Jaybird's Jottings

50 Years Ago

Depending on your perspective, the Giants’ three game set this week in New York lies somewhere between just another road trip to Shea and an interesting coincidence. For some, their appearance in New York is another reminder of what took place 50 years ago. On May 31st, 1957, Giants fans were trying to digest the news that they had hoped was just talk and posturing.

The headline a few days earlier read:

Dodgers, Giants Win Right To Shift if They So Desire

The looking back articles on the subject of the move are starting to come in. While I don’t necessarily agree with the often-heard sentiment that Dodger hearts sunk lower than those of the Giants fans when the two teams left town, the difference in activity at the Yesteryear Teams forum at the Baseball Fever site is amazing. Dodger talk far exceeds Giants remembering.

The Giants and Dodgers move is a still a touchy subject. O’Malley was a pioneer but one gathers not too many children born in Brooklyn in the late 50s were named Walter.

By the way, one of the best books on the subject of the move is The Dodgers Move West by Neil Sullivan.

I Thought We Had It Won

The trials and tribulations of being a sports fan. Not likely to be a bestselling book. But we fans put our hearts on the line every night. You can win a nail-biter (like the Giants should have last night) or you can get plastered like the Dodgers’ 10-0 romp over the Nationals last night.

Last night's game was on ESPN. Great to see the early jacks, Lincecum pitching and Vizquel made that clutch diving stab and quick off-balance throw to silence the lusty throng at Shea.

Then, on a close play at the plate, Vizquel scored what we hoped was the game winner in the top of the 12th. I crashed after that, a combination of not wanting to drag at work and not wanting to see you know who.

This morning brought the dreaded news. He blew another one.

Candlestick Magic

Today is the 40th anniversary of a Giants 4-1 win over the Dodgers at Candlestick Park. A crowd of 31,169 were treated to Juan Marichal’s eighth win of the season, the leading total in the majors. The victory gave the Dominican Dandy a .693 career winning percentage (138 and 61), a mark that surpassed Whitey Ford’s 690 as the all-time best in the big leagues.

Marichal’s win also gave him a 14 and 0 record against the Giants’ arch rivals in the 17 games the two played at Candlestick since 1961. In the following seasons, the Giants' ace continued to rack up wins against the visiting Dodgers. By the end of the 1971 season, Marichal stood 21 and 1 in this regard.

Here is a research piece I wrote on some of these games. This article is scheduled to appear in SABR’s The National Pastime later this year. I’d like to thank Jim Charlton, SABR’s Publication Editor, for his permission to publish this piece here in advance.

Candlestick Magic: Juan Marichal’s Amazing Home Record Against the Los Angeles Dodgers

By Jay Roberts

Juan Marichal once said, “…if you can walk on one leg, you can play against the Dodgers.”

Play against them he did. In Los Angeles, the Dodgers won a respectable 14 of 30 decisions against the high-kicking righty. 400 miles up the coast, it was another story. From 1961 to 1973, Marichal faced the men in blue caps a total of 31 times on the Giants' windswept turf (30 as a starter plus one relief appearance). Towards the end of his illustrious career, when injuries began to take their toll on his six-foot frame, the Dodgers got the best of the future Hall of Famer. In their last four encounters in San Francisco, Los Angeles defeated Marichal three times.

Before those losses, however, Marichal owned the Giants’ arch-rivals in a way that defies belief. When the native of Laguna Verde, the Dominican Republic, blanked them in May 1971, the 1-0 victory ran his home record against Los Angeles to 21 and 1.

True, Marichal benefited from excellent run support (average of 5.64 runs), home field advantage and having to face Sandy Koufax just two times. But these were, for the most part, very good Dodger teams (.551 winning percentage), fighting perennially with the Giants for the pennant or bragging rights.

Win (21), lose (4), or no decision (6), these 31 contests were a significant component of Juan Marichal’s 16-year career. What follows is a look back at seven select games.

Sunday, August 12, 1962
A Sweet Sweep

“Choke artists,” the reporter said. It was late July and the first place Dodgers had just swept three games from the second place Giants at Dodger Stadium. San Francisco, in the lead when the month started, dropped to four games back.

