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Top 30 most memorable baseball moments: #21-19
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Moment 21: Willie Mays makes “The Catch” in deep center field during Game 1 of the World Series on Sept. 29, 1954.
Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He ended his career with 660 home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. He had a .274 average, 68 RBI and 20 homers (in 121 games) in his first MLB season, and won the 1951 Rookie of the Year Award.
On September 29, 1954, during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds in New York, Mays made a memorable defensive play called “The Catch”.
With runners on first and second, Cleveland’s Vic Wertz crushed Don Liddle’s pitch approximately 420 feet to deep center field. In many stadiums the hit would have been a home run and given the Indians a 5-2 lead. However, this was the spacious Polo Grounds, and Mays, who was playing in shallow center field, made an on-the-run over-the-shoulder catch on the warning track to make the out. Having caught the ball, he immediately spun and threw the ball, losing his hat in characteristic style. The runner on second base, might have been able to score the go-ahead run had he tagged at the moment the ball was caught; but as it was, he ran when the ball was hit, and then had to scramble back to retag and only got as far as third base. The Indians didn’t scored a run that inning.
Moment 20: Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in World Series history in Game 5 on Oct. 8, 1956.
As a member of the New York Yankees from 1955 through 1959, Larsen was used by manager Casey Stengel as a backup starter and occasional reliever. He went 45–24 during his five seasons in New York, making 90 starts in 128 appearances.
Larsen’s most notable accomplishment was pitching the only perfect game in the history of the World Series; it is one of only 20 perfect games in MLB history. He was pitching for the New York Yankees in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers on October 8, 1956. His perfect game remained the only no-hitter of any type ever pitched in postseason play until Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds on October 6, 2010, in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
Moment 19: Pittsburgh’s Bill Mazeroski leads off the bottom of the ninth of the 1960’s World Series Game 7 with a home run, breaking a 9-9 tie and giving the Pirates the World Series title over the Yankees.
Mazeroski was noted for his defensive prowess and earned eight Gold Gloves Award. He had a career .983 fielding percentage, led the National League in assists nine times, and holds the major league career record for double plays by a second baseman.
In the 1960 World Series, Mazeroski won the title for Pittsburgh in Game 7 with a game-winning home run off New York Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Yankees had rallied with two runs to tie the game, 9-9, in the top of the inning, setting up Mazeroski’s heroics. A 14-year-old fan named Any Jerpe retrieved the ball outside the ground and had it signed by Mazeroski, but it was later lost when used in a game.
Top 30 most memorable baseball moments: #24-22
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Moment 24: Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox finishes the 1941 season with a .406 batting average, the last player to do it so far.
Williams played his entire 21-year baseball career for the Boston Red Sox (1939-1942 and 1946-1960). Williams’ career was twice interrupted by military service as a Marine Corps pilot. He was a two-time American League MVP, and won the batting triple crown two times.
The left handed hitter holds the highest career batting average of anyone with 500 or more home runs.
Williams was an obsessive student of hitting. He famously used a lighter bat than most sluggers, because it generated a faster swing. His devotion allowed him to hit for power and average while maintaining extraordinary plate discipline.
The Red Sox’ pride lacked foot speed, as attested by his 19-year career total of only one inside-the-park home run, one occasion of hitting for the cycle, and just 24 stolen bases. Although despite his heavy feet on the basepaths, he is one of only four players in history to steal a base in four different decades.
In 1941, he hit .406 with 37 HR, 120 RBI’s, and 135 runs scored. His .551 OBP set a record that stood for 61 years.
Moment 23: Jackie Robinson joins the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. Becoming the first African American player in Major League Baseball.
As the first black man to play in the major leagues since the 1880s, he was instrumental in bringing an end to racial segregation in professional baseball, which had relegated black players to the Negro leagues for six decades.
In early 1945, the Kansas City Monarchs sent Robinson a written offer to play professional baseball in the Negro leagues. Robinson accepted a contract for $400 ($4,882 in 2010 dollars) per month, a salary boom for him at the time.
