Charlie Miller gets lost in baseball-reference.com

Thursday, Sept. 11, 9:00 a.m.

On Sept. 10, 1963, three brothers appeared in the same game, and batted 1-2-3 in the same inning. Felipe, Matty and Jesus Alou each batted in the eighth inning for the San Francisco Giants against the New York Mets. Carlton Willey retired the three on two ground outs and a strikeout. Incidentally, that was Jesus’ major league debut. The three had signed with the Giants in the 1950s, and Felipe and Matty had been with the big club a few seasons. Felipe made his debut with the Giants in 1958, Matty debuted near the end of the 1960 season.

Five days later, the three appeared in the outfield together for two innings at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. The three never started together as Felipe was traded to the Braves following the 1963 season. And with Willie McCovey stationed in left and Willie Mays in center, it is understandable how Matty and Jesus had trouble getting in the lineup. Felipe was the regular right fielder.

But for two innings on Sept. 15, Sr. and Sra. Alou must have been proud to see their three sons alongside each other for what turned out to be just eight hitters.

Matty was in left, Felipe in center and Jesus in right.

Willie Stargell struck out. Roberto Clemente and Donn Clendenon followed with groundouts in a nondescript eighth inning.

The ninth was a little more interesting. Smoky Burgess reached on an infield error. Then Bob Bailey reached on error by Jesus in right. After a Bill Mazeroski single plated the two unearned runs, Jerry Lynch whiffed and Gene Alley grounded into a game-ending double play. Billy O’Dell earned the complete game victory for the Giants.

Of course, all this begs the question: What about players who were teammates of all three at some point in their careers?

Of the 50-something players that played with all three, there were nine Hall of Famers and a handful of other stars.

Here’s a look at a 25-man roster of the Alous’ teammates:

Starting Lineup
Bert Campaneris    SS
Orlando Cepeda    1B
Willie Mays    CF
Willie McCovey    LF
Reggie Jackson    RF
Joe Torre    C
Sal Bando    3B
Dick Green     2B

Rotation
Warren Spahn
Juan Marichal
Gaylord Perry
Catfish Hunter
Vida Blue

Closer
Rollie Fingers

Bullpen
Billy Pierce
Lindy McDaniel
Mike McCormick
Frank Linzy
Don Larsen

Bench
Harvey Kuenn    3B/OF
Gene Tenace    C/1B
Jose Cardenal    OF
Jim Ray Hart    3B/OF
Jim Davenport    3B/SS
Hal Lanier    SS/2B

Once again, woefully lost in baseball-reference.com.

Thursday, Sept. 4, 10:30 a.m.

While clicking across several games yesterday, I saw Ryan Dempster lay down a sacrifice bunt. No big deal, you say. The announcers seemed impressed that it was his 18th of the season. Their quick research revealed the record by Ray Chapman in 1917 to be 67. Can you imagine sacrificing yourself 67 times in a season? Of course, in 1917 the league leader in home runs in the American League was Wally Pipp with nine. You probably remember that was also the year that Gavvy Cravath of Philadelphia won the fourth of his six home run titles in the National League by tying Dave Robertson of the Giants with 12.

Needless to say, SH was used on scorecards much more frequently than HR.

A quick scan down the year-by-year leaders I noticed that the totals were fairly consistent as far back as the 1930s. That’s about the time bunts started becoming more scarce.

I noticed that the last player to have as many as 30 sac hits was Jay Bell of Pittsburgh in 1991. The last American Leaguer with that many was Bert Campaneris for Texas in 1977. Campy had 40 that season.

Remembering that Bell also had a 30-homer season with Arizona, I had to find out how many 30-30 (SH-HR) players there were. Obviously no one did it in the same season, but only Jay Bell has accomplished both feats.

Of the 236 times players have reached as many as 30 SHs, the best bunt-power season was 1911 from Frank Schulte went he went 31-21. Just four times have these magic bunters reached as many as 20 homers in a season. Other than Bell, Campaneris and Schulte, Travis Jackson hit 21 homers one season. He laid down 19 sacs that season.

So we’re crowning Jay Bell the king with 39 bunts in 1990 and 38 round trippers in 1999. With 195 career homers, Bell also leads this group in that category as well. Jackson with 135 is the only other player on this list with as many as 100.

