It was a special day at Citi Field on April 14th. The New York Mets saluted one of the great pitchers in franchise history, Dwight Gooden. Doctor K, as he is called, had his number 16 retired forever. After well documented substance and other off the field issues, it was a great day in New York to see Gooden, seemingly in great spirits, allowing all of us to reminisce about a period in time in which he owned the Big Apple. Despite a fitting conclusion to Doc’s public baseball life, I can’t help but think he has more to offer.
Dwight Gooden needs to be a pitching coach. Phot from Sports Illustrated.
In my opinion, Dwight Gooden would make a heck of a pitching coach.
I love listening to Gooden talk about pitching. You can tell that he has a reverence for the craft. He has had some tremendous teachers beginning with his father. It is fascinating to hear Gooden talk about his dad drilling him about how to become a pitcher. Mowing down Major League hitters at age 19 takes not only great talent, but a very high acumen. Gooden’s dad had a lot to do with his success in getting to the Majors at a young age but once there, Mel Stottlemyre tutored him on the art of a professional pitcher. Stottlemyre was one of the best pitching coaches of his era, first with the Mets and then with the New York Yankees. With those two great instructors, it’s no wonder Doc enjoyed a great deal of success early in his career. Combine that with his already high pitching brain and you can see why Gooden was the perfect pitcher for five years.
I don’t know what Dwight Gooden’s future holds. I would love to see him back in uniform imparting some knowledge on today’s young pitchers. Most hurlers today are power arms and do not know how to pace themselves. Gooden would be able to teach these youngsters how to throw hard AND throw smart. For Dwight Gooden’s final act, a stint as a Major League pitching coach would be jolt for the game.
April 15th is the most important date in baseball history. Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play in a Major League game on that date in 1947. It is also one of the most monumental dates in American history, paving the way for the Civil Rights movement. It got me thinking as to what important things happened in baseball on April 16th. One of the items mentioned was that Bob Forsch threw a no hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1978. Then, as so often happens in my brain, I had a random thought.
Bob Forsch, author of two no hitters. Photo from St. Lous Post-Dispatch
Self: Aren’t Bob and Ken Forsch the only brothers to throw a no hitter?
Self: Yes they are.
Ken Forsch threw his no hitter for the Houston Astros on April 7, 1979. This was the earliest date for a no hitter in baseball history. Bob Feller threw a no hitter on Opening Day but the date for that was, ironically, April 16, 1940. Though the Brothers Forsch may not have had the careers of ,say the Dean Brothers, they were solid pitchers outside of their no hitters. Bob pitched in three World Series with the Cardinals, becoming a champion on the 1982 squad. He won 168 games over his 16 year career with the Cardinals and Astros, including 20 during the 1977 season. He threw a second no hitter for the Cardinals on September 26, 1983. Back when pitchers actually hit in the National League, Bob won two Silver Slugger awards, in 1980 and 1987. Ken was an All Star in 1976 in Houston and 1981 with the California Angels. He won 114 games over 16 seasons as both a starter and a reliever. In his All Star season in Houston, he had 19 saves and with the Angels, he led the American League in shutouts with four in the strike shortened 1981 campaign.
The Forsch Brothers combined 282 victories ranks eighth on the list of brother pitching duos. While that’s miles from Phil and Joe Niekro’s”s 539 wins, their total is higher than the aforementioned Deans as well as Livan and Orlando Hernandez. Let’s give Bob and Ken Forsch their due as quality pitchers and to me for another random thought turned into an effective blog post.
When Fernando Tatis, Jr burst onto the Major League scene in 2019, he was looked at as the game’s next great shortstop. 22 home runs at age 20 and playing highlight reel defense will put saddle you with enormous expectations. However, some quirky factors have placed the now 25-year old Tatis in right field. The largest of of these factors was Tatis missing the entire 20222 season because of a combination of a PED suspension and a shoulder injury. When 2023 began, the San Diego Padres committed Ha-seong Kim to shortstop, newly acquired Xander Bogaerts went to second base with Tatis moving to right field.
Fernando Tatis, Jr. belongs in right field. Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune
Tatis in right field has a chance to be really special.
He needs to stay there.
