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Tuesday, December 25, 2018

BEST OF; Mickey Mantle's Final Game - Updated

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ON THIS WEEK AFTER CHRISTMAS WE DECIDED TO SHARE WITH YOU AN UPDATED VERSION OF OUR "BEST OF" WHICH IS "MICKEY MANTLE'S LAST GAME."

This column first appeared on October 22, 2017. Next week we are back to our regular schedule with "The Best Hitting Pitcher of the 1960s" and regular trivia questions as well.

 
It was 75 degrees with a slight breeze at Boston's Fenway Park at 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon on September 28, 1968. The Red Sox were taking the field and the New York Yankees were coming to bat. Not everyone knew this was going to be the last time the great Mickey Mantle would put on a uniform and play for the team which fans knew he belonged. He belonged in history.
(UPDATED: Mantle's final Yankee Stadium home run was in an Old Timers Game as seen in the video above.)

The great center-fielder who succeeded Joe DiMaggio way back in the early 1950's had been relegated to first base in recent years. His legs shot, his speed non-existent and his powerful bat carrying less oomph than ever. Years of drinking, injuries and battling had robbed the Mick of his prowess. Those who were not fans said he was only known for "arguing with the umpires," while those who watched him admired his great talent.


The Sox were sending ace Jim Lonborg to the mound in this next to the last game of the regular season. The Yankees were long out of the race and would finish fifth. The Red Sox would finish fourth, four games ahead of the Yankees.

Lonborg, the 22 Game winner who picked up the Cy Young Award the previous season was struggling too. He was trying for win no. 7 against 9 losses. The Red Sox won the pennant in 1967. This was 1968. This was the year Carl Yastrzemski came off his Triple Crown season when he hit .326 to win the batting title with the lowest average ever, .301. It was The Year of the Pitcher.

Mantle had battled injuries in his final season. This was nothing new. He was oft injured almost to legendary status. This year however, he was going to play in an amazing 144 games for the second year in a row. This after the 1966 campaign when he was limited to barely more than 100 games. It wasn't a bad season for any player. But Mickey Mantle wasn't just any player. He was The Mick. He'd bat 547 times, belt 18 home runs but only hit .237.
On this Saturday he started at first base and batted third behind Horace Clarke and Jake Gibbs. Clarke led off the game with a walk. Gibbs followed with a fly out to left. With Mantle at the plate, Clarke stole second. The Mick, batting left handed against the right handed Lonborg, then hit a weak pop up to shortstop Rico Petrocelli in short left field. Then Roy White struck out looking.

That was it, the last at bat for Mantle, Before he could hit a second time, Andy Kosco came into replace him. In the 8th inning Kosco belted his 15th home run of the year to make it 3-2 Red Sox. Joe Pepitone would also homer and in the end the Yanks bested the Sox 4-3. Longborg went all the way to lose it, Lindy McDaniel picked up the win in relief.
The final out recorded when Petrocelli grounded out to shortstop Tom Tresh who tossed it over to Kosco at first. That home run by Kosco was also his last as a Yankee. Over the winter New York shipped him off to the Dodgers for pitcher Mike Kekich. So Petrocelli not only ended the game but caught the final ball ever hit by Mickey Mantle.

For Mantle it brought an unceremonious end to an illustrious career. His final stat line wold read:
over 18 years, 536 Home Runs, 1509 RBI, 1676 Runs Scored, and a lifetime .298 Batting Average. He hit .300 or better 10 times and made the All Star team in every year but one. The lone season he didn't make the team was 1966 when he played only 108 games. He even made it in his final season. A three time MVP he led the league in homers four times and in 1956 won the Triple Crown, batting .353. Twice he eclipsed 50 homers and in 1961 would likely have beaten Roger Maris and Babe Ruth for the single season HR title, but an illness ended his season early despite his 54 homers.

While The Mick was an extraordinary player, on this day though he was just ordinary and when it came to Mickey Mantle, ordinary was better than most, but not good enough for him. So it came to an end. Only 25,534 people saw that game at Fenway and no doubt most of them didn't realize they were watching the end of an era.

Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Worst Winter Meeting Trades

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Now with MONTHLY Auctions!
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You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book
"Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties"
for $15 Shipping Included 
for a limited time only (through December 31st)
Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

TRIVIA QUESTION:   When it comes to off season trades which worked for both teams, the Angel and Twins were involved in a deal which sent Dean Chance and Jackie Hernandez to the Twins for sluggers Jimmie Hall and Don Mincher and reliever Pete Cimino. Cimino had one good season for the Halo's before his career came to an end but was actually more famous for a feat he accomplished in high school. What was that feat?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The two 1960's second basemen who were on parallel careers, both were iron men of sorts, each playing in at least 160 games in a season - three times and who faced each other with significant results in a World Series -- were none other than Bill Mazeroski of the Pirates and Bobby Richardson of the Yankees. Two defensive wizards and compatible at the plate. Richardson having some better hitting years while Maz was the standout on defense. In the 1960 World Series they were among the most significant players. Richardson was named the Series MVP, a rarity for the team which lost the Series.

