our national past time

Tris Speaker

2010-04-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

Once again if you love the game of Baseball and love and follow it's rich history than you need to know the name of Tris Speaker.

Tristram Edward Speaker was born April 4, 1888 in Hubbard, Texas. Speaker was one of the greatest offensive and defensive center fielder's in the history of the game. Speaker played for four teams in his Hall of Fame career; the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, and the Philadelphia Athletics. He is best well known for his days with the Red Sox and Indians though.

Growing up in Texas, Speaker was accustomed to riding horses. Once as a boy, Speaker suffered a fractured right arm in a fall from a horse, forcing him to throw left-handed, which he continued to do throughout his baseball career. In 1905, Speaker played his only year of college baseball, for Fort Worth Polytechnic Institute. His left arm was severely injured that particular year in a football accident, to the extent that surgeons advised amputation. Speaker refused, and fully recovered to become one of baseball's greatest hitters and outfielders, manager of a World Championship team, and the seventh member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

After playing in the minors for a year, Speaker was signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1907. He became the every day center fielder in 1909. A year later in 1910, Duffy Lewis and Harry Hooper joined Speaker in the outfield and they would form Boston's "Million Dollar Outfield", one of the finest outfield trios in baseball history. The three won two World Championships in 1912 and 1915 together, but were split up when Speaker was traded to Cleveland in 1916.

Speaker's best season as a Red Sox or any other year of his career came in 1912. Speaker played in every game, leading the American League in doubles with 53, and home runs with ten. He set career highs with 222 hits, 136 runs, 580 at-bats, and 52 stolen bases. He batted .383, a mark he would surpass three times in his career, but his .567 slugging percentage was the highest of his career. Speaker set a major league record when he had three batting streaks of twenty (30,23,22) or more games during the season. His Red Sox also won the pennant and World Series that year to top off his greatest season.

When Speaker was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1916 he basically became a player-manager of the club and was formally named this in 1919. The reason he was traded from Boston the year after he had led them to a championship is because he had a falling-out with Red Sox president J.J. Lannin, who wanted Speaker to take a pay cut from $15,000 to $9,000 after his batting average had fallen to .322; Speaker refused. On April 12, 1916 Lannin dealt Speaker to the Indians for Sam Jones, Fred Thomas, and $50,000. But Cleveland got a steal and four years later it would pay off with Speaker leading the Indians to a World Championship in 1920. Speaker played and managed the Indians for another six years and continued to be one of the best players in the major's during this time. Speaker finished out his career with one season in Washington and another season in Philadelphia, teaming up with Ty Cobb and Connie Mack.

In my opinion, Tris Speaker is the second greatest center fielder in the history of our national past time; behind only the greatest player in the history of baseball, Ty Cobb. Speaker could do any thing as a center fielder. He holds the record for the most unassisted double-plays turned by an outfielder. He would play shallower than any other center fielder with his toes just a few feet from the infield dirt, Speaker could than fly back when a ball was hit to the deepest regions of the outfield and make the catch like it was nothing. Speaker holds the fourth highest batting average in the history of baseball with a .345 lifetime average, behind only Ty Cobb, Joe Jackson, and Rogers Hornsby. Speaker needs to be appreciated more when it comes to naming the greats of the game. I hope you feel the same after reading this and remember the name of Tris Speaker.

The Cheapest Man in Baseball History

2010-04-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

If you have ever heard of "Shoeless Joe" Jackson and the 1919 Chicago "Black Sox" scandal, than the name of Charles Comiskey has probably come up.

Charles Comiskey in my mind was the dirtiest and cheapest owner in the history of our great game of Baseball. I believe if it wasn't for Comiskey, the Chicago White Sox would not of "thrown" the 1919 World Series and "Shoeless Joe" Jackson would currently be in the Hall of Fame.

Charles Comiskey was the owner of the White Sox from 1900 until his death in 1931. He had been a Major League ball-player and manager, but is best well-known for being the owner of the Chicago White Sox.

Comiskey's players hated him. He was notoriously stingy, his defenders called him "frugal" but it's safe to say Comiskey was a very cheap man. The stories of Comiskey's cheapness are famous. The White Sox actually got the name "Black Sox" before the 1919 World Series because Comiskey forced his players to pay to launder their own uniforms when the players refused Chicago sports writers named the team the "Black Sox" for their filthy unlaundered uniforms.

