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Monday, November 15, 2021

Gordy Coleman; Just One of Those Guys

 

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Glenn Schubert of Bradenton, FL, who correctly stated there were two (you only had to know one) of the players from the last column who played against each other in the World Series. Al Bumbry played in the "79 Series against Jim Bibby and again in the "83 Series against Garry Maddox. 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:  Who gave up Coleman's home run in the 1961 World Series?
 
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column:
Al Bumbry played in the "79 Series against Jim Bibby and again in the "83 Series against Garry Maddox..

The 1960s were filled with guys who had solid careers, which if they played today they would be millionaires. Back then they were just "those guys" who made contributions to their teams. Gordy Coleman was one of those guys. 

Coleman was a Cincinnati Red who was a slugger for a couple of years, a solid first baseman for several years and who homered in the only game his team won in the 1961 World Series. Still few people remember Coleman. 

It took him six years to get to the big leagues and after a cup of coffee with the Indians he was traded in the winter of 1959 by Cleveland with Billy Martin and Cal McLish to the Cincinnati Reds for Johnny Temple. After a part time season in 1960 where he hit .271 he had a break out year in helping the Reds get to the Series in 1961. He slugged 26 homers and hit .287 in a lineup with featured Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Gene Freese and Wally Post. They were a power laden team but no match for the ultimate power team, the 1961 Yankees who beat them in five games. Coleman's two run homer came in the Reds lone victory.

Gordy continued to slug his way through the next season with 28 homers and a .277 BA but in 1963 his production waned trailing to 14 home runs and .242. By the time 1964 rolled around it was the beginning of the end for Coleman. The arrival of young clubbers Deron Johnson and Tony Perez forced him to the bench more and more often. 

in 1965 he saw a resurgence batting .302 with 14 home runs in a limited role but two years later at the age of 32, his career had come to an end. His .271 career BA with 98 homers over nine years spoke of a solid if not remarkable baseball career. He never made an all-star team but in 1961 he did lead the NL in assists by a first baseman.

 He retired to work in the Reds front office. He died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 59. 

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  
 ==========================================================
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.    
   

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

Baseball & Viet Nam


TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to  Tim Fealy of Punta Gorda, FL, who correctly stated the 1961 NY Yankees were the only team to win the World Series in the decade and to lead the league in wins. They had 109. 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:  Of the seven players who went to war mentioned in the "last" paragraph of this column, five of them played in a World Series, however only two sets of them played in the same Series and against each other. Who were these players? And you can name either pair.
 
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column:
The 1961 Yankees won 109 games during the season and were the only team to win that many games and the World Series in the decade.

IN HONOR OF VETERANS DAY WE EXPLORE BASEBALL & VIET NAM IN THIS ISSUE.

As we honor military veterans it is pretty amazing when you realize of the 58,000 Americans who lost their lives in Viet Nam, none were major league players, and only one was wounded.

In previous decades many star players lost years of their careers to military service, in war and peace times. Ted Williams, is most prominently mentioned in this group along with Christy Mathewson in World War One. However, Viet Nam posed some different scenarios. Going into the military wasn't the "hero" thing it was in either of the World Wars or the Korean conflict. Many young players who could have signed contracts and played in the minors chose to avoid the draft and flee the country. Others chose to go to war, while still others took a different route; the National Guard. 

                  (The only MLB player wounded in Viet Nam.)

A player could choose to join his local Guard and do service monthly, or on weekends stateside. Among those who chose this route were budding stars Gene Alley of the Pirates, Tony Conigliaro, Jim Lonborg and Dalton Jones of the Red Sox. Glenn Beckert, Don Kessinger, Paul Popovich of the Cubs were among the many who spent stints in the Guard during the season. The Red Sox won the pennant in 1967 despite losing players for extended games. We would listen to games on the radio and hear Bob Prince say "and Gene Alley won't be at shortstop today as he's doing a stretch of duty with the Guard."

         (Bobby Murcer was drafted during the Viet Nam war.)

The Congressional report released in April 1967 showed that 145 pro baseball players were serving in the National Guard or Reserve to successfully avoid the draft. The Draft didn't miss all players. The Yankees Bobby Murcer was drafted which changed his career drastically. An up and coming shortstop, when he returned to play full-time he was switched to centerfield. Even Nolan Ryan was a Reservist.

