Dein erstes Forum » Many of those eyes are in the United States

When youre typing the name Alex Rodriguez or A-Rod almost every day, it gets you to thinking about many things, including why there are so few nicknames in baseball anymore. Vans Sk8 Hi Clearance . There used to be a time when it seemed all the stars had a handle. There was Rocket Roger Clemens, Bill The Spaceman Lee, Randy Big Unit Johnson, and just Lefty for Steve Carlton to name just a few for pitchers. Then there were the stars and the baseball legends such as George Herman Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, Stan the Man Musial, Hammerin Hank Aaron, the Kid Ken Griffey Jr. and that other Kid – late great Hall of Famer Gary Carter. You can come up with so many more yourselves. What surprised me, when I did a little digging, was the most popular nickname ever is Doc. Marlin Bressi did an article for Yahoo in 2011 detailing 81 different players with that nickname. I even managed to come up with a few more that werent on that list - Roy Doc Halladay, Ron Taylor known by all in these parts as Doc Taylor, because he actually is a practicing physician in Toronto. Another name I remembered from his brief stay with the Blue Jays was right hander Danny Darwin, who was known as Doctor Death, for not being afraid to throw high and tight on batters. And then there was the late Dock Ellis, who spelled his with the K. And the greatest Doc of them all was probably New York Mets star Dwight Gooden who short-circuited his outstanding pitching career by abusing drugs and alcohol. The Doc I really wanted to tell you about though, is Maurice Mike Doc Powers - a catcher who began his big league career in the late 1800s and played thru the early 1900s mainly for the Philadelphia As. I always thought the first and only baseball death, related to an on-field incident, involved shortstop Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians. On August 16 of 1920, Carl Mays - a hard-throwing, side-winding pitcher - hit Chapman in the head with a pitch. He collapsed and died in hospital 12 hours later. That incident led to the outlawing of the spit ball and a rule change whereby umpires would remove balls from games as soon as they became scuffed or scratched or anyway discoloured. I was surprised to find out Chapman may not have been the first to die because of something that happened in a Major League game. On April 12 of 1909, the Philadelphia As were playing their season opener at Shibe Park. It was quite a sight - the first stadium ever built entirely of concrete and steel, a state-of-the-art facility for its time. Mike Doc Powers was in the twilight of his career in 1909 at age 38. He was also a licenced, practicing physician. In the later years of his career Doc Powers was known as the Personal catcher of Future Hall of Famer Eddie Plank. Powers was also considered to be the unofficial pitching coach of the As and the right hand man to their legendary skipper Connie Mack.At some point early in this Opening Day game against the Red Sox, Powers made a Herculean effort to catch a foul pop and crashed hard into a wall. By the seventh inning he was doubled over in pain in the dugout. Doc Powers insisted, he should finish the game, which ended as an 8-1 victory for Philadelphia. After the game, Powers was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with gastritis and or Peritonitis. Two days later he was operated on for a twisted/strangulated intestine. A surgeon removed a section of the intestine. Unfortunately, gangrene had begun to set in and after two more operations Doc Powers died on April 26 of 1909. Powers, over the last two weeks of his life, was reluctant to blame his condition on baseball. He actually thought he became ill from eating a spoiled cheese sandwich during the game. Author Brian McKenna, who deeply researched this story, mentioned it could have been a pre-existing condition that just happened to surface on that day. Doc Powers funeral was on April 29 and the entire As and Washington Senators teams were on hand, along with players from four other teams. So popular was Powers that thousands of mourners had to be turned away. Two years later on July 1 of 1910, the As organized what might have been the very first benefit game. Eight thousand dollars was raised for Doc Powers children. I found another fascinating Doc as well. Doc Cramer played in the majors for 20 seasons up until 1948 and helped the Detroit Tigers win the 1945 World Series over the Chicago Cubs - the last time the Cubbies made it to the Fall Classic. Cramer finished with a .296 batting average and 2,705 hits. Thats the most hits for any player before 1975 who didnt wind up in the Hall of Fame. Vans Old Skool Wholesale . Even if he is shooting 38 per cent from the field overall this season, the Utah Jazz rookie always feels like his final shot is going in. Vans Old Skool Pink . -- Jim Furyk was 10 shots worse and right where he wanted to be Saturday in the BMW Championship. http://www.vansshoesclearancesale.com/vans-sk8-hi-clearance/sk8-hi-leather.html . Many of those eyes are in the United States of America, a country that the sport has wanted on its side for some time. On Sunday the football Gods delivered once again, only this time it was time for good old USA to experience as much heartache as joy. