It took 126 games.
The 1927 Yanks are indeed all they are cracked up to be. They travelled forward throught time and visted 1953 Brooklyn. And in a 154 game match-up, the Murderers' Row boys proved murderous and merciless. The Brooklyn Dodgers fought hard and acquitted themselves nobly.
Game number 126, a hard fought contest in the Bronx, saw each of Brooklyn's Big Four come through... each with an rbi, trying to stave off defeat and elimination.
But they did neither. The Yankees of 1927 are simply too much. Babe Ruth did not homer in this contest. He did not hit or score. But his understudy, Ben Paschal drove one out instead. And six other Yankees had at least one run driven in as their attack sealed the season with a 9-4 victory.
130 games:
1927 Yanks 80-50
1953 Bklyn 50-80
Ruth 93hr 196rbi
Gehrig 69hr 160
Meusel 10hr 84
Lazzeri 31hr 95rbi
Pipgras 18-1
Shocker 15-7
Thomas 10-3
Robinson 7hr 102rbi
Snider 9hr 113rbi
Campanella 25hr 114rbi
Hodges 10hr 85rbi
Erskine 9-9
Loes 11-11
Labine 7-6
This is how the season has gone thus far:
After 4 games: Bklyn 4-0
After 30 games: NY 16-14
After 70 games: NY 39-31
After 100 games: NY 61-39
After 130 games: NY 80-50
As you can see, the Dodgers started off great. They won the first four at Ebbets Field. The fourth game was a sign of things to come... Bklyn prevailing in a 16-13 slugfest. The Yanks got homers from the Babe (2), Lou, Lazzeri and Dugan, but it wasn't enough.
After the Yanks finally won one, the teams shifted to Yankee stadium... the boy's played five game series in each park, alternating... and the Dodgers won the Yankee home opener as well, 8-7. As amother sign of things to come, Clem Labine, the Dodger reliever, picked up his his fourth victory! He was 4-0 after six games!
I remember thinking myself, "This could get very interesting." But then the 1-5 Yanks ripped off 8 straight. Then the Dodgers answered with another four straight. And I settled into my chair. Two heavyweights were going to slug it out. No backpedaling. No dancing. Just toe-to-toe, center of the ring brawling.
This was going to be real good, and real bloody.
After only 30 games the Yankees had scored ten or more three separate times... and lost all three. They'd also scored eleven or more four other times... and won all four.
It was games 41-50 where New Yourk first began to assert their dominance, winning 9 0f ten. But then, once again, Brooklyn bounced back taking 8 0f ten themselves. It was about this time that I decided to sit down the Babe, Meusel, and Dugan, and give some of the scrubs a chance to play. Babe had 45 0r 46 homers in the first 45 games, and was making a mockery of things. But with the scrubs in place, the Bronx steamroller kept right on going.
Game 61 proved to be the apex of the Yankee season... a 23-1 thrashing of the Dodgers at the Stadium. Ruth was still riding the pines. But his sub, Ben Paschal in RF, was himself in the middle of an incredible run. He drove in three, Earle Combs knocked in five, Mike Gazella plated three more (playing for Jumpin Joe Dugan at third), and Cedric Durst added another ribbie (in LF for Meusel). George Pipgras, the Yankees' fifth starter, improved to 8-0.
That HAD to shake the Brooks at least a litlle, getting knocked around by scrubs like that. But there was no dog in these Dodgers. They hung in there until game 70, when the Yanks first stringers all returned after a 25 game rest.
And that proved to be it.
The Bombers have gone 41-19 since then to put the thing away.
I will study the stats more intensely at the season's end. I know it lookks way out of whack for the Babe and Lou. I am also wondering why the Dodgers home run totals are low. But except for the Babe and Lou, everybody else's run production pretty much is in line with their actual seasons. I may go back and tabulate Carl Furillo's numbers. As I have already said, he might be the best seventh-place hitter in baseball history. And I will look at Gilliam's stolen bases... he seems to have swiped a lot. Speaking of stolen bases, here's an anomaly: Jackie has none. Zip. Bagels! (Damn, I'd love bagels right now!). I have no explanation. I though he'd go wild, since none of the three Yankee receivers had the defensive reputation of a Johnny Bench. I would blame it on the big scoring, but Pee Wee Reese and Gilliam are running. For that matter, so is Tony Lazzeri... he must have 20 or 30. But no Jackie. Jackie is batting third, right in front of the Duke. And since they are both having fine years, maybe Jackie is just content to rattle the pitchers and let Snider get his hacks in.
But as far as Babe and Lou, maybe that guy that wrote that book. "The Year Babe Ruth hit 104 Home Runs" was right. THe parks in Ruths times wer mostly much, much bigger. I have diagrammed a couple... even Yankee Stadium was 429 to deep RIGHT-center. That had to be tough on Ruth and Gehrig. Ruth played in the Polo Grounds from 1920-22. In either stadium, if you didn't pull it right down the line, it wasn't going out. Most parks were simply bigger in those days, including Ebbets, as the Babe pointed out.
So perhaps we are finding out what Ruth and Lou can do with modern day power alleys. Maybe I'll pit these guys against the modern day Reds. Unfortunately, the computer simulation game does not give you Yankee Stadium in the twenties, with the 429 deep right center, the 495 center, and the 460-470 left center. Heck, it was 415 straight-away left to the bull-pen! But it does give you the classic YS of 1947-73, with 461 to dead center... so teams still have to muscle up when they come to visit.
We'll see how the season goes. I'll probably give Babe a shot at 100 homers and 200 ribbies, then sit him down. I'll probaby give Lou a crack at 200 ribbies too. I want to put Paschal back in. He's good! And I want to see how far fifth-starter George Pipgras can take his season. If he has a shot at 30 wins, I might go to a four-man rotation to give him his chance... 18-1!
See you at the end!
Showing posts with label Roy Campanella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roy Campanella. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
1927 NY Yankees vs 1953 Bklyn Dodgers
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
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