Baseball History - 1901

Today we'll take a look at some Baseball History. The year - 1901.  This was the season the American League was established.  To put it mildly - The National League was not happy to have company and it took two long years before the AL and NL learned to play nice.  Let's see how and why the AL got going and also take a look at some teams and key players from both leagues in 1901.

The National League, which started in 1876 was pretty much alone up until 1901. It was only a matter of time before there was infighting about, what else - the almighty dollar.  Some owners in the National League were known as tyrants and tight with the wallet. But the fat-cats rolling in the money didn't notice the wolf stalking in the form of the American League.

 A guy named Ban Johnson joined with other owners and formed 8 AL teams - Chicago White Stockings, Boston Americans, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators, Cleveland Blues, and Milwaukee Brewers.  Not only did they start up their own league, they did a little pillaging at the expense of the NL.  Some big names jumped ship to the kinder and gentler AL.  Players like Nap Lajoie and Cy Young (big enough for ya?) found success in the AL.

Let's take a look at some of the players from 1901.  We talked about Nap Lajoie.  He hit .426 for Connie Macks' (more on him in a future post) Athletics.  Cy Young resurrected his career with Boston at age 34.  In the National League, 27 year old Honus Wagner hit .353 with 49 stolen bases.  For the Giants a 20 year old rookie by the name of Christy Mathewson was 20-17 with a 2.41 ERA. 

Other players of note:

Sam Crawford (OF - Reds) batted .320 and lad the NL with 16 HR's.
Jack Chesbro (P - Pirates) had a 21-10 record with a 2.38 ERA.
Rube Wadell (P - Pirates/Orphans) in his third year was 14-16 with a 3.01 ERA
Rookie Eddie Plank (P -  Athletics) was 17-13 with a 3.31 ERA.

The standings from 1901:

1901 American League Standings
Team	Wins	Losses	WP	GB
Chicago White Stockings	83	53	.610	0
Boston Americans	79	57	.581	4
Detroit Tigers	74	61	.548	8½
Philadelphia Athletics	74	62	.544	9
Baltimore Orioles	68	65	.511	13½
Washington Senators	61	72	.459	20½
Cleveland Blues	54	82	.397	29
Milwaukee Brewers	48	89	.350	35½

1901 National League Standings
Team	Wins	Losses	WP	GB
Pittsburgh Pirates	90	49	.647	0
Philadelphia Phillies	83	57	.593	7½
Brooklyn Superbas	79	57	.581	9½
St. Louis Cardinals	76	64	.543	14½
Boston Beaneaters	69	69	.500	20½
Chicago Orphans	53	86	.381	37
New York Giants	52	85	.380	37
Cincinnati Reds	52	87	.374	38

Hope you enjoyed this.  Please feel free to offer opinions.

Thanks for reading,

-Tom

Paging Dr. Andrews .... Paging Dr. Andrews ....

These days it seems "Tommy John" surgery is the tonsillectomy of baseball procedures.  Everyone's doing it.  Even football players (a kicker as well for cryin' out loud) have had the operation.  So, what is this surgery and who is Tommy John anyway?  And who is Dr. Andrews and what does he do?  Let's take a look and yes I will spare all of you any repulsive images.

Lets start at the beginning - Tommy John.  When I was young, John was a pitcher I enjoyed watching.  Not overpowering, yet he had a tremendous sinker which forced hitters to pound the ball into the ground.  He had some very good seasons with the White Sox.  The Sox had trouble scoring runs so John couldn't collect too many wins with them. With the LA Dodgers he had similar success but in 1974 he was experiencing issues with his elbow.  He went to see a doctor (Dr. Jobe) and they had discussions about a ground-breaking reconstructive surgery.  Tommy John went through with the surgery, came back a year later and had a successful career with the Dodgers and Yankees.  The procedure is now know as ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction or "Tommy John Surgery".

The Injury. Throughout the pitching motion very large muscles of the body (legs, chest, shoulders) are propelling little tiny muscles (mostly elbow) in the arm to throw the ball at high speeds.  If not done properly this is a recipe for disaster.  Basically the injury that Tommy John experienced was a rupture to the UCL.  

To put it simply, ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction is a procedure in which  the ligament is reconstructed (actually reinforced) by taking a tendon from some other part of the body (usually a forearm muscle) and weaving it through drill holes in the ulnar and humerus (see diagram) where the damaged ligament is typically located.  Rehab is very long and varies from case to case.  I'm talking about a year.

Presently Dr. James Andrews is known as the guru for this type of operation.  Dr. Andrews is an orthopedic surgeon and he specializes in elbow, knee and shoulder injuries.  He is one of the most respected in his field (no I'm not the ambassador for Dr Andrews).  He is the one who examines players and advises on whether or not they need this surgery.  He ultimately performs the procedure.
 

Relative to other medical procedures this one is rather simple.  So you can see why Tommy John surgery is popular.  Its straightforward and can solve ligament damage that would normally end a pitchers (or position player) career.

