6 degrees

[scotgreb]

This might help -- from Keith Olbermann in 1997 . . . [I believe]

The Ninth Man

Baseball is often criticized for having an obsession with its own history. Yet, these days, it seems that history alone separates it from every sport. As the character portrayed by James Earl Jones said in the movie "Field Of Dreams," America has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, erased again,
rebuilt again -- and all the time baseball has been there.

For better or worse, history, in baseball, is a living thing. And in this spring training, history walks the camps looking for one player to claim as his own.

He is out there somewhere, in Arizona, maybe in Florida. His may be a name we already know; it may be one we do not. He is probably 20 or 21 years old, maybe 22. And he will make his big-league debut some time this year, or spend his first full season in the bigs this year -- and he will retire in the year
2016 or 2017. He will be the grand old man of baseball. And they will say, he's so old that the year he broke in, Eddie Murray was still playing!

He is out there somewhere, in Arizona, maybe in Florida. And to him is about to be passed -- the torch. He will some day be the senior player in the game, representing an era at its end. And he will be the ninth man.

Murray, beginning his 21st season, is the eighth man. That's because he is so old that, when he broke in, Brooks Robinson was still playing. That was in 1977; they were teammates.

And at that time, Robinson, the grand old man of the game, had been playing so long that when he broke in, Bob Feller was still playing. Feller is the sixth man. Because, when Brooks Robinson broke in, Feller had been playing so long that when he was a rookie in 1936, Rogers Hornsby was still playing.

The fifth man. Hornsby had been playing so long that when he was a rookie in 1915, Honus Wagner was still playing; Wagner was the fourth man. He had been playing so long that when he was a rookie in 1897, Cap Anson was still playing. Cap, of course, was the third man. And when Wagner broke in, Cap
Anson had been playing so long that when he was a rookie in 1871, Dickey Pearce was still playing.

The second man. When he was a rookie in 1855, Doc Adams was still playing. And Doc Adams was a member of the Knickerbocker club when on June 19, 1846, it played the first recorded game of baseball as we know it.

He was the first man.

Adams.
Pearce.
Anson.
Wagner.
Hornsby.
Feller.
Robinson.
Murray.
And now, someone new.

He is out there somewhere, in Arizona, maybe in Florida. His may be a name we already know. It may be one we do not. Now, he is only at the beginning. But some day, he will be ... the ninth man.

Edited to add: I've seen where David Ortiz might have been the 10th man (September 1997)

[Eric72]

Though quite different, I find the following info fascinating:

Lucile Randon Is currently the oldest living human being, having been born in 1904.

Thomas Jefferson died in 1826.

It would only take one person to link a person alive today to the birth of our nation. I’m sure there were many people who lived the entire 78 year span necessary.

Think about it. There were people who were alive during the same time as Thomas Jefferson - and - during the same time as someone alive today.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

President Tyler's (10th President 1841 - 1845) last Grandson died just last year. Tyler was born 1790 less than two years after the signing of the constitution and died in 1862, early in the civil war.

[rhettyeakley]

I was reading something a while back about a recent find of original wax Edison Phonograph cylinders revealed the only known voice recording of someone that was born in the 18th Century (Helmuth von Moltke was born October 1800 and was recorded in 1889). This has nothing to do with the subject.. just thought it was cool.

[skelly423]

Now do it in exactly 9 steps, where everyone plays a different position on the diamond.

[nat]

Colon retired after Ortiz. So the 10th man was a rookie in 2018. The question then becomes, which 2018 rookie is going to have the longest career?

How about Juan Soto as the 10th man? He was a 19 year old rookie in 2018, and is already a superstar. He could, potentially, take us through 2040.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Eric72

Though quite different, I find the following info fascinating:

Lucile Randon Is currently the oldest living human being, having been born in 1904.

Thomas Jefferson died in 1826.

It would only take one person to link a person alive today to the birth of our nation. I’m sure there were many people who lived the entire 78 year span necessary.

Think about it. There were people who were alive during the same time as Thomas Jefferson - and - during the same time as someone alive today.

John Adams also lived until 1826 and he was older than Jefferson having been born in 1735. So just one step between someone living in 1735 and someone living today. Insane.

[Peter_Spaeth]

In the spirit of the thread, and we did this years ago, who pitched to both Ted Williams and Julio Franco?

[skelly423]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

In the spirit of the thread, and we did this years ago, who pitched to both Ted Williams and Julio Franco?

Was it Jim Kaat?

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Was it Jim Kaat?

Yeah.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Eck pitched to Hank Aaron and who on the other end, maybe Jeter?