Baseball in the 1960's

Monday, January 10, 2022

1960S Baseball Tidbits

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Randall Bounds of Springfield, IL, who correctly named Joey Amalfitano as the player who manned second base after the death of Ken Hubbs and before the regular arrival of Glenn Beckert. 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: In 1964 the Detroit Tigers had a six game losing streak and a seven game winning streak as their longest streaks of the year. Three pitchers during those streaks beat them and also lost to them. Name the three pitchers (HINT: They all pitched for the White Sox).

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Joey Amalfitano was the second baseman who took over for the Cubs after the death of Ken Hubbs until Glenn Beckert arrived.

There are lots of tidbits about baseball in the 1960s and baseball cards and the ones which seemed to always intrigue me were the ages of the players on the Topps cards. For instance, if you look at the card below of Steve Korcheck, how old would you guess he was there?

Korcheck played in 58 MLB games over four seasons batting .159. He died in 2016 at age 84.

Guess again. Korcheck, who looks 45 was actually 28. Talk about hard living. It was a much different lifestyle back then. My Aunt Ellen lived in what were commonly called the projects in Pittsburgh, which is where she would baby sit for several Pirates' including Bob Skinner. After the 1960 World Series Skinner brought her back some souvenirs including a team signed baseball of the World Champion Pirates. I never knew what happened to that ball.

Years later in doing a column for Beckett Publications I interviewed several second generation players including Joel Skinner. I brought up the story and he told me as a kid, he and a friend wanted to play catch and found a trunk in the garage with some baseballs. They took one and played in the street, destroying the ball.

When Bob came home he discovered what they had done to his "team signed" 1960 Yankees autographed baseball. Joel said he was "livid."

My late friend Billy Malone was a clubhouse guy for the mid-1960s Cleveland Indians. I asked him who was the "clubhouse signer," and he admitted it was him. He said it was part of his job to sign the names of those players who either wouldn't or just did not sign team autographed baseballs on any given day to be given as promotional items to sponsors and fans.

He relayed the story of how he got a call from GM Gabe Paul down to the clubhouse asking for two team signed baseballs for a sponsor who was up in his office. Billy said he had them but neither Sam McDowell (that days starting pitcher) and manager Birdie Tebbetts had signed. The response was quick.

"Sign the (expletive deleted) balls, Billy and bring them to my office," Paul demanded.

The final instance I'll mention is the strange case of Maury Wills. He did not have a mainstream Topps card until 1967 despite being an MVP years earlier and big league regular since 1960. Someone at Topps evidently felt he wasn't such a big deal and didn't sign him. Wills never forgot that and refused to sign with Topps. Therefor, the first mainstream card to feature him by himself was 1963 Fleer.

However, he wasn't the only one who had been in the big leagues for years but debuted in the 1967 Topps series. Rich Klein, writing in Sports Collectors Daily in 2014 pointed to others who fell victim to Topps management at some level.

"But Wills was not the only player to make his card debut in 1967. In addition, to the normal rookie card crop there were several players who had been established in the majors but finally got Topps cards in 1967," Klein wrote. "To me, the most interesting part is all of these players mentioned who waited years to be on Topps cards came in the series that were issued later in the year. These players are Dave Boswell, Doug Clemens, Arnold Early and Chris Short."

Klein went on to point out, many card collectors know however, Wills actually did appear on a Topps card in 1960 in the World Series Subset no.389 taking a throw on a White Sox stolen base attempt by Luis Aparicio.

Just a few notes from the sunshine as pitchers and catchers report in just a few weeks.

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Tuesday, January 4, 2022

This Cubs Duo Delivered

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Robert Artsmire of Marin, CA, who correctly replied that Deron Johnson led the NL with 10 Sac Fly RBI. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In between Ken Hubbs death and the arrival of Glenn Beckert in 1965, who was the Cubs most regular second baseman in 1964.?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Ten was the number of Sac Fly RBI Deron Johnson had when he led the league in 1965.

From 1965 to 1973 the Chicago Cubs were blessed with one of longest running double play combinations of the modern era. While the duo of Bill Mazeroski and Gene Alley were setting records in Pittsburgh in the 1960s, the pair of Don Kessinger at short and Glenn Beckert at second were turning them over game after game. They also put up numbers at the plate to drive the Cubbies for years.

(Beckert involved in Cubs triple play)

(Kessinger interview)

While Beckert debuted in 1965, Kessinger came up a year earlier for a cup of coffee. Neither one of them hit their first year together for much of an average, but it was obvious the Cubs were planning their infield around this pair. With Ron Santo at third and Ernie Banks at first, they were just about the most solid and consistent infield in the big leagues.

