The 1964 Kansas City A's - The Gopher Ball Rules

TRIVIA QUESTION: He was one of the most feared hitters of his day, yet Rocky Colavito was traded often. How many times did the Rock get traded from one team to another?
  
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  One of the outstanding pinch-hitters of the era only appeared in 411 games but of those 159 were in the pinch. Carl Means Taylor played five different positions and stuck it out with three different teams in his career. Twice he played for Pittsburgh while adding the Cardinals and Royals to his resume. In 1969 in 104 games he went to bat 221 times and hit a career high .348. Perhaps his other best known factoid is the step brother of O's first sacker, Boog Powell.

When a team loses 105 games there are a lot of facets to look at but when it comes to the 1964 Kansas City Athletics you only need to look as far as the single pitch known as the "gopher ball." The home run delivered by a pitcher and for the A's of 1964, there were plenty of them.

To be fair, the A's didn't hit either. They only batted .239 as a team but did collect 166 home runs from the hitters (third in the AL), scoring 3.8 runs a game. However, when it came to giving up those home runs, A's pitchers allowed 220 for 10th in the 10 team American League. Coincidentally, it's where the club finished in 1964, last. The clubs 4.71 ERA also ranked 10th.

          (At least the A's of 1964 & 65 had Charlie O. This Charlie O.)

When a pitcher gives up one home run every nine innings it's considered on the cusp. For A's pitchers in 1964, it was very, very bad. Leading the way was ace Orlando Pena who pitched 219 innings and finished 12-14. However, in those 219 innings he allowed an amazing 40 home runs to opposing batters. That is 1.6 homers per nine innings.  

He wasn't alone. Diego Segui gave up 30 in 213 innings, John O'Donoghue 24 in 173 innings, John Wyatt 23 in 128, Moe Drabowsky 24 in 168, Dan Pfister 10 in 41, Vern Handrahan 9 in 33, Aurelio Monteagudo 11 in 31, Blue Moon Odom 5 in 31, Jack Aker 6 in 16 and the team allowed an astounding 1.4 per nine innings. 

Ted Bowsfield, Wes Stock and Jose Santiago defied the odds and were all at 1.0 per nine innings or less. The damage was already done by the time these three got into the game. When your top three starters give up almost 100 home runs in 600 innings, you are not going very far. At least you didn't in 1964. Either way it was not enough to offset the 34 hit by Rocky Colavito or the 28 belted by Jim Gentile.

The situation improved a year later. In 1965 the homers the pitching staff allowed dropped from 220 to 161 with Fred Talbot leading the way. He only gave up 25 in 198 innings and the team average of 1.0 was right where it needed to be. It still wasn't great and only good for 9th in the AL. The team ERA did improve to 4.24. When you only score 3.6 runs per game, you are going to lose more than you win.

The hitting didn't improve but actually dropped substantially. With Colavito gone and Gentile limited to 10 homers in 38 games, Hawk Harrelson led the team with 23. The club hit 110 for 10th in the American League. Not surprisingly, Kansas City again finished in 10th place but only lost 103 compared to 105 the previous season. They were 43 games back of pennant winning Minnesota while in 1964 they finished 42 back of the Yankees.

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McCarver on Third with a Triple x 13

TRIVIA QUESTION: He was known as an outstanding pinch-hitter. So much so that in 411 games he appeared 159 in the pinch. Over 1000 plate appearances, he played five different positions and once hit .348 but did not qualify for the batting title. In his six year career he played for three different teams, two of them twice. Who was he?
  
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  In 1966, Marvelous Minnie Rojas was on the club and about to become one of the finest closers of the decade. However before Rojas blossomed in 1967, it was hard throwing big Bob Lee who led the Angels in Saves with 16. Rojas had 10. 

It's hard to imagine a catcher leading the league in triples but in 1966 the Cardinals Tim McCarver did exactly that. He gathered 13 of them! In fact, he's the only catcher to ever solely lead the league, either league, in triples in the history of modern baseball dating back to 1900. In 1972 Carlton Fisk tied for the league lead in the AL with Joe Rudi. No catcher besides McCarver led the majors in triples.

The 1966 season was an interesting one for the Cardinal catcher. He had been the regular at the position for the past two seasons. He played in more games this season than any other with 150, coming off his lowest of the 1960s the previous year at 113. It was his career high. He made the All-star team for the first time, he had the most hits (149) in his career, and his most at bats (543).

