Are you kidding me?!...Are you FUCKIN' kidding me?!?!....NOBODY got elected into the Hall of fame? A few days ago, I did a blog about how I thought Tim "Rock" Raines deserved to be in the HOF. Did I think he would be? Maybe. It was more wishful thinking...But this? Sure, I can see them maybe punishing the PED trio of Bonds, Clemens and Sosa until further notice ( that's a blog for another time, I guess ), but no Piazza? C'mon, he's the greatest hitting catcher of all time, and as far as I know, was never known to use steroids. I already had an entire piece ready about him getting in, entitled "I'm not gay", referring to the New York post headline which featured Mike on the front of the sports page with two strippers days after someone alleged that Piazza had been leading an alternative lifestyle.
Man, even if Piazza didn't get in, I could do something on Jeff Bagwell, the man involved in one of the worst trades in Red Sox history; Or maybe his teammate, Craig Biggio, who was the model of consistency, getting over 3,000 hits and, along with Bagwell, stayed with the Houston Astros his entire career...could have been a tandem election. BUT NOOOOOOO... I Mean, I wasn't expecting Jack Morris and his high ERA to get in, nor his Tiger teammate, Shortstop Alan Trammel (though, it would have been nice to have at least one HOF Representative from that amazing 1984 Detroit team), but at least give us someone. You know, someone born within the last 100 years...
For the record, I think Bonds, Clemens and Sosa probably should get in; Hey, Gaylord Perry's in, and he threw an illegal pitch his entire career. Others HOF members have other obvious flaws:
Ty Cobb ( Racisit, total dick on top of it )
Tris Speaker ( Klan member...which I guess qualifies as racist too )
Rogers Hornsby ( See: Speaker )
Babe Ruth ( Womanizer )
Pete Rose ( Womanizer and gambler...Hah!...just wanted to see if you were paying attention...)
Ernie Lombardi ( Was really unattractive )
Mordecai "Three finger" Brown ( His deformity allowed him to cheat )
Mickey Mantle ( Terrible acting in the Doris Day vehicle "Safe at home" )
Willie Stargell ( Ugh!, those late '70s Pirates uniforms...)
George Brett ( A lot of issues with his ass )
Joe Morgan ( Worst...broadcaster...ever...)
Phil Rizzuto ( Doesn't belong in the HOF as a player...HOLY COW! )
Fresh ass Johnson ( Doesn't actually exist )
Rod Carew ( I don't believe his conversion to Judaism for one second )
Reggie Jackson ( The "Reggie" bar tasted...just...awful...)
Lou Gehrig ( Turns out, he didn't even have his own disease )
...and so on....And I haven't even started my rant about Ted Simmons not getting in. There needs to be a big change in the voting...Does MLB think this is fair for the fans? Piazza probably would have gone in as a Met, and they could use a lift after losing R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays...Selig is at fault, I'm guessing. The HOF itself is probably pissed; No inductees, means no inductions, which brings in plenty of loot for the Hall. There better be like five inductees next year, on top of Selig's firing, Joe Buck's retiring and finally: The return of the bullpen car...
In four days, the Hall of fame inductions will be announced, and while there are many big names on the list, one name that I think should be getting more attention is Tim Raines. In what I believe is his fourth year of eligibility, "Rock" Raines has been overlooked, mainly due I think to playing most of his career with the Montreal Expos. He has definite Hall of fame numbers; 808 steals (4th all time including a record 40 in a row one season, which has since been broken by Ichuro Suzuki) and over 1,500 runs scored, although oddly, zero gold gloves.
During the mid '80s, in the prime of his career, he was one of the players who admitted to using cocaine on a regular basis...it was said that he would always slide head first into bases so he wouldn't break the cocaine vials he kept in his back pocket. Many people believe that this may be the one thing keeping him out, although I can't see why;While it can keep you awake and give you a brief burst of energy, it's not exactly a "performance enhancing" drug. He eventually went to play for The Chicago White Sox in the early '90s, and then won two World series with (who else) the New York Yankees in '96 and '98.
