In 1942, today's #1947League hero, Leon Day(HOF), was involved in one of the most controversial games in #WorldSeries history...but the team he played for during the season didn't make the Series. What happened?
Interesting to note that even though NNL/NAL officials threw out that creative Day victory against the Monarchs, baseballreference.com includes it in Day's stats, leading Day to a brief career with the Homestead Grays:
The nominal Boston ace picked up his first win in 7 starts, surviving Joe Gordon homers in the 5th and 7th. Monte Irvin went 2-4, stole a base, scored twice.
Boston got another quality start from Red Barrett, now 6-2 with an ERA under 2.00. Silvo Garcia keyed the decisive 8th-inning rally. Feller (6-9) took yet another tough loss.
And here's another cool data graphic....all-time ERA leaders. Fascinating to watch knowing that Koufax had the opposite career trajectory of everyone else. Started out mediocre, got way, way better...
Josh Gibson clubbed round-trippers #31 and #32 in his team's 76th game. Ford Smith held the high-flying Phils to 6 hits. St. Louis's 3rd straight win from Philly.
I don't know the outcome of the (fictional?) event below.
Here's a question I do have the answer to, though. Which of these two men has the higher career OPS, according to the best available stats? One guess, please.
This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by the 1970 AL MVP, Boog Powell.
From the baseball-reference web site:
“In the South they call little kids who are often getting into mischief buggers, and my dad shortened it to Boog.” - Boog Powell, on his nickname's birth
This many days left (the lowest number in the photo) until Spring Training, brought to you by Devon “Devo” White, centre fielder for the 1992 and 1993 World Champion Toronto Blue Jays, and artiste of the Canadian version of The Catch.
This one occurred during game 3 of the 1992 WS. Two on, no outs. Justice hits a loud out to the CF wall. Devo’s range enables him to catch the ball, hit the wall, and throw to the cutoff man in time to throw to 1st for the next out.
Roberto Alomar, a guy who might know a thing or two about fielding, said:
“This one was better,” insisted Roberto Alomar. “Mays didn’t hit the wall, but Devo did. He had to catch the ball and hit the wall almost immediately.”
Continuing with the play…
Cutoff man relays to Olerud at 1st for out #2 and then another relay to Gruber to catch Sanders in a rundown thanks to a bad call by the ump.
This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by IMO the. Greatest. Of. All. Time, Willie Mays.
I was going to post about The Catch, but I have a question for the panel about something else.
In 1951, Bobby Thomson hit his famous “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” off of Ralph Branca. (With the Russ Hodges radio call on WMCA, “The Giants win the Pennant! The Giants win the Pennant!”).
What I didn’t learn until a few months ago was that the on-deck hitter was Willie Mays.
One school of thought is that Mays’ presence forced Branca to pitch to Thomson, rather than pitch around him.
Another school of thought says that Mays was “only a rookie”, so wasn’t a concern to Branca.
Is his biography, if I recall correctly, Mays writes about being terrified in the batting circle and hoping that he didn't have to go up against Branca in that situation.
The Splendid Splinter sent the Fenway Faithful home happy in the bottom of the 9th with a walkoff win against the Tigers. Ted drove in Bobby Doerr (2 HR) to beat the Tigers.
About whom was Ted Williams speaking when he said this?
"He gives me that double windup, got his hands right in back of his head, turned his wrist...made damn sure I saw it. I said, 'Jesus, curve.' And, whoomp, fastball, strike three." #1947League
Not caring what went on in Black #baseball 1920-1948 is a bit like not caring what went on in World War Two before V-E Day. The headlines are not enough. You need a deeper dive.
Thank you for teaching us about it in your posts and quizzes.
I went to look up a photo of Frank Duncan Jr with a number showing (hopefully for the countdown) but most of the images from the Negro Leagues are posed, from the front.
The only number on the back that I could find was Satchel Paige, he appears to be warming up on the mound.
