Mustache May 'stache of the Day: Luis Tiant

Thanks to the continued support of the American Mustache Institute, it is with great pleasure that I begin our month long celebration of the 'stache with one of the fiercest mustaches ever to rock the baseball world.

Of course I am talking about "El Tiante" Luis Tiant.

AMI Style: I've gotta go with a horsehoe-walrus (walshoe... horserus?) combo. Any suggestions as to what to call this beauty?

Grade: A+++ You can't go wrong with "El Tiante"...way to start us off!

Some of you will say I am biased. Sure, thanks to my pal Sidearm, I have an autographed Tiant ball in my office, but c'mon...look at it. My guess is that of the 229 victories during Tiant's Hall-worthy career, 55-60 of them were thanks in large part to his luxurious lip curtain.

As a sidenote, the ESPN Tribeca Sports Film Festival is going to be showing what appears to be a great documentary about Tiant. Check out some clips HERE.

A special thanks to checkoutmycards.com for the use of their images.

The Legacy of Number 31

Take a look around the major leagues, team by team, and there are numbers that define the franchise.

In Boston, it is Ted Williams’ familiar Number 9.

Number 44 in Atlanta is synonymous with Hank Aaron.

And in New York, well…in New York, the Yankees have too many to mention.

On May 3, the Chicago Cubs will be adding a new number to their team’s historic legacy.

Joining Numbers 10 (Ron Santo), 14 (Ernie Banks), 23 (Ryne Sandberg), 26 (Billy Williams) and 42 (Jackie Robinson) will be Number 31.


However, the Cubs aren’t just retiring Number 31 for one player…they’re doing it one better and retiring it for two.

Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux.

And the case for both is pretty easy to make.

Jenkins made his way to the Cubs on April 21, 1966 (a week after Maddux was born coincidentally), along with John Herrnstein and Adolfo Phillips. In return, the Phillies received Bob Buhl and Larry Jackson.

Now, I’m not entirely sure how Buhl and Jackson panned out for the Phillies, but considering they were out of baseball shortly after Richard Nixon was elected suggests that the Cubs MIGHT have made out like bandits.

But what exactly did Jenkins accomplish while wearing Number 31 on his back for the Loveable Losers?

Well…

Jenkins was 167-132 with a 3.20 ERA in two stints (ten seasons) with the Cubs. In 1971, he brought home the National League Cy Young Award, while three other times, he was either the runner up (1967) or finished third (1970 and 1972).

All in all, Jenkins threw six straight 20 win seasons between 1967 and 1972 (the longest streak in the Majors since Warren Spahn did the same between 1986 and 1961), during his first stint with the Cubs.


In 1982, after eight seasons away from Chicago and stops in Texas and Boston, Jenkins returned to the North Side to push his career wins total to 284, which, at the time, ranked him 19th all-time. Twenty-five full seasons after his retirement, he is sitting at 29th all-time.

Prior to the 1984 season, Jenkins was released and left the Cubs as their all-time leader in games started and strikeouts. His 167 victories as a member of the Cubs is the most for the team since 1941.

What’s interesting about Jenkins is that he didn’t want Number 31 when he first joined the Cubs. Originally, he requested Number 30, but Cubs clubhouse man Yosh Kawano informed Jenkins that young lefty Kenny Holtzman already wore that number.“My birthday is December 13, so I reversed the numbers to make it 31,” Jenkins once told a reporter.

Given the crazy reasons that other people have had (Omar Olivares wore Number 00 to display his initials, Bill Lee wanted 337 so people could read his name while he stood on his head), reversing your birthdate makes perfect sense to me.

Maddux, on the other hand, had no such reasons.

When he made the big leagues late in the 1986 season, he stepped into the Cubs clubhouse and without asking…was given Number 31.

“I remember walking down the stairs into the clubhouse. (The Number 31 jersey) was there in my locker. Being 20-years-old at the time, the last thing I was going to do was complain about my number. I was just happy to be there,” Maddux told the Chicago Tribune last month. “I thought that was pretty cool that they gave me (Jenkins’) number.”

