How They Cheer at a Baseball Game in Korea!
Here’s how they cheer at a Korean baseball game! Would you say they are more “into” baseball than we are here in the United States?
Korean Baseball Game! from Tony Pombo on Vimeo.
My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!I am also affiliated with a great cause, a children’s book with a great message called, “A Glove of Their Own”. Everyone who purchases a copy of this great book using the promotional code PIF 129, a $3.00 donation will be made when purchased through the Franklin Mason Press website for Pitch In For Baseball at checkout. You can purchase a copy by following the link at their website http://www.agloveoftheirown.com
Top 8 Free Agent Relief Pitchers 2009/2010
For many teams, especially teams that are successful in the postseason, success is predicated on a solid bullpen. However, while stalwarts like Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman grab headlines and notoriety, as a whole, bullpen arms are significantly more volatile than the two legendary closers. Bullpen arms, especially middle relievers, tend to come out of nowhere. Relievers are often times a combination of failed starters, hard-throwers with little command, and finesse pitchers with gimmick pitches (knuckleball, screwball, forkball). In the case of middle relievers, they typically possess very few of the tools of late inning relievers, and simply throw a lot of strikes.
Last year Juan Cruz and Joe Beimel spent most of the offseason unsigned, because while some teams have begun to value relievers accurately (most relievers are pretty replaceable), the Elias ranking system which determines Type A and B free agents was exposed for its flawed valuation of relief pitchers. While players like Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia were swooped up as soon as they desired, Beimel and Cruz spent most of the season unemployed, not because they were bad pitchers, but that their signing team would have had to give up a first round pick in order to sign them, and the combined compensation didn’t outweigh projected production. Sabermetricians will point to luck, and disproportionate swings of BABIP as the reason for some player’s inflated stats. Unfortunately, even the most durable, heavily-used relievers produce in such a small sample set that their overall statistical production can be massively affected by such swings, and in the case of Beimel and Cruz, positive statistical production can prove negative to their pocket books. That stated, there is essentially a split market between Type A and B free agents.
*Note: Players with options will be kept off the list unless their options are projected as unexercised. No arbitration-eligible players will be included unless they are projected as non-tender free agents. Ages represent age on June 30, 2010
Type A relievers
1. Rafael Soriano, 30 years old
Since converting to pitcher from shortstop, Soriano has always had an electrifying, mid-90s fastball. Last year, his first full season as a closer, he picked up 0.3 miles-per-hour on his fastball and almost two miles-per-hour on his slider. Soriano struck out 3.78 batters for every walk he surrendered, and struck out 12.13 batters per nine innings.
Soriano may regress some in 2010, he gave up a higher percentage of line drives than the year before, and had a lower home run to fly ball ratio than his career averages. Those numbers are especially volatile, and could regress to their mean, but he’ll still strike a lot of batters out, and is relatively young.
2. Jose Valverde, 32 years old
There seems to be a pundit-driven swing to influence fans to believe that Valverde is a lesser pitcher than he really is. Valverde seems to be stuck with a stigma of being a one-pitch pitcher, which he truly was in the early years of his career. However, much has changed in the last three years of Valverde’s career.
In the past three years, while posting a FIP around 3.50, Valverde has begun to throw his split-finger fastball with much more regularity. In the past two seasons Valverde has caused batters to swing at more pitches outside the strike zone (33 and 32 percent) than 2007, when he had batters swinging more frequently at pitches outside the strike zone than any year to that point besides his rookie season.
3. Mike Gonzalez, 32 years old
Between Gonzalez and Soriano, the Braves had one of the most formidable one-two punches to finish a game last season. What makes Gonzalez unique, apart from being a left-handed power pitcher, is that while he dominates left-handed batters (.194/.255/.327 in 2009) he’s also very effective against righties (.218/.340/.359).
Gonzalez hasn’t closed regularly since 2006, but he was dominant then and remains a high-end late reliever, and has increased value because he’s left handed. Gonzalez has a place in any bullpen, but could be very expensive.
4. Rafael Betancourt, 35 years old
Betancourt has always had good stuff, but a trip to Colorado for a pitcher who gives up a lot of fly balls, but also strikes a lot of batters out, seemed destined to prove his worth as a pitcher. Betancourt responded well, giving up 17 hits and only five runs in 25.1 innings.
Betancourt has never been given the opportunity to close regularly, but probably would have been a better option in Cleveland, where he began—and played all of his career until last year, than free agent signee Kerry Wood. Especially because, unlike Wood, Betancourt doesn’t walk many batters.
5. Billy Wagner, 38 years old
Wagner is definitely no longer the pitcher who can reach triple-digits with his fastball, but he still averages over 94 miles-per-hour. Coming off of Tommy John surgery, Wagner pitched in limited time and was very successful (1.72 ERA, 26 SOs, and a 1.021 WHIP in 15.2 innings pitched).