I wonder if March 25, 1989 is the only time in history that two 30-SH guys were traded for one another when Bell and Felix Fermin were swapped between the Pirates and Indians.

Just another day with baseball-reference.com.

Thursday, Aug. 28, 2:00 p.m.

While taking my daily stroll through Baseball-reference.com I tried the Stat of the Day and was entertained by the list of 17 players who have entered a major league as a sub and gotten for hits.

One name on the list, Hawk Taylor, stands out because his son Bruce, who we also called Hawk, played baseball at Vanderbilt while I was in school there. Not sure what happened to Bruce. I hope he’s doing well.

Not sure what kind of injury there was to the Mets’ catcher Chris Cannizzaro, but he didn’t answer the bell to catch the second inning. Taylor went to hit a pair of homers and drive in four runs to help the Mets defeat the Phillies. That was on June 20, 1964. The Phillies, who were in first place at the time, could have used one more that season. There were no hall of Famers in the game. Dick Allen played third for the Phillies and Dallas Green took the loss.

Randy Milligan also appears on the list. The Mets’ first pick (third overall) in 1981 had a relatively non-descript career. But seeing his name reminds me of spring training, sometime in the early 1990s. I was at a game in Dunedin watching the Orioles and Blue Jays. Two things stand out: The way so many of the fans proudly sang “O Canada” prior to the game; and Milligan getting on base as the first or second hitter of the game. A brief rain delay sent the players and fans scurrying just after he got on first. Milligan retreated to the clubhouse area beyond left field. When play resumed, he took his place at second base rather than first. I thought he was going to get away with it, but just as the pitcher towed the rubber, someone must have noticed. I was rooting for him.

Spring Training has always provided special memories for me. In the early 1980s while still in college I recall walking around Dodgertown during workouts as if I were visiting a Little League practice. My roommate and I were the only two visitors. As we were leaving down the left field line where a handful of players were taking batting practice and even a smaller group was shagging balls, a line drive was hit down the left field line, bounding past where the fence stopped down the line. As a player began jogging to retrieve the ball, he noticed us walking in that area. He just stopped and held up his glove as if to say “little help.” We tossed the ball to him and headed on our way. I suspect it’s been some time since that casual of an atmosphere has exited in the spring. We stood less than 15 feet behind Jerry Reuss as he throwing a bullpen session for about 20 minutes. I was pretty sure I couldn’t hit him.

Some years later, I was at the final game of spring training between the Orioles and Red Sox at Ft. Myers. With the Orioles comfortably ahead, closer Randy Myers brought some fire out of the pen and loaded the bases with the O’s up by three. Myers gave Mitchell the pitch he wanted and I’m not sure the ball has landed yet — after all these years. One thing I’ll never forget is how quickly the Orioles were off the field as soon as the ball was hit. They seemed anxious to leave.

Two more memories of that game: David Wells started and I sat with his father and son. It was a chance meeting, and I was able to get some insight about him. The year before Wells had been traded from Detroit to Cincinnati at the deadline. Mr. Wells informed me that David liked the National League because he liked to hit.

The other memory is how Rafael Palmeiro, Robbie Alomar and Cal Ripken took the field each inning. Ripken and Alomar would play wide receiver and defensive back and Palmeiro would throw the pass. It looked like lots of fun.

Amazing how a four-hit performance last night can take me through a string of spring training memories. That’s part of the beauty baseball.

Saturday, Aug. 23, 12:00 p.m.

Time spent studying July 15, 1967 couldn’t be limited to just one game. So, yesterday while I was refreshing my memory of my first major league game as a youngster, I started perusing other box scores of the day. If you recall from yesterday, there were only 59 runs scored in the 10 games. Only two home teams (St. Louis and the White Sox — the two league leaders at the time) lost.

There were 11 home runs hit, more than I expected with just 59 runs scored.