In 1946, Robinson arrived at Daytona Beach, Florida, for spring training with the Montreal Royals of the Class AAA International League (the designation of “AAA” for the highest level of minor league baseball was first used in the 1946 season). Robinson’s presence was controversial in racially charged Florida. As he was not allowed to stay with his teammates at the team hotel, he lodged instead at the home of a local black politician. Robinson made his Royals debut at Daytona Beach’s City Island Ballpark on March 17, 1946, in an exhibition game against the team’s parent club, the Dodgers. Robinson thus simultaneously became the first black player to openly play for a minor league team and against a major league team.
The following year, six days before the start of the 1947 season, the Dodgers called Robinson up to the major leagues. Robinson played his initial major league season as a first baseman. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons. Although he failed to get a base hit, the Dodgers won 5–3. Robinson became the first player since 1880 to openly break the major league baseball color line. Black fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning their Negro league teams.
Robinson finished the season with 12 home runs, a league-leading 29 steals, a .297 batting average, a .427 slugging percentage, and 125 runs scored. His cumulative performance earned him the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award.
Moment 22: Bobby Thomson’s hit a homer with two on and two outs in the ninth inning on Oct. 3, 1951. That homer gave the New York Giants a 5-4 win over the Brooklyn Dodgers and the NL pennant.
Thomson became a celebrity for hitting a game-winning home run in a playoff game, off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, to win the 1951 National League pennant. The home run (nicknamed the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”) is among the most famous home runs in baseball history.
The home run was an exclamation point on a dramatic season for the Giants. Although some had considered them a pre-season favorite to win the pennant, they faltered badly in the early going. By mid-August, they were 13½ games behind the league-leading Dodgers. But the Giants went on a late-season tear, winning 37 of their final 44 games to tie Brooklyn on the final day of the regular season and force the three-game playoff.
The Dodgers and Giants split the first two games. Thomson’s two-run homer off Ralph Branca was the difference in the first game, as the Giants won 3-1. Brooklyn’s Clem Labine shut the Giants down in Game 2 by a score of 10-0. This forced the decisive contest on October 3 at the Polo Grounds. The Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Giants’ cause appeared lost. But Thomson’s homer turned what looked like a certain defeat into a 5-4 victory. The moment was immortalized by the famous call of Giants play-by-play announcer Russ Hodges, who cried, “The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!.”
Top 30 most memorable baseball moments: #27-25
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Moment 27: Johnny Vander Meer of the Cincinnati Reds pitches the only consecutive no-hitters in Major League Baseball history in 1938.
Vander Meer played in the Majors from 1937 through 1951. He played for the Cincinnati Reds (1937-1949), Chicago Cubs (1950) and Cleveland Indians (1951).
The lefty is the only pitcher in major league history to pitch no-hitters in two consecutive starts. On June 11, 1938, he no-hit the Boston Braves at Crosley Field. Four nights later, in the first night game played at Ebbets Field, he no-hit the Brooklyn Dodgers. After his double no-hit achievement, Reds’ management wanted Vander Meer to change his uniform number to “00.” He politely declined.
Moment 26: Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees retires from Major League Baseball with his “luckiest man” farewell speech on July 4, 1939.
Gehrig played his entire 17-year baseball career for the New York Yankees (1923-1939). He set several major league records, like the most career grand slams (23). Gehrig is chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter, his consecutive games-played record and its subsequent longevity, and the pathos of his farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with a fatal neurological disease.
The “Iron Horse” accumulated 1,995 RBI’s in 17 seasons, with a career batting average of .340, an OBP of .447, and slugging percentage of .632.
On June 21, the New York Yankees announced Gehrig’s retirement and proclaimed July 4, 1939, “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day” at Yankee Stadium. Between games of the Independence Day doubleheader against the Washington Senators, the poignant ceremonies were held on the diamond. In its coverage the following day, The New York Times said it was “perhaps as colorful and dramatic a pageant as ever was enacted on a baseball field [as] 61,808 fans thundered a hail and farewell. Dignitaries extolled the dying slugger and the members of the 1927 Yankees World Championship team, known as “Murderer’s Row”, attended the ceremonies.
Here is the famous speech Gehrig gave that day:
“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.”
“Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.”
“When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know.”
“So I close in saying that I may have had a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”
Moment 25: Joe DiMaggio sets a new Major League Baseball record by hitting safely in 56 consecutive games from May 15 until July 17, 1941.
