Starting IX Newsletter: A Willie Mays #HotTake, Boston goes back-to-back, and a few Legends of the Game
For those unfamiliar with the set-up — welcome! Here’s the scoop. Otherwise, let’s dive right in.
“One Final Imagination of the Baseball Hall of Fame” Pre-excerpt: A Few Legends of the Game
For this week’s OFIotBHoF pre-excerpt, we turn to the Fifth Floor of our New Baseball Hall of Fame, and a wing labeled “Legends of the Game”. Here are a few of said legends — the second-highest grouping in the new pyramid-shaped Hall.
Roger Connor: Connor has had a bit of a renaissance in the eyes of baseball historians in recent years, as the home run’s importance to the game has only steadily increased. Connor was the OG Home Run King, holding the all-time record for career home runs before Babe Ruth and company began to shatter his old records. Connor’s power was prodigious (the first ball to be hit out of the Polo Grounds belonged to Connor), but he hardly sold out for power, as his absurd 1881 stat line shows. To (presumably) coin a phrase, it was prettier than Boy Floyd: He led all of baseball with a .371 batting average, a .435 on-base percentage, and 225 total bases. He walked 51 times and struck out just eight times all season. Now, this was also one of his least powerful seasons, but Connor was basically an early-era baseball version of the “Find yourself someone who can do both” meme, showcasing both ample power and an incredible ability to hit for average throughout his career.
P.S. We’re going to end by playing a game called “Find A More Disturbing Paragraph on Wikipedia Than This”:
“In 1886, Connor and his wife Angeline had a daughter named Lulu. She died as an infant. Connor interpreted the baby’s death as God’s punishment for marrying Angeline, who was not Catholic.”
Bobby Wallace: I started Wallace on the fourth floor, but it quickly became clear he belonged a floor higher. “Probably the most obscure Hall of Famer,” per Total Baseball, he was yet another one of those defensive-first middle infielders from the turn of the 20th century. He played 25 years, all in the midwest, and mostly in St. Louis. His 76.4 career WAR rank in the top 75 all-time, higher than numerous luminaries of the sport (Paul Molitor, Frank Thomas, and Derek Jeter to name a few).
Of course, given that he is only a couple WAR above those names, that could change at some point in the future, one of the quirks of this popular metric, and a weakness of the stat should you happen to be a WAR skeptic. Personally, I look at WAR the way Ricky Fitts looks at a plastic bag: a beautiful reminder of our collective powerlessness. Luckily for me, Ben Lindbergh feels the same way and is a far better writer than myself, so I’ll leave it to him to state it best. When discussing the unique nature of the stat in relation to the Rays’ use of The Opener strategy in 2019, Lindbergh wrote: “It also emblematizes the ever-evolving nature of WAR, a statistic whose accuracy stems in part from a fascinating, frustrating, and ultimately admirable quality: Unlike most traditional stats, WAR is willing to change its mind… WAR reminds us that objective truth tends to be slippery.”
Bert Blyleven: Blyleven was a near-300-game winner, who won a pair of rings in his 22 years in the big leagues, and blah, blah, blah who cares because, thanks to a Gemma Kaneko article on Cut4, I am now cognizant of the fact that he once wore these!
I’ve never seen a pair of shoes that demanded a “WHAT ARE THOSE?!” more than those. Incredible. In honor of Blyleven’s clogs, here are the indisputable top floor baseball fashion choices:
— High socks with stirrups: This is far from a hot take, but there’s a reason the look is met with universal love. The look is truly evergreen
— Pine-tar stained helmets
— Mallex Smith’s Florida chain
— Any bright-colored cleats (most notably the A’s yellow cleats, though)
— Fernando Rodney’s hat tilt
— Ted Kluszewski’s cut-off sleeves
— Hitters wearing no batting gloves
— Prince Fielder’s baggy pants
— John Wetteland’s nasty hat
And because fashion is a topic that can also turn sour, here are the bottom floor looks:
— Josh Beckett’s Phiten necklace
— Nick Markakis’ 2018 All-Star Game Red Carpet pajama Borat look
— Matt Holliday’s unbuttoned jersey look
— The “playoff ski mask under the ball cap” look
The ultimate “I can’t tell if it’s top floor or bottom floor” look? The 1976 White Sox wore shorts and high socks. It was one of many pioneering ideas from owner Bill Veeck, and this one, needless to say, did not catch on. Half the time I look at it, though, I crack up and love it; half the time I look at it and hate it to my very core. To quote Michael Scott: who knows, it’s nebulose.
OOTP Year-by-Year Re-Simulation: 1902
Back for round two of our long-term project to re-simulate each season in baseball history using Out of the Park Baseball 21.
