Tag: Willie Mays

Josh Beckett and the Strangest Spring Training Mishaps Ever

On Monday, Josh Beckett was struck in the head with a ball during batting practice at the Red Sox spring training camp. Thankfully, he is okay and should not miss any regular season time.

These kinds of freak accidents happen every single year in spring training. We wanted to find the strangest of the strange and present them to you in a nice tiny ball, or slideshow in this case.

These can range from someone getting hit in the head with a ball during batting practice, like Beckett just did, to someone blowing a bird to pieces with a fastball, like Randy Johnson.

Here are the strangest spring training mishaps ever.

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Does Albert Pujols Project To Be Major League Baseball’s Best Hitter Ever?

St. Louis muscleman Albert Pujols has done a pretty good job of imprinting himself on Major League Baseball’s collective consciousness these past several months as followers of the grand old game have been compelled to consider a radical change of venue for the stand-out Cardinal first baseman.  

The numbers being bandied about are pretty heady, as Pujols, at least for now, seems intent on becoming the games highest paid player — something in the area of $25-30 million per year with the only possible harbinger being there are but a handful of clubs who could possibly consider crunching that number.   

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Lofty Heights: LA Angels Prospect Mike Trout Being Compared to Mickey Mantle?

Legendary New York Yankees Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle was without a doubt one of the best center fielders that ever played the game of baseball. His five-tool skills, combining hitting for average, hitting for power, base running skills and speed, throwing ability and fielding abilities were matched only by Willie Mays and Ken Griffey Jr.

However, a new young buck has entered the fold. Los Angeles Angels top-rated prospect Mike Trout is already drawing comparisons to the great Mickey Mantle, and Trout has yet to play a game above the single-A level.

It’s a pretty heady comparison for a kid who has yet to play a game at the Major League Baseball level. But thus far, Trout has not done anything to dissuade those who marvel at his abilities.

Drafted by the Los Angeles Angels out of Milville, NJ in the first round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft, Trout has excelled at every stop thus far in the Angels’ minor league system, hitting .360 in the Arizona Rookie League after the draft, and then hitting a combined .341 at the single-A and advanced single-A levels last season.

Trout’s 56 stolen bases last season only added to his overall allure, and his .428 on-base percentage showed a disciplined plate attitude, considered exceptional for a player who was only 18 years old at the time.

The accolades and awards have already started to pile up for the young stud, being named the Most Valuable Player of the Midwest League and earning Class A All-Star honors by both Topps and Baseball America.

Late last year, Trout was named the number one minor league prospect by MLB.com.

However, the comparisons to the great Mantle are certainly premature. Remember when the sweet-swinging Will Clark was compared favorably to Ted Williams?

The Angels have already said that they have no intentions to rush Trout to the big leagues, despite his meteoric rise. The Angels have had a history of can’t-miss prospects who never lived up to the hype (Dallas McPherson, Casey Kotchman), so they are understandably taking their time with the young Mike Trout.

With Peter Bourjos, Vernon Wells and Torii Hunter manning the outfield for the Angels, Trout will have time to continue to develop the skills that many believe will lead to a Hall of Fame career. Abe Flores, the player development director for the Angels, says the hype is all great and good, but that it’s important to not get over-excited.

“I wish everyone would just take a deep breath here,” Flores told the Los Angeles Times. “There’s been a lot of momentum around him, but everyone should keep their feet on the ground.

“I’m trying to quash people who are losing their minds comparing this kid to someone in the major leagues.”

The Angels only have to look to Brandon Wood, who was the next can’t-miss prospect for the Angels. Wood suffered through a terrible 2010 season after being named the starting third baseman for the Halos, batting just .146 overall. While Wood will still battle for playing time in 2011, the expectations of greatness are far from fulfilled.

As for Trout, one baseball expert believes that the sky could be the limit.

“I haven’t talked to anyone who’s seen Trout who hasn’t raved about him,” said Jim Callis, an editor at Baseball America. “One scout I talked to said Trout was the favorite prospect he’s ever scouted.

“Another told me he saw him hit a 400-foot home run, and in his next at-bat, he dropped a bunt and got to first in 3.65 seconds. Four seconds is top speed for a major leaguer.”

Mickey Mantle was a legend. Mike Trout could be a legend in the making.

