1997 Atlanta Braves

The 1997 Atlanta Braves were, ranked by Bill James, the greatest pitching staff in baseball history. Not just the starting rotation- the entire staff had an ERA 32% better than league average, leading the NL in wins, ERA, IP, WHIP, SHO, fewest HR allowed, and road RA/G (by a full run). They didn't have the best pitcher in the league (in '97, it was Pedro Martinez), but they did have the best collection- only two pitchers with more than 33 IP on the team had a below-league-average ERA (out of 12). Of the four main pitchers in the rotation, only one- John Smoltz, with a 3.02- had an ERA over 3. Smoltz, however, lead the team with 256 IP.

Justifiably overlooked in all this was the Braves offensive and defensive prowess- a team that spread production all over the field, and helped their pitching out with amazing defense. In fact, of the starting eight, they had only one offensive hole- and he was their most outstanding defensive player, having his career-best season defensively (Mark Lemke).

Here are the 1997 FRAA numbers for the Atlanta defense (adjusted for all time):

LOPEZ (C)__________6
MCGRIFF (1B)_____-15
LEMKE (2B)________20
BLAUSER (SS)_______2
JONES (3B)_______-14
KLESKO (RF)______-10
LOFTON (CF)________9
TUCKER (LF)_______-3

Now, admittedly, BP's fielding stats can be a bit out of whack but, they're the only ones I have extensive and easy access to. Here you can see that while the corner positions were nothing to scream about, up the middle, at the important defensive positions, the Braves were excellent. Tucker was capable in LF, and Lofton made up not just for his own ground, but for any left by Klesko. Ditto that on Lemke for McGriff. In fact, Lemke's brilliance may have compromised McGriff's ranking slightly, though Crime Dog was never much of a defensive player anyway. Consider too, Biggio (a great defensive 2B in his day) won the Gold Glove that year with an 11 FRAA. The Braves also had one of the great defensive pitchers of all time on their team in Greg Maddux, who also won the Gold Glove.

Before I get into detail on the pitching staff, let's look at the offense a bit. Below is the team's league rank in various offensive categories:

RUNS____3rd
HR______2nd
BA______3rd
OBP_____4th
SLG_____2nd

Considering as well that the Colorado Bombers were first in the NL in every one of these categories, this was a much better hitting team than given credit for. No player had over 24 HR, only one player had over 100 RBI, and only one player scored 100 runs. Yet, they were 2nd among non- Mile Highers in runs scored, and had the most adjusted power in the NL. This was a masterfully built team from top to bottom. Here are the top five offensive players in terms of EqA:

BLAUSER_______.306
LOPEZ_________.297
JONES_________.292
LOFTON________.289
MCGRIFF_______.277

In fact, Blauser, the team's 31 year old SS, was also their most valuable position player, second on the team in runs scored, OBP, BA and third in SLG. His OPS+ of 130 lead the team, and he was a sterling defensive player, as has been mentioned. In fact, his only superior in 1997 defensively was likely New York's Rey Ordonez, who couldn't hit the ground if he jumped out of bed.

One of the more interesting trades in GM John Schuerholz's Atlanta tenure was the one that send OFs Marquis Grissom and David Justice to Cleveland in exchange for CF Kenny Lofton and RP Alan Embree. Lofton was going into his FA season, and was coming off a great year for the Indians in which he had a 106 OPS+ with great defense and 75 SB in 92 tries. Grissom wasn't much to give up- despite flashes of power and decent speed, he was declining as a defender after a brilliant early career, and wasn't the hitter that Lofton was. So essentially, this trade broke down as being Grissom for Alan Embree and Lofton for David Justice.

Initially, in short term results, Schuerholz got the worst of the deal. Justice had his career year in 1997 for Cleveland, and helped them get to the World Series. Embree, though a very good reliever in 1997- does not, in 46.2 IP, represent the value of a starting CF, even if it's Marquis Grissom.

However, Schuerholz did have someone waiting in the wings- Andruw Jones. Jones, 20 years old in 1997, wasn't ready for a starting job just yet. In the trade, Schuerholz gave up a significant amount of offense in Justice for a big upgrade in the bullpen, a big upgrade in CF for one season, and then the ability to bring in a young, cost controlled player in that position, allowing Lofton to walk, and having money to replace Justice's bat (or otherwise). They used that money to sign Andres Gallaraga, Walt Weiss and Dennis Martinez. All contributed to the '98 team, especially the Big Cat. Jones made his way into 153 games in 1997, hitting 18 HR in 399 ABs. Jones was the roving OF backup, often giving Klesko days off against LHP and providing prodigious late inning defensive upgrades over Michael Tucker (as well as some nice pop). He got a number of late season starts, as well.

It's interesting that the more "role" players on the Braves roster and in their lineup nearly all were above average hitters in 1997. Only Lemke- an abominable 63 OPS+- were an offensive detriment to the club. Michael Tucker and Jeff Blauser, in fact, both had career years.

The Atlanta Braves pitching staff threw 1465 innings in 1997, at a team ERA of 3.18- good for an ERA+ of 132. As comparison, the 1931 Athletics had a 130 team ERA+, the 1966 LA Dodgers had an ERA+ of 125, the 1927 New York Yankees had an ERA+ of 120. The 1905 Cubs, however, had an ERA+ of 150.

Let's look at the lines for the Braves' 1997 starting four-

______________IP_______W______K______WHIP______ERA+
MADDUX_______232.2____19_____177_____0.95______191
SMOLTZ_______256.0____15_____241_____1.16______139
GLAVINE______240.0____14_____152_____1.15______142
NEAGLE_______233.1____20_____172_____1.08______142

The Braves also got starts from Paul Byrd, Kevin Millwood, Terrell Wade, and Chris Brock- only Millwood had any success. The floating 5th starter was ultimately the only weak point on the Braves' staff.

One of the more brilliant practices of the late-90's (and even to this day) Braves has been the usage of the bullpen, and the "closer" roster spot. In their run of AL East 1st place finishes, Atlanta has gotten startling production out of using the following pitchers as their closers, for varying amounts of time:

Juan Berenquer
Greg McMichael
Mark Wohlers
Kerry Ligtenberg
John Rocker

The best part? They've never overpaid for a closer (with the exception of John Smoltz, who was both dominating and placed there out of necessity). There were bad years- in 1992, Alejandro Pena was a total disaster, as was Danny Kolb last year, until Chris Reitsma did a decent job of taking over. Mike Stanton started the year there in 1993, and bombed before McMichael took over. Below are the salary numbers for the pitchers designated as the Braves' closer from 1991 through 2001 (Smoltz takes over in 2002). Excluded are the ones that were not good- ie, Pena and Stanton.

