MLB Showdown Obsession

 Now we reach the awkward point of the Perfect Game series, where I cover a game that took place during the official Showdown era. Most players involved have cards, so what do I do? Well, not *every* player in that game got a Showdown card, so I can fix that, but some notable players involved can't be avoided (like Cone himself, who was chosen as one of the holo cards for the starter set). So here I'll make a few exceptions for those few notable men and give them "special" pennant race variants. Most pitchers know better than to strive to pitch a No-Hitter. Sure, they can start each game fresh, thinking they can retire every hitter, but once that first baserunner reaches, it's a forgotten worry. No so with David Cone, who obsessed over the notion that he could etch his name into history. There were several notable close calls for Cone in which circumstances or poor luck got in the way, and each instance was maddening to him. And while the vast majority of pitchers...

 Before baseball came to Toronto, there was another city that laid claim to baseball's first Canadian team. Tragically, the Montreal Expos don't exist anymore. The franchise moved to DC and became the Nationals, and while the Nats took the teams legacy and division titles, they decided to forget about any retired numbers. The NHLs Montreal Canadians have more respect for the four Expos immortals than the former team does. (I'm aware that 3 of the 4 cards here have an inaccurate Expos logo. Will fix ASAP when the bot allows their original logo in the proper card formats...it's all a bit complicated) #8 - Gary Carter Gary Carter began his Hall of Fame career in Montreal and spent 12 years accumulating all 3 Gold Gloves, 3 of 5 Silver Sluggers and 9 of 11 all star nominations. When elected to the Hall of Fame, he took pride in becoming the first member to enter wearing an Expos hat. #10 - Rusty Staub Daniel "Rusty" Staub became the 1st big name in Expos history w...

 The 12 perfect game pitchers in history before the 1990's had one thing in common. Each one of them were American, born and raised in the good 'ol USA. Baseball today has an overabundance of international talent, so it goes without saying that that similarity would no longer be the case sooner or later. Dennis Martinez hailed from Nicaragua, and on July 28, 1991 he went into Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and pitched baseball's 13th perfect game. To really add to the not-American flair, he happened to pitch the 2-0 game as a member of the Montreal Expos, baseballs first Canadian based team. The Dodgers at this time were dealing with some serious offensive problems as two days before they were being no-hit into the 9th inning against the Expos before they managed to steal away the win in extra innings. Today, Martinez would ensure this time they wouldn't have any hope as he mowed down the lineup for 5 Strikeouts. At this time, perfect games were becoming pretty common wi...

Today, when a Japanese player wants to leave his native land behind to go chase the millions of dollars in America, there is a complicated posting process involved. This became the norm not because of Suzuki, Matsui, Ohtani or Nomo, but a man named Hideki Irabu. The San Diego Padres originally signed him, but when the 27 other teams cried foul, MLB decided to create the posting system we know today to give everyone a chance to get a foreign all star. Irabu had no interest in being a Padre and made it public that he would only play for the Yankees. With that kind of leverage, the Yankees were able to swing a trade and bring him in. Now Hideki was a Yankee in the 90s, with all the good and bad that was associated with playing under George Steinbrenner in those days. The Boss was able to tout another big name pitcher in his rotation...and he would ultimately become so frustrated with Irabu and his weight issues that he would give him the infamous nickname "Fat ***** Toad" Irabu ...

 It's been a while since my last Perfect Game post, but blame the Bot for not having the proper logo for Mike Witt. I am prepared to die on this hill. Meanwhile, I can give examples of the near misses of the perfect game attempts. Today we look at Pedro Martinez. No, not *that* Pedro Martinez . Martinez began his career in LA, gained prominence in Boston and ended his career with the Mets and Phillies. But, he was also associated with another NL East franchise when he spent four seasons north of the border as a member of the Montreal Expos. Martinez wasn't exactly anonymous in Canada, either. His first couple all star nods and first Cy Young award happened there. Before any of those accomplishments, Pedro almost became immortal when he took a perfect game into extra innings. On June 3, 1995, Martinez took to the mound at Jack Murphy Stadium to face the hometown San Diego Padres. What took place was one of the most standout pitching duels of the decade. For nine innings, Martin...

 I'm a big fan of the baseball nomad. Guys who go from one team tot he next over the course of many years. One guy can represent several teams over a career that a collection of his baseball cards will be so varied that it reflects a Power Rangers lineup more than a single mans timeline. Plus, it makes it more fun to chronicle a players career here when it's not the same one or two teams a dozen straight years. Enter Roberto Kelly. A potential star when he started in the majors, his career took a hard left turn and he was relegated to obscurity, best known for the man he was traded for and what happened to his former team as a result rather than his own accomplishments. Kelly was born in Panama and the Yankees saw potential in him when they signed him in 1982. In 1987, after working his way up the system, he got his chance when Rickey Henderson got hurt and he used his 10 on-base to make an impact in his limited playing time. The Yankees weren't ready for Kelly in 1988 and ...

 There is a question with 2 different answers. That question is: When were the Montreal Expos the closest ever to a World Series? Well, there are technically 3 answers if you count when the franchise became the Washington Nationals, in which case the answer is 2019...but we're talking about just the Expos. The first answer is officially the right answer: 1981. They took the Los Angeles Dodgers to the decisive winner-take-all Game 5 of the NLCS, but fell short and never again made the postseason. The other answer is 1994. The injustices of the 1994 season have been covered in total before. When the season was cancelled, the Expos were 74-40 and in first place in the NL East with baseballs best record, helping Felipe Alou get voted as Manager of the Year. They were 6 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves, and while nothing is assured in baseball (especially when it came to fighting off the Braves for a division title in the 90s) the popular opinion is that there was something special ab...