1972: Tragedy, tumult and pitching...

            !972 was a roller-coaster of a year in the world, both inside and outside of the sports realm. It was the year of the re-election of President Richard Nixon, and the beginning of the unraveling of that presidency, the war in Viet Nam was still ongoing, and airline hijackings were becoming a routine occurrence.

            The Munich Summer Olympic Games in late August dominated the sports news, with American Mark Spitz winning 7 medals in swimming that year, but that was overshadowed by the slaughter of 8 Israeli athletes by Arab terrorists in the Olypmic Village in September.

            In the baseball world, labor strife was  beginning to show itself, resulting in the first ever cancellation of regular season games because of a labor dispute, losing the first week and a half of scheduled games that season, which were never made up. As a result, some teams played less games than other teams. One of the results of this was the Billy Martin led Detroit Tigers winning the AL East title by a half game over the Red Sox, with the Tigers having played 1 more game than Boston. It is safe to say that with an equal amount of games played, the outcome may have been different.

            1972 saw the unexpected, untimely passing of former Dodger great, and current Met manager Gil Hodges, who suffered a massive heart attack at the end of Spring Training. he was replaced by Yogi Berra, who piloted the pitching rich team to a third place finish.

            For the first time in over seventy years there was no professional baseball played in Washington, D.C., as owner Bob Short moved the franchise to the Dallas area, and renamed them the Texas Rangers. Hall of Famer Ted Williams piloted the team to a last place finish. Williams was reportedly miserable in Texas, and resigned at the end of the season.

            Willie Mays' career had quickly fallen into a rapidly declining downward spiral, and had become an expendable player in the Giants' outfield, when long time Giants fan, and New York Mets owner Joan Payson arranged to bring the Say Hey Kid back to New York. Willie was traded to the Mets on May 11th, and made his Mets' debut on the 14th, against those same Giants. Hitting leadoff, and playing fist base, Mays homered in the 5th inning in front of his new hometown crowd at Shea Stadium.

            The season's end saw Pirate's legend Roberto Clemente's run towards three thousand hits, trying to become the 11th player to reach that milestone. On September 28th in Pittsburgh, against my beloved Mets, and lefty Jon Matlack, Clemente doubled to left center for his three thousandth, and last career hit.

            Adding to his legend in the off-season, Clemente chartered a plane in his native Puerto Rico, filled it with emergency relief supplies, and on December 31st, took off for Managua, Nicaragua, which had been decimated by an earthquake earlier in the month which killed upwards of 12,000 people.

            His plane never arrived. It crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all aboard.

            On the playing field, Nolan Ryan debuted with the California Angels, after being traded by the Mets for Jim Fregosi, in what has been widely regarded as one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history...Sparky Anderson led the burgeoning Big Red Machine to the NL West crown, again...the A's won their second of five consecutive AL West crowns.

            But there was one phenomenal performance of note...

            Lefty, Steve Carlton of the Phillies, who had been traded from the Cardinals before the season started, went 27-10 with a    1.97 ERA for an absolutely terrible Phillies team. Carlton won 27 games, and the team won just 59 games. He won 46% of the teams wins. And with not a whole lot of offense to back him up, he pitched 8 shutouts and completed 30 games. (He also batted .197 with 1 homer and 8 RBI)

            He endured a 5 game losing streak early in the season, losing 2 of those by 1 run, and 2 others by 2 runs. He also had a stretch of 4 shutouts in 5 games, giving up just 1 run in the non-shutout. So essentially 1 run given up in 45 innings.

            So let's see how that matches up. First, we'll look at the AL, combining the hitters and pitchers... 

AL vs league:

Dick Allen       CHW   1.9162

Carlton Fisk    BOS    1.7373

Bobby Murcer NYY   1.7246

Joe Rudi          OAK   1.6705

John MayberryKC      1.6446

Reggie Smith  BOS    1.6266

Bill Freehan     DET    1.6002

Carlos May      CHA   1.5948

C.Yastrzemski BOS    1.5799

Reggie JacksonOAK  1.5494

AL vs Team   

            Dick Allen       CHI     1.8250

            Gaylord Perry CLE    1.7105

            Bobby Murcer NYY   1.6571

            Nolan Ryan     CAL    1.5527

            Bob Oliver      CAL    1.5429

            Graig Nettles   CLE    1.5394

            Bill Freehan     DET    1.5334

            Jim Palmer       BAL    1.5278

            Joe Rudi          OAK   1.5272

            Ken Berry       CAL    1.5043

            The league award voting were as follows:

            MVP

            Dick Allen

            Joe Rudi

            Sparky Lyle

            Carlton Fisk

            Bobby Murcer

            and the Cy Young:

            Gaylord Perry

            Wilbur Wood

            Mickey Lolich

            Catfish Hunter

            Jim Palmer

            The voters were correct on Dick Allen AND Gaylord Perry for their individual league awards, and would have earned both honors through my system as well. If there was one award to be given as the overall best player in the AL in 1972, it was easily Dick Allen.

