Following my interview with Tina Cervasio in mid-September, I decided to go for broke, email ESPN, and inquire about the possibility of speaking with Erin Andrews. It took a few weeks and several email exchanges with an ESPN PR rep, but we finally managed to set up an interview for last Thursday afternoon.
I spoke with Erin for about half an hour, during which time I became very impressed with her overall love of sports. It is also obvious that she's a professional, as evidenced by the way in which she took a first-time live interviewer (the Cervasio one was via email) and did her best to make sure I got good in-depth answers regardless of the quality of the original questions (and trust me, there was a lot of stammering and repeating and whatnot; I should probably just stick to writing).
OMDQ: Erin, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
EA: Yeah, no problem. Thanks for inquiring.
OMDQ: The first thing I’d like to ask you about is your schedule, because it seems like every time I turn on ESPN, you’re there. You’re doing college football, college basketball, baseball – I mean, how do you find all that time? Are you pretty much working year-round?
EA: Yeah, I basically I guess that’s kinda the one thing that I pride myself on - I’m really the one sideline reporter that works year-round, I do basically every sport, which to be honest with you, I have never played a sport, I obviously (intelligible) at all, so I think that makes me more versatile as a reporter because I can cover so much ground, so that’s one thing that I’ve really enjoyed and I take pride in the fact that I’ve done so many sports.
Last spring, a post comparing NESN field reporter Tina Cervasio to ESPN counterpart Erin Andrews was mentioned on Deadspin and resulted in the biggest day in the history of One More Dying Quail. Since then, Google searches for "Tina Cervasio" and similar terms have been fixtures in my list of Site Meter referrals; it varies from day to day, but between those searches and continuing hits from a Red Sox Times story on Andrews and NESN's female reporters, Cervasio is a major part of my daily traffic.
Last week, I visited Cervasio's web site and decided to contact her for an interview. Somewhat surprisingly, she accepted and answered a few questions for me via email. I'm not the best interviewer in the world (alright, I suck - this was my first time, so be gentle), but I tried to cover a variety of topics, from common perceptions of sideline reporters to the awesomeness of Tim Wakefield. The only true disappointment? She won't introduce me to Erin Andrews or Bonnie Bernstein. Not cool, Tina. Not cool.
OMDQ: Let's start this thing off by resolving some trust issues: since we're doing this via email, how do I know I'm really dealing with Tina Cervasio and not just an intern in NESN's PR department?
TC: Because I would never TRUST someone else answering questions about me!!
OMDQ: Can you take me through a day in the professional life of Tina Cervasio?
TC: On the professional side of things, after I wake up, 90% of the time I’ll put WEEI on and listen while I get ready for my day. I’ll go buy & read the Globe and Herald, then read the other Red Sox and sports stories either online or when they are emailed to me. When we are playing in Boston, I’ll head over to NESN in Watertown to have meetings with producers, voice over any features, get my mail, answer emails, autograph requests. Then I’ll head over to Fenway (the latest I’ll get there is 2:30 … any later and I’ll feel out of sorts.) For about an hour, I’ll type up in-game reports that I would like to do, edit sound bites, talk to my game and pre-game producers about what they need from me for the Pre-Game show and the actual Game broadcast. I’ll share my ideas, I’ll write out my check list, write up my in game reports and hand over or email copies to everyone involved. The clubhouse opens at 3:30, I’ll go in, get the lineups, set up any interviews with players or coaches that I need, check in with Don & Jerry, catch up with the Globe writers that I will be talking to later on the pre-game show. Sometimes I’ll get sound bites right in the clubhouse, other times we’ll head out to the dugout to do interviews. At 4 PM, Terry Francona has his media meeting in the interview room at Fenway or the Manager’s office in other ballparks. After he’s done with the formal meeting, taking questions, having off-the-cuff conversations … he does another meeting with the electronic media. When we are on the road, I’m usually the only camera. From there, I’ll call my pre-game producer and update him on the meeting and the sound I’ve collected, we’ll discuss my news hit, and “Insider & MLB Topics” with the Globe writers. Then I’ll head to the opposing team to either get sound from the manager, or grab a quick interview with a player. Sometimes they are formal, some quick stick mic interviews, sometimes I’ll just get sound bites from the player on a story idea I have for in-game or for our pre-game show. (Am I boring you yet?) At Fenway when the Sox take B.P. first, I’ll do one last check at about 5:30 in the clubhouse for any updates or lineup changes … powder my nose, hook up my IFB … and I’m in the chair for pre-game by 5:50 to do a sound check. From there … It’s show/game time!!
(I checked this blog today and realized that I had forgotten to post the last three Bizarro Hall of Fame classes here. For those of you who missed it, here they are in one mammoth post.)
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
Class of 1980
Jack Aker – For four glorious years in the late 1960s, Jack Aker held the record for saves in a single season. It happened in 1966, when the 25-year-old reliever won eight games and saved 32 in 66 appearances for the Kansas City Athletics. In doing so, Aker became the second pitcher ever with a 30+ save season on his resume (behind only Ted Abernathy, who held the previous mark of 31). He struggled for the following two years, however, and was eventually selected by Seattle in the 1968 expansion draft.
Steve Barber A precursor to the great Baltimore Orioles pitchers of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Barber won 100 games before his thirtieth birthday but tailed off badly after, never again notching more than six victories in a season. Aside from a 20-13 season in 1963 and two All-Star nods (he didn’t pitch in either game), the thing he may be best remembered for is a recurring appearance as an oft-injured pitcher in Jim Bouton’s classic “Ball Four.”
Bob Barton – A light-hitting catcher who only played more than 61 games in one of his ten major league seasons, all of Barton’s homeruns came in 1970 and 1971. Three of them were hit off of pitchers who ended up in the Hall of Fame: ####lord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins, and Phil Niekro.
John Boccabella – Drafted by the Montreal Expos in the 1968 expansion draft, Boccabella spent five years north of the border as a backup catcher and corner infielder. His only full season was 1973, when he caught 117 games and committed fourteen errors.
Larry Brown – No, not that Larry Brown. Not that one either. This Larry Brown played for Cleveland, Oakland, Baltimore, and Texas in a twelve-year major league career, the first three of which coincided with the end of his brother ####’s playing days. According to the Baseball-Reference Bullpen, Brown had a number of connections with other Bizarro HOFers, including a serious injury sustained in a game pitched by Sonny Siebert (’82), being long-time teammates with Sam McDowell (’81), and getting his first major league hit off of Al Downing (’83).
