Author: JW

Flick Finds Fame

Posted on by JW

Posted March 27, 2025 by jake

Elmer Flick, outfielder with the Cleveland Bronchos/Naps, image from the 1910 American Tobacco Company baseball card.

When I saw the name Elmer Flick the other day, I had to learn more, especially when I found out he was a Hall of Famer (Class of 1963). I personally could not remember hearing the name Flick in the past, but I quickly discovered an underrated and often forgotten old school star.

Flick was born in Bedford, Ohio in 1876, the son of a farmer and Civil War Veteran. In true 1800’s style, he joined a semi-pro team when he was 15 years old because the team was short a player and Flick happened to be hanging around the train station when they were leaving for a game. He played catcher in high school and was waving the local team on when they realized they needed the help. For a youngster, he did well, and not long after, Flick began to play minor league ball with the Youngstown Puddlers in 1896.

Using a baseball bat that he handmade (that is old school baseball gold), Flick hit over .400 but struggled in the outfield. Flick had always played catcher, so his .826 fielding percentage was no surprise; there would be an adjustment to the outfield. Luckily, he was a quick study, and his defense improved.

His hitting skills were never a question, and with the improved defense, he found himself playing left-field for the Dayton Old Soldiers. (I Love these team names!!) His fielding percentage increased to .921, and his offense was legendary. Flick batted .386 with 183 hits. This included 42 doubles, 10 home runs, an impressive 135 runs and even 25 stolen bases. He also led the league in triples with 20 and total bases with 295.

In 1898 he was signed to the Philadelphia Phillies as a reserve outfielder, but due to injuries, he quickly became a starter. It was a great rookie season for the young slugger as he finished with a .302 average including 16 doubles, 13 triples, 8 homeruns, and 81 RBI’s. He also stole 23 bases and only struck out 36 times in 453 at bats.

In 1900, still with the Phillies, he had an amazing season. In 545 at-bats, he had only 30 strikeouts, batting .367 (a career high) which included additional career highs in hits (200) home runs (11), slugging (.545), OPS (.986) and a league leading 110 RBIs. He also had 32 doubles, 16 triples and 35 stolen bases. His high batting average put him in a tense race for the batting title against super star Honus Wagner, who would end up winning the title at the end of the season. Wagner spoke of the race, “I’ve had a lot of thrills, but don’t think I was ever happier than in 1900 when I won after battling Elmer Flick to the last day of the season for the title.”  Lieb, Fred (January 27, 1971)

 Not only was he great at the plate, but he was becoming a solid outfielder with a .914 fielding percentage and 232 put-outs’ and 23 assists, often throwing out hitters at first. He was also a feisty player, one time getting into a fist fight with teammate and future Hall of Famer, Nap Lajoie, over a bat! Lajoie would end up breaking his thumb in the altercation, missing 5 weeks.

Apparently Flick and Lajoie buried the hatchet, and both left the Phillies in 1902 joining the American League Philadelphia Athletics. They only played 11 games with the Athletics before moving to the Cleveland Bronchos. This was due to a legal injunction obtained by the Philadelphia Phillies which prevented players under contract with their team from moving to other teams. This injunction was found to only be valid in Pennsylvania and couldn’t be enforced in Ohio. To avoid legal ramifications, Flick and Lajoie would travel together, ensuring never to step foot in Pennsylvania until 1903 when the two leagues made peace.

Born and raised in Ohio, Flick would stay with Cleveland, now called the Naps, for the remainder of his Major League career. He would continue to play well for Cleveland, leading the league in batting average (.308) , triples(18),  SLG (.432) and OPS (.845)  in 1905, leading in games (157), plate appearances (707) at bats (624), runs (98), triples (22) and stolen bases (39) in 1906 and again in triples (18) in 1907, his last full season.

By 1907, Flick had second thoughts about his baseball career. He was stressed from the constant playing and felt physically run down. He considered retiring but stayed on for the season. Flick was so highly regarded by the Naps that in spring training of 1907 they turned down a trade from the Detroit Tigers, who offered a straight up deal, Flick for future AL MVP and Hall of Famer Ty Cobb! Based on the rest of these two players’ careers, I’d guess that the Naps regretted turning that deal down.  

