Oil Can Boyd & the Red Menace: 2 we can do without

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On Nov. 19, 2007, Oil Can Boyd arrived late at the World Series Club dinner for which he was to be the featured speaker.  He wasn’t apologetic.  He strutted in with a big chip on his shoulder.

There was hope that the eccentric hurler would be insightful and entertaining.  Perhaps he’d explain why he became angry when he wasn’t selected for the 1986 All Star team, subsequently going AWOL and being suspended by the Sox.  Or maybe he would tell us how it felt to pitch the Division clincher at Fenway, propelling Boston into the ’86 playoffs.

No chance.  He was all working class braggadocio, asserting his greatness (in his own mind) and fudging his way through 30 minutes of innocuous and boring drivel.  His speaking skills were non-existent, his focus spun out of control.  Never again, I told myself.  The Can is a mess.

Boyd is all over the media this week promoting his new book, They call me Oil Can, co-written with Mike Shalin.

Can wasn’t any more coherent this week than he was in 2007.   He told WEEI’s Dennis & Callahan that…and I am paraphrasing…although he had smoked pot and crack cocaine while playing in the MLB, he was still the greatest athlete on any field when he was on it, so imagine just how great he could have been sober, but never second guess his right to smoke crack or pot before a game because doing drugs is an inalienable right, and even with the drug habit he was still better than everyone else, and his drinking and drugging was an abomination…but he doesn’t regret it…yada yada yada. 

He further told the EEI guys that he was blessed with “a super uncanny ability to play baseball”.  “I went 16 – 10 in ’86 but missed a month, I should have been 20 – 6.”

“I smoke pot…I’ve been doing that since I was 12 years old…I made it to the Major Leagues smoking weed…I made my high school baseball team smoking weed..I’m in my college Hall of Fame…I’m in my conference Hall of Fame.”

I think we can guess where Oil Can stands on legalization of marijuana.

And then there was his take on racism on the Red Sox.  Can is certain that one Hall of Fame 3rd Baseman and the front office that tolerated him were the tandem that fomented bigotry in Beantown.

“I know Wade Boggs was a bigot.  He was raised that way.  His Daddy was.  He was.  He used the word nigger every day.  I confronted him about it every time he did it.  But I would turn out to be the bad guy every time I did.”

You can listen to the 20 minute interview on www.weei.com.  By the time it concludes, Can has dropped several F bombs and hung up on the radio hosts.

He’s out of control.

He is an embarrassment.

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Speaking of embarrassments to Baseball, I am enjoying the Mike Bass book about the most eccentric owner in baseball history, Marge Schott Unleashed.

I like that title, with its leash reference. It recalls how the red menace would lead her German shepard, Schotzie, around Riverfront Stadium, where he one day peed in a luxury box near, but not upon, the Commissioner of Baseball.

Bass explains how MLB did not properly vet Marge Schott before approving her purchase of the Reds in 1984.  Had they dug a bit, they may have run away like a hound in a hornet’s nest.

Bass defines Marge’s constant and casual use of the N word.  She referred to Dave Parker at the Millionaire N****r.  She called Eric David the Trouble Maker N****r.  Her nickname for Hall of Famer Joe Morgan was The Little N****r.

Her bigotry wasn’t limited to African Americans.

When her GM was closing a lucrative deal with Ticketmaster for her, she instructed him to watch his back because she didn’t trust those “sneaky Jews”.

She also didn’t like homosexuals.

She also didn’t approve of pre-marital sex.  She fired Davey Johnson for living with his fiancé even though he won a Division title.

She didn’t like people purchasing “cars made by Japs”.  She didn’t like it that Asian American kids outdid others in school.

She had a Nazi armband.  She praised Adolf Hitler.  “He was good at the beginning but went too far.”

Great gal, wasn’t she ?  Marge Schott’s racism was so acute it bordered on the surreal.

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Oil Can Boyd and Marge Schott are/were car wrecks.  Oil Can ruined his career with drink and drugs.  He made himself miserable.  Marge Schott, as far as I can tell, made everyone around her unhappy.

These are two rare and strange birds, indeed.

Let’s count our lucky stars they don’t make them like that anymore.

Go Sox.

Baseball is where you find it.

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One never knows when one will stumble across “our game” as we go about living our non-baseball lives.  In the three cases featured in this blog, baseball is found at a magazine launch party, on a country road in search of lunch, and in a 83 year old book about a famed radio comedy act – and it isn’t Abbott & Costello.

Last week, while heading back to Connecticut from Exeter, R.I., I decided to get off the well beaten path.  I took Rt. 154 from Old Saybrook through the charming town of Essex and into the classic New England town of Deep River.  Rt 154 alternately hugs the wide waters of the Connecticut, than swings through the center of many a small town.  The sky was blue and clear.  The air was fresh.

I was hungry.  There was a healthy food option along this colorful route, an IGA 1 mile ahead.

I slowed and pulled over quickly when a small marvel came into view.  It was a concrete baseball, about 4 feet in circumference, on a landscaped pedestal adorning the entrance to a place named Devitt Field.

There were Little League fields in the complex behind the pull-in.  I parked.  I took a closer look at this 3 ton bauble.

It was inscribed “In Memorium, John George Desmond, Secretary & Treasurer, Middlesex County Baseball League, 1907 – 1942.”

Bummer, I thought.  Desmond died young at age 37 and they erected the memorial to him because he was a local figure in youth and rec leagues.

Wrong.

On, June 23, 1942, The Hartford Courant ran a story titled, J.G. Desmond Dies; Leader in Baseball.

Desmond was actually born in 1868, and was 74 when he passed at Hartford Hospital after a short illness.

J.G., according to The Courant, played in the Southern league in the 1880’s, later got a job at a piano factory in Deep River, and helped found the Middlesex County Baseball League, “one of the first semi-pro leagues in the United States.” , in 1907.

