What If? 2003 Mike Maroth

Playing on one of the worst teams in history, Mike Maroth went 9-21 for the 2003 Tigers.  Some of that wasn’t his fault, as the team was truly awful in all aspects.  Today, we’re going to help him out.

Maroth attended William R. Boone high school in Orlando, FL.  The Braves have produced a handful of major leaguers, but probably the only ones that you might have heard of are catchers Ron Karkovice and Joe Oliver, and pitcher Paul Wilson.  He went on to star play for the Golden Knights of Central Florida in college, who have actually produced fewer MLB players than his high school.

Maroth was drafted in the third round of the 1998 draft (85^th overall) by the Boston Red Sox, two spots behind Barry Zito.  Zito was drafted by the Rangers, but decided to not sign and return for one more year at UC Santa Barbara, while Maroth would be sent to the GCL Red Sox for his first taste of the minors.

Come to think of it, that's
about all that Ryan
Thompson is famous for too.

Over his year and a half in the Red Sox minor league organization, he went 14-10 with 112 strikeouts and 50 walks.  But in 1999, the Red Sox were in a division battle with the New York Yankees, and wanting to shore up their bullpen, they sent Maroth to the Detroit Tigers for Bryce Florie at the trade deadline on July 31^st.  Maroth was just getting started, while Florie was a little over a year from being most remembered from being hit in the face by a Ryan Thompson line drive.

For the remainder of the 1999 season through 2001, Maroth would go 19-27 in the Tigers minor leagues.  However, in 2002, he turned it around, going 8-1 with a 2.82 ERA and 51 strikeouts vs. 22 walks.  Maroth’s time had come.

He was called up on June 8^th, 2002 to start against the Philadelphia Phillies.  The Tigers ultimately lost the game 2-1, but Maroth earned a no decision, going seven innings, giving up seven hits and no runs while walking two and striking out one.  He would get his first career victory in his next start against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  Two games into it was the only time he’d be over .500 for his career.

By 2005, Maroth improved to 14-14 on the season, and in 2006, at the age of 27, it looked like he was finally putting it together.  On May 14^th, his record sat at 5-2 with a 2.18 ERA.  Even in those two losses, he only gave up four runs in each game, but the Tigers couldn’t score, putting up two runs in one game, and none in the other.  He would have another decent outing, but then on May 25^th, he’d give up six runs in 1/3 of an inning.  The injury bug had struck.  He didn’t come back until September, and then only threw four games out of the bullpen.  He was left off of the post season roster as the Tigers went all the way to the World Series, eventually losing to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Somewhere deep inside, I still don’t like Mike Maroth after almost seven years.  On June 22^nd, 2007, he was traded from the Detroit Tigers to those Cardinals for a player to be named later.  That player was Chris Lambert, who would give the Tigers a record of 1-3 with a 7.90 ERA over 10 games.  But judging by the stats, I declare the Tigers the winners of this trade.

The 2007 Cardinals were a perfectly OK team.  Coming off their World Series win, expectations were high in St. Louis.  However, the team went 78-84 and completely missed the playoffs.  A large part of this was starters Kip Wells and Anthony Reyes, who would go a combined 9-31 on the season.  In obvious need of starting help, the Cardinals acquired Maroth.

Maroth’s first start with the Cardinals was arguably the best of the season for him.  He had a no decision, but went 7 1/3 innings, giving up just one run on a solo home run by Mets’ rookie Carlos Gomez.  Russ Springer would finish the 2007 campaign with an 8-1 record, but his only loss of the season would come that day as Shawn Green hit a walkoff home run in the 11^th inning, giving the Mets the 2-1 victory.

For the rest of the season, Maroth plain sucked.  There’s really no other way to say it.  You can sprinkle in some four-letter adjectives around it, but the main idea is the same.  He would lose his next four starts before becoming the mop up guy in the bullpen.  He had one more start that season, but only went 1 2/3 innings, giving up six hits and 2 runs in that start.

Overall for the Cardinals in 2007, he was 0-5 with a 10.66 ERA.  In 38 innings, he gave up 71 hits, 45 earned runs, 11 home runs, and had 23 strikeouts vs. 17 walks.  He pitched his last game of his career on September 24^th, throwing one inning and somehow not allowing a run in a 13-5 loss to the Brewers.