Skipper Alvin Dark’s ball club responded to the charge, winning ten of their next dozen games. This Sunday afternoon contest, the last of the regular season between the two arch-rivals, was the 11th game of that stretch. Marichal, praised by Joe King in The Sporting News as the team’s new pitching leader, scattered four hits, walked one and struck out eight in a complete game win.

A crowd of 41,812, the largest of the season so far at the Giants’ three-year old home park, watched a 10-hit attack by the orange and black. Marichal got help from fellow countryman Felipe Alou who scored three times and Jose Pagan who drove in three.

“My curve was breaking pretty good today,” the 24-year old righty said after the game.

The 5-1 victory made Marichal 3 and 0 against the Dodgers at Candlestick with two no decisions. More importantly, it pulled them to within two and a half of their first place rivals. The two teams tied at the end of the regular season and played a three-game pennant playoff. Marichal started in Game Three at Dodger Stadium, giving up three runs in seven innings. San Francisco won the game and their first pennant with a four run rally in the top of the ninth.

Sunday, August 22, 1965
Mays’s Three Run Homer Wins Infamous Game

From July 6, 1962 to July 8, 1967, Juan Marichal tallied a winning decision 14 out of 15 times against the Dodgers at Candlestick Park. Had he been able to control his temper on a summer afternoon in 1965, the man who wore number 27 might have made it a perfect 15 for 15. “The date was August 22,” Arnold Hano wrote in his biography of Willie Mays, “and if there has been a more bitter baseball game played in my lifetime, I do not recall it.”

Coming into this contest, the final of a four-game set at “The ‘Stick,” the National League pennant race burned hot in four cities. The Dodgers’ 6-4, 11th inning defeat of the Giants the day before moved Los Angeles past Milwaukee into first place. Herman Frank’s ball club fell to one and a half games out. The fourth place Reds were just one game behind in the loss column.

A crowd of 42,807, the largest of the season so far at Candlestick, settled in to watch a rare match up between Marichal and Sandy Koufax. The two greats had faced each other just three other times.

After Walter Alston’s squad jumped out to a two to one lead, Marichal led off the bottom of the third inning. Believing John Roseboro’s return throw to Sandy Koufax nicked him in the ear, Marichal clubbed the Dodger catcher over the head with his bat. A free-for-all ensued which ended with Marichal getting thrown out of the game.

After play resumed, Koufax struck out Bob Schroder, who was batting for the ejected Marichal. After retiring Tito Fuentes on a fly to left, Koufax then walked Jim Davenport and Willie McCovey. Willie Mays was up next. He connected for his 38th homer of the season to give the Giants a four to two lead.

The Dodgers pulled to within a run in the ninth off Marichal’s replacement, eventual winner Ron Herbel. With the tying run on second, relief specialist Masanori Murakami came on and retired Maury Wills and Jim Gilliam to end the three hour and 18 minute contest.

The tainted victory moved the Giants to within one percentage point of the Dodgers who stayed in first with Milwaukee’s loss to Pittsburgh. San Francisco sputtered in the days following this unforgettable game, but Marichal’s return from a nine-day suspension galvanized their stretch run. San Francisco won 14 in a row in the first half of September but were denied their second pennant when the Dodgers assembled a 13-game pearl necklace and took the flag by two games over the Giants.

Saturday, August 27, 1966
Giants Take the League Lead

In what proved to be the Senior Circuit’s last close pennant race before divisional play began in 1969, the Giants and the Dodgers locked horns again in 1966. The Pittsburgh Pirates joined the fray in June and made it a three team run to the wire.

On the morning of Saturday, August 27, the standings in the newspapers showed the Giants just one-half game behind the first place Pirates, with the Dodgers one and a half back. A near-capacity crowd of 41,876 fans made their way to the stadium just south of San Francisco to see Marichal take on Don Drysdale. The husky fireballer hoped to end his personal five-game losing streak to Marichal at Candlestick.

