The Baseball Buffet for 11/21/2025

Issue #460

The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart-brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!

⚾ Welcome! ⚾

Not much offseason news yesterday, so I’ll take a moment to share with you something you might have missed during the summer: the Bob Wolff video collection at the National Baseball Hall of Fame is being digitized and made available at their YouTube channel!

You can read their press release on this from August 28th of this year, but here are a few key things to know:

• Bob Wolff (1920-2017) was a radio and television broadcaster, including being the voice of the Washington Senators from 1947-1960, as well as several teams across several sports.

• According to Wikipedia, Wolff was the longest-running sports broadcaster in television and radio history.

• He is a recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame, and the Curt Gowdy Media Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame.

• He called Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game across the country on the Mutual Broadcast System and around the world on the Armed Forces radio.

• His son, Rick Wolff, was an American book editor, author, college coach, broadcaster, and onetime professional baseball player. He authored or co-authored some 20 sports books.

Getting back to the video collection… Bob Wolff donated a vast library of filmed interviews he conducted, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. The National Hall of Fame is making many clips from these available at their robust YouTube channel. Here are just a few of the most recent additions:

• Hoyt Wilhelm shows off his knuckleball 

• Walt Dropo had how many hits in a row?

• Billy Pierce on finding hitters’ weaknesses

• Pete Runnels loved hitting in front of Ted Williams

Again, those are just a few of the most recently added clips. There are DOZENS more. If this was news to you, well, just be glad I’ve mentioned it in a Friday edition of The Baseball Buffet, so you have this weekend and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to go down this fun rabbit hole of video history!

Today’s Trivia Question

As noted below, today is Ken Griffey Jr.’s birthday. He won ten Gold Glove Awards in his career. Can you name the five other outfielders with 10 or more? Two had 12 apiece, and three others are tied with Griffey Jr. with 10 each.

Trivia answers are at the bottom of each newsletter.

On this day in baseball history…

Here is what stands out to me for this day in baseball history. Unless otherwise noted, the descriptions are from baseball-reference.com.

📅 On November 21…

• 1888: The Spiders replace the Wolverines in the NL. “The Cleveland Spiders are formally admitted to the National League, creating a vacancy in the American Association. Cleveland will replace the Detroit Wolverines.”

• 1933: Chuck Klein is traded after winning the Triple Crown. “Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Chuck Klein, who won the Triple Crown after hitting .368 with 28 home runs and 120 RBI, is sold to the Cubs for $125,000 and veterans Mark Koenig and Harvey Hendrick, and rookie Ted Kleinhans. Hendrick will play one year with the Phillies, while Koenig and Hendrick quickly go to the Reds. Klein, who also led the National League in hits (223), doubles (44), extra-base hits (79), total bases (365), slugging percentage (.602), on base percentage (.368) and OPS (1.025), and finished second in runs (102) and fourth in steals (15), is the only player in major league history to be traded after a Triple Crown season. Klein will have two-plus seasons at Wrigley Field before returning to Philadelphia in 1936.”

• 1934: The Yankees acquire Joe DiMaggio. “The Yankees purchase Joe DiMaggio from San Francisco of the Pacific Coast League. The son of Italian immigrants will be one of three DiMaggio brothers to play in the major leagues. Dom and Vince are the others.”

• 1956: Don Newcombe wins the NL MVP Award. “Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe wins the National League MVP; in a few days, he will become the first-ever Cy Young Award winner.”

• 1972: Carlton Fisk is unanimous AL Rookie of the Year. “Boston Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk is the first-ever unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year. Fisk hit 22 home runs and led the AL East Division with a .293 batting average.”

• 1973: Rose beats out Stargell for the NL MVP Award. “Pete Rose wins the National League MVP Award in a controversial vote, edging out Willie Stargell. Rose led the NL with 230 hits and won his third batting crown with a .338 mark. Stargell led the league with 44 home runs, 119 runs batted in, and a .646 slugging percentage while batting .299.”

• 1977: Murray beats out Page for the AL Rookie of the Year Award. “Baltimore Orioles first baseman Eddie Murray is named American League Rookie of the Year. Murray garners 12 1/2 points to beat out runner-up Mitchell Page of the Oakland Athletics, who polled 9 1/2 votes. Murray will go on to a Hall of Fame career, while Page will never come close to matching his rookie numbers.”

• 1983: Darryl Strawberry takes home NL Rookie of the Year honors. “New York Mets outfielder Darryl Strawberry breaks the Los Angeles Dodgers' four-year stronghold on the National League Rookie of the Year Award when he becomes the first non-Dodger to win the honor since Bob Horner in 1978. Rick Sutcliffe, Steve Howe, Fernando Valenzuela and Steve Sax had been the previous winners.”

• 1991: Pendleton tops Bonds for NL MVP Award. “Atlanta Braves third baseman Terry Pendleton, who hit .319 with 22 home runs and 86 RBI, wins the National League MVP Award. Pendleton surprisingly out-distances runner-up Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Barry Bonds (.292, 25, 116).”

🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉

Stan Musial (1920)

• Hall of Famer

• 22-year major league career, spanning from 1941-1963 (missing 1945 for military service), all as an OF and 1B for the St. Louis Cardinals

• All-Star in 20 seasons

• Won three MVP Awards early in his career (1943, 1946 and 1948). Also came in second in the NL MVP voting four times.

