Month: February 2012

Editor’s note: Please welcome Patrick Languzzi to the site. Patrick’s been patiently waiting for a couple of months to offer something on Dwight Evans, who in December finished tenth in BPP’s annual project on the 50 best players not in the Hall of Fame. Patrick waited long enough that his piece today is apropos, given Bill James’ open letter last week pushing Dwight Evans for Cooperstown.
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Claim to Fame:  Selected to the ’80s All-Decade Team, Evans finished as a three-time All Star and two-time Silver Slugger. He won eight Gold Gloves in 10 seasons, (including five straight ’81-’85), and was selected by Major League Baseball as having one of the nine greatest outfield arms. Evans is the only player in history to win eight Gold Gloves while also leading his league for a decade in home runs and all of MLB in extra base hits and runs created. He’s one of just 13 players to have at least 2,400 hits, 1,450 runs, 1,375 walks, 1,375 RBI, 480 doubles and 385 home runs. Of those 13, Evans is the only player previously eligible not to have been enshrined in Cooperstown.

Current Hall of Fame eligibility: Evans fell off the BBWAA ballot in 1999. He’ll be eligible again in 2013 via the Veterans Committee and its Expansion Era ballot.

Does he belong in the Hall of Fame?  Without question.

Evans played in the shadow of Hall of Fame teammates Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski and Wade Boggs. Despite being considered the greatest right fielder of his era, Evans still went underrated, and his offensive skills were often overshadowed by his own defensive exploits. Bill James once wrote, “Dwight Evans is also one of the most underrated players in baseball history, because he did many things well, rather than having one central skill that people could use to explain his excellence.”

Evans led all of baseball during the 1980s in runs created with 1,067, ahead of Hall of Famers Ricky Henderson, Eddie Murray, Robin Yount and Mike Schmidt.  He was first in extra base hits with 605 ahead of Yount, Murray, Schmidt and Brett, hit more home runs with 256 than any other American League player, and was the only player to hit 20 or more in nine consecutive seasons ’81-89.

Evans led right fielders during the ’80s in HR, RBI, walks, runs, runs created, extra base hits, times on base, runs produced, OPS and doubles, as well as four top 10 finishes in the MVP voting.

Since the turn of the century, all players to lead their respective decade in extra base hits through 1980 have been inducted in Cooperstown.

Extra Base Hit Leaders by Decade

1900s – Honus Wagner

1910s – Tris Speaker

1920s – Babe Ruth

1930s – Jimmie Foxx

1940s – Stan Musial

1950s – Stan Musial

1960s – Hank Aaron

1970s – Reggie Jackson

1980s – Dwight Evans

David Laurila of FanGraphs writes:

Evans has the same OPS+ as Rickey Henderson [127], higher one than Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Yogi Berra, Paul Molitor and Kirby Puckett. Evans’ WAR [61.8] is higher than Andre Dawson, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Stargell, Billy Williams and Dave Winfield.

Evans is in good company, comparing favorably to Kaline, Perez and Williams, as well as Dawson and Rice. Here’s a chart that breaks it down:

For all Hall of Fame hitters, Evans averages higher in runs, hits, doubles, HR, RBI, base on balls, slugging and OPS.

For more information, check out the case I presented for Evans at a January 19 meeting of the Society for American Baseball Research. I’ll close here by saying there are other statistical arguments in Evans’ favor. In his era, he ranked in the top 10 for most major statistical categories for right-handed American League hitters. From 1970-1989, no right fielder in MLB won more Gold Gloves than Evans. In 14 World Series games (two series, ‘75, ‘86) Evans hit .300, 15 hits, three HR, 14 RBI, seven walks, seven runs, .397 OBP, .580 SLG, .977 OPS and 29 total bases.

Yastrzemski said it best:

Dewey was a great offensive player and one of the greatest right fielders to play the game; there’s no doubt in my mind that he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

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Does he belong in the Hall of Fame? is a Tuesday feature here.