The past week or so during the Winter Meetings a number of key players changed hands as teams who feel they are close to the Playoffs and teams trying to rebuild, scurry to get that right player to put them over the top, or lay the foundation for future winners. The Meetings are always a time of excitement for baseball fans hoping their team will make just the right move, putting them in the next World Series. I thought we'd explore some of those hopes which did not pan out in the 1960s.

The 1967 Pirates could hit despite the fall off from the Lumber Company of 1966. The club still needed pitching and thought one great pitcher would put them over the top. They set their eyes on one of the all-time greats; Jim Bunning, a future HOFer. The Phillies needed youth, the Bucs needed a Horse and Bunning was coming off another amazing season with a 2.29 ERA and a 17-15 recording while leading the league with 40 starts, 302 innings and 253 strike outs. He also led the league in shutouts with six. The perfect fit.

In return the Pirates send starting pitcher Woody Fryman to the Phils in a multi-player deal which included future all-star second baseman, Don Money. It totally backfired for Pittsburgh, totally was a winner for Philadelphia.

Bunning had the worst year of his career in Pittsburgh in 1968, ending 4-14 with an 3.88 ERA, was traded to the Dodgers the following season and while coming back at 13-10 in 1969, was released. Fryman went onto pitch into the 1980s and won 141 games, Money (a four time all-star) had a 16 year career, batting .261 with 176 homers.

The 1964 Cleveland Indians finished fourth in the AL and needed some power to compete, so they went after a real slugger; Rocky Colavito. In what turned out to be a massive three team trade in January 1965, the Indians got Colavito from Kansas City. They gave up, to the White Sox, future stars Tommie Agee, Tommy John and slugging catcher John Romano.
Colavito did slug 56 homers and drive in 180 runs in the following two seasons but the club only improved to fifth place both years. What the Indians had hoped for didn't work. Evidently they figured they could finish in the second division with the Rock, they could finish in the second division without him. They shipped him to the White Sox for Jim King. Colavito never regained his form and hit 32 homers the rest of his career which ended at age 33 in 1968 with the Yankees.

Giving up Colavito proved to be a good thing but the return didn't improve the A's by much. The players they got, Mike Hershberger, Jim Landis and Fred Talbot were average players at best during their time in Kansas City.

A third trade involved a couple of minor league players and is the "who would have thunk it?" trade. The White Sox had a super minor leaguer who had been in their system for some time and he ended up in the Angels organization during the year of expansion. Joe Hicks was a pretty good slugger which the new Washington Senators liked. The Angels liked a young pitcher the Sens had signed by the name of Dean Chance. In December of 1960, they swapped the two players.

In two minor league seasons Chance went 22-12 with ERA's at 2.94 and 3.13. What the Angels saw in Chance and what the Senators saw in Hicks, only somebody in the stratosphere would know. Chance went on to become one of the best pitchers of the era. Twice he won 20 games and finished with 128 wins. Hicks came to bat only 455 times in his big league career, batting .221 with 12 homers. He was out of the big leagues by 1964 but continued to play in the minors through 1966. He did however hit 107 minor league homers over 11 seasons.

Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/

 
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.     


Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Deron Johnson - Well Traveled Slugger

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www.hugginsandscott.com
We wish to welcome our sponsor; Huggins and Scott Auctions, one of the premier sports trading card and memorabilia auctions house in the U-S. 
Now with MONTHLY Auctions!
"SPECIAL OFFER"
You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book
"Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties"
for $15 Shipping Included 
for a limited time only (through December 31st)
Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

TRIVIA QUESTION:  Two 1960's second basemen were on parallel careers, both were iron men of sorts, each playing in at least 160 games in a season - three times. They also faced each other with significant results in a World Series. Who were they?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: When the San Diego Padres acquired Downtown Ollie Brown to begin the 1969 expansion season, they were hoping to get a slugging outfielder. They got a guy who could drive the ball certainly and they got him from the power laden San Francisco Giants. 

While his career would start with the storied New York Yankees, he'd make his mark as a Cincinnati Redleg and finish as a member of the Boston Red Sox, while playing for five other teams in between. Make no mistake about it; Deron Johnson was a slugger extraordinaire.
 He would play all three outfield positions, first base and his natural position; third base. He came up with New York in 1960 and was sent to Kansas City along with Art Ditmar for Bud Daley in 1961. Two years later he was sold to the Reds where he had his best seasons, blasting 90 homers in four years. He hit 32 and led the league with 130 RBI in 1965 while batting .287.

By 1967 the Reds sent him on to Atlanta in a four player swap which brought Mack Jones to the Reds. A year later he was sold to the Phillies. In the next four seasons he hit 87 homers including 27 in 1970.  In the next three years he was traded three times, sold once, released twice and signed as a Free Agent once. And in all of his travels, the only name player he was swapped for really was Jones, a slugger in his own right.
So why was this really good player who could hit for a respectable average, blast lone homers consistently and play good defense, so well traveled? 

