Get In

Last week the Atlantic Coast Conference announced its support of an all-in NCAA basketball tournament with 256 teams competing.  All I can say to this charge led by Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is UGH!  You see, I’m one of those baseball playoffs snobs.  I’ve always looked at the NBA and NHL playoffs with disdain.  How can you play an entire season and eliminate less than half of the teams for postseason play?  Not in my favorite sport, Major League Baseball!  Well, then there’s the 2020 season and even this baseball traditionalist has to rethink what’s the fairest way to crown a World Series champion.  And with just one week of games left on the 60-game schedule, many teams are knocking on the door, just wanting to get in.

Shortly after MLB opened its 2020 season in late July, the Commissioner’s office announced that the player’s union had approved a 16-team playoff format.   In Rob Manfred’s words:  “This season will be a sprint to a new format that will allow more fans to experience playoff baseball.”  Oh, yes it will.  For the first two-thirds of the 20th century, baseball’s postseason was pretty simple, champions of the National League and American League faced off in the World Series.  Beginning in 1969, both leagues were broken into East and West divisions, so that four teams would compete in the playoffs.  In 1994, after some realignment, a Central Division was added to both the NL and AL, such that three divisions had champions and one Wild Card (second place team with best record) was added.  It was not until 2012 when MLB arrived at its current format, adding a second Wild Card in each league that met the first Wild Card in a crazy, one-game series.

Teams this week will be competing for eight playoff spots in both leagues, 3 division winners, 3 second place teams from each division, and 2 Wild Cards.  MLB will seed the teams 1 through 8, the first 3 seeds in each league going to the division winners and the fourth seed to the second place team with the best record.  It’s MLB’s version of March Madness.  The top four seeds in each league will get to play a best of 3-game series at home, September 29 to October 1 in the AL, and September 30 to October 2 in the NL.  And news came out this week that MLB will play the remaining slate of playoff games in an NBA/NHL-like bubble, the four AL teams facing off at Dodger Stadium and San Diego’s Petco Park, while the NLDS will be played at the new gem, Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and Minute Maid Park in Houston, both 5-game series.  The ALCS will be played in San Diego, and the NLCS in Arlington, with the World Series in Arlington, all 7-game series.  Got that?!

With 16 teams getting in, we will find numerous teams with near .500 records in the first round of MLB’s Sweet 16.  Do they have a chance of advancing deep into the playoffs? They certainly do, and history is on their side.  In 1973 the Mets won the National League East with an 82-79 record, a .509 winning percentage.  The 82 wins, a number matched by the Padres in 2005, are the lowest number of wins to get into the MLB playoffs since baseball expanded to 162 games in 1961. The ’73 Mets faced the NL West winners, Cincinnati, in a 5-game series.  The Reds were coming off a 99-win season.  Since it was an odd-numbered year, the Mets were even awarded home park advantage, such that the first two games were in Cincinnati and Games 3, 4, and 5 were played at Shea Stadium.  Behind the starting staff of Tom Seaver, Jon Matlack, and Jerry Koosman, New York advanced to the World Series, 3 games to 2.  While reliever Tug McGraw’s “Ya Gotta Believe” became the nation’s motto in the Series, Oakland did survive in seven games.  The Mets season winning percentage remains the lowest ever by a pennant-winning team.

The 2006 Cardinals had a similar story, winning the NL Central with only an 83-78 record and posting its worst record in seven years!  Yet, they dominated the playoffs, beating San Diego in 4 games in the NLDS, knocking off the Mets in a 7-game NLCS, and winning the world championship in 4 games to 1 fashion over the heavily-favored and 95-win regular season Tigers.  In looking at the season statistics for the ’06 Cards, it’s like a mirror of their 2020 short season.  Catcher Yadier Molina struggled all season in 2006 at the plate, batting .216.  Molina’s current batting average of .256 is his lowest since that year. The Cardinals limped into the 2006 playoffs with a 12-17 September record, and of course this September they are trying to crawl past the finish line after playing numerous doubleheaders. You just never know who might get hot in October. Just try to get in.

For the 10 non-division winning entrants this year, they all want to be tweeting the tunes of the Marlins.  Miami (once Florida) has never won a division championship in 28 seasons in the MLB.  The Marlins did, however, gain entry into the playoffs as a wild card in 1997 and 2003.   And on both occasions, they made the most of it, winning the World Series!  The Marlins, who are often the recipients of baseball scorn in terms of competitive play, is the only current MLB team to have never lost a playoff round.   Indeed, the ’97 Marlins were the youngest expansion team to win the World Series (it was their 5th year of existence), and the first team to win the World Series as a wild card entrant.   And eerily, as we check the standings as of Sunday evening, the 2020 Marlins stand ready to knock again at the playoff door.

The 2020 Marlins are bested only by today’s American League Mariners in having the longest postseason drought in baseball.  You might recall the last time Seattle was in the playoffs, 2001, when they set the AL’s all-time record for wins in a season, 116.  The 116 wins tied the major league record of wins in a season by the 1906 Chicago Cubs.  And of course the 2001 tale of the Mariners was an unfortunate one, losing in the ALCS to the Yankees.  The 2020 Mariners, despite an under .500 record for most of this season, were in contention for the eighth and final spot in the AL field until this past week of play.

This next week in the MLB promises to be an exciting and unpredictable one.   Tampa, Chicago, and Oakland are in good position to capture the AL Division crowns, while the Yankees and Twins look to fight to the last game for the best second place record and the fourth spot in the American League as a home field team.   On the NL side, the Dodgers, Braves, and Cubs seem to have division championships in sight, and the Padres appear to be a lock as the best second place team.  It’s difficult to know how much home field is an advantage in the first round this year.  The Yankees and Twins both have played extremely well in their home parks, so the fourth spot in the AL might be telling. However, only a handful of other teams (Phillies, Padres, and Astros, stop laughing) have a big disparity in winning records at home vs. road.  Both fields will be filled by many .500 teams scrambling to get in. The Reds are making a late sprint, going old school by giving the ball to ace pitcher Trevor Bauer in 3 of their last 8 games. San Francisco, who many counted out from the start with Buster Posey’s decision not to play, is also trying to slip in through the playoff door.

An interesting component of the MLB playoffs announced this week is that there will be continuous play in all rounds leading up to the World Series.  In other words, since there is no travel needed during a series, off days to adjust starting pitching rotations will be cast aside.  It will be a real test of pitching depth, and might lead to some higher scoring playoff games than we’ve seen in the past.   Unless you spend all of your free time devouring games on the MLB-TV feeds, it’s impossible to even guess how that might play out for each contending team.  Maybe the way to look at it for your favorite team in the next week or so is not to ponder the what ifs, but rather be okay for now with just getting in.

Until next week,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Retire 21

My love for baseball began in the late 1960s.  All of the World Series games were played in the afternoon, and my Dad would take vacation and watch the games with me.  It’s been a tough year for those memories with the death of so many World Series heroes from that era.  In April we lost Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline (#6), a key piece of Detroit’s 1968 championship.  And just recently, within the span of a week, two others passed, the Cardinals’ Lou Brock (#20), the base-stealing guru who led St. Louis to its ‘67 World Series title, and New York’s Tom “Terrific” Seaver (#41), whose dominance on the mound guided the 1969 Amazin’ Mets to an improbable Series win over Baltimore.  While we watched the World Series games on a black and white television set, the colorful images of these star players and the jersey numbers on their backs are forever etched in my mind.

There’s another jersey number from that period, #21, that baseball celebrated this past Wednesday.  To honor baseball legend Roberto Clemente, the Pirate players and coaches in a game against the White Sox at PNC Park all donned the number last worn by the “Great One” in 1972 and retired by the club in 1973.  It was MLB’s 19th annual Roberto Clemente Day.  Players throughout baseball joined in the celebration by wearing #21, including stars such as Francisco Lindor (Indians), Yadier Molina (Cardinals), Edwin Diaz (Mets), and Javier Baez (Cubs).  Roberto Clemente Jr. was on hand in Pittsburgh to kick off the announcement of each MLB team’s nominees for the Roberto Clemente Award.  Originally called the Commissioner’s Award, it was renamed in 1973 and given annually to the player who best represents baseball on and off the field through sportsmanship, community involvement, and positive contributions. 

What was it about Clemente that we celebrate him 48 years after his tragic death?  There’s no question he was one of the top players ever in the game – the ultimate five-tool player (speed, throwing, fielding, and hitting for average and power).  But it’s more than his baseball contributions, much more.  Clemente means “merciful” in Spanish, and that’s how he lived his life.  His Pirate teammates marveled at his commitment on road trips to visit sick children in hospitals throughout the country.  During the offseason Clemente went home to his beloved Puerto Rico, and delivered food and baseball equipment to those in need.  We truly lost a hero on December 31, 1972, when Clemente’s plane crashed en route to delivering food to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.  A Puerto Rican poet, Enrique Zorrilla, might have said it best, what burned in Clemente’s cheeks was the “fire of dignity”, each day of his 38 years.

Clemente’s pathway to the MLB is strikingly similar to that of Jackie Robinson’s.   (See “Uncomfortable Truths”, 04/20/2020.) Clemente wanted to play with Robinson’s Dodgers. Brooklyn’s then general manager, Buzzie Bavasi, took advantage of that and signed him with a $10,000 bonus and $5,000 annual salary, about one-third of what the Milwaukee Braves offered.  Just like Jackie 10 years before, Clemente was assigned to Montreal to play minor league ball.  Branch Rickey, the Dodger executive who helped Jackie break the color barrier, was now in Pittsburgh and in charge of the Pirates.  During the first part of the 1950s the Pirates struggled mightily, and were deemed the “Buffoons of Baseball” by Life Magazine.  Since the Pirates had the first overall selection in the 1955 supplemental draft, Rickey signed Clemente from Brooklyn’s unprotected list.  Years later when players debated whether to support Curt Flood’s case against baseball’s reserve clause, Clemente gave an impassioned speech to the MLB players, detailing the inequities of his early signing as reason to support Flood.

The Pirates’ rebuild, featuring their sensational right fielder, Roberto Clemente, soon took flight.  In 1960, the Pirates represented the National League in the World Series for the first time since 1927 when they were swept by the Yankees, headlined by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and regarded as one of the best teams ever.  In 1960, the Yankees were again the AL opponents and had another all-time team, featuring the M&Ms, Mantle and Maris.  It was a crazy Series, one that the New Yorkers outscored Pittsburgh 55-27. The Series came down to Game 7, bottom of the ninth inning, and the score tied 9-9.  Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski launched a Series-winning home run over the left field fence at Forbes Field, and Pittsburgh had its first world championship in 35 years.  Despite batting .310, hitting safely in all seven games, and playing a spectacular right field, Clemente was snubbed for the Series MVP award.  That went to New York’s Bobby Richardson, the only time a member of the losing team won the award.

After the world championship, the Pirates of the 1960s failed to win the National League, as the Dodgers and Cardinals dominated the league.  Clemente though won four batting championships (1961, 1964, 1965, 1967) and the Gold Glove in each season, and appeared in every All-Star Game except 1968.  The National League All-Star outfield in the 1960s was a who’s who of baseball’s elite, Hank Aaron in left, Willie Mays in center, and Clemente in right.  Clemente was often overshadowed by Aaron and Mays who were both prodigious home run hitters.  Playing in cavernous Forbes Field (442 feet to the center field wall), Clemente’s game featured doubles and triples to all parts of the field.  Clemente reached the pinnacle of his individual success in 1966, capturing the National League MVP award.

The Pirates of the early 1970s were an NL powerhouse, known as the “Lumber Company” with the additions of Willie Stargell, Al Oliver, and Manny Sanguillen.  Under Clemente’s leadership, the Bucs won the NL East in three consecutive seasons, 1970-1972, and played in one of the most thrilling World Series ever, the ‘71 Series against Baltimore.  The Orioles featured the Robinson duo of Frank and Brooks, coming off a world championship in 1970 and backed by an unheard of four 20-game winners on the mound, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and Pat Dobson.  Pittsburgh came back from a 3 games to 1 deficit, and won the Series in seven, with the deciding Game 7 being a Bucs 2-1 win behind Clemente’s early home run.  Clemente’s stardom on the field was never brighter than in this World Series.  He batted .414 with 12 hits in the Series, capturing the Series MVP this time.  Yet, the play baseball fans will always remember is his Game 2 rocket throw from the right field corner to third base nailing a stunned Orioles runner, Merv Rettenmund.

Clemente’s last season in baseball, 1972, in many ways seemed to foretell the tragic end to his life later in the year.  With only three games left in the season, he achieved a milestone 3,000 hit with a double off Mets pitcher Jon Matlack at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.  It was the first time a Latin American player had reached 3,000 hits.  Clemente left the game to a thunderous ovation; it was his last regular season at-bat and time to rest up for the upcoming NL playoffs.  After the game a Pirates staff member discovered that the game happened to be Clemente’s 2,442 MLB appearance, tying Pirate legend Honus Wagner. Manager Bill Virdon used Clemente as a defensive replacement late in the next game so that he could break Wagner’s record.  The Pirates matched up against the Reds in a dramatic 5-game NLCS a week later, and this writer was there to witness Clemente’s last game ever (see “Row 13, Seat 13”, 04/13/2020.)

During his playing career Clemente was idolized by many Latin American players in baseball.  Tony Taylor, a Cuban who played second base for the Phillies, was one of many who found him to be the perfect “big brother”.  Since his passing, the Roberto Clemente Award is one of the most coveted in baseball.  Incredibly, the first recipient, in 1973, was also one of the all-time great right fielders, one we lost earlier this year, Al Kaline.  Today, Clemente’s influence is still strong, as annually players strive for the award.  Adam Wainwright was nominated by the Cardinals this past week for the fifth time in his career.  Other 2020 nominees include Tim Anderson (White Sox), Tucker Barnhardt (Reds) and Jason Heyward (Cubs).  One can’t visit Pittsburgh today without sharing in Clemente’s memory – the Clemente Museum (housed in the revitalized Lawrenceville section); Clemente Memorial Park (downtown near PNC Park); the 21-foot high right field wall at PNC Park; and even the 21-yard line in the concourse of football-crazed Heinz Field.  

In doing research for this article I chuckled about Clemente’s story behind getting that #21.  You see, he wanted #13, but that jersey was taken, and he was randomly assigned 21 as his jersey number!  We’re all glad he was, and let’s honor him by retiring #21 in all of baseball.  David Maraniss, in his book, “Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero”, offers these words: “His memory is kept alive as a symbol of action and passion, not of reflection and longing.  He broke racial and language barriers and achieved greatness and died a hero.  That word can be used indiscriminately in the world of sports, but the classic definition is of someone who gives his life in the service of others, and that is exactly what Clemente did.”  Retire 21.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Not Today

July 16, 1985.  I remember that morning so clearly.  I was in my downtown St. Louis office on top of the world.  My new job was going well and our first baby was expected in two months.  Yet, a deep gloom came over me as I sat behind my desk, so much that I began to sob uncontrollably.  I shut my office door, embarrassed, and trying to figure out what was going on.   Then it hit me; it was the fifth anniversary of my brother’s death.  I knew that I couldn’t work that day.  My mind wasn’t there.  I made an excuse of being suddenly ill and went home.  As I reflect on the recent decisions by some MLB players and teams not to play in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting, my thoughts turn to this day some 35 years ago in my life.  I will never be able to step into the shoes of the players and fully understand, but I do know that we have one thing in common.  Not today.

Jason Heyward, Cubs right fielder, was one of those players.  He sat out of Chicago’s August 26 game against the Tigers, a decision supported by team president Theo Epstein, his manager David Ross, and his teammates.  Heyward, an 11-year MLB veteran, exudes leadership.  If you’re a Cubs fan, he will always be fondly remembered for his rallying speech during the 17-minute rain delay before the 10th inning of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.  But he’s much more than that.  In an era where the percentage of black players in the MLB is diminishing (1980 – 18.7% of MLB players were black; today – 7.7%), Heyward stands tall as the kind of person we would want all of today’s young fans to admire.  Indeed, this past week the Cubs nominated him for the 2020 Roberto Clemente Award. Sports Illustrated also did a fascinating piece called “Heyward on Life, Business and the State of Race” (August 31).  The article provides a close-up of Heyward off the field, including his becoming the first black professional athlete investor in Turn2Equity, a portfolio of businesses designed to continue the growth of baseball as our national pastime. 

J-Hey would be proud of all of his baseball brethren in history, no matter the skin color, who took a personal stand in the face of public demand for his presence on the field.  Sandy Koufax, the Los Angeles HOF pitcher who dominated the game in the 1960s, often had an October dilemma as his Dodgers competed in the World Series.  It was usually during the holiest of seasons for his Jewish religion, the High Holy Days.  The first game of the 1965 World Series indeed fell on Yom Kippur, and Koufax decided not to pitch.  His Dodgers lost to the Twins that day, 7-1, but Koufax gained the respect of all fans in baseball and people throughout the country for his personal commitment to his faith.  What’s interesting about Koufax is that although this missed Game 1 World Series start is the one we remember, he also requested to skip his turn in April 1959 due to it falling on the first night of Passover and in 1961 and 1963 since the starts fell on Rosh Hoshanah.  Not today.

Last week Aaron Boone, Yankees’ skipper, aptly described the 2020 baseball season and all of the events surrounding it, a “hard, heavy year”.  Playing in the face of COVID-19 has been of course also one of the challenges for MLB players.  Buster Posey, Giants’ veteran catcher, 2010 NL Rookie of the Year, 2012 NL MVP, and three-time World Series champion, is probably the biggest star to opt out, and rightfully so.  His wife Kristin and he adopted twin baby girls this summer, and Posey made the personal decision to protect his family.  In his words:  “We feel this is the best decision for our babies.”  A handful of other players followed, and the message was clear.  While baseball is their job, please respect their personal decisions to wait until it is safer to play.  All baseball fans look forward to Buster’s return to behind the plate next season.

