Author: baseballpastandpresent

Here’s a little known chapter from the great Jackie Robinson’s baseball history. Robinson has a connection, albeit an indirect one, to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1947, when Robinson was called up to Brooklyn, “Big Ed” Stevens held down first base. Remember that Branch Rickey ordered field manager Leo Durocher (before he was suspended) to play Robinson at first  and leave Eddie Stanky at second. Rickey thought Robinson would be safer at first from the possibility of national league rivals intentionally spiking him or bowling him over. Robinson didn’t move to second base until 1948.

Before the season began, Durocher called a team meeting and announced: “The old man says he’s going to bring the black man up.” What Durocher didn’t add is that Robinson would be inserted as the first sacker. Since Robinson played his minor league career as a second baseman, Stevens didn’t realize that his job was on the line. But when the time rolled around for rosters to be cut to 25, Rickey told Stevens that he was being returned to Montreal in the Dodgers’ best interests.

Rickey said to Stevens:

“If you would let me pull you off the roster and send you down to Montreal, I’m going to put Jackie Robinson in your spot. This will give me enough time to get rid of Stanky who isn’t good for the ball club and Jackie belongs at second anyway. I’ll shake hands with you on a gentleman’s agreement and make the solemn promise to you that you’ll be back as soon as I can get rid of Stanky.”

Rickey swore to Stevens that the young first baseman figured prominently in the Dodgers’ long term plans.

Stevens, who said he was speechless and felt like he “had the rug pulled out from under him,” said he first sensed his ultimate fate when, during a stretch of several early games, Robinson went 0-26 but continued to play.

Rickey never kept his promise. Although Rickey bought Stevens up in September, it was too late to qualify for the World Series. During the few games Stevens played he, like Jackie, endured fans’ and opposing players’ barbs. From the grandstand: “There’s Jackie Robinson’s caddy” and from the visitor’s dugout “How did you let a nigger take your job.”

By the end of his rookie year, Robinson played 151 games and had hit a solid .297. Stevens, on the other hand, was hit .154 in 5 games and the Dodgers sold him to the Pirates.

During the off season, Stevens and his family returned to his native Galveston, Texas where the taunting about being the first white man ever replaced by a black man continued all winter. By spring training 1948, Stevens eagerly joined the Pirates where, as he recalled, “he worked harder than ever” and learned from Ralph Kiner and Honus Wagner. In 1948, Stevens hit .254 with ten home runs (in cavernous Forbes Field) and knocked in 64. But toward September, nagging injuries to Stevens’ hips and shoulders took their toll. In 1949 and 1950, his last year as a major league player, Stevens warmed the bench.

Stevens, who says that to this day people ask him if he resents Robinson for taking his job, remembers Jackie this way:

“I hold no hard feelings against Jackie in any shape or form. At ball games, my wife Margie and his wife Rachael sat together and visited. There were no hard feelings in any way. Jackie showed himself to be a fine player and a good man.”

Stevens, 87, lives in Galveston.

Editor’s note: This originally ran in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on April 1.

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Every spring, the ritual repeats itself. As major league baseball teams break camp, managers report that their athletes have never been in better condition, predict that rookies will shine, vow that last year’s underperforming veterans will bounce back and declare that the starting pitching will surprise the harshest critics.

During the summer, the truth will out. Since the turn of the 20th century, when baseball’s modern era dawned, the Pittsburgh Pirates have scaled the highest peaks and plumbed the lowest depths. In 1902, as he departed Hot Springs, Arkansas en route to Pittsburgh, manager Fred Clarke called his squad the best ever assembled. Clarke had good reason for optimism. His team had five returning .300 hitters including the incomparable Honus Wagner and Clarke who, in addition to his managing duties, patrolled left field. The Pirates rewarded Clarke with an astonishing 103-36 record and ran away with the National League title by 27.5 games.

In 1952, however, skipper Billy Meyer’s dreams were dashed early and often. The 13 Pirates’ rookies on the opening day roster included four teenagers. Collectively, they failed and were soon forever gone from baseball. Future Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner turned in one of his worst seasons. Kiner lost sixty points off his batting average and slugged five fewer home runs than the preceding season.

