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Rest in Peace, Willie McCovey

November 1, 2018

Willie McCovey
Born: Jan. 10, 1938
Died: Oct. 31, 2018
We Love You, Willie!

We often talk and write of baseball as a game of seconds and inches. Those factors were never more critical than they were in Game Seven of the 1962 World Series. The date was October 16th. The site was Candlestick Park. The setting was the bottom of the 9th Terry kept the Giants at bay through eight innings, but he allowed a bunt single to Matty Alou to lead of the bottom of the ninth, with the New York Yankees leading the San Francisco Giants, 1-0, with Ralph Terry on the mound, needing only three more outs to settle one of the closest played World Series on record ~ and only two years after the 9th inning homer he gave up to Bill Mazeroski in Pittsburgh that cost the Yankees an earlier Game Seven and probably sealed the deed on transforming the scrappy Pirate second baseman into a future Hall of Famer.

Sometimes the lock on short memory is harder to find than at others. Terry had held off the Giants for eight innings in Game Seven back in 1962, but would he be able to hold off the memory of Mazeroski in the 9th for every critical pitch he needed to make this time? The use of pitchers was different back then. If there was any talk of someone else coming in to “close” the 9th for Terry and the Yanks, I don’t recall who or what that alternative might have been.

Bottom of the 9th

Matty Alou led off the bottom of the 9th for the Giants by reaching first base on a bunt single. His success seemed to steel the will of Terry ~ and he responded strongly by striking out Felipe Alou and Chuck Hiller to bring things down to a last-out-needed Yankee proposition. ~ One more out and the Yankees again were World Series Champions. ~ Two more runs and the Giants would harvest their first World Series win since the club’s 1958 move to the West Coast.

Then Willie Mays cranked up the heat for the Giants. His double to right sent Alou to third base. ~ Only a great throw from Roger Maris in right kept Matty from scoring. ~ But the stage temp had been elevated to white heat. ~ With two outs, the Giants had the tying run at third and the winning run at second ~ in the presence of two speedy runners ~ and the powerful Willie McCovey coming to bat with a shot of his own at a possible “Mazeroski Moment.”

McCovey had tripled and died at third during his previous 7th inning time at bat. Why Yankees manager Ralph Houk didn’t either walk McCovey in the 9th ~ or relieve Terry on the mound ~ are beyond my memory of considered alternatives this morning, except to again stress that these were different times. ~ Terry would pitch to McCovey ~ with everything on the line for all involved.

I remember watching this climax play out on a grainy black and white television screen at Otto’s Hamburger Joint in the Memorial near Shepherd Drives area. It was late afternoon when the climax moment arrived. They were still playing the World Series in the daytime back then ~ and quite a few of us were huddled near that maybe 14 inch screen TV set that was carrying the game that sunshiny-in-Houston day.

McCovey at the plate. We are watching him bat left-handed from a camera perched somewhere on the first base line side of things. The picture vista is broad enough to cover McCovey and any infielder who may have a play on a batted ball.

“There’s a line drive to right….”

Not quite. The rocket-speed shot off the bat of McCovey goes screaming toward right, but it never gets there. Little Bobby Richardson, the New York 2nd baseman has snared the liner in his glove. It’s not coming out. It’s out three. The game is over. The New York Yankees are the World Series Champions of the World. Again. And the Giants have lost.

Before all that good stuff could sink in. We united strangers at the hamburger joint in Houston are still trying to digest that little eye-flicker streak that so abruptly ended in Mr. Richardson’s glove. Once we begin to digest its full meaning, a collective sigh of “AHHHHHhhhhh” exhales from our lungs over what we’ve just been robbed of seeing. …. Alou easily scores the tying run …. now here comes Mays, sliding around a laser throw from Maris in right …. he’s safe …. the Giants win the Series ….  and here come the Giants, pouring onto the field, …. chasing after McCovey near first base …. and here comes Alou and Mays to pile on too! ….. (only it didn’t happen. Hence, the “AHHHHHhhhhh” exhalations.)

This is the moment I think of most when I think of Willie McCovey. A couple of inches higher or wider on that Game Seven ball’s final out flight pattern, and we would be celebrating 1962 to this day as one of the greatest comebacks in World Series history.

Ralph Terry was the 1962 Series MVP. And Willie McCovey later went into the Hall of Fame without “the big hit” in that game. He was too great to have his HOF worthiness riding on one big World Series moment. “I had a chance to be a big hero if I had gotten a hit and drove in those two runs,” McCovey said. “But it just didn’t happen.”

You were a big hero, anyway, big man ~ and you will never be forgotten. I will also be grateful for the time in Houston I got to meet you during an autograph show. You were one of the guys that made us fans feel welcome, and not like an easy buck signing dollar. I will never forget your kindness to us fans in Houston that day. I also got a kick out of learning that our birthdates were only ten days apart. I was your elder by ten days.

Rest in Peace, Willie McCovey. ~ You are still very loved by the world of baseball.

