Bob was kind enough to speak to Seamheads about the start of his career in Washington, DC as the first television announcer for the Washington Nationals in 1947, where he continued until 1961 before joining Joe Garagiola at NBC for the Game of the Week in the 1960′s. He is the guest for this Friday’s “Outta the Parkway” show on the Seamheads Podcast Network. Call in to hear the interview live at 347-945-7172 or use the link after the fact to listen to an archived version of the show.

Q. You got your start in Broadcasting at Duke University before coming to Washington, could you tell us what that was like?

Bob Wolff. There were many lucky breaks, but I tried to make them come true. I went to Duke University to become a baseball player, but I broke my ankle down there–my spikes got caught in the dirt–and while I was sidelined the local CBS station asked me to sit in and they would ask me questions about my team mates.  They liked my work and asked me to join their crew. I talked to the Duke baseball coach and told him that I wanted to get to the majors some day and he said, ‘this may be the opportunity.” So I decided to try that. I did basketball games as well and I would get back home from doing the games around midnight; I would study until three in the morning and then get up and go to class around 7:30. But I loved it and that was my start.

World War II brought me to Washington. I was commissioned into the Navy and went out with the Seabees and was stationed in the Solomon Islands as a supply officer. I found that the rules they had taught me were more applicable to a ship than to a station on that island so I wrote my own rules. I put it all in book form with pictures and sent it back to the Navy in Washington. I was very lucky that they decided to publish my book and asked me to fly back to Washington to work in training and that is how I got to Washington.

I decided at the end of the war to go back into broadcasting and I took by application with all the clippings from what I had done with Duke for CBS around to the local news affiliates and I took a job with the Washington Post. Then I heard there was a new television station–WTTG–where they were doing the Washington Senators baseball games. From there I have been getting lucky breaks all along the way.

Q. That was in 1947 and it was the very beginnings of television. You were a pioneer in what was a new medium at the time. Arch McDonald was the radio announcer. Can you tell us what it was like? What your relationship was with McDonald?

Bob Wolff. Arch was very well entrenched when I arrived and I did some radio with him when I first arrived. Like you say, television was brand new and while I did some radio side-by-side with Arch McDonald at the beginning, that did not last very long. I was the only television announcer. Not only did I do the play-by-play, but I did a 15-minute pregame show with interviews and the post-game 15 minute show. And I had my own nightly show on TV so I was busy as a solo man during those years and never again did I work with Arch McDonald. Eventually we got the same sponsor: Chesterfield King Cigarettes, and I would do the first three innings on TV and the last three innings and then in the middle I would go over and do three innings on radio while Arch did the TV. So our paths kept crossing, but we never really worked together. I guess it would have been more fun had we because he was an excellent announcer and he is in the Hall of Fame with me.

Q. Did you work with Clark Griffith, the Old Fox, and the owner of the Senators back then?

 Bob Wolff. I loved Clark Griffith. Washington was run by Clark Griffith and the Griffith family, a large family, and every day he was there early in the morning running the ball club. At noon everything would stop and he brought in the many children–he had adopted many children–and they sat around this large table, like a conference table, and they had lunch. They after that he went over and had his pinochle game and he played that for two or three hours. The game might include announcers, sign painters, the people who did the score board, insurance men, anyone who wanted to keep their contracts going.  Every once in a while someone would show up who wanted to become part of the group, to burrow in. But after the pinochle game, Mr. Griffith would go up to his office and would turn on the radio or TV for the Lone Ranger. Because he came from the Old West, he wanted to re-live all those memories through that show. And then after that he went out to the ball game. There he was uncanny. He was the best scout the Senators had. He would watch the other teams, he brought in players to look at and he guided the fortunes of the team without any real money at stake. It was a team that ran on a shoe string and they did a remarkable job considering that.

Q. You described Griffith in an earlier discussion as “not penurious but poor.” Griffith did not have the money to support a top notch organization in the post-war era.  Is that what you meant by that?

Bob Wolff. They had enough money for one or two stars in those days. Ball players at the time were making six, seven or eight thousand dollars a year. They had to have other jobs after the baseball season. Even the big home run hitters were making something like $20,000 a year. They fielded excellent teams, but they could not afford nine really excellent players. The other guys were good, but not enough great ones to win a pennant.

The attraction to me was one, I was a major league broadcaster and not only did I watch the Washington Nationals, but we got to see Mickey Mantle or Roger Maris, all these great stars, people like Luke Appling, Satchel Paige, they were great stars and the amazing thing about Washington is that it is ideal for a broadcaster who tries to be impartial like me because there is as much crowd roar if not more for Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago–all of those other teams–because of Washington’s transient population. There was as much crowd noise for them as for the Nationals most of the time.

So I played up the “artistry” of the game. “Look at that Ted Williams, what a ballplayer, he’s worth coming out to see folks.” It’s like a broadway show. You don’t have to root for who wins or loses, you see ideal artistry in sports. So it never quite concerned me that the Senators never quite won the big ones.

Q. The situation has not changed much and the transient nature of a major part of the DC workforce continues to support other teams when they visit DC.  It’s gotten to be quite an issue with the Phillies.

Bob Wolff. Well that’s never going to change because of the transient nature of government workers who come from other cities to work in Washington. But this year the Nationals have some good ball players and they will be in the pennant chase all the way. It will be interesting to see whether the crowd roar changes. They have some money behind them to get up there into the winner’s circle.

Q. Where did your love of entertaining the crowd come from, what background did you have that helped you come up with ideas for keeping the crowd in the game?

Bob Wolff. When I gave the score, when I said the score was 10-to-2, I never had to say which team was  losing because the fans knew. Even if the Senators were ahead in the late innings I never said, “Well let’s see if the Senators can hang on,” because they lost most of those tight games. I thought the role of the sportscaster was to “augment” to enhance the experience so I did all I could to avoid the dry statistics. I always included as many human interest stories as I could, I injected as much humor as I could. I wanted people to look and listen because they were having the time of their lives, without worrying about who won or lost the ball game. If they won, Great! but I always believed it was part of the entertainment business.

Q. You create a great yardstick with which to judge broadcasters and I am certain that if people think about their favorites they will find that they use humor and entertainment as you are saying. You told me that you came up with one idea for entertainment called the Singing Senators, can you tell us about that?

Bob Wolff. At Duke University I sang with the college band. I wasn’t going to win any awards, but I kept on key and was enthusiastic. With the Senators I would always bring my ukelele and I would get the guys singing along and I said to them one time, “You guys are pretty good.” They could harmonize and so I organized different groups because the players changed every year, but one group was really good so I had them booked on the NBC Today Show, Dave Garroway was the host, and we spent forty-five minutes at the Monument Grounds doing one broadcast for the East Coast and one for the West Coast. And the Singing Senators were born. People competed to be in the group as much as they did to be on the ball team. It was great fun and part of the way I kept things a little different.

Q. Roy Sievers was one of the Singing Senators. Do you have any recollections of his career in Washington? Did you form bonds with players like Sievers who were there for longer periods of time?

BobWolff. I never gave up my lust for playing ball myself. Even when I was in my seventies, I was still pitching against the Mets and the Yankees before games. I was thrilled when my kids became ball players. One of my sons played for Princeton, the other for Harvard and he was drafted by the big leagues as was one of my grandsons. I pitched batting practice for the Senators and that was where I came up with some of my locker room stories that I used.

Then I would talk about the techniques of hitting and fielding which were more entertaining than dull statistics like the guy has had one hit in his last ten at bats. So I stayed very close to the players and they were personal friends. I ate with them, road the train with them on road trips.

You mention Roy Sievers. He was a great personal interest story. He injured his shoulder when he played with the St. Louis Browns, tore all the shoulder muscles, and had to worry about whether he would ever be able to throw a ball again. He could swing the bat but he could not throw. When he came over to the Senators they said, “don’t worry about throwing the ball in, just get it to the shortstop and he will throw it. Just swing the bat.” He became one of the great all time home run hitters by swinging the bat.

They always looked for that one home run hitter, which was a tough thing to do in old Griffith Stadium, the left field fence was over 400 feet away and a big wall to go over. In right field there was a mammoth fence to go over. Mickey Vernon who twice won the batting title did it by hammering balls off the right field fence. They had guys that could hit, they just didn’t have enough of them.

Q. Do your remember anything else about old Griffith Stadium?

Bob Wolff. From a broadcasting standpoint, I was up so close to the batter. They built an overhang right behind home plate that was no more than forty feet up and maybe 60 feet behind home plate. I was so close that not only could I see every curve of the ball, but I could hear every conversation with the batter and it was a thrilling way to watch a ball game.

I remember one day Clint Courtney, an always unshaven catcher, who enjoyed being hit by pitches. He had welts and bruises and discolorations all over his legs. Many times he would get hit by a pitch and the umpire would say, “Come back, you put your leg out on purpose.” He was an old fashioned player. One day he got thrown out of a ball player without even saying anything. He was making marks in the dirt each time the umpire made a bad call. When he got to five he crossed through the four marks demonstratively with his middle finger and the umpire said, “that’s it , you’re gone.” Courtney said “I didn’t say anything.” I thought it was an unusual way of getting kicked out of a ball game.

Q. You moved with the Senators to Minnesota. Do you remember the discussions surrounding the move. It was an emotional moment for the city, losing a team that had played in DC for 60 years. What do you remember of the reasoning leading up to the move?

Bob Wolff. For years the Griffiths had managed to keep the team afloat. But one thing happened that changed everything. Television was broadcasting games across the country. The game is the same, but there are millions more fans watching games around the country. And the sponsors wanted to grab that and so suddenly there was big money to be made. The Griffiths had an offer from the people in Minneapolis who had a brand new stadium and wanted to fill it. They had sponsors lined up and they had riches lined up that Griffith had never seen before. So when the decision had to be made, they went with the money. It was a simple decision.

Money has changed everything. If I went on the road trip with a bunch of ball players and asked them if they wanted to join my singing group, they would look at me like I was deranged. Ballplayers don’t share rooms any more, they have individual suites. They are the millionaires of the world now, the elite.

A lot of that feeling of intimacy that you had in the days before big salaries is no longer there. ANd the game has changed as well. Defense used to be a central part of the game. Players like Nellie Fox who averaged something like one home run a year and is in the Hall of Fame, but now, you don’t have a chance to make the Hall of Fame unless you can hit the home runs as well. The players are bigger, stronger, and have more power. Given the choice of a great scrappy ball player, one who can run, hit and do the small things like hit and run, given him OR someone who might hit thirty home runs and play second base, they are going to take the one who hits the home runs. Why? Because he will bring more people to the ball park.

The same thing with the pitchers. The wiley guys like the Whitey Fords who did it with finesse, they say forget it. They put the radar gun on guys like that and say forget it. So the structure of the game has changed. It is now a power game. Television has done that.

Special thanks to Philip Hochberg, former Senators public announcer, who as a young man got his start with Bob Wolff and who provided the contact.

Despite the tongue-in-cheek title, The Juju Rules is much more than a how-to guide to alter the outcomes of baseball games. It is a narrative consisting of three primary threads; the life of Seely, the exploits of his Yankees, and the rules of juju he has accumulated over the years in trying to will his team to victory. The premise didn’t immediately thrill me, particularly due to my allegiance as a Red Sox fan, but the deeper I got into the story the more enjoyable it became.

As he freely admits, nothing about Seely especially stands out. He is a newspaper writer from Syracuse, a family man, and a passionate fan of the Yankees. He has lived and died by the Yankees since he was a child and is able to identify the many happy and visceral ways the team has impacted his life. Most memorable include his telling of how his rooting for the team helped define his relationship with his father, how he came to be with his wife Janice, and how he found and interacted with his many Yankee loving friends; particularly the one who had a daughter in one of the twin towers on 9/11.

The years of angst that Seely has experienced as a Yankee fan are also explored with some detail. Contrary to popular belief, the Yankees do not win the World Series every season, and during Seely’s lifetime have had some lengthy streaks of mediocrity and frustration. From a carefully bounced tennis ball to a perfectly timed yell, he recounts the actions he has taken through the years in an effort to do his part. Each chapter ends with another rule of juju that Seely has uncovered during his tenure as a beleaguered fan. They include making noise, not blaming or thanking God, and avoiding premature celebrations at all costs.

The rules of juju as set forth are ultimately not a manual, but are rather used as a measuring stick for the important things in Seely’s life.  He makes no bones about family, friends, and the Yankees being what he holds most dear, and by the end it is clear that he is entirely aware that no attempt to influence fate and destiny is greater than surrounding yourself with the things and people that define who you are and make you most happy. Throughout his life Seely has always moved forward with what he has and made the best out of it; something he realizes in his middle age has been a wonderful strategy for life in which he has few regrets. It is a happy realization, as he concludes, “We don’t get to roll the dice again, do we?”

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of the book being reviewed by the publisher, but received no payment or other consideration for this review.

Andrew Martin is the founder of “The Baseball Historian” blog where he posts his thoughts about baseball on a regular basis. He can be reached at historianandrew@gmail.com. You can also reach him on Twitter at @historianandrew.

McNamee testifies he gave Clemens steroids (via AFP)

Brian McNamee told jurors on Monday that he injected Roger Clemens with steroids in 1998 at the famed pitcher’s request in key testimony at the perjury trial of the former Major league Baseball star. McNamee, the former trainer for Clemens, was the major prosecution witness as he and Clemens, who denies…

]]> http://seamheads.com/2012/05/16/mcnamee-testifies-he-gave-clemens-steroids/feed/ 0 http://seamheads.com/2012/05/16/ny-times-unloads-last-of-red-sox-stake/ http://seamheads.com/2012/05/16/ny-times-unloads-last-of-red-sox-stake/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 07:00:52 +0000 Seamheads http://seamheads.com/?p=20617

NY Times unloads last of Red Sox stake (via AFP)

The New York Times Co., has sold its remaining stake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team for $63 million as the struggling media group moves to focus on its core operations. A regulatory filing Friday said the New York Times Company sold its remaining 210 Class B shares of Fenway Sports Group “to multiple…

1. Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox:   Youkilis has had a nightmare of a season to date.  He got off to a poor start in both spring training and the regular season.  This after missing a good part of last season due to injury.  Then he had manager Bobby Valentine come out and pretty much say he wasn’t playing with the same intensity and giving it his all.  Then he suffers a back injury that puts him on the DL, and he may have just been Wally Pipped.  His replacement, top prospect Will Middlebrooks has been raking since his arrival and seems to need to play every day.  With the Sox struggling, hard to see them sending Middlebrooks back down, the Sox don’t have an opening at 1B (Adrian Gonzalez) or DH (David Ortiz) and neither players seems to be athletic enough to play the outfield.  How would Youkilis react to being benched?  Probably not well.

