Comments on: Mitchell Page

By: Ken Arneson

Ken Arneson — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 18:06:24 +0000

RIP, Mitchell Page.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:54:58 +0000

Thanks for sharing that, Stefano. As you may know, Page used to be the Washington Nationals hitting coach. I think he might still be a roving minor league hitting instructor.

By: stefano61

stefano61 — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:07:11 +0000

In 1979 I was in Boston as an exchange student from Italy. We went to Fenway for a A’s vs Red Sox game on july 26th…that day, in an otherwise mediocre season, Mitchell Page had one of his best games of his career: he went 4 for 5 with 2 2B, 1 HR and 1SB…from that moment he became one of my favorite players. Today I collect game used bats and in my collection there are a couple of Page’s bats.
I also have bought recently a book written by him about hitting…the curious thing is that he poses in many pictures, demonstrating hitting tecniques, with his wristwatch on !

By: shealives

shealives — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:46:33 +0000

When Page was a rookie, my best friend was an A’s fan and we used to argue who was the best rookie in baseball in ’77, Page or Steve Henderson. Interesting how both players started with such promise and gradually declined to where their rookie season was obviously the best season of their career for each player.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:54:24 +0000

I always though Mitchell Page had one of the coolest names in baseball.

Good catch Josh, his ’77 season flys under the radar and is basically forgotten.

You absolutely right, that 1977 rookie of the year vote was horrible. Page should have been a lock to win the award. It’s really not even close between he and Murray. Not only was Page the best A.L. rookie in 1977 he was also one of the 5 or 6 best players in the A.L. during 1977.

Here’s some comparisons between Page and Murray:

Page 77:

War: 6
Warp 3: 8.5
Win Shares: 30

Murray 77:

War: 2.9
Warp 3: 3.4
Win Shares: 21

Another thing that’s amazing about Page’s 1977 season is that he was 42/47 in stolen base attempts for an amazing 89%.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:40:01 +0000

Thanks for that info, Catfish. Interesting excerpt from the Post. I think that first bit is from a Nationals blogger, not Lenny Harris:
http://dcbb.blogspot.com/2007/05/mitchell-page-out.html

By: catfish326

catfish326 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:24:44 +0000

Here is what replacement coach Lenny Harris had to say about Page when he replaced him as coach in 2007:

“The Nats have given Hitting Coach Mitchell Page a leave of absence for the most Washingtonian of reasons, “personal reasons.” Presumably, he, like so many others, wants to spend more time with his family. In his place comes former Red and (you’ll undoubtedly hear this 42 times tonight) Pinch-Hit King, Lenny Harris.

I know nuttin’, and there’s likely a good chance he’s dealing with something personal, but I suspect this is their way of saying adieu to Page for his poor performance. Given his past history with alcoholism, perhaps they wanted to do something nice and keep him in the family, even if it’s more of a distant cousin in Albuquerque sorta thing now.”

Lenny sounds like a real dinkus.

This was in the Wash. Post: “. . . To get back to that point, Page had to do some work on himself. In an interview two years ago, he spoke about the dark days at the end of the 2004 season, when he was drinking vodka before games, when he knew he needed help. After the season, he was let go by the Cardinals. He checked into a rehabilitation facility.

“The best thing I did,” he said Thursday. “It gave me a better outlook. I went 17 months without a drink, without having one drink. I pick my spots now — a beer here, a glass of wine. But I don’t need it. It doesn’t control me. Seventeen months off without drinking, that really makes you look at reality, look in the right direction.”

In the article Cardinal players and Nationals players spoke very fondly of Page as a coach and as a person.

By: 64cardinals

64cardinals — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:43:38 +0000

I think. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

By: 64cardinals

64cardinals — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:43:06 +0000

You’re thinking of Mike Easler, not Mitchell Page. At least that was the rumor.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:06:50 +0000

I seem to recall those post-dynasty A’s were the stealingest team of our lifetime, even before the coming of Rickey. In fact, without looking, I think the ’76 team stole more bases than any squad not from the deadball era. With that in mind, you’d think that Page would have had a lot of caught stealings to go with his steals in ’77, but he stole 42 bags (only Freddie Patek stole more that year in the A.L.) and was only thrown out 5 times. Amazing.