The following post is an official press release from SABR – The Society for American Baseball Research is introducing a new publishing initiative this spring.  The SABR Digital Library will be publishing new titles as well as reviving historical SABR publications that have gone out of print.

Two books mark the inception of the library: one new release and one revival.  Can He Play? is a new book examining the world of baseball scouting.  Run, Rabbit, Run is the autobiography of Walter “Rabbit” Maranville, published once again for the first time since 1991.  Both titles are available as paperback and digital editions.

Can He Play?, a production from SABR member editors Jim Sandoval and Bill Nowlin, is a collection of accounts of the lives of scouts, containing biographies, interviews, and historical essays.  From the beginning of more informal “ivory hunting” in the early 1900s to today’s intricate network of cross-country scouting, Can He Play? is a collection of stories that shows the development of the business over the last hundred-plus years.

Run, Rabbit, Run is Walter “Rabbit” Maranville’s recollection of years of baseball stories, collected only a year before his death.  From 1912 to 1936, he spent twenty-four years playing ball and getting himself into quite a few interesting situations.  The account also contains rare photographs and an introduction and conclusion from noted baseball scholars.

photo taken from Google Images

From 1947 to 1957, a baseball team from New York City would win the World Series. The three teams present in New York City were the New York Yankees, New York Giants, and Brooklyn Dodgers.

Some of the greatest players came out of this decade. The Yankees would win five World Series titles from 1949 to 1953, and would again win the World Series in 1956 and 1958.

The Dodgers would win their only title in 1955, while the Giants would win two in 1954 and 1957 before both teams were to move to California. Yet there remains one question: “Does anybody remember the New York Cubans??”

Yes, the New York Cubans, who won the Negro League Championship in 1947. That same year the Yankees won the first of five World Series in a row, yet no one talks about the NY Cubans. Why, because they were a Negro League team and had players who were just as good as the Major Leagues Players back then? Here are some of the players who played on this team; the average baseball fan today most likely has never heard of them, but in the hearts and minds of the Latin Community, they still exist.

Among them stands Martin Dihigo, considered by many to be the greatest ball player who ever played in the Negro Leagues. Dihigo is the only ballplayer elected to four baseball Hall of Fames; in the U.S.A, Mexico, Cuba and Venezuela.

Long before Pete Rose became an All-Star in five different positions, Dihigo had done the same. He was called “El Maestro (The Teacher, or The Master). As a pitcher he won 256 games, with a winning percentage of 653. With a bat he had a life-time batting average .303. Satchel Paige, the greatest pitcher in the Negro Leagues said this when he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971: “I’m not the best, Martin Dihigo is! Dihigo was elected to the fame in 1977.

Tetelo Vargas (Dominican Republic,) considered by many to be the “Father of Dominican Baseball.” Long before fellow countryman Juan Marichal (elected to Hall of Fame in 1987), Manny Ramirez or Vladimir Guerrero, there was Vargas. He was known as the “Dominican Deer”! He excelled in defense, was a consistent hitter, good speed, base stealer. When you see Ramirez’s power, Guerrero’s arm, you will see Vargas in sprit!

Other outstanding players included Pedro Anibal “Perucho” Cepeda (Puerto Rico) who played shortstop. He was the father of Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda. He was on the Cubans roster in 1941. An outstanding fielder and hitter, he finished with a .325 batting average.

When you see Derek Jeter (NY Yankees), Miguel Tejada (Baltimore Orioles) or Alex Rodriguez when he played shortstop for the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers; representing the new prototype of power-hitting shortstops and hitting those long balls, that was Cepeda. Talk about the great hitting shortstops Honus Wagner, Ernie Banks; who knows how many records he would’ve made!

Still others included Luis Tiant, father of Cleveland and Boston All-Star pitching great Luis “El Tiante” Tiant , and Saturnino Orestes Armas “Minnie” Minoso, who would set an MLB record for appearing in games, mostly with Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox, over five decades (and even attempted a sixth!)

Could this team compete with the “Golden Teams 1947 to 1957? HELL YEAH! I’ll bet all those other New York teams would’ve met their match!

299_9923 (Photo credit: dbking)

For more information about the New York Cubans and the Negro Leagues, visit the following links:

http://www.nlbpa.com/new_york_cubans.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/new-york-cubans

http://www.coe.ksu.edu/nlbemuseum/history/teams/nycubans.html

Ismael Nunez is a BaseballdeWorld Latin Correspondent based in Puerto Rico. This article was originally posted on 31 May 2010. 

Photo taken from Google Images

I recently ran into this CNN feature from 1995 on Alex Rodriguez. If you think about it, they were making a pretty big deal about him – when was the last time a major news outlet did a feature on an up and coming teenage pro athlete? LeBron James is the only one I can think of. This all got me reflecting on the hype surrounding A-Rod through his career, beginning in his high school days in his hometown of Miami.