Others in this series: Adrian Beltre, Al Oliver, Alan Trammell, Albert Belle, Albert Pujols, Allie Reynolds, Barry Bonds, Barry Larkin, Bert Blyleven, Bill King, Billy Martin, Bobby Grich, Cecil Travis, Chipper Jones, Closers, Craig Biggio, Curt Flood, Dan Quisenberry, Darrell Evans, Dave Parker, Dick Allen, Don Mattingly,Don Newcombe, George Steinbrenner, George Van Haltren, Gus Greenlee, Harold Baines, Harry Dalton, Jack Morris, Jeff Bagwell, Jim Edmonds, Joe Carter, Joe Posnanski, John Smoltz, Juan Gonzalez, Keith Hernandez, Ken Caminiti, Kevin Brown, Larry Walker,Manny Ramirez, Maury Wills, Mel Harder, Moises Alou, Pete Browning,Phil Cavarretta, Rafael Palmeiro, Roberto Alomar, Rocky Colavito,Roger Maris, Ron Cey, Ron Guidry, Ro
n Santo, Smoky Joe Wood, Steve Garvey,Ted Simmons, Thurman Munson, Tim Raines, Tony Oliva, Vince Coleman, Will Clark

I have a confession, one that I doubt makes me different than countless other baseball bloggers, but a confession nevertheless. Too often, what I call research for this site basically consists of me going to Baseball-Reference.com, Wikipedia, or the SABR BioProject. I combine this perhaps with references to a handful of great baseball books, the occasional interview, and a healthy dose of my opinions, assorted knowledge, and analysis, and most times, it equals a readable post. I get nice feedback for this site, but I also know I’ll need to go deeper in my research in order to write about baseball professionally. Right now, I feel a bit lazy in what I do here and that there’s not a whole lot to set my work apart.

Spurred on by these thoughts, I sent an email last week to official Major League Baseball historian and prolific baseball writer John Thorn. I’ve corresponded with Thorn for the past couple of years and even interviewed him by phone after he got the MLB historian position. Since he took that job in March 2011, Thorn’s been writing a baseball history blog, Our Game for MLB.com, and to anyone who hasn’t checked it out, I recommend it. I’m impressed by the amount of information Thorn packs into his posts, as rich in anecdotes of any baseball history site that I know. Wanting to know more about how he does it, I emailed Thorn, asking for whatever he could offer about his methodology and anything in general to point me in the right direction.

Thorn replied:

Well, Graham, you have to start with a few basic books of baseball history, including (ahem) Baseball in the Garden of Eden. See, for example: http://thebrowser.com/interviews/john-thorn-on-baseball?page=full

Seymour, Voigt, and Charlie Alexander are all good. Bill James’s Historical Abstract is entertaining but a curio unless you’ve read widely beforehand, IMHO.

Consider the newspaper archives at:

Google News
NY Times
Sporting News (available through SABR)
Sporting Life, Baseball Magazine (at la84.org)
California Historical Newspapers

and paid services such as:

newspaperarchive.com
genealogybank.com
ancestry.com
fold3.com

That’ll get you started!

I appreciate Thorn taking the time to share this list. I’d like to encourage anyone reading to add to it, both for my own edification and for any other would-be baseball researcher or writer who’d happen by this page. I know I still have a lot to learn, but with help, I also know I can get there.

His Hall of Fame plaque reads that Josh Gibson hit “almost 800 homeruns” in his career. There are several reports of Josh Gibson hitting home runs which traveled more than 500 feet. Walter Johnson said Gibson could, “hit the ball a mile.”  Satchel Paige simply called Gibson, “the greatest hitter who ever lived.”  “There were a hundred legends about him,” catching great Roy Campanella said. “Once you saw him play, you knew they were all true.”  Gibson once reportedly hit a ball over the fence in Pittsburgh which was not caught until the next day during his next game in Philadelphia.  He was called out in Pittsburgh for the previous day.

Gibson, the subject of a recent column by Graham Womack, was born December 21, 1911 in Buena Vista, Georgia. In 1923, the Gibson family moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his father found employment at the Carnagie-Illinois Steel Company. Josh Gibson was preparing to become an electrician at a Pittsburgh school. Instead, he found work as an elevator operator at Gimbels department store and at 16 years old, played third base for the company team. Baseball was definitely a better profession than working in a mill, and Gibson knew that was what he wanted to be.

