Posts Tagged ‘History’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Anatomy of a Buffs Scorecard

November 12, 2010

Official Scorecard of the 1951 Houston Buffs

The Norman Rockwell-like scene selected for the cover of the four-page 1951 Houston Buffs scorecard came courtesy of the ELks magazine. As the program also notes, the original piece of this work was then hanging in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown.

What else can we learn from this small artifact from local baseball history? The items we are about to see pretty much speak for themselves about who advertised, the availability and cost of baseball food and other mild altering products, plus lineups, rosters, and the Buffs 1951 game schedule. For the most part from here, I just want to get out of the wy and let the pictures speak for themselves. These all came from the four pages of the one-piece folding scorecard that once sold golden memories for ten cents a copy.

As a Buffs supporter, Finger Furniture came early and stayed late. The memory of the Buffs is now immortalized, we hope, at the Houston Sports Museum inside the Finger Furniture Store that still operates on the site of Buff Stadium on the Gulf Freeway in Houston.

I stand corrected by own better memory this morning. Aubrey, Orval, & Mac NEVER said "less overhead in LaPorte." That one belonged to the bald-headed Les Felzer (sp) and his dealership.

Taking in a burlesque show after a Buffs baseball game was never part of my early baseball memories, but I guess old Bozo St. Clair must have pulled in a few fans along the way.

Wild Man Rex Barney, outfielder Gino Cimoli, and manager Bobby Bragan stand out as famous names on the '51 Fort Worth Cats roster.

Check out the # 5 and # 6 holes for Larry Miggins & Jerry Witte, the power of the '51 Buffs. Miggins had 28 HR on the season; Witte had 38.

Hope you can read the prices. Fans did not have to mortgage the ranch to buy good ballpark food and drink at old Buff Stadium, but also note the absence of souvenirs for sale. Baseball had yet to catch on to replica jerseys and caps as an important revenue stream - and maybe we didn't have the excess spending cash in those days, anyway.

Buff Stadium Concession Stand Prices: "Oh, say! Can you see?" Burgers were 25 cents; hot dogs were 20 cents; a fried chicken dinner with fries hung as the big spender food item at 75 cents; soft drinks cost 10 cents; Grand Prize and Southern Select beers were 25 cents; Schlitz Beer set you back 35 cents and, WHOA!, a pack of cigarettes could be yours for a mere 25 cents. Ice cream stopped on a dime, as did peanuts pop corn, and snow cones. They did have a souvenir bat for a whopping 75 cents.

A Buff homer won some "lucky" fan a ten dollar account credit at Grant's for holding the right number in the instant drawing that then occurred at Buff Stadium.

It was also a "given" at Grant's that you could fill in this little coupon, cut it out of your beautiful historical game program, and drop it in the slot at Gran;s in person to have a chance at their next drawing for a "free" Motorola TV. The catch is - you had to go all the way downtown to Grant's to enter. Mail entries were thrown away.

I was a kid in 1951 so this ad did nothing for me, but I don't recall my hardworking dad running out to buy life insurance as result of this George P. Montgomery softball pitch.

Rupley fixed brakes. Gimme a "break," - what do you suppose he gave away during those drawings that got his name mentioned over the PA system at Buff Stadium?

Venetian windows and blinds were really big in the early 1950s, but I could not have told you that this company ever existed had I not read of it closely doing this dissection of the scorecard..

How To Order Tickets By Mail & Another Drawing: This time fans had a chance to win a "gold-filled" watch band from Levit's Jewelry any time a player for either team hit a triple.

W.T. Grant also pushed work clothes and portable radios. "Take one everywhere ... enjoy extra pleasure. See them at Grant's Department Store."

Gaidos. Good then. Good now. (In Galveston only these days.)

At 25 cents a local beer at Buff Stadium, some Buff fans with ten bucks, a thirst, and not much appetite could probably experience a not so sober end to their evening at the Baseball Bar on Cullen and then try driving home drunk. Some things are better today. The drunk driving numbers were much higher in the old days. They just don't show up in the arrest stats because drunk drivers once got away with it unless they caused a wreck or fatality.

I don't recall this pretty girl ever taking my order at the Buff Stadium Concession Stand. Most of the attendants who waited on me were old guys with a two-day beard growth and a Camel cigarette dangling from their lips as they dipped the mustard for the hot dogs.

Some Final Advertisers: These nine additional local sponsors once supported the Buffs with their advertising dollars. For that contribution, those of us who care about the preservation of local baseball history need to express our gratitude.

Well, that’s it. Four pages of the printed word with pictures and cartoons have survived in this fold-over piece of light cardboard paper like a little time capsule on the way things were in Houston during the middle of the twentieth century. I hope you’ve enjoyed this operation as much as I have enjoyed looking with you for all the little specific messages it contains from back in the day.

Most of these little scorecards never made it out of the ballpark back in 1951. When the game was over, they ended up as trash in the stands to be collected and burned. This one just happened to end up in the hands of a thirteen year old kid who rarely threw anything away, especially if it had something to do with baseball and the Houston Buffs.

Have a nice weekend, everybody!

Tags:, ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Old Houston Car Dealers

November 11, 2010

“take the wheel…make a deal…on a beautiful Rocket Oldsmobile”

Important Notice: This column thread is closed from further reader comment at this site, as of February 12, 2018, due to a volume of interest that exceeds our particular aims at The Pecan Park Eagle. We are appreciative, however, of the apparent high interest in a site that is designed to keep this ball rolling.

Reader John Landeche has created a new site at Facebook for everyone who wants to stay in touch as connected members of this new “Old Houston Car Dealers” location on FB.

We do NOT have the link. For further information, contact John Landeche at his e-mail address, jlandexp3@yahoo.com

Thank you all for support here. And please know that we will do all we can to help the group connect at their new base.

Regards,

Bill McCurdy, Publisher

The Pecan Park Eagle

Most to all of the Houston car dealers that I shall mention here are long gone. I’m presuming they all are, but with the caveat that one or two may still exist on a low-advertising budget during an era in my life which finds me less involved with car dealers than I ever was as a kid and young man.

