Cooperstown: The Hall Of Very Good Wing

The past few years of Hall of Fame voting have been a roller coaster of the good with the bad.  I'm afraid at this point, where the voters really want to punish the steroid era players, they might accidentally be tarnishing or diminishing the idea of being a Hall Of Fame baseball player.

Let me just start out by saying Ron Santo was good.  He won Gold Gloves, he was an all star 9 times (don't even get me started on how subjective and meaningless being named an All-Star is throughout baseball history), and he put up overall statistics that helped the Cubs win in the 60's sandwiched around Billy Williams and Ernie Banks.  So he was good, on a good team; but was he a HOFer?  Nope.

He's not a HOF if we use baseball-reference.com's four main "ink" numbers to judge HOF players:

Black Ink

Batting - 11 (216), Average HOFer ≈ 27

Gray Ink

Batting - 147 (91), Average HOFer ≈ 144

Hall of Fame Monitor

Batting - 88 (196), Likely HOFer ≈ 100

Hall of Fame Standards

Batting - 41 (148), Average HOFer ≈ 50

I like the ink numbers.  They do a pretty good job of judging who has HOF numbers and who does not.  You could say I'm definitely a "formulaic" statistician.  I like formulas to determine and judge talent.  They can go so much deeper than surface stats or opinions.

If you look at BR's "Most Similar Batters", none of them are in the HOF, 9 of them aren't even HOF calibur players which should give you a clue at how he stacks up all-time:

1. Dale Murphy (875)
2. Gary Gaetti (875)
3. Ken Boyer (874)
4. Ruben Sierra (865)
5. Chili Davis (865)
6. Bobby Bonilla (863)
7. Brian Downing (862)
8. Graig Nettles (860)
9. Scott Rolen (857)
10. Adrian Beltre (855)

It's not even so much Santo that makes me write this article.  I'm still upset that Andre Dawson got in last year.  I used to always talk about how much I didn't like that Lou Brock was in the Hall Of Fame, because his numbers are really subpar.  He was not a very good hitter and made more outs than good plays at the plate.  He also had the lowest OBP of any player in the HOF, until Andre Dawson.

Andre Dawson had an abysmal .323 career OBP.  Despite that, his HOF candidacy using the ink and monitor numbers actually looks better than Santo's:

Black Ink	Batting - 11 (216), Average HOFer ≈ 27
Gray Ink	Batting - 164 (68), Average HOFer ≈ 144
Hall of Fame Monitor	Batting - 118 (124), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Batting - 44 (118), Average HOFer ≈ 50

I dislike that either guy got in, because neither one was really of the quality that the HOF is supposed to be about.  The HOF should be the 1% best guys to ever play the game.  This trend of putting "good" players in the HOF started in 2009 with the induction of Joe Gordon.  Joe Gordon was a good player from the 40's who lost some years due to military service.  I respect that, lots of guys did that and it was a great thing they did.

However, what gets me upset is that he was just that, good.  He wasn't great.  Sure he won a MVP but he wasn't great.  The voting that year must have been rigged.  If you look at the 1942 MVP voting, you can clearly see that Ted Williams destroyed him at every category.  Gordon's ink and HOF ranks shake out worse than Santo or Dawson:

Black Ink	Batting - 2 (598), Average HOFer ≈ 27
Gray Ink	Batting - 111 (189), Average HOFer ≈ 144
Hall of Fame Monitor	Batting - 88 (199), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Batting - 31 (290), Average HOFer ≈ 50

When I look at these guys getting in over Dale Murphy or Fred McGriff, it just makes me upset.  Dale Murphy won 2 MVPs and his ink and HOF numbers look better than all three of the above:

Black Ink	Batting - 31 (55), Average HOFer ≈ 27
Gray Ink	Batting - 147 (91), Average HOFer ≈ 144
Hall of Fame Monitor	Batting - 116 (126), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Batting - 34 (220), Average HOFer ≈ 50

So who's in charge of the veteran vote?  Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Ralph Kiner, Tommy Lasorda, Juan Marichal, Brooks Robinson, Don Sutton, Billy Williams.  They made this happen.  They tarnished the HOF's reputation as the best of the best players only.  Since we've had one "good" player get in now for the last three years, who will be next year's inductee?  Gil Hodges?  Tony Oliva?  Why stop at three...let's make an entire Hall of Very Good wing.

Best Cy Young Year Ever?

On Thursday, November 17th, 2011, Clayton Kershaw was officially named the 2011 NL Cy Young Award winner.  This was not much of a surprise to most MLB fans.  Kershaw was incredible this year from the very first start to the very end.  Most had him pegged for the award, with either Halladay or Lee as second and third.

Most people know that he was good, but do most people know how good he was?  Here are the statistics Clayton lead the NL in this season: 21 wins, 2.28 ERA, 248 K, 0.977 WHIP and 6.7 H/9.  If you're a stathead like me, you quickly realize this means that Clayton won the NL Pitching Triple Crown, which is comprised of Wins, ERA and Ks.  Throw in WHIP and the H/9 and you have one great season.

We shouldn't forget about Justin Verlander either.  He also won the AL Pitching Triple Crown.  He lead the league at W(24), ERA(2.40), K(250), WHIP(0.920) and H/9(6.2).  So we can see that his statistics were even slightly better than Kershaw's.  Once I realized that both pitchers had won their respective Triple Crowns, it really got me wonder when was the last time this occurred?

After going over the list of Triple Crown winners, I emerged with the result that this has not occurred by a pitcher in both leagues in the same season since 1924(Dazzy Vance in the NL, Walter Johnson in the AL).  It has only been achieved previously three times(1924, 1918, 1905).  This is a very rare occurrence.  The Cy Young Award was first given out in 1956, and did not change to a one-in-each-league award until 1967.  This means that this has never been achieved in the Cy Young Award era.

That fact leads to the question which must be asked: Was this the best year ever for Cy Youngs?  It has to be taken as a serious question.  I believe the answer is, Yes.  There have been better seasons by individual pitchers in baseball history.  Of course those years Pedro had, Maddux in the mid-90s, Sandy Koufax, Randy Johnson; those were all some of the best pitching statistics ever posted in a single year.  But as a total of both leagues top pitchers' combined work, this was the best complete year.

Only three pitchers have won their league Triple Crown since 2000: Jake Peavy(2007), Johan Santana(2006), and Randy Johnson(2002).  No American League pitcher won the Triple Crown between 1945 to 1997.  This is not something that happens a lot.

I like to look at other statistics that fall outside the Triple Crown as well, such as WHIP and H/9.  It is always amazing when a starting pitcher pitches a complete season and posts a WHIP under 1.00.  Over 33-35 starts, that is such an amazing testament to their ability to limit base runners to a microscopic level.  I also like H/9 as a telling stat.  I have poured over thousands of stat sheets in my life, and come to the conclusion that if you can post a H/9 around 7.0, you are great.  So to post a H/9 of sub-7.0, you were truly unhittable.  Verlander was literally unhittable on May 7th against Toronto.

Were these the best pitching stats I have ever seen in a single season?  No; but it was the best combined Cy Young numbers I have ever seen.  That should really get more of a shout out in the media.  I mean if someone ever won the batting Triple Crown, it would be front page sports news and dominate sports shows.  Pitchers deserve a little more respect.

A Link To Triple Crown Winners List:  http://www.baseball-almanac.com/awards/pitrip.shtml 

Praying For Wilson Ramos' Safe Return

Story #1 right now in MLB should be Wilson Ramos' kidnapping.  It should be, but it's not being treated as such.  MLB.com only gave it third story down on the sidebar on it's page yesterday.  It was only given a passing mention on ESPN.  To me, this is the most important story because a man's life is worth a hell of a lot more than some stupid trade rumors.

