Search THT:

Or you can search by:

February 10, 2012

A baseball card mystery: Ontiveros and Schmidt

If you’re a collector looking to acquire Mike Schmidt’s 1976 Topps card in mint condition, you’ll have to pay a fairly stiff price. But if you simply want Schmidt on any card from that set, and want it at a bargain rate, just pick up Steve Ontiveros’ card. The card shows Ontiveros, wearing a cap and no helmet, cutting the third base bag and making a hard charge for home. We can clearly see Schmidt off to the right, looking toward the outfield for an impending throw that may or may not be too late to record an out at the plate.

Schmidt’s presence on the card doesn’t do much for the value of a ’76 Ontiveros, but it does provide an interesting juxtaposition between a Hall of Fame player and a player of the run-of-the-mill variety. Schmidt, one of the greatest players I’ve ever had the privilege of watching, is universally regarded as the finest third baseman in the history of the major leagues. Other than striking out with some frequency, he had no tangible weakness in his diversified game.

Ontiveros, whom I also saw play, was not anywhere near that caliber, but he was not a bad player either. Also a third baseman, he put up an .813 OPS for the Cubs in 1977, batted .274 lifetime, and totaled more walks (309) than he did strikeouts (290). On the other hand, he had very little power, hitting only 24 home runs in over 2,500 plate appearances, and was not a particularly smooth fielder at the hot corner.

So if you were looking for a third baseman to play for your team in the mid-1970s, you were far more likely to end up with a Steven Robert Ontiveros than a Michael Jack Schmidt.

When two players appear on the same card, it also provides us with an opportunity for a baseball card mystery. In this case, the question is obvious: In what game was this photograph taken? And was Ontiveros safe or out at the plate? Since it’s a 1976 card, the photo was most likely taken during the 1975 season. Schmidt is wearing his home whites, so the game must have been played at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Let’s narrow it down a little further: The Giants played a grand total of six games at The Vet in 1975.

So who will be the first to come up with the answer?
Posted by: Bruce Markusen

February 08, 2012

20,000 days since Herb Score’s injury

20,000 days ago, a promising young career came to a screeching halt.

It was May 7, 1957, and the Cleveland Indians hosted the New York Yankees. On the mound for the home team was Herb Score, one of the brightest young stars in the game. Two years earlier, a then 21-year-old Score had a national coming out party, fanning 16 batters in a 4-1 victory.

In his 1955 rookie season, he went 16-10 with a league-leading 245 strikeouts. Only one other pitcher in the AL struck out over 160. He averaged 9.7 K/9 in a league that averaged 4.4.

The next year, Score was even better, enjoying his first 20-win season while leading the league in shutouts, ERA+ and, of course, strikeouts. His 263 punchouts that year were 71 more than runner up Billy Pierce.

He was so well thought of that before the 1957 season began, the rival Red Sox offered the Indians $1,000,000 for Score—and Cleveland turned down Boston. That’s how highly his team thought of him.

The early going in 1957 made the Cleveland front office look smart. In his first four games, Score was 2-1 with a 2.04 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 35.1 innings. In his wins, he’d allowed one run in 18 innings. Even in his other games he was impressive. He fanned 10 in 11 frames in his only loss, and in a no-decision he fanned 12 while recording 19 outs. Not bad.

That led up to the game occurring 20,000 days ago. Against the defending world champion Yankees, Score quickly dispatched leadoff hitter Hank Bauer on a groundout and then faced Gil McDougald.

It was the at-bat that nearly ended Score’s career and ruined his promise.

McDougald made solid contact with a Score offering and sent a screaming liner right back up the middle—and right into Score’s eye socket. He was bloodied and suffered several broken bones in his face.

Eventually Score recovered, but he would not pitch again that season. Early in 1958, it looked like he was on the way back as he threw a complete-game shutout with 13 strikeouts against the White Sox on April 23, 1958. Then, in his next start against Washington, Score injured his arm and had to change his delivery.

Was it the eye injury that ruined him or the less dramatic arm injury? Normally, the arm means the most, but how did missing 11 months due to an eye injury affect his arm strength? Score probably was headed for an arm injury even without his ghastly eye socket injury. He not only struck out a lot of batters, but he walked tons, as well. In his first start in 195,7 he was in double digits in walks and strikeouts, for instance. That’s a lot of mileage on an arm.

Regardless of what might’ve happened, what did happen is that a line drive shattered Score’s eye socket, and a once promising career never really lived up to its hope after that. And that shattering line drive happened exactly 20,000 days ago.

Oh – and there’s one little side note from that game. After Score left, Cleveland had to put veteran Bob Lemon in to pitch. He lasted the rest of the game and his 8.1 innings pitched proved to be the longest relief appearance of his career. He posted the win as the Indians topped the Yankees, 3-2.

Aside from that, plenty of other baseball events celebrate their “day-versary” or anniversary today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to just skim the list.