The 1952 Pirates were among the worst teams ever to don a uniform. When late September mercifully rolled around, only small handfuls showed up at Forbes Field to watch the 42-112 Corsairs play out the string.

Four decades later, Jim Leyland put on a happy pre-season face. His Bucs had captured division titles in 1990 and 1991. But Leyland knew he would miss his best hitter, Bobby Bonilla, a free agent signed by the New York Mets and his only 20-game winner, John Smiley, traded to the Minnesota Twins. Of all the things that he might have anticipated though, Leyland in his wildest imagination couldn’t have envisioned the gut-wrenching seventh League Championship Series game against the Atlanta Braves that Pirates fans will carry to their graves.

The Pirates, who had battled back from a 3-1 series deficit, held a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth. To the uninitiated, being three outs away from a World Series berth with a two run lead might seem secure. But in baseball, there are many ways to snatch defeat from victory’s jaws. If old Fred Clarke were still around, he could have reminded Bucco backers about an incredible 1901 game when the Cleveland Blues scored nine times with no outs to beat the Washington Senators, 14-13.

Watching from my California home and slumping further into my sofa with each pitch, here’s what I saw unfold in Fulton County Stadium.

The Braves immediately loaded the bases. Doug Drabek surrendered a lead off double, an infield error and walked former Pirates Sid Bream. Dark clouds gathered. Every formula for baseball disaster includes walks and errors.

Exit Drabek; enter Stan Belinda. A sacrifice fly scored one and another walk reloaded the bases. When an infield pop up produced the second Braves’ out, it looked like the Pirates would escape.

But pinch hitter Francisco Cabrera, the last Braves’ position player and a substitute so inconsequential that he batted only ten times during the season, thrust the final dagger into the Pirates. Cabrera singled; two more runs scored. Final: Braves 3-Pirates 2. For the third consecutive year, the Pirates failed to reach the Fall Classic.

From the bullpen, catcher Don Slaught and pitcher Bob Walk’s hearts fell when they saw Bream slide in just under Barry Bond’s throw. More than 2,500 miles away in my living room, I shared their pain. Watching in what he described as “disbelief,” Walk said he wanted to call time out as Bream rounded third but he knew that was impossible. Added Walk, “For two weeks, I tossed and turned. I couldn’t sleep thinking about the lost opportunity.” Slaught called Cabrera’s winning hit and the shattered Pirates’ dreams, “A killer.”

Slaught had played an essential role in the Pirates’ climb to first place. Not only was Slaught a solid defensive catcher and clutch hitter but he also became rookie Tim Wakefield’s personal receiver. Wakefield and his befuddling knuckleball burst onto the Three Rivers scene in late July to propel the Pirates to the pennant. Wakefield rolled up an 8-1 record before pitching two complete game victories against the Braves.

This winter Wakefield retired from the Boston Red Sox. From the 1992 Pirates only pitcher Miguel Batista, a Mets’ non-roster invitee, is still active.

As the 2012 season begins, Pirates fans wonder if this will be the year that the team reaches .500. Few need reminding that 1992 was the last time the Pirates broke even.

Like Clarke, Meyer, Leyland and his other 25 predecessors, Clint Hurdle likes what he sees. When asked to evaluate the Pirates’ spring, Hurdle described it as, “Just like all doctor’s surgeries—successful.”

Hurdle pointed to the Pirates’ depth and greater experience as its main strengths. Even with A.J. Burnett out for six weeks, Hurdle anticipates improved pitching and better years from his position players including the new long-term Pirates Jose Tabata and Andrew McCutchen.

Through last July, the Pirates were baseball’s most exciting story. Although the team fell off in the second half, Hurdle thinks losing taught them the invaluable lesson of how to “finish—plays, innings, games and seasons.”

Because of Hurdle’s inspirational leadership, Pirates’ fans became believers again and basked in the Bucs’ brief but heady success. PNC Park sold out 17 times.

Baseball, the game of hope that links the past to the present, began anew on April 5.

Baseball for real is finally back and the failures or success stories of spring training are a thing of the past for the fans anyway. I made it through the confusion of three opening days this season and managed to not miss the Marlins first regular season game.  I spent most of the week hunting through various schedules to find out when baseball was actually going to begin for real.