It wasn’t long before he caught the eye of Gus Greenlee who controlled the then still semi-pro Pittsburgh Crawfords. The Crawfords were the top semi-pro team in the Pittsburgh area. In 1930, Gibson was signed by Cum Posey, owner of the top Negro League team in Pittsburgh, the Homestead Grays. There were already whispers about the legendary power and ability of Gibson. On July 31, 1930, the legend was about to begin.

Negro League statistics are notoriously difficult to verify as when they were compiled at all, often did not differentiate between pro and amateur opponents nor did they take into consideration the various ballpark distances.  The Negro League season was usually no more than 60 games and more money was made barnstorming than against professional opponents in league games.

Still, Gibson compiled some staggering even if only partial accurate statistics. In 1931, Gibson hit .461 and slugged 75 home runs. He resigned with the Pittsburgh Crawfords who were now fully professional in 1933 and hit .467 with 55 home runs and he drove in 239. He was just getting warmed up. The following season he hit 69 homeruns. In 1937 he returned to the Homestead Grays and led them to nine Negro League titles.

Throughout his career, Gibson played winter baseball in Latin America adding to a legend that the major leagues and Branch Rickey, the man who broke the colour barrier by signing Jackie Robinson, couldn’t help but notice. There are stories that Rickey had considered signing Gibson and making him the first black player in the major leagues. Rickey was heard to remark that for sheer talent alone, Gibson would have been the logical choice.

But Gibson had demons that he could not shake. He seemed good natured and carefree on the surface but beneath the surface was a deeply troubled soul. He often drank heavily and had high blood pressure. He was plagued for many years by injuries suffered due to catching thousands of games and he suffered from terrible headaches. He suffered from blackouts. He would gain much weight only to quickly lose it. Doctors insist that Gibson undergo an operation to determine the cause of his health issues but he refused and continued to play.

He won the Negro League batting title in 1945 and 1946 but in January of 1947, just months before Jackie Robinson finally broke the color barrier, Josh Gibson passed away at the age of 35 after suffering a stroke.

Some teammates insist that Gibson really died of a broken heart. He was said to have been always bitter at never having the opportunity to play in the major leagues. It plagued and depressed him his entire career. When Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers, Gibson felt his chance had come and gone. But his passing was really baseball’s loss.

Gibson was elected in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 and a plaque was erected in 1996 at Ammon Field in Pittsburgh and in 2009 he was honored with a statue inside the center field fence at Nationals Park, home of the current Washington Nationals.

These are the darkest days. Football is over. I haven’t watched a NBA game from start to finish since I lived in New York when Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier and Bill Bradley led the Knicks to the 1969-1970 championship. As for hockey, I blame my disinterest on growing up in Los Angeles where the only ice I ever saw was in my freezer. But soon the sun will shine again, if not here in Pittsburgh then in Florida and Arizona where spring training will begin in a few days.

As I mulled over the seasonal transition from football to basketball to baseball, I suddenly remembered the man who handled it better than anyone: Gene Conley, the 6’8” giant who excelled on the diamond and the hardwood.

No one else played against Jackie Robinson, Frank Robinson and Oscar Robertson or played with Carl Yastrzemski during the summer, then teamed up Bob Cousy for the winter. Only Conley once had a locker next to Hank Aaron and Bill Russell during the same calendar year.

After playing baseball and basketball for Washington State University, Conley signed his first professional contract with the Boston Braves who called him up in 1952. Later that year, Boston Celtics’ guard Bill Sharman recommended Conley to Red Auerbach. During the 1952-53 NBA season, young Gene lived in the Lenox Hotel, one floor below Coach Auerbach.

