The Baseball Reader

St. Louis Cardinals First "Miracle Pennant" Wasn't in 2011

2011-11-01T13:30:00.000-04:00

The St. Louis Cardinals have earned the reputation of becoming World Champions when the "experts" have counted them out. One Cardinals comeback occurred in 1942.

On Aug. 4, the Brooklyn Dodgers led the second place Cards by 10 games. The Cardinals had played .614 baseball, winning 62 while losing 39, but Brooklyn was 73-30 for a .709 winning percentage.

Both teams lost the next day, but on Aug. 6, the Cardinals drive started innocently enough when the New York Giants shut out Brooklyn. The Cardinals were not scheduled so they gained one-half a game.

The Cardinals swept a doubleheader in Pittsburgh on Aug. 9 that cut Brooklyn's lead to eight games.

A few days later,Stan Musial, who really was greater than the great Albert Pujols, led the Cards to a doubleheader sweep in Chicago. Musial had a triple and double in the first game win. He drove in the winning run in the nightcap with a double to go along with another hit.

On Aug. 14, the Cardinals started an eight game winning streak. At the end of play on Aug. 22, they had cut their deficit to six and one-half games.

After losing to Pittsburgh at home, the Cards won 10 of their next 11 games. They then finished the season by winning 26 of their last 30 games to finish with a record of 106-48 (.688), which was two games better than Brooklyn.

On Sept 11 (9-11) the Dodgers hosted the Cardinals for two crucial games.

In the first game, Mort Cooper pitched a three-hit shutout to move the Cardinals to within one game of first place. The win was their 28th in their last 33 games. Brooklyn played well during that time, going 20-13, but it didn't come close to countering the St. Louis onslaught.

The next day, left-hander Max Lanier beat Brooklyn for the fifth time that season to give the Cards a tie with the Brooks for first place.

On Sept. 27, at 3:12 PM St. Louis time, a crowd of 32,330 fans went into a frenzy as their beloved Cardinals won the National League pennant by blasting the Cubs, 9-2 in the first game of a doubleheader.

Brooklyn's only hope was that the Cubs would sweep the Cards while they beat the lowly Philadelphia Phillies, which would result in a tie for the pennant.

The Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning of the opener, but St. Louis came back with four runs in the fifth and everyone seemed to know that the game and the pennant race were over.

Brooklyn never choked. They finished the season on an eight game winning streak, but it fell short by two games. The Cardinals won 10 and lost but one of their last 11 games.

In 1934, the Cardinals overcame an early September Giants seven game lead to win the pennant.

In 1964, they trailed the Phillies by seven and one-half games on Aug. 31 to win the pennant.

In 2006 the won the pennant with only 83 wins (.516) and everyone knows what happened this year.

The Cardinals won the World Series in each of their "miracle" seasons.

References:

Cards top pirates twice, 4-3 and 2-1. (1942, Aug 10). New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. 22. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/106346827?accountid=46260

Cards down cubs in double-header. (1942, Aug 13). New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. 26. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/106190664?accountid=46260

Cards win pennant on final day; series starts in st. louis sept. 30. (1942, Sep 28). New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. 1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/106319743?accountid=46260

Mickey Mantle's Final Seasons Were Better Than We Thought

2009-03-26T12:49:00.002-04:00

by Harold Friend

Mickey Mantle's last solid season was 1964, although he did fairly well in 1966. In 1964, Mickey hit .303 with 35 home runs, 111 RBIs, and a .423 on base average. Nineteen sixty six was not as good, when Mickey hit .288 with 23 home runs, but 1966 was followed by two sub par seasons, after which Mickey retired. Today, forty-one years later, there is a tendency to excuse or even disregard Mickey's last few seasons, which has resulted in Mickey being ranked higher among baseball's greats today than when he played.

Mickey Mantle's Last Two Seasons Were Better Than We Thought

The perspectives the passage of time provides produced the realization that Mickey Mantle's final two seasons were not as terrible as once believed. In 1967, Mickey batted only .245, but the league batting average was .236, which put Mickey's average in the league's top half. Only four American League players (Yastrzemski, F. Robinson, Kaline, and Scott) batted at least .300. Mickey managed to hit 22 home runs, had a .391 on base average, which is considered outstanding today, and slugged .434.

Only ONE .300 HItter

In 1968, the Year of the Pitcher, Mickey hit an anemic .237, but the league hit only .230. The 1906 World Champion Chicago White Sox are called the "Hitless Wonders" because they became World Champions with a .230 team batting average, but In 1968, the entire American League averaged only .230. Mickey's .237 average was terrible, but in context, it was no worse, and even slightly better, than average. The 1968 Yankees hit an incredible .214, which today seems unbelievable. Only Carl Yastrzemski hit .300, winning the batting title with a 301 mark, which is the lowest batting avenge for any batting champion.

Mickey Still Walked

Pitchers always feared Mickey. In 1967 he drew 107 walks, and in 1968, he walked 106 times. Of course, there were no other real offensive threats on those Yankees' teams, but Mickey had the discipline to wait for his pitch. His 22 home runs in 1967 were eighth best in the league, which was a poor showing for MICKEY MANTLE, but it was more than respectable.

Just "Another Out"

The fact that in 2009, a strikeout is considered "just another out" has helped Mickey's legacy. Of course, a strikeout is not just another out, as all the runners on third base with one out can confirm, but when he played, Mickey was excoriated for his strikeouts. In 1952, Mickey hit .311 with 23 home runs, which a vast improvement over his rookie season, but the newspapers and baseball magazines, such as Sport, ignored Mickey's offensive output and complained that he had to cut down on his strikeouts. In 2009, when Airzona's Mark Reynolds strikes out 204 times, no one denigrates Mickey for having struck out 1710 times in his career.

Revised MIckey Mantle Statistics

It is unfair and similar to a college professor eliminating her students worst test scores for the year, but it is almost irresistible. What would Mickey's record have been if his last four seasons were eliminated? He would have batted .309 with a .429 on base average and a .582 slugging average. His home run total would drop from 536 to 454, and his RBIs would be 1298 compared to 1509. Juggling statistics is interesting, but in Mickey Mantle's case, it merely confirms what those who saw him play already knew. He was greater than we thought.

References:

Mickey Mantle at Baseball-Reference

Why Mickey Mantle Has Gotten Better

2009-03-25T13:20:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

During most his career, Mickey Mantle was ranked among the top two or three players in the game. From 1956-64, it was either Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, or Henry Aaron, but over the last few decades, evaluating players statistically has resulted in Mickey Mantle becoming better in 2009 than he was when he was an active player. This is NOT an attempt to claim that any one of the three was greater.

On Base Average Was Rarely Mentioned Until the Late 1950s

In the 1950s, the first most important statistic was batting average. The best hitters were considered those who batted at least .300, and anything less than .270 was bad. On base average was rarely mentioned until the late 1950s. Instead, the number of walks a batter accumulated was given, but usually with the disclaimer that a walk was rarely as good as a hit.

Mickey's Regret

Mickey Mantle hit .353 in 1956 and .365 in 1957, but his third best average was .321 in 1962, when he had only 377 at bats and appeared in only 123 games. Mickey finished with a .298 lifetime average, and has said many times that he regretted he didn't hit .300. Willie Mays batted .302, and Henry Aaron hit .305, but Mickey drew an inordinate number of walks.

Walks Made 1957 a Great Mickey Mantle Season

In 1957, when he was bothered by a terrible case of shin splints, which limited his playing time, Mickey walked 146 times and had a .512 on base average. The emphasis, however, was that Mickey hit only 34 home runs, batted in only 94 runs, and didn't even have 500 at bats. Today, Mickey's 1957 is considered by some as the best of his career - even better than his Triple Crown season of 1956.

On Base Average for MIckey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Henry Aaron

Willie Mays' best on base average was .425 in 1971, when he hit only .271 with 112 walks. Henry Aaron's best was .410, also in 1971, when he hit .327 with 71 walks. Lifetime, Mickey had a .421 on base average, compared to Willie's .384 and Henry's .374. Mickey had Yogi Berra, Bill Skowron, Roger Maris, and Elston Howard in the batting order, while Willie had Don Mueller, Hank Sauer, Orlando Cepeda, and Willie McCovey, and Henry had Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, Joe Torre, Felipe Alou, Rico Carty, and Darrell Evans. Mantle was willing to take a walk. Mays and Aaron swung the bat more.

On Base Average Plus Slugging Average

OPS is the sum of a batter's on base average and slugging average. Its emphasis has helped Mickey's ranking tremendously. Mickey Mantle had a .557 slugging average. So did Willie Mays. Henry Aaron slugged .555. It couldn't get much closer, but because of his walks, Mickey's OPS is .978 compared to Willie's .941 and Henry's .929. The league OPS when Mickey played was .715, when Willie played it was .730, and when Henry played, it was .722.

Statistics can be used to support many positions. It is undeniable that Henry Aaron hit 219 more home runs than Mickey Mantle, and that Willie Mays hit 124 more home runs than Mickey Mantle. Modern statistics helps to illuminate some of Mickey Mantle's accomplishments that were not as well appreciated when he played.

References:

Mickey Mantle at Baseball-Reference

Willie Mays at Baseball-Reference

Henry Aaron at Baseball-Reference

Don Newcombe Started the Fateful Ralph Branca Game

2009-03-24T13:38:00.002-04:00

by Harold Friend

Mention Bobby Thomson's home run and most people immediately think of Ralph "Big Number 13" Branca, but not too many fans talk about Don Newcombe, who started the game. Don Newcombe is the only player to have won the Rookie of the Year, MVP, and Cy Young Awards. He was the first black twenty game winner.

Don Newcombe Pitched Great Baseball the Last Week of the 1951 Season

In 1951, Big Newk had won 20 games and was one of the National League's top pitchers. On the last Wednesday of the season, Don Newcombe started against the Braves in Boston before a sparse crowd of 2,444 fans. He went the distance in an easy 15-5 Brooklyn win. On Friday, Brooklyn lost to Philadelphia to fall into a first place tie with the Giants, but Newcombe, on only two days rest shut out the Phillies on Saturday. The Giants also won, and at the end of play on Sunday, Brooklyn and the Giants were tied for first place, which necessitated a best of three playoff series.

Don Newcombe Started the Final Playoff Game

In the first game, Bobby Thomson's fourth inning, two run home run off Ralph Branca was the margin of victory. Clem Labine shut out the Giants in the second game, which set the stage for Don Newcombe to face Sal Maglie for the pennant. Newcombe was starting the most important game of the season (not really, because every game of the season was equally important since the teams finished the season tied) on three days rest.

Don Newcombe pitched a fine game, limiting the Giants to seven hits and 2 walks in 8 1/3 innings, but he put the two runners who scored on Thomson's home run on base, and was charged with 4 runs. Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen had no choice in the ninth inning. Newcombe had started four games in twelve days and was tired.

Brooklyn fans were crushed. A downtown lawyer exclaimed that Thomson's home run off Branca was the seventh the Flying Scotsman had hit off "Big Number 13." A taxi driver chipped in that Newcombe looked dead on his feet. Another fan thought that Dressen should have intentionally walk Thomson to face rookie Willie Mays.

Don Newcombe's Country Called

On November 1, his Elizabeth, New Jersey ordered Don Newcombe draft board report for a pre-induction physical examination. In late December, it was announced that Newcombe would spend the 1952 season in the army. Brooklyn owner Walter O'Malley said, "Certainly the loss of a pitcher of Newcombe's stature is going to be a rough blow, but Uncle Sam comes first, and in the end, I think this will turn out to be a very fine thing. It will be good for baseball too, because it lets people know that even being a prominent athlete brings no favoritism."

Don Newcombe missed the 1952 and 1953 seasons. Brooklyn won the pennant each season, but the Yankees beat them in the World Series each year. It is conceivable that Newcombe would have made a difference in those Series, although he didn't fare too well against the Yankees in the 1955 or 1956 World Series.

What MIght Have Been

Nineteen fifty-two would have been Newk's fourth season. He was coming off a 20 win season when he left, and although he won only 9 games when he returned in 1954, he won 20 games in 1955 and 27 games in 1956. As was the case with many others at the time, the missed seasons were costly.

Don Newcombe had an alcohol problem, and in 1957, he won only 11 games. He was sent to the Reds in 1958, winning 13 games, but his career was basically over, and after brief stints in Cleveland and then in Japan, he retired. Newcombe averaged 15 wins, 229 innings pitched, and a 3.56 ERA over a 162 game schedule. He had a solid career that might have been even better.

'References: '

Brooklyn Dodgers at Retrosheet.org

Don Newcombe at Baseball-Reference

It's Like a Wake in Brooklyn As Fans 'Replay' Fatal 9th :GIANT FANS DANCE AS DODGERS MOURN. (1951, October 4). New York Times (1857-Current file),1. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 306538802).

Newcombe to Report Wednesday For Pre-Induction Examination :Dodgers' Right-Hander Reclassified 1-A-- (1951, November 2). New York Times (1857-Current file),38. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 96220473).

By JOHN DREBINGER The New York Times. (1951, December 29). Newcombe Found 'Eligible' for Army Service and May Be Called Next Month :SET FOR ARMY DUTY. New York Times (1857-Current file),p. 15. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 84871310).

Did George Steinbrenner Help Decrease Yankees' Attendance?

2009-03-23T11:41:00.003-04:00

by Harold Friend

This past July 4, the Yankees hosted the Red Sox in the final Independence Day baseball game ever to be played at Yankee Stadium. A crowd of 55,130 fans saw the Red Sox defeat the home team, 6-4, but it wasn't too long ago that the Yankees were complaining about July 4 attendance.

Only 22,021 Paid to See the July 4, 1994 Game

The first place Yankees hosted the Oakland Athletics on July 4, 1994 before only 22,021 fans. Yankees' vice president Jack Lawn indicated that while 22,021 tickets were sold, only about 18,000 fans attended. Oakland defeated New York, 4-0, behind Steve Ontiveros, but what was significant was the small crowd.

Was it George Steinbrenner's Fault?

Some claimed that part of fault belonged to George Steinbrenner, who was pressuring New York City into either improving Yankee Stadium and the surrounding areas or building a new ballpark at the site of the Stadium or elsewhere. Mr. Steinbrenner had made it clear that moving the team was a possibility. The surrounding areas had to be redeveloped to reduce crime, an issue that the Yankees' owner referred to whenever he discussed Yankees' attendance.

Frightening Fans

It was felt that Mr. Steinbrenner was deliberately trying to frighten fans to create leverage for his position of needing a new ballpark. Murray Chase of the New York Times wrote, "By constantly taking about the high crime area that is the Bronx, Steinbrenner has frightened fans away. He has told them time after time that they are risking their lives if they go to a game in the Bronx. When the man who owns the team loudly warns that it is dangerous to go to his team's games, what fool would ignore his advice?"

For more than a year, starting in 1993, the Yankees agitated taxpayers and politicians with reminders about how crime, lack of proper sanitation, poor parking facilities, bad highways, and traffic jams hold down attendance. In response to the July 4 "crowd" of 22,021, the Yankees circulated a press release, "Yankees Say Fear of Crime, Lack of Parking Kept Fans Away on Fourth of July." A prominent advertising executive expressed amazement at the Yankees' lack of marketing the team.

Missing Forever

The Yankees returned to winning World Championships in 1996, and attendance has increased dramatically. Since 2005, the Yankees have drawn over 4 million fans a season, despite not having been World Champions since 2000. Taxpayers have provided the Yankees with a new ballpark that will open in April. Many fans believe it will be a glorious experience to go to the new ball park, but there will be one difference compared to going to a game at Yankee Stadium, because one thing will be missing - forever.

"Yankee Stadium is what the new ball parks aspire to be. Yankee Stadium is an icon. You feel a chill come over you as the train comes out of the subway and you see the Stadium." When you walk through the runway and leave its darkness, the sight of the field where Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle played awes you. We will never, ever again have that experience.

References:

Murray Chass. (1994, July 5). Steinbrenner a Factor In Low Stadium Gate. New York Times (1857-Current file),p. B9. Retrieved March 23, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 116565027).

Richard Sandomir. (1994, July 12). Here's My Team. See It Soon at Your Own Risk :Come on up and get mugged, Steinbrenner seems to be saying.. New York Times (1857-Current file),p. B9. Retrieved March 23, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 116605100).

Whitey Lockman: An Unsung Hero

2009-03-22T11:48:00.003-04:00

by Harold Friend

On July 4, 1945, the Giants announced that they had acquired nineteen year old Carroll Whitey Lockman to strengthen their outfield. Lockman made his major league debut the next day against the Cardinals in front of 6,879 fans, and it was a performance to remember.

A Home Run in His First Plate Appearance

In the first inning, Whitey Lockman kicked a low line drive hit by Augie Bergamo that resulted in a double, but Whitey Lockman more than made amends. In the Giants' first, Lockman hit a two run home run, in the fourth he hit a two run double, and in the sixth, he robbed Cardinals' shortstop Marty Marion of extra bases with a spectacular catch in deep center field. Whitey fired to first base to double up Emil Verban. The only problem was that the Cardinals scored five runs in the seventh on their way to a 7-5 victory.

The Army Needed Whitey Lockman

Whitey Lockman knew that his stint with the Giants was going to be brief because he was scheduled for induction into the army within a week. There were the usual delays, and Lockman managed to appear in 32 games in 1945, hitting .341, with a .410 on base average and a .481 slugging average. He missed the entire 1946 season, but joined the Giants in the spring of 1947 when, in an exhibition game against the Indians in Alabama, Whitey broke his leg sliding into second base attempting to break up a double play.

The Injury Was More Serious Than Believed

The injury was more serious than believed. Whitey Lockman missed the entire 1947 season. Nineteen forty-eight was Whitey's first season. The twenty one-year-old rookie has a fine season, hitting .286 with 18 home runs and 59 RBIs. Whitey has many important at bats in 1949 and 1950, but his most significant plate appearances occurred on October 3, 1951 in the bottom of the ninth inning in a playoff game against Brooklyn.

Whitey Lockman KOs Don Newcombe

Don Newcombe was trying to protect a 4-1 lead when Alvin Dark led off the Giants' ninth inning with ground ball single to right field off first baseman Gil Hodges' glove. Don Mueller followed with another single to right which, in retrospect, some have said would not have occurred if Hodges hadn't been holding Dark on first with a three run lead. Monte Irvin fouled out to Hodges behind first base, bringing up Whitey Lockman.

Newcombe went into the stretch, checked the runners at first and third, and delivered the pitch. Lockman hit an opposite field double down the left field line, scoring Dark with the Giants' second and sending Mueller to third, but as Mueller slid into third, he broke his ankle. Clint Hartung ran for him, Ralph Branca relieved Newcombe, and Bobby Thomson hit Branca's second delivery into the left field stands to win the pennant.

A Solid Performer

Whitey Lockman played for the Giants most of his career, but he also played briefly the latter part of his career for the Cardinals, Orioles, and Reds. Whitey managed the Cubs from 1972-1974. He was a solid performer who appeared in the 1951 and 1954 World Series with the Giants. He was the type of player who typified an "unsung" hero.

References:

By JOHN DREBINGER. (1945, July 5). 36 CARD HITS ROUT GIANTS, 8-4 AND 19-2 :THE HOT CORNER WAS REALLY WARM . New York Times (1857-Current File),9. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 88254536).

By JOHN DREBINGER. (1945, July 6). CARDS' 5-RUN 7TH DOWNS GIANTS, 7-5. LOCKMAN CLOUTS HOMER 19-Year-Old Outfielder From Jersey City Also Doubles and Drives in 4 Runs Redbirds Take Series Double Finishes Dockins Youngster Makes Amends. New York Times (1857-Current file),p. 15. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 88254989).

By JAMES P. DAWSONSpecial to THE NEW YORK TIMES.. (1947, April 9). YOUNG OUTFIELDER OUT THREE MONTHS :Lockman Breaks Leg Running Bases in First--Giants Top Indians in Alabama, 4-0. New York Times (1857-Current file),p. 33. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 88116852).

By JOHN DREBINGER. (1951, October 4). GIANTS CAPTURE PENNANT, BEATING DODGERS 5-4 IN 9TH ON THOMSON'S 3-RUN HOMER :MEET YANKS TODAY Third Baseman's Clout Sends Giants Into the World Series BROOKLYN'S BRANCA LOSER Yields Homer on Second Pitch After Relieving Newcombe in the Play-Off Final Mobbed at Home Plate A Long Uphill Battle AFTER THE GAME WAS OVER GIANTS ANNEX FLAG ON THOMSON HOMER He Follows the "Book" Wait for Final Outs. New York Times (1857-Current file),1. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2005) database. (Document ID: 306538792).

Whitey Lockman at Baseball-Reference

Baseball and America's Crime Problem

2008-06-27T11:22:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

Baseball was once the solution to America’s crime problem, and with certain minor changes, it can be again. In 1923, National League president John Heydler, at a gathering in Atlantic City, discussed baseball’s moral influence and America's crime problem. Remember, this was just about two years after it was discovered that some players on the Chicago White Sox had not tried as hard as they could because they were paid to do less than their best.

The World Series Helped America's Crime Problem

Heydler informed his audience that there was almost no crime in the country while the World Series was being played in New York between the Giants and Yankees. “So many minds were centered on the battle between the clubs that no time could be found for mischief.” He hadn’t realized the extent to which crime had dropped. “I did not fully realize just how great a drop it was until I spoke to one of the country’s leading criminologists in Washington. All we have to do is recall the thousands of people who stood before scoreboards in every city, town, and hamlet while the Series was in progress.”

Baseball Helped Church Attendance Increase

The National League president pointed out that Sunday baseball, which had been banned for many years, increased church attendance because, he claimed, individuals who can find amusement in the afternoon will attend church in the morning. “Most people seem to lack the ability to amuse themselves when left to their own devices. A man who spends three hours in the open air, rooting for his favorite players, goes home tired, happy and in much better physical condition than he would be if he had hung around a pool room filled with heavy clouds of smoke.”

America's Crime Problem Must Be Addressed

America's crime problem must be addressed. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. As of June 30, 2007, approximately 2.3 million individuals were in prison, and that number is increasing. Something must be done to combat crime, and it could be that John Heydler had the answer. Before it is pointed out that baseball attendance is at an all-time high and that television ratings are good, one must realize that America’s population in 1923 was a little more that 100 million. Today, it is over 300 million. A vast number of Americans do not attend baseball games or even view them on large screen, high definition televisions.

Sacrifice Individual Choices for the General Good

Americans are willing to sacrifice individual choices and rights for the general good. They are searched at airports, train and subway stations, highway checkpoints, and at all entertainment venues, including ballparks. Congress is confirming the right of telecommunications companies to help the government fight terrorists by allowing the companies to record all telephone conversations, emails, and Internet visits. It is obvious that Americans don’t believe Benjamin Franklin’s statement that "He who would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will lose both and deserve neither."

Vouchers to Attend Baseball Games

It is a small step to implement John Hedler’s solution. All Americans should be given vouchers to attend baseball games. If it would be a travel hardship to attend major league games, there are enough minor league teams to allow vouchers to be used for to attend their games. A selected number of Sunday games would be mandatory, preceded of course, by morning church attendance. Baseball teams would be required to keep a record of all vouchers received, and the data would be sent to the government. Citizens who failed to use their vouchers would be taxed. At home, program recording devices that track what is being recorded and watched will help ensure compliance.

Winter Baseball Leagues

The above is merely a start. Football is a wonderful game, but it glorifies violence. Thankfully, professional and college games played each year are limited compared to baseball games. Those who want to remain football fans certainly have the right to do so since we live in the greatest free country in the history of the world, but such individuals should be encouraged to watch baseball games beamed in from winter leagues during the football season.

We are living in violent times. A forgotten gathering in Atlantic City many years ago by a baseball pioneer may help to decrease the violence. It is certainly worth a try.

References:

“Praises Baseball’s Influence.” New York Times. “7 January 1923, p. S1.

America's Prison Population

John Grabow: The Next Jewish Yankees' Left Hander?

2008-06-26T11:07:00.001-04:00

by Harold Friend

A New York City tabloid reported recently that Yankees’ scout Bill Emslie had been sent to watch Pittsburgh Pirates’ left handed relief pitcher John Grabow, which is not surprising since the Yankees have been seeking a reliable lefty specialist since the departure of Australian Graeme Lloyd almost a decade ago. What is interesting is that John Grabow is one of a handful of Jewish major leaguers, and even more intriguing is that if the Yankees acquire Grabow’s services, John will be the first Yankees’ Jewish left hander since Ken Holtzman during the late 1970s.

Jewish Yankees' Players

There have been fewer than 150 Jewish players in the history of the game. Jewish Yankees have included Jimmy Reese, who was Babe Ruth’s roommate and used to say that his roommate was really Babe Ruth’s suitcase, Ron Blomberg, who was the game’s first designated hitter, Elliott Maddox, who converted to Judaism, and Holtzman, the Yankees' only Jewish left hander.

John Grabow Is Not Religious

John Grabow’s grandmother came from Beirut, Lebanon. Some members of the family moved to Israel, some to Panama, and others came to the United States. John grew up in Arcadia, California and is not especially religious, but his grandmother and great aunt are orthodox. John’s father is not Jewish. John is proud of his Jewish heritage but notes that because he is not a star, that fact has almost slipped under the radar.

Grabow Should Be More Successful

Grabow spent six seasons in the minors before being called up by the Pirates at the end of 2003. The scouting report states that he has a 94-mph fastball that runs in on lefties, a late breaking slider, and a change of pace. He has not done as well as the scouts think he should. Grabow has been a workhorse since 2004, never appearing in fewer than 63 games in any season, but he has allowed 289 hits in 276 2/3 innings. His WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched) is 1.462, which is not good. His ERA+ is only 98.

Adding Grabow Would Be An Upgrade for the Yankees

The 2008 Yankees’ pitching staff is one that has been poorly constructed. The only left handed relief pitcher they have used is journey man Billy Traber, who has made repeated trips between Yankee Stadium and the Yankees’ top farm team at ScrantonWilkes-Barre. Traber has pitched ineffectively at best, and adding Grabow would be an upgrade, but the Pirates have another lefty relief pitcher who would be a much better fit than Grabow.

Damaso Marte Is Better Than Grabow

The Yankees have been interested in obtaining Damaso Marte for a number of years. Marte is thirty-three and has had some fine seasons. In 445 1/3 innings, he has allowed only 358 hits with a 1.242 WHIP and an ERA+ of 143. The price for Marte would be much higher than for Grabow, and the Yankees have been reluctant to trade value for value lately, which makes it more likely if they make a trade for one of the Pirates’ lefty relief pitchers, it will be for Grabow.

Modern baseball teams are interested in profits, and if the Yankees have a choice between Grabow and Marte, they will try to balance the pitchers’ ability with their bottom line. Today’s mindset, for most teams as well as for most fans, is to be competitive and have a chance to make the playoffs. The days of George Steinbrenner correctly insisting that the only successful Yankees’ season is one that ends with a World Championship.

References:

Yankees Scout Grabow

John Grabow

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/Jewish_baseball_players.shtml

When the Yankees Almost Traded Waite Hoyt for Eddie Collins

2008-06-24T11:53:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

Waite Hoyt replaced Babe Ruth when the Babe left Boston’s starting rotation to play the outfield full-time. Hoyt had pitched one game for the New York Giants in 1918 and then joined the Red Sox the following season. In December 1920, Waite Hoyt was sent to the Yankees in a multi-player deal. With the Yankees, Hoyt became a top starter, winning 19 games in both 1921 and 1922, but after losing the World Series to the Giants each of those seasons, the Yankees were looking to make changes.

Hoyt Becomes Expendable

On January 23, 1923, they acquired lefty Herb Pennock from the Red Sox, which made Waite Hoyt expendable. The trade put fourteen former Yankees on the Red Sox’ roster and eleven former Red Sox on the Yankees’ roster. The addition of Pennock gave the Yankees six starters -- Shawkey, Jones, Mays, Bush, Hoyt, and Pennock. Only Shawkey, who was obtained from Philadelphia, hadn’t pitched for Boston.

Eddie Collins Trade Rumors

A month earlier, there had been rumors that the Yankees were interested in obtaining Chicago second baseman Eddie Collins. The Yankees didn’t deny the rumors and various names were bandied about, including Yankees’ outfielder Bob Meusel. Collins was thirty six years old and considered past his prime, but the Yankees believed he still had two or three good seasons left. They also felt that he would be an excellent clubhouse influence.

The White Sox Wanted Hoyt

At the baseball meetings in Chicago, the trade talks heated up, with the Yankees and White Sox apparently agreeing on the players to be exchanged, but then the Sox demanded that Waite Hoyt be included in the deal. Yankees’ manager Miller Huggins refused to trade Hoyt unless the Yankees received nineteen-year-old pitcher Ted Blankenship. The White Sox refused and the potential trade died, which prompted the Yankees to obtain Pennock from Boston.

Hoyt Wanted to Remain With the Yankees

Waite Hoyt didn’t want to leave the Yankees. He has spent a substantial portion of the off season touring Japan, China, and Hawaii with a team of major leaguers. Upon his return to New York in early February 1923, the first thing he wanted to know was whether he was still a Yankee. When he was told that the White Sox deal was probably dead, he heaved a sigh of relief. He told reporters that the trip had been a success but “…after all, there is no place like New York. The Japanese are great ballplayers. They are very alert, but they are so excitable that they are inclined to lose their heads in the pinches and don’t know what to do with the ball when they get it.”

In the middle of February, at the baseball owners’ meetings, the Yankees and White Sox announced that Eddie Collins would not be traded to the Yankees. One of the sticking points that killed the deal was the Yankees’ refusal to part with Hoyt. It has often been stated that the best deals a team makes are sometimes the ones they never make. Nothing supports that more than the Waite Hoyt trade that never happened.

References:

“Collins and Kerr May Become Yanks; Huggins Admits That Some Deal is Pending.” New York Times. 10 December 1922, p. 25.

“Big Deal Depends Upon One Player; Refusal of White Sox to Give Blankenship to Yanks Blocks Collins Trade; Willing to Trade Hoyt.” New York Times. 19 December 1922, p. 26.

“Red Sox Now Have 14 Former Yankees.” New York Times. 4 February 1923, p. S2.

“Hoyt Arrives Here After Long Jaunt; Expresses Relief When Told Yankees Have Not Traded Him to White Sox. New York Times. 8 February 1923, p. 22.

Comparing Baseball Eras is Impossible

2008-06-23T11:51:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

There is absolutely NO WAY to validly compare players who played in baseball’s early days with today’s players. In 1910, the Philadelphia Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs in a five game World Series. The Athletics’ top pitcher, Jack Coombs, started, completed, and won three games. Chief Bender, the Athletics’ next best pitcher, started and completed two games, winning one and losing one. Bender started games on October 17 and October 22, which gave him four days of rest between starts, but Coombs started Game 2 on October 18, Game 3 on October 20, and Game on October 23 on two days rest -- three complete games in the World Series in six days.

Radical Changes Have Occurred

In 1910, the baseball, the rules governing legal pitches, the ballparks, the bats, the managers' approach, the strike zone, the height of the pitching mound, the size of the players, and the races of the players allowed to participate were different. Let sabermetricians create all the formulas they want. There are too many variables that can never be controlled for us to ever know if Jack Coombs, who was one of the top two or three pitchers in 1910, would be one of the top two or three pitchers if he were to be transported, as he existed in 1910, to the game today.

Coombs started 38 games and completed 35. In 2007, Roy Halladay led the American League with 7 complete games. Coombs pitched 353 innings, won 31 games while losing only 9, and had a 1.30 ERA with a 182 ERA+. The LEAGUE ERA was 2.37. The greatest pitchers in the game today could not come close to matching those statistics because the conditions are radically different. Coombs was 6'0" and weight about 185 pounds. Roy Halladay is 6'6" and weighs about 225 pounds. That is a substantial difference.

Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson

Walter Johnson (1907-1927) and Christy Mathewson (1900-1916) are considered the best pitchers of all time by many. Johnson was a fire baller while Mathewson had his "fadeway," which is a screwball thrown by a right hander. The 6'1", 200 lb. Johnson averaged 19 wins, 273 2/3 innings, and 24 complete games over a 162 game season. Mathewson, who was 6"2" and 195 lbs., averaged 20 wins, 274 innings, and 24 complete games over a 162 season. Fans, the media, and sabermetricians can speculate all they want. Would Johan Santana, Josh Beckett, Roy Halladay, Jake Peavey, Brandon Webb, a young Pedro, Greg Maddux, Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, or John Lackey be able to match those numbers if they played during the dead ball era? How would Johnson and Mathewson fare today?

