Starting IX Newsletter: ‘Bullet Joe’ Rogan, ‘Ese Hombre,’ and more non-MLB legends
For those unfamiliar with the set-up — welcome! Here’s the scoop.
Last week we laid out a tweaked format, focusing on Negro League legends, which we’ll continue to do each of the next four newsletters until the newsletter on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Let’s get to it!
“One Final Imagination of the Baseball Hall of Fame” Pre-excerpts: Some under-the-radar Negro League stars
In my first book, I can sadly say that I gave short shrift to the Negro Leagues. The premise of the book was to look at the best player at each position in each MLB franchise’s history, but I left out a whole portion of baseball history, and baseball franchises who have long been loved by many by not given the spotlight by others. I was part of that. I ended up with only a cursory glance at a dozen or so of the best players in Starting IX, but I do think we can all learn over time, and my second book lent itself to including the stories of many more of the men and women who made the Negro Leagues such a remarkable league. Here are a few of those people:
Ray Dandridge
Another of the Negro League stars who was born just a little too early to play in Major League Baseball (or, far better, as Cool Papa Bell said it, “They say that I was born too soon; I say the doors were opened too late”) Dandridge was basically a pre-WAR Ozzie Smith. He played third instead of short, but he played it with pizzazz and PLENTY of skill, going down as either the best or second-best player at the hot corner in the history of the Negro Leagues.
I have often noted that when in the process of writing my books, I am both unsurprised and a little perturbed (in a good way), whenever I come across an article that overlaps with whatever project I am currently working on. Such was the case when the always-excellent Joe Posnanski penned a piece for The Athletic proclaiming and idea from the mind of his beloved friend Bob Kendrick, the President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, for a “Hall of Game.” Basically, a OBHOF knockoff that celebrates those who left the game more fun than when they came to it. It’s a brilliant idea, and one that I hope overlaps entirely with what I am trying to do here. Ray Dandridge is an OBHOFer in his own right, but he’d be a leading candidate for a First Ballot Hall of Gamer, as well.
Bullet Rogan: A dominant pitcher and a quietly impressive hitter to boot, Rogan was an essential cog of the Kansas City Monarchs team that won three straight Negro League pennants from 1923–1925. One of the most fascinating and seemingly incalculable aspects of a team like the Monarchs winning so consistently for an extended period of time is the chemistry that is necessary. In fact, one could make that case that with the talent levels in baseball as high as they have ever been, and the margins with which teams are separated being thinner than ever, and with teams stockpiling more and more information than ever before, whoever figures out team chemistry first is going to have a significant and massive advantage in the modern game. It has seemingly been the White Whale for MLB front offices for as long as baseball front offices have existed. There are some who don’t believe it exists; there are some who believe it only exists when teams are winning; and there are some that believe that it’s possible to create common “cultural links” to improve and even quantify team chemistry. I certainly don’t have the solution, and if I did — yada, yada, you know the rest. But I do find it an endlessly fascinating discussion, and I think some are wrong to write it off entirely.
Circling back to Rogan: per Buck O’Neill, via Joe Posanski in The Athletic: “Rogan threw about as hard as Satchel Paige, was perhaps the best fielding pitcher in baseball history, was a world-class centerfielder and could handle the bat better than anyone he’d ever seen.”
Judy Johnson
“I consider Judy Johnson one of the most valuable men in Negro baseball, and by all odds, the best third baseman. And Judy, let it be known, did not reach that point in my esteem, over night. His has been a long, hard and brilliant climb… Each season, he has improved in batting, fielding, base-running, and diamond knowledge. On the field, he is a winning player who never quits fighting; off the field, he is a gentleman and a credit to the game.”
Dr. W. Rollo Wilson, “Black Writers/Black Baseball”
Ben Taylor: Considered one of the smartest players of his time, Taylor began his career as a pitcher before moving to first base. A move like that was not all that uncommon in Taylor’s day (Taylor played from 1908–1941), but it practically disappeared from baseball for the half-century-plus after. In fact, the recent reappearance of players like Shohei Ohtani, Michael Lorenzen, and Rays’ minor leaguer Brendan McKay, are revitalizing the power hitter/pitcher mold that disappeared for so long thanks to the increased specialization needed to go pro as a ball player. Teams in the modern era are beginning to value versatility once again, however, in just one more bullet in favor of the fact that history is cyclical. While it will never be an easy task to tackle both pitching and hitting duties, the future generations of athletes seem like they could be the ones up to the task. Ohtani, Lorenzen, and McKay could just end up being a couple of one-offs all clustered around each other, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the return of the pitcher-hitter made its full return in the not-too-distant future. (Right around the same time baseball adopts the universal DH, somewhat ironically.)
Willie Wells: There are times in this book where it feels silly writing about a player because someone out there has already perfected it. In this case, it’s Wendell Smith (again) in “Introducing ‘El Diablo’ Wells of Mexico.” It’s a great “you’ve heard their side; now hear mine” piece from The Pittsburgh Gazette in 1944, and a great look at aspects of baseball that go beyond the sport. It’s yet another entry from the excellent “Black Writers/Black Baseball” anthology that I suggest any baseball fan purchase. (This was last week’s pop culture recommendation of the week.)
