A new link in the Blogroll: Chinese Baseball. As the name suggests, it’s a look at the nascent baseball scene in the world’s most populated country. This year (2014), they had their first professional baseball in several years, with a very short 12-game season amongst 4 teams.
Check it out.
Good news everyone! It appears that, in the darkness of November, we will be seeing some MLB baseball after all. MLB is sending a team of players over to Japan to play some games against the Japanese National Team, “Samurai Japan” (in essence a NPB all-star team), and, guess what? We’ll be able to see it on television here in the states! Now, they haven’t released any sort of news release yet, but I did some of my own research, in that I looked at MLB Network’s website and looked at their schedule.
MLB’s team is going to be good, at least at the plate, with players like Robinson Cano, Adam Jones, Bryce Harper, Yasiel Puig, Jose Altuve and Justin Morneau having confirmed they are going (Albert Pujols was going to go too, but pulled out). Hisashi Iwakuma is the most notable pitcher going that we know of so far, and it should be fun seeing him pitch in front of (and against) his fellow countrymen.
As far as the Japanese team, it’s going to be very interesting to see how they do, as this will provide a WBC-esque look at Japanese players against MLB competition. Names to keep a close eye on include Kenta Maeda (a pitcher who might be be headed to MLB next year), Shohei Otani (who can both pitch AND play as a position player, and who considered heading to the USA out of high school but later changed his mind and stayed in Japan), Pacific League batting champ Yoshio Itoi, and 2014 Japanese hit champ Tetsuo Yamada.
Here’s the schedule in East Coast time, all games below will be on MLB Network and many of them will be shown again on tape delay at a more reasonable hour for Americans:
November 11, 4 AM: MLB vs. combined team of Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants (at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, not far from Osaka)
November 12, 4 AM: MLB vs. Samurai Japan (at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka)
November 14, 4 AM: MLB vs. Samurai Japan (at the Tokyo Dome)
November 15, 4 AM: MLB vs. Samurai Japan (at the Tokyo Dome)
November 16, 4 AM: MLB vs. Samurai Japan (at the Tokyo Dome)
November 18, 5 AM: MLB vs. Samurai Japan (at the Sapporo Dome)
November 20, 4 AM: MLB vs. Samurai Japan (in Okinawa)
I’m particularly looking forward to the game at Koshien, as it’s the most historic of all Japanese ballparks and I think it’ll be neat to see MLB players play on the all-dirt infield there.
So, rest well knowing that we aren’t too far away from some more baseball.
With Paul Molitor taking over the Twins, there will now be two Hall of Fame players managing in the big leagues (Ryne Sandberg is managing the Phillies). It’s a trend that is becoming more and more rare, a result of the fact that Hall of Famers now are more-or-less set for life. If they are managing or coaching, you can be sure it is for the love of the game and/or a want to pay it back by teaching the next generation.
Back before ballplayers were set for life with salaries, the Hall of Fame player managing was more common, often playing at the same time. Of the five initial members of the Hall of Fame (Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson), only Ruth had never managed a single game in the majors, and would until his death dream of doing so.
But, the question we have today is: of managers who are in the Hall of Fame primarily for their playing days, who was the best?
There are many ways of looking at it:
As far as total wins, it’s probably Fred Clarke. Fred Clarke was a great player of the 19th century and early 20th century for Louisville and Pittsburgh, and was elected in 1945 by the Old-Timers Committee. As a manager, he went 1602-1181 on his career.
However, there is one problem. While his primary position he was inducted as was left field, his managerial efforts also were a big reason. He was dubbed the first of the successful “boy-managers” on his plaque, and he was a player-manager at the age of 24! He was still playing when he managed the Pirates to four NL pennants and a World Series title in the 1900s. So, while technically he had the most wins for a manager who was inducted as a player, there is that caveat.
In fact, that caveat exists for a lot of managers who were players. Cap Anson, for example, while inducted as a 1B, was also heralded for his player-managing on his HoF plaque. Joe Cronin also had his managerial days mentioned, as did Hughie Jennings, Lou Boudreau and Frankie Frisch. Interestingly, the player-who-managed with the most wins who had no reference whatsoever to his managerial career on his plaque is… Frank Robinson.