1. Cole Hamels, Philadelphia Phillies:  There are two reasons why Hamels could be traded?  First, he is a free agent after the season and wants at least a six year contract for over $100 million.  Seems unlikely Philly would be able to dole out yet another mega contract.  They just don’t have the funds and Hamels doesn’t seem inclined to give them a home team discount.  Second, this doesn’t look like it’s going to the Phillies year.  They are a struggling team that might not be able to survive the injuries to Chase Utley and Ryan Howard therefore it might benefit the team to trade away a star pitcher that you’re not going to be able to re-sign anyway, and get whatever talent you can for him.

1. Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies:  Victorino is in the same situation as Hamels.  Another free agent whom the team may not be able to afford.  Now Victorino is not a superstar and won’t command the kind of mega contract that Hamels will, but still he is valuable and may command a bigger contract than Philly believes he is worth.  Pretty much, if you’re a Phillies fan, you’re hoping the team turns things around within the next two months or else some of your favorite players may be playing for someone else.

1. Closers throughout baseball:  There were quite a few names on this list.  Brett Myers of Houston, Matt Capps of Minnesota, Grant Balfour and Brian Fuentes of Oakland, Jonathan Broxton of Kansas City, Brandon League of Seattle, Joel Hanrahan of Pittsburgh, Carlos Marmol of the Cubs, and Huston Street of San Diego.  What do these players have in common?  They are closers on bad teams that will probably be out of the race by July 31.  While any team that wishes to acquire one of these players may not need them to close, they probably could use another bullpen arm and could bring back a valuable young player to their current team.  None of these closers are God’s greatest gift to the position or a future Hall of Famer, they can be dealt and then replaced quite easily.

1. Peter Bourjos/Mike Trumbo, Los Angeles Angels:  The Angels already released Bobby Abreu to make room for Mike Trout, something they should have done in spring training.  Still though, a worthy major leaguer has to ride the bench.  Torii Hunter, Vernon Wells, Trout, Bourjos, Mike Trumbo, and Kendry Morales are pretty much six players battling for five spots.  Wells can’t be traded because he has what might be the most unmovable contract in the sport.  Hunter has little value.  Bourjos would bring back the least in terms of talent.  Trout isn’t going anywhere.  Morales seems entrenched in the DH role.  Trumbo would seem to have the most value but do the Angels really want to give up on such a young talent?  Bourjos is probably not long for this team.

1. Zach Greinke/Shaun Marcum, Milwaukee Brewers:  Greinke and Marcum are both free agents next season.  Milwaukee is probably going to lose Greinke just like they did CC Sabathia.  Greinke won’t command the kind of contract that CC did may just be the best right-hander on the market this off-season.  Is he worth the type of contact that he wants?  Probably not, but someone will offer it, they always do.  As for Marcum, he just hasn’t been all that good in his two years with Milwaukee.  They probably want him back, but they would like it to be at their price.

1. Carlos Lee, Houston Astros:  The Astros are playing well now, but they know they aren’t going anywhere.  Lee is a free agent after the season so money is not an issue.  Someone should want a right-handed bat that can play first and some outfield and add a little pop.

1. Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs:  He may have the second worst contract behind Vernon Wells but with the way Bryan LaHair is hitting for the Cubs and Anthony Rizzo for AAA, you have to think the Cubs will finally eat a good portion of his contract in order to open up a spot on the team to promote Rizzo.  Right now LaHair is playing 1B, but he can play the outfield, problem is there isn’t a spot open for him right now.

1. BJ Upton, Tampa Bay Rays:  It comes down to this.  Upton has never really lived up to his talent ceiling.  He gives off a terrible impression that he doesn’t care when on the field, and now he is just getting more and more expensive.  The team already has a low payroll, he was almost dealt to St. Louis for Colby Rasmus last season, have a hard time seeing him in Tampa long term.  Get something for him while u can.

Remember, you can follow or ask me any fantasy questions you like on Twitter, @GeorgeKurtz

I am happy to share with you the four-course meal of ignorance that I’ve been stewing over for too long. Two you’re already familiar with, as they have gotten considerable national coverage, so I’ll say less about those. Another is an old favorite of mine. The fourth is a more local specialty, and we’ll begin with that one.

The appetizer course is a tepid bowl of albondigas, a thick Mexican soup, which is a fair description of the state of Keith Hernandez’s brain during a recent Mets telecast. With a runner on first, the batter tried to sacrifice but popped the ball up in front of the plate. The Mets catcher ran out but instead of catching the pop, let the ball drop, hoping for some kind of funky double play, which can happen if the batter neglects to run (get the force at second and double him at first) or if the fielders outsmart the runner.

In this case, the batter ran and the runner headed back to first base, but that wasn’t what prevented the Mets from turning a double play. Ignorance was the culprit. When the first baseman caught the throw from the catcher, he was a step away from first base, where the runner stood watching like Ernie Harwell’s house by the side of the road. Quick–what should the first baseman do? Tag the runner? Touch the base? Throw to second? Don’t feel too bad if the answer didn’t jump right into your head. Keith Hernandez, a borderline Hall of Fame first baseman who played ball for more than two decades, didn’t get it right on the Mets telecast. In fact, he and lead announcer Gary Cohen were totally stumped when Ike Davis touched the base before tagging the runner, recording one out.

“Could that have been a double play?” they wondered, and spent the next inning and a half detailing their complete befuddlement about what the first baseman might have done differently to turn two. Hernandez was frank about it, saying, “I played ball for more than twenty years, and I admit I have no idea.” That blew me away, because I knew how to make that play even before Hernandez reached the major leagues in 1974. It’s simple! Technically it’s a ground ball, so the runner is forced at second. All you do is tag the runner first and then touch the base. Voila! Double play. Touching the base first removes the force, and with the runner standing on the bag, he’s safe.

It blew me away that both Cohen and Hernandez acted as if they had never seen the play before. Once or twice a season per team, a fielder will let a catchable bunt drop, and once in awhile it results in a double play. It is inconceivable that Hernandez has never seen this play before and inexcusable that he had no idea how the play should be made.

In fact, a rule change covering this very play occurred during the course of his career. The fielder used to be able to glove the ball first to fake the runner back toward first, then drop it intentionally before throwing to first. The rule change dictated that the ball had to touch the ground first. What was he doing out there for 2,012 games as a major league first baseman if not thinking about what to do if he found himself standing there with a baseball in his glove and a runner standing in front of him? Sorry, Keith: you just lost my support as a Hall of Fame candidate. What a meatball!

For the main course we have some overcooked rump roast, representing the total ass Cole Hamels made of himself by declaring that he hit Bryce Harper on purpose with a pitch because he is “old-school” and honoring a tradition of introducing a precocious rookie to the man’s world of major league baseball. Hamels has been roundly ripped for this stupidity, though the five-game suspension was meaningless as it didn’t even cost him a start.

Perhaps he was thinking about Bob Gibson beaning Jim Ray Hart during spring training of Hart’s rookie season, a peculiar form of hazing that only showed what an asshole Gibson was on the mound. I met Gibson a few years ago at the Hall of Fame, and he was soft-spoken and gracious. He was also 70 years old and several decades removed from the days when he refused to speak to teammates at All-Star games because if they were friendly it might make him think twice about knocking them down a week later.

If Hamels’ intention was to intimidate a rookie, he used an ignorant, self-defeating approach. As Pedro Martinez could have told him when they were teammates three years ago, you don’t need to hit a batter to intimidate him. You knock him down, you brush him back, you move him off the plate, whichever cliche has meaning to you–but hitting him puts a runner on base, and that’s just stupid.

Ask Sal “The Barber” Maglie, a renowned “head-hunter” of the 1950s, who stated those principles in a magazine article that is the manifesto of malicious pitching. The idea is to throw the ball as close as you can to the batter without hitting him. Maglie declared that he threw at Roy Campanella almost every at-bat, because Campy was skilled at ducking out of the way. He still threw at him, because his goal was to get Campy to lean back just enough on the following pitch to be more vulnerable to the low-outside breaking ball. But he wouldn’t throw at Don Zimmer because Zimmer wasn’t good at ducking. That’s why Zimmer has had a metal plate in his skull for half a century. Maglie was being partly a humanitarian–he didn’t want to injure Zimmer–but mainly a pragmatist. He didn’t want to put a runner on base.

That kind of sophisticated thinking is lost on Hamels, who compounded his stupidity by bragging about it after the game. I have just one word of advice for Hamels when he returns to action against Washington and steps into the batter’s box: DUCK! If you’re lucky, you’ll get plunked in the rump and not the noggin.

After the rump roast comes the cheese course, and for that I present a stinky hunk of camembert in honor of Jamie Moyer’s cheesy confrontation with Chipper Jones. Moyer got into a snit because he felt that Jones, a runner at second base, was watching the catcher signal pitches and relaying information to the batter. Moyer considered that a form of stealing, i.e. cheating, and made a big stink about it. I’ll try to be brief about this one (you’re welcome). When team management stations someone in the center field bleachers or clubhouse with a pair binoculars to tell the batter what pitch is coming, that is cheating. It has been done for more than a century, most notably on the 1951 New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, but it has always been cheating and always will be.

However, unless a runner at second base is more interested in checking out the blonde in the sixth row than in earning his salary, he has nowhere else to look except in front of him, where the action is. If he sees the catcher’s signals–which are right there in front of him–and is savvy enough to understand them, that is deciphering, not stealing. It isn’t that easy to do, and the defense has ways of changing signals for every game, every inning, every batter, or even every pitch. Any time a runner gets to second, the pitcher and catcher huddle to decide which variation of signal to use. They also have the option of letting the runner see the signal for a curve but knocking the batter down with a fastball instead. There are innumerable ways of countering the relative ease with which a runner can decipher signals. But in no way is it a transgression of baseball etiquette or rules for the runner to let the batter know what he thinks the next pitch will be. It is no different from someone in the dugout deciphering all those dorky gyrations of the third-base coach giving signals. Like a hunk of camembert left out in the sun too long, Jamie Moyer has ruined my appetite for geriatric hurlers.

Finally, there is dessert, so here’s a stale piece of three-layer cake decorated with announcers who should know better than to prolong the myth that there is such a thing as a “broadcasters wing” at the Hall of Fame. I’ve written about this before so I’m not going to go into the whole history. Suffice it to say that THERE IS NO WRITERS OR BROADCASTERS WING! There is a display in the museum showing the winners of the Spink Award for writing and the Frick Award for broadcasting. That’s it. Yet announcers in particular perpetuate the self-serving penchant for congratulating Frick Award winners for being “inducted” into the Hall of Fame.

It’s my own fault for violating my policy of watching baseball on Fox with the sound turned off. But I was channel-hopping and lingered on the Fox telecast two Saturdays ago, just long enough to hear Buck congratulate his booth partner, McCarver, on his upcoming induction into the Hall of Fame. McCarver thanked him and elevated the misconception to new heights by chirping about how honored he was at his upcoming “induction into the Ford Frick broadcasters wing of the Hall of Fame.” Congratulations, Tim:  you have achieved the ignorance trifecta! You’re not being inducted, there’s no such wing, and even if that display is a wing, it isn’t named after Frick. Wake up, Tim, and look over here in reality, where you are going to receive an award at a ceremony that is separate from the Hall of Fame induction. That’s all.

Warning: those of you who do not learn from this repast are condemned to repeat it.

Bill Mazeroski’s seventh-game homer was the first to end a World Series, giving the Pittsburgh Pirates victory over the New York Yankees. Various polls of fans and writers have ranked it the most dramatic finish ever to a championship in any sport.

The second momentous home run was hit by Ted Williams in his last major league at-bat. Like Maz’s smash, it was the kind of thing dreams are made of, but with the Splendid Splinter, it was the kind of thing folks expected.

Mazeroski’s Series-winning home run, on the other hand, was surprising when considering he had hit only eleven homers during the 1960 regular season. He was a .260 lifetime hitter who is in the Hall of Fame because of his dazzling defensive ability, punctuated by his unparalleled skill at turning the double play. For the ’60 season, Maz batted .273, an average bettered by five of the eight position-playing Pirates in the lineup at the time he cleared the Forbes Field wall in left field on October 13.

In truth, Mazeroski’s heroics were not all that surprising in view of his hitting success throughout the World Series. When he came to the plate in the ninth inning of Game Seven to face Ralph Terry, he already had seven hits in twenty-four at-bats, with a home run and four runs batted in.

Ted Williams was the first of 15 eventual Hall of Fame members to leave baseball during the decade, and he bowed out in typically Splendid fashion. It was a damp day on September 28, 1960, in Fenway Park, when he belted a pitch from Baltimore’s Jack Fisher through heavy air and into the Red Sox’s bullpen in right-center field. It was career home run number 521 for the man known at different times as The Kid, Teddy Ballgame, and the Thumper (in addition to the Splendid Splinter). Twenty others have homered in their final major league trip to the plate, but none of them has a plaque in Cooperstown.

Williams may have been born 30 years too soon. Imagine him as a designated hitter. He would have been perfect! In the infant years of the DH, some men given that job complained that it was difficult to keep their minds on the game when not playing defense and being totally involved.

Williams would never have seen that as a problem. He was always thinking about hitting, anyway, always mentally critiquing his last at-bat and planning for his next one. He may have batted .400 multiple times if he could have played solely his favorite position: Hitter.

It was 71 years ago that Williams batted .406, and no one has hit .400 since. He was 23 years old when his amazing 1941 season ended. What may be more amazing is that he batted .388 when he was 39. Just five more hits would have put him at .400 in 1957. Had he been able to run even a little bit, he probably would have scratched out five more singles.

To come so close so late in his career is testament to what a great hitter Williams was and how determined he was to succeed. He won the American League batting title that year and repeated in 1958. His career numbers include a .344 batting average, a .634 slugging percentage, and a .432 on-base percentage.

Branch Rickey, in a lengthy and professorial 1954 article in Life magazine, explained why on-base percentage is more important than batting average. Williams stacked 11 seasons with the best AL on-base percentage on top of six hitting championships.

