PItchers Who Lose 20 Games Are Good

Just a side note: this is column No. 100 in our weekly efforts "baseball in the 1960s," and we thank you for your support as loyal readers! - Bob Brill

TRIVIA QUESTION: Tom Seaver was the first Met to win 20 games. Who was the second?   

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:   While Jim Mudcat Grant was the first American League pitcher to win 20 games, the first to do it in the National League was the Dodgers Don Newcombe.

It's been said "you have to be a pretty good pitcher to lose 20 games in a season." If that were the case then both Al Jackson and Roger Craig should be put into the Hall of Fame. The statement, attributed to some baseball expert, basically means if you are good enough to be such a big part of the pitching staff that you lose 20, there must be a whole lot of guys worse than you on that staff.

It's not that Craig and Jackson were so good, or even so bad for that matter, it's just they both played for the lowly New York Mets early on. During the 1960's they each lost 20 games not once, but twice. 

Jackson, the lefty, was 8-20 in both 1962 and 1965. Craig, the Brooklyn Dodger holdover was 10-24 in the inaugural 1962 season and 5-22 in 1963.  A total of 16 times a pitcher lost at least 20 in the 60's. Craig's 24 topped the list along with Jack Fisher who lost 24 in 1965. Yes, Fisher too played for the Mets. Six times a Mets' pitcher lost 20 during the era. The other was Tracy Stallard's 20 (10-20) losses in 1964. Stallard, of course, was best known for giving up Roger Maris' 61st homer in 1961.

It is difficult even now to imagine how bad New York was and for how long. It wasn't until the 1969 break out year when the Mets finally moved into the first division, people began to look at the club in a different light. 

October 2, 1966 was a monumental day in Met-dom. The club would finish for the very first time NOT in last place. In typical Mets fashion however, they lost a double header to Houston on that final day of the season to do it. Their 66-95 record placed them 28.5 games behind the Dodgers, and the Cubs would be the only club behind them at 59-103. The Cubs got the dubious distinction of being the first club to ever in history finish lower than the Mets.

Craig, for his part had a career in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, winning 49 games for the Dodgers before moving to the expansion Mets. He would win 15 with New York and another 10 before calling it a career with other teams. He'd close it out 74-98 with a respectable 3.83 ERA. Take away his NYM losses and he'd have a 74-54 record.  

Jackson, who was a big winner in the minor leagues before being called up by the Pirates for a brief pre-Mets stint, had his best season with the Cardinals. After moving to St. Louis, the 1966 season saw him at 13-15 with a 2.51 ERA. Pitching mostly out of the bullpen the following year he was 9-4 but ended back with the Mets for the 1968 season. 

After making only one appearance for the Mets in the 1969 season, he was sold to Cincinnati in June, therefore missing the chance to play in the World Series with New York. It would have been a fitting opportunity for Jackson, who was there at the beginning and was obviously one of the best pitchers those early New York teams had. It wasn't to be. He finished 67-99 with a 3.98 ERA. For a pitcher known for losses, he at least failed to reach 100 losses. 

In fact, all four of those 20 game Mets' losers were not around with the club in 1969. 

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A Most Efficient Night of Baseball

TRIVIA QUESTION: Jim Mudcat Grant was the very first black pitcher to win 20 games in the American League. Who was the first black pitcher to win 20 games in the National League? 

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  The two players aside from Stan Musial, who hailed from Donora, PA, were none other than Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey, Jr.

 "EFFICIENCY; the state or quality of being efficient, or able to accomplish something with the least waste of time and effort; competency in performance.

That's how the dictionary defines the word "efficiency." In May 15, 1963 in Cleveland the word "efficiency" was described in four other words; Mudcat Grant - Orlando Pena. When the two pitchers squared off in Cleveland Stadium that warm spring night, few of the 3300 people in the stands expected to be out of the ballpark and on their way home 1:57 later.

If they walked in a shade late, they missed all the action. The A's were 18-13, a single game back of the league leaders. The Indians were were 12-13 and seven back. Pena was the ace of the A's staff on a team which would go on to a 73-89 record and an eighth place finish, 31 games back of the pennant winning NY Yankees. The Indians were not much better, 79-83, and 25 games back, for a fifth place finish.

However, this night was something special; at least for two guys going in opposite directions. Grant opened the game putting down the A's in order, 1-2-3. It was something he would do six times that evening. Pena would do it four times. 

