Category Archives: Non-Baseball

Famous For Something Else: Rethinking Jim Thorpe’s Baseball Career

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It’s sometimes said that Jim Thorpe, for all his great talent, couldn’t hit a curveball, and that baseball was his worst sport.

Well, maybe, but then you look at his statistics. Take a look:

Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pos
1913 26 NYG NL 19 36 35 6 5 0 0 1 2 2 1 9 .143 .167 .229 .395 12 /O
1914 27 NYG NL 30 31 31 5 6 1 0 0 2 1 0 4 .194 .194 .226 .419 27 /O
1915 28 NYG NL 17 54 52 8 12 3 1 0 1 4 2 16 .231 .259 .327 .586 81 O
1917 30 TOT NL 103 404 308 41 73 5 10 4 40 12 14 45 .237 .275 .357 .632 96 O97/8
1917 30 NYG NL 4 69 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 .500 .500 1.000 211 9/78
1917 30 CIN NL 77 269 251 29 62 2 8 4 36 11 6 35 .247 .267 .367 .634 97 O97
1917 30 NYG NL 22 66 55 10 10 3 2 0 4 1 8 10 .182 .297 .309 .606 88 O
1918 31 NYG NL 58 119 113 15 28 4 4 1 11 3 4 18 .248 .286 .381 .666 103 O7/98
1919 32 TOT NL 62 172 159 16 52 7 3 1 26 7 6 30 .327 .359 .428 .787 142 O78/93
1919 32 NYG NL 2 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .333 .333 .333 .667 101 /O87
1919 32 BSN NL 60 168 156 16 51 7 3 1 25 7 6 30 .327 .360 .429 .789 143 O78/93
6 Yrs 289 816 698 91 176 20 18 7 82 29 27 122 .252 .286 .362 .648 99
162 Game Avg. 162 457 391 51 99 11 10 4 46 16 15 68 .252 .286 .362 .648 99
NYG (6 yrs) 152 379 291 46 63 11 7 2 21 11 15 57 .216 .262 .323 .585 78
BSN (1 yr) 60 168 156 16 51 7 3 1 25 7 6 30 .327 .360 .429 .789 143
CIN (1 yr) 77 269 251 29 62 2 8 4 36 11 6 35 .247 .267 .367 .634 97
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/8/2013.

As you can see, early in his career, Thorpe was dreadful in his limited time playing baseball. But as time went on, he got better. By his final season in the big leagues, 1919, he was hitting a good .327/.359/.428 and his OPS was .787, which is above average. Hardly a world-beater, but definitely not the failure many make his baseball career out to be.

But, wait, what did he do in the minor leagues?

Year Age Tm Lg Lev G AB H 2B 3B HR BA SLG TB
1909 22 Rocky Mount ECAR D 44 138 35 4 0 1 .254 .304 42
1910 23 2 Teams 1 Lg D 45 128 31 2 2 0 .242 .289 37
1910 23 Rocky Mount,Fayetteville ECAR D 45 128 31 2 2 0 .242 .289 37
1910 23 Rocky Mount ECAR D 29 76 18 2 1 0 .237 .289 22
1910 23 Fayetteville ECAR D 16 52 13 0 1 0 .250 .288 15
1915 28 2 Teams 1 Lg AA 96 370 112 13 7 2 .303 .392 145
1915 28 Newark/Harrisburg,Jersey City IL AA 96 370 112 13 7 2 .303 .392 145
1915 28 Jersey City IL AA
1915 28 Newark/Harrisburg IL AA
1916 29 Milwaukee AA AA 143 573 157 25 14 10 .274 .419 240
1920 33 Akron IL AA 128 522 188 28 15 16 .360 .563 294
1921 34 Toledo AA AA 133 505 181 36 13 9 .358 .535 270
1922 35 3 Teams 2 Lgs AA-A 131 501 168 26 15 10 .335 .507 254
1922 35 Portland PCL AA 35 120 37 3 2 1 .308 .392 47
1922 35 Hartford EL A
1922 35 Hartford,Fitchburg/Worcester EL A 96 381 131 23 13 9 .344 .543 207
1922 35 Fitchburg/Worcester EL A
7 Seasons 720 2737 872 134 66 48 .319 .468 1282
AA (5 seasons) AA 535 2090 675 105 51 38 .323 .477 996
D (2 seasons) D 89 266 66 6 2 1 .248 .297 79
A (1 season) A 96 381 131 23 13 9 .344 .543 207
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/8/2013

These minor league stats, as incomplete as they are, seem to suggest that Thorpe definitely had a talent at baseball- perhaps not against MLB pitching, but certainly good enough to wreck havoc upon lower levels. But, take a look at those years after his 1919 season- the one season where he hit pretty well in MLB. He kept hitting above .300- at times well above it, and in pretty good leagues like the International League and American Association.