The following year, the Braves paid Conley a $5,000 bonus to quit basketball. Conley rewarded the Braves with a 14 game winning season in 1954. During the July 1955 All Star Game, Conley struck out in order Al Kaline, Mickey Vernon and Al Rosen in the top of the 12th, then earned the win when Stan Musial homered in the bottom of the inning. In the second of two 1959 All Star Games, Conley fanned Ted Williams. In between Conley’s All Star appearances, he picked up NBA championship rings as Bill Russell’s backup with the 1958-1959 and 1959-60 Celtics.

But by 1958, Conley’s constant drinking and his inability to get along with Braves’ manager Fred Hanley led to his trade to the Philadelphia Phillies. Conley later referred to the swap “as the largest in baseball history” since 6’7” Frank Sullivan was the other part of the deal.

By 1960, the Phillies had grown tired of Conley’s dual career and offered him $20,000 to stop playing basketball. When the two parties couldn’t come to terms, the Phillies traded Conley to the Red Sox. At that point, Conley became the only man to play for three major professional teams in the same city.

In 1962, Conley recorded career highs in wins and innings, 15 and 242. But it was also the year of infamous Conley-Pumpsie Green incident. After a 13-3 shellacking on July 26 in Yankee Stadium when he gave up eight third inning runs, Conley began drinking heavily which started him down the road on the adventure for which he is most famous.

En route back to Boston, the team bus got stuck in traffic.  Conley and Green got off the bus allegedly to find a restroom but really to find a bar. When the two players returned the bus was gone. Left to their own devices, the pair resumed drinking before Green came to his senses and left Gene to return to Boston. Conley, however, continued his binge for several days and eventually in a condition described by those on the scene at the airport as “extremely inebriated” bought a ticket to Israel. Because he had no passport, the airline refused to let him board.

By 1964, Conley was out of baseball and basketball; in 1966, he took his last drink. Now 81, Conley now lives with his wife of more  than 60 years in New Hampshire.

Many consider Conley one of the greatest athletes in sports’ history. In all, Conley played 11 seasons in the Major Leagues, three of them with the Boston Red Sox (1961-63), one with the Boston Braves (1952), five with the Milwaukee Braves (1954-58) and two with the Philadelphia Phillies (1959).

Conley also played six NBA seasons, four of them with the Celtics (1953, 1959-61) and two more with the New York Knicks (1963-64).

Conley’s wife Katheryn detailed more wild stories in her husband’s biography of her husband published in 2004, One of a Kind.

Apparently, life with Gene was no picnic and was bearable only because of  his long road trips which, because Conley played two sports, lasted parts of ten months each year.

What he did: Tony Phillips had a long and relatively accomplished career (48.2 WAR in 18 seasons), yet doesn’t seem to be mentioned at all anymore. It seems Phillips was completely overshadowed by teammates (Jose Canseco, Cecil Fielder, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammell, Travis Fryman, Jim Edmonds, Tim Salmon, Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, etc.)

However, Phillips deserved more than one lone MVP finish (16th in 1993) and should be remembered fondly. Phillips has the 23rd most hits by a switch hitter all time and his .374 OBP is 12th all time for a switch hitter (oddly, just .001 behind Pete Rose.)

Phillips could, flat out, get on base. He scored a cool 1,300 runs, the 10th most all time by a switch hitter and walked the 33rd most times in MLB history. His 1,319 walks are the fifth most by a switch hitter, behind only Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, Eddie Murray and Tim Raines. Phillips also led-off a game with a homer 30 times, the 10th most all time. If you think he was simply a compiler, you’re dead wrong. From 1989-1996, he was worth 34.2 WAR. During that stretch, he averaged a .276/.391/.405 line. I suppose the fact that he never lead the league in hits, hit a lot of HRs or stole a ton of bases kept him from getting his due. But, he did lead the league in runs in 1992 and walks twice, 1993 and 1996.

There wasn’t much finer than his 1993 campaign. He posted a .313/.443/.398 line. That OBP is tied for the ninth highest in a season by a switch hitter (min 3.1 PA per scheduled game, via SABR). His 132 walks were the third most ever in a season by a switch hitter.

Phillips was also the first player on the A’s to hit for the cycle, he went 5-5 with two runs and four RBIs against the Orioles in 1986 (poor Storm Davis.)

