Who’s In The Hall of Fame-Alexander Joy Cartwright

 

Thanks to a recent birthday present Cooperstown: Hall of Fame Players  I’m going to use this book for a number of brief posts about each player in the book. I’ve done previous posts using the artwork of Dick Perez, and I’ll continue to do so with these posts.

Alexander Cartwright was featured in a previous post, but since he’s the 1st featured Hall of Famer in the book, we’ll start with him.

Cartwright was involved in the formation of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in 1845 and has been given most of the credit for establishing a lot of the early rules of the game. A biography by Monica Nucciarone on the SABR Biography Project sheds a different light on the overall role that Cartwright played.

Doc Adams, another member of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club may have had a more pivotal role in the establishment of baseball in the early 19th Century, and should definitely be honored with his own plaque in the Hall of Fame.

Regardless of his true importance to the game of baseball, Cartwright does bring a couple of cool things to the game. His middle name of Joy is both unique and evokes a feeling of festive gaiety, something we all need more of in our lives.

He also gives us this photo.

Have you ever wondered about the story behind this wonderful photo?

Cartwright left the Knickerbockers in 1849 and headed west to California with Gold Rush fever, but upon reaching California the deplorable conditions didn’t suit Cartwright and his family and he immediately continued west to Honolulu. There he became the 1st Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of the City of Honolulu in 1851, fighting fires alongside King Kamehameha III.  In this photo we see a proud and distinguished fireman, regaled in his best suit, a fire helmet, his badge prominently worn on his lapel, while leaning on his fireman’s horn. With a little imagination you could easily replace them with a baseball cap and a Louisville Slugger.

Alexander Joy Cartwright was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1938.

DMB World Series Bio-Heinie Zimmerman

 

Henry “Heinie” Zimmerman

Born: 2/9/1887-NY, NY

Died: 3/14/1969-Ny, Ny                                          

Heinie Zimmerman, or the Great Zim as he was called by reporters, fans, and frequently by himself in the 3rd person(Ala…Rickey be Rickey) was the 9th of 12 children born to a travelling salesman in the Bronx, NY. He dropped out of school after the 8th grade to begin work as a plumber’s apprentice, while also honing his baseball skills on the ball fields and streets of New York.

In 1906 he was playing 2nd base for the Wilkes-Barre Miners of the NY State League. He would be purchased by the Chicago Cubs in 1907 and make his major League debut on Sept 8, 1907 at the tender age of 20. Playing in just 5 games he contributed 2 hits, and also get an at bat in the World Series vs the Tigers. He struck out in his only plate appearance.

In 1908, playing in an infield utility roll the Great Zim hit .292 in 46 games, but would not appear in the World Series against the Tigers. More of the same in 1909, as Zimmerman hit .273 while appearing in 65 games.  In 1910, thanks to a  Johnny Evers ankle injury,  Zimmerman got into 99 games and demonstrated some of his offensive potential. Showing some power, he banged out 25 extra base hits, including 3 home runs while hitting .284. Zimmerman was an aggressive swinger at the plate, gaining a reputation as a notorious bad ball hitter. He was indifferent while playing the field however, and was considered a defensive liability. Never mistaken for an intelligent ball player, or for an intelligent person for that matter, Zimmerman was often described as dimwitted and no too bright, both on and off the field.

Playing primarily 2nd base in 1911, Zimmerman put together his best season to date, hitting .307 while banging out 9 home runs and driving in 85. Manager Frank Chance suspended him for several games due to a lackadaisical attitude in the field.

1912 was Heinie Zimmerman’s best season. Leading the league in hits(207), doubles(41), home runs(14), average(.372), slugging(.571), and temporarily in rbis with 103. If it was called it back in 1912, the Great Zim would have won the Triple Crown.  Some sources still credit Zimmerman with a Triple Crown season, but later research credited him with 99 rbis, good for 3rd in the NL.

Zimmerman got married in 1912 to 17 year old Helene Chasar. They had a daughter Margaret, and divorced in 1916. Showing some of his disagreeable qualities Zimmerman often failed to make alimony payments.

He also began an annual ritual of holding out each off season in a contract dispute. Money became very important to Zim, spending it faster than he could earn it.

1913 was another good season for Zimmerman, but not nearly as good as his 1912 season. He still hit .313 with 9 home runs, while driving in 95. The next couple of seasons saw more holdouts, less offensive numbers, more indifferent fielding, and the 1st signs of dishonesty, that would become a major part of the remainder of his playing days.

He was traded in 1916 to the Giants, despite his moodiness, lackluster play, and rumors of his unscrupulous dealings with known gamblers. John McGraw took a chance with Zimmerman and was rewarded with a pretty good season from the Great Zim. He hit .297 while leading the NL with 102 rbi and helped the Giants to the World Series against the Chicago White Sox.

