Weekly Pepper, Grouchy Historian version

[Gregory Pratt]

http://baseballevolution.com/gregory/weekreview10

 

Gregory went bowling for the first time in his life this week and rolled better than Barack Obama by about thirty points. He hopes to bowl more often and improve markedly in the coming years. The rest of the week is an insomniac's blur, as Pratt was hardly able to sleep for much of it and stayed up watching HBO movies as a result. He recommends "The World According to Garp."

 

Cultural Suicide -- I read in this article that the Royals want to bring the fences in at Kauffman Stadium. Here's the relevant section: "Nobody wants to go there and hit when it's 385 [feet] to the gaps," said one baseball man. "So why overpay for some free-agent slugger when you can move in the fences and elevate your own guys' power? The way that park is now, guys hit the ball on the screws in those gaps and it doesn't go anywhere. It dies." Historian Bill Jenkinson has compared the smaller ballparks of today with those of, say, Babe Ruth's time and asked what the outcry would be if football fields were shortened by twenty yards, or basketball hoops lowered by a foot, to make it easier to score points? Contrast that with the lack of response from fans today as the league makes it easier for hitters to erase homerun records of the past with tiny ballparks and "juiced" baseballs. I feel as if the game's integrity and its history have been assaulted by the league and its owners and its union for as long as I've been alive, and I wish I could believe that someone is protecting the game from being sold-out in the interest of selling an extra ticket or two.

 

State Farm Calls Shot, Strikes Out Looking -- If there is anything positive to come from David Ortiz' recent injury, it is that this will prevent him from participating in the shameless "State Farm Call Your Shot" promotion at the All-Star Game. The promotion is what it sounds like: at the ASG, MLB was going to trot Ortiz out at Yankee Stadium to hit a homerun to any part of the park. Besides the fact that it is inappropriate for a Red Sox player to call his shot at Yankee Stadium, and ignoring the fact that re-enacting the "Shot" at Yankee Stadium when it occurred at Wrigley Field is like re-enacting the invasion of Normandy on a Lake Michigan beach, it is an unnecessary promotion bordering on the idiotic, and I hope Ortiz' injury kills it. Jon Heyman, on the other hand, thinks MLB should call on Ryan Howard to do it because he's "the closest thing baseball has to Babe Ruth." Except he has never pitched a major league game, strikes out way more than Ruth did, has a much lower average, hits fewer homeruns, and is a much lesser athlete than Ruth, who was, at his peak, a high-quality right fielder. Hey, nothing against Ortiz or Howard or anyone else -- but we shouldn't toss out the names of legends as if they were scuffed balls, and we shouldn't treat the game's history like that, either. It's cultural suicide.

 

The Bob Saget of Managers -- When John McLaren went off on his team during the week, they won one game and then went back to losing. Whether they win or not has more to do with whether or not they are a good team or not than with anything McLaren says to the media, but the Chicago Tribune still referred to the tirade as being "too thin, too late, and too inconsequential." I agree with that. But watching his rant, I think of Bob Saget, and his most recent "comedic" routines. I don't know if you've seen any of them -- it was my misfortune to -- but he goes onto the stage and says the foulest things imaginable in an effort to erase the memory of Full House. That's who John McLaren is becoming, when he should be cursing himself for taking the job and Bill Bavasi for awful roster construction.

 

A Wolf Will Always Be a Wolf -- Am I the only one who is a big fan of Randy Wolf? I'm under no illusions about his greatness, but he is a more-than-serviceable National League pitcher, and his comeback has been a success. Maybe I've got a bias because Wolf's work ethic stands strong in a day where Carl Pavano, Mark Prior, and Mike Hampton are stealing money from their employers, but I like him and I hope he can have a strong year.

 

Vernon Wells -- Since coming off the disabled list this weekend, Wells is 5-7 with a double, a homer, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. When he went down with an injury I worried that he wouldn't be able to come back strong, but I hope that this is a harbinger of things to come.

 

Nicknames in Houston -- I liked Lance Berkman better when we called him "Fat Elvis," not "Big Puma." Of course, they can call him whatever they want if he keeps producing as he has been so far this season.

 

No More Workhorse (Verse) -- The song "No More Workhorse" by Will Oldham reminds me of the modern starting pitcher: Many lights up today / Many lights up this way / What is this road here, / Where have I come? / I am a rich man / I am a very rich man / I have good pants on / Stitched and stitched; / I am in stitches / I am laughing at you / I am in britches / I've written books for you / I held my own for you / Where is my tongue? / I am no more workhorse / I am no more workhorse / I am no more workhorse / I am no more workhorse / I am a grazing horse / I am a grazing horse / I am your favorite horse.