And like Jenkins, Maddux made the most out of his career with the pinstriped Number 31 on his back.

In his ten seasons with the Cubs, he was 133-112 with a 3.61 ERA. He also cemented himself as one of the top fielding pitchers of all-time by winning six of his 18 Gold Gloves on the North Side.

In 1992, Maddux’s best season as a Cub, he won his first Cy Young Awards. Of course, it was following that season when Chicago ceremoniously allowed him to flee to Atlanta and capture three more Cy Youngs.

All in a row.

In between his two stints with Chicago (the second coming from 2004 to 2006), Maddux finished just shy of 200 wins with the Braves and for his career, he ended with a staggering 355-227 record. He is the only pitcher in Major League history to win at least 15 games in 17 consecutive seasons and only Spahn and his 363 wins has more career wins in the post-1920 live-ball era.

Jenkins was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1991, his third try, with 75.4% of the vote. Maddux looks to be virtually unanimous when Cooperstown comes a calling in 2014.

Separately they are sure-bet Hall of Famers. But let me ask you this…did anyone else of worth ever don Number 31 for the Cubs?

The short answer is “no”, but most perplexing is how and why did ANYONE get to wear the number once Jenkins left the first time? Why wasn’t Jenkins’ number, at the least, the second number retired by the Cubs (Banks’ being the first in 1982) instead of the sixth?

I mean, here was a guy who, from 1967 to 1972 led the Majors with 127 victories, averaged 248 Ks (compared to 63 walks) and a 3.00 ERA. How did the Cubs dare relinquish his jersey to the likes of Tom Dettore (1975-76), Joe Coleman (1976), Jim Todd (1977) and Davey Johnson(1978).

The first three were, like Jenkins, pitchers, but their time with Chicago didn’t quite add up to Fergie’s. Mostly used in relief, the three pitchers were a combined 15-21 with a 4.92 ERA over three seasons.

Between the time Jenkins came back to the Cubs to finish up his Hall of Fame career and Maddux started his, another reliever, Ray Fontenot donned Number 31.

Fontenot continued the legacy of the afore mentioned three-headed monster by going 9-15 in 80 games.

Ugh.

So, Maddux inherits the number and holds on to it while he secures his spot as one of the greatest righties of the live-ball era. Surely, the Cubs learned their lesson and packed up Number 31 for good, right?

Nope.

Half a dozen players came and went through the clubhouse on the corner of Clark and Addison.

And again, much like Dettore, Coleman, Todd, Johnson and Fontenot…Kevin Foster (1994, 1997-98), Bobby Ayala (1999), Brad Woodall (1999), Mike Fyhrie (2001), Donovan Osborne (2002) and Mark Guthrie (2003) failed to re-capture the glory of Jenkins and Maddux.

And since I know you’re curious (and I did the math)…Foster, Ayala, Woodall, Fyhrie, Osborne and Guthrie were a less than stellar 36-41 with a 4.51 ERA.

With the Braves, Maddux was 194 and 88 with a 2.63 ERA. Add to that those three Cy Young awards and four other seasons where he finished in the top five and, well, there is no need to continue with the comparisons.

Suffice it to say, it is nice to see the Cubs FINALLY wise up and put Number 31 to bed. I know I’ll be watching on May 3 as they retire the number for good.

Will they send two flags up the foul pole or just one?

I guess we’ll find out.
***On May7, Jenkins will be making what is surely one of his first public appearances following the retirement ceremony when he visits Rockford, IL. For information on the benefit, please check out MELD's website.***

Happy Mustache May from JB

***With Mustache May right around the corner, Hall contributor JB broke out the razor, said "goodbye" to the lip sweater and "hello" to the dawn of a new one. Here's his take.***

As a mild-mannered, soon to be 35 year-old, I find that few things excite me in life the way they used to.

