Okay Baseball Fans!
I'm still smarting from the 61Yanks defeat at the hands of the 76Reds! So I decided to go back in time and match two squads famous for launching baseballs in to the stratosphere!
The 1927 New York Yankees!
The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers!
Both of these line-ups are salty! I'm a Yankee fan, of course. But these Brooklyn Dodgers... Carl Furillo hit .344 that year, and he is the seventh place hitter! Why? Umm... Robby, the Duke, Campy and Gil Hodges! That's why! All with 100-plus ribbies! All above .300... Hodges hit sixth... SIXTH... and knocked in 121! Campy hit fifth and was the NL MVP! Duke knocked 42 outta the park. And of course, Jackie tormented pitchers with his baserunning when he wasn't driving in Pee Wee Reese and a young fellow named Junior Gilliam.
And of course, the Yanks are the stuff legends come from. When I told the Babe about this season... and he began to understand the concept, he said, "Wait a minute! Do you mean we are going to play half the season in Ebbet's Field? In Brooklyn?" I nodded. The Babe began to grin. His grin got wider. And he broke into laughter. "Do you remember what I said in the '32 Series about Wrigley Field?" "Yep! You said that you'd give half of your salary-". "HALF MY BLANKETY-BLANK SALARY... IF I COULD HIT IN THIS DUMP ALL YEAR!"
The Babe beamed. Then his voice lowered again. "You guys are gonna run out of baseballs. This is going to be fun. You know I coached at Ebbet's in '38. MacPhail talked to me about getting activated. Damn near went for it too."
"Yeah Babe. I read about that. But you were way past forty then. You're gonna be 32 during this season. Gehrig will be 23-24. And the rest of the '27 gang will be there. But Babe... these Dodgers are good... way better than that 1938 squad."
"Yeah... they got a lot of colored fellows... about damn time. I used to play against 'em after the season... Paige, Smoky Joe Williams... Biz Mackey. We played Newark, Hilldale... even saw Cool Papa Bell in St. Looie in 1927. If we had him in '27...damn!"
"Their clean-up hitter, Duke Snider, wears no. 4 because his boyhood idol was Lou."
"That right?" The Babe mused. "Good for him. I'll tell Lou." Then the Babe started to grin. "I'll tell Lou to tip his cap to Duke... as he rounds the bases after another home run!"
And the Babe roared in laughter once more.
Well, I have played half of the season! And the Babe's confidence was fully justified. Half of a season when these two played was 77 games. So I will cut the chatter and sho you the results in tabular form. I hope you are sitting down when you read theses numbers. Here goes!
77 Games
1927 NY Yankees........ 44-33
1953 Bklyn Dodgers... 33-44
Dodgers three thru six hitters ('big four'):
Jackie Robinson........ 4 hr 65 rbi
Duke Snider............... 5 hr 65 rbi
Roy Campanella........ 8 hr 68 rbi
Gil Hodges..................4 hr 51 rbi
Now the Yanks 'big four':
Babe Ruth.........51 hr 114 rbi
Lou Gehrig........ 41 hr 85 rbi
Bob Meusel......... 6 hr 52 rbi
Tony Lazzeri..... 18 hr 56 rbi
This is no misprint. And I am in no way rigging these games to turn this into batting practice for the Babe and Lou. But as ridiculous as these numbers are, I have to tell you more. I sat the Babe DOWN for 25 games! He, Bob Meusel and Joe Dugan got a 25-game rest! I plugged in Ben Paschal in RF, Cedric Durst in LF, and Mike Gazella at third. At the time the Bambino had 45 or 46 bombs (in 45 games!) and over 100 rbi. So I sat these guys down. I'd have sat Gehrig down too, but you know how he hated to miss games! The Yanks were 28-17 at the time.
Guess what? It didn't matter! This was one nasty, great, ferocious team. The three subs played great. Ben Paschal knocked in 20 runs in 25 games. Gazella knocked in 12, and actually played much better defense than Jumpin Joe Dugan. And the Babe hit three homers and knocked in six as a pinch-hitter! I did not put him in... the computer makes all substitutions. And the Babe was walked a lot too... the fans, even in Brooklyn booed a lot, knowing they were only going to see the Babe once a game coming off the bench.
So the Babe's numbers would be even higher. He's back in the line-up!