The focus this offseason has rightfully until now, been on the big name free agents and possible trade candidates such as Pujols, Fielder, Buehrle and Reyes.  The biggest trade this offseason for me however will be when Ramos is safely traded back to his family for money or whatever they demand.  I'm praying for his safety right now.  The only information we have is that people broke into his house while he was there with his family in Venezuela.  They took him out and put him into a vehicle and drove off.  No one has heard from the kidnappers since the incident.  

It's the sad story that has become all too common for sports athletes who have family living in South American countries.  Yorvit Torrealba's son was kidnapped walking to school in Venezuela a few years ago, and Victor Zambrano's mother was kidnapped for ransom also.  I have not yet read a story of the actual player being kidnapped however.  Hopefully they will return him safe and unharmed.  We really don't know who did this or what their demands will be.  They could demand a lot of money since they have the actual player and not just a family member.

Ramos made $415,000 last year according to Baseball-Reference.com.  Almost certainly, a ransom would have to be paid by a third party, either the Nationals or MLB or anyone that wants to help.  Wilson is coming off a solid season with the Nats this year, hitting .267/15/52.  Ramos was in Venezuela to play in the league down there during the offseason.  The Venezuelan League was thinking about cancelling games while this situation was going on but decided not to.  They did hold a minute of silence for Ramos at all games Thursday.

I'm disappointed that the media is not more concerned with this story, but I am sure the story will be picked up by all major outlets when more news comes out about it.  Right now we're just waiting and hoping for good news.  I could really care less about trade rumors or who met with who right now.  I don't care if the Marlins sign Pujols and Fielder tonight.  The biggest news will be the safe return of Ramos.

How David Freese Arrived

The 2011 World Series will have to go down as one of the best all time.  It didn't always have that kind of appeal as the World Series was expected to challenge for worst ratings ever for Game 1.  However, it was eventually tallied at 14 million viewers, which is fairly good.  I am sure by Game 7 it had many more viewers when the ratings reports come out.

Everyone knows the story of the Cardinals' incredible comeback in the regular season just to make the post season.  They were down 10 1/2 games in the Wild Card on August 25th and are now World Series champions.  That is a great story, but the story of David Freese getting to this point is pretty interesting as well.

David Freese was asked if he ever thought he could be World Series MVP if he was asked in the past and he said "zero percent chance."  So how'd he get here?  Well you have to go back and see how the 2006 first-year player draft panned out.

That year the Red Sox' draft overseer was Jason McLeod.  At the time of the draft, David Freese was a fifth-year senior out of South Alabama University.  McLeod thought this meant, according to draft rules, that he could sign Freese before the draft.  MLB however, nixed the deal that included $90,000 signing bonus.  So McLeod planned to draft Freese in the seventh round.

As the draft went into the sixth round, McLeod was reminded that he was to take Freese in the next round by a draft aide.  When the seventh round came about, McLeod thought he could take a chance, selecting another player who had a slightly higher scouting report.  He was sure Freese would still be there in the ninth round.

The ninth round came, and Freese was still there.  However, a few picks before the Red Sox, he was selected by the San Diego Padres, 273rd overall.  Freese was really upset, even more so because his signing bonus from SD was meager compared to the Sawx deal.  McLeod was stunned, and had no answers for what had transpired.*

Freese spent two very productive seasons in the Padres minor league system.  After the 2007 season, he was traded straight-up for Jim Edmonds to the St. Louis Cardinals.  This must have been a dream come true for Freese, as he grew up rooting for them.  He was immediately promoted to Triple-A Memphis and spent 2008 putting up .306/26/91 with a .910 OPS.  He has split 2009-2011 between the Majors and Minors, getting into 97 games with the Cardinals this season.  Everywhere he has played, he has been a successful hitter.  So multiple teams knew he had solid value, although it seems like in the 2007 trade that the Padres may have seriously undervalued him.

David Freese didn't waste time becoming great this postseason.  He got off to an ok start, .278/1/5 in the NLDS.  Then he went white-hot in the NLCS hitting .545/3/9 with a 1.091 OPS, and was named NLCS-MVP for his effort.  He didn't cool off a bit in the World Series.

In Game 1, Freese hit a double and was driven in by Allen Craig.  In Game 2, Freese hit a single in the 7th inning and was driven in for the go-ahead run to break the scoreless tie.  In Game 3, Freese had two hits, one a double, and two RBI in the 16-7 Cardinal rout.  In Game 4, he failed to reach base.  In Game 5, he went 1-4.

Enter Game 6.  The Cardinals had their backs to the wall, down three games to two.  At least they were at home.  Freese entered having cooled off the last two games.  He struck out in his first at bat.  In his second at bat, he reached on a fielder's choice.  He walked in his third at bat in the sixth to load the bases.  Molina walked after him, plating the game-tying run.  Then the game got crazy.

The Rangers scored three times in the top of the 7th to take a commanding 7-4 lead.  It didn't look good, but the Cardinals and Freese never gave in.  Allen Craig homered in the bottom of the 8th to make it 7-5.  This set up a ninth inning that would require the Cards to score at least two runs to save their season.

The Cardinals entered the 9th having to face one of the best closers in MLB in Neftali Feliz.  Theriot began the inning with a strikeout.  Pujols did his job, doubling.  Berkman walked.  Allen Craig, who had some big hits in the series, struck out looking.  Up next, David Freese.

Freese quickly got himself into a 1-2 count.  Down to their last strike in the Series, Freese connected on the next pitch, sending a rocket out to right field which eluded Cruz' glove.  It went off the wall and after it was corralled and thrown in, Freese found himself on third base with the 2-strike, 2-out, 2-RBI triple to tie the game at 7.  As improbable as that was, it would get crazier.

Andrus singled with one out in the top of the 10th.  Josh Hamilton then proceeded to get the big hit for his team with a 2-run HR to make the game 9-7.  In the bottom of the inning, the Cardinals, down to their last strike again, rallied to score the two runs necessary to keep the game going.  After the Rangers failed to score in the top of the 11th, the first batter up in the bottom of the 11th inning was David Freese.

Mark Lowe came in to pitch the 11th and quickly gave Freese a 3-0 count.  After Freese took a strike on the fourth pitch, he fouled off a pitch to get to a 3-2 count.  On the sixth pitch of the at bat, he connected on a long drive to center field.  It had the distance as it landed in the grass beyond the fence and a fan dove on it.  One of the best games that I have personally ever seen was made possible by the huge at bats of David Freese late in the game.

Freese was also solid in Game 7, doubling in two runs and drawing two walks, one of which was intentional.  He had been so great, he had actually forced the Rangers to intentionally walk him in an at bat, which would have seemed unheard of to him previously.  Freese had earned that respect.

Freese set records in the postseason with 21 RBI and 25 hits.  He finished with a postseason line of .397/5/21 and a ridiculous 1.258 OPS.  For all of this, he was named World Series MVP.  He is just the sixth player to be named LCS MVP and World Series MVP.  Not bad for the kid who was supposed to be a Red Sawk if not for a random series of events that brought him eventually to his favorite childhood team and an improbable World Series run.

*This draft story was gathered from the InsideThePadres blog post "Freeeeese" (http://insidethepadres.blogspot.com/2011/10/freeeeese.html)

Other information for this post was gathered from mlb.com and baseball-reference.com.

2011 PRS% Regular Season Stats

Earlier in the season, I was prompted by Brendan Bowes to create a statistic to solve a very basic problem: How often do teams plate their baserunners?  At what percentage does a team's baserunners actually come around to score?  I looked at stat sheets and came up with Potential Runs Scored Percentage(PRS%).  The formula is pretty basic: Runs-HR/OBP(PA)-HR.  Home runs are subtracted because we're only concerned with the percentage of baserunners who scored.