MVP: Tommy Leach and Charlie Hickman
Cy Young: Jesse Tannehill and Cy Young
We get a repeat pair of pitchers to win the Cy Young, moving Tannehill and Young into the rarefied air of just 11 other pitchers to win the award in back-to-back seasons. We’ll see if either can join Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson as the only pitchers in baseball history to win more than two in a row next week.
As for the MVPs, it’s a pair of slightly lesser known hitters. Leach had a 19-year career in which he played 14 of those seasons for Pittsburgh, but he never had a season that would have brought on the recognition this simulated 1902 season had. The “actual” 1902 season was indeed his best, with a league-leading 22 triples and six home runs and 6.0 rWAR. In the game, it was a league-leading 27 triples and 116 RBI that, along with the Pirates pennant, led to the award.
As for Charlie Hickman, he is certainly the most out of the blue of these selections, with a 12-year career that did indeed center around a strong 1902 season. In the OOTP sim version, he really shined, collecting a batting title with a .388 average and finishing second in baseball with 12 long balls, all while playing for the pennant-winning Americans. The real-life Hickman was traded to Cleveland early in the season — the Americans didn’t know what they were missing out on!
Crazy Stats:
* Jesse Tannehill 1.45 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, and 13.6 rWAR for Pittsburgh
* Pitchers with 10.0+ rWAR: Deacon Phillippe (PIT), Cy Young (BOS), Rube Waddell (PHA), Bill Dineen (BOS)
The 1902 season was a little less hectic on the statistical front than 1901, but there were still plenty of outstanding pitching performances, with the two pennant winning teams each sporting a pair of 10.0+ rWAR pitching seasons — no wonder they met in the World Series!
On to the team wrap-up.
American League pennant winners: Boston Americans
National League pennant winners: Pittsburgh Pirates
World Series: Americans 4, Pirates 1
The 1902 OOTP World Series ended up being a rematch of our 1901 OOTP World Series, with the same result, albeit in fewer games. The Boston Americans (the earliest rendition of the now Red Sox) captured their second title in as many years, topping a Pirates team that thoroughly dominated the regular season. In fact, the Honus Wagner-led squad went 108–32 (.771) for what would stand today as the highest winning percentage for any team in baseball history, so they get a bit of lore, despite losing in the Fall Classic for the second straight season.
Interestingly enough, it was the Pirates who took Game 1 of the series — an excellent affair. The Pirates led late, before 1902 OOTP MVP Charlie Hickman tied the game in the ninth on an RBI single. However, Pirates second baseman Claude Ritchey returned the favor in the bottom of the ninth, walking it off with his third hit of the day. In Game 2, it was all Bill Dineen, tossing a three-hit shutout to secure the 5–0 win for Boston. In Game 3, the Americans relied on six runs in the first two innings to hold off Pittsburgh, while Game 4 saw the Americans score in six of eight frames, including a Freddy Parent go-ahead single in the eighth to take the 3–1 series lead. Dineen secured the Americans second ring in as many years with a complete game victory in Game 5. Chick Stahl led the Americans with a .524 average for the Series.
“Starting IX” Excerpt: Willie Mays (Complete with a #HotSportsTake)
I would venture that not a single reader here doesn’t at least know the broad strokes of Mays. And some may know just about every fact that is to share about the Giants legend. That doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate him here again, and even if the reader knows all the stats and anecdotes included, there’s a nice, little surprise at the end.
Willie Mays (1951–1952; 1954–1972)
The “Say Hey Kid” is remembered as one of, if not the, best players of all time. For my money, he is not quite at Babe Ruth’s level, but one could certainly make the argument. (For me, it goes: 1) Babe Ruth 2) Walter Johnson 3) Ted Williams 4) Barry Bonds 5) Willie Mays 6) Honus Wagner 7) Ty Cobb 8) Tom Seaver 9) Lefty Grove 10) Stan Musial.) Mays will be remembered for a number of reasons, both on and off the field, and all of them positive. Most famously, Mays’ 660 home runs rank fifth all-time, but this is hardly the only statistical category in which he ranks among the elite. Mays was so well-rounded, and had such a long career, that he ranks in the top 15 in nearly every single statistical category a center fielder can rank. He was the fifth-youngest player in the National League when he broke into the league (1951), and he was the second-oldest in the league upon retiring (1973).
