The Squibber
THE DAVIDS CHAPTER E-NEWSLETTER
Summer 2006
This newsletter is produced
by the Bob Davids Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR),
which serves SABR members in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and
parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Visit the chapter’s official website at www.sabrdc.org. For a current description of the
chapter’s program of activities and volunteer needs, go to http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mccrayl/Projects.htm
This quarterly newsletter is
distributed electronically to members.
It is posted, along with a wide range of cumulative material on baseball
and baseball research in our geographical area, on The Squibber’s website at http://members.bellatlantic.net/~mccrayl/NewNL.htm.
The deadline for material for
the next newsletter is November 1.
Submissions can be sent to Squibber editor Walt Cherniak at wcherniakjr@aol.com. Keep sending us those squibs, and those
ideas for squibs!
CONTENTS – Summer
2006
2.
To Take or to Rake? Soriano’s Statistical Oddity, by Walt Cherniak
3.
Report From Bethesda: Big Train Conducts College Baseball
Seminar, by Bill Hickman
4.
Talkin’
Baseball: Upcoming Speakers
Announced, by Dave Paulson
5.
Still The Spaceman: An Interview with Baseball Original
Bill Lee, by Bijan C. Bayne
6.
Local SABR Member
Joins Sotheby’s: Have
Something to Auction?
1. PITCHING PARTNERS (Part 2): Ramos and Pascual Were Nats’
Charismatic Cuban Aces, by Jeff Stuart
(Editor’s
Note: This is the second half of a
two-part series on Pedro Ramos and Camilo Pascual, who left an indelible
imprint on Washington baseball.)
Although the Senators finished last in four of their
last six seasons in Washington, the club that departed Washington for Minnesota
was a team on the rise. They
finished fifth and drew 743,404 fans in their final season, which was certainly
respectable for the time. The
addition of veteran catcher Earl Battey, who won a Gold Glove in 1960, helped. And youngsters like outfielder Bobby
Allison, the 1959 American League Rookie of the Year, and lefthanded pitchers
Jim Kaat and Jack Kralick, made the team better and certainly more interesting
to watch than it had been in years.
Minnesota and the End of “The
Partnership”
Having pitched the final game for the franchise in
Washington, Ramos on April 11, 1961 received the honors for the Opening Day
assignment for the Twins. He
defeated Whitey Ford as he shut out the Yankees 6-0 at Yankee Stadium.
Pascual got the nod to pitch the home opener, the
first game ever at Minnesota’s Metropolitan Stadium, on April 21, 1961. Pascual did not take the loss, as the
Twins lost 5-3 to the new expansion team in Washington. Camilo went 15-16 in his first season
as a Twin, but he led the American League with eight shutouts and 221
strikeouts. It was the first of
three straight seasons he would lead the American League in that category.
Ramos won 11 games, but suffered the ignominy of
losing 20 as the team slipped to seventh place. On April 2, 1962, Ramos, “El Gladiator,” was
traded to the Cleveland Indians for Vic Power and Dick Stigman. The six-year pitching partnership with
the Senators/Twins and Cienfuegos was now dissolved.
How important were Ramos and Pascual as teammates on
the Senators and Twins? There were
no championships to be won. The
club, though improving, was always weak, yet they were the dominant pitchers on
the team. Ramos led the franchise
in innings pitched every year from 1957 to 1960. He had 10 or more wins every year from 1956 to 1960 and was
the only starter to post a winning record in 1956. Pascual led the team in wins in 1959 and 1960.
Pascual Alone in Minnesota
With a more powerful lineup in Minnesota, Pascual did
eventually prosper. He posted
20-11 and 21-9 records in 1962 and 1963 while leading the league in strikeouts
both years. In the second 1961
All-Star Game, he pitched three hitless innings and fanned four, baffling N.L.
hitters with his dazzling curve. Pascual
got two more Opening Day assignments in Minnesota. The Twins lost to the Indians and Mudcat Grant 5-4 at
Metropolitan Stadium on April 9, 1963, and defeated Mudcat and the Indians 7-6
on April 14, 1964 in Cleveland. In
1964, Camilo won 15 games with a respectable 3.30 ERA while striking out 213.