Wagner’s age and injury history place him lower on the list. He was an all-but-missing piece in a bad Mets bullpen in 2008, and it isn’t often that players recover from Tommy John surgery so well in their late-30s.
However, if Wagner’s arm holds up, and his numbers stay somewhere near the small 2009 sample, he’s a high-quality bullpen arm.
Type B and non-compensation relievers
1. Takashi Saito, 40 years old
Saito is far from the dominating pitcher he was as a 36-year-old rookie. The Japanese import however, has experienced far-over-documented struggles. The biggest deviation from the rest of his brief-but-consistently-dominant career was that 2009 was the first year he didn’t average more than one strikeout per inning.
Saito hasn’t lost significant velocity on any of his pitches, and figures to be a steal in this free agent class. His time remaining in the Major Leagues is probably limited, but he can be some team’s productive, late-inning reliever for the rest of his time here.
2. Joe Beimel, 33 years old
Last year Beimel, by way of his type A status, failed to cash in on three straight productive seasons as a lefty reliever in Los Angeles. This year, however, reduced status should work very much to Beimel’s benefit.
Beimel has shown consistency, and has a pretty high ground-ball-percentage, so while he allows batters to put the ball in play, and relies significantly on luck, he limits the severity of the outcome of that luck by keeping the ball out of the air.
3. Chan Ho Park, 37 years old
Park’s numbers won’t be eye-popping, but he’s something of a Swiss Army Knife in any bullpen. Last season with the Phillies he started, pitched in the middle of games, and in some late inning situations.
Park has never returned to the near-Cy-Young form he had in Los Angeles, but he’s throwing his fastball less, and mixing up his off-speed pitches well, and is a valuable, and likely inexpensive arm for a team to put in their bullpen.
Casey is a super-sophomore at Green River Community College, where he retired from his post as Editor-in-Chief at the school’s newspaper. He’s a featured columnist for the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks at Bleacher Report. He does a sports radio show on www.kgrg.com, his college’s radio station on Saturdays from 7-10 PM PST. He can be contacted at caseymgreer@gmail.com.
Happy Thanksgiving
On behalf of everyone here at The Dugout Doctors, we want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!
And for those of you who are into the “classics” here is the final part of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!!
My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!
I am also affiliated with a great cause, a children’s book with a great message called, “A Glove of Their Own”. Everyone who purchases a copy of this great book using the promotional code PIF 129, a $3.00 donation will be made when purchased through the Franklin Mason Press website for Pitch In For Baseball at checkout. You can purchase a copy by following the link at their website http://www.agloveoftheirown.com
Albert Pujols 3 Time MVP & Superstar For GOD
This week Albert “The Great” Pujols won his third MVP award which was his second in a row!
In 2009 he hit .327 (.357 in 2008), 47 HR (37 in 2008), 135 RBI (116 in 2008), .443 OBP (.462 in 2008), 1.101 OPS (1.115 in 2008) with a .992 Fld% (.996 in 2008) and a RF of 10.84 (10.61 in 2008).
Albert Pujol’s Testimony for GOD!
My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!
Pitching Greatness is No Longer Measured by Wins
Zach Greinke’s distinction of sharing the record for the fewest number of wins by a Cy Young winning pitcher (16) didn’t last long as the record is now solely in the hands of Tim Lincecum (15).
In fact, it shows how times have changed to consider that the 31 total victories between the two 2009 Cy Young Award winners equals the total number of wins that Denny McLain registered when winning the American League Cy Young Award in 1968.
It used to be that the number one criteria for a starting pitcher being a serious Cy Young Award candidate was how many victories he recorded in a season. Sure, other factors like strikeouts, ERA and winning percentage have always been important, but the top prize for a pitcher usually was reserved for a hurler who either led the league or came close to leading the league in wins.
The voting for the 2009 Cy Young Awards clearly illustrates that is no longer the case.
Though Lincecom finished with one fewer victory than Greinke, he actually finished fourth in the National League in wins while Greinke’s total was good enough to tie for seventh in the AL.
What seems to have made Greinke and Lincecum appealing to voters was their performance in other categories.
Despite playing for the woeful Kansas City Royals, Greinke posted a 2.16 ERA, which is the lowest total in the American League since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 mark in 2000. He also finished second in the league with 242 strikeouts.
While Greinke’s selection was widely expected, Lincecum’s repeat as the National League winner was a slight surprise. Lincecum finished second in the NL with a 2.48 ERA. 2005 Cy Young Winner Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals led the league with a 2.24 ERA and finished with a 17-4 record, compared to the 15-7 mark for Lincecum.
What seems to have given Lincecum an advantage over Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, who finished with a 19-8 record and 2.63 ERA was his strikeout total.
Lincecum registered a league best 261 K’s while Wainwright had 212 and Carpenter just 144.
