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Friday, December 11, 2020
Memphis News Scimitar, December 11, 1920: Arrest and arraignment were expected [in Los Angeles] today in the case of at least one of the four men indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy late yesterday by the Los Angeles county grand jury, after an inquiry of two months’ duration into charges of corruption in Pacific Coast league baseball games in 1919.
That one was W. Baker (“Babe”) Borton, former Vernon first baseman. The other three indicted were Harl V. Magert [sic] and W.G. Rumler, former Salt Lake outfielders, and Nathan Raymond, alleged gambler of Seattle, Wash.
Borton didn’t go to prison, but unsurprisingly his baseball career was over. Maggert was done too, though he was 37 years old at the time. Somehow Bill Rumler escaped with an eight-year suspension instead of a lifetime ban.
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1. Jefferson Manship (Dan Lee) Posted: December 11, 2020 at 08:13 AM (#5993690)If you were so inclined, you could get more WAR into the starting lineup by moving Derek Bell to third base and playing Thomas Howard in center. But if you remember what Derek Bell was like as a third baseman, you'd know what an awful idea that would be. Also, truth be told, I like Andy Tracy and I'm the guy making the lineups.
C: Art Wilson (14.5 WAR)
1B: Jay Bell (37.2 WAR)
2B: Johnny O'Brien (0.0 WAR)
3B/Punter: Andy Tracy (-0.5 WAR)
SS: Rob Andrews (0.9 WAR)
LF: Lee Maye (15.7 WAR)
CF: Derek Bell (13.1 WAR)
RF: Bill Nicholson (41.7 WAR)
SP: Old Hoss Radbourn (75.4 WAR)
SP: Fred Toney (25.9 WAR)
SP: Hal Brown (17.5 WAR)
SP: Slim Harriss (13.6 WAR)
SP: Joe Blanton (11.9 WAR)
RP: Mike Henneman (12.9 WAR)
Johnny's Twin Brother: Eddie O'Brien (-1.9 WAR)
They were primarily infielders (although Eddie spent one year as a very bad centerfielder), but their pitching numbers had a significant effect on their overall WAR figures. Eddie as a position player had a WAR of -2.2, but his pitching WAR of 0.4 (in 16 innings) pulled his overall war up a bit to -1.9. Conversely, Johnny had a WAR as a position player of 0.4, but his -0.4 WAR as a pitcher (in 61 innings) dragged his overall WAR back down to 0.0.
The same thing happened to me. I submitted a story a few days ago and it never got posted.
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