MLB Update: 6/23

History of Baseball: 1925
World Series Champions: Pittsburgh Pirates (95-58, .621 WPCT).
     On Opening Day on April 14th, the season started with a bang as the Indians and Browns slugged it out to an eventual 21-14 Cleveland win.  On the same day, the Philadelphia Athletics debuted a brand new battery of Lefty Grove and Micky Cochrane.  The pitcher and catcher, both making their major league debuts, would go on to be Hall of Famers.  In what was a good year for A's rookies, on May 1st, Jimmie Foxx debuted for Philadelphia to make it three rookie, future Hall of Famers on the squad.  One more future Hall of Famer, Leo Durocher, would debut for the Yankees in 1925.  Interestingly, the 1925 season was a big year for the consecutive games streak.  Everett Scott, who had played in every game since 1916 for a streak of 1307 consecutive games, sat out on May 5th as Pee-Wee Wanninger started.  Merely 26 days later, on June 1st, Wanninger was removed so that a man named Lou Gehrig could pinch hit.  Nobody knew it at the time, but that would be the beginning of Gehrig's 2130 consecutive game streak.  Gehrig started in lieu of Wally Pipp on June 2nd, and there would be no looking back.  Two players also reached 3000 hits in 1925.  On May 17th and June 6th, Tris Speaker and Eddie Collins became the 5th and 6th members of the 3000 hit club, joining Ty Cobb as the only active members.  Another player would not reach 3000 until 1942.  In my opinion, the most memorable event of the 1925 season occurred during a Tigers-Browns series from May 5th and 6th.  The 38 year old Ty Cobb had watched as Babe Ruth had become the new superstar of baseball, replacing Cobb's high-average, low-power playing style with home runs galore.  As a way to show Ruth up, Cobb announced to reporters before the Tigers-Browns tilt on May 5th that for the first time in his career, he was going to try to hit home runs.  That day, he went 6-6 with three home runs, a double, and five RBI, setting a new record with 16 total bases (one that would not be broken until 2012, when Josh Hamilton went 5-5 with four home runs and a double for a total of 18 total bases).  The following day, Cobb was 3-6 with two home runs and six RBI.  After the dust cleared two days later, Cobb was 9-12 with five home runs, a double, eleven RBI, and six runs scored following one of the greatest offensive outbursts of all time.  By informing the public beforehand of what was to come, Cobb proved that he, too, could be a world-class power hitter if he so chose.  Notable births in 1925 included Yogi Berra and Minnie Minoso, while two of baseball's former greats passed away.  John Montgomery Ward, author of the second perfect game, arguably baseball's best two-way player (both pitcher and hitter) of the 19th century, and the leader of the movement that created the Players League in 1890, passed away at 65 on March 4th.  On October 7th, the same day as Game One of the World Series, arguably the greatest pitcher of all time, Christy Mathewson, passed away at 45 due to tuberculosis.
     No close races ensued for the league pennants in 1925.  In the AL, the Washington Senators repeated as champions by going 96-55, 8.5 games ahead of the second place Philadelphia Athletics (88-64) and 15 ahead of the third place St. Louis Browns (82-71).  The story was exactly the same in the NL, as the Pittsburgh Pirates won the league with a 95-58 record, 8.5 games ahead of the second place New York Giants (86-66) and 15 ahead of the third place Cincinnati Reds (80-73).  The Boston Red Sox took home baseball's worst record, as they finished 47-105, 49.5 games out of first place.  The Kansas City Monarchs (62-20) and Hilldale (Philadelphia) Athletic Club (65-26) squared off in the Negro League World Series, with Hilldale winning the Negro League World Series.  Washington and Pittsburgh met in the Major League World Series, and the seven game series barely went the Pirates' way with a 9-7 win in Game Seven.  Max Carey's .458 average (11-24) Carey'ed the Pittsburgh offense, as did Kiki Cuyler's six RBI and Eddie Moore's seven runs scored.  Vic Aldridge and Ray Kremer earned the four Pittsburgh victories while Walter Johnson went 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA in the Senators' losing effort.
     The two 1925 League Awards were handed out to Washington's Rocky Peckinpaugh (4 HR, 64 RBI, .294 AVG, 13 SB) and the Cardinals' Rogers Hornsby (39 HR, 143 RBI, .403 AVG, 5 SB).  It was clearly evident that in this day and age, awards were not necessarily given to the player who had the best season, but to the player who best lead his team, both on the field and off.  Hornsby won the major league Triple Crown, while also leading the majors with his .489 on-base percentage, .756 slugging percentage, and 1.245 OPS.  Detroit's Harry Heilmann was the AL's batting leader at .393, as he also smacked 13 home runs and drove in 134.  The Yankees' Bob Meusel led the AL with 33 home runs and 138 RBI to go along with a .290 average.  Despite being 35 years of age, Pittsburgh's Max Carey won his tenth NL stolen base crown with 46 stolen bases, which was enough to lead all of baseball.  Carey's teammate, Kiki Cuyler, helped lead the Pirates to the World Series by hitting 18 home runs, driving in 102, and batting .357 with 41 stolen bases and a major league leading 144 runs scored.  From the mound, Washington's Stan Coveleski proved to be un-hittable as he went 20-5 with a 2.84 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP over 32 starts.  Dolf Luque actually led the majors in ERA at 2.63 and in WHIP at 1.17 despite a record of 16-18 for the Reds.  Brooklyn's Dazzy Vance led the majors in wins, going 22-9 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP.  Washington's Firpo Marberry also tied his own single season saves record with 15 as he went 9-5 with a 3.47 ERA over 55 relief appearances.

