Reader Reacts
Great stuff! Thanks!! My mom used to go to Toot Shor's with her parents back in the late ‘40s. I have menus from there in her scrapbook. Along with their ticket stubs from the '47 World Series, Game 7.
— Rob Barnes
Pregame Pepper
Did You Know . . .
Star Atlanta second baseman Ozzie Albies, off to a .317 start this season, may miss a month or more with a fractured big toe after he was hit with a pitch . . .
Don’t look now but Mike Soroka’s ERA is 6.98 after a couple of ineffective starts for his new team, the Chicago White Sox . . .
Before Elly de la Cruz did it this season, the last player with two home runs in a game — including an inside-the-park shot — plus a stolen base was Maury Wills in 1962 . . .
James Paxton’s pitching would be better if he had better command — he walked eight in five innings against the Padres in his last start for the Dodgers . . .
Erstwhile aces Justin Verlander (Astros) and Walker Buehler (Dodgers) are on the verge of returning to action.
Leading Off
Is it the End of An Era for the Houston Astros?
By Ray Kuhn
No. Take a deep breath, and relax. We are just 20 games in the MLB season and there is a long way to go. The cliches ring true about it being a marathon and not a sprint, and they are well-worn and overused.
At the same time, though, they are true.
We are a reactionary people. It is only natural. You can only deal with what is in front of you and it’s hard not to react to it. Now over-reacting is a different story, but there is a very fine line between reacting appropriately and then extending that reaction.
Following sports, though, and being a fan, is all about emotion. In fact, we can say that about life itself. It’s difficult to remove emotion from situations at 100% but at the same time, we tend to think in absolutes.
Either the first 20 games of the Houston Astros’ season are the beginning of the end or they are a temporary blip. The sky is falling — or is it just some temporary cloud cover. There is no in-between. But should there be?
There is no good way to sugar coat how bad the beginning of the season has been for Houston. Aside from Ronel Blanco and a few others, the team has not looked good. The Astros have been swept three times to begin the season, and it’s not hard to see why they are 6-14.
At the same time though, they have already played three games against the Braves, four against the Yankees, and seven against the Rangers. The schedule has not been kind to Houston, but they also have not done themselves any favors. If this stretch came in the middle of the season, it’s likely we would feel differently about things but for now, we can only judge Houston for what it is: a last-place team. However, with no one in the American League West standing out from the pack, they are still just 4.5 games out of first place.
For as bad as the Astros have been, they are hitting .268 as a team (third in the league) with 24 home runs (fourth), 84 RBI (13th), and 87 runs scored (14th). There are still improvements to be made by key players — we are looking at you, Jose Abreu — but on an overall basis, the sky isn’t falling there.
From a pitching perspective, that is certainly a different story. Framber Valdez was forced to the Injured List, Justin Verlander makes his season debut on Friday, but the Astros are still without Luis Garcia, Jose Urquidy, and Lance McCullers. Blanco has done a great job filling in, but the bullpen has also struggled.
With Verlander returning, and once Valdez finds his way back, things will look differently. Ryan Pressley worked through some early-season struggles in his new role, and newly-acquired closer Josh Hader is still doing just that. Rafael Montero and Bryan Abreu still form a solid duo and the Astros have also gotten some strong innings from Seth Martinez.
As the Astros try to balance contending with retooling and managing a diminished minor league system, they are walking a fine line. They have failed to generate much confidence with their early-season play, but all it takes is one 8-2 run for everyone to forget all about this.
With Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, and Valdez coming up on the need for new contracts, the Astros could potentially be at a crossroads. However, with 142 games left in the season and multiple Wild Card spots, can we write the Astros off just yet?
That’s not to say they will play deep into October this year, but the Astros — who have appeared in seven consecutive AL Championship Series — should play meaningful games in September.
It is just too early to determine whether they should be sellers or close the book on their dynasty.
