HOUSTON - For anybody who has been to a minor league baseball game, or just about any baseball game below the Major League level where beer is served, there are three or four plate appearances in every game that are always more anticipated than others. It's not the at bats from the home team's best player, nor is it the three or four at bats that might decide the game.
No, it's not any of those. It's the K Man.
K Man, Beer Man, Whiff Man - he goes by many names. He is the player from the visiting team - chosen at random - who enables the fans to get free beer. All he has to do is strike out.
For minor league baseball fans, the game is often second nature to everything else that's happening, whether in the stands, between innings on the field, or whatever. But when the K Man comes up, the attention turns immediately to home plate. The cheering starts, and it gets louder with every strike. If the K Man strikes out, there's a standing ovation, though the real reason everybody is standing is to run to the concessions to get their free beer. Then, a couple innings later, the K Man comes to bat again, and the excitement begins anew.
Mike Schmidt might not have been the first K Man in baseball history - but based on the newspaper reports from the day after the Phillies game with the Astros, the idea was certainly a novel one. What is fairly certain is that he was the most accomplished player to ever be named a K Man - more than 500 career home runs, a 3-time MVP, 10 Gold Gloves, and a first-ballot hall of famer. A great player in all respects.
But he also struck out a lot, especially early in his career, which might be why the Astros representatives decided to make him the K Man for the night. In the fifth inning, he kindly obliged, giving more than 14,000 Astros fans the chance for a free drink.
The K Man is rarely, if ever, seen in the Majors any more - imagine trying to sort out free beer for more than 30,000 people, or having half the fans in a Major League stadium leave their seats in the middle of an inning. But it worked for Houston in 1976, and it works marvelously well at the Minor League level.
HONORABLE MENTION
May 14, 1913: ST. LOUIS - Few pitchers have ever had a season like Walter Johnson's 1913 season: a 36-7 record, a 1.14 ERA, 243 strikeouts (the pitching triple crown), 11 shutouts, 13 straight wins to start the season. He was a machine. Perhaps most impressive was his scoreless innings streak. After giving up a run in the first inning of the season's first game, he went 55 2/3 straight innings without giving up another one, finally allowing his second run in a May 14 victory over the Browns. Johnson had a reputation for not bearing down as hard when his team was ahead, so perhaps that had something to do with the Browns getting to him with the Senators already ahead 6-0. Either way, Johnson's scoreless streak stood as the record until 1968, and it is still the American League record.
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