DiMaggio played his entire 13-year baseball career for the New York Yankees. “The Yankee Clipper” made his major league debut on May 3, 1936, batting ahead of Lou Gehrig. The Yankees had not been to the World Series since 1932, but they won the next four Fall Classics. In total, DiMaggio led the Yankees to nine titles in 13 years.
It was said that DiMaggio covered so much ground in center field that the only way to get a hit against the Yankees was “to hit ‘em where Joe wasn’t.” DiMaggio also stole home five times in his career.
DiMaggio’s hit streak of 56 consecutive games in 1941 began on May 15 and ended July 17. DiMaggio hit .408 during his streak (91 for 223), with 15 home runs and 55 RBI’s
On February 7, 1949, DiMaggio signed a record contract worth $100,000 ($70,000 plus bonuses), and became the first baseball player to break $100,000 in earnings.
Top 30 most memorable baseball moments: #30-28
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A couple of years ago I bought a DVD of the MLB’s 30 most memorable moments. I watched that DVD everyday for like a month, and showed it to every friend of mine that I could. Today, I found an article on ESPN.com that summed up all those memorable moments.
In this article I am going to cover the first three moments. The moments are chronologically organized.
Moment 30: Christy Mathewson throws three complete-game shutouts in the 1905 World Series.
Mathewson played in the Majors for 17 seasons with the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds. He won 373 games throughout his career (third most of all time), and had a 2.13 career ERA. He won 20 games or more in 13 seasons, and 30 games or more in four seasons.
In the 1905 World Series the New York Giants were playing the Philadelphia Athletics. Mathewson was the starting pitcher in Game 1, and pitched a 4-hit shutout for the victory. Three days later, with the series tied 1–1, he pitched another 4-hit shutout. Then, two days later in Game 5, he threw a 6-hit shutout to clinch the series for the Giants. In a span of only six days, Mathewson had pitched three complete games without allowing a run.
Moment 29: Boston Red Sox sell Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees on Jan. 3, 1920.
Popular legend says that Red Sox’s owner Harry Frazee sold Ruth to the Yankees in order to finance a Broadway play, “No, No, Nanette”. Although there might be another reason. After the 1919 season, Ruth demanded a raise to $20,000 ($220,000 in current dollar terms and double his previous salary). However, Frazee refused, and Ruth responded by letting it be known he wouldn’t play until he got his raise.
Frazee finally lost patience with Ruth, and decided to trade him, and the best offer he got was from the Yankees’ owners Jacob Rupert and Tillinghast L’Hommedieu Huston. The Yankees offered an all-cash deal—$100,000 ($1,100,000 in current dollar terms).
Frazee, Ruppert and Huston quickly agreed to a deal. In exchange for Ruth, the Red Sox would get $125,000 ($1.37 million in current dollar terms) in cash and three $25,000 ($270,000 in current dollar terms) notes payable every year at 6 percent interest. Ruppert and Huston also loaned Frazee $300,000 ($3.29 million in current dollar terms), with the mortgage on Fenway Park as collateral. The deal was contingent on Ruth signing a new contract, which was quickly agreed to, and Ruth officially became property of the Yankees on December 26, 1919.
Moment 28: Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants strikes out Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons and Joe Cronin in succession in the All-Star Game at New York’s Polo Grounds on July 10, 1934.
Hubblle had a career record of 253-154 with a 2.98 ERA and 1,677 strikeouts with the Giants. With a slow delivery of his devastating screwball, Hubbell recorded five consecutive 20-win seasons for the Giants (1933–37), and helped his team to three NL pennants and the 1933 World Series title. In the 1933 Series, he had two complete game victories, including an 11-inning 2–1 triumph in Game Four (the run was unearned). In six career Series starts, he was 4–2 with 32 strikeouts and a low 1.79 earned run average.
PRO Rumors Editorial: The Curious Case of the Phillies
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The following editorial is contributed by PRO Rumors staff writer Kevin Scobee:
Take one look at the current roster of the Philadelphia Phillies and it’s hard to imagine how that group of talent isn’t still playing in the World Series. Now before the “see, baseball isn’t played on a computer!” crowd gets all puffy-chested, let us all understand that postseason play in baseball has more to do with chance, luck, circumstance, and just playing well as a team at the right time, than it does many other things. Which Philly was not. (I know, I know, what could I possibly know, I live in my mom’s basement. I got it.)