 

Workhorse II (Snark) -- Mark Prior is once again out for the season, but rest assured that he will do everything in his power to bilk another million dollar contract out of someone next season to run a few towel drills and discover a new injury.

 

Workhorse III (Mystery / Prose) -- I'm not sure I understand how pitchers today manage to get hurt as often as they do despite the fact that they are babied beyond anything pitchers even fifteen years ago could've "hoped" for. These injuries certainly aren't the result of pitchers throwing harder today than they did in the past, because they do not as the "100 MPH fastball" is not a product of modernity or medical innovation. (That said, I do not doubt the theory that pitchers throw harder more consistently today because you can not let up against inferior offensive hitters in this era like you could in inferior offensive eras, but I am not sure that pitchers today are throwing so much harder so often that it is equivalent to throwing a hundred innings less a year.) I have had questions about this subject for quite some time and have been doing research on hurlers past and present but I can not find any satisfactory conclusions and it is difficult to determine. A part of me wonders if steroid abuse and overly-muscular (though "natural") frames have something to do with the influx of injuries despite the decrease in workload, but who knows.

 

History of the Week -- When I last saw Keith (on Tuesday, at the Sox game) he asked me where I heard the anecdote about Joe DiMaggio and Lefty Gomez that I referenced in last week's Pepper. It's from a book I have, Hall of Fame Players: Cooperstown, written by a panel of baseball historians, writers, and statisticians about everyone enshrined in the Hall up to publication (ending with Boggs and Sandberg). I'd recommend it to all of you who want to have a greater understanding of the game's history. It's a great book, with entries on all enshrinees, from the only sportswriter elected to the Hall (Henry Chadwick, who was so respected in his time that umpires would ask him to intervene during rules disputes) to famed umpire Billy Evans (who was originally a sportswriter, but umpired a game after the regular ump failed to show up and then took on the job to supplement his income) to all of the game's players, too. I think it's important to understand the game beyond statistics (but not without statistics) and this book incorporates both masterfully.

[Metz]

nice stuff there .. keep it up

[witesoxfan]

Gregory went bowling for the first time in his life this week and rolled better than Barack Obama by about thirty points. He hopes to bowl more often and improve markedly in the coming years. The rest of the week is an insomniac's blur, as Pratt was hardly able to sleep for much of it and stayed up watching HBO movies as a result. He recommends "The World According to Garp."

 

Gregory needs a brush up on bowling terminology. A baseball team does not beat an opponent by 3 points; a golfer does not win a tournament by 12 points; similarly, a bowler does not beat another by 30 points. Baseball:runs::golf:strokes::bowling:pins. GET IT RIGHT NEXT TIME

 

Cultural Suicide -- I read in this article that the Royals want to bring the fences in at Kauffman Stadium. Here's the relevant section: "Nobody wants to go there and hit when it's 385 [feet] to the gaps," said one baseball man. "So why overpay for some free-agent slugger when you can move in the fences and elevate your own guys' power? The way that park is now, guys hit the ball on the screws in those gaps and it doesn't go anywhere. It dies." Historian Bill Jenkinson has compared the smaller ballparks of today with those of, say, Babe Ruth's time and asked what the outcry would be if football fields were shortened by twenty yards, or basketball hoops lowered by a foot, to make it easier to score points? Contrast that with the lack of response from fans today as the league makes it easier for hitters to erase homerun records of the past with tiny ballparks and "juiced" baseballs. I feel as if the game's integrity and its history have been assaulted by the league and its owners and its union for as long as I've been alive, and I wish I could believe that someone is protecting the game from being sold-out in the interest of selling an extra ticket or two.

 

Let us not forget that Babe Ruth was hitting to a foul pole down the right field line that was 295 feet away (if you can find any AAA team that has it under 300 down the line, I'll give you a virtual pat on the back) and the right field gap wasn't far away either. If you think hitters had it easy now in that regard, just ask Babe how it was. Imagine how many of today's hitters period would hit more homers simply because of that (righties would hit balls to right more often and lefties would capitalize on mistakes the pitchers made outside more often, taking them to left field simply because the pitcher would be so afraid of making any type of mistake inside).

 

Ruth is one of the 3 greatest offensive players of all time, but let's not act like he was hitting uphill 450 feet away to all directions while being drunk every game he ever played. The drunk part might be right, but whatever...