J.G. was much respected.  8 years before his death, he was given a dinner in his honor.  The featured speaker at the dinner was none other than George Moriarty, who swung a bat in the majors for 13 years, including 6 with Cobb and the Tigers, later followed by a career as an A.L. Umpire from 1917 to 1940.

The dinner was held at the Middletown YMCA.  All 300 tickets were sold in advance.  In addition to Moriarty, other speakers included James Murphy, a former Penn pitcher, Dr. Bill Wrang, a Red Sox team physician, and assorted Mayors, Judges and Selectman.

Courant Sports Editor, Albert Keane, not only spoke at the fete but wrote nuggets about the dinner in the 3 days following the event.  He recalled how Moriarty compared Big Ed Walsh (of Meriden, CT) to Christy Mathewson, he argued that as great as Big Six was he could not compare in stamina and durability to Big Ed.  He further said that Walsh’s spitter was “far more destructive to batting averages than Matty’s fadeaway.”.

Keane further observed that the spirited and sold out dinner should have  calmed the “calamity shouters who like to tell us that tennis, golf, soft ball and other summer sports have killed baseball….”.

Funny thing.  I had a friend tell me that soccer was killing baseball in 1999.  It was just a matter of time before soccer playing youth broke from their baseball bondage and left the national pastime in economic tatters.

Some things never change.

In the polite hyperbole of the 1930’s, Keane quoted one attendee as describing Mr. Desmond in this way:   “…he’s a kind hearted, good natured fellow who always wants everyone to have a fair deal and everyone satisfied.  Desmond and the league are one.”.

So there.  I’ve scratched the surface on the diamond of a man that was John George Desmond of Deep River, CT.

I’ve gone on longer than expected about J.G..  I’ll pitch the other two discoveries very quickly.

 And I’ll sign back on to do that soon.

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Get the bat off your shoulder, Cody

Daniel Bard pitched 6 and 2/3’s innings on Patriots Day, yielding only 1 run.  He struck out 7 and walked 7.  It is too bad that he lost, 1 – 0.  Had the Sox won, a 4-game sweep of the punch-less Rays would have offset the 1 – 5 start they recorded in Detroit and Toronto.

Cody Ross had a bad day, too.  The game ended with the bat on his shoulder and called strike three nipping the outside corner.

Jerry Remy disagreed with the way Larry Vanover called strikes this day.  The Rem Dawg has a lot of company. There are at this moment enough Vanover bashers to fill the blogosphere.

How bad is this Ump ?  Vanover doesn’t come up on the lists of deficient arbiters via google searches – as do CB Bucknor or Tim Welke.

But one wonders.  The NY Daily News reported 8 days ago that Jason Bay was called out on strike 3 by Vanover on a ball “that was clearly not a strike.”  And the normally reticent Bay actually beefed about the call.

As far as Bay was concerned, it was bad enough that he had to face Stephen Strasburg and hear the taunts of Mets fans over his slow start at the plate.  Being called out on a ball that was not a strike was salt in the wound.

Vanover is a seasoned veteran.  He is in his 19th year in MLB.  He has umpired in 1 All Star Game, 3 Championship Series, 2 Division Series and 1 World Baseball Classic. 

He is ranked on www.statfox.com as the 11th out of 66 umps for most frequently having a K occur when is the home plate umpire – called or swinging K’s.  Vanover averages 17.5 K’s per game.

Vanover is far higher up the ranks when it comes to calling a base-on-balls.  He is the 3rd highest out of 66 umps in giving a man his base.  He averages 10 BB called per game.

Let me tell you what I saw from my bar room view of the NESN broadcast.  Cody Ross allowed pitches to pass that looked less than 3 inches away from the black.  I would never presume to give batting instruction, but I think you have to swing at those.

And as for Mr. Bard, he seemed to be on the receiving end of the same fraternity paddle.  His pitches came within 3 inches of the black.  They were called balls.  I’m not a pitching instructor, and I know this isn’t completely fair to say, but I think when you come that close to the plate you have to take responsibility for not getting even closer and removing all doubt.

So I would not judge Mr. Vanover too harshly or quickly.

I’ll tell you one thing.  I really liked what I saw from Mr. Bard today.  He was a stalwart for 6 innings.  You can second guess Valentine for not pulling him earlier.  It doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that the kid contributed a quality start from the 5^th spot in the rotation.  Last year, no. 5 starter Tim Wakefield started 23 games.  He gave us 3 starts of this caliber in the entire 6 months of the 2011 season.  That’s 1 great start about every 7 starts.   This kid already has one in his 2^nd start.

I think we are going to see many, many more from Daniel Bard.

Go Sox !

POSTSCRIPTS:  Yesterday’s odd triple play in the Dodger-Padre game is worth watching.  A bird’s eye view might show the ball first landing behind the plate in foul territory, but that perspective isn’t available and this one went down officially as a 2-5-6-3 triple play.  Anything can happen in baseball.  Check it out at:  http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120415&content_id=28774198&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

Michael Kay is an ignorant gas bag.  Not every day and in every way.  But he sounded like a moron when he chastised Dustin Pedroia for saying that Bobby Valentine’s public criticism of Kevin Youkilis is “not the way we do things around here.”  Kay opined that Pedroia’s analysis was not too swift because “the way they do things up there got their manager fired last year.”.  Kay showed how little he understands Dustin Pedroia, because if he did, he’d have said Dustin is a great player and great team mate, but it would serve everyone best if Dustin  stayed out of this messy, messy situation brought on by the narcissistic Mr. Valentine.  Question:  What kind of fool decides to stir the pot when the team he manages is on a winning streak ?  Answer:  The kind who lives to be in the white hot camera light.  That’s Valentine. 

Shoppach starts the Party at Home Opener

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Things weren’t looking so good.  The Sox had gone 1 – 5 on the season opening road trip to Detroit and Toronto.  Except for scoring 12 runs in a game in which Detroit scored 13, our offense was scoring 2.0 runs per game.   Our starters had a 6.68 ERA to this point.  Ouch. 

