1961- Jim Gentile’s career year

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A few posts I posted a trivia question of sorts.  Who came in third in the 1961 MVP voting after Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.  My only hint was that this player had superior BA/OBP/SLG than Maris, the winner of the award. 

The answer, easily looked up of course, is Jim Gentile. 

Kudos to DonS who texted me the answer the next morning.  It took him two tries (his first was Norm Cash, a good guess).

In some ways, Gentile was a one-year wonder.  His 1961 season was phenomenal.  He had more runs, doubles, homers, rbis, walks than any other season in his career.  The same goes for his batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Jim Gentile’s career stats

Year Tm G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG
1957 BRO 4 6 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 .167 .286 .667
1958 LAD 12 30 0 4 1 0 0 4 0 4 6 .133 .235 .167
1960 BAL 138 384 67 112 17 0 21 98 0 68 72 .292 .403 .500
1961 BAL 148 486 96 147 25 2 46 141 1 96 106 .302 .423 .646
1962 BAL 152 545 80 137 21 1 33 87 1 77 100 .251 .346 .475
1963 BAL 145 496 65 123 16 1 24 72 1 76 101 .248 .353 .429
1964 KCA 136 439 71 110 10 0 28 71 0 84 122 .251 .372 .465
1965 TOT 119 345 36 84 16 1 17 53 0 43 98 .243 .337 .443
1965 KCA 38 118 14 29 5 0 10 22 0 9 26 .246 .305 .542
1965 HOU 81 227 22 55 11 1 7 31 0 34 72 .242 .352 .392
1966 TOT 82 191 18 41 7 1 9 22 0 26 57 .215 .321 .403
1966 HOU 49 144 16 35 6 1 7 18 0 21 39 .243 .355 .444
1966 CLE 33 47 2 6 1 0 2 4 0 5 18 .128 .212 .277
9 Seasons 936 2922 434 759 113 6 179 549 3 475 663 .260 .368 .486
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/18/2009.

 

He certainly was no slouch in the couple seasons surrounding his 1961 campaign.  But anyone expecting the production they got out of him in that year was surely disappointed.

Coghlan, Bailey are 2009 Rookies of the Year

Rookie of the Year is always such a tenuous award.  Sometimes it’s given to a solid steady but unspectacular player (*cough* Bobby Crosby *cough*) who had the luck of not getting hurt his first year in the majors. 

This year’s winners??  Outfielder Chris Coghlan of the Marlins and reliever Andrew Bailey of the A’s. 

Our own Teddy Ballgame (who knows more about the young talent in the majors than I ever will) did his predictions of the Rookie of the Year award in mid September.  He wrong on both counts but I’ll give him credit.  His pick, Elvis Andrus both placed second in the voting in the AL.  As for his pick of Dexter Fowler??  Well… he barely made a showing, getting one third place vote.

Both votes were close especially the Reds’ J.A. Happ who came within 11 votes of Coghlan. 

Coghlan batted .321 in 128 games with 84 runs scored and a pretty impressive .390 on-base percentage.  As for Bailey (who by the way, our guest poster Shawn Lee DID pick as the Rookie of the Year in the midst of his Cy Young Predictions… nice call, Shawn!), he saved 26 games for the A’s with a 1.84 ERA.  He also had a tasty BB/K ratio at 24/91.

The last reliever to win the ROY in either league was

Kazuhiro Sasaki in 2000.

Good luck next year, Teddy.

2009 MLB Rookies of the Year

roy625nov162009Back in the middle of September I was assigned the task of predicting who would win the rookie of the year awards.  Now two months later the winners were announced, Oakland A’s reliever Andrew Bailey in the American League and Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan.  I had predicted Rockies outfielder Dexter Fowler in the NL and Rangers SS Elvis Andrus in the AL.

In 2008 the A’s converted Bailey from a starter to a reliever in AA Ball in 2008.  Andrew immediately experienced success in the bullpen, carrying that success over into the 2008 Arizona Fall League, and on into the 2009 regular big league season.  He finished the season with 26 of 30 saves, a 6-3 record, a 1.84 ERA, with 91 strikeouts & 49 hits allowed in 83′ innings, and was Oakland’s lone All Star representative.