Click for more...

Posted by: Chris Jaffe

February 07, 2012

A baseball card mystery: Bill Sudakis and the strange light

Diehard Yankee fans of a certain age will remember Bill Sudakis. Tall, muscular, and blond-haired, Sudakis brought a defined and distinctive look to the baseball field.

He had the appearance of a California surfer. He also reminded me of the actor David Soul, who famously played Detective Ken Hutchinson in the 1970s cop drama, “Starsky and Hutch.”

As a ballplayer, Sudakis was a journeyman. At one time, he appeared to be a star third baseman in-the-making, part of a young and promising Dodgers team known as “The Mod Squad.” But the Dodgers had depth at third base and felt that Sudakis could withstand the strains of catching, so they tried him behind the plate.

Unfortunately, the Dodgers were wrong; Sudakis developed knee trouble. He also struggled in making the transition to catching, particularly when it came to throwing out opposing baserunners. In 38 games behind the plate in 1970, Sudakis threw out six percent of base stealers. That’s no misprint, six percent.

During the spring of 1972, the Dodgers tried to slip the switch-hitting Sudakis through waivers, but the Mets put in a claim, sent the waiver fee to the Dodgers, and made him part of their bench. Continuing knee problems derailed his time with the Mets, who ended up trading him to Texas.

From there, he returned to New York, this time with the Yankees, where he became a third-string catcher behind Thurman Munson and Rick Dempsey.

Sudakis' tenure with the Yankees would become memorable, not for his role as a utility man-DH, but for a vicious fistfight with Dempsey at the famed Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Late in the 1974 season, Sudakis and Dempsey engaged in a knockdown brawl, even launching pieces of hotel furniture at each other like flying projectiles. (According to one report, one of the combatants threw a lamp as if it were a javelin.)

Remarkably, neither man suffered a serious injury. A peace-loving Bobby Murcer broke up the fisticuffs, only to suffer a broken pinky finger in the process. The loss of Murcer, one of the best players on the team, ended up costing the Yankees, who were desperately trying to win the American League East on the final weekend of the season.

By the time that his 1975 Topps card came out, Sudakis was no longer a Yankee. Upset with him over his antics at the Pfister, the Yankees traded him to the Angels in a wintertime deal for relief pitcher Skip Lockwood.

Sudakis’ 1975 Topps card has always intrigued me, especially in regard to the lighting. I cannot tell whether this photograph was taken at the height of a sunny afternoon or during a night game.

At first glance, it looks like a night game, with the bright light around the plate magnified by a stanchion located up above. Topps, however, almost never took pictures of players during night games. Almost all of their photographs were taken during the daytime, either before or during afternoon games.

So perhaps this is a case of the cameraman snapping the shot of Sudakis while looking into the sun, making the light around home plate appear almost artificial in its brightness.

The other question has to do with the location. I cannot figure out which ballpark provided the setting for this photograph. I’m tempted to say Texas, or perhaps Baltimore, but I’m not sure. Or maybe it was taken in Milwaukee, the site of Sudakis’ great Yankee infamy.

So where did this take place? And was it taken during the night or the daytime?
Posted by: Bruce Markusen

20,000 days since Hank Aaron’s worst game

Everyone has their bad days on the job. Everyone has terrible days on the job. Thus it’s no surprise that the best baseball players have absolutely rotten games. And 20,000 days ago, one of the game’s best had maybe his worst game ever

It was Hammering Hank Aaron, playing for the Milwaukee Braves against the Brooklyn Dodgers on May 6, 1957.

He should’ve been feeling good heading into the day. The day before he’d gone 4-for-5 with a double and a homer. Two days before that he’d missed the cycle by a single. The day before that he’d gone 5-for-6. Yeah, that’s pretty good. But all yins must have their yang, and today would be that day for Aaron.

It started off generically enough. In the first inning, he harmlessly flew out against a 20-year-old Don Drysdale, making just his 15th big league start.

Two innings later Aaron got another chance against Drysdale. With the Braves trailing 3-1 and a runner on first, Aaron represented the tying run. However, this time he helplessly fanned on four pitches. Well, it’s not an ideal start but he still had plenty of time left.

In the fifth, it was still a 3-1 Dodger leader when Aaron came up in a crucial situation. The Braves had two on and two out against a struggling Drysdale. This was Aaron's chance to do some damage. He quickly fell behind, no balls to two strikes, but then battled Drysdale for several pitches evening the count. Then Aaron hit one into play – only to see it turn into an inning-ending double play. No, that can’t be what he hoped would happen.

Later, in the seventh, Aaron came up a fourth time against Drysdale, and again it was a crucial situation. It proved to be the highlight of Aaron’s day. With runners on second and third and two out, Drysdale pitched around Aaron, walking him to load the bases. The Dodgers went to their bullpen and got out of the jam.

