34 Days Until Spring Training

There are only 34 days left until pitchers and catchers report to spring training. 

Here are some interesting facts about the number 34:

• Jay Bruce hit a career high 34 home runs last season but also saw his strikeout rate increase and his walk rate decrease slightly. Over the last three seasons Bruce has been about 20% better than the average hitter which is certainly nice but the Reds would like to see Bruce become a star rather than a Nick Swisher. 2013 will be an important year for Bruce, let's see if he can take the next step. 
• In 1934, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. The MVPs of both leagues matched up in the World Series with Mickey Cochrane winning the award on the Tigers at catcher and Dizzy Dean winning the National League MVP for the Cardinals as a starter. The Yankees finished second in the American League, so Lou Gehrig only finished 5th in the MVP voting. This was despite Gehrig hitting .363 with 49 home runs and 165 RBI. Gehrig walked 109 times with only 31 strike outs. Dizzy Dean won 30 games for the Cardinals in 1934, a feat that wouldn't happen again until Denny McLain won 31 games for the Tigers in 1968. Something tells me we won't see that again.
• Hank Aaron, Roger Maris, Luis Aparicio, Roberto Clemente, Al Kaline and Bud Selig were born in 1934.
• The 34th President of the United States was Dwight Eisenhower. Eisenhower won 442 electoral votes to Adlai Stevenson's 89. Richard Nixon was his running mate. 
• The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers both retired Nolan Ryan's #34 and the Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers both retired Rollie Fingers' #34 jersey. Nobody can wear #34 in Minnesota either as the Twins retired Kirby Puckett's jersey. Speaking of Nolan Ryan, from age 40-46 Ryan was 71-66 with a 3.33 ERA and a 116 ERA+ with 1,437 strikeouts over 1,271 innings pitched. Not bad for an old man. For comparison's sake, over those same ages Jamie Moyer was 94-70 with a 4.36 ERA/100 ERA+ with 814 strikeouts over 1,386 innings pitched.
• Cy Young and Kid Nichols won 34 games in 1893. Both pitchers threw a combined 847 innings with only 196 strike outs. CC Sabathia finished 14th in the league in strikeouts with 197 this season. Although it might have been the dead ball era, a lot more balls were put into play. Kid Nichols led the league with a 1.28 whip a mark that would have ranked 53rd among qualified pitchers in 2012. Do you think team defense has improved since 1893? 
• In 1912, Ty Cobb was caught stealing 34 times. I don't think Detroit minded too much though as Cobb batted over .400 for the second year in a row finishing with a .409/.456/.584 line. Cobb only finished 7th in the MVP voting.
• Hakeem "the Dream" Olajuwon's #34 jersey is retired by the Houston Rockets. Here are his greatest hits.
• In 1884 and 1885 Old Hoss Radbourn threw 34 wild pitches. His Twitter account is phenomenal. 
• In 1997 Craig Biggio was hit by 34 pitches. Craig Biggio should be in the Hall of Fame.