This Day in Baseball History: September 9th, 1965

Army cut. Yeah.

On September 9, 1965:

Bob Hendley throws a one-hitter and loses.


Bob Hendley began his major-league career in 1961, and he spent the first few seasons of his career as a middling swing-man for the Milwaukee Braves. After a slightly disappointing 1963 season, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants as part of the deal that brought Felipe Alou to the Braves. Hendley didn't pitch particularly well for the Giants either and was traded to the Chicago Cubs midway through the 1965 season. He pitched a little better for the Cubs, but Hendley would be out of baseball after the 1967 season.

The 1965 season was Hendley's worst as a professional. For the season, he was only 4-4, but he had a rather large 5.96 ERA (62 ERA+), and his 1.21 K/BB ratio was the second-lowest of his career. He started the season, as mentioned above, with the San Francisco Giants, but he only pitched in 8 games and made only 2 starts and had a 12.60 ERA. At the end of May, he was sent to the Cubs where he improved slightly. Hendley made 18 appearances (10 starts) with a 4.36 ERA, and he made two amazing starts against the league's best.

On September 9, his Cubs met Sandy Koufax's Los Angeles Dodgers. Hendley's line was impressive -- 8 IP, 1 R (0 ER), 1 H, 1 BB, and 3 K --, but it wasn't good enough. Why? Well, Koufax through the then-record 4th no-hitter of his career -- a perfect game with 14 punch-outs. The game lasted a whole hour and 43 minutes. Five days later, the two matched up again, but this time, Hendley knocked out Koufax. A complete game masterpiece, Hendley's line (1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 7 K) wasn't as impressive as his previous start, but Koufax's was worse (6 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 5 H, 3 K).


Trivia Time
How did that run score in the September 9th game?

Yesterday's Answer --> False. Stuffy McInnis, Jack Morris, Schang, Joe Bush, Lonnie Smith, and Dave Stewart accomplished the feat.

This Day in Baseball History: September 8th, 1916

He doesn't look like a guy to mess with.

On September 8, 1916:

Wally Schang hits home runs from both sides of the plate.


Wally Schang belongs in the Hall of Very Good as he was one of the preeminent catchers of the WWI-Interwar years. Beginning his career in 1913, he played the first four years of his career in Philadelphia as part of Connie Mack's legendary teams, but when Mack started selling them off when money was tight, he was one of the last to go. When he did, the A's sent him to the Boston Red Sox, with whom he began his prime. After excellent 1919 and 1920 seasons, the Red Sox sent him to the New York Yankees, who held on to him for 5 seasons before sending him to the St. Louis Browns. By that point, Schang's career was largely over, but he remained fairly productive for a few more seasons in a limited role.

Schang, however, was not a home run hitter. Even when he played in the Live Ball Era, he didn't hit many home runs, and he maxed out at 8 in 1926. Ten years earlier, he was the first to accomplish something fairly impressive with, you guessed it, the home run. Schang was a bit unusual in that he was a switch-hitter, and on September 9th, 1916, he became the first to hit a home run from both sides of the plate in one game. He wound up hitting a career-best (at that point) 7 home runs that season.

The thing is that this wasn't even the coolest thing about that game. You see, the weather was frightful and oh so not delightful, but 23 people had no place to go so they let it rain, let it rain, let it rain. And so did the Shibe Park groundscrew and the umpires. In an absolute downpour, the Athletics knocked off the Yankees, 8-2, in front of 23 people. 23!

Trivia Time
True or False. Schang is the only player to win a World Series with 3 different franchises.

Wednesday's Answer --> Rico Petrocelli with 40 in 1969.


Apparently, it's fun for professors to give you 100 pages to read for most classes early in the semester. Thus, it's been slow around here, but I'm going to start getting back into it bit by bit with one, maybe two, posts a day as I try to get homework and some other exciting things done.

This Day in Baseball History: September 2nd, 1955

Slight build, big power.

On September 2, 1955:

Ernie Banks belts home run number 40 on the season.


Ernie Banks began his playing career with the Kansas City Monarchs in 1950, but he would become the Chicago Cubs first African-American player in 1953. As a 22-year old that season, he didn't play much. A season later, he played in 154 games while hitting .275/.326/.427 with 19 home runs and 79 RBI as he finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting to Wally Moon. Mr. Cub really introduced himself to the baseball world in 1955. Hitting .295/.345/.596 is impressive for anyone, let alone a shortstop, but he also broke records.

Vern Stephens set the home run mark for shortstops with 39 in 1948, and his following 1950 season of 30 home runs was second on the list. Actually, his 1948 season of 29 was also 3rd, and you know what, his 1945 season of 24 home runs was tied for fourth with Joe Cronin's 1940. But Ernie Banks was about to take the spot of premier power-hitting shortstop. Banks' 1955 season was the first for a shortstop to hit 40+ home runs (his 40th was hit on September 2nd -- oddly enough, it was against Moon's Cardinals) as he eventually hit 44. Of course, the modern record belongs to Alex Rodriguez with 57, but by the time Banks was done in 1971, he had the top 5 home run-hitting seasons by a shortstop with his highest being 47 in 1958. Banks would switch to first permanently in 1961 with his best power years behind him.

As I said, Alex Rodriguez now holds the record for most home runs by a shortstop, and he is still the only shortstop to eclipse the 50-homer mark (twice). He holds 6 of the top 10 spots, and Ernie Banks holds the other four and the 11th spot. Rich Aurilia pops in at 14 (Stephens is 13th), and then Miguel Tejada, Bill Hall, Nomar Garciaparra, Barry Larkin, and Cal Ripken fall in line. Hanley Ramirez is 21st with 33 last season but only has 19 this season, but he probably has the best shot among current shortstops to overtake A-Rod.


Trivia Time
I deliberately left out the guy who is 12th on the list. Who is he and how many did he hit?

Yesterday's Answer --> Griffey (56 HR), Buhner (40), Sorrento (31), Martinez (28), Rodriguez (23), Davis (20), Wilson (15), Cruz (12), Cora (11)

Walker Cooper

He and his brother were extremely productive for about 3 or 4 seasons. What other brothers have been so productive at the same time and/or for the same team?

Because I still find this blog to be a learning experience for me, I still run across a lot of names that I don't know, and while writing the previous post, I ran across a few of them. The one I noticed (or that intrigued me) the most was Walker Cooper because a) he's a catcher and b) he hit 30+ homers in a season. Consequently, I wanted to find out more. And thus:

William Walker Cooper was born in Atherton, Missouri on January 8th, 1915. Before the 1935 season, the home state St. Louis Cardinals signed the strong young man (6'3", 210 lbs.), but because St. Louis had a notoriously good farm system (Branch Rickey was one of the first to actually utilize the farm system in a similar manner to today's teams), he had trouble reaching the major leagues. He spent six years in the minors until finally getting his chance in 1941, but a broken collarbone limited his playing time.

The following season (1942) began a long streak of success for the young backstop. He made his first All-Star team, and his stats were impressive enough to earn him an 11th place finish in the MVP voting. Mort Cooper, however, finished first. To make things worse, Mort was Walker's brother, and they played on the same team. Mort finished the season with a 22-7 record and 1.78 ERA in the first of three consecutive dominant seasons. The two teamed up to help the Cardinals win the '42 World Series over defending champion New York Yankees. Walker improved his stats the next season and finished 2nd in the MVP voting (Mort finished 5th), but the Cardinals lost the World Series rematch against the Yankees. 1944 was another fine season as the Cooper brothers finished 8th and 9th in the MVP voting (Walker was 8th), and when the Cardinals made their 3rd consecutive World Series, they beat the crosstown St. Louis Browns.