I grew up with cars and car dealers because cars were my my dad;s business. Dad had a Dodge-Plymouth dealership in Beeville, Texas back in the 1930s. In fact, when Dad opened his doors there in 1936, he was briefly recognized as the youngest car dealer in the United States at age 25.

World War II ended our family-run dealership and we moved to Houston on my fifth birthday, December 31, 1942, spending our first Houston night at the old Big Chief Motel on South Main and celebrating New Year’s Eve with burgers at the Prince’s Drive Inn at the South Main/OST “Y” connection of those two old city roads.

Dad spent World War II working as a welder at the Brown’s Shipyard and then went to work as manager of the parts department for the Jess Allen Chrysler-Plymouth dealership near the Broadway/Harrisburg “L” link in 1946. He later held the same job for Bill Lee Motors, a Studebaker dealership on Lawndale, east of 75th, from 1950 to 1958. 1958 is also the year that my parents and siblings moved back to Beeville so Dad could go back into business for himself. I stayed here because I was already into my junior year at the University of Houston by then – and because I had been raised as a Houstonian. I didn’t have to leave town to go home. Home was here.

An off-the-top-of-my-head list of Houston car dealers that are no more includes Jack Roach Ford, Sam Montgomery Oldsmobile, Earl McMillan Ford, Jess Allen Plymouth-Chrysler, Bill Lee (Studebaker) Motors, Art Grindle Motors (I forget what he sold), and so many more that now escape easy memory, and they all sold American cars: Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Hudson, Nash, Kaiser, Fraser, Chrysler, Plymouth, and Dodge.

There were other American cars and far more now-lost dealerships in Houston that I can no longer quickly recall, but they were once here. And they were real. And they basically drove Houston and fired the horsepower of our mid-20th century American economy. Then along came VW, Renault, Fiat, and Toyota – like so many soldiers from the Trojan Horse belly of our new Post WWII world economy – and it was all but over soon for the dominance of Detroit in the American new car world.

Because of my partiality to Oldsmobile, or maybe “just anyway,” I do still easily remember the jingle that Sam Montgomery used to attract new customers by radio. Sung a cappella by a men’s barbershop quartet, the Sam Montgomery Oldsmobile pitch went like this:

“Go to Sam Montgomery, and climb behind a Rocket!

You will find what’s right for you!

A car to fit your pocket!

Take the wheel, make a deal, of a beautiful Rocket Oldsmobile!

Better talk to Sam! – Sam the Rocket Man!

Talk to Sam Montgomery today!

(He’s in the Village!)

Talk to Sam Montgomery – TODAY!”

… Have a nice Thursday, everybody! If you remember the names of the many other now vanished Houston car dealerships that I have so easily forgotten, please post them below as additions to this piece.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 234 Comments »

Milton Berle: Mr. Television

November 10, 2010

Milton Berle (by Sam Berman, 1947)

When my parents bought our first television set in 1950, Houston was only into its second year with the magical new medium and we had very choices with only one station in town. KPRC-TV was it. You could either watch Channel 2 or turn the thing off and listen to the radio. And there wasn’t much interest in radio in Houston back in 1950.

On top of these limitations, we had no coaxial cable connection to the great TV media centers of New York and Los Angeles in 1950, and, of course, there were no satellites available to beam those places or the farther world into our homes back then. Everything we watched came only in shades of black and white from live local studio programming, film, and kinescope. – Kinescope was a low quality film the networks took of their television pictures whenever they broadcasted shows they wanted to syndicate to other areas.

So, the networks like NBC filmed a live program broadcast from New York right off the television pictures of it. Then they put these “kinescope” copies in the mail to places like Houston and Dallas, usually for re-broadcast at the same time the following week.

All of the preceding information is simply background to the story of what happened in Houston and all over America on Tuesday nights from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM back in 1950. In most places, it came a week late on kinescope, but we didn’t know any better quality, anyway. We were just glad to be receiving an animated picture that actually did something. We didn’t even seem to mind (for a while) that we had no other viewing choices – or that live pictures in “living color” might be more pleasing on the eye. For the time being back then, we had what we wanted, and especially so on Tuesday nights.

It was 8:00 PM Tuesday night, time for the Texaco Star Theater, starring Mr. Television, the one and only Milton Berle.

Milton Berle was one sight joke falling upon another, a lot of goofy expressions, pratfalls, cheap laughs from his favorite stunner, starting the show and doing skits in Lady Gaga-like dresses. Geez! When I think back upon it now, it’s almost embarrassing to recall what we thought was “funny” back in 1950, simply because we saw Milton Berle do it.

Berle was a master too of the “pesky fly” joke. A “pesky fly” joke is one that resembles the pattern of such a pest: Once a fly gets in the house, it won’t go away and can’t be killed. It just keeps coming back and landing with irritating regularity.

Berle’s biggest pesky fly was the “make up” joke. It began with a skit in which the characters complained about their make up. Each time they said those words, a goofy-looking dressing room helper would run on the stage yelling “Maaaaake Upppppp”  and hit the person in the face with a giant fully loaded powder puff.

The studio and home audiences roared. The joke became a pesky fly. From that point forward, you never knew when the guy with the giant powder puff was coming back to whack Berle or one his guests for having uttered the magic words, “make up.”

The show lasted from 1948 to 1956. It changed names in 1953, when Buick took over sponsorship, but that’s OK. Milton Berle was the show, not Texaco.

It all changed as all things do. When more networks, stations, and other kinds of comedy became more widely available, Milton Berle lost his grip on the title he earned as Mr. Television, but he was big in his day and he served as the reason that neighbors without TV sets piled into the houses of those who did at eight o’clock on Tuesday evenings to hear, “The Texaco Star Theater Starring Milton Berle Is On The Air!”

I’ll close with a tribute to the show’s opener. Since they long ago drilled this jingle into my brain, the least I can do is pass it on to you. I only wish I had a way to pass on the tune as well. Just imagine something strident and banal as the jingle melody..

