Sunday, July 8, 2018

1998...Power...wins...and pitching


1998…Power, Wins and Pitching

                When you ask someone about the 1998 baseball season, most will immediately think of the home run record chase, with Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Some may even remember that Ken Griffey Jr. was in that conversation for most of the summer.
                A few may even mention the New York Yankees winning one hundred twenty-five games when the season was said and done. Or that expansion had taken place again. Or that for the first time in the modern era, a team switched leagues. Or that the ‘interim’ commissioner allowed the defending World Series Champions to dismantle his team, going from the championship to one hundred eight losses at the end of the year.
                Or, that six teams won ninety or more games, three of them over one hundred. But only one of the hundred plus win teams made the World Series. Or that inter-league play would continue in its second season. Or that attendance increased overall, because of a few factors. The homers, obviously, but also a renewed interest in Boston, where the Dominican populace from the Jamaica Plain neighborhood began attending games regularly, mostly to support Sox ace Pedro Martinez, who was acquired that previous off-season from Montreal.
                Yes, all of this went on, and more…

                The biggest story, obviously, was that heroic home run chase to catch Roger Maris’ all time single season record of sixty-one homers, which was a contentious record. Commissioner Ford Frick, who was a loyal friend to Babe Ruth, decreed that Maris’ record of sixty-one was accomplished during a season that had seven more games, and that Ruth’s record would stand, and Maris’ would carry an asterisk.
                The asterisk was later removed, but there was a bitterness between Maris and the baseball establishment that lingered long past his playing days.
                The nation was spellbound, and watching the sports highlight shows every morning to see how the three sluggers fared. McGwire in St. Louis and Sosa in Chicago had the slight media advantage over Griffey in Seattle. The Midwest games, for the most part, were over in time for the eleven o’clock news, and the newscasts would tease the homers in the highlights. Griffey, playing on the coast, was sometimes missed in the nightly recaps, but all three were fodder for the morning sport clips programs.

                Griffey’s power numbers began to fade, and while he did finish with fifty-six homers, becoming the second player to homer fifty times in consecutive seasons (McGwire being the other) he was almost an afterthought when the season was over.
                As was another west coast slugger, Greg Vaughn of that Padres. Vaughn also hit fifty homers, marking the first time that there were four fifty homer performances in the same season.

                But…being in the National League, the first hurdle would be Hack Wilson’s National League record of fifty-six homers, set in 1930. Wilson’s league record outlasted Ruth’s original record of sixty in 1927. McGwire was the first to fifty-seven, on September 2nd, followed by Sosa on the 3rd. Next would be the coveted sixty-one, which McGwire equaled on September 7th, and passing it the next night, against Sosa’s Cubs, and with the Maris family in attendance.

                After hitting number sixty-two, McGwire went into the stands and embraced the Maris’, with very few dry eyes to be seen. He then embraced Sammy Sosa on the field, saluted the crowd, and after the long delay, continued the game.


                Sosa would also catch and pass Maris, but it would be several days later. McGwire finished with the new magical number of seventy home runs, and Sosa would finish with sixty-six, the new standard for a runner-up for the home run crown in a season. McGwire’s record would last for just a couple of years, but more on that later.
                During the epic run, the media requests and expectations were very oppressive, even more than what Roger Maris felt during his run at Ruth in 1961. Maris famously reported losing his hair due to the stress he incurred. During one of these interview sessions, an Associated Press writer named Steve Wilstein observed a small brown bottle in McGwire’s locker.
                Sitting on the top shelf of Mark McGwire's locker, next to a can of Popeye spinach and packs of sugarless gum, is a brown bottle labeled Androstenedione.
                For more than a year, McGwire says, he has been using the testosterone-producing pill, which is perfectly legal in baseball but banned in the NFL, Olympics and the NCAA.
No one suggests that McGwire wouldn't be closing in on Roger Maris' home run record without the over-the-counter drug. After all, he hit 49 homers without it as a rookie in 1987, and more than 50 each of the past two seasons.
But the drug's ability to raise levels of the male hormone, which builds lean muscle mass and promotes recovery after injury, is seen outside baseball as cheating and potentially dangerous.