Apart from “scoring” with my fiancé (anyone married or committed will tell you, yes, you do have to still put in work), playing with my dog, Hobbs (yes, after “Roy”) and my ever-improving golf game, there are not a lot of things that genuinely excite me the way that, say….how I felt when the original RBI Baseball came out for Nintendo.

That was until I found out about Mustache May.

I gotta admit, I jumped the gun a little and started growing a hybrid-horseshoe about three and a half weeks ago...much to the chagrin of my fiancé.

So when the "rules" were finally posted, I was pretty bummed.

At lunch, I had to trim the flavor-saver down to stubble and prepare for this Friday morning and plan my next ‘stached endeavor. I’m thinking a horseshoe-meets-Paul Teutul, Sr. from "American Choppers"...but we’ll see.

As I swept up the brown-black-reddish-orange-gray (thank you, Irish heritage) pieces of my once proud lip partner...I remembered that at one time I had nothing.

Above my lip that is.

I realize that all great mustaches start from scratch.

So as all you faithful HOVG followers plan out your facial features in the next two days, I’ll leave you with baseball’s most famous mustache’s 1970 Topps card (his 1969 rookie card was shared with Bob Floyd and Larry Burchart).

No excuses to those of you who feel you can’t (def: won’t) grow out a solidarity ‘stache for May. At one time, Rollie Fingers had nothing.

Above his lip that is.

Mustache May is on, gang!

Friday marks the beginning of the Third Annual Mustache May.

The Inaugural Mustache May happened back in 2004, and didn't extend much further than the walls of one office building.The Second Mustache May was clearly the highlight of 2005.

Thanks to advances in modern internet technology, websites were made, an official Myspace (remember Myspace?) group was formed and t-shirts (still available HERE) were sold.

Mustache May was now international.

Then we took a break for four years. Some things happened…we were busy.

Well, The Hall of Very Good (with the support of The American Mustache Institute) is helping bring back the ‘stache!

So, in a lead-up to the official May 1 start date, here are the three original rules of Mustache May:

• Mustaches must be separated from any other facial hair by at least the combined width of a forefinger and middle finger. However, a mustache is permitted to connect to sideburns to attain that coveted "nose strap" look.
  
• Mustaches must be started from scratch. If you already have a beard or mustache, you must lose the lip sweater by May 1.


• Mustache May is a celebration and NOT a competition! However, if you shave your mustache before the end of the month…you lose.

Each day throughout the month of May (hopefully by 8am CST), The Hall is pleased to deliver to you a baseball ‘stache of the day replete with the player’s stats, significance to the game and style of cookie duster based on the AMI style guide.

Please leave a comment below and let us know what style you’re hoping to achieve or just keep us up dated on all your mustachioed goodness. Also…feel free to email The Hall so you can get hooked up with the Mustache May 2009 Facebook group.

As Dr. Aaron Perlut would say…carry on.

The power of the 'stache

With 396 home runs under his belt, Oakland’s Jason Giambi sits four home runs away from 400 for his career. Sure, it doesn’t carry with it the same mystique that Gary Sheffield’s recent accomplishment does, but still…it’s impressive.

Not as impressive is the fact that the “Giambino” has yet to go deep this season.

And before you ask…yes, the drought that he is in right now is the longest time he’s gone homerless to start a season. The same couldn’t be said of his mid-season tear last season.

Going into last year’s All-Star Game, Giambi was vying for a spot on the American League roster and turned to an unlikely (some say logical) resource.

He grew a mustache.

Dr. Aaron Perlut of the American Mustache Institute followed Giambi’s exploits and even served as a correspondent for ESPN.

The following was submitted by the good doctor.

Up until just a few days ago, outfielder Rick Ankiel of the St. Louis Cardinals had been struggling at the plate early in this 2009 season, mustering just a .179 batting average.

But then something changed.

Something was different. Ankiel, the normally clean-shaven comeback kid, showed up to the ballpark with a thick, rich, luxurious chevron-style mustache.

