Baseball in the 1960's

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Hank Aaron V. Mike Trout - $36 Million

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Robert Ewing of Jerome, PA who correctly identified Bob Lemon as the seven-time 20-game winner on the Indians the season Herb Score was injured. 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: While Hank Aaron finished 3rd in the 1963 MVP voting and Willie Mays finished 5th, the Dodgers Sandy Koufax won the Award. There were three other Dodgers who finished in the Top 10 of the voting. Who were they?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Bob Lemon was the seven-time 20-game winner on the Indians the season Herb Score was injured.

To say Hank Aaron and Willie Mays were grossly underpaid is an unbelievable understatement. In the era when Pete Rose wanted to be the "first $100,000 singles hitter," it begs the question; if Aaron were in his prime today, how much would he be worth as a Free Agent. His best season of the 1960s was arguably 1963.

I once asked Aaron during a one-on-one interview at UPI Radio, "could an MLB team even pay Henry Aaron today?" He smiled politely and said "they would find the money."

In 1963, Hamerin' Hank led the league in several hitting categories and was an outstanding defensive player who had his highest Stolen Base total of his career. In 161 of his teams 162 games he scored 121 Runs and drove in another 130. He hit 44 Home Runs and batted .319. He also stole 31 bases. He was atop of the NL in Slugging Percentage, OPS and Total Bases. Aaron collected 201 hits and there were 29 doubles mixed in. As for Run Production; Total runs accounted for minus Home Runs; 207!** The entire Braves team only accounted for 1162 which means Aaron was worth almost 20-percent of the teams run production. Aaron finished third in the MVP race for a club which finished sixth in the standings. For this he was paid $53,000.

The most comparable player today, based on a full season, is the Angels Mike Trout. In 2019, a good comparison year, Trout nearly matched Aaron in every category. He played in fewer games at 134 but hit 27 doubles, 45 homers, drove in 103 and scored 110 while batting .291. He topped the AL in On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage and OPS while also leading the league by drawing 14 Intentional Walks. Wherein Aaron finished third in the MVP, Trout won the Award. Their fielding averages were also close with Trout leading Aaron .987-.979. But his Run Production was only 168 compared to Aaron's 207. However, he played in 27 fewer games.

A big difference is that Aaron walked less and struck out less. Aaron never struck out 100 times in a season, topping out at 97 and that was rare. Trout on the other hand, has only struck less than 100 times, once. His low was 90. During those 100-K years, Trout averaged 142 punch-outs.

The numbers were amazingly similar at nearly the same age. Aaron was 29, Trout 27. While Aaron barely made over $50-grand, Trout was paid $36 million dollars! So to answer the question of what Henry Aaron would be making in salary if he were playing in his Prime today; in the range of $36-$40 million dollars a season and the sky would be the limit. He never made more than $240,000. Trout made more than twice that as a Rookie!

There are of course other factors which would be involved but based on the strict numbers it's fair to say in 2021 and beyond a $40-million dollar a year salary would not be out of the question for the great Henry Aaron.

**- This statistic is created by adding the total number of Runs a player scored plus the total number of RBI, then subtracting the number of Home Runs since a player gets both an RBI and Run Scored with a Home Run.

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SEND YOUR ANSWERS TO; brillpro@gmail.com
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Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Score & Wynn; They Gave their All to Cleveland & Chicago

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Douglas King of Chicago, Illinois, who correctly identified the Cincinnati Reds as the team three great pinch-hitters played for; Red Lucas, Jerry Lynch and Smokey Burgess. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: IF YOU ANSWER THE TRIVIA QUESTION CORRECTLY YOU WILL BE 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 WE CAN SEND YOUR GIFT IF YOU WIN.

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TRIVIA QUESTION: Who was the seven-time 20 game winner who took the mound after Herb Score was injured and went on to complete the game, beating the Yankees 2-1?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The Cincinnati Reds was the common team for three great pinch-hitters; Red Lucas, Jerry Lynch and Smokey Burgess.

Two of the great pitching names in baseball had careers which channeled into the 1960s with less than spectacular endings. Both Herb Score and Early Wynn showed periods of domination on the mound and tried to carry it through to the decade of the "60s, but it wasn't to be. They can both be claimed by Cleveland and Chicago. One career a short eight seasons, the other 23 years. They were teammates for much of their careers, forever tied to each other. In Cleveland they were together from 1955-57, while from 1960-62 they hurled for the White Sox.

For Score, his story is well documented. A 20 game winner in only his second year in the big leagues finishing the first two seasons at 36-19. In the first inning a line-drive to his face off the bat of Gil McDougald, cost him much of his vision for a while and virtually ended his dominant career. Wynn took the mound the very next game. While Score did fully recover, he was never the same. Some believed he changed his delivery because he feared another such incident. Score denied it, saying he suffered an arm injury which caused him to change his delivery.

