Sunday, September 25, 2016

RIP Jose


Like the rest of the baseball world, I was saddened to hear of the tragic, untimely passing of one of baseball's youngest superstars, Jose Fernandez. Tragedies of this sort happen in all walks of life, but that doesn't soften the blow of these losses.

By this point there have been a million words written,  million prayers lifted and a million hearts broken. Mine included. I will not add any more than necessary. Instead, I will just add this simple logo created by good friend and artist Erik Kidd.




Rest in Peace, Sir. Rest in Peace.

Monday, September 19, 2016

1966, and triples...

The narrative of the 1966 baseball season should really begin in 1965. On December 9th, the Cincinnati Reds traded their former MVP outfielder Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for three pitchers: Jack Baldschun, Milt Pappas and Dick Simpson. The trade was a gamble by Reds General manager Bill DeWitt, and it didn't work out too well for them.

Robinson would help lead the Orioles to their first World Series championship, and would win the league's MVP Award, becoming the first to win the award in both leagues.

He would also win the forgotten Triple Crown that year as well. Leading the league in Homers, Runs Batted In and Batting Average in the same season constitutes the baseball Triple Crown. Robinson did it in 1966, the first to do so since Mickey Mantle did it in 1956, but I call it the forgotten Triple Crown, because Carl Yastrzemski would do it with the Red Sox in 1967, and would be the answer to a trivia question about the last Triple Crown winner. Until Miguel Cabrera did it in 2014.

But speaking of triples, Tim McCarver, catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals hit 13 triples in 1966, becoming the first catcher to lead his league in triples. Carlton Fisk would tie for the league lead with 9 in 1972.


Before the season began, two eminent Dodger pitchers, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale jointly held themselves out of Spring Training as a salary negotiation tactic to each get the raises in pay they felt they deserved. They wanted a three-year contract for a reported $1.05million to be divided equally.
They remained held out until March 30th, when Koufax signed for $125,000 and Drysdale for $110,000. Both signed one year deals. It would be Koufax's last contract, as he would retire at the end of the season due to a deteriorating arthritic issue with his pitching elbow.



Koufax would be the first pitcher to strike out 300 batters in three different seasons, and the first since Pete Alexander in 1920 to have 3 20-win seasons. He would also win his third Cy Young Award in four seasons.

Tragedy would strike in Detroit in regards to its managers. They started the season with Chuck Dressen at the helm, but he suffered a heart attack in May, and was replaced by Bob Swift. Dressen would pass away in August.

In July, Swift was taken to the hospital to be treated for suspected food poisoning, and was replaced by Frank Skaff, who finished the season at the helm. Swift's treatment uncovered a malignant tumor of the lung, and he passed that October.

New stadiums opened in Anaheim and St. Louis, but the biggest new arrival involved the shift of the Braves from Milwaukee to Atlanta. The Braves debuted in the 'Launching Pad” that was Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, and they played before packed houses throughout the season, drawing more than 1.5 million paying fans to cheer their team to a fifth place finish.

The Braves played a part in a weird historical footnote. Their Richmond minor league affiliate signed college pitcher George Thomas (Tom) Seaver to a contract with a reported $40,000 signing bonus. The Braves had drafted him a month before, in the January free-agent draft. The issue was that at the signing of the contract, Seaver's college (USC) had already begun its inter-collegiate schedule, and his signing was a violation of the college rule.
Commissioner William Eckert voided the contract, and fined the Braves $500. Unfortunately for Seaver, the college authorities disqualified Seaver since he had signed a professional contract, even though he never appeared in a game for any professional team.

Eckert decided that Seaver would be a free agent, and in an unprecedented move, opened a draft exclusive to Seaver. The Braves would be ineligible for this draft. Three teams expressed an interest: Cleveland, Philadelphia and the Mets. And for once, luck was on the Mets side, as the commissioner drew their name from the hat on April 3rd of that year, and the Mets quickly signed him to a Jacksonville contract.

Seaver would go on to become 'The Franchise' for the Mets, and would lead them to their 1969 World Series Championship. He would win over 300 games, 198 of them for the Mets. He would also strike out over 3600 batters. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with a then all-time record of 98.8% of votes.

In that year's June draft, the Mets had the 1st overall pick, historically drafting catcher Steve Chilcott out of Antelope Valley High in Lancaster, California. Chilcott never made it to the majors, but the second round pick, Arizona State University outfielder Reggie Jackson, who was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics had a slightly more memorable baseball career.

Interestingly, with their tenth pick, the Yankees picked University of Alabama pitcher Ken Stabler, who opted for a Hall of Fame NFL career instead of baseball.

