*** VD 13 Commentary Thread ***

[heyelander]

https://theathletic.com/1612422/2020/02/22/the-baseball-100-no-34-cy-young/

He was Denton True Young — Dent to his friends — until he was 23 years old. Until that year, Young was a farmer in his hometown of Gilmore, Ohio. He liked baseball and was quite good at it; he pitched now and again for a semi-pro team nearby for a dollar an appearance. But he never thought of baseball as a profession until that year, 1890, when he began to think about settling down and getting married.

That’s when the ballclub in Canton, 45 miles or so away, offered him the princely sum of $60 a month to pitch.

...

“Mr. Young is a tall, very well put together and athletic young man of sundry summers,” The Cleveland Leader and Herald wrote. “He pitches the ball, not hardly that either, rather he sends lessons in geometry up to the batter with a request for solution. Mr. Young seems to know almost as much about curves as an engineer on a railroad in West Virginia.”

That last part suggests that Young was already more than just a fireballer, that he already had a complete arsenal of pitches. There is some dispute about this. Christy Mathewson, for instance, said that Young was a pure fastball pitcher in the first half of his career and didn’t really develop his curveball until the second half. Young himself suggested the same, saying that a pitcher should learn control first before worrying about curveballs.

But that first quote from the Leader and Herald was a perfect assessment of what would become a 22-year career. There, surely, has never been a more adaptable pitcher than Cy Young. Just look:

In 1892, he won 36 games with a National League-leading 1.93 ERA.

The next year, the league moved pitchers back from 50 feet to 60 feet, 6 inches and a rubber slab replace the pitcher’s box.
In 1893, he won 33 games and led the league in Fielding Independent Pitching (which works only with strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed).

The next year, foul bunts were classified as strikes.
From 1894 to 1900, he went 181-112 with a 138 ERA+ and he led the league at various times in wins, strikeouts, shutouts, complete games, WHIP and FIP. He and Kid Nichols were the two best pitchers in the game over that stretch of time.

In 1901, the upstart American League declared itself a major-league challenger to the National League.
Young jumped to the AL and led the league in wins in 1901 and 1902. He won the pitcher triple crown in 1901 with 33 wins, a 1.62 ERA and 158 strikeouts.

In 1903, foul balls were classified as strikes in the American League.
Young again led the league in wins in 1903 along with complete games, shutouts and innings pitched.

In 1904, the mound was lowered.
Young had a career-high 10 shutouts in 1904, and led the league with an 0.937 WHIP. He threw the first perfect game in American League history.

In 1908, pitchers were no longer allowed to muddy up a new baseball.
That year, Young won 20 games for the 16th and final time in his career. His ERA was 1.26. He also threw a no-hitter that year.

Think about how much the game changed over those years.

....

But there is something else funny about Young’s 511 victories.

He always insisted that he had really won 512.

And when I say insisted, I mean it — he wouldn’t stop talking about it. In virtually every interview he gave in the last years of his life, he griped about an official scorer cheating him out of a win in 1898. He would apparently go and on about it, citing various sources, breaking down all the details of how the win was lost and so on.

It got to the point where some reporters would simply credit him with 512 victories because he was so sensitive about it.

That seems odd, doesn’t it? What, in the end, is the difference between 511 and 512?

[heyelander]

Is this somewhat tongue in cheek or is this an honest question?

I'm gonna say this yet again with a twist--If Mike told you something was definitely going to happen in the realm of baseball, you'd give him the benefit of the doubt, but you won't give the same benefit to me even though I'm batting over .900 in the realm of politics here in the BP over the past decade plus.

[Ken]

Is this somewhat tongue in cheek or is this an honest question?

I wondered that too. I think he really thinks that though...

[heyelander]

#33 Jimmie (not Jimmy) Foxx

https://theathletic.com/1625666/2020/02/23/the-baseball-100-no-33-jimmie-foxx/

He really hated it when people spelled his name “Jimmy.”

Who can explain the sensitivities of human beings? Jimmie Foxx was, by all accounts, a sweet and good-natured man. He was famous for his ever-present smile. This was true even later in his career when he battled alcoholism and money problems. As we shall see, “A League of Their Own” didn’t quite get him right.

But, even so, he just didn’t like that name “Jimmy.”

...

In 1942, he was benched and then waived by the Red Sox; he ended up being sold to the Chicago Cubs. “People have been saying I was through for seven years,” Foxx said after getting sold. “I feel like I still could go out there and do a good job.”

He could not. He hit just .205 with three homers for the Cubs and he announced his retirement.

He did come back in 1944 and ’45, but he was finished as a hitter. His greatest moment in those mostly sad two seasons came on the mound; he appeared in nine games as a pitcher for the Phillies in ’45, and on Aug. 19 he pitched 6 2/3 innings, striking out five and picking up his only win. He also had a three-game stretch from Sept. 6-16 where he pitched 6 1/3 innings of relief without allowing a single hit. The newspaper stories referred to him as ancient.

He was 37 years old when he retired.

...

So now let’s talk about Jimmie Foxx … and Jimmy Dugan. The latter, Dugan, is fictional, of course, but in the minds of so many, he is more real than Foxx (or, indeed, many of the grand-old players of the game). Tom Hanks made him real. Dugan was the manager of the Rockford Peaches in the movie “A League of Their Own.” In his backstory was a career of towering home runs and black-out drunkenness.

Dugan was based on Jimmie Foxx. They were both legendary right-handed power hitters. They both hit 58 home runs in a season in the 1930s (Foxx in 1932, Dugan in 1936). They both retired young. They both had drinking issues. They both managed in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

But they were not the same. Dugan’s drinking drove him out of the game; he rather famously hurt his knee after jumping out of a hotel room because of a fire he had set.