Cooper left for the Navy in 1945 and missed most of the season, and when he returned, he and the Cardinals had a disagreement over compensation. The Cardinals sold him to the Giants. 1946 was an okay season, but he really knocked it out of the park (a career-high 35 times) in 1947. He remained productive for the next few seasons, but he never stayed in one place for too long, playing in New York, Cincinnati, and Milwaukee. By 1952, Cooper was no longer so durable, but he stuck around for 6 more seasons until he retired in 1957. At the time he retired, his daughter married Don Blasingame, and he remarked, "When you have a daughter old enough to marry a player, it's time to retire."


Cool Fact I Couldn't Find a Place For -- Walker Cooper holds the record (along with Dave Kingman and Dave Winfield) with a grand slam for 5 different teams.

This Day in Baseball History: September 1st, 1947

Williard Marshall.

On September 1, 1947:

The New York Giants hit their 183rd, 184th, and 185th home runs of the season.


So we all know what player has hit the most home runs in a single-season -- Barry Bonds with 73 --, but who knows what team has the most home runs in a single-season (answer a little later)? From 1936-1947, the New York Yankees held that claim with 184 home runs hit during their 1936 season, but oddly enough, that did not include any contribution from Babe Ruth. Lou Gehrig (49 home runs), however, had a huge impact on that total. Joe DiMaggio (29) and Bill Dickey (22) were the only other two Yankees to eclipse 20 home runs, but the rest of the starting lineup, with the exception of Jake Powell (7), hit double-digits. They were also the beneficiaries of 6 home runs by pitchers, including 5 from Red Ruffing.

But the New York Giants took the Yankees down in 1947, and they did it quickly. With a month left in the season, they used 3 more home runs to officially claim to have the most powerful lineup in baseball history to that point. Willie Mays was still 4 years away from his entrance into baseball, so he wasn't part of the offensive explosion. Johnny Mize led the way with a career-high 51 home runs. Following him were a couple of 30+ homer guys in Williard Marshall (36) and Walker Cooper (35), and young Bobby Thomson would add 29 in his breakout season. Buddy Kerr was the only starter to fail to hit double-digits (coincidentally, like Powell, with 7), and they also (like the Yankees) received 6 home runs from pitchers, with 4 from Clint Hartung. The Giants went on to hit 221 home runs for the season.

Okay, so what's your guess for team with the most home runs in a season? Well, the 2004 Houston Astros hit 247, but that's only the most for an NL team. The winner is the 1997 Seattle Mariners with 264. Ken Griffey Jr., of course, leads the list with 56 round-trippers. Oddly, neither team holds the record for most home runs at home or on the road. The 1996 Colorado Rockies, not surprisingly, hold the record with 149 home runs, and the 2001 San Francisco Giants, behind Bonds' 73 (37 at home, 36 on the road), hold the away record with 138.


Trivia Time
Put these players in order from most home runs to fewest for the 1997 Seattle Mariners -- Griffey, Edgar Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Dan Wilson, Paul Sorrento, Russ Davis, Jay Buhner, Joey Cora, and Jose Cruz. Good luck.

Yesterday's Answer -- She was indeed talking about Pete Rose.

This Day in Baseball History: August 31st, 1969

Nothing like a good kiss from a buxom blonde to get the old stick going, huh?

On August 31, 1969:

Morganna uses her magic powers to get Clete Boyer back on track.


Nerd Alert. In Arthurian legend, Morganna is a sorceress that is expelled from court by Guinevere for having an affair. Pissed, she plots against Guinevere while continuing to hone her magical craft under Merlin, and she also attempts to kill Arthur (her brother) a few times. In the end, however, she brings Arthur to Avalon where she heals him so that he can return in the future in Britain's greatest need (some say Winston Churchill was that man during WWII).

Anyway, Morganna Roberts (from Louisville, Kentucky -- woohoo!) was a relatively popular entertainer. Known for her extremely large breasts, she appeared in Playboy a few times, and she even made an appearance in the movie Kingpin. In reference to her legendary tatas, she once quipped that Dolly Parton was "flat-chested". She, however, was more known for her baseball escapades. She frequently came on to the field during games to plant a kiss on an unsuspecting player, and consequently, she received the nickname "Kissing Bandit". She kissed (or at least tried to kiss) George Brett, Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken, Jr., Johnny Bench, steve Garvey, and Don Mattingly among others. After each instance, she was arrested for disorderly conduct.

On August 31, 1969, Clete Boyer became another recipient of her advances, and it came just in time. Mired in a 1-for-17 slump, Boyer needed something ... anything ... to get him going, and Morganna ran on to the field to give him a kiss. Boyer followed that up with a sheepish grin and an RBI single. Two hits later, he had a nice night. Over his next 15 at-bats, he laced 8 hits.


Trivia Time
Morganna noted, "My career began with a bet and his ended with one" in reference to her first kiss. Who did she kiss?

Tuesday's Answer --> Allman Brothers Band

This Day in Baseball History: August 25th, 1952

He had 4 no-hitters in the minors.

On August 25, 1952:

Virgil Trucks throws a no-hitter.


Virgil Trucks began his career in 1941 as a 24-year old, but he received his first piece of major playing time in 1942. He won 30 games over the next 2 seasons before losing essentially 2 seasons to World War II, but he came back stronger than before. Over the course of the next 4 seasons, he had double-digit wins in each season leading up to his very impressive 1949 season in which he went 19-10 with a 2.81 ERA and league-leading 152 strikeouts. After losing most of 1950 with arm injuries, he responded with a solid 1951 season.

1952 was an up-and-down year for Trucks. On the one hand, he lost 19 games with an ERA close to 4. On the other, he accomplished a feat that only Johnny Van Der Meer, Allie Reynolds, and Nolan Reynolds have done in the history of baseball -- throw 2 no-hitters in the same season. On May 15th, he dismantled the Washington Senators for a 1-0 victory. Three months later on August 25th, he threw his second no-hitter, another 1-0 win, this time against the defending American League champion New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. But the 19 losses loomed larger than the 2 no-hitters, and Trucks was sent to the St. Louis Browns.

The Tigers regretted that. Trucks won 20 games the next season on his way to a 5th place voting in the MVP race. The Browns traded him to the White Sox mid-way through the 1953 season to the Chicago White Sox, and the White Sox didn't regret their decision. He won 15 of his 20 for them, and he went on to win 19 and 13 games over the next two seasons. After the 1955 season, the Tigers traded for him, and they lived to regret that decision. Now 39, he was no longer able to hold up for an entire season.


Trivia Time
Virgil Trucks nephew is Butch Trucks, who is the founder of what band?

Yesterday's Answer --> Put names on the back of uniforms.

This Day in Baseball History: August 24th, 1952

Lost his leg in World War II when an artillery piece crushed it.

On August 24, 1952:

The fans finally get a say.


Bill Veeck was one of the most imaginative men in baseball, and his ideas brought people to the ballpark. His love of baseball came from his father, who was President of the Cubs when the young Veeck was growing up, and he probably learned some business from his old man as well. Veeck once argued, "All I ever said is that you can draw more people with a losing team, plus bread and circuses, than with a losing team and a long, still silence," and you know what, he was right.

Veeck became the owner of the Cleveland Indians in 1946. As his first enterprise, he immediately put team games on the radio to draw interest to the team. A year later, he signed Larry Doby to be the first African-American player in the American League, and he signed Satchel Paige as well. But Veeck also had a zany side. He hired Max Patkin, a clown, to coach third. The American League, as always, was furious that Veeck would even think of trying something so out of the ordinary, but Veeck only cared about what the fans thought (they paid the bills). And the fans loved it.