I’ll end with this: Phillips ended a game 109 times, tied for the 30th most ever with none other than Barry Bonds.

Era he might have thrived in: I wanted to put him in the late 1940s so he could go toe-to-toe with Pee Wee Reese and Eddie Yost, but I really think Tony Phillips would have thrived in the 1950s, specifically on the Cleveland Indians, two years after the club last won the World Series.

Why: The Indians were perennial bridesmaids in the 50s, finishing second six times and first once.

Would Phillips have pushed them over the top? Well, he would have hit .282/.394/.411 for the squad during that era. In addition, he could have slide nicely around the diamond to provide flexibility and a strong bat. In ’50, he could play second instead of Joe Gordon. The following year he could spell Ray Boone and Al Rosen, who had bad years. In ’52 and ‘53, he’d move Harry Simpson to the bench. In ‘54 and ’55, he could play right in favor of Dave Philley or short in favor of George Strickland.

He would post OBPs of .390 or higher in nine season during that era and his on-base abilities would fit the Cleveland line-up perfectly. Perhaps the Indians would have built a mini-dynasty and Phillips would be mentioned in the same breath with greats like Larry Doby, Al Rosen, Early Wynn, and others.

Follow Albert on twitter (@h2h_corner): https://twitter.com/h2h_corner

Any player/Any era is a Thursday feature here that looks at how a player might have done in an era besides his own.

Similarly underrated players: Bob Watson, Cesar Cedeno, Gene Tenace, Jack Clark, Nate Colbert.

Others in this series: Al Simmons, Albert Pujols, Babe Ruth, Bad News Rockies, Barry Bonds, Billy Beane, Billy Martin, Bob Caruthers, Bob Feller, Bobby Veach, Carl Mays, Charles Victory Faust, Chris von der Ahe, Denny McLain, Dom DiMaggio, Don Drysdale, Doug Glanville, Eddie Lopat, Elmer Flick, Frank Howard, Fritz Maisel, Gavvy Cravath, George W. Bush (as commissioner), George Case, George Weiss, Harmon Killebrew, Harry Walker, Home Run Baker, Honus Wagner, Hugh Casey, Ichiro Suzuki, Jack Morris, Jackie Robinson, Jim Abbott, Jimmy Wynn, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Posnanski, Johnny Antonelli, Johnny Frederick, Josh Gibson, Josh Hamilton, Ken Griffey Jr., Lefty Grove, Lefty O’Doul, Major League (1989 film), Matty Alou, Michael Jordan, Monte Irvin, Ollie Carnegie, Paul Derringer, Pedro Guerrero, Pedro Martinez, Pee Wee Reese, Pete Rose, Prince Fielder, Ralph Kiner, Rick Ankiel, Rickey Henderson, Roberto Clemente, Rogers Hornsby, Sam Crawford, Sam Thompson, Sandy Koufax,  Satchel Paige, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, The Meusel Brothers, Ty Cobb, Vada Pinson, Wally Bunker, Wes Ferrell, Will Clark, Willie Mays

One of the things I most miss about baseball’s Golden Era is the blockbuster off season trade. Today when and if trades are made, they usually involve a marginal player swapped for an obscure minor leaguer. Fans have no particular attachment to the marginal guy and no clue about the minor leaguer. We’re robbed of any opportunity to get into a good, old fashioned hot stove league debate about the trade’s merits.

Even though it happened 57 years ago, greatest blockbuster of all time remains the 1954 trade between the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles.

In November, 1954, Orioles’ field and general manager Paul Richards, who recently joined the team from the Chicago White Sox, and his New York Yankees counterpart George Weiss put together the largest two-team swap in major league history. So huge was the transaction that the Orioles, who had just moved to Baltimore from St. Louis, and the Yankees announced the deal in two stages.

First, on November 18 the Orioles confirmed that the team had sent the “Second Coming of Bob Feller” Bullet Bob Turley, the season’s American League leader in strike outs, Don Larsen, 3-21 and starting shortstop Billy Hunter to the Yankees for pitchers Harry Byrd and Jim McDonald, outfielder Gene Woodling, shortstop Willie Miranda and minor league catchers Gus Triandos and Hal Smith who won the American Association’s batting champ with a .350 average.