 

For continuing coverage of the Los Angeles Angels, follow Doug on Twitter @Sports_A_Holic.

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Say Hey, San Francisco: Was This Willie Mays’ Most Memorable Week?

The 1961 baseball season is remembered for the classic home run chase between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, both in pursuit of Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record of 60. However, there were other great accomplishments that season.

On April 30, Willie Howard Mays Jr., whom many consider a better player than either Maris or Mantle, hit four home runs against the Milwaukee Braves to lead the San Francisco Giants to 14-4 victory. Mays became only the ninth player to hit four home runs in a game.

Going into the contest, Willie had hit only two round-trippers all season. He finished the year with 40 home runs.

Facing sinkerball (some claim that it should read “spitball”) pitcher Lew Burdette with two outs and the bases empty in the top of the first, Willie connected for his first home run.

In the third inning, Willie hit a two-run blast, again against Burdette, but it wasn’t a perfect day. In the fifth inning, Mays flied out to center.

His third home run was a three-run shot off journeyman left-hander Seth Morehead, and in the eighth, Mays hit a two-run home run off Don McMahon.

Most of the small crowd of 13,114 was pulling for Willie to set a record of five home runs in a single game, but first Willie had to get to the plate.

Jose Pagan led off the Giants‘ ninth with a ringing single to center. Giants’ pitcher Billy Loes, who had been a mainstay of the hated Brooklyn Dodgers teams of the early and mid-1950’s, sacrificed Pagan to second, but Chuck Hiller grounded out to first for the second out, bringing up Jim Davenport with Mays on deck.

The suspense was short-lived as Davenport grounded out to second, leaving Mays in the on-deck circle where he had been when Bobby Thomson hit an important home run in 1951.

A few days later, in Philadelphia, Willie demonstrated his greatness and versatility with another play that reminds today’s fans how much they have missed by not getting to see him play.

Giants’ ace Juan Marichal faced Frank Sullivan. With the first-place Giants leading 2-1 in the top of the third inning, Mays drew a walk with one out. Willie McCovey then flied out to center, bringing up Orlando Cepeda.

Manager Alvin Dark put on the hit-and-run. Willie took off as Cepeda hit a single to left. Bobby Gene Smith was playing deep against the power-hitting Cepeda and by the time he got to the ball Willie was already around second base.

Smith relayed the ball to shortstop Ruben Amaro who fired to second in order to hold Cepeda at first, but Amaro hadn’t counted on Willie being Willie.

Third base coach Salty Parker put up the stop for Mays, but he ignored it. Everybody was taken by surprise, except of course for Willie, who never had any doubts about taking the gamble.

Many players have scored from first on a single (see Enos Slaughter in the 1946 World Series), but Mays’ feat was unique because the ball had been hit in front of him.

Within a span of six days, the great Willie Mays hit four home runs in a game and scored from first base on a single to left field with what turned out to be the game’s winning run. Mays was a winner who loved the game and had the talent to beat opponents with his bat, legs and arm.

He was as great as those who saw him play say he was, only he might have been even a little bit greater.

References:

Mays wallops four home runs as giants overwhelm braves in milwaukee: RECORD EQUALED IN 14-4 CONTEST mays, ninth to connect 4 times in one game, paces 8-homer giant offense. (1961, New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. 37. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/115236131?accountid=46260

Times, By Howard M. Tucker. .Special to The New York TImes. (1961, Giants top phils, thanks to mays: Dash from first to home on single marks 4-2 victory. New York Times (1923-Current File), pp. 37. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/115319094?accountid=46260

Retrosheet

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Martin Luther King Day: The MLB’s All-Time African American Lineup

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, and to honor African American players in the major leagues, I have compiled a nine player lineup of the greatest African American players in baseball history.

There were a number of tough decisions in naming the team, and the likes of Ken Griffey Jr, Joe Morgan, and Frank Thomas, among many others didn’t make the cut.

So here it is, the starting nine African American players in honor of Martin Luther King Day.

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Top 20 Home Run Hitters of All Time: Can We Get an Asterisk Please?

And the answer issss no. We’ll never see asterisks to mark some of the blatantly questionable performances of the denoted, approximate 15-year period ranging from the early 1990s until at least midway through the first decade of this century, because to do so is as much an indictment of Bud Selig and league ownership as it is many of the supersized players themselves.

