Baseball in the 1960's

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

The Awful 1961 Phillies

FIRST; I want to offer an apology to my readers. For some reason, four of the episodes of my new Podcast got posted to this blog. Perhaps it's because I do them under the same files but it should not have happened. Sorry about that. That being said here is a link to the podcast which is about former Senators pitcher, Don Rudolph and his burlesque queen wife, Patti Waggin. It is a 12 episode podcast which we'd like you to listen to and enjoy. Go to the website and on the home page click on the "free podcast" box which takes you to the podcast. Click HERE.

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Jack Webster of Derry, NH, who identified the answer we were looking for; Dick Bosman. 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. Please enter via brillpro@gmail.com and please put your mailing address in with the answer so we can send you the gift card in the mail.

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: Dick Bosman received MVP votes for the 1969 Senators.

EDS NOTE; Since we are trying to expand our mailing list and readership we want to build our mailing list. Readers on our email list receive the column each Monday directly into their mailbox. Please help us out by sending your email to brillpro@gmail.com. We DO NOT SELL your emails.

NOTE; At the top right 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.

NOTE; THERE WAS NOT COLUMN LAST WEEK AS WE TOOK CHRISTMAS WEEK OFF.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Which member of the 1961 Phillies would eventually go on to have a 20-win season with the club?

How bad were the 1961 Philadelphia Phillies? Winning just 47 games, it was the low point of the 1960s for this once proud club. They were mostly young guys, with a few aging stars. Johnny Callison was only in his third full season. HOFer Robin Roberts at 34 would actually have much better seasons ahead.

Roberts finished 1-10 as mainly a starting pitcher. Having won 20 games multiple times in his past, he would go on to play five more seasons and win 52 more games. However, his low point in his career was 1961. He pitched 117 innings and had a horrible 5.85 ERA.

Only one player on the team batted as high as .277 and that was 24-year old Tony Gonzalez. He also smacked 12 homers which was third highest on the club but not by much. Pancho Herrera had 13 while Don Demeter led the club with 20. Demeter was not a full time starter. He also led the team in RBI with 68. Callison led Philadelphia with 20 doubles, 11 triples and batted .266.

The oldest player on the club was Elmer Valo at 40, the youngest Paul Brown at 20 but he only appeared in five games. Most of the players ranged from 23-27 years old with a speckling over and under that age group.

The main starters were a combined 33-89. The team ERA was 4.61 with only two pitchers under 4.00 and the low man was Don Ferrarese at 3.76 picking up 5 wins in 17 decisions. The other was Jack Baldschun at 3.88 in strictly a relief role.

The team did have some future stars aside from Callison. Gonzalez went on to a fine career as did Wes Covington and pitcher Chris Short. It was a year manager Gene Mauch would like to have back as would the 590,000 fans who went thru the turnstiles to watch their Phillies finish in 8th place in an eight team NL.

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.
brillpro@gmail.com
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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my Amazon page or at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA.

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Thank you to those of you who purchased my books after reading this column.

Monday, January 2, 2023

First Season Expansion from Worst to Almost Worst - Mets vs. Sens

TRIVIA WINNER: Congrats to Charles Van Horne who identified the answer we were looking for; Roy McMillan was the starting shortstop for the Braves until Denis Menke came along. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

ANSWER to the Trivia question in the previous column: When Denis Menke became the starting shortstop for the Braves he replaced Roy McMillan.

NOTE; At the top right 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.

NOTE; THERE WAS NOT COLUMN LAST WEEK AS WE TOOK CHRISTMAS WEEK OFF.

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In 1969 which Senators starting pitcher received MVP Votes?

When expansion came to the major leagues at the start of the 1960's most of the focus was on the National League where the New York Mets debuted and would go on to become the losing-est team in major league history. While the Mets were floundering in the NL, over in the AL the team representing the nation's capitol was holding court with equal risk.