Although Flick had another productive year in 1907, even leading the league in triples again with 18, by 1908 his health had severely deteriorated. He was plagued with an unexplained gastrointestinal illness which caused him to miss almost the whole season, playing in only 9 games. He continued with the Naps in 1909 and 1910, but played in only 66 and 24 games respectively. He was replaced by a pre–Black Sox Scandal Shoeless Joe Jackson, and eventually sold to the Kansas City Blues, however the deal was canceled when Flick refused to go to Kansas City and, without a team, he would return to the minor leagues.

He played two more seasons for the Minor League Toledo Mud Hens in 1911 and 1912 before being released and retiring from baseball.

He would move back to his hometown of Bedford, Ohio and take up raising horses and real estate. He got married and had five children. He also did some scouting for Cleveland as well.

Flick seemed to live in relative obscurity until 1961 when Ty Cobb passed away. A few stories about Cobb mentioned the failed trade of Cobb for Flick in the 1907 season, and with some influence from Branch Rickey, Flick was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee. Flick was 87 years old, and didn’t believe that he had been elected. He had to be convinced that it was real. Flick was the oldest living inductee, and at the ceremony he said, “This is a bigger day than I’ve ever had before. I’m not going to find the words to explain how I feel.” Corcoran, Dennis (2010)

Flick passed away at the age of 94 in 1971, one of only 4 19th century players who were still alive. Flick played 13 years in the Majors accumulating a 52.7 WAR with 1752 hits, 48 home runs, 756 rbis, 950 runs, 268 doubles, 164 triples and 330 stolen bases. His career batting average was .313 with a .389 career OBP.

Flick’s Hall of Fame induction was met with much criticism, but  anyone who can hit .400 with a homemade bat, get in a fist fight during a season and still almost beat Honus Wagner for the batting title, have his team refuse to trade him for Ty “freaking” Cobb, and then live to be 94 years old, is one tough ball player, and I, for one, am glad he was inducted and got to be around to not believe it. I’m glad Flick found fame.

Elmer Flick, outfielder with the Cleveland Naps (AL), before a game, circa 1910

 

Sources:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/flickel01.shtml

Corcoran, Dennis (2010). Induction Day at Cooperstown: A History of the Baseball Hall of Fame Ceremony. McFarland. pp. 78–80.

Lieb, Fred (January 27, 1971). “Rickey, Honus Remembered Flick”. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved March 26, 2025.

Louisa, Angelo “Elmer Flick” via https://sabr.org/ Retrieved on March 26th, 2027

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Flick

Photos:

1: This media file is in the public domain in the United States.

2: This work is from the George Grantham Bain collection at the Library of Congress. According to the library, there are no known copyright restrictions on the use of this work.

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The Priceless “Junk Wax”

Posted on by JW

March 18th, 2025 by jake

It’s funny the things that different people can find relaxing. Two years ago, I was scrolling around on social media and saw a video of this guy opening packs of baseball cards. These weren’t modern packs, with all their flashy, shiny parallels, in-card relics and on-card autographs…they were cards from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, affectionately called “The Junk Wax” era. I loved every second of those videos, and down the rabbit hole I went, scrolling through video after video. I watched as someone’s disembodied fingers opened packs of mostly baseball cards with the occasional pack of basketball, football, movie cards and even Garbage Pail Kids, thrown in. Sometimes the crazier folks would even eat the 30 plus year old gum that is found in most old packs of Topps. I’ve tried it, it’s horrible!

There was something so soothing about watching a pack of instantly recognizable 1987 Topps being opened for the first time in 38 years. With its wood grain borders, team logos at the top and player names in the color filled box at the bottom, the memories came flooding in. Watching as players like Terry Pendleton, Doug Drabek, Ken Oberkfell, Candy Maldonado, and Storm Davis flashed by the screen. Then suddenly, a Future Stars card! “Could it be? Will Bo know 2025? Nope!” …It’s Tim Pyznarski, next card Atlee Hammaker. Then I catch a glimpse of the Red Sox logo peeking out and it’s… Wade Boggs! Sweet! I was hooked. Next thing I knew I was scouring EBAY for old packs of cards from the Junk Wax era to open myself.

