MARCO’S
BASEBALL BLOG-O-ROONIE 2020 (the year without a baseball season?)
“All
the world is sad and dreary
Everywhere I go...”
--Stephen
Foster
Here
is a salute to our friends and members
of our World Family who are
being taken from us.
It’s
a troubling time and it seems almost insulting to rue the lack of a
baseball season. But baseball is a symbol of America and to lose it
and all the other sports and restaurants
and movie theaters and bar
bands and dances and every other recreational outlet we’ve always
taken for granted is shocking and just brings home what a blow this
little microbe has struck us.
I
hope you are all safe at home and finding your way through. Here are
a few stories to distract you and maybe make you remember our
national pastime until it comes back to us.
Walter
Johnson came up to the Senators in 1907 and was an immediate
sensation. Nobody in memory had ever thrown as hard as The Big Train.
He threw sidearm and just whipped the ball with his big frame and
long arms. He was one of the rare pitchers who didn’t much bother
with off-speed pitches. Nobody could catch up with his fastball so
why complicate things? In 1908 Young Walter started against the
Yankees on a Friday and shut them out on 6 hits. The next day, he
started again and shut them out on 4 hits. No game on Sunday but on
Monday Johnson started the game again and shut the Yankees out again!
This time he only allowed 2 hits! 3 shut outs in 4 days and only gave
up 12 hits! Mercy!!
But
Walter was a sweet-natured, affable farm boy from Kansas and was
afraid of hitting people with that fastball and maybe killing
somebody someday. So he didn’t like to pitch inside. No matter...he
still threw 110 shutouts in his big league career!
Ty
Cobb, the dominant player
of the American League, had trouble with Johnson just like everybody
else, but he’d noticed how Walter would shy away from any kind of
chin music. So Ty started crowding the plate on Walter and just to
rattle him, would talk trash to the big galute, calling him names and
giving him the usual Cobb routine of abuse. And
it worked. Cobb hit over .360 against Johnson . Walter
would work on the outside of the plate to avoid hitting Cobb and
southpaw Ty would slap singles to left.
So
Walter didn’t like Ty Cobb much, even though both men are on record
praising the other’s talent. Cobb said Johnson had the best arm he
ever saw on a ball field.
Like
a lot of pitchers (curiously), Walter took pride in his hitting. (He
hit .433 in 1925 in about a hundred at bats!) One of Cobb’s
teammates was Sam Crawford, a great hitter and Hall of Famer.
Sam was from Wahoo, Nebraska, and he and Walter became casual
friends, being fellow Midwestern farm boys and all. Johnson admired
Crawford’s bats and he’d borrow one to hit with when the Senators
would play the Tigers.
So,
in payment for Sam Crawford’s generosity with bat lending,
whenever the game wasn’t in
the balance and Crawford was coming up, the Senator’s catcher would
whisper to the Tiger
hitter, “Hey Sam...Walter likes you today.” That meant Johnson
was coming in fat with a medium fastball and Sam should get ready. So
“Wahoo” Sam would be hitting triples off the right field wall
while Cobb was pecking little singles into the short field. Drove Ty
Cobb absolutely crazy.
There
are so many stories about Satchel
Paige. Who knows how many
are true and how many have been...let’s say...elaborated upon?
One
way or another, Old Satch was a legendary pitcher and character and
one of the most popular sports figures in history. His first
major league start
at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in 1948 set
an attendance record. He was
a (supposed) 42
year old rookie. (It may have been closer
to 50!) Other
interesting facts about Satchel:
*He
learned to pitch as a 13-year old in an Alabama reform school where
he did time for shoplifting.
*He
attributed his longevity to a secret potion that was given to him by
Sioux Indians when Paige was playing semi-pro baseball in North
Dakota. It was some horrible stinky concoction that included
gunpowder and rattlesnake venom but Satch insisted it kept his arm
loose. (Something had to...he pitched an estimated 2500 games in his
career!)
He
liked to call in his fielders to sit behind the mound in the last
inning of games while he struck out the side.
*Also,
something very close to this might have actually happened, according
to Negro League manager and Baseball Saint Buck O’Neal:
Satchel’s
Team, the Kansas City Monarchs, was playing the Homestead Grays in
the Negro League World Series of 1942. The big hype was that
Satchel would be facing the equally legendary hitter Josh Gibson.
Satchel arranged a stunt when Josh first came to the plate to face
him. He had another player put on a white doctor’s smock and come
out to the plate with a stethoscope to check Gibson’s heartbeat.
