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Monday, May 2, 2022

The Crazy Mixed Up White Sox

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Ryan Lerman of Coral Springs, FL, who correctly answered the reason Orlando Cepeda didn't play the last four games of the 12 game win streak in 1966 was because he got traded to the Cardinals whom he'd just blasted. 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:   What was the title of Jim Brosnan's highly touted book? 
 
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: 
The reason Orlando Cepeda didn't play the last four games of the Giants 12 game win streak in 1966 was because he got traded to the Cardinals. The Cards evidently got tired of seeing him drive in runs against them.

If ever there was an "interesting" mix of youngsters and aging veterans on a team playing above their skill level, it was the 1963 Chicago White Sox. For a team with 94 wins and a second place finish, there was one statistic which stood out if for no other reason it shows how goofy this team was. Outfielder Dave Nicholson was second on the team in strikeouts to starting pitcher Gary Peters. Yep, Peters struck out 189 batters. Nicholson struck out 175 times!

     (1960 Interview with Nellie Fox)

The 23 year old Nicholson tied for the team lead in homers with 22. He tied Pete Ward. Ward also hit .295. Nicholson didn't come close at .229, but he also tied for third with RBI, trailing both Ward and Floyd Robinson who did it with only 13 homers. Ronny Hanson and Jim Landis also each homered 13 times. Three guys with 13 homers sounds like a lot of bad luck to me.

Of course the Sox had the ever present Cam Carreon behind the plate batting .274 and having his best season. The catcher was just about to embark on what would become a journeyman career. The following season he was replaced by J.C. Martin.

It was 22-year old Tommy McCraw and 35 year old Nellie Fox sharing the right side of the infield both hitting around .260. McCraw also tied for the team lead in stolen bases as he and Al Weis had 15 thefts. The bench included five more guys who had reached their 30's, and two more who were yet to reach 23. A 22 year old Ken Berry was in that group. He'd eventually become one of the best defensive players in the AL.

The pitching staff was solid and again mixed. Peters, Juan Pizarro and John Buzhardt were all 26-year old starters with Ray Herbert the oldest starter at 33 and Joel Horlen coming into his own at 25. The old man of the staff of course was 40 year old Hoyt Wilhelm. Jim Brosnan was hanging on at 33 while it was a 20 year old Bruce Howard and 22 year old Fred Talbot who would become solid major league players. 

The club battled all year long but it was another NY Yankee season. Even closing out the season 15-4 the Sox would not overcome the 10.5 game lead New York had piled on. Still 94 wins was a major accomplishment. 

The following season, with basically the same team, the White Sox actually improved to 98 wins but still finished second to the Yankees. In 1964 they gave Chicago fans hope, finishing just one game back of New York. Gone was Fox, while Bill Skowron came aboard, Wilhelm turned 41, Brosnan retired and Nicholson still led the hitters in strikeouts but he did cut them down to 126. This time, however, four pitchers out did him. 

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, April 26, 2022

The Streaking Giants of 1966

 

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Bob Ibach of Chicago, IL, who correctly answered Jimmie Hall and Pete Cimino were the other players the Angels got in the Dean Chance for Don Mincher trade. 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:   Orlando Cepeda led the team with 13 RBI during the Giants 12 game winning streak but didn't play in the last four games. Why? 
 
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: 
 Jimmie Hall and Pete Cimino were the other players the Angels got in the Dean Chance for Don Mincher trade. 

 Anytime a team rolls off a dozen wins in a row, it's an amazing feat. When the team defeats Bob Gibson twice, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen in a third of those victories and sends Sandy Koufax to the showers in the second inning, that is something else again. Case in point; the San Francisco Giants April 30-May 13, 1966. And the man who most benefited from the victorious run was Juan Marichal who won three games during the stretch.

Marichal was at the top of his game in 1966, finishing the season with a 25-6 record for an MLB leading .806 winning percentage, 2.23 ERA and a best in the Majors WHIP .859. He also completed 25 of 36 starts and struck out 222 batters in 307 innings.

 While Marichal was great, Gaylord Perry was even better. While Marichal bested Drysdale and Art Mahaffey of the Reds, it was Perry who beat Gibson twice, 2-0 and 4-2. Perry was also pretty awesome that season, finishing 21-8 2.99 in 255 innings. He added three shutouts, one against the Cardinals in the streak. Perry gave up just four hits, Gibson only three. One of Gibson's however was a blast by Len Gabrielson which provided all the Giants needed.

During the streak Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda and Jim Ray Hart were the hitting stars. Mays blasted four homers, Hart and McCovey had three and Cepeda had a pair but drove in 13 runs in the 12 games. 

