The greatness and prestige begins with Cornelius McGillicuddy, Sr, who after spending more than a decade as a player in the National League,  managed the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers for four seasons. With the advent of the American League in 1901, “Connie Mack” became manager, treasurer, and part owner of the new Philadelphia Athletics. He would go on to win – and lose – more games than any manager in major league history. Mack would also build, break down, and rebuild World Series-winning teams before settling into a nearly two-decade long routine of losing games and cashing dividend checks. A team that got off to a good start, but finished fourth, he once said, would be the best kind of team to have.

“A team like that will draw well enough during the first part of the season to show a profit for the year, and you don’t have to give the players raises when they don’t win.” – Connie Mack

Still, Mack won. From 1901-1914, the A’s won three World Series, six pennants, posted two second place finishes and had just one losing season. After getting swept 4-0 in the 1914 World Series, by the “Miracle” Boston Braves, an angry Mack dealt or sold away all of his best players. After a decade of losing, the franchise enjoyed another remarkable stretch from 1925-1933, including two World Series titles, three AL pennants and four second place finishes.

Sadly, the Mack club would never again rise to prominence after 1933, and would only post two seasons with winning records (1949-50) before the club was sold to Arnold Johnson in 1954 and he moved it to Kansas City.

The team’s shift from Philadelphia is long forgotten for most of today’s baseball fans, and predated the Dodgers and Giants shift from New York to the West Coast by three years. There have been no songs, books or poetry written to mourn the loss of the Philadelphia A’s, so we won’t attempt to do so here. However, despite all of the years that they occupied the second division of the AL, Connie Mack’s White Elephants also fielded some of the best nines ever to play the game.

Despite efforts to keep the club in the City of Brother Love, the Mack heirs finally sold the club to Arnold Johnson who would move the A’s to Kansas City to serve as a glorified farm team to the New York Yankees. It would be an insurance salesman named Charlie O’ Finley who would move the franchise to Oakland, change the A’s forever.

As defacto GM, O’Finley would build baseball’s last “real” dynasty. He would also open the door to a baseball future that would drive him from the game.  Finley finally got out in August of 1980, selling the club to Walter J. Haas, who controlled the Levi-Strauss empire. The club had finished 54-108 in 1979, so Finley had hired Billy Martin to run the whole operation. At first, the move was genius. Martin, the Oakland native, was 83-79 in his initial season, and followed it up by winning a share of the division title in the strike-shortened 1981 season. But the winning came with a price, because as the returning hero, Martin filled his front office and scouting department with cronies rather then the best people he could find. The result was chaos, and the new ownership group started giving more and more responsibility to young executive Sandy Alderson, a Dartmouth grad and ex-Marine.

When the bubble burst after a 68-94 season in 1982, Alderson would take over in 1983. It had been a three-year roller-coaster ride with Martin, who was also the club’s GM for the 1981 and 1982 seasons, but there was more to come.

Alderson would preside over four straight losing seasons while he rebuilt the A’s, finish at exactly .500 in 1987, and would win three pennants and one World Series during 1988-1990. Five losing seasons would follow before he gave way to his young assistant, who would become of the most talked about GMs in baseball history.

Billy Beane’s “Moneyball” fame has led to a change in the game of baseball we see being played today, surely, but for all of the praise, Hollywood treatment and near-Messiah status among the new baseball intelligencia, the pennants and World Series titles are non-existent. The franchise may eventually move to San Jose, a move that many feel would create the kind of revenue streams that would allow Beane to finally build a winner. But until that happens, to mention Beane in the same sentence as Connie Mack, Charlie Finley – or even Sandy Alderson – isn’t remotely fair.

And now, here are the All-Time Athletics:

Franchise Player – Rickey Henderson

“The only thing I wish I could figure out is how I got misunderstood regarding the type of person I really am and what I accomplished … Just because I believed in what I was doing on the field and dedicated myself to playing the game, does that mean I’m cocky? Does that mean I’m arrogant? People who played against me called me cocky, but my teammates didn’t.  I brought attention, fear.” — Rickey Henderson, Baseball Digest (Feb. 2003)

Let’s put a couple of things in perspective in regards to Rickey Henderson. Yes, he could be churlish and indifferent, a showboat whose “snatch catches” drove managers and teammates insane. But he was the best leadoff hitter in baseball history and a lethal weapon for nearly every one of the 3081 career games he played in. He was the last of Finley’s great players, signed as a high schooler from the Oakland streets, and made his debut in 1979. From 1979-1984, he stole over 100 bases three times, scored more than 100 runs four times, and did not have a an OBP lower than .398 in any of those seasons, save for his rookie year. He would return after a stint for the Yankees, where would score almost 300 runs in his first two seasons there, and arrived back in Oakland in time to help them win the 1989 World Series against the Giants. Of his 25 seasons, Henderson would play 14 of them in an Oakland uniform. He is the franchise leader in walks, runs scored and stolen bases. Only Bert Campaneris has more hits and games played in team history.

1B – Jimmy Foxx

Like Henderson, economics caused the exile of this homegrown HOFer to Boston in 1934, but before he left, “Double-X” proved he was the best first sacker in A’s history. He played 11 years for the Philadelphia A’s, in a town where the Phillies were an afterthought. From 1925-27, he would have three unremarkable cups of coffee with the big club, if you consider getting big-league at-bats at the ages of 17, 18, 19 unremarkable. As a 20-year old in 1928, he hit .328 with 13 Home runs and 79 RBIs with a .416 OBP in a little over 400 at-bats. The next year, he would hit at least 30 homers, drive in at least 130 runs and hit over .300 every year except 1931. Some of the seasons contained within that stretch are some of the most incredible years ever put together by a single player.

2B – Eddie Collins

As a GM, Eddie Collins helped delay the breaking of baseball’s color barrier in Boston. As a player with the 1919 “Black Sox”, he is best-known among today’s fans as they player who “ratted” out the eight men who would ultimately be banned for life by Judge Landis. But in 13 years as an Athletic, Collins would hit .337 with a .423 OBP. Though he made more than his fair share of errors, he also posted impressive fielding numbers during his career, and is considered more than just a passbale defensive player. Comparatively, when the Oakland A’s website decided to put together it’s All-Time “Oakland A’s” team, the best 2B they could come up with was Mark Ellis, who hit .265 with a .331 OBP in his A’s career.

3B – Sal Bando

Carney Lansford (10 seasons, .288/.343/.404 with 201 HRs and 548 RBIs) is a popular pick among many contemporary A’s fans, and if we cared about being contemporary, we might have picked him over Bando. But Bando (.259/.359/.418 with 212 HRs and 796 RBIs) was the captain of the team that won three straight World Series. Arguably, As far as the postseason goes, Bando’s numbers are remarkably similar to his career numbers, as are Lansford’s, with the former hitting more postseason home runs and the latter hiting for a higher average. Still, while Lansford was a very good player, and often underestimated, there are no ties in baseball, our pick is Bando.

SS- Bert Campenaris

“Dagoberto” is the all-time franchise leader in games played and hits. Bruce Markusen writes an excellent quick bio here. In an era where we judge players by their size and/or by the numbers that they post, “Campy” might not even get a chance to play at the minor league level, least of all the bigs. Traditional scouts would probably look at the 150-160 pound frame he carried throught his career as far too frail, but he stole a lot of bases, and scored a lot of runs and played on three straight World Series winners. Miguel Tejada will get some votes here as well, but like Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, Tejada’s Oakland career — while worth discussing — can’t truly be considered as “All-Time” player until evidence of PEDs can be truly measured. Outside of Tejada, Mike Bordick had some decent years in Oakland, and Chick Galloway did as well in Philadelphia from 1919-1927, but we’ll take Bert.

C- Mickey Cochrane

When people talk about the best catchers of all time, Yogi Berra, Roy Campenella and Johnny Bench are often the most mentioned, and rightfully so. All three are Hall of Famers, World Series champions and won multiple MVPs. Mickey Cochrane is as well known for being the player that Mutt Mantle named his son for as he is for winning the AL MVP in 1934 for Detroit in 1934. Yet when you look at his nine seasons in Philadelphia, wjere he hit .321/.412/.490 with an OPS of .902, he has to be in the conversation.  Terry Steinbach, despite a few good offensive years in Oakland, is just not the player Cochrane was.

LF- See Henderson, Rickey

CF- Dwayne Murphy

Unlike many of our picks here, Murphy did not play for a winner. His lone appearance in the postseason was 1981, and he subsequently played for losing teams thereafter. For his A’s career, spanning 10 seasons, he hit .247 with 153 homers, 563 RBIs and played a very good defensive CF as well. In 1984 he hit 33 homers with 88 RBI, his best season ever.

RF – Reggie Jackson

Most fans think of Reggie Jackson as “Mr. October” of the “Bronx is Burning” Yankees and his wars with Billy Martin. But Reggie was another of Charlie Finley’s HOFers who played nine seasons for the A’s before playing his five-year stints at New York and California. During those nine-years, he fought with hks teammates, won three World Series, including winning both the AL MVP and World Series MVP in 1973. That year, he hit .310 with six RBIs against the Mets, who should have selected him in the 1966 MLB draft, but according to rumors, declined to pick him because he was dating a white woman. Instead, Charlie Finley picked him, and a Hall of Fame career started. His A’s totals are 269 HRs and 776 RBIs over 10 seasons. His final season, fittingly, was played in Oakland, in which he still managed to hit 13 homers and 43 RBIs.

RHSP – Chief Bender

Tim Hudson has pitched longer for the Atlanta Braves now then he did for the Oakland A’s, and as much as we’d like to put him or Catfish Hunter into this spot, it’s hard to argue that anyone but Bender would be the top right-handed starter for any All-Time A’s club. His 38.1 WAR is higher than either Hudson or Hunter, and while Eddie Rommell and Rube Waddell’s WAR numbers are higher than Bender’s, he was a more valuable pitcher to the A’s during his career than Rommell. Waddell only pitched six years in an A’s uniform, and Bender — who was the right-handed complement to Eddie Plank — ranks only behind Plank and Lefty Grove in all-timer wins by an A’s pitcher.

LHSP – Lefty Grove

This is perhaps the hardest decision on the list; Eddie Plank or Lefty Grove? Plank is the franchise leader in WAR, post a 63.9 mark over 3860.2 innings and posting a 284-162 record with a 2.39 ERA. Grove (195-79, 2.88 ERA) is second all-time in WAR among A’s starters, a 59.6 mark over 2401 IP. Each won a pair of World Series with the A’s, and each was sent packing by Connie Mack once their prices went up. Ultimately, the decison comes down to this; Grove, in our opinion, was more dominant during his career. He didn’t pitch as long, but had better individual seasons against his peers than Plank.

Closer – Dennis Eckersley

“Eck”  is in the Hall of Fame because he revolutionized the closer position, aided and abetted of course by Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan. His ridiculous numbers are evidence alone. In 1989 he threw 57.7 innings, struck out 55, walked only 3.  The next year, he posts a 0.60 ERA over 73.3 innings, 72 strikeouts ant issues just 4 walks.  Sure, Rollie Fingers pitched more innings in his A’s career, and won three World Series with the “Swingin’ A’s” and gets major points for that, but Eck was more than just dominant, he was virtually unhittable for a few years.

