tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77224811227216468852024-02-07T18:25:33.931-08:00Otherwise Sports: A What-If SiteWhat if that sporting event that didn't go your way... did? Who knows how "history" will unfold. Note that, on this site, "RL" means "Real Life," what actually happened, and "TTL" means "This TimeLine," what I think would have happened with the change I'm describing. New what-if ideas are welcome.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-72974477687014204032014-04-04T20:53:00.001-07:002014-04-04T20:53:22.977-07:00What If Gil Hodges Had Lived Longer?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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April 4, 1924, 90 years ago: Gilbert Raymond Hodges is born in Princeton, Indiana.<br />
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April 2, 1972: Gil Hodges, manager of the New York Mets and formerly a superb first baseman and powerful slugger for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, dies of a heart attack at spring training in West Palm Beach, Florida.<br />
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What if the manager who had engineered the Mets' 1969 "Miracle" had lived longer?<br />
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Yogi Berra was promoted from coach to manager after Gil's death. He got the Mets to the 1973 Pennant. But he is often criticized for starting Tom Seaver on 3 days' rest in Game 6 of the World Series at the Oakland Coliseum, instead of saving him for Game 7. The Oakland Athletics beat Seaver in Game 6, and then beat Jon Matlack in Game 7.<br />
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But if not Seaver, who would Hodges have started in Game 6? Matlack was not yet available, having pitched Game 4. Jerry Koosman was not available, having pitched Game 5. The Mets' 4th starter, George Stone, had last pitched in relief in Game 2, pitching the 12th inning and getting the win, but allowing a run. Other than that, his last appearance was starting in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Cincinnati Reds, 11 days earlier, and losing.<br />
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No, Seaver was the right pick: At that moment, Tom Seaver on 3 days' rest was better than almost anyone else on full rest. Don't blame Yogi for the choice: Almost certainly, Gil would have made it, too.<br />
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So having Hodges still alive in October 1973 doesn't make a difference. What about afterward?<br />
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With team owner Joan Payson in failing health, team chairman M. Donald Grant was pretty much doing whatever he wanted, trading away players he felt too expensive or too unwilling to go along with management. The Mets had a bad year in 1974, but finished 3rd in 1975 and 1976, winning 86 games in the latter year, so they weren't terrible.<br />
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It all came crashing down in 1977, with the most notable example being Koosman, who went from 21-10 to 8-20 (and then 3-15 in 1978, before he was traded to Minnesota and then won 36 games over the next 2 years). And, of course, on June 15, came the Midnight Massacre, Grant trading Seaver to the Reds for 4 players, and Dave Kingman (who, it should be said, was hitting very poorly at the time) to the San Diego Padres for 2 guys, one being a broken-down, washed-up Bobby Valentine.<br />
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Now, imagine that Gil Hodges, still managing the Mets at the age of 53, had told M. Donald Grant, "If you trade Seaver, I will resign."<br />
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It was Grant who hired Hodges to manage the Mets in 1968, after he'd been fired as manager of the Washington Senators. Would Grant have listened to Hodges, or called his bluff? With Mrs. Payson dead, and her daughter, Lorinda de Roulet, as owner, he could pretty much do what he wanted without "Linda" (as she preferred to be called) slapping him down. But would he really have wanted to be known as the man who pushed Tom Seaver AND Gil Hodges out of New York?<br />
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Grant calls Hodges' bluff: "Go ahead and quit."<br />
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Hodges isn't bluffing, and he tells the New York media, which loves him, what happened.<br />
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Grant makes Joe Torre the new manager. (Which happened in RL, only earlier in the year, as Joe Frazier -- not the boxer -- was fired.)<br />
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The next day, June 16, 1977, the Mets start a homestand by playing the Houston Astros. Only 8,915 fans come out. (This was the attendance in RL.) Two of them bring a banner to Shea Stadium. They unfurl it during the 7th Inning Stretch. It reads:<br />
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M. DONALD GRANT<br />
YOU BROKE OUR (HEART)S<br />
TOM 41 & GIL 14<br />
FOREVER<br />
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Saturday, June 18 -- the same day as the Reggie Jackson-Billy Martin bustup in Fenway -- 52,784 come out to Shea for Banner Day. (As in RL -- the Mets' biggest home crowd the rest of the season, aside from when Cincinnati came in with Seaver, was 24,445. 29 home games had fewer than 15,000 fans. Shea became nicknamed "Grant's Tomb.")<br />
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The banners that come out are vicious. "GRANT SUCKS" seems to be a popular theme. "GIL & TOM SI, GRANT NO" reads one carried by a group of Puerto Rican fans. A pair of Italian fans bring a banner calling Grant the profanity "SFACCIM." It gets confiscated, but the guys become Met fan heroes for all time.<br />
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Mrs. de Roulet has had enough. She doesn't want anything to do with the Mets anymore. She seeks out a buyer, and finds the team of Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon, and by the close of the 1978 season, the Mets are sold out of the Payson family for the first time. Doubleday and Wilpon immediately fire Grant, and hire Hodges back as general manager.<br />
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When Torre is fired at the end of the 1981 season, he is immediately picked up as manager by the Atlanta Braves, so his story doesn't change much. But who do Doubleday and Wilpon hire as Met manager? Hodges. They move him back into the dugout, and hire Frank Cashen to be their general manager.<br />
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By early 1984, the Mets are respectable again. On October 27, 1986, the Mets are World Champions. This is the 2nd time, it's happened, and both times, Gil Hodges was the manager.<br />
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In 1987, the first time he is eligible through the Veterans Committee, Gil Hodges is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.<br />
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He gets the Mets to the 1988 NL Eastern Division title, and takes Dwight Gooden out so that he doesn't get tired in Game 4, and the Mets finish the Los Angeles Dodgers off in Game 5. There is something fitting about the Mets, the spiritual successors to both the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, getting their first chance against the Los Angeles team owned by the O'Malley family and beating them with Gil Hodges as their manager. But they lose the World Series to the A's, as they don't have a clutch pinch-hitter to save them in Game 1 like Kirk Gibson did for the Dodgers in RL.<br />
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On April 2, 1989, just before the new season starts, Gil Hodges dies of a heart attack at spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida. He was just short of turning 65.<br />
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The Mets immediately retire his Number 14, joining the 37 of Casey Stengel and the 41 of Tom Seaver. Patches with the letters GRH are sewn onto the players' sleeves. The Mets' new spring-training home at Port St. Lucie is officially renamed Gil Hodges Memorial Stadium. A Statue of Gil is placed outside Shea later that year. The Marine Parkway Bridge is renamed for him. (In RL, this happened in 1978.) Tidewater Tides manager Mike Cubbage is promoted to manage the Mets, but can't maintain the excellence, and is undone by factors beyond his control, especially the injuries to, and aging of, the 1984-88 Met stars.<br />
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Before Game 3 of the 2000 World Series, Gil Hodges Jr., a securities executive, throws out the ceremonial first ball. It ends up being the only World Series game the Mets have won since October 18, 1988.<br />
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In 2009, the Mets open Citi Field. The Hodges statue is moved to the center field concourse, adjacent to Shea Bridge, much like the one of Richie Ashburn at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-75012330923849744992014-02-15T16:44:00.002-08:002014-02-15T16:44:50.816-08:00What If Ken Hubbs Hadn't Crashed?<div class="mbs _5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
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<strong>February 15, 1964, 50 years ago today:</strong> Ken Hubbs is killed in a plane crash outside Provo, Utah. He was only 22 years old. </div>
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Unlike a later baseball player who died in the crash of a plane he was piloting, Thurman Munson, who genuinely loved piloting, Hubbs had been taking flying lessons to conquer a fear of flying.<br />
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In 1962, the Chicago Cubs promoted the 20-year-old 2nd baseman directly from Class B (which would be Double-A ball today). He won the National League Rookie of the Year award, and was the first rookie to be awarded a Gold Glove, setting records with 78 consecutive games and 418 total chances without an error<span class="text_exposed_hide">.</span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show">He was a sensational all-around athlete: He'd won a boxing tournament at age 12, and had also been recruited by Notre Dame to play quarterback and by John Wooden to play basketball at UCLA. </span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show">The Cubs did not retire uniform numbers in those days, but the did keep his Number 16 out of circulation for 3 years.<br /><br /> <em>Kenneth Douglass Hubbs was more than just another baseball player. He was the kind of athlete all games need. A devout Mormon, a cheerful leader, a picture-book player, blond-haired, healthy, generous with his time for young boys; he was the kind of youth in short supply in these selfish times.</em></span></div>
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<span class="text_exposed_show">-- Jim Murray, <em>Los Angeles Times</em> <br /><br /> In 1993, <em>Sports Illustrated</em> asked a few baseball writers to do short "What if?" articles. <a href="http://www.cnnsi.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1138476/index.htm">Steve Rushin speculated</a> that, had Hubbs lived, the Cubs would have done better in 1964, and wouldn't have traded Lou Brock, and, together with Hubbs, Brock, Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ferguson Jenkins, the Cubs, starting in 1969, would have become "the Big Blue Machine" (instead of the Cincinnati Reds becoming the Big Red Machine that we know).</span></div>
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Oh really? Let me take a better look at that.</div>
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<strong>February 15, 1964:</strong> Hubbs lands safely.</div>
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<strong>June 15, 1964:</strong> The Cubs do not trade Brock, Jack Spring and Bob Toth to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Bobby Shantz and Doug Clemens. Instead, they move Brock to right field, since they already have Williams in left and the decent-hitting Billy Cowan in right.</div>
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<strong>August 15, 1964:</strong> In RL, on this date, the Cardinals sold Shantz, now 38 and playing out the string, to the Phillies. In 1952, 12 years earlier, pitching for the Philadelphia Athletics, Shantz went 24-7 for a 4th place team, and won the American League's Most Valuable Player award. He remained with the A's through their move to Kansas City, as the Phils became the owners and (after the NFL's Eagles moved to Franklin Field in 1958) sole occupiers of Shibe Park, now named Connie Mack Stadium even though Mack had nothing to do with the Phillies. Shantz would help the Yankees win 3 Pennants and the 1958 World Series.</div>
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In TTL, the Cubs sell Shantz to the Phils. This will matter.</div>
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<strong>October 4, 1964:</strong> Nope, having Brock and Hubbs doesn't help the Cubs a whole lot this season. What it does do is deny Brock to the Cardinals, meaning they don't get his great year, and they don't take advantage of the Philadelphia Phillies' 10-game losing streak near the end of the season. </div>
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But what everyone forgets is that, while the Phils were losing 10 straight, the Cards were winning 8 straight, and the Reds won 9 straight. If the Cards don't win the Pennant by 1 game over the Phils and Reds, but rather are, say, 6 or 7 games back, the Phils and Reds finish in a tie for the Pennant.</div>
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<strong>October 5, 1964:</strong> The Playoff is held at Crosley Field in Cincinnati -- there, instead of at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia, because that's where both teams ended the regular season. Phils manager Gene Mauch can't use his best pitcher, Jim Bunning, since Bunning pitched the day before, beating the Reds just to keep the Playoff possible. Chris Short has had only 2 days' rest. So he goes with experience and starts... Bobby Shantz, who now has one more chance to be a Philadelphia sports hero. (In RL, the little lefty had last pitched in relief on September 29, and it was his last major league appearance.) </div>
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Dick Sisler, whose home run in the 10th inning on the final day against the Brooklyn Dodgers won the 1950 Pennant for the Phillies, but now filling in as Reds manager for the dying Fred Hutchinson (of cancer), goes with Bob Purkey, one of the heroes of their 1961 Pennant.</div>
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Shantz pitches his heart out, but it's 2-1 Reds going to the top of the 9th. But Johnny Callison singles, and Richie Allen (as Dick Allen was then, to his consternation, usually called) crushes Purkey's first pitch over the left-field scoreboard, and onto Interstate 75, the Mill Creek Expressway. The Phillies win, 3-2, and take the Pennant.</div>
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<strong>October 15, 1964:</strong> With Bunning, Short and Shantz starting all games, and Callison and Allen hitting like crazy against a Yankee staff shortened by a Game 1 injury to Whitey Ford, the Phillies win the franchise's first World Championship in 82 seasons of trying, taking Game 7 at Connie Mack, 7-5. (This matches the RL score of Game 7, won by the Cardinals at the original Busch Stadium, a.k.a. Sportsman's Park.)</div>
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And so, a generation of fans in the Delaware Valley, who don't remember the 1950 Whiz Kids, are not permanently scarred by 1964. </div>
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<strong>October 1, 1967:</strong> In RL, this was the last day of the regular season, and the Cardinals had clinched the NL Pennant by 10 1/2 games over the San Francisco Giants, 17 1/2 over the Cubs, and 19 over the Reds, while the AL was a 4-team battle between the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins, and with the Tigers having a rain-forced doubleheader on the last day, the Pennant wasn't even decided after the Red Sox played their 162nd game and eliminated the Twins, the ChiSox having fallen out the preceding Friday.</div>
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But in TLL, without Brock having perhaps his best season, maybe the NL race also becomes a 4-way dogfight, making this perhaps the best baseball season ever. But with Brock shifted to the Cubs and Hubbs, now 25, still alive and playing for them, the Giants still had the most talent, and they win the Pennant.</div>
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<strong>October 12, 1967:</strong> The Giants go on to ruin the Red Sox' "Impossible Dream," as Willie McCovey takes Jim Lonborg deep twice in Game 7. Willie Mays provides the exclamation point with a towering shot over the Green Monster in the 9th inning, and Juan Marichal, doing what Bob Gibson did in RL, blows the Sox away. The Giants win, 7-2, and win their first World Series since moving to California. (Something they didn't do in RL until 2010.)</div>
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<strong>September 29, 1968:</strong> In RL, the Cards won the Pennant by 9 over the Giants, 13 over the Cubs and 14 over the Reds. No Brock in St. Louis, looks like another tough fight, but the Giants win the Pennant again. This time, the Tigers beat them in the Series.<br />
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<strong>October 7, 1968:</strong> The Cardinals give up on Curt Flood a year earlier. For TTL, it doesn't matter who they trade him to, as his fight against the reserve clause turns out the same way. But even if he still gets traded, as he did in RL, to the Phillies, it won't be for Dick Allen, who, in the wake of the 1964 title, is much more popular, and much happier, in Philadelphia than he was in RL. He stays with them until 1971, at which point he goes to the White Sox, and, in 1972, helps save them from being moved as in RL.</div>
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<strong>July 8, 1969:</strong> By now, Brock is in center field, with Williams in center and Jim Hickman (ironically, an original 1962 Met) in right. Leadoff singles by Brock and Hubbs begin a 5-run Cub 1st inning, and Tom Seaver's perfect game is ended before he can get the 1st out, let alone the 27th (Jimmy Qualls in RL). The Cubs beat the Mets, and are in full control of the NL Eastern Division race, in this first season of divisional play.</div>
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<strong>September 8, 1969:</strong> Tommie Agee is incorrectly called safe at the plate, but Hubbs goes on to start a rally and the Cubs beat the Mets 4-3, instead of losing 3-2 as in RL.</div>
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<strong>September 9, 1969:</strong> Those balls that Don Young didn't catch in center field in RL? Yeah, Brock gets them. And also gets 2 key hits, as does Hubbs. Instead of losing to the Mets 7-1, the Cubs win, 5-4. The black cat is a footnote, and this 2-game series, in RL the 5th & 6th of an 8-game losing streak that knocked the Cubs out of 1st place, is instead a Cub sweep. The Mets still make a run for it, but...</div>
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<strong>October 1, 1969:</strong> As in RL, the Cubs play the Mets at Wrigley Field in the last 2 games of the regular season. Mirroring the Yankees-Red Sox race of 20 years earlier, the Cubs need to take the last 2 to win the Division. In RL, they lost this game, 6-5 in 12 innings. In TTL, they win 5-4 in regulation. It all comes down to Game 162.</div>
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<strong>October 2, 1969:</strong> As in RL, Cubs 5, Mets 3 -- and the Cubs win the NL East.</div>
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<strong>October 16, 1969:</strong> As in RL, the NL Champions shock the heavily-favored Baltimore Orioles in 5, clinching at home -- only in TTL, it's the Cubs doing it at Wrigley Field, taking their first World Series in 61 years.</div>
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<strong>October 1, 1973:</strong> Oh yes, Met fans, it's happening again. Banks is gone, and Brock, Williams and Santo are older. But Hubbs, now 31, is in his prime, and leads the Cubs to a 7-6 win that clinches the NL East at Wrigley on the day after the intended last day (there had been rainouts).</div>
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<strong>October 8, 1973:</strong> Hubbs decks Pete Rose, the way Bud Harrelson couldn't have, in Game 3. </div>
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<strong>October 9, 1973:</strong> Rose, still in shock, doesn't hit the game-winning homer in Game 4. Instead, it's Rick Monday whose 7th-inning homer gives the Cubs a lead they will never relinquish. They win the Pennant, although they go on to lose the World Series to the Oakland Athletics.</div>
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<strong>November 17, 1973:</strong> Frustrated at pitching his heart out, and not being able to win a Pennant in New York, Tom Seaver demands a trade from team president M. Donald Grant. The Fresno native is sent to the San Francisco Giants for prospects and cash. Met fans, even surlier than in RL, "vote with their feet," and Shea Stadium, with no Pennants to its credit, becomes known as "Grant's Tomb" even earlier.</div>
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<strong>June 15, 1977:</strong> Now 35, Hubbs is nearing the end of the line. But the Phillies aren't getting production out of 2nd base, as Dave Cash was lost to free agency, and Tom Sizemore, though a good fielder, can't hit. (In RL, this would eventually be solved by getting Manny Trillo.) So the Phils trade for Hubbs at the deadline.</div>
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<strong>October 7, 1977:</strong> In TTL, this is not "Black Friday." With Hubbs available to make the right play, the tying run doesn't score, and the Phillies beat the Dodgers, 5-4, and go on to win the Pennant the next day. It is Hubbs' 3rd Pennant.</div>
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<strong>October 18, 1977:</strong> Instead of Burt Hooton, Elias Sosa and Charlie Hough, Reggie Jackson hits those 3 homers off Larry Christenson, Warren Brusstar and Gene Garber. The Yankees get revenge on the Phillies for 1964.</div>
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<strong>October 2, 1978:</strong> While the Yankees are winning an AL East Playoff at Fenway Park, the Giants win an NL West Playoff at Candlestick Park, as Tom Seaver outpitches Don Sutton. It is the 3rd time in 28 years that the Giants have been in a playoff with the Dodgers, and they've won them all.</div>
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<strong>October 7, 1978:</strong> The Giants win Game 4 of the NLCS when Johnnie LeMaster singles home Darrell Evans in the bottom of the 10th inning, beating the Phillies, 4-3 to clinch the Pennant. It is the 4th Pennant for Willie McCovey, the 1st for Tom Seaver. Hubbs, 36, retires. The Giants lose the World Series to the Yankees.<br />
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<strong>October 20, 1982:</strong> The Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 in Game 7, and win their first World Championship in 36 years (since 1946).<br />
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<strong>October 7, 1984:</strong> The Cubs lose Game 5 of the NLCS to the San Diego Padres, 6-3. However, having won 2 Pennants in the last 16 seasons, there's less of a sting to it for their fans.</div>
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<strong>August 4, 1985:</strong> Seaver, now pitching for the White Sox, beats the Yankees 4-1 for his 300th career win. On the same day, Brock, Dick Allen, Enos Slaughter, Hoyt Wilhelm and Arky Vaughan are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Unlike Slaughter, whose plaque shows him wearing a Cardinal cap, Brock is shown wearing a Cub cap.</div>
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<strong>August 3, 1986:</strong> McCovey, in his 1st year of eligibility; Hubbs, in his 4th; and Bobby Doerr and Ernie Lombardi, through the Veterans' Committee, are inducted into the Hall of Fame. (I chose that year for Hubbs to be elected, as I was actually at this induction ceremony.)</div>
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Is that the end of the story, with Hubbs, in 2014, a 72-year-old Hall-of-Famer? </div>
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No. I won't speculate on who he would have ended up marrying, or how many children he would have and what they would be doing. But I have heard that, as Hall of Fame shortstop and manager Lou Boudreau was, by Hubbs' debut, a broadcaster with the Cubs, his daughter Sharyn had been engaged to Hubbs. Instead, she ended up marrying Tiger pitcher Denny McLain, whose life has been an entirely different kind of tragedy.</div>
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<strong>October 16, 1986:</strong> Despite dominating the NL all year long, the Mets lose Game 6 of the NLCS to the Houston Astros, 7-6, in 14 innings. Without their traditions of "magic" and "miracles," they can't get the job done, and don't have "the teamwork to make the dream work." The next day, they lose Game 7 to Mike Scott, and the Astros win their first Pennant -- and also become the first team to host a World Series game indoors.</div>
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<strong>October 25, 1986:</strong> Calvin Schiraldi strikes out Astro catcher Alan Ashby for the final out, and the Red Sox win the World Series in Game 6 at the Astrodome, for their first title in 68 years. (In RL, it was the Mets' catcher, Gary Carter, who started the rally.)<br />
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<strong>August 2, 1990:</strong> Tom Seaver, Rollie Fingers, Hal Newhouser and Bill McGowan are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Seaver wears a Giant cap on his plaque. Later that season, the Giants retire his Number 41.</div>
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<strong>July 18, 1999:</strong> The Cubs hold a ceremony at Wrigley Field, honoring the 30th Anniversary of their last World Series title. In addition to the already-honored 14 of Banks and 26 of Williams, the numbers of Santo, Hubbs and Jenkins -- 10, 16 and 31 -- are retired. (This is also the day of David Cone's perfect game.)<br />
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<strong>August 1, 1999:</strong> Nolan Ryan, Robin Yount, George Brett, Orlando Cepeda, Frank Selee, Smokey Joe Williams and Nestor Chylak are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ryan, unlike in RL ('69 Mets), has never won a World Series. His only appearance in one was with the '86 Astros.<br />
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<strong>October 16, 2000:</strong> The Mets finally win their 1st Pennant, in 39 years of trying, beating the Cardinals 7-0 at Shea Stadium to win Game 5 of the NLCS. Better yet, for their fans, they get to face the Yankees.<br />
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<strong>October 26, 2000:</strong> Met fans never learn, do they?<br />
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<strong>October 15, 2003:</strong> Hubbs throws out the ceremonial first ball before Game 7 of the NLCS, the Wrigley faithful gets pumped up, the previous night's disaster is put in the past, and the Cubs beat the Florida Marlins, 5-3, and win their first Pennant in 30 years -- actually a longer drought than the 24-year drought of 1945-69.<br />
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<strong>October 22, 2003:</strong> Jeff Weaver gives up a walkoff homer in Game 4 of the World Series to that other Alex Gonzalez, this time at Wrigley rather than the Dolphins' stadium that was then the Marlins' home.<br />
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<strong>October 25, 2003:</strong> Mark Prior (rather than Josh Beckett as in RL) pitches a shutout to win Game 6 and clinch the World Series at Yankee Stadium, 3-0. It is the Cubs' 4th title.<br />
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<strong>March 8,</strong> <strong>2004:</strong> Having lost Andy Pettitte to free agency, the Yankees need a lefthanded starter, and sign Shawn Estes of the defending World Champion Cubs -- despite his having thrown at Roger Clemens in a 2002 Yankees-Mets game at Shea. (In RL, Estes signed with the Rockies on this day, and 2004 turned out to be his last good season.)<br />
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<strong>October 20, 2004:</strong> Shawn Estes starts Game 7 of the ALCS, and, steroids or no, the Red Sox' lefty-dominated lineup can't touch him. The Yankees win, 3-2, and the Curse of the Bambino is extended for another year.<br />
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<strong>October 27, 2004:</strong> The Yankees sweep the Cardinals for their 27th World Championship. Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui, Mike Mussina and Ruben Sierra get their 1st rings. Estes gets his 2nd. Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada get their 5th.<br />
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<strong>October 28, 2007:</strong> Not having had the experience of winning it in 2007, the Red Sox can't stop the Cleveland Indians from winning the Pennant, and the Indians sweep the Colorado Rockies to win their first World Series in 59 years.<br />
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<strong>September 28, 2008:</strong> The Mets lose to the Marlins in the last game at Shea Stadium, and blow a chance at the Playoffs. A closing ceremony is held, and the players from the 2000 National League Champions -- the only Pennant in the team's 47-year history -- get the loudest applause. Players from the near-misses of 1969, 1973, 1986 and 1988 get only polite applause. Several men who played for the Mets but had Hall of Fame careers elsewhere are invited. Yogi Berra and Willie Mays attend, and are cheered. Rickey Henderson attends, but is booed. Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Tom Glavine and Duke Snider do not attend.<br />
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<strong>November 4, 2009:</strong> The Yankees win their 28th World Championship by beating the Phillies.<br />
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<strong>October 30, 2013:</strong> The Tigers, having beaten the still-cursed Red Sox in the ALCS, beat the Cardinals 6-1 in Game 6, and win their first World Series in 29 years.<br />
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<strong>April 4, 2014:</strong> Ken Hubbs, age 72, throws out the ceremonial first ball on Opening Day at Wrigley Field.</div>
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Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-77723316288777668332014-01-25T14:52:00.000-08:002014-01-25T14:52:50.980-08:00What If Mark Fidrych Hadn't Gotten Hurt?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once again, I have let this blog slip. I've decided to resume it by examining what might have happened if certain great players who got hurt or died too soon had been able to complete their careers.<br />
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This was inspired by seeing <i>The Bird</i>, a biography of Mark Fidrych by Doug Wilson. If you don't remember Fidrych as an active pitcher, you're not alone: His one full season was 1976. The first season of which I have any memory is 1977. So while I saw him (on TV, anyway), I saw a pitcher who clearly had talent, but also had too much pain to make it work.</div>
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And even though his team was then in the same division as my favorite team, this was a damn shame. As Joe Delessio of <a href="http://www.sportsonearth.com/">Sports On Earth</a> puts it in his review of the book: </div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; line-height: 24px;"><i>Mark Fidrych appeared in the majors in 1976 and almost immediately became a national phenomenon. With his mop-top hair and on-field quirks (like manicuring the mound and appearing to talk to the baseball), the fun-loving Fidrych drew massive crowds to Tiger Stadium during a Rookie of the Year season in which he posted a 19-9 record with a 2.34 ERA and 24 complete games. But injuries derailed his career the very next year, and though he'd play in parts of four more big-league seasons, he'd never again enjoy sustained success on the mound.</i></span></div>
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Mark Steven Fidrych was born on August 14, 1954, in Worcester, Massachusetts, and, in spite of being forever identified with the Detroit Tigers, nevah, evah, lahst his Mahssachusetts ahccent. But he was no "Masshole": He was a salt-of-the-earth guy, who people genuinely came to like.</div>
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Among the weird things Fidrych did was how he reacted to his inability to throw without pain: He returned to his native Central Massachusetts and operated a farm and a contracting business. Apparently, he made a decent income. It certainly helped that the baseball memorabilia craze that began in the 1980s made him a star at card shows, and he had the personality that made the people running those shows want to re-invite him. He pitched in old-timers' games, and was generally well-liked by the baseball community.</div>
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And then, tragedy struck: On April 13, 2009, he was working on the truck he used to haul gravel when something happened (it's not clear what), and he died. He was just 54. He left behind a wife and a daughter.</div>
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That's the personal. What about the professional? Well, he became a superstar right before he turned 22. But...</div>
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Think about this: Before he turned 25, Warren Spahn hadn't yet won a game in the major leagues, but, after turning 25, he won 363; after he was 26, Mark Fidrych never even threw another big-league pitch.</div>
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(That's kind of the declarative version of a trick question. It omits the salient point that Spahn spent the seasons in which he turned 22, 23 and 24 fighting in World War II. And I do mean "fighting": He was in combat, including the Battle of the Bulge.)</div>
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On April 20, 1976, Fidrych -- nicknamed "The Bird" because his curly blond hair reminded people of the <i>Sesame Street</i> character Big Bird -- made his major league debut. Wearing Number 20 and pitching righthanded for the Tigers, he took the mound in the 9th inning against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. Joe Coleman had taken a 5-2 lead into the 9th, but he got tired. (This almost certainly would not have happened today: Even an old-school manager like Ralph Houk, who had previously managed the Yankees, would have brought in the Tigers' closer, at that time John Hiller.) Coleman allowed a single and a walk. New pitcher Jim Crawford allowed a double steal, a lineout, a walk and a game-tying single. Fidrych was brought in, and he faced one batter, Don Baylor, who singled home the winning run. A's 6, Tigers 5. According to <a href="http://baseball-reference.com/">Baseball Reference</a>, the A's had a 7 percent chance to win when the inning began. However, the loss was hardly Fidrych's fault; blame Houk for leaving Coleman in too long.</div>
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After another 9th inning relief appearance 2 weeks later, Houk gave Fidrych his first start on May 15, against the Cleveland Indians at Tiger Stadium. He went the distance, winning 2-1.</div>
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Now, if you're around my age, you remember the Indians being dreadful in the 1970s and '80s. So you're probably thinking the same thing Fidrych thought of as the title for his memoir of the 1976 season: <i>No Big Deal</i>.</div>
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Actually, you'd be wrong: The Indians were a decent team in '76. Frank Robinson, in his 2nd year as the majors' first black manager and his last as a player, had quite a bit of talent: Rico Carty, George Hendrick, Buddy Bell, Rick Manning, Charlie Spikes, John Lowenstein. Robinson himself, Boog Powell and Ray Fosse were washed up, but still made some contributions. On the mound, Robbie could call on Dennis Eckersley, Pat Dobson, Jim Bibby and Rick Waits; his bullpen had Dave LaRoche, Jim Kern and Don Hood, plus a washed-up Fritz Peterson. With a couple of more decent hitters, the '76 Indians could have done a bit better than 81-78. Alas, they couldn't keep it together, and in '77, they lost 90 games, fired Robinson, and got rid of a lot of those players, including the Eck, which would be a terrible mistake. (The reason they got rid of him is worthy of its own story. But some other time.)</div>
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It was in this game that Fidrych's eccentricities began to be noticed. While batters doing all kinds of odd things in the batter's box had been well-documented, and smoothing out the dirt in it with your spikes was very common, seeing a pitcher smooth out the dirt on the pitcher's mound with his hand was not. The Bird did this.</div>
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It also looked like he was talking to the ball. This became his trademark: "Mark The Bird Fidrych Talking To The Ball." He later explained that this was not what he was doing: Rather, he was talking to himself, telling himself to settle down, you're getting too excited, calm down, you can get this guy. Carty, from the Dominican Republic and familiar with the voodoo culture of the island of Hispanola, which includes his country and Haiti, saw Fidrych's gestures, and had an even wilder interpretation: "He was trying to hypnotize us."</div>
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Fidrych's next start was against his boyhood team, the defending American League Champion Boston Red Sox, at Fenway Park, 35 miles from his home town of Northborough. He pitched pretty well, but gave up a home run to Carl Yasztrzemski, and was outpitched by Luis Tiant, 2-0.</div>
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May 31: Goes 11 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers. Allows a run in the top of the 11th. But the Tigers bail him out in the bottom half, winning 5-4.</div>
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June 5: Goes 11 again, outpitching Bert Blyleven to beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2.</div>
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June 11: Tiger fans begin to notice, as 36,377 come out to watch him face Nolan Ryan and the California Angels. Fidrych outpitches the Express, and the Tigers win, 4-3.</div>
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June 16: 21,659 might not seem like much of a crowd, but this was on a Wednesday night in Detroit. Fidrych did all he could, but going into the bottom of the 9th, the Tigers still trailed the Kansas City Royals, 3-2. But they came from behind and won, 4-3, making him the winning pitcher.</div>
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June 20: The Bird gets plenty of runs in Minnesota, as the Tigers beat the Twins, 7-3.</div>
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June 24: back to Fenway. The Bird goes the distance, and the Tigers win, 6-3.</div>
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June 28: This was The Mark Fidrych Game. On <i>ABC Monday Night Baseball</i>, at Tiger Stadium, the Tigers faced the Yankees, who were back in first place in the American League Eastern Division and on their way to a new dynasty. But against the Bird, on national TV, they couldn't do much. Elrod Hendricks -- with the Yankees toward the end of a career spent mostly in the Baltimore Orioles' organization -- hit a home run off him, but that was about all the Bronx Bombers could do. Aurelio Rodriguez -- a superb-fielding 3rd baseman, but no one ever called him "A-Rod" -- and Rusty Staub, his hair as orange as a tiger's fur, hit home runs off Ken Holtzman, and the Tigers won, 5-1. Attendance: 47,855. For a Monday night, in a city with a crime problem as bad as Detroit's already was, when they could have stayed home and watched on TV, this was an enormous crowd. And when it was over, they chanted, "We want Bird! We want Bird! We want Bird!" They got him. And, in case current Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay is reading this: The time of the game, a supremely manageable 1 hour and 51 minutes!</div>
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July 3: Fidrych tossed a 4-hit shutout in front of 51,032 at Tiger Stadium, and the Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-0.</div>
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July 9: Fidrych loses this one, but it's hardly his fault: 51,041 see a great pitchers' duel with Dennis Leonard, and the Royals win 1-0.</div>
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Fans demanded that Fidrych be the AL's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game, which (like the NBA & NHL All-Star Games and the NCAA Final Four) was being held in Philadelphia in honor of the nation's Bicentennial. But, as the National League always seemed to do in those days, they roughed up the best the AL had to offer, and the Bird was the losing pitcher: NL 7, AL 1.</div>
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Fidrych shook off the All-Star loss, and kept winning in the 2nd half, even though the Tigers were going nowhere (74-87, 5th place, 24 games out). On September 12, he made his only start of the year at the newly-renovated Yankee Stadium. A crowd of 52,707 saw him outpitch Dock Ellis (15-7 for the Pennant-winning Yankees that season) with the help of a Ben Oglivie homer, and the Tigers won, 6-0.</div>
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(Dock Ellis and Mark Fidrych. The former claimed to have thrown a no-hitter while high on LSD. The latter had the fans thinking <i>they</i> were on some kind of mind-altering drug. This could well have been the all-time favorite game of Dan Epstein, Tiger fan, author of <i>Big Hair and Plastic Grass</i> and the soon-to-be published <em>Stars and Strikes: Baseball and America in the Bicentennial Summer of 1976</em>. If it isn't his favorite game ever, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA197609121.shtml">here's the box score</a> so he can reconsider! <a href="http://www.bighairplasticgrass.com/">And here's a link to his blog of the same title</a>.)</div>
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Fidrych finished the season 19-7. He won the AL's Rookie of the Year award, and finished 2nd in the voting for its Cy Young Award. Who won? Jim Palmer of the Orioles. Good choice? Yes. Better choice than Fidrych? Not appreciably better. A better choice still would have been Ed Figueroa of the Pennant-winning Yankees, but he finished 4th behind those 2 and Frank Tanana of the Angels; no pitcher of the AL West Champion Royals even finished in the top 10. The NL Cy Young was won by Randy Jones of the San Diego Padres, and that was a much better pick, as he had a year so strong that the Padres' bad season couldn't be held against him. (Jerry Koosman was 2nd, as he became the 2nd Met after Tom Seaver, who finished 8th, and 1st Met lefthander, to win 20.)</div>
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Imagine how much hype the Bird would have gotten if he'd gotten to 20 wins. To paraphrase Kevin Costner in <em>Bull Durham</em>, If you win 20 in The Show, you can talk to the ball, and the press will say you're colorful; until you win 20 in The Show, it means you're a psycho.<br />
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Then came spring training 1977. Fidrych was fooling around in the outfield and fell, and tore the cartilage in his knee. He came back from the injury on May 27, and by June 29 was 6-2, including, almost a year to the day, pitching another complete-game win over the Yankees, 9 strikeouts, no walks. But on July 12, he tore his rotator cuff, and that was pretty much it. After that, he appeared in just 16 more big-league games. His finale was on October 1, 1980 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, going just 5 innings but getting the win against the Blue Jays, 11-7.</div>
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Final record: 29-19. ERA: 3.10. ERA+: 126. WHIP: 1.203.<br />
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So let's suppose he didn't get hurt on July 12, 1977, and had only the occasional brief injury thereafter. How would baseball history be different?<br />
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There were 120 games left in the season. In a 4-man rotation with Dave Rozema, Fernando Arroyo and Bob Sykes -- Fidrych's spot in the rotatin was taken by an aging Dave Roberts, a prime Milt Wilcox, and a rookie named Jack Morris -- he probably would have made 30 more starts. (Try being a pitcher in 2013 and asking if you can make 30 starts all season long, and watch your manager hit the ceiling.) A Tiger attack that averaged 4.4 runs per game, led by Rusty Staub, Jason Thompson, Ben Oglivie, Steve Kemp and Ron LeFlore, Fidrych could have gone .600 the rest of the way. He wouldn't have had a decision in every game, but probably in most games. So, figure, around 16-6.<br />
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So let's imagine the Bird through the years, figuring he'd have pitched until around age 39, and averaging around 17-11 in his prime:<br />
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1976 19-9<br />
1977 16-6<br />
1978 17-11<br />
1979 17-11<br />
1980 18-12<br />
1981 12-6<br />
1982 17-11<br />
1983 20-8<br />
1984 25-5<br />
1985 21-9<br />
1986 18-12<br />
1987 20-9<br />
1988 18-12<br />
1989 16-12<br />
1990 14-10<br />
1991 14-10<br />
1992 11-12<br />
1993 9-12<br />
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1981 was the strike year, hence his lower totals. You'll notice that he picked up a bit in 1983, because that's when the Tigers starting getting really good. Actually, they could have taken either half of the 1981 split-season with a healthy Fidrych, but that was a year of weird happenings even without him. So let's move on.<br />
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1983: The Tigers won 92 games, 6 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East. This with a rotation of Morris, Wilcox, Dan Petry, and the 4th spot split between Juan Berengeur and Dave Rozema, who, between them, went 17-8. So, most likely, Wilcox, 33 at this point and 11-10 with the highest ERA of these guys, would have been the one displaced. Sparky Anderson, the Tigers' manager at the time, didn't believe in the 5-man rotation. He did, however, believe in the 5-man bullpen. Going from Wilcox's 11-10 to Fidrych's projected 20-8, and that works out to around a 6-game difference, and if one of those games is against the O's, then the Tigers are AL East Champs. Beat the Chicago White Sox in the AL Championship Series and the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, and it's the first title since 1968.<br />
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Then in 1984, no change: The Tigers roar out of the gate, going 35-5, finish with 104 wins, beat the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS, and the San Diego Padres in the World Series. Back-to-back titles. Only this time, instead of reliever Willie Hernandez, it's the Bird who gets the AL Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Awards.<br />
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The Tigers finished 15 games back in 1985, so a great year by Fidrych doesn't help. They were 8 1/2 back in 1986... Nope, doesn't help. They won the Division in 1987, and does Fidrych, now 33, make a difference in the ALCS against the Minnesota Twins? Probably not: The pitcher whose place in the rotation he would've taken would've been Walt Terrell, and he won the only Tiger victory in that series.<br />
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But in 1988, the Tigers finished just 1 game behind the Red Sox. The Sox got swept by the Oakland Athletics. Does Fidrych make a difference here? The last 4 games of the regular season were started by Terrell, Morris, Alexander and Frank Tanana. If Fidrych pitches instead of Terrell, then... No, Fidrych would have been opposed by Dave Stewart in Game 1, and probably wouldn't have pitched any better than Bruce Hurst. Maybe he could have made a difference later on if some other Tiger pitcher did, but I still don't see the Tigers winning this series. Still, that's a Division title they didn't win in RL.<br />
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The Tigers had a bad year in 1989, and although they bounced back in '90 and '91, I just don't see Fidrych, at this point in his career, making much of a difference in their fortunes. Then they fell off again in '92, and weren't contenders again until 2006.<br />
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But late in the 1993 season, he wins his 300th game. By my count, he finishes with a career record of 302-189. Reaching 3,000 strikeouts is probably out of the question, since even in his one full season he struck out only 97 batters.<br />
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But in 1999, the last season of Tiger Stadium -- and he was there for the closing ceremony -- he would likely have been, in his first year of eligibility, elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Even if he still dies in 2009, he has 10 years to enjoy it.<br />
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The Tigers retire his Number 20. In 1999, <em>The Sporting News</em> names him one of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. He's introduced at his hometown ballfield, Fenway Park, before the 1999 All-Star Game as one of the nominees for the All-Century Team. The next year, when Comerica Park opens, he gets a statue there, along with the other Tiger retired number honorees.<br />
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A life still too short, but much more accomplished. And he seemed like the kind of guy who would have handled it better than many people that we could mention.<br />