The selection of Greinke and Lincecum as Cy Young winners seems to signal the completion of what has been a gradual reduction over the last decade of the value of victories as a measuring stick of greatness for starting pitchers.
In an era when most starters often pitch only six or seven innings, voters seem to now recognize that the victory total for a starting pitcher is largely out of his hands.
Greinke won 16 games, but very easily could have had many more wins. He allowed four or more earned runs in just five of his 33 starts during the season. He also pitched more than seven innings only 10 times with just three of those starts coming after the first of July.
Lincecum’s results were strikingly similar. He surrendered four or more runs five times in 32 starts and pitched more than seven innings 11 times.
I guess the selection of two pitchers with so few victories could be a one-year aberration, but I seriously doubt that to be the case. I think in the future we will end up with more Cy Young Award winners with 16 or fewer wins than we do with 20 or more victories.
Five lowest combined win totals for Cy Young Winners (since 1967, includes only years when two starting pitchers won the awards):
31 – 2009 – Tim Lincecum (15), Zach Greinke (16)
32 – 1994 – Greg Maddux (16), David Cone (16) * Strike Season
35 – 2006 – Brandon Webb (16), Johan Santana (19)
37 – 1995 – Greg Maddux (19), Randy Johnson (18) * Strike Season
37 – 2000 – Randy Johnson (19), Pedro Martinez (18)
To read more from Dean, go to his sports blog: Sports Then and Now!
The San Diego Chicken…Talks?!
The San Diego Chicken on The Best Damn Sports Show Period…talking!
My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!
I am also affiliated with a great cause, a children’s book with a great message called, “A Glove of Their Own”. Everyone who purchases a copy of this great book using the promotional code PIF 129, a $3.00 donation will be made when purchased through the Franklin Mason Press website for Pitch In For Baseball at checkout. You can purchase a copy by following the link at their website http://www.agloveoftheirown.com
Top 10 Free Agent Outfielders
Outfielders, as in many years, offer the most diverse market. The reason outfielders tend to end up as free agents more often, is that typically it is hard to find a combination of average to above-average offense and good defense, and vice versa. For example, Jason Bay is an above average offensive player, but an awful defender. He’s best suited as a DH, as it’s tough for outfielders to make the transition from catching fly balls to fielding grounders, but his value lies in the fact that he’s not a complete embarrassment in the outfield.
Bobby Abreu and Vladimir Guerrero, both already listed as designated hitters, were notable exceptions to that rule, but each has regressed to a far lesser defender than they were in past years (especially Guerrero). Matt Holliday may figure to sign the biggest contract of the offseason, especially considering he’s under the guidance of “super-agent” Scott Boras, who seems to have recovered nicely from an embarrassing offseason a few years ago representing Alex Rodriguez.
*Note: Players with options will be kept off the list unless their options are projected as unexercised. No arbitration-eligible players will be included unless they are projected as non-tender free agents. Ages represent age on June 30, 2010
1. Matt Holliday, 30 years old
Holliday is the unquestioned top free agent outfielder, but he’ll come at a price. The St. Louis Cardinals, who traded their top-prospect Brett Wallace to acquire Holliday in July, have already discussed a contract with Holliday worth a reported $96 million over six years. But in true Boras form, he’s brainwashed a top client that he’s worth what the last, usually-better client Boras represented got, in this case Mark Teixeira.
The chances of Holliday matching Teixeira’s eight year, $180 million deal are slim, but a deal over $100 million is almost a certainty. Jason Bay reportedly declined a four year, $60 million offer from the Red Sox, and Holliday’s a better hitter and fielder than Bay.
2. Jason Bay, 31 years old
As previously discussed, Bay is a butcher in the outfield. However, his .236 and .269 ISO in the past two respective seasons bear mentioning. Bay’s the best pure hitter apart from Holliday on the market, though Holliday is probably better all-around at the plate, and clearly in the field.
The best thing that Bay has going for him above Holliday is that he’s excelled in the American League. Holliday posted respectable numbers in a short time in Oakland, but certainly will draw some doubts for American League general managers.
3. Mike Cameron, 37 years old
Want an outfielder who has posted an ISO over .200 for two straight years, walks in over 10 percent of his plate appearances, and posts a UZR/150 over 10 in each of the past two seasons in center field? Cameron’s your guy.
Obviously, Cameron’s advanced age is worrisome, and probably will prevent him from signing a contract longer than two years. However, Cameron’s one of the best defensive outfielders in the game, even in his mid-30s, and still hits the ball hard—when he makes contact that is.
4. Randy Winn, 36 years old
Winn is the first outfielder on the list who hits from the left hand side, which bumps him up a few spots. He’s an adequate hitter, though his adequate power was far below average in 2009. He hit .292/.354/.397 against righties in 2009, and hits .289/.348/.417 for his career against righties.