Starting a World Series Game With "Only" Three Days Rest

When Bob Brenley decided to start Curt Schilling with "only" three days rest in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, and Jack McKeon started Josh Beckett with three days rest in Game 6 of the 2003 World Series, the "experts" concluded that it was a risky move. But when Philadelphia Athletics' manager Connie Mack started Jack Coombs three times in six days, the decision was not questioned. The newspaper accounts of the game merely stated that Philadelphia's victory "...was a personal victory for Jack Coombs, Connie Mack's man of iron. It was his third performance in six days and what makes it more remarkable is that it was his best game of the three that he worked."

Too Many Variables, Too Few Controls

While it is impossible to validly compare players who played one hundred years apart, the game has changed enough since the 1994 strike that even comparing players from the 1960s with today's players is an exercise in futility. Modern medical advances, physical conditioning, better diets, pitch counts, and the use of "set up" men and "closers" are simply too many variables for statistical treatments to control. All that fans can do is argue and not unquestioningly accept "expert" opinions.

References:

"Athletics Win World Series; Jack Coombs Again Pitches Connie Mack's Team to Victory." New York Times. 24 October 1910, p. 6.

Baseball-Reference

Hank Steinbrenner Has it Backwards: It's NOT the Designated Hitter Rule

2008-06-22T16:36:00.005-04:00

by Harold Friend

Hank Steinbrenner is upset that Chien-Ming Wang was injured running the bases in a game against the Astros, as are other members of the Yankees' universe. Hank is right to be upset, but blaming the fact that the National League is the only major league that plays baseball according to traditional rules for Wang's injury is plain wrong. The reason is inter-league play.

The National League Refused the Designated Hitter Rule

The American League decided to change its games when it implemented the designated hitter rule in 1973. The National League opted to continue playing the game as it had been played. Every position player batted. The designated hitter rule was not applied in the World Series until 1976, when it was decided that the designated hitter rule would be used in the World Series in alternate years. Starting in 1986, the designated hitter would be used in World Series games hosted by the American League representative.

Interleague Play Starts

In 1997, the owners' greed resulted in interleague play, which brings us back to Mr. Steinbrenner. Without interleague play, the only time one of the Yankees' pitchers would have to bat would be in the World Series. Since 2003, it is a problem that the Yankees have not faced, but one never knows about the future. There is little doubt that the Yankees would be pleased to have their pitchers bat in the World Series.

Problems With Interleague Play

Interleague play has caused many problems. A few seasons ago, the Indians played the Yankees nine times, while their division rival Chicago played the Yankees only six times. Central Division Houston played Texas six times, which is the same number of time they played the Western Division Diamondbacks, Giants, Dodgers, and Rockies. Houston was the only National League Central team to play Texas. In a little more than a week, the Yankees and Mets will play a day-night doubleheader in two different ballparks, an abhorrence caused by a rain out the first time the two teams were scheduled. The teams will play in the afternoon at Yankee Stadium and then play a night game in Flushing.

Both Leagues Must Play Under the Same Rules

Mr. Steinbrenner is correct on one count. Both leagues must play under the same rules. The problem is that he and the other American league moguls have it backwards, because, contrary to Mr. Steinbrenner's stating "Don't give me that traditionalist crap," that "traditionalist crap" might have prevented Wang's injury. The solution is NOT for the National League to ruin its game. The solution is for the American League to abolish the designated hitter rule. It would require pitchers like Chien-Ming Wang to bat, run the bases, and not feel as if they are in foreign land when they are awaiting their turn at bat. Of course, that is an unrealistic suggestion because fans love offense, offense increases profits, and few teams are as offensive as the one that run by Mr. Steinbrenner and his crew.

References:

Hank Steinbrenner is Upset

A-Rod Is Better Than Babe Ruth

2008-05-23T18:07:00.005-04:00

by Harold Friend

Alex Rodriguez is rapidly becoming recognized as the greatest player in baseball history. Now in his fifth season with the New York Yankees, the team that has won more championships than any other team, considers A-Rod a true Yankee and the best player ever. It is virtually certain, barring a catastrophic event, that Rodriguez will be baseball’s all-time lifetime home run king, probably ending his career with an almost incomprehensible 900 home runs.

An "Average" A-Rod Season
The following briefly presents an average A-Rod season, based upon his playing 162 games:

Runs Scored = 127
Hits = 197
Doubles = 34
Triples = 2
Home Runs = 44
RBIs = 127
SB = 22
CS = 5
BA = .306
OBA = .388
SA = .578

Ruth or Cobb Was Considered the Best
Until some individuals associated with the Yankees discovered that A-Rod may be the greatest, Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb were considered the best. Since Ruth was a Yankee most of his career, it is A-Rod v. Ruth.

Based on 162 games season, Ruth’s numbers follow:

Runs Scored = 141
Hits = 186
Doubles = 33
Triples = 9
Home Runs = 46
RBIs = 143
SB = 8
CS = 8
BA = .342
OBA = .474
SA = ..690

Ruth Has Better Statistics
Ruth led A-Rod in every offensive category except for doubles (33-34) and stolen bases (8-22). Can this be accurate? Could the media, or at least those with ties to the Yankees, be in error? Well, let’s use neutralized statistics as produced by Baseball-Reference.com.

A-Rod

Runs Scored = 118
Hits = 187
Doubles = 34
Triples = 2
Home Runs = 43
RBIs = 118
SB = 22
BA = .301
OBA = .382
SA = .569

Babe Ruth

Runs Scored = 131
Hits = 176
Doubles = 32
Triples = 9
Home Runs = 43
RBIs = 134
SB = 8
BA = .330
OBA = .461
SA = .664

Why A-Rod is the Greatest
Both players do slightly worse with neutralized statistics, but Ruth still has an enormous statistical edge, so how can A-Rod be the greatest? The answer is simple. One reason might be that at the end of the 2003 season, Rodriguez was considered the greatest shortstop in history, Honus Wagner not withstanding. Ruth played the outfield, and it was his offense immortalized him (forget his off the field activities). Shortstop is a much more highly skilled position than left or right field, and to make things worse for the Babe, he insisted on avoiding playing the sun field.

Yankees' Greatest Third Baseman
Hold it a second. A-Rod is considered the greatest of all Yankees’ third baseman. In deference to future Hall of Fame Yankees’ shortstop Derek Jeter, A-Rod has been a third baseman since 2004. There goes the greatest shortstop in history argument. And didn’t Ruth pitch a little? Yes he did, despite the fact it was with the Red Sox and not the Yankees when he pitched.

Ruth Was a Pretty Good Pitcher
In 1915, at the age of 20, Babe won 18 games for the World Champion Red Sox, and the following season, he won 23 games. The season after that, he won 24 games. What would happen if there were a game in which A-Rod had to face pitcher Babe Ruth and then Ruth had to face pitcher Alex Rodriguez?

A-Rod's Advantage Over the Babe
But A-Rod has a major advantage over the Babe. Alex can still sign autographs, appear as a special guest at various functions cost huge sums of money to attend, and he can be a spokesman for his team and for Major League Baseball. Alex Rodriguez is a living cash cow whose value can only increase. Babe Ruth is dead.

The House That A-Rod Built
The Yankees are tearing down baseball’s cathedral after this season. The new ballpark will be the "House That A-Rod Built." After all, how can Babe Ruth build TWO ballparks? Rodriguez may be the best player in baseball, although some might have the temerity to disagree. Having the best player in baseball to initiate the Yankees’ new facility is a major feat, but it pales in comparison to having the greatest player in baseball history do it.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/

The Tigers Slow Start: See the 1951 Giants

2008-04-10T11:07:00.003-04:00

by Harold Friend

The Detroit Tigers are strong favorites to win the American League Central Division and then to present major problems to other teams in October. The Tigers lost their first seven games this young season before finally getting a win against Boston, but the Tiger's slow start is probably insignificant. It is a long season.

The 1951 Giants Lost 11 Straight Games

The 1951 New York Giants made the greatest miracle pennant drive in baseball history when they overcame a 13 1/2 game Brooklyn lead to finish tied for the flag, and then won the third and final playoff game when Bobby Thomson hit a home run off Ralph Branca, but the highly rated New York team started the season in terrible fashion, much worse that the 2008 Tigers. The New Yorkers, after winning 2 of their first 3 games of the season, promptly lost 11 straight contests.

Duke and Gil Ensured the Eleventh Consecutive Loss

The low point occurred on April 29, before 28,124 fans at Ebbets Field, when Brooklyn's Carl Erskine beat Larry Jansen, 6-3. Jansen, considered New York's ace, was touched for three home runs -- a pair by Duke Snider and one by Gil Hodges, to extend New York's winless streak to 11, two short of the club record, set in 1904 and tied in 1944. The next night, the losing streak ended.

The Last Place Giants

Before a crowd of 33,962 hostile fans, New York scored 6 runs in the first inning off Brooklyn left hander Chris Van Cuyk on the way to an 8-5 victory. After the win, New York was in last place, trailing league leading Boston by 7 games and the second place Brooks by 6 games. Things didn't get much better for New York, and on May 24, they were 17-19, in fifth place, 4 1/2 games behind Brooklyn. Then they made a move that will always be remembered. Willie Mays joined the Giants.

An Exceptional Player Caused Many Changes

Manager Leo Durocher thought he had an exceptional player. He did . Willie's minor league manager at Minneapolis, Tommy Heath, advised Durocher to play Willie in centerfield because he could cover it like a tent. It meant that Bobby Thomson would have to move to left field, Whitey Lockman would move from right field to first base, and Monte Irvin would move from left field to right field. Willie would bat third. The Giants improved but Brooklyn was a formidable opponent that the Giants finally caught on the last pitch of the season.

The 2008 Tigers Have Questions But Are Fundamentally Sound

The 2008 Tigers are a solid team, but they certainly have problems, especially with middle relief. Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya are on the disabled list, which weakens the bullpen considerably. Todd Jones, who few will ever confuse with Mariano Rivera or Jonathan Papelbon,inexplicably, remains the closer. The Tigers' starting pitching should be solid, and the eight regulars will produce. In Jim Leland, they have one of the finest, if not the finest, managers in the game. Getting off to a bad start hurts, but for a good team, it is not fatal.

References:

Effrat, Louis. "Durocher Men End Losing Streak, 8-5; Giants Win After 11 Defeats in Row." New York Times. 1 May 1951, p. 46.

McGowen, Roscoe. "Giants Lose to Dodgers Again for Eleventh Defeat in Row as 28,124 Watch. New York Times. 30 April 1951, p. 32.

"Mays, Negro Star, Joins Giants Today; Rookie to Play Center Field Against Phils." New York Times. 25 May 1951, p. 35.

Retrosheet

How Good Was George Sisler?

2007-11-19T11:00:00.001-05:00

by Harold Friend

George Sisler set the record for most hits in a season in 1920 when he hit safely 257 times over a 154 game schedule. In 2004, Ichiro Suzuki set a new mark by getting 262 hits over the modern 162 game schedule. George Sisler was one of the greatest individuals who ever played the game, a fact that some modern fans refuse to accept.

Better Than the League

George Sisler’s first full season was 1916, a year in which the American League teams batted .248. The twenty four year old Sisler batted .305 or .057 points higher than the league. From 1917-1919, Sisler’s combined batting average was .349 compared to the league’s .256, which is an incredible .093 points higher than the league.

257 Hits in 1920

In 1920, baseball’s powers introduced a new, lively ball after some White Sox players didn’t try their hardest in the 1919 World Series. With the new baseball, the American League’s batting average jumped from .268 in 1919 to .284 in 1920, a year in which George Sisler hit safely 257 times, batted .407, and had 86 extra base hits, including 19 home runs. Only Babe Ruth hit more home runs that year. Sisler stole 42 bases and struck out 19 times in 631 official at bats. His .407 batting average was an unimaginable .123 points above the league’ batting average.

Three Year Batting Average: .400

Sisler followed his .407 with a .371 average in 1921 and then in 1922, as his Browns came within a single game of winning the pennant, Sisler batted .420, or .135 points higher than the league. His three year average was .400 (actually .399667).

The Best First Baseman of All?

In an article at The Baseball Hall of Fame’s official site, research associate Gabriel Schecter writes that Sisler might have been the best all-around first baseman in baseball history, despite being overshadowed by Lou Gehrig and Jimmy Foxx. Sisler was a better base runner than either, which is not to denigrate Gehrig, who was excellent on the bases, and as great as Gehrig was in the field, Sisler was better. While Sisler hit with reasonable power, Gehrig and Foxx were two of the greatest of all power hitters.

Trouble Arose for Sisler

Sisler was only thirty years old when trouble arose. His optic nerve became infected from sinusitis, forcing him to miss the entire 1923 season. Sisler suffered from double vision but still played in 1924, batting .305. He never was again as dominant, but from 1924 until he retired in 1930, he still batted .320 and finished his career with a .340 average.

"You Hit at the Ball"

Sisler modified his stance against different pitchers. He said that “You don’t swing at a ball, you hit at it. Hitting rather than swinging will let your wrists go into action much more readily. A batter needs intelligence first, then comes body control, quick wrists, good eyes.”

Hall of Famer

George Sisler was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1939. Among first baseman, only Bill Terry, another underrated and almost forgotten first baseman (Terry is the National League’s last .400 hitter with his .401 in 1930) has a higher lifetime batting average. Sisler is one of many outstanding players whose career is slowly but surely fading away as the years pass. It is a shame.

References:

Single Season Hit Record

http://venus.lunarpages.com/~double2/History/400Pages/al1920.html

http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_7_64/ai_n15378930

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/S/Sisler_George.stm

When Mickey Wanted to Retire

2007-10-31T11:26:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

The month was January, the year was 1966, and the decision was that Mickey Mantle was going to retire. “When I came to New York a few days ago, I was seriously thinking of quitting. My shoulder hurts so much that I couldn’t even throw a ball, my legs will never be any better, and I was pretty discouraged. But Ralph Houk talked things over with me and told me what the people and the team expect, and now I feel better about it and I’m willing to try.”

Mickey's Worst Season

Mickey Mantle was coming off the worst season of his career. He batted .255 with only 19 home runs and 46 RBIs in 122 games in 1965. A revealing statistic is that while Mickey appeared in 122 games, he completed only 36 of them. At the age of thirty-four, repeated injuries had finally destroyed the player who had been a faster runner than even Willie Mays and had who had more power than even Ted Williams.

“It got so that the last month of the season I couldn’t even throw the ball in from left field or bat left handed. I hurt my shoulder playing football in the backyard with my sons and my brother Ray and Ray blindsided me – just hit me from the blind side. The shoulder still bothers me.”

Mickey's Injured Right Shoulder

Mickey was referring to his right shoulder, which is the power shoulder for a left-handed batter. In the 1957 World Series, Mickey was on second when Braves’ right hander Bob Buhl tried to pick him off, but Buhl’s throw sailed over Red Schoendienst’s head as the Braves’ second baseman leaped high into the air in an attempt to stop the ball. As he came down, Schoendienst landed on Mickey’s right shoulder, causing one of the most significant of all the Mantle injuries. Mickey could no longer handle the high fast ball when batting from the left side as he did before the shoulder injury, and he no longer had his powerful a throwing arm.

Ralph Houk Convinced Mickey to Play

When Mickey told Ralph Houk that he was seriously considering retiring because his skills were greatly diminished and he didn’t want to go out as a bad player, Houk told Mickey that “…no one would want him to go out that way, but that he didn’t realize what he meant to the public, the Yankees, and his fellow players. Just having Mickey Mantle on the team has been a great influence on all of us. And I told him he didn’t realize how good he was.”

Houk continued and told Mickey that he didn’t have to play every day. Manager Johnny Keane would pick his spots, not playing Mickey in second games of double headers and resting him when there was a day game after a night game. Mickey bought it. He told the press that he would be satisfied playing about 100 games. Then, demonstrating how emotional he is, Mickey said, “I’d really like to play until I’m forty,” followed by “This could be the last year.”

Mickey's Ranking Has Increased

After the 1965 season, Mickey’s lifetime batting average was .306, on base average was .426, and his slugging average was .576. He hit 473 home runs and had 145 stolen bases in 179 attempts for a remarkable .810 average. Mickey Mantle’s ranking among the all time greats has increased slowly but steadily over the last few years. Where would he rank if he hadn’t listened to Ralph Houk?

References:

Durso, Joseph."Mantle Is Beset by Doubt; Mantle Is Beset by Doubts About His Baseball Future." New York Times. 16 January 1966, p. S1.

Koppett, Leonard. "Mays vs. Mantle: A Comparison; Injuries to Yankee Over Years Give Edge to Giant." New York Times. 12 December 1965, p. S2.

Mickey Was Nearing the End

2007-10-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

The Yankees found out what it was to struggle to stay even in 1965. Aging stars, injuries, and a lack of young players resulted in the end of the streak of five consecutive pennants that had started in 1960. Mickey Mantle had his first poor season since his rookie year of 1951, but he and the team never stopped trying.

Mickey Hustled Too Much

On June 22, the Yankees were in seventh place with a record of 29-35, trailing the first place Twins by 10 ½ games. At home against Kansas City for a double header before a crowd of 13,129 fans, the Yankees dropped the opener, 6-2, despite a Mickey Mantle home run. In the nightcap, with the A’s leading 2-0, Mickey led off the fourth inning with a walk and went to second when Tommy Tresh was safe on shortstop Bert Campaneris’ error. After Ellie Howard flied out to right, Fred Talbot made a wild pitch. Mickey, hustling too much, tried to score from second and was thrown out at the plate, but that was not what was significant.

Another Hamstring Injury

Mickey pulled a muscle in his left leg, which team physician Dr. Sydney Gaynor thought was just a strain. But this was Mickey Mantle, and it turned out that the injury was a pulled ham string muscle. Mickey was selected for the all-star team but on July 7, it was announced that he would miss the game because of the leg injury.

Rebuild Without Mickey

By the middle of July, it was apparent that the Yankees were not going to win the pennant. They had to rebuild and many in the media felt that Mickey might never again have a Mickey Mantle type season because of the injuries he had suffered to his legs. The problem was a Catch-22 because the injured legs prevented Mickey from exercising in such ways that would prevent future injuries. It was thought that he would play two or three more years, but that anything he contributed would be a bonus. The Yankees had to rebuild as if he were not on the roster.

Still Some Good Games

Mickey had some good days left. On September 2, in Anaheim, Mickey drove in 4 runs with a home run and single as Whitey Ford went the distance in beating Marcellino Lopez, 8-1. Bobby Richardson led off the game with a single and Tommy Tresh doubled him to third, bringing up left fielder Mickey Mantle. There was no thought of intentionally walking Mickey, and Mickey made the Angels pay when he hit a 400 foot home run, which was his 18th of the season.

Nearing the End

The 1965 Yankees finished sixth, winning 77 and losing 85 to finish 25 games behind the Twins in the ten team American League. After four consecutive seasons in which he hit over .300, Mickey dropped to .255 with 19 home runs and 46 RBIs in 122 games. He had only 361 at bats. Mickey never stopped trying or caring, but at the age thirty-three, the end was approaching.

References:

Beckers, Bill. "Ford of Yankees Beats Angels, 8-1; Mantle Drives in Four Runs With Homer and Single. New York Times. 3 September 1965, p.20.
Durso, Joseph. "Mantle Injured in Second Game But Pulled Muscle in Leg Doesn't Appear Serious." New York Times. 23 June 1965, p. 31.
"Mantle, Yastrzemski Out." New York Times. 8 July 1965, p. 24.
Koppett, Leonard. "Long, Cold Summer; Yankees Learn How Other Half Lives." New York Times. 13 July 1965, p. 26.

http://www.retrosheet.org/

Bird Mulch October 28, 2007

2007-10-29T10:38:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

Orioles’ manager Dave Trembley told reporters that he didn’t expect the club to be active in the free agent market this off-season, although signing one or two relatively inexpensive free agents is possible. Trembley wants to add a veteran to the staff and since Steve Trachsel will be available, he may return. Dave likes having veteran help the youngsters on the staff, and Trachsel certainly fits the bill.

The Instructional League

The manager spent some time familiarizing himself with Orioles’ players in the instructional league. He was especially impressed with Matt Angle, who is an outfielder, as well as with pitchers Timothy Bascom and Pedro Beato, and said that it was important for the youngsters to know that he was interested in their progress.

Andy MacPhail Leads Organizational Meeting

At the Birds’ organizational meetings, president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail, Trembley, and other members of the front office discussed every player under contract. MacPhail emphasized the simple fact that Orioles’ personnel had to know their players better than anyone else does, especially since MacPhail expects to be active in the trading market this winter.

Roberto Novoa Claimed From Cubs

The Orioles recently claimed right hander RobertoNovoa from the Cubs. Trembley managed against Novoa’s team when both were in Double A. Novoa is twenty-six years old and was originally signed by the Pirates in 1999, who sent him to Detroit in 2002. He was part of the Kyle Farnsworth deal that sent the now beleaguered Yankees’ relief pitcher to the Cubs in 2005. Novoa missed all of 2007 with a head fracture. He is a hard thrower who has a fairly impressive minor league record.

Hawaii Winter Baseball

Former first round draft selections Matt Wieters and Brandon Snyder are playing in the Hawaii Winter Baseball League. Wieters, a catcher, is hitting .273 in 16 games with only six extra base hits. Snyder is batting .370 but has struck out 16 times. The Orioles’ farm system lacks quality position players.

Goodbye Kris Benson

Finally, the Orioles have an option on Kris Benson, who was obtained from the Mets for John Maine. It is not expected that option will be exercised. Benson will probably sign an incentive laden contract with a National League team.

References :

www.baltimoreorioles.com

Roberto Novoa

Where Would Mickey Play?

2007-10-27T11:56:00.000-04:00

Mickey Mantle signed his third $100,000 contract in February 1965. He didn’t travel to New York for the announcement because he was too busy with his role as a director of a San Antonio life insurance company. The new agreement made Mickey the second highest paid player in the game behind Willie Mays, who earned $5,000 more. Mickey said it didn’t bother him being second, “not to a guy making $105,000.” He told reporters that the Yankees thought that $100,000 was a nice round number and that they didn’t want a salary war on their hands.

Johnny Keane Replaces Yogi

The Yankees won their fifth consecutive pennant in 1964, the second time they won five straight pennants, but they lost the World Series to the Cardinals after having been swept by the Dodgers the previous year. Yogi Berra was relieved of his managerial duties and replaced by Johnny Keane, who resigned as Cardinals’ manager after beating the Yankees in the World Series.

Mickey Felt Great

The Yankees were favored to win the 1965 pennant and Mickey felt great. At his first spring training session, he reminded everyone that “This is the first winter I’ve had without being in the hospital. I can’t do certain exercises because some of them involve twisting and the bone chips make my knees sore. All I can say is this: I feel fine.”

Mickey Preferred Playing Center Field

Mickey felt fine but he wasn’t fine. He was no longer the Mickey Mantle who covered more centerfield than almost anyone else in the game, with the exception of Willie Mays. Repeated injuries and time had taken their toll on his legs, reducing his mobility greatly. There had been talk about Mickey moving from center field to right since he would have less ground to cover, but Mickey preferred to remain in center. He explained that while he had to cover more ground in center field, there were fewer short stops and starts than in right field. “I don’t mind straight running, and that’s mostly what it is in center field. It’s the stopping short and starting quick that I don’t like. I believe too that you need a good arm in right field and Roger has twice as good an arm as I have.”

Mickey Had Played Right Field in the World Series

During the exhibition season, Mantle had trouble starting, stopping, turning, changing direction, and planting his feet for throws. Johnny Keane made an excellent point when he said that Mickey had difficulty getting into the kind of shape that could prevent injuries because his legs stopped him from doing the work necessary to achieve that goal. In September 1964 and for the World Series against the Cardinals, Mantle had played right field with Roger Maris in center. As spring training 1965 drew to a close, it was obvious that Mickey had lost his agility and was a liability in center field. It was a difficult time for all involved, especially Mickey, who was the team leader and still was one of the greatest hitters in the game. Running In a straight line, he remained one of the fastest players in the game.

The Yankees' Left Fielder

New manager Johnny Keane played around with the idea of having Mantle play center at the Stadium but not on the road, where he would use Mickey in left field since most of the other American League parks had less ground to cover in left than did Yankee Stadium. On opening day in Minnesota, Mickey showed that he was indeed a team player. Tommy Tresh led off and played center field. Left fielder Mickey Mantle hit fourth.

References:

Durso, Joseph. “Yanks Make 5 Errors and Lose Opener to Twins, 5-4 in 11 Innings.” New York Times. 13 April 1965 p.44.

Eskenazi, Gerald. “Mantle Accepts Third $100,000 Pact in Row From Yanks; Slugger’s Salary is Second in Baseball; Mays’s Pay $5,000 Higher.” New York Times. 16 February 1965, p.43.

“Word Optimistic on Mantle.” New York Times. 2 March 1965 p.40.

Koppett, Leonard. “Mantle Prefers Playing in Center; Short Stops in Right Field Called Too Hard on Legs.” New York Times. 9 March 1965 p.39.

Koppett, Leonard. “A Puzzler: Where to Put Mantle; Leg Troubles Reduce Mickey’s Mobility, Yet He’s Needed; Right, Left Center?” New York Times. 24 March 1965 p.52.

The Orioles Didn't Improve Much

2007-10-22T14:01:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

The 1954 Baltimore Orioles hit 52 home runs. Since the era of Arena Baseball started after the 1994 World Series was cancelled, Mark McGwire (4), Sammy Sosa (3), Alex Rodriguez (3), Ken Griffey Jr. (2), Barry Bonds (1), Andruw Jones (1), Ryan Howard (1), and David Ortiz (1) have exceeded that total. In 1954, Larry Doby led the American League with 32 home runs. He was the only American Leaguer to hit as many as thirty. Only the Indians (156), Yankees (133) and Red Sox (123) hit more than 100 home runs.

Eight Home Runs Led the Orioles

No Orioles’ player hit as many as ten home runs in 1954. Vern Stephens led the team with 8 home runs and 46 RBIs. The team averaged 3.14 runs a game, so it is not surprising that they lost 100 games while winning only 54. But the Orioles had decent pitching and two youngsters with great potential.

Bob Turley and Don Larsen Had Potential

Bob Turley won 14 games, struck out 185 batters, and had a 3.46 ERA. His problem was that he walked 181 batters. The other Orioles’ youngster was Don Larsen, who had a terrible 1954 season, winning only 3 games while losing 21 with a 4.37 ERA. Veterans Joe Coleman, Duane Pillette, and Lou Kretlow were starters, but twenty two-year-old lefty Billy O’Dell was waiting in the wings, and flame-thrower Ryne Duren was another pitcher in search of control.

Richards Trades Turley and Larsen

General manager Paul Richards had to improve the team, which meant that the farm system would be upgraded and trades had to be made. In November, Richards traded Turley and Larsen to the Yankees in a seventeen-player deal. It turned out to be a trade that helped the Yankees much more than the Orioles, but Richards had to make some moves. As Branch Rickey said to Ralph Kiner after the Pirates finished last but Kiner had a great season, "We finished last with you. We can finish last without you."

Triandos Paid Dividends

In 1955, the Orioles won 57 games. Most of the players that they received in the big Yankees deal were sent away as Richards, who took over as both field manager and general manager, looked for some diamonds in the rough. It was a difficult time. Gus Triandos, a catcher-first baseman involved in the trade, paid the greatest dividends, as he batted .277 with 12 home runs, playing primarily at first. It doesn’t sound like much, but Triandos was the only player to have reached double figures in home runs. In 1958, he tied the American League record for home runs by a catcher when he hit 30, a feat accomplished by Yogi Berra two years earlier.

Offensively Challenged

Second baseman Freddie Marsh hit .218, third baseman Wayne Causey hit .194 with 2 home runs, and shortstop Willie Miranda had one of his best seasons at the plate, hitting .255. Center fielder Chuck Diering, one of the greatest defensive outfielders in the history of the game who has been almost completely forgotten, hit .256 with 3 home runs. The Orioles could field, but the couldn’t hit.

A Journeyman Pitching Staff

The pitching staff had a 4.21 ERA, which was not good, but which would be fine today. Journeyman Jim Wilson led the staff with 12 wins while losing 18 and Ray Moore, a decent pitcher with a good fast ball but with control problems, won 10. The rest of the pitching staff consisted of veterans who had seen better days or who never had seen or would see better days. Little progress was being made at the major league level, but that would change in a few long years.

References:

Baseball Reference

The Orioles' Biggest Trade

2007-10-21T10:19:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

On September 16, the American League approved the exchange of its St. Louis franchise for one in Baltimore. During their entire existence in St. Louis, the Browns never won a World Championship, and the only time they won the pennant, they lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. But the Baltimore Orioles would not be the St. Louis Browns, although for the first few seasons, it appeared that the futility would continue. The Orioles lost 100 games in 1954 but didn’t finish last because Philadelphia lost 103.

The Orioles and Yankees Traded Seventeen Players

Paul Richards was the Orioles general manager. He loved to trade players and he wasted no time with the new franchise. A major Richards' trade involved more players than any other trade in baseball history. On November 17, 1954, the Orioles and Yankees exchanged seventeen players, with the Orioles sending young pitchers Bob Turley, Don Larsen and other players to New York in exchange for pitchers Harry Byrd and Jim McDonald, catchers Gus Triandos and Hal Smith, clutch hitting outfielder Gene Woodling, and other players.

Orioles' Fans Screamed

The Orioles’ fans screamed that their team had been fleeced, but Paul Richards was not surprised. Richards knew that trading star pitcher Bob Turley was a gamble, but he felt that one pitcher was not going to win the pennant and that trading Turley would add players who would strengthen the team. “This deal puts us in business,” Richards told reporters. “We’re a ball club now. It was either take a big gamble or watch Turley pitch every fourth day. Everybody knows when you take young ball players you’re gambling.” Fans disagreed. “Richards must have lost his mind.” “When my son saw the paper he groaned so loud I thought his best friend had died.” The fans were right.

The New Orioles

Gus Triandos became a solid catcher, but was never a star. He batted .244 with 167 home runs, a .322 on base average, and a .413 slugging average. Hal Smith hit .271 for the Orioles in 1955 and was traded during the 1956 season to Kansas City. The highlight of his career came in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series when he hit a three run home run off Bobby Shantz to give the Pirates the lead over the Yankees in the game that made Bill Mazeroski famous. Gene Woodling was traded to the Indians during the 1955 season, Harry Byrd was traded to the White Sox during the 1955 season, and Jim McDonald was traded back to the Yankees on July 30, 1955.

Turley and Larsen

Bob Turley won the Cy Young Award in 1958 when he was a twenty-one game winner. In the World Series, with his team down, three game to one, Turley shut out the Braves in Game 5, saved Game 6, and then took over for Don Larsen in the third inning of Game 7 and was the winning pitcher as he finished the game. Turley was no longer the same pitcher after that much work. He never again won more than nine games in a season. Don Larsen had a mediocre career with one game that has made him famous. In Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history. Larsen never won more than eleven games in a season, and he won in double figures only one other year. In 1959, he was part of a package that brought the Yankees Roger Maris.

Fans Were Right

The Orioles’ fans were right in their assessment of the trade, but one must wonder what would have happened if Turley and Larsen had remained with the Orioles. Larsen was 3-21 in 1954 but had potential. If Turley had not been overused in the World series, he would have probably had a longer career. Of course, that is speculative, but one never knows.

References:

Drebinger, John. “Woodling, Byrd Go to Baltimore; Orioles Also Said to Obtain McDonald, Robinson, Smith, and Miranda of Yanks.” New York Times. 18 November 1954, p.44.

“Richards Made Deal Though Sure of Adverse Reaction in Baltimore.” New York Times. 19 November 1954, p.28.

Baseball-Reference

Bill Dickey's Quiet Intensity

2007-10-16T10:56:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

Bill Dickey was the regular Yankees’ catcher from 1929 until 1941. He was an outstanding, feared hitter and an excellent defensive player with a great throwing arm. Dickey’s lifetime batting average was .313, which ranks near the top of all catchers. In 1936, he batted .362 and the following season he hit .332. Until Yogi Berra came along, Dickey held the American League record for the most home runs in a single season by a catcher with 29. Yogi hit 30 in 1956.