Willie Davis helped Big Blue’s cause in the sixth with a solo homer off Marichal that gave the Dodgers a two to one lead. Wasting no time in their comeback effort, the Giants struck back in the bottom of the frame. Willie Mays opened with a single off Drysdale. Dodger skipper Walter Alston then ordered the outfield shift for Willie McCovey, who promptly drove in Mays with a double to an empty left field. McCovey then scored on a single off the bat of Jesus Alou. In the bottom of the eighth, Mays added an insurance run with his 33rd homer of the year, career number 538.

Marichal, whose dazzling arsenal of pitches were showcased in a June cover story by Time magazine, allowed just one single after Davis’s circuit shot in the sixth. “I had very good control,” the star ace said afterwards. “I especially was able to get the ball high and outside to those seven left-handed batters in the Dodger lineup.”

Marichal’s 19th win of the season gave him a 13-0 record against the Dodgers at Candlestick and made Drysdale oh for six in this regard. The four to two victory moved the Giants passed the Pirates into first place. In the closing days, San Francisco tried valiantly to grab the pennant, winning their last five games. The race came down to the final day with the Dodgers needing to win one of two in their double-dip in Philadelphia. Los Angeles lost the first game, but Koufax won the second for the team’s second consecutive title.

Thursday, June 27, 1968
The First Loss

Although the subject of trade rumors during the off season, Marichal got off to a great start in 1968. Coming in to this contest, he had won eight in a row for a 14 and 2 record. The informed Giants fan in the Thursday night crowd of 13,566 knew Marichal’s ninth straight win would not only pull the second place Giants to within five and a half of the idle Cardinals, it would also extend his record against the Dodgers at Candlestick to 16 and 0.

In the third inning, with the scored tied at two, Willie McCovey took starter Bill Singer deep for a second time in the contest. Behind 5-2, the Dodgers came back with two in the fifth on a double by Willie Davis and one in the seventh on a solo home run by Lenny Gabrielson.

In the top of the 11th, with the score tied at 5, Zoila Versalles led off the inning against Marichal. The “good-field, no-hit” American League transplant, batting just .168 at the time, managed to get his second homer of the year. “It was up high, just high enough,” the native of Cuba said afterwards.

In the bottom of the 11th, Jack Hiatt singled and rookie Bobby Bonds walked off Don Sutton. Sutton, the fifth Dodger pitcher, had already tossed three scoreless innings in relief. Normally used as a starter, the future Hall of Famer proceeded to do something no Dodger hurler had ever done. He squashed the rally to pin a Candlestick loss on Marichal. (San Francisco, with Marichal as the starter, had lost once before at home to Los Angeles (May 19, 1961), but the losing pitcher was Billy O’Dell.)

Saturday, September 20, 1969
Six-Time 20 Game Winner

With about a dozen games left in the chase for the National League’s first Western Division title, San Francisco clung to a half-game lead over Atlanta. L.A. stood just one and a half paces back coming into this Saturday afternoon contest.

Before the game, Walter Alston, skipper of the Dodgers from 1954 to 1976, held a meeting with his players to discuss the “Candlestick Whammy.” Perhaps he should have dubbed it the “Marichal Whammy.” Los Angeles, from 1960 through the previous night’s game, held a 32 and 59 record in San Francisco. Against Marichal, they were 1 and 17.

“I think that some players have done too much complaining about the weather and the condition of the field – about how hard it is to play here,” Alston said. “We’ve just got to go out and play.”

Seemingly inspired, the Dodgers scored single runs off Marichal in the second and fourth innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Willie McCovey cracked a seeing-eye single off starter Bill Singer. McCovey and Bobby Bonds then scored on a single by Hal Lanier. Willie Mays capped off the five-run outburst with a run-scoring single off reliever Pete Mikkelsen.

Marichal, asked before the game about his overall success at Candlestick Park, replied, “It’s the weather. I like the cool weather here.” After he gave up a two-run homer to Willie Davis in the fifth, Marichal kept the Dodgers’ bats cool until the top of the ninth. With two outs, Ted Sizemore doubled to put the tying run in scoring position. With a national TV audience watching and a crowd of 25,213 biting their nails, Marichal bore down and retired Davis for the final out.