The buzz before the home opener was not positive.  One pundit said the Sox were opening at home on September 37, not April 13, because the 1 – 5 start was a continuation of the 7 – 20 September collapse. 

Certainly, we needed a laugher.  And we got one.

The atmosphere around Fenway was popping.  I got to O’Leary’s on Beacon Street 2 hours before game time and scarfed down a beer, a jameson and a burger.  Then I hit the bricks.  The streets were sunlit and bright.   Yawkey Way was jammed with working class fans.  Though I did see one wing tipped baron towing a grandson while telling someone on a cell phone that they could hook up at the Four Seasons at 5 p.m..

It is always striking how Caucasian the Red Sox crowd is.  The only people of color I saw in the park were those selling hot dogs or working security.  The diversity of Red Sox Nation is limited to the fact that we reside in 6 different states.  Not too many black dudes.  But plenty of Maineiacs, Green Mountaineers, New Hampshireites, Rhode Islanders and others wearing Whaler caps.

I threaded my way through Will Call and into the park, noting a brand new staircase that has been built down to the field box level from where I entered at Gate A.  Rather than fight the crowd beneath the RF grandstand to get to my seat, I walked out into the stands, climbing to the top and walking from GS 18 to GS 1, where I took the stairway down to the bleachers.

I found my seat in the front row of bleacher 41.  There was nothing between my spot and the bullpen except the walkway and the row of folding chairs.  I moved up to the ‘pen for a look.

I leaned over the railing, standing 7 feet from where Josh Beckett was snapping off pregame throws.  From that proximity, his velocity looks impossible to hit and the ball slams into the catcher’s mitt with nasty violence.

You wonder how a man who throws that hard can embarrass hitters one inning and then be hit all over the park in the next.  Mere mortals cannot hit this stuff. 

Someone remarked that the Red Sox needed to get on the board early if they were going to beat David Price, Tampa’s starting pitcher this day.  Price is a 6’ 6” lefty out of Vanderbilt University who strikes out many and walks few.  He finished second in the Cy Young balloting in 2010.  The 26 year old has been to 2 All Star Games.  Price went 4 – 1 in 5 starts versus Boston in 2011.

This was not to be his day.  He got through the first without a challenge.  But he needed 27 pitches to get 3 outs in the second.  Youk started it by grinding out a long at bat before singling.  Ortiz did the same.  Although McDonald & Ross struck out looking and no runs were scored, the Sox had started to wear Price out. 

By the end of the third inning, the Valentine Men had run the lefthander’s pitch count to 84.  The Sox had been patient, making him throw strikes, fouling him off.  Price was now all done.  He faced 8 batters and gave up 3 runs.  He was ultimately bailed out by an inning ending double play.  84 pitches in 3 innings.  There was no way they were going to bring him out for the 4^th.

The guy who started the party was Kelly Shoppach.  The 31 year old itinerant catcher has a habit of getting hit by pitches.  He led the AL with 18 HBP’s in 2009.  He has been hit 3 times already in 2012.

Mr. Shoppach started the 3^rd inning rally by leaning into a Price fastball and taking his base.  The next inning, he doubled and scored.  In the 6^th inning, he singled and stole second to extend the inning.  In the 8^th, he doubled again, driving in Ross and McDonald.

Was this the greatest day of Kelly Shoppach’s career ?  Quite possibly.  I don’t know.  But I do know that on a day when it seemed a dozen soft liners fell for Red Sox singles, Kelly Shoppach was the party starter.  And it was beautiful to behold.  Especially his career first stolen base.  He looked like a water buffalo tripping in midstride when he got within 10 feet of the bag.

Mr. Beckett pitched carefully and pitched well.  His fastball varied at 90, 91 and 94 mph.  His curve was clocked at 74 and his cutter at 87 mph.  He claims to have been relaxed enough to hit the corners this day, with a confidence that comes from a great fielding performance by his team mates.

In all, it was a satisfying day.  The F-16 Fighters flew overhead.  The gigantic American Flag covered the Monster.  An 11 year old girl from New Hampshire belted God Bless America, briefly forgetting the words, but supported and sustained by the crowd.

The Boston Pops concert chorus sang the national anthem.  It was P-E-R-F-E-C-T-I-O-N.

Varitek and Wakefield threw out the first pitches.  Dewey Evans and Jim Rice were on hand to catch.

The Sox scored 8 runs in the 8^th and won 12 -2.

One annoying drunkard in section 41, who is pictured in the above photo gallery with a blond gal seated nearby, convinced the bleacher crowd to harass Tampa Right Fielder Ben Zobrist for the last 4 innings by shouting childish insults and mocking him. It was moronic and ignorant.  I quietly cheered when Zobrist launched a home run that landed near the moron in the 9^th inning.

Only cowards harass the right fielder from the bleachers.  The player has his back to you.  He can’t see his tormentors.  This would never happen on the left field side of Fenway, where the left fielder would easily glance to his right and see the face of the (insert bad word) who thinks he’s a genius.

Speaking of bad karma, the Sox were visited by some when Reid Brignac, Tampa shortstop, landed on Ellsbury’s shoulder while starting a double play at second base.  They say Ells may be out for two months.  That is not only bad for super agent Scott Boros, who is ready to milk the Ellsbury market for all it is worth in the coming offseason.  This is very bad news for the Sox.  We are down to FOUR offensively potent position players as a result.

Bad news indeed.  Unless Kelly Shoppach steps up and becomes the party starter on a more regular basis.

Go Sox.

10 things to make a Sox fan smile

View from inside Green Monster at Jet Blue.

1.  Last year Donald Trump tweeted that A Rod is “an average player now that he is unable to use drugs.”  2 days ago, Trump compared singer Debby Gibson to Derek Jeter and then said, “We love Derek.  That’s not an A Rod statement.  It’s a Derek statement.”  Another slap.