Once upon a time, and maybe the thought is still there today, shortstop was looked at as THE glamour position in Major League Baseball. Shortstops (and center fielders) were considered the best defensive players on the diamond and once Robin Yount and Cal Ripken, Jr. arrived, it grew into an offensive position as well. In the mid to late 1990’s, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra took shortstop to another level. Those three combined great offense and stellar defense at one time, akin to Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Duke Snider playing center field during an earlier era. Shortstop does indeed possess a number of legendary players that have called the area home.
In my humble opinion, the real glamour position is right field. I’ll give you three reasons: Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Reggie Jackson. These players are among the greatest in baseball history and combined the best of what is needed as a corner outfielder: power, speed and perhaps most of a all, a cannon of an arm. They also had a certain flair for the dramatic whether it was Aaron becoming the Home Run King, Clemente putting on a show in the 1971 World Series or Jackson becoming Mr. October. I am not comparing to Tatis to the three Hall of Famers. However, he does have the same attributes of these legends, namely the ability to hit the ball a long way and cut down runners with that laser of a right arm. His giant contract will keep him with the Padres for the next decade. Can San Diego build a team around him that will allow him to reach Hall of Fame status?
The Padres did the right thing in moving Tatis to right field. He has the ability to continue the long line of superstars in the corner whom you have to keep an eye on every time he is on the field.
I have the MLB Audio App and while listening to some out of market games, many of the commercials are repeated. One of them is a clip for either MLB Network or the MLB app. They play some highlights from the previous season and one of them is when Ronald Acuna stole his 70th base to become the only member of the 40/70 club. It made think about the good old days in Major League Baseball when reaching the 20-20 club was pretty special. Oh, I’m not talking about 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same season. No way. I’m talking about something that is about as rare as snow in June:
That would be a pitcher winning and losing 20 games in a single season.
Wilbur Wood, a founding member of the 20-20 club. Photo from South Side Sox
How exclusive is this membership? Since 1916, it has been accomplished only twice. Fortunately, they both happened during the first six years of my existence. It also speaks to how well my memory can work at times, much to the frustration of those important people in my life who mock me for my sometimes forgetful nature. It also speaks to my absolute love for baseball cards as when I was growing up, I would stare at the stats on the back of those pieces of cardboard for hours on end. Without further adieu, meet the powerhouse duo that is responsible for this post.
Wilbur Wood (1973) Outside of his near exclusive membership of the 20-20 club, Wood was also a left-handed knuckleballer. The only other pitcher I can think of that was a lefty knuckler was Danny Boone, who pitched for the San Diego Padres in the early 1980’s. This combination of rarefied facts may get Wood his own post in this blog. He had a run of four straight 20 win seasons in the early 70’s, finishing second in the Cy Young race in 1972. Wood started an astounding 48 games in 1973, surrendering an unsightly 381 hits. His record was 24-20 with a 3.46 ERA and he finished fifth in the Cy Young race. He would pitch for a total of 17 years, accumulating 164 victories on the mound with two top ten finishes in MVP balloting.
Phil Niekro (1979) The Hall of Famer won 318 games over a remarkable 24 year career. At at the age of 40 in 1979, Niekro went 21-20 with a 3.39 ERA in 44 starts. He finished sixth in the Cy Young voting and captured the second of his four Gold Gloves. “Knucksie” tossed a career-best 342 innings and completed 23 of his starts. I was fortunate to watch Niekro’s 300th career victory on the final day of the 1985 season, a year in which he won 16 games at age 46. At that time, I was fascinated with the fact that he was once a teammate of the legendary Hank Aaron. Niekro led the National League with a 1.87 ERA in 1967, an astounding feat not associated with knuckleball pitchers.
Last week, the Oakland A’s announced that this will be their final season in the Bay Area. The team will play for three years in Sacramento (in a Minor League park, no less) until their new stadium is ready in Las Vegas starting with the 2028 season. Thus ends an era in Major League Baseball equally defined in excellence and incompetence. The result of the move out of Oakland and into Las Vegas represents an enormous failure, and perhaps even bigger, an utter contempt for a fanbase.