But the curious case of the Phillies doesn’t come so much from their postseason collapse with a pretty obviously superior roster, it comes from what they did to that roster moving forward towards next season.
While Philadelphia did have things set-up pretty nicely for them this year, we heard all season long how the acquisition of super-stud pitcher Roy Halladay, and his subsequent contract extension, set them up beautifully for a sort of “dynasty run” given that they play in the weaker National League. Their power lineup with on-base machines and smart players gave them the offense to compete with the upper teams in the AL, and their pitching led by Halladay and Cole Hamels would allow them to shut-down opposing attacks. Couple those things with the trade for Roy Oswalt at the deadline in July without giving up that much from their farm system and, well, that’s just a recipe for success if I’ve ever seen one.
There’s just one problem though: Ryan Howard’s contract extension.
While this franchise was loading up for not only this season, but thinking that the next three to four were in play as well – and why not, with Halladay and Hamels that’s a good start – Ruben Amaro went ahead and signed Howard to an extension. A massive extension. When he still had two years left on his current contract.
Huh?
Now at the time this signing was beaten to death pretty well from all major sports outlets. Some writers defended the deal – hey, look at all those RBIs! – but mostly the stat-geek objective crowd, hated it. With good reason.
Howard’s extension doesn’t kick-in until 2012. In the final year of the deal, 20-freaking-16, the first baseman will make a whopping $25 million. Yes, that’s a two, a five, with six zeros.
While the money and length of the contract itself is laughable because the Phillies were paying super- star money to a first baseman that isn’t even in the top-5 at his position in his own league, it’s the effect that contract would have on the far superior player, Jayson Werth.
Queue the story about how the Phillies “hope Jayson Werth will return for 2011.”
Are you kidding me? They hope Werth returns for 2011? In a story written by MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, he mentions that the star – yes, star – right fielder could fetch as much as “$15 million per season.”
In what crazy world is Howard worth five-to-ten million dollars more than Werth? Ruben Amaro’s apparently.
Let’s look at this objectively and not from the standpoint of “he’s a home-grown player” and the “fans really identify with him” because that kind of talk is just white noise masking the truth.
Howard’s WAR for the last four seasons*, 2007-2010, look like this: 4.1, 3.1, 4.8, 2.
*In fairness to Howard, well whatever fairness I’m willing to give to him that doesn’t derail my overall point; in 2006 he did rack up a 6.5 WAR. However Werth didn’t play in 2006 so I choose not to go back that far. Hey, it’s my editorial, I’ll make the rules.
Werth’s WAR for the last four seasons: 3.2, 5.1, 4.9, 5.
Werth is one of the very best right fielders in baseball. He finished tied for fifth in WAR this season with Jason Heyward, and there’s little reason to think he won’t finish around there again next year. Meanwhile Howard is one of the very average first baseman in baseball finishing tied for 16th in WAR. Yet somehow, somehow, the Phillies hand Howard huge dollars and a contract extention, with two years left on his current deal, and they’re left “hoping” Werth returns for another shot at the World Series.
Baffling.
Next thing you’re going to tell me is that the reason the Phillies are souring on Werth is from some nonsense reason like not being “clutch” enough with runners in scoring position.
“Jayson had a good year. It wasn’t an extraordinary year,” Amaro said. “He had a tough time with men in scoring position. It wasn’t as productive a year as he had in the past. If he is not with us, there are players that we can acquire and or we have in our own organization that can help us be as consistent.”
Oh what a crazy world Ruben Amaro lives in.
PRO Rumors Editorial: C’mon Rangers
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The following editorial is contributed by PRO Rumors staff writer Kevin Scobee:
Hi, my name is Kevin, and I hate the Yankees.
In the interest of full-disclosure, and in fairness to the readership of this website, I think it’s best we start there before we move forward, so everyone is on the same page.
