Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis: July 2018

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 2^nd, followed by Sosa on the 3^rd. Next would be the coveted sixty-one, which McGwire equaled on September 7^th, 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:

Pitcher	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:

Roger Clemens	Cy Young Award, 11^th in MVP
Pedro Martinez	2^nd in Cy Young, 21^st in MVP (tied)
John Wetteland	16^th in MVP (tied)
Kenny Rogers	No votes
Michael Jackson	21^st in MVP (tied)
Brian Moehler	No votes
Jamie Moyer	No votes
Mike Mussina	No votes
Rolando Arrojo	No votes
David Cone	4^th 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 400^th 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	7^th in Cy Young, 21^st in MVP (tied)
Ugueth Urbina	No votes
Trevor Hoffman	2^nd in Cy Young, 7^th in MVP (tied)
Jeff Shaw	No votes
Robb Nen	No votes
Tom Glavine	Cy Young Award, 21^st in MVP (tied)
Greg Maddux	4^th in Cy Young (tied)
John Smoltz	4^th in Cy Young (tied)
Dustin Hermanson	No votes
Kevin Brown	3^rd in Cy Young, 16^th 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	8^th in MVP vote
Jim Thome	21^st in MVP vote (tied)
Manny Ramirez	6^th in MVP vote
Juan Gonzalez	AL MVP
Nomar Garciaparra	2^nd in MVP vote
Ken Griffey, Jr.	4^th in MVP (tied)
Carlos Delgado	21^st in MVP (tied)
Bernie Williams	7^th in MVP
Alex Rodriguez	9^th in MVP vote
Mo Vaughn	4^th 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	2^nd in MVP
Mike Piazza	14^th in MVP
Sammy Sosa	NL MVP
Jason Kendall	No votes
Vladimir Guerrero	13^th in MVP
Barry Bonds	8^th in MVP
Scott Rolen	20^th in MVP
Jeff Kent	9^th in MVP (tied)
Jeff Bagwell	No votes
Gary Sheffield	No votes