If he gets in, he will most likely go in as an Expo, which would make him only the third player to play at least ten years in Montreal to enter the Hall (The late Gary Carter and Andre Dawson, who chose to go into Cooperstown wearing a Cubs hat for some reason are the other two). And, when you think about it, he may be the last player in the HOF who could legitimately go in wearing a cap with "MB" on it; Moises Alou is the only other player I can think of, and he played with so many teams, it'd be hard to choose...it's probably moot though, because I don't believe the son of Felipe has a chance...
So, will the National league version of Rickey Henderson get in the hall this year?...Who knows, but I'm pulling for him, oh, and I just thought of another player who could possibly go in as an Expo; Vladimir Guerrero, who spent half his career with them in the '90s, but actually had his best years with the Anaheim or California or Los Angeles Angels, or whatever the hell they're called. During this era of steroids, or at least of suspected steroid use, using cocaine seems downright quaint , so I'm pulling for Rock...and yes, I get the irony of a man nicknamed "Rock" who used to do cocaine (although crack would be more appropriate) so don't bother pointing that out...
In 2006, the Boston Red Sox posted one of the best fielding percentage in baseball history, and set a record with 17 straight error less games. The team flashed some serious leather, with Jason Varitek behind the plate, and an infield consisting of gold glovers Mike Lowell and 3rd, Alex Gonzalez at short, Mark Loretta at 2nd and Kevin Youklis at first...the outfield was pretty good too, with Trot Nixon in right, Coco Crisp in center and Manny Ram...uhh, well, 7 out of 8 ain't bad...
Well, this week, I'd like to post the all time best defensive team; I'm going to go through different eras, but will mainly stick to players I have either seen, or at least knew a lot about...
So here it is, ( in my opinion ) the greatest fielding team of all time:
Catcher: Johnny Bench
Also my choice for the greatest catcher of all time, Bench, with his powerful throwing arm, ability to call a great game, and knowledge of opposing hitters, was the best defensive backstop as well. Others may argue that either of the Pudges, Fisk or Rodriguez, deserve this spot, or maybe Roy Campenella; But I'm sticking with Bench. I mean, hey, he hosted "The baseball bunch" after all...
First Base: Keith Hernandez
It was a close race between "Mex" and Don Mattingley (Mattingley's appearance on the Simpson's almost tipped the scales in his favor), but I ultimately chose Hernandez, citing that he made both infields he was part of better; First the Cardinals, and then the Mets, winning a championship with both teams. I also wanted to mention George "The Boomer" Scott, who won 8 gold gloves in his career; but unlike the first two, he had the disadvantage of being right handed....It's the one position where being a southpaw is an advantage...well, according to Keith Hernandez, it is (ha)...
Second base: Roberto Alomar
Before he was inducted into the Hall of fame, Alomar may have been best known for spitting at an umpire...which is a shame, because he was one of the greatest second basemen of all time. The man could hit, but as a defender, he had no equal, in my opinion. Sure, there's the Joe Morgans and Bobby Griches of the world; But, as great as they were, neither could match the sheer athleticism of Robbie...hell, he was almost shortstop-like, especially when briefly teamed up with Omar Vizquel in Cleveland. Vizquel was almost as great as shortstop as Alomar was at second, though he wasn't as great as the next guy...
Shortstop: Ozzie Smith
This may have been the easiest choice on here. Although it took Ozzie years to become a good hitter, he came right out of the gate as a superb shortstop, first with San Diego, then with the Cardinals, where he helped St. Louis to 3 pennants and a World Championship. In my lifetime, only Mark Belanger of the Orioles could be considered his peer, but even he would admit that Ozzie was the best...Now if he could only get out of that bottomless pit he fell in during that "Simpson's" episode...