Veeck, however, was not one to really settle down. A divorce forced him to sell the Indians, and after remarrying, he bought the broken-down St. Louis Browns. The worse of the two St. Louis teams, Veeck knew that the city wasn't big enough for both the Browns and the Cardinals, and consequently, he began trying to drive the Cardinals out of town. He hired Rogers Hornsby to be the manager and Dizzy Dean to be the announcer to bring more Cardinals fans to the Browns. When the Cardinals owner was convicted of tax evasion, he thought he had won, but when Anheiser-Busch bought the team, he was up a creek. He immediately began looking to move the Browns to Baltimore, but the league voted against him. Veeck ultimately realized that the owners simply didn't like him, and therefore, he sold the team, which eventually did move to Baltimore to become the Orioles.

But before he left, he created his legacy. The most famous stunt was hiring Eddie Gaedel to bat. But on August 24, 1952, he, several front office personnel, and a thousand fans sat behind home plate with signs saying "yes" or "no". They used those signs to determine managerial decisions, and whaddayaknow, the Browns won 5-3 to snap a 3-game losing streak. Do you think Royals fans would like this idea for managerial and general managerial (?) decisions?


Trivia Time
When Bill Veeck became the owner of the Chicago White Sox, he started something now standard for 25 of 30 teams. What was he the first to do?

Yesterday's Answer --> With 3 40+-homer seasons in his first 4 years, Mathews propelled himself over Elliot during the 1956 season.

Cano v. Pedroia

Sorry Yankees fan. Cano's really good, but Might Mite is still just a biiiit better.

Joel Sherman asked a few baseball executives, "Who would you rather have for the next 5 seasons -- Cano or Pedroia?". All of them responded, "Pedroia". Mike Avisa, then, took a little bit of a closer look and stated that Cano was the better player. Sorry, but Pedroia is the better player.

First off, even though the executives were right, they were wrong. Both Sherman and Avisa correctly point out that the executives are stereotyping Cano a bit. Latin American players are often made out to be lazy and stubborn, and when that happens, it is almost impossible for them to shrug that off. Even if he was lazy last season, a) he hasn't been this season and b) does it really matter how lazy he is if he still produces (I know theoretically it does, but in practicality?)? So, we can drop that argument, and let's look at the stats.

Avisa points out a few things in the last paragraph (BA, SLG, OPS, XBH, and VORP) that show Cano to be the better offensive player this season. And you know what, Cano is the better offensive player this season. The thing is that it's not by much. Cano is only 1.5 runs better offensively than Pedroia, which is a difference, but let's continue a bit further.

But what about for their career trends? Cano was worth 20 runs on offense in 2006 and 15 in 2007 before dropping to -10 last season, and he's now worth 14. I'm not sure he's really worth 20 a season, and he's not as bad as -10. I'd put him around 15-17 for a season. Pedroia was worth 14 in 2007 before his MVP season was worth 29.5 last season, and this season, he's worth 12.4 as of now. Like Cano, his 2008 season isn't really indicative of how he'll probably play, but I'd put him in the 14-16 run range. Cano, more power, is the offensive player over Pedroia, who is better at getting on-base, but it's not really that big of a difference.

Where the big difference is comes on defense. Avisa and Sherman say they don't buy this year's UZR ratings, which is just fine. But again, let's look at the trends. For 3 of the past 4 seasons (other than what appears to be a fluky 2007 where he was really, really good), Cano has been consistently a little below average. To be fair, I think we can put him around -2 or -3 runs. Pedroia, on the other hand, has been consistently above-average. I'd put him around +9 for a season. That's a whole win better defensively, and that's much more than the 2 runs Cano is worth on offense. Even if Pedroia is only +5 on defense, the difference between the two defensively is still more than what it is offensively. Yes, maybe Cano has eliminated botching routine plays, but that's why his UZR is -3.3 instead of -8.0.

Add on that Pedroia is a whole year younger, and it's even more clear who you want.

As for the mental makeup, would you rather have a guy with zero makeup questions or a guy with a history of them? You do have to ask this question. Again, maybe Cano has turned the corner, but the earlier concerns are still concerns. But this is still the least important element of the entire evaluation.

Therefore, let's make a quick summary. Cano is better offensively because of his ability to hit for power, but adding in Pedroia's ability to get on-base a lot more, Cano is only slightly more valuable offensively. For the future, Cano could learn to be more patient, but it's also likely that Pedroia could hit for a bit more power. I'm not sure the difference in offensive value changes. On defense, Pedroia is simply (and substantially) the better defender, and I'm not sure how that is really going to change. Add in Pedroia's age and lack of character concerns (icing on the cake), and he's the better player. Sorry.

But let's look big picture. The two really aren't that different in terms of value. They are two of the best second basemen in the MLB, and we don't really know what the future holds. But if you ask me today based on what I've seen, I'll take Pedroia. He's a 4-win player over a 3.5-win player. Again, not much of a difference. Is it shocking that all 7 said, "Pedroia"? Sure. Do you expect the voting to be a bit more even? Well, if Pedroia's the better player, then, honestly, yes all of them should say, "Pedroia", even if it's close.

Final word -- even in Cano's "bounce-back" season and Pedroia's "disappointing" season, Pedroia is still the more valuable player (4.1 to 3.0) by a whole win. Does Cano's VORP outweigh that?

This Day in Baseball History: August 23rd, 1952

Bob Elliot.

On August 23, 1952:

Bob Elliot and Bobby Hofman get thrown out in the same at-bat.


Bob Elliot was a third baseman/outfielder mainly for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Braves, but as his career wound down in 1952, he was a member of the New York Giants. Elliot was actually a pretty good player for his 15 seasons with a .289/.375/.440 line (124 OPS+), and for a time he set the National League record for most home runs as a third baseman with 170 (Eddie Mathews began his career in 1952 and would take the record away from him). Elliot would make 5 All-Star teams and win 1 MVP Award (1947).

Bobby Hofman wasn't so successful. Hofman played 7 major-league seasons from 1952-1957 (and a bit in 1949) for the New York Giants, but he never played in more than 100 games or had more than 232 at-bats in a season. He, however, was a league-average hitter (99 OPS+), but he never could crack the starting lineup for a prolonged period of time. In fact, what he might have been most known for is that he was the nephew of Solly Hofman, who helped the Cubs win World Series in 1907 and 1908.

Anyway, the two (Elliot and Hoffman) ended up intertwined in an interesting situation on August 23rd, 1952. Bobby Elliot started the game, but during an at-bat, he argued a called second strike. The umpire, not amused, threw him out of the game. Bobby Hofman came in to replace Elliot and finish his at-bat. On the next pitch, the umpire called Hofman out on strikes, and Hoffman, not amused, argued the call. The umpire, in turn, threw him out as well. Davey Williams had to come in and finish the game. Here's guessing he kept his mouth shut.


Trivia Time
In what season did Mathews pass Elliot on the HR list for third basemen?

Yesterday's Answer --> Mike Sweeney with 5 in 5,601 at-bats.

This Day in baseball History: August 22nd, 1999

Such an unfortunate situation.

On August 22, 1999:

Mark McGwire hits his 50th home run of the season.


For four consecutive seasons (1996-1999), Mark McGwire hit 50+ home runs, becoming the first player to ever accomplish the feat. On August 22nd, 1999, he hit his 50th home run of the season in the first game of a double-header off Jeff Tam (interesting sidenote: his first home run came off of starter Octavio Dotel -- still wrapping my head around that). McGwire started his streak in 1996 by hitting 52 home runs for Oakland, and he followed that up by hitting a combined 58 for Oakland (34) and St. Louis (24 in less than half the at-bats -- 433 to 224). 1998, of course, was the record-setting season in which he crushed 70 home runs (I still remember the liner just over the left-field wall for number 62). As for 1999, he would go on to hit 65 to lead his league for the fourth and last time. McGwire's career ended a couple of seasons later after battling numerous injuries.

