Baseball Toaster: Bronx Banter : Bad Hop = Bad Break for Klap

Hot from the Toaster

Toaster Sites
Baseball Toaster
Toaster.TV

Suggested Reading

Alex:
Ray Negron part 1 2 3 4
Dad, Reggie and Me
Slaughterhouse Five
Way Out in Brooklyn
Heat Fave
Passing
Love, Death and Baseball

Cliff:
First-Half Review
2008 Draft Roundup
July Farm Report
On the Offense
2008 Campers
All-Star Game: 1977, 2008
The Holy "Trinity": 1904 1949
Yankees by the Numbers
SportsIllustrated.com archive

Other Writing

Alex:
Strikes and Gutters: A Year with the Coen Brothers: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
My 20 Favorite Hip Hop Albums
Greatest Singles from Hip Hop's Golden Era (1986-1994)
Ten Neglected Hip Hop Classics

Cliff:
Tin Ear
Pazz & Jop ballots: 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003 (post), 2002, 2001
Clem Snide
Eminem
Sleater-Kinney

Bronx Banter Interviews

Roger Angell
Allen Barra
Jim Bouton
Howard Bryant: Part 1, Part 2
Ken Burns: Part 1, Part 2
Will Carroll
Ethan Coen
Malcom Gladwell
Bill James
Pat Jordan
Chuck Korr: Part 1 Part 2
Jane Leavy
Michael Lewis
Tim Marchman
Marvin Miller
Rob Neyer: Part 1, Part 2
Buster Olney: April 2003, Sept. 2004
Buck O'Neil
Joe Posnanski
Alan Schwarz
Joel Sherman
Tom Verducci

Excerpts

Juicing the Game by Howard Bryant Part 1 Part 2
Forging Genius by Steven Goldman Part 1 Part 2
How About That! by Stephen Borelli
The Crowd Sounds Happy by Nicholas Dawidoff
The Last Nine Innings by Charles Euchner
Clemente by David Maraniss
The Soul of Baseball by Joe Posnanaski
Glenn Stout and Richard A. Johnson:
Yankee Century: Part 1 Part 2
Red Sox Century: 1 2 3 4
The Dodgers: 120 Years of Dodgers Baseball

Players

25-man Roster:

Infielders:
J. Giambi BR BP E MLB
R. Cano BR BP E MLB
D. Jeter BR BP E MLB
A. Rodriguez BR BP E MLB
W. Betemit BR BP E MLB mi
C. Ransom BR BP E MLB mi

Outfielders:
B. Abreu BR BP E MLB
J. Damon BR BP E MLB
X. Nady BR BP E MLB
H. Matsui BR BP E MLB mi
B. Gardner BR E MLB mi

Catchers:
I. Rodriguez BR BP E MLB
J. Molina BR BP E MLB

Starting Pitchers:
M. Mussina BR BP BC E
A. Pettitte (L) BR BP BC E
S. Ponson BR BP BC E mi
D. Rasner BR BP BC E mi

Relief Pitchers:
M. Rivera BR BP BC E
D. Marte BR BP BC E
J. Veras BR BP BC E mi
E. Ramirez BR BP BC E mi
B. Bruney BR BP BC E mi
D. Robertson BR BC E mi
B. Traber (L) BR BP BC E mi
C. Britton BR BP BC E mi

15-day DL:
J. Chamberlain BR BP BC E
D. Giese BR BP BC E mi
J. Posada BR BP E MLB
C. Wang BR BP BC E
60-day DL:
C. Pavano BR BP BC E mi
J. Albaladejo BR BP BC E mi
A. Brackman BC
H. Sanchez BC mi

Coaches:
J. Girardi (Mgr) BR BP BC
R. Thomson (Bench) BC
Kevin Long (Hit) BR
D. Eiland (Pitch) BR BP BC
B. Meacham (3B) BR BP BC
T. Peña (1B) BR BP BC
M. Harkey (Pen) BR BP BC

40-man Roster:
AAA
S. Duncan BR BP E MLB mi
J. Miranda BR BC mi
M. Cabrera BR BP E MLB
J. Christian BR BP E MLB mi
P. Hughes BR BP BC E mi
I. Kennedy BR BP BC E mi
C. Wright (L) BR BP BC E mi
S. Patterson BR BC mi
AA
F. Cervelli BR BC mi
J. Marquez BR BC mi DL