The great Reggie Jackson in Oakland. Photo from andscape.com
Let’s get one undeniable truth out of the way. If it was New York or Boston or Los Angeles or St. Louis, there is no way this happens. Those cities are considered baseball royalty with legacies of winning and rabid fan bases. Major League Baseball would not abandon those areas at any cost. They would have insisted that ownership work out a deal with their respective municipalities to keep those franchises where they belong. Oakland? It’s a more of a working class area whose perception (wrongly) is that of the “second” team in the Bay Area. It doesn’t have the celebrity following that the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Red Sox possess. And we know how important celebrities are to the folks that occupy the Commissioner’s Office. Going to Las Vegas raises the “cool” factor of baseball, with the A’s going from the “dreary” Oakland Coliseum to the bright lights of the Strip.
You know what the A’s DO have a history of: winning.
Since the franchise relocated from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968, the A’s have a nearly unmatched record in capturing World Series championships. Their four titles are only exceeded by the Yankees and equal to the amount of the Red Sox. No other club has more than three. Speaking of three, the Oakland A’s are the only team not named the Yankees to have captured three consecutive World Series titles in the over 100 year existence of the Fall Classic. They have appeared in a total of six World Series since the move to Oakland. In 1972, when playing the famed Big Red Machine from Cincinnati, the A’s won the championship without their best player, Reggie Jackson. Think about that. Oakland won a title against a legendary team without their Hall of Famer for any of the seven games. Find another instance of a franchise becoming a champion without their best player.
As for those players? MLB Network thought enough of the greatness of the teams from the 1970’s to make a documentary, but they also produced specials on three players with significant Oakland connections: Jackson, Rickey Henderson and Dennis Eckersley. Jackson was one of the great sluggers of all time, Henderson was the most dynamic player of his generation and Eckersley was virtually unhittable as a closer. Other Hall of Famers that called Oakland home include Rollie Fingers and Jim “Catfish” Hunter. Though not in Cooperstown, Dave Stewart accomplished something that may not happen again: winning at least 20 games in four consecutive seasons. From Joe Rudi and Vida Blue to Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder to Matt Olson and Marcus Semien, the A’s have enjoyed rosters full of superstars that somehow go almost unnoticed by much of the baseball media. If this franchise stayed in Philadelphia all those years ago or moved to Los Angeles before the Dodgers, they would be recognized as baseball royalty.
How about this? The name “Athletics” or “A’s” needs to stay in Oakland. Current ownership does not deserve to take any bit of this all time franchise east to Las Vegas. Let him make his own history somewhere else. The A’s belong in Oakland and maybe, just maybe, the next commissioner will recognize that it is a tremendous baseball town with a rich history.
Pat Zachry died on April 4, another passing of my childhood memories with last month’s departures of Ed Ott and U.L. Washington. Zachry was a member of the New York Mets when I first started watching baseball so I got the opportunity to watch him pitch though I must confess I don’t remember many of his starts. Unfortunately, injuries derailed a career in which he won the 1976 National League Rookie of the Year and a World Series title with the Cincinnati Reds. However, the headlines (at least in New York) announcing the passing of Zachry will have the same message.
Pat Zachry was an All Star in 1978. Photo from my collection
In 1977, Zachry was part of the most controversial trade in Mets’ history. He was one of the four players traded from Cincinnati to New York which saw franchise icon Tom Seaver going west to the Queen City. It’s a trade that stings Mets fans to this day as Seaver is still arguably the greatest player in the club’s history. It’s unfair to Zachry and the other players in the deal to be known for just being “those guys” who did not have Hall of Fame careers like Tom Seaver. Let’s face it, the teams trading the superstar almost never get an equal value on the exchange. That’s just how it is. From Babe Ruth being traded to the New York Yankees to Paul Goldschmidt being dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals, the returns are not equal.
Pat Zachry was an All-Star in 1978. He pitched reasonably well during one of the worst periods in Mets history. Injuries prevented him from reaching his full potential. Doug Flynn won a Gold Glove in 1980. Steve Henderson finished as the runner up for Rookie of the Year in 1977 and batted .287 during his time in New York. The return on Seaver was probably better than most of these superstar trades. Of course, Zachry being the pitcher coming back in the deal, had enormous shoes to fill in taking on the task of replacing “The Franchise”.
