Tim Stoddard, 1983 Fleer #75

No, the Orioles' ongoing backslide into crapulence hasn't driven me away from blogging just yet. I was out of town for the holiday weekend, attending Chikara Pro Wrestling's King of Trios tournament in scenic Easton, PA. Because I am the undisputed master of time management, I waited until 90 minutes prior to my departure to try to fit in: yardwork, a shower, packing, and blogging. Guess which of those activities fell by the wayside.

Now that I'm trying to get back to my usual routines, I've got a thoroughly useless fact about the 1983 Fleer Orioles team set for you. There are a whopping six cards featuring O's pitchers without their hats. The rogue's gallery consists of both Dennis and Tippy Martinez, Scott McGregor, Jim Palmer (of course), Sammy Stewart, and...Tim Stoddard? Hey, when in Rome. Anyhow, there are no Oriole position players in this set who appear capless, which makes things even quirkier. Maybe the pitchers had a No-Hat Wednesday and the hitters weren't invited. It makes as much sense as any other explanation.

Tim Stoddard, 1984 Donruss #245

It was something of a happy accident, but I spent my first day without baseball out being social. Not even an onslaught of October snow - SNOW! - was able to keep me from my plans. There was a 5:00 PM birthday party for my cousin's little girl, where I caught up with the extended family and failed to suppress a few smirks while my uncle ranted about my ridiculous luck in fantasy football. (My Fightin' Igwebuikes are 7-0, and could run it to 8-0 with a good game by Michael Vick tonight.)

I didn't think I was going to have any Halloween-type activities to attend this year, but late in the game my sister invited me to a small get-together at her house. I swung by at 7:00 PM in my cost-effective and quickly-assembled costume, consumed much dessert, and watched the horrendous Halloweens 4 and 5. Pictured below: me in my hipster getup. I trimmed the beard down to my best ironic/absurd facial hair. I think Tim Stoddard wears it better, but I'm pleased with the way it turned out. My sister's friend Justin is visible in the background as Marty McFly.

Earlier in the day, I'd gotten an 11th-hour invite to a Halloween party that night in Greenbelt hosted by some friends from the Rude Mechanicals, a theatre troupe I acted with when I lived down that way. I haven't seen them much since I moved back to Baltimore, so I wanted to make an appearance. Knowing that their parties skew later in the evening, I bade my sister goodbye at 10:30 and made the hourlong drive south. I had a good time and made it safely back home at the responsible hour of 3:30 in the morning. Somehow I'm still in one piece, and I'm a bit relieved to be staying in and giving out candy tomorrow night.

Vintage Fridays: Tim Stoddard, 1980 Topps #314

Earlier today, Andy at Baseball Reference wrote a blog post talking about pitchers who earned holds, saves, or wins without officially facing a batter. This happens when an inherited runner is picked off or otherwise caught stealing. Using a query he ran for the post, I found all of the Orioles pitchers who have recorded an out without having faced a batter. There are twelve instances of this, but seven came in Orioles losses, and those are less fun to discuss. Let's examine the rest, shall we?

-On September 4, 1978, Scott McGregor allowed three runs to the Red Sox before getting an out, thanks to a Jim Rice home run. But he buckled down and retired the next 23 batters in a row and 26 of 27. With the O's rallying for five runs of their own, it looked like Scottie was going to get an improable complete game victory. However, Earl Weaver gave him the hook when Carl Yastrzemski and Carlton Fisk produced back-to-back singles with two outs in the ninth. "Fullpack" Don Stanhouse came in to face Dwight Evans, who represented the go-ahead run. The erratic reliever earned a save without even making the hometown fans sweat much, picking off Fisk to close out an odd game.