And on the game went. In the ninth, Aaron came up for the fifth time on the day. At this point, the game was tied 3-3 and Milwaukee had the winning run on first base with two out. Aaron couldn’t help him though, and an easy fly out ended the inning. To date, he’d come up with six runners on base, advanced none, and driven in none. He’d also ended two innings.

But the game went into extra innings, and wouldn’t you know it—in the 11th inning Aaron came up. (As it happens, it’s the sixth straight odd-numbered inning for him to appear in.) Again there were runners on base—first and second this time—and again there were two outs. Aaron grounded out to second base to end the inning. He was now 0-for-5 on the day with a walk.

Both teams scored once in the 12th, and the game soldiered on. It wouldn’t be an odd-numbered inning without an Aaron appearance, and sure enough he came up with two out and a runner on first in the 13th frame. This time he meekly tapped one back to pitcher Roger Craig for the ground out.

A Dodger homer in the 14th ensured there wouldn’t be another chance for Aaron to come up.

Here was Aaron’s day: seven times up, one walk, but no hits in seven plate appearances. There was at least one runner on base in six of his seven plate appearances – nine runners hoping to score in all. None of them scored, and Aaron never advanced a single one. He ended four separate innings with an out.

Yeah, that’s a bad day. He’d have four other 0-for-6 games, but this was the only one in which he also hit into a double play along the way. In all but one of them he also drew a walk (and in the remaining game he reached base on error, stole a base, and scored a run). In all, it was a perfectly miserable day that saw him blow multiple chances to help his team win.

But, being Hank Aaron, the day’s disappointment left no lingering effect. The next day he was 2-for-4 with a triple. He wound up winning the NL MVP that year.

Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to skim.

Click for more...

Posted by: Chris Jaffe

February 03, 2012

10,000 days: 500th homer for Mr. October

Ten thousand days ago, Reggie Jackson made a bit of baseball history for himself. On Sept. 17, 1984, the most feared slugger of his generation did something long expected of him, bashing his 500th career home run.

It came in the seventh inning off current Padres manager Bud Black. It was the only bad pitch Black threw that night, as he led the Royals to an easy 10-1 win over Jackson’s Angels.

That shot, though, made Jackson the 13th member of the 500 home run club. There are currently 25 members, so exactly as many men have joined the club since Reggie Jackson did as joined it before him.

Perhaps you wouldn’t expect that. After all, there have been only 27 seasons since Jackson hit No. 500. But it’s worth noting there have been nearly as many homers hit from Opening Day 1985 as beforehand. In those last 27 seasons, baseball has had 120,775 homers, which is 46 percent of all homers hit in baseball history.

Then again, maybe you would expect there to be that many homers hit in recent times. There is expansion, PEDs, and possibly juiced ball (league-wide home rates went up rather oddly prior to the 1998 home run race and all that).

It’s also worth noting that the upsurge in members of the 500 home run club actually isn’t a new thing. It also happened during Jackson’s career. A month before Jackson debuted, Mickey Mantle became the sixth member of the club. Four years and four months later, Frank Robinson became the 11th member. The club more than doubled in five seasons with Mantle, Robinson, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, Harmon Killebrew and Hank Aaron all joining it. And Willie Mays entered the club just a little before them, too.

As for Reggie, he ended his career with 563 dingers. His favorite victim was former White Sox knuckleballer Wilbur Wood, who surrendered eight blasts to Jackson.

Jackson’s 563 home runs included 10 walk-off homers and four inside-the-park shots. In fact, one homer was both a walk-off and an inside-the-park homer. That came against Boston’s Sonny Siebert in the second game of a doubleheader on Aug. 22, 1971. It was the last of his career inside-the-park homers.

Jackson also belted six pinch-hit homers in his career. Two of them were grand slams. Once pinch-hit slam came off Chicago’s Terry Forster on Aug. 22, 1976—exactly five years after his inside-the-park walk-off blast. Reggie really liked Aug. 22, I suppose. In all, he blasted 11 slams, pinch-hit or otherwise.

Despite that, according to WPA, his clutchest home run was neither a grand slam nor a walk-off home run. It was a three-run homer in the top of the ninth with two outs and his Angels trailing Toronto 6-4 on June 18, 1983. That gave California a 7-6 lead and gave Jackson a value of 0.724 WPA with one swing.

It’s interesting that his best WPA home run would come against a Blue Jay. In general Jackson had trouble homering off Toronto pitchers. He faced longtime Blue Jay Jim Clancy 62 times without ever homering against him. That’s the most plate appearances he ever had against a pitcher without a homer. The runner-up with 55 PA is Dave Stieb, Clancy’s longtime teammate.

Regardless, Jackson did get to 500 homers, and it happened exactly 10,000 days ago.

Aside from that, many other events celebrate their anniversary or “day-versary” today. Here they are, with the better ones in bold if you’d prefer to just skim the list.

Click for more...

Posted by: Chris Jaffe


Click here for more THT Notes.