Indeed, as demonstrated last year by Jason Giambi, the mustache is any major leaguer's ultimate performance enhancer. You may recall that "The Big G" (as he took to calling himself last year) batted 100 points higher with his mouth brow, than he did without it. And while Giambi's jump in cookie dusting-fueled hitting was extraordinarily high, the American Mustache Institute has conducted extensive studies of athletes' performance before and after growing lip curtains.

In baseball specifically, AMI cutting-edge research division led by Dr. Daniel T. Callahan has found mustaches increase a player's batting average by 39 percent. Ankiel, however, is far exceeding that average, as his flavor-saving protective mouth shade has raised his batting average .71 points to .250 as of April 24, and we can only assume there is more to come as long as he does not remove his new furry friend.

It's ironic that a player like Ankiel has chosen to use a labia sebucula (Latin for "lip sweater") to improve his batting average, as he plays in the home of the world's largest mustache…the Gateway Arch.

But irony is a fickle beast.

Regardless, the Mustached American community applauds him and the Cardinals organization for its support of our people and we hope this is the beginning of a trend for the team.

Sadly, and this is a little known but true fact, Albert Pujols petitioned and was denied by Major League Baseball to shave his goatee into a true flavor saving mustache. MLB argued that as Pujols is already hitting .339 this season, adding a performance enhancing mustache would give him too much of an advantage and possibly endanger opposing National League pitchers.

It is important to note for fans and economists alike that the upside of Ankiel's mustache doesn't just stop with performance. It never does. No, AMI research has shown that the Cardinals can now expect a 17.8 percent increase in female fans at Busch Stadium, important in these tough economic times, and all of the team's male fans should be thankful for Ankiel's unselfish, good looking gesture.

For the sake of Ankiel's performance, the Cardinals early season success both on the field and now with lady Cardinals fans, and for humankind altogether, we hope Ankiel keeps his mustache throughout the season. That's because according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, quite sadly, every time a mustache is shaved an angel in heaven dies and falls to earth.

Be sure to take AMI's new poll on the impact of a mustache on how a man is perceived HERE.

Carry on.

Read more from Dr. Aaron Perlut over at the American Mustache Institute website.

Ticket punched

His first hit in the Majors was a home run for the Milwaukee Brewers, so it is fitting that his latest home run was against them.

New York Mets slugger Gary Sheffield thrilled the 36,436 in attendance when he hit home run Number 500 and became the 25th player to accomplish the feat. I laid out his Hall of Fame candidacy a few weeks back after the Tigers released him...no need to repeat it.

That being said...here are ten OTHER things that might interest you about Sheff's 500 dingers.

250,000
On September 8, 2008 (as a member of the Detroit Tigers), Sheffield’s grand slam against Oakland was determined to be the 250,000 home run in Major League history.

334
Sheffield went yard against 334 different pitchers. The first…Mark Langston. The latest…Mitch Stetter. Tom Glavine and Jamey Wright were victimized the most, giving up six long balls apiece.

51
Sheffield’s home run Friday night was his 51st game tying home run. Over his career, 203 of his 500 were go ahead shots, while another 4 were grand slams.

42
In 1996, Sheffield went deep 42 times for the Florida Marlins, setting a franchise record for the fish. In 6 seasons in Miami, Sheffield hit 122 home runs.

41
When Sheffield sent one out of Citi Field Friday night, it meant he had hit a home run in 41 different Major League ballparks.

30…31?
Sheffield has hit a home run against all 30 Major League teams. If you count the Montreal Expos…he’s hit one against 31.

17.9
Sheffield hits a home run every 17.9 at bats, which nestles him right near Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson (17.52) and Duke Snider (17.6) on the all-time list.

8
Sheffield has played for and gone deep for eight teams. Milwaukee (1988-1991), San Diego (1992-1993), Florida (1993-1998), Los Angeles (1998-2001), Atlanta (2002-2003), New York Yankees (2004-2006), Detroit (2007-2008) and New York Mets (2009).

