Delaware baseball news

Dallas Green was selected to the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame yesterday. He joins Chris Short as the only native Delawareans to be so honored. One former Phillie is selected each year to join the Wall of Fame. There are currently 27 Phillies and 25 former Athletics players enshrined. Short was elected in 1992.

Caravel Academy defeated William Penn High School to win the Delaware State championship.

Dave Williams, former Delaware Technical Community College player, was traded to the New York Mets.

Memorial Day

I know Memorial Day is supposed to be to honor those who died in wars but many people also use the time to remember others who have passed on. Below is a list of ballplayers who are known to be buried in Delaware:

Harry Anderson, Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington
Frank Bennett, Gracelawn Memorial Park, New Castle
Huck Betts, Millsboro Cemetery, Millsboro
Bill Bruton, Gracelawn Memorial Park, New Castle
Al Burris, Hollywood Cemetery, Harrington
Pete Cassidy, Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington
Ed Cihocki, All Saints Cemetery, Newark
Brandy Davis, New Street Cemetery, Newark
Bill Day, Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington
Chick Hartley, Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington
Bill Hawke, Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington
Bill Higgins, Silverbrook Cemetery, Wilmington
Harry Hoch, Townsend Cemetery, Townsend
Broadway Jones, Millsboro Cemetery, Millsboro
Flip Lafferty, Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery, Wilmington
Len Lovett, Head of Christiana Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Newark
Bill McGowan, Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington
Sadie McMahon, St. Joseph-on-the-Brandywine Church Cemetery, Wilmington
Leo Meyer, Silverbrook Cemetery, Wilmington
Joseph Myers, Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington
John Newell, Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington
Chris Short, Union Cemetery, Georgetown
Barney Slaughter, Glenwood Cemetery, Smyrna
Happy Townsend, Townsend Cemetery, Townsend
Vic Willis, St. John Cemetery, Newark
George Winter, Riverview Cemetery, Wilmington

Sticktoittiveness

This past week John Mabry passed Randy Bush for fourth all-time among native Delawareans in games played. Mabry is the fifth Delawarean to play in 1200 major league games. So of the 48 native Delawareans to play major league baseball, 10.4% have played in 1200 games or more, the highest percentage of any state. Florida is the only other state to have ten percent of its players play in over 1200 games.

On top of that, Delaware is also the birthplace of Charlie Marshall, who played in 1000 minor league games, and Pedro Swann, who last week played in his 1600th career professional game.

In addition, Delaware has produced three pitchers to start 300 games. That is twelve percent of the pitchers from Delaware who have played in the major leagues. So while Delaware has not been home to a large number of baseball players, it has been for several players who have enjoyed lengthy careers.

Some other Delawareans

I watched the Phillies-Reds game last week and was pleased to see a pitching duel between pitchers with Delaware connections as well as a battery with First State ties.

The pitchers for both teams were Jon Lieber for the Phillies, a former Wilmington Blue Rock (1993), and Dave Williams for Cincinnati. Williams is a graduate of Delaware Technical Community College. Another former member of the Blue Rocks (1995), Sal Fasano, was Lieber's catcher.

Fasano has caught all but one of Lieber's starts for the Phillies, a decision possibly made because too many people got confused when Mike Lieberthal was catching; "Lieberthal signals for Lieber's pitch. Lieber throws...curveball, Lieberthal blocks Lieber's pitch in the dirt. Lieberthal, I mean Lieber, has been wild this past inning and Lieber, uh, Lieberthal has really been busy back there".