Third base: Brooks Robinson
Mike Schmidt is the greatest third baseman ever, and he's a close 2nd to Brooks, but the name Brooks Robinson is synonymous with fielding excellence, gathering the most gold gloves ever at the position. If there were any doubt in anyone's mind, his performance in the 1970 World Series against the Reds cemented his legend for good...then he was mentioned a few times in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" for some reason...and that STILL didn't kill his reputation...
Left field: Carl Yazstremski
It's been said that playing Fenway's Green Monster is one of the toughest things to do as a left fielder, and Yaz mastered it. It was always fun as a kid watching opposing left fielders befuddled by line drives off the wall, then watch the next inning, as Carl kept batters at first or, even throwing them out at second, trying to stretch a single into a double. Maybe there were other left fielders that had more speed, like Lou Brock, or more range like Tim Raines, but can either one of them claim to have a song written about them?...I rest my case...
Center field: Willie Mays
Maybe the greatest player ever, it wasn't to hard to pick the "Say hey kid" as the best centerfielder. With all apologies to Tris Speaker, who by all accounts was a great fielder on top of being the first centerfielder to play shallow, Mays gets the top spot...every great CF from recent times always seem to be doing a Willie Mays impression; From Jim Edmunds, to Torii Hunter, to the closest to Willie my generation ever had, ( both fielding and hitting-wise) : Ken Griffey JR., who, of course, was in the same Simpson's episode as Ozzie, Mex and Mattingly...oh, and there's a song written about Willie Mays, so there's that too...
Right field: Roberto Clemente
Clemente was well known to have the best arm in baseball; As a right fielder, you're expected to have a big gun...whether it's Dewey Evans, Ellis Valentine or Ichuro Suzuki, throwing men out (or at least scaring them into staying put ) is usually the right fielder's M.O. Playing his entire career with a bad back, Clemente had this whirling motion to his throwing style, which involved his entire body in every throw;And because of that, his throws came in fast and furious...I was on the fence about including Carl Furillo of the Brooklyn Dodgers in this conversation, mostly because of his mastery of Ebbets field's right foot wall, which was a mini, tin covered version of Fenway Park... but I'm sticking with Clemente...and when is Jon Sayles gonna make a movie about him, goddammit!
Pitcher: Greg Maddux
How good a fielder was Maddux? How about winning a gold glove every year from 1990-2008, with the exception of 2003...18 of them in total. The only competetion was Jim Kaat, who won a GG every year from 1962-1977 (for a total of 16) . Kaat's also one of the few players to play in parts of four decades (59-83)...But I'm going to have to go with Maddux, who despite looking like someone who should be working the prescription department at CVS, is probably one of the ten best pitchers of all time...and on this list, he's #1 with a bullet.
Manager: Earl Weaver
Earl's "Pitching, defense, and waiting for the 3 run homer" strategy proved very effective in the late '60s to early '80s. His teams were fundamentally sound on defense, with the best left side of the infield in baseball: Brooks Robinson and Mark Belanger. Also, in centerfield, they had maybe the best centerfielder in the AL in Paul Blair. This kind of defense helped set the Orioles pitching staff apart from the others, giving them mutiple CY Young awards, and set a record with four 20 game winners in 1971 ( Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally, and Pat Dobson). A close second would be Bobby Cox, with his superb pitching staff of Maddux, Tom Glavine and Jon Smoltz...the two managers also had one other thing in common;They both got ejected more times than any other skippers...talk about defensive...
Back when I was in 7th grade, I sat next to this girl named Isabel who was absolutely hilarious; Really, she'd crack me up on a continuous basis with a wise ass style of joke telling that makes for a great comedian. One day, her dad decided to come to class and it all made sense. Her dad was Luis Tiant, who by that point was retired, but it was the first time I had ever met a ballplayer outside of a ballpark. In 1993, I ran into Clemens twice; Once in the men's room at the Hard Rock cafe in Boston, and second at Bill's bar on Landsdowne street, right across the street from Fenway Park...He was trying to get into the bar, but forgot his I.D., and the hipster kid out front didn't recognize him...so to try and save the day, I went into my car and got his baseball card and showed it to the kid; he was so embarrassed, he let him in. I also met Brian Daubach at the Comedy Connection...nice guy; He liked my set (ha). However, there are 2 friends of mine related to Major Leaguers...