First year in pro ball after being selected number one overall, the 18-year-old rangy shortstop reaches Triple-A Calgary and hits .311/ .359/ .588. Gets his first cup of coffee.

Second year in pro ball, now 19, he hits .360/ .411/ .654 in Triple-A Tacoma — Tacoma, by the way, until its 2011 renovations, may have been the most cavernous park in the country, and the ball flies through cool sea air. Second cup of coffee.

Third year in pro ball, now 20 and in the Major Leagues, hits .358/ .414/ .631, plays Gold Glove worthy shortstop (if not for that Omar Vizquel guy), and is worth 9.8 WAR in 146 games.

Though his career is controversial — for reasons many of which he invited himself — his 629 home runs is 6th on the all-time list, and his 112 WAR is 18th on the all-time list.

And those numbers are still climbing. Still going strong, he’s fresh off his 35-year-old, injury-riddled season with a still-impressive 4.2 WAR in 99 games.

Image via Wikipedia

If there was a more hyped prospect in baseball history who fulfilled his potential as much as Alex did, I’d like to see it. Griffey? Broke down by age 31. Bonds? Better player, but not everyone saw it until after he was drafted. Clemens? Maddux? Not first-overalls. Clemente? The guy was Rule-5′d. Mickey Mantle? OK, maybe, but a big part of that hype was likely the media and to many in the 1950s Yankees = MLB. Alex played in small and medium markets until donning pinstripes and the media paid attention anyway.

Love him or hate him, MLB has been better off with A-Rod than without. For those of us who paid him any attention through his entire career, we’ve gotten a real treat.

And now for a fun fact that is neither here nor there:

- In the CNN feature, Lou Piniella praises Alex for his potential and compares him to Cal Ripken – the best shortstop in the Liveball Era. But less than 2 years before that in the early summer of 1993, on the upcoming draft, Sweet Lou said: “Now let me get this straight. Darren Dreifort is close to pitching in the big leagues right now, and we need bullpen help, right? Then why are we even talking about that guy in Florida?” Mariners Head of Scouting at the time, Roger Jongewaard, replied simply, “Because he’s special.”

Dreifort, the number 2 overall pick in the 1993 draft, would go on to accumulate 4.8 WAR in an injury-plagued career that is commonly panned by Dodger fans.

This graphic comes to us via Mike Donghia of   http://www.webstaurantstore.com

Chart taken from http://trendsupdates.com/

When baseball implemented a revenue sharing plan as part of their collective bargaining agreement in 1997, the premise behind the plan was that it would create a more competitive atmosphere between all teams in baseball. So rather than the elite, large market teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox who can continue to pay top dollar for free agents, revenue sharing allows smaller market teams to spend on player salaries as well.

According to the revenue sharing plan implemented in the collective bargaining agreement of 2002, every team pays in 31 percent of their local revenues and that pot is split evenly among all 30 teams. In addition, a chunk of MLB’s Central Fund — made up of revenues from sources like national broadcast contracts — is disproportionately allocated to teams based on their relative revenues, so lower-revenue teams get a bigger piece of the pie.

Also, teams who exceed the set payroll limits pay into the pot a luxury tax, which is then distributed to the lower revenue teams. For instance, in 2008 the New York Yankees, according to the Wall Street Journal, paid out $21.6 million in luxury tax money. That money was distributed to the teams with the lowest payrolls in the league.

Can teams use revenue sharing to improve the quality of the product on the field? There are at least two instances where teams clearly used the extra money to improve.

In 2003, the Detroit Tigers were the worst team in the league, and one of the worst all-time, with a record of 43-119. The club was 13^th out of 14 teams in attendance, and easily qualified for extra revenues at the time. The Tigers used the money to sign catcher Ivan Rodriguez and right fielder Magglio Ordonez, who were key components to the team that won the American League pennant just three years later.

In 2007, after a sixth straight losing season, the Colorado Rockies used all of the $16 million they received in the revenue sharing plan and put it all toward payroll. The following season, the Rockies won 13 of their last 14 games to force a one-game playoff with the San Diego Padres to determine the Wild Card in the National League. The Rockies won that playoff game, and then swept their way into the World Series before eventually losing to the Boston Red Sox.

So there are certainly instances where revenue sharing has been implemented in the way that it was intended.

However, there have been far too many circumstances where revenue sharing clearly hasn’t worked, and smaller market teams have essentially used the extra money to pad their profits.

The Florida Marlins were on top of the world in 2003, having beaten the New York Yankees in the World Series in six games. Their payroll that particular season was $54 million. However, just three years later, after allowing homegrown talent to walk away without offering contracts and trading World Series heroes Josh Beckett and Ivan Rodriguez for much cheaper players, the Marlins’ payroll dropped to $14.9 million, which at the time was just 20 percent of the league average payroll of $78 million. Yet, the Marlins had received almost $31 million in revenue sharing money that year, more than double their actual payroll.