The only scoring came in the bottom of the first when the Tribe's Vic Davalillo reached on a single to right to lead off the inning. Al Luplow followed with a single to right sending Davalillo to second. Pena struck out Woodie Held and got Joe Adcock on a weak pop out to the infield. Tito Francona then laced a single to center to score the speedy Davalillo with the only run of the game, giving Cleveland a 1-0 lead. Pena walked Johnny Romano but got Max Alvis to ground out to end the inning. 

A lead off walk to Norm Siebern in the third and a two out double by Wayne Causey in the third were the only other opportunities Grant afforded Kansas City, until the eighth when Chuck Essegian led off with a single.

Pena was just as magnificent before giving way to John Wyatt in the ninth. When the dust settled each side sent only 30 men to the plate, or three batters over the minimum. Grant pitched a complete game shutout, giving up two hits and walking one while striking out three.

For his part, Pena gave up four hits in eight innings of work, walked two and struck out five in facing 27 batters. Wyatt took out the Tribe in a 1-2-3 ninth to also face the minimum of three. Pena finished the night at 4-3 on his way to a 20 loss season. Grant was 3-3 at the time and would finish 13-14 on the year. Two years later he would win 21 with the Twins and help Minnesota to the AL title.

That night in Cleveland however, was a night when the word "efficiency" would become a pitching coaches dream.

"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 

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.

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.       

Stan Musial Really Was THE Man

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to David Rolfe's of Las Vegas, NV who correctly stated Clete Boyer (brother of Ken) failed to get a hit in the game on August 17, 1961 while his brother played a key role in the Cardinals game on that same day. 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.

Just a note to add; If you look at the top right hand corner of the side bar you will see a link to daily sports scores. We made an agreement with Baseball 24 in a mutual sharing situation. Hope its helpful to fans of several sports.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Stan Musial wasn't the only Cardinal great who retired after the 1963 season. Which outstanding infielder who spent 15 seasons with the Red Birds also called it quits at the conclusion of the 1963 NL season, playing his last game July 7, when he failed to get a hit as a pinch-hitter?  
 
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column:  Clete Boyer failed to get a hit in three AB's on August 17th, 1961.

Sometimes when the writing is on the wall you really wish the text were written one year later. Such is the case of one of the greatest to ever play the game of baseball; Stan Musial. 

                            (Musial's last At Bat)
For more than two decades Musial, the Donora, PA native, patrolled the outfield and some at first base for the St. Louis Cardinals. He hit milestones with the bat which would make him a $50 million a year player today. When he retired after the 1963 season, his final salary was $50,000. 

Musial was voted to the all-star team in every year he played. He missed the 1945 season due to military service. He went into the Hall of Fame with an amazing 93.2% of the vote. He finished with 475 home runs, a lifetime BA of .331 and nearly 4000 combined RBI and Runs Scored. And he was a good fielder.

The point of the story is when he retired. The 1962 Cardinals finished in sixth place. A year later they finished in second. Musial had an amazing 1962 when you consider he was 41 years old and still batted .330 with 19 homers in over 500 AB's. He fell off as could be expected in 1963 at age 42. He dropped to .255 and just 12 homers in 124 games. It was only the second time his average dipped so low (he also hit .255 in 1959).

With young Mike Shannon, a power hitting and good defensive outfielder pushing for a  chance to play, and with an aging body on the line, Musial hung them up. If he'd have hung on for one more year the headlines would have read "Musial Bows Out a World Series Champion!"

The Cardinals did indeed go to the World Series in 1964 and they beat the Yankees in seven games. Musial was watching from the good seats at that point however, and oh how the fans would have loved to see no. 6 on the field for those seven games and go out a winner. 

Shannon would eventually move into the infield and play third base after Kenny Boyer was traded to the Mets after the 1965 season for Al Jackson and Charley Smith. The Smith experiment didn't pan out so when Roger Maris arrived in 1968, Shannon became the permanent fixture at third.

As for Musial's records; he led the league in hits six times. In addition to those seasons he belted more than 200 hits twice (6 times overall). Nine times he had more than 40 doubles (thrice hitting 50),  five times he led the league in triples while hitting the 20 mark twice, in six seasons he hit at least 30 home runs and led the league in batting seven times (.376 in 1948).  Add to that 10 times driving in over 100 RBI and 11 times scoring 100 or more and you have one of the greatest compilation of numbers you will ever see, and never see again in MLB.

AND; Probably the most amazing statistic when it comes to consistency. Musial had the exact same number of hits "on the road" as he did "at home." In both cases he had 1815 hits in his career for 3630 total.

Stan Musial truly was "The Man."

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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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.