Three pressing Pirates questions entering March
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Who are the greatest curveball pitchers of all time?
Bob, we were just talking about great curveballs because Clayton Kershaw is getting interviewed by McAfee. Boy, Kershaw definitely doesn't lift weights, does he? I'm in better shape than him.
He's retired now for the most part. He's got a little bit of a dad bod going on, but 11-time All-Star.
And one of the great curveballs of all time, and I'm looking at, I think it's MLB.com here, how he's not put in the top five curveballs of all time. I don't know. Would you like to know who is in there, Bob? Burt Bly 11. Number one, Sandy Koufax. Number two, Bert Behome Bly Levin.
He was good when he had it, man. I fell off the table.
Who did he strike out to win the NL championship that year, Bob, on a curveball looking in 1979? Wrong. Cesar Geronimo. Cesar. Cesar Geronimo.
Geronimo.
The third greatest curveball of all time, Dwight Gooden. Dwight had a good one, yep. All he needed was a fastball and a curveball. If you get the fourth greatest, either one of you, I'll take Limits and Donnie to another steak dinner. Oh, jeez. The fourth one. Vita Blue. Good guess. No. Hold on. Steve Carlton. Camilo Pascual of the Washington Senators, followed by Satchel Paige. An old pirate named Ron Nechey? Nechey? Nechey.
Nechey. Ron Nechey. He has the minor league record. How have I never heard of Ron Nechey? He's 95 years old right now. He has the record. He once pitched a nine-inning game in the minors and struck out every one of his 27 hitters.
27 batters, it says here. Yep. And he followed that up with a 24-strikeout performance. His career was put on hold by a stint with the Army. Upon his return, he was plagued by chronic stomach ulcers and a torn rotator cuff. I never knew that story.
He's still living. I think he's in Bell Vernon, somewhere out in that area.
Number seven, Nolan Ryan. How about that, Bob?
I think of him mostly as just heat. Sal Magli, remember him? Steve Carlton's not in there anywhere.
He used to torment Dave Parker and other left-hand hitters. Nine is Mike Cuellar, and ten is Jerry Koosman. Jerry Koosman, yeah. New York Mets. Used to pretend I was him for garage ball. I'd throw one of those little pink balls against the garage and then try and field it. Mangum P.I. just made a horrible play in center field.
Limits, do you have a baseball question for us? I have two for you before we go here. My first question is this. Bob, is Henry Davis the most important pirate breakout candidate of this entire spring?
He and Cruz, I would put in the same kind of, I expect that. Yes, at some point. Now, Cruz has shown you a lot that makes you think there's more, and he needs to get there. But I think Davis has shown...
Davis just gunned down somebody at third, but they called him safe. Oh, no, he dropped the ball. Go ahead, Bob.
I'm sorry.
That's again a violation of FCC law. No, it was afterward. I didn't call the play live. You called it. No, I didn't. Yes, you did.
What historical context surrounds Ron Nechey's achievements?
Watch this throw.
Whoever playing third dropped the ball. Oh, my. What a great throw that is. Davis is really good defensively. If he can just tick that offense up from wherever it was to 230 hitter, and that seems like a big jump with 10 to 15 home runs, I think I would take that right now.
You've both lost your minds. For breakout candidates, there's a man named Connor Griffin that I would like to see break out. No, everybody knows. The most important breakout candidate on the team isn't Connor Griffin.
He hasn't broken in yet.
No, once he breaks in, he'll break out, Bob. You're wrong.
You put your break foot in. You are wrong. You put your break foot out. Yes, you will. No, you're wrong. We all expect Connor Griffin to come up here and have a really good season. Yeah, he's not a breakout candidate. It's just going to happen.
He's not an important breakout candidate.
Yeah, you want him to be on the major league roster?
It's just going to happen.
You're talking about guys who we didn't expect contribute in a big way.
And mine is Mangum P.I. How do you like that, Bob? Or Triola. You like that one, Bob?
I think Davis is more because he's 1-1. I think you're wrong.
I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that.
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Chapters
4 chaptersSpeakers
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