Manager – Connie Mack

For of his faults, and he had many, Mack simply was better at his job than any other A’s manager. He beat Yankees teams that had Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, and he beat Red Sox teams that had dominated the AL for years. Had he been a tad more visionary, could have begun another dynasty that would have saved AL baseball in Philadelphia, but that reality doen’t obscure his accomplishments. Dick Williams was incredible, but couldn’t work for Finley. Perhaps if he had stayed, maybe the A’s win four straight titles instead of three. As impressive as La Russa’s run as A’s manager was, his teams should have won more. Losing to the 1988 Dodgers and the 1990 Reds while boasting the array of talent he had at his disposal hurts his case.

I was the first player drug-tested in baseball, and I am the one who asked for it.” – Babe Dahlgren

The recent news that 2011 MVP Ryan Braun is appealing a failed “banned substance” test wasn’t expected, but after hundreds of failed tests for recreatiional or performance-enhancing drugs for baseball players, even the fact that a reigning MVP not thought to be the strerotypical behemnoth wasn’t all that’s shocking.

Let’s face it, we live in an era where its hard to imagine people choosing integrity over the millions that can be made with the popping og a pill or the injecting of a needle. Ryan Braun may indeed be innocent, and if he is, he will have the power, resources and platform to defend himself.

Some other players never got that opportunity.

There was another player who once took a drug test, the first one in known baseball history. It was paid for by then-MLB Commisioner Judge Kenesaw Moutian Landis, and it came back clean. For some reason, Landis and several of the commisioners that followed him, refused to make the results public, or provide ther player with some level of justice.

Instead, Babe Dahlgren, once considered the best fielding first baseman in baseball, was sentenced to a life as a baseball vagabond,  and even after his playing days, plagued with the inaction of a baseball industry that turned it back on him a long time ago.

The whole story is chronicled in the book, Rumor In Town: A Grandson’s Promise to Right a Wrong, written by Dahlgren’s grandson, Matt Dahlgren.

Sadly, two of the most respected figures in baseball history played a large role in Dahglren’s misery, and it is perhaps that reality which is responsible for the lack of coverage and discussion of these events.

From Gotham Baseball’s Spring 2011 Issue, “Going Nine: The Other Babe”

“The guy can do everything, and I have a hunch that he invents plays as he goes along. If an old-timer were to swear to me on a stack of testaments that there was every a greater defensive first baseman than Ellsworth ‘Babe’ Dahlgren of the Yankees I wouldn’t believe him.” John Lardner, The New Yorker, June 13, 1940

According to Matt Dahlgren, Babe was also the victim of a vicious rumor, that he was a marijuana smoker. Mike Lynch of Seamheads.com summarized it best, stating that the rumor was “started by a Hall Of Fame manager, perpetuated by a Hall of Fame executive, and buried by a Hall Of Fame Commissioner.”

Dahlgren started his career in the Boston Red Sox system and was poised to become the team’s first baseman until the Bosox got Philadelphia A’s slugger Jimmie Foxx. Babe hoped for a trade and got one, to the Yankees, where Lou Gehrig was entrenched. Determined to prove that he belonged, Dahlgren took his game to the Yankees’ top farm team in Newark in 1937, where he hit. 340 for the Bears, one of the greatest minor league champions in baseball history.

He would make the Yankees in 1938 as a utilityman, but played in just 27 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter. In 1939, he would make the most of an opportunity he desperately wanted, he just hated the way it happened.

Replacing Gehrig, Dahlgren hit a home run, a double off the top of the fence and two drives that were caught against the fence in a 22-2 rout over Detroit. “I especially admired Gehrig because he was a first baseman like me,” Dahlgren told Newsday’s Joe Gergen in 1988. “I never dreamed one day I’d be in New York to take the man’s place.”

He would hit only .235 that year for the Yanks, but he would hit 15 home runs and drive in 89 runs batting seventh or eighth in a powerful lineup. In the World Series that year, Dahlgren would hit his only World Series home run, helping the Yankees sweep the Reds. The future looked bright for the 27-year old Dahlgren. Then he went home to San Francisco, and his life would never be the same.

Local legend Lefty O’Doul hated the fact the Joe McCarthy, and not he was the manager of the New York Yankees, telling anyone who would listen that “Ol’ Marse Joe” was a bush-button manager and that anyone could manage the Yankees. An Associated Press photographer took a picture of Dahlgren receiving batting tips from O’Doul at a off-season (the reality was that they barely talked that day). Combine the cracks that O’Doul made that day, “The Yankees have to send me their players to learn how to it.” a thin-skinned heavy drinker in McCarthy, and a now-veteran first baseman who was well-liked by his teammates and the local press, and you had the makings of a very bad situation.

Dahlgren had another solid year in 1940, hitting .263 / 12/ 73, and played a brilliant first base, but when the Yankees did not win the pennant. McCarthy seemed to blame Dahlgren, citing a key error down the stretch that cost the Yankees a ball game.

He was sent to the Boston Braves in 1941, and was dealt midway in the season to the Cubs, where he really played well, hitting .263 / 23/ 89 for the season. While he was having the best year of his career to date, McCarthy was telling the New York sportswriters – who all liked Dahlgren, thought he was a superb first baseman, and were watching Johnny Sturm hit just .235 with no power and nowhere near the glove – that Dahlgren’s arms were too short to play first base.

Really.

The longer the season wore on, the longer it looked like McCarthy had had a personal beef with Dahlgren, and the writers pressed McCarthy on the trade. Now, remember, it was the 1941 season, and Joe DiMaggio was setting his magical streak and Ted Williams was hitting .406 for the Red Sox. Dahlgren was happy in Chicago, playing well and finally getting the accolades he deserved.

Then, almost instantly, Dahlgren would spent the rest of his career, from 1942, getting traded from Chicago to St. Louis to Brooklyn (where Branch Rickey would accuse him of smoking marijuana, the first time Dahlgren would hear of the rumor) to Philadelphia (where he became an All-Star) to Pittsburgh (where he would drive in 101 runs and hit .289 in 1944) and finally back to St. Louis, where he would finally be discarded.

In the midst of the incredulous rumor, Dahlgren informed then-Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis of the rumor, and the Judge, according to the book, paid all the expenses for what would prove to be a “clean” drug test for Dahlgren. But Landis and every subsequent Commissioner – up until his death in 1996 – failed to address Babe’s cause.

Dahlgren also died not going who had started the rumor. He had always assumed that it was Rickey, because of the way the situation had played out. It wasn’t until his grandson Matt, who wanted to write the manuscript that would become “Rumor in Town” (Babe’s original manuscript, as well as a letter from Landis proving the rumor existed, were lost in a fire at Babe’s home in 1980), that the origin of the rumor surfaced.

Dahlgren was doing research for his book when someone suggested the aforementioned Marty Appel, arguably the preeminent Yankees historian, for stories about his father.

Appel told him about a conversation he had with New York Times sportswriter John Drebinger in 1973, recalling McCarthy talking to a small group of baseball insiders at the end of the 1940 season. McCarthy, Appel remembered Drebinger telling him, noted that the Yankees would have won the pennant in 1940 had it not been for an error that Dahlgren made in a late-season game against Cleveland. “Dahlgren doesn’t screw up that play if he wasn’t a marijuana smoker.”

Tired of being made a fool for suggesting that the obviously proportionally-limbed Dahlgren’s arms were more than long enough, McCarthy decided to spread a rumor so incredible, so scandalous that few would ever repeat it. But the ones that did cost a good man his career.

“Rumor in Town” might be a promise by a grandson to his grandfather to right a terrible wrong, but one would hope that it also motivate Major League Baseball to right a terrible injustice. To date, the case is one that MLB doesn’t feel needs to be reopened.. And that is a big a tragedy as was the rumor that cost Babe Dahlgren his career.

I spoke with Bernie Williams about his new book “Rythyms of the Game”, got to know Bellville, NJ Little Leaguer Alex Luna. I also weigh in whqt the new playoff system should look like.

That being said, Roberto Clemente’s impact on Major League Baseball and the importance being involved in humanitarian  activities has grown tremendously since December 31st, 1972, when Clemente died while escorting supplies to Nicaragua, which had been devastated by an earthquake.  Roberto Clemente, in more ways than one, has established himself as a benchmark for excellence on and off the field for future ballplayers.

Born on August 18th, 1934 in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Clemente reached the major leagues as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates at the age of 20.  For a franchise coming off its third straight eighth place finish Clemente offered a glimpse of potential, even if the team finished in eighth once again during his rookie season.

Bart Ripp of the Daily Iowan wrote about the ‘gifted player and extraordinary man’ that Roberto Clemente was in a March 1973 issue. Click here to check it out!

Over the first five seasons of his career, he solidified himself as the every day right fielder.  During the off seasons, Clemente played in the Puerto Rican Baseball League. However, a major change in his off season regiment had an impact on the rest of his career.  During the off season before the 1959 season, Clemente served with the United States Marine Corps Reserves, which added ten pounds to his frame and contributed to his .296 average during the 1959 season.  The off season change proved beneficial, and he continued as a member of the corps through 1964. Beginning in 1960, Clemente hit above .300 eight times and won four NL batting titles along the way.

As Clemente was arriving on the national stage, he was carrying the Pirates with him.  For the first time since 1927 the Pirates were facing off against the American League in the Fall Classic, and for the first time in 45 years the Pirates became kings of baseball when they defeated the New York Yankees for their third franchise title.  Clemente earned his first of fifteen All-Star nods during the 1960 season, and the first of twelve consecutive Gold Glove Awards.

From 1960 to his final season in 1972, Clemente hit .329 over that span. Over the course of his career, he averaged 200 hits, twice leading the league in that category.  Frankly, the right fielder ranked among the top 10 every year in most offensive and defensive categories throughout his career.  He secured his only MVP Award in 1966, in the midst of a four year span where he hit a robust .335.

In a September 1971 issue of Baseball Digest, Roberto Clemente tells George Voss about the ‘Game He’ll Never Forget’. Click here to read all about it!

With the new decade, the Pirates returned to the postseason in three straight seasons, culminating with a World Series victory over the 101 win Baltimore Orioles in 1971.  Clemente did his part with a .342 season average and a .414 average in the World Series. Though he played in just 102 games during the 1972 season, Clemente showed as a 38 year old that he was far from being finished as a ballplayer at the major league level.  His final at bat came on September 30th, 1972; and he stroked a double to left field. He came around to score the first run in a 2-0 victory over the New York Mets.

On December 23rd, 1972, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Managua, Nicaragua, killing 5,000 people, injuring 20,000 more and leaving a quarter million homeless.  Clemente organized efforts to send supplies to the victims, and encountered a government that was stockpiling foreign aid instead of ensuring the supplies reached victims.  After three failed flights with supplies Roberto Clemente boarded a plane overloaded, bound for Nicaragua, on December 31st, in hopes of ensuring supplies reached their intended destination.  Shortly after takeoff, the plane crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Roberto Clemente’s body was never recovered, despite efforts by even his long time friend and teammate Manny Sanguillen, who dove off the coast of Puerto Rico on the day of his funeral services.  Less than four months after his death, the Baseball Writers Association of America held a special election to waive the five year waiting period to induct him into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Since 1973, Roberto Clemente has been posthumously honored  in several ways.  Perhaps the biggest honor Clemente has received(next to the three Presidential Awards) is the renaming of the Commissioner’s Award presented by Major League Baseball each year to a player in his honor that “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team”.  Clemente’s legacy also lives on with his his, Roberto Clemente Jr., who established the Roberto Clemente Foundation in 1993.