Kessinger's .201 and Beckert's .239 that 1965 season were not spectacular but the following seasons were different. Starting in 1966 the light hitting Kessinger would average about .250 while his counterpart would be up around .285, occasionally crossing the .290 mark. It was in the field however where they did the most damage.

Beckert twice would cross the 100 mark in double plays turned from 1966-1968 with two other seasons registering 89 each. Kessinger would reach 101 and 97 with a few other seasons right around 70. They were not anywhere near perfect. Kessinger's errors were pretty consistent with one season (1966) reaching 35. Between them they averaged about 50 errors per season. Today that would drive their market value down to someplace around "we're moving you to left field" to give some kid a chance. This was the 1960's however, and with Banks and Santo anchoring the corners, the Kessinger-Beckert duo stuck around a long time.

Beckert won a Gold Glove and appeared in four All-star Games. Kessinger appeared in six All-star games and won two Gold Glove Awards. He was also named the recipient of the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award. In 1968 and 1969 Kessinger led the NL in double plays at Short, while in 1968 Beckert was second in the category to Cookie Rojas of the Phillies.

Between them they played the most games at their positions during the time period, than most others, and together it seemed like they were one name; Kessinger/Beckert. In 1968 Beckert led the NL in runs scored. In 1969 Kessinger led the league in games played at Short, double plays, put-outs, assists, errors and fielding percentage! Now that is an accomplishment.

Kessinger would retire after 16 seasons, spending his last few years with the Cardinals and the White Sox, while Beckert would call it a career after 11 seasons. The final two were with the Padres. While neither will make the Hall of Fame, there is no denying their impact on the late 1960s Chicago Cubs, helping the club to a second place finish and a pair of third place finishes from 1967-1969.

Monday, December 27, 2021

Deron Johnson; Well Traveled Slugger

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Tim Nathan of Berkley, MI, who correctly pointed out there were six pitchers who lost at least 10 games on the 1968 Chicago White Sox. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In 1965 Deron Johnson led the NL in Sacrifice Fly RBI. How many?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Ten pitchers lost at least 10 games for the 1968 Chicago White Sox.

While his career would start with the storied New York Yankees, he'd make his mark as a Cincinnati Red and finish as a member of the Boston Red Sox, while playing for five other teams in between. Make no mistake about it; Deron Johnson was a slugger extraordinaire.

He would play all three outfield positions, first base and his natural position; third base. He came up with New York in 1960 and was sent to Kansas City along with Art Ditmar for Bud Daley in 1961. Two years later he was sold to the Reds where he had his best seasons, blasting 90 homers in four years. He hit 32 and led the league with 130 RBI in 1965 while batting .287.

By 1967 the Reds sent him on to Atlanta in a four player swap which brought Mack Jones to the Reds. A year later he was sold to the Phillies. In the next four seasons he hit 87 homers including 27 in 1970. In the next three years he was traded three times, sold once, released twice and signed as a Free Agent once. And in all of his travels, the only name player he was swapped for really was Jones, a slugger in his own right.

So why was this really good player who could hit for a respectable average, blast long homers consistently and play good defense, so well traveled?

The 1961 Yankees were loaded so there was little need for developing a player of Johnson's caliber. Kansas City was a mess and who could figure anything Charlie O. Finley did during the 1960s. The Reds knew what they had. However, in 1967 Johnson's power had fallen off to 13 homers and he only hit .224. In addition, Lee May was waiting in the wings and ready. Johnson became very expendable.

Johnson didn't hit in Atlanta and the Braves picked up Orlando Cepeda so moving him on to the Phils was easy. He regained his stroke in Philadelphia and was again back in the power numbers with 17, 27 and 34 home run seasons to follow, with another 20 in the year they shipped him off to Oakland.

His stops in Milwaukee, Boston (twice), and with the White Sox were all career ending moves where he was used as a pinch-hitter and clubhouse experience-guy. At age 36 he did have a final year of power with 19 dingers but called it a career after the next season.

It was just one of those careers where he was in the right place at the wrong time, and for a short period of time at that. His 245 career home runs and 923 RBI were decent numbers for a guy who spent time with so many clubs during 17 years in the big leagues. Among his accomplishments was hitting four consecutive homers over two days against Montreal. He followed his playing career by serving as a coach and in 1992 while coaching the Angels he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died at age 53.

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