The Pecan Park Eagle

Question: When is a reader’s comment on a Pecan Park Eagle column pretty much of a column unto itself?

Answer: When it’s a 783-word comment by a reader like Mike McCroskey, a fellow who also makes pretty much everything he does both educational and/or entertaining. plus, the man is tight and loyal to family,  friends, and the great game of baseball, a member of SABR, a successful businessman, an Astros season ticket-holder, and a fun guy being around too – if you don’t mind someone taking a fairly constant humorous jab to your psychological ribs – which I don’t. Mike’s the best.

Mike used the Baseball Almanac box score that came with the piece I wrote yesterday on Babe Ruth’s first home run of the 1927 season and used is as a stream for panning gold from the halls of baseball history. It was so much fun that we simply couldn’t leave it buried as a comment that may have been too long for a lot of folks to even read in that small type they give us. The format is fine in our “comments” section for short statements, but way too small for dissertations or, as Mike suggests, the digressions of an ADD suffering researcher.

Here it is, for what it is, a well-written and entertaining column by Mike McCroskey. The Pecan Park Eagle has even repeated the same Baseball Almanac box score so that each of you shall be free to easily retrace Mike’s steps on the way to each one of those nearly 800 words, if you so choose.

Thanks, Mike. The Pecan Park Eagle appreciates what you’ve done here.

Fun with Baseball Almanac

By Mike McCroskey, Guest Columnist

Mike McCroskey
Guest Columnist

Aahh, the blessings of ADD! Bill, i enjoyed this column and got captivated, not by the Yankee, but by the Philadelphia box score. Thanks to your accompanying links I was able to research some of the players in the lineup.

Not remembering that Ty Cobb played for anyone other than Detroit, I clicked on Cobb, batting third ahead of future HOF’er Al Simmons and found out that it was indeed the Georgia Peach, finishing out his 24 year career with 2 seasons for the A’s. The “over-the-hill,” 40 year old Cobb “only managed” a .357 batting average for the ’27 season with 100+ RBI. He hit .323 the next year before retiring.

I then checked the lead-off hitter, who was none other than 40 year old, future HOF’er Eddie Collins.

I then saw that a guy named Foxx went in as a late inning replacement for the catcher Perkins. Turns out it was a 19 year old youngster named Jimmy Foxx, already beginning the 3rd year of his HOF career. Primarily a first baseman, this was one of only 109 appearances at catcher of his 2188 game career. Looking like quite a line up the A’s fielded that game.

My favorite read, though, was Dykes. He appeared as a pinch hitter, doubling for the starting pitcher Ehmke. Jimmy Dykes was an All Star infielder several times in his career, in fact he started at 3rd base in the first All Star game ever in 1933. He was, also, a player manager, primarily with the White Sox in the 30′ and early 40′s. He was the first man to spend over 20 years as both a player and a manager. I think he is still the only manager to be traded for another manager. This happened about 1961 when Trader Frank Lane of Cleveland, swapped his manager, Joe Gordon, straight up to Detroit for Dykes. Dykes was the first manager to win over 1,000 games without ever making the playoffs. Gene Mauch may have tied him. However, sabermetric calculations now show that his teams performed at a much higher level than their talent would project. So he was a good manager. He was, also, the first manager for the Baltimore Orioles after your beloved Browns left St Louis.

With the White Sox he had a first baseman named Zeke Bonura who was know neither for his fielding nor his intellect. The man could not remember signs. There was a story where one time Dykes wanted Bonura to bunt and he missed the signed. So Dykes just started hollering, “Bunt, bunt you Meathead, B-U-N-T, bunt!” But he still got no bunt from Bonura. Later when Zeke was traded to the Senators in 1938, Dykes didn’t even bother to change his signs because he figured Bonura couldn’t remember them anyway.