The “opening” in Japan seemed nothing short of silly and I almost missed the Wednesday Marlins game.  After much research I discovered late that afternoon that this game actually counted.  The following day (Thursday) seemed to be the actual opening day.  Is the average baseball fan such as myself supposed to be this confused?  Things used to be a lot simpler when opening day began April 1 or 2 and in Cincinnati.  But I won’t go into my well documented opinions on Bud Selig.  Suffice it to say that the Marlins opener featured the usual confusing nonsense from the commissioner during two innings which saw all three announcers fawn and ogle over his sound bite observations on the state of baseball.

The new Miami ballpark is quite impressive. Except for that gawdy and downright ugly thing past the left centre field wall.  Apparently it lights up and dolphins dance and God knows what else when a Marlins player hits a home run.  I was grateful that none did that night.  This was also only a one game series and then Miami traveled to Cincinnati. Doesn’t make any sense to me either. This team is trying to build up fan interest.  Increased fan interest has to be built and sustained over a period of time. One game and hit the road doesn’t seem to be the way to do it. We shall see if the baseball fans of Miami come out to see this greatly improved team in a beautiful new ballpark.

Opening day in Pittsburgh simply wasn’t fair.  I realize that Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee have to face somebody in their first start but a team which is going nowhere again this season shouldn’t have to begin the season with the very real possibility of beginning 0-2. Halladay was his usual unhittable self on Thursday and as many teams have found out over the career of Halladay, no fun day in the batter’s box.  Pittsburgh was lucky to get the two hits they did. Oddly enough, Halladay didn’t pitch a complete game. He only pitched eight innings of two hit shutout baseball.  Pittsburgh had to be satisfied with that for the day.  They won game two however.  That’s why they play the game on the field.

The St. Louis Cardinals don’t seem to be missing Albert Pujols all that much.  At least in the early going of the 2012 baseball season. That’s because 2011 playoff and World Series hero David Freese continues to carry the team.  Freese in previous seasons was held back only because of injuries. Certainly the Cardinals need Carlos Beltran to stay healthy and Lance Berkman to repeat his surprising season of last year and need Chris Carpenter to return and Adam Wainwright to come back. But thus far, they seem like a very solid and balanced team.

Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg showed no ill effects from his rotator cuff surgery and the Chicago Cubs blew another game.

Jon Lester and Justin Verlander locked up for a great pitching duel which saw the debut of Prince Fielder and Boston manager Bobby Valentine.

Clayton Kershaw left the Los Angeles Dodger opener after only four innings, apparently with the flu and Tim Lincecum gave up three runs, including two long home runs in his first start.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  Toronto and Cleveland loved opening day so much that they went a record 16 innings to finish it.  Then they went 12 innings the next day.  The batboys might have to pitch game three or four at this rate.

The first couple of games are under our belt. Life makes sense again.

What to do about Pedro Alvarez? That’s the number one question asked by Pittsburgh Pirates fans during spring training. Alvarez is the highly touted second overall pick from the 2008 draft who signed a $6.4 million contract with a $6 million signing bonus. First called up to the Pirates major league roster in 2010, Alvarez performed well. In 95 games, Alvarez hit .256 with 18 home runs and 64 RBIs.

But in 2011, Alvarez hit .191 and was demoted to AAA Indianapolis mid-season before being called back in September. This spring has been, to put it kindly, a disaster for Alvarez. His batting average is about .150 and he strikes out with alarming regularity. Through Sunday’s games, Alvarez had struck out 24 times and walked once.

Nevertheless, management is poised to start Alvarez at third base with the long shot hope the he’ll get well against major league pitching. At the same time, however, the Pirates are desperate for power, having none to speak of any place in the lineup save for the occasional Garrett Jones dinger. And there seems little reason to send Alvarez back to Indianapolis since that route has been tried without success.

The risk of putting Alvarez on the field day after day is that if he doesn’t perform, the fans will rag him mercilessly. When that happens, and it’s 100 percent certain that it will if Alvarez doesn’t hit, then his psyche would become even more messed up than it already is.

For fans who have endured 19 consecutive losing seasons, Alvarez is symbolic of all that’s wrong with the Pirates.