Chris Coghlan also enjoyed a conversion that enabled him to star in the big leagues, the former infielder was moved to leftfield.  He brought his bat out to the outfield with him, batting .321 with a .390 OBP, with 31 doubles, 6 triples, & 9 home runs, as the Marlins leadoff hitter.

Elvis Andrus, my choice for AL Rookie of the Year, the Rangers 21 year old shortstop out of Venezuela, finished 2nd in the balloting behind Bailey.  Elvis batted .267, with 33 stolen bases, 72 runs scored, & 128 base hits, with a very impressive range factor in the field of 4.86.  Right on the heels of Andrus was Detroit’s 20 year old righthanded starting pitcher Rick Porcello (14-9 & 3.96 ERA).  The 6’9″ Tampa Bay’s righthander, Jeff Niemann (13-6 & 3.94) was next, he was 17-0 with a 1.70 ERA as a Junior in 2003 with Rice.  Then came The Sporting News choice for Rookie of the Year, the White Sox very own, thirdbaseman Gordon Beckham (.270, 28 doubles, 14 homers, 63 RBIs).  Rounding out this crop of AL rookies was another pitcher from Oakland, southpaw Brett Anderson (11-11, 4.06 ERA, & 150 strikeouts in 175′ IP).

Closely behind Coghlan, over in the Senior Circuit, was The Sporting News choice for NL Rookie of the Year out of the University of Northwestern in Evanston, IL, Philadelphia’s lefthander J.A. Happ (12-4 & 2.93).  A distant 3rd was Atlanta’s phenom righthanded starting pitcher Tommy Hanson (11-4, 2.89, & 116 K’s in 127″ IP).  The Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen wasn’t far in back of Hanson, batting .286, 26 doubles, 9 triples, 12 homers, 74 runs scored, to go along with 22 steals, while playing a very good centerfield for the Buccos.  Next up the Brewers thirdbaseman Casey McGehee received some love, .301, 20 doubles, 16 homers, & 66 RBIs.  Interestingly six other rookies received very little support in their quest for league’s top rookie honors.  They were Randy Wells of the Cubs (12-10 & 3.05), Pittsburgh slugger Garrett Jones (21 HRs & .293), Padres SS Everth Cabrera (25 SBs & 59 runs), my choice Dexter Fowler Colorado outfielder (73 runs, 27 SBs, 29 2Bs, & 10 3Bs), Diamondbacks outfielder Gerardo Parra (.290, 21 2Bs, 8 3Bs, 60 RBIs), and last, but not least, Cardinals centerfielder Colby Rasmus (22 2Bs & 16 HRs).

Zeile is the Only Player to Homer for 11 Clubs

zeile1Todd Zeile has homered for more clubs (11) than any other player in the history of baseball: St. Louis – 75, Cubs – 9, Baltimore 5, Philadelphia 20, Dodgers – 38, Texas – 30, Florida – 6, Mets – 41, Colorado – 18, Yankees – 6, and Montreal – 5.  He hit a grand total of 253 long balls, his first as a member of the Redbirds in 1989 and his last in 2004 with the New York Mets.

48 years ago: Roger Maris 1961 MVP

roger-maris This week 48 years ago, Roger Maris got his second consecutive MVP award.  The year was 1961 and was, of course, when he hit 61 homeruns. 

Yankee teammate Mickey Mantle came in second place in the voting.  He almost overcame Maris in the voting (202-198).  The stats WERE close. Maris (.269, 61 HR, 142 rbis. Mantle .317, 54 HR, 128 rbi)

For the $64,000 question, who came in 3rd in voting?  Try not to use your Google-fu before answering.  He wasn’t TOO far behind Maris and Mantle in votes and actually had a higher batting average, on-base percentage AND slugging percentage than Maris.

Here’s the answer

Instant Replay a non-issue at the GM meeting

Looks like baseball’s general managers weren’t interested about expanding the role of instant replay in baseball.  The topic wasn’t even brought up during their annual meeting on Tuesday.