The Obituary Article

Thank you, Paul Rogers, for this reference to the wonderful obituary article on Willie McCovey in today’s San Francisco Chronicle. It’s such a must-read for McCovey fans that we also want to do all we are able to make sure you’ve seen it too. Here’s the link:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/article/Willie-McCovey-Giants-legend-dead-at-80-13352886.php

 

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

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Posted in Baseball, culture, History | 8 Comments »

Pick Your Astro-Champ Rebuilding Model

October 31, 2018

And…. pumpkin—-T00!!!

As we head into Week II of the Astros Baseball Off-Season, which of the physically comparable figures in this brief YouTube clip best serves as your model for what you hope to see from GM Jeff Luhnow in service to the goal of finding our (one-year-off) team only moving into Week I of the 2019 Off-Season at this time next year ~ as the returning Champions of Baseball.

If you’ve got a YouTube clip that better depicts how you would like to see the “championship recapture” efforts of Mr. Luhnow & Company go during this off-season, just send us an e-mail with a link and we will try to add it here as an addenda to this column with credit to you, or your user-name, if preferred, on how fired up we still are ~ in spite of our loss this time.

E-Mail Address for The Pecan Park Eagle: houston.buff37@gmail.com

If you’ve nothing new to add, at least, leave us a comment in the section below. We think the two little dogs, and what they relatively do, are worth it for a trait seen in many people and public entities. For example, if one of the two dogs shown here was a lone wolf entrepreneur ~ and the other worked for the post office ~ which dog held which job?

Thanks for the cute doggie clip, Tom Hunter. ~ Hope you like this storyline use we found for it.

 

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, History | 1 Comment »

Mind-Blowing Facts from WS18 Game 3

October 30, 2018

“Who says we’ll never see an extra inning game in which the tie is never broken, no matter how long they play? ! ~ This is baseball, isn’t it?”

A Few Prominent WS Game 3 Facts

Pitches – 561 Players Used – 46
At Bats – 118 Innings – 18
Pitchers Used – 18 K’s – 34
Time of Game – 7 hrs   20 min

18 amazing facts from marathon Game 3 of WS

By Andrew Simon and Manny Randhawa MLB.com
Oct. 27th, 2018:
  1. Muncy’s walk-off homer was the first in the World Series since his current teammate, David Freese, delivered one for the Cardinals in Game 6 in 2011.
  2. Previously, the Dodgers’ latest postseason homer was Kirk Gibson’s 12th-inning shot against the Mets at Shea Stadium in Game 4 of the 1988 NL Championship Series.
  3. Game 3 was the longest postseason game in MLB history at seven hours, 20 minutes.
  4. Game 3 was only the eighth game of any kind (regular season or postseason) since at least 1908 to exceed seven hours in length.
  5.  In terms of longest World Series games, Game 3 eclipsed Game 3 of the 2005 World Series in total length — that game between the White Sox and Astros was five hours, 41 minutes, ending in a 7-5 Chicago victory in 14 innings at Minute Maid Park.
  6. Friday’s Game 3 between the Red Sox and Dodgers also set a new record for longest World Series game in terms of innings, at 18.
  7. To put the time it took to play Game 3 in perspective, consider this note from STATS: The entire 1939 World Series finished in less time, wrapping up in a tidy seven hours, five minutes.
  8. (Game 3) represented the first instance of a go-ahead run scoring on an error in extra innings of a World Series game since the Mets’ Mookie Wilson’s ground ball went between Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner’s legs in Game 6 in 1986, allowing Ray Knight to score the winning run.
  9.  When Dodgers reliever Alex Wood took the mound to pitch the top of the 18th, he became the 44th player to participate in the contest, setting a new World Series record.
  10. The Red Sox and Dodgers each used nine pitchers in the game, tying a postseason record.
  11. The teams combined to use 46 players, including Clayton Kershaw, who served as a pinch-hitter.
  12. When Christian Vazquez moved from catcher to first base in the 11th inning, he became only the second player to play those two positions in a World Series game, joining Oakland’s Gene Tenace in Games 3, 6 and 7 of the 1973 World Series.
  13. When Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen gave up a game-tying homer to Jackie Bradley Jr. in the eighth inning, it was the second time a L.A. pitcher had given up a game-tying home run in the eighth inning or later of a World Series game.
  14. Eovaldi’s 97 pitches were the most in a relief appearance in the World Series, and he was the first reliever to complete six innings in a Fall Classic game since the Dodgers’ Rick Rhoden went seven in Game 4 in 1977 against the Yankees.
  15. Eovaldi had two at-bats, becoming the first relief pitcher to have two plate appearances in a World Series game since the Cardinals’ Bob Forsch, who went 0-for-2 in Game 4 of the 1987 World Series against the Twins.
  16. The top four spots in Boston’s lineup went a combined 0-for-28, with leadoff man Mookie Betts contributing an 0-for-7 line and No. 2 hitter Xander Bogaerts going 0-for-8.
  17. The Dodgers have never lost a Game 3 of the World Series at home when trailing, 2-0, improving to 7-0 in such games.
  18. The Dodgers became the first team to win a World Series game after trailing in the 11th inning or later.

