Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 5-13-2013

Notes about two youngsters who eventually made their way to Cooperstown:

Pittsburgh Press, May 13, 1913:

Bostonians now are calling little Maranville “the Rabbit.” Also they are rising to proclaim that he is one of the very few men in the game who really can “place” a hit, which overcomes his inability to smash the ball quite as hard as some of his larger contemporaries.

Milwaukee Sentinel, May 13, 1913, Page 6:

In Pitcher George Sisler Ann Arbor college claims to have a Ty Cobb and a left-handed Ed Walsh. Sisler is the best pitcher on the college nine, and he is a great fielder and batter.

People often forget what a good pitcher Sisler was. He put up a 126 ERA+ in 111 career MLB innings.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 4-18-2013

Pittsburgh Press, April 18, 1913:

George Sisler, the twirler who refused to report to the Pirates and who is now on the local team’s ineligible list, twirled a wonderful game for Michigan university [sic] yesterday, beating the Alma college nine 4 to 1, allowing his opponents one hit. In addition to twirling like a big leaguer, Sisler also pounded out two hits, one of which was a triple.

Mark my words: This Sisler kid is going to be a great big leaguer someday.

Bill James Mailbag - 2/6/13

And what better day for it than the Babe’s birthday, pt. 2…

At the time Babe Ruth allegedly corked his bat, was that against the rules?

Yes.  And he didn’t “allegedly” cork his bat; he was caught using a bat glued together from three pieces of wood.  Sisler and Kenny Williams were caught with funny bats at about the same time.

Are NFL offensive linemen the only subgroup of players in the big 4 sports for which POSITIVE statistics aren’t kept? Or is there some statistic of measurement used for offensive linemen that i’m not aware of? I’m thinking that all other the other players in the NFL have some stats kept on them; same for all of MLB, NBA, and NHL players, right? Just curious.

It’s a good question.  Do they keep stats in hockey?

Regarding the question about Malcolm Gladwell and authors you like, recently I have been reading Noam Chomsky, and I have to say his style reminds me a lot of your style. And for this reason I find it very enjoyable, even though I disagree with nearly every single thing the man says. But he explains his points in bracingly clear prose, like you do.

Thanks, Jules.  I always enjoy being compared to a raving lunatic.

I recently moved to the SF Bay Area and have been told several times by old Giant fans that Willie Mays would purposely stop at first base on a sure double in order to have McCovey bat with a runner on first. Could this be true? Mays taking himself out of scoring position?

You know, I’ve read that.  I doubt that it is true… I would suppose that what happened is that Mays, in some situation, turned down an effort to make a double because it was kind of a breakeven gamble, and then EXPLAINED what he had done by saying that he wanted to keep the hole for McCovey.  Looked at in that way, it actually reflects extremely sophisticated on-field decision making from Mays:  That, in calculating whether to push the gamble of trying for a double, he adjusted his calculations to include the fact that even if he succeeded, he would be closing the hole for McCovey.  Mays was an extremely sophisticated player in those ways, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he DID do that.