Pat Zachry left us too soon at age 71. May his family be strong during this time of great difficulty and to them, he is more than just a footnote in baseball history.
We are already through one week of games in Major League Baseball. If you are like me in New York, you have already seen the Mets rained out three times. The weather has wrecked havoc on teams all up and down the East Coast. That’s baseball life in March and April where the only predicable thing is that the weather stinks. Now is about the time we will start to hear folks stay things like, “there is still a lot more baseball to go so don’t panic” or, “it’s still way too early in the season for X”
Oh really?
At 0-8 and with no Sandy Alcantara, it is already late for the Marlins. Photo from Yahoo Sports
Tell that to the Miami Marlins who are 0-8 as I write this. No matter how you thought the Marlins would fare in 2024, 0-8 is already too big a hole to crawl out from. To boot, their first four games were at home. It is already late for them. Even if they play .500 ball over the first half of the season, they are still eight games under .500 and most likely out of playoff contention. At this point, with no Sandy Alcantara, do you see Miami being even a .500 club? Conversely, the New York Yankees had perhaps the best start of any team in baseball. They went 6-1 against two of the premier squads out there, with all games away from home. Beginning a season as the Yanks have done can carry a team all the way to a division title. This is not to say New York will win the American League East as the defending champion Baltimore Orioles will have plenty to say about that. However, the odds are long that the Yanks will miss the postseason for the second consecutive year.
I know, there are over 150 games remaining in the Major League Baseball season. There is still much drama left for all teams, even for the Marlins. However, just know that even though we are early in this campaign, it is getting really late for Miami.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are off to a sizzling 5-0 start with all five victories coming away from home. Hot starts are nothing new for the Bucs; in 2023 they started 20-9 only to finish the year with a record of 76-86. This year feels different. After two consecutive seasons of 100 losses and last year’s 4th place finish, the great and patient baseball fans of Pittsburgh deserve to have meaningful baseball in September. The National League Central can be won by any of the five teams which means the Pirates need to make an impact move. Fortunately, the big move is from in house: calling up Paul Skenes.
Paul Skenes should be in Pittsburgh later in 2024. Photo from Fox News..
By all accounts, the first overall selection in the 2023 Draft is on the cusp of the Major Leagues. All that needs to be done, seemingly, is to build up his arm for the rigors of professional baseball. In 2023, Skenes pitched 122 2/3 innings for LSU and then another 6 2/3 innings in limited Minor League action. It’s easy to understand why the Pirates did not want him to break camp with the big club out of Spring Training. However, that should not stop him from reaching Pittsburgh in August. Think back to the Tampa Bay Rays of 2008. Late in the season, they called up David Price, who, like Skenes was the #1 draft pick the year before making his debut. Price was drafted in 2007 and by the end of the following season, he helped pitch the Rays to the World Series. After not having a record over .500 since 2018, Pittsburgh needs to do everything in its power to make a legitimate playoff push.
Skenes started off 2024 in dominant fashion. Pitching for the Triple A Indianapolis Indians, he hurled three perfect innings, striking out five batters. Each one of his starts will be noted to all of us who have the MLB app. Skenes has the ability to be the Pirates’ biggest star since Andrew McCutchen in his prime. Excitement is building for the Steel City. Skenes can generate even more of it and help the Pirates to their first playoff appearance in nine years.
Things have certainly started off swimmingly for the New York Yankees. They have won their first three games of the season against the rival Houston Astros. Making it sweeter is the fact all of the victories have come at Minute Maid Park. After the Easter Sunday finale, it’s off to Arizona for three games against the National Champion Diamondbacks. What a start for the new look Bronx Bombers if they can go, say 5-2 against two of the best teams from 2023. It will certainly set the Yanks up for a season that will make memories from last year’s mediocre campaign disappear quickly.
Oswaldo Cabrera rocking at the plate and rocking new threads. Photo from Yahoo Sports.
Two of the new arrivals into the Bronx have paid immediate dividends. Juan Soto is already 6 for 12 and saved the opening win with a throw to snuff out the game tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Marcus Stroman did not allow an earned run in six innings on Saturday. Returning youngster Oswaldo Cabrera already has two home runs and six RBI’s in three games. His play means that DJ LeMahieu can take all the time he wants to come back from his foot injury. There is another change New York has made not affecting the field of play that makes me smile.
