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Welcome to Sliders, a weekly in-season MLB column that focuses on both the timely and timeless elements of the game.
It was March of 1969, in spring training, and a pitcher for the Seattle Pilots issued a walk.
No big deal, but it prompted some helpful advice from the Pilots bullpen coach to the teams relievers.
The secret to pitching, boys, said Eddie OBrien, is throwing strikes.
Advertisement Jim Bouton, one of those relievers, printed the line a year later in his landmark diary, Ball Four, a book that delighted in skewering the old guard.
For the OBrien family, though, there is no substitute for elementary wisdom.
Eddies twin brother, Johnny, would impart the same words to his grandson, Riley, now the closer for the St.
Louis Cardinals.
He always kept it pretty simple for me, OBrien said recently.
The thing he would always tell me is: Point my foot right at home and throw strikes.
OBrien smiled.
His grandfather and great uncle were teammates for five seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1950s.
They wouldnt have known much about modern data on spin rates, arm angles and sweeping sliders.
I mean, the game was so different back when he played, but it was cool just hearing his stories, OBrien said.
He made it sound like it was no big deal, playing with all these legends and just making it sound very casual.
Through Thursday, OBrien is tied for second in the National League in saves, with 19.
Batters are hitting .037 (1-for-27) against his sweeper, and the Cardinals are holding a wild-card spot nearly halfway through their schedule.
I think the progression of getting him to this spot was kind of giving him the ball and saying, Run with it, manager Oli Marmol said.
When we got him from Seattle, we definitely thought the stuff was there.
We wanted to get him to believe in his stuff as much as we believed in it.
The Cardinals are getting the best of the 31-year-old OBrien, but as settings go, Seattle should have been the perfect fit.
He was born there in 1995, the year the Mariners first made the playoffs and long after the Pilots had left for Milwaukee.
He played at Shorewood High School in Shoreline, Wash., Everett Community College and the College of Idaho.
Advertisement OBriens mother, Kerri Hong, was a flight attendant who sometimes worked the Mariners team charter.
As Riley made his way through the minors with the Tampa Bay Rays and Cincinnati Reds, she made sure to tell Jerry Dipoto, the Mariners president of baseball operations, all about him.
When we had the opportunity to pick him up in a small deal (with the Reds), we did, and she was overwhelmed with appreciation to have him at home and around the family, Dipoto said.
When he made his Mariners debut, they were all in the ballpark to see it.
Dipoto, an avid baseball card collector, was touched to receive a thank-you note that included a card of Hongs father-in-law from the 1956 Topps set.
Alas, OBriens Mariners debut in 2022, after a one-start cameo with Cincinnati the year before would be his only game for the team.
At Triple-A Tacoma in 2023, OBrien posted a 2.29 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 55 innings.
But he struggled to follow the familys No.
1 rule: he didnt throw enough strikes, averaging five walks per nine innings.
When the Mariners needed a roster spot in November 2023, the Cardinals snagged OBrien from them for cash considerations.
They used him for 50 games across the next two seasons and made him closer early this year.
While OBrien has a 4.05 ERA, he has converted 19 of 23 save chances and blown just one opportunity since May 10.
He has not appeared before the eighth inning since March.
I feel like pitching in those games brings out the best in me, OBrien said.
When the games on the line, I feel a lot more game-focused rather than internally focused, where you can start thinking about other stuff.
When Im out there to save the game, its just: What can I do to get three outs? What can I do to get us to win? For OBrien, it has taken years to build off his strong start in the Tampa Bay farm system, where he started his career as an eighth-round pick in 2017.
After three good seasons, the lost Covid year interrupted his progress.
Advertisement I didnt go to an alt-site and I was just at home, OBrien said.
I think my mechanics changed, a lot things changed.
So those next couple years, when I made my debut at Cincinnati and when I pitched in Seattle, I just didnt feel like the same pitcher.
It was cool to get to the big leagues, but I knew that wasnt really me.