Chris Cannizarro – An original member of the New York Mets and San Diego Padres, Cannizzaro kicked around the major leagues for fourteen seasons, seeing action for six teams. From the end of the 1965 season to August 1968, he did not appear in the majors but was traded four times.
Paul Casanova – A lot of mediocre catching careers ended in 1974. Casanova played for the Washington Senators in the 1960s under Gil Hodges and Ted Williams, but even The Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived couldn’t make an offensive weapon out of him. After peaking at .254 and thirteen homeruns in 1966, he only hit higher than .229 once more.
Horace Clarke – Due to a recent decade-long run of success, we tend to forget that the New York Yankees of the late 1960s and early 1970s were not a good team, failing to make a World Series appearance from 1965 to 1975 (an unheard of stretch in Yankee land). The second baseman on those teams was Clarke, who assumed the position after Bobby Richardson’s retirement in 1966. A light-hitter, Clarke led the league in at-bats, at-bats per strikeout, and outs in 1970.
Johnny Edwards – A two-time National League Gold Glove winner as a catcher with the Cincinnati Reds, Edwards peaked in the mid 1960s, making three consecutive All-Star appearances and hitting 17 homeruns in 1965. He hit .364 for the Reds in the 1961 World Series. Phil Gagliano – In 1965, Gagliano’s 18-year-old brother Ralph played his only major league game, pinch-running for BizHOFer Larry Brown in the ninth inning of a 9-4 Cleveland loss. Two years later, his big brother Phil picked up a World Series ring as a utility infielder with the Cardinals.
Jim Gosger – Gosger played for the Athletics during the team’s first season in Oakland in 1968, the Pilots during their only season in 1969, and the Expos during their second season of existence in 1970.
Jim Ray Hart – As a rookie in 1964, Hart hit .286 with 31 homers and 81 RBI – and received one vote for Rookie of the Year (#### Allen was a near unanimous decision). Other points of interest: he and I have the same birthday, and he hails from Hookerton, North Carolina. I like to think that last one used to be known as Hooker Town before being shortened, because that would just be funny.
Ron Hunt – A .273 lifetime hitter, Hunt realized early on that the most efficient way for him to reach base was to stand directly in the path of the ball and hope for the best. He only finished out of the league’s top ten in the hit by pitch category once (1965, when he appeared in 57 games) and led the league for the final seven seasons of his career. His 243 career HBP rank third in the modern era behind Craig Biggio and Don Baylor; his 50 HBP in 1971 are a modern single-season record.
John Kennedy – Jesus, another inaugural Seattle Pilot. It’s gonna be fun to go back through this list when all is said and done and figure out which teams are the best represented.
Andy Kosco – Kosco was once traded from the Red Sox to the Reds with fellow BizHOFer Phil Gagliano.
Lew Krausse – For a time in the early 1970s, Krausse (the son of a former big league pitcher of the same name) followed a somewhat circular career path. On April 11, 1974, he was purchased by the Oakland Athletics from the Atlanta Braves. 35 days later, he was purchased by the Atlanta Braves from the Oakland Athletics. After the 1974 season, he was released by the Braves…and less than two months later, signed with the Athletics.
Frank Linzy – Linzy appeared in 516 games in eleven years, all but one as a reliever. The lone start: his major league debut on August 14, 1963, when he allowed three runs on eight hits in 2+ innings.
Denis Menke – A two-time All-Star with Houston, Menke was a part of the Big Red Machine-building trade that brought Joe Morgan, Ed Armbrister, Jack Billingham and Cesar Geronimo to Cincinnati in 1971. He lasted two seasons with the Reds before going back to Houston in exchange for Pat Darcy – who pitched well in 1975 but will always be remembered for giving up the famous Carlton Fisk homerun in Game Six of the World Series.
Bob Miller – A solid reliever who appeared in nearly 700 games (included 99 starts), Miller went 1-12 for the newborn Mets in 1962. He was later repaid for the sacrifice with World Series rings in 1965 and 1971 (and probably 1973, when he pitched for the Dodgers but didn’t play in the Fall Classic). It also must be mentioned that he is one of four Bob Millers in major league history, three of whom played in the 1950s.
Norm Miller – Miller had a great OPS+ in 1973, finishing at 177 while splitting time between Atlanta and Houston. Unfortunately, he only had twelve at-bats.
Ivan Murrell – Baseball players generally aren’t renowned for their all-around athletic skill. Murrell, who died last year, was an exception – in addition to his ten year major league career, he was also an accomplished amateur boxer and soccer player.
Juan Pizarro – Though he picked up a World Series ring in 1957 with the Braves, Pizarro’s career blossomed following a trade to the White Sox in 1961. He averaged fifteen wins a year in the four seasons that followed, culminating in a 19-9, 2.56 campaign in 1964.
Rick Reichardt – A two-sport star at Wisconsin (baseball and football), Reichardt was once handed what was at the time the richest bonus in major league history: $200,000.
Pete Richert – Richert’s birthday is the day before mine. In three World Series games, he pitched a total of one inning – and managed to record a save. He was part of a trade that sent Frank Robinson to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1971.
Mike Ryan – Eight times in his career, Ryan recorded more than 100 at-bats. Only twice did he manage a batting average above .200 – 1966 (.214) and 1969 (.204). His career OPS+ was 51.
Paul Schaal – A light-hitting third baseman, Schaal was a member of the original Kansas City Royals. He manned the hot corner for the team from 1970 through 1974, with his best season coming in 1971.
#### Selma – I could, if need be, probably write quite a bit about #### Selma. All I’m going to say, however, is that according to Baseball-Reference, the man’s nickname was Mortimer Snerd. No explanation was given. I’m sure it could be looked up on the Internet, but that’s not gonna happen. Some things are perfect and ought not be ruined.
Duke Sims – One of several BizHOFs on the Cleveland Indians teams of the 1960s, Sims was a hard-hitting catcher (imagine that) who once slugged 23 homeruns in a season. My favorite thing about him, however, is the story included in his sponsorship section on Baseball-Reference, which reads: “For my mom, who was sitting in the Dodgers dugout before a game, when Duke Sims sauntered by, saying, “My, my! Look at all the pretty ladies sitting in the dugout today!”” Sounds to me like the Duke (real name: Duane B. Sims) had some game.
