Major League Papists

Aaron Gleeman of NBC.com’s invaluable Circling the Bases passes along a story today about Oakland A’s outfield prospect Grant Desme, who has decided to hang up his spikes and put on vestments. Desme, who mashed across two levels of A-ball this past season (.288/.365/.568) is 23 years old and won the Arizona Fall League MVP just a few short months ago. On it’s face, to most, it’s a baffling decision. Baseball America ranks Desme 8th among A’s prospects, and it seems like the young man had a legitimate shot at a productive baseball career. But, of course, matters of faith often don’t make sense to outsiders.


Last year, at Confirmation, our Bishop (who The Common Man philosophically disagrees with on a number of issues) told us an important truth about the decision to become a priest. If you don’t want to be something else, you probably wouldn’t make a great priest. To be a priest, our Bishop said, required sacrificing some of our hopes and dreams for the betterment of others. If you didn’t feel like you were giving up an important part of yourself to serve God more fully, the decision (and your commitment) would not be as meaningful. It motivates you to make your sacrifice worth it. And so, from The Common Man’s perspective, it’s wonderful to see a young man so dedicated to his faith and to improving the lives of others that he is willing to make such a sacrifice.

But the point of this post is not to get all weepy and gushy over one man’s decision to hear God’s call to his vocation. Rather, in light of what Catholicism has denied baseball today (a prospect), it’s important to remember some of what Catholicism has given back to the game:

For instance, baseball’s early years were dominated by Irish-Americans, often first or second generation immigrants, who popularized the early professional game. Baseball offered Catholic immigrants one of the few ways to earn a decent salary at a time when many businesses refused to hire Irish (in particular) employees. According to the Encyclopedia of Ethnicity in American Sports, from 1876 to 1884, forty-one percent of players entering into the new National League were Irish. The vast majority of these players were Catholics. While the percentage of Irish in the league fell toward the start of the 20th Century, many of the game’s major stars, including ther amazingly mustacheoed King Kelly, Dan McGann, Ed Delahanty, John McGraw, and Connie Mack (Cornelius McGillicuddy) continued to draw Eastern-America’s working-class, immigrant, and yes, overwhelmingly Catholic, fans to the ballpark. It’s not a stretch to suggest that professional baseball’s early survival in America’s cities was due to the support of its Catholic players and fans.

While 19th Century baseball may well owe its survival to us mackerel-snappers, baseball’s evolution from the Deadball Era to the Modern Era also owes Catholicism a debt of gratitude. In 1895, as most of you know, George Herman “Babe” Ruth was born in Baltimore. His father was a saloon keeper and his mother was often ill, and so little George became incorrigible, running the streets at the tender age of six and becoming a the poster child for juvenile delinquency. Unable to care properly for the boy, and under increasing pressure by the Baltimore court system, George’s father placed him in St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys in 1902, and signed over custody of his son to the Catholic missionaries who ran it. There, under the tutelage of Brother Matthias Boutlier, the head of discipline for the school, Ruth learned to read and write, played in the school band, was involved in drama club, learned shirt-making, and, oh yes, learned how to hit, field and pitch. In 1913, in a game against a local college, Ruth impressed scouts and was signed by the Baltimore Orioles. Then of course, Ruth went on to be the greatest player in the history of the game, excelling first as a left-handed pitcher for the Sox before becoming baseball’s home-run king and ushering in the Lively-Ball Era. You’re welcome. Appropriately, apparently all of baseball’s single-season home run kings, Roger Maris, Mark McGwire, and all-time HR leader Barry Bonds were and are also Catholic. Perhaps the homerun itself is Catholic.

Italian-American Catholics, of course, became far more prevalent after the 1920s, as their waves of immigration mirrored that of the Irish in the 19th Century. Eager to adopt American customs and ideals, many Italian children migrated to baseball as a way to assimilate. Again, the large (and mostly Catholic) immigrant populations of New York and Philadelphia fed into the popularity of the new stars, and encouraged Catholics to support local teams. The next decades saw the rise of the DiMaggios, Phil Rizzuto, Tony Lazzeri, Yogi Berra, Dolph Camilli, Ernie Lombardi, and others who defined the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s (and particularly the budding dynasty of the New York Yankees). The growing Catholic sensibility of New York City was reflected in the construction of its teams, and indeed, as Lazzeri, Berra, Rizzuto, DiMaggio, Frank Crosetti, Billy Martin and others led the Yankees, the Bronx and Brooklyn were experiencing an influx of Catholic immigration, as middle-class industrial work fled Manhattan.