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And the Tigers win an extra Pennant and World Series, in 1983, and one other Division title, in 1988. That's not a huge increase, but for a team that's been around for over a century and has only won 4 World Series, the last one 30 years ago, that ain't bad.<br />
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But there's something else to consider. If the Tigers win the World Series, the AL Pennant, the AL East in 1983, that means the Baltimore Orioles don't.<br />
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And with the team being owned by D.C.-based "superlawyer" Edward Bennett Williams at the time, they were in genuine danger of being moved down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Before his death, he signed a lease for a new ballpark, the one that would become Camden Yards, because of the reaction of the fans to their awful start in 1988, losing their first 21 games, nearly going 0-for-April, and yet the Maryland fans came out in droves to cheer their Birds on.<br />
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But in TTL, they haven't won a World Series since 1970, or a Pennant since 1979...<br />
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1989: The Orioles, now the new (or newer) Washington Senators, with their D.C. and suburban Maryland and Virginia fan base no longer having to schlep up M-295 to get to Memorial Stadium, ride the noise of Robert F. Kennedy Stadium past the Blue Jays, and win the AL East. They lose to the A's in the ALCS, setting up the earthquake-plagued Bay Bridge Series. But Washington has postseason baseball for the first time since the early days of the New Deal.<br />
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1994: Jacobs Field in Cleveland becomes the "retro" model for all new ballparks to follow, instead of Camden Yards.<br />
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1996: The stadium we know as Nationals Park opens, 12 years sooner. The Senators can't beat the Yankees in the '96 ALCS, but they beat the Cleveland Indians in '97, and beat the Florida Marlins to win the World Series -- the capital's first baseball title in 73 years.<br />
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And, with Wayne Huizenga's gamble not quite paying off, he breaks up the Marlins, and in 2002, Commissioner Bud Selig authorizes their sale to a group that moves the Fish to Baltimore. Camden Yards joins the already-built Ravens stadium. The name Baltimore Orioles is revived, only now, we have the opposite of RL: Baltimore in the NL East, and Washington in the AL East.<br />
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The Montreal Expos still appear doomed, but where could they move to? Washington is occupied. Miami has already failed as an MLB city, and there's no new ballpark on the horizon. In one of his last acts as Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin gets the national government to fund a new ballpark for the Expos. He just barely hung on to a minority government in RL-2004, so in TTL-2004, his Liberal Party government falls to Stephen Harper and the Conservatives 2 years early.<br />
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2012: The Washington Senators defeat the Texas Rangers for the Wild Card berth, the Yankees in the AL Division Series, the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS, and the Montreal Expos in the World Series. And in spite of having won their first Pennant ever, Montreal fans are left to wonder what would have happened in Expo management had let manager Davey Johnson use Stephen Strasburg in the postseason...<br />
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Meanwhile, as the last MLB team in Florida, Tampa Bay Rays ownership sees that attendance remains pathetic in spite of their decent record since 2008, and are now negotiating with the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area to build a new ballpark. They'd be in the same division as the Washington Senators, and a lot closer, so there'd be a built-in rivalry.<br />
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So if Mark "the Bird" Fidrych hadn't gotten hurt, it would have been a better world, or at least a better game, for several reasons. Especially if you live in or around Detroit, Washington and Montreal. In Baltimore, not in the short term, but in the long term -- you won't have Cal Ripken and '96 and '97, but you also won't have Peter Angelos and Rafael Palmeiro embarrassing you. Miami loses out, but I haven't cared what they think since November 2000.<br />
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When asked why he never used an agent, Fidrych said, "Only I know my real value, and can negotiate it."<br />
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Real value? Sadly, we never really saw it.</div>
Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-24417129636922301532012-12-31T16:32:00.000-08:002012-12-31T16:32:03.207-08:00What If Roberto Clemente Had Lived?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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December 31, 1972, 40 years ago today: On a DC-7 plane overloaded with relief supplies from his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico to earthquake-stricken Managua, Nicaragua, Roberto Clemente and his pilot perished in a crash into the Caribbean Sea.<br />
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Clemente was 38 years old. He was coming off a season in which he had batted .312, with an OPS+ of 138, and had collected his 3,000th career hit -- which was also his 440th double, and included 166 triples and 240 home runs, which doesn't seem like a lot for a player so often cited as an all-time great, but from 1955 to mid-1970 he played his home games at Forbes Field, whose dimensions were practically identical to the pre-renovation original Yankee Stadium, and thus heavily biased against a righthanded hitter like him. His lifetime batting average was .317, OPS+130. He won 4 batting titles, Gold Gloves in each of the last 12 seasons, and was named to 12 All-Star teams -- all but one (1968) between 1960 and 1972.<br />
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Hank Aaron was also 38 that year, and was also a legitimate All-Star, and would also be one at ages 39 and 40. Willie Mays was 3 years older, but had also been an All-Star and deservedly so at ages 38, 39 and 40.<br />
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It's also important to note that Clemente played in 14 World Series games -- 7 each in 1960 and 1971 -- and got a hit in every one of them. He had 2 World Series rings. And in each of his last 3 seasons, he had helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the National League Eastern Division.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">At the time, the Pirates were a really good team, not yet known as "The Family," but already known for their booming bats as "The Lumber Company." In addition to Clemente, they had Willie Stargell, who would go on to hit 475 home runs; Al Oliver, who finished his career with a .303 average and 2,743 hits including 529 doubles; Manny Sanguillen, who batted at least .319 3 times; Richie Hebner, who batted .300 twice; Dave Cash, a good leadoff hitter who twice got over 200 hits in a season (albeit with the Philadelphia Phillies, after leaving the Red Sox); Gene Clines, who twice batted .300 as a reserve outfielder for the Pirates and nearly did it again for the Chicago Cubs; and Rennie Stennett, would would go on to bat .336 in 1977.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Don Sutton of the Los Angeles Dodgers, already into a Hall of Fame pitching career, said,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> <span style="text-align: -webkit-center;">"Some teams watch a pitcher and say, 'Oh boy, here comes a fastball.' Others say, 'Oh boy, here comes a curveball.' The Pirates say, 'Oh boy, here comes a baseball.'" Translation: They didn't care what you threw, they were going to hit it.</span></span><br />
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In 1973, in a special election, waiving the mandatory 5-year waiting period (not that it mattered in his case), Clemente was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Pirates retired his Number 21. They wore a black patch with his number on their left sleeves. And they converted Richie Zisk, a power-hitting young left fielder, into their right fielder, before calling up Dave Parker, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound bruiser known as the Cobra, and moving Zisk over to left field and Stargell to 1st base.<br />
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How would the history of baseball, and the Pirates in particular, have been different if Clemente had lived?<br />
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*<br />
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Apparently, there was a storm when the plane took off. Both the plane and the pilot had issues. Roberto decided to try again the next day, New Year's Day, January 1, 1973.<br />
<br />The plane landed in Managua without incident, and the relief supplies, due to Clemente's fame, did not get sidetracked by fascist dictator Anastasio Somoza.<br />
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In RL, there was a 5-way Pennant race in the National League East, one which no one seemed to want to win. The Phillies were the only team in the Division that was out of it, finishing 11 1/2 games back. The Cubs ended up 5 back -- closer than they were in their (in)famous 1969 season -- but were in 5th place. The Montreal Expos got into their first Pennant race, and ended up 3 1/2 back. The Pirates, victimized by a freak play against the Mets at Shea Stadium on September 20, finished 2 1/2 back. And the St. Louis Cardinals, in their closest call between 1968 and 1982, finished 1 1/2 back.<br />
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The Mets clinched the NL East by winning the first game of a doubleheader with the Cubs at Wrigley Field, forced by rainouts to play one day after the regular season was supposed to have ended, and the second game was rained out and never rescheduled. The Mets won the Division with an 82-79 record, the worst record of any 1st-place finisher in a Major League Baseball season that reached a conclusion. (The Texas Rangers had a losing record but were leading the American League West when the Strike of '94 hit.)<br />
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Can we honestly say that a living Clemente, who would have turned 39 on August 18, 1973, would have made a difference? Bob Robertson, the Pirates' 1st baseman, batted just .239. Maybe Stargell would have been moved to 1st then, and Zisk put in left, with Clemente still in right. After all, he still had a great arm, and, in spite of injuries that unfairly got him the label of a hypochondriac, he hadn't slowed down much. It's not hard to imagine him making juuuust that much more of a contribution to the lineup than Robertson, and the Pirates making up 3 games to win the Division.<br />
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Since the Mets beat the NL Western Division Champion Cincinnati Reds to win the Pennant, would the Pirates have done so? Maybe not: The Reds had already beaten them in the 1970 and '72 NLCS. (When the Pirates went all the way in '71, it was the San Francisco Giants they beat in the NLCS.)<br />
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What about 1974? The Pirates won the Division again, beating the Cards by a game and a half. But they lost the NLCS to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3 games to 1. Would a 40-year-old Clemente have made a differences? Maybe: Mays and Aaron were both still good hitters at 40. But, overall, the Pirates batted just .194 in that series.<br />
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Even if the Pirates had won both Pennants, I don't see them beating the Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers Oakland Athletics in either the 1973 or the 1974 World Series. And by 1975, when the Pirates got swept in the NLCS by the Reds, Clemente would have been 41. So I'm thinking they win one more Pennant, that of 1973, and not another World Series. That gives the Pirates 10 Pennants in their TTL-history, instead of their RL 9.<br />
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Statistically, Roberto could well have added 160 hits in '73, 140 in '74, and 80 in a '75 finale. That would have given him 3,380 hits -- more than anybody to that point except Ty Cobb, Stan Musial, Tris Speaker, Cap Anson, Honus Wagner, and his contemporary Hank Aaron, and more than anybody since except Pete Rose. If he could play in '76, at age 42, and somehow add another 56, that would give him 3,436 to surpass Wagner and Aaron, and leave him 5th (now 6th) all-time. Not that it made any difference in whether he got into the Hall of Fame or got his number retired, but it might have gotten him over the line in the balloting for the MLB All-Century Team in 1999, even without the shadow of early death.<br />
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*<br />
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What would Clemente have done with the rest of his life? I can see him a baseball, or a Latino, equivalent of tennis star Arthur Ashe, who, in the decade of Clemente's death, agitated for civil rights, including in apartheid-ridden South Africa.<br />
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Clemente would have seen the dangers of Communism, how it surpress freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and the right to vote. But he would also have seen the dangers of fascist dictators like Somoza, Chile's Augusto Pinochet, and the Argentine junta, which used religion and nationalism as excuses for the same kind of surpression.<br />
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Clemente could have done what Jackie Robinson could never quite do: Rally his people to what should have been their own cause, and other peoples to that cause, the cause of uplifting Hispanic Americans and the people of the Spanish-speaking world. He could have conducted baseball clinics all over the Caribbean, including Mexico, Central America, South America, even the Philippines, once part of the Spanish Empire. (Though I doubt that even his personality and charisma could have led British Commonwealth nations of the Caribbean, such as Jamaica and Barbados, away from their loves of soccer and cricket.)<br />
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I can also see him doing something that really would shape the future of baseball. In the mid-1980s, the team that had won the 1979 World Series was gone, the "Pittsburgh Drug Trials" stained the team's image, wins were hard to come by, attendance dropped, and there was a genuine threat that the Pirates might move. At this time, Washington had Robert F. Kennedy Stadium waiting for a team, Denver had Mile High Stadium, and Miami was building Joe Robbie Stadium. Despite the fact that the Pirates were approaching their 100th Anniversary in 1987, it was entirely possible that they would begin the 1988 season elsewhere.<br />
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Mayor Richard Caliguiri, talked several Western Pennsylvania-based companies into banding together to form Pittsburgh Associates, and this group bought the Pirates in 1985. These companies included U.S. Steel, PNC Financial, Mellon Financial and Westinghouse. Had Clemente still been alive (he would have been 51), Caliguiri could well have made the task easier by asking Roberto to get involved. Suppose that these companies had said they would do it on the condition that Roberto be involved with the Pirate organization again? So they buy the Pirates. Clemente becomes what some sports teams call a club "ambassador."<br />
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He goes to the State legislature in Harrisburg, and convinces them to pony up the money to build a better ballpark. It takes a while to get the plans approved, but that's okay, since it gives the Pittsburgh people a chance to see what Baltimore did with Camden Yards, and they adjust accordingly What we know as PNC Park opens not in 2001, but in 1996. Does that make a difference? Maybe not competitively, but it gets them out of Three Rivers Stadium 5 years sooner, which the fans would have liked. Let's face it: Three Rivers was a football stadium, not a ballpark.<br />
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Now, imagine that, all this time, Clemente has been there, to keep people involved with the Pirates. Let's suppose that a rich man (and Pittsburgh, for all its struggles, has always had plenty of them) buys the team from Pittsburgh Associates after the 1990 NL East title. The Bucs win 3 straight Division titles, but can't quite get past the Reds in the 1990 NLCS, or the Atlanta Braves in 1991 or '92.<br />
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Except this as-yet-hypothetical new owner does what Pittsburgh Associates was not willing to do in the RL-1992-93 off-season: Spend the money necessary to keep Barry Bonds in town. But Clemente also talks the owner into going after the biggest free-agent pitcher: Greg Maddux. Instead of dropping from 96-66 to 75-87 as in RL, in 1993 the Pirates make a good run before falling behind the Phillies. In 1994, the 3-Division setup comes in, and the Pirates move to the NL Central. That's the strike year. In 1995, Bonds and Maddux help the Pirates win the Division, beat the Dodgers and the Braves in the Playoffs, and, in the first-ever instance of the Pittsburgh-Cleveland football rivalry ever carrying over into baseball (something that has still never happened in RL), beat the Indians in the World Series.<br />
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That inspires the Steelers, and, with the memory of what the Pirates did in their minds, instead of losing Super Bowl XXX to the Dallas Cowboys, they win. As in 1979-80, Pittsburgh in 1995-96 is "The City of Champions."<br />
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The Pirates take the Braves' place for TTL-1996 as well, winning another Pennant, before getting shocked by the Yankees in the World Series, thus revenge for 1960 is finally attained. Bonds keeps hitting. The Bucs win another Pennant in 1997, and again they beat the Indians in the World Series.<br />
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In 1998, the Houston Astros are too good for the Pirates, and win the NL Central. Bonds sees the love that is poured on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa as they hit 70 and 66 home runs respectively, and Ken Griffey Jr. as he hits 58. He suspects they are using performance-enhancing drugs. With his father, Bobby Bonds, still coaching in San Francisco and thus far away, and a pair of genuine Hall-of-Famers on hand, he asks Clemente, now 64 years old, what he should do. "Don't worry about what other people say about other people," The Great One tells Barry. "Just do what you know you can do. You've won two World Series. McGwire has only one, and Sosa doesn't have any." Stargell reminds Bonds of something he'd frequently said, "Don't be sharp, don't be flat. Just be natural." Bonds takes this to mean, "Don't take steroids." He doesn't.<br />
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But the Pirates, even with Bonds and Maddux, struggle. The as-yet-unknown owner sells the team to Pittsburgh native Mark Cuban, who already owns the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, and has not yet shown himself to be too much of, well, a maverick to make MLB Commissioner Bud Selig put the kibosh on the deal. Cuban does the unthinkable, and signs Alex Rodriguez to a contract with $252 million.<br />
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In 2001, with Stargell having died at the start of the season, Bonds hits 55 home runs, A-Rod hits 52, and Maddux goes 20-8. They go on to beat the Yankees in an epic World Series, including coming from 2-1 down against Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the 9th in Game 7. It is their 4th Pennant and 3rd World Championship in 7 seasons.<br />
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The Pirates, led by A-Rod and Bonds finishing 1 and 2 in the NL's Most Valuable Player voting, shock the Cubs thanks to Steve Bartman and the Cubs' own shoddy defense to win the 2003 Pennant. But this time, the Yankees win the Series. Still, that's 5 Pennants and 3 World Championships in 9 years. Pretty strong.<br />
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In 2006, the Pirates and the Mets are tied 1-1 in the top of the 9th of Game 7 of the NLCS at Shea. But Ronny Paulino -- a .310 hitter but with only 6 home runs -- hits a stunning home run. (This is the Yadier Molina homer in RL.) Rookie reliever Matt Capps fans Carlos Beltran, who never takes the bat off his shoulder, for the Pennant-clinching out. And the Bucs take the World Series, beating the Detroit Tigers, as in 1909. 12 years, 6 Pennants, 4 World Series won. And, oh yeah, this is the 3rd calendar year in which both the Pirates and the Steelers have won their sports' World Championships.<br />
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The Pirates win the NL Central again in 2007, but things are beginning to change. Bonds retires at the end of the season, having hit 617 home runs. (The Pirates retire his Number 24, and he is elected to the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2013.) Maddux also retires (and the Pirates pack away his Number 31). And A-Rod is getting restless, with his 1-for-13 performance in an NL Division Series sweep by the Arizona Diamondbacks having the Pitt fans turn on him, despite the fact that he was closing in on becoming the youngest player ever to join the 500 Home Run Club. (Remember, in TTL, he has also followed Clemente's advice, and never taken steroids.)<br />
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Clemente has also retired from his active position with the Pirates, and has spoken out against steroids, especially against their use by Hispanic players. Sosa, a Dominican who wears Number 21 in tribute to Clemente, feels betrayed, but is released by the Texas Rangers and never plays in the majors again. A new testing system is put in place starting with the 2008 season.<br />
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Although the Pirates have not reached the Playoffs since 2007, their record is a superb one: 20 Division titles, 16 National League Pennants, 9 World Championships -- only 1 fewer than the Steelers and Penguins combined. (In RL, the Steelers have won 6, the Pirates 5, the Penguins 3.)<br />
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If Roberto Clemente died today, December 31, 2012, at 78 having had 40 additional years of life, he could have taken the immenseness of what he had done in the first half of his life, and made the second half even greater.<br />
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It is a pity that we shall never know.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-18480209955141168612012-11-11T16:47:00.001-08:002012-11-13T09:15:02.003-08:00What If Jackie Robinson Had Failed?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bernadette Pasley, author of the excellent Yankee blog "Lady at the Bat," recommended this piece. Whether it's taken me this long to do it because I forgot about it, or it's a complex subject and it takes more time to think it through than I thought I have -- or, to put it another way, whether I was a fool or just lazy -- isn't worth discussing. I'll still end up looking better than some of the people in this piece.<br />
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(EDIT: It must have been laziness, as I once again confused her blog with "Lady Loves Pinstripes," which is run by Kate Conroy, and is also a very good Yankee blog. I have corrected the error.)<br />
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There are two ways of looking at it: If Jackie Robinson had failed on merit, or if he'd been sabotaged.<br />
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What does "failed on merit" mean? One of two things: Either he wasn't good enough, or he broke his promise to Brooklyn Dodgers president and part-owner Branch Rickey that he wouldn't respond to the vicious assaults on his race, no matter what.<br />
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The possibility of him not being good enough was real. Rickey specifically chose Robinson because he seemed to be <i>the best man for the job</i> -- NOT <i>the best player</i>.<br />
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And, indeed, as late as May 8, 1947, his 15th major league game, his batting average was .241, with just 1 home run and 2 RBIs. Granted, he was usually 1st or 2nd in the batting order at the time, which is not an RBI slot. But Ebbets Field was a bandbox. He should have had more than that.<br />
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But it's also worth noting that baseball wasn't his best sport -- or even his third-best. He was a star running back at UCLA, was on the track team as a fantastic long-jumper (as was his brother Mack, who once held the world record), and had also played basketball there. When he made his debut for the Dodgers on April 15, 1947, he'd previously played professional baseball for 2 seasons: 1945, with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League (previously, they'd been in the Negro National League); and 1946, with the Montreal Royals of the International League. Essentially, he'd had 2 seasons of pro ball, the 2nd at the Triple-A level, the other in a league whose talents ranged from genuine future Hall-of-Famers to players who wouldn't have made it to the previously all-white majors no matter how many barriers you strip away from history.<br />
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Why hadn't he played more? Because he was in college until 1941, played minor-league football that fall, and got drafted into the Army early the next year, and wasn't discharged until November 1944. As with many other players, it's arguable that World War II took his most productive years -- he reached his 23rd and 24th birthdays in the Army. He didn't play his first professional baseball game until he was 26, at which point most guys who are good at baseball are in the majors and just entering their prime. He didn't make his major league debut until he was 28. He had his best season at 30, his last good one (in terms of individual statistics) at 35, and his last one at 37.<br />
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He had only half a career, and because of when he got out of college and which sport he preferred, he probably wouldn't have appeared in Major League Baseball before The War even without the color barrier. Indeed, had there been no civil rights problem in America in 1941 -- if a black person in America, at that time, could have been anything he or she wanted, with the only barriers being professional qualifications and talent -- today, you might be reading an article titled, "What If Jackie Robinson Had Played Baseball Instead of Football?" He might have gone to the Los Angeles Rams, where his former UCLA teammate Kenny Washington, and another former UCLA player, later a renowned actor, Woody Strode, had reintegrated the NFL. From 1949 to 1955, the Rams played in 4 NFL Championship Games, though they only won 1, in 1951; maybe Jackie could have made a difference there.<br />
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(Willie Mays has also claimed that football was his best sport, and that he would have been one of the top quarterbacks in college football if a white school had been willing to take him. Imagine that: Willie Mays being better at another sport than he was at baseball! Oklahoma coach Bud Wilkinson was interested in taking Mickey Mantle -- and his successor, Gomer Jones, wanted another Yankee from the Sooner State, Bobby Murcer.)<br />
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Jackie broke out of his season-starting funk in 1947, getting his average up to .299 on May 17, but by June 4 it was back down to .263. Then he took off, spending most of the season above .300, reaching .316 a couple of times before finishing at .297.<br />
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If Rickey had decided that Jackie wasn't quite ready, and sent him back down to Montreal in May, would that have been the end of the experiment? Would Jackie Robinson have been a "failure"? Hardly: He would have done what he did the year before, tear up the International League with the Royals, and would have been called back up.<br />
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*<br />
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So Jackie wouldn't have failed competitively. But what if he lost his cool?<br />
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On April 22, 23 and 24, 1947, the Philadelphia Phillies came to Ebbets Field, and their manager, Nashville native Ben Chapman, a former All-Star outfielder with the Yankees, led his Phils in horrific verbal abuse, with references to cotton fields, shoe shines, and Robinson fooling around with his white teammates' wives. He was addressed as "Boy" over and over, and also with a word that begin with N and ends with R, and it wasn't "Nor'easter."<br />
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To make matters worse -- potentially, yes, this would have been much worse, as I'll get to later -- Chapman gave his pitchers an order: If Robinson works the count to 3-0, instead of throwing ball 4, bean him. The old saying was applied: "If you're going to put him on, you might as well hurt him." If any Philadelphia pitcher did get to 3 balls and no strikes, and then purposely hit Jackie, I've never heard about it.<br />
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Robinson admitted, years later, that he was incredibly close to saying, "To hell with Rickey's experiment." But he thought about the effect it would have on race relations. The reprisals of racist whites against black people who had nothing to do with the incident, innocent in every aspect, would have been crushing -- physically and emotionally. He couldn't do it.<br />
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When the Dodgers made a roadtrip to Philadelphia for games on May 9, 10 and 11, National League President Ford Frick ordered Chapman to have his picture taken shaking hands with Robinson. He refused. So a compromise was reached, with the two of them standing together, holding a bat. As you can see in the photo, Jackie was willing to smile for the camera, even if it was a phony expression of emotion; Chapman was not. In the 7 aforementioned games with the Phillies -- 3 in Brooklyn, 4 in Philly including a doubleheader -- Jackie got a hit in 6.<br />
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But let us suppose...<br />
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*<br />
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It's Saturday, May 10, 1947, at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, and the count on Jackie is 3 and 0. Phillies pitcher Tommy Hughes -- a journeyman who is yet another player whose best years got eaten up by the fights against Hitler and Tojo -- follows his manager's orders, and hits Robinson, right in the back between the 4 and the 2. Not enough to injure him, but enough to hurt.<br />
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(Let me note that I am not attempting to malign Hughes' character. I don't know anything about him. For all I know, he might have been reluctant in this situation, "just following orders" -- which was not an allowable excuse the year before in Nuremberg.)<br />
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That's it. Jackie Robinson stops giving a damn. He runs out to the mound, and Tommy Hughes' nose is broken with one punch.<br />
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The dugouts empty. To the Phillies' shock, Jackie's Dodger teammates are behind him 100 percent, and knock a few Phillies out.<br />
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The Southern press of the day prints editorials claiming that this is what happens when you put (to use the term widely accepted at the time) Negroes in the white major leagues.<br />
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National League President Ford Frick fines Robinson $1,000 and suspends him for 3 games. But he also fines Hughes $2,000 and suspends him for 6 games, double what he gave Robinson, for causing it. And he fines Chapman $5,000 and suspends him for 30 days, for ordering it.<br />
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Jackie apologizes to Rickey and says, "I just couldn't take it anymore."<br />
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Rickey had publicly worried that, if this experiment had failed, it would be 20 years before anyone would try again.<br />
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Rickey realizes now that there is a limit to what a man can take, and he stands by his man. And soon, statements of support come in from baseball luminaries, ranging from Babe Ruth to Athletics owner-manager Connie Mack, from aging legends like Honus Wagner and Cy Young to current stars Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, and the one player who had a clue as to what Jackie was going through, the Jewish star Hank Greenberg. (Who, in RL, was the one opposing player to go out of his way to welcome Jackie to the majors, and Jackie singled him out for thanks and praise many times.)<br />
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That gives Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck the last piece of evidence he needs. He signs Larry Doby of the Newark Eagles -- just as he did in RL, without this extra controversy.<br />
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Frick had previously told the St. Louis Cardinals, baseball's Southernmost team and a club with a reputation for hardscrabble Southerners like Dizzy Dean and Pepper Martin, and currently Enos Slaughter and Harry Walker (brother of the Dodgers' Dixie Walker), that if they carried out their threat to strike, that they, and anyone else who did, would be suspended, and "I don't care if it wrecks the National League for five years." Frick told them, point-blank: "You will find that the friends you think you have, will not support you."<br />
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In other words, it would have been one thing if Jackie had simply not been proficient enough -- he proved that he was. But if the only thing stopping him was bigotry, the baseball establishment -- Frick and Commissioner A.B. "Happy" Chandler, himself a Southerner -- were going to stand by him.<br />
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I can even imagine President Harry Truman being asked about this. Although he was from Missouri, he tended to think of that State as more Southern than Midwestern, and he used the N-word casually, if not maliciously. As far as I know, he never made a statement about Robinson in RL -- but in TTL, if asked, I suspect he would have said, "Mr. Robinson has as much right to make it in his profession of choice as any other man in that profession. As long as baseball handles it, I see no reason to step in." In RL-1948, it was Truman who desegregated the U.S. armed forces. FDR didn't do it. Maybe Ike, or JFK, or LBJ would have, if it had still been necessary; but Truman is the one who seized the opportunity and did it.<br />
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Edward R. Murrow does one of television news' first documentaries on Jackie and the bigotry he's faced. Essentially, Murrow damages the opposition as much as he damaged Senator Joe McCarthy in RL-1954, and in the same way: By using their own words and pictures to show just how despicable, and just how ridiculous, they are.<br />
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The nation rallies around Jackie Robinson, the way it still does around Joe Louis, the way it once did around Jesse Owens. Both men stand up for Jackie was well. (I'm not sure how much they did in RL.)<br />
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The Dodgers win the Pennant, and Jackie plays in the World Series, although the Dodgers still lose to the Yankees. His success, and Doby's, lead to the full integration of the game anyway.<br />
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If anything, Jackie Robinson becomes a bigger hero. Instead of being the nonviolent angel who brings about change, baseball's Gandhi, he has become an avenging angel -- if not a saint. He's not, as in RL, the man who said, "I'm playing, because I have the right. My demand is modest enough." In TTL, he's the man who said, "Enough. You can't treat my people this way anymore."<br />
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Strom Thurmond's segregationist candidacy of 1948 becomes a joke. Instead of finishing 3rd behind Truman and Governor Thomas E. Dewey, he finishes 4th, behind also former Vice President Henry Wallace.<br />
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Thurmond's 1957 filibuster, the longest in Senate history at over 24 hours, falls apart quickly, and the Civil Rights Act of 1957 passes.<br />
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Jackie Robinson speaks at the 1963 March On Washington -- which he didn't do in RL. It is mentioned in the press that Robinson is a Republican, and a friend of Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York -- a potential candidate to run against President John F. Kennedy the next year. JFK invites Jackie to the White House. Between the two of them, they manage to convince enough Congressmen and Senators in their respective parties to get on the ball. The Civil Rights Act of 1963 is passed, and JFK signs it into law on November 19, 1963. Then he flies to Dallas.<br />
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Jackie and Rachel Robinson attend his funeral, 6 days later. Rockefeller does run for President in 1964, and, with Jackie seen by his side, he gets the nomination, instead of Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Rockefeller still loses to Lyndon Johnson, but it's not a wipeout. Goldwater's hard-right forces fight even harder against Rockefeller in the 1968 primaries, but it's no use, as Richard Nixon's comeback is complete.<br />
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History reasserts itself: Even without the Goldwater nomination, the conservative movement finally nominates their man in 1980. By which point, Jackie has been dead for 8 years.<br />
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Well, history almost reasserts itself. In 1989, in a special election to succeed Senator John Stennis of Mississippi, Congressman Trent Lott is defeated by a man roughly the same age. Another Congressman, who had been the first black professor at the University of Mississippi. Emmett Till.<br />
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In 1994, presuming that the coming Republican electoral tide will sweep Till out of office, President Bill Clinton appoints him to the Supreme Court, where he still sits today, at the age of 71.<br />
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*<br />
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So there's failure, and attempted sabotage. But what if the sabotage succeeds?<br />
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What if, in TTL, Hughes hits Jackie not in the back, but in the head?<br />
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The Dodgers were the first team to use batting helmets, experimenting with metal inserts after Joe Medwick (formerly of the Cardinal Gashouse Gang) was hit shortly after they acquired him in 1940. But by 1947, although all the Dodgers were using them, they weren't nearly as good as they would become.<br />
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Jackie is rushed down Lehigh Avenue to Temple University Hospital. His life is still in the balance the next morning.<br />
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Frick and Chandler have taken a train down to North Philadelphia, and meet with Phillies owner Bob Carpenter in Carpenter's office at Shibe Park. They give Carpenter an ultimatum: Fire Chapman immediately, or all games played by the Phillies will be forfeited until you sell the team.<br />
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Worried that a new owner might not keep the team in Philadelphia, Carpenter -- whose wealth, taken from the pioneering Carpenter and du Pont families into which he'd been born, would have seemed to have protected him from ever needing to sell the team -- agrees. Chapman is called up to the office immediately, and is told he has been fired, for cause.<br />
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Frick and Chandler assure Chapman that he will never work in the National League again. They call American League President Will Harridge, and tell him what has happened. Harridge assures them that Chapman will never work in the AL again, either.<br />
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Jackie recovers, although it appears that he will not be able to play for the rest of the season. The 1947 All-Star Game is announced as a benefit for his family. Before Game 1 of the World Series, between the Yankees and the Cardinals, Chandler stands by Jackie in a baseline box as he throws out the ceremonial first ball.<br />
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He returns to play for the 1948 season, and, free of the need to hold back, plays as we remember. His career unfolds as we know it, with all the honors we know: The 1949 MVP; Pennants in '49, '52, '53, '55 and '56; the '55 World Championship; election to the Hall of Fame; and retirement of his Number 42, first by the Dodgers shortly before his death in 1972, and in 1997 for all of baseball.<br />
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Back to the Phillies: Eddie Sawyer, a year sooner than in RL, becomes manager, and the team develops into the Whiz Kids as in RL. The dismissal of Chapman, and the message that Carpenter will not tolerate racism within the ranks of his club, leads to black fans in Philadelphia accepting that the Phillies are interested in their welfare, and attendance soars. When the Phillies win the Pennant in 1950, they set a city attendance record that lasts until 1964.<br />
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In that summer of 1964, when the race riot happens mere blocks from what is now called Connie Mack Stadium, some black Phillies fans head for the ballpark to protect it. The Phils have a home-field advantage that just wasn't there in RL, and the cheering from fans, black and white alike, spurs them on to hang on to their lead, and the Phillies win the Pennant, and beat the Yankees for their first World Championship.<br />
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Carpenter does his best to keep the team together. Richie Allen and Frank Thomas don't have that carried-over tension, and there's no fight between them in 1965. The Phils lose the Pennant to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but win it in 1966, although they lose the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles.<br />
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Richie Allen is one of baseball's most popular players, and doesn't feel the need to flout authority with late-night carousing. When he grows sideburns and a mustache -- which he did in RL before the Oakland A's of the 1970s -- and starts asking to be called "Dick" instead of "Richie," which he says is "a little boy's name" -- and Phils legend, now broadcaster, Rich Ashburn agrees -- people seem to be fine with it. He homers to win the last game at Connie Mack Stadium -- in 1967. The Phils' Pennant made the desire to build a new stadium come to realization sooner, and Veterans Stadium opens in 1968.<br />
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The St. Louis Cardinals still win the World Series in 1967 and the Pennant in 1968, but not in 1964. When they trade Curt Flood in the 1969-70 offseason, it's not to the Phillies for Dick Allen. He still doesn't want to move, and his challenge to the reserve clause still happens. But there's less of a racial aspect to it. He still loses the case, but the reserve clause's days are numbered.<br />
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Allen slumps in 1969, '70 and '71. The Phillies trade him to the Chicago White Sox, and he spends the rest of his career there, winning the AL Most Valuable Player in 1972, and leading "the South Side Hit Men" to the AL West title in 1977, before losing the ALCS to the Yankees. From the 1964 Phillies, Allen and Johnny Callison are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and Jim Bunning is elected a bit sooner than he was in RL. Allen's Number 15 and Callison's 6 join Bunning's 14, Ashburn's 1, Robin Roberts' 36, Mike Schmidt's 20, Steve Carlton's 32, and notations for Grover Cleveland Alexander and Chuck Klein on the wall at the Vet, and later at Citizens Bank Park, where there are statues of Allen, Schmidt, Carlton, Roberts, Mack, Ashburn and Harry Kalas.<br />
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Statues of Jackie Robinson appear at Citi Field, Dodger Stadium, the UCLA campus, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.<br />
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*<br />
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Sadly, in RL, the only statue of Jackie Robinson that I've ever seen is the one of him and Pee Wee Reese outside the Brooklyn Cyclones' park. The Interborough Parkway, in Brooklyn and Queens, including cutting through the cemetery where he's buried, is named for him. There was a school across the street from the site of Ebbets Field that was named for him, but the name has been changed to Ebbets Field Middle School. But there is a plaque on a building built on the site of the Dodger offices in downtown Brooklyn where Jackie signed that first contract. (In those days, most teams did not have their offices at the ballpark.) And the Mets have the Jackie Robinson Rotunda at the home plate entrance to Citi Field -- roughly the baseball equivalent of a Presidential Library.<br />
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So... What if Jackie Robinson had failed?<br />
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In the words of the immortal Susan B. Anthony, "Failure is impossible."Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-20553940615734846712012-10-24T19:10:00.000-07:002012-10-24T19:10:57.110-07:00What If Fred Merkle Had Touched 2nd Base?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The 2012 World Series, between the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants, is underway. The Tigers have won 11 American League Pennants. The Giants, in New York and San Francisco combined, have won 22 National League Pennants. The Giants have won the World Series in 1905, 1921, 1922, 1933, 1954 and 2010 -- all but the last in New York. The Tigers have won it in 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984. And yet, for all that glory, they have never faced each other in a World Series before.<br />
<br />The closest call was in 1908. The Tigers won the 2nd of 3 straight Pennants, but the Giants blew it due to losing what became known as the Fred Merkle Game. Merkle's Boner led to the game of September 23, 1908 being ruled a tie, and the NL season ended in a tie between the Giants and the defending World Champion Chicago Cubs. A replay, not recognized as an official postseason game by Major League Baseball, was played on October 8, and the Cubs won. The Cubs, for the 2nd straight year, beat the Tigers in the World Series. Those remain the only World Series the Cubs have ever won.<br />
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The Tigers lost 3 straight World Series, 1907-08-09. The only other team to do that was the Giants, 1911-12-13, with some of the same players who'd blown the 1908 Pennant.<br />
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On the 100th Anniversary, September 23, 2008, I did a piece, in the style of ESPN's series <i>The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... ,</i> on why Merkle should be let off the hook. Check it out on my other blog, Uncle Mike's Musings. (See link to the right.)<br />
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There's no point in rehashing what happened, or what appears to have happened, on that wacky afternoon at the Polo Grounds. But... What if it didn't happen that way?<br />
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Suppose the fans did not rush the field, and Merkle got to 2nd base safely, and the game went into the books as a Giant win, and the Giants won the Pennant?<br />
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Well, for starters, the Cubs would, in TTL, not have won a World Series since 1907, instead of 1908. But that is hardly a difference-maker.<br />
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*<br />
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If the Giants had stuck to their starting rotation, then we can safely guess who their starting pitchers would have been. Having Christy "Big Six" Mathewson and Joe "Iron Man" McGinnity, both usually willing to start on short rest, simplifies things for them. Remember, this was the Dead Ball Era: Nothing having to bear down on a team full of sluggers meant less wear and tear on an arm, meaning more pitches, more innings, more starts, more wins.<br />
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So, here we go, the 1908 World Series, New York Giants vs. Detroit Tigers:<br />
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Game 1, October 10, at Bennett Park, Detroit (which would be torn down after the 1911, with Navin Field, later to be known as Briggs Stadium and Tiger Stadium, builton the site): Christy Mathewson vs. Ed Killian. Killian left in the 3rd inning and did not appear again in the Series, so he may have left due to injury. Ed Summers came in, but couldn't stop the Cubs. I suspect the Giants would have hit Killian and Summers equally well. The Tigers fought back, though, with 3 runs in the 7th and 2 in the 8th, but the Cubs put it away with 5 runs in the 9th, to win it 10-6. But they're not facing Ed Reulbach in TTL-Game 1: They're facing Matty. Giants 10, Tigers 2. Giants lead, 1-0.<br />
