The Booby Prize: Finishing in 10th Place
PLUS: FRICK COMMITTEE STRIKES OUT IN SKIPPING PETE VAN WIEREN
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
Hard to believe Arizona allowed more runs than it scored this year but caught fire just in time for the postseason, riding a No. 6 seed to the NL pennant — just as Philadelphia did last year . . .
The Diamondbacks were so concerned about the atmosphere at Citizens Bank Park they blasted artificial noise inside an otherwise empty Chase Field during a scrimmage to prepare them for Philly fans . . .
Ignoring the intense crowds at Citizens Bank Park, the D’backs limited the Phillies to three runs in Games 6 and 7 by keeping Trea Turner and Bryce Harper in check . . .
The Phillies have been a franchise since 1883 but this is the first year they played a Game 7 . . .
The Rangers were the first team to score 10+ runs in a postseason winner-take-all Game 7 since the 2007 Red Sox in the ALCS . . .
Former pitcher Craig Breslow is the first Red Sox baseball operations chief who played for Boston since Haywood Sullivan, a catcher from 1955-1960 and served as general manager from 1977 to 1984 . . .
After losing Sandy Alcantara to Tommy John surgery and GM Kim Ng to an expiring contract, the Marlins could also face the imminent departures of Jorge Soler and Josh Bell, both of whom have opt-out clauses in their contracts.
Leading Off
Last Teams to Finish 10th? The 1968 Astros and Second-Edition Senators
By Andrew Sharp
Baseball traditionalists chafe at the current setup that allows six teams from each league to a chance to make the World Series. As in this post-season, the best regular-season teams won’t be there.
Yet it’s doubtful many fans would want a return to the first post-expansion era. From 1961 in the A.L. and ’62 in the N.L. through 1968 MLB teams had 15 opportunities to finish in 10th place. Six of the 20 teams fell to that hopeless depth.
When the American League expanded in 1961, a newly-created Senators franchise was given the possibility of doing what no A.L. or N.L. team had been able to do in the 20th Century: finish worse than eighth.
The expansion Senators took full advantage of the opportunity. Washington finished tied with Kansas City for last place in 1961, finished 10th alone in 1962 and ’63, before getting “Off the Floor in ’64” -- the laughingly-modest motto for that season – to finish ninth.
The expansion team slowly improved under Manager Gil Hodges, so it looked like its last-place days were over. Sorry, not so fast. Hodges left to manage the New York Mets after the ’67 season, and Jim Lemon, a slugger with the old Senators, took over.
Despite a stellar season from Frank Howard in what’s rightly known as the Year of the Pitcher, Washington had the dubious distinction of being the last A.L. team to finish 10th. The Houston Astros were the last 10th-place N.L. team, just a game behind the ninth-place Mets, who famously would win the ’69 World Series.
The Yankees -- two seasons removed from their fifth-straight trip to the World Series -- had finished 10th in 1966, a game behind the eighth-place Senators and half-a-game behind the ninth-place Red Sox. (Both the Senators and Yankees didn't bother making up three postponed games –- who cared? -- and played only 159.) As the Mets would do in ’69, the Red Sox rose from ninth to first in 1967.
The Mets finished 10th five times and ninth twice. Thanks to ’68, the Senators finished 10th for a third time, matching the Kansas City Athletics. The Senators and A’s both finished ninth twice. Other than the Astros, the Cubs were the only other team to finish 10th.
The ’68 Senators finished 65-96, just 1.5 games behind both Chicago and Los Angeles, (tied at 67-95, so there was no final A.L. ninth-place team). Both leagues split into two, six-team, divisions, as four expansion teams were added for 1969.
The ’68 Senators had much the same roster as the ’67 team, which won 11 more games. In looking at offensive performances, keep in mind that A.L. batters hit a collective .230 in 1968. The Senators as a team hit .224. The earned run average for all A.L. pitchers was 3.34; the Nats’ hurlers finished at 3.64.
The two most glaring offensive weaknesses were at shortstop and catcher. Weary of Ed Brinkman’s lack of production, Washington had traded for Ron Hansen in hopes of adding some pop to the lineup. Yet Hansen hit just .185 before the Senators traded him back to the White Sox at the beginning of August and went back to Brinkman, who hit .187. Catcher Paul Casanova slumped to .196. Backups Jim French and Billy Bryan hit .194 and .204 respectively, for a collective .197.
Howard’s .274 batting average ranked him in the top 10. His 44 homers led the league and his 106 RBIs ranked second. Third baseman Ken McMullen hit 20 homers and, given the league average, hit a respectable .248. The other regulars hit between .230 and .241.
