May 25, 2012
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012A baseball card mystery: Ken Holtzman’s 1974 Topps cardWhether you call it gold or mustard or just plain old yellow, the color simply glows on the 1974 Topps card of the underrated Ken Holtzman. A’s owner Charlie Finley liked to refer to this color as “California Gold,” which may or may not be available at your local paint store.  By 1972, the A’s switched from a button-down, vested look to a pullover design, but retained the green and gold color scheme. They generally wore white pants, switching the jersey color from green to gold on a given day. For Sunday home games, the A’s wore all-white uniforms. Only occasionally during the 1973 and ‘74 seasons did the A’s sport the all-green or the all-gold look, the latter being quite evident on Holtzman’s 1974 card. Given the relatively few number of times that the A’s used the all-gold uniforms, I’m wondering if it’s possible to pinpoint the exact date of the game seen on the Holtzman card. We have only a few clues. The photo, presumably from the 1973 season, appears to have been taken at the Oakland Coliseum. Obviously, it is a day game. We can assume that it is not a Sunday afternoon game, due to the absence of the all-white uniforms. We also know that Reggie Jackson, seen in the background, was playing the outfield that day, most likely in right field. This might be our most challenging baseball card mystery to date. Most of the time, I’ve been confident that our sharp readers would come up with a correct answer, and they have. But this time, I’m not so sure due to the lack of information. Do we have a sufficient number of clues to pinpoint the date? Well, it’s worth a shot. 10,000 days since Carlton becomes Phillies win leader10,000 days ago (a “day-versary” as I call it), Steve Carlton made a bit of history for himself. On Sept. 14, 1984, he pitched 6.2 IP to earn a victory over the Expos. In was his 312th career victory, and more important for today’s item, it was win No. 235 with the Philadelphia Phillies. That win made him the all-time franchise leader with one more than fellow Hall of Famer Robin Roberts. Among other things, it’s the last time any of the pre-expansion franchise teams gained a new all-time franchise win leader. Of the elder 16 teams, two have an all-time winner whose career took place entirely in the deadball era: The Giants and A's with Christy Mathewson and Eddie Plank. The all-time winner for four more began in the deadball period: Detroit, Washington/Minnesota, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati had Hooks Dauss, Walter Johnson, Wilbur Cooper, and Eppa Rixey respectively. Both Chicago all-time winners pitched in the years between the world wars: Charlie Root with the Cubs, and Ted Lyons on the South Side. Cleveland’s Bob Feller also began before WWII. Among the pitchers shortly after WWII, only two are all-time franchise champions: The Braves’ Warren Spahn, and Whitey Ford. Since Whitey Ford began all-time franchise win leader in the late 1960s, only four pre-expansion franchises have changed their all-time win leader. The Orioles actually did it twice. In 1971, Dave McNally passed up previous leader Urban Shocker. Six years later, Jim Palmer surpassed McNally on his way to 268 Baltimore wins. In 1972, Bob Gibson became the all-time Cardinals leader. In 1979, Don Sutton became the all-time Dodgers leader. So it happened four times to three pre-expansion franchises in the 1970s, but since then it has only happened once, with Steve Carlton and the Phillies. Obviously, there’s one clear explanation for this: Free agency. Keeping a terrific pitcher for a prolonged period of time has gotten much harder. In fact, there have been only three pitchers who debuted in the free agency era who have won 200 games for one franchise. Andy Pettitte won 203 with the Yankees and longtime teammates Tom Glavine and John Smoltz accrued 244 and 210 wins each with the Braves. (It should be noted that Glavine won enough games to be franchise leader for most pre-expansion teams, but not the one he happened to play for.) Getting back to Steve Carlton, his franchise-record setting win was near the end of the line for him. He’d pitch another year and a half with the Phillies, posting a record of 6-16 in the process. Still, his 241 wins as a Phillie is not only their record, but it’s also tied for 14th most any pitcher has ever had with a franchise. Here’s the all-time leaderboard Wins Pitcher 417 Walter Johnson 372 Christy Mathewson 356 Warren Spahn 329 Kid Nichols 284 Eddie Plank 268 Phil Niekro 268 Jim Palmer 266 Bob Feller 260 Ted Lyons 254 Red Faber 253 Carl Hubbell 251 Bob Gibson 244 Tom Glavine 241 Steve Carlton 241 Cy Young Cy Young’s 241 wins came with the Cleveland Spiders, a team that no longer exists. But it’s not bad for Carlton to be tied with him. Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold for those who prefer to skim the list: Click for more... Monday, January 30, 2012Juan Pierre, Domonic Brown, and plansLast week, the Phillies signed Juan Pierre to a minor-league contract. Pierre’s most likely role with the club is as the fifth or sixth outfielder. His primary duty might be to pinch run when Jim Thome reaches base in the late innings. Once Ryan Howard returns from his Achilles injury—projected sometime in May—Pierre may be designated for assignment. What makes this minor move interesting is what it tells us about the Phillies’ plan for Domonic Brown. National media coverage seems to view the Pierre addition as the Phillies placing “another obstacle” in the way of Brown. This is a misunderstanding of the situation in Philadelphia. Brown appears to be behind John Mayberry Jr. , Laynce Nix, Ty Wigginton, and Pierre on the club’s left field depth chart. With the possible exception of Mayberry, these names all share one commonality—they will NEVER block a prospect. So no, Pierre does not add another obstacle for Brown to overcome. The obstacles in Brown’s path are solely personal. First and foremost, he must greatly improve his outfield defense, a task that is accomplishable but requires a lot of repetition. All aspects of his defensive presence appear to need work. His route running in Philadelphia was comical. He has a strong arm but occasionally became overzealous with his throws. He also made throws to the wrong location, demonstrating a need to improve his game awareness of base/out states. wRC+ found Brown’s offensive contributions in 2011 to be one percent above league average, and a .276 BABIP certainly did not help. However, scouts, spectators, and talking heads unanimously agree that Brown has plenty of room to work on his plate approach. Another spin with Triple-A Lehigh Valley is not likely to harm his offensive progress and will almost certainly help. And that brings us back to Pierre’s purpose. Rather than an obstacle, Pierre provides additional depth to ensure that the Phillies do not need to thrust Brown into major league duty until he is completely ready. Philadelphia has yo-yoed Brown around the past two years, and it is clear the Phillies have recognized the potentially damaging impact this could have on their prospect and have taken steps to rectify the situation. When Brown is ready—that is, when his defensive presence catches up with his tools and his bat is prepared to shoulder the burden of a left-fielder—he will walk onto the roster virtually unopposed. Friday, January 27, 2012Outfield assist of another kindIn a sense, there has been an air of spring training atmosphere around September baseball in Oakland for a while now. Only without the hope part. The weather is great. The games don’t really decide anything. And not too many watch them to start with. So, when Jeff Francoeur and his 59-83 Royals rolled into town to take on the 64-77 Athletics last September, the world wasn't exactly holding its collective breath. But what the world was thinking didn't matter one iota to the Oakland crowd, if you’ll excuse the loose use of the word. And why should it? In a sense, a September game that decides nothing is what baseball is all about. It's about watching a game with your friends, enjoying a slow-paced timeout from the pressures of the everyday life. It's about hearing the crack of the bat, watching them run, slide and dive, knowing both your players and the opponent's ones. It's about jumping up and cheering during a rally, sharing a hope for a win, even if it's only a 60th or 65th, with not too many more to come. It is also about a certain sense of intimacy: being close to the other fans, but also to the players, like in no other major sport. Where else can you have a nice chat with a relief pitcher during a game or heckle an outfielder for hours? Oakland’s "bleacher bums" can shout with the best of them. And they can drum. And they wave the flags, win or lose, against the Yankees and against the Royals alike. Say what you want about the overall attendance numbers, but the core is there, all the time, like a family. Or FANily, as they call themselves. Jeff Francoeur heard them shout, just as he did in the previous visits. But unlike most players, he didn’t pretend not to hear the good-natured ribbing. Rather, he waved back and even engaged in an occasional exchange with the fans. The message they had for him was simple - it was a Bacon Tuesday in the right field bleachers in Oakland. Because, you know, everything is better with bacon. They cooked and baked, from regular bacon to home-made chicharron with fresh cheese. All the way up to the chocolate-covered bacon. Seriously. They ate and they drummed, they shouted and had fun, they cheered and they ate some more. And when the game was over, there was a spare plate left for Jeff Francoeur. Just like that. Because Frenchy is a nice guy, they said. Francoeur seemed touched. He signed baseballs and ticket stubs, chatted with them, took the bacon, said thank you and left. But not before he made sure the same fans would be coming to the Wednesday game, too. The next day, he walked out to his position before the game, carrying a signed baseball in his hand. He spotted the familiar faces, smiled and threw the baseball over the fence. There was a hundred dollar bill rubber-tied to the baseball. And an inscription: "Beer or Bacon Dog on me. Jeff Francoeur." And then he strolled back to right field, fielded a sharp grounder by Michael Taylor and threw him out at first base.  