The Braves also had an historic slugging performance in 1966 as well. No, not by Hank Aaron. Nor was it by Joe Torre. Or Eddie Matthews. Not even Felipe Alou. They hit 205 homers, 5 of them by pitcher Tony Cloninger. Two of those came in the same game against the Giants, and both were Grand Slams. Cloninger was the first player to hit two Grand Slam homers in the same game, and is still the only pitcher to have accomplished that feat.


Gary Peters of the White Sox pitched a complete game shutout against the Yankees on July 30th. Not sure if this is a record or not, but Peters threw just 75 pitches in the game.


Jack Aker of the Kansas City Athletics became the first American League reliever to garner 30 saves in a season. Ted Abernathy of the Cubs did it the season before.


Two Players each had three inside-the-park home-runs in 1966. Rookie shortstop Sonny Jackson of the Astros, and slugger Richie Allen of the Phillies.


The New York Mets did not finish in last place for the first time in their six year history, while the cross-town Yankees did finish in last place, just their third time in their sixty-three year history.

One rule change was instituted after a bizarre play involving the Mets against the Phillies. A foul pop was hit and headed over towards the Phillies dugout, and as Mets catcher Jerry Grote attempted to catch the pop-up, Phillies manager Gene Mauch grabbed at Grote's glove, making him drop the ball. Believe it or not, this was not against the rules at the time. The rules were changed during the following off-season.

One other seemingly trivial thing happened in 1966 that would come to light many years later, and that was the Players Association hiring Marvin Miller as their Executive Director. Miller, who had previously been at the United Steelworkers of America, would become a key player in the labor issues and Free Agency battles of the 1970's.

On to the season at play.

The power rankings were as follows:
Orioles World Champion
Dodgers NL Champions
Pirates 3rd in NL
Twins 2nd in AL
Giants 2nd in NL

The Orioles stunned the baseball world by beating the Dodgers in the World Series in a four-game sweep. The baseball experts expected the Orioles bats to struggle against the Dodgers pitching, which they did. They batted just .200 for the Series. But the Dodgers batted only .142. The Dodgers scored just 2 runs in the first game, and were shutout in the remaining games. The last two games of the Series were both 1-0 games.

Let's look at the AL pitching first...

The American League pitchers were as a whole 5.7% more efficient than their national League counterparts, so lets look at the initial numbers:
Pitcher
Team
W-L
ERA
Saves
Jim Kaat
Twins
25-13
2.75
0
Earl Wilson
Red Sox/Tigers
18-11
3.07
0
Gary Peters
White Sox
12-10
1.98
0
Jack Aker
A's
8-4
1.99
32
Sonny Siebert
Indians
16-8
2.80
1
Stu Miller
Orioles
8-4
2.25
18
Tommy John
White Sox
14-11
2.62
0
Hoyt Wilhelm
White Sox
5-2
1.66
6
Steve Hargan
Indians
13-10
2.48
0
Jim Perry
Twins
11-7
2.54
0

And then against their team averages:
Earl Wilson
above



Jack Aker
above



Jim Kaat
above



Sonny Siebert
above



Lew Krausse
A's
14-9
2.99
3
Gary Peters
above



Don McMahon
Red Sox/Indians
9-8
2.69
10
Steve Hargan
above



Pete Richert
Senators
14-14
3.37
0
Denny McLain
Tigers
20-14
3.92
0


And then as they finally figure, the top 10:
Earl Wilson
14th in MVP



Jim Kaat
5th in MVP



Jack Aker
13th in MVP



Gary Peters
No votes



Sonny Siebert
28th in MVP tie



Lew Krausse
No votes



Ron Kline
Senators
6-4
2.39
23
Stu Miller
11th in MVP



Steve Hargan
No votes



Tommy John
No votes





Over in the National League we have these initial numbers:
Sandy Koufax
Dodgers
27-9
1.73
0
Juan Marichal
Giants
25-6
2.23
0
Bob Gibson
Cardinals
21-12
2.44
0
Phil Regan
Dodgers
14-1
1.62
21
Gaylord Perry
Giants
21-8
2.99
0
Jim Bunning
Phillies
19-14
2.41
0
Jim Maloney
Reds
16-8
2.80
0
Mike Cuellar
Astros
12-10
2.22
2
Joe Hoerner
Cardinals
5-1
1.54
13
Al Jackson
Cardinals
13-15
2.51
0


Against their teams, we get:
Juan Marichal
above



Jim Maloney
above



Mike Cuellar
above



Bob Gibson
above



Sandy Koufax
above



Jim Bunning
above



Dennis Ribant
Mets
11-9
3.20
3
Billy McCool
Reds
8-8
2.48
18
Bob Shaw
Mets
11-10
3.92
0
Ken Holtzman
Cubs
11-16
3.79
0
Bob Shaw combined
Giants/Mets
12-14
4.29
0

I included the combined stats for Bob Shaw, as it was his performance with the Mets that qualified him for this particular list, not his overall performance.
But speaking of overall performances, our top ten comes to this list:

Sandy Koufax
2nd in MVP, Cy Young Award



Juan Marichal
6th in MVP



Bob Gibson
no votes



Jim Maloney
23rd in MVP (tied)



Jim Bunning
no votes



Mike Cuellar
no votes



Phil Regan
7th in MVP



Gaylord Perry
18th in MVP



Billy McCool
no votes



Joe Hoerner
no votes




Of note here as well, this was a time when there was just one Cy Young Award presented per season, across both leagues. In 1966, Sandy Koufax was the unanimous choice.