The Junk Wax Era of baseball cards spans roughly from 1986 to 1994. It was a time of overproduction, inflated expectations, and eventual market collapse. The industry was booming, fueled by speculative investors hoping to cash in on future rarities and rookies. Though the average collector was unaware of this at that time, card manufacturers like Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score, and Upper Deck flooded the market with millions (sometimes billion)of cards. The sheer volume meant that even rookie cards of legendary players like Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, and Chipper Jones were so overproduced that they never became the scarce, high-value collectibles investors had hoped for.

In the mid-’90s the bubble burst. As the supply outstripped the demand, card values plummeted, card stores closed, and investors lost small fortunes. Warehouses and garages filled with unopened packs and collectors found themselves sitting on mountains of once-hyped cards that were now worth little more than sentimental value. But, to me, sentimental value is where it’s at!

None of this mattered to an elementary and middle school kid who would readily take out the trash every night for a chance at making a buck, then excitedly ride his bike to the local convenience store with some friends to buy a couple of packs of the newest Topps. Yes, most packs were 50 cents back then, and yes you could find them in almost any convenience store.

Made with Dall-e by Jake

My friends and I would open these packs up with gusto while listening to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince singing about Elm Street from the cassette player. After guzzling a Mountain Dew and finishing off some Doritos, it was time for talking trades. Mark McGwire for Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn for Darryl Strawberry. We were wheeling and dealing like Sandy Alderson and Dallas Green (GMs for the Oakland Athletics and Chicago Cubs respectively), at the 1987 Winter Meetings. We were not thinking about investments or rarity, about future returns. We were just kids having fun while we searched for our favorite players and teams. Though I was a Red Sox fan, I loved Cal Ripken, and collected around 500 of his cards. I still have them, my wife calls it stalkery.

As I got older, somewhere in High School, my attention shifted from cards to…other things. I still loved baseball, but things changed, and I stopped collecting. Most of my cards ended up being sold for gas money or traded for a joint, while my favorites, the ones I just couldn’t part with(like those Cal’s I mentioned earlier), sat in boxes and binders collecting dust in my mom’s basement as they faded into my subconscious. They found a home in that place where GI Joe is pitching curveballs to Ken Griffey Jr. while Harry meets The Hendersons and The Bangles Walk like Egyptians through my cerebral cortex.

It’s that place, the cerebral cortex, the long-term memory center, where the streetlights came on as I sat scrolling through those videos. Each pack elicited a new memory of days gone by. The sound of the wrappers being torn open, that sweet scent of paper and ink, the images of those silly, wood-grained borders, of those worthless pieces of cardboard with the pictures of childhood heroes looking up from the front as their yearly achievements lined the back. It was the nostalgia that made those videos so relaxing for me and led me to create my own videos and social media pages, and ultimately this blog.

A lot of people watch and comment, mostly having fun, some to remind me of how worthless each pack I open is. Those latter people don’t understand that value is in the cerebral cortex of the beholder. I know these cards are worthless, but there is no value I can place on that time I opened a pack of 1989 Fleer, and there it was, the infamous Bill Ripken F%$# Face card in all its glory. It was awesome! As a kid I remembered drooling as I looked at that card in the display cases of long closed card shops, with no chance of buying it. I remember hoping that I would someday be so lucky as to open a pack and find it. I never did, but I also never imagined that Thirty-Five years later I would pull one! Here’s a link to the original post. Billy Ripken FF Pull.

After that I was hooked and rediscovered the fun of opening packs of cards from my youth. I know it’s not going to make me a millionaire, but that’s not the point. It’s the memories, the nostalgia. It’s finding that child-like joy once again, and that to me is why “Junk Wax” is priceless.

*If you’d like to take a walk down memory lane with me, I post videos to Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok and YouTube. All links are on the Home page menu of the blog. Thanks for reading!!!*

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A “Pitch” Hitter

Posted on by JW

March 14, 2025 by jake

“Orel Hershiser 1993” by jimmyack205 is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The designated hitter has been a staple of the American League since 1973. Pitchers in the National League were still required to bat, and usually in the ninth spot, until 2022. Since 1986, the World Series has followed the rules of the designated home team’s league. It’s no surprise the designated hitter rule had finally become the standard. Most pitchers were easy outs. Sure, there were occasional big hit moments, but by and large, the pitcher coming up to bat was a joke. In 1993 one pitcher defied the standard.