For more detail, here’s the link to the full article by Simon and Randhawa:

https://www.mlb.com/news/2018-world-series-game-3-amazing-facts/c-299795560

Thank you, Simon and Randhawa, for this fine work at MLB.Com. The Pecan Park Eagle is delighted to pass it on to others with full credit to your serious efforts.

 

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, History | 2 Comments »

Congratulations, Red Sox

October 29, 2018

Red Sox Ownership May Be Interested in Revival of Ancient Broadway Show. ~ Stay tuned in this article for the latest hot rumors.

 

Congratulations, Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox! You got what you deserved. You are the World Series Champions of 2018 and the winner of 119 games over the course of both the regular season and the 11 more you added through your three rounds of playoff victory over the New York Yankees, the Houston Astros, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

You did it with the relentless fiery heart of destiny pulling you all the way into your final result. There was no stop in your go. You overcame an invitation to frustration and exhaustion by the loss in that 18-inning game at LA in Game 4, but you got back up and punched your way back to the top. Not even that late inning knockdown punch from the 3-homer time at bat by Yasiel Puig in Game 4 could leave you stone cold. You got off the canvas and followed a 3-homer spot punch by MVP David Pearce and other Boston bats that followed to render the Dodgers unconscious and just about marinate them enough for the final cooking that LA took last night to finish their hopes in the Game 5 finale.

Rookie Red Sox Manager Alex Cora was cool, calm, and gutsy.

There were some tough moments for the Red Sox in the 6th inning of Game 4, but the relentless rally play of the Bostons would soon enough save Alex Cora from any actual nail-biting.

He went after the Dodgers with all he had from pitchers and position players in Game 3, and, as he gazed so intently at the scoreboard throughout the marathon game, he appeared like Captain Ahab of literature fame ~ in focused search of a Moby Dick victory outcome at the risk of leaving his own club doubly vulnerable in Game 4, should they lose this one.

Risk Strategy Management. ~ It is the order of life for those field leaders who decide that the outcomes at stake are worth the gambles involved with a semi-“kitchen sink” approach to the use of personnel prior to a Game 7 moment. Cora ran this table very well in Game 3. As a result of last night’s Series win in five games, he has avoided what writers may have written had Boston lost both Games 4 and 5 and now may have found themselves flying back to Fenway for Game 6 trailing the Dodgers 3 games to 2.

Unfair as it often is, a manager’s intelligence level has no gradient scale. As a manager, you are either a “genius” or an “idiot” ~ depending upon whether your club wins or loses. Alex Cora may now rest on the genius shelf~ until something goes wrong enough to fire somebody because losing affects the gate ~ but a club has to be careful who they fire. You can’t afford to fire the whole team.

But that’s not a “can of worms” worry for Alex Cora and the Boston Red Sox on the morning of October 29, 2018, They are now the new Champions of Major League Baseball. It’s their time to “gather their rosebuds while they may.”

The rest of us will be waiting for them in 2019, especially us Astros fans!

Note on The Championship Date Ending in “–18”

The last time the Red Sox won a World Series in a year ending in “–18” was 1918. After selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees prior to 1920, the Red Sox didn’t win another World Series in the 20th Century. In fact, they would not win another World Series until 2004 ~ 86 years later ~ when they won their next World Series and broke the so-called “Curse of the Bambino.”

Hey, Red Sox, here’s a deal for you! ~ We understand that the current Red Sox owners want to bring back the musical “No No, Nanette” as a revival show on Broadway, but they need a modest $10,000,000 to finance the venture, plus 2019 salary increases for several of their current baseball stars. ~ Hey, new Champs, if, indeed, you are smart enough to be seriously interested, please have GM Dave Dombroski get in touch with Astros GM Jeff Luhnow at your earliest convenience. He can have the show biz/salary-raise money you’re going to need in your account before nightfall ~ and ~ to make that happen ~ all you have to do is sign over the player contracts of Mookie Betts, J.D. Martinez, and David Price to the Houston Astros in a fair and equitable exchange of money for valued baseball services. ~ That should solve both your Broadway show financing and bulging salary problems in one fell swoop.

What a deal, right?

 

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

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Posted in Baseball, culture, History | 4 Comments »

A “Flare” for the Dramatic at Dodger Stadium

October 28, 2018

A “Natural” depiction of how Yasiel Puig felt when he hit the 3-run homer in the bottom of the 6th that gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead over the Red Sox in Game 4 of the 2018 World Series. The problem is ~ it was not the bottom of the 9th and ~ as everybody knows ~ the game ‘ain’t over til it’s over,’ right? Not to be outdone by Puig’s muscle-flashing prance around the bases, Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez pantomimes a two-year old kid’s protest tantrum on the mound as his portrayal of the Boston yang side of Puig’s LA yin deed.