2.  Yankee set up man David Robertson was diagnosed with a sprained foot after slipping on a step while emptying a box in the recycling can outside his home. His Opening Day is in jeopardy. The NY Daily News reports that the Yankees are alarmed.  Love it.

3.  Lawrence McCutchen, Buc centerfielder, wore #25 before veteran A.J. Burnett arrived in the Steel City.  McCutchen told A.J. he could have his old numerals if he agreed to pay a fee of $500,000.  Turns out the financially shrewd Pirate was just starting high so that Burnett could feel good about working him down.  The 2 players settled on a $20,000 payment.  In what major field is McCutchen’s college degree from Oklahoma, you ask ?  Why, a B.S. in Economics, of course.

4.  Felix Doubront has just completed a sterling outing against the Yankees in Tampa as I write this.  The lefty went 4 innings, yielding 2 hits and 0 runs. He faced only 14 batters to secure 12 outs.  This guy is going to contribute.

5.  The Red Sox will be a lot harder to hate in 2012 according to the Wall Street Journal.  The primary reason for this is that “goofy, slow, arrogant”, and yes, “excellent”, Jonathan Papelbon is now a Phillie, and has been replaced by “a pair of genial, vanilla New Yorkers.” i.e.,  Andrew Bailey and Mark Melancon.  Perhaps the WSJ is forgetting that Yaz and Rico were both mild mannered New Yorkers that thrived in Boston in an era when the 5 Boroughs lacked no bellicosity for the Sox.

6.  The two jamokes broadcasting tonight’s Yankee – Red Sox game from Tampa on YES just said that Pete Rose had 33 triples for the minor league Tampa Tarpons in 1962 or 1963.  Pretty close.  Charlie Hustle had 30 triples for the Class D Tarpons, batting .330 and leading his team to the best record in the Florida State League in 1961.  The Manager of that team ?  Double no-no man, Johnny Vandermeer.

7.  Clay Buchholz spoke with self-confidence to Ron Chimelis of the Springfield Republican after pitching 4 scoreless innings on Sunday.  He said he knew early in spring training that he would “…be ready to throw with maximum effort in game situations.”  The lower back stress fracture is a thing of the past.

8.  Tom Caron explained on NESN.com that Pedroia, Ellsbury, and Gonzales are all each capable of winning the 2012 AL MVP.  Moreover, Caron said, “I do expect Adrian Gonzales to have an even bigger year this year.”  Seriously, Tom ?  Better than  2011, when he posted .338, 27, 113, and a league-best 213 hits ?    I’ll have whatever Tom is drinking.

9.  The Globe’s Pete Abraham predicts that these 5 Sox will be on the D.L. on opening day:  Carl Crawford, Rich Hill, Bobby Jenks, John Lackey and Dice K Matsuzaka.  Crawford won’t be out for long.  And MLB.com’s Ian Brown reports that Dice K threw free and easy on Saturday.  The Interminable One may be back earning his pay before Hill, Jenks and definitely before John Shell Lackey.

10.  WEEI’s Gerry Callahan took credit this morning for the installation of 258 seats inside the Green Monster at Jet Blue Park in Fort Meyers.  The self-absorbed Callahan explained how the idea to create those seats was derived by Larry Lucchino from a conversation Callahan had years earlier with the BoSox President.  I guess you have to have a healthy ego to be the unerring airborne voice of authority in Boston.  Crazy Callahan.

Go Sox.

Bob Welch: In search of a better life

Glorious things come to mind when thinking of Bob Welch, the right handed power pitcher with a 211 – 146 record & 3.47 ERA over 17 years.  He is the last major leaguer to win 27 games.  He pitched in 4 World Series, earning rings in ’81 and ’89.

Welch is the winner of the 1990 Cy Young, trumping Roger Clemens even though his E.R.A. was 2.95 and Roger’s was 1.93.

As a Dodger he played with Garvey, Baker, Sutcliffe and Fernando.  As an Athletic he teamed with Dave Stewart, Dennis Eckersley, Ricky and Jose.

As a 21 year old, he struck out Reggie Jackson in the ’78 Series.

I did not used to think of Bob Welch as a former alcoholic who was on a sure fire path to an early death. Doomed until Fred Claire and Tommy LaSorda intervened.

Reading this book changed that perception.

Five O’Clock Comes Early.  A Cy Young Award Winner Recounts His Greatest Victory.  Bob Welch and George Vecsey.  (1982).  1991/Fireside edition.

“Of course, the Welches are a drinking family.”, writes Welch.

The Welches lived in Ferndale, MI and sent Bob to Hazel Park High School.   His family came from Paducah, KY.  They were driven by the Great Depression and WWII employment opportunities in the Motor City.

The Welches came north in search of a better life.

“Of course, the Welches are a drinking family.”

He remembers talking his first drinks at age 10 at a wedding, when he and a cousin guzzled down abandoned 7 & 7’s.

He got drunk for the first time at age 15, when he chugged a bottle of Mogen David before attending a football game with a bunch of friends who each slugged down a bottle of pre-game booze.

“Some of the other kids couldn’t keep it down…I was a good drinker.  I could guzzle down a lot of beer, too, more than most guys.”

“Pot or cocaine made me jump around, want to eat, want to go to sleep…I liked depressants and I liked the feeling of getting drunk…You could sit in a bar all night and drink and tell stories and laugh your ass off.”

Young Welch’s daily passion for drinking became a daily habit early on.  He suffered from frequent black outs, not remembering his verbal abuse of family, friends and strangers, or his physical destruction of property, or the embarrassing scenes in restaurants.

By the time he reached the major leagues he was lost; a 21 year old reliever for Tom LaSorda’s Dodgers, drinking beer during games and kicking in hotel doors at night.

Welch was set up to fail.  He grew up in a drinking home.  His habit grew unchecked until he was on the path of self-destruction.

The search for a better life is Mr. Welch’s journey.