$900,000 (1991)
$109,000 (1993)
$245,000 (1994)
$202,500 (1995)
$1,425,000 (1996)
$3,000,000 (1997)
$175,000 (1998)
$217,500 (1999)
$290,000 (2000)
$1,900,000 (2001)

That is an average of $846,400 per season for a relief ace. For a little perspective, Keith Foulke made $7.5 million last year, Mariano Rivera $10.5 million, Joe Nathan $2.1 million, Billy Wagner $9 million, and BJ Ryan will make $9.4 million this coming season. These weren't "average" seasons either- Ligtenberg, for instance, had a 156 ERA+ in 1998. Rocker had a 174 in 1999.

Mark Wohlers, the Braves closer in 1997, was the centerpiece of this idea, was ironically the most expensive closer season in this run- the $3 million dollar 1997 guy. Wohlers was awarded these sums (the $1.4 mil in '96) in his arbitration eligible seasons for putting back to back dominant campaigns in 95 and 96. 1997 would be the weakest year in his three year run as closer (he was injured in 98 and 99, receiving 4 and 5 million in each injury year), and his last.

Wohlers was good for a 3.50 ERA and 92 K's in 69.3 IP- which is an astounding 13.6 K/9IP. The Braves starting staff was not a strikeout staff- with the possible exception of John Smoltz, of course. However- the Braves bullpen was every bit a strikeout bullpen. Here are the main bullpen components, ranked by K/9IP:

WOHLERS______13.64
BIELECKI______9.42
EMBREE________8.80
CLONTZ________7.88
CATHER________6.92

Among pitchers with more than 31 IP on the Braves, only Paul Byrd, Terrell Wade, Kevin Millwood (those pesky 5th starters) and Mike Bielecki had ERAs over 4. Millwood had a 4.03, and Bielecki and 4.08.

The Braves swept the Houston Astros in the Division Series that year, scoring 19 runs in three games and allowing only five. They then moved on to face the team they'd bested by nine games in the AL East that season- the Florida Marlins. The Braves lost the series in six games- another page in the frustrating series of failures for that dynastic 1990's club.

Glavine and Smoltz were both beat around pretty well in the NLCS, and Maddux gave up 5 runs in his first 3 innings of Game One, though they were all unearned. The two games the Braves did win- games Two and Four- were on brilliant pitching performances by Glavine (2) and Neagle (4). In Game Five, Maddux and Livan Hernandez hooked up in an epic pitcher's duel, with Atlanta getting it's only run on a HR from Michael Tucker in the second, and the Marlins scored on RBI singles from Bobby Bonilla and Jeff Conine. In the first inning, the Braves had runners on first and third, with no out... and got nothing. Game 6 was when Atlanta hitters finally got to Kevin Brown- but so did Marlin hitters get to Tom Glavine. Though the Braves scored 3 in the first two frames, the Marlins got a 4 run first and never looked back, to clinch the pennant.

The Braves have three inner-circle HoF on that 1997 team (Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine) one strong candidate (John Smoltz) and one that is on his way to a potential enshrinement (Andruw Jones). That they didn't survive the NLCS is partially blamed on poor big-time performances from their all-world pitching staff, and to another plague of the 1990's Braves- witnessing the right place, right time team storming through them. The Twins in 1991, the Blue Jays in 1992, the '93 Phillies, the '96 Yankees, the '97 Marlins, the '98 Padres, '99 Yankees. Everyone of those teams- though maybe some inferior on paper- all of them were teams red-hot going into and through the postseason.

1997 Atlanta Braves- excellent team. Seven All Stars (Blauser, C. Jones, Maddux, Glavine, Neagle, Lopez, Lofton). Chipper Jones was 9th in MVP voting, Maddux 12th, Blauser 21st and Lofton 26th. Gred Maddux was 2nd in the NL in Cy Young voting, Neagle was 3rd.

1935 Detroit Tigers

Full disclosure- I don't happen to think that the 1935 Detroit Tigers were one of a short list of the "greatest teams of all time." I do, however, have a fondness for what I know about a handful of players on the team, and I do believe that they were an undeniably great team, with an offensive firepower not seen in many clubs before or since.

The '35 Tigers had four Hall of Famers in their starting nine- 1B Hank Greenberg (one of my favorite players of all time), C Mickey Cochrane (ditto that- he also managed the team), OF Goose Goslin, and 2B Charlie Gehringer. Gehringer's #2 and Greenberg's #5 were retired by the team. Among the then 8 team AL roster, Detroit lead the league in BBs, BA, OBP, SLG and OPS+ and runs scored. They were second in H, 2B, 3B, HR and SB. All this in the second most pitcher-friendly park in the league- Navin Field (only Yankee Stadium was tougher on hitters).

Hank Greenberg, in 1935, was 24. He had just entered what would be a phenomenal 7 year career peak, each year putting up OPS numbers over 1.000 and playing stellar defense. Four of the Detroit starting eight positional players had seasons that were above league average on a pronounced level- Greenberg, Cochrane, Gehringer and OF Pete Fox. Here are their four respective brilliant seasons in a bit more detail:

__________________EqA_________WARP1________OPS+_______FRAR_______RC/27
GEHRINGER________.308__________11.6________137_________+48________7.79
GREENBERG________.333__________12.0________169_________+29_______10.29
COCHRANE_________.315___________7.4________137_________+23________7.57
FOX______________.300___________6.5________132_________+15________7.26

The remaining four- Goslin, 3B Marv Owen, SS Bill Rogell, and OF Jo-Jo White were all at or below league average. Rogell was a defensive wizard, but Owen was a poor defender and only a league average hitter. White was easily the weakest Tiger on the team, being sub-standard on both sides of the ball (82 OPS+, -8 FRAA).

The Tiger pitching staff was adequate- playing in such a pitching friendly environment certainly helped Tiger pitching at Navin Field, allowing them to lead the league in wins, CG and SHO while being second in ERA, SO, H and runs allowed. Their ERA+ was third in the league, however, behind New York and Boston, due in large part to the contextualization of their performance (and the fact that the Yankees had a dynamite staff in '35). They were middle of the pack in runs allowed per game in road games, giving up 4.95. New York, Boston and Chicago had lower figures.

