In 1973, Steely Dan released their second album, "Countdown to ecstasy", which, if anything, was weirder and more perverse than their first release, "Can't buy a thrill". Seven years later, while perusing through my brother Brian's record collection, I stumbled upon it. One of the songs that stuck out to me was a tune called "The Boston Rag"; a song that, like most of Steely Dan's early work, dealt with subjects such as drug dealers and prostitutes. In this particular song, there was a drug dealer named "Lonnie"; it was the first time I had ever heard the name Lonnie for a man....The only other "Loni" I knew of was Loni Anderson, who portrayed Jennifer Marlow, the beautiful, intelligent secretary from the hit T.V. show, "WKRP in Cincinnati". Then the 1980 World series aired, and I finally saw my first male Lonnie; Phillies rookie Lonnie Smith.
Smith had come up briefly to the Phillies in both '78 and '79, but when they brought him up half way through the '80 season, he was there to stay. He finished 3rd in rookie of the year voting, and played a large part of the Phillies first Championship ever...two years later, he was traded to the Cardinals, where he led the league in runs scored and stole 68 bases, although he was caught stealing a league leading 26 times as well. The 1982 Cardinals offense was built on speed; manager Whitey Herzog gave everyone the green light, from the biggest stars, to the popcorn vendor...and when St.Louis went to the series that year, they faced their polar opposites, the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers hit 216 home runs that year, and sported a team who mostly looked like extras from the show "Sons of Anarchy". The Cards won that series in seven...it would not be Lonnie's last.
Fast forward to 1985...Lonnie's now in the WS again, this time for the Kansas city Royals, facing his old team the Cardinals. The Royals won this series in seven, mostly with some help from a terrible call from umpire Denkinger (Jorge Orta, anyone?). W/ this series victory, he became the only position player to play on three different World Champions, and he did it within 5 years of each other (Jack Morris and Dave Stewart did it as pitchers) . It was also during this time where his drug problems became an issue. Of course, it wasn't just him that was doing cocaine...you could make an All Star team with the known users then.
Despite his drug problems, Lonnie pulled himself together and ended up on yet another pennant winning team, the '91 Atlanta Braves. It was this series he was most famous for, but not in a good way. Late into game seven, a pitcher's duel to end all pitcher's duels between Jack Morris and John Smoltz, Smith was on first, when one of his teammates doubled...instead of scoring easily, Lonnie was faked out by the Twins 2nd baseman Chuck Knoblaugh, who pretended he had just thrown the ball...the deception was just enough to halt Smith for a bit, and only let him advance to third. The score remained tied at 0-0 until the bottom of the 10th, when the Twins finally scored. I think it's a shame that Lonnie's remembered for this one play, rather than him being on four different pennant and three different World Champion teams. Down worry Lonnie, you're not alone...Bill Buckner knows your pain...
I remember the first Earl Weaver card I had; it was a Topps 1978, which displayed every year he played up until 1977. Earl never made it to the majors, so it just showed his minor league stats...all 13 years of them. For some reason, baseball cards didn't show a managerial record then, which is a shame, because Earl was one of the greatest mangers ever. Sure, we all know about the four pennants and one World championship in 1970; but did you know the Orioles never finished below third the entire time he managed from 1968-1982? The man knew baseball, especially how to handle pitchers...in particular, the headcase known as Jim Palmer...
Jim Palmer...hall of fame, three time CY Young winner, underwear spokesman, apparently was a bit difficult to deal with. Tom Boswell, who covered the Orioles writing for the Washington Post has said that "Palmer's complexes had complexes" and also that "If it weren't for Earl Weaver, Palmer wouldn't have won 50 games in the majors". In 1971, the Orioles set a record that will probably never be broken, when four pitchers, Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Dave MacNally and Pat Dobson each won 20 games. Earl's "pitching, defense and waiting for the three run homer" strategy, may have rubbed some people the wrong way, but you can't argue with results.
Five Hall of famers played all or a good amount of their career under Weaver; Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson ( no relation ),Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken, who Earl convinced to move from third to shortstop and was the manager at the beginning of his record breaking streak. Reggie Jackson also played for Earl for one year in 1976, in between his A's and Yankee years. Reggie has said that Earl was one of the funniest men he has ever met, and had set a then record of consecutive games with at least one homer...