Michael Maher is a senior writer for BaseballDigest.com.  He can be reached at MinorLeagueSpotlight@Gmail.com or you can follow him on Twitter @BD_Maher and check out his blog.

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No dwelling on it. Answer with whichever choice comes to mind naturally after hearing the question.

Which Fab Five was more impressive: Chris Webber, Jimmy King, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Ray Jackson…or…Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Honus Wagner and Christy Mathewson?

(I’ll wait for you to stop laughing and then we can carry on with the rest of the piece).

The latter group in the poll represents the very first group of major league baseball players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. In 1936, the five men were the first to receive the game’s greatest honor and set the bar for all to follow.  The last name on the list, Mathewson, was born on this day in 1880.

From Factoryville, Pennsylvania, Mathewson grew up playing multiple sports, earning recognition for his skills in baseball and football while attending Bucknell University. Factoryville celebrates Christy Mathewson Day every year on the Saturday closest to his birthday. Bucknell University’s football stadium is named Christy Mathewson Memorial. However, it was his performance on the baseball field that truly cemented his legacy.

Mathewson spent a few years playing minor league ball, including simultaneously during some of his time at Bucknell. In 1900, Mathewson caught the eye of the New York Giants when he posted a 20-2 record pitching for the Norfolk team in the Virginia-North Carolina League. Nowadays, a pitcher that would go on to win a World Series, rank third in the majors in career wins, eighth all time in wins and post seasons with 20 or more victories ten times and 30 or more wins, four times, would cost you a pretty penny. Even based solely on projections and potential. In 1900, Mathewson’s contract only cost the Giants $1,500.

Their relationship would go on to last a very happy sixteen years, however it didn’t start very smoothly. After acquiring Mathewson, he would kick off his time with the squad with a rather unimpressive, not-so-Hall-worthy start of an 0-3 record. The Giants were furious and returned him to the Norfolk team. As his destiny would have it however, Mathewson would still go on to spend those sixteen seasons in a Giants uniform after the Cincinnati Reds picked him up from Norfolk and went on to trade him to New York after all.

In the final act of his career, he made an appearance for a season on the Reds’ roster. His golden years were made up of his time with New York. Over his seventeen seasons in the majors, Mathewson posted an overall win-loss record of 373-188. His career ERA is among the best of all-time and just think about how impressed we all are when watching a pitcher go the distance. When it happens in 2011, a rare feat at that with bullpen pitching strategies and pitch count becoming a larger part of the game with every day that passes, people applaud the effort and begin thinking of ways to keep the pitcher’s locker free of kryptonite. In the early 1900′s? Achieving the feat once would hardly even get a mention in the overall summary of the day’s events. The bar was being set high at an alarming pace as pitchers in this era, known as the ‘dead ball era’ were iron men. Mathewson, for example, threw 79 total complete games in his career.  Roy Halladay, to put it in perspective, is the active leader with 64 complete games thrown. Highlighting the stat helps to put how impressive Halladay is as a pitcher more than Mathewson.   However, the bar is set with players  like Mathewson. Halladay is only impressive because we know the precedent that has been set before him. Mathewson was one of the players who laid the foundation for all others to be compared to. Halladay is the rare example of someone coming any where near what Mathewson accomplished in the game. However, that is only one category.

There is a reason Mathewson was one of the first five to be inducted into Cooperstown. There is a lot more to the story than ‘total complete games’.

Mathewson struck out 2,502 batters in his career (2,502 at least that is, as strike outs weren’t even tracked in the NL until 1910), which was three times the amount of batters he walked In the 1905 World Series, while pitching for the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Athletics, Mathewson was masterful. In games one and three, he pitched the Giants to victory with dual four hit shutouts. In game five, his performance took a couple of steps back. He threw a six hit shutout. That day, on two days rest, he completed what ESPN called the greatest playoff performance of all-time and brought the championship to Giants fans everywhere.

1905 proved to be one of Mathewson’s greatest seasons and that is saying a lot. Almost every season delivered reason to brush up his resume or at least the information on the back of his baseball card. He won the pitching triple crown in 1905 and 1908, was a five time ERA champion, five time strike out champion, threw two no-hitters and did all of this while never pitching on Sunday. A devout Christian, Mathewson had no problem doing his part as one of the greatest pitchers of all time Monday-Saturday. Sunday, however, was God’s day and he refused to pitch.

Baseball fans have continued to respect Mathewson’s performance in the 1905 World Series long after the fact, as shown in this excerpt from the February 1993 issue of Baseball Digest.

When his playing days were over, he enlisted in the armed services in the same newly formed Chemical Service as Ty Cobb. Accidentally gassed while serving, Mathewson developed tuberculosis, the disease that would eventually take his life at the young age of 45.

Mathewson played his last game in 1916, ironically enough in a Cincinnati Reds uniform. The Giants honor him among their retired numbers with his name and old NY logo hanging at AT&T. Cooperstown proudly displays his plaque, naming him the greatest of all the great pitchers in the 20th century’s first quarter. His stats and accomplishments are preserved in baseballs record books forever. Fans can read them over and relive the feats he provided fans in the past. Players can look them up and know what ‘greatness’ means and try their best to live up to the precedent he set.

Good luck, modern-day ballplayers. You’re going to need it. As for the other ‘Fab Five’? Black socks, baggy shorts and not one NCAA championship? They never stood a chance.

Also Born Today:

Matt Clement turns 37 today. Born in McCandless, PA, Clement pitched for the Padres, Cubs, Marlins and Red Sox. He made an All-Star appearance for Boston in 2005. For the Cubs in 2002 and 2003, he finished among the top 10 in the National League in the strike outs per nine innings pitched category.

Bob Buhl was born on this day in 1928 and passed away in 2001. From Saginaw, MI, Buhl pitched in the major leagues for the Braves, Cubs and Phillies. 1957 was his best season finishing fifth in complete games, second in winning percentage, and fourth in ERA.

Ryan Maloney is a staff writer for BaseballDigest.com, author of the popular Chicago Cubs blog titled ’Prose and Ivy, and a contributing writer to MLB.com/Entertainment.

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Long before that though, the future Hall of Fame member was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1890. He was a good athlete growing up and quit high school to play for the Kansas City Blues of the American Association. He later played in the Northern Association and the Blue Grass League, but still studied to become a dentist.  Obviously, baseball won out and Stengel was chosen by the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1911 draft. He appeared in 17 games for the Dodgers in 1912, hitting .316 with one home run and 13 RBI.

Stengel hit .284 in six seasons in Brooklyn (who were known as the Dodgers, Superbas, and Robins during that time; they didn’t become the Dodgers full time until 1931.), and helped lead them to the World Series in 1916. He was 4-11 (.364) in the Series, but the Dodgers lost to Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox in four games. His final four seasons were in the tutelage of legendary manager Wilbert Robinson.

In 1918, Stengel was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates as part of a deal for another future Hall member, pitcher Burleigh Grimes. Stengel was dealt three more times in his career, to the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Giants, and Boston Braves. One of his best seasons with the Giants was in 1922 when he hit .368/.436/.564 with 48 RBI in only 84 games. He also went 2-5 in that year’s World Series when the Giants topped the Yankees. One year later, he was on the losing end to the Yankees, but hit .417.

During his time in Pittsburgh, Stengel’s reputation for nutty/funny behavior was best exemplified when his Pirates team visited his old Brooklyn team. The fans booed Stengel mercilessly until he stepped into the batters’ box, doffed his cap, and a bird flew out.

Learn more about “The Old Perfessor” in Milton Richman’s 1957 profile in Baseball Digest. Click here to read all about it!

Stengel retired early in the 1925 season to become player/manager of the Worcester Panthers of the Eastern League. A year later he began a six year stint at the helm of the Toledo Mud Hens of the America Association. (He saw some playing time as well in five of the six years.) Then it was back to the Major Leagues and Brooklyn as a coach for two years before Stengel was named as the Dodgers manager. Unfortunately for Stengel, the Dodgers lacked talent and didn’t finish higher than 5th place before Stengel was fired after the 1936 season.

Stengel got another chance with the Boston Bees/Braves in 1938, but the talent level was no better than in Brooklyn. Boston had four seventh place finishes in Stengel’s first five seasons, but that may not have hurt as much as the broken leg Stengel suffered when a car hit him in April, 1943.  Casey missed 46 games, but the Braves continued their losing ways when he returned, though the  team moved up a notch to sixth place. With the Braves coming under new ownership prior to the 1944 season, Stengel decided to resign, saying he did not want to “embarrass the new stockholders…”.

Stengel’s best days were ahead of him though, as were many more games to manage. After one season running the minor league Milwaukee Brewers he returned to his roots as the skipper of the Kanas City Blues in 1945. Then it was three years at the helm of the Pacific Coast League’s Oakland Oaks before Stengel got the break of a lifetime. The Yankees and manager Bucky Harris agreed to a mutual departure after the 1948 season and Stengel was hired. He would wear the Yankees’ pinstripes and road greys for 12 seasons (Kind of sounds a little like the Joe Torre story, no?).

Stengel became one of the first managers to heavily utilize platooning. He inherited an aging DiMaggio, a young  Mantle, and stalwarts like Berra and Rizzuto. Though he would sometimes clash with veterans and maybe liked the attention he got a little too much, it’s hard to argue with “The Old Perfessor’s” success. 10 pennants and seven world championships, including five straight titles from 1949-1953. He was nearly fired after losing the 1957 World Series to the Milwaukee Braves and then fell behind three games to one to the Braves in the 1958 series. But the Yankees rallied to win three straight games and the Series. Among his memorable moments as Yankees manager was his 1958 anti-trust testimony in front of Congress, in which he had everyone in stitches with his rambling style.

Yankees ownership decided to go in a new direction after the 1960 season and let Stengel go. He would be out of the Majors for one season before accepting a job across town with the expansion New York Mets. The Mets were short on talent so they knew they needed a charismatic figure to help boost attendance. The 71-yr old Stengel was the perfect fit, it didn’t really matter what the Mets did on the field. Good thing too since they lost 120 games that first year and dropped over 100 in the next two seasons as well.

In July, 1965, the 75-yr old manager broke his hip getting out of a car and, on advice from his doctor, retired in August. A year later, the Veteran’s Committee selected Stengel for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Casey is the only person to wear the uniform of all four 20th century teams in New York and both the Mets (1965) and Yankees (1970) retired Casey’s #37.

The baseball world was saddened on September 29, 1975 when Casey Stengel passed away at age 85. He was married to his beloved Edna for 51 years.

