Expansion Vs. Free Agency - the 1960s

TRIVIA QUESTION: Which two brothers played for expansion teams over a two year span,  during the 1960s?
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  There were two teams in the 1960s which had three World Series appearances. They were the Dodgers and the Orioles. The New York Yankees led all Series teams with five.

Today when it comes to the wholesale movement of players we talk about "free agency." In the 1960s the wholesale movement of players only happened during "expansion." There was no Free Agency as players were tied to their clubs via the Reserve Clause. Expansion happened twice during the 1960s and it wasn't the best players who switched teams as today, but it was the has been and the young players the established clubs had given up on.

Names which were prominent who made those expansion clubs were the likes of Maury Wills, Jim Bouton, Don Mincher, Richie Ashburn, Gil Hodges, Hal Smith, Bobby Shantz, Frank Thomas, Clem Labine, Dick Donovan, Mudcat Grant, Roy Face, Donn Clendenon, Ron Fairly, Manny Mota, Rusty Staub, Bob Baily, Albie Pearson, Ted Kluszewski, Ryne Duran, Leon Wagner, Tommie Davis and Jim Fregosi. 

While some of those players would go on to have a few good years, three players arguably, stand out. Two were at the beginning of a career, the other the tail end but who saw his career extended beyond belief. 

 Jim Fregosi, selected in the 1961 draft by the Los Angeles Angels was a 19 year old shortstop with promise. Few figured he'd play for 18 big league seasons, make several all star teams, and become a Gold Glove winner in leading the Angels to their best play in the 1960s. His lifetime .265 BA and 151 home runs were not as important as his leadership as a young player on a team of veterans. They should have figured he would become a good manager and he did, winning two pennants. 

Ron Fairly was the Dodgers clean-up hitter for much of the mid-1960s. He was a steady defensive player who did enough damage with his bat during the Koufax/Drysdale era and was one of the most feared hitters on a weak hitting team. For Fairly, who came up in 1958, also as a 19 year old kid, few would have suspected him of sticking around for 21 seasons, having his best years with the expansion Montreal Expos. 

Fairly was an instant hit, along with Rusty Staub in Canada. In his initial season in 1969, Fairly only played in 70 games with barely 250 at bats. But he found the stroke to hit 12 homers and drive in 39 while batting .289. For six consecutive seasons he homered in double figures while driving in an average of 64 runs a season. He finished with 215 homers, a .265 BA and over 1000 RBI. Fairly passed away recently during the Washington Nationals (formerly the Expos) World Series run.

The third member of the trio was pitcher Dean Chance, a 20 year old when the Angels traded for him after he was selected by Washington in the expansion draft. In 1962, his second season in the big leagues, Chance showed he was there to stay. A 14-10 record with a 2.96 ERA in 206 innings, he helped the Angels to a third place finish in only the club's second season. 

Chance would go on to win 20 games twice, and in 1964 led all pitchers in most categories including the ERA title at 1.65, while going 20-9. He had 15 complete games, 11 shutouts and 278 innings either leading or tying for the league lead in those categories. In 1967 he led Minnesota with a 20-14 record, completing 18 of 39 starts and pitching 283 innings, all league leader stats. His 128-115 record with a lifetime ERA of 2.92 is among the best of his era.

Others who had true post expansion careers were Staub (who played for three of the expansion teams), Bailey (113 homers over six straight seasons), Dave Giusti (recorded 145 Saves) and Mike Marshall (led his league in Saves three times and had 188 career Saves).

Expansion gave a lot of players who would not have gone on to play any longer, the chance to extend their careers by a year or two, or in some cases even more. When you look over the rosters of those expansion teams, it is fun to imagine what having some of those players in their prime on the same team, would have been like.
 
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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.    

The World Series Which Should Have Been

TRIVIA QUESTION: While the Yankees had the most World Series appearances in the 1960's with five, which teams had the second most (hint; there were two of them)?
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  There were two teams which had the "least" number of wins and were still favored going into the World Series in the 1960s; both American League clubs. The 1960 New York Yankees entered the series heavy favorites with 97 wins in a 154 game season. The 1966 Orioles also had 97 wins but in a 162 game season. The Yankees lost to Pittsburgh, the O's swept the Dodgers.

As the World Series wraps for 2019, one can only wonder what the 1967 World Series would have been if not for one pitch. A pitch which hit Boston Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro in the face. It did not bring Tony C.'s career to a complete end, but it ended the dreams which could have been, not only for the player but for the Boston Faithful.

Conigliaro was having a fantastic year on a fantastic club, batting behind the ultimate player in Carl Yastrzemski. Yaz would go on to win the Triple Crown batting in front of Conigliaro. Conigliaro was on the rise, he had slugged 20 homers in just 95 games while driving in 67, and batting .287. 

Then on August 18th, the Red Sox were facing the Angels and Jack Hamilton. Conigliaro was hit by a pitch on his left cheekbone and was carried off the field on a stretcher. He sustained a linear fracture of the left cheekbone and a dislocated jaw with severe damage to his left retina. The batting helmet he was wearing did not have the protective ear-flap which has since become standard.  

The Sox were 10 games over .500 at the time after winning the game 3-2. Perhaps spurred on by the loss of their young slugger, the club went on a winning streak. They went on to win six in a row and 12 of the next 15 games. They led by 1.5 games and played outstanding baseball the rest of the season. So did the Minnesota Twins who faced the Sox on the final day of the season needing a win. Boston, behind Cy Young Winner Jim Lonborg beat the Twins and 20-game winner Dean Chance 5-3 to clinch the pennant.