Winn’s true value though, is on defense. Despite his age, he plays an adequate center field and is an excellent corner outfielder.
5. Marcus Thames, 33 years old
Last year’s bargain basement free agent coup was Russell Branyan. Branyan was a top prospect who never quite stuck at the big league level. He had great power, but holes in his swing, significant flaws, and was a pretty crappy fielder at his natural position. If there were ever a right-handed clone, Marcus Thames is it.
The most plate appearances Thames has ever had in a season is 390, but over the course of his 1749 big league trips to the plate, he’s posted a .248 ISO. Thames strikes out a ton though, he only walks at about a league-average clip, but his 12.7 HR/FB percentage was almost five percent higher than league average, but also almost four percent lower than his career average. Look for Thames to bounce back if he’s given enough playing time to ride the highs and lows of luck on a team with a solid center fielder who can hide some of Thames’ defensive inadequacies.
6. Rick Ankiel, 30 years old
Ankiel has fallen from a household name, after transforming himself from a pitcher to a power-hitting outfielder, to just another player in a long line of performance enhancing drug users. He’s struggled mightily at the plate since admitting to using HGH, and teams will be cautious as a result.
However, he hits very well against right-handed pitchers, and can probably play a respectable corner-outifield, though his days in center may be over.
7. Coco Crisp, 30 years old
Crisp is a player who many expected to be much better than he is, something like a 2000s version of Jose Cruz Jr. Crisp seemed to prove correct his supporters in 2005, hitting .300/.345/.465 with 16 home runs and 42 doubles, but hasn’t managed to approach any of those numbers since a trade to Boston in 2006, and a subsequent trade to Kansas City in 2009.
Crisp plays great defense. He’s a good center fielder, but a tremendous left fielder, and coming off a labrum tear he’s probably best suited in left in 2010. Interestingly, Crisp walked 13.5 percent of his plate appearances in his one abbreviated season with Kansas City compared to his 7.5 percent career average. That helped to supplement his struggles at the plate, but was it a product of maturation, or of being one of the better hitters in a pretty bad lineup?
8. Marlon Byrd, 32 years old
Byrd is going to be overpaid. A lot has been made of the outfielder’s solid 2009 season, mainly perhaps, because of his imminent departure from Texas, where he’d probably like to play, and a team that would probably like him back, but finances, and a pending team sale will dictate otherwise.
But 14 of his 20 home runs came in the hitter’s heaven that is the Ballpark at Arlington. Byrd figures to drop off in nearly every other ballpark in baseball, and he’s probably the fifth best defensive centerfielder in a free agent market that doesn’t have a lot of demand at the position.
9. Jermaine Dye, 36 years old
Jermaine Dye is like the Chevrolet 2.8 liter V-6 engine (this just got personal). It doesn’t have as much power as it should, it gets bad gas mileage, and has more problems than it’s worth.
Dye is going to get a contract worth more than his production, based simply on name value.
Sure, he’s hit over 25 home runs in each of the past five seasons, but that alone doesn’t make up for a pretty wide array of flaws: his bat is declining, he doesn’t walk, and he’s had at least a -21.4 UZR/150 in each of the last four seasons in right field.
10. Jeff Fiorentino, 27 years old
If only by product of age, Fiorentino makes the list. There aren’t a lot of teams out there looking for center fielders, but Fiorentino won’t embarrass a team in the field. However, the most intriguing aspect about Fiorentino, and what puts him on the list, is his potential offensive production.
Fiorentino hasn’t been awful at the plate in limited time in the big leagues. A small sample size in the bigs has Fiorentino at a .270/.341/.324 clip in the majors, and a 24.1 UZR/150 in 58 games. But he hit .312/.387/.510 in AAA last year.
Casey is a super-sophomore at Green River Community College, where he retired from his post as Editor-in-Chief at the school’s newspaper. He’s a featured columnist for the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks at Bleacher Report. He does a sports radio show on www.kgrg.com, his college’s radio station on Saturdays from 7-10 PM PST. He can be contacted at caseymgreer@gmail.com.
Rollie’s Follies: An Interview with the Hall of Fame Author
**The Quotes as presented are direct from Rollie Fingers courtesy of an interview that he was kind enough to grant me in conjunction with his new book.**
When people approach professional athletes, they are usually looking for a career retrospective or a biography. That is exactly what Yellowstone Ritter had in mind when he contacted Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers.
With the idea on the table, Rollie said no. So Yellowstone went back to the drawing board with Rollie, and what they came up with was Rollie’s Follies: A Hall of Fame Revue of Baseball Stories and Stats, Lists, and Lore.
When discussing the book, I was treated to a conversation that covered many facets of Rollie’s Hall of Fame career, and the stories and opinions were as diverse and colorful as the book that he helped author in his name.