Also Born Today:

Clint Hurdle (Big Rapids, MI 1953): Clint Hurdle was a Sports Illustrated cover boy in 1978 and was predicted to be a star in Major League Baseball. Though his time with the KC Royals and three other organizations never lived up to the hype, Hurdle has made a successful career for himself in post-playing days. He’s currently in his first year as manager of the surprising Pittsburgh Pirates, who are in the running for a division title for the first time in nearly 20 years. Hurdle previously managed the Colorado Rockies from 2002-2009 and took the team to it’s sole World Series appearance in 2008.

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Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

The newspaper industry is in enough trouble these days without printing smear jobs written by “journalists” who have a conflict of interest about the very subject they are writing about.  But this past week, the  New York Post did just that by publishing this gem by Peter J. Nash about deceased baseball memorabilia collector Barry Halper.

What the New York Post doesn’t tell you is that Nash is involved in a long-running litigation with a memorabilia auction house that represented Barry Halper, admitted in publicly-filed court papers to committing fraud against that very same auction house, and has an outstanding warrant against him related to this ongoing legal battle.

Nash contends that his admission of fraud in the above case was part of the settlement deal, which he explains — in detail — on his site. His warrant, he argues, is “a civil (not criminal) warrant only in Somerset County, NJ, and related only to discovery and document production in the case with the auction house and the collection of their judgement.”

Nash is also perplexed as to why, as a journalist for more than 15 years, I would question his integrity in reporting this story. Well, the above collection of facts disqualify him from rendering an unbiased opinion, no? Once his accusations went from the insulated world of a niche blog to a news major news site, and he did not fully inform the readership of his involvement in the case at hand, ethics went out the window.

Yes, it’s so edgy and interesting that the once-rapper whose most famous moment was clubbing a Vanilla Ice lookalike in a music video, that the New York Post wouldn’t fact-check either the article or the person who wrote it?

According to Nash, the Post contacted him after reading his blog. So they certainly can’t plead ignorance of the author’s background.

According to a story written on Dec. 9, 2009,SI.com,

Nash recently lost a lawsuit against a leading memorabilia auctioneer in which he admitted to fraud, and, according to sources, the FBI is investigating whether he sold forged memorabilia.

Among the allegations in the countersuit were that some of the collateral Nash had put up — such as a ball and glove that had belonged to Fred Tenney, first baseman for the pennant-winning 1897 Beaneaters — were not his to consign. Nash rescheduled court appointments, canceled his own deposition at the last minute and, when he was finally deposed under oath, invoked the Fifth Amendment dozens of times in response to questions about the origins of specific pieces of collateral.

Yet, this did not stop the Post from allowing Mr. Nash to accuse Barry Halper — based largely on unnamed sources or in some cases no sources at all, just innuendo — of being a “con artist,” who “allegedly paid people to back his lies,” and that Barry Halper is “the primary suspect in a notorious heist of the New York Public Library’s Fifth Avenue branch.”

Perhaps Mr. Nash — the Ivy League educated hip-hop impresario and baseball enthusiast — deduced that by attacking a extremely well-known and beloved baseball collector — who also happened to be deceased — was a great way to spark interest for his upcoming book — which just happens to be about malfeasance and fraud in the baseball memorabilia industry.

Getting a fellow Red Sox fan who sued the same auction house that Nash is involved in a lawsuit against to call Halper “The Madoff of Memorabilia” is even more despicable, and transparent, for that matter.

Barry Halper lost his life at the all-too young age of 66, and to those who knew him, his baseball collection wasn’t a Ponzi scheme that he ruined thousands of people’s lives with. It was a passion that he wanted to share with others. A lifelong dream pursued, reached and celebrated with everyone.

From the NJJN.com website:

Rabbi Laurence W. Groffman, spiritual leader of B’nai Jeshurun, where Halper and his wife, Sharon, were members, praised Halper as a “really kind, wonderful mensch.”

“He would never turn down a request from our temple brotherhood to do lectures,” the rabbi said. “I remember he did a great presentation once showing his collection of vintage boxing films. The thing about it was not only that he had this great material, but the depth of his knowledge about it was incredible. He was always generous with his time.

Hall Of Fame catcher Yogi Berra:

“He was a wonderful guy, a very good friend for a long time,” the Hall of Fame catcher said in a statement. “Baseball and his family, those were always the greatest things to him.”

Always one for a self-deprecating remark, Berra mused that Halper “had more of my stuff than I had. Barry loved telling stories, and he really loved the Yankees. He was always real generous to charities and helped out” the Yogi Berra Museum and Education Center in Montclair.

Nash’s article begins like this:

The vaunted dealer, with a wing named after him in Cooperstown, has been unmasked as a con artist who hawked replicas and forgeries as one-of-a-kind gems.

Really? By who?

But Halper didn’t just buy fakes and pass them off as real. He allegedly paid people to back his lies about how he acquired some pieces, and he’s the primary suspect in a notorious heist of the New York Public Library’s Fifth Avenue branch, where $1 million worth of letters to baseball pioneer Harry Wright and other scrapbook entries vanished in the 1970s.

There is a not a single shred of real evidence that exists that would allow anyone, least of all a journalist, make these accusations. Each one is laughable.

The FBI already has carted away photos and documents from Halper’s collection that were allegedly swiped from the Boston Public Library, but not before some of the artifacts were auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1999 as part of a $30 million sale.

No, they did not.

“When tracking the stolen items, all roads seem to lead to Barry Halper,” said a source familiar with an ongoing FBI probe of the New York theft.

Nash must really have trouble selling this book. This is the most entertaining gem in a mountain of a sloppily-put together “expose”. But while it’s laughably obvious to me what a biased, self-serving, and useless piece of “journalism” this is, it wasn’t such to the New York Post, which published it as a story.

That it did so without mentioning any of the legal difficulties facing Mr. Nash, which clearly show a clear conflict of interest with the subject matter, makes it a grave disservice to the reader, and more so to the Halper family. That the Post also failed to publish any material forwarded them by the Halper family that informed them of their error concerning the enormous trust they placed in their newest contributor is even worse.

Jason Halper:

My father was one of the first people to gather baseball memorabilia into a collection, and if he didn’t invent the hobby, he was certainly among the first, going back to the 1940s. His boyish enthusiasm for any great “find” never waned, and he was a beloved figure on the baseball scene not only for his collection of more than a million items, but for his love of the hunt, and the stories behind his acquisitions. As his reputation and collection grew, he began hearing from people all over the country with unusual items, and as the hobby developed and prices became associated with artifacts, he was sought after for his willingness to purchase goods.

When illness beset my father later in his life, he agreed to put his massive collection up for auction rather than have his family burdened with the estate issues. When certain items were said to be replicas and not originals, he either did not sell them or he expressly relabled them as replicas without dispute. This includes the Ty Cobb, Pud Galvin, Mickey Mantle, and Babe Ruth uniforms referenced by Mr. Nash in his article. In fact, many of the items identified in Mr. Nash’s article, such as the Ty Cobb shotgun, were not sold at all by my father. Evidently, Mr. Nash did not want such facts to get in the way of his public smear campaign.

In all events, my father did not collect memorabilia for the money – he was a very successful businessman and a minority owner of the New York Yankees. And he certainly would have never done anything to compromise his reputation. Was my father ever “had” over the years? My father was not a forensic expert and he never claimed to be an authenticator, and he certainly may have been gullible when he was presented with exciting finds. My father’s collection had literally over a million items and spanned over 50 years of collecting. It is therefore quite possible that some of the items he purchased over the years would not pass today’s forensic tests. That is not unusual for collections of my father’s size, baseball or otherwise. But did my father ever knowingly participate in a fraud, as Mr. Nash now claims? Hardly. If anything, my father was the victim of fraud from people with a good story, anxious to receive a payment. My father had a good heart, and he tended to believe people. This was, after all, a hobby, not a business to him, and his collection was all about showing off historical items and telling the stories behind them.

Contrary to Mr. Nash’s accusations in his article, the FBI has never “carted away photos and documents from Halper’s collection that were allegedly swiped from the Boston Public Library.” That is an outright lie. Mr. Nash also states that my father’s “1846 Knickerbocker baseball may be a phony” – and that the letter from Alexander Cartwright (the “father of baseball”) that accompanied the ball in my father’s 1999 Sotheby’s auction “was stolen from archives in Hawaii.” Those accusations are also pure nonsense. Indeed, Mr. Nash and the Post fail to inform their readers that the 1846 Knickerbocker baseball was purchased by my father directly from the Cartwright family, was described in the Sotheby’s catalog as “The Cartwright Family Baseball,” and was accompanied by a description stating that “there is no way we can be certain” that the ball was from 1846. As for the letter from Cartwright that accompanied the ball, Mr. Nash omits the fact that my father purchased that letter from Josh Evans, an auctioneer – who is quoted favorably elsewhere in Mr. Nash’s article. If the Cartwright letter was stolen, as Mr. Nash now claims, perhaps Mr. Nash should ask Mr. Evans where he got it from.

In addition, Mr. Nash’s article grossly inflates the monies paid for my father’s collection at the Sotheby’s auction and by Major League Baseball. Mr. Nash even concocts bizarre tales like a two-way mirror in our home to spy on visitors. That is another lie. I lived in that house for 20 years. There was no two-way mirror.

Mr. Nash identifies other items from my father’s collection – mainly older uniforms and Ty Cobb-related items that my father purchased from Cobb’s biographer – that he claims are not authentic. I am not qualified to comment on whether century-old uniforms or diaries are authentic or not, but my father believed Cobb’s biographer (why wouldn’t he?). When purchasing Cobb items (or any other items) my father did not bring items to laboratories to conduct forensic tests. He trusted people. And it is important to note that to the extent any items identified by Mr. Nash were actually sold through Sotheby’s or to Major League Baseball, those items were openly documented, cataloged, and reviewed by authenticators, not by my father. If anyone had any questions or doubts about a particular item, they could have simply raised those questions at the time the items were sold in 1999 – as opposed to 12 years after the fact, when my father is no longer around to defend himself.

In short, Mr. Nash’s article in the Post is a sad attempt to discredit the achievements and reputation of a man who devoted a great portion of his life to baseball and the memorabilia of the game, for the pure joy of collecting. My father was a sincere person who never knowingly misled anyone. Mr. Nash refers to my father, apparently in the hope of selling books, as the “Madoff of Memorabilia.” That is outrageous. Such a title is ironic, given that Mr. Nash is the one who has readily admitted in court papers to committing fraud. To the extent that there were any authentication issues with certain items in my father’s collection, such issues can and should be established by clear evidence – not by malicious accusations from a biased fugitive like Mr. Nash.

Peter J. Nash was once Pete Nice, and he wrote, or helped write, and perform “Pop-Pop Goes the Weasel”, a 1990 rap “anthem” pointed at the injustice of rappers who were “posers” who weren’t representing the true nature of what rap was all about. As a member of “3rd Bass”, I assume Nash was all about “keepin’ it real” back then.

Funny thing about life. If you make the wrong choices, it’s not that difficult to become what you once despised. Smearing a man’s good name to sell a book?

Pop-pop goes the weasel, ’cause the weasel goes pop.

These are the saddest of possible words:
“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double –
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
“Tinker to Evers to Chance.”

July 21 is the 130th anniversary of the birth of Evers, the tall, thin middle infielder whose scrappy play earned him the nickname “Crab”. It was that style that helped Evers make his debut at age 19 for the Chicago Orphans. (The Orphans became the Chicago Cubs two years later.)