Pitching
in relief in a close game in the last inning Satchel gave up a hit.
He called his manager O’Neal over from first and announced that the
fans had paid to see a confrontation between him and Josh Gibson and
he couldn’t disappoint them. There were two outs and two batters
due before Gibson so Satch stated that he was going to walk the next
two hitters to get to Gibson with the bases loaded. O’Neal couldn’t
talk him out of it, so Paige proceeded to do just that.
With
the fans going crazy Satchel struck Gibson out on three straight
fastballs. Now that’s showmanship, folks!
Some
little bits of baseball information for you:
*Jud
Castro, a second baseman from Medellin, Columbia, was the first
Latin American to appear in the major leagues, playing 42 games for
the Philadelphia Athletics of 1902. He hit .245 with 1 home run.
*in
1886, Guy Hecker of Louisville had the greatest hitting
performance of any pitcher in history when he went 6 for 6 with 3
home runs. He scored 7 runs in that game, which is still
the all time record for any player. It has never even been tied.
Hecker hit a league leading .341 that season as a hitter, and won
26 games as a pitcher. In 1884 he had won 52 games and lost 20.
*Eddie
Collins, the Hall of Fame second baseman who played 25 years with
the old Athletics and White Sox, played a game on Sept. 11, 1912 in
which he stole 6 bases for Philly against the Tigers. That was a
record. But just to emphasize the point, Collins stole another 6 in a
game against the St. Louis Browns 11 days later!
*The
Giants once had a deaf and mute pitcher named Dummy Taylor
(they were so kind and politically correct in those days). Despite
these challenges, Taylor had a perfect way of expressing his
dissatisfaction with the decision of an umpire. He used to hold his
nose.
*
Ninth inning, one run game, Giants behind, runner on third, one out.
Manager John McGraw sends
Sammy Strang up to pinch hit with orders to bunt. Pitcher comes
in with a fat pitch that Sammy can’t resist. He takes a full swing
and slams a homer over the right field fence. As he crosses home
plate with the winning run McGraw snarls at him “That homer will
cost you $50. When I say bunt, I mean bunt!”
You
don’t mess with McGraw.
*Joe
Tinker of the famous Tinker to Evers to Chance double play
combo of the old Cubs married a young lady who knew nothing about
baseball. So he takes her to her first game and gets her a box seat.
Tinker is having a spectacular day, fielding superbly, slamming the
ball and running like a demon. Late in the game he stretches a single
into a double with a head first slide into second. Then on the next
pitch he takes off and steals third with another great slide. At the
end of the game Joe walks over to the box where his radiant bride
awaits and asks her “how’d you like the game, Dear.”
“Oh,
it was fascinating ” she gushes. “But really, Joe, you ought to
be more careful. You fell down twice running around the bases!”
MLB
Network and Draft Kings are presenting a tournament of All-Time teams
with 16 AL teams and 16 NL teams playing 7 game simulated (with
some unexplained computer program) series in a round of 32, 16, 8, 4,
2 and the big championship between leagues in the Final 2. In order
to round out the sides into an even 16 teams on each side, they’ve
added a Negro League All Star team to the AL side and an under-25
young player squad for the NL.
Since
I love making up All Time teams and arguing with myself about them I
have studied the rosters and the rules and have these comments that
might either help you place your bets or just make you mad. (the
tournament starts on Monday April 20 and a lot of the games are
streaming or on the MLB channels and radio stations.)
First
of all, a player may appear on more than one team simultaneously. You
get the Angels version of Nolan Ryan and also the Astros
version and the Rangers version. (What, no Mets Nolan?)
This
is ludicrous. Roberto Alomar is on the Orioles, the Blue Jays
and the Indians. Babe Ruth is a pitcher on the Red Sox and
also plays for the Yankees. That means he can face himself if the
Yankees play the Red Sox.
Just
choose the team the player had his biggest success with or played the
most years with or something. The only really tough calls are Frank
Robinson (Reds or Orioles?), Eddie Collins (Athletics or
White Sox?) Alomar and a few more. I mean, Jimmy Foxx had his
biggest success with the Athletics and just a few good years for the
Red Sox. Making Foxx the starting first baseman of the Red Sox just
gets in the way of Yaz, Ortiz, Mo Vaughn, Jim Rice and others
having playing time.
The
next blindingly illogical decision is to then base performance on the
player’s 3 best years. So why does Joel Zumaya get to play
for the Tigers? He only played one year with the injuries. Does he
get to use the stat projections of that one good year, one year with
fragments of injury-ridden years or what? They’ve got players who
never even played 3 years on rosters. The under 25 team has players
who have yet to play their first major League game! (catcher Adley
Rutschman) What stats are they going to use for those players? Is
somebody going to just predict what kind of player they’ll be?