Baseball is certainly a sport that individual play and statistics receive much attention and accolades.  Yet, most often we find that those teams that have players who accept their roles and support each other are the successful ones.  During the first half of this season, the Cubs have received some flak about their “rah-rah” style of cheering each other from the dugout.  I actually find their dugout behavior to be refreshing in a time when we all could use a little fun and passion.  In the aftermath of Jason Heyward’s decision to not play in the game against the Tigers, there was much commentary about whether his Cubs teammates should have joined him in sitting out.  Heyward dismissed that notion, one, because he urged his teammates before the game to play, and two, the organization as a whole supported his decision.  Salaries of some executives, coaches, and players were donated to the Players Alliance, a group of more than 100 current and past black players to increase opportunities for blacks in baseball. 

The relationship between players and fans has also been put to test this year with no crowds in the ballpark. Maybe instead of cheering at the ballpark, we can express our support in other ways, such as accepting players like Dexter Fowler and Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals, and Matt Kemp of the Rockies, and teams like the Mariners and Padres, and Dodgers and Giants, all who decided to stay away from the field.  One of the more poignant boycotts was that of the Astros and Athletics, whose players asked for a 42-second moment of silence before their scheduled game.  The players stood along their respective base lines and then together draped 42 jerseys on each side of the batters box and a BLM shirt across home plate (see photo at top).  The players left the field; not today.

On the same Friday night that the Astros and Athletics decided not to play, baseball began its rescheduled celebration of Jackie Robinson Day.  (See “Uncomfortable Truths”, 04/20/2020.)  August 28 was chosen because it was the date in 1945 when Branch Rickey met with Jackie to discuss breaking the color barrier, and it was the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.  Every manager, coach, and player wore the jersey 42 during the entire weekend, and perhaps never so importantly.

In today’s world of us vs. them, I must admit that I struggled with writing this article.  Should I reach beyond the game and give my take on current issues or just be a baseball guy who stays in his lane?  I was buoyed by a July Nielsen study that 59% of sports fans “expect athletes to personally help progress the BLM movement”.   I also found Jason Heyward’s insight on how he is feeling to be helpful: “Putting it all out there.  I would say at the end of the day, everyone came back to the conclusion of, no, we’re family, we’re together.”

I was deep in thought about the story last weekend while I was riding my bicycle. I made an error in judgment on how fast an incoming car was coming, and decided at the last second to turn my bike over a curb and into the grass.  I fell clumsily, but wasn’t injured nor was my bike damaged.  I sat there on the grass, again embarrassed.  I then saw a woman get out of her car to check to see if I needed help.  I assured her I was okay, and also thanked her.  This is the world I want to live in, to think of each other as family, to be together. Jason Heyward is a person I admire, not just today but everyday.

Until next week,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Right Way

If you’re lucky in life, you come upon one or two mentors who help shape your way of thinking and provide life lessons.  One of those for me is Frank Espelage, who passed away two weeks ago at the age of 93.  He lived a very full life, and one of his life treasures was managing my Knothole (little league) baseball team with the help of our third base coach, his son Ron.  Three years ago our second baseman and my dear friend, Tom D’Agnillo, hosted a reunion of that team, a night of laughter and reminiscing about key games and rival teams, and even perusing old scorebooks.  Mr. Espelage attended that reunion, and to a player, we expressed our thanks to him.  The common theme was that we worked very hard to become an exceptional team, and he coached us to do it the “right way”.

What is the right way in baseball?  For me, it’s all about players and teams executing the basics of the game.  Recently I read that the 1959 AL pennant winning White Sox was the last team to appear in a World Series that stole more bases than hit home runs during the season.  The “Go-Go Sox” would definitely have been my kind of team, managed by Al Lopez, a 20-season defensive specialist as a catcher who brought his focus on fundamentals to the ball club.  Nellie Fox, the AL MVP and Sox second baseman, was one of the most difficult hitters in MLB history for a pitcher to strike out.  Steady fielding shortstop Luis Aparicio made Chicago even stronger up the middle as he finished 1959 MVP runner-up and led the league in stolen bases for nine seasons.  Cy Young award winner and Sox ace, Early Wynn, dominated hitters with his power pitching, but also displayed a mastery of the strike zone.  Sherm Lollar, the team’s veteran leader and catcher, led the team with just 20 HRs and 84 RBIs.  The ’59 Sox were just a solid team, all around!

In St. Louis, you often hear the term “Cardinals Way” to describe not only the brand of baseball the team plays, but also how the team conducts its business from top down.  In a 2016 book by baseball journalist Howard Megdal, “The Cardinals Way: How One Team Embraced Tradition and Moneyball at the Same Time”, the author describes how owner Bill DeWitt, general manager John Mozeliak, and former managers, such as Tony LaRussa, take great pride in the team’s code of conduct, use of statistics and analytics, and a farm system designed to groom players for the big leagues.  Much of the system-wide approach though can be traced to the late George Kissell, who served the Cards for most of his lifetime as a minor league player, manager, coach, scout, and roving instructor.  The so-called “Professor” preached fundamental baseball to players, coaches, and managers throughout the organization.  Kissell not only mentored LaRussa, but two other great managers, Sparky Anderson and Joe Torre (see “Best Skippers”, 08/26/2019).

Should we extend the right way of playing on the field to how players look?  That seems outlandish in MLB today, especially with the new look many of us have adopted during the pandemic, but baseball has some history of maintaining appearance policies.  Prior to 1972, you could not find an MLB player with facial hair.  The Oakland Athletics won the World Series in 1972 in a flamboyant style with many players sporting mustaches and longer hair.  As a result, the Yankees adopted a policy in 1973 that players must have their hair cut above the collar of their baseball jersey and no beards were permitted.  The original policy was established under the late George Steinbrenner because he wanted the players to adopt a “corporate attitude”.  The policy actually remains in effect today, much to the dismay of many MLB players.  Former Red Sox star pitcher David Price, now with the Dodgers, has stated that he would never play for the Pinstripes for that reason alone.  The Reds, until 1999, were the only other team to prohibit beards but it was more of an unwritten rule than an actual policy.

Most unwritten rules, a set of unspoken rules in baseball that managers and players are to follow, concern play on the field.  These rules include many prohibited acts, such as DO NOT: (1) bunt to break up a no-hitter; (2) stand at the plate and admire a home run; (3) swing at a 3-0 pitch when your team is winning the game; or (4) steal a base when your team has a big lead. Players with some urging of their managers are the enforcers, and many tend to have long memories about perceived violations.  Bob Gibson had an especially long memory; one story has him beaning an opposing hitter for a slight that happened 15 years earlier.  Humorously, the ultimate competitor, Michael Jordan, who played minor league baseball in the middle of his pro basketball career, stole third base once with his Birmingham Barons team up 11-0.  Jordan’s then manager, Terry Francona, had to explain to him that an unwritten rule had been broken. 

One of my favorite scenes from the movie “Bull Durham” is when catcher Crash Davis, played by Kevin Costner, scolds an opposing hitter for admiring a home run even though Davis had told him what pitch was coming.  Taking that long look at a home run took an ugly turn last year when a former Reds player, Derek Dietrich, was perceived by Pirates pitcher Chris Archer of violating the unwritten rule.  On Dietrich’s next plate appearance, Archer threw the first pitch behind him, resulting in a melee on the field and several suspensions.  Earlier in the season White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, who went on to become the AL batting champion, violated a similar, unwritten rule by flipping his bat after a home run against Kansas City.  Royals pitcher Brad Keller plunked Anderson on his next at-bat, also resulting in an on-field brawl.  Both of these 2019 incidents were despite the fact that in 2018 MLB launched a marketing campaign called “Let the Kids Play”, designed to criticize the outdated unwritten rules.

So where are we in 2020 on unwritten rules?  It depends on whom you ask.  In a game two weeks ago between the Padres and Rangers, one of baseball’s rising superstars, San Diego’s shortstop Fernando Tatis, Jr., swung at a 3-0 pitch with the bases loaded and his team leading 7-0 in the eighth inning.  Tatis hit a grand slam, and quickly received grief from both sides. When he returned to the dugout, the Padres first-year manager, Jayce Tingler, admonished him for missing a take sign.  The Rangers were a little more upset, and Texas pitcher Ian Gibault, who had just entered the game, threw behind the next batter, the Padres other big star, Manny Machado.  Gibault received a 3-game suspension and his manager, Texas’ Chris Woodward, got one game.  Woodward’s post-game comments reflect today’s dilemma on unwritten rules:  “I didn’t like it, personally.  But, like I said, the norms are being challenged on a daily basis.” 

One thing to consider for those supporting unwritten rules is that baseball sorely needs superstar players who can create excitement like Tatis.  If you haven’t seen him play in this crazy short season, you need to do so.  Not only is he at the top of the charts in HRs, RBIs, and batting average, but his defensive range is flat out remarkable.  Tatis after the game apologized for his grand slam discrepancy, but current and former MLB players quickly rushed to his defense.  Tim Anderson had this to say:  “He hit a grand slam.  What are you apologizing for?”  Former players Reggie Jackson, Ozzie Guillen, and Johnny Bench chimed in their support.  Bench, after calling the 21-year old Tatis a future Hall of Famer, tweeted: “Everyone should hit 3-0.  Grand Slams are a huge stat.”

At the beginning of each Knothole season in Cincinnati, my teammates and I gathered for the uniform distribution.  There were many sought after numbers because of the Reds star players at the time, and perhaps none brighter than # 5, Bench’s jersey.  Each season we did our best to play the game the right way.  In those many years we won the District 18 championship, our first round opponent was most often the Delhi Eagles, the top team on the west side of Cincinnati.  I chuckle still about Mr. Espelage telling us before those games, “don’t worry, they put their pants on the same way we do, one leg at a time.”  Humor aside, it was an important life lesson for me.  No one is better than me; and just as importantly, I am better than no one else.  Thank you Mr. Espelage.  Rest in Peace.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Rounding Third

The derecho that swept through the upper Midwest two weeks ago caused property damage and electric and internet outages. For those devoted baseball fans trying to ease the pain a little by keeping up with their favorite MLB team, it meant a return to old school, locating your team on the radio dial. The notion of enjoying baseball through radio broadcasts brings back so many wonderful memories – placing a transistor radio under my pillow late at night when I was growing up; trying to get the best signal from a car radio on a road trip; and putting my headphones on while cutting the grass.  I love listening to broadcasters who describe the game, provide insight, and share their passion.  The seamless production of games through radio and television booths is about the only thing that seems normal to me in 2020, and incredibly much of the broadcasting is being undertaken away from live action at the ballpark.  So I thought it would be fun to offer my top ten favorite baseball broadcasters of all time:

Joe Nuxhall.  The “Ol’ Left-hander” was the radio analyst of the Reds for 40 seasons.  Almost his entire life he spent as a Red, beginning in 1944 at fifteen years old when he pitched in a game for Cincinnati as the youngest player in MLB history and culminating in 2007 when he still worked part-time shortly before his death.  Nuxie was Cincinnati Reds baseball.  I used to look forward to rain delays of Reds games when I would sit with my Dad on the front porch and listen to Nuxhall’s stories.  During a broadcast you could always hear Joe in the background cheering a great Reds play or lamenting a bad error.  In 1999 I attended a Reds fantasy baseball camp in Florida, and my Dad joined me as my fan.  At the concluding banquet Joe Nuxhall sat with Dad for an hour sharing baseball stories.  It was one of my Dad’s life highlights, and I am forever thankful. I’m also thankful for every Reds radio broadcast I heard that ended with Nuxhall’s famous send-off, “This is the old left-hander, rounding third and heading to home.  Good night everyone.”

Jack Buck.  This Hall of Fame broadcaster was the lead commentator for many World Series games and NFL encounters, but for St. Louisans he will always be known as simply the voice of the Cardinals.   In his early years he shared the KMOX-Radio booth with Harry Caray, and then went on to be the principal announcer with former Redbird and color analyst, Mike Shannon.  Buck mastered the art of interviewing.  In his pre and post game chats with managers, coaches, and players, he would always let the big personalities talk (manager Whitey Herzog) and kindly lead the conversation for the more quiet ones (George Hendrick, player).  Buck’s call of Ozzie Smith’s walk-off home run in the 1985 NLCS against the Dodgers will always go down as a highlight for Cardinals fans, “Go Crazy Folks! Go Crazy!” And of course in 1988 during the first game of the World Series, it was Jack Buck who exclaimed “I don’t believe what I just saw” as Kirk Gibson limped around the bases after his historic home run.

Jack Brickhouse.  Brickhouse introduced me to Cubs baseball in my college years in Chicago.  He was the voice of Cubs baseball on WGN-TV from 1948 to 1981.  He received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.  His quiet demeanor and story-telling abilities made him so believable every afternoon at Wrigley.  There was something about his kindness and warmth that made his beloved Cubbies even more lovable.  Brickhouse’s talents also extended outside of baseball, as he called the Bears’ NFL games for 25 years and Bulls’ NBA games for eight.  His most famous moment behind the mike might have been away from Chicago, the 1954 World Series radio call of Willie Mays’ catch in Game 1.  For Cubs fans though, who will ever forget his “Hey, Hey” after every Cubs home run that landed in the basket or left the park at Wrigley!

Jon Miller.   Miller is the first current announcer on my list.  The highest compliment to a broadcaster is the appearance of total objectivity.  When I first heard Miller do ESPN Sunday Night baseball games over ten years ago I had no idea that he was play-by-play announcer of the San Francisco Giants.  His style is conversational and warm, and he is adept at bringing historical pieces into modern-day topics.  Miller has been the voice of the Giants since 1997.  He had the good fortune of being behind the microphone of San Francisco’s even-numbered years dominance of World Series baseball, 2010, 2012, and 2014.  He received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010, of course in an even-numbered year.

Tony Kubek.  Kubek knew all about World Series play.  In his nine-year career as a shortstop for the Yankees, he played in six of them.  After his retirement from baseball, he joined NBC television and was the color analyst for 12 World Series.  What I remember mostly about Kubek was his work with partner Curt Gowdy on the NBC Saturday Game of the Week in the late 1960s and 1970s.   Before cable television, baseball crazy kids like me only had the local broadcasting of our hometown teams.  For me, that was only 40 or so Reds away games.  I loved tuning in on Saturday afternoon to see other MLB teams.  It seemed like every other Saturday NBC would be at Fenway Park so we could hear Tony describe the nuances of the Green Monster. Kubek’s professional approach to broadcasting paved the way for many former players.

Vin Scully.  No one has had a greater run in announcing baseball than Scully’s 67 seasons calling games for the LA Dodgers from 1950 to his recent retirement in 2016.  While admittedly I am not a Dodgers fan (see “Dodgers Blues”, 04/29/2019), I appreciated his feel good charm and quiet respect for the game.  I didn’t have the opportunity to hear his Dodgers play by play, but I do recall though his NBC national broadcasts of baseball in the 1980s.   Upon his retirement, I heard so many celebrate his signature welcoming to Dodger broadcasts:  “It’s time for Dodger baseball.  Hi, everybody, and a very pleasant good afternoon to you.”  Among his many accomplishments, Scully received the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award in 2014 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

John Smoltz.  Smoltz was an 8-time National League All-Star and HOF pitcher, most famous for being a starter with the Braves alongside Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.  Toward the end of his career, he spent four years as Atlanta’s closer.  Smoltzie is the only pitcher in MLB history to record 200 wins and 150 saves.  Nowadays you find Smoltz as the top color analyst on Fox television broadcasts.  I truly enjoy his insight not only about a pitcher’s mindset and mechanics, but all situational aspects of the game.  He is one of those few commentators who can lay out clearly the options of a manager in key moments of play, most often correctly predicting the outcome.  If you are a Cubs fan, you might recall his first World Series at the microphone, 2016!

Harry Caray.  More often than not, the “Mayor of Rush Street” is identified with the Cubs, but Caray had established a wonderful broadcasting career before he arrived at Wrigley in 1982.  For 25 years Caray was the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals, teaming with Jack Buck.  Caray spent one year in Oakland (1970), but then the next eleven at Comiskey Park with the White Sox.  That’s actually how I remember him, the flamboyant Sox announcer whose colorful play-by-play was perfect for the South Siders during that era.  The tradition of Harry leading the crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning started at Comiskey when his microphone was left on.  He brought that tradition to Wrigley Field.  Since his passing in 1998, the tradition has been carried forward with guest singers and an occasional big screen replay of Harry himself.  A visitor to Wrigley today can find his statue just outside the centerfield bleachers gate.

Pat Hughes.   Since the 1996 season, Hughes has been the radio voice of the Cubs.  I find his style to be incredibly enjoyable, free of flashy stories and new age data.  Hughes broadcasts in a professional manner,  capturing your attention with an objective play-by-play call but mixed with baseball history and current topics.  I find myself on many Sunday afternoons with my air buds in and listening to the radio broadcast.  After several years of playoff disappointment, Pat became the first Cubs broadcaster who could say this in October, 2016:  “A little bouncer slowly toward Bryant.  He will glove it and throw it to Rizzo.  It’s in time!  And the Chicago Cubs win the World Series!”

Andy Masur. Sometimes you need to embrace someone new and project future performance.  Masur is the talented White Sox radio announcer in his first season, replacing Ed Farmer who passed away earlier this year.  Masur is from my new home village, and is a graduate of Bradley University.  For the past 25 years he has held numerous radio reporting and broadcasting positions nationally (play-by-play for the San Diego Padres) and locally in Chicago (often substituting for Pat Hughes).  I have quickly become a fan of his on-air style, a comfortable mix of baseball strategy and the realities of today’s game. 

Football and basketball have seemingly jumped ahead of baseball in sports media because of the fast pace and excitement seen on your high definition televisions and laptops at home.  Baseball though continues to be the easiest listen for me.  I heard someone say that in today’s MLB a ball is only put in play every 3 minutes, 36 seconds.  Crazy as this may be, that’s still fine with me, especially as I listen to every game I can find on my car radio and the kids’ old boom box.  So who is on your list of favorite baseball announcers?   As Harry Caray would have said, “Let me hear ‘ya.”