The epic 1998 Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run race clearly brought baseball back into the first-class seating section of American sports, re-establishing the long-time fan fascination with the long ball, which goes back to the days of the charismatic Bambino, traveling through the handsome vagaries of Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Hank Greenberg, the great Teddy Ballgame, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

Of course league ownership, media and the sensible fan knew something was going on. Forget that only two players in 70 years were able to touch the 60 plateau and suddenly Sosa, McGwire and Bonds were making successive mockeries of the mark.

For many of us with a watchful eye, it was the sudden, sensational emergence from offensive mediocrity to downright Mendoza line obscurity that can be attributed to the likes of a Brady Anderson, a .250 lifetime hitter with middling power who blasted 50 homers in 1996 or Benito Santiago who hit 30 homers for the Phils in ’96 at the age of 31 after totaling 35 home runs in the three previous seasons and never more than 18 in any of his 10 major league seasons to that point.

There were countless others that hammered home the point that it was way more than Wheaties that were driving the modern ballplayers’ engines in the approximate decade-and-a-half stanza when offensive statistics truly ran wild.

Certainly the issue of complicity is complicated and far reaching.

It can also be expounded upon at another time. Today we address the home run. If Major League Baseball won’t do anything to engender a little statistical perspective on the greatest long ball hitters of all time, we will—with a few liberties no doubt—but those have been taken in the most plausible way and the rearranged listing may just hit you about right.

 

One to Five: Ruth, Aaron, Griffey, Mays, Bonds

Babe Ruth: 714, Projected 774: The fact that the Great Bambino was a dominant left-handed pitcher over his first four seasons with the Boston Red Sox, combined with his later offensive exploits, in many minds makes him the greatest baseball player of all time. 

Despite the lingering perception that Babe’s training regimen included little other than hot dogs, beer and the ladies of the night, his long ball acumen—so thrilling for fans that it precipitated the use of a livelier ball and eventual elimination of the spitter to make the home run and enhanced offensive output more widespread amongst major league minions—is unsurpassed in terms of consistency over a peak period of play.  

From 1920 to 1931, 12 seasons (two of which were injury or attitude plagued), Ruth averaged 47 home runs and 150 RBI. He had six seasons where he hit .370 or better, peaking at .393 in 1923. If you add a mere 15 home runs per season for his time spent as a full-time hurler his projected total of 774 puts him on top of our reconstructed list. 

Henry Aaron: 755, No change: More of a line drive hitter than classic long ball type, “Bad Henry” still generated enough power and length on his fearsome rips to take advantage of reasonably cozy parks in both Milwaukee and Atlanta.   

He excelled in the late 50’s and 60’s during a time when major league pitching, especially in the National League (Gibson, Koufax, Drysdale, Marichal) was at its best. He hit 40 or more home runs in a season eight times, and had nine seasons with 118 or more RBI. He did his thing in a quiet way, and in the end, when he was really chasing down Ruth’s ghost, he had to put up with serious racist backlash from fans all over the country.  

While he wasn’t exactly the type to come out and say so, it certainly did appear Aaron, amongst numerous other purists, resented Bonds taking the career mark from him. 

At least here he doesn’t have that problem.

Ken Griffey Jr.: 630, Projected 735:  As great as he was, Griff’s name will always be synonymous with one thing: Injury.

Well, maybe two things, injury and unfulfilled expectations. As amazing as some of his final numbers were (1,662 runs, 524 doubles, 1,779 RBI), the man very frequently referred to as “The Kid” or “The Natural” lost approximately 500 peak career games over his 22 years in the Major Leagues.

Not even accounting for the overall impact or toll the injuries took on his career, if you measure him up for a mere 35 homers per during a time when he was readily bashing 50, you come to the projected total of 735, and in truth that is a very conservative estimate.  

Willie Mays: 660: Projected 720: One of the five greatest all-around players in the history of the game, Mays could beat you any way: bat, arm, legs, glove.

Like fellow superstars Aaron, Frank Robinson and Roberto Clemente, his career spanned a pitching-rich period for the NL, so his seasonal numbers are not consistently mind-boggling, but more so highlighted by incremental extraordinary achievement.