The Tampa Bay Rays were also guilty of receiving over $30 million in payroll dollars for five straight years between 2002-2006, yet their average payroll during that time was just $27 million, and the team reported a profit of an average of $20 million during that same time.

The biggest problem with the current revenue sharing plan is the definition of how the money is to be used is quite vague. All the agreement states is that the money is to be used to “improve the product on the field,” and MLB has done little to enforce that policy over the years.

The simplest solution is to change the language. Rather than stating that revenue sharing allotments should be used to “improve the product on the field,” the agreement should state that “all revenue sharing allotments must be used on player payroll.” It’s simple, cut and dry, and can be easily enforced by MLB.

There is no question that revenue sharing rules should indeed change, but to start, simple language needs to be fixed. What do you think?

Photo Taken from Zimbio

It’s been a busy year in the big time record breaking (and setting) department around Major League Baseball. Derek Jeter became the 28^th member of the 3,000 hit club in July, and is rapidly climbing up the list still (he currently sits at 20^th all-time in total hits). Jim Thome hit his 600^th home run in August with the Minnesota Twins, and has since return to the Cleveland Indians where it all started for him back in 1991.

The record pace kept moving along yesterday, when the game’s most dominant closer of all-time, Mariano Rivera, notched his 600^th save. He joined Trevor Hoffman has the only player to ever reach that level of game ending excellence, and by the end of the week he could be in solo waters once again. His 43^rd save of the year would also be his 602^nd of his career, moving him past Hoffman and making him the all-time saves King.

So what’s next? Next season won’t be able to match this summer in career excellence coming to age before us in big, round “WOW” numbers. Apologies to Ivan Rodriguez and his prolonged attempt to be the first catcher to surpass 3,000 hits, but it’s not looking like that’s going to happen. But there are more than a few milestone markers that are in the sights of a few either potential or ticket-punched Hall of Famers. However, how many will be able to seal the deal and when could it come to pass? Here’s the magic numbers that could be met next summer, and what it would take to meet the mark.

200 WINS – One guy is guaranteed to hit the mark, and could do it before the All-Star. Roy Halladay sits at 186 wins today with two or three more 2011 starts remaining. That will put him most likely as needing 12 to 13 W’s to get to his next mile marker as a starter. With the way that Doc has pitched in his first two years in the NL and the Phillies standing to return another great club, he’ll hit this level easy. For prediction’s sake let’s say July 2012.

Image via Wikipedia

Outside shot: CC Sabathia and Tim Hudson. CC sits at 176 wins currently and saying he wins another two this year, it would still require a 22 win season to match it. If he stays in the Bronx, 22 wins are very possible, but it’s still a tough number to put an absolute on. Early 2013 (like his first two starts) is more likely. Hudson actually sits closer to the record than CC with 179 wins and plays for a good Braves club, but has only won more than 17 games twice, so early 2013 for him as well.

2,500 HITS – Ichiro is guaranteed to top it, and Bobby Abreu won’t be too far behind. Even after a step backwards (by his unreal standards) this year, he is still among the most productive hitters in the game. With his career mark sitting at 2,414 right now, he’ll get over 2,600 as well most likely. First things first, and by June, he’ll be past 2.5k. His division mate Abreu will continue to quietly accumulate more impressive numbers in his career as well, with 2,500 being the next. He’s at 2,374 and by August of next year, he’ll be at his next milestone.

Outside shot: Todd Helton has a chance, but it’s about how often he’s out there. His with good health, his current 2,363 hits and a few more set him up to meet an important number for his Hall of Fame candidacy nextSeptember.

2,000 HITS – A record eight players reached this mark in 2011 alone. Not quite that many will get there next summer, but it’s a clear shot for a few. Placido Polanco (1,956), Derrek Lee (1,944) and Carlos Beltran (1,900) will all pass it by midsummer; June for Polanco, July for Lee and Beltran.

Outside shot: Andruw Jones (1,881) and Jason Giambi (1,946) are close, but playing time is an issue, as neither is a regular at anymore.  Jimmy Rollins (1,848) has the best shot to make it with a combination of range and playing time opportunities, but health is his struggle and if his recent trend stays up, 2013 will be his time.

2,000 RBI – Alex Rodriguez stands to jump a lot of Hall of Fame hurdles in route to becoming the 3^rd player to meet the mark (the names Mays, Cobb, Musial, Gehrig and Bonds should be familiar among others), along with Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. His career number will be over 1,900 after this season, and hitting in the heart of the Yankees order will get him the 100 RBI he’ll need by September.