After bypassing the notion that talking about himself for 250 or so pages was a good idea, Rollie did start to hash out a plan with Yellowstone, who he credits with doing a lot of the interesting research in the book.
“I don’t want to get into autobiographies, I don’t want to talk about myself.”
Fingers explains, “We started hashing it out, and decided he has done a lot of research on baseball. So why don’t we do a book on basic baseball itself. So we decided that’s what we were going to do.”
“We went through a bunch of statistics and facts and came up with a bunch of things that you might not know about…different crazy stats of things that happen, who are the best hitting pitchers of all time, you don’t know that.”
“People think of the greatest home run hitters of all time and think of Babe Ruth, they don’t think about that Warren Spahn hit more than anybody.”
In 1958, Warren Spahn, in just 108 at bats, hit .333, and also mustered 35 home runs, 189 RBI’s in his career.
The book, as Rollie and I discussed, is really about expanding on what people love so much about baseball.
As Rollie said, “That’s all baseball is, is numbers, it’s run by numbers, averages, percentage and odds. Managers make their decisions based on the numbers.
“If this guy hits the ball 7 out of 10 times to the left side then they’ll play a shift to the left…there is more books on statistics than you can think of and we just brought out some of the ones that we thought were the most interesting.”
To look back at Rollie’s career by the numbers, one American League Cy Young (1981), one American League MVP (1981), 341 Career Saves (10th all-time), 944 career games (17th all-time), 709 career games finished (5th all-time) and 81.1% (the total number of writers hall of fame ballots he was elected on for the Hall).
He appeared on 349 of 430 Hall of Fame ballots, getting him over the 75% required for enshrinement.
We talked a little bit about his place among baseball immortals. I asked Rollie about his engagement two weeks ago to see his peers Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice take their place in Cooperstown.
“I’ve been back every year since 1992 when I went in. I have been there a few times before that, they used to have the Hall of Fame game, and I played once with the A’s and one game with the Padres.
Then I was there in 1964 when I was named the American Legion Baseball Player of the Year, I received my award at Doubleday Field in 1964, that’s the first time I was there.”
When I asked why Rollie returns with such frequency, he answered me as if there was no other option.
“I think it’s important because when I went in there was a lot of guys there.” He said. “They supported my induction into the Hall of Fame and my career. I felt that I should be there for the new guys coming in,” Rollie continued.
He also let me in on a little secret; “it’s nice seeing the guys go through what you have to go through to get in.”
The first trip to Cooperstown is the hardest.
“That weekend is a hectic weekend, getting ready for your speech, taking care of all your family members making sure everything is done right, people wanting you to sign autographs going to the dinners, going to the parties. The easiest time is the following year.”
“The hardest thing in the world to get through is the speech,” said Rollie, and remember this is a guy with 3 World Series rings and 341 career saves.
As for his description of this year’s inductees, “Rickey Henderson was a pain in the butt. You don’t want to walk him; it’s like walking a triple. I had a real slow motion to the plate, so I knew if he got on base within two or three pitches he was going to be standing on third.”
On Jim Rice, “The two scariest things in the world are standing on the mound at Fenway Park looking over your right shoulder and seeing the wall there, and the second scariest is looking in and seeing Jim Rice. Those were the two scariest things about Boston when I played.”
Ironically enough for the nightmare was that the wall was a disputable 310 feet away.
Fenway was not Rollie’s least favorite place to pitch. Counted among his least favorites were the domed stadiums.
“I didn’t like The Astrodome, or any of the Astro-Turf fields. Probably my worst ballpark was The Met in Minnesota, I hated that place, I was so glad when they tore that place down, you have no idea. My first big league start at the Met I threw a five hit shut out, and my lifetime record at The Met is one win and 11 losses.”
Fingers went on to recount a move this his manager used to save him the horrors of The Met on one occasion.
“It was really bad, nothing went right for me at that ball park. Actually Alvin Dark with the Oakland A’s, we had a double-header and he didn’t even want me in uniform, he put me in street clothes in the stands for a double header and this is when I was the closer.
“Crazy stuff would happen there, and I’d always end up having a bad game. So he just decided, what the heck I might as well throw you in the stands so I won’t be tempted to use you.”
Rollie Fingers was part of multiple transactions in his career. He was a free agent, he was traded, and he was even sold once by Charlie Finley to the Boston Red Sox.
As it turns out, Joe Rudi and Rollie, after being sold to the Red Sox for a million dollars apiece, were promptly returned after the commissioner’s office ruled that the transaction would not stand.
Luckily for Rudi and Fingers, the Red Sox were the visiting club and they simply packed their bags and walked through the bowels of the Oakland County Coliseum to set up shop in the visitor’s clubhouse.
After three days, Bowie Kuhn, Major League Baseball’s fifth commissioner, told Charlie Finley he couldn’t do that, although Rollie does believe “if Joe or I had gotten into that game, there wouldn’t have been anything they could have done. I warmed up but never got in the game.”