                Should this have raised red flags? Yes. Did it? Well, sort of. The supplement was technically legal at the time that he was taking it. People were rooting for Big Mac, and seemed to allow the indiscretions, which weren’t illegal according to the rules.
                But…
                There was a hypothesis that the bottle in his locker, in plain sight, was a ruse, that he was using other substances, more salacious, and not as permissible by the league. But I have no way of verifying that.
                In hindsight, maybe more should have been done, as both Sosa and McGwire’s reputations have been sullied by the allegations and suppositions of steroid use have plagued them. And neither one of them have done much to help clear their names these twenty years later.
                The steroid use and abuse that has plagued our beautiful game was running rampant through the game during this time. Padres infielder Ken Caminiti was open about his use of steroids purchased in Tijuana in 1986, and his use helped him win the National League Most Valuable Player Award that season.

Another factor which may have been lost in the wash was the league’s expansion by two teams. The stretched talent level, as the new teams began play, bringing pitchers into the majors who ay not have been ready, could easily explain the influx of power. After all, the American League expansion in 1961 coincided with Roger Maris’ overtaking Ruth’s magical sixty homers.
But, the reality was that the homeruns overall didn’t necessarily rise in 1998. Well, they did a little. The 1998 had each team averaging 168.4 homers. In 1997, that number was 165.7, for the first year of inter-league play. So, a small increase. But, in 1996, the average was 177.3 homers per team.
The assimilation of ‘lesser talented pitchers’ into the leagues didn’t really have the negative impact on the overall pitching. But there were some very solid pitching performances that swung the pendulum away from the offense, especially in the American League. The AL pitchers performed at an 11.9% statistical advantage over the offense. The National League hitters held a 5.7% edge over the NL pitchers. But overall, it was the pitching that held a 2.9 % advantage over the hitters.

The top pitching teams in each league were:
American League
National League
Yankees
Braves
Red Sox
Astros
Blue Jays
Padres

While the top offensive teams were:
Yankees
Astros
Rangers
Giants
Red Sox
Rockies

And speaking of expansion, there were the two new teams added, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Tampa franchise was allowed to join the American League, hoping to capitalize on the large Yankee and Red Sox fan base that now populate the area. An interesting concept, to use your opponents as a draw for your ballclub, but in a way, the New York Mets did something similar in 1962, by drafting and acquiring many former New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers players. The Devil Rays also made free agent signings of locally raised players, namely Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff.
The Diamondbacks, led by owner Jerry Colangelo, were promised a National League franchise. With the total teams now numbering thirty, fifteen apiece in each league would lead to wide=spread interleague play. Essentially, there would have to be inter-league games played every day of the schedule in order to work.
Instead, interim commissioner Bud Selig decided to move the Milwaukee Brewers to the National League. That is, his team, the Milwaukee Brewers. That is, his former team, since he had turned control of his team over to his daughter, while he formally accepted the Commissionership.
When Selig championed the cause to bring baseball to Milwaukee after the franchise moved to Atlanta, Bud maintained that Milwaukee was a National League town. After the expansion Seattle Pilots went belly-up just prior to the 1970 season, Selig and his partners swooped in and purchased the franchise and moved them to Milwaukee to become the Brewers. So late in the pre-season were they, that they played 1970 as an American League West team. They switched with the Chicago White Sox for 1971, moving to the American League East, where they stayed until 1994, where they became an AL Central team. And, in an unprecedented move, became a National League Central team for the 1998 season. The first team to play in four different divisions.