Ray Kuhn can be found covering Fantasy Sports on Fantrax and Fantasy Alarm after previously covering the Houston Astros as part of the FanSided network at Climbing Tal’s Hill. Reach him on X/Twitter at @ray_kuhn_28 or raykuhn57@gmail.com as he is always interested in talking or writing about our great game.
Cleaning Up
Carl Erskine Was A Gentleman Off The Mound
By Dan Schlossberg
Carl Erskine was a class act.
I knew him not as a pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers but as the Indiana bank president who perfected his harmonica-playing skills so well that he led the ship’s band on several of my baseball theme cruises.
Both soft-spoken and well-spoken, Erskine was a Navy veteran who signed with Brooklyn soon after the military demobilization that followed World War II. After two uneventful seasons in Danville and Fort Worth, he brought his big-breaking curveball to the Dodgers.
Despite bouts of shoulder pain that would have disabled a lesser man, the compact pitcher (5’10”and 165 pounds) not only won 14 games in both 1948 and 1949 but pitched twice in the 1949 World Series.
During his 12-year career, he went 122-78 with a pair of no-hitters and just as many World Series wins. A one-time All-Star, he also earned a ring as a member of the 1955 team that won Brooklyn’s only world championship.
A peacemaker in the Dodger clubhouse during the difficult transition years when Jackie Robinson was integrating the majors, Erskine had many memorable moments on the field too.
He fanned 14 Yankees in the third game of the 1953 World Series, the same year he went 20-6 during the regular season, and did it while working with only one day of rest.
His World Series rings came in 1955 and 1959, after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles.
Erskine might have changed baseball history in other ways. He was warming up in the bullpen when Brooklyn starter Don Newcombe ran into trouble while pitching the ninth inning of the 1951 National League pennant playoffs.
The Dodgers were up, 4-1, entering the top of the ninth inning at the Polo Grounds but the Giants had Newcombe on the ropes. When Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen came out to change pitchers, he picked Ralph Branca rather than Erskine because the latter had allegedly bounced a curve in the bullpen.
The rest is history.
He never made more than $27,500 per year as a pitcher but made up for that shortfall during his long tenure as president of a bank in his native Anderson, Indiana.
After leaving the game, Erskine was a charter member of the Baseball Assistance Team, helping destitute former players, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He was also active in the Special Olympics, helping such disabled athletes as his son Jimmy, born with Down’s Syndrome. “Oisk” also coached Anderson College for 12 seasons — matching his tenure in the major leagues.
He and his wife Betty also found time to travel, joining former teammates Clem Labine, Clyde King, and Roger Craig on baseball theme cruises I created, coordinated, and hosted. For many of those who were there, his nightly harmonica concerts were the highlight — or at least a close second behind getting his autograph on specially-designed, limited-edition commemorative posters.
The 2003 recipient of the Hall of Fame’s Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, Erskine was 97 when he died on April 16, one day after the baseball world marked Jackie Robinson Day.
Without the quiet intervention of the serious-minded pitcher, it might not have happened.
Former AP newsman Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, Here’s The Pitch, MLB Report, and many other outlets. He’s now on a book tour promoting his new Hank Aaron biography. His e.mail is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia: John Sterling Hangs Up His Mike
“I think this is the greatest way you can go out, to make the decision on your own. Be really clear and happy about it. He knows what he’s done in the industry and he knows that most people just love him because there will never be another.”
— Long-time radio partner Suzyn Waldman on the retirement of John Sterling
Sterling, pushing 86, did Yankee games for 36 years, calling 5,420 regular-season games and 211 post-season contests . . .
He did 5,060 in a row from September 1989 to July 2019 . . .
A native New Yorker, Sterling previously served as a broadcaster for the Atlanta Braves . . .
Players on the Yankee team bus used to guess what signature home run call Sterling would create whenever a new player joined the team . . .
Aaron Judge found the Sterling call of his first home run on YouTube and played it multiple times — strictly for his own enjoyment . . .
Waldman and Sterling were partners since 2005 on WFAN radio.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.