Defense Preferred Over Offense

Dickey caught at least 100 games a season for 13 consecutive years and caught 125 games in 1931 without being charged with a passed ball. He has been quoted as saying that “I loved to make a great defensive play, I'd rather do that than hit a home run.” A quiet individual, Dickey roomed with Lou Gehrig. All someone looking for a quiet place had to do was go to their room. But just as Henry Louis Gehrig was a quiet, intense competitor, so too was William Malcolm Dickey.

The First Collision at Home Plate

On July 3, 1932, the Red Sox hosted the Yankees in the first Sunday game ever played in Fenway Park. Due to local laws, the Sox had been forced to play Sunday games at Braves Field. In the third inning, Boston outfielder Roy Johnson singled and Marv Olsen singled to right. Babe Ruth, who was an excellent outfielder with a great arm, fielded the ball and fired home to Bill Dickey. Johnson plowed into Dickey, knocking the ball loose as well as loosening one of Dickey’s teeth. Dickey was charged with an error.

The Second Collision and a Broken Jaw

The next day the Yankees were in Washington for a July 4th double header. With the Yankees ahead in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Senators’ Carl Reynolds tried to score the tying run on a squeeze play. He crashed into Bill Dickey, knocking him flat on his back. The game was tied and Dickey was fit to be tied. He jumped to his feet and landed a right hand that broke Reynolds’ jaw in two places. Both players were ejected. The next day, Dickey was suspended indefinitely, which turned out to be thirty days and a $1,000 fine.

Dickey Was Willing to Face the Consequences

Dickey had had enough. Base runners had smashed into him two consecutive games. Dickey was wrong for swinging at Reynolds, but it illustrates the competitiveness that existed. Dickey was punished, he knew that he would be punished, but he did what he thought he had to do and was willing to face the consequences of his actions. Most of the time, Dickey’s intensity during the game was properly channeled, and he was mild mannered off the field, but he hated to lose.

The Greatest Catchers of All Time

For many years, Dickey was considered the greatest catcher of all time. Bob Feller said "As an all-around catcher for both hitting and catching, I'd have to rate Bill Dickey of the Yankees in the 1930's and 40's as the best I ever saw. He was as good as anyone behind the plate, and better with the bat.”
After Dickey retired, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench had careers that challenged Dickey’s ranking. Rob Neyer, who is a disciple of Bill James, rated the ten greatest catchers in chronological order. The list: Gabby Hartnett, Mickey Cochrane, Bill Dickey, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, Ivan Rodriguez, and Mike Piazza. Neyer picked Bench over Berra by a small margin as the greatest of all time, with Dickey placed fourth, but Neyer based his rankings primarily on statistics. One must wonder where Dickey would have finished if Neyer had seen him play.

References:

Brandt, William E. "Yankees' Barrage Routs Red Sox, 13-2." New York Times. 4 July 1932, p.7.
Brandt, William E. "Ruth Hits No. 23 in Second Game; Washington Rallies to Take the Opener, 5-3, Then Wins Nightcap, 1-6. Dickey, Reynolds Clash; Latter Suffers Broken Jaw When Struck by Catcher After Collision. New York Times. 5 July 1932.
"Dickey is Suspended for Reynolds Fracas." New York Times. 6 July 1932, p. 24.\

The Cards Played the Giants and Braves -- the Same Day

2007-09-25T11:59:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

On September 13, 1951, the New York Giants, on the way to the Miracle at Coogan’s Bluff, were rained out of their getaway game with the Cardinals. The original National League schedule had both teams off the next day, and since this was the Giants’ last visit to St. Louis, an afternoon game was arranged. It sounds routine, but the Cardinals had already scheduled a make up game against the Braves for that night.

Commissioner Ford Frick Gave His Permission

Giants’ owner Horace Stoneham objected to the Cardinals’ playing two teams the same day, which seems strange since the arrangement would strain the Cardinals’ pitching staff, but Commissioner Ford Frick gave St. Louis permission to play a doubleheader -- one game each against different teams.

The Last Time It Happened in the National League

The last time a National League team played such a double header was in 1883, and the Giants were also involved. On July 4, 1883, the Giants, then called the Maroons, played games against Boston and Providence. Of course, they were both day games.

The Cardinals Split

On September 14, the Cardinals beat the Giants, 6-4, routing 20 game winner Sal Maglie, before 4,160 fans. The loss dropped the Giants 6 games behind Brooklyn. In the night game, Warren Spahn stopped St. Louis almost completely as he held the Redbirds offense to a sixth inning single by opposing pitcher Al Brazle. Spahn won his 20th game, facing only 29 batters in a 2-0 Boston victory.

Why Give Away a Game?

In 1951, teams played a doubleheader almost every Sunday, Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day. Day-night doubleheaders requiring a paid admission for each game were extremely rare. In 2007, teams almost never play scheduled doubleheaders. Why give away a game? Instead, when the need arises, teams play day-night twin bills, forcing fans to pay to see each game. At Yankee Stadium, the parking lots are emptied and fans must re-enter and pay the parking fee again for the second game.

The Tigers and the Yankees

The Giants wanted to play the game because there was no guarantee, even if the pennant were at stake, that the game would be made up. In 1935, Detroit played 151 games, going 93-58. There were three scheduled games they never played. The Yankees played 149 games, going 89-60. They had five games that were never played. If the Tigers lost their three unplayed games, they would have 61 losses. If the Yankees won all of their unplayed games, they would have won the pennant by one game.

No Bobby Thomson Home Run

Such situations do not occur today. Instead, there is the possibility of a playoff game to determine a division winner or to determine the wild card. Of course, if two teams tie for a division title, as the Yankees and Red Sox did in 2005, head to head competition determines the division winner and there is no need for a playoff game. If that were the case in 1951, Brooklyn would have won the pennant by virtue of their 13-9 edge over the Giants. Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca would be no more renown than Henry Thompson and Erv Palica.

References:

"Cards Play Giants and Braves Today." New York Times. 13 September 1951, p. 41.

Sheehan, Joseph M. "Cards Halt Polo Grounders, 6-4, Routing Maglie in 6-Run Second." New York Times. 14 September 1951, p. 29.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

RPI or Let's Trade Ichiro for Bobby Kielty

2007-09-17T11:46:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

There is a relatively recently created statistic called Run Production Index, or RPI. It is based on the premise that the most valuable hitters are those who produce runs, by either batting them in or scoring them. RPI is calculated by adding RBIs and runs scored, subtracting home runs (a batter who hits a home run gets both an RBI and a run scored so home runs must be subtracted to avoid double credit) and dividing that number by the sum of at bats and walks.

RPI = (RBIs +R –HR)/(AB +BB)

Lou Gehrig had 1,995 RBIs, scored 1,888 runs, hit 493 home runs and walked 1,508 times in 8,001 at bats in his career. Lou’s career RPI of .357 is calculated as follows:

RPI = (RBIs + Runs – HR) / (AB + BB)
RPI = (1,995 +1,888 –493) / (8,001 +1,508) = .357.

The following table is fascinating:

PLAYER RPI OBA
Gehrig .357 .447
Ruth .351 .474
Mantle .269 .421
Gwynn .237 .388
Boggs .227 .415
Rodriguez .301 .388
Bonds .279 .444
Suzuki .225 .379
Ashburn .196 .396

The Problem With RPI

The problem with RPI is that it cannot account for a player’s statistics that depend on his teammates’ performance. A batter may have an excellent on base average but may not score as many runs as a player with a lower OBA because his teammates are offensively challenged. A batter may have a high batting average and a high slugging average but not have as many RBIs as a player with a lower batting average and a lower slugging average for the same reason.

Richie Ashburn Hit .350 with an RPI of .181

In 1958, Richie Ashburn’s RPI was a lowly .181. He won the National League batting title with a .350 average, stole 30 bases, had 215 hits, 97 walks, and a .400 OBA. Ashburn, affectionately referred to by his teammates as the “right wing center fielder” because of his political views, scored 98 runs and had 33 RBIs. Richie reached base 312 times but scored only 98 runs.

Teammates Affected Ashburn's Runs Scored and RBIs

The 1958 Phillies scored 664 runs or an average of 4.31 runs a game, had a .336 OBA and a .400 slugging average. Harry Anderson led the team with 23 home runs and 97 RBIs. When Richie Ashburn reached base, there was no one to consistently move him around to score. Since he led off, there was no base runner for approximately 150 of his at bats, and with the pitcher preceding Ashburn in the lineup every time but Richie’s first at bat, the chances of having a runner in scoring position was less than for someone batting in any other slot. The Phillies’ eighth place batters included Ted Kazanski (.228), Chico Fernandez (.230), and Carl Sawatski (.230) among others, which added to Ashburn’s woes.

Lyn Lary and the 1931 Yankees

Lyn Lary played shortstop for the 1931 Yankees. They scored 1067 runs or an average of 6.88 runs a game, had a .380 OBA and a .457 slugging average. Lary batted .280, stole 13 bases, had 171 hits, 88 walks, and a .376 OBA. Lary scored 100 runs and had 107 RBIs. Lyn Lary reached bases 259 times. His RPI was .282 or 101 points higher than Ashburn’s, who by all measures EXCEPT RPI, had a better season than Lary.

Lary Was Part of A Strong Batting Order

Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth led both the 1931 Yankees’ offense and the league with 46 home runs each. Lyn Lary usually batted seventh, although he occasionally hit sixth or second and came to the plate with runners on base much more than did Richie Ashburn. When Lary hit seventh, he had usually had Bill Dickey (.327) hitting behind him. When he hit sixth, he had Dickey and Tony Lazzeri (.267) follow him. Ben Chapman (.315) and Lou Gehrig (.341) often preceded him.

Lary's RPI was 101 Points Higher Than Ashburn's

A measure of a player’s offensive value must account for the context in which the player bats. Richie Ashburn reached base 312 times, scored 98 times, and had 33 RBIs. Lyn Lary reached base 259 times, scored 100 times, and had 107 RBIs. Lary scored 2 more runs, batted in 74 more runs, reached base 53 FEWER times than Ashburn, but had an RPI that was 101 points HIGHER than Richie Ashburn’s. The reason is simple. He played on a team that scored 403 more runs than Ashburn’s team, had a much greater chance of scoring when he reached base, and had more runners on base when he batted.

Two Factors RPI Does Not Control

A method used to measure of a hitter’s value cannot penalize the hitter because of his situation. To drive in runs, there must be base runners. With the bases empty, only a home run will produce an RBI. To score runs, a player must be driven in by his teammates unless he hits a home run. RPI does not control those two factors and provides results that are misleading.

Ichiro Suzuki: 262 Hits, a .372 BA, and a .203 RPI

Ichiro Suzuki is an excellent example. In 2004, Ichiro set a record with 262 hits in a season. He walked 49 times to reach base 311 times, scored 101 runs, and had 60 RBIs. He hit .372 with a .414 OBA. Ichiro’s RPI was an anemic .203. The Mariners scored 698 runs.

Was Bobby Veach in 1922 Better Than Barry Bonds in 2004?

In 2004, Barry Bonds hit .362, had 135 hits, 232 walks, and a .609 OBA. The last two are single season records. Bonds scored 129 runs or almost once for every hit and he had 101 RBIs. Bonds’ RIP was .306. The Giants scored 850 runs. In 1922, Tigers’ outfielder Bobby Veach, a fine player, hit .327. had 42 walks and 202 hits to reach base 244 times. His .323 RIP was 17 points HIGHER than Bonds’ .306. One simple question. How can RPI conclude that the 2004 Barry Bonds, who walked 232 times and had 135 hits, reaching base 357 times, ranks below Bobby Veach, who walked 42 times and had 202 hits, reaching base 244 times?

Trade Ichiro Suzuki for Bobby Kielty According to RPI

RPI is an interesting statistic that helps create a picture of a player’s offensive contribution, but it cannot be used to summarily conclude that a player with a low RPI is not a great player. Ichiro Suzuki has .225 RPI. Is there anyone who would not rank him among the all time great players? Ichiro has a .333 batting average, a .379 OBA, a .437 slugging average, and averages about 40 steals a season. But according to RPI, Craig Monroe (.237), Marcus Thames (.235), Emil Brown (.233), and Bobby Kielty (.226) all are all more valuable offensive players than Ichiro because they all have a higher RPI than Ichiro. Would anyone want to be Mariners’ general manager Bill Bavasi if he traded Ichiro for any of the above players?

References:

http://www.retrosheet.org/

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/

Cheating is an Absolute

2007-09-13T13:01:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

How is a runner on second base who steals the catcher’s signs any different from the team employee who is located in a booth in the center field score board using a pair of binoculars to steal the catcher’s signs? There is no difference. They are achieving the same objective but by different means.

Killed by a Bullet or a Knife

Individual A, in front of witnesses and on videotape, kills Individual B by shooting him in the heart in order to get one of his possessions. There is no doubt that Individual A killed Individual B – none. Simultaneously, in another part of town, in front of witnesses and on videotape, Individual C kills Individual D by stabbing him in the heart in order to get one of his possessions. There is no doubt that Individual C killed Individual D –none. The only difference is that a bullet in the heart killed Individual B and a steel blade in the heart killed Individual D.

The Violations are the Same

The method used to circumvent the rules is irrelevant. If a law is broken or a rule is violated, then the consequences must be met. Whether one kills using a gun or a knife is irrelevant to the fact that one individual killed another. Whether the catcher’s signs are stolen by the runner on second or by an employee in the center field scoreboard is irrelevant. The violations are the same.

Sandy Alderson's Memo

There is nothing in baseball’s rulebook prohibiting stealing signs. After it was alleged that the 1951 New York Giants had an elaborate sign-stealing scheme involving a telescope in the scoreboard and a system of bells and buzzers that allowed reserve catcher Sal Yvars and reserve infielder Hank Schenz to tip off hitters about the next pitch, executive vice president of baseball operations Sandy Alderson sent all general managers and mangers a memo that restricted the use of electronic equipment during a game. Such equipment and technology “could not be used for communications or for the purpose of stealing signs or conveying information designed to give a club an advantage.”

Gamesmanship is Another Way of Saying "Cheating"

Baseball has an unwritten code that allows “gamesmanship,” which is simply a fancy term for the attempt to gain an advantage by cheating and not calling it cheating. It is acceptable to steal signs as long as no technology, no matter how simple, is involved. A runner on second or a coach can use his eyes, brain, and experience to steal signs, but binoculars or cameras are not allowed. The runner on second can peer in to steal the catcher’s signs, but if the batter attempts to peer behind him to see where the catcher is setting up for the pitch, the next delivery will be aimed at his head.

Cheating is an Absolute

Absolutes exist. Cheating is acting dishonestly, practicing deception, or violating the rules. If baseball does not allow (by memo, not rule) stealing signs using technology, allowing stealing signs by means that do not involve technology is just as much of a violation. There cannot be acceptable and unacceptable methods of cheating. Either rules or memos allow the stealing of signs, or they don’t. Baseball cannot have it both ways. But it does.

Reference:

Marazzi, Rich. “Baseball Rules Corner: How Baseball Teams Steal Signs From Each Other in the Past and Present.” Baseball Digest. June 1, 2001.

Mantle, Mays, and Snider in 1957

2007-08-18T13:40:00.000-04:00

By Harold Friend

Nineteen fifty seven was not a good year for the New York Giants. They finished in sixth place, 26 games behind the pennant winning Milwaukee Braves, drawing 653,923 paying customers for the worst attendance in the league. It was their last season in New York, as they followed Walter O'Malley and the Dodgers to California, but it was one of the best season's of Willie Mays' career.

Mays Had a Great Season in 1957

National Leaguers batted .260 in 1957. Willie Mays hit .333, with 35 home runs, 26 doubles, 20 triples, and 97 RBIs. The offensively challenged Giants scored only 643 runs, which explains why Mays had only 97 RBIs. He had a .407 on base average and a .626 slugging average, compared to the league's .322 on base average and .400 slugging average. Willie also stole 38 bases. No one was better defensively.

In 1957, Duke Was Good But Not Great

Nineteen fifty seven was not a good year for the Brooklyn Dodgers. They finished third, 11 games behind the Braves, but they had an attendance of 1,028,258 fans, which was enough to make money but substantially less than the Braves' 2,215,404, a fact that played a major role in Walter removing the Dodgers from Brooklyn. Duke Snider had a good season, but it was not as good as most of his others. Duke batted only .274, which was considered low in the 1950s. He finished third in home runs with 40, making it the fifth consecutive season he hit at least 40 home runs, but Snider's on base average was only .368, and his slugging average of .587 was his lowest in five seasons. Compared to most players, Snider had a good season, but compared to Duke Snider, he did not.

Incredible Mantle

American Leaguers batted .255 in 1957. Mickey Mantle batted .365, with 34 home runs, 28 doubles, 6 triples, and 94 RBIs. Mickey walked 146 times, which explains why he had only 94 RBIs. His on base average was .512 and his slugging average was .665, compared to the league's .326 on base average and .382 slugging average. He stole 16 bases in 19 attempts. Mickey Mantle's batting average exceeded the league batting average by more than 100 points, his on base average was an incredible 186 points better, and his slugging average was 283 points better.

Willie Was the Most Exciting, But There Was More Involved

The statistics are revealing, but watching the three centerfielders play was more revealing. Overall, taking hitting, fielding, throwing, and running into account, Willie was the most exciting, but there was more to it. In the field, Willie was surer than Mickey or the Duke, but Mickey was faster and the Duke played in a small park that allowed him to climb the walls to rob players of home runs.

Home Runs

Until Red Schoendienst fell on Mickey's right shoulder in the 1957 World Series, Mickey had the best arm among the three, but Willie's was probably more accurate. At the plate, it was no contest. Mickey hit home runs with greater impact and for a greater distance than any player since Ruth. Duke was a greater home run threat than Willie, despite the fact that Willie hit more career home runs. Snider had to clear the forty foot high fence Ebbets Field right field fence, which meant that his home runs were high, arcing shots.

Records Are Incomplete

On the bases, Mays was the best base runner, although Mickey was faster and the Duke was pretty fast. Willie stole more bases and he could have stolen many more, but teams didn't steal much in the 1950s. Mickey stole only when it was necessary. Snider stole as many as 16 bases in a season twice in his career, getting thrown out 7 time in 1953. Interestingly, no one knows how many times he was thrown out in 1950 because the records are incomplete.

He Was Better Than Any of Them

In the last few years, individuals have taken "peak years" and concluded that Mantle's were better than Willie's or Duke's which is true, but a career includes everything. Mickey, Willie, and Edwin Donald all were great center fielders. It is tempting to compare them, and we have all been tempted. When they played, most of the baseball writers ranked Mays as the best, but with the perspective time provides, that is no longer the case. Mickey has probably become slightly overrated, Willie has dropped a little in the ratings, and the Duke was always vastly underrated. All that being said, DiMaggio was better than any of them.

Reference:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Who Benefits the Most?

2007-06-20T12:17:00.001-04:00

by Harold Friend

March 19, 1978 New York Times: The Equivalent of Three Rivers Stadium, Veterans Stadium, and Riverfront Stadium.

Former New York City Mayor John Lindsay, who persuaded the city to rebuild Yankee Stadium, expressed the belief that it would have been a disaster for the city if the Yankees had left. "I think it was the right thing. Brooklyn never recovered when the Dodgers left the city." The initial figure of $24 million to rebuild now stands at $95.6 million, which includes funds for urban renewal of the surrounding neighborhood. The contract between New York City and the Yankees gives the city a graduated percentage of the gross gate revenues and between 5-10 percent of concession sales, but there is a provision that allows the Yankees to deduct maintenance costs, which has become a contentious issue. The Yankees claimed maintenance costs of $839,106 for 1977 plus a note to the city indicating that the figure might rise, based on further discussions with the city. The Yankees' 1977 revues from attendance and concessions should have resulted in the city receiving almost one million dollars in rent, but after deducting maintenance costs, the Yankees will pay only $150,000.

There is also a question about the $24 million initial figure to rebuild Yankee Stadium. The engineering firm that did the work say their data indicated the figure is much too low. An engineer associated with Praeger, Kavanaugh, and Waterbury, was quoted as saying : "The $24 million figure was pulled out of the air. Mike Burke felt that the city should pay amount to keep the Yankees as it paid for Shea for the Mets. And that was $24 million." In addition, an obscure clause at the end of the lease stated that the Yankees had the right "To alter and improve the stadium during the period of renovation so as to be equivalent in all respects with the best features of the new stadia in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati." The clause resulted in the Yankees determining what was done with little concern for cost.

One of the most significant agreements of the Yankees' deal with the city was never kept. New York City reneged on its agreement to renovate the surrounding neighborhood. The city's explanation was that the fiscal crisis killed this part of the plan. It was the only part of the reconstruction agreement between the Yankees and New York City that came in under cost.

COMMENTS:

A new ballpark is being constructed for the Yankees, starting in 2007, at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion. New York City will provide $200,000 and the rest will be raised through the sale of bonds by the Yankees, who will not pay rent or property taxes. No New York sports team pays property taxes. Now, don't try to be a wise guy. It won't work. YOU can't claim that you and your kids are a sports team and should receive an exemption from YOUR property taxes.

When Yankee Stadium was being renovated, the Yankees had the right to ensure that the construction would produce the best features of the new stadia in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh and Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati opened in 1970, while Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia opened in 1971. All are gone. None was retained longer than 32 years. That is inexcusable. With proper maintenance and judicious renovations, ball parks should last centuries, not decades, as Wrigley Field and Fenway Park will illustrate in 2014 and 2012. Teams build new parks to stimulate the economy and provide the fans with a better experience when they attend a game. Rubbish. Nothing is better than attending a game at Wrigley, Fenway, or the old Yankee Stadium. Did anyone say, "I remember Ebbets Field?"

The Yankees belong in the Bronx. As Mayor Lindsay said in the early 1970s, it would have been a disaster if the Yankees left. He was right, but not in the way he meant. It would have been a disaster to Yankees fans in the New York metropolitan area, but from a financial standpoint, keeping the Yankees or any sports team by offering subsidies and tax breaks does not help city residents. Proponents of subsidizing privately held sports teams claim that there are four ways in which sports facilities improve the local economy. Building a ball park creates construction jobs, individuals who go to games or work for the team generate spending within the community, thus expanding local employment, the team attracts tourism and companies to the area, which increases local spending and the creation of jobs even more, and all the spending has a "multiplier effect," which means that the increase in local income results in more new spending and job creation. It is then argued that the economic growth new stadiums create make them self financing, and revenues from ticket taxes, sales tax on concessions, spending outside the ball park, and property tax increases in the area (not on the ball park), offset subsidies given to the team. This sounds good, but according to economists, building a ball park is helps the local economy only if it is the most productive way to make capital investments and use its workers.

Roger G.Noll and Andrew Zimbalist, in their landmark book, Sports, Jobs, and Taxes, write that research reveals that a new sports facility has an extremely small or even a negative effect on the overall economy, as well as on employment. No recent facility appears to have earned anything approaching a reasonable return on investment. No recent facility has been self-financing in terms of its impact on net tax revenues. Regardless of whether the unit of analysis is a local neighborhood, a city, or an entire metropolitan area, the economic benefits of sports facilities are minimal. Contrary what the mainstream media, politicians, and sports teams owners claim, new sports facilities do NOT attract tourists or new industries. Noll and Zimbalist discuss Oriole Park at Camden Yards, which was extremely successful when it first opened in 1992.

In 1991, the sixth place, 67-95 Orioles, playing in Memorial Stadium, drew 2,552,753 fans, which was fifth best in the American League. Attendance the following season, their first in their new park, was 3,567,819, which was an increase of about 1 million fans. Attendance was fairly steady over the next decade, but in 2002, the Orioles, who had been one of the better teams in the late 1990s, once again were 67-95. They drew 2,682,439 fans, which is good, but which was about the same as attendance the last year in Memorial Stadium. Winning teams, not new ballparks, draw fans. About one third or thirty three percent of those who attend Orioles' games don't live in Baltimore. That sounds good, but the data reveal that Baltimore's economy, with respect to new jobs and incremental tax revenues averaged about $3 million during the first years of the new ball park, years when attendance was excellent, but a $3 million dollar a year return on a $200 million investment is not much of a return.

The Cleveland Indians' new ballpark, Jacobs Field, opened in 1994. Forty eight percent of the cost came from a 15-year tax on cigarettes and alcohol in Cuyahoga County. Of course smoking and drinking are bad for you, so the government must try to discourage individuals from indulging in such negative activities by taxing them. Anyway, the Indians (when will that pejorative name be changed?) drew 1,995,174 fans in Jacobs Field's first season, compared to 2,177,908 the previous year at the old Municipal Stadium (The Mistake by the Lake). Hold it a second. It appears that the Indians had better attendance figures in the old ballpark, but do you remember Mark Twain quoting Benjamin Disraeli? "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." Okay, another statistic before we get to what really happened. In 1993, the Indians averaged 26,888 a game. In 1994, the Indians averaged 39,121 a game. Remember the baseball strike in 1994? Remember who won the 1994 World Series? Right. There was no 1994 World Series and the Indians only played 113 games in 1994.

The start of the 1995 season was delayed because the 1994 strike carried over into the 1995 season. When the season finally started, the Indians played 144 games and won the American League pennant with 100 victories. They had 2,842,745 paid admissions, averaging 39,483 fans a game. Between mid-1995 and April 4, 2001, the Indians set the major-league record of 455 consecutive sellouts. But since it's all about money, the Indians started to cut payroll because many of the youngsters of the mid-1990s were demanding higher salaries. General manager Mark Shapiro (Sha-PIE-Ro, not Sha-PEAR-O) replaced stars such as Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome with new youngsters who were going to be but were not yet fine players. In 2002, the 74-88 Tribe averaged 32,308 fans a game, and in 2003, the team went 68-94, averaging only 21,358 fans a game. Hey, let's go see the new ballpark.

Fans want to see winning teams or teams they think can win. After the first year or two, they no longer want to see just the new ballpark. The Indians, Orioles, Rockies, and Blue Jays hammer home that point. The Cubs don't play in a new ballpark and the Cubs haven't won a pennant since 1945. They haven't won the World Series in more than a century. But the Cubs and Wrigley Field are a tradition. Cubs' fans pass down that tradition to the next generation. The Cubs always make it interesting, just as the Red Sox used to until 2004, when they finally won it all. Cubs fans hope eternally. Each season, they almost believe that the miracle will happen. It did in Boston and might, some day in the distant future, after we all are long since gone, happen in Chicago. It is the team, it is the tradition, and it the hope that THIS season will be THE season, that draws fans to the ballpark.

References:

Schumach, Murray. "Yanks' Revenues Rise, but City's Stadium Rent Falls." The New York Times. 19 March 1978, p.1.

http://www.brook.edu/press/review/summer97/noll.htm

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/attend.shtml

http://www.twainquotes.com/Statistics.html

Bet You Didn't Know That

2007-06-15T11:02:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

As Casey Stengel might say, "Amazing." In his rookie season of 1951, Mickey Mantle was often the Yankees' lead off hitter. After returning from the minor leagues, Mickey and Phil Rizzuto shared the lead off duties, with the other player usually batting second. In the 1951 World Series against the Giants, Mantle was the Yankees' leadoff batter in Games 1 and 2, and when Mickey stepped into a drain cover attempting to catch a Willie Mays fly ball that Joe DiMaggio eventually caught, one of Stengel's problems was deciding who would bat lead off for the remainder of the Series.

The Giants, behind lefty Dave Koslo, won the Series opener at Yankee Stadium, 5-1, beating Allie Reynolds, who had become only the second pitcher in baseball history to hurl two no hitters in the same season. Mickey Mantle went 0-3 with two walks from the lead off spot. The Yankees won Game 2 as steady Eddie Lopat limited the Giants to 5 hits in pitching the Yankees to a much needed 3-1 victory. Mantle again batted lead off and it was his bunting ability that helped the Yankees win. In the first inning, he pushed a bunt to the right of the pitching mound. Giants' starter Larry Jansen attempted to field the perfectly placed bunt but fell down as Mickey raced across the first base bag. With Mantle on first and Rizzuto at the plate, Jansen delivered a fast ball that Rizzuto bunted to the right side of the mound. Giants' first baseman Whitey Lockman fielded the ball , whirled, and fired to second baseman Eddie Stanky, who was covering first. Lockman's toss was wide of the bag, allowing the fleet Mantle to get to third base. Gil McDougald, the 1951 American League Rookie of the Year, hit a bloop single to right field, scoring Mantle but then Joe DiMaggio hit into a double play and Yogi Berra struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the fifth inning, a fateful inning for Mickey Mantle and the Yankees, Willie Mays lifted a high fly ball to right center field. It was clearly the centerfielder's ball. John Drebinger, the great baseball journalist, wrote that "It resulted in an easy out for Joe DiMaggio but, through a rather freakish mishap, eliminated another Yankee player. Dashing over from right field, Mickey Mantle, fleet-footed outfielder, in some unaccountable manner tripped as he came near DiMaggio and fell flat. He had to be carried off the field on a stretcher and later it was revealed by Dr. Sidney Gaynor, Yankee physician, that the youngster had suffered a sprained right knee that would side line him for the remainder of the series."

There is no doubt that it was DiMaggio's play. It is a baseball "rule" that the centerfielder goes for anything he thinks he can catch. There is an excellent photograph in the October 6 New York Times that shows Mickey sprawled on the ground, clearly at least 12 feet away from DiMaggio as the Yankee Clipper makes the catch. Those who have fabricated pejorative scenarios about DiMaggio should have viewed the photo before creating invalid conclusions. Perhaps the photo was viewed and ignored.

Mickey Mantle rarely batted lead off after the 1951 season and it must be noted that Casey Stengel used to change his lineup more often than some politicians change their positions on the war in Iraq, but in Game 4 of the 1953 World Series, a game the Yankees lost to Brooklyn, 7-3, Mickey hit leadoff. In 1962, Mickey had an outside chance of overtaking Pete Runnels for the batting title. Manager Ralph Houk put Mickey in the leadoff slot, but despite going 2 for 3, Mickey could not catch the Red Sox first baseman, who hit .328 to Mickey's .321. Many times during the 1960 season, Stengel batted Mickey second, with Yogi Berra batting third and newly acquired Roger Maris batting cleanup. Few recall or know that in Maris' first three games as a Yankee, he batted in the leadoff spot.

Casey Stengel, who managed the Yankees from 1949-1960, used an extraordinary number of lineups and leadoff batters. Stengel didn't manage by "the book," and took great pleasure when his hunches worked out, which they did most of the time. He used power hitters, singles hitters, and weak hitters to lead off. The list includes Mickey Mantle, Phil Rizzuto, Gil McDougald, Hank Bauer, Gene Woodling, Bob Cerv, Irv Noren, Elston Howard, Enos Slaughter, Tony Kubek, Bobby Richardson, Norm Siebern, Harry Simpson, Jerry Lumpe, Andy Carey, Clete Boyer, Marv Throneberry, Johnny Blanchard, Roger Maris, and Hector Lopez. Only Rizzuto fit the generally accepted model of a lead off hitter.

Having Mickey Mantle bat leadoff has its advantages. Mantle got on base, as confirmed by his lifetime .421 OBA. He could steal a base when necessary, although the risk of injury limited the frequency with which he attempted to steal. Many of his home runs would have been leading off the game, which would have put the Yankees quickly ahead by a run. The negative of batting with the bases empty at least once every game is recognized, but batting leadoff would result in more plate appearances each season, which would compensate for that. Another negative is that after his first at bat, Mantle would follow the pitcher in the batting order, but knowing Stengel, he might have batted the pitcher seventh or eighth, something he did with good hitters such as Tommy Byrne and Eddie Lopat. In today's American League with the designated hitter, teams often use a good hitter with speed in the ninth slot of the batting order. If Mantle played today, that would be major reason to use him in the leadoff spot. Regardless where he hit, he usually hit.

References:

Drebinger, John. "Yanks Win, 3 to 1; Tie Series; Lopat Holds Giants to 5 Hits." The New York Times. 6 October 1951, p.1.

Dawson, James P. "Yank's Joy Over Triumph is Tempered by Loss of Mantle for Remaining Games; New Lead-Off Man Stengel Problem." The New York Times. 6 October 1951, p.24.
http://www.retrosheet.org/

http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/mantlmi01.php

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mantlmi01.shtml

We No Longer Play Our Games for Fun; We Play for Money or We Don't Play at All.

2007-06-13T13:15:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

The following is a synopsis of an article from the March 19, 1978 New York Times.

Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn sent a telegram to Fabio Ruiz, Cuba's sub director of sports, stating that since Cuban baseball players would no longer be available to United States baseball teams, there would be no spring exhibition games between American and Cuban teams. Following President Carter's announcement that he hoped to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, there have been attempts to allow American teams to tour the island. It was first thought that an all star team would play Cuban teams, and then Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner offered to send the Yankees to Cuba. Steinbrenner hoped to purchase Cuban players for the Yankees and thought that his money could accomplish that goal. Commissioner Kuhns's office also talked about monetary matters, which proved to be a major error because when Fidel Castro took over the country, capitalism was replaced by a system in which money would no longer be a primary concern.

Once Kuhn and the baseball owners realized that they would not be able to purchase Cuban players, they decided not to play any exhibition games in Cuba. Baseball in the United States is no longer played for fun. Baseball is no longer a sport, and one can question if it ever was one. Baseball is a business and baseball games are played for money or not at all. The Cuban economic system does not allow baseball games to played for money. It does not allow its players to be sold. Okay, say the Americans. Play baseball with someone else, but not with us. It is not enough to merely send a team to Cuba to play some games simply and only for the fun of playing baseball games.

COMMENTS:

Some historical facts reinforce the sad fact that baseball owners and their lackeys are concerned first and last with profits. Cuban baseball has a long and illustrious history. Baseball was introduced to Cuba in the 1860s by Cubans who studied in the United States and brought the game back to their native country. Cuba fought and lost it first war for independence from Spain in 1869. One of the consequences of the loss was that Spanish authorities banned baseball because Cubans were beginning to prefer baseball to bullfighting, and that just couldn't be allowed since bullfighting was the national "sport" of Spain. Of course, when preferences are dictated, resentment is created. In this case, the ban on baseball made it a symbol of freedom. The authorities eventually relented and the first baseball game in Cuba took place in 1874, with Club Habana defeated Club Matanzas, 51-9. It was not exactly the Yankees and Dodgers, but it was a beginning.

The first Cuban league was organized in 1878 and interestingly, all the players were Caucasian, but in 1900, a full 47 years before the United States followed suit, the Cuban League lifted its ban on black players. United States baseball teams first visited Cuba in 1891when the American Series was initiated, and until 1959, when Fidel Castro overthrew Cuban despot General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar in the Cuban Revolution, United States major league, minor league, and Negro League teams played Cuban teams, Cuban all-star teams, and Cuban amateur teams almost every year. The series were hard fought and competitive. The games were played for the love of baseball, the joy of winning, and the fear of losing.

Although Major League Baseball has no working relationships with Cuba, players from Latin American countries now account for almost one third of major league players. Major league teams can sign a player from any Latin American country without that player having to go through Major League's Baseball's First Year Player Draft, which is the mechanism that limits the options of college and high school baseball players. Based on the reverse order of the previous season's league standings, amateur players are assigned to one team and can sign only with that team or opt to not sign at all. The team that selects a player has until August 15 to sign the player or lose its right to sign him. The unsigned player may be eligible for the next draft, but unless he consents, cannot be drafted by the team he rejected. It is not unusual for top draft picks to receive signing bonuses of millions of dollars. Players eligible to be drafted must be a resident of the United States, Canada, or a U.S. territory such as Puerto Rico. Players from other countries are not subject to the draft, and can be signed by any team.

At first glance, it might appear that not being eligible for the First Year Player Draft give an advantage to foreign players (read that as players from Latin American countries), but that is not the case. Arturo J. Marcano Guevara, the international legal advisor to the Venezuelan Baseball Players Association and Indiana University Bloomington professor David P. Fidler, have collaborated on Stealing Lives: The Globalization of Baseball and the Tragic Story of Alexis Quiroz, which exposes how major league teams violate basic human rights in their attempts to sign players for as little money as possible. Alexis Quiroz joined one of the Chicago Cubs' Latin American Academies in 1995 after completing high school. He should have received a $6,000 signing bonus (a little short of seven figures) but since neither Alex nor his family read English well, they didn't realize that the Cubs' scout was no cub scout and pocketed some of the money (sorry). Quiroz played in the Dominican summer league, where he and his teammates lived in slum dwellings without running water. The ballparks were dilapidated and run down facilities. Sick or injured players were not give proper medical care. Quiroz suffered a severe arm injury when he was 18, which ended his baseball career.

The Latin American Academies reach many youngsters when they are still 14 or 15 years old. Most live in poverty. Becoming a professional ball player is a means of escaping a bad economic situation and getting to the United States. The academies are inexpensive to run, and by the time a player is 16, teams can decide if they want to sign him. The cost is much less than the cost of signing college or even high school players who have gone through the draft, which briefly brings us to Gary Sheffield's comments made in June, 2007, in which Gary compared black players to Latin players. Sheffield said that one reason that there has been a great increase in Latin players and a decrease in black players is that Latin players are easier to control. Only Gary Sheffied knows what he meant when he said "control," but referring to black players, he said that "Where I'm from, you can't control us." Of course, if by control one means that baseball teams can sign a player at the age of 16 and save huge sums of money, then players from Latin American countries who are not eligible for the draft can be controlled more easily than black American players who go through the draft and are sought after by agents who can get them decent signing bonuses.

Since 1900, there have been approximately 1240 Latin American major leaguers. The firs was Luis Castro, an infielder who played for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902. Since 1956, when Osvaldo "Ozzie" Virgil joined the New York Giants, there have been 456 Dominican major leaguers, ranging from Felipe Alou in 1958 to Tony Abreu in 2007. The first of the 261 Puerto Rican players was Hiram Bithorn, who made his major league debut in 1942 with the Cubs. Venezuela has had 201 players in the majors, the first of whom was pitcher Alex Carrasquel with the Washington Senators in 1939. The first Cuban to play in the majors was Armando Marsans, who became a Cincinnati Red in 1911. Before Fidel Castro, there were many Cubans in the majors. The total of 153 includes some players who defected. Mexico has sent 100 players across the border, beginning with Mel Almada in 1933. Forty eight Panamanians, 9 Nicaraguans, 8 Columbians, 4 Spaniards, and 1Honduran round out the list.

Almost 15,000 major leaguers were born in the United States. More than 45 foreign countries have had at least one major league player. The Dominican Republic leads with 456, while Afghanistan's only representative was the Texas Rangers' Jeff Bronkey, who pitched for them in 1993. Baseball is becoming a sport with fewer and fewer geographic boundaries. In 2007, approximately 30% of major league players are not American.

In February, 2007, the Yankees sent a contingent, including president Randy Levine, general manager Brian Cashman, and assistant general manager Jean Afterman to China in order to explore both baseball and business opportunities in that nation. They hope to discover how to initiate future working agreements with Chinese teams similar to the one they have with Japan's Yomiuri Giants. Following the China portion of the trip, the group visited Japan. Other teams have explored foreign nations, including Mets' general manager Omar Minaya, who led a contingent to Ghana. In the past, professional and amateur coaches have visited Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa, Uganda, Tunisia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Players from Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa have been invited to attend Major League Baseball's in Tirrenia, Pisa. It truly is becoming, as President George Bush said, a new world order.

References:

Morrissey, Michael. "Omar's Ghana Take Trip." The New York Post. 27 January 2007.

Onigman, Marc. "Cuba vs. the Major Leagues; Game is no Longer the Same." The New York Times. 19 March 1978, p.S2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_Draft

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Baseball/MLBDraft/2006/06/03/1613046-s

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/745.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_in_Cuba

http://www.cubanball.com/history.html

Pitch 300 Innings? What a Joke

2007-05-09T10:42:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

There is an unknown factor that everyone knows. That is not a contradiction. It is an unwillingness on the part of baseball fans to consciously acknowledge the fact that baseball in the twenty first century is not the game played by Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Lefty Grove, Bob Feller, Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, and hundreds of others in the twentieth century. Today's game is as offensive as possible for many reasons. The height of the pitching mound was decreased by 33 1/3% after the 1968 season. The strike zone has decreased, the ball parks are smaller, and the ball is livelier. Improved training methods, innovative medical procedures, and nutritional supplements have produced individuals who are bigger and stronger than ever in the history of the game. And one league does not allow the pitcher to bat. A significant result is that conditions no longer allow starting pitchers to pitch more than six or seven innings most of the time.

There was a time when the best pitchers on a team were the starters. They worked the most innings because logic dictates that a team has a better chance of winning when it uses its best players rather than its lesser players. That is not true today. There is so much strain on pitchers not to make a mistake that managers tend to remove pitchers faster than ever in baseball history, which has led to middle relief men, set up men, and closers. No one will ever again pitch 300 innings in a season, yet until 1980, pitching at least 300 innings was not too unusual. It was in 1980 that Steve Carlton pitched 304 innings for the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. No one has done it since.

Let us take Babe Ruth, since all the Babe can be accused of by some apologists for Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and quite a few other sluggers is that using alcohol, a legal substance more dangerous than many illegal substances, helped Babe bring his game up to the "next level." Right. Imbibing alcohol enhances athletic performance and eating ice cream helps people lose weight. Now, as we all know, Babe Ruth was a pretty good hitter, but we are not talking about Babe Ruth the hitter. We are talking about a young Boston Red Sox southpaw pitcher named Babe Ruth. At the age of 21, pitcher Babe Ruth hurled 323 2/3 innings. At age 22, he worked 326 1/3 innings. Then because he was better as a hitter than he was as a pitcher, Ruth cut down on his pitching and went to play the outfield.

Granted, that was a long time ago, so let's jump to another pretty good left handed pitcher, one whom many consider the greatest lefty, if not the greatest pitcher, of all, Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove. While Grove NEVER pitched 300 innings in a season, he AVERAGED almost 250 innings a season. Still too long ago? Okay, how about the 1960s? Many consider Sandy Koufax to have been the greatest pitcher of all time, but his critics claim that he wasn't around long enough to merit that appellation. You make your choice, but from 1963-1966, Koufax AVERAGED 298 innings a season, surpassing the 300 inning mark in three of those four years. In 1963 Koufax started 40 games (no kidding, he really started 40 games), completed 20, pitched 11 shutout, and hurled 311 innings. In 1965 he started 41 games, completed 27 of them, and pitched 335 innings. In 1966, his last season, he again started 41 games, again completed 27 of them, and pitched 323 innings.

Fine, you say. Koufax, Carlton, and Ruth were among the greats. What about some of the lesser pitchers? Okay, let's take some pitchers who were their team's ace but who were not all time greats. Jim Kaat was a fine pitcher who might be a Hall of Famer some day, but he was not in the same category as Koufax and Carlton (let's not get involved with Ruth, although he probably would have been a Hall of Famer if he remained an injury-free pitcher). Kaat exceeded 300 innings pitched in 1966 and again in 1975. Had enough of lefties? Andy Messersmith, Bob Friend, Dizzy Trout, Bill Voiselle, Johnny Sain, Vern Bickford, and Bobo Newsome were fine pitchers who all had an least one season in which they pitched at least 300 innings. There are many, many more, but the most amazing example was Robin Roberts. From 1950 through and including 1955, Roberts pitched at least 300 innings for six consecutive seasons. And in 1956, he pitched 297 1/3 innings.

Logic indicates that today's pitchers should be the greatest ever, and maybe that is true. Nutritional knowledge, training methods, technology, and medicine are vastly superior than in the past. Pitchers who throw in the low 90s are nothing special. Many hit the mid to high 90s on the radar gun. But the unknown factor prevents most of them from dominating. That factor is that there is direct correlation between attendance, revenue, and offense, a fact that has resulted in creating conditions that will produce more runs. Shutouts don’t bring fans to the ball park. Home runs and offense bring fans to the ball park. Would you rather see Greg Maddux pitch 9 innings of 6 hit ball and allow one or two runs or see Mark McGwire hit three home runs off Greg Maddux? I thought so. Isn't arena baseball great?

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/IP_leagues.shtml http://www.baseball-reference.com/

Change Occurs, But This is Ridiculous

2007-05-05T13:04:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

Kei Igawa typifies the Brian Cashman era. Last night, Kei was staked to a five run lead against the Mariners. He was on the mound (one cannot state that he "pitched") into the fifth inning, when he was mercifully removed after giving up singles to Jose Vidro and Raul Ibanez. The score at the time was Yankees 8, Mariners 6. The Mariners went on to score 8 runs in the inning on their way to a gruesome 15-11 victory.

Kei has pitched 30 2/3 innings this season, yielding 35 hits, 14 walks, and 27 earned runs. This has been the return on the Yankees investment of $26,000,194 paid to the Hanshin Tigers as the posting fee, plus another $20 million to Igawa for the privilege of the Yankees having his services for the next five seasons. The 194 after the $26,000,000 represents Igawa's 194 strikeouts in 2006. Now, that is a bargain.

In 2006, Igawa had a comeback season compared to the previous two years. He was 14-9 with a 2.97 ERA and 194 strikeouts in 209 innings. At the rate he is going this season, he would have to make over 40 starts to pitch 209 innings, which is a prospect that cannot please any Yankees fan. In 2003, Igawa had his best season, going 20-5 with a 2.80 ERA and 179 strikeouts, but over the next two seasons, he won only 27, lost 20, and had ERA's of 3.73 and 3.86 in 2004 and 2005 respectively.

Kei Igawa is not the Yankees primary problem and neither are injuries. The Yankees are a team with a pitching staff that lacks stability. In 2006, the top five Yankees starters with respect to games started were Randy Johnson (33), Chien-Ming Wang (33), Mike Mussina (32), Jaret Wright (27), and Shawn Chacon (11). Randy, Jaret, and Shawn are all gone. In 2005, the starters were Randy Johnson (34), Mike Mussina (30), Carl Pavano (17), Chien-Ming Wang (17), Kevin Brown (13). Jared Wright (13), Shawn Chacon (12) and Al Leiter (10). Yes, Pavano really did start 17 games in 2005. From 2001-2004, Yankees starters who have left include Javier Vazquez, Jon Leiber, Jose Contreras, Orlando Hernandez, Esteban Loaiza, Brad Halsey, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, Jeff Weaver, Ted Lilly, Randy Keisler, Sterling Hitchcock, Adrian Hernandez, and Ramiro Mendoza.

No one denies that in the era of arena baseball, the emphasis is on offense because offense translates into dollars, but those who act surprised at the fact that in 2007 the Yankees have had 9 different pitchers start at least one game have not been paying attention to the Yankees' pitching staff in the Brian Cashman and Joe Torre era.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kei_Igawa

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=mlb&playerID=506432

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2006.shtml

Another Title Looms

2007-05-04T13:50:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

It is May 4, 2007. The Yankees have played 26 games, which incidentally, is the number of World Championships they have won since 1923. The 2007 Yankees have won only 12 of those 26 games, which is bad enough to place them 5 1/2 games behind the vastly overrated Red Sox from Boston. The Yankees will win the Eastern Division, as they usually do, and then the real season will start. The days of pennant races are long since gone, never again to return. Now the second best team in a division and the fourth best team in the league can become the World Champion. Ain't progress great?

The Yankees have had their "regular" pitching rotation of Chein-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, and Mike Mussina for a few days since the beginning of April. They are just about ready to pitch regularly. The fourth starter, Kei Igawa, has a 6.08 ERA. To say he has been ineffective is akin to saying Texas representative Ron Paul supports the U.S. Constitution. Who is the Yankees' fifth starter? It will probably wind up being either Jeff Karstens, Darrell Rasner, or, in July, Philip Hughes. The key is Wang, Pettitte, and Mussina. If they remain healthy, they will win a lot of games, enough to make the games the fourth and fifth starters pitch contests that must merely be split for the Yankees to win the division. The wild card (please excuse the expression) is Hughes. By July, he can provide the stability that will allow the Yankees to become a real October threat.

If Wang, Pettitte and Mussina can pitch regularly, then Joe Torre will be given the opportunity to use the bullpen properly. Scott Proctor, Luis Vizcaino, Brian Bruney, Mike Meyers, and Sean Henn will get enough rest so that they will not have to crawl to the mound at the end of the regular season. But that is a major variable since Torre has a tendency of selecting one or two favorites and using them over and over until there is little left to use. All that must said of Mariano Rivera is that he is Mariano Rivera.

The offense is offensive, which is good. It should provide enough runs to support the shaky fourth and fifth starters, and is the team's strength, which is bad because pitching and defense, not offense, wins championships. The infield defense, when Doug Mientkiewicz plays first base, is excellent. Alex Rodriguez has improved at third, Jeter is Jeter, and Cano has great range and a fine arm. When Jason Giambi plays first base, pennants can be lost.

The outfielders all have arms, but the problem is that only Bobby Abreu and swing man Melky Cabrera have arms that are strong enough to be effective. Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon have arms that remind one of the joke about the little boy who wanted to live with the an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Bush, who were known to take in any child in need of a home, no matter how incorrigible the child. The judge asked the little boy if he wanted to live with his mother and the boy replied "No, because when I misbehave, she always throws me out." When asked if he wanted to live with his father, the little boy replied, "No, because when I misbehave, he throws me out." Finally, the judge asked the little boy with whom he wanted to live. The child replied, "With Mr. and Mrs. Bush , because they don't throw anyone out." Matsui and Damon are like the Bushes. They don't throw anyone out.

The Yankees are not a good team, but there is not a really good team in baseball. The Red Sox are the current favorites to win the World Series, but their rotation is questionable. Curt Schilling is 40 years old, Josh Beckett is, according to some reports, arrogant and is certainly inconsistent and he pitched to a 5.01 ERA last season. Daisuke Matsuzaka has been Boston's version of Kei Igawa. Any team that has Julian (pronounce that JULIAN, not HOOLIAN) Taveras in the rotation is asking for trouble. Jonathan Papelbon's health may be more of a problem than the Red Sox will admit.

The Yankees have suffered one of the most bizarre April's of any contender in recent history. It is not likely that the pattern will exist. If that turns out to be true, then two of the most overrated of all Yankees' employees, Brian Cashman and Joe Torre, will finish the regular season being able to tell the New York media that they told them so. October might be another story.

Is Brooklyn Still in the League?

2007-04-18T14:43:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

April 17, 1947

Jackie Robinson got his first major league hit in the fifth inning when he dropped a bunt toward third base and Boston Braves' third baseman Bob Elliott was unable to bare hand the ball and throw it to first. Robinson went 1 for 3 as Brooklyn defeated Boston for the second consecutive game, beating Mort Cooper, 12-6, before 10,252 fans on a chilly day in Brooklyn.

April 18, 1947

In their first game under new manager Burt Shotton, the Brooklyn Dodgers suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the hated New York Giants. In the first game of the season between the greatest rivals in the history of sports, the Giants blasted Brooklyn hurlers for six home runs on the way to a 10-4 victory. It was the Giants first win of the young season after two defeats in Philadelphia. Twenty three year old third baseman Bobby Thomson accounted for two of the Giants' home runs and added two singles for a perfect day at the plate. The only Brooklyn player to show any spark was rookie Jackie Robinson, who hit his first major league home run in the third inning to give Brooklyn a short lived lead and then started a two run rally with a single in the eighth.

The Brooklyn Dodgers-New York Giants rivalry was real. The teams played each other twenty two times during the season and needed no media hyperbole to fuel the hatred that existed among the players and the fans. The teams were natural rivals since they played in the same city, within a few miles of each other. The Giants, led by John McGraw, dominated the National League from the early 1900s until the early 1920s, but Brooklyn won pennants in 1916 and 1920. The Giants and Yankees were also fierce rivals, sharing the Polo Grounds until 1923, and playing each other in the 1921, 1922, and 1923 World Series, but once the Yankees moved to Yankee Stadium, the competition with the Giants cooled a little and soon it became the Giants and Dodgers loathing each other.

The Giants had won the World Series in 1933, and during the off season, their manager, Bill Terry, fanned the flames of discontent with some remarks that have becomes classic baseball quotes. On January 24, the New York Herald Tribune reported that Terry, while being interviewed by reporters, said that "Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Chicago will be the teams we'll have to beat. I don't think the Braves will do as well as they did last year." Terry was then asked "Do you fear the Dodgers?" He responded, "I was just wondering whether they were still in the league." Remember, this was 1934 and individuals spoke freely, without weighing the impact their words might have or the consequences that might follow. The New York Evening Post (many New York newspapers published an early afternoon edition, an early evening edition, and then a late night edition) reported that:

"Colonel William Terry, young manager of the world champion Giants, seems to have awakened the Dodgers, club and fans alike, from their long winter hibernation. And the Dodgers have awakened like a hungry bear, demanding to know just what Memphis Bill meant by his uncomplimentary remark about the Dodgers still being in the league. In a gabfest yesterday with baseball writers, Terry was asked if he feared the Dodgers. His whimsical reply was: 'I was just wondering whether they were still in the league.'

"If Bill thought this would go unchallenged in Brooklyn, he was guessing wrong, for Bob Quinn, business manager of the Brooklyn club, has countered with a stinging rebuke. When apprised of Terry's remark, Bob said: 'I doubt very much if Terry made that remark, but if he did, it ill befits a manager of a championship ball club, particularly a manager who was so thin-skinned himself that he was very much perturbed about writers picking his team to finish last in 1933.' And the Brooklyn club may fool Mr. Terry by being the team to prevent him from repeating his triumph of last year. At least, we'll let him know we are still in the league."

Bill Terry was blunt, outspoken, and would not cater to sportswriters. Much resentment was created when he insisted on not giving the writers his private telephone number, which is amazing. It was a different society in many ways in 1934, but a constant has been the media's belief that all aspects of a public figure's life belong to the public. They don't. They belong to the public figure. Many wise, older individuals have learned discretion. Terry's words came back to haunt him as the 1934 pennant race reached its thrilling climax. With two games left in the season, the Giants led the Cardinals by one game. Brooklyn had been out of it for most of the season.

September 27, 1934 was a day off for the Giants but the Cardinals beat the Reds to pull within ½ game of the Giants. The teams were tied in the loss column but the Giants had played and won one more game. The Giants were again off on September 28 and the Cardinals again beat the Reds to gain a tie for first place. Brooklyn visited the Polo Grounds on the last two days of the season while the Cardinals continued their series at home against the Reds.

September 30 was a rainy day in New York. Much doubt existed with respect to whether or not the game would be played. About 3,000 fans, most of them apparently Brooklyn fans seeking revenge, were camped out at the Polo Grounds at 12:30 P.M., hoping to see a game. The gates opened at 2 P.M and about 12,000 of what would eventually become a crowd of 14,000 got into the ball park. Brooklyn fans were the majority in the Polo Grounds' lower stands, ranging from third base around to the Brooklyn dugout, where one could find Brooklyn manager Charles Dillon Stengel, who would make his mark in another of New York City's boroughs a few years later. Before the game started, Stengel received a telegram containing fifty signatures. The message was simply "You'll win the undying gratitude of Brooklyn fans if you knock Bill Terry and his Giants on their backs."

Stengel read the telegram aloud and shouted, "This calls for a special meeting." He asked the reporters to leave the clubhouse, held his meeting, the rain let up, the game was played, and Brooklyn fans had some revenge. In St .Louis, Paul Dean won his nineteenth game as the Cardinals defeated the Reds to gain sole possession of first place with only Sunday's game left. When Sunday's games were over, some of the Cardinals, during their pennant celebration, shouted that Brooklyn was still in the league. With improved weather, 45,000 fans had filled the Polo Grounds to capacity. In the first inning, the Giants opened up a four run lead which was transformed to a 5-3 lead as the Brooklyns came to bat in the eighth inning. They scored twice to tie the game. Almost simultaneously, the Polo Grounds scoreboard operator posted a big "3" in the Cardinals fourth inning, giving the team from St. Louis a 5-0 lead behind Dizzy Dean, who was going for this thirtieth win of the season.

The game in New York remained 5-5 when Brooklyn came to bat in the tenth inning of the last game of the season for both teams. Sam Leslie singled, Tony Cuccinello doubled him to third, and Bill Terry brought in Carl Hubbell to face Brooklyn relief pitcher Johnny Babich. Hubbell struck out Babich and then intentionally passed third baseman Johnny Stripp to load the bases with one out, bringing up catcher Al Lopez, who many years later, as the Indians manager in 1954, would break Casey Stengel's streak of winning five consecutive pennants. But this is then and that was yet to be. Hubbell got Lopez to hit a ground ball to Giants' shortstop Blondie Ryan but the usually reliable Ryan bobbled the ball, Brooklyn went ahead, scored two more runs, and the Cardinals won the pennant.

References:

Drebinger, John. "Ottmen Win, 10-4, With 6 Home Runs; Giants Beat Vic Lombardi of Dodgers for First Time Before 38,736 Fans; Rigney, Thomson Heroes; Each Drives Two 4-Baggers; Robinson Also Connects." New York Times 19 April 1947:18.

Sheehan, Joseph M. "Jorgensen's 3 Hits Mark 12-6 Triumph; Dodger Rookie Bats in 6 Runs With Homer and 2 Doubles Against the Braves." New York Times 18 April 1947:28.

Friend, Harold. "They Sure Were Still in the League." http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/baseball/116291

Popik, Barry. "Is Brooklyn Still in the League?"

An Unspectacular Debut

2007-04-17T11:47:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

April 14, 1947

The New York Times reported today that St. Louis gambler James J. Carroll, the self proclaimed "Betting Commissioner," has made the defending World Champion St. Louis Cardinals 3-5 favorites to win the National League pennant. For the uninitiated, the Times explained that to win $3, one must put up $5. Brooklyn's Dodgers were listed at 3-1, while the Giants were the longest shot to win at 30-1. In the junior circuit, Carroll had the defending champion Red Sox at 3-4 and the Yankees, like the Dodgers, at 3-1.

April 15, 1947

Acting manager Clyde Sukeforth will lead the Brooklyn Dodgers against Johnny Sain and the Boston Braves as the Dodgers open the season without suspended manager Leo Durocher. A crowd of about 34,000 is expected to see the first of 22 games between the two teams predicted to give the defending World Champion Cardinals the greatest challenge. Brooklyn will send lefty Joe Hatten to the mound. A highlight of the game will be the debut of 28 year old rookie Jackie Robinson, who will play first base. Brooklyn's batting order will have Eddie Stanky leading off and playing second base, Jackie Robinson batting second and playing first base, the often injured Pete Reiser will hit third and play center field, and Dixie Walker, who won the 1944 batting title, will bat clean up and play right field. Left fielder Gene Hermanski will bat fifth and play left field, Bruce Edwards, the catcher, will bat sixth, Cookie Lavagetto will be at third base and bat seventh, shortstop PeeWee Reese will bat eighth, and pitcher Hatten will bat ninth. Brooklyn hit 55 home runs in 1946.

April 15, 1947

An opening day throng of 26,623 fans saw interim Brooklyn manager Clyde Sukeforth use eighteen players as the Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3. Starters Johnny Sain and Joe Hatten matched zeros for the first three innings, and then, in the home half of the fourth, Pete Reiser led off for Brooklyn with a walk. Sukeforth ordered the hit and run, but all Dixie Walker could manage was a ground out, moving Reiser to second. Gene Hermanski followed with an infield single, advancing Reiser to third. Bruce Edwards knocked in Reiser with a ground out to give the Brooks a 1-0 lead, but the Braves tied the game in the fifth on two singles and two sacrifices. Yes, it was a different game.

Boston took the lead with a two run sixth inning, but Brooklyn got one run back in their half of the inning and then took the lead for good in the seventh. Eddie Stanky led off the inning with a walk. Rookie Jackie Robinson then bunted toward first base. Boston rookie first baseman Earl Torgeson, a fine defensive player, fielded the bunt and, possibly intimidated by Robinson's speed, fired the ball wildly into Robinson's shoulder. The ball caromed into right field, allowing Stanky to get to third and Robinson to wind up at second with the potential lead run. Pete Reiser took advantage of the situation when he blistered a line drive off the right field wall, just inside the foul pole, for a two run double that was the game winner. Jackie Robinson went hitless in three at bats but was credited with a sacrifice on his bunt and he handled eleven chances flawlessly at first base.

April 16, 1947

Jackie Robinson's debut yesterday was uneventful. His bunt in the seventh inning helped Brooklyn overcome Boston's lead, but his dribbler through the box in the fifth inning was turned into a spectacular double play. Robinson told reporters after the game that "I was nervous in the first play of my first game at Ebbets Field, but nothing has bothered me since."

Jackie Robinson did not get a hit in his first game as a Brooklyn Dodger, but he showed why he is a force to be reckoned with. In the seventh inning, his speed forced the opposition to make a key error that set up the winning run. Robinson bunted in an attempt to move the game tying run, in the person of Eddie Stanky, into scoring position at second base. If Braves' first sacker Earl Torgeson had thrown out Robinson instead of making a poor throw that hit Robinson's forearm and ricocheted into right field, Brooklyn would have only had a runner on second and one out, instead of runners on second and third with no outs. Great players win games in different ways. Jackie Robinson can beat the other team with his bat, with his arm, with his legs, and with his head.

References:

"It's the Ticker, Doc." http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,805718,00.html

"Cards, Red Sox Favored; Dodgers, Yankees, Tigers All 3-1 in Baseball Betting Odds." New York Times 15 April 1947:31

Daley, Arthur. "Opening Day at Ebbets Field." New York Times 16 April 1947: 32.

Effratt, Louis. "Chandler to Hurl for Harris' Crew; 50,000 Fans Expected to See Right Hander in Inaugural Against the Mackmen; Hatten Choice of Brooks; Southpaw Slated as Rival of Boston's John Sain; Giants Open in Philadelphia. New York Times 15 April 1947: 31.

McGowen, Roscoe. "Double by Reiser Beats Boston, 5-3; Dodger Star Bats in Two Runs, Scores One in Seventh Inning of Ebbets Field Opener." New York Times 16 April 1947: 32.

The Signing

2007-04-15T12:29:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

April 11, 1947

The New York Times headline on April 11, 1947 was similar to baseball headlines fans had read hundreds of time. "Royals' Star Signs With Brooks Today." The Montreal Royals were the Brooklyn Dodgers' top minor league team and the story under the headline revealed that the Dodgers had purchased the contract of the Royals' second baseman, a player named Jackie Robinson. Brooklyn and the New York Yankees were ending the exhibition season with a three game series at Ebbets Field, and Robinson would make his debut against Brooklyn's Bronx rivals.

Jack Robinson had been a star in baseball, football, and track at the University of California at Los Angeles. After graduation, Robinson served in the armed services, entering as a private and leaving as a lieutenant. He played second base for the Montreal Royals of the International League in 1946, winning the batting title with a .349 average. When questioned what position Robinson would play for Brooklyn, general manager Branch Rickey replied that decision would be made by the new Brooklyn manager. The problem, albeit a good problem, was that Brooklyn was set at second base with Eddie Stanky, which meant that Robinson might play first base.

April 12, 1947

In his Brooklyn Dodgers' debut, Jackie Robinson went hitless in three official at bats but still managed to drive in 3 runs and handle 15 chances flawlessly at first base as Brooklyn beat the Yankees, 14-6, scoring 11 runs in the fifth inning. Robinson wore number 42.

April 13, 1947

With the Yankees leading Brooklyn 2-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Jackie Robinson came to the plate with runners on first and second and one out to face the Yankees' Super Chief, Allie Reynolds. Robinson had flied out to deep center field in his first at bat. Reynolds, working deliberately, came to the stretch, checked the runners, and delivered. Robinson swung at hit a hard ground ball between third baseman Billy Johnson and shortstop Phil Rizzuto into left field for a base hit. Pete Reiser, the runner on second, raced around third and scored Brooklyn's first and only run. Jackie Robinson had his first hit as a Brooklyn Dodger.

April 14, 1947

The Yankees beat Brooklyn 10-9 in the final game of the 1947 exhibition season for both teams. Jackie Robinson, who had a single and drove home 2 runs, came to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with 2 outs and Clyde King at second base, representing the potential tying run. Yankees' right hander Randy Gumpert retired Robinson on a foul pop up that catcher Aaron Robinson snared to end the game.

The Brooklyn Dodgers started the 1947 season without a manager. Leo Durocher, who became the Brooklyn manager in 1939, was suspended by commissioner Happy Chandler for allegedly consorting with gamblers, bookmakers, and individuals with "mob" connections. Chandler discovered that Durocher and actor George Raft may have run a crooked craps game in which a player lost a large sum of money. The player was never named, but in 2002, Eldon Auker, who had been a Detroit Tigers' pitcher, wrote that the victim was former Detroit pitcher Dizzy Trout. When Durocher was suspended, it was for "the accumulation of unpleasant incidents that were detrimental to baseball."

