Comments on: 1970-Most Valuable Players

By: jt60

jt60 — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:24:28 +0000

And on MLB Network as I type this is Game 1 of the 1970 World Series. A strange juxtaposition of a black-and-white broadcast of a game played on AstroTurf.

By: shealives

shealives — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 04:22:17 +0000

A few thoughts on the key themes of this post: Baseball players and teams seemed much more important in 1970 than now. Most people’s knowledge of Woodstock is what they know from this movie. Peter Boyle, the star of “Joe”, was one of John Lennon’s closest friends. If that doesn’t make you cool, I don’t know what does.

By: ramblin' pete

ramblin' pete — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:14:19 +0000

The final scenes of all those Ape movies are exceptionally harrowing…
The first one, of course, is legendary, and how about ‘Conquest?’
with Caesar’s speech inciting the forthcoming era of “mob rule” against a backdrop of armed, violent gorillas…Things only calmed down by the end, when the producers had evidently run dry of ideas and the whole thing was reduced (at least in my memories) to a bunch of unconnected stock footage of humans and apes killing each other.

Thoughts from a seventeenth-story balcony…

By: sb1902

sb1902 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:10:27 +0000

Pie, you’re right, that’s how the scene went. I forgot how the first part went.

It was great how S.I. did the Sam Malone article. I remember they had a fictional SI cover with Sam Malone on it, half turned around to watch a home run he’d just given up. I seem to recall they put Ted Danson’s head on Luis Tiant’s body, oddly enough.

The first game I ever went to was in 1976 when the Red Sox played the Indians at Fenway. I remember Boog Powell (wrapping things up with the Indians at that point) being pointed out as a player of distinction. It was my first memory of differentiating baseball players. I’ll always remember Booger for that.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:47:38 +0000

Sports Illustrated mentioned the legendary Boog Powell--Sam Mayday Malone confrontation in its 1993 retrospective of the latter player's career: In September of that first season, the Red Sox were five games out with 10 to play when rookie Malone saved both ends of a doubleheader against the Baltimore Orioles. He threw only seven pitches. It was the undisputed heavyweight highlight of his career. Malone entered the first game with two out in the bottom of the ninth, runners at second and third, and the Brobdingnagian Boog Powell stepping into the box. "I could feel the wind from his warmup swings," Malone once told ex-Sox teammate Dave Richards, a sportscaster on Channel 13 in Boston. "I mean, the guy had the heaviest bat in the league. Papers were full of him. I figure the only way I'm gonna get this guy, as good as he's going, is if I challenge him on the first pitch. If I try to get cute, he's gonna kill me." Boog grounded to third to end the first game, and Malone struck him out to end the second game—while Don Buford, the potential tying run, danced off first base. Forever after, no matter how unwarranted, Sam Malone would be Mayday.

By: piehead

piehead — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:48:24 +0000

sb1902- That’s the scene I was thinking of too. I remember it as Sam telling his Boog story to Fred Dryer’s reporter character, but his story gets interrupted when Dryer finds out about a bigger story and leaves. Then later Diane asked him to finish his story about “this Boog fellow.” I haven’t seen that one in a while.

By: johnq11

johnq11 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:21:02 +0000

blankemon,

Bench played 2 games in center in 1970, Wow! I would have never guessed that. I recently saw a game from the ’70 series on the MLB network and it was in Black and White. It was weird because it looked like I was watching something from 1958 but they were playing on artificial turff.

Catchers once won a lot of MVP awards, probably more than they deserved but I don’t have a problem with Bench winning. Joe Mauer is probably the only catcher who should have won MVP awards; 06 & 08, that didn’t. The only other catcher I can think that got totally robbed in MVP voting was Piazza in 1997.

Here’s the top N.L. WAR numbers for 1970:

Gibson-8.7
Perez-6.7
Bench-6.5
McCovey-6.4
Carty-5.8
Bonds-5.1

By: blankemon

blankemon — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 14:59:18 +0000

I think Bench’s numbers are more impressive than Perez’s due to the whole c/1b issue. As good as Perez was, McCovey probably had the best season by a first baseman in the NL (or anywhere) in 1970. Anytime you find a catcher who leads the league in HR (and RBI) while fielding like Bench on a team that wins? It’s not going to be close, and it wasn’t. I have no real beef with Bench’s MVP. Looking at his numbers more closely, one sees that Bench started two games in *centerfield* in 1970! Giving him a few days off from the squat at 1B or RF or LF, sure, I think we all understand that one. But CF? Now that is creative managing.

By: gea3

gea3 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:54:54 +0000

Love the blog! I began reading with the hope of a great blog on baseball, but have found much more. Thanks. As a boy, my dad took me to an Angels – Oriole game. I was a huge Brooks Robinson fan and he hit a homerun in the game. What I remember best was Boog Powell before the game. Not in batting practice, but simply tossing a ball in the air and hitting it into the bullpen. Once was cool, but he did it 20 times in row!

By: spudrph

spudrph — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:37:36 +0000

Powell seemed like one of the most onamatopoeic names. You write the name “Boog Powell” on a scorecard, you put “1b” next to it without thinking. No way a centerfielder is named Boog Powell. You can see him, even if you never saw him. Big guy, with a gut. Long, looping swing. Pull hitter. Slow on the bases. Sneaks cigarettes between innings. Gets into epic slumps, where he’ll bat .150 for 3 weeks, and then hits .440 for a month to balance it out. Strikes out too much, but hits towering, mammoth home run shots to balance it out. Boog Powell.