Baseball in the 1960's

Monday, March 22, 2021

The Non-Walkers of 1969

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Tim Fealy of Punta Gorda, FL who correctly stated the first team Harry "the Hat" Walker managed was the St. Louis Cardinals when he was a player manager for the 1955. He got his first full time managerial job with Pittsburgh in 1965. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: By answering the TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY you are automatically entered into a weekly drawing for a Starbucks Gift Card. YOU MUST ENTER VIA THE EMAIL AT THE END OF THIS COLUMN. Don't forget to put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Six of the Top 10 batters who drew the MOST Bases on Balls in the 1969 season were AL players. Name the League Leaders in Walks drawn for each league in 1969.

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Harry Walker first managed in the big leagues in 1955 as a player-manager with the Cardinals.

They were called the "free swingers" back in the day. Two phrases by the way which are so cliche' today. One certainly has a different meaning and the other is referenced often by a younger group which never experienced "back in the day." And in today's terminology I'll put a big "LOL" after the last line. While this column is about the free swingers of 1969, it should be noted that two of the six players highlighted below were on the field for another record breaking night. See the video below.

We however, are talking about the players who played in the big leagues who rarely went to first base via the Base on Balls. For some reason it was the National League which had more of these "non walkers." In fact, the six of the seven players we researched all were NL players in 1969. The breakdown came with players who approached 500 Plate Appearances. Maybe it was because it was the first year of divisional play, but that is hard to imagine. The DH was still four years away and the year of the pitcher was the season before. Why they were more prominent in the NL over the AL, is a mystery.

The top two players in this category were Manny Sanguillen of the Pirates and Tommy Helms of the Reds. Both players failed to reach 20 walks in the 1969 season. Sanguillen came to the plate 481 times and walked only 12. He was known as a guy who could hit a ball that was a foot off the plate into the corner for a triple.

Helms, the Reds second sacker, strode to the plate 509 times and drew only 18 walks. Neither player by the way struck out very much either. The rest of the players in the group all drew walks in the low 20's. The only AL player on the list (others such as Rich Reese were close) is the Royals Jerry Adair with 20 Walks in 461 PA.

Andy Kosco of the Dodgers was known as a hitter with power, which would lead pitchers to work around him. Not so. Kosco only walked 21 times in 453 Plate Appearances. Al Oliver of Pittsburgh also drew 21 walks in 502 PA. Roberto Pena of the newly branded San Diego Padres was on par with Oliver. He drew 21 Walks in 501 PA.

The Braves Felipe Alou may have had the most power and been the most complete hitter of the bunch and he only drew 23 BB's in 509 PA. Alou, who belted 31 homers just three seasons prior, only smacked 5 in 1969 while batting .282. He only struck out 23 times as well. Over a career, you would probably liken Alou to Oliver as the complete hitters they were. Oliver played 18 seasons batting .303 with 219 HR and 535 BB, while Alou played 17 seasons BA .286, 206 HR and 423 BB.

It is an interesting breakdown when you consider there was some power and very few strikeouts to go along with those even fewer Walks. Sanguillen by the way only drew 223 BB in 13 seasons averaging only 17 Walks per year.

PLAYER PA BB K HR BA

Sanguillen 481 12 48 5 .303

Helms 509 18 33 1 .269

Adair 461 20 36 5 .250

Al Oliver 502 21 38 17 .285

Roberto Pena 501 21 63 4 .250

Kosco 453 21 66 19 .248

F. Alou 509 23 23 5 .282

SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com
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Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

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

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Monday, March 15, 2021

The Day the Astros were not Losers

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Dennis Cimpl of Wauwatosa, WI, who correctly stated when Vernon Law won the Cy Young Award in 1960 the only category he led the National League and the Major Leagues in was Complete Games with 18. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Harry "the Hat" Walker managed the Houston Astros to their first non-losing season. For which Major League team did Walker get his first managerial job?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: In 1960 when Vernon Law won the Cy Young Award the only major category he led the NL and MLB in, was complete games with 18.

We'll start this column with a single question? What do Denny Lemaster, Curt Blefary and Norm Miller have in common? The simple answer is these three journeyman players combined to assure the Houston Astros would, for the first time ever, finish at least .500 on the season in club history.

(This is the entire actual broadcast of the game detailed in this column, with Vin Scully)

From Opening Day 1962 until the final series of the 1969 season, the Astros (previously the Colt 45's) never came close to .500. It would be several years later before they actually had a winning record but right now we're talking about 1969.

The club had 80 wins heading into the three game series with the Dodgers September 30, and needed to win at least one of the three to secure a .500 mark. It came in game one. Lemaster, the Braves castoff started against 17 game winner Don Sutton. Los Angeles too was playing out the string lingering in fourth place in the NL West, as the Braves were on their way to clinching the division.

Lemaster was masterful that day but part of this legendary story features the crafty lefty with his bat as well as his arm. In the fifth with Houston leading 3-2, Joe Morgan singled and stole second. Jay Alou moved him to third on a ground ball and Blefary, the Oriole's cast-off, brought him home with a fly ball, making it 4-2. It proved to be the go ahead run and the most important run of the season for Houston.