-Two years later (September 21, 1980), the Birds hosted the Blue Jays in a pitchers' duel between Jim Clancy and Mike Flanagan. Eddie Murray and John Lowenstein accounted for the Oriole scoring with consecutive RBI singles in the third inning, and Toronto's lone run came via a John Mayberry home run in the fourth. Tippy Martinez replaced Flanny in the ninth and got two outs before Mayberry doubled. The wheels were turning, as Weaver summoned big righty Tim Stoddard to face the righthanded Bob Bailor. Jays skipper Bobby Mattick sent up Steve Braun to bat from the left side, and also replaced Mayberry with rookie pinch runner Lloyd Moseby. After all of that strategy, Rick Dempsey rendered everything moot by catching Moseby off of second base. Kiko Garcia tagged the runner out, and the O's won 2-1. Incidentally, Stoddard had another one-out, no-batter performance in 1981 against the Jays, but it came in a losing cause.

-Jumping ahead to 1997, Scott Erickson walked a tightrope in his May 21 home start against the Tigers. He allowed four hits and five walks in seven and two-thirds innings, but induced four double plays with his sinker. A two-run homer by Rafael Palmeiro gave him an early lead, but Detroit starter Justin Thompson kept the Birds off the board thereafter. So when Erickson gave up a single, a walk, and a pair of stolen bases in the eighth inning, Davey Johnson signaled for the ancient lefty Jesse Orosco to secure the third out. Brian Hunter took his lead off of third base and Damion Easley did likewise at first, but Orosco spun off of the rubber and picked Easley off of first to earn a hold. Randy Myers came on for the ninth and picked up the save: 2-0 final.

-April 28, 2001: The Orioles visit the Twins. This was during that bizarre "Chuck McElroy as a starter" era of Baltimore baseball. He held his own on this day, with a Tom Prince solo home run plating the only run against him. A fifth-inning two-run homer by Brook Fordyce gave Chuck a scant lead. Mike Hargrove pulled him with two outs in the sixth; Corey Koskie stood on first following a single. Rookie reliever Chad Paronto pitched to pinch hitter Jacque Jones, but Koskie took off for second and was thrown out by Fordyce. A piece-of-cake hold for Paronto. Buddy Groom held the fort in the seventh, and Mike Trombley earned the save with one run allowed over the final two innings (the O's tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth), fixing the final score at 5-2.

-Finally we come to the only no-batter win in Oriole history. It was May 1, 2003, and the Birds were playing a doubleheader in Detroit. Rodrigo Lopez was chased after retiring only three of the seven batters he faced, but Pat Hentgen bailed the team out with five and two-thirds innings of relief. When the Tigers took a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning with a two-out single by Omar Infante, Mike Hargrove called for B. J. Ryan. The southpaw caught Infante leaning too early and picked him off, with ex-Tiger Deivi Cruz applying the tag at second base. The O's immediately pieced together three runs of their own to take the lead, making Ryan the pitcher of record. Buddy Groom and Jorge Julio each provided a shutout inning to lock in the 5-2 win for Baltimore.

So there you go. Pitching is pretty easy when you don't have to get any batters out.

Tim Stoddard, 1981 Donruss #475

Although I'm settled into my new house and it even looks like a domesticated human lives there, I still have some kinks to iron out. I didn't get the cable/Internet situation ironed out until today, and the install won't actually take place until next Tuesday. So I've been Macgyvering it for the last week or so, scanning a few cards at a time and saving them on a thumb drive until I can mooch off a loved one and upload to the 'net. This process is further deemed necessary by my travel itinerary this week, as I am flying out to San Diego on Thursday to spend a weekend with some friends. I will fly back in to BWI late next Monday evening. Do you know what that means?

Theme week!

I hereby dub the next eight days Eighties Week, featuring eight choice cards from the decade of my birth. We'll kick it off with a card that's quintessentially 1980s. Donruss and Fleer broke the baseball card monopoly previously held by Topps in 1981, but they still had some catching up to do. Their cards were riddled with typographical errors, the card stock was cheap, and many of the photos were blurry, off-center, bizarrely composed. I've heard the massive Tim Stoddard referred to as "Bigfoot", and the quality of this picture certainly is reminiscent of the grainy, dark shots that are often offered up as proof of the existence of his namesake. All you can see is his ample backside and the profile of his face, as though the photographer was eavesdropping on the pitcher. He seemed to be cloaked in late-afternoon shadows. Based on the dirt and the chalk line, he's probably warming up on a bullpen mound in foul territory. Unusual, but not pretty.