And, of course, it’s important to note the influx of Latin American talent that has become so steady into the Major Leagues. Most of these players, of course, are raised Catholic in their native countries, and bring their faith with them when they play here. Sammy Sosa (perhaps a bad example), Juan Marichal, Luis Tiant, the Alou brothers, Mariano Rivera, and Roberto Clemente serve as just a starting point of a laundry list of prominent Latino Catholics who played and still play in the game today. While there’s nothing to suggest this, The Common Man wonders if a common faith, in addition to common language and similar cultural backgrounds help these players identify with one another and support them during what is undoubtedly a very difficult transition.

Other prominent Catholics in baseball include: Mike Piazza, Mike Sweeney, Jeff Suppan, professional grit-manufacturer David Eckstein, Whitey Ford, Wally Pipp, Tommy Lasorda, Ivan Rodriguez, Joe Torre, Bowie Kuhn, Sean Casey, Leo Durocher. This list, of course, is nowhere near comprehensive. But very few websites or publications have such lists, for understandable reasons. For many people, their faith is private, and The Common Man respects that. This list just includes individuals who have been public about their faith in forums he could find.

But it’s not like baseball hasn’t given back to the church. For instance, at least two former major leaguers have preceded Desme into the priesthood. These include:

John Burke (NY Giants, 1902): Fr. Burke played in four games for the Giants that year, two on the mound and two in the outfield. Burke managed two hits in 13 ABs (both singles) and pitched 14 innings with an ERA of 5.79. He lost his only start that year, but did pitch a perfect game. His performance in 1905 is missing from his record, but Burke went 38-27 in the minors from 1903-1907, including 15-5 for the Lancaster Millionaires of the Tri-State League in ’07. Burke later became a priest (date unknown), and served as pastor of St. Joseph’s church in Keyport, NJ from 1929 until 1950, becoming a Monsignor before his death.

Al Travers (Detroit, 1912): Travers’ story is terrific. As many know, in May of ’12, Ty Cobb went into the stands and beat a no-armed man who had been heckling him with a bat. Cobb was immediately suspended indefinitely by Ban Johnson and Cobb’s teammates (for some reason) went on strike in support of the prickly Peach. American League President Ban Johnson ordered the Tigers to play, and so, on May 18, the team threw together a group of Philadelphia college players (and two coaches) to play against the World Champion Philadelphia A’s. Travers was the starting pitcher, and went the full 9 against the A’s, giving up 24 runs (14 earned) on 26 hits and 7 walks. He also went 0 for 3 at the plate. Travers ended his career with a 15.75 ERA and a .000 batting average, a combination of futility that’s hard to match. The next day, Johnson reduced Cobb’s suspension to 10 games, and the Tigers returned. Travers eventually graduated from St. Joseph’s University, entered the seminary, and became a Jesuit Priest.
Also, Tom Mulcahy, a former minor league player, and San Diego Padres scout and executive was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1968.

In all, as The Common Man said, this is in no way a comprehensive history of Catholicism and baseball, though The Common Man wishes one existed. So intertwined are the sport and the faith that it's hard to imagine baseball being the game we know today without it. Indeed, across all the immigrations and influxes into the game, Catholicism has been an ever-present part of the game's history, culture, and color. And The Common Man is very pleased and proud that, like Travers, Burke, and Mulcahy before him, Desme is helping baseball give something back.

Keith Law Is Smarter Than You...Get Over It

The Common Man is very amused by the controversy generated by Keith Law’s 2nd-place vote for Javier Vazquez on his Cy Young Award ballot. Law, as most of the Interwebz has learned since yesterday, crunched some numbers and came up with a very convincing argument that Vazquez provided the second most value in the National League, and that the innings Chris Carpenter did not throw while on the disabled list dropped him below Adam Wainwright in terms of overall value. Law has been accused of bias and incompetence (which, really, is a normal day for him, given how pig-headed and traditional analysis-minded many ESPN.com readers and baseball fans in general are) because of his vote. It’s a shame, because unlike some other voters, the diminutive and cherubic KLaw lays out a thoughtful and transparent reasoning for his vote on his ESPN blog, and has clearly done his due diligence in preparing his ballot.