Orlando Cepeda (Cardinals)
Harmon Killebrew (Twins) hit two (more n that later)
Tony Oliva (Twins)
Steve Whitaker (Yankees)
Dick Allen (Phillies)
Bill White (Phillies)
Clete Boyer (Braves)
Joe Torre (Braves)
Lou Johnson (Dodgers)
Len Gabrielson (Dodgers)

A few notables from other box scores that day, courtesy of Baseball-reference.com:

The defending world champion Baltimore Orioles lost to the eventual American League champion Boston Red Sox, 5-1. Brooks Robinson batted clean-up for the O’s. Carl Yastrzemski, who would win the triple crown that season, hit third for the Sox. Jose Santiago got the win after relieving starter Gary Waslewski after he faced just two batters, both walks. The first hitter Santiago faced was Paul Blair who lined into a triple play. It must have been down hill for the O’s after that. Loser Pete Richert made an early exit as well, facing only five hitters and getting one out before giving way to Eddie Watt. The only out Richert was able to muster was a fly out by Yaz, a sac fly, actually.

At RFK Stadium in Washington, Mike Marshall blew his second save of the season for Mickey Lolich. Marshall entered the game in the 7th with runners on first and second, two outs and ahead 2-1. After a walk to Ken McMullen, Frank Howard singled in a pair of runs for the winning margin. Dick Lines was able to pitch a scoreless 8th and 9th to save the win for Casey Cox, who pitched two innings in relief of starter Barry Moore.

Entering the bottom of the ninth at Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis, Jack Aker was truly Gas Can Aker — actually more like Fireworks Aker. Starter Lew Krausse and Tony Pierce had held the Twins to four hits and one run through eight innings. The A’s managed a couple of runs off Twins’ starter Dean Chance to lead 2-1. Harmon Killebrew greeted Aker with his second home run of the game. That was followed by Tony Oliva’s walk-off clout. That game left the A’s in last place and moved the Twins to within a game and a half of first. It’s unfortunate for Aker that my family scheduled our trip to St. Louis this weekend. In his two other appearances at Metropolitan Stadium in 1967, Aker nailed down saves.

At Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Pat Jarvis held the Phillies to three hits, two of them solo homers, in a 5-2 Braves’ win. Jarvis lowered his ERA to 3.97 with the complete game. It’s no wonder the Phils had trouble scoring. Three regulars were hitting below the Mendoza Line at the time. Catcher Clay Dalrymple was hitting .160, shortstop Bobby Win .180 and first Baseman Bill White .169. Only White managed to improve much finishing the year at .250.

Rookie Tom Seaver was knocked out in the 5th inning by back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Tony Perez and Deron Johnson at Crosley Field. Pete Rose played second and hit third for the Reds. Lee May was in left field where he played just 49 of his 1,595 career games, and Tommy Helms was at shortstop where the second baseman played just 74 of 1,346 games. Mel Queen went the distance for the win. The 2-3-4 hitters for the Reds: Vada Pinson, Pete Rose and Tony Perez would combine for 9,745 hits and 4,803 runs in their careers. Too bad for Reds fans that the F. Robinson in right field that day was Floyd.

The marquee matchup that day was at Dodger Stadium where Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs locked up the Dodgers’ Don Drysdale. L.A. scored four runs in the third inning to chase Jenkins. Drysdale went nine innings allowing just five hits, a run and no walks while striking out 10 to improve his record to 8-10. Jenkins dropped to 11-7. The 3-4-5 punch of Billy Williams, Ron Santo and Ernie Banks for Chicago averaged nearly 1,300 runs, 2,500 hits and 1,500 RBIs in their careers.

I suppose everyday is exciting to real baseball lovers.

OK, enough of the search for the worst lineup ever. That was sooo yesterday. Last night I was thinking about my first major league game. The closest major league team where we grew up was four hours away. Needless to say, our family didn’t drive to St. Louis every weekend for games. Once a year was a real treat.

I suppose there’s always some risk in showing your age to your readers, but what the heck. My first game was July 15, 1967. Full disclosure: I was four-and-a half years old. So my memory is a little fuzzy. I remember staying at the Mark Twain hotel. I remember it was old, and didn’t impress me at the time. I remember seeing the arch. At that time, it hadn’t opened for visitors at the top. I remember thinking how cool the Cardinals looked in person. I distinctly remember the Pirates sleeveless uniforms with the black sleeves underneath. Until then, my baseball experiences included Harry Caray and Jack Buck on the radio, time in the back yard with my dad and brother, and owning lots of baseball cards. My older brother wasn’t old enough to play Little League yet, so this was a big deal. Obviously I have more vivid memories of later visits to St. Louis and Atlanta and San Diego, but I have some 8mm footage of the first trip to St. Louis, an old lineup card and Baseball Reference to fill in a few gaps.