Evers was not only famous as part of the most famous double play combination, but he is also the player who pointed out  the play that became known as “Merkle’s Boner” during the 1908 season. New York Giants rookie Fred Merkle failed to advance to second base on what would have been a game winning hit for the Giants. Instead the play turned into a force out and ended up a tie game. The Cubs later won the make up game and topped the Giants by one game for the NL Pennant. They went on to  capture the World Series as well, defeating the Detroit Tigers.

As for Evers’ career, he was known much for his defense than his offense, but he did win the NL MVP Award as a member of the 1914 Boston Braves.  After playing 12 seasons with the Cubs, Evers was dealt to Boston prior to the ’14 season and ended up winning a second World Series title. Evers hit .279 with one home run, 40 RBI, 87 walks, 87 runs, and 12 steals in his MVP year. Just as offensive numbers were lower in those days,  errors were a lot higher,primarily due to poor mitts and field conditions. Evers committed 17 errors in his MVP season, one of the lowest totals of his career and finished with a lifetime .955 fielding percentage.

Johnny Evers had a big hit in the 1914 World Series. The Boston Herald’s Arthur Sampson recounted it in a 1950 piece in Baseball Digest. Click here to read all about it.

After four seasons with the Braves, Evers played a final season with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1917. Evers, who was a player/manager for the Cubs in 1913, went on to a brief managerial career after his playing days ended. He managed the Cubs to a 41-55 record in 1921, but was fired in early August. In 1922 Evers joined the Chicago White Sox coaching staff and actually played in a game due to an injury to second baseman Eddie Collins and a shortage of extra infielders. He went 0-3 with two walks. (Evers would repeat the feat while a coach for the Boston Brave in 1929. The then 47-yr old Evers made a defensive appearance in one game.)

In 1924 Evers took over the rival White Sox when manager and former teammate Frank Chance was sidelined with a bronchial infection. Evers would be a bookend manager, going 10-11, before Edd Walsh and Eddie Collins managed the next 30 games. Evers then took over again for the final 102 games (41-61). Later in life, Evers worked as a scout for the Braves and managed in the International League. The Veterans Committee elected Evers to the Hall of Fame in 1946.  He died the following year of a brain hemorrhage and was laid to rest in his hometown of Troy, NY.

Also Born Today

CC Sabathia (Vallejo, CA 1980): Carsten Charles Sabathia is loved by his teammates and fans alike. The 6’7″ southpaw, whose weight has fluctuated above 300 lbs at times, is one of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball. He’ll pitch this evening against the Tampa Bay Rays with a seven game winning streak on the line and a league high 14 wins. Sabathia was the 20th overall pick for the Cleveland Indians in the 1998 amateur draft out of Vallejo HS in his hometown.

His six-plus seasons in Cleveland included a Cy Young Award, but with free agency pending he was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers at the 2008 trade deadline.  His 11-2, 1.65 record led the Brewers to the playoffs for the first time since 1982. Sabathia signed a seven year, $161MM contract with the New York Yankees and was an integral part of the their 2009 World Series championship.

Moe Drabowsky (Ozanna, Poland 1935): Born with the given name Myron, Drabowsky signed as a bonus baby with the Chicago Cubs in 1956. He began his career as a starter before switching over to a full time reliever for the final 10 of his 17 big league seasons. He won a career high 13 games with the Cubs in 1957 and also set his career high in losses that season with 15. His career would span three decades and saw him play with eight organizations. He finished with an 88-105, 3.61 record with 33 complete games and 55 saves. He set a record by striking out 11 Dodgers in 6.2 innings in the 1966 World Series. Life a lot of lefties Drabowsky was considered a flake and also was a bit of a prankster. He once even gave a hot-foot to then baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Drabowsky worked as a special pitching instructor for the Orioles for 13 years before he passed away in 2006.

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Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

Richard Michael Gossage was born in 1951 in Colorado Springs, CO where he still makes his home today. After a stellar career at Wasson High School, Gossage was selected by the Chicago White Sox in the 9th round of the 1970 amateur draft. He appeared in 13 games combined that year for the Gulf Coast rookie White Sox and low level ‘A’ Appleton Foxes with mixed results, but a year later as a starter he made everyone in the organization stand up and take notice.

24 of Gossage’s 25 appearances for Appleton in 1971 were indeed as a starting pitcher and he excelled. An 18-2 record, 1.83 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 187 innings jumped off the page at everyone. He also allowed just 141 hits and 50 base on balls. His performance earned the 20-yr old an invitation to the big league spring training in 1972. He then continued to open eyes that spring and went north will the ball club.

Manager Chuck Tanner, who later became Gossage’s manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the front office decided to move Gossage to the bullpen despite his prior year’s performance. It was felt that his electric stuff would work even better out of the pen. He made 36 appearances his rookie season, but despite a 7-1 record, his other numbers weren’t up to his minor league standards. He walked five batters per nine innings, allowed 72 hits in 80 innings, and posted a 4.28 earned run average. Control issues would be the reason was Gossage shuttled back and forth between the Majors and minors the next two seasons.

Bob Rubin of the Miami Herald profiled Gossage after the reliever saved 33 games in 1980. Click here to read all about it.

It wasn’t until 1975 that the player nicknamed “Goose”, by teammate Tom Bradley, (because of the way he stuck his neck out when looking for the sign from the catcher) started to put it all together at the Major League level. He led the American League that year with 26 saves, struck out 130 batters in 141.2 innings pitched, and allowed 99 hits (just three of which were home runs). His play earned him the first of his nine All-Star appearances, and he finished sixth in the 1975 AL CY Young voting.

Despite his fabulous year, the White Sox decided to move Gossage back to the starting rotation for the 1976 season. The results were semi-disastrous. Goose lost 17 games, struck out just 130 in 224 innings, and allowed 214 hits. The team led by Paul Richards also lost 97 games, so that winter owner Bill Veeck decided to make some changes. In December, Gossage along with lefty Terry Forster were shipped to Pittsburgh for outfielder Richie Zisk and pitcher Silvio Martinez. Zisk hit 30 home runs and produced 101 RBI in his one and only year in Chicago and never approached those numbers again. Meanwhile Gossage’s best days were ahead of him.

Back in the bullpen in 1977, Gossage saved 26 games and combined with Kent Tekulve and Grant Jackson for one of those dominant relief corp in baseball. But free agency loomed for Gossage and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, despite having the reigning AL CY Young winner Spark Lyle on his team, was greatly intrigued.  And whatever George wanted, George generally got. He landed Gossage with a six year deal on November 22, 1977. It was a move that eventually led to third baseman Graig Nettles’ famous quote on Lyle, “He went from CY Young to sayonara.”

Gossage’s intro to New York was a rough one. He lost the first game of the season when he gave up a 9th inning home run to none other than Texas’ Richie Zisk. His next appearance was a blown save to Milwaukee and another loss. After mop up duty in his third appearance, Gossage lost another ninth inning game, this time to Toronto. His 0-3 record led to boos when the Yankees returned home. Gossage loves to retell the story today of when center fielder Mickey Rivers jumped on the hood of the bullpen car, yelling “NO”, to stop Gossage from entering a game.

Though he also had a blown save in the ’78 All-Star game, Gossage turned things around (a league leading 27 saves) and helped the Yankees come back from a 14.5 game deficit to Boston in the AL East. He then protected a one run lead in a one game playoff between the two teams, getting Carl Yastrzemski to pop up to Graig Nettles to end the game. Gossage went on to make four All-Star appearances while with New York, led the league in saves twice and finished third in the AL CY Young voting in 1980. But Gossage began to clash with owner George Steinbrenner as the 1980′s marched on and he decided to depart as a free agent after the 1983 season. He signed with San Diego and helped them to their first World Series with 25 saves.

After four years on the left coast, Gossage spent time with the Chicago Cubs, had a second tour with the Yankees before rounding out his career with the Texas Rangers, Oakland A’s, and Seattle Mariners. He also pitched in Japan during the 1990 campaign. In 22 big league seasons, Gossage finished with 310 saves and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. Today, the Goose is active in youth sports and serves as a Spring Training instructor for the Yankees.

Also Born Today:

Gary Matthews Sr. (San Fernando, CA 1950): “Sarge” was a star baseball player at San Fernando High and was selected as the 17th overall pick in the 1968 amateur draft by the San Francisco Giants. The southern California native made his MLB debut in northern California for the Giants in 1972, hitting .290 with four home runs in 20 games. He then won the NL Rookie of the Year award a year later when he hit .300 with 12 HR and 58 RBI. After five years by the Bay, Matthews signed with Atlanta as a free agent. He spent four years there and made his first All-Star team before being dealt to the Phllies prior to the 1981 season. He was a member of the 1983 NL pennant winning team and also reached the playoffs with the Phillies in 1981 and the Chicago Cubs in 1984. Matthews retired after splitting the 1987 season with the Cubs and Seattle Mariners.

Jesse Crain (Toronto, ON 1981): The Canadian born Crain attended the University of Houston and was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the second round of the 2002 draft. Crain debuted with the Twins in 2004 and finished eighth in the ROY voting in 2005 when the reliever went 12-5, 2.71 with one save. Crain had his ups and downs for the next several seasons, but in 2010 he put up strong numbers with 60 strikeouts in 68 innings. The timing couldn’t have been better as the free agent to be signed a three year deal with the Chicago White Sox during this past off-season.

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Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

The Yankees purchased Dickey after he finished high school in Arkansas and invited him to spring training in 1928. It was there that Dickey, who at a little over six feet was tall for the catchers of those days, made an impression on manager Miller Huggins. So much so that Dickey made his Major League debut on August 15 at just 21 years of age. The following season Dickey did more than just impress, he produced. The rookie hit .324, slugged 10 home runs, drove in 65 runs, and stroked 30 doubles. He was still learning to play the catcher position at the top level (he committed 12 errors), but he threw out 42% of would-be base stealers.

Dickey’s 1929 season would be the first of seven straight campaigns in which he hit better than .300 and produced a minimum .820 OPS. In 1932 Dickey reached the post-season for the first time, but you couldn’t tell from the way he handled the bat as the Yankees defeated the Chicago Cubs in four straight games to capture the World Series title. The 25-yr old catcher hit .438 (7-16) with four RBI and caught Hall of Fame pitchers Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez. He had also developed into one of the best defensive catchers in the game.

Learn more about Bill Dickey from this 1994 Baseball Digest column edition written by Bill Broeg.

Dickey would go on to hit over .300 11 times and finished with a .313 career batting average. He missed the 1944-1945 seasons due to World War II, but came back in 1946 to play 54 games in his final year in pinstripes. He even spent part of the season as a player-manager.  He led the Yankees to a 57-48 record as one of three managers used that season. He was an 11 time All-Star and finished in the top 20 in AL MVP voting nine times.  During his time with the Yankees the team won eight AL pennants and captured seven World Series championships. While Ruth and Gehrig got the press, Dickey was the rock of the ball club, was considered a thinking man’s ball player and was highly respected in the clubhouse. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954.