News
The greatest Padre of all time, Tony Gwynn, passed away at 54 years old.  Gwynn recorded 3141 hits over his 20 year career and batted .338.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw no-hit the Rockies while striking out 15.  The only baserunner that kept him from a perfect game occurred due to a Hanley Ramirez error.
The Padres fired general manager Josh Byrnes.

Tony Gwynn is undoubtedly the greatest Padre of all time, and many consider him to be the greatest hitter of his era.  Few people mean as much to their city as Gwynn meant to San Diego, California.  Although he grew up just north in Long Beach, California, Gwynn attended San Diego State University, where he played baseball and basketball.  After his 20 year playing career with the Padres, he returned to San Diego State and coached baseball, where he coached such players as Justin Masterson, Stephen Strasburg, Kris Bryant, and his son, Tony Gwynn Jr.  Not only was Gwynn a pain in the neck for pitchers who just couldn't find a way to get him out, but he was also one of the most respected men in the game, winning the Roberto Clemente Award in 1999.
Gwynn's baseball career began as a kid in Long Beach, California, as he followed his favorite team, the Dodgers, and his favorite player, Willie Davis.  At San Diego State University, Gwynn was such an incredible two-sport star that he was drafted twice on the same day in 1981.  The San Diego Clippers took Gwynn in the 10th round of the NBA draft, while the San Diego Padres drafted him 58th overall in the third round of the MLB draft.  Gwynn made the right choice and joined the Padres.  Barely a year after he was drafted, Gwynn was in the Major Leagues.  He made his debut on July 19th, 1982 and batted .289 with eight stolen bases for the remainder of the season.  He would never bat below .300 again.  During an injury shortened 1983 season, he batted .309 with a home run and seven stolen bases in 86 games for the Padres.  When he finally got to play a healthy season in 1984, the 24 year old put up a breakout season.  In 158 games, he batted .351 with five home runs and 33 stolen bases en route to a Silver Slugger award, his first All Star appearance, and his first major league batting title.  He finished third in the NL MVP race behind only Ryne Sandberg and Keith Hernandez while leading the Padres to the NL West title.  Though Gwynn batted .316 over the ten playoff games, the Padres lost to the Tigers in the World Series.  Gwynn had a bit of an off year in 1985, batting "just" .317 with six home runs and 14 stolen bases in 154 games, though he still managed an All Star appearance.  The 26 year old bounced back with power in 1986, batting .329 with 14 home runs and 37 stolen bases, earning a third All Star appearance, a second Silver Slugger, and his first Gold Glove award.  He finished ninth in the NL MVP balloting.  In 1987, Gwynn put up his best season to date, batting .370 with seven home runs and 56 stolen bases while scoring 119 runs in 157 games.  He made a fourth All Star appearance, won a third Silver Slugger, a second Gold Glove, a second MLB batting title, and an eighth place finish in the NL MVP voting.  With a .370 average and 56 stolen bases, he became the first player in NL history to reach those two marks in the same season as well as the first NL player to bat .370 since Stan Musial in 1948.  His numbers dipped in 1988, as he batted just .313 (which was actually enough to give him the NL batting title) with seven home runs and 26 stolen bases.  It would be the only time between 1984 and 1999 that he would miss being elected to the NL All Star team.  Though he only hit four home runs, he rebounded nicely in 1989, batting .336 with 40 stolen bases, earning another Silver Slugger, an All Star appearance, a Gold Glove, the NL batting title, and an eighth place finish in the NL MVP balloting.  In 1990, Gwynn put up what could be called the worst season of his career, as he finished with four home runs, 17 stolen bases, and a .309 average, giving him the lowest finish he would have in the NL batting race during the years 1984-1997.  He finished eighth.  He underperformed again in 1991, batting .317 with four home runs and eight stolen bases in 134 games, though he did win his fifth and final Gold Glove.  Though 1992 would bring more of the same (6 HR, 3 SB, .317 AVG), Gwynn was about to embark on one of the greatest offensive tears in modern history.  Despite playing in only 122 games in 1993, Gwynn batted .358 with seven home runs and 14 stolen bases in the first of a string of five straight seasons in which he would bat over .350.  In 1994, he put up arguably the best season of his entire career, as he was batting .394 with 12 home runs and five stolen bases when the 1994 strike began in August.  Ever since, Gwynn maintained that had the season continued for the next month and a half like usual, he could have hit .400.  After all, he had hit .475 in August up until that point (19-40).  He was an All Star, a Silver Slugger, and a batting champion again, finishing seventh in the NL MVP voting.  Gwynn put up another big year in 1995, batting .368 with nine home runs, 17 stolen bases, and what was then a career-high 90 RBI.  He was–you guessed it–an All Star, a Silver Slugger, and a batting champion, and he finished ninth in the NL MVP voting.  His power dipped significantly in 1996 with just three home runs, but he batted .353 with eleven stolen bases and led the Padres back to the NL West Division championship.  He went 4-13 (.308 AVG) in the Division Series, but the Padres were swept by the Cardinals.  Gwynn won another batting title, despite not having enough at bats to qualify.  It was earned when the four extra "hitless" at bats which would have been needed to qualify Gwynn for the title were added to his stats (hypothetically), and the additional 0-4 was not enough to drop his .353 average below Ellis Burks' .344.  In 1997, Gwynn put up a monster season that many could say was as good as his 1994 season, as he batted .372 with 17 home runs, 119 RBI, and 12 stolen bases in 149 games.  He won his seventh and final Silver Slugger award, his eighth and final batting title, and finished sixth in the NL MVP balloting.  He continued to hit for power in 1998, as he batted .321 with 16 home runs in just 127 games as he lead them to the NL West Division crown.  Despite batting just .220 in the NLDS and NLCS (9-41), the Padres reached the World Series, and Gwynn went on a tear in the four game Series against New York.  In 16 at bats, he collected eight hits (.500 AVG), including a home run, in the losing effort.  As it was his final postseason appearance, Gwynn finished his postseason career with a .306 average over 27 games.  1999 would be his final full season, and the 39 year old made the most of it by batting .338 with ten home runs and seven stolen bases in 111 games.  It would also mark his 15th and final All Star appearance, as well as his Roberto Clemente Award winning season.  On August 6th of that year, Gwynn reached 3000 hits, doing so in just 2284 games, the third fewest of all time.  Knee issues limited him to just 36 games in 2000, where he batted .323.  In his final season in 2001, he batted .324 over 71 games to round out his career.  Over his 20 seasons, he batted .338 (18th all time) with 135 home runs, 1138 RBI, and 319 stolen bases (144th all time).  His 3,141 hits rank 19th all time, and his 543 doubles are 28th.  Gwynn holds the San Diego Padres team records in career games played (2440), at bats (9288), runs scored (1383), hits, doubles, triples (85), RBI, walks (790), stolen bases, batting average, total bases (4259), and extra base hits (763).  He is also second in on-base percentage (.388), fifth in home runs (135) and OPS (.847), and seventh in slugging percentage (.459).  In 2007, he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Game Scores
Nationals (39-35) beat the Braves (38-37) 4-1.
Red Sox (35-41) beat the A's (47-29) 7-6 (10 innings).
Orioles (39-35) beat the Yankees (39-35) 8-0.
Cardinals (41-35) beat the Phillies (34-40) 5-3.
Rays (31-46) beat the Astros (33-44) 5-2.
Dodgers (42-35) beat the Padres (32-44) 2-1.
Pirates (37-38) beat the Cubs (31-42) 2-1.
Tigers (40-32) beat the Indians (37-39) 10-4.
Brewers (47-30) beat the Rockies (34-41) 6-5.
Top Scorer: Mets beat the Marlins 11-5.