The Alvarez case has two interesting back stories. First, before he even arrived in Pittsburgh, Alvarez got off on the wrong foot. On August 18, 2008 after finishing his Vanderbilt University career, Alvarez agreed to but did not immediately sign his $6 million Pirates’ contract. When the signing deadline expired, Alvarez was placed on the restricted list. A month later, Alvarez renegotiated a $6.4 million contract. In other words, Alvarez held the Pirates up for $400,000.

Second, after Alvarez flamed out last year manager Clint Hurdle and the front office urged him to play winter ball so that he could practice against high quality players. Alvarez refused. Instead, he chose to “train” in Newport Beach, California. Here’s how Alvarez explained his workout schedule: “Some days I’ll hit for 10 minutes, some days I’ll hit for an hour. I’ll typically be done around noon and then I have the rest of the day just to hang out.”

If you’ve been to Newport Beach, you know that “hanging out” there is a dream vacation that’s not likely to result in a higher batting average.

The 2012 season is crucial for the Pirates and Alvarez. Last year, after a promising start that saw the Pirates in the thick of the National League Central Division race through July, the team fell like a stone. Nevertheless, the Pirates raised ticket prices. The offseason acquisitions, A.J. Burnett, Eric Bedard, Rod Barajas, Casey McGehee, Nate McClouth are aging cast offs. In Burnett’s case, the Yankees were willing to absorb millions from his contract to have him not pitch in New York. Of the 30 teams, only the Pirates were willing to take Burnett despite the Yankees’ subsidy.

As for Alvarez, a .211 career hitter against left handers, he’ll spend most of April on the bench. The Pirates’ early schedule includes games against the Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks. That means Clayton Kershaw, Cole Hamels, Madison Bumgarner as well as the league’s top right handers like Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Roy Halladay.

Baseball is full of surprises. And maybe the 2012 Pirates will once again be among the contenders that take the National League by storm. From this corner, however, a happy ending for the Pirates seems unlikely.

Guy Hecker had an incredible 1884 season. The 28-year old righty started an American Association-leading 73 games for the Louisville Eclipse (completing 72 of them and making 75 appearances overall). He also led the league with 52 wins (against just 20 losses for a .722 winning percentage), a 1.80 ERA, 171 ERA+, 0.868 WHIP, and 385 strikeouts.

At the plate, he made 328 appearances and hit .297/.323/.430 for a 149 OPS+. His WAR was 16.6 as a pitcher and 2.0 as a hitter. His combined total of 18.6 led the league by a full seven wins (over Tony Mullane).

Hecker’s name has come up quite a bit in my research, but it recently popped up again as I was calculating Wins Above Expectancy for managers. Wins Above Expectancy simply calculates how many wins a team should have won and assigns the difference to the manager. Obviously the manager is not the sole reason a team performs over or under expectation. Wins Above Expectancy is just a junk stat I’ve been playing with since we don’t have a good way to calculate WAR for managers.

Hecker’s name came up because he was a player/manager in the final year of his career. Hecker also pitched and played first base for the 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys in the National League. The team was awful—they went just 23–113, setting a new loss record that would stand until 1899.

I calculate Wins Above Expectancy in two ways. The first uses Pythagorean record, which is the record the team was expected to finish with, given their runs scored and runs allowed. The Alleghenys scored 597 runs and allowed 1235, giving them a pathetic Pythagorean record of 28-108. So, by their runs scored and runs allowed, they should have won five more games than they actually did.

The second approach I used was to add up the combined WAR of all players on the team and calculate what the expected win-loss record would be. It is by this measure that the Alleghenys are the worst team ever.

The team’s hitters were worth –119 runs at the plate and –99 in the field, a horrible combination that adds up to a total of –4.9 WAR.

And the hitters were amazing compared to the pitchers.

22 pitchers took the hill in Pittsburgh that year. 21 were below replacement level. Only 25-year old Phenomenal Smith was able to produce 0.6 WAR (in 44 innings). Hecker himself was 2.4 wins below replacement. A pitcher named Fred Osborne managed to finish 4.3 wins below replacement in just 58 innings. The total of the pitching staff was –37.5 WAR.

