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On July 21, 1975, Joe Torre came to Shea Stadium believing that his slump, finally, was over. He had just turned 35, three days earlier, and he celebrated by cracking three hits against his former team, the Braves. He needed that. For about a month, he hadn't hit a...
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No danger in one of today’s hitters matching that record. Gotta make contact first.
Not only that, but he’d probably get pinch hit for, or bunt, to avoid the possibility if he already had 3.
My father-in-law has told me maybe 50 times the story of how Torre wouldn’t block the plate when guys were trying to score, so announcers referred to him as Chicken Catcher Torre.
Have no idea if that reputation is earned, though I don’t doubt the Chicken Catcher Torre moniker.
The story was off a pun Vin Scully told, supposedly after Torre was in a home plate collision and then subsequently moved to playing third base. The pun got picked up on, of course, so Torre had to deal with it. I don’t think it had anything to do with him not blocking the plate. It sounds like it was the opposite. BTW: Scully says that when he told the pun to Tommy Lasorda, he ordered two. 1970s humor.
The only time I’ve been to the Big A, it was this game on June 18, 2013:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ANA/ANA201306180.shtml
Josh Hamilton hit into three double plays. He never made the fourth, but did strike out in his two other at bats. This was peak cratering Hamilton.
It was also Mike Trout hat day, so I got a trucker hat with a big trout coming out of both sides. All for a $5 ticket from the box office!