For the better part of two days, on Shyster’s Hardball Times site, there has been a proxy battle raging between Law’s champions and detractors (okay, mostly one or two detractors) that seem to be raising the same concerns that writers and pundits are raising nationally. When he was on the mound, these detractors argue (often without this amount of coherency), he was at least one of the three best pitchers in the league, if not the best (AND LOOK AT HIS W-L RECORD AND ERA !!!!11!!!!11), and that the award is meant to honor the best pitcher in each league, which is not necessarily always the most valuable. Quantity, they seem to argue, is trumped by quality.


While the argument is relatively (ahem) by numbers, some interesting points were brought up over the course of the discussion. One commenter in the Shyster thread, a “civilwarmike,” wonders, “To dock Carpenter because of innings pitched? Does that mean Joe Mauer will should not[sic] be the MVP because he missed the first month of the season? Just wondering. “ It’s an interesting idea, Carpenter and Mauer both missed roughly a month of the season, and were huge question marks as they came back from their shoulder and kidney problems, respectively. Both ended up being big time performers for their clubs, who both (largely on the strength of their stars’ performances) won their respective divisions. And if we are going to count the time and innings Carpenter missed against him, don’t we also have to do the same to Mauer.

The answer, obviously, is that of course we have to count Mauer’s time and plate appearances missed against him. In 226 plate appearances, Minnesota’s non-Mauer catchers hit .277/.335/.335 with no homers. In April, Jose Morales and Mike Redmond combined to hit .297/.358/.351. It’s almost assured that Mauer would have outperformed that duo. So his absence not only hurt Mauer’s individual stats, but it undoubtedly hurt his club. In April, the Twins scuffled out of the gate to an 11-11 mark, and finished the month in fourth place, a game back of (chortle) the Kansas City Royals.

But Mauer’s absence does not tell the whole story. On the first pitch of the season, Mauer lined a bullet into the leftfield bleachers in the Metrodome and didn’t stop hitting from then on. Mauer finished with an ungodly .365/.444/.587 line, with 191 hits, 28 HR, 96 RBI, and 94 runs scored. It was one of the two or three best seasons ever by a catcher. His OPS+ was 170 (Mark Teixeira was second at 149). Despite missing a full month, Mauer led the American League in Runs Created, and contributed more than a win more to his team than any other American League hitter according to Adjusted Batting Wins. According to Baseball Prospectus, Mauer contributed almost 18 more runs versus replacement level to his team’s offense than Derek Jeter (89 to 71) and 1.4 wins more than Ben Zobrist in WARP, the second leading hitter (9.0 to 7.6, though Zack Greinke actually led the American League with 9.5). Fangraphs lists Zobrist as the Major League leader in WAR, with 8.6 wins, but a) Mauer finished just behind with 8.2 wins and b) as Jeremy Greenhouse pointed out for Baseball Prospectus last Tuesday, catcher defense and catcher replacement levels are not properly valued yet by WAR. No matter what stat you use, it’s pretty clear that Joe Mauer has lifted and separated himself from the rest of the field of AL MVP candidates simply because the value he added during the time he was on the field was so far, even quantitatively, beyond what other hitters contributed over the full season.

Carpenter, on the other hand, suffers in this analysis because of the quality of his competition. While Carpenter was terrific while he was on the field, the other competitors for the NL Cy Young were almost as good if not a little better. Carpenter finished sixth in the National League in WAR behind Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, Vazquez, Dan Haren, Wainwright, and Ubaldo Jimenez. He finishes 6th in WARP behind those same five minus Wainwright, but plus Jair Juerrens. He finishes second to Lincicum in VORP for pitchers, and third behind Lincecum and Vazquez in FIP. With fewer K/9 and K/BB and fewer IP, it is impossible to construct an argument for Carpenter beyond looking at his W-L record and ERA. And in a packed bunch of starters, it is entirely reasonable that the value lost by the month he missed knocks Carpenter out of the race.

It’s really that simple. On the one hand, the players’ individual seasons are very similar in terms of the paths they took. However, the contexts in which they are competing for their respective post-season awards are completely different. There is far more evidence than Joe Mauer belongs in the top spot of every single AL MVP ballot than evidence that Carpenter even belongs in the top three of the NL. Sorry Cardinals fans.

In which The Common Man drinks beer and rededicates himself to blogging...

Being a good dad and a productive employee and a blogger has proven difficult in recent months, but The Common Man is compelled to write tonight, not because of baseball (though he'll get around to that, he promises), but because he can't get three murderers out of his head.