Tommy Bridges and Schoolboy Rowe were the SP stars for the 35 Tigers. Bridges and Rowe had nearly identical seasons, in some respects- similar IP, ERA, ERA+, CG, W, hits and earned runs allowed. Whats interesting is how Bridges managed to outperform Rowe despite allowing many, many more baserunners.

_____________IP________BB_______HR______WHIP_____ERA+
BRIDGES_____274.1_____113_______22______1.42_____119
ROWE________275.2______68_______11______1.23_____114

Bridges appeared to have a lot of luck, were Rowe had very little.

The Tigers bullpen was certainly one of it's strong suits as well. The Tigers got 313.2 IP from it's primary bullpen pitchers (many of those innings were spent during the 22 spot starts spread out among them)- all four of them. They gave 64.1 IP to three other pitchers- Clyde Hatter, Firpo Marberry, and Carl Fischer- but all were below league average and likely not very high-leverage.

Chief Hogsett, Joe Sullivan, Vic Sorrell and Roxie Lawson all had ERA+s above 100, with Hogsett contributing 96.2 IP purely out of the bullpen.

The 1935 World Series was between the Tigers and the NL champ Chicago Cubs, who were 100-54, and likely a better team than Detroit- Hall of Famers Gabby Hartnett, Chuck Klein, Billy Herman. Should-be Hall of Famer Stan Hack, and a pitching staff with an ERA+ of 121, lead by 20 game winners Bill Lee and Lou Warneke.

To compound matters, after splitting the first two games, Hank Greenberg, Detroit's best hitter, breaks his wrist late in the second game, forcing Marv Owen across the diamond to play first, and Flea Clifton- an even worse hitter than Owen- to take 3B.

After this devastating loss, the Tigers rally and win Game Three behind Schoolboy Rowe in a thrilling, 11 inning victory at Wrigley Field.

Down 3-1 in the 8th inning, the Tigers have Jo-Jo White, Cochrane and Gehringer due up in the inning. Starter Bill Lee was still in to begin the inning, but after a walk to White and a double by Gehringer wrapped around a Cochrane pop-up, Goose Goslin came to the plate with runners on second and third and only one out. Goose proceeded to wrap a 2-R single off Lee, forcing Cub manager Charlie Grimm to go to his relief ace, Lou Warneke. Warneke came in to face Pete Fox, Billy Rogell and Marv Owen with a runner on first and one out. Fox promptly came in and singled, moving Goslin to second. Rogell followed with a base hit of his own, moving Fox to third. The Tigers had scored three runs, and taken the lead.

Then, for an insurance run that would prove to be vital, Rogell attempted to steal on Gabby Hartnett. Breaking for second, Hartnett fired quick- catching Rogell, but allowing the speedy Goslin to break for home once he'd committed to the throw. After Owen lined out, it was 5-3, Tigers.

After being retired in the 8th, the Cubs then came to bat in the 9th against Schoolboy Rowe, pitching his second inning of relief. After pinch hitter Ken O'Dea singled in Stan Hack with one out, Augie Galan hit a sac fly to score Chuck Klein, and the Cubs had dramatically come back to tie the game. Rowe escaped with another out, unscathed. In the 10th, Freddie Lindstrom hit a 2B off Rowe, and with their best hitter in Gabby Hartnett, Grimm elected instead to bunt Lindstrom over to 3B. With the winning run on third and one out, Rowe got Frank Demaree and Phil Cavaretta to ground out consecutively, and the Tigers came to bat.

Billy Rogell lead off with a single, but Marv Owen subsequently botched the sac bunt, and Rogell was forced at 2B. Flea Clifton came to bat with a runner on first and one out. Clifton hit a groundball to Lindstrom, playing out of position at 3B (normally a CF). Lindstrom botched the groundball, and everyone was safe. First and second with one out, Schoolboy Rowe coming up. Larry French was able to strike Rowe out, but even with two outs, there was a runner in scoring position and the top of the Tiger order coming up.

It didn't take long- Jo-Jo White took a Larry French pitch back up the middle to score Marv Owen with the run that would win Game Three. Rowe got Stan Hack, Chuck Klein and Walt Stephenson in order to put the Tigers up 2 games to 1.

The Tigers won Game Four in a pitcher's duel, 2-1, with Alvin "General" Crowder besting Chicago's Tex Carleton. Rowe couldn't hold off Chuck Klein (2-R HR) in Game Five, and so the Series headed back to Detroit with the Tigers a game away from a championship.

Game Six was nearly as thrilling as Game Three. With the score tied going into the 9th inning, Stan Hack lead off the visiting half with a triple off Detroit pitcher Tommy Bridges. With a runner on 3rd and nobody out, Chicago had SS Billy Jurges, P Larry French (.141/ .161/ .153 on the year), and leadoff hitter Augie Galan coming up. After Bridges struck out Jurges, Cubs manager Charlie Grimm sent SP Larry French out to hit for himself. Instead of pinch hitting, where a well placed groundball or medium-deep flyball would give the Cubs the lead, French meekly grounded back to the pitcher, who held Hack at 3B and recorded the out. Augie Galan flew out to RF, and the threat was over. The Tigers now faced French with Clifton, Cochrane and Gehringer due up.

Clifton struck out to begin the inning, and it appeared the heartbreaking failure to score hadn't reached French. Mickey Cochrane stepped in next, and while anyone could excuse surrendering a hit to Cochrane, French began to unravel. With a man on first and one out, Gehringer moved the runner over with a well placed ground ball to 2B. Goose Goslin came to bat with the World Championship standing on 2B and 2 outs. Goslin got a fastball from French, and yanked it off the RF wall at Navin Field, a "single" (easily a 2B, maybe more) that scored the walk-off World Series winning run.

No Series MVPs were named in those days, so I'll name one- Pete Fox, who hit 385/385/577 with 10 hits, 4 RBI and 3 2Bs in 6 games. Tommy Bridges comes in a close second for going 2-0 with a 2.50 ERA and the STOP for the ages by holding Hack at 3B for three straight outs.

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BILL JAMES ALL TIME POSITIONAL RANKINGS INDEX

Hank Greenberg, 1B_________8
Charlie Gehringer, 2B______8
Goose Goslin, LF__________14
Mickey Cochrane, C_________4
Billy Rogell, SS__________49
Pete Fox, RF______________96
Tommy Bridges, P__________77

"Best Infield" of the 1930's

1957 Milwaukee Braves

I thought I did a lot more of these than I actually did. Weird. Anyway, as some of you may remember, I was in the habit of breaking down some great teams from the past for fun- looking at how they fared individually, the Hall of Famers on the roster, bit players that had huge seasons, etc. Thus far, I've looked at the 1968 Detroit Tigers, the 1993 Toronto Blue Jays, 1931 Philadelphia Athletics, and the 1994 Montreal Expos. Today, I'm going to look at the 1957 Milwaukee Braves.