Now let's look at the hitters. We have already established the Frank Robinson won the Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player award, but let's see how the rest of the league stacked up in '66. The National League had a 5.2% statistical advantage over the American League...
Player
Team
HR
RBI
AVG
OBP
SLG
Frank Robinson
Orioles
49
122
.316
.410
.637
Boog Powell
Orioles
34
109
.287
.372
.532
Al Kaline
Tigers
29
88
.288
.392
.534
Harmon Killebrew
Twins
39
110
.281
.391
.538
Tony Oliva
Twins
25
87
.307
.353
.502
Brooks Robinson
Orioles
23
100
.269
.333
.444
Norm Cash
Tigers
32
93
.279
.351
.478
Willie Horton
Tigers
27
100
.262
.321
.481
Tommie Agee
White Sox
22
86
.273
.326
.447
Tony Conigliaro
Red Sox
28
93
.265
.330
.487

Now looking at their performances against their teams performances, we get:
Frank Robinson
above





Tommie Agee
above





Harmon Killebrew
above





Fred Valentine
Senators
16
59
.276
.351
.455
Tony Oliva
above





Joe Pepitone
Yankees
31
83
.255
.290
.463
Al Kaline
above





Fred Whitfield
Indians
27
78
.241
.283
.440
Leon Wagner
Indians
23
66
.279
.334
.441
Tony Conigliaro
above






Which brings us these results:
Frank Robinson
MVP
Harmon Killebrew
4th in MVP
Tommie Agee
8th in MVP, Rookie of the Year
Boog Powell
3rd in MVP
Al Kaline
7th in MVP
Tony Oliva
6th in MVP
Tony Conigliaro
28th in MVP (tied)
Norm Cash
12th in MVP
Fred Valentine
21st in MVP
Joe Foy
Red Sox 15 63 .262 .364 .413


In the MVP voting by the BBWAA, Brooks Robinson of the Orioles finished 2nd.


Over in the National League, we start with:
Richie Allen
Phillies
40
110
.317
.396
.632
Hank Aaron
Braves
44
127
.279
.356
.539
Roberto Clemente
Pirates
29
119
.317
.360
.536
Joe Torre
Braves
36
101
.315
.382
.560
Willie Stargell
Pirates
33
102
.315
.381
.581
Willie Mays
Giants
37
103
.288
.368
.556
Ron Santo
Cubs
30
94
.312
.412
.538
Felipe Alou
Braves
31
74
.327
.361
.533
Willie McCovey
Giants
36
96
.295
.391
.586
Bill White
Phillies
22
103
.276
.352
.451

Now looking at their teams, we get:
Richie Allen
above





Willie Mays
above





Ron Santo
above





Willie McCovey
above





Orlando Cepeda
Giants/Cardinals
20
73
.301
.361
.473
Hank Aaron
above





Jim Wynn
Astros
18
62
.256
.321
.440
Roberto Clemente
above





Joe Torre
above





Billy Williams
Cubs
29
91
.276
.347
.461

I will mention this again, the reason that I like to use this particular stat is because it highlights those performers who are mired with a team that may not be as good as the upper echelon teams, and it brings those performances to light. It might make one look at those players in a different light. As in the examples above, Jimmy Wynn's Astros scored the third fewest runs in the league, so Wynn's ability to create runs was that much better than a player from an offense rich team, if that makes sense.
The same with the pitching above. Dennis Ribant and Bob Shaw both pitched for the Mets, who finished 28 ½ games out of first place, but their performances may have gone unnoticed. Ribant and Shaw combined for 22 of the Mets 66 wins, or 1/3rd of those wins

Anyway, back to the analysis at hand. Our top National League hitters were then ranked as such:
Richie Allen
4th in MVP
Hank Aaron
8th in MVP
Roberto Clemente
MVP
Willie Mays
3rd in MVP
Joe Torre
16th in MVP
Ron Santo
12th in MVP
Willie McCovey
17th in MVP
Willie Stargell
15th in MVP
Felipe Alou
5th in MVP
Billy Williams
No votes


Now, My top player and pitcher for each league would be voted this way:

AL Pitcher:
Earl Wilson


AL Hitter
Frank Robinson




NL Pitcher
Sandy Koufax


NL Player
Sandy Koufax