The 5-4 win gave Marichal a sixth season with at least 20 wins. The victory ran his Candlestick record against the Dodgers to 18 and 1 and dropped them to two and a half back. The Giants defeated the Dodgers the next day for a three game sweep that kept them ahead of Atlanta by one half game. With four games left in the season, Marichal beat L.A. 8-1 at Dodger Stadium, a complete game effort that lowered his league leading ERA to 2.10. It wasn’t enough however as San Francisco was denied again. The Braves won 10 of their last 11 to take the flag by three games over the Giants.

Saturday, May 15, 1971
21 and 1

Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Orlando Cepeda were no longer part of the rivalry. Willie Mays was less powerful and Maury Wills less swift. The San Francisco Chronicle and The Los Angeles Times poured less ink into their baseball barrels. Average attendance at Candlestick had dipped below 12,000. But once again, in 1971, the Giants and Dodgers sported solid outfits who fought each other for the chance to play October ball.

Charlie Fox’s Giants charged out of the gate, winning 18 of their first 23 games. By the time Los Angeles arrived in San Francisco for their first meeting of the season in mid-May, San Francisco led their nemesis by eight games.

On Saturday, May 15, Marichal and Bill Singer treated a crowd of 33,370 fans, largest of the season so far at Candlestick, to a pitching duel. The veteran Singer, winless in two Candlestick tries against Marichal, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Willie Mays, a week shy of his 40th birthday and batting a hefty .368, broke up the no-no with a ground rule double over the left field fence. He then scored the only run of the game on the Giants only other hit of the day, a one-out single to left by Marichal’s battery-mate Dick Dietz.

Marichal, who never lost to the Dodgers at Candlestick on a Saturday (8-0-1), allowed eight base runners but stranded seven. The six-hit blanking ran his Candlestick record to 21-1 against Los Angeles and gave him 49 career shutouts, the most among active pitchers. After the game, he noted, “… I am happy with the win. Every one is important no matter how many games ahead we are. You never know what can happen.”

Add soothsaying to Marichal’s list of talents. The 1-0 win gave San Francisco a 10-game lead, but the Dodgers stormed back in the second half. Their late-season drive included a 5-4 defeat of Marichal at Candlestick, just the second such victory in 11 years. Needing a win on the final day of the season to prevent a playoff with the Dodgers, the Giants and Marichal beat the Padres to clinch the division pennant.

Sunday, August 5, 1973
Their Final Meeting

In October 1972, Marichal underwent surgery to repair a herniated disc. Recovered, he won the ’73 lid-lifter in Cincinnati for a franchise record sixth Opening Day win. In May, the Dodgers defeated him for just the third time at Candlestick. The 35-year old gave up just one earned run in eight innings and was victimized by third baseman Dave Kingman’s throwing error that let in two unearned runs.

In early July, skipper Charlie Fox demoted a struggling Marichal to spot starter and reliever. But he soon regained his starter status and faced the Dodgers one last time at Candlestick on a Sunday afternoon in early August. The third place Giants were six and a half games back of their first place rivals. Attendance at the now enclosed stadium would not even reach the 1M mark for the season, but this contest drew 33,122, the largest of the season so far at Candlestick.

Marichal, lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the third, gave up four runs, three of which were unearned. Not going down without a fight, the Giants rallied from a 4-1 deficit. With one out in the eighth and Dave Rader on second, Bobby Bonds slugged a home run off starter Tommy John. The shot made him only the fifth player in big league history to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in a season. He joined Willie Mays as only the second player to accomplish the feat twice.

In the bottom of the ninth, Chris Speier’s smash line drive off reliever Jim Brewer went through third baseman Ron Cey’s legs. The Giants shortstop raced to third when left fielder Bill Buckner bobbled the ball. Mixing in screwballs with his heater, Brewer retired the next three Giants to end the game.

Marichal was saddled with the loss, just his fourth in 14 years against Los Angeles at Candlestick Park. The Dodgers swept the Giants at Candlestick in mid-September (Marichal did not pitch) to get to within
two games of the Reds, but finished four back. Marichal’s final appearance at Candlestick came against San Diego on Saturday, September 22. He scattered nine hits and picked up his final win in a Giants uniform.