The first is Nidal Malik Husan, the alleged shooter at Fort Hood, who murdered thirteen people on Thursday of last week for reasons that are as yet not understood. Hasan has been described by classmates and colleagues as being opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afganistan, and has been alleged to have had contact with extremist Imams who advocate the killing of American troops and civilians. Hasan's attack was probably religiously motivated (though this is not an indictment of Islam in particular or of religion in general. But what resonated with The Common Man today is the Eugolgy given today by President Obama. Obama discussed each victim and his or her accomplishments and got to a specific nurse from Milwaukee, Captain Russell Seager, who was a beloved husband and father. It was the "father" part that got to The Common Man, who has cherished being a dad for just under three years now. And as The Boy grows and changes, The Common Man could not help but picture, as he listened to that story, what life could be like for The Boy without a dad. Indeed, as he seethed, The Common Man could think of little else other than Hasan knew how wonderful it was to have a father, and chose to deny another son or daughter that opportunity. It is this impersonal cruelty that The Common Man just doesn't understand and makes him wish Hasan and all others who cold-bloodedly murder fathers and mothers and sons and daughters around the world dead.

But, of course, that's part of the problem. The second murder on The Common Man's mind, John Muhammad, is (as of the moment The Common Man is writing) scheduled to be executed tonight in Virginia. After killing mothers and fathers and sons and daughters, Muhammad is going to be taken fromt he world. And as much as The Common Man knows that Muhammad (and Hasan) deserve it, The Common man realizes that his emotional reaction to these crimes is exactly why justice is not served through exectution. Justice is a bitch godess who constantly disappoints us; yet, to be effective, she must remain blind to the emotional undercurrents tha make me want to slam Hasan and Muhammad into walls again and again while showing them pictures of adorable babies who will grow up without fathers and mothers, and ask them what those babies ever did to Hasan and Muhammad. And, as several studies have demonstrated that execution does not substantially deter crime, there does not seem to be a rational reason for capitol punishment. The world may be a better place without Muhammad in it tonight, but justice (whose guarantee is the basis of civilization and of our society) is not served by it.

But there must be a happy medium somewhere. As much as capitol punishment is too much, given the emotions and uncertainty that play into its application, some applications of justice are startling in just how inadequate they are (particularly for the wealthy and powerful). In particular, the case of Angel Villalona, a prospect in the Giants organization, who is accused of shooting a man in a nightclub in his native Dominican Republic. According to prosecutors, Villalona has agreed to pay roughly $140,000 to the family of the deceased, who are now claiming that Villalona was not the man killed in the incident. Obviously, there is a lot we don't know about this case. We don't know whether Villalona was acting in self-defense. We don't know whether the charges will stick without the cooperation of the victim's family. However, the appearance in this case is definitely that Villalona, as Matthew Poirot points out for Circling the Bases, is buying his way out of trouble with his $2.1 million signing bonus. This gives the appearance that, at least in the Dominican Republic, that Justice is for sale, even with her blindfold on.

Fortunately, in this case, baseball is the lone major American sport where character seems to be taken into account (at least where prospects are concerned). Guys like Ugueth Urbina and Ambiorix Burgos typically become persona non grata when their behavior veers from unpleasant to unacceptable. Jose Offerman was forced out of baseball early; and minor league players (such as the Twins Delmon Young and Anthony Swarzak) have had their careers delayed because of their naughtiness. While baseball has a long way to go, as they still welcome wife-beaters and drunks back with open arms after they've proven their talents indespensible, at least they are not the NFL, where Leonard Little continues to suit up every week for the St. Louis Rams despite a second drunk driving conviction, even after being convicted of vehicular manslaughter in 1998. And at least the MLB is not the NBA, where crazy, destructive behavior often seems to be the rule, rather than the exception, with players going into the stands, choking coaches, demanding trades, and sulking their way out of contracts.

Villalona's case is an interesting one, particularly if he is acquitted in the D.R. If there is justice in baseball, and Villalona truly is guilty of murder, hopefully we'll never have to hear from him again. Hopefully it will leave such a bad taste in the mouths of the Giants (and Villalona's potential teammates) that they will ask him not to return in the Spring. Baseball will probably be better for it.