Hazel Park kids were tough.  They were greatly competitive in sports, and equally competitive when chasing women, drinking beer or playing pool.  After a game, Hazel Park folk head for the Rainbow Bar to trade insults, cuss up a storm, eat pizza, and buy a round.  “And drink some of those beers just to show I was one of the guys.”, says Welch.

Raised on Howard, Giff and Dandy, bred on McLain, Kaline, Harwell and Lolich, Bob Welch was equal parts Detroit fan and local sports star.

It wasn’t all about baseball, though.

He loved to shoot the basketball.  He was so confident that he sought games against black players in the city.  He won the Detroit City P.A.L. Championship while moonlighting on the West Side Cubs.

He was unable to sit still.

He was an often injured kid.  By the time he was 8, he broke his arm, fractured his collar bone and took 10 stitches in the head in 3 separate instances.  Parrot fever threatening his life at age 11, causing a 39 day hospital stay and requiring Bob to wear drainage tubes in his ears for 1 year. 

His injuries persisted until his sophomore year in college, when he tore up his knee and committed to stop taking risks with his body.

“I thought the scouts were interested and I got it in my mind to be the next Mickey Lolich.  I kept waiting for the Tigers to draft me.”

But, the Cubs took him in the 14^th round of the 1974 draft and offered $5,000.  “…hell, I could have cleared 5 grand selling marijuana in the neighborhood.”, wrote Bob.

Welch chose college instead of the Cubs.  Many schools wanted him, but Eastern Michigan State’s Ron Oestrike and Roger Coryell cared the most about him.

Welch drank his way through EMU.  He drank right through freshman and sophomore years and into the subsequent off season when he toured Japan with a college all star team coached by the famed Ron Dedeaux of U.S.C..

“You’ve got to stop drinking.  You act just like an alcoholic when you’ve had a drink.”, Deadeaux told him.

That was the first time anyone had confronted him about his drinking.  He denied and deflected Dedeaux.  But he never forgot what the Coach said.

As a junior, Welch progressed well toward the June draft until his elbow exploded.  Surgery was required.  As he rehabbed, most of the scouts disappeared.  All of them except for the Dodgers’ Dale McReynolds, that is.  McReynolds kept showing up. He liked what he saw. 

He was picked by the Dodgers in the 1^st round of the 1977 Draft.  The team flew Welch to L.A..  They wined him, dined him and had Dr. Frank Jobe examine him. They suited him up for a tossing session at Dodger Stadium.

Welch remembers Dodgers Stadium being so bright and clean that day that you could eat off the floors.  (A striking contrast to the dirty, run down park operated now by Frank McCourt.)

Nobe Kawano gave him a uniform.  He dressed silently near Don Sutton, Tommy John and Davey Lopes.

The Dodger brass watched Welch throw in the bullpen.  “…and I knew I had some really nasty shit.”

His agent, Bob Fenton arranged a $55,000 signing bonus and off to AA San Antonio went Welch.

After striking out many and walking few in the minors, LaSorda called up Welch.  He debuted on June 12, 1978.  He was still 21 years old.

Lasorda used him in relief 10 times.  He started Welch in 13 games.  The pride of Hazel Park went 7 – 2, with a 2.02 ERA and 3 saves.  Welch did not deliver an overall good performance in the World Series, but he did have his star moment when striking out Reggie.

Welch would contribute in relief and as a starter in 1979, too, going 5 – 6, 3.98 with 5 saves.  But he was displaying risky behavior.  He learned that he could slip into the dugout during the game and down a can of beer before anyone noticed he was gone, or so he thought.  In addition to getting a buzz-on during games, he showed up for games hammered.  Team mate Rick Sutcliffe sobered him up more than once. 

Bob was getting drunk every day.  He was drunk as soon as he had one drink.  He frequently stayed up all night drinking.

None of this was new.  Bob had been acting this way since college.  No one except Rod Dedeaux had said anything to him about it.

That changed in January of 1980 when the Dodgers arranged an intervention.

The rest of the story is about how Welch stopped drinking and faced his fears during an extended stay at an Arizona rehab facility.

Hats off to LaSorda and Claire for making Welch the first participant in a newly established alcohol treatment program with The Dodgers.  They saved his life.  He owes the last 15 years of his baseball career and everything else to them.

You’ll find the balance of the book honest, ugly and renewing.  If you have a friend you suspect is an alcoholic this book is of special value.  You’ll learn there are 20 questions.  If you answer yes to 3 of them, you are an alcoholic. 

Baseball is life.  Baseball is about so much more than just baseball.

Choose your cliché.

This is one book that proves it.

This book is the story of how Bob Welch found a better life.

Go Sox !

Varitek: All Time Leader in Respect

Jason Varitek hung it up 16 days after Tim Wakefield.  The only team that would want this pair was no longer interested in either player. 

After 3 years of not hitting in the clutch and not throwing runners out, Tek was toast.

I will never forget how Matt Garza threw it by the old catcher in game 3 of the 2008 ALCS.  The Spitting Man struck out Tek with one down and runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Jason was by then either too banged up or too weathered to have sufficient bat speed any longer.  Those of us present at Fenway saw it so, so clearly.

One of my friends can cite the day, dates, opponents and sequence of events for every game in which ‘Tek came up big.  Guys like Mark Kantor of S.A.B.R.  The details are burned into their memories.

I’ll remember ‘Tek for select accomplishments.

Like for surpassing Ray Schalk’s all time record for catching the most no-hitters by different pitchers. Tek’s record is four – Lowe, Nomo, Lester & Buchholz.    He did not secure a fifth one only because Curt Schilling shook off ‘Tek with two out in the bottom of the 9th on June 7, 2007.  After the shake, the A’s Shannon Stewart singled to right.  Then Mark Ellis popped up to make the 27th & final out.  Sox win 1-0 on a 1-hitter.

Had he called a 5th no-no from a 5th pitcher, a HOF argument would have gained momentum.

