Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2001 17:19:30 -0500 Reply-To: Texas Rangers MLB Discussion <RANGERS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU> Sender: Texas Rangers MLB Discussion <RANGERS@LISTSERV.TAMU.EDU> From: Beau Sharbrough <beau@SHARBROUGH.NET> Subject: Three (Not Really) Quick Notes
I like to see the Rangers win by twice as many runs as Sierra gets hits, and five times as many runs as Sierra gets homers.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Just in case the historical significance escapes you ...
Slugging Percentage(SLG)
Player Season Team SLG
1 B Ruth 1920 NYY .847
2 B Bonds* 2001 SF .820
3 B Ruth 1927 NYY .772
4 L Gehrig 1927 NYY .765
5 B Ruth 1923 NYY .764
Two things are interesting - one is that Ruth had 3 of the top 4 seasons in history before this season. The other is that Barry may become the second player in MLB history to slug 800. I'm glad to see someone other than a Yankee on the list.
Oh, and Sammy Sosa is slugging over .720 this year! After hitting 3 out today, he might be on a pace to break into this list! His next homer will make him the second man to hit 50 in 4 consecutive seasons.
I wondered this because I was poking around and saw some really high SLG for Sammy and Barry. ARod, by the way, has an OPS of 1.021 today. Barry's is 1.307 - heck, Barry has a career OPS of .995. Sammy's is under .800.
History in the making.
KEVIN BROWN, the PITCHER
Kevin Brown was bad here. As good as he could pitch, he was worse to keep around. From the vantage point of 2001, that seems absurd, but at the time it was clear that he had worn out his welcome. There was a question about whether any competitive team could tolerate him in their clubhouse.
Nobody was more definite on the topic than the Hammer. I'm in full agreement.
Technically, he chose to leave via free agency. In reality, he left during the strike. The Rangers had chosen not to offer him salary arbitration, and I think that would have been Melvin's decision. I base that speculation on the fact that I can't remember, combined with the general early December date for arbitration offers, and the research gem that "The Canseco Trade" was 9 December, 1994.
His 1994 line was 7-9, 4.82. He gave up 218 hits in 170 innings. This following three years over 200 innings (210, 265, 233), and if there hadn't been a strike, we would probably have gotten back to that level. When a guy starts to get hit that much, you have to wonder if he has command any more.
The old owners were cheap, and they were, as PhilP said, not kind to the union man. Those who were on the list at the time know that the only guy I like less than Tom Schieffer is Pete Rose. His ego effected this team on the field, and it's possible that they told Melvin that they didn't want to take the chance of offering arbitration to Brown.
I remember a ballgame in the old ballpark where he gave up 7 runs in the first inning, without getting anyone out. Then he pitched the rest of the game, giving up only one hit. The Rangers never overcame the deficit. That pretty much explained Kevin Brown and Texas. Sublime, ridiculous, and no hint which you were going to get today.
A commentator on Kevin Kennedy's career wrote, "They'd lost six in row when the strike hit, and Oakland and Seattle both looked ready to pass them. It was not a happy year in the Texas clubhouse. According to Gerry Fraley in the Dallas Morning News, Kennedy had trouble communicating with the team's Latin players. Ivan Rodriguez skipped pregame meetings and called games his own way. Juan Gonzalez was habitually late. Will Clark shut the door between the clubhouse and the manager's office. Kenny Rogers said it was the worst clubhouse he'd been in. Dean Palmer said the Rangers weren't a team. Tom Henke criticized Kennedy for not backing up his players. Another report said that Bruce Hurst retired in mid-season because he didn't want to play for Kennedy anymore." It gives you a sense of the team in 1994. Smells terrible, right? They really did collapse as they neared the tape.
A writer about Brown's career wrote, "1994 was not a good year for Brown, or for anyone else involved with baseball. His ERA rose as he allowed more hits than innings pitched, drawing accusations from some that he was too involved with union matters to concentrate on baseball. (There are, of course, nine sides to every story.) He became a free agent after that season. When a player reaches free agency, it is an accepted formality for his old team to offer him arbitration, whether they plan to re-sign him or not, because this qualifies the old team to receive a compensatory draft pick from the team the player signs with. In an indication of what the relationship between Brown and the Ranger brass had become, they did not even offer him arbitration, even though they must have known that he was very unlikely to accept it."
McGWIRE EARLY POWER, REDUX
There was a discussion, not long ago, where someone, I forget who, said that McGwire didn't have much power when he was young. It was correctly pointed out that he hit a lot of homers as a rookie. As near as I can tell, both points of view are correct. Here are the stats.
SEASON TEAM G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG 1986 Oakland Athletics 18 53 10 10 1 0 3 9 20 4 18 0 1 .259 .377 .189 1987 Oakland Athletics 151 557 97 161 28 4 49 118 344 71 131 1 1 .370 .618 .289 1988 Oakland Athletics 155 550 87 143 22 1 32 99 263 76 117 0 0 .352 .478 .260 1989 Oakland Athletics 143 490 74 113 17 0 33 95 229 83 94 1 1 .339 .467 .231 1990 Oakland Athletics 156 523 87 123 16 0 39 108 256 110 116 2 1 .370 .489 .235 1991 Oakland Athletics 154 483 62 97 22 0 22 75 185 93 116 2 1 .330 .383 .201 1992 Oakland Athletics 139 467 87 125 22 0 42 104 273 90 105 0 1 .385 .585 .268
After slugging over 600 during 1987, his rookie year, McGwire didn't slug over 500 again until 1992. You're both right!
McGwire later slugged 730 or higher three times.