That’s the best of what could be to come from next summer, and some of what to expect from 2013. However, the summer of ’13 has some big moments from the biggest names in store:

Image via Wikipedia

Entering his early 30′s, Pujols will meet some rare numbers for full careers just past the halfway point of his.

-          500: Albert Pujols stands to hit this number in both home runs and doubles.

-          3,000: Alex Rodriguez will get to yet another big number in his career and get past the big number for career hits…but the focus will will be on…

-          700: A-Rod could conceively become the 4^th player to smack this many home runs

-          Also…: Derek Jeter stands to enter the top 10 hitters of all-time this summer, which will require him to top Willie Mays’ 3,288 hits. At his current level, he could get as high as sixth all-time this summer.

Follow me on Twitter for more random rants, stats, thoughts and everything else Baseball and more at@CheapSeatFan.

Lots of tourists who visit the Los Angeles area might explore Hollywood, do Disney, tour the movie studios and check out the beaches.  That’s what I did my first time out here.  And some poor souls might take one of those bus tours that specialize in drive-bys of movie star homes. That I didn’t do.  This year is also a good time to check out a Dodger game. With the team in the tank, tickets are plentiful and cheap and it seems that, every other game, Dodger Dogs are only a buck.  The bottom line is, there are all kinds of places to go and things to see out here. It’s almost too much for some tourists.

Last year, I ran into a dog lover from Nebraska on Hollywood Boulevard. The guy was almost in tears because he had waited too long to locate Lassie’s star on the Walk of Fame.  Now he had to catch a plane home and still had no clue where Lassie’s paw prints might be embedded in the pavement.   Lucky for him, Superman and Wonder Woman came to his rescue.  The not-very-dynamic duo was hanging around outside the Kodak Center posing for pictures with other tourists for a buck or two a shot.  For forty bucks, they personally escorted the guy to Lassie’s shrine and better yet, for another sawbuck, took a photo of the guy placing a Milk Bone Big Dog Biscuit in the center of Lassie’s star.  The point is, there is so much to see and do out here you can run out of time or money or both and there won’t necessarily be a superhero or two to bail you out. But despite all that, I’m here to add another must-see attraction to Southern California’s already-long list. And this one is especially for baseball fans and it’s free.

So, how would you like to see:

• a box of baseballs signed by Mother Teresa,
• the original costume head of the San Diego Chicken, and
• a mask used by one-eyed umpire Max McLeary with a baseball still embedded in the face guard?

All this and much more is available for viewing — all in the same day and same location.

Those items are only a small sample of the unique and often bizarre collection of memorabilia featured in the exhibition, “Not Exactly Cooperstown,” currently on display at the Burbank Central Library. The collection will be featured in the library’s entrance lobby until September 29.

This is one hairy exhibit. Literally.

Some of the other items in the collection include:

• Pitcher Dock Ellis’ hair curlers, which he wore during pregame workouts,
•  Joe Pepitone’s 1960s Chic model blow dryer which is believed to be the first blow dryer to appear in a major league locker room.
• Ron Santo’s partially burned toupee.

 

 

• A psychedelic, peace-and-love jersey worn in 2010 by the Stockton Ports for a Salute to the Beatles Night.

• Memorabilia from the House of David team. Those guys sported some serious facial hair.

 

 

All of the items in the exhibition are provided by the Baseball Reliquary, a Pasadena-based nonprofit organization.   Priding itself as “a museum without walls,” the Baseball Reliquary traverses the Southern California landscape, presenting exhibitions and programs in a variety of public settings.  According to Terry Cannon, the executive director of the Baseball Reliquary, when the Reliquary shows a collection it isn’t just a hodgepodge of random items.  As Cannon told the Glendale News-Press, “Everything that we do collect, like these items, I like to make sure it’s representative of an interesting story related to the game.”

So most of the items displayed in the “Not Exactly Cooperstown” display have separate signage cards that give information and background about the memorabilia piece.  My favorite is the story of how Ron Santo’s hairpiece caught fire from an overhead heater in Shea Stadium while broadcasting a Cub game on a cold night in April 2003.

“All of a sudden, I heard something sizzling like bacon on a stove,” said Pat Hughes, Santo’s friend and broadcast partner of 15 years. “I quickly grabbed a cup of water and poured it on his head.” But Santo, Hughes went on, was only concerned about how he looked. “I lied. ‘Ronny, it doesn’t look that bad to me.’ Actually, it looked like a big divot was taken right on top of his head.”

It’s a funny story and Hughes’ description of the charred toupee is right on but it still strikes me as sad that Ron’s rug is on display in “Not Exactly Cooperstown”   in the Burbank  Library lobby when the man himself should be in Cooperstown. Why he isn’t in the Hall of Fame is not only a baseball mystery, it’s a cruel joke.