Bob Veale – Like Sandy Koufax, Veale was a hard-throwing lefty who enjoyed a solid multi-season run in the 1960s. Pitching for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Veale won 103 games in the seven seasons between 1964 and 1970, an average of just under fifteen victories a year. He also demonstrated an ability to run up large strikeouts totals, four times tallying more than 200 in a season. Veale was used in a relief role at the beginning and end of his playing days; one of his best seasons was 1963, when he had a microscopic 1.04 ERA in 77 2/3 innings pitched, mostly out of the bullpen.
Class of 1981
Ken Berry – Berry wasn’t the offensive threat one might expect in an outfielder – 58 homeruns, .255 batting average, .652 OPS – but he stuck around for fourteen seasons on the strength of his glove. He won two Gold Gloves in 1970 and 1972, the second when he recorded thirteen outfield assists and did not commit an error for the California Angels.
Johnny Briggs – Briggs hit 139 homeruns in his twelve-year career, but none were more interesting than the first two. His first, a solo shot off the Mets’ Frank Lary on June 21, 1964, led off the first inning of an eventual 8-2 win for the Phillies; his second, a two-run job on May 10, 1965, ended a game against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bill Hands – Most fans would remember Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins as the ace of the 1969 Chicago Cubs team that finished second to the Amazin’ Mets. Most fans would be wrong. As good as Jenkins was in 1969, Hands was better, posting a 20-14 record, 2.49 ERA and 181 strikeouts in exactly 300 innings pitched.
Bob Locker – A member of the original Seattle Pilots in 1969, Locker was one of the American League’s most used relievers from 1967 to 1970. He bounced around a bit throughout his career, from Chicago to Seattle to Milwaukee to Oakland and back to Chicago (with the Cubs this time), appearing in nearly 600 games and saving nearly 100. Locker saw action in the 1972 World Series with the Oakland Athletics, walking Johnny Bench intentionally and allowing a run scoring single to Tony Perez; in 1974, he was traded for future Hall of Famer Billy Williams.
Dal Maxvill – Owner of three World Series rings from his days with the Cardinals and Athletics, Maxvill has one of the worst offensive records of any player in Fall Classic history: a career .115 batting average (7-for-61), including an 0-22 disaster against the Tigers in 1968. On the bright side, he won a National League Gold Glove at shortstop that season.
#### McAuliffe – A power-hitting middle infielder who might have put up even better numbers had he not played his prime years in the offensive sinkhole that was the late 1960s. McAuliffe was one of the American League’s best shortstops from 1965 to 1967, earning three consecutive All-Star nods before being moved to second base in 1968.
Sam McDowell – One of the hardest throwing pitchers in history, “Sudden Sam” was a six time All-Star who twice struck out more than 300 batters in a season. Despite phenomenal seasons in 1965 and 1968, he only finished among the top ten vote-getters for the Cy Young award once, in 1970. He was traded from Cleveland to San Francisco for ####lord Perry in 1972, bounced to the Yankees the following year, and finished up with Pittsburgh in 1975.
Class of 1982
Gates Brown – His given name was William James Brown, but for some unknown reason his mother called him Gates. In his first major league at-bat, he pinch-hit for pitcher Don Mossi and homered off Red Sox pitcher Bob Heffner. He went on to compile a .257 career average in that role, with 106 hits and 16 homeruns in thirteen seasons.
Tommy Harper – An original member of the Seattle Pilots in 1969, Harper moved with the team to Milwaukee the following year and enjoyed his best season, hitting .296 with 31 homeruns, 82 RBI and 38 stolen bases. After two seasons he was dealt to Boston for 1967 Cy Young award winner Jim Lonborg and a pair of famous baseball brothers (Ken Brett and Billy Conigliaro). Harper’s 54 stolen bases in 1973 remain the Red Sox team record.
Deron Johnson – Johnson finished fourth in the 1965 National League Most Valuable Player voting after hitting 32 homeruns and driving in 130 runs for Cincinnati, but his best season overall (according to OPS+) may have been 1971 – 34 homeruns and 95 RBI for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Alex Johnson – Carl Yastrzemski won three batting titles in his major league career. It could easily have been four. In 1970, Johnson edged out the Red Sox Hall of Famer by percentage points, .3289 to .3286. The narrow loss rankled Yastrzemski, who wrote years later in his biography that Johnson had “conned” him by promising to play a full game in the season finale if the title was on the line. Yaz went the distance in his final game, while Johnson finished 2-for-3 before leaving for a pinch-runner.
Cleon Jones – The most famous part of Cleon Jones is his shoes. In Game Five of the 1969 World Series, Dave McNally threw a pitch down and in the dirt. The Mets argued that the pitch had actually struck Jones on the foot, a fight that was settled when the umpire looked and found shoe polish on the ball. New York went on to win the game and the World Series.
Jim Northrup – One of the heir apparents to Hall of Famer Al Kaline in the Detroit Tigers outfield in the late 1960s, Northrup could (and did) play all three outfield positions in his 10+ years with the team. He brought some pop to the Tigers lineup, hitting 20+ homeruns from 1968-70 and 16 in two other seasons.
Sonny Siebert – A two-time All-Star with the Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox, Siebert won 15 or 16 games four times in twelve seasons. Primarily a starter, he was also capable of closing games out, as evidenced by his 1969 campaign with the Red Sox in which he went 14-10 with five saves.
Tony Taylor – I find it somewhat bothersome that I had never heard of Tony Taylor before tonight; a guy with 2,007 career hits deserves better. He might have had more, but his playing time took a major hit in 1971 and his last six seasons were spent in supporting roles. Primarily a second baseman but also valuable at a variety of other positions, Taylor was the oldest player in the National League in 1976, his final season.
Cesar Tovar – Always a player who was valuable at a number of defensive positions, Tovar made himself into a historical footnote on September 22, 1968 by playing all nine positions in a game against Oakland. The opposing shortstop was Bert Campaneris, who became the first to accomplish the feat three years earlier. Unlike Campaneris, however, Tovar played the positions in their numerical order, starting the game as the pitcher and finishing as the right fielder.
My RSS feed reader is packed with blog posts featuring datelines as old as last Tuesday. My email gets checked approximately once every thirty hours. The only thing I’ve posted on a blog in the last several days is a hastily written entry on why I blog about sports for Just Call Me Juice. Thursday night, I actually forgot the Red Sox were playing until my wife’s cell phone chimed with the final score. And you know what?
I’m perfectly fine with all of that.
Why, you may wonder? What could, in a matter of days, completely alter the worldview of a sports and Internet-obsessed individual? The answer, my friend, is an arm’s length away, currently weighs a shade over eight pounds, and goes by the name of Joseph Reed.