The only players posed with a smaller number on the front were Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays.
Speculation, but I gather that there was probably less money available to take pictures of the Negro League players so they had to make every one count.
PS all the numbers were greater than 20, so… next countdown.
This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by Bobby Thomson! (I couldn’t ignore the obvious segue)
Born in Scotland, he was known as “The Flying Scot” and “The Staten Island Scot”, because of his childhood years.
His ‘Flying’ moniker might be puzzling at first glance. He had a not-exactly-Hendersonian high of 10 SB in one single season and 5 SB or less in each of the 14 others. But the speed was evidently out in the field and not on the base paths. A baseball card blurb said that “The Braves acquired Bobby last season to add speed to the outfield”.
He was known for his “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” that won the NY Giants the Pennant, which was featured on a US postage stamp.
This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by Roberto Clemente.
Wow. HOF, WS@2, WS MVP, WAR of 95, MVP, Batting Title@4, ERA@5, AS@15, WS, Au Glove@12
Tragically, he died in a plane crash on a flight from Puerto Rico that was delivering relief aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
Clemente was in the news after a book about his life, where he mentions the racism that he faced in the U.S., was taken out of FL school libraries as a result of the anti-woke initiative by Participation Trophy winner, Ron Desantis. (The decision was reversed, it must not have polled well with Florida’s Latino demographic.)
This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by Frank Robinson.
Doing it all: HOF, WS@2, WS MVP, WAR of 107(!), MVP@2 (AL & NL), Batting Title, AS@14, AS MVP, 586 HR, Au Glove, Triple Crown, PoY, MoY
10th on the HR list, the only player to MVP in both AL and NL.
The first African-American manager in Major League Baseball, he also won Manager of the Year. In his first game as player-manager for the Cleveland team, Robinson homered.
His accomplishments helped minorities reach executive and management positions in baseball.
Alt text: Frank Robinson in an Orioles home uniform, wearing number 20; about to drop the bat after the follow-through of a swing that appears to have connected for a hit.
Obsessive safety-focussed engineer here, forgive me for going into my Lumbergh voice, but, yeah, I’m going to have to go ahead and disagree with you there.
His gaze displays that the ball was definitely hit high and long but his look of concern/angst tells me that the ball’s trajectory could be tracking to the foul pole.
PS thank you for all the editors who were too kind to not call me out on Roberto Clemente’s “ERA@5”.
: )
This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by Tony Gwynn.
HOF, WAR of 69.2, Batting Title@8 (tying Honus Wagner’s NL record), AS@15, AS MVP, Au Glove@5, Ag Slugger@7
His 20-year career ended in 2001 with a .338 career BA , the highest since Ted Williams (.344) in 1960.
He attended SD State on a basketball scholarship. Fortunately for us, he followed his parents advice: keep up with baseball as “something to fall back on”.
George Will (bowtie guy) wrote about him in Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball. Gwynn described being happy with a strikeout where he got the swings he wanted for the pitch he was seeing. And unhappy when an errant swing got an HR. IOW be aware when dumb luck smiles on you.
This many days left until Spring Training, brought to you by Gene Tenace.
WAR of 46.3, WS@4, WS MVP, AS
Born Fiore Gino Tennaci,
"If you divide his WAR by his plate appearances, he was more valuable on a per plate appearances basis than Bill Dickey, Roy Campanella, Gary Carter, and Yogi Berra. - from CalltothePen . com
He drew 100 walks six times and led his league in BB in both the AL and the NL. Lifetime BA of .241 but OBP .388
Tenace was 1972 WS MVP: 4HR; two in Game 1 in his first two WS at-bats (a first at the time, later done by Andruw Jones in 1996.