The Texaco Star Theater always began with a chorus line of Texaco gas station attendants marching in file upon the stage and then facing the audience in a smiling single line to sing this song:

“Oh, we’re the men of Texaco
We work from Maine to Mexico
There’s nothing like this Texaco of ours!

“Our show is very powerful
We’ll wow you with an hour full
Of howls from a shower full of stars.

“We’re the merry Texaco men
Tonight we may be showmen
Tomorrow we’ll be servicing your cars!

“We wipe your pipe
We pump your gas
We jack your back
We scrub your glass

“So join the ranks of those who know
And fill your tanks with Texaco

“Fire Chief, fill up with Fire Chief, You will smile at the pile of new miles you will add

“Sky Chief, fill up with Sky Chief
You’ll find that Texaco’s the finest friend your car has ever had

“…And now, ladies and gentlemen… America’s number one television star… MILTON BERLE!…”

ADDENDUM: Thanks to Sam Quintero, here’s a link to see and hear how the Merry Texaco Men opened the show and introduced Milton Berle. Berle’s entry also confirms my Lady Gaga-like memory of his typical attire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTofvqEJyxU

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Kodak Moments in Post WWII Baseball

November 9, 2010

The following five photos have these traits in common: (1) They are each photos of big moments in baseball history; (2) They each were taken during the widely agreed upon post World War II Era of 1946 to 1960; and (3) each were the figurative fulfillment of that magical expression about “catching lightning in a bottle;” and (4) all you need is magic to make something memorable – and a rarified photograph of the moment simply makes it harder to forget.

Here are my favorite examples from the post-World War II period:

October 15, 1946: Enos Slaughter's Mad Dash from First to Home.

October 15, 1946: Slaughter’s Mad Dash: It’s Game Seven of the World Series at Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. The Cardinals and the Boston Red Sox are tied 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning. Enos Slaughter is at first base with two outs and Harry Walker is the batter.

Walker takes off for second base on the hit and run when Walker follows through with a lazy, looping single to left center. As BoSox center fielder Leon Culberson lumbers after the ball, Slaughter hits second and rounds the base for third. Culberson makes the cutoff throw to shortstop Johnny Pesky as third base coach Mike Gonzalez puts up the stop sign for the dashing Slaughter.

The mad man runner ignores the halt sign and rounds third base, heading for home. The pivoting Pesky takes a halting look at the action and then let’s go a not even close throw to the plate.

Slaughter slides home safe for a 4-3 lead that holds up for a St. Louis final winning score in Game Seven, delivering the World Series to the Cardinals on a late-in-the game mad dash from first to home by Enos Slaughter on a Harry Walker dumping hit that should’ve never been anything more than a single.

October 5, 1947: Gionfriddo's Catch.

October 5, 1947: Al Gionfriddo’s Catch: It’s the World Series again, the Yankees are losing 8-5 to the Brooklyn Dodgers in the bottom of the sixth of Game Six when Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio comes to the plate with two runners on base and a chance to tie it all up with the long ball.

DiMaggio launches a blast that seems destined to reach the stands at the 415 feet mark, but late inning substitute left fielder Al Gionfriddo, all 5’6″ of him, races far across the field to reach over the fence and make the catch, denying Joe and the Yankees a game-tying homer at the 415 feet sign. The Dogers go on to win Game Six by 8-6, but lose in Game Seven to the dynastic Yankees.

Not just by the way, the Gionfriddo photo is every inch covered in fame by another photo of this moment I like, but did not have available for this article. That’s the photo of Joe DiMaggio kicking the sand near second base when he realizes that Gionfriddo has just robbed him of the game-tying home run.

October 3, 1951: The Shot Heard Round the World.

October 3, 1951: The Shot Heard Round the World: If you’ve read this far, you probably already know the story by heart. The 1951 New York Giants were already a team powered by miracles when they reached the great cliff threat of their pennant-driving season. Coming from 13.5 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers in August, the Giants had fought back to tie the Dodgers for first place on the last day of the regular season.

Now, here they were in the bottom of the 9th of the third and deciding game of a playoff contest with the Dodgers at the Polo Grounds. With two runners on base and one man out, Bobby Thomson was coming to bat to face reliever Ralph Branca.

At 3:57 PM, Eastern time, Bobby Thomson unloaded a line drive home run that just shot its way into the left field stands like a Revolutionary War cannonball. For even larger reasons, the firing of that baseball oFf the bat of Thomson would be remembered to this day and forever as “The Shot Heard Round The World.” The Giants won the game and the in the biggest roaring walk-off victory of all time.

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! ~ THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! ~ THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

September 29, 1954: The Catch.

September 29, 1954: The Catch: It is arguably the most famous baseball photograph of all time. Running hard to the afr distant stands in deepest center field of the Polo Grounds in Game One of the 1954 World Series, Willie Mays of the New York Giants brings home the catch of Vic Wertz’s long drive in the very inning of play, setting a downward tone that the heavily favored Cleveland Indians will never escape.

The New York Giants sweep the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series, four games to none. Willie sweeps defensive baseball history with “The Catch,” bar none.

October 13, 1960: Maz's Homer Beats Yankees!

October 13, 1960: Maz’s Homer Beats Yankees! In one of the most exciting Game Sevens of all time, little Bill Mazeroski came to bat for Pittsburgh in the bottom of the ninth at Forbes Field to face Ralph Terry of the Yankees with the score tied at 9-9.

Then “Maz” did something he wasn’t famous for doing. He poked a hard liner drive to left field that just kept on climbing. Left fielder Yogi Berra first started backing up as though he would have a play. Then we see Berra turn to watch. He is watching the ball sail over the wall and out of the park. Bill Mazeroski has just unloaded a World Series winning walk-off home run for a 10-9 Pirates win and joyous bedlam in the Land of Three Rivers.

Not so joyous in The Bronx or the home of their manager. Because of the loss, the Yankees fire manager Casey Stengel in spite of the fact that he had won ten pennants and seven previous World Series titles in his twelve seasons (1949-60) as the Yankee mentor.

