In 1939, the entire Yankees infield missed one game. That's 1, count 'em, uno. The whole infield.
Okay, technically, that's not true. Lou Gehrig, the starting first baseman at the beginning of the season, played in 8 games, then went to the Mayo Clinic. But the guy who took his place, Babe Dahlgren, played in every one of the remaining, 152 games the Yanks got in that season.
Shortstop Frankie Crosetti also played in every game. So did third baseman Red Rolfe, who had a career year, with a .329 average, 70 extra-base hits, and 139 runs scored.
Joe Gordon, the Hall-of-Famer at second, played only 151, that slacker, for which he was roundly excoriated in the newspapers and spat on by small newsboys with big caps.
The Yankees' infield back-up? A guy named Billy Knickerbocker, who served as a sort of living advertisement for one of Jacob Rupert's beers. Knickerbocker got into 6 games. He was the ONLY other infielder on the team.
It was different for the Yanks' incredible OF of George "Twinkletoes" Selkirk, King Kong Keller, and Joe DiMaggio, none of whom played more than 128 games. But that was in part because they had Tommy "Ol' Reliable" Henrich coming off the bench, and I guess felt obliged to play him some.
All the other back-up outfielders for the Yanks? They had a total of 138 plate appearances. Buddy Rosar, the only back-up for Bill Dickey to hit, had 121 plate appearances.
The pitching was different, because manager Joe McCarthy smartly limited starts by his deep staff; nobody had more than 28. But the Yanks went the whole season with, at most, 10 pitchers and usually 9.
For instance, DiMaggio was hitting .409 on Sept. 9th, when he got an eye infection. McCarthy insisted he keep playing anyway, lest anyone consider him a "cheese [batting] champion." He finished at .381.
But it's hard to argue with the results. The 1939 Yankees won 106 games, swept the Reds in the World Series (as recently noted) to win their 4th straight title, and were the only team EVER to outscore the opposition by more than 400 runs. Many baseball experts (not me) rank them as the greatest major-league team ever. Nate Silver ranks them as the greatest SPORTS team, period.
All of which is to raise again the eternal question of why our present New York Yankees cannot stay on the field.
I broke a toe in April, in a cake-related incident (don't ask). It hurt like hell. The next day, I managed to walk on it, though with a small limp. Soon, I was walking and occasionally running on it. It hurt some, then I stopped thinking about it. I'm sure with some major-league attention, I would've been fine even quicker.
This is not to accuse Aaron Judge, of all people, of jaking it. The guy shows his mettle constantly, as he did in Dodgers Stadium.
What I'm talking about is the attitude of a Yankees front office that insists on treating every regular-season game as if it were still spring training.
"What, Judge-y has a bad toe? Better put him on the DL. Someone else tweaked something sometime? Better sit him down! So we don't have a full roster for tonight's game? So what?"
"Thing 2 is tearing it up in the minors? Well, let's not bring him up just yet. We want to see how Thing 1 looks for a spell more. And besides, there's the money to think about, and the 40-man roster."
The attitude is always: "Hey, what's the regular season matter? The big priority is just to make the playoffs, where anything can happen! Remember: it's a crapshoot."
Bologna. As we've seen again and again and again.
Winning is a habit, a way of thinking. A desire.
Never mind, for the moment, how you're treating so many fans who show up or tune in expecting to see a good-faith effort from a major-league club during the regular season. Winning is not just something you can turn on or off like a spigot.
Major-league players, especially, need to play regularly. Minor leaguers need to have some hope that having a great season will win them a chance to start that is not denied merely because of some huge contractual mistake.
I know, I know. Men were men back in the old days—until they weren't. The baseball of the past was littered with arms that were pitched out prematurely, or guys who were sent back out there when they shouldn't have been. Brooklyn's own Pete Reiser comes to mind. And I'm glad we don't have a Great Depression that no doubt helped spur on those games-played totals.
But all of us altercockers here, who grew up on Yogi Berra catching 150 games a year, or Mickey Mantle amusing his teammates by showing them the many ways he could rotate his kneecap before taping up, suiting up, and leading the club in games played...can be forgiven for thinking that, just possibly, our players today can get out there a little more often in the middle of what used to be considered a pennant race.
Exactly what setback, for instance, have we saved Setback Sevvy from having? Or the great Giancarlo?
You can't play baseball, or any other sport, with so many China dolls, just waiting for the next tendon to pop.
Change needs to start with our beloved management NOT bringing in some of the most perpetually damaged players in the game, and it needs to continue with making this team younger and more fit for BASEBALL, not the weightlifting competition in the next Olympics.