In an era when professional athletes lacked free agency, the White Sox's formidable players had little choice but to accept Comiskey's substandard wages. Even when ball-players around the Major's were not making very much money and most of Baseball's owners were stingy, Comiskey's White Sox were extremely underpaid compared to their contemporaries. Two of the White Sox best players in 1919, Joe Jackson and George "Buck" Weaver made only $6,000 a year. Eddie Cicotte, Chicago's best pitcher had been promised a $10,000 bonus if he could win 30 games in a season. When Cicotte closed in on the 30-game goal with his 29th win, Comiskey had him benched to keep him from reaching the mark. In one incident, Comiskey promised his players a bonus for winning the 1919 pennant, the "bonus" turned out to be a case of flat wine.

The "topper" for me is the $10,000 bonus promised to Eddie Cicotte. When Cicotte was asked if he wanted to "throw" a couple of games in the upcoming 1919 World Series for an amount of $10,000, I have to believe Cicotte would of never thought about it if he had received his promised bonus from Comiskey. The same goes for Jackson and the rest of the White Sox, they were all underpaid. This is not an excuse for the players to "throw" the Series but just the reason why they did. The reason being, Charles Comiskey; the cheapest man in Baseball history.

Eight World Series Championships?

2010-03-29T09:50:00.000-07:00

Being A Detroit Tigers fan it upsets me to see teams like the New York Yankees win championship after championship and add to their total of World Series victories from 26 to 27 this last season. It hurts because my beloved team the Tigers only have four, four glorious championships. But, my team the Tigers should in fact have eight championships. It's not a case of "woulda, coulda, shoulda" but just simply wishing my favorite baseball team was among the leaders when it came to total world championships.

   The Detroit Tigers are one of four charter members of the American League, dating back to 1901. They are a proud and historic franchise, who have won ten American League pennants (They're four for ten in the World Series).  The ten American League Pennants span the entire 20th century and even go into the present century that were in currently. The Detroit Tigers of Hughie Jennings, Ty Cobb, and Sam Crawford won three consecutive pennants in 1907, 1908, 1909 but lost all three World Series; to the Chicago Cubs in '07 and '08 and to the Pittsburgh Pirates in '09. The Tigers didn't deserve to win the title in both series against the Cubs, but the Tigers should of won the title in 1909. It would be Ty Cobb's and Sam Crawford's final World Series in their Hall of Fame careers.
   The Tigers faced off against the Honus Wagner led Pirates in the 1909 World's Championship and took game six in Detroit to tie the Series and play for the deciding game at Bennett Park in Detroit. The Tigers lost game seven 8-0, devastating the city of Detroit; who would not see another World Series played in their city until 1934. The thing that makes it so upsetting is that the Tigers lost a game seven on their own home soil. The same as it would be 25 years later when The same Detroit Tigers would play host to the "Gas House Gang" and the Dizzy Dean led St. Louis Cardinals in game seven of the 1934 World Series, played in Detroit again at Briggs Stadium.
   The only difference in '34 is that the Tigers had a commanding three games to two lead coming back to Detroit to wrap it up in game six or game seven. They didn't though, losing a heart-breaker in game six 4-3 and getting slaughtered in game seven 11-0. Again, losing a game seven on their own home soil. "The Tigers were the better team," Hank Greenberg said later in his life in 1983, "We would of beat the Cardinals 9 times out of 10, we just didn't play well throughout the Series." The Tigers would get their revenge though, a year later beating the Chicago Cubs to earn their first World Championship in 1935.
   The city of Detroit would only have to wait five years between visits to the World Series. The Tigers were back in 1940, playing against the Cincinnati Reds for the right to be called "World Champions." This time the Tigers had a three games to two lead going back to Crosley Field in Cincinnati to wrap up the win in game six or game seven. Again, the Tigers didn't get it done. In game seven they had a 1-0 lead as late as the 7th inning, but Tigers pitcher Bobo Newsome couldn't hold the Reds scoreless losing game seven 2-1. The Tigers would be back in the World Series again in 1945, beating the Chicago Cubs in 1945, but to Tigers Hall of Fame second baseman Charley Gehringer the loss hit hard. "That final game against the Reds in the 1940 World Series was the most bitter loss in my career, I've never been so disappointed for the city of Detroit. I felt like we let them down."
   Finally, the Tigers should of won their 8th total championship in 2006 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Not only were the Tigers favored to win the Series, but the Tigers were a team of destiny. A team of destiny cut short because of an awful seven day lay off forced upon them by Major League Baseball and by just pure bad luck. While the Tigers sat and waited for their opponent to be decided, they lost their "mojo" and became too rested. Baseball players are use to playing 162 games a season, with maybe one day off a week. The 2006 Tigers had to wait seven full days for their next game after sweeping the Oakland Athletics in the ALCS. They were punished for taking care of business too soon. A 95 mph fastball looks like a 135 mph fastball, after seven full days off. The Tigers were literally not in the swing of things, after the long lay off. If the Tigers would of played St. Louis one or two days after the ALCS, the Tigers would of destroyed the Cardinals and captured their eighth World Championship (four championships in real life).
   I don't mean to sound bitter, but I love this team so much and I want the Tigers to be recognized as one of the greatest franchises in the history of Major League Baseball, because they are one of the greatest franchises in the history of Major League Baseball. 1935, 1945, 1968, 1984, Ty Cobb, Hank Greenberg, Charley Gehringer, Al Kaline, Norm Cash, Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Miguel Cabrera, and Justin Verlander prove that. The Detroit Tigers have some of the richest history in the game of Baseball and should be honored for that. I am honored to be a Detroit Tigers fan.