 

State Farm Calls Shot, Strikes Out Looking -- If there is anything positive to come from David Ortiz' recent injury, it is that this will prevent him from participating in the shameless "State Farm Call Your Shot" promotion at the All-Star Game. The promotion is what it sounds like: at the ASG, MLB was going to trot Ortiz out at Yankee Stadium to hit a homerun to any part of the park. Besides the fact that it is inappropriate for a Red Sox player to call his shot at Yankee Stadium, and ignoring the fact that re-enacting the "Shot" at Yankee Stadium when it occurred at Wrigley Field is like re-enacting the invasion of Normandy on a Lake Michigan beach, it is an unnecessary promotion bordering on the idiotic, and I hope Ortiz' injury kills it. Jon Heyman, on the other hand, thinks MLB should call on Ryan Howard to do it because he's "the closest thing baseball has to Babe Ruth." Except he has never pitched a major league game, strikes out way more than Ruth did, has a much lower average, hits fewer homeruns, and is a much lesser athlete than Ruth, who was, at his peak, a high-quality right fielder. Hey, nothing against Ortiz or Howard or anyone else -- but we shouldn't toss out the names of legends as if they were scuffed balls, and we shouldn't treat the game's history like that, either. It's cultural suicide.

 

Where's Barry Bonds when we need him most?

 

The Bob Saget of Managers -- When John McLaren went off on his team during the week, they won one game and then went back to losing. Whether they win or not has more to do with whether or not they are a good team or not than with anything McLaren says to the media, but the Chicago Tribune still referred to the tirade as being "too thin, too late, and too inconsequential." I agree with that. But watching his rant, I think of Bob Saget, and his most recent "comedic" routines. I don't know if you've seen any of them -- it was my misfortune to -- but he goes onto the stage and says the foulest things imaginable in an effort to erase the memory of Full House. That's who John McLaren is becoming, when he should be cursing himself for taking the job and Bill Bavasi for awful roster construction.

 

That's a team that has disappointed me greatly. Last year was apparently an aberration, because they've been absolutely god awful. It's time for Bavasi to go away already. It's a fantastic baseball family, but Bill has done much more damage in Seattle than is necessary and he needs to go back to a supporting role. He's good in those roles.

 

I haven't seen enough of McLaren to see what kind of manager he is, but I'd assume he's probably middle of the pack, similar to Melvin, who just so happened to be the previous Seattle manager to Hargrove. It's too bad he stepped away because he is one of the managers I have a ton of respect for. I don't pay much attention to his Baltimore years, because even the greatest manager of all time (whoever that may be...thread/poll idea spawned) wouldn't be able to manage a pitching staff as terrible as that. When given pitching talent, Hargrove is the man.

 

A Wolf Will Always Be a Wolf -- Am I the only one who is a big fan of Randy Wolf? I'm under no illusions about his greatness, but he is a more-than-serviceable National League pitcher, and his comeback has been a success. Maybe I've got a bias because Wolf's work ethic stands strong in a day where Carl Pavano, Mark Prior, and Mike Hampton are stealing money from their employers, but I like him and I hope he can have a strong year.

 

Randy Wolf is also the man. I'm more surprised about the fact that he keeps making comebacks and keeps on pitching. Good for him. He was overrated with Philly when I recall him being one of the up and coming pitchers of the league, but he could make fortunes and perhaps a playoff team or two by being a #3-4 starter in the league. I have much respect for him.

 

Vernon Wells -- Since coming off the disabled list this weekend, Wells is 5-7 with a double, a homer, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. When he went down with an injury I worried that he wouldn't be able to come back strong, but I hope that this is a harbinger of things to come.

 

He did his best "I got paid and now I'm going to relax and suck at life" impersonation last year, but he's played well this year. He's another favorite player of mine. I hope he atleast does his best to earn that $126 mill.

 

Nicknames in Houston -- I liked Lance Berkman better when we called him "Fat Elvis," not "Big Puma." Of course, they can call him whatever they want if he keeps producing as he has been so far this season.

 

If he keeps producing, that would hopefully mean everybody else in the Astros lineup keeps producing, and that would hopefully mean they give the Cubs fits all year. Ed Wade isn't much a good overall GM, but he can most definitely build offenses as well as any other GM in the game, given the resources. He just can't build a pitching staff. When you only have one starting pitcher with an ERA below 4.00, and you have Roy Oswalt on your staff, and the pitcher whose ERA is below 4.00 and said pitcher's name isn't Roy Oswalt...well, then Roy Oswalt is pitching like s***, that pitcher is lucky, and you suck at pitching staffs. Brocail and Geary have been surprisingly good so far...not something I suspect will continue to happen as the year progresses.