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Game 2, October 11, at Bennett Park: Joe McGinnity vs. Bill Donovan. In RL, the Series had shifted to Chicago. But, with New York being a lot father away, they likely would have gone with a format of 2 in Detroit, 3 in New York, 2 in Detroit -- presuming more than 4 games were necessary. Which means there will be a day off in the TTL-1908 WS, as there was not in the RL-1908 WS. The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the 8th, but the Cubs hung 6 on Donovan. Today, Jim Leyland would have pulled him after the first baserunner. In aught-eight, Tiger manager Hughie Jennings left Wild Bill in, to live up to his nickname. (There have been a few other famous men named Bill Donovan, and they all seem to have been nicknamed Wild Bill.) The Tigers pulled a run back in the 9th, but no more. I think the result would have been the same: Giants 6, Tigers 1. Giants lead, 2-0. And they haven't even played in New York yet.<br />
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Game 3, October 13, at the Polo Grounds: Red Ames vs. George Mullin. The Cubs scored 3 in the 4, but the Tigers scored 5 in the 6th. And that was off Jack Pfeister, a better pitcher than Ames. Tigers 8, Giants 3. Giants still lead, 2-1. So far, the road team has won every game.<br />
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Game 4, October 14, at the Polo Grounds: Mathewson vs. Ed Summers. Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, Matty's only real challenger for the title of Best Pitcher In Baseball at that time, shut the Tigers out. No reason why Matty can't do the same. Giants 3, Tigers 0. Giants lead 3-1, and are 1 win away from taking it.<br />
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Game 5, October 15, at the Polo Grounds: McGinnity vs. Donovan. Orval Overall shut the Tigers out to clinch it. But after 3,441 innings pitched in 10 years, at age 37, McGinnity is winding down, and maybe Ty Cobb and company get to him. Tigers 3, Giants 2. Giants still lead 3-2, but the Series goes back to the not-yet-Motor City.<br />
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Game 6, October 17, at Bennett Park: Ames vs. Mullin. Since this game was not played in RL, all I can do is make a somewhat-educated guess. And here I have to throw in a monkey wrench.<br />
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We tend to think of Mathewson as one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived -- maybe <i>the</i> greatest. But in the 2 biggest games of his career -- the 1908 Merkle replay and Game 8 of the 1912 World Series (forced because Game 2 was called due to darkness) -- he blew it. Christy Mathewson, not a big game pitcher, not a clutch pitcher? Hard to believe. But let me put it this way: There are other pitchers I would trust in Game 7 before I'd trust Mathewson.<br />
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But since the Giants didn't play the Merkle Replay in TTL, and hadn't yet played the 1912 World Series, they didn't know that. Would they have taken it easy in Game 6, knowing they could rely on Matty in Game 7? Hell no, manager John McGraw wouldn't have allowed that. He wanted to go for the jugular every... single... game.<br />
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But I smell a field day for the Georgia Peach: Cobb gets 3 hits, drives in 4 runs, and steals 6 bases, including home plate once. Tigers 6, Giants 2. We're going to a Game 7.<br />
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Ty Cobb and Christy Mathewson. The first player and the first pitcher elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Numbers 3 and 7 on <i>The Sporting News</i>' end-of-the-century list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Their careers overlapped between 1905 and 1916. And yet they never faced each other in a game that mattered. Not in a World Series. There was no All-Star Game back then. They may never have even faced each other in spring training. Now, they're going at it in Game 7 of the World Series.<br />
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Game 7, October 18, at Bennett Park: Mathewson vs. Summers. <br />
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The thing is, in RL, Cobb's lifetime postseason batting average was just .262. That's .104 below his regular-season average. And that was against guys like Brown, Pfeister, Overall, Reulbach, and 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates pitchers Vic Willis, Howie Camnitz and Babe Adams. Aside from Brownie, none of those guys could touch Matty. If Cobb was no better than, say, Nick Swisher against those guys, Mathewson would have turned him into postseason A-Rod.<br />
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In RL-1956, Don Larsen of the Yankees pitched the first no-hitter in World Series history, a perfect game.<br />
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In TTL-1956, Larsen will have to settle for the second no-hitter in World Series history.<br />
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Giants 2, Tigers 0. Christy Mathewson pitches a no-hitter, with the only baserunner being Sam Crawford, who reaches on an error by... Fred Merkle. But Merkle gets off a lot easier on this than he did for his RL "Boner." Mainly because Merkle doubled home 2 runs in the top of the 5th to provide the margin of victory.<br />
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This win doesn't affect the Giants' legacy much. The difference between 1 ring and 2 isn't nearly as big as the difference between 1 ring and none. In RL, Matty had 1 ring: 1905; Cobb had none. In TTL, Matty has 2, Cobb still has none.<br />
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This doesn't change much. All it really does is make the Cubs slightly more pathetic.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-87531437708094378622012-09-03T13:49:00.000-07:002012-09-09T11:43:37.201-07:00What If the Red Sox Had Moved and the Braves Had Stayed In Boston?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In spring training of 1953, the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee, as Milwaukee County Stadium neared completion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The move was entirely justified. Today, with the success of the Boston Red Sox having converted New England into "Red Sox Nation," and the Sox not having played to an unsold seat since 2001 and tickets being pretty hard to come by since the 1986 Pennant, it could be argued that the New England region could support a second Major League Baseball team. Granted, due to the locations of the population bases and the transportation network, it couldn't be in Hartford. Or Providence. Or Manchester, New Hampshire. Or in the small towns that serve as those cities' suburbs. It would have to also be in Boston.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But in 1953? Forget it: The 1950 Census had the population of the city of Boston at about 800,000 (today it's about 617,000), but the metropolitan area could not approach the 7.6 million that it is today. In 1952, the last season of two-team Boston, the Braves averaged 3,677 fans per game. Per game. The Red Sox averaged 14,490. Combined, that's 18,167, both teams combined, about half what the Sox alone get now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">And after 1933, a good season for the Braves, and the year Thomas Austin Yawkey bought the Red Sox and started to rebuild both the team and Fenway Park, the Braves never had a higher per-game attendance than the Red Sox. Not even in 1948, when the Braves won their only Pennant after their 1914 World Championship, and the Red Sox lost a one-game Playoff for the American League Pennant to the Cleveland Indians: The Braves averaged 19,025, a total they never surpassed in Boston, while the Red Sox averaged 20,602.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Once the Braves moved to Milwaukee, they had a better attendance than the Red Sox 10 years in a row. County Stadium had 44,000 seats at the time, 4,000 more than Braves Field, and about 10,000 more parking spaces. Plus, their farm system was bearing fruit.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Which should make one wonder: What if they'd held out just one more year? In 1953, already having Warren Spahn, they had the first full season of Eddie Mathews. And 1954 was the first season of Hank Aaron.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">What if...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">*</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">If you're going to imagine a scenario in which the Braves stay in Boston, you're going to have to admit the truth: Boston could not remain a two-team city. Therefore, the Red Sox have to go.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Tom Yawkey did talk about moving the team out of Boston... if he did not get a replacement for Fenway Park. That was in 1967, and then the Red Sox got into their first Pennant race in 16 years, won their first Pennant in 21 years, and suddenly Fenway Park was the place to be. Yawkey sat back and enjoyed the glory, and essentially forgot about replacing Fenway. It would be the late 1990s before anyone seriously discussed replacing Fenway again.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Yawkey was rich. Filthy rich. And, whatever his flaws, he loved baseball. He was not going to sell the Red Sox.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Therefore, if you want to change history so that the Braves stay in Boston and the Red Sox don't, you have to use a date prior to March 17, 1953, the date the National League approved the Braves' move to Milwaukee, as your point of divergence. You have to remove Yawkey from Boston.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">The story I heard is that, in 1933, Yawkey turned 30 and inherited the lumber-mill fortune of his uncle and adoptive father, a former co-owner of the Detroit Tigers named William Hoover Yawkey. With his uncle's connections, he knew several Detroit baseball figures, including the one and only Ty Cobb. He asked Cobb if the Tigers were for sale. Cobb said he'd look into it. When he got back to Yawkey, he said, No, the Tigers were not for sale, but the Red Sox were. The rest is history. Not all <i>good</i> history, but history nonetheless.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">We now know that Frank Navin, who had put his name on the ballpark that we would later know as Tiger Stadium (and opened on the same day as Fenway, April 20, 1912), was in both poor health and financial difficulty. He died a few weeks after the Tigers won their first World Series in 1935. This left Walter O. Briggs Sr. as the sole owner.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">So let's imagine that Cobb brokers a deal by which Yawkey buys most of Navin's shares, and most of Briggs' shares. This would leave Bob Quinn, who had bought the Red Sox from the much-maligned Harry Frazee in 1923, to continue as Sox owner -- preventing him from joining the front offices of the Brooklyn Dodgers and, oddly, the Braves in TTL, as he did in RL.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">In 1951, Quinn, by then President of the Baseball Hall of Fame, suffered a stroke, and retired from that role. In TTL, this could be the impetus for his selling the Red Sox to someone who would move them.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">(Quinn died in 1954. His son John also served as Braves general manager, in Boston and Milwaukee. One grandson, Bob, was GM of the Yankees, Reds and Giants; another, Jack, was GM of the NHL's St. Louis Blues. Today, great-grandson Bob Quinn is a front-office man with the current Milwaukee team, the Brewers.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">So here we go...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">*</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">With Yawkey in charge of the Tigers, he does what Navin would have done, buying catcher Mickey Cochrane from the Philadelphia Athletics, as owner-manager Connie Mack had lost all his non-baseball assets in the stock market crash of 1929 and needed to break up his 1929-31 dynasty. In RL, Mack sold first baseman Jimmie Foxx and pitchers Lefty Grove and Rube Walberg, to the Red Sox, and left fielder Al Simmons to the Chicago White Sox. Yawkey brought the Ferrell brothers to Boston: Pitcher Wes of the Cleveland Indians and catcher Rick of the St. Louis Browns. His big move came in the 1934-35 off-season, buying Joe Cronin from the Washington Senators -- who was not just the shortstop and manager for Senators owner Clark Griffith, but also his son-in-law.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">With Yawkey in charge of the Tigers, Cronin won't be the manager. But he'd be a better shortstop than Billy Rogell. Hank Greenberg gets moved to left field to make room for Foxx (as, in RL, he would briefly do for Rudy York), with Goose Goslin then moving from left to right, and Simmons replacing Jo-Jo White in center. Now imagine a pitching staff of Lefty Grove, Wes Ferrell, Elwyn "Schoolboy" Rowe and Tommy Bridges. Even good pitchers like Elden Auker and Alvin "General" Crowder would either go to the bullpen or get traded.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">The Tigers almost certainly beat the St. Louis Cardinals' "Gashouse Gang" in the 1934 World Series (thus ruining the goofy-and-braggy-but-victorious image of Dizzy Dean, who almost certainly does not make the Hall of Fame), and still win the '35 Series as in RL. In RL-1936, the Yankees, with an unbelievable rookie season from Joe DiMaggio, finished 19 1/2 games ahead of the Tigers. I don't think the Tigers overtake them, especially as some of those guys were getting older. Nor do they win in '37, '38 or '39. But the 1940 race, a nailbiter between the Tigers, Yankees and Indians, is not one, and the Tigers beat the Cincinnati Reds in the Series -- which they nearly did anyway. The Tigers just missed winning the Pennant in 1944 and won the whole thing in 1945; in TTL, they win the Series both years, taking another title away from the Cardinals (1944) and keeping one they won in RL (1945).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19px;">Tom Yawkey doesn't win the Pennant in 1967 -- but the Tigers do still win the 1968 World Series, as in RL. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Yawkey dies in 1976, and his widow Jean Yawkey inherits the team. She is the owner of the 1984 World Champion Tigers, and she dies in 1992. Little Caesar's pizza mogul Mike Ilitch then buys the Tigers from the Yawkey Trust. (And so, history reasserts itself: In RL, in that same year, he bought them from Domino's Pizza owner Tom Monaghan.) The Tigers win the Pennant in 2006, and nearly do so again in 2011.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">*</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">That's what happens to the Yawkeys. Now for the Red Sox: </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Perhaps if Ted Williams hadn't been away in the Korean War in the winter of 1952-53, he could have had some input on where the team went. Possibly to his native California? Possibly to Florida, where he lived?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">Here were the cities that, in RL, would all get major league teams in the next 10 years, 1953 to 1962: Baltimore, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Francisco. In RL-1952, the Sox' top farm club was the Louisville Colonels. This would have made it simple: The Sox already owned the market. But Louisville, which hadn't had a major league team since 1899 (and still hasn't, in RL), was then (and is now) too small a market for a big-league club.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;">At that point, Milwaukee, whose minor-league Brewers were the Braves' top farm team, was building County Stadium to have 44,000 seats (and was expanded to 53,000 by 1973), Baltimore was converting Municipal Stadium into Memorial Stadium to 49,000 ( later 54,000), Kansas City was double-decking their Municipal Stadium so it would seat 35,000, and none of the others then had, or were about to have, a stadium seating more than 21,000. Also, moving to the Pacific Coast would make travel really expensive, especially if there wasn't a second team moving out there. And since one League having 2 West Coast teams and the other having none would have brought lots of recriminations, the TTL-Red Sox are not moving to the West Coast.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
So here were the Red Sox' options: Make a deal with the owners of the Triple-A teams in Milwaukee (Braves), Baltimore (Phillies) or K.C. (Yankees), and wait for the cities to finish their stadiums; or stay put and suffer.<br />
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Since the Yankees were trying to get a major league team in Kansas City, and also trying to make sure that the Philadelphia Athletics were that team, which would make the Phillies the only game in their town, it makes sense, in TTL as in RL, if the Boston team that moves, moves to Milwaukee. So the Braves, in order to be the only game in town, swap the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association to the Red Sox for the Louisville Colonels of the International League.<br />
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On September 28, 1952, the Boston Red Sox play their last game at Fenway Park, losing 5-4 to the Washington Senators. In 1955, Fenway, the home of the 1912, 1915, 1916 and 1918 World Champions, and the 1946 American League Champions, is demolished to make way for housing for nearby Boston University.<br />
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On April 20, 1953, the Milwaukee Red Sox play their first game at Milwaukee County Stadium, also against the Senators. This time, they win, 4-2. The return of Williams later in the season makes it even more of a special season, as Wisconsinians go nuts over their first big-league baseball team in 52 years, and Ted gets greater appreciation from the fans -- and especially from the media -- in Milwaukee than he ever got in Boston.<br />
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However, the enthusiasm soon dims. Unlike the RL-Braves, the TTL-Red Sox do not win Pennants in 1957 and '58. When Ted plays his last game on September 28, 1960, and hits a home run in his last at-bat, 43,768 fans -- over 4 times as many that came out at Fenway in RL that day -- cheer him wildly. But, as with the RL-Braves, the attendance drops precipitously.<br />
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When the Minnesota Twins arrived in 1961, that took the States of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota -- admittedly, the Dakotas are not huge population centers, but Minnesota is a big loss -- and northern Iowa and the westernmost part of Wisconsin, away from the Milwaukee market.<br />
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So the TTL-Red Sox, with no 1957 World Championship, with no 1958 Pennant, and with no Ted Williams -- and with Carl Yastrzemski not yet developed into a star, are in trouble.<br />
<br />
And Yaz wouldn't have gone to the Milwaukee Red Sox, anyway. He grew up in the Hamptons on Long Island, and his father, Carl Sr., wanted him to play for a Northeastern team. When the Dodgers came calling, Carl Sr. said, "If only you were still in Brooklyn." When the RL-Red Sox came calling, Boston's comparative proximity was good enough for Carl Sr., and so Carl Jr. became Captain Yaz, the Red Sox legend.<br />
<br />
But Milwaukee? Sorry, Yaz doesn't go there. He could, though, go to the TTL-Boston Braves... But that's to discuss later.<br />
<br />
So, for the next round of expansion, nothing changes from RL. For the 1961 season, Los Angeles got the Angels to go with the Dodgers, the Senators became the Minnesota Twins, and Washington got a new Senators to replacement. For 1962, New York got the Mets and Houston got the Colt .45's (who became the Astros in 1965).<br />
<br />
So where can the Milwaukee Red Sox go? The following cities either got big-league teams or were rumored to be getting them in the following 10 years: Atlanta, Oakland, Kansas City (to replace the A's), Montreal, San Diego, Seattle, Milwaukee (who got the failed-after-one-year Seattle team), Dallas, Denver and Louisville. Only Louisville ended up not getting one, although Charlie Finley did briefly consider moving the A's there, as well as to Denver and Dallas, before moving them to Oakland (and eventually made a second, nearly-successful, attempt at moving them to Denver).<br />
<br />
Obviously, in TTL, Milwaukee isn't getting the Red Sox, because they're losing them. In RL-1962, of the cities listed above, only Kansas City had a decent-sized ballpark, and at that point, in both RL and TTL, they still had the A's.<br />
<br />
But Montreal had Delorimier Stadium, 20,000 seats, sitting vacant after the Dodgers pulled the Montreal Royals out after the 1960 season. Mayor Jean Drapeau was something of a megalomaniac, and he wasn't able to get a team for his city until 1968 (for the 1969 season). Instead of Jarry Park, an inadequate baseball park, and the Autostade, an inadequate football stadium, maybe this time Drapeau gets it right.<br />
<br />
On September 28, 1963, for the last time after 92 years, a team called the Red Stockings or the Red Sox played in Major League Baseball. The Milwaukee Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 4-3. Only 12,577 came out to County Stadium. (That's how many came out for the last Milwaukee Braves game, on September 22, 1965, a 7-6 loss to the Dodgers in 11 innings.)<br />
<br />
On April 17, 1964 -- the same day that Shea Stadium opened in New York, which doesn't change in TTL -- for the first time, a Major League Baseball game is played outside the United States. At Stade Macdonald, named for Canada's first Prime Minister, on the Ile de Soeurs, where the pavilions for the Expo 67 World's Fair were soon to go up in RL, the renamed Montreal Expos beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-1, in front of 45,585 fans. (I'm keeping the name "Expos" for simplicity's sake, and it does make some sense, as Canada began planning for the fair in 1962.)<br />
<br />
The Expos won the American League Pennant in 1967, Canada's Centennial year. How can they do this, when they are, essentially, the same team as the RL-1967 Boston Red Sox, only <i>without</i> the key figures of Carl Yastrzemski and (as you'll see later) Tony Conigliaro?<br />
<br />
Ah, but their owners are not the same. They were quicker to bring in black players, and not just role players but those of consequence. They make a trade with the Phillies to bring in Dick Allen -- who is a better 3rd baseman than either Joe Foy or Jerry Adair. The left fielder they got was former San Francisco Giant Matty Alou, and he wins the American League batting title in 1966 (instead of the National League batting title). With Montreal being a multicultural city in ways that Allen's Philadelphia definitely was not at the time, and even Alou's San Francisco wasn't yet quite embracing, these players embrace their new environment and vice versa, and they excel.<br />
<br />
And the Expos beat the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the World Series -- with Al Downing, obtained from the Yankees, pitching on 3 days' rest instead of Jim Lonborg, who was on 2 and, in RL, just didn't have it that day. This is the franchise's first World Championship in 49 years.<br />
<br />
The Cards also lose the '68 Series to Yawkey's Tigers, meaning that Bob Gibson doesn't have nearly the same mystique, and Orlando Cepeda waits another few years to get into the Hall of Fame -- but he does get in. Still, Bob Feller ends up taking Gibson's place on the All-Century Team in 1999.<br />
<br />
The Expos beat out Yawkey's Tigers for the AL Eastern Division title in 1972, but lose the AL Championship Series to the A's. (Oakland, right? Hold on... ) They win the 1975 Pennant, and Carlton Fisk -- whose hometown of Charlestown, New Hampshire isn't that much further from Montreal than it is from Boston -- waves his fly ball fair to win Game 6 of the World Series, but the Reds win Game 7.<br />
<br />
The Yankees and the Expos faced each other in battles for the AL East title in 1974, '75, '76, '77 and '78, and the rivalry was fun. But it wasn't especially nasty. With Baltimore being the closest AL city to New York (yes, a little closer than Boston is), Yankees vs. Orioles becomes THE rivalry in the AL. But even that is not at the level in TTL as Dodgers vs. Giants or even Cubs vs. Cardinals is in RL, much less at the Yanks-Sox rivalry that we know.<br />
<br />
The Expos lose the 1986 World Series to the Mets, but Quebec fans figure it out: It was relievers Calvin Schiraldi and Bob Stanley, and manager John McNamara, who screwed it up. Unlike RL New Englanders, they forgive Bill Buckner pretty quickly, since the lead was already blown.<br />
<br />
True, the 1999, 2003 and '04 ALCS were tightly-fought affairs between the Yankees and the Expos, but there were few Montrealers defending Pedro Martinez when he threw Don Zimmer to the ground by his head. Montrealers didn't like getting beat by Aaron Boone, but they also appreciated that their Expos didn't look like a bunch of slobs when they won it all in 2004 and 2007. The steroid revelations hurt, but then, lots of teams had players like that -- including the Yankees. There is little bitterness between Yankee and Expo fans over that period.<br />
<br />
And while the Expos fell apart in TTL-2011, they don't have the "choke" reputation of the RL-Red Sox. And nobody ever wrote <i>The Curse of the Bambino</i> -- because what do Montreal fans care that Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth in the 1919-20 off-season? It was the same franchise as the one they're watching now, but it wasn't their team then.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">*</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">That's the Red Sox. What about Milwaukee? Same as in RL: They get a team in 1953, then lose it, while the Seattle Pilots flop in their inaugural season, 1969, and become the Brewers in 1970. Only now, they've never won a World Series, and the city only has the 1982 Pennant.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">What about Atlanta, who now won't have the Braves? Well, they don't wait for expansion again in 1969 (to take the RL-Expos' place). They make a play for Charlie Finley's Kansas City A's, who move there in 1966. That may not sit well with the black A's, including Reggie Jackson, but with the A's winning 5 straight AL West titles from 1971 to 1975, the city and the players both get over it, and are a boost toward racial reconciliation in the South. It is the Atlanta A's that beat the Detroit Tigers in the 1972 ALCS, and Atlanta gets an MLB Pennant 19 years sooner than in RL. The A's have won 4 World Series in Atlanta, which is 3 more than the RL-Atlanta Braves.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">When Finley gets frustrated, and breaks up his team in 1976, Atlanta's Ted Turner steps in and makes Finley an offer he can't refuse. Turner builds the A's team that wins the 1981 AL West title, and then the 1988-92 "Bash Brothers" quasi-dynasty. Ted raises a lot of money for relief to go toward San Francisco when the Atlanta A's play the Giants in the 1989 World Series. And with the building of Turner Field in 1997, there is, unlike in RL-Oakland, no danger that the Atlanta A's will move anytime soon.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Okay, so what about Oakland? They have the Coliseum. But the NL is reluctant to put a 2nd team in the metro area, already having the Giants. In TTL, Oakland never gets a Major League Baseball team.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">So it is, ironically, the city that, in RL-1976, nearly got the Giants after the A's 1970s success made it seem like they would be the only team that could stay in the Bay Area: Toronto. Exhibition Stadium had opened in 1959 and was the home of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. So in TTL-1977, the Toronto Blue Jays debut -- in the NL East, in the place held by the RL-Expos/Nationals.</span><br />
<br />
The teams that debut in TTL-1977 are the same ones that we know: The Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners... Except that they're in the National League, which expands to 14 teams, while the American League stays at 12. This results in the Jays winning the 1992 World Series over Atlanta, but it's the Atlanta Athletics. But the "Macho Row" Phillies beat them and in 1993, and the Phils go on to beat the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS and the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. As for the M's, they win 116 games in 2001, to win the NL West and the Pennant. The Yankees beat the 1998 expansion Arizona Diamondbacks to win the 2001 ALDS 3 games to 2, and the A's to win the ALCS, before topping the Mariners in the post-9/11 World Series, winning Games 4 and 5 on walkoff hits: Derek Jeter's home run in the 10th in Game 4, and Alfonso Soriano singling home Chuck Knoblauch in the 12th in Game 5.<br />
<br />
What about Washington? If the Expos never move there, what team do they get? They get an expansion team in 1998. In the American League. The 3rd incarnation of the Washington Senators -- can't call them the Nationals if they're in the AL -- take the place of the Tampa Bay Rays. Senators Park opens in 2003, allowing them to get out of Robert F. Kennedy Stadium 5 years earlier. By the time the "Nats" (remember, the old Senators were called that, short for "Senators," even though the NHL's Ottawa Senators are the "Sens") win the 2008 AL Pennant and lose the World Series to the Phillies, their ballpark is corporate-named Capitol One Park. "What's in your wallet?" Enough money to have a rotation that includes David Price, James Shields and Stephen Strasburg.<br />
<br />
Tampa Bay remains stuck with their "gray elephant" dome, which is used by the cross-State Marlins as bait to get a new ballpark near downtown Miami, which works, as Marlins Park, as in RL, opens in 2012.<br />
<br />
*<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Now for the remaining Boston team, the Braves: They win the 1957 World Series and the 1958 NL Pennant, as in RL But now, that 1957 title is <i>Boston's</i> first in 39 years, rather than Milwaukee's first ever (and still only). And the increased attendance leads to a reconfiguration of Braves Field, thus different fence distances and wind conditions, and they take advantage of this to beat the Dodgers out for the Pennant in 1959. But they lose the World Series to the White Sox -- Chicago's first title, for either the White Sox or the Cubs, in 42 years.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Being Boston's team, and with the amateur draft not yet in place, it is the Braves who sign local wonderboy Tony Conigliaro. Being a Northeastern team, it is the Braves who sign Carl Yastrzemski. Being in the NL, Tony C comes to bat on August 18, 1967, but not against Jack Hamilton, and he is not beaned. The Braves aren't really in the Pennant race in 1967, despite a great year from Yaz. It is they who battle the New York Mets for the NL East title in 1969, but they fall a little short. In RL, the Atlanta Braves won the NL West; in TTL, the Cubs are in the NL West, and win it, their first 1st-place finish in 24 years. But the Mets beat them in the NLCS, and win their "Miracle" World Championship over the Orioles.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Tony C, his career uninterrupted, becomes the big folk hero, with Yaz essentially being Lou Gehrig to his Babe Ruth. Or, considering that Hank Aaron is still there, the analogy should be that Aaron is a still-playing Joe DiMaggio, while Tony C is Boston's Mickey Mantle, Yaz is their Roger Maris, and knuckleballer Phil Niekro is their Whitey Ford. However, Bill Lee does not become their Yogi Berra: The quotable southpaw whackjob spends his entire career with the TTL-Expos, instead of the team they were, the RL-Red Sox, and the RL-Expos, and he becomes a folk hero in Montreal.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">In 1972, Patriot Park opens at Massachusetts and Westland Avenues, across from Symphony Hall to the north and the First Church of Christ, Scientist to the east. It was chosen (by me for this story, by the City of Boston in TTL) for its proximity to all four of the MBTA's Green Lines, and is no worse to drive to than RL-Fenway Park. The dimensions make it a hitter's park, which means that Aaron hits his 714th and 715th career home runs on September 30, 1973, the final day of the regular season, in a 6-5 win over the Houston Astros. Dave Roberts gives up the equalizer, and Don Wilson gives up the record-breaker.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">And with Hank, Yaz, Tony C, Darrell Evans and Davey Johnson providing one of the most potent attacks the game has ever known, the Braves win the bunched-up NL East, instead of the Mets, and go on to win the Pennant over the Reds. But they lose the World Series in 7 games to the Atlanta Athletics. They win the NL East again in 1974, and beat the Dodgers for the Pennant, but again lose to the A's. The people of Boston can't understand how they can lose to a city like Atlanta. Still, since their 1948 Pennant, the TTL-Braves have won 5 Pennants, and that's 1 more than the RL-Red Sox won over the same stretch.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Aaron, who never played in Milwaukee, stays with the Braves for his entire career, and retires in 1976 with 766 home runs -- which means that, at 762, Barry Bonds falls short, and Hank still holds the record. Like Hank, Tony C joins the 500 Home Run Club, retiring in 1981 with 508. Like Hank, Yaz joins the 3,000 Hit Club, retiring in 1983 with 3,419. (In Yaz' case, the total is as in RL.) By the time the Braves win the NL East title in 1982 (losing the NLCS to the Western Champion St. Louis Cardinals, a geographic reverse of RL), new players are there, led by Dale Murphy, with Niekro as the only holdover from the 1974 Pennant, let alone from the 1969 near-miss.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">The Braves, led by </span>Ron Gant, Terry Pendleton, David Justice, and the pitching of Tom Glavine, Steve Avery and John Smoltz, win the 1991 Pennant. They fall short in 1992 (Toronto) and '93 (Philadelphia). But in 1995, having added Chipper Jones and Greg Maddux, they go all the way. In 1996, for the first time since 1912 -- and for the first time since the Red Sox sold Babe Ruth -- the World Series is New York vs. Boston. No change: The Yankees beat the Braves in 6.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">While Turner Field opens for the A's in Atlanta the next season, the Boston Braves' Patriot Park still stands as of 2012, its 40th Anniversary season, and while there have been some adjustments to make it more modern (including skyboxes), the great atmosphere -- not to mention the byzantine nature of politics in Massachusetts in general and in Boston in particular -- mean there are no plans to replace it. It is generally regarded as the best ballpark built between Dodger Stadium in 1962 and Camden Yards in 1992.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Boston Braves beat the Florida Marlins out in both the 1997 regular season and NLCS, but the Cleveland Indians reverse the result of 1995 -- and 1948, and win their first World Championship since that year. The Braves lose another World Series to the Yankees in 1999, and the rivalry between New York and Boston, so much bigger in basketball and hockey (and soon to be in football as well), has perked up a bit in baseball. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">But in TTL, it's the Mets who build a rivalry with Boston, as the Braves beat them out for the NL East title in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and in a taut 1999 NLCS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
So here's the Braves' titles in TTL:<br />
<br />
World Series Champions, 3: 1914, 1957, 1995.<br />
<br />
National League Champions, 19 (more than any other NL team): 1877, 1878, 1883, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1897, 1898, 1914, 1948, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1973, 1974, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999.<br />
<br />
N.L. East Champions, 16 (more Division titles than any other NL team): 1973, 1974, 1982, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005.<br />
<br />
Or, to put it another way, from 1953 onward, here's the totals, in TTL and RL: World Series wins, Braves 2, Red Sox 2; Pennants, Braves 9, Red Sox 5; Division titles, Braves 16, Red Sox 6.<br />
<br />
Granted, in terms of going all the way, it's not an improvement, and it's 17 years since the last title, not 5. But the Boston Braves, in spite of their 1920s and '30s struggles, have never in the post-World War II, post-integration era, had an image as a losing or a choking team. Not even as much as the RL-Atlanta Braves.<br />
<br />
So if this is how it would have gone had the Red Sox moved out of Boston and the Braves stayed, I think it's an improvement.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-21132631408633249232012-05-05T17:43:00.000-07:002012-05-05T17:43:22.731-07:00What If the Yankees Didn't Have Mariano Rivera?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIf2YX1mSWucAijOFpMaHFQbh1Ip-w95oxzUO3z124MYQQEuHFvmh7VA7iCJR4Ct1SLyqC2rk4X8dQm-hGed96X4ph0yveY8t92DbzfyLDuJV_qx0eiaqfly5_-YHba02-g8R064xFmkU/s1600/mariano_rivera-627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="500" width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIf2YX1mSWucAijOFpMaHFQbh1Ip-w95oxzUO3z124MYQQEuHFvmh7VA7iCJR4Ct1SLyqC2rk4X8dQm-hGed96X4ph0yveY8t92DbzfyLDuJV_qx0eiaqfly5_-YHba02-g8R064xFmkU/s1600/mariano_rivera-627.jpg" /></a></div>
The Yankees and their fans are so used to thinking, "Just get it to the 9th inning and let Mo handle it" that it took until his injury Thursday night for us to realize what it's like to live without him. <br><br>
It could have been worse.<br><br>
In spring training 1996, the men the Yankees were counting on to form the middle infield -- shortstop Tony Fernandez and second baseman Pat Kelly -- got hurt. They had Mariano Duncan to play second, but at shortstop... There was this exciting kid named Derek Jeter, but they weren't sure if he was ready.<br><br>
So they approached the Seattle Mariners, asking about Felix Fermin. The M's wanted either Rivera or Bob Wickman... and general manager Bob Watson wouldn't do it. So they stuck with Jeter at short.<br><br>
The M's ended up releasing Fermin anyway, and the Yankees got him. They sent him to the minors, and released him without bringing him up. Then the Chicago Cubs signed him, and released him later in the year. At 32, he never appeared in the majors again.<br><br>
Clearly, Fermin was at the end of the line, so Jeter might have become the starting shortstop that season anyway.<br><br>
But if they'd traded Rivera...<br><br>
*<br><br>
Let's imagine that the Yankees had ANY other middle reliever in 1996, and ANY other closer from 1997 to 2011. Even a good one like, say, Troy Percival, or Robb Nen.<br><br>
1996: The Yankees finished 4 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Eastern Division. Without Rivera, they could very easily have not won the Division. So they get the Wild Card, and would have ended up playing the Cleveland Indians in the Division Series. The Indians win the Pennant, and probably lose to the Braves in the World Series as they did the year before.<br><br>
1997: No change. The Yankees win the AL Wild Card, and lose in the Divison Series to the Indians.<br><br>
1998: The Yankees don't win the East by 22 games, but they still win it. And they still beat the Texas Rangers in the ALDS. But no way do they beat the Indians in the AL Championship Series. The Indians win their first World Series in half a century by beating the San Diego Padres.<br><br>
Joe Torre is fired as manager. Desperate to bring in another ex-Met hero, George Steinbrenner signs Davey Johnson. (Who, in RL, was signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers at this point.)<br><br>
1999: The Yankees lose the Division to the Boston Red Sox, win the Wild Card, and lose to the Indians in the ALDS.<br><br>
2000: The Yankees' end-of-season nosedive means they don't make the Playoffs at all. The Red Sox win the East, and beat the Oakland Athletics in the ALDS. The Seattle Mariners win the Wild Card, beat the Chicago White Sox as they did in RL, and win their first Pennant by beating the Red Sox. In the World Series, the Mariners benefit from the Mets' baserunning blunders and Armando Benitez's choking, and win their first World Series.<br><br>
Davey Johnson is fired. Hired is Yankee coach Lee Mazzilli -- another ex-Met notable, if not "hero."<br><br>
Here's where it gets tricky: With the added postseason revenue, the M's re-sign Alex Rodriguez. He never becomes a Texas Ranger.<br><br>
2001: The Mariners win 117 games, a new major league record. The A's beat the Yankees in the ALDS, as whoever is their closer this season blows Game 3 and Jeter's flip play goes for nought. The M's repeat, beating the A's and the Arizona Diamondbacks.<br><br>
2002: No change, the Yankees win the Division but lose the ALDS... Not to the Anaheim Angels but to the A-Rod-boosted Mariners. They beat the A's, and then the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.<br><br>
Now the M's are the dynasty, and the Yankees still haven't won a Pennant since 1981 or a World Series since 1978. People are beginning to talk about the Curse of Canton. No title since Thurman Munson went down in a plane crash.<br><br>
2003: The story is the same, except there's no way the Yankees get through Game 7 of the ALCS with a sub-Mariano holding the Red Sox scoreless in the 9th, the 10th and the 11th. Aaron Boone never becomes a Yankee hero... and Scott Bleeping Williamson gives up the walkoff homer to Alex Gonzalez in Game 4 of the World Series, not Jeff Bleeping Weaver, and so the Florida Marlins win the World Series, and, while the Yankees haven't won a title in 25 years now, the Curse of the Bambino still lives. As Dan Shaughnessy of the <i>Boston Globe </i>pointed out, the Curse wasn't, "The Red Sox can't beat the Yankees," it was, "The Red Sox can't win the World Series."<br><br>
Mazzilli is fired. Willie Randolph becomes the first black manager for a New York team -- not the Mets, but the Yankees.<br><br>
2004: The Sox win the East, the Yankees take the Wild Card, and the Yankees lose to the Angels in the ALDS. But... the Sox lose their ALDS to the Minnesota Twins! The Angels, 2 years later than they do in RL, win their first Pennant by beating the Sox (Dave Roberts becomes a storied Sox goat by getting caught stealing), and their first World Series by beating the St. Louis Cardinals.<br><br>
2005: The Sox win the East, the Indians win the Wild Card, the Yankees miss the Playoffs completely, and the Chicago White Sox still end up as World Champions.<br><br>
2006: George gets desperate, trading several prospects to Seattle for A-Rod, including Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and the not-yet-reached-the-majors Phil Hughes. The results don't change: The Yankees win the East, but fall to the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS.<br><br>
Willie Randolph is fired. Since he was fired by the Marlins, Joe Girardi is available, and George hires him.<br><br>
2007: The Mariners get the Wild Card instead of the Yankees, and beat the Red Sox in the ALDS, but lose to the Indians in the ALCS. Why? Because the M's no longer have Mariano Rivera: Pat Gillick boldly sent 5 players to the M's to bring him to Philadelphia, and the World Series ends up with the Phillies beating the Indians for the title.<br><br>
But having Mo and A-Rod worked out pretty well for the M's: 3 World Championships, which is 3 more Pennants than they have in RL.<br><br>
2008: The final season at the old Yankee Stadium is approaching, and Hank Steinbrenner, now running the team for his ailing father, has had enough. He goes all out. He spends his father's money like there's no tomorrow, sending prospects to the Cardinals for Albert Pujols (Jason Giambi seems to be reaching the end), to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Freddy Sanchez (remember, Cano is gone), to the Marlins for Miguel Cabrera (no A-Rod, so who's already there, Ramiro Pena?!?), and to the Indians for CC Sabathia.<br><br>
It seems to work: The Yankees win the East, beating out the Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays. They beat the White Sox in the ALDS and the Angels in the ALCS. And they triumph over the Phillies in the World Series, as Xavier Nady gets the winning hit in the bottom of the 9th of Game 7... off Mariano Rivera. The old Yankee Stadium is closed in style. The winning pitcher? The Yankees' young flamethrower from Nebraska, Joba Chamberlain.<br><br>
First Pennant in 27 years. First World Championship in 30 years. Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada finally get their rings.<br><br>
2009: The first season of the new Yankee Stadium isn't as good as the last season at the old one. The Yankees lose their hunger, and lose the ALCS to the Angels, who lose the World Series to the Phillies.<br><br>
2010: No change, the Yankees win the Wild Card, beat the Twins in the ALDS, and lose to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS.<br><br>
2011: The Yankees lose the East to the Rays, and the Red Sox take the Wild Card.<br><br>
So there it is: No Mariano, and it's 23 titles, not 27.<br><br>
