Ty Cobb was grumpy

As Baseball Think Factory (via HardballTalk) reminds us, today is the 100th anniversary of Ty Cobb flipping his shit and attacking some bystander in the stands. Take it away oddly non-serious baseball recap:

Cobb gets in touch with a fan…pugilistically.

 

Oh Detroit, you really haven’t changed. Applauding Ty Cobb for pummeling a man during a baseball game. I honestly can’t decide if my favorite part of the recap (written in The Sun (NY)) is the matter-of-fact language or the references to food: mill, fracas, commotion, coarse (as in language) vs. delectable and grilling.

Hopefully the next time someone tried to butter Cobb up instead of getting under his husk….

…

…(sorry, I just really wanted to make a food metaphor tag, a la Fire Joe Morgan.)

 

PFotD: How Craig Kimbrel became a monster.

This post is paraphrased from and inspired by the transcendent broadcast that Vin Sculley gave during the bottom of the 9th inning of tonight’s Braves/Dodgers game. I’ll have to check the numbers but I believe Sculley has now crushed 200,000 consecutive innings of baseball commentary:

Craig Kimbrel had nearly every bone in his left foot broken when he was in high school. He was helping his dad with some home improvement and 800 lbs. of sheet rock fell on him. Not to be deterred by things like “absence of usable limbs,” Kimbrel’s post-injury rehab included playing catch while crouched on his knees. Pretty soon he was able to play long toss from this position, and could throw it roughly the length of a football field. The exercise led to Kimbrel developing a profound sense of coordination of his upper body muscles. Once he could start throwing while standing again, it felt like cheating.

At this point I spoiled my own enjoyment and had to look this up. It is of course true. Here’s a link to a Sports Illustrated profile, including the above genesis myth and the following gem of a quote from the legend himself:

“It’s kind of weird to say that breaking your foot is the best thing that could happen to you, but it seems like it ended up working out that way.”

Preposterous.

PFotD: Bobby Bonilla contract

Roberto Martin Antonio Bonilla really wasn’t a terrible player. He managed to play in 16 different major league seasons and accumulated a career WAR of 32.2, weighed down by 5 years of negative value at the end. He was an offensive superstar with the Bonds era Pirates, finishing 2nd in 1990 MVP voting behind teammate Barrold. His last good season was 1997 with the Marlins, and he played a prominent role for the world series winners.

The end of his career was unspectacular and didn’t sit particularly well with the Metropolitans, who for some reason acquired the end of his contract despite his previous personality clash with the team. In the 1999 NLCS he and Ricky Henderson were infamously playing cards in the clubhouse as the team lost in the 11th inning to the Atlanta Braves. Still owed 5.9 mil., The Mets and Steve Phillips (google Phillips’ idiocy for some light reading) placed him on unconditional waivers, agreeing to defer the remainder of his contract and pay it out, with interest, beginning in 2011. The negotiation assumes 8% interest. Bonilla is set to make $1,193,248.20, payable every July 1st, until 2035.

Yep. His first check should have cleared some time today.

Now take a moment to refresh your knowledge about the Mets current financial situation. Here are some key terms: “Wilpon.” “Madoff.” “Einhorn Minority purchase.”

My favorite part of the deal is that David Einhorn can purchase a majority stake for 100 pennies in 2014 if Wilpon is unable to meet his financial obligations at that time. Of course, at that point Einhorn will start to pay Bonilla 1.19 mil/year. For 21 more years.

Preposterous? I believe so.

PFotD: Willie Mays is 80 years old today

May 6th 2011 is the 80th birthday of Willie Howard Mays. In a blog where we focus on player value as a means of comparing players and eras, Mays is going to probably get around 800 thousand mentions.

His sustained excellence is baffling. In a previous post I discussed how great Dale Murphy was for the Braves, despite being shy of Hall of Fame credentials. Based on WAR (Baseball Reference), Willie Mays had a better year than Dale Murphy’s best career year (7.5) 11 times, and matched him once. Mays possesses a career WAR of 154.7, or exactly 3.5 times as high as the impressive Murphy. This mark puts him 4th all time, behind Babe Ruth, his godson Barrold Q. Bonds, and Ty Cobb.