Okay, but wins are one thing. What about the balance between wins and losses? Frank Robinson won 1065 games, to be sure, but he lost 1176.
Well, for qualifying managers (at least 320 games skippered), the manager who was a HoF player with the best winning percentage is Frank Chance, of the famous “Tinkers-To-Evers-To-Chance” poem. While he went in as a 1st basemen, his time as a manager was also very successful, as he had a .593 winning percentage and won four NL pennants and two World Series titles for the Cubs (it was a long time ago). However, like Clarke, Anson, and the like, his managerial career was prominent on his plaque. Mickey Cochrane, who also could qualify for his success as a manager, also had his managerial success noted on his plaque.
As far as I can tell, the player-who-managed with the best winning percentage with no reference whatsoever to his managerial career on his plaque is… King Kelly. Yes, King Kelly, the RF/C/3B who had a 16-year career in the 19th century. He is just barely eligible, because managed 330 games in his career, all as a player-manager. His .539 winning percentage puts him ahead of others such as Gabby Hartnett (.536), Eddie Collins (.521) the earlier-mentioned Cobb (.519) and Bob Lemon (.516). And before you ask, Yogi Berra (a .522 winning percentage) did have some of his managerial feats mentioned on his plaque (his 1964 AL pennant).
So, what does this mean? Does this mean that Molitor and Sandberg are doomed to be slightly-above-average-at-best managers?
Of course not. Hall of Fame players who became managers are a far too small sample size, for one, especially Hall of Fame players who become managers without first being player-managers. And, what’s more, it’s silly to think that how good a ballplayer is on the field can be directly translated into how they will be as a manager, especially when one considers that they are also at the mercy of the players that are provided to them.
Still, it is interesting. And now you know some of the best managers in history who were Hall of Fame ballplayers.
Ernie Nevers is a Hall of Famer in both Pro Football and College Football, a star of the early days of the NFL, and a member of the league’s 50th anniversary and 75th anniversary teams.
But he also had a baseball career, pitching for three seasons for the St. Louis Browns:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | W | L | G | GS | GF | CG | SHO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | HBP | BK | WP | BF | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1926 | 24 | SLB | AL | 2 | 4 | .333 | 4.46 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 74.2 | 82 | 41 | 37 | 4 | 24 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 326 | 96 | 4.19 | 1.420 | 9.9 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 1.9 | 0.67 |
| 1927 | 25 | SLB | AL | 3 | 8 | .273 | 4.94 | 27 | 5 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 94.2 | 105 | 61 | 52 | 8 | 35 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 397 | 88 | 4.83 | 1.479 | 10.0 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 0.63 |
| 1928 | 26 | SLB | AL | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 3.00 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.0 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 146 | 4.79 | 1.222 | 9.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.50 |
| 3 Yrs | 6 | 12 | .333 | 4.64 | 44 | 12 | 19 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 178.1 | 196 | 106 | 92 | 13 | 61 | 39 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 759 | 93 | 4.56 | 1.441 | 9.9 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 0.64 | |||
| 162 Game Avg. | 7 | 15 | .333 | 4.64 | 53 | 15 | 23 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 217 | 238 | 129 | 112 | 16 | 74 | 47 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 922 | 93 | 4.56 | 1.441 | 9.9 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 0.64 | |||
He also pitched a bit in the Pacific Coast League:
| Year | Age | AgeDif | Tm | Lg | W | L | G | IP | H | R | ER | BB | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | 26 | -3.4 | Mission | PCL | 14 | 11 | .560 | 4.37 | 29 | 206.0 | 202 | 108 | 100 | 69 | 1.316 | 8.8 | 3.0 |
| 1929 | 27 | -1.6 | Mission | PCL | 7 | 8 | .467 | 4.56 | 36 | 148.0 | 194 | 92 | 75 | 60 | 1.716 | 11.8 | 3.6 |
| 2 Seasons | 21 | 19 | .525 | 4.45 | 65 | 354.0 | 396 | 200 | 175 | 129 | 1.483 | 10.1 | 3.3 | ||||
So, that’s the baseball career of Ernie Nevers, another player who is famous for something else.