He’s my son.
Joey, as his mother has taken to calling him, was born on Tuesday, July 10, at 8:54 in the A.M. He started things off as a pretty big little man, tipping the scales at 8 lbs., 10 oz. and measuring 21 inches long from toe to top. He sprang out of the gate as a four-tool baby (eating, ####ing, crying and sleeping), but I think with a little bit of work and some formula, his puking ability could be unparalleled. The kid’s got potential.
Originally, I wanted this post to be about how every parent thinks his or her kid is special. But you know what? There are really no words that can accurately explain the way I feel when I look at my son and realize that already, at five days old, he is my magnum opus (note to any future children: don’t worry, I love you all equally). Or the feeling of awe that hits me whenever I say or write the words, “my son.” Or the frustration I feel when he cries and there’s nothing I can do to fix it. None of it can truly be defined – not by me, anyway.
Here’s something I can do, however: use this space to thank the people who have helped us out over the past few days:
--The nurses: If you have ever been forced to stay in a hospital for several days at a time, you probably have some sort of appreciation for nurses and the work they do. The knowledge that these women possess and the caring attitudes they display toward complete strangers truly amaze me. Amber, Nancy, Sharon, Teresa, Tiffany, Renee, Cheryl, Cynthia, Terry, Rosemary, and everyone else I know I’m leaving out – there’s a special place in heaven for people like you.
--My in-laws: From 7 o’clock Tuesday morning to 11 o’clock Friday night, one or both of my in-laws made time in their work schedules to be at the hospital with my wife and I. Their presence allowed both of us to take time for ourselves in different ways: my wife actually had the chance to get some rest every afternoon while her father watched the baby, and I was able to run home from time to time, secure in the knowledge that my mother-in-law was keeping an eye on things. I don’t know if that SOUNDS like a big deal, but it might have been the one thing that kept us sane.
--The doctors: Counting the doctor who performed her Cesarean, my wife saw something like four different people with an M.D. tacked onto their name. Each one displayed a genuine concern for her well-being and made sure she was receiving the best care available (and a couple were even nice to me). Likewise, the representatives from the pediatrician we chose convinced us that are son is in good hands. The initial exam was done by an older gentleman who responded to my uncertainty about a name (Joseph wasn’t among the three finalists we had brought to the hospital and I needed to speak to my wife before going public with it) by cheerfully suggesting that my son “looks like a Michael” and proceeding to call him Mike for the rest of the exam. Kinda quirky? Yes. But he had a definite likeable air about him. And don’t even get me started on the guy who did the circumcision – possibly the driest sense of humor I’ve ever stumbled across. Everything was delivered in a total deadpan (think Stephen Wright without the droning monotone). Completely put me at ease, which is surprisingly difficult when watching one’s offspring get his tallywacker snipped.
--Aunt Kathy and Christine: As luck would have it, my wife’s aunt and cousin both work at the hospital where she had the baby and were able to be in the operating room during the procedure. I wasn’t sure what to think about that at first, but it became obvious soon after I entered the room that their presence was a huge positive. For starters, Vicki was able to tell Kathy what she was feeling (she had a local anesthetic and was awake, which can be disconcerting when you start feeling tugging and pulling from down below) and know that Kathy could calm her fears by telling her that everything was normal. Add in Christine’s boundless energy (she’s a nurse – go figure) and obvious enthusiasm for this particular case (right after Joseph was born, she poked her head around the blue curtain separating us from the crime scene and crowed, “Vicki, he’s BEAUTIFUL!”) and the situation couldn’t have been any better.
--My wife: The true star of this show. She carried that little bowling ball around for nine months, took great care to manage her weight (even after a gestational diabetes diagnosis) and was smart enough to cut back to two packs of cigarettes a day (I keed, I keed. The only thing she smoked during her pregnancy was crack). It was an impressive performance even before the doctors cut her open and left a twelve-inch incision across her stomach. The strength she has shown over the last week, even when she can barely get out of bed or walk across the room, has been remarkable.
Last season, Justin Morneau accomplished two things that guaranteed his place in baseball history: one, he became the first Canadian to take home the American League’s Most Valuable Player award, and two, he became the first Minnesota Twin to hit more than thirty homeruns in a season since 1987.
Thanks to Morneau, the longest current streak without a thirty-homerun hitter now belongs to the San Diego Padres, who are going on six years since Ryan Klesko and Phil Nevin each passed that mark in 2001. Unfortunately, six-year streaks in just about anything aren’t all that exciting (Roger Federer’s ongoing run at Wimbledon notwithstanding), so until Petco Park kills homerun production for another thirty years, we need to find something new to latch onto.
Since forty homers has, over the past fifteen years, become the new thirty, maybe that’s the way to go. A look through the year-by-year team statistics at Baseball-Reference.com confirms that the nineteen seasons the Twins went without a thirty-homerun hitter was nothing; in fact, the team has not had a player hit forty homeruns since Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew did it for the eighth and final time in 1970.
Carlton Fisk, the Hall of Fame catcher who played 24 seasons and once held the career record for homeruns at the position, had two major league games on his resume in 1970. Ken Griffey Jr., the sixth leading homerun hitter of all-time, wasn’t even a year old. Justin Morneau’s parents were quite possibly not yet married. It was a very long time ago.
At least the Twins have had a player hit forty homeruns at some point in history (with Morneau on pace to do it this season). That’s more than the Kansas City Royals have to hang their hats on. Since entering the league as an expansion franchise in 1969, no Royal has ever managed to hit that many in a season (the closest was Steve Balboni’s 36 in 1985), despite a ballpark that often plays very favorably to hitters.
Much of this can be attributed to the twin demons of bad luck and bad timing. The Royals enjoyed their best success over a ten year period between 1976 and 1985, a point in history where speed was considered much more favorable than power, especially for a team that played on the artificial turf of Royals Stadium. By the time the nineties rolled around and sluggers once again assumed their place as the game’s primary focus, salaries were skyrocketing and the small market Royals were placed in a difficult spot in terms of competition.
The bad luck’s name is Bo Jackson. Make no mistake about it: if Jackson had not injured his hip in a football accident while playing for the Los Angeles Raiders in 1990 and the Royals had spent the money to keep him in free agency, there is a good chance we would not be having this discussion right now. Though his high-water homerun mark in four full seasons prior to the injury was just 32, it’s not a reach to suggest that Bo’s power numbers would have increased along with the rest of baseball’s in the mid-to-late 1990s.