First, there's Rick Jenkins, owner of the Comedy Studio. Recently, Rick wed Kirsten Sims, daughter of Duke Sims, a catcher who played about 10 years in the majors, mostly with the Cleveland Indians; but he is best known for being the last man to homer in the old Yankee stadium in 1973, when he was briefly Thurman Munson's back up in New York. His best year was probably 1970 with Cleveland when he hit 23 homers and 56 knocked in....runs. Mostly though, he was a back-up catcher, but again, someone I know was related to a ballplayer, and that fascinates me...now for the final baseball connection, and it's a doozy..........
My friend Steve Mulcahy, who I've known for almost 25 years is related to not one, but TWO big leaguers;and they couldn't be more different from each other. First, on his father's side, he's distantly related to Hugh "Losing pitcher" Mulcahy, nicknamed that because of the amount of times his name appeared in the loss column. Actually, Hugh wasn't a bad pitcher, he just happened to play most of his career with some wretched Phillie teams. One time, he lost over 20 games and STILL made the All Stat team. My dad always said he was pretty good; He also told me that Hugh was the first ballplayer to be drafted for WWII, which is what he's probably most famous for.
However, on his mother's side, he is related to none other than Hall of fame pitcher, Don Sutton. Sutton had a long and storied career, winning over 300 games and pitching in four World series;3 with the Dodgers in the '70s and one with the Brewers in 1982. But alas, he was always on the losing side of those contests. I always liked his competitive nature, too; he once said about Bob Gibson: "He hated me and I hated him"...He was also on that '86 Angel that should have won the pennant, but Boston's Dave Henderson had other plans...
Will other people I know come out and admit they are related to a major leaguer? Will Adam Cooper find out his grandmother had a love affair with Dick Allen?...Will Jon Cullen look in his family tree and see that his 5th cousin twice removed is Wally Joyner?...Probably not, but you never know. The closest I ever came to playing with a big leaguer was Mike McGwire (No relation to steroid boy), who was a left handed pitcher in the Pirates organization, but never got above AA (The league, not alcoholics anonymous ). As for the most famous player from my home town of Milton Ma., I guess it would be Rich Hill, he pitched for the Cubs and Red Sox recently;He pitched for Milton high, the very same team that I played for, and who's uniform I wear in my profile pic...anyway, if any of you have a similar story, I'd love to hear it...
Back around 1999-2000, I had a job delivering flowers at a place called "Bow street flowers" in Harvard square. The job had it's good and bad points. One of the better perks was I was able to listen to the radio most of the day, and Boston then, as now, had great radio... Lots of college stations, on top of the already good regular ones on FM...Even the AM stations were good, especially the sports ones; my favorite being WEEI. I used to listen to a show on the weekdays called "The Big Show", hosted by Glenn Ordway, which was always enjoyable, mostly because no one on the show would ever take themselves too seriously.
However, I happen to be working on a Saturday, and was listening in to another show called "Rico and the Monster", which was hosted by former Red Sox players Rico Petrocelli and the late Dick "The Monster" Raditz. Rico was the shortstop for Boston's 1967 "Impossible Dream" team... He was a rarity back then; a power hitting shortstop, who actually held the American league records for homers by a shortstop in 1969 with 40, that held until A-rod broke it in the late '90s. He switched to third base in the early '70s to make room for Luis Aparicio and then Rick Burelson in 1975; He retired after the next season.