The new road uniforms are a great look. For a team that hasn’t changed their uniforms much over the last one hundred years and are steeped in tradition, these grays are fantastic. They remind of the road uniforms that Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle once wore. Soto’s home run in that classic gray could have been Lou Gehrig going the opposite way in 1931 vs. the Philadelphia Athletics. Not all uniform changes are for the better. Changing the design of an iconic uniform such as the Yankees’ can be a tricky proposition. No need to worry. The updated look is a home run.
Major League Baseball is all about numbers. No other sport has the type of rich numerical history and memory recall that baseball enjoys. Because of the way the game is played in 2024, some of the iconic or routine numbers of the past no longer apply today. With that being said, there are some difficult, but potentially obtainable numbers I would like to see take place in 2024. I doubt they will be reached this season but with a renewed emphasis on speed, perhaps we are closer than we think to a couple of these milestones.
Willie Wilson’s 705 at bats in 1980 is one of my favorite stats. Photo from MLB.com
100 as in steals. Since 1900, only four players have stolen 100 or more bases in a single season: Rickey Henderson, Lou Brock, Vince Coleman and Maury Wills. Coleman was the most recent to accomplish this feat, swiping 110 bags in 1985. Growing up, I was spoiled watching Henderson and Coleman dueling to get to 100 and also witnessed guys like Ron LeFlore, Omar Moreno, Willie Wilson and Tim Raines push 80 and 90 steals. While we are a long way from getting back to the go-go 80’s, seeing a superstar like Ronald Acuna steal 73 bases means that perhaps this category is getting renewed attention. Making the bases larger before last season entices runners to take an extra base. The odds are extremely long to get to 100 but 80 from a daring player is not out of the question.
250 as in innings pitched. The days of starting pitchers hurling 300 innings are never coming back. Reasons are varied but the chief factor is the advent of the five man, and in some cases, six man rotation. In fact, the barometer is not 250 innings anymore, it is more like 200. In 2023, only Logan Webb, Zac Gallen, Gerrit Cole, Miles Mikolas and Chris Bassett matched or exceeded 200, with Webb leading the way at 216. Sooner or later, management will trust their eyes more than the analytics and leave a pitcher in for more than six innings when he is throwing well. The game needs to de-emphasize strikeouts which require more effort, and focus on just getting guys out. If and when these two things happen, expect more pitchers to hit 200 innings and maybe, just maybe get to the magic 250.
700 as in at bats. At bats are different from plate appearances. At bats do not include things such as walks, a hit by pitch and sacrifices. Hundreds of players have had over 700 plate appearances in a single season but only four have had 700 at bats: Jimmy Rollins (716), Willie Wilson (705), Ichiro Suzuki (704) and Juan Samuel (701). Whit Merrifield had 681 at bats in 2019 so someone reaching 700 in 2024 is certainly within reach. It has to be someone that plays every day, bats at the top of the lineup and doesn’t walk a lot. Acuna comes to mind as he plays nearly every day and leads off. However, he drew 80 walks last year; in order to have a shot at 700, he would have to cut that in half. In fact, the stars of the Braves play almost every day and they have been one of the most successful teams in baseball over the last five years. Maybe more teams will get the bright idea to play their best players as much as possible. We will have a much better chance to see a 700 at bat player when that happens.
20 as in triples. In my opinion, the most exciting play in baseball is a triple. You can have your home runs with the silly bat flips. Nothing is better than watching the game of will he or won’t he as a hitter flies around the bases. Maybe triples are exciting because they are a little rare. Sam Crawford has the most career triples with 309 and the single season record holder is Owen Wilson (shockingly, not the actor) with 36. 2007 was the last season that saw a player with 20 or more triples as Curtis Granderson had 23 while the aforementioned Jimmy Rollins banged out 21. Rollins’s number is especially interesting as half of his games were in Citizens Bank Park, a rather small ballpark. With the game becoming more speed oriented, it wouldn’t come as a shock if someone lands on 15 or 16 three baggers this season. Maybe we won’t see 20 in 2024 but I have a feeling we will witness it some time before the end of the decade.
Threeunassisted 