Some players only made the majors because of the Guard. Players who got their break during the Viet Nam war and were rushed to the big leagues included Ken Poulsen, Norm Gigon and Len Boehmer. Pitcher Darold Knowles was activated and served his time in a support role in Japan.

(Arrived in MLB due to Viet Nam war.) 

During the summer of 1968 there were several casualties in Vietnam among minor-league players. Dell Chambers and Chuck Chase were both killed in action. Among those wounded, Roy Gleason was the only former ballplayer who had once appeared in a major-league game. The Dodger player appeared in eight games in 1963.

There were several others who had their careers interrupted by going to war, not doing guard service or moving to Canada. Jim Bibby, Al Bumbry, Ed Figueroa, Chuck Goggin, Bob Jones, Garry Maddox and Carlos May. Bibby made his MLB debut in 1972 and won 111 games, Maddox also arrived in 1972 went on to hit more than 100 homers and had a career BA of .285. After his 1972 debut Bumbry would go onto 14 years in the Bigs with a .281 lifetime average, arriving in 1974 Figureroa would win 20 games in 1978, May came back in 1968 and spent 10 solid years in the majors with a .274 BA and 90 homers.

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  
 ==========================================================
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, November 2, 2021

Total Dominance; the 1966 World Series

 

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Scott Hitchcox of Portage, Michigan, who correctly stated that six pitchers who were 20 game winners going into the 1969 Playoff Series'. They were Mike Cuellar, Dave Boswell, Jim Perry, Dave McNally, Phil Niekro and Tom Seaver. 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.

===============================================================
NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Which World Series winning team in the 1960s won the most regular season games and how many?
 
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column:
There were six 20 game winners pitching in the 1969 NL and AL Playoff series. In the AL there were four; Mike Cuellar, Dave Boswell, Jim Perry and Dave McNally, while on the NL side were Phil Niekro and Tom Seaver.

It is time for the Fall Classic so we are looking back at 1960's Fall Baseball. 

There were six World Series in the 1960s which went the full seven games but the biggest shocker (minus the 1960 Series) was the Orioles stunning four game sweep of the Dodgers in 1966. Three years previous Los Angeles had swept the Yankees in what would be New York's final World Series until 1976 or a 13 year drought. 

The 1966 season was one of real transition. The Reds, who had traded Frank Robinson to the Orioles for Milt Pappas, lamented everyone of Robinson's 49 homers as he won the Triple Crown and the MVP in leading the O's to the Series. And every game Pappas missed due to a laboring arm didn't help. It would be the last Series for Sandy Koufax who retired after game four. And it was Don Drysdale's final trip to the Series as well.

The key to the four game sweep by the O's over the Dodgers was timely hitting, inept Dodger fielding and great pitching - by the Orioles young guns. The Dodgers scored two runs in game one losing 5-2. They didn't score another run in the Series. Jim Palmer, Dave McNally and Wally Bunker each pitched 9-inning shutouts and Moe Drabowsky pitched six innings in relief giving up just one hit to gain the Game One victory. In his only appearance in the Series the relief ace struck out 11 batters in six innings including six in a row at one point.

L-A scored two runs on 17 hits and only one homer. Jimmy Lefebvre knocked the only Dodger dinger for a club which had a few sluggers.  Frank Robinson hit .286 and slugged a pair of homers for the O's including a game winner. He knocked in more runs (3) in the Series than the entire Dodger team. It was such a dismal showing one of the key highlights is the ineptness of Willie Davis. The Dodger center fielder made three errors on two consecutive plays in Game Two.

Dodger pitching was solid as usual. Claude Osteen and Don Drysdale each lost 1-0 affairs while Sandy Koufax lost 6-0 in game two. Drysdale started and lost Game One. The Dodgers batted an anemic .147. Rookie starter Don Sutton, a 12 game winner, never got into the series.

The Series was the end of the road for several Dodgers. Koufax and Jim Gilliam retired after the series as did Dick Stuart and Wes Covington. Maury Wills, Lou Johnson, John Kennedy and Tommy Davis were traded and several more would be gone the following season.  Names such as Ron Hunt, Ken Boyer, Billy Grabarkewitz, Billy Sudakis and Paul Popovich would replace them along with Bill Singer.

The Birds would fly high for a few seasons returning to the Series in 1969, 1970 and 1971. They beat the Reds in 1970, pounding the Big Red Machine. They lost to the Amazin' Mets in 1969 and the Pirates in 1971. It was Roberto Clemente's last games played.    

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  
 ==========================================================
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.