Zimmerman hit just .120 while committing 3 errors in the loss to the White Sox. In game 4 he was involved in a run down of Eddie Collins between 3rd and home. Neither pitcher Rube Benton, or 1st baseman Walter Holke covered home, so the slow-footed Zimmerman fruitlessly chased the speedy Eddie Collins all the way to home plate. He was excoriated in the press for a bone head play that was not really his fault, but his perfidious play throughout the series may have had more serious ramifications in the Giants World Series defeat.

Zimmerman played just 2 more seasons in baseball. Playing with a continuous scowl, a surly disposition, and a upstanding player like Hal Chase lead to several instances of dishonest play on the NY Giants. Chase and Zimmerman approached Rube Benton, Fred Toney, Bennie Kauff, among others, to throw, or lay down in various games. McGraw eventually grew tired of Zimmerman and suspended him in 1919. Zimmerman admitted to acting as a go-between with the players and the gamblers, but claimed he always played to win. He was eventually banned from baseball by Kenesaw Landis.

After being summarily dismissed from the game, Zimmerman tried his hand at plumbing, as well as running a speakeasy. He died of cancer on March 14, 1969.

Bill James counted 38 major league players that were involved to some degree in gambling scandals between 1917 and 1927. The Black Sox and Hal Chase get all the ink, but besides Zimmerman, Benny Kauff, Rube Benton, Cozy Dolan, Phil Douglass, Ray Fisher, Joe Gedeon, Lee Magee, Jimmy O’Connell, and Gene Paulette were all banned from the game. Some other big names that were suspected of dubious behavior but were never banned from the game are Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Ross Youngs, Smokey Joe Wood, Fred Merkle, George Kelly and Dutch Leonard.

Pete Rose would have been good buddies with all these guys.

1908 Chicago Cubs

The 1908 Cubs lead by player/manager Frank Chance won the NL pennant for the 3rd straight season. They did it on the final day of the season with a 4-2 victory over the NY Giants, the make-up game to the infamous Merkle’s Boner game. This season has been documented in numerous books and publications and was briefly touched on in a previous post.

The Cubs hit just .249 as a team, but it was good enough for 2nd in the pitching rich National League. They finished a full 18 points behind the NY Giants. Their 625 runs scored was good for 2nd as well, behind the Giants’ 652 runs scored. Their team ERA was a phenomenal 2.14. Good for a 3rd place tie. Amazingly the Phillies(2.10) and the Pirates(2.12) were even better.  Their 29 shutouts did however, lead the league.

Johnny Kling hit a robust .276 while providing solid defense behind the plate. Kling would take the next 2 seasons off to play professional pool. Please check out this nice profile on Kling at Verdun2’s wonderful blog.

Frank Chance performed double duty, playing 1st base, hitting a worthy .272 with a team leading 27 doubles, while providing solid management from the bench.

Johnny Evers hit a solid .300, one of only 4 players to hit .300 in the NL, while providing poetic worthy defense at 2nd base. He was joined by his fellow prose worthy infielders, shortstop Joe Tinker, and manager Frank Chance. Tinker hit .266 while leading the team with 14 triples, 6 home runs and 68 rbi.

At 3rd base the Cubs had the not so poetically sounding Harry Steinfeldt.

The Cubs featured one of the weakest hitting outfields to ever win a World Championship. Jimmy Sheckard(.231), Frank Schulte(.236), and Jimmy Slagle(.222) combined to hit just 3 home runs.

Providing adequate back-up were Solly Hofman(.243), Del Howard(.279), and Pat Moran(.260). Heinie Zimmerman, playing in his 2nd season with the Cubs hit a respectable .292.

On the mound the Cubs had the solid, yet digitally deprived Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown. His 29-9 record marked his 3rd straight 20 win season, as well as a career high in wins. His 1.47 ERA was actually up from last seasons ERA of 1.39 Brown was right in the middle of a 5 year span(1906-1910) where he would go 127-44 with a 1.42 ERA.

Ed Reulbach also won 20 games(24-7, 2.03), while Jack Pfiester(12), Orvall Overall(15), and Chick Fraser(11) also notched double digit victories. Fraser would pitch in just 1 game in 1909 his last in the Majors.

The Cubs went on to beat the Tigers in 5 games in the World Series, their last World Championship. 102 seasons have passed since they won it all. They’ve made 7 World Series appearances since 1908 losing them all, with their last World Series coming in 1945, a 7 game loss to the Tigers.

 

1908 Detroit Tigers

I could not find a team photo of the 1908 Tigers, but this 1907 team photo is very close.

Top Row: John Eubank, Claude Rossman, Sam Crawford, Bill Donovan, George Mullin, Ed Willett, Fred Payne, Ed Killian

Middle Row: Davey Jones, Red Downs, Ty Cobb, Bill Coughlin, Germany Schaefer, Bumpus Jones

Front Row:  Ed Seiver, Jimmy Archer, Hughie Jennings, Boss Schmidt, Charley O’Leary

Not included are Ed Summers, and Matty McIntyre.