"There are those who clamor for more and more instant replay," said Jimmie Lee Solomon, MLB executive vice president of baseball operations, "I think we need to digest what we’ve got. I know some (general managers) have talked off-line about the expansion of instant replay, but the commissioner (Bud Selig) doesn’t see any reason to consider it."

Good on them, I say.  Even if you favor the system, it’s too soon to rush into it because a few umps made some bad calls. 

Thoughts on the 2009 Gold Glove Awards

The 2009 Gold Gloves were presented the other day.  Generally speaking, what struck me was this.  With an award that used to be awarded so traditionally, only two winners have more four to their credit.  Outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Torii Hunter both have nine Gold Glove Awards on their mantle.  In case you’re wondering, they’re 6th on the all-time list for outfielders (they have six more to go to catch Roberto Clemente).

Some thoughts on a few of the Gold Glove award winners:

Ryan Zimmerman finally got his Gold Glove.  The cynic in me says that he finally hit well enough to deserve the award.  He hit better than David Wright who somehow got it the past two years.  Zim led the NL in assists and was 2nd in putouts.

While Jimmy Rollins won the Gold glove for shortstop, my vote would have gone to Troy Tulowitzki.  Tulo was in the top two in the league in fielding percentage, putouts, zone rating, total chances, and assists.  Rollins had the advantage of leading the NL in fielding percentage, an overrated stat, in my opinion. 

I’m a big Orlando Hudson fan.  Let’s get that out of the way.  But I was a bit surprised when he got the award this year.  It was his fourth one of his career but last year, due to his injuries, Brandon Phillips took it away from him.  Baseball is such a game of tradition.  Despite his deserving it, I wasn’t sure if the coaches would give it back to him.

I’ve been critical of Derek Jeter’s glove work in the past but word has it his fielding has really taken a turn for the better.  That and a slightly weak (Orlando Cabrera excluded) competition, Jeter deserved it this time.

Outfielder and Pitcher Gold Gloves… almost irrelevant in most cases.  in the cases they are relevant, they get ignored for those who are good with the stick. 

NL Gold Glove Award winners

AL Gold Glove Award winners

1959 Go-Go White Sox

HIST new 150yrp187a.jpgIt’s been fifty years since the White Sox won the AL Pennant in 1959, when Mayor Richard Daley the 1st set off the fire sirens, sending some people into a panic, but not White Sox fans.  I was only three years old, so I don’t remember my team winning the pennant or subsequently being defeated by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series that year, but I have had many sleepless nights wondering why Manager Al Lopez didn’t use Billy Pierce against LA, a question Lopez never answered to his dying day.

But this was a happy time, the Go-Go White Sox featuring Little Luis Aparicio at shortstop, Nellie Fox at second, Sherm Lollar behind the plate, & in centerfield was Jim Landis, talk about strong up the middle defensively, no team was better.  Speed, pitching. & defense made this team go.  Aparicio was the AL leader in stolen bases from 1956-64, stealing his alltime high of 56 in 1959.  It still strikes me as funny, when a friend ran into Luis many years later, and asked, “How many bases would you steal today?”  Luis responded, “Not very many.  I’m very old”.  Pitcher Early Wynn won the AL Cy Young Award that year with a record of 22-10.  Youngster Bob Shaw experienced his best year finishing with an 18-6 mark.  Lefty Billy Pierce had a disappointing record of 14-15, but had won 20 games two of the three previous years, and alot of his losses in 1959 were due to poor run support.  Then there was 9-10 Dick Donovan.  Before good bullpens became a must, the White Sox had a good one, Turk Lown (9-2 15 saves) & Jerry Staley (8-5 14 saves).

The White Sox finished the season with 94 wins, five more than the Cleveland Indians, winning 47 on the road & 47 on the road, their record was 35-15 in one run games, and 12-3 in extra inning ballgames.

