2018 starts in a few hours, so to welcome the new year, here’s an installment of baseball in year 8s. From Charlie Comiskey to Chase Utley, baseball has taken a wild ride in year 8s.
1888: The St. Louis Browns held the best record in all of baseball. Atop the American Association at 92-43, the Browns were better than any team in the American Association or National League. Led by player manager Charlie Comiskey, the Browns helped pave the way for decades of great 8 baseball. 1898: Five years before winning the first World Series, the Boston Beaneaters, later named the Red Sox, had the best record in baseball at 102-47. Future Hall of Famers Hugh Duffy and Slidin’ Billy Hamilton led the team to their abundant victories. 1908: 1908 was the last time until 2016, 106 years, that the Chicago Cubs won the World Series. In October of that year, not only was the first game between an all-American team and an all-Japanese team played, but singer Billy Murray (eerily similar to the name of the most famous Cubs fan alive, comedic actor Bill Murray) introduced the world to “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” and Baseball’s Sad Lexicon led the Cubbies to 4-1 series victory over the Detroit Tigers. The Cubs were led by a trio of infielders: Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance. The poem about the 3 may happen to be what put them all in the Hall of Fame, however Baseball’s Sad Lexicon did more to cause anguish to the Cubs’ opponents.: These are the saddest of possible words: “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Tinker and Evers and Chance. Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble, Making a Giant hit into a double Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble: “Tinker to Evers to Chance.” The poem describes that if a ball comes anywhere near 1 of these 3 greats, all hopes of getting on base vanished. The smug Tigers thought that they would walk all over Chicago, but the Detroit crowd would be silenced in 5 games. The next year, 1908, would mark the last Cubs World Series victory for 108 until November 2 and 3, 2016. 1918: This may possibly be the most hated season in Boston Red Sox’ history, considering that right after the season ended, BoSox’ owner Harry Frazee traded arguably the greatest baseball player of all-time, George Herman “Babe” Ruth, to their hated rivals, the New York Yankees. Beantown took the World Series (their last one until 2004, an 84 year drought called “The Curse of the Great Bambino”) 4 games to 2 over the Cubs led by Ruth. 1928: Taking the Cards down in four, the New York Yankees’ Murderers’ Row easily won the World Series led by Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri and the great Bambino. With the best record in all of Major League Baseball at 101-53, the Bronx Bombers were an unstoppable force that continues to dominate baseball to this day. At 68-25, the St. Louis Stars led the Negro National League that same year, with a wide margin over the 49-31 Kansas City Monarchs. 1938: While the fearsome Yankees, now led by rookie Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio, swept the North Side Cubbies in the Fall Classic, 1938 was an unusual year for baseball. On June 11, the Cincinnati Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer no-hit the Boston Bees at Crosley Field in Cincy and he made history on June 15 of that same year in Brooklyn when he no-hit the Dodgers, becoming the only man in baseball history ever to pitch two consecutive no-hitters. Not out of the ordinary, the 32-15 Monarchs and 27-10 Homestead Grays led the Negro American and National Leagues, respectively. 1948: One year after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier and thankfully forever integrated the MLB, the Cleveland Indians started baseball’s longest active World Series drought. They took the Series 4 games to 2 over the Boston Braves. At 55-21, the Birmingham Black Barons were atop the Negro American League. 1958: The Yankees, led by DiMaggio and catcher Yogi Berra, took a thrilling World Series over the Milwaukee Braves 4 games to 3 to end the season, led by Cy Young Bob Turley. On January 28, however, bad news opened up the year the career of Los Angeles Dodgers’ catcher Roy Campanella broke his neck and paralyzed his legs. In addition to the mediocrity of the year, for the first time in eight years, no new members are elected to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. 1968: Another thrilling World Series, in the midst of a presidential election (which Richard Nixon won over Hubert Humphrey), the 103-59 Tigers beat the 97-65 St. Louis Cardinals 4 games to 3. The MVP and the Cy Young winners were the same for both leagues and both represented a World Series team: Denny McLain of Detroit and Bob Gibson of St. Louis. Gibson, a Hall of Famer, also set the record for best single season Earned Run Average at 1.12. 