Raditz was the original "intimidation" closer...a big, hulk of a man, whose giant hands would have fit better on a basketball court than a baseball field. He pitched for the Sox in the early '60s and, unlike closers today, would pitch 4,5, or more innings for a save. He was traded before the '67 season, and retired soon after. Dick was known for his outspoken opinions on the matter of closers today, and would bring it up often on the show. That particular day, Rico had a sore throat that made him sound like Super Dave Osbourne meets Brenda Vacarro...coupled with the fact that the Monster himself had a booming voice, it made for a strange sounding show that day. Things were about to get stranger....
During one of his anti-closers -today rants, the phone lines were open, and Raditz said, "Dennis in a car, you're on with Rico and the Monster"...what followed next was a voice on the other line saying: "You old bastards got a lot of nerve"...right away, both radio hosts knew who it was...Dick asked knowingly, "Is this Eck"?, meaning former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley, who identified himself as such and started defending himself. With the Indians Sox,and Cubs he was a starter, but, under Tony Larussa with the A's and Cardinals, he became one of the great short inning relievers of all time (as you all know). Now my memory is a little cloudy, and I can't find a clip of this exchange, but I remember Eck saying something like "Dick you don't think my 1992 season should have won me the CY Young, do you"? Raditz said no, he didn't think it should have, and Eck lost his shit, saying something to effect of, "You're outta your league, pal"!..
While the heated exchange of words was going on between the two closers, Petrocelli, sore throat and all, finally defended his partner, sounding like Tom Waits doing a Carvel commercial..."Listen Eck, you can't talk to the Monster that way, show some respect" (Again, I'm paraphrasing)...this only made Dennis more upset, as he felt he was being ganged up on. I can't remember how it ended. All I can recall is that after it was over, and I was wiping the tears of laughter off my face, I get a phone call; It was my brother Sean, who was listening in his car at the time...he didn't say hello...All he said was..."Looks like Eck's off the wagon again...
While reading Dan Epstein's excellent book about '70s baseball: "Big hair and plastic grass", I noticed how much the game has changed since then, yet how much it essentially remains the same. I grew up in the '70s watching the game;actually, it wasn't until 1977 that I really started following it, but since then I've been hooked. Now, first off, this is not going to be one of those, crabnibbity, things were better in my day, shake your fist in the air kind of pieces...I'm simply going to recall as many changes as I can, and with hold ( most ) of my opinions on the matter.
Let's start with the title of the book...Big hair was all the rage in the mid late '70s; you had the Afros of the (mostly, but by no means all )black players like Garry Maddox, Dick Allen and especially Oscar gamble. Many white players had long hair like Ted Simmons and players of all races sported some sort of fu manchu/ side burn combination. These looks faded in Reagan's conservative '80s, though...the '90s saw first the unfortunate rise in popularity of the mullet, followed closely by the grunge-inspired goatee/van Dyke's, which some players wore well into the 'oos. Now it seems like players will do anything; From Brian Wilson's dyed beard, to Coco Crisp's retro Afro, then braids...then there's the matter of plastic grass....
Back then about half the teams played on AstroTurf, which may have ushered in the "stealing" craze of the era; players like Vince Coleman, Willie Wilson and Omar Moreno, seemingly made a career slapping the ball into the fake turf and beating it out...then making the pitcher's life havoc as they stole almost at will. If these players played most of their games on real grass, they may never have stayed in the majors long (except maybe Wilson, who actually was a good hitter ). Today, with the advent of the olde timey ballpark look, there are only two teams: the Rays and Blue Jays, who still play on AstroTurf.
The uniforms changed; the form fitting, non buttoned jerseys of the '70s and '80s, have given way to a more classic look. One thing I will say that's better today than then; the uniforms aren't nearly as ugly. Bullpen cars are no more. You say this to anyone under the age of 30, and they look at you like you have three heads....relievers used to be carted in by a vehicle that kind of looked like a golf cart with a giant baseball helmet on top of it. I remember one of the first pitchers to refuse to use one, and actually ran in from the bullpen was Al "The mad Hungarian" Hrabosky", who also predates a lot of the "crazier" closers of today, with his wild mound antics and intimidation tactics.