His 21 losses in 2003 was the first 20 loss season since the A’s Brian Kingman lost 20 in 1980, and no one had lost as much as 21 since three pitchers lost 22 in 1974.

Bonderman:  What the hell man?!

But hey, America is about second chances, right?  In order to give Maroth a fighting chance, we’re going to allow 2003 Maroth to pitch with softball rules, at least the rules of the league that I play in.  Batters are going to start with a 1-1 count on them, and if they have a strike on them and hit two foul balls, it’s a strikeout.  We’re just going to allow this for Maroth though (sorry 6-19 Jeremy Bonderman).  We’ll see what Maroth’s stats are after the season, and what effect that had on the Tigers’ abysmal record.

After looking at this further, let’s just go ahead and send Maroth into Beast Mode.  Rather than limiting him to the same number of batters, let’s keep him the same number of PITCHES.  Therefore, he’ll be able to go further into games.  We’ll just project the balance of pitches that were thrown by the bullpen to get up to the same number of pitches that he had for the game.  Here we go!

Seeing how you don’t want to read through 33 paragraphs of every start, let’s just look at how he did each month.

APRIL

Real Maroth was not good in April of 2003.  He lost all six of his starts, including a 3-1 loss to the Twins on Opening Day.  His ERA was 5.88.  In 33 2/3 innings, he gave up 22 earned runs, and had 19 strikeouts vs. just five walks.  But as I said, that team was just awful.  In those six starts, the Tigers scored a combined 10 runs.  They would finish April with a 3-25 record.

Softball Maroth somehow wasn’t much better.  He was also 0-6 at the end of the month.  His ERA was negligibly better at 5.82.  In 38 2/3 innings, he gave up 25 earned runs, and had 47 strikeouts vs. 21 walks.  But things would get better for Softball Maroth.

MAY

Real Maroth would earn his first victory of the season on May 23^rd, as the Tigers held on for a 3-2 win over the White Sox.  In six May starts, the Tigers scored 19 runs, so he also had another four losses.  His ERA improved to 5.24.  In 34 1/3 innings, he gave up 20 earned runs, and had 13 strikeouts vs. 10 walks.  Something else to note is that on May 1^st, he had a no hitter going through seven innings, but then he gave up four runs in the top of the eighth inning, and the Tigers lost to the Orioles 6-4.  May would be the only month that the Tigers would win more than 10 games, going 11-18.

You might want to leave him in
for one more out, coach.

Softball Maroth was brilliant in May.  He went 4-1 in six starts with a 2.05 ERA.  In 44 innings, he gave up 10 earned runs, and had 56 strikeouts vs. 25 walks.  He nearly had two shutouts, but unfortunately since we have to limit him to the same number of pitches, manager Alan Trammell had to take him out of back to back starts where he went 8 2/3 innings.  C’mon coach!  We’ll have to add three more wins to the Tigers total now, so with Softball Maroth, the Tigers improve to 17-36.

JUNE

June was another horrible month for the Tigers.  They went 5-22.  You can’t really blame Real Maroth though.  He went 2-2 in five June starts with a 3.19 ERA.  In 31 innings, he gave up just 11 earned runs, and had 14 strikeouts vs. six walks.  One could argue he was a bit better than Softball Maroth.

Softball Maroth went 3-2 for the Tigers in June.  He had a 3-2 record with a 4.06 ERA.  In 37 2/3 innings, he gave up 17 earned runs, with 38 strikeouts vs. 22 walks.  We’ll tack on another win for the Tigers, and halfway through the season, they now sit at 23-57.

JULY

In July, Real Maroth would go 2-3 over five starts, but the Tigers were doing all they could for him, scoring a combined 19 runs in those two victories.  His ERA was 6.96.  In 32 1/3 innings, he gave up 25 earned runs, and had 11 walks vs. 12 strikeouts.  The Tigers would go 9-17 that month.

Softball Maroth was much better.  He went 3-2 with a 3.51 ERA.  In 41 innings pitched, he gave up 16 earned runs, and had 39 strikeouts vs. 22 walks.  Improving by one victory, those Tigers now stood at 33-73.