The mascot reclining in front is listed as simply O’Brien. No mention of the dog’s name, but he does resemble the dour looking Claude Rossman.

The Detroit Tigers lead by Manager Hughie Jennings won their 2nd straight AL pennant with a 90-63 record, 1/2 game better than the Cleveland Naps. The 1/2 game difference was thanks to a rain out earlier in the season, that based on the rules of the day did not have to be made up. This Tiger team was essentially the same team that won the pennant in 1907. The addition of rookie pitcher Ed Summers was the only significant change, and one of the primary reasons that they were able to repeat.

Their .263 team average was best in the league, a full 18 points higher than the 2nd place Browns and Red Sox. They also lead the league with 644 runs. On the mound their 2.40 ERA was good for just 6th in the pitching rich 1908 season.

The straw that stirred the offensive drink was of course Ty Cobb. At just 21 years old, Cobb was already a veteran, playing in his 4th season. His .324 average was good enough to win his 2nd batting title, while his 108 rbis also lead the league. He would hit just 4 home runs, but his .475 slugging avg lead the league thanks to his 36 doubles, and 20 triples, both league leading totals.

Playing next to Cobb in the outfield was fellow Hall of Famer Wahoo Sam Crawford. Thanks to his teammate Cobb, Crawford was 2nd in the league in most offensive categories. His .311 average, 33 doubles, and 16 triples all followed Cobb. He did lead the league with 7 home runs, his 2nd home run crown, the 1st of which came in the NL in 1901 when he hit a career high 16.

Lost in the Crawford and Cobb outfield was Matty McIntyre. His .295 average and a league leading 105 runs scored goes almost unnoticed.

Filling out the rest of the offense is switch hitting catcher Boss Schmidt hitting a career high .265. 1st baseman Claude Rossman hit .294 with 33 doubles. At shortstop Germany Schaefer hit just .259 but stole 40 bases to lead the team,while scoring 96 runs.

Scranton Bill Coughlin, playing in his last season hit .215 at 3rd, Red Downs hit .221 at 2nd, while Troy O’Leary and Red Downs backed up the infield, providing very little offense. The only off season acquisition of note was back-up catcher Ira Thomas. His .307 average in 40 games was pretty impressive, but it included just 1 extra base hit.

On the mound the ace was rookie Ed Summers. His 24 wins was 2nd to Ed Walsh’s 40 wins, and would be his only 20 win season in his short 5 year career. His 1.64 ERA was the best on the team and good for 4th in the league. George Mullin(17), Bill Donovan(18), Ed Willet(15) and Ed Killian(12) did the bulk of the pitching, along with Summers, starting 136 of the Tigers’ games.

The Tigers would go on to lose the World Series for the 2nd year in a row to an over powering Chicago Cub team.

Baseball Bloggers Alliance-Willie Mays Award

 As a member of the Miscellaneous Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance it is one of my duties to cast votes for their various post season awards. What follows is the press release announcing the winners of the Willie Mays Award for outstanding rookies. I urge you to check out the website as well as check out some of the fantastic blogs in the BBA.

POSEY, FELIZ WIN TWO-MAN RACES FOR WILLIE MAYS AWARD

The battle for the Willie Mays Award, given by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance to the top rookie in each division, turned out to be a two-man affair in both leagues, with Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz and San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey finishing solidly ahead of their closest competition, Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Jackson and Atlanta Braves outfielder Jason Heyward, respectively.

Feliz posted a 2.73 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP while tallying 40 saves and helping Texas into the postseason for the first time since 1999. Feliz only blew three save opportunities while fashioning a 3.94 strikeout to walk ratio.

Feliz garnered eighteen first-place votes and 102 points overall, finishing 22 points ahead of Jackson, who received six nods at the top of the ballot.

Posey did not begin the season in the major leagues, but did so much with his time in San Francisco that voters selected him as the National League’s top rookie. Posey hit .305 and slugged .505 in just 108 games, tallying 18 home runs and 67 RBI after his callup at the end of May. Posey’s offense helped San Francisco make up ground and eventually pass San Diego for the divisional crown.

Posey received 103 total points, including fifteen first-place selections, to outpace Heyward by 17 points. Heyward received ten first-place votes for his work in helping Atlanta secure the National League Wild Card.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League

Neftali Feliz, Texas (18) 102

Austin Jackson, Detroit (6) 78
Danny Valencia, Minnesota 16
Brian Matusz, Baltimore (1) 12
Brennan Boesch, Detroit 11
Wade Davis, Tampa Bay 3
John Jaso, Tampa Bay 3

National League

Buster Posey, San Francisco (15) 103
Jason Heyward, Atlanta (10) 86
Jaime Garcia, St. Louis 20
Starlin Castro, Chicago 7
Ike Davis, New York 7
Gaby Sanchez, Florida (1) 6
Tyler Colvin, Chicago 2
Mike Stanton, Florida 2
Neil Walker, Pittsburgh 2

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 233blogs spanning all 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot. Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and tabulated on a 5-3-1 point scale for first, second and third. In the interest of transparency, links are given below for the ballots. Chapter affiliation is in parenthesis. Those chapters that decided on the group method are noted with an asterisk.