There
is no explanation of what the ballpark effects are to be. Neutral
site? Some computerized make believe house of digital perfection?
Wrigley Field and Fenway Park? Home and away? After all, Babe Ruth in
Yankee Stadium is a different proposition from Ruth in , say, Forbes
Field. Just what are the playing parameters? It kind of matters, O
Hallowed Draft King Geniuses.
My
fourth great reservation is the inclusion of the very worst steroid
abusers of the recent Dark Ages of enhanced baseball. That’s an
insult to the game. Why not just go ahead and project what some of
the great players of past eras WOULD have performed like if they’d
been given the juice? Sure, why not? Roll up your sleeve Mick! Let’s
see what an augmented Mantle would have done with a little
horse piss in him to even things out with McGwire!
Hey...Rogers Hornsby hit .424 playing clean and won two triple
crowns. What he needs is some simulated testosterone. What will he
hit now? (Answer: .465, 62 home runs, 207 RBI’s) The whole
comparison thing is skewed badly if you get what I mean.
Number
5 in my list of bitches is how are they factoring in defense? And who
manages the team...a homer happy Earl Weaver or bunting frenzy
John McGraw? Kind of matters if you have Sparky going
to the bullpen or Casey platooning his ass off. None of this
is explained because of course we civilians can’t be expected to
think...let’s just have another home run contest!
So
I will studiously avoid my general disappointment with the basic
tenets of this online distraction but will try to enjoy it as it is
presented out of sheer baseball deficiency and house-bound boredom.
The
teams are seeded based on World Series victories, pennants won,
playoff appearances and regular season records over the whole history
of baseball. ( I don’t think they are including pre-1900 but I’m
not sure. They have a few players from that era but nobody who played
the majority of their career pre 1900 except Cy Young.) All
well and good. The Negro League All Stars and the Under 25 Young ‘Uns
are both seeded 8th. Also understandably fair. Every
roster is 11 pitchers and 15 everyday players.
Here
are the first round matchups and my evaluations and predictions :
(note**the starting lineups are set by the geniuses, so when I
present them to you I’m just reporting THEIR decisions...I
criticize as I go along.)
AL
BRACKET:
Game
1: NY Yanks (#1 AL seed) vs. Seattle Mariners (#16): The
Yanks are loaded with power, as you would no doubt expect. Ruth,
Gehrig, Mantle,
DiMaggio...Reggie at DH and He Who Must Not Be Named at third
base. Fuhget-About-It! The Yanks will bludgeon their way through this
series. They are lacking only that one dominant pitcher. They have
Whitey Ford and
Ron Guidry and if Guidry had 3 years like 1978 on his resume it
might be different. New York’s killer bullpen (Rivera and
Gossage) might make up for it.
The
Mariners have Randy Johnson to beat the Yanks a couple of
times, but nobody else except maybe Felix Hernandez at
his peak. Bad bullpen relatively. The starting lineup has Edgar
Martinez at third and Nelson Cruz at DH. That’s wrong.
Adrian Beltre should be on third (if defense counts for
anything in this extravaganza) with Edgar at DH and mix Cruz into the
outfield. And oh yeah.. He Who Must Not Be Named is playing shortstop
for the Mariners!
Prediction:
Yanks get beat twice by the Big Unit but prevail 4 games to 2.
Game
2: Athletics (#2) vs. Rays (#15): I agree that the Athletics
should be rated this high. They have a very balanced lineup of Jimmy
Foxx, Eddie Collins, Sal Bando and Bert Campaneris around
the infield with Mickey Cochrane at catcher (one of the best)
and Rickey Henderson, Al Simmons and Reggie in the outfield.
That’s Grade A speed plus big power. My only quibbles are that
Jason Giambi shouldn’t get to be DH. But, the alternatives
on the bench are Canseco and McGwire so how you gonna be a purist?
Also, Frank “Home Run” Baker is a good leftie hitter over
Sal Bando at third.
The
A’s have that Super Pitcher in Lefty Grove (his ERA was 2
runs below everybody else pitching in the best hitting environment
ever (the late 20s and early 30s)...for about 6 years in a row) Eddie
Plank, Catfish, Vida Blue and relievers Fingers and
Eckersley back him up. (Where is Chief Bender? Where
is Rube Waddell?) Definite threat to win it all.