“To me, it is clear and unequivocal that Santo is a Hall of Famer,” said Bill James, the master of baseball sabermetrics.  “Putting guys like George Kell, Freddy Lindstrom and Tony Lazzeri in the Hall of Fame while you leave out Ron Santo is like putting Dalmatians, Palominos, and Siamese in the zoo while you let the lions roam the streets.”

I also believe Santo should be included in The Shrine of the Eternals, the Reliquary’s alternative, anti-establishment Hall of fame concept, honoring many pioneering, visionary and controversial figures associated with the game.  Since its inception in 1999, a total of 39 individuals have been inducted into the Shrine of the Eternals, and plaques for several of the inductees including Dick Allen, Joe Jackson, Curt Flood , Marvin Miller and Jimmy Piersall are on display in Burbank, too.

Perhaps the oddest item on display is a humanitarian award given to Ty Cobb.  I won’t tell you the story behind that one. Better you go check it out yourself. You won’t be sorry.

This is my first article for Baseball Reflections and I’m very happy to be here.

What a great name for the site.

It got me thinking about my personal baseball reflections.

I’ve always thought memories are a lot like reflections, especially when it comes to baseball memories. Sometimes, but not often enough, the memory is like a reflection in a modern-high tech bathroom mirror. Crisp and clear enough to count your nose hairs.

Other memories are way out of whack. Like those distorted surreal images you see reflected in those old-school amusement park funhouse mirrors.

A lot of my baseball memories from my childhood fall into a third category. These are more like the cloudy, out-of-focus reflections you see when you look into one of those greasy metal mirrors you might find in a gas station men’s room mirror in a bad neighborhood.

It gets even trickier when the reflection is coming off a rearview mirror.

Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about:

There was the time I saw the great Enos Slaughter when he played for Yankees hit a ball so hard it splintered a seat in Comiskey Park’s left field bleachers.  Slaughter’s ninth inning home run broke a 1-1 tie and the White Sox lost a heartbreaker 2-1.  I’ve probably told variations of this story hundreds of times. Like any time I sit in the leftfield bleachers at any park.  Or any time a player hits a shot that gets out of the yard on the line and in a hurry, you can count on me to say something like, “Yeah, but me and my dad and uncle once saw Enos Slaughter hit a ball so hard…” I’ve even done that at Little League games; once when my own son drilled one out on the line and down the line that went over the fence 180 feet away and busted up some sunflowers.  My brother-in-law said something like, “Wow, he really hit the snot out of that one and I started the Enos Slaughter story. But did the Slaughter shot really splinter a seat or is this one of those gas station or funhouse mirror memories?

There’s also the story I tell every time I see a guy pitch a great game. This one is about the time me and my dad saw Billy Pierce of the White Sox shut out the Red Sox 4-0 and strike out Ted Williams four times. Again, I’ve told this story at games I’ve attended at all levels with the exception of tee-ball games where there wasn’t any pitching to get me started.  But did little Billy really strike out the great Williams four times on the same night? It seems hard to believe when I really think about it. But that’s the reflection I have burnt onto my brain.

Other memories and stories go beyond single moments and single games. Like the story I tell based on my belief that I personally started or at least was there at the beginning of the Chicago Cubs‘ epic 1969 collapse.  I tell the story of how I went to my first-ever Cub game not as a Cub fan but more to see for myself what the hell was going on. The Cubs had a commanding lead and the Mets were in town so I go to the game and Bill Hands pitches a nice game for the Cubs but nothing much else happens and the Cubs lose 1-0. The Mets go on to sweep the series then go on a tear, catch the Cubs and eventually finish eight games ahead of them and win the World Series.

As often as I’ve told these tales, no one has ever questioned their veracity. Maybe this is because I’ve polished them over the years but more likely because I think the best baseball stories can take on mythological proportions.  That is, if they could have happened and ring a bit true who cares if they aren’t 100 percent verifiable or accurate? I mean, does it really matter whether or not Babe Ruth actually called his shot in the 1932 Series at Wrigley Field?

But I’m a curious guy so I decided to put my reflections to the test.

I started by checking out my Cubs collapse story.  I found the season schedule and box score of the game I was looking for online courtesy of Baseball Almanac.  It was played July 14, 1969 and the score was as I remembered it, 1-0.  I was also right about nothing much happening; only one extra base hit. And Bill Hands did pitch a nice game: 8 2/3 innings allowing only 6 hits.

But I had a couple of things wrong. It was the Cubs that won, not the Mets. And even though the Cubs did drop the next two games, the schedule reveals that that series really wasn’t the beginning of the Cubs’ catastrophic collapse.

Actually, the Cubs extended their lead after July 14.  By August 16, they were 75-44, up by a season-high nine games over the Mets. By September 2, they were 84-52 but their lead over the Mets had fallen to five games. It was from there that the Mets went on a tear, going 23-7 to finish the season while the Cubs lost 17 of their last 25 games.

