Cy Young Award in the American League, that his former pupil at MCC had developed such command of his fastball and cutter that he was moving from a good pitcher to a great one. That has been so evident in this postseason. Here’s hoping he gets a chance in a Game 7.
P.S. On the Mississippi connection watch: Pedro Martinez, the Phillies’ starter in Game 6 tonight, pitched at Smith-Wills Stadium for San Antonio. Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon played there, too, with Wichita, as did Phillies third baseman Pedro Feliz, who came through with Shreveport. Of course, Philly third-base coach Sam Perlozzo won two Texas League pennants as the Jackson Mets manager. But how about this: New York’s Nick Swisher is the son of Steve Swisher, another former JaxMets manager. And here’s a far-fetched Magnolia State tie of note: The Yankees’ Jerry Hairston Jr. is the grandson of Sam Hairston, a Crawford native and one of the first black Mississippians to play in the majors. … Does anyone else out there think about connections like these?

Former Southern Miss star Jarrett Hoffpauir, who made his big league debut this season with the Cardinals of St. Louis, is now a Blue Jay, having been claimed on waivers today by Toronto. Hoffpauir, 26, primarily a second baseman, hit .250 in eight games with St. Louis. At Triple-A Memphis, he showed some promise with the bat, hitting .291 with 14 home runs.

The best performance by a Mississippi native in a World Series game is debatable, though the one-hitter tossed by Waynesboro’s Claude Passeau in the 1945 Series is hard to top. (Jay Powell, Boo Ferriss, Harry “The Hat” Walker, Dave Parker and Frank White also had some laudable efforts.) But there can only be one “First Appearance by a Mississippian in the World Series,” and that title goes to Ewell Albert “Reb” Russell. The Jackson-born Russell, a left-handed hurler, started Game 5 of the 1917 Series for the Chicago White Sox. It was a pivotal game, with the series against the New York Giants tied at 2-all. The White Sox — the team of Shoeless Joe Jackson, Chick Gandil, Happy Felsch, Buck Weaver and others of 1919 Black Sox infamy — won the game 8-5 and went on to claim the championship in Game 6 two days later. Russell’s performance in Game 5, however, was not one for the ages. He faced only three batters in the top of the first inning at Comiskey Park. He retired none. Two runs scored. Eddie Cicotte relieved. The White Sox’s comeback rendered Russell’s outing forgettable for most, save for those who like to chart Mississippi baseball history.
P.S. Wondering if Melvin Mora, the former Jackson General, is done. Baltimore has declined the 2010 option on the 37-year-old third baseman, whose 807 games at the position is second-most in Orioles history to Brooks Robinson. That’s remarkable. Mora wasn’t a highly rated prospect when he passed through Jackson in 1995 and ’96. But he was a solid hitter (.298 and .286 in his two Double-A stints) and could play all over the field. He’s played every position except catcher in the majors, has a .278 career average and has made two All-Star teams. He could still help somebody.