The
Rays are an admirable team of over achievers but it’s mostly a
roster of guys they traded once they got good. They have Longoria,
Carl Crawford and a few pitchers. No chance.
A’s
sweep!
Game
#3: Red Sox vs. Rangers (#14): The
Sox have the unhappy situation of too many great players having to
sit because there is not a spot for them. Foxx, Pedroia,
Boggs and Nomar on the infield,
Fisk catching and
Williams, Betts and Evans
from left to right. Ortiz
is DH. Having Foxx play for two teams means Yaz
is sitting? Betts has
had at least 3 great years and I love him but are you saying Yaz
doesn’t top that with about ten awesome years? I put Williams at DH
(he’d love it), Yaz in left where he shines and Ortiz at first. I’d
also use Evans off the bench as a defensive replacement and pinch
hitter and play Jim Rice
as a booming right handed bat to balance Williams and Ortiz and Yaz.
Add Fred Lynn to the
roster. And maybe Mo Vaughn
too. Too many stars! Strong starters in Pedro, Clemens,
Cy Young, Tiant,
Lester, Babe Ruth and
Lefty Grove (the later version). Much
better than the Yankees rotation. The Red Sox have a very good shot.
The
Strangers have a bunch of players who could never win anything and
that’s why they’re seeded so low. They are also a schizophrenic
team with good citizens like Michael Young, Toby Harrah,
Jim Sundberg, Adrian Beltre, Rusty Greer and Ian Kinsler
on the same field with Juan Gonzalez, Ruben Sierra, He Who Must Not
etc at short and Rafael (“I never took steroids except for those
nine years”) Palmeiro. Except for Old Nolan and nasty Kevin
Brown no pitching. And where is
Josh Hamilton? Fodder
for the Big
Boys.
Red
Sox in 5.
Game
#4:Tigers (#4) vs. Angels (#13):
The Tigres are a strong Dark Horse in this tournament. They
have Cobb, Greenberg, Gehringer, and Miggy Cabrera
so that’s four all timers
to get them started. They have Hank Greenberg starting in left field
so Miggy can play first but I would put Miggy at third instead of
George Kell and have
Greenberg at his natural position of first with Kirk Gibson
in left field. Harry Heilmann
has to be the DH over Willie Horton.
(Heilmann batted over .390 four times! With mucho RBIs!)By
the way, Al Kaline is
the right fielder for all time on the Tigers. RIP Al! You were one of
the Truebloods. And by the way, Wahoo Sam Crawford has to be on this
club! Especially after I featured him in my funny story about Walter
and him.
The
rotation is way good: Verlander, Newhouser, Scherzer,
McClain, Lolich, Jack Morris and Jim Bunning.
Yikes! Only the two lefties in Newhouser and Lolich but some major
firepower. I’d make Bunning the closer. And
couldn’t we have Mark “The Bird” Fidrych just
for the genuine heart warming thrill of it? Instead of Joel Zumaya?
The
Angels are a little short. (What’s new?) Only 4 real HOFers in
Ryan, Carew (also on
the Twins) DH Vlad Guerrero and
future inductee Mike Trout.
Guys like Tim Salmon and Bobby Grich
are excellent players but look who you are comparing them to.
Tigers
in 5! (No lower seed upsets
yet!)
Game
#5: Orioles (#5) vs. Astros (#12): Major
screw up by the sophomoric, so-called baseball experts who designed
these all-time teams. The Orioles used to be the St. Louis Browns
years before they moved to Baltimore in
the early fifties. The
jelly-wigglers who came up with this roster just missed the whole
EXISTENCE of that Browns team. That means who cares if Hall of
Famers like George Sisler
(he hit over .400 twice and was considered the best first baseman in
the game pre-Lou Gehrig) and Bobby Wallace,
the great shortstop of yore don’t even get mentioned. How about Ken
Williams who led the AL in home
runs one year when Babe Ruth had a belly ache and
was the first 30-30 player ever? (that’s homers and steals)
How about Harland Clift
the good hitting third baseman? And pitcher Urban Shocker?
All of these St. Louis
Browns should be on this roster. Yes, the Brownies were an
historically inept team, but they won a pennant and went to a World
Series. (1944….the Browns
moved to Baltimore in 1953) A
stupid, unforgivable
oversight to forget these players. The Twins roster remembers the old
Washington Senators who moved to the Twin Cities. They remembered
that the Nationals were once the Montreal Expos. But they forgot the
franchise-move from St. Louis to Baltimore of the Browns/Orioles and
also the old Boston Braves who became Milwaukee and then Atlanta.