When I saw that, I was slightly surprised that Babe Ruth hadn't done that. So I looked it up, and he got really close and often. In 1920 and 1921 (beginning of the Live Ball Era), he hit 54 and (record-setting) 59 dingers, respectively. Going for 3 consecutive 50+ homer seasons in 1922, Commissioner Kenesaw Landis suspended Ruth for 6 weeks to start the season after he barnstormed during the off-season (World Series participants were not allowed to barnstorm in the off-season to avoid being able to "restage" the Series), and Ruth finished with 35. He, however, was on pace for 51 or 52 home runs. Three seasons later in 1926, Ruth began a new streak. Over the next 6 seasons, he hit at least 46 home runs each season. Only 2 seasons eclipsed 50 home runs (1927 and 1928), but the others were all extremely close. His 1926-1928 number of homers was a record for number in 3 consecutive seasons until McGwire broke it on (guess what?) August 22, 1998 and then again the next season.

I wanted to avoid the steroid issue with McGwire, but at this point, I don't think it's worth ignoring. I'm not one to whitewash history, but let's take a look. Is it really that unlikely that McGwire would have put together a 4 season streak of 50+ homers? During his 1987 rookie season, he hit 49 home runs. He only hit in the 30's the next season as his average (and BABIP -- from 1989-1991, his BABIP's were all below .220; and yes, I know BABIP doesn't count home runs, but I find the tidbit interesting nonetheless) plummeted. He seemed to rediscover his massive power the next season by hitting 42 home runs in 1992, but foot injuries prohibited from playing often during the next 2 seasons in which he hit 18 home runs combined. McGwire only played 104 games the next season, but his 39 home runs in 422 AB's is impressive. Then, we arrive at his 1996-1999 years. So it wasn't as if he didn't have the power to do it. Did it increase the number of home runs and give him the record? Probably. But I think it's fairly likely that he could have still hit at or near 50 home runs a season along with a close to 60 home run season in there. He was just that good and that powerful, with or without steroids. I do hope he makes the Hall of Fame at some point.


Trivia Time
Mark McGwire is the worst triple hitter all-time in regard to players with at least 5,000 at-bats (6 in 7660). But who has the fewest (5) in at least 5,000 at-bats?

Yesterday's Answer --> Ian was right. Rick Ferrell, a Hall of Fame catcher, was Wes Ferrell's brother.

This Day in Baseball History: August 21st, 1932

Mike Hampton?

On August 21, 1932:

Wes Ferrell wins his 20th game of the season.


After only receiving brief bits of playing time in 1927 and 1928 as a 19 and 20-year old, Wes Ferrell finally got his chance in 1929. He made it count by going 21-10 with a 3.60 ERA even though he actually walked more people than he struck out (.92 K/BB). Ferrell followed that up with an even better 1930 season in which he won a career-high 25 games alongside a 3.31 ERA and bringing that K/BB ratio up to 1.35. A season later, he took a step back as his ERA went up a half point and his K/BB ratio went below 1 again (.95), but he was still able to win 22 games and lead the league with 27 complete games. Added in was a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns.

In 1932, Ferrell accomplished something that no other pitcher had or has done in the 20th or 21st century. He won 20+ games for the 4th consecutive season to begin his career, and he won his 20th on today's date. He wound up winning 23 games, and he barely had more strikeouts than walks (105 to 104). Unfortunately, Ferrell's season became about more than his win totals. The 24-year old had a short temper, and he was fined and suspended a few times for refusing to leave a game and leaving a game before the manager took him out. After a particularly bad performance, he punched himself so hard in the jaw that he nearly broke it and knocked himself out.

His career would begin to wind down after all that. Ferrell suffered a shoulder injury the following season, and he fell to 11-12. He picked things up again in 1935 and 1936 by winning 25 and 20 games, respectively, but those were his last hurrah. He wouldn't pitch well after that, and he was out of the game by age 33 with 193 wins. Even though he was a very good pitcher, he may have been known as much for his bat. He hit .280/.351/.446 (100 OPS+) for his career, and he set the single-season (9) and career (38) records for home runs by a pitcher.


Trivia Time
Wes Ferrell is related to what Hall of Famer, and what is their relationship?

Yesterday's Answer --> Youngest to ever steal home.

I is for Me and Z is for Zenith

Didn't know he had a stamp. Cool.

I is for Me,
Not a hard-hitting man,
But an outstanding all-time
Incurable fan.

Z is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.

The above quote are a couple stanzas from the famous baseball poem "Lineup for Yesterday" written by Ogden Nash. It's one of the, if not the most, famous baseball poems written. If you don't know anything about it, Nash essentially goes through the alphabet naming the best players of baseball by using the letter to correspond with a name. For example, G is for Lou Gehrig. He does this for all the letters with some exceptions. When he arrives at the letter "x", he fudges a little by using Jimmie Foxx (see the two "x"'s at the end?). However, for 24 letters, he still finds a famous player to fill the space. There are 2 exceptions -- I and Z.

Now, why did he do it? In regard to I, he utilizes himself ("I is for Me"), so he uses a person but not a ballplayer. For Z, he doesn't use any person at all, and instead, he chooses to glorify the game. All that is perfectly good, and because it's his poem, he can do whatever he wants with it. But I still have to ask the question -- why?

Let's start with I. In many paintings, painters implant their own self-portrait, and this could be a similar construction. Another reason is to make a universal statement -- "I" doesn't necessarily pertain to him but, instead, to all baseball fans reading the poem.

On to Z. At this point in history, baseball is truly the National Pastime, and this could simply be him taking the opportunity to glorify the game itself. It could also be just a nice conclusion to the poem. Having a "z" player end the poem is a little abrupt, but having a more general conclusion brings the poem to soft close.

But possibly the most obvious (yet also most shallow) is that he simply couldn't think of any good ballplayers with names that started with "i" and "z". The rest of the post (after the next few sentences) will talk about the best players Nash could have used in the poem. Remember, the poem was published in January of 1949, so we have to stick with players who were stars prior to 1949.


I is a bit unusual. The letter is found everywhere in the English language (it helps to be a vowel), but few names begin with it. Because he fudged a few others, he could have used Ted Williams. Williams was still playing, and Nash avoided using active players (Bobo Newsom foiled him by coming back in 1952 and 1953 after retiring in 1948). Regardless, he could find someone with an eye in the name, but doing that is doing a bit more fudging than the x's in Foxx, considering the rarity of x, oddity of 2 x's, and the popularity of Foxx. So were there good players with names that began with I.

- Out of the top 400 players from 1876-1948 in OPS+, none have an I to begin their either their first or last name. No Isaacs, Irvings, or Ivans. Sorry boys.

- Looked through the top 400 pitchers in ERA+, and you know what -- nothing. Still nothing. Geez. I had Baseball-Reference, so I can only imagine how hard it was for Nash.


Z is just plain rare. In Scrabble, Z and Q are the letters with the most worth (Nash cheated a bit by mentioning Don Quixote to bring up Connie Mack, but again, he could have done something similar with I and Z) at 10 points a pop. So were there any players with a Z (and I'll even try to pull a Foxx here)?

- We have a few winners here. Jake Stenzel comes in as a "Foxx" example. A member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1890's, Stenzel played 9 seasons, but 1894-1897 was his peak. Offense, however, exploded at this point and Stenzel was lost in the shuffle.

Zeke Bonura is another possibility, but he only played in 7 seasons in the mid-to-late 1930's. He was a good hitter, but he was known for poor effort out in the field. The "Bonura Salute" is when a player just waves at a passing groundball. I don't think we can use him even if his name starts with a z.

Luckily, we have Zack Wheat, a member of the Hall of Fame (by Veteran's Committee). Playing from 1909-1927 (mainly as a Brooklyn Dodger, he was a lifetime .317/.367/.450 hitter (129 OPS+) and was a well-respected defender. He was originally voted into the Hall of Fame in 1927, but only 29 years had passed (a player needs 30 years of retirement to be elected by the Veteran's Committee). Because the VC only met every two years, he had to wait until 1959 to be elected, this time unanimously.