Long ball-wise, he twice hit 50 home runs in a season, and from 1961 to 1966, between the ages of 30 to 35, he averaged 44 HR a year amidst some of the toughest home run hitting conditions in the majors in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park.

He gets his adjustment for a pair of missed seasons to the Korean war effort in 52 & 53. You can say that’s a conservative number but he was still young and developing his power, hit 20 in 1951 and 40 in 1954, so an average of 30 in between seems fair.

(It was 250 ft. to the hanging tier in left that Bobby Thompson immortalized in ’51, so any further adjustments for the tough conditions in S.F. have to be countermanded by the less than plush, but ultra friendly home run confines of the once renowned Polo Grounds.)   

Mays was a two-time MVP and finished in the top six 12 times. Whatever the adjustment the man struck fear in the collective hearts of the opposition like few players ever have and even if the Say Hey Kid never hit a homer in his life, he’d still be one of the greatest to have ever stepped on the field!  

  “Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what it most truly is, is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.” – Willie Mays

 

Barry Bonds: 762, Adjusted Downward Number 679: Through the age of 27, Barry Bonds averaged 25 home runs a year in a ballpark, Three Rivers, that was reasonably cozy dimension-wise, especially down both lines at 335 feet.

He was 28 when he moved over to San Francisco, and his 46 home runs, 123 RBI and .336 average, all career-highs, seemed plausible enough for a great young player coming into his prime.

Simply, Bonds dominated the game for the next 10 years, and at the age of 36 had what has to be considered one of the top two or three seasons in the history of the game, hitting 73 home runs, walking 177 times, hitting .328 with an on- base of .515.

At the age of 39, Bonds hit 45 HR, hit .362 and walked a mind-boggling 232 times. He was on base 61 percent of the time.

Try and fathom that last figure.

There is no disputing Bonds’ greatness. Early on he was a five-tool player, and late in his career he became the greatest power hitter the game has ever known. Of course that’s where the serious question marks rise.

Nobody will ever know to what extent Bonds’ game was elevated by the use of steroids, but in lieu of the fact that we only know of one player, Roger Maris, who definitively was not on steroids and managed to top Ruth’s single season mark, albeit in 162 games, one has to presume marginally in the least.

Yes, it undoubtedly requires inherent skills to play the game. I don’t think steroids positively impact the eyes, but as far as bat speed and strength, at 35+, even the most ardent Bonds fan can’t argue that his latter career stats were an enhanced anomaly, and that he really never should have been able to break Aaron’s career record, much less Ruth’s.

Bonds averaged just slightly over 30 home runs per season through the age of 34. Even if you give him 35 per season for 2000-2004 and you leave his last two seasons be, where he totaled 54 home runs at the age 41/42 coming off what might have been a career-ending injury in 2005 at the age of 40, you very generously come up with the figure of 679 home runs.

And even that supposes the greatest late career production of any player in the history of the game.

 

Six to Ten: Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Jim Thome, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew.

Ted Williams: 521, Projected 671: The rivalry between the Great DiMaggio and Boston’s Ted Williams was certainly notable. DiMaggio was once asked, “Joe, what do you think of Ted Williams as a ballplayer?”

DiMaggio’s response, “Greatest left-handed hitter I’ve ever seen.”

DiMaggio was then asked the same question, “But, Joe, what do you think of Williams as a ballplayer?”

DiMaggio’s response, “Greatest left-handed hitter I’ve ever seen.”

The point being, Ted Williams may not have had DiMaggio’s all-encompassing skills, but with a bat in his hand, the Splendid Splinter could really do no wrong. A .344 lifetime hitter and the last Major Leaguer to hit .400, he slugged 521 career home runs despite missing five peak seasons to the mid-20th century war efforts in Europe and Korea.

Without a doubt, you could bag up 30 home runs a year during that period for a total of 671, and that’s also a conservative number. Williams might have challenged Ruth’s record if not for his time as a fighter pilot.

If you ever get a chance, the HBO special on “The Kid” is simply must see T.V.  

Mickey Mantle: 536 ~ Projected 600: Idolized by children everywhere, loved by as many women while still being revered by adult males. ‘The Mick’ played through almost every imaginable injury and nearly as many states of debilitating inebriation.

