Former Royals’ pitcher Steve Busby and Cardinals third basemen Ken Reitz along with pitcher Carl Mays, who is known for killing a batter with a beanball all have been selected into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.
Busby pitched eight seasons with the Royals from 1972-1980 and had a winning record of 70-54 and is the only Royals pitcher to throw two no-hitters. His best year was 1974 when he went 22-14 and threw 292.1 innings! That followed after he was voted Rookie of the Year in 1973.
Reitz was a Gold Glove third basemen in 1975 and was an All-Star in 1980. Not known for his bat, where he was a .260 hitter, but he was solid defensively at third base.
Mays, who spent about 10 years of his life in Mansfield, MO, pitched for Boston and New York in the American League, before moving over to Cincinnati and spending one year with the New York Giants. Mays will be remembered for August 16, 1920 when he hit Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman with a fastball to the temple and killed him. Mays always contended the pitch was unintentional and regretted that the incident ever happened. Mays died in 1971.
The induction ceremony will take place October 22, in Springfield.
Busby and Reitz enter MO. Sports HOF
Royals keep battling, beat Tigers
Billy Butler drove in two runs and went 2 for 3 as the Royals rallied in the seventh and eighth innings to beat the Detroit Tigers 7-5 Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
It was the Royals’ second win in a row over first place teams. Bruce Chen escaped with a no-decision after giving up five runs in 4.2 innings. He gave up a run in the first, but the Royals took a 2-1 lead in the second getting to rookie Rick Porcello, but Detroit quickly regained the lead at 3-2 thanks to a solo home run Ryan Raburn.
Detroit got two more off of Chen before he left with two outs in the fourth. Doubles by Josh Anderson and Mitch Maier followed by a sac fly from Butler made it a 5-4 game.
Yasuhito Yabuta pitched 2.1 scoreless innings to get the win and Joakim Soria picked up his 23rd save after the Royals rallied with RBI singles from Mike Jacobs and Butler in the seventh. They added an insurance run in the eighth.
Holliday rallies Cards for come back win
After a one out walk to Albert Pujols, Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday launched a two run homer to center field off Brewers’ closer Trevor Hoffman to put the Cardinals on top and give St. Louis a 4-3 win lowering the Cardinals magic number 13.
Pujols hit his 45th home run of the year off relief pitcher David Weathers in the seventh. That made the game 3-2. Pujols is now 10 of 19 off Weathers with three home runs and nine RBIs.
It just didn’t look like it would be the Cardinals night. In the sixth inning, they loaded the bases down 3-0, but only managed a run after Yadier Molina grounded into a double play and Khalil Green flew out with runners on first and third and two outs.
The Brewers got to John Smoltz early on Prince Fielder’s two run homer in the first and then after three straight singles and a run in the third, Smotlz minimized the damage by getting two strikeouts and a flyout to work out of the jam. Smoltz went five innings and struck out seven.
If they handed out assists for the MVP award, you’d have to give it to Holliday. He loves the Cardinals and loves National League pitching. He hit his 12th home run in 42 games compared to 11 in 98 with Oakland. He’s also hitting .381 since joining St. Louis.
The Cardinals magic number is down to 13. Comments from Tony LaRussa, Smoltz and Holliday.
Cavendish wins Stage 2, has 10 second lead
Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish retained the yellow jersey after Stage 2 of the Tour of Missouri as he led the pack again into Cape Girardeau. Cavendish and the pack had to catch three riders who pulled away after most of the riders stopped for "potty break" a code among riders.
About 90 minutes into Stage 2, more than half the riders stopped, but three riders who were just behind the lead pack surged ahead and led by almost five minutes, but Cavendish and the lead pack caught them in Cape and Cavendish made a final surge to win the stage.
Last year’s winner Christian Vande Velde had to pull out of the race early on Tuesday after he broke his hand in a fall during the circuit race in St. Louis. Stage 3 starts today in Farmington at 11am and wraps up in Rolla.
Mizzou hoping for 70,000 fans
I attended a luncheon for the local media that was put together by the University of Missouri. They football coach Gary Pinkel say a few words. Pinkel wants all fans wearing gold on Saturday as Mizzou shoots for 70,000 fans against Bowling Green.
Director of Athletics Mike Alden said Faurot Field hasn’t seen more than 62,000+ fans for the first home game in recent years and while Alden admits, hoping for 70,000 may be a little high, he said it will be fun to try to get there. The home record is 73,655 when Mizzou played Bama in the 1978 opener.
In addition to seeing the Big 12 offensive player of the week in Blaine Gabbert and the #25 Tigers, fans will be treated to a new video board and sound system and a B-2 flyover.
The Missouri Department of Athletics has announced that general admission hillside tickets to Mizzou’s game against Bowling Green will be available for purchase beginning at 8 a.m. today, September 9. General admission tickets will be available initially by phone and in-person only beginning at 8 a.m., with GA tickets becoming available for purchase online at mutigers.com later in the day on Wednesday.
Fans can purchase tickets by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS (884-PAWS in mid-Missouri) or in person at the Mizzou Arena Ticket Office.
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