I’ll remember Tek for being a team player on the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy cable show, a special Red Sox edition episode.  With pregnant ex-wife Karen skooched from the room, Tek quietly allowed himself to be waxed, groomed and dressed by the Fab Five as Carson drooled over Johnny Damon and Kevin Millar pronounced himself a big gay dude after the team transformation was complete.

I’ll remember standing on the 2nd floor walkway in right field at Fenway, the one between Bleacher 43 and Grandstand 1, on July 24, 2004, watching Sox and Yankee relievers jump over the bullpen wall and run to the diamond where Tek was giving A-Rod a leather facial and a wrestling move.

I’ll remember the May, 1995 episode of Talking Baseball with Ed Randall in which 23-year old, buzz-cut, jowly cheeked Tek explained that he still refused to sign with the Mariners after the June ’94 Draft because they offered a bonus that was $800,000 less than what his draft peers were offered.  He explained that he was staying strong, working out and not worrying about anything that was beyond his control.  (See it now on streaming Netflix.)

I’ll remember Tek leaping into Papelbon’s arms after catching swinging strike 3 for the last out of the 2007 World Series.

I’ll remember Tek for not drawing criticism in his 15 Boston playing years.  Fans loved him and felt nothing but sorrow when his skills declined.  Ambush-prone radio talk show hosts let him be because they couldn’t find a character flaw.  Team owners gave Tek a measure of respect until the end, overpaying him in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and never embarrassing him through his last unsuccessful contract negotiation.

He was selfless.  He was deep in his preparation and in his character.

He is the all time leader in Sox games caught and respect earned.

Thanks for staying in the family, Tek.

Farewell  — for now, Jason.

Go Sox.

 

Getting the Strat-O-Matic Skinny for the Spring

 

 

T

he 2011 Strat-O-Matic Baseball Game player cards arrived in my home 3 days ago.  Time to review each player and form line-ups for each team.  In doing so, I learn more about the 750 MLB players in the set.  How else would I learn that all 3 KC Royal outfielders bat around .280, steal 20 bases, and hit 19 HR’s ?  Or that Seattle and Minnesota fans are suffering with teams so weak they could not win a AAA pennant.

Breaking down the Strat-O-Matic annual card set should be a staple in this fan’s preparation for every new Baseball season.

Here are some nuggets of discovery:

New York Yankees

On paper, they look like the 4th or 5th best team in the AL after Texas, Detroit, Tampa & California. 

-No Yankee really rocked a big B.A. in 2011.  Cano topped them at just .302.  Unusual for them. 

-Granderson is a true star with 41 HR and 25 SB’s.  Too bad he’s so happy in NYC.

-Tex is said to be in decline, which is proven by his .248 BA, and belied by his 39 hr’s.  I would not bet that his best is behind him. 

-Arod had just 375 AB’s.  Let’s hope the downtrend continues.  This career-long cheater deserves this quiet but steady decline.

-CC’s 230 K’s in 237 IP’s are  S-a-w-e-e-t.  Colon’s contribution seems miraculous.

-Russell Martin plays far bigger than his stats.  Nick Swisher strikes out a lot. 

-You have got to love Brett Gardner’s league leading 49 SB’s.  He has 96 bags in the last 2 years.

-Overall:  I’m not sure how this team won 97 games in 2011.  They seem old.

Toronto Blue Jays

-Jose Bautista’s eye popping .447 OBP was second only to that of Miguel Cabrera’s .448.  Both are rare accomplishments.  Of course, more rare still is Ted Williams’ career OBP of .482.

-Brett Lawrie wins a Top Part Timer Award with .293, 9 and 25 in 150 AB’s.  He’s only 22.  Let him play !

-I don’t care at all for J.P. Arencibia & his 23 HR’s out of the catcher’s slot.  The Dude hurts my Sox.

-Yunel Escobar is also the real deal.  A solid shortstop who brings .290, 11, 48.  Why can’t the Red Sox  get and keep one like him ?

-How the heck did Rajai Davis steal 34 bags with a meager .273 OBP in 320 AB’s ?  Did he ever get thrown out when he DID get on-base ?

-Rickey Romero could win 20, no problem.  Loving the 2.92 in 225 IP’s.  Go man, go.

Boston Red Sox

This team is so stacked from top to bottom, it is no wonder they played .630 ball from May 1 to August 31.  Problem is there isn’t much left on the starting staff after Lester and Beckett, unless Buchholz is truly healthy and Daniel Bard can make the transition out of the Pen.

-Marco Scutaro, pretty good fielding SS, posted .299, 7, 54.  Nice year.  So why did the Sox let him go ?  The new kid better be good.

-Ellsbury had an MVP quality year with .321, 32, 105.  And 39 SB’s.  Do it again, Jacoby.

-Pedroia , the gold glover, received MVP votes as he went .307, 21 and 91, with 28 SB’s.  He also had a 25 game hit streak.  Tell your broker to buy Pedey stock now.  He’ll be even better in 2012.

-Gonzalez met all expectations with .338, 27, 117, taking a gold glove & a silver slugger.

-Ortiz defied his age with .309, 29, 96.  What’s in his shake ?

-Youkilis once again couldn’t play a full season.  17 dingers and 80 RBI’s in 431 AB’s are great, but Youk hasn’t played 140 games or more since 2008.

-Carl Crawford’s .255, 11, 56 with 18 SB’s are a good value for a $1 Million annual salary.  Problem is they paid him $15 Million to do it last year and he’s making $19 Million this year.  Ugh.

-Jerrod Saltalamacchia logged a very respectable .235, 16, 56 in 358 AB’s.  With ‘Tek leaving, count on Red Sox Nation to fall in love with this guy.

-Gee, come to think of it, ‘Tek’s .221, 11, 36 in 222 AB’s is a lot like that of Salty.

-J.D. Drew, it is all I can do to NOT remove your card from my game.  And with it your .222 BA with $14 Million salary.

Tampa Bay Rays

Joe Maddon is a genius.  He won 91 games and a playoff berth without one dominating offensive player or a lights out reliever.  He did have 5 young starters.  He had an instinct for making 25 players into a team.  He had the 2^nd smallest payroll in Baseball.  Maddon is the best.  Hats off to Stuart Sternberg and company for locking him up.

