TBNL: Jim Abbott, Bananaball

Jim Abbott was in attendance for the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners game on Tuesday. Abbott threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game and then joined Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill in the YES broadcast booth for an inning.

ESPN is set to premiere a documentary about Abbott on Sunday night.

Abbott’s appearance in the booth naturally brought up one of his greatest moments on the mound, when he pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians in September 1993. It was quite a formidable lineup, looking back at it.

Jim Thome, still just a part-time piece on the Cleveland bench, was finishing up his third season in the majors. He was a .244/.330/.390 (98 OPS+) hitter through those first 427 plate appearances, hitting just ten home runs.

Thome started playing regularly with the 1994 season. He’d slide over to first base permanently in 1997.

By the time he retired following the 2012 season, Thome had assured himself a place in Cooperstown (he’d be elected in 2018). A .276/.402/.554 (147 OPS+) hitter over a 22-year career, Thome finished his career with 612 home runs (the 11th highest total among all players … incl. NPB and KBO).

Eight places behind Thome on that list, with 555 career home runs, was Manny Ramirez. That game against Abbott was just the third of his 19-year MLB career. He’d just collected his first three hits (and first two homers) the night before.

Ramirez was a .312/.411/.585 (154 OPS+) hitter for his career and was one of the best right-handed hitters of his generation. He would surely be in the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside Thome if not for a pair of PED-related suspensions.

Kenny Lofton finished 2nd in the 1992 AL Rookie of the Year voting to Milwaukee’s Pat Listach in a voting decision that would surely go differently today with how the media views analytics. Lofton spent 17 years in the majors, winning multiple Gold Glove Awards while batting .299/.372/.426 (107 OPS+) with 452 stolen bases.

Inexplicably, he fell off the Hall of Fame ballot after just one year after failing to receive at least 5% of the vote.

Abbott dominated a lineup that featured three should-be Hall of Famers, Albert Belle (‘93 was the start of a four-year stretch in which Belle hit .315/.402/.638 (166 OPS+) while averaging 43 HR and 126 RBI and finishing in the Top 10 in MVP voting each year), and Carlos Baerga (a .291/.332/.423 (100 OPS+) hitter over his 14-year career who totaled half his career WAR in the ‘92 and ‘93 seasons).

Abbott, of course, was famously born without a right hand. That didn’t stop him from succeeding in multiple sports through high school (he also played football) before becoming a star with the University of Michigan’s baseball team. During his three years with the Wolverines, Abbott was one of the best amateur pitchers in the country and was named the winner of the Golden Spikes Award in 1987. The next summer, baseball was a demonstration sport at the Seoul Olympics, where Abbott helped lead the roster to a gold medal.

The California Angels used the 8th-overall pick in the 1988 Draft to select Abbott. He’d debut with them the next spring, having completely skipped the minor leagues.

Abbott finished his 10-year career with a 87-108 record and a 4.25 ERA (99 ERA+) in almost 1,700 innings.

Experiencing Bananaball

The verdict is in: Bananaball is not baseball.

Sunday afternoon was spent at Fenway Park, for the second of two games the Savannah Bananas (and Firefighters) played before sold-out crowds.

The afternoon was certainly entertaining. It’s also clear why Jesse Cole and the Bananas have become so wildly popular. Five years ago, the Bananas struggled to draw 1,000 fans a game, and now they regularly sell out MLB stadiums.

But don’t mistake bananaball for baseball.

Between the trick plays/catches and choreographed dance breaks and a never-ending stream of music, the two hours were really more ADHD-fueled chaos than it was a baseball game. Picture an event geared towards a generation addicted to screens, designed by a generation that grew up on YouTube. We did have a good time, though.

The guest appearances were the best part.

Doug Flutie threw out the ceremonial first pitch, which was actually three pitches since he wasn’t happy with the location of the first two. He insisted on throwing the ball again.

Flutie — inarguably viewed as a New England legend by most — starred at Boston College, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1984 after throwing one of the greatest touchdown passes in college football history. He then went on to a 21-year professional career that included 12 seasons in the NFL, eight in the Canadian Football League, and a season in the United States Football League.

Johnny Damon has appeared with the Bananas a few times since his playing career concluded. He took an at-bat late in the game, lining out to center field.

Damon spent 18 years in the majors with seven different teams. Damon is often somewhat underrated, considering he totaled 2,769 hits, 522 doubles, 109 triples, and 408 stolen bases over his career. Damon slashed .284/.352/.433 (104 OPS+) in almost 11,000 plate appearances.

Jackie Bradley Jr. received a pair of plate appearances. He was hit by a pitch in the first (and unsuccessfully pleaded for a chance to hit anyway). The Bananas later used their “Golden Banana Batter” (or whatever it’s actually called) to have Bradley take a second plate appearance. He lined out to deep center.

JBJ spent 11 years in the majors, nine with Boston and then he saw time with three other teams before calling it a career. Bradley won a Gold Glove for his defense in center field, but was just a .225/.303/.381 (82 OPS+) hitter.

Both Damon and JBJ, I got to see play during their careers. Still, it was cool to see them put on the spikes once again. The last guest appearance, his career was before my time.

78-year-old Bill “Spaceman” Lee came on to pitch to a batter. He threw four pitches, three were strikes. Lee then took off his jersey and slammed it on the mound.

Lee spent 14 seasons in the majors. Most of that career came in Boston before a stint with the Montreal Expos. The left-hander finished his career with a 119-90 record and 3.62 ERA (108 ERA+) and was an AL All-Star in 1973. He was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2008.

Keith Foulke and Brock Holt made appearances during Saturday’s game, so we certainly got the better assortment of guest players between the two games.