In 1965, the Twins won the American League pennant,
but lost to the Dodgers in the World Series. Camilo only went 9-3 on the year, as arm miseries reduced
him to a spot starter. The Twins
beat the veteran Dodger pitchers Drysdale and Koufax in their first two games
of the series in Minneapolis. But
Claude Osteen, a former expansion Senator, beat Pascual in Game 3, throwing a
five hit, 4-0 shutout in L.A. Pascual gave up a two-run single to Johnny
Roseboro in the fourth that proved pivotal in the series.
Drysdale and Koufax posted victories in games 4 and 5. The Twins, back home in Minnesota, won
again in Game 6 behind Mudcat Grant 5-1, but the Dodgers took the final game
2-0 behind Koufax again.
Ramos in Cleveland and New York
Ramos went 10-12 for sixth-place Cleveland in 1962,
posting a 3.77 ERA and two shutouts.
He then struck out 169 batters while posting a 9-8 mark with the Indians
in 1963. The Indians finished
fifth that year. Meanwhile, Pedro’s
old partner and the Twins finished second in 1962 and third in 1963.
Ramos finally got his chance to play for a winner
when the Indians traded him to the Yankees on Sept. 5, 1964 for Ralph Terry,
Bud Daley, and $75,000. Assuming a
relief role in a tough pennant drive, he saved eight games and posted a 1.25
ERA. He was New York’s
bullpen stopper for the next two seasons, with 19 saves in 1965 and 13 in 1966.
Yankee Manager Johnny Keane put an end to
Ramos’ beloved foot race challenges. “I was losing a step anyway,” said Pete. Though no Yankee won a starting
position in the voting for the 1965 All-Star game, catcher Doc Edwards, a Ramos
roommate in Cleveland and New York, lobbied for Pete’s selection. It didn’t work. Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard, Bobby
Richardson, and Mel Stottlemyre eventually were selected by Al Lopez to
represent the proud but aging Yankees.
Pascual Returns to Washington
On Dec. 3, 1966, Minnesota traded Pascual and Bernie
Allen to the expansion Senators for pitcher Ron Kline. Still popular in Washington, Camilo
became the first pitcher for the expansion Senators to post back-to-back
winning seasons. He was 12-10 in
1967 and 13-12 in 1968. Pascual
was the only starter with a winning record in his two full seasons there. On April 10, 1968, he lost the 1968
Washington season opener 2-0 to Dean Chance and the Twins.
Pascual got the Opening Day assignment again on April
7, 1969 at RFK Stadium, before 45,000 fans, including President Nixon, who was
excited by the managerial debut of Ted Williams. Camilo took the loss as the Yanks spoiled the day by
winning, 8-4. Camilo’s last
appearances as a Senator were on July 9, 1969 at Fenway Park. He was used as a pinch runner in both
games of a double header, scoring his last run in the first game
Reunited in Cincinnati
The fading Cuban pair missed by a year of being
reunited with the Senators in Washington, but they did join forces again for
half a season with the Cincinnati Reds.
On June 10, 1969, Ramos signed as a free agent with Reds. Then, on July 7, 1969, the Reds
purchased Pascual’s contract from the Senators. Camilio pitched in five games for the Reds, starting once. He threw just 7 1/3 innings.
Ramos went 4-3, pitching 66 innings in 38 games, all
in relief. Though his fastball was
largely history, he still struck out 40.
On July 15, Ramos hurled a scoreless inning against the visiting Cubs in
his first appearance, but Chicago won 5-4. Perhaps his most dominant performance came on June 17 at
Candlestick Park. He struck out five
in two innings, but Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, who struck out eight in 9
innings, shut out the Reds, 4-0.
The pair appeared in four games together with
Cincinnati. On July 11, 1969, the
Astros routed the Reds 13-2 at the Astrodome. The Cubans gave up eight runs between them in Camilio’s
first appearance as a Red. On July
16 at Crosley Field, the Reds beat the Atlanta Braves, 10-7. This time the duo was successful at
closing it out. Pascual gave up a
run in 1 1/3 innings while Ramos earned the save allowing no runs in the final
2 1/3. They were successful again
on July 19 at Crosley Field. After
Pascual hurled a scoreless eighth, Ramos pitched three scoreless innings to
pick up his third win. The Reds,
trailing 9-0 in the sixth, rallied to defeat Houston 10-9 in 11 innings.