Epilogue

Juan Marichal was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. His list of accomplishments include a 243 and 142 record, six 20-win seasons, a no-hitter, an epic, 16-inning win at Candlestick Park and nine All-Star team selections.

A lesser-known achievement is his home record against the Dodgers. The final tally was 21 and 4 with six no decisions. In the 31 games, 18 of which he completed, the Giants were 24 and 7. Of those seven losses, all but two were one-run margins. Marichal’s cumulative ERA was 2.28.

Sources

Periodicals
Los Angeles Times
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Examiner
The Sporting News

Magazines
Time, July 1966

Books
Cruz, Hector J. Juan Marichal: the Story of His Life.
Gillette, Gary and Palmer, Pete. The Baseball Encyclopedia.
Goldblatt, Andrew. The Giants and the Dodgers, Four Cities, Two Teams, One Rivalry.
Mandel, Mike. SF Giants, An Oral History.
Marichal, Juan With Einstein, Charles. A Pitcher's Story.

Special Publications
Juan Marichal Hall of Fame Day. Woodford Associates, San Francisco.

Websites
Baseball-Reference.com
Retrosheet.com

Marichal Versus Dodgers at Candlestick
Note: All are starts except one relief appearance on May 9, 1965

5-19-1961 LA 8, SF 7 ND 0-0-1 7.1 – 4 5.07 31,215 Perranoski W
8-19-1961 SF 5, LA 0 W 1-0-1 5.2 – 0 2.77 29,159 Williams L
9-9-1961 SF 9, LA 6 ND 1-0-2 3.1 – 1 2.80 28,635 Perranoski L
7-6-1962 SF12, LA 3 W 2-0-2 9 – 3 2.87 41,569 Williams L
8-12-1962 SF 5, LA 1 W 3-0-2 9 – 1 2.24 41,812 Williams L
5-24-1963 SF 7, LA 1 W 4-0-2 9 – 1 2.00 40,676 Koufax L
6-19-1963 SF 8, LA 3 W 5-0-2 7.2 – 1 1.87 41,384 Drysdale L
9-7-1963 SF 5, LA 3 W 6-0-2 9 – 2 2.73 36,879 Drysdale L
5-8-1964 SF 3, LA 0 W 7-0-2 9 – 0 1.65 40,547 Ortega L
6-27-1964 SF 9, LA 1 W 8-0-2 9 – 1 1.58 38,810 Moeller L
5-9-1965 SF 6, LA 3 W 9-0-2 1.1 – 0 1.55 40,596 Koufax L
6-28-1965 SF 5, LA 0 W 10-0-2 9 – 0 1.40 36,702 Drysdale L
8-22-1965 SF 4, LA 3 ND 10-0-3 3 – 2 1.55 42,807 Koufax L
5-3-1966 SF 8, LA 1 W 11-0-3 9 – 1 1.50 35,193 Drysdale L
6-12-1966 SF 3, LA 2 W 12-0-3 9 – 2 1.54 42,402 Drysdale L
8-27-1966 SF 4, LA 2 W 13-0-3 9 – 2 1.57 41,876 Drysdale L
5-26-1967 SF 4, LA 1 W 14-0-3 9 – 1 1.53 31,619 Sutton L
7-8-1967 SF 8, LA 4 W 15-0-3 9 – 4 1.69 31,849 Drysdale L
6-27-1968 LA 6, SF 5 L 15-1-3 11 – 6 1.93 13,566 Sutton W
4-30-1969 SF 3, LA 0 W 16-1-3 9 – 0 1.82 14,129 Singer L
7-19-1969 SF 5, LA 4 W 17-1-3 9 – 4 1.94 26,216 McBean L
9-20-1969 SF 5, LA 4 W 18-1-3 9 – 4 2.04 25,213 Singer L
5-27-1970 SF11, LA 3 W 19-1-3 9 – 2 2.04 7,641 Vance L
7-3-1970 LA 8, SF 6 ND 19-1-4 6 – 3 2.12 25,330 Brewer W
9-11-1970 SF 4, LA 3 W 20-1-4 6 – 3 2.19 8,574 Sutton L
5-15-1971 SF 1, LA 0 W 21-1-4 9 – 0 2.10 33,370 Singer L
7-4-1971 LA14, SF 4 ND 21-1-5 7 – 3 2.15 30,663 Mikkelsen W
9-13-1971 LA 5, SF 4 L 21-2-5 4.2 – 4 2.27 31,081 Singer W
7-2-1972 SF 9, LA 3 ND 21-2-6 4.2 – 2 2.30 23,285 Sutton L
5-11-1973 LA 3, SF 2 L 21-3-6 8 – 1 2.27 21,234 Downing W
8-5-1973 LA 4, SF 3 L 21-4-6 3 – 1 2.28 33,122 Johnson W