I don’t like the Yankees. Never have. Possibly it’s because I grew up in Kansas City as a Royals fan and the hating of the big-guy on the block is an ingrained trait you have when born. Maybe it’s the constant bantering from the media about how great the Yankees are and how great their fans are that sours me on the taste of constant exposure to pinstripes.
Whatever the case may be, I can’t help but to have my rooting interest in the ALCS be based fully around the hating of the Yankees. I know that journalism isn’t supposed to be based on emotions and you’re not supposed to be a fan of any one team, but since no one in the traditional media thinks someone that writes words that appear on anything other than parchment is a “journalist”, it clearly doesn’t matter anyway.
The Yankees v. Rangers series has gone down so far they way all of us “haters” could have hoped. (Well almost, it could be over with the Rangers locked into the World Series, but beggars can’t be choosers.) The Rangers blew the first game because Ron Washington felt it was a good idea to leave his best reliever in the bullpen while a 4-run lead evaporated in deference to the almighty “save”. Cliff Lee did what he does in Game 3, leaving all those Yankee fans complaining that Seattle committed a crime against The Empire* by backing out of the trade that would have sent the left-hander to the Bronx in July.
*Why is it when something like that happens to the Yankees, it is somehow a crime of treason against the sanctity of baseball? Yes Jack Z backed out of a trade at the last minute. So? He drove up the price and got a better deal for his top commodity. Seattle acted like almost all good businesses would have done. Did it set a dangerous precedent for teams dealing with them in the future? Sure. But was it done out of spite to pull one over on the Yankees? Hardly. Get over yourselves Yankee faithful.
And in Game 4 the most brilliant scene in baseball’s recent past occurred. In a still-winnable game in the seventh inning, Yankee fans exited the building. All the losing of three games in a row was too much for them to stomach. It was not to be tolerated, and they’d had enough. For those of us that are constantly on the outside looking in with our postseason fandom, it was an incredibly gratifying sight.
No not because it was something we would have done mind you, but because for too long we’ve been told how great and faithful the Yankee fans are. Sure they’re tough on their players sometimes – Hey! They’re just holding players accountable! – and can be a little obnoxious, but when you win in New York boy, it’s like nothing else. Yeah, we’ve heard it all.
As I wrote on Twitter: you can’t blame Yankee fans for being ridiculous. Somewhere there’s an 11-month- old who has never enjoyed a World Series title. Can you even imagine?
But tonight is another chance for Texas’ to save all of us from being inundated with non-stop Yankee coverage on their quest for Number 28. Tonight is Texas’ chance to save us from being told how great a leader and what a winner Derek Jeter is; how amazing Mariano Rivera is; and how the Yankee past somehow has any relevance on their chances to win a series this year.
Tonight, I will be rooting for Josh Hamilton to continue to show the world what a talent he is. I’ll be rooting for Ron Washington to freaking use Neftali Feliz in the situation that matters most. Tonight I’ll be rooting for Rangers because I hate the Yankees.
Then again, you already knew that.
PRO Rumors Editorial: Bobby Cox Manages Last Game, the World Still Turns
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The following editorial is contributed by PRO Rumors staff writer Kevin Scobee:
Let me first start by saying that I am in no way trying to say that the Braves would be better off without Bobby Cox. I think you could make an argument either way for his retirement being a good or bad thing for the franchise. I think one of the many things that hold organizations back is a lack of continuity within their system; constant voices and visions working together towards a common goal. It’s not a coincidence that in the business world, turnover is often the cause for loss of short term revenue, even if it equals out to be long term gains. That is, if you find the right guy.
So in the Braves situation you could argue where the organization, and I think in larger part their fan base, feels there’s no way they can replace a “legend’ like the 69 year old Cox. After all, at this point, it becomes the task of trying to find someone to fill his shoes after all this time. And that seemingly daunting task becomes more of a hindrance than the actual losing of the manager ever could be. It’s like knowing you have to clean a very mess room in your house, and feeling like you will never get it done, so you don’t even start. It’s the action-of replacing Cox that overshadows whether the replacing is actually needed.
Too often in baseball organizations, fans, and writers, allow themselves to get blinded by the recognizable name of someone as if that’s a substitute for actual talent. (See: Kendall, Jason) This isn’t to say that Cox is now void of talent – we can only assume he has plenty of managing talent based on his resume – but at 69 years old and in an industry that is rapidly changing evaluation methods, he just at this time may not be what’s needed. And that’s the real issue here.
