LOS ANGELES -- Joe Musgrove has been promised free beer for life by a local establishment, San Diego's Ballast Point Brewing, so that's no empty promise. Two restaurants have told him he gets free sandwiches for life, and given the existence of a Tony Gwynn sandwich and a Tony Hawk sandwich, it's possible that he will have a meal named for him. The small coffee shop that his parents own just outside San Diego, has been overrun with patrons in recent weeks.
"Dude, it's unbelievable," Musgrove said over the phone.
This is what can happen when you become the first Padres' pitcher to throw a no-hitter after a wait of more than a half-century. And it is what happens when you are a San Diegan yourself. Musgrove's alma mater, Grossmont High School, is 14 miles from Petco Park. As Musgrove was in the midst of his no-hitter against the Rangers on April 9, he was fully aware of the franchise history he was shaping.
However, Musgrove has only just begun to experience the life-changing ripples from his no-hitter, which will now go a long way toward defining his baseball legacy and how he is perceived by fans and his community. Musgrove is just emerging as a big-league star, bearing a 1.04 ERA in his first four starts this season. No matter what else he accomplishes for the Padres or for the rest of his career, that no-hitter, near-perfection -- the only Ranger reaching base came when Musgrove hit Joey Gallo with a pitch in the fourth inning -- will be the prism through which many others remember him, and honor him in perpetuity.
"It puts you on the map, no matter where you go," said David Wells, the longtime pitcher who threw a perfect game for the Yankees. "It puts you in the book."
Don Larsen's ERA in his first four seasons in the big leagues was 3.82. His career win-loss record was 30-40. But on Oct. 8, 1956, Larsen threw the only perfect game in World Series history. For the rest of his life, that's how he was introduced. In death, it is how he was eulogized in the first paragraph of his obituary.
For a city that waited so long to see a Padres no-hitter, San Diego has a lot of perfect game and no-hit history. Like Musgrove, Larsen and Wells grew up in the city, and both attended Point Loma High School.
On May 17, 1998, Wells pitched a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins, and on Friday, he recounted the avalanche of personal appearances and honors he received afterward. He appeared on Letterman, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, and another late-night show.
"Who is the tall redhead?" Wells asked.
Conan O'Brien?
"Yeah, Conan," he said, his memory jogged, and he continued.
Wells' 35th birthday happened to fall three days after his perfect game. To celebrate, Wells went to Ben Benson's steakhouse -- and he remembers that when he walked in, he was immediately recognized, and many of the patrons gave him a standing ovation. A waiter walked over with a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, and Wells, initially confused, responded that he wasn't interested in the bubbles because he never really liked the drink. But then the waiter clarified: somebody had sent over the bottle. And it was the first of many. Wells estimates that his group walked out with about 20 bottles of Dom Perignon and Cristal Champagne, some of which he still has. Wells was told years ago he would never have to pay for a meal in Dorrian's Red Hand in New York City, and this has been true every time he returned.
"You're going to make money for the rest of your life," Wells said, recounting the years when he, Larsen and David Cone -- the three Yankees who have thrown perfect games -- might each get $300,000 to $500,000 annually making multiple appearances together, because a lot of fans wanted baseballs signed by all three.
The money died down after about 15 years, said Wells, who last pitched in 2007 after a 21-year career that included 239 career wins. But the recognition continues. Wells says he has bumped into fans as far away as Africa, New Zealand and Australia who recognize him and bring up the perfect game.
"People come up to you all the time," Wells said.
At Grossmont High, there is now a Joe Musgrove mural.
"In San Diego alone, the level of recognition is unbelievable," Musgrove said, sounding as if he's still trying to get his mind around all of the attention that the no-hitter has drawn.
Musgrove attended Padres' games while growing up. As he pitched against the Rangers on April 9, he understood exactly what the moment would mean for Padres fans.
"I was very aware," he said. "Everything fell into place that night. Everything played in our favor."
His parents watched, and as they related to Joe after the game, they honored all of the appropriate no-hitter superstitions -- remaining in the same spot, not going to the bathroom, muting conversations about the developing history. About 90 minutes after Musgrove registered the final out, after he dealt with the first wave of media requests, he finally got to FaceTime his parents, Diane and Mark Musgrove. Joe's father maintained his emotions during that call, but Diane told Joe about how his dad had been weeping and shaking at the end of the no-hitter.
His parents' coffee shop, Caffe Adesso, is located in Alpine, Calif., one of the first drive-through coffee places in the area. The day after the no-hitter, long lines began forming.
"I'm super grateful for that," said Joe Musgrove. "Financially, it's been a big help for our family. ... The lines have been down the block."
"It's kind of freaky," said Musgrove.
Wells is connected to Musgrove by a few degrees of separation -- a high school teammate is married to a cousin of Musgrove -- and asked to be forwarded Musgrove's phone number, to send him a congratulatory text.
"I'm going to text him and introduce myself," said Wells, "and tell him, 'You're in the club.'"
The Yankees' Judge decision
The New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Angels very briefly talked about Aaron Judge in offseason trade conversations, but nothing advanced; rather, it was the lightest of flirtations, and perhaps a door-opener for other names. Teams talk all the time about a wide range of players, from their best to their least accomplished.
But soon enough, the Yankees will be face to face with the decision of whether to invest long-term in Judge, who will be eligible for free agency after the 2023 season. In 2017, he clubbed 52 homers, drew 127 walks and posted a 1.049 OPS. In the 258 games since then -- played over the full seasons of 2018 and 2019, the 60-game season of '20, and the sprinkling of games this year -- Judge has 67 homers and .914 OPS.