In Game #1 of the World Series at Comiskey Park, the Southsiders pounded the Dodgers & Roger Craig, for an 11-0 win behind 5 Ted Kluszewski (a late season pickup) ribbies and the shutout pitching of Early Wynn.

Charlie Neal hit two homers accounting for three runs off Bob Shaw, Chuck Essegian hit a solo shot off Shaw to account for another Dodgers run off Shaw, as the Dodgers won game two 4-3 behind Johnny Podres & Larry Sherry, it looked like it would be another laugher as Podres surrendered two first inning runs, but then came back to work the next five innings without allowing another tally.

The 3rd game was at the Coliseum in LA, over 92,394 fans in attendance.  Dick Donovan was matched up against Don Drysdale.  Drysdale allowed 11 White Sox hits, the Sox stranded 11 runners, had three runners thrown out trying to steal by catcher Johnny Roseboro.  In the 7th inning of a scoreless game pinch hitter Carl Furillo came through with a two out two RBI basehit off reliever Jerry Staley.  Then in the top of the 8th Al Smith hit into a doubleplay with the bases loaded and nobody out off reliever Larry Sherry, the Sox scored their only run on the play.  The Dodgers would add a run in the eighth and hold on for a 3-1 victory.  Even though Donovan didn’t allow a run, where was Billy Pierce?

The Dodgers scored four runs off Early Wynn in the 3rd inning, sending Wynn to the showers Early (allthough my heart is breaking, I couldn’t resist).  Billy Pierce faced only 11 batters over three innings, no runs, keeping the Sox in the game, was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 7th, Chicago scored four in the 7th after two outs to tie up the contest, an RBI single by Big Klu and a three run poke by Lollar.  But then in the bottom of the 8th Gil Hodges hit a monster shot to left off Staley, which turned out to be the game winner, 5-4, and the LA had a 3-1 Series lead.

92,706 fans were on hand for the last game in Los Angeles, looking to win the Championship, if not the Series would return to the Southside of Chicago, which is the baddest part of town (again, my apologies, I crack myself up).  Sandy Koufax was matched up against Bob Shaw.  The Sox scored a 4th inning run to take a 1-0 lead when with runners at the corners and nobody out Sherm Lollar hit into a doubleplay.  Shaw, along with relief help from Donovan, would make it stand up for a 1-0 victory.

Duke Snider hit a two run homer off Wynn in the 3rd to give LA a 2-0 lead at Comiskey.  Then the Dodgers exploded in the 4th inning for six more runs off Early & reliever Donovan.  A 4th inning three run big fly off the bat of Kluszewski cut it to an 8-3 game, after a walk to Al Smith, Podres was lifted for reliever Larry Sherry.  Sherry pitched 5 2/3 innings in relief to seal the deal and notch the win in the Series clincher.

Luis Aparicio, .308 average in the Series, only stole one base in the Series, the White Sox stole only 2, getting caught 3 times (I guess speed can go into a slump), while the Dodgers pilfered 5 bases.  Ted Kluszewski hit three home runs, drove in ten (5 in game #1), and batted .391.  Nellie Fox batted .375.  While Bob Shaw was 1-1 with a 2.57 ERA, working 14 innings.  Early Wynn didn’t seem to have it after the first game, finishing with a 1-1 record, and a 5.54 ERA.  Billy Pierce didn’t allow a run, working only four innings in relief.

Reliever Larry Sherry was the star of the World Series for the Dodgers, working 12 2/3 innings, 0.71 ERA, with two wins, & 2 saves.  Don Drysdale scattered 11 hits over 7 innings in his only start, allowing only one run, picking up a win.  Charlie Neal was on fire in the series, hitting two home runs, while batting .370 & knocking in six.  Gil Hodges hit a red hot .391.  Pinch hitter Chuck Essegian, who’d only homered once in the regular season, hit two pinch home runs in the World Series.

Even though losing the World Series to the Dodgers was tough to take, it was a bittersweet moment in Chicago White Sox history, because at least the White Sox won the Pennant.