The '57 Braves had, on their roster, four Hall of Famers- Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn, and Red Schoendienst. Spahn is considered by many, along with Lefty Grove, Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson and Whitey Ford, as one of the greatest left handed starting pitchers of all time. Eddie Mathews was rated by Bill James in his Historical Baseball Abstract as the third greatest 3B of all time, behind only Mike Schmidt and George Brett. In the same book, Hank Aaron was named the second greatest RF of all time, behind only Babe Ruth. Schoendienst, while perhaps not entirely worthy of Hall of Fame selection, had one of his two greatest seasons in 1957 (the other being 1953 in St. Louis) after being acquired from the Giants for Danny O'Connell, Ray Crone and Bobby Thomson.

Going by OPS+, 1957 was Eddie Mathews sixth best season. At 25, he'd had three phenomenal years from 1953-55, when he put up OPS+s of 171, 172, 172. His 154 was bested only twice thereafter in his career, when he registered over 160 in 1959 and 1960.

Again by OPS+, Aaron had his eighth best season- and it was a 166. Aaron was 23 in 1957, and while, amazingly, his best year was his age 37 season (1971), his 44 HR that year was a career high for him, a total he didn't again reach until 1962. Aaron won his only MVP in '57 (he'd finish top ten THIRTEEN times in his career), beating out Stan Musial, his teammate Schoendienst, and Willie Mays. Musial and Mays had better raw and adjusted OPS numbers. Mays probably deserved the award, but the point stands- 1957 made Hank Aaron a superstar.

Then there was Warren Spahn, winner that year- resoundingly- over Chicago's Dick Donovan for the Cy Young Award, his only such honor.

The pitching staff and positional roster for this Braves team were a study in interesting contrast. While the rotation boasted an average age of 30, the starting eight were an average age of 27.5- only Schoendienst (34) and LF Bill Bruton (31) were over 30. Mathews, Aaron, 1B Frank Torre and OF Wes Covington were all 25 and under.

Only two of the Braves starters that season- C Del Crandell and SS Johnny Logan- were below LEAGUE average offensively. However, Crandell had a 97 OPS+ and Logan a 98. They were premium offensive players at their position in that era. In fact, only Cincinatti's Ed Bailey, the Phillies' Stan Lopata and Pittsburgh's Ed Foiles had higher adjusted OPS than Crandell in the NL. Only Pittsburgh's Dick Groat bested Logan.

Other than this, Milwaukee was flush with tremendous offense not just throughout their lineup, but on the bench as well. Milwaukee lead the NL in runs, RPG, HR, SLG, team OPS+ (120!) and blew the league away where road RPG was concerned- scoring a staggering 5.97 away from County Stadium.

For instance, though Frank Torre was the starting 1B, and certainly posted a quality .272/ .339/ .393 line (adjusting for County Stadium, which was very much a pitcher's park, this just above league average)- he was largely in for his (perceived) superior defense, committing only 4 errors in 129 games, and for his left handed bat. However, Torre's platoon partner, Joe Adcock, had a tremendous 209 ABs for Milwaukee, turning in a .287/ .351/ .541 season with 12 HRs, production 43% better than league average (adjusted OPS).

Accordingly, as a LH OF option off the bench, Bob Hazle (coming in 4th for AL ROY)was magnificent, scorching 7 HR in 134 ABs with a .403/ .477/ .649 line. Andy Pafko, Bobby Thomson, Del Rice, and Carl Sawatski all contributed above league average offense off the bench. This was an exceptionally deep offensive club.

Eddie Mathews, even considering Aaron, may have been the team's most valuable player. Playing Gold Glove level defense at 3B, Mathews walked 90 times in 1957, hitting 32 HR in a fairly drastic pitcher's park. He was the team's best all-around player that year- a great baserunner, brilliant defense, and a bright mix of patience and power at the plate.

So while Milwaukee dominated teams offensively in 1957, their pitching- especially in that home park- didn't have to be legendary to get them a pennant, but it was. Warren Spahn had a typically great season, posting a 21-11 record with a 2.69 ERA, 271 IP and a sparkling 1.17 WHIP. Spahn finished 18 games and had 4 shutouts, both leading the team and in the top two in the NL for both.

The interesting question may be, who was more valuable in that regular season? Eventual World Series MVP Lew Burdette, or 28 year old Bob Buhl? Let's take a look:

_______________IP_________ERA_______ERA+______WHIP_______SO
BURDETTE______256.2______3.72________94_______1.24_______78
BUHL__________216.3______2.74_______127_______1.44______117

It would immediately seem like Buhl is the obvious choice, but a couple things sort of jump out at me- Burdette's IP and Buhl's WHIP. Both tip dramatically in favor of Burdette, who appears to have possibly been just as good over 40 more IP, and simply a lot more unlucky.

Either way, the Braves' top three starters were incredible. Only Brooklyn- with Drysdale, Newcombe, Maglie and Podres (and a 21 year old Koufax throwing ~100 innings)- had a better staff. Milwaukee was second to Brooklyn in RA, ERA, and gave up the fewest HR in the league (aided by their home park, to be sure).

Their relief core wasn't great- they had a bullpen ace in Don McMahon, who, while only throwing 46.2 IP, had a sub-2 ERA and a 209 ERA+. However, they did give ~200 IP to Juan Pizarro, Dave Jolly and Taylor Phillips, the three of whom squandered the opportunity fantastically.

The Braves went on to win the NL with 95 games and overcame the Yankees in the World Series in 7 games. The Yankees won two of the first three games, including Whitey Ford beating Warren Spahn 3-1 on two Yogi Berra HRs in Game One, and Buhl (and five other Braves pitchers) getting absolutely bludgeoned in Game Three, 12-3.

Game Four was a masterpiece- a ten inning game that Spahn went the distance in, where Milwaukee held a 4-1 lead entering the visiting 9th inning. With two out and none on, Spahn gave up singles to Berra and McDougald before surrendering a crushing 3-R HR to Elston Howard. The bottom of the lineup produced nothing for Milwaukee in the 9th, and when Hank Bauer tripled in Tony Kubek in the 10th inning, all appeared lost.