The combined –42.4 WAR is simply incredible. Based on that total, the Alleghenys were expected to win just 1.8 games. As in 2–136, if you round up.

Big league playing experience is not a prerequisite for being hired as a major league manager, as evidenced by the six current managers who never made it to the “show’ as players: Fredi Gonzalez (Braves), Terry Collins (Mets), Joe Maddon (Rays), Buck Showalter (Orioles), Jim Leyland (Tigers) and Manny Acta (Indians). Several other current managers had short, unspectacular careers, consistent with the long-standing notion that marginal players make the best managers.

Nonetheless, the group of managers heading up major league clubs at the start of the 2012 season can be assembled into a pretty fair starting lineup.

C: Mike Scioscia (Angels). Another old saw about managing is that catchers are well suited to the job. A look at the current set of major league skippers offers no reason dismiss this thought. Seven current managers played catcher, but only Scioscia was a stand-out as a player. Joe Girardi (Yankees) and Mike Matheny (Cardinals) both held down starting positions for several years, but neither came close to Scioscia’s 23.7 WAR, which he accumulated during 13 years with the LA Dodgers. Girardi, Matheny, Bruce
Bochy (Giants), Ned Yost (Royals), Bob Melvin (Athletics) and Eric Wedge (Mariners) each earned less than five WAR for their playing efforts.

1B: Don Mattingly (Dodgers). He was an MVP, a six-time All-Star and a nine-time Gold Glove winner, and although I am not among the people advocating Mattingly’s Hall of Fame candidacy (largely on his brief peak and less-than-elite OBP), there’s no denying that he was a first-rate ball player. As the only first baseman among the current crop of MLB managers, he’s a natural for this starting lineup.

2B: Davey Johnson (Nationals). Like Mattingly at first base, Johnson is the only current MLB skipper who played second base. With Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson and Mark Belanger, Johnson was part of the celebrated Baltimore infield of the late ’60s and early ’70s. A four-time All-Star, Johnson saved his best season for 1973 when he hit 43 home runs for the Atlanta Braves.

3B: Robin Ventura (White Sox). Hired this off-season as Chicago’s field general despite having no previous managerial experience, Ventura will be returning to the organization where his playing career began. In ten seasons with the Sox, Ventura won five Gold Gloves and was a consistent offensive force in a lineup that also included Frank Thomas and Tim Raines. Ventura’s best season was 1999, his first with the Mets, when he hit .301, had an OPS of .908 and won his sixth Gold Glove. Brad Mills (Astros) is the only other third-sacker among current MLB managers, and he was a replacement-level player who had a very brief career with the Montreal Expos.

SS: Ozzie Guillen (Marlins). Shortstop was the primary defensive position of five current MLB managers, but Guillen is the natural choice to be in the starting lineup, mostly on the strength of his defensive skills. Never an offensive force, Guillen was a .264 hitter with little power. Nonetheless, he held the starting job for the White Sox for more than a decade, with more than two-thirds of his career 15.9 WAR earned on defense. Bobby Valentine (Red Sox), Ron Washington (Rangers), Dale Sveum (Cubs) and Ron Gardenhire (Twins) all played shortstop, but they did so at or near the replacement level.

LF: Dusty Baker (Reds). Baker had an interesting career arc. His talents were visible early in his career, when he hit .304 and slugged .501 in his age-23 season with Atlanta in 1973. He did not top 130 in OPS+ again until 1977 (age 28), and then did so again in ’80, ’81 and ’82. His peak years were ’79 through ’85 (ages 30-36). He earned a solid 34.8 WAR for his career.

CF: Kirk Gibson (Diamondbacks). The signature moment in Gibson’s career was his World Series home run off Dennis Eckersley. He won the MVP in 1988, his first season with the LA Dodgers, and on the strength of that season and the previous several years in Detroit, Gibson was poised to make a run at a Hall of Fame career. But from 1989 forward, Gibson was barely more than a replacement level performer. Still, he
accumulated 37.1 WAR during his 17-year career. Although he played far more as a corner outfielder, Gibson played more than 300 games in center, making him best suited to hold that position in our managers-only starting nine.