Dickey would later return to the Yankees as a coach to mentor a young catcher by the name of Yogi Berra, who had taken on Dickey’s #8. In a dual ceremony in 1972, the Yankees retired the number in honor of both Hall of Fame catchers. In 1999, the Yankees added plaques for both players in Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park.

Bill Dickey passed away on November 12, 1993 as one of the greatest catchers of all time.

Also Born Today:

Matt Belisle (Austin, TX 1930): The pitcher wasn’t having much of a career with the Cincinnati Reds over the 2003-2008 timeframe and things didn’t get much better when he joined the Colorado Rockies in 2009. But since then Belisle has been one of the steadiest relievers in the National League. Over the last two seasons, the right-hander increased his strikeouts per nine innings from a little over 6 to better than 8.5. With free agency pending and relief pitching at a premium, Belisle could find a nice payday this winter.

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Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

Sisler ran into some controversy along his way to the Majors that nearly got him blacklisted from playing in the big leagues. He had signed a minor league contract when he was underage, but had not yet honored it. The contract was eventually purchased four years later by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Sisler, with the backing of his Dad, Rickey, and the university, refused to report. Eventually the contract was voided since Sisler was a minor and no parent or guardian had been part of the process.

Sisler was then free and clear to sign with the St. Louis Browns in 1915. Sisler would throw in 24 games in his Major League career, compiling a 5-6 mark with a 2.35 ERA, but his switch to 1st base is what led to a Hall of Fame career. Sisler was one of the pure hitters of his era; he hit .407 in 1920 with 257 hits. The record stood for 84 years until the Seattle Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki eclipsed the mark with 262 hits in 2004. Sisler would only have 246 hits in 1922, but hit a remarkable .420 (third highest avg in the modern era), drove in 105 runs, stole 51 bases, and captured the AL MVP award. He also hit in 41 consecutive games to set the AL record that Joe DiMaggio would eventually break.

At the top of his game, Sisler suffered from a case of sinusitis-induced double vision the following year, and missed the entire 1923 season. With the exception of the 1925 season, Sisler would never play close to his MVP level again. But Sisler also took on double duty as player manager from 1924-1926 (Compiling a 218-241 record). Sisler stayed with the Browns through the 1927 season and then was sold to the Washington Senators for $25K prior to the 1928 season. Sisler was only in D.C. until May when the Senators sold him to the Boston Braves for $7.5K.

While still a pitcher, Sisler twice defeated his idol, Walter “Big Train” Johnson of the Washington Senators. In 1965, Baseball Digest printed Sisler’s account of his feat as told to the Chicago Daily News’ Lyall Smith. Click here to read all about it.

Sisler finished his Major League career with Boston in the 1930 season, but playing wasn’t quite out of his system. He would spend the 1931 season with the Rochester Red Wings of the International League and then, at age 39, finished his playing career in 1932 as a member of the Shreveport/Tyler Sports of the Texas League.

In retirement, Sisler worked as a scout for several organizations, reuniting with his mentor Branch Rickey in the process. He also had two sons, Dave and Dick, who played Major League ball in the late 1940′s and 1950′s. His namesake, George Jr., was president of the International League from 1966-1976 and was GM of three of the league’s teams.

George Sisler Sr. was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the BBWAA in 1939, becoming one of it’s earliest entrants. The player known as “Gorgeous George” and “Gentleman George” passed away in 1973. He was still an active scout for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time.

Also Born Today

Garry Templeton (b. Lockney, TX, 1954): He enjoyed a 16-year Major League career (1976-1991) spent in St. Louis, San Diego, and New York (NL). He was a three-time All-Star and a two time Silver Slugger winner at shortstop. Templeton’s best years were his first six in the majors (1976-1981) with the Cards. He had career highs in batting average, steals, triples, and hits (twice surpassing 200). But perhaps Templeton is best known for when he didn’t play. Selected as a reserve All-Star for the 1979 game, he refused to play, and uttered the infamous line, “If I ain’t startin’, I ain’t departin’”.

Starlin Castro (b. Monte Cristy, D.R., 1990): One of the rising young stars in the game today, Castro was signed as a 16 yr-old free agent out of his native Dominican Republic in 2006. In three-plus seasons in the minors, Castro continued to impress with his smooth defense at shortstop and his solid bat. He was hitting .376 in Double-A when the Cubs recalled him for the rest of the 2010 season. In his rookie campaign, Castro hit .300 in over 500 plate appearances and finished fifth in the NL Rookie of the Year voting. On the downside, he has committed 27 errors as he continues to adjust to the Major Leagues.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

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On this week’s Baseball Digest LIVE, author, and official Major League Baseball historian, John Thorn joins host Mark Healey to discuss his newest book “Baseball in the Garden of Eden.” during the SABR Seventh Inning Stretch.

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In addition to discovering the documentation that traced the origins of baseball to Pittsfield, Mass, Thorn has also been named chairman of the Baseball Origins Committee. The committee is made up of 12 experts and historians that will seek to determine the facts of baseball’s beginnings and its evolution. Following the study, they will seek to tell the full story of the game as well as its development in local communities.

Also appearing on today’s show, former All-Star third baseman Robin Ventura, whose NCAA hit streak (58 games) remain’s the game’s standard, is touring the country on behalf of the Capital One Cup, which honors the country’s top mens – and womens – collegiate programs across 13 different sports, honoring the winning schools with $200,000, money earmarked for athletes looking to go on to graduate school. He’ll also talk about his major league career, which Bill James ranked as statistically the best third baseman of the ‘90s. A standout at OSU, Robin – as you know – is considered among the best college players of all time.

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Also, BaseballDigest.com Fantasy Writer Jesse Paguaga breaks down the Top 5 Fantasy SS sleepers to look out for.

Though he performed poorly with the Seals, he was league MVP the following season when he joined the Columbia (SC) Comers of the Southern League, and batted .345.  That same season was Paul’s rookie season in the Major Leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates. With Paul’s backing, Lloyd tried out and made the 1927 Pirates. The rookie led the National League with 133 runs scored and hit a sizzling .355. Paul, meanwhile, won the NL MVP Award and the Pirates captured the pennant with one of the best teams of the decade.

There was just one problem; the Pirates had to go up against the vaunted Murderer’s Row lineup of the New York Yankees in the World Series. They never stood a chance. Though Lloyd hit .400, the Yankees swept the Pirates in four games in what would be the only World Series appearance for the Waner brothers, who by then were known by the monikers “Big Poison” (Paul) and “Little Poison” (Lloyd). Actually, neither was very big, standing 5’8″ or 5’9″ and weighing less than 160 pounds.

Al Abrams of the Pittsburgh Gazette talked to the speedy Waner in 1966 about his ability to leg out infield hits. Click here to read all about it!

Lloyd would hit better than .300 in 10 of his first 12 seasons in the bigs, but it was his first three seasons in the majors that really stood out. Over that stretch, he averaged 226 hits, 13 triples, 22 doubles,129 runs scored, and batted .347. The centerfielder also set career highs in several categories, including RBI, average, doubles, and triples. He played 14 seasons in Pittsburgh before being traded (at age 35) to the Boston Braves for second-year pitcher Nick Strincevich. In June he was dealt to the Cincinnati Reds for another second year hurler, Johnny Hutchings.

Waner spent the ’42 season with the Dodgers before returning to Pittsburgh for the final two years of his career. It was a career that was likely extended by MLB’s desperation for players during World War II. After his playing days were over, Waner worked as a scout for the Pirates and Baltimore Orioles, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the veterans committee in 1967. Waner passed away in 1982 and was survived by his wife Frances and their two children.

Also Born Today

Stephen Drew (Hahira, GA, 1983): The Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop is beginning his sixth season in the Major Leagues after being the 15th player (Florida St.) selected in the 2004 amateur draft. Drew is a good glove and has been a consistent offensive performer, averaging 15 HR and 63 RBI per season, but the Diamondbacks had hoped his offensive would have been more developed by now.

Curtis Granderson (Blue Island, IL, 1981): The speedy centerfielder begins his second season in a New York Yankees uniform after six seasons as a Detroit Tiger. Granderson has averaged 23 HR and 69 RBI the last five seasons, and hit 30 home runs in 2009. Granderson has struggled with his average the last two seasons, but is hoping to turn things around with the work of Yankees’ hitting coach Kevin Long. In 2007, he became only the third player to top 20 doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases in one season.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

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Also on the program, appearing on the SABR Seventh Inning Stretch, F.X. Flinn will talk about Tout Wars, the annual event that brings Fantasy Baseball players from all over the country to NYC.

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Also, New York Post senior sports columnist and author Mike Vaccaro (The First Fall Classic, 1941: The Greatest Year In Sports, Emperors and Idiots) joins the show to discuss the ownership situation of the New York Mets, and how it will affect the ability of the Wilpons and / or MLB to run the team all season.

Your calls at (646) 747-2874 in the last segment and more!

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James Edward Rice was born on March 8, 1953 in Anderson, SC and went to Hannah High School in the same town. It was there that he first showed the ability that would lead him to stardom. A stellar high school career led to his selection as the 15th overall pick in the 1971 amateur draft by Boston. He quickly worked his way up the minors, hitting 31 home runs in 1973 and helped the Pawtucket Red Sox (International League) to the Junior World Series title over Tulsa (American Association). He followed that up the next season by capturing the International League Triple Crown with a .337 average, 25 home runs, and 93 RBI.

Rice joined the much-ballyhooed 1975 Red Sox team that had stars like Carl Yastrzemski, Luis Tiant, Dwight Evans, and Carlton Fisk, as well as fellow rookie Fred Lynn. Rice played in Lynn’s shadow that first season, as the first-year centerfielder won both the American League Rookie of the Year and MVP Awards. But while Lynn had an injury-plagued career and could never quite match the magic of that initial season, Rice would become a baseball-eating monster for the next decade.

In any other season, Rice would have easily won the top rookie trophy.  He hit 22 HR and drove in 102 runs while batting .309 to finish second in the balloting to Lynn. Not the most adept outfielder in his early days, Rice split time between LF (with Yaz) and DH (with Cecil Cooper). Though he helped Boston to their first pennant title in eight years, Rice missed the entire post-season due to injury. He had to wait until 1986 to see the only post-season action of his career.

Rice led the AL in home runs (39) in 1977 and then dominated all of baseball the following season. He was the runaway winner of the 1978 AL MVP Award when he smashed 46 HR, drove in 139, posted a .970 OPS, compiled 406 total bases, stroked 213 hits, and even led the league with 15 triples. It was one of the best offensive seasons in baseball history. But as baseball history buffs know, the Red Sox blew the 14.5 game lead they held in the AL East in July then dropped a one game playoff to the New York Yankees. Three years after losing to the Cincinnati Reds in the seventh game of the World Series, the Red Sox disappointed themselves and their fans once again.

In the midst of the 1978 campaign, Bill Liston of the Boston Herald American wrote about Rice’s marvelous season. Click here to read all about it!

Rice didn’t lead the league in many categories in 1979, but he didn’t drop off from his MVP season; he batted 39 more home runs, 130 RBI, and an even higher .977 OPS. For the third straight year, Rice, who was now playing an adept left field, finished in the top five in the AL MVP voting. Except for the strike-shortened 1981 season, Rice hit at least 24 home runs for the next seven seasons.  He led the league again in HR (39) and RBI (126) in 1983, and was tops in total bases for the fourth and final time in his career.