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Let's Play Two!

Someone asked me recently whether I had a favorite summer job when I was growing up.  My thoughts immediately turned to umpiring, but then I recalled that first 5 day, 40 hours a week, cushy position as an “assistant office manager” at a bank in downtown Cincinnati.  I was basically the errand guy, delivering mail in the main office, taking the executives’ cars for motor vehicle registration and a weekly car wash, and delivering supplies to the eighteen branches across the city.  It was fun, I met a lot of people, and it sure beat driving my old Gremlin around town.  On a handful of late Friday afternoons that summer I also had something to look forward to after work, meeting up with my buddies and going to Riverfront Stadium for a twi-night doubleheader.  Do you remember that relic in baseball’s past?  It was the best of all deals, a $6.00 ticket for two MLB games!

Classic doubleheaders where fans were able to attend two games for the price of one were prominent in MLB through the first half of the 20th century.  The 1943 White Sox hold the record for most doubleheaders played by a team during a season, 44, more than half of their scheduled 154-game season.  In 1959, a quarter of games played (on average, 20 doubleheaders per team) were in the format of two games starting around Noon or 5:00 p.m.   The rate of scheduled doubleheaders began to decline over the next several years, falling to 10% of games by 1979.  With the urging of owners, MLB for the most part began to eliminate doubleheaders from its scheduling.  The reasons for the change most cite are the need to maximize revenue (one gate per game), the taxing of pitching staffs (over the last 50 years we have turned to 5 pitcher starting rotations from the traditional 4), and the safety of catchers and everyday players (today’s game sees half of the MLB rosters comprised of pitchers).  The last scheduled single admission day doubleheader was on June 10, 2017, between Tampa and Oakland, a rarity in today’s game.

Doubleheaders nowadays come in the form of day-night doubleheaders, the first game in the afternoon and the second at night, allowing the ultimate money grab, two gates on one day for the home team.  These day-night doubleheaders are actually prohibited by the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), unless approved by the Players Association.  Most often, they are scheduled for travel relief purposes when a prior game has been rained out and the two teams are not scheduled to return to the home team’s ballpark during the season.  Interestingly, the Elias Sports Bureau does not recognize the two games as actual doubleheaders for the record books.  The CBA does allow teams to expand rosters on these days so that a starting pitcher can be brought up from AAA to pitch one of the games. 

Much of the doubleheader stigma has been cast aside this season considering the new 60-game schedule.  With numerous games already cancelled due to COVID-19, MLB schedule makers might be looking into some unique doubleheader options based on past history.  The Yankees and Mets since the advent of interleague play have played games in each other’s ballparks on the same day three times when there was a rainout during the first series of the season.  Take notice Chicago and Los Angeles!  Maybe even more on point, the Cardinals in 1951 and the Indians in 2000 hosted doubleheaders against two different teams in September because there were no common days off for the remainder of the season and the games were needed to decide playoff races.   And as the latest version of the 2020 MLB schedule provides, we are going to see this year the arrangement the Reds and Giants struck in July 2013 at then AT&T Park to accommodate travel, where the first game of a doubleheader was the Giants home date but in the second game the Reds were the designated home team due to an earlier rainout in Cincinnati.

I’m not sure this is exactly what Ernie Banks had in mind with his trademark “Let’s play two”!  Ernie began playing professional baseball in 1950 with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Baseball League. He signed with the Cubs in September 1953, becoming the Cubs first black player.  Banks set all kinds of records, earning the nickname “Mr. Cub” for his spirit on and off the field.  He started as a power hitting shortstop, certainly uncommon during the 1950s.  Banks won the NL MVP award in 1958 and 1959 for big numbers at the plate and outstanding play in the middle of the diamond.  The next year, 1960, Ernie won the Cubs’ first Gold Glove award.  Banks moved to first base in 1961, finishing his Hall of Fame career there in 1971.  Ernie’s catchphrase “It’s a beautiful day for baseball, let’s play two!” summed up his love of the game, especially for playing daylight games at his beloved Wrigley Field.  For a wonderful, recent biography of his life, check out “Let’s Play Two: The Life and Times of Ernie Banks” (2019) by Doug Wilson.

Playing in the sunlight at Wrigley Field is a perfect setting for my favorite doubleheader story, one of a player not a team.  On August 4, 1982, Joel Youngblood of the Mets stepped into the box at Wrigley to face Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs.  In the third inning of the game he drove in two runs with a single.  Youngblood was replaced after the at-bat because he had been traded to the Expos.  Youngblood was asked to board a plane out of Chicago and head to Philadelphia for Montreal’s game that night against the Phillies.  He made it to the ballpark while the game was being played, and delivered a pinch hit single against the Phillies’ ace Steve Carlton in the seventh inning.  Not only is Youngblood the only player in baseball history to get hits in two games in two cities for two teams on the same day, but how about those hits coming off of two future Hall of Fame pitchers!

Recognizing the “dynamic circumstances” of the 2020 season and the need to schedule frequent games and promote player safety, MLB with the support of the Players Association announced on July 31 a rule change that all doubleheader games may be completed in 7 innings.  Separately, MLB announced that rosters would be expanded during these doubleheaders.  On August 2, the Reds swept the Tigers in the first such seven-inning twin bill. Interestingly and maybe telling as the season moves forward, past MLB doubleheader results show that a sweep is far more common than a split.  Doubleheader success will be critical for teams like St. Louis and Miami, as they scramble to get in 60 games before season’s end. 

While the Cardinals finally returned to action on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep over the White Sox, their schedule ahead is daunting, 52 games in the next 42 days.   Of course, that means many doubleheaders, and as expected, playing the role of the designated home team while finding themselves in the visitors’ clubhouse.  MLB announced late last week the scheduling of most of these doubleheaders, including two this week against the Cubs, 5 games in the course of 3 days.  I’m sure Chicago will do everything possible to prevent the first ever, walk-off win by their rivals at Wrigley.  It’s definitely a new, crazy world with lots of ramifications for all teams involved – bringing up pitchers from their taxi squads to start games; working with 3 catchers on the roster; and providing enough rest for position players.  It will be interesting to watch from the comfort of our homes.

MLB noted in the July 31 rule change announcement that despite the seven-inning doubleheaders, in case of inclement weather a game will still be deemed complete after 5 innings of play or 4 ½ innings if the home team is ahead. When I was growing up, I remember convincing my parents to go to a Reds Sunday afternoon doubleheader against the Padres.  While they agreed to go, the caveat was we would make a leisurely day of it, perhaps arriving in the middle of the first game.  As we drove to the ballpark that day listening to the car radio with the Reds leading 3-0 after three innings, dark clouds loomed.   We made it to our seats as the fourth inning ended.  Rain poured after the Padres final out in the fifth, giving the Reds a first game 3-0 win and cancelling the second game. Our $6.00 per ticket was for one-half inning, not two games, also a result that Ernie Banks did not have in mind.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Field of Dreams

This past Monday afternoon MLB announced the cancellation of the August 13 “Field of Dreams” game between the White Sox and the Cardinals.  While I can’t say I am surprised, I must say that I am disappointed.  It was the last major professional sporting event this summer on my calendar that hadn’t until now been postponed or delayed.  The game was to be played at a newly constructed 8,000-seat ballpark in Dyersville, Iowa, on the farm where the 1989 movie was shot.  It was going to be the first MLB game ever played in Iowa.  I pondered that afternoon whether I should tell the story, despite the cancellation.  I quickly concluded that it’s an important part of baseball history; and certainly, a wonderful story to share.

The movie was based on W.P. Kinsella’s 1982 novel “Shoeless Joe”, a delightful book that I first read over the past week.  The novel tells the story of Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer, struggling with the memories of his relationship with his late Dad, John Kinsella, a faithful baseball fan.  One day Ray hears a voice, “If you build it, he will come”.  With the loving support of his wife Annie and daughter Karin, Ray begins to build a ballpark.  Along the way, we learn about his Dad’s devotion to a White Sox star player, Shoeless Joe Jackson.  As a teenager, Ray challenged that loyalty and pointed to the 1919 Black Sox Scandal.  After that, Ray and his Dad never played catch again, something Ray deeply regrets.  As Ray’s new ballpark begins to take shape, mystical ballplayers begin to appear and play games, first Shoeless Joe and then seven others, all of whom were banned from baseball as result of the scandal.

The story of the Black Sox Scandal actually begins the year before, 1918, in a way that is frighteningly similar to events today.  In 1918 the Spanish Flu pandemic swept across the world.  We lost an estimated 5 million people worldwide and 675,000 in the U.S. alone.  There were four waves of the Spanish flu, the first beginning in the spring of 1918.  The War Department required that the baseball season end by September 1st and the World Series by September 15th.  See “Shortened Season”, 06/08/20.  The Red Sox defeated the Cubs 4 games to 2.  Over the next several weeks, a second wave of the Spanish flu hit the U.S. hard, especially in the metropolitan areas of Boston and Chicago.  A third wave of the Spanish flu set in the next year, 1919.  Attendance was down at ballparks across the country.  At the time, players coveted shares of postseason winnings to add to their mostly average salaries, but with diminishing attendance, those shares would be taking a hit.

Betting on baseball was rampant during this era.  Gamblers would gather just outside the outfield fence at ballparks, offering outfielders money for misplaying a fly ball.  As the White Sox headed toward clinching the AL pennant in September 1919, some of the players were concerned about not getting much of a payday in the World Series.  There were two factions in the Sox clubhouse, the “Clean Sox” players who didn’t want to participate in any side action, and a second faction that reached out to a gambling syndicate led by Arnold Rothstein.  A meeting with the syndicate was set up on September 21 in New York to discuss a fix of the upcoming Series.  Six players attended the meeting, each of whom were banned from baseball in the aftermath.  One player who attended, Buck Weaver, never received any money but still was banned for not reporting the fix, and another player, Fred McMullin, who wasn’t at the meeting but heard about it and threatened to squeal if he didn’t get a payoff, was banned as well.  The banned players also included Shoeless Joe Jackson, who didn’t attend the New York meeting and whose actual involvement is disputed.

The 1919 World Series, a 9-game format, featured the upstart NL Cincinnati Reds against the heavily favored White Sox.  Sox star pitcher, Red Faber, one of the Clean Sox, came down with the flu prior to the Series and never pitched.  Some of his starts went to pitchers Eddie Cicotte and Lefty Williams, who were on the take.  Cicotte, the Game 1 starter, hit the Reds leadoff batter, a signal to the gambling syndicate the fix was on.  With the Reds up 4 games to 1, there was concern among the White Sox players that the gamblers were reneging on payment.  The Sox won Games 6 and 7.  Prior to Game 8, there were mentions of threats of violence against White Sox players and family.  Lefty Williams lost Game 8, his third loss of the Series, and the Reds won the Series 5 games to 3.   In October 1920 eight Sox players and five gamblers were indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on nine counts of conspiracy to defraud.  The case went to trial in July 1921, and all eight players were acquitted.  Nevertheless, MLB’s first Commissioner, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who was hired by the owners to clean up the game, banned the eight players from baseball.

The 1982 novel captured a theme that I didn’t clearly remember in the movie.  Ray’s Dad, John, and as a result, the entire Kinsella family, despised the Yankees, a notion to which many baseball fans can relate.  The Yankees were the scheduled opponents of the White Sox in the “Field of Dreams” game prior to the 2020 season.  Now I see why!  We all have “that team” to root against (see “Dodgers Blues”, 04/29/19).  For many AL teams, the Red Sox, the Indians, and even comically, the Washington Senators in the Broadway musical, “Damn Yankees”, that means the Yankees.  The Pinstripes nowadays might have finally relinquished its American League hatred crown to the Houston Astros (see “Sign Stealing”, 06/01/20).  While the Des Moines Register reported that the MLB has not decided on an opponent for the White Sox in the 2021 “Field of Dreams” game, the Astros might be a good choice.

Disdain for the Astros has been in MLB news over the past week.  Houston’s series with the Dodgers marked the first time the teams had met since word broke this winter of the 2017 sign stealing shenanigans by the Astros en route to their World Series victory over LA.  In the sixth inning of a game the Dodgers led 5-2, LA’s Joe Kelly threw a 3 and 0 fastball behind Alex Bregman’s head and then a curveball over the head of the next hitter, Alex Correa. The dugouts emptied and words were exchanged.  Luckily for both teams, no punches were thrown, actions that would be severely punished during the pandemic.  Kelly received an eight-game suspension, the Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts got one game, and new Astros’ manager, Dusty Baker, was fined.  When I heard about this story, my baseball instincts were first to applaud Kelly, but then I saw the replay of the incident, and felt ashamed.  It was a reckless act by Kelly, and deserving of the 8-game suspension, which is the equivalent of 22 games in a regular 162-game season.

Perhaps reckless, maybe careless behavior, and certainly bad luck, were at the heart of positive tests of COVID-19 for two National League teams, the Marlins and the Cardinals, over the first two weeks of baseball.  Players and team personnel continue to struggle in this new world MLB has placed them in, full of seclusion at hotels and way too much travel.  Yes, I see every night violations by players of health protocols (spitting and high-fiving), but overall the players are doing what they can and certainly what we had hoped, giving us a little enjoyment of baseball during the pandemic.  The shutdowns of the Marlins and Cardinals have played havoc on MLB scheduling and caused uneven play.  At week’s end, five NL teams have numerous games to make up, mostly through MLB’s newest creation, the 7-inning doubleheaders.  I grimaced recently when I heard a remark that MLB’s season felt like a game of “Jenga”, ready to topple at any moment.

For me baseball has always been more like Lincoln logs, building memory after memory of life lessons.  My favorite scene in the “Field of Dreams” movie is at the end when Ray Kinsella got his wish, to play catch with the catcher, his Dad, who finally showed up to play at the Iowa ballpark.  When I was growing up I built my own little ballpark in our backyard where my Dad and I would play catch.  One night my pitch sunk and badly hurt his shin, an injury he didn’t tell me about until much later in life.  It was our last night of catch together. In my own idyllic “field of dreams”, I too wish for one last catch.  Somehow, filling my days with baseball history brings his memory to life.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

P.S.  It’s not possible to tell the full story of Shoeless Joe and the 1919 Black Sox Scandal in this space.  I highly recommend your exploring www.shoelessjoejackson.org or taking a visit to Shoeless Joe’s museum in Greenville, South Carolina, next year.

Shattering Records

Didn’t you despise the kid in elementary school who would win all of the Math flash card contests?  Yeah, you know the one banging his hand on the desk.  I thought so.  Well, sorry, I was that guy.  My excuse?  Maybe I knew then that success in mathematics would lead to a lifelong love of baseball.  Baseball is all about the numbers.  191 RBIs, 30 wins, and a .400 batting average; these are just some of the records we cherish but assume to be almost impossible to reach in today’s game. 

MLB’s 60-game schedule gives the numbers game new meaning.  After the Cubs Opening Night win, Marquee television announcer Len Kasper proclaimed: “Do the Math, the Cubbies are now 2.7 and 0!”  That’s indeed correct as we project the 60 games over the regular 162-game schedule.   In fact, as play closed on Sunday night, the Cubs lead the NL Central by 6.75 games, 24.3 games into the season!  So let’s have some more fun with the Math.  If you project the first 8 to 10 games of individual performances over an entire season, you will be surprised at the longstanding records that may be shattered.

A flag flies at the top of Wrigley Field with “191” on one side, honoring the amazing stat line of Cubs power hitter, Hack Wilson, 90 years ago.  Wilson led the National League in 1930 with 56 HRs, an NL record lasting 68 years, and 191 RBIs, a record that stands today.  See “Record Books”, 09/09/2019. To put it in perspective, Hector Rendon led MLB in 2019 with 126 RBIs in a 162-game season that featured explosive, offensive production, yet Hack completed his feat in a season with just 154 games. Nelson Cruz, Minnesota’s designated hitter in his 16th MLB season, is knocking in runs this year at a rate that would surpass Wilson, 12 RBIs in Cruz’s first 9 games.  Look out for that flag flying next year at Target Field with the number 216!

Denny McLain led the Detroit Tigers to the American League pennant in 1968 with a record of 31-6.  He is only one of 11 pitchers since 1900 to win 30 games during the season, and is the last one to do so.  McLain captured the AL MVP and Cy Young Awards for his efforts.  Interestingly, his teammate, lefty Mickey Lolich, got the call in the seventh game of the World Series and bested Cardinals’ ace Bob Gibson. A new lefthander on Chicago’s South Side is Dallas Keuchel, a four-time Gold Glover on the mound who captured the American League Cy Young award as a Houston Astro in 2015. With two W’s in two starts so far this season, Keuchel is on the mathematical track to become a 30-game winner!

Known by many as the greatest hitter the game has ever seen, Ted Williams manned left field at Fenway Park for 19 years.  He was a six-time batting champion, two-time AL MVP, and a two-time Triple Crown winner.  One of my favorite legends of the Splendid Splinter was his ability to see the seams of the baseball as it approached the plate.  His most notable accomplishment was in 1941 when he hit .406, the last batter to hit over .400 in a season.   This year’s first 10 games has seen a couple hitters batting at that clip, but none better than the Giants’ veteran, Donovan Solano. The San Franciso infielder’s .469 average at the end of Sunday’s play is certainly Teddy Ballgame-like.

The same season that McLain ran up victory after victory in the AL, Bob Gibson of the Cardinals overpowered NL batting lineups.  A winner of two Cy Youngs and the 1968 National League MVP award, Gibby amazed the baseball world with a 1.12 ERA for the ’68 regular season.  His and others’ pitching dominance caused MLB to lower the mound prior to the 1969 season.  MLB batters may be pushing for lowering the mound at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati when the Reds’ Sonny Gray is on the mound. Gray has gotten off to a great start with 2 W’s and 20 strikeouts.  And watch out Gibby, Gray’s ERA is 0.71, giving up only one earned run in 12 and 2/3 innings.