 

Mitch Moreland also gets to see, hear and smell the lights out magic when he tags Ryan Madson of the Dodgers for a 3-run dinger in the top of the 7th to bring his Red Sox back to a mere 4-3 deficit in Game 4, but this HR only breeds the inverse division of team Boston hope and LA frustration. The game still “ain’t” over ~ and, as such, this homer also fails as a walk-off event that deserves the flaring arc-exploding salute!

 

In the top of the 8th, Boston’s Steve Pearce bangs a solo homer to left off LA ace reliever Kenley Jansen to tie the game at 4-4. While it seriously arouses the Red Sox Nation’s mystical belief in their team’s special powers ~ and as it seriously steamrolls LA’s natural Dodger-Dopamine supply, it also happens at a time that falls short of that special walk-off-under-the-exploding-lights time in Game 4.

 

Finally, it was the bottom of the 9th. A 2-run homer by Enrique Hernandez of the Dodgers off Boston closer Craig Kimbrel could’ve been the perfect time for that runaway light bill explosion and a 6-4 walk-off win for LA over Boston, just as Hollywood movie script requires, except for one obstacle. ~ The Truth. ~ The Sox had scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th. All this homer could do was bring the final losing score for LA up to the 9-6 deficit it actually became. ~ The Dodger Stadium maintenance team will not need to replace any broken arc lights prior to tonight’s Game 5. ~ Nothing that dramatic actually happened in reality. ~ It does appear, however, that the Red Sox are building a master-powers-belief booster shot for themselves that should be good for another 100 years ~ or until their next World Series appearance ~ whichever comes first.

 

Red Sox Myth or Reality? (True or False?)

  1. Terry Francona eventually was fired as Manager of the Boston Red Sox because of all the sunflower seeds he spat upon former General Manger Theo Epstein’s office carpet during their administrative meetings at Fenway Park.
  2. Ted Williams and the late actor Robert Ryan were actually twin brothers, separated at birth by error.
  3. The Yankees and Red Sox once came close to a straight up trade ~ RHB Joe DiMaggio for LHB Ted Williams ~ just so each player could take greater advantage of the foul line distances that favored each man with a switch ~ over what they each presently faced at Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park.
  4. On off days, Ted Williams sometimes enjoyed sitting in the stands at Fenway Park and shooting down pigeons from their homes under the stadium roof as they flew in and out of the property.
  5. They might have been known as the “Boston Green Sox”, but the club’s order for that popular Irish color in hosiery arrived at the ballpark mistakenly in the color red. Rather than correcting the order, the club simply decided to change their new nickname to “Red Sox.”

 

Actor Robert Ryan

 

Red Sox World Series Frivolity/Opponent Desperation Addendum Fact:

6. Trailing the Red Sox, 3 games to 1 in the 2018 World Series, LA will dress out for Game 5 wearing the uniforms of the 7th US Calvary, adjusted to Dodger Blue color from the much darker shade you see in the featured picture below. Starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw will be decked out as General George Armstrong Custer, fitted complete with long blonde hair and moustache-masking wig hair material as shown in this featured work of art that served as their millinery model.

george-armstrong-custer-1839-1876-granger

Dodger Starter Clayton Kershaw, Decked Out As General George Armstrong Custer for World Series Game 5, Oct. 28, 2018.

 

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Tags:
Posted in Baseball, culture, History | 3 Comments »

Best Wishes to LA and Sam Quintero

October 26, 2018

 

Happy Home Games, LA!

(To the tune of “Happy Birthday To You”)

 

Happy Home Games, LA!

Happy Home Games, LA!

Happy Home Games, Dear Los Angeles!

Please say something ~ to untangle us!

 

Confusion reigns ~ o’er belief!

As your fans near ~ great grief!

Three at home now ~ and you must win two!

Or it’s all o’er ~ for you!

 

Can you do it ~ LA friends?

Or are those smiles ~ merely spins?

On a deadly-damned situation,

From which there is ~ no extrication! *

 

* It’s about 12 hours shy of 10:00 PM CDT Friday as we pen these words of LA cheer. We should have something of a fast referendum on their accuracy by this time tonight.

Let’s just have some good baseball drama as we prepare to shut the door on serious field business again until 2019.

 

Happy Birthday, Sam Quintero!

Also, on a really important natal note ….

“Dear Daddy Sam, I couldn’t mail your card because the way I lick stamps doesn’t work. So, I asked Bill and he said it would be OK for me to send my wishes electronically here at TPPE. ~ Happy Birthday Dad! ~ You’ve sure made all the difference in my world by taking me home when I was younger and setting up the situation which has allowed us to take care of each other forever as family. We do the work, but our love for each other always supplies the energy. For all you do, I am ‘bow-wow” grateful!”
~ All My Puppy Love!
~ Perry Mason, the Shih Tzu Wonder Dog.