Williams was 42 years old when he trotted around the bases for the last time in his trademark manner, head down and moving as if in a hurry to escape the crowd’s adoration. In his farewell season, he batted .316, with 29 home runs, 72 runs batted in, and a .645 on-base percentage.

That .316 average was the second-worst in Williams’ 19 major league seasons. The lowest, .254, had come in 1959 and was a big reason he came back to play in 1960. He departed as he started.

While Williams knew the ideal time to quit, Warren Spahn did not. At least, that is what we surmise when using the standard formula on when to retire from a sport. The idea, most would agree, is for an athlete to leave before his skills do – before he embarrasses himself and replaces memories of greatness with visions of mediocrity or worse.

Based on that, Spahn hung around baseball too long.

He had a 6-13 record in 1964, pitching less than 245 innings (173.7) for the first time in 18 years and managing just four complete games after averaging 21 over a period of 17 seasons. But even with those numbers, and perhaps a more telling 44 (birthdays), Spahn pitched on.

Milwaukee sold him to the New York Mets following the season, and the Mets released the old left-hander in July after he had gone 4-12. San Francisco signed him, and although Spahn pitched creditably (3-4, 3.39 ERA), the Giants released him after the season.

Even then, he did not quit. Spahn pitched in the Mexican League in 1966 and in the Pacific Coast League in ’67. Criticized for sticking around too long, he said, “I don’t care what the public thinks. I’m pitching because I enjoy pitching.” When there was nowhere else he could continue doing that, he retired at the age of 46. And it was not his idea. “I didn’t quit,” Spahn said. “Baseball retired me.” There has to be something admirable about a man playing baseball because he loves it, with no fear or care of tarnishing his image.

It was hard for Spahn to accept that he was finished. And looking at his 1963 season, it is easy to understand why he felt that way. Forty-two at the time, he threw 22 complete games and 259.7 innings, had a 23-7 record, pitched seven shutouts and posted a 2.60 earned run average. No wonder he thought he could keep going.

Sandy Koufax knew he could not, but his retirement had nothing to do with diminishing skills. In fact, Koufax was in his prime when he called it quits at the age of 30. His final season was 1966, when he went 27-9, with 27 complete games, five shutouts, 317 strikeouts in 323 innings and a 1.73 ERA.

Those numbers earned him his third Cy Young Award – all by unanimous votes – in four years. (In those days, there was only one Cy Young Award for all of major league baseball.)

The only pitcher to retire the year after winning the Cy, Koufax announced in November of 1966 – a month before his 31st birthday – that his severely arthritic left elbow was forcing him to stop playing. He had been in terrible pain for three seasons, and his arm was said by one doctor to resemble the arm of a 90-year-old man.

Over his last 10 seasons, hitters batted just .203 against Koufax. For his final four seasons, he won 97 games, lost just 27, never had an earned run average higher than 2.04 and struck out 1,228 in 1,192.7 innings. His career stats include a 167-87 record, a 2.76 ERA and 2,396 strikeouts in 2,324.3 innings.

Spahn’s 363 wins are the most by any left-hander in baseball history and were accumulated in 21 seasons. Koufax played 12, and he was overpowering most of the last five. No wonder he became the youngest player (at 36 years and 21 days) ever elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

While Spahn was the winningest lefty and Koufax was arguably the greatest, Whitey Ford was the most efficient southpaw. His winning percentage of .690 is fourth on the all-time list (behind right-handers Spud Chandler, Pedro Martinez, and Dave Foutz, in that order). Ford, Casey Stengel’s “money pitcher” for many years, compiled a 236-106 record over 16 seasons, with a 2.75 career earned run average.

Ford retired following the 1967 season after winning two games each of his last two years. Mickey Mantle would quit the next year. Yogi Berra, who appeared in four games as a player-coach with the New York Mets in 1965, had been released by the Yankees after the 1963 season. Moose Skowron was gone by then, and so was Hank Bauer, both traded away before ending their careers in the 1960s.

The Yankees and their long-time World Series rivals, the Dodgers, had grown old together. By the end of the 1960s, the playing days were over for all of the key members of those teams that met in six Fall Classics during a 10-year period (1947-56).

The Dodgers, who moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles after the 1957 season, traded Don Newcombe, Gil Hodges and Duke Snider in the twilight of their careers. Newcombe’s final season was 1960, Hodges’ was 1962 and Snider’s was 1964

Big Newk pitched for Cincinnati and finished with the Cleveland Indians in the American League. Hodges and Snider spent a year together with the Mets, Hodges quitting in 1963 and Snider the following year, in which he played for the San Francisco Giants. Don Drysdale retired after the 1969 season, having pitched his entire 14-year career with the Dodgers.

Mantle’s last time at bat came on September 28, 1968 – eight years to the day and in the same place that Williams had homered in his final at-bat – in Fenway Park. The Mick was listed as the Yankees’ first baseman that day, but he never took the field. His right knee and ankle were sore, and it was manager Ralph Houk’s plan to let Mantle bat and then remove him from the game. He popped out to Boston shortstop Rico Petrocelli in short left in the first inning and then was replaced by Andy Kosco.

Mantle finished with a .298 lifetime batting average, what had looked like a sure .300 career mark pulled down by three miserable seasons over his last four. He averaged .254 for his final four years, dipping to .237 in 1968. Although he was just 36 when he quit, he probably stuck around too long.

That Mantle, whose good looks and raw talent made him baseball’s grand marshal for fans both young and old, did not end at .300 is a shame. When he broke in with the Yankees, he was extremely fast and powerful, but knee problems and other injuries would reduce both his speed and his numbers. And, of course, as Mantle noted late in his life, he did not take very good care of himself.

Still, he was a three-time MVP, a triple-crown winner and he smacked 536 home runs. But it is disappointing that The Real-Life Natural was unable to realize more of his potential and sad that he died with so many regrets.

The 42-year-old New Jersey Jackals skipper has had time to develop a plan for building a roster since this will be his 10^th season at Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls and his 13^th overall in leading an Independent team.

“I like guys just out of an (major league) organization”, Calfapietra said, “and guys who have an opportunity to get re-signed” as opposed to longtime Indy vets with little chance of going elsewhere.  That’s why the Jackals return only six players from the team that went to the Can-Am finals last year, and it likely has a bearing on their ability to get players to the majors.

Baltimore reliever Stu Pomeranz is the fourth New Jersey player to land in the big time along with current Arizona reliever Craig Breslow, first baseman-DH John Lindsey (now in Mexico) and another southpaw, Raul Valdes, who could get another shot from Philadelphia’s top farm club, Lehigh Valley (Allentown, PA), where he has struck out 26 International League hitters in 21 innings while issuing only one walk.  The Cuban is 2-1 with a save and a 3.86 earned run average.

By perusing New Jersey’s roster, it is not difficult seeing others who could get attention from the major leagues since it has former American League Rookie of the Year Angel Berroa at shortstop, major league southpaw Matt Chico (40 career starts) and young righties Zach Woods and Jimmer Kennedy, who Baseball America tabbed last fall as the No. 9 and 10 best prospects, respectively, in Independent Baseball.

Three new franchises will debut next week with the Laredo (TX) Lemurs in the American Association and both the London (Ontario) Rippers and the Schaumburg (IL) Boomers in the Frontier League.

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FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE

www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com

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 Bridgeport, Nettles in Atlantic League Spotlight

Willie Upshaw’s Bridgeport (CT) Bluefish have been the class of the Atlantic League so far, stretching their record to 10-4 in a 40-hit, 15-11, 11-inning daytime marathon at Southern Maryland (Waldorf) Thursday, but they are being challenged for attention by the continued assault on the league record book by Somerset, NJ third baseman Jeff Nettles.

Nettle, whose dad, Graig, did his own headline-making as a superb major league third baseman,  claimed the all-time hit leadership (934) Wednesday and broke the marks for games (881) and at-bats (3,258) a few days earlier.  He also is the all-time best in RBI (597) and doubles (198) and is within 13 of Glenn Murray’s record of 158 home runs although he is off to a slow start with a homerless .154 average for 13 games.

Now Starting, Savage Runs Albuquerque Record to 6-0

Will Savage will not be compared to Bob Gibson or Randy Johnson when it comes to strikeouts, but presuming wins are still most important the Los Angeles Dodgers surely are taking note of the 6-0 record the 27-year-old has posted for Triple-A Albuquerque, NM.

The 2009 Wichita (KS) Wingnuts (American Association) starter, who also worked briefly for Lancaster, PA in the Atlantic League, was moved from the bullpen into the rotation four starts ago for the Isotopes.  He has gone 3-0, 3.80 to bring his overall earned run average in the light air ofAlbuquerque to 3.22.

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Fans may subscribe for 2012 at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com, or comment to RWirz@aol.com.  The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)

1. Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals:   Zimmerman returned to the Nationals on Tuesday and it wasn’t a day to soon.  The Nats have a pitching staff that should keep them in contention all year long but there offense has been pretty abysmal.  First they lose Michael Morse (more on him later), than Zimmerman, and now Jayson Werth is gone for most of the season after breaking his list last Sunday.  Theoretically Zimmerman will replace the offense lost by Werth.  Problem is that really doesn’t help the offense as a whole.  Still think the Nats need to make a deal for another hitter at some point before the deadline.  Even with Morse returning (possibly in early June), does anyone really think that Zimmerman will stay healthy the remainder of the season, not to mention Adam Laroche.

1. Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies:  Lee’s return to the rotation Wednesday didn’t cure the Phil’s ills (couldn’t resist).  Lee pitched well, 6IP, 5ER, 1BB, and 6K so you’re certainly throwing him back into you’re starting rotation as soon as possible, but wins may be hard to come by until the offense figures things out.

1. Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals:  Berkman is already returning a week later than originally thought from his calf injury.  He is expected to return to the lineup Friday, not that the Cards have missed a beat without him.  It was thought that a return to first base would reduce the chance of injury to Lance but that didn’t quite work out as planned.  Once again you want Berkman back in your lineup, but the Cardinals may decide to be very cautious with him.  Resting him frequently to make sure he stays fresh as the season rolls along.  Like Zimmerman however, I have a hard time believing Berkman won’t be making a return trip to the DL at some point this season.

1. Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox:  Ellsbury seems to be the king of fluky injuries.  Two years ago he was barrel rolled by his own 3B (Adrian Beltre), and this season Rays shortstop Reid Brignac fell on his after a DP grounder, dislocating his shoulder.  At one point it looked like Ellsbury could miss the entire season or even be out until after the All-Star break.  Well we are receiving good news this week as he is regaining strength in the shoulder and range of motion.  If all continues to go well, a return in early to mid-June looks good.

1. Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies:  As mentioned in the Cliff Lee post, the Phillies offense has been pretty dreadful so far this season, and that really shouldn’t have come as all that big a shock.  You take away the 3rd and 4th hitters on just about any team and their offense is going to suffer.  The good news is that Utley has been taking batting practice, the bad is that he has yet to take any grounders at second.  Playing 2B is where you need to make explosive move and put pressure on the knee.  Still his return to the lineup looks in the weeks range, not the months range.  As for Howard he started to take batting practice Monday and is basically beginning from scratch.  If all goes well and he doesn’t suffer any setbacks he is yet another player who could return in early June.

1. Chris Young, Arizona Diamondbacks:  This looked like a breakout season for Young who was hitting .410 with 5HR, 13RBI, 2SB, and slugging almost .900 before injuring his shoulder.  Young seemed to get the message that manager Kirk Gibson was trying to get across in spring training.  Either produce or you will sit.  With the addition of Jason Kubel via free agency that Dbacks did seem to have more OFs than they needed.  Well Young’s hot start put an end to any thoughts of a platoon with Kubel.  Question is, will he pick up where he left off?  Well in an extended spring training game Wednesday, Young went 1-3 with a double, two BBs, and a SB.  Looks like he is still hot.

1. Carlos Quentin, San Diego Padres:  Remember him, yeah, he was traded to the Padres in the off-season.  He has to be on this list as he should return to the lineup as soon as this weekend.  Problem is, he is playing in what is essentially a AAA lineup with the exception of a couple of players (Yonder Alonso, Cameron Maybin, Chase Headley) and we all know about the ballpark he will play the majority of his games in.  You probably have to activate him as outfield was shallow before all the injuries, but he won’t be the savior for your fantasy team.

1. Brett Gardner, New York Yankees:  Well, all those owners who were hoping to activate Gardner as soon as Friday can keep on hoping.  Gardner re-aggravated the muscle near his right elbow and now the best case scenario is that he could return in late May but a better bet is sometime in June.  Gardner may not be a huge offensive force, but those 40+ SB that he could get are something quite a few fantasy owners are going to miss.

1. Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox:  This is the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park along with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  The Red Sox look like another ship that is about to sink and manager Bobby Valentine may be the iceberg.  Youkilis has reported improvement in his back injury and could be ready to return from the DL as soon as Monday.  Normally this would be good news, but his replacement, Will Middlebrooks, has been tearing it up since being recalled.  Youkilis has gotten off to a slow start and taken flack from both Valentine, the media, and the fans.  He’s going to get his job back, but if Boston continues to flounder, and Youkilis is not hitting, it may not be long until all three are calling for Middlebrooks to return to third.

Remember, you can ask me any fantasy questions you like on Twitter, @GeorgeKurtz

Although Beckett won 84 regular season games and a World Series title during his first six full seasons in Boston, it is fair to say he has been somewhat disappointing. Lauded as the next Roger Clemens when he came out of the draft, Beckett never took that next step to super stardom and it is hard to understand why. He had some of the best pure stuff for much of his career, and while he has lost some speed on his fastball, he still knows how to pitch. Given some of the stories he has been associated with over the years, it is reasonable to speculate that he might lack the competitive fire of some of his peers and predecessors who have surpassed him in production and accomplishments.

The intense expectation from Boston fans for their team to win at all costs is not a great environment for a player like Beckett. He has done enough in the past to escape most vitriol, but now that the team is struggling, his inability to be a true ace and team player becomes more noticeable. His cause is not being helped by his increasingly frequent association with negative stories emerging from the Red Sox clubhouse.

Beckett was first mentioned as a ring leader of the group of pitchers sipping beer and gnawing on drumsticks as the Red Sox frittered their promising 2011 season away. There is no way to quantify what impact, if any, such snacking habits had on the team, but those who were outed as participants were cast in the same light as Nero, who as legend has it, played his fiddle while Rome burned.

