Reprise of an old blog: The Ugly, The Bad and The Good (July 25, 2005)

The Ugly
With the recent Kenny Rogers’ Incident involving tossing cameras and abuse of the news media, I thought back to one of the worst incidents in baseball history, involving two HOF pitchers, a lifetime .250 hitting catcher and two bitter rivals in the Dodgers and Giants. (Left)


From the HOF archives
Juan Antonio Marichal Sánchez (born October 20, 1937 in Laguna Verde, Dominican Republic), better known as Juan Marichal, was a Major League Baseball starting pitcher known for his high leg kick and dominating stuff, and his intimidation tactics, which included aiming pitches directly at the opposing batters' helmets.

The high-kicking Juan Marichal, AKA the 'Dominican Dandy' or 'Manito', already had pinpoint control of his curve, slider, screwball, and blinding fastball, all thrown with a variety of motions. Some commented he had 16 different pitches, throwing his 4 pitches from either an overhand, 3/4, sidearm or submarine deliveries. His lifetime stats:

Led League in wins 1963 and 1968
Led League in ERA 1969
All-Star in 1962-69, 71
Elected to Hall Of Fame in 1983

IP: 3507.1
W-L; 243-142
ERA: 2.89

But with all that success came the unfortunate incident most remembered in his elite career. It happened on August 22, 1965.

That day, Marichal faced Sandy Koufax at Candlestick Park in the heat of a tight pennant race. The Giants and Dodgers had come close to a brawl two days earlier over catcher's interference calls. Los Angeles's Maury Wills had allegedly tipped Tom Haller's mitt with his bat on purpose, and Marichal's best friend, Matty Alou, retaliated by tipping John Roseboro's face mask.

Roseboro nearly beaned Alou with his return throw to the mound. In the August 22 game, Marichal had flattened Maury Wills and Ron Fairly with pitches when Roseboro purportedly asked Koufax to hit Marichal. When Koufax refused, Roseboro's return throw came close to Marichal's head. Name-calling ensued, until Roseboro suddenly ripped off his mask and stood up. Marichal rapped the catcher on the head with his bat. What followed was one of the most violent brawls in major league history.

Willie Mays led away Roseboro, who had suffered a concussion, while Dodger Bob Miller tackled Marichal, Alou slugged Miller, and Tito Fuentes menaced the Dodgers with his bat. Roseboro sued Marichal, but eventually dropped the $110,000 suit.

NL president Warren Giles suspended Marichal for eight games and fined him $1,750. He also forbid Marichal from traveling to Los Angeles for the final Giants-Dodgers series of the season.
Marichal, not to be outdone, had another memorable game:

On July 2, 1963 , he went the distance beating the winningest HOF lefthander in Warren Spahn and the Braves 1-0 in 16 innings. Warren pitched only 15 1/3 innings in the loss!

The Bad
John Roseboro was a 'good' left-hand hitting catcher in an era that had the likes of Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, Joe Torre, Tim McCarver, Bill Freehan and Elston Howard around catching.

According to Bill James, he is considered the 27th best catcher in MLB history. Though his .249 BA is not considered HOF worthy, two points should be made:

1) The 1960's was the worst offensive era for ALL hitters due to the mound height and strike zone expansion in 1963
2) Dodger Stadium was not a friendly hitter's ballpark like the ones today in Denver, Arlington and Houston, among others. Dodger stadium has always been a negative park for hitting homeruns, especially at night.

So, to properly rate Roseboro, we could do it in a better time (the 1990's or present day), and his offensive numbers would be much, much better. Also, his 'real' numbers assisted quite a bit given the scarcity of runs in the 1960's.

His defensive skills and game calling probably rate him a top 10-15 catcher all-time. (Caught Drysdale, Koufax, Sutton, Osteen, and Podres which ranks up there among the best pitching staffs all-time.)

All and all, he could have been a HOF catcher with a little more pop at the plate and not playing in the most restrictive era for hitters.

The Good
Sandy (Sanford) Koufax. The name is synonymous with great pitching. His lifetime stats:
Led League in wins 1963, 65-66
Led League in era 1962-66
Led League in strikeouts 1961, 63, 65-66
All-Star in 1961-66
Most Valuable Player Award in 1963
Hall Of Fame in 1972
IP: 2324
W-L: 165-87
ERA: 2.76
In World Series play
IP: 57
W-L: 4-3
ERA: 0.95
Books and articles about Sandy Koufax

His first few seasons in the ‘Bigs’ were not successful, but showed enough promise, given his wildness (sometimes overstated, sometimes understated) and the fact he didn’t get much support from manager, Walter Alston, in pitching out of jams.

But for 6 years, 1961-1966, he pitched better than ANYONE ever dreamed imaginable. Yogi Berra said in 1963, "I can see how he won 25 games. What I don't understand is how he lost five."