On July 17 at Crosley Field, in his only Reds
appearance without Pedro, Camilo closed out the game with two scoreless innings
of relief. But Cincinnati was
trailing 12-2 to Atlanta at the time and the game ended that way.
On Sunday, Aug. 3, in a slugfest at Connie Mack
Stadium in Philadelphia, the Reds prevailed, 19-17. Pascual, the starter, gave up three runs in 1/3 of an inning. Ramos came on in the sixth, allowing four
runs in 2/3 of an inning, but none of the 11 pitchers on either team
distinguished themselves. It was
the last appearance by Pascual in a Cincinnati uniform.
Together again, Camilo and Pete were probably more
important to each other than they were to Cincinnati. At 89-73, the Reds finished third under manager Dave Bristol
in 1969. But with Johnny Bench,
Pete Rose, Tony Perez, Clay Carroll, and Gary Nolan already on board, and
Sparky Anderson’s set to arrive in 1970, the “Big Red
Machine” was about to roll. The
Cuban duo just missed being part of that baseball dynasty.
Ramos Returns to Washington
Ramos briefly returned to the Senators roster in the
spring of 1970 after winning 15 games in Mexico during the preceding winter,
hurling 18 complete games there. President
Nixon, who had watched Ramos win two opening games, called Pedro at his Miami
home to express the hope he would see him again in Washington.
When he reported, Pedro was given the No. 17, which
had been worn the previous year by his old friend Camilo. Ramos said he placed no special significance
on the number. “Numbers
don’t help you win games. When
I was with the Yankees, they asked my preference in numbers. I asked for 3 and was turned
down.”
Though his return was largely symbolic, Ramos pitched
four innings, giving up three runs against the Yankees at RFK on April 23, 1970
as New York won 11-6. His final
game was on April 25 at RFK. He
pitched the top of the ninth, striking out two, and giving up a solo home run
to fellow Cuban Joe Azcue as the Angels won, 5-3.
Camilo in Cleveland
Pascual finished his career with the Cleveland
Indians in 1971, the last season the expansion Washington Senators existed. His last start was on April 20 at
Fenway Park, where he lost to the Red Sox, 4-1. He posted his last win on April 28 in relief of Sam McDowell
in Anaheim, pitching a scoreless eighth inning, giving up one hit and striking
out one. Cleveland won 3-2. His last appearance came on May 5t,
when he pitched the final two innings in a 4-2 loss to Kansas City,
giving up no runs, one hit, one walk, and striking out two.
A Durable Pair
During their seven consecutive years together in
Washington and Minnesota, Pedro Ramos and Camilo Pascual pitched an average of
203 innings and made an average of 27 starts a year. Ramos peaked at 274 innings in 1960, and Pascual hurled 252
innings in 1961. Camilo led the
league in complete games in 1959 with 17, while Pedro led the league in
complete games in 1960 with 14. Ramos
led the league in games started in 1958 and 1960 peaking at 37 starts in 1960.
The highest reported annual salary that Pascual ever
received was $52,000 from the Reds in 1969. The highest reported annual salary Ramos ever received was
$25,000 in 1965 and 1966 from the New York Yankees, although he probably earned
more than that with the Reds in 1969. Pound for pound and by the inning, these two were incredible
bargains throughout their careers.
Postscript:
The Partners, Mickey and Home Runs
"Washington meant so many good memories,"
Mickey Mantle told Tom Boswell of the Washington Post in 1985, as he was
promoting his book The Mick. "Pedro Ramos and Camilo Pascual
would laugh and rag each other about which gave up the longest home runs to me.”
Mantle hit 12 career homers off
Pedro and 11 off Camilo. He only
hit more, 13, off Early Wynn.
"I
hit two home runs into the tree beyond center field in old Griffith Stadium off
Pascual, and Ramos is up waving a towel at Pascual while I'm rounding the
bases,” Mantle recalled. “Later
that year I hit one off the facade in Yankee Stadium off Ramos, and as I'm
rounding third I see Pascual waving the towel at Ramos."