Congrats JD!

"If you're a long-time visitor to the site, don't worry, nothing is going to change. I'll still yammer on incessantly about renderings and zoning text amendments, though perhaps with fuller explanations than I have in the past (to catch the newcomers reading the print version up to speed). But otherwise, I'm going to keep on doing what I've always done. Just think of this as the site going "multi-platform." - Jacqueline Dupree

Congratulations to the multi-talented Jacqueline Dupree for her new gig at the Washington Post. Recognizing the great work she is doing with her blog coverage of the Nationals' new ballpark and the surrounding area, the Post hired her for a column called Ballpark and Beyond. (From the Post’s homepage, click on Metro -The District - District Extra).

Earlier this week I mentioned the amazing progress in the area. Yesterday JD took some great overhead photos of the redevelopment in Near Southeast.

JD, you need an assistant??

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

"The Office of Planning, while making clear in its report that it strongly encourages the use of mass transit and other alternatives to cars and would not normally support surface parking lots, testified that these lots and the 3,775 maximum spaces they would provide (see my Stadium Parking page for a map that shows their locations) will help to alleviate the short-term shortage of available parking during the next few years until new developments with additional underground parking in the area are completed." - Jacqueline Dupree, Near Southeast D.C. Redevelopment

Anytime a new ballpark or stadium is opened, there are major concerns about traffic. Here in Washington, the Nationals are breathing a little easier after the D.C. Zoning Commission approved temporary surface parking lots near the new ballpark. At J.D.'s site, you can get an idea for where these lots might be.

For visitor and local alike, public transportation has good options. Metro plans to beef up service during games with additional trains. For those who don’t mind walking, the Capitol South stop is about 20 minutes away. It’s a bit of a hike but a remarkable one with the Capitol looming large at the end of New Jersey Ave.

Also in the works is a Circulator bus line. As J.D. notes it would run “from Union Station to the new US Capitol Visitors' Center to the Capitol South and Navy Yard Metro stations which would give direct access to the red, orange, and blue lines without having to change trains at L'Enfant Plaza.” The more fans use this option, the less of a burden will be placed on what will no doubt be a very busy Navy Yard station (Green Line, one block from the park). It's being expanded but it will still be crowded.

Opening Day and beyond will certainly be a challenge for the Nationals. But there are good transportation options including yet to be announced water taxis. All these measures should help alleviate major problems and there are also plans for permanent underground parking.

I know one thing. "Near Southeast" is transforming rapidly. Every time I go down there for a visit, I am amazed at the pace of progress.

I confess to driving to get there. Next year, I'll see you on the Metro!

SABR Event at RFK

For the second time in the last three years, the Bob Davids chapter of SABR (Washington/Baltimore) sponsored a get together at RFK Stadium. Under sunny skies, about 50 members met outside Gate A at 2 p.m yesterday. A club official escorted us to the Beerpen, a fixed up room on the suite level.

The speakers were Nationals' President Stan Kasten, Larry Young, umpire and crew chief for the weekend series against the Orioles, and Buck Martinez, former player and manager and now a broadcaster for MASN, the regional sports network covering both teams. Dave Vincent, long-time chapter member and official scorer at RFK, emceed the event. Vincent, author of the just released book Home Run, The Definitive History of Baseball’s Ultimate Weapon, quizzed the group on rules and scoring.