Until that occurs, I suggest that we all stay home. The air out there isn't healthy anyway.
Posts
16 comments:
I had written a comment a couple days ago about players then and players now in terms of injuries.
You might remember that in "Ball Four," Bouton told a story about Mantle getting taped up and the clubhouse bit that it spawned. Something like, Mantle's head fell off and before the game, the manager said, "Yeah, but can you tape it and play?"
Today, maybe because of the money some players get paid, clubs baby their players in comparison. A tweak, "tightness" (one of my favorites), "discomfort," "soreness" and other maladies put guys on the IL instead of on the field.
Pitchers are a different animal. They don't get scratched because of a runny nose. It's ACL issues, dead arms, TJ surgery, and other conditions antithetical to pitching. The addiction to pitch counts in nearly every situation, though, does get my goat sometimes.
Anyway. Maybe today's players have overdeveloped musculatures that are susceptible to injury, but I think a lot of it is management being too quick on the IL trigger.
Willis Reed has got to be rolling his eyes somewhere.
Oh...the comment I wrote the other day was lost when our Spectrum internet went out following damage to a fiber optic cable. Never got posted.
I thought I remembered that post, JM. And I mostly agree. (The Mantle sketch you're talking about was Johnny Keane always trying to get Mantle to play no matter what.)
I think it's not only management being overly cautious (because of money, and because of 40 percent of teams now make the playoffs), but bad training techniques.
We've all talk about how the Yankees supposedly had a "gas station," pumping young arms full of gas. They sent Monty there. He missed the next two years.
And...tonight's game is canceled. Doubleheader scheduled for tomorrow. We'll see.
No worries, Billy McKinney will replace Judge on the ML roster, and he’s bringing his .206 lifetime BA (768 PA) with him.
If I was Florial I’d demand my immediate release.
I think it's the money, GUARANTEED money,that's got them into the scared mentality and now it's endemic in the management and infecting the players. As JM said, too big muscles. they're without the tendons and ligaments and protective tissue responding enough to support those muscles.
They do too much too intense weight training and don't stretch or warm up or warm down enough.
Leaving physiology out for a second, these stats that are measuring exit velocity, how far, high, azimuth, rpms, etc is bound to have unintended consequences. The players are by nature competitive, so a homerun isn't just a homerun anymore it's also a chance to "when in doubt I ship it out" mom ( just keep it off camera, please),pitchers are looking over their shoulder for velocity cues, and countless a chance to compete with the guys. Everyone reading this gets the point. Something less obvious is that the players have to keep impressing the analytics geeks. Come arbitration time, contract time, or making the team those numbers become serious. So we have another reason to strain of year something. I'm not saying that it is a big deal, but it is just another day on the DL.
Here's a thought, SKIP the weight training since the guys who can, do it anyway, let the smaller guys hit singles, doubles, etc. When it comes out in the wash, are teams really scoring that much more than the ancient gods? Are starters accounting for more out/season.
That was part of my point the other day, Kev. No, nobody is actually doing better, despite all the claims for the new way of playing the game.
Instead, everybody plays less, and generally more in an interchangeable mass of five-inning pitchers and hitters who routinely miss 20, 30, 40 games a year and still hit .220.
Yuck.
Horace you've been preaching to the choir. All this talk regarding superior athletes (resulting from nutritional and training breakthroughs) is, as Zappa would put it, "strictly commercial". How did Ted Williams, Ruth, et al hit those bombs back in the day? Are players hitting 600 foot shots now? So what is the worth of having a third of your roster on the bench? So how much worth is THE NEW WAY? As you know, it boils down to scoring more than your opponent, and attention to the details of the game is paramount. I see players like our second baseman, Mr. Torres as emblematic of today's game. A fellow with no concept of "self", i.e. still doesn't realize that he isn't quick, not a true "power hitter" is "style" obsessed, has no awareness of the game situation, or even ball/strike counts.... Yeah, nobody does it better. I believe that the celebrated teams of yore would mop up today's wonder boys.
Regarding my 7:07 post, "when in doubt I ship it out" mom ( just keep it off camera, please)
Should have read, "when in doubt I whip it out" moment ( just keep it off camera, please)
Auto-correct, damn you!!!!
Kevin,
The only thing I would whip out would be my zircon encrusted tweezers. Or maybe my Mexican poncho (not a Sears poncho).
And don't get me started on the Illinois... or never mind.
These stats is bound to have unintended consequences. Sho' nuff, master!
Rufus, don't forget your pygmy pony.
Post a Comment