In one more sidebar of mindless action, a 14 year old Pirates fan named Andy Jerpe retrieves the World Series winning homer ball outside the Forbes Field wall and he takes it to Bill Mazeroski for an autograph. The kid apparently never thinks to give it to Mazeroski or make a trade and the celebrating Pirates never think about a way to save the ball either. And who knows where the Hall of Fame representatives were on this day. They sure weren’t on hand back in that era trying to obtain and preserve historical artifacts.

The short of it is this: The Jerpe kid takes the signed Mazeroski major artifact baseball home with him. Some time later, an effort is made to locate the kid and the ball. The searchers learn the worst. The kid needed a ball for sandlot games at some point and put it in play. The magic Mazeroski home run ball was then worn down and finally lost.

Oh well, At least we aren’t likely to lose our famous photos – not once they are digitalized, anyway.

Have a nice day, everybody. And take care of what’s valuable to history.

 

Tags:, ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Baseball’s Bacon Bangers: Top RBI Men

November 8, 2010

Craig Biggio (# 155t) and Jeff Bagwell (# 45t) Rank Among Leaders.

Craig Biggio was never your prototypical RBI man, but he played well enough over time to end up at # 155 in a tie with HOF great George Sisler with 1,175 RBI each. Jeff Bagwell made a deeper push up the list as a legitimate power hitter, stopped cold at the # 45 spot, tied with another HOF great one,  Tris Speaker, for now, by his unfixable shoulder problem in 2005 from going higher on the all time leader board.

Most of those other names in the top ten for “runs batted in” (RBI) will not surprise, but the old racist Cap Anson at the # 3 spot may raise a few eyebrows. Anson did his work in the 19th century, when and  where the different rules and accuracy of record-keeping often casts a shadow upon the achievements of that period in comparison to the same accomplishments in the modern game.

In spite of our several more recent and more sophisticated measures of productivity, I’ve always been most partial to the RBI figure because it tells us very directly whether or not a player is causing runs to score in comparison to others. The game is still about who scores the most runs. As long as the team that scores the most runs in the final game of the World Series is declared champion, we shall need to keep our attention upon the interesting RBI column – and those players who are most responsible for banging home the bacon.

Listed here are simply the top 100 RBI men of all time. If you would care to study the all time list deeper, heres the link to the material source at Baseball Reference.Com:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/RBI_career.shtml

Top 100 All Time Career MLB RBI Leaders (Through 2010):

Rank Player (age) Runs Batted In / Bats
1. Hank Aaron+ 2297 R
2. Babe Ruth+ 2213 L
3. Cap Anson+ 2075 R
4. Barry Bonds 1996 L
5. Lou Gehrig+ 1995 L
6. Stan Musial+ 1951 L
7. Ty Cobb+ 1938 L
8. Jimmie Foxx+ 1922 R
9. Eddie Murray+ 1917 B
10. Willie Mays+ 1903 R
11. Mel Ott+ 1860 L
12. Carl Yastrzemski+ 1844 L
13. Ted Williams+ 1839 L
14. Ken Griffey (40) 1836 L
15. Rafael Palmeiro 1835 L
16. Dave Winfield+ 1833 R
17. Alex Rodriguez (34) 1831 R
18. Manny Ramirez (38) 1830 R
19. Al Simmons+ 1827 R
20. Frank Robinson+ 1812 R
21. Honus Wagner+ 1733 R
22. Frank Thomas 1704 R
23. Reggie Jackson+ 1702 L
24. Cal Ripken+ 1695 R
25. Gary Sheffield 1676 R
26. Sammy Sosa 1667 R
27. Tony Perez+ 1652 R
28. Ernie Banks+ 1636 R
29. Harold Baines 1628 L
30. Jim Thome (39) 1624 L
31. Goose Goslin+ 1609 L
32. Nap Lajoie+ 1599 R
33. George Brett+ 1595 L
Mike Schmidt+ 1595 R
35. Andre Dawson+ 1591 R
36. Rogers Hornsby+ 1584 R
Harmon Killebrew+ 1584 R
38. Al Kaline+ 1583 R
39. Jake Beckley+ 1578 L
40. Willie McCovey+ 1555 L
41. Fred McGriff 1550 L
42. Willie Stargell+ 1540 L
43. Harry Heilmann+ 1539 R
44. Joe DiMaggio+ 1537 R
45. Jeff Bagwell 1529 R
Tris Speaker+ 1529 L
47. Sam Crawford+ 1525 L
48. Jeff Kent 1518 R
49. Carlos Delgado (38) 1512 L
50. Mickey Mantle+ 1509 B
51. Dave Parker 1493 L
52. Chipper Jones (38) 1491 B
53. Billy Williams+ 1475 L
54. Ed Delahanty+ 1466 R
Rusty Staub 1466 L
56. Eddie Mathews+ 1453 L
57. Jim Rice+ 1451 R
58. Joe Carter 1445 R
59. George Davis+ 1440 B
60. Luis Gonzalez 1439 L
61. Vladimir Guerrero (35) 1433 R
62. Yogi Berra+ 1430 L
63. Charlie Gehringer+ 1427 L
64. Andres Galarraga 1425 R
65. Joe Cronin+ 1424 R
66. Jim Bottomley+ 1422 L
67. Mark McGwire 1414 R
68. Jose Canseco 1407 R
69. Robin Yount+ 1406 R
70. Juan Gonzalez 1404 R
71. Ted Simmons 1389 B
72. Dwight Evans 1384 R
73. Joe Medwick+ 1383 R
74. Lave Cross 1378 R
75. Johnny Bench+ 1376 R
76. Chili Davis 1372 B
77. Garret Anderson (38) 1365 L
Orlando Cepeda+ 1365 R
Jason Giambi (39) 1365 L
80. Brooks Robinson+ 1357 R
81. Darrell Evans 1354 L
82. Gary Gaetti 1341 R
83. Johnny Mize+ 1337 L
84. Mike Piazza 1335 R
85. Duke Snider+ 1333 L
86. Ron Santo 1331 R
87. Carlton Fisk+ 1330 R
88. Al Oliver 1326 L
89. Roger Connor+ 1323 L
90. Ruben Sierra 1322 B
91. Graig Nettles 1314 L
Pete Rose 1314 B
93. Ivan Rodriguez (38) 1313 R
94. Mickey Vernon 1311 L
Larry Walker 1311 L
96. Paul Waner+ 1309 L
97. Steve Garvey 1308 R
98. Paul Molitor+ 1307 R
99. Roberto Clemente+ 1305 R
Sam Thompson+ 1305

“+” by name = inducted member of Baseball Hall of Fame.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Steroids: Will MLB Rule or Weasel Out on HOF Question?

