Reconsidering The Term "Breaking News"
ALSO: BASEBALL TRADES THAT TILTED THE CREDIBILITY SCALE
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know ...
The Mets had a .432 winning percentage in 2017 when Brodie Van Wagenen went from player agent to general manager and a .433 mark before he was fired in 2020 . . .
Deion Sanders was the first athlete to appear in both the World Series and the Super Bowl . . .
In the history of the Braves franchise, the only man to hit a grand-slam in the World Series was Lonnie Smith . . .
Padres pitcher Steve Arlin went 10-21 in 1972 but somehow managed to pick 11 runners off second base.
Leading Off
Rethinking “breaking news”: a mindfulness approach
By Michelle Frost
As a baseball writer, I need to know what’s going on in the world of baseball. Sure, but to what extent?
Like almost everyone these days on social media, I struggle with FOMO. “They signed Tatis to a 20-year deal while I overslept? Argh!”
Lately, while hunkered down at home during the pandemic, I’ve had more than enough time to reevaluate how I consume news. My conclusion was that it was time for a different, simpler approach.
Here’s how my new plan is taking shape. As with most change, it’s a work in progress.
1. Know my lane. Notice that I didn’t say “stay in my lane.” Although my baseball writing focuses on the fan experience, that doesn’t mean I won’t read articles from an analytics perspective. But I’m selective, and I don’t feel compelled to keep up with everything, especially if the topic is not in my wheelhouse.
2. Reorganize my Twitter feed. If you look at my Twitter profile, you’ll see that I “follow” over 1,700 people. However (and please don’t tell them), I don’t really. Instead, I use Twitter’s “List” feature to organize my follows. I have a List for “newsbreakers” that includes Jeff Passan, Ken Rosenthal, and my local Padres beat writers for The Athletic and The San Diego Union-Tribune. I have another List for “baseball friends” with whom I regularly interact.
3. Notifications usually off. The Padres have been very active this off-season, but I’ve managed to keep my notifications set to “off.”
Sure, I was a couple of hours late finding out about the finalization of the Yu Darvish trade, but I was okay with that. It was actually kind of fun to see the unfolding of reactions in my social media feeds, and then I just jumped onto the celebratory bandwagon. I wasn’t there for the beginning of the party, but “fashionably late” felt a lot better than FOMO.
4. Mindful consumption. Scrolling our Twitter feeds or deep-diving into longer articles can be exhaustive and numbing. One of the ways to avoid this is to make conscious, mindful decisions (often very quickly) as to which storylines to pursue. Doing so, in my experience, requires a combination of trust in your own instincts and being clear about the types of information that are congruent with your POV as a writer. Think of it as a groundball that is angling between third and short. Do you snag the ball yourself or leave it for your teammate who is better positioned for the play? Ask yourself: “Is this my ball?”
Having explained my approach to baseball news, I’m very interested in hearing yours. If you click on Comment below (or send me an email), I promise that I’ll answer “Yes, this is my ball,” and we’ll have a dialogue.
Michelle Frost, also known as Padres Geekster, writes for The Kept Faith, a San Diego sports content provider. Her focuses are the fan experience and shared connections in the baseball community. Contact her at mfrost615@yahoo.com and follow her on Twitter, @PadresGeekster, and IG, PadresGeekster.
Cleaning Up
Baseball Trades Have Ranged From Practical To Implausible
By Dan Schlossberg
With the free-agent market frozen by team financial concerns, trades have dominated the baseball news of the off-season.
Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco, and Amed Rosario are among those on the move so far, with more expected to follow – maybe even Nolan Arenado or Kris Bryant.
But none of those moves can top the craziness of years past, when players were traded for managers, some were dealt for themselves, and others were moved for property or even food.
Just before the 1960 season opened, for example, the Cleveland Indians traded popular slugger Rocky Colavito to the Detroit Tigers for singles hitter Harvey Kuenn. Nothing unusual about a one-for-one deal in most cases, but this was the only one swapping the reigning home run king for the defending batting champ. Female fans who idolized the handsome Colavito burned Indians GM Frank (Trader) Lane in effigy.
But that didn’t stop him: a few months later, the same teams traded managers: Cleveland’s Joe Gordon for Detroit’s Jimmie Dykes.
Six years later, in 1966, the Giants traded Orlando Cepeda to the Cardinals for Ray Sadecki. Three years passed and the Cards sent Cepeda to the Braves for Joe Torre. In 1974, to complete the cycle, the Cards shipped Torre to the Mets for Sadecki. At least St. Louis got MVP seasons from Cepeda (1967) and Torre (1971).
The Mets always seem to get in the middle of trading madness. At the 1977 Baseball Winter Meetings in Hawaii, they were part of a four-team trade that involved future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven. The swap sent Willie Montanez from Atlanta to Texas for Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs, and Eddie Miller. Then Texas moved Montanez, Tom Grieve, and Ken Henderson to the Mets for Jon Matlack and also sent Blyleven to Pittsburgh for Al Oliver and Nelson Norman. As part of the deal, the Mets also shipped John Milner to the Pirates. Got that?
Chuck Tanner, manager of the Pirates at the time, was there only after Oakland owner Charlie Finley traded him, plus $100,000 in cash, to Pittsburgh for catcher Manny Sanguillen on Nov. 5, 1976. There was precedent: on Nov. 27, 1967, the Mets – that team again – had acquired Washington manager Gil Hodges, a player for the 1962 expansion Mets, for pitcher Bill Denehy and $100,000.
