Talk:Mike Flanagan (baseball)/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Kncny11 (talk · contribs) 17:49, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

I'm gonna be popping a look over at this! You know the drill by now, sections with a  Working tag means that I haven't finished taking a look at them yet, but feel free to address comments as soon as they appear! Kncny11 ^(shoot) 17:56, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

Infobox and lede

• "American left-handed professional baseball left handed pitcher..." with the WL
• "in the major leagues" → "in Major League Baseball (MLB)"
• Need a front parenthetical for the years he was with the Jays

Early years

• "one of Ed and Lorraine Flanagan's four children" → "one of four children born to Ed and Lorraine Flanagan"
• "6-inning" → "six-inning" per MOS:NUMBERS
• First sentence of the second para is a little confusing. I assume both teams won those titles in both years?
  • That is correct. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 01:21, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

University of Massachusetts

• Pipe University of Massachusetts to UMass Minutemen baseball
• "He also played in the outfield when he was not pitching at UMass" → "In addition to pitching for UMass, Flanagan played in the outfield"
• Pipe "UMass School of Education" to University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Education

Baltimore Orioles

1975-76

• Specify each of the minor-league levels for Miami, Asheville, and Rochester
• The second sentence of the second para can probably be broken into two, as it's a little busy right now (the word "in", particularly, is used four times). Maybe something like He made his MLB debut on September 5, in the opener of a twi-night doubleheader against the New York Yankees. Flanagan pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief of starter Wayne Garland in a 5-4 victory at Memorial Stadium.
• Comma after "until the bottom of the ninth"
• WL the first instance of complete game

1977-78

• Drop the "real" in "real workhorse"
• "tying for the AL lead with 40 games started (tied with Dennis Leonard)" → "tying with Dennis Leonard for the AL lead with 40 games started"

1979

• Details of the one game that he did lose
• "Flanagan credited some of his success to a new pitch of his, the changeup, which Scott McGregor taught him that season." → "Flanagan credited some of his success to the addition of achangeup to his pitch repertoire, which Scott McGregor had taught him that season."
• "Against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the World Series, Flanagan did start Game 1, allowing four runs but..." → "Flanagan started Game 1 of the 1979 World Series, allowing four runs from the Pittsburgh Pirates but..."

1980-83

• Remove the external link to "infamous tirades"
  • Moved to external links section, delinked in article. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 01:40, 10 May 2021 (UTC)
• "he was a had a winning record once again." → "he had a winning record once again"
• "Though 1979 was his best season statistically" (or some similar word, generally contrasting numbers-wise best with his opinion)

1984-87

• The sentence starting "With a 9-11 record on August 14 ..." follows strangely, as it assumes he racked up that last record on 8/14 (coincidentally my birthday) rather than that day & later
  • Split into 2 sentences and clarified. He'd actually been 9-11 since August 4, but two no decisions intervened before he started winning games. I changed to August 18 (the last day he was 9-11), then clarified that the new streak started August 19. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 13:56, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

Toronto Blue Jays

• Move the last sentence of the last paragraph in 1984-87 to this section, maybe as the second sentence (i.e. he had been successful against Toronto → traded August 31 blah blah → Jays released Phil Niekro)
• "took place at Tiger Stadium in the penultimate game of the 1987 regular season on October 3" → "took place at Tiger Stadium on October 3, 1987, the penultimate game of the regular season"
• "last 5 contests" → "last five contests" per MOS:NUMBERS
• "His combined stats between Baltimore and Toronto that season were..."
• "giving up 5 runs and 3 home runs" → "giving up five runs and three home runs" per MOS:NUMBERS

Second stint with Orioles

• "After being invited to Orioles training camp ..."
• His best moment as a reliever came on July 13, when he relieved starter Bob Milacki in the seventh inning of a game against Oakland after Milacki, who had thrown six no-hit innings, was struck by a line drive and had to leave the game. → His best moment as a reliever came on July 13 against Oakland. He was called to the plate in the seventh inning after starter Bob Milacki, who had thrown six no-hit innings, was struck by a line drive and had to leave the game.
• "final Orioles game" → "final baseball game" (to reduce repetition of "Orioles", assuming it was the last ballgame period; I know the stadium was also used for football)

Legacy

• All good here!