The Asian Games occurred late last month. Seven of the eight teams had a talent-level good enough to have it count for them in the Continuum Rankings (Korea, for example, sent KBO players, while Taipei sent players from the Affiliated Minors. The one team that didn’t qualify for Continuum Rankings was Japan, which sent amateurs and semi-pros, which isn’t enough to count). Korea won.
Now, despite all of this, there wasn’t too much movement. While Taipei lost a small amount of points and Korea gained over 19 points, those weren’t enough to cause any changes in the top 10. Instead, there were minor changes down the board, with China and Germany flip-flopping, South Africa and Hong Kong doing the same, and Finland and Mongolia switching places down near the bottom.
Anyway, look below the jump for the full rankings.
In the LCS round, the winners of the Mr. October get five points, except for in game 7s, where it doubles to 10 points.
Last night’s Mr. Octobers were Alex Gordon and Wade Davis.
Standings (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher, * means eliminated from playoffs):
PP Alex Gordon 8
PP Nelson Cruz 6
PP Matt Carpenter 6
P Wade Davis 5
P Kevin Gausman 3
PP Delmon Young 3
PP Joe Panik 3
P Jake Peavy 3
P Yordano Ventura 3
PP Eric Hosmer 3
P Andrew Miller 3
PP Mike Moustakas 3
P Jered Weaver 3*
P Yusmeiro Petit 3
PP Brandon Belt 3
P Zack Greinke 3*
PP Matt Kemp 3*
P Bud Norris 3
P James Shields 3
P Doug Fister 3*
PP Wilson Ramos 3*
P John Lackey 3
PP Matt Adams 3
P Trevor Rosenthal 3
PP Bryce Harper 3*
P Ryan Vogelsong 3
PP Brandon Crawford 1
P Madison Bumgarner 1
PP Brandon Moss 1*
P Brandon Finnegan 1
Although nowhere near as creepy as going through Stan Musial’s wallet or as (arguably) outright random as a Mr. Peanut costume that hung out with Reggie Jackson, today’s strange find on eBay is a nice mix of both. Now available on eBay: a Minecraft box mask from the Curt Schilling estate, just in time for Halloween!
“But Dan,” you say, “Curt Schilling isn’t dead! He recovered from that cancer!”
Correct! And thank goodness for that. Instead, his estate sale was a result of a disastrous post-career stint into the Video Game industry that sent him into bankruptcy. Or maybe it was because they just wanted to downsize and so they got rid of a bunch of things. Depends on what story you read.
Still, as a result of that estate sale, we see stuff like this on eBay:
Now, a few things to keep in mind:
1) There is no way of proving this actually was worn by Curt Schilling or (more likely) any of his kids. There isn’t any certificate of authenticity or anything.
2) Look at how likely it is that that thing could break in shipping!
3) It’s kind of disturbing that that belonged to Curt Schilling’s kids and now it’s just being sold online.
4) If you absolutely must have a Minecraft head, I’m sure that there are cheaper ones available, especially once you take shipping into account.
Still, if YOU want this unique piece of tangentially baseball-related “history”… you can.
Dodgers/Cardinals: Matt Adams and Trevor Rosenthal.
Nationals/Giants: Bryce Harper (even though they lost) and Ryan Vogelsong
Standings (PP= Position Player, P= Pitcher, * means eliminated from playoffs):
PP Nelson Cruz 6
PP Matt Carpenter 6
P Kevin Gausman 3
PP Delmon Young 3
PP Joe Panik 3
P Jake Peavy 3
P Yordano Ventura 3
PP Eric Hosmer 3
P Andrew Miller 3
PP Mike Moustakas 3
P Jered Weaver 3*
P Yusmeiro Petit 3
PP Brandon Belt 3
P Zack Greinke 3*
PP Matt Kemp 3*
P Bud Norris 3
P James Shields 3
PP Alex Gordon 3
P Doug Fister 3*
PP Wilson Ramos 3*
P John Lackey 3
PP Matt Adams 3
P Trevor Rosenthal 3
PP Bryce Harper 3*
P Ryan Vogelsong 3
PP Brandon Crawford 1
P Madison Bumgarner 1
PP Brandon Moss 1*
P Brandon Finnegan 1
Here are my predictions for the 2014 ALDS and NLDS series:
The Orioles are a good team and have a flare for the dramatic, and also seem to like giving the middle finger to any sort of baseball logic and sense. However, I do not think they can beat the Tigers rotation. Their only shot will be to get to the soft underbelly that is the Detroit bullpen. However, it’s entirely possible that the Tigers’ won’t give them that chance. Tigers in 4.