- Dizzy Dean, Dazzy Vance, and Lefty Gomez are all out because they were already used in the poem, and there were no pitchers who had a name start with a Z. Dave Foutz, Joe Benz, and Fritz Ostermuelle were the "Foxx" examples, but none were particularly good. Foutz may have been the best with a lifetime 147-66 record with 41 of them coming in 1886. Benz was fairly good, but he only lasted 9 seasons. Ostermuelle lasted 15 seasons, but he bounced between being a starter and reliever.


In the end, we have no real suggestions for I, but it appears that Zack Wheat could have been a choice for Z. We may never know why Nash wrote those two stanzas the way he did. Maybe he wanted some metaphors, or maybe he just couldn't think of anyone to put in the poem. Maybe it was just a combination of the two. I just thought it was something fun to ponder this afternoon.

Hall of Fame: Bob Feller (1962)

He may be controversial, but he was one of the best pitchers of all-time.

Year Team     G  GS  CG SHO  GF  SV   IP      H   BFP  HR    R   ER   BB   SO  SH  WP HBP  BK   W   L   ERA
1936 CLE A   14   8   5   0   5   1   62     52   279   1   29   23   47   76   1   8   4   3   5   3   3.34
1937 CLE A   26  19   9   0   4   1  148.2  116   651   4   68   56  106  150  12   5   2   2   9   7   3.39
1938 CLE A   39  36  20   2   3   1  277.2  225  1248  13  136  126  208  240  11   5   7   1  17  11   4.08
1939 CLE A   39  35  24   4   3   1  296.2  227  1243  13  105   94  142  246  17  14   3   1  24   9   2.85
1940 CLE A   43  37  31   4   5   4  320.1  245  1304  13  102   93  118  261  13   8   5   0  27  11   2.61
1941 CLE A   44  40  28   6   4   2  343    284  1466  15  129  120  194  260  13   6   5   0  25  13   3.15
1945 CLE A    9   9   7   1   0   0   72     50   300   1   21   20   35   59   3   1   2   0   5   3   2.50
1946 CLE A   48  42  36  10   5   4  371.1  277  1512  11  101   90  153  348  25   3   3   0  26  15   2.18
1947 CLE A   42  37  20   5   4   3  299    230  1218  17   97   89  127  196  15   7   4   2  20  11   2.68
1948 CLE A   44  38  18   2   3   3  280.1  255  1186  20  123  111  116  164  11   2   2   0  19  15   3.56
1949 CLE A   36  28  15   0   6   0  211    198   894  18  104   88   84  108   9   3   1   1  15  14   3.75
1950 CLE A   35  34  16   3   0   0  247    230  1055  20  105   94  103  119  14   3   5   0  16  11   3.43
1951 CLE A   33  32  16   4   1   0  249.2  239  1061  22  105   97   95  111  13   2   7   0  22   8   3.50
1952 CLE A   30  30  11   0   0   0  191.2  219   869  13  124  101   83   81  22   1   3   1   9  13   4.74
1953 CLE A   25  25  10   1   0   0  175.2  163   721  16   78   70   60   60   8   1   3   1  10   7   3.59
1954 CLE A   19  19   9   1   0   0  140    127   580  13   53   48   39   59   2   0   3   0  13   3   3.09
1955 CLE A   25  11   2   1   4   0   83     71   340   7   43   32   31   25   2   0   1   0   4   4   3.47
1956 CLE A   19   4   2   0   5   1   58     63   253   7   34   32   23   18   3   0   0   1   0   4   4.97
Total(18 y) 570 484 279  44  52  21 3827   3271 16180 224 1557 1384 1764 2581 194  69  60  13 266 162   3.25

8 All-Star Games (1938-1941, 1946-1948, 1950)


Robert William Andrew Feller was born on November 3, 1918 in Van Meter, Iowa. The son of a farmer and avid baseball fan, Feller grew up doing farm chores, but he also had a healthy love for the game of baseball. His father would create a "field of dreams" on their farm, but it was a full stadium with seats and a scoreboard. Bill Feller, Bob's father, recruited people to play, and his son was the star. The younger Feller went on to play for his high school, where he became a local sensation. Scout Cy Slapnicka signed the young flamethrower for $1 and an autographed baseball.

But like many things in regard to Feller, his career began in controversy. Slapnicka was made GM of the Indians before Feller ever played a minor-league game, and Slapnicka transferred Feller's contract through some minor-league teams before bringing him up. This broke league rules, and Kenesaw Landis was on it. However, he awarded Feller to the Indians after testimony from Feller and his father substantiated Slapnicka's claimes, but Landis never really believed them. In his first major-league start in 1936, he struck out 15 St. Louis Browns, and not too long after, he struck out 17 Philadelphia Athletics (both of which were the worst teams in the AL that season, but it was still impressive). Feller's arm was legendary from the beginning, and he did nothing to keep it from growing. He pitched his entire career with Cleveland. He won 266 games, and he may have won more if World War II hadn't taken 4 years from him (Feller was legendary even on the battlefield as he won 8 battle stars and 5 campaign ribbons). In addition, Feller led the league in wins and strikeouts 6 times, though he also led it 4 times in walks (he was notoriously wild, making comparisons to Nolan Ryan acceptable), but he only led the league in ERA once.

There's an interesting story about Feller's arm. Supposedly, he learned how to throw by throwing against his barn in Iowa, and all the farmwork made him very strong. Some people believe he has thrown the hardest fastball ever, even better than Nolan Ryan's. Nolan Ryan hit 102 on the radar gun, but some players who hit against both said that Feller threw harder. Now, you really have to take that with a grain of salt -- Feller could have been more deceptive, etc. --, but that would mean that Feller threw at least 103. One day, someone brought Feller to some army equipment designed to measure the velocity of artillery shells, but he only threw 98. However, that was at the end of his career, and there were a couple instances where radar guns read 104 and 107 earlier in his career. Can you believe it? Regardless of how fast it actually went, it's interesting to note that Feller usually gives credit to his curveball and slider for all those strikeouts.

By 1951, Feller's career was winding down, but his 22-win 1951 was still very impressive. His ERA jumped more than a point the next season to 4.74, and he became an effective spot-starter for the next 3 seasons. At age 37 in 1956, his arm had enough. Five years later in 1962, he became the first player since Walter Johnson to be elected in his first year of eligibility, and he was the first player voted in by the BBWAA since 1956.

This Day in Baseball History: August 20th, 1945

Can we have another World War so that we can start breaking these age records? Because it's not gonna happen otherwise.

On August 20, 1945:

Tommy Brown hits his first major-league home run.


Born on December 6, 1927, Tommy Brown was a 16-year old who signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the minors for that season, he hit .297/.341/.462 and led the minors with 11 triples before the Dodgers decided to call him up on August 3rd. Oddly, Brown wanted to stay in the minors longer (really?) because he felt that he had more to learn, but with World War II taking players from rosters, the Dodgers didn't have much of a choice. He hit very poorly for the rest of that season, but he was a 16-year old in a man's league, though he wasn't the youngest player in the league (Who was that, I wonder?).

The next season, Brown continued to see limited duty. Eddie Basinski held down the everyday job at short (Brown's primary position), but because Basinski wasn't very good (their averages and OPS+ are very similar for that season), Brown did play in 55 games at short. He continued to have little power, but the old batting average and on-base percentage went up quite a bit (though he walked fewer times in more plate appearances). On August 20, 1945, he hit his first major-league home run off of Preacher Roe, and at 17 years, 8 months, and 14 days, he was the youngest ever to hit a home run in the major leagues.