They would face the powerful Cardinals in the World Series.  With Tony C., out, manager Dick Williams was forced to play Hawk Harrelson and Jose Tartabull in right field. In four games Harrelson had one hit in 13 at bats driving in one run and batting .077. Tartabull had only two hits in 13 at bats, scored one run and batted .154. They combined to go 0-fror-5 in Game 7. Certainly one would assume Conigilaro would have done somewhat, if not much better. Red Sox dreams would have to wait for nearly 40 more years.

Conigiliaro would not live to see a Red Sox championship. He died in 1990 at the age of 45. After sitting out the 1968 season he came back in 1969 and 1970 with two really solid seasons. He was named Comeback Player of the Year for his efforts in 1969 smacking 20 home runs and followed it up with 36. A year later with the Angels and back to Boston for the final season, he retired in 1975 at the age of 30.

Hamilton was traded to the Indians after the season and then to the White Sox, and retired after the 1969 season, also at the age of 30. He died in 2018. Neither one of them ever played in the post season. 

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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.

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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.     

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The Underdog World Series Winners

TRIVIA QUESTION: While the 1969 Orioles and the 1961 Yankees went into the World Series with seasonal records of 109 wins, which "favored" team went into a Series in the 1960s with the least number of wins?
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  The Seattle Pilots only played the one season in the big leagues and only three players hit home runs in double figures. Don Mincher, a renown power hitter belted 25, Wayne Comer banged 15 and Greg Goosen smacked 10. Of the 125 the club hit 40 % were hit by these three.

In the decade of the 1960s, six of the ten years the underdog (based on wins and losses during the regular season) actually overcame the odds and became World Champions. With the current series between the Washington Nationals (93 wins) and the Houston Astros (107 wins) we chose to explore those who overcame the odds to win baseball's ultimate prize.

In 1960 no one expected the Pittsburgh Pirates to beat the super powerful Yankees. Statistically it should not have been. The Bucs hadn't won a World Series in 35 years (1925 over the then Washington Senators). The last time Pittsburgh played in a World Series was 1927 when they were swept in four games by the Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig led Yanks. That New York team is still considered the "greatest team of all time." 

(In this video despite the announcer saying "Art Ditmar throws" it was Ralph Terry)

New York outscored Pittsburgh, out homered Pittsburgh (10-4) and in the three wins they beat the Pirates 16-3, 10-0 and 12-0. They even had the World Series MVP in second baseman Bobby Richardson (the only team to lose the Series and have the MVP). But the Battlin' Bucs would not go away and with a fluke play or two in the final game, the stage was set for the Greatest Walk Off Home Run ever. In the bottom of the ninth with the score tied 9-9, the other second baseman (who already hit one homer in the series and hit two of the four homers the Pirates had in the Series) belted the second pitch he saw over the left field score board for the game winner 10-9 and the Bucs Seven Game victory.

In 1962 it was the Yankees turn to come from underdog status. The San Francisco Giants won 103 games to the Yanks 96. Again the Series went seven games and it was MVP Ralph Terry who was the hero. He'd split two decisions going into Game 7 and hurled a 4-hit 1-0 shutout of the powerful Giants. The lone run scored when in the fifth Tony Kubek came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs. He rolled into a double play and the run scored without an RBI.

The Yankees were victims again in both 1963 & 1964. In '63 they faced the Dodgers behind the marvelous pitching of Sandy Koufax, who allowed only three runs in winning games one and four while going the distance in both. Don Drysdale pitched a shutout for another win and Johnny Podres went eight and a third in the other. New York scored four runs on 22 hits and the only homers came from Mickey Mantle and Tom Tresh. The team BA was .171. The Dodgers weren't much better at .214 and three home runs.

In 1964 it was the St. Louis Cardinals turn to turn the tide on New York. This series went seven games and Bob Gibson (2-1) getting the MVP. He clinched Game 7 with a 7-5 win, while New York's Jim Bouton won two for New York. The Series perhaps turned on Game 5 with the teams each winning two. Gibson was masterful in going the distance in the 10-inning duel, giving up only two unearned runs on six hits while striking out 13. Mantle hit three homers in his final World Series.

The 1965 World Series was a first for the Minnesota Twins who rode power and pitching and the MVP status of shortstop Zoilo Versalles to 102 wins versus the Dodgers 97 wins. It was an amazing series with the home team winning each of the first six games. In game seven in Minnesota it was Ace and Series MVP Sandy Koufax against 18 game winner Jim Kaat. 

The lone runs in the 2-0 win for the Dodgers came in the fourth when Sweet Lou Johnson led off with his second homer of the series. He hit only 12 all year. After Ron Fairly doubled, Wes Parker singled him home and the rest was up to Koufax. He pitched a 3-hit shutout, walked no one and struck out 10. The Twins hit six homers but batted only .195 against Dodger pitching. 

The final underdog team in the 1960s to win the World Series were, like the Pirates to open the decade, REAL underdogs to close the decade. The New York Mets with 100 wins were no match on paper for the 109 win Baltimore Orioles. The Mets took pitching, defense, timely hitting by utility players and some good old fashioned determination and enthusiasm as well as "destiny" to win the Series in five games.

Baltimore won the first and the Mets swept the final four with MVP Donn Clendenon's two run homer (his third of the series) setting the stage as the Mets won 5-3.

"NEW SPECIAL OFFER"
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.

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.