As I mentioned here recently, I loved the "John Adams" mini-series on HBO, so I watched all of the "Making of..." stuff on it. Tom Hanks, who is one of the executive producers, says something like, "We wanted to show people how difficult it was to live in this time."
Translate that sentiment over to baseball, and you have "When Boston Still Had The Babe: The 1918 World Champion Red Sox." It's a new book by a group of SABR members, and it exhaustively researches everyone who so much as played in one game for those World Series champs, the last Red Sox team to win it all prior to 2004.
What amazed me is just how different these players' worlds were. Yes, we know that players didn't make big money until the advent of free agency in 1976, but stilll. These guys would play exhibition games on off days, just to make a few extra bucks. They would play minor-league ball for years and years after their time in the majors, because it's not like they saved enough money to retire comfortably.
And it was an entirely different game, of course, since the Babe had yet to become a full-time hitter; he hit 11 homers in 317 at-bats and went 13-7 in 20 games on the mound. There was so little power in the game. There were no people of color in the game, either.
What this book made me appreciate more than anything was how futile it is to compare eras in baseball. Each has such a dramatically different context. That's why it's very valuable to have statistucs like ERA+ and OPS+, for they allow us to see how each player performed among his own contemporaries.
I happen to know one of the book's writers (there are roughly 30), Rob Edelman. Rob teaches fiim history at the University at Albany, and he has become a regular contributor to the "Pop Quiz" I run every week with my Seventh-Inning Stretch. Rob wrote about Lore Verne "King" Bader, who pitched in five games for those 1918 Sox. He would never pitch in the majors again.
Rob dug up countless details about a man who pitched a total of 22 games in the major leagues, including how he spent his final years (farming in Kansas). Bader died on June 2, 1973, and his funeral service was held at LeRoy's Mattingly Funeral Home. The proprietor was named Don E. Mattingly.
"The Bader piece took a couple of months of intense research," Rob e-mailed me, after I inquired how much work he put into this profile. "I love doing this sort of thing. During the next few months, I'll be writing similar pieces for SABR-produced volumes on the New York Mets and Brooklyn Dodgers."
I am a complete sucker for this kind of stuff. I love that there are people willing to invest so much time and effort to learn about players from the past, both distant and recent. If you're like me, I recommend this book (or, you could wait for the Mets and/or Dodgers books that are coming).
Of course, we all have the right to change our minds. And Sheff is the all-time major-league leader in changing one's mind.
Comments (22)
Ken, there is a reason that Nelson Figueroa is a journeymen pitcher. He has good starts, buy also bad starts like last night. Figueroa is a up and down pitcher. Pichers that pitch up and down are consistant.
Gary Sheffield always blames everybody but himself. The Brewers, Marlins, Dodgers, Braves and Yankees all got rid of Sheffield beacuse they were tired of his act. And when it comes to steriods, Sheffield basically is like Bonds and Clemens in that he unkrownly took steriods which everybody knows he did steriods.
I actually didn't think there was anything wrong with Figueroa's comments. Granted, they would have been received better had he won, and not walked 5, hit 2 batters and lost, but c'mon - did you see screw ball Dukes and crew in the Nat's dugout?! I have never seen anything like that. Even though I don't see anything wrong with Figueroa's comments, I recognize the better approach would probably be to simply plant one in Duke's back (then run away since he probably has a gun on him when he bats) and otherwise just take the next few games from them.
Joe C - as we have discussed here in the past, similar over the top celebrations are what the Mets did all last year.
It pains me to cite Chris Russo as a voice of reason on anything, but he said if someone hits a great return down the line to win a crucial set in tennis, tney can celebrate. But if they do it in the middle of a rout, it is classless.
Gossage has called out Joba for his mound actions. And planting a ball in the back (or in Reyers' case a leg) would have happened in our time. MLB made a huge error in its approach to discipline.
I hear what you're saying, and others may disagree, but what the Nats were doing was not a "celebration," over the top or otherwise. It was something different. What, exactly, I don't really know. In my eyes, their chant was one step removed from "we need a pitcher not a belly itcher." Something you might see/hear a little league team chant. Having acted like a bunch of softball girls, or little leaguers, how can we take exception to anyone, player or otherwise, simply calling a spade a spade?
As for over-celebrating etc..., I don't know. It's a matter of taste and interpretation, I guess. I don't mind the Joba or any releiver fist pumping etc... and carrying on after a big K or a batter admiring his work a bit after a blast. I'd actually like to see a batter scream and fist pump and go all Joba the next time someone takes him yard. What I do mind is someone like Gossage saying this is "not the Yankee way" or not how "the game is supposed to be played" etc... C'mon! What is the Yankee way? Did Gossage forget Reggie Jackson's multitude of 3rd inning curtain calls?
I will take exception to the 'softball girls" comment. My daughter plays softball and there is nothing like the Nats' behavior that happens there. Too bad Frank Robinson wasn't managing, as that crap would have ended quickly.
Gossage didn't like Reggie's behavior at all, but he and the other Yankees had to put up with it because Steinbrenner liked it.
Management can send the word to the players about what is appropriate behavior and what isn't. Most GM's and owners would probably encourage excessive celebrations, as it caters to the fans wishes.
Hey Bob Tufts
Quit stealing your posts from my column yesterday!!
Yes the Russo comment is Phil's - I thought that we couldn't mention the dead tree competition here!
Can you advise Ken on whether it is better to work for Murdoch or Dolan?