American League

Camden Crazies (Baltimore)*
Boston Red Thoughts (Boston)*
The Tribe Daily (Cleveland)*
Detroit Tigers Scorecard (Detroit)
Switch Hitting Pitchers (Detroit)
One Royal Way (Kansas City)
Seth Speaks (Minnesota)
Twins Target (Minnesota)
Bronx Baseball Daily (New York)*
Contract Year (Oakland)
Rise of the Rays (Tampa Bay)
Tampa Bay Rays News (Tampa Bay)
Baseball Is My Boyfriend (Texas)*
The Blue Jay Hunter (Toronto)
500 Level Fan (Toronto)
Advanced Fantasy Baseball (Fantasy)*
Misc. Baseball (History)*
Victoria Seals Baseball Blog (Other)*
Blogging From The Bleachers (General)*

National League

Prose and Ivy (Chicago)*
Cincinnati Reds Blog (Cincinnati)
Marlin Maniac (Florida)
Marlins Diehards (Florida)
Feeling Dodger Blue (Los Angeles)
Bernie’s Crew (Milwaukee)*
Brewers Bar (Milwaukee)*
The Eddie Kranepool Society (New York)*
Dugger’s Corner (Philadelphia)
Phighting On (Philadelphia)
Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? (Pittsburgh)*
i70 Baseball (St. Louis)
Pitchers Hit Eighth (St. Louis)
Friar Forecast (San Diego)*
22gigantes (San Francisco)*
Advanced Fantasy Baseball (Fantasy)*
Misc. Baseball (History)*
Victoria Seals Baseball Blog (Other)*
Blogging From The Bleachers (General)*
Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf (Miscellaneous)*

Ballots that were unofficial or helped make up their chapter ballot:

Bottom Line Sox (Boston)
Raise the Jolly Roger (Pittsburgh)
The Crazy Crabbers (San Francisco)
Stan Musial’s Stance (St. Louis–unofficial)

Prior Winners

2009: Andrew Bailey, Oakland; Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh

The official website of the BBA is located at www.baseballbloggersalliance.com. The BBA can be found on Twitter by the handle @baseballblogs and by the hashmark #bbba.  Members of the BBA may be heard at Blog Talk Radio every Tuesday night with their call-in show, BBA Baseball Talk, which may also be downloaded as a podcast from iTunes. For more information, contact Daniel Shoptaw at founder@baseballbloggersalliance.com.

1908 Season in Review-Part 2

 

Along with the great pennant races in both leagues, and Merkle’s boner, what else went down in 1908?

The sac fly rule was adopted. In 1931 it would be discontinued, but would return again in 1939, only to be discontinued the very next season. It would be welcomed back into the baseball family in 1954 where it would live happily ever after.

In April the Mills Commission would conclusively find that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown NY, based on a letter from Cooperstown native Abner Graves, who claimed he was there when Doubleday taught them the game. That was good enough for Al Spalding. He went looking for a strictly American origin of the game and he found it. Abner Graves would murder his wife several years later, and spend his remaining years in an insane asylum.

Henry Chadwick, who had a much different take on the origins of the game would say, “ He means well, but he don’t know.” Chadwick would die 2 weeks later at the age of 85.

Wahoo Sam Crawford lead the AL with 7 home runs, he also lead the NL in home runs in 1901 with 16. The 1st batter to lead both leagues in home runs.

Tim Jordon lead the NL in home runs with 12. It was his 2nd home run crown. Jordon played just 7 seasons, only 4 with more than 10 at bats. He finished with 32 lifetime home runs, with his last hit in the majors being a home run in 1910.

Christy Mathewson won the pitcher’s triple crown in the NL with 37 wins, 259 k’s and a 1.43 ERA.

The song, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” makes it’s debut. (A future post may follow). This song has been mangled by many people during the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley. Mike Ditka was impressively terrible, but Ozzie Osborne’s rendition is an absolute classic.

5/17- Mordecai Brown misses a perfect game when Bill Bergen, arguably one of the worst hitters ever, singles in the 5th inning, thye only Brooklyn base runner in the game.

6/7- The Tigers turned a triple play for the 2nd consecutive game.

7/4- Hooks Wiltse(NYG) throws a 10 inning no hitter against the Phillies.

9/5- Nap Rucker(BRKL) no hits Boston.