• Won seven batting titles, including a career-high .376 mark in 1948

• Led the NL in hits six times, runs five times, doubles eight times, triples five times, and RBI twice

• Had 25+ HR nine times

• Overall had 3,630 hits, 1,949 runs, 1,951 RBI, 725 doubles, 475 HR, a .331/.417/.559 slash line, and a 159 OPS+

Ken Griffey Jr. (1969)

• Hall of Famer

• Overall #1 draft pick in 1987 by the Seattle Mariners, then was in the majors as a 19-year old in 1989 coming in third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting after posting a .264 average with 16 HR and 16 SB

• 22-year major league career, spanning from 1989-2010, mostly with the Mariners and Reds

• 13-time All-Star, and won 10 Gold Glove Awards for his defensive excellence in CF

• Won the AL MVP Award in 1997 after leading the AL with 56 HR, 147 RBI, and 125 runs, to go with a .304 average and 15 SB

• Led the AL in HR four times and overall had 30+ HR nine times

• Had 100+ RBI eight times, 100+ runs six times, and 15+ SB eight times

• Won the HR Derby three times

• Overall had 2,781 hits, 630 HR, 184 SB, 1,662 runs, 1,836 RBI, a .284/.370/.538 slash line, and a 136 OPS+

• Interestingly, he was born not only on the same day as Stan Musial, but also in the same small town of Donora, Pennsylvania (current population is around 5,000)

Freddie Lindstrom (1905)

• Hall of Famer

• 13-year major league career, spanning from 1924-1936, mostly as a 3B with the New York Giants

• Led the NL with 231 hits in 1928 and batted .358, then had a career-high .379 average in 1930

• Had 100+ runs twice, 100+ RBI twice, and a career-high 22 HR in 1930

• Had modest speed on the bases, with 10-15 SB five times

• Switched from 3B to the OF in 1931 due to chronic back issues and a leg injury. Abruptly retired at the age of 30 after only 26 games in 1936 following an on-field collision with teammate Jimmy Jordan.

• Overall had 103 HR, 895 runs, a .311/.351/.449 slash line, and a 110 OPS+

Bobby Mathews (1851)

• 15-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1871-1887, playing for eight different clubs across three different leagues

• Won 25+ games seven times, including a high of a 42-22 record in 1874 to go with a 1.90 ERA over 578 IP

• The following season he had a losing 29-38 record with a 2.49 ERA over a league-leading 625.2 IP

• Overall had a 297-248 (.545) record, a 2.86 ERA, and a 104 ERA+ over 4,956 total innings pitched

Hank Blalock (1980)

• 9-year major league career, spanning from 2002-2010, almost all as a 3B for the Texas Rangers

• Two-time All-Star, including in 2003 when he hit .300 with 29 HR and 90 RBI, and again in 2004 when he hit .276 with 32 HR and 110 RBI

• Overall had 153 HR, a .269/.329/.463 slash line, and a 101 OPS+

Mark Eichhorn (1960)

• 11-year major league pitching career, spanning from 1982-1996, mostly with the Blue Jays and Angels

• Started seven games for the Blue Jays in 1982 but struggled with a 5.45 ERA and suffered a shoulder injury.

• Spent the next three years at AA and AAA, and then emerged as a very effective sidearm reliever for Toronto in 1986 with a 1.72 ERA, a 14-6 record, 10 saves, and 166 K in 157 IP (he fell just five innings short of qualifying for the ERA title).

• Once again had an outstanding 1.98 ERA for the Angels in 1991, and then a 2.15 ERA for the Orioles in 1994

• Overall had 32 career saves, a 3.00 ERA, and 142 ERA+

Currently active players who were born on November 21 include MIL Brice Turang and Robert Stock (free agent).

Baseball Quote of the Day

One of the new features I’m starting up during the offseason is a baseball-related quote of the day. These will include quotes by players or managers that are insightful or funny, and interesting quotes from others about the game itself. I’ll try to mix it up over time.

There are lots of good quotes from Stan “The Man” Musial, but here are five favorites:

"I love to play this game of baseball - I love putting on this uniform."

"The first principle of contract negotiations is don't remind them of what you did in the past - tell them what you're going to do in the future."

"The key to hitting for high average is to relax, concentrate, and don't hit the fly ball to center field."

"The one unbreakable rule about hitting is this: if a batter hits well with his own particular stance and swing, think twice - or more - before suggesting a change."

"When a pitcher's throwing a spitball, don't worry and don't complain, just hit the dry side like I do."

There also lots of quotes about Stan Musial, so again here is a set of five:

"Everybody's a Musial fan." - Former Cardinals Manager Whitey Herzog

"He could have hit .300 with a fountain pen." - Joe Garagiola

"How good was Stan Musial? He was good enough to take your breath away." - Broadcaster Vin Scully

"I throw him four wide ones then try to pick him off first base." - Preacher Roe

"Once (Stan) Musial timed your fastball, your infielders were in jeopardy." - Warren Spahn

⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today! ⚾

Today’s Trivia Answer

The six players who have won 10 or more Gold Glove Awards in the OF are:

• 12 - Roberto Clemente

• 12 - Willie Mays

• 10 - Ken Griffey Jr.

• 10 - Andruw Jones

• 10 - Al Kaline

• 10 - Ichiro Suzuki

Torii Hunter came close with nine Gold Glove Awards.

Good Reads

Here I am providing one or more links to baseball articles I’ve enjoyed recently, whether by writers at MLB.com or elsewhere.

• These 10 unranked sleeper prospects earned 40-man roster spots, by Sam Dykstra at MLB, 11/19/2025

• Here's an early look at the top 2026 Rookie of the Year candidates, by Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo, and Joe Trezza at MLB, 11/19/2025

• Miami Marlins: Six Steps to Rebuild for 2026, by Allen Settle at Here's the Pitch: the IBWAA Newsletter, 11/21/2025

• The Sinkerball Wizard, by Joe Posnanski at JoeBlogs, 11/20/2025

• One-minute thoughts on all 15 American League teams, by Mark Kolier at Almost Cooperstown, 11/21/2025

See recent issues of The Baseball Buffet for more recent good reads!

Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.

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