Veteran baseball man Clyde Sukeforth took over as Brooklyn's interim manager during the exhibition season, and on April 19, general manager Branch Rickey announced that old friend Burt Shotton, a veteran of the baseball wars since 1913, would take over as Brooklyn manager. The sixty two year old Shotton was completely surprised when he received Rickey's wire asking him to fly from his Florida home to New York.

"Mr. Rickey wired me at my home in Bartow, Florida last night and told me to fly to New York for a conference. When I arrived this morning, I asked him, 'What's this all about?' Then he offered me the Dodger job and I took it. No, I haven't any contract. I'm just here. I haven't had a contract in all the years I've held jobs with Mr. Rickey as a player, manager or coach, so I didn't think it necessary to bother about one now. I won't put on a uniform -- that's part of the deal. I took it off for the last time several years ago."

The St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant in 1946 when they defeated Brooklyn in a best of three playoff series. The teams finished the season tied for first place in the eight team league, forcing the first playoff series in baseball history. Entering the 1947 season, Brooklyn had a solid team, but not one without question marks. Eddie Stanky was set at second base, Bruce Edwards was the catcher, and PeeWee Reese was the shortstop, but third base, the outfield, and especially first base presented problems. Ed Stevens, the regular first baseman, batted only .242 with 10 home runs. The Dodgers hit only 55 home runs in 1946, despite playing in what is now considered a bandbox. Jackie Robinson was given the opportunity to solve the first base problem, and did he ever.

References:

Effrat, Louis. "Royals' Star Signs With Brooks Today; International League Batting Champion Will Bid for Job in Big League Infield." The New York Times, 11 April 1947, p. 20.

Effrat, Louis. "Brooks Win, 14-6 With 11 Run Fifth; Robinson Starts At First in Dodger Debut. Jackie Fields 15 Chances Flawlessly." The New York Times, 12 April 1947, p. 12.

Effrat, Louis. "Yankees' 11 Hits Beat Dodgers, 8-1 for Series Lead; Robinson Blow Scores Reiser and Saves Losers From Ebbets Field Shut-Out." The New York Times, 13 April 1947, p. 113.

Effrat, Louis. "Bombers' 4 in 9th Down Brooks, 10-9; Yankees Take Spring Series With Dodgers, 5 Games to 3 in See-Saw Struggle." The New York Times, 14 April, 1947, p. 19.

Sheehan, Joseph M. "Shotton, 62 Year Old Veteran, Takes Over as Brooklyn Pilot; Former Manager of Phils, in Baseball Since 1913, to Direct Until Durocher's Return -- Will Be Civilian-Suit Bench Manager." The New York Times, 19 April 1947, p. 18.

"Leo Durocher." <>

Rogers, Thomas. "Leo Durocher, Fiery Ex-Manager, Dies at 86."
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The Champions Aren't Always the Greatest

2007-03-30T14:55:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

No team in baseball history had more great players than the 1928 Philadelphia Athletics. The team won 98 games, finishing in second place, 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees. Philadelphia's roster included Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Eddie Collins, Jimmy Foxx, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane, and Lefty Grove, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame. The only problem was that Cobb and Collins were 41 years old, Speaker was 40 and Foxx was only 20. Cobb batted .323 but appeared in only 95 games, Collins batted only 33 times, and Speaker appeared in 64 games, batting .267. Simmons had his usual outstanding season, batting .351, Foxx, in his first full season, hit .328, and Grove, possibly the greatest left handed pitcher of all time, won 24 games.

The team with the worst record of all time, the 1962 New York Mets, had many outstanding players, including Hall of Famer Richie Ashburn, Gil Hodges, Gus Bell, Frank Thomas, Gene Woodling, and Roger Craig. The problem was that all but Craig had seen better days, and despite his ability, Craig managed to lose 24 games that season. Having great players is great, but timing is everything. The 1928 Athletics and the 1962 Mets had a few great players who were past their prime, a situation that might good at the box office but one that is not good on the field. Championship teams need balance and having a few great players or formerly great players does not guarantee a winning team.

Some consider the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers the best team ever to lose the World Series. Gil Hodges was at first, Rookie of the Year Jim "Junior" Gilliam took over for Jackie Robinson at second, Pee Wee Reese was at shortstop, Billy Cox was the third baseman, Roy Campanella caught, and the outfield had Robinson in left, Duke Snider in center, and Carl Furillo in right. Robinson, Reese, Snider, and Campanella are in the Hall of Fame, but Brooklyn's problem was a lack of pitching. The team had a 4.10 ERA, which modern fans might consider decent, but in 1953, that was not very good. Carl Erskine was the only starting pitcher with an ERA under 4.00, as he won 20, lost 6, and pitched to a 3.54 ERA. In the World Series against the Yankees, Billy Martin punished Brooklyn pitching for 12 hits in 24 at bats as the Yankees took the Series in six games.

The 1998 Yankees won 114 regular season games and another 11 in October. Among the regulars, the only Hall of Famer will be Derek Jeter. Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, and Jorge Posada were fine players, but none is quite of Hall of Fame calibre, and neither was Tim Raines, who appeared in 109 games. Closer Mariano Rivera will be a Hall of Famer, but no other pitcher on that staff will make it. Remarkably, both David Wells (1998) and David Cone (1999) pitched perfect games in their careers, and both were fine pitchers, but neither is a Hall of Famer and that is just the point. In 1998, the Yankees had the right mixture of players, most of whom had an excellent season, to be considered one of the best teams of all time, yet only Jeter and Rivera can be considered among the all time greats.

Since their last World Championship in 2000, future Hall of Famers Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, and Gary Sheffield, as well as outstanding stars Jason Giambi, Alfonso Soriano, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, Mike Mussina, and even the once highest paid pitcher ever, Kevin Brown have belonged to the Yankees, but the World Championship has not. It takes more than Hall of Famers and great stars to win a championship.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

No Comparison

2007-03-27T11:09:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

We all love to do it, we argue about it all the time, and yet, it is meaningless. We try to compare teams from different eras. The 1975 Cincinnati Reds, the Big Red Machine, are one of the great all time teams. The batting order included Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, and Pete Rose (whoops). The team won 108 games while losing only 54. The offense scored 840 runs, but hit only 124 home runs, led by Bench's 28. George Foster hit 23, and Morgan hit 20. Bench had 110 RBIs and Perez had 109. The 1975 Reds batted .271 and slugged .401.

Now let's go to a modern team, the 2004 Philadelphia Phillies. The batting order included Jim Thome, Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell and Mike Lieberthal. The Phillies won 86 games while losing 76. The offense scored 840 runs, hit 215 home runs, led by Thome's 42. Abreu hit 30 and Pat Burrell hit 24. Thome and Abreu each had 105 RBIs. The 2004 Phillies batted .267 and slugged .443. The numbers are remarkably similar, but the 2004 Phillies hit more home runs and out slugged the Big Red Machine, while scoring the same number of runs. Why aren't the 2004 Phillies ranked as one of the great all time offensive teams? Because they weren't.

In 1975, National League teams averaged 4.13 runs a game. In 2004, they averaged 4.64 runs a game. In 1975, National League teams averaged 103 home runs with a .369 slugging average. In 2004, they averaged 178 home runs with a .423 slugging average. The 1975 Reds exceeded the league average in all offensive categories. The 2004 Phillies didn't even lead their league in runs scored, home runs, or slugging average. Today's parks are smaller, the strike zone is smaller, and the ball is livelier.

Just compare the lineups of the 1975 Reds and the 2004 Phillies. Leading off, Pete Rose v. Marlon Byrd. Rose was just a little better.

Batting second, Joe Morgan v. Placido Polanco. You pick.

In the third spot, Johnny Bench v. Bobby Abreu. Close, but Bench was a pretty dangerous hitter.

Batting cleanup, Tony Perez v. Jim Thome. Interestingly, the pick here is Thome.

Batting fifth, George Foster v. Pat Burrell. It's not even a contest.

The sixth position pitted Dave Conception against David Bell. Neither was a strong hitter, but Conception could do more with the bat.

Seventh was Ken Griffey v. Mike Lieberthal. This is close when Leiberthal is healthy, but even then, Griffey was more dangerous.

Finally, batting eighth was Cesar Geronomo v. Jimmy Rollins. The edge is to Rollins. Thankfully, there is no designated hitter.

What kind of game do fans watch today when a team such as the 2004 Phillies and many other modern teams have offenses that are as good, if not better, than a team such as the 1975 Reds? The 1975 Reds' players were clearly superior to those of the 2004 Phillies, yet the Phillies more than held their own with the Reds. Returning to the opening statement, the teams cannot be compared objectively because there are too many differences between the conditions under which the Reds played in 1975 and the Phillies played in 2004. Simply put, we are living in the era of arena baseball. Hit that ball. Score that run.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1975.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/PHI/2004.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_2004.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_1975.shtml

A Simpler Time

2007-03-26T17:09:00.000-04:00

by Harold Friend

It was a simpler time and it was an anomaly. There were 48 contiguous states, Chevrolet, Ford, and Chrysler were the automotive industries' "Big Three," television stations broadcast "over the air," television screens were rarely larger than 12 inches, and AM radio was dominant. Phonographs played records that rotated at 78 RPM and needed a new needle after a few plays. Children started school at the age of about 5 and were taken to their neighborhood school by their mother, who did housework and returned three hours later to pick them up. There were six teams in the National Hockey League, ten in the National Basketball Association, and twelve in the National Football League. All three leagues were considered lightweights when compared to baseball, which had two leagues, each with eight teams.

Being a sports fan was simple. Baseball started in the middle of April and ended in early October, when football took over until Christmas. The NHL season started in early October, the NBA started about one month later, but most fans paid only casual attention to either sport. February was the most difficult month because little was going on in sports while March marked the beginning of the next sports season. Baseball was the king that had structure and stability.

Each team had 25 players, which meant that there were only 400 players to follow. The first half of the baseball season was not in competition with the NBA and NHL playoffs. It required little effort to learn every baseball team's players, and since players changed teams only if they were traded or their contracts were sold, rosters were stable. Almost every team, certainly the better ones, had players set at each position. There were almost no radical roster changes from one season to the next, with the possible exception of teams such as the Pirates, Cubs, A's, or Browns, which were constantly "rebuilding," usually with a five year plan.

The 1952 National League Champion Brooklyn Dodgers added only one player, Tommy Holmes, during the entire season. The Boston Braves only transaction during the 1952 season involved sending Willard Marshall to the Cincinnati Reds. Changes were meaningful because they would be evaluated with the passage of time. When the Braves traded shortstop Alvin Dark and second baseman Eddie Stanky to the New York Giants in 1949 for Sid Gordon, Willard Marshall, Buddy Kerr, and Red Webb, the traded players stayed with their new team for a substantial time period.

Dark and Stanky helped the Giants to the 1951 National League pennant, Marshall did little to help the Braves, but Gordon had some fine seasons in Boston. Player trades created excitement which led to discussions that would be resurrected each season. In June, 1954, the Indians traded pitcher Bob Chakales to the Orioles for first outfielder-first baseman Vic Wertz. It was a steal for the Indians and a trade that created much discussion. When Willie Mays made his historic World Series catch off Wertz' drive a few months later, most fans knew how Wertz had become a Cleveland Indian.

No major league team was farther west than St. Louis, and four cities -- Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis -- had a team in each league, but New York topped them all with the Dodgers and Giants in the senior circuit and the Yankees in the junior circuit. Almost 20 percent of the major leaguers played in New York.

The regular season was 154 games long and it meant something. Each team played the other teams in its league 11 times at home and 11 times away. There were pennant races. The team with the league's best record won the pennant. Second place means second best. The only time a playoff occurred was when two teams finished the season with identical records. The top four teams in each league were "first division" teams that shared in the World Series money. Both leagues had the same rules. Rivalries were real since five cities had at least one team in each league. Teams had one set of broadcasters who usually worked both radio and television. In New York, Mel Allen WAS the Yankees, Red Barber WAS Brooklyn, and Russ Hodges WAS the Giants. The World Series broadcasters usually came from the pennant winning teams.

The stability allowed fans to "debate" the merits of their team's players with the assurance that if they lost the "debate," there would be another one when the season ended. The "hot stove" league lasted the entire off season, when besides talking, fans read Baseball Digest, The Sporting News, Sport Magazine, Street & Smith's Baseball Annual, and Who's Who in Baseball. The Yankees' first baseman was Joe Collins, Brooklyn's first baseman was Gil Hodges, and Whitey Lockman played first base for the Giants. It was no contest. Hodges was clearly the best, but it wasn't that simple because there was always the World Series. From 1947-1956, the Yankees played Brooklyn in the World Series six times and they played the Giants once. Hodges was the best New York first baseman, but Collins and Lockman were forces to be reckoned with in the Series. The best player didn't always have the best World Series.

When a veteran lost his job to a youngster, it was a noteworthy event. Gil Hodges played first for Brooklyn until they were no longer the Brooklyn Dodgers. When the Giants needed outfield help after sweeping the 1954 World Series, they brought up youngster Gail Harris and moved Whitey Lockman back to the outfield. Yankees' manager Casey Stengel platooned players, a strategy he learned from John McGraw. In 1954, young right handed hitter Bill Skowron shared first base with lefties Joe Collins and Eddie Robinson. It was Brooklyn's Carl Furillo against the Yankees' Hank Bauer, Brooklyn's Roy Campanella against the Yankees' Yogi Berra, Brooklyn's PeeWee Reese against the Giants' Alvin Dark and the Yankees' Phil Rizzuto, and of course, the Duke of Flatbush against Willie and Mickey. But the most vehement arguments involved Stan Musial against Ted Williams, both of whom were acknowledged, at the time, to be the two best players in the game.

Ty Cobb was considered the game's greatest player, with Babe Ruth next in line. Cobb had a .367 lifetime batting average, which was later corrected to .366. Ruth's was "only" .342. Ruth hit home runs, but he struck out too much and didn't steal bases. Cobb didn't strike out much and he did steal bases. As the years have passed and power has become deified, Ruth is now considered better than Cobb by most, but what is interesting is that neither has played a game since Cobb was considered better than Ruth.

Ted Williams and Stan Musial were the heir apparent to Cobb and Ruth. It was a given, and when Mantle and Mays arrived in 1951, many predicted that they would succeed Williams and Musial as the best players in their league. Those predictions turned out to be true. Of course, Henry Aaron and Roberto Clemente were pretty good.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

I Just Discovered: March 3, 2007

2007-03-03T11:08:00.001-05:00

You explain it. The DH rule's first season was 1973. The baseball strike occurred in 1994, the year no one won the World Series.

When one compares the RUNS PER GAME scored by AL teams from 1994-2006 with the RUNS PER GAME scored by AL teams from 1973-1993, teams from 1994-2006 outscored teams from 1973-1993, and the difference was statistically significant at the .01 level (t=3.01).

This means that the difference in RUNS PER GAME was NOT due to chance. You explain it.

YEAR R/G
1973 4.28
1974 4.10
1975 4.30
1976 4.01
1977 4.53
1978 4.20
1979 4.67
1980 4.61
1981 4.07
1982 4.48
1983 4.48
1984 4.42
1985 4.56
1986 4.61
1987 4.90
1988 4.36
1989 4.29
1990 4.30
1991 4.49
1992 4.32
1993 4.71

AVERAGE RUNS PER GAME = 4.41

1994 5.23
1995 5.06
1996 5.39
1997 4.93
1998 5.01
1999 5.18
2000 5.30
2001 4.86
2002 4.81
2003 4.86
2004 5.01
2005 4.76
2006 4.97

AVERAGE RUNS PER GAME = 5.03

I Just Discovered: March 3, 2007

2007-03-03T11:08:00.000-05:00

I Almost Forgot -- March 2, 2007

2007-03-02T15:29:00.000-05:00

by Harold Friend

I almost forgot that the Cubs hold the National League record for the most games won by a team in a season -- 116 wins in 1906, but they didn't win the World Series.

I almost forgot that the Mariners hold the American League record for the most games won by a team in a season -- 116 wins in 2001, but they didn't win the World Series.

The regular season was more important in 1906 because it gave the Cubs the opportunity to lose the World Series to the cross town White Sox, and that's just what the Cubs did. They lost the World Series.

But the Mariners never even had the chance to lose the World Series to Arizona because they lost in the playoffs to the Yankees. The team that won 116 regular season games didn't win the pennant. Modern baseball is a wonderful game, but that has nothing to do with the format that produces pennant winners.

I Almost Forgot -- March 1, 2007

2007-03-01T12:11:00.000-05:00

by Harold Friend

I almost forgot that the New York Yankees and the Oakland A's are the only teams that have won at least three consecutive World Championships. The 1936-1938 Yankees were the first team to win the World Series three consecutive times, and they extended the streak to four in 1939.

The 1949-1953 Yankees won five consecutive World Championships to set the all time record, and the 1998-2000 Yankees won three consecutive titles.

From 1972-1974, the Oakland A's won three consecutive World Championships.

The first team to win three consecutive PENNANTS were the 1906-1908 Chicago Cubs, but they lost the first of the three World Series to the hitless wonder Chicago White Sox in 1906 before beating the Detroit Tigers the next two years. The Cubs' 1908 World Championship will be 100 years old at the end of this season.

The Best Defensive First Baseman: Hal Chase

2007-02-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

by Harold Friend

Hal Chase was the greatest defensive first baseman in baseball history. Chase played in an era when bunting for a hit was respected, when the dead ball produced many slow ground balls to the infield that required great dexterity and speed, when batters sacrificed runners to the next base, and when the home run leader's total was usually expressed with a single digit. No first baseman had quicker reflexes than Chase, who signed with Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast League in 1904. He received a rifle as his signing bonus. The Los Angeles Times reported that "Chase has a future before him that any ball player might look forward to. He plays first base as well as anyone would care to see." The Yankees had a scout on the west coast and he signed Chase to be the Greater New York American League team's first baseman (that's how the papers referred to the Highlanders or Yankees).

Hal Chase was so good defensively that Highlanders' first baseman John Ganzel paid the team $3,000 for his unconditional release. Chase revolutionized the position when he became the first infielder to anticipate when a batter would try to bunt and then charge the plate. Before Chase, the first baseman and the third baseman waited for the ball to be put into play. Chase became a favorite with the New York fans and was referred to as "Prince Hal" or "Peerless Hal." When New York manager Clark Griffith first saw Chase play first base, he said that "We'd never seen the like of him, especially on bunts. Those were the days of bunting in baseball, you know, and Chase would start creeping in toward the plate with the pitcher's wind up, daring the hitter to lay one down or knock it past him. I've seen him go all the way to the third base foul line from first, and throw batters out on bunts....He had a little old-fashioned, round mitt, not much bigger than a pancake, but he could get ground balls or pick throws out of the dirt like no other man who ever lived."

Opposing players quickly recognized Chase's defensive abilities. Babe Ruth and Walter Johnson considered Chase to be the greatest defensive first baseman they had ever seen and Ty Cobb avoided hitting the ball to the right side of the field against New York, but some players foolishly challenged Chase, who was considered a show boat and a "hot dog," which made the more conservative players resent him. When Nap Lajoie, baseball's first triple crown winner, heard how Chase charged bunts, Lajoie decided to do something about it. Napoleon was batting with a runner on second and no outs. On the pitcher's first delivery, he faked a bunt and stepped back as Chase charged toward home and almost reached the plate. On the next pitch, as Chase charged again, Lajoie swung away and deliberately hit a line drive right at him. Chase didn't flinch. He grabbed the drive in his glove and fired to second for a double play.

Washington Senator outfielder Clyde Milan, who was fast, who bunted, and who averaged 40 stolen bases a season, said that "I saw Chase come in to break up a squeeze play, field the bunt, tag the man coming into the plate, and double up the batter with a throw to the second baseman covering first, all in one motion. You couldn't cross Chase by hitting the ball by him as he charged in. He'd snatch the ball regardless of how hard it was hit provided it was within his reach. The ball appeared to follow his glove. I could get down to first base with a fair degree of speed. I could drag (bunt) as good as anybody but I couldn't drag the ball against Chase. Many a time I was within two or three strides of the bag, positive I had him beaten, but he never failed to both pop up out of somewhere and tag me out."

Hal Chase was not a nice man. In 1910, George Stallings became the Highlanders' manager, an appointment that Chase resented because he wanted for himself. There were accusations that Chase was throwing games in retaliation, but there was an "investigation" that "cleared the air." Chase insisted that he never bet against his own team (sound familiar?), but many questioned that claim. Three years later, Frank Chance of Tinkers to Evers to Chance fame with the Cubs, became the Highlanders' manager. Chance, the "peerless leader," suspected Chase of throwing games.

Baseball historian Fred Lieb wrote that "His neatest trick (I think), was to arrive at first base for a throw from another infielder just a split second too late. A third baseman, for example, must throw to the bag, whether the first baseman is there or not. Chase, playing far off the bag, probably could have gotten there in time, with his speed. But if he wanted to let one get away...maybe if he moved just a bit lazily toward first for a step or two? He would then speed up and seem to be trying hard. But it would be difficult, and it would take a suspicious minded person like Chance, to charge him with anything but an error if a well thrown peg slipped off the end of his glove."

One can make legal or moral judgments. One can claim that Hal Chase was dishonest. One can claim that Hal Chase hurt the game. But one cannot claim that he was not the greatest defensive first baseman to have ever played the game.

References:
Istoric, Ray. "The Hal Chase Place." Vintagecardboard.com.

"Hal Chase." Wikipedia.org.

That Time Always Arrives

2007-02-16T15:04:00.000-05:00

Harold Friend

The Party's Over, it's time to call it a day.
They've burst your pretty balloon and taken the moon away.

Now you must wake up, all dreams must end.
Take off your make up, The Party's Over.
It's all over, my friend.

Jule Styne

St. Petersburg, Fla., Feb. 23 -- The Yankees today sold 35 year old right hander Vic Raschi, the wheelhouse of their pitching staff since 1947, to the St. Louis Cardinals. Raschi helped the Yankees set the all time record of winning five straight world championships from 1949-1953, and along with Allie Reynolds and Eddie Lopat, formed the nucleus of a solid pitching staff. In announcing the transaction, Yankees' general manager George Weiss sounded a warning to others who "have become independently wealthy men through the winning of five pennants and world championships and have become complacent"

Raschi has been a holdout who was upset at the Yankees' offer that was cut from last season's $40,000 contract. After winning 21 games in three consecutive seasons, Raschi won 16 in 1952 and dropped to 13 wins last season. Weiss was upset that Raschi's failure to communicate with the club "revealed a bad attitude which certain other players are also showing. It is an attitude of complacency which is bad because it kills hustle. These players seem to forget that while winning five championships in a row, the club also has had something to do with those victories. Our turnover in those five years has been nearly eighty percent. That shows the organization also has done something in keeping up a constant flow of new players to keep the victory string going." With Raschi's departure, only Phil Rizzuto, Allie Reynolds, and Yogi Berra remain from the 1947 championship team, and only those three and Eddie Lopat, Jerry Coleman, Gene Woodling, and Charlie Silvera remain from the 1949 team that started the championship run. Yankees' manager Casey Stengel was upset with losing Raschi.

Hillside, N.J., August 26, 1956 (AP) -- Phil Rizzuto, a New York Yankees shortstop since 1941, said that his release came as a shock. The Yankees released the thirty eight year old Rizzuto to open a roster spot for outfielder Enos Slaughter. The last of the pre-war Yankees, Rizzuto and general manager George Weiss had spoken last week about the possibility of the diminutive shortstop becoming a Yankees' coach. Phil said that Weiss told him that he would be put back on the team on September 1, when the rosters are expanded. When asked if he would consider playing for team other than the Yankees, Rizzuto told reporters that "I believe that if I were with any other team, I would have still been a regular. I would have to look the offer over. If it was the right offer, I would consider it." RIzzuto received the news on Old Timers Day.

Hillside, N.J., August 29, 1956 (AP) -- Former Yankees' shortstop Phil Rizzuto has declined St. Louis Cardinals' general manager Frank Lane's offer to have him become a member of the Cardinals for the team's remaining twenty nine games. Rizzuto said that while Lane's offer was attractive, he has had a number of offers to become a broadcaster and will probably take a broadcasting position.

New York, December 21, 1988 -- The New York Yankees, as expected, did not offer Ron Guidry a contract, essentially ending the pitcher's tenure with the team. Guidry hopes that the Yankees offer him an invitation to spring training that would give him the opportunity to win a roster spot. Guidry's agent, Reggie Ringuet, told reporters that he hoped the club would come up with an offer that would allow the left hander to finish his career as a Yankee. Ringuet said that "He's been with them for seventeen years, and he'd like to finish his career there. I've got to believe that George Steinbrenner can see fit that to let that happen." A Yankees' spokesman was quoted as saying that finding a place for Guidry, either as a starter or reliever, would be difficult.

February 1, 2007 -- The Yankees have invited Bernie Williams to spring training as a non-guaranteed, non-roster player. The thirty eight year old Williams was hurt by the Yankees' decision not to offer him a contract for the 2007 season. When outfielders Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield suffered severe injuries last season, Williams appeared in 131 games, batting .281 with 29 doubles and 12 home runs. Only Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, and Andy Pettitte remain among those who played on the 1996 World Championship team, although Pettitte left for a while after 2003 and has now returned.

February 15, 2007 (AP) -- Yankees' manager Joe Torre spoke to Bernie Williams today and told the beleaguered outfielder to "come to spring training." Torre said that Williams would have a real chance of earning a roster spot. The Yankees seemingly don't have room for Williams since the outfield is set with Bobby Abreau, Johnny Damon, and Hideki Matsui, with young switch hitting Melky Cabrera as the fourth outfielder. Jason Giambi will be the designated hitter, Doug Mientkiewicz will play first base, and either Andy Phillips or Josh Phelps will platoon with Mientkiewicz against lefties.

Bernie Williams is facing what all old baseball players face. He has had an outstanding career, but he no longer is the same player he was. The Yankees have treated Bernie decently, and certainly better than they treated some of their other great players, such as Vic Raschi, Phil Rizzuto, and Ron Guidry when they reached the point at which Bernie finds himself. The primary object is to win, and despite the fact that it appears to some that winning is secondary to money, no one can question that Yankees' management wants to win. Bernie has been offered the opportunity to earn a job. If he is still good enough, he will win it. It is wrong to expect any special favors based on past performance. Like it or not, the reality is, "What have you done for me lately?"

References:

Drebinger, John. “Transfer of Star a Surprising Move; Weiss of Yankees Hits Club ‘Complacency” as Holdout Raschi Goes to Cards.” New York Times 24 February 1954: 30.

Martinez, Michael. “Guidry and Yankees Part for the Moment.” New York Times 21 December 1988: A30.

“Rizzuto Shocked by Release. Says Club Offered Reinstatement After Sept. 1.” New York Times 27 August 1956: 23.

“Rizzuto Refuses Offer, Declines Chance to Play Rest of Season With Cards.” New York Times 30 August 1956: 28.

http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/bellsareringing/thepartysover.htm

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2766937

They Were Great But Not Anymore

2007-02-11T12:59:00.000-05:00

by Harold Friend

The 1961 New York Yankees are considered one of the better teams in baseball history. The team hit a then-record 240 home runs, led by Roger Maris' 61 and Mickey Mantle's 54. Bill Skowron hit 28, Yogi Berra hit 22, and Elston Howard and Johnny Blanchard each hit 21. In today's game, the 1961 Yankees offense would be unremarkable. Mediocre teams hit almost as many home runs.

The 2006 Philadelphia Phillies hit 216 home runs, which was topped by the Braves 222 and the Reds 217. The Phillies were led by Ryan Howard, who hit 58 home runs. How many fans know that Hack Wilson held the National League single season home run record with 56 until Mark McGwire hit 70 in the magical year of 1998? When was the last time anyone heard Hack Wilson mentioned or the fact that Ryan Howard's 58 home runs would have been a new record until McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds came along? Chase Utley hit 32 home runs, Pat Burrell hit 29, and Jimmy Rollins hit 25. Utley and Rollins are the Phillies' keystone combination. Today, it is not unusual for a shortstop to hit 25 home runs or for a second baseman to hit 32. Shortstop Tony Kubek hit 8 home runs and second baseman Bobby Richardson hit 3 home runs for the 1961 Yankees.

The 2006 Phillies scored 865 runs with a team batting average of .267. The 1961 Yankees scored 827 runs with a team batting average of .263. Today's experts emphasize on base average and slugging average. The Phillies had an OBA of .347 and a SA of .447. The Yankees had an OBA of .328 and an SA of .442. As Phil Rizzuto might say, "Holy Cow! You mean that the 2006 Phillies scored more runs, had a higher batting average, a higher on base average, and a higher slugging average than the 1961 Yankees? Unbelievable! What happened to the 1961 Yankees?"

What happened is that the game is not the same game. "Arena baseball" exists today. Players go for the long ball, managers go for the big inning, and owners go for big crowds and high ticket prices. All get what they want because fans love offense. Since 1995, there have been more home runs, more strike outs, and fewer complete games than ever in baseball history. A strikeout is now considered just another out because neither a fly ball that is caught a foot in front of the fence nor a strikeout is a home run. When Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, he struck out 67 times. When Ryan Howard hit 58 home runs, he struck out 181 times or almost three times as much as Maris. The 1961 Yankees struck out 785 times. The 2006 Phillies struck out 1203 times. So what? The Phillies scored more runs.

All knowledgeable fans know that the Designated Hitter Rule makes the American League a more offense league than the National. The 2006 Yankees led the American League with 930 runs scored. They batted .285, had a .363 OBA, and a .461 SA, all much better than those of their 1961 counterparts. The 2006 Yankees struck out 1053 times. In 2006, the fourteen American League teams AVERAGED 4.97 runs a game. The 1961 Yankees averaged 5.07 runs a game.

The 1961 Yankees must be re-evaluated. Until 1995, they were one of the best offense teams ever assembled, but since then, many teams have been more effective run scoring machines. Following the 1968 season, the height of the pitching mound was lowered from 15 inches to 10 inches. So what? Pitches above a batter's belt are no longer called strikes. So what? Many experts allege that the ball is livelier. So what? Ball parks are smaller. So what? It is undeniable. The 1961 Yankees, the team that won 109 regular season games and beat the Reds in the World Series in 5 games, the team with an offense led by Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, the team that set an all time season home run record of 240, has become just another good team. Why? It's quite simple. Baseball today is an offensive sport.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_2006.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_2006.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1961.shtml

http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/tools_7.html

Take a Walk

2007-01-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

Harold Friend

It is so much fun to fool around with statistics because once we have the data, we can interpret them in so many ways. Let's talk about bases on balls. Every fan who ever swung at a bad pitch when she was a kid or even a grown up knows that good hitters swing at strikes and that walking hitters is usually not good.

The 1949 Yankees were the first of five Yankees’ teams that won the pennant and World Series each year, a feat that had never been done before and has not been accomplished since. An examination of the 1949 Yankees’ starting pitchers is fascinating. The following table lists the four pitchers who started the majority of the Yankees’ games:

Pitcher GS W L ERA IP BB SO
Raschi 37 21 10 3.34 274 2/3 138 124
Reynolds 31 17 6 4.00 213 2/3 123 105
Byrne 30 15 7 3.72 196 179 129
Lopat 30 15 10 3.26 215 1/3 69 70

TOTALS 128 68 33 899 2/3 509 428

Yankees’ starters allowed 509 walks while striking out only 428 batters. Vic Raschi, Allie Reynolds, and Tommy Byrne walked more batters than they struck out, while Eddie Lopat, struck out only one more hitter than he walked. But Raschi was 21-10, Reynolds was 17-6, Byrne was 15-7, and Lopat was 15-10. These statistics lead to the conclusion that walks have little effect on a pitcher’s won-lost record.

Okay, but today it becoming widely acknowledged that a hurler’s won-lost record involves much luck, and ERA compared to league ERA is a better measure of a pitcher’s effectiveness. Raschi (3.34), Reynolds (4.00), Byrne (3.72), and Lopat (3.26) all had respectable ERAs. Only five American League pitchers had ERA’s less than 3.00 that season. The 1949 Yankees team ERA of 3.69 was second only to the Indians’ 3.36 in a league with a 4.20 ERA.

Tommy Byrne walked an incredible 179 batters in 196 innings. That is almost one hitter per inning. He struck out only 129. Tommy Byrne walked 50 more hitters than he struck out, walked almost a hitter an inning, and yet he won 15 games, lost only 7, and had a 3.72 ERA.

Allie Reynolds was better, but not much better. He walked 123 hitters in 213 2/3 innings but struck out only 105. Allie Reynolds walked 18 more hitters that he struck out, yet he won 17 games, lost only 6, and had a 4.00 ERA, which is acceptable, but which was still below the league ERA.