10/2- In a classic match up, Addie Joss(CLE) tosses a perfect game against the White Sox. 40 game winner Ed Walsh takes the 1-0 loss despite giving up just 4 hits and striking out 15. Ed Walsh would finish the season 40-15 with 42 complete games, and 464 innings pitched. His 40 wins account for 45% of the White Sox wins.

BORN:

2/2-Wes Farrell

2/17-Red Barber

4/6- Ernie Lombardi

11/26- Lefty Gomez

12/25- Ben Chapman

DIED:

3/30- Charlie Sweasy

420- Henry Chadwick

8/19- Doc Bushong

9/18- Dickey Pearce

Also in the world: Grover Cleveland dies on 6/24, he was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States.

Ian Fleming was born on 5/28, the writer that brought James Bond into the world.

And on 6/30 the Tunguska explosion took place. It happened in the skies over Siberia and has been identified as a meteor, a comet, a space ship and a black hole. It is estimated that it exploded with a force of 10-15 megatons, destroying 831 square miles of forest. It is believed that no human life was lost.

1908 Final Standings

NL

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Chicago Cubs                   158   99   55    4  .643     -   624  461
Pittsburgh Pirates             155   98   56    1  .636   1.0   585  468
New York Giants                157   98   56    3  .636   1.0   651  455
Philadelphia Phillies          155   83   71    1  .539  16.0   504  445
Cincinnati Reds                155   73   81    1  .474  26.0   488  543
Boston Doves                   156   63   91    2  .409  36.0   537  622
Brooklyn Superbas              154   53  101    0  .344  46.0   375  516
St. Louis Cardinals            154   49  105    0  .318  50.0   372  626

AL

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Detroit Tigers                 154   90   63    1  .588     -   647  547
Cleveland Naps                 157   90   64    3  .584   0.5   569  459
Chicago White Sox              156   88   64    4  .579   1.5   537  470
St. Louis Browns               155   83   69    3  .546   6.5   544  483
Boston Red Sox                 155   75   79    1  .487  15.5   564  513
Philadelphia Athletics         157   68   85    4  .444  22.0   486  562
Washington Senators            155   67   85    3  .441  22.5   479  539
New York Highlanders           155   51  103    1  .331  39.5   460  713

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE	AMERICAN LEAGUE
AVG: HONUS WAGNER(PITT)-.354 MIKE DONLIN(NYG)-.334 KITTY BRANSFIELD(PHIL)-.304 JOHNNY EVERS(CHIC)-.300 NOTE: THESE WERE THE ONLY PLAYERS TO HIT .300 THIS SEASON	AVG: TY COBB(DET)- .324 SAM CRAWFORD(DET)- .311 DOC GESSLER(BOS)- .308 NOTE: THESE WERE THE ONLY PLAYERS TO HIT .300 THIS SEASON
HR: TIM JORDON(BRK)-12 HONUS WAGNER(PITT)-10 RED MURRAY(STL)-7	HR: SAM CRAWFORD(DET)- 7 BILL HINCHMAN(CLEV)- 6 3 PLAYERS TIED AT 5
RBI: HONUS WAGNER(PITT)- 109 MIKE DONLIN(NYG)-106 CY SEYMOUR(NYG)-92	RBI: TY COBB(DET)- 108 SAM CRAWFORD(DET)-80 HOBE FERRIS(STL)- 74 NAP LAJOIE(CLE)- 74
WINS: CHRISTY MATHEWSON(NYG)-37 MORDECAI BROWN(CHI)- 29 ED REULBACH(CHI)- 24	WINS: ED WALSH(CHI)- 40 ADDIE JOSS(CLE)- 24 ED SUMMERS(DET)-24
K’S: CHRISTY MATHEWSON(NYG)- 259 NAP RUCKER(BRO)- 199 ORVAL OVERALL(CHI)- 167	K’S: ED WALSH(CHI)- 269 RUBE WADDELL(STL)- 232 TOM HUGHES(WAS)- 165
ERA: CHRISTY MATHEWSON(NYG)-1.43 MORDECAI BROWN(CHI)-1.47 GEORGE McQUILLAN(PHI)- 1.53	ERA: ADDIE JOSS(CLE)- 1.16 CY YOUNG(BOS)- 1.26 ED WALSH(CHI)-1.42
MVP: HONUS WAGNER(PIT) .354-10-109	MVP: TY COBB(DET) .324-4-108
CY YOUNG: CHRISTY MATHEWSON 37-11, 1.47	CY YOUNG: ED WALSH 40-15, 1.42
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: GEORGE McQUILLAN(PHI) 23-17, 1.53	ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: ED SUMMERS(DET) 24-12, 1.64

NOTE: The MVP is my choice, the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year selections are based on a SABR vote.

Baseball Bloggers Alliance Press Release-Connie Mack Award

As a member of the Miscellaneous Chapter of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance it is one of my duties to cast votes for their various post season awards. What follows is the press release announcing the winners of the Connie Mack Award. I urge you to check out the website as well as check out some of the fantastic blogs in the BBA.