It can be argued that Mariano Rivera has made more of a difference for the Yankees than any player since Babe Ruth himself.<br><br>Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-57432922909593868532012-04-09T16:48:00.003-07:002012-04-09T17:01:15.549-07:00What If Pete Rose Had Cut a Deal?<a href="http://www.realclearsports.com/blognetwork/rcs_sidelines/Pete%20Rose%20Sports%20Illustrated%20cover.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 311px; height: 410px;" src="http://www.realclearsports.com/blognetwork/rcs_sidelines/Pete%20Rose%20Sports%20Illustrated%20cover.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />February 21, 1989: Pete Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader, now the manager of the Cincinnati Reds, is confronted by Commissioner A. Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti with evidence that he bet on baseball. Rose comes clean, about his gambling, and also about his tax issues.<br /><br />February 22, 1989: Giamatti announces that Rose has been indefinitely suspended from baseball, and that he can apply for reinstatement in 3 years -- in February 1992. This would mean that, in the Baseball Hall of Fame election of January 1992, which would have been his first time eligible, he would not be eligible.<br /><br />August 24, 1989: Rose pleads guilty to two felony counts of filing false income tax returns. He will serve five months in prison and is fined $50,000.<br /><br />September 1, 1989: Giamatti has a heart attack, but lives. He recovers in time to attend the 1989 World Series.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Is there any such thing as a "mild heart attack"? As basketball legend Bill Walton -- whose career ended around this time, due to yet another foot/ankle surgery -- taught us, "Minor surgery is what they do to somebody else."</span><br /><br />October 17, 1989: An earthquake strikes San Francisco during the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the cross-bay Oakland Athletics. Giamatti suspends the Series for 10 days, and is greatly admired for handling the situation, just as he was for giving Rose, and the game, a fair shake.<br /><br />August 8, 1990: Rose is released from federal prison in Marion, Illinois. He begins the second part of his sentence, consisting of 1,000 hours of community service at Cincinnati inner-city schools.<br /><br />January 7, 1992: Tom Seaver and Rollie Fingers are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Rose, ineligible because of his ban from baseball, receives 62 write-in votes.<br /><br />January 5, 1993: Reggie Jackson and the newly-reinstated Pete Rose are elected to the Hall of Fame. The New York Yankees announce that Jackson's Number 44 will be retired in a ceremony that summer. The Cincinnati Reds announce the same for Rose's Number 14. Lou Piniella, who had been hired to replace Rose as Reds' manager, has moved on to the Seattle Mariners. Rose's former teammate, Tony Perez, is named manager, and, with Giamatti's permission, hires Rose as his bench coach.<br /><br />May 19, 1993: Reds owner Marge Schott is unhappy with Perez's managing, but Rose intervenes, and asks her to let Perez manage at least one full season. She says no. Then Rose puts the squeeze on her: "I've already told the Commissioner everything I know about myself. If Perez goes, I go, too, and not only will you have driven away the most popular athlete in Cincinnati history, but I'll tell Giamatti everything I know about you." Knowing how much she has to lose, Schott refuses to call Rose's bluff, and keeps Perez on.<br /><br />January 2, 1994: The Major League Baseball owners vote to re-elect Giamatti to a new five-year term as Commissioner.<br /><br />August 11, 1994: Giamatti and Players' Association Director Donald Fehr negotiate a last-minute deal that avoids a players' strike.<br /><br />August 17, 1994: Just 6 games out of first place in the National League Eastern Division, the Atlanta Braves are dealt a serious blow. Starting pitcher Greg Maddux injures his wrist while fielding a bunt by Roberto Kelly of the Cincinnati Reds. Maddux is never the same pitcher again, and retired after the 1999 season.<br /><br />September 5, 1994: Cal Ripken Jr. is hit in the back by a pitch in the first game of a Labor Day doubleheader. He has to miss the second game, ending his consecutive-games-played streak at 2,097. He falls just 33 short of Lou Gehrig's all-time record.<br /><br />September 11, 1994: The Montreal Expos clinch the NL East, winning it for the first time since 1981 -- for the first time ever in a season not shortened by a strike, finishing 10 games ahead of the Braves. The Expos have become a sensation, the way they had been in 1980 and '81, when they had their previous best team ever. Despite the inadequacies of the Olympic Stadium, sellout crowds of 43,000 seem to come out every night. Fans wave flags, some the red Maple Leaf of Canada, some the blue Fleurdelisé of the Province of Quebec. A larger version of the Maple Leaf flag has been draped over the left-field fence, and a large Fleurdelisé over the right-field fence.<br /><br />September 12, 1994: The Liberal Party wins the Provincial election. The leader of the separatist Parti Quebecois, Jacques Parizeau, had promises a referendum on Quebec's separation from Canada in the event of a PQ victory. But with Quebecois (or "Quebeckers") energized by the Expos, who are threatening to follow the Toronto Blue Jays to make this the 3rd straight year a Canadian team is in (and wins) the World Series, there seems to be no desire for separation. Parizeau soon resigns as PQ Leader, and Liberal Leader Daniel Johnson Jr. (whose father and brother also held the office) remains as Premier of Quebec (the equivalent of the Governor of an American State, but with more power).<br /><br />October 2, 1994: The baseball season that nearly ended on August 12 ends as scheduled. In the National League, the Montreal Expos win the Eastern Division by 10 games over the Braves. The Reds, with manager Tony Perez making the most of his second chance, win the newly-created NL Central Division, edging the Houston Astros by 2 games. The Astros win the first-ever NL Wild Card. In the Western Division, the San Francisco Giants, led by Matt Williams' 58 home runs for a new NL record, beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, by 3 games. Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres bats .402, becoming the first player since Ted Williams in 1941 to bat .400 or more -- the first NLer since Bill Terry in 1930.<br /><br />In the American League, the New York Yankees win the East by 8 games over the Baltimore Orioles. Lou Piniella's Seattle Mariners reach their first postseason by taking the West by 3 games over the Texas Rangers, led by Ken Griffey Jr.'s 56 homers, most in the AL since Roger Maris' record 61 in 1961. The Central Division has the most interesting race. The Chicago White Sox, defending Division champions but without a Pennant since 1959, beat the Cleveland Indians, without a Pennant since 1954 and in their first race since 1959 (when they were edged by the White Sox), by just 1 game; the Kansas City Royals, 1985 World Champs but out of the Playoffs since, finish just 2 back. The Indians do win the first-ever AL Wild Card.<br /><br />October 10, 1994: The first-ever Division Series -- not counting the strike-forced setup of 1981 -- are done. In this best-3-out-of-5 setup, the Yankees beat the Indians in 4 games, the White Sox sweep the Mariners, the Expos sweep the Astros in what <span style="font-style:italic;">Montreal Gazette</span> columnist Jack Todd jokes is "the first postseason baseball series played entirely outside the United States," and the Giants win a 5-game thriller with the Reds. Again, Pete Rose has to intervene with owner Marge Schott to keep Tony Perez, who, after all, did manage them to the postseason.<br /><br />October 19, 1994: The Pennants have been won. For the first time in 35 years, a Pennant flies over Chicago, as the White Sox beat the Yankees in 6. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner is determined to get a better reliever than Steve Howe and Bob Wickman. And for the 3rd year in a row, a Canadian team will be in the World Series, as the Expos win their first-ever Pennant, thanks to Mike Lansing's walkoff homer off Dave Burba in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 6 at the Olympic Stadium.<br /><br />October 22, 1994: Game 1 is held at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Prime Minister Jean Chretien throws out the first ball. Pedro Martinez goes the distance and Larry Walker provides the difference with a home run off Jack McDowell. Expos 2, White Sox 0. Expos lead, 1 game to 0.<br /><br />October 23, 1994: Game 2 at the Big O. Gary Carter throws out the first ball. Ken Hill falls apart in the 3rd inning, and Robin Ventura and Frank Thomas hit back-to-back home runs, the Big Hurt's homer challenging Willie Stargell in 1973 and Darryl Strawberry in 1988 for the title of longest ever in the stadium. White Sox 9, Expos 1. Series tied, 1 game to 1.<br /><br />October 25, 1994: Game 3 at the new Comiskey Park, the first World Series game played in Chicago since October 8, 1959 at the old Comiskey Park. Luis Aparicio, the star of those '59 "Go-Go Sox," throws out the first ball. Wilson Alvarez and Jeff Fassero both throw goose eggs for 7 innings. But Mel Rojas implodes, and the Sox -- known in a previous era as the South Side Hit Men -- whack him. White Sox 6, Expos 0. White Sox lead, 2 games to 1.<br /><br />October 26, 1994: Game 4 at Comiskey. Billy Pierce, another member of the '59 Pale Hose, throws out the first ball. Pedro comes to the rescue, dazzling everyone with a 2-hit shutout that eases the strain on the Montreal bullpen. Marquis Grissom takes Jason Bere deep twice, becoming the first Chicago player to hit 2 homers in a World Series game since Ted Kluszewski in Game 1 in '59. Expos 5, White Sox 0. Series tied, 2 games to 2.<br /><br />October 27, 1994: Game 5 at Comiskey. Ron Kittle, Rookie of the Year with the AL West Champion ChiSox of 1983, throws out the first ball. McDowell is very careful with the rest, and while Hill also pitches well, single runs in the 2nd, 5th and 6 doom him. White Sox 3, Expos 1. The White Sox lead, 3 games to 2, and need to take just 1 out of 2 games in Montreal to become the first Chicago team to win a World Series since the White Sox of 1917 -- 77 years ago.<br /><br />October 29, 1994: Game 6 at the Olympic Stadium. Duke Snider, the Hall-of-Famer who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and for their Montreal Royals farm team before that, and later broadcast for the Expos, throws out the first ball. Fassero finds his form, and homers by Walker and Grissom make the difference. John Wetteland stops a Chicago rally in the top of the 9th. Expos 5, White Sox 4. The Series is tied at 3 games apiece. Tomorrow, it will be <span style="font-style:italic;">pour tous les marbres</span> -- for all the marbles.<br /><br />October 30, 1994: Game 7 of the World Series at the Olympic Stadium. Claude Raymond, who grew up playing baseball on the sandlots of Montreal, including Jarry Park where the team's first ballpark was built, and later pitched there for the Expos before becoming their preeminent French-station broadcaster, throws out the first ball. The Francophone Montrealers get a huge lift out of this, but it is the Spanish-speakers who dominate this game. Pedro Martinez and Wilson Alvarez both go 8 strong, and home runs are hit by Julio Franco of the White Sox and Wil Cordero of the Expos.<br /><br />The games goes to the 9th, tied 2-2. Pedro hits Frank Thomas with a pitch. Thomas points at him, saying it was on purpose. Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen, not previously known as a hothead, begins screaming at the dugout, calling Pedro every name in the Spanish book. Pedro points at his head, and then points at Ozzie, as if to say, "You want to be next?" Home plate umpire Darryl Cousins has had enough: In the 9th inning of Game 7 of the World Series, he throws the incumbent pitcher out of the game.<br /><br />Expo fans roar with rage, and the field is littered with debris. Public-address announcements are made in English and French, demanding that the fans stop, or the game will be forfeited to the visiting White Sox. (As home team, the Expos are responsible for crowd control.) The fusillade, or the barrage (pick your French-inspired word of choice) does not stop.<br /><br />Finally, a familiar voice comes over the P.A. It is the voice of the most beloved person in the history of the Province of Quebec, Canadiens legend Maurice Richard. The Rocket implores the crowd, in French, to stop, reminding them of the riot, supposedly on his behalf, that shamed the city in 1955, which may have cost the Canadiens the Stanley Cup. The crowd listens, and stops. John Wetteland comes out of the bullpen, and gets the last 3 outs.<br /><br />In the bottom of the 9th, with the game still tied, Roberto Hernandez comes on in relief of Alvarez. Moises Alou leads off by drawing a walk. Larry Walker singles to center. Cordero pops up. One out, with the run that will win the World Series at 2nd base. The batter is Lenny Webster, and he singles to left field. Tim Raines throws to the plate, Alou slides in... Safe. Expos 3, White Sox 2. For the first time ever, the Montreal Expos are World Champions.<br /><br />November 1, 1994: Over 2 million people turn out for the Expos' championship parade down Rue Ste-Catherine. Premier Johnson announces that he will ask the Provincial government, the National Assembly, to help the team build a new ballpark in the mold of Baltimore's Camden Yards and Cleveland's Jacobs Field. In spite of the Expos' success, reliever John Wetteland's contract is set to run out in another year, and the Expos accept a trade that sends him to the Yankees.<br /><br />October 28, 1995: The first-ever all-Ohio World Series ends as the Cleveland Indians win their first Series in 47 years, defeating the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 in Game 6. The Indians had beaten the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners to reach the Series, while the Reds had beaten the Los Angeles Dodgers and the surprising 3rd-year Colorado Rockies (NL Wild Card winners, who had beaten the Atlanta Braves, NL East Champions but weakened as a result of Greg Maddux not finding his control after his injury).<br /><br />April 20, 1996: In a deal partially brokered by Reds legend Pete Rose and baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti, Marge Schott sells the Reds to local businessman Carl Lindner. Schott makes a substantial profit, and in return for going quietly, things that would embarrass her will be kept quiet. This, after she herself couldn't keep quiet after a shocking interview earlier in the month.<br /><br />October 26, 1996: With former Expo John Wetteland saving all 4 Yankee wins, the New York Yankees win their 23rd World Championship, defeating the Expos 3-2 at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees, desperate for a relief ace, had traded a few minor league prospects and a significant amount of cash to the Expos. Despite having Mel Rojas as their new closer, the Expos regained the NL East title from the fading Braves, and beat the San Diego Padres in an NLCS billed as "Canada vs. Mexico." <br /><br />October 26, 1997: The Cleveland Indians, winners of 2 World Series in their first 94 seasons, have now won 2 of the last 3, holding off the NL (and NL East) Champion Florida Marlins, 3-1 in Game 7 to take the Series.<br /><br />I'll finish this piece at a later date. How would Giamatti have handled the steroid situation? <br /><br />April 1, 1998: Labatt Park opens in downtown Montreal, a couple of blocks from Windsor Station and the Molson Centre (now the Bell Centre). The Expos lose to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0, but now they have a real ballpark, not that flying saucer masquerading as one. The recently retired Expo legend Andre Dawson throws out the ceremonial first ball. The Expos will make it 3 NL East titles in 5 years, but will not win the Pennant, as the Yankees sweep the Padres in 4 games.<br /><br />October 31, 1998: Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti, citing his health, announces he will not seek another term.<br /><br />January 4, 1999: Leonard Coleman, President of the National League, is elected the first black Commissioner of Baseball.<br /><br />October 24, 1999: The Major League Baseball All-Century Team, chosen by fans' ballots sponsored by MasterCard, is introduced before Game 2 of the World Series. This is the first Subway Series in 43 years, as the AL East Champion New York Yankees defeated the AL West Champion Texas Rangers and Wild Card winner Boston Red Sox to get there, while the NL East Champion New York Mets defeated the NL West Champion Arizona Diamondbacks and the Wild Card winner Atlanta Braves to do so. The ceremony is at Shea Stadium. Great cheers are given to former Yankee player, and Yankee and Met manager, Yogi Berra, while respectful cheers are given to the memories of deceased Yankee legends Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle. Late ballots by Met fans allowed Tom Seaver to make the team, edging out current Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens. One player, however, gets booed: Pete Rose, while loved in many cities, is hated at Shea because of his suspension for betting on baseball and his fight with the Mets in the 1973 Playoffs. The Yankees go on to sweep the Mets in the Series.<br /><br />February 27, 2005: Paul Giamatti is among the nominees for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his role in <span style="font-style:italic;">Sideways</span>. He does not win: Jamie Foxx does, for playing Ray Charles in Ray. But Giamatti's father, former Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti, lives to see it.<br /><br />August 7, 2005: A. Bartlett Giamatti, Commissioner of Baseball from 1989 to 1998, dies at his home on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He was 67.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-13522558470741722402012-04-06T06:36:00.002-07:002012-04-06T07:14:01.354-07:00Roy Hobbs: The Life Story of a Natural<a href="http://royalsblog.kansascity.com/files/images/RoyHobbs.preview.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 307px; height: 400px;" src="http://royalsblog.kansascity.com/files/images/RoyHobbs.preview.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />What if <span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span> was a true story?<br /><br />And by "<span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span>," I mean the movie. Not the book. Someday, in my other baseball-themed blog, "Uncle Mike's Musings," I play to do a Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Bernard Malamud for Having Roy Hobbs Strike Out. And a Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame the Filmmakers for Changing the Ending of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span>.<br /><br />The following is based on the movie, and is mainly my own speculations of what Roy's life was like from birth to 1939, aside from those few scenes of his boyhood, that fateful couple of days in 1923 leading to the shooting in the Chicago hotel, and those amazing 4 months with the 1939 New York Knights, the movie's stand-in for the Giants, even if they were, more or less, competitively analogous to the 1930s "Daffiness Boys" Brooklyn Dodgers.<br /><br />Imagine Randy Newman's epic score coming up... <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Roy Hobbs: The Life Story of a Natural</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Youth</span><br />Roy Edward Hobbs was born May 11, 1904 in Mitchell, South Dakota. His mother, Louise, died when he was a toddler, and his father Ed, who taught him how to play baseball, died when Roy was 13. Ed suffered a heart attack under a tree on the family farm.<br /><br />That night, a thunderstorm resulted in a lightning bolt striking that tree and splitting it open. Roy chopped some wood from that tree and used to to produce a baseball bat, which he christened "Wonderboy."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Unexpected Detours</span><br />As a teenager, Roy pitched eight no-hitters in high school and American Legion baseball, and was perhaps the greatest hitting prospect the State of South Dakota has ever produced. He also began a relationship with Iris Gaines, who lived at the next farm over.<br /><br />In 1923, at age 19, Roy received a tryout offer from the Chicago Cubs. He told Iris about it, proposed marriage to her, and they spent the night together.<br /><br />Taking the train to Chicago, he met Walter Wambold, the Philadelphia Athletics slugger known as "The Whammer"; Max Mercy, nationally-syndicated sports columnist; and Harriet Bird, a woman later discovered to have shot and killed two famous athletes, who had, at this point, set her sights on the Whammer.<br /><br />A bet between Mercy and Sam Simpson, a former big-league catcher who had scouted Roy for the Cubs, resulted in a faceoff between Roy and Wambold in a field next to a county fair in Nebraska, where the train had made a refueling stop, and Wambold had shown off his hitting stroke, while Roy showed his pitching form by throwing baseballs at milk bottles, knocking them over with pinpoint control. When the at-bat took place, Roy struck the Whammer out on three pitches.<br /><br />Getting onto the train, a kid ran after Roy and asked him his name. Roy answered, and tossed the boy a ball. Roy would never see that ball again, but he would see that boy. (Cue the creepy foreshadowing music!)<br /><br />Harriet then turned her attention to Roy, and in Chicago, she invited him up to her hotel suite. She shot him, and then killed herself. Because of this shooting, Roy never made it to his tryout, and spent the next two years in and out of hospitals, recovering from his wound.<br /><br />Unknown to Roy, Iris gave birth to his son, whom she named Edward after Roy's father. He would, like Britain's King Edward VII and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, be nicknamed "Ted."<br /><br />Roy went on to play for several amateur and minor league teams in the late 1920s and all through the 1930s, but, for years, his weakened physical condition prevented him from playing at a level that would gain a scout's notice.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Return to Baseball</span><br />Finally, in 1939, playing in western New York for the Hebron Oilers, he gained a contract with the New York Knights. This team had been known as the New York Giants until first baseman Hal Chase caused a great scandal by "throwing" the 1917 World Series to the Chicago White Sox, a harbinger of the even bigger scandal two years later when the 1919 Series was thrown by the White Sox, who should have known better, to the Cincinnati Reds. The 1917 scandal forced the resignation of Giants manager John McGraw, who left baseball and died a broken man in 1934.<br /><br />By the mid-1920s, the team, renamed the Knights, had fallen behind both their fellow National Leaguers, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the American League's New York Yankees, making them the third-most-popular team in New York. This was especially the case after the Yankees, whose slugger George "Babe" Ruth was first said to have borne a physical resemblance to Wambold, then well surpassed Wambold's feats, outdrew the Giants at their home, the Polo Grounds, and affronted Giant management told the Yankees their lease would not be renewed. This was a terrible mistake, as the Yankees built Yankee Stadium, and the loss of Yankee rent nearly forced the Giants/Knights into bankruptcy.<br /><br />Broadway showman George M. Cohan, long a Giant fan, bought and renamed the team in 1924, and saw Pennants that McGraw's Giants could have won go to other teams: 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1937 and 1938 by the Cubs; 1919, 1922 and 1923 by the Reds; 1920 and 1924 by the Dodgers; 1921, 1925, 1927 and 1933 by the Pittsburgh Pirates; 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1934 and 1936 by the St. Louis Cardinals.<br /><br />Cohan nearly bankrupted himself building a new home intended to better compete with Yankee Stadium than the bathtub-shaped Polo Grounds. Cohan sold the Knights and Knights Field to the team's manager, Glenn "Pop" Fisher, in 1926, shortly after the ballpark's completion.<br /><br />Like Roy, Fisher grew up on a farm, and was told by his mother that he should have stayed a farmer. Instead, he grew up to be a baseball player, a first baseman with the 1900s Pittsburgh Pirates, a teammate of Honus Wagner. But after managing the team for a few years, he was unceremoniously fired, and, as manager first of the Philadelphia Phillies and then the Knights, could often be heard, sometimes muttering, sometimes yelling, "I hate losing to the Pie-ritts!"<br /><br />Fisher didn't want Roy, then 35 years old, telling him, "Mister, you don't start playing ball at your age, you retire." But Philip Banner, a former federal judge to whom Fisher had to sell a stake in the team to keep it afloat during the Great Depression, gave Roy a chance. After an impressive show in batting practice and outhustling starting right fielder Bartolomew "Bump" Bailey, Roy became the team's starting right fielder, a path that became easier after Bailey crashed into the right-field wall to make a catch, hitting his head and suffering a fatal injury.<br /><br />Bailey's girlfriend was Memo Paris, who also happened to be Fisher's niece. But she was two-timing Bailey with Gus Sands, a well-known gambler with ties to Judge Banner. Sands was one of the reasons Banner left the bench: A crony of President Warren G. Harding, who had appointed him to the federal bench, Banner was found to be crooked during the Administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (which was ongoing at this time), and was told there would be no prosecution if he left the bench and found another avocation. The ill financial fortunes of the Knights allowed this.<br /><br />The purchase agreement between Banner and Fisher stated that, by the end of the 1939 season, if the Knights won a Pennant, Fisher could buy Banner's shares in the team back; if they hadn't, Banner would buy out Fisher, and Fisher, who would be 64 years old by that point, would be out as part-owner and manager, and likely out of the game, with no major league team willing to hire a manager who had gotten to that age without ever managing a Pennant winner.<br /><br />When Roy defied his age and the predictions of most baseball watchers to become one of the top hitters in the game so soon after his arrival at Knights Field, Banner was concerned that he might come up on the short end of his agreement with Fisher. He enlisted Sands and Memo to help him stop Roy.<br /><br />Memo seduced Roy, and as their affair move on, his hitting fell into a slump, and so did the team: Once appearing as if they would challenge for the Pennant, the Knights dropped back into the second division.<br /><br />All the while, Roy had to deal with another distraction: Max Mercy, whose nationally-syndicated column has become bigger than ever, was trying to figure out where he'd seen Roy before. He offered Roy $5,000 -- equal to Roy's annual salary from the Knights and about $80,000 in 2010 money -- for his story. Roy refused, knowing that if the general public knew about Harriet Bird and the Chicago hotel, he'd be finished as a baseball hero.<br /><br />The combined slump of Roy and the Knights turned around one game in Chicago, at Wrigley Field, the ballpark Roy once thought he would make his own. Iris had her first chance to see Roy play in the majors, and he saw her in the stands. On the next pitch, he hit a drive that shattered the clock on the Wrigley scoreboard.<br /><br />The next day, he battered Cub pitching for four home runs, only the fifth time that had happened in the major leagues to that point. After the game, Roy and Iris caught up with each other at a nearby coffee shop, each explaining what had happened to the other. Iris told Roy she had a son. She did not say that Ted was also Roy's son, only that "His father lives in New York."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The 1939 Pennant Push: Shooting Out the Lights</span><br />Coming back from Chicago, Roy kept hitting the ball rather than Memo's apartment, and the Knights went on a tear. With three games left in the regular season, they were three games ahead of the Pirates, the very team that had once wronged Fisher. They needed to win just one more game to win the Pennant.<br /><br />But at a party hosted by Memo, Roy fell ill and had to be rushed to the hospital. He was poisoned, and his stomach was pumped. Only then, despite all his surgeries in 1923, '24 and '25, was the silver bullet fired into him by Harriet Bird found and removed. He was told that the lining of his stomach was so badly damaged that any further attempt to play baseball would cause internal bleeding, and he could die.<br /><br />The Knights lost the next three games. A Playoff for the Pennant was necessary. Roy was visited in the hospital by Memo, who told him he mustn't play. He was visited by Judge Banner, who offered him $20,000 -- about $320,000 in 2010 money -- to play his usual game in the field, but not to hit the ball at all; in other words, to throw the game and the Pennant. Banner also told Roy that "a key man" had been put on the take as a fail-safe.<br /><br />Memo and Iris also visited Roy, Memo to tell him that he should take the money, throw the Pennant, and then run away with her somewhere and let the scandal blow over; Iris to tell him that she and Ted would be at the Playoff game.<br /><br />Roy decided he had to play, and the next day, that memorable October 2, 1939, he went up to Banner's office, where Memo and Sands were waiting, and gave the envelope full of cash back.<br /><br />"Correct me if I'm wrong, Hobbs," Banner said, "but we had a deal."<br /><br />"Consider yourself corrected, you fat, corrupt son of a bitch," Roy said. "We were <span style="font-style:italic;">never</span> going to have a deal."<br /><br />(When the film version of Roy's story was made, the producers wanted to keep a PG rating, so certain scenes, including those of Roy in bed with Iris and Memo, were cut or scaled back, and the profanity significantly reduced, so that the Roy character simply said, "No," not his actual words.)<br /><br />It was then that Memo, having pulled a gun out of Banner's desk, fired it. Unlike Harriet Bird, however, she couldn't bring herself to try to kill Roy, instead shooting at the floor. Only then did Roy see the similarties between the brunette Harriet, now dead 16 years, and the blonde Memo.<br /><br />He got another blast from the past, as Sands told him something he'd heard from his father as a boy: "You've got a great gift, but it's not enough." What Ed Hobbs never said, Sands added: "I think you're a loser."<br /><br />But Roy knew something no one else in the room did, and said, "After tonight, win or lose in the game, everyone in this room will be a loser in some way. But all of you more than me." And he left to suit up for the game.<br /><br />In the top of the fourth, Paul Waner hit a home run to put the Pirates up 2-0. It was then that Roy realized that pitcher Al Fowler was Banner's "key man." Roy came in from right field to tell Fowler not to do anything else to purposely lose the game. Fowler, noting that Roy was already 0-for-1, said, "I'll start pitchin' when you start hittin'." But, suitably chastened, he settled down, and the scored remained 2-0 Pittsburgh into the bottom of the ninth.<br /><br />By this point, Roy was 0-for-3. Shortly before that inning, Iris had handed an usher a note to give to Roy, explaining that Ted was his son as well as hers. With this knowledge, and the Knights attempting a last-ditch rally that put men on first and second with two outs, Roy stepped to the plate for the last time in the game -- and, for all he knew, for the last time in his career. He represented the winning run, but if the Pirates were to get him out, they would win the Pennant.<br /><br />To relieve, the Pirates brought in John Rhodes, a 26-year-old fireballing lefthander from Nebraska, who had won 18 games for them. Rhodes stared in at Roy, knowing full well who he was. Roy recognized Rhodes as well: He was the boy that Roy had tossed the ball to from the train at the county fair in Nebraska in 1923.<br /><br />The count was run to 2-and-2, when Roy hit a foul ball that split his bat Wonderboy. He received a new bat from the Knight batboy, Bobby Savoy. By this point, Roy's bullet wound was bleeding through his jersey.<br /><br />Rhodes threw a fastball right down the pipe, and Roy slammed it high into right field, where it crashed into the light standard on the roof of Knights Field, shorting out the electricity and winning the Pennant. For the first time in 22 years, the Knights were National League Champions, and Pop Fisher had his first Pennant as a manager.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">The Fireworks After the "Fireworks"</span><br />With the win, Judge Banner's share of the Knights reverted to Fisher. With Roy expected to be either unavailable or partially incapacitated, and Fowler in their pockets, Banner and Sands had wagered heavily on the Pirates, thinking them a sure thing, placing the bets with Sands' friends in organized crime, and were financially ruined.<br /><br />By the morning of the Playoff, columnist Mercy had uncovered the truth about Roy's background, including the shooting in Chicago. He had threatened to reveal it. But, loving the game as he did, he decided to wait until after the World Series.<br /><br />The Series was a wipeout as, with Roy declared absolutely unavailable by his doctor, the New York Yankees swept the crosstown Knights in four straight. It was the first time the teams had met in games that counted.<br /><br />It was after the World Series that things happened quickly. The morning of the Playoff, Roy had gone directly from the hospital to the office of the New York District Attorney, Thomas E. Dewey, with what he knew about Judge Banner. Although a fellow Republican, Dewey was willing to prosecute Banner. Rather than reveal what he knew about Roy in 1923, Mercy agreed to assist Dewey with the prosecution, in exchange for Dewey looking the other way on some misdeeds of Mercy's.<br /><br />Banner was banned from baseball for life, not that it mattered anyway. He was indicted, then jumped bail by getting on a ship to Havana, Cuba. By the time the ship docked in Havana, Banner was dead. His death was ruled a suicide, but questions linger. Gus Sands' death, at the Half Moon Hotel in Brooklyn's Coney Island three years later, was definitely due to "lead poisoning."<br /><br />Sands never married, and is believed to have had no children. Banner was a widower, and left a son who was then a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Robert Bruce Banner worked on the Manhattan Project in World War II, and continued his nuclear research thereafter until his death in 2002 at age 84. He was able to restore his family's reputation to an extent, but did not like to be reminded of his father's role in the Teapot Dome and 1939 Pennant race scandals, telling a sportswriter who was writing a book on the latter in 1952, "Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Retirement and Return</span><br />Shortly after the new year of 1940, Roy and Iris were married back in Mitchell. Figuring his playing days were done, Roy remained with the Knights as a coach and hitting instructor.<br /><br />When World War II arrived, Ted, then 18, enlisted in the U.S. Navy. In 1943, Ted was wounded in a Japanese attack on the aircraft carrier <span style="font-style:italic;">U.S.S. Enterprise</span>. He received a medical discharge early in 1944, and felt well enough to play baseball in amateur leagues that summer.<br /><br />By that point, with more and more men going into the service, major league teams were desperate to find talent wherever they could: Men over age 40, teenagers, players previously given up on as not good enough. The Washington Senators signed Bert Shepard, a pitcher who'd lost part of his leg after being shot down flying a strafing run over Germany, and he pitched one game. The St. Louis Browns signed Pete Gray, an outfielder who'd lost an arm -- not in the War, but in a farming accident as a boy.<br /><br />The Chicago Cubs felt desperate enough early in 1945 to offer contracts to both Roy and Ted. The team doctors checked Roy out thoroughly, and determined that his stomach had healed enough that it wouldn't be an impediment to playing baseball again. But he was 41. Would he have anything left? And would Ted, now 21, be ready for the major leagues? Roy was put in left field, and finally began to play for the team that offered him a tryout 22 years earlier. Ted became the Cubs' catcher.<br /><br />After a tough race, the Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals out for the Pennant by three games. Roy, who had batted .350 with 44 home runs and 106 runs batted in with the '39 Knights, had enough left to bat .302, hit 24 homers and drive in 72 runs. Ted batted .282 with 12 homers and 47 RBIs, a good performance for a catcher or a 21-year-old rookie. But the Cubs lost the World Series to the Detroit Tigers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">After Baseball</span><br />By that point, the War was over, and Roy retired as a player for good. Pop Fisher brought him back to the Knights as the new manager, and he held that job until 1948, when Pop died, and the team was inherited by, of all people, his only living relative, his niece, Memo Paris.<br /><br />Now married and a housewife living on Long Island, she never forgave Roy for leaving her. In a discussion with the recently fired manager of the crosstown Brooklyn Dodgers, Leo Durocher, she complained that everyone thought Roy was a nice guy, but that he really wasn't. Durocher told her that Roy may not have been nice to her, but that he was nice to just about everybody else, and that was the problem: The Knights were all nice guys, and that was their problem. "Nice guys finish last," Durocher said.<br /><br />Memo fired Roy, hired Durocher, and, strangely, changed the team's name back to the New York Giants. She even moved them back into the Polo Grounds, which had been kept in business by staging prizefights and football games since the Knights left after the 1925 season. Competitively speaking, hiring Durocher and moving back to the Polo Grounds, with its short foul lines, was the right move, as the Giants won a thrilling Playoff for the Pennant in 1951, against their crosstown rivals, the Brooklyn Dodgers, with Bobby Thomson playing the role of Roy Hobbs. But, essentially, Memo was getting revenge: Revenge on Roy, revenge on Pop, even revenge on Judge Banner. By changing the team's name, moving out of Knights Field, and firing Roy, she was doing her damnedest to erase every last vestige of the New York Knights.<br /><br />After losing the 1951 World Series to the Yankees, the Giants won the whole thing in 1954, sweeping the Cleveland Indians as Willie Mays made the most famous defensive play in sports history, known as "The Catch." Mays, appearing on TV nearly every day of the season, made a lot of fans treat Roy and the other earlier Knights stars as relics of a black-and-white, radio-and-newsreel era. This was compounded by the Giants' move to San Francisco after the 1957 season, casting not just the Knights name but the entire history of the New York franchise of the National League into a bygone era that could never be brought back.<br /><br />Ted Hobbs remained with the Cubs until the 1961 season, when team owner Philip K. Wrigley's managerial rotation, which he called the "College of Coaches," messed the team up tremendously. He asked Wrigley to leave him unprotected in the expansion draft, hoping to be selected by one of the two new teams, the New York Mets, who would play their first two seasons at Knights Field on Manhattan's Upper West Side before the opening of Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadow, Queens.<br /><br />Instead, Ted was selected by the Houston Colt .45's, and had to play in the south Texas heat for three years before the Astrodome opened in 1965. That year, with the team's name changed to the Houston Astros, was Ted's 18th and last in the major leagues. (He had missed the 1952 and '53 seasons as he was called back into the Navy during the Korean War; having been wounded in World War II, he was made a Master Chief Petty Officer and an instructor, remaining stateside.)<br /><br />Roy was invited to the Mets' home opener in 1962, the Knights Field farewell in '63, and the Shea opener in '64. It hurt him terribly to see the Knights/Giants moved and the old ballpark demolished. With Ted hired as a Mets scout, and a coach on the "Miracle Mets" team of 1969, Roy was invited to throw out the first ball of a World Series game. He was invited back to Shea for a World Series first ball ceremony in 1973, but by the time the Yankees started winning Pennants again in 1976, he decided he was too old to make the trip east.<br /><br />A reunion of the '45 Cubs at Wrigley Field in 1975 was his last time in a big-league ballpark. He remained on the South Dakota farm until his death on March 18, 1986. He was 81 years old, and was laid to rest next to his parents at a nearby cemetery. Iris joined him two years later.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Legacy</span><br />Ted Hobbs remained a Mets scout through their glory years of the 1980s, and is one of the few people connected to both their 1969 and 1986 World Championship teams. His son Robert did not join the family business, deciding not to play baseball beyond high school. Instead, he went to law school, entered politics, served in the South Dakota State Legislature, and was elected Governor in the Democratic landslide of 2006 and re-elected in 2010. Governor Rob Hobbs is a "prairie populist" in the mold of George Norris, Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Tom Harkin, Tom Daschle and Paul Wellstone. His son Teddy played hockey at the University of North Dakota, and now plays for the NHL's New Jersey Devils.<br /><br />In 1977, shortly after graduating from the University of Chicago School of Law, Rob wrote a book about his grandfather: <span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural: The Tragic, Heroic Story of Baseball Legend Roy Hobbs</span>. He joked that it should be made into a movie, with "a Robert Redford type" playing his grandfather. It took years for the film to get out of "development hell," and was released in 2010, as <span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span>, with the following playing the leads:<br /><br />Roy Hobbs: Matt Damon<br />Iris Gaines: Julia Stiles<br />Memo Paris: Blake Lively<br />Pop Fisher: Wayne Knight<br />Harriet Bird: Winona Ryder<br />Judge Banner: William Shatner<br />Max Mercy: Christopher McDonald<br />Gus Sands: Tommy Lee Jones<br />Thomas E. Dewey: Ben Affleck<br />Walter "the Whammer" Wambold: Ryan Hurst<br />John Rhodes: Haley Joel Osment<br /><br />On May 11, 2004, a statue of Roy Hobbs was dedicated in downtown Mitchell, on what would have been his 100th birthday. Although having played just two seasons in the major leagues makes him ineligible for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, several items connected to his career are in the Hall's Museum in Cooperstown, New York, including the uniform he wore the night of the 1939 Playoff, the bat Wonderboy (glued together after being broken in the Playoff), and the "Savoy Special" bat he used to hit the Pennant-winning home run. <br /><br />*<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span> was released on May 11, 1984, and since we know Roy was 35 in 1939, I settled on a birthdate of exactly 80 years before the movie. I was thinking Nebraska as a birthplace and hometown, but Roy told Gus, who guessed that State, "That's not where I'm from." Since John Rhodes is said to be from Nebraska, that made a South Dakota origin possible as a result of the train trip. This contradicted my second choice of a home town for Roy, Dyersville, Iowa, where <span style="font-style:italic;">Field of Dreams</span> was filmed. I settled on Mitchell because that's also the hometown of George McGovern, which would get under the skin of conservatives.<br /><br />Roy is probably younger, maybe 10, when his father dies, but 13 was the age <span style="font-style:italic;">Natural</span> author Bernard Malamud was when his mother attempted suicide. It's been speculated that this colored Malamud's outlook on life, and may be why he had Roy lose in the end -- even though he was trying to win.<br /><br />The film's script seems to say that Roy's last team before the Knights was the "Hebrew Oilers," but that doesn't make sense: A baseball team made up of Jewish oil-rig workers? There is a town near Buffalo, where the movie was filmed, called Hebron, pronounced "HEE-bron," as opposed to the West Bank city pronounced "HEBB-ron," and I'm presuming for this bio that "Hebron" is correct.<br /><br />In the film's credits, the Judge is listed as simply that, "The Judge." In the novel, he is "Judge Banner," with no first name mentioned. I don't know why I named him "Philip," but I couldn't resist making his son a physicist named "Bruce Banner," who, in this version, may or may not have actually gone on to become The Incredible Hulk.<br /><br />Why is the pitcher who gives up the Pennant-winning home run the kid Roy tossed the ball to from the train in 1923? Come on, look at the faces of the combatants: Rhodes clearly remembers Roy as something other than a current celebrity, and Roy sure looks like he recognizes Rhodes.<br /><br />In RL, the 1939 National League Pennant was won by the Cincinnati Reds, by 4 1/2 games over the St. Louis Cardinals. The New York Giants, the team whose place and uniform colors the Knights took (red, white and blue at the time, not the more familiar black and orange they adopted in 1947 and have kept ever since, from New York to California), finished fifth out of eight teams, 18 1/2 back, having won Pennants in 1921, '22, '23, '24, '33, '36 and '37.<br /><br />The TTL-Knights' opponents in the '39 Playoff, the Pirates, finished sixth in RL, 28 1/2 back, despite narrowly missing the Pennant the year before against the Chicago Cubs. The Reds went on to be swept in the World Series by the Yankees, but won the Series the next year against the Detroit Tigers. Although the Dodgers would win seven Pennants in their remaining years in New York City, the Giants would only win two more in theirs, 1951 and '54.<br /><br />Everything in the lives of the characters after October 2, 1939 (the day after the last day of the RL-1939 regular season, when a Playoff for the Pennant, if necessary, would have occurred) is my own invention, although it certainly appears in the final scene as if Roy, Iris and Ted were then united in one family.<br /><br />It has, however, been suggested that the wheatfield they're shown in at the end isn't what actually happened, but rather that Roy, having collapsed and died after hitting his home run (foreshadowing <span style="font-style:italic;">Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story</span>, which came out 23 years later), experienced what would, to him, be Heaven.<br /><br />If Roy (unknowingly) leaves Iris pregnant in the summer of 1923, that means Ted is born around Opening Day in 1924, which makes him old enough to enlist in the opening months of World War II. Being a Trekkie, I chose the RL-WWII aircraft carrier <span style="font-style:italic;">Enterprise</span> as his ship. (In 1961, the current, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with the name was launched, and is scheduled to be retired in 2013; a new carrier with the name is already scheduled to be built.) It was either that or PT-109, John F. Kennedy's ship which was attacked on August 2, 1943, which would have fit the timeframe allowing Ted Hobbs to come back to baseball in 1945.<br /><br />March 18, 1986 was the day Malamud died, so it seemed like a fitting day to lay Roy to rest.<br /><br />As for the actors in TTL's version of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Natural</span>: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are very much baseball fans in RL, Boston Red Sox fans, and wrote this into the film that introduced most of us to them, <span style="font-style:italic;">Good Will Hunting</span>, in which Damon and Robin Williams discussed the legendary Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.<br /><br />It's easy to forget now, because we still think of Damon and Affleck as young guys, because that's how we first saw them. It's why we think of Drew Barrymore as a kid and Eva Longoria as grown-up, even though they were born the same year: Drew is actually 4 weeks older. Although we think of Dewey, who went on to be elected Governor of New York in 1942 and nominated for President in 1944 and 1948, as "old" because we only saw him in black and white, in 1939 he would have been almost exactly the same age as Affleck was when this movie would have been made in late 2009. And Damon would be a little older than Roy in the bulk of the movie -- 39 as opposed to 35 -- Redford was 45, and Damon comes a whole lot closer than Redford to being taken seriously as a 19-year-old in 1923.<br /><br />Christopher McDonald had previously played two Yankee legends: Broadcaster Mel Allen in <span style="font-style:italic;">61*</span>, and Joe DiMaggio in <span style="font-style:italic;">The Bronx Is Burning</span>. As an actor, he's no Robert Duvall, but I can definitely see him playing Max Mercy.<br /><br />Tommy Lee Jones had previously played Ty Cobb in <span style="font-style:italic;">Cobb</span>, and I have no qualms about giving him Darren McGavin's role as Gus. Ryan Hurst, who could pass for the Babe (and therefore for Joe Don Baker as the Whammer) had appeared in a sports-themed movie, albeit football: <span style="font-style:italic;">Remember the Titans</span>.<br /><br />Julia Stiles is a Met fan, and seems to have the kind of wholesomeness that would make us take her seriously as a simple farm girl, as opposed to Blake Lively in the Kim Basinger role of Memo. Winona Ryder is a San Francisco Giants fan, and I can see her channeling her "teen angst bullshit" from <span style="font-style:italic;">Heathers</span> to play Barbara Hershey's Harriet.<br /><br />Wayne Knight was older than Wilford Brimley was when the RL movie came out. The same year, 1984, Brimley was in <span style="font-style:italic;">Cocoon</span>, and a film critic called him "51 but he can pass for old." And Robert Prosky, the original film's Judge, was younger than Shatner, but the chance to put The Captain in, playing a character as pompous as Denny Crane in <span style="font-style:italic;">The Practice</span>, struck me as a great idea.<br /><br />Why Haley Joel Osment as the pitcher who gives up the big home run? I needed an actor of the right age (he'd have been 21 when it was filmed), and besides, with most of the characters (but, possibly, not his own, he'd have been approaching 100 years old) being long-gone by 2009 if they'd been real, he would once again be seeing dead people!Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-19341687249144577482012-04-04T07:20:00.002-07:002012-04-04T07:34:12.083-07:00What If the Yankees Had Traded for Carlton Fisk?<a href="http://www.glovetime.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Carlton_Fisk_1.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 299px; height: 560px;" src="http://www.glovetime.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Carlton_Fisk_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />(Notice the cap, paying tribute to the Yanks-Sox rivalry.)<br /><br />Carlton Fisk, a Red Sox icon... a Yankee? Supposedly, it almost happened.<br /><br />After the 1985 season, the Chicago White Sox didn’t want to sign him to a new contract, and Don Baylor wasn’t happy with the reduced at-bats he was getting as a Yankee. So a trade was discussed, but since Fisk’s contract had run out, and the MLB owners were then in the early stages of the “collusion” for which they would later be massively penalized, the Yankees wouldn’t simply sign Fisk. The ChiSox would have to sign Fisk first, then trade him to the Yankees for Baylor.<br /><br />But owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn (a.k.a. the Reinhorn Twins) couldn’t come to an agreement with Fisk, and the trade fell apart before, ultimately, Fisk was re-signed.<br /><br />Don’t believe me? Here’s a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_Fisk#Almost_a_Yankee<br /><br />True, it’s hard to imagine the former heart and soul of the Boston Red Sox, a man who had home-plate collisions-turned-brawls with Thurman Munson in 1973 and Lou Piniella in 1976, a man whose rivalry with fellow catcher Munson turned nasty at other times, in Pinstripes. (Since Butch Wynegar already had the Number 27 Fisk wore in Boston, Fisk probably would’ve kept the Number 72 he wore in Chicago.)<br /><br />But we’ve seen Red Sox legends Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens as Yankees. We’ve seen Met icons Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, David Cone and, if you can call him a “Met icon,” Joe Torre as Yankees. We’ve seen famed Yankee Killers Clemens, Rickey Henderson, Jose Canseco, Jimmy Key and Randy Johnson as Yankees. So is it really that odd to think that Fisk might have been a Yankee?<br /><br />What would have happened?<br /><br />*<br /><br />First, let’s address the team for whom he really did play, the White Sox. They came close to an AL West title in 1990, won it in 1993, moved to the AL Central and were on track to win it when the Strike of ’94 hit... but ’93 was Fisk’s last season, and he’d already been replaced by Ron Karkovice.<br /><br />So unless Fisk’s absence is so debilitating to the team, and Baylor’s presence not enough of a lift, as to prevent the approval of the funding for the new Comiskey Park (what is now U.S. Cellular Field) in the Illinois legislature in 1988, which would have sent the Pale Hose to Tampa Bay, chances are nothing changes for the that team.<br /><br />Would having Fisk have benefited the Yankees? His 1986 to 1991 seasons were okay, but not great. Then he tailed off, just in time for the Yankees to get good again. But he was still better at the plate than Wynegar in ’86, the triad of Rick Cerone-Joel Skinner-Mark Salas in ’87, and the platoon of Salas and Don Slaught in ’88. In those seasons, the Yankees missed winning the AL East by 5½, 9 and 3½ games.<br /><br />Would Fisk’s hitting and handling of pitchers have made a difference? In ’86, probably not. In ’87, definitely not; it's not often that one player, especially one 40 years old, can make a 9-game difference over the average player.<br /><br />In ’88, possibly: A 6-game losing streak from August 25 to 30, right in the middle of a roadtrip that began with a makeup game in Milwaukee (a frequent trouble spot for the Yanks when the Brewers were still in the AL), followed by that seemingly-inevitable annual Coast-trip killer of Anaheim, Seattle and Oakland, hurt the Yanks very badly. They lost the Milwaukee game. They got swept by the Angels, losing 7-6 (in 12 innings), 12-0 and 13-2, as bad a series as they’ve ever had since I’ve been old enough to pay attention. They salvaged the finale against the Mariners and only won the first against the A’s. Then they dropped 2 of 3 at home to Cleveland (I was at the Tuesday night game, an awful 1-0 loss with Greg Swindell outdueling Al Leiter), before sweeping a 4-game set with Detroit (I was at the Saturday afternoon game). But dropping the last 3 of a 4-game set at Fenway in mid-September dashed their hopes, and dropping the last 3 of the season in Detroit ended them. Could Fisk have done enough in that stretch, 17-20, to make it 22-15 (thus avoiding a 10th Anniversary Playoff with the Red Sox) to win the AL East? Maybe.