The Washington Senators proved to be as inept as their counterparts in government. While the Senators on Capitol Hill were struggling with a changing population and an explosion of an advancing America, the Senators on the ball field were just trying to find a way to win a game.

In an unusual situation the two leagues expanded in consecutive years. The Senators opened their franchise playing in 1961. New York would have to wait until 1962 to see the Mets try to replace the NL Giants and Dodgers who had moved on four years earlier.

While the Mets would lose 120 games under Casey Stengel in the first season, the Senators would lose 100 under Mickey Vernon. New York was saddled with players who would never reach the plateau they so wanted in the bigs. Names such as Elio Chacon, Charlie Neal, Rod Kanehl and Choo-Choo Coleman would send as much fear into the opposing pitching staff as would the Senators Gene Green, Coot Veal, Willie Tasby and Billy Klaus.

Each team had it's fading stars. Gil Hodges, Richie Ashburn, Frank Thomas, Roger Craig and Clem Labine were big time players in the 1950's. So were Dale Long, Danny O'Connell, Dick Donovan and Mike Garcia who twice won 20 games with Cleveland.

The fact would remain of the young players on those two rosters only two players, one from each team, would have much of a future as it were after the 1962 season. The Mets Ed Kranepool, a top and highly touted signee would only play in 17 games in the clubs inaugural season and bat .167. He would be a member of the 1969 Amazing Mets World Series winning team. Big Ed would hit .261 in parts of 18 seasons and drive 118 of his hits into the bleachers.

On the AL side, the Senators had a 21 year-old left-hander named Claude Osteen. Osteen only pitched 18 innings, starting three games and splitting two decisions. His ERA was 4.91 but he showed promise. Signed by the Reds in 1957 he was traded in September of 1961 to Washington for Dave Sisler. He would pitch well enough for the cellar dwelling Washington club but he was a key figure in a much bigger trade in 1964.

The Senators sent him along with John Kennedy and $100,000 to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a player to be named later, Frank Howard, Ken McMullen, Phil Ortega and Pete Richert. The Dodgers sent Dick Nen (December 15, 1964) back to Washington to complete the trade.

Osteen would go on to win in double figures nine times for the Dodgers, twice winning 20 (1969 ad 1972) and won a total of 196 games. He was a much better pitcher than his 195 losses would indicate. In the World Series he fashioned a five-hit shutout against the Twins in Game 3 of the 1965 classic.

When the dust had settled on those first seasons few players would stick around. Garcia who won 142 games in his career failed to win even one for Washington and retired after the season. Gene Woodling, Washington's best hitter at .313, was sold to the Mets halfway through the 1962 season. After the season Washington's home run leader with 18, Gene Green was traded to Cleveland in a four player deal for Jimmy Piersall.

In New York, while Jay Hook lost 19 games, Al Jackson and Roger Craig both lost 20. Craig dropped 24, Jackson lost 20. Not to feel too bad about the opening season, Craig hung around and lost 22 the following year. Jackson would wait until 1965 to duplicate the same season with a record again of 8-20.

Mets Slugger Frank Thomas had his second highest homer total with 34, one shy of his final year in Pittsburgh in 1958. He hung around a couple more seasons while Ashburn's only season with the Mets was his last one and a good one at that. The former Phillie Wiz Kid batted .306, retired and later became a broadcaster. He even stole 12 bases at age 35.

Through the clubs first four years the Mets would drop 452 games. The Senators during the first four years lost 407. Such ineptness may never be seen again. By the time the 1972 season rolled around the Senators would leave Washington for the friendly confines of Arlington, Texas, having never won more than 86 games. They closed out the decade in 1969 with the clubs only season where they won more than they lost, finishing with a .531 winning percentage.

Followers

Tuesday, January 10, 2023

The Awful 1961 Phillies

Monday, January 2, 2023

First Season Expansion from Worst to Almost Worst - Mets vs. Sens