WASHINGTON, BLACK WIN CONNIE MACK AWARD

Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers and Bud Black of the San Diego Padres were named winners of the Connie Mack Award by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, noting them as the best managers in their respective leagues for 2010.

Washington, who weathered a drug controversy in spring training, led Texas to their fifth divisional title since 1994 and their first since 1999.  While the voting was based on his regular season accomplishments, Washington also guided his team to their first ever postseason series victory when they eliminated the Tampa Bay Rays in five games in the American League Divisional Series.

Washington received ten first place votes in route to accumulating 74 total points.  He edged out Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who received 67 points.

In the National League, Black’s guidance of a Padres team almost universally expected to finish last to first place most of the summer helped him edge Dusty Baker of the Cincinnati Reds by the slimmest of margins.  The fact that the Padres fell just short of the playoffs while the Reds won the NL Central helped lead to the tight race.  Black garnered nine first place selections and 53 total points to Baker’s seven first place nods and 51 total points.

The complete voting results are as follows (first place votes in parenthesis):

American League

Ron Washington, Texas (10) 74

Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota (7) 67

Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay (4) 35

Terry Francona, Boston (3) 20

Cito Gaston, Toronto 9

Buck Showalter, Baltimore 9

Joe Girardi, New York 2

National League

Bud Black, San Diego (9) 53

Dusty Baker, Cincinnati (7) 51

Bobby Cox, Atlanta (2) 33

Bruce Bochy, San Francisco (3) 29

Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia (1) 27

Brad Mills, Houston 3

Mike Quade, Chicago 2

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally. As of this writing, the organization consists of 224 blogs spanning all 30 major league squads as well as general baseball writing.

The BBA is organized under a similar structure as the Baseball Writers of America, where blogs that follow the same team are combined into “chapters” and only two votes from the chapter on an award are counted. The blog chapters that are focused on general baseball were allowed two votes as well, which they could use both on the same league or split between the two leagues.

Chapters generally followed one of two methods when casting their ballot.  Either representatives of the chapter were given the ballots for voting or a “group ballot” was posted, accounting for both of their votes.

Ballots are posted on the respective blogs and tabulated on a 5-3-1 point scale for first, second and third. In the interest of transparency, links are given below for the ballots. Chapter affiliation is in parenthesis.  Those chapters that decided on the group method are noted with an asterisk.

American League

Camden Crazies (Baltimore)*

Boston Red Thoughts (Boston)*

Toeing The Rubber (Boston)*

The Tribe Daily (Cleveland)*

Motor City Bengals (Detroit)

Switch Hitting Pitchers (Detroit)

One Royal Way (Kansas City)

Seth Speaks (Minnesota)

Bronx Baseball Daily (New York)*

Contract Year (Oakland)

Jeff’s Mariners Fan Blog (Seattle)

Rise of the Rays (Tampa Bay)

Baseball Is My Boyfriend (Texas)*

The Blue Jay Hunter (Toronto)

500 Level Fan (Toronto)

Advanced Fantasy Baseball (Fantasy)*

Misc. Baseball (History)*

Victoria Seals Baseball Blog (Other)*

Blogging From The Bleachers (General)*

National League

Prose and Ivy (Chicago)*

Cincinnati Reds Blog (Cincinnati)

Astros County (Houston)

Feeling Dodger Blue (Los Angeles)

Bernie’s Crew (Milwaukee)*

Brewers Bar (Milwaukee)*

The Eddie Kranepool Society (New York)*

Dugger’s Corner (Philadelphia)

Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? (Pittsburgh)*

i70 Baseball (St. Louis)

The Outfield Ivy (St. Louis)

Friar Forecast (San Diego)*

Advanced Fantasy Baseball (Fantasy)*

Misc. Baseball (History)*

Victoria Seals Baseball Blog (Other)*

Blogging From The Bleachers (General)*

Ron Kaplan’s Baseball Bookshelf (Miscellaneous)*

Prior Winners

2009: Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles of Anaheim; Jim Tracy, Colorado

The official website of the BBA is located at www.baseballbloggersalliance.com.  The BBA can be found on Twitter by the handle @baseballblogs and by the hashmark #bbba.  Members of the BBA may be heard at Blog Talk Radio every Tuesday night with their call-in show, BBA Baseball Talk, which may also be downloaded as a podcast from iTunes.  For more information, contact Daniel Shoptaw at founder@baseballbloggersalliance.com.

Special Thanks

 

I’ve been doing this blog for about 20 months and I’ve heard from a lot of people that have emailed me or left comments stating that they enjoy this blog. They are greatly appreciated.