Prior to Selig, Fay Vincent was baseball’s commissioner, having succeeded Bart Giamatti. One of Vincent’s downfalls was his belief that the commissioner should act in the ‘best interest of baseball’ in his dealings. That didn’t sit well with the owners, who bristled at some of his rulings that didn’t work in their favor. He was essentially forced out of office.
I mention this because when Bowie Kuhn was the commissioner, there were some instances of his voiding player transactions that he felt would have an impact on the competitive balance throughout the leagues. Using the ‘best interest of baseball’ as his codicil, this caused a few cases of lawsuit threats and trade debacles.      
He denied, for example, Oakland A’s owner Charles Finley’s attempt to sell pitcher Rollie Fingers and outfielder Joe Rudi to the Boston Red Sox in a straight up cash deal. (A quick google search can find the two players in Boston uniforms that they donned later that afternoon, only to be put ‘on hold’, and returned back to Oakland later that evening.)

Had there been an acting commissioner, one who followed the tenets set down by their predecessors, what happened in Miami would not have been allowed.
Florida Marlins owner, Wayne Huizinga, opened his checkbook, and started investing in high priced talent, however he could get it, to make a run at the 1997 World Series. He was successful, but when it came time to balance the books, he had allegedly over spent his budget by an estimated fifty million dollars.
So, he had a sale. So, to speak. He began trading his salary heavy veteran players to the highest bidder, or teams that could and would pick up the higher salaries. Among those he traded away were Gary Sheffield, Charles Johnson and Al Leiter. In their trade with the Dodgers, they received Todd Zeile and Mike Piazza in return. Both would be gone by September. Piazza was traded within a week.
It was clear what the Marlins were doing, but there was no executive or administrator that would stop them. The went from the World Championship to losing one hundred eight games, the biggest fall from grace for a World Series Champion from one year to the next.

The big news from Baltimore was a benching. Iron Man Cal Ripken Jr. decided that he needed a rest and took himself out of the lineup in a game against the New York Yankees, in an unpublicized move decided shortly before the game started. Once the Yankee team realized that Ripken was out of the lineup, after 2,632 consecutive games, their team stood at the top of the dugout steps an applauded Ripken.

Ryan Minor became the answer to the trivia question, who replaced Cal.

The Yankees, Braves and Astros each won more than a hundred games, the Red Sox, Cubs and Padres each won ninety games or more. The Yankees and Padres would be each league’s eventual champion. Had the divisional realignment not changed in 1994, and no Wild Card introduce, the Padres would have been a third-place team, behind the Braves and Astros.
The Yankees, who won one hundred-fourteen regular season games, then swept Texas in the three game Divisional Series, struggled early against Cleveland, but came back to win the Championship Series four games to two, and then swept the Padres in the Fall Classic. One hundred twenty-five wins in all, which puts the 1998 Yankees among the All-Time greatest teams.
Just as dominant was the Atlanta Braves, who won a team record one hundred six games, but faltered in the post season. It marked the seventh straight playoff appearances (in an eventual fourteen straight) for Bobby Cox’s Braves.
However, they hold the record for the most wins by a team to not make the World Series.
The final ‘power rankings’ were as follows:
Yankees
World Champions
Braves
NL East Champion
Astros
NL Central Champion
Padres
National League Champions
Red Sox
AL Wild Card

Pitching was the Braves strong suit, becoming the first team with five different pitchers to win fifteen or more games in a season, also the first with five pitchers with one hundred fifty or more strikeouts as well.
                But they had some offense as well, becoming just the third team to have four different players hit thirty or more homers in a season, and the team homered in twenty-five consecutive games which se a new National League record.

The season got off to a good start. As a sign of things to come, Mark McGwire hit a Grand Slam for the Cardinals. As inauspicious as it seemed, in the long history of the franchise, it was their first Opening Day Grand Slam.

The New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies participated in the longest scoreless Opening Day in National League history, with the Mets eventually winning 1-0 in fourteen innings.

In other points of interest during the 1998 season:

In the minors, the Indianapolis Indians performed a home run cycle in one inning against the Pawtucket Red Sox. Pete Rose, Jr hit a solo home run, Jason Williams hit a three-run home run, Glenn Murray hit a Grand Slam home run, And Guillermo Garcia hit a two-run homer. All in the fifth inning of an 11-4 victory.