Jose Mendez: A Cuban pitcher who starred before the Negro Leagues became official, long-time Giants manager John McGraw said Mendez was, “sort of Walter Johnson and Grove Alexander rolled into one.” And by the way, McGraw’s 2,763 wins rank second all-time in MLB history, so yeah he’s knows a little something about baseball. Mendez was a bit of a Jonny Gomes, with winning seemingly trailing him wherever he went. When in Cuba, he had multiple undefeated seasons on the mound, and once he came to the States, his Kansas City Monarchs side won three straight titles. Given that he was also the manager of those sides, I’d say it’s far from a coincidence that wins seemed to follow him like the cast of creepy characters from It Follows. Finally, if you read my last book, or are just an informed baseball fan, you’ve heard of the “Black Aces;” well, Mendez was “The Black Diamond,” a nickname sure to make every loyal card player pause for at least a second.
Willard Brown: Known as Ese Hombre, or That Man, Brown was a Negro Leagues star who really made a name for himself in the Puerto Rican Winter League, twice winning the Triple Crown, as his SABR Bio (written by Rory Costello) is quick to point out. He was also the type of ballplayer who (thankfully) the sport has grown to love: one who wears his heart on his sleeve. He would notoriously play far better in games with packed crowds, sometimes skipping out on a game if there was not a full audience for his antics. And I mean antics as a compliment — deadass. When I was a kid, I remember the “we need our players to respect the game” contingent of fans actually having a pretty strong hold on the __. As an adult, some 15–20 years later, it legitimately feels as though that has changed. The sport now celebrates bat flips and staredowns and pizzazz in field, with their still being a vocal minority who appreciates “playing the game the right way,” but now it seems as if they are even self-aware that they are basically a parody version of their inner selves. Players like Brown may not have been universally celebrated in their day, but hopefully the light of progress will shine brightly on them and their legacies from here on out.
Hector Espino: Often called “The Mexican Babe Ruth,” “Josh Gibson South of the Border” may be a more accurate moniker for this legendary longball launcher. Similar to Gibson, his exact home run total is not officially known, but estimates circle around the high 700s aka Barry Bonds territory. “Kid Killer,” or “El Nino Asesino” broke into the Mexican League in 1962 as a 22-year-old, and he instantly posted an OPS well north of 1.000 and won the Rookie of the Year award. That following winter he hit over .400 and won the MVP of the Mexican Pacific League, jump-starting a career that never slowed down from there. As Eric Nusbaum noted in his excellent longform piece on Espino for SBNation, “Courted year after year by major league franchises, Espino could have been a Cardinal, an Angel, a Yankee, an Indian, a Colt .45. Yet he retired in 1984 without a single big-league plate appearance to his name.” Nusbaum goes on to note that there are numerous theories as to why Espino never made the jump to MLB, among them: patriotism, fear, money, and maybe most of all, pride. I recommend the entirety of Nusbaum’s piece to any and all even slightly interested in this Mexican League G.O.A.T.
Jud Wilson: Chester L. Washington, the first black member of the Los Angeles Times editorial staff, and a man who ended up purchasing several newspapers later in life en route to his millions, wrote an awesome piece for The Pittsburgh Courier in 1936. In response to recent articles bemoaning “the fact that baseball today [1936] lacks the color that the game thrived on in the stormy diamond days of yesteryear.” First of all: Sound familiar? Second of all: Washington responded by highlighting 18 Negro League players that were, in his words, “more colorful than the leaves of autumn.” Wilson got a shoutout in this list, described as: “Mighty man of swat of Philadelphia and nicknamed ‘Hack’ and Lon Chaney, who is a terrific batter and a brilliant and colorful addition to any club’s infield.”
Leon Day
Thank you to Matt Rothenberg for this: June 25 is officially National Leon Day. Why is that a thing? Welllll, June 25 is the “half birthday” of Christmas, and since Noel backwards is Leon…… Yeahhhh, I can see you grabbing the matches to burn this book for terrible pundom right now. Blame Matt, not me!
OOTP Year-by-Year Re-Simulation: 1907
We continue our trek through re-simulating each season in baseball history using Out of the Park Baseball 21, the most realistic baseball simulation game on the market.
MVP: Frank Schulte and Nap Lajoie
Cy Young: Jack Pfiester and Rube Waddell
American League pennant winners: Cleveland Naps
National League pennant winners: Chicago Cubs
World Series: Cubs 4, Naps 0
This is eerily similar to last week, when the Chicago Cubs dominated the 1906 season start to finish. Well, the regular season winning percentage wasn’t quite as bonkers (they’d have to settle for “just” 113–41 for a .734 winning percentage that would rank third all-time). But once again, they scooped up both awards in the NL (Pfiester winning his second in a row, while Schulte replaced Joe Tinker), and they made even quicker work of Cleveland in the World Series, with a sweep on the books this time.