Any Mets calling other major league teams "unprofessional", with their history of being unprofessional, from curtain calls up 10 runs in the 80's (Knight, Carter, Strawberry)to Bobby Bo, Saberhagen and Vince Coleman in the 90s to the Reyes and Milledge antics the last couple of years, needs to be laughed at. Pot meet kettle, you reap what you sow.
For the past 3 decades because of their antics, the Mets have been one of the most despised teams in baseball by the other teams and players in baseball.
Phil Mushnick hates Mike Francesa and Chris "Mad Dog" Russo. He also hates John Sterling. Mushnick might as well come out and say that hates Francesa, Russo and Sterling, but he shows no guts in doing so.
Figueroa needs to look in a mirror. I don't mind if he was upset by the chanting, but to say "If that's what a last-place team needs to do to fire themselves up, so be it... They won tonight, but in the long run, they're still what they are... That's why they are who they are" is just way too much coming from a journeyman pitcher who had to go to Taiwan to get a job. If anyone is who he is, it's him -- and he's showing why he's bounced around the world.
I didn't think the chant was that big of a deal -- I kind of thought it funny and deliberately silly.
Agreed, and given his control issues he had every opportunity to handle it from the mound without fear of suspension.
Good blog today, Ken. I love the 1910-20 baseball era. It just fascinates me. The way society and the game interacted, the way players lived, the stadiums, the rise of the AL, the White Sox from 1915-20 (not just because of the Black Sox, but because of the many great players on the team), etc. Good stuff.
Dennis, I can't stand Francesa, Russo or Sterling either. All three are tied for being the worst in my opinion.
JoeC, I agree on Gossage. He should keep his mouth closed, smile and wave. Who the heck is he to be commenting publicly on Joba? The Yankee Way? Was fighting Cliff Johnson in the shower in 1979, falling and breaking his thumb and thus ruining the season for the team part of the Yankee Way?
Batters have displayed emotion after hitting homeruns for years. I don't see Joba's actions as being over the top at all. I also wouldn't care if he stopped displaying them. The Mets celebrations went on and on last year and took on the air of being bush. They were clownish.
I don't want a repeat of a Ray Chapman or Tony Conigliaro (although both were accidents) incident, but Bob Gibson-style strategies should be allowed today. But, alas, Bob Watson will have none of that.
There are several suggestions here that would benefit the game:
http://www.epiccarnival.com/2008/05/top-12-baseball-traditions-that-should.html
I loved what the Nats did and I loved Figueroa's reaction when he got out of the inning. I think its cool the players are so into the game that they are chanting. Sometimes I think most players dont give a crap. And I think I'm probably right.
As for Figueroa's response...that was great too. He glared at the bench and let them know he didn't like it. Nice to see he didn't call his agent and tell his agent to call Elija's agent. We need to see more passion in the game not less.
Re. Joba's celebrations, the game could definitely use a little more personality, bringing to mind the bigger-than-life, genuine act of Mark Fydrich of Goose's era.
The Bird was not trying to show anyone up on the field. His actions were merely quirky.
Give me the unbridled joy of George Brett - first to show up at the yeard, one of the last to leave - anyday. He played with passion and never was a showman. Can anyone remember what he did at home plate when he took Gossage deep in the 1980 playoffs?
"Look at me" is great, but I'd rather have "look at us" and a championship or two from the two NYC teams.
Great stuff, Craig. I strongly agree with #6.
Jim, unlike you, I love listerning to Mike and the Mad Dog. At least Mike and Chris tell it like it is. They don't hold back on anything. As for Sterling, I don't mind his antics, but he sometimes can go over the top on his call. Goose is just expressing his feelings about the game today not just Joba.
Dennis - My problem with all three of the radioheads is that they come off as being so full of themselves, and I don't think it's an act. I also question just how much they really know. I think Francesa and Russo merely repeat what they have read elsewhere. Russo has no real sources of information and Francesa's are limited. They shoot from the hip and get a lot of things wrong, but rarely if ever admit it. Sterling is just hard to take. Period. I don't mind the guy on Yankeeography. I just can't take him on radio for an entire game. He's a very annoying guy and a exceedingly sour sounding when the Yankees are losing.
I liked and like Goose. But, I haven't forgotten his act. The big stache, the staring, the stomping around the mound. I don't see anything wrong with what Joba is doing. But, if he stops it, I won't miss it.
The Yankees just lost 2-1 in 11 Innings against the Rays. How about the Yankees score some runs for once at least. The offense is killing the Yanks. Not having A-Rod and Posada hurts especially against leftys. We all talk about the pitching, but can the Yankees offense score some runs so that the starting pitching doesn't have pressure on them. The Yankees offense hasn't hit all year. By the way Goose also bought up the Mets dancing stuff form last year.
Dennis you are so right about the NYY offense. I don't think it is going to get better until A-Rod and Posada are in the lineup. It's amazing the team has won as many gams as it has. Two starters are on the DL and two others are batting under .200. Molina is at .203 and Ensberg is at .219. Two starters (Hughes and Kennedy ) have never won a game and are a combined 0-6.
I hadn't planned on reading this book sine the Boston Red Sox and their fans symbolize everything that is wrong in life. But it sounds interesting. Certainly the two books that came out recently on the 1908 season "Crazy 08" and "More than Merkle" are very well done.
Also in the whole Washington National team celebration nonsense, does Manny Acta get any blame for it? He is the guy Mets assistant GM Tony Bernazzard talks to for 45 minutes before a game. I don't care much about these celebrations one way or another, but if the Mets have a problem with it, shouldn't they talk to their former coach?