Post-playing days

• WL Home Team Sports
• "Oriole pitching coach" → "Orioles pitching coach"
• "under manager Phil Regan"
• Remove hyphen in "early-January"
• Comma after "early January 1996"
• "then was succeded" → "and was succeeded"
• Pipe "2002 season" to 2002 MLB season
• "After that, he was replaced by Buck Martinez, as he (Flanagan) and Jim Beattie..." → "After being named co-vice president of baseball operations alongside Jim Beattie for the Orioles in 2002, Buck Martinez took Flanagan's spot in the booth" (or something like that to remove the parenthetical clarification)

Sense of humor

• I think this could go inside "Legacy", encompassing both his on-field and personal legacy
• Quotation marks around "Mike Flanagan Nickname of the Week"
• "Both of which were coined for Don Stanhouse"

Pitching style

• All good!

Personal

• Title section "Personal life"
• "Flanagan and his first wife, Kathy Walsh, were married in January 1977" → "Flanagan married his first wife, Kathy Walsh, in January 1977" (active voice)
• Switch the third and fourth sentence so that it goes IVF → conception → birth
• Did he really give his second child the middle name Kendall and then use it as a first name for his third kid? Must really like that name
  • Yes, and it's even his middle name! Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 14:03, 10 May 2021 (UTC)
• Any dates available for his divorce, remarriage, or the births of his other two kids?
  • Couldn't find them. Some athlete divorces don't seem to generate a whole lot of media attention - I've seen sources that imply that Tommy John had one, for instance, but I haven't been able to find a source for it. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 14:03, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

Death

• Split the first sentence into two to make it easier to follow (i.e. "The neighbor went to Flanagan's home, and called 9-1-1 after failing to find him.")
• "despondent about his perceived failures"

References

• Theoretically, one could use the WP:CITESHORT format for the Frank Russo book, but since those short citations are annoying as all hell to set up properly, and considering that the referenced section is a grand total of four pages long, rather than a whole book, I'm fine leaving it as is. If you ever take the article to FA, they'll probably ask you to do Harvard citations.
• WL around the first instances of The Daily Item (3), New Hampshire Union Leader (5), San Francisco Chronicle (11), Daily Hampshire Gazette (12), The New York Times (42), The Houston Chronicle (50), and The Baltimore Sun (65)
• For ref 3, add a "location" parameter for Lynn, MA, as there are five US papers titled "The Daily Item"
• For ref 6, change the work from "MassLive.com" to The Republican, and add a "location" parameter to this one for Springfield, MA

General comments

• Pictures and stability look good
• Copyvio score is good. Everything above 10% is a direct quote.
• The one overall structural thing I'm a little iffy on is how the back half (after professional career) is organized. Maybe the thing that's throwing me the most is that the section titled "Legacy" is so early, when I would think that such a section would go after someone's death.
  • I get what you're saying. I think legacy makes more sense where it is, though, because it mainly concerns Flanagan's playing career, the section it is immediately after. Had he left more of a legacy as a GM or broadcaster, the section might be better placed at the end of the article. I located the legacy section in a similar place on Early Wynn. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 03:25, 11 May 2021 (UTC)

Sorry for the slight delay! Currently finishing final exams and preparing to start my master's program. I believe I'm finished, and thank you for starting work on the changes already. :) Kncny11 ^(shoot) 18:28, 10 May 2021 (UTC)

Looks good to go now! Thanks for making those changes, and if you feel the hankering, I have some baseball GANs up at Matt Moore, Archie Bradley, and Matt Joyce! Kncny11 ^(shoot) 19:31, 14 May 2021 (UTC)