Orel Leonard Hershiser IV was born September 16, 1958 and played 18 seasons in the Major Leagues from 1983 to 2000. He is currently 66 years old. He was a 3 time All Star, a World Series winner (1988), a NL Cy Young winner (1988), a 2 time LCS MVP (1988, 1995), a World Series MVP (1988), he won the Gold Glove in 1988 and even won the Silver Slugger in 1993.

Of his 18 seasons, 1988 was Hershiser’s best season by far. He started 34 games, completing 15 of them, 8 of which were shutouts. In his 267 innings pitched, Hershiser had 178 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.26.

While not a flamethrower, Hershiser was a strategic pitcher, which gained him 23 wins that season. This style of pitching also led to Hershiser obtaining the record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched with 59. He also won the Gold Glove. The Dodgers made the playoffs, and Hershiser won his first NL Championship MVP Award (the second was 1995) after pitching starting in three games against the New York Mets, shutting them out in Game 7. Oh, and for good measure, he got a save in Game 4.

The Dodgers won the World Series ring 1988 after beating the Athletics 4 games to 1. Most people remember that timeless pinch-hit walk-off homerun by a hobbled Kirk Gibson in Game One of that series, but it was World Series MVP Oral Hershiser who really secured the ring. In Game two he allowed only three singles, all by Dave Parker, shutting out the A’s. He also was the first pitcher to get three hits in a World Series game since 1924, and the first pitcher to record a World Series RBI since 1983. So, the dude could hit!

He capped off the World Series in Game Five, by pitching a complete game, allowing only four hits, two runs, and striking out nine.

1988 was a great year for Hershiser and led to him becoming the only player to receive the Cy Young Award, the Championship Series MVP Award, and the World Series MVP Award in the same season.

Enough about his great 1988 season, I’m here to talk about 1993, and not because of his pitching. In fact, 1993 was a mediocre year for Hershiser. He started 33 games, completed 5 of those with one shutout. He pitched 215 innings with 141 strikeouts and a pretty pedestrian 3.59 ERA. He went 12-14. But what really caught my attention was his hitting stats. Remember I mentioned that 3 hit game in the 1988 World Series? It was important because in 1993 he won a Silver Slugger Award. In 73 AB he had 26 hits for a .356 avg. He had 11 runs, 4 doubles and 6 RBI’s. He really had a great hitting season for someone who only appeared in 34 games. Sure, he was no Shohei, no one is, but in a time when the 9th batter was almost always a pitcher, and the likelihood of an out, or possibly a bunt was very high, Hershiser defined the odds-at least in 1993. For his career his batting average is .201.

Hershiser retired in 2000 but continued to be involved in baseball in many ways. He’s been a consultant, a special assistant, a pitching coach, and executive and a television analyst. He finished his career with a 204-150 win-loss record, 3.48 career ERA and 2,014 career strikeouts.

“Go after the hitter, I said. Quit being so careful. Get ahead of the count. Even the good hitters are going to fail 70 percent of the time. You got what it takes to get anybody out. What I saw in Orel over the next twelve years was a baseball player with a tenacious will to learn, to grow, and to improve. I saw an outstanding young man who was a hard worker – aggressive, even daring, on the mound. Not only did I get what I asked for, I got more. Without a doubt, Orel Hershiser is one of the smartest baseball players I’ve ever managed.”- Hall of Fame Manager Tommy Lasorda in Between the Lines: Nine Things Baseball Taught Me About Life (Orel Hershiser, Faithwords, 07/01/2002, Foreword)

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A Series of Firsts

Posted on by JW

March 13th, 2025 by Jake

Wheeler “Doc” Johnston

Welcome to another post directly inspired by the most recent Immaculate Grid. Today’s research was for players who played for both Cleveland and Cincinnati. This player only played 3 games with the Reds in 1909, but I love players with the name Doc, which reminds me of the Old West, sort of like baseball in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, only with balls and gloves instead of pistols, though I’m sure I’ll find a story about some pistol carrying pitcher at some point. I digress, let’s get to the player, and why, even though he only has a career 3.2 WAR, I still felt there was a cool story to tell.