Essentially, the ’68 Senators were not markedly worse than the league as a whole, but were just bad enough across the board to end up 10th and last one final time.
Andrew C. Sharp is a retired daily newspaper journalist from New Jersey and a SABR member who has written and edited several dozen BioProject and Games Project essays. He blogs about D.C. baseball at washingtonbaseballhistory.com
Cleaning Up
How Does Ford Frick Award Committee Decide On Its Nominees?
By Dan Schlossberg
When the Hall of Fame’s Veterans Committee — now called the Eras Committee — announces its annual ballot, strong cases can be made for every man listed.
Not so when the nominees for the Ford Frick Award are announced.
Unlike the non-player Eras Committee that released an eight-man ballot last week, the Ford Frick committee chose 10 candidates.
This year’s ballot is especially controversial.
Six candidates — Joe Castiglione, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Tom Hamilton, Duane Kuiper, and Ernie Johnson, Sr. — are holdovers from last year’s ballot, while four newcomers have been added in Joe Buck, Ken Korach, Mike Krukow, and Dan Schulman.
Nine of the nominees are still living and eight are still broadcasting.
Of the group, Joe Castiglione stands out because he’s been in the Boston booth for 41 years. And Joe Buck is there, perhaps riding the coattails of father Jack Buck, but also because he’s been on the air for 25 World Series.
But how could the selection committee nominate Ernie Johnson, Sr., who was never more than third in line behind Pete Van Wieren and Skip Caray in the Atlanta broadcast booth?
The trio was together on the TBS SuperStation when it beamed Braves games across the country — a stint that ended when Major League Baseball offered to include TBS in a new post-season package with ESPN and FOX.
Ernie, Sr. was with the Braves forever — as a pitcher and publicist before turning to broadcasting — but that doesn’t make him worthy of the Frick Award, which is supposed to be awarded for “excellence in broadcasting.”
Unlike the screamers and rooters in too many of today’s booths, Johnson was the personification of the low-key approach, with his broadcast style matching his humble and soft-spoken personality.
By contract, Van Wieren was the golden-voices “Professor” who was not only a polished broadcaster but a true baseball authority. He was arguably the best mic man on the air in every one of his 33 years on the air from 1976-2008.
The Cornell grad and one-time Binghamton weatherman, Van Wieren wrote a book called Of Mikes and Men. But he was much better in front of a microphone than he was in front of a computer.
While Caray provided comic relief with his wisecracks and often-sarcastic comments, Johnson played the same role in the booth that he did in the bullpen: steady but not spectacular relief.
In fact, Johnson’s main claim to fame was being the only man to witness five different four-homer games — by Gil Hodges (1950), Joe Adcock (1954), Rocky Colavito (1959), Willie Mays (1961), and Bob Horner (1986). Like Eddie Mathews and Donald Davidson, Johnson worked for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta.
This is no knock on Johnson, a truly nice man who never said a bad word about anyone. It’s just a reaction to the weak slate of candidates drafted for the 2024 Frick.
Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper? Jacques Doucet? Tom Hamilton? Gary Cohen? Dan Schulman? Ken Korach? As mentioned earlier, Castiglione stands head-and-shoulders over that sextet, as the Red Sox showed when they renamed their broadcast booth in his honor earlier this year.
As a network announcer, Buck can’t even compare, since he works once a week.
Only one winner will be selected, with a 15-member panel voting during the Nashville Winter Meetings in December. Maybe they can write in Pete Van Wieren’s name.
Pete, Skip & Ernie were a beloved trio when the team they covered was the Bad-News Braves. It’s high time to fix the injustice that continues to leave the top guy out in the cold.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ covers baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and many more outlets. He’s also written 41 books. Email ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
“The best way to catch Phil Niekro’s knuckleball is to wait til it stops rolling, then pick it up.”
— Former Braves catcher Bob Uecker on how to catch Niekro’s pet pitch
Phil and Joe Niekro won 539 games, more than the Deans, Perrys, Mathewsons or any other pair of baseball brothers . . .
Teammates with the Braves only in 1973-74, the Braves traded Joe to Houston, where he became the biggest winner in Astros history . . .
From 1980-87, Joe won 104 games, four more than his Hall of Fame brother . . .
Joe’s 5-4 lifetime mark against Phil included a one-run game in 1976 decided by the the only home run of Joe’s career . . .
When Phil went 11-1 down the stretch in 1982, his only defeat came at the hands of brother Joe. Phil finished the year with a 17-4 record and career-best .810 winning percentage that was an Atlanta record before Greg Maddux posted a .905 mark in 1995.
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.