1978: Now split into the East and West, the American and National Leagues boasted the Yankees (AL) and the Dodgers (NL) in the Championship Series. The Yankees took it 4-2, winning their second series in a row. The Boston Red Sox’ Jim Rice was the AL Most Valuable Players and the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Dave Parker won the award for the NL. 1988: Dennis Eckersley’s Oakland Athletics were heavily favored over the LA Dodgers, but in Game 1 Kirk Gibson hobbled up to the plate. The iconic Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully had the call, “And look who’s coming up!” when the injured outfielder, Gibson, surprised West California and the rest of the world by hitting a walkoff home run to start the Trolley Dodgers’ sweep off of the Hall of Fame closer, Eck, opposite him. The Minnesota Twins’ (AL) Frank Viola and the Dodgers’ (NL) Orel Hershiser, who pitched the longest scoreless streak in baseball history at 59 innings without a run that year, were the Cy Young winners and Gibson of the Dodgers and José Canseco of the A’s were the MVPs. 1998: Led now by Andy Petit, Jorge Posada, the greatest closer of all-time, Mariano Rivera, and the greatest shortstop, arguably greatest player in history, Derek Jeter, sweeping the San Diego Padres, the Yankees won their 24th World Series Championship. The leagues now had East, West and Central divisions, as well as a Wild Card spot in the postseason. There were four 20 game winners, three of them in the American League: the Toronto Blue Jays’ Roger Clemens (AL), the Yanks’ David Cone (AL), the Texas Rangers’ Rick Helling (AL), and the Atlanta Braves’ Tom Glavine (NL). 2008: Led by Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee, the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria led Tampa Bay Rays in five games. Hamels was the World Series MVP. Boston’s Dustin Pedroia won the American League MVP and the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols won it for the National League. 2018: Right around the corner, tomorrow, January 1, 2018, will start a story just as great as the previous 13 decades mentioned in this article. Already looking exciting, 2018 will feature Giancarlo Stanton apart from his Miami Marlins and now joining the 2017 Rookie of the Year, Aaron Judge, in the Yankees’ outfield, Shohei Otani accompanying Mike Trout for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and a red hot Rhys Hoskins leading the reborn Phillies. Jesse A. Cook “Baseball In Year 8s: Welcoming 2018” December 31, 2017
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Today is the 20th anniversary of the Seinfeld episode concerning the holiday, Festivus. In following the tradition, this December 23rd, here is my airing of grievances and feats of strength from the major sports:
AIRING OF GRIEVANCES PLAYER’S POWER In the NBA, the power of the players to control their owners has been a constant problem. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and Chris Paul say they want to leave their franchise team and there’s no debate, they’re right onto listening for new deals! They say they want out and they’re gone. That’s ridiculous, but it looked like it was staying in the NBA until recently. STANTON LEAVES MIAMI Giancarlo Stanton followed in suit with the NBA stars and decided he wanted to leave the city he’s called home for his entire eight-year career. Immediately, he’s dealt to the New York Yankees, which actually leads me to my next grievance which is how a lifetime Pinstripe traded the star of the team he newly owns to the Yanks for next to nothing! Derek Jeter willingly deals the reigning National League MVP from the Miami Marlins to the Bronx for Starlin Castro and a couple of mediocre minor leaguers? Something’s not right, here. FIGHTING IN FOOTBALL From Michael Crabtree and Aqib Talib to A.J. Green and Jalen Ramsey, the fighting in the NFL has gotten out of control. The sport is dangerous enough as it is, and with the ongoing investigations into concussion protocol and CTE, they definitely do not to be scrutinized over how Ndamukong Suh stepped on Aaron Rodgers’ throat. The Cincinnati Bengals are a prime example, for they’ve been recognized as thugs ever since Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict tried to essentially assassinate Antonio Brown in the 2015-16 AFC Wild Card. NHL LEAVES THE OLYMPICS With great players from around the globe in the NHL, it’s a real shame that this 2018 Olympic Games is the first tournament to not include the NHL athletes. Who doesn’t want to see Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin lead Team Russia against Patrick Kane and Zach Parise for Team USA, or Tuukka Rask and Team Finland against Henrik Lundqvist and Team Sweden, or the many notable faces of