<br /><br />Actually, what really killed the Yankees in 1988 was an injury to John Candelaria, a Brooklyn native who’d starred for Pittsburgh and had pitched for the Mets the year before. He was 13-7 with a 3.38 ERA, but pitched an inning and a third on August 24 and was out for the year. Maybe Fisk would have seen something in the Candy Man before that, and he could’ve been taken out before it got worse, and been available, so the Yankees wouldn’t have had to use relievers like Lee Guetterman and Pat Clements as starters.<br /><br />Candelaria gets forgotten today, but in his career he was 177-122, with a 114 ERA+ and a 1.184 WHIP. He was really good, and still a solid pitcher at age 36. He was 34 in 1988, and from August 24 onward the Yankees had several games where Guetterman, Clements, Charlie Hudson, Scott Nielsen, Dale Mohorcic and Steve Shields were the losing pitchers.<br /><br />So in TTL-1988 we have the first-ever season in which both the Yankees and the Mets make the postseason, which didn’t happen in RL until 1999. The Yanks beat out the Red Sox for the Division, and face the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS (remember, no Division Series in those days).<br /><br />In RL, the A’s won 104 games and swept the Sox, then got embarrassed by the Dodgers in one of the biggest World Series upsets.<br /><br />If we use the Yankees’ actual rotation of that season, and how it worked out in their final few starts, here’s how the TTL-1988 ALCS would have stacked up, presuming the Candy Man comes back:<br /><br />Game 1, Wednesday, October 5, at the original Yankee Stadium: Richard Dotson vs. Dave Stewart. Stewart was known as “Smoke,” for good reason. He allowed just 6 hits at Fenway. But with the Yankees’ lefty bats, it then becomes a question of whether Dotson could hold off the Oakland Bash Brothers. Probably not. In RL, A’s 2, Red Sox 1. I’m not sure what the TTL-score would have been, but the A’s still win, and lead 1-0.<br /><br />Game 2, Thursday, October 6, at Yankee Stadium. Rick Rhoden vs. Storm Davis. Davis was a good pitcher, but Rhoden was a find for the Yanks that season. The A’s needed 3 runs in the 7th off Roger Clemens and 1 in the 9th off Lee Smith to win it. Maybe Dave Righetti slams the door. Yankees 3, A’s 1. Series tied 1-1.<br /><br />Game 3, Saturday, October 8, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum: Tommy John vs. Bob Welch. The Yankees don’t have Reggie Jackson to hit against Welch anymore, but then, neither do the A’s have Reggie to hit against Fritz Peterson. In RL, the A’s clobbered 1983 Oriole hero Mike Boddicker. But they’re not going to like batting against TJ’s sinkers. Yankees 6, A’s 2. Yanks lead series, 2-1.<br /><br />Game 4, Sunday, October 9, at the Coliseum: John Candelaria vs. Stewart. No way Stew has 2 bad outings in a row. Not at that stage of his career. He held the Sox to 4 runs in RL, riding a Canseco dinger to a 4-1 A’s win. Let’s keep it that way, to keep it simple: A’s 4, Yanks 1. Series tied 2-2. Remember, in RL, this was the end of the series. (It was Game 4 in 1990 when Clemens went nuts and the A’s swept the BoSox, not 1988.)<br /><br />Game 5, Monday, October 10, at the Coliseum: Dotson vs. Davis. Dotson bounces back, Davis doesn’t. Yankees 6, A’s 4. Yanks lead series, 3-2.<br /><br />Game 6, Wednesday, October 12, at Yankee Stadium: Rhoden vs. Welch. Ten years earlier, they (and also Tommy John) were Dodger teammates, going against the Yankees (including current manager Lou Piniella) in the World Series. If this were 1990, by which point Rhoden was washed up and Welch was winning 27 games, I’d give it to Welch. Not this time: Mike Pagliarulo homers off him in the 8th, and the Yankees win, 4-2, and win their 34th Pennant.<br /><br />There is no Subway Series, as the Mets have capitulated to the L.A. O’Malleys. The National League half (pardon me while I laugh) of New York had their best chance yet to gain revenge on the family that stole the Dodgers from Brooklyn, and they failed.<br /><br />*<br /><br />The TTL-1988 World Series: It’s Yanks vs. Bums, for the 12th time – the 5th since the Bums caught the last train for the Coast.<br /><br />Game 1, Saturday, October 15, at Dodger Stadium: John vs. Tim Belcher. In RL, TJ appeared in 3 World Series, all Yanks vs. Dodgers, and lost them all (1977 and ’78 with the Bums, ’81 with the Yanks). Time for redemption. In RL, the Bums scored 2 in the 1st off Stewart, but the A’s came back with 4 in the 2nd to knock Belcher out of the box. In 1995, Belcher would be a Seattle Mariner, and give up Jim Leyritz’s 15th inning homer in the rain – for all the good THAT did the Yanks in the end. You know how this game ended in RL: Kirk Gibson vs. Dennis Eckersley. And the Eck was a much better reliever than Rags. Well, guess what: Righetti was a lefty. You think Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda is gonna send Gibson up against a hard-throwing lefty? Maybe, he was dumb enough to led Tom Niedenfuer pitch to Jack Clark in the ’85 NLCS, and a Pennant-winning homer was the result. (And Clark was the Yanks’ main DH in ’88.) Righetti strikes out Gibson. Yanks 4, Bums 3. Yanks lead 1-0.<br /><br />Game 2, Sunday, October 16, at Dodger Stadium: Candelaria vs. Orel Hershiser. Scratch this one: Hershiser pitched a 3-hit shutout against the East Bay Bash Brothers, and there's no reason why he can’t do it against the Bronx Bombers. Same score as in RL: Dodgers 6, Yanks 0. Series tied 1-1. But to get out of Chavez Ravine with a tie is pretty good, especially since the RL-A’s couldn’t.<br /><br />Game 3, Tuesday, October 18, at Yankee Stadium: Dotson vs. John Tudor. The 11th anniversary of Reggie Jackson’s 3 homers, and don’t think that TTL-George Steinbrenner doesn’t want to invite Mr. October back to throw out the ceremonial first ball. In RL, this was a tight pitchers’ duel between Welch and Tudor, who was one of the heroes of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 3 Pennants in the Eighties. Now in Dodger Blue, he’s facing Yankee Pinstripes instead of Oakland Green. Mark McGwire won this with a walkoff homer, making it the only RL-World Series with 2 walkoff homers. (Not to mention Eck coined the phrase “walkoff homer” after giving up Gibson's.) Maybe Fisk is the hero this time. Or Don Mattingly. Or... naw, Tommy Lasagne wouldn’t bring Niedenfuer in to face Clark again, would he? Would he? Nope, Niedenfuer had been traded to Baltimore. So he brings in the man who gave up the not-so-Big Mac’s homer, ex-Yankee Jay Howell. Doesn’t matter: Clark hits it into Monument Park. Yanks 2, Bums 1. Yanks lead Series by same margin.<br /><br />Game 4, Wednesday, October 19, at Yankee Stadium: Rhoden vs. Belcher. Belcher was better this time, and maybe the Dodgers tie it up. Dodgers 4, Yanks 3 (the RL score), and the Series is tied, 2-2.<br /><br />Game 5, Thursday, October 20, at Yankee Stadium: John vs. Hershiser. Two of the smartest pitchers who ever lived. In RL, on 3 days’ rest, Hershiser was very strong, going the distance and allowing just 2 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks. The Dodgers scored 2 in the 1st and 2 in the 4th off Storm Davis; even at age 45, TJ could do better than that through 4. Still, I don’t see the Yankees winning this one. Dodgers 3, Yanks 2. Dodgers lead Series by same margin.<br /><br />Game 6, Saturday, October 22, at Dodger Stadium: Candelaria vs. Tudor. The Candy Man hasn’t made much of a difference yet, but he does have 4 days’ rest while Tudor has just 3. And, if you’ll remember, Tudor spit the bit for the Cards in the previous year’s Game 7. I see a Mattingly homer. I see a Clark homer. I see a Pags homer. I even see Dave Winfield shaking off George’s “Mr. May” tag and homering. Yanks 9, Bums 5. We’re going to a Game 7!<br /><br />Game 7, Sunday, October 23, at Dodger Stadium. Does Fat Tommy bring Orel back on 2 days’ rest? It worked for Bob Gibson in ’64, Sandy Koufax in ’65 and both Denny McLain and Mickey Lolich in ‘68, but not Jim Lonborg in ’67. Well, it is Game 7, which means Johnny Wholestaff needs to be ready. That means Hershiser doesn’t start, but he may come out of the bullpen. After all, he’ll have 4 months of rest before pitchers and catchers report. So it’s Tim Belcher for L.A. For New York? Richard Dotson on 4 days’ rest, or Rick Rhoden on 2? Sweet Lou gambles and goes with Rhoden, who attempts to become the 2nd Yankee World Series hero, after Mickey Mantle, to have survived osteomyelitis as a child.<br /><br />Belcher leaves a fat pitch in Winfield’s wheelhouse, and Big Dave sends it into the San Gabriel Mountains. Mattingly scores ahead of him. It’s 2-0 Yanks before the Dodgers even get to bat. The Yanks squeeze single runs across in the 3rd and 4th, and Tommy has seen enough: Out goes Belch... er, in comes Hershiser. Hershiser cruises through the 8th.<br /><br />Rhoden starts fine, but wobbles in the 5th, allowing a run. Piniella takes him out and brings in Dotson, who gets out of the jam and is fine until the 8th. It’s 4-1 Yankees, but the Dodgers load the bases with just 1 out. The pitcher’s spot comes up, and Hershiser is a career .201 hitter. Lasorda needs a pinch-hitter. Back goes Hershiser, up comes Pedro Guerrero, a righthanded hitter. Out comes Dotson, in comes...<br /><br />Candelaria? Lou guesses that Tommy really wanted to send Kirk Gibson up, and doesn’t want to pitch Righetti for more than 1 full inning, so he sends in the Candy Man to make Gibson a lefty against a lefty. Seeing this, Lasorda leaves Guerrero in, and while he drives it to deep center field, it’s not enough: Claudell Washington catches it, sends it home, and only 1 run scores. Candelaria gets Steve Sax to pop up, and the threat is over.<br /><br />Righetti gets the last 3 outs, and the Yankees win, 4-2, and take their 23rd World Championship.<br /><br />In 2007, ESPN Classic airs "The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Tommy Lasorda for Pinch-Hitting For Orel Hershiser in the 1988 World Series."<br /><br />Reason Number 5: Orel Hershiser. He'd only had 2 days' rest. Who knows if he would have had anything left to get 3 outs in the 9th inning? And he wasn't a good-hitting pitcher like Rick Rhoden or Bob Welch, or even...<br /><br />Reason Number 4: Fernando Valenzuela. He was injured. If El Toro had been able to pitch in the postseason (which didn't matter in RL, as it turned out), Lasorda would not have had to give any postseason starts to...<br /><br />Reason Number 3: Tim Belcher. If he had started Game 7 well, Hershiser wouldn't have been in the game in the first place.<br /><br />Reason Number 2: Pedro Guerrero. He was a good hitter, and he did get one run home. Not to mention that Kirk Gibson we was injured, and a lefty besides, who would have batted against a lefty, either Candelaria or Righetti. Sending him up to pinch-hit would've been a bad idea. So Guerrero was the Dodgers' best option.<br /><br />Reason Number 1: The Yankees were better.<br /><br />*<br /><br />For Dave Winfield, Tommy John, Rickey Henderson, Don Mattingly and, yes, Carlton Fisk, it is their first ring.<br /><br />It is not, however, the start of a new dynasty. Injuries to Winfield, Mattingly and Clark lead to TTL-1989 being just like RL-1989, and the Yanks go downhill fast. The history we know reasserts itself. By 1993, the next Yankee dynasty is underway, but, of the ’88 Yanks, the only one who will make it even to the end of ’93 is Mattingly. And he won’t make it to ’96, just like in RL.<br /><br />But if Carlton Fisk had become a Yankee, as weird as it would have seemed, it might just have meant a big, big difference.<br /><br />Especially for the Mets, and their fans, as their momentum from ’86 dies after only 2 years, and the Yankees and their Fans reclaim New York 8 years sooner. Tough luck for the Flushing Heathen. Poor babies.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-1342847708159871752012-03-21T09:20:00.002-07:002012-03-21T09:31:28.605-07:00What If the Dodgers Had Won the 1951 Pennant?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn52C5vLgO2fglQok6I1fS-pZ5pwpALk58nOmYhWomPE5nEo9BgSsSjvHdcKYaLYHNuknigNmA3EW2yF09DlPEGmX5jNWhJh4pq9jr0JcaawjxT5gYJCvzVKgnIplihL_O3B51FLA7jk0/s400/!!!!!!ralph_branca.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 316px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn52C5vLgO2fglQok6I1fS-pZ5pwpALk58nOmYhWomPE5nEo9BgSsSjvHdcKYaLYHNuknigNmA3EW2yF09DlPEGmX5jNWhJh4pq9jr0JcaawjxT5gYJCvzVKgnIplihL_O3B51FLA7jk0/s400/!!!!!!ralph_branca.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Bobby Thomson, God rest his soul, couldn't hit anything but a fastball. Ralph Branca, good guy and a good pitcher in some situations, didn't have good command of anything but a fastball. Carl Erskine could have been brought in, and he had a really good curveball that became a great one...<br /><br />Erskine gets Thomson to ground into a double play. The Dodgers win the Pennant.<br /><br />Having won the 1951 National League Pennant, would the Brooklyn Dodgers have beaten the New York Yankees in the World Series?<br /><br />It's certainly possible: The New York Giants, who beat the Dodgers in RL, took 2 of the first 3 against the Yankees. But the Yanks took the next 3 straight to win it in 6.<br /><br />A look at the Dodgers' starting pitching, though, reveals a big problem:<br /><br />* The World Series started on October 4, the day after the Playoff. It had been scheduled to start on October 2, 2 days after the regular season ended.<br /><br />* There were no travel days when it was a Subway Series. If it went the full 7, it all happened within 7 days, barring a rainout.<br /><br />* Don Newcombe pitched 272 innings in 1951, including 8 1/3 in Game 3 of the Playoff. He could not have started again until Game 4 of the Series -- Game 3 if Dodger manager Charlie Dressen were willing to risk him on 2 days' rest, like Phillies' manager Eddie Sawyer did with Robin Roberts the year before (and it almost worked).<br /><br />* Clem Labine went the distance in Game 2 of the Playoff. Given 3 days' rest, he would not have been available until Game 2 of the Series.<br /><br />* Ralph Branca went 8 in Game 1 of the Playoff, so while pitching to 1 batter (and warming up before that) in Game 3 wouldn't have hurt him, he wouldn't have been available until Game 2 of the Series, either.<br /><br />* The last scheduled day of the regular season, September 30, the Dodgers went 14 innings in beating the Phillies and forcing the Playoff series with the Giants. Elwin "Preacher" Roe started, making him available for TTL-WS Game 1, but got rocked (a rare bad outing in a 22-3 season for him). Branca pitched an inning & a third, not much additional wear there. Clyde King and then and Labine followed with an inning each, Erskine 2, Newcombe 5 2/3 (meaning he went into the 9th on 2 days' rest to pitch the Pennant clincher), and Bud Podbelian went the rest of the way for the win, and also pitched the 9th in Game 1 of the Playoff.<br /><br />* Joe Black, who did yeoman work for the Dodgers in 1952 and '53 while Newcombe served in the Korean War, was still in the minors, and not available for the '51 Series.<br /><br />*<br /><br />So, based on that, here's what the starting pitching matchups for the TTL-1951 World Series would likely have been: <br /><br />Game 1: Roe vs. Allie Reynolds. In RL, the Giants started Dave Koslo, and beat the Yankees 5-1. <br /><br />Game 2: Labine vs. Eddie Lopat. In RL, the Giants started Larry Jansen, who came in to relieve Sal Maglie in the Pennant clincher 2 days earlier, and he pitched well, but the Yankees won 3-1. This is the game where Giant rookie Willie Mays hit a ball to right center where Yankee veteran Joe DiMaggio waved off rookie Mickey Mantle, Mickey stopped short so as not to crash into Joe, stepped in a drain that had been left open, and tore up his right knee, leaving him out for the Series and damaging his career in ways that can be examined at another time.<br /><br />Game 3: Newcombe vs. Vic Raschi. In RL, the Giants started Jim Hearn, and beat the Yankees 6-2.<br /><br />Game 4: Branca vs. Reynolds. In RL, the Giants started Sal Maglie, and the Yanks won 6-2 thanks to a Gil McDougald grand slam.<br /><br />Game 5: Roe vs. Lopat. In RL, the Giants started Jansen, but the Yanks smacked him around, scoring 5 in the 3rd and plugging away to a 13-1 win.<br /><br />Game 6: Labine vs. Raschi. In RL, the Giants started Koslo, but the Yanks won 4-3 to take the Series. This was DiMaggio's last game. His last at-bat came in the 8th, and he doubled to left-center off Jansen.<br /><br />Game 7: Newcombe vs. Reynolds. In RL, of course, this game was never played.<br /><br />So let's speculate on what would have happened if it had been Dem Bums, rather than Da Jints, against the Bronx Bombers:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Game 1, October 4 at the original Yankee Stadium:</span> If Koslo could shut down the Yankees, certainly Roe, with his sinker (cough-spitball-cough) could have. Different opponent, same result, same score: Dodgers 5, Yankees 1. Dodgers lead, 1 game to 0.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Game 2, October 5 at Yankee Stadium:</span> The junkballing Lopat never seemed to get tired, while Labine, even on 3 days' rest, may not have been at his best, even though he usually pitched very well against the Yanks. (This included in the 1960 World Series for Pittsburgh.) Perhaps if Duke Snider, a lefty pull hitter, were batting instead of Mays, the ball that DiMaggio took from Mantle goes right to Mantle, and he doesn't hurt his knee, but let's not consider the long-term implications yet. Lopat outduels Labine. Yankees 3, Dodgers 1. Series tied, 1-1.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Game 3, October 6 at Ebbets Field:</span> Newcombe would not have been as rested as RL-Game 3 starter Hearn. Instead of a 6-2 NL win, the AL Champions get to Newk and the Dodger pen. Yankees 7, Dodgers 6. Yankees lead, 2 games to 1, and already we have a substantially different World Series in TTL.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Game 4, October 8 at Ebbets Field:</span> The Dodgers get what they need so badly, a day's delay due to rain. No question about it, if Sal the Barber, with his devastating curveball (and he was never better than in 1951), could give up a grand slam to McDougald (a good contact hitter but not a lot of power), then surely Branca would have. Or would he? We're not in the Polo Grounds now. But, knowing that Branca is a fastball pitcher, McDougald may have tried to pull the ball, instead of not trying to against Maglie's hook. Figure a double instead of a homer. Yankees 4, Dodgers 2. Yankees lead 3 games to 1.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Game 5, October 9 at Ebbets Field:</span> As breaking-stuff experts, neither Roe nor Lopat benefits much from the extra day of rest. But facing a rested Roe instead of a tired Jansen may mean the Yankees don't score 5 runs in the 3rd. Maybe the Dodgers win this one. Dodgers 5, Yankees 4. Yankees lead 3 games to 2. So now we're back to where we were in RL.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Game 6, October 10 at Yankee Stadium:</span> Labine is now fully-rested, and maybe that makes the difference, since the fireballing Raschi will have had just 3 days' worth. Dodgers 3, Yankees 1. Series tied, 3-3, and the Game 7 that didn't happen in RL happens in TTL.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Game 7, October 11 at Yankee Stadium:</span> Think the Yankees can't lose a Game 7 at home? They already had, in 1926 (St. Louis Cardinals). And they would again in 1955 (Dodgers) and 1957 (Milwaukee Braves). So we have Big Newk on 4 days' rest, and the Superchief on 3.<br /><br />This is where, as it did in RL-1952 Game 7, the Yankee bullpen has a chance to make the difference, as Newk, closing in on 300 innings pitched for the year, is shaky, and Dressen can't bring in a reliever as good as Bob Kuzava, who pitches the 9th in relief of Reynolds. Yankees 7, Dodgers 4. Yankees win Series, 4 games to 3.<br /><br />*<br /><br />So what's the verdict? Was it really worth it for the Dodgers to win what was, in RL, the Bobby Thomson Pennant? They don't win the Series anyway, although they have their chances. Would it really have made the difference?<br /><br />Maybe, if Walter O'Malley had started immediately to work with City officials to get a new ballpark to replace Ebbets Field, with its 31,497 seats and 750 parking spaces. Maybe the Dodgers don't move to Los Angeles. Maybe this leads to the Giants getting out of the Polo Grounds and into the stadium that Robert Moses wanted to build in Flushing Meadow, the one that became known in RL as Shea Stadium.<br /><br />But let's get real: In RL, the Dodgers moved 1 year after winning a Pennant, and 2 years after winning a World Series. If that success didn't stop O'Malley from moving the team, surely an additional Pennant (or even title) wouldn't have swayed him.<br /><br />What would have happened if the Dodgers and Giants had stayed in New York? That's an entry for another time. As are what might have happened had one stayed and not the other.<br /><br />*<br /><br />If the Dodgers had won the 1951 Pennant, I suppose the biggest difference is that the New York Giants get more forgotten in the wake of the celebrations of Casey Stengel's Yankees and the Dodger Boys of Summer. After all, the Giants didn't win title after title, and there was no great book written about them as they moved into middle age by an equivalent to Roger Kahn.<br /><br />Bobby Thomson died in 2010. Without that home run, he'd be on the level of other '51 Giants, like Whitey Lockman and Don Mueller and Wes Westrum. Except they were still with the Giants when they won the '54 Series -- Thomson wasn't.<br /><br />And, of course, Ralph Branca never gives up that home run, and is probably remembered as follows: "What happened to him? He won 21 games at age 21, and then... and then... Huh? How come he couldn't keep it going? I don't get it."<br /><br />This makes it sound like Thomson did Branca a favor. Which, I assure you, is not what happened.<br /><br />Someday, I'll do a post about what would have happened if, in the '54 Series, Willie Mays hadn't made The Catch. You may be surprised: He is actually the person who ends up the least affected by that, although it'll mean that the Giants' 2010 World Series win isn't their first since 1954, it's their first since 1933! 56 years is bad enough, but 77 years?Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-51322317435287843272012-03-20T17:42:00.002-07:002012-03-20T17:58:10.927-07:00What If Dwight Gooden Had Stayed Clean?<a href="http://60ft6in.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Dwight-Gooden-No-Hitter.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 371px; height: 336px;" src="http://60ft6in.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Dwight-Gooden-No-Hitter.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">NOTE: The following was written in March 2010, after Gooden had been pulled over for drunk driving. The story presumes that he never fell victim to substance abuse, which we first found out about on April 1, 1987 -- April Fool's Day, nearly 25 years ago.</span><br /><br />Remember back in 1984, when Dwight Gooden was just 19 years old, went 17-9, and set a rookie record with 276 strikeouts? Met fans were already saying he was the greatest pitcher ever.<br /><br />It was like Knick fans would get a year later after they got the top pick in the NBA Draft (wonder how that happened) and used it on Patrick Ewing: It wasn't <span style="font-style:italic;">if</span> he would lead them to championships, it was <span style="font-style:italic;">how many</span>.<br /><br />The Mets finished 2nd that year, but the next year, 1985, they looked ready to make a serious challenge at the World Series. With Gooden, Darryl Strawberry and Keith Hernandez already in place, they added Gary Carter. They came close, chasing the St. Louis Cardinals for the National League Eastern Division Title to the last weekend before falling short. Gooden had one of the best seasons any pitcher has ever had: 24-4, ERA of 1.53, 268 Ks, and a WHIP of 0.965. (Walks and Hits, divided by Innings Pitched. Anything under 1.3 is good. Under 1.2 is excellent. Under 1.0 is ungodly.)<br /><br />Dwight Gooden, "Doctor K" (eventually just "Doc"), won the Cy Young Award the year after being Rookie of the Year. He had won 41 games before he was old enough to legally drink. His future, and the Mets' seemed limitless.<br /><br />In 1986, it all came together. True, he went "only" 17-6, and he failed to win either of his World Series starts (but then, he was opposed in both by Roger Clemens, who was every bit as dominating in '86 as Gooden was in '85), but the Mets did win the Series, after winning 108 games in the regular season.<br /><br />What a rotation: Dwight Gooden, Ron Darling, Sid Fernandez, Bob Ojeda. A bullpen with Jesse Orosco, Roger McDowell and Randy Myers. An outfield of Kevin Mitchell, the platoon of Mookie Wilson and Lenny Dykstra, and Darryl Strawberry. An infield of Keith Hernandez, Wally Backman, Rafael Santana and Howard Johnson -- and Backman and Johnson could be platooned with Tim Teufel and Ray Knight, respectively, with occasionally "Amazin'" results.<br /><br />At the City Hall celebration after the ticker-tape parade -- a bigger one than the Yankees had ever received to that point, but, then again, then-Mayor Ed Koch was a Met fan (no wonder he went bald: He probably pulled out most of his hair!) -- Mookie told the crowd, "1986: The Year of the Mets! 1987: The Year of the Mets! 1988: The Year of the Mets!"<br /><br />Big roar. No one doubted him. Yankee Fans feared it would be true, but even we found it hard to doubt that it could happen.<br /><br />*<br /><br />But that was when things began to go wrong for the Mets. They traded Mitchell for Kevin McReynolds, who just didn't produce the way Mitchell did the next few years. They released Knight, which became a problem when HoJo kept getting hurt. Hernandez hurt his back and got old in a hurry. They traded Dykstra for Juan Samuel, a great trade for the Phillies but yet another in a long list of bonehead moves for the Mets. Hot prospects Dave Magadan and Gregg Jeffries didn't quite work out.<br /><br />Through it all, Gooden kept on pitching. In 1987, he went 20-9, as the Mets again finished 2nd to the Cardinals, by just 1 game. In 1988, he had another great year, going 18-9, and starting the All-Star Game, as he had in '84. But a little foreshadowing came when he gave up a home run to the weakest hitter in the American League's starting lineup: Terry Steinbach, the catcher for the Oakland Athletics.<br /><br />The Mets again won the NL East. Gooden shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, and the Mets won that series in 5. This enabled Gooden to start Game 1 of the World Series, but, again, he was victimized by an A's homer, as manager Davey Johnson left him in to pitch a complete game, and in the top of the 9th, Mark McGwire crushed one over the picnic area in Shea Stadium's left-center field, turning a 4-3 Met lead into a 5-4 A's win. The Mets never recovered, and the A's won in 5 games, with Gooden also losing the clincher.<br /><br />Gooden sustained his first major league injury in 1989, but bounced back to put together a 12-5 season. The Mets again finished 2nd, to the Chicago Cubs as they had in '84, Gooden's first season. In 1990, he was 19-7, but the Mets again finished 2nd, this time to the Pittsburgh Pirates.<br /><br />Another injury in 1991 left Gooden only 13-7, but by now the Mets had collapsed. In 1992, they were so bad that Bob Klapisch, the Mets' beat writer for the New York <span style="font-style:italic;">Daily News</span>, published a book about them, titled <span style="font-style:italic;">The Worst Team Money Could Buy</span>. Gooden fell to 10-13 in '92 and 12-15 in '93 as the Mets lost 103 games. For a while, in '93, they were ahead of their 1962 team's 20th Century record pace of 120 losses, and they were a bunch of juvenile delinquents as well, tossing firecrackers that ended up hurting children, spraying reporters with bleach, threatening reporters with physical harm. (Including Bobby Bonilla to Klapisch: “Make yo’ move, ‘cause I’ll hurt you!”) In all this, Gooden, now 28, was a beacon of maturity.<br /><br />But improvement was not on the horizon for a man who seemed, with injuries and a poor supporting cast, to have fallen off the Baseball Hall of Fame's radar. In 1994, with a players' strike shortening the season, and a rotator cuff shortening his own, Gooden finished just 3-5. He bounced back in 1995, going 7-3 in limited action, but the atmosphere in Flushing Meadow was so bad that he wanted out. He entered the free agent market.<br /><br />*<br /><br />That's when Yankee owner George Steinbrenner pounced. In one of the great coups in baseball history, he took the biggest star the Mets had produced since Tom Seaver, and brought him to The Bronx.<br /><br />On May 14, 1996, Dwight Gooden did something neither he, nor any other human being, had done, or still has done, in a Met uniform: He pitched a no-hitter. He blanked the Seattle Mariners as the Yankees won, 4-0. Rejuvenated, he went 13-8, and won Game 4 of the World Series, as the Yankees beat the Atlanta Braves in 6 games. <span style="font-style:italic;">(Note: Gooden doing the job that Kenny Rogers failed to do erased that 6-0 to 8-6 comeback, which means that Jim Leyritz is mainly known for his rain-strewn walkoff homer in Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS.)</span><br /><br />Gooden again pitched well for the Yankees in 1997, going 16-9, helping them beat out the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East title, the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, the Orioles again in the ALCS, and the upstart Florida Marlins in the World Series.<br /><br />None of those teams have made the World Series since; in fact, only the Indians have even reached the postseason since, and South Florida doesn't even have a team anymore, after the Marlins were broken up, attendance sank like a stone, and the team was moved to Washington, D.C. Rumors abound that the Montreal Expos, if they can't get a deal for a new ballpark to open by the 2014 season, may move to Miami, but they'd still be stuck in whatever the Miami Dolphins' stadium is being called these days.<br /><br />Gooden hadn't had a 200-strikeout season since 1990, and only that one since 1986, but it didn't matter, as, like his former Met, now Yankee, teammate David Cone, he became a smarter pitcher with age -- or, if you prefer, a pitcher rather than a thrower. The 1998 Yankees were the greatest team of all time, with a rotation of Cone, Gooden, Andy Pettitte, David Wells, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, making the '86 Mets look like pikers. Their 117 wins were the most in baseball history, including Gooden's 12-9 record. They swept the Texas Rangers in the ALDS, took the Indians in 5 in the ALCS, and swept the San Diego Padres for their 3rd straight World Series. The Yankees had an unbelievable 11-1 postseason, the greatest performance in baseball's postseason since the '76 Reds went 7-0 (facing a maximum of 12, as opposed to 19).<br /><br />Gooden finally seemed to slow down in 1999, at age 34, going 12-9 but with an ERA of 4.70. He did not appear in the Yankees' 2nd straight 11-1 postseason. An 11-10 season in 2000 showed him the writing on the wall, though it also showed him a 5th straight World Series ring -- something only the 1949-53 Yankees had previously done. He had surgery on his shoulder, allowing him to come back in time for the 2001 stretch drive, going 4-1 in limited action. He managed to shut down the Arizona Diamondbacks in emergency relief of Andy Pettitte in Game 6 of the World Series, and the Yankees claimed their record 6th straight World Championship, their 28th World Series overall.<br /><br />It was too much for his shoulder, and Gooden sat out the entire 2002 season, in which the Yankees lost to the Anaheim Angels in the ALDS. But he was back in 2003, squeezing out one more solid season, going 15-12, with his first 200-K season in 13 years. His heroic bullpen work saved the Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox, leading to Aaron Boone's epic home run to win the Pennant. Doc again pitched in relief to shut down the Chicago Cubs, in their first World Series in 58 years, to win Game 4, allowing the Yankees to beat the Cubs in Game 6 for Title 29. <span style="font-style:italic;">(Note: With the Marlins in disarray, and in Washington, the Cubs don't collapse in the NLCS. They do get the Pennant, if not the whole thing.)</span><br /><br />*<br /><br />But the end was near. The pain was too great for much of the 2004 season, and Doc announced it would be his last. He would, after all, be turning 40 shortly after it ended. But he did manage to make his last regular-season strikeout the 3,000th of his career. The Doctor still had one last procedure to perform.<br /><br />With the Red Sox (cough-steroids-cough) having completed baseball's first-ever 3-games-to-0 postseason comeback, manager Joe Torre had a tough choice to make in Game 7. Pettitte had been allowed to leave for Houston. So had Roger Clemens. Mike Mussina wasn't ready. Neither was Jon Lieber. Wells had left. Kevin Brown hadn't been effective. Neither had Javier Vazquez. Neither had Esteban Loaiza. El Duque was hurting. So was Doc.<br /><br />Doc sucked it up and said, "Skip, gimme that ball."<br /><br />Joe gave Doc the ball. He sent the Sox down in order in the 1st. In the 3rd, David Ortiz led off. The biggest Yankee-killer of his generation had pummeled them the last 2 seasons, but Gooden stuck a fastball -- "The last good one I ever threw," he would tell the press -- right in Big Papi's fat ribs. Ortiz pointed at the mound, and Gooden, in his best imitation of an English hooligan's "Come on then" style, threw out his arms and accepted the challenge. Both benches cleared, and Ortiz flattened Gooden. Not by punching him, but by falling on him. That would flatten anyone. The umpires threw both men out of the game, thus requiring a new pitcher for the Yankees, but also taking the Sox' biggest threat out.<br /><br />Vazquez came in, settled things down, and held the Sox off until the 7th. Then the Sox made the mistake of bringing Pedro Martinez in to pitch, and he found out "Who's your Daddy!" The Yankees tallied twice off him to take a 3-0 lead. Mariano Rivera pitched the last 2 innings to give the Yankees their 41st Pennant.<br /><br />The Curse of the Bambino lived, and still lives. Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, Trot Nixon, Mark Bellhorn and Bill Mueller were soon outed as steroid users. Sox management allowed Pedro to leave Boston via free agency, just as they did to Clemens after 1996.<br /><br />The Red Sox have not won a World Series for 94 years. This past offseason, team owner John Henry, fed up with it all, sold the team to a Russian oil billionaire, who has promised to build a new ballpark on landfill in Boston's North End. "Of course," Yankee Fans are saying. "Landfill for a garbage team." Sure, build a ballpark on landfill. After all, it worked so well for Cleveland Municipal Stadium, right?<br /><br />Gooden pitched just one inning in the World Series against the Cardinals, but he said it was sweet revenge for 1985 and '87 with the Mets. The Yankees had their 30th World Championship, and Dwight Gooden walked away from baseball with a 9th World Series ring. Only Yogi Berra then had more (though Rivera, Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada have now matched Yogi).<br /><br />Dwight Gooden retired with a career record of 256-149, for a superb winning percentage of .632, and just barely entered the 3,000 Strikeout Club – all this despite several injuries that got in his way.<br /><br />After Gooden's retirement, the Yankees hit a little dry spell, as the World Series was won by the Chicago White Sox in 2005, the Cardinals in 2006, the Colorado Rockies in 2007, and the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008, before the Yankees dethroned the Phils in 2009, and the San Francisco Giants won in 2010 and the Cards again in 2011.<br /><br />Gooden was caught speeding in March 2010, on his way to a banquet honoring his recent election to the Baseball Hall of Fame.<br /><br />Some say he was the greatest New York pitcher ever. Well, probably not. Not even if you include what he did for the Mets.<br /><br />Still, Dwight Eugene Gooden is a Yankee hero, and a baseball hero. With his injuries, it could have been a lot worse.<br /><br />In fact, it could have been even worse than that. Look at his former Met and Yankee teammate Darryl Strawberry. Can you imagine if Gooden had wasted his life on cocaine and alcohol? It could have been not just a shame, but a tragedy.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-16899464326852838552012-03-20T06:54:00.004-07:002012-03-20T06:56:53.200-07:00What If Andy Pettitte Had Never Left the Yankees?<a href="http://noahhunt.org/AndyPettitte/AndyPettitte33.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 336px; height: 330px;" src="http://noahhunt.org/AndyPettitte/AndyPettitte33.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />With the "third coming" of Andy Pettitte, I bring back this piece, inspired by Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers (see link to the right).<br /><br />December 15, 2003 (point of divergence): As he previously had to talk George Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman out of trading him in 1999, so again does Yankee manager Joe Torre succeed in getting them to sign Andy Pettitte to a new contract.<br /><br />October 20, 2004: Sorry, Yankee Fans, but Andy is no help in the meltdown against the Red Sox. In RL, he got hurt and didn't pitch after August 12. The Astros made the Playoffs anyway, but lost to the Cardinals. Andy doesn't come back any sooner if he stays in New York.<br /><br />October 7, 2005: If the Yankees keep Pettitte, they don't desperately need another lefty, and they don't get Randy Johnson. So Pettitte starts Game 3 of the ALDS against the Angels. Instead of the Big Unit allowing 5 runs in the first 3 innings, resulting in an 11-7 Angel win, Pettitte allows 4 runs over 6, and the bullpen holds on for a 7-6 Yankee win. The Yankees take the series the next day.<br /><br />October 16, 2005: Bad news: In RL, Andy started in the World Series for the Astros against the White Sox, but the South Siders still swept. I doubt he would have made a difference in a Yanks-ChiSox ALCS. No Pennant here. Besides, the White Sox had won just 1 Pennant in the last 86 years. It wouldn't have been right to deny them.<br /><br />October 6, 2006: Another bad ALDS Game 3 for Randy Johnson turns into a good performance for Andy Pettitte, but it doesn't matter, as Kenny Rogers -- the Tony Fernandez of pitchers, he's lousy for the Yanks and Mets but great for non-New York teams -- pitches a shutout. The Yanks still lose the ALDS.<br /><br />And in 2007, Andy has never left, and history resumes as we know.<br /><br />So keeping Pettitte wouldn't have helped, unless it can be argued that he wouldn't have gotten hurt in New York 2004, the way he actually got hurt in Houston.<br /><br />Sometimes these What-Ifs work out well. This time, the only real difference is that Randy Johnson never pisses us off in Pinstripes. Only in the uniforms of other teams.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-33374564822591597972012-03-13T14:31:00.002-07:002012-03-13T14:56:26.507-07:00What If Mickey Mantle Had Taken Care of Himself?<a href="http://www.mickeymantle.net/items_images/1208155451Mickey%20Mantle%20Retirement%20Day%20Card%2004%2014%2008.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 512px; height: 720px;" src="http://www.mickeymantle.net/items_images/1208155451Mickey%20Mantle%20Retirement%20Day%20Card%2004%2014%2008.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Note: I wrote this before the publication of Jane Leavy's new bio of Mickey, <span style="font-style:italic;">The Last Boy</span>, which mentions that Mickey had admitted to a few people that he had been molested as a boy, possibly explaining his issues with women and with trusting people. But that has nothing to do with my analysis of his injuries and his drinking.</span><br /><br />We look at the "Mount Rushmore" of the Yankees -- Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle -- and note that, of those, only Joe D lived to see collect Social Security. Aside from smoking, which led to lung cancer killing him at at 84, he took care of himself. The Babe caroused, drinking and womanzing and just plain carrying on, at a rate that would have exhausted even Mickey. And the Iron Horse, who probably took better care of himself than any of them, ironically was struck down by a malady that, while far better researched today, is still mysterious in that no one knows how it is originally contracted. Of the 4, Gehrig should have lived the longest, but he died the youngest, just short of age 38. The Babe, 53. Mickey, 63.<br /><br />In terms of his health, Mickey Mantle would almost certainly have lived a lot longer if he had drunk only in moderation. Last October, he would have turned 80. But, at that age, he might've been dead by now anyway. His contemporary Duke Snider has now died, leaving Willie Mays as the only survivor of the 1950s New York center field triumverate.<br /><br />But if Mickey had eased up on the bottle and the running around, and had his many injuries taken more seriously by Yankee management and thus treated better, rendering him fitter, and fit sooner, what difference would it have made on the field?<br /><br />*<br /><br />Statistically speaking, he might've gone from 536 career home runs to 600 or so. Not enough to threaten the Babe's then-record of 714, or to surpass Willie Mays' 660, or to avoid being surpassed by the 755 of Hank Aaron and the 762* of Barry Bonds, but still a lot. He also might have gotten a lot more than 2,415 hits. Would he have made it to 3,000? Maybe, if he could have played until he was 42 like Aaron, Mays and Stan Musial (who all made it to 3,000 -- and Ted Williams, who didn't get that milestone due to 5 years in military service).<br /><br />But how would Mickey's improved health have impacted the Yankees' team performance? Surprisingly, probably very little.<br /><br />Mickey arrived at Yankee Stadium in 1951. From that point through 1964, the Yankees won the Pennant every year but two: 1954 and 1959. By a weird twist of fate -- I won't call it a "coincidence" because that's what the incurious believe in -- both teams that did win, the '54 Cleveland Indians and the '59 Chicago White Sox, were managed by Al Lopez, one of the craftiest men in the game's history.<br /><br />In 1954, the Yankees won 103 games, the most any team managed by Casey Stengel ever won. But the Indians won 111, breaking the American League record set by the Yankees in 1927, and establishing a new record that would stand until the Yankees broke it in 1998. Would a healthy Mickey, as opposed to RL-Mickey, have made an 8-game difference? Hardly, because, that season, he did play a full season: 146 games of the the 154-game schedule that was in place from 1904 to 1960, meaning he missed only 8. In those 146 games, he batted .300 with 27 homers and 102 RBIs. By nearly any player's standards, particularly in the Fifties, a pitchers' era, that's a very good season. So any injuries or illnesses he may have had that year didn't affect him very much in terms of stats.<br /><br />In 1959, the Yankees finished 3rd, 15 games behind the White Sox. Mickey had, by his standards, a subpar season: .285 with 75 RBIs, but still hit 31 homers. And he played 144 games, a full season even by the 162-game standard that was put in place in 1961 (in 1962 in the National League) and has been in place for all non-strike seasons since. No way to say that Mickey could've made a 15-game difference if he'd gone the full 154 even without aches and pains.<br /><br />Personally, I think a more interesting story is what if Gehrig hadn't gotten sick. And an even more interesting story is what if Roberto Clemente had landed safely. But those what-ifs are for another time.<br /><br />*<br /><br />What about those last 4 seasons? In 1965, age, injury, and a dried-up farm system making it nearly impossible to replace those affected by age and injury, combined to form a perfect storm, and it caught up with the Yankees wholesale. They finished 6th in the 10-team, single-division American League, 25 games behind the Minnesota Twins. Could even a healthy Babe Ruth -- hitting 60 home runs and winning 20 games on the mound when he wasn't playing the outfield -- have made a 25-game difference? Not by a long shot.<br /><br />In 1966, the Yankees finished 10th (one of only 4 last-place finishes in club history, along with 1908, 1912 and 1990), 26 1/2 behind the Baltimore Orioles. In 1967, the Yankees finished 9th, 20 games behind the Boston Red Sox. (The Sox' first Pennant race in 16 years, and they didn't even have to get past the Yankees to win it.) In 1968, the Yankees had a bit of an improvement, a winning season, 5th place, but still 20 games behind the Detroit Tigers.<br /><br />There was no way Mickey Mantle, healthy and happy even at ages 33 to 36, could have made a 20-odd-games' difference.<br /><br />And what if he had been able to play until he was 42? Well, who knows, he might've just plain gotten frustrated by all those non-Pennant years and hung 'em up anyway. But if he had stuck with it? Remember, there would have been a decline eventually. In 1969, in the first year of the 6-team American League Eastern Division, the Yankees finished 5th, 28 1/2 games behind the Orioles. In 1970, they had their best season between 1964 and 1976, winning 93 games and finishing 2nd, but still 15 games behind the O's. In 1971, the Yankees finished 4th, 21 games behind the O's.<br /><br />In 1972, the Baltimore dynasty came to an end, although they did win the Division in '73 and '74, but lost both times to the Reggie/Catfish Oakland Athletics. In '72, the Yanks were 4th, but only 6 1/2 games behind the Tigers.<br /><br />Now, here is where things get interesting. With Bobby Murcer and Thurman Munson having come into their own, Mel Stottlemyre still one of the game's top starters, and Sparky Lyle having arrived and become the AL's top reliever, could Mickey have made a difference here? Chances are, even with his improved health, he's not playing center field anymore. After all, he is now 40 years old. Maybe he's playing right field in place of Johnny Callison, the former Phillies star. Maybe he's playing first base in place of Ron Blomberg. <br /><br />At age 40, in 1971, Mays batted .271, with 18 homers and 61 RBIs, but 112 walks meant that he led the NL with a .425 on-base percentage. His OPS+ that year was 158. At age 40, in 1974, Aaron batted .268, 20 homers, 69 RBIs, OPS+ 128. Both were still legitimate All-Stars. Is it so hard to imagine a 40-year-old Mickey batting .270, with 20 homers and 70 RBIs? Especially with Murcer at his peak batting behind him, meaning you couldn't simply walk Mickey because that would put (at least) one man on with such a great hitter coming up -- especially at the pre-renovation Stadium, 296 feet down the right-field line? And would such a season have made a 7-game difference? I think it could.<br /><br />The next season, 1973, was the first year of the Designated Hitter. As a 41-year-old DH, not having to play the field, Mickey might have had his last good season. But the RL-Yankees tailed off in August after staying well in the race until then, and finished 4th, 17 games behind the Orioles. Maybe a 41-year-old, but healthy, DHing Mickey could have had them in first place on August 1, and maybe that extra boost of confidence gets the Yankees the Division Title.<br /><br />And in 1974, when Mickey was 42 -- Mays and Aaron were closing it down by that point but Ted Williams and Stan Musial still had good years, if final ones, at that age -- the RL-Yankees were just 2 games behind the Orioles at the end. Mickey platooning at DH with Ron Blomberg, who did bat .311 in 90 games that year: Could it have made the difference? I'm not saying it would, only that it could. Although it would have been very weird in TTL-1974 seeing Mickey playing home games... in Shea Stadium!<br /><br />*<br /><br />All right, that's the regular season. What about the postseason?<br /><br />In 1951, '52, '53, '56, '58, '61 and '62, the Yankees won the World Series. Only in '61 was Mantle injured. So even then, it didn't matter much.<br /><br />The Yankees lost the 1955 World Series to the Brooklyn Dodgers, the only Series the Dodgers would win while in Brooklyn, before moving to Los Angeles for the 1958 season, and winning the Series in 1959, '63, '65, '81 and '88. In '55, Mantle was hurt. He did not play in Games 1 and 2 (Irv Noren played center field for the Yankees), but the Yankees won them both anyway. In Games 3 and 4, Mickey played (albeit the end of Game 3 and all of Game 4 in right field, thus exchanging the bat and glove of usual right fielder Hank Bauer for that of Noren in center), but the Yankees lost. Mickey didn't play Game 5 (Noren in center again), and again the Dodgers won. Mickey didn't play Game 6 (this time Bob Cerv was in center), but this time the Yankees won. In Game 7, Mickey appeared only as a pinch-hitter (Cerv in center), batting for reliever Bob Grim, and popped up, and the Yankees lost, 2-0.<br /><br />A healthy Mickey could have made the difference in Game 7, but the way Johnny Podres was pitching that day, it might not have made a difference. But in Game 5, Noren went 0-for-4 as center fielder against 6 innings of Roger Craig and 3 of Clem Labine, who otherwise allowed 6 hits and 3 runs (all earned) in a 5-3 Dodger win. Odds are, Mickey would have gotten a hit in either Game 5 or Game 7, and said hit might have made a difference between the Yankees or the Dodgers winning.<br /><br />But do I really want to take that 1955 win away from the Dodger fans? No, I don't. They, and their team, deserved it. Besides, there's no guarantee a healthy Mickey would have been any better against Dodger pitching than Noren and Cerv were, any more than Tony Conigliaro would've hit better in the 1967 World Series than Ken Harrelson, had he not been beaned. So let's move on.