1986 was the year the Red Sox were supposed to finally end their World Series dry spell (since 1918). Rice’s .324-24-110 season at age 33 landed him in third place in the MVP race and he finally got to play in the post-season for the first time in his career. Though he didn’t hit for average, his pair of home runs and six RBI helped the Red Sox return to the Series for the first time in 11 seasons. But after holding a 2-0 lead in games, the New York Mets won three of the next four, tying the series at three games apiece on Bill Buckner’s infamous error in Game 6. Rice hit .333 for the Series, but drove in no runs and watched helplessly as the Mets celebrated after an 8-5 win in the Series finale.

Rice played another three seasons before retiring after the 1989 campaign. He made it back to the post-season one more time, but went 2-13 as Boston lost to the Oakland A’s in the 1988 ALCS. Rice finished his career with 382 HR, 1,451 RBI, a .298 average and an .854 OPS. The one big issue Rice had throughout his career was that his surly attitude towards opposing pitchers carried over to the media covering the team. It was the primary reason that Rice was not elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA until 2009.

Rice was loved by the fans though, and has given back as an active participant with The Jimmy Fund and the Neurofibromatosis Foundation of New England. Rice was Boston’s hitting coach for five years and continues to act as a roving instructor. He’s also been an analyst for NESN sports since 2003. The Red Sox retired #14 for “Jim Ed” on July 28, 2009.

Also Born Today

Dick Allen (b. Wampum, PA 1942): There must be something about players born on March 8, because Dick Allen could be a brooding ball player as well…and man could he hit. If Jim Rice was surly, then Dick Allen was surly + 1. He was a player who fought racism and wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.  He first found fame with the Philadelphia Phillies with whom he was Rookie of the Year in 1964. (.318-29-91) Two years later his prickly personality probably cost him the NL MVP Award after he hit 40 HR, drove in 110 runs, and posted a 1.027 OPS. Despite those numbers, he finished fourth behind Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, and Willie Mays (The “Say Hey Kid” was once quoted as saying that he never saw anyone hit the ball harder than Dick Allen).

Allen’s trouble with management and teammates caused his ouster from Philly. He spent a year apiece in St. Louis and Los Angeles (NL) before winning the AL MVP as a member of the Chicago White Sox in 1971. (.308-37-113) Allen retired after the 1977 season after finishing his career back in Philadelphia and with Oakland. (His lone playoff experience came with the ’76 Phillies.) The seven-time All-Star finished with 352 HR, 1,119 RBI, and a .292 career batting average.

Jim Bouton (b. Newark, NJ 1939): The NY Yankees left-hander got off to a promising start winning 21 games in his second year in the majors in 1963 and 18 more the following season. But an arm injury ruined his career and he won just 16 games during the remainder of his 10 year career (including a short-lived comeback in 1978, eight years after he retired.) But Bouton would gain much fame/infamy for writing the book Ball Four, which was a diary of his 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros, as well as many details on his time with the Yankees. Bouton became a pariah around baseball though the book was tame by today’s standards. He eventually got back into the Yankees’ good graces and into the hearts of all kids when he helped to invent “Big League Chew”, a bubble gum that came shredded like chewing tobacco.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

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It would be four years before Vance returned to the Major Leagues. That’s when the Brooklyn Robins (who would later become the Dodgers) bought him from the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association. No longer a kid at 31, Vance started to become the player that would eventually be elected to the Hall of Fame by the BBWAA in 1955.

He won 86 games in a four year stretch, and led the league in victories in 1924 (28) and 1925 (22). He would average just under 15 wins a game over the next seven seasons (topping 20 wins one more time in 1928), leading the league in ERA twice. From 1922-1928 Vance led the National League in strikeouts, topping the 200 mark three times. Nothing topped the ’24 season though when Vance led the NL in every major category and captured the MVP award.

Vance spent parts of the 1933-34 seasons with St. Louis, which does indeed mean the Cardinals had a Dizzy (Dean), Daffy (Dean), and Dazzy on their roster. Dazzy actually was given his nickname as a child though his given name differs depending on the source. Baseball-Reference.com has him listed as Charles Arthur Vance while the Baseball Hall of Fame has him listed as Clarence Arthur Vance. His biography points out the reason for the confusion (toh to Neil of Baseball Reference). At birth, no first name is listed- apparently the doctor left before Dazzy’s parents chose a first name. His mother Sarah kept the children’s names (they had six) in a bible and listed it as “Charles Arthur Vance”. However, about the time he started playing minor league ball, Dazzy started going by “Arthur Charles Vance”.

Later on as a Major Leaguer, he jokingly told a reporter (who was unaware) that his real name was “Clarence”, which led to him being  known as either “Arthur Clarence Vance” or “Clarence Arthur Vance”.  However, when the BBWAA elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1955, Vance told them to use “Arthur Charles Vance”. He may be Dazzy, but I can’t blame you if you are dizzy right now. As for the Dazzy nickname, the Vances had a neighbor who would mispronounce the word “daisy” as dazzy. He also meant it as “Isn’t she a beaut? (daisy)”. As a child Dazzy picked up on the expression, was tagged with the nickname and it stuck.

Michael Gaven of the New York Journal-American wrote “His Curve Was The Most”, an article discussing Vance’s great curveball that helped pave the way to his 1955 election to the Hall. Click here to read all about it.

Vance was also part of the infamous “three men at 3rd base” play. With Vance on 2nd base and Chick Fewster at 1st, Babe Herman hit a gapper in the outfield. The 3rd base coach yelled for Herman to hold up because he would catch Fewster, but Herman didn’t hear him and continued on. Unfortunately, Vance did hear him, thinking it was intended for him, stopped on the way home and returned to 3rd…where he met Fewster and Herman. The two were tagged out for a double play while Vance was ruled safe. Truly Dazzy.

Vance retired after returning to Brooklyn for one more season in 1935 (he was 44-yrs old). He finished with 197 career wins, a 3.24 ERA, one no-hitter, and 2,045 strikeouts. He passed away in 1961.

Also Born Today

Lefty O’Doul (1897-1969): Born Francis Joseph in San Francisco, CA, O’Doul was a .349 career hitter (.945 OPS) as a member of the Yankees, Red Sox, Giants, Phillies, and Dodgers from 1919-1934. His best season was in 1929 when he finished second in the NL MVP voting after he hit .398 with 32 HR, 122 RBI, and 254 hits.

Like Vance, O’Doul’s career did not take off until he was in his 30′s. In addition to playing the outfield, he also pitched 34 games (all but one in relief), with 23 of the appearances for the Red Sox in 1923.  He played the inaugural All-Star game in 1933 and retired after the following season.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

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Alan Stuart Trammell was born in Garden Grove, California on February 21, 1958. He was a two-sport star at Kearny High School in San Diego, and had several basketball scholarship offers, including one from the prior year’s NCAA champion, UCLA. But being just six-feet tall, he felt he could go further in baseball and opted to sign with the Detroit Tigers after they made him a second round selection in  the 1976 amateur draft. Scouting reports pointed to the prospect of a good fielding shortstop who probably wouldn’t hit much. One even compared him to Tigers’ shortstop Ray Oyler, a career .175 hitter at the time.

Right out of high school, Trammell hit a respectable .271 in rookie ball before receiving a promotion to Double-A Montgomery of the Southern League. Trammell was overmatched at the plate (.171 avg) in a 21 game stint, but when he returned a year later it would be his last year in the minor leagues. 1977 was also the start of a long-lasting friendship/double-play combo with another kid in the Tigers’ system, Lou Whitaker.

Whitaker had played 3rd base the prior two years, but was shifted to 2nd base in 1977 (which would be his last season in the minors as well). The two hit it off immediately, both realizing they had something special going on and pushed each other to be better. Trammell also began to prove the doubters wrong about his batting skills.  He hit .291, drove in 50 runs, and with 19 triples, he broke the league’s record (held by Reggie Jackson). The next stop for the duo was the Motor City.

Though Trammell finished fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year voting in 1978, his offense was rather modest his first two seasons in the bigs. His third season in the Majors provided a little more indication of his potential when he hit .300 and slugged .404. Trammell had no issues in the field- he quickly won three Gold Gloves, but it wasn’t until 1983 that he became the consistent offensive force that caused pitchers to think twice about facing him.

Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times wrote about Trammell earning his stripes with the Tigers in a 1985 piece. Click here to read all about it.

Trammell went on to play 20 big league seasons, in which he compiled 2,365 hits, stole 236 bases, and drove in 1,003 runs. He batted over .300 seven times, was a six-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner, and was the 1984 World Series MVP (.450-2-6) when he and the Tigers clobbered the Padres in five games to capture Detroit’s first title in 16 years, and just the second since 1945. He finished second (by 21 points) to George Bell in the 1987 AL MVP voting when he set career highs for average (.343), HR (28), and RBI (105).

After he retired following the 1996 season (the only year he played without Whitaker, who had retired after the ’95 season), Trammell went on to coach the Tigers and San Diego Padres before becoming Detroit’s manager in 2003. Unfortunately, Trammell’s managerial career didn’t have the success of his playing career.  The team was rebuilding, and lost 119 games in Trammell’s first year. They improved by 29 wins the next season, but when they managed one less win in 2005, Trammell was let go. He’s back in the dugout though, having recently been hired as the Arizona Diamondbacks’ bench coach by his former teammate Kirk Gibson.

Happy Birthday Alan Trammell!

Also Born Today

Franklin Gutierrez (Caracas, VE, 1983):  Originally signed by the Dodgers as a 17-yr old, the outfielder was dealt to the Indians in a deal that brought Milton Bradley to the west coast. He saw part-time duty until a three team deal with the the Mariners and the Mets landed him in Seattle prior to the 2009 season. Gutierrez has begun to blossom in the Emerald City, and has been one of the few productive bats on the weak-hitting Mariners teams of the last two seasons.  He has 20-20 (HR-SB) ability and plays a graceful centerfield. The latter helped earn him his first Gold Glove Award in 2010.

Jack Billingham (Orlando, FL, 1943): A talented right-hander that signed with the Houston Astros as an amateur free agent in 1961. His best years were with the Cincinnati Reds in the early to late 1970′s. It was there that he twice won a career-high 19 games and led the league in starts, innings pitched, and shutouts in 1973. He was a member of the Big Red Machine that won four division titles, three NL pennants, and back-to-back World Series in 1975-1976. Billingham allowed just nine earned runs in 42 post-season innings (1.93). He’s also well known for giving up Hank Aaron’s 714th career home run on April 4, 1974. After playing with Detroit and Boston, Billingham hung up his baseball mitt in the middle of the 1980 season, but remained involved in baseball as a minor league coach and instructor until his retirement in 2004.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

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The youngest of nine children born (Feb 12, 1917) in San Francisco, Dom had ideas of becoming a chemical engineer. His father hoped he would be a lawyer. But just like brothers Joe and Vincent, Dom had a talent that would take him to the minor league San Francisco Seals and then to the Major Leagues.