He was a three-time MVP with nine top-five finishes. He won the Triple Crown in 1956 and led the league in eight different offensive categories. His natural ability to play the game was otherworldly, but his broken body left him as a mere shell of the great ballplayer enshrined in Cooperstown and forever commemorated in the Yankees’ own Hall of Fame—Monument Park. 

What could he had done if not for the injuries and ample proclivity for one hellbent nightlife?

Mantle’s long ball power was the impetus for the term “tape measure home run” as his 565-foot shot out of old Griffith Stadium in Washington was actually measured just this way by traveling secretary Red Patterson. He was reputed to have hit one 635 feet out of Tiger Stadium in Detroit and twice hit the upper facade at old Yankee Stadium—a feat only accomplished by one other man, mythical Negro League catcher Josh Gibson.

He was without a doubt one of the single most feared hitters ever to step to the plate. A switch hitter with astonishing power from either side, 600 home runs would have been a walk in the park if the man would have been the beneficiary of better health and the practitioner of a slightly more conservative night life.  

Jim Thome: 589 and counting: I guess you could call Jim Thome an unspectacular player who has put up some pretty spectacular numbers. One-hundred ninety homers between 2001-2004. Hit 25 last year in a surprise for the Twins, and looks like a good bet to surpass 600.   

Frank Robinson: 586: No Change: Two-time MVP (six times in the top four), hands down the toughest late inning out I ever saw live and in person. (The guy killed the Yankees like nobody else.) Didn’t get the notoriety of a Mays, Aaron or Clemente, but what a five-tool ballplayer!

They called him “The Judge,” basically because you couldn’t get away with anything when he was at the plate. Definitely one of the great nicknames in baseball lore for one of the greatest players to ever grace the green pastures.

Harmon Killebrew: 573, No change: As pure a home-run hitting force that exists on this list. From 1959 to 1970, he hit 40-plus eight times. Six top-four MVP finishes and the winner in 1969 when at the age of 33, he hit 49 and drove in 140. The man simply destroyed baseballs and was very aptly nicknamed “Killer” Killebrew. 

 

A Tainted Five: A-Rod, McGuire, Sosa, Palmiero, Manny

A-Rod: 613, Projected 555: There’s no denying A-Rod’s greatness. He’s a five-tool player with incredible instincts for the game. He was the best shortstop in baseball and has turned himself into a pre-eminent third sacker with the Yanks.

People love to hate him, but he’s definitely one of the best players to ever cross the lines. There’s no way you can lend any credence to his claims of short-term juicing though. We maxed him out at 40 per year outside of Seattle, and that may or may not be generous.

Sammy Sosa: 609, Projected 509: Sosa’s blatant steroid-enhanced production has, along with McGwire and Bonds, made a mockery of seasonal home run marks. He went from hitting 35 a year (1993-1997), to 58 a year over a five-year stretch 1998-2002.

Still, his battle with McGwire in ’98 and general enthusiasm for the game has been credited with bringing fans back to the ballpark after the disappointing strike-shortened season in 1994. That, and all the big numbers notwithstanding, the only way Sosa sees the inside of the Hall of Fame is as a glorified visitor.

Although we were loathe to even include him in the 500 club, he was only docked a straight 100, basically 20 per year over the last mentioned five-season stretch.  

Mark McGwire: 583, Projected 548: Really, one of the best guys in baseball and unlike Bonds’ mocking of Babe Ruth, he paid big-time respect to Roger Maris and his family during the epic ’98 run.

Again, using the 40-a-year max formula, we docked him 85 home runs from 1996 to 1999 when he hit 245. We gave him back 50 though for dramatically injury-shortened seasons in ’93 and ’94, and kind of looked the other way when he hit 61 in 186 games over two injury-plagued years in 2000 and 2001 when he finally retired at the age of 37.

Maybe he was juicing in the very early days in Oakland as Canseco claims and doesn’t even belong in the 500 club. He had all the power hitting tools though, a short stroke and explosive power. If he had played in Fenway or Wrigley instead of windy, cavernous Oakland or spacious Busch, he could have hit 600 in walk.

Steroids were legal during his career, so it’s hard to say he made a mistake. But he’s another guy who will carry around the stigma and will never make the Hall of Fame.