Foxx’s story is much sadder and much darker. He did indeed grow to like the big-city life after he got to Philadelphia. He liked being seen around town. He liked wearing expensive clothes. Williams always thought the young Foxx was just trying to emulate Ruth. But it does seem that at first, his drinking was light and social and well under control.

Then, in 1934, while playing in an exhibition game in Winnipeg, he was beaned by a left-handed pitcher named Barney Brown. The fastball hit Foxx in the forehead and knocked him unconscious. He was hospitalized for four days. The doctor insisted that although he had a mild concussion, the effects were minimal — he should be back to his normal self in just days.

In reality, he was never the same. Foxx suffered from vicious sinus headaches and blurry vision for the rest of his life. He played through it all, never complaining. But his friends said that his drinking increased dramatically after that. Williams said he once saw Foxx down a dozen little bottles of scotch on a team flight. He drank, they said, to numb the pain.

...

Dugan took the job for the money. Foxx had a job as an executive with Mid-States Freight Lines and took the job because he thought it sounded fun to get back into baseball (he had just been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame).

Dugan had to endure the annoyances of the exasperating batboy, Stillwell Angel, the son of one of the players, Evelyn. Foxx’s real step-daughter, Nanci, served as the team batgirl and loved it.

Dugan resented the women at first and didn’t see them as ballplayers. Foxx respected the players from the very start — he had replaced another Hall of Fame player, Max Carey — and was universally liked by all of them.

“He never lost his temper; he was never violent,” one of the Daisies players, Wilma Briggs, told Millikin for the book. “He was a kind man, a gentleman to me and all my teammates.”

[heyelander]

Does this put Ott above Foxx or does Ott not even make the list?

[Bene Futuis]

Damn, this list almost makes me want to subscribe! I love things like this.

[heyelander]

Damn, this list almost makes me want to subscribe! I love things like this.

I feel a bit bad that I'm quoting so much, but I feel like I might sell a subscription with it.

[heyelander]

At least I haven't called anyone an asshole yet

[Kevin Seitzer]

Does this put Ott above Foxx or does Ott not even make the list?

[/url]

[Bene Futuis]

God, I am just kicking the crap out of these hapless noobs in the mock draft. I might have to pick some vintage players just to even the odds over there.

[heyelander]

You didn't have to wait long...

#32 Mel Ott

[The Feral Slasher]

God, I am just kicking the crap out of these hapless noobs in the mock draft. I might have to pick some vintage players just to even the odds over there.

I disagree.



















That GLGators squad looks really strong though

[heyelander]

https://theathletic.com/1628714/2020/02/24/the-baseball-100-no-32-mel-ott/

Telgram: Report to McGraw, Polo Grounds, New York — John J. McGraw

Ott ignored the telegram, either because he believed it was a joke or he was scared that it was not. He was still in high school at the time, a small-town farm kid who had never been out of Louisiana and certainly had no concept of what New York might be like. When Williams heard that Ott had not immediately gone to see McGraw, he personally went to Patterson, bought Ott a ticket, and put him on a train to New York. He also sent along a note — Williams might as well have attached it to Ott’s shirt with a safety pin.

“The bearer, M. Ott, is the young catcher whom you asked me to send you in September. We have just finished our season and this youngster has shown up remarkably well. He is, as I told you, inexperienced and green, but seems to be a natural hitter and receiver. You, of course, will know what you want done with him, and I would appreciate hearing from you at a later date what you think of him.

Yours sincerely,

H.P. Williams

Ott would say he was shaking from nerves during his tryout, but if so, nobody noticed it. Frankie Frisch, who watched the whole thing, said that Ott immediately began crushing hard line drives and that the longer the tryout went, the longer those line drives sailed. It was probably something like Roy Hobbs’ batting practice debut for the New York Knights in “The Natural.”

“This lad,” McGraw said that very day, “is going to be one of the greatest left-hand hitters the National League has seen.”

McGraw was going to make absolutely sure that his prophecy came true — and wasn’t taking any chances about it. He refused to send Ott to get some seasoning in the minor leagues; McGraw wasn’t about to let some minor-league manager screw this kid up. He also prohibited anyone on the team from offering advice; McGraw didn’t want any of those knuckleheads messing up the most perfect natural hitter he’d ever seen.

Instead, he kept Ott close. In 1926 and ’27, Ott played sparingly for the Giants (but well — in 117 games before he turned 19, he hit .309). All the while, McGraw worked on his project. He saw Ott’s future as an outfielder, not a catcher, so they worked on his defense. McGraw and Lefty O’Doul sharpened his high leg-kick swing without changing it. Day after day, he grilled the kid with thoughts, ideas, strategies.

At age 19, Ott began playing every day and he hit .322. But by age 20, Ott was ready. He was really ready. He hit .328/.449/.635 with 42 homers, 151 RBIs, 138 runs, he led the league in walks, and he was an excellent right fielder with a great arm.

[heyelander]

did my Ott picture come through in the #32 post or is it X because it's behind a paywall?

[Bene Futuis]

I disagree.

That GLGators squad looks really strong though

Is that your team? Are you in this thing? That team does look very good, honestly.

The lesson to learn so far in this thing is NOT to wait on pitching, if you're an "I need an anchor for my staff" kind of guy. I wouldn't want to be in the position where Woodruff or Yu Darvish is captaining my pitching squad. To be fair, though, in a real draft I probably would not have gone pitcher-pitcher with my first two picks. Just thought it'd be an interesting experiment for this thing. I was going to take Greinke with my last pick, too, if he continued to fall. Glasnow was on my radar, too, but he got snagged right before my pick as well.