I’ll damn their eyes for that insult later! Nincompoops! (Sorry
Cal Ripken and Brooks Robinson,
but not even good guys like you can make me further evaluate your
team!)
The Houston Astros were once a
gritty team that could never win. Then they cheated their asses off
and prevailed. A sorry legacy.
Infield
of Bagwell, Biggio, Bregman and Correa...catcher
Ausmus... Jose
Cruz, Cesar Cedeno and Berkman
in the outfield. They put Jose Altuve
at DH but that’s a no-go for me. I say Jimmy (“Toy
Cannon”) Wynn has to be in
the outfield or DH, Altuve at second and move Biggio around from DH
to second to outfield and even catcher.
Rotation
of Ryan, J.R.Richards, Mike Scott and Roy Oswald.
Closer Billy Wagner
to neutralize all the big left-handed hitters in this league.
Upset
Special! Astros in 5!
Game
#6: Twins/Senators (#6) vs. Blue Jays (#11): I
guess the Twins rate this high because they remembered all the stars
that played for all the old Washington Senators. (Don’t worry, I
won’t let up.) Middle of
the road team led by Carew, Killebrew, shortstop Joe
Cronin, Goose Goslin, Kirby Puckett and Joe Mauer.
That’s not the Yankees or the Red Sox but it’s pretty good.
Starters are Johnson, Blyleven, Johann Santana and Jim
Kaat. Weak bullpen and weak
bench. If one of those pitchers behind Walter Johnson gets hot they
could surprise.
So
sorry Blue Jays but you don’t have a long enough history as an
expansion team to have enough Hall of Famers to compete in a
tournament of this kind. Roy Halladay will
win a game or two and..
It’s
Twins/Senators in 6!
Game
#7: White Sox (#7) vs. K.C. Royals (#10): The
White
Sox are a sleeper team. Long odds against but they have a real shot.
This is because they are balanced and have some superstars in the
right places and some very strong pitching. Infield is Frank
Thomas, Nellie Fox (very
underrated), Robin Ventura and Luke Appling
(underrated).
Catcher is Carlton Fisk. Outfield is Magglio Ordonez,
Minnie Minoso(along with
Mantle, the top player in the league throughout the 50s, according to
Ted Williams) and Harold Baines with
Konerko as DH.
Problem: you have Eddie
Collins and Shoeless Joe Jackson
on the bench. If you’re going to let them be on your team despite
cloning multiple team players and reinstating banished gambling
transgressors you have to play them. Collins is an all-timer. Jackson
one of the ten best hitters ever. (He hit over .400 and Ruth copied
his swing.) Let Fox play second but put Collins
at third or short when a right hand pitcher is on the mound. Let
Jackson play all the time and platoon Ordonez and Baines. Thomas
should DH...not Konerko who is the better fielder. That
gives you potentially 8 Hall of Fame or Hall of Fame level players at
one time in your lineup. Look at this: Collins(5),
Fox(4),
Minoso(8),
Jackson(9)
Thomas(DH),
Konerko(3),
Baines(7),
Appling(6),
Fisk(2).
The
pitching is also very good with Buehrle, Sale, Billy Pierce
and Red Faber with 3 specialist
swing men...Wilbur Wood, Ed Walsh and Hoyt Wilhelm.
Wood is a knuckleballer who pitched both ends of double headers in
the 70s. Hoyt Wilhelm was THE knuckleballer who taught Wood how to.
Ted Williams couldn’t hit Hoyt and admitted it. Ed Walsh
was an early century spitballer who won over 40 games once and
pitched in relief all the time as well. So the Sox have some tricky
lefty pitchers and three junkballers who will give the other teams
fits. I say they are
a threat...a big one.
The
Royals have George Brett.
Who else? Freddy Patek? Amos Otis? Bo Jackson? Bret
Saberhagen and David Cone can
pitch. How did they get seeded this high?
White
Sox in 5.
Game
#8:Negro League All-Stars (#8) vs. Indians (#9): Now
this is interesting! How do you evaluate the All Stars with sketchy
stats and word of mouth opinions of how great they were? And there is
very little doubt that these Negro League stars were legendary
talents.
Satchel
Paige taught Bob Feller
how to pitch. That’s Feller himself giving credit to Satch. They
used to tour the country in the off season playing each other’s all
stars.
Smoky
Joe Williams, Bullet Rogan, Leon Day, Chet Brewer and Hilton Smith
were almost as good. So was
Martin Dihigo who was
a scary hitter as well.