Doc Johnston was born September 9th, 1887, in Cleveland…Tennessee! (See already a twist!) His first name wasn’t really Doc. (Did you really think it would be?) But rather, his full name was Wheeler Roger Johnston. Doc to his teammates.

Doc started his career as a first baseman on the Reds in 1909, but played in only 3 games. He then spent most of his career with the Cleveland Naps (1912,1913,1914) and Cleveland Indians (1918,1919,1920). In the middle he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1915 and 16), where he had possibly his best season in 1915, with a 2.1 WAR. That season, he committed only 13 errors at first base in 1,514 chances for a fielding percentage of .991. He also hit 5 HR, had 12 triples, 19 Doubles and 26 Stolen Bases, though he was also caught stealing 17 times! But what I really want to look at is 1920, a historic season for Cleveland, ending with an interesting trip to the World Series for Doc.

The 1920 Cleveland Indians had a 98-56 record which brought them to the World Series and, ultimately, their first World Series Title after beating the Brooklyn Robins 5 games to 2. The fifth game of this series was historical in many ways. First, it featured an unassisted triple play by Second Baseman Bill Wambsganss, who leapt to catch a line drive, landed on second forcing the out there, then tagged the runner coming from first. Game 5 also featured the first ever grand slam in World Series history, a smoking shot in the first inning by Elmer Smith, giving the Indians a quick 4-0 lead. Finally, Jim Bagby, Cleveland’s starting pitcher and the winner of the game, helped himself with a 3-run home run in the fourth inning, the first by a pitcher in World Series history. Winning the World Series was bittersweet for the 1920 Cleveland Indians who had lost a teammate and a friend in Short Stop Ray Champman, who, on August 17, was hit by a pitch, becoming the only Major League player to die on the field.

Though not the best player on the team, Doc Johnston had a great season in 1920. His stellar defensive play was on display again as he committed only 12 errors in 1530 chances with a .992 fielding percentage. He batted .292 in 535 AB, with 2 HR, 71 RBI, 24 doubles, 10 Triples and 13 Stolen Bases, though he didn’t do much during the World Series with only 3 singles in 11 AB.

Still, the 1920 World Series was a notable one for Doc Johnston. Aside from getting a ring, there was a familiar face on the Brooklyn Robins, his younger brother Jimmy Johnston, who played third base. This was another first for the World Series; the first time two brothers would face each other in the big game. Jimmy was in the World Series twice, both with Brooklyn (1916 and 1920), and both losses, while older brother Doc got his ring.

Doc Johnston would go on to play two more seasons. In 1921, he would remain in Cleveland and play 118 games. In 1922, he would move on to the Philadelphia Athletics where he would play 71 more games before leaving the Majors. He finished his career with a 3.2 WAR hitting .263 in 3774 AB with 992 hits, 14 home runs, and 381 RBI’s. He was considered a terrific defensive player and would end his career with a .989 fielding percentage at first base. After leaving the Major Leagues, he would go on to manage a few years in the minors.

On February 17th, 1961, Wheeler “Doc” Johnston would pass away at the age of 73.

Below are brothers Wheeler “Doc” Roger Johnston and James “Jimmy” Harle Johnston 1920 World Series.

Photos:

1st: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Public Domain

2nd: Bain News Service, publisher – Library of Congress Catalog: https://lccn.loc.gov/2014711589 Public Domain

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A Phenomenal Nickname

Posted on by JW

Recently I started playing the Immaculate Grid (baseball only), a browser game in which you have 9 guesses to fill a 3×3 grid with MLB players from the start of baseball in the 1800’s to present.  Very rarely do I complete the whole grid successfully (although my baseball knowledge has increased a lot since playing), but it is so much fun. My friends and I share our results with each other and have great text conversations about our favorite guesses and failures, while also learning about our favorite sport. After I finish with my guesses, I love to research all the grid categories and in doing so I discover so many of the fun baseball stories and legends of old.  