AUGUST

By the time that August rolled around, the Tigers were just ready for the season to end.  They went 6-23 as the limped towards the finish.  Real Maroth went 1-4 with a 5.70 ERA.  In 36 2/3 innings, he gave up 23 earned runs, and had 15 strikeouts vs. nine walks.

We’re pretty much going to reverse those numbers for Softball Maroth.  He went 4-1 that month with a 2.94 ERA.  In 46 innings, he would give up 15 earned runs, and had 53 strikeouts vs. 30 walks.  Adding an additional three wins to the Tigers total, they now sit at 42-93.

SEPTEMBER

Thankfully, September would end one of the worst seasons in Major League history.  The Tigers went 9-18 to finish at 43-119.  Real Maroth actually had a winning month, going 3-2 in five starts, but he had a 7.71 ERA.  In his three wins, the Tigers scored 27 runs.  In 25 2/3 innings, he gave up 22 earned runs, and had 15 strikeouts vs. eight walks.

Softball Maroth went out with a bang.  He went 4-0 with a 4.15 ERA.  In 34 2/3 innings, he gave up 16 earned runs, and had 40 strikeouts vs. just 12 walks.  Adding another victory to the Tigers’ total, they would finish at 52-110.  So it was still an ugly season, but not in an almost-history-setting type of way.

OVERALL

Overall, Real Maroth, in 33 starts, along with the 9-21 record, gave up 231 hits in 193 1/3 innings, including 34 home runs.  He only had 87 strikeouts vs. 50 walks.  He gave up 131 runs, with 123 earned runs.  His WHIP was 1.453, and his ERA was 5.73.  He was only part of the problem for the Tigers that season, along with previously mentioned Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Cornejo (6-17), Adam Bernero (1-12), Gary Knotts (3-8), and Matt Roney (1-9).  Those were all the starters that had more than 10 starts that season.

I deeply pondered to whom I would compare Softball Maroth.  And then it hit me.  Bobby Witt.  In his heyday, Witt was always among the leaders in walks, but always had a lot of strikeouts as well.  While he rarely was close to the lead in total strikeouts, he finished in the top 10 five times for K/9 ratio.  One could argue that his best season was in 1990.  Let’s compare that to Softball Maroth.

	IP	W	L	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	WHIP
1990 Witt	222	17	10	197	98	83	110	221	3.36	1.383
Softball Maroth	242	18	12	194	99	99	132	273	3.68	1.347

In 2003, Softball Maroth was tied for second in the majors in innings pitched, tied for sixth in the majors in wins, and led the majors in walks AND strikeouts.

In conclusion, letting Maroth start with a 1-1 count really helped him out in 2003.  Thanks for nothing, Maroth.  You could have at least feigned injury in 2007.

1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Shane Reynolds

Welcome to the first installment of the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994.  Partially in recognition of the 20^th anniversary of the strike-shortened 1994 season, and partially because I said “that guy beat out those guys?”, I think this will be a lot of fun for everyone.  That year, there were 11 players who had at least one vote in the National League, and nine that had at least one vote in the American League, so the first couple will both focus on the bottom two National League players.  After that, we’ll alternate back and forth.  Today’s honoree is Shane Reynolds.

Well, this is awkward.  After a lot of research on the internets, no one seems to know how Shane Reynolds became a baseball player.  I’m assuming this means he went undrafted, and since he attended the University of Texas, he figured he’d just go play for the Astros.

After toiling around in the minors from 1989 through 1992, achieving a 34-32 record, the Astros called him up on July 20^th, 1992 to start against the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In 3 2/3 innings, he gave up six runs on eight hits, including two home runs, and had two walks and strikeouts.  Fortunately, Pittsburgh starter Jeff Robinson wasn’t much better, also giving up six runs in 4 1/3 innings.  Reynolds received a no decision as my dad’s favorite baseball player, Paintsville, KY native Willie Blair, earned the victory that day by being in the right place at the right time and Doug Jones shut the door for the Astros 11-8 victory.

1993 saw him return to the minors where he went 10-6.  He also got some time in with the Astros that season, throwing 11 innings and only giving up one run.  This leads us to the magical season of 1994.