Ramos was reported to be Mantle’s favorite
pitcher, but in truth, he hit long homers off both. On April 17, 1956, Opening Day in Washington, Mantle hit two
tape-measure blasts of over 500 feet off Camilo. But in tribute to “the Calm,” he considered it a
major feat. “I hit those off
Camilo Pascual,” he said, “one hell of a pitcher.”
Then, on May 30, 1956, following a Ramos knockdown
pitch in the first game of a double header, Mantle hit a blast that came within
18 inches of leaving Yankee Stadium.
The ball caromed off the upper-stand facade of the third deck, about 396
feet from home plate. Estimates
are that the ball could have traveled more than 600 feet.
Estimating the length of Mantle homers was not an
exact science, however, Mantle told the New York Daily News between games of
the double header, “It's the hardest ball I ever hit left-handed.” Some published articles suggest this
blast came off Pascual. Perhaps
the confusion is because he hit a 500-foot homer in the second game against
Camilo to help propel the Yankees to a 12-5 win and a sweep.
On May 2, 1961, the Yankees, in their first game in
Minnesota after the Senators left Washington, topped the Twins, 6–4. Mantle's grand slam in the 10th inning
off Pascual is the big blow. A
change in location had not changed the usual result. Later in the season, on Aug. 6, 1961, Mantle led the Yankees
to another double-header sweep of the Twins, going 5-for-9 with three home runs
and a double. In the opener,
Mantle blasted two home runs off Ramos
But Mantle could do damage with his speed too. On May 9, 1958 year at Yankee Stadium,
Mantle broke a 2–2 tie with the Senators in the third inning with an
inside-the-park solo homer off Ramos.
New York won, 9-5. Ramos,
very fast in his own right, would always challenge the speedy Mantle to a race. Mickey would always decline.
Pedro and Ted
Ed
Linn's biography Hitter, the Life and Turmoils of Ted Williams, tells the story of Ramos striking
out the great Ted Williams in 1955.
Elated, Pedro ventured into the Red Sox locker room after the game in
Washington and asked Ted to autograph the ball. After protesting, “I don’t sign balls I struck
out on,” Williams said, "Sure, give me the ball, I'll sign it for
you.” But in the next game
Ramos pitched at Fenway, Williams homered deep to right. As he began his home run trot around
the bases, he yelled to Ramos, "If you can find that sonofabitch, I'll
sign it, too."
2. TO
TAKE OR TO RAKE?: Soriano’s
Statistical Oddity, by Walt Cherniak
With the exception of his base-stealing ability,
nothing in Alfonso Soriano’s game suggests a classic leadoff hitter. Soriano has an exceptionally quick bat
that generates the kind of power usually found in the middle of batting order. And, to be charitable, let’s just
say Soriano must have been absent from baseball school when they taught the
“a walk is as good as a hit” lesson.
At the All-Star break, Soriano’s home run total
(27), is running close behind his walk total (35). Soriano could become one of those rare players who finish a
season with more homers than free passes.
He’s done it before. Before joining the Nationals this year, Soriano twice posted
home run totals that were higher than his walk totals. In a third year, the homer and walk
totals were identical.
In 2002, his second season with the Yankees, Soriano
blasted 38 home runs, while drawing just 23 walks. The next year, he had 38 of each, although seven of the
walks were intentional. After
hitting 28 homers and walking 33 times for Texas in 2004, Soriano in 2005 hit
36 home runs while drawing 33 walks.
A leadoff man’s first job is to get on base,
and Soriano hasn’t done that job very well. Coming into this season, he had a career on-base average of
.320, which is 16 points lower than the American League average during his
career.
He’s doing a little better with the Nats. Through 89 games, he had a .338 on-base
average and 35 walks, making him certain to eclipse his modest career high of
38 free passes. Of course, nine of
those free passes have been intentional, so it hasn’t all been due to
increased patience.
There’s no question that Soriano’s
free-swinging approach is the main explanation for this anomaly. He’s well on his way to a sixth
consecutive season of 120 or more strikeouts. But it might not be entirely his doing. Soriano also has 187 career stolen
bases and a 79 percent success rate.
Pitchers are reluctant to walk someone like that, and may be more
willing to challenge him.
How unique are Soriano’s accomplishments?