Dom was 19-yrs old when Joe made his Yankees debut. Just four years later, Dom made his first appearance for the rival Boston Red Sox. There another great outfielder, Ted Williams, would cast a long shadow over the younger DiMaggio’s career. It wouldn’t take Dom long to establish his own identity, though.

As a rookie, DiMaggio, nicknamed “The Little Professor” by his teammates due to his glasses and scholarly look, hit .301 with 32 doubles, eight home runs, 46 RBI, 46 walks, and six triples. (The Rookie of the Year Award wasn’t established until 1941.) It would be the start of a career that saw DiMaggio named to the AL All-Star team seven times. He led the league in runs scored twice, topped the AL in stolen bases and triples once, and finished in the top 20 in MVP voting four times. He was one of the best leadoff men in the game and was also a superb centerfielder. Williams had this to say, “He was the easiest outfielder I ever played with. When he yelled ‘Mine!’ you didn’t have to worry about the rest of that play.” Author David Halberstram called Dom the most underrated player of his era.

The Boston Globe’s Bob Holbrook spoke to DiMaggio in 1948 about his prowess in centerfield. Click here to read all about it!

In the years following his playing career, Dom revealed how hard it was to play in his brother’s shadow. “Yes, he’s my brother — and I’m his brother,” Mr. DiMaggio liked to say. “It’s been a struggle all my life…. It followed me all through my major league career. I was always Joe’s kid brother…. I never encouraged my two sons to get into baseball. I knew it would be twice as hard on them as it was on me. The Joe DiMaggio legend was just too strong.”

Dom played 11 seasons in the majors, sitting out three years (1943-1945) to serve during World War II. He finished as a .298 career hitter and played in one World Series in 1946 against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was part of one of the most famous plays in World Series history due to his absence. Having been removed from the game due to a pulled hamstring, Dom could only watch as his replacement, Leon Culbertson, couldn’t throw out the Cardinals’ Enos Slaughter during his famous “Mad Dash” home from 1st base to score the game’s and the World Series’ winning run.

In his post-baseball life, DiMaggio became a plastics manufacturer and was inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1995. He and his wife Emily raised two sons and a daughter. He passed away in 2009 at 92 years of age.

Also Born Today

Ruben Amaro Jr. (Philadelphia, PA 1965): The 11th round pick in the 1987 amateur draft had a nondescript eight-year career with the Angels, Phillies, and Indians.  Amaro, whose father played in the big leagues for 11 seasons, has found great success in the front office. After serving as an assistant GM for the Phillies for a decade, he was named general manager in November, 2008. He helped shape the team that won its second straight NL pennant in 2009, engineered the trade that brought 2010 CY Young winner Roy Halladay to Philly, and this winter gave the Phillies the best starting rotation in baseball by signing free agent pitcher Cliff Lee.

Chet Lemon (Jackson, MS 1955): The centerfielder had a steady 16-year career split between the Chicago White Sox (7) and Detroit Tigers (9). He was a three time All-Star who didn’t mind taking one for the team- he led the league in hit-by-pitches four times. A .273 lifetime hitter, Lemon hit 215 career home runs and played in 1,988 games. After going hitless in 13 at-bats in the 1984 ALCS, Lemon made up for it in the Tigers’ World Series win over the Padres, hitting .294 with an RBI, two walks, and two stolen bases. Though his team lost the 1987 pennant to the Twins, he enjoyed a fine ALCS, hitting .278-2-4.  Lemon, who was always commended for his work ethic, is now passing on his knowledge of the game as the coach of two AAU baseball teams in Florida.

Joe Garagiola (St. Louis, MO 1926): The catcher never had the talent of his good Missouri buddy Yogi Berra, but Joe Garagiola parlayed a nine-year career in baseball into a successful post-baseball career. Garagiola became a baseball announcer, teaming with legends like Mel Allen and Curt Gowdy, and a television personality who was seen regularly on the Today Show. He became a fixture on NBC’s MLB Game of the Week before resigning in 1988 as the network was on the verge of losing broadcast rights. In 1991 he received the Ford Frick Award for his outstanding contributions to baseball broadcasting.

Garagiola still gives back to the game in many ways, including visiting teams during spring training to warn of the dangers of chewing tobacco. He has also contributed his time to the Baseball Assistance Team (B.A.T.)

Charles “Chick” Hafey (Berkeley, CA 1903-1973): Played 13 seasons (1924-1935, 1937) with the Cincinnati Reds and St. Louis Cardinals. To look at his numbers you would not think the outfielder had the statistics to reach the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he did just that, elected by the veterans committee in 1971. Hafey was a solid player; he hit .317 lifetime and over a three year stretch (1928-1930) averaged 28 HR and 114 RBI. He won the 1931 batting title by getting a hit in his final at-bat. But Hafey suffered from a serious sinus condition that affected his vision and caused him to wear different  eyeglasses depending on what his condition was at the time. He was a member of the 1928 Cardinals World Series winner and two other pennants, but was dealt to the Reds prior to the 1932 season after back-to-back salary disputes.

Drew Sarver is a senior writer  for BaseballDigest.com.  You can also read his work at his blog, My Pinstripes. He can be contacted at mypinstripes@gmail.com and can be followed on Twitter at @BD_Sarver and @MyPinstripes.

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I had the great fortune to sit down with both of these incredible me over the last few years. Each spun tales of baseball at its best – and worst – and shared their experiences with me.  Now I’d like to share them with the readers of Baseball Digest.

Listen to interviews with both Buck O’ Neil and Jim “Mudcat” Grant here.

My interview with O’Neil was at Coney Island’s KeySpan Park at the Brooklyn Baseball Gallery (located at the corner of the stadium).

When I arrived a few hours early to find out what time he would be made available to the media, I found him — just he and a companion — in the impressive baseball museum, just walking around and appraising the place as if there were Rembrandts on the walls instead of pictures of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese.

I didn’t want to intrude, so I waited patiently for him to finish, and when he finally rested on one of the chairs set up for his appearance, I walked over and asked his representative if he was available for questions.

“Well that depends,” said the 94-year old O’Neill, his voice a chuckle. “Who am I talking to?”

I introduced myself, shook his hand, and spent the next 20 minutes marveling at his grace, strength and eloquence.

***

For those that only know him as the elderly African-American gentleman whose magical voice made Ken Burns’ PBS documentary Baseball a must-watch for any baseball fan, John Jordan “Buck” O’Neil spent 16 years as a first baseman and manager with the Kansas City Monarchs, the flagship franchise of the Negro Leagues. He was a three-time All-Star, won a batting title, and was by all accounts, a very good defensive player. As a manager, he led the Monarchs to four Negro American League titles and two Negro League World Series championships.

After spending several years as a scout for the Chicago Cubs, during which he had a hand in discovering Hall-Of-Famers Ernie Banks and Lou Brock, he then became the first African-American coach in Major League Baseball history. He also helped start the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Mo.

Somehow, that wasn’t enough to get him enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame before his death.

That brilliant decision was rendered by a special committee, made up of 12 individuals who had never seen O’Neil play, and who have never (at least the ones that voted against O’Neil’s induction) to explain their foolishness.

To his credit, neither the day it was announced, nor on the day I interviewed him, or until his dying days, O’Neil never complained.

“Hey, I got a job to do,” he smiled. “I got to represent everyone who’s in there, and make sure everybody knows about what we all did in this game.”

He’ll continued that “job” on the day he spoke at the Hall of Fame for the 17 individuals that were inducted into Cooperstown that day.

***

O’Neil, as he has probably done most of his life, would rather talk about others than himself, and our conversation turned to some of the players that O’Neill played with, managed and signed to major league clubs.

I asked him one of my favorite questions, which involves the selection of one specific player to start a team.

“Josh,” O’Neil answered immediately, referring to the immortal Josh Gibson, perhaps the greatest ballplayer never to play MLB. “Josh was not only a  great hitter, but he was a catcher you know, and he would just take over a pitching staff. Yeah, I’d pick Josh.”

Best defensive player?

“Willie Wells,” O’Neill replied. “You know, he was a shortstop. Man, could he go get it and throw it. He was something else.”

He went on, and I never bothered to stop him. I felt like a kid listening to his grandfather, and since I lost both my grandparents when I was very young, I just sat back and listened.

“I signed Ernie Banks to a contract with the Cubs, and I signed Lou Brock. I also signed Lee Smith and Joe Carter, both of whom I believe will one day go into the Hall of Fame.”

“Leo Durocher was a smart man. You see, he wanted to win. He didn’t care who it was, or where they were from, all long as they could play that game, uh huh.”

***

O’Neill is one of those people, like Tommy Lasorda, Joe Torre and Carl Erskine to name a few, that have that special ability to make people you’ve never met before come alive with their storytelling.

At the same time, I found myself changing from interviewer to listener and as I thanked him for his time and allowed the rest of the growing crowd of media and fans that had clustered slowly around us as we talked.

I walked away a better man for having met him and shared a few months with him.

Jim “Mudcat” Grant

Unlike Buck O’Neil, Jim Grant did get the chance to play in the major leagues, and while he did not forge a Hall Of Fame career while doing so, he certainly made an impact.

Listen to interviews with both Buck O’ Neil and Jim “Mudcat” Grant here.

He played for seven different teams during his 14-year career, winning 145 games, saving 53 others, and a 3.65 career ERA in 571 games. In 1965, he went 21-7 with a 3.30 ERA for the pennant-winning Minnesota Twins, and took the AL Pitcher of The Year award from the Sporting News.

He finished sixth in voting for the 1965 AL MVP for leading the league in wins, WL% (.750), and shutouts (6). His home run in the sixth game of the 1965 World Series was only the second by an American League pitcher during a World Series game.

Grant was profiled in the book, Cool of the Evening; The 1965 Minnesota Twins.

I met him at a book signing for his project, “The Black Aces“, a book, co-written by Pat O’Brien and Tom Sabellico.

As a 22-year old rookie on the 1958 Cleveland Indians, 11 years after Jackie Robinson had broke the barrier for African-American baseball players, Grant found himself faced with some racial tension, as told in “Crossing The Line”

He shared many of his thoughts with me in our interview, and as Buck O’Neil would tell me a few weeks later, “Mudcat knows what he’s talkin’ about.”

In a post to Gotham Baseball; Hollon also wonders if the Mets fans can be as patient as they were thirty years ago, as Cashen’s rebuild of the Mets took four long seasons.

“This town is big enough for two baseball teams and I’m not even ready to concede the Bronx.”

He started with those words.

With that sentence, it was easy to tell that John Francis Cashen on that winter afternoon of 1980 wasn’t planning on being shy.

The Mets’ new ownership group, headed by publishing magnate Nelson Doubleday, had hired Cashen as their new executive vice president and general manager from MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn’s staff. Doubleday, who wanted no role in the day-to-day running of his club (his team president, Fred Wilpon, who owned about 5 percent share in the club, did), picked the 53-year old father of seven as team GM because of his past accomplishments, rather than his most recent employment.

Cashen’s impressive run as an executive with the Baltimore Orioles from 1965-75 (VP of Baseball Operations until 1971, then as GM from 75) promised great things for a Mets organization that was still reeling from the exile of Tom Seaver and the tenure of M. Donald Grant. What better way to win back a fan base than to hire a guy whose last organization terrorized baseball from late 60’s and through the early 70s.

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