Kasten, dynamic and enthusiastic, spoke mostly about the new ballpark. He emphasized plans for the pre-game experience. After exiting the metro and walking down Half Street, fans will be greeted by a large plaza beyond the outfield. A kid’s play area is in the works along with a centerfield restaurant and a 5,000 square foot merchandise store.

Kasten, who sported a good sense of humor, seemed reluctant to give details, but did say there will be some less expensive tickets – 3,000 costing $10. Some announcements on the park will be made in a couple of weeks.

Martinez gave an anecdote-filled talk. It got a little too curmudgeonly at times - “Today’s player’s don’t seem to love the game as much as we did,” but he kept the audience entertained with funny bits of oral history from his 17-year career. Martinez seemed well-liked by O's fans.

Young is a 22-year vet who worked the 1996 World Series and is the first umpire to serve on Official Playing Rules Committee. He gave a short talk about his own research into the history of rules and then answered over a dozen questions. Asked why umpires make mistakes, Young said being out of position was a factor and just the human element of making mistakes. The hardest calls for him are the bang, bang plays at first and balks. He also said there were occasions when a manager, appearing to be arguing a call, would tell him he made the right call. The manager, needing to appear to protect his player, would sometimes even ask to be tossed.

After the talks, the members walked over to one of the loge suites in right field. With a bird’s eye view, we watched batting practice. I enjoyed talking to some familiar faces such as Gary Sarnoff, who is writing a book on the 1933 Washington Senators. Gary, wearing Senators gear, is searching for photos for his book.

I also had a conversation with Bob Brown who enjoys going to games in Maryland and keeping track of baseball in the Old Line state. We agreed our area is blessed with a good number of teams, both amateur and professional.

With the SABR gang watching from the upper deck, the Nationals lost to the Orioles 3 to 2 in 11 innings. Both clubs are no doubt struggling. Fortunately for the members, the chapter is on top of its game. In fact, SABR’s Annual Convention, to be held in St Louis this year and Cleveland next year, will likely be here in Washington in 2009.

New Book on Latinos

"... Roberto Clemente tried to explain the unique position of the Latino ballplayer at the time. He called it being a “double minority,” singled out for being dark skinned and unable to speak the language." – Tim Wendel, The New Face of Baseball, The One-Hundred-Year Rise and Triumph of Latinos in America’s Favorite Sport

"Although largely ignored by historians of both baseball in general and the Negro leagues in particular, Latinos have been a significant presence in organized baseball from the beginning. In this benchmark study on Latinos and professional baseball from the 1880s to the present, Adrian Burgos tells a compelling story of the men who negotiated the color line at every turn-passing as "Spanish" in the major leagues or seeking respect and acceptance in the Negro leagues." - University of California Press on Playing America's Game, Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line

As part of his tour last month for his outstanding book Opening Day, The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season, author Jonathon Eig paid D.C. a visit. After his talk to the audience, I asked him if he thought baseball should retire Roberto Clemente’s number. I prefaced my question, saying that there was a movement afoot to do so. Eig, perhaps under the effects of "clientitis," said, in so many words - no.

I’m undecided, but leaning towards wanting to see this happen. The book Brushing Back Jim Crow, The Integration of Minor-League Baseball in the American South poignantly describes the discrimination Latinos faced. And now it looks like there is now another great book on the subject. SABR members got a heads up yesterday that Adrian Burgos Jr, Assistant Professor of History at University of Illinois, has written, Playing America's Game, Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line.

Looking forward to reading this one. An added bonus is Juan Marichal on the cover.

Mother’s Day

Willie McCovey, on the occasion of his induction to the Hall of Fame, observed that Sundays were for baseball and family. The theme echoed yesterday at the big league parks, where the player's Moms were appreciated.

We attended the Nats-Marlins game. They gave out an Upper Deck trading card set to each fan. They’re personalized with a picture of the player and their Moms. The cards have statistics and quotes from the moms about their sons. The players' moms were given flowers before the game. Some of the Nationals used pink bats to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Moms have the toughest and most underappreciated job in the world. Mine passed several years ago. More and more I appreciate her.