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Although Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf are world-class offensive talents riding long scoring streaks, they realize theyll never measure up to unsung teammate Alex Grant and his perfect shooting percentage. All those numbers added up to another victory for the surging Anaheim Ducks. Perry scored a goal in his seventh straight game, Getzlaf extended his point streak to 13 games and the Ducks beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Wednesday night for their fourth straight win. Grant scored his second career goal on his second NHL shot as the Pacific Division leaders improved to 12-0-2 at home, extending the second-longest streak without a regulation loss to open a season in the shootout era. Jonas Hiller made 23 saves as Anaheim relied on its offensive stars and an unlikely contributor to grind out its sixth consecutive win over the Wild. "I think everybody is doing a really good job and bearing down," Hiller said. "Were playing really solid. Right now everybody is trusting each other. I trust the guys in front of me to do their job." With four victories in the past six days, the Ducks (22-7-5) have the NHLs second-best record behind Chicago. Perry extended the longest goal streak in the league this season with a second-period goal, jumping on a rebound of Hampus Lindholms shot off the back wall for his 21st goal. Perry matched St. Louis Alexander Steen for second place in the league behind goals leader Alex Ovechkin. Getzlaf started the play and picked up an assist, extending the NHLs longest active point streak and matching Steens mark for the longest in the league this season. The Anaheim captain has scored in each of his last 15 appearances since Nov. 6, but the NHL officially recognizes only 13 games because of an injury absence early in the string. "Obviously, (Perry) is an elite talent," Minnesotas Jason Pominville said. "He and Getzlaf play well together, and they make a lot of good plays, but I think we gave them a little bit too much time to make plays. If you give those guys time, theyll make you pay." Josh Harding stoppped 29 shots and Pominville scored his 15th goal on a power play early in the third period for the Wild, who have lost four straight on the road. Cheap Vans Shoes. Despite a strong defensive effort against an elite opponent, Minnesota opened a stretch with seven of eight on the road with another narrow loss. After a scoreless first period, Grant scored with a sneaky-fast wrist shot that beat Harding on the short side on a 2-on-4 rush. Grant hadnt dressed for the injury-depleted Anaheim defence since he scored a goal in his NHL debut Nov. 30, and hes only getting a shot because the Ducks are without injured defencemen Francois Beauchemin, Luca Sbisa, Sheldon Souray and Mark Fistric. "Ill take it, but I definitely never imagined it," said Grant, who spent the past four seasons in Pittsburghs minor league system without making the Penguins roster. "Ive done my time in the minors, quite a few games there. I just wanted to be prepared to jump in when I had an opportunity." Harding made a handful of stellar saves, notably lunging to stab Teemu Selannes shot at an otherwise open net in the second period. The 43-year-old Finnish Flash hasnt scored a goal since Oct. 20. Pominville ended Hillers shutout bid with a backhand in front, passing Zach Parise for the team lead in goals. Charlie Coyle had a clean breakaway later in the period, but Hiller stopped him cold. "Weve got to find a way to create more offence, especially early in the game," Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu said. "Hiller made that big save (on Coyle), but we have to create more than just that. Defensively, I think were good, but its tough to win with just one goal." NOTES: Anaheim C Saku Koivu and Mikko Koivu met in the NHL for the 18th time. Saku is 11-3-4 against his younger brother. ... The Ducks recalled D Nolan Yonkman from the minors, but he didnt play. ... Minnesota assigned D Kyle Dumba to the Canadian national junior team for the world junior championships in Sweden beginning Dec. 26. The 19-year-old Dumba has two points in 13 games this season with the Wild. ' ' '