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Primate Studies — Where BTF's Members Investigate the Grand Old Game Wednesday, June 13, 2001Mike Morgan, the Nexus of the Baseball Universe?You will be entertained by the answer. A few years ago, some college students in Pennsylvania invented a popular game about the actor Kevin Bacon.? The object of the game was to start with an actor or actress and connect them with Bacon in the fewest links possible.? People are linked if they appeared in the same movie.? A ?Bacon Number? was assigned to the actor based on the fewest links necessary to connect them with Kevin Bacon.? For instance, Telly Savalas was in ?Kelly?s Heroes? with Donald Sutherland.? Sutherland appeared in ?Animal House? (and ?JFK?) with Bacon.? Therefore Sutherland has a Bacon Number of 1 and Savalas has a Bacon Number of 2. This isn?t an entirely new concept.? Since the 1960s, sociologists have suggested that every person is connected to every other person through an average of six acquaintances.? Paul Erdos, a prolific Hungarian mathematician, invented the Erdos Number.? Every academic who collaborated on a paper with Erdos was assigned an Erdos Number of 1.? Every co-author of these collaborators has an Erdos Number of 2.? And so on, and so on.? The Erdos Number became the forerunner of the Bacon Number. What does this have to do with baseball?? You can connect players to each other by linking them with players who appeared on the same team in the same year.? I?m not counting managers and coaches.?? (This eliminates Don Zimmer as a link between everyone from Jackie Robinson to Randy Choate.)? Let?s link Roger Maris to Mark McGwire.? Maris played on the Cardinals along with Mike Torrez.? Torrez was on the ?77 Yanks with Reggie Jackson.? Mr. October finished his career as McGwire’s teammate on the A?s.? How about Lou Gerhig to Cal Ripken?? You can link Gerhig to Tommy Heinrich, Heinrich to Yogi Berra, Berra to Tug McGraw, McGraw to Jeff Stone, and Stone to Ripken.? (Thanks to T. Scott Brandon for that one.) Who would be the most linkable player in baseball history?? It would have to be a player who a.) Had a lengthy career, and b.) Played for a lot of different teams.? In fact, there is an active player who meets both criteria.? Currently in his twenty-first major league season, Mike Morgan is the ultimate sports journeyman.? In a career that started in 1978 and spans four decades, Morgan has played for twelve different major league teams.? No one, in any major team sport has played for more than ten teams.? Throughout those many years, Morgan has had close to 650 teammates.? Out of 15,500 players who have appeared in the big leagues, 4.2% have played with Mike Morgan.? We can assign these players a Morgan Number of 1. Let?s play the ?Mike Morgan Game? with a couple of Hall of Famers.? Ted Williams played with Frank Malzone, who played with Yaz.? Yaz played with Fred Lynn, who was on the 1988 Orioles with Morgan.? The Splendid Splinter?s Morgan Number is less than or equal to 4.? (There may be a quicker link.? I haven?t done exhaustive research on this.)? Hank Aaron has a Morgan Number of 2.? Aaron and Morgan both played with Gorman Thomas.? Warren Spahn?s Morgan Number is also 2.? Spahnnie and Morgan shared Rico Carty as a teammate. Most players who have appeared in the last quarter century have Morgan Numbers less than or equal to 2.? If they haven?t played with Morgan, they?ve probably played with someone who has. ?Joe Morgan has a Morgan Number of 2.? Both Morgans played with Ken Griffey Sr. (among others).? You can do this with teams.? The 1969 Kansas City Royals all have Morgan Numbers of 2 or less.? Buck Martinez, who was a catcher on that team, played on the 1983 Blue Jays with Morgan. So, is Mike Morgan the nexus of the baseball universe?? Further research would be necessary to determine whether or not he is.? If he isn?t yet, he probably will be some day.? There are quite a few players who played with Morgan who are young enough to play well into the 21st century.? Some of Morgan?s teammates on the 1998 Twins come to mind.? It is unlikely that anyone has had as many teammates as Morgan.? The other candidates that come to mind, Nolan Ryan and Hoyt Wilhelm, are Hall of Famers.? They have their glory.? Spare some for the journeymen of the world. JUST FOR FUN
Jonathon Daly is a new member of the Society of Baseball Research (SABR) and can be reached at jon31768@yahoo.com.
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1. Devin has a deep burning passion for fuzzy socks Posted: June 13, 2001 at 12:08 AM (#603901)As for me: The only foul ball I ever retrieved was at a rookie league game in Walla Walla, Washington, and was signed by catcher Bob Geren. Geren eventually made the big leagues and was a teammate of Don Mattingly, who was a teammate of Mike Morgan. Making my Mike Morgan number 3.
That's as close as I'm gonna get.
I just spent the last hour and a half, went through every possible combination, almost literally, trying to find a teammate of Rico Carty or Tito Fuentes that played with Bobo Newsom. Tried to find a teammate of Eddie Yost or Yogi Berra or Sherm Lollar's that played with Morgan. I was hitting the end of careers, trying to pin it, didn't look at Wynn's 1959-62, only 63. I found Morgan-Fuentes-Kuenn-Priddy-Newsom. Also had Newsom-Yost-Fregosi-Gossage-Morgan.