Well, you can view the April results  HERE.  It gave clues as to how important hitting w/RISP and scoring runs really is.  Below, I have created a chart that details the PRS% for each team for the entire regular season's results.

* - Denotes team made postseason play

So as you can see, plating the runners who get on base is essential to winning games.  This is not a revelation to any baseball fan, but the chart shows how it can be the difference between going to the post season and watching it on TV.  Notice that only one team who finished in the bottom 15 in PRS% made the post season, and only because the Red Sox choked badly.

There are some quirks with the chart as well.  For example, St. Louis plated more of their base runners than Milwaukee, but Milwaukee won the NL Central by six games.  Also you can note that Boston had that epic collapse and lost the division to the Yankees and the Wild Card to Tampa.  With Tampa, Boston had a +.035 PRS% over them.  Then there were teams who did great in this category, and did not make the post season such as the Blue Jays, the Royals, the Indians and the Mets.

If you look at the AL, the NL and MLB average PRS%'s, they work out this way: AL - .307, NL - .287, and MLB obviously in the middle at .297.  In the April chart, the White Sox were last in the AL at .264, but moved up as the season went on but not by much.  The White Sox did a poor job all the way around this year at the plate.  This number really just reflects how poorly they did, in a clear way.  Nobody other than Konerko had 80 RBI and when Juan Pierre (50) is fourth on your team in RBI, you know that you have a serious problem hitting w/RISP.

Now look at the Cardinals and Texas World Series.  How important was PRS% in Game 5?  Cardinals had second and third in consecutive innings late in the game and failed to score.  Pujols was IBB'd three times and the Cards didn't take advantage of having the base runner, since he never scored a run last night.  Holliday struggled, leaving five men on base.  Freese was also guilty, leaving five also.  Punto left four.  The Cardinals left 22 on base.  The Rangers weren't much better but got the hits when it counted, even if due to Tony LaRussa's bullpen mishap.  

So looking at the PRS% for just Game 5, the Cardinals were .109 and the Rangers plated .181.  If the Cards don't plate their runners, they can't expect to win.  If the Rangers give them free runners, they have to score them plain and simple.  Coming into the series, every commentator and internet poster I saw/read said that the Rangers would simply homer their way to victory.  However, it has clearly become about plating the runners who reach base.  Oh and intentionally walking Pujols so he can't kill the Rangers, which kind of made me angry last night.  Everything's bigger in Texas, except their balls apparently.

My Thoughts On 3 Recent MLB Stories

So I haven't written a lot lately, so I am taking a look at a few of the more prominent stories that have emerged in baseball over the last few weeks and giving my thoughts.

Obviously the biggest White Sox story was the hiring of Robin Ventura as manager.  I absolutely love the move.  It gives us a young guy who can better relate to this young crop of talent we're going to go with in the near future.  Robin spent half of the 2011 season working as special assistant to the director of player development Buddy Bell.  He spent much of that time researching the entire White Sox minor league system, and learning about all the different players we have in our system.

Robin is an organization guy.  He's the second manager in a row(not counting Don Cooper), who is a former White Sox player.  He was already working in player development and he doesn't have experience so he doesn't command a high dollar value.  He is a quieter guy, so he probably won't butt heads with KW on too many issues with the club.  I don't think that he won't have that fire to rally the troops when they need it though, because I believe he will be very passionate.

I don't quite understand why people disliked this move.  Certainly he had no managerial experience, but who cares?  You have to get it somewhere.  People are crying that we did not hire Sandy Alomar Jr or Dave Martinez, but neither of them had experience as a manager either.  KW said Robin was the guy almost from the get-go.  I'm behind him 100%.

People are also upset about the choices to fill the other vacated coaching positions.  I don't have a problem with the hire of Mark Parent.  He has managed three different levels of the minors for the Phillies organization since 2005, and had success.  I like the hiring of Joe McEwing as third base coach.  It might seem like a minor coaching position, but it can be crucially important in big moments.  Joe was very popular during his playing career, especially in St. Louis.  You can read about it all here on his Wikipedia page.  I am sure whoever is named hitting coach will also be a fine choice.  Hey, it can't get any worse than Greg Walker can it?

Another story that seems to have built steam in the sports world recently are stories that both White Sox and Red Sox players are basically partying in the clubhouse during games.  The Red Sox stories seem like stories of various starting pitchers just not caring what goes on in active games; eating chicken, playing video games and drinking are the stories coming out of Boston.  However, with the Chi-Sox story, it seems to actually be about caring.

Hey, I'm just trying to rally the troops here...

AJ Pierzynski said in an interview that various Sox players were drinking during games.  He called them "rally beers".  He also said that nobody was drinking to get drunk and that the beer was used as a pick-me-up for really long games or when players were getting tired.  He said in more than a few instances, it worked for him at least.  People are basically crucifying this story in the media and I can't figure out why.  I say it's a lot better than stupid "rally hats", the "rally monkey" or those stupid thunder sticks. (Although I do not drink, I don't do the hat thing either)

To make this a big deal is to say that you really believed baseball players were absolutely flawless people.  That's ignorant.  Throughout the history of baseball, players have drank.  The most famous drunks are probably Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle.  Babe Ruth was said to come to the park drunk, to play drunk and to get wasted after games or even between games of a double header.  Think about that in a historical context:  Babe Ruth was getting wasted in 1925.  What was going on in 1925?  Prohibition.  So the Babe was breaking the law.  Nobody is breaking laws today by drinking a beer if they are over the age of 21.  Hey if the idiot fans can drink in the stands, why not the idiot players?

The Chi-Sox story is nothing like the Red Sox story.  They are being compared to each other, but the Red Sox players clearly just didn't care about their team when they weren't pitching, and were showing a complete lack of respect for their organization and their fans by doing what they were doing.  As AJ stated, the Sox players were trying to get a pick-me-up for long games.  What's wrong with that?  It's not like they were popping pills like 80% of the league were doing in the 1960's-1990's.

"I threw a no hitter on LSD sucka!"

Doc Ellis threw a no hitter on LSD.  I read an interview with Darryl Strawberry where he said he doesn't remember playing a game in the 80's without speed pills.  He also went on to say that he remembers picking a girl out of the stands and inviting her into the clubhouse for sex, between innings of a game.  So it's not like having a sip of beer is the worst thing that has ever taken place in a baseball clubhouse.  This story just needs to go away; it's really grasping at straws to say it is such an awful thing that occurred, but that's what the media does best.  They stir up controversy where there is none, and then beat you over the head with it.

Finally, the Astros are definitely moving to the AL.  This puts us in the awkward position of having 15 teams in each league.  This means that there are only two scenarios for the regular season schedule now: either two teams will continuously be playing an interleague series all year long, or we will have two teams always off each day.  I don't like this move at all.  I like the even numbers.  Adding teams to MLB is out of the question, subtracting or "contracting" teams will also probably never pass.

This leaves us with a really weird and messed up way of doing things going forward.  Thanks a lot Disastros for putting us here.  Will this be more fair, 15 team leagues and six five-team divisions?  Sure.  This will certainly drive the interleague detractors crazy.  With this move, this means Interleague will not be eliminated, ever.  Only if there is a change at some point that fixes this problem, which doesn't really seem possible without more realignment of some kind.

We'll have to see what happens here but I am just not feeling it.  Maybe it will grow on me.  I don't hate the Astros, and it will be fine to have them in the American League.  I guess since I don't really get a say, I should just sit back and see how it goes.  It will be interesting to see how they go about scheduling.  One problem I see right now is the end of the season.  Lets say the Cardinals lead the Brewers by one game in the NL Central.  The Cardinals last series of the year is against the Reds.  The Brewers last series of the year is against the Yankees.  How would that be fair; that an AL team can knock a NL team out of the postseason (or vice-versa) in the last series of the year?  Is this issue going to be addressed?