Rollie then signed with the Padres, where he spent four seasons before he was shipped to St. Louis in the off-season, where he ironically once again spent three days, matching his stay with the Red Sox. The Cardinals then moved him out to play with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Speaking of the team that would be Harvey’s Wallbanger’s, “Paul Molitor was about a three or four year man up, Robin Yount was a six or seven year guy…I was happy to be going to Milwaukee, I was just happy to be wearing the same uniform as those guys.
“The line up we had there was unbelievable: Ted Simmons, Molitor, Yount, Cooper, Ben Oglivie, Gorman Thomas, I mean I wouldn’t want to face that line up, I was just happy to have a Milwaukee uniform on that year.”
Rollie and I had a little fun as I mentioned former Major Leaguer and Fingers’ teammate, 1982 Cy Young Award winner Pete Vuckovich.
Following Pete’s playing career, he’s probably best known as “The Biggest Indian Killer of them All” Clu Heywood according to Harry Doyle (played by longtime Brewers announcer and Major League Catcher Bob Uecker).
So I asked Rollie, “Who would play Rollie Fingers?”
“Oh golly, I have no idea who would play Rollie Fingers, you’d have to be able to grow a handle bar mustache, who that person would be I have no idea, or whether in the future they’d put me in a movie.”
But a guy that looks like me and can grow a handle bar mustache is the way they’d have to go I guess, like the movie 61, they cast those two guys who looked pretty much like Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris…I don’t think about that stuff.”
You hear the words dynasty thrown around; when you won the first World Series in Oakland did you know you had something special?
Rollie is much like the other major leaguers I’ve talked to, when they talk about things they are incredibly focused in the moment and recall it as such.
“At the time you don’t. After we won the first year it was the first time we’d ever won and sure you want to win two and we knew we had a pretty good team. We played together, we all played together in the minors because it was before free agency and we basically had the same line up for eight years at the time we played in Oakland.
“Winning three in a row, it was great; you don’t think about how great it was then, you know I’d like to have kept winning. That’s what it’s all about, we had a chance in ’75 but we got beat in the playoffs by the Red Sox, I think if we’d have had Catfish Hunter that year, that was the year we lost Catfish Hunter…we had a chance to be a dynasty there if Charlie Finley kept us together.
“He wasn’t about to do that, he didn’t want to pay the salaries, so when Free Agency hit, he lost all of us, he could’ve kept that team together if he’d have just paid us.”
I asked him specifically about the fans in his career, and the fans in Milwaukee, “Milwaukee is a great baseball town…they’ll open their arms up to you.”
“I enjoyed playing there, I enjoyed the fans, I did a lot of charity when they had stuff going on at the ballpark it was fun…I had a lot of fun because I was getting guys out and we were doing good.”
We talked a lot about Rollie’s contemporaries so I decided to ask, if there was anyone now that he enjoys watching pitch.
I asked is there anyone that if you know that they are pitching you’ll throw the game on?
“There’s a few players, I don’t mind watching a good pitched ball game, Randy Johnson, Halladay in Toronto, that’s the way I was when Greg Maddux was pitching, I would sit and watch him, because he knew what he was doing. He wasn’t over powering; he moved the ball around, hit spots. That’s pitching.
“I don’t watch ball games on TV anymore cause I hate to see a pitcher go zero balls and two strikes and lay one right down the middle and the guy hits it out of the ballpark.
“What’s he thinking about? That’s not pitching to me; that is throwing. I get too upset watching those types of games, so I don’t watch them anymore.”
He continued, “I don’t go to games anymore, but if I know a certain guy is pitching, Beckett with Boston, I’ll watch him pitch, or Santana, he’s got a pretty good idea.”
I asked what the best innovation or change in the game has been since Rollie left the game, and all he came up with was, “guys are making money,” he laughed.
As far as detriments to the game, he listed harder balls, harder bats, smaller ballparks, home runs are up, umpires have taken away the inside part of the plate from pitchers and the way pitching staffs are used.
Rollie clearly pitched in a different era, but he makes a lot of interesting and valid points about pitchers use and their health in recent years.
Most major league teams carry 13 pitchers on their 25-man roster, when Rollie pitched, “you’d break training camp with 8 or sometimes 9 pitchers.”
Because of that we talked strategy and how the game has changed, he talked about the difference in the way that bullpens are handled across major league baseball.
“Guys in the bullpen should go longer distances instead of being a one-inning pitcher.”
I asked him if it is frustrating to watch a guy get pulled after one inning or in sometimes one batter.
Rollie definitely had some strong opinions in this area, “The biggest problem I have with the way bullpens are run is a set up guy will come in, in the eighth inning and strike out the side in a 4 to 1 ball game and then he is taken out and the closer will come in to finish the game.