Their
lineup? Buck Leonard
at first...the black Lou Gehrig.
Josh
Gibson at catcher...the black
Babe Ruth...maybe the greatest right handed power hitter in history.
Oscar
Charleston in the outfield.
McGraw called him the greatest ball player he ever saw.
Pop
Lloyd at short...as good as
Honus they said.
Martin
Dihigo...when Johnny Mize
was playing in Cuba on the same team, other teams were walking Dihigo
in order to pitch to Mize who had led the majors in homers several
times and had hit in the
.350s. They have Dihigo on the bench!
Cool
Papa Bell, Ray Dandridge, Turkey Stearns, Mule Suttles.
For some reason the computer Geeks didn’t include Willie
Wells, the shortstop, and
Cristobal Torriente and
ten other all time players.
I
don’t know what the ratings system will spit out for
evaluation stats, but I
would risk a hefty bet that the Negro League All Stars will win it
all.
The
Indians are no slouches. They have Nap Lajoie and
Tris Speaker as
leaders and all time superstars who dominated the game in
their day. Stars of the 40s
and 50s like Al Rosen and
Lou Boudreau. 90s
hitters like Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez and
Albert Belle. I would play
Francisco Lindor at
short over Boudreau and add Omar Vizquel to
the roster for late inning defense at one infield position or
another. Rocky Colavito
should be on the team over Travis Hafner.
The bench is strong with Earl Averill,
Roberto Alomar (He’s
everywhere! He’s everywhere!)and
Larry Doby. Kenny
Lofton is a speed threat as a
pinch runner and outfield asset. Starters Feller, Kluber,
Coveleski, Bob Lemon, Early Wynn, and Sudden Sam McDowell
as leftie K artist. I think the Indians would be an even bet with any
other team in the AL except the ones they are facing in the first
round.
Negro
League All Stars in 5!
My
AL bracket:
first round:
Yankees
over Mariners
Athletics
over Rays
Red
Sox over Rangers
Tigers
over Angels
Astros
over Orioles
Twins
over Blue Jays
White
Sox over Royals
Negro
League AS over Indians
second round:
Negro
League All Stars over Yankees
in 7
Tigers
over Astros in 7
Red
Sox over Twins in 6
A’s
over White Sox in 7
semis:
Negro
League All Stars over Tigers in
6
A’s
over Red Sox in 7
AL Finals:
Negro
League All Stars over A’s in
7
Time
out while I pump up for the NL.
NL
BRACKET:
Game
#1: Cardinals (#1) vs. Rockies (#16)
The Cardinals are historically
the second most successful team of all time...after the Yankees...but
I think they will have some trouble in this tournament. Compared to
the Giants, the Dodgers, and even the Phillies and the Braves their
pitching is a little thin. The contenders in this tournament all have
3 or more all time stoppers. I’m talking Koufax, Hershiser,
Kershaw/Dodgers...Marichal, Mathewson, Hubbell,
Bumgarner/Giants...Alexander, Carlton, Halladay,
Schilling, Robin Roberts and Cliff Lee/Phillies. Plus you
need a bullpen and some pretty good hold-the-fort type middle relief
to go up against stacked power lineups. The Cards have Bob Gibson
and Dizzy Dean...both great, but those are the only two
Hall of Fame Starters, and two is light in this company.. They have
two studs in the bullpen in Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter.
It all depends on how pitchers like Wainwright, Carpenter,
Brecheen and Mort Cooper do when Diz and Gibby have to
rest.
The every day player roster of
the Cards is superb, however. One of the best of all time, easily.
The gurus have it Pujols, Hornsby, Rolen, Smith in the
infield...Molina catching...Medwick, Edmunds and Musial in the
outfield with Mark McGwire DH. I could improve on this by banishing
McGwire to the Hall of PEDS and putting Hornsby (a lousy defensive
player) at DH. Then you’d have a Hall of Fame leadoff man at second
when you remember MVP Frankie Frisch. Also, Pujols came up as a third
baseman. Why not start him there so you can have HOF Johnny Mize play
first? Mize is too good to sit and he missed his natural prime by
fighting for his country for 3 years. And you could occasionally move
Stan the Man to first to get Lou Brock into the lineup. (Of course,
neither Frisch nor Mize is even on the roster. The Geniuses couldn’t
see passed Willie McGee.)
I wish the Rockies had a
chance but historically...they just have never had any pitchers. But
you want offense? How does Larry Walker, Tulo, Arenado, Helton,
Galarraga, Bichette, Cargo, Blackmon, LeMahieu,
Holliday and Story look to you?