RF: Clint Hurdle (Pirates). Hurdle had one of the most disappointing careers of any major leaguer, not because he was a poor player, but because of the astronomical expectations that came along with his arrival with the Kansas City Royals in 1978. If you strip away the expectations and take an objective view, what you can observe is a short career to be sure (less than 1600 plate appearances) but not an unproductive one. His career .341 OBP and .403 SLG made for a 105 OPS+, making Hurdle a slightly above average performer with the bat. If not Hurdle in this starting lineup, the other choices are Charlie Manuel (Phillies), Ron Roenicke (Brewers) and Jim Tracy (Rockies), all of whom had short, undistinguished careers as MLB outfielders.

SP: Bud Black (Padres). Few major league pitchers become major league managers. Among 2012 skippers, only Black and John Farrell (Blue Jays) were MLB pitchers. Black was not much more than a .500 pitcher at 121-and-116, but his ERA+ was above average at 104, and for much of his career he was a serviceable second or third starter. He earned 19.6 WAR over his 15-year career. John Farrell has a somewhat less impressive pitching resume. He made only 109 starts in an eight-year, injury-interrupted career. Although certainly not an ace with his 36-and-46 record, Farrell was not a push-over, either. For his career, he averaged more than six innings pitched per start.

DH: Although the managers making up this lineup are drawn from both leagues, their talents are best suited to playing under National League rules – no DH required. If forced to send a DH to the plate, this team would be hard-pressed to produce a batter with anything near league-average offensive production. Take your pick from among Girardi (72 OPS+), Washington (79), Valentine (85) and Roenicke (92). All were more likely to strike out than to strike fear in the opposing pitcher.

Okay, okay.  I’m happy that baseball has signed a new agreement and there will be no strike for the next five years.  I get it.  I remember the previous strikes and no baseball definitely equaled no fun.  But someone has to stop this maniac who presides over Major League Baseball.  Someone has to shout from the highest mountain that the emperor has no clothes.

I’ve noticed after the gleeful announcement that an agreement had been signed that some of my fellow baseball journalists are finally getting the point and are calling it what it is– a shambles and a shame.  Some of my fellow journalists have even put aside the relief that there will be no baseball strike for the next few years and managed to see past another chapter in the disastrous reign of King Bud. This is an agreement which serves no one but the rich and powerful of the owners and the television networks.  Again, the average fan such as me has been left out of the equation amidst the joyous pronunciations of those who run the game.

An agreement for the sake of an agreement is often not an advantageous result, no matter the industry.  Smiles and handshakes all around do not constitute success.  The, at least we did something, simply doesn’t cut it.   The smiles looked more painful than joyful.  Lessons were not learned and successful models were not followed.  Profits should not be the only thing that matters and baseball should not become like all the other sports.  It was unique.  Now it is on the precipice of that slippery slope of mediocrity and sameness.  Nothing that needed to be fixed was, all in the name of profit.

The luxury tax instituted way back when was a good idea… in theory.  But in actual fact, it was little or no restriction at all.  Teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox could afford to spend at will and could and can afford any luxury taxes which may be imposed on them.  These taxes were and are distributed amongst the so called smaller market teams but with no accountability as to how this money should be spent.  Love him or hate him, the late George Steinbrenner had a valid point.  He stated that he didn’t mind paying a luxury tax, the price of success, but he did mind that those owners who receive this money could merely pocket the cash and continue to neglect the product on the field.  There was no minimum team salary in place. Franchises like Pittsburgh continue to pocket this money, charge high ticket prices, and field poor teams. This was not addressed.

Now we have regulations in place which punish small market teams for spending the necessary money to sign high round draft picks.  This will effectively limit their ability to sign such potentially franchise altering players and allow the rich teams which can afford any penalties to snap them up and continue their dominance of the sport.   Selig makes the argument that baseball is one of the few sport to field different championship teams almost every season but this argument is deceptive.  It is based on mediocre teams qualifying for the wild card berth and getting hot at the right time.

This brings me to additional wild card teams.  This will see more and more barely above .500 teams making the playoffs each season.  The one game playoff format is interesting and may serve to make a first place finish meaningful once again.  However, once a team survives this sudden death round, the roll of the dice playoff situation again rears its ugly head.  Where is the disadvantage to winning 83 games?  If home field advantage is as important as Selig seems to believe, why are wild card teams not disadvantaged throughout the playoffs?  A second place finish shouldn’t mean as much as a first place finish above and beyond those fluke seasons whereby a second place team has a better record than a division elsewhere.  The wild card, albeit giving more fans in more cities hope deeper into a season, is really little more than a money grabbing scenario for the teams and baseball in general.