“Why don’t you let the guy that just struck out the side go back out and start the ninth inning? You still have your $10 million dollar man in the bullpen to get out of jams. Give that guy an opportunity to get a save. He did his job in the eighth and give your closer a day off.
“If he struck out the side he probably has his good stuff that day…I see ball games that are 2-1 ball games and I look at the box score and there was 12 pitchers used.”
He continued, “I needed a lot of work to stay sharp, I don’t think I could’ve done what they are doing today.”
Name
Avg. Inn/Year
Career High Innings
Season Plus 100 Inn
Mariano Rivera
80
107
1
Trevor Hoffman
72
90
0
Rollie Fingers
118
148
11
We talked about another of Rollie’s peers in Nolan Ryan. We didn’t talk about Ryan’s Hall of Fame credentials, but the success that he had thus far in rejuvenating the Texas Rangers pitching staff this year.
I asked Rollie if that was the way to go, if we’d see starters going deeper into games and potentially less pitching injuries?
“I pitched for the Oakland A’s for 8 years, we’d complete 45 or 50 ball games a year with Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Kenny Holtzman. In the 8 years I was there I don’t remember any of these guys being on the disabled list. 8 years in a row, I never remember them going on a 2 week DL or 1 month DL.”
“They were out there doing their 40 starts a year; they pitched 275 to 300 innings each year, Catfish Hunter would complete 20 ball games himself, and you just don’t see that anymore.”
“Why these guys are getting hurt, I don’t know, I think if they got stronger and pitched more they would have less injuries.”
“I was down in Texas talking to Nolan and he said yeah that’s what we want to do, we want to see if we can get our starting pitchers into the seventh and eighth inning and if they are still going good, get a complete game. I don’t see any problem with that at all, I think you’re going to get fewer injuries.”
In 1975 Catfish Hunter had 30 complete games in his 39 starts!
One of the more intriguing points he made was about pitch counts. Rollie’s thoughts on pitch counts really showed the difference between baseball now and 25-30 years ago.
He began when I asked him about tie games where people are taken out.
“Even if it’s a tie, let them throw their 130 and 140 pitches. They are strong enough and capable of doing it, but you have to get used to it. These guys go out now, five innings that’s a quality start, and 100 pitches.”
“I’d like to know who the animal was that came up with this 100-pitch rule. I guarantee you he wasn’t a pitcher, I’m sure he was a doctor that doesn’t know anything about pitching. That’s my guess, because 100 pitches is nothing.”
To put it in perspective in a conversation Rollie had with fellow Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax he asked, “What’s the most pitches you’ve ever thrown in a game?” Sandy’s response was 230.
We talked about a game that pitted Juan Marichal vs. Warren Spahn, the Hall of Famers combined to each go 16 innings and throw over 200 pitches a piece.
We talked about 1976 Hall of Fame inductee Robin Roberts who completed 28 straight games, a feat that would be unthinkable with today’s managers.
“If you have good mechanics and you are strong and you know what you’re doing out there you can do it. Manager’s won’t let starting pitchers do that because they are afraid someone is going to get hurt, they’re going to have to answer the questions. They are going to get second-guessed.”
“You have a lot of money sitting there and you don’t want it on the DL, but the thing is more starting pitchers are going on the DL than are not.”
We talked about Halladay’s last start before the trade deadline; Doc had a stat line of 1 earned run, 9 innings and got a no decision after 115 pitches.
“He’s old school, pitchers go out there thinking they’ve got to just go 5 or 6, he’s thinking about going 9. He’s thinking 9 more than any pitcher in baseball today. He’s big enough and strong enough he could go 140 pitches.”
“If Nolan Ryan had been on a 100 pitch count he’d have never got a decision, he threw that many by the fifth inning. You could watch Nolan throw 170 pitches, strike out 14, and walk 10 in a complete game.”
“But he was strong and could do it. Tom Seaver was another guy, he’d throw a lot of pitches, but he was strong and had great mechanics.”
Rollie is a wealth of pitching knowledge about the history of the game and Rollie’s Follies: A Hall of Fame Revue of Baseball Stories and Stats, Lists and Lore expands on that.
The book covers everything from the best hitting pitcher, to the Milwaukee Sausage Races and it’s on field list of imitators, to Hall of Fame and not so Hall of Fame profiles and the Kenny Lofton curse (you’ll have to read that one yourself).
In Rollie’s Follies, Fingers and Ritter managed to put together a baseball book that I am not sure it starts or ends more debates but it allows fans of America’s past time to do what they love best.
Wow, their friends with the most obscure, interesting and odd facts and stories about the grand old game.
Rollies Follies is co-authoured by Rollie Fingers and Yellowstone Ritter, it is published by Clerisy Press, available at www.clerisypress.com
David is a fellow Bleacher Creature, you can find his work there by following this link. He has also written for RBI Magazine and a few other places as well.