What the Playoffs Mean

This morning, Aaron Gleeman rebutted Jim Souhan’s contention that the Twins would be better off not making the playoffs, noting that “Getting into the playoffs thanks only to an awful division and being a thoroughly mediocre team with tons of flaws and late-season injuries to key players aren't things that necessarily keep teams from having success in the postseason because having success in the postseason is an unpredictable mix of skill and luck played out over the course of at most 19 games.” Technically, of course, Gleeman’s right. With enough luck, pluck, and gumption, even the 82 win St. Louis Cardinals managed to win the World Series in 2004. If the Twins get hot, they have a realistic chance of winning the tournament (especially if they play their best team in the field, which they are currently not doing by leaving Carlos Gomez and Brendan Harris on the bench). It is a smaller chance than the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cardinals have, but it’s still a possibility.

Gleeman doesn’t mention, and Souhan probably has never thought about, the most important reason why Twins fans should care about the team making the postseason…money. In Baseball Between the Numbers (2006), Nate Silver argues that “a team receives a long-term benefit to its regular season attendance as a result of reaching the postseason. In addition, making the playoffs brings the bonus of getting to play some number of additional home games in front of a packed house at higher-than-normal ticket prices.” Likewise, playoff appearances have additional benefits, including richer local media contracts, higher regular-season attendance the following year, more concessions sold, etc. In all, Silver calculated that a playoff appearance is worth approximately $25 million.

This extra $25 million or so will help a team to loosen otherwise tight budgetary restrictions, especially if that team plays in a smaller market. The Twins must maximize revenue streams and minimize expenses (as much as is practical) to afford the level of talent necessary for the team to compete again and again for a playoff spot. It is a cycle of success that can, at least in part, fund and sustain itself as long as a team continues to produce talent from the farm system, and does not significantly waste resources (ahem, Livan Hernandez, Luis Ayala, ahem). Teams can use their ability to get to the postseason in one year as a springboard to get to it the next.

The Twins have one glaring problem looming on the horizon, even as they get ready to enter a new stadium and reap the benefits associated with being able to charge higher prices: Joe Mauer’s impending free agency (after 2010) and the additional dollars the team is going to have to shell out as its cores get older and more expensive. It is essential, for the team to feel reasonably confident it can get to the playoffs and share in that cash bonanza at least every other season, particularly if it is going to shell out $20-25 million a year for Mauer’s services over the first part of the Twenty-Teens.


Fig. 1: Your new god.

The Common Man believes that the Twins will sign Mauer to a long-term extension regardless; however, for the team to maintain its core and to build upon that core, it will have to have that additional playoff money. Scott Baker, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, and Joe Nathan are all about to get more expensive (or continue to be expensive). Nick Punto is going to continue to eat money for doing little. And eventually, the team is going to have to think about whether to lock up Kevin Slowey, Denard Span, and Jason Kubel to longer-term deals. The Twins need to make the postseason again soon just to be able to subsequently make the postseason again. The possibility Gleeman discusses of a deep run into the tournament would be icing on an otherwise very lucrative cake.

Random Thursday: June 11, 1960, Chicago vs. Boston

When baseball’s elder statesmen square off, doesn’t it seem like something special always happens? Fortune smiles again on The Common Man, as his browser, with eyes closed, leapt from Scott Sullivan’s page to this June 11, 1960 contest between the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox. The game was the first of two that day between the Soxes, and was certainly the more memorable.

The Sox lineup featured Hall of Famers Nellie Fox (in his final decent year; raise your hand if you knew he was basically done at age 32) and Luis Aparicio, and was bolstered by Hall of Very Good members Minnie Minoso and Roy Sievers. The Sox in 1960 were a good club, in the middle of a good run. For 17 straight seasons, the Sox finished above .500 (1951-1967), though they managed just one pennant (1959, when they lost in the World Series to the Dodgers). In 1960, they finished in the 8-team American League, with an 87-67 record. They couldn’t get close to the Yankees, however, who (as usual) finished 10 games better thanks to Mantle, Maris, and Big Bill Skowron.


Minoso, Jim Landis, Aparicio, and Fox receive their Gold Gloves from 1959.

The Red Sox were on the opposite end of the spectrum. In 1960, they would finish in 7th place, losing 89 games. Poor personnel decisions, including the team’s famous refusal to pursue and sign African-American talent, had caught up with Boston, and they were unable to compensate for an aging core and bad pitching staff. The Sox’s starter that day was Ike Delock, a former swingman pressed into the rotation who would finish the year with a 4.73 ERA (84 ERA+) in 23 starts. The lineup featured Hall of Very Good hitters Pete Runnels and Vic Wertz (whose greatest historical comp is Roy Sievers, actually).