            Allen was on with tremendous potential, born ten years too late. He  was born in Wampum, Pennsylvania, and was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1960. He spent his first spring training in Florida, where he first encountered segregation in the deep  south.

            In 1963, he was assigned to the Phillies minor league affiliate in Little Rock, and was met with racial hatred like he had never experienced. He was the first African-American player for the team, and the locals apparently arranged protests and parades around his appearance with the team.

            He made the major leagues for good in 1964 with the Phillies, and had one of the best rookie seasons ever. Playing in all 162 games, he amassed 201 hits, with 29 homers, 91 RBI and batted .318. The Phillies that year had an epic end of season collapse, and failed to win the pennant, but Allen ran away with the Rookie of the Year award, with 18 of the 20 votes. He also finished 7th in MVP voting.

            1965 is where he began a love/hate relationship with the Philadelphia fans. Some of that perceived animosity stems from a batting cage horseplay incident involving Frank Thomas. Thomas, a veteran ballplayer and reportedly somewhat of a bully, was eager to share quite a few disparaging remarks, most of them racial in nature, with the young Allen, leading to a pre-game fistfight in which Thomas flung a bat at Allen, hitting his shoulder. The popular Thomas was sold to the Houston Astros a short time later.

            Some of Allen's exploits on the field are legendary in their own right. He cleared the Coke sign at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia with a homerun that went an estimated 529 feet. He hit a line drive so hard, the opposing shortstop jumped to try and reach it, but the ball kept rising. It allegedly only stopped rising when it reached the seats.

            The fans in Philadelphia became merciless. Allen, a sensitive man, had endured threats, racial epithets, and other disgraceful abuse, decided to then hurl things at Allen. Showering him with fruit, ice and even radio batteries. He took to wearing his protective batting helmet while fielding his position, which may have egged on the Phillie faithful.

            Known late in his career for doing things on his own schedule, he partnered with the late, great Chuck Tanner, who was his manager with the White Sox. Tanner essentially let Dick be Dick. If he wanted to show up 20 minutes before a game, that was fine with Tanner...as long as Allen produced. And produce he did. Winning the MVP in 1972, could have easily won the same award in 1969 (as seen in an earlier post of mine).

            The funny thing about Allen and all of the turmoil that was around him, with the exception of the Frank Thomas incident, there were not many other players that had a problem with him. (except maybe opposing pitchers)

            Bob Uecker and Mike Schmidt both have talked in various books about what a great teammate he was.

            So maybe, soon, Cooperstown may call his name, and he would be VERY deserving of that honor.

            Sorry for the digression...

            Let's visit the National League now:

NL vs League

Steve Carlton PHI     1.8168

Johnny Bench CIN     1.7588

Gary Nolan     CIN     1.7524

Don Sutton     LAD    1.7275

Billy Williams CHN   1.6813

Claude Osteen            LAD    1.6267

Bob Gibson     STL     1.6175

Dock Ellis       PIT      1.6167

Jim Wynn        HOU   1.6145

Steve Blass      PIT      1.6135

NL vs Team

            Steve Carlton PHI      2.1566

            Nate Colbert   SD       1.8783

            Bob Gibson     STL     1.6888

            Leron Lee        SD       1.6694

            Ted Simmons STL      1.6442

            Phil Niekro      ATL    1.6240

            Mike Marshall MON   1.6024

            Billy Williams CHN   1.5962

            Johnny Bench CIN     1.5934

            Don Sutton     LAD    1.5358

            And the league award voting was:

            Johnny Bench

            Billy Williams

            Willie Stargell

            Joe Morgan

            Steve Carlton

            And the Cy Young vote:

            Steve Carlton

            Steve Blass

            Fergie Jenkins

            Mike Marshall

            4 pitchers tied at 5th

            Bench had a very good year, no doubt. And I can understand the hesitance of the voters to vote for a player on a last place team for the MVP award. But the fact is, Carlton was by and far the best player in either league and by a long shot. Carlton, notorious for not being 'press-friendly'. But the reality is, that 1972 season by Carlton is easily one of the top 5 performances ever.     