What I’m mainly pointing at is the unneeded and senseless trade of Yunel Escobar for Alex Gonzalez which at the center of was Cox. It’s never a good idea for a GM to allow his manager to have too much say in the players that are on the field. Yes, if you subscribed to the “if they want you to cook the food they should let you pick the ingredients” mentality, surely the manager should have as much say as the GM because they’re the ones with the team every day.
But the luxury of being the GM is that the emotions of the clubhouse aren’t there to cloud what would ordinarily be better judgment. Trading for Gonzalez may have made intuitive sense because at first glance you’re trading for someone that “plays the game the right way” – whatever that means – while getting rid of a “clubhouse cancer”.
The reality however, is you traded someone with loads more talent, and quite younger, for the hopes that maybe, just maybe, someone with a career .294 on-base percentage would be the missing link to a struggling lineup. The Braves, and Cox, took a chance on the impossible because of a perceived “winner” attitude instead of taking a chance on talent.
The game is evolving, whether you agree with it or not, and because of that change managers need to be more willing to evolve with it. This evolving means you don’t superfluously pinch run for your best hitter, with one out, in the 8th inning. That act could be sort of defensible, I guess, but you certainly don’t then try and steal a base. At that point in the game, outs are your most precious commodity, not bases. There’s no way Nate McLouth should have been stealing.
So as the sun sets on the career that was for Bobby Cox and Fredi Gonzalez is ready to take over for the Braves, let’s all stand and cheer for what he accomplished. The consecutive division titles, the World Series Championship, the numerous Hall of Famers that he managed, are all things Braves fans should celebrate and be proud of.
But don’t be too scared to be losing a manager who has accomplished so much in the past. Just because he has a recognizable name, doesn’t mean he’s necessarily the right guy to evolve with the franchise moving forward.
PRO Rumors Editorial: It’s Time for The Human Element To Go Away
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The following editorial is contributed by PRO Rumors staff writer Kevin Scobee:
The purists don’t want it because it ignores something called the “human element” which I believe roughly means: you can screw up and cost a team a game, but it’s okay, we’ll blame the losing team for not overcoming it because we’re too lazy to fix the problem. Too simplistic?
This is the time of year Baseball should be coming back to mainstream America, planting its flag in the middle of American households and saying that, for these next three to four weeks, Baseball rules the land is the most popular sport in the country. Baseball should feed off this time of year. It should be an ad blitz on your TV screen every night. You’re watching the Phillies and the Reds, boom, there’s a commercial about the up-and-coming star in Miami named Logan Morrison. You stayed up late to watch San Francisco and Atlanta? Congratulations, you get to learn how great Troy Tulowitzki is with every TV timeout. This is Major League Baseball’s chance to solidify their standing with the fans that already love the sport, and cast a massive net around the ones that are just getting started. Instead, we have to watch an umpire, blow a call, and the end result in a playoff game is directly affected.
Perhaps it is the fault of the new statistical revolution. Perhaps. The stat-heads/stat-geeks/live-in-your-parents-basement nerds have been trying to prove* for the better part of this decade how the old way of player evaluation is incomplete. Not wrong mind you, incomplete.
*prime example last night of why stats like FIP and xFIP are better evaluators of pitching success rather than ERA and WHIP. Derek Lowe does his job in the bottom of the 4th and induces a groundball to third. Omar Infante misplays it and the only run of the game scores. The inning should have been over. But instead of the play being called an error, like it should have been, it is ruled a hit and Lowe is credited with surrendering a run (On the heels of a blown “out” call at second, which we’ll get to.) Because Lowe’s third baseman can’t field, he’s charged with a run. Huh?
And maybe it’s because of this the non-stats/head-in-the-sand/unable-to-evolve crowd is reluctant to any more change. I can understand that. It’s already been clearly proven how baseball has been misinterpreted for a long time now; it probably is too much change, too quickly.