But what made the game stand out was the battle between two legends near the end of their respective careers. 40-year old Early Wynn started for Chicago, sitting on 273 career victories, a year removed from going 22-10 and winning the ML Cy Young Award (the Cy Young award was only given to one pitcher a year through 1966). Though pitching well, Gus had lost four straight in which his team had scored just seven runs behind him. For the Red Sox, Ted Williams started and played in LF. Williams, had missed most of April and May, totaling just 27 plate appearances. But in June, Williams was on fire. In 96 PAs, The Splinter would hit 11 homeruns, bat .329/.458/.803), and drive in 24 runs. He had hit a solo homerun the day before and was just starting to round into playing shape.

Wynn allowed a leadoff homerun to Don Buddin, but settled down to retire the next 8 and keeping the Sox off the board through five. On the strength of a Gene Freese homer and a Nellie Fox double in the 2nd, the Sox scored two. Wynn himself had gone 2-2 with two singles, one of which moved Jim Landis into scoring position for Fox’s double, and the other of which drove in Freese in the 4th. At the end of the 5th, Chicago led the Red Sox 3-1. Williams had underwhelmed in two at bats, fouling out once to third base and once to catcher. In the bottom of the 5th, Wynn allowed a leadoff single to Pete Runnels to bring up The Kid. Williams hit a long fly to right field that cleared the fence for his 5th homer of the year, and 497th of his career.


Wynn got out of the 6th without allowing another run, and in the top of the 7th Delock ran into more trouble for Boston. Chicago loaded the bases on two singles and an error, bringing up Sievers, who struck out. But when Delock hit Sherm Lollar, he forced in Nellie Fox, giving the White Sox a 4-3 lead.

Wynn was removed from the game with one-out in the 7th after giving up a single to Bobby Thomson. He was relieved by Gerry Staley, the Sox’s relief ace, who escaped with no damage. Delock got into trouble in the top of the 9In the bottom of the 8th, however, Williams led off. The Kid worked out a walk and was replaced by a pinch runner. Vic Wertz hit a big opposite field home run that gave the Red Sox the 5-4 lead, which they would hold on to. Staley was hung with the loss, and Mike Fornieles, Boston’s relief ace, ended up with the win after pitching the last two frames.

Williams would have an excellent season (.316/.451/.645, 29 homers) despite getting just 390 PAs, and would, of course, retire at the end of the season after hitting a home run (#521) in his final at bat. Wynn would make the All Star team that year, and go 13-12 with a 3.49 ERA, and lead the league in shutouts. He hung on for three more years after that. Gus pitched well in the first half of 1961 before injuries forced him to the shelf for the rest of the year. He struggled in 1962, and finished with an even 300 wins as a pitcher-coach for the ’63 Indians.

Random Thursday: Scott Sullivan

The Common Man will recap his final visit to the Metrodome tomorrow (though the visit took place last weekend), in a final, teary farewell to a truly horrible stadium that is full of wonderful memories. But today is Thursday, which means randomness. Fortune smiled on us today, for it landed on quintessential right-handed reliever Scott Sullivan.

Sullivan, for those of you with short memories, pitched from 1995-2004, almost entirely with the Cincinnati Reds. From 1997-2001, he was one of the most reliable relievers in the National League, consistently posting ERAs in the low 3.00s (except for a hiccup in ’98) with good strikeout rates, average control, and a good ability to keep the ball on the ground (thanks, in large part, to his sidearm delivery). He also was terrifically durable during those years, topping 70 games pitched or 100 innings in all of them, except ’97, when he pitched 97.1 innings. Sullivan began running out of gas in 2002. His K/9 was still excellent (in fact, it ticked up slightly), but his HR/9 doubled and his H/9 jumped as well. Sullivan bounced back in 2003 in a split season between Cincinnati and the White Sox, but began experiencing back troubles that prompted him to raise his arm angle. Sullivan lost a great deal of his effectiveness with the Royals in 2004, and didn’t pitch after that (but he did spend a lot of time on the 60-day DL). While Rotoworld doesn’t have additional information, Sullivan never made it back from his injuries, and hasn’t pitched since 2005.

But this post isn’t about Sullivan, per se. Rather, it’s about one almost-great season. Sullivan was a part of three terrible Reds teams at the end of his career (otherwise known as the Bob Boone years), but was a mainstay of some pretty impressive squads during his stay. In fact, Sullivan was an important cog on the single best team of the post-wild card era to not make the postseason, the 1999 Reds. The Reds won 96 games that year, more than any other team to not make the playoffs since the San Francisco Giants won 103 and finished out of the money in the pre-wild card wilderness of 1993.