Mays managed to toe the line between showman and showboat better than any other player in baseball history. He often caught fly balls by tossing his hat up in the air and catching both his hat and the ball at the same time. Of course, the defensive play Mays is best-remembered for came on September 29, 1954 and is simply known today as “The Catch.” Every baseball fan has seen the clip and heard the story, and with good reason. First of all, the catch came around 420 feet from home plate with Mays facing backwards and his glove turned upside down. Then, Mays’ ability to turn and fire an absolute seed back to the infield — keeping the runners from tagging — made the play just like Mays: complete.
So, how did Mays stay so beloved despite playing as a black man in the notoriously stodgy 1950s-era baseball? A couple of reasons. For one, Mays was one of the most popular teammates in all baseball lore. It was said of Mays: “Willie, the Giant players will tell you, is good for what ails you. Whether he is the butt of their jokes, which is often, or working a gag of his own, he never fails to break up the clubhouse.” Mays also seemed born not only to play baseball, but to be a clubhouse leader on top of that. At the age of just 23, he was dubbed the heart and soul of the team, and he continued to be so for his entire career.
Mays also won his team and league mates over by playing smart baseball. Mays has said that he would often turn down a double, settling instead for a single. Why was this smart? Because he had the wherewithal to know the pitcher would intentionally walk Willie McCovey if Mays left first base open, thus eliminating the main power threat (along with Mays) from the Giants lineup. This is a quote from Mays, so it must be taken with a grain of salt and the modern analytics would say that maybe that wasn’t the best idea, but to even be thinking on that level is impressive. It is also worth noting that despite playing in a spacious (and thoroughly disliked) stadium, as well as having great speed, Mays’ doubles totals are consistently low for his career. He never led the league in doubles, and he finished in the top five of the NL only three times. He hit more home runs than doubles for his career. Maybe Mays really was limiting himself.
Although it may not have done much as much in endearing him to his teammates, Mays’ off-field presence certainly helped to solidify his good guy image. When the Giants played in New York (Mays’ first six seasons), either before games or during the offseason, Mays would go out into the New York City streets and play stickball with the local kids. The fact that Mays couldn’t stop playing the game, even during his free time, helped mark Mays as a true baseball lover, thus endearing him to the fans who loved the game, as well.
Finally, although he had fun on the field, his teammates never thought that he put himself before the team. A perfect example: the story of Mays’ milestone 600th home run, which came under strange circumstances. Mays struggled after hitting home run no. 599, and it had been nine days without a home run for Mays. Clyde King, the Giants manager, started Mays off on the bench to give him a day to rest up any lingering injuries the 38-year-old Mays may have had, as well as to allow Mays to get his head on straight to make the run at 600. However, with a pennant race on the line, his manager decided that Mays was his best option off the bench and chose to pinch-hit Mays in the top of the seventh inning. Mays responded with his 600th homer, which ended up being the deciding factor in the game. After the game, here’s what Mays had to say: “The big thing is that the homer won the ballgame.” Considering Mays had just become the first right-handed hitter to ever reach 600 home runs, the team-oriented response must have been nice to hear from a teammates’ perspective.
All of these factors contributed to Mays being revered around the league. Leo Durocher once said, “If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases, and performed a miracle in the field every day I’d still look you in the eye and say Willie was better.” Mays was one of the rare players who managed to be loved by the fans, his teammates, and even his opposition. However, even given the love-fest for Mays, he still managed to be a bit underrated at times.
His stolen base totals are impressive on their own (338 career; season-high of 40), but they are even more impressive given the era in which he played. In fact, his 179 steals in the 1950s was more than anybody else for the decade, but the lowest total to ever lead a decade. Then there’s the matter of his two MVPs. Mays suffered from “Michael Jordan syndrome,” a disease created by Bill Simmons to explain why Michael Jordan didn’t win the MVP every year. It happens when MVP voters get sick of voting the same player as “most valuable” year after year. Mays led the NL in WAR nine times in his career, and he certainly could have expected a bit more hardware in his trophy case. In both 1960 and 1962, Mays led the league by well over 1.0 WAR but didn’t take home the hardware. The season of 1964, however, takes the cake, as Mays led the NL in WAR by 2.2 wins but lost out on the MVP to Ken Boyer, who was worth a full 5.0 wins less, according to rWAR.
If there is any qualm with Mays, it might be that his playoff numbers are not on par with his regular season numbers. His .247 batting average and .337 slugging percentage are far cries from his regular season totals. However, this is almost certainly due to a depleted sample size, as anyone who saw Mays play could clearly see this man had no weaknesses. It is fun to think, however, that if Mays played in the modern era, Bill Plaschke and other #hotsportstake pundits may well have labeled Mays as a regular season player who just couldn’t cut it when it really mattered, especially given his laid-back nature. In fact, just for fun, here’s a mock #hotsportstake after a one-RBI, .250-BA performance from Mays in the 1962 World Series:
Mr. Mays has once again failed to show up in October.