Rafael Palmeiro: 569, Projected 462: We maxed him at 30 a year, which seems pretty fair considering the guy made a complete idiot out of himself with his finger-pointing before Congress, and barely distinguished himself in a more flattering light by pitching Viagra at the age of 35 before a nationwide audience.

It’s a shame too because all the Havana-born Palmiero—1,835 RBI, three Gold Gloves, 569 home runs—had to do was keep himself clean at a time he should have really been retired anyway, and he might have been looking at the Hall of Fame.

He’s lost that, and we think he’s lost his Viagra ad-man status as well.

Palmiero’s definitely a guy who should lay low for awhile.

Manny Ramirez: 555, Projected Unknown: Who wold have thought a major league player wearing his hair down to the middle of his back for this long could have gotten away throughout without being called a pansy?

It’s had something to do with that electrifying bat. As a Yankee fan, I’ve watched Manny Ramirez lay wood to the ball for way too long to write him off as a steroid-using anomaly. Maybe he went from more of a power alley, 40-45 doubles, 25-30 home run guy, but there’s just no way to tell.  

During his prime years from 1998-2008, an 11-year period when he wasn’t even always playing his top game, he hit more than 400 home runs. Granted, his fairly recent indictment and a total of 28 home runs the past two years speaks volumes, but the last time I checked, steroid use doesn’t affect the batting eye. I’ve also seen stretches of games where there was just no way to get Ramirez out.   

If there’s one guy besides A-Rod on this tainted list who might slip by and make the Hall, it’s Ramirez. No matter how you break it down, he’s one of the greatest hitters in the history of the game.     

 

The Best Of The Rest: Reggie, Schmidt, Jimmy Foxx, Stretch McCovey, Frank Thomas

Quickly now, because my head is spinning. No projections here, just career numbers.

563: Reggie Jackson: His three-homer performance against the Dodgers in the ’77 World Series is as memorable as any in the history of the game. The moniker Mr. October says it all.

548: Mike Schmidt: Only A-Rod’s switch precludes his consensus choice as the best third baseman ever. Three-time M.V.P.

534: Jimmy Foxx: As ominous a right-handed power hitter as has ever played the game.  A .325 lifetime B.A., knocked in more than 160 runs three times, 58 homers in 1932 for the old (Connie Mack) Philadelphia Athletics.

That team won three straight A.L. titles in between 1929-1931 and won two World Series and finished second to the Yanks in ’32 before being sold off in parts post-1933 by a cash-strapped Mack, with both Foxx and southpaw ace Lefty Grove heading to the Boston Red Sox.

521: Willie “Stretch” McCovey: One of the most ominous left-handed power hitters to ever play the game. At least by appearance. Five hundred-plus home runs, with half his games coming in a windy Candlestick, is no mean feat.

521: Frank Thomas: At his peak, Thomas could do it all with the bat. Back-to-back A.L. M.V.P. in 1993 and 1994.

And that’s all, hope you enjoyed it.

www.thedailymunson.com

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San Francisco Giants: All Time ‘Hot Dog’ Team

It took 52 years, but the San Francisco Giants are World Series Champions.  I can now cross that first and foremost item off my sports fan bucket list.

The San Francisco Giants have given their fans numerous heartbreaks, too many to list in this article, but now, all is forgiven.  I have put together a fun piece to showcase the true Giant “hot dogs” who donned the orange and black. 

This article is designed to allow us to reminisce about some of the most fun, stylish and charismatic players we have had the enjoyment of watching in San Francisco over the years.  These are not always the best players, in fact, many are not.  They are, however, some of our fan favorites because of the way they played the game.

Our list is a tribute to those individuals that played the game with a certain flair that made them fun to watch.  These are the true “hot dogs” of the San Francisco Giants.  Enjoy our list for what it’s worth, 100% fun, just like the players mentioned, who played this wonderful game and entertained us all.

 

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The 1954 New York Giants: High Expectations With Caution

Arthur Daley was a sports columnist for the New York Times from 1942-73. In 1956, he became the first sportswriter to win a Pulitzer Prize. Daley knew baseball, but this is not about him. It is about his take on the upcoming 1954 baseball season.

The New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers had met in the World Series in both 1952 and 1953. They were the popular picks of most fans and “experts” to meet again in 1954, but Daley had doubts.