The first significant trade involving a manager occurred after the 1926 season, when the St. Louis Cardinals sent player-manager Rogers Hornsby to the New York Giants for Frankie Frisch, another future Hall of Famer, and Jimmy Ring. The Cards had just won their first World Championship, beating Babe Ruth’s New York Yankees, but Giants manager John McGraw was hot for Hornsby, whose abrasive personality ended his New York honeymoon after a year.
Many other Hall of Famers have been involved in trades – some of them too strange to believe.
Cy Young was once swapped from Canton to the Cleveland Spiders, an early major-league team, for a $250 suit. Lefty Grove was moved from Martinsburg, W.Va. to the minor-league Baltimore Orioles for an outfield fence. And Tris Speaker’s contract was transferred from the Boston Red Sox (nee Americans) to Little Rock of the Southern Association as payment for Boston’s use of the Arkansas spring training camp in 1908. That swap contained a clause that if Speaker developed, the Sox could buy him back for $500 – which they did.
Even the notorious sale of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees contained a strange provision: a $350,000 personal loan to Boston owner Harry Frazee that he guaranteed with the deed to Fenway Park!
Years later, future Hall of Famer Dave Winfield was also involved in a deal that did not produce a return of players. The Minnesota Twins sent Winfield to Cleveland for a player to be named later before the Aug. 31 deadline for waiver trades. But a player strike had started and Commissioner Bud Selig canceled the postseason – as well as Cleveland’s playoff hopes. As a substitute, Indians executives took Twins executives out to dinner. At least that was better than a box of prunes!
Plenty of otherwise-forgettable players are also remembered today for what they brought in trade:
Jack Fenton for a box of prunes, Euel Moore for a plate of beans, Mike Dondero for a dozen doughnuts, Charlie (Greek) George for a set of golf clubs, Johnny Jones for a chunky turkey, and Joe Martina for two barrels of oysters – resulting in his lifetime nickname of Oyster Joe.
When the 1905 Detroit Tigers couldn’t pay rent on their Augusta, GA spring training field, they settled their debt by transferring Eddie Cicotte – of later Black Sox notoriety – to the minor-league club. The 1913 St. Louis Browns did the same, leaving rookie Clyde (Buzzy) Wares in Montgomery, AL.
After the baseball winter meetings one year, an owner who spent too much money at the bar couldn’t pay his hotel bill. So he sold one of his pitchers to raise enough cash to cover that tab and have enough left for train fare too.
The late Ernie Harwell, who wrote songs and articles when he wasn’t announcing big-league games, loved to tell a tale about Willie Hudlin, a 14-year veteran with Cleveland who later became part-owner of the Little Rock Travelers. Still pitching because of wartime manpower shortages in 1944, Hudlin traded himself to the St. Louis Browns in mid-season. He pitched just two innings and picked up a loss but the Browns won their only pennant and Hudlin pocketed a World Series share. That winter, realizing his big-league career was over, he sold himself back to Little Rock.
Four years later, Harwell himself was involved in a weird swap. He was announcing Atlanta Crackers games in the minors when Brooklyn executive Branch Rickey came through town on a barnstorming swing. Rickey heard Harwell, called Crackers owner Earl Mann what it would take to get Harwell. Mann needed a catcher, so Rickey moved Cliff Dapper from Montreal, a Dodger farm club, to Atlanta in exchange for Harwell’s contract.
The move must have worked: Harwell and Rickey are both in the Hall of Fame.
Harry Chiti isn’t but his name lives on in trade lore. The original Mets – there’s that team again – thought so little of him that they traded him to Cleveland for a player to be named later. Two months later, when it came time for the Indians to pay up, they sent Chiti back to Flushing. His career suffered a similar fate.
At least Kerry Ligtenberg had some decent seasons. Pitching for the independent Minneapolis Loons in the Prairie League, he was making $650 a month when his fortunes changes. Greg Olson, a one-time Atlanta catcher then managing the independent club, thought Ligtenberg could provide much-needed relief for the Braves. He contacted assistant GM Dean Taylor, who asked what he wanted in return. Needing equipment, the team landed 12 dozen balls and two dozen bats. Ligtenberg, just short of an engineering degree from the University of Minnesota, made 254 appearances, all in relief, over the next five seasons.
Sometimes a good trade can be a big relief for both sides.
HERE’S THE PITCH Weekend Editor Dan Schlossberg, a former AP sportswriter, is the author of 38 books, including The New Baseball Bible: Notes, Nuggets, Lists, and Legends From Our National Pastime (Sports Publishing, 2020). Dan writes for forbes.com, Ball Nine, Sports Collectors Digest, Latino Sports, and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. His e.mail address is ballauthor@gmail.com and his Twitter handle is @braves1.
Timeless Trivia
Chipper Jones became a switch-hitter because he copied his idol, Mickey Mantle . . .
Lefty Gomez gave up the most walks ever allowed during a no-hitter (11) . . .
Bobo Newsom, who pitched 20 years in the majors, lost 20 games three times . . .
Long-time Red Sox organist John Kiley, who also played the instrument for the Bruins and Celtics, got his job after BoSox owner Tom Yawkey heard him play for radio station WMEX, whose studio was located in the same building as the Red Sox ticket office (corner of Jersey Street and Brookline Avenue).
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Brian Harl [bchrom831@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.
hi im the guy in the photo overlooking the 1992 all star game .im the one adjusting the tv set at hawley point .marvin dupre ./dupre.snd1@gmail.com.heard miss frost was wrighting an article about that memorable evening.