The season’s first week and a half has featured record strikeout performances but also continued fascination with the long ball.  Seems like the juiced ball is still in full use (see “108 Stitches”, 05/18/2020).  Barry Bonds, who played 22 seasons for the Pirates and the Giants, was a remarkable hitter, defensive outfielder, and base runner.  Of course, he might have been helped by a little juice of his own in establishing the all-time career home run mark of 762 and the single season record of 73 in 2001.  Less than 20 years later we might see that 73 shaking a little as the Yankees’ sensational right fielder, Aaron Judge, has blasted away at the fences in New York’s first eight games. Judge has hit at least one HR in five consecutive games, and six overall, projecting a record-breaking 122 for the year!

Superior pitching comes in many forms, wins and losses, low ERA, but how about a consecutive streak of scoreless innings?  Orel Hershiser of the Dodgers had a year to remember in 1988 – NL Cy Young award; Gold Glove; NLCS MVP; and World Series MVP; carrying Los Angeles on his back to its last world championship. Hershiser will be remembered especially for one personal accomplishment that season, a record 59 innings of scoreless baseball.  Should Hershiser be concerned this year?  Perhaps so.  No pitcher has dominated the baseball world more in his first two starts than new Cleveland ace, Shane Bieber (no relation to Justin). Bieber’s pitching line right now is 14 innings, 27 Ks, 1 walk, and most importantly, 0 runs.  If he continues that mastery over his next 10 starts of the 60-game season, 84 will be the new scoreless inning standard.

Speaking of streaks, there’s no more famous number in sports than 56!  Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper, graced MLB baseball diamonds for 13 years, an All-Star in each one of them.  He was the consummate player, gliding through the outfield making outstanding plays, ripping hit after hit at the plate, and leading the Yankees to ten AL pennants and 9 World Series championships in his career. Those achievements are outstanding, but what we remember most is his 56-game consecutive hitting streak in 1941.  As the first full week of play ended last night, is there a hitting streak alive that might challenge the record?  YES.  Braves’ shortstop, Dansby Swanson, is on a tear, batting .350 and recording a hit in all of Atlanta’s first ten games.  Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio, the new number will be 60 at season’s end!

A night that baseball would like to forget took place on July 12, 1979, at Chicago’s Comiskey Park.  Disco was blowing up the dance floor in the late 1970s, much to the dismay of the hard rockers.  The White Sox hosted the first and only “Disco Demolition Night” as part of a twi-night doubleheader with the Tigers.  A crowd of over 50,000 watched the promotion go up in flames as a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field between games.  Many fans rushed onto the field causing even more damage to the playing surface, and the White Sox were forced to forfeit the second game of the doubleheader.  While I’m not suggesting MLB is going to rock our world in this shortened season, it’s fun to think about some shattered records along the way.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Opening Night

Six years ago one of my daughters and I experienced the perfect “Opening Day”.  We were invited to Cincinnati to see the Reds open the season against the Cardinals.  I remember walking around downtown that morning with anticipation off the charts for the new season to begin.  We watched the now 100-year old Findlay Market parade from the Fountain Square platform, walked across the overpass to Great American Ballpark, and settled into seats along the third base side for a wonderful afternoon of pre-game festivities and baseball.   While it’s difficult to match that moment, I always get a feeling of rebirth each year on Opening Day.  As I begin this blog post, it is Thursday afternoon a couple hours before the 2020 MLB season is to begin with back to back night games featuring the Yankees vs. Nationals and Giants vs. Dodgers.  While I look forward to this 60-game season ahead of us, I must admit that I don’t have my usual enthusiasm.  It’s simply “Opening Night”.

Opening Day has always been a special holiday for me.  Because the Reds were the first official professional baseball team, MLB started every season with an afternoon game in Cincinnati for decades.  To this day the Reds remain the only MLB team to open every season with a scheduled, home game.  The Cubs have been the opponents in a record 36 of those games.  I’ve attended two other home openers in my lifetime, my first one in seventh grade when somehow many kids and I were struck suddenly with a mysterious illness and could not attend school.  The year before I was at home watching the game on my family’s first color television set (see “Opening Day”, 04/01/2019).   A special moment was in ninth grade when my class gathered around a television our teacher brought into the classroom so that we could all watch Henry Aaron hit his 714th career home run, tying Babe Ruth, as Hank’s Braves hammered the Reds.  The sanctity of the afternoon home openers began to dissipate in 1994, when ESPN started televising a regular season game the night before Opening Day.

This 2020 Opening Night provides us with some history-making teams.  Let’s start with the nightcap, another edition of the Giants vs. Dodgers longtime rivalry.  The match-up goes back to 1890 when the New York Giants faced off against the Brooklyn Dodgers.  Both teams moved west in the late 1950s and brought the conflict to San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Last year the teams played their 2,500th game with the Giants now leading the series 1,258 to 1,235 (updated through Sunday’s game).  There have been so many controversial games and pennant races along the way, and certainly the one that stands out is the battle for the 1951 NL flag.  The Dodgers held a 13 ½ game lead in August, but the Giants charged back behind their rookie centerfielder, Willie Mays.  The teams ended in a tie for first place and played a 3-game tiebreaker series.  The Giants won the deciding game behind Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard Around the World”.   It was one of 23 NL championships the Giants have won; the Dodgers are tied with them for the National League lead.

The Giants vs. Dodgers rivalry is one of great disdain between the organizations, the fans, and the players.  Two of the greatest players ever in an MLB uniform refused to switch to the other side.  After the 1956 season the Dodgers’ Jackie Robinson was traded to the Giants but retired instead.  In 1972, the Giants tried to trade Willie Mays to LA but Mays interceded and became a New York Met.  My early memory of the teams centered on their ace pitchers, righthander Juan Marichal, known for his high leg kick and intimidation, and lefty Sandy Koufax, whose dominance of baseball from 1961-1966 is unquestioned.  In an era where #1s commonly pitched against #1s, Marichal and Koufax never faced off on Opening Day, and actually only met head to head on five occasions.  They each won two of the encounters, while Koufax lost the fifth game and Marichal got a no-decision.  Koufax did pitch one of his four no-hitters against Marichal. 

On Opening Night 2020 I was looking forward to seeing Marichal-Koufax like images on the mound as Giants righty Johnny Cueto and his own unorthodox windup, was set to face Clayton Kershaw, the second greatest Dodger lefty of all time.  Unfortunately, in what might be a signal of things to come, Kershaw was scratched from the start due to injury. Cueto had a strong start, one run in four innings, but his abbreviated outing is also telling of what to expect this season. The Dodgers hit the Giants bullpen hard and posted an 8-1 victory.

Getting the nod to pitch your team’s opener is a huge honor. I love looking at the pitching matchups on Opening Day.  There was none better than in the first game of Opening Night, featuring the Yankees’ ace, Gerrit Cole, against the Nationals’ Max Scherzer, a 3-time Cy Young winner.  Bill James, noted baseball historian, ranks the top active MLB starters in this order:  Cole; Verlander; Scherzer; deGrom; and Strasburg.  The New York and Washington batting lineups knew that any scoring opportunity would be important to take advantage of on Opening Night.

The first MLB game of the season, won by the Yankees 4-1, in a rain-shortened affair, was indeed a pitching duel.  Cole threw a one-hitter, while Scherzer had 11 strikeouts in his 16 recorded outs. Giancarlo Stanton though got the best of Mad Max, a 3-RBI game complete with an HR estimated at 459 feet. The game matched two teams on distinct sides of the winning baseball spectrum.  The Yankees come into the season looking for their 28th World Series title, unmatched by any team in the game.  The Pinstripes’ last title though was in 2009, a drought by their standards, but certainly one that Red Sox and Cubs fans might chuckle about.

The Nationals of course are baseball’s defending champs.  It seems like a lot more than nine months ago when Washington defeated the Astros in the classic, 7-game Series last fall, capturing the franchise’s first World Series title.  The Nationals franchise was founded in 1969 as the Montreal Expos in an MLB expansion.  The current Nationals are actually the eighth MLB team in history to call Washington, D.C their home.  With D.C. as a home for MLB baseball, we have witnessed several American presidents throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the season.  Yet, the last U.S. president to deliver an Opening Day ceremonial throw was Bill Clinton.  I had to smile at the beginning of the Opening Night broadcast when Dr. Fauci, a former Yankee follower but now a Nats fan sporting a World Series Champions face mask, delivered the first pitch, a socially distanced ball away from the strike zone. 

One of the other interesting pieces of Nationals history is that their predecessor, the Montreal Expos, were principal factors in mini-seasons like this one.  The Expos won their only MLB division title in strike-shortened 1981, but lost the NLCS to the Dodgers. Then in 1994, the season we didn’t complete due to a player strike, the Expos had the best record in baseball before MLB shut it down.  (See “Shortened Season”, 06/08/2020.) And sadly in 2020, for the first time since the Expos took the field in their inaugural 1969 season, we won’t have MLB baseball in Canada.  Our northern neighbors have prohibited the Blue Jays from playing this year in Toronto.  After looking at other MLB ballparks for its 2020 home, including being turned down by the State of Pennsylvania to play at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, the Blue Jays have settled on their AAA-site, Buffalo, as home base this year.

As I sat on my comfy couch during Opening Night, I kept looking at all those empty seats at Nationals Park and Dodger Stadium.  Although I admit I did chuckle at the cardboard cutouts of fans in LA, the attempt to create a baseball atmosphere with no fans is quite sad to me.  I used to love going to ballparks years ago and hearing the scalpers tout that they have the “best seats in the house”.  That practice has been replaced for the most part by those apps we now love on our iPhones, StubHub and SeatGeek, and their preference drop down, “best available”.  For now, on this empty Opening Night, best available means my couch.  Okay, grudgingly, let the games begin!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Full Gallop

Illinois and other states now have legal sports betting. With MLB play opening this coming weekend, here’s a public service announcement:  don’t even think about it!  This 60-game season will be far too unpredictable, much like a crazy horse race.  Years ago, I was watching harness racing with friends.  The only race that caught my attention featured six horses, one of which was the prohibitive favorite and another, a horse who had never won before going out at 40 to 1 odds, yet happened to have my wife’s name.  So why not place a small wager on the long shot to win, place and show?  My horse trailed the field the entire race, but at the final turn the favorite’s cart bumped into another horse, causing a wild scramble.  The confusion caused some of the horses to break out of their trot and into a gallop, something prohibited in harness racing.  After an inquiry and much delay, my long shot was declared the winner!  You’re going to need that kind of luck to predict the 2020 World Series champion. 

This season every team needs to follow the rules but be in full gallop from start to finish.  You can throw many baseball adages out the door, like the one you often hear after two months of MLB games, that pennant races don’t begin until after Memorial Day (of course, that is technically true this season).  See “Pennant Races”, 05/27/2019.  One sight I love at this time of year is the standings of the division races captured in flags flying on outfield flagpoles at a ballpark.  Even though it’s mid-July, those team pennants will need to be kept in storage for just a little while longer. White Sox manager Rick Renteria was recently asked about his team’s approach to the short season.  His mindset is that beginning opening night this week, the South Siders will have already played 102 games, and are in first place with 60 games left.  Yes, I like the message, similar to an adage we often hear on opening day, that every team starts with the same record and same opportunity.   But is that really true this year?

By sticking to playoff teams comprised of 3 division winners and 2 wild cards in each league decided by regional play within the East, Central, and West divisions, MLB may have set up championship play to be among teams that aren’t the best in baseball.  Forty of every team’s 60 games this year will come in division play (67%), and normally it’s only 76 of 162 (47%).  Think about a team from the AL East in a 4-team wild card race the last week of the season, yet they may have never played one game against any of the other three AL wild card contenders.  With last year’s results and this year’s team projections in mind, any AL East or NL East team that does not win the division outright has its playoff chances diminished.  Seven of the top teams in baseball play in the East.  The AL West teams are sitting in an envious wild card position, since they will be facing NL West teams with only the Dodgers thought of as an elite club (winners of the last 7 division titles).  And I’m liking the chances of AL and NL Central teams facing the Tigers, Royals, and Pirates (all with dismal 2019 records).

There may be some teams who have an advantage because they are fast starters.  Last year we looked at the Mariners amazing first two weeks (see “Strong Start”, 04/08/2019), that in 2020 would comprise 25% of the season.  And how about Bryce Harper’s always hot April/May starts propelling Philadelphia to first place after 65 games in 2019!  Both the Mariners and Phillies languished over the second half of the season, and certainly weren’t deserving of a playoff slot.  Conversely, slow starting teams may not have an opportunity to recover.  We’ve heard so many times about the defending champ Nationals’ poor 19-31 record to begin 2019.  An even better example might be in the American League.  During Terry Francona’s tenure with the Indians, Cleveland has posted a below .500 mark over the first five weeks of the season in 2013-2019, but has the second best overall winning percentage during those seven seasons at .562.  Neither team can afford to fall behind the field early this year.  

So which teams might you make a gentleman’s (no money) bet on?  The predictions of the analysts are all over the place.   One theory on Chicago’s north side is that a close-knit team with veteran players who are likely to follow all of the medical protocols deserves a nod.  As I write this, the Cubs are the only team in MLB that has not had a player test positive since intake testing began a few weeks ago.  That will be important, but so will be the injury status of key players, like first baseman Anthony Rizzo and starting pitcher Jose Quintana.  In the AL, the veteran team that stands out is certainly Houston, but of course we know now that team plays fast and loose with some other rules.  The worst thing about no fans in the stands this year is that we won’t get to witness the taunting of the Astros while they play on the road. 

Team leadership, whether it’s from the manager or a key off-season acquisition, will play a role.  MLB added several new managers, and certainly each one of them has to learn quickly how to make adjustments with their new rosters.  It may be especially difficult for first-time managers with younger teams, such as the Pirates’ Derek Shelton, Luis Rojas of the Mets, and San Diego’s Jayce Tingler.  While both Joe Maddon and Joe Girardi are in their first years at the helm of the Angels and Phillies, I like the championship mentality both of them bring to teams with a mix of veterans and young talent.  Also keep an eye on some teams that added a player with championship experience who might be the perfect push over the top – Gerrit Cole (Yankees); Edwin Encarnacion (White Sox); and Mike Moustakas (Reds).

What will be some of the keys on the field?  Baseball is always about PITCHING, and this year with the every game counts mentality there will be an even greater emphasis on it.  The impressive front of the staff pitching of the Yankees, Astros, Dodgers, and Nationals seems to dominate the headlines.  Yet, the overall quality of the starting staff will be as important.  Take the NL Central with top contenders throwing these threesomes in a series – Reds (Gray, Castillo, and Bauer); Cardinals (Flaherty, Hudson, and Wainwright); and Cubs (Hendricks, Darvish, and Lester).  Staying in the division, bullpens might be the deciding factor with the Brewers’ Josh Hader leading one of the best pens in the game.  Another NL team with a top bullpen is San Diego and ace closer, Kirby Yates.  Moving into the junior circuit, both Tampa and Oakland are looking for repeat playoff appearances behind their bullpen staffs, Nick Anderson and Emilio Pagan of the Rays and Liam Kendricks of the A’s.  The AL Central may see 10 tight games between the Twins and the White Sox with the final three outs each game in the capable hands of Taylor Rogers (Minnesota) and Alex Colome (Chicago).

Health, injuries, and luck will be the final factors.  Some key NL players who have opted out due to COVID-19 include David Price (Dodgers), Buster Posey (Giants), and Nick Markakis (Braves).  Each would have played a central role in their team’s success, but certainly did the absolute, right thing for themselves and their families.  In the American League, White Sox fans will need to wait another year to see future ace pitcher, Michael Kopech, as he too has opted out of the 2020 season.  Some key players returning to action from injuries include the Giants’ Johnny Cueto who has recovered from Tommy John surgery.  Texas is excited to christen Globe Life Field behind what they hope to be the comeback pitcher of the year, Cory Kluber.  You can never count out the Yankees, a roster deep in talent, but now bolstered with the return of third baseman Miguel Andujar.  

Phew!  Do I have you totally confused?  Thought so.  That’s what kind of season we are going to have.  I keep hearing the naysayers question whether the results this year should even matter in baseball history.  The Cubs new manager, David Ross, said it best a few weeks ago:  “If they’re passing out a trophy, I want it.”  Count me in too skipper!  I’ll be in the family room enjoying the games.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Team Names

This past week I proudly watched my grandson and his t-ball team play their first game.  He loved wearing his newly issued uniform, baseball cap, shirt with sponsored name on front and number on back, long socks, and the “funny pants”.  I reminisced about my early days of playing baseball and those of my daughters playing softball.  After the game, I found a photo of me in an old album wearing a “V.F.W. Post 9248” jersey, my first uniform.  I found other fun baseball photos of me in uniform with my favorite team script “Haubner Builders” across the front.  I also came upon pictures of my daughters’ teams, the Grand Slammers (I let the girls vote on their team name), the Reds (seems like the coaches selected that one), and the Diamond Cats (perfect for softball and animal lovers).  There’s a lot of history and great memories in team names.

The National League was founded in 1876 and had eight charter members:  Chicago White Stockings; Philadelphia Athletics; Boston Red Stockings; Hartford Dark Blues; New York Mutuals; St. Louis Brown Stockings; Cincinnati Red Stockings; and Louisville Grays.  The only team name that completely survived the last 145 years was the Athletics, our current day American League team in Oakland.  The names, mostly about the color of the teams’ baseball socks, were not the most creative ones.  Interestingly, the Boston Red Stockings are not the ancestors of today’s Boston Red Sox, but rather the Boston Braves.  And the Red Sox fans have had to be a little color blind because some of the team’s road uniforms have featured navy socks. The color theme is sometimes a subtle one for MLB teams – Baltimore Orioles (orange and black of the Oriole bird); St. Louis Cardinals (named that because their uniforms were a “lovely shade of red”, or cardinal); and Detroit Tigers (since there were black stripes on their uniforms, they looked like tigers).