<br /><br />In 1957, the Yankees lost in 7 to the Milwaukee Braves. Mickey played 6 of the games, going 5-for-19 with a homer and 2 RBIs. He seems to have been reasonably healthy here. So, no difference.<br /><br />In 1960, the Yankees lost in 7 to the Pittsburgh Pirates, outscoring them 55-27 but losing Game 7 10-9 on the Bill Mazeroski homer. Mickey said many times that, in his 12 World Series appearances, this was the one time -- including the others that the Yankees lost -- when he thought that the better team didn't win.<br /><br />But don't be fooled by that: The Pirates were an excellent team, with Hall-of-Famers Mazeroski and Clemente, MVP Dick Groat, Cy Young Award winner Vernon Law and the best relief pitcher of the time, Elroy Face. They may not have been a better team than the Yankees, either statistically or by reputation (after all, this is the only Pennant they won between the Coolidge and Nixon Administrations), but they were worthy World Champions.<br /><br />Mickey played in all 7 games of that Series, going 10-for-25 (that's .400) with 3 homers (one a tremendous opposite-field blast at Forbes Field, whose dimensions were functionally identical to those of the pre-renovation Yankee Stadium) and 11 RBI. Looks to me like he was fully healthy. Yogi Berra was supposedly asked why the Yankees lost, and he said, "We made too many wrong mistakes." Whatever mistakes they made, they appear not to have been caused by Mickey Mantle -- healthy or otherwise.<br /><br />In 1963, the Yankees got swept by the Dodgers. They got zapped by the pitching of Sandy Koufax (Games 1 and 4), Johnny Podres again (Game 2) and Don Drysdale (Game 3), scoring only 5 runs despite allowing only 12. Mickey played in all 4 games, going just 2-for-15, but 1 was a home run. He wasn't injured at the time. Rather, he and his teammates were just plain stopped.<br /><br />In 1964, the Yankees went down in 7 to the St. Louis Cardinals. Mickey played in all 7 games, going 8-for-24 (.333), with 3 homers (including what we would now call a walkoff homer to win Game 3) and 8 RBIs. The Yanks led that Series 2 games to 1, but a Ken Boyer grand slam the next day started the Cards on winning 3 of the last 4. Mickey, for perhaps the last time in his career (he turned 33 just 5 days after the Series ended), was reasonably healthy, and as much as he tried to be part of the solution, the Yankees didn't win; but, clearly, he was <span style="font-style:italic;">not</span> part of the problem.<br /><br />So of the 5 World Series the Yankees lost while Mickey Mantle played for them, a healthy version of him only would've been necessary once, in 1955, and, for all we know, that might not have made a significant difference anyway.<br /><br />What about those 3 potential postseasons at the end? Suppose for a moment that a healthy, if old, Mantle had helped the Yankees, rather than the Tigers, win the AL East in 1972, and instead of the Orioles in 1973 and '74.<br /><br />In 1972, the Oakland Athletics relied on 3 starters in the ALCS: Jim "Catfish" Hunter in Games 1 and 4, John "Blue Moon" Odom in Games 2 and 5, and Ken "Charlie Finley Must've Run Out of Nicknames" Holtzman in Game 3. Based on their end-of-the-regular-season rotation, the Yankees would probably have opposed Hunter with Mel Stottlemyre, Odom with Fritz Peterson, and Holtzman with Steve Kline.<br /><br />The A's won the first 2, then the Tigers took the next 2, and the A's won the deciding Game 5. But considering that Kline wasn't very good, this could very well have been a sweep by the A's. Division title for the Yankees, but no Pennant, no matter what the aging Mantle could have done. Let's move on.<br /><br />In 1973, the O's lost the best-3-out-of-5 ALCS to the A's in 5 games. Let's presume the Yanks would have won the games the O's did, Games 1 and 4. The A's won Game 2, 6-3. Hunter pitched pretty well. With his array of pitches, I doubt Mickey, about to turn 42, would have handled him. So we go to a Game 5, and Catfish pitched again, a 5-hit shutout, A's 3, O's 0. No, the Yankees don't win that Pennant, either.<br /><br />In 1974, the A's dynasty continues into the ALCS, but now the Yankees have a little more experience, above and beyond the mountain of experience held by Number 7, in his TTL-final days. The O's took Game 1, 6-3, Mike Cuellar beating Catfish. But the A's took the next 3 for the Pennant, 5-0 (Holtzman over Dave McNally), 1-0 (Vida Blue over Jim Palmer), and 2-1 (Hunter over Cuellar).<br /><br />If we use the end of the regular season as a guide, the Yankee rotation for the 1974 ALCS would have been: Rudy May in Game 1 (October 5, on 6 days' rest), George "Doc" Medich (a med student at the time) in Game 2 (October 6, 5 days'), Pat "the Snake" Dobson in Game 3 (October 8, 6 days'), and, if necessary, May in Game 4 (October 9, 3 days') and Medich in Game 5 (October 10, 3 days').<br /><br />Those were all good pitchers, but rarely great ones. It's easy to see how they were beaten out by a team with a starting rotation of Cuellar, McNally and Palmer -- two guys who were maybe a step short of the Hall of Fame and one guy who's deservedly in -- plus Ross Grimsley, who won 18 games that season without getting a postseason start; while the Yankees' 4th starter had been Stottlemyre, but he tore his rotator cuff, never pitched again, and his place in the rotation was taken by Dick Tidrow, who was far better in 1977 and '78 as an emergency starter and a long man out of the pen than he ever was as a regular starter. (Joe Torre and Joe Girardi would have loved him.)<br /><br />Does May outduel Hunter in Game 1? Maybe. How about Medich against Holtzman in Game 2? I doubt it, Holtzman was never better than that season. Dobson against Blue in Game 3? I don't think so: In RL, it was a match between Palmer who is in the Hall and Blue who might've been if it hadn't been for substance abuse. Dobson was the best starter the Yankees had that season, but he was no Vida Blue or Jim Palmer.<br /><br />So the Yanks have their backs to the wall in Game 4, and May against Cuellar again. In RL, Cuellar allowed just 1 hit, but 2 runs; Catfish 1 run on 5 hits. Could the Yankee bats -- the aging Mantle, Murcer, Munson, Blomberg, Roy White, Chris Chambliss, Graig Nettles -- get the 3 runs they would have needed? I don't know. After all, the reason George Steinbrenner went so hard after Catfish in the offseason was that Catfish was great in October, not just April through September.<br /><br />But let's suppose the Yanks do force a Game 5. They would have been at "home" at Shea. Medich against McNally... As Harrison Ford would later say, "I've got a bad feeling about this." A's win, and complete their threepeat in the World Series.<br /><br />*<br /><br />So... aside from allowing him to live a lot longer and in a lot less pain, Mickey Mantle receiving better physical treatment from himself and from Yankee management most likely boosts his personal stats, but probably doesn't help the team a whole lot. When they needed a little help, he was usually there to have already put them in that position. When better health could have made a big difference, they needed an even bigger difference than he could have provided.<br /><br />Mickey taking care of himself would've made a big difference to him. But not much of a difference to the Yankees as a team.<br /><br />I wish Mickey had lived to see the Yankee Dynasty reborn in 1996. I wish his liver hadn't been so badly damaged that doctors would've judged it to be in good enough shape to allow the knee-replacement surgery that Whitey Ford got, thus allowing him to play in Old-Timer's Games, thus allowing me the chance I never got: While I got to SEE Mickey Mantle, I never got to see Mickey Mantle PLAY.<br /><br />That is one of several pieces of the tragedy of Mickey Mantle. But he had a lot of triumph as well. As the man himself said, "I still get goose bumps."Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-75343075673127040472012-03-13T06:21:00.005-07:002012-03-13T06:53:06.810-07:00What If the Mets Had Drafted Reggie Jackson?<a href="http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/372984_107389239290537_289458751_n.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 264px;" src="http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/372984_107389239290537_289458751_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Note: This originally appeared in the March 26, 2010 edition of Uncle Mike's Musings, as a challenge from Jon Lewin, the Met half of the blog Subway Squawkers. (See link to the right.) Be careful what you wish for...</span><br /><br />In 1966, the Kansas City Athletics -- soon to move to Oakland -- chose outfielder Reggie Jackson of Arizona State University with the 2nd pick in the Major League Baseball draft.<br /><br />The first pick belonged to the Mets, who chose Steve Chilcott, a catcher just out of high school in Lancaster, California, outside of Los Angeles.<br /><br />Why? Not because of original Met manager Casey Stengel's advice: "You gotta have a catcher. If you don't have a catcher, you'll have all passed balls."<br /><br />No. According to legend, a legend Reggie was told at the time and continues to believe, it was because Reggie was black and had a white girlfriend.<br /><br />Actually, Reggie's girlfriend, Jennie Campos, was Hispanic, the daughter of Mexican immigrants born and raised near Arizona State's Tempe campus. They eventually married... and divorced.<br /><br />How could the Mets be so racist? Well, there's a line that has been attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Napoleon Bonaparte and Robert A. Heinlein, which I first read from the late great anthropologist and Yankee Fan Stephen Jay Gould: "Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." With the Mets, always think stupidity before malice. Maybe the reason Reggie believes he was passed over by the Mets due to racism is that his agent wanted to soften the blow, by providing an explanation that, however false, and however vile if it had been true, made sense -- when there appears to have been no explanation that makes any sense. Make sense? As Bernie Kopell would have said on <span style="font-style:italic;">Get Smart</span> at that time, "Zis is ze Mets! Ve don't make zenze here!"<br /><br />Or maybe Reggie just wasn't ready for New York. Even in 1977, there were times when it didn't seem like he was ready. Sure seemed like it by September of that year, though. Definitely in October.<br /><br />What happened to Chilcott? Well, he played 6 years in the minors, but injury kept him from reaching the majors. He had invested his $75,000 signing bonus in real estate, and that proved to be a far wiser decision than the Mets drafting him.<br /><br />Only Chilcott, Brien Taylor (1991 Yankees) and, for the moment, Matt Bush (2004 Rays) have been Number 1 MLB Draft picks who never reached the majors.<br /><br />Ironically, the Mets won the World Series in 1969 and the National League Pennant in 1973 anyway, with Jerry Grote -- not much of a hitter, but a good catcher -- behind the plate. So maybe they didn't need what Chilcott could have become if he'd stayed healthy.<br /><br />But what could Reggie's booming bat, which hit 563 homers in RL, have done with the Mets? True, Yankee Stadium had that short right-field porch, and Shea Stadium was a pitcher's park. But he also played a lot of home games at the Oakland Coliseum and Anaheim Stadium, neither of which is a hitter's park.<br /><br />So let's imagine that the Mets had done the right, and smart, thing...<br /><br />*<br /><br />1967: Reggie debuts with the Mets.<br /><br />1968: Reggie is the Mets' starting right fielder, meaning that Ed Kranepool now plays a lot more first base, and Ron Swoboda gets traded. Swoboda ends up on the Oakland Athletics.<br /><br />1969: The Mets win the Pennant, but lose Game 4 of the World Series when Reggie -- in the place we remember occupied by Swoboda -- not only doesn't make a great catch on Brooks Robinson's 9th inning liner, but does what we remember him doing at Fenway Park on June 18, 1977, "not hustling" in Billy Martin's words. The Orioles win that game, 3-2, win Game 5 3-0 (they did lead by that score until the 6th), and take the Series in Game 6 in Baltimore. Reggie hit 38 home runs, a Met record that will stand until 1996, but he is remembered as the goat of the Series.<br /><br />1971: Unhappy with Reggie's contract demands following a strong '71 season, M. Donald Grant trades Reggie to the Chicago Cubs, whose owner Philip K. Wrigley not only is willing to pay Reggie the $120,000 a year he wants, but has some of Reggie's friends on the team: Billy Williams, Ferguson Jenkins, and the recently-retired Ernie Banks. Banks joins Negro League legend Buck O'Neil on the Cubs' coaching staff. The Cubs' manager (although, as it turns out, he gets fired the next season) is Leo Durocher, who managed Reggie's idol, Willie Mays, and until Leo is fired, they get along. Good situation for Reggie.<br /><br />1972: The A's win their first World Series since 1930, when they were in Philadelphia, beating the Cincinnati Reds in 7 games. (Remember, Reggie was hurt and didn't play. I suspect Swoboda may have hit a home run in that Series.)<br /><br />1973: Reggie Jackson is the Most Valuable Player of the National League, and the MVP of the World Series. First, the Cubs win the NL East. Then, in Game 3 of the NL Championship Series at Wrigley Field, Reggie slides into third base safely, and Pete Rose tags him in the face. Reggie clobbers Rose. Shocked that someone would not only stand up to him but beat him, Rose is never the same player. The Cubs take the Series the next day. Reggie homers off Oakland's Ken Holtzman in Game 7 of the Series, and the Cubs, Pennant winners for the first time in 28 years, are World Champions for the first time in 65 years -- the first World Championship for either Chicago team in 56 years. The Yankees remain the only franchise ever to win three straight World Series. (The A's, with Reggie, did so in 1972-74, and remain the only other one to do so.)<br /><br />1974: The Cubs slump as Billy Williams and Ron Santo are getting older. The Orioles beat the A's in the American League Championship Series and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, for their 4th World Championship. (1966, 1969, 1970, 1974. That's one more than they've won in real life, as they add a 5th in 1983.)<br /><br />1975: The Boston Red Sox beat the A's to win the American League Pennant, but lose a classic World Series to Willie Stargell and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates win the Pennant by beating the Reds, as Rose goes hitless in 11 at-bats.<br /><br />1976: Charlie Finley breaks up his A's. The Mets that won the Pennant in '69 and nearly the Division in '73 have already been broken up. The Yankees win the Pennant on Chris Chambliss' homer. They lose the Series to the Philadelphia Phillies, who beat the Reds and then sweep the Yankees to win their first World Championship in 94 seasons of trying. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner opens the vault, and signs Reggie. After all, George reasons, if he can help Chicago win a World Series, why not New York?<br /><br />Then history reasserts itself, until 1980, when the Phillies, who didn't need Rose to win the Series in '76, have the confidence to win it without him in '80.<br /><br />Well, almost...<br /><br />1978: The Denver A's debut at Mile High Stadium. This time, Finley completes the sale of the team to Marvin Davis.<br /><br />1983: Pete Rose retires, shortly after finally getting his 3,000th hit. He is never named manager of a major league team. Ty Cobb remains baseball's all-time hit leader.<br /><br />1984: Leon Durham scoops up a key grounder, and the Cubs manage to beat the San Diego Padres to win the Pennant. But they lose the Series to the Detroit Tigers.<br /><br />1986: Former Met ace Tom Seaver comes in to close out the Red Sox' Game 6 win over the Mets at Shea Stadium, 5-3. His last pitch is a strikeout of Kevin Mitchell. <span style="font-style:italic;">(I originally had it as Gary Carter, but in the wake of Carter's death, and all the talk about him absolutely refusing to make the last out of a World Series, I decided to change it to the next batter.)</span> The Sox win their first World Series in 68 years. The phrase "the Curse of the Bambino" never makes it out of Massachusetts. The Mets have never won a World Series.<br /><br />1988: The Mets win the NL East, but Dwight Gooden meets Mike Scioscia. The Dodgers go on to beat the A's, who have won their first Pennant in 25 years, their first in Denver.<br /><br />1989: In a World Series interrupted by an earthquake, the A's beat their former cross-bay rivals, the San Francisco Giants, to win their first World Championship in 27 years, their first in Colorado.<br /><br />1990: The Reds beat the A's in the World Series. It is the Reds' first World Championship in 50 years. Their former star, Pete Rose, serves a short prison sentence for tax evasion.<br /><br />1992: Seaver is elected to the Hall of Fame, wearing a Reds cap on his plaque.<br /><br />1993: Reggie is elected to the Hall of Fame, wearing a Yankee cap on his plaque. Cub fans are not pleased, but, hey, it's only been 9 years since they won a Pennant, and 20 years since they won a World Series. The Washington Nationals and the Florida Marlins begin play as expansion teams. (These Nats are not the RL-Montreal Expos, but the RL-Colorado Rockies. Remember, the A's are in Denver in TTL, and the idea of returning Major League Baseball to Oakland doesn't seem so hot.)<br /><br />1996: Pete Rose, having been briefly imprisoned, but not banned from baseball (since he was never Reds manager and never bet on baseball in such a capacity), is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his 5th year of eligibility, despite having 3,000 career hits.<br /><br />2000: The Yankees win the World Series, beating the Mets in 5 games. The Mets have now won 3 Pennants, but never a World Series.<br /><br />2003: Cubs Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson throws out the first ball before Game 6 of the NLCS. The Cubs nearly blow a 3-0 8th inning lead, but hang on to win 3-2, and take the Pennant. The name of Steve Bartman is quickly forgotten, after Moises Alou remains calm after a minor incident. The Cubs go on to beat the Yankees in the World Series, winning Game 6, the last World Series game played at the old Yankee Stadium.<br /><br />2004: The Red Sox beat the Yankees for the Pennant, but, having won the Series just 18 years earlier, it's a big deal, but not nearly as big a deal as we remember. The Expos, not having a good option to move (the Oakland Coliseum having been renovated to make it football-only for the returning Raiders), remain in Montreal for the time being. Pete Rose sues the makers of the film <span style="font-style:italic;">Mr. 3000</span>, because of the premise of a player with 3,000 hits not making it into the Hall of Fame in his first 4 years of eligibility. The fact that the film's protagonist (played by Bernie Mac) is a black man playing for the Milwaukee Brewers, who is not a switch-hitter, and puts his massive ego aside to make a comeback, appears to be lost on Rose, who eventually loses the case.<br /><br />2006: Aaron Heilman meets Yadier Molina, and the Mets blow a Pennant.<br /><br />2007: The Mets lead the Phillies by 7 games with 17 to play, and end up not even getting the Wild Card. They get edged out for it by the Washington Nationals (RL-Rockies), who end up winning 21 of their last 22 games, including the postseason, to win the first Pennant for a Washington-based team in 74 years. But they lose the World Series to the Red Sox.<br /><br />2008: The Mets lead the Phillies by 3 1/2 games with 17 to play, and end up not even getting the Wild Card.<br /><br />2009: Following the collapses of the previous three seasons, David Lennon of <span style="font-style:italic;">Newsday</span> publishes <span style="font-style:italic;">The Curse of M. Donald Grant</span>, just in time for the Mets to leave title-less (unless you count the 1968-69 Jets) Shea Stadium for the new Citi Field.<br /><br />2010: After 2 years of sharing U.S. Cellular Field with the crosstown White Sox, the Cubs move into a newly renovated Wrigley Field, now a modern(-ish) facility with 46,000 seats, but retaining some old touches like the ivy, the brick wall, the bleachers, the scoreboard. A fitting home for a team generally viewed as a winner.<br /><br />2011: No appreciable change as far as standings are concerned.<br /><br />2012: The Montreal Expos begin their 44th season of play, under new owners, who agree to build a new ballpark, thus saving the team for Montreal for the foreseeable future.<br /><br />So the Cubs, Boston, Pittsburgh, Denver and Montreal benefit. The Mets, Oakland and Cincinnati get hurt. Pete Rose gets hurt, but he is better off than in RL, isn't he?<br /><br />Reggie Jackson? He's a winner with the Cubs and the Yankees. With the Mets? Not so much.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-89023939409938728642012-03-12T06:22:00.003-07:002012-03-12T06:31:57.614-07:00What If the Mets Had Not Traded Nolan Ryan?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.posters.ws/images/836467/nolan_ryan_mets_hand_in_glove_photofile.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 362px; height: 450px;" src="http://www.posters.ws/images/836467/nolan_ryan_mets_hand_in_glove_photofile.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This is an update of an article I first posted on one of my blogs on March 27, 2010. It has been edited for spelling, grammar, and any other errors.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">December 10, 1971:</span> The New York Mets trade four players to the California Angels for shortstop Jim Fregosi.<br /><br />At this point, there was nothing wrong with wanting a healthy Jim Fregosi on your team. He would be just 30 years old on Opening Day 1972, had been an American League All-Star 6 times, won a Gold Glove in 1967, and until slumping to 89 in 1971, had never had an OPS+ (on-base percentage + slugging percentage, in relation to the league average) lower than 108 in his first 8 full seasons in the majors, peaking at 141 in 1964.<br /><br />His highest batting average had been .290, in 1967; peak home runs, 22, and peak runs batted in, 82, both in 1970. In 1968, he led the AL in triples with 13. The franchise was just 11 seasons old at that point, but Fregosi was, without a doubt, the greatest player the Angels had yet had.<br /><br />Certainly, Fregosi was a better player than the Mets' incumbent starting shortstop, Derrel McKinley "Bud" Harrelson. Although Harrelson had helped the Mets win the 1969 World Series, and had won the '71 season's National League Gold Glove for shortstops and was selected for the last 2 All-Star Games, Harrelson couldn't hit a lick. His highest single-season OPS+ was 82, well below Fregosi's slump season. His peak batting average thus far was .254, and he would top that only twice; his peak RBI year was 42, and his peak home run year was... 1 -- in each case, it would remain so.<br /><br />Clearly, what the Mets needed to do was make Harrelson a backup, a "defensive replacement." Or maybe the Mets could move him to third base, where 1969 starter Wayne Garrett had badly tailed off, and incumbent starter Bob Aspromonte was at the end of the line. (Bob was a Brooklyn native, now best known as the last active player who had played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was also the brother of the somewhat better Ken Aspromonte.)<br /><br />Instead, the Mets kept Harrelson at short, and moved Fregosi to third. At first, it seemed to work, but then Fregosi got hurt, finished the season with only 32 RBIs and an OPS+ of just 89, and was never the same again. His 382 plate appareances that season would be far and away more than he'd ever have again.<br /><br />Between the ages of 21 and 28, Jim Fregosi was, statistically speaking, similar to Alan Trammell, the longtime Detroit Tiger shortstop who is maybe one step short of being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (and would be in, as would his double-play partner Lou Whitaker, if they could go in as a unit, like the Chicago Cubs' early 20th Century combo "Tinker to Evers to Chance"). But between the ages of 29 and 36, Fregosi was just another broken-down player.<br /><br />At 36, in 1978, the Angels fired manager Dave Garcia, and asked Fregosi, then playing out the string with the Pittsburgh Pirates, to come back; he instantly accepted the job, retired as a player, and in 1979, his first full season on the job, led the Angels to the AL Western Division title, their first postseason berth. In 1993, he managed the Philadelphia Phillies to a Pennant.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Did the Mets blow it by trading 4 players for an injured formerly solid player? Not necessarily. We have to take a look at those 4 players, to see if the Mets gave up anything worth having.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Frank Estrada.</span> He was a backup catcher who'd played 1 big-league game, for the Mets in '71, and never appeared in another. No loss there.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Don Rose.</span> A pitcher, he'd also reached the majors for 1 game with the '71 Mets, put up a 1-4 record for the '72 Angels, and by April 1974 had appeared in the majors for the last time. No loss there.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Leroy Stanton.</span> He was a right fielder, and he turned out to be a good player, putting up OPS+ seasons of 110, 116 and 123, before slumping a bit in 1976, and being left unprotected in the expansion draft. Taken by the Seattle Mariners, he put up an OPS+ of 130 in 1977, before an injury ended his career the next season at just 32 years old.<br /><br />Still, the Mets could have used someone like that from 1972 to 1977, particularly after trading Rusty Staub after the '75 season -- another dumb Met trade, as they got Mickey Lolich. Staub for Lolich would have been a good trade, even after the '71 season; but not after '75. (Interestingly, on Baseball-Reference.com's "Similar Batters" list, Number 1 on Stanton's list is... Ron Swoboda. Former Yankee World Champions Gary Thomasson and Ricky Ledee are also in his top 4.)<br /><br />*<br /><br />And now, to confront the elephant in the room: The remaining player sent from Flushing Meadow to Anaheim.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Lynn Nolan Ryan</span> of the Houston suburb of Alvin, Texas.<br /><br />At the time of the trade, he was a month and a half short of his 25th birthday. He had a career won-lost record of 29-38. Not good, especially when you consider that the Mets had won 100 games in 1969, 83 in 1970 and 83 again in 1971. He struck out a lot of batters, but also walked a lot, giving him a WHIP (Walks and Hits, divided by Innings Pitched) of almost 1.6 in '71. His ERA was nearly 4, not good in the NL of the time, which was pitching-friendly with a lot of concrete multipurpose oval stadiums (3 new ones in the preceding season and a half), and, of course, no designated hitter.<br /><br />With Ryan having been disappointing thus far, and with Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Gary Gentry, a somewhat-still-effective Ray Sadecki and a rising Jon Matlack in their rotation, the Mets could afford to let Ryan go. Or so it seemed at the time.<br /><br />In 1972, his first season in the AL, Ryan led the League in both walks and wild pitches... but also led it in strikeouts with a whopping 329, and shutouts with 8, forging a 19-16 record for a team that won just 75 games. A decent Angels team would probably have made him a 23-game winner.<br /><br />In 1973, he set a new major league record (since the 1893 adoption of the 60 feet, 6 inches pitching distance, anyway) with 383 strikeouts. That record has never even been approached, except by Ryan himself the next season with 367. Nor is it likely to be approached, unless managers suddenly decide to stop babying pitchers and let them pitch 7+ innings every 4 days instead of the post-1990 idea of only letting them pitch 6 to 7 innings every 5 days.<br /><br />By the close of the 1974 season, Ryan had 3 seasons of 300+ strikeouts, 4 no-hitters, 3 games with at least 19 strikeouts (he would add a 4th, although "only" 1 of those came without the benefit of extra innings), 91 wins (but also 86 losses), a career ERA of 3.01 (not bad considering he was now in the DH-affected AL), and 1,572 strikeouts -- and he was only 27.<br /><br />Putting aside for a moment all the things Ryan would achieve after 1974 -- 233 more wins, 3 more no-hitters, and enough additional strikeouts to place himself 4th on the all-time list even if you only count from 1975 onward -- this was still a bad trade for the Mets. Add in everything Ryan did from Opening Day 1972 until his retirement after the close of the 1993 season, and Ryan-for-Fregosi -- even if you forget about the decently talented Stanton -- looks like a candidate for the title of "The Worst Baseball Trade Ever" -- and not just the worst Met trade.<br /><br />*<br /><br />But is it? There is another elephant in the room. (You ever smell a room with 2 elephants in it? Smells worse than the Mets... most of the time.)<br /><br /><br />Big question no one ever seems to ask: Would having Nolan Ryan have helped the Mets any from 1972 onward?<br /><br />It's easy to say, as does Greg Prince, author of the book and blog <span style="font-style:italic;">Faith and Fear in Flushing</span>, that the Mets lost the 1973 World Series to the Oakland Athletics because manager Yogi Berra pitched Seaver in Game 6 and Matlack in Game 7, each on just 3 days' rest.<br /><br />And Yogi wasn't that "old school": He was only 48, and had seen his mentor, Casey Stengel, adapt to changing conditions pretty well when they were together on the Yankees from 1949 to 1960. And it's not like Yogi had a lot of choice: Koosman had started Game 5, and couldn't have pitched again unless rain pushed Game 7 back a day; Sadecki had pitched in relief in Game 4; and he and George Stone, the Mets' other starter, had pitched in the Series only in relief and weren't much better options.<br /><br />Besides, if you're a Met fan, who would you rather have, pitching a game that could win you the World Series, in a park that really, really favored pitchers, as the Oakland Coliseum always has: Tom Seaver on 3 days rest, or... any other pitcher then active? Especially knowing that, if Tom Terrific couldn't go the full 9, you had a workhorse reliever in Tug McGraw?<br /><br />If the Mets had Ryan in '73, that would have been a huge boost for them. Not just in the Series. Don't forget, due to the closeness of the race, and rainouts, the Mets did not clinch the NL East until October 1, the day after the season had originally been scheduled to end, and even then they had to play a doubleheader at Wrigley Field to get Games 161 and 162 in. They clinched in Game 161 when they won and the Pirates lost, making Game 162 meaningless, and more rain led to the umpires canceling it.<br /><br />Having Ryan's 21-16 in the rotation instead of the combined 8-12 of Sadecki and Jim McAndrew might have gotten the Division clinched sooner, thus enabling the Mets to set up their NL Championship Series rotation better; having Ryan there, against the Cincinnati Reds, might have gotten the Pennant clinched before Game 5, thus helping the Mets set up better in the Series.<br /><br />Or... would it? Ryan's career postseason record is mixed. He saved the Mets' bacon in Game 3 of the '69 NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, and did so again in Game 3 of the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles -- all this before he became NOLAN RYAN.<br /><br />After that, he next appeared in postseason play in 1979, and while he pitched well for the Angels, it wasn't enough, as they lost the game and the Pennant to the Orioles.<br /><br />In 1980, now with his hometown Houston Astros, he blew the Pennant-clinching Game 5 of the NLCS, at the Astrodome no less, enabling the Phillies to win their first Pennant in 30 years (and then their first World Championship in 98 years of trying). At that point in their history, blowing a Pennant to the Phillies was like losing to Suzanne Somers on <span style="font-style:italic;">Jeopardy!</span> (This was when she was playing Chrissy Snow on <span style="font-style:italic;">Three's Company</span>, well before she proved her smarts as a fitness expert and a businesswoman.)<br /><br />In the strike-forced Division Series of 1981, Ryan pitched well for the Astros, but in the process, he only got a split of two decisions against the Los Angeles Dodgers. And he made just one other postseason appearance, in the 1986 NLCS with the Astros, losing Game 2, and pitching well but not getting the decision in a Game 5 his team lost... to the Mets.<br /><br />Add on the fact that, from 1974 to 1983, the Mets were not in one single Pennant race, and it's hard to say how much difference Ryan would have made then.<br /><br />Then there's the Mets' glory years from 1984 to 1990. Then again, for all their talk, there wasn't a whole lot of glory. Could Ryan, who pitched remarkably well even until he was 44 in 1991, have made a difference there?<br /><br />*<br /><br />So, really, what might have been the impact of the Mets keeping Nolan Ryan after 1971? Keeping in mind that, like Anaheim Stadium (or whatever the California Angels are calling it, and themselves, these days), Shea Stadium was a pitchers' park extraordinaire; but also that Ryan had a career winning percentage of just .526, is the all-time leader in walks, and is among the all-time leaders in wild pitches, we can surmise the following:<br /><br />1973: We can presume that Ryan would have made a difference. The Mets clinch the Division sooner, and Ryan pitches well in the NLCS, where the Met rotation is Seaver-Koosman-Ryan-Matlack (in that order), clinching in Game 4, instead of Seaver-Koosman-Matlack-Stone-Seaver (as it was in RL), going the full 5.<br /><br />The World Series? Instead of Matlack for Games 1, 4 and 7; Koosman for Games 2 and 5, and Seaver for Games 3 and 6; we get Seaver for Games 1 and 4, and potentially 7; Koosman for Games 2 and maybe 5; and Ryan for Games 3 and maybe 6, with Matlack as the long man if one is necessary.<br /><br />Ken Holtzman pitched great for the A's in that Series in real life, so the Mets probably still lose Game 1 in this timeline. The Mets win Game 2 anyway. Against a tired Seaver, the A's needed 11 innings to win the real Game 3; against a rested Ryan, the Mets might win, and there's your difference. Presuming the Mets still win Games 4 and 5, get the riot police ready, it's another Shea Stadium clincher. New York Mets, 1969 and 1973 World Champions.<br /><br />After this, the Mets aren't in contention again until...<br /><br />1984: Ryan was only 12-11, but the Astros weren't very good that year. Without him, the Mets finished 6 1/2 games behind the Cubs. Would having Ryan have made 7 games' worth of difference? Probably not: After Dwight Gooden and Ron Darling, the Mets' rotation had Walt Terrell, Bruce Berenyi and a not-yet-there Sid Fernandez. Having Ryan instead of one of those might have made it closer, but the Cubs would still have won the NL East.<br /><br />1985: Hard to say. Ryan was 10-12 for another under-hitting Astro team, with a 3.8 ERA and a 1.3 WHIP. If he were in the rotation instead of Ed Lynch...<br /><br />The Mets finished 3 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals. I don't know if Ryan would have made 3 games' difference in this season. If he had, do the Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS? Maybe, the Dodgers had Tom Niedenfuer in their pen; Jack Clark hitting a Pennant-clincher in the top of the 9th in Game 6 wasn't a surprise, but Ozzie Smith hitting a walkoff in the bottom of the 9th of Game 5 was. I can certainly imagine Niedenfuer giving up homers to Lenny Dykstra in Game 5 (or maybe Lenny still hits his in Game 3) and Gary Carter in Game 6.<br /><br />The Series, against the Kansas City Royals? I don't know, because the Cards did lose, and if Cardinal fans still curse the name of umpire Don Denkinger over a quarter of a century later, what would Met fans say if that same call were made? I think the Mets win the '85 Pennant, but lose the Series.<br /><br />1986: No, Ryan makes no difference here. How can he? The Mets won the World Series. The only difference is that the Mets beat the Reds in the NLCS, since the Astros don't have Ryan. (Then again, the Astros won the NL West by 10, so maybe they win it anyway.)<br /><br />1987: This is the season Ryan, at age 40, led the NL in ERA and strikeouts, but had an 8-16 record, because the Astros remembered that they are the Houston Astros: Great pitching, good defense, can't hit the ground if they fell off a ladder.<br /><br />I saw Ryan pitch that year, at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, as a friend of the family had a relative who briefly pitched for the Astros. I got to sit right behind home plate as Ryan, still mighty fast at 40, was zippin' 'em in there. Being 75 feet away from Mike Schmidt as he batted against Nolan Ryan, even at that stage of each man's career, was awesome. It was a typical game for Ryan that season: The Phils won, 2-1, beating Ryan with a Randy Ready single in the 8th.<br /><br />Anyway, in 1987, the Mets finished 2nd to the Cards again, 3 games back. Ryan definitely would have made a difference here, and the Mets would probably have beaten the San Francisco Giants for the Pennant. But the Minnesota Twins were not going to lose any World Series games in the Metrodome. Nobody beat the Twins in the Dome in October. Nobody. (Except, as it turned out, the 2003, '04 and '09 Yankees, who clinched 3 ALDS in that disgraceful facility.) So the Mets reach their 3rd straight Series, but win only 1.<br /><br />1988: The Mets lost the NLCS to the Dodgers in Game 7... or, rather, they lost it in Game 4, when Mike Scioscia took Gooden deep in the 9th. The Mets started, in the 7 games, Gooden, David Cone, Darling, Gooden, El Sid, Coney, Darling. Ryan had a good year, but I'm not sure where he starts. In all honesty, I can't say with any certainty that he makes a difference in this series.<br /><br />1989: In his first season with the Texas Rangers, Ryan had his last big season in terms of wins, 16, for an 83-win team. The Mets finished 2nd to the Cubs again, 6 games back. Maybe with Ryan, now 42 but still effectve, the Mets don't make that dumb trade for Frank Viola, and win the Division.<br /><br />But I don't think they win the Pennant, unless there's another dumb trade they don't make, Kevin Mitchell to the San Diego Padres for Kevin McReynolds. Mitchell's trade, soon after, from the Padres to the Giants made the Giants a postseason team in '87 and '89, and they beat the Cubs soundly in the NLCS; they would have done the same to the Mets.<br /><br />1990: The Mets finished 2nd, 4 games behind the Pirates. Ryan had a pretty good season, and if he'd been in the rotation instead of the sinking-fast El Sid, they might have won the Division. On the other hand, as I said, if they still had Ryan, they wouldn't have traded for Viola, who won 20 in his one good season for the Mets. No, having Ryan at this point probably hurts them.<br /><br />1991: In Ryan's last effective season -- as a fastball pitcher at age 44! How come no one ever tested him for steroids? -- the Mets collapse, finishing 20 1/2 back of the Pirates. Having Ryan wouldn't have helped. Having him in the disastrous '92 and '93 seasons, Ryan's last 2, wouldn't have helped, either.<br /><br />So, in their history, real and alternate...<br /><br />Real Life Mets, 1962 to 2011, without Nolan Ryan after 1971: 7 postseason appearances, 4 Pennants, 2 World Championships. Not great, but plenty of teams haven't done that well, including some teams that have been around longer.<br /><br />Alternate Mets, 1962 to 2011, with Nolan Ryan from 1971 (really, from 1966) to 1993: 10 postseason appearances, 6 Pennants, 3 World Championships. Not a huge improvement, but a significant one. After all, when you've only won 2 World Series, winning a 3rd is significant. Ask fans of the Chicago White Sox. And those of the Chicago Cubs.<br /><br />*<br /><br />My, my, this room is getting cramped. Do you know why? Because there's a third elephant in the room.<br /><br />It's what happened to the Mets after the 1973 World Series. Team chairman M. Donald Grant -- who "didn't know beans about baseball," according to '69 Met scout and later highly successful big-league manager Whitey Herzog -- broke up the team, piece by piece. In 1977, he got rid of Seaver by playing him (and his wife Nancy) off the Anaheim-based Ryan (and <span style="font-style:italic;">his</span> wife Ruth), with the help of New York <span style="font-style:italic;">Daily News</span> columnist Dick Young, a once-great (and once-liberal) sportswriter who had became embittered, pedantic and pedestrian (and arch-conservative).<br /><br />When Ryan signed with the Astros in 1980, it made him baseball's first $1 million-a-year player. At the time, if you asked most fans to name 5 current players who might be worth that, I think most of them would have had Ryan as one of the 5. (The others would have been Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and maybe Dave Winfield.)<br /><br />Grant would not have been one of those who believed that Ryan, or any player, was worth $1 million a year. (Then again, he was not a baseball fan in the classic sense.) It is likely that Grant would have gotten rid of Ryan well before the 1979-80 off-season.<br /><br />After all, he had already traded several fan favorites before Seaver and Dave Kingman in the June 15, 1977 "Midnight Massacre" moves: Swoboda in 1970-71, Tommie Agee in 1972-73, Harrelson and Tug McGraw in 1974-75; Staub, Stone and Cleon Jones in 1975-76, and Garrett during the 1976 season; Matlack and John Milner would follow in 1977-78, and so would Koosman in 1978-79. And, unlike Fred and Jeff Wilpon letting Jose Reyes go in 2011-12, Grant didn't let those guys go because he desperately <span style="font-style:italic;">needed</span> to save money, but because he greedily <span style="font-style:italic;">wanted</span> to.<br /><br />So, chances are, keeping Nolan Ryan beyond the 1971 season would have meant giving him up well before 1984. Therefore, the most likely scenario is that the Mets would have increased their winnings by 1 World Championship, and <span style="font-style:italic;">no</span> other postseason berths.<br /><br />Then again, think of how much 1 more World Series win would have meant to Met fans from 1973 onward.<br /><br />A Met fan born between October 17, 1962 (who presumably would have been aware of baseball by October 16, 1969) and October 17, 1977 (the day before the Yankees won another Series) could have told a Yankee Fan born during that same stretch, "The Mets have won more World Series in our lifetime than the Yankees have!" And from October 16, 1969 until October 17, 1978, and again from October 27, 1986 to October 26, 1996 -- 19 of their 34 years -- that would have been true. And for all 34 years, the Mets would have been either ahead of the Yankees or tied with them (it would have been 2-2 from '78 to '86).<br /><br />Of course, we're talking about the Mets here. Even with Tom Seaver, they found a way to lose the 1973 World Series. So who can say, with even 99 percent certainty, that they wouldn't have found a way to blow it with both Seaver and Nolan Ryan? After all, for much of their history, the Yankees have usually found a way to win; while, except for '69 and '86, the Mets have usually found a way to lose.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-68448588246229820752012-03-10T18:32:00.002-08:002012-03-10T18:56:54.428-08:00What If the Red Sox Had Beaten the Yankees in 1949?<a href="http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1965/0621_mid.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 313px;" src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1965/0621_mid.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">NOTE: I first posted this on "Uncle Mike's Musings" on October 2, 2009, the 60th Anniversary of the game in question. It has been corrected for grammar, spelling, and one historical error: I had Roger Maris in Kansas City at a point where he would still have been in Cleveland.</span><br /><br /><strong>October 2, 1949</strong>, Yankee Stadium, New York. Regular-season finale. Winner takes the Pennant.<br /><br />The New York Yankees lead the Boston Red Sox 5-1 going into the ninth inning. But the Sox rally, and a fly ball goes out to the great Joe DiMaggio in center field. DiMaggio had a bad heel in the first half of the season and pnuemonia now, the Yankee Clipper had played his usual sensational in between. But Joe D dropped the ball.<br /><br />That made the score 5-3, and the tying runs were on base. DiMaggio walked in from center field, disgusted with himself, taking himself out of the game.<br /><br />Pitcher Vic Raschi had one more out to get, Sox catcher George "Birdie" Tebbetts. Get him out, and the Yanks win the first Pennant of the Casey Stengel era, and begin the transition of the 1940s DiMaggio-Henrich-Rizzuto Yankees to the 1950s Mantle-Berra-Ford Yankees (though Rizzuto is still a vital contributor for the first half of the Fifties). Lose the game, and...<br /><br />This single game may be the most important in Yankee history other than their first Pennant win in 1921. If the Yankees fail to win, and thus lose the Pennant to the Red Sox, it's not hard to imagine baseball history taking some very different turns...<br /><br />*<br /><br />An injured and frustrated DiMaggio, already not happy with Stengel, tells owners Del Webb and Dan Topping, "Either he goes, or I go."<br /><br />Committed to Stengel, at least in the short term, and with plenty of talent already on hand and coming up through the farm system -- including Mickey Mantle, who just finished his first pro season -- the owners call the Yankee Clipper's bluff.<br /><br />He retires at age 35, having spent only 11 seasons in the majors (having lost three due to World War II). He still makes the Hall of Fame, and is still one of the most revered players ever due to his 1941 hitting streak and his comeback from injury to almost lead the Yanks to the Pennant in 1949. But with only enough games to amount to 10 full seasons under his belt, no one thinks of him as "Baseball's Greatest Living Player."<br /><br />The Red Sox, confident after their 1949 Pennant, beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, and come back in 1950 and win another Pennant, beating the Philadelphia Phillies in the Series. No one questions Ted Williams' ability to play in the clutch, or that he is a "greater player" than DiMaggio. And the Red Sox' World Series drought ends at "only" 31 years. Of course, after 1950, it takes them another 54 years to win another, but nobody talks about a "Curse of the Bambino." <em>Boston Globe </em>sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy has to come up with another explanation as to why the Red Sox haven't won a World Series since the early days of the Korean War, rather than the last days of World War I.<br /><br />The Cleveland Indians succeed the Red Sox as the dominant team in the American League, winning Pennants in 1951, '52 and '54. They beat the New York Giants in the '51 World Series and the Dodgers in '52, but lose to the Giants in '54.<br /><br />The Dodgers finally win their first World Series in 1953, giving Brooklyn its greatest day. This gives Walter O'Malley the impetus he needs to get his new stadium built in downtown Brooklyn. He has more time to work City officials, getting around City and State construction boss Robert Moses, and Dodger Stadium opens in 1958. The Dodgers still win the World Series in 1959, '63 and '65, plus the Pennant in '66, but as the <em>Brooklyn</em> Dodgers.<br /><br />The City also builds a new stadium for the Giants, opening in 1960 in Flushing Meadow Park. It's called Stoneham Stadium, after the Giants' owner. Bill Shea, a noted New York attorney, has nothing to do with it, aside from being a Giants season-ticket holder, and lives the rest of his life with almost nobody outside the City ever hearing his name. And the Giants still win the Pennant in 1962.<br /><br />However, when expansion comes in 1962, there's no need to put a new team in New York. So the team we know as the Mets goes somewhere else. Since the American League got the Los Angeles Angels in 1961, the National League gets San Francisco in 1962, a team named the Seals after, as were the Angels, the preceding Pacific Coast League team.<br /><br />When Divisional play begins in 1969, the Dodgers, Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and expansion Montreal Expos are put in the Eastern Division, while the West has the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Seals and expansion San Diego Padres. When the three-Division setup begins in 1994, the East has the Dodgers, Giants, Philadelphia, Montreal and the expansion Florida Marlins; the Central has Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis; while the West has Houston, the San Francisco Seals, San Diego and the expansion Colorado Rockies.<br /><br />Assuming each franchise still wins as many games as it did in real life, with Divisions adjusted for geography, this means the following teams win the following Division Titles: <br /><br />* Arizona Diamondbacks: West, 1999, 2002, '07, '08; Wild Card, '01.<br />* Atlanta Braves: West, 1983, '91, '92, '93; Central, '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2000, '02, '03; Wild Card, '04, '05.<br />* Brooklyn Dodgers: East, 1973, '74, '78, '80, '81 first-half, '83, '85, '88, '95, '96, 2006, '09.<br />* Chicago Cubs: East, 1969 and '84; Central, 2007, '08.<br />* Cincinnati Reds: West, 1970, '72, '73, '74, '75, '76, '77, '78, '79, '81 first-half, '90 in the West; Central, none yet; Wild Card, '95.<br />* Colorado Rockies: West, 1995, 2009; Wild Card, 2007.<br />* Florida Marlins: East, 1997; Wild Card, 2003.<br />* Houston Astros: West, 1980, '81 second-half, '98, 2001, '03, '05.<br />* Milwaukee Brewers: None since moving to NL Central; Wild Card, 2008.<br />* Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals: East, 1981 second-half, losing to Brooklyn in the playoff forced by the strike year's split-season format.<br />* New York Giants: East, 1987, '89, '93, '98, '99, 2000, '01, '02, '03; Wild Card, '97.<br />* Philadelphia Phillies: East, 1976, '77, '82, '86, 2005, '07, '08; Wild Card, '09.<br />* Pittsburgh Pirates: East, 1970, '71, '72, '75, '79, '90, '91, '92; Central, none yet.<br />* St. Louis Cardinals: West, 1971, '82, '85, '87; Central, 2001, '04, '05, '06, '09; Wild Card, '96, 2000, '02.