Stan Musial - The Best Man Who Ever Played a Baseball Game

When I was just a young kid my father (May he rest in peace) taught me about baseball. He told me so much about the old-timers that I felt like I knew them. Of all the players on all of the teams, Stan Musial was without peer to him.

I use to marvel at his "corkscrew" stance and hear Dad tell me all the stories he knew about him. He told me about Musial getting five home runs in a double-header, quite a feat and still a record I believe. Musial was a genuine baseball Hall of Famer if there ever was one. He was a slugger, belting 475 HR and adding 1951 RBI. His career slash line is a ridiculous .331/.417/.559. His career OPS+ was 159. 15th on the all time list.

If You Thought The Terrace at Crosley Field Was Steep, Look Here!

I wrote an article the other day on the Blog Red Machine and in it I mentioned that sometimes I wax sentimental about the ol' park Crosley Field. I love to look at old photos of it how the terrace dares newcomers to commence the uphill battle.

It was really something, and it got me to thinking there must be other parks like that somewhere. Hold on to your hats. Look at this photo of Sulphur Dell




Now that is what you call a terrace. A website says this about the ol' park.

"Right field was patrolled by "mountain goats", not because the players had long chin hair or bucked anyone, but because right field rose on an incline of 25 feet, beginning gradually behind first then rising at a 45-degree angle for 224 feet. The hill leveled off for a 10-foot-wide shelf then continued to rise to the fence. Fielders played on this shelf. When there was an overflow capacity, rope was set up behind the shelf and fans sat on the incline that led to the fence. This reduced the distance to right field from 262 feet to 235 feet."

Still Upset at the BBWAA Voters

In two editorials I posted this past week (click here and here) concerning the deficiency of the Hall of Fame selection process, I scathed the writers and the system pretty harshly. I make no apologies, I only wish to pour gasoline onto the flame that I ignited by calling for an end to voting entirely.

One of the ordinances in the selection system allows a retiree to be on the ballot for 15 years providing he garners five percent of the votes. I want to talk about that for a moment. Firstly, why should a player remain on a ballot for a decade and a half? Should the voter's opinion of him warm as he simmers on the back burner? Do his career numbers accrue interest over the years? I have never understood that.

Jim Rice was elected in 2009 after marinading for those said 15 years. Well actually 14 since he was taken in the eleventh hour. What happened to make him unacceptable for oh so many years, and then with public outcry and media sentiments he is suddenly HOF material? Did he get to be a better player? Do his highlight reels seem more, I don't know...Hall of Famey? Of course not.

How about the poor bast**ds who get thrown under the bus after the first ballot, second ballot or whenever? Do their numbers decrease in value?

Another sticking point I have with the system is that a voter can pull the lever on only 10 men. Why 10? Why not the entire ballot if he deems them worthy? There is so much wrong with such an electorate as this. It is ridiculous on so many levels.

These are just some of the problems that are associated with voting, procedures and popular opinion. The only thing that should matter, providing a player has not been banned from the game (Sorry Pete, Shoeless Joe), is what their numbers say about their career. End of story.

Baselines or benchmarks, if you will, need to be determined (and I don't mean just using a player's WAR) using several different statistics. Contradictory to what Sabrmetricians say, one stat or metric can not justify an entire career. For example, Bobby Grich has a higher WAR than Barry Larkin, Ryne Sandburg, Manny Ramirez and Eddie Murray, and other great players. Was he better? That was a rhetorical question.

Until the ship is righted, the entire voting process is a sham and a disgrace to the Hall of Fame.

 

 

Cincinnati Reds All-Decade Team - The 1960's

This is the second installment of my selecting All-Decade teams for the Reds for the last half of the 20th Century. Here is the link to the fifties' decade team.

The sixties was a better time to be a Reds fan than the previous decade. The Reds went to the World Series in '61 and were blown out in five games by the New York Yankees. That was the year that Roger Maris hit 61 HR and Mickey Mantle added 54. What a year for home runs!

In '62 the first of the expansions came and the National League went from eight to 10 teams. The New York Mets and the Houston Colt 45's were added and the league stayed that way until the regional divisions were established. The Reds were thrown into the National League's West Division, where they finished third in their inaugural season there.

It was also the last decade the Reds would play in Crosley Field. They would make the move to the cookie cutter ballpark, known as Riverfront Stadium in 1970. During the sixties the Reds record was 860 up and 742 down. They only had two losing seasons although they didn't return to the postseason after the '61 pennant-winning season.