The Royals/Angels series is a bit less clear, partly because I haven’t seen them “live” as much as I’ve seen the O’s and Tigers, but also because they are very different teams (while the Orioles and Tigers have more-or-less the same approach as each other). The Royals, as we saw during the Wild Card game, are an old-style team that loves to bunt and steal, while relying on pitching to try and make up for all the times that might fail (the Royals actually were one of the worst teams in the league in certain offensive categories this season). The Angels are more of a standard modern team at the plate, with a big-name lineup that was the league’s most productive offense, led, of course, by Mike Trout. Their pitching, however, is nowhere near as big-name as their lineup. With such different teams going at each other, and with strengths going against strengths, this could be anyone’s series. That said, I think the Angels are the better overall team, so I think they will win it. Angels in 4.
The Cardinals/Dodgers matchup is one that has happened many times before- they are two of the flagship teams of baseball and stalwarts of the National League. They met last year in the NLCS and the Cardinals won in 6, but I think this time it’ll be different. The Cardinals no longer have postseason man-god Carlos Beltran, Michael Wacha is still recovering from injury (although certainly the Cardinals maintain a very deep rotation) and Yadier Molina isn’t fully healthy either. The Dodgers, meanwhile, now are another year wiser and experienced, and, oh, right, have Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke all nice and lined up to pitch in order. If not for the fact Hyun-Jin Ryu is going to be coming off an injury and that Dan Haren has long had trouble against the Cardinals, the starting rotation situation for the Dodgers would look almost as good as Detroit’s looks like against the Orioles.
While the Cardinals do have the advantage in bullpen, experience and overall team depth, all of that might mean diddly-squat, though, because this is a best-of-five series and to win the Cardinals will likely have to win at least two games against the 1-2 punch of Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke (there are rumors that Don Mattingley will try to go with a 3-man rotation). I don’t think they can, even with Adam Wainwright and Lance Lynn. Dodgers in 5.
The Nationals hold a edge against the Giants because of the Wild Card game. Because the Giants had to play that, they probably won’t be able to have Bumgarner pitch until Game 3. Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson, of course, are also perfectly good (and Ryan Vogelsong has his moments), but they aren’t Bumgarner. The Nationals, meanwhile, will have Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Doug Fister and Gio Gonzalez. So, advantage in the rotation. Nationals also hold the advantage in offense, with a deeper lineup that features two players (Denard Span and Jayson Werth) who were top-10 in batting average in the NL this season and with Bryce Harper having heated up after the All-Star Break and Adam LaRoche. While you can never count out Buster Posey and the rest of the Giants, I feel like the Nationals will win in 4.
So, there you go.
The Arizona Fall League will, this year, be a test bed for some possible rule changes to speed up the pace of play in baseball. It is, of course, an important issue, and I’m glad to see that already some possible changes will be tested. So, let’s take a look at what we’ve got here:
Batter’s Box Rule: The batter shall keep at least one foot in the batter’s box throughout his at-bat, unless one of a series of established exceptions occurs, in which case the batter may leave the batter’s box but not the dirt area surrounding home plate. (Exceptions include a foul ball or a foul tip; a pitch forcing the batter out of the batter’s box; “time” being requested and granted; a wild pitch or a passed ball; and several others.)
A fine rule to start with. A chunk of the killed time these days is because batters step out to take some practice swings or adjust some equipment after nearly every pitch. So, on the surface, forcing hitters to stay in the box is good. However, there are some possible flaws, mainly in the fact there are a ton of exceptions, with the biggest one being the fact the batter can still call “time”. Yes, sometimes when a batter calls time it is for a good reason, but other times it is just so that they can do the aforementioned practice swings or adjustments. So, ultimately, this rule will only help if umpires cut down on unnecessary calls of “time”, otherwise the problem will remain, just in a different form.
(MORE AFTER THE JUMP)
The Baseball Continuum 