Kansas City’s homerun difficulties actually back further than the Royals. In the thirteen years the Athletics called the city home (1955-67), no player hit more than 38 homeruns in a season, which makes it likely that the only forty homerun seasons Kansas City has ever seen came courtesy of Willard Brown, a 2006 Hall of Fame inductee who played for the Negro Leagues’ Monarchs for several seasons before World War II and later spent time with the St. Louis Browns.
The only other current team that has never had a forty-homerun hitter is the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, which came into existence in 1998 and has thus far neither developed a homegrown slugger nor had the financial resources to pay one for his services. The closest they came to either were Aubrey Huff and Jose Canseco, respectively, who are tied atop the team’s single-season homerun list with 34.
In all, seven teams have not had a forty homerun since the start of the 21st century. As currently constituted, at least three of those clubs – the Twins, Pirates and Tigers – have players capable of passing that total: Morneau has 23 homeruns for Minnesota this season and could reach forty if he is not effected long-term by his recent lung injury; fellow Canadian Jason Bay is working on back-to-back seasons of 32 and 35 in Pittsburgh (only 12 at the break this year, however); and Detroit’s Gary Sheffield has recovered from a dismal April to go deep eighteen times since May 1.
The other four – the Royals, Marlins, D-Rays, and Orioles – are situated differently in that none has a clear-cut power hitter on the team and is not likely to spend money on one in free agency (with the possible exception of Baltimore). The Royals are probably in the best shape, with recent first-round picks Alex Gordon and Billy Butler seeing playing time this season, but neither rookie has distinguished himself thus far offensively (here’s a fun fact: in his first three seasons combined, George Brett had more stolen bases (26) than homeruns (20)). In fact, the organization’s homerun leader is Craig Brazell, a 27-year-old first baseman who is not listed by Baseball America as one of the Royals’ top ten prospects but has thirty round trippers between Double A and Triple A in 2007.
The great thing about baseball is that the players are human, which means that no streak can last forever. Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-3. Cal Ripken took a day off. The Atlanta Braves finished third. The Boston Red Sox won a World Series. And one day, players on all seven of those teams are going to have a forty-homer season.
Of course, by that point, fifty will probably be the new forty.
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
Class of 1983
Mike Cuellar – Can someone explain why Cuellar wasn’t given a fighting chance to succeed at the major league level until he was almost thirty? Like Edgar Martinez, who lost years off his career languishing in the Mariners farm system in the early 1990s, the failure to spot Cuellar’s potential earlier might well have cost him a shot at the Hall of Fame. As it is, four twenty win seasons, four All-Star appearances and a Cy Young award should have put him in the running anyway.
Larry Dierker – On my eighteenth birthday, I bought a pack of cigarettes (just because I could) and a scratch ticket. Larry Dierker got a much better present: the Houston Colt .45s tabbed him to make his major league debut. He didn’t pitch well (two runs on five hits in 2.2 innings – at least he caught Willie Mays looking in the first), but at least he had a better day than Larry Yellen, the first man out of the bullpen: it was the fourteenth and final game of Yellen’s major league career. In the late 1990s, the Astros surprised a lot of people when they hired Dierker out of the broadcast booth to manage the team; he returned the favor by leading Houston to four NL Central division titles in five years.
Pat Dobson – One of four Baltimore Orioles to win twenty games in 1971, Dobson only posted a winning record three times in an eleven-year career that saw him play for six different teams. He passed away in November, 2006.
Al Downing – Yeah, Al Downing was a solid major league pitcher, a twenty-game winner and 1967 All-Star. But more importantly, he is the answer to an important trivia question: who gave up Hank Aaron’s record 715th homerun?
Joe Hoerner – Along with Willie Montanez and Cookie Rojas, Hoerner was one of three Bizarros involved in the famous Curt Flood trade in 1969. He made the All-Star team for Philadelphia the following year. His career numbers don’t look exceptional, but he DID have four seasons with thirteen or more saves and three with a sub-2.00 ERA.
Randy Hundley – Say hello to the man who brought us Todd Hundley. The two could very well become the first father-son in the Bizarro Hall when Hot Todd becomes eligible in ’09. Carlos May – On first thought, I was very, very surprised that nobody voted for Carlos May for the Hall of Fame. Then I realized I was confusing Carlos, who had a couple of good seasons but nothing special, with his brother Lee (he of the 354 career homeruns and only three Hall of Fame votes). My bad. Carlos, however, WAS a first round draft pick.
Ken McMullen – Six teams, sixteen teams, never finished higher than 26th in MVP voting, was once part of a trade that involved Frank Robinson – guys like this are the reason the Bizarro Hall was created.
Bill Melton – Melton hit 33 homeruns in back-to-back seasons for the White Sox in 1970 and 1971, leading the league in the latter year. He bounced back from a 1972 injury with seasons of 20 and 21 homers, but his production steadily declined until the end of his career in 1977.
Gary Nolan – Nolan battled injuries for much of his career, but still had flashes of brilliance that included an 18-7 record in 1970 and two World Series rings with the Big Red Machine of the mid-1970s.
Doug Rader – Thanks to my baseball card collection, I’ll always remember Rader as the manager of the California Angels in the late 1980s. Imagine my surprise, then, when I found out that he had been a pretty good third baseman for the Astros a decade earlier, enjoying three seasons of 20+ homeruns and winning five consecutive Gold Gloves at the hot corner. He later played for the original Blue Jays in 1977. Ironically, the second most similar player to Rader on Baseball-Reference.com is Ken McMullen.
Cookie Rojas – Nothing stands out about Rojas’ major league career at first glance – except for his FIVE All-Star appearances, four of them consecutively as a member of the Kansas City Royals. How did this happen? The Royals weren’t bad during those years – on the contrary, they were actually pretty good. So…can anyone explain this? Were there no other second basemen in the American League? Was he a greater defensive player than his numbers indicate?
Diego Segui – David’s dad didn’t do much on the field, but his career is still full of fun little factoids. He played for the Athletics in the team’s last season in Kansas City and first season in Oakland. He played for the Seattle Pilots during their only year of existence. He was a member of the original Seattle Mariners, appearing in forty games, which might make him the only man to play for both Seattle franchises. Fun stuff.
Bill Singer – Teams couldn’t have enjoyed facing the California Angels in 1973: one day you get Nolan Ryan and his record 383 strikeouts, the next you’re up against Singer and his 241 Ks. Both pitchers won 20 games that year, but Singer headed downhill after and was done as a player by 1977 (when he played for the first-year Blue Jays).