Since the late '70s there have been two strikes; one in '81 and a more catastrophic one in 1994, which killed the season entirely. Oddly, those 2 season marked the two best the now defunct Montreal Expos would have...in 1981, they were and inning away from going to the world series...in '94 they had the best record in baseball, only to see the post season cancelled. The franchise would never see the playoffs as the Expos again. This past season they finally did as the Washington Nationals;having moved there in 2004.
Oh yeah, there's also four new teams: in 1993, the Colorado Rockies and Florida ( now Miami) Marlins and in 1998 the Arizona Diamond backs and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now just Rays). All four teams have won the pennant, btw, a feat that used to take most expansion teams decades to achieve. I used to marvel at the Kansas City Royals feat of making it to the playoffs after 7 years of existence (or of course, the Mets winning it all after the same amount of time).
And the way we watch the game has changed; it used to be you'd have your local station; mine being WSBK TV in Boston, that would show most (but by no means all) of the games. If you missed it, you'd have to wait until the local news or read it in the Boston Globe the next day. If you wanted to know about other teams (especially National league ones, who you only saw during All Star games and the World series ), you'd have to wait until Saturday, when the show "This week in baseball", narrated by the great Mel Allen, would air. Then you'd see the Dave Parkers and the Andre' Dawsons and the Rickey Henderson's and the Mike Schmidts; players you knew about mostly through your baseball collection. Of course now, there's ESPN, Sports center and more recently "Baseball tonight".
Then, a few years ago, a station emerged that I never would have thought possible 10 years ago;MLB network...a station ENTIRELY devoted to baseball. I love it in the offseason the most, where trades, free agents and such can be discussed. They also realize that the history of the game is just as important, so the winter months have lots of top 10 lists (actually, top 9;baseball, you know), season reviews, player docs and so on....they also show the Domincan leagues, Arizona fall leagues, and , this year, the World baseball classic, so I'll never need to go without baseball for long...yes, I need help...
Well, it's been a few weeks, but I'm back. There were several topics I was going to discuss; One was the whole Marlins/Jays fiasco, but I figured that was pretty well covered by now.
I've also written about 95% of another piece, but I'm still researching on that one ( It's a secret ). Then Marvin Miller died, so I thought maybe I could work with that. As most of you know, Marvin Miller is famous for being the lawyer that challenged the reserve clause and paved the way for free agency...oh, and he also made Curt Flood a household name, he being the first player to refuse to report to camp because of being traded to Philly from the Cardinals. Flood was a gold glove All Star, but also was well known for a slip-up in the outfield during the 1968 World series against Detroit, which led to the Tigers comeback and eventually victory.
Free agency has been both good and bad; that players can make a living at it and not have to supplement their income like players of yesteryear did, you can see the good. When you see a relatively O.K. player like Jason Werth receive a contract that would make Dave Winfield faint, you think, not so good. Miller was an enemy to most of the owners back in the '70s as well as Commissioner Bowie Kuhn...but to the players, he was a godsend. Of course, it's mostly the New Yorks, the Bostons, the Chicagos and L.A. s of the world that are benefiting from the bigger names.
The off season is more interesting with Free agency ( along with trades, that is ). The biggest free agent out there now is Josh Hamilton, who is a risk because of health issues. I think if the Red Sox get him, there should be a clause in his contract that he never brings up "Jesus" in an interview...although if he wants to talk about his drug filled past, that'd be O.K.
Miller hasn't made it to the Baseball Hall of fame yet, but when he does, some people won't be too happy about it; Bowie Kuhn was already dead, but some of the owners from back in the '70s who are still around are probably still reeling from it. As for the players, every one of them should get down on their knees and pray to the this guy...when you think of all the mediocre players who make a million dollars, it's astounding;or, as Bob Uecker once said "If I played in this era, I'd be making a million dollars...how scary is that"?