Today’s grid had a category for a player who was on both the Dodgers and the Phillies. Keep in mind the grid goes back to the very beginnings of baseball, so Dodgers can be Los Angeles Dodgers (1958-present), Brooklyn Dodgers (1911-1957), Brooklyn Robins (1916-1931), Brooklyn Superbas (1899-1910), Brooklyn Grooms (1895-1898), Brooklyn (1884-1894), Brooklyn Bridegrooms (1889-1890) and Philly consists of Philadelphia Phillies (1886-present), Philadelphia Phils (1942) and Philadelphia (1883-1885). So, a freaking deep pool to say the least. When I did my research after playing, I found a player from the 1880’s whose name was so awesome I just had to learn more.

“Phenomenal” Smith was born in Philadelphia on December 12th, 1864. Unfortunately, Phenomenal wasn’t his given name. (That would have been so cool!)

He was born John Francis Gammon, which at some point became John Francis Smith and began his baseball career in 1883 at the young age of 18 as a pitcher in the minors. He didn’t play much in his first few seasons, with only 4 Major League games in 1884 and 4 more in 1885. He played quite a bit in the minors in 1885 and 1886, mostly with the Newark Little Giants.

Legend has it that Smith gained the nickname Phenomenal after pitching a no-hitter against Baltimore on October 3, 1885. The nickname clearly stuck as it is found on all the baseball cards and literature of the day. It is possible he loved the nickname because another legend tells of an arrogant young ball player who, in his very brief stint with the Major League Brooklyn Greys, claimed to be so good he didn’t need his teammates to win. (Talk about no team in I.)

On June 17th, 1885, this cocky comment led to his teammates reportedly committing 14 intentional errors to punish Smith and losing the game 18-5. This incident led to Phenomenal’s release after only one game with Brooklyn, and a trip back to the minor leagues. (This is why I love these old stories, as this is something that would never happen in today’s Major Leagues.)

In 1886 while with Newark, he was, well, phenomenal, pitching 292 innings with a .74 ERA and 317 strikeouts, while going 22-10. In 1887, he was back in the Major Leagues and started 55 games for Baltimore. In true old school fashion, he completed 54 of them for 491 innings but only had 209 strikeouts and a 3.79 ERA and was 25-30.

He would go on to play with Baltimore until 1888 when he was purchased by the Philadelphia Athletics for around $1000 dollars. He wouldn’t play much with them and was released in June 1889. In 1890 and 1891, he played a few games for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, until his final game, June 15, 1891, with the Phillies. He was only 26. His final Major League statistics did not nearly justify his phenomenal nickname as he would finish his career 54-74, with a 3.89 ERA and 519 strikeouts in 1169.1 innings and a 7.7 War.

After he left major league baseball for good, Phenomenal would spend another 15 years as a player-manager in the minor leagues. He would play-manage over a dozen minor league teams, some of which were even named after him (The Norfolk Phenoms and The Portland Phenoms). While a player-manager with Norfolk, he has been credited with discovering and managing the future Hall of Famer, Christy Mathewson, then only 19. In 1890, after one season with Phenomenal as his manager, Mathewson would be sent to the major leagues and would go on to become one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball history.

Phenomenal Smith spent 5 more years in baseball as the player-manager of The Manchester New Hampshire Baseball Club. In 1901 at the age of 36 he would win the batting title in the New England league after hitting .363.

Phenomenal stayed in New Hampshire, becoming a police officer in 1904 and having many children. He retired from police work in 1932 and would live until the age of 87, passing away in Manchester in 1952.  

Posted by Jake

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Cory Snyder: Swashbuckling Power Hitter

Posted on by JW

With the wispy blonde hair from his moustache in his outstanding 1989 Donruss card, Cory Snyder fit the bill as a swashbuckling power hitter in his early career with the Cleveland Indians. At that point in his career, Snyder had led a charmed early baseball career, from earning a full scholarship to Brigham Young University to being named to the first United States national baseball team which earned a silver medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics. Not only that, he was drafted in the first round of the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft after a successful college career when he was on the College Baseball All-America Team.

The 1989 Donruss set is one of the best that Donruss put out in the entire decade. Maybe in its history. The color gradients, the team logo and the inclusion of the player’s position are all welcomed. The player font is futuristic…at least for 1989. And when you would put several cards of this set side by side, with the same color gradients, they would run together and be almost seamless, like they were connected. With this Snyder card specifically, I like the photography, and how they capture his eye black and blazing red batting gloves as well as the belt in front. And please let’s not forget Snyder’s wispy moustache and his hair spilling out from the back of the batting helmet. Overall a great looking card, like many of the 1989 Donruss set.