In looking back at former Washington players,
it’s very difficult to pinpoint others who had more homers than walks in
a season. I found only two players
with as many as 10 home runs in a season who had more homers than walks for the
team that year.
One came from each of the two Washington Senators
franchises. In 1964, Moose Skowron
opened the season as Washington’s first baseman, and cracked 13 home runs
in 73 games. He drew just 11 walks.
Skowron was traded to the White
Sox on July 13. And, he finished
the year with combined totals of 17 homers and 30 walks.
We have to go back to the 19th century and
the National League Senators to find another example. In 1899, Washington’s Buck Freeman smashed a
then-remarkable 25 home runs. At
the time, it was the second-highest single-season total in baseball history,
trailing only Chicago’s Ned Williamson’s 27 in 1884. Williamson that year played in tiny
Lake Front Park, which had an extremely short left field fence. His Chicago team hit 142 home runs in
112 games, 103 more than the next closest team.
Freeman is credited with 23 walks that season,
although the reliability of walk statistics from that era can’t be fully
trusted.
We’ll see whether Soriano can match him. Doing so will require him to hit a few
more homers, take a few less walks, and remain with Washington for the entire
season. Time will tell which of
these will be most difficult to accomplish.
3.
REPORT FROM BETHESDA: Big
Train Conducts College Baseball Seminar, by Bill Hickman
The Bethesda Big Train Baseball team was pleased to
host the Bob Davids Chapter on June 17 with a seminar on college baseball. Bruce Adams, President of the Big Train
organization, led off with a brief history of the Big Train team and Shirley
Povich Field.
Next, we received a perspective on the Cal Ripken Sr.
Collegiate Baseball League from Commissioner Bill Spencer and Executive
Director Alex Thompson. Big Train
Manager Sal Colangelo, whose brother Mike is a former major leaguer, engaged in
a lively discussion about what it is like to manage a summer collegiate team.
Umpire Mike Rosen engaged in a frank conversation
about some of the facets of an ump's job, and two Big Train players stopped by
to lend their perspectives. The
seminar ended on a high note with a lively talk from noted baseball author Paul
Dickson. The SABR group stayed
around to watch the Big Train beat the Silver Spring-Tacoma Thunderbolts, 3-1.
Six former Big Train players were selected in this
year's major league draft. They
are: catcher Matt Clarkson
(Pirates), first baseman Luke Hopkins (Blue Jays), outfielder Tyler Jones
(Diamondbacks), pitcher Joe Kantakevich (Mariners), outfielder Mike McBride
(Giants) and catcher Mike McKendry (Rockies).
As of June 23, the Big Train led the Cal Ripken Sr.
Collegiate Baseball League with a 9-4 record. Catcher Preston Pehrson leads Big Train hitters with a .548
slugging percentage, a .355 batting average, 1 homer, and 9 RBI. Brian Dozier has a .357 batting
average, but has played in five fewer games than Pehrson. Pitchers Adam Redd, Wyatt Stewart,
Chris Cullen, Jimmy Saris, and Austin Hinkle have ERAs under 2.00.
4.
TALKIN’ BASEBALL:
Upcoming Speakers Announced, by Dave Paulson
Steve Goldman of Baseball Prospectus, who is the
author of Forging Genius: The Making of Casey Stengel, addressed the monthly
Talkin’ Baseball discussion group at Barnes & Noble in Columbia, Md.
July 9. Goldman also writes the
“Pinstriped Bible” blog for the Yankees’ YES Network Internet
site.
Tentative speakers for the next several months
include: Charlie Vascellaro (Aug.
12), who will discuss his book Hank Aaron; Jerry Casway (Sept. 9); Mike
O’Connor, (Oct. 14) a rookie left-handed pitcher for the Washington
Nationals who grew up in Ellicott City, Md.; David Mraniss (Nov. 4), author of Clemente:
The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero; and Barry Svrluga (Dec. 9), Washington Post Nationals beat reporter.
5.
STILL THE SPACEMAN: An
Interview with Baseball Original Bill Lee, by Bijan C. Bayne
(Editor’s Note: BaseballSavvy.com contributor Bijan C. Bayne spoke to Bill
Lee at the SILVERDOCS Film Festival in Silver Spring, Md., where Lee attended
the first complete screening of the biographical documentary Spaceman: A
Baseball Odyssey, produced by Brett Rapkin.)