Is Adrian Gonzalez A Curse?

Adrian Gonzalez in my opinion is one of the top five hitters in MLB today.  There's no question that he is supremely talented and can be counted on to have a big year every year for any club.  Everyone who had a chance to land him would at least entertain the thought; but is he cursed?

Before you think I'm writing some stupid Chris Chase-type Yahoo article here (which are full of pointless nonsense that nobody cares about), I am simply asking the question and presenting the evidence.  Anyone who has followed his teams the last two years would say that at the very least, it's a bad coincidence.

Let's start in 2010.  The Padres were the surprise team of the NL, and on August 25th they had a 6.5 game lead in the NL West.  After that date, the Fathers lost 10 straight games, but remained one game up for first place.  However, they only played .500 baseball the rest of the way (14-13) and saw themselves out of a post season berth. Combined, their collapse from August 26th-October 3rd occurred by a record of 14-23.

This was generally accepted as a pretty bad collapse, but most people wrote it off because the Padres weren't supposed to compete last year in the first place.  Their manager Bud Black was still given NL Manager Of The Year.  From August 26th-October 3rd, Adrian Gonzalez hit .296 with 5 HR and 19 RBI, so he was doing what he could.  His Win Probability Added was just -0.02 over that span.

Jump to 2011.  The Red Sox came into the year having signed Adrian Gonzalez and looking to not only win the AL East, but to win it all.  Most sports outlets picked the Red Sox to win the most games in the regular season and to win the title this year.  The Red Sox started off poorly but really came on strong from May-August, staying in either the AL East lead or the Wild Card lead the entire summer.

Then the Red Sox hit September 1st.  From September 1st to the end of the year, the Red Sox saw it all fall apart in one of the most epic collapses in baseball history.  During that span, the Sox went 7-19 and saw themselves fall not only out of first place in the AL East but out of the Wild Card altogether to the Tampa Bay Rays, who were all but dead on September 1st.  This one was so bad, it got the manager Terry Francona fired.

During that span of games, Adrian Gonzalez batted .318 with 4 HR and 14 RBI.  His WPA was actually positive at +0.770.  I am in no way trying to say that there is a curse, or that it is Adrian's fault.  It clearly is not as he played very well both of those years during his teams' collapses.  It's just one of those sports oddities, and it is most likely purely coincidental that in back-to-back seasons for two different teams, a guy would be subjected to this kind of heart breaking situation.

Adrian Gonzalez is one of the most consistent players in the game.  Over the last five seasons, he has averaged .295/33/107 with a .907 OPS.  He has only made one playoff appearance in his entire career despite these top numbers.  In that series in 2006 vs the eventual WS Champion Cardinals, he batted .357 but plated no one.  So he has a history of batting well for teams that don't play well.  He is one of my favorite players in MLB, and I hope he is not a curse.  If he is, one thing is for sure:  It is not because of his performance.

Let's Not Forget Trevor Hoffman

On 9/19/2011, Mariano Rivera passed Trevor Hoffman for most saves by a closer in a career at 602.  Hoffman stands second, now, at 601.  Most people have been saying for a while that Mariano is the best closer of all time, and maybe they are right.  However, it should not be forgotten by anyone that Trevor Hoffman is right there, in a solid #2 spot; and #3 is not even in the same ballpark as these two.

Trevor Hoffman began his career with the Reds, was re-drafted by the Marlins in the 1992 expansion draft, and the Marlins then traded Hoffman to San Diego during his rookie season.  You can't really say that the Marlins got a raw deal, since they acquired Gary Sheffield in the trade and he lead them to a World Series title in 1997.  Hoffman became the closer for the Padres in 1994 and was injured that offseason playing beach sports during the strike.

He had to have rotator cuff surgery, which caused him to work and focus more adding a change up to his repertoire.  To me, this change up was the best that I ever personally saw, and have heard many baseball analysts who have been around longer than me state that it is in fact the best change up ever thrown.

Here is a close up of Hoffman about to throw his amazing change up.  It's essentially a palm ball, which is a more old-school kind of change up.  Most people today throw a circle change, but the palm ball can be very effective if you know how to use it.  This pitch allows you to throw virtually the same arm angle as your fastball and with the same arm force as your fastball while taking 10-15 mph off your velocity and getting more drop.  The chart below is from 2008, showing the difference between where his fastball and change up left his hand and what it did afterward.

As you can see, he started his fastball and change up from exactly the same place and the change up had significant drop upon approach to the plate.  His change up was nearly unhittable.  He is 9th all time in K/BB career at 3.69/1.  He got many of his 1133 strikeouts via the change.  After his surgery, Hoffman's fastball dropped from around 95 to around 85 mph at best.  His change up ranged from 72-76 mph.  With so many people looking ridiculous swinging and missing the change up, his teammates began to call it the Bugs Bunny Pitch, after the famous scene in Baseball Bugs in which many people strike out on the same single pitch.

There were others who trotted out to music prior to closing out games before 1998, but I personally believe the explosion of having "entrance music" for every closer in baseball began with Hoffman.  Trevor began running out to AC/DC's Hell's Bells that year.  If you look at his career, he has actually had a better save percentage at home, and after the Hell's Bells era began.  Whether you think there is a "Hell's Bells Effect" on Hoffman or not, the numbers certainly add validity to the debate.

The Hell's Bells Effect

Hoffman had many great seasons, but his two greatest were 1998 and 2006.  In both years he finished second in Cy Young voting.  His better of those two seasons was clearly 1998.  That year he posted 53 saves to lead the league, while posting a 1.48 ERA(265 ERA+) and a 0.849 WHIP.  His 5.1 H/9 is an incredible statistic.  He finished 7th in MVP voting that year.

In 2006, Hoffman again lead the league in saves with 46.  He posted a 2.14 ERA and a 0.968 WHIP.  He finished second in Cy Young voting again, and 10th in MVP voting.  Over his career he has been named an All Star seven times.  He has finished in the top 10 in Cy Young Voting 4 times.

In limited post season appearances, he put up decent but not legendary numbers.  He posted a 1-2 record, 3.46 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with 4 saves.  He only has 13 innings of post season work in his career though.  The Padres were not exactly the best team in the NL for most of his career.  He did have a chance to pitch in the World Series, but only entered one game and gave up a home run in his second inning of work against the Yankees.  The Padres would eventually lose the Series.

For his career numbers, he went 61-75 in decisions, with a solid 2.87 ERA, 601 saves, 1.058 WHIP and again a 3.69 K/BB.  Another number that jumps out off his stats page is his 7.0 H/9.  I have looked at almost every great pitcher's stat sheet for their careers and only the extreme top 1% of pitchers have a H/9 lower than 7.3.  He also put up an extremely high K/9 of 9.4 for his career.

Hoffman will easily go into the Hall of Fame, and it should be in 2016, his first year of eligibility.  As I said before, I view closers all time as Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, and "some other guys".  None of those other guys are close.  

Just because Rivera is clearly the best closer of all time, doesn't mean we should just forget about Hoffman.  Trevor Hoffman is right there with Rivera.  It should be noted that it took Rivera more appearances and more innings to reach 600 saves than Hoffman, and that Hoffman did it for a team that won far less games over that stretch.

Hoffman's career speaks for itself.  If you didn't before, you should now believe that Hoffman is clearly the second best closer of all time.  You should know that his change up was the best of all time.  You should understand that at least himself and Rivera should be considered real pitchers and not 'specialists.'

Finally, you should understand that his career was one of the best of any player who ever played the game.  I'll leave you with a video of Hoffman earning his 479th save at Petco Park on 9/24/2006 to become the then all time career saves leader, passing Lee Smith as he locked down a 2-1 victory over the Pirates.