November 7, 2010

The Sultan of Swat & The Slugger of Certainty!

When Babe Ruth hit them, they were “no doubters,” home runs that left the yard with great certainty, big blasts that left no doubt they were departing the field from the very first crack of the bat. And when the Babe hit them, there was also no doubt that he took them out in spite of his poor physical appearance and apparent lack of conditioning, and in over-riding reaction to any most recent intake of alcohol, nicotine, or high fat food.

No one paid as much attention to Hank Aaron while he was doing it too, but Henry’s quiet home run march to the head of the pack in the early 1970s was also regarded with nothing less than respect from all his non-racist fans. It only drew a crowd once people, and especially the KKK-minded folks, realized that Aaron was on his way to passing Ruth, but it was no less an honorable journey as an individual accomplishment all the way.

Then everything changed in the early 21st century when Barry Bonds passed both Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) to register his record-breaking 762 long balls. By the Bonds era, all eyes were steadfast and fixed upon the steroid question and players with enormous muscles and large bulging heads. And when the formerly young and slim man named Barry Bonds hit number 762, it was like watching a ripped Giant Godzilla bobble head trotting around the bases in strutting celebration.

Bonds and the other list of suspect sluggers from the “Roids to Ruin” era in baseball history have already been convicted of steroids abuse in the public mind, even if none have yet to be found guilty in a court of law. Where this all leads eventually, I’m really not sure. I just don’t think it leads to enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I think the public mind convictions have already been sealed against home run sluggers Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmiero, and Sammy Sosa. I’m not as certain about Alex Rodriguez, even though he actually has admitted to brief past steroid use while the others mentioned previously have either denied it, cried innocence, blamed it on trainers, or simply refused to talk about it.

Roger Clemens is the biggest non-slugger name on the public-mind-conviction list in this issue and most probably also will suffer the same fate as the others: denial from the Hall of Fame because of suspected, but not necessarily proven steroid abuse.

I don’t see any other way this is turning out. Do you? And I think MLB still holds on to the denial-driven fantasy that it will just go away over time. Meanwhile, one of the avoidance paths baseball may take is to simply avoid the larger question: Should conviction of steroid abuse keep an otherwise qualified player out of the Hall of Fame? Instead of taking an active position, they will allow their voting minions to simply settle the matter by not voting for Barry Bonds or the others on that list.

Not voting for Bonds may look like an active MLB position, but it isn’t. It’s the weasel route.

The problem with the “weasel route” is that we don’t know for sure how low and for long it will float down the list of future candidates. How many future eligible players will be denied a vote because a few voting weasel writers have a flickering thought that the guy looked too muscular to have come by his skills and accomplishments honestly?

Check out the list of Baseball’s top 100 career home run leaders and, without regard for who’s already in and who’s not, ask yourself: Is there anyone else on the list who might have trouble getting HOF votes because of his appearance during his prime playing days?

I see a few, but I don’t want to spoil your own impressions by offering mine here. The question here is for you: Are there other top sluggers from this list who may be kept from the HOF because they register in the public memory as suspected steroids users?

Please record any comments you may have below as comments on this article. Here’s the list:

Top 100 Career Home Run Hitters through 2010:

Rank Player (2010 HRs) HR
1 Barry Bonds 762
2 Hank Aaron 755
3 Babe Ruth 714
4 Willie Mays 660
5 Ken Griffey, Jr. 630
6 Alex Rodriguez (30) 613
7 Sammy Sosa 609
8 Jim Thome (25) 589
9 Frank Robinson 586
10 Mark McGwire 583
11 Harmon Killebrew 573
12 Rafael Palmeiro 569
13 Reggie Jackson 563
14 Manny Ramírez (9) 555
15 Mike Schmidt 548
16 Mickey Mantle 536
17 Jimmie Foxx 534
18 Willie McCovey 521
Frank Thomas 521
Ted Williams 521
21 Ernie Banks 512
Eddie Mathews 512
23 Mel Ott 511
24 Gary Sheffield 509
25 Eddie Murray 504
26 Lou Gehrig 493
Fred McGriff 493
28 Stan Musial 475
Willie Stargell 475
30 Carlos Delgado 473
31 Dave Winfield 465
32 José Canseco 462
33 Carl Yastrzemski 452
34 Jeff Bagwell 449
35 Dave Kingman 442
36 Andre Dawson 438
37 Vladimir Guerrero (29) 436
Chipper Jones (10) 436
39 Juan González 434
40 Cal Ripken, Jr. 431
41 Mike Piazza 427
42 Billy Williams 426
43 Jason Giambi (6) 415
44 Darrell Evans 414
45 Albert Pujols (42) 408
46 Andruw Jones (19) 407
Duke Snider 407
48 Andres Galarraga 399
Al Kaline 399
50 Dale Murphy 398
51 Joe Carter 396
52 Jim Edmonds (11) 393
53 Graig Nettles 390
54 Johnny Bench 389
55 Dwight Evans 385
56 Harold Baines 384
57 Larry Walker 383
58 Frank Howard 382
Jim Rice 382
60 Albert Belle 381
61 Orlando Cepeda 379
Tony Pérez 379
63 Matt Williams 378
64 Norm Cash 377
Jeff Kent 377
66 Carlton Fisk 376
67 Rocky Colavito 374
68 Gil Hodges 370
69 Ralph Kiner 369
70 Paul Konerko (39) 365
71 Joe DiMaggio 361
72 Gary Gaetti 360
73 Johnny Mize 359
74 Yogi Berra 358
75 Greg Vaughn 355
76 Adam Dunn (38) 354
Luis Gonzalez 354
Lee May 354
79 Ellis Burks 352
80 Dick Allen 351
81 Chili Davis 350
82 David Ortiz (32) 349
83 George Foster 348
84 Ron Santo 342
85 Jack Clark 340
86 Tino Martinez 339
Dave Parker 339
Boog Powell 339
89 Don Baylor 338
90 Joe Adcock 336
91 Darryl Strawberry 335
92 Todd Helton (8) 333
93 Moisés Alou 332
Bobby Bonds 332
95 Hank Greenberg 331
Carlos Lee (24) 331
97 Shawn Green 328
Mo Vaughn 328
99 Lance Berkman (14) 327
100 Jermaine Dye 325
Willie Horton 325