Ironically, Brown lost his 1946 season due to military service. The other players were coming back, and it was now Brown's turn to leave. Brown returned to the Dodgers in 1947 and welcomed Jackie Robinson to the fold (he supposedly refused to sign a petition to prohibit Robinson from playing). Over the rest of his career, he bounced from position to position without ever really finding a home or significant playing time. After the 1953 season at the age of 25, he could no longer find a job, so he headed to the Pacific Coast League. Six seasons later, he retired to Nashville and worked in a glass plant.


Trivia Time
Brown is also known for being the youngest player to do what else -- something we don't see often anymore?

Monday's Answer --> 11th


Sorry about the lack of stuff up (I feel like I've said that a lot lately). College drama has kept me fairly (or unfairly) occupied over the past few days, but we'll have some stuff up for you now. I do promise this time.

This Day in Baseball History: August 17th, 1968

Raise your hands if you got screwed.

On April 17, 1968:

Jim McAndrew begins to question his team's offense.


The 1967 New York Mets were horrible, losing over 100 games. The 1969 Mets won 100 games and went on to take the World Series in a dramatic turn of fortunes for the team. The 1968 Mets? Well, they were pretty bad as they lost 89 games. When a team loses that many games, rookies tend to get a chance here and there, and 24-year old Jim McAndrew was one of the beneficiaries.

McAndrew would go on to pitch for 7 seasons, but he only won 37 games. His ERA+ was an almost perfectly average 98. But his career began well enough from the perspective of his pitching. On July 21, 1968, McAndrew went 6 innings in his debut, giving up 1 run on 6 hits. During his second start, this time on August 4, McAndrew had a more difficult time as he only went 4.2 innings. Six days later, McAndrew went 7 innings while giving up 1 run on 6 hits and 5 walks. A week after, he went 7 more innings and gave up 6 more hits and 1 more run. Not absolutely spectacular, but it's not bad at all. He went on to post a 2.28 ERA for the year (a rather good year for pitchers) in 12 games.

In all of that, you'd expect him to win a game or at least get a no-decision. Hell, you'd expect his team to at least score a run. However, neither of which happened. McAndrew lost his first 4 decisions 2-0, 2-0, 1-0, and 1-0 in what is unofficially the unluckiest run to begin a career. At 2.9 runs a game, the Mets were the second-worst offense in the NL, and they did absolutely nothing to help McAndrew start his career. In another trivia note, his first 3 starts were parts of double-headers.


Trivia Time
Drafted in the first ever draft, McAndrew was taken in what round?

Thursday's Answer --> Columbia

Packing and Moving

It's times like this that I thank the higher order for making me a boy.

Unfortunately, it's that time of year again, and I must again make the journey back to Lexington. Anyway, I'm spending today packing and seeing family. I wouldn't expect anything tomorrow or Saturday as I will be driving tomorrow, and then, I will be heading off to parties and subsequently recovering from them. Sunday looks to be a good day to get back in the swing of things, and look for stuff next week.

Also, if you are interested in getting into a Fantasy Football League with some other bloggers and myself that I'm getting going, let me know.

This Day in Baseball History: August 12th, 1921

Murry Dickson, ladies and gentlemen.

On August 12, 1921:

George Smith throws a shutout, beating the Braves 4-0.


George Smith was an average major-league pitcher that played mainly for the New York (Baseball) Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies. He pitched in parts of 8 seasons and had a career record of 41-81 with a 3.89 ERA (93 ERA+). However, Smith wasn't a full-time starter, and out of his 229 career appearances, he only started 118 of them. But he made one count on August 12, 1921 against the Boston Braves. During his complete-game shutout, he gave up 12 hits. That's pretty amazing if you think about it. That's at least 1 runner an inning, and pitchers generally only strand around 75% of their runners. You figure he would have given up around 3-4 runs, but luck was on his side that night. Out of curiosity, I looked up some stuff on pitchers who have given up a lot of hits but gave up zero runs.

On July 15, 1964, Mudcat Grant went the distance, giving up zero runs on 13 hits and a walk. Surprisingly, that's not the most runners allowed while still holding the other team scoreless, and that even counts only 9 inning games. Grant's Twins went on to beat the Senators 6-0.

On September 14, 1983, Tommy John went 13 innings while giving up 13 hits but zero runs. He also failed to walk a batter, which is rather impressive. What sucks is that he didn't receive a decision and his team lost.

On August 12, 1976, Catfish Hunter also went 13 innings, but he also didn't factor into the decision. However, Hunter's Yankees went on to win in 15 innings when the Yankees busted out for 5 runs against the California Angels. Hunter was very good, giving up 11 hits and 4 walks as well as a hit batsman. The 16 base runners ties for the most baserunners allowed (at least in the Retrosheet Era) without giving up a run.

On June 6, 1964, Jim Bouton, also with the Yankees, did almost exactly what Hunter did. He went 13 innings and gave up 15 baserunners (10 hits and 5 walks), and the Yankees waited to score until the 15th inning, when they beat (surprise!) the California Angels 2-0.

But the most impressive (or luckiest) outing belongs to Murry Dickson. He went 9 innings in a 4-0 win for his Phillies while giving up zero runs on 10 hits, 5 walks, an error on June 9, 1954.


Trivia Time
What Ivy League university did Smith attend?

Yesterday's Answer --> The Toledo Mud Hens suffer this curse after Felton criticized the fans after a playoff game. Oddly, that was Felton's last professional win.

This Day in Baseball History: August 11th, 1982

It would have been awesome if his number was 16 or if he lost 2 more games.

On August 11, 1982:

Terry Felton loses again.


Terry Felton had a rough major-league career. For bits of four seasons, Felton tried his hand as a major-league pitcher, but his 5.35 ERA and 77 ERA+ pretty much tell you most of the story. From 1979-1981, he made a grand total of 7 appearances (they weren't very good), but he somehow managed to grab the swingman position on the California Angels staff for 1982. 48 appearances later, the Angels realized that Felton and his 4.99 ERA could go.

But Felton did manage to set a couple of major-league records, but because I love me some schadenfreude, they aren't good records. The first is the most losses to start a career without also winning a game somewhere in there. Guy Morton set the original record back in the 1910's with 13 losses, but Felton would end up losing 16 straight to begin his career. Oh, I forgot to mention -- Felton never won a major-league game. His 16 losses were his only decisions. However, his 55 appearances to start a career without a win is not the worst in history. Vic Darensbourg went 123 appearances to start his career.

The other record he set was the most losses in a career without ever winning, at least for the time. Since then, this record has been taken away from him, and he now sits 6th on the all-time list. Juan Alvarez and Ed Olwine went 80 games in their careers, and they never won a game. Poor guys.


Trivia Time
There is, remarkably, a Curse of Terry Felton. What minor-league team "suffers" this curse?

Yesterday's Answer --> Tom Seaver with 10. Apparently, just ask Ron, and he'll tell you all about it.

This Day in Baseball History: August 10th, 1889

Yep, that's a card in a cigarette carton. Step right on up kids.

On August 10, 1889:

Mickey Welch becomes the first pinch-hitter in Major League Baseball history.


Early on in baseball history, roster sizes were limited. They didn't have massive farm systems, 40-man rosters, and 25-man rosters. They didn't have too many more players than the 9 on the playing field, and players were expected to play the entire game and take their at-bats. Of course, the only exception could be made for injuries, and because of an injury to Hank O'Day on August 10, 1889, Mickey Welch would become the first recorded pinch-hitter in baseball history. Another interesting thing to note is that pinch-hitters were essentially illegal at the time, and injury was the only way to get a new player into the game. Otherwise, pinch-hitters had to wait until 1892 to be able to come in for purely strategic reasons. Jack Doyle is popularly credited with being the first pinch-hitter to do so in that mindset.

