Surprising League Leaders Of The '60s
PLUS: BRIAN KENNY INTERVIEWS HtP'S WEEKEND EDITOR ON MLB NETWORK SHOW
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
The Baltimore Orioles know what it’s like to waste $5.25 million. That’s what they gave over-the-hill veteran Kyle Gibson, who gave them 12 1/3 innings, 23 earned runs allowed, a 16.78 ERA, and a -1.1 bWAR since April 29. Free-agent pitchers who also signed one-year deals but for the same or less money than Gibson were:
Andrew Heaney ($5.25M, Pirates) — 3-4, 3.41 ERA, 1.3 bWAR
Martín Pérez ($5M, White Sox) — 1-1, 3.15 ERA, 0.6 bWAR (now on 60-day IL)
Colin Rea ($5M, Cubs) — 3-1, 3.28 ERA, 0.4 bWAR
Jose Quintana ($4M, Brewers) — 4-1, 2.65 ERA, 0.9 bWAR (rehabbing injury)
Patrick Corbin ($1.1M, Rangers) — 3-3, 3.75 ERA, 0.3 bWAR
Although the Atlanta Braves have solid pitching, their offense thus far has been downright offensive: just days ago, Atlanta ranked 13th in the NL in runs scored, with only the Rockies and Pirates scoring less often. Entering their Thursday twinbill in Philadelphia, the Braves had four regulars with an OPS below .700, including three-time All-Star second baseman Ozzie Albies (.654) and center fielder Michael Harris II (.587), both considered major lineup pieces but performing well short of expectations. To compound the felony, third baseman Austin Riley, who received MVP votes in three of the past four seasons, had produced an OPS of just .752 as the season chugged past the Memorial Day mile marker. Overall, Atlanta's 2-5 hitters had a .631 OPS with runners in scoring position . . .
On the plus side, defending Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale — after a slow start — has become the fastest pitcher in baseball history to reach 2,500 strikeouts . . .
Now that blue-chip rookie AJ Smith-Shawver probably needs elbow surgery, the Braves are likely to bring back Bryce Elder, a 2023 All-Star who pitched well earlier this season, though 2021 World Series hero Ian Anderson is also a possibility . . .
Jose Azocar, a speed-and-defense outfielder most recently with the Mets, has replaced the injured Stuart Fairchild (finger) on the Atlanta roster.
Leading Off
Surprising League Leaders of the 1960s
By Paul Semendinger, Ed.D.
A few weeks ago, I shared a list of some lesser-known players who led their leagues in various categories in the 1970s. I began to wonder if there were some similar "one-year wonders" from the 1960s.
It wasn't a surprise that I found a few.
While the following players are not remembered as stars today, for one season at least, they were something special:
Ernie Broglio, 1960 N.L. Wins Leader, Tie (21) - Warren Spahn also won 21 games in 1960. Broglio went 7-12 in 1959. In 1961, he went 9-12. In between, he won 20 games for the only time in his career, going 21-9.
Frank Baumann, 1960 A.L. ERA Champ (2.67) - This was the only time in his eleven-year career that Baumann led the league in a positive pitching category. The next season, he led the league in allowing the most earned runs.
Jake Wood, 1961 A.L. Triples Leader (14): A second baseman, Jake Wood played in 162 games for the Detroit Tigers in 1961. He led the leagues in triples and strikeouts. He batted .258. The next season, he played in 111 games. Wood would play five more seasons. Over those remaining seasons, he would hit a grand total of 12 triples.
Ray Herbert, 1963 A.L. Leader in Shutouts (7) - Across a 14-year career, Ray Herbert threw 13 shutouts. More than half of them came in this one special season. It is said that he gave up the longest home run (to Mickey Mantle) in the history of Yankee Stadium.
Don Wert, 1964 A.L. Leader in Games Played, Tie (162): Don Wert did play for 9 seasons, and he did play a lot of games in that time, but he was an iron man in 1964 as the Tigers played him in all 162 games. In 1964, Wert hit an underwhelming .261/12/53. Primarily a third baseman, Wert's skills were as a defender. In 1965, he placed 10th in the MVP voting. (Rocky Colavito and Ron Hansen also played in 162 games in 1965.)
Lee Maye, 1964 N.L. Doubles Leader (44) - Lee Maye played for 13 seasons from 1969 through 1971. Lee May played for 18 seasons from 1965 through 1982. Lee Maye led the league in an offensive category just once, with 44 doubles in 1964. Lee May led the A.L. in runs batted in with 109 in 1976.
Deron Johnson, 1965 N.L. RBI Leader (130) - Across a long 16-year career, Johnson was never an All-Star. He never led the league in any category, save for 1965 when he drove home an amazing 130 runs. This was the only season when he reached 100 or more RBIs.
Jack Aker, 1966 A.L. Saves Leader (32) - Aker played for six teams across 11 seasons but 1966 was his best year. That was the only time he ever saved 30 or more games, or even 20 or more games. The next-best saves total of his career was 17, accumulated in 1972. It's a shame, he didn't know at the time that he was a league leader.
Minnie Rojas, 1967 A.L. Saves Leader (27) - Rojas played for only three seasons but in one of them, he led the league in saves. Unfortunately for Rojas and Jack Aker (above), the save did not become an official statistic until 1969.