Oddly enough, the “White Stockings” name in Chicago was the original name of today’s Cubs.  Chicago’s National League team in the late 1800s were also known for a while as the Orphans, and then the Colts.  Not until 1902, when the team’s players were so young and scruffy looking, resembling young bears, or Cubs, did a team name stick. About the same time, Charles Comiskey was awarded an American League team that he located on the south side of Chicago.  Comiskey promptly stole his rival team’s original name, the White Stockings, and later shortened the name to White Sox.  Another of the charter members, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, have also seen their team name shortened through the years, first the Redlegs (my Dad always called them that) and now today’s Reds.   There is one little blip in the Reds team name history that deserves mention. For part of the 1953 season the team played without “Reds” on the uniform.  An Associated Press report at the time noted:  “The political significance of the word Reds these days and its effect on the change was not discussed by management.”  Ahem, no other explanation was given.

Teams in sports today are taking another look at names deemed offensive to Native Americans.  The Atlanta Braves have struggled with the issue in recent years.  The nickname Braves originated in Boston in 1912.  The Braves first team president was actually a New Yorker, James Gaffney, who was a member of Tammany Hall, the Democratic party machine that controlled New York politics.  Tammany Hall, named after the Delaware Valley Indian Chief Tammarend, adopted a headdress as its emblem.  Its members were called braves.  The NL Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, and then to Atlanta in 1966.  The long time rallying cry for Braves fans has been to chant while motioning a tomahawk chop.  In the NL playoff series last year between Atlanta and St. Louis, Cardinals pitcher Ryan Helsley, a member of the Cherokee Nation, indicated that he found the chant to be offensive.   For the next game Atlanta did not distribute the trademark foam tomahawks to its fans.  Yet, when addressing recently whether the team plans to change its name, the Braves seemed to steer clear of the issue, releasing a statement that read in part they “have much work to do on and off the field.”

There do appear to be plans afoot in Cleveland to change its team name, the Indians.  The AL team was originally named the “Blues” upon its founding in 1901 as a league charter member.  Cleveland then became the “Naps” after their star player-manager, Napoleon Laoie.  When Laoie left the team after the 1914 season, Cleveland adopted the Indians as its new team name.  Last season, the Indians removed the Chief Wahoo logo from its uniforms in response to mounting pressure.  This past week, Cleveland manager Terry Francona addressed the team name head on:  “I know in the past, when I’ve been asked about our name or Chief Wahoo, I would usually answer that I know we’re never trying to be disrespectful.  I still feel that way, but I don’t think that’s a good enough answer today.”  Francona acknowledged that team management is openly discussing and promoting the idea to change the name of the team.

How should Cleveland proceed? Many MLB teams, especially when newly formed, have surveyed the hometown fans in the team name selection process.  Arizona asked its fans to vote in 1995, and luckily the fans selected Diamondbacks, a type of snake.  One name on the ballot that received great support but lost was the Phoenix; that Arizona Phoenix team would have led to a little confusion!  When New York was awarded an NL team in 1962, the team conducted the first fan survey and settled on the Mets (based on Metropolitans), simply because it was an easy name for newspaper headlines. In 1969 Kansas City received 17,000 entries in its contest, and landed on the Royals, not for nobility but the American Royal Livestock Show, a city treasure since 1899.  Other teams fairly new to the MLB that conducted write-in contests include:  Seattle Mariners (1976): Toronto Blue Jays (1976); and Tampa Bay Rays (1998; the name first used was the Devil Rays).  In Denver, the newly awarded NL franchise in 1993 ignored the fans’ push for the name Bears, the city’s longtime successful minor league team, but chose instead the name Rockies, to highlight the Rocky Mountains in the surrounding area.

One avenue for Cleveland to explore is a new team name that reflects the city’s history.  We see a lot of history embedded in some current MLB team names, although sometimes the historical background stems from the original location of the team.  LA’s National League team is an example.  Founded in Brooklyn, the Dodgers were named for the Brooklyn residents so adept at dodging trolley cars in the burrough.  Los Angeles’ AL counterpart, the Angels, of course, reflects its own “City of Angels”.  There are some obvious feel good, historical names, including the:  Milwaukee Brewers (the city’s tradition of beer brewing); Houston Astros (home of NASA’s astronauts); Minnesota Twins (the pride of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the twin cities); and Philadelphia Phillies (short for “Philadelphians”).   A couple Cleveland historical names I’ve heard mentioned include the “Rocks” or “Rockers”, based on the city’s famous landmark Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  That would lead to an interesting World Series matchup someday between the Rockers and the Rockies.

There are some less obvious MLB team names that are tied to events in team history.  The Pirates got their name in the late 1890s when the “Pittsburgh Club of the National League” signed a star Philadelphia Athletics player, Lou Bierbauer, off their reserve list, a transaction described as “pirating away” another team’s player.  Today’s San Francisco Giants retained the New York Giants name when the team moved west in 1957, a name derived from its former manager, Jim Mutrie, who described his team’s play in a big win as “playing like Giants”.  Cleveland is apparently considering a return to the name “Naps”, the team name over a hundred years ago based on its player-manager.  I get the sentiment, but that seems like a sleepy landing spot.

While I always advocate history’s importance to baseball, it seems like using a fun, animal-like name is the safest bet.  Recently, Florida certainly found a popular name branding its fishing industry in the Marlins, but of course it switched its first name identity to Miami in 2012 and continues to struggle catching the interest of its home base.  My favorite Cleveland team name would be the SPIDERS!  It combines history (the Spiders were the name of Cleveland’s National League team in the late 1800s), a scary creature (would be the first MLB team ever named after an arachnid), and some intriguing marketing opportunities to increase its fan base.  I’m not sure many MLB teams would like venturing into Cleveland’s “Web” in the future. And how about a World Series someday featuring the Spiders vs. the Snakes; that’d be a frightening matchup!

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Something New

When I was a little boy I spent hours on our driveway throwing a rubber ball against the garage door framing.  Luckily, we had a two-car garage separated by a two feet wide concrete divider to provide a strike zone.  I played and yes, announced while playing, every Reds game season after season.  I had my own rules, such as if the ball eluded me and went to the sidewalk, it was a double, and if it reached the street, a home run!  My rules were somewhat different, but I loved every minute of my version of baseball.  The MLB has announced some new rules for the upcoming 60-game season, a version of baseball that is also somewhat different.  I say let’s embrace them; they are simply “something new”.

We can all agree on the necessity of the health precautions being taken in view of COVID-19.   Players and coaches will be tested every other day.  In addition, team personnel and players not likely to participate in the game (e.g., the starting pitcher for the next game) will be seated at least six feet apart in the stands or another designated area away from the dugout.   Non-playing personnel are to wear masks in the dugout and bullpen at all times.  Players can no longer spit or chew tobacco, but chewing gum is permitted.  There can be no celebratory contact, such as high-fives, fist bumps, or hugs.  Pitchers won’t be able to step off the mound and go to their mouth, but they will be able to use their own small, wet rag and resin bag.  And finally, the 60-game schedule will be designed to reduce travel during the season. Bottom line, there will be proper protocols in place on and off the field.

Some of the new rules though push the conflict between the traditionalist’s view of the game and a new way of thinking.  Here’s a news flash, the 47-year battle between National League and American League followers is officially over.  MLB is adopting the Universal DH for the 2020 season.   In announcing the Universal DH, MLB stressed the change is for the health and safety of the players, in particular pitchers who might risk injury or exhaustion while batting and running the bases.  While that is a concern, the heart of the issue is the creation of more jobs for MLB players.  Adopting the Universal DH for this season may turn out to be a major concession as the end of the collective bargaining agreement looms in 2021.  MLB has essentially let the genie out of the bottle.

How does this play out on the field?  American League fans have long argued that the DH rule allows for more offense and a more exciting game for fans.  In 2018, pitchers batted just .115 and admittedly, there are only a few, select pitchers on each team who can effectively handle the bat.  With a game that continues to get longer (the average time of a 9-inning MLB game in 2019 reached an all-time high of 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 35 seconds), baseball has been searching for ways to be more appealing to fans.  Indeed, a rule already in place for 2020 addresses speed of play concerns by requiring a new pitcher to face 3 batters in an inning, unless the inning is completed.  Changing the game to make it more exciting is at the core of the traditional vs. new approach conflict.  The traditionalist has long opposed the DH rule by stressing the intricacies of in-game strategies, such as bunting and the double switch.  Although I’m a National League fan and perhaps a little “old timey”, I must admit I’m on the fence about the Universal DH change, a good six feet away from either side.  For more background, see “Universal DH” (May 25, 2020).

One new rule that does seem to cross the line of messing with tradition is beginning each half-inning of an extra inning game with a runner on second base.   MLB has supported the change by pointing to player stamina concerns in longer outings.  Is it truly a problem?  In any given season, only 7 to 8% of games go to extra innings, and in 40% of those, the game lasts just 10 innings.  In 2019, only 74 games, or 1.5 % of total games played, went more than 12 innings.  To put it in terms of this season’s 60-game schedule, we are only talking about 27 games (less than 2 per team).  When I first heard about the new rule, my thoughts turned to hockey, a sport that by its nature struggles with games ending in a tie after regulation.  In order to address the notion that fans don’t like coming home from a tie game, the NHL overtime rules have evolved, first with a simple 5-minute overtime, and now with lesser players on the ice in overtime and an added shoot-out period.  Yikes, let’s not head down the road of gimmickry deciding game results.

With the extra innings rule in place for 2020, how are managers going to deal with it?   The batter who made the final out in the previous inning will be the runner placed on second base, unless the manager opts for a pinch runner.  That might create a roster spot for a specialty pinch runner on each team, such as the Dodgers’ Terrence Gore.  And you never know, we might find ourselves seeing a little old school play with the first hitter laying down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner to third, especially if the visiting team does not score in the first half of the inning.  While I’m troubled about messing with the game to create a quick resolution, I must admit I’m intrigued by what managerial strategy we might see.  At least it’s going to be something new.  For more background, see “Extra Innings” (May 6, 2019).

How general managers handle the new rules for team rosters in the shortened season will also be critical.    All teams will open the season with a 30-man roster that will be reduced to 28 players after two weeks of play, and 26 players after four weeks.  The 26-player roster was previously adopted for this year, up from 25.   Teams are permitted to have three taxi squad players on the road, one of which must be a catcher.   This past week teams were required to submit to MLB their 60 player pools from which the rosters can be drawn.   The purpose of the player pools is to have players available, working out at off-site locations, and baseball ready.  Some interesting trends came out of the player pool announcements.  Most teams opted to name only 50 or so players, allowing some flexibility as we move forward into the season.  And a majority of the player pool names were pitchers.  Pitching depth, and in particular bullpen depth, may be the key to team success this season.

There are a few off the field impacts the roster changes might trigger.  First, with a limit of 60 players in each team pool and the announcement this week that the minor league seasons have been cancelled, player development will suffer a severe blow.  While some teams might have recently drafted early round pitchers primed for spot relieving in their player pools, it’s hard to imagine young position players getting the same opportunities.  Second, as the season hopefully moves forward with playoffs beginning in October, two deadlines have been moved.  The new trading deadline will be August 31, and to be eligible for a postseason roster, a player has to be on the MLB team as of September 15.   There might be a wild, late scramble by teams wanting to make the playoffs offering prospects for top players who are free agent eligible after this year or next. 

With COVID-19 always lurking, it’s so difficult to predict what’s going to transpire over the coming months.  Which teams are best suited for the new rules, which general managers will make the most of their rosters, and which managers will employ the right strategy.  Rick Hahn, White Sox general manager, said it best this week about the new rules:  “In a year where we’re playing 60 games, why not try something a little different?  Why not experiment a little bit?  This is the time to try this stuff.”  Yes, it will be so good to have our game of baseball back in a few weeks.  And I’ll take what I can get, even something new.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Player Images

The good news is that the 2020 MLB 60-game schedule begins on July 23!  The bad news is everything else that happened in baseball over the past several weeks.  I feel like I need a break from thinking about how teams might be impacted in a shortened season and reviewing new rules to be put in place.  It’s time to take a deep breath and just reflect on why baseball is so important.  My focus this week returns to the memories I cherish about the game.  I thought it would be fun to rank my top ten position players (no pitchers!) I’ve seen play at an MLB ballpark with an emphasis on special moments in my life.  I’ll sprinkle in a little history as well.  Here’s my Top Ten:

Willie Mays.  In third grade I read a series of baseball stories.  My favorite one was about Willie Mays.  That summer I asked my Dad to take me to see the Giants play at Crosley Field in Cincinnati.  My wish came true on a weekend afternoon in 1968.  Mays batted third and played centerfield for San Francisco that day. During one of his at-bats, he fouled off ten straight pitches so I asked my Dad what was going on.  Dad’s simple response was “he’s waiting for his pitch”.  A couple pitches later Willie drove the ball into an outfield gap and glided into second base with a double.  It’s like it was yesterday! Mays was the ultimate five-tool player – speed; power; batting average; fielding; and arm strength.  Many will remember his 24 All-Star games, 12 Gold Gloves, 660 HRs, or certainly the amazing over the head catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.  For me though, it will be the image of that patient, 1968 double, forever etched in my mind.  His incredible career is detailed in a recently released book by John Shea, “24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid”.

Pete Rose.  Growing up in Cincinnati with the Big Red Machine, every kid could pick his baseball idol from the Reds All-Stars.  Mine was Pete; and any visitor to my home now will see his shrine and agree.  I saw Rose play many times in Cincinnati, but my favorite image was actually in May 1978 at Wrigley Field.  Pete always played the villain as a visiting player.  No one outside of Cincinnati liked his brashness, his sprinting to first base after a walk, and his running over catcher Ray Fosse in the 1970 All-Star Game.  In 1978, he was leading off and playing third base for the Reds.  I remember his reaching base in his first at-bat, and then sliding headfirst into third base after a single to the outfield.  The crowd booed; I smiled. Later in the game with bases loaded and two outs, a Cubs hitter lined a ball headed down the left field line but Rose leaped and snagged it.  He then spiked the ball onto the infield turf emphasizing the third out.   In the restroom between innings, I never remember hearing so many interesting adjectives about my favorite player.  Unfortunately, Pete will go down in history for his gambling in baseball.  I like to think about his being the all-time MLB leader in hits (4,256) and games played (3,562).  Rose played the game with enthusiasm and grit, especially that May 1978 game in Chicago.

Roberto Clemente. In seventh grade I hit the jackpot, 3 Reds games that summer courtesy of “Straight A” tickets.  One of my games was against the Pirates.  Our seats were pretty good, in the green, second level down the right field line.  The Pirates star player, Roberto Clemente, was in the lineup, batting third and playing right field.  Sometime in the game Bobby Tolan, the Reds fastest player, hit a ball toward the right field corner.  Clemente cut the ball off and threw out Tolan sliding into second.  That’s my image of the great Clemente, similar to the one many have of him from the 1971 World Series when he pirouetted and threw a cannon shot to nail the Orioles’ Merv Rettenmund sliding into third base.  Clemente was magnificent at the plate (3,000 career hits and a .317 batting average) and as a fielder (12 consecutive seasons as a Gold Glover).  His contribution to the game though extended beyond the field, as we honor #21 each year by awarding an MLB player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and individual contributions to his team” with the Roberto Clemente Award.  Sadly, he left us much too early.

Ken Griffey, Jr.  For a Baseball Dad there is no better Father’s Day than spending it at an MLB ballpark with your kids.  That was the setting on Sunday, June 20, 2004, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, as two of my daughters and I watched the Reds’ Ken Griffey, Jr. step to the plate in the sixth inning against Cardinals’ pitcher Matt Morris.  Junior hit a home run over the right field wall for his 500th career HR.  After he toured the bases, he found someone special to hug in the first row outside the Cincinnati dugout, his dad, Ken Griffey, Sr. I remember hugging my girls as well. Griffey’s career was outstanding, his early and best days with the Mariners, his time with the Reds, and then his return to Seattle to celebrate his historic numbers – 630 HRs, 10 Gold Gloves, and playing in four different decades.  But the baseball image many of us will always have of Junior was his sweet swing, reminiscent of the Cubs’ Billy Williams, and of course the Kid’s big smile, especially the one on Father’s Day in 2004.

Johnny Bench.  Wearing number 5, and most often batting 5th in the Reds lineup, is the greatest catcher ever, Johnny Bench.  I started the blog this spring with my favorite moment in baseball, Bench’s ninth-inning home run in the 5th game of the 1972 NLCS.  My image of Bench during the Big Red Machine years is more about his defense.  I used to love going to Reds games early to take in fielding practice.  It was downright crazy to see him throw to the bases in the warm-ups.  I recall being at my family’s dinner table when we talked about Bench – my Mom called him “JB” and reported on his bachelor status; my Dad marveled at how Bench excelled whenever the camera was on, even in celebrity golf tournaments; and I would update everyone on his stats.  No stats to offer now; just simply, best catcher ever!

Ozzie Smith.  A dream summer night in St. Louis is a Cardinals’ baseball game and a frozen ice cream concrete at Ted Drewes afterwards.  That was life for me in the 1980s.  It also meant seeing the most acrobatic shortstop ever to play the game, the “Wizard of Oz”.  Ozzie would turn your head every game with a backhand stop in the hole, an Astroturf skip throw, a behind the shoulder catch, or if you were really lucky, a backflip as he took the field.  He won 13 consecutive Gold Gloves for his defensive mastery, and was clearly the leader of the Cardinal teams who won three NL pennants in the 1980s.  My favorite image of Ozzie though was Game 5 of the 1985 NLCS when he hit a walk-off home run against the Dodgers.  Little did I know then that the late Jack Buck’s call of the HR, “Go crazy, folks! Go crazy!” would become one of the legendary broadcasting moments of our time.  I didn’t hear it; I was at the game going crazy!