2010 HR totals are shown on above list in parentheses after active player names.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The Magic Circle of 300 MLB Wins

November 6, 2010

"Mr. Clemens" may become first 300-game winner to miss the HOF.

For years now, winning 300 games over the course of his MLB career was the sure-fire path to the Hall of Fame for any big league pitcher. If you examine the list of all players who have won a minimum of 300 games, you will quickly see that the only ones from that group who are not HOF inductees already are the handful who have yet to pass the five year wait between retirement and voting eligibility.

Those players in waiting are Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Tom Glavine, and Randy Johnson. They have all pitched far well enough to enter  the HOF as inductees. There’s just one problem for one of these men. Roger Clemens may have to wait until hell freezes over because of his quagmire involvement in the steroid-use accusations and congressional denials that don’t exactly clear the mud.

We don’t know the truth about Roger Clemens and steroids. In spite of all the circumstantial evidence of the trainer-collected needles and paraphernalia, the eye witness testimony of the former trainer, the fumbling inferences from the testimony of Clemens’s pal, Andy Pettitte, and the abject denials of Roger himself, we simply do not know what really happened for certain on the usage of steroids question.

What we can know are these facts: (1) Roger Clemens was a great pitcher. He pitched well enough to be inducted into the Hall of Fame; (2) If he used them, steroids did not make Roger Clemens a great pitcher, but they may have helped him heal faster and survive long enough to win a few extra games that might have otherwise escaped his capacity as a power pitcher; (3) It will be a shame if the steroid cloud keeps Roger Clemens out of the Hall of Fame; and (4) If he doesn’t make it into the Hall, Roger Clemens has to at least bear responsibility for keeping the company of a trainer who admits to the illegal administration of HGH and other so-called performance enchancing substances. If a guy of that character turns on you, lots of luck clearing your name with verbal or written denials.

Here’s a list of the 300-games plus winners and their pecking order on the all time order of things:

The 300 Game Winners List: Hall of Fame Bound All, Until Steroids:

Rank Player W
1 Cy Young† 511
2 Walter Johnson† 417
3 Grover Cleveland Alexander† 373
Christy Mathewson† 373
5 Pud Galvin† 364
6 Warren Spahn† 363
7 Kid Nichols† 361
8 Greg Maddux 355
9 Roger Clemens 354
10 Tim Keefe† 342
11 Steve Carlton† 329
12 John Clarkson† 328
13 Eddie Plank† 326
14 Nolan Ryan† 324
Don Sutton† 324
16 Phil Niekro† 318
17 Gaylord Perry† 314
18 Tom Seaver† 311
19 Charley Radbourn† 309
20 Mickey Welch† 307
21 Tom Glavine 305
22 Randy Johnson 303
23 Lefty Grove† 300
Early Wynn† 300

t = already a member of Hall of Fame.

Not just by the way, there are a number of Hall of Fame pitchers who did not reach 300 wins. Sandy Koufax at 165 career wins stands out as the poster child for starters on that list.

There also are a few near-300 win pitchers who have long been deserving of induction, but cannot get all the votes they need. Tommy John (288), Bert Blyleven (287), and Jim Kaat (283) stand out as my prime examples, with Blyleven being my favorite of the three for induction.

Among active pitchers, the little unstoppable time machine, Jamie Moyer, is still posting “W”s into his late 40s with a not-yet-sealed total of 267 wins.

If you care to examine an extended list of the top 500-game winners, check out this chart on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_leaders_in_career_wins

Have anice weekend, everybody!

Have a nice w

 

Tags:, ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Sparky Ranked High Among MLB Winning Managers

November 5, 2010

Sparky Anderson, Baseball Hall of Fame, 2000

Sparky Anderson died yesterday, Thursday, November 4, 2010, of complications from dementia. He was 76 and he passed away in a Thousand Oaks, California hospice after a brief stay. He leaves behind enough wins as an MLB manager at Cincinnati and Detroit to qualify for 6th place on the all time leader board.

Sparky Anderson was the first manager to win World Series crowns for clubs in both big leagues and the only manager to become the career wins leader for two different clubs. When he finally retired after the 1995 season, Sparky was in 3rd place in wins, trailing only the legends Connie Mack and John McGraw. He has since been surpassed by Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, and Joe Torre.

Anderson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000. What doesn’t show up on his plaque at Cooperstown quite so easily was his uncanny ability to read, relate to, and get the most production out of his players. I had a brief encounter with Sparky charm in the summer of 2009 and it was powerful. If he diagnosed his players as clearly and as easily as he tabbed me, it’s no wonder he won two big ones for the Reds and another for the Tigers. I was ready to run through walls in appreciation for his treatment of me at the completion of the 2009 Knuckle Ball in Houston in August of that year,

I had never met Sparky before that evening, but I had read a poem that evening that I had written in honor of the late Joe Niekro. It was simply a small part of the program.

As we all were leaving the banquet at Minute Maid Park at night’s end. Sparky caught my eye from across the room. As he did, he abruptly changed course and began working his way through the crowd toward me.

I will never forget the smile on his face when he finally reached me. The smile is framed around the quick hard hug he then gave me with these simple words: “Thank you, my man!” Then he nodded approvingly and went away, framing my only direct human contact with Sparky Anderson in each of our separately long lifetimes as just one special moment in mine.

