Comments on: Ron Cey in . . . The Franchise All-Time All-Stars

By: sly jones

sly jones — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:22:31 +0000

60. Wot! No votes for Brickyard Kennedy?

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/K/Pkennb101.htm

By: Eric Enders

Eric Enders — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:15:35 +0000

59. Of course, Newcombe also pitched in some big non-World Series games. I have to assume he's the only pitcher ever to start a pennant-deciding game on the last day of the season, two years in a row. In 1950 he gave up the famous homer to Dick Sisler. In 1951 he avoided giving up the famous homer to Bobby Thomson, but was charged with giving up the tying runs (which he put on base, but scored after he left the game).

By: Jeb

Jeb — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:08:10 +0000

58. 56 to further the point, Newk had a 8.59 ERA in three world series, but only pitched in 5 games (which seems shockingly low to me).

By: Jeb

Jeb — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 23:06:53 +0000

57. 56 also Gil Hodges was 0-21 in the 1952 series. It's hard to overcome that kind of lack of production in the middle of the order. He did bat .318 in the other 32 WS games he played in though.

By: Jacob L

Jacob L — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:15:39 +0000

56. Admittedly, my detailed knowledge of the Brooklyn teams is pretty thin, but shouldn’t Don Newcombe get the nod as the Flatbush starting pitcher over if not Vance, certainly Erskine?

Although, to relate that to another point, Newcombe’s notorious post-season struggles (or non-clutchiness) may be part of the explanation for why the Bums had such a hard time getting over on the Bombers.

In response to some other points –

Lopes > Sax (but not better than sex)

I guess you put Wills at short (certainly not Furcal who’s barely had one good season in LA; I’d sooner have Greg Gagne;)). On a team with this much offense, I’d love to see Cesar Izturis pickin’ em at short. Plus, this whole discussion of LA shortstops is pretty rough when the franchise’s all time games played leader can’t get his name mentioned. He had to be doing something right, right?

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:50:31 +0000

55. I meant to say "merci" to 51 and to applaud the nomination of Manny Mota in 50 .

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:49:48 +0000

54. 52 : Makes sense. I would have guessed Reggie'd gotten more than 500 games in, but I guess besides not coming to LA until mid-career he was fairly brittle.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:48:15 +0000

53. 47 : I never really studied the relative strengths and merits of the Yanks and Dodgers of that time, but I have certainly dwelled a lot on the differences between the Red Sox the Yankees from '49 through '51. The Sox, like the Dodgers, trotted out some fantastic everyday guys, but they always came up short in pitching depth and bench strength. Those things would naturally be more of a factor over a season than in a short series, but maybe they helped the Yankees in October, too. 49 : I like the Cookie Lavagetto mention. When I was a kid I somehow confused him with Cookie Rojas, thinking that he had been clinging to the majors for decades. A vacancy is made in right and Reggie Smith still doesn't get the call. Interesting. 50 : Merci.

By: El Lay Dave

El Lay Dave — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:43:43 +0000

52. 50 If forced to stick to one guy in RF, Green's six full seasons are enough for me. Reggie Smith was great on the '77 and '78 pennant winners, but he only played about 500 games total for the Dodgers, albeit at about 150 OPS+.

By: berkowit28

berkowit28 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:37:54 +0000

51. 42 It's just possible you're remembering "frappant", which is the present participle = "homering", but that is pretty unlikely for a headline. More likely it was "frappe" = "homers" (singular).