Nike’s Pitchers Wanna Be Hitters
In a follow up video to Nike’s “hit” commercial, “Chicks Digg The Longball” that we should you a little while back, here is the next installment from Nike: “Pitchers Wanna Be Hitters”!
What do you think?
My name is Peter Schiller. I am the creator/owner of Baseball Reflections.com. I’m also a contributing writer. To read more of my work at Baseball Reflections just click HERE!
I am also affiliated with a great cause, a children’s book with a great message called, “A Glove of Their Own”. Everyone who purchases a copy of this great book using the promotional code PIF 129, a $3.00 donation will be made when purchased through the Franklin Mason Press website for Pitch In For Baseball at checkout. You can purchase a copy by following the link at their website http://www.agloveoftheirown.com
Current Free Agents at SS
It’s been quite some time since the the first wave of Cal Ripken deciples made up a trio of the league’s elite shortstops. Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter now play together, with Rodriguez moving to third base (though a swap would probably improve the Yankees left side). Nomar Garciaparra has battled wrist injuries and become a designated-hitter option as a free agent this year. But Miguel Tejada also won an MVP at the position, and is a free agent this year, though he’ll likely have to move to third base this season.
Since the beginning of steroid testing, however, the middle infield positions have devolved back to where they were pre-Ripken. Now, much of a player’s value in the middle infield is predicated on his defense, and power-hitting middle-infielders are much harder to come by.
*Note: Players with options will be kept off the list unless their options are projected as unexercised. No arbitration-eligible players will be included unless they are projected as non-tender free agents. Ages represent age on June 30, 2010
Alex Gonzalez, 32 years old
After missing all of 2008 with a knee injury, Gonzalez bounced back respectably in 2009. Lateral movement is always a concern when evaluating knee-injury-recovery, and Gonzalez the 10.5 UZR/150 in 2009, which he spent in Cincinnati and Boston, certainly should quiet some doubters. He also displayed some power in the American League, hitting five of his eight homeruns in Boston, where he played only 44 games, but posting a .284/.316/.453 line.
Gonzalez has shown power through his career. In 2007, his last full season prior to 2009, saw him hit 16 home runs and post a .196 ISO. He played in Cincinnati, whose home park is a launching pad for mediocre power hitters, but also hit 23 home runs in 2004 when he played for the Florida Marlins, who play in a more pitcher-friendly park.
Orlando Cabrera, 35 years old
A lot has been—and probably will continue to be—made of Marco Scutaro’s impressive 2009 season. But his .282/.389/.409 line is only a tick better than Cabrera’s .284/.316/.389 line in 2009. But while Scutaro, once a jack-of-no-trades in the infield seems to have found a spot at shortstop, he’s only an average defender at the position, while Cabrera has boasted several very good seasons at shortstop (his -13.7 UZR/150 in 2009 appears flukey).
And while Cabrera has been around the league a long time, and is known by most casual fans, at least better known that Scutaro, he’s less than a year older than Scutaro.
Marco Scutaro, 34 years old
Scutaro has always been a stalky guy who swung hard. Watching him play for a week would lead most to believe that he was a power hitter in a slump, but instead he’s a guy who is simply only an average hitter. He’s something akin to a pre-alledged-steroid-use Brett Boone.
That said, as an average defender and a guy who walks a lot (90 times in 2009), and also in a baseball landscape presently starving for offensive talent at shortstop, Scutaro has a significant market. He’ll improve somebody, somewhere, as long as he can stick at short.
Craig Counsell, 39 years old
At 38 years old, Counsell posted one of his the most complete offensive seasons he’s ever had. His .285/.357/.408 line in 130 games, paired with solid defense and nearly-unparalleled versatility make Counsell a valuable free agent heading into 2010.
He walks enough, but will never be mistaken for a power hitter. However, his ability to play at a high level at shortstop, second base, and third base, while hitting from the left hand side, will make him an attractive target for some teams.
Khalil Greene, 30 years old
Green is really only on this list because of his age, he’s the youngest legitimate starting candidate among free agent shortstops, and his unrealized potential. Greene posted a .214 ISO in 2007, and looked to be headed towards the echelon of elite shortstops.
He’s hit only 16 homeruns since, including six in a one-year stint with the St. Louis Cardinals, but has resided barely north of the Mendoza line for the past two seasons. He’s also seen his defense recede considerably according to UZR, and it was only average before.
Casey is a super-sophomore at Green River Community College, where he retired from his post as Editor-in-Chief at the school’s newspaper. He’s a featured columnist for the Seattle Mariners and Seattle Seahawks at Bleacher Report. He does a sports radio show on www.kgrg.com, his college’s radio station on Saturdays from 7-10 PM PST. He can be contacted at caseymgreer@gmail.com.