How lucky could I possibly be? That large moment with Sparky Anderson was as close as I’ll ever come to knowing what it feels like to hit a big league home run. And I have Sparky Anderson to thank for it. He didn’t have to fight the crowd to come thank me, an otherwise total stranger, but he did. And I shall be forever humbled and grateful that he did.

Where is that wall? I’ll run through it now. And I’ll do it for Sparky Anderson, God rest his sweet soul.

The following list was put together at Wikipedia. It reads like a Hall of Fame of the great ones who have managed in the game of baseball throughout the Modern Era long enough to pile up the most wins as managers. I hope you will find the chart both useful and fun to review. And please share your comments and questions here in response to this column.

The chart also helps remind us: The Sparky Andersons of baseball don’t come around everyday, but when they do, they usually stay long enough to get great results over time.

Most MLB Managerial Wins, All Time, Through 2010 Season:

Rank↓ Name↓ Wins↓ Losses↓ Pct.↓
1 Connie Mack * 3,731 3,948 .486
2 John McGraw * 2,763 1,948 .586
3 Tony La Russa 2,638 2,293 .535
4 Bobby Cox 2,504 2,001 .556
5 Joe Torre 2,326 1,997 .538
6 Sparky Anderson * 2,194 1,834 .544
7 Bucky Harris * 2,158 2,219 .493
8 Joe McCarthy * 2,125 1,333 .615
9 Walter Alston * 2,040 1,613 .558
10 Leo Durocher * 2,008 1,709 .540
11 Casey Stengel * 1,905 1,842 .508
12 Gene Mauch 1,902 2,037 .483
13 Bill McKechnie * 1,896 1,723 .524
14 Lou Piniella 1,835 1,713 .517
15 Ralph Houk 1,619 1,531 .514
16 Fred Clarke * 1,602 1,181 .576
17 Tommy Lasorda * 1,599 1,439 .526
18 Dick Williams * 1,571 1,451 .520
19 Jim Leyland 1,493 1,518 .496
20 Clark Griffith * 1,491 1,367 .522
21 Earl Weaver * 1,480 1,060 .583
22 Miller Huggins * 1,413 1,134 .555
23 Al Lopez * 1,410 1,004 .584
24 Jimmy Dykes 1,406 1,541 .477
25 Dusty Baker 1,405 1,284 .522
26 Wilbert Robinson * 1,399 1,398 .500
27 Chuck Tanner 1,352 1,381 .495
28 Ned Hanlon * 1,313 1,164 .530
29 Cap Anson 1,296 947 .578
30 Charlie Grimm 1,287 1,067 .547
31 Frank Selee * 1,284 862 .598
32 Whitey Herzog * 1,281 1,125 .532
33 Bruce Bochy 1,274 1,300 .495
34 Billy Martin 1,253 1,013 .553
34 Bill Rigney 1,239 1,321 .484
36 Joe Cronin 1,236 1,055 .484
37 Harry Wright * 1,225 885 .581
38 Mike Hargrove 1,188 1,173 .503
39 Hughie Jennings * 1,184 995 .543
40 Lou Boudreau 1,162 1,224 .487
41 John McNamara 1,160 1,233 .485
42 Davey Johnson 1,148 888 .564
43 Tom Kelly 1,140 1,244 .478
44 Frankie Frisch 1,138 1,078 .514
45 Art Howe 1,129 1,137 .498
46 Bobby Valentine 1,117 1,072 .510
47 Danny Murtaugh 1,115 950 .540
48 Frank Robinson 1,065 1,176 .475
49 Billy Southworth * 1,044 704 .597
50 Red Schoendienst 1,041 955 .522
51 Steve O’Neill 1,040 821 .559
52 Felipe Alou 1,033 1,021 .503
53 Jim Fregosi 1,028 1,095 .484
54 Jack McKeon 1,011 940 .518
55 Chuck Dressen 1,008 973 .509


Tags:, , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

All Time World Series Wins Leader Board

November 3, 2010

Once upon a time, the Cubs even hosted a few World Series matches at Wrigley Field.

The World Series Record by Team or Franchise, 1903-2010 (as prepared on Wikepedia and reproduced here for the sake of easy, quick reference):

Team †
↓		 Series
won↓		 Latest
win↓		 Series
played↓		 Latest
Series↓
New York Yankees (AL) 27 2009 40 2009
St. Louis Cardinals (NL) 10 2006 17 2006
[Philadelphia/Kansas City] Oakland Athletics (AL) 9 1989 14 1990
Boston Red Sox [Americans] (AL) 7 2007 11 2007
[New York] San Francisco Giants (NL) 6 2010 18 2010
[Brooklyn] Los Angeles Dodgers (NL) ‡ 6 1988 18 1988
Cincinnati Reds (NL) 5 1990 9 1990
Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) 5 1979 7 1979
Detroit Tigers (AL) 4 1984 10 2006
Chicago White Sox (AL) 3 2005 5 2005
[Boston/Milwaukee] Atlanta Braves (NL) 3 1995 9 1999
[1st Washington Senators] Minnesota Twins (AL) 3 1991 6 1991
[St. Louis Browns] Baltimore Orioles (AL) 3 1983 7 1983
Philadelphia Phillies (NL) 2 2008 7 2009
Florida Marlins (NL, 1993) * 2 2003 2 2003
Toronto Blue Jays (AL, 1977) * 2 1993 2 1993
New York Mets (NL, 1962) * 2 1986 4 2000
Cleveland Indians (AL) 2 1948 5 1997
Chicago Cubs (NL) 2 1908 10 1945
[Los Angeles Angels; California Angels; Anaheim Angels]
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (AL, 1961) *		 1 2002 1 2002
Arizona Diamondbacks (NL, 1998) * 1 2001 1 2001
Kansas City Royals (AL, 1969) * 1 1985 2 1985
[2nd Washington Senators] Texas Rangers (AL, 1961) * 0 — 1 2010
Tampa Bay Rays [Devil Rays] (AL, 1998) * 0 — 1 2008
Colorado Rockies (NL, 1993) * 0 — 1 2007
Houston Astros [Colt .45’s] (NL, 1962) * 0 — 1 2005
San Diego Padres (NL, 1969) * 0 — 2 1998
[Seattle Pilots] Milwaukee Brewers (AL 1969; NL 1998) * 0 — 1 1982
[Montreal Expos] Washington Nationals (NL, 1969) * 0 — 0 —
Seattle Mariners (AL, 1977) * 0 — 0 —

* original league and year of origin for franchise teams.