But after getting two on in the bottom of the tenth, Eddie Mathews hit a walkoff 3-R HR off Bob Grim to win it. Burdette threw shutouts in Games Five and Seven, and the Braves were champs.

What's startling to me is the breadth of achievement from this team- four Hall of Famers, an MVP (with three fellow teammates along with him in the top ten), a Cy Young, a World Series Championship, a World Series MVP, six All Stars (Aaron, Mathews, Spahn, Burdette, Logan, Schoendienst). A tremendous, tremendous team.

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BILL JAMES POSITIONAL RANKINGS INDEX

Del Crandell, C____________30
Red Schoendienst, 2B_______28
Eddie Mathews, 3B___________3
Johnny Logan, SS___________39
Hank Aaron, RF______________2
Joe Adcock, 1B_____________43
Bobby Thomson, RF__________59
Warren Spahn, P_____________5

Highest Single Season Attendance of the 1950's (2,215,404)
Warren Spahn- Most Wins in the 1950's (202)
Eddie Mathews- Best Player Never to Win MVP (w/ Duke Snider)

1994 Montreal Expos

Well, after my little blurbs on the '68 Tigers and the '93 Blue Jays, I'm continuing a theme I sort of randomly established here recently, and I decided to take a look at one of the great undheralded and greatly screwed teams in baseball history- the 1994 Montreal Expos.

For starters, the talent collected on this team (and in the early-90s era Expos in general) is phenomenal. This was the definition of a dynamic, exciting YOUNG team, one that relied heavily- and almost exclusively- on a remarkable farm system and a few well placed trades to rise to a plateau of performance. Many of these players eventually went on to even better things with other teams, but even as young players, just look at the talent that was collected on this team:

Pedro Martinez
Jeff Fassero
Ken Hill
Kirk Rueter
John Wetteland
Mel Rojas
Gil Heredia
Gabe White
Moises Alou
Larry Walker
Marquis Grissom
Cliff Floyd
Rondell White
Darrin Fletcher
Wil Cordero

Now, of course, not everyone was at their peak just yet- Cliff Floyd, for example, wasn't very useful- he played 1B mostly and at 21, all the work on the rug at Stade Olympique eventually nixed his 1995 campaign. Rueter was pretty bad, Rondell White was too young to start, and guys like White and Heredia, though never great, still hadn't gotten to their plateaus of relative contribution.

But that said, look at that starting OF- Walker, Alou and Grissom, all 27 and peaking around the same time. Grissom was at his peak defensively in CF (he won the Gold Glove that season) while adding league average production and a lot of speed (36 SBs). Larry Walker, one of the great defensive OFers of his generation, and Moises Alou, a fine OFer in his own right, both had monster years. To wit (in 114 games):

_____________BA_____OBP____SLG____HR____OPS+
WALKER______.322___.394___.587____19____151
ALOU________.339___.397___.592____22____153

The Expos, who's manager was Felipe Alou, finished the season with an MLB-best 74-40 record, good for first place in the AL East by 6 games over the Braves, and a consensus that this was the best team in MLB. You hear about Griffey and Matt Williams' quest for 61 HRs thwarted by the strike, as well as the cancellation of the World Series and Tony Gwynn's shot at .400- but this was one that never gets play. This was a great team.

Leading the pitching staff in the NL (lowest ERA- 3.56) was Jeff Fassero, who at 31 lead the team (among qualifiers) with a 2.99 ERA in 138.2 IP. Next were Ken Hill and, in his first year as a starter, 22 year old Pedro Martinez, who combined to go 27-10 in 46 starts with ERAs of 3.32 and 3.42, respectively. Pedro lead the team with 142 strikeouts, a 1.11 WHIP and 8.82 K/ 9IP.

Perhaps Montreal's greatest strength was their bullpen. Below are listed all the pitchers in the Expos bullpen with more than 50 IP:

______________ERA_____ERA+_____IP_____SO_____HR
WETTELAND____2.83_____149_____63.2____68______5
SHAW_________3.88_____109_____67.1____47______8
SCOTT________2.70_____156_____53.1____37______0
HEREDIA______3.46_____122_____75.1____62______7
ROJAS________3.32_____127_____84.0____84_____11

Meanwhile, though they didn't get much from 1B or 2B (Floyd/ Mike Lansing- arguably my least favorite baseball player of all time), Darrin Fletcher stepped up with some decent power (.435 SLG, 10 HR) and the left side of the infield- SS Wil Cordero and 3B Sean Berry- had great years. Berry was in the smack middle of a three year peak where he had value getting on base and with some power, though not much durability. Cordero posted career highs in BA, OBP and SLG, along with 15 HRs- 3 off his career year set during a complete season.

Of course, much of the success was set up by GM Dan Duquette's first great trade- and he had a few, to be fair- the one made prior to the season on November 19th, 1993:

LOS ANGELES DODGERS RECEIVE:
Delino DeShields, 2B/ MI

MONTREAL EXPOS RECEIVE:
Pedro Martinez, SP

Then, in the June amateur draft, Duquette selected, among others, Javier Vazquez, Geoff Blum and Simon Pond. In the Rule V Draft after that season, Duquette was able to acquire Al Reyes and Tomas Perez as well.

Just a real shame that team was never able to at least compete in the postseason. After the strike, they were gutted pretty quickly.

post-1994

Larry Walker left for Colorado via Free Agency

Miguel Batista was released

John Wetteland was traded to NYY for Fernando Seguignol

Ken Hill was traded to STL for Kirk Bullinger, Bryan Eversgerd, and Da Rond Stovall

Marquis Grissom was traded to ATL for Tony Tarasco, Esteban Yan, and Roberto Kelly

post-1995

Gabe White was traded to CIN for Jhonny Carvajal

Gil Heredia left for TEX via Free Agency

Wil Cordero was traded with Bryan Eversgerd for Shayne Bennett, Rheal Cormier, and Ryan McGuire

post-1996

Kirk Rueter and Tim Scott were traded to SFG for Mark Leiter

Jeff Fassero and Alex Pacheco were traded to SEA for Trey Moore, Matt Wagner, and Chris Widger

Moises Alou left for FLA via Free Agency

Cliff Floyd was traded to FLA for Joe Orsulak and Dustin Hermanson

post-1997

Pedro Martinez was traded to BOS for Tony Armas, Jr and Carl Pavano

IN 1994, Montreal's payroll of $19,098,000 was higher than only the San Diego Padres, and they lead the league with FIVE All Stars (Grissom, Alou, Cordero, Fletcher, and Ken Hill).