Contrition is often the better part of valor, but that is a memo that Beckett apparently did not receive. Instead of making the obligatory public apologies in light of Chicken and Beer-Gate, he instead went on a rampage to express his outrage at the clubhouse “snitches” he believed to be the true culprits. That reaction only reinforced the impression that he might be a “me-first” or “paycheck” guy.

Word has now been leaked that Beckett was seen playing golf last week, after having been scratched from his a start the day before in order to nurse a balky lat muscle. At this point nothing about this has been confirmed or even explained, but the damage has already been done. In a game where stories of players playing with all manners of broken bones and mangled appendages are glorified as Arthurian heroes, the illusion of somebody dogging it elicits sneers and disgust. Beckett could ill afford another black mark on his record, and this story will be received with even more outrage by Red Sox fans because of the team’s struggles, particularly with the pitching staff.

Before long somebody is going to have to take a bullet for the malaise of the Red Sox. Any time expectations run as high as they do in Boston, answers are demanded when things don’t go as expected. It may not be fair but Josh Beckett appears to be a serious contender for the role of the scapegoat. None of the situations he has been linked to have been fully vetted to the public, but where there is smoke there is fire. If Beckett does end up on the chopping block (with over $40 million remaining on his contract it remains to be seen what exactly could be done) he will have nobody to blame but himself. If Boston eventually talked themselves into getting rid of the likes of Manny Ramirez and Francona, they will have no trouble turning on Beckett. Putting the bulls eye on Beckett might not change the direction of the team, but  it would buy the Red Sox a little more time to get things straightened out, and for better or for worse, that is how things work in professional sports.

Andrew Martin is the founder of “The Baseball Historian” blog where he posts his thoughts about baseball on a regular basis. He can be reached at historianandrew@gmail.com. You can also reach him on Twitter at @historianandrew.

Kate (uh, I mean, iOOTP12) is well worth the price of admission, a $4.99 investment that instantly pays dividends once you delve into the myriad options the game presents. There is the MLB version that allows fans to play out the season, a fictional mode that provides the opportunity to build a league from the ground up, along with three historical campaigns (1924, 1969 and 1995). Each can be run with infinite play, a needed task if you’re feeling bold enough to try to rebuild the Houston Astros.

Like Sofia (OOTP13, that is), the gameplay is smooth, allowing you to run your lineups and rotations in the same manner; about the only thing it lacks is that instead of a complete minor league system, iOOTP12 has the top 10 prospects for each team along with a handful of minor league flotsam to relieve the pain when a regular goes down.

Statheads who lust for numbers will have their fetish served with the dizzying array of stats thrown out by iOOTP12. One of the bigger improvements from its rookie debut last season is that there are complete stats for each player, a nice change from being limited to just the previous three years.

Having become a frequent traveler, iOOTP12 is a very welcome friend, one that can finish about 4-5 seasons during a flight from Houston to Portland. The amateur draft process is improved as well, and one of the best improvements on the game is the ability to take a fictional league back in time; having become fed up with the players’ demands, the mythical North American Baseball Association took to the field in 1982 with 16 teams and fresh talent. Players’ salaries are in tune with the times, so Portland ace P Charlie Mendell’s $900,000 salary made him a well-paid hurler, one who could afford a VHS and a grab front row tickets to Men at Work.

Another positive was the improved box score, which has attendance and time of game, something that was missing in last season’s venture. Minor though it may seem to some, it does factor in further creating realism.

About the only negatives is that unlike its big brother, completing a season on iOOTP12 is a week-to-week task, in itself far from a deal-breaker. Another minor fault is not having the height and weight of the players, again, something of a minor issue.

This year’s game is an enjoyable ride that further strengthens the grip OOTP has over other sports sims. Having such an early jump in the tablet/smartphone race has provided the game an advantage and a high bar that others will find difficult to cross. One cannot exhaust the options available on iOOTP12, a game that is a must-buy for Apple users.

Now about getting on to Android……

Under Johnson in the last half of 2011, the Nationals team batting average jumped by almost 25 points from what they hit under Riggleman. Davey was happy. The pitching?? That was for someone else to worry about. Individual players like Ian Desmond thrived under Davey Johnson and it seemed as if Davey was always welcoming his players back to the dugout with a hearty clap on the back and a big smile.

The smile is largely gone. It’s not the injuries to key players like Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse and Jayson Werth; it is the prodigious strikeouts and total clueless approach of too many of his players at the plate. Danny Espinosa is on pace to strike out 200 times if he is given the chance. The team batting average is .236. They are scoring only 3.4 runs per game and that was before Jayson Werth’s lusty .276 average was taken out of the batting order.

So where does Davey turn for help?

I would suggest two sources: Ted Williams and Yogi Berra. Williams was the manager of the 1969 Washington Senators who made a group of banjo hitters into a respectable force in the American League. He had a single message, “Get a good pitch to hit.” It is actually a rather difficult concept when a tiny sphere is coming at you at 95 mph and your brain has only milliseconds to decide whether to swing or not.

But Williams succeeded with hitters as diverse as Frank Howard and Eddie Brinkman. Howard took Ted’s message to heart and doubled the number of walks he drew, and almost hit .300 for the first time in his career. Eddie Brinkman, for whom success at the plate was hitting above the Mendoza Line, hit .268. Mike Epstein harnessed his huge potential and became a major league power hitter for the first time. They did it by not swinging at pitches that were outside the strike zone.

Watching the pitch selection of the 2012 Washington Nationals is a study in frustration. They swing at breaking stuff under their hands that they could not hit in fair territory with a tennis racket. And they flail with equal lack of success at the high fast ball away. But when the breaking ball is over the plate, they watch in stunned silence as if it were computer porn.

And the league has eyes. Danny Espinosa is pitched exactly the same way by everyone and he obliges the pitching fraternity with the politeness Eddie Haskell once used to woo June Cleaver.

Yogi Berra had the exact opposite approach at the plate. He swung at everything, but he could hit anything. He attributed his success to “keeping it simple.” Yogi told Nick Swisher during his worst year with the Yankees to “move up against a breaking ball pitcher, step into it from your back side” –from Driving Mr. Yogi. Swisher was amazed when he used those two small suggestions to turn around his career as a Yankee.

So who is in charge of these guys and their approach? Williams and Berra are not available and the task in Washington has fallen to Rick Eckstein. I am not qualified to judge Eckstein and his coaching techniques. But I will let Yogi do it. Berra’s belief with Swisher and others was that breaking down the swing and adjusting the mechanics of the swing was overly analytic. “Keep it simple,” said Yogi.

Watching Davey Johnson’s young players, one can only conclude that their coaching is in how to swing, not what to swing at. Jayson Werth is–or for the next few months, was–one of the most selective batters in the National League. He was notorious for letting first pitch strikes go by and working the count. He was a marked contrast with Michael Morse who was the most aggressive hitter in the Washington lineup and the most successful.

But Morse swung at strikes early in the count, rather than swinging at the first pitch he saw. One thing that I took away from Harvey Araton’s book about Yogi and Ron Guidry was the wealth of talent that is just hanging around the Yankee dugout and clubhouse. Excellence is a way of life and young players are exposed to the great names of the game. Whether through coaching insights as Yogi provided for Swisher, or just inspiring by their presence, the result is the same.

Rick Eckstein may be an excellent batting instructor, but Davey Johnson needs something more. The Pantheon of Washington baseball history is not filled with the likes of Berra and Guidry, but Frank Howard lives in the Virginia suburbs.

Frank might tell today’s Washington baseball heroes a very simple thing, something he once heard from the best hitter to every play the game. “Get a good pitch to hit, kid,” Ted would say if he could. And if Danny Espinosa and company would take to heart that very, simple concept–almost Yogi-like in its simplicity, then Davey Johnson would be smiling again.

And that would be a good thing, cause no one likes an unhappy Davey Johnson.

Buddy’s success in that Series made his baseball career. He was nearly the MVP of the Series, but despite his inability to ever reach that level again, he believes that he has been able to isolate the neurological process that helps form athletes at the highest levels, the subject of his book, The Seven Secrets of World Class Athletes.

Here is the highly enjoyable interview by Bob Lazzari and Tony De Angelo, from “Monday Night Baseball.”

http://mondaynightsports.net/clips59.php

Arizona Diamondbacks: Opening Day: JJ Putz  Now: JJ Putz – A couple of blown saves had some thinking that Putz could lose his job.  With the way the season is going for closers so far, anything is possible, but outside of injury Putz is a safe bet to remain the Dbacks closer.

Next in line:  David Hernandez

Atlanta Braves: Opening Day: Craig Kimbrel  Now: Craig Kimbrel -  Not that there was any doubt coming into the season, but Kimbrel is one if not the best closer in the National League, probably even in all of baseball.

Next in line: Jonny Venters

Baltimore Orioles: Opening Day: Jim Johnson  Now: Jim Johnson – Johnson was sort of an afterthought for saves at draft time, but with the surprising O’s sitting atop the American League East, he has become a solid option at closer.  He did miss about a week’s worth of action with an illness, but he’s back in the 9th inning role now.

Next in line: Pedro Strop

Boston Red Sox: Opening Day: Andrew Bailey  Now: Alfredo Aceves – It took about a month in to the season, but Aceves has finally settled into the closer’s role.  Aceves also seems to be throwing harder than at any point in this past with the radar gun reading 95+ at times.  Bailey is hoping to return around the All-Star break which would put Aceves back in a setup/spot starter role.  If Daniel Bard were to be taken out of the rotation he could compete with Aceves for the closer’s job, but the Sox seemed determined to give Bard every chance to succeed as a starter.

Next in line:  Vicente Padilla

Chicago Cubs: Opening Day: Carlos Marmol  Now: Rafael Dolis/John Russell – Anyone who has watched Marmol pitch the past two seasons can’t be surprised that he was finally removed from the closer’s role.  When you can’t throw strikes, you certainly can’t be relied upon in one run games.  Wood may have gotten first crack at replacing Marmol if he wasn’t on the DL at the time of Marmol’s latest meltdown.  Instead the opportunity went to Dolis.  Russell could also be in the mix when the opposing team has a few left-handers due up.

Next in line: Kerry Wood

Chicago White Sox: Opening Day: Hector Santiago  Now: Chris Sale – The 9th inning role has been an adventure for Chicago all season.  Manager Robin Ventura never named a closer, we figured it out when a save situation arose and Santiago was brought in.  Santiago was nothing special but it seemed Ventura preferred him over the unproven Reed and Matt Thornton.  Then Sale came up with a tender elbow and the Sox decided it was best to protect Sale by taking him out of the starting rotation and putting him as the stopper.  How is that working out so far you ask?  In Sale’s first save attempt came in the 8th inning with two runners on, a three run lead, and nobody out.  By the end of the inning the score was tied, ooops.

Next in line: Addison Reed

Cincinnati Reds: Opening Day: Ryan Madson  Now: Sean Marshall -  Marshall’s numbers don’t look all that impressive, 4.35 ERA, 1.355 WHIP, but he has gotten the job done.  You do have to wonder if at some point during the season manager Dusty Baker realizes that he is wasting Chapman in a setup role and gives him a shot at the closer role, especially if Marshall struggles.

Next in line: Aroldis Chapman

Cleveland Indians: Opening Day: Chris Perez  Now: Chris Perez – Raise your hand if you thought Perez would have the most saves in MLB at this point in the season.  Yeah, unless you ‘re an Indians fan you didn’t see this coming, especially when at draft time we weren’t even sure Perez would be healthy enough to open the season with Cleveland.

Next in line: Vinnie Pestano

Colorado Rockies: Opening Day: Rafael Betancourt  Now: Rafael Betancourt – Betancourt took over the job late last season in sort of an audition for the 2012 full-time role.  He passed with flying colors and now has the job.  He has pitched well, would be nice however if the team could hand him a few more opportunities.

Next in line: Rex Brothers

Detroit Tigers: Opening Day: Jose Valverde  Now: Jose Valverde – Valverde has been extremely unreliable so far this season as he only has five saves to go along with an ERA of almost six and a WHIP approaching two.  He has plenty of leeway after having a perfect 2011 season, but he and the team need to play a hell of a lot better.

Next in line: Joaquin Benoit

Houston Astros: Opening Day: Brett Myers  Now: Brett Myers -  Myers has been the benefit of an Astros offense that has been better than expected so far this season and has given his fantasy owners more than they could have hoped for so far.  Problem is, he is going to be traded, and the team that acquires him probably won’t use him as a closer.   Sell high.

Next in line: Brandon Lyon

Kansas City Royals: Opening Day: Jonathan Broxton  Now: Jonathan Broxton – Coming into the season we didn’t know if it would be Broxton or Holland that would get the job once Joakim Soria went down.  Early struggles by Holland and then an injury of his own made that choice easy.  Broxton can still bring the heat but it doesn’t always go where he would like it to.  Holland should be back shortly but once again it makes sense for KC to keep Broxton in the closer’s role to build up his trade value should they decide to go that route.

Next in line: Greg Holland

Los Angeles Angels: Opening Day: Jordan Walden  Now: Scott Downs – Not sure what manager Mike Scioscia was thinking when he yanked Walden from the closer’s role after only three weeks on the job.  Not like he was terrible, just as bad as the rest of the team.  Downs looked good in his limited time but then suffered a knee contusion Sunday (should be back later this week), then Latroy Hawkins broke a finger, also Sunday.  What a mess.  New addition Ernesto Frieri could get a save or two in the short term.

Walden will apparently only be used in non-pressure situations for the time being.

Next in line: Jordan Walden

Los Angeles Dodgers: Opening Day: Javy Guerra  Now: Kenley Jansen -  We all knew this was coming.  Guerra started off the season hot, but as soon as he went through a rough patch Jansen was going to take over.

Next in line:  Javy Guerra

Miami Marlins: Opening Day: Heath Bell  Now: Steve Cishek – It was actually painful watching Heath Bell blow save after save for Miami.  Not much has gone right for the Marlins so far this season.  There brand new ballpark seems to be to big and has some “thing” in left-center.  Ozzie has once again made an idiot of himself with his mouth, and now the big money they spent on Bell seems to be wasted.  Cishek seems to be the guy you want in the immediate future, but Mujica will be used also, and it’s just a matter of time until bell gets another shot.