What makes all this more interesting is that Mickey Welch was a pitcher. Unless your name is Micah Owings or Carlos Zambrano, you're probably not going to pinch-hit as a pitcher. The other unusual thing about this is that Welch wasn't even a good hitter. In 2,286 plate appearances, Welch hit .224/.252/.297 with 93 doubles, 16 triples, and 12 home runs. I guess if you compared him to modern pitchers, he would look pretty good, but he still wasn't the ideal choice for a pinch-hitter.

But Welch was the ideal of a good pitcher (well, maybe not ideal, but he was pretty good). Enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1973, Welch won 307 games in his career with a 2.71 ERA (114 ERA+). Out of the 549 games he started, he finished 525 of them and 41 of them without giving up a run. He won 30+ games 3 times and even won 44 in 1885. Also in 1885, he set a major-league record (which still stands today) by striking out the first 9 batters in a game.


Trivia Time
Who holds the major-league record for most consecutive strikeouts and with how many?

Thursday's Answer --> .270, almost 70 points below his father


Sorry for the slowness around these parts. I'm trying to get ready for school and pack everything to move back on Friday. Once I get back to Lexington, time will be plentiful for putting up posts.

On August 6th, 1993 and 1999

Does not compute.

On August 6, 1993 and 1999:

Tony Gwynn had good days.


It's been fun watching the Braves-Padres games over the past few days as Joe Simpson and Boog Sciambi continually asked themselves what Tony Gwynn says when his son comes up/gets a hit/gets an out/makes a play in the field and if he remains impartial or not. They're not being critical, merely curious. It seems as though it would be fairly easy for media guys to get tapes from the broadcasts to fast forward to the right points in the game to find out exactly what he says. From the fact that they kept talking about it, I'm guessing they never did.

Anyway, Tony Gwynn, Sr. was a pretty good player. He had a .338/.388/.459 line for his career, good enough for a 132 OPS+ as a center fielder/right fielder. For his career, he had 3,141 hits, which seems a bit too small considering how well he hit and how little he walked, and he was widely considered one of the best hitters in the game. Some people swear he would have hit .400 in 1994 without the strike, and he had several other years with averages over .350. What always surprises me about him though is that he stole so many bases early in his career. I just have a much different image of him. Shows you what not being fully conscious until 1995 does to you.

Anyway, August 6th seems to have been one heckuva day for Gwynn. On August 6th, 1993, he had a really nice day, hitting well in two games. In the first, he went 3-for-3 with a couple intentional walks, and in the second, he went 2-for-5. Along the way, he picked up his 2,000th hit. Six years later, he went 4-for-5, and somewhere in there, he got his 3,000th hit.


Trivia Time
What is the younger Gwynn's career batting average?

Yesterday's Answer --> Delmon Young

This Day in Baseball History: August 5th, 1901

Burt Hart, on Urban Dictionary, means paranoid failure. Not sure if this has anything to do with it.

On August 5, 1901:

Burt Hart punches umpire John Haskell.


Burt Hart and John Haskell share something in common -- 1901 was their only season in the major leagues. I'm not sure why Haskell didn't umpire anymore after 1901, but MLB.com says that 1901 was his only season. However, we do know why Hart didn't last.

In his only season in Baltimore, Hart only played 58 games. He was a pretty good hitter with a .311/.383/.374, but he doesn't appear to have been a particularly good fielder. As for a minor-league career, he only spent 48 games in Wheeling, but he mashed there with a .364 batting average and 15 doubles. And honestly, at age 31, he probably wasn't going to play for too long in the major leagues anyway, but his uncontrolled rage would lead to a quicker ouster from baseball.

During a game on August 5th, 1901, Hart nailed a ball into the gap and raced around the bases to third, but when he got there, he was tagged out. Well, at least the umpire John Haskell believed he was out. Believing the opposite, Hart lost control and punched the umpire before he could be restrained. He would later be banned for life from the game.


Trivia Time
What current major leaguer was suspended indefinitely in 2006 for throwing his bat at the home plate umpire?

Yesterday's Answer --> Donated 2 paintings to the Easter Seals that raised over $60,000.

Remembering the Hamilton-Volquez Trade

I still wish he'd bend the bill. It just looks weird.

I'm going to steal a little from Lar's style for this post, and I hope he doesn't mind too much. This is a kind of a deadline deal post that isn't about a deadline deal, but it's one of the more important deals made in the past few years, or was it?

A few days shy of Christmas in 2007, the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds opened respective early gifts. The Reds needed an arm for the starting rotation, and Edinson Volquez was the answer. The Rangers needed an impact bat, and Josh Hamilton was the guy. Oh yeah, the Reds also got a smaller (figuratively and literally) gift in Danny Ray Herrera (you can see all the way at the bottom in the almost footnote like "The 23-year-old Herrera spent most of last season at Double-A, going 5-2 with a 3.78 ERA in 34 relief appearances").

Over the course of the 2008 season, both Hamilton and Volquez were All-Stars (literally and figuratively). Hamilton played in 156 games with a slash line of .304/.371/.530 with 32 HR, 98 R, and 132 RBI, but he did cost the Rangers 13 runs while he meandered around center field. Luckily for Hamilton, most people only count offense, and even counting his defense, he was still worth exactly 4 WAR last season. Not bad, and that doesn't even include all the new fans he made with that awesome Home Run Derby performance.

Volquez wasn't too shabby, either. He made 32 starts and hurled 196 innings (almost 6.1 innings per start). In addition, Volquez netted a nifty 17-6 record with a 3.21 ERA (3.60 FIP). The positives were almost overwhelming - 206 strikeouts, 167 hits, and only 14 home runs while pitching at Great American Ballpark -, but his 93 walks were just a bit worrisome. Still, he, similar to Hamilton, garnered a healthy 4.1 WAR over the course of the 2008 season, and Volquez seemed headed to forefront of talks about the best young pitchers in the game.

All of this (especially the similar WAR values) led to such headlines such as: Josh Hamilton and Edinson Volquez: What a Great Trade and Hamilton, Volquez Create Perfect Trade. There were several of these posts that talked about what a great trade and how even the trade ended up being. Even Josh Hamilton stated, "Just tell everyone it's a draw. Both teams are winners in the trade." Wayne Krivsky, particularly proud of himself, tried to remember "one [trade] in recent times where it paid off so quickly for each team." You can't fault them for the analysis. As of 2008, it really was an even trade.

Of course, then this season happened. Josh Hamilton has made a couple trips to the disabled list, but even when he's played, it hasn't been particularly good. In 58 games, he has a slash line of .226/.277/.377, but his defense has been positive (+6.3 runs). All told, he's worth 0.5 WAR. Volquez, on the other side, hasn't been any better. He just had to undergo Tommy John surgery, and he made 2 other trips to the DL. He's made 9 starts with 49 innings (a little over 5 innings a start) and has a 4.35 ERA. All told, he's worth 0.2 WAR.

So, I guess it has remained an even trade, but the optimism has certainly waned considerably. Hamilton's injury problems have reappeared, and Volquez is out at least another season with 2011 probably the soonest he could be back to Cy Young-type form.

But the point isn't even to analyze the trade now. I'm not sure why this is, but we have this penchant for trying to analyze everything. The problem is that we have no context to go on, and there's no way to prognosticate the results. So why do we try? Why can't we wait for the next 4 years or so to see what the real value is? Why must we prepare the words we are going to have to eat later? As for the future of this deal, no one knows. Volquez is out for another season, but with Hamilton's injury history, no one really knows how much he will play. And then, we have to worry about the 3 or so seasons after that, which no one can even begin to imagine

People have already judged all of this year's deadline deals, and GMs have been raked over the coals/lauded like they're the Messiah. How does anyone know? And if we all agree that we have no idea of knowing, why do we spend time typing out analysis that really is worth nothing? Cleveland's deal may end up working out awesome for them, and Cliff Lee may destroy his elbow two starts from now. It's the GM's job to try to forecast. That's what they're paid to do, and they're terrible at it. But they have to because that's the only way to do their jobs. They have to plan for the future. Writers don't have to. Why not spend time re-analyzing the trades from 5-6 years ago that we can actually judge? Only through history can we judge, and most of the time, we don't do a very good job of it then even when we have all of the facts.

