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Sunday, January 14, 2024

The Long Lost Long Relief Game

 


TRIVIA WINNER:  The city where Billy Martin played in the minor leagues and managed in the big leagues was Oakland, CA. Billy Fraser of Las Vegas, NV had the correct answer. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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. Please put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: In 1961 The Reds lost the World Series but came back with a pretty good year in 1962 where Frank Robinson led the team in homers with 39. Who finished second on that club in homers that 1962 season? 

The biggest change from 1960s MLB to today's game is in the pitching department. Today a club carries half a dozen pitchers who may pitch as long as one full inning. In the bygone era of the 60s, it wasn't crazy to see a reliever go three innings. Hal Woodeschick was one of those guys who had a reputation of going even longer when needed. In fact, he was a member of the 1963 NL All-Star team most likely based on his performance in a game which took 4:46 minutes to play. 

It was June 2, 1963. The "long" reliever for the Houston Colt 45's was called on to be a master of long relief and was rewarded for his efforts. The game at County Stadium in Milwaukee featured the powerful Braves and the barely born Houston club. Just over 8,000 fans packed the stadium for a club which was searching for a new home. Finishing 9th out of 10 teams in attendance the Braves would draw far fewer than a million fans on the season.  

The Braves would hit 204 homers this season but this game saw none by Milwaukee which featured Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Joe Torre and Lee Maye in their lineup along with Mack Jones. Denny Lemaster started against Bob Bruce. Both pitchers were masterful with the Colts scoring one in the second and the Braves their lone run in the third. That was it until inning no. 17. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.

Bruce was masterful through 11 innings, allowing only one run on eight hits. Lemaster matched him pitch for pitch going 12.2 innings giving up only seven hits and striking out 10. He did walk seven and gave up the game's only home run to Carl Warwick.  

In the 12th inning, manager Harry Craft called on Woodeschick to replace Bruce. Three times over the next six innings the Braves went 1-2-3. Only in the 15th did the ace reliever get into trouble and it wasn't his fault. Bob Uecker pinch-hit and sent a ground ball to third which aging  Johnny Temple muffed.  Maye grounded into a force out and advanced to second on a passed ball (Jim Campbell couldn't handle it) with Mathews at the plate. Woodeschick struck out Mathews looking, intentionally walked Aaron and got Torre to ground out. Inning over, no runs.

In the top of the 17th after Ron Piche struck out both Temple and Howie Goss, Warwick singled. Rusty Staub singled putting runners at first and second. Campbell and Al Spangler both singled  driving in runs as the Colt 45's led 3-1. That was all Woodeschick needed. After a lead-off single to Roy McMillan in the bottom of the 17th, he got Maye, Jones and Mathews to earn the win. 

His stat line read six scoreless innings, allowing two hits, striking out three and only one walk which was intentional. A masterful performance and what did the power hitting top four in the line-up of Maye, Mathews, Aaron and Torre do that game? They went a combined 0-24! 

Woodeschick would have other solid years moving forward. This one he tossed 114 innings with 1.97 ERA. This was the first year he was converted to a full time reliever, having been a starter and swing man through out his previous big league years. Starting in 1963 he never started another game. It was worth it as he became an ace reliever, even leading the league in Saves with 23 in 1964. He retired after the 1967 season.

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

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 books after reading this column.
  

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.

 

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Billy Martin - the Well Traveled

JUST A NOTE AND A THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU WHO WONDERED WHERE WE WERE FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS. DUE TO COVID (AFTER 4 YEARS I FINALLY GOT IT) AND THE HOLIDAYS, I DECIDED TO TAKE TWO WEEKS OFF. THE FIRST TWO WEEKS SINCE WE STARTED IN 2017. THANK YOU BUT WE ARE BACK UP AND RUNNING NOW.
 

TRIVIA WINNER:  Clem Labine was the pitcher who was a teammate of Dick Groat and Don Hoak on the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers and the 1960 Pirates. Glenn Schubert of Bradenton, FL had the correct answer. The Prize: Starbucks Gift Card.

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. Please put your mailing address in with the answer so if you win we can send you the gift card in the mail.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Billy Martin only played a few seasons in the minor leagues. Which minor league city did he call home as a player and which he would later be a big league manager? 

If you grew up in the the 1970's and 80's you remember the battles between Yankee manager Billy Martin and team owner George Steinbrenner. It was constant. Hiring, firing, hiring, firing and eventually firing for good. Even baseball aficionados rarely remember Billy Martin, the player.

Even his baseball cards conjure up a rare player. His 11 years in the big leagues featured six trips to the World Series, although he didn't play in the first one. All were with the Yankees by the way and in 1956 he made the AL all-star team. He never led the league in anything but did come close twice in leading the AL in errors committed. Once at second base, the other at shortstop.

He was an average  hitter, batting .257 lifetime and never hitting better than ,267 although in one abbreviated season he did bat .300 but only in 20 games. He only belted 28 home runs in his career but did average 53 RBI per season. 

Let's face it, Billy Martin was the epitome of average. But he was a hard nosed average. The daily come to work guy who was an occasional spark plug in the Yankee lineup. He was as they say "fiery." It was, as the word implies, explosive, which led to his run-ins with the owner, and others such as Reggie Jackson. 

Billy Martin was an enigma. He could spark a victory while the next day crumbling into disaster. He played for seven teams in 11 seasons including spending the first seven with the Yankees. It went like this; New York to Kansas City, Kansas City to Detroit, Detroit to Cleveland, Cleveland to Cincinnati, Cincinnati to Milwaukee, Milwaukee to Minnesota and the end of a career as a player. 

In all 28 players were involved in trades involving Martin, plus Martin. The only "names" among them were Ralph Terry and Don Mossi. The rest were basically of the caliber of Lou Skizas, Billy Consolo and Tom Morgan. He wasn't an atrocious fielder but he did make 109 errors in 11 seasons, which isn't really all that bad.

Perhaps his best fielding season was 1953 when he was involved in 121 DP's and fielded .985. It was his best season at the plate as well, clubbing 15 homers, .257 and 75 RBI. In the World Series against Brooklyn he had 12 hits in 24 AB's to bat .500 and drove in eight runs, in helping New York beat the Dodgers in six games. 

Still, it's not what Billy Martin will be remembered for. Rather it will be his firings and hirings and run-ins as a Yankee manager. But perhaps that was Martin's lot in life. After an initial stay he was with 7 teams in 5 seasons. Sort of like his stints with New York as a manager.

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

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 books after reading this column.
  

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.