The Milwaukee Braves were a strong team with a major problem. Bobby Thomson, acquired from the New York Giants in exchange for left-handers Johnny Antonelli and Don Liddle, broke his ankle in an exhibition game and would be lost for at least one half of the year.

In essence, the Braves gave up two pitchers for nothing, but the return of left-hander Chet Nichols from the army was expected to give the pitching staff a boost.

We now live in the age of statistics, but even 56 years ago, statistics were important, although less sophisticated. Daley compared the Dodgers’ regulars of the 1952 and 1953 seasons.

With the exception of second baseman Jim “Junior” Gilliam, who was a rookie in 1953, every regular but one improved his batting average.

PeeWee Reese, a great defensive shortstop, dropped one point, from .272 in 1952 to .271 in 1953. Left fielder Jackie Robinson gained 21 points, third baseman Billy Cox picked up 32, center fielder Duke Snider was 33 points better, catcher Roy Campanella improved by 43 points, first baseman Gil Hodges moved up by 48 and right fielder Carl Furillo went from .247 to .344, which was good enough to win the batting title.

Daley concluded that it was inconceivable that the Dodgers’ regulars could produce two consecutive seasons that, for most of them, were career years. Reese, Cox and Robinson were almost 35 years old, while Campy, Hodges and Furillo were no youngsters.

The fact that Don Newcombe, the great right-hander who won 20 games in 1951 and then went to serve the causes of freedom, was returning was a positive. It was hoped that Newcombe’s great pitching would compensate for any decrease in offense.

The Dodgers’ strongest challenger appeared to the Braves. Warren Spahn led the pitching staff, but he would rarely pitch in Ebbets Field because of the short fences and right-handed hitters. Led by Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, Billy Bruton and 20-year-old rookie Henry Aaron, the Braves figured to score a lot of runs.

The New York Giants were the most intriguing challenger. Daley, like most individuals who followed the game, felt that Willie Mays might be the difference. He thought that Willie might breathe new life into former 20-game winners Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen, and that newly acquired Johnny Antonelli might reach his potential.

Hesitatingly, with much caution, Daley picked the Yankees and Dodgers. New York won 103 games, the most ever under Casey Stengel in 1954, while Brooklyn won 92 games, but neither won its league’s pennant.

The “long shot” New York Giants and pitching-rich Cleveland Indians met in the World Series.

References

Baseball-Reference

By ARTHUR DALEY. (1954, April 11). Sports of The Times: Just One Man’s Opinion. New York Times (1923-Current file), S2. Retrieved November 21, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 – 2007). (Document ID: 83328502).

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The First Time Tris Speaker Saw Willie Mays Play

It may be difficult to believe today, but in 1954, many “experts” considered Tris Speaker the greatest center fielder of all time.

Tris played from 1907-1928. He batted .345 with a .428 on-base average and, despite playing much of his career in the dead ball area, slugged .500.

On April 4, 1954, Speaker spent his 66th birthday watching the New York Giants and Cleveland Indians play an exhibition game in Arizona.

It was Speaker’s first look at the player many thought would eclipse the Gray Eagle, but with the exception of one great defensive play, it wasn’t Willie’s day. He went hitless. 

Willie played the first six innings in an 8-4 loss as Speaker observed from the press box. In the third inning, the Tribe’s third baseman, Al Rosen, who had just missed winning the Triple Crown by less than one batting point in 1953, hit a deep drive to center field.

Willie, as baseball announcers used to say, “got on his horse” and made a fine catch to rob Rosen of extra bases. Willie then fired a bullet, on the fly to third baseman Henry Thompson for a double play. Speaker was impressed, but pointed out that Willie should have bounced the throw.

“No one can find fault with an outfielder whose throw makes a double play, but Willie’s throw to third was on the fly. He should have bounced it, so that if a cut-off was needed, it could have been made.”

When Willie heard that Speaker would be in the ball park, Willie was excited and conceded to reporters that he certainly had a lot to learn about playing center field. Willie was not upset when he was told about Speaker’s comment.

He went on to say that he would like to get some advice from Speaker, who was happy to oblige.

Young Willie Mays had a wonderful attitude. He knew he was good. He knew he had great skills. But he also knew that he had a lot to learn and was eager to improve.