Any votes on what team I should do next?

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BILL JAMES POSITIONAL RANKING INDEX

Marquis Grissom, CF_________61
Larry Walker, RF____________55
Pedro Martinez, P___________29

(Rankings published in 2001)

1931 Philadelphia Athletics

Well, since I was offered no suggestions, I had to soldier on and choose a new team to look at my own damn self. So, I chose an obvious one- the 1931 Philadelphia A's, arguably one of the twenty greatest teams of all time.

On this team was the greatest 1B of all time, one of the five greatest SP of all time, one of the five greatest catchers of all time, a Hall of Fame OF in his prime, a Hall of Fame pitcher acquired midseason, and a Hall of Fame manager.

Namely, Jimmie Foxx, Lefty Grove, Mickey Cochrane, Al Simmons, Waite Hoyt and Connie Mack.

Jimmie Foxx, then only 23, wasn't yet in his prime, which would cover the years from 1932- 1939. He did, however, have a great year (if a little south of what you would come to expect from Foxx), managing to tie Simmons for the team-lead in XBH. Mickey Cochrane, then 28, had one of the best seasons of his career as well, entering into the middle of his prime where only his 1933 campaign would best the one he had for the AL Champs in '31.

___________BA____OBP_____SLG____HR____OPS+
FOXX_____.291___.380____.567____33____140
COCHRANE_.349___.423____.553____17____149

But then there was the great Al Simmons who, at 29, had one of his two best seasons as a pro, posting career highs in OPS+, OBP,and BA. Aloysius Szymanski also won the batting title in 1931, beating out Babe Ruth by 17 points. Simmons lead the '31 A's in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, H, TB, 3B, RBI, RC and XBH.

___________BA____OBP_____SLG____HR____OPS+
SIMMONS__.390___.444____.641____22____176

Only three members of the starting nine had OBPs under .370, and one- OF Mule Haas- stood at .366, with a .475 SLG and a 114 OPS+.

OBP BY PLAYER, STARTING NINE

SIMMONS (OF)___.444
BISHOP (2B)____.426
COCHRANE (C)___.423
FOXX (1B)______.380
DYKES (3B)_____.371
HAAS (OF)______.366
MILLER (OF)____.338
WILLIAMS (SS)__.313


Even with all that thunder, Philadelphia was only third in the AL in runs scored (New York/ Cleveland), second in the league in SLG (NY), third in BA (NY/ CLE) and second in HR (New York), and third in OBP (NY/ CLE). With a 108 OPS+, they were second in the AL. Of the starting nine for the A's, six had OPS+ scores over 100- two were at 95 (Dykes and Miller) and the other, SS Dib Williams, was a defensive contributor largely. Williams, who while offering a poor OPS+ of 78 and a .313 OBP, did have a 5.08 RF at SS where the league average stood at 4.77, though that said, only two starting AL SS (St. Louis' Jim Levey and Chicago's Bill Cissell) had worse RFs. Dib was unquestionably the weak link.

Even with an offense like this, what made the A's of 1931 one of the great teams of all time was it's pitching which, to say the very least, was astonishing. They were best in the AL in ERA, RA, R/G, CG, shutouts, Home ERA, Road ERA, ERA+, WHIP, BBs allowed, Hs allowed, OBA. They were 3rd in the league in Ks and gave up the 3rd fewest HRs. Consider this starting staff:

_______________________IP________ERA_________ERA+
LEFTY GROVE___________288.2_____2.06_________219
RUBE WALBERG__________291.0_____3.74_________121
GEORGE EARNSHAW_______281.2_____3.67_________123
ROY MAHAFFEY__________162.3_____4.21_________107
WAITE HOYT____________111.0_____4.22_________107
HANK MCDONALD__________70.3_____3.71_________122
EDDIE ROMMEL__________118.0_____2.97_________152

These six pitchers made up 1,322.2 of the 1,365 IP by the Philadelphia A's that season. Bill Shores, Jim Peterson, Lew Krausse, and Sol Carter made up the rest, starting four games between them and working only 42.1 IP. Part of the reason for this was Waite Hoyt's introduction into the staff late in the game- on June 30th, Mack purchased Hoyt from the Detroit Tigers. Hoyt would make 14 starts the rest of the season, appearing twice in relief. Hank McDonald looks like he was the recipient of the "shitty" end of the stick on this one, as he and Rommell were moved to spot-starter duty from then on.

The interesting thing was, Mack used this pitching staff very fluidly. Walberg started 35 games, 9 in relief. Earnshaw started 30 games, saw 13 relief appearances. Grove himself started 30 games and saw eleven relief appearances (helping him likely vulture a few wins to get to 31). The top three SP innings-wise (Walberg, Earnshaw and Grove) had 14 SV between them. They were remarkably useful all down the line. This was absolutely one of the great pitching staffs of all time. In fact, in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, James identifies the A's staff as the best of the decade (and the team they beat in the standings, the '31 Yankees, as the decade's best offense).

The '31 A's were destined to be underrated, I think. Foxx, Cochrane, Simmons- all had better years at one point or another, Foxx especially. Grove had his career year, of course- winning 31 games with a career low 2.06 ERA (and career high 219 ERA+). Grove lead the A's in ERA, wins, W/L%, WHIP, K/9, K/BB, Ks, CG, and SO. He lead the AL in ERA, ERA+, wins, W/L%, WHIP, Ks, CG, SO, and was 4th in the league in K/9. He won the pitcher's triple crown, and was voted the league MVP over Lou Gehrig and teammate Al Simmons (the first time the BBWAA gave out the award).

Even still, of course, coming off their two straight World Series titles, the A's took the Cardinals to seven games in 1931, losing the last 4-2 despite a furious rally in the 9th inning. The Cardinals were a great team that year as well- MVP Frankie Frisch, Bill Hallahan, Chick Hafey, the emergence of Pepper Martin, spitballer Burleigh Grimes. The Cardinals won the rematch of the season before, beating a team that won a robust 107 games, the most by any team in the decade- the Series was described by Bill James as the decade's best, punctuated by the now-famous photograph of Mickey Cochrane diving to tag out Pepper Martin at home plate.