Score was so powerful he struck out 508 batters in his first two seasons. He only struck out 329 the final six seasons of his career. After the line drive he pitched three more seasons with Cleveland going 13-15 and was sent to the White Sox for Barry Latman to start the 1960 season. Never regaining his form, he was 5-10 in 1960 and 1-2 in a dozen games the next two years. He called it quits after the 1962 season and eventually wound up in the Indians broadcast booth where he enjoyed a highly praised career. He died in 2008 at the age of 75.

Early Wynn (and who could doubt that was the perfect name for a pitcher) began his MLB career in 1939 with Washington! In 1943 he was 18-12 and playing for the lovable losers in DC his record didn't get going consistently. Then he ended up in the military towards the end of WW II. Coming out of the War, he was still up and down. Winning 17 one season, losing 19 the next. Then came the change of scenery.

In 1948 he was traded by the Washington Senators with Mickey Vernon to the Cleveland Indians for Joe Haynes, Ed Klieman and Eddie Robinson. He quickly paid dividends and over the next 10 years with the Tribe he won 164 and lost 102, four times posting at least 20 wins in a season, three times winning at least 17. With Cleveland he never had a losing season until his 10th when he was 14-17 for the sixth place Indians. He still led the league in strikeouts and made the All-Star team.

The Indians shipped him to the White Sox December 4, 1957 with Al Smith for Fred Hatfield and Minnie Minoso. In 1959 at the age of 39 he led the AL in starts and Innings Pitched, winning 22 games. By the time 1960s came along he was 40 years old and NOT ready to hang them up.

Father Time has a way of changing things however and Wynn took his final four seasons into 1962 with records of 13-12, 8-2, 7-15 and 1-2. For the final season he was released and resigned by Cleveland where he ended his career. In 23 years (plus one for Uncle Sam) Wynn won exactly 300 games and lost 244. If it wasn't for the miserable years in Washington, his record might have rivaled even more of the all-time greats.

The five time 20-game winner died in 1999 at the age of 79.

Monday, February 15, 2021

Swingin' Gates Brown

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Rich Klein, of Plano, TX who correctly stated there were three players named in last week's column who went on to manage; Gil Hodges, Roger Craig and Maury Wills. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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TRIVIA QUESTION: When it comes to the great pinch-hitters in baseball, three of the best played for the Pittsburgh Pirates; Red Lucas, Jerry Lynch and Smokey Burgess. Which other team did all three have in common?

ANSWER TO TRIVIA QUESTION IN THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: The three players mentioned in last week's column who went on to manager in the big leagues were Gil Hodges, Roger Craig and Maury Wills.

Gates Brown is widely known as one of the best pinch-hitters in major league baseball history and while he did have seasons where he played a lot more than as a substitute hitter, 1968 would prove to be that magical season. It was so magical for Brown that the Strat-O-Matic Game Company chose to list one of his positions as "pinch hitter" on his game card. For SOM fans, like yours truly, this was a phenomenal achievement.

Brown was held back in the starting line-up by slugging Willie Horton. Horton's 111 homers from 1965-68 with a pair of 100 RBI seasons, was good reason to keep him in the line-up in left field. With HOFer Al Kaline patrolling Right there was no place for Brown to play on a regular basis. When he did play, oh did he hit.

Brown only started 17 games in the outfield and played one game at first base during the 1968 season. He fielded everything which came his way. At the plate he was unbelievable. He hit .370 for the season, with 34 hits in 92 at bats with 7 doubles, 2 triples and six Homers. It was in the clutch and in the pinch where he really excelled. In 49 substitute AB's he hit .450. He struck out only four times that season.

The Red Sox hated to see him come to the plate. April 11 he pinch hit a homer in the 9th for a 4-3 win, August 10, another pinch dinger against the Red Sox, August 11th in the first game of a double header his game winning homer came in the 14th inning 5-4 while in the second game he had the game winning RBI in the 9th.

Fans of the big guy remember the story of the hot dogging Gates Brown; literally. He was sitting on the bench and had gone into the clubhouse to grab a couple of Tiger Dogs. Manager Mayo Smith told him to grab a bat. Not wanting to the caught eating, Brown stuffed them into his jersey and strode to the plate.

"I always wanted to get a hit every time I went to the plate, but this was one time I didn't want to get a hit," Brown said later. "I'll be damned if I didn't smack one in the gap and I had to slide into second — head first, no less."

The result was as expected. Mustard and ketchup and smashed hot dogs and buns all over him. As you would expect the fielders and his teammates couldn't stop laughing. When asked about it later by Smith, Brown said he was hungry and where else could you eat a hot dog and have the best seat in the house?

Brown only had one at bat in the 1968 World Series, failing to get a hit. In his career, he did have other worthwhile years with 1964 being his best. He hit .272 with 15 home runs in more than 400 ABs. The following year however, Horton made his big splash and Brown sat more often, derailing what might have been a much better career. He'd finish his 13 seasons with 2545 ABs and 84 homers with a .257 average. No one will ever forget 1968 however, especially fans of SOM.

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