 

Happy Birthday to Our Good Friend and SABR Colleague, Sammy Quintero ~ today, October 26, 2018!

Sam turned ageless at the stroke of midnight earlier this morning! ~ Stay happy forever, our very good friend!

 

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Baseball, culture, History, Houston | Leave a Comment »

The Boston-Roberts Connection.

October 25, 2018

The 2004 steal against the Yankees that helped make Dave Roberts a minor hero, but an all important Boston legend.

Red Sox Manager Alex Cora and Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts were teammates as members of the 2004 Dodgers. Cora hit .264 in 134 games, mostly as a second baseman. Roberts batted .253 in 68 games as an LA outfielder before he was traded to a pennant-hungry Red Sox club in time to hit .258 in 45 games for the Boston club that broke “The Curse” with a 4-0 sweep of the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series, their first title win since pitcher Babe Ruth led them to the 1918 World Series before his pre-season trade to the Yankees prior to 1920 ~ a move that supposedly left the franchise cursed from ever repeating in the winner’s circle.

Apparently, the curse wasn’t attached to that dreaded “until the crack of doom” condition that so often finds its way onto these horrific forms of damnation ~ and guess what? A pinch sit single by current manager Dave Roberts, plus a stolen base and a run he scored on another Red Sox hit against the Yankees played an important role in the ultimate 2004 Boston win over the Yankees in the ALCS that season. It earned the current LA skipper with a medium high mantle of honor in the Red Sox Hall of Unbridled Lobster Hot Hubris.

Check out the linked article to cop-a-feel for Dave Roberts’ emotional reaction to his Boston memories upon his return. His love for Boston and Fenway is great, but tempered by today’s reality ~ sort of like the man who attends a dinner party that includes an ex-wife he still loves ~ but from afar, in civil acceptance that she’s now married to someone else ~ like his old buddy from younger days ~ a guy like Alex Cora.

For all you Days of Our Lives fans, here’s the link:

https://www.tampabay.com/blogs/rays/2018/10/22/world-series-dodgers-manager-dave-roberts-remains-a-red-sox-hero/

 

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Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

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Posted in Baseball, culture, History | Leave a Comment »

The Curse and Dem Bums in a Nutshell

October 24, 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Red Sox and Dodgers are each colorfully infamous for their associations with two of baseball’s most unforgettable litany lines (i.e., please note: we said “litany’ lines ~ not “Nittany Lions.”).

Because Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the soon-to-be-hated-even more Yankees prior to the 1920 season, the Boston American League club would not win another World Series until the 21st century after winning five of the first fourteen they played under the new World Series format that started in 1903.

It’s right there in the record, gaping back at the reader with all the green-with-envy and orange-with-anger Boston Irish eyes that fed annually upon the idea of “The Curse of the Bambino” for all of the seasons beyond 1918 that their team couldn’t even get back to a World Series until 1946 ~ but only to incur the next level of the curse ~ coming close in the Series 4 more times, once in only four of the six remaining 20th century decades, but only to lose painfully each time. ~ Remember Bill Buckner in 1986?

Then the Red Sox got their splits together in the 21st century and broke “the curse” in 2004, and twice more since, with a good chance of doing it again this year, 2018, based upon their relentless destruction of the Dodgers in Game One of last night’s opener.

The Dodgers, “‘Dem Bums” from their almost always getting beat up Brooklyn days are another story. They pretty much made hapless losing and painful last game crumbling an art form ~ and with considerable help from the Yankees ~ Except for 1955, Brooklyn fans ended every damned season screaming loud into the those bitter last game nights ~ “Wait’ll Next Year!”

Once they moved to Los Angeles, the Dodgers started getting to the World Series more often on a win-some/lose-some basis, but now they are battling a 30-year absence from winning their last one.

Astros Nation appreciates the thrilling challenge that the Dodgers gave our Houston club last year. Our Game Five Astros victory at home was one for the ages and a Game Seven Houston closer win in LA was one we shall cherish forever.

We also knew that the Dodgers have that kind of losing in their baseball DNA and that “Wait Until Next Year” came quickly to their minds, if not their lips, when the deed was done.

Now “Wait’ll Next Year” has become the Astros’ 2018 season swan song. We are hoping it’s available to us only on a short-term rental basis.

Here are the World Series bottom lines for both the Red Sox and the Dodgers. See for yourself. The agony and the ecstasy is all laid out here for your own experience with its indelible baseball lore presence in fact.