I’ve also heard from family members of some of the ballplayers that I’ve posted about. It’s incredibly cool to hear from descendants of ballplayers from the 19th Century. Doing replays like this, is like bringing the ballplayers back to life. Oyster Burns, Joe Visner, Ty Cobb, Tommy Bond and 100’s of others have been resurrected to play one more time.  For me, that’s a pretty nice tribute to the greats and forgottens of this great game.

One of the frustrations in dealing with teams that played 100+ years ago is trying to properly ID the players in the team photos. In many instances it was a best guess, and a blind guess…..mustaches everywhere…….so many mustaches!!!!

I just recently heard from Mark Fimoff, a member of the SABR Pictorial History Committee and he sent me IDs for about a dozen photos that I had posted in this blog. The amount of time and effort he put into researching this must have been substantial. He has also offered to provide further help with properly ID’ing these deserving ball players.

The SABR Pictorial History Committee puts out a quarterly newsletter that is dedicated to establishing proper IDs for these long ago players, as well as other historical photos. I urge you to check them out.

Thanks again Mark, you have gone above and beyond. I’ve gone back and edited all the photos. You have also motivated me to become a SABR member for 2011.

1908 Year in Review-Part 1

 

The 1908 baseball season has been the subject of many books, articles, and yes, blog posts. It is arguably the best pound for pound baseball season ever. Down to the wire pennant races involving 3 teams in both leagues, and yes, Merkle’s Boner. The World Series between the Cubs and the Tigers was unfortunately anticlimactic, ruining a perfectly good, almost perfect baseball season. But hey, we still have Merkle’s boner.

If you want to really get to know the 1908 season in depth, I recommend More Than Merkle-Dave Anderson, and Crazy 08-Cait Murphy. Both books belong on every baseball fan’s bookshelf.

So what makes the 1908 season so special, and why all the attention given to Merkle’s boner? (Does this blog post need an “R” rating?)

In the American League for much of the season it was a 4 team battle between the Tigers, White Sox, Cleveland Naps, and the lowly St. Louis Browns. The Browns eventually faded, finishing 6.5 games back, but the remaining 3 teams entered the last day of the season each with a chance to win the pennant. The Naps won their game to finish with 90 wins, while the Tigers beat the White Sox to finish with 90 wins, good for 1st place 1/2 game better than the Naps. You may be thinking that if both teams had 90 wins, isn’t that a tie?  The Tigers had a rain out earlier in the season, that according to the rules of the day, they were not obligated to make-up. So the Tigers played 1 less game than the Naps, and thus had 1 less loss than the Naps. The Naps protested but to no avail. The Tigers were American League champions, and the Naps were left out in the rain.

In the National League there was a 3 team race for the entire season. The Pirates hung around 1st place all season long, while the Cubs, as usual, started out hot, but cooled off in July and August to keep things close. The Giants started the season slowly but but pulled even in September.

On Sept. 23rd the Giants played to a 1-1 tie, the famous Merkle game. (more on this later) The standings had the Giants at 87-48, Cubs 89-53, and the Pirates were 87-54. With still plenty of baseball to be played the Giants were in 1st place and finished the season 11-6. The Cubs won 8 of 10 and the Pirates playing catch up went 11-2.

Giants 98-55

Cubs 98-55

Pirates 98-56

On Oct 8th the Cubs and Giants met in the Merkle make-up game, and the Cubs, lead by Three Finger Brown beat Christy Mathewson and the Giants 4-2 to win the 1908 NL pennant.

So, who is to blame for the Giants not winning the 1908 NL pennant? Fred Merkle for not touching 2nd? Christy Mathewson for losing the playoff game 4-2? The Giants for not being able to win just 1 more game in the regular season? Or John McGraw for micromanaging his players and coaches so much so that they weren’t able to think for themselves on the playing field?

Exchange the Cubs for the Giants on that fateful September day. It’s the last of the 9th in a 1-1 game with the Cubs batting, runners on 1st and 3rd, 2 outs. I guarantee that if Frank Chance singled to center for the game winner that every Cub player on the team would have known to touch 2nd base. Why not Fred Merkle? How come nobody reminded the rookie to touch 2nd before leaving the field? Where was John McGraw?

It’s always stated that it was common practice for the players to just run off the field when the supposed game winning run has scored. But Johnny Evers knew that when a force play was still in play that the runner needed to advance to the next base to eliminate a force out. Frank Chance knew it as well. 21 year old Kid Durbin knew it. Why not the Giants?

On Sept. 4th in Pittsburg, with 2 outs in the 9th, Chief Wilson singled in the game winning run against the Cubs. Warren Gill never bothered to run all the way to 2nd, as was common. Johnny Evers immediately asked for the ball, touched 2nd and then asked umpire Hank O’Day to call the runner out. O’Day wasn’t paying attention, and didn’t see whether Gill had actually touched 2nd, so he allowed the run. The Cubs appealed, but NL President Harry Pulliam allowed the score to stand. I’m sure this was reported in the newspapers of the day, and I’m sure that John McGraw was aware of the incident. Why wasn’t this presented to his players?  McGraw didn’t let anything happen on the field without his input. He positioned the players, he told them when to steal, when to hit and run, when to play deep, when to think, when to use the bathroom……!!!! The players and the coaches were so dependant on McGraw to do all their thinking for them, that no one bothered to remind the 19 year old Fred Merkle to touch 2nd base on a hit.  Johnny Evers knew that Hank O’Day would be paying attention this time. Why wasn’t McGraw paying attention?