He was more than a flaky, left-leaning lefthander. Bill Lee was the ace of the Red Sox
staff before Luis Tiant arrived, and with "El Tiante" formed a 1-2
punch that made Boston a formidable team in the 1970s.
As Lee recalls:
"I was two people; one on the field, and the image away from it. That's what my film in this festival
gets across. It's like I'm lost in
space, as two different people, like one turns off and the other on.
“I was just at a plumbing fixtures convention. They had a radar gun there. I wasn't gonna let these plumbers beat
me. One guy there was a 47-year-old
who played minor league ball in the Toronto system. He got it up to 71 on the gun. I reached 60 miles per hour. I factored in his age, and I beat him. To prepare for that, I threw rocks in
his rock garden, and did leg stretches over a toilet to get two feet further on
my throws.
"I won 17 games three years in a row. The Red Sox have a Hall of Fame up in
the private suites, the EMC Club. Bronze
plaques of Jean Yawkey with those big glasses, Pudge Fisk with that nose of his. There are plaques of Dennis Eckersley,
Bruce Hurst and Bill Monboquette.
I won more games in a Red Sox uniform than Eck, Hurst, or Monboquette. I had fewer losses than they did. Other than Mel Parnell, I'm the winningest
lefty in Red Sox history
(Editor’s Note: Lee’s math is a little off. Monboquette’s 96 wins are two more than Lee recorded
with the Red Sox, and Lefty Grove, with 105 victories, is the second-winningest
lefty in team history.)
“What's worse than a pitcher who's a radical
and a rebel? I helped form a
group, the Save Fenway Park Society, to save Fenway Park when the Yawkey Trust
wanted to build a new stadium. We
fought them, and I cost them $286 million.”
Of his moniker, Lee says, "In college they
called me ‘Superpsych.’
‘ Spaceman' came from
a teammate. I'm the most
anti-space guy you want to meet. I
always felt the space program was a ruse to take the focus off greater needs,
such as poverty and the need for fossil fuel. In my book, The Wrong Stuff, I talk about how Tom Wolfe's
The Right Stuff was a parody. It
wasn't about the space program; it was about the best test pilots, or as Chuck
Yeager called them, ‘spam in a can.’ They didn't care who they sent up there.
“But during Apollo 14 in 1972, the backup
middle infielder John Kennedy couldn't get to his locker for all the reporters
around me. I'd pitched a great
game, and he had a date that night.
He told the writers, ‘We got our own Space Man right
here.’”
Asked about the most feared American League hitters
of the early 1970's, Lee commented, "I didn't worry about Frank Robinson
much, but Willie Horton, Frank Howard; they hit it right down the middle. Harmon Killebrew I never had much
trouble with. He liked to get his
hands out and away, so I pitched him away so he couldn't get them into position
here [draws hands closer as if readying to hit], to take away his power.
“Pitching is about angles and physics. It's throwing a hitter's timing off. I'll be watching a game on TV with my
wife, and I'll say, ‘If he gets that up five miles per hour more, and an
inch away, an inch down, he'll get the batter to ground out into a double play.’ And it never fails.”
Sounds as if Lee analyzed pitching, much as Ted
Williams did hitting. "Williams
says to me, 'Bill, you're so dumb, you probably don't know why a curveball curves.’ I said 'Bernoulli's Principle, the same
thing that gave your airplane lift, and makes rivers run faster through narrow
banks. And he's Belgian. I bet you thought he was
Italian.”
He comes over, puts his arm around me. He liked people that challenged him,
even though he wanted to be right.
Neither he nor I were well liked by the Boston press. Sort of the same persona; California
kids. I was one of the last to see
him alive. He was in a wheelchair
at the Breakers in Palm Beach. It
was just his former teammates: Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Joe Cronin's
daughter, Maureen, and this retired general from the Marine Reserves. Six months later he was dead."
Lee thinks Major League Baseball's amphetamine ban
will make beer sales go down. "I
look for who will be affected. They're
already making stronger tea. When
I was in Montreal, the trainer would tell us how many barrels of greenies the
Phillies were taking. They were
incredible."
On the Bosox breaking the supposed "Curse"
in 2004, Lee said, "You know, if anyone has a right to hate an
organization it's me. You can't
take it out of my blood, though.