Next in line: Edward Mujica

Milwaukee Brewers: Opening Day: John Axford  Now: John Axford – Not much to say here.  Axford is one of the top closers in the game who can pile up the strikeouts.

Next in line: Francisco Rodriguez

Minnesota Twins: Opening Day: Matt Capps  Now: Matt Capps – Capps has done the job, in an extremely limited situation.  The Twins are a bad team and that’s putting it nicely, meaning save opportunities will be few and far between.  Like Brett Myers, I would expect Capps to be traded at some point this season and be a setup man, not a closer.

Next in line: Glen Perkins

New York Mets: Opening Day: Frank Francisco  Now: Frank Francisco – Francisco’s numbers certainly don’t look good, 5.54 ERA, 1.615 WHIP, but he has eight saves and has generally gotten the job done for the surprising Mets so far this season.  One might wonder however if the Mets would look to deal him as the season progresses if they fall out of the race.

Next in line: Jon Rauch

New York Yankees: Opening Day: Mariano Rivera  Now: David Robertson – Rivera was lost for the season after tearing his ACL and meniscus last week in Kansas City.  Huge loss for the Yankees and baseball, but they are pretty deep in the bullpen and have two closers in waiting in David Robertson and Rafael Soriano.  It’s Robertson’s job for now, but Soriano should be good for a handful of saves also.  Back to Mo.  The good news about the injury is that he stated “I’m not going out like this”.  He will be back for at least one more season when it looked like he might retire after this year.

Next in line: Rafael Soriano

Oakland Athletics: Opening Day: Grant Balfour  Now: Grant Balfour – Balfour is in the same boat as Capps and Myers.  Doing the job now but will most likely be dealt by the deadline to a contender that already has an established closer.

Next in line: Jordan Norberto

Philadelphia Phillies: Opening Day: Jonathan Papelbon  Now: Jonathan Papelbon – Papelbon has been as good as advertised.  Phillies offense is anemic however which could keep his save chances down.

Next in line: Antonio Bastardo

Pittsburgh Pirates: Opening Day: Joel Hanrahan  Now: Joel Hanrahan – Hanrahan has re-discovered his fastball velocity as the season has progressed.  Pirates are a bad team however.  How many save chances will he get as the season moves along?

Next in line: Juan Cruz

San Diego Padres: Opening Day: Huston Street  Now: Andrew Cashner – Shocking, Street is on the DL.  Who didn’t see this coming?  Cashner is the closer of the future, and that future may be now.  They will protect him however so Gregerson is worth owning also in fantasy leagues.

Next in line: Luke Gregerson

San Francisco Giants: Opening Day: Brian Wilson  Now: Santiago Casilla – Can’t say I was surprised that Wilson needed Tommy John surgery.  This seemed to go back to last season.  Romo may be the better pitcher, but they like him in the 8th inning role and Casilla hasn’t had any problems closing games out.

Next in line: Sergio Romo

Seattle Mariners: Opening Day: Brandon League  Now: Brandon League – League doesn’t get any love, but gets the job done.  Would be interesting to see where he would rank if he was closing for a good team.

Next in line: George Sherrill

St. Louis Cardinals: Opening Day: Jason Motte  Now: Jason Motte – Last season the Cards played closer roulette until Motte took over the job.  This season it’s all about Motte who has nothing to worry about but his own performance.  Like many young hard throwing closers, it’s not about him getting hit, it’s about his ability to consistently throw strikes.

Next in line: Fernando Salas

Tampa Bay Rays: Opening Day: Kyle Farnsworth  Now: Fernando Rodney – Farnsworth was put on the DL shortly before the season began with elbow soreness.  Farnsworth could be back in early June, but Fernando Rodney has been lights out and seems unlikely to be removed from the closer’s role unless he has a string of poor outings.

Next in line: Joel Peralta

Texas Rangers: Opening Day: Joe Nathan  Now: Joe Nathan – A smooth under the radar free agent signing by Texas which allowed them to move former closer Neftali Perez to the starting rotation.  If Nathan can remain healthy and effective all season he could have a big season, that is a big if however.  Nathan did deal with injury and ineffectiveness at times last season, still, he should have a long leash with Texas.

Next in line: Mike Adams

Toronto Blue Jays: Opening Day: Sergio Santos  Now: Francisco Cordero – Cordero has been average at best since taking over for Santos who suffered a shoulder.  Santos should be back by the end of May and put Cordero back in his setup role, where he should be.

Next in line: Sergio Santos

Washington Nationals: Opening Day: Drew Storen  Now: Henry Rodriguez – Storen is still out until around the All-Star break, and Brad Lidge has been lost due to hernia surgery, but Henry Rodriguez, he of the 100 MPH fast ball has taken to the role and should keep it until Storen is healthy.

Next in line: Tyler Clippard

Remember, you can ask me any fantasy questions you like on Twitter, @GeorgeKurtz

But, when Albert Pujol hits his first home run of this campaign, after 111 times at bat without producing one, the scandal must have been heard on the moon. As much as I look in books, newspaper, magazines…I have not seen anything similar, since 1995, anything as ridiculous and exaggerated as this presentation, so why is it happening today?

Because the press knows least, because the heroic character is absent from the grounds of major league baseball, because these guys only earn more, but have less class and much less heart than those of the “good old times”, because we are in front of a game that ceased to be a national pastime and mirror for children and youth. Frequent scandals and questions raised about two newly-minted icons manufactured in organized baseball offices and chemical laboratories, who will spend more time talking to legal representatives of the Prosecutor’s Office than enjoying their families after they retire.

A few days ago died, at the age of 81, Bill Skowron, the first baseman for the Yankees during the Ford-Berra – Mantle era of the legendary club in the Bronx.   Possibly, “Moose” decided more games than together Alex Rodriguez and Pujol because during the 50′s, the feats, the glories, had to accomplished and achieved on the basis of the necessary courage with the decency and the professional class more strictly mandatory.

Skowron was not a star like Mantle and Berra, but was a player who put his grain as a contribution, much more than generous in the maintenance for 10 seasons of the baseball empire. Although his death was reflected in relevant sites, it is a shame and a lack of respect for a home run from someone who is already down the slope of stardom, or a game decided by another which does not have the courage to lead the Yankees has enjoyed much more importance than the disappearance of a real hero from unforgetable era, at least for the pastime, which are elevated to the free category of gods when they are almost clowns in the Olympus of lies.

It is true that hitting batters used to be a much more prominent aspect of baseball than it is today. The brush-back pitch, plunking in the back, and occasional bean ball were all ways for pitchers to protect the plate and their teammates when necessary. However, this was back when the game was much more unrefined and unregulated. Given a choice between playing now and playing in 1940, I dare say most players would rather play in today’s world of safer and more lucrative baseball. Some fans may fondly look to the past and believe baseball was a better game, but it doesn’t take much to refute such assertions.

Old fashioned baseball saw players discriminated against because of ethnicity and skin color, players sharpening their spikes with the intent to maim, and the majority of players having to get regular jobs during the off-season in order to make ends meet for themselves and their families. The myth that players from days gone by played purely for the love of baseball is just that, a fabrication designed to elevate the status of baseball in the schema of American culture. It is okay for players to play the game more safely, enjoy more training benefits, and make more money. That shouldn’t sully the enjoyment anyone takes from baseball. Although far from perfect, there is little doubt that baseball today is now in a much better place.

Pushing common sense aside, anyone with even an inkling of knowledge about economics would classify Hamel’s errant pitch as a major faux pas. Hamels is set to make $15 million this season and the average major league salary for 2012 will be in excess of $3 million. Intentionally throwing at someone is messing with their money and the investments of teams who can be in a precarious position when it comes to harvesting returns over the course of a contract. The purpose pitch to Harper was the equivalent of a batter charging the mound and slashing at the lefty’s pitching shoulder with his bat- something Hamels would likely not embrace in the spirit of old time baseball.

Hamels and the Phillies would be outraged if they knew for certain that somebody was throwing at one of their players or perhaps sliding a bit harder than usual into currently injured veterans like Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. The general rule of thumb is that you probably shouldn’t do something to someone else if you wouldn’t want it to happen to yourself. Baseball is not only a war of attrition, but it can also be about retribution, so Hamels best be prepared to reap what he has sown and hope that his poor decisions don’t come to haunt him or his teammates.

It will be shocking if Hamels doesn’t receive a suspension for hitting Harper. No matter how long it is, it probably won’t do much good because you can’t fix stupid. There is no other way to describe what Hamels did and said. With any luck he will realize the error of his ways and leave the glory days of baseball to oldtimers telling their stories. Fortunately Harper emerged unscathed from it all and even ended up stealing home that same inning. Talk about old school…

Andrew Martin is the founder of “The Baseball Historian” blog where he posts his thoughts about baseball on a regular basis. He can be reached at historianandrew@gmail.com. You can also reach him on Twitter at @historianandrew.

Yes it is too early for pronouncements on Harper’s ability to handle major league pitching, too early to say what a long 1-for 15 slump will do to his demeanor. Will he still be able to handle the adversity and when some pitcher plunks him for good measure, will he still react with the kind of class that he showed last night?

We cannot answer those questions yet, but it is not too early to be impressed with his approach to the game and anyone who was watching the ESPN’s Sunday Game of the Week had to be somewhat in awe of the first glimpses of what this young man can do.

Cole Hamels drilled Harper in the back in his first at bat and the brash kid with a history of bat attitude took his base and never even looked hard at Hamels. It was a “message” pitch not so much from Hamels as from Charlie Manuel and the Philly organization to the Washington organization, as if to say, here’s what we think of your “Boy Wonder.”

Harper took it and then when Jayson Werth singled sharply into the outfield he took third on pure hustle and speed. When Hamels somewhat smugly threw to first to keep Werth close–not even looking at Harper–the kid stole home and it was not really even close.

Harper sent his own message, one of a whole different sort. In baseball, it is difficult to imagine a better way to say, “see you and raise you” than what Harper did. Later in the game Harper took second on a bloop single that was even more of a hustle play. It wasn’t a two-run homer; it did not win the game for a Nationals offense that was completely baffled by Hamels, but it was not a bad rejoinder to Charlie Manuel from “the kid.”

And that seems to be what we will get from Bryce Harper this time around. He is up against major league pitching for the first time and he can clearly hit the fast ball when it is thrown over the plate and not into the middle of his back. He may need to smooth out his swing and adjust to the off-speed stuff that he will see increasingly, but it ain’t bad for first time round.

Philadelphia walked Harper four times in three games and the young 19-year old went 2-for-3 against Hamels. So, his command of the plate is impressive given how few professional at bats he has had since signing with Washington late in 2010.

So the early scouting reports will emphasize his throwing arm that already freezes runners in place on routine fly balls. And pitchers will not take him for granted when he gets on base. But there is a lot left to see, a lot left to take in.

Harper has struggled in his exposure to advanced levels of play. When he began his career in Hagerstown last season, he began slowly. He only warmed up after the first three weeks of the season and then he went on a tear, hitting .318 with 14 homers in the first half of the season before being promoted to Harrisburg. His slash line for the year was .297/.392/.501, sound but not eye-popping.

What diminished the numbers were the slow weeks in Harrisburg and the adjustments to his first exposure to the long grind of a professional season. Improving on those numbers at the major league level, adjusting to better pitching and the grind of the season are a tall order.

But that is what makes this game such a wonder. It is clear after Bryce Harper’s first few weeks in the majors that he has a unique gift as an athlete. The hype had its base in reality.

What has impressed me more than any singular thing about the young man is that he is wearing a Washington uniform and like other Nationals fans, I am going to have a seat right down front where I can take in all of the action. Because this show looks like it is going to have lots of action, some great chase scenes, explosive fire works for the duration. I’m glad I got the giant combo cause I’m going to need it for this one.

It found him at Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, the All-Star Game and the World Series, places the light shines brightest.

Otherwise, he was Everyday Al. He could have been carrying a black lunch pail, the way he went about his job. So workmanlike, so steady.

Kaline was a steady standout for 22 summers. His job was playing right field for the Detroit Tigers, and he did it with such grace and ease that sometimes it seemed nobody noticed.

Of course, we know that isn’t true. We know because he has a plaque in Cooperstown, the hallowed place where baseball’s finest are sainted.

Mr. Tiger. Mr. Right Fielder. Mr. Consistency.

They all fit, but if you asked the man, he would say he is just Al.

The truth is, Kaline liked the fact that he was not noticed much, that not a lot was made over him. He just enjoyed going out and doing his job every day.

He excelled at one of the most difficult jobs there is, hitting that round ball with a round stick of wood. He rapped out 3,007 base hits, slugged 399 home runs, drove in 1,583 runs and compiled a lifetime batting average of .297.

As for the right field part, well, no one did it better. Getting a great jump, he turned hundreds of potentially tough catches into easy outs. His white and navy uniform hid the fact that his right arm had been replaced by a Winchester rifle, which is what he used to gun down 170 base runners.

The heart of Kaline’s career was in the 1950s and ’60s, what I consider to be the Golden Years of baseball. It was the perfect time for him. He obviously would have made millions of dollars playing today, but he would not have fit in with the modern major league landscape.

His game, of course, would have stood up to anybody’s at any time. His consistent production would have lifted him into the elite few in any era.

But he would never have gone for the Me Mentality. Can you imagine Al Kaline beating his chest or pointing to himself or standing at home plate and admiring a home run he hit?

He never received a lot of fanfare, not like he would have in New York or L.A. Fans knew he was good, just not how good. The players knew, though. Mickey Mantle, for example, called Kaline the best all-around player he had ever seen.

It didn’t take long for him to show his stuff. He never played a day in the minors, going straight from high school to the Tigers. He won the American League batting title at the age of 20, hitting .340 in 1955.

His career ended after the 1974 season, when he hit 13 home runs, giving him at least 10 in each of his last 20 years in the majors.

In between, he helped Detroit win a World Series. He had 11 hits, including two homers, and eight RBI, batting .379 as the Tigers defeated St. Louis in seven games in the 1968 Fall Classic.

Kaline came through with perhaps the key hit of that Series. It came in Game Five, with the Cardinals up three games to one. St. Louis led, 3-2, in the seventh inning before Kaline rapped a two-run single that put the Tigers in front for good.

A 15-time All-Star selection, he batted .324 with two home runs in the 13 All-Star games in which he played. He finished second in the A.L. Most Valuable Player Award balloting twice, behind Yogi Berra in 1955 and Elston Howard in 1963.