Sure, he looks good during the regular season, but he has Giants fans asking, “Willie actually show up this time?” once the playoffs start. Right now, Mays is relying on one catch (underhanded and completely without technique, no less) to solidify his place among the greatest of all time.
I’m sorry if I’m not ready to throw my hat in the air for Mays yet, but I just don’t think he’s ready to graduate to the class of all timers many writers nowadays want to put him in. Sure, Mays may have won his second home run title this year, but that’s not the title Giants fans want to remember in 50 years.
Call me old-fashioned, but all the glitz and glam of these new players makes me long for the days of Lou Gehrig and Hank Greenberg, players who showed up every day and led their teams to World Series victories. Maybe next year Mays can give the Bay Area the centerfielder they thought they were getting in the move from the Big Apple.
Mays’ defenders will point to his World Series win with the Giants in 1954, but as a brash, young player with only one full season under his belt, how much credit does he really deserve? The Giants won despite the fact that he hit below .300 and didn’t hit a single home run the whole series.
I think it’s time we Say Hey and take a look at this Kid’s stats. For his career in the regular season, he’s slugging .588; in the postseason that number plummets to .281. During the regular season, Mays hits one of his beloved home runs every 16 at bats, however, despite four times as many at bats in the playoffs, he’s yet to leave the yard once… well except after leaving Candlestick Park with his tail between his legs after Game 7.
Mays is no spring chicken, and the clucking is only going to get louder in San Francisco if he can’t bring the Giants a title on their new coast.
For a man they call a Giant, Mays sure seems small in October.
Thank god Rick Reilly wasn’t yet writing in 1962.
Fun Stat of the Week
For anyone still thinking about this year’s World Series (me), and who didn’t get to see this excellent thread in the immediate aftermath: Check out the whole thread.
A small part of me is always going to be sad Cash didn’t leave Snell in, but it’s the style in which he managed the team all year, and there’s simply no evidence to believe “this pitcher is dealing” is a good enough excuse to leave a pitcher in for a third time through the order, especially in a game as tight as that one, especially against a lineup as absurdly stacked as the Dodgers. Now, whether Nick Anderson was the right decision or not…
Who Is This Player?
Answer at the end of the newsletter (I’m debating formats here, so feedback on how easy/difficult this section is would be appreciated)
Weekly Best Reads
Although the episode is from a few years back, this Poscast episode (hosted by Joe Posnanski and Parks and Rec creator Michael Schur) drafting jobs for Theo Epstein after he leaves baseball is notably relevant this week.
Negro League stats have long been written off as too scattered or far flung to fully track down and keep in one place, but as Michael Clair writes for MLB.com, thanks to Gary Ashwill’s research team, that is no longer going to be the case.
Really good breakdown from Mike Petriello at MLB.com looking at what to expect from Nolan Arenado post-Coors Field.
Long-form Corner: Definitely not baseball-related, but this long-form article on the literary past, present, and future of Kenya from Nanjala Nyabola at Guernica was an incredibly fascinating read.
Article Idea I’m Too Lazy to Write
I’d love to see a study of how different types of lineup construction (stacked power; balanced; contact-heavy) do in the postseason. Postseason samples are always noisy, so it may not be the most predictive, but even seeing this through a backwards-looking lens would be interesting.
Pop Culture Recommendation of the Week
This section is going to include far more podcast suggestions than one would likely imagine, but in all honesty, I do believe that is the medium in which some of the most creative/most informed voices are sharing their work right now.
One such podcast may surprise readers given the overall left-leaning bent of this writer. However, I try to absorb (some) news from both sides of the fence, so as to attempt to at least understand the greater picture, even if my final decisions typically tilt in one direction. If you find yourself in the same boat, check out the conservative podcast: Advisory Opinions. It will certainly not be for everyone, and there are definitely times where I grow upset with the hosts for their lack of awareness of privilege or slight insensitivity towards a certain issue, but it has been a balm of sorts to listen to a pair of conservative voices actually debunking all this post-election nonsense from many within the Republican party, compared to where many of our elected officials on that side of the aisle have sadly aligned themselves.
Keep You On Your Toes
As someone who started off in the education field and has lived in a pair of cities (Boston and New York) where school segregation is still a massive issue, the work that Integrate NYC is doing is outstanding and worth your time. To see such young leadership as well is beyond heartening. Support them if you can.
Quiz Answer
The answer to this week’s trivia question is another amazing “Willie M” in baseball history: Willie McCovey.
Remember to follow along here on Medium for the first few months before I move to the actual email newsletter format.
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