I knew I was better than that.
OBrien said he was chasing vertical movement on his four-seam fastball and inadvertently raised his arm slot.
He lowered it in the Mariners system and now throws at a 31 degree angle, compared to 51 degrees in his debut with the Reds.
He also ditched the four-seamer for a sinker.
By establishing himself this season, OBrien has finally passed his grandfather and great uncle in major-league innings.
While Johnny was mostly a second baseman and Eddie usually played short, both brothers also pitched, combining for 77 13 innings and a 5.12 ERA.
Johnny worked 25 of the brothers 30 games on the mound.
The way that he explained it to me was, back then, if you threw hard and they were short on arms or something, you would just go in and pitch and eat some innings, OBrien said.
I guess he threw pretty hard for a second baseman, but I dont know if he did too well; he only told me the stories about giving up homers.
Johnny OBrien who served up long balls to Hank Aaron and Willie Mays in 1957 lived an eventful life.
He broadcast Seattle University basketball games with a young Keith Jackson; scouted for the expansion Houston Colt .45s; served as a commissioner and councilman for King County, Wash.; and worked for many years in the administration of the Kingdome.
He died last June.
As for Eddie, except for that one-year Pilots gig as an authors foil (or a gold-plated pain in the ass, as Bouton wrote), he served as Seattle Universitys athletic director from 1958 to 1980 and died in 2014.
The brothers were civic treasures, hosting baseball camps and holiday charity drives for years, and the universitys athletic administration building is named for them.
OBrien keeps the baseball legacy alive in St.
Louis, and takes pride in the family connection when old-timers greet him back home.
Advertisement Every now and then, he said, I run into someone that says, I used to watch the OBrien twins growing up! For Diamondbacks rookie, a stylish gator aid As a pitching staff, the Arizona Diamondbacks have been fairly average this season, with a 4.29 ERA that ranks 10th in the National League.
For stylish accessories, though, their staff is unrivaled.
Two weeks ago in this space, reliever Drey Jameson showed off his colorful collection of cartoon-inspired spikes and belts.
Now, here comes Jose Cabrera, a rookie starter from the Dominican Republic who debuted with five shutout innings against the Minnesota Twins last Sunday.
When the Diamondbacks visited St.
Louis this week, intrepid Cardinals TV reporter Dani Wexelman noticed that Cabrera was toting the ultimate baseball equipment bag: black, leather and shaped like an alligator with a zipper on its back.
It stores his plyometric workout balls.
We asked the Diamondbacks play-by-play man, Steve Berthiaume, about it, and he sent his partner, World Series hero Luis Gonzalez, to investigate.
Gonzalez snapped the photo below and reported that a fellow pitching prospect, Alfred Morillo, gave Cabrera the nickname El Caiman the alligator during spring training.
Cabrera saw the bag at a gas station and didnt buy it.
But another minor leaguer, Roman Angelo, did, and gave it to Cabrera.
When you get to the big leagues, Angelo told Cabrera, you have to use this bag.
So he does.
And if Cabreras career unfolds as smoothly as his debut, its only a matter of time before the Diamondbacks start selling alligator equipment bags at the ballpark.
Generation Trei MLB gets its fifth three-generation family When the Detroit Tigers called up outfielder Trei Cruz last week, it gave MLB its fifth third-generation family and first since pitcher Casey Colemans debut in 2010.
Cruz is the son of Jose Cruz Jr.
and grandson of Jose Cruz Sr., both longtime outfielders.
He went 0-for-5 in two games and was optioned back to Triple-A Toledo.
Advertisement Coleman, who pitched in 58 games for the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals from 2010 to 2014, is the son and grandson of All-Star pitchers, both named Joe Coleman.
He followed the Hairstons (Sammy, Jerry, Jerry Jr.
and Scott) and the Bells (Gus, Buddy, David and Mike), and they all followed the Boones.
