Not Sure I Would Have Chosen The Same Comparison
Saturday, August 11, 2007
(posted by OMDQ)
Watching the rebroadcast of a Little League regional game between New Mexico and Texas West on ESPN this morning, I heard one of the announcers refer to Lubbock, Texas starting pitcher Garrett Williams as "vintage Frank Tanana or Sam McDowell" because he is a hard-throwing lefty.Obviously, this is nitpicky, but couldn't he have come up with a more current and/or logical reference? When I think hard-throwing lefties, I think Randy Johnson and Sandy Koufax before anyone else. Maybe Lefty Grove.
Tanana? Sure, he threw lightning bolts early on in his career, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a fan under the age of thirty who doesn't remember him as a guy who got by on guts and guile (if they remember him at all). McDowell? Hard to argue against a guy whose nickname was "Sudden Sam", but he's still not the first name that springs to mind when I consider hard-throwing lefties.
Photo: Baseball Analysts
3 Comments:
Anonymous
said...
Aug 11, 2007, 3:37:00 PM
Possibly, gjdodger. Both Tanana and McDowell were major leaguers in their teens, which makes the comparison slightly more sensible.
One More Dying Quail
said...
Aug 11, 2007, 4:26:00 PM
Kid reminded me of Herb Pennock (spits tobacco). Now get off my lawn.
the wolf
said...
Aug 11, 2007, 5:31:00 PM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Being from Detroit and a contemporary of Tanana (I saw him play basketball for Catholic Central--we [De La Salle] beat them when they were ranked #1 in the state), he might have been referring to hard throwing lefties who developed their reputations right out of high school.