Vic Raschi, the ace of the staff, walked 138 hitters in 274 2/3 innings while striking out only 124. Vic Raschi walked 14 more batters than he struck out, yet he won 21 games, lost 10, and had a 3.34 ERA.

Eddie Lopat didn’t walk many and he didn’t strike out many. In 215 1/3 innings, he walked only 69, stuck out only 70, and won 15 while losing 10 with a fine 3.26 ERA.

What can we conclude. First, walks have little effect on a pitcher’s won-lost record. Second, walks do not ruin a pitcher’s ERA. Third, walks do not lead to losses for starting pitchers. Fourth, a pitcher’s walk to strikeout ratio does not reflect his effectiveness. Finally, a pitching staff that walks more hitters than it strikes out can be successful.

More conclusions can be drawn, but the above are enough. Of course, none of the conclusions is true, but based on the data, they are valid. As Mark Twain, an American who lived a long time ago once said, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

Who Was: Bobby Avila

2007-01-24T14:44:00.000-05:00

By Harold Friend

Nineteen fifty four was different. It wasn't like 1951, or 1952, or 1953, or 1955, or 1956. No, in 1954 the Cleveland Indians, for the only time in a span of six seasons, didn't finish second to the New York Yankees. Led by one of the greatest pitching staff in baseball history, one that included Hall of Famers Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, and Bob Feller, and an adequate offense led by American League home run champion Larry Doby and American League batting champion Bobby Avila, the Indians won an American League record 111 games. The Yankees finished 8 games back. Ironically, the Yankees won more games that season than they had in any of their five consecutive World Championship seasons. Bobby Avila was a major reason the Indians won the pennant.

Roberto Francisco Avila was born in Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1924. His father was a wealthy lawyer who discouraged "Beto" from participating in sports, but Bobby was not to be denied. As a youngster, he played in the Vera Cruz State League, a Mexican winter league. In 1944, at the age of 20, Avila hit .334 with 14 triples for the Puebla Parrots. He was one of the league's stars when, in 1946, Brooklyn Dodgers' manager Leo Durocher offered him $10,000 to sign, but before a deal could be finalized, Leo was suspended from baseball and Brooklyn subsequently withdrew the offer. Bobby stayed in Mexico in 1947.

In 1948, Bobby Avila signed for $17,500 with the Cleveland Indians, He had led the Mexican League in batting and was assigned to the Baltimore Orioles for the 1948 season. Don't be confused. The Orioles were the Indians top farm club that played in the AAA International League in 1948. Bobby had a bad season, batting only .220 in 56 games before he suffered an injury that ended his season.

Since Bobby had received a substantial sum of money to sign (remember, this was 1948), he was considered a "bonus baby," which meant that the Indians were required to keep him on their roster or lose him. He appeared in 31 games for the Tribe in 1949, getting 3 hits in 14 at bats, but in 1950, the Indians' regular second baseman, Joe Gordon, was having a subpar season and Avila got much more playing time. Bobby batted .299 and the following season took over the second base job.

In 1954, he had his best year, winning the batting title with a .341 average, hitting 15 home runs, which was a substantial amount for a second baseman in the 1950s, and fielding almost flawlessly at second base. Thirteen of Avila's 15 home runs either tied the score or won the game. His grand slam against the Tigers on September won the game that clinched a tie for the pennant. What is amazing is that Bobby played half of the 1954 season with a broken thumb.

The World Series against the New York Giants was an Indians' nightmare. Giants' pitchers Johnny Antonelli, Sal Maglie, Ruben Gomez, Hoyt Wilhelm, Marv Grissom, and Don Liddle held the Tribe to nine runs as they swept the Series. Bobby Avila managed only 2 singles in 15 at bats for a .133 average, while Larry Doby had only 2 singles in 16 at bats for a .125 average. The team that won 111 regular season games didn't win a single World Series game.

Things almost returned to "normal" in 1955. The Yankees won the pennant by three games over the Indians, starting a streak of four consecutive pennants, but this streak would produce World Championships only in 1956 and 1958. Bobby Avila did not repeat his 1954 season. He batted only .272 to drop 69 points. In 1956, it got worse, as Bobby hit only .224. Following the 1958 season, he was sent to the Baltimore for the Orioles, who used to be the St. Louis Browns and were now part of the American League, for pitcher Russ Heman, who whose career consisted of pitching 20 innings in 1961.

Following a nondescript 1959 in which he played for the Orioles, Red Sox, and Braves, Bobby retired. He had a .281 lifetime average, was on the American League All-Star team three times, and is considered one of the better second baseman of the 1950s.

Bobby returned to Mexico, played for the Mexico City Tigers, hitting .336 in 1960. When he retired as a player, Bobby became a team owner in the Mexican League, then its president, and eventually the mayor of Vera Cruz. He died on October 26, 2004.

References:

"Bobby Avila." Baseball-Reference. <http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bobby_Avila>

"Bobby Avila." Baseball Page. <http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/avilabo01.php>

"Minor Leagues." <http://www.geocities.com/big_bunko/international0299.htm>

Who Was: Vic Wertz By Harold Friend

2007-01-20T16:46:00.001-05:00

On August 6, 1954, the first place Cleveland Indians had 73-32 won-lost record (.695), but despite their blistering pace, the Indians' lead over the Yankees, who were attempting to win their sixth consecutive pennant, was a razor thin 1 1/2 games. The Indians were doing it with pitching. Their five starters all were having outstanding seasons. Bob Lemon and Early Wynn would each win 23 games, Mike Garcia would win 19 and lead the league in ERA, former Tiger Art Houtteman would win 15 games, Rapid Robert Feller would go 13-3, and the bullpen duo of righty Ray Narleski and lefty Don Mossi would save what had to be saved. Pitching wins games, but pitchers need runs. Recognizing that fact, on June 1, the Indians acquired left handed hitting outfielder Victor Woodrow Wertz from the Baltimore Orioles. Although Wertz had never played first base in the majors, Indians' manager Al Lopez decided that he would be his first baseman. It was a good move.

Wertz was having a sub par season with the Birds from Baltimore, batting only .202 with 1 home run in 29 games, but Wertz was a powerful batter who was only twenty nine years old. He had hit 19 home runs the previous season for the Orioles in Memorial Stadium, which was a pitcher's park, and had four consecutive seasons (1949-1952) in which he hit 20 or more home runs. To put those numbers in perspective, in 1952, Wertz' 23 home runs were only 9 fewer than league leader Larry Doby's 32.

Vic Wertz made his major league debut in 1947 with the Detroit Tigers. He joined a team that included future Hall of Famers George Kell and Hal Newhouser, as well as standouts Hoot Evers, Birdie Tebbets, Virgil Trucks, and Dizzy Trout. Wertz saw a lot of playing time for the Tigers, who finished second that season, 12 games behind the Yankees. He hit .288, but with only 6 home runs in 102 games as the team's fourth outfielder. The following season, Wertz suffered the sophomore jinx, hitting only .248 with 7 home runs, but then his career took off, as he averaged 24 home runs a season for the next four years. One game that Wertz remembered until his dying day was the day his home run was the only Tigers' hit off Bob Lemon in a 2-1 loss on May 29, 1951.

Wertz made his Cleveland Indians' debut on June 2 as an unsuccessful pinch hitter in an 8-7 Cleveland victory against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. An interesting sidelight to the game is that Yankees' manager Casey Stengel relieved starter Allie Reynolds after eight innings, a move that was questioned because after a shaky start, Reynolds had settled down to hurl four consecutive scoreless frames. The Yankees scored seven runs in the first inning and were held hitless for the next nine as the Indians finally tied the game in the ninth and then won it in the tenth on a two out Al Smith home run.

The Indians set an American League record in 1954 by winning 111 games, one more than the 1927 Yankees. The 2001 Seattle Mariners won 116, but unlike the 1954 Indians and the 1927 Yankees, the Mariners played 162 games and lost 46 for a .716 percentage. The 1954 Indians played .721 ball, losing only 43 games, so although the Mariners won more games, the Indians won a greater percent of their games.

Wertz had a good second half of the season for the Indians, hitting .275 with 14 home runs in only 295 at bats, as the Indians ended the Yankees pennant streak at five. The Tribe, however, was not finished with New York. The Giants won the National League pennant.

The World Series opened at the Polo Grounds on September 29. Remember, teams played 154 game schedule and a playoff occurred only if there were a tie for the pennant, which explains the "early" World Series starting date. Bob Lemon started for the Indians, opposed by the Giants' Sal Maglie. It was a memorable game for Vic Wertz, but one that he would not remember fondly despite getting four hits. He might have had five, which would have made all the difference in the world.

In the top of the first, Maglie was uncharacteristically wild, missing badly with his first three deliveries and then plunking lead off hitter Al Smith in his side, bringing American League batting champ Bobby Avila to the plate. Maglie missed with his first delivery to Avila and then finally fired a strike. Bobby lined Maglie's third pitch into right field for a clean single that right fielder Don Mueller fumbled for an error, allowing Smith to race to third. With Indians on the corners and no outs, Maglie settled down to retire Larry Doby and Al Rosen on infield pop ups. There were still runners on first and third, but now with two down.

Vic Wertz was the hitter. Maglie checked the runners on first and third and delivered. Wertz hit a line drive to deep right center field, over Don Mueller's head. The ball caromed off the wall and by the time Willie Mays caught up to Wertz' drive, the Indians led, 2-0 with Wertz on third. Maglie retired Dave Philley to retire the side and although no one knew it, the Indians were finished scoring.

The Giants tied the game in the third with the type rally that used to be the way teams usually scored before the Earl Weaver approach of going for the three run home run was embraced by most modern managers. Whitey Lockman led off with a single to right against Lemon and Al Dark hit a hard ground ball past the mound, over second, into center for a base hit, moving Lockman to third. Don Mueller, whose .342 season's batting average was second only to Willie Mays' league leading .345, hit a ground ball to second. Bobby Avila got the force out on Dark for the first out as Lockman scored the first Giants' run. Lemon then walked Mays, moving Mueller to second with the potential tying run. Henry Thompson, a powerful left handed hitter, tied the game with a hard single to right, moving Mays to third. With runners on first and third with only one out, it seemed as if the Giants would go ahead, but Lemon fanned Monte Irvin and got Davey Williams on a ground out.

Lemon and Maglie exchanged zeroes as the Indians came to bat in the eighth. What an inning. Larry Doby led off with a walk against Maglie. Al Rosen followed with hard single off shortstop Al Dark's bare hand, giving the Tribe runners on first and second with no outs. Vic Wertz, who already had three hits, was the batter.

Giants' manager Leo Durocher had seen enough of Maglie. He brought in left hander Don Liddle to face Wertz. The count went to two balls and one strike. What followed is now referred to simply as "The Catch."

Liddle delivered to the left handed hitter and Wertz connected. He sent a towering drive to deep center fielder, well over the head of Willie Mays. Willie turned his back to home plate as he raced the baseball and made a magnificent over the shoulder catch to rob Wertz of at least a double, maybe a triple, and the Indians of at least one run and maybe two. Doby tagged up after the catch, moving to third, but instead of taking the lead, the Indians were still tied with runners on first and third and one out. Wertz had hit the ball well over 400 feet and all he had to show for it was moving Doby from second to third.

Durocher took out Liddle, who after the game, joked that "Hey, I got my man," and brought in the veteran Marv Grissom to face Hank Majeski, who had been announced as a pinch hitter for the switch hitting Dave Philley. When Grissom was announced, Indians' manager Al Lopez countered with left handed hitter Dale Mitchell, who would become famous as the pinch hitter who struck out against Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. This time, Mitchell walked to load the bases with Indians and one out.

Weak hitting shortstop George Strickland was the scheduled batter, but Lopez pinch hit with lefty batter Dave Pope. In one of the game's pivotal points, Grissom got Pope on a called third strike. Jim Hegan could manage only a routine fly ball and the game remained tied. Instead of being remembered as the hitter whose hit won the first game of the 1954 World Series, Vic Wertz would be remembered as the hitting the ball that led to the greatest catch in World Series history.

The Giants won in the tenth inning when pinch hitter Dusty Rhodes hit what the newspapers referred to as "a lazy pop up down the right field line" that reached the stands, barely 270 feet away, for a three run home run off Bob Lemon, who pitched the complete game.

Vic Wertz had gotten his fourth hit of the game when he led off the Indians' tenth with a double. He was taken out for a pinch runner as the Indians again failed to score with a runner on third and less than two outs. In the bottom of the inning, Rhodes hit his "blast." Vic Wertz hits a 425 shot and is retired while Dusty Rhodes hits a short fly 271 feet to right field and is a hero. As the old baseball axiom says, "It ain't how you hit 'em. It's where you hit 'em."

Vic Wertz had his best two seasons with the Indians when he hit .264 with 32 home runs in 1956 and .282 with 28 home runs in 1957. The Yankees won the pennant each of those seasons, as well as in 1955 and 1958. Now, while winning 9 pennants in 10 seasons is great, if the Indians hadn't stopped them in 1954, the Yankees would have won an incredible 10 consecutive American League pennants from 1949-1958.

On December 2, 1958, Vic Wertz was traded to Boston along with Gary Geiger for Jimmy Piersall, and in 1960, in a park not friendly to left handed pull hitters, he managed 19 home runs and 103 RBIs. It was the fifth time in his career in which he had at least 100 RBIs.

On September 8, 1961, Wertz was claimed off waivers by his first team, the Tigers, who were involved in a pennant race with the Yankees, although by September 8, the Yankees had established a commanding lead over the slumping Tigers. Vic was released by the Tigers in 1963, picked up by the Twins, and was released by the Twins on October 15, 1963. He was a powerful hitter, a good fielder, and is remembered for something that someone else accomplished.

References:

Dean, Bill. “Catching Up With Vic Wertz’s 1954 World Series Drive: Willie Mays’ Catch of Cleveland Slugger’s Deep Fly Was Outstanding Regardless of How Far the Ball Actually Traveled.” Baseball Digest. October 2005.

Drebinger, John. “Giants Win in 10th From Indians, 5-2, On Rhodes Homer; Wertz Gets 4 Hits.” New York Times 30 September 1954: 1.

Sheehan, Joseph M. “Yankees Bow to Indians in Tenth; Avila 4-Bagger Ties Score in Ninth.” New York Times 3 June 1954: 33.

“Vic Wertz.” Baseball-Reference. <http://www.baseball-reference.com/w/wertzvi01.shtml>
<http://www.retrosheet.org/>

Martin and Martin: Not a Law Firm by Harold Friend

2007-01-08T11:35:00.000-05:00

Baseball players today are fat cats. They are entertainers who make huge amounts of money and switch teams more often than runway models change outfits. The days of Brooklyn's Jackie Robinson and Carl Furillo fighting New York's Sal Maglie and Leo Durocher are long since gone, never again to return. But there was a time when a player's desire to win was as important as his skills, and in some cases, even more important. Fierce, intense desire to win could overcome a lack of greatness, which was never illustrated better than by two players named Martin, neither of whom came close to being among the all time greats.

Johnny "Pepper" Martin led the 1931 Cardinals to the World Championship when he hit .500, with 12 hits in 24 at bats, including 4 doubles, 1 home run, and 5 stolen bases in 6 attempts in the World Series against the highly favored Athletics. Alfred Manuel "Billy" Martin led the 1953 Yankees to the World Championship when he, like Pepper Martin, hit .500 with 12 hits in 24 at bats against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Billy had 2 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run and 1 stolen base in three attempts against one of the great Brooklyn teams.

Both Martins were intense individuals who asked no quarter and gave none. Pepper was the "Wild Horse of the Osage." He was a member of not only the 1931 World Champions, but was also an integral part of the 1934 "Gashouse Gang" Cardinals, whom he also helped to win the World Series.

Pepper Martin spent six season in the minor leagues before he joined the Cardinals in 1931, playing centerfield and third base barely adequately. His fielding average as an outfielder was a mediocre .973, while as a third baseman, he was known for knocking down hard hit balls, pouncing on them, and then throwing out the opposing player. He fielded only .927, which means that there many times that the batter who hit a ground ball to Martin reached first base.

Pepper had a fine .298 lifetime batting average and led the National League in stolen bases each of three seasons. His best batting average was .316 in 1933, although he never hit more than 11 home runs in a season, but statistics don't reveal his value. Pepper Martin always hustled, played with a passion that is rarely seen today, and was one of the most aggressive players ever. In "blow out" games, if an opposition player bunted, which was considered a bush league play in such games, Martin would field the ball and instead of throwing to first, he took vengeance by throwing at the batter running to first.

Red Smith, considered the greatest of all baseball writers, was a young reporter covering the Cardinals when Martin joined the Cardinals. Few knew baseball better than Smith and none could communicate his knowledge more effectively. When Pepper Martin died in 1965, Smith wrote,

" Pepper Martin wasn't the greatest hitter of all time, or the greatest fielder or thrower or base runner, but he did everything well and no more fiery competitor ever lived in any sport. In the highly colored judgment of one who was a young sports writer at the time covering the Cardinals and all wrapped up in the team's fortunes, Pepper was, for at least one ten-day span in his life, the most exciting ballplayer of human history. That was in the 1931 World Series when he was a living flame laying waste to what may have been Connie Mack's greatest team."

After retiring, Pepper Martin managed in the minors, where he was a serious about the game managing as he had been playing, sometimes unwisely. There was an infamous incident when an umpire's call went against Martin's team, which did not especially please the "Wild Horse of the Osage." Martin came out of the dugout to protest. Before he knew what was happening, the umpire realized that Martin's hands were around his throat. A potentially horrible situation was quickly defused, but when Martin appeared before the league president, he was asked, "Pepper, when you had your hands on that man's throat, what could you have been thinking?" Martin, in all seriousness, said, "I was thinking I'd choke him to death."

Billy Martin was no different. He had many altercations, most notably with catcher Clint Courtney and Reggie Jackson. Courtney had been with Yankees as a youngster but another young catcher named Yogi Berra made Courtney expendable. Nicknamed "Scrap Iron," Clinton Dawson Courtney had his first fight with Billy Martin in 1952, when he spiked Martin, who was covering second base. Billy retaliated by smashing "Scrap Iron" between the eyes and a real fight developed. Courtney was fined $100 and suspended for three days.

Clint Courtney was the first catcher to wear glasses on the field and was as pugnacious a competitor as Martin. In a game at St. Louis in 1953 between the Browns and Yankees, Courtney slid hard into Yankees' shortstop Phil Rizzuto as he tried to stretch a single into a double. Billy Martin defended little Phil by attacking Courtney. A major brawl ensued that almost caused a riot among not only the players, but among the fans as well. The next day the players were fined a then record $850.

In 1977, Billy Martin was the Yankees manager. On July 18, in a nationally televised game from Fenway Park, the Yankees were trailing the Red Sox by three runs with the Sox batting in the sixth inning. Jim Rice, a great hitter who belongs in the Hall of Fame, hit a checked swing looper to the opposite field that Reggie Jackson failed to charge, allowing the ball to fall safely for a hit. To exacerbate the situation, Reggie casually picked up the ball and tossed it towards the mound as Rice hustled into second base. Billy Martin was livid. Not hustling was the one thing, above all else, that Billy Martin would not accept.

Martin immediately sent Paul Blair to right field, who told Reggie that he was the new Yankees' right fielder. The television cameras followed Jackson running off the field into the Yankees' dugout. As he entered the dugout, the fuming Jackson screamed at Martin to explain what was going on. Billy, in no uncertain terms, told Reggie that he hadn't hustled. When you play for Billy Martin, you hustle.

Jackson screamed that Martin must have been crazy to embarrass him in front of 50 million people and that he was not a man. Reggie told Martin never to embarrass him ever again, at which point Billy lunged at Reggie with fire in his eyes and his fists raised high, only to be restrained by coaches Yogi Berra and Elston Howard.

In 2007, Pepper Martin and Billy Martin would not be allowed to play the game the way they did. They were not entertainers. They did not go to the ballpark to put on a show to amuse the fans. They went to the ballpark to help win the game, to support their teammates, and to perform to the best of their ability. When they won, they didn't strut around like roosters pursuing hens in heat. And when they lost, they were silent. They were silent because, as Vince Lombardi said, "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser."

References:
Adler, Michael. “Billy & Reggie's Brouhaha." The Baseball Library. 30 December 2006.
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/features/flashbacks/06_18_1977.stm

"Courtney, Clint." The Baseball Library. 28 December 2006. http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/C/Courtney_Clint.stm

"Clint Courtney." Wikipedia. 28 December 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clint_Courtney

Cozzi, Sandro. "Rumble in St.Louis." The Baseball Library. 8 January 2007. http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/features/flashbacks/04_28_1953.stm

"Pepper Martin" Baseball-Reference. 27 December 2006. http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/martipe01.shtml

"Pepper Martin." The Baseball Library. 27 December 2006. http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/M/Martin_Pepper.stm

Whitman, Alden. "Clint Courtney, Fiery Catcher in Major Leagues, Dead at 48." The Dead Ball Era. 28 December 2006.http://www.thedeadballera.com/Obits/Courtney.Clint.Obit.html

Johnson to New York?

2006-12-28T19:02:00.000-05:00

Harold Friend

The general manager disgustedly put his cell phone back into its carrying case. Renown for his decisiveness, he was not used to the current situation. The highest rated free agent pitcher would not be among his trophies because he was hamstrung by a maximum monetary offer that was $45 million less than what Barry Zito received from the Giants. He was now forced to do something that was anathema. He would have to speak to his cross town rival in an attempt to acquire the left handed pitcher his team needed.

Forty three year old Randy Johnson is available. So is his huge salary. The general manager realized that when the 2007 season started, Tom Glavine would be 41, Pedro Martinez would be 35, and Orlando Hernandez would be at least 37, which might be taking a few years away from El Duque.

Still, he has to do something. Jason Schmidt, Jeff Suppan, Andy Pettitte, Ted Lilly, Greg Maddux, and even Jeff Weaver are all off the board. Mark Mulder might be a better choice, but Johnson would put more fans in the seats, and isn't that what it's about?

Johnson wants to leave New York and is willing to waive his no trade clause to return to the west coast or Arizona. Very few individuals ever confused Flushing or Corona with Phoenix or San Diego, but the general manager is almost as desperate to acquire Johnson as his Bronx counterpart is to unload him, which makes the deal logical. If he could convince his rivals to pay some of Johnson's salary, it would free up some money he could use to convince the surly left hander to remain in New York, and isn't that what it's all about?

New York would demand only prospects for Johnson, which should not be a difficult requirement for New York’s other team to meet. A problem that could appear recently surfaced when New York exercised its option on Gary Sheffield in order to trade him for prospects, but more importantly, to prevent Sheffield from becoming a free agent and signing with a team that would be objectionable to New York---such as a team from Boston or New York.

Johnson is questionable at best, despite winning 17 games and pitching more than 200 innings in each of his two seasons, but he struck out 383 hitters in those two seasons, a total that interestingly was achieved by former Met Nolan Ryan in one season, 1973. Johnson is coming off back surgery, but he is a great competitor and would be joining a rotation the includes Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, El Duque, and --- Randy Johnson. The New York tabloids would go wild, the fans would go crazy, talk radio would never let go of the story, the fans would argue, and New York's other team would get priceless publicity.

It is a fascinating situation. Barry Zito went from the Oakland A's to their Bay area rivals, the Giants. Now, there is the possibility that Zito's move will cause a future Hall of Famer and one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, despite not even being the pitcher in baseball history named Johnson, to be sent from one New York team to the other. What a an exciting off season.

McGwire: You Can't Prove Anything by Harold Friend

2006-12-12T18:00:00.000-05:00

Mark McGwire has had two careers. The first was good, the second was great, but some individuals question if he had help with his second career, the one in which he hit so many home runs in such a short time.

In 1998, as McGwire was on his way to hitting a record setting 70 home runs, a reporter discovered a bottle of androstenedione in his locker. McGwire never tried to hide the fact that he used the supplement, which was legal and has NEVER been illegal, but which is banned by the International Olympic Committee, the National Football League and the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a performance-enhancing and potentially harmful drug. The National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and of greatest significance, Major League Baseball have not outlawed its use. The results of an investigation commissioned by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players' Association was released on December 12, 2006.

Dr. Joel Finkelstein and Dr. Benjamin Leder of Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, in a study whose sample consisted of 42 healthy males aged between 20 and 40, discovered that males who ingested 300mg of androstenedione for seven consecutive days had increased testosterone levels. Testosterone levels returned to normal after not taking the supplement for one day. Study subjects taking 100mg of androstenedione did not have increased testosterone levels.

Androstenedione is a precursor to testosterone, the hormone which produces secondary male characteristics and which affects muscle size and strength.. Finkelstein and Leder found "'no significant adverse effects of androstenedione.'' but warned that long term use could be hazardous, particularly in women or children. It is not androstenedione but rather the high levels of testosterone it can produce that might be responsible for acne, baldness, or heart problems.

Baseball Commissioner Al "Bud" Selig said that his sport is concerned about androstenedione use and that he supports further research. Major League Baseball has no intention of altering its position on the legality of the use of the supplement. Players are allowed to use it.

Some individuals believe that androstenedione helped McGwire, but it has NOT been established if it helps a player to hit home runs. Some medical practitioners believe that it helps a player to avoid injuries and return from injuries faster, but beliefs are not scientific evidence. Major League Baseball is funding another study in an attempt to discover if the levels of testosterone ingested by participants in the first study are sufficient to produce enhanced performance.

Now step back for a second. Mark McGwire took androstenedione. It is legal. It is allowed by Major League Baseball. It will be allowed by Major League Baseball in the future. There is no reason that Mark McGwire should be castigated or penalized for taking androstenedione.

Maybe the supplement does help a player to avoid injuries and maybe it does help a player to return from injuries faster. So what. Doesn't following an exercise regiment the way many athletes do help to avoid injuries and help players return from injuries sooner?

Ingesting a legal substance to increase one's strength and stamina is no different from following an exercise regimen to accomplish that goal. Our society has been indoctrinated to believe that some methods of improving one's self are acceptable while others are not, and that some substances should be allowed while others should not.

Roger Clemens exercises. That is acceptable because he is working. He is "paying a price" his strength and stamina. You know, the old American work ethic. Mark McGwire takes a supplement, which is a lot easier than exercising for three hours (however, McGwire did work out extensively). Exercise and you work. That is good. Take a pill and you are taking the easy way out. That is bad.

The leaders of our society, the health "experts," and certain financial interests conclude that some substances are bad for you. Don't use them or you will pay the price. If you play for the National Football League, you'd better not get caught taking androstenedione, but if you have to treat osteoarthritis symptoms (not the cause---the symptoms), you were allowed to take Vioxx, at least until it was recalled.

This past season Jason Giambi received a number of cortisone injections to help his sore right shoulder. Players have been using cortisone for decades. Cortisone is a steroid. It is an inactive precursor to cortisol, which is the active substance. Cortisone elevates blood pressure, prepares the body for the "fight or flight" response, and it suppresses the immune system, which helps to explain why there is a high correlation between stress and illness, especially circulatory system problems. So here, we have a proven, serious side effect of a steroid drug, cortisone, but it can be used. Do you think Jason and the Yankees thought that cortisone might help enhance Jason's performance?

The fact that Mark McGwire was uncooperative when he testified before the House Government Reform Committee has nothing to do with androstenedione. When asked by St. Louis congressman William Clay if he could assure fans he had played with honesty and integrity, McGwire replied, "I'm not going to go into the past or talk about my past.."

McGwire also refused to discuss Jose Canseco's allegations that he used steroids, stating that the source of the allegations must be considered. Canseco had requested immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony but was refused, which must raise questions about the House Government Reform Committee's goals. Interestingly, in his book, Jose accused Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro of steroid use. We all know what happened to Rafael.

Layers of problems exist. Some supplements and steroids are legal. Some are legal but banned in certain sports. Some are illegal. There is a lack of consistency, a tremendous amount of money involved in selling sports and drugs, and an unwillingness of many to cooperate.

Mark McGwire must be judged on his entire career. Based only on his record and any intangibles he may have possessed, he is a borderline Hall of Famer, a position that can and should be argued, but basing one's decision on inference is dangerous. Yes, one can easily infer that Mark McGwire used steroids, but as one can learn from the old rock and roll song, "Silhouettes," by the Rays, you might infer that two silhouettes on the shade were one's girl friend with another man, but you might discover that you were on the wrong block.

References:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9F0CE2D8153EF93AA35751C0A9669C8B63

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortisone

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/17/steroids.baseball/

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2389391

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_rays/silhouettes.html

The Forgotten Home Run

2006-12-11T18:40:00.001-05:00

Sometimes a great accomplishment is overshadowed by a greater accomplishment. Sometimes, an individual is remember for a negative, which obliterates the memory of a wonderful positive. Such is the case with Loren Dale Mitchell, an excellent outfielder and fine hitter for the Cleveland Indians and briefly, for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Dale Mitchell hit the home run that clinched the 1954 American League pennant for the Cleveland Indians. When the Indians beat the Tigers on September 18 by a score of 3-2, the New York Yankees streak of five consecutive pennants and five consecutive World Championships ended.

At the time of the game, the Tribe led the Yankees by a comfortable 8 games, so it is almost certain that if the Indians had lost that game, it would only have postponed the inevitable, but it is not widely known that one of Dale Mitchell's 41 career home runs won a pennant.

What is synonymous with Dale Mitchell is a called third strike that Mitchell claimed, to his dying day, was a ball. Mitchell was a tough hitter to strike out, ranking as the fifteenth most difficult batter to strike out in the history of the game. He averaged only 1 strikeout for every 33.5 at bats, but all that is usually remembered is that he was the batter Don Larsen struck out to end his perfect World Series game.

When the game was over, Yogi Berra insisted that the pitch was a strike, but Mickey Mantle, like Mitchell, thought it was off the plate for a ball. While Berra was closer to the pitch than Mickey, he wasn't closer than Mitchell. The umpire who made the call was Babe Pinelli, a great umpire who announced that he would retire after the Series.

Babe had been an infielder during the 1920s and was an umpire from 1935 until 1956. He was considered one of the top arbiters in the game, working many World Series, All-Star games, and the 1946 playoff series between Brooklyn and St. Louis, which really was a playoff series since only a tie between teams after 154 regular season games could produce a playoff series. Pinelli was the crew chief for the 1952 and 1956 Series.

Many in the media believe that the called third strike was Pinelli's final game but since the Series went seven games, he umpired two more games. A source as scholarly and "accurate" as the New York Times, stated in his obituary that "In the final act of his umpiring career, Mr. Pinelli called Dale Mitchell of the Brooklyn Dodgers out on strikes to end the only perfect game in Series history. He retired after that game." Don't believe everything you read.

No one really knows if Larsen's last pitch were a strike, but since the home plate umpire called it a strike, it was a strike. What would have happened if QuestTec were available? A better question is, "If technology instead of humans is used in the future to umpire games, would the Dale Mitchell of the future be called out on strikes?"

References

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mitchda01.shtml

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1954SEPTEMBER.stm#day18

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/ABpSO_career.shtml

http://www.travel-watch.com/donlarsen.htm

http://www.vintagesportsshoppe.com/postwarmisc.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Pinelli

"Babe Pinelli, Former Umpire; Called Larsen Perfect Game." New York Times 25 October 1984.

The Forgotten Home Run by Harold Friend

2006-12-11T18:40:00.000-05:00

A Million For A Win by Harold Friend

2006-12-09T16:43:00.000-05:00

Andy Pettitte has returned. After leaving for Houston, Roger, and a three year contract in excess of $31.5 million in 2004, Andy has finally made up his mind. After wavering for two months about whether or not he was "burned out," Andy decided that $16 million a season cures even the most burned out athletes. Much to his chagrin, getting the $16 million and a player's option for another $16 million in 2008 means leaving Houston, but maybe not leaving Roger, who is a free agent. After all, the forty four year old Clemens, who will be forty five for the 2007 World Series, would fit in beautifully with forty three year old Randy Johnson and thirty eight year old Mike Mussina.

Houston offered Andy $12 million with no option. Agent Randy Hendricks lamented the fact that "I had offered the Astros $14 million and an option, but they wouldn't take it. Both teams know that if Andy gets hurt, he won't take the option. The Astros flat turned me down." But the Yankees didn't and even added $2 million to sweeten the pot.