Because of waiver and draft regulations the rest of the trade was not officially announced until December 2. Baltimore sent pitcher Mike Blyzka, catcher Darrell Johnson, first baseman Dick Kryhoski, and outfielders Ted del Guercio and Tim Fridley to the Yankees to complete their end of the deal. The Yankees threw in pitcher Bill Miller, second baseman Don Leppert and third baseman Kal Segrist. By the time the trade was completed, the seventeen player deal was—then and now— the largest in baseball history.

With the addition of Turley and Larsen, considered the sleeper in the deal, to the Yankees still effective but aging staff that included Whitey Ford and Eddie Lopat, Las Vegas installed the Bombers as odds on favorites to recapture the American League pennant the Cleveland Indians had stolen away the summer before. The wise guys were right; the Yankees edged the Indians by 3 games.

Turley’s Yankees’ career was marked by ups and downs. But the high point came in 1958 when went 21-7. His .750 winning percentage led the league and helped him win the Cy Young Award which, during the 1956-1966 era, only one pitcher from both leagues were so honored. Turley is included with Don Newcombe, Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, Vernon Law Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, Don Drysdale and Dean Chance in that category.

In the 1958 World Series against the Milwaukee Braves, Turley dominated. After being knocked out in the first inning of the second game, Turley pitched a complete game shutout in the fifth and earned saves in the sixth and seventh games. His 6-2/3 inning relief appearance that ended game seven is a record. Turley was named the series Most Valuable Player.

In the following year, Turley hurt his arm and, after struggling for several seasons, in 1963 the Yankees sold him to the Los Angeles Angels. He finished the 1963 season with the Boston Red Sox and then became the team’s pitching coach in 1964.

Retirement has been very good to Bullet Bob. He joined an insurance firm, made millions and now lives on Marco Island, Fla. where his home overlooks the Gulf of Mexico. While Turley may not quite have amassed billions, his toughest decision these days is whether to fish for marlin or grouper off his 35-foot yacht that sleeps six.

Editor’s note: Please welcome the latest from Alex Putterman.

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Rick Monday was a solid Major League Baseball player, accumulating 32.7 lifetime WAR, about half of which while playing for the Athletics franchise that in 1965 made him the first pick in the history of the Major League Baseball amateur draft. While Monday will never be mistaken for a Hall of Famer, his career was certainly respectable, even by first overall pick standards. In fact, the success of the Monday selection would only be accentuated as the years passed and number one picks consistently failed to achieve their potential or even stick around the majors. The more time that passed, the more apparent the A’s fortune became. A superstar Monday was not, but almost any top pick for the next 20 years would have gleefully swapped careers.

We’ve written before about how the baseball draft has a noticeably worse success rate than that of football or basketball. And the trend may have been there from the start. It certainly wasn’t long until baseball learned that being picked first was not a harbinger of stardom. With the first overall pick in the second annual MLB draft, the New York Mets selected Steven Chilcott, and thus began a succession of failed top picks. Chilcott would never reach the Major Leagues, one of two ever number one picks, along with the Yankees’ Brien Taylor in 1991, to fall short of the Show (not counting Matt Bush, Tim Beckham, Bryce Harper and Gerrit Cole, all of whom are currently playing in MLB organizations.)

The next eight drafts would yield first picks ranging from disastrous (David Clyde, Danny Goodwin, Danny Goodwin again) to almost decent (Jeff Burroughs, Mike Ivie, Rom Blomberg sort of), an overall uninspiring group. Things got better from there, with five of the six first picks between 1976 and ’81 finishing their careers with at least 24 WAR (though the sixth, Al Chambers, was worth -0.7 WAR). In fact, Darryl Strawberry, number on pick in ’80, was, according to WAR, the most successful top pick selected prior to 1987, when Ken Griffey Jr. ushered in somewhat of a golden age for first picks.