The Wendelstadt family, father Harry and son Hunter became the first father/son due to umpire a Major League game.

Toronto Blue Jays ace Roger Clemens won the pitching Triple Crown for the second straight season, joining Yankee legend Lefty Gomez as the only other American League pitcher to do it in consecutive years. Sandy Koufax is the only other to accomplish the feat.

Montreal Expos manager Felipe Alou won his five hundredth game for the club. The starting pitcher in that game was Dustin Hermanson, who was the starting pitcher in Alou’s four hundredth win, and his four hundred fiftieth win.

Los Angeles Dodger manager Bill Russell didn’t finish the season, being fired midway. He became the first Dodger manager to be fired during the season since Burt Shotton in 1948.

Dodger (and future Marlin and Met) Mike Piazza became just the fifth player to hit a Grand Slam homer in consecutive games.


Orioles catcher Chris Hoiles became the ninth player to hit two Grand Slam homers in the same game but remains the only catcher to do this.



The Kansas City Royals defeated the Oakland A’s 16-6. They became the first team since 1949 to score a run in every inning.

San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds became the founding member of the 400/400 Club, 400 homers and stolen bases.

Also, in a game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the bases loaded, Bonds was issued an intentional walk to force in a run, it was just the fourth time in history that had been done, and the first since 1944.

On a ‘Beanie Baby” giveaway promotion, Yankee left David "Boomer" Wells pitched a perfect game. The Beanie Baby fad was in full effect, and there were reports of hundreds of fans going through the turnstiles to get their beanie, and then leave the stadium, never seeing the game.

Wells became the first Yankee to throw a perfect game since Don Larsen did so during the 1956 World Series. The irony is not only being Wells and Larsen both raised in San Diego, they both attended Point Loma High School. The trivia geek in me wants to point out that Point Loma High School has the record for the most alumni to throw a major league perfect game.

 Seattle Mariners superstar Ken “Junior” Griffey, Jr. became the third player to hit fifty homers and steal twenty bases in a season. The other two, well one is a no brainer, and the other is a surprise: Willie Mays and Brady Anderson.

Mariner’s catcher Dan Wilson hit an inside the park Grand Slam home run. It was the first one in team history.

Colorado Rockies third baseman Vinny Castilla tallied 380 total bases, the record for that position. 

And teammate Ellis Burks homered in his thirty-third major league stadium.

Pirates catcher Jason Kendall, who at points became the rare catcher to bat in the lead-off position, set a new National League record with twenty-six stolen bases for that position.

In Oakland, Rickey Henderson lead the league in stolen bases for his twelfth and last time.

Cubs twenty-year old rookie pitcher Kerry Wood was already making people take notice when he struck out twenty batters while pitching a one-hitter. He tied with Bob Feller as the only pitchers to strike out as many batters as their age. Feller once struck out seventeen batters at seventeen years old.

Before the Cubs became concerned with the wear on his pitching arm and shut Wood down, he amassed the third highest strikeout total by a rookie, behind Dwight Gooden and Hideo Nomo.

Houston Astro Craig Biggio totaled 50 doubles and 50 stolen bases. This was the first time that had been done since Tris Speaker accomplished in in 1912.

The Astros did manage to swing a big trade, landing Randy “Big Unit” Johnson in a trade with the Mariners. Johnson would go 10-1 in eleven games, with an Earned Run Average of just 1.28 for the Astros, which help carry them into the playoffs. Between the Mariners and Astros, Johnson struck out three hundred twenty-nine batters, which is the record for a pitcher that was traded mid-season.