Jim Wynn – That Wynn isn’t in the Hall of Fame isn’t surprising. There isn’t a lot of room in Cooperstown for .250 hitters with 1,400 career strikeouts. But the fact that not one writer voted for him is an absolute travesty. Overlooked, somehow, were his solid offensive numbers, which were compiled in a dreadful hitters park (the Astrodome) during a dreadful era for hitters (the late 1960s). Despite these obstacles, The Toy Cannon had three seasons with 30+ homers, four with 100+ runs scored, and two with 100+ RBI. He also stole 225 bases and walked over 1,200 times in his career (including a career-high 148 in 1969). The lack of consideration is inexcusable.
(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1982)
(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes. Class of 1984
Ron Fairly – A three-time World Series winner with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fairly was the only player to play for the original Montreal Expos in 1969 (he wasn’t an original Original, joining the team via trade in June) and the original Toronto Blue Jays in 1977. His greatest individual performance came in the 1965 World Series against the Twins, when he hit .379 with two homeruns and probably would have won the Most Valuable Player award if not for a guy by the name of Koufax.
(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)
(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1983.)
Last week, I profiled Eddie Grant, the U.S. Army Captain and former New York Giant who on October 5, 1918 became the first Major League Baseball player killed in time of war. At the time of his death, which came by way o####erman artillery shell shortly before the end of World War I, Grant was taking part in a mission to rescue the “Lost Battalion”, a group of 550 U.S. soldiers that had been cut off in the Argonne Forest and was in danger of being wiped out completely by German forces (in the end, only 194 survived).
Even while writing about Grant, I began to consider the upcoming Memorial Day and wonder if any other players, either retired or active, had given life for their country. We all know about the service records of Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg and countless other who sacrificed the best years of their careers to go to war, but had anyone besides Eddie Grant sacrificed something even greater?
The simple answer, it turned out, was yes. While Grant was the most accomplished major leaguer to be killed in combat, with ten respectable seasons under his belt, he was by no means the only one. Five others were killed in combat between 1918 and 1952, including two in the week following Grant’s death. None played more than seven games at the major league level, and three only appeared in a single contest, but they were all retired veterans of Major League Baseball. (Note: the six deaths do not include those of Ralph Sharman, who drowned in Alabama on May 24 1918, and Larry Chappell, who died of influenza on November 9, 1918. Both Sharman and Chappell had seen major league action during the 1917 season.)
Bun Troy (killed October 7, 1918 in Petit Maujouym, France) – the German-born Troy appeared in one game as a pitcher with the 1912 Detroit Tigers, making the start and allowing four runs in 6 2/3 innings.
Alex Burr (killed October 12, 1918 in Cazaux, France) – Despite some Internet sources that claim he died on his 25th birthday (November 1), Lieutenant Burr was killed nearly three weeks before that date when his burning plane crashed into a lake. According to the obituary in the Chicago Daily Tribune, his body was not immediately recovered. A cup of coffer player in the majors, Burr appeared in one game as a defensive replacement for the 1914 New York Yankees.
Elmer Gedeon (killed April 20, 1944 in St. Pol, France) – Captain Gedeon became Major League Baseball’s first casualty of World War II when the bomber he was piloting was shot down over France; only his co-pilot escaped. His playing career consisted of five games as an outfielder for the 1939 Washington Senators.
Bob Neighbors (missing in action, August 8, 1952 in North Korea) – Little is available online about Neighbors, a major in the Air Force, for the fact that he was shot down over North Korea in 1952 and his body was never recovered. His major league service time (seven games with the 1939 St. Louis Browns) was minimal, but still second only to Eddie Grant among those who were killed in action.
Memorial Day doesn’t have to be a sad day. There is still time for barbecues and spending time with family and celebrating the arrival of another long-awaited summer. But while you’re doing all those things, take a moment to remember Eddie Grant, Bun Troy, Alex Burr, Elmer Gedeon, Harry O’Neill, Bob Neighbors, and all the other brave soldiers who left to defend our country and never came home.
(For information on NFL players who have been killed in combat, check out Cold, Hard Football Facts.)
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
Class of 1985
Clay Carroll – One of baseball’s best relief pitchers in the early 1970s, Carroll briefly held the major league record for saves in a season when he nailed down 37 contests for the Reds in 1972 (the mark was broken by Detroit’s John Hiller the following year). A two-time All-Star, he boasted a 1.39 ERA in 22 career postseason games, including 1.33 in 20 1/3 World Series innings.
Ed Kranepool – Briefly a member of the original 1962 New York Mets as a 17-year-old first baseman (he appeared in three games), Kranepool spent all of his eighteen major league seasons with the team. As a result, his formative years were spent on some of the worst teams in major league history, but he was rewarded by being a part of the 1969 World Series winning Amazin’ Mets and the 1973 team that lost to Oakland.
George Scott – Although the Red Sox finished a distant ninth in the American League in 1966, there was reason for hope in Boston: in addition to Carl Yastrzemski, Tony Conigliaro and Rico Petrocelli, the lineup featured Scott, a slugging 23-year-old first baseman who hit 27 homeruns while making an All-Star Game appearance and finishing third in the Rookie of the Year voting. He spent five more seasons in Beantown (and was a key member of the 1967 Impossible Dream team) before being traded to Milwaukee, where he enjoyed some of his finest seasons (1972-76).
Bobby Tolan – A forgotten member of the early Big Red Machine teams, Tolan’s had his best seasons for the Reds in 1969 and 1970. He missed the 1971 season after rupturing his Achilles tendon, but returned the following year to help Cincinnati to the World Series. He played all seven games in his fourth Fall Classic (he also appeared in 1967 and 1968 with the Cardinals and 1970 with the Reds), hitting .269 with five stolen bases. For his efforts, Tolan received the 1972 Hutch Award, “given to an active player who best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire to win.” Previous winners included Mickey Mantle, Carl Yastrzemski, Sandy Koufax, and Pete Rose. He later spent one season as manager of the independent Atlantic League’s Nashua Pride.
Roy White – Like Ed Kranepool, White was a career-long New York player (for the Yankees) who survived some dark days before finally playing for several good teams in the late 1970s. He appeared in three World Series with the Yankees, hitting .333 in a 1978 win over the Dodgers.
(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1984.)
(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
Class of 1986
Vic Davalillo – Davalillo spent the first 5+ years of his career as a Gold Glove-winning member of the Cleveland Indians outfield, then used that glove to hang on for ten more years with five more teams. After missing the entirety of the 1975 and 1976 seasons, he emerged in Los Angeles, where he spent four years as the oldest player in the National League before finishing his career in 1980. He retired with two World Series rings and a lifetime postseason batting average of .323.