Thank you Mom.

Public Service Recognition Week

"Public Service Recognition Week, celebrated the first Monday through Sunday in May since 1985, is a time set aside each year to honor the men and women who serve America as federal, state and local government employees. Throughout the nation and around the world, public employees use the week to educate citizens about the many ways in which government serves the people and how government services make life better for all of us." - The Council for Excellence in Government Service

If you’re a recruiter for the Feds, you’ve got a tough job. Our government is a constant source of stories about a job poorly done.

On the other hand, there are lots of very good public servants and many of their professions are still held in high esteem. And today the governments had their big day of celebration and recruitment down on The Mall. With the better half fighting a cold, I checked out the happenings.

The NASA items piggybacked nicely on our space themed experiences of the past few weeks. On hand was a full scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope. It’s the “largest and most complex space probe ever attempted” and will replace the Hubble observatory. NASA hopes it will start paying dividends around 2013.

On the way home, I headed over to the Nationals' new ballpark construction site. Catching my eye on the east side of the park was the faux limestone blocks. Their renderings don’t do them justice.

On my last turn, I ran into Near Southeast blogger Jacqueline Dupree at the corner of South Capital and Potomac. We spoke about how quickly things have progressed at the new ballpark, the Ballpark District and in Near Southeast. JD has posted her photos from today at her site, including some of the concrete blocks.

JD shared with me that the construction at the Nats' new park goes on from 6 am to about 2 am. Talk about public service.

SABR Publications

Back in April, I was trying to find a list of Opening Day records for the current major league teams. Knowing how deep in information the web has become, I figured no problem in finding such a list.

The Baseball Almanac looked good until I discovered their list includes home openers. The National Baseball Hall of Fame also looked promising, but like many sources, they seem to think that big league baseball began in 1900.

Unable to find anything, I did what I always do in these situations, turning to SABR. They've just published The SABR Baseball List & Record Book. I found the full list of openers there.

The book, as Editor and SABR Baseball Records Committee Chair Lyle Spatz explains, fills a void. Where The Sporting News Complete Baseball Record Book provides the leader in various categories, this 473 page book will give you, for example, “a list of every rookie who batted in at least 100 runs.” Where some sources might give you the Top Ten of some record, this book goes deeper.

Baseball has an endless supply of accomplishments and we each have our favorites. Sometimes it's the kind of thing you don't think about a lot, but seems so cool when you see it. For example, "Game ending home runs by a Pitcher.” John Montgomery Ward was the first to do so, beating the Braves 3-2 with a ninth inning home run on the second game of the Giants' inaugural season in 1883. Juan Marichal became the 29th pitcher on this list on September 21, 1966. His solo homer at Candlestick climaxed a three run rally to beat the Cubs 6-5.

Other fun stuff for the Giants:

Leadoff Home Runs that won 1-0 game. Bobby Bonds Apr 28, 1973 and Darren Lewis August 7, 1991 (his first career home run).

Most extra-inning home runs in a season

Willie Mays tied for second with 4 in 1955

Most ph home runs by a team:

2001 Giants tied for first with 14
1977 and 1987 Giants with 11

SABR members are also now receiving the annual Baseball Research Journal. Haven’t had time to read it yet but the lineup is major league, including Pete Palmer, Jules Tygiel, David Smith, David Vincent, Gary Gillette and Cyril Morong (Like an award winner’s thank you list, I know I left someone good off).

There’s a little bit of everything for fans, the usual great sabermetric studies, business of baseball, historical pieces for the less stats-inclined, a fascinating look at nickel and dime pitches and stumpers such as George Michael’s Mystery Photos.

I even enjoy reading the author notes. One of them revealed that Steve Steinberg is teaming with Lyle Spatz to write a book on the 1921 season, with a working title of The Battle for Baseball Supremacy in New York.

That one won’t come free with SABR membership like the aforementioned titles. But it will carry the SABR stamp of approval – one that isn't usually a threat to Tolstoy, but is a tradition of excellence that regards accuracy as the most important thing.