If You Build It, They Will Come

        Profile Mike Myers was pitcher for the Iowa State Cyclones who was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 1990 Draft* and played for 9 teams.**  Mike won the 2004 World Series with the Boston Red Sox. * Mike Busch was the other Cyclone drafted in this draft, both in the 4th round. ** Though never with the Giants, he was taken by the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft, joining the Marlins before they had even played a professional game.  Personal Notes Mike Myers had a role in baseball that is now been legislated out of the game, and that is the LOOGY.  LOOGY stands for Lefty One Out GuY.  Mike would come in for a fearsome lefthander, try to get him out, and then he'd be done for the night.  However, MLB instituted a rule in 2020 that required a pitcher to face 3 batters or finish an inning.  While there were more famous LOOGYs, and more recent ones, I'm still going to declare this the Mike Myers rule.   Collection Notes I...

The World Series is played every year (well, 1994...), and every year there is a winner.  The right team doesn't always win though.  No, sometimes the universe makes a mistake and the wrong team wins.  But how do we know who these "Misplaced Winners" are?   Well, this blog circles around one thing, and that's the Iowa Connection.  So, obviously every World Series champion should have at least one Iowa Connection, but not every one does.  Either I've missed the connection (possible!), or the universe messed up.  Thanos snapped his fingers and the Yankees won.  So lets look at those Iowa-less World Series champions and see who it should have been. If this universe happened, here are number of titles these Iowa Connections would have gained (2+): 4 - Davey Lopes 2 - Cal Eldred 2 - Corey Koskie 2 - Denis Menke 2 - Jerry McNertney 2 - John Wathan 2 - Paul Splittorff 2 - R. C. Stevens 2 - Gene Baker Note: I'm only going back to 1958 here,...

Profile Kevin Tapani was a pitcher in the MLBs for 13 seasons.  He had his best year in 1991 with the Minnesota Twins as they won the World Series and Tapani finished 7th in Cy Young voting*.  A workhorse pitcher, he had over 150 innings 10 times, and double digit wins 8 seasons.  Kevin was born in Des Moines**, but was raised in Michigan. * While he was 7th, he was 3rd on his own team, with Scott Erickson and Jack Morris getting more votes.   ** Other modern MLBers from Des Moines: Casey Blake, Jeremy Hellickson, Todd Belitz, Jerry Hairston, Tom Drees, Matt Macri, Joe Magrane, Mike Mahoney, Joel Hanrahan, Benj Sampson, Todd Sears, and new 2020 addition Derek Hill. Personal Notes Kevin Tapani wasn't in Iowa much, but I do have a special spot for him in my collection.  That is because he was part of my favorite baseball team of all time, the 1991 Minnesota Twins.  Led by my favorite player, Kirby Puckett, the team went from last place to World Series ch...

        Profile George Pipgras was a pitcher for the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, winning 4 World Series titles with the Yankees.  George was a starting pitcher with the 1927 Yankees*, widely regarded as the greatest team of all time.  George was born in Ida Grove, Iowa**. * While being a part of the starting staff, he was the fifth starter who gave up more earned runs than any other starter, despite having 100 less innings than Waite Hoyt.  But, when you play with a steller lineup, you can still put up a 10-3 record. ** Joel Dreessen (NFL) also comes from Ida Grove.  Two other notables (although notably with cards) are Harold Hughes (Governor and presidential candidate) and Mildred Lillie (first woman nominated for the Supreme Court before her nomination was pulled).  Personal Notes Collections are like living things that are constantly growing.  A Joe Burrow collection is like a tomato plants and when it starts produc...

        Profile Bing Miller was a baseball player who was most famous for his time with the Philadelphia Athletics*.  Born in Vinton, Bing was nicknamed after comic strip character in the local paper (remember local papers?)  Bing was on two World Series championship teams.** * MLB had 16 teams in 1929, including the PHILADELPHIA Athletics, BOSTON Braves, Brooklyn Robins (Dodgers), Washington Senators (Twins), St. Louis Browns (Orioles) and NEW YORK Giants.  ** Bing literally had the thing that most ballplayers dream of at one point of their lives.  He hit a double to knock in the winning run of the 1929 World Series.  How cool is that! Personal Notes When writing these posts, I like to do a little research to find fun tidbits about the person.  When the player comes from a small town like Bing does, I'll look to see who else has come from there.  Vinton has had a few people come from there, and I'd like to point out two of them who...