This A's team didn't win the '31 Series, but won more than any team in franchise history. They didn't score as many as the 29 and 30 teams, and they allowed more runs than the 1929 team. That dynasty really was an astonishing collection of talent though, and picking between the best is tough. Is the 1929 incarnation likely the best? Probably, but I guess the contrarian in me wants to say that it might be the only of the three contenders NOT to have won the Series. Remember- this is the team that beat Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Bill Dickey, Red Ruffing, Herb Pennock, Lefty Gomez and the New York "Team OBP of .380" Yankees by 13.5 games in the AL pennant race. The team that scored 1,067 runs. They had two regulars with SLG over .720 (guess which). Even still, the A's won handily, and Mack had the A's outperform their Pythagorean W/L by TEN games.

Also, of note: I am now the sponsor of the 1931 Philadelphia Athletics page! Nice!

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BILL JAMES POSITIONAL RANKING INDEX

Mickey Cochrane, C______4
Jimmie Foxx, 1B_________2
Max Bishop, 2B_________43
Jimmy Dykes, 3B________52
Al Simmons, LF__________7
Lefty Grove, P__________2
Waite Hoyt, P__________78

Best Single Season Record of the 1930's (107-45)
Best Pitcher in the Major Leagues, 1931: Lefty Grove
Most Runs Batted in for the 1930's: Jimmie Foxx (1403)
Best Pitching Staff of the 1930's
Best World Series of the Decade
Most Single Season Wins: Lefty Grove (31)

1993 Toronto Blue Jays

So after watching "5 Reasons You Can't Blame Mitch Williams for the 1993 World Series" (who does?), I had a thought a lot like I did after watching City on Fire about the '68 Tigers: god damn, that 1993 Toronto Blue Jays team was a great, great team. I remember that World Series really well- I was 12, and I was rooting for the Phillies really hard because I liked that they had beards and were dirty. That was the ultimate for me then (and, well, now). In fact, in one of those moments you live to regret years later, I decided John Kruk was my favorite Phillie. Ugh.

So when Sean McDonough called that last HR from Joe Carter, I was a little bummed. Usually when I would root for a non-Sox team, I'd form an irrational hatred for the other out of necessity- made it easier to get invested in the series. But looking back, that was a remarkably gifted team Pat Gillick put together- a strong offense, a brilliant defense, and a deep (if unspectacular) pitching staff that delivered when counted.

Without getting too much into the actual World Series, a couple things jumped out at me- first of all, the now legendary 15-14 "softball game" in Game 4. The Phillies had leads of 6-3, 12-7, 13-9, 14-9- but when Larry Andersen and Mitch Williams combined to surrender 6 runs in the 8th, Toronto never looks back, takes a 3-1 series lead. Schilling, of course, was flat out awesome in the Series, and in Game 5 in particular, throwing a CG shutout. Apparently too, Mitch Williams (and a few other Phillies) hate his frigging guts because they thought he showed Williams up by hiding his eyes when Williams pitched. Schilling said he did it unaware because he was "nervous," the other guys said it was part of a personality pattern. Interesting nonetheless. From interviews with those guys... you can tell they weren't fond of him. Most of all Williams.

But enough about the Phillies. This was a great Blue Jays team.

TEAM LEADERS- OPS+

OLERUD_____185
MOLITOR____142
ALOMAR_____140
FERNANDEZ__114
CARTER_____111
WHITE______107

That's two-thirds of their starting lineup with an OPS+ over 100, including the league leader John Olerud (better than league MVP Frank Thomas) and Molitor/ Alomar, who were best at their positions in the AL by this rate that year. Even Tony Fernandez, with a career 101 OPS+, comes over in a trade with the Mets and puts up a 114 spot in 390 PA. The only starting regulars to come in under 100 were C Pat Borders, 3B Ed Sprague, and OF Turner Ward. Other notables:

HENDERSON_____82 (163 AB)
COLES_________84 (194 AB)
KNORR_________97 (101 AB)


Speaking of trades, Pat Gillick was a master before and during the '93 season. To wit:

12/8/92: Trades 3B Kelly Gruber to CA in exchange for IF Luis Sojo
25 year old Ed Sprague is promoted to full-time 3B, plays in 150 games- Gruber only 18. Sojo gets 47 ABs off the bench.

3/30/93: Trades OF Derek Bell to SDP in exchange for IF Darrin Jackson
Darrin Jackson would eventually net Gillick Tony Fernandez that June. Derek Bell had a .262 .303 .417 line with 21 HRs

6/11/93: Trades IF Darrin Jackson to NYM for SS Tony Fernandez
Jackson was hitting .216 .250 .347 for Toronto; hit .195 .211 .241 the rest of the way for NY. See above for Fernandez' Toronto work.

7/31/93: Trades RP Steve Karsay and mL Jose Herrera to OAK for OF Rickey Henderson
One of the more famous deadline deals of all time.

He also didn't fare too poorly in the Free Agent market. The team was obviously flush with cash after a Championship and a huge, packed new stadium. Check out these signings:

Paul Molitor
Dave Stewart
Joe Carter
Darnell Coles
Danny Cox
Alfredo Griffin
Mark Eichhorn

Plus, he had a draft that included Chris Carpenter and Adam Melhuse that summer. Brilliant.

The pitching staff for Toronto was a bit like Anaheim's in 2002, only better at the top end. In other words, these were teams that relied heavily on exceptional bullpens and solid innings-eating starters.

ERA+ TEAM LEADERS

SP
HENTGEN________113
GUZMAN_________110
STEWART_________99
STOTTLEMYRE_____90
MORRIS__________71

BULLPEN
WARD___________205
EICHHORN_______161
COX____________140
CASTILLO_______130
LEITER_________106
WILLIAMS_______100
TIMLIN__________93

No starter had fewer than 150 IP, all five of them contributing innings at the top of the game. The bullpen kept them in every contest, and did so while DOMINATING. Duane Ward was coming off an immensely valuable season in 1002 in which he threw 101.3 IP of 1.95 ERA relief. In '93 however, Ward was coming off 5 straight brilliant 100+ relief seasons. Instead of banking on it once again, Gillick was smart enough to go out and sign Cox and Eichhorn, who threw 156.1 IP at a combined ERA of 2.94- perfect planning. Jack Morris was pretty terrible with an ERA over 6, but as his tandem partner, Al Leiter was perfect, and any fires Morris seemed to start, Leiter was able to keep reasonable.

The Blue Jays had 7 All Stars- Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar, Paul Molitor, Pat Hentgen, Duane Ward, Devon White and of course, John Olerud. Three Blue Jays finished in the top ten in MVP voting- in fact, Molitor and Olerud were 2-3 (Olerud probably should have won the award), while Alomar was 6th (Joe Carter and Duane Ward also received votes).