Tim Stoddard, 1981 Fleer #176

Well, it seems that I've stirred up some interest with my All-Kevin team! Several of my readers and fellow bloggers have taken it upon themselves to compile their own All-Namesake teams, with some fascinating results.

-In the comments on the original post, reader Commish (a.k.a. Bob) typed up his All-Bob team. If I were him, I totally would have stuck Grich at second base; most of his Topps cards referred to him as "Bob".

-Reds fan Nachos Grande has put together his All-Chris team, featuring Hoiles and Ray for us O's fans. Again, if I'm calling the shots, I would put Chris Young in the rotation. I'm a fan.

-Dodgers fan Night Owl goes for broke with the All-Greg team. He's got ZAUN, Olson, and both Greg Harrises! Oh, I guess that Maddux guy is a decent #1 starter, too.

-Billy Suter of West Virginia Cards isn't fooling around with the All-Bill(y) team. His lineup includes three Hall of Famers.

Finally, I got an email from Tim, who often comments as Rounding Thirty3rd. He took the time to draw up an all-Tim team, and after all that he's contributed to this blog (both sending cards and making comments), it's only right that he supply the first-ever guest post. So I've copied and pasted the All-Timothy Team below. Enjoy!

**************************************************

I don't know how this will match up with your team. I have good starting pitching (hopefully giving me plenty of innings), weak middle relief, but a decent closer. My bats are not overly powerful, but solid with a bit of speed.

I have 7 All-Stars (denoted with *) on the team and one Hall of Famer.



All-Time All-Timothy Team

*Smiling Tim Keefe - Starter - Hall of Famer - 554 complete games - enough said!

Tim Lincecum - Starter - Young star with lots of potential, ironically his middle name is same as my grandfather's first name, down to the same capitalization (LeRoy).

*James Timothy (Mudcat) Grant - Starter - 21-7 in 1965, 145 career wins, his middle name was Timothy, but with a nickname like Mudcat, I had to include him on my list.

Tim Wakefield - Starter - 2-time World Champion but never an All-Star?!?

Tim Belcher - Starter - First overall pick in 1984 draft. Never fully fulfilled his potential.


*Tim Burke - Mid Relief - 2.72 career ERA

Tim Worrell - Mid Relief - former Oriole, brother Todd was better, but Tim had longer career

Tim Crabtree - Mid Relief - good name, need someone to mop up in the bullpen

Tim Crews - Mid Relief - just need another arm in the pen

Tim Stoddard - closer - Orioles second coming of Don Stanhouse, plus had an appearance in "Rookie of the Year"!



*Tim McCarver - catcher - 1967 MVP runner-up and can also fill-in the broadcast booth on off-days

Tim Jordan - 1B - had to go old school to find me a first sacker

Tim Teufel - 2B - needed another infielder - solid but unremarkable.

Tim Foli - SS - almost banned from team for hitting career high .291 for 1979 Bucs

*Tim Wallach - 3B - 5-time AS, 3 Gold Gloves, and 2 Silver Sluggers

Tim Salmon - OF - ROY and 5 30+ homer seasons

*Tim "Rock" Raines - OF - former Oriole, ROY runner-up, 808 stolen bases, potential Hall of Famer??

Tim Hendryx - OF - I was really struggling for a third Outfielder



*Tim Laudner - catcher - 1988 All-Star - I am sure he called a good game.

Voiceless Tim O'Rourke - Utility Infield - great nickname, and swiped 81 bases without a CS (look it up in B-R).

