Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Tag: Willie Mays

Duke Snider holds a major NL record that no one talks about

Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak is one of the most hallowed records in baseball history, even though most fans today weren’t alive to see him play. 

But we live in an era with a greater appreciation for getting on base by any means necessary. So while an all-time on-base streak hasn’t built up the cachet of DiMaggio’s 56, it’s worth calling out who holds that record.

In the American League, the titan of touching first is Ted Williams, who reached base 84 straight games in 1949. In fact, Williams owns two of the top three streaks, with his 73-game streak in 1941-42 coming just behind the 74-gamer by DiMaggio that includes his hitting streak.  

In the National League, this underrated record is held by none other than Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider of the Dodgers, who reached base in 58 consecutive games from May 13 through July 11, 1954.

Snider broke a record of 56 consecutive games held by two fellow Hall of Famers — Roger Bresnahan (1904) and Snider’s future Dodger teammate Arky Vaughan (1936).

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Quick game couldn’t slow Scully storytelling, with one day to go

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By Jon Weisman

Hardly standing on the ceremony of Vin Scully’s penultimate broadcast, the Dodgers and Giants raced through their game today in 2:15, the Dodgers’ fifth-shortest game this year.

But that didn’t stop Vin from weaving several stories into his call. One began with him commenting on the beauty of the setting at AT&T Park.

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Video: Vin Scully wishes Willie Mays a happy 85th

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WillieMays13By Jon Weisman

Baseball legend Willie Mays turns 85 today. Mays was always a favorite of Vin Scully, and Scully taped a birthday greeting that is more than just platitudes — it’s a celebration of greatness.

Scully’s praise for Mays is for good reason, and not just for his legendary catches. If you haven’t looked at Mays’ stats recently, or recollected anything beyond his 660 home runs, take a moment to refresh.

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Remembering ’65: Tied!

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By Jon Weisman

“Breathing defiance in the face of the Giants’ seemingly insurmountable lead,” wrote Frank Finch in the September 24 edition of the Times, “the doughty Dodgers face the Cardinals tonight to open their final homestand of the gruelling, grinding National League campaign.”

Already, the Dodgers had made progress, trimming a 4 1/2-game deficit to two games. But their defiance was matched, and then some, by the Giants, according to UPI.

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Remembering ’65: After tense week for Dodgers, Koufax survives rough All-Star outing

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remembering-65-vertical-v1-grassBy Jon Weisman

Fifty years ago at the All-Star Game, Willie Mays (not Mike Trout) dominated from the plate, and Sandy Koufax (not Clayton Kershaw) had his struggles in his fifth consecutive All-Star year.

The difference: Koufax sneaked away with the victory.

As John Hall of the Times reported, when Koufax entered the game in the bottom of the sixth with the score tied, 5-5, his first seven pitches missed the strike zone. He needed to strike out Jimmie Hall with two on and two out to escape his only inning of work.

In the top of the seventh, Mays led off with a walk, went to third on a Hank Aaron single and scored the winning run on Ron Santo’s infield hit, all off “Sudden” Sam McDowell. That made Koufax the winning pitcher.

“Sandy looked a little sheepish when he was congratulated,” Hall wrote.

Koufax, however, was proud of one thing at the All-Star Break.

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Jackie Robinson explains how the Dodgers missed out on Willie Mays

Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers (L) congratulates New York Giant Willie Mays, after the Giants beat the Dodgers 7 to 1, capturing the 1954 National League pennant.  (American Academy of Achievement)

Jackie Robinson congratulates Willie Mays after the Giants clinched the 1954 National League pennant with a 7-1 victory over the Dodgers on September 20. (American Academy of Achievement)

By Jon Weisman

It’s often been told how the Dodgers let Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente slip through their grasp, but while it’s no secret, the tale of how Willie Mays could have been a Dodger is less well known. Here’s Jackie Robinson’s version, as written by Frank Finch in the June 6, 1965 edition of the Times:

Jackie Robinson, here to telecast the game for ABC, was telling friends about the time he first was given a “chance” to break the color barrier in baseball. “Sam Jethroe and I worked out with the Boston Red Sox in 1945 while we were with the Kansas City Monarchs. They took our names and phone numbers, but we never heard from them. I signed with Mr. (Branch) Rickey later that year.”

Jackie says the Dodgers blew a chance to land Willie Mays when he was a 16-year-old phenom with the Birmingham Black Barons. “The Dodger players were much impressed with Mays when we played an exhibition game with the Barons,” said Jackie. “The front office in Brooklyn was contracted, but Wid Mathews, Mr. Rickey’s assistant, turned down Willie because Wid said he couldn’t hit a curve ball.”

More is written about Matthews at the SABR Baseball Biography Project. The game against Mays would have taken place shortly after Robinson broke in with the Dodgers in 1947. Mays, of course, broke in with the Giants in 1951.

Below, here’s a snapshot of Mays with Tommy Lasorda while the pair were playing in Cuba.

Tommy and Willie Mays in Cuba

Approximate translation:

Two new “Scorpions”

Willie Mays, outfielder who has brought the “Almendares” (old Cuban League team that represented the Almendares district of Habana) to replace Williams marching ahead. He appears with another defensive player(?) in the blue jersey, Tom Lasorda, who was left of the payroll of Marianao (another Cuban baseball team that represented the Marianao district in Habana) despite that he has four wins and two losses. His lack of control was the reason for his release from the Marianao team. In 51 2/3 innings, he’s given up 54 walks.

Remembering ’65: Marichal threatens Drysdale, Drysdale blows bubbles

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juan_marichalBy Jon Weisman

Nearly three months before his fateful encounter with Dodger catcher Johnny Roseboro, Giants righty Juan Marichal of the Giants “declared war on Don Drysdale.”

According to Frank Finch of the Times, the challenge came following a “knockdown” pitch Drysdale allegedly threw at Willie Mays in a series-opening game against San Francisco.

After Mays flied out to end the top of the eighth inning of that April 29 game, Drysdale then led off the bottom of the eighth inning and was plunked by Giants reliever Bobby Bolin, but that didn’t satisfy Marichal.

“For five years I’ve been here (in the NL) I’ve seen too much of this,” said Marichal.

“Drysdale has hit Felipe Alou, Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda. I’m not saying he tried deliberately to hit them, but he has too good control to be so far off the plate.

“Next time, if he’s pitching against me and he comes close — we’ll see what happens. He’ll get it. And real good, too.

drysdale_pitch_high_frontDrysdale’s repsonse? Finch wrote that the Dodger righty “promised to plug four Giants for every time Marichal hits him.” But Drysdale also felt that Mays’ style of bailing out confused the issue.

“I don’t say Willie is putting on an act when he goes down, it’s just his way of getting out of the way,” Drysdale told Times columnist Sid Ziff. “John Roseboro, for instance, will stand there and move his chin. But in the same situation, Willie will go down. I’d say, he is the hardest in the world to hit.”

Added Ziff: “I wouldn’t say Drysdale was exactly upset by the threat, but when he blew on his bubble gum, the bubbles came out the size of beach balls.”

For what it’s worth, in 46 innings against the Giants in 1965, Drysdale didn’t hit a single batter with a pitch. And after April 29, the Giants didn’t hit Drysdale either.

In 243 career plate appearances against Drysdale, Mays was hit by two pitches.

The Marichal-Roseboro incident would take place August 22, though the players eventually made peace.

The Giants and Dodgers, 30 years ago

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By Jon Weisman

In 1984, KTTV Channel 11 took this look at the history of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry. Among the incidents that don’t get as much attention these days are the 1971 brawl that had echoes of the famous Juan Marichal-Johnny Roseboro calamity, with Mays and Marichal once again pivotal figures, and a 1978 outfield collision at Candlestick Park that triggered a bizarre finish.

For what it’s worth, the next batter after that 1971 brawl, Willie Davis, hit a two-run home run.

Here’s a more recent picture of Elaine Perkins, who introduces the video above.

Rubby De La Rosa to join Lilly in rehab assignment

Dodgers at Giants, 1:05 p.m.
Kershaw CXXXVIII: Kershamen Corner
Mark Ellis, 2B
Juan Rivera, LF
Matt Kemp, CF
Andre Ethier, RF
Hanley Ramirez, 3B
James Loney, 1B
Luis Cruz, SS
A.J. Ellis, C
Clayton Kershaw, P

Just shy of the anniversary of his August 9 Tommy John surgery, Dodger righty Rubby De La Rosa is scheduled to pitch his first rehabilitation outing today for Class A Rancho Cucamonga – along with lefty Ted Lilly, reports Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.

De La Rosa would be a candidate to pitch out of the bulllpen sometime in the season’s final two months, before re-emerging as a starting rotation candidate in 2013. The 23-year-old last appeared in a game July 31.

Elsewhere …

  • Nathan Eovaldi is undefeated as a Miami Marlin after allowing one run in 5 1/3 innings to the Padres on Saturday. From Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald:

    … “His stuff was electric,” said catcher John Buck, who was behind the plate. “His fastball jumped out of his hand. His location was good, not afraid to throw in on either side of the plate. He threw a cutter pretty good [Saturday], and this was only his second game throwing it. What I saw today was pretty nasty.”

    Buck said that in his nine years of catching he’s encountered only one other pitcher who, when going over the scouting reports for opposing hitters, seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

    “That was Zack Greinke,” Buck said. “For a young guy, that’s a big step.” …

  • Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven has a couple of fun posts, including a link to Tommy Lasorda telling Jeremy Rosenberg of KCET about his move to Los Angeles and another featuring an interview with oldest living Dodger Mike Sandlock.
  • From the Dodger press notes: “The Dodgers would like to extend their condolences to the family of former Brooklyn Dodger and Pittsburgh Pirate Ed Stevens, who passed away at the age of 87 last Sunday in Houston, TX. Stevens hit 10 home runs and collected 60 RBI in 1946 and came to camp in 1947 expecting to be the Dodgers’ starting first baseman. However, Branch Rickey had other ideas, promoting second baseman Jackie Robinson to play first and sending Stevens to Triple-A Montreal where he hit 27 homers and drove in 108 runs in his final year with the Dodger organization.”
  • The injury bug might have finally reached Rafael Furcal in St. Louis. Furcal, who was on pace to play in 154 games this season, has back discomfort, reports Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  • In the wake of the Seattle Mariners trading Ichiro to the New York Yankees, Larry Granillo offers historical details at Baseball Prospectus of the San Francisco Giants sending WIllie Mays to the New York Mets.

Happy 80th birthday, Willie Mays

Willie MaysKidwiler Collection/Diamond Images/Getty ImagesWillie Mays poses at the Polo Grounds during his rookie season in 1951.

Baseball legend Willie Mays turns 80 today. David Schoenfield of ESPN.com’s Sweet Spot blog, from which I borrowed the above photo, has a piece arguing that Mays was the greatest ever, while John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle catches up with Mays today. Happy birthday, Willie.

Treble was I ere I saw Elbert

Royals 11, Dodgers 5

Highlights:

  • Tim Redding pitched three shutout innings, giving him five for the spring with three strikeouts.
  • James Loney went 2 for 2.
  • Relievers Ramon Troncoso and Carlos Monasterios pitched shutout ball.
  • Jamie Hoffmann (1 for 2) is now, like Loney, 4 for 8 this spring.
  • Juan Castro hit a three-run home run.

Lowlights:

  • Scott Elbert had a nightmare outing, walking four of the five batters he faced. From Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.:

    … With assistant GM of player development DeJon Watson in the broadcast booth with Charley Steiner, Elbert was missing the strike zone every which way. Elbert came in the game in relief of Jon Link in the fifth inning, then pitched into the sixth. Watson spoke of how Elbert got more consistent in his delivery over the winter, and was able to show two dominant pitches in the Arizona Fall League, but as those words were being spoken Elbert was missing the strike zone quite often. Elbert faced five batters, and walked four of them. He threw 21 pitches, only five of them for strikes.

    On the broadcast, one could hear Watson rooting for Elbert, the Dodgers’ 2009 minor league pitcher of the year, even as he was struggling. Watson said Elbert has great stuff that is “electric through the strike zone,” and Watson seemed to take Elbert’s outing in stride. “He’s having a tough outing today, but I think you’ll see better outings from Mr. Elbert in the future,” Watson said. Elbert better hope so; he has faced 10 batters this spring, and walked six of them. He did strike out two, and the other two batters didn’t hit the ball out of the infield, but Elbert needs to show some control before he even sniffs the 25-man roster. …

  • Jon Link was charged with three runs while getting two outs; Luis Vasquez was charged with four runs while getting three outs.
  • Aaron Miles had a double but made his second error of the spring.
  • Xavier Paul struck out twice, dropping to 1 for 8 this exhibition season.
  • Juan Castro hit a three-run home run.

Sidelights:

  • Clayton Kershaw, not yet eligible for arbitration, signed his one-year 2011 contract for the expected figure of $500,000. Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com has details.  In fact, every man on the 40-man roster has now been signed for 2011, with Ronald Belisario having his contract renewed and then getting placed on the restricted list.
  • The adventures of Dee Gordon, again courtesy of Mr. Stephen:

    There was a funny moment in the fifth inning, when Mike Moustakas lofted a foul pop near the photography well adjacent to the back of the Dodger dugout. Aaron Miles was in pursuit of the ball, but Dee Gordon, who was not in the game and sitting on the steps of the dugout, tried to evade Miles by moving out of the dugout. Instead, Gordon got the way of Miles, who was unable to make the catch. Watson, who was in the booth with Charley Steiner, could be heard saying something like, “Jesus criminey” or something to that effect.

  • Remarkable: Larry Granillo researched “Peanuts” comic strips for Baseball Prospectus and found Duke Snider was mentioned twice (once with Willie Mays, once with a host of players), compared to three mentions for Mickey Mantle and Mays combined, once for Mantle alone and four times for Mays alone (including the famous spelling bee episode).
  • James Loney fares a bit below average in David Pinto’s defensive statistical rankings of first basemen from 2006-10 at Baseball Musings.
  • Ernest Reyes of Blue Heaven posted photos of the new grass being installed at Dodger Stadium.
  • Charlie Sheen meets Ron Swanson x John Wooden: The Sheen Pyramid of Greatness.
  • Juan Castro hit a three-run home run. From Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:

    When he left the game after five innings and returned to the clubhouse, this note was posted on the bulletin board:

    “Juan Castro: Please report to [Dodgers trainer] Stan Conte after the game for a mandatory steroid test.”

Update: Jackson writes about Castro and Elbert.

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