1989 Donruss Cory Snyder

Justifiably, expectations were pretty high for Snyder as he started his pro career and he only spent a season at Double-A in 1985 and then 49 games at Triple-A in 1986 hitting .302 before getting called up to the major leagues. After hitting 28 homers in his first full pro season at Double-A, Snyder took to the big leagues immediately, smashing 24 homers in just 103 games for Cleveland. Not only that, Snyder played mostly in right field, but also spent time at shortstop and third base. For this, he finished fourth in the 1986 American League Rookie of the Year voting.

The 1985 Cleveland Indians were a lousy 60-102 but with Snyder and a bunch of young, talented players like Joe Carter and Brett Butler, in 1986 Cleveland surged to 84-78. In 1987, the baseball world was expecting big things from Snyder and Cleveland, so one of the more infamous Sports Illustrated covers was made featuring Snyder and Carter.

Although Cleveland went back to being lousy in 1987 with a 61-101 record, Snyder hit 33 homers to lead the team, one of three players to hit 30 homers along with Carter and third baseman Brook Jacoby who both had 32. The only thing is, 1987 featured the “rabbit ball” where something funky happened to the baseball which led to a spike in home runs throughout baseball. Largely because of this, Snyder’s WAR for 1987 is a paltry -0.4.

Which takes us to 1988, and the season that is featured most recently on the back of Snyder’s 1989 Donruss card, his third. This was likely Snyder’s best season, where he hit 26 homers and struck out the least he’d had in his three years with 101. He had the highest OBP so far, and what would ultimately be his second highest in his career at .326. All of this contributed to the highest WAR he’d put up for a season in his career at 2.7. He tied for his best batting average at .272 and scored 71 runs while playing virtually all of his games in right field where he led the American League with 14 outfield assists in right field and led all outfielders with 16 assists total.

That 1988 season would prove to be Snyder’s height as a player. Unfortunately, he’d get injured in 1989 and his batting average tanked to .215 and then in 1990 it wasn’t much better at .233. He was a league average player for WAR in 1989 and -0.6 WAR in 1990, though he still had a bit of pop, hitting at least 14 homers in each season. But Cleveland would trade Snyder to the White Sox in 1991 where he only lasted half a season before being traded again to Toronto. He hit a whopping .175 between the two teams. In 1992 he signed with the San Francisco Giants and had a nice comeback year, hitting .269 with 14 homers and a 1.2 WAR playing in 124 games. He was a free agent again in 1993 and signed a two year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers and had a productive year. In 1994, however, the strike hit, and Snyder decided to just go home. He concluded his career with a 0.7 WAR and 149 home runs with a .249 batting average and this beauty of a 1989 Donruss card!

Posted by JD

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Is Dave Parker a Hall of Famer?

Posted on by JW
“Stooge for the Pirates” by Keith Fujimoto is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Does a power hitter who had 339 homers in his career deserve the ultimate owner that can be bestowed upon a player? On first glance, you might say no. But what if that former player, who happens to be 1978 National League Most Valuable Player Dave Parker, was also a seven time All-Star, three time Gold Glove winner and a guy who won two batting titles?

True, 339 homers isn’t a ton for a guy like Parker, but that said, he wasn’t the most prodigious power hitter in his prime. He didn’t have as much power as a guy like Jim Rice, for example. But much like Rice, Parker was a feared hitter for over a decade. Parker got MVP votes in 1975 and in 1990 as well when he was an All-Star for the Milwaukee Brewers at 39 years old.

Parker is one of those rare hitters who could hit for average and power and had five straight seasons hitting at least .308 and during this period (1975-79), he also led the National League in slugging twice, so he wasn’t just hitting singles. Also in that five year peak, his 345 extra base hits trailed only Rice and Mike Schmidt. His 942 hits ranked sixth in all of baseball and his .321 average was second only to Rod Carew. He also had 72 outfield assists during these five years which was the most of anyone.