As odd as his numbers and Lou's are... the Dodger hitters are even weirder... all of their Home run totals are way down... but their run production is right on time... as is that of Meusel and Lazzeri. Robinson went .329-12-95, the Duke .336-42-126, Campy .312-41-142, and Gil .302-31-122... see why Furillo (.344 21-92) hit 7th? This was one rugged line-up! But anyway, these guys are all having typical rbi years, as are Lazzeri (102 in '27) and Meusel (103 in '27). Lazzeri's home runs are up, but that does not surprise me... he is benefitting from Ebbet's field more than anybody... Tony hit 18 in 1927, but left center was more than 470 when he played, and dead-center 495. The left-center-field power alley in Ebbets is 353feet! Tony didn't crow loudly like the Babe did, but his eyes got as big as saucers when he saw that wall!
Poosh 'em up has equalled his 1927 output for home runs (18) already, but his RBI pace is typical for him... he once hit 60 homers in the PCL, so give him a 'normal' ball park and his numbers will undoubtedly rise!
If the Yankees continue to manhandle the Dodgers, maybe I will pit them against the 76Reds. I have other match-ups in mind... maybe a DiMaggio Yankees team against a Williams Red Sox team. I know these two teams actually played, but i might like to see how Joe would handle 77 games at Fenway, as well as Ted aiming at the YS right field porch for half a season! But we'll see.
And the Dodgers aren't going away. Brooklyn has not backed off one bit. In fact, Brooklyn opened the season with four straight wins. Then both teams took turns getting red hot. After thirty games they were virtually tied. Then at game 41 the Yanks took control, ripping off five straight. That's when I benched the Babe, Meusel and Dugan. The Murderer's Row responded by taking four of five!
That 9-1 stretch, part of a larger 16-4 run, is what has the Yanks in charge at the halfway break. But the Dodgers immediately fought back, taking 8 of 10 themselves. So I do not expect the Bums to go quietly.
From a pitching standpoint, a few surprises. Waite Hoyt, the ace of the Yankee staff is getting knocked around(4-7). But George Pipgras, the fifth starter, is 10-0!
On the Brooklyn side, their ace, Carl Earskine is their big winner, 7-3. But tied with him for wins is their relief ace, Clem Labine,at 7-4.
One line score is worth printing in its entirety:
Bklyn - 000 000 001 - 1 6 1
Yanks- 125 805 02x - 23 24 0
New York's record in ten game increments:
10G 5-5
20G 11-9
30G 16-14
40G 23-17
50G 32-18
60G 34-26
70G 39-31
77G 44-33
I'm still smarting from the 61Yanks defeat at the hands of the 76Reds! So I decided to go back in time and match two squads famous for launching baseballs in to the stratosphere!
The 1927 New York Yankees!
The 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers!
Both of these line-ups are salty! I'm a Yankee fan, of course. But these Brooklyn Dodgers... Carl Furillo hit .344 that year, and he is the seventh place hitter! Why? Umm... Robby, the Duke, Campy and Gil Hodges! That's why! All with 100-plus ribbies! All above .300... Hodges hit sixth... SIXTH... and knocked in 121! Campy hit fifth and was the NL MVP! Duke knocked 42 outta the park. And of course, Jackie tormented pitchers with his baserunning when he wasn't driving in Pee Wee Reese and a young fellow named Junior Gilliam.
And of course, the Yanks are the stuff legends come from. When I told the Babe about this season... and he began to understand the concept, he said, "Wait a minute! Do you mean we are going to play half the season in Ebbet's Field? In Brooklyn?" I nodded. The Babe began to grin. His grin got wider. And he broke into laughter. "Do you remember what I said in the '32 Series about Wrigley Field?" "Yep! You said that you'd give half of your salary-". "HALF MY BLANKETY-BLANK SALARY... IF I COULD HIT IN THIS DUMP ALL YEAR!"
The Babe beamed. Then his voice lowered again. "You guys are gonna run out of baseballs. This is going to be fun. You know I coached at Ebbet's in '38. MacPhail talked to me about getting activated. Damn near went for it too."
"Yeah Babe. I read about that. But you were way past forty then. You're gonna be 32 during this season. Gehrig will be 23-24. And the rest of the '27 gang will be there. But Babe... these Dodgers are good... way better than that 1938 squad."
"Yeah... they got a lot of colored fellows... about damn time. I used to play against 'em after the season... Paige, Smoky Joe Williams... Biz Mackey. We played Newark, Hilldale... even saw Cool Papa Bell in St. Looie in 1927. If we had him in '27...damn!"
"Their clean-up hitter, Duke Snider, wears no. 4 because his boyhood idol was Lou."
"That right?" The Babe mused. "Good for him. I'll tell Lou." Then the Babe started to grin. "I'll tell Lou to tip his cap to Duke... as he rounds the bases after another home run!"
And the Babe roared in laughter once more.