Darold Knowles – Oh, to be young and a Washington Senator: in 1969, Knowles appeared in 53 games for the Senators, posting a 2.24 ERA with thirteen saves and 59 strikeouts. His won-lost record was 9-2. The next season, he appeared in 71 games, had a 2.04 ERA with 27 saves, and struck out 71 batters. His won-lost record was 2-14. The first year, he was an All-Star; the second, he got a three day mid-season vacation. Go figure. Moot point anyway – his best season was 1971 (5-1, 11 saves, 1.37 ERA). Also, it needs to be mentioned that Knowles was a member of the 1978 Montreal Expos pitching staff that included, at one time or another, at least SEVEN Bizarro Hall of Famers.
(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1985.)
(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
Class of 1987
Jerry Grote – Grote spent sixteen seasons in the major leagues, playing on teams that made four World Series appearances in the ten seasons between 1969 and 1978. He was a National League All-Star with the Mets in 1968 and 1974. He left baseball for two years following the 1978 season, returning in 1981 to appear in 24 games for Kansas City and Los Angeles.
Steve Stone – Three things you should know about Steve Stone, the baseball player: one, his 25-7 record in 1980 won him the American League Cy Young Award and accounted for nearly a quarter of his 107 career wins; two, he was the third best Jewish pitcher in major league history behind Sandy Koufax and Ken Holtzman; and three, he surrendered the only homerunDuane Kuiper hit in nearly 3,400 career at-bats (off-topic: did you know Kuiper was drafted six times, including twice in the second round?)
(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1986.)
(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
(This ran a little long, so begin reading at your own risk. Thankfully, the next four classes are more manageable.)
Class of 1988
Stan Bahnsen – Bahnsen won the American League Rookie of the Year award as the second-best pitcher for a fifth place Yankees team in 1968, finishing the year 17-12 with a 2.05 ERA. He later won 39 games between the 1972 and 1973 seasons, a number that would have been more impressive had it not been coupled with 37 losses in the same time frame. Near the end of his career, he was a part of the same Montreal bullpen as Woodie Fryman (Bizarro ’89).
Ross Grimsley – A second-generation major league pitcher (his father, Ross Sr., appeared in seven games for the 1951 White Sox), Grimsley was yet another Bizarro Hall of Famer who played for the Montreal Expos of the late 1970s. He won twenty games for Les Expos in 1978, completing 19 of his 36 starts and striking out an impressive 84 in 263 innings.
Larry Hisle – Two years after finishing fourth in the 1969 Rookie of the Year voting, Hisle posted a .493 OPS and was traded three times in a thirteen month span. The third deal sent him to Minnesota, where he enjoyed a five-year stretch of double-digit homeruns that culminated in a 28/119/.302 season in 1977. He left for Milwaukee as a free agent after the season and immediately paid dividends, hitting 34 homeruns, driving in 115 runs and finishing third in the AL MVP voting.
Grant Jackson – After a two-season experiment that saw him start 58 games for Philadelphia, Jackson worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen for the final twelve years of his career. His value in that role was undeniable: twice he went undefeated for a playoff-bound team (8-0, 9 saves, 1.90 ERA for the 1973 Orioles; 6-0, 1.69 for the 1976 Yankees) and performed admirably in the postseason, but finally got his ring in 1979 as one of Pittsburgh’s top bullpen options (8-5, 14 saves, 2.96).
Randy Jones – The San Diego Padres lost 180 games during the 1975 and 1976 seasons, but fans of the team were not completely deprived. Young outfielder Dave Winfield was only a year or two away from busting out (and bolting for New York) and displaying the form that earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame, while Randy Jones was a trusted option to take the hill every fourth day. As of right now, Jones is the only Bizarro Hall of Famer with more than one twenty win season to his credit; he reached that total twice, finishing second in the National League Cy Young award voting in 1975 (20-12, 2.24) and winning in 1976 (22-14, 2.74).
John Mayberry – Strange but true fact: two of the Kansas City Royals three best hitters did not make the American League All-Star team in 1975. The lucky guy who got to make the trip to Milwaukee was future BHOFer and Royals manager Hal McRae, who carried a .310 batting average into the break. Staying home were a 22-year-old kid named George Brett (the next year, Brett won the batting title, played in the All-Star game and finished second for MVP) and a 6’3”, 220 lb. first baseman named John Mayberry. In fairness, while two-time All-Star Mayberry enjoyed the best year of his career (34 homeruns, 106 RBI, .291 BA), he didn’t really take off until July, slugging twelve homeruns in the month en route to a second place finish in the MVP voting. He later hit 20+ homers in three straight seasons for Toronto, including 30 in 1980, before finishing up with the Yankees in 1982.
Lynn McGlothen – McGlothen showed promise as a 24-year-old pitcher with the 1974 St. Louis Cardinals, finishing 16-12 with a 2.69 ERA, but he had trouble duplicating that modest success later in his career. He was killed in a fire in 1984.
Doc Medich – If my name was George Frances, I’d want a nickname like Doc too. After appearing in one game in 1972 and exiting after zero innings and two runs with an infinite ERA, Medich rebounded to win 14 games and challenge for the Rookie of the Year award (won by Al Bumbry) the following season. In 1974, he won 19 games for the Yankees. Due to a strange combination of free agency, waivers and contract purchases, he played for five teams from 1976 to 1978.
John Milner – “The Hammer”, whose cousin Eddie played in the majors for nine seasons, was a career .249 hitter. In ten World Series games, however, he managed a .306 mark (11-for-36; only one of the hits was for extra bases).
Willie Montanez – I honestly don’t know where to start with Montanez. He played for nine teams in fourteen seasons. He was traded eight times, including once for Garry Maddox, straight up; once as part of a mammoth four team, eleven player deal that included John Milner, Bert Blyleven, Jon Matlack, Al Oliver, and Tom Grieve; again for Milner, this time straight up; once for ####lord Perry and two other players; and, most famously, he was one of two players shipped from St. Louis to Philadelphia in 1970 when Curt Flood refused to report to the Phillies. Yeesh. If you want to know about his stats (which includes a second place finish for 1971 Rookie of the Year with 30 homeruns, then never again enjoying a single season that was nearly as good), just click the link.