 

Workhorse II (Snark) -- Mark Prior is once again out for the season, but rest assured that he will do everything in his power to bilk another million dollar contract out of someone next season to run a few towel drills and discover a new injury.

 

LOOK AT HOW MUCH THAT TOWEL CURVED. DID YOU SEE IT? MAN, IF ONLY HE COULD THROW IN REAL GAMES WITH TOWELS!

 

I consider Prior done and washed up. If you would like to atleast try to continue your love for the [Twins/baseball] (just giving s*** about the Twins trading Santana and your love for amazing players remaining with their original teams (I respect the hell out of it, BTW)), they did select Joe Mauer over Mark Prior, who was the consensus #1 pick in that draft. Prior helped the Cubs to 6 wins in the 2003 playoffs, fizzled out, and now he's done. Mauer's still one of the best pure hitting catchers in the game today and he's only 25, which scares the s*** out of me. I still think he's going to become John Olerud part deux, but whether he remains at catcher will determine whether he's one of the best the game has seen in 25 years or if he's just a damn good 1Bman. I will say, if he has the range and the glove for it, he has the arm for 3B. I'd watch out for that if his knees don't hold up well over the next 2-3 years.

 

Workhorse III (Mystery / Prose) -- I'm not sure I understand how pitchers today manage to get hurt as often as they do despite the fact that they are babied beyond anything pitchers even fifteen years ago could've "hoped" for. These injuries certainly aren't the result of pitchers throwing harder today than they did in the past, because they do not as the "100 MPH fastball" is not a product of modernity or medical innovation. (That said, I do not doubt the theory that pitchers throw harder more consistently today because you can not let up against inferior offensive hitters in this era like you could in inferior offensive eras, but I am not sure that pitchers today are throwing so much harder so often that it is equivalent to throwing a hundred innings less a year.) I have had questions about this subject for quite some time and have been doing research on hurlers past and present but I can not find any satisfactory conclusions and it is difficult to determine. A part of me wonders if steroid abuse and overly-muscular (though "natural") frames have something to do with the influx of injuries despite the decrease in workload, but who knows.

 

Modern medicine and radar guns. You can see the problem and you can address it instantly...it just takes six to eighteen months to heal.

 

I know Sandy Koufax had some of the nastiest stuff of all time, but I would be curious to see what the velocity of his fastball was at the end of his career. Randy Johnson has never had many arm problems and he's 44 (and he'll be 45 in September) and he's still striking out in excess of 9 per 9. A study on the top 50 pitchers over the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, and 00s, could easily be conducted to see why exactly the reasoning is for the shortcoming of pitchers in todays game. Seeing as how teams are carrying 13 and 14 pitchers nowadays, when only 5 years ago 13 seemed outlandish and it was basically either 11 or 12, makes one wonder which change to the game will be next - the 6-man rotation or the 27-man roster...?

 

Another thing I would be really curious to see are some of the greatest pitchers' MRIs of their entire bodies...see which parts of the body you can work and still remain successful and those you can't. It wouldn't be an end-all of end-all analysis, but it'd be interesting to see the results of such a study and then to attempt to employ that with half of your pitching class.

 

History of the Week -- When I last saw Keith (on Tuesday, at the Sox game) he asked me where I heard the anecdote about Joe DiMaggio and Lefty Gomez that I referenced in last week's Pepper. It's from a book I have, Hall of Fame Players: Cooperstown, written by a panel of baseball historians, writers, and statisticians about everyone enshrined in the Hall up to publication (ending with Boggs and Sandberg). I'd recommend it to all of you who want to have a greater understanding of the game's history. It's a great book, with entries on all enshrinees, from the only sportswriter elected to the Hall (Henry Chadwick, who was so respected in his time that umpires would ask him to intervene during rules disputes) to famed umpire Billy Evans (who was originally a sportswriter, but umpired a game after the regular ump failed to show up and then took on the job to supplement his income) to all of the game's players, too. I think it's important to understand the game beyond statistics (but not without statistics) and this book incorporates both masterfully.

 

Is a book I shall try and find cheaply somewhere. Tell me it's cheap somewhere.

 

And I hate you both for living in Illinois. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.

[Gregory Pratt]

Wite, I thank you for your thoughtful message, even though I disagree with you on just about everything.

 

I imagine the book should be cheap on Amazon somewhere.

[knightni]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/078...63/ref=dp_olp_2

 

http://search.half.ebay.com/hall-of-fame-p...rstownQQmZbooks