The next inning Denis Menke hit a one-out double and came in to score the insurance run on Lemaster's RBI single. In the eighth Miller cracked a solo homer off Jim Brewer to finish the Astro's scoring to secure the victory. Lemaster meanwhile went the distance pitching a 4-hitter, striking out 11 in a 6-3 win.

The Astros had won 81 and hoped to split the final two games to finish over .500. Los Angeles won the next game, leaving it up to the final game of the season. It went down to the final batter. With the score tied in the bottom of the ninth 4-4 in game 162, former Dodger Jack Billingham uncorked a wild pitch to Ted Sizemore with Bob Stinson on third, to give the Dodgers a 5-4 victory. The loss went to Fred Gladding and it was the only batter Billingham faced.

Lemaster would finish 13-17 with a 3.16 ERA in what would be his last good year. He played three more years in Houston but never achieved better. Blefary banged 12 homers in 1969 and was traded after the season to the Yankees for Joe Pepitone. He would bounce around for a few years before ending his career in San Diego. The AL Rookie of the Year with Baltimore in 1965 he never achieved the promised success. Miller remained a utility player of lesser note for a few more years, finally traded to Atlanta for Cecil Upshaw in a deal involving aging veterans toward the end of their baseball lives. But the three baseball lives which crossed on September 30, 1969 assured one thing in Astros' history. They were no longer losers.

TRIVIA CONTEST; After reading this column you can enter the weekly trivia contest for a chance to win a Starbucks Gift Card. Enter via the following email. Send 1) your answer to the trivia question at the top of the column, 2) your name, address and email so where we know where to send the card if you win 3) any comment you have on the column. One winner will be selected at random each week based on correct answers with the odds being based on the number of correct entries. Please cut and paste or enter the following email into your email system.
SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com
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Need to get out of a baseball hitting slump, or a golf swing slump? Order my new book "Beating the Slump; An athlete's guide to a better career." See it on Amazon for only $5.99. That is for the Paperback, you can also order Kindle on that link. You can also order paperback copies directly from me via the email below for my other books.

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

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment.

Thank you to those of you who purchased my book after reading this column.

Tuesday, March 9, 2021

The Law of Averages and the Fall from Grace; 1961 Pirates

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Chuck Riffee of Mineral, VA, who correctly identified Tommy Davis, Ron Perranoski and Jim Gilliam as the three Dodgers who finished in the top 10 in MVP balloting after the 1963 season. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: When Vern Law won the Cy Young Award in 1960 he only led the league and the Major Leagues in one category. What was it?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: The three Dodgers who finished in the Top 10 of the MVP balloting after Sandy Koufax won it in 1963 were Jim Gilliam, Ron Perranoski and Tommy Davis.

The 1961 Season for the World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates was more than a fall from grace. It was written in the Law. Vernon Law. In the first game since the Bill Mazeroski game winning homer in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, the Bucs would win the opener behind Bob Friend in 1961. Despite Law pitching a masterful outing in Game Two, they lost. Law, the 20 game winner and ace of the staff in 1960 went 8 innings, allowed 7 hits and just one earned run, losing 2-1 to the Giants. It was the highlight of his 1961 campaign.

The Pirates would hold their own until June when it was evident they were not the same team as the World Series winners the year before. Actually many of the hitters had better years. Dick Stuart upped his average to .303 and banged 35 homers compared to 23 the year before. Roberto Clemente batted .351 and Don Hoak .298. Dick Groat, the 1960 NL MVP dipped from .325 to .275 and while Smokey Burgess batted .303 the bench guys fell miserably. Left Fielder Bob Skinner was on his way out as well dropping from 15 homers .273 to .268 with just three dingers.

Rocky Nelson and Dick Schoefield both hit over .300 the previous year and both fell to under .200 in the new season. The pitching, mainly the bullpen suffered dramatically both in performance and age. Three of the key relievers were past 33 while five of the pitchers counted on to start were 30-plus. And then there was Law. The change in career projection came about before the World Series.

His career was derailed by an injury to his ankle sustained on the bus trip on which the team was celebrating clinching the 1960 pennant. Law was forced to change his pitching style and pitched in pain for the rest of the season and the World Series. Because of his weak ankle, he tore some muscles in the back of his pitching shoulder during the Series. He thought the injury would heal over the winter, but he was not the same for several seasons.

The ace of the 1960 staff ended up 3-4 in 11 games (10 starts) with an ERA of 4.70. He pitched just 59 innings. The rest of the starters included falls from grace like Friend who went from 18--12 to 14-19 and Roy Face who had 24 Saves in 1960 to just 17 the following season.

Law suffered for several years winning only 17 games from 1961-1963. But a comeback was in the cards for the man they called "The Deacon." Finally in 1965 he went 17-9 with a masterful 2.15 ERA to win the NL Comeback of the Year Award. It was his last solid season and he retired 1967 two years later, with a record of 162-147.

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