He won 10 Gold Gloves and led the league in assists two times, getting 23 in 1958. He once went 242 consecutive games without committing an error.

This story says a lot about him and his sense of fairness:

In 1971, the Tigers offered to raise Kaline’s salary to $100,000, which was a monumental figure in those days. This, after he had batted a disappointing .278 the previous season. He refused to sign, saying he did not deserve that much. He signed for $90,000.

Everyone in baseball has always respected the man known as 6, the number the Tigers retired in his honor. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Kaline has personified the word gentleman, and his shy, selfless nature has made him as much a popular figure in Detroit since his playing days as during them.

He remains the selfless star, now just as when he excelled as one of baseball’s greatest players.

One interesting aspect of win shares and the CAWS Career Gauge is that it is fairly easy to reasonably adjust a player’s career numbers to reflect this lost time.  Let’s take Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams as two examples.

Joe DiMaggio’s career numbers are ranked #25 among position players of the 20^th century by the CAWS Gauge.  Here are some players ranked just above and below him.  CWS = career win shares, CV = core value (win shares for his ten best seasons) and CAWS = career score = CV + .25(CWS – CV).

As most fans know, Joe D had a relatively short career of only thirteen seasons and this is a major reason why his career numbers do not rank him higher.  He lost seasons to military service and to early retirement due to a foot problem.

DiMaggio lost three playing seasons (1943-45) in the prime of his career to military service in World War II.  And many fans have speculated as to what his career might have looked like if he did not lose those years.  Of course, the same question would apply to some other great player as well such as Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Willie Mays – to name just a few.

For the two years prior to his military service, Joe DiMaggio earned the following win shares:  1941 = 41 and 1942 = 32.  On his return from the military, he earned the following in the next two years:  1946 = 24 and 1947 = 30.  If we average these four seasons, we get 31.75 or 32 win shares.  Therefore, it is reasonable to project that he would have averaged 32 win shares for the three years that he was in the military.  And so his new CAWS line would look like this.

This adjustment would move the Yankee Clipper from #25 to #17 on the CAWS list.

The military adjustment is even more dramatic for Ted Williams since he essentially lost five seasons to military service – three during World War II (1943-1945) and two during the Korean War (1952-1953).  As most fans know, Ted was a fighter pilot in those conflicts.

For the two years prior to his first military stint, Ted earned the following win shares: 1941 = 42 and 1942 = 46.   On his return, he earned the following: 1946 = 49 and 1947 = 44.  The average is 45.25.  So, we award him 45 win shares for each of the three years during WW II.  Similarly, for his time in the Korean War, 1950 = 19 and 1951 = 34 while 1954 = 29 and 1955 = 23.  So, we award him 26 win shares for each of the two seasons he lost there.  Therefore, Ted’s new CAWS line looks like this.

This adjustment becomes VERY SIGNIFICANT.  It moves the Splendid Splinter up from the #9 position on the CAWS list to #2 – just behind the Babe.  And I think it is fair to say that many fans would tend to agree with this conclusion.

Of course, if we adjust for the military time for Mays and Musial, they would also move up a bit – but not to the extent Williams does.

Thanks for your time.

Mike Hoban,

Professor Emeritus – City U of NY

Author of  DEFINING GREATNESS: A Hall of Fame Handbook

http://booklocker.com/books/6117.html

Yogi Berra is a New York Yankee from start to finish and this book is about the storied franchise at every level. Yet Berra is loved by baseball fans regardless their loyalties and it is the insights into the complexities of Yogi Berra, the grand old man of the game, as brought out by his friend Ron Guidry, that give Driving Mr. Yogi the same special status as its main character. The relationship between Guidry and Berra is a warm and compelling story, but around it New York Times writer Harvey Araton skillfully wraps so many others.

There is the story of Berra as modern day coach and counsel to players like Mariano Rivera, Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada. The relationship between Yogi and Jorge Posada provides a wonderful point of entry. There is Posada talking about the value of Yogi Berra as a mentor during Spring Training of 2000: “maybe the most important thing he helped me with was his view of the game, knowing how hard it is, but that you really need to keep a positive attitude every day.”

Many fans know Yogi Berra as the origin of fathomless sayings like, “Why buy good luggage? You only use it when you travel.” And then there are more knowledgeable fans who still remember Yogi Berra as a failed manager of the Yankees and Mets. But Yogi the master of the game emerges as well, whose homespun witticisms, serve to bring him closer to those around him and put his vast knowledge of the game of baseball within easier reach.

The best story in the book is that of Berra and his simple approach to baseball and to life. How even at age 85, Yogi can make himself hugely relevant to both is worth the knowing.

Harvey Araton presents a picture of both Guidry and Berra as men whose expertise extends beyond baseball, but who are unparalleled savants of the game. The charm of the book is watching two relatively different human beings, from different backgrounds geographic and ethnic who bond so completely over the game, and of course the Yankees. Their friendship is like the spice in Guidry’s Cajun cooking: it flavors everything to perfection.

As someone alien to the culture of what Marty Appel calls the Pinstrip Empire, I thought Araton at times tried to dance me down an aisle of what is palatable for Yankee fans. Those who exist outside that universe have long admired Yogi Berra not only for his remarkable career, but his ironclad integrity as exemplified by his principled disdain for George Steinbrenner–for whom many non-Yankee fans reserve a special and none-too-dear place in their hearts. But Steinbrenner is lionized by Araton in a way that only Yankee fans can truly embrace.

Resolving the bitter feud between Steinbrenner and Berra is almost as central to the book as the friendship with Guidry. It is an emotional tale. Araton deserves credit for handling it artfully and it certainly belongs in this book. However, Steinbrenner, as presented by Araton, is judged only on the grounds that he won championships for the Yankee faithful. Whether non-Yankee fans are willing to walk away with such a superficial analysis of Steinbrenner is a personal decision I will leave to the reader.

Red Sox fans may have their own problems with the book. The red meat served up for Yankee fans may make accessing the rest of the story difficult. In the opening pages of the book there is a description of the brawl between the Sox and Yankees that was part of Guidry’s first game. “Nettles body-tossing of Boston’s flaky left-hander Bill Lee,” is followed gratuitously by the triumphant, “Nettles separated Lee’s shoulder.”

Yogi Berra is as Yankee as it gets, but his value to the game is his ability to transcend those class distinctions. Yogi is an every man who values his friendships with Red Sox players like Bobby Doerr, and Dodgers like Campanella and Koufax. It is not about team at the end of the day for Yogi, but about the game and the person. Yogi and Ron Guidry are two of the finest and it is their friendship that at the end of the day makes this story. Whatever may have been sacrificed to appeal to Pin Stripe Nation, missing this little splendid little splinter of a book would be a huge mistake.

So despite the serious injury to his knee with a torn ACL Mariano today declared “I am coming back,” Mariano Rivera said Friday afternoon in the New York Yankees clubhouse. “Put it down. Write it down in big letters. I’m not going down like this. God willing and given the strength, I’m coming back.” Rivera is 42 years old and after 18 years in the show it is going to take every ounce of the strong faith and some hard work to get him back on the mound again, but if he says he is coming back I believe him.

And as much as I hate losing to the Yankees despite being the grandson of Gordon Rhodes who started his career with the Yankees, I am hoping and praying he does come back. Mariano Rivera is good for the game of baseball not only because of what he can do from the mound but the way he carries himself and by the example he shows to our young people as to what it means to be competitive and yet still have some humility and respect for the game.

By the way I decided yesterday to stop in New York on my way  to Casablanca for a meeting with other Maritime Union officials this September and today I bought a ticket for a game at the new Yankees stadium on September 16th. Somehow I have a hunch that Mariano or at least his spirit will be stirring around the stadium along with all the other ghosts from the deep and rich Yankees past including my grandfather. One thing is for sure though I may not be a Yankee fan so to speak, I have some Yankee blood in my system that is calling me back to the Bronx just like Mariano Rivera. Get well soon Mariano were all rooting for you! GoM’s! http://jeffsmariners.com

Sabía que Belinsky había jugado enla Liga Venezolanade Béisbol Profesional. La primera vez vino con los Licoreros del Pampero. En la temporada de 1961-1962 implantó una marca de ponches que se mantiene vigente. En medio de aquella temporada el manager José Antonio Casanova fue una vez al montículo con la intención de relevar a Belinsky. Hubo de llamar al tercera base Dámaso Blanco para que le sirviera de intérprete. Belinsky estrujó la pelota dentro del guante y escupió a un lado del morrito. “Tell the skipper that he can kiss my ass but I’ll finish this game”. (“Dile al manager que me bese el culo. Yo terminaré este juego”.) No hubo manera de sacar a Belinsky del montículo. Entonces fue imbateable. Hasta el árbitro tenía miedo de asomarse detrás del receptor.

Belinsky siempre fue un personaje que vivía con mucha intensidad dentro y fuera del terreno. Durante su estadía con los Angelinos se involucró sentimentalmente con algunas actrices holiwoodenses como Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, Connie Stevens, Tina Louise. Con casi todas tenía breves romances, a excepción de Van Doren. Ella fue su prometida por alrededor de un año.

Aquella temporada 61-62, Belinsky además de acumular 156 ponches. Ganó 13 juegos. Perdió 5. Permitió 98 imparables. Completó 10 desafíos. Concedió 75 boletos y dejó una efectividad de 2.13 en 156 episodios. También fue líder en efectividad de LVBP.

En el segundo episodio Belinsky empezó golpeando a Jim Gentile. Luego de dominar a Jackie Brandt con elevado al centro, boleó a Gus Triandos. Luego obligó a Dave Nicholson a roletear para forzar en segunda base a Triandos. Y cerró el inning abanicando a Ron Hansen.

Luego de llevarse el tercer episodio a paso de conga. Entonces luego de 1 out, caminó a Gentile y Brandt. Triandos se embasó por error del antesalista Félix Torres. Allí Belinsky ponchó a Nicholson y dominó a Hansen con elevado al centro.

Belinsky regresó a la liga venezolana en la temporada 1966-67 para defender los colores de los Tiburones deLa Guaira. Veníade jugar con los Filis de Filadelfia. 0 ganados, 2 perdidos en 9 juegos. 15 innings. 14 imparables. 3 jonrones.5 boletos. 8 ponches. 2.93 de efectividad. Otra de aquellas grandes jugadas que hacía Pedro Padrón Panza. Todo un genio para conseguir buenos peloteros que habían venido con otros equipos. En esta ocasión participó en 14 encuentros- Abrió 12 juegos y completó 1. Ganó 2. Perdió 5. Su efectividad fue 3.59 en 72.2 episodios. Permitió 77 imparables. Recetó 64 ponches. Concedió 28 boletos.

En el quinto inning abrió con pelotazo a su rival Steve Barber. Luego retiró a Temple con elevado a la derecha. A Willliams con bombito al campocorto. Y a Brooks Robinson con rodado por la antesala. En el sexto, luego de un out,  Brandt golpeó el batazo más duro de los Orioles en todo el juego. Una línea a lo más profundo del jardín central que Albie Pearson tomó en la zona de seguridad. Belinsky caminó a Triandos. Pero luego ponchó a Nicholson.

De ahí en adelante Belinsky estuvo perfecto. Retiró en fila a los últimos 10 bateadores. Incluyendo a Williams con elevado a la izquierda, Brooks Robinson con globo al centro y a Steve Bilko por la vía del ponche, en el octavo.

Belinsky regresó por tercera vez a Venezuela con los Navegantes del Magallanes en la temporada 1968-69. Los Navegantes habían comenzado con dificultades. Entre los lanzadores que trajeron para reforzar el equipo llegaron Bo Belinsky y Salvatore Campisi. En cuanto estos pitchers subieron al montículo para respaldar a Ron Tompkins y Roberto Muñoz, el equipo empezó a  escalar posiciones hasta meterse en la clasificación. Belinsky se metió varios juegos cerrados donde mantuvo intacta la oportunidad de triunfo hasta que hacia el final del juego aparecía la ofensiva de Clarence Gaston, Pat Kelly, Walt Hriniak, Joe Rudi, Dámaso Blanco, Gustavo Gil, Armando Ortiz. Belinsky jugó 16 encuentros. Completó 4 de 15 que inició. Ganó 6 y perdió 8. En 97.1 innings permitió 73 imparables. 21 carreras limpias. Concedió 67 boletos. Ponchó 93. Dejó efectividad de 1.94.

En el noveno episodio Belinsky ponchó a Brandt con tres lanzamientos. Triandos siguió con fácil roletazo a Koppe en el short. Nicholson bateó un elevado altísimo detrás de tercera base en conteo de una y uno, allí Torres concretó el  no-hit no-run.

Alfonso L. Tusa C.

English translation

I’ve heard about this achievement. Anyway I enjoyed it in the book: “No-hitters” written by Rich Westcott y Allen Lewis. The Los Angeles Angels hosted the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, May 5^th, 1962, at Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine. After the game was over Belinsky recognized that he had been with a woman  until 4 o’clock in the morning. Through the nine innings Belinsky  struckout 9 and walked 4. He mixed a moving fastball, the curve and the screwball. He retired the first frame quickly. Struckout Johnny Temple and Dick Williams. Then he dominated Brooks Robinson with a grounder to the mound. The Angels scored a run in the bottom of the inning. Billy Moran hit a single. Leon Wagner hit a double. Moran scored with a wild pitch of Steve Barber. The other run came in the second inning. Earl Averill walked. Buck Rodgers hit a double. Averill scored on Joe Koppe grounder to second base.

I knew that Belinsky had played in the Venezuelan League of Professional Baseball. The first time he came with the Pampero Licoreros. In the1961-62 season, Bo Belinsky set a struckouts record that still stands. During that season the skipper José Antonio Casanova wanted to take Belinsky out from the mound for a reliever. He asked the third baseman, Dámaso Blanco to make the translation. Belinsky squeezed the ball and spit around the mound. “Tell the skipper that he can kiss my ass but I’ll finish this game”. There was no way of taking Belinsky out. Then he was unhittable. Even the umpire was afraid of getting closer behind the catcher.

Belinsky lived with a lot of intensity inside and outside the field. While playing for the Angels he got involved with some Hollywoodactresses as Mamie Van Doren, Ann-Margret, Connie Stevens, Tina Louise. He had brief romances with all of them but Van Doren, who was his fiancé for almost a year.