So how did this reflection get so distorted? I think it was guilt.

See if you were born Catholic in the South Side neighborhood when and where I was, you were baptized a White Sox fan. You were taught to hate the Yankees. But you were allowed to talk about the Yankees as in “Damn Yankees,” or “I hate the$*&^#% Yankees.”  But you were not allowed to discuss the Cubs. Better to talk about cannibalism at the dinner table or get caught telling fart jokes in church than get caught talking about the Cubs. I think the reasoning was that talking about the Cubs would be like acknowledging the Cubs were a Major League team when in fact the only Major League team in Chicago was the White Sox.

So that morning when my mom asked me what I had planned for the day and I told her I was going to check out the Cubs, she was beyond horrified.  It didn’t matter to her that I was a week away from my 21^st birthday, a few months away from an Army discharge, and had been to Vietnam and Hong Kong and all over the southern states.  To her knowledge, her little boy had never been to the “other side” of town.  (Not exactly true. I had made several clandestine trips to the Riverview – the notorious north side amusement park before it closed in 1967.) She wasn’t afraid for my life or anything but afraid of what the neighbors would think should any of them ever find out.  I also think me being 20 made my plan even more heartbreaking for her. I mean here I was after a lifetime of doing things that neighbors didn’t always approve of, now finally on the verge of respectability but about to disgrace the family yet again. But despite her whining and crying, I went to the game and I swear she looked sadder than the day I left for the Army.

I lived with the dark secret of my trip to the “friendly confines” for over a year. But I confessed to my friends the next time I visited Wrigley.  It was the following fall and we went to see the Bears play the Lions.  One of the guys I was with became suspicious because I seemed to know my way around the joint more than I should have.  Sometime during the 3^rd quarter, he smacked me in the back of the head and said, “You been here before, you piece of @#&%.” So I confessed; confessed that I had gone that Monday to put an end to the Cubs’ season.  I’d gone to lay a South Side curse on the Cubs and I’d succeeded. Then, over the years I apparently started to believe my own BS and once inter-league play began and it was okay to go to Wrigley to see the Sox beat the Cubs, I repeated and sharpened it.

But enough Cub talk. Still brings on a guilt trip.

What about the Enos Slaughter shot?  I found the box score of the game I’m talking about online. August 21, 1957. The Yankees did beat the Sox. Slaughter’s home run was the winning run. But he hit it in the 11^th inning, not the ninth.  Now I also remember that was my first extra-inning game. The box score also reminds me that “Tricky Dick” Donovan pitched all 11 innings for the Sox.  But the box score won’t tell me if Slaughter’s shot splintered a seat in the left field bleachers. So I investigate further and pull up some Enos Slaughter bio sites.  I mean if Slaughter really did splinter that seat, it must be mentioned somewhere.  I should also point out that all this research would not be necessary if I had access to the extensive records I kept of everything White Sox when I was a kid. However, my boxes and piles of score cards, news clippings, scrapbooks, and several vintage men’s adventure magazines were allegedly destroyed by a basement flood of biblical proportions that occurred sometime in 1968 while I was overseas. I say allegedly because when the flood waters receded apparently my folks were forced to tile the floor, put up that cheap fake wood paneling and install a suspended ceiling made of those asbestos panels  hung at  a toxically low level and put in a wet bar in the corner where I kept my Sox stuff. I also question the flood story because I was never told about it until I got home. When I asked my parents why they didn’t write me with the bad news, they said they felt I had enough to worry about over there and didn’t want to further traumatize me. This despite weekly letters often full of bad news like my dog developing diabetes, relatives with tumors, strokes, heart attacks, my dog going blind and even a murder and suicide involving a former coach.  But all that is another story.

Researching Slaughter, I find no mention of a seat-busting bash and, worse yet, discovered he was a left-handed hitter and his power seemed to be diminished in 1957. He would only hit five homers that year.  Not very likely he shattered a seat going to the opposite field and, besides, now I’m clearly remembering a right-handed hitter slamming that shot.  I go back to the box score. Hank Baur also homered in that game but in the 3^rd inning.  It had to be Baur.  So I go check some Baur bios looking for a line about seat busting and wondering how I could have gotten it so wrong.

I come across a photo of Baur and I know.  It was because I was a kid and the guy scared the crap out of me.  Baur was a bad ass, an ex-Marine hero. He had a permanently damaged nose. Tommy Lasorda described Baur like this, “This guy’s tough. He had a face that looked like it’d hold two days of rain.”

Tommy was being kind. Now I can remember that face staring at me as he rounded third base that night. I remember the nightmares.  My fuzzy reflection isn’t the product of declining mental capacity. I’ve merely been suppressing severe childhood trauma.