Reynolds was seemingly the long man out of the pen for the Astros in 1994.  The first 11 games he appeared in that season, he only threw 18 1/3 innings, going 1-0 with four holds.  He had 24 strikeouts vs. only five walks.  His ERA sat at 5.40, having given up 21 hits on a .417 BABIP.

On May 11, the Astros decided he was now a starter.  He lost his first start, getting a hard luck 1-0 loss to the Dodgers that day.  His only blemish that day was a solo home run he gave up to Raul Mondesi in the bottom of the sixth.  He would only allow one other hit and no walks to go along with his eight strikeouts in seven innings pitched that day.  Overall, in 10 starts between May 11^th and June 29^th, he was 4-3 with 11 walks and 51 strikeouts on a 2.64 ERA.

He went back to the bullpen for seven games between July 2^nd and July 17^th, going 2-1 with a hold.  He had nine strikeouts vs. two walks to go along with his 3.21 ERA.  One of those wins was in a seven inning relief appearance against the Pirates.

He had four more starts between July 23^rd and August 9^th.  His first start from returning to the rotation was against those same Pirates, pitching a masterful 11-0 shutout where he gave up only four hits and had 11 strikeouts with no walks.  Overall in those four starts, he was 1-1 with 25 strikeouts vs. only three walks and a 2.30 ERA.  His final appearance of the season was a three inning relief appearance on August 11^th vs. the Padres.

Overall that season, Shane Reynolds went 8-5 with a 3.05 ERA.  He had a WHIP of 1.202 and had 110 strikeouts vs. 21 walks.  For his efforts, he received one vote in the Rookie of the Year voting.

For his career, Reynolds was a decent fourth or fifth starter type, going 114-96, with 20 complete games and seven shutouts.  Never one to mess around with the strike zone, he gave up 1935 hits in 1791 2/3 innings pitched.  He had 1403 strikeouts vs. 419 walks, and had a 4.09 ERA.  He twice led the league in games started, and was an All Star in 2000.  In 1996, he finished 9^th in the NL Cy Young Award voting.  He was a six time 10 game winner, with a career high 19 in 1998.

Speaking of 1998, perhaps the thing that he’s most famous for is being the losing pitcher in Kerry Wood’s one hit shutout of the Astros on May 6^th of that year, where Wood would strike out 20 batters.  Reynolds also pitched a complete game that day, but gave up two runs in the losing effort.  The funny thing is that after four innings that day, both players would have eight strikeouts.  Reynolds would only amass two more from that point forward; Wood was just getting started.

So that was the first installment of a look back at the Rookie of the Year voting in 1994.  Next up – Javy Lopez.

30 Home Runs and 50 Steals - Eric Davis vs. Barry Bonds

Greg Luzinski only missed this exclusive
club by 42 stolen bases in 1978.

In this day and age of baseball, what home run number would you be happy with seeing from your team leader in home runs?  I think most baseball fans would have set that bar at 40+ a decade ago, but in today’s environment, I think I’d be happy with 30.  Maybe not necessarily the team leader, but if I had a couple of guys on the team with 30 home runs, I’d be happy.  Only two of my National League Champion St. Louis Cardinals had over 20 last year.  Wow, only 14 players hit 30 home runs last year.  But I’m going to stick with 30, because it fits the narrative for this blog post.  Bear with me here.

Let’s pose the same question for stolen bases.  What number would you be happy with seeing from your team leader in stolen bases?  I think that I’d be happy with 30, although with my Cardinals, I would probably have to set the bar quite a bit lower.  I grew up watching Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, Kenny Lofton, Marquis Grissom, etc.  Those guys were all fun to watch.  It seems like every year, there was a ton of guys stealing 50 bases.  That just doesn’t happen anymore.

Standard MLB transportation
circa 1988.

While I’m guessing that the move away from Astroturf fields probably affected that slightly, the increased power from the mid-1990’s to the mid 2000’s probably had more to do with it.  Why risk the out when the next guy up is just going to hit a dinger?  The last time we had five guys steal more than 50 bases in a season was 2007.  Before that, it was 1998.  And in doing the research, among the league leaders anyway, you can see where the stolen base certainly isn’t as prevalent nowadays, but it hasn’t fallen off like home run totals have.  But 50 stolen bases also fits the narrative for this post, so let’s stick with that.