Select Minor Leaguers:

AAA Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees:
B. Castro BR mi DL
C. Basak BR BP BC E MLB mi
E. Duncan BC mi
N. Green BR mi
B. Broussard BR mi
M. Carson BC mi
C. Moeller BR BP E MLB mi
C. Stewart BR BP E MLB mi
J. Brown BC mi DL
A. Aceves BR mi
K. Igawa (L) BR BP BC E JB mi
P. Coke (L) BC mi
M. Melancon BC mi
J.B. Cox BC mi
S. Strickland BR BC mi
S. Jackson BC mi
E. Milton BR BC mi DL
V. Zambrano BR BC mi DL

AA Trenton Thunder:
K. Russo BR mi
R. Peña BC mi DL
C. Malec BC mi
M. Vechionacci BC mi DL
A. Jackson BC mi
C. Curtis BC mi
E. Gonzalez BR mi
P.J. Pilittere BC mi
J. Jones BC mi
G. Kontos BC mi
J. Nuñez BC mi
B. Smith BC mi DL
A. Claggett BC mi
O. Perez BR BC mi
M. Gardner BC mi
K. Whelan BC mi
W. Arias (L) BC mi

A Tampa Yankees:
E. Nuñez BC mi
C.J. Henry BC mi DL
T. Battle BC mi
K. Anson BC mi
J. Gil BC mi
A. Horne BC mi DL
Z. McAllister BC mi
W. De La Rosa (L) BC mi
C. Garcia BC mi

Low-A Charleston RiverDogs:
J. Snyder BC mi
M. Cusick BC mi
B. Suttle BC mi
A. Romine BC mi
J. Montero BC mi
D. Betances BC mi
J. Heredia BC mi
J. Ortiz BC mi
C. Heyer BC mi

Low-A Staten Island Yankees:
D. Adams mi
P. Venditte mi

Rookie Gulf Coast Yankees:
C. Joseph mi
C. Smith mi
K. Higashioka mi

Key:
BR = Baseball-Reference
BP = Baseball Prospectus
BC = Baseball Cube (past mL stats)
mi = MiLB.com (current mL stats)
E = ESPN (current splits, game logs)
MLB = MLB.com hit charts
JB = Japanese Baseball.com

The Recently Departed

2008 Yankees:
R. Sexson BR BP E MLB
M. Ensberg BR BP E MLB
A. Gonzalez BR BP E MLB mi
K. Farnsworth BR BP BC E
L. Hawkins BR BP BC E

Nady/Marte Trade:
J. Tabata BC mi
R. Ohlendorf BR BP BC E
D. McCutchen BC mi
J. Karstens BR BP BC E mi

2008 Campers/mLers:
C. Woodward BR BP BC E MLB PHI mL
J. Lane BR mi BOS mL
G. Porter BC mi WAS mL
J.D. Closser BR mi SD mL
S. Henn (L) BR BP BC E mi SD
H. Phillips (L) BR BC mi TB mL
S. White BR BC mi

2007 Yankees:
J. Torre (Mgr) BR BP BC LAD
D. Mientkiewicz BR BP BC E MLB PIT mL
A. Phillips BR BP BC E MLB mi CIN mL
J. Phelps BR BP BC E MLB STL mL
M. Cairo BR BP BC E MLB SEA
K. Thompson BR BP BC E MLB mi PIT
B. Sardinha BC mi SEA mL
W. Nieves BR BP BC E MLB WAS mL
R. Clemens BR BP BC E mi
T. Clippard BR BP BC E mi WAS
L. Vizcaino BR BP BC E COL $7.5m/2yrs
M. DeSalvo BR BP BC E mi ATL mL
M. Myers (L) BR BP BC E LAD mL
R. Villone (L) BR BP BC E mi STL mL
S. Proctor BR BP BC E LAD
J. Brower BR BP BC E mi CIN mL
C. Bean BR BP BC E mi ATL mL

2007 Campers and mLers:
E. Durazo BR BP BC E MLB mi
A. Cannizaro BR BP BC E MLB mi TB mL
A. Chavez BR BP BC E MLB mi LAD mL
K. Reese BR BP BC E MLB mi
R. Chavez BR BP BC E MLB mi PIT mL
O. Santos BC mi BAL mL
T. Pratt BR BP BC E MLB
T.J. Beam BR BP BC E mi PIT mL
B. Kozlowski (L) BR BP BC E mi Japan

Molina Trade:
J. Kennard BC mi

Abreu Trade
M. Smith (L) BR BP BC E mi PHI
C. Monasterios BC mi PHI
J. Sanchez mi PHI

Food Blogs

Syndication

About the Toaster

Baseball Toaster runs on some experimental software called Fairpole. It's still under development.

