"'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free, 'tis the gift to come down where we ought to be."
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Charlie Gehringer - The Quiet Man
"'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free, 'tis the gift to come down where we ought to be."
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Yogi Berra - The Lucky One
In 1956, he and batterymate Don Larson would become immortal when Larson pitched a perfect game in the fifth game of the World Series against the Dodgers. Larson says he never shook Berra off during the game. The Dodgers sent Dale Mitchell to the plate with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth. Mitchell rarely struck out. He ranks as of this writing 8th all-time in fewest strikeouts per at bat. On a 1 -2 count, Mitchell took a pitch he thought was high and outside. You wonder if Berra had something to do with the home plate umpire calling Mitchell out. Strike or not, everyone remembers Berra jumping into into Larson's arms - an indelible image for anyone who follows baseball. (Click here for video footage of Larson striking out Mitchell.)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Roger Bresnahan and the 1905 World Series
It was genius.
McGraw and Branch Rickey called Bresnahan the finest catcher they ever saw. The Giant's great pitcher Christy Mathewson (at left) went 31-9 in 1905, no longer having to worry about whether his breaking ball would find a catcher's mitt.
Bresnahan produced more than defense. He was the Giant's lead-off hitter. He hit .302, had speed, and knew how to work the count. His OBP that year was .411.
The Giants repeated as the National League champion and faced the Philadelphia Athletics in the first league-sanctioned World Series.
Bresnahan scored the winning run in the first 2 Giant victories. At the Polo Grounds in New York, his double in the bottom of the eighth in what would be the deciding fifth game set up an important insurance run in a 1-0 game.
The Giants won the series 4-1. Mathewson pitched 3 complete game shutouts. Iron Joe McGinnity pitched another. All with Bresnahan behind the plate. He led all hitters with a .313 average and a .500 OBP.
But the stars would never again align so favorably for him. Bresnahan played 3 more years for the Giants during which he introduced shin guards and padded masks for catchers. After the 1908 season, McGraw traded Bresnahan to the St. Louis Cardinals. He played 7 more years as a part time catcher and a sometime manager for the Cardinals and the Cubs.
His most valued baseball cards were released after his years with the Giants. At left is his 1911 Broadleaf Gold Borders Card. Below right is a portrait, from the 1909-11 T-206 set from my collection.
Bresnahan today is remembered less for his play than the spotlight he always found. He once told everyone he had been born in Tralee Ireland.
The press saw a good story and called him the Duke of Tralee.
It wasn't true. He was from Toledo.
He baited umpires mercilessly. Sometimes the police had to be called to remove him from games.
He died in 1944; the next year he was elected as the first catcher in the Hall of Fame. His election was as controversial as his temper. He had played as a regular for only 7 years - and had great numbers in only 2 seasons. But the ones who knew his play best - his peers – voted him in the Hall, not the baseball writers. When Walter Johnson was called on to pitch to Babe Ruth in an exhibition game at the Polo Grounds in 1943, it was Bresnahan who was called on to catch.
Perhaps the players saw in Bresnahan something that the passing years have obscured. Or something that those who never played the game cannot see.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Stan Musial - The Cardinals' Prince
But a friend encouraged Musial to try the outfield. Musial had no home run power (2 homers in over 500 ABs) but he could hit a little in the gaps and could run.
And then he got better.
In 1948, he hit .376, with 39 homers and 131 RBIs. Musial won his 3rd MVP award but missed the Triple Crown by one home run. Blame the St. Louis Browns. The Cardinals had beaten the Browns in the World Series in 1944. The usually inept St. Louis Browns owned Sportsman's Park where the Cardinals played. The Browns had covered the right field stands in 1929 with a wire screen on an off-day after they had been hammered with home runs by the Tigers. (Four of Ruth's 60 home runs in 1927 had been at Sportsman's Park.) In 1948 Musial must have caromed a couple of his 46 doubles that year off the screen that, but for the Browns, would have been home runs. The Browns had their revenge for 1944.
1948 produced Musial's 2 "rookie" cards. (The card business had taken a breather during World War II.) The more famous of the 2 was a black and white portrait known as Bowman #36. To the right is a chrome refractor reprint of #36, serial numbered 255/299.