He had nearly 3,000 hits (2,712) and is 35th all time in intentional walks which shows how feared he was as a hitter. There are 26 right fielders in the Hall of Fame. Parker would rank 15th out of that group in hits — ahead of, for example, Vladimir Guerrero (2,590). He’d rank 10th in extra-base hits, 11th in homers and 13th in RBIs. Among all Hall of Famers, Parker would rank just outside the top 50 in hits (right behind Lou Gehrig), 44th in RBIs (right behind Guerrero) and 38th in extra-base hits (just ahead of Eddie Mathews and Ivan Rodriguez).

Parker struggled after that excellent five year run in the late 1970s. In his early 1980s years, he struggled with weight gain, injuries and off field issues. But he rebounded after he signed with his hometown Cincinnati Reds in 1983. At ages 34 and 35, he had back to back top five MVP finishes, and was the runner-up for the NL MVP in 1985 when he hit .312 with 34 homers, 198 hits, 42 doubles and a .365 OBP. He also led the NL in total bases that year.

The rub is that WAR does mean a lot, and Parker comes up short here. His career WAR of 40.1 and for Hall of Fame right fielders, the average is 71.5 and that is a big difference. For comparison, recent right-field inductees like Guerrero (59.4 WAR) and Tony Gwynn (69.2) easily exceed Parker. So do Parker’s outfield contemporaries who were elected, like Andre Dawson (64.8), Winfield (64.2) and Reggie Jackson (74.0). Then again, he’s higher than Harold Baines (38.7).

Parker had four seasons with a .900 OPS or higher, but only one of these seasons came after the 1970s. He had six seasons hitting .300 or better, and five seasons slugging .500 or better; only one of each came after the ’70s. Four of his five highest extra-base hit totals were in the ’70s, as were each of his four highest stolen base totals. So while Parker’s eventual Hall of Fame candidacy at the end of the 1970s was likely certain, for the rest of his career, he does not compare well to Jim Rice and compares a bit better to non-Hall of Famers like Dwight Evans and Dale Murphy who have had their struggles with getting Hall of Fame votes. Both Evans and Murphy had longer primes and post 1980, Evans actually had better numbers than Parker, especially with OBP (From 1980-1991, Evans .383, Parker .322). 

Ultimately, while I am completely biased because Dave Parker is one of my favorite players, I can’t possibly see how The Cobra belongs in the Hall of Fame. Because outside of those fantastic 1970s numbers, he was below average in the early 1980s and then anywhere from average to occasionally excellent in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but nothing that exhibited Hall of Fame numbers.

Posted by JD

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Don Sutton Deserves the Hall

Posted on by JW

posted by JD

Don Sutton 1985 Topps

I gotta be honest, I’ve never given a ton of credit to Don Sutton and his career previously. Sure, the guy is a Hall of Famer and his 324 career wins rank 14th all time in baseball history. But was he ever great? Did he have any seminal baseball moments? He never had the same mound presence as guys like Seaver, Bob Gibson, Clemens, etc. But looking closer at his career…he kind of was great in several ways.

I noticed that he pitched the seventh most innings in baseball history. That alone speaks volumes. The guy pitched 20 straight seasons of 200+ innings which is insanity to me. I skipped over the 1981 strike year, and the season which broke his streak? He merely pitched 191 innings as a 42 year old! Eight straight seasons in his prime, he also pitched more than 250 innings per year.

But think about how important pitching a ton of innings is to, not just a pitching staff, but to the entire team. Sutton repeatedly going deep into games saves the bullpen, sure. But it also changes the entire roster construction of the team. Being able to depend on Sutton meant that he could take the place of three or four other pitchers and then the team he was on could use those resources in other places. Maybe have a leaner pitching staff to have an extra pinch hitter or something like that. Sutton’s durability helped the entire team, and not only that, innings pitched goes a long way to WAR…mainly because it helps the entire team.

In addition, Sutton may not have been dominant, but he was often the best pitcher on very very good teams. Sure, he made four World Series appearances and didn’t get a ring to show for it, but he was arguably the best pitcher on all four of those teams (three for the Dodgers, one for the Brewers in 1982).

On top of the very valuable innings pitched, he also led his league in WHIP four times and was in the top five for Cy Young voting for five straight seasons. Don Sutton may not be on the pantheon of the greatest pitchers ever, but he deserves his plaque in the Hall of Fame.

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