 

Boston Red Sox Franchise World Series Record

YEAR S#-F# RED SOX OPPPONENT W-L-W%
1903 01-01 W 5-3 > PGH PIRATES 1-0, 1.000
1904 No World Series
1912 08-02 W 4-3 > NY GIANTS 2-0, 1.000
1915 11-03 W 4-1 > PHI ATHLETICS 3-0, 1.000
1916 12-04 W 4-1 > BRK ROBINS 4-0, 1.000
1918 14-05 W 4-2 > CHI CUBS 5-0, 1.000
1946 42-06 L 3-4 < SL CARDINALS 5-1,   .833
1967 63-07 L 3-4 < SL CARDINALS 5-2,   .714
1975 71-08 L 3-4 < CIN REDS 5-3,   .625
1986 82-09 L 3-4 < NY METS 5-4,   .556
1994 No World Series
2004 99-10 W 4-0 > SL CARDINALS 6-4,   .600
2007 102-11 W 4-0 > COL ROCKIES 7-4,   .636
2013 108-12 W 4-2 > SL CARDINALS 8-4,   .667

Header Notes:

S#-F# = Word Series & Franchise Sequential Numbers as actual events. No World Series took place in either 1904 or 1994. The franchise always has been located in Boston and has played in the World Series as the Red Sox since 1912. They won, however, as the “Boston Americans” in the 1903 start of it all.

What about the 19th century championships?

Our accounting for World Series history begins with the 20th century modern era that began in 1903. We are mindful of the 19th century baseball championships and no denigration of those accomplishments is intended. Baseball simply lacked the stability to organize anything that had much chance of lasting longer than a given team’s immediate direct interest in playing in such a game. The losers simply walked away and the league had no shared partnership that could sustain all team support, even during the bad years that some clubs might be having.

1903 was the start of the time in which 16 stable franchises started for the first time what has continued through today as the same process that 16 founders and 14 expansion franchise brothers that survived over time continue to make happen. In 2018, MLB is still playing annually for the same clearly named World Series Championship on a prescribed annual basis. Nothing like that ever happened until the 20th century.

Even in the 20th century movement, baseball had to survive the Giants’ refusal to play Boston in the 1904 Series that didn’t happen. McGraw and company apparently were afraid of losing, but these actions prodded MLB into fighting for a total commitment that would not allow a single club, from 1905 forward, to refuse the honor of representing their league in The Series. It would be their honor and their responsibility to play the World Series.

And that’s the codicil rule that separated the 20th century World Series effort from anything that happened in the 19th century. McGraw and the Giants might have been allowed to bully baseball into killing the 1903 World Series effort as someone always did in some way during the 19th century period, but, this time, baseball stopped the bully. So, in the end, baseball did not really have a World Series plan in place until the 1905 games were played, as we said earlier, as a matter of honor and responsibility.

And that’s my shortest route to why I prefer to start anything I do on the World Series from the 1903 effort forward ~ and that’s no denigration of the earlier era. 19th century baseball people simply were either too powerless or unable to see what was holding them back from a World Series plan that could hope to survive.

 

Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers Franchise World Series Record 

YEAR S#-F# BROOKLYN OPPONENT W-L-W%
1916 12-01 L 1-4 < BOS RED SOX 0-1, .000
1920 16-02 L 2-5 < CLE INDIANS 0-2, .000
1941 37-03 L 1-4 < NY YANKEES 0-3, .000
1947 43-04 L 3-4 < NY YANKEES 0-4, .000
1949 45-05 L 1-4 < NY YANKEES 0-5, .000
1952 48-06 L 3-4 < NY YANKEES 0-6, .000
1953 49-07 L 2-4 < NY YANKEES 0-7, .000
1955 51-08 W 4-3 > NY YANKEES 1-7, .125
1956 52-09 L 3-4 < NY YANKEES 1-8, .111
LOS ANGELES
1959 55-10 W 4-2 > CHI WHITE SOX 2-8, .200
1963 59-11 W 4-0 > NY YANKEES 3-8, .273
1965 61-12 W 4-3 > MIN TWINS 4-8, .333
1966 62-13 L 0-4 < BAL ORIOLES 4-9, .308
1974 70-14 L 1-4 < OAK ATHLETICS 4-10, .286
1977 73-15 L 2-4 < NY YANKEES 4-11, .267
1978 74-16 L 2-4 < NY YANKEES 4-12, .250
1981 77-17 W 4-2 > NY YANKEES 5-12, .294
1988 84-18 W 4-1 > OAK ATHLETICS 6-12, .333
1994 No World Series
2017 112-19 L 3-4 < HOU ASTROS 6-13, .316

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

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Baseball Reliquary News and Notes

October 23, 2018

Episode-181-Summer-of-68-690x630

Introduction ~

Those of you traveling to Los Angeles later this week for the continuation of the World Series need to take note that The Baseball Reliquary will be offering a free historical program in nearby Pasadena CA on Thursday and Saturday that Director Terry Cannon will be outlining for you in the following message ~ as he also extends to each of you a hearty invitation to join in the fun, and attend, if you can make either presentation date.

The Baseball Reliquary is our west coast heartbeat for serious ~ and sometimes lighthearted serious preservation of even those arcane events that bring comedy to the “business” of honoring the history of the game. For a fuller hold on what we’re talking about here, read the whole article before you click the links that Terry Cannon also has provided within his text.