3000

            Congratulations to Alex Rodriguez on getting his 3,000th big league hit in grand fashion. Good job.

            Now, what do we do with this information and the steroid issue?

            Nothing.

            Steroids, or any performing enhancing products have little or no effect on what he has accomplished, namely hitting a round object with a round object, doing so squarely, and being able to 'hit it where they ain't' enough times to amass 3,000 hits (and counting).

            So yes, steroids will help a player bulk up, and may help a player recover a lot quicker from injuries, that art of hitting, purely hitting, as of now cannot be medically altered. (that I know of)

           

            Quit you're griping if you are anti-Alex and relish in the historical fact that he is just the 39th player to accumulate as many hits...

            Well done.

Order for a belated Father's Day present...

1930, and the opulence of offense...

            Someone once said that is hard to look back on past baseball seasons without         commentary on the historical significance of those years. That being said, it should be noted that the first ever night baseball game was played on April 28th in Independence, Kansas, the Twinkie was invented, and Farm Cow Ollie became the first cow to be milked in an airplane. (She may also be the ONLY one)

            Prohibition was in full effect in 1930, and the great depression was gripping the nation. Babe Ruth of the Yankees was paid $80,000. Someone pointed out that the Babe was getting paid more than President Herbert Hoover, and he famously responded, "I had a better year than he did."

            Prosperity was hard to find in America...unless you were a big league hitter.

            With the depression in full swing, it's hard to imagine anyone with more than they needed. But in baseball, that's exactly what seemed to happen. Many look at the 1930 season as the best season for hitters, and it's hard to disagree. The combined leagues' batting average that year was .296, the highest ever in the modern era; averaged 5.55 runs scored per game, again the highest in the modern era; and the pitchers had an ERA of 4.81, worst in the modern era.

            Bill Terry became the last National League hitter to hit over .400. (.401 to be exact). Hack Wilson set the NL home run record with 56 homers, a record that stood for 68 years until Mark McGwire slammed 70. Wilson still holds the major league record for RBI with 191, averaging 1.23 RBI per game.

            No steroids, no performance enhancing drugs. Just an impressive offensive season. Bad pitching? Maybe. But Casey Stengel used to say, "Good pitching stops good hitting, and vice-versa".  Lefty Grove, Carl Hubbell, Ted Lyons and Wes Ferrell were active pitchers that year, as was 43 year old Grover Alexander and 36 year old Burleigh Grimes (the last of the legal spitball pitchers)

            The Cardinals faced the A's in the World Series, with Philadelphia winning in 6 games, behind the slugging of Al Simmons and Jimmie Foxx.  So let's look first at the best offensive performances in both leagues, lowest to best.    

            Beginning in the AL:

            5. Mickey Cochrane    PHA    2.6303

            4. Jimmie Foxx            PHA    2.6895

            3. Babe Ruth               NYY   2.9927

            2. Lou Gehrig              NYY   2.9939

            1. Al Simmons            PHA    3.1829

            And the NL:

            5. Chick Hafey            STL     2.6536

            4. Babe Herman          BKL    2.7003

            3. Kiki Cuyler             CHN   2.7588

            2. Chuck Klein            PHN    2.9795

            1. Hack Wilson           CHN   3.0044

            Simmons and Wilson would be the Offensive Players of the year, easily. Note that while Bill Terry did hit .401, his overall ranking placed him 7th in the NL.

            Value? The players with the highest performance compared to their teams?

            AL:

                       

            5. Earl Webb               BOS    1.3781

            4. Charlie Gehringer    DET    1.4419

            3. Carl Reynolds         CHA   1.4735

            2. Al Simmons            PHA    1.5157

            1. Goose Goslin          STL     1.5970

            NL:

            5. Kiki Cuyler             CHN   1.3567

            4. Harry Heilman        CIN     1.4561

            3. Wally Berger           BOS    1.4736

            2. Hack Wilson           CHN   1.4774

            1. Chuck Klein            PHI     1.5214

            Two things of note. Hack Wilson, while he had a fantastic season, had help, as proved by teammate Kiki Cuyler's top 5 ranking. The same with the Yankees combo of Ruth & Gehrig. Both had monster offensive years, but they were on a team that scored 1096 runs.

            And, if I add the time spent with Washington, Goose Goslin would place 4th on the Most Valuable list. 

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