Manny Machado’s 30th double puts him with Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio

By Bill BaerJun 14, 2013, 11:50 PM EST
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Orioles third baseman Manny Machado doubled twice off of Red Sox starter Ryan Dempster tonight, giving him 30 on the season. ESPN Stats & Info tweeted this interesting piece of trivia after Machado’s second double of the night in the Orioles’ 2-0 victory:

Any time you can be mentioned in the same breath as Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, you’re doing a good job.

The single-season record for doubles is 67 by Earl Webb in 1931. Machado needs just 37 doubles over his team’s final 94 games to tie the record, a rate of one double every 2.5 games. If he continues at his current rate of doubles, 1 per 2.27 games, he would wind up at 71 doubles.

B.J. Upton is going by B.J. Upton again

Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
By Bill BaerJan 15, 2019, 7:14 PM EST
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Outfielder B.J. Upton went by the name B.J., short for Bossman Junior, through the 2014 season. His father Manny was known as Bossman, hence Bossman Junior. Upton decided he wanted to be referred to by his birth name Melvin starting in 2015, saying that everyone except baseball fans knew him by that name. Now, he’s back to B.J., Scott Boeck of USA TODAY Sports reports.

For those keeping score at home, Upton is the artist formerly and currently known as B.J.

Upton, 34, hasn’t played in the majors since 2016. He signed a minor league deal with the Indians in December 2017 but was released in the middle of last March and wasn’t able to latch on with another team. It seems unlikely he finds his way back to the majors.