The greatest season a pitcher ever had

2010-03-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

"Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen, my friend, there's no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood." Walter Johnson
In 1912, the ace of the Boston Red Sox, Smoky Joe Wood led his team to a World Series victory over John McGraw and the New York Giants. Along with the championship, Joe Wood accomplished in my opinion, the greatest single season a pitcher ever had.
Joe Wood grew up in Ness County, Kansas, just out side of Kansas City, Missouri. Smoky Joe joined the Boston Red Sox in 1908 at the age of 18. Wood had his breakthrough season in 1911 in which he won 23 games, compiled an earned run average of 2.02, threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns and struck out 15 batters in a single game and also struck out 23 batters in an exhibition game that season. Wood earned the nickname "Smoky Joe" obviously because of his blazing fastball. Wood once said, "I threw so hard I thought my arm would fly right of my body."
The season in which Wood will always be remembered though, is his magnificent season of 1912. Wood had a win-loss record of 34-5, an E.R.A. of 1.91 and struck out 258 batters. He also led the American League in shutouts (10) and complete games (35). The accomplishment that really sticks out though, was his tying of Walter Johnson's record of sixteen consecutive victories, which is significant because Wood had to beat Johnson in order to get the record.
On September 6, 1912 with his Red Sox in a pennant race, Wood faced off against Johnson in a pitching duel at newly opened Fenway Park. At the time, Wood had a 14-game winning streak and Johnson had recently had his own 14-game winning streak snapped. The papers of the time hyped the match up like a heavyweight title fight, comparing height, weight, biceps, triceps, arm span, and whatnot. Wood remembered, "Fenway park must have contained twice as many people as its seating capacity that day. I never saw so many people in one place in my life. In fact, the fans were put on the field an hour before the game started, and it was so crowded down there I hardly had room to warm up. The fans were siting practically along the first-base and third-base lines. We were sitting on chairs right up against the foul lines, and the fans were right behind us." Boston Hall of Fame right fielder Harry Hooper said "That was probably the most exciting game I ever played in or saw." Johnson and Wood dueled to a scoreless tie through five innings, when with two outs in the sixth, Boston's Tris Speaker doubled to left on a 1-2 count and Duffy Lewis knocked him in with a double Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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wn the right-field line. Wood only gave up two hits and with his Red Sox winning the game 1-0, had won his sixteenth straight victory.
Just as exciting a game happened a month later when Wood's Red Sox met the New York Giants in the historic deciding game of the 1912 World Series. After seven close games, one more game was needed because of a tie in game three and now Wood would meet future Hall of Famer Christy Matthewson in the deciding game eight. Smoky Joe matched Matthewson inning after inning with the game going into extra innings. In the tenth, Fred Merkle got to Wood knocking in a run with a single. But in the bottom of the tenth, Clyde Engle, pinch-hitting for Wood, hit an easy fly ball to Fred Snodgrass in center field, and Snodgrass dropped the ball. Given new life, the "Snodgrass Muff" cost the Giants as Speaker and Larry Gardner each knocked in a run to overcome the 1-run deficit. Wood and the Red Sox won the game 3-2 and the series four games to three. For Wood, the game was his third win in the series against one loss. He also struck out eleven batters in game one, becoming the first pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts in a World Series game.
Sadly, the 1912 season was Wood's last great season. The following year, Wood slipped on wet grass while fielding a bunt from Ty Cobb in a game against the Tigers. He fell and broke his thumb, and pitched in pain for the following three seasons. Although he maintained a winning record and a low E.R.A., his appearances were limited as he could no longer recover quickly from pitching a game. For all intents and purposes his pitching career was over. Wood was sold to the Cleveland Indians in 1917 and rejoined his teammate Tris Speaker there, but only played as a mediocre position player.
Over the years, pitchers throughout the great game of Baseball have had wonderful seasons; such as Bob Gibson in 1967 and 68 and Denny McClain in 1968 and of course Sandy Koufax in 1964. But in my opinion none can compare to the season Smoky Joe Wood had in 1912. The Red Sox won the World Series in 1912, but for only Wood and Tris Speaker did not have that many great players on this team. (as they would later in the decade,1915,16,18.) The players that were on this team did not have great seasons either. Wood carried the pitching staff and the team, the Red Sox would not have won the Pennant if it was not for Smoky Joe. He literally won games by him-self, pitching complete games and driving in the games only run in multiple games in 1912.
In reading this, I hope you the reader can gain a sense of appreciation for the great Smoky Joe Wood and form your own opinion on whether I am correct in believing that this was the greatest season a pitcher has ever had. If you do not agree with my opinion, at least you now know who Joe Wood was and what a great season he had in 1912. Most importantly though, you now know who has the greatest nick-name in Baseball history, Smoky Joe Wood.

John McGraw

2010-03-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

"After 30 years of continuous services, John Joseph McGraw has resigned as Manager of the New York Giants. At the age of 59 Mr. McGraw steps down because of failing health, with his Giants in last place. Mr. McGraw was a product of the old school of Baseball, when fist fights were common, when red liquor was sold at all the parks, when only ladies of questionable social standing attended the game. To the end he was faithful to his truculent creed. The last official act he performed as Manager of the Giants was to file a protest with the league against Bill Klem, the umpire." Joe Williams, New York World Telegram, June, 4 1932.
If you are a Baseball fan you should know the name of John McGraw. In this day and age it is understandable that every Baseball fan might not know who McGraw really was, mainly because he retired from managing almost eighty years ago. John McGraw was the greatest manager in the greatest era of our great game, the game of Baseball. McGraw managed for over 33 years but also had a great career as a player for over ten Major League seasons.
As a player McGraw was one of he standard-bearers of Major League Baseball in the dead-ball era of the 1890s. Known for having fists as quick as his temper, McGraw used every advantage he could get as a player and later a Manager. He took full advantage of baseball's initial structure that only provided for one umpire, becoming notorious for tripping, blocking and impeding a base runner in any way he could while the umpire was distracted by the flight of the ball. These tactics of Mcgraw may have led to additional umpires being assigned to monitor the base-paths. McGraw played for the old Baltimore Orioles of the American Association and a year later the Orioles moved to the National league in 1892. McGraw was a third baseman for the Orioles for eight seasons while the team won four National League Championships. His career on-base percentage of .466 remains third all time behind only Ted Williams(.482) and Babe Ruth (.474). His life time batting average is .334. Although McGraw was a great player and would of made the Hall of Fame as a player alone, he is most well known as a manager.
His total of 2,763 victories ranks second all-time behind only Connie Mack who happened to manage for over 50 seasons; he still holds the National League record with 2,669 wins in the senior circuit. In his book The Old Ball Game, Sports Illustrated writer, Frank Deford calls McGraw, "the model for the classic American coach, a male version of the whore with a heart of gold. A tough, flinty so and so who was field smart, a man's man his players came to love". Managing the New York Giants from 1902-1932, McGraw won ten National League pennants, three World Series championships and had 11 second place finishes while posting only two losing records in all of those years. McGraw led the Giants to first place each year from 1921-1924, becoming the only National League manager to win four consecutive pennants. McGraw is second all time with a total of 131 total ejections. Bobby Cox set the record as the Atlanta Braves manager in 2007. McGraw was inducted in to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937; his plaque stated that he was considered the greatest assessor of baseball talent. McGraw died in 1934 two years after he retired as manager of the Giants. He was mourned by all as the greatest manager of all time. After his death, his wife found among his affects a list of all the black players he secretly wished he could of hired over the decades, but was unable to because the Majors were not integrated until 1947.
In reading this blog I hope you the reader now knows who John McGraw is and has an appreciation for Mr. McGraw as the greatest baseball manager of all time.