McGraw always gets credit for not hammering Merkle and actually giving him a raise the next season, but I think he probably blamed only himself for what happened, and not Merkle, or any other Giant player.

What do you think?

More on 1908 to come.

Book Review-The End of Baseball

I’m a big fan of baseball fiction, The Natural, Field of Dreams, The Celebrant, If I Never Get Back, are among the dozens that I have read and enjoyed many times over. So I’m always on the lookout for a good fictional baseball read. As a frequent visitor to the local Borders I always start in the baseball aisle, and had glanced over The End Of Baseball by Peter Schilling Jr. numerous times without picking it up, based solely on the title. I didn’t realize it was a work of fiction, I really thought it was just another self-serving treatise on what’s wrong with the game of baseball.  Fortunately, while cruising through the blogosphere I came across a review of The End of Baseball. Historical baseball fiction…..well what do you know…..you can’t judge a book by its cover.

It’s widely known that back in 1942 Bill Veeck Jr. tried to purchase the struggling Philadelphia Phillies franchise with the intent to fill the roster with Negro League players. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis got wind of it and decided that Major League baseball would run the team.  This anecdote has been told and retold over and over, but may not have any basis in truth, it’s probably just another one of a long line of baseball myths. But what if Bill Veeck had actually succeeded in integrating baseball in the early 40s? The End Of Baseball by Peter Schilling Jr. tells the tale of where baseball fiction meets baseball fiction.

The story begins with Bill Veeck Jr. returning from Guadalcanal after losing a leg while serving with the Marines. This time it’s 1944 and Veeck along with his friend and business partner Sam Dailey purchase the Philadelphia A’s from the cash strapped Connie Mack, with the proviso that the team would return to the Mack family at seasons end if Veeck did not make a profit. Veeck proceeds to recruit and sign some of the greatest players in the history of the Negro Leagues with the intent of not only integrating baseball, but also wanting to field the best team in the game.

Commissioner Landis and his lapdog J.G. Taylor Spink try to thwart Veeck’s efforts, but the slightly coerced Walter Winchell wields the power of the media to make the integration of baseball a reality.

Playing with the A’s would be the extremely gifted but self-centered Satchell Paige, the legendary and tragic Josh Gibson, the other-worldly Martin Dihigo, the aged but still talented Cool Papa Bell, a young Roy Campanella, and the stoic and extremely talented Monte Irvin and Buck Leonard. Managing the team would be the sanity strapped Mickey Cochrane. He would be teamed up with bench coach and former Negro League star Oscar Charleston.

After a super secret spring training in the swamps of Florida, the A’s would be thrust onto the baseball stage with the obvious mixed reactions of 1940’s America. Racism at it’s finest, both on and off the field, as well as being vilified and embraced by baseball fans both in Philadelphia and throughout the American League.

Landis and Spink do all they can to make sure Veeck and the players are attacked on all fronts. From banning Veeck from the game, to cancelling the All Star Game, and inciting racism among owners, players, and fans.

Along the way we are introduced to J. Edgar Hoover, the Communist party, numerous owners and players of the era, and  the irrepressible Pete Adelis. The oversized, German helmet wearing “Iron lung of Shibe Park”.

Schilling does a great job of developing the main characters throughout the story. Landis is extremely distasteful, Gibson is both tragic and lovable while battling his personal demons and the diminishment of his great skills. Bill Veeck comes across as extremely likeable, strong-willed, and relentless in his pursuit to make this team a winner, as well as profitable.

The story doesn’t get bogged down with game account after game account, although there is plenty of in-game action. There are plenty of highlights and lowlights that keep the story moving to, for me, was an unexpected conclusion. It provides a glimpse into the game as it was played in the 40’s, along with a social commentary of the racial pulse of wartime civil rights in America.

A couple of problems that I had with the story had to do with the portrayal of some of the players. I felt that Cool Papa Bell should have been more involved in the story. This is just my own personal bias, being a fan, I would have liked to have seen more of him. Satchel Paige came across as a cartoon. Some of his antics just didn’t seem plausible to me, but then Paige is one of the more enigmatic persons to ever play the game. The portrayal of Martin Dihigo and his debut with the A’s at mid-season transcended baseball realism, giving it a WP Kinsella feel to his character.

These nit picks aside, I highly recommend this debut novel of Peter Schilling, and I look forward to his next foray into the world of baseball fiction.