Only Molitor received the 1993 Silver Slugger, even though Alomar and Olerud also had OPS+ numbers higher than the eventual winners (Baerga and Frank Thomas). The bigger "travesty" was the Gold Glove awards (what else is new), where only Devon White and Roberto Alomar were awarded. Tony Fernandez was a great defensive SS, but he probably wasn't Vizquel's caliber at this point, and he only played half a season at the position in the AL. Pat Borders was pretty good, but not "best of all time" like Ivan Rodriguez. But John Olerud may be the greatest defensive 1B of all time- better maybe than Hal Chase, Vic Power, Keith Hernandez, Doug Mientkiewicz. Certainly better, as well, than the very good Don Mattingly, who won the award.

But this leads me to another point about this team- they were absolutely brilliant defensively. With the exception of Carter, Sprague and Turner Ward- they were one of the great defenses ever. Devon White and John Olerud are two of the greatest I've ever seen at their respective positions- White especially. You rarely saw White dive for a ball- he seemed always to be settling under nearly every ball. Of course, Alomar's defensive brilliance is well chronicled, and in '93, he was at the peak of his greatness there. Borders was excellent behind the plate, and Tony Fernandez was a lithe, rangey SS as well.

This was, of course, the year that Olerud made a run at .400, and he had to settle for .363, a batting title, 2nd in the MLB in OPS (to Bonds' 1.303) and 3rd in MVP voting. Paul Molitor had a ridiculous postseason and, specifically, World Series (he was the MVP) in which he hit .500 .571 1.000 with 2 HR, 2 3B and 8 RBI in 6 games. Rickey was not as good in Toronto as had been expected- .215 .356 .319 after the trade when he'd been .327 .469 .553 in Oakland before it. Nevertheless, he got on base in the playoffs, and certainly helped the top of their lineup by clogging up the basepaths.

This was an awesome team. Great way to end the Series too. Also, a little trivia- Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado both got their first ML ABs in 1993.

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BILL JAMES POSITIONAL RANKING INDEX

John Olerud, 1B__________53
Roberto Alomar, 2B_______10
Tony Fernandez, SS_______24
Joe Carter, LF___________32
Devon White, CF__________81
Paul Molitor, 3B__________8
Rickey Henderson, LF______4

Devon White- named Gold Glove CF for the 1990's


1968 Detroit Tigers

Watched a really great special last night on HBO called City on Fire, the story of the 1968 Detroit Tigers, and the effect their World Series title had on the riot-torn city.

A couple things I'd never realized about that team- first, none other than Eddie Mathews, then in the twilight of his career, was acquired from Houston mid-season for nothing but a PTBNL. He contributed 3 HR in 52 ABs.

Of course Al Kaline was injured and limited to only ~350 ABs. But, the balance of those missed ABs was picked up by pinch-hitting specialist and bench-player extraordinaire Gates Brown, who was featured in the film as a prominent member of the Detroit black community. Brown hit 6 HR in 92 ABs with a .370/ .442/ .685 line that was good for a team-best 234 OPS+ in (arguably) the greatest pitching-season in baseball history. In fact, the park adjusted league average ERA in the AL for 1968 was 3.01. Mickey Lolich, World Series MVP, had a 94 ERA+ with a 3.19 ERA. Remarkable.

In this light, the offense was mostly remarkable, but also abysmal in two specific areas. Catcher Bill Freehan had an MVP- level season (batterymate Denny McLain won), weighing in with 145 OPS+ and 25 HR. Four Tiger starters had 20+ HRs (Freehan, Jim Northrup, Willie Horton and Norm Cash), and only three of the starters had an OPS+ under 125. One of them, Mickey Stanley, had a 102- which meant that the five OF with the most ABs in 1968 for the Tigers had the following OPS+ numbers:

GATES BROWN (92 ABs)-____________234
WILLIE HORTON (512 ABs)-_________165
AL KALINE (327 ABs)-_____________146
JIM NORTHRUP (580 ABs)-__________129
MICKEY STANLEY (583 ABs)-________102

Now, the other two with OPS+ numbers under 125 were, of course, SS Ray Oyler and 3B Don Wert. Wert was pretty freakin' bad, even in an offensive poor 1968- he had a line of .200/ .258/ .299 for an OPS+ of 67, and hit 12 HR. Doing that for over 500 ABs is pretty significantly damaging to the team, but this one was able to absorb it. Worse though was the three-way SS platoon of Ray Oyler, Tom Matchick and Dick Tracewski. How bad? Take a look:

RAY OYLER(215 ABs)-____________20
TOM MATCHICK(227 ABs)-_________60
DICK TRACEWSKI(212 ABs)-_______43

Those are OPS+ NUMBERS!! Oyler had the most ABs at SS, and Matchick and Tracewski were spread out over the infield. That has to be some of the worst production over an entire season at one position for a Championship team of all time.

That being said, this was a fantastic team, and that includes the offense as well of former Red Sox (first black pitcher in team history) Earl Wilson, who had a .489 SLG, a 118 OPS+ and 7 HR, in Tiger Stadium. Not bad.

The Immortal Denny McLain won 31 games, Mickey Lolich won 17, and Pat Dobson and John Hiller combined for 22 starts, 86 appearances and 253 IP total (most out of the bullpen) at an ERA under 2.55, with 171 Ks.

What an amazingly talented team- and they beat the best- Bob Gibson (he of the 1.12 ERA and the distinction of never being removed from a game all year- the only games he didn't complete were late inning pinch hitters) IN St. Louis, with Jim Northrup's immortal 3B to score two and ice the game.

Probably the most amazing stories of the film involved Lolich and Willie Horton- in 1967, during the heat of the riots- Lolich left the team to join his National Guard unit, and Horton, upon hearing of the riots beginning- ran right into the heart of them after the game in his uniform trying to calm some people down.

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BILL JAMES POSITIONAL RANKING INDEX

Bill Freehan, C________12
Norm Cash, 1B__________20
Dick McAuliffe, 2B_____22
Jim Northrup, CF______101
Willie Horton, LF______55
Al Kaline, RF__________11
Mickey Lolich, P_______72

Ray Oyler- Lowest BA among regulars in the 1960's (.171)
Earl Wilson- Best hitting pitcher of the 1960's
1968- Best World Series of the 1960's (along w/ '60 and '64)
Most Single Season Wins in 1960's: Denny McLain (31)
Best Player of 1960's not to win MVP: Al Kaline