In major league history, there have been 1205 player seasons of 30 or more home runs in a season.  There have been 481 player seasons of 50 or more stolen bases in major league history.  There have been TWO instances where a player has done both in the same season – Eric Davis in 1987, and Barry Bonds in 1990.  Sorry 2012 Mike Trout, you missed this exclusive club by one stolen base.

Ha, I almost had to change this.  I was looking at Hall of Famer Eddie Collins’ stats page, and it showed that in 1926, at the age of 39, he hit 32 home runs and stole 65 bases.  What?  Then I noticed he only had one RBI.  Oops.  Someone has the numbers shifted over one column.  Anyway, back to Davis and Bonds.

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI
'87 Davis	129	474	120	139	23	4	37	100
'90 Bonds	151	519	104	156	32	3	33	114
	SB	CS	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	WAR
'87 Davis	50	6	84	134	.293	.399	.593	.991	7.9
'90 Bonds	52	13	93	83	.301	.406	.565	.970	9.7

Those numbers are just tremendous for both players, but note that Davis did it in just 129 games in 1987.  Let’s examine each month that year and see how they came about these numbers.

APRIL

You could say Davis’ April in 1987 started off good.  In the opening two game series against the Expos, he went four for six with a home run, two RBIs, FIVE runs scored, three walks (including one intentional), and three stolen bases.  For the entire month, in 20 games he would hit .364 with five doubles, a triple, seven home runs, 16 RBIs, 20 runs, 10 walks and 19 strikeouts.  He had nine stolen bases vs. two caught stealing.

Bonds was solid if unspectacular in April 1990.  In the first nine games of the season, the Pirates were 4-5, and Bonds was only hitting .200 with no home runs.  Even through April 26^th, he was still hitting .208.  Then the Pirates visited San Diego to finish up the month.  Bonds went 9-12 with three home runs, six RBIs, seven runs scored and two stolen bases.  His average jumped from .208 to .317, and he finished the month with four doubles, a triple, four home runs, 13 RBIs, 14 runs, eight walks and 10 strikeouts.  He had six stolen bases vs. one caught stealing.  The Pirates finished the month with a nine game winning streak to move to 13-5.

MAY

Davis must have really liked playing in the first series of the month.  On May 1^st, he went three for four with two home runs and five RBIs and an intentional walk.  Two days later in the finale of the three game series with the Phillies, he went four for five with THREE home runs and six RBIs.  He scored four runs and stole a base for good measure.  Two home runs in that series were grand slams.  He’d add another one on May 30^th.  The three grand slams in a month was at the time an NL record.  He’s still tied for first with Carlos Beltran and Mike Piazza.  For the month, in 22 games he would hit .329 with six doubles, 12 home runs, 36 RBIs, 23 runs, 11 walks and 21 strikeouts.  He stole 11 bases without being caught once.

Bonds’ May that year was pretty similar to his April.  He had a really good game here and there, but for the most part, he just kept plugging away at it.  He finished the month hitting .307 with seven doubles, a triple, six home runs, 24 RBIs, 19 runs, 14 walks and eight strikeouts.  He stole eight bases vs. one caught stealing.

JUNE

June of ’87 saw the Reds play their first 13 games at home.  Maybe he had some sort of home improvement disaster or was being bullied by the neighbor kid or something, but he only hit .122 in those games.  He still stole eight bases, but only had one home run.  The rest of the month though, he hit .400 in nine road games.  For the month overall, in 22 games he hit .250 with three doubles, a triple, four home runs, 11 RBIs, 23 runs, 18 walks and 22 strikeouts.  He stole 13 bases and was only caught once.  For the first three months of the season, in 64 games he’d have 23 home runs and 33 stolen bases.  He also had 63 RBIs and 66 runs.

Bonds turned it up a notch in June ’90.  In a nine game stretch from June 11^th through June 24^th, he went 20-39 for a .556 average with three home runs.  Overall that month, he hit .369 with nine doubles, a triple, three home runs, 16 RBIs, 17 runs, 11 walks and 10 strikeouts.  He had a down month on the basepaths with seven stolen bases but five caught stealing.  Halfway through the season, in 65 games he'd have 13 home runs and 21 stolen bases.  If he were to reach Davis' numbers, he'd have to have a strong second half.