When the New York/San Francisco Giants defeated the Texas Rangers in this year’s 2010 World Series, they broke a 7th place tie with the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates for 7th place all time in wins and entered into a 5th place tie with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers for 5th place at six wins each.

For the Giants, it was their fourth try since their last win in 1954 that did the trick. On three previous trips, all from San Francisco in 1962, 1989, and 2002), the Giants had fallen short, but not in 2010. The Boys from the west side of the bay put together a scrappy club of hungry veterans and talented youngsters to finally ring the bell for all those fans in NoCal that have supported them since they arrived on the west coast in 1958.

A quick glance at the results chart shows us that the World Series has never been visited by the EEOC. Only the best clubs get there and the New York Yankees have been able to afford more of the best players that make up these best best clubs than any other – and by far.  Those 40 World Series appearances by the Yankees are more than double the numbers compiled by their nearest rivals.

At least, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers have reached now made it to a World Series, even if neither won. The Astros did it first in 2005, but the Rangers became the first State of Texas club to actually win a World Series game in 2010.

The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908. That’s 102 years since they took their second World Series crown and 65 years since they made their 10th Series appearance in 1945. That Billy Goat Curse is powerful – and accountably much more far-reaching than that more famous Curse of the Bambino that haunted the Boston Red Sox from 1918 to 2004.

The list of existing teams that have never won a single World Series includes the Texas Rangers, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Colorado Rockies, the Houston Astros, the San Diego Padres, the Milwaukee Brewers, the current Washington Nationals, and the Seattle Mariners.

The Washington Nationals, a club that began life as the Montreal Expos in 1969, and the Seattle Mariners are now the only two existing clubs that have never even been to a World Series.

What is the probability that the winner’s trend we see here will continue to skew its way inevitably in the direction of the New York Yankees much more often than most other places? A lot of that answer hinges on which club Rangers ace Cliff Lee signs to play for as a free agent going into the 2011 season.

Baseball clubs that can afford to build the foundation can also build the house. Baseball clubs with a ton of money can buy the whole house, plus stockpile a lot of the materials that others might otherwise have used to build their own nice houses nearby.

At any rate, have fun staring at the list. It’s also fun to pay attention to trends you see about who’s been there lately – and who hasn’t been there in a very long time.

Congratulations again to the 2010 champion San Francisco Giants. They are having their hometown victory parade today – and they are taking the parade down the same route the 1958 Giants traveled on their “Welcome to San Francisco” parade back in their first west coast year.

Nice touch, San Francisco!

Tags:, ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The 1933 Houston Buffs

October 25, 2010

TOP ROW: Fred Ankenman, President; Stan Keyes; Oscar Fuhr; Ed Greer; Bob Kalbitz; Al Fisher; Andy French, Secretary. MIDDLE ROW: George Payne; Jimmy O’Dea; Carey Selph, Manager; Ival Goodman; George Binder; Eddie Hock. FRONT ROW: Mike Cvengros; Bill Beckman; Gene Moore; Ernie Parker; Tommy West.

The 1933 Houston Buffs were an interesting bunch. They are often forgotten for having played only a couple of years beyond the far more famous 1931 Texas League Champion Buffs of Dizzy Dean and Joe Medwick, but their 94-57 record was good enough for a 6.5 game finish in first place ahead of the Galveston Buccaneers.

Unfortunately, the ’33 Buffs quickly buried good memories with a three-game sweeping loss to fourth place San Antonio in the first round of the Shaughnessy Playoffs. The Missions would go on to defeat Galveston, four games to two, for the Texas League title as the ’33 Buffs basically faded into oblivion.

As a style note, the ’33 Buffs ditched the eye-catching buffalo logo that adorned the forehead crown of their 1932 uniform caps and subbed it with one that looks more like the plain “stripes only” cap we presently use for our  19th century vintage base ball team, the Houston Babies.  Although I cannot swear for certain, I’m reasonably sure the cap was dark blue in color with white stripes. “Houston” isn’t totally relegated anonymity here. That  big “H” on the heart-side plate of the jersey is unmistakably there for the only “BIG H” city in the Texas League back then – the one and only Houston Buffaloes.

Fred Ankenman is the featured “suit” in the team photo. Fred served as a Buffs employee from the late teens decade of the 20th century. Fred served as team president of the club from 1925 to 1942.

Playing manager Carey Selph also made the Texas League All Star team as second baseman and shortstop partner George Binder also got picked for the same team honor, as did pitcher Ed “Bear Tracks” Greer. Jimmy O’Dea of the Buffs also made the all star club as one of two catchers selected.

Ed Greer tied with George Darrow of Galveston for most 1933 Texas League season wins at 22. Buff pitcher Mike Cvengros was right behind those guys with 21 wins, also leading the Texas League for the lowest ERA with a 2.43 mark.

Mike Cvengros put in a lot of time as a major leaguer in 1920s, performing for the Pittsburgh Pirates who lost a swept-away World Series to the 1927 New York Yankees. Buffs outfielder Ival Goodman later played for the Cincinnati Reds that lost a World Series to the 1939 New York Yankees, Interestingly, the ’27 and ’39 Yankees are each considered by many as the arguably greatest Yankee teams of all time.

Meanwhile, as we get ready for the 2010 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers in a couple of days, it’s simply fun to again look back on baseball history in the hope that what gains on us is a clearer memory of the players who made the game special for us a very long time ago.

Have a nice start to the new week, everybody!

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »