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Pregame Pepper
Did you know ...
After starting 2020 spring training with a severe case of Covid-19, Atlanta first baseman (and NL MVP) Freddie Freeman hit career peaks with a .341 batting average, .462 on-base percentage, and .640 slugging mark – not to mention the sixth-best OPS (1.468) of all time with runners in scoring position . . .
Tom Seaver was the first active player included in a World Series broadcast crew (1977 and 1978) . . .
Forty-one future Hall of Famers were active during the 1993 season . . .
Should Sam Kingery join brother Scott in the majors, they will be the 11th set of twins to play in the big leagues, joining active pitchers Tyler Rogers (Twins) and Taylor Rogers (Giants).
Leading Off
Behind That Topps 1973 Terry Crowley Card
By Carl Aridas
I enjoy writing about baseball, and as an avid baseball card collector, I really enjoy trying to marry the two enjoyments to analyze cards in order to determine the date, play, and other details pictured on baseball cards in my collection. Inspired by Bruce Markusen, who wrote for years for the Hall of Fame and frequently tried to do the same for cards in the collection of the Hall of Fame, I have been able to focus my writing and research for Mets cards on Metserizedonline.com.
However, while trying to put together a complete 1973 set, I came across the card pictured below, card number 302 from the 1973 Topps set:
As we take our Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat off the peg on the wall and set it on our head to begin our detective work together, let's note that the scene depicted is Terry Crowley, as runner, is about to crash into Yankees catcher Thurman Munson in a day game at Yankee Stadium. Reviewing this great in-game action card, several questions leap to mind:
What was the date of action shown on the card?
Who had thrown the ball, seen just to the extreme right of the card?
Was Crowley safe or out?
Was either player injured?
Who won the game?
Who was the unseen umpire making the call?
A quick Google search revealed a great blog by Chris Stufflestreet at http://1973toppsphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/play-at-plate.html, in which the writer noted that because Munson is in pinstripes, the game was played at Yankee Stadium. Besides the uniform, not the blue box seats in the background which would also confirm Yankee Stadium was the venue of the play. As noted by Chris in his blog, the only game played at Yankee Stadium in 1972 that Crowley even reached past first was on June 29, and in that game Crowley had three plate appearances, walking twice and scoring twice and was therefore likely safe on the play.
However, let's do some of our own research and see if we agree that Crowley was safe. A review of the Schedule and Results page maintained on baseballreference.com does show that the Orioles played games at Yankee Stadium on June 28 and 29 of the 1972 season as well as from September 15 - 17. However, June 28 was a night game as was September 15, so those two dates can be safely eliminated. A check of the box scores for each of the remaining three games shows that Crowley did not play on September 17, and on September 16, Crowley reached base only once and was pinch-run for in the top of the fifth after being hit by a pitch, so that game can be eliminated as well.
With four of the five possible games eliminated, it certainly does seem that Chris's blog is correct that the game pictured on the card is from the June 29th game at Yankee Stadium.
A careful review of the box score and Play by Play reveals a different play, however.
In the top of the first inning, Crowley scored from third on a single to left field by Brooks Robinson, so that play could not be the play at the plate shown on this card. In the top of the third inning, Crowley was again on third when he scored on a wild pitch by Mel Stottlemyre.
Note the ball shown here is on the right side of the card and Munson is at home blocking the plate, which he would not have been able to do on a wild pitch. In the fifth inning, Crowley was once again on third with Boog Powell on first and no one out when Brooks Robinson hit a ball to Yankee third baseman Celerino Sanchez. Forgoing the double-play, Sanchez threw home with the Yankees leading 4-3 and Crowley was out at home. We can safely conclude this is the play depicted on the card, as Crowley was pinch-hit for in the seventh inning.
The Yankees held on for the 4-3 victory that day, meaning that without the throw home the outcome could have been different in that game. The unseen home-plate umpire who ruled Crowley out was Merle Anthony.
Thurman Munson played the entire game on the 29th and played the next day as well against the Indians, and Crowley played the next game against the Tigers, so neither player was injured on the play pictured forever in card number 302 of the 1973 Topps set.
With our detective work complete, we can hang our deerstalker hat back on the wall and remember each of the players depicted.
Terry Crowley played for the Orioles from 1969 to 1973 and returned to the team and played with them from 1976–1982. A first baseman and outfielder, Crowley excelled as a pinch-hitter during his career, with 108 career pinch-hits during his career.
In 865 games across 15 big-league seasons, Crowley hit .250/.345/.375, good for an OPS+ of 104, totaling 2.2 bWAR.
By far the more famous of the two players depicted, Thurman Munson was a seven-time All-Star in his 11 big-league seasons, with a .292/.346/.410 triple slash line, good for an OPS+ of 116 and a bWAR of 46.
The 1976 AL MVP, Munson was killed in a private plane crash on August 2, 1979. That was all in the future at the time this card was being collected in the summer of 1973.
In the late summer of 1973, Munson was a previous AL ROY who had earned his second All-Star selection and was on his way to his first Gold Glove while hitting a career-high 20 home runs. Perhaps holding onto the ball in the play depicted to preserve the slim one-run lead was a help in earning that first Gold Glove.
E.mail the author at carlaridas@gmail.com.
Cleaning Up
Pandemic Won’t Relinquish Its Grip On Game
By Dan Schlossberg
One step forward and two steps back.
Every day, the print and broadcast news is dominated by the pandemic, the “gift” that just won’t stop giving.
That’s especially true in Major League Baseball, which has tightened the protective vice on its uniformed personnel and made the separation between players and fans even wider – with no end in sight.
Teams desperately need to recoup the game-day revenue responsible for more than 40 percent of their incomes but are only allowed to admit 25 percent of fans – even to spring-training games in Florida, a state that disdains regulations of any kind.
Anxious to prevent exposure by reducing travel, MLB has revamped March game schedules, confining teams to specific geographic areas. As a result, the Yankees won’t play the Mets or Red Sox but will play the Phillies eight times and the Blue Jays and Tigers seven times each, plus three games apiece against the pitiful Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles.
For the first two weeks of exhibition play, games can be shortened at will to seven or even five innings and managers can pull their teams off the field before three outs are recorded if their pitchers have exceeded their daily pitch quotas. Fans, of course, still have to pay for a full game even though they probably won’t see one. Even those on the berm will be kept six feet apart by chalk lines drawn on the grass.
Uniformed personnel are prohibited from signing autographs, engaging in face-to-face arguments with umpires, or even leaving their living quarters. Many players, coaches, and managers wear masks during games. For them, road trips on lockdown are no longer fun.
Things are even worse for media people – even those lucky enough to nab coveted credentials from publicists who guard them like deposits for Fort Knox.
The media dining room at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the winter home of the Yankees, was closed Sunday while the team played its first exhibition game.
The broadcast booth at jetBlue Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, sat empty on a sunny, 84-degree day at Fort Myers, leaving broadcasters Jerry Remy and Dave O’Brien to do a remote broadcast from the cozy confines of a studio in Watertown, MA, where it was 50 degrees colder.
Writers who usually can’t wait to come to spring training didn’t show up this year, realizing they would not have access to the field, dugout, or clubhouse.
With all interviews done by Zoom, competing newspapers wound up with identical features on a daily basis. The New York Post and Bergen (NJ) Record are prime examples of what happens when reporters on the same Zoom call aren’t creative enough to come up with independent journalism on their own. Why bother reading both when they only cover the local teams and ignore the other 28?
Fans normally excited by the arrival of spring training and the coming season were somewhat skeptical before MLB announced the installation of plexiglass shields between the dugouts and the stands. They’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, for virus outbreaks to shut down players and teams the same way they did last year.
Already, the roster of players who have visited the Covid injured list this spring include the American League’s defending Most Valuable Player, Jose Abreu, and the Cy Young Award winner, Shane Bieber.
The Toronto Blue Jays won’t even go home when spring training ends. They’ll stay put in their Dunedin, FL spring training complex and open the season there. With capacity limited to 25% in a facility that holds a fraction of Rogers Centre, the Jays won’t come close to getting the game-day revenue they need to pay George Springer, Marcus Semien, Kirby Yates, and their other high-priced additions.
Tickets for spring training games sold out in a New York minute. In fact, the Atlanta Braves could not even accommodate their 2,000 spring training season ticket-holders because per-game attendance was limited to 1,800.
The same will be true once the 2021 season starts.
Reports vary on when or if restrictions will be lifted but it might not happen before the All-Star break – which is why Derek Jeter’s July 25 Hall of Fame Induction has already been moved indoors.
Cardboard cutouts were a novelty but now they’re a nuisance. Players want fans back and they might even be willing to sign autographs again – if baseball, health, and government officials will let them.
Former AP sportswriter Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ has been covering baseball since 1969. He is weekend editor of Here’s The Pitch, national baseball writer for forbes.com, and contributor to Sports Collectors Digest, USA Today Baseball Weekly, and Latino Sports. E.mail him at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
The Corey Kluber signing put the Yankees within $10 million of the $210 million luxury tax threshold . . .
Rookie catcher Joey Bart, a Georgia Tech product, is the heir apparent to Buster Posey in San Francisco but also the most-requested Giant in trade talks . . .
At 26, Kansas City’s Andrew Benintendi is still young enough to resurrect his career . .
Underrated Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro threw more innings after age 40 (1,977) than any other pitcher and the most innings (5,404) of any pitcher who made his debut in the lively ball era that started in 1920 . . .
After posting a 1.95 ERA in six regular-season starts, Atlanta rookie Ian Anderson joined Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson as the only pitchers to throw at least four scoreless innings in each of their first three postseason starts.
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.