Now to the statistical breakdown, looking at the American League pitching first, our initial top ten list is:
Team
W-L
Svs
ERA
Roger Clemens
Blue Jays
20-6
0
2.65
Pedro Martinez
Red Sox
19-7
0
2.89
David Cone
Yankees
20-7
0
3.55
Orlando Hernandez
Yankees
12-4
0
3.13
David Wells
Yankees
18-4
0
3.49
Michael Jackson
Indians
1-1
40
1.55
Mariano Rivera
Yankees
3-0
36
1.91
John Wetteland
Rangers
3-1
42
2.03
Kenny Rogers
A’s
16-8
0
3.17
Tom Gordon
Red Sox
7-4
46
2.72

And then as compared to their team pitching numbers, we get this list:
Brian Moehler
Tigers
14-13
0
3.90
Kenny Rogers
Above



Roger Clemens
Above



John Wetteland
Above



Jamie Moyer
Mariners
15-9
0
3.53
Rolando Arrojo
Devil Rays
14-12
0
3.56
Mike Mussina
Orioles
13-10
0
3.49
Michael Jackson
Above



Doug Brocail
Tigers
5-2
0
2.73
Pedro Martinez
above




Our overall top ten pitchers in the American League were:
Cy Young Award, 11th in MVP
Pedro Martinez
2nd in Cy Young, 21st in MVP (tied)
John Wetteland
16th in MVP (tied)
Kenny Rogers
No votes
Michael Jackson
21st in MVP (tied)
Brian Moehler
No votes
Jamie Moyer
No votes
Mike Mussina
No votes
Rolando Arrojo
No votes
David Cone
4th in Cy Young

Rolando Arrojo, a thirty-two-year old rookie who defected from Cuba in 1996. He won a Gold Medal in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He holds the distinction of allowing the 400th career home run to Cal Ripken, Jr. and Ken Griffey, Jr.


In the National League, I have decided to add Randy Johnson to the rankings, as he pitched as many, or more innings than most relievers, while pitching just two months with the Astros. His impact on the team was enormous, and as such, should be reflected in the rankings.

Others thought his impact was enough to garner several post-season award votes in the National League.
So, the initial National League pitcher rankings are:
Randy Johnson
Astros
10-1
0
1.28
Tom Glavine
Braves
20-6
0
2.47
Greg Maddux
Braves
18-9
0
2.22
John Smoltz
Braves
17-3
0
2.90
Trevor Hoffman
Padres
4-2
53
1.48
Kevin Brown
Padres
18-7
0
2.38
Ugueth Urbina
Expos
6-3
34
1.30
Robb Nen
Giants
7-7
40
1.52
Jeff Shaw
Reds/Dodgers
2-4
48
1.81
Rick Reed
Mets
16-11
0
3.48

And against their teams, that list is:
Randy Johnson
Above



Ugueth Urbina
Above



Matt Mantei
Marlins
3-4
9
2.96
Dustin Hermanson
Expos
14-11
0
3.13
Curt Schilling
Phillies
15-14
0
3.25
Jeff Shaw
Above



Robb Nen
Above



Pete Harnisch
Reds
14-7
0
3.14
Omar Daal
Diamondbacks
8-12
0
2.88
Andy Benes
Arizona
3-4
30
3.01

                The overall top ten pitchers in the NL were:
Randy Johnson
7th in Cy Young, 21st in MVP (tied)
Ugueth Urbina
No votes
Trevor Hoffman
2nd in Cy Young, 7th in MVP (tied)
Jeff Shaw
No votes
Robb Nen
No votes
Tom Glavine
Cy Young Award, 21st in MVP (tied)
Greg Maddux
4th in Cy Young (tied)
John Smoltz
4th in Cy Young (tied)
Dustin Hermanson
No votes
Kevin Brown
3rd in Cy Young, 16th in MVP

Ugueth Urbina is an interesting figure. First, he is the only major league player with the initials UU. Add his middle name of Urtain, and we get UUU. He pitched for a few season, leading the National League in saves in 1999, and winning a World Series ring with the Marlins in 2003.
Venezuelan born, he had to deal with the kidnapping of his mother, who was held for a reported six-million-dollar ransom. Urbina and his family refused to pay the ransom, and the mother was rescued during a paramilitary operation several weeks later.
After his retirement, Urbina confronted five farm workers on his property, and accused them of stealing a gun. He attacked the men with a machete and tried to douse them with gasoline. He was arrested, tried and convicted of attempted murder, and served seven years in prison.