JULY

July saw the batting average return for Davis, but his other numbers weren’t off the charts.  For the month, in 24 games he hit .348 with five doubles, two triples, six home runs, 17 RBIs, 24 runs, 14 walks and 27 strikeouts.  He only had four stolen bases without being caught.

In July, Bonds had another typical month.  In 26 games he hit .326 with four doubles, five home runs, 22 RBIs, 18 runs, 22 walks and 13 strikeouts.  He had a much better month on the basepaths with 14 steals without being caught.  Ten of those stolen bases came in just four games.  On July 16^th and 17^th, he’d get the Giants’ Terry Kennedy and Bill Bathe for two steals.  On July 22^nd, he’d get the Dodgers’ Mike Scioscia for three bases, and then did the same two days later to the Expos’ Mike Fitzgerald. 

AUGUST

By August, Davis was likely wearing down a bit, and playing in 29 games in 31 days (including a west coast trip that featured two double headers with eight games in six days) certainly would do it.  For the month, in those 29 games he would hit .250 with four doubles, six home runs, 15 RBIs, 20 runs, 19 walks and 30 strikeouts.  He had 11 stolen bases and was a caught stealing twice.  Like Bonds in July, he got those stolen bases in bunches.  In those 29 games, he only stole bases in five of them.  He had one game with one stolen base, two games with two steals and two games with three steals.  Catchers that fell victim to his three steals were the Pirates’ Junior Ortiz and the Cubs Jody Davis.

August wasn’t too kind to Bonds either, or at least his batting average.  For the month, he played in 30 games, including two double headers with six games in four days.  He would hit .248 with five doubles, seven home runs, 22 RBIs, 21 runs, 20 walks and 17 strikeouts.  That RBI total was bolstered by a couple of five RBI games he had on August 6^th and August 29^th.  He had eight stolen bases vs. two caught stealing.  Four of those steals came on the same day, in a double header vs. the Reds on August 17^th.  Bonds would get starting catcher Jeff Reed for two in the opener, and he’d steal second AND third base off of Reed when he came in as a replacement in the 9^th inning.  And then Bonds was thrown out at home off of a Jeff King sacrifice fly to center by…Eric Davis.

SEPTEMBER

Davis only played 12 games in September ’87.  With nagging injuries, he limped home (probably literally), hitting .163 with two home runs, five RBIs, 10 runs, 12 walks and 15 strikeouts.  He only stole two bases and was caught once.  The Reds would finish 84-78, six games behind the San Francisco Giants, who would go on to lose the NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals, who in turn would lose the World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games.

Bonds’ September was a lot closer to his August than the other months that season.  He had two games with two home runs, but by this point, the Pirates were pretty much cruising to the playoffs.  Bonds would finish the month hitting .260 with three doubles, eight home runs, 17 RBIs, 15 runs, 18 walks and 15 strikeouts in 30 games (including the one game on October 3^rd).  He’d steal nine bases and be caught four times.  The Pirates would finish in first place at 95-67, four games ahead the Mets.  They would go on to lose to Davis’ Reds as Cincinnati would go on to sweep the A’s in the World Series.

Davis would finish the 1987 season with a ninth place finish in the MVP voting between Tony Gwynn and Howard Johnson, but well below winner Andre Dawson.  He was an All Star, a Gold Glove winner and a Silver Slugger.

Bonds would finish the 1990 season as the National League MVP, with teammate Bobby Bonilla, Darryl Strawberry, Ryne Sandberg and Eddie Murray rounding out the top five.  He also was an All Star, a Gold Glove winner and a Silver Slugger.

So, hypothetically, if these two players had these same numbers in the same season, who would be the MVP?  I’m guessing the nod would still go to Bonds if because of nothing else, games played.  But 1987, the baseball was juiced, so it was a different environment than 1990.  Instead, let’s just sit back and have a chuckle at this thought – what if we could have had an outfield of 1990 Bonilla in right, 1987 Davis in center, and 1990 Bonds in left?  By 1990 though, Davis was already somewhat declining, so instead, you got Lenny Dykstra in the All Star game that year.  And we all know about Bonds’ and Dykstra’s criminal activities.  At least the only thing that Bonilla ever did was rob the Mets.