Oh yeah, about that footnote. Daniel Ray Herrera has thrown 44 innings with a 2.64 ERA (3.9 7 FIP) and is worth 0.3 WAR. Who thinks that by the time the next 4-6 years is up that he gives at least one of Hamilton-Volquez a run for their money in the WAR or VORP race, especially when he starts getting more high-leverage situations?

Just stop. I know it's hard. It's like smoking cigarrettes. It's bad for you, you've been doing it for so long that you don't know how you'll do without it, and everyone else is still doing it, but you've seen the evidence that it's bad and you know everything will be better if you just stop. So just stop.


Another fun deadline post about why we like the deadline so much, and it was written by two people (Joe Posnanski and Bill James) much smarter than I am.

Hall of Fame: Joe Cronin (1956)

His number 4 has been retired by the Red Sox.

Year Team    G    AB    R    H  2B  3B  HR  RBI   BB   SO HBP  SH GDP   SB  CS   AVG   OBP   SLG
1926 PIT N  38    83    9   22   2   2   0   11    6   15   0   3        0   0  .265  .315  .337
1927 PIT N  12    22    2    5   1   0   0    3    2    3   0   0        0   0  .227  .292  .273
1928 WAS A  63   227   23   55  10   4   0   25   22   27   0  10        4   0  .242  .309  .322
1929 WAS A 145   494   72  139  29   8   8   61   85   37   1  21        5   9  .281  .388  .421
1930 WAS A 154   587  127  203  41   9  13  126   72   36   5  22       17  10  .346  .422  .513
1931 WAS A 156   611  103  187  44  13  12  126   81   52   4   4       10   9  .306  .391  .480
1932 WAS A 143   557   95  177  43  18   6  116   66   45   3   3        7   5  .318  .393  .492
1933 WAS A 152   602   89  186  45  11   5  118   87   49   2   5        5   4  .309  .398  .445
1934 WAS A 127   504   68  143  30   9   7  101   53   28   1   9        8   0  .284  .353  .421
1935 BOS A 144   556   70  164  37  14   9   95   63   40   3   8        3   3  .295  .370  .460
1936 BOS A  81   295   36   83  22   4   2   43   32   21   1   6        1   3  .281  .354  .403
1937 BOS A 148   570  102  175  40   4  18  110   84   73   6  11        5   3  .307  .402  .486
1938 BOS A 143   530   98  172  51   5  17   94   91   60   5  11        7   5  .325  .428  .536
1939 BOS A 143   520   97  160  33   3  19  107   87   48   0  20  18    6   6  .308  .407  .492
1940 BOS A 149   548  104  156  35   6  24  111   83   65   1  13   6    7   5  .285  .380  .502
1941 BOS A 143   518   98  161  38   8  16   95   82   55   1  14  20    1   4  .311  .406  .508
1942 BOS A  45    79    7   24   3   0   4   24   15   21   0   1   3    0   1  .304  .415  .494
1943 BOS A  59    77    8   24   4   0   5   29   11    4   0   0   3    0   0  .312  .398  .558
1944 BOS A  76   191   24   46   7   0   5   28   34   19   1   5   7    1   4  .241  .358  .356
1945 BOS A   3     8    1    3   0   0   0    1    3    2   0   0   0    0   0  .375  .545  .375
20 Years) 2124  7579 1233 2285 515 118 170 1424 1059  700  34 166  57i  87  71  .301  .390  .468

7 All-Star Games (1933-1935, 1937-1939, 1941)


Joseph Edward Cronin was born on October 12, 1906 in San Francisco, California. He was signed before the 1925 season by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but he wasn't a particularly impressive shortstop prospect. In his brief time with the Pirates in 1926 and 1927, he didn't play all that much or well when he did play, but he did enough to catch the eye of Joe Engel, a scout for the Washington Senators. Engel bought Cronin away from the Pirates for $7,500 and brought him to Washington. Owner Clark Griffith wasn't amused and threatened to fire Engel.

Cronin's 1928 season wasn't really an indication that his career was going to turn around, but when he received a full season's worth of at-bats in 1929, he took full advantage. Cronin really broke out a season later with career-highs in RBI (126) and batting average (.346), and he won the Sporting News Player of the Year Award (sadly, the recognized MVP's of today weren't started until 1931 -- more on that in November). He continued to hit over the next few seasons, gaining the favor of fans and Griffith. Griffith introduced Cronin to his niece, and the two were soon married in 1934. In 1933, he had become the player-manager of the Senators and led them to a World Series, but his career and life in Washington weren't to be.

Griffith sold his star player and nephew-in-law (is there such a term?) to the Boston Red Sox after the 1934 season, but he ensured that Cronin received a 5-year/$250,000 contract when he did. His Boston career began a bit inauspiciously, but the years from 1938-1941 were some of Cronin's best. The career shortstop would continue to lead the Red Sox as player-manager in his time there, but in 1942, he began taking over as primarily the manager. A youngster by the name of Johnny Pesky was making a name for himself, and Cronin took himself out of the lineup. Cronin played until 1945, and though Pesky went off to World War II, Cronin's last 4 seasons were still spent primarily as a pinch-hitter.

Cronin went on to become GM of the Red Sox in 1947, where he somewhat infamously never brought up an African-American player to play for his team, and he became the American League President in 1959 (the year Pumpsie Green made his debut). Three years before that, the BBWAA saw fit to elect Cronin to the Hall of Fame with 152 of 196 votes (78.8%).

This Day in Baseball History: August 4th, 1983

Had a pretty good season with them, too.

On August 4, 1983:

Dave Winfield kills the Blue Jays ... and a seagull.


On August 4, the New York Yankees made a trip to play the Toronto Blue Jays. The two teams were playing well but still in third (Blue Jays) and fourth (Yankees), and by the end of the season, the two teams would be still be battling for third and fourth with the Yankees winning out. It was also an interesting match-up from a managing perspective as Billy Martin and Bobby Cox squared off. From a pitching perspective, Doug Stieb and Shane Rawley went at it with both throwing complete games, but it was the Yankees, behind Dave Winfield's 2 hits and 2 RBI's, who won the game 3-1.

But the fans weren't exactly preoccupied with the game. They were after Dave Winfield, but it wasn't because he was a key player in the game. Before the fifth inning as is customary, Winfield was simply making his warm-up tosses, and when the catcher threw down to second, he had to throw it in. He yelled at the bat boy to pay attention, and with his attention, Winfield hurled the ball in. Unfortunately, it nailed a seagull, cracking its skull, and killed it. The fans were upset, and they began launching their own missiles at Winfield and booed him. After the game, the Ontario Police arrested him and charged him with cruelty to animals. Winfield paid a $500 fine and went on his way.

There's some debate as to whether Winfield did it on purpose. On one hand, Billy Martin quipped that Winfield couldn't make that accurate of a throw if he tried, but on the other, he threw it toward a stationary bird. I imagine he threw it at the bird in the way that a kid throws a rock at an animal. You don't really mean to hit it (and definitely not kill it), but you'd think it was funny if it did hit the bird. Out of pure luck, Winfield actually hit the bird and in the wrong spot. For years, Toronto fans flapped their arms and booed him. Funny enough, Winfield played in Toronto in 1992 and became a fan favorite.


Trivia Time
What did Winfield due during the 1983 off-season to make amends?

Yesterday's Answer --> Yogi Berra and Mickey Cochrane