2
In 28 pinch hit at bats, Sheffield has 10 hits…2 of them (Friday night’s included) have been home runs. The other was July 20, 1994 off Jeff Brantley.

0
Sheffield is 6 for 21 (.286 batting average) against his legendary uncle Dwight Gooden. The “0” stands for how many times he circled the bases against him.

Ichiro...the new hit king?

Like he has so many times before, Ichiro Suzuki slapped a single through the right side of the infield. Pretty routine if you think about it…but the historical significance was huge.

With that hit, Ichiro surpassed Isao Harimoto and became the all-time leader among Japanese baseball players.

But here’s the big question, how do we look at Ichiro’s 3086 (1808 in the states…1278 in Japan) hits?

When we talk about “great hitters”, do we place him between Craig Biggio (3060) and Dave Winfield (3110) or look solely at his MLB numbers?

As a for instance, I’ve NEVER heard anyone add Hank Aaron or Willie Mays’ Negro League totals to their MLB totals. Have you?

So, what is Ichiro to you? Is he the all-time Japanese hit leader with 3086 base knocks or the all-time hit leader among Japanese born MLB players with 1808 hits?

Maybe he’s both.

Any way you slice it (and I said this last August), I’m sure he’s opening Cooperstown’s doors to some of the other Japanese greats.

Junior and Ichiro...beyond the numbers

A day after the Majors celebrated his legacy, it is important to point out that if you walk around any ballpark in the Majors, you’ll see Jackie Robinson’s 42 retired.

It’s true.

Since they retired it on April 15, 1997, no team has issued the number and outside of yesterday when EVERYONE wore it…only Mariano Rivera wears it on his back and that's because he's had it since before no one could.

Up in the Pacific Northwest...Robinson’s 42 is the ONLY number retired.

Sure, Ken Griffey Jr’s 24 and Ichiro’s 51 (also shared by Randy Johnson) will eventually make their way up to the rafters of Safeco Field.

And even though they have resisted handing out a few others...the Mariners have not yet retired any other number.

It is fitting that the Seattle faithful had something to cheer about on the anniversary of retiring Robinson's number.

Let me lay it out for ya.

In 2000, while with the Reds, Griffey became the youngest player to hit 400 home runs. Last night, back with the Mariners, Griffey hit number 400 for the Mariners. Sure, the next guy on the Mariners leader board is Jay Buhner with 309, so it is a no-brainer that Griffey’s 400 leads the pack.

And of the 43 players with more than 400 home runs for their career…more than half (23) have 400 or more with one team.

So…why was Griffey’s blast off of Angels hurler Jared Weaver yesterday worth noting?

Well, and I realize that I missed this when I did the AL West Milestone Preview a few weeks back, Griffey is now the ONLY player in Major League history with 400 home runs with one team and 200 or more with another.

"It means a lot. It's just, I don't worry about numbers," Griffey told the Associated Press. "You play long enough, you are going to rack up some numbers…some are good, some are bad.”

Also last night, Griffey and teammates welcomed Ichiro back to the lineup. And, not to be left out…he, too, hit a monumental home run.

With a seventh inning grand slam off Jason Bulger, Ichiro tied Isao Harimoto as Japan’s all-time hits leader.

Elected into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, Harimoto amassed all of his 3085 hits playing in Japan. Ichiro, obviously, has split his.

The first 1278 came with the Japan’s Orix Blue Wave from 1992 to 2000. The rest (all 1807 of them) have come with Seattle.

Harimoto told MLB.com that Ichiro's hit total should be considered a record even though some of them didn't come in Japan.

And I couldn’t agree more.

Last August, I wrote THIS and now, eight months later…I couldn’t agree more.

Seattle Mariners official team policy states that number retirement is reserved for players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame who played for at least five years with the Mariners, or career Mariners players who narrowly miss election.

Something tells me that regardless of how Griffey and Ichiro end up (and I presume they will BOTH be Hall of Famers)…the Seattle brass will hang their numbers alongside that of Jackie Robinson.