Should The Sox Bring Mark Back?

Imagine this starting rotation next season: Floyd, Danks, Peavy, Humber, Stewart.  What do you notice?  Yes, No Mark Buehrle.  I don't know how to feel about that.

On the one hand, Mark Buehrle's departure will save the team's payroll.  Mark will probably still command a decent paycheck to sign.  On the other hand, the Sox will lose one of the best players they have ever had in franchise history.  This is a guy who has pitched 200 innings every year since 2001, is a four time All Star, a two time Gold Glove winner and a World Series champion.  Oh and it doesn't hurt that he has a perfect game and no hitter under his belt.

I read an interesting article the other day on baseball-reference.com which pointed out every starting pitcher since 1901 who posted 4+ seasons of 30+ starts with an ERA+ of 110+ before the age of 27.  Mark Buehrle made this short list of just 28 pitchers.  That really tells you how special he was from 2001-2005(5 seasons).

On the converse, you can look at his last five seasons and say that he really fell down the ladder a bit.  Over his last five seasons, he's 74-65 with a 4.02 ERA, averaging 206 IP per season.  In the American League, these can be looked at as decent numbers, but disappointing considering his previous numbers.  This season, Mark's numbers have been much better.

Buehrle posted a respectable stretch this season from April 27th to August 11th with the following lines: 9-3, 2.46 ERA, 70/24 K/BB, and a 1.15 WHIP over 124.1 IP.  All of this was during a stretch when the White Sox basically went .500 at 48-46.  I believe Mark is pitching well because it is a contract year, and he wants people to know he still has something left.

It is hard to imagine the White Sox without Mark Buehrle, but it may be for the best.  The team can get younger, save money and has a viable rotation going forward into the future.  I may just be being selfish, but I really want the Sox to re-sign Mark.  Mark means more to me than just a pitcher who can help the Sox.  I met my wife because of Mark(It's a really long story) and the #56 has come up several times with special meanings for us.

My email address is Mark Buehrle.  I have a photo of Mark Buehrle hanging on my wall.  I have a Mark Buehrle Build-A-Bear.  I have 72 Mark Buehrle baseball cards.  I have a Mark Buehrle perfect game t-shirt.  You see, he means more to me than just the average player I like.  I know all things have to come to an end, so if this is really it, I need to focus on his next few starts because they could be his last with the Sox.

If Mark does leave, I hope he doesn't retire.  I want to still be able to watch him pitch, even for another team.  He would most likely want to sign with the Cardinals if they would have him.  He has expressed his desire to pitch for them before he retires.  If he does retire, he has had a great career and I wish him all the best.  I hope if he does pitch somewhere else, he has some success, because he has a chance to get himself into that fringe Hall Of Fame category.

He would go out either way as my pick as the second best pitcher in White Sox history(Bleacher Report says he IS the best), behind only Ed Walsh.  He has started on Opening Day nine times in his career.  It would be hard to see someone else up on the hill for Opening Day 2012, I guess I will just have to deal with it and be happy with what I did get to see out of him during his time with the Sox.

I remember when he hit that home run. I remember when he made "The Play".  I remember when he got thrown out by Jo(k)e West.  I remember where I was when he threw both of his no hitters.  I remember when he got a save in Game 3 of the World Series.  I remember when I went to a Sox @ Royals game in 2006 and Mark pitched and won.  I remember when he started the All Star Game.  I remember when I first saw that ridiculous truck he owns.  I remember when he retired 45 batters in a row to set a ML record.  I hope I get a few more memories in the future.

Cry Me Some Rios Adam Dunn

It's been bad.  It's been worse.  Now it's finished.  Adam Dunn has been officially benched, and will see little playing time in September according to Ozzie Guillen (If you actually believe him).  So far, he has actually been true to his word.  Dunn only has 5 at bats since August 24th, a span of six games.  In those 5 at bats, he struck out 4 times and did not reach base in the miraculous at bat where he made contact.

Similarly, Alex Rios(Rivers in Spanish, hence the article title) is also having an absolutely atrocious year.  At times it has appeared as if he isn't even trying out there.  He can make the plays in CF, but he's having so much trouble at the plate, that it is almost becoming worse than the Brian Anderson situation.  Definitely worse when you think about the $12 million he's being paid.

Other players on the Sox have had pretty unproductive seasons this year such as Gordon Beckham and Brent Morel, but Alex Rios and Adam Dunn's statistics really speak for themselves as having a much more negative impact on the team this season.  Adam is batting .163 in 436 plate appearances, while Alex Rios is batting .214 in 488 plate appearances.  They would both need to reach 502 plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.  Rios is dangerously close, while the benching of Dunn could leave him just short of having the worst qualifying batting average since 1909.

Another way to look at Tweedledum and Tweedledee's tandem horrible seasons is to look at OPS.  Both guys play positions where OPS becomes a factor in my opinion.  We know based on the basic statistics that their OPS' must be pretty low on the list.  How low?  Try dead last.  Yes, that's right.  Among qualifying batters to this point according to MLB.com, Adam Dunn(149th) and Alex Rios(150th) rank second to last and dead last in OPS.  They hold .577 and .570 respectively.

You could also look at their OPS+.  Baseball-Reference wrote an article recently about the struggles of Jayson Werth being historically bad in the OPS+ department.  He is likely going to join a historically bad list of right fielders to qualify for the batting title with OPS+ under 100.  He stands at 98.  To compare Dunn and Rios, they stand at 58 and 54.  Yikes.

Despite the much higher batting average, Rios actually has an OBP 46 points lower than Adam Dunn's .289.  How is that even possible?  It could be argued that Rios is actually having the worse season!  Despite having more hits than Dunn, he has nothing to show for it.  This just means he doesn't hit when it counts, but it is not like Dunn has either this year.

Unsurprisingly, they both have negative WARs(Wins Above Replacement), but the real tale of the tape are their other "Above Replacement" statistics.  Dunn, who has put up 6 seasons of RAR(Runs Above Replacement) of over 25, has a -24 RAR this season.  Rios has a -13 RAR.  Runs win ball games folks.

Adam Dunn was well on his way to setting the MLB record for single season strikeouts by a batter.  However, with his benching, he will most likely not reach the 225 mark.  He sits right now at 157 strike outs on the year, which amazingly doesn't lead MLB.  Adam Dunn has walked 62 times and still doesn't have an OBP over .300.

Adam Dunn was signed to hit 40 home runs with 100 RBI.  He currently stands at 40; 40 RBI that is.  He has only hit 11 home runs and was recently passed by teammate Brent Lillibridge(13 HR in just 205 PA).  It can't get much more embarrassing than this can it?  Yes, it can.  Juan freaking Pierre has more RBI than Adam Dunn, having driven in 41 runs this year.  Un-frickin'-believable.

Neither of these guys is worthy to carry Paul Konerko's jock strap this year.  Konerko is basically in the Top 10 or Top 5 at almost every offensive statistical category that baseball-reference.com keeps track of on their site.  Here's a link:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2011-batting-leaders.shtml  Neither of these guys should currently be in a Major League lineup, let alone hitting cleanup.  Ozzie continues to jumble his lineup card, and inexplicably, Rios continues to hit near cleanup when he should at best be hitting 9th.

The best solution in my view to get the White Sox through the end of the season would be to play Lillibridge/De Aza in CF and Lillibridge/Viciedo at First and Konerko/Viciedo at DH.  This would give us different lineup possibilities that don't include Rios or Dunn.  Give them a month off to think about how much they suck and see if they really want to work hard to improve or not and earn their playing time back.  