Standings
AL East: Blue Jays (42-35, .545 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (40-32, .556).  AL West: A's (47-29, .618).
NL East: Nationals (39-35, .527).  NL Central: Brewers (47-30, .610).  NL West: Giants (45-30, .600).
AL Wild Cards: Angels (41-33, .554) and Orioles/Yankees (39-35, .527).  NL Wild Cards: Dodgers (42-35, .545) and Cardinals (41-35, .539).
Bottom Team: Rays (31-46, .403).  Longest W Streak: Twins and Brewers, 4 games.  Longest L Streak: Rockies, 6 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), .360 (89-247).  Home runs: Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays), 24. RBI: Edwin Encarnacion. 63.  Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 39.
Pitching: Wins: Masahiro Tanaka (Yankees), 11.  K's: David Price (Rays), 133.  ERA: Johnny Cueto (Reds), 1.86 (116 IP, 24 ER).  Saves: Francisco Rodriguez (Brewers), 25.

Top Performers
Offensive: Wilin Rosario (Rockies): 4-5, double, home run (8), 3 RBI, 2 runs, AVG up .016 from .233 to .249, hitting streak to 2 games (7-10, .700 AVG).
Pitching: Madison Bumgarner (Giants): Win (9-4), 8 innings, 1 run (0 earned), 2 hits, 2 walks, 7 K's (111), ERA drop: 0.22 runs from 2.85 to 2.63.
Worst Pitching Performance: Anthony DeSclafani (Marlins): Loss (1-2), 3.2 innings, 7 earned runs, 7 hits, 2 walks, 1 K (15), ERA jump: 1.99 runs from 5.60 to 7.59.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage
Zack Silverman