Later, in a game against the Senators. Bonura makes it to 3rd base. Dykes is in the dugout and swatting at a mosquito. Bonura somehow remembers that a swat is Dykes’ sign for a steal; so on the next pitch he breaks for home. As a first baseman, I am guessing that he was not a speedster, he had only 19 stolen bases for his career, but he somehow dislodges the ball from the catcher and is safe, scoring a run against Dykes! In an after the game interview Bonura is said to have confessed, “I remembered the sign for a steal, I just forgot that Dykes wasn’t my manager anymore!”

One last interesting story about Dykes, especially given one of our SABR meeting topics this past Monday: In 1939, the White Sox played an exhibition in Pasadena, California against a team called the Pasadena Sox. They had a 19 year old, black shortstop who made several dazzling plays and impressed with the bat, also.

Dykes was quoted at the time as saying “If that kid where white, I would sign him right now.”

Later, in 1942, he did give this phenom, along with another black youngster named Nate Moreland, an opportunity to try out for the White Sox. At the conclusion of the tryout, neither player got an offer, and there was speculation if the tryouts were really legitimate or not, as there had been no real talk at this time amongst the major leagues about integration. So maybe, it was just a publicity stunt to deflect racial criticisms. At any rate, nothing changed. Would this have changed baseball history had an offer been made? The young phenom’s name? Jackie Robinson!

Curiously enough, when asked to comment on another prominent black ballplayer in 1961, Dykes was quoted as saying, “Without Ernie Banks, the Cubs would finish in Albuquerque.”

Thanks again, Bill. Really enjoyed today’s column.

You should have enjoyed it, Mr. McCroskey. You wrote it.

Baseball Almanac Box Score: Philadelphia Athletics 3, New York Yankees 6
Game played on Friday, April 15, 1927 at Yankee Stadium I
Philadelphia Athletics ab   r   h rbi Collins 2b 4 0 0 0 Lamar lf 4 0 0 0 Cobb rf 4 0 1 0 Simmons cf 4 1 2 0 Hale 3b 2 0 0 0 Poole 1b 2 0 1 1 Perkins c 3 0 1 0   French pr 0 1 0 0   Foxx c 1 0 0 0 Boley ss 2 1 1 0 Ehmke p 2 0 0 0   Dykes ph 1 0 1 2   Pate p 0 0 0 0   Walberg p 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 3 7 3	New York Yankees ab   r   h rbi Combs cf 4 1 2 0 Koenig ss 5 0 2 1 Ruth rf 4 2 2 1 Gehrig 1b 1 1 0 0 Meusel lf 4 0 2 0 Lazzeri 2b 4 0 1 2 Gazella 3b 3 2 2 0 Collins c 3 0 1 1 Pennock p 4 0 0 1 Totals 32 6 12 6
Philadelphia 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 – 3 7 2 New York 1 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 x – 6 12 0   Philadelphia Athletics IP H R ER BB SO Ehmke  L(0-1) 6.0 9 4 4 3 1   Pate 0.0 1 2 1 2 0   Walberg 2.0 2 0 0 1 3 Totals 8.0 12 6 5 6 4   New York Yankees IP H R ER BB SO Pennock  W(1-0) 9.0 7 3 3 2 0 Totals 9.0 7 3 3 2 0 E–Perkins (1), Pate (1).  DP–New York 1. Koenig-Lazzeri-Gehrig.  2B–Philadelphia Simmons (3); Dykes (2), New York Koenig (1); Collins (2).  3B–New York Gazella 2 (2).  HR–New York Ruth (1,1st inning off Ehmke 0 on 2 out).  SH–Hale 2 (3); Poole (1); Gehrig 2 (3); Collins (1).  Team LOB–4.  Team–11.  SB–Combs (1).  CS–Koenig (1).  U–Bill McGowan, Billy Evans, George Hildebrand.  T–2:27.  A–16,000.
Game played on Friday, April 15, 1927 at Yankee Stadium I
Baseball Almanac Box Score |