The Baseball Zealot | The Baseball Zealot

Old Timer Moose

I know I’m getting up there when Mike Mussina is a guest at an Old-Timer’s Game.

Livan Hernandez playing infield?

Yes, the Mets’ are suffering from injury issues in a bad way but has it come to this?

Manager Jerry Manuel is considering using pitcher Livan Hernandez as a position player if other options don’t present themselves.

In the meantime, the Mets will have to get by with just three position players on their bench. They could release Tim Redding to make room for another position player, but if they don’t, Manuel said he could use Livan Hernandez as a pinch hitter or a corner infielder if he runs out of options on the bench.

Hernandez certainly can handle himself with the bat and has done so throughout his career. He has a career batting average of .229 with 9 homeruns. In 2004, the year he won the Silver Slugger award, he collected 10 rbis.

Livan is up to the task:

I want to do it," Hernandez said. "That’s my dream — to play one day at one position. I’ll play anywhere."

That said, injuries and all, I can’t imagine there’s not a better solution. I know one APBA manager in my APBA league who’s paying rapt attention, though.

Sunday baseball: the history of blue laws

I was searching around Google the other day and sorta got off track on what I was REALLY looking for as I’m prone do. The advantage of that is I tend to learn a lot. This time I picked up on the topic of blue laws and how they affected the sport of baseball. Man, how things have changed!

First, let’s start with a general definition of blue laws for the whippersnappers out there who aren’t familiar with the concept of blue laws.

Straight from Wikipedia:

A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping. Most have been repealed, have been declared unconstitutional, or are simply unenforced, although prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages, and occasionally almost all commerce, on Sundays are still enforced in many areas. Blue laws often prohibit an activity only during certain hours and there are usually exceptions to the prohibition of commerce, like grocery and drug stores. In some places blue laws may be enforced due to religious principles, but others are retained as a matter of tradition or out of convenience

As to blue laws’ relevance to baseball, there were many cases where they were enforced to stop games on Sunday. It has been reported that as of 1906, five times that games took place on Sunday and the players or managers were arrested for violating the local code.

What were the particular reasons? The Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society web site has a very extensive article on “The Fight for Sunday Baseball in Philadelphia” (very well worth the read for those interested in the topic). According the article, legislators in the state assembly passed a law way back in 1794 was an Act for the prevention of vice and immorality, and of unlawful gaming, and to restrain disorderly sports and dissipation” on the Lord’s Day.

This law and more strict ones that were to follow influenced those who enforced these what were to be more commonly known as the “blue laws”.

Philadelphia is a good case study for the blue laws and how they affected the sport of baseball. According to PAHS, it wasn’t until 1934 when a legal game of baseball was played on Sunday. The other pro ballclubs were a little more lenient.

Professional Ballclub Cities and the Year Sunday Baseball was Legal

Chicago	1902
Cincinnati	1902
St Louis	1902
Cleveland	1918
Detroit	1918
New York	1918
Washington	1918
Boston	1929
Baltimore	1932
Philadelphia	1934

Professional ballclubs (and those in the East) weren’t the only ones who were affected by blue laws. While not widely publicized, it took its toll on minor leagues as well. The Nebraska Minor League website also has a good article detailing the history of playing games on Sunday. By the early 1900s, Nebraskan teams were being arrested for playing on the Sabbath. Some were playing knowing full well they were going to be arrested.

In 1903, a decision went to the Nebraska state supreme court. The court affirmed the earlier decision that made Sunday illegal.

Bit by bit through the mid 20th century, the blue laws were taken off the books. It wouldn’t surprise me though if some laws were still lingering on today, forgotten and just not being enforced.

Just something to think about as you’re about to sit down to watch some Sunday Baseball.

PS I found this humorous. There’s a vintage baseball team called the Winona Blue Laws. Clever.

Wasted power?

Playing around with Baseball Reference’s Play Index today, I decided to see which hitters were hitting the long ball but not driving in so many runs. Here are the five batters from the first half of 2009 with the lowest rbis totals with at least 15 homeruns.

Batter RBI HR

    1 Chris Davis        33 15  
    2 Troy Tulowitzki    37 16  
    3 Jay Bruce          41 18  
    4 Hank Blalock       42 19  
    5 Curtis Granderson  43 18

Here is the full list with all stats.