For more information, please visit the Fairpole blog, or read the FAQ.

Bad Hop = Bad Break for Klap

2008-07-17 09:27

by Alex Belth

We all know about pitchers who can write: Pat Jordan, Jim Brosnan, Jim Bouton. But there are also a handful of writers who can pitch too. Historian Glenn Stout used to pitch in an over 30 league. Kevin Kerrane pitched semi-pro ball too. And veteran New York sports writer Bob Klapisch has been pitching since he was in college (he used to pitch against Ron Darling when he was at Columbia and Darling was at Yale). For the past couple of years I've been meaning to go watch Klap pitch in a game, thinking it would make for an interesting story.

Unfortunately, Klap's playing career came to an abrupt end last week when he was struck in the right eye by a ground ball. In a recent e-mail, Klap explained what happened:

I was pitching Thursday night in Parsippany NJ for the Morris Mariners, one of the two semi-pro teams I play for. (Hackensack Troasts is the other). Batter hit a hard comebacker which took a wicked bounce over my glove. It was one of those old-fashioned configurations, with a bowling alley-like strip of dirt connected the pitching mound to home plate. So the ball was traveling on dirt, not grass, and must've hit a rock. It flew up towards my face, like a stone skipping on a lake. Caught me flush in the right eye.
Had to have emergency surgery that night. It was just my right eye that was damaged. I can do everything (read, write, play with the kids) with the left. The right suffered a partially detached retina, and damaged cornea, which will require a transplant. I also have multiple fractures which will require plastic surgery. The whole process starts on Monday when I go under for repair of the retina. After 3-6 months, the doctors say I'll have my vision back. Worst case, 20/200, best case 20/50. It sure beats the alternative, which is what I'm experiencing now - a black curtain over the right side of my face. Very strange.

My baseball career is over, so my goal is to play catch in the backyard with my kids. I am determined to make that happen.

Man, talk about a bad break. What a humbling way for the universe to tell you it's time to stop playing ball. Klap does seem to be taking it exceedingly well, however. And he's one tough cookie.

Still, it must be a scary spot for him to be in. So here's sending best wishes to Klap. Let's hope that his surgeries are a success. Hang in there, Klap, you're the man.

Advertisement

Comments

2008-07-17 09:59:49

1. Raf

Damn...

Due to being short on position players, I haven't pitched in a minute. Just as well; my arm has been killing me anyway.

But I've been lucky so far (pitching since '91); haven't had that kind of comebacker to worry about (knock wood), because I usually try to pound batters inside. If something comes back to me, it's either a humpbacked liner, or a grounder up the middle.

Alex, does Klapisch play in a wood bat or an aluminum bat league?

2008-07-17 10:10:42

2. Alex Belth

Pretty sure it's a wood bat league but I can't be sure. I'm sure he's played in them all.

2008-07-17 10:17:17

3. Shawn Clap

Speaking of writers who can pitch, just got done reading George Plimpton's "Out of my League".

It's no "Paper Lion" but it's still very funny summer beach reading.

P.S. I almost caught about 25 Josh Hamilton HRs at the derby.

My kid sister scored a couple of lame "Lodge Box" seats and she couldn't even get half of the $900 face value for them, so she took me.

We quickly ditched those for seats in the right field upper deck.

I wonder how the new stadium will keep no-good-nics in their authorized seats. Probably with some sort of magnetic microchip injected into the patron's posterior and a matching magnet in the proper seat.

2008-07-17 10:21:54

4. Alex Belth

Shawn Clap, you sonofagun, shoot me an e-mail. Nice to see you around.

2008-07-17 12:01:24

5. Jen

3 With the new bleachers having box seats in front of them, I figure they will keep us out of there with some sort of invisible fence. Like the ones people have for their dogs to keep them in the yard. Either that or chicken wire.

Advertisement