Despite McCarver's efforts the club finished 6th in the National League, well out of contention. The following year however, they rebounded, McCarver again shined and they won the pennant and the World Series. 

The fact McCarver hit 13 triples in 1966 was a real phenomenon.  Busch Stadium was moderately big but it wasn't like Forbes Field or Yankee Stadium with "triple alleys." It was only 386 to the power alleys and 414 to center. Interestingly enough, seven of the 13 triples were on the road. Of the 13 he hit one off of Sandy Koufax in what was the last and best year of Sandy's career. It came at Dodger Stadium. His last was on September first at home, and he hit two in the spacious Astrodome, but none in Pittsburgh's Forbes Field.

The rest of McCarver's career was involved in controversy on and off the field. Comments he made as a broadcaster infuriated several players and some fans. He was also involved in the Curt Flood trade to the Phillies which touched off the battle over the "reserve" clause.  

Despite his 1966 prowess with the league leading 13 triples, he never came close to double digits again in the three bagger department. The most he ever hit aside from 1966 was seven. His career total was 57 over 21 years or 2.71 per year. Subtract the 1966 season and you get 2.0 per year. To say it was a phenomenal season for the Cardinal catcher, would be an understatement. 

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First in Their Hearts, 6th in the American League

TRIVIA QUESTION: Who led the 1966 Angels in Saves as a relief pitcher?
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  While most people got the names of two of the three remaining MLB players who also played in the NBA in the 1960's, many forgot just one. The three were Ron Reed (NBA 65-66), Gene Conley (1964) and Steve Hamilton (1958-1960). All of the others either played before 1960 or after. They included Howie Schultz, Dave Ricketts, Mark Hendrickson, Dick Groat, Chuck Connors, Frank Baumholtz and Danny Ainge.

What made the 1966 Los Angeles/California Angels so interesting they would finish in sixth place in the American League but still finish first in attendance? While the team closed out the 1966 season 80-82, 1,400,321 fans went through the turnstiles of Anaheim Stadium. Bill Rigney's team did not have a .300 hitter or a batter with at least 20 homers. Aging Joe Adcock led the club with 18 in only 83 games. The club's leading hurlers each won 13 games (George Brunet and Jack Sanford) and ace Dean Chance was 12-17. So why did the fans turn out?

The team was never in danger of winning the pennant. They rarely won or lost more than five in a row. Their highlight was in mid-June when they won 11 of 13 and were seven games over .500. They were still eight games back of the Orioles but they were in fourth place. Then they dropped three in a row to Baltimore, another to Detroit and despite a four game winning streak which followed shortly thereafter, the season was essentially lost. 

They still played good baseball overall, and by the end of July they were still over .500. However they were 14.5 games back of first place Baltimore. Perhaps it was the fact the Angels, despite looking up to see down trying to overcome the Frank Robinson led Birds, never gave up. On July 30th Chance pitched the Angels to a 2-1 win over Cleveland to put the west coast team into its only day in second place. They were 13.5 back. It lasted 24 hours.

Brunet, always the hard luck pitcher would face even more hard luck in 1967 when the Angels competed for the pennant, Fregosi continued to play well and alongside Bobby Knoop they were among the best double play duos of the era. Chance would become an outstanding pitcher, especially after being traded to Minnesota. The Norm Siebern/Joe Adcock platoon was replaced by Don Mincher the following season. 

It was the slugging Adcock's final season and leading the team in homers at age 38 was pretty indicative of the 1966 Angels. Let's face it, this was a team of lovable players who were at a crossroads in a region hungry for a winner not named the Dodgers. They Angels were no match for the pennant winning team led by Sandy Koufax in his final season, Don Drysdale and fav's such as Wes Parker and Lou Johnson.

They really were every bit as talented as the Dodgers but were just not ready to eclipse the upper tier of the American League. The Orioles, the Red Sox and the Tigers were way too difficult for the team from Anaheim. They were never more than 3 games under .500, and as the 80-82 record indicated they played pretty evenly through the year. They had 9 walk off wins and 9 walk off losses which is pretty darn even. 