Granderson gets a bye here since he primarily leads off but the others need a better excuse.

No surprise here. We find batters with low batting averages (Bruce-.207) or worse a low batting average AND a high strikeout rate (Davis- 114 Ks and a .202 BA).

As for Tulowitzki, his .164 average probably accounts for his low rbi total.

Just for kicks, if I dial the homerun requirement down to 10, here are the results:

Batter RBI HR

    1 Josh Willingham    26 12  
    2 Ken Griffey        26 10  
    3 A.J. Pierzynski    27 10  
    4 Mike Jacobs        30 12  
    5 Scott Hairston     31 11

Again, the full list is here.

Some surprises here. I wouldn’t have expected to see Josh Williamham (.304) on this list though playing for the Nats could account for this. Griffey and Jacobs both are having sub-par years in their other stat categories (ok, maybe sub-par is the wrong term to use… Jacobs is having about the year we would expect).

AJ is hitting .299 playing for relatively offensively-minded team. He is hitting .226 with RISP. Not good but at the same time but four of his 10 homers have come in this situation. Strange.

If you’re wondering, Alfonso Soriano comes up #8 on this list with 33 rbis on 14 homers.

And to add some historical perspective, I cranked up some all time Wasted Power numbers. This time I took the homerun requirement up to 30. So here is the top ten list of the lowest amount of rbis for any batter who hit 30 or more homeruns:

Batter RBI HR

    1 Rob Deer           64 32 1992   
    2 Felix Mantilla     64 30 1964   
    3 Hanley Ramirez     67 33 2008   
    4 Brad Wilkerson     67 32 2004   
    5 Chris Young        68 32 2007   
    6 Brook Jacoby       69 32 1987   
    7 Alfonso Soriano    70 33 2007   
    8 Jose Valentin      70 30 2004   
    9 Rocky Colavito     72 30 1966   
   10 Mark McGwire       73 32 2000

Full list here

Like Granderson, last year’s Hanley Ramirez and 2007’s Alfonso Soriano can be excused because their managers deemed them fit to lead off instead of using their power in a more useful spot.

Otherwise, you find hitters I would expect. Rob Deer. Mark McGwire in his waning days. Jose Valentin who loved to swing. Bad Brad Wilkerson who struck out 152 times in 2004. Oh yeah, there’s Chris Young again.

I’ll probably revisit this topic at the end of season and see how the numbers how they’ve changed. By the way, if you haven’t tried out Baseball Reference’s Play Index and you like goofing around with baseball stats, give it a try. It does cost a little but it’s worth a bit in my mind.

2009 All-Star Game: from a fan who remembers when the NL used to be good

Thirteen proved to be an unlucky number for the National League as once again, they need to wait another year. The American League defeated them 4-3 Tuesday in a tight game decided by good bullpen pitching and clutch hitting.

Bleacher Report live blogged the whole affair if the want all the details in its sordid glory.

A few of the subplots:

SI’s Ben Reiter wonders if MLB and St Louis just maybe over-exposed, over-used and quite frankly tired out Albert Pujols before the game even started.
When Ichiro met the President, you can (thankfully) throw out the script book.
As was expected, FOX’ broadcast of the All-Star game pretty much dominated the night as per the Nielsen ratings.

Overall, FOX averaged an estimated 12.32 million viewers to go with a 7.5 rating/13 share. NBC’s 5.7/10 was second, topping the 4.8/8 for CBS. ABC’s 2.7/5 and The CW’s 0.5/1 trailed.

2010 is a new year and a new decade. I can feel a NL victory… maybe.

Update: just to prove that you can use stats to prove any point, while FOX’ ratings WERE better than any in their slot, they did slip a bit from last year. Down 4% from last year’s game.

Does Triple-A Cub catcher Robinson have a chance to make it to the bigs soon?

I’m trying to find a silver lining in the dark cloud that surrounds the catcher situation in the Cubs’ clubhouse. Piniella’s quote, "We’re not scared of using Fox.", does not inspire confidence.

If there is indeed a silver lining, it would be that perhaps it might give Triple-A Chris Robinson a shot at the majors.