Post-Griffey picking has been far from perfect, but several superstars have been taken number one overall in the past 25 years. Three years after Griffey came Chipper Jones and three years after that A-Rod. The 1999-2001 drafts saw a trifecta of MVP-caliber players taken at the top, with Josh Hamilton, Adrian Gonzalez and Joe Mauer selected first in successive years. Matt Anderson, Bryan Bullington, and others were certainly egregious busts, but a number of other number ones of the past 25 years (Andy Benes, Phil Nevin, Darin Erstad, and Pat Burrell among them) enjoyed successful careers. More recent drafts have produced Justin Upton, David Price and Stephen Strasburg, three top picks currently enjoying various levels of stardom, and the sky is considered the limit for 2010 number one Bryce Harper.

So what do these successes and failures of former number one draftees tell us about the draft process? Well, drafting first is undeniably somewhat of a crapshoot. Any time you can pick a shortstop and be unsure whether you’re getting Alex Rodriguez or Bill Almon you know there’s not much method to the madness. But there are some distinguishable patterns to selecting first. While several aforementioned position players have become stars after being taken number one, no first-pick pitcher has even achieved more than 30 WAR, nor has any pitcher taken with the second or third overall pick (well, at least until Josh Beckett and Justin Verlander reach that number this season), suggesting that highly-drafted hurlers are less likely than hitters to be worth the selection.

Not that picking at the head of the draft isn’t better than the alternatives. The 47 players selected first have combined for 799.2 WAR according to baseball-reference, significantly topping the 506.9 combined WAR of the 47 players selected second and well over twice the 286.7 WAR of all-time number five picks (in an interesting statistical anomaly, number five picks have been dramatically worse than number six picks, and number 10 picks have been more productive than number five, seven, eight, or nine picks).

So if your team finds itself picking first in an upcoming draft, consider the slot a legitimate silver lining of their futility, but be don’t be surprised to end up rooting for the next Shawn Abner, not the next Ken Griffey Jr.

In honor of black history month, I thought I might turn my attention to a legendary Negro League star each Sunday in February and try and shed some light on some of their legendary skills and accomplishments. While many statistics from the Negro League are impossible to verify absolutely and several stories seem to be more fable than fact, interviews with teammates and some major leaguers who played exhibition games against players from the Negro League can shed some light on how skilled the stars of this league actually were.

I begin with perhaps the greatest baseball nickname of them all, Cool Papa Bell.  I begin with Cool Papa because the stories of his speed and skill are the stuff that legends are made.

He was born James Thomas Nichols on May 17, 1903 in Starkville, Mississippi.  He changed his last name to Bell although when and why is not known.  He was the fourth of seven children.  He lived with his widowed mother.  He grew up hungry and dirt poor.

When Bell was 19 years old, he joined up with the St. Louis Stars of the Negro League as a…. pitcher.  It took the Stars a couple of years until in 1924 they finally realized the hitting, speed and defensive skill of Bell would be better served in centerfield.  It was from that moment that he gained his reputation as the fastest man in the league, and probably the fastest man in the known universe.

The stories told about his speed have become legendary over the years. Only the cartoon characters of the Roadrunner and Speedy Gonzalez seem faster.  Perhaps even they could not have caught Cool Papa in his prime.

Stories of scoring from first base on a sacrifice bunt, scoring often from second base on a fly ball and hitting a double on a bunt play have been told and may even have a basis in fact.  I can recall a game in the eighties seeing then St. Louis Cardinal centre fielder Willie McGee score from second base on a fly ball to centre.  I have witnessed a runner scoring from first on a sacrifice bunt. I have witnessed a batter reaching second base on a bunt play.  In both cases, several throwing errors were needed in allowing a run. No mention of such errors helping Cool Papa Bell.

Bell was once recorded having fully rounded the bases in 12 seconds.  Bell once hit a screaming line drive through the middle, barely missing the pitcher and being hit in the buttocks by that same line drive while sliding into second base to complete the double.

The great Satchel Paige told a story that Bell could turn off the light in their room and be under the covers before the room went dark. It was later revealed that Paige had neglected to mention that the wiring in this particular light switch was faulty and would often have a delay of a few seconds..