<br />* San Diego Padres: West, 1984, '89, '96; Wild Card, '98, 2006.<br />* San Francisco Seals: West, 1969, '86, '88, 2000, '06; Wild Card, '99.<br /><br />The Playoffs take some different turns. The Cubs and Seals (our reality's Mets) are in different Divisions, so they both win Divisions. But the Cubs still lose, and the Seals, so horrible from 1962 to '68, continue their '69 miracle, with all those hippies in the stands at Kezar Stadium (since Horace Stoneham isn't there to approve the mistake known as Candlestick Park).<br /><br />The Pirates beat the Cards instead of the Giants in '71. There's a New York team beating the Reds in '73, but it's the Dodgers. The Dodgers do it again in '74. The Phillies win more games than the Dodgers in '77, but not in '78; each team beats the Reds in the NLCS. Instead of one game for the NL West, the Dodgers and Astros play a best 3-of-5 for the Pennant, and the Astros reach the World Series 25 years sooner.<br /><br />The Dodgers still beat the Expos in '81, but a round sooner. The Astros beat the Reds, and the Dodgers beat the Astros, but a round later. In '82, the Phillies finally get revenge on the Cards for the 1964 collapse. The Dodgers beat the Braves for the '83 Pennant -- Sorry, Braves manager Joe Torre, but your home Borough wins this one. The Cub fans still get their hearts broken in '84, and Jack Clark still beats the Dodgers with a homer for the Cards in '85. With the Seals (Mets) in the West, they beat the Phils rather than the Astros in a nail-biter of an NLCS.<br /><br />The Giants finally end a 25-year first-place drought in '87, but lose to the Cards. The Dodgers still beat the '62 expansion franchise in '88. With the Giants and Cubs in the same Division, the Cubs miss the Playoffs in '89; the Giants beat the Padres for the Pennant. The Giants then lose not the Division, but the Pennant to the Braves in '93.<br /><br />In 1995, Braves over Dodgers, Reds over Rockies, Braves over Reds. In '96, Braves over Dodgers, Cardinals over Padres, Braves over Cards. In '97, Braves over Giants, Marlins over Astros, Marlins over Braves. In '98, Padres get Wild Card, not Cubs, despite Sammy Sosa's 66 home runs and Kerry Wood's rookie pitching heroics, Braves over Astros, Padres over Giants, Padres over Braves. In '99, Braves over Seals, Giants over Diamondbacks, Braves over Giants.<br /><br />In 2000, Giants over Braves, Seals over Cards, Giants over Seals. In '01, Cards over Astros, D-backs over Giants, D-backs over Cards. In '02, Giants over Cards, Braves over D-backs, Giants over Braves. In '03, Braves win Central, so Cub fans get their hearts broken again, but at least Steve Bartman is off the hook; Marlins over Braves, Giants over Astros, Marlins over Giants. In '04, Astros over Dodgers, Cards over Braves, Cards over Astros. In '05, with the Expos moving to become the Washington Nationals, Cards over Braves, Astros over Phillies, Astros over Cards. In '06, Seals over Dodgers, Cards over Phillies, Cards over Seals. In '07, Rockies over Phils, D-backs over Cubs, Rockies over D-backs. In '08, Phils over Brewers, D-backs over Cubs, Phils over D-backs. In '09, it'll be Dodgers over Cards, Phils over Rockies, Phils over Dodgers. In 2010, Phils over Reds, Wild Card Giants over Padres, Giants over Phils. In 2011, Cards over Phils, Brewers over D-backs, Cards over Brewers.<br /><br />The New York Giants last won a Pennant in 2010. The Brooklyn Dodgers last won a Pennant in 1988. The San Francisco Seals -- TTL's stand-in for the Mets -- last won a Pennant in 1986.<br /><br />*<br /><br />And what about the Yankees? Frustrated that Stengel hasn't won them a Pennant, Webb and Topping fire him after the 1952 season. Bill Dickey, who had briefly managed the Yanks in 1946, is asked to rise from the coaching ranks and take over again. After all, he's a winner, and Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto trust him. He gets the Yankees back in gear, as they win the Pennant in 1953, their first in 6 years. But they lose the World Series to the Dodgers, finish second to the Indians in '54, and lose the Series to the Dodgers again in '55 and '56, as Mickey Mantle never quite warms up to Dickey the way he did to Stengel in RL, even though Mantle is from Oklahoma and Dickey from neighboring Arkansas.<br /><br />After the Copacabana Incident in '57, general manager George Weiss cleans house. Billy Martin is traded away, and Dickey is fired. Charlie Dressen, who had managed the Dodgers to the '52 Pennant and the '53 World Championship, had just been fired by the Washington Senators, and Weiss picked him up. Following the season, in which the Yanks lost another World Series, this time to the Milwaukee Braves, Mantle went over the head of Weiss, who never liked him, to owners Dan Topping and Del Webb, saying he and Dressen couldn't get along. "Either he goes, or I go," the Mick said.<br /><br />At the start of the 1958 season, Mickey Mantle was playing center field for the Kansas City Athletics, having been traded for several prospects.<br /><br />The Yanks still win the '58 Pennant, but again lose to the Braves. They had now won four straight Pennants, five in six years, but had lost the World Series every time. (In essence, the TTL-Yankees have become what the RL-Dodgers were: A star-crossed club, close but no cigar.) After a few more deals with the A's, including obtaining promising young outfielder Roger Maris, the Yanks finish third in '59, and win the Pennant in '60, but lose the Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Dressen is fired, and replaced by Ralph Houk.<br /><br />Without Mantle to bat behind him, Maris doesn't get as many good pitches to hit, and finishes the 1961 season with 45 home runs. Babe Ruth's 60 in 1927 remains the single-season record until 1998, although, with the steroid explosion of that time, many still consider the Babe's 60 to be the real record. The Yanks finish second to the Detroit Tigers, who beat the Cincinnati Reds for the World Championship.<br /><br />The Yanks win Pennants in '62 and '63, but lose a Subway Series each time, to the Giants in '62 and the Dodgers in '63. Houk is fired, and replaced by Berra. The Yanks finish third behind the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles in '64; the White Sox lose the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals. This time, there is no second chance: Yogi is gone, and never again appears in Yankee Pinstripes.<br /><br />Since winning the whole thing in 1947, the Yanks had played 17 seasons, and won 8 Pennants, including four straight from '55 to '58, but lost all eight World Series. Then the team collapses, and never wins another Pennant while playing in Yankee Stadium.<br /><br />In 1972, along with the NFL's New York Giants, the Yanks accept a deal to play at the proposed Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. There is only a minor outcry, as they are the 3rd most popular team in the City, and Mayor John Lindsay does not feel obligated to lift a finger to stop it, any more than Robert Wagner Jr. did in RL when (at least theoretically) he had the chance to save the Giants and Dodgers in 1957.<br /><br />Yankee Stadium is demolished after the 1973 season, and the Yankees share Stoneham Stadium in Queens with the Giants for two dreary years.<br /><br />Meadowlands Stadium opens in 1976, and while the Yankees are good enough to win the American League East that season, they lose the League Championship Series to the Kansas City Royals.<br /><br />The Royals win the Pennant again in 1977, but lose the '78 ALCS to the Boston Red Sox, who battled injuries and the onrushing, but not quite successful, Yanks. The death of Thurman Munson crushes the Yanks in '79, and after a rough 1980 regular season in which they beat the Orioles, they get swept by the Royals.<br /><br />Dave Winfield signs with the Dodgers instead of the Yankees prior to the '81 season, and after the Yanks get embarrassed by the Milwaukee Brewers in the strike-forced Division Series, Reggie Jackson, to use his own words, "got on the first thing smokin' and headin' west," signing with the California Angels. He could've made the Meadowlands his for all time, but he didn't want to deal with that meddling George Steinbrenner anymore. And, not having won so much as a Pennant in his first nine years as owner, Steinbrenner begins making some crazy deals that further doom the franchise.<br /><br />*<br /><br />The World Series is won by the San Francisco Seals over the Orioles in '69, the O's over the Reds in '70, the Pirates over the O's in '71, the A's over the Reds in '72, the A's over the Dodgers in '73 and '74, the Reds over the Red Sox in '75, and the Reds over the Royals in '76.<br /><br />In 1977, in their 95th season of operation, the Philadelphia Phillies finally win a World Series, beating the Royals. The Dodgers beat the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 1978 World Series when light-hitting shortstop Bill Russell -- who had the same name as a Boston sports legend, no less -- hits a home run over the Green Monster at Fenway Park, off Mike Torrez. It was the first World Championship for a New York team since the '65 Bums.<br /><br />The Pirates beat the Orioles in 1979. In 1980, the Royals lose the World Series to the Astros, who have never won a World Series in our reality. There is bedlam in Brooklyn again in 1981, as the Dodgers beat Billy Martin's Oakland A's in the World Series. The Phillies beat the Brewers in 1982, the Orioles dethrone the Phils in '83, the Tigers over the Padres in '84, and the Royals finally break through in '85 against the Cards.<br /><br />Some things don't change. Bill Buckner is one of them, although when Mookie Wilson hits that grounder between his legs, it's not at Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadow against the New York Mets, but, rather, it's at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park against the San Francisco Seals.<br /><br />The Minnesota Twins, with hometown hero Dave Winfield leading the way after his contract runs out in Brooklyn, beat the Cards in the '87 Series. In '88, Kirk Gibson's homer off Dennis Eckersley lands in the right-field pavilion of Dodger Stadium in Brooklyn -- any further and it would've landed on the Long Island Rail Road tracks heading out to Nassau and Suffolk.<br /><br />When word reaches Stoneham Stadium in Flushing that an earthquake has rocked the home region of the A's, the Giants' 1989 World Series opponents, Game 3 is postponed, and, though there is talk about having the entire rest of the Series in New York, the Series is resumed as scheduled. As it turns out, a move is not necessary, as the A's complete a sweep. They are then swept by the Reds in 1990.<br /><br />Twins over Braves in '91, Jays over Braves in '92 and '93, with a shaky Charlie Liebrandt giving up Joe Carter's capper. (Remember, the Braves won more games than the Phillies in '93, and in this version are in the same division. The Phils are still better off, title-wise.)<br /><br />George Steinbrenner is sick of sharing Meadowlands Stadium with the football Giants and the Jets. At least, after 1993, he'll never again have to share it with Rutgers University's pathetic football program. Sickened by the labor strife of the 1994 strike, he sells the Yankees. "It's not like I'm selling the Mona Lisa of baseball," Steinbrenner tells the press. "Maybe the Yankees were that, once upon a time, but not anymore."<br /><br />The man who buys the Yankees from Steinbrenner is Donald Trump, who promises a fabulous new stadium in New York City. With an obliging Mayor in Rudy Giuliani and an obliging Governor in George Pataki, it happens. In 1998, Trump Stadium opens at what was once John Mullaly Park in the South Bronx, across from the housing project where the original Yankee Stadium stood from 1923 to 1973. It is hailed by the New York media as an architectural marvel, half cathedral of baseball, half modern steel fortress. Outside the New York Tri-State Area, however, it is ripped as the ultimate in Trump's tacky taste.<br /><br />Trump Stadium has field dimensions similar to Yankee Stadium, but that was too late to save the Yankees in 1996. In Game 1 of the ALCS, the Yanks trail the Orioles 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth. Rookie shortstop Derek Jeter hits a fly ball to right-center field, where it falls harmlessly into the glove of Tony Tarasco. About 20 feet away, behind the 375-foot mark on the fence at Meadowlands Sta- ... excuse me, First Union Field, I forgot that the naming rights had been sold... 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier sulks. For a moment, he thought that not only would this be a home run, but that he'd have a chance to catch it. The Orioles beat the Yankees in four straight, and are then bombed into submission in a five-game World Series by the defending Champion Braves. The Yanks don't win the Pennant in 1997, either, eliminated in the Division Series by the Cleveland Indians, who lose to the Florida Marlins.<br /><br />It has now been 50 years, half a century, since the Yanks won a World Series. In comparison to <em>The Curse of Pinky Higgins </em>by Dan Shaughnessy (the Boston Red Sox ruined by their failure to pursue black players) and <em>The Curse of Rocky Colavito </em>by Terry Pluto (the Cleveland Indians ruined by one big trade), Mike Vaccaro of the <em>New York Post </em>writes a book titled <em>The Curse of Casey Stengel</em>.<br /><br />Stengel, who has been dead since 1975 and had managed nothing but minor-league teams after his firing by the Yankees in 1952, has been nearly forgotten outside the Tri-State Area, remembered, if at all, for being the old ballplayer who got booed by some fans, tipped his cap to them, and having a sparrow he'd hidden under there fly out, literally giving the fans the bird.<br /><br />With the opening of Trump Stadium in 1998, the Yanks have a truly formidable team. They set a new American League record with 114 wins, and look unbeatable. But the Curse of Casey strikes Chuck Knoblauch in Game 2 of the ALCS against the Indians, and the Yanks never recover. The Tribe wins in five games, and take their first World Championship in 46 years with a six-game win over the San Diego Padres.<br /><br />The 1999 season is no better, as the Yanks fall apart in the ALCS against the Red Sox, making 10 errors in the five games, while the Boston fans beat up visiting New Yorkers in the stands at Fenway. The Red Sox end their curse, sweeping the Braves to win their first World Series in 49 years. Now, the only "cursed teams" left in baseball appear to be the Yankees and the two Chicago teams, the Cubs and the White Sox.<br /><br />Somehow, the Yanks make a run for the ages in 2000, although a September nosedive makes it look like Casey is doing his dirty work again. But they hang on, and beat the A's and Seattle Mariners to win their first Pennant in 37 years, since the tragic last days of the Kennedy Presidency. This sets up a Subway Series with the Giants, who have their own drought: They haven't won a World Series since beating the Yankees 38 years earlier. (But nobody has said the Giants are under the Curse of Bobby Richardson, who, in this reality, just missed Willie McCovey's series-winning line drive in 1962.)<br /><br />The symbol of the Series is an epic at-bat in the bottom of the ninth of Game 1 at Trump Stadium. Yankee right fielder Paul O'Neill fouls off pitch after pitch against Giant closer Robb Nen, but Nen finally gets him to fly out to left field, where Barry Bonds makes an easy catch.<br /><br />Game 2 erupts in controversy, as Roger Clemens takes the broken barrel of Bonds' bat, and seemingly throws it at him. Bonds charges the mound, and the biggest fight in World Series history erupts. With both the Yanks and the Jints behind the Dodgers in the City's imagination, both sets of fans have their frustrations boil over, and fights break out in the stands as well. It takes the umpires five minutes to settle things, and public-address announcer Bob Sheppard tries to shame the crowd into behaving. Of course, since Sheppard has been there since 1951 and has never been there for a Yankee World Championship team, it's not like he's "the voice of God" or anything like that. As the game continues, there are still fights. The Giants win, and Mike Lupica writes in the New York <em>Daily News </em>that the Bonds-Clemens matchup is "the biggest reason yet why baseball must crack down on steroids."<br /><br />The Giants take Game 3 at Stoneham Stadium, and while the Yankees salvage Game 4, Game 5 is a Giant victory. The Curse of Casey has struck again.<br /><br />After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the hearts of baseball fans everywhere are with the Yankees as they make an improbable comeback against the A's and shock the 116-win Mariners to take the Pennant. The Arizona Diamondbacks slam the Yanks in Games 1 and 2 of the World Series. The Yanks take Game 3 and, incredibly, last-out homers save the Yanks in Games 4 and 5. But the D-backs win Game 6 in an ugly blowout.<br /><br />In Game 7, Alfonso Soriano homers off Curt Schilling to give the Yanks a 2-1 lead in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the ninth, the Yanks need three more outs to win their first World Championship in 54 years -- the same length as the Stanley Cup drought that the New York Rangers had (1940-1994). The D-backs are only in their fourth year of operation. But Mariano Rivera can't hold the lead, both his control and his fielding betraying him. Luis Gonzalez singles home Craig Counsell, and the Yanks have their most shocking postseason defeat yet. The Curse of Casey seems stronger than ever.<br /><br />The 2002 Playoffs are a wash, as the Yanks lose to the Anaheim Angels, who go on to beat the Giants in an epic World Series. But 2003 seems hopeful for the Yanks, as they advance to the ALCS. Despite another brawl in Game 3 at Fenway, the Yanks need to win only Game 6 or Game 7 at Trump Stadium to win the Pennant against the hated Red Sox. They lose Game 6, and Game 7 looks lost as well. But four straight doubles by Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada, bracketing Sox manager Grady Little's mind-bending decision to leave a tiring Pedro Martinez in, ties the game. Rivera silences his critics with a stunning three-inning performance, and Aaron Boone becomes perhaps the greatest postseason hero in Yankee history by homering on the first pitch of the 11th inning against Tim Wakefield. There is pandemonium in The Bronx.<br /><br />But joy turns to anger in Game 4 of the World Series, as Jeff Weaver gives up an 11th-inning homer to Alex Gonzalez, and the Marlins clinch on Josh Beckett's shutout in Game 6.<br /><br />The choke to the Red Sox in October 2004 is still too painful to discuss here. And the flop against the Angels in the 2005 Playoffs still has some fans calling for the heads of Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson. As the 2006 Playoffs began, there were those who hoped for a Subway Series between the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, but both teams are beaten in the Division Series. Again, Yankee fans call for A-Rod's head, or at least for his trade.<br /><br />Finally, Yankee owner Donald Trump can't take it anymore, and tells manager Joe Torre, "Yuh fie-uhd!" Lee Mazzilli failed to get the job done in 2007, the 60th anniversary of the last Yankee World Championship, and the Yanks finished 3rd behind Tampa Bay and Boston in 2008.<br /><br />The Yankees swept the Twins in the 2009 Division Series, and beat the Angels to win the Pennant. But they lost Game 1 of the World Series to the Phillies. Then, before Game 2, the intended performance of "Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys doesn't happen when the power goes out. The same is true for the Yankee lineup, and the Phillies take the Series in 5 games.<br /><br />The Yankees lose the 2010 ALCS to the Texas Rangers in 6 games, and the 2011 ALDS to the Detroit Tigers in 5 games. Randy Velarde is now Yankee manager.<br /><br />It's been 64 years since the Yankees won it all. The Curse of Casey Stengel lives. The only question for the 2012 season is, How will the Yanks blow it this time?<br /><br />*<br /><br />Of course, it didn't happen that way. Vic Raschi got Birdie Tebbetts to pop up to Tommy Henrich, at first base, and the Yankees won the 1949 American League Pennant.<br /><br />Not only did this mark the first real Yankees-Red Sox Pennant race -- 1904 doesn't count, as neither team had adopted its current name and the Babe Ruth sale hadn't happened yet, and 1948 was a three-team race won by neither, rather by the Indians -- but it was the beginning of the most unbelievable run of success in baseball history.<br /><br />It was the start of 9 World Championships and 14 Pennants in 16 years -- 7 World Championships and 10 Pennants in 12 years under Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel. As the man himself said, "And you can look it up."<br /><br />Well, if you <em>do</em> look it up, you'll see that this didn't really begin the Yanks-Sox rivalry. At least, not in the minds of Yankee Fans. Sure, there were the comparisons of Joe DiMaggio to Ted Williams, and maybe of Phil Rizzuto to Johnny Pesky.<br /><br />But the Sox were pretty much terrible from Ted's 1952 reactivation by the Marines to serve in the Korean War until their 1967 Impossible Dream season. And by that point, the Yankees had collapsed. After all, nobody ever really compared Williams to Mickey Mantle, or Mantle to Carl Yastrzemski, or Mantle to Tony Conigliaro. It wouldn't have been worth the effort.<br /><br />Not until the 1970s did it really catch on, with both the Yanks and the Sox falling a little short in '72, a Thurman Munson-Carlton Fisk fight in '73, both teams gunning for the Division but falling short to the Orioles in '74, the Sox holding off the Yanks to win the Pennant in '75, the Fisk-Lou Piniella collision starting a wild brawl on route to a Yankee Pennant in '76, the three-way race with the Sox and O's in '77 culminated with Reggie Jackson's blast ending a previously scoreless September game, and, of course, 1978, ending in the Boston Tie Party, featuring Bucky Dent's home run.<br /><br />After that, there wasn't really a Yanks-Sox race again until '86, and the Sox won that. There was a five-way race in '88, with the Yanks finishing only 3 1/2 games behind the Sox, but in 5th place behind them, Toronto, Milwaukee and Detroit. The next one was in '95, with Mattingly heading out and O'Neill, Pettitte and Rivera having arrived, and the Sox won.<br /><br />Then came 1999, the first Yanks-Sox race with Jeter, Cone, Tino and a few other Dynasty-makers having arrived to face off against Pedro and Nomar. And from there, it's been even more hate-filled than in the Seventies, certainly more so than in the Thirties and Forties, where there were several races where the Yanks and Sox finished 1st and 2nd, but except for '49 they weren't really close races.<br /><br />If you haven't read <em>Summer of '49 </em>by the late David Halberstam, who was then 15 and lived in New York but had relatives near Boston and thus understood both perspectives, I urge you to get it. I reread it in 2009, the 60th Anniversary of that season, and, although most of its participants alive in 1989 are dead now -- including Halberstam himself, and Joe DiMaggio, whose reputation has taken a nosedive since he's no longer around to shame writers into not saying what he was like off the field -- the book holds up very well.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-21330089034818560602012-03-10T17:25:00.002-08:002012-03-10T18:13:27.085-08:00What If George Steinbrenner Had Bought the Cleveland Indians?<a href="http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/297/420/steinbrennerfists_display_image.jpg?1279054490"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; height: 349px;" src="http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/000/297/420/steinbrennerfists_display_image.jpg?1279054490" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">NOTE: I first posted this one in July 2010, right after George died. I have made corrections for spelling and grammar where needed.</span><br /><br />George Steinbrenner grew up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. He went to a lot of games at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and loved Indians stars like Bob Lemon (who he would make manager of the Yankees, twice) and Al Rosen (who he would make general manager of the Yankees). He even helped out former Indians pitcher Mike Garcia when Garcia was broke during the illness that would take his life.<br /><br />And yet, George loved the Yankees. He was always impressed with the way they would professionally go about dismantling the American League. It's easy for someone like me, who did not see the Indians finish within 11 games of first place (except in the split-season strike year of 1981) until he was 25 years old, to overlook that the Indians were a powerhouse team once. In 1948, they won the World Series. In 1954, they won the Pennant. In 1951, '52, '53, '55, '56 and '59, they finished 2nd.<br /><br />And then... nothing. They weren't even in a Pennant race from 1960 until 1994, when Jacobs Field opened, and they got the crowds back, and were just a game out of first place when the strike hit. They won American League Pennants in 1995 and '97, and have won AL Central Division Titles in '95, '96, '97, '98, '99, 2001 and '07. But all through the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, into the early Nineties, even as the city of Cleveland rebounded from fiscal, environmental and sociological trouble to become one of America's best cities again, the Indians could still be hit with the tag that was once slapped on the city itself: The Mistake On the Lake.<br /><br />George Michael Steinbrenner III wouldn't have put up with that kind of crap.<br /><br />In 1971, George formed a group that offered Vernon Stouffer, the frozen-foods magnate who then owned the Indians, $8.6 million. Stouffer, who lost a lot of money in a corporate merger with appliance company Litton, was going to go through with it, but changed his mind. A year later, still needing a lot of cash, Stouffer sold the Indians to Nick Mileti, owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and the World Hockey Association's Cleveland Crusaders, for $10 million.<br /><br />Undaunted, Indians president Gabe Paul, who was one of Steinbrenner's investors, told George that CBS (yes, the TV & radio network), which had owned the Yankees since 1964, was interested in selling the team. CBS took $8.8 million, and the deal was done on January 3, 1973.<br /><br />If Stouffer hadn't lost... excuse me, <span style="font-style:italic;">changed</span> his mind...<br /><br />*<br /><br />Dealing strictly with the Indians (before I get to what would have happened to the Yankees without George's dough), things wouldn't have changed all that much at first. George's legal issues, dealing with his illegal campaign contributions to President Richard Nixon, would have kept him mainly out of the loop until 1976 or so.<br /><br />But there's no doubt that, as he did in RL, he would still have opened the vault for superstar pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter. Catfish, in those bright red uniforms that ex-Oriole Boog Powell (who should've known better, once dressed in Baltimore's bright orange) said made him "look like the world's biggest Bloody Mary"? Why not, Catfish wouldn't have looked any weirder in that uniform than he did in A's green & yellow.<br /><br />George might have kept Graig Nettles at 3rd base in Cleveland, instead of getting him for the Yankees. He might have kept Chris Chambliss as the Tribe's first baseman. And he still might have made deals to bring in guys like outfielder Lou Piniella, starting pitcher Ed Figueroa and relief pitcher Rich "Goose" Gossage. He probably would've made the same free-agent deal that got 1976 Baltimore 20-game winner Wayne Garland to come to Cleveland, although that would have blown up in his face the same way it blew up in the face of the man who had bought the Indians from Mileti, Ted Bonda.<br /><br />And, since Bonda, a team vice president in the Mileti regime, would likely still have been one of George's "limited partners," it's worth noting that Bonda traded for Frank Robinson, after Frank wore out his welcome with the California Angels. Bonda wanted to make Frank his manager after the 1974 season, because he respected Frank's leadership skills first and because he wanted the first black manager second. It's not hard to imagine George wanting to burnish his image -- especially after the Nixon conviction -- by hiring the first black manager.<br /><br />But there's no way in hell that George, or Ted Bonda, or Gabe Paul, or even Frank Robinson, would have been able to lure Reggie Jackson to Cleveland. Most of what George said to bring Reggie to the Yankees was about New York, the flash and dash, the bright lights and the big money, the fans and the endorsements.<br /><br />Ray Kroc, the McDonald's baron and owner of the San Diego Padres, was offering Reggie gobs of money (by the standards of the time, anyway), McDonald's stock, and Southern California weather.<br /><br />"Ray Kroc's offering me more money to go to San Diego," Reggie told George.<br /><br />"No," George said, "Kroc's offering you more <em>salary</em> to go to San Diego. This is New York, Reggie. Madison Avenue. You'll make up the difference in endorsements, and then some."<br /><br />George was right: Reggie got to advertise Puma athletic footwear, Murjani menswear, Panasonic TVs ("They call it Omnivision. I call it Reggievision." He later switched to Hitachi), Volkswagen, Getty gas to put into said cars (An ad during the 1980 gas crisis showed Reggie striking out and saying, "I hate wasting energy"), and, oh yeah, Standard Brands candy and the Reggie! bar that they made. (And don't let these revisionists with their recent books tell you otherwise: The Reggie! bar tasted great. Definitely wasn't less filling, though.)<br /><br />Seriously, can you think of a Cleveland athlete who made a lot of commercials? Before What's His Name who's in Miami now? Even the lure of having Frank Robinson as a manager wouldn't have gotten Reggie to take his talents to Erieside. Or, as he said at that press conference on RL-11/29/1976, "bringing my star with me."<br /><br />In RL-1976, the Indians went 81-78, their best record since winning 86 in 1968, and finished 4th in the American League East. (They would be moved to the AL Central in 1994.) Here's their RL starting lineup for that season:<br /><br />1B, Boog Powell, who would not have been obtained if Chambliss, 7 years younger, hadn't been traded to the Yankees on April 26, 1974.<br />2B, Duane Kuiper, good field, fair hit but with no power.<br />SS, Frank Duffy, so George still would've needed an upgrade, like he did with the RL Yankees with Fred "Chicken" Stanley.<br />3B, Buddy Bell, good player, but not necessary with Nettles still in Cleveland.<br />LF, George Hendrick, good power, despite "Cavernous Cleveland Stadium."<br />CF, Rick Manning, contact hitter, runner, fielder, all good, but no power.<br />RF, Charlie Spikes, really good player in '73 and '74, but fell off dramatically.<br />DH, Rico Carty, very good hitter, although the Cuban was one of these Caribbean guys whose age would always be a mystery; supposedly, he was 36 in '76.<br />C, Ray Fosse, he was once really good, but was now done.<br /><br />The '76 Indians had a starting rotation of Pat Dobson, Jim Bibby, Rick Waits, Jackie Brown and a young Dennis Eckersley; and Dave LaRoche and Jim Kern as the top relievers.<br /><br />I wonder... Who could George have lured to Cleveland? He needed a catcher... and a certain native of Canton did not like New York...<br /><br />Here's the TTL-1976 Cleveland Indians lineup, with changes from RL in <span style="font-style:italic;">italics</span>: <span style="font-style:italic;">1B, Chris Chambliss</span>; 2B, Duane Kuiper; <span style="font-style:italic;">SS, Bert Campaneris</span>; <span style="font-style:italic;">3B, Graig Nettles</span>; LF, George Hendrick; CF, Rick Manning; <span style="font-style:italic;">RF, Lou Piniella</span>; DH, Rico Carty; <span style="font-style:italic;">C, Thurman Munson</span>; rotation, Pat Dobson, Jim Bibby, Rick Waits, Dennis Eckersley and <span style="font-style:italic;">Ed Figueroa</span>; relievers, Dave LaRoche, Jim Kern and... <span style="font-style:italic;">Goose Gossage</span>.<br /><br />In RL-1976, the AL East had the Yankees winning 97 games, the Orioles 88, the Boston Red Sox 83, the Indians 81, the Detroit Tigers 74 and the Milwaukee Brewers 66.<br /><br />With the improvements above, and with the Yankees no longer having Munson, Chambliss, Piniella and Figueroa... presuming, of course, that the Yankees would have augmented in other ways...<br /><br />It's not hard to imagine a TTL-AL East with the Indians 91 wins, the Yankees 87, the Orioles 86, the Red Sox 81, the Tigers 72 and the Brewers 64. And then, in the Playoffs against Kansas City, it's not hard to imagine ABC Sports' Howard Cosell speaking those immortal words, "Chris Chambliss has won the American League Pennant for the Cleveland Indians!"<br /><br />But the Indians' first Pennant in 22 years is not followed by their first World Championship in 28 years -- because the first all-Ohio World Series (something that still hasn't happened in RL) is still swept by the Cincinnati Reds in 4 straight. So George goes a little nuts, signing Garland, whose shoulder still gets shredded in spring training. And he signs Don Gullett, who's limited by injury to one good, but not great season, just as he was with the RL-Yankees. The Indians do not win the Pennant again in 1977.<br /><br />*<br /><br />And what of the Yankees? Who would have bought them from CBS? How about a Jersey guy? Jersey City native and Montclair resident, Dr. John J. McMullen, Ph.D., for example? In RL, he was one of George's limited partners, which led him to say, "Nothing is so limited as being one of George's limited partners." From 1979 to 1993, he owned the Houston Astros. In 1982, he bought the NHL's Colorado Rockies, moved them to the Meadowlands, and renamed them the New Jersey Devils, owning them until his death in 2005.<br /><br />It's not hard to imagine McMullen leading a group that buys the Yankees from CBS in 1973, but without Munson behind the plate, Reggie and Piniella in the outfield, Chambliss at first, Nettles at third, and Figueroa and Gossage on the mound, the Yankees sure don't win the Pennant in 1976, '77 or '78.<br /><br />In spring training of 1978, Eckersley's wife left him for Manning. It's not hard to imagine Steinbrenner trading the "immoral" (not to mention weak-hitting) Manning rather than the strong-pitching Eck. Of course, George would want Eck to get a haircut... And thus, while the Red Sox probably win the AL East in '77, there is no Playoff between the Yankees and Red Sox for the Division in '78, because both are short of pitching.<br /><br />So from 1978 to 1983, the AL East becomes a dogfight between 3 teams: The Indians, the Orioles, and the Brewers, who got really good in '78 and stayed good for most of the Eighties.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Let me address the elephant in the room right now: If George Steinbrenner had not been the owner of the New York Yankees in the late 1970s, the Yankees, while not exactly stinking, as the Mets were then doing, would still have been New York's second-most popular team behind the Mets. So would I still have been a Yankee fan? Maybe not, there were, just down the New Jersey Turnpike, the Phillies... or would they have been too frustrating? Maybe I wouldn't have become a sports fan at all. And you wouldn't be reading this.</span><br /><br />So... In the 1977 World Series, the Dodgers take advantage of the Curse of the Bambino, and beat the Red Sox; the Indians, with Catfish winning and the Goose saving the clincher, beat the Dodgers in 1978, and have their first World Championship in 30 years, George finally getting his title; the Pittsburgh Pirates still beat the Orioles in 1979; the Phillies still beat the Royals in 1980; the Brewers would have beaten the Expos in 1981 and, with the boost in their confidence, beat the Cardinals in 1982; and then, as several of the RL-Yankees/TTL-Indians got older, "history reasserts itself," and the Orioles beat the Phillies in '83, and so on.<br /><br />Wait... Did I say the Montreal Expos would have won the 1981 National League Pennant? Yes, because that's where Reggie was most likely to go if he turned down the Yankees. He had considered San Diego, but the liquor-magnate Bronfman family owned the Expos then, and they could pay Reggie even more than Kroc could. I think the French fans of Quebec, used to the Montreal Canadiens' Stanley Cup-winning "Flying Frenchmen" style, would have loved <em>Monsieur Octubre</em>. They probably wouldn't have gotten past the Phillies in '77 or '78, or the Pirates in '79, and I don't want to take the '80 Series away from the Phillies (maybe there's a Playoff for the NL East title), but in '81, the Expos might have been the best team in baseball.<br /><br />In RL-1986, the Indians won 84 games, their best performance since 1968, but injuries derailed them the next season and they lost 101. But I doubt that George would have left them so bench-bereft. In TTL-1987, the Indians beat out the Tigers for the Division before losing to the Minnesota Twins. In 1988, they go all the way, beating out the Red Sox, shocking the Oakland Athletics' "Bash Brothers," and a newly-sober, still-starting Dennis Eckersley pitches a complete game in Game 1 of the World Series, striking out Kirk Gibson for the last out, as the Tribe take the Series in 5 games.<br /><br />Opening Day of the 1989 season shows the raising of the 1920, 1948, 1978 and 1988 World Championship banners at... the Ohiodome in downtown Cleveland, at the RL-location of Jacobs (Progressive) Field. Seems George wanted real grass but also a retractable roof to keep out Cleveland's frequently nasty weather. It's not a great old-timey ballpark like the one the RL-Indians have, but it gets them out of Municipal Stadium 4 years sooner. The Indians would also win Pennants in 1995, 1997 and 2007, winning the World Series on the latter two occasions.<br /><br />The success of the Indians means that, in 1989, the film <span style="font-style:italic;">Major League</span> is made about the Chicago White Sox, rather than the Indians. True, in RL, the White Sox had been in a few Pennant races, but hadn't won a Pennant since 1959 (beating out the Indians) and hadn't won a World Series since 1917, and were then in a crumbling old ballpark (Comiskey Park) and had nearly moved to Milwaukee for 1970, to Seattle for 1976, and to Tampa Bay for 1989. And, unlike the Indians, who trailed the Browns (and maybe Ohio State football) for sports supremacy in their hometown, were, at least, the only big-league baseball team, a luxury the White Sox have never had. So Jake Taylor, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Willie Mays Hayes, Pedro Cerrano and the rest make the White Sox, once again, the South Side Hit Men, if only onscreen, followed by the ChiSox, in RL, nearly making life imitate art by staying in the AL West race until the end in 1990.<br /><br />The Ohiodome also enables Art Modell to keep the Browns in Cleveland, and they beat the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, and, never having moved the team, Modell becomes a beloved elder statesman in Cleveland. Maybe the Browns even host, if not play in, a Super Bowl at the Ohiodome. George would have insisted on it. He might even have insisted on the dome hosting an Ohio State-Notre Dame football game in front of 100,000 people, and a postseason Buckeye Bowl and the Big 10 Conference Championship Game.<br /><br />So, with Baltimore's Memorial Stadium already in place as a stopgap facility before a new stadium can be built, Robert Kraft gets frustrated with plans to build a new stadium next to Foxboro Stadium (which, in RL, did get built and became Gillette Stadium) or in East Hartford, Connecticut (RL-Rentschler Field, which got scaled back to 40,000 as the home only of the University of Connecticut and not a pro team), and sells the New England Patriots to Steve Bisciotti. The Patriots are renamed the Baltimore Ravens, and win 3 Super Bowls under coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, but have now lost 2 Super Bowls to the New York Giants. The Boston area is still trying to get a new NFL team, but, just as with the plans for a new Fenway Park, Massachusetts politics has thus far killed the plan.<br /><br />*<br /><br />And what of the Yankees? Dr. McMullen would take until 1985 to get the right people to build the Yankees into a championship-ready team, including Billy Martin, less-stressed due to not having Steinbrenner to watch his every move.<br /><br />They win the Division against the Blue Jays in 1985, but lose the ALCS to the Royals. But in 1986, with Dave Winfield and Don Mattingly leading the way, and with just enough starting pitching, they finish ahead of the Red Sox, beat the Angels in the ALCS, and... well, let's just say that Dave Righetti was better than Bob Stanley, and Mattingly was not Bill Buckner. The date the Yankees first clinch the World Championship at Shea Stadium is October 25, 1986. In other words, the Yankees win their 21st World Championship, and the Mets have not won the World Series since the Miracle of '69... The Curse of Joe Foy, anyone?<br /><br />If McMullen builds the TTL-Yankees as well as he built the RL-Devils -- and not only as well as he built the RL-Astros, which resulted in just 2 Division titles under his ownership, and no Pennants -- then maybe they beat out the Blue Jays again in 1993, and it's Bernie Williams, not Joe Carter, who hits the home run off Mitch Williams of the Phillies to win the 1993 World Series. Becoming consistent like the RL-Devils, the Yanks won the Series in 1996, and again in '98 after an ALCS dogfight with George's Indians, and again in '99 and 2000.<br /><br />But with the Yanks-Sox rivalry not really happening in the 1970s, the Sox don't measure themselves against the Yankees, and also don't end up with it being vice versa. Therefore, the Sox win the Pennant in 2003 -- and Aaron Boone is remembered mainly for being Bret Boone's brother and for briefly playing again after open-heart surgery -- before losing the World Series to the Expos (who take the place of the Florida Marlins, as Jeffrey Loria doesn't need to sell the TTL-more successful Montreal team). It takes the Yankees until 2009 to win another Pennant and their 27th World Series -- they have the same number, but with 1977 and 1978 replaced by 1985 and 1993.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the Indians have 6 World Championships -- 1 less than RL-Steinbrenner had, but 4 more than the RL-Tribe.<br /><br />And it's the Florida Marlins who move to D.C. to become the Washington Nationals, while Reggie Jackson, unable for whatever reason to do so in RL, leads an ownership group that buys his TTL-former team, the Montreal Expos, from Loria's group, and throws out the ceremonial first pitch at Parc Labatt, across from the Bell Centre and Windsor Station, on Opening Day 2004.<br /><br />Is it a better world, this world in which George Steinbrenner owned the Cleveland Indians instead of the New York Yankees? Maybe, maybe not. But it's certainly a different one.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-74298316829665678382012-03-10T13:41:00.005-08:002012-03-10T16:54:02.595-08:00What If Brien Taylor Hadn't Gotten Into a Fight?<a href="http://static-l3.blogcritics.org/10/01/28/124755/taylor.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 269px;" src="http://static-l3.blogcritics.org/10/01/28/124755/taylor.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />The rebirth of Otherwise Sports was inspired by a post in the blog "Bleeding Yankee Blue" (see link to the right), about the arrest of Brien Taylor.<br /><br />http://bleedingyankeeblue.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-fall-of-brien-taylor-is-damn-shame.html<br /><br />Who? Let me refresh your memory:<br /><br />It's June 1991. Last year, the Yankees finished dead last for the first time in 24 years, only the 4th time in the club's history. For once, they had the first pick in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.<br /><br />The Yankees chose Brien Taylor. A 19-year-old lefthanded fireballer out of North Carolina who had just graduated from high school.<br /><br />Superagent Scott Boras snapped Taylor up, and told the Yankee brass that if they didn't agree to his demands, he would go to college for a year, thus making him eligible for the next year's draft, which means the Yankees would have stood a pretty good chance of losing him to another team.<br /><br />At the time, Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was suspended, and not allowed to take part in any business dealings. The Boss sent a message to the media, that if the Yankees let Taylor get away, they should be "shot."<br /><br />The Yankees agreed to Taylor's demands, including a signing bonus of $1.55 million. In 2012 money, this would be $2.58 million. A hell of a lot of money for a teenager, but a decent enough price for a pitcher who turns out to be a good one.<br /><br />In 1992, pitching for the Fort Lauderdale Yankees of the Florida State League, Class A+, 3 steps below the majors, Taylor was 6-8, but his ERA was 2.57, his WHIP (Walks + Hits, divided by Innings Pitched) was 1.159, and his K/BB radio (strikeouts-to-walks) was 2.83 to 1. So far, so good. And he was only 20 years old.<br /><br />In 1993, pitching for the Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Eastern League, Class AA, 2 steps below the majors, he was 13-7. His ERA had gone up to 3.48, not bad at all. His WHIP went up to 1.405, and his K/BB dropped to 1.47, not good signs. But he was only 21. Starting the next season in Double-A would probably have been the right way to go.<br /><br />So far, Brian Taylor still looked like a future major leaguer.<br /><br />On December 18, 1993, a week before Christmas, which was the day before his 22nd birthday, his world changed.<br /><br />In a bar in Harlowe, North Carolina, Taylor's brother Brenden got into a fight, and suffered head lacerations. Once Brien found out, he and a cousin went to the assailant's trailer home to confront him. Brien, having apparently learned nothing from what happened to his brother, got into a fight, and fell on his shoulder. This resulted in a dislocated shoulder and a torn labrum, two devastating injuries for any baseball player, but especially for a pitcher.<br /><br />Renowned sports surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe operated on Taylor, telling him he would miss the entire 1994 season, but would be back to his full velocity and control thereafter.<br /><br />Jobe was wrong. Taylor gained 35 pounds, lost 8 mph off his fastball, and was unable to throw a curveball for a strike. He was only able to make 11 starts in the 1995 season, all in the Gulf Coast League, a rookie league. In 1996, '97 and '98, he made 30 starts, all for the Greensboro Yankees of the South Atlantic League -- Class A, the SAL or "Sally League," the level below the one at which the Yankees started his pro career. His ERAs for those 3 seasons were 18.73, 14.33 and 9.59; his WHIPs were 3.918, 3.074 and 2.053.<br /><br />After the '98 season, the Yanks released him. He didn't pitch at all in 1999. The Cleveland Indians signed him for 2000, and he made 5 more starts in the Sally League, and got racked. And got released. He threw his final professional pitch at the age of 28.<br /><br />One moment of madness, and it ruined his career.<br /><br />Not just his career. His life.<br /><br />He moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and worked as a UPS package handler. He then worked for a beer distributor, though not owning a distributorship like Yankee legend Roger Maris did in Florida after his retirement from baseball.<br /><br />Taylor has 5 daughters -- 4 of whom he supposedly left alone for more than 8 hours in a 2005 incident, and for this he was charged with misdemeanor child abuse.<br /><br />And then, just last week, at age 40, Taylor was charged with cocaine trafficking, after undercover narcotics agents purchased a large quantity of cocaine and crack cocaine from him over a period of several months.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Could it have been different? Let's say Brenden Taylor doesn't get into that fight. Or that Brien and their cousin meet the guy who hurt Brenden and they straightened things out without violence. Or even that Brien won the fight. Whatever the specifics, Brien Taylor wakes up on the morning of December 19, 1993, and his left shoulder is fine. He's about to turn 22.<br /><br />The 1994 season begins with Taylor still in Double-A, with Albany. Having had a solid spring training with the Yankees, he does well in April and May. Early in June, he is called up to the Columbus Clippers (Ohio) in the International League, the Yankees' Triple-A affiliate.<br /><br />The opposition is better: Well over half the batters he faces either will be, or have been and could be again, major league players. The problem now isn't his control, but his command: How do you make good hitters miss your good pitches? Over the course of the season, his WHIP is good enough, but he gets hit hard a few times, so his ERA is too high. But, by August 12, he seems to have figured it out and settled down. The suggestions that he will soon be ready for the majors return. Only August 12 is the day the Strike of '94 begins. There will be no September callup for Brien Taylor, or for any other minor league player.<br /><br />The strike is settled in April '95, and Taylor begins the season at Columbus. He pitches well. He's getting Triple-A hitters, including players who've been in The Show, out with consistency. He's 24 years old. The Clippers don't make the Playoffs. And so, on September 1, 1995, Brien Taylor is called up to the major leagues. He is a Yankee.<br /><br />I've looked it up: The lowest uniform number neither retired (officially or, like Ron Guidry's 49 then was, unofficially) nor worn by a player or coach on the 1995 Yankees was 52. With CC Sabathia, the idea of a lefty power pitcher wearing Number 52 is hardly strange, although Taylor wouldn't have been nearly as, how shall I put this, unsvelte. So TAYLOR 52 T-shirts start to be printed up.