When Mays was 20 years old, he debuted in the majors and was the Rookie of the Year. When he was 40 years old, he OPS’ed .907, or approximately what Adrian Gonzalez did in San Diego last year as a 28 year old.

Dude could play.

Hat tip to you, Mr. Mays. If you send me your address I’ll send you a celebratory cobbler.

Cinco de Mayo PFotD

It’s the annual, mostly American celebration of the Battle of Puebla and I thought I’d go ahead and post something to get this blog back on the rails a little bit. Sorry for the dearth of posting lately (for the occasional readers we have); life has got in the way lately.

Anyways, I randomly was on Cot’s Baseball Contracts this morning (go there, it’s awesome) and saw two fun facts:

1) The Yankees are paying Kei Igawa $4 million this year. Igawa last pitched in the majors on June 27, 2008. Awesome.

2) The Yankees 2016 payroll is $44,125,000. More than the 2011 Rays and Royals and a million less than the Pirates and Padres.

-HighPockets

Preposterous Fact of the Day: Arky Vaughan in 1935

Arky Vaughan debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates at 20 years old in 1932. This is simply a Preposterous Fact of the Day so I’ll keep it short, but I could and possibly will make a much longer article because he is a fascinating story. Most people will tell you that Vaughan is one of the two best shortstops in history, only behind Honus Wagner (another Pirate). He never won an MVP award though he was listed 7 times. He came closest in 1935 when he placed 3rd.

Vaughan was in his age 23 season and his 4th full season in the majors in 1935. He had established himself as a premier hitting shortstop with an OPS+ of 146 and 148 in the two previous years. He walked, didn’t strike out, and hit for decent power, especially for a shortstop. But in 1935 he posted his career best year. A .385 batting average was supplemented by a league high 97 walks, pushing his OBP to .491. He also had 34 doubles, 10 triples, and 19 homeruns, good enough for a .607 slugging percentage. 99 RBIs, 108 runs, 192 total hits, and only 18 strikeouts. In total he hit good enough for a 9.5 oWAR, MVP caliber to say the least.

To give you an idea of how Vaughan’s season stacks up to others in history I used B-R’s play index to search for comparable seasons by shortstops using OPS and WAR. Arky was one of only 9 shortstops in history to play at least 130 games and accumulate at least 9.0 WAR (Vaughan was 9.1). The others: Honus Wagner (5 times…incredible), Alex Rodriguez (twice), Cal Ripken Jr. (twice), Ernie Banks (twice), and Robin Yount, Lou Boudreau, Rico Petrocelli, and Rogers Hornsby each once. That’s 6 Hall of Famers and one more who certainly will get in upon retirement.

I also searched B-R’s play index for seasons by a shortstop who played at least 130 games and had an OPS of at least 1.000. That list is even smaller: Arky Vaughan (1935), Nomar Garciaparra (1999, 2000), and Alex Rodriguez (1996, 2000, 2001, 2002). Vaughan’s 1935 season is also over 50 points higher than the next closest of the 6 other seasons. His year in 1935 is one of the greatest offensive seasons ever for a shortstop.

But he didn’t win the MVP award that year, coming in 3rd place behind Gabby Hartnett and Dizzy Dean. Both Hartnett and Dean had good years, producing 5.2 and 7.6 WAR, respectively. Vaughan was the better player though, and one has to wonder if the reason he was overlooked was because he played on an 86 win, 4th place Pirates team. Hartnett’s Cubs won 100 games that year and lost to the Tigers in the World Series. Dean’s Cardinals won 96 games and came in second place to the Cubs. If their teams’ fortunes were switched, would the voting change? I think it probably would. But voting for the best player (or one of the best) on a front-running team has become commonplace in awards voting, and apparently that history goes back to the early days of baseball. Whatever the reason Vaughan did not win that year, we should not forget the incredible season that he had in 1935. It truly was one of the best.

Preposterous Fact of the Day: Charlie Sweeney Follow-Up

In 1884, Charlie Sweeney won 17 games for the Providence Grays and, after being expelled from the team, 24 for the St. Louis Maroons in the Union Association. Both teams won their respective pennants.