Joe Rudi – Rudi was a three-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover and two-time MVP runner-up. A key member of Oakland’s three consecutive World Series victories in the early 1970s, he hit an even .300 with two homeruns in those Fall Classics.
Jim Spencer – A career .250 hitter, Spencer owned fellow BHOFers Doyle Alexander and Stan Bahnsen, hitting .448 and .350 against them, respectively. His grandfather, Ben Spencer, played for the Washington Senators in 1913.
Del Unser – A light-hitting outfielder, Unser lost out on the 1968 AL ROY award to Stan Bahnsen. The son of former major leaguer Al Unser, he hit .455 and picked up a World Series ring in limited postseason action for the 1980 Phillies.
Rick Wise – One of the more interesting characters with which I crossed paths during my brief stay in professional baseball, “Owl Man” won 188 games in eighteen seasons before traveling the minor leagues as a pitching coach. His major league career is best remembered for four things: in 1971, he became the first (and only) pitcher to pitch a no-hitter and hit two homeruns in the same game; in 1972, he was traded, straight up, for Hall of Famer Steve Carlton; in 1975, he was the winning pitcher when Carlton Fisk hit his famous homerun off of Fenway Park’s left field foul pole; and in 1978, he was involved in the deal that brought Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley to Boston. That’s a career. Also, if he happens to read this (which I’m not sure will happen, because I don’t think he knows how to use the Internet): Hi Rick (Nashua Pride, 2003 Media Relations – come on, you remember me).
(Coming soon: the Bizarro Hall of Fame Class of 1987.)
(All Hall of Fame voting results were obtained from the official web site of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Statistical information included in postings for the Bizarro Hall of Fame was, unless otherwise noted, originally compiled by Baseball-Reference.com.)
As part of an ongoing project, One More Dying Quail will be profiling the 182 current members of the Bizarro Hall of Fame, an organization that currently exists only in my mind. It was created in the wake of Major League Baseball’s infamous Steroid Era as a way of honoring those players whose careers were perfectly mediocre: the only requirement is that a candidate be listed on the official Baseball Hall of Fame ballot and receive zero votes.
Class of 1989
Jim Barr – Barr had a fairly unremarkable career with the San Francisco Giants and California Angels, but owns a fairly remarkable record: on August 23, 1972, he retired the final twenty-one batters he faced; six days later, he set down the first twenty. The forty-one consecutive outs remains a major league record. Another interesting fact: Barr was drafted six times between 1966 and 1970.
Terry Crowley – Many current observers lament the fact that the Hall of Fame’s standards have sunk so low that players such as Scott Brosius are now included on the ballot. They are obviously unaware of Terry Crowley, a man whose main claims to fame were serving as the first designated hitter in Baltimore Orioles history and being a really good pinch-hitter. He has spent the last eight years as the Orioles hitting coach.
Joe Ferguson – Luke Walker was almost a part of baseball history, but Joe Ferguson turned him into a mere footnote. In the second game of a July 18, 1971 doubleheader, the Pirates’ Walker took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The bid ended quickly when the first batter, Ferguson, hit his first major league homerun. Two years later, Ferguson enjoyed his best season, hitting 25 homers and driving in 88 runs.
Woodie Fryman – Am I insane in thinking that Woodie Fryman is Travis Fryman’s father? There seems to be no proof of it anywhere on the Internets. Anyway, Woodie spent most of his career as a journeyman pitcher for six organizations. He made two All-Star appearances as a starter in 1968 and 1976, but enjoyed his greatest success in a relief role with the Montreal Expos from 1979-82. In 1981, Fryman helped Les Expos to the playoffs with seven saves and a 1.88 ERA.
Cesar Geronimo – Geronimo was not a great offensive player (his career-best OPS was .796) but he hit well in the post-season, with .280 and .308 averages in Cincinnati’s back-to-back wins over Boston in 1975 and New York in 1976. His true value in that time, however, was as one of the National League’s best defensive outfielders, with four consecutive Gold Gloves awards in the mid-seventies.
Dave Goltz – If the name doesn’t sound familiar (and it didn’t to me), it’s probably because Goltz toiled for some mediocre Minnesota teams in the 1970s. He still won fourteen or more games every season from 1975-79 (and lost ten or more from 1974-80), including a 20-11 mark in 1977 that earned him a sixth place finish in the voting for the National League Cy Young award.
Jon Matlack – For some reason, I expected Matlack’s numbers to be better; sorry to say, but there might have been some weird confusion with Jerry Koosman. Matlack was a good pitcher, however, winning fifteen games and the National League Rookie of the Year award in 1972. He averaged fifteen wins a year 1972-76, but slumped to 7-15 in 1977 and was shipped off to Texas after the season. His first season resulted in fifteen wins for the second place Rangers, but it was his last good season. Also (and there’s really no reason to mention this, other than it made me laugh), his middle name is Trumpdour.
Rudy May – Aside from leading the American League with a 2.46 ERA in 1980, the highlight of Rudy May’s career has to be the June 1976 trade that sent him from the New York Yankees to the Baltimore Orioles. Sure, it meant he missed out on the Bronx Bombers back-to-back championships in 1977 and 1978, but it’s cool because the deal also included Bizarro Hall of Famers Scott McGregor and Doyle Alexander.
Bake McBride – An interesting little factoid: of the eight players who took home the National League Rookie of the Year award from 1972-1979 (there was a tie in 1976), five were Bizarro Hall of Famers. McBride, a 37th round draft pick by the Cardinals in 1970, was the third in that stretch, hitting .309 and stealing thirty bases for St. Louis in 1974. His most amazing feature, however, was his hair; while not quite up to the high level set by Oscar Gamble, McBride’s mane was a legendary feature in it’s own right.
Bill Robinson – Robinson made his major league debut with the Atlanta Braves at the age of 23 and spent his next two seasons with the Yankees, but a .171 average landed the 26 year old back in the minor leagues for two full seasons. He reemerged with the Phillies in 1972 and hit 25 homeruns the following season. After being traded to Pittsburgh at the start of 1975, Robinson became an offensive threat, hitting twenty-plus homeruns three times.
Richie Zisk – When Bill Veeck bought the Chicago White Sox in 1976, he walked right into the birth of free agency. Knowing he couldn’t compete financially for the best players, he chose instead to go after guys who were questions marks and sign them for reasonable prices. Zisk was one of those players, and he paid off big-time, enjoying the best season of his career (30 homeruns, 101 RBI, .290 batting average and the first of two All-Star appearances) before bolting to Texas for a ten year, $2.3 million deal.
OMDQ: Erin, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.