We have 8mm of Roger Maris rounding the bases. That was taken the next day— a double-header against the Mets. And there’s Lou Brock stealing second, again against the Mets. But there are some short clips of the Pirates as well.

So while I’m strolling down this particular memory lane, I’ll focus the many ‘firsts’ of my life.

First Pitcher: Bob Gibson
First Batter: Matty Alou
First Putout: Bob Tolan catches Alou’s fly ball
First Groundout: Maury Wills to first baseman Orlando Cepeda with Gibson covering.
First Hit: Lou Brock
First Error: Pitcher Dennis Ribant trying to pick off Brock, who advances to third on the play.
First Strikeout: Tolan, by Ribant
First Run: Brock
First RBI: Roger Maris
First Triple: Maris to score Brock
(By the way, Maris had only 42 of those in his career. But he tied a career-high with seven in ’67.
First Walk: Gene Alley by Gibson
First Injury: Bob Gibson.
Perhaps the most vivid memory of the trip for me is to see Gibson falling down after throwing a pitch. I recall coaches — and presumably trainers — standing around him as he tried to pitch after being hit with a line drive off the bat of Roberto Clemente. After pitching to three more batters, Gibson would leave the game and have 53 days rest before his next start do to a broken leg. The three batters he faced walked, flied out and walked.
First Relief Appearance: Al Jackson
First Sac Fly: Alley to score Clemente
First Error of a batted ball: Bill Mazeroski on a ground ball by Maris. Maris later reached on an error by first baseman Donn Clendenon.
First Double-play: Wills strikeout and Alou caught stealing Tim McCarver to Julian Javier
First Double: Clemente
First Sac Hit: Willie Stargell. (You didn’t see that coming, did you?)
First Home Run: Cepeda
First Pinch-hitter: Manny Mota pinch hit for Ribant and flied out to Maris in right.
Lat out of the game: Alex Johnson grounds to Wills at third who throws to Mazeroski to force Ed Broussard at second.

In summation, my baseball fandom began with Bob Gibson and continued with other Hall of Famers Lou Brock, Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Bill Mazeroski and Orlando Cepeda. Other big-time stars included Maury Wills, Tim McCarver, Roger Maris, Matty Alou and Roy Face.

The Cardinals ended the day four games up on the Reds and Cubs, 4.5 ahead of the Giants, six in front of the Braves. In the other league, the Chicago White Sox (yes those who a year later could claim one of the worst lineups ever) were a game and a half ahead of the Twins. The Tigers were three-and-a-half back, the Angels were four back and the eventual American League champion Boston Red Sox were in fifth, 4.5 in back of the White Sox.

Incidentally, of the 10 games played in the majors that day, only two teams scored as many as six runs — the Pirates and the Reds against the Mets’ Tom Seaver. There were no shutouts, but only 59 runs scored in 10 games. That’s an average of three per team. I happen to like 3-2 games and 2-1 games, but maybe diluting pitching with expansion a few later wasn’t a bad idea. And now you can see why the AL saw wisdom in the DH — although I still don’t see the wisdom in it.

A double-header with the New York Mets would follow the next day. But as one of the 39,440 people who paid to see the action that day, a lifelong baseball fan/junkie was born.

Thursday, Aug. 21, 1:00 p.m.

In search of the worst everyday lineup ever.

Was it the 1962 Mets? The Senators? The Pilots? The Phillies, back in the day?

My search begins with the expansion teams of the 1960s. I can’t imagine the Senators having many threats other than Frank Howard.

For some reason my search really began with the 1986 Chicago White Sox. Eighth-place team with a good pitching staff. So how good could the lineup be?

How about a .228 batting average. Problem is that was good enough for 6th in the league. Of course pitchers hit back then so extrapolating the non-pitchers only, the team hit a robust .235.  But a couple of numbers that stood out to me are the .281 on-base and .311 slugging. Both were last in the league.