The 1961 Yankees were loaded so there was little need for developing a player of Johnson's caliber. Kansas City was a mess and who could figure anything Charlie O. Finley did during the 1960s. The Reds knew what they had. However, in 1967 Johnson's power had fallen off to 13 homers and he only hit .224. In addition, Lee May was waiting in the wings and ready. Johnson became very expendable. 
Johnson didn't hit in Atlanta and the Braves picked up Orlando Cepeda so moving him on to the Phils was easy. He regained his stroke in Philadelphia and was again back in the power numbers with 17, 27 and 34 home run seasons to follow, with another 20 in the year they shipped him off to Oakland. 
His stops in Milwaukee, Boston (twice), and with the White Sox were all career ending moves where he was used as a pinch-hitter and clubhouse experience-guy. At age 36 he did have a final year of power with 19 dingers but called it a career after the next season. 
It was just one of those careers where he was in the right place at the wrong time, and for a short period of time at that. His 245 career home runs and 923 RBI were decent numbers for a guy who spent time with so many clubs during 17 years in the big leagues.  Among his accomplishments was hitting four consecutive homers over two days against Montreal. He followed his playing career by serving as a coach and in 1992 while coaching the Angel he was diagnosed with lunch cancer. He died at age 53.



Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. You can click on the link above (my childhood photo) to see how to purchase this book; "Tales of My Baseball Youth; a child of the 60's."

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/

 
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.  

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Padres Pray for Hits

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www.hugginsandscott.com

We wish to welcome our sponsor; Huggins and Scott Auctions, one of the premier sports trading card and memorabilia auctions house in the U-S. 
Now with MONTHLY Auctions!
"SPECIAL OFFER"
You can get a signed paper back copy of the above book
"Tales of My Baseball Youth - a child of the sixties"
for $15 Shipping Included 
for a limited time only (through December 31st)
Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

TRIVIA QUESTION:   Ollie Brown ended up with a decent major league career including his best season in 1970 with 34 home runs and a .292 BA. For what MLB team did Brown play before San Diego?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: When the Angels lost Don Mincher to the Pilots in the 1969 Expansion Draft, their search began again for a new first baseman. While 21-year old Jim Spencer eventually won the job, the man who started at first base on Opening Day in 1969 was aging veteran Dick Stuart (Dr. Strange-glove), who incidentally was playing opposite the man he replaced as the Halo's opened the season against Seattle.

Expansion teams aren't supposed to be contenders right away. Most won't offer a polished pitching staff but most will hit, at least to some degree. Then there were the players of the expansion San Diego Padres. 

The year was 1969 and the new San Diego team was far from it's days of Tony Gwynn and Dave Winfield. Gwynn would toy with .400 at one point and offer a lifetime BA of .338. Winfield, before leaving for Free Agency, would hit 154 home runs and lead the NL in RBI with 118 in 1979.  
But that was later and 1969 was now. By the time the 1969 season had come to a close 10 Padres came to the plate and closed the season with a BA of under .200. Included was the team's starting shortstop, Tommy Dean, at .176 in 101 games (308 plate appearances). Few were far better. Starting catcher Chris Cannizzaro stuck it out at .220 while starting second sacker, Jose Arcia batted .215.

On the positive side, powerful Nate Colbert led the team in homers with 24, batting .255 while striking out 123 times (no big deal today but back then over 100 K's was a setback). Downtown Ollie Brown led the hitters at .254, adding 20 dingers, and Ed Spiezio and former Dodger Al Ferrara had double figure home run totals with 27 between them. The basic starting lineup rounded out with Cito Gaston's .230 mark.  

The Padres finished last (12th place) in nearly every hitting category in 1969 including runs, hits, doubles, walks, strikeouts, BA (.225) and every important other percentage statistic including on-base and slugging figures. They were dismal. They finished 52-110, 41 games out of first place. Only eight times did they beat an opponent by five runs or more, but lost by five runs or more 30 times!

Perhaps their season can be summed up this way. Twice they lost to opposing teams 19-0 and twice more 10-0. There were other double digit scoring losses but those embarrassments were the top of the heap for the 1969 Friars. 

The pitching wasn't much better overall but the starters were not bad. Despite losing 20 of 27 decisions 21-year old Clay Kirby finished with a 3.80 ERA. In fact, the four main starters were all under 4.00 in the ERA department. Only one pitcher who pitched any kind of innings however finished with a winning record. Reliever Jack Baldschun was 7-2. 
Of all the players on that inaugural team for San Diego, probably the only offensive player who went on to a strong big league career was Colbert. He hit 173 home runs during his MLB life. On the mound it was Joe Niekro who won 221 games in his career while losing 204. His brother Phil won 318 giving them a combined record of 540-478, which in itself is pretty amazing. 


Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column. It has been appreciated. 

Also: Please check out our new Western Short Film. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/iron-gun-western-feature-film/#/

 
Please share this blog with your friends and colleagues and leave a comment at the bottom of the blog if you have one. Thank YOU VERY MUCH!! Please pick up a copy of my book "Tales of My Baseball Youth; A Child of the 60's" at www.bobbrillbooks.com, or on Amazon.