-Jeremy Hellickson, the 2011 AL Rookie of the Year, brings to the table a 2.95 in 189 IP. This guy K’d 630 batters in 580 minor league IP.  What a baby !

-Kyle Farnsworth was the closer ?  Really ?  K-y-l-e F-a-r-n-s-w-o-r-t-h ? Stop it.  Please.  And get that 2.18 ERA, 25 Saves and .988 WHIP out of here.  This cannot be the Farnsey I know who is 36 years old and did NOT have 25 Saves in the last 11 seasons combined.  Come on !  Quit it.

-Desmond Jennings, Ben Zobrist, Johnny Damon, BJ Upton, and Sam Fuld EACH had 19 or more stolen bags.  When you manage the Rays, you run aggressively.  They led the A.L. in ‘11.

 -Casey Kotchman, 28 years old and on his 5^th MLB team in 5 years, fielded swell and batted .306, 10, 48 in 500 AB’s.  Another nice pickup by Andrew Friedman.  Whoops.  Here comes team #6.  Casey signed with Cleveland on Feb. 3.

-What on Earth is Evan Longoria doing with a .244 BA ?  “That’s just not Wade Boggs.”  Or Evan L..

Baltimore Orioles

There is more talent on this team than we think.  So how did they finish with the 12^th best record in a 14 team league ?  It’s the Division, baby.  Put them in the West or Central and they go 81 – 81.

 -Nick Markakis, gold glove right fielder, registered .284, 15, 73 with 12 SB’s.  The guy has averaged playing in 159.7 games for the last 5 years.  Love it.

-Adam Jones had a good year with .280, 25, 83 and 12 SB’s.  He K’s a lot but at age 26, he is entering his 7^th season and is getting better.

-OK, who the X+?! is Mark Reynolds ?  You say he worked out of Chase Field in the NL for the last 4 years?  That would explain why I didn’t see his 37 HR’s coming.  Are his 158 career HR’s related to his 963 career strike outs in just 5 years, would you say ?

-Vlad Guerrereo, where did the power go ?  13 HR’s in 562 AB’s.

-The O’s used 12 different starters in 2011, 9 of which have cards in the Strat-o-matic game set.  Ugly. Ugly. Fugly.

Go Sox.

Braun, Bonds & Baseball’s Red Ink

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Ryan Braun’s acceptance of an MVP award under the false pretense that he earned it sticks in my craw.  Further alarming is how he reversed his recent suspension on a technicality of the process.

Braun’s MVP travesty is the inspiration of this essay.

This is not directly about the above MVP chart, which shows that 9 out of the last 22 MVP awards were steroid-bogus.

This is about cheating.  And how to clarify an HOF measurement.  Here we go…..

Baseball already has Black Ink and Grey Ink.  These are Jamesian measurements of career player stats that reveal how talented a hitter was in the context of his own time —  against his playing peers.

Bill James defined both measurements in his book, The Politics of Glory.”

A player’s Black Ink score is found when taking the offensive category in which he led the league and multiplying it by a predetermined factor for that specific hitting category.  Leading the league in HR’s is worth 4 points.  Leading the league in runs scored is worth 3 points, etc..  Mantle led the AL in HR’s 4x and earned 16 Black Ink points.  He led it in runs scored 5x and earned another 15 for that.  Counting all categories, Mantle amassed a Black Ink score of 64. 

The point scale is tiered.  Four points for leading in HR’s, RBI or BA.  Three points for leading in runs scored, hits or slugging.  Two points for leading in doubles, BB, or stolen bases. One point for leading in games, at bats or triples.

Grey Ink’s computations are nearly identical to that of Black Ink.  There is one critical difference.  Grey Ink charts how many times you finish in your league’s Top 10 for a category, not how many times you lead the league.

Let’s focus on Black Ink.

The average Black Ink score for an HOF’er is 27.  Babe Ruth soars above the common HOF’er with a tally of 161.  Cobb is 150.  Hornsby 125.  Teddy Ballgame is 125.  Musial is at 116.  Wagner is 109.  Brouthers is at 79.  LaJoie and Aaron are at  76.  Rounding out the Top 10 Black Ink scores is Gehrig at 75.

Mike Schmidt is the #11 position-holder at 74.  Just south of the Iron Mike are the ignoble narcissists, Bonds and A-Rod.  Barry sits at 69.  Alex has 68.

The B.I. leader list looks clean after those two steroid users until you get down to Mark McGwire in 42^nd place. Though not sniffing the rarified air of the Top 20, Big Mac still ranks ahead of Joe DiMaggio, Reggie Jackson and Frank Robinson.

As the man shouted when he came home suddenly to find his cat trying to mount his beagle, “That’s just not right, man !!”

I’ll come back to that inequity in a bit.

The Top 10, with the exception of Brouthers, represents the all time elite of well rounded offensive players.  You can make the case that six of them are the greatest players of all time.

The Top 50 is impressive, studded with Yaz, Killebrew, Foxx, Mantle, Gwynn, Henderson, Ott, Greenberg, Brett, Boggs, Speaker and Crawford.

At 60 deep in Black Ink, you have 11 other non-HOF’ers who are banned, or are still active, or played too long ago, or miss by a smidge.  These include Pete Rose, Albert Pujols, Ross Barnes, Harry Stovey, Gavvy Cravat, Tony Oliva, Tip O’neil, Sherry Magee, Harry Davis, George Burns, and Dale Murphy.

Those 11 excluded individuals are not in the HOF for sound reasons.  That makes the B.I. list look better and better as a HOF litmus test.

Check out the all time list at www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/black_ink.shtml

The quality of the B.I. Top 60 is self-evident.  James was really onto something.  The measurement is useful.