The streak almost came to an end against the Pirates when Steve Blass held the Giants to one run in 10 innings. The Bucs couldn't score more than one and the game went to the 15th when Gabrielson again brought the winning run home with a ground ball out. The Mets ended the streak finally.  When it was over the Giants were 22-7 and leading the NL by 4.5 games. They would finish second to the Dodgers.




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. 
    

Monday, April 18, 2022

The Angels Search For A First Sacker

 

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Tim Nathan of Berkley, MI, who correctly answered Gaylord Perry was on the mound when Tommy Davis broke his ankle.. 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:   When the Angels traded Dean Chance for Don Mincher, they got two other players in the deal. Who were they? 
 
ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: 
Gaylord Perry was on the mound when Tommy Davis broke his ankle.

In the mid-1960's the Los Angeles Angels were desperately searching for their first baseman of the future. In 1965 they were sort of content to hang on through the season with a pair of 37 year old aging veterans while the search continued. Joe Adcock and Vic Power were at the end of their careers. Both had long track records and good ones, but the Angels were a team hoping to make a move and with developing youngsters and a solid pitching staff the club wanted to improve and develop. All three came with impeccable credentials. All three would fail miserably with time out for a hot streak or two. 

Costen Shockley, one of the cooler names in MLB, was a school boy wonderkid who at 6'2", 200 pounds came to the Angels via a trade with the Phillies. The deal sent playboy Bo Belinksy (a player who had more fun, than wins at the major league level) to Philadelphia for the left handed slugging Shockley.


In the minors Shockley batted .360, .335 and in 1964 smashed 36 minor league home runs. The Phils thought he was ready. He started seven games but hit only .207 with one home run and was shipped back to the minors. At the end of the season he was sent to the AL.

In 1965 he started 30 of the 40 games he played but again failed to hit, batting only .187. He came to the plate 107 times registering 20 hits. The Angels wanted the youngster to go back to the minors for more seasoning and were sticking with Adcock and Power. Shockley refused and instead retired from the game. He went back home to Delaware, worked in construction, coached youth baseball and raised his family. 

His 28 MLB hits included two doubles, three homers and 19 RBI. It wasn't enough to get him to stick in the bigs, but it was enough to get him inducted into the Delaware Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in 1998. 

Before Shockley the Angels tried a player who was seven years older; Charles Henry Dees. Dees came out of Alabama and was also a left-handed thrower and batter like Shockley. At 6'1" he was much lighter at 173 pounds. He came out of the Negro Leagues were he played in 1957 before signing with San Francisco.
Another stalwart in the minors, he had three .300 plus seasons and led the Texas League in 1962, batting .348 with 23 homers and 115 RBI. A TL All-star he was sold to the Angels. The Giants already had Willie McCovey and Orlando Cepeda competing for time at first base and there was no room for Dees. 

The Big Club called him up early in the 1963 season and on May 26th in his first at bat he smacked a double off the A's Orlando Pena, picking up an RBI when Billy Moran came around to score. Over the next 20 games it looked like the Angels found their first sacker. He hit .382 and became the starter at first. It didn't last long. He fell into a long slump and by the end of July was back in the minor leagues. He was hitting .281 when they sent him back down.

He was back up again in September and again went on a hot streak. He had six games with at least two hits and four times had three-hit games. He would finish his rookie campaign .307 in just over 200 at bats.

The 1964 season however was a complete turnaround. Starting less than a handful of games and used as a pinch-hitter the first couple of months he had only a pair of hits, batting .077. He was sent on loan to the Houston organization. He ended up back in the Angels system where he had his biggest success and took off again. He hit .377 at El Paso of the TL, and got another chance to return to the big leagues. After 12 games and a .156 BA he was sent back down where his career ended in 1966.

From the time Moose Stubing signed as an 18 year old first baseman back in the mid 1950's, it was clear he could hit. By the time the Angels called him up in 1967, he had slugged 192 minor league homers with a lifetime BA of .283. In 1964 in the friendly confines of the ballpark in El Paso, he slugged 35 homers, drove in 120 and batted .316. The Angels were salivating over the prospects of the 26 year old. By 1967 he was ready, or so it seemed.

The 1967 season was a big one for the Halo's who were in contention right down to the wire. However, by now they had found their slugging first baseman; Don Mincher. You can see Mincher's career in the video below. Mincher would hit 25 homers during the season but they hoped Stubing would provide some insurance down the stretch.

The Moose came to bat five times and struck out four, failing to register a hit. His major league career was over at age 29. At least as a player. Years later he was offered a chance to manage in the Angels system and was named Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year in 1982 and won the championship in 1984. In 1988 he got the chance to manage the big club when Cookie Rojas was fired. He managed the final eight games of the season, losing all eight.

Stubing became a scout for the Angels and later the Nationals. He died January 19, 2018. Don Mincher's career is seen in the video below.

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.