For the first portion of the 1884 season, Sweeney was a better pitcher than his teammate Old Hoss Radbourn. Hoss was nine years older and widely considered the ace of the staff. The success and fame of Sweeney did not sit well with Radbourn, most notably after Sweeney set the record for strikeouts in a game with 19 (a record that would stand for 102 years until other noted D-bag Roger Clemens K’d 20 in 1986). Much to the delight of Hoss, the 19 strikeout performance likely caused some arm problems, as he lost some effectiveness shortly thereafter. In a July 22nd game, Sweeney threw five modestly effective innings while extraordinarily (even for him) intoxicated, and when asked to switch into right field, refused. The manager continued to signal for a pitching change, which Sweeney dismissed while pitching two additional effective innings. Finally in the 8th inning, threatened with a $50 dollar fine, Sweeney exited the game and promptly quit the team. He watched the remainder of the game with two women he had been escorting around Woonsocket, an industrial town noted for its textile manufacturing and institutional brothels. It is not suspected that the women were textile workers.

I suppose of note, pitching changes in this era were rare and considered an affront to the pitcher’s manliness. And to be fair, there were not pitching changes as we know them. Rather, there was a designated “Change Pitcher” who would play Right field and switch positions with the pitcher if necessary. Anyone who played little league knows that only the fat loser kid whose mom thinks baseball is a good way to make friends and get sunlight plays right field. Why did that kid always have the sweetest bat? Goddammit.
Whoa sidetrack. Anyway, on top of being pulled out of the game because you couldn’t finish what you set out to do as a manly man (hate it when that happens), you had to watch Fatso McLoser pitch in your place. It was a manager’s way of waving the white flag in the most humiliating way possible.

To make a potentially rambling story short, Sweeney quit and pitched the Maroons to a pennant in the inferior Union Association, succumbed to arm weakness and eventually murdered a man in a San Fransisco saloon. He would die in prison at the age of 39. Hoss sacked up in a way that few men before or since have (see yesterday’s post), is enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and continues to share his exploits from beyond the grave in 140 characters or less. Truly a Dickensian tale.

Preposterous Fact of 02/07/2011: Old Hoss in 1884

Charles Gardner “Old Hoss” Radbourn averaged 9.29 IP/Start in 1884 over 73 starts while pitching for the Providence Grays.

His season included 73 complete games and two relief appearances. After a series of violent confrontations with the Grays other primary pitcher Charlie Sweeney resulted in Sweeney leaving the team* and the Grays facing impending disbandment, Hoss volunteered to start every remaining game. His season netted him a somewhat controversial 59-12 record, as rules in official scoring were less strict than they are today. Hoss was awarded the win in a game by the official scorekeeper because he entered in relief of Joseph “Cyclone” Miller, who had a poor outing but was the ‘pitcher of record’ at the time that the Grays mounted a comeback. Hoss pitched shutout relief for the remaining four innings and was awarded the win. His 60-12 record has since been revised to 59-12.

*Sweeney will no doubt be the subject of his own preposterous fact. His last appearance at a baseball diamond was notable because he left with 2 (presumed) prostitutes. He later died in prison while being held for killing a man in a saloon. I have this vision of 1800’s baseball being not dissimilar to Red Dead Redemption on XBox. Salary arbitration no doubt included provisions for ‘coon pelts and moonshine hooch. Ownership wanting to highlight a player’s questionable work ethic would have to comb out only the most egregious mistakes in a long line of prostitutes, bar fights, gambling rings and opium addictions.

Preposterousness to digest:

• The Providence Grays had a 2 man pitching rotation to begin the 1884 year.
• Hoss’s season in advanced metrics translates to an ERA+ of 207 and a rWAR of 19.8. Figure out what these stats mean, then come back, read this while taking a sip of coffee, and then spray the coffee all over your computer screen incredulously.
• Wins always have been and always will be a horrible, horrible statistic.

In 1888, Hoss only managed to fart out 207 innings pitched. One has to assume that he was distracted while also commanding the German invasion of Cameroon, was crippled by syphilitic dementia, and frequently had to be restrained with electroconvulsive therapy.