Now, looking at the American League hitters, who held a cumulative 8.1% advantage over the National Leaguers, our initial top ten list is as follows:
Player
Team
HR
RVI
AVG
Juan Gonzalez
Rangers
45
157
.318
Albert Belle
White Sox
49
152
.328
Jim Thome
Indians
30
85
.293
Manny Ramirez
Indians
45
145
.294
Bernie Williams
Yankees
26
97
.339
Nomar Garciaparra
Red Sox
35
122
.323
Ken Griffey, Jr.
Mariners
56
146
.284
Carlos Delgado
Blue Jays
35
115
.292
Alex Rodriguez
Mariners
42
124
.310
Tino Martinez
Yankees
28
123
.281

Then, as compared to their team’s offensive averages, we get this top ten list:
Albert Belle
Above



Jim Thome
Above



Manny Ramirez
Above



Carlos Delgado
Above



Ken Griffey, Jr.
Above



Nomar Garciaparra
Above



Fred McGriff
Devil Rays
19
81
.289
Dean Palmer
Royals
34
119
.278
Jeff King
Royals
24
93
.263
Mo Vaughn
Red Sox
40
115
.337

                Consolidating, compiling and analyzing brings us this top ten overall American League offensive performers:
Albert Belle
8th in MVP vote
Jim Thome
21st in MVP vote (tied)
Manny Ramirez
6th in MVP vote
Juan Gonzalez
AL MVP
Nomar Garciaparra
2nd in MVP vote
Ken Griffey, Jr.
4th in MVP (tied)
Carlos Delgado
21st in MVP (tied)
Bernie Williams
7th in MVP
Alex Rodriguez
9th in MVP vote
Mo Vaughn
4th in MVP (tied)

Over to the National League, where records were falling, our initial offensive top ten list is:
Mark McGwire
Cardinals
70
147
.299
Sammy Sosa
Cubs
66
158
.308
Barry Bonds
Giants
37
122
.303
Jeff Bagwell
Astros
34
111
.304
Mike Piazza
Dodgers/Marlins/Mets
32
111
.328
Jeff Kent
Giants
31
128
.297
Larry Walker
Rockies
23
67
.363
Vinny Castilla
Rockies
46
144
.319
Moises Alou
Astros
38
124
.312
Chipper Jones
Braves
34
107
.313

Then, against their teams, we get:
Mark McGwire
Above



Mike Piazza
Above



Vladimir Guerrero
Expos
38
109
.324
Jason Kendall
Pirates
12
75
.327
Gary Sheffield
Marlins/Dodgers
22
85
.302
Scott Rolen
Phillies
31
110
.290
Rondell White
Expos
17
58
.300
Kevin Young
Pirates
27
108
.270
Barry Bonds
Above



Greg Vaughn
Padres
50
119
.272

This brings our overall top offensive National Players to:
Mark McGwire
2nd in MVP
Mike Piazza
14th in MVP
Sammy Sosa
NL MVP
Jason Kendall
No votes
Vladimir Guerrero
13th in MVP
Barry Bonds
8th in MVP
Scott Rolen
20th in MVP
Jeff Kent
9th in MVP (tied)
Jeff Bagwell
No votes
Gary Sheffield
No votes

In each league, my tope five overall performers were:
American League
               

Roger Clemens
Player of the Year


Albert Belle
Offensive Player of the Year

Jim Thome
Manny Ramirez
Juan Gonzalez

National League


Mark McGwire
Player of the Year


Randy Johnson
Pitcher of the Year

Mike Piazza
Sammy Sosa
Ugueth Urbina