Now let us move on to the All-Decade team. We will begin behind the plate.

The catcher of the decade was Johnny Edwards. He played in seven of the 10 seasons and although he shared the decade with Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, the latter only played three seasons. I am sure he will make up for it in the seventies (wink, wink). Edwards represented the Queen City well as he went to the All-Star game in '63,'64 and '65 and won two Gold Gloves. Edwards was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals prior to the '68 season for Pat Corrales and Jimy Williams.

At first base the first person who probably rings a bell for you is Tony Perez. In this decade he was with the Reds from '64-'69. Had he played all of his games, or even most of them, he would probably be the first baseman. He is not. That honor goes to the late Gordy Coleman, one of my favorite players of that time. Coleman played with the Reds from 1960-67.  In 1961-62 he averaged 31 HR and 98 RBI per 162 games.

In 1963 we saw the emergence of the future hits leader in MLB, Pete Rose.  He began his career on a high note winning the Rookie-of-the-Year award at second base. Although he played several different positions during this decade, most of the time was at 2B. From '63-'69 Rose had 200+ hits four of the seven campaigns. He was a four-time All-Star during the sixties and he finished second in MVP voting in 1968 and fourth in '69, and won one Gold Glove.

 



Tony Perez played for Cincinnati from '64-'69. He was on three All-Star squads and from '67-'69. Perez averaged 28 HR and 108 RBI. Perez played mostly at 3B during this decade however he did spend some time at first.

 



The shortstop of the decade  goes to Leo Cardenas. He played with the Reds from '60-'68 at which time he was traded to the Twins for left-hander Jim Merritt. Cardenas was an All-Star for four years and won a Gold Glove. In 1964 he led the National League by playing in 163 games.

 

 

In the outfield I have one holdover from the previous decade. Frank Robinson stayed with the Reds until being traded prior to the '66 season to the Baltimore Orioles for Milt Pappas, et al. Robby went on to promptly win the Triple Crown and become the first man to win the MVP award in the American and National Leagues. During the sixties with the Reds, he was a three-time All-Star and won one MVP award. He averaged 35 HR, 116 RBI and batted .306/.399/.562 and sported an OPS+ of 159.



 

Vada Pinson who came on late in the fifties had a very good tenure with the Reds. He played there until being traded prior to the '69 season to the Cardinals for Wayne Granger and Bobby Tolan. He was an All-Star in '60 won a Gold Glove and finished third in MVP voting in '61 behind winner, teammate Frank Robinson and Orlando Cepeda. From '62-65 Pinson averaged 24 HR and 99 RBI. He had over 200 hits three different times  and batted over .300 three times as well. In '61 he batted .343/.379/.504. He also led the league in hits twice and in doubles twice.



Tommy Harper is the third outfielder for the sixties. He began playing the hot corner but soon gravitated to the outfield. He came up with the Reds in '62 and played until being traded to the Indians after the '67 season. He led the league in runs scored with 126 in 1965.

Finally we come down to the ace of the decade. There were some very good pitchers wearing a Reds uniform in the sixties, including Jim O'Toole, Bob Purkey, Joey Jay, Milt Pappas, etc. The one who overshadowed them all was Jim Maloney. He was an All-Star in 1965, was a 20+ game winner twice and still holds the franchise record for strikeouts with 1592 (1585 during the sixties). Malone threw two no-hitters in the sixties, one of them was a 10-inning job.

There you have it, the best of the Reds in the sixties.

 

 

	YRS	POS	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS+
J Edwards	61-67	C	2377	235	585	53	296	6	.246	.314	.370	87
G Coleman	60-67	1B	2369	277	642	98	385	9	.271	.322	.447	106
P Rose	63-69	2B	4301	679	1327	75	433	50	.309	.369	.436	123
T Perez	64-69	3B	2417	340	678	97	403	8	.281	.333	.466	120
L Cardenas	60-68	SS	4047	415	1058	72	413	26	.261	.313	.377	89
F Robinson	60-65	OF	3250	628	993	190	643	115	.306	.399	.562	159
V Pinson	60-68	OF	5591	827	1650	165	722	198	.295	.337	.466	118
T Harper	62-67	OF	2312	376	589	44	177	124	.255	.333	.362	91

	YRS	POS	W-L	ERA	G	IP	H	BB	SO	ERA+	WHIP
J Maloney	60-69	P	134-80	3.08	282	1802	1457	771	1585	119	1.236

An Open Letter to the BBWAA Members

An Open Letter to BBWAA Members

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Much has been said and written about the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for 2012.