But what to do about the cheaters ?  Let’s create a reduction factor called Red Ink that deducts B.I. points.  Red Ink would subtract points earned in those years after which the player displayed an acutely changed physique while delivering an sharply increased offensive performance — after 1985.  We can debate the starting point.  1985 is the year that Jose Canseco bulked up in the minors and started spreading the word.  I’m open to a discussion on that issue.

This is how Red Ink would affect Barry Bonds.  He bulked up in the offseason of 1998, after MM hit 70 chemically-aided dingers.  Big Head Barry subsequently led the NL 7x in BB’s, 1x in HR, 2x in batting, and 4x in Slugging.  That’s 38 Red Ink points.  Subtracting 38 from his current total of 69, and Barry’s revised net B.I. total is 31. 

31 points moves Barry well down to 60^th place, just 4 points above the average B.I. score for a HOF’er.  Barry Bonds is just an average HOF’er.

There is justice in Bonds’ adjusted score.  It is widely believed that Barry had a HOF quality career before he hit the juice.  He’d had made it if he stayed clean.  Red Ink reveals his true place among the greats.

Do the same exercise with McGwire and he falls to a Black Ink score of 10. 

That’s right.

10.

The non-juiced Mark McGwire is not a HOF’er.  Period.  He’s a fraud.  Sorry A’s & Cards fans.

The list of MVP winners atop this essay shows the tainted MVP winners in Red Ink.  With the sincere-sounding-yet-still-guilty Ryan Braun the latest to cheat his way to an MVP award, we are reminded that wherever there is big money there will be cheating.   Many have cheated and lied before Braun and he isn’t likely to be the last.

Let’s start striking the numbers.  Strike the Red Ink MVP’s.  Strike their bogus Black Ink points.  Strike them from the HOF ballot, even Bonds, who would have made it on natural abilty. 

Let’s be ever vigilant in preventing cheaters to enter the hall or bask in the radiance of falsely earned hardware.

And that applies to David Ortiz as much as it does to A Rod, Yankee Fans.

Go Sox.

Tim Wakefield, all is forgiven.

Tim Wakefield ruined at least 3 dozen Sundays for me over the years.  He caused me financial pain, wasted my time, induced boredom, frustration, and hopelessness.  But in the end, he won a big victory for every old guy who ever dreamed of wearing a uniform.

Whenever I ponied up the dough to get into the lyric little bandbox, there was the old man, thick around the middle, slide stepping toward the plate and lobbing his 68 mph slop.  I almost never missed being randomly assigned to watch Wake when I went to Fenway.  This went on for a decade.  Luck of the draw.

Wakefield was never in demand.  He was an innings eater.  A number 5.  He gave a quality start 20% of the time.  A mediocre start 35% of the time.  A bad start start 30%, and a stinking-baby-diaper -of-a-start 15% of the time.   When Wake was bad no starter in MLB seemed worse.   So when you saw Wake, you cursed damned luck and wondered who a guy had to bribe to see Pedro.

I longed for a Pedro Martinez start.  From 1998 through 2003, no one was better at making AL batters look ridiculous.  Later, Schilling arrived to take the Ace position and Pedro ducats loosened up a little.

Try as I might, I was anchored to Wake even though I bought up 12 different games a year and drove 2,500 round trip miles from Connecticut per season.

Amplifying my Wakefield pain was the fact that from 2002 through 2003, John Burkett started most of the other games I saw in which Timmy did not appear.

You can say what you want about Burkett and his 15 – 17, 4.86 record for Boston, but I’ll tell you this:  For the first 4 innings of every game John looked like Tom Seaver.  When he got to the 5^th, he could be as bad as Timmy.

Burkett was better than Wakefield.  Everyone except Matt Clement was better than Wakefield.

Red Sox fans knew this and lamented the wasted roster spot.  “Just get rid of Wakefield.  He stinks !”  The cries went up every time he yielded 5 earned runs in 2 or 3 innings.  The WEEI phone lines burned with anti-Wake tirades.  Fans shouted it in Yawkey Way and on Beacon Street.

And then on June 8^th, 2010 in Cleveland, something remarkable happened when Wake K’d Jhonny Peralta in the 7^th inning on a 1-2 knuckler.  Timmy passed Catfish Hunter on the All Time strikeout list with his 2,012th K.

That milestone magically transformed Wakefield’s paunch into a badge of middle aged super achievement.  This guy suddenly seemed built to last and he would strike people out until he qualified for AARP.  Fanciful fans wondered if Tim was destined to pitch his way past Palmer (2,212), Marichal (2,303) and Koufax (2,396).  Heck, he could do that in just 5 more seasons.

But Father Time said it was not meant to be.  Tim pitched only another season-and-a-half after passing Catfish.  He K’d only another 143 batters, finishing with 2,156 strikeouts and in 56^th place on the all time list.

Father Time also said no to Tim on surpassing Clemens and Young for the all time wins by a Sox starter.  Tim’s pathetic string of 5 consecutive losses in 2011 from August 14 to Sept. 7 hastened his retirement as well as the Sox’s September collapse.

And yet, there is much love for Timmy’s contributions to the team and the town.  He started.  He relieved.  He did abundant charity work.  He arrived in Beantown when Canseco was the D.H. and Mo Vaughn was the first baseman.  He played with Greenwell, Tinsley and O’Leary.  He teamed with the Rocket when Clemens registered a 4.18 ERA in “the twilight of his career”, according to Dan Duquette.

Tim stayed through the Nomar-Pedro-Damon-Manny-Schilling-Youkilis-Beckett-Buchholz-Pedroia years.

He stayed for 17 years.

His real accomplishment is durability.

No one stays 17 years with one team anymore except Derek Jeter and Mo Rivera.  Varitek pulled 15 years in Boston.  Pujols bagged St. Louis after 11 seasons. 

17 is a big number.

And for that, Tim Wakefield, I salute you, and hold you in high esteem, willing to forget the time and money that I could have better used than to observe your knuckling.

From one old guy to another, God Bless and Good Speed, Wake.