Del Unser, 1969 A.L. Triples Leader (9): Unser played for 15 seasons but ‘69 was the only time he ever led the league in any statistical category. Unser had been the runner-up for Rookie of the Year in 1968. His career lasted into the 1980s.
Fred Gladding, 1969 N.L. Saves Leader (29) - With saves now as an official statistic, Fred Gladding paced the league. Across his 13-year career, that was the only time he would lead the league in saves. It was also the only time he had more than 18 in any season.
Paul Semendinger has authored many books including From Compton to the Bronx (with Roy White) and The Least Among Them. Paul has also been published by SABR and the IBWAA on some great anthologies of baseball. In addition to his writing, he still plays baseball too. Thus far he is 2-0 on the season as a starting pitcher and wonders daily why the Yankees don't call him to the big leagues.
Cleaning Up
Baseball Book Author Enjoys MLB Network Interview
By Dan Schlossberg
Years ago, when I worked for a New York travel PR firm called M. Silver Associates, one of my fellow account executives asked, “What’s the best publicity you can get for a client?”
“Television,” I blurted, trying to think fast on my feet.
But my colleague said, “How about a movie?”
“That would be great,” I said.
“Not always,” the other guy answered.
It turns out that his client was the Tamarron Resort — a plush mountain property in Durango, CO — but that the name of the movie was Avalanche.
I could figure out the rest.
But I still believe television is a great way of getting publicity, especially if it’s accompanied by rebroadcast on radio.
I was therefore thrilled when Chris Lucas, in publicizing my newest book, told me I’d been invited to appear on Brian Kenny’s MLB Now on MLB Network for an eight-minute live interview.
When I reached the Secaucus studio, less than a half-hour’s drive from my Bergen County home, I immediately ran into someone I recognized going the other way.
Mark DeRosa, a fellow New Jersey native who is now an MLB Network mainstay and will soon manage Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, was headed out the door, perhaps to lunch or perhaps to a ballpark to garner interviews.
Ushered inside, I waited in the network’s version of The Green Room, encountered a female makeup artist who literally powdered my nose, and was soon called into Studio 42, located in a building adjacent to the main headquarters of MLB Network.
Wired with an earpiece plus a small microphone placed under my sports jacket by one of numerous studio techies, I was ushered to a table with two stools and placed on the left side so that Kenny could sit on my right.
I’d be on with him before and also signed books together during Hall of Fame Induction Weekend in Cooperstown so Brian was not exactly a stranger.
Plus I had provided a dozen talking points plus pictures they could use as background, including one that included Aaron, Jimmy Carter, and me at age 25. It was taken in the Braves’ clubhouse during a September 1973 rain delay. Carter, then governor of Georgia, would soon announce a long-shot run for president, highlighted by an Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline that read “Jimmy Carter Is Running For WHAT?”
The 8-minute video segment went quickly, mainly because both Brian Kenny and I are fast talkers whose minds are filled with all kinds of baseball information — including oddities and ironies. We even talked about the College of Head Coaches deployed by the Chicago Cubs for five years before owner Phil Wrigley gave up the novel but unhelpful concept.
Given that my segment was so short, Kenny did a great job of establishing that my book is both a coffee-table and a bathroom book; that it is the latest in more than a dozen updates since appearing as The Baseball Catalog in 1980; and that it contains a huge assortment of artwork and photography, much of it never previously published.
When it was over, we shook hands and he continued his show. Then I got a parting gift when I turned on my Sirius XM Satellite car radio and heard my section of his show repeated as I was driving home.
So it might not have been a movie but my experience was certainly better than Avalanche. If they ever make a film about The New Baseball Bible, it might be called Everything You Wanted to Know About Baseball But Were Afraid To Ask.
Woody Allen, for one, should love the title.
HtP weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ writes baseball for forbes.com, Memories & Dreams, USA TODAY Sports Weekly, Sports Collectors Digest, and many other outlets. His email is ballauthor@gmail.com.
Extra Innings
Even though it clearly says GUARDIANS on the picture, Jon Heyman called the team Indians in the Friday caption under the Emmanuel Clase picture pasted in the middle of his “Inside MLB” column in the New York Post . . .
In the same column, he rates the Detroit Tigers as the AL’s top team but notes they only have two players — Javier Baez and Colt Keith — under contract beyond this season . . .
Explaining his reasoning, the veteran scribe writes, “Stark improvements by former No. 1 overall picks Spencer Torkelson and Casey Mize plus Baez, who could lock up Comeback Player of the Year by June, highlight a great story” . . .
Looming large in the Tiger cage is the stalled contract negotiations between defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, a pending free agent pursuing a record deal for a pitcher, and club management . . .
Skubal won’t be traded but relievers who could be moved by the trade deadline — with Alexis Diaz already dealt from the Reds to the Dodgers — include Raisel Iglesias (Braves), Mason Miller (Athletics), and Jeff Hoffman (Blue Jays).
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Benjamin Chase [gopherben@gmail.com] handles the Monday issue with Dan Freedman [dfreedman@lionsgate.com] editing Tuesday and Jeff Kallman [easyace1955@outlook.com] at the helm Wednesday and Thursday. Original editor Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com], does the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Former editor Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] is now co-director [with Benjamin Chase and Jonathan Becker] of the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America, which publishes this newsletter and the annual ACTA book of the same name. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HtP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.