Who among us would not be happy with the $2 million sweetener? After all, following his 1961 performance, Whitey Ford received a $13,000 raise to reach a salary of $50,000. Ford won 25 games in the regular season, two in the World Series, set a World Series record for the most consecutive scoreless innings, and topped it off by winning the Cy Young Award. Whitey was overjoyed at such a huge salary increase. In today's dollars, Ford's $50,000 salary would equal about $330, 000 or 1/48 of Pettitte's $16 million.

A comparison between Andy's 2006 season and Whitey's 1961 graphically illustrates how the game has changed with respect to the game on the field and the business of the game.

Ford won 25 and lost 4. Andy won 14 and lost 13. Ford had a 3.21 ERA. Andy had a 4.20 ERA.

In 283 innings, Ford allowed 242 hits. In 214 1/3 innings, Andy allowed 238 hits.

Ford struck out 209 and walked 92. Andy struck out 178 and walked 70.

Andy Pettitte won 14 games last season when he was paid $16.5 million. That was more than $1 million a victory. Is he worth the money? In the context of today's game, if a team is willing to pay it, the player is worth it. It is wrong, it is illogical, it is dangerous, but it is reality.

Pettitte has had some excellent seasons, including two (1996 and 2003) in which he won 21 games. In the playoffs, Andy has won 11 while losing only 5 with a 4.20 ERA, but in the World Series he is only 3-4, but with a 3.82 ERA. Statistics, especially career statistics, often can mislead, and that is the case with Pettitte.

In 1996, the Braves bombed him on their way to a 12-1 Game 1 victory but in pivotal Game 5, Pettitte, with the help of an unearned run and a game-saving Paul O'Neill ninth inning, two out catch, shut out the Braves and John Smoltz, 1-0. The Yankees went on to beat the Braves in six games.

Pettitte gave up four quick runs to the Indians in Game 5 of the first round of the playoffs in 1997, a hole too deep for the Yankees to overcome. When, with two outs and the bases empty in the Yankees' ninth with the Indians ahead by a single run, Paul O'Neill doubled, the Yankees had a chance, but Bernie Williams hit Jose Mesa's first delivery to left fielder Brian Giles to end the Yankees' season.

The Yankees had one of the greatest of all great seasons in 1998, winning 114 regular season games. In the World Series against the Padres, Pettitte started Game 4 and exchanged zeros with Kevin Brown until the Yankees broke through with a run in the top of the sixth. Andy pitched 7 1/3 innings of shut out ball as the Yankees won the game, 3-0, to sweep the Padres.

The Braves were back in 1999. Pettitte started Game 3 against Tom Glavine and he was ineffective, allowing 5 runs on 10 hits in only 3 2/3 innings, but the Yankees, thanks to home runs by Chad Curtis, Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch, and Curtis again, came back to win in ten innings, 6-5. Roger won Game 4 as the Yankees swept the World Series for the second consecutive season.

In 2000, Andy opened the Series at home against his friends from Flushing, facing future Yankees' broadcaster, Al Leiter. Both lefties pitched well until Leiter gave up two runs in the sixth inning, but Pettitte had gotten lucky in the top of the inning when the game was still scoreless.

Timo Perez, a left handed hitter, singled. Pettitte got the dangerous Edgardo Alfonso on a pop up, bringing up Mike Piazza. The greatest hitting catcher in history flied out to center, bringing up Todd Zeile. The future Yankee blasted a shot to deep left field, over the head of David Justice. The ball hit about 1 1/2 feet BELOW the top of the padded wall and got stuck in the space between the sections of padding. A fan reached over and almost got the ball, but he thought better of it. Justice took the ball, relayed to Derek Jeter who fired home to nip Perez, who had stopped running when he saw the ball hit the fence. If Perez had run full speed, the Mets would have scored one run and had Zeile on second with two outs.

After the Yankees scored their pair of runs in the sixth, New York's other team immediately got to Pettitte for three runs in the seventh, knocking out the stylish lefty. The Yankees, thanks to a gutty two strike at bat in the ninth by Paul O'Neill, singles by Luis Polonia and Jose Vizcaino and a Chuck Knoblauch sacrifice fly, tied the game. It lasted twelve innings and became the longest World Series game in terms of time. The Yankees won, 4-3 and beat the Mets in five games in a Series that was a LOT closer than the statistics can ever reveal.

The Yankees have not won a World Series since. They have lost to Arizona in the most excruciating loss in Yankees' history and to Florida, in a Series the Yankees didn't care about enough after beating Boston on Aaron Boone's home run.

In 2001 against Arizona, Pettitte was horrible. Facing Randy Johnson when he was still Randy Johnson in Game 4, Pettitte allowed 4 runs in 7 innings while Johnson struck out 11 in a 4-0 Arizona victory. The two lefties who are now teammates for 2007 faced off again in Game 6. Pettitte did even worse, allowing 6 runs, 7 hits, and 2 walks in 2 innings of pitching in the game that could have clinched a Series win the Yankees would never clinch.

In 2003, Pettitte made amends against Florida, but the Yankees' offense was missing. Pettitte started Game 2, came within a single out of pitching a complete game, and easily won, 6-1. He started Game 6 with the Yankees needing a win to stave off a Series defeat. Andy gave a fine performance, allowing only 1 earned run in 7 innings, but the Yankees failed to score and lost the Series.

There are no guarantees in baseball, just as there are no guarantees in life, which is a great attraction of the game. Pettitte is back in familiar territory although many who now inhabit the territory were not present the last time Pettitte was. Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi, Derek Jeter, Hideki Matsui, and maybe Bernie Williams remain among non-pitchers from 2003. Mariano Rivera and Mike Mussina were the only pitchers with the 2003 club.

Pettitte should help the Yankees, but when it comes to the playoffs and World Series, in 2002 Andy was part of a starting staff that included Roger, David Wells, Orlando Hernandez, Ted Lilly, and Mussina, and in 2003 there were Roger, Wells, Mussina, and Jeff Weaver. It wasn't enough, which forces one to ask, will Chien Ming Wang, Pettitte, Mussina, and question marks Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, and Kei Igawa be enough to help the Yankees achieve the only goal that makes for a successful season? That is for you to answer and for them to determine.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/4390343.html

http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/story/478604p-402671c.html

http://www.retrosheet.org/

Effrat, Louis. "Yankees Sign Berra for 17th Year, Give Ford Club's Peak Pitching Salary; $13,000 Increase to $50,000 Rewards Ford." New York Times. 17 Jan 1962, p. 53.

Tanyon: Braves Hope He Is Grand

2006-12-05T13:04:00.000-05:00

Tanyon: Braves Hope He Is Grand

Harold Friend

The Atlanta Braves have signed Tanyon Sturtze with the hope that he will be able to come back from rotator cuff surgery. What a joke, but a joke that gullible, unthinking fans and disingenuous members of the baseball community don't realize is a joke.

Tanyon Sturtze has been in the major leagues since 1995, when he appeared in two games for the Chicago Cubs, pitching two innings, giving up two hits, and allowing two runs for a 9.00 ERA. He has struggled to maintain that level of excellence ever since.

In his career, the 6'5" right hander has pitched 794 2/3 innings, allowing 885 hits and 332 walks with a 5.21 ERA. Now step back for a second. Tanyon Sturtze allows an average of more than 1.5 base runners per inning, and the Braves, the team of Warren Spahn, Phil Niekro, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine, have stated that they hope Tanyon "will be able to come back from rotator cuff surgery" to help them. Why? So they can have an even worse bullpen than they had in 2006?

What team in its right mind would even consider signing a pitcher who gives up more than a hit an inning and allows more than five runs for every nine innings pitched? Such efficiency indicates that if Tanyon regains his form, his entrance into a Braves' game will be treated with eager anticipation---by the opposition.

Tanyon is not alone in the game that is fondly referred to in 2006 as "arena baseball" iby some. The lowered pitching mound, the lively ball (a variable that baseball's brass no longer addresses) and of greatest importance, the strike zone that has shrunken more than a cheap sweater when it's laundered for the first time, has resulted in pitchers with ERA's around 4.50 making millions of dollars and being desired by teams vying for division titles.

In 2006, Kyle Farnsworth salary was $5.4 million. His ERA was 4.36. Ron Villone's salary was $2.25 million. His ERA was 5.04. Danys Baez salary was $4 million. His ERA was 4.53. Scott Schoenweis' salary was $2.75 million. His ERA was 4.88. While the salaries don't approach Mike Mussina's $19 million, Andy Pettitte's $16.4 million, or even Randy Johnson's $15.7 million, Farnsworth, Villone and the others pitch only about 70 innings a season, usually one inning every two or three games.

Relief pitchers pitch a greater percent of a team's innings than ever before because starters are held to rigid pitch counts they must not exceed. The primary reason starting pitchers average only six or seven innings is the great strain and pressure they face, strain and pressure created by the need to pin point the ball from between the batter's belt to the bottom of his knees.

Batters can lay off 95 mph fast balls across the letters. When Tom Seaver, Denny McLain and J.R. Richard pitched, such pitches were called strikes. Today, they are balls. There is greater wear and tear on pitchers when they must get the ball in the small area that is now the strike zone and, since the hitter has less area to cover, the pitcher must have more "stuff" on his pitches. That is why Sturtze, Farnsworth, Villone, Baez, and Schoenweis make such money. And that is why the Braves are willing to take a chance on Tanyon Sturtze.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9847274

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sturtta01.shtml

http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/top25.aspx?year=2006

2006-12-04T13:23:00.000-05:00

A Designated Hitter Can Be MVP

Harold Friend

6.10(b) The Designated Hitter Rule provides as follows:

A hitter may be designated to bat for the starting pitcher and all subsequent pitchers in any game without otherwise affecting the status of the pitcher(s) in the game.

A Designated Hitter for the pitcher must be selected prior to the game and must be included in the lineup cards presented to the Umpire in Chief.

The designated hitter named in the starting lineup must come to bat at least one time, unless the opposing club changes pitchers. It is not mandatory that a club designate a hitter for the pitcher, but failure to do so prior to the game precludes the use of a Designated Hitter for that game.

POSITION---condition with reference to place; location; situation.

The Designated Hitter is a position. It is not a defensive position. It is a position in a team's batting order. Since the Designated Hitter is an integral part of the team, he has value to his team. Why, he may even have more value than any other player on his team or than any other player on any other team in the league. Since all of the above is true, a Designated Hitter can be his league's Most Valuable Player.

What have I said? I don't believe it. I don't want to believe it. But it is true.

Wait a minute. How can a player who never plays a defensive position be his league's Most Valuable Player? In most years, it will not and should not happen, but there can be a time.

Mo Vaughn was a defensively challenged first baseman for the Red Sox. In 1995, Mo was the American League's Most Valuable Player. He had a fairly decent defensive season that year, based on his .992 fielding average compared the league's .993, but let us accept the premise that he was merely adequate in the field.

Jose Canseco was Boston's Designated Hitter in 1995. Jose batted .306 with 24 home runs and 81 RBIs, although he was the Designated hitter in only 101 games of the 144 game the Red Sox played during the strike-shorted season. In the other games, the Designated Hitter position was filled by Reggie Jefferson (32), Bill Haselman (11), Chris James (6), Wes Chamberlain (5), Dave Hollins (3), Mike McFarlane (3), and Troy O'Leary (3), among others.

Now, let us make one hypothetical change to illustrate when a Designated Hitter should be MVP. Take Canseco off the team and replace him with J.T. Snow, who was an outstanding defensive first baseman and a pretty decent hitter.

Mo Vaughn was the American League Most Valuable Player in 1995. He was far less effective defensively than J.T. Snow. Remember, Canseco is not with the team, so the Designated Hitter must either be one of the players who was the Designated Hitter when Canseco was not, or it could be Mo Vaughn.

Making Vaughn the Designated Hitter does not lessen his value to the team, since he didn't win the MVP based on his defense. Removing Vaughn from the field actually may be addition by subtraction. His offensive contributions are not affected, his positive defensive contributions are negligible, but if he not in the field, he cannot hurt his team defensively. Putting J.T. Snow at first base strengthens the team defensively and provides a stronger lineup than having Vaughn at first and one of the other players as the Designated Hitter.

The above is merely to illustrate a point or a potential situation. Entering the 2007 season, the Yankees are in search of a good first baseman so that Jason Giambi can be a full time Designated Hitter. Shea Hillenbrand, slightly more than adequate both offensively and defensively, but far superior to Giambi defensively, might be signed to be the Yankees' full time first baseman. The point is that the Yankees' brass feel that Jason Giambi is more valuable as the Designated Hitter than as a player who has a defensive position. It will happen eventually with respect to the league and a Designated Hitter will be the Most Valuable Player.

As William Bendix, who played Babe Ruth in a film and was Chester A. Riley on television used say, "What a revoltin' development this is!"

References:

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_info/official_rules/batter_6.jsp

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/position

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/L/htmlL/lifeofriley/lifeofriley.htm

2006-11-08T11:48:00.000-05:00

Game 7: The Third Time

Harold Friend

The third time that a World Series had a Game 7 was 1921, but a there was a curve ball involved and it wasn't thrown by a pitcher. Beginning with the 1919 World Series, the World Series would be a best of nine format. The only other time there had been a best five out of nine was in 1903, which was the first World Series ever played.

The 1921 World Series was the first subway series, pitting the New York Giants against the their Polo Grounds tenants, the New York Yankees. The teams split the first six games so that when the Giants won Game 7, it gave them a 4-3 lead in games, which was still one win short of the championship. The Giants won Game 8, negating the need for a showdown, winner take all final game 9.

It wasn't until 1924 that a Game 7 again decided the World Champion. The Giants were involved, having just won their fourth consecutive pennant, a feat no National League team has ever equaled and an accomplishment that is rarely mentioned. The Washington Nationals, the team usually referred to as the "Senators" despite the fact that they were officially the "Nationals" from 1905-1956, edged the Yankees for the American League pennant by two games, thus preventing a fourth consecutive World Series between the New York teams.

The 1924 Giants had a .300 team batting average, scoring 857 runs. They were led by first baseman George Kelly, who batted .324 with 21 home runs and 136 RBIs, outfielder Ross Youngs, who hit .356 with 10 home runs and 74 RBIs, and outfielder Irish Meusel, who hit .310 with 6 home runs and 102 RBIs. Frankie Frisch, the old Fordham Flash, played an almost flawless second base, batting .328 and leading the team with 22 stolen bases.

The Giants' pitching staff was almost as formidable despite not having a twenty game winner. Virgil Barnes and Jack Bentley each won 16 games while Hugh McQuillan and Art Nehf were 14 game winners. The team ERA was 3.62. They were out to avenge last year's defeat by the Yankees.

Washington was also a pretty good offensive team but the Nationals didn't compare to the Giants. The Nats hit .294 but scored 102 fewer runs than their rivals. Their best hitter was outfielder Goose Goslin, who hit .344 with 12 home runs and 144 RBIs. Sam Rice, who finished his career with 2987 hits, 13 short of 3000, batted .334 with 1 home run and 76 RBIs.

But while the Nationals were overmatched offensively, they had a pretty good pitcher named Walter Johnson, who would be making his first World Series appearance. By this time, the thirty six year old Johnson had won 377 games, 23 of which had come in 1924. George Mogridge was a 16 game winner and Tom Zachary, who would yield Babe Ruth's last home run for the 1927 season, won 15. The team ERA was 3.34.

There was a symmetry to the World Series. The first game and the last game each went twelve innings and Johnson received a decision in each game. Interesting numbers were also involved.

In 1908, the Fred Merkle's blunder of failing to touch second base ultimately cost the Giants the pennant. Four years later, in 1912, centerfielder Fred Snodgrass' failure to catch an easy fly ball ultimately cost the Giants the World Series. Many wondered what be in store for the Giants in 1924, but Walter Johnson's first World Series appearance was the really big story.

Johnson was considered the greatest pitcher in baseball history, a ranking he has not relinquished to this day, despite protestations by those who favor Christy Mathewson, Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan, or Grover Cleveland Alexander. The "Big Train" had won more than 30 games in both 1912 and 1913 and was called "The Big Train" because his fast ball was faster than a speeding locomotive (let's keep Superman out of this), Now he had the opportunity to show everyone, even at the age of thirty six, his true greatness.

Johnson and Giants' starter Art Nehf each pitched a complete Game 1, with the Giants winning the twelve inning contest 4-3, but despite the score, Walter Johnson pitched more like the Yankees' 2006 Randy Johnson than like Walter Johnson, allowing 14 hits and 6 walks. But it was just the first game. Walter Johnson would get at least one more chance.

Washington won two of the next three games to even the Series, creating a pivotal Game 5 in which Johnson would oppose Jack Bentley. Once again, Walter Johnson pitched more like an old Randy Johnson, allowing 13 hits and 6 runs, 3 earned, as the Giants won, 6-2 to again lead the Series.

The press expressed sympathy and pity for the Big Train and as often occurs with the media, drew conclusions that proved to be both premature and false. Oh, how false they were.

The front page story in the New York Times described Johnson as "the most tragic figure that ever stalked through a world's series." It also stated that "When Johnson's own world's series finally came along he couldn't win a single game." Of course, the press failed to recognize that it was a best of seven, not a best of five series.

To support Johnson's tragic state, baseball writers recalled that Christy Mathewson had lost the great game of his life in 1912 through others' errors. Art Nehf, an outstanding Giants' pitcher in his own right, had lost Game 6 the year before, yielding 5 runs in 7 1/3 innings as the Yankees finally won a World Championship. But both Mathewson and Nehf had won before, something that could not be said of Johnson.

The New York Times declared that fate had allotted Johnson only one World's Series and then made it a failure. Okay, it was the New York Times. Back to the games.

The Nationals, behind Tom Zachary' clutch pitching and twenty seven year old playing manager Bucky Harris' two run single won the sixth game 2-1, to set up an amazing seventh and deciding game, a game that would pit Washington's Curley Ogden, a twenty three year old right hander acquired during the season from Philadelphia against the Giants' Virgil Barnes. The lead paragraph in the Times magnificently describes all there is to describe about the seventh game of a World Series.

"It was a game that tried men's souls and tortured their nerves."

Nationals' manager Bucky Harris, despite his youth, knew the stakes. He fully intended to relieve his starting pitcher after one batter. No, Harris wasn't concerned about how Ogden would feel about himself or if it would affect his confidence. Harris was concerned about winning the World Series and so was Ogden.

The Giants' leadoff batter was right handed hitting Freddie Lindstrom. Ogden struck him out on three pitches and started walking off the mound, but from his position at second base, Harris called the young right hander back to face switch hitting Frankie Frisch since he had struck out Lindstrom, but Ogden, full of confidence, walked Frisch on four pitches.

Harris, Ogden, and catcher Muddy Ruel conferred near home plate. George Mogridge, the Nationals' Game 5 starter two days before, relieved Ogden and retired the next two batters.

Barnes and Mogridge exchanged zeros until the Nationals fourth. Manager Bucky Harris made himself look smart by hitting a home run over the left field fence to give himself and his team a 1-0, which held up until the Giants batted in the top of the sixth inning.

Mogridge walked Ross Youngs leading off the inning. George "High Pockets" Kelly followed with a single through the shortstop hole, moving Youngs to third with the potential tying run. Irish Meusel was sent up to hit for young Bill Terry. Harris made his move.

Walter Johnson began throwing in the bullpen but Firpo Marberry, a relief specialist who had led the American League in saves with 15, replaced Mogridge. Meusel hit Marberry's first delivery to deep right field that was caught but which scored Youngs from third to tie the game.

The batter was now young Hack Wilson, the same Hack Wilson who would set the all time single season RBI record of 191 and a single season National League home record of 56, the former still standing but the latter eclipsed in 1998 by a first baseman who was discovered to have a bottle of the prohormone or testosterone precursor, 3,6,17-Androstenetrione (4-etioallocholen-3,6, 17-trione). Wilson singled over second into center, sending Kelly to third.

Young shortstopTravis Jackson was the hitter. He hit a ground ball to first base but Joe Judge fumbled the ball, allowing Kelly to score the lead run and putting Giants on first and second with only one out. Marberry hitched his belt and got the slow footed Hank Gowdy to hit a double play ball to short.

Ossie Bluege never touched it. The ball scooted under his glove for another critical error, scoring Wilson and allowing Jackson to reach third. The Giants led by two runs and were primed to score more but Giants' manager John McGraw allowed starting pitcher Barnes to hit, a move that was according to the "book," especially since Barnes had pitched so effectively.

Marberry retired Barnes on a short fly ball to left. It wasn't deep enough for Jackson to attempt to score the Giants' fourth run, a run they would need but never get. Freddie Lindstrom, in a crucial at bat, struck out to end the inning.

The score remained 3-1 Giants until the Nationals hit in the eighth inning. McGraw got Nehf and McQuillan up in the bullpen. It started innocently enough with Barnes retiring Ossie Bluege on a foul to the catcher. Nemo Liebold was sent up to pinch hit for third baseman Tommy Taylor. Liebold doubled down the third base line. In today's game, it would be stated that the tying run was at the plate but in 1924, few hitters hit home runs and teams put hits, walks, and sometimes errors together in an inning to score runs.

Muddy Ruel, who had been hitless in the Series, singled off first baseman George "Highpockets" Kelly's glove, moving Liebold to third and putting the tying run on first. Kelly had moved from center field to first when pinch hitter Irish Meusel batted for first baseman Bill Terry and remained in the game in center field.

Rookie Bennie Tate pinch hit for Marberry. On a full count pitch, Tate walked to load the bases with one out and the Nationals trailing by two runs. It was tense but would become more intense.

Frankie Frisch walked over to talk to Barnes. It worked. Mule Shirley was sent in to run for Tate, who represented the potential go ahead run. Lead off hitter and center fielder Earl McNeely was the batter.

Barnes first pitch missed for ball one. He then went to the full wind up, delivered, and got McNeely to lift a short fly ball to left field. The runners held. Two outs, down by two runs, and the bases loaded.

The batter was the manager whose home run was the only run Washington had scored. Catcher Hank Gowdy went to dugout to talk to McGraw. Barnes remained in the game to face Harris.

Barnes peered in to get the signal from his catcher, nodded assent and went into the windup. Harris liked what he saw, swung, and hit a line drive over third baseman Lindstrom into left field. Liebold scored the Nationals second run and Ruel scored the tying run.

When Charlie Dressen managed the Brooklyn Dodgers, he often said, "Hold them boys, I'll think of something." Harris thought of something and then did it himself. What a manager.

McGraw had had enough. Actually, he had had too much. He brought in Art Nehf to face Sam Rice with runners on first and second. Rice was an excellent hitter but all he could manage was a long foul down the left field line before grounding out to first. After six games and eight innings, the teams were still even and the drama had not yet begun. Guess who was coming in to pitch for Washington.

As Walter Johnson walked in from the Nationals' bullpen, the crowd went berserk. They gave Johnson possibly the greatest ovation of his career---at least up until then. He would face the top of the Giants' batting order.

Freddie Lindstrom stepped into the batter's box but all he could manage was a harmless pop up to third for the first out. Next was the switch hitting future Hall of Famer, Frankie Frisch, the Old Fordham Flash. Johnson, who had been hit hard in his two starts, was hit hard again. Frisch hit a blast to deep center field that was over McNeely's head. When the dust had cleared, Frisch was on third with the potential lead run.

Harris ordered Johnson to walk Ross Youngs intentionally to set up the double play that would end the inning. But this was Walter Johnson, probably the greatest pitcher who ever played. He wouldn't need a double play. He struck out George "High Pockets" Kelly on three pitches for the second out, leaving it up to Irish Meusel.

Youngs stole second to put runners on second and third but on a 2-1 count, Meusel hit a hard grounder to third. Ralph Miller, whose contract had been purchased from Reading in the International League that summer and who had appeared on only nine games the entire season, picked up the ball but his throw to first was in the dirt. First baseman Joe Judge stretched as far as he could and made a great pickup to save everything. It remained 3-3.

Now it was Washington's turn. With one out, Judge singled to center. Nehf attempted three pick offs with Ossie Bluege at the plate. Bluege then hit a ground ball to first.

Kelly picked up the ball and fired to second for the attempted force out but shortstop Travis Jackson, covering second, dropped the throw with Judge racing to third. The Nationals had runners at the corners with only one out. The championship producing run was at third base.

McGraw brought in McQuillan to face. Inexplicably, McQullan was smiling. Maybe he knew something because the first batter would be Ralph Miller, he of the .248 lifetime batting average. After missing with his first pitch, McQuillan got Miller to hit a hard grounder directly at Travis Jackson. The shortstop flipped the ball to Frisch to force Bluege and then fired to first to complete the double play. Game 7 would go into extra innings. What fun.

Neither team scored in the tenth. Neither team scored in the eleventh. The twelfth inning was a different story.

Irish Meusel led off with a single off Johnson. Remember, Johnson was in his fourth inning of work on ONE day's rest. So much for pitch count.

Johnson, as Mel Allen used to say, reached back for a little extra. He struck out Hack Wilson and got Travis Jackson to hit into a force out. Hank Gowdy hit an easy fly to center for the third out, the last out Johnson would need.

Ralph Miller was the first batter Jack Bentley would face. Bentley, who was the Game 5 winning pitcher, had entered the game in the eleventh inning. He easily got rid of Miller on a soft grounder to second that Frisch charged and fired to first for the out. Then the intrigue began.

Muddy Ruel hit a high foul pop up that Giants' catcher Hank Gowdy dropped for an error. Why did Gowdy drop the ball? He dropped the ball because his foot got caught in his mask, which he had not thrown far enough away. A catcher's bad throw would be costly.

Given a second chance, Ruel ripped a double down the third base line, bringing up Walter Johnson, who of course was allowed to bat. Johnson managed a grounder to short, but Jackson, who was not having a good day, bobbled the ball as Johnson reached first. Ruel held at second.

Earl McNeely was the batter. Washington owner Clark Griffith had sent the popular Wid Mathews and two other players along with $50,000 to Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League for McNeely. The move was so unpopular with the fans that Griffith tried to cancel the trade, but Sacramento refused and was supported by Commissioner Judge Landis. McNeely remained with the Nationals and would now face Bentley with runners on first and second and one out.

McNeely fouled off Bentley’s first delivery. Bentley took a deep breath on the mound, reared back and fired. McNeely swung and hit a bouncing ball to third. Lindstrom was in perfect position to field the grounder for a possible inning ending double play or at least for one of the two needed outs. It would not happen.

The ground ball, like many ground balls have done in the past and will do in the future, took a bad hop. At least, it was a bad hop for the Giants. It couldn't have been a better hop for the Nationals.

The ball went over Freddie Lindstrom's head and into left field. Ruel raced home from second with the winning run. The World Series was over. The Nationals were World Champions. Johnson had won his first World Series game. He was not a tragic figure. He was a World Champion.

References:

www.baseball-reference.com

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/

http://www.retrosheet.org/

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Twins>

http://www.houseofmuscle.net/3tebo.html

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/D/Dressen_Chuck.stm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23120-2004Oct10.html

“Giants Again Hit Johnson With Ease; Beat Senators, 6-2; Have the Title in Their Grasp on Eve of Sixth Game in Capital Today. Get 13 Hits off Veteran.” The New York Times. 9 October 1924, p. 1.
“Capital Wild With Joy; Coolidge Joins in Celebrating Washington’s First Baseball Title. Johnson to the Rescue. Called in Ninth, He Holds New York at Bay While Teammates Hit Winning Blows.” The New York Times. 11 October 1924, p. 1.

2006-10-29T12:03:00.000-05:00

It Was More Than Just Fred

Harold Friend

The second time a World Series went to a seventh game was 1912, and Game 7 was actually the eighth game the teams played. The Boston Red Sox, winners of the first World Series ever played, played the New York Giants in one of the most unforgettable of all World Series. The Red Sox won 105 games during the season, the Giants won 103, and the "experts" differed in their opinions when determining which team would win. The Boston "experts" of course, thought the Red Sox would win. The New York "experts" disagreed.

Hugh S. Fullerton, a former baseball player turned journalist formulated a complex analysis that concluded Boston would win the Series, losing no more than two games. Fullerton qualified his position by writing that it would be foolish to think that the Giants had no chance because in a best of seven series there could be conditions under which even baseball's worst team, the St. Louis Browns, could beat the Red Sox, so nothing was definite. The element of luck must play a major role in order for the worst team to beat the best, but it was possible.

Looking back to 1912 from the perspective of 2006, it turns out that Fullerton was one of the first baseball sabremetricians, once again illustrating that the more things appear to change, the more they haven't. Fullerton analyzed the Red Sox and the Giants man by man, compared them as individuals and as team players, calculated the relative strength of each position on defense, and ranked the individual value of each man offensively.

He studied the players' averages, he listened to what the players said about each other, their work ethics, each player's batting style with respect to what he has done and is likely to do against the pitching he will face, described how the Giants defense was sloppy and how the outfielders' throws to the infield were not properly backed up by the infielders, and then Fullerton reduced everything to cold figures. Based on an absolute perfection of 100, Fullerton figured the Red Sox at 69 and the Giants -56, a difference so great that not even luck would not allow the Giants to win.

Boston was superior to New York at seven of the nine positions, played better team baseball, and had the better pitching. The Giants hustled, took advantage of every opportunity it was given, and played hard-nosed baseball, but so too did the Red Sox. Fullerton thought that the Pirates, who finished second, a distant 10 games behind the Giants, and the Cubs, who finished third, 11 1/2 games out of first, would have a better chance against the Red Sox.

Fullerton then wrote that which no modern baseball writer would dare to say. "Mark this---the New York team is not a "game" ball club. The two clubs of the National League that go out and fight the Giants---Chicago and Pittsburgh---whipped them regularly, and whipped them not by superior strength, but by out gaming them and making them quit. They did quit. Every player on the Chicago and Pittsburgh teams will tell you that the Giants, (when) challenged and fought hard, will lie down. In the American League, something of the same charge has been brought against the Boston club. This season the players admit that Boston is fighting back and refusing to quit."

Imagine that being written today. Fullerton would probably be relieved of his duties if an editor would dare to allow it to be printed. And the editor would fired. What great progress our free press had made.

Fullerton continues, pointing out that the Giants depended on strong pitching and base running to win. In a short series, pitching dominates and the baseball writer who used statistics before sabremetrics were a gleam in the eye of Bill James concluded that out of 9 points, pitching is worth 7, hitting is worth 1, and fielding is worth 1. Since Boston and New York pitching were extremely close, Fullerton concluded that Boston's superior offense would give them the edge needed to prevail.

The Red Sox offense, led by Tris Speaker, the player considered the greatest of all centerfielders until the New York press in the 1950s decided that Joe DiMaggio was greater, scored 799 runs, hit 29 home runs, batted .277 and stole 185 bases. The Giants actually scored more runs (823), hit 47 home runs, batted .286, and stole 319 bases. The Red Sox had a 2.76 ERA while the Giants ERA was 2.58. You tell me how Fullerton drew his conclusions. I guess it's Mark Twain quoting Benjamin Disraeli. "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics."

The World Series opened at the Polo Grounds on October 8. The Red Sox started Smoky Joe Wood, whose nickname describe his fast ball. The twenty two year old Wood had been 34-5 with a 1.91 ERA. The Giants countered with 24 year old Jeff Tesreau, who had won 17 and lost 7 with a 1.96 ERA. The Red Sox, scoring 3 runs in the seventh inning, won 4-3.

The teams took the New Haven Railroad to Boston for Game 2, a game that has gone down in baseball history as one of the great games that no team won, a game in which the Giants committed five errors. After eleven innings, the score was tied 6-6 when the umpires called the game because of darkness. The teams remained in Boston to play another Game 2, this time their was a winner, and it was the Giants by a score of 2-1. After six games had been played to a decision, each team had won three, forcing a seventh contest. And what a contest it was.

The visiting Giants started one of the greatest of the great, Christy Mathewson, who had won 23 games during the season and who would win 373 games in his career. The Red Sox countered with Hugh Bedient, a 22 year old right hander who won 20 games in his first major league season. This was a game that would be as tense as a game could be and the tension would be broken in the worst of all possible ways for the loser.

The Giants scored first in the third inning when Josh Devore led off with a walk, advanced to third on consecutive ground outs and scored on Red Murray's double. Mathewson shut out the Red Sox until the seventh inning when with two outs and runners on first and second, pinch hitter Olfaf Henrksen, batting for Bedient, doubled home Stahl with the tying run.

With the game tied, Stahl, Boston's playing manager, brought in 34 game winner Smoky Joe Wood, who had started the previous day's game and had been blasted for six first inning runs (That is another fascinating story). The game became a battle between Mathewson and Wood, two of the finest pitchers who ever played the game. They exchanged zeros in the eighth and ninth innings. Then the fun began.