I believe Adam Dunn genuinely cares about his poor performance, and feels bad about letting the White Sox and their fans down.  He will work hard this offseason on his swing.  With Rios, I'm not always sure he cares.  This is the same guy who told a fan "Who gives a [profanity]!" when told he should be lucky someone (whom he blew off) wanted his autograph after an 0-5 game a few years back.  You can watch that exchange here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt9hRCthV8E

Based on their careers, Dunn has a much better chance of bouncing back next year than Alex Rios.  While Rios has shown he can be a productive player, he has not shown it often enough to convince me that he could ever be a solid full-time outfielder.  Adam Dunn has shown everyone in the past that he is capable of putting up numbers that can lead a team.  I hope Dunn figures it out next year.  As for Rios, he basically has an untradable contract, which means we're stuck with this mistake for a little while longer.  Oh and my last two cents?  KW should be fired for this.

Best Story In MLB: Arizona's Rise

When discussing what the best stories in baseball are this year, a lot of things come to mind.  People say the Pirates, because they have been bad for so long and were in contention at the All Star break.  Others point to Jim Thome hitting his 600th home run.  Still others look at the Indians amazing season and point to that.  I am here to tell you why the Arizona Diamondbacks should be the unanimous choice for story of the year.

Unlike the Pirates and Indians, the Diamondbacks are actually in first place right now.  The 2010 Dbax went 65-97, to finish in last in the NL Central and second to last in the entire NL.  They had bad pitching, their 4.81 team ERA was the second worst in the NL.  Their offense was very average last year, scoring just 12 more runs than the average for the NL.  They just couldn't out hit their bad pitching.

This year has been the story of a rebirth, a complete turnaround.  They have already won four more games than they did last year, and currently sport a 69-56 record.  They have a 2.5 game lead over the reigning World Series champion San Francisco Giants.  How have they managed such a turnaround?

They are basically winning with just "improvement" at both pitching and hitting.  Their team ERA at this point is drastically lower at 4.03, but that is still high for the NL.  They moved up the list a few spots at runs scored, a decent amount higher than the league average mark.  Their team batting average is a meager .248, below the NL average.  However, in a weird coincidence, only one team(Milwaukee) above the league average in this category is actually in first place.  I guess it's not how well you hit but how well you hit when it counts?

Arizona is doing their run scoring via the long ball.  They have the second most home runs in the NL right now at 139.  They are third in RBI and third in slugging.  This team can mash the ball, but getting the little hits that piece together big innings have eluded them.

Justin Upton is someone you can point to whose numbers are drastically higher this year.  Last year he was .273/17/69 with a .799 OPS.  This year he has found his swing with .300/25/77 with a .924 OPS.  Everyone expected this from him last year, but he's certainly delivering this year.  Chris Young is a player who you can look at as having down numbers compared to last year: .257/27/91 compared to .234/17/57 this year.

The pitching is much different than last year, and not what you would expect to be better.  Last year they had Edwin Jackson and Dan Haren, and this year they have retooled their pitching staff top to bottom.  Their rotation features a drastically improved Ian Kennedy and Joe Saunders, as well as a solid Daniel Hudson in his second year with the team.  The biggest addition to this year's rotation is rookie Josh Collimenter, who given them a lot of good innings this year at 7-7 with a 3.47 ERA.

Ian Kennedy has really stepped it up this year.  Cast off by the Yankees, he has really made the most of his time in Arizona.  He definitely has ace stuff, going 15-4 with a 3.22 ERA and 100 more K than BB.  Kennedy has a 1.13 WHIP, with 24 hits fewer than innings pitched, but a slightly high walk total.  He's given up a sort of high number of home runs at 18, but that's ok because he's battling and throwing strikes.  Ian will most likely give his team 200 innings this year barring any injuries, and could make an important Game 1 start if the DBax make the post season.

In the bullpen, they went with something completely different.  After signing free agent JJ Putz and throwing him in the closer role he had been accustomed to in Seattle, he has locked in that role.  Putz has 30 saves with a 2.84 ERA and 1.015 WHIP.  He's been one of the best closers in MLB this year.  The rest of the bullpen has pitched much better than last year's pen, allowing the DBax to retain leads or remain close in games so that they have a chance to win late.

It is that very thing that has probably propelled the Diamondbacks to the top of the NL West this year.  Arizona leads all of MLB this year with 35 come from behind wins.  Their most recent was a victory over the Phillies, in which they scored runs in the 9th inning to take the lead and JJ Putz hammered down the save.  The Phillies had been 66-1 when leading after 8 innings this year.

This is a scrappy team with a lot of power and much better pitching than last year.  They are gritty and can win the late games that good teams find ways to win.  They are a rag tag bunch of players who lots of other teams didn't want(Juan Miranda, Kelly Johnson, Russell Branyan, Willy Mo Peña, Xavier Nady, Daniel Hudson, Armando Galarraga, Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders, Zack Duke, Aaron Heilman).  These guys want to win and this is clearly one of those stories where a bunch of castoffs come together to win as a team.  Sure, Dan Haren could have really helped this team, but they have done just fine without him.

Arizona should be the top story in baseball, but because their games usually last beyond midnight for people on the East Coast, most people have not seen them play this year.  I don't think this team is going to go away, they have persevered all season long.  Nobody in the NL West seems to want to jump up and grab the lead away from them, certainly the Giants have been faltering in that department.  This team is a really interesting story and should continue to produce through the end of the season.

Jim Thome IS A HOF, Period!

On 8-15-2011, Jim Thome hit his 599th and 600th home runs.  I expected to see a media frenzy giving him his due respect, and for the most part they did.  Then, the dialogue shifted to the question of whether or not he was a hall of famer.  I am pretty well shocked by the assertion that this guy is not a hall of famer.

There are actually quite a few people who doubt he's got HOF statistics.  These people aren't even mentioning any kind of "steroid-era" excuses to not put him in, but are actually trying to point to his statistics as the reason he won't get in.  So let me get this straight, he hit 600 home runs clean with a .961 OPS and a .403 career OBP and he's not a HOF?

One statistic that people keep pointing to is the fact that Thome is second all time in career strikeouts with 2,453.  They say that a guy who strikes out this much is not a hall of famer, to which I reply "You're insane!"  Lots of guys on the top strikeout list are in the hall of fame including Reggie Jackson(2,597, 1st), Willie Stargell(1,936, 6th), Mike Schmidt(1,883, 9th), Tony Perez(1,867, 11th), and rounding out the top 30 are Lou Brock, Mickey Mantle, Harmon Killebrew, Rickey Henderson and Dave Winfield.  A few guys in the top 30 not currently in the HOF(Biggio, Griffey, Bagwell, Jeter) should eventually be in the HOF IMO.

So with strikeouts as a "keep-out" statistic busted, let's move on to these people's second attack.  I have read multiple times now that a DH should NEVER be allowed into the HOF.  I will answer this question two ways.  First of all, Jim Thome has played a lot more 1B in his career than DH.  He's had almost 1600 more plate appearances as a first baseman in his career.  He hit 310 of his 600 HR as a 1B.  He also played 3rd base for 1958 plate appearances.  He hit 93 of his home runs as a 3B.  That's 403 of 600 HR as a position player, or 67% of his career HR.

Secondly, who cares if he DH'd?  DH is a legal position in a Major League batting order.  To say that a player should not be allowed into the HOF because they played one legal position instead of another is preposterous.  I believe great hitters who play DH should be allowed into the HOF.  I hear this argument against Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez, but both of those guys should be in the HOF and even so, both of those guys played positions in their career.  To me, this argument is like saying that even though you scored the most points in NFL history, you don't get into Canton because you did it as a kicker and not a QB/RB/WR/TE.  There are kickers in Canton, and there should be DH in Cooperstown.