Quick Hits - Rocky Colavito

OK, so a major post is going to have to wait for a few more days.  I’m about half way done.  It will be worth it though, I promise.  Also, I came up with an idea this morning that I’m going to do for the next several weeks.  Every Tuesday, in recognition of the 20 years that have passed since the strike in 1994, I’m going to look at the careers of every player who had a vote in the Rookie of the Year award that year.  It gave me a good laugh this morning looking at that list.

Today’s quick post is going to briefly look at Rocky Colavito.  He’s a little older than this blog will typically focus on, but I wanted to showcase something that happened in the waning days of his career.

 

Colavito was one of the premier sluggers of the mid 1950’s to the mid 1960’s.  He had 11 seasons of 20 or more home runs from 1956 to 1966, including three with more than 40 home runs.  His 374 home runs would rank 15^th all time when he retired (currently 72^nd).  He finished second in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1956 to Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio.  He was a six time all star, mainly as a right fielder.  But that’s not why we’re here today.

Colavito had a couple of pitching appearances in his career.  The first came in 1958, when he came in to relieve Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm in the second game of a double header on August 13^th.  Facing a 2-3 deficit, Colavito held down the fort, pitching three innings, walking three and striking out one.  He didn’t give up any runs, but the Indians offense couldn’t overcome the complete game three hitter by the Tigers Herb Moford.

His last pitching appearance came on August 25^th, 1968.  Again, pitching in a double header, this time the first game, Colavito came in to relieve the starter. 

Those sleeves are impressive.

This time, it was Yankees non-legend Steve Barber.  Barber gave up seven hits, five runs, and three walks vs. one strikeout in 3 1/3 innings pitched.  The top of the fourth started out like this for Barber – groundout, walk, wild pitch, single run scores, single.  The score now stood at 5-0 Tigers.

With future Hall of Famer Al Kaline coming to bat, it was time to make a change.  The obvious choice to Yankees manager Ralph Houk was to bring in a POSITION PLAYER to face Kaline, who at that point in his career had 312 home runs.  Sure enough, the strategy worked.  Kaline grounded out to second, and Willie Horton would fly out to left field.

Hey, Rocky Colavito
just struck me out!

In the bottom of the fourth, the Yankees would put a run on the board making the score 5-1.  Colavito would return to the mound for the top of the fifth, walking two, but getting a pop out to catch, a fly out to first base, and a groundout to second.

In the bottom of the fifth, Colavito couldn’t help his own cause, and the Yankees went three up, three down.  The top of the sixth would see Colavito face the top of the Tigers lineup.  Colavito would get a fly out to right and a strike out looking to Tigers’ shortstop Dick Tracewski.  Next up was Kaline, who would (sort of) have his revenge, doubling to center field.  But he once again got Willie Horton, who lined out to third base, so the Tigers once again failed to get to Colavito.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees exploded for five runs.  This time, Colavito did help himself, scoring a run on a single by Yankees’ catcher Jake Gibbs after walking two batters earlier.

The REAL Yankees pitchers would take it from there, shutting out the Tigers the rest of the way.  Colavito would pick up the win, giving him a career record of 1-0 in 5 2/3 innings pitched.

When Colavito faced Al Kaline, this was the most combined home runs by a pitcher and a batter since Babe Ruth faced Marty McManus on October 1^st, 1933.  McManus was the last batter Ruth ever faced as a pitcher, as he pitched a complete game victory on the final day of that season at the age of 38.

Colavito would only play in 15 more games the rest of his career.  He would hit his final home run on September 24^th, 1968.  Despite great power numbers and decent defense, he was only on the Hall of Fame ballot a couple of years and then dropped off.  Some of this was likely due to only hitting .266 for his career.  Another factor was probably due to having never been on very successful teams.  He never made any post season appearances.

 

Colavito may not be in the Hall of Fame, but he has more career pitching wins than Al Kaline, and no one can take that away from him.