Caleb Gindl‘s heroics for Milwaukee in Sunday’s 13-inning 1-0 win over Miami inspired this post. For those who may not be aware, Gindl’s homer was the deciding run in the hometown Brewers walk-off win. It was also the first home run of Gindl’s career.

Gindl is a rookie this season and I have no idea how many home runs he may hit in his career. But, if he never hits another one he will join the group of players featured in this post. They are all retired players with two things in common: they hit exactly one home run in their careers; and it was a walk-off shot.

After the jump, a look at those players who had just one long fly, but made it count big time.

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After a flurry of 300 game winners in the first decade of this century, attention is focused again on who might be the next pitcher to reach this most celebrated of pitching milestones. As well, there has been as much or more speculation as to whether there will be another 300 game winner, what with the ever-increasing “care” with which pitchers are handled and the decline of the complete game to almost negligible levels.

Lost in the speculation about 300 wins is the fact that to reach that level a pitcher must obviously first pass 200 wins, a not insignificant accomplishment in itself. As there has been the unusual occurrence of 3 pitchers reaching 200 wins this season, it seems an opportune time to look a bit closer at that milestone.

After the jump, more on the 200 win club.

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While many of us are familiar with regular season and post-season records, the same may not be true for All-Star game feats. To correct this deficiency, I offer this post for your edification.

Some records to watch for tonight.

• Most players Age 20 or under, One team – 2, NL (Bryce Harper, Jose Fernandez), also ties record for both teams
• Most players Age 21 or under, Both Teams – 4, Mike Trout, Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, Jose Fernandez, each team also ties record for one team
• Most games, Age 20 or under – 2, Bryce Harper (new record)
• Most games, Age 21 or under – 2, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout (tie with 11 others)
• Most AL teams represented, career – 3, Torii Hunter (tie with 12 others)

More All-Star Game records, P-I style, after the jump.

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The players in today’s quiz are the only catchers with a particular All-Star game accomplishment.

What is the feat achieved by no other catcher in the mid-summer classic?

Hint: one of these catchers achieved this feat twice

Congratulations to Nick Pain! With the first comment, he identified these players as the only losing catchers to call for the last pitch of the game, and not catch it (more commonly known as a walk-off win for the other team). Elston Howard has the distinction of doing this twice. The games are after the jump.

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His heroics in the 2012 post-season were not enough to keep Raul Ibanez on Brian Cashman’s radar, so Raul packed his bags and returned home, so to speak, to Seattle. Ibanez has spent the larger part of his career in the Great Northwest, including most of his career peak at age 34-37.

A career peak at age 34-37? You read it right. Ibanez just keeps getting better with age, including this season, already one of the better seasons ever for players in their forties. More on Raul’s unusual career after the jump.

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July 2nd was the 50th anniversary of the famous duel between Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn. Both starters logged a complete game that was not decided until Willie Mays connected with a 16th inning walk-off homer for a 1-0 Giants win.

A fond look back at this iconic game after the jump.

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Below are two lists of four players, one list of batters and one of pitchers. Both the batters and pitchers are the only players in the searchable era with a certain connection to the Fourth, one connection for the batters and a different but related connection for the pitchers.

So, what are the connections?

Hint #1: there is no batter vs. pitcher connection between the listed players (at least, none that is germane to the quiz)

Hint #2: the fact that Art Houtteman, Ray Moore and Billy Pierce were teammates of each other at various times is purely coincidental and has nothing to do with the quiz. Ditto for Dwight Evans and Rich Gedman. Honest.

Congratulations to Richard Chester and Insert Name Here! Richard correctly identified (with a little help) that these batters homered in a July 4th game off of a pitcher whose birthday is July 4th. Similarly, INS identified that these pitchers gave up a home run in a July 4th game to a batter whose birthday is July 4th. They are the only players in the searchable era who meet these criteria. The fact that there are four of each for July 4th – hey, truth is stranger than fiction.

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We’re at the half-way point of the 2013 campaign and one of this season’s best kept secrets is the fine crop of rookie hurlers this year.

Don’t know about Jose Fernandez or Julio Teheran? Here’s your opportunity to find out.

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Homer Bailey recorded the first no-hitter of the 2013 season tonight, dispatching the Giants on 109 pitches, 74 for strikes. Bailey allowed just a single batter to reach base, on a walk to Gregor Blanco leading off the 7th inning. Joey Votto provided the only offense the Reds would need with a first inning sac fly, with Brandon Phillips adding insurance tallies with a 2-run HR in the 6th inning.

More after the jump.

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This quiz concerns a career (min. 5000 PA) batting feat accomplished since 1901 by only a handful of the all-time greats … plus a few other guys who have each played their entire careers within the past 25 seasons.

So, who are these other guys hobnobbing with baseball’s elite? That’s for you to find out based on the list below, conveniently ordered by the career batting feat that only these players have achieved.

Congrats to Insert Name Here, aweb and Josh who identified the mystery players bolded above. Congratulations to Howard who identified that these players have the 10 highest career RBI per game rates of all players with 5000+ PAs, and are the only players with a rate of more than 0.8 RBI per game.

Ryan Howard joined the group just yesterday – he currently has exactly 5000 PAs. Will be interesting to see if he can stay on the list. Some players (Greenberg, Gonzalez, Belle) benefited from a short career and/or retiring at an early age before their decline phase dragged down their career rate stats. Williams may have the most impressive accomplishment with missing a large chunk of his prime years to military service and thereby compiling almost one-third of his career PAs in his age 35 season or later.

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