I have seen numerous tweets about one writer and then another, and so on about either sending in a blank ballot or not sending one at all.

To this, I say grow a pair (my apologies if there is a lady in the group). Have you a clue as to how many baseball fans would love to be able to vote for such an occasion? I can only hope that whatever "powers that be" would rescind the voting privileges of everyone who either sent a blank ballot, or especially the ones who decided to play Pontius Pilate and do nothing with the innocent players involved.

Your one vote alone may have been enough to keep a player like Julio Franco around for another year. As you know if a player receives less than five percent of the votes he is sent to Baseball Hell. But hey, your hands are clean, yes?

Now let's get to the real issue with you malcontents. Performance Enhancing Drugs. There, I said it, it is now out in the open. Whether you condone the actions of the users of this illegal substance or not is not the question. We care less how many hours of sleep you have been deprived while tossing and turning with the decision with which you are entrusted. You have been given a responsibility and have been found wanting.

Well, for my part I hereby terminate the lot of you. Clean out your desks and hit the bricks, Mister. You are done, no longer will you have to whine and cry about what a pity it is that you must hold a player back a year or two because of his, shall I say peccadilloes.

I am calling for an end to the BBWAA having anything at all to do with the selection of players to the Hall of Fame. You had your chance, and you really suck at it.

After all, this should not be a popularity contest, this is the Hall of Fame we are talking about here. Not the Hall of Best, or the Hall of Cleanest, or the Hall of Guys Who Were Amicable to the Sports Writers.

I could take you to task on any of the three halls I just made up. You are about to condemn one of the best players of all time, Barry Bonds. Am I a fan? No I am not, but that is the whole point. I know best when I see it.

If we are talking clean, I give you Mickey Mantle (notorious drinker and womanizer, yet one of my favorite players ever). Along with him I bring you Ty Cobb and Cap Anson. Cobb, a veritable malefactor in cleats, and Anson one of the most renown racists who ever put on a baseball cap (no pun intended, this isn't funny).

For the guys who were not amicable I can at least present to you Mr. Steve Carlton. After a while he decided not to have anything to do with any of you. Yet, enough of you saw him fit to be enshrined into this hallowed hall.

With that much being said, it is my ruling that when a player retires from the game, everyone should know that he is or he is not a member of the Hall of Fame. His statistics, by that I mean real statistics, nothing made-up, synthesized or otherwise embellished numbers.

What kind of numbers are we talking about here? I am so glad you asked. I am referring to career statistics such as these for hitters: HR, RBI, AVG, OBP, OPS+, HITS, BB, TB, and SB. Extra credit points could be thrown in for All-Star selections, MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Gloves, etc. Only statistics that are obtained in a regular season would apply. A man should not be penalized by his team not performing to a predetermined level.

For pitchers the following numbers could be used: IP, WINS (real wins not WARP or other fantasized numbers), ERA, ERA+, SO, SAVES, SO/BB, BAA, and WHIP. Extra credit points would include CYA, All-Star selections, MVP, Gold Gloves. Again, only regular season numbers would apply (apologies to Curt Shilling).

The numbers could be the average of the existing Hall of Famers, or another angle could be agreed upon. That point is flexible, but needs to be determined.

If the player would reach the minimum requirement in 50 percent of the categories, he would be in the Hall of Fame. No evaluations, no BS, no equivocators.

The number parameters could be different than I have prescribed but I hope you get the point. The Hall of Fame is a real place, not intangible, so why should players be elected on intangibles?

Don't you sit there and try to say that they are not? If it weren't the case you would not be reading this lengthy epistle. Alan Trammell would be in the Hall of Fame, as would Tommy John, Jim Kaat, Lou Whitaker, Dale Murphy, et al.

There, now go on your happy way. Caesar Cliffius has just relieved you of all the stress you have been burdened with over the holidays for these countless years. No more players sent to Baseball Hell on your account sir, or madam. If they do not make the cut, it is their fault, not yours, mine or anyone else's.

Decreed this Third day of January, in the Two Thousand and Thirteenth Year of our Lord.

Caesar Cliffius

Emperor of these United States and the Baseball World at Large