Joe Morgan.  What, my third member of the Big Red Machine in the Top Ten!  I can’t help it.   I just loved watching Little Joe!  With the “chicken flap” of his left elbow while taking his batting stance, he did it offensively for power and average.  Morgan was not blessed with a strong arm, but he more than made up for it as a second baseman with incredible range, a quick release, and flat out baseball smarts.  I used to enjoy watching him sitting in the dugout next to manager Sparky Anderson and providing Sparky with a player’s insight.  Morgan was also known for his base stealing, and that’s the strongest image I have of his playing days.  Many infields during that time had all Astroturf with dirt cutouts around the bases.  Riverfront Stadium was no exception.  When Morgan would take a lead off first, you would always check to see if he had both feet on the Astroturf.   And if so, he was likely to go!  He made the Big Red Machine go!

Albert Pujols.  There have been only a handful of MLB players who are pure hitters with flawless mechanics. Ted Williams, Tony Gwinn, and Kirby Puckett certainly come to mind. Add Pujols to that list! Early in his career with the Cardinals, he was the kind of hitter that you made sure you were in your seat for every at-bat.  I attended games just to see Pujols hit. During Albert’s eleven years in St. Louis, he won three NL MVP awards.  Since his trade to the Angels after the 2011 season, Pujols has had productive years but has been somewhat out of the limelight.  Baseball’s 60-game season this year probably hurts him the most.  With 656 career home runs going into this season, he had an outside chance at some point of reaching Bonds’ record of 762 (Aaron had 755) or, more probable, sneaking into third past Babe Ruth (714).   Pujols might not have that opportunity anymore.

Javier Baez.  Just when you think I’m living too much in past memories, here comes Javi, my favorite, current player, in the Top Ten.  Baez does it all on an everyday basis.  In his first six seasons in MLB, he has demonstrated power at the plate (2018 Silver Slugger Award and NL RBI champ) and exceptional defense as an infielder – range; arm strength; and game awareness.  But what makes Baez an even more complete player is his base running.  Baez puts pressure on the opposing team like no other. Last June the Braves were in Chicago for an afternoon game against the Cubs.  Baez was clearly beaten by a throw to second base but Javi not once, but twice, eluded the tag of the Atlanta infielder.  As Javi continues to rack up numbers and receive awards, he will move up this list for sure.  Right now, I’ll proudly wear his jersey #9 and watch him play.

Nolan Arenado. Rounding out the Top Ten is the only infielder to win the Gold Glove in each of his first seven MLB seasons, another current star, third baseman Nolan Arenado.  I’ve made a couple trips to Coors Field in Denver the last few years to see him play, and have been in attendance when the Rockies visited St. Louis and Chicago. On each occasion, I kept thinking that he is baseball’s hidden treasure.  Since his rookie season in 2013, Arenado has the won the Silver Slugger Award four times and twice led the NL in both HRs and RBIs.  Defensively, I haven’t seen anyone play the 3rd base position like him – range; arm strength; and quickness.  During this long offseason, there have been rumors of Colorado trading Arenado.  The other 29 MLB teams should be knocking down the Rockies’ door with offers.  He’s that good; his rise in my rankings is imminent.

This has been a welcomed respite before the 2020 season finally begins.  I know I’ve left off some great players during the past 50 years – Hank Aaron; Mike Schmidt; Frank Thomas; and today, Mike Trout.  They weren’t included in my list because I couldn’t recall a special moment when I saw them play.  I know you might have that image, and I look forward to reading your comments.  Who is on your list?

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Sound of Silence

Baseball is such a great way to reconnect with friends.  I recently caught up with a teammate I met at a baseball camp over twenty years ago.  It felt good to talk about the former MLB players we met at camp, the games we played, and the laughs we shared.  For thirty minutes or so we were both kids again.  My friend mentioned that his attending a baseball game, unlike other sporting events, allows him to relax and take in the quietness of the game.  I couldn’t agree more.  Yes, the experience at a ballpark today is somewhat different than in the past, but there still can be a certain calmness about it that makes me happy.  I love hearing the crack of the bat, the calls of the vendors, and all the wonderful sounds of the game.  

As we remain hopeful of a shortened season either through an agreement by MLB and the Players Association or Commissioner Manfred’s mandate, it’s clear that any MLB games played in 2020 will be without fans in attendance.   For a baseball player, appearing before a large crowd is not all that common. High school players typically see only parents and perhaps a girlfriend in the stands, and some college experiences are the same.  While minor league baseball has seen an uptick in attendance and fan excitement, it’s not until you reach the MLB, or “the Show”, when you play before large crowds.  One of my favorite scenes from the 2002 movie “The Rookie” is when 37-year old Tampa Bay Devil Rays rookie pitcher Jim Morris, played by Dennis Quaid, looks up in amazement at the upper level of the grandstands in his first MLB game at the Ballpark in Arlington (home of the Texas Rangers).  He finally made it; there is a second level of seating!

What sounds at the ballpark am I going to miss?  Certainly organ music comes to mind.   The first time an organ was played at an MLB game was on April 26, 1941, at Wrigley Field.  Chicago organist Ray Nelson started a long line of legendary organists in ballparks, including the Yankees’ Eddie Layton and Nancy Faust of the White Sox.  Faust was particularly cutting edge, famous for playing “Na, Na, hey hey, goodbye” to arouse the home crowd.  As baseball moved into the 1970s, many teams played in the cookie-cutter, multi-purpose stadiums and abandoned the organ music.  Old-time ballparks though, like Wrigley, have kept the tradition alive.  Beginning with the end of the 1986 season through his retirement this past year, Gary Pressy delighted Cubs fans with daily renditions of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, “Go Cubs Go” after a win, and numerous in-game ditties reflecting what just happened on the field.  And while we’re talking about music at the ballpark, this baseball purist can do without the loud, piped in music, including the batter “walk up” themes that are so popular now.

I’m also going to miss the vendors in the stands with their pleas of “Get your hot dogs here”.  Exploring food options at a ballpark nowadays is like paging through the menu of the “Cheesecake Factory”; there is so much to offer!  But I’ll take my simple dog, with mustard, the best food attraction for most baseball fans with over 26 million sold annually at MLB ballparks.  Or perhaps I’ll take one next year. And of course there are the calls of the beer vendors. Sometimes it’s a simple “Beer Man” that catches your attention, but more often you are drawn to a brand, “Cold Budweiser”.  Along the third base side at Wrigley you are even treated to the sweet tunes of the singing beer vendor.  I’ll miss that in 2020.  But what I won’t miss, the constant handing of money to the guy in the middle of the row.  It’ll be interesting to see if that practice continues going forward.

I’ll miss viewing the scoreboard at the game.  For me, that means studying the information one can find there – the score and inning; the statistics of the pitcher and the hitter; and my personal favorite, the scores of other games being played in MLB during a pennant race.  At Wrigley, the bleacher bums will miss the pitter-patter of the Balls and Strikes being transmitted to the manual scoreboard from the press box by “Quick Rick” Fuhs, the fastest in the game.  I won’t miss the advertisements or promotions blasting on the scoreboard; not at all. While I enjoy watching a replay or two on the electronic scoreboard, I can also get that at home.  And what I certainly won’t miss is any prompting by the scoreboard operators of fan noise.  I’ve always wanted to replace “Let’s Make Some Noise” with “Let’s Watch the Game”.   I remember in the 1970s observing with great disdain these giant hands clap on the scoreboard at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.  Please, no.

How about the sound of booing at the ballpark?  I don’t mind it all.  In fact, I think I’ll miss that part of the fan experience.  Sometimes, booing a visiting player is a compliment, demonstrating fan knowledge of a star player.  I’m that guy who loves to clap for the opposing player when he makes an outstanding play, a show of respect.  Unfortunately, home team players often are recipients of booing, due to a slump at the plate, making a critical error, or a poor pitching performance.  And of course most of the booing is directed at the umpires, especially by the fan in the left field pavilion screaming about the strike zone!  Yeah, I’ll admit it, that used to be me, but age has helped this crazy behavior.  Hopefully this season, I’ll get the chance to watch MLB games at home and complain that the strike-zone technology demonstrated that the home plate umpire is missing pitches.  Of course I’d much rather hear booing while I’m at the ballpark, than my own “Aw, come on!” at the television screen.

There is so much offered at the ballpark today to interest the younger fans and attract new fans.   Where do we cross the line between good, plain fun and gimmickry?  In 1981 at a game in Oakland, the A’s fans started the first known “wave” in MLB history.  A wave really needs a full ballpark; that’s not happening. For me, I’m glad we seem to be out of that phase at ballparks.  I do though like mascots at MLB games.  The first known mascot was Mr. Met in 1964 at Shea Stadium.  There have been some legendary ones, such as the San Diego Chicken introduced in 1977 and my personal favorite, the Phillie Phanatic.  These three mascots are all in the Mascot Hall of Fame (yes, there is one).  I remember my grandson’s smile last year when he met Clark the Cub at Wrigley.  It was in stark contrast to his mother’s reaction to St. Louis’ Fredbird 30 years ago.  The fun with the mascots though stops for me when they appear on top of the dugouts with a number of team promoters blowing whistles and shooting t-shirts to the crowd.   I’m glad I won’t hear that sound this year.

How will no fans in the stands impact play on the field?  I heard a former MLB pitcher remark that it might take 1 or 2 mph off of a fastball; that will be analyzed I’m sure. I have to admit that I’ve chuckled over seeing the new practice of players gathering on the pitching mound and talking into their gloves in noisy ballparks.  That will certainly continue now in the empty ballparks.  In April 2015, we did experience an MLB game in a quiet setting, a game at Camden Yards between the Orioles and White Sox.  Tragically, the scene is all too familiar today.  The city of Baltimore was experiencing much civil unrest as a result of a police incident a few weeks earlier.  The games of April 27 and 28 were cancelled for safety reasons, but MLB permitted the teams to play on April 29 with only the teams and media present.  It was eerily quiet in the ballpark that day, so much so that the WGN-TV microphones could pick up conversations on the field.  Interestingly, the game was played in 2 hours, 3 minutes.  Maybe there is one, small silver lining in this mess.

In Simon and Garfunkel’s hit song “Sound of Silence” 50 years ago, the lyrics “people talking without speaking, people hearing without listening”, ring true in baseball today.  Perhaps it is a message to MLB and the Players Association about their negotiations over the past month.  Paul Sullivan, president of the Baseball Writers’ Association, had this to say:  “Speaking on behalf of baseball fans everywhere, we’re tired of your incessant squabbling, your inane counterproposals and your constant harrumphing.”  We all just want to hear these words in our empty ballparks soon, “Play Ball”.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Negro League Baseball

When my daughters each turned ten years old, I took them on a weeklong car trip where we would visit MLB and minor league ballparks, an amusement park, and often a couple museums.  They were carefully designed trips by a baseball-crazy dad with a game to see each day as we toured the Midwest.  Together, we shared special one-on-one time with lots of baseball and fun, some not so healthy food, and a little education, all mixed in.  When our plan was to swing through Kansas City, I always included a tour of the Negro League Baseball Museum (NLBM) on the itinerary.   With each visit to NLBM I discovered new exhibits and information and became a little better in understanding the story and explaining its significance to my daughters.  Let’s take a trip to NLBM now at this critical moment in our lives.

To attempt to adequately share the history of Negro League Baseball in this space is humbling.  It’s full of wonderful teams and players, historical figures, fan passion, and of course, racism.  The first black professional baseball team was the Cuban Giants in 1885, formed due to the fact that blacks were not accepted into white major or minor league baseball.  Jim Crow laws, enacted in the 1870s and 1880s in many states, mandated racial segregation.   While the Giants and a handful of other black teams played in early, organized leagues, they made the most money through “barnstorming” around the country to play any team that would accept their challenge.  Some of the great black teams in the early 1900s included the Chicago Union Giants (renamed the Leland Giants in 1905 by a white, Chicago business owner, Frank Leland), the Philadelphia Giants, and the Cuban X-Giants.

Rube Foster was the dominant black player in the early 1900s, pitching the Cuban X-Giants to the first “Colored Championship” in 1903, and then, after changing teams, the Philadelphia Giants in the next season.   Foster joined the Leland Giants in 1907, not only as its star player but also manager, becoming one of the great innovators in baseball history.   Foster’s teams were known for taking the extra base, hit and runs, and having batters go deep into counts.  He was also quite the businessman, soon replacing Leland on the financial side of the club.  All along, it was Foster’s vision to create an all-black league with all-black owners.  His vision became a reality in February 1920 when he founded the Negro National League at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, just a few blocks from the present site of NLBM.  His team, the Chicago American Giants, was one of the eight original teams, a Midwestern-based league that also included the Kansas City Monarchs.  Foster, known as the “father of Black Baseball”, was named league president and controlled the league in all operational aspects.  He was elected to Baseball’s HOF in 1981.

Negro league baseball in the 1920s expanded into other leagues and areas of the country, oftentimes becoming the focal point of black communities.  The height of Negro league baseball was probably between 1935 and 1945 with games being played before many sell-out crowds.  The Negro National League II (reestablished in 1933) and the Negro American League (formed in 1937) were the two last and competing leagues.  Standing in the way of integration with the white major leagues was Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, MLB’s first Commissioner in 1920, who opposed the signing of any black player.  Landis’ successor in 1944 was Happy Chandler, who began his tenure with this plea in support of black players in the MLB:  “If  they can fight and die on Okinawa, Guadalcanal and in the South Pacific, they can play ball in America.”  The integration story started with Dodgers owner Branch Rickey’s signing of Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract in 1945, but it was a slow process.  In 1947 Rickey was the only owner out of 16 who voted to support the integration of black players into MLB.  Commissioner Chandler overruled the owners, paving the way to the signing of black prospects into MLB and the decline of Negro League Baseball interest and teams.

MLB Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Ernie Banks are just a few of the greatest baseball players of all-time who played in Negro League Baseball.   While you might be familiar with their stories, it’s also important to know the story of some others, such as Satchel Paige, who may be the top right-handed pitcher ever.  Paige began his career with the Chattanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League in 1926.  In 1929, Satchel had 179 strikeouts while pitching for the Birmingham Black Barons, believed to be a Negro League record.  Paige drew huge crowds throughout the Negro Leagues, often making spot appearances for various teams so they and he could cash in on his celebrity.   While starring for the Kansas City Monarchs in the 1940s, he was making four times the salary of any player in the Negro Leagues. Known for his overpowering fastball, pinpoint control, and flamboyant personality, story has it that he would from time to time ask his infielders to sit down, and then promptly strike out the side.  In 1948, at the age of 42, he signed with the Cleveland Indians as the oldest MLB rookie ever. He pitched in the World Series that year as the first Negro League player.  Satchel Paige ended his active career with the St. Louis Browns at the age of 47.  He was elected to Baseball’s HOF in 1971.

One Negro League player who never received the honor of induction into Baseball’s HOF is Buck O’Neil.  O’Neil’s career though is more than admirable, as he symbolized the vision of Negro League Baseball as a player, manager, MLB scout, and founder of NLBM.  Buck was a solid first baseman and hitter, starring for the Kansas City Monarchs beginning in 1938.  Taking a chapter from Rube Foster’s book, O’Neil became player manager of the Monarchs in 1948.   He managed the Monarchs during the final years of the Negro American League. In 1955, O’Neil became a scout for the Chicago Cubs.  His affiliation with the Monarchs led to the signing of Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Lou Brock.  The Cubs named Buck the first MLB black coach in 1962. O’Neil served as a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame Veterans Committee for 20 years, a catalyst for the induction of Negro League players into the HOF.  In 1990 he turned to his greatest passion, the establishment of NLBM, the first and only museum dedicated to preserving the memories of Negro League Baseball.   Buck O’Neil served as NLBM’s chairman until his passing in 2006.

The pandemic’s impact on baseball this year is more than just lost games, but also lost opportunities.  In a press release issued in February, MLB announced its plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Negro League Baseball.   Tony Clark, Executive Director of the Players Association, remarked:  “The (Negro Leagues) brought to our game levels of skill, passion, and integrity under the most challenging of circumstances that both inspired and entertained generations of fans in the decades before and after integration.”   MLB and the Players Association jointly donated $1 million to the centennial celebration.  In less than two weeks, on June 27, teams throughout baseball were to have special events and tribute games.  Those plans, when rescheduled, couldn’t come at a better time.  And the NLBM itself, celebrating its own anniversary, 30 years, has much more now to offer.  Of particular note is that NLBM has developed innovative curriculum for students around the country to use baseball for learning math and science.

There’s never been a week in my life when I’ve read so many thoughtful statements from people and organizations about our continuing struggle with racism.  I found two comments in the Chicago Tribune’s sports section last Tuesday that really struck a chord.  Journalist DeAntae Prince summed up the Drew Brees incident in this way:  “Now (he) will receive forgiveness and opportunities to learn more about racism, and there’s even privilege in that, being able to pick up a book or have a conversation about the topic rather than experience it.”  Cubs President Theo Epstein echoed that privilege in his statement:  “I can’t begin to walk in the shoes of a black person in this country or a black player in Major League Baseball.  I think it’s also looking inward, too. I think that’s an opportunity that we all have to take in society as well as in the game, is being able to look hard at ourselves.”

To learn, to educate, to look in the mirror; I’ll accept all of that.  One of my favorite images from visiting NLBM was watching kids play in the indoor baseball field alongside the statues of those Negro League Baseball players they just learned about.  Something good happens out of that play acting. I want to return to NLBM soon, hopefully with a grandson, to learn more, to help educate him, and perhaps look in the mirror together, with the hope that his generation someday won’t need to anymore.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Shortened Season

Years ago in youth baseball we practiced during the week and played our games on Saturday.  Oh did I dread hearing the words “it might rain tomorrow” on Fridays before games!  I would get up on Saturday morning and look out the window with the hope that the raindrops had stayed away.  Often the rains came despite my wishes.  The telephone would ring with the news that our game was postponed until a later date.  It would always seem like forever to the next game.  That is how I am feeling today.  The days have become weeks, and the weeks have become months.  Every time a new proposal is made, I hear the pessimistic words from a baseball insider that “we might not play this year”.  While I want the players and all club personnel to take every precaution and be safe, I selfishly don’t want the months to become a year. 