AFL Rising Stars Game Has Me All Stoked

yonder alonsoBefore watching the Rising Stars Game last night on the MLB Network, I really didn’t know what I was going to see on my trip to Arizona.  After seeing a sampling of the talent out there, my bags are packed, & I’m stoked.

The Cincinnati Reds are going to have a tough decision at firstbase.  Joey Votto played there for the big club, batting .322 with 25 homers & 84 RBIs, he’s arguably their best hitter.  But their best hitting prospect is Miami’s Yonder Alonso.  Alonso posted big numbers at Miami, hitting .370 with 24 long balls in only 211 at bats, walking 76 times, while striking out only 35 times.  Last night he demonstrated his line drive swing, going 3 for 4, with a double, 2 ribbies, although he did K.

Another hitter in the Reds system, batted cleanup in the game, Chris Heisey, an outfielder, was the 504th player chosen in the 2006 draft.  He played at Messiah College, is from Lancaster, PA, and was signed after a tryout.  He got the scoring going for the West with a first inning home run off Tommy Mendoza, then later in the game added a double.

19 year old shortstop Starlin Castro of the Chicago Cubs was 2 for 3 in the game, showed great speed, seems to have baseball instincts, and should move Ryan Theriot over to secondbase in the near future.

Speaking of 19 year old shortstops, the Red Sox had Cuban prospect Jose Iglesias in this game and although he looked overmatched it was obvious the talent this kid possesses.  He should follow in the footsteps of Nomar Garciaparra & Hanley Ramirez, both out of the Bosox system.

One pitcher who didn’t have it was Atlanta’s Mike Minor, a first rounder out of Vanderbilt, 2/3 IP, 7 hits, 7 runs, & 1 walk, he was hit HARD.  The lefty was on Team USA, was the ace of the staff, and allowed only one unearned run in 12 1/3 innings versus Cuba, he was dominant.

Another pitcher who didn’t look good was Daniel Moskos of the Pittsburgh Pirates, taken in the 1st round in 2007, 2/3 IP, 4 runs on 5 hits, he got ROCKED.  Moskos is another soft throwing lefthander in the Buccos tradition of Zack Duke, Tom Gorzelanny, & Paul Maholm.

ASU’s Mike Leake showed some STUFF, working one inning, allowing one hit, and striking out three.  The Reds drafted this kid in the first round of the 2009 draft.  The AFL is his first experience in pro ball, he was 16-1, with a 1.71 ERA, and 162 strikeouts in 142 innings for the Sun Devils this past season.

LA’s own Danny Gutierrez brought his own cheering section, it seemed to help as the kid struckout the side in his one inning on the bump.  Danny was selected in the 33rd round of the 2005 draft by the Kansas City Royals.  Now this 6’2″ righthander out of Riverside Community College is pitching in the Texas Rangers organization.

There are so many more prospects that I could tell you about, but I have to save something for my trip out west, really looking forward to it, can’t you tell?!?!  Oh, BTW, the West Stars beat the East Stars, 8-7 on a late Matt McBride two run dinger, but none of that really matters.

AFL Rising Stars Game on MLB Network Tonight

desmeThe Arizona Fall League has six teams composed of young up & coming baseball players from all 30 major league teams.  Tonight the MLB Network will broadcast the AFL Rising Stars Game at 7:00 PM Chicago time.  Stephen Strasburg was supposed to start for the East, but will be replaced by Tommy Mendoza, Strasburg has a strained neck muscle.  Mike Minor will be on the hill for the West.  One of the Rising Stars is power hitting centerfielder Grant Desme of the Oakland A’s.  Desme hit 11 home runs at Kane County before being promoted to A+ Stockton, where he hit another 20 home runs in 2009.  Grant has already hit ten more long balls in the Fall, while batting .354.

I’ve been going to the valley of the sun the past four years to watch baseball prospects before they reach the big leagues.  Last year I saw AL Rookie of the Year Chicago White Sox thirdbaseman Gordon Beckham and phenom righthander of the Atlanta Braves Tommy Hanson.  It’s also fun to hang with major league scouts there to take in the action.  I’ll be out there again soon, reporting on baseball, possibly with a podcast, or two.