Also, regardless of where you live, give some thought to supporting the work of TBR by signing on with Terry as a new contributing member. Simply contact Terry Cannon by phone or e-mail that he has provided for us in his message today.

Thank you. ~ And enjoy. ~ Bill McCurdy ~ The Pecan Park Eagle publisher ~ And Baseball Reliquary Member.

Baseball Reliquary News and Notes

By Terry Cannon

TIM WENDEL PROGRAMS ON OCTOBER 25 & 27

This coming week, the Baseball Reliquary will host two programs with Tim Wendel, author of “Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball – and America – Forever.” Tim will be visiting Southern California from his home in Vienna, Virginia. The first program will be on Thursday, October 25, at 7:00 p.m. at Villalobos Hall, 13507 Earlham Drive, on the campus of Whittier College. This free program will be co-sponsored by the Institute for Baseball Studies. Parking on campus is free after 5:00 p.m., and we recommend parking in the lot on the corner of Painter Avenue and Earlham Drive, as it is right next door to Villalobos Hall. While you are on campus, make sure to visit the Wardman Library, as the Institute for Baseball Studies and the Baseball Reliquary are presenting an exhibition, “Bad Moon Rising: Baseball and the Summer of ’68,” based on Tim Wendel’s book. The library is open until midnight on Thursday, in case you’d like to view the exhibition immediately following Tim’s presentation at Villalobos Hall.

If you can’t attend Thursday’s program, the Baseball Reliquary is hosting a second visit with Tim Wendel on Saturday, October 27, at 2:00 p.m. at the Allendale Branch Library, 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena.

Both programs will feature a discussion and book signing. Tim will present a slide show of images related to the 1968 baseball season. Copies of “Summer of ‘68” will be available for purchase for $15 each. We are pleased to attach the news releases for both events. As we look forward to the 2018 World Series, these  programs offer a great opportunity for us to reflect back on the 50th anniversary of a World Series for the ages – one which capped an extraordinary and unforgettable season.

NEW BASEBALL RELIQUARY DOCUMENTARY

We are pleased to share the link to Mike Plante’s 24-minute documentary, “This is The Baseball Reliquary,” which features Tomas Benitez, Joe Price, Greg Jezewski, Ben Sakoguchi, and others. Also included are excerpts from acceptance remarks by Shrine of the Eternals inductees Dock Ellis, Jim Bouton, and Pam Postema. A producer and director, Mike Plante is also the senior short film programmer for the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary features an original soundtrack by Nicholas Brawley. We think you’ll enjoy this “inside” look at the Baseball Reliquary in all its peripatetic glory.

https://vimeo.com/283514815

BASEBALL RELIQUARY LAUNCHES YOUTUBE CHANNEL

The Baseball Reliquary recently launched its own YouTube channel, with the purpose of uploading a variety of video material from its extensive archives, much of which has never before been seen. Thanks to documentary filmmaker Mike Plante and to Baseball Reliquary Webmaster Loren Roberts, several videos are now available for viewing, and we will be uploading more footage in the coming weeks and months as it is digitized.

http://bit.ly/baseballreliquaryyoutube

Current highlights include two comedy benefits for the Baseball Reliquary, from 2002 and 2005, both featuring all-star rosters of performers and comedians including the likes of Thom Sharp, Jack Riley, Jay Johnstone, Fred Willard, Ronnie Schell, Wayne Federman, John Caponera, George Wendt, Greg Proops, Dom Irrera, and many others.

Here are the links to two of the most memorable events in the history of the Baseball Reliquary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47gCQE10LgE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCj4KTzyT1Q

Sincerely,
Terry Cannon
Executive Director
The Baseball Reliquary
www.baseballreliquary.org

e-mail: terymar@earthlink.net
phone: (626) 791-7647

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

 

 

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An Early Hispanic Texas League Star

October 22, 2018

Leo “Najo” Alaniz
Early 20th Century
Mexican-American Baseball Pioneer

The best quick study of Leo Alaniz’s family history and life-in-baseball story is available on Wikipedia. A deeper treatment is most probably available in “Baseball’s First Mexican-American Star: The Amazing Story of Leo Najo“, written in 2008 by Noe Torres. 

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Excerpt from Wikipedia ….