Below is a list of pitchers who have received this surgery.

   

Brett Anderson     David Aardsma     Jose Arredondo     John Axford     Bong Jung-Keun     Érik Bédard     Bill Bray     Andrew Brackman     Clint Brown     A J Burnett     Chris Capuano     Sean Carley     Chris Carpenter     Joba Chamberlain     Manny Corpas     Jorge De La Rosa     Rubby De La Rosa     John Dopson     Brendan Donnelly     Scott Feldman     John Franco     Éric Gagné     Jaime Garcia     Javy Guerra

Rich Hill     JP Howell     Tim Hudson     Phil Humber     Jason Isringhausen     Tommy John     Josh Johnson     Hong-Chih Kuo     John Lackey     Jesse Litsch     Francisco Liriano     Ryan Madson     Shaun Marcum     Andrew Marshall     Daisuke Matsuzaka     Kris Medlen     Cla Meredith     Sergio Mitre     Jamie Moyer     Joe Nathan     Pat Neshek     Scott Proctor     Jo-Jo Reyes

David Riske     José Rijo     Jon Ringblom     Kenny Rogers     Scott Schoeneweis     Andy Sisco     John Smoltz     Joakim Soria     Stephen Strasburg     Dallas Trahern     Edinson Volquez     Billy Wagner     Adam Wainwright     Jake Westbrook     Brian Wilson     CJ Wilson     Kerry Wood     Jordan Zimmermann     Joel Zumaya     Ryan Vogelsong     Arodys Vizcaino     Donald Veal

There are also position players who have received "Tommy John" surgery.  Maybe for position players it should be called "Jose Canseco" surgery - NAH.

    Rick Ankiel
    John Baker
    José Canseco
    Shin-Soo Choo
    Brad Hawpe
    Matt Holliday
    Todd Hundley
    Kelly Johnson
    Xavier Nady
    Deion Sanders
    Kyle Blanks
    Paul Molitor


Thanks for reading,
-Tom

My Day ... With and Without Baseball

I never wanted to write a "journal" type of post in this blog. I promise these will be few and far between. But today I'm headed down to Florida to surprise my Mom.  So what does this have to do with baseball?  With baseball on my mind a lot, you'll see that its somewhat intertwined in my day.

My day usually starts like this:  get up and go to the gym.  When I get home I say hello to my wife and boot up my work and personal laptops. I'll check the box scores and my fantasy teams while my wife gets ready for work. Curse Joey Votto, then its work until whenever.

Today is different.  I was up at 4:30. A morning without baseball.  Showered, coffee then its the LIRR to Jamaica to JFK to catch a flight to Fla.

I get to JFK

Itching for box scores.

I get to the gate find a seat alone in the waiting area near the TV. This lady sits down next to me.  We make eye contact and she seems to feel that's her cue to start  talking to me.  I must have that look.  So she's telling me about how she has a seat too far from the front and in the middle (she wanted an aisle).  She has some ailments.  I was nodding and "yessing" and "I see-ing".  Then, it was her turn to board and she thanked me and told me it was nice talking.  That's me - Mr. Charming.

Crooking my neck to see Sportscenter.... no shot.

So I board and find my seat. Slap on my earphones and put on Sportscenter to get all caught up. The NFL draft and the NBA elbow dominate the show.  The guy across the aisle and one row back is reading Diary of a Player by Brad Paisley.

ESPN ticker - Rays 5 Angels 0.  Looks like Price pitched a beaut. 

We exchange a few thoughts about the book.  He mentioned Brad plays a mean Telecaster (so very true!!).  We end it at that - he needed to get back to his book.

John Kruk and Tim Kirchen are now telling me all about Albert Pujols and his power slump.  I wonder if they will equally applaud him when he's .310/31/115 at seasons end?

The flight attendant asks me what I want.  "Coffee - Black please".  It comes with cream and sugar.  I ask for an exchange.

ESPN ticker - Boston 11 Minnesota 2.  The boys from Beantown are breaking out of it. And maybe Josh Beckett too.

Black coffee arrives.  Just what the doctor ordered.  I put Sportscenter on low volume and pick up my book - Voodoo River by Robert Crais.  Good Book.  After about half hour its time for the next loop of Sportscenter (to fill the gaps of missed news).

While caffeine is wonderfully dancing in my veins I watch highlights of Yu Darvish having his way with Yankee batters.  I think he may be something, but time will tell.  We have yet to see a Japanese pitcher pan out.

Ahhh... all caught up.

Before you know it we're in Tampa.  Unable to find Budget, I ask a young woman who works at the airport where Budget is.  She gives me a "Don't you know you're not supposed to talk to me" look.  I have that effect on the ladies.  She says "hmmm".  Looks north, south, east then west.  I was ready for her to look up and down but that didnt happen.  Finally I spot Budget and thank her for her time.

Get to Moms and she is truly surprised and happy I'm there.  Tom Graziose - Son of the Decade!!  And caught up on baseball news.

Next post - Tommy John Surgery.