The ’99 Reds were cobbled together by Jim Bowden and Jack McKeon, who had a lot of talent come together at exactly the right time. 1B Sean Casey, then 24, enjoyed his best season (.332/.399/.539, 132 OPS+), Pokey Reese played stellar defense at 2B, and for the first time, hit enough to make him a productive player (.285/.330/.417). 3B Aaron Boone had a solid season in his first real opportunity to play regularly. Mike Cameron (acquired for Paul Konerko, who was redundant with Casey around) rebounded from a horrible season with the White Sox to hit a Cameron-ian .256/.357/.469 and play Gold Glove-ish defense in CF. Dmitri Young (.300/.352/.504) played well in a utility role, as did Jeffrey Hammonds (.279/.347/.523, starting down the road to what would become the Milwaukee Brewers’ long nightmare). Catcher Eddie Taubensee shined in his last full season (.311/.354/.521), and 35-year old, future Burt Blyleven-esque Hall of Fame-case Barry Larkin had his last good, uninterrupted season (.293/.390/.420, which was still off for him). And LF Greg Vaughn, acquired for Reggie Sanders and change, provided impressive power (.245/.347/.535, 45 HR 118 RBI) (though the deal actually didn’t end up working well for the Reds, as Sanders hit .285/.376/527, didn’t get injured in ’99, and was included in a deal for Bret Boone and Ryan Klesko that offseason, while Vaughn signed with Tampa during the offseason).

Pete Harnisch shined in the rotation (16-10, 3.68) in his last productive season, and 31 year old minor league veteran Steve Parris had 21 good starts (11-4, 3.50), but the rest of the rotation was really underwhelming and inconsistent. Juan Guzman (6-3, 3.03) only started 12 games after being acquired from the Orioles. Denny Naegle was moderately effective (9-4, 4.27), but only started 19. Ron Villone (9-7, 4.23) and Brett Tomko (5-7, 4.92) both got more than 20 starts, but weren’t anything special. No starter threw more than 200 innings (Steve Avery had just 96 IP in 19 starts, and Jason Bere had 43.1 in 10).

While the rotation was in flux, the bullpen shined. McKeon leveraged his bullpen extremely well, using Sullivan (79 G, 113.2 IP, 5-4, 3.01, 3 Sv), Danny Graves (75 G, 111 IP, 8-7. 3.08, 27 Sv), Scott Williamson (62 G, 93.1 IP, 12-7, 2.41, 19 Sv), and Dennys Reyes (65 G, 61.2 IP, 2-2, 3.79) with effectiveness. It was an extremely stable bullpen as well. In addition to those four, Gabe White pitched 50 games and 61 innings, and Stan Belinda got into 29 and 42.2, but no one else pitched more than 2 games of relief (except Villone and Tomko). Indeed, while The Nasty Boys bullpen of 1990 gets all the attention (a 2.93 cumulative ERA, 450 K in 472.2 innings), one wonders whether the ’99 Reds pen was actually more effective (3.36 cumulative ERA, 463 K in 530.1 innings in an extremely high-scoring environment). If we adjust the Reds’ pen performance in 1999 to the 1990 environment (in which 18 percent fewer runs were allowed by NL teams), their ERA drops to 2.85, and they have a significant advantage in innings pitched.

The Reds went into the final weekend of the season tied with the Astros for the NL Central lead, and with a two game lead over the Mets for the Wild Card. That weekend, they lost two of three to the Brewers, while the Mets won out and the ‘Stros took two of three from the Dodgers. This left the Reds and Mets tied for the Wild Card, and a one-game playoff was scheduled for the next day. Cincinnati ran into an absolute buzzsaw that day in Al Leiter, who tossed a two-hit shutout to eliminate the Redlegs. The Mets would advance to the NLCS, where they lost to the Braves.

That offseason, the Reds made their infamous trade for Ken Griffey and picked up Dante Bichette to play RF. Injuries to Larkin and Boone, and poor performance from Benito Santiago behind the plate dropped their offensive production by 40 runs, and their excellent bullpen masked an absolutely abysmal starting rotation that was often hurt. Injuries to Naegle and Harnisch forced the Reds to use Elmer Dessens and Williamson in the rotation, which forced them to use Manny Aybar, Mark Wohlers, and a cast of misfits. They gave up 45 more runs than in ’99, and finished with 85 wins and 10 games back of the Cardinals. By 2001, they were in full collapse and lost 96 games.