Boston fans are the best in baseball: emotional, inherently tough. I was blessed to play there. I'm a mathematician. Sooner or later, it was going to
happen. But it's strange that
little Dave Roberts, a second baseman (sic), changed the pivotal game. This for a team that tried to win
without speed, defense or pitching for so long. That turned down Jackie Robinson.
“Tom Yawkey built teams around the long ball. I'll never forget this game when a fan
was yelling at the Sox skipper in a Jamaican accent, 'Put the jumper [pinch
runner] in! Put the jumpah in!’ But Posada made a great throw on that
[Roberts] play, maybe an inch to the third base side. Then we get a base hit up the middle, we're back in
it."
Lee spoke about Tony Conigliaro's beaning and
horrible eye injury, and its effect on his club. “Never thought about it. Everyone has injuries.
You have to overcome them. Yawkey
just insisted on winning with the long ball. Tony C. wasn't really into baseball, though. I always felt he was using it as a
stepping stone to become Ocean's Eleven or something.”
And about 1975: “In '75 we had some young guys. Guys who could run. Rice, Lynn and Burleson; Fisk, who
could move for a catcher, along with the plodders, Petrocelli and Yastrzemski,
and we put it together. I was
injured late in the season, but came back to pitch in the World Series.
"Yaz wasn't our leader. He was the leader of the old guard. Fisk was the leader. We had the young guys, and that forced
Yaz to play well. Dick Williams
hated Yaz in '68, when he wasn't giving his all.
“Yaz was conservative, like Ted Williams. Anybody who made the most money and was
close to the owners was pretty right wing. When I was head of the Players Union, of the five players
that stood against us in our demands, three were Red Sox. Yaz, Smitty. Reggie Smith, said to me, 'You guys are only losing $200 a
day; I'm losing $500 a day.’
I said 'You didn't just say that, Reggie. Tell me you didn't say that.’ I showed him up in that meeting and he
wanted to fight me then. Later, he
got traded for sucker-punching me.
He was a hothead, but the black athletes hated Boston. Very few lived in the nice suburbs. I was talking with Raymond Clayborn,
the old Pats defensive back, and he said he was the first local black athlete
to live up in North Andover, on the North Shore.
"I was a radical, a union leader. When I backed Judge Garritty on school
desegregation in Boston, the South Boston Irish told me they were gonna come
kill me. I read a lot of Howard
Zinn, Noam Chomsky. I just read
Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie.
There were three American reporters that listened to John Paul Vann
about how we were approaching the Vietnam War the wrong way. [David] Halberstam was one, and Sheehan. It's the same thing that's happening now.
"When people ask who the best player I ever
played with was, I tell them Reggie Smith. He and Yaz were fooling around one day in the outfield
having a throwing contest. Yaz was
bouncing them off the left field wall. Smitty came on, and was putting them on Kenmore Square. He had a cannon. Best arm I ever saw, until I played
with Ellis Valentine. But he
followed Yaz. When we first got
those horrible double-knit uniforms, they only made one, Yaz's No. 8. Yaz put it on. The rest of us hated it, and stuck to
our flannels. So Reggie says, 'what
is this?’ And he puts on
Yaz's flannel '8'. So I go 'Hey me
and my shadow!’ He took it
racially. Oh, he was something.
"Lonborg was and is a great guy; very bright. Lonnie and I are still close. I got along well with the hockey guys. I was at a fundraiser in Canada with
Bobby and Dennis Hull, and the Mahovlich brothers.
Back to the '70's Sox. "Getting rid of Cepeda, Marichal and Aparicio the same
year really hurt us. That was
wrong."
Lee and Jim Bouton, of Ball Four fame, are developing a talk show for satellite
radio. Lee still does post-game
shows for the now-Washington Nationals, as he had when the Expos were in
Montreal. He told me a
Seattle-based production team is working on another documentary about him,
called High and Outside.
"Space" also coaches youngsters. “I tell the girls, ‘Stay up
on your toes.’ Then I see
their high heel shoes, and say, ‘Oh, you're already on your toes.’” He’s had fantasy camp teams, and
loves to bat. "I was a very
good hitter at USC 'til my eyesight went.