Thanks for Reading

-Tom

Welcome!

I like to listen to music when I write, especially music that will fuel the topic.  Today the music of choice is Miles Davis.  Believe it or not Miles and baseball do have one thing in common – they’re indefinable.  “Well”, you might say – “Miles Davis is a jazz musician and baseball is a sport.  There you have it … defined!!” OK, when it’s all said and done, that’s true.  But, like jazz (one of the most complicated genres of music, and Miles is equally complex) baseball can be one of the most intricate of sports.  Let’s examine this through the eyes of a fan – well, many different fans and the topics baseball fans like to talk about.

I love watching baseball with my wife.  She loves it for its pure art form at the simplest level.  In no way am I calling my wife simple.  Lord knows she runs circles around me with her intelligence (as is the case with most marriages I’m sure).  The reason she’ll sit down and watch a game with me is for the enjoyment of sport.   That’s it.  At times we’ll get in to the “who’s”, “whys” and “what’s” but most of the time its “nice hit” or “he needs to hustle”.  This type of fan could also be a child (or adult) who just started watching the game for the first time.  When you’re hooked, hey, you’re hooked.

Then there's the stat-head.  Over the years I’ve become a bit of a stat-head.  I’m still learning though.  There are all sorts of stats.  From the traditional to the new-fangled, sabermetric run/win based stats.  Pitching, hitting, fielding and base-running, there are a host of stats to keep anyone’s mind boggled.  Check out Fangraphs - http://www.fangraphs.com/ -  one of my favorites. Every so often I'll post info about a stat and how its used.

There are people out there that dedicate a good portion of their life traveling from ballpark to ballpark.  “Roadtrippers”, “Ballpark chasers”, “Baseball journeymen”, call them what you may, but they are an interesting bunch.  I had the pleasure of attending a game with a guy in the midst of his goal to see all 30 MLB ballparks in 2012.  His blog is here - http://baseballdreamin.blogspot.com/.  Enjoy!!

I remember one year when the family was on a vacation (don’t recall where), my wife was having trouble sleeping.  I wake up in the middle of the night to see her watching A league of Their Own.   That was a fun movie.  There are baseball fans that are really into their baseball movies.  Me, I’ll watch a few here and there, but I’m not obsessed.  Moneyball was good.   And of course there is Pride of the Yankees.  There is also the bookworm.  I think there are more books in the category of baseball then any other sport.  There are biographies, books on entire seasons, instructional books, books about teams during a period of time, and many other topics. I'll post reviews of some of my favorite books and movies.

Watching baseball with a coach, former-coach, coach-wannabe, assistant coach or fan-thinks-he’s-a-coach, could be a great experience or quite annoying.  It’s enjoyable to learn about the strategy and tactics of a game.  I hate attending a game where in one of the nearby seats is some guy who just second-guesses everything the manger does.  Watching teams and mangers in action just affirms that baseball is a lot like chess.  The action that proceeds, follows and comes with every pitch is a chess move.  There are literally thousands of different situations and each of them could come with a number of conflicting views on how to deal with them.  Every so often we'll delve into some of the strategy and tactics used by today's managers.

I love the history of the game.  Its past players, characters and teams are fun to read about.   Also, when you read about history, you get a feel for the evolution of the game. There are numerous ebbs and flows of various offensive and pitching eras.  Dynasties also are a big part of history (mostly the Yankees).  Records are made and broken (and broken again).  I'll post some interesting history nuggets from time-to-time.

I laugh to myself when I think about watching a game with a fantasy player (I’m one of those).  Who cares about team allegiance?  Last time I checked teams don’t pay me to be a fan, but a fantasy league can pay a nice sum.  Not that I’m bragging but I've made a few college payments courtesy of some characters in Jersey.  Fans will yell and scream at the TV at various players which the ordinary fan wouldn’t think twice about.  An odd bunch these fantasy players.

I think most of us had baseball cards when we were kids.  Remember flipping?  I still have my autographs.  Most of them are TTM (through the mail).  TTM is still very popular. I'll post some of my autographs in future blog entries.  

Then there is the plain ole every-day team fanatic.  His/her team can do no wrong (unless of course they are doing the criticizing).  At times a super fan can be unrealistic about their team. Sometimes fans see gold when in fact – it’s fools gold (see Steve Kemp – Yankees 1983).  I also love the city rivalry debates.  New York I would think is the biggest, but Chicago is close.  There is also one brewing down in the DC area between the O’s and Nats. 

There are many other topics baseball fans like to discuss – the business of the game, minor league prospects, the hall of fame, rules, broadcasters, injuries, and much more. 

So that’s what this blog is all about  - the above topics and more.  Do I know everything about baseball?  Uh, no, far from it.  I’ll be sharing information I know about and currently researching.  I’ll also be learning on the fly as well.  Each post will be about one topic. I’ll try to post often (no promises).  If there is anything baseball-related you would like me to blog about please feel free to ask.

Enjoy and thanks for reading

-Tom