There is no legitimate argument against Jim Thome unless you think he was a steroid user, but he has never officially been linked or even suggested as having been one by anyone.  Jim Thome is in on his statistics and his character.  It's true that being a "good guy" isn't enough to be a HOF, but it should put him over the top.  It is the people you encountered in your baseball career in the media who ultimately put you in the HOF, and if those people like you, your chances are that much better.

If you needed even more statistical proof that Thome is one of the greatest to ever play the game, look at his RBI total.  He is currently 27th all time in RBI, but look at the HOFers he's ahead of: DiMaggio, Banks, Brett, Lajoie, Schmidt, Dawson, Hornsby, Killebrew, McCovey, Kaline, Mantle, Matthews, Rice, Billy Williams, etc etc.  Also, look at his walk total.  Thome is 8th in career walks, ahead of most of the guys I just named, and every player (except Bonds) that is ahead of him is in the HOF.

Jim Thome is 20th in career slugging(.5577), 23rd in career runs created(1952), and 23rd in career XBH(1066).  He is 5th in career AB/HR(13.61).  He also has a pretty respectable .320 BABIP.  He holds the White Sox' record for home runs in a season by a left handed batter with 42.  He holds the Indians' record for home runs in a season with 52 in 2002.  He also holds the Indians' team record for home runs with 334.

Now come awards, which we all know are completely subjective.  Why was he only an all star 5 times?  Why did he never win a MVP?  Why was he only a one time silver slugger?  Because he played clean during the steroid era.  His numbers would have landed him at least one MVP had most of the other top sluggers not been using steroids.

In 2002, I feel Thome may have gotten the shaft, since overall he put up the best season.  ARod admitted he used substances in Texas, so if we eliminate his numbers, which aren't that much better than Thome's in a lot of categories, you get Thome as having had the best season.

Thome lead the AL that year in BB(122), Slugging(.677), OPS(1.122) and OPS+(197).  He was second in HR(52) and was in the top five in RBI(118) and scored 101 runs.  He did all of this in only 480 at bats.  Most of the other guys had over 550 at bats and didn't put up bigger numbers except ARod.  Only ARod(8.2) had a higher WAR than Thome's 8.1.  So looking at his numbers in his best years, if MLB had been clean, he would have definitely stood out like he should have.

For me, there is no legitimate argument whether or not Jim Thome is a hall of fame player.  The only real question I can see on this issue is whether or not he is a first ballot hall of famer.  I say yes, but only if Frank Thomas gets in on his first ballot.  What uniform will he wear?  Well I think it is fairly obvious that he played for the Indians the longest by far, so it would only be fitting for him to go in as a Cleveland Indian.

Andrews Field: A Replete History

The site for Andrews Field, comprising four city blocks, lies between south Fifth and Seventh Streets, and South B and D Streets. The property, included with other properties, was ceded to the city of Fort Smith by a Congressional Act dated May 13,1884, and reads in part, "... and the same, is hereby granted to the city of Fort Smith, to be held in trust by said City for the use and benefit of the free public schools of the single school district of Fort Smith, and to be applied to the benefit of all children of school age without distinction of race."

In 1919, John M. Andrews, Sr., President of the Public Schools Athletic Association, began a fund-raising campaign to build a park on the site granted in 1884. He and the Noon Civics Club raised enough money to construct a $25,000 grandstand and baseball diamond. They sold planks for a dollar a piece to build the board fence around the park.[1]

In 1920, the Twins became an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. Andrews Field opened for the 1921 season, as home of the Fort Smith Twins. It replaced their original park, Stadium Park, which was located on 9th and Carnall, the current location of the Sebastian County Jail. It would remain the home of Fort Smith minor league baseball teams for the remainder of Fort Smith's minor league tenure.

In 1921, the Twins won the second half title but lost the league championship series 4 games to 3 to Chickasaw. In 1922 and 1923, they finished just above last place. Then in 1924, they rebounded with a 97-63 record good for second place.

In 1925, they finished with the best record in the league but did not win either half's title and failed to win the league championship. In 1926, they finished 1 game back of the league champion to again finish 2nd. In 1927, Fort Smith finally broke through and won the league title with an 81-51 record. In 1928, Fort Smith ceased to be a farm club for the Cardinals and subsequently became a farm club for the Detroit Tigers. 

That year, in what was a mirror image of the 1925 season, they won the most games in the league but did not claim either half's title again and failed to win the league title. In 1929, Fort Smith won the second half title but there was no league championship series played. From 1930-1932 the Fort Smith Twins had losing seasons all three years and the team packed up and moved to Muskogee.

On April 8, 1937, some 6,500 fans, a new local record, packed the stands to watch the 1936 National League champions, the New York Giants, in a contest with the outstanding Cleveland Indians of the American League. Bob "Rapid Robert" Feller was 18 years old at the time and pitched three innings for the Indians under the management of Steve O'Neill. Giants' manager was Bill Terry. Pitcher was "Prince Hal" Schumacher, and catcher was Gus Mancuso. Mancuso had caught for the Fort Smith Twins in the Western Association in 1924. Roy Weatherly, outfielder for the Cleveland Indians, had played with the Twins in 1930 when they had been in the Detroit Tiger system. 

The late Johnnie Porter, sports editor for the Southwest Times Record, predicted in his column that it was doubtful if even the major leaguers would hit any homers over the fence. "Every board in the fence," he wrote, "is 360 feet, 5 inches from home plate, a fair poke in any league." But Hal Trosky and Earl Averill, both of the Cleveland Indians, did just that. However, Mel Harder, another great Cleveland pitcher, came on in the fourth but was tagged with a dozen hits, nine Giants' runs, and the loss of the game. 

Trosky and Averill made the only two runs for the Indians, and the score was 9-2. Mel Ott, home run king for the Giants, was up to bat four times but could get only one single against Feller and Harder. The gate for this game was almost $4,000, which translated into today's dollars with an inflation calculator, is about $61,200. Grady Secrest relates that the enthusiasm of the Fort Smith fans was so great that the Giants placed a farm club here the following year (1938).[2]

They were called the Fort Smith Giants and were affiliated with, of course, the New York Giants. In their first season, they made the league's post season but lost to Ponca City. That year, 87,578 fans attended games in the park(1,251 people per game), an attendance record in the Western Association. In 1939, they won the league title with an 83-50 record. In 1940, they made the league championship series but lost to St. Joseph.

Also in 1940, Dizzy Dean pitched a game for the Chicago Cubs against the St. Louis Browns in April, 1940. Approximately 3,500 fans turned out for the game, and it was also a memorable event for the field.[3]

In 1941, they failed to make the playoffs. In 1942, they won the second half title and the league title over Topeka 4 games to 3. From 1943-1945 the league play was suspended due to World War II.

In 1946, the Fort Smith Giants made the league title but lost to Hutchinson 4 games to 2. In 1947 they finished 2nd from last, and in 1948 and 1949 they finished 2nd from the top. Also in 1949, the Leavenworth Braves had the worst winning percentage in the history of the league with a record of 25-112. In 1950, Fort Smith moved to Enid Oklahoma.

Fort Smith didn't wait long to start up a new team. In 1951 the Fort Smith Indians took the field and finished dead last as an affiliate for the Cleveland Indians. They finished last in 1952 also. In 1953, they changed their team name to the Fort Smith-Van Buren Twins and dropped their Cleveland Indians affiliation. The new name meant nothing in the standings, as for the third year in a row, they finished dead last. Apparently someone was tired of losing money on a last place team and Fort Smith folded after the 1953 season.