Given the railroad that Chicago ran on the season as a whole, let’s instead turn briefly to our results as a whole so far in this sim. Through seven seasons, we have lots of familiar faces at the MVP, Cy Young, World Series and pennant checkouts. Here are the repeat offenders.
MVP: Nap Lajoie (4), Honus Wagner (3)
Cy Young: Jesse Tannehill (2), Cy Young (2), Rude Waddell (2), Frank E. Smith (2), Red Ames (2), Jack Pfiester (2)
Pennants: Pittsburgh Pirates (3), Boston Americans (2), Chicago White Sox (2), Chicago Cubs (2), Cleveland Naps (2), New York Giants (2),
World Series Titles: Americans (2), Cubs (2)
I may well be the only person who cares about this, but I’m legitimately curious to see who will end up with more MVPs between Wagner and Lajoie, two players who didn’t get to have this award to duel it out between when they were actually playing in their careers.
“Starting IX” Excerpt: The G.O.A.T.?
As noted earlier, there wasn’t enough emphasis on Negro Leagues history in my first book, but there was some, mostly the all-time best of the best. So, here’s an excerpt from “Starting IX” on Josh Gibson, a player who truly deserves to be in the conversation for Greatest Of All Time. Please note this was written several years ago before much of the excellent research that has been done and continues to be done regarding Negro League statistics.
Josh Gibson
Gibson was the Babe Ruth of the Negro Leagues, with many sources having him credited with over 800 home runs in his career. Of course, as was just mentioned, statistics from Negro League stars are exceptionally iffy, and barnstorming schedules meant far more than the 154-game schedules that were going on in MLB at the time. Plus, the stadiums Gibson homered in were different than their MLB counterparts, and the levels of competition varied from day-to-day.
None of this is to diminish Gibson’s legend, however. Gibson had great numbers in the limited action he had against the white players of his time who were allowed into MLB. These players would often face off while they were barnstorming during the MLB offseason. Legend has it that Gibson hit a homerun out of Yankee Stadium during a Negro League game when Gibson was only 18 years old, and while the legend itself may well be exaggerated, it’s similar to many legends in this book. The fact that the myth is so readily accepted says nearly as much about the player as the validity of the myth.
Robert Cohen said in A Team for the Ages, “The bottom line is this: Johnny Bench was the greatest catcher to ever played in the major leagues, Josh Gibson was the greatest catcher in baseball history.” In a cruel twist of fate, Gibson died three months before Jackie Robinson broke the MLB color barrier, despite being just 35 years of age.
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
- This week was a quite week for most outlets, but if you’re anything like myself, you’re still looking for content to read — in fact, maybe more than ever with a holiday stuck at home. So here’s a gift for you with a massive back catalogue: SABR’s Games Project. For the uninitiated, here’s the scoop:
Games Project articles are not mere play-by-play summaries, nor first-person narratives. These accounts draw on quotes from participants, newspaper articles, or other sources to “put the reader in the game.” The goal is to put each game in historical context — whether that history is of a particular player, team, season, or something even broader. All game stories are written by members of SABR (to join SABR, click here) and all have been peer-reviewed for style and accuracy. Articles should be concise, ranging from 1,000 words to a maximum of 1,500 words.
It’s a great place to get lost.
Pop Culture Recommendation of the Week
The pandemic year has shut down production for many, many shows, and it certainly altered the release for Season 2 of Euphoria, but that didn’t stop the show from putting out one of the more heart-wrenching special episodes of TV I’ve seen in a long time. The show as a whole is incredible, and maybe save the whole slate for a time in your life when you can handle a little something heavy, I can’t recommend highly enough the Season 1.5 singular episode the show just released on HBO Max about week ago. There’s a decent chance Zendaya is the best actor around right now. As a Millennial I can’t emphasize enough how cool I think Gen Z’ers are.
Keep You On Your Toes
There are lots of areas that have been hit this year, but one that maybe has slipped below your radar is the prison system here in the U.S. This country incarcerates citizens at a higher number than any other country in the world, and this year has been a chaotic for the men and women trapped in this system. Ear Hustle has long been a must-listen to podcast — one created by and focusing on incarcerated men in San Quentin prison in California. This week’s episode is especially hard but necessary to listen to, focusing on prisoners lost to Covid this year — a complex hit as hard by Covid as any outside of retirement communities.
Quiz Answer
The title of this newsletter is a big hint… ‘Bullet Joe’ Rogan. But here’s the twist! Both photos are Rogan. The top photo is the damage Rogan wrought on the Negro Leagues with his bat, while the bottom photo is the paltry line Rogan allowed as a pitcher. A true two-way stud.
Remember to follow along here on Medium for the first few months before I move to the actual email newsletter format.
Feel free to reach out to Jim.Turvey21@gmail.com for any feedback or inquiries.
