Baseball in the 1960's

Monday, March 7, 2022

Woody Woodward; The No-Home Run Man - Almost

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to David Hubert of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, who correctly named Burt Hooten and Milt Pappas as the two pitchers who tossed no-hitters with Randy Hundley behind the plate. 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 13 home runs hit by Sandy Alomar Sr. in his career, how many were hit in the American League?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Burt Hooten and Milt Pappas were the two pitchers who tossed no-hit games with Randy Hundley behind the plate.

Few position players who reach the major leagues and stay for "a career" ever go through that entire career without hitting a home run. Woody Woodward was that guy; almost. When Woodward broke into the big leagues in 1963 with the "then" Milwaukee Braves no one figured him challenge teammate Henry Aaron. He was known as a decent field-no hit infielder in a group of lesser fielding players who were on the team rotating around the second sack.

Mike de la Hoz, Frank Bolling, Denis Menke, Sandy Alomar and Roy McMillan. None of them would drive fear into opposing pitchers and none of them, save McMillan possibly, would hold out hope for a gold glove. Woodward himself would fit right in. Between them in 1964 they would smack 24 home runs. Twenty of them by Menke. The 1960's Braves could hit with the likes of Aaron, Joe Torre, Felipe Alou, Eddie Mathews and at times players such as Rico Carty, Mack Jones and Gene Oliver. Hitting was not their problem.

On the mound they had stalwarts such as Tony Clonigar, Denny Lemaster, Wade Blasingame and an aging Warren Spahn. These Braves were good but what they lacked was that strong middle infield duo to back the pitching and get on base ahead of the hitters. They traded for players, they worked the farm system and really nothing much happened.

Woodward himself was a sort of strange case. He was adequate in the field. As a hitter he was serviceable. Dependable probably is more the word Braves fans might use to describe him. The interesting thing about Woodward though was his lack of power. He spent the 1960's without a home run.

In 1964 he batted 123 times without a dinger. Forgivable since he really was a rookie getting his feet wet. The following season he played in 112 games and came to the plate 280 times. Still no homers. In 1966 he became a regular, playing in 144 games and reaching his lifetime best 516 plate appearances. Of his 26 extra base hits that season, none left the park. The following year, 1967 at age 24, it was pretty much the same scenario. Limited to 80 games in 1968 the Braves sent him to Cincinnati who needed an infielder and thought Woodward would be their guy. No home runs there either. When 1969 rolled around he would close out the decade playing in 644 games and still never leaving the park.

WoodyWoodward has spent nearly the entire decade of the 1969's, seven seasons and 1825 plate appearances without ever hitting a home run. Today, in the days of launch angles he may not even make the major league club; any major league club.

Then on July 10, 1970 after nearly 2000 trips to the plate, he would hit his first and only home run. Ironically, it came as a two run shot off Ron Reed of the Atlanta Braves, the team which he played for until two years earlier. Woodward would say afterwards "If I hit one home run for every seven seasons, it will take me 4,998 seasons to catch babe Ruth."

In a nine year career Woodward would play in 880 games and hit .236 with the lone home run. His slugging percentage would come down to .287.

While Woodward was never the Babe Ruth of anything he did end up being a pretty good general manager. Early in his GM career he didn't last long with the Yankees or the Phillies, but as head of the Seattle Mariners he took the team to the playoffs in 1995 and 1997. During that time he drafted Alex Rodriguez, Jason Varitek, Bret Boone and Derek Lowe. He also acquired Randy Johnson from Montreal. He also traded away David Ortiz, the HOFer who became one of the greatest clutch home run hitters in baseball. Then again, Woody Woodward never did know much about home runs.

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Monday, February 28, 2022

Randy Hundley Makes Giants Look Bad

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Steve Bailey of Rochester University, who correctly stated the batter Cesar Tovar struck out in the game where he played all nine positions, was Reggie Jackson. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Randy Hundley caught two no-hitters. Who were the two pitchers?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Cesar Tovar struck out rookie outfielder, Reggie Jackson in the game where he played all nine positions in a nine inning game. NOTE: The only other player to play all nine positions in a game was in the game as well; Campy Campaneris of the Athletics.

Few people remember when the San Francisco Giants had too many good players at a key position, they traded off one of them who would become an outstanding major league player with the Cubs. Randy Hundley was signed originally by the Giants. However, they also had Tom Haller up front, Dick Dietz waiting in the wings and a very capable Bob Barton on the bench. Quite frankly, they needed pitching more than an up and coming catcher. A two fold mistake for San Francisco.

After a couple of cups of coffee in 1964-1965, Hundley was sent packing to Chicago along with Bill Hands for Lindy McDaniel and outfielder Don Landrum. McDaniel had one great season, Landrum was pretty much finished and Hands would win 92 games for the Cubs. He won 20 in one of those seasons. Hundley nearly was voted Rookie of the Year in what turned out to be a terrible trade for the Giants and a steal for Chicago.

Hundley started immediately with 19 homers and a .236 average. Defensively he would have better seasons and in fact was one of the best defensive catchers in the NL in the era. His 16 Passed Balls probably kept him from ROY honors. He went on to become an all-star and won a Gold Glove. He never approached double figures in PB's again.

He would play 14 seasons in the big leagues including 10 with the Cubs. Three times he hit the double figure mark in homers and while he never hit for average, his mainstay was handling Cubs pitchers. Many of them won 20 games with him behind the plate, including Hands and Fergie Jenkins.

Monday, February 21, 2022

Cesar Tovar; Full Time Utility Player

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Johnny Rollins of Jasper, AL, who correctly stated the first batter Steve Carlton faced in his MLB career was the Cubs' George Altman, whom he walked. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In the game in which Cesar Tovar pitched in 1968, who was the only batter he struck out in the only inning he hurled in a big league game?

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Steve Carlton walked the first batter he ever faced and that was Cubs outfielder, George Altman.

If there ever was a player who could be called a "super utility player" it would have to be Cesar Tovar of the 1966 Minnesota Twins. It was his rookie year. There are plenty of name players who moved around the diamond including Dick Schofield, Denis Menke, Bert Campaneris and anyone who played on the 1962 Mets. As for Tovar he was so valuable he played in 134 games and batted 465 times, fourth highest on the team. The only players who came to the plate more often were Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Zoilo Versalles.

Tovar played four positions. He spent 74 games at second, 34 at short and 24 in the outfield including 20 in center field. He also came in the pinch (running and hitting) in seven more games. He did commit 14 errors but only a few compared to the 35 booted by Versalles who was coming off his MVP season.

So valuable was Tovar he earned the right to become a starter the following season. He only batted .260 in 1966, but just one year later he would finish 7th in the AL MVP race. That season he led the American League in Games, Plate Appearances and At Bats. So much for utility status, or was it? In 1967 he played 35 games at second base, 72 at third, nine at short and 74 in the outfield. Rarely had this kind of versatility been seen of a "regular" player and a "league leader."

When he retired after 12 seasons he had earned MVP votes in five of them. He also, at various times, led the league in doubles, triples, caught stealing, hit by pitch and in 1971 sat atop the AL with 204 base hits.

Oh, and in 1968 he was even the starting pitcher in a game. He went on to play every other position in that game becoming only the second player in MLB history to accomplish the feat. He did it against the A's and Campaneris. Campaneris was the other player to play nine positions in a game.

Tovar tossed one inning, walked one, struck out one and issued a balk. He got no decision. Now that is utility. Tovar died at age 54 in 1994. A moment of silence was requested that night at the Twins game in the Metrodome.

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