Oh yeah, there was his personality...he was ejected from a then- record game 91 times (since broken by Bobby Cox ), often getting in the ump's face, backward cap and all and screaming...he didn't do it for show, he simply didn't want his best players being thrown out. There's an infamous "Manager's corner", an Orioles post game show, in which the host asks Earl a bunch of seemingly harmless questions, only to be met with angry, four letter responses. I've included the audio on here. I've also included a classic Earl ejection, which I believe happened in the first inning of the first game of 1980 (I could be wrong about the details, but it's absolutely hilarious ).
So, R.I.P., the Earl of Weaver. He was one of my favorites;I've even included him in one of my bits, which I'll also include, because, why not?...Every time I see the Orioles hitting coach Terry Crowley on T.V. during a game, all I can think about is... "Terry Crowley's lucky he's in fuckin' baseball, for Christ sake's...
It was October 23rd, 1993; my band The Keep were playing a show at T.T. the Bears in Cambridge Ma., opening for some band called, "Ghost of an American airman"...they were signed to Elektra records, apparently. This date is significant for two reasons: 1) It was my friend Jesse's last show with us after 2/12 years, and 2) It was the last time the Toronto Blue Jays came close to greatness...We all know about the Joe Carter home run off of the Phillie's Mitch "Wild thing" Williams (and the announcer yelling "Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life" ), especially if you watch MLB network too much like I do. I saw the aforementioned shot in the club's bar before we went on, although my friend Alex kept telling people it was George Bell who hit it (He had left the Jays years before), and I had to keep correcting him.
Toronto got to where they were in the early '90s by trades and free agent signings...they traded Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff to the Padres for Carter and future hall of famer Roberto Alomar... picked up center fielder Devon White from the Angels, signed free agent Paul Molitor (another future hall of famer), Dave Winfield (see Molitor), and got veteran hurlers with playoff experience like David Cone, Dave Stewart and Jack Morris. These players, along with homegrown talent like John Olerud and Tony Fernandez (who came back after his brief stint with San Diego), were easily the best team in baseball, and won back to back World series titles in 1992 and 1993. They looked formidable for years to come...and then, the strike happened.
The 1994 strike almost completely killed MLB baseball in Canada; in fact, it pretty much sealed the fate of the NL's Canadian team, the Montreal Expos. Montreal had the best record in baseball in '94 with a 70-40 record when the strike happened, and were drawing record crowds to Olympic Stadium. After play resumed, they never could get the fans back; revenue diminished greatly, and they lost their T.V. contract. A few years later, they were reduced to playing a portion of their "home games" in Puerto Rico ...eventually of course, they moved the franchise to Washington.
The Blue Jays were also drawing record crowds in the early '90s. After the strike, they fielded some pretty good teams, and had such star players as Carlos Delgado and Pat Hentgen; but they couldn't keep up with the free spending Yankees and Red Sox. When the cash poor Rays started competing a couple of years ago, and the Orioles decided to become a viable team again, the Blue Jays organization figured enough was enough, and decided to spend. Of course, if you're going to gut another team, who better to start with than the train wreck known as the Florida Marlins...
At the beginning of the 2012 season, Florida decided to first, change their name to the Miamim Marlins, which included a cap and uniform change. This resulted in the UGLIEST uniforms since the heyday of the '70s and '80s Astros . They hired the most volatile manager in baseball in Ozzie Guillen, who probably misses Chicago more than anything now... Then they starting spending all the money they got from their new stadium on free agents like Jose Reyes, Mark Buerle, Heath Bell and so on...of course, those first two players are on the Jays now, along with another quality arm from Miami in Josh Johnson...Toronto didn't stop there though, deciding to pilfer from another wounded organization, the New York Mets...the Mets had been hurting for years, ever since the Madoff situation financially wounded the team. No one thought R.A. Dickey would win the CY Young last year, but who would have thought that after he did, the Mets would TRADE him...
So, as it stands, the Blue Jays are looking pretty scary, at least on paper. It's still the American league east, so even though New York didn't make many moves, and the Rays lost some players, and the Orioles could be a fluke, and the Sox made some weird -ass moves, there are no guarantees. Every one's picking them to at least win the East, thinking that maybe Detroit is still the team to beat in the AL ( I agree), but, if anything, it shows the Jay's fans that they're going for it...it's like the ealy '90s all over again...now where's my cassette of Nirvana's "Nevermind" ...
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...