In addition to WS@4 as a player, he WS@2 as the bench coach for
::pauses to check notes::
Alt text: Gene Tenace, green A’s uniform, number 18. At 1st base, doing the splits, right foot solid on the bag, left leg on the ground pointing to 3rd, right hand up in the air for balance, gloved left hand also in the air, cleched. Runner’s leg, mostly off camera, 3-or-so feet in the air, indicating he tripped. Umpire about 10 feet away, hands on knees. SWAG interpretation: umpire is determining control of the ball before calling an out.
Alt text: Helton in Rox home uniform, side-ish view of a discernible number 17 on the back, right foot on first base, gloved right hand (holding a hidden baseball) at the end of a sweeping tag of the right buttock of Matt Carpenter, who wears a Cardinals away uniform with much dirt, facing towards the camera; showing incredible focus on making an absolutely perfect adjustment to his gloves while standing 14.3 inches past first base, thus resulting in an embarrassing out for his side.
Alt text: A baseball stadium tunnel under the stands with the bottom steps of two upward sets of stairs separated by a pillar/column. Two players in uniform inside the tunnel, their backs to the camera, facing each other, stand at the bottom of the right stairway, presumably the stairs lead to the field.
Evidence of one of the first Ted Talks, two players in conversation. The player on the left is Ted Lyons, wearing number 16, with his gloved left hand reaching up to lean against the narrow edge of the pillar. The player in the right is Ted Williams, wearing number 8, leans with his right shoulder against the wall.
This many days until Spring Training, brought to you by Dick Allen.
WAR 58.7, RoY (and 7th in MVP voting that year), MVP, AS@7
Not known for his fielding, he was one of the most talented hitters of his era, he batted over .300 for much of the 1960’s dead ball decade. His average suffered during the 1968 Year of the Pitcher, but he still hit a career 4th-highest 33HR, including three on the last day of the season (a feat only done one other time that century).
Unfortunately the effect of racism took its toll. During his career, he stood up for himself. After winning RoY in ‘64 he held out for more money. They doubled his salary from 10k to 20k, which angered white fans.
News stories were slanted against him. White fans reacted, booing him on the field and pelting him with debris to the point that he would wear a helmet in the field. They also vandalized his house (at one point throwing a rock through his window) and threatened him by phone.
His brother, Hank (they were on the 72 and 73 ChiSox together) said that the racism had beaten him down.
Baseball scout Jack Ogden said, “I scouted 90,000 players in my lifetime and Allen was the greatest I ever saw. It’s too bad he had so many difficulties.”
The numbers of the day weren’t enough to get him into the HOF, but the advent of OPS+ tells a different story.
Among hitters with 7000PA, Allen’s OPS+ of 156 ties him for 12th with Willie Mays.
Willie Mays and Mike Schmidt, among other HOFers, are in favour of it.
The same numbers today would get him in. Plus with ::going out on a limb:: less overt racism (less throwing stuff at players), maybe he could focus more on hitting. And maybe become a better fielder.
PS when some people bitch about “woke” and political correctness, they want to return to an era where this all happened to Dick Allen (and much worse to others was accepted)
yeah but let's be frank -- the numbers do not tell the whole story with this guy, and even so, the numbers as they are are good enough to merit election. And all that "on the bubble" stuff feels bogus to me given, you know....
Allen put up with (and stared down) a lot of crap so that guys today wouldn't have to. Add that to his amazing performance over a long period and ... seems like a slam dunk to me
@ted_duffield shoots and scores! Yes, it was the Cleveland Buckeyes who fell to the New York Cubans in the '47 #WorldSeries. What would you like to hear, sir?
Minnie Minoso has been incandescent lately. Today, he went 4-4, HR, 3 RBI, SB, pacing a Detroit win that was never really in doubt. Senators' swoon continues.
What's your ace of supposed to do? Among other things, stop 5-game losing streaks. That's what Philly's Garnett Blair did in taming the Giants today. He's now 12-1.
#Black#Baseball (1920-1949) had not one, not two, but at least three "Meccas": Kansas City, Pittsburgh, & Washington, D.C. Which was the home town of today's #1947League hero, Garnett Blair?