Team Canada against whatever sorry country they’re pitted against? The NHL doesn’t want to take two weeks out of their season anymore to showcase their best and brightest stars, but fortunately, we still have the Hockey World Championship in late spring. NBA SUPERTEAMS The Golden State Warriors, the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Oklahoma City Thunder are prime examples of superteams. These teams are corrupting the NBA because now great players are just getting together and making it ridiculous for other teams to even try! It’s not inconceivable that the only competition in the West is the Warriors, Houston and OKC and it’s only Cleveland and Boston in the East because of these superteams. FOOD AT MARINERS’ GAMES The Seattle Mariners are a fine organization, but their food has gotten a little outlandish. Safeco Field is now serving roasted grasshoppers at Mariners’ games, but however good they may or may not taste, this writer is not on board with munching on insects. HATING TB12 The New England Patriots are often thought of as the Yankees of the NFL because they just keep on winning, but that hate is directed mainly at Tom Brady. People claim that he’s not the greatest quarterback of all time, but the stats do not lie and now people are claiming that he’s not that good when he’s the front runner for MVP. Giving the MVP Award to somebody else is like when the NBA gave the award to Karl Malone, Hakeem Olajuwon or Magic Johnson just so Michael Jordan didn’t get it every single year; greatness gets repetitive and people need to get on board. 31 TEAMS Sure, the Las Vegas Golden Knights is a pretty addition to the NHL, but now the league is in a weird situation. The West now has 16 teams and the East has 15, lopsiding the league so that there’s one more team to contend with in the Western Conference than there is the East. Maybe it’s just an answer to how the Nashville Predators, who made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, were the last seed in the West, but the seventh seed Calgary Flames wouldn’t have made it in the East, so now teams have to do slightly better to make the playoffs. FEATS OF STRENGTH WIN STREAKS The Celtics, Cavs and Rockets all boasted win streaks in the double digits, with the Land at 12 games, Houston at 14 and the Celts at an outstanding, historic 16 games. Granted, all three of these organizations fell under my list of superteams, in the competitive National Basketball Association winning above ten games in a row is no small task. Only a strong team could pull off such a feat. ANGELIC DEALS The Los Angeles Angels are making themselves into a powerful foe for their American League counterparts. Already possessing arguably the greatest baseball player since Babe Ruth in Mike Trout, with the recent acquisition of Shohei Ohtani, Zack Cozart and Ian Kinsler, they’re a daunting danger to the daring demeanor of the distant desert teams in the AL West. The all-star Reds’ shortstop Cozart and the WBC Team USA star Ian Kinsler make a deadly, dastardly duo in the middle infield and Ohtani speaks for himself, something he doesn’t do when addressing an English-speaking crowd! They barely missed the playoffs last year, so with this rejuvenation, this year will be a wild one. THE COMEBACK Okay, okay, it was last season, but it’s still 2017 and 28-3 is the greatest Super Bowl comeback in history. Without their star tight end, Rob Gronkowski, and only held up by Tom Brady’s cool calm collectiveness, Julian Edelman’s nimble fingers, James White’s clutch speed, LeGarrette Blount’s means of just hurling himself through a defense and Martellus Bennett’s grit, Bill Belichick’s soldiers sauntered into Houston, through screeching Falcons to the first Overtime victory in Super Bowl history. A fifth ring to the GOAT’s hand through the only 21 minutes and 8 seconds of a comeback is no small deed. LIGHTNING STRIKES AGAIN Last season, the Tampa Bay Lightning was the tenth seed in the Eastern Conference and now they’re the best team in the entire league! This year, they have the best powerplay, most goals scored per game, the most points, most wins (and least losses), Nikita Kucherov leads the league in both goals and overall points, Anton Stralman has the best plus-minus, and Andrei Vasilevskiy has the most wins by a goaltender. This isn’t a jump from the absolute worst, but the irrelevant squadron from the 2016-2017 season is now the scariest phenom on the ice for the 2017-18 season. Now that I’ve exhausted my airing of grievances and feats of strength, it’s time to take out the festival pole. 2017 has been a good year for sports and let’s hope for an even better one in 2018, so this December 23rd can really prove to be a Festivus for the rest of us. Jesse A. Cook “Festivus” December 23, 2017 |
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