So finally, I get Newsom-Wynn-John-Morgan to knock it to four, I'm all fired up -- and I see you found it already, just like that. What a bummer. If my boss knew what I was doing for the last hour and a half . . . I can't believe I didn't think of John. I was scolling down the list looking up teammates for Piniella, Watson, Nettles, and then I finally got to John and it's already done.
This could become a pretty good drinking game for statheads . . .
I think you can drop your Splendid Splinter Morgan number by one.
Ted Williams played with Gary Geiger in 1959/60, who played with Bob Watson on the 1969/70 Astros, who played with Morgan on the 1982 Yankees.
It was tough to get Babe Ruth's Morgan number down to 4 (i.e., 3 players separating them), but I finally got it.
Any guesses?
I remember seeing a late 80s Elias Baseball Analyst where under players Frank Tanana "struggles" against is listed "Minnie Minoso."
On the other hand, I can do the Mets in 4 steps: Ed Kranepool-Jesse Orosco-Darryl Strawberry-John Franco. Not bad for 40 seasons.
Cal Abrams - Brooks Robinson - Eddie Murray - Cal Ripken, Jr.
Except for 1954, the has always been a future All-Star on the Orioles. That's got to be a record of some sort.
If so, who is the last (i.e. most recent birthyear) player to have a Morgan number of 3 or more ?
A related question - which team is the last not to have at least one player to have played with Morgan.
Surprisingly, my Morgan number to Ty Cobb is even lower: 3. In 1983, I shook hands with Ted Williams after a college baseball game. Williams was a teammate of Jimmie Foxx on the 1942 Red Sox; and Foxx played with Ty Cobb on the 1928 Philadelphia Athletics.
-Paul Hines (1872-1891), 9 teams, 3 leagues, Morgan # of 6 (Hines >Lowe >Cobb > Foxx > D Ennis > H Wilhelm > John > M Morgan)
-Deacon White (1871-1890), 9 teams, 3 leagues, Morgan # of 6 (White > S Thompson > Cobb etc...)
-Deacon McGuire (1884-1908, '10, '12) 12 teams (80-90 years before Morgan did it), 3 leagues, Morgan # of 5 (McGuire > Cobb etc...)
-Dan Brouthers (1879-1896, 1904) 11 teams, 3 leagues, Morgan # of 5 (Brouthers > Keeler > J Quinn > Lombardi > Spahn > Carty > Morgan)
Too bad Anson only played with three teams. His Morgan number would seem to be 6 (Anson > C Griffith > I Meusel > M Ott> B Thomson > E Banks > B North > M Morgan)
My Morgan numbers might not be the lowest possible numbers, but it's all I could come up with in a couple hours. Please feel free to revise them downward!!!!
eric chalek
newmarket, nh
Me -> My great Uncle
My great uncle went to spring training with the Cardinals and batted against Dizzy Dean
And Courtesy of The Oracle on B-R.Com:
Dizzy Dean played with Skeeter Webb for the 1932 St. Louis Cardinals
Skeeter Webb played with Vic Wertz for the 1947 Detroit Tigers
Vic Wertz played with Willie Horton for the 1963 Detroit Tigers
Willie Horton played with Mike Morgan for the 1978 Oakland Athletics
I think that makes me a 4.
I used to bowl on a team with John Joslyn, who played in the minors with Bo Jackson. Jackson played with Sammy Sosa on the '91 White Sox and Sosa played with Mike Morgan on the '92 Cubs.
Babe Ruth played with Leo Durocher in 1925, Durocher managed Mike Easler on the '75 Astros, Easler played with John Candelaria on the '82 Pirates and Candelaria and Morgan were teammates on the 91' Dodgers.
?!? Just look at the rosters! Lots of options. Gerald Williams, Rich Gedman, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter, Sam Horn, Lyle Mouton, Andy Pettitte, Brad Ausmus, J.T. Snow...
I used to play flag football with Erik Schullstrom.
Erik Schullstrom played with Pat Meares for the 1994 Minnesota Twins.
Meares played with Morgan for the '98 Twins.
He played in Niagara with Ron Rightnowar.
Who played in Milwaukee with Ricky Bones.
Who played in Cincinnati with Morgan.
Did any of them play with Morgan? I thought that Ausmus might've, but I don't have time today to check all of these guys. Work has been hectic this summer.
I'd love to get a Morgan Number through J.R./Isaiah Rider (who I definitely played baseball with) but I'm not sure I could get there.
Another way I can get to a Morgan 4: I used to work with Sean O'Connor, who was an A's minor-leaguer in the mid-80's. Sean once doubled off Vida Blue in spring training. Vida Blue played with Marty Perez for the 1977 Oakland Athletics. Perez played with Mike Morgan on the A's the next year.
Fred Lynn Nolan Ryan Sweeney Agonistes played baseball with Isaiah Rider
Isaiah Rider was on the 93-94 Timberwolves with Mike Brown
Mike Brown was on the 86-87 Bulls with Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan was on the 94 Barons with Matt Karchner
Matt Karchner was on the 98 Cubs with Mike Morgan
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