His legacy was cut short by a circulatory ailment that caused swelling in his arm unlike anything you would hear of in modern sports. With the right medical (and managerial) advice given, he could have pitched many years more. And what would have been? As it turned out, he made the HOF in 1972, six years after retiring.

Not bad, Lefty. Not bad at all.
Sandy Pitching in splendor - watch those curves!

Play Deep: I Can Be Centerfield

Two of my favorite musical treats are listening to the album Play Deep by The Outfield (of “Your Love” fame) and “Centerfield” by John C. Fogerty, of Creedance Clearwater Rival fame. I think of baseball when I hear them...go figure.

The purpose of this post is not to describe my musical likes but to list the best centerfielders and offer my undying love of Centerfield play.

I grew up playing outfield, most often centerfield, in the mid-late 1980’s, which explains the music tie-in. I always felt a bond with that position even though I played everywhere on the ball diamond, except 2nd base, even into high school. I am left-handed so you try to figure out why I caught, or played 3rd base as late as my junior year in high school. But my real love was centerfield. The vast expanse was a place I could go to work out things. I did my best in centerfield, even though it took until my senior year before the high school coach would stop playing me in right field (arm) or pitching (but never taught me anything I did not all ready know.)

During this era, there were only a few guys I really respected as centerfielders. Mind you, there are always a few really good ones, but rarely so many as the list later will reflect. Brett Butler and Kirby Puckett come to mind as vastly different, but solid day in, day out players of the 1980’s. Butler was a master of the bunt. Kirby was a clutch hitting, spectacular fielding at times CF in Minnesota, thus the HOF induction.

Centerfielders are known usually for their great defensive skills or uncommon power/speed combination. Most hit high in the batting order, either 1st because of their speed, 2nd because they can handle the bat or 3rd-4th if they can slug. This is not an absolute; just more often than not if they are going to play over a decade for any team(s).

The best ones of all time are a roll call of the immortal players. Only around 100 men have amassed 1,000 games in centerfield through 2005 season. Currently 16 of those are HOF players.(With another 5-6 possibly inductable after their careers are over: Ken Griffey Jr., Carlos Beltran, Steve Finley, Andruw Jones, Bernie Williams and Jim Edmonds.)

Six of those HOF men played in the late 1940’s through 1960. Joe DiMaggio, Duke Snider, Larry Doby, Richie Ashburn, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays. A few of their contemporaries were:

• Jimmy Piersall - Boston Red Sox/Cleveland


• Bill Virdon - Pittsburgh


• Vada Pinson - Cincinnati


• Curt Flood - St. Louis


• Jim Landis - Chicago White Sox


• Willie Davis - LA Dodgers

The 1950’s saw most every team have at least a competent CF running the outfield, if not spectacular. Of this group a few generalities existed:

• Mantle, Mays, Doby and Snider were the best sluggers.


• Ashburn, Mays, Piersall, Flood, Landis and Virdon were likely the best glove men.


• Mays, Ashburn, Pinson and Davis were stolen base threats.


• Snider and Mays likely had the best arms.
  

Mays is considered the best all-around CF of his day for a reason. His numbers are compiled in neary 3,000 games as a CF. Tris Speaker is the only other CF to amass over 2,500 games.

Centerfielders with 3,000 hits: Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Willie Mays, Robin Yount ( shortstop then move to CF for 1,000 games) and Rickey Henderson (started off as CF before spending most of his career in LF.) Even Lou Brock started out as a Centerfielder for the Cubs, but spent more time in LF and did not amass a significant game time in CF.

Centerfielders with 500 home runs: Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle and Ken Griffey Jr.

An applicable quote from a great Centerfielder:

"Well, my dad taught me that there's three parts. There's hitting, there's defense, and there's baserunning. And as long as you keep those three separated, you're going to be a good player. I mean, you can't take your defense on the bases, you can't take your hitting to the field, and you can't take your baserunning at the plate. But defense, is number one." - Ken Griffey, Jr.

Defense is number one.

The best ones get to balls. Always. Ask Vic Wertz about Willie Mays. Ask the few living Negro Leaguers about Cool Papa Bell or Oscar Charleston. Many a centerfielder has changed the game with his glove. As the table above reflects, quite a few of the greats are on the list, particularly those in the 1950's, highlighted in bold. It should be noted that Brett Butler and Kirby Puckett are high on the list of getting to balls.

If I had things to do over, I would have played centerfield for a minor league/semi-pro team for as long as I could. Maybe to make it to the show for a day, if two or three injuries happened. My best days in life involved playing baseball.

Last summer, I played in an adult league, a few pounds from by optimal playing weight. But I enjoyed chasing down balls and making the ultimate play: throwing a runner out a home. I did that 3 times. Not as much juice on the ball as I use to have, but accurate and the runners were dead in the water rounding third. The grass feels better under your feet after a throw or a great diving catch. The fence pats you on your back after you avoid a crash into it. And the sun gets out of your eyes on those elevator shots a few wannabe sluggers hit.

Put me in coach, I'm always ready to play....