<br /><br />Does having Taylor available down the stretch make a difference for the Yankees in TTL-1995? No. Being a September callup, he wouldn't have been eligible for the postseason. So if you're familiar with the 1995 American League Division Series, and you think he could have been brought in to relieve an exhausted David Cone in Game 5, forget it. The Yankees still lose that series to the Seattle Mariners, and the Don Mattingly era, including the managerial reign of Buck Showalter, comes to an end; the Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera era, including the managerial reign of Joe Torre, begins.<br /><br />In 1996, the Yankees had 4 main starters: Andy Pettitte made 34 starts, Jimmy Key and Kenny Rogers each made 30, and Dwight Gooden made 29. Cone was hurt most of the season. Until he came back, his spot in the rotation was taken by Ramiro Mendoza for 11 starts; between them, Scott Kamieniecki, David Weathers, Brian Boehringer, Mark Hutton, Wally Whitehurst and Ricky Bones made 17. Now, I realize it doesn't quite work this way -- Any of those guys could have made emergency starts in place of the regular starters, including the replacement Mendoza -- but, effectively, the "Cone spot" in the rotation made 39 starts.<br /><br />Let's assume that Taylor becomes the 5th starter until Cone gets back. In RL, Mendoza went 4-5, ERA 6.79, ERA+ 74, WHIP 1.698. Surely, a 24-year-old with a 95+ MPH fastball and a good curve could have done better than that.<br /><br />But when Cone comes back, whose place in the rotation does HE take? It's not clear: We think of Rogers as a very good pitcher for teams outside New York, but having been awful in it, first for the Yankees, then for the Mets; but neither Key nor Gooden had a particularly better season, statistically speaking -- Gooden's May 14 no-hitter notwithstanding.<br /><br />Maybe it's not really important to figure this out. After all, the Yankees won the World Series anyway, right? Never mind the comment made by Jason Alexander as George Costanza on <span style="font-style:italic;">Seinfeld</span>: "In six games." In RL, do you really think fans of the St. Louis Cardinals give a damn that they were down to their last out twice in Game 6 of last year's Series, and needed to go the full 7 to do it? Don't you think they value the memory of the 2011 Series more than they value the one they won in just 5 games in 2006, simply because of the drama? Face it, if Taylor starts Game 4 in 1996, maybe he doesn't fall apart like Rogers did, and the Braves don't jump out to a 6-0 lead, and we don't get the comeback completed by that Jim Leyritz home run... <br /><br />So let's move on, to 1997, a season in which the Yankees did NOT win the World Series in RL. This time, only 8 pitchers started games for the Yankees: Pettitte 35, David Wells 32, Cone 29, Rogers 22, Gooden 19, Mendoza 15, Hideki Irabu 9 and Jersey City native Willie Banks 1. Rogers had easily the worst performance of the top 6, including the fact that he was the winning pitcher in only 1 of his last 8 starts, losing 3, with the Yankees winning only 2 of those last 8. But maybe Gooden is the one whose place Taylor takes: After pitching and winning on April 5, Doctor K got hurt and didn't pitch again until June 15. Maybe Taylor takes that spot in the rotation and runs with it, and Gooden gets traded.<br /><br />Let's presume for a moment that whoever the Yankees got for Gooden turns out not to be a factor, but Taylor does. By my definition and by my count, Gooden had 10 bad starts from July onward. The Yankees won the AL Wild Card, missing the AL Eastern Division Title by 2 games to the Baltimore Orioles, whom they'd beaten in the previous year's AL Championship Series.<br /><br />Suppose Taylor matches Gooden's performance in all but 3 of his starts, and turns those 3 starts from Yankee losses to Yankee wins. The Yanks win the Division by 1 game, and instead of getting eliminated by the Cleveland Indians in the ALDS, get revenge on the Mariners for 1995, instead of having to wait until 2000 and '01. In the RL-1997 ALDS, the Yanks lost to the Indians in 5; but in the TTL-1997 ALCS, it would be best-of-7, the Yanks would have home-field advantage, and instead of Gooden, who only made it to the 6th inning, starting Game 4, which turned out to be the pivotal contest thanks to Sandy Alomar's home run off Mariano Rivera, Taylor pitches into the 8th, meaning Torre doesn't have to call on all of Graeme Lloyd, Jeff Nelson, Mike Stanton, Rivera and Mendoza -- he probably only needs Nelson in the 8th and Rivera in the 9th. In Game 5, the Yanks close it out.<br /><br />This leaves a 1997 World Series starting rotation, based on who started when in the Playoffs, of Cone, Wells, Taylor and Pettitte, all fairly well-rested, against the surprising Florida Marlins. The Marlins won that Series in 7 games, including the calamitous Game 7 when Jose Mesa melted down in the 9th for the Indians. The Marlins won the Series odd-numbered games, the Indians the even-numbered ones. In Game 3, the Marlins exploded for 7 runs in the 9th... and the Tribe pulled 4 back, but the Marlins won, 14-11. You think Mariano Rivera, relieving Taylor (and probably Stanton and Nelson), would allow 7 runs in the 9th? Not likely. The Yankees thus take Game 3, go up 3-games-to-1 in Game 4, and Game 5? The Marlins scored 4 in the 6th in RL, but if Cone (whose turn it would have been) got into trouble, Stanton could have bailed him out before handing off to Nelson and Rivera. Ballgame over, World Series over, Yankees win, theeee Yankees win, Title 24, titles back-to-back-and-a-belly-to-belly.<br /><br />Presuming Taylor doesn't get hurt, or suddenly lose all control, the 1998, '99 and 2000 seasons remain the same: 5 straight World Championships, just like in 1949-53.<br /><br />2001? In the RL-WS, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Yankee starters were Mike Mussina for Games 1 and 5, Pettitte for 2 and 6, Roger Clemens for 3 and 7, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez for Game 4.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Hey, wait a second</span>, you may be thinking. <span style="font-style:italic;">If Brien Taylor pans out, maybe the Yankees don't go after Clemens. And if they do, and Taylor is still contributing by the end of 2000, they don't go after Mussina.</span><br /><br />Maybe they do: El Duque started to decline in 2000. Maybe, instead of Taylor's place in the rotation, Moose take's Duque's.<br /><br />At any rate, Taylor would now be 29, almost 30, and would be in his 6th full season in the majors, and probably have around 80 major league wins. Maybe if he, rather than El Duque, starts Game 4, we don't have those incredibly dramatic home runs by Tino Martinez and Derek Jeter: 2-1 Arizona going into the bottom of the 9th becomes 1-0 Yankees going into the top of the 9th, and the Yankees won the game anyway... but we can't really fault Duque here, because he only allowed 1 run before Stanton relieved him in the 7th. So even if Taylor relieves a battered Pettitte in Game 6, and keeps the Snakes down to, say, 7 runs instead of the 15 they actually scored, it doesn't matter, because the Yanks only scored 2. Is Taylor going to make a difference this time? No: The Yankees still lose this one.<br /><br />On Opening Day 2002, Taylor is 30, and if he's still in the rotation, here's where he begins to make a bit of a difference: If he's in, Ted Lilly is out; if Taylor is there instead of Lilly, the Yanks don't trade Lilly for Jeff Fucking Weaver because Weaver isn't necessary. Taylor doesn't make much of a difference yet.<br /><br />But in 2003? The Yankees win the Pennant over The Scum on the Aaron Boone homer, and in the World Series... Taylor, approaching his 32nd birthday and now the 5th starter in the regular season, relieves Nelson (who had relieved Clemens) in the 9th, and is still pitching in the 12th, and gets "the other Alex Gonzalez" out, instead of him hitting that walkoff home run against Weaver. With the Yanks up 3 games to 1, Wells' back acts up, he can only pitch the 1st in Game 5, but Jose Contreras, having not pitched at all instead of throwing 2 innings in Game 4, is fresh, and gets to the 7th, and the Yankees win Game 5 and take their 28th World Championship.<br /><br />Now comes the fun part. It's October 2004, and, with Clemens having followed Pettitte to Houston, in RL there's no lefty in the rotation. In TTL, there is Taylor. And, after the Red Sox have come back from 3 games to 0, who starts Game 7? Not Kevin Brown. Brien Taylor.<br /><br />Top of the 1st. Manny Ramirez on 1st with 2 out. David Ortiz up, lefty against lefty. Taylor strikes him out to end the inning. No homer for the big fat lying cheating bastard.<br /><br />In RL, the next 5 Boston at-bats were as follows: Jason Varitek grounds back to the pitcher, Trot Nixon grounds to 2nd, Kevin Millar singles, Bill Mueller and Orlando Cabrera draw walks.<br /><br />In TTL, these are the same, with the exception that, instead of Varitek's groundout ending the 1st, it leads off the 2nd, so Damon comes to bat with the bases loaded not with 1 out, but with 2. And not against the rightanded Javier Vazquez, who relieved Kevin Brown-out, but against the lefthanded Taylor. Nasty curveball. Alex Rodriguez catches a harmless popup. Going to the bottom of the 2nd, and instead of 6-0 Boston, the game is scoreless.<br /><br />The Sox threaten again in the 4th, but, again, Taylor gets Damon out, so that 2-run homer never happens.<br /><br />The rest of the game happens as we remember it, which means... final score, Yankees 3, Red Sox 2. Despite blowing a 3-games-to-none lead, the Yankees win their 41st Pennant. They go on to do what the Red Sox did, sweep the Cardinals, for their 29th World Championship.<br /><br />From this point onward, I don't really care what Taylor does. It's not that I'm grateful to him for 1997: It's that I'm grateful that he spared me Jeff Weaver in 2003 and Kevin Brown in 2004.<br /><br />So, let's say, in 2005, at 33, Taylor loses his effectiveness, and "history reasserts itself": The Yankees win the Division in 2005 and '06, and the Wild Card in '07, but don't win a postseason series on any of those occasions; miss the Playoffs in '08, win the Series in '09, lose the ALCS in '10 and the ALDS in '11.<br /><br />Taylor's Yankee contract runs out after 2005, and he is not re-signed. He goes elsewhere, and, here, in March 2012, at age 40, with 7 rings and a career record of 160-130 or so, he gets one last chance, from a team that can't pay him a whole lot... becoming the latest in a fascinating line of players who've played for both the Yankees and the Mets.<br /><br />He won't make the Hall of Fame. He probably won't even have a Plaque in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. And, in TTL, not knowing what happened in RL, he'll never know just how much agita (to use a favorite word of our old friend Phil Rizzuto), he has kept Yankee Fans from feeling.<br /><br />Not to mention how much agita he has kept Alex Rodriguez from feeling. Can you imagine how differently A-Rod would be viewed if he'd just gotten that one ring in 2004, before getting his 2nd in 2009? (Which, in TTL, would be the Yankees' 30th.)<br /><br />On the other hand, that might have prevented Lisa Swan, the better half (in so many ways) of the blog Subway Squawkers (see link to the right) and I from getting into it over whether A-Rod is "a real Yankee" that, just maybe, I never would have responded by creating this blog and Uncle Mike's Musings; they would never have happened.<br /><br />You know what? I think I'd make that trade.<br /><br />As Tug McGraw might say, you gotta believe that Brien Taylor would make that trade.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-21861918975528337112012-03-10T13:38:00.003-08:002012-03-10T15:34:12.642-08:00Welcome to Otherwise Sports<span style="font-style:italic;">(NOTE: This blog was tried once before, but I let it slip. I'm trying it again.)</span><br /><br />Welcome to Otherwise Sports, a site that will take famous -- and not-so-famous -- moments from sports history, and ask, "What if it had happened otherwise?"<br /><br />Some of these ideas have been explored elsewhere. Others have not, to my knowledge.<br /><br />Since I am a baseball fan first and foremost, the majority of these examinations will be about baseball. But I will do them for several sports, and I am open to suggestions from any sport, and welcome contact from readers looking to see their own ideas up here.<br /><br />A note on abbreviations: On this site, a year or date preceded by the letters "RL" means that something happened in "Real Life," while a year or date preceded by the letters "TTL" means "This TimeLine."<br /><br />Example: On RL-10/2/1978, Bucky Dent hit a notable home run; on TTL-10/2/1978, Bucky does NOT hit the home run, and the Red Sox... find another way to screw up that Playoff game and the Yankees still win. You get the idea.<br /><br />At any rate, enjoy the site, and enjoy my original blog, Uncle Mike's Musings, link available on this page.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-11046647691542632132010-12-04T16:01:00.000-08:002010-12-04T17:23:27.860-08:00What If the Chicago Cubs Hadn't Collapsed in 1969?I present this post in memory of Ron Santo, who should have been in the Baseball Hall of Fame years ago.<br /><br />I'm going to look at 3 Cub seasons that, to put it politely, did not work out well: 1969, 1984 and 2003.<br /><br />I'm going to overlook their other postseasons from 1945 onward that didn't result in Pennants, simply because they weren't really "curse material." But the Black Cat, the Garvey/Durham NLCS, and Steve Bartman? All true "curse material."<br /><br />Each of these what-ifs is based on actual starting pitchers used. In the case of 1969, the last few starts of the regular season, moving into the National League Championship Series. In the case of 1984 and 2003, the NLCS, moving into the World Series.<br /><br />Today, 1969. I'll do the other two at a later date.<br /><br />*<br /><br />If the Cubs hadn't collapsed in their "September Swoon," and had gone on to beat out the Mets for the National League Eastern Division Title, and played the Atlanta Braves for the Pennant:<br /><br />Game 1, Saturday, October 4, at Atlanta Stadium (later renamed Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, the series would've opened at the NL Western Division winners' home field no matter what): Ferguson "Fergie" Jenkins vs. Phil Niekro. RL: The Mets started Tom Seaver, and won, 9-5. A 5-run Met 8th was the difference. I'm not sure the Cubs would've done that. Fergie might've pitched better than Tom Terrific, but it might not have been enough. Braves 4, Cubs 3. Braves lead, 1-0.<br /><br />Game 2, Sunday, October 5, at Atlanta Stadium: Ken Holtzman vs. Ron Reed. The future Phillies reliever was 18-10 for the '69 Braves, but in RL, the Mets knocked him out of the box in the 2nd inning. A 5-run 5th knocked out Jerry Koosman, but Holtzman might've been able to stop that. Cubs 6, Braves 2. Series tied, 1-1.<br /><br />Game 3, Monday, October 6 at Wrigley Field, Chicago: Bill Hands vs. Pat Jarvis. Not sure why there was no travel day. In RL, Gary Gentry had to leave the game in the 3rd inning, and Nolan Ryan went the rest of the way for the Mets in a 7-4 Pennant-clinching win. Cub fans know Jarvis as the man who, the next season, gave up Ernie Banks' 500th home run. I don't know if the wind was blowing out at Wrigley on October 6, 1969, but the Cub bats might've made it seem like it. Cubs 7, Braves 4. Cubs lead, 2-1.<br /><br />Game 4, Tuesday, October 7 at Wrigley Field: Dick Selma vs. Milt Pappas. The same Pappas that the Baltimore Orioles, the AL Champions this season, traded to the Cincinnati Reds after the 1965 season for Frank Robinson. And the same Pappas who, in 1972, pitched a no-hitter (it was damn near a perfect game) against the San Diego Padres. The Braves' other choice would have been George Stone, who in RL-1973 would help the Mets win another Pennant. Pappas would have been better, but that doesn't mean the Cubs wouldn't win. Cubs 6, Braves 2. The Cubs win their first Pennant in 24 years.<br /><br />The World Series would have started on October 11, no matter how far each League's LCS had gone. As it happened, the first-ever ALCS and the first-ever NLCS were both sweeps, by the Mets over the Braves and by the Orioles over the Minnesota Twins. So here's how the World Series would have gone:<br /><br />Game 1, Saturday, October 11, at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore: Jenkins vs. Mike Cuellar. In RL, Don Buford hit Seaver's 2nd pitch out, and the O's went on to win 4-1. Hmmmm, Cuellar with that lefty screwball, and the Cubs haven't played in 4 days and Fergie hasn't pitched in 7... I don't like this. Let's keep it simple and keep the same score: Orioles 4, Cubs 1. O's lead, 1-0. So far, aside from the Cubs being the NL Champions, no change from the way the RL Series played out.<br /><br />Game 2, Sunday, October 12, at Memorial Stadium: Holtzman vs. Dave McNally. If you've seen the film Frequency, which is in part about changing history, you know that, if the 1969 World Series is Cubs vs. Orioles instead of Mets vs. Orioles, there's a bigger chance that Frank Sullivan could die in the Buxton Fire. Anyway, in RL, this was a tight one, with Koosman allowing just 2 hits. But the Cubs' righty bats might give the lefty McNally some trouble. Cubs 3, O's 1. Series tied, 1-1. So far, no change from RL.<br /><br />Game 3, Tuesday, October 14, at Wrigley: Bill Hands vs. Jim Palmer. Big change here, because the difference between Wrigley Field and Shea Stadium was not unlike the difference between Rutgers' College Avenue Campus and its Busch Campus: Very ivy and classic vs. very concrete and tacky. In RL, Gentry had good stuff, while Jim Palmer shook off 3 runs in the first 2 innings and settled down, but it was too late. The Mets won, 5-0. Could the Cubs do the same? Not sure, Hands wasn't as good as Jenkins or Holtzman. And Palmer was not yet the dominating pitcher he would become. Still, the Mets needed 2 great catches from Tommie Agee to hold this one, and the Cubs' center fielder is Don Young, infamous for bobbles against the Mets in the regular season. But that doesn't mean that a different pitcher would give up the same 2 drives up the gaps. Cubs 4, O's 2. Cubs lead, 2-1. So far, at least as far as results go, no change from RL.<br /><br />Game 4, Wednesday, October 15, at Wrigley: Jenkins vs. Cuellar. In RL, this was a 1-0 game, Seaver ahead of Cuellar, until the bottom of the 9th, when Brooks Robinson hit a sinking liner into right field. Ron Swoboda made a sensational diving catch, limiting it to a sacrifice fly that tied the game and sent it into extra innings, but a mishandled bunt from J.C. Martin gave the Mets a 2-1 win in the 10th. Can we say that Jenkins would have been fresher than Seaver? Hardly. Can we say that Cub right fielder Jim Hickman would have made the same catch that Swoboda made? Not bloody likely. O's 2, Cubs 1. Series tied, 2-2, and now we have a different result. Whatever else happens, the Cubs will not be able to clinch at home at Wrigley -- the O's can still do so at "the Insane Asylum on 33rd Street."<br /><br />Game 5, Wednesday, October 16, at Wrigley: Holtzman vs. McNally. In RL, this was the clincher, as the Mets rode Cleon Jones' shoe-polish-aided hit-by-pitch, Donn Clendenon's subsequent homer, and an Al Weis homer to win, 5-3. How nuts would the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field have gone if, instead of Clendenon, the Met 1st baseman, the Cub 1st baseman, Ernie Banks, hit one out? Cubs 5, O's 3. Cubs lead series, 3-2.<br /><br />Game 6, Friday, October 18, at Memorial Stadium: Hands vs. Palmer. Since there was no Game 6 in RL, we can't be sure how well Palmer would have pitched. But he had outdueled Sandy Koufax (in what turned out to be Koufax' last game) in Game 2 in '66, so, while he was not yet the same pitcher he would be from 1970 to 1983, he did already have a big-game reputation. And while Hands was a good pitcher, he was not a Hall-of-Famer like Palmer. Orioles 4, Cubs 1. Series tied, 3-3. Here we go...<br /><br />Game 7, Saturday, October 19, at Memorial Stadium: Jenkins vs. Cuellar. The Cubs' ace, maybe the best pitcher the franchise has had since Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown, vs., if not Baltimore's best starter, then certainly the Oriole starter with the nastiest pitch, Cuellar's screwgie.<br /><br />It's worth nothing that, going into 1969, in 4 of the last 5 World Series going to a Game 7, Game 7 was won by the visiting team: The Yankees over the Giants at Candlestick in '62, the Dodgers over the Twins at the Met in '65, the Cardinals over the Red Sox at Fenway in '67, and the Tigers over the Cardinals at Busch in '68. The exception in that span was the Cardinals over the Yankees at Sportsman's Park in '64.<br /><br />In fact, you could go back further, and make it 8 of the last 10 WS Game 7s won by the road team. The Yankees over the Dodgers at Ebbets Field in '52 and '56, the Dodgers over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in '57, the Yankees over the Braves at Milwaukee County Stadium in '58; the other exception being the Pirates over the Yankees at Forbes Field in '60. And, in RL, this would be followed by the Pirates over the Orioles at Memorial Stadium in '71 and '79, the A's over the Reds at Riverfront in '72, and the Reds over the Red Sox at Fenway in '75. The exception in that stretch was the A's over the Mets at the Oakland Coliseum in '73. That would make it 12 out of 15 Game 7s won by the road team between 1947 (Yanks at home over Dodgers) and 1985 (Royals at home over Cardinals). So the home-field advantage for the Orioles is hardly a guarantee that they would have beaten the Cubs.<br /><br />Since then, though, in RL, the last 7 World Series Game 7s have all been won by the home team: 1985 (as stated), 1986 (Mets over Red Sox at Shea), 1987 (Twins over Cardinals at Metrodome), 1991 (Twins over Braves at Metrodome), 1997 (Marlins over Indians at whatever they were calling the Dolphins' stadium at the time), 2001 (Diamondbacks over Yankees at Bank One Ballpark, now Chase Field) and 2002 (Angels over Giants in Anaheim).<br /><br />Of course, do you really think I would have taken you this far and NOT have the Cubs win the whole thing for the first time in 61 years? Ernie Banks homers in the 2nd. Ron Santo homers in the 7th. Cubs 5, Orioles 2.<br /><br />As Cub broadcaster Jack Brickhouse would have said, "That's it! That's it! Hey hey! Wheeeeeeee!"<br /><br />Or, as Harry Caray, about to get fired as the voice of the arch-rival Cardinals (leaving their booth to Jack Buck), "Cubs win! Cubs win! Holy cow!"<br /><br />*<br /><br />And 1973 is remembered as the Mets' "miracle year." Even if they fall one game short in the World Series, as Reggie Jackson and Catfish Hunter, each for the first but not last time, give Yankee Fans a reason to tell them, "Thank you."<br /><br />Without that 1969 "September Swoon," and the "lovable losers" image it projected, maybe the Cubs don't choke in the 1984 NLCS. And maybe Steve Bartman keeps his hands to himself in the 2003 NLCS. And maybe, without the legacy of 1969, the Mets don't get another "miracle" in Game 6 in 1986, and the Red Sox win. With the result being that they don't seem "cursed," either.<br /><br />And nobody ever talks about the Curse of the Bambino, and the Curse of the Billy Goat is something now in the distant past, to laugh about, just like that other phrase that originated from William Sianis' Billy Goat Tavern, "No hamburger: Chizburger chizburger chizburger! No fries, cheeps! No Coke, Pepsi!"<br /><br />I have been to the real Billy Goat Tavern. Yes, Sam Sianis, the original Billy's nephew, was there that day. Yes, he really does talk like the John Belushi character in the <span style="font-style:italic;">Saturday Night Live</span> sketch (named the Olympia Cafe after the place Belushi's father Adam -- a Balkan immigrant but Albania rather than Greek -- owned in nearby Wheaton, Illinois). And, yes, they do make damn good cheeseburgers. But the drink is the opposite: No Pepsi, Coke.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-11029350233546947142010-12-03T09:03:00.001-08:002010-12-03T09:19:50.123-08:00What If There Had Been an ABA-NBA Finals?Having done this for the AFL and the NFL, I move on to basketball.<br /><br />1968: With the AFL-NFL World Championship Game (soon to be called the Super Bowl) already having been played twice, the Pittsburgh Pipers, newly-crowned champions of the American Basketball Association, challenge the National Basketball Association Champion Boston Celtics to a best-4-out-of-7 "World Series of Basketball."<br /><br />Big mistake: Bill Russell and company shut down Connie Hawkins, and the Celtics take the Pipers in 4 straight.<br /><br />1969: Rick Barry and the Oakland Oaks put up a better fight, but the Celtics still win the series in 5. Bill Russell retires a "World Champion."<br /><br />1970: Flush with their glorious win over the Los Angeles Lakers for their first NBA title, the New York Knickerbockers get surprised by the ABA Champion Indiana Pacers. Captain and center Willis Reed missing the first 2 games doesn't help. But when the series goes out to Indianapolis, the Knicks take over, and win the series in Game 7 at a raucous Madison Square Garden.<br /><br />1971: This one also goes to 7 games, but the Milwaukee Bucks of Oscar Robertson and Lew Alcindor (it will be another year before he changes his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) beat the Utah Stars, coached by former Celtic star Bill Sharman (who then moves on to the Lakers) and led on the court by Willie Wise and Zelmo Beaty.<br /><br />1972: The Lakers, having gone on a 33-game winning streak (still the longest ever in North American major league sports) and won an NBA-record 69 games (since broken), sweep the Pacers in 4 straight.<br /><br />1973: The Knicks make it 6 straight wins by the NBA over the ABA, defeating the Pacers in 6 games.<br /><br />1974: Finally, the ABA wins, as Julius "Doctor J" Erving, and rookie "Super" John Williamson lead the Long Island-based New York Nets to a stunning victory over John Havlicek, Dave Cowens and the Boston Celtics. Dr. J's 42-point performance in Game 7 at the Boston Garden stuns the sports world, and talks of a merger between the two leagues can finally be taken seriously.<br /><br />1975: The Louisville-based Kentucky Colonels make it 2 straight, beating the Oakland-based Golden State Warriors in 5 games.<br /><br />1976: The Nets make it 3 in a row, beating the Celtics again, this time in 6 games.<br /><br />The merger happens. The Knicks demand a huge sum from the Nets for "territorial indemnification." It's either sell Dr. J off, or not be let into the NBA even though they've won 2 of the last 3 ABA and World Championships. A compromise is struck: The Nets' owners will receive Gulf + Western stock, thus making them part-owners of the Knicks, Rangers, and the Madison Square Garden Corporation; while the Nets' players are dispersed. Erving goes to the Philadelphia 76ers, and the teams that enter the NBA from the ABA are the Colonels, the Pacers, the Denver Nuggets and the San Antonio Spurs.<br /><br />2002: The Lakers beat the Pacers in the NBA Finals for the 2nd time in 3 years.<br /><br />2003: The Spurs beat the Colonels in the NBA Finals. The Pistons win it all the next year against the Lakers, but in 2005 will fall to the Spurs again.<br /><br />Meanwhile, Bruce Ratner is looking to buy an NBA team, but he can't get one. The Seattle SuperSonics go to Clay Bennett, while Ratner's bid to buy the New Orleans Hornets is scuttled because their city is determined to keep them as a rallying point after Hurricane Katrina.<br /><br />Ratner wants to build a new arena in Brooklyn, but can't get anyone to play there. He comes close in 2008, but the Kentucky Colonels get a deal to build the KFC Yum! Center (seriously, that's the building's RL name, as Louisville-based Yum! Brands is the owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Belland Pizza Hut), and move out of old Freedom Hall.<br /><br />Ratner appeals to the NBA to grant him an expansion franchise, which he would give the old name of the New York Nets, but so far, no luck.<br /><br />*<br /><br />I will conclude this series with the WHA and the NHL at a later date.Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-44825045661140187802010-11-26T14:25:00.000-08:002010-11-28T14:56:52.211-08:00Nightmare Scenarios: If the Yankees Hadn't Re-Signed...Nightmare Scenario 1: After the 1933 season, the Yankees decided that it was unseemly of Babe Ruth to keep asking for more money in the depth of the Depression. Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey was more than happy to send the Yankees $200,000 to bring the Babe back to his original big-league team. And the Babe was thrilled to be reunited with his fans back in Boston.<br /><br />Not having the Babe is widely considered to be the reason the Yankees did not win the Pennant in 1934. The Red Sox didn't win it, the Detroit Tigers did. But Yawkey's money had bought several stars, including Philadelphia Athletics slugger Jimmie Foxx and pitcher Lefty Grove, and was about to go after Washington Senators shortstop and manager Joe Cronin, and give him the same jobs at Fenway Park.<br /><br />The Babe suggested to Yawkey that he offer the Cleveland Indians a lot of money for Mel Harder, and the Chicago White Sox a lot of money for pitcher Ted Lyons. With a rotation of Grove, Harder, Lyons and Wes Ferrell -- and a quick medical checkup to heal an early-season leg injury for the Babe -- the Red Sox won the 1935 Pennant and World Series, their first since 1918. The Babe retired a World Champion.<br /><br />(Note: The idea that the Babe was not washed-up at age 40 in 1935, but was simply hurt, and the Boston Braves ignored that possibility, was raised by Bill Jenkinson in his book <span style="font-style:italic;">The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs</span>.)<br /><br />The Yankees, who finished 3 games behind the Red Sox and 2 behind the Tigers, looked like idiots.<br /><br />Fortunately, they had Joe DiMaggio coming up to join Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey. Unfortunately, a knee injury that DiMaggio had picked up in the minors prevented him from becoming a big star, and the Yankee dynasty was over.<br /><br />The Tigers finally won their first World Series in 1945. The Red Sox won it the next year, although they didn't win another for 40 years.<br /><br />On May 17, 1975, Hank Aaron hit his 738th career home run, breaking Ruth's career record.<br /><br />On April 15, 1976, Meadowlands Stadium opened in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Yankees and the NFL's New York Giants -- the only team to win a World Championship while playing home games at Yankee Stadium between 1933 and its closing after the 1975 season -- both played there until 1997. So did the NFL's New York Jets from 1984 to 1997.<br /><br />In 1986, Julia Ruth Stevens, the Babe's daughter, threw out the first ball before Game 3 of the World Series. The Sox won, and completed the sweep of the New York Mets the next day.<br /><br />In 1991, Mike Lupica of the New York <span style="font-style:italic;">Daily News</span> wrote a book about the Yankees and their inability to win a World Series since 1932. He called it <span style="font-style:italic;">The Curse of the Bambino</span>.<br /><br />In 1998, Trump Stadium opened over the West Side Rail Yards in Manhattan, west of Madison Square Garden. The Yankees and Jets both moved in. In 2010, Giants Stadium opened, next-door to the former Meadowlands Stadium, which has been demolished.<br /><br />The Mets lost the 2000 World Series to the Seattle Mariners, and have not won a World Series since their 1969 "miracle."<br /><br />Although the Yankees have won Pennants in 1943, 1957, 1958, 1963 and 1981, they still haven't won the World Series since the Babe called his shot in 1932.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Nightmare Scenario 2: After the 1946 season, the Yankees decided that Joe DiMaggio hadn't come back from World War II sufficiently strong. So general manager Larry MacPhail, drinking with Yawkey, agreed on a trade: DiMaggio, whose righthanded bat was a good fit for Fenway Park and its close left-field wall (not yet known as the Green Monster because the advertising signs wouldn't come down, revealing the green underneath, until the next season), for Ted Williams, whose lefthanded bat was a good fit for Yankee Stadium and its right-field "short porch."<br /><br />The next morning, Yawkey sobered up, and decided that Williams was better than DiMaggio, and demanded the Yankees throw in another player. A funny-looking Italian outfielder who could also catch.<br /><br />(In the history that we know, this was the dealbreaker. Here, it's not.)<br /><br />MacPhail and co-owners Dan Topping and Del Webb so wanted to get rid of DiMaggio, seemingly washed-up at age 32, and his salary demands that they threw in Larry Berra (not yet widely known as Yogi) and got Williams.<br /><br />Big mistake. Williams didn't get along with the New York press any more than he did the Boston press. He lost a lot of hits in Yankee Stadium's spacious center field. Meanwhile, DiMaggio recovered his stroke, and won the Triple Crown, the MVP, and the World Series with the Red Sox in 1947 and 1949, and won the Series in 1948, 1950 and 1951 as well, before hanging 'em up.<br /><br />Williams clashed with Yankee manager Casey Stengel too often, and when the Marine Corps called Ted back for the Korean War, the Yankee organization, from management to players, was a bit relieved. They were all too happy to give Williams' Number 9 to that kid from Oklahoma, who until now had been wearing DiMaggio's Number 5.<br /><br />That was Mickey Mantle. He helped the Yankees win World Series in 1956, '58, '61 and '62, before injuries and alcohol slowed him down. The Yankees haven't won the Series since the Cuban Missile Crisis -- not at Yankee Stadium (1963-75), not at Meadowlands Stadium (1976-97), not at Trump Stadium (1998-present).<br /><br />*<br /><br />Nightmare Scenario 3: After his Triple Crown season of 1956, Mantle asked for a doubling of his salary from $32,500 to $65,000. "We don't double salaries," said Yankee GM George Weiss. "I want $65,000," said Mantle. "You'll take what we give you, or we'll trade you to the Cleveland Indians," said Weiss. Mantle went over Weiss' head to co-owner Topping.<br /><br />(In the history that we know, Mantle got his $65,000.)<br /><br />Topping and Webb stood by Weiss, and the Yankees sent Mantle to the Indians for their amazing young lefthander, Queens native Herb Score.<br /><br />On May 7, 1957, Indian 3rd baseman Al Smith hit a line drive right back at Score. The accident had devastating consequences. Bones in his face were broken. His vision was affected. He was never the same pitcher again.<br /><br />(In the history that we know, Score stayed with the Indians, despite Yawkey offering the Indians $1 million, and the franchise, so often in financial trouble over the next 30 years, turned it down. And it was the Yankees' 3rd baseman, Gil McDougald, who hit the liner that curtailed Score's career.)<br /><br />Mantle didn't like hitting in Cleveland's cavernous Municipal Stadium, but the Indians were willing to pay him the $65,000. They won the Pennant in 1957 and the World Series in 1958 and 1959.<br /><br />Just before the 1960 season, Indian GM Frank Lane traded Rocky Colavito to the Tigers for Harvey Kuenn. Mantle complained about this to the press. Shortly thereafter, Mantle was traded too, for Charlie Maxwell and Steve Bilko.<br /><br />Pennants were won by the Baltimore Orioles in 1960 (lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates), Mantle and the Tigers in 1961 (Mickey broke Ruth's record with 61 home runs while Roger Maris hit 54 for the Yankees, and the Tigers beat the Cincinnati Reds), Mantle and the Tigers again in 1962 (lost to the San Francisco Giants), the Yankees in 1963 (lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers), and the White Sox in 1964 (their first Pennant since the Black Sox scandal of 1919, but lost the Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, and wouldn't win another Series until 2005).<br /><br />The Yankees still haven't won a Pennant since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy -- not the strangest thing about that assassination, not even connected to it, but interesting nonetheless.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Now, let's reverse the nightmare scenario. What if the Yankees HAD re-signed... Reggie Jackson after 1981?<br /><br />Although Reggie had his last great season in 1982, it probably wouldn't have helped, as the Yankees were too far back. In 1983, Reggie had his lowest batting average and home run and RBI totals for a full season, and George Steinbrenner would have thought he'd made a mistake to re-sign Reggie. A better season in 1984 probably doesn't derail the Tiger express that year. But in 1985 and 1986, Reggie's still-there power could have made the difference between winning the AL East and not.<br /><br />In 1985, the Yankees sweep a 3-game series from the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto on the final weekend of the regular season. Then, for the 4th time in 5 tries, they beat the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS. And I really wish those Cardinal fans would shut up about Don Denkinger's call: They still needed just 3 more outs, and could have gotten them, and there was still a Game 7. "Best baseball town in America"? Not St. Louis, not as long as they whine about Denkinger costing them the 1985 World Series. Yankees win.<br /><br />In 1986, well, let's just say that Dave Righetti was not Bob Stanley, and Don Mattingly was not Bill Buckner. First Subway Series since 1956, and Yankees win.<br /><br />In 1987, Reggie plays one more year, but it's not enough for the Yanks to edge the Tigers for the AL East title.<br /><br />*<br /><br />The Yankees didn't re-sign Tino Martinez after the 2001 season, getting Jason Giambi instead.<br /><br />We can't be sure that the Bamtino would've hit in the regular season or the postseason better than the Giambino. Especially since Giambi's 2 homers gave the Yanks a chance to come back in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. But all Tino would've needed was one RBI more than Giambi got in Game 4 or Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS, and we'd still be talking about the "real" Curse of the Bambino.<br /><br />I've already done one of these examining what might have happened if Andy Pettitte had been re-signed after 2003. His injury in 2004 would have caused him to miss the postseason for the Yankees every bit as much as for the Astros in real life, so that's not a help.<br /><br />The Yankees didn't re-sign either Johnny Damon or Hideki Matsui after the 2009 season. Would either of them have been better, in the regular season or the postseason, than Curtis Granderson (with Damon staying in left and Brett Gardner staying in center) or Marcus Thames (Matsui as the usual DH)?<br /><br />Both had their moments, and Granderson was one of only 2 Yankees to hit well in the 2010 ALCS, along with Robinson Cano. But Thames was horrid in that series, with a .301. That's not a batting, on-base or slugging average, that's his OPS, on-base PLUS slugging. He reached base in just 3 out of 17 plate appearances. Either Damon or Matsui, batting in place of Thames, might have meant a Pennant, or more.<br /><br />*<br /><br />Now, let me bring you Nightmare Scenario 4:<br /><br />It's the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 of the 2011 American League Championship Series. The home crowd is going wild. Their team is down 4-3 with 2 outs. But the tying run is on 2nd, and the winning run is on 1st.<br /><br />The batter is Derek Jeter.<br /><br />The opposing team's closer looks in. He fires. Jeter swings.<br /><br />He drives the ball into the left-center gap. The tying run scores easily. Here comes the winning run. Here's the throw from left field, the shortstop takes it as the cutoff man, he throws to the plate... <br /><br />A good throw would have gotten the runner. Instead, the shortstop screws it up. Ballgame over. Derek Jeter has led his team to the American League Pennant.<br /><br />Final score, Angels 5, Yankees 4.<br /><br />Mariano Rivera sits in the visitors' clubhouse at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, head down, seriously considering retirement. Yankee Fans are already inundating message boards with suggestions that the Yankees shouldn't have given Mo a big new contract a year earlier, and that he can't be trusted to close out the big games anymore.<br /><br />There's also some mention on said boards of how Alex Rodriguez went 2-for-28 with just 1 RBI, a 450-foot homer in Game 5 after the Yankees were already down 8-2 following another spit-the-bit performance by A.J. Burnett.<br /><br />In the Angels' clubhouse, team owner Arte Moreno is so glad he decided to show Jeter the money... money he was willing to spend, and the Steinbrenner brothers and Brian Cashman were not.<br /><br />In the World Series, Jeter spends the first 5 games flailing away at the plate. In the <span style="font-style:italic;">Daily News</span>, Lupica writes in his column that the Steinbrenners were right after all.<br /><br />Then in Game 6, Jeter hits a single and a double for 3 RBIs, and the Angels finish off the Reds. Over the next 3 days, first Yankee manager Joe Girardi and then Reds manager Dusty Baker are fired.<br /><br />The Yankees pry Don Mattingly away from the Dodgers to be their 2012 manager. He lasts until 2015, and is fired after 3 seasons with no Playoff berths. Yankee Fans finally realize there is one true curse in baseball: The Curse of Donnie Regular Season Baseball. No team with Don Mattingly in uniform, as player, coach or manager ever wins a Pennant.<br /><br />Derek Jeter retires after the 2016 season, at age 42, with 3,786 hits, 3rd all-time, and 8 World Championships to his credit: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014.<br /><br />The Mets celebrate the 50th Anniversary of their 1969 Miracle by winning the 2019 National League Pennant. But they lose the World Series to the Utah Buzz, in only their 5th season since moving to Salt Lake City following their inability to get a new ballpark to replace the inadequate dome they'd played in as the Tampa Bay Rays. Don't ask Met fans about the play that caused them to lose Game 7 in 2019: It's still too painful. Terry Collins last 2 more years as manager before he is fired.<br /><br />Jeter is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2020. His plaque shows him wearing a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim cap.<br /><br />The Yankees still haven't won a World Series since 2009, or made the Playoffs since 2011.<br /><br />Joel Sherman of the <span style="font-style:italic;">New York Post</span> writes a book titled <span style="font-style:italic;">The Curse of Derek Jeter: How the Yankees Threw It All Away</span>.<br /><br />It will be another few years before a dying Reggie Jackson asks Hal Steinbrenner to make peace with Jeter, to bring him back for Old-Timers' Day, to retire his Number 2, and to give him his Monument Park plaque. Too stubborn, Hal refuses to do so.<br /><br />In 2036, Alex Rodriguez is snubbed by the Baseball Writers' Association of America for the 15th and final time. Neither he, nor Barry Bonds, nor Mark McGwire, nor Sammy Sosa, nor Gary Sheffield, nor Roger Clemens have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame this way. Nor has Pete Rose, still on the permanently ineligible list, well after his death.<br /><br />In 2040, Alex Rodriguez dies of a stroke. He is only 64 years old.<br /><br />Shortly thereafter, Derek Jeter, about to turn 66, decides it's all silly, and patches things up with Yankee management. On Opening Day, his Number 2 is retired, he is given his Plaque, and he tells the fans, "It's good to be home." Before Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium II, Jeter and Rivera throw out ceremonial first balls to Natasha and Ella Rodriguez, A-Rod's daughters. The Yankees win the Series in 6 games, over the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Giants.<br /><br />(Note: There was a TV show a few years back called <span style="font-style:italic;">Space Precinct</span>, which predicted exactly this matchup for the 2040 World Series: Yankees vs. Yomiuri Giants. I figure that Hideki Matsui, formerly of both teams, will throw out the first ball before one of the games at the Tokyo Dome.)<br /><br />Jeter, like Yogi Berra and Ted Williams did before him, uses his influence with the Commissioner of Baseball and the Hall of Fame's Committee on Veterans. In 2041, shortly before what would have been Pete Rose's 100th birthday had he lived, Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson are removed from the ineligible list, and they are elected to the Hall of Fame. So are A-Rod, Clemens and Bonds, with the reasoning that, in spite of the criminal convictions against the latter two, they would have made it to the Hall even if they hadn't used steroids. McGwire, Sosa and Sheffield remain on the outside looking in.<br /><br />In 2042, an author writes a book of sports what-ifs, with one of the chapters being, "What if the Yankees had re-signed Derek Jeter in 2010?"<br /><br />*<br /><br />Wouldn't that be a great question to NOT have to ask?Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7722481122721646885.post-38187437608880367542010-11-16T17:06:00.000-08:002010-11-17T08:21:55.240-08:00What If There Were Earlier Super Bowls?January 1, 1961: The Houston Oilers defeat the Los Angeles Chargers, 24-16 at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston (now known as Robertson Stadium), in the first-ever American Football League Championship Game.<br /><br />January 2, 1961: Oilers owner Bud Adams calls a press conference and proclaims his team "the world champions of professional football."<br /><br />"Since the Philadelphia Eagles won't play us," Adams says of the team that won the NFL Championship 2 weeks ago, by beating the Green Bay Packers, 17-13 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, "we win the championship of the world by forfeit."<br /><br />January 3, 1961: NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle calls a meeting of team owners, to debate the challenge by Adams. Aside from Walter Wolfner of the St. Louis Cardinals and George Preston Marshall of the Washington Redskins, the owners all vote to accept the challenge of the AFL. Vince Lombardi, representing the stockholders of the Packers, made a speech attesting to the AFL's challenge to the NFL's pride, suggesting that refusing the challenge would amount to cowardice.<br /><br />January 4, 1961: The details are hammered out. The Eagles and Oilers will play at a neutral site likely to have good weather, the Orange Bowl in Miami. To give each team more time to prepare, the game will be held not the next Sunday, but the one after. And a team of collegiate referees, beholden to neither league, will officiate.<br /><br />January 15, 1961: The AFL-NFL World Championship Game is played. The Oilers take to the air, with George Blanda throwing 2 first-half touchdown passes to Charlie Hennigan. But late in the half, Eagle linebacker Chuck Bednarik sacks Blanda, injuring him. Backup quarterback Jacky Lee is not up to the task, and Norm Van Brocklin's pass to Timmy Brown in the 3rd quarter makes the difference. The Eagles win, 21-14, and "prove" the NFL's superiority.<br /><br />January 7, 1962: The 2nd World Championship Game is no contest. The Packers slaughter the Oilers, 45-7 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans.<br /><br />January 6, 1963: Again, the NFL Champions beat the AFL Champions. The Packers pound the Dallas Texans, 37-14.<br /><br />January 12, 1964: Make it 4-0. It goes to overtime at the Orange Bowl, but the Chicago Bears beat the San Diego Chargers, 27-21 on a touchdown run by Willie Galimore.<br /><br />July 27, 1964: Galimore attends a banquet in his honor in Chicago. He is not killed in a car accident. Neither is his teammate, Bo Farrington.<br /><br />January 2, 1965: Finally, the AFL Champions are World Champions. The Buffalo Bills defeat the Cleveland Browns, 28-10 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.<br /><br />January 9, 1966: "We have restored order to the football universe," says Packer coach Vince Lombardi. Packers 34, Bills 10.<br /><br />June 8, 1966: The full merger between the two leagues is finally approved. The 1966 season will feature exhibition games between AFL and NFL teams, a common draft will occur for the first time in 1967, and full regular-season games will be played starting in 1970.<br /><br />It is not until 1969 that the World Championship Game begins to be called the "Super Bowl." Joe Namath says, "We're going to win, I guarantee it," and he backs it up, quarterbacking the New York Jets to a 16-14 win over the Baltimore Colts at the Orange Bowl in Super Bowl IX. An injured Johnny Unitas had come off the bench to relieve the man who had filled in for him all season, Earl Morrall, and Gale Sayers scored a touchdown with 3 minutes remaining. But the Jets recovered the ensuing onside kick, and held on to win. It was one of the greatest games of all time.<br /><br />(Sayers was drafted by the Colts, because the Bears didn't need him. They already had Willie Galimore, alive and well.)<br /><br />In 1979, Willie Galimore, who became the 2nd man (after Jim Brown) to rush for 10,000 yards in a career, is elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Gale Sayers, the 3rd man to reach the milestone, is elected in 1982.<br /><br />Super Bowls won:<br /><br />Philadelphia Eagles: I (retroactively named, of course).<br />Green Bay Packers: II, III, VI, VII, VIII, XXXVII.<br />Chicago Bears: IV, XXVI.<br />Buffalo Bills: V.<br />New York Jets: IX.<br />Kansas City Chiefs: X.<br />Colts: XI (Baltimore), XLVII (Indianapolis).<br />Dallas Cowboys: XII, XVIII, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXVI.<br />Miami Dolphins: XIII, XIV.<br />Pittsburgh Steelers: XV, XVI, XIX, XX, XLVI, XLIX.<br />Raiders: XVII, XXI (Oakland), XXIV (Raiders).<br />San Francisco 49ers: XXII, XXV, XXIX, XXX, XXXV.<br />Washington Redskins: XXIII, XXVII, XXXII.<br />New York Giants: XXVII, XXXI, XLVIII.<br />Denver Broncos: XXXVIII, XXXIX.<br />St. Louis Rams: XL.<br />Baltimore Ravens: XLI.<br />New England Patriots: XLII, XLIV, XLV.<br />Tampa Bay Buccaneers: XLIII.<br />New Orleans Saints: L.<br /><br />(I'll do these for the ABA & NBA, and WHA & NHL sometime.)Uncle Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11618876073064128027noreply@blogger.com1