So, what happened? Why didn’t he return to the big leagues after 1919? SABR’s BioProject suggests it was because he started to focus more on professional football- he was the first commissioner of what would one day become the NFL, for example. We’ll never know what he might have accomplished in any one sport if he had focused solely on it- but Thorpe was too great an athlete to be held to just one. Or two. Or three…

And that is and was a good thing.

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Bizarre Baseball Culture: The Shield must solve “The Ballpark Murders”

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In Bizarre Baseball Culture, I take a look at some of the more unusual places where baseball has reared it’s head in pop culture and fiction.

One of the main types of Superhero is the patriotic hero, wrapped in the flag, fighting crime and evil not just to protect a city, but to protect a country. The quintessential patriotic hero, of course, is Captain America. But, contrary to popular belief, he was not the first. No, that honor goes to The Shield, “G-Man Extraordinary”, who first showed up in Pep Comic #1 in January 1940. By contrast, Captain America didn’t appear until March 1941. The Shield- created by MLJ Comics (which eventually became Archie Comics)- is actually Joe Higgins, who gained his rather generic superpowers (strength, invulnerability, etc) from  a chemical formula (much like, yes, Captain America eventually did).

Anyway, given his patriotic get-up, it was probably inevitable that the Shield would one day crossover with the National Pastime. And, in fact, it happened rather quickly in Pep Comics #7, which came out later in 1940. It can be found here, written by Harry Shorten and drawn by Irv Novick.

Anyway, onto the story:

Screen Shot 2013-05-07 at 12.52.04 PM

We begin with the standard organized crime villains (these ones belonging to “Al Moroni”), not unlike the ones we’ve seen in plenty of previous installments of Bizarre Baseball Culture. It’s sort of weird that we don’t really ever seem to run into actual supervillains in these things, especially considering that the vast majority of these Bizarre Baseball Culture stories involve superheroes.

(JUMP for the rest of the story)

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Cool Link: Diamond Mines Scouting Reports Database

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Continuum Global News has been delayed until the First Anniversary Spectacular this Wednesday. In it’s stead, here is a cool link.

The Hall of Fame is opening an exhibit about scouting, which is neat. But even cooler is that they’ve started a website that has a searchable database of old scouting reports! While there aren’t that many for more recent players (you won’t find any scouting reports for Buster Posey, for example), it’s full of stuff for older players.
Here are some neat ones I’ve found:

A 1985 scouting report of the Cubs’ affiliate in Peoria: Rafael Palmeiro hits well to all fields, but Greg Maddux is not strong enough to be a starter, according to Duffy Dyer.

Orioles scout John Stokoe discusses Mariano Rivera, who he notes threw a rain-shortened no-hitter against Rochester and who he is impressed with. However, he notes that Rivera doesn’t really have any off-speed pitches, and would need one for future success. Turns out he didn’t need a true off-speed pitch. Much like everyone else, Stokoe never sees the cutter coming.

Mariners scouting report declares Alex Rodriguez is “similar to Jeter only bigger and better.”

Satchel Paige‘s faults in 1956? Too old. In 1958, a scouting report on him has “?” for age.

The Royals scout a young amateur Jim Thome… who was a shortstop at the time. Let that sink in. Jim Thome… was a shortstop. Oh, on a similar note, Frank Robinson was a 3B, and Joe Nathan was being scouted as a shortstop.

Mark McGwire pitched a bit in High School, had a body like Dave Kingman and his father was a dentist, according to a 1984 scouting report by Boston scout Joe Stephenson.

And that is just scratching the surface of what this site has… check it out.

Baseball Continuum Classic Story: The Biggest Stories That Haven’t Happened Yet (Originally published April 10, 2013)

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In the wake of NBA Center Jason Collins “coming out of the closet” today, and becoming the first “Big Four” active player to do so, I was reminded of a post I did earlier this month: The Biggest Stories That Haven’t Happened Yet. If you want to read it, just click the link to the left, or go below the jump to read a reprint. With the exception of the deletion of a call to go below the jump to read after the first paragraph of the story, it is printed completely as it originally was, with no changes, updates or corrections.