That 1961-62 season, Belinsky besides the 156 struckouts, won 13 games. Lost 5. Allowed 98 hits. Completed 10 games. 75 walks. 2.73 ERA in 156 innings. He also was the league leader in ERA.

In the second inning Belinsky hit Jim Gentile. After retiring Jackie Brandt in a pop up to center field, he walked Gus Triandos. Then made Dave Nicholson hit a grounder to force Triandos at second base. He finished the frame by whiffing Ron Hansen.

After retiring the third inning the perfect way. In the fourth, after 1 out, Belinsky walked Gentile and Brandt. Triandos arrived to first base due to an error of third baseman Félix Torres. Then Belinsky struckout Nicholson and retired Hansen with a pop up to center field.

Belinsky returned to the venezuelan league for the 1966-67 season, to defend theLa GuairaSharks.He had played for the Philadelphia Phillies. 0 wins, 2 losses in 9 games. 15.1 innings.14 hits. 3 home runs. 5 walks. 8 struckouts. 2.93 ERA. That year he also played in the Pacific Coast League  AAA, for the San Diego Padres. 2 wins. 4 losses. 13 games. 54 innings. 55 hits. 1 home run. 32 walks. 54 struckouts. 4.83 ERA. Other of those great movements that Pedro Padrón Panza (La Guaira’s GM)  made to get good players who had played for other teams in the venezuelan league. With theLa Guaira Sharks,  Belinsky played in 14 games. Started 12. Completed 1. 2 wins. 5 losses. 3.59 ERA in 72.2 innings. 77 hits. 64 struckouts. 28 walks.

In the fifth inning, Belinsky began hitting his rival Steve Barber. Then retiredTemplein a pop up to right field. And Williams with another pop up to short stop. Brooks Robinson was the last out with  grounder to third base. In the sixth frame, after 1 out, Brandt hit the longest shot of the Orioles in the whole game. A line drive to deep center field that Albie Pearson took in the warning track. Belinsky walked Triandos, and struckout Nicholson.

From there on, Belinsky was perfect. He retired in a row the last 10 batters. Including Williams with a pop up to left field, Brooks Robinson with a pop up to center field and Steve Bilko in a struckout, all in the eighth inning.

Belinsky came back toVenezuelafor the third time with the Magallanes Navigators in the 1968-69 season. Magallanes had started the season with some troubles. Among the pitchers they signed to reinforce the team, arrived Belinsky and Salvatore Campisi. As soon as these pitchers climbed the mound to help Ron Tompkins and Roberto Muñoz, the team started to improve his position in the standing until they got a berth for the play offs. Belinsky hurled several tight games where he kept his team’s chance of winning intact until it came the bats of  Clarence Gaston, Pat Kelly, Walt Hriniak, Joe Rudi, Dámaso Blanco, Gustavo Gil, Armando Ortiz. That season Belinsky played in 16 games. Completed 4 of 15 starts. 6 wins. 8 losses. 97.1 innings. 73 hits. 21 earned runs. 67 walks. 93 struckouts. 1.94 ERA.

In the ninth frame, Belinsky struckout Brandt with three deliveries. Triandos was retired with a grounder to Koppe in short stop. Nicholson hit a high pop up behind third base in a 1-1 count. Torres took it to concrete the no-hitter.

Alfonso L. Tusa C.

Alfonso’s work has been featured in Venezuel’s daily newspaper, El Nacional and in the magazine Gente en Ambiente, and he has collaborated on several articles for newspapers, including the daily paper Tal Cual. He has also written four books and some biographies for SABR’s BioProject.

Frank Wickware, John Henry Lloyd, and Pete Hill of the 1910 Leland Giants

This addition to the DB also includes the rise of the St. Louis Giants to major status and the founding of the New York Lincoln Giants by the McMahon brothers, both in 1911.  The 1910 season saw Cyclone Joe Williams come north to join the Chicago Giants; in 1911 the Philadelphia Giants, a formerly great club now in its twilight, introduced a rookie battery consisting of the 20-year-old Dick Redding and the 22-year-old Louis Santop.

Dick Redding, Louis Santop, Joe Williams

These years also witnessed the brief appearance in the blackball ranks of two men perhaps better known for their endeavors in other fields.  William Clarence Matthews, former Harvard shortstop and a future Assistant Attorney General of the United States under the Coolidge Administration, played a game at second base for the New York Black Sox in 1910.  And Lorenzo Dow Turner, a prominent linguist and the father of Gullah studies, pitched for the Philadelphia Giants in 1911, using his middle name presumably to preserve his eligibility for the Howard University team.

As always, lots of people have helped out with the research.  I especially want to thank Todd Peterson, who provided us with box scores and information on the St. Paul Gophers and Minneapolis Keystones (and what he didn’t provide specifically to us I cribbed from his great book, Early Black Baseball in Minnesota); Dwayne Isgrig, who provided box scores from St. Louis; and Scott Simkus, who has been tracking down missing box scores from Chicago.

Coming soon: the 1908 and 1909 Negro leagues, the 1923 Eastern Colored League, and many more Cuban seasons.

60’6″: Balls, Strikes, and Baseball Mortality, the debut novel from former college and semipro pitcher Mike Arsenault, is a portrait of a young man clinging to an impossible dream and wondering what lies beyond.  Arsenault uses baseball as his backdrop, but his story transcends the sport, weaving a universal tale about the sometimes painful process becoming an adult, accepting limitations, and finding one’s place in the world.

The central character is left-handed pitcher Gord Mattis, a former college standout at the University of Michigan who, at age 24, is stuck toiling in darkest depths of the Detroit Tigers organization.  We first meet him as an awkward, bespectacled 14-year old, withering under the unrealistic expectations of his coach/father.  After another in a long line of embarrassing pratfalls on the mound and the obligatory condescending postgame sermon, an exasperated Gord finally decides to fully dedicate himself to the sport, largely to placate his hectoring dad.

Gord matures into a craftsman on the mound.  In high school and college, his cerebral approach more than compensates for his marginal physical talent.  But without a big fastball to blow past hitters, his potential as a professional is limited.  He lives a humbling, tenuous existence as A-ball roster filler, a disposable warm body who gives the real prospects someone to play with.

As his career founders, Gord stumbles through an uncomfortable relationship dance with Kim Bell, an old flame from Ann Arbor.  In college their relationship never evolved much beyond surface-level flirtation, with Gord unsure if, when, or how to make his move.  But by a stroke of luck, they reunite in Florida, where Gord is pitching, and embark upon the painful process of patching old wounds and speaking of feelings heretofore unspoken.

Arsenault used his own baseball career as inspiration for the plot and the characters.  He pitched at Queen’s University and Durham College in Canada, and then spent time on the mound for the London (Ontario) Majors, a formidable semipro team that has seen eight of its players drafted into pro ball since 2006.

Given the author’s background, it is unsurprising that one of the book’s strengths is the authenticity of the baseball scenes.  Arsenault takes us onto the mound and inside Gord’s head as he works over a batter, explaining his thought process pitch-by-pitch.   He also vividly illustrates the bullpen subculture, and the odd, vaguely dehumanizing world of the major league tryout camp. This is probably one of the few novels from which even an educated baseball fan can learn something new about the game.

Arsenault uses the word “mortality” in the title, which is appropriate because we witness Gord slogging through the various stages of grief as his career circles the drain.  The emotions he experiences resemble the feelings of watching a loved one go through a terminal illness.  Sometimes no matter how much we accept reality and tell ourselves that we are prepared, the end is no less devastating.  Gord isn’t deluded – he recognizes that he will never pitch in the major leagues and understands that his career will be short.  Nonetheless, his ultimate release leaves him shocked, angry, and reeling from his disconnection from a sport that had become central to his identity.

Some of the secondary characters are a bit one-dimensional and fit well-worn baseball archetypes – the crusty manager with the heart of gold, the talented, flame-throwing meathead who eventually sees the light, the unrepentant ladies’ man.  Gord’s character, however, is more carefully nuanced, with lots of subtle paradoxes at his core that make him feel realistic and relatable.

By the conclusion of the novel, Gord is in a good place, but it is hardly an idyllic ending where all the bows are neatly tied and everyone’s wildest hopes and wishes are fulfilled.   As Arsenault illustrates, success is often less about scaling the heights of fame and fortune and more about forgetting what needs to be forgotten, putting one foot in front of the other, and getting on with it.

60’6″: Balls, Strikes, and Baseball Mortality is available for purchase at the author’s website.

James Forr’s book, Pie Traynor: A Baseball Biography (co-authored with David Proctor) was a finalist for the 2010 CASEY Award.  He also was the 2005 winner of the McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award.

Fitts stuffs many different aspects of the 1934 tour into his story, sharing multiple perspectives of how everything played into the politics and on the baseball diamond. The more fascinating include Matsutaro Shokiri, the Japanese newspaperman determined to make the tour happen to improve his business standing; Moe Berg, the multilingual light hitting catcher who engaged in acts of unsanctioned espionage when not playing; and Babe Ruth, the iconic slugger at the end of his career but still reveling in his status as the most famous athlete in the world. Their stories are made all the more interesting when told in the context of the crumbling American/Japanese diplomatic relations and the political ferment of some Japanese wishing to restore the honor of the Meiji Dynasty.

There is a multitude of other intriguing characters and plot lines, which are positives and also a hindrance. The diversity of perspective creates a three hundred and sixty degree view, allowing the reader to see how events unfolded from all sides. Fitts is careful to let the story unfold, giving equal shrift to as many characters and sub-plots as possible. While this is a comprehensive approach, it ultimately is a little distracting in trying to keep track of them all.

The powerful role of baseball in American and Japanese cultures is also explored in some depth. The tour itself came at the height of America’s love affair with the game. American policy makers had previously believed that the game could possibly bridge any gap between nations. No matter how insistent Americans were that baseball was their national game, the Japanese proved that it could be easily adapted to fit their own cultural needs and it had gained immense popularity in their country by 1934. Regardless, there was hope that stars like Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx could tap into Japan’s new love of baseball to help repair diplomacy that had reached tenuous levels, but Fitts shows the two things turned out to be apples and oranges.

Japan’s burgeoning love affair with baseball at the time of the tour is also explored by Fitts. In addition to enormous crowds who often slept outside the stadium to obtain tickets to see the Americans, the tour coincided with Japan exploring its own professional leagues. Previously, Japanese baseball had been relegated mainly to universities and school boys, with an emphasis on modeling the game on samurai principles. This is driven home by the wildly entertaining but intense description of manager Suishu Tobita’s “hi no renshu” (death training); his expectation that his players practice until “they were half dead, motionless, and froth was coming out of their mouths.”

Despite the greatest hopes for a far reaching impact by the tour, Fitts’ findings show results ranging from the disappointing to the tragic. Its greatest American achievement was in bringing baseball star power to a country that had become obsessed with the game. Many Japanese enjoyed the spectacle, but another segment of their society saw it as a representation of how their country was straying from a principled past- feelings that helped forge a course towards the devastation of World War II. Banzai Babe Ruth is a fascinating read that proves to even the most hardcore fan that baseball is not infallible, particularly when it comes to international diplomatic relations.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of the book being reviewed by the publisher, but received no payment or other consideration for this review.

Andrew Martin is the founder of “The Baseball Historian” blog where he posts his thoughts about baseball on a regular basis. He can be reached at historianandrew@gmail.com. You can also reach him on Twitter at @historianandrew.

May 4, 2012

Fifty years ago a skinny left-hander with a sneaky smile made history.  And started a party.

On May 5, 1962 Robert “Bo” Belinsky threw a no-hitter for the Los Angeles Angels in a 2-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles and became Hollywood’s star attraction for a summer and one of baseball’s most picaresque, memorable characters for all-time.

I learned of that personality, and the existence of Belinsky himself, in a Sports Illustrated article in 1994 that was actually a re-print from 1972.  Pat Jordan’s piece, “Once He Was An Angel,” is a masterful bit of writing…or maybe Bo Belinsky really was just that cool.

With his slick black hair, good looks, athletic prowess, a hedonistic thirst and devil-may-care attitude, Belinsky was the guy who all guys want to be and all girls want to be with.  Belinsky’s conquests included Ann-Margaret, Connie Stevens, Tina Louise, Mamie Van Doren, Juliet Prowse and, among countless others, Playboy playmate Jo Collins whom he later married.

Belinsky was admired by the famed columnist, Walter Winchell, who was in the stands in L.A. that night in 1962, and Bo partied with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Hugh Hefner, Henry Fonda, Dean Martin and Eddie Fisher.  J. Edgar Hoover took a liking to Belinsky and once let him and Dean Chance shoot machine guns at an FBI firing range.

Belinsky seemed as destined for trouble as he was for the spotlight.  Born in New York City to a Catholic father and Jewish mother, his family moved to Trenton, New Jersey and he was nicknamed “Bo” because he was a notorious street fighter in the vein of middleweight boxer Bobo Olson.  In his youth, baseball was Belinsky’s third favorite pastime (at best) after fisticuffs and pool hustling. He was originally drafted by the Pirates and ended up in the Orioles’ system before going to the Angels who tolerated his waywardness until he punched a sports writer.

Belinsky’s sybaritic ways eventually led to his downfall, as there are countless stories of him partying until all hours, even the night before a game.  He was sent back down to the minors many times and, other than his no-hitter in ’62, his most notable achievement on the field may have been giving up Hank Aaron’s 400^th home run in 1966.  After being traded from the Angels to the Phillies he went to the Astros, Pirates and Reds in a career that ended in 1970 with a lifetime record of 28-51.

Belinsky eventually went broke and suffered from alcoholism. He reached rock bottom in 1976 when, according to the New York Times, he says he woke up under a bridge in Ohio “clutching an empty wine bottle.”  He later got sober and became a counselor for others with addiction and, while living in Nevada, became a born-again Christian.  Said Belinsky: “Can you imagine? I had to come to Las Vegas to discover Jesus Christ.”

By the time he died of an apparent heart attack in November, 2001 at the age of 64, Belinsky seemed to have found peace in his life but the pain created in his earlier days left many scars.  The Times wrote that Belinsky remained estranged from his twin daughters (from his marriage to Jane Weyerhaeuser) and was also out of touch with his sister.

Just a few months before his death Belinsky was quoted by a reporter with a line that sums up the journey for many of us: ”We spend the first 40, 50 years satisfying our egos and the next 20 or 10 trying to wipe the slate clean…’I'm at that second stage.”  Sadly, that second stage didn’t last long for the man who was a devilish Angel.