This was a club of lovable characters. There were new kids on the block like Rick Reichardt, Paul Schall, Jim McGlothlin, Jackie Hernandez, Clyde Wright and Minnie Rojas. There was a mix of real fan favorites such as Adcock, Bubba Morton, Lew Burdette, Jimmy Piersall, Jack Sanford and Ramon Lopez. 

Perhaps a real indication where this team of aging vets and young stars trying to shine is how they finished. One of the clubs best games was on Sunday October 2, facing Luis Tiant and the Indians. Knoop's 2-run triple in the bottom of the eighth plated the only runs of the game to back the 5-hit pitching of Jorge Rubio (WHO?). In the ninth, facing four batters, Rubio did not allow a fair hit ball. He walked Rocky Colavito and struck out Leon Wagner, Bill Davis and Fred Whitfield.

Rubio finished his career the following season with a 2-3 lifetime record in ten total career games. The Angels were a team waiting to happen with a fan base eager to see it happen. Or so one would think. The following season they were in the race for much of the year and finished 84-77 in 5th place. Attendance: Dropped off to fourth in the American League, down to
1,317,713. Some people just can't stand a winner.

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The White Sox in the NBA

TRIVIA QUESTION: In all five major league baseball players also played in the NBA during the 1960s. Aside from DeBusschere and Nash, who were the other three?
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  While three players took part in almost every game during the Washington Senators 1968 season and all made more than 600 plate appearances, only one approached 700. Centerfielder Del Unser, who mostly batted lead-off far and away outpaced Frank Howard (663) and Ken McMullen (626) with 690 walk ups to the plate. While Unser did lead the team with a paltry 11 stolen bases, he only batted .230 with an on-base percentage of .282. Hardly good enough to lead off for anybody but the hapless Senators. 

THIS WEEK WE CHOSE TO PUBLISH A "BEST OF" COLUMN FROM 2017. HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU WHO TAKE THE TIME TO READ THIS WEEKLY COLUMN! Back again next week with a "Fresh" Column.

A reader of this column wrote in and asked if we could do a column on two Chicago White Sox players who also played in the 1960's NBA. So here goes.

To say Dave DeBusschere was a better basketball player than a baseball player is saying a lot but in reality the New York Knicks forward might have had a really great career in both if he'd had stuck with it. DeBusschere's pitching career with the Sox only lasted two seasons but one of them would have gotten him a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract today.

In 1962 the 21-year old righty pitched well out of the bullpen for Chicago. Recording 18 innings in relief his ERA settled in at 2.00 over 12 games in which he finished nine of them. He only allowed five hits but that might be attributed to the fact hitters could not settle in against the 6'6" future NBA star. He walked 23 batters in 18 innings and proved wild enough to keep hitters off balance.

The following year the Sox decided he should be a starter and he proved himself there as well. Appearing in 24 games he started 10 of them and completed just one. He picked up a save in relief and tossed a shutout on his way to a record of 3-4. The highlight had to be the shutout.

On the evening of August 13th with the Sox sailing 17 games over .500, DeBusschere got the call against the lowly Indians and Jim "Mudcat" Grant. Big Dave was never really in trouble on his way to a six-hitter except in the fourth. He gave up three singles in the inning but the lack of speed in the form of Johnny Romano, Tito Francona and Al Luplow probably kept the Tribe from scoring. The Indians only managed one walk while DeBusschere struck out three.

The Sox would go onto win 94 games and finish in second place in the American League but DeBusschere was done. Perhaps it was the long dual season. After being drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 1962 as the fourth overall pick, he couldn't pass up playing in the NBA (80 games) and when that season ended joining the baseball White Sox. In 1963 he chose to only play 15 games for Detroit and a full seasons for the Sox. Either way, after the 1963 season the right handed pitcher hung up his cleats and donned his sneakers for good.

While he actually had a Topps baseball card in 1965, he had been gone for a couple of seasons.  His NBA career put him in the Hall of Fame. He averaged 16 points a game and made the All-Star team eight times. Interestingly enough, he was under the basket and fell to the floor when Jerry West fired off his 55 foot shot as time ran out to tie a playoff game with Knicks.

The other White Sox NBA player was Cotton Nash. Nash had a less than exciting 1967 season with the Sox before moving onto the Twins for his final two years. The first baseman failed to get a hit in three at bats for Chicago before being traded to Pittsburgh for Ed Hobaugh. The trade was voided and the Twins got involved a couple months later.