Cardinals
in 6!
Game
#2: Giants (#2) vs. Brewers (#15): I
would
favor the Giants over the Cardinals in this simulation because the
Giants are allowed to have Barry Bonds
and his mutant stats on their team along with Mays,
McCovey, Mel Ott and the scary
rotation I mentioned above.
The
Brewers have a good core with Molitor, Yount and
Christian Yelich. But Josh
Hader is their best pitcher and
even he can only go about 2 innings a game.
Giants
Sweep!
Game
#3: Dodgers ((#3) vs. Padres (#14): The
Bluebloods have been told by the Geniuses to start Roy
Campanella over Mike
Piazza, and Cody
Bellinger over Pedro
Guerrero. I would shuffle
Sheffield, Snider, Hodges, Garvey,
Pedro and Cody around a
little between outfield, first
and DH and go with platoon
matchups. Kind of like how
the current Dodgers do it with everybody moving around the field
defensively. Catch Campy
with the old timer pitchers and Piazza with the Moderns. You have to
have Guerrero’s and
Piazza’s bats
in there. Along with Snider,
that’s the power-meat of the order.
Good
pitching! Koufax , Kershaw and Hershiser
just could be enough. And if
they can pitch Koufax 3 games in a 7 game series…
(Big
Dodger Boo-Boo...not including Dazzy Vance on
the staff. He pitched in the 20s and won 3 ERA titles, 6 KO titles,
had 2 10+WAR seasons and won an MVP. This in an era where the league
as a whole hit around .300.) .
Poor Padres! They get stomped
by the Dodgers in the real world and now they’ll get stomped in the
virtual world. Oh well, they have the number 4 clone of Roberto
Alomar to make them feel better!
Dodgers
Sweep!
Game
#4: Reds (#4) vs. Nationals/Expos (#13): This
is a very good matchup. Last year’s Champs augmented with some
great Expo players of the past like Vlad, Andre Dawson and
Tim Raines against The Big Red
Augmented Machine.
The
Reds lineup is Votto, Morgan, Rose and
Larkin on the infield, Bench
catching and George Foster, Eric Davis
and Frank Robinson in
the outfield. (Isn’t it weird that you say “IN” the outfield
but you say “ON” the infield? At least that’s how I learned it
in Baseball Syntax School.) That’s almost a perfect mix of speed,
hitting for average, on base percentage, terrific defense and with
Ted Kluszewski
as DH...long ball power. Backups like Adam Dunn, Tony Perez
and Jay Bruce
bring more power if you want it. Vada Pinson and
Dave Concepcion bring more
speed. 5 certified superstars and some secret weapons like catcher
Ernie Lombardi who
would make an ideal DH against leftie pitching. He was a line drive
hitting machine who won batting titles even though he was the slowest
runner in the game. Also,
Edd Roush was an
all-timer outfield talent, team leader and batting champ in the 20s.
I wonder if the Geniuses even noticed.
The
surprise is that you never think about great pitching with the Reds.
But this All Star has Tom Seaver, Mario Soto and
Jim Maloney to start and a
super bullpen with the Nasty Boys plus
John Franco and
Aroldis Chapman! This team
could upset the world.
(Psst!
You forgot to put the great left handed pitcher Eppa Rixey
and right handed starter Bucky Walters
on the staff instead of Jose Rijo and
Don Gullet.)
The
Nats/Expos are last year’s Heroes plus the outfield of the old
Expos mentioned above. Bryce Harper and
Juan Soto can’t even break
into the lineup unless its at DH. But the pitching on this team you
don’t want to see in your 7 game series: Steve Rogers,
Scherzer, Strassburg, and the
Martinezes Dennis and Pedro!
That should get your attention.
The
Reds are almost perfectly balanced and have the best catcher in the
tournament. I like ‘em in 7.
Game
#5: Pirates (#5) vs. Dbacks (#12): The
Pirates have never produced that superstar pitching Ace until Garret
Cole, and they up and traded
him before he opted out. And
now they can’t even get him on their All
Time roster even though he had several get years with the Pirates.
You’re telling me he wasn’t better than Bob Friend?
Dave Giusti? The
Buccos have nowhere to turn unless it’s to relief fork ball
specialist Elroy Face.
It’s
their everyday player lineup that has them ranked this high. Infield:
Stargell, Mazeroski, Traynor, Honus Wagner.
Catcher: Jason Kendall.
