August I Sim Done

Game Date:  Aug 15, 2027

Standings:
Adams:  Atlanta holds  a one game lead over London.
Zotti:  Seattle by nineteen.
Signorino:  Antelope Valley is eight games ahead of Maui
Wild Card:  Brick is nine games ahead of London.

Awards & Accomplishments:
Maui CF Ernesto Salcido was named Rookie of the Month.
Antelope Valley's Jim Walton was named Pitcher of the Month
Seattle CF Yvon Settignino named Batter of the Month (3rd career award, 2nd this season)
Houston 1B Nigel Bryant named Player of the Week (8/2, 15th career award, 2nd this season)
Highland 1B Manuel Hidalgo named Player of the Week (8/9)

Significant Injuries:
Highland will be without 3B Max Price for five weeks with a sprained ankle.
Atlanta starter Brad Buckley's season is over with a partially torn labrum.
Shackamaxon will have do without the services of CF Abel Stephens for three weeks as he has a herniated disc.
Shackamaxon reliver Bernardo Franco is finished for this year and will likely miss next year as well with a torn UCL.
Ohio starting pitcher Scott Loman's going to miss three weeks with a fractured foot.

Milestones:
Two Maui players reached 400 home runs on back-to-back days.  On 7/30, Raul Ortega reached 400 dingers, becoming the 13th player to do so.  On the next day, David Seibel joined the club.

Trivia Question:
Last Week's Question:
Who was the only player to play in a major league game while missing a leg?

The only player to do so was Bert Shepard, who played his only major league game on August 4, 1945 for the Washington Senators.

Shepard was a minor league pitcher who spent the 1940-42 seasons pitching in class D and C ball for the Cardinals and White Sox.  When he entered service in World War II, Shepard became a fighter pilot.  He was shot down on his 34th mission east of Hamburg and lost his leg in a POW camp. While there, he learned to walk and then to pitch again.  Back in the United States in 1945, he was placed on Washington's roster.  On Saturday, August 4th, the Red Sox knocked Washington starter Sandy Ulrich out of the box by scoring seven runs against him in three and a third innings.  The Senators brought in Joe Cleary, a native of Ireland (and, to this date, the last Irish born native to play in the majors).  Clearly faced nine batters and only retired one.  By the time he left the game, the score was 14-2 Red Sox.

Shepard came into the game and got the last batter of the inning out on strikes.  He then proceeded to pitch the remainder of the game, limiting the Red Sox to only one more run over the remainder of the game, which the Sox won 15-4.

That was Shepard's (and Cleary's) only game in the majors.  Once the regular major leaguers came back in 1946, Shepard was sent back to Class C ball.

He pitched again in 1949 where he played in 20 class C ball games and again in 1955 when he made three appearances with the Yankees class C ball team in Modesto.

This Week's Questions:
We all know that sometimes players get attached to their uniform numbers.  For some, it's just an affectation, for others, it has personal meaning.  For one player, however, it had particular meaning.

Who is the only major league player to wear his birthday on the back of his uniform?

Next sim:  Thursday night.