Ray Boone reached the majors with Cleveland in September 1948.
His son, Bob, had a decorated 19-year catching career, and Bobs son, Bret, debuted with Seattle in 1992.
Five years later, another son, Aaron, joined the Reds.
Its the family business, so that dominated a lot of conversations, said Aaron Boone, the longtime Yankees manager.
I had a grandpa who was very involved in our life, too, so we were talking baseball all the time.
So I think it was beneficial to have people that played at the highest level that could relate to you and impart things on you.
And certainly once we got to the big leagues and were having a career at it, to have a brother, a dad, a grandfather, all relate to what your job was, that was a good thing.
That makes sense, of course, and you might assume that, given their bloodlines, third-generation sons would be highly sought after by MLB teams.
But of the eight players with both big-league grandfathers and fathers, only one Mike Bell was a first-round draft pick.
Aaron Boone, Trei Cruz and Scott Hairston were third-round picks, Bret Boone was a fifth-rounder, David Bell was taken in the seventh round and Casey Coleman in the 15th.
Off the Grid Sandy Alcantara, Cy Young Award/All-Star Only three Cy Young Award winners would not have fit in the upper left corner of last Saturdays Grid.
Every winner of the award has also been an All-Star at some point, except for John Denny (1983 NL), Rick Porcello (2016 AL) and Pete Vuckovich (1982 AL).
Sandy Alcantara, the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner for the Miami Marlins, has been an All-Star twice.
Well salute him here because hes on a bit of a roll, with a 5-0 record and 2.60 ERA in five June starts, and he just set a franchise record for strikeouts on Tuesday: SANDY STANDS ALONE! SANDY ALCANTARA IS THE ALL TIME MARLINS FRANCHISE LEADER WITH 1,002 STRIKEOUTS!!! pic.twitter.com/Fa98k008PX Marlins Radio Network (@MarlinsRadio) June 24, 2026 Alcantaras 1,002nd strikeout surpassed a mark held by Ricky Nolasco, who pitched for the team from 2006 to 2013.
Alcantara, who did it in 11 fewer starts, is the only active pitcher who leads his current franchise in strikeouts.
Advertisement The newly retired Clayton Kershaw is the Dodgers career strikeout leader with 3,052.
Hes one of five team leaders with 3,000 strikeouts for their franchise, with Walter Johnson of the Twins/Senators (3,509), Bob Gibson of the Cardinals (3,117), Steve Carlton of the Phillies (3,031) and John Smoltz of the Braves (3,011).
Alcantaras total is the lowest for any franchise leader, though he should pass the Rockies leader if he is not traded.
German Marquez, now recovering from a forearm nerve injury with the San Diego Padres, leads all Colorado pitchers with 1,069 strikeouts.
Classic clip Sweet Lou loses it in Cleveland, 1998 The Seattle Mariners are visiting Cleveland this weekend, which calls to mind their simultaneous rise in the 1990s.
Neither franchise won a title, but both became contenders with thunderous lineups.
From 1994 through 1999, the Mariners led the majors in home runs with 1,322, about a hundred more than the second-place Indians.
Their 1998 rosters included five players apiece who would finish with more than 300 home runs: Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Jay Buhner and Raul Ibanez for Seattle; Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Cecil Fielder, David Justice and Richie Sexson for Cleveland.
Ramirez, Sexson and Martinez all went deep that August 26, but nobody ignited the crowd like Mariners manager Lou Piniella.
Raging at umpire Larry Barnett, who had called out Seattles Russ Davis for running out of the baseline, Piniella punctuates his classic arms-wide pose by kicking his hat over and over and over, as if hes trying out for the World Cup.
This clip, taken by a Cleveland fan, captures the action in full from the upper deck.
At the end, Piniella flings the hat into the crowd and a fan tosses it right back.
And why did he take out his frustrations that way? I was going to throw a base, Piniella told The (Tacoma, Wash.) News Tribune.
But my wife told me not to do that again.