I can recall another story, I can’t remember from where exactly, of a catcher being asked how to throw Bell out attempting to steal second base.  The catcher simply and straight faced that he would throw the ball to third and hope it was in time.

Bell reportedly once stole second and then third base on the same pitch.

Cool Papa played and coached for several Negro League and Mexican League teams during his career. He led the Homestead Grays to the Negro League title in 1942, 1943 and 1944.  He last played for the semi pro Detroit senators in 1946. In the minors he tutored legendary to be Ernie Banks, Elston Howard and Jackie Robinson. In 1974 Bell was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

James Thomas Bell died in St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 87.  In his honor, Dickson Street where he lived was renamed James “Cool Papa” Bell Avenue.

I wonder if there is a speed limit on James “Cool Papa” Bell Avenue.

On SABR Day last week at the Forbes Field Chapter, our guest speaker was Dick Groat, Pirates’ shortstop on the 1960 World Champion’s captain and National League’s Most Valuable Player.

Groat told a captive audience about his All-American Duke University basketball career and his days in the NBA with the Ft. Wayne (now Detroit) Pistons. The Pistons were so eager to have Groat on its squad that it chartered a plane to take him back and forth from Pittsburgh to Ft. Wayne so he could play for both teams.

Inevitably, the conversation got around to that famous World Series when the Pirates upset the heavily favored New York Yankees.

Groat speculated that one of manager Danny Murtaugh’s most insightful moves was to bench Dick Stuart for the seventh game. Whether facing righty starters (Art Ditmar and Ralph Terry) or the lefty Whitey Ford, the right handed hitting Stuart batted clean up in five of the preceding six games.

In the seventh game, however, Murtaugh inserted Rocky Nelson at first possibly because Stuart was in a slump (.150, the worst average of any regular on either team) or a better fielder. In my last blog, I wrote about Stuart’s notoriously bad fielding.

Both reasons could be correct. In the bottom of the first inning, Nelson hit a two run homer off Bob Turley to stake the Buccos to a 2-0 lead.

But more importantly, as Groat remembered it, Nelson made a play in the top of the ninth inning that Stuart may not have.

Here are the details. The Yankees trailed 9-7, Gil McDougald was on third and Mickey Mantle, who had driven in Bobby Richardson to make it 9-8, was on first. Yogi Berra hit a smash down the right field line that Nelson grabbed. (Berra: “I hit the heck out of it.”) After Nelson stabbed Berra’s shot he stepped on first for the second out. But Nelson inexplicably didn’t throw home to nail McDougald who had taken off and scored the tying run. If Nelson had thrown to catcher Hal Smith in time, the game would have ended and the Pirates would have been winners.

All the while Mantle, sensing he would have been a dead duck, didn’t try to get to second. Instead, Mantle safely dove under Nelson’s tag. Score tied 9-9, Mantle on first, two outs.

The next batter, Bill Skowron, hit into an inning ending force play, Groat to Bill Mazeroski, that set the stage for Maz’s bottom of the ninth heroics.

What if Stuart and not Nelson had been the Pirates’ first baseman? If Berra’s grounder gets past Stuart, it ends up in the deepest corner of the cavernous Forbes Field. McDougald scores easily and maybe the fleet footed Mantle too (but maybe not with Roberto Clemente’s arm in right).

The worst case for the Yankees is Mantle on third, one out with Skowron at bat, slugging Johnny Blanchard on deck and Clete Boyer in the hole. The Yankees also had two capable pinch hitters on the bench, another home run threat Bob Cerv and Hector Lopez who hit .429 for the series. Whether the Yankees would have kept on scoring is speculation but its probable that the Pirates would have needed more than Maz’s one-run homer to win the seventh game.

Ironically, Stuart was in the on deck circle to bat for pitcher Harvey Haddix while Maz was at bat. As he watched Terry get ready to deliver his fateful pitch, Stuart thought that if he got to bat, he could have been the hero. What Stuart didn’t realize is that by staying on the bench, he had already played an important part in the Pirates’ unlikely World Series victory.