Robinson, who plays for the Iowa Cubs and hails from my alum, the University of Illinois, would certainly be qualified. He just was named to the PCL All-Star team and is hitting the ball well (.317). Robbie is known as a very good defensive catcher.

I’ve seen Robinson play. Yes, he can hit (not a lot of HR but plenty of gap power) but what I was impressed with in his college days was his leadership skills, how he took charge of a game and how he handled the pitchers.

And the Cubs certainly could use a catcher like that at least in the interim while Soto is on the DL however long THAT will be.

Bleacher Nation has some thoughts on the Cubs’ catcher situation. Their coming away with the idea that the Cubs are probably going to look elsewhere to solve their backstop problems in the meantime.

But Robinson was always noted as a defensive catcher, and he just happens to be hitting this year. Certainly the Cubs aren’t expecting a great deal of offense out of a backup catcher (see the current starter, Koyie Hill), so why the diss of Robinson? It’s really hard to figure.

Perhaps the answer is that the Cubs aren’t just looking for a temporary backup catcher. Maybe they’re hoping to land a temporary starting catcher who can become a backup when Soto returns. That would explain the looking around, though it, too, would be a bit strange given Hill’s excellent handling of the staff, if not excellent hitting.

Time will tell. Most importantly, we’ll need to find just how bad Soto’s oblique strain really is and how long he’ll be out for. No doubt, those who really need to know, probably already have a good idea.

And more than likely, Robbie will get some more time to season in Triple-A before Chicago decides what to do with him.

Go West, Delino DeShields

Credit: WaPo

I was just forwarded this interesting WaPo piece on Delino DeShields. After falling off the face of the earth, he’s back in baseball as a hitting coach for the Billings Mavericks.

Things are bit different for Delino in Big Sky country:

“It ain’t the A-T-L, that’s for sure. Billings is all cowboy hats and wide-open spaces, ranchland and large wildlife. It’s the biggest city within a 350-mile radius, which says more about what’s within that radius than about Billings’s own size. And according to the 2000 U.S. Census, African Americans make up about one-half of 1 percent of the population — or precisely 494 folks from a total population of 89,847.

"I’ve seen a couple," DeShields says, laughing. "Let’s just say: I don’t think they were natives."

It’s a good piece. Check it out.

Strange Cub injuries

Here’s a mildly interesting slideshow of Strange but true Cubs injuries in recent history.

…brought to by none other than KPLR-11 TV based in, you guess it, St Louis.

The timing is impeccable.

Pujols vs Chicago: Is he a Cub beater?

With the upcoming Chicago St Louis series almost upon us, let’s take a look at how Albert Pujols has done against the Cubs.

As it is, Pujols has played pretty much the equivalent of a near-full season against Chicago. He has 503 at-bats and 590 plate appearances versus the good guys.

How has he done?

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
138	503	92	147	25	1	39	104	6	4	72	59	.292	.385	.579	.963

A pretty solid “year” I’d say though I will point out his averages are all down from his total career numbers. Still nothing to sneeze at. And that homerun figure of 39? That’s the highest number he’s hit against any opponent. NL Central opponents Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Houston are all very close, though. Milwaukee, however has only surrendered 26 to Albert.

For what it’s worth, his Wrigley numbers are .282/.369/.563.

What the hell did Dave Engle do anyway?

Last night when Andruw Jones popped up and struck out in his last two at-bats, Ranger skipper had some nice words to say about him (emphasis mine):

"I saw Kirby Puckett do some great stuff. I saw Dave Engle do some great stuff. Matter fact, I saw Mickey Hatcher get nine hits in a row — nine straight in three straight days,"

LOL, Whut??

Dave Engle?

I’m familiar with Engle, a backup catcher/utility man, who lasted nine years despite not really doing a whole lot. He had a couple 400+ at bat years and actually made the All-Star team in 1984 (here’s an actual scan of Toledo Blade article proving it) but after he left Minnesota in ‘85, he bounced from team to team not even garnering 100 at-bats.

But I wasn’t aware of Engle doing anything newsworthy (other than being the brother-in-law of then fellow Twin Tom Brunansky)… something that we would remember over 20 years later. Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.

He did go on to become a hitting coach in the majors to once again prove that those cannot do, teach. Except that he didn’t do that very well either and got fired.

So if anyone knows the answer to the mystery, speak up. I’m dying to know.