Well, it turns out that I didn’t get to all of my ideas for the First Anniversary Spectacular (and, honestly, I didn’t want to overflow the inboxes of people who subscribe to this via e-mail THAT much), so in the coming days there will be some overflow, including my favorite baseball memory (to go with those from yesterday), a look at the best/worst of Bizarre Baseball Culture, some follow-ups on some previous stories, and one or two other feature stories.
So… keep an eye open!
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 | 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 | ||||
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 | 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 | |||
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.
For this first anniversary, I decided to write. Not just articles, though. I decided to write people– as many of the baseball writers, analysts and bloggers I could think of. I asked what seemed to be a simple question: what is your favorite baseball memory?
My reasoning for this little project was all over the place. Partly, it was because it seemed like something that would be interesting. Partly, it was because I was curious to see who would answer. And, of course, partly it was because I thought perhaps it could tell me, and all of us, a bit about baseball fans.
For that reason, it was a rather eclectic group I sent the question to, ranging from big names that everyone has probably heard of, to the proprietors of smaller or more specialized pieces of the web. I also tried to ask the fans, bloggers or writers of a variety of teams, since the fans of one team would, of course, probably have a different favorite memory than fans of another.
In the end, I received responses from less than half of the people I sent the question to. But, hey, hitting in the upper .300s is nothing to sneeze at.
So what did I learn?
First off, as probably could be expected, a lot of the memories involve fathers. Pirates blogger Pat Lackey, for example, remembered going to a doubleheader with his father and seeing new-dad Rob Mackowiak have the day of his life. Others treasure memories of playing baseball with their children or going to their first game with them.
Secondly, the favorite memories in many (but certainly not all) cases involve actually going to games. And, again, I’m not surprised by this. Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, is one that is best when seen in person, where you can get a true feel for the crowd, take in all of the unique sights, sounds and smells, and see the shifts and strategies at work. On TV, it just isn’t the same.
Third, and connected to the second thing, a surprising amount of favorite memories had nothing to do with a team winning a championship. Oh, sure, there are some, but for many, it was comparatively small things like scrambling to get tickets to see Rick Ankiel make his position-player debut, like Daniel Moore of Viva El Birdos did, or hearing that your their favorite childhood player had just hit their first (and only) big league home run, as Joe Posnanski remembered.
But lastly, what’s great is that everybody’s favorite baseball memory is unique and personal. It’s not like a bunch of people all had the same memory (although there were a few that were close), no, everybody had something unique, with a special meaning to them. For some cases, it was because it made them fall in love with the game. For others, it was seeing or experiencing something they never had before. And still for others, it was just something special, something that can’t be duplicated and will forever stick in their minds.
In other words… they were all reasons why we love to watch baseball.
So, after all of that, want to see the responses I got? Go below the jump:
The biggest complaint about baseball is that it can go very, very long, and is more-or-less getting longer as batters are encouraged to work the count. But what can be done? You can’t just tell players they can’t try to work the count, for example. And to try to put a type of “shot-clock” on hitters or pitchers would never be able to get past the rules committee.
Oh, wait, in a way, they already have. The problem is that they never are enforced.
Rule 6.02 deals with hitters and states, essentially, that a batter must take their position at the plate in a prompt manner. Subrule C says that if they don’t, then… well…
(c) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batters box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out.
So, in theory, if a batter is taking too long to go into the box, he should be getting strikes called against him.
To the best of my knowledge, I have never, ever seen this called. Ever. On any level. No matter how much of a human rain delay is up.
If enforced, it would certainly make the game move faster, but the hitter is but one part of the equation. What of the pitchers? That’s where rule 8.04 comes in.
Rule 8.04 reads:
When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call Ball. The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball.
The intent of this rule is to avoid unnecessary delays. The umpire shall insist that the catcher return the ball promptly to the pitcher, and that the pitcher take his position on the rubber promptly. Obvious delay by the pitcher should instantly be penalized by the umpire.
In other words, by rule, if there are no men on, the pitcher has 12 seconds from getting the ball and the batter entering the box to throw a pitch. Otherwise, it’s a ball. Like Rule 6.02 section C, I don’t think I’ve ever seen this enforced. If I have, it must have only been once or twice.
So, why aren’t these rules ever enforced, especially since their enforcement would probably shorten the game at least a little?
The answer, more than likely, is a mix of tradition and habit. For one thing, for years baseball games moved along fine without these rules being enforced. It was only once required television breaks, working the count, and more pitching changes came around that they started to become longer and longer. For another, the fact that these haven’t been enforced means that the players don’t expect them to be- and to suddenly start enforcing them, it may be thought, could be more annoying than it is worth for the umpires.
But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try. Test out having those rules heavily enforced in a place like the Arizona Fall League or one of the rookie-level leagues. See if they make a difference. Because, if they could be put into force, baseball could speed itself up without having to change anything in the rules.
During WWII, as the nation entered a hysteria after the Pearl Harbor attacks, Americans of Japanese descent were rounded up and moved into internment camps. One of the great shames of American history, the internees none-the-less formed communities inside the camps- and that included creating baseball teams, as can be seen in this famous photo by Ansel Adams, which I found on the Library of Congress feed on Flickr.
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.
Last night, during the Reds-Cardinals game, history was made: Donald Lutz made his debut, grounding out in his lone pinch-hit AB against Adam Wainwright.
What’s so special about that, you ask? Well, Lutz, in making his Reds debut, became the first German Major League Baseball player in history (there have been some that were born on military bases there or who came over to America as young children, but Lutz is the first player who can truly be said to be “from Germany”). Although born in Watertown, NY, he grew up and spent essentially his entire childhood with his mother in Germany, not playing baseball until his teenage years.
Who knows how long this first stint for Lutz will last (he is, after all, mainly on the roster right now as a replacement for Chris Heisey while he is on the DL), but still, it’s not every day you can say that something happened yesterday in baseball that hadn’t happened before. So congratulations to Donald Lutz, the first German MLB player in history.
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.
The Baseball Continuum 