The 1918 MLB season is frighteningly similar to our present circumstances.  Early in 1918 the first wave of the Spanish flu had swept across the country, a pandemic that would last three years and kill 675,000 U.S. citizens and 50 million people worldwide.   Our country was fighting World War I at the time, and the War Department issued travel restrictions and bans on public gatherings.  Fearful of a second wave of the flu, the War Department allowed MLB to continue play during the summer only if the season ended by September 1st and the World Series by September 15th.   Much like the current MLB proposal where travel would be restricted in a regional play format, the Cubs and Red Sox opted for the first three games to be played in Chicago at Comiskey Park (the Cubs’ home, Weeghman Park, was deemed too small) and all remaining games at Fenway; no other travel.  On September 11th the Red Sox completed their 4 games to 2 Series win.

That September World Series, the only one of its kind, was historic for many reasons.  On the day before the Series was to begin, a bomb exploded at Chicago’s Federal Building killing 4 people, injuring 75 others, and adding to the anxiety whether the Series should even be played.  In response to the tension in the stands and to promote patriotism, the U.S. Navy band began to play “The Star Spangled Banner” during the 7th inning stretch of Game 1.   The players and fans responded by standing and saluting the American flag, a tribute that set the stage for playing the “National Anthem” before American sporting events in years to come.  On the playing field, fans were treated to baseball’s greatest player, Babe Ruth, on the mound. The Babe won games 1 and 4 by giving up only two runs in 17 innings pitched.  In late 1919 he was traded to New York and quickly became the legendary Yankee slugger.

The 1918 World Series in other ways foreshadows the issues MLB faces today.  The fall-out of playing the Series before fans in Chicago and Boston, even though the crowds were less than capacity, is disheartening.  Shortly after the Series, the second wave of the Spanish flu hit hard, especially in the two host cities.  By the end of 1918, Chicago’s excess death rate (above normal that was attributed to the flu) was 373 out of 100,000 people, only to be exceeded by Boston’s, an alarming 710 out of 100,000.   If we learned just one thing one hundred years ago, it is to keep the fans out of the stands during a pandemic.  We also witnessed the discomfort of having labor discord while others are facing more important issues.  Before Game 5 of the 1918 World Series players from both teams waged an hourlong strike to try and get a bigger portion of the Series proceeds.   The players were persuaded to play since the optics were clearly bad.  Harry Hooper of the Red Sox said they played “for the sake of the wounded soldiers and sailors who are in the grandstand waiting for us.”  

A much bigger labor dispute caused a shortened season in 1981.  The players’ strike in the middle of the season cancelled games for two months and split the season into two halves.  Similar to today’s proposal of adding two teams to the 12-team postseason format, MLB played an extra round of playoffs in 1981, featuring division winners from the first half against winners from the second half.  Unfortunately, the Reds, with a 66-42 record and best overall in baseball, finished second in both halves and did not make the 8-team playoff.  While a 2020 shortened season won’t produce such an absurd result, playing less than 162 games might call into question the World Series result.  Just last year the Nationals were 19-31 at the 50-game mark and needed a second half surge to provide us with the fall memories.  How many games is enough?  Perhaps Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt recently summed it up the best:  “If you need a number, you could probably crown a champion following a 60-game regular season.  It’s all about money and what everyone is willing to gamble to stop losing it.”

The work stoppage in 1994 illustrates another risk of a shortened season, having the season end prior to declaring a champion in the postseason.  On August 11, 1994, MLB play stopped due to a players’ strike and didn’t return until late April of 1995.  The statistics of the teams and players in the ’94 season remain on the official books, but seem empty.  The White Sox were in the midst of their finest season since 1983, leading the AL Central and perhaps on their way to the AL flag.  And how about the Montreal Expos with the best overall record in baseball at 74-40 and a legitimate shot at its first world championship?! Sorry, no postseason play for either team.  The player statistic that jumps out is the .394 batting average of Tony Gwynn over 117 games.  We’ll never know if Gwynn might have posted a .400 average last reached by Ted Williams in 1941.  MLB lost significant postseason revenue in 1994, one of its concerns this year if the season doesn’t start soon and cannot be completed due to COVID-19.  What MLB also lost that season was the baseball fan’s commitment to the game.  Attendance and viewership post-1994 suffered, resulting in a declining fan base that MLB has struggled to recapture.

The 1918, 1981, and 1994 shortened seasons illustrate the issues MLB now faces in addressing the pandemic.  Somehow baseball has always survived.  We’ve endured labor disputes, as well as all sorts of cancellations and delays due to heavy snow and rain, extreme cold and heat, high winds, hurricanes, and last May in Cincinnati even a swarm of bees.  The most memorable cancellation due to natural causes was Game 3 of the 1989 World Series when a 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area prior to the game.  The A’s and Giants resumed the Series 10 days later.  And probably the most humorous delay involved just one pitch!  In Game 4 of the 2011 NLDS series, Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt complained that a squirrel at Busch Stadium in St. Louis had ran past him and his pitch should not count.  The umpires rejected his plea, and the “Rally Squirrel” would help the Cardinals in their own run to the world championship.

Boy we could use a “Rally Squirrel” about now announcing strict medical protocols to be in place and a shortened season starting sometime soon.  82 games (MLB’s proposal), 114 games (Player Association’s response), 50 games (apparently MLB’s current fallback), or frankly any number of games with a view toward a September or October postseason, would be welcomed news.  My wife and I got married in 1981, right in the middle of MLB’s work stoppage.  It was my bright idea to stop in Paducah, Kentucky, on our drive back from our honeymoon for dinner and, believe it or not, an American Legion baseball game.  Somehow, our marriage has survived all of the times since then when MLB play has been interrupted.  I just wish now that I would be looking out my window worrying about whether rain might delay or postpone today’s game. 

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Sign Stealing

I recently found “Ball Four” on my book shelf, a tell all account of pitcher Jim Bouton’s season with the expansion Seattle Pilots in 1969.   When the book was first circulated fifty years ago, it drew as much controversy in the baseball world as the revelations of the Astros’ cheating scandal this past winter.  Using a flashlight in my bedroom in 1970, I was able to get through part of the story until one day the book mysteriously disappeared.  Dad had discovered that I was reading it and promptly took the book to his workplace to be returned “when I was ready for it”.   That copy was never seen again.   So now, with a new copy in hand, finally I think I’m ready for Bouton’s inside scoop on baseball.  It’s a great read, and actually funny to think of now as being so scandalous at the time.  Yes, there are some stories of players on road trips, but what I have enjoyed the most is Bouton’s explanation of the nuances of baseball, such as the secret language of signs.

Communicating to batters and base runners with signals by the third base coach has long been part of baseball’s mystique.   Before the pitch is delivered to the plate both the batter and base runner will check if there is a “play on” – take, bunt, hit and run, suicide squeeze, etc.  Since it’s fair game for the opposing team to attempt to “steal” the sign, the third base coach masks the signals through an indicator (the hot sign is the next one after), wipe off (previous signs are negated), or number of touches (each numbered touch represents a sign).   Some former players, coaches, and managers in the MLB are notorious for stealing signs, such as Lou Piniella, Don Zimmer, and Roger Craig.  A lesser known sign stealing expert was former White Sox coach Joe Nossek.  Nossek, a college math major who had a brief playing career, made a 40-year MLB coaching career out of deciphering signals.  He kept a notebook on all opponents and the tendencies he observed during the game.

There is a second set of baseball signs, the catcher’s signals to a pitcher on what pitch to throw.  Depending on the number of pitches in his arsenal, a pitcher looks for 1 – fastball; 2- curve; 3 – change up, and location.  In his book, Bouton humorously talks about having poor eyesight so the number of times the catcher flashed his fingers replaced the actual numbers.  Here too, a catcher needs to use indicators and/or a numbering system to disguise the signal when there are runners on base, especially second.  It’s common practice for a base runner to attempt to relay to a batter the type of pitch or location.  Many batters want the information, but some don’t.   Pete Rose has remarked that he never asked for help since the runner might be wrong and he wanted to simply react to the pitch.  While some in baseball contend the practice violates unwritten rules of etiquette, to this day stealing signs is not a violation of MLB rules.

When do we cross the line from gamesmanship to cheating?   MLB’s answer has consistently been where equipment is used to steal the signs.  As far back as 1961 the National League banned the use of any “mechanical device” to steal signs.  In 2001 MLB issued a memorandum declaring that teams cannot use any “electronic” equipment to communicate during games, especially for stealing signs.  More recently, in March 2018 and 2019 MLB distributed guidance memos prohibiting the use of equipment in the clubhouse, video rooms, replay booths, and dugouts for the purpose of sign stealing.   The #1 concern for any sports governing body is safeguarding the public trust that outcomes of games and championships are decided fairly.  I remember watching Game 7 of the 2017 World Series when FOX commentator Joe Buck and analyst John Smoltz discussed Dodgers ace Yu Darvish possibly “tipping” his pitches as a reason for the Astros success against him.   To learn later that Darvish’s poor performance and Houston’s world championship might have been the result of illegal sign stealing sacrifices that trust.

Unfortunately, the 2017 World Series is not the first altered MLB result due to sign stealing.  There are early MLB stories of hiding people in shacks in the outfield, backup players using binoculars and a telegraph, and coaches standing on a box with electric wires relaying coded messages, all for the purpose of alerting hitters to what pitch was coming.  Some of baseball’s greatest players and moments are also marred.   Ty Cobb admitted that there was a scoreboard spy in Detroit who used binoculars to detect the opposing catcher’s signals and advise the hitter of the pitch by opening and closing a letter in a Tiger Stadium advertising sign.   Bob Feller, renowned for his lightning fastball on the mound, came back from World War II with a military gun scope to assist his team’s hitters.  And probably one of the top five moments in baseball history, New York Giants Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” home run that ended the 1951 World Series victory over the Yankees, was the result of a tipped pitch, although Thompson never admitted it.

Last November Mike Fiers, an Oakland pitcher who was with the Astros in 2017, told “The Athletic” that Houston stole signs that season at Minute Maid Park with the help of a camera in the outfield.  He alleged that the camera was connected to a television monitor in the tunnel between the clubhouse and dugout, and players in the dugout would communicate to the hitter an off-speed pitch was coming by banging on a trash can.  MLB launched an investigation that involved interviews of 68 witnesses, including 23 current and former Astros players, and review of emails, video clips, text messages, and photographs, confirming the illegal practice during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. In its January report, MLB named one player for his transgressions, Carlos Beltran, as well as 2017 bench coach, Joey Cora, who was part of the scheme.  Cora managed the Red Sox to a World Series win in 2018.  Beltran had been named the Mets manager for the 2020 season.

MLB fined the Astros $5 million, the maximum fine under its Constitution, and stripped the club of its first and second round draft choices in 2020 and 2021.  Manager AJ Hinch and GM Jeff Luhnow were both suspended for one season, and were promptly let go by the Astros.  Beltran was fired by the Mets without ever managing a game.  The Red Sox relieved Cora of his managerial duties due to his role in the Astros scandal, while MLB at the same time was investigating whether Boston had used a sign stealing scheme in its own 2018 championship run.  In April MLB ended its investigation into the Red Sox matter, suspending a video staffer involved and having the Red Sox surrender a second-round draft choice.  Interestingly, there is also a report of a lawsuit filed in California against the Astros by former MLB pitcher Mike Bolsinger claiming that the Astros’ scheme ended his career.  In addition to personal damages, Bolsinger’s suit seeks the Astros forfeiture of $30 million in 2017 postseason shares.

Was MLB’s discipline enough?  If the answer rests in whether it will deter future players from engaging in cheating, it falls woefully short of the mark.  Former Brewers manager George Bamberger offered this view of a player’s mindset:  “If you are a pro, then you often don’t decide whether to cheat based on if it’s ‘right or wrong’.  You base it on whether or not you can get away with it, and what the penalty might be.”   MLB has previously used its ultimate weapon, permanent ineligibility, in cases of gambling, conspiring to fix games, and substance abuse.  In the current scandal there is not even one player suspension.  Without appropriate discipline, it seems the baseball world’s confidence in the fairness of the outcomes of games and championships will always be an issue.  Was Jose Altuve wearing a buzzer under his Astros jersey when he hit his series-deciding walk-off home run in the 2019 ALCS?  We’ll never be sure.  The answer lies in how much risk Altuve was willing to take, and right now, the reward wins out.

Despite some rumblings, it took a former Astro, Mike Fiers, to report on the Astros’ activities two years after the fact for MLB to launch an investigation.  Indeed, Fiers was attacked by some players and media for being a snitch.  When “Ball Four” was released in 1970, Jim Bouton was summoned to New York by MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn and asked to sign a statement that the events in the book were fictitious.  Bouton refused.  He, like Fiers, was just giving a factual account that embarrassed MLB.   My Dad did the right thing 50 years ago by taking “Ball Four” from his 11-year old son.  I wasn’t ready for it.  MLB should do the right thing now by taking championships away from teams that cheat.  Is baseball ready for it?

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

Universal DH

MLB has proposed a “Universal DH” once the season begins.  For the first time ever, both American League and National League teams might have the ability to utilize a designated hitter in the lineup for all regular season and playoff games.  When this proposed rule flashed at the bottom of the ESPN television screen, I didn’t think of it as earth-shattering.  Then, last Sunday, I watched a series of MLB “World Series Game Sevens” and it struck me how much the DH rule has impacted the game over the last 50 years.  In 1979, the Orioles hosted the Pirates in a Game 7 won by Pittsburgh.  Trailing 2-1 in the sixth inning, Baltimore manager Earl Weaver summoned power hitter Lee May (aka the “Big Bopper”) to pinch hit, in what was only his second plate appearance of the entire Series!  You see, May, one of the top designated hitters in the ’79 AL regular season, had lost his role in the Fall Classic because it was an odd-numbered year – what?  Oh yes, for almost 50 years MLB has struggled with the inequities of having separate rules in its two leagues.

First, let’s explore some quick background.  A designated hitter (DH) is a non-position player who replaces the pitcher in the batting order.  Its origin dates back to the late 1960s when pitching dominated baseball with the likes of Gibson, McClain, Jenkins, and Marichal.  Some ERAs were under 2.00 and only top batting averages neared .300.  Trying to find ways to add more offense to the game, MLB in 1969 proposed a “designated pinch hitter” for spring training games. The AL teams embraced it, while the NL teams, their ownership often portrayed as traditionalists, refused.   Finally, in 1973, Charlie Finley, owner of the Oakland A’s, spearheaded the American League‘s adoption of the DH rule for a 3-year trial period, a worthy experiment that has lasted now for 47 years.  In 1980, the National League held a vote among its 12 teams to adopt the rule – 4 yes; 5 no; and 3 abstentions – the result being two leagues continuing to play under different rules.  It’s the last time that the NL voted on whether to adopt the DH rule.

MLB has struggled with how to apply the DH rule when teams from the two leagues meet head to head.  At first, with no interleague play, the only issue was the World Series.  MLB opted for no DH in any of the World Series games from 1973-1975.  Beginning in 1976, the DH rule applied in World Series played in even-numbered years (hence, the Lee May story).  This practice lasted until 1986 when the DH rule was to be used in World Series games played in the AL ballparks only.  AL teams built around the use of a DH gained an advantage when they hosted World Series games, while NL teams in games at their ballparks without a DH could take advantage of their pitchers having batted throughout the year.  The home field DH advantage of course doesn’t always play out.  Recall just seven months ago in Game 7 of the World Series when Howie Kendrick, a Nationals power hitter who had been shaky in the field during the Series, was inserted into the lineup as a DH in the Astros’ home ballpark.  Kendrick delivered, a Series deciding HR!

With the advent in 1997 of interleague play during the regular season, MLB implemented the DH rule for interleague games played in the AL ballparks.  More than anything it’s led to distinct styles of play in the two leagues and a never-ending dispute on the implementation of the DH rule in baseball.  NL traditionalists contend that baseball should be played as a team game; all players must hit and field.  It paves the way for managerial strategy, i.e., when to pinch hit for a pitcher, the double switch, and the sacrifice bunt.  In their view, AL managers just have to roll out a lineup of sluggers trying to knock the ball out of the park.  Supporters of the DH rule in the American League argue that its managers do have strategic considerations – whether to rotate the DH among bench players; employ a full-time DH; and/or give an everyday player a DH role from time to time, limiting his exposure to injury. 

There are other considerations as well.  Joel Sherman of the New York Post believes that the MLB is proposing the Universal DH rule for this season “in part to protect pitchers who will have to ramp up to pitch in a shortened second spring.”  No doubt when play resumes managers will be careful about taxing their starting pitchers with long outings.  With expanded rosters, we may see this season, more than ever, shortened starts with a barrage of relievers.  With a limited number of top of the line pitchers available, why unnecessarily risk starters to injury while batting or running the bases?  You might remember the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright tore his Achilles while running out a pop-up in 2015.  And just last year, the Nationals received a scare when their ace, Max Scherzer, broke his nose while bunting in the batting cage.

Traditionalists have long contended that the DH rule takes away an important element in the game, the strategy of a sacrifice bunt.   In March 2019 I watched the Seattle vs. Oakland series played in Tokyo.  In the 12th inning of the opening game with runners on 1st and 2nd and no out, Jay Bruce of the Mariners stepped to the plate.  When he fouled off the first pitch, there was a murmur of boos in the stands.  On the next pitch he flied out to left field, never making an attempt to simply advance the runners.  A cascade of boos could be heard; the Japanese fans couldn’t understand why a sacrifice bunt hadn’t been executed.  Indeed, that is just not the type of baseball played in the MLB anymore.  In 2019, NL teams averaged 35 sacrifice bunts for the season, while AL teams averaged just 16 per team, a reflection of pitchers at the plate in the NL.  But think of those numbers in terms of overall games played, 162!  Moving runners along with a sacrifice bunt has almost already become extinct.  To put it in perspective, Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the active leader in career sacrifice bunts, had 108 at the end of 2019 placing him in a tie for 334th on the all-time list.