I’m just getting started.

What he did: Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, to have gratitude. So what might Ollie Carnegie have been grateful for? Carnegie is perhaps the best American baseball player never to appear in the majors, one of a small group of players who carved out a good, long career exclusively in the high minors. If Carnegie had played in a more recent era than his own, one can only wonder what might have might been.

A Pennsylvania Railroad worker and semi-pro ballplayer, Carnegie started playing in the International League at 32 in 1931 after losing his job with the railroad. His age kept big league clubs from pursuing him, though Carnegie played from 1931 until 1941 with the Buffalo Bisons of the IL and spent 15 seasons all told in the minors, hitting .309 with 297 homers and more than 1,000 RBI. He was a man born at least 30 years too soon. In an era with expansion teams, Carnegie would have reached the majors, even if he’d been over 30 when it happened. And in the American League, with the opportunity to DH, Carnegie could have been a star.

Era he might have thrived in: There’s a certain temptation to place Carnegie in the National League of the 1990s on the Colorado Rockies, where men like Dante Bichette, Ellis Burks, and Andres Galarraga were pulled off their respective scrap heaps to find new offensive life. But I don’t think Carnegie would only be a star in Colorado, and elsewhere, he could make more of a difference. In Toronto in 1977, Carnegie might have made the Blue Jays relevant a few years sooner.

Why: As far as expansion teams go, Toronto did well relatively quickly, becoming a playoff-caliber club by the early ’80s behind All Stars like Dave Stieb and George Bell. But the Blue Jays’ initial few seasons were a bleak affair, Ernie Whitt and Jim Clancy their only picks in the 1976 expansion draft who would eventually factor into the glory years. Expansion drafts often provide slim pickings for the newly-minted teams, and sometimes, that’s all that’s needed for an unconventional player like Carnegie to get his shot. With Toronto, Carnegie could have been the favorite son that northern fans so lacked in those early days.

I believe a lot about success in baseball comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Carnegie suffered from playing in an era when good offensive players were easy to come by and guys without much defensive ability didn’t last long in the majors, Dale Alexander, Johnny Frederick, and Smead Jolley just a few of the talented hitters who returned to the minors after short stays in the show. If any of those men were DHs in the majors today, they might be well-known. Same goes for Carnegie, even as he was a right-handed batter who stood 5’7″ and weighed 175 pounds. I’m sure he’d have welcomed not having to roam the outfield in the modern American League.

Carnegie’s International League numbers late in his career hint at what might have been. In 1938 at 39, Carnegie hit .330 for Buffalo with 45 homers and 136 RBI. There is no stat converter on Baseball-Reference.com to project what those numbers would be with Toronto in 1977, but I like to think the end result would be at least good for a starting gig if not stardom. Carnegie might be like a modern-day Lefty O’Doul who had better luck in the Depression making the majors as a good hitter on the wrong side of 30.

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

Others in this series: Al Simmons, Albert Pujols, Babe Ruth, Bad News Rockies,Barry Bonds, Billy Beane, Billy Martin, Bob Caruthers, Bob Feller, Bob Watson,Bobby Veach, Carl Mays, Charles Victory Faust, Chris von der Ahe,Denny McLain, Dom DiMaggio, Don Drysdale, Eddie Lopat, Frank Howard, Fritz Maisel, Gavvy Cravath, George Case, George Weiss, Harmon Killebrew, Harry Walker, Home Run Baker, Honus Wagner, Hugh Casey, Ichiro Suzuki, Jack Clark, Jackie Robinson, Jim Abbott, Jimmy Wynn, Joe DiMaggio, Joe Posnanski, Johnny Antonelli, Johnny Frederick, Josh Hamilton, Ken Griffey Jr., Lefty Grove, Lefty O’Doul, Major League (1989 film),Matty Alou, Michael Jordan, Monte Irvin, Nate Colbert, Paul Derringer, 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