Tim Hullett - Utility Infield - makes team as a former Oriole

Tim Naehring - DH - better bat than my other utility players

Tim Raines, Jr. - batboy, 4th outfielder - former Oriole

Tim Stoddard, 1982 Fleer #181

Since tonight is the Royal Rumble, my favorite wrestling event of the year, I'm posting this card of Tim "Bigfoot" Stoddard, whose imposing size (6'7", 250 lbs.) could have made him a pretty good wrestler. Tonight, I'm attempting my first ever live blog for the Royal Rumble match, as a follow-up to the contest that I ran with my post this afternoon on A Pack a Day. Since I couldn't track down anyone to split the $40 price tag for the pay-per-view, I'll be live-blogging other live blogs, essentially. Not the best-laid plans, to be sure. Keep refreshing for updates!

9:49 - Okay, we're underway! The first two entrants are #1 Rey Mysterio, Jr. (tiny masked Mexican wrestler) and #2 John Morrison (egocentric Jim Morrison knockoff.) After that we got #3 Carlito (Puerto Rican second-generation wrestler with a huge afro) and #4 MVP (generic conceited black athlete gimmick). #5 is the Great Khali (ginormous 7' tall Indian wrestler, starred in The Longest Yard remake). #6 is Vladimir Kozlov (undefeated evil whitebread Russian), who eliminates Khali! #7 is Triple H (neanderthal superstar who loves Motorhead and married the owner's daughter to ensure his stardom). Aaaand we're caught up!

10:03 - Had some technical difficulties. #8 is Randy Orton (obnoxious third-generation wrestler with some really dumb tattoos), followed by #9 JTG (horrendous black stereotype), #10 Ted DiBiase, Jr. (son of the Million Dollar Man, an awesome 1980s villain), #11 Chris Jericho (my personal hero, a bestselling author/heavy metal singer/VH1 commenter, and he wrestles sometimes too), #12 Mike Knox (creepy bearded baddie), #13 The Miz (John Morrison's tag team partner and a former MTV reality star), #14 Fit Finlay (insane middle-aged Irish brawler), and #15 Cody Rhodes (son of Dusty Rhodes and cohort of Orton and DiBiase). Someone needs to clear out some of the bodies in that ring, from the sound of it!

10:11 - They keep on comin'. #16 is the Undertaker (wrestling zombie/aging biker from Houston), #17 is Goldust (homoerotic man with gold facepaint and bodysuit), #18 is CM Punk (straightedge technician/greasy looking urchin), and #19 is Mark Henry (400+ pound ex-Olympic weightlifter).

10:14 - Apparently, the Twitter feed I was following was not keeping track of eliminations. Gone are MVP and Carlito at the hands of Kozlov. HHH takes out Kozlov, Morrison, and the Miz. #20 entrant is Shelton Benjamin (former amateur wrestler at the University of Minnesota, African-American with bleach blond hair). #21 is King William Regal (evil Britisher, real life recovering drug addict). #22 is Kofi Kingston (high-flying young Jamaican) and #23 is Kane (sadistic gargoyle who was burned badly as a child and is storyline brother to the Undertaker).

10:20 - #24 is R-Truth (wrestling rapper - he also had a brief role in "The Wrestler", which is a fantastic movie btw). So far, only commenter RWH is out of the running for the contest prize. I better reload and see if anyone else was eliminated.

10:25 - #25 is Rob Van Dam (pothead/ex 7-11 pitchman/flippy-floppy type guy), which is a huge surprise since he has only made one appearance for WWE in the last few years! #26 is THE Brian Kendrick (little shrimpy blond guy who hides behind his huge bodyguard Ezekiel). I need to find a liveblog that updates eliminations...grr.