Early Life

Leo Najo was born Leonardo Alanis on February 17, 1899 in the small town of La Lajilla, located in the municipality of Doctor Coss in Nuevo León, Mexico. When Najo was 10, his mother moved the family to the nearby town of Mission, Texas, where she purchased a small tavern and operated it successfully for many years afterward. Najo lived in Mission for the rest of his life. The family’s financial stability allowed the youth to spend much of his time playing the relatively new game of baseball, which was very popular along the Texas-Mexico border at the start of the 20th century.[3]

In the early 1920s, Najo and several other young men in Mission formed a town semi-pro team, the Mission 30-30s, named after the Winchester Model 1894 rifle, which was popularly known as the 30-30 rifle. The 30-30s became a baseball institution in Mission, existing until the mid-1960s. A number of famous South Texans besides Najo played on the 30-30s team, including future Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry and future U.S. Congressman Kika de la Garza.[3]

Because playing semi-pro ball in Mission was only bringing in about $6 per week, Najo also played for other South Texas teams, including the Milmo Bank team of Laredo, Texas. Najo also played with some of the very earliest organized teams in Mexico, including the Cuauhtemoc Brewery team of Monterrey in 1922. The Cuauhtemocs are viewed by baseball historians as an important early Mexican franchise and a forerunner of the highly successful Sultanes de Monterrey in the modern Mexican League.[4]

It was during Najo’s early, semi-pro playing days that he began using “Najo” as his playing name. Relatives believe the name derived from the Spanish word for rabbit, “conejo”, given to Najo by fans because of his fast base running.[3]

Because of his natural speed and catching ability, Najo mostly played center field, although he often played the other outfield positions and, rarely, the infield. In addition to being an above-average hitter (.321 lifetime batting average), Najo excelled at drawing walks and stealing bases, and he was often the team’s leadoff hitter. In his twenties, he stood 5-foot-9 and weighed 144 pounds.[3]

The Transition to Professional Baseball

During the early 1920s, Najo’s Milmo Bank team occasionally traveled to San Antonio, Texas for games against semi-pro teams there. During one of these visits, Najo was “discovered” by a scout with the San Antonio Bears of the Class A Texas League. He was signed in December 1923 and played his first pro game on April 16, 1924 at San Antonio’s League Park, leading off and playing right field for the Bears against the Galveston Sand Crabs. By his participation in that game, he became one of the first Mexicans to play U.S. professional baseball. Baseball historians also believe Najo was the first Mexican to play in the Texas League, which was established in 1888.[3]

Later in 1924, forced to reduce their roster, the San Antonio Bears “lent” Najo to the Class D Tyler, Texas Trojans, where he led the team to the championship of the East Texas League, finishing third in the league in batting and earning a .992 fielding average. Najo received recognition for his fast base running and acrobatic catches in the outfield.[3]

Najo played almost the entire 1925 season on loan from San Antonio to the Class C Okmulgee, Oklahoma Drillers of the Western Association. He played in 142 games, mostly at center field, hit 34 home runs, made 213 hits, and compiled a .381 batting average. After the season, league president J. Warren Seabough told the Chicago Daily Tribune, “Leo Najo … is one of the greatest players of all time in the Western Association.”[3]

The White Sox Tryout Experience

Following Najo’s success with the Okmulgee Drillers, the Chicago White Sox drafted him in the winter of 1925, and thus he became, most historians agree, the first Mexican player ever taken by a major league team. A November 8, 1925 Washington Post article refers to Najo as “one of the greatest baseball players of all time.”[3]

He appeared in a number of spring training games for the White Sox in 1926, seven years before Mel Almada officially became the first Mexican player to earn a regular roster spot in the U.S. major leagues. According to newspaper accounts of the day, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, baseball’s first commissioner, watched Najo play in exhibition games in 1926. Decades later, in 1973, another baseball commissioner, Bowie Kuhn, attended Najo’s induction into the Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Profesional de México in Monterrey.[3]

Najo’s spring training statistics indicate that he played well enough to make the major league team. However, on the final day of spring training, Najo was released to the San Antonio Bears. The Chicago Daily Tribune reported, “The Sox squad was cut down by one today when Najo … was shipped to the San Antonio club to which he has been released outright. There are others tonight awaiting the signal to move.”[3]

Although the exact reason for his dismissal remains a mystery, Najo’s family suspects that the decision was due, at least in part, to racial prejudice among the major league players and team officials. The White Sox attempted to portray Najo, who was of dark complexion and spoke limited English, as a native American (“Chief Najo”) due to prevailing racism against Mexicans. Najo family members say that, although he remained upbeat and dedicated to his love of baseball, racial prejudice did adversely affect his career.[3]

Minor League Record of Leo “Najo” Alaniz

400px-Najo-stats

A Link to the Full Wikipedia Article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Najo

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Link to 2008 Biography by Noe Torres

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What an amazing life ~ by a talented man ~ and one flying under the general awareness radar all these years from the kind of recognition that he deserves for the playing opportunity cause of so-called “browns” in organized baseball.

Most of us will never live long enough to see the welcome day that is now coming. It is a day that will take the rainbow all the way out of the mix for those who need to use biological discrimination as leverage for personal or smaller group power by one racial group over all others.

Cocoa America. ~ The Day is Coming. ~ It is already well on the way.

And, thank you, ~ Jackie Robinson, Leo “Najo” Alaniz (or Alanis), and all others who have contributed to the coming of Cocoa MLB.

 

********************

Bill McCurdy

Principal Writer, Editor, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

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