Ty Cobb love-fest

2010-02-16T17:05:00.000-08:00

"Baseball is a red-blooded game for red-blooded men. It's no pink tea and mollycoddles had better stay out. It's a contest and all that implies; a struggle for supremacy; a survival of the fittest." Tyrus Raymond Cobb.
In my opinion Ty Cobb was the greatest Baseball player of all time. You can compare his career and stats to any other player throughout the history of our great game. Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Josh Gibson, even up to today's players like Albert Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez, no one comes close. One of the greatest managers of all time Casey Stengel once said " I never saw anyone like Cobb. No one even came close to him as the greatest ballplayer. Ruth was sensational. Cobb went beyond that. When he wiggled those wild eyes at a pitcher, you knew you were looking at the one bird no one could beat. It was like he was superhuman." From the time Cobb got his first hit against Jack Chesbro of the New York Highlanders (presently the Yankees) and turned it into a double scoring two runs, he batted .300 23 consecutive years. That's insane! Show me another player who has done that in any era. In 11,434 at bats Cobb only struck out 357 times. That's dumb founding. Willie Mays (Ernie Harwell's all-time greatest player) had 10,881 career at bats and struck out 1,526 times. There's no comparison. But this isn't just a blog comparing stats between great ballplayers. This is a Ty Cobb love-fest. When Mr. Cobb retired in 1928 after playing 22 out of his 24 big league seasons with the Detroit Tigers he owned 83 Major League Baseball records. There's no comparison.
I believe generations of baseball fans have been brain washed by east coast writers and media, namely in New York and Boston; that Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays were the greatest. Why? Because they're New York and Boston players and everyone likes there own. I'm not saying they were not great players, because they were. I'm just saying Ty Cobb beats all of them. There is no comparison. I might sound like a conspiracy theorist with my brain washing idea, but look at Ken Burns PBS Baseball documentary. It glorifies the fore mentioned three and demonizes and vilifies Cobb. Why? Ken Burns is from suburban Boston and every intellectual writer/scholar he has comment in his documentary is from New York or Boston with the exception of George Will and Shelby Foote (there from Southern Illinois and Mississippi, respectively). But they all have an east coast/New York, Boston bias. They like their own. It was the same in the early 20th century with the two greatest pitchers of the era. Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators and Christy Matthewson of the New York Giants. The New York writers were obsessed in making Matthewson out to be the better pitcher, when in fact Johnson was the better of the two. The only mark against Johnson was he played in Washington instead of New York. It was the same for Cobb, if he had played in New York or Boston instead of Detroit, he would be immortalized in elementary school text books like Ruth is today.
Cobb had his problems in society, but so did Ruth. It's just the New York writers covered up Ruth's immoralities and did not when it came to the great Cobb. Cobb is known as a racist, and he probably was, but so was 99% of everyone that grew up south of the Mason Dixon line at that time. Ruth was a womanizer and a pedophile, sleeping with countless underage girls. But womanizing is socially acceptable. I'm not defending Cobb's racism one bit, it was disgusting. But I want it to be known that over 700 African-American kids in Georgia have gone to college for free because of Ty Cobb's scholarships for high school students in rural Georgia. Babe Ruth didn't leave behind a scholarship fund. But this is not an essay on Baseball morals though. This is an essay on why Ty Cobb was the best. Cobb was the best because he played with every fiber in his body to succeed. He had to fight and claw his way to the top and he did just that. That's one reason I respect him so much. "I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me...tried every dirty trick to cut me down. But I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch." Cobb said. When asked why he fought so hard in Baseball Cobb replied, " I did it for my father, who was an exalted man. They killed him when he was still young. They blew his head off the same week I became a major-leaguer. He never got to see me play. Not one game, not an inning. But I knew he was watching me... and I never let him down. Never." You have to respect that, at least I do. No other Baseball player in any other era dominated his sport the way Cobb dominated the game from 1905-1928. The man hit .420 and has a lifetime batting average of .367 with 4,190 hits and 897 stolen bases. "Ty Cobb was the most volatile, the most fear-inspiring presence ever to appear on a baseball field. His equal is not likely to come along again." said Cobb biographer Charles Alexander. Cobb was the greatest. Cobb is Baseball and Detroit should be proud to call him our own.