Photo: Anson Casanares 30th anniversary: The Ryne Sandberg tradeThirty years ago today, one of the more one-sided trades of the 1980s occurred. It was one of the worst trades the Phillies ever made, and one of the best trades the Cubs ever made. At the time, the three-player transaction didn’t look like a big deal. If it was at all interesting to people, it’s because it was a challenge trades, in which the clubs swapped their veteran starting shortstops, with Chicago’s Ivan DeJesus going to the Phillies and longtime Philadelphia fixture Larry Bowa going to the Cubs. Based purely on name value, the Cubs were coming out ahead. Bowa was a five-time All-Star who had won a pair of Gold Gloves. DeJesus? Well, he’d started for each of the last five seasons and once led the league in runs (in 1978, with just 104), but that’s about it. In fact, in terms of recent performance, the gap favored Bowa by an even greater degree. In the strike-shortened 1981 season, he batted .283. Admittedly, it was with just 17 extra base hits (none of which were homers), and 26 walks. But back in those days a lot of shortstops had little to offer behind batting average. And having batting average put Bowa well ahead of DeJesus. In 1981, while playing every day, DeJesus hit a puny .194. Oh, and he had even less power than Bowa—eight doubles, four triples and zero home runs. To be fair, in 1980 they were more evenly matched at the plate. Batting average, the favored stat of the day, preferred Bowa, but DeJesus won in OPS+. In 1979, DeJesus had a far superior year at the plate, out-hitting Bowa by 42 points. And one more thing: DeJesus was several years younger than Bowa. To be precise, he was seven years and one month younger. Thus even though Bowa had the reputation and the name value and the Gold Gloves, in order to pull off the shortstop swap the Phillies had to throw in a second player. And that’s where the deal became a disaster for Philadelphia. On the face of it, the Phils sent the player they could most afford to lose. They sent Chicago a young prospect who played third base. Folks, it’s January 1982 and the Phillies are pretty well settled at third base, thank you very much. They had a guy named Mike Schmidt and he’d just won his second consecutive NL MVP Award. So the Phillies decided that if all they needed to do to get younger at shortstop was get rid of the prospect they’d never need, why not. And thus a young Ryne Sandberg joined Larry Bowa in the trade to the Cubs for Ivan DeJesus. When you describe it like that, it all makes sense. Yup, in fact many trades that work out horribly actually have a logic behind them—the results just don’t mesh with the logic. What happened was simple. Sandberg had a nice rookie season at third base in 1982, and then the Cubs decided to move him to second for 1983. He blossomed. He won a Gold Glove in his first year at second, and the next year claimed an MVP. He became a perennial All-Star from that point onward. In terms of shortstops, the trade also didn’t go the way Philadelphia wanted it to, though it wasn’t a disaster. Despite his age, Bowa actually lasted a little longer with his new team—three and a half years with Chicago while DeJesus lasted three seasons in Philadelphia. Then again, while Bowa lasted longer, he wasn’t very good. WAR considers him barely above replacement level and his batting average cracked .250 only once in Chicago; rather bad for a guy whose game was based on getting hits. But DeJesus was also a disappointment. He was never as bad as his 1981 season, but he was never as good as his 1978-79 performance. Yeah, DeJesus was a little better than Bowa, so the format for the challenge trade makes sense. To even out the trade the Phillies should’ve sent a fungible player to the Cubs alongside Bowa. But it turns out that the guy they sent over was light years above fungible. Aside from that, today many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” (which is an event occurring X-thousand days ago). Here they are. I’ll put the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to skim. Click for more... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||