        Profile When coming up with a list of greatest athletes to come from Iowa, Bob Feller is always on that short list.  Known as the "Heater from Van Meter", Feller was an instant smash in his first start striking out 15 batters.  Later that season he struck out 17 batters in one game.  After a successful rookie season, Feller returned home to Iowa and finished his senior year.  Not college, but high school.  Yes, he was a 17 rookie dominating the league.   Feller has the 4th highest WAR* of any Iowan, but is still regarded as the best ever.  Why?  Well, besides the stat packing that Cap Anson had (27 seasons!), Feller gave up 4 prime years of his career to enlist in the Navy.  This selfless act to protect our nation is another proud Iowan tradition**. Feller is one of 7 MLB HOFs born in Iowa (Anson, Clarke, Faber, Feller, Vance, Bancroft, and J.L. Wilkinson from Algona, founder of the Kansas City Monarchs). Ed B...

        Profile Buddy Biancalana was born in California and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals.  He played six years in the majors, finishing with the Houston Astros.  He had a  career WAR of -1.6, but also one World Series ring* of which he played a vital role.   ...scanning...no Iowa connection found... Now, I know that people typically don't move to Iowa unless they have some sort of connection. However, Buddy is a bit of an exception here.  Buddy moved to Fairfield** years after his MLB career was over, attracted by the chance for personal growth.  With his business partner Steve Yellin they formed Perfect Mind-Perfect Motion, a company that helps athletes get "in the zone".   * Won with John Wathan (Cedar Rapids) and Jim Sundberg (UofI) ** Discovered while I was writing the post of Matt Stutzman.   Personal Notes I don't know about you, but I've spent some of my pandemic time organizing.  I'm tr...

  Championships Note: Updating this page as I go, but NBA/NFL/NCAAF/CFL/Arena/MLB are pretty close to being complete. Note: I include anyone who coached/played for the team during their championship season.  I don't know who has received rings, but everyone who was with the team helped that team.  Butterfly effect, yada, yada.  So A.J. Derby played for the 2016 Patriots and was traded mid-season but being an Iowa Connection his time with the team helped them become champions. NBA Champions 6 - Jimmy Rodgers , Asst. Coach, Iowa (1981, 1984, 1986, 1996, 1997, 1998) 5 - Don Nelson (1966, 1968, 1969, 1974, 1976) 3 - B.J. Armstrong (1991, 1992, 1993) 1 - Talen Horton-Tucker, Iowa State (2020) 1 - Nick Nurse, Coach, UNI (2019) 1 - Nate Bjorkgren, Coach, Buena Vista (2019) 1 - Harrison Barnes , F, Ames (2015) 1 - Donnie Nelson, GM, Iowa City (2011) 1 - Terry Stotts, Asst. Coach, Cedar Falls (2011) 1 - Matt Bullard, F, Iowa (1994) 1 - Bob Hansen, G, Iowa (1992) 1 - Ron...

        Profile Mike Boddicker hits the triple crown for his Iowa cred: born in Iowa, attended Iowa, and had his life saved in Iowa.  Mike was born in Cedar Rapids and raised in Norway.  He attended the University of Iowa*, bypassing the Montreal Expos who drafted him out of High School.  He had a pretty successful career, winning an ALCS MVP, a World Series**, a Gold Glove and is in the Orioles Hall of Fame.  However, just after his career was over he discovered a lump in his neck and doctors at the University of Iowa help defeat his cancer.   * Boddicker has the 2nd highest WAR of any Hawkeye (31.3), just behind Jim Sundberg (40.5) and just above Cal Eldred (15.8) ** Boddicker is also the 2nd Hawkeye to win the World Series (1983).  First was Jim McAndrew with those Miracle Mets of 1969, and just beat out Sundberg who won with the Royals in 1985. Personal Notes A fun oddity in collecting players who aren't super stars is you somet...