10:30 - #27 Dolph Ziggler (doofy looking guy whose gimmick is introducing himself to people - don't ask), and #28 is Santino Marella (unibrowed Italian stereotype/chauvinist who is inexplicably hilarious). Marella is immediately gone - sorry, Thorzul. #29 is Hacksaw Jim Duggan (who you may have actually heard of - America-lovin', 2X4 toting slob from the 80's). #30 is the Big Show (7-plus-foot, 500 pound beast, good friend of Hulk Hogan. Was originally brought into WCW as Andre the Giant's son. Starred as Captain Insano in The Waterboy). Aaand now I'll try to find out who the heck got eliminated, and by whom.

10:38 - Here we go. Undertaker murders JTG - or maybe just throws him out (there goes Mad Guru's guy). Rhodes tosses Goldust, his real life brother and William's pick. Undertaker buries Mark Henry and Shelton Benjamin, and roofgod's chances of winning. Punk takes out Regal, Kendrick takes out Kingston (condolences to Fan of Reds), and Kendrick is dumped in turn by Triple H. Kane deposited Ziggler and the aforementioned Marella. That's all I've got right now.

10:41 - No word on the specifics of the other eliminations, but the Final Six are HHH, Orton, Rhodes, DiBiase, Big Show, and Undertaker. Even though only 15 of the 30 slots were claimed in my contest, only DiBiase (#10) is remaining among the unclaimed! Chances are we'll have a prize winner tonight!

10:43 - Latest on the Twitter has Taker and Show biting the dust. Sorry MGonnella and Burnsee2!

10:44 - Your 2009 Royal Rumble winner is Randy Orton (#8)! Congratulations to Sam! Email me (brotz13 AT gmail DOT com) with your favorite team and address, and I'll send out your prize later this week!

Thanks for hanging with me folks. A lesson learned: the next time I liveblog, I'll make sure I'm actually watching the event I'm blogging.

Tim Stoddard, 1983 Topps #217

When I started this blog, I had a notion in my mind that I would eventually do "theme weeks". Often I just pick a day's card as the mood strikes me, as long as I haven't used that player and/or year and brand of card recently. I'm all about variety. But in commenting on Tuesday's card, Steve from White Sox Cards pointed out that each player I'd chosen this week had played for one of the Chicago teams. Unbelievably, the players I'd had in mind for Wednesday and Thursday also had ties to the Windy City! From Saturday onward, I've had Dave Crouthers (who was traded to-but never played for-the Cubs), Phil Bradley (White Sox), Corey Patterson (Cubs), Jamie Moyer (Cubs), Mike Devereaux (White Sox), and Mike Morgan (Cubs). So for yesterday's card, I decided to go with the flow and choose another ex Chi-Sox player in Don Buford. Today I'm straddling two theme weeks by going with one more former Cubbie, Tim Stoddard.

I've got a handful of Stoddard cards, and I enjoy them all. There's just something about a 6'7", 235-pound pitcher with a walrus mustache that is inherently entertaining. Believe it or not, Tim's a two-sport athlete...and the second sport is not football. He started for the 1974 NCAA Championship basketball team at North Carolina State University. To date, the only other major league baseball player to even appear in a Final Four has been speedy outfielder Kenny Lofton. So hats off to Tim Stoddard.

Two-sport athletes would probably make an interesting theme week, but that's not what I have in mind. You see, my favorite giant relief pitcher is also a movie star, having appeared in 1993's Rookie of the Year. Regrettably, I can't remember his character's name, and he's credited as simply "Dodgers pitcher". Stoddard, who also acted as a technical advisor on the set, was well-cast as a hulking, intimidating hurler. He sported the same penetrating stare that you see in the card above, but was ultimately goaded into distraction by his twelve-year-old counterpart, protagonist Henry Rowengartner (as played by Thomas Ian Nicholas of American Pie fame)...

Yes, Tim Stoddard has the dubious honor of being the subject of the taunt, "Pitcher's got a big butt, pitcher's got a big butt!"

I can't help but imagine that if any batter had tried that against Stoddard in his prime, he would've gotten a fastball in the ribs for his trouble.