Outfield: Paul Waner, Max Carey, Roberto Clemente
Now
I love Bill Mazeroski’s defense...he’s widely considered the best
second sacker ever... based on just defense. But his On-Base % was in
the .290s. Start Arky Vaughn
on second and bring Maz in when you have a lead. Arky hit a ton and
won a batting title and an MVP. Max Carey can be a late inning
replacement in the outfield and pinch runner with his superlative
steal percentage. Start Dave Parker
in center.
Put Ralph Kiner at
DH. His combo of lots of walks and homers is a proven force. The
Pirates version of Barry Bonds can jump around the outfield and DH.
The
Dbacks are a respectable club but unless they pitch Randy Johnson and
Curt Schilling every other day they aren’t going to beat the Braves
or anybody else. Randy and
Schilling and then take a drilling.
Pirates
in 7. If the Dbacks hit.
Game
#6: Braves (#6) vs. Marlins (#11):
Braves have
Chipper Jones
at third, but he could play some shortstop. That would get Eddie
Mathews over to third and let somebody like Joe Adcock or Rico Carty
DH. The Braves have thump with Aaron, Mathews, McGriff,
Jones (Chipper and Andruw) . If
the Geniuses hadn’t forgotten that the Boston Braves were the
direct blood ancestors of these Milwaukee and Atlanta version they
could have had players like Kid Nichols (pitcher)
and Wally Berger
(outfield power) and Rabbit Maranville. He
could play some shortstop.
The
pitching
is tough with the Tres Amigos Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz
teaming up with Warren
Spahn and knuckleballer Phil
Niekro.
The
bottom of the NL bracket has been soft so far, but the Marlins are
dangerous because of Stanton,
Yelich, Sheffield and
pre-Tiger Cabrera. They have a strong arm in catcher Realmutto
to control all those NL teams that like to run. I don’t like their
pitching (Beckett, Jose Fernandez and Anibel Sanchez)
against the Braves
lineup and starters.
Bravos
in 6!
Game
#7: Cubs (#7) vs. Mets (#10):
Lots of power here for the Cubbies up and down the lineup with Rizzo,
Sandberg, Santo, Banks, Hartnett, Billy Williams, Hack Wilson, Sammy
Sosa and Andre Dawson all
having super productive seasons with the Chicago team. You’ll want
to play Dawson in center instead of Hack Wilson, who was born to DH.
Mordecai Brown is the
Ace of aces but he has help with Maddux, Kerry Wood, Jake
Arrietta and Fergie Jenkins. Lee Smith and Bruce Sutter in
the bullpen, same as the Cardinals.
Should
be a blood feud between these two teams. The Mets have good power in
Alonso, Piazza, Strawberry and Beltran
and 3 aces in Seaver, Gooden and DeGrom.
Got
to go with the Mets in 7. I
have to respect those starters. Might be the best matchup of the
tourney.
Game
#8: Under 25s (#8) vs. Phillies (#9):
the Phillies lucked out with this draw. Let’s see what these Young
whippersnappers can do against Carlton, Alexander, Halladay
and Lee (and Schilling
again and Robin Roberts!)
This will be ugly because the Phils also can hit with Schmidt,
Chuck Klein and Dick Allen.
I
love all the young position players for the Unders and I think they
will acquit themselves well, but I fear for the rookie pitchers
against this Phils lineup and starters. The Phillies have the deepest
pitching in the whole tournament except for maybe the Negro League
All Stars. These young uns will send Shane Beiber, Mike
Soroka, Walker Buehler and
Shohei Ohtani out there. Maybe
some of these guys will be up where those Phillies men are some
day...but not yet.
Phils
in 5.
round
1:
Cardinals
beat Rockies
Giants
beat Brewers
Dodgers
beat Padres
Reds
beat Nationals
Pirates
beat Dbacks...though Dbacks have a shot with the Unit.
Mets
beat Cubs...only expansion team to triumph over one of the original 8
NL teams.
Braves
beat Marlins
Phillies
beat Under 25s...like a drum.
round
2:
Phillies
upset the Cardinals and remove the #1 seed.
Reds
over the Pirates easily
Dodgers
beat the Braves
Giants
beat Mets
semis:
Reds
squeak it out over Phillies
Giants
beat Dodgers...real close... Koufax will win 2 but so will Bumgarner.
NL
final:
Giants
beat the Reds...who finally run into a team with better pitching and
an equally ferocious offense.
And
the tournament winner between the Giants and the Negro League All
Stars is...the Negro Leagues are the Giants Daddies!
---more
later
Stay
Safe