When some reporters expressed the opinion to Speaker that Willie was a sure Hall of Famer, Tris issued a word of caution.

“Let’s wait a while on Mays – at least until August.”

By the end of August, Willie was making Speaker seem like a seer. Mays, along with teammate Don Mueller and enemy Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers were embroiled in a three-way race for the batting title.

When it was over, Willie finished at .345, Mueller batted .342, and the Duke of Flatbush finished at .341.

Mays is a Hall of Famer whom many consider to be the greatest of all center fielders. He finished his career with a .302 batting average and hit 660 home runs.

Willie played almost his entire career in the Polo Grounds and Candlestick Park. The latter was paradise for pull hitters with its short distances down the foul lines, but a nightmare for gap hitters like Willie. The winds in Candlestick favored left-handed hitters, but robbed right-handed hitters of many potential home runs.

Imagine if Willie Mays had played his entire career in Ebbets Field.

References:

By LOUIS EFFRAT Special to The New York Times.. (1954, April 5). TRIBE’S 4 IN NINTH TRIP NEW YORK, 8-4 : Indian Drive Against Spencer Topples Giants as Speaker Watches Mays in Action. New York Times (1923-Current file),28. Retrieved Nov. 20, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 – 2007). (Document ID: 83871049).

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The 1954 New York Giants’ World Series Sweep: Not Surprising

The Cleveland Indians won an American League record 111 games in 1954, but in the games that really mattered, the highly favored Indians couldn’t win even once when they met the New York Giants in the World Series. Almost everyone but the Giants was surprised.

The Indians and Giants held spring training is Arizona and played approximately one-half of their exhibition games against each other. A game on April 3 was a portent of things to come.

The star of the game was, of course, Willie Mays, who was defying the conservative expectations of the Giants and their fans as he led New York to its 11th win in 15 games against the Tribe.

Willie hit two singles, a double and a home run as the Giants won 6-1. For the spring, Willie was batting .420, with 34 hits in 81 at-bats. He had eight home runs, one triple, eight doubles and batted in 24 runs.

The Giants couldn’t wait for April 13, which was opening day. They really believed that Willie would lead them to the pennant. Remember that the Giants finished 35 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1953.

The return of Willie from the army transformed the team on the field and in the clubhouse. The Giants were a loose team that laughed and enjoyed playing the game.

The Indians jumped in front in the first inning when Dale Mitchell singled home Bobby Avila, who would go on to lead the American League in batting with a .341 average that season.

Starter Dave Hoskins held the Giants scoreless in his three innings of work, but when “The Bear,” Mike Garcia entered to work the fourth inning, he was greeted by a Monte Irvin single and a Willie Mays double that scored Irvin. Bill Taylor’s single scored Willie with the second run, and the Giants never were challenged.

Monte Irvin hit a home run over the center field fence in the seventh inning and Willie followed with a blast to left field off Garcia to end the scoring.

Mike Garcia started the third game of the World Series at Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium with the Giants leading the Series, two games to none. It was a must-win game.

On occasion, an exhibition game is a solid indicator of things to come. The Giants dominated the Indians in the spring, and they were even more dominating in the fall.

With Don Mueller on second and two outs in the first inning, Willie singled to right field, scoring Mueller with the Giants’ first run.

In the third inning, the Giants basically put the game and World Series away with three runs. The Giants won easily, 6-2, as Garcia lasted only three innings.

Willie finished the game with three singles, two RBI, and one run scored in five at-bats. It was not quite equal to the four-for-four in the April exhibition game, but it did the job.

The next day, the Giants became World Champions for the first time since 1933 with a 7-4 win.

References:

By LOUIS EFFRATSpecial to The New York Times.. (1954, April 4). GIANTS’ 13 BLOWS DOWN INDIANS, 6-1; MAYS GETS 4 FOR 4 :New Yorkers Register 11th Victory in 15 Contests With Cleveland Club WILLIE WALLOPS HOMER Collects Double, Two Singles Also — Liddle, Grissom and Wilhelm Hurl 3-Hitter Mays Hits 4 for 4 as Giants Beat Indians for Eleventh Time, 6 to 1. New York Times (1923-Current file),S1. Retrieved November 19, 2010, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 – 2007). (Document ID: 92558778).

Baseball Reference

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