Mel Harder (2-4, 4.24) turned into Cy Young, besting Sam Bankhead (8-5, 1.77 going in). Dixie Walker knocked in Tetelo Vargas for the walkoff GWRBI in the 11th.
There was an (unintentional) clue embedded in all that back-and-forth -- Yusuf screwed something up, then fixed it in the edit. Thank God we're not on X-Twitter. :-) Anyway. Ruth, I'm afraid that's not the answer we're looking for.
If we can (please) set aside my ham-handed first draft of the question, the answer to yesterday's #1947League#history quiz is below. The incomparable Tetelo Vargas won 3 batting titles in these 3 systems.
Rufus "Mississippi" Lewis (14 Ks) led the Cards to their 3rd straight victory. He won a memorable duel with #1947League ERA leader, Chet Brewer of Brooklyn.
Today's #1947League game brought to you by @RuthODay and Del Shannon, with a #1 song covered memorably by Bonnie Raitt, Small Faces, Elvis Presley, the Traveling Wilburys, and, um, Lawrence Welk.
Fortunately, every #shutout in #1947League results in a visit from the Beautiful Shufflers -- and, in this case, the #Monkees, with an assist from the #Muppets.
Correct. Cheapskate owner Charlie Finley tried to lowball Vida Blue after he had won the AL Cy Young and MVP in the same year -- 1971. So he held out. Remember, this is before free agency.
Today's #1947League hero, Minnie Minoso (HOF), had established himself primarily as a catcher in Cuba when he informed his manager he had to play a different position. Why did he do that?
@YakyuNightOwl and I were trading #LennyBruce performances last night, and I heard this bit again. No, it has nothing to do with baseball. But yes, every opportunity to remind people what a genius this guy was is an opportunity worth taking advantage of.
Name the future #Dodgers Hall of Famer who, while in Cuba, played against today's #1947League hero, Silvio Garcia--and in later years called him "one of the best pure hitters who never played in (the AL or NL)."
After starting strong, Wilmer Fields's #Pirates have dropped to last place. Their offense is ice-cold at the moment: 27 straight innings without scoring; just 2 runs in 36 innings.
#YIAY to name the #Dodgers Hall of Famer who played against the inimitable Silvio Garcia in Cuba...and judged him to be one of the best pure hitters never to make it to AL/NL.
60 seconds of magic audio on the first pro team I ever saw. "The Little Hammer" was the A's starting CF on Opening Day '72. 5' 8", he reminded people of a mini Hank Aaron.
Joe D (2 HR, 3 RBI) and "Fuzzy" Smith (2 HR, 2 RBI) led the Yankee attack; Butch Wensloff tossed his best game of the year for his fourth win. New York now a half-game out of first.
Routine dismantling of a second-division team by a first-place one. Phillly ace Hilton Smith is now 8-0. Johnny Davis homered. Artie Wilson went an uncharacteristic 0-5.
Today's #1947League game brought to you by your Commissioner, who bypasses Jerry Garcia & company for a change to share just one of the songs from that jaw-dropping 1973 #DavidBowie hijacking of ABC's #MidnIghtSpecial program.
The American Div. lead is now tied (NYY/STLB), thanks to Max Manning's pinpoint control and overpowering fastball. Cleveland's starter did not walk a man and scattered 6 hits.
Name the #MLB team that offered Max Manning a contract sight unseen based on the righthander's stellar reputation ... then rescinded the offer instantly when their scout met him and saw he was Black.
Heard this song in 78, fell in love with it, even though I had no #$%^ idea what the guy was saying. Turns out it was a kind of #punk#Taoism in speed-rap #French about accepting the moment. And running out of glue to sniff. English translation here:
We'll call that a practice swing. :-) To clarify, I'm looking for the number of votes Robinson could have lost from his total and still made it in on the first ballot with 75% of the sportswriters voting to induct him.
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