I move on to happier times. All this looking back is making my memories clearer.  Like I’ve just done a Windex job on my rearview mirror. I remember it was the next year, I saw Billy Pierce strike out Ted Williams four times.  I easily find the box score I’m looking for, June 17^th, 1958. White Sox 4, Boston 0. Just like I remember and there it is, Williams was 0-4.  The only thing that maybe bothers me a bit is Billy only struck out four that night. Is it possible all four Ks were Williams? I figure I could go rummage through the Chicago Tribune archives or something and find out for sure. I could also maybe find out if Baur really blew up that seat. But I won’t. Both things could have happened and that’s enough for me.

I think baseball historian Jim Beady put his finger on the way I feel about it when he was asked whether or not the Babe really called his shot in the 1932 Series.  Beady said:

“I’ll go to my grave not knowing for sure, but frankly not giving a damn. I am glad the legend exists, of that I am sure.”

I’m thankful for my legends, too, regardless of the quality of the reflection.

July 4th, Independence Day, Celebrating Being Free, Being American

And what is more American then baseball? It has faltered a bit in popularity in recent years, but for over 100 years it was ubiquitous with America. In fact, the famous idiom states, “As American as baseball and apple pie”   Many great instances of baseball lore have occurred on our nation’s semi formal birthday, the earliest account was an 1873 double-header, in which the Resolutes of Elizabeth, NJ upset the mighty Red Stockings in the am game, only to be demolished 32-3 in the night game.   -In 1912, Tiger pitcher George Mullins celebrates the nation’s birthday, and his own, by throwing a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns. In addition to his excellent pitching, the 32-year old also collected three hits and drove in two runs during the 7-0 victory.   -In 1925, in a battle of southpaws at Yankee Stadium, Herb Pennock and Lefty Grove of the A’s hook up in a 15 inning pitchers’ duel which the Bronx Bombers won, 1-0. Penncock retired the first 18 batters and the last 21 batters he faced.   -In 1938, the Phillies moved into Shibe Park by splitting a twin bill with the Boston Bees (Braves) losing the first game, 10-5, and winning the nightcap, 10-2. Problems with Baker Bowl made it necessary for the Phils to share the Athletics’ home field at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue.   -In 1969, at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium, Bob Oliver becomes the first player in Royals history to hit a grand slam. The center fielder’s eighth-inning blast came off Jim Bouton of the Pilots in an eventual 13-2 KC victory.   -In 1980, Nolan Ryan fans Ceasar Geronimo to record his 3000th career strikeout. He was the 4^th pitcher to reach that milestone. In 1974, the Reds’ outfielder was also Bob Gibson’s 3000th victim. At least Ceasar has something in the record books!   -In 1983, Dave Righetti no-hits the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, 4-0.  He is the first Yankee to throw a no-hitter since Don Larsen’s 1956 Perfect game.   -In 1984, Yankee hurler Phil Niekro strikes out Ranger Larry Parrish to become the ninth major league player to reach the 3,000 strikeout milestone. Seems strikeout milestones are a 4^th of July tradition.   -In 1998, the Diamondbacks win their first game ever.   But with the holiday, many novelty events took place, such as 1879, when 2 women’s teams, the New York Blue Stockings and the Philadelphia Red Stockings with the Blue Stockings winning 36-24 in a loosely played game that was cut short when the unruly crowd got out of control.   -In 1900, approximately one thousand people in the crowd of 10,000 fans attending the game at West Side grounds celebrated Independence Day by firing pistols into the air.   In 1911, Armando Marsans and Rafael Almeida become the first Cuban natives to appear in a major league game as they both make their debut for the Reds. Appearing as pinch hitters in the eight inning, Almeida strikes out and Marsans singles in the 8-3 loss to the Cubs at Chicago’s West Side Grounds. In Detroit, Ed Walsh of the White Sox stops Ty Cobb’s 40 game hitting streak.   -In 1982, celebrating Independence Day at Mile High Stadium in Denver, 65,666 fans watch an American Association contest and enjoy a giant fireworks display after game. The gathering is the largest crowd in minor league history.   -In 2001, the Brewers’ new home, Miller Park, continues to be jinxed as a parachutist breaks his ankle when he misses the opening in the retractable roof and lands on a beam several hundred feet off the ground. Another member of the Sky Knights Sports Parachute Club missed the stadium completely. Not to be outdone, the fifty people stranded on the Ferris wheel ride at Comerica Park for two hours during the Royal-Tiger game are rescued by firefighters and emergency crews using a cherry picker and a fire truck ladder. The inconvenienced fans will receive tickets to another game, free dinner and team autographs from the Tigers.   As with any day in baseball, it also had its share of oddities.   -In 1884, IF Tom O’Brien of the defunct Union Association gets 5 hits, including a ball which disappears into a dirt heap and cannot be dug out in time to prevent O’Brien from circling the bases.   – In 1896, Washington and Philadelphia split a wild doubleheader. Washington wins the opener 13-8, while Philadelphia overcomes a 14-5 deficit to win the nightcap 15-14. The 2 teams combine for a ML record 73 hits for the twin bill. The record was tied on July 6, 1929.   -In 1905, the stereotypical hard-drinking baseball bum, Bugs Raymond was considered a better pitcher when lacking in sobriety, and unfortunately his managers took advantage of this; all except John McGraw who made a serious effort to save the man. Despite Raymond’s 2.03 ERA in 1908, the spitballer lost a league-high 25 games for the Cardinals. He was 18-12 for the Giants in 1909, his most effective season. Finally axed in 1911, he died shortly thereafter of a blow to the head in a barroom brawl. Before that happened, Bugs pitched a doubleheader in a Charleston, SC (South Atlantic league) game and tossed a no-hitter in BOTH games.   -In 1908, with two outs and an 0-2 count in the ninth inning, Giant pitcher George ‘Hooks’ Wiltse loses his perfect game when he hits opposing pitcher, George McQuillan, with a pitch. Ump Charles Rigler calls the pitch earlier a ball, to the dismay of Hooks and the fans, who thought it a strike… Wiltse still keeps his no-hitter intact as the Giants win 1-0 in the tenth. Art Devlin scores the winner in the 10th after singling off McQuillan and coming around on two errors. New York wins the nightcap more easily, 9–3.   -In 1932, Bill Dickey punches and breaks Carl Reynolds’s jaw after the Senator outfielder collides with him on a close play at home plate. The American League suspends the Yankee catcher for 30 days and fines him $1,000 for his one-punch fight.   -In 1934, When Dodgers manager Casey Stengel comes out to the mound to remove P Boom Boom Beck from the game in Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl, the frustrated Beck turns and fires the ball at the tin wall in RF. Dodgers OF Hack Wilson, not paying attention to the happenings, hears the ball, hurries to retrieve it, and fires a strike to 2B to prevent the imaginary runner from advancing.   -In 1935, due to his ‘wandering’ ball, Iola hurler Harold ‘Lefty’ Liell, a 5′ 6 1/2″, 155-pounder with pigeon-toed feet, is called up for a tryout with the Kansas City Blues. The K.C. manager Dutch Zwilling is impressed with the youngster’s performance, but advises the Greeley, Kansas lad to get more experience and suggests he play in the Ban Johnson League.   Photo of Harold ‘Lefty’ Liell   -In 1964, Kansas City’s Manny Jimenez, who didn’t homer in 1963, connects for three in a 6-6 tie with the Orioles. Game is stopped by a special Baltimore curfew to permit a fireworks show to take place.   -In 1985, in a marathon game that borders on the surreal, the Mets endure two rain delays and 6:10 of playing time to beat the Braves 16–13 in 19 innings on Fireworks Night in Atlanta. The Mets had taken a 10–8 lead in the top of the 13th inning, only to watch the Braves tie it up. The Mets score again in the 18th, but relief hurler Rick Camp (a .060 hitter who was batting because Atlanta had no more position players available to pinch-hit) ties the score with his first ML home run on a 2-out 2-strike pitch in the bottom of the inning. No pitcher ever homered that late in a game before. Finally the Mets erupt for five runs in the 19th off Camp and Atlanta can respond only with 2. Keith Hernandez hits for the cycle for the Mets, and the game ends at 3:55 A.M. on July 5th, the latest finish in ML history. At 4:01 A.M. the post-game fireworks display begins, causing local residents to think the city is under attack.   -Just recently in 2008, Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki needs 16 stitches to close up a gash in his right palm caused by a maple bat when the he pounds it into the ground in frustration and it shatters. These types of bats are under scrutiny of a major league investigation because of their tendency to shatter when the hard wood break instead of just cracking like the bats made from softer ash.   One of my favorites, as every time I hear something insane come from Tim McCarver’s mouth I think of 1976 when Tim passes teammate Garry Maddox on the bases and he loses his grand slam. Great going color analyst.   But of all the occurrences on our wonderful holiday, none emphasized how much it symbolized the hope, the determination and the drive of those Americans that founded our country than 1939.   Picture Yankee stadium and it’s Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day. ’The Iron Horse’s’ uniform number 4 will be the FIRST EVER to be retired. After emcee Sid Mercer informs the sell-out crowd the man of the hour is too moved to speak, Gehrig changes his mind when Skipper Joe McCarthy encourages him, and delivers the keynote address in baseball history…   “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.   Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.   When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift — that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies — that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter — that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body — it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed — that’s the finest I know.   So I close in saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.”   Happy birthday my fellow Americans, stay safe, don’t drink and drive and just remember that like Lou Gehrig, with baseball in our life …we are indeed the ‘luckiest people on the face of the earth’.