When May hit 100
When the Los Angeles Dodgers scouted Dustin May as a high school senior, his fastball velocity was 90-93 mph, but the potential for more was there, because of a rangy 6-foot-6 body that will remind you of the Mets' Jacob deGrom. May is 23 now, and is similar to deGrom in this way: deGrom is first in average fastball velocity among major league starting pitchers, at 99 mph, and May ranks second, at 98.1 mph.
In a podcast conversation Friday, May could recall the exact moment when he hit 100 mph for the first time -- in the 2019 playoffs, against the Washington Nationals.
"I pulled it glove side," he remembered, "and I did the hardest velo check I've ever done. And I got so excited."
"When I turned around and saw the 100 [on the stadium scoreboard], "I was super excited."
Posey's rebirth
Buster Posey had hip surgery late in the 2018 season, and in 2019, at age 32, he didn't look right, with a slugging percentage of .368, the lowest of any full season in his career. After the onset of COVID-19, Posey opted to sit out the 60-game season, choosing to focus, instead, on babies that he and wife Kristen Posey had just adopted. The perception of many evaluators was that Posey was a once-great player winding down a career after years of playing the most taxing position in the sport.
But Posey has looked really good at the outset of this season, hitting .310, with a .378 on-base percentage and a .619 slugging percentage. One evaluator who thought Posey's days as a frontline catcher were behind is shocked by the rebound.
"It might be that he just needed an extra year to heal, to get that surgery behind him," said the evaluator. "I'm watching him move and he looks great. With what I'm seeing now, I could see him playing another two or three years."
Giants manager Gabe Kapler wrote in a text, "I sense Buster's body appreciated a year away from the game. The recovery time allowed him to train hard this past winter. His hips and ankles look flexible. He's using his legs well to hit and throw. He's recovering well."
The other day, Kapler noted, Posey asked to catch a day game against the Phillies after catching the night before.
"That speaks to his potential to be durable for us this year," Kapler wrote. "Finally, his movements are efficient at the plate, and he's getting to velocity."
Posey is in the last guaranteed year of the record-setting contract he signed with the Giants in 2013, with San Francisco holding a $22 million option for 2022 (and a $3 million buyout). At the outset of this year, it seemed like a slam dunk that the Giants would decline the option -- and that may still be the case, given the general rollbacks in salaries in recent years, especially for older players.
But because of his legacy, Posey could also parlay a strong 2021 and the buyout into some sort of an agreement -- if that's what he wants to do. Posey will be 35 years old at the outset of next season, with four kids growing up at home, and he'll have the option of calling it a career.
If he continues, he may add statistical bedrock to what is already an excellent case to someday join his former manager Bruce Bochy as a Hall of Fame inductee. I stopped voting on Cooperstown candidates years ago, but if I did cast ballots, Posey would be a slam-dunk candidate for me because of the extraordinary peaks of his career -- a Rookie of the Year award, an MVP, the catcher on three championship teams. For a period of about eight years, Posey ranked with Yadier Molina as the very best at a premium position -- and for a time, was probably regarded among the game's best players among all positions.
But some of his counting statistics might underwhelm some voters: He's got just under 1,400 hits, just over 600 runs, and 144 homers -- and his career WAR of 41.6 is lower than that of Darryl Strawberry, Gary Gaetti and Brett Gardner, and lower than that of Jorge Posada, who, in his only year of consideration, wasn't named on the 5% minimum required to remain on the ballot. If Posey plays a few more years and gets closer to 1,800 hits and 200 homers, he might placate some voters' sensibilities.
But Posey may not be thinking about any of those future options yet; rather, he seems to be locked into the moment for now, getting back to being the kind of player he's been in the past.
Relievers aren't in a hurry
During a playoff broadcast last year of a blowout -- the Dodgers scored 11 runs in the first inning against the Braves -- Boog Sciambi gave voice to a trend in the sport. For many years, relievers called into a one-sided game were expected to attack the strike zone, suck up innings and be as efficient as possible, to mitigate the future fallout of that day's game for the days that followed.
But Boog noted that this is not how relievers think anymore. Rather, they generally expect to work an inning, and they will treat that inning like it's the most important inning of the game no matter the score, repeatedly throwing the hitters their best pitch -- mostly, as hard as they can -- without regard to the ball-strike count or the score.
Hence, the innings thrown by relievers -- which, in the past, might be some of the quickest -- now are routinely some of the slowest, with the bullpen pieces constantly working deep counts, and working slowly.
Ball-strike count data is available dating back to 1988, and the percentage of full counts for relievers has risen steadily:
1988: 10.4%
1998: 11.9%
2008: 13.4%
2018: 13.9%
2019: 14.6%
2020: 15.5%
2021: 15.4%
Another way to look at it is to consider the league-wide average number of pitches per plate appearance when relievers are on the mound, which continues to increase - from about 3.80 in 2005 to 3.99 in the 60-game season of 2020.
Noteworthy
Cubs manager David Ross and his staff strongly encouraged his hitters to skip some of their well-worn flip drills -- in which a coach or teammate flips balls underhand from the side, in an effort to hone swings -- and spend more time with high-velocity pitching machines. Through games of April 16, the Cubs had hit .075 against pitches of 95+ mph, with a .134 slugging percentage. Then, over the next six games, the Cubs batted .300 with a .433 slugging pct., according to numbers dug out by Sarah Langs. "This game is so bizarre," said one evaluator. "And the truth is in-between." ... The Nationals talked to other teams during the winter about Patrick Corbin, who is in the third year of his six-year, $140 million contract. Corbin has really struggled out of the gate this season, allowing 16 runs in his first 12 1/3 innings. ... The Giants might be baseball's most surprising team, ranking third in the majors in starters' ERA at 2.48, but the forthcoming challenge could be in maintaining enough bullpen depth to remain competitive in the hyper competitive NL West.