Well, I have played half of the season! And the Babe's confidence was fully justified. Half of a season when these two played was 77 games. So I will cut the chatter and sho you the results in tabular form. I hope you are sitting down when you read theses numbers. Here goes!
77 Games
1927 NY Yankees........ 44-33
1953 Bklyn Dodgers... 33-44
Dodgers three thru six hitters ('big four'):
Jackie Robinson........ 4 hr 65 rbi
Duke Snider............... 5 hr 65 rbi
Roy Campanella........ 8 hr 68 rbi
Gil Hodges..................4 hr 51 rbi
Now the Yanks 'big four':
Babe Ruth.........51 hr 114 rbi
Lou Gehrig........ 41 hr 85 rbi
Bob Meusel......... 6 hr 52 rbi
Tony Lazzeri..... 18 hr 56 rbi
This is no misprint. And I am in no way rigging these games to turn this into batting practice for the Babe and Lou. But as ridiculous as these numbers are, I have to tell you more. I sat the Babe DOWN for 25 games! He, Bob Meusel and Joe Dugan got a 25-game rest! I plugged in Ben Paschal in RF, Cedric Durst in LF, and Mike Gazella at third. At the time the Bambino had 45 or 46 bombs (in 45 games!) and over 100 rbi. So I sat these guys down. I'd have sat Gehrig down too, but you know how he hated to miss games! The Yanks were 28-17 at the time.
Guess what? It didn't matter! This was one nasty, great, ferocious team. The three subs played great. Ben Paschal knocked in 20 runs in 25 games. Gazella knocked in 12, and actually played much better defense than Jumpin Joe Dugan. And the Babe hit three homers and knocked in six as a pinch-hitter! I did not put him in... the computer makes all substitutions. And the Babe was walked a lot too... the fans, even in Brooklyn booed a lot, knowing they were only going to see the Babe once a game coming off the bench.
So the Babe's numbers would be even higher. He's back in the line-up!
As odd as his numbers and Lou's are... the Dodger hitters are even weirder... all of their Home run totals are way down... but their run production is right on time... as is that of Meusel and Lazzeri. Robinson went .329-12-95, the Duke .336-42-126, Campy .312-41-142, and Gil .302-31-122... see why Furillo (.344 21-92) hit 7th? This was one rugged line-up! But anyway, these guys are all having typical rbi years, as are Lazzeri (102 in '27) and Meusel (103 in '27). Lazzeri's home runs are up, but that does not surprise me... he is benefitting from Ebbet's field more than anybody... Tony hit 18 in 1927, but left center was more than 470 when he played, and dead-center 495. The left-center-field power alley in Ebbets is 353feet! Tony didn't crow loudly like the Babe did, but his eyes got as big as saucers when he saw that wall!
Poosh 'em up has equalled his 1927 output for home runs (18) already, but his RBI pace is typical for him... he once hit 60 homers in the PCL, so give him a 'normal' ball park and his numbers will undoubtedly rise!
If the Yankees continue to manhandle the Dodgers, maybe I will pit them against the 76Reds. I have other match-ups in mind... maybe a DiMaggio Yankees team against a Williams Red Sox team. I know these two teams actually played, but i might like to see how Joe would handle 77 games at Fenway, as well as Ted aiming at the YS right field porch for half a season! But we'll see.
And the Dodgers aren't going away. Brooklyn has not backed off one bit. In fact, Brooklyn opened the season with four straight wins. Then both teams took turns getting red hot. After thirty games they were virtually tied. Then at game 41 the Yanks took control, ripping off five straight. That's when I benched the Babe, Meusel and Dugan. The Murderer's Row responded by taking four of five!
That 9-1 stretch, part of a larger 16-4 run, is what has the Yanks in charge at the halfway break. But the Dodgers immediately fought back, taking 8 of 10 themselves. So I do not expect the Bums to go quietly.
From a pitching standpoint, a few surprises. Waite Hoyt, the ace of the Yankee staff is getting knocked around(4-7). But George Pipgras, the fifth starter, is 10-0!
On the Brooklyn side, their ace, Carl Earskine is their big winner, 7-3. But tied with him for wins is their relief ace, Clem Labine,at 7-4.
One line score is worth printing in its entirety:
Bklyn - 000 000 001 - 1 6 1
Yanks- 125 805 02x - 23 24 0
New York's record in ten game increments:
10G 5-5
20G 11-9
30G 16-14
40G 23-17
50G 32-18
60G 34-26
70G 39-31
77G 44-33
Hi--
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Bronx 53 and was born in '53. First home on Woodycrest Avenue, ever so close to the Stadium. Nice blog.