Maybe it’s because of this change already happening with the way people see and evaluate the game, that something so dumb sacred as The Human Element is pushed to the back burner for another time and place. Unfortunately for those of us that love baseball and are willing to see and embrace the necessary change, the time and place for The Human Element to start to take the backseat was a long time ago.
Major League Baseball is losing interest not only because it doesn’t know how to correctly market its product and the NFL does, but because the NFL doesn’t have these massive screw-ups when the lights are on. At least, not nearly this many.
As opposed to 15 games a week in the NFL, there are 15 games a night in the MLB so it’s understandable if the casual fans choose to ignore the sport for the better part of the summer. Hey, I get it, it’s a lot of games; a lot of ups and downs. But when the spotlight is on during the Postseason and Major League Baseball finally has its chance to take center stage with one game on at a time, it needs to be flawless. Having a blown safe/out call on the bases, having an umpire continually miss ball/strike calls, having an umpire blow a catch/non-catch call down the line, is bad PR for a sport in serious need of some good.
The die-hard fans will watch again tonight. They’re not going anywhere. They’ve stuck with the sport through the strike, through steroids, through a tie All-Star Game, to a blown fair/foul call against the hated Yankees. They’ll be there tonight.
But in order for this sport to grow, in order for Major League Baseball to keep up with the other major sports in the American landscape, it cannot afford to have blown calls by umpires saturating the product into irrelevance to the casual fan.
The casual fan needs to know that Major League Baseball games cannot be won or lost because of a single call from umpire when the technology is clearly there to get it right. And isn’t that what we should all want anyway? That’s the reason for the statistical revolution: to find an objective way to get things right. Instant replay would only be another tool to objectively get the calls right on the field.
Baseball needs instant replay to ensure the actions of the players take precedent over the actions of those that are only there to facilitate the game, not factor in the outcome.
Win-loss record for pitchers and the “save” statistic are irrelevant. It’s time baseball figured out The Human Element is too.
PRO Rumors Editorial – This Just In: Roy Halladay is Good
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The following editorial is contributed by PRO Rumors staff writer Kevin Scobee:
It pains me. It really does. To say “Roy Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball” flies in the face of everything I was supposed to believe in after the 2009 season. I’m a Royals fan. Have been all my life. Because of this fandom I’m lead to believe that somehow the universe turns against me every chance it gets. It’s this thought process that turned all the “Roy Halladay is better than Zack Greinke” talk last year during Greinke’s historic season into a personal attack. You weren’t discrediting Greinke and his greatness; you were discrediting 27 years of being a Royals fan. And that wasn’t cool.
But on Wednesday night my world got turned upside down. I had spent the second half of last season, as Greinke continued to dominate amidst the “yeah but, Halladay’s in the AL East” cackling, defending at every turn what my team’s best pitcher in twenty years was doing. Yeah, Halladay was good, but he wasn’t Greinke good.
The off-season was more of the same. The Angels, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, etc., were all rumored to be going after the “best pitcher in baseball”, and it was the headline everyday on all the major baseball websites. It wasn’t Greinke who had just won the Cy Young, but it was the guy that pitched in Toronto, who was in his 30s, who had only won one Cy Young himself. At this point, it was personal. The universe was against me again, and this time, it wasn’t even baseball season. (Which, as a Royals fan you realize, there’s no specific season for things to go bad, it’s pretty much a lifestyle.)
But it looks like now it is just time to accept the greatness that is Roy Halladay. In a way it’s a shame that it took a feat like last night’s second no-hitter in postseason history for people, and myself I guess, to recognize what kind of talent Doc is. He’s incredible. He’s unreal. The command, the stuff, how ridiculously freaking durable he is, it’s something we don’t often see in a pitcher. He’s Greg Maddux with a fastball, and Maddux was a pretty decent pitcher himself.
*And can we please put a stop to the people that call him “Holliday”? It’s enough already.
Last night was the first night in a long time I’ve gotten chills from baseball. Following Halladay pitch by pitch, hoping each next pitch wouldn’t fall untouched, was a thrill of a lifetime. In that moment, on that stage, Halladay was the most incredible pitcher this generation has ever gotten the chance to see. He was Pedro. He was Felix. He was Maddux. He was – and this kills me – better than Greinke.
He is the Best Pitcher in Baseball.