Earlier in the decade Nash spent the 1964-65 season playing basketball, first with the Lakers and then the Warriors. He only averaged 3.0 points per game before moving onto a very short career in the ABA with the Kentucky Colonels where he averaged 8.5 in one season. He played in the ABA after his baseball career ended, trying a comeback at age 25.

His baseball claim to fame might be on September 10, 1967, when in the ninth inning of Joel Horlen's no-hitter he came in defensively for Ken Boyer at first base and recorded all three outs. The White Sox may be the only team in history to have two NBA players grace the confines of White Sox Park. 

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.

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The "BIGGEST" Trade of the 1960s

TRIVIA QUESTION: While Frank Howard and Ken McMullen both had more than 600 plate appearances during the 1968 campaign for the Senators, they did not lead the team. Who did with 690?
 
ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN:  There were three players on the 1960 Chicago Cubs who hit at least 10 home runs during the season. Ernie Banks led the club with 41, while George Altman had 13. The third player to smack homers in double digits was Frank Thomas who hit 21, and would go on to hit 27 the following season and 34 more with the first year New York Mets.

There were some pretty momentous trades in the 1960s. Frank Robinson to the Orioles for Milt Pappas, Lou Brock to the Cardinals for Ernie Broglio, Dean Chance to the Twins in the Don Mincher deal and Matty Alou to the Pirates for Joe Gibbon. Probably none bigger however (literally) than the trade which sent 6'7" Frank Howard to the Senators in the Dodgers major trade in 1964.

On December 4, 1964, Howard was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers with a player to be named later, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega and Pete Richert to the Washington Senators for John Kennedy, Claude Osteen and $100,000. The Dodgers sent Dick Nen (December 15, 1964) to the Washington Senators to complete the trade. 

How big was this deal? Osteen became the missing cog in the rotation, eventually taking over for Johnny Podres who was a holdover from the Brooklyn Days. Osteen was an immediate hit. Despite his 15-15 record, he helped the club make it to the World Series by working 287 innings with a 2.79 ERA. He teamed with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale to make a formidable 3-legged rotation boasting the best in baseball at the time. He would go on to pitch a 5-hit shutout in Game 3 of the Series which the Dodgers won in seven games. He would twice win 17 games before the decade ended and in 1969 was a 20-game winner with 7 Shutouts. 

Kennedy never could hit but he proved a valuable late inning replacement defensively on both the 1965-66 pennant winners. A liability on defense for a time in Washington, his wizardry and only 12 errors in two seasons in Los Angeles gave an assurance to manager Walter Alston in the late going. 

While Washington never made the Series, Howard (the Washington Monument) was not the only player to emerge as a solid player for the Senators from the trade. He was the biggest certainly. The slugger would clobber American League pitching with 44, 48, 44 homers from 1968-1970. Four times he drove in 100+ runs and never failed to homer in double figures until his final two seasons midway through his 30's. Drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA he signed with the Dodgers and was named 1960 NL Rookie of the Year.

Ortega won 39 games in five seasons and was a work horse before retiring in 1969. McMullen was an immediate hit in Washington. He had solid seasons hitting double figures in home runs and batting for a respectable average during his five-plus seasons in the nation's capitol. In 1969 he hit 19 homers and .272 with 87 RBI for his best season. 

Richert immediately won 15 and 14 games as a starter his first two seasons as a Senator but really had his best success as a specialty reliever later in his career. In 1968 he became a bullpen pitcher and closer with 51 saves over seven seasons. In 1970 he registered 13 Saves, 1.98 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 54 innings. He finished his 13 year career with a respectable 3.19 ERA and an 80-73 record.

Dick Nen was a good defensive player with an occasional hitting stroke. He made only 16 errors in six seasons mainly at first base. His best season in Washington was his first with a .260 BA, six homers and 31 RBI in 69 games. His career ended with the 60s. His bigger claim to fame may be as the father of former reliever Robb Nen. His only hit as a Dodger was a memorable home run off Bob Gibson over the roof to tie a game and help the Dodgers move closer to the pennant in 1963.

To boot the Dodgers got a hundred grand in the deal, which they may have used when Drysdale and Koufax held out for a hundred grand apiece. Only Mr. O'Malley knows where that money went.

 

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.

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