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Review of “42″

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“Continuum Global News” will return next week, but better late than never, here’s my review of 42:

Jackie Robinson was, without question, the most important baseball player of the 20th century. While Babe Ruth may have been the most transcendent star, and Curt Flood proved a pivotal figure in the game’s labor history, Robinson’s effects did not simply stop at baseball. No, his effect was felt far beyond the diamond. How important was Jackie Robinson? Well, no less than Martin Luther King Jr. declared him an important member and symbol of the civil right movements. And, least we forget, Robinson was a great ballplayer as well, a career .311 hitter, a six-time All-Star, the Rookie of the Year in 1947 and MVP of 1949. Who knows what type of career he may have had (he didn’t make his MLB debut until age 28) if not for segregation and the war?

So given this, it’s sort of surprising that it’s taken this long for a modern biopic on Robinson. There was a biopic starring the man himself in 1950, and a TV movie about his court-martial in 1990 (starring Andre Braugher as Robinson), but nothing else. But, I guess good things come to those who wait, because 42, although far, far from perfect, is a fine movie that does well at honoring Robinson while also educating those who perhaps are not as familiar with the story.

(MORE AFTER JUMP)

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Off-Topic Thursday: Summer Trailer Spectacular

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During the off-season, I occasionally had a “Off-Topic Tuesday” where I talked about stuff outside of baseball- usually something related to popular culture. Well, during the season, look for “Off-Topic Thursdays”, in which, well… you’ll see stuff that is off-topic. Like this:

Okay, so the summer slate of movies is coming, and while I have yet to see 42, it looks like it could be a fun summer with lots of interesting movies to go see. So, below the jump, I go through some of the trailers and give my thoughts. Note that I’m only going to look at traditional summer movie fare (action, adventures, maybe a comedy here and there)- if you wanted to hear my thoughts on the upcoming Great Gatsby movie, well, you’ve come to the wrong place.

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The Famous For Something Else Index (as of April 24, 2013)

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Want to see all of the “Famous For Something Else” features so far? Go through the links below:

Mario Cuomo (Governor of New York State from 1983-1994)

Randy “Macho Man” Savage (Wrestler)

Ricky Williams (NFL Running Back)

John Elway (NFL Hall Of Fame QB)

John Lynch (9-Time Pro Bowl Safety)

Kurt Russell (Actor)

Michael Jordan (His Airness)

George Halas (HOF Football coach and player)

Danny Ainge (NBA player and executive)

Scott Patterson (Actor)

 

Famous For Something Else: Scott Patterson

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I’m starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel of baseball players who became famous for doing something else, to the point where I’m now doing TV actors I had to look up on IMDB. So, anyway, here are the statistics for Scott Patterson (IMDB link). After his pitching career ended, he became an actor who has had roles in Gilmore Girls, some of the Saw films, Aliens in America and The Event.


(Go below the jump to see them.)

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RANDOM THING: Ninja Baseball Batman

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I am working on an article about my memories of some of the great baseball video games of the past, but while doing research, I have found something that will blow everyone’s mind: Ninja Baseball Batman.

What is Ninja Baseball Batman? I’ll let this video by James Rolfe, who has a web series, “The Angry Video Game Nerd”, in which he (in character) foul-mouthedly reviews crummy or bizarre games, tell it:

So, basically, Ninja Baseball Batman is a obscure beat-em up game in which you play as ninja baseball players. For those of you who skipped the video, the reason you have never heard of it is because it was only in arcades- not consoles- and was a total failure, selling only 43 machines. It was only found when some gamers came across it on (technically illegal) emulators. Therefore, I haven’t played it, and probably won’t, unless it’s released on a console I have or comes to the PC or Mac.

But, man, this seems like it would be the most bizarre baseball culture. Weirder than the “Double Trouble Header”, weirder than Martian baseball, and even weirder than Rockets Freaking Rigby. I mean, apparently the plot of this game is that the Commissioner hires four ninja baseball players named Ryno, Straw, Roger and Jose to retrieve objects stolen from the Hall Of Fame. Yes, there is a video game that exists that has ninja baseball players named after Ryne Sandberg, Darryl Strawberry, Roger Clemens and Jose Canseco. Although, to be fair, this is like the fifth weirdest thing to ever involve Jose Canseco.

So, there you go, a random post about some obscure video game I have never played… and one of the most unusual baseball-related products in history.