An interesting question is which teams and players this season might benefit from the Universal DH.  A National League team, like the Reds, that didn’t have much offensive punch last season, will be able to insert one of their key off-season acquisitions, big hitting Nick Castellanos, into the lineup as the everyday DH without worrying about his outfield defense.  Yet, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who signed Madison Bumgarner to anchor its pitching staff, probably won’t have that MadBum hitting advantage in his starts, but will turn to everyday hitters to DH.  Since the MLB proposal includes regional scheduling (AL East and NL East teams facing off in the same division, etc.), perhaps American League teams that have been constructed to fill the DH slot on its rosters will have an advantage over their NL division counterparts.  As such, you might see a late scramble by NL teams for players to fill the DH position.  This would be welcome news to a player like Yasiel Puig, a big hitter who has yet to be signed.

Big boppers have filled the role of DH in the American League over the years.  Players like Edgar Martinez, David Ortiz, and Jose Canseco, and a trio of White Sox stars, Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, and Harold Baines, have extended their careers due to their excellence at the plate.  Many advocate the DH rule as a way to secure more jobs in the MLB for players whose fielding talents have eroded, yet the other side of it is perhaps the DH rule is taking jobs from younger players who can contribute in all phases of the game.   Paul Molitor was an exception to the big hitter stereotype, a line drive, gap hitter who in 1993 became the first DH to win the World Series MVP.   While Ortiz also captured the 2013 Series MVP as a DH, only Hideki Matsui of the Yankees in 2009 won a Series MVP while never playing the field during the season.  Hall of Famers who have been a DH in 50% or more of their career games include Thomas, Martinez, and Baines.  If the Universal DH is adopted going forward, that HOF DH list will certainly grow.

Over the last several Sundays, “Last Dance”, the story of Michael Jordan and the 1998 Chicago Bulls winning their sixth championship in eight years, captured the attention of sports fans.  In the final episode you are left with the question “what if” the team didn’t break up after the ’98 season.  Would there have been another one?   My thoughts turned to the 1976 Reds, considered one of the greatest MLB teams ever, a team that recorded a perfect 7-0 playoff record and was crowned the MLB World Champions for the second consecutive season. In the ’76 World Series the Reds’ Danny Driessen became the first National League player to act as a DH in any game.  He excelled, hitting .357 for the Series.  The Reds, without the DH rule in place in the NL regular season, traded one of their foundation players and team leaders, first baseman Tony Perez, in the offseason, making room for Driessen as the everyday first baseman in 1977.  The Big Red Machine of the ‘70s had been dismantled.  What if?

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

108 Stitches

When the MLB resumes this summer, it seems that the first slate of games, if not all of them, will be played without spectators in the stands.  I’ll miss not being at the ballpark for sure, but there is one sight either at the game or on television I’ll especially miss, the excitement of a fan snagging a foul ball.  I love those moments when, once caught or retrieved by a lucky fan, the baseball is given to a young family member or some other kid close by.  Oh the absolute joy of getting a baseball at the ballpark and slamming it into your mitt!  What is it about this Rawlings, MLB-approved, 108-stitch work of art, which makes it so special?  We give it lots of adjectives, “juiced”, “dead”, “spit”, “souvenir”, and “garbage”, but the name itself defines my favorite sport, BASEBALL.

I have to admit that I’ve been watching some of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) games on ESPN.  Not only do the games give me a needed boost, but they provide a glimpse of what to expect when MLB is back.  KBO is doing a lot of positive things – players and coaches going through fever screenings before entering the ballparks; continuous testing of all team employees; umpires and base coaches wearing protective masks; and prohibiting players from chewing tobacco, eating seeds, and high-fiving teammates with bare hands.  Some of the other KBO features I can do without – using murals of fans with protective masks in the stands; throwing out the ceremonial first pitch by rolling a kid in a big plastic ball from the mound to home plate; and cheerleaders (please no).  Overall though, it’s wonderful to see that baseball with which we are so familiar being fired to the plate; or are we so familiar?

What surprised me most in the first KBO broadcast was the commentators’ discussion about “juiced” baseballs.  Much like the MLB, KBO has been dealing with a controversy about the actual baseball being used.   KBO games in 2017 and 2018 showed the highest offensive numbers since the league’s inception in 1982.   The collective KBO-wide slugging percentage (total bases divided by at bats) was .450.  In response, last year KBO decided to “deaden” the baseballs by making the ball heavier and ever so slightly larger.   The 2019 KBO overall slugging percentage dropped 65 points to .385.  To put it into “home run” terms we can all understand, in 2018 33 KBO sluggers had 20 or more HRs and in 2019 there were only eleven. The home run rate was down a third and there was about half the number of HRs per game in the KBO compared to MLB numbers.

KBO is certainly ahead of the curve on this issue.  It’s not a news flash to report that the MLB had record home run production in 2019.   The major league-wide 6,776 HRs hit in 2019 was 671 more than the previous record in 2017 of 6,105, an 11% increase.  The 2018 Yankees team record of 267 HRs was obliterated by the Twins in 2019 with 307.  Three other MLB teams, the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers, surpassed the prior record as well.  Indeed, 14 of the 30 MLB teams set franchise records for HRs!  Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the juiced ball at the 2019 All-Star break, downplaying it a little and even suggesting that the MLB has nothing to do with the actual manufacturing of the baseball.   Joe Maddon’s reaction to the controversy was priceless, musing that MLB should stamp “Titleist” on the ball, not “Rawlings”.

Will we see a new baseball in the MLB this season?  The topic was an issue at baseball’s winter meetings last December in San Diego.  Rawlings CEO, Michael Zlaket, said this about the controversy:  “We have never been asked to juice or dejuice a baseball, and we’ve never done anything of that sort.”  Rawlings has manufactured the official MLB baseball since 1977, and in 2018 became co-owned by MLB.  An investigative committee reported that the 2019 MLB home run production was 60% the result of seams being slightly tighter and 40% the result of the emphasis of launch angles by hitters.  In addition, pitchers have complained that the game balls are slicker nowadays, perhaps due to to an inconsistent pre-game application of mud to the baseballs. Rawlings is in the testing phases of a baseball that doesn’t require “mudding”.

The importance of the juiced ball issue is that when the baseball isn’t flying out of the ballpark the game becomes more strategy-driven.  This was apparent over 100 years ago in the “Dead Ball Era” (1900-1920) when teams relied on hit-and-runs and stolen bases to generate offense.  In 13 seasons during that time the league leader in HRs had fewer than 10!  There were several factors that helped contribute to a lack of offense:  “spitballs” or defacing the baseball in any way for it to move erratically was permissible; the ball had a rubber core, making it softer; the ballpark dimensions were larger compared to today’s parks; and baseballs were used repeatedly throughout the game, sometimes over 100 pitches, causing the ball to soften even more in the later innings (or become “dead”).  When Babe Ruth became a fearsome power hitter in 1919 with a whopping total of 29 HRs, there was much excitement generated.  The game turned to a livelier ball to promote offensive production, and in turn, ticket sales.  And in 1920, when Ray Chapman, a player, was fatally beaned, MLB adopted a rule that the baseball must be replaced every time it got dirty or marked in any way.

Another part of the story is the advent of the “souvenir” baseball.   During this same period the Federal League was formed, an eight-team league that served as competition to the National and American Leagues.  Charles Weeghman brought his team, first named the Federals and then Whales, to his newly built Weeghman Park (now Wrigley Field) in 1914.   Weeghman wanted his Federal League team to be as fan-friendly as possible, so he allowed fans to keep foul balls they caught.  This broke with the tradition, and in many areas of the country the law, of giving the foul balls back to the ballpark ushers so they could be reused in the game.   When the Federal League folded and Weeghman was able to purchase the Cubs in 1916 and bring them to Weeghman Park, he continued this practice.  Some National League teams protested, arguing that the Cubs owed them money for balls kept by the fans.  Finally, in 1921, after the New York Supreme Court ruled against the New York Giants and allowed one of its fans, Reuben Berman, to keep a foul ball and receive monetary damages, MLB adopted “Reuben’s Rule”, fans could now bring those coveted foul balls home.

While the policy of keeping foul balls began at Wrigley Field, so did the tradition of returning to the field home run balls hit by opposing players.   In 1969, one of Wrigley’s bleacher fans, Ron Grousl, caught Hank Aaron’s 521st home run, a landmark one tying Ted Williams on the all-time HR list.  After the game Grousl apparently approached Aaron with the ball, but Hammerin’ Hank refused it because he was angry about beer dumped on him by bleacher bums during the game.   In 1970, Grousl caught another Aaron home run ball, but instead of keeping it, he threw it back onto the playing surface. He didn’t want that “garbage” in his bleachers.  Others soon followed, although oftentimes it took some money in a hat to convince someone to throw back a home run ball.  “Throw It Back”, the chant you hear in the bleachers when an opponent’s HR is secured by a fan, became increasingly popular in the 1980s when the Cubs appeared everyday on WGN cable television. 

Also part of the tradition is for fans to bring a decoy ball to the bleachers in case they catch an opponent’s home run ball and they would rather keep it. One of my favorite memories from last season was a home run hit by then Reds outfielder Yasiel Puig that landed over the left field bleachers of Wrigley onto Waveland Avenue.  The ball was beyond the bleachers and couldn’t possibly be thrown back; or could it?  After a slight delay, the fans cheered as a baseball flew over the bleachers from the street and landed safely in left field.  It turns out that a fan on Waveland Avenue retrieved the ball and was offered $200 and a decoy ball by a “ballhawker”, someone who covets MLB baseballs.  The fan refused the offer, and hurled the Rawlings game ball back on the field.  That’s fan passion; that’s BASEBALL!

I’ve always wanted to feel the excitement of getting a baseball at a MLB game.  There were two close encounters that, but for an injury, I might have snagged one early in life.  In 1967 I was at Crosley Field sitting in the second level right behind home, a great perch for a foul ball.  One was hit right at me, but since my hand was in a cast, the ball fell under my seat and someone from the aisle grabbed it.  Then, in 1977, I was with a dear friend in the first row along the Reds bullpen at Riverfront Stadium, when a ground foul ball came right to me but my right hand was again in a splint.  Double, ugh! I couldn’t have been more thrilled a couple years ago when I attended a game with my family at Wrigley and caught a Ben Zobrist foul ball.  I finally did it, and boy did I feel like a kid again!  After sharing the ball with my family and seeing it soon appear on Facebook, the baseball was returned to me. I smiled at each and every one of the 108 stitches.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach

It's Okay

I needed a real Mother’s Day hug yesterday, especially from my late mother.  She was always my biggest fan.  This past week I thought a lot about how her kindness extended to my world of sports.  About 50 years ago I was playing shortstop in a youth baseball game when a hard hit ground ball took a wicked hop and hit me right in the Adam’s apple.  I recall being on the dirt infield looking up at my Mom with a wet wash cloth in her hand.  The last thing a 10-year old boy wanted to see was his mother on the playing field, but I do remember her words, “It’s okay.”  I think we could all use that reassurance right now.

With the baseball season delayed, I watched Ken Burns’ wonderful documentary on “Baseball” for a second time.  I was struck by a quote from writer Roger Angell in “Inning 8” of the series.  Angell was a Mets fan in 1962 following one of baseball’s all-time worst teams, while many New Yorkers around him adored the winning ways of the Yankees.  Angell said this:  “There’s more Met than Yankee in all of us.  What we experience in our lives, there’s much more losing than winning.”  My Mom couldn’t have said it better.  Winning is easy; it’s the losing that makes us better.

Many of baseball’s winning numbers can also be thought of as losing ones.  Think about those Hall of Fame hitters with .300 batting averages; they failed 7 out of 10 times at the plate.  96 wins in an MLB season mark a playoff appearance and perhaps a championship run.  Yet, those teams lost 40% of the time, and most found the key to success by playing .500 on the road.  A pitcher needs to get three strikes by a batter, and even then foul balls keep the batter in the box until that one fat pitch results in the bat solidly meeting the baseball.  Yes, indeed, it only takes one!  In Josh Pinkman’s 2008 article, “Moms and Baseball:  One Son’s Story”, he sums up the game with a lesson from his mother:  “Above all baseball teaches you persistence, the value to endure.”

Oh, the lesson of persistence, keeping your head up knowing that there is always the next game, the next season.  As a youth I made a critical throwing error in a city tournament game that contributed to my team being eliminated.  On the way home the car was silent until my Mom said, “You really had a nice hit in the third inning.”  Yes, there would be many more games, nice plays, and hits for me ahead, but at the time that one misplay seemed devastating.  I recalled this moment last May when the baseball world lost Bill Buckner, a great hitter who had won the NL batting title in 1980.  In his playing days, he was most known for a ground ball that went through his legs as he played first base for the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series.  Upon his death though, we remembered how graciously he handled all the grief he took in Boston about the play.

The 1986 Buckner error was considered for many years to be just another example of the “Curse of the Bambino”.   After the 1919 season Babe Ruth, aka “The Bambino”, was traded from the Red Sox to the Yankees for $125,000.  Prior to the trade Boston was a perennial power in the American League, winning five of the first 15 World Series, the last one in 1918 over the Cubs.  After the trade Yankee teams led by Ruth dominated baseball.  The Red Sox had many failed attempts at the world title as the years went by – 1967 loss to the Bob Gibson led Cardinals in the seventh game; another 7th game loss in 1975 to the Reds; and perhaps the most devastating blow, Bucky Dent’s home run in the 1978 AL East playoff game capping the arch-rival Yankees comeback from 14 games down in the race.   The 86-year curse ended in 2004 in remarkable fashion as Boston came back from a 3 games to 0 deficit to win the ALCS with 4 wins over its New York nemesis.  Add another 4 wins in a World Series sweep of St. Louis and the curse was over.   As for Buckner, the Boston fans had endured and could finally let go and embrace him.

An even longer drought, 108 years, ended recently for Cubs fans.  The Cubs, also a dominant force in early World Series matchups, winning in 1907 and 1908, endured the heartache of many losing seasons, and another curse, “The Curse of the Billy Goat”.   During game 4 of the 1945 World Series, William Sianis, a local tavern owner who had brought his pet goat, Murphy, to the game, was asked to leave Wrigley Field.   While there are various accounts of what happened, the legend is that Sianis cast a curse that the Cubs would never win the World Series again.  The Cubs lost the 1945 Series to the Tigers and did not return to post-season play until 39 years later, another playoff loss.   In 2003, the Cubs led the Marlins 3 games to 2 in the NLCS and held a 3-0 Game Six lead in the eighth inning.  That’s when Cubs fan Steve Bartman “disrupted” Moises Alou’s attempt to reach into the stands to catch a foul ball.  Bartman, too, caught the wrath of Cubs fans for years until finally the Cubs endured, a thrilling, 10-inning seventh game win over the Indians in 2016.

After the 2016 Series victory Cubs management presented players and others with celebratory rings.  One ring went to Bartman, the Cubs way of asking for forgiveness.  Cubs employees received rings too, including Don Costello, who worked as an elevator operator at the ballpark.  Costello’s recent passing hit the national news in the last week when his son found letters Costello had stored in his garage.  In 1981, Costello, a lifelong Cubs fan, couldn’t take the losing anymore and apparently wrote other MLB teams offering his fandom.   Costello received several letters in response, the best one coming from the then Montreal Expos VP of player development, James Fanning, who replied, “if I also know anything about being a long time and loyal Cubs fan – you will not only REMAIN ONE – you will withdraw your free agency threat and re-dedicate yourself to the Chicago Cubs.”  Costello endured, and he was able to witness his Cubs claim a world championship before his death.

My lasting image of the Cubs 2016 celebration is seeing the tears of joy of the passionate fans.  The persistence in following the Cubs throughout generations had finally paid off.  11 years earlier on the south side of town the White Sox provided their fans with those same joyful tears in ending their own 88-year championship drought.  The 2005 Sox, led by manager Ozzie Guillen and first baseman Paul Konerko, finished the season with the top record in the American League.   Their 2005 playoff run was one of the best ever – a sweep of the Red Sox in the ALDS; a 4-1 series win over the Angels in the ALCS; and another sweep of the Astros in the World Series.  The only downside to the White Sox wonderful season was that my father in-law, a lifelong Sox fan, died two months before the World Series and did not see his beloved Sox win a world title.

Persistence continues to be the word for another AL Central team, the Indians.  Despite dominating the division for over two decades, Cleveland can’t seem to find a way to end its drought, currently 72 years since its last World Series championship.  And while it would be difficult to convince an Indians fan of this notion, I’m not so sure the ultimate success of winning the title is all that matters.  There is also the absolute joy of experiencing the next game, the next season. Perhaps John Pinkman’s view of “Moms” in his 2008 article is the best way to think about it:  “Success to a mom is not the fact that their child went 3-3 or pitched a 1 hitter, or even whether his team won.  It doesn’t matter to a mom whether her child won or lost.  She knows it’s only a game.  What matters to a mom is that he had fun doing it and that he gained knowledge about his life.”  Maybe, just maybe, baseball can also be about how experiencing losing makes us better.

About 25 years ago my Mom lost a much bigger battle, one with cancer.  The last weekend of her life I spent a lot of alone time with her.  We watched part of a Reds game but mostly we quietly talked.  I reminded her what she said to me when I came home one day from school unexpectedly because I was cut from the seventh grade basketball team, “there’s more time for baseball now.”  She smiled at the memory, and I believe she is smiling now, knowing that despite all of the anxiety around us, “It’s okay”.   It’s going to be okay.

Until next Monday,

your Baseball Bench Coach