Andrews Field has also hosted exhibition games between Major League Clubs during the "barnstorming" days. One such game was the New York Giants against the Cleveland Indians. In 1956, Andrews Field hosted a very special Negro League game. It included many players who had broken through to the Majors by then, some of whom were well on their way to all-time MLB greatness status. This game brought the likes of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Joe Black, Monte Irvin, and Al Smith to Fort Smith. During Fort Smith's time as a New York Giants affiliate, they had many guests of the ball club including Baseball Hall Of Fame Pitcher Carl Hubbell, who threw out the first pitch at one of their home games in 1940.

The Fort Smith Twins and Giants played all of their home games at Andrews Field just off Wheeler Avenue, except on Sundays when they had to play games in nearby Oklahoma to avoid blue law violations. Andrews Field is unfortunately being demolished to make room for the National Cemetery to expand it's grounds. Between the Twins and Giants, they picked up 6 league championships and 10 total first or second half league pennants. At some point after 1953, there was another minor league team in Fort Smith known as the Fort Smith Red Sox.

Under the direction of Jimmy Vaughn and Charles Elkins, a massive clean-up and reconstruction got under way for the renovation of the park in the early 1970's. After $30,000 and a very large number of volunteers, the park was again dedicated for use — this time for the Sebastian County Softball League. Vaughn's wife, Claudia, was then and still is the District Commissioner of the Amateur Softball Association of Arkansas. The date was May 18, 1975.[4]

It hosted many softball and baseball games from 1975 into the 2000's.  It served as the home for the Northside Lady Bears Softball team for many years.  In Spring of 2010, Andrews Field was torn down to make way for expansion of the Fort Smith National Cemetery.  It stood for 89 years.

Many greats in baseball history, and some Hall of Fame members played or visited the grounds of Andrews Field for special events. Some of these include: Carl Hubbell, Branch Rickey, Rogers Hornsby, Pepper Martin, Jo Jo White, Gerome (Dizzy) Dean and his brother Paul (Daffy) Dean, Stan Musial, Mel Ott, Bob Feller, Mickey Mantle, and Joe Garagiola.

One player who has a special place in Fort Smith history who played for the Fort Smith Giants and later the NY Giants was Pitcher Harry Feldman. According to Baseball-Reference, his statistics are as follows: For Fort Smith, he played 2 seasons, 1938 and 1939. In 1938, he split time between Blytheville & Fort Smith. He was 32-16 over 2 seasons. He posted a 3.99 ERA in 1938, while his 1939 ERA is unknown. Over the 1 1/2 seasons he spent with Fort Smith he pitched 373 innings, including 276 innings in 1939. 

He later moved on to Double-A New Jersey and was called up to the Major League Giants in 1941. He played from 1941 to 1946 and compiled the following career statistics: 35-35 record, 3.80 ERA, 22 complete games including 6 shutouts, and 254 strikeouts. As a batter he hit .172 with 2 home runs and 20 RBI.

Harry was one of the players who jumped from MLB to the outlaw Mexican League. MLB decided that any players who left MLB for the Mexican League would be banned from MLB for life. This was to prevent many of MLB's greatest stars, who could actually make more money in the Mexican League, from leaving MLB. He was later re-instated to MLB, and finished his career in the minor leagues, playing for PCL San Francisco in 1949 and 1950. Harry lived the rest of his life after baseball in Fort Smith until his death in 1962, and is buried at Rose Lawn Park Cemetery in Fort Smith. Here is his page on Find-A-Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8782705

[1][2][3][4] Information obtained from a PDF report: Andrews Field by Sarah Fitzjarrald
http://www.uafortsmith.edu/attach/Library/JFSHSVol8/08-02_Andrews_Field.pdf

The "Original" Wrigley Field

The above is a photo of Wrigley Field in 1925.  Fans filled the stands to see baseball being played in this ballpark. The park was named for chewing gum heir William Wrigley, Jr. 

Built in a mostly residential neighborhood, the park had that certain charm that many older ballparks had during that era.  The park was everything you expected from what I call "Old-Fashioned New"(the features were better than their predecessors of the 1800s but old-fashioned compared to today's million dollar parks). It had the look of every park built since Comiskey Park set the pace for palaces for the game back in 1910.

By the 1950's, Wrigley Field had the trademark ivy growing on the walls and televised shots of the park's action showed home run balls exiting toward residential buildings.  However, there is one thing I should mention.  This park was located in South Los Angeles, California.  Say what?

Yep, the park first named Wrigley Field was located in Los Angeles, not Chicago (note the palm tree beyond the left field wall).  It was home to the Los Angeles Angels, a team playing in the PCL.  The Angels won a total of 12 PCL pennants.  Another minor league club, the Hollywood Stars, would also share this park for one year.  Finally in 1961, MLB awarded Los Angeles a brand new American League franchise, the Los Angeles Angels, who played their home games at Wrigley Field.

This ballpark was given the name Wrigley Field in 1925, a full year before its Chicago counterpart changed its name from Cubs Park to Wrigley Field.  It was built with Spanish-style construction.  Overall, I really like the look of this park.  It is one of those cool old parks that you think of when you think of the 30's and 40's.

This park had lights by at least 1960, which I know because of the old Gillette Home Run Derby show.  I cannot find exactly what year they got lights, but lights were definitely installed when this show taped.  This show pitted the top two home run hitters each week against each other for a cash prize of $2000 for the winner.  Many of the games biggest stars participated in the derbies, including Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, and Frank Robinson.

Willie Mays on Home Run Derby @ Wrigley Field(LA)

Just like the other Wrigley Field, WFLA was the site of Hollywood films.  Some of these movies had to do with baseball, such as The Pride Of The Yankees, Damn Yankees, and the original Angels In The Outfield.  Some other movies and television shows were filmed at WFLA as well, including Armored Car Robbery, Twilight Zone(Mighty Casey) and The Munsters.

The park's dimensions were 340(LF), 412(CF) and 339(RF).  In left field, the wall was 14 1/2 feet tall.  In right field, the wall was 9 feet high.  There was a small section of bleacher seats beyond the right field fence, near the foul pole.  There were no seats in left or center field.  

The park had a symmetrical feel to it that made it perfect for the Gillette Home Run Derby show, since it would be pretty equal for left and right handed batters compared to other parks of the day (I'm sure being located near Hollywood also made this an ideal choice for the show).  In 1925, it had a seating capacity of 22,000.  By 1961, it had lost 2,000 seats due to general renovation over the years.

From 1932 to 1956, the Angels were the minor league affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.  This meant that players could play at one Wrigley Field, and advance to the Majors to play at the other Wrigley field.  I am not sure if this has ever been the case before or since; both the AAA and ML clubs having a park of the same name.

In 1938, the Mission Reds moved to Los Angeles and became the Hollywood Stars.  They were a direct rival of the Los Angeles Angels, sharing their ballpark in alternating home series for one season.  The games were very contentious between the two clubs.

 Stars-Angels Brawl 8/2/1953

Many fights broke out, including a famous brawl on August 2, 1953 at the Hollywood Stars' park, Gilmore Field.  The fight between the two teams lasted for 30 minutes and had to be broken up by 50 riot-geared police officers, sent in as the police chief had been at home watching the game on television.

In 1961, the only year that the ballpark had hosted Major League Baseball games, there were 248 home runs hit at the park.  This was a record for thirty years, and a number that would still place it right at the top of nearly every subsequent year's home run leader board.  The 1961 Angels won 71 games, which is still a record among true-expansion teams.

WFLA was demolished in 1966.  The Angels had only used the park for one season while their ballpark in Anaheim had been under construction.  The Dodgers had briefly considered using the park when they moved from Brooklyn for the 1958 season, but instead opted for a park with more seating, the Coliseum.

Demolition of Wrigley Field

After demolition, the site became home to a public park.  There's a baseball field located at the northwest corner of this park, and the diamond is located where WFLA's original diamond had once been.