It’s not surprising that Belinsky would find such fitting words, as he was a quote machine.  After his magical night in 1962 he told reporters “If I’d known I was gonna pitch a no-hitter today, I would have gotten a haircut.”  Another gem: “I’ve gotten more mileage out of winning 28 games than most guys do winning 200.”  And how about: “If music be the food of love, by all means let the band play on.”  And of baseball itself he told Jordan: ”…Man, you can’t stash baseball. If you’re lucky, you capture it awhile, you go through it at some point in your life, and then it goes away and you go on to something else. Some guys try to live off it forever. It’s a sin to live off sport.”

The ’72 Sports Illustrated article also includes this one from Belinsky when his playing days were over and real life was taking hold.

“Follow the sun, babe, that’s it, I follow the sun.  I hate it, this way I am.  But who chooses to be what he is, huh?  It’s in the stars, babe, in the stars.  I would like to be devoted to some one or thing…I just never found anything I could lend myself to.  The age of chivalry is dead, babe.  There are no more heroes…nothing left worthy of devotion, you know what I mean?  That’s why my way is best.  Don’t forget, ‘He who plays and runs away, lives to play some other day.’”

It’s a quote from a sunny day in 1972.  They are words from a joyous night in 1994.  They were spoken about a crazy, hopeful time in 1962.  They are time-defying sentiments that celebrate folly and decry self-pity and reach back to the streets of Trenton and seep through the cracks of fame.  They are the thoughts of someone who’s funny, wary, wistful, sad, disillusioned and honest.  They are the thoughts of someone who has seen their own soul and are left cringing not for what has happened but for what didn’t.  And never will.

Robert “Bo” Belinsky was a damn good baseball player.   He could have been a great one but that fact served as a burden to him, and should not be seen as a disappointment for us.  We got the Bo Belinsky we really wanted.  He was a man who lived selfishly yet, in some ways, heroically, marching in step with his own conscience and passion instead of expectation and convention.  He created a magical night on the baseball diamond in 1962 and was the sole author of his own mirthful, thoughtful tale.

He was an Angel, a scoundrel, and unafraid.  He stood tall.  He threw hard.

The Atlantic League hierarchy goes to great lengths to emphasize to anyone who will listen that it has players ready to step into major league roles.  That was never truer than in the case of onetime top prospect turned flop turned Barnstormers-produced Jerome Lee Williams.

“Jerome was awesome,” teammate Torii Hunter told The Los Angeles Times after the 30-year-old Williams stifled the Minnesota Twins, 4-0, with a three-hitter for the struggling Los Angeles Angels.  ”He was in and out of the zone with his sinker and cutter, he went hard, soft and worked fast.  He looks good, confident, polished.”

That certainly was true for a team needing a pick-me-up as the then 8-15 Angels did.  Williams started 11 hitters 0-and-2, only allowed five balls to leave the infield and pushed his record to 2-1.  The Angels would only have four wins for the first four weeks of the American League season if not for Hawaiian-born Williams and no-hit ace Jered Weaver, who also trained in the Atlantic League (Camden, NJ) before starting his professional career back in 2005. Weaver followed up on Williams’s gem with a no-hitter 24 hours later over the Twins.

55 Indy Grads in Triple-A, 53 in Double-A

It is difficult to project who the next player will be to come out of an Independent league and stand out in the major leagues, but there are no less than 108 candidates at the top two levels of the affiliated minor leagues, the Independent Baseball Insider’s annual update shows.

Fifty-five players who have worn Independent uniforms—nearly two for every major league organization—are currently in Triple-A leagues and another 53 in Double-A.  Our study shows 14 Indy players are in the majors (three are disabled) and 158 more in the minor leagues.

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FOR ADDITIONAL INDEPENDENT BASEBALL COVERAGE

www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com ADDED TO www.IndyBaseballChatter.com

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Top Indy Find Ligtenberg Back at St. Paul

How nice it is to see that one of the best players to work his way from an Independent beginning to major league stardom has returned to his roots.

Kerry Ligtenberg, who went from the Minneapolis Loons (North Central and Prairie Leagues) in 1994-95 to a 30-save season (34 opportunities) with the Atlanta Braves in ’98, will be the St. Paul (MN) Saints’ (American Association) pitching coach this summer, replacing Jason Verdugo, the new athletic director at Hamline University.

Ligtenberg won 17 games (20 losses) and saved 48 in eight major league seasons from 1997-2005, then capped his career off with 15 saves for the Saints in ’09.  George Sherrill is the only hurler who started in the Independent ranks with more major league saves (56).

(This is an excerpt from the column Bob Wirz writes year round on Independent Baseball.  Fans may subscribe for 2012 at www.WirzandAssociates.com, enjoy his blogs, www.AtlanticLeagueBaseball.com and www.IndyBaseballChatter.com, or comment to RWirz@aol.com.  The author has 16 years of major league baseball public relations experience with Kansas City and as spokesman for two Commissioners and lives in Stratford, CT.)

It is still too soon to determine if young players like Jose Altuve, J.D.Martinez, Jordan Schafer, Jed Lowrie and Jason Castro will have long, productive careers but there were encouraging signs in April.  Altuve was among the League leaders in batting average (.360) andMartinezwas among the leaders in RBIs (19) and walks (20).  Lowrie has had several key hits and has played errorless ball at shortstop.  Schafer reached base in all 23 games and is among the league leaders in stolen bases with 8.  Castro has apparently completely recovered from the knee injury that sidelined him last year.

The Astros improved in most major categories of performance in April over their figures for the 2010 season.

Unfortunately, these numbers didn’t translate into as many wins as might be expected but if they keep playing at this level, the wins should come.

The pitching did not quite keep up with the hitting and remains a concern despite the improved ERA.  Wandy Rodriguez was outstanding in April with an ERA of 1.72 in five starts and was the only Astro starter to pick up 2 wins.  Bud Norris and J.A. Happ had some good games but they were inconsistent.  The other 2 starters, Lucas Harrell and Kyle Weiland, are inexperienced and have yet to show that they can win in the major leagues.  Jordan Lyles (4-0 at Triple-A) came up for a start and pitched well.

Brett Myers made a successful conversion to a closer and picked up 5 saves in 5 opportunities with an ERA of 1.35. The rest of the bullpen has been hit and miss but came through in the last game in April when Manager, Brad Mills, used seven different pitchers to face seven consecutive batters which has been reported as a major league record. Fortunately, Lowrie hit a tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning to give the Astros a 6-5 win. The Astros would have had a problem if the game had gone into extra innings.

Another improvement from last year is the performance ofHouston’s top two minor league teams which have been big losers the last few years. Triple-A Oklahoma City was 16-9 in April and Double-A Corpus Christi was 12-12. Most of the young players the Astros obtained in recent trades are playing for these clubs which bodes well for the future.

Whitby was a right-handed pitcher who came out of Virginia as a high school phenom. He was signed by the Minnesota Twins before he turned 18 in 1961 and promptly assigned to the low levels of the minors. He started out slowly, but gradually became a consistent, but unspectacular starter. By 1964 he had made it all the way to Charlotte in the Southern League, where he had 11 wins and a 3.38 ERA. Having proven his ability, the Twins, in just their fourth year from having been the Washington Senators, called Whitby up to fill a temporarily opening on their roster.

Whitby debuted on June 17, 1964, pitching the final 1.1 innings of a 5-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians. He contributed to the miserable tone of the game for Minnesota, allowing a home run to winning pitcher Pedro Ramos. His next appearance turned out to be his best. On June 21^st he pitched 1.2 perfect innings in a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. His performance included retiring Norm Cash (double play), Al Kaline, Bill Freehan, and Don Demeter in order.

The brief major league experience for Whitby quickly came to an end. On June 24^th and 25^th he made consecutive relief appearances against the Cleveland Indians, struggling in both outings, giving up home runs to Al Smith and Larry Brown. Having given up 3 home runs in his 4 games, he was demoted back to Charlotte and never made it back to the majors again.

The failure of Whitby to get back to the majors was not for a lack of effort. He continued pitching in the Minnesota system until 1969. He posted double digits in wins each season from 1965-67, but was seen as more of a 4-A guy and was bypassed for promotions in favor of other pitching prospects. He pitched briefly in the St. Louis and Washington systems before finally calling it a career following the 1970 season.

In his 4 major league games Whitby allowed 8 hits, a walk, and 6 runs in 6.1 innings, for an 8.53 ERA. During his 10 seasons in the minors he appeared in 252 games, with 203 being starts. He had a 74-89 record and a 3.92 ERA. More information about his career statistics is available at http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/whitbbi01.shtml.

Whitby was good enough to earn a taste of the major leagues, but didn’t have the results to impress his way into a lengthier stay. His story is a common one, but frustrating nonetheless. He worked for 10 years to get to the major leagues and got 4 games out of the effort. However, that is better than what the majority of players who have been in position can say.

Bill Whitby Questionnaire:

Who was your favorite coach or manager?: Johnny Sain, pitching coach.

What was the strangest play you ever saw during his career?: Saw a pitcher pick up a win without making a pitch.

How much competition was there for roster spots during spring training?: A lot because there would be only one or two spots open.

If you could do anything differently about your career, what would that be?: I don’t know if I would do anything different.

Andrew Martin is the founder of “The Baseball Historian” blog where he posts his thoughts about baseball on a regular basis. He can be reached at historianandrew@gmail.com. You can also reach him on Twitter at @historianandrew.

On Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, the two players were on the same major league field for the first time, wearing the road jerseys of the Washington Nationals. Strasburg took the mound against the Dodgers and Harper started in left field for his very first game in the majors. Was it a historic moment?

Only time will determine how historic or mundane the game in Los Angeles was, but there were glimmers of what to expect. Stephen Strasburg continued to dazzle in his tenth start since returning from elbow surgery last September. He struck out nine Dodgers in seven innings including Matt Kemp twice. He allowed only a single run, lowering his ERA to 1.13.

Strasburg’s statistics may not remain at such historic levels, but he has been masterful over the ten starts and there was no hype in the description of his prodigious talent.

When the Dodgers scored their only run against Strasburg, the first real convergence of the two super-stars occurred. Jerry Hairston was on second with one out after being hit by Strasburg to start the seventh inning. A.J. Ellis singled into left field where Bryce Harper fielded the ball cleanly and threw a strike to Washington catcher Wilson Ramos that should have caught Jerry Hairston easily.

Hairston knocked the ball from the catcher’s glove and scored the first run of the evening. The Nationals went on to lose the game in heartbreaking fashion, but the historic moment may have been that first real look at Harper’s arm, which is the least well known of his plus-plus tools

Tony Kornheiser did not see the game but was on ESPN where he commented nonetheless about the throw saying that Rick Ankiel’s throw more than a week earlier–from deep center field that Ramos caught chest high on the fly–could not possibly have been one-upped by Harper. But when Kornheiser was shown the video, he wasn’t so certain.

Harper has been hitting only in the .240 range at Triple-A Syracuse before his recall. But the Nationals collection of left fielders filling in for the injured Michael Morse, were hitting considerably less than that and General Manager Mike Rizzo called up Harper saying the young phenom could hardly do worse.

Keith Law asserted that the Nationals are putting Harper at risk with the early promotion. With so few indications that he is ready, what are the long-term affects to his confidence if he fails? Given the bristling nature of Harper’s confidence, his swagger that seems to simmer somewhere just below full boil, it is difficult to imagine what it might take to dent the young man’s belief in himself.

Harper went 1-for-3 in each of the two games he has started. His long double to dead center on Saturday night was a clean hit that demonstrated his power, but his showing over the two games does not compare to Strasburg’s debut that was far more dramatic.

In his first game, Strasburg struck out fourteen Pittsburgh Pirates over seven innings. He hit 100 mph on the radar gun numerous times to the delight of fans. He struck out the side in his final inning of work with a packed stadium on its feet. That excitement plummeted when Strasburg needed elbow surgery before the end of his first season, but now he seems healed and to have learned from his first taste of hardship.

Strasburg’s fastball now sits at 96-97 and he has said that he is learning to pitch more and depend on his overwhelming fastball much less. It may not be the strain of an additional 3-4 mph that overworked his arm in 2010, but it seems a wiser Strasburg that is taking the mound in 2012.

Bryce Harper’s first two games have not provided the high tension excitement of Strasburg’s first few games. But it seems likely that his career will have similar highs and lows over the next few seasons. No one believes there is a structural flaw in Harper that will undermine his ability to play the game.

The question with Harper is not whether he will be a high impact offensive player, but when. Just how long will it take him to adjust to big league pitching?

Nationals manager, Davey Johnson said that Harper was ready for the majors prior to the start of Spring Training. But Harper suffered a minor injury in the spring and with a shortened window to prepare for the majors, Washington GM Mike Rizzo sent him to the minor league camp.

But now he has joined the team and the era of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper has begun in Washington, DC. Either would be a significant bonus for a team, but for Washington to have both on the same field at the same time is truly something special.

The supporting cast has a few flaws currently, but not that many. The Nationals have the best starting rotation in the majors according to the early numbers and Stephen Strasburg is no small part of that. When Drew Storen, Michael Morse and Ryan Zimmerman are all healthy, the real show will begin for the Washington Nationals. Catch it in a city near you. They do not disappoint.

As a reminder, we provide two sets of calculations: 1-year factors and 3-year factors.

The 1-year factors are observed factors, based on only the season in question.  While we do use an other parks corrector as described in the detail documentation, these are essentially the factors that were observed for that particular year, so a 120 doubles factor for LH batters in Fenway Park means that left-handed batters hit 20% more doubles at Fenway than LH batters for those same teams’ batters hit in games away from Fenway.

The 3-year factors are attempts at calculating “truer” factors.  There are many, many ways we could have constructed our formula, and it’s difficult to determine what the “best” way is, but we believe our way is at least a good and defensible way.  Our basic formula is to use the 1-year factors for the season in question, the season immediately preceding, the season immediately following, and then the park’s long-term historical factor, all weighted equally.  As some parks have rather long histories, while other may have life for only a few seasons, this is not a perfect method, but we believe it retains a basic simplicity while providing for a high degree of accuracy in estimating a park’s impact on offensive events.

We welcome any feedback on any of the data or suggestions for improvement, so try it out and enjoy!

http://www.seamheads.com/ballparks/index.php