Because of their relatively small market and short peak, and because they ultimately failed to make the playoffs, no one really remembers the ’99 Reds today. And that’s a shame. Jack McKeon put players in positions where they would succeed and did not ask more of them than they could deliver. Jim Bowden, for all his failings, had a talented group that gelled at just the right moment, and could have been (for the want of a little starting pitching) a force in the NL Central for years to come. If they had managed to win one more game in 1999, who knows how that club's offseason, and its next decade, might have unfolded.

Random Thursday: September 12, 1964, New York vs. Los Angeles

It’s Thursday, and that used to mean randomness was in the air. Perhaps it still is, as The Common Man used the random function of Baseball Reference.com to jump from his previous entry, Joe Smaza, to this September 12 game between the 1964 Dodgers and Mets. The game itself, an 8-0 drubbing by Los Angeles over the hapless New Yorkers, is pretty unremarkable. Pete Richert, who had struggled to establish himself in the Dodgers’ rotation, pitched a two-hit shutout against a terrible lineup that was headlined by someone named Joe Christopher and a 19-year old Ed Kranepool. The uninspiring Al Jackson got pummeled for eight runs, but took his lumps like a man, limping to a complete game loss. The game doesn’t seem all that interesting, but at least the 20,004 Dodgers fans in attendance got to go home with the W.

1964 was a poor year for the Dodgers (80-82), who finished below .500 because Sandy Koufax was limited to 28 starts (in which he had a 1.74 ERA and won 19 games), could not seem to find a serviceable 3rd starter behind Sandy and Big D (who was 18-16 with a 2.14 ERA), Frank Howard and Tommy Davis’s production dipped from MVP-esque (149 and 141 OPS+, respectively) to passable (111 and 110 OPS+) and they employed an old-looking Jim Gilliam (.228/.318/.287) at 3B for 390 PAs, and an overmatched Nate Oliver (.243/.309/.271) at 2B for 357.

The Mets, this being the early ‘60s, were understandably terrible (53-109). In addition to Christopher* and Kranepool (.257/.310/.393), the only offense to speak of on the team came from 2B Ron Hunt (.303/.357/.406) and OF Jim Hickman (.257/.319/.377). The pitching was uniformly bad. Jackson (11-16, 4.26, 83 ERA+) and Jack Fisher (10-17, 4.23, 84 ERA+) competed to see who could be the worst pitcher on a staff that only had one member with an ERA+ over 100 (22 year old reliever Ron Locke, who had a 3.48 ERA in 41 innings, but also walked 22 batters and gave up 7 unearned runs).

The game did feature a great duel of managers, however, as Walter Alston and Casey Stengel (in his second to last season at the helm) faced off. Casey probably slept through most of this one, as he was down 5-0 after the 4th, and he couldn’t have made much difference (by the way, Casey finished with a .503 winning percentage as a manager. His Mets-less percentage, however, was .543. There’s no real wisdom there, as The Common Man is glad Casey was still working, and it’s not like managing the Mets hurt his legacy, and the photos of Casey’s misery as the Mets’ skipper are hilarious. It’s just interesting.)

Unlike the Mets, the Dodgers would get better in a hurry. That winter, Richert was dealt with Frank Howard to the new Washington Senators (where he would win 29 games and make two all star teams in the next two seasons, becoming the 3rd starter the Dodgers wanted, before faltering) for Claude Osteen (who also became the 3rd starter the Dodgers wanted, winning 147 games in nine years). Koufax came back strong, as he famously finished 26-8 with a 2.04 ERA and set the new ML record for strikeouts (which still stands as the NL record). Oliver was replaced by NL Rookie of the Year Jim Lefebvre (.250/.337/.369, 109 OPS+), Gilliam bounced back strong (.280/.374/.384, 121 OPS+) at age 36, and the team produced just enough offense to deal with the losses of Howard and Tommy Davis (who broke his ankle in May) and eke out the NL pennant by two games over the Giants, before edging The Common Man’s beloved Twins in the World Series.

*Christopher himself is kind of interesting, mind you. In ’64, his first year of full time action, he put up a .300/.360/.466 line (and a 134 OPS) and finished with 16 HR and 76 RBI. Christopher never finished with an OBP above .340 again, nor a SLG above .365. He was a true flash in the pan for a terrible team and the first player born in the U.S. Virgin Islands to play in the big leagues.