My last injury was as a hitter, and I loved to hit. The things you love will hurt you. My last professional year was down in
Venezuela with Los Tiburones. Ozzie
Guillen drove our bus, and we had Ozzie Virgil, Jr. That was in '84."
Bijan C. Bayne is the author of Sky Kings: Black
Pioneers of Professional Basketball.
Bayne has contributed to books such as Baseball in the Carolinas and
Basketball in America, and resides in Washington, DC.
6.
LOCAL SABR MEMBER JOINS SOTHEBY’S: Have Something to Auction?
Long time SABR member Frank Ceresi is now the
Director of Acquisitions for Sotheby's Sports Auctions. Sotheby’s Washington D.C.
metropolitan offices are located at One Courthouse Square, 2200 Wilson Blvd.,
Suite 800, Washington, D.C. 22207.
If you believe you have an "attic find" or
other interesting sports items that you would like either for appraisal or to
be considered for consignment (two lie and two internet sports auctions
annually), please contact Frank at (703) 558 3699 Monday through Friday or on
his cell at (202) 415 6420.
7. CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA
REPORT: York Lands Atlantic
League Team, by Barry Sparks
After 10 years of stops and starts, political
haggling and uncertainty, York, PA, will be home to an Atlantic League team in
2007. Construction of a 5,200-seat
stadium is expected to begin late this summer after demolition of buildings on
the stadium site in downtown York.
If the project stays on schedule, the new stadium should open for
baseball in June 2007.
The yet unnamed York team will compete in the
Atlantic League’s Southern Division. Voting for one of five team names ended on June 26. Among the possible names are the
Choppers, Dukes, Revolution, Steel Horses or White Roses. The winning name will be announced later.
It is estimated that a stadium in York City would
need an average home-game attendance of 2,800 to sustain stadium operations. Here are the 2005 average attendance
figures for Atlantic League teams:
Long Island Ducks, 6,132; Lancaster Barnstormers, 5,404; Somerset
Patriots, 5,370; Bridgeport Bluefish, 3,036; Newark Bears, 2,709; Camden River
Sharks, 3,982; Atlantic City Surf, 2,018; Nashua Pride, 1,270.
York has not had a baseball team since 1969, when
it was a member of the Class AA Eastern League. York, an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, won the
Eastern League title.
Members of the team included Gene Clines (member
of the 1971 Pittsburgh Pirates World Series team and current Chicago Cubs
hitting coach) and Angel Mangual (member of the 1972-1974 Oakland A's World
Series teams).
Former Orioles in the Atlantic League
Rosters of Atlantic League teams are dotted with
former major leaguers. The Long
Island Ducks feature 12 former major leaguers, including two-time A.L. MVP Juan
Gonzalez and 11-year veteran Henry Rodriguez. The Lancaster Barnstormers feature Reggie Taylor, a former
first-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Phillies, and Jose Ortiz, who played
with the A’s and the Rockies.
Three former Orioles have played on Atlantic
League teams this season. Judging
by their mid-season performances, however, don’t expect any of them back
in a major league uniform any time soon.
Pitcher Damian Moss is 0-5 with a 7.67 ERA in six starts for Long
Island; Infielder Deivi Cruz is hitting .248 in 37 games for the Bridgeport
Bluefish; Catcher Fernando Luna is batting .187 in 44 games with the Somerset
Patriots.
1993 Harrisburg Senators
What do Los Angeles Dodgers manager Jim Tracy, New
York Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd and Washington Nationals hurler Joey Eischen have
in common? All three were members
of the 1993 Harrisburg Senators, voted as one of the 100 Greatest Minor League
teams of all-time (#73).
The 1993 Harrisburg Senators, a Class AA affiliate
of the Montreal Expos, posted a 94-44 record to win the Eastern League title by
19 games. The talented team
started 35-9 and continued to dominate even after early season standouts such
as Floyd, Eischen, Rondell White, Kirk Reuter and Gabe White were promoted to
AAA Ottawa. Other future major
leaguers on that club included Curtis Pride, Oreste Marrero, Miguel Batista,
Glenn Murray, Shane Andrews, Derrick White, Archie Corbin, Rick DeHart, Yorkis
Perez and Ugueth Urbina.