With one out in the Giants' tenth, Red Murray doubled to left, bringing up Fred Merkle, the same Fred Merkle whose failure to touch second base on what was thought to be a game winning single cost the Giants a victory that resulted in the Cubs winning the 1908 pennant. But this was 1912 and Merkle would not be a goat this time.

The much maligned Giants' first baseman singled to center, scoring Murray with the go-ahead run. Merkle reached second when the greatest defensive center fielder to play the game, Tris Speaker, made an error on the hit. Stahl ordered an intentional walk to Duffy Lewis to put runners on first and second with one out, a move that worked when Buck Herzog struck out and Chief Myers bounced back to the mound.

Now the stage was set. The Giants needed three more outs to become World Champions and they had Christy Mathewson on the mound. The fact that Mathewson was going into his tenth inning of work was not a consideration since Mathewson had started 34 games that season, completing 27 of them. It was par for the course.

Smokey Joe Wood, a pretty good hitter who batted .290 was the first scheduled batter but he would not get the chance to hit. Stahl sent Clyde Engle up to pinch hit. Engle had batted .234 in limited duty. The fans were tense, realizing what was at stake. The players, especially Mathewson, were calm.

Mathewson got set on the mound, peered in to get the signal and delivered his fade away to the right handed hitting Engle. Mathewson was the first right handers to perfect the screwball, which he called his "fade away." All Engle could do was lift a soft fly ball to right center field. Fred Snodgrass drifted to his left and the ball settled into the pocket of his glove, but Snodgrass, in his eagerness to throw the ball back to the infield, couldn't pull it out of the pocket cleanly. It dribbled to the ground, allowing Engle to perch on second base with the potential tying run.

Mathewson merely waved his glove toward the outfield and retired Harry Hooper on the liner to Snodgrass for the first out, but he walked Steve Yerkes to put runners on first and second, bringing up Tris Speaker. And it was here that there was an event almost never mentioned that was a significant as Snodgrass' misplay.

Speaker hit a high pop up near first base. Mathewson, first baseman Fred Merkle, and catcher Chief Meyers converged on what appeared to be the crucial second out of the inning. But none called for it. Not Mathewson, not Merkle, and not Meyers. The ball fell in foul territory, untouched by Giants' hands. Speaker would get another chance.

The three Giants argued as Mathewson walked back to the box, gesticulating angrily. Speaker, one of the greatest of all left handed batters, stepped back into the batter's box. Engle led away from second, Yerkes took a short lead from firs, the Boston fans thirsted for Giants' blood as Mathewson delivered.

Speaker blasted a line drive to right field for a base hit. Engle scored the tying run as Yerkes raced to third and Speaker, with a meaningless run, took second on throw to the plate. The batter was Duffy Lewis who was walked intentionally to create a force at home, bringing up the left handed hitting Larry Gardner, who was a fine batter.
Mathewson delivered and Gardner hit a deep fly ball to right field. Josh Devore made the catch and fired a strike to the plate but it was too late. Yerkes scored the winning run and the Red Sox were World Champions. After the game, the Boston fans kept shouting for "the best player on the Giants' team---Fred Snodgrass." Even in those days, Boston fans didn't recognize significant plays.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1912_WS.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_1912.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/

http://www.twainquotes.com/Statistics.html

Fullerton, Hugh S. "Two Sides to a Big Story: Fullerton Tells Why and How the Red Sox are Going to Win the World Series and the Times' Baseball Expert Tells Why the Giants Should Win." The New York Times. 7 October 1912, p. 12.

"Sox Champions on Muffed Fly; Snodgrass Drops Easy Ball, Costing Teammates $29,514, Boston Winning, 3-2." The New York Times. 17 October 1912, p.1.

2006-10-24T12:14:00.000-04:00

The First Game 7

Harold Friend

Do you want to find yourself in a situation in which you feel excruciating tension despite the fact you try to avoid it the way a fat kid on a diet tries to avoid cookies? Do you want to ride a roller coaster of emotion that forces you to forget everything except what is happening at the moment? Do you want to enter the torture chamber in order to experience a psychological high like no other and a low so low you think you will never smile again? Welcome to Game 7 of the World Series.

The first World Series was contested in 1903 between the National League New York Giants and the upstart American League's Boston Americans. The team from Boston, with its tradition of losing not yet established won, but it wasn't until 1909, when the Detroit Tigers faced the Pittsburgh Pirates that the World Series had a Game 7.

The Tigers were led by Ty Cobb, who was unquestionably the greatest player in baseball history until Babe Ruth started hitting home runs. The Pirates' leader was Honus Wagner, second only to Cobb in baseball greatness. Wagner was considered the greatest player in National League history until some statisticians decided that his ability and achievements were less than they were and today, the still greatest shortstop in baseball history has been eclipsed by other shortstops in the minds of some, a conclusion which is patently incorrect.

The headline in the New York Times of October 7, 1909, was "Pirates and Tigers in World's Battle." How appropriate. A record breaking crowd of 18,000 was expected with "thousands more of enthusiasts expected to engage in the wild scramble for the other spaces in the immense amphitheatre. It is expected that 35,000 will see the first game."

The Pirates were installed as 2-1 favorites but little betting occurred due to a lack of money on the Tigers. A popular wager was that Wagner would out hit Cobb. During the regular season, Wagner had led his league in batting (.339), on base average (.420), slugging (.489), RBIs (100), total bases (242), doubles (39), and extra base hits (54). Not bad but Cobb also did pretty well.
Ty Cobb led his league in batting (.377), on base average (.431), slugging (.517), RBIs (107), home runs (9), stolen bases (76), runs scored (116), hits (216), and total bases (296). Yes, he won the Triple Crown.

The World Series opened on October 8 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, which was also the Game 2 site. Games 3 and 4 were played in Detroit, the teams traveled to Pittsburgh for Game 5, and returned to Detroit's Bennett Park for Games 6 and 7. At the end of play on October 15, each team had won three games.

A little known fact is that Cobb did not travel from Pittsburgh to Detroit with his teammates because Tigers' manager Hughie Jennings received information that when the train carrying the team to Detroit passed through Cleveland, Cobb would be arrested. It seems that Tyrus had assaulted a hotel night watchman and an Ohio Grand Jury had indicted him on felonious assault. Cobb traveled to Detroit by way of Buffalo and arrived much later than his teammates.

The weather for the game was typical autumn Detroit. It was predicted that there would be high winds and temperatures near the freezing point. The more things seem to change, the more they don't.

The Pirates started rookie Babe Adams, winner of Games 1 and 5, on two days rest, while the Tigers' starter was Wild Bill Donovan, the Game 2 winner. While some pitchers nicknamed "Wild" were wild on their own time and not on the mound, Donovan did not belong the former group. He really had trouble with his control and it was a problem that often was costly.

During the season, the Pirates' twenty seven year old Babe Adams had been 12-3 with a 1.11 ERA. Wild Bill Donovan had won 8, lost 7, and had a 2.31 ERA. The Tigers' ace, 29 game winner George Mullin, had started Games 1, 4, and 6, making manager Hughie Jennings hesitant to start him on one day's rest.

A crowd of 17,562 fans attended World Series Game 7 in frigid Detroit. The Tigers' fan should have stayed home.

Donovan started the game by hitting Pirates' lead off hitter Bobby Byrne. Tommy Leach sacrificed Byrne to second (yes, they used to bunt in the first inning), bringing up Pirates' manager Fred Clarke (yes again. Playing managers were not rare once upon a time). Byrne attempted to steal third and was caught, but Clarke drew a base on balls and promptly stole second. The Pirates stole 18 bases in the Series. No one had yet heard of Earl Weaver and the three run home run.

Honus Wagner, batting cleanup, also walked, giving the Pirates runners on first and second with two outs. Donovan had hit one batter, walked two, and the two outs of the inning were on a sacrifice bunt and a caught stealing. Wild Bill was in trouble but he would get out of the first inning when Dots Miller grounded to short, forcing Wagner at second.

In the bottom of the first, Babe Adams retired lead off hitter Davy Jones on a foul pop fly to third, but he hit Donie Bush, bringing up Cobb. Adams got Cobb on a fly ball to right for the second out. Bush attempted to steal second and was thrown out to end the inning.

In the Pirates' second, Tiger troubles began. Donovan walked Bill Abstein. His wildness would be costly. Abstein, who had stolen 16 bases during the season, stole second and Chief Wilson, who would hit an unbelievable 36 triples in 1912, reached when he bunted and the play to get Abstein advancing to third was unsuccessful. The Pirates had runners on first and third with no outs, but George Gibson hit an infield pop up for the first out, bringing up pitcher Babe Adams. What did Wild Bill Donovan do? He walked the opposing pitcher to load the bases. Not a good thing to do.

Now the batter was Ham Hyatt, who had replaced Byrne in the lead off spot after Byrne left the game thanks to being plunked by Wild Bill. Hyatt lifted a high fly to center which was deep enough to allow Abstein to score the game's first run. No one realized that was one more than the Tigers would score that day.

Wild Bill wasn't finished. He walked Tommy Leach to again load the bases and promptly followed that by walking Fred Clarke to force in a run. Wagner ended the inning by hitting a fly to right. The Pirates scored two runs but Wild Bill still was pitching a no-hitter. Don't you just love statistics?
The Tigers still trailed by the two runs going to the bottom of the third when manager Hughie Jennings sent George Mullin up to pinch hit for Wild Bill Donovan. During the season, Mullin hit .214 and he finished his career with a .262 average, which is excellent for a pitcher. In this game, nothing would help.

Mullin hit an easy fly ball to right field for the first out. The Tigers failed to score and Mullin remained in the game to try to hold the Pirates to their two run lead but after pitching three games in such a short time period, Mullin didn't have much left.

The Tiger's right handed ace pitched six innings on one day's rest, allowing six runs, four of them earned, while Babe Adams held the Tigers six hits and one walk in pitching a complete game shut out. By the fourth inning, the Pirates led 4-0 and by the middle of the sixth, the lead had swelled to seven runs. The Pirates easily won, 8-0. The only tension in the first World Series Game 7 came before the game started, which goes to show that crucial situations and stress may quickly part.

Just as the Pirates outplayed the Tigers, Wagner outplayed Cobb. The Georgia Peach hit only .231 with 2 stolen bases in the Series while Wagner batted .333 with 6 steals. It is ironic that the greatest competitor in baseball history played on Tiger teams that lost three consecutive World Series from 1907-1909, including the last one the Chicago Cubs won in 1908. Ty Cobb never played for a World Champion, a fact that rightfully has not diminished the fact that if he wasn't the best player in baseball history, he was at least the second best.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/NL_1909.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL_1909.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1909_WS.shtml

http://www.sportingnews.com/archives/worldseries/1909.html

http://www.retrosheet.org/

"Pirates and Tigers in World's Battle." The New York Times, 8 October 1909, p.7.

"Two More Players Fined; Ty Cobb Dodged Cleveland to Prevent Probable Arrest for Assault." The New York Times, 14 October 1909, p. 7.

"Could Rain at Detroit; Last World's Series Game Today May be Played in Freezing Weather." The New York Times, 16 October 1909, p. 11.

2006-09-27T11:52:00.000-04:00

On the Radio

Harold Friend

It was probably 1960. The Yankees had lost a critical game and it was late at night, but sleeping was difficult. I moved the radio dial to the right and heard a baseball game. It was the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees main rival for the pennant that year. The Orioles’ announcer, quite objectively and without any glee, simply told the Baltimore fans that “Its all over in New York. The Indians have beaten the Yankees.”

The announcer was Bob Murphy, who was in his first season with Baltimore after having spent six seasons in Boston doing Red Sox games. It was at that instant I realized that there was more to the Yankees' game than whether or not they won or lost. If the second place team lost, then a Yankees’ loss mattered less that day. I had become spoiled because I was so used to the Yankees winning the pennant that I never thought of rooting against any team except the one the Yankees were playing, and I was not rooting AGAINST them---I was rooting FOR the Yankees. Of greater significance was the discovery that I could actually listen to games that were being played elsewhere. Speak about opening a case full of worms.

At about dusk, it becomes possible to receive clear channel, 50,000 watt AM radio stations. Clear channel simply means that at sunset, less powerful stations must sign off the air, leaving the frequency to the most powerful stations. The Orioles’ game was on WBAL, 1090.

Radio waves bounce off the ionosphere and are reflected back to the earth. Sunlight pushes the ionosphere closer to the earth but when the sun sets, the ionosphere moves hundreds of additional miles away from the surface, creating a larger angle when a transmitted radio wave bounces off the ionosphere and returns to earth, giving the radio wave a much greater range.

In 1960, the Yankees were the only team in New York. The Brooklyn Dodgers had been stolen from their fans after the 1957 season and since it was too costly for the National League to have only team on the west coast, New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham was convinced by Brooklyn owner Walter O’Malley and others that the place for his team was San Francisco. Fans who were used to getting three games most days now were down to one. But not me and others who had made my discovery well before I did.

I soon found that it was possible to get the Red Sox (WTIC, 1080), and the Phillies (WCAU, 1210), two cities that were so near to New York that they could be picked up even during the day. Then there were other pleasant surprises.

If one went into the country, and not even too far into the country, other games came in at night. The Yankees games were on 1010 WINS, which was a powerful 50,000 watt station, but the Pirates games were on KDKA, 1020, another 50,000 watt station. The problem was that most AM radio tuners were not sensitive enough to pick up KDKA because it so close to WINS. Going fifty or sixty miles away from New York City solved that problem. The Tigers (WJR, 760), the Cubs (WGN, 720), the Reds (WLW, 700), and the White Sox (670) all could be heard.

Since 1960, teams have been created, teams have moved, and teams’ flagship radio stations have changed. The Mets started play in 1962 and were broadcast on WABC, 770. As the years passed, it was possible to listen to the Braves on WSB, 750, the Twins on WCCO, 830, the Indians on WWWE, 1100, the Senators on WTOP, 1500, and the Blue Jays on CHML, 900.

It was a different America in the second half of the twentieth century. There was more stability and structure, or at least it seemed that way, and there was less homogenization. WBAL took the listener to Baltimore and putting on WGN took one to Chicago, each with its unique characteristics. There were no commercials for Maryland crab cakes on a White Sox broadcast and Chuck Thompson never mentioned the stock yards when he told fans that Boog Powell had hit yet another home run.

Each city had its own identity and the radio stations were different rom each other. New York fans could not get “EssKay quality meats” in New York, could not go to an Eckerd pharmacy, and could not listen to Baltimore disk jockeys, except at night. That no longer is the case.

Today, if one listens to the radio at night, one can still get the baseball games, but that too is changing despite having been one of baseball’s great attractions. Listening to the Orioles on WBAL or the Cubs on WGN in 2006, just as one listened to them on the same stations in 1960. produces a sense of comfort and stability, as false as that sense might be. But if one listens to the radio at night, the same programs (Art Bell, high school graduate Sean Hannity etc.) can be heard on many stations located hundreds of miles apart.

Most commercials are homogenized fare for drugs, health aids, insurance, and automobiles. Except for baseball games, it makes no difference if one listens to any one of the 50,000 watt stations. They are owned by a small number of large corporations and are all basically the same. If you’ve seen one fast food restaurant, you’ve seen them all.

Even baseball on the radio has changed, thanks to ESPN. The White Sox have not been on WMAQ for quite a while. Their flagship station became ESPN radio Chicago, 1000, which is part of an international radio network that broadcasts baseball games. On a Sunday night, the same broadcast can be heard on literally hundreds of stations. But even that has changed. The White Sox are no longer on 1000 AM. They are carried by weak, local stations, the Cardinals are no longer on KMOX, and in a few days, the Pirates will no longer be broadcast on KDKA. Can't get them around here.

Most younger fans are not even aware that they could have listened to so many games for free and they if they knew, they wouldn’t care because in the twenty first century, you don’t LISTEN to baseball games, you WATCH baseball games. And if you really want to listen to baseball games, why, they are all available on satellite radio. They cost money? Don’t we have to pay for everything?

How much has been lost. Why, yesterday I bought some vitamins at Eckerd, and I was not even in Baltimore.

2006-09-19T11:49:00.000-04:00

Unbelievable: In Consecutive Seasons

Harold Friend

The game we watch is not the game that used to be. A lot can happen in almost one hundred years and with respect to baseball, the game played in 1906 was as different from today's arena baseball as an SUV is to a Model T Ford.

Today, pitchers start but don't finish. One hundred years ago, pitchers started and finished what they started. In 2005, nine pitchers tied for most game started with 35 each. In 1906, Jack Chesbro led the majors with 42 starts. Okay, it's pretty close, but in 2005, Chris Carpenter and Dontrelle Willis led the majors with 7 complete games. In 1906, Cy Young led the majors with 37 complete games. Cy Young was not bigger or stronger than Carpenter or Willis, but it was a different game.

Jack Chesbro pitched for the New York Highlanders in 1906. Chesbro and four others had 137 of the team's 155 starts (the team had 151 decisions) and completed 90 of them. There were no seventh inning specialists, set up men, or closers. The 1906 World Champion Chicago White Sox had a pitching staff that consisted of six, repeat, six pitchers who started 152 of 154 games, completing 117 of them. The 2005 World Champion Chicago White Sox, amazingly, outdid their 1906 ancestors by having six pitchers who started 162 of 162 games but the sextet completed only 9 of them. It was a different game.

The game we watch today produces few twenty game winners. In 2005, Bartolo Colon won 21 games for the Angels while in the senior circuit (when's the last time you heard that term used for the National League?) Dontrelle Willis won 22 for the Marlins, Chris Carpenter won 21 for the Cardinals, and Roy Oswalt won 20 for the Astros. But for every winner, there must be a loser. Zack Greinke led the American League with 17 losses and Kip Wells led the National League with 18 losses. What happened in 1906 boggles the mind. There were extreme winners and extreme losers and the most extreme winner was really a loser, possibly the greatest loser of all time.

Chicago won both pennants in 1906. The Cubs set a record for the best record by a team in baseball history, but since there had been two major leagues only since 1901, its impact wasn't great at the time. However, the Cubs' record has now stood for one hundred years. They won 116 games while losing only 36 for a .763 winning percentage.

In the new league, Chicago's other team won the pennant with a 93-58 mark. Known as the "hitless wonders" because they had a team batting average of .230 and averaged 3.70 runs a game, the White Sox upset the highly favored Cubs in the World Series. The team that holds the record for the best winning percentage in the regular season lost the World Series.

While the Cubs were winning so many games, BOTH Boston teams were losing a lot of games. Now, Boston, at least with respect to baseball and, some claim, with respect to politics, is a city of losers, but Boston's baseball teams BOTH lost over 100 games in 1906. The losing reputation must not be limited to the Red Sox, who, after all, actually were modern baseball's first World Champions. The team that abandoned Boston were major losers as well. From 1901 until they left for Milwaukee after the 1952 season, the Boston Braves won 2 pennants (1914, 1948) and one World Championship (1948).

The 1906 Boston "Beaneaters" had a record of 49-102, which left them in last place. However, that is not what is amazing and what could never, never, ever happen in today. The "Beaneaters" four starting pitchers were Irv Young, Vive Lindaman, Big Jeff Pfeffer, and Gus Dorner. The quartet started 145 of the teams 152 games. You read that right. Young pitched 358 1/3 innings, winning 16 and losing 25, Lindaman pitched 307 1/3 innings with a 12-23 record, Pfeffer hurled 302 1/3 innings with a 13-22 mark, and Dorner pitched "only" 273 1/3 innings, winning only 8 while losing 25.

Notice anything unique? Go back and read the won-loss records carefully. Right. The 1906 Boston "Beaneaters" had four twenty game losers. Not two, not three, but four. And they all had respectable, if not excellent earned run averages. Lindaman had a 2.43 ERA, Young's was 2.91, Pfeffer's was 2.95, and only Dorner, the fourth starter, with a 3.65 mark, had an above 3.00 ERA. Mordecai "Three Fingered" Brown led the league with a 1.04 ERA. It was a different game.

Think you've heard it all? Just wait a second. Let's go back one year to 1905. The Boston Beaneaters won 51, lost 103, but avoided finishing last because the Brooklyn "Superbas" were 48-104. That is not special but what is special is the fact that Boston had four twenty game losers. In consecutive seasons, 1905 and 1906, the Boston "Beaneaters" had four twenty game losers. And only Irv Young did in for them each time.

In 1905, Irv Young lost 21 games, but he won 20. This is bizarre. Vic Willis was 12-29. His 29 losses are still a modern record for most losses in a season. Chick Fraser was 14-21 and Kaiser Wilhelm's 3-23 won loss record brings back memories of Don Larsen's 3-21 for the 1954 Orioles.

Maybe, just maybe, 2006 baseball strategists know something. Yes, there aren't many complete games, there aren't many twenty game winners, but there will never, ever again be a team, no matter how little money it spends, that has four twenty game losers---in consecutive seasons.

Reference:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/

2006-09-15T18:19:00.000-04:00

Imagine that Today

Harold Friend

As Bruce Willis once told a young man sitting in an airport waiting room at the beginning of one of this year's better films, "There was a time." In this case, the time was 1944, the league was the National, and the Most Valuable Player was Marty Marion. So, you ask, what is unusual about that? How little we know. How much to discover.

In 1944, Marty Marion played shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals. Marty Marion batted .267, had a .324 on base average, and slugged .362. He hit 6 home runs, stole 1 base, and despite committing 21 errors, led National League shortstops in fielding with a .972 mark.

Marty Marion was the best defensive shortstop in baseball history until Ozzie Smith came along. He was 6'2", which was extremely tall for a shortstop, and his long arms led to baseball writers referring to him as the "The Octopus." Many compared Marion's grace at shortstop to that of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on the stage.

Despite the fact that in 1944, many of the best players were not playing baseball because they were defending freedom, many had better offensive seasons than did Marty Marion. Dixie Walker won the batting title with a .357 average, Marion's teammate Stan Musial hit .347, Joe Medwick batted .337, and Johnny Hopp finished fourth at .336. Marion finished 90 points behind the batting champion. Bill "Swish" Nicholson led the league in home runs with 33 and RBIs with 122.

The MVP vote in 1944 was almost as close as possible. Marion received 190 points to edge Nicholson by a single tally. Nicholson, a slugger who played for the Cubs, hit .287, had a .391 on base average, and slugged .545, and despite leading the league in the two most important slugging categories, he wasn't the MVP.

Until the current era of "Arena Baseball," defense was recognized as valuable as offense. Great defense prevents runs and a player such as Marty Marion, at a key defensive position, can prevent runs. Sure, a "productive hitter" who might not even play in the field can hit over 40 home runs and knock in over 130 runs, but how many runs can he prevent on defense? How many NET runs does a player produce for his team? Why, that's information even sabremeticians cannot definitively determine.

Marion was not unique. Many "powerless" hitters who were great defensive players and hit for a decent average were MVPs. Frankie Frisch hit .311 with 4 home runs in 1931 and was the National League MVP. In 1934, the highly underrated Mickey Cochrane batted .320 with all of 2 home runs but he was the Tigers leader and he was the American League MVP. Phil Rizzuto won the award in 1950 when he hit .324 with only 7 home runs and nine years later, Nellie Fox was the American League's MVP with a .306 average and 2 home runs. 1960 National League MVP Dick Groat hit .325 with 2 home runs and finally, Maury Wills was 1961 NL MVP with a below .300 batting average and 6 home runs. Of course, it should be noted that Wills stole a then record 104 bases, but since some "experts" have determined that stealing a base is a bad play, an accomplishment that baseball writers considered a huge positive in 1961 has become a negative in 2006.

Let us move to the 2002 National League. The MVP was a player named Barry Bonds, whose big bat led the Giants to the World Series, but while, for some seemingly inexplicable reasons, while Bonds' hitting improved with age, his defense, which once was outstanding, eroded more quickly than top soil during a hurricane.

Bonds batted .370 or an incredible 103 points higher than Marion's .267. Barry hit 46 home runs, knocked in 110 runs, and walked an amazing 198 times. But weaknesses sometimes are exposed.

In the World Series against the other team that plays in the Los Angeles area, the team that has had more name changes than a burlesque dancer has changes of costume, Barry couldn't pick up a Garrett Anderson's hit along the left field line, allowing Chone Figgins, who was on first, to get to third and Anderson to take second. It cost the Giants dearly as the Angels, who had been trailing 5-0, rallied to win Game 6 and then won the Series the next day. Yes, Virginia, there is a need for defense.

This season, it is likely that Derek Jeter, Jermaine Dye, Joe Mauer, or Jason Morneau will be the American Most Valuable Player. Jeter has 13 home runs, Mauer has 11 home runs, Dye has 41, and Morneau has 33. If either Jeter or Mauer wins the MVP, it may well be the last time in the era of "Arena Baseball" that a player who doesn't hit at least 30 home runs wins the MVP award. It really is a different game.

References:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/player_search.cgi?search=marion

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1944.shtml#NLmvp

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/M/Marion_Marty.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marty_Marion

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bondsba01.shtml

2006-09-08T12:31:00.000-04:00

A Certain Hall of Famer

Harold Friend

Derek Jeter will be a member of the Hall of Fame five years after the end of his career. At the age of 32, Jeter is still going strong and is putting together one of his best seasons in 2006. Jeter has been consistently great from the first year he became the Yankees' shortstop and even if one were to evaluate Jeter's accomplishments based solely on what has occurred, he is a Hall of Famer.

Derek Jeter was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1996. He is the greatest shortstop in Yankees' history, which is quite an accomplishment since Hall of Fame shortstop Phil Rizzuto played for the Yankees from 1941 until 1956, not including the 1943-1945 seasons, when Phil did his part to help preserve freedom and democracy. Now logic is not a strong suit of many in the media and certainly of many fans, but if Phil Rizzuto is in the Hall of Fame and Derek Jeter surpasses the Scooter as a great player, then---well, you get it.

Including the 2006 season, Jeter has a lifetime .316 batting average, a .388 on base average, and a .463 slugging average. He averages 33 doubles, 5 triples, 18 home runs, 81 RBIs, and 23 stolen bases a season, is a fine fielder who has great range going to his left but only average range moving towards his right, and has helped lead the Yankees to four World Championships. While his statistics are outstanding for a shortstop, statistics are inadequate when evaluating Derek Jeter.

A term that is bandied about but cannot be adequately defined is "clutch hitter." To some, attempting to define a clutch hitter is similar to trying to define pornography. In 1964, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stuart, trying to explain pornography, said, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . [b]ut I know it when I see it . . . ." Yogi Berra was a clutch hitter. David Ortiz is a clutch hitter. Derek Jeter is a clutch hitter.

When analyzing Derek Jeter, one must cite his leadership qualities, his attitudes toward the game, his attitudes toward his teammates, and his attitudes toward the opposition. It is a known fact that Jeter puts his team ahead of his personal achievements. Of greatest importance is his unquenchable desire to win regardless of cost. Derek Jeter is one of the outstanding competitors in the game's history.

Mel Allen, the greatest of the great baseball announcers, used to refer to certain players as "great competitors." In the 1952 World Series, Allie Reynolds, one of the best right handed pitchers in Yankees' history, started and lost Game 1 to Brooklyn's Joe Black. Three days later, on TWO days rest, Reynolds and Black started Game 4 for their respective teams with Reynolds pitching a 2-0, 10 strikeout complete game shut. After getting the next day off, Reynolds saved Game 6 in relief of Vic Raschi and then came in the next day in the fourth inning of Game 7, pitched another 3 innings, and was the winning pitcher. More than a few times during that Series, Mel Allen referred to Reynolds as a "great competitor." So is Derek Jeter.

Jeter is a relentless and driven competitor who loves what he is doing. Does pressure affect Derek Jeter? You bet it does. He relishes when he is in game deciding situations but there is more. Unlike many, failing or succeeding in one such situation does not affect Jeter when the next situation arises. He is steady, reliable, and unlike one of Billy Joel's works, Jeter does not go to extremes.

Winning the playoffs is important, but winning the World Series is more important. Overall, Jeter's October and November accomplishments reflect his career achievements. He has a .307 World Series batting average with a .379 on base average, 3 home runs, and a .434 slugging average. Only 3 home runs? Yes, but statistics do not tell the entire story because often quality and not quantity make the difference.

Jeter's great play in the 2001 playoff series against the A's. the play when he ran to the first base foul line, is recited ad infnitum when discussing the Yankees' shortstop. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Yankees leading 1-0, Jason Giambi's brother Jeremy singled to put the tying run on first. Despite being a slow runner, Giambi was allowed to run the bases because A's manager Art Howe had decided that he would not pinch run for Giambi unless he reached second base. Unfortunately for the A's, when Giambi reached second base, the rules did not allow a pinch runner.

The batter was Terence Long, a former Mets outfielder who would play for the Yankees in 2006. Long hit a hard ground ball past Yankees' first baseman Tino Martinez into the right field corner. Giambi rounded second, headed for third, and was waved home by third base coach Ron Washington. Right fielder Shane Spencer fired the ball toward home plate as Giambi rumbled to reach the same place. Spencer's throw sailed over cut off man Alfonso Soriano as well as over Tino Martinez, who was backing up the future Washington Nationals All Star outfielder. It seemed as if Giambi would deliver the run that would tie the game. Except for Derek Jeter being where no man in such a situation had gone before.

Jeter, who had been near the pitcher's mound where he was supposed to be on such a play so that he could be in place to make any necessary adjustments, did just that. He raced toward the first base line, caught the throw that had sailed over the head of two cut off men on a bounce, using two hands, and kept moving in the direction of the Yankees' dugout. There was only one option and Jeter took it. He flipped the ball to an alert catcher Jorge Posada, who caught the ball, whirled around, and tagged out Giambi, who never slid. The Yankees, who were down two games to none in the best of five series, went on to win the series.

Yes, it was a great play, and it led to a pennant, but the previous year, in a much more crucial Series, Jeter was an even more clutch performer. The Yankees were leading the 2000 World Series, three games to one over New York's other team. While it is better to be leading three games to one than trailing three games to one, nothing must ever be taken for granted. Ask the 1925 Senators, the 1958 Braves, the 1979 Orioles, or the 1985 Cardinals.

In the top the sixth inning, with the Yankees trailing 2-1, Jose Vizcaino led off by grounding out to pitcher Al Leiter. Derek Jeter stepped up to face the crafty former Yankees' left hander and extended his World Series consecutive game hitting streak to fourteen games by hitting a Leiter pitch for a game tying home run. The Yankees won the game with a ninth inning rally and Jeter was voted the Series' Most Valuable Player, becoming the first and only player to be World Series and All-Star MVP in the same season.

There have been bad times for Derek Jeter. He got only 4 hits in 27 at bats for a miserable .148 batting average in the 2001 World Series and he hit only .200 against the Red Sox in the 2004 seven game playoff series, but all players have had bad times. Derek Jeter does not want the bad times. Who does? But he doesn't sulk, and he doesn't allow yesterday's negatives prevent today's positives from occurring.

Jeter does quite well when compared to other Hall of Fame shortstops. Honus Wagner set the standard and no shortstop can approach Wagner's greatness, but there is a great drop off after Wagner. The following is a list of all Hall of Fame shortstops and some important lifetime statistics:

PLAYER BA OBA SA SB RBI FA

Aparicio .262 .311 .343 506 791 .972

Appling .310 .399 .398 179 1116 .948

Bancroft .279 .355 .358 145 591 .941

Banks .274 .330 .500 20 1636 .969

Cronin .301 .390 .468 87 1424 .951

Reese .269 .366 .377 232 885 .962

Rizzuto .273 .351 .355 149 563 .968

Sewell .312 .391 .413 74 1055 .951

Smith .262 .337 .328 580 793 .978

Tinker .262 .308 .353 336 782 .938

Vaughn .318 .406 .453 118 926 .951

Wagner .327 .391 .466 722 1732 .940

Yount .285 .342 .430 271 1406 .964

JETER .316 .388 .463 244 848 .975

Only Honus Wagner and Arky Vaughn have higher batting averages than Jeter and only Ozzie Smith has a higher fielding average. Interesting, isn't it? And one must not forget that Derek Jeter will play a while longer. Anyone think he isn't among the top shortstops of all time?

References:

http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/J/Jeter_Derek.stm

http://library.findlaw.com/2003/May/15/132747.html

http://www.baseball-reference.com

http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/jeterde01.shtml

http://www.retrosheet.org/

http://www.all-baseball.com/bronxbanter/archives/012058.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/espn25/story?page=moments/45