The culprits? Third baseman Pete Ward with a batting average of .216 led the team with 15 homers, the only total in double-figures. Four players had double-figures in GDP, among them catcher Duane Josephson, left fielder Ken Berry, Aparicio and Davis.. Ward and Tommy Davis shared the team lead with 50 RBIs. Fifty. Hall of Fame shortstop Luis Aparicio led the team with 55 runs and first baseman Tom McCraw chipped in 51. A familiar name, Sandy Alomar, was the second baseman. Buddy Bradford (.217) and Bill Voss (.156) shared right field for much of the season until Leon Wagner was acquired just before the deadline. Russ Snyder and his .134 average were dealt to the Indians for Wagner who hit .284 the rest of the way for the Sox. Good move.

The last few weeks of the season saw the 20-year-old Carlos May take over in left and 22-year-old Bill Melton displace Ward at third moving the “slugger” to first.

Poor pitchers. Joel Horlen, Tommy John (prior to the surgery) and Jack Fisher each had sub-3.00 ERAs yet were a combined 30-32. It’s always fun to see stats like Wilbur Wood’s 13-12 mark with 16 saves. Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm, at age 45, saved 12.

Wow, that’s just the first team. How bad will this get? My search will continue, but today’s blog won’t, unfortunately. I have to do some real work now. I’ll keep you posted on the worst lineups.

Wednesday, Aug. 20 - 9:00 a.m.

Checked up on former Vanderbilt player Pedro Alvarez to see what the Pirates have in store this season, if anything.

After a quick search on Baseball Reference, I sidetracked to Orlando Alvarez, who played for the Dodgers in the mid-1970s. I don’t remember him and don’t recall a baseball card either. Seems the reason he never entered my memory may have something to do with just 25 career games and 51 ABs from 1973-76. Apparently he was a feared hitter in the Puerto Rican winter leagues, but never adjusted to the majors. He wdebuted at age 21 (supposedly) for the Dodgers as a September call-up in 1973. His career year was in 1976 with the Angels. He stroked .167 with two homers and eight RBIs. He was dealt to the Angels just before the start of the ’76 season for catcher Ellie Rodriguez.

So next question: Why did the Dodgers trade for a veteran catcher with both Steve Yeager and Joe Ferguson on the team? In ’76, the Dodgers were chasing the World Champion Reds (and never caught them as the Reds repeated). The 27-year-old Yeager started 108 games behind the plate and batted a robust .214. Rodriguez, at age 30, started 21 times and hit .212. At 22, Kevin Pasley hit .231 in 20 starts and scored a career-high four runs. Ferguson started just 12 games behind the plate and 38 in right field before being dealt to St. Louis with Fred Tisdale and Bob Detherage at the June 15 trade deadline. In November of ’76, Ferguson and Detherage were sent to Houston by St. Louis for Larry Dierker and Jarry DaVanon. The play I most remember Ferguson for was in the 1974 World Series as he stepped in front of center fielder Jim Wynn (who had a weak arm) and threw home in time to nail Sal Bando in what was a violent collision with catcher Yeager.

I couldn’t help but notice that Ted Sizemore, the Dodgers’ 1969 NL ROY who later gained fame by hitting in the No. 2 slot behind Lou Brock when the Hall of Famer stole a record 118 bases in 1974, started one game at catcher in 1976. I remembered that Sizemore was a catcher in the minors, but played primarily second base during his rookie season. I have since discovered that Sizemore was All-Big Ten catcher in 1965 and ’66.

To satisfy my curiosity, Sizemore moved from second base to catcher late in a game against Houston in early August. Then on Sept. 19 at Atlanta, Sizemore caught all nine innings of an 8-1 Los Angeles win as the Dodgers were on the verge of being eliminated from the playoff race with 12 games to play. Sizemore caught a six-hit, complete game by Tommy John. Willie Montanez (o-for-4 in steals that season), Jerry Royster (24-37), Cito Gaston (0-1) and Dale Murphy (0-0) all had opportunities to steal second but didn’t challenge Sizemore. Sizemore had no passed balls in the game, but John uncorked one wild pitch. Dale Murphy was the Braves’ catcher that day and was charged with a passed ball. Toronto manager Cito Gaston played left field for Atlanta and batted clean-up.

And that’s how you get from this year’s No. 2 draft pick, Pedro Alvarez, to Ted Sizemore and Cito Gaston.