The Baseball Digest Archive 11/80

November 1980

Super Joe Charboneau was one of the biggest comets that baseball has ever seen in my lifetime. Much like Mark Fidrych a few years earlier he seemingly came out of nowhere and took the league by storm, not only winning Rookie of the Year but also becoming a bit of a folk hero due to his colorful personality. He didn’t entirely reach the levels that Fidrych did - his picture was never on the cover of the Rolling Stone - but unfortunately his time at the top was as short as that of The Bird. Charboneau suffered a back injury in 1981; he was out of the league after 1982 having totaled only 201 games in the majors. BTW, note the byline on the cover feature story about Charboneau. In 1980 a very young Peter King was writing for the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The November issue was traditionally the edition in which Baseball Digest named its annual all-rookie team. The 1980 rookie class as a whole was… OK, I guess? As we Remember Some Guys there are a few here who had decent careers, but none that were truly great. And I got nothing on either Joe Pettini, Ricky Peters, or Dan Graham. I’m drawing complete blanks on all 3 of them.

As I have dug into these old issues of the magazine I assumed that I would see many of the perennial talking points surrounding the sport appear on a regular basis, but I have still been pretty shocked to see how often an issue would contain pieces that touched on the “why do players get injured so frequently?” argument. So too here. This month’s article offered a variety of explanations, some of which remain prevalent to this day: Diagnosis of injuries is easier, there are too many young players in the majors before they are physically ready to handle the demand, DH = longer outings for pitchers and more stress, bullpen usage encourages pitchers to go all out on every pitch, higher salaries encourage players to push themselves beyond reasonable limits, and artificial turf. Remember, this article was written in 1980. Things have barely changed.

It’s no surprise that a survey of major league pitchers would result in George Brett being named the best hitter in the American League. Only 14 pitchers were polled, so it’s a stretch to call it statistically significant, but being that this was the year Brett almost hit .400, the results would have been the same no matter how large the sample size. To summarize, 8 of the 14 chose Brett and 3 others split their votes between Brett and someone else. The only other hitter to receive more than one vote was Rod Carew, with one full vote and two split votes.

Among the 1980 inductees into the Hall of Fame was former Phillies outfielder Chuck Klein. This election came with a bit of controversy; his 5 year peak was one of the most spectacular the game had ever seen. The problem was that this took place from 1929-1933, or the height of the live ball era. Additionally, he played his home games at Baker Bowl, which was a bandbox. Because of that his numbers came with a bit of skepticism, which is why his election took as long as it did. The writer of the Klein article in this issue did not hold back. He correctly notes that the 1930’s is over represented in Cooperstown - to be fair, I can make a case for Klein’s inclusion; there are lots of inductees from that decade whose cases are considerably more dubious - but he goes so far as to say that every Hall of Famer from 1930 should have an asterisk on his plaque. True, offensive numbers from that year in particular were very skewed, but boy does that seem extreme.

A few quick hits from this month: One piece looks back nostalgically at long-gone parks with their wacky dimensions. The placement in this specific issue is odd; after all, Baker Bowl was one of those oddly shaped fields. But also, the letters section in this issue included illustrations of the dimensions of each then-current park. In 1980 we were fully in the age of the symmetrical multi-purpose cookie cutter stadiums. Those parks were lacking in character, that was precisely why a writer of a certain age would lament the loss of a place like Shibe Park. Richie Ashburn contributed an article about legendary minor league pitcher Steve Dalkowski, who was famous for having thrown over 100 mph, but whose control was so awful that he never reached the big leagues. He pitched in the 1950’s, well before radar guns, so who knows how fast he actually threw. As always, print the legend. It’s more fun that way. Finally, after the 1980 season the Baltimore Orioles broke the record for the most consecutive seasons with at least one 20-game winning pitcher, 13 years running from 1968-1980. That streak would end in 1981, it was a strike-shortened season so no pitcher on any team came anywhere near 20 wins. The O’s had no 20 game winner in 1982 either, so even if you decide to ignore ‘81 the streak was going to end anyway.

Ballot Breakdown: Dick Allen

Not only was he the subject of an all-timer of a Sports Illustrated cover, but he was also one of the premiere hitters in the game for an entire decade. From his peak which lasted from 1964-1974 (I’m omitting his injury shortened 1973 season) he averaged 30 homers and 93 RBI’s while hitting over .300 6 times. Take those numbers into context; much of that stretch was during a period in which pitching dominated. It’s better to see how much bold print there is on his Baseball Reference page. All this, plus trophies for both Rookie of the Year & MVP.

The chief argument against his candidacy is that he declined so quickly that he fell well short of any of the statistical milestones that voters look at. That’s fair, but he was just so good that his high peak more than makes up for whatever deficiency can be seen in his career value. He was also often regarded as moody, if not disruptive. To that I say, walk a mile in his shoes. As Reggie Jackson reminded us, the times were brutal for African-American players. MLB sometimes likes to imply that after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier everything was hunky dory. But Allen and his contemporaries still had to climb the minor league ladder playing in small towns, many of them in the Deep South during the civil rights era. It wasn’t much better in the majors, not only did teams have unofficial quotas but it’s not as if there were black coaches; these players had minimal support systems. Allen had an additional indignity; for a period of time he was referred to as Richie Allen even though he was insistent that he preferred to be called Dick. That sort of disrespect is going to affect a man.

I’m still in the process of figuring out who I would select if I was one of the voting members on this committee. No need for any suspense in this case. Dick Allen is easily my top choice of the 8 men on the ballot. He should have been elected years ago; it is a travesty that if it finally happens this year it will be a posthumous honor.

We Have a Champion

Before this year only 9 men have won the NASCAR cup at least 3 times. Now, a 10th name can be added to that list as Joey Logano held off Ryan Blaney’s charge in the closing laps of the season finale at Phoenix to win the race as well as the 2024 championship. Way back when he was a teenage wunderkind, he was sarcastically nicknamed “Sliced Bread” in response to the hype he was generating. It’s safe to say that he has more than lived up to that promise.

Once again as a quick reminder only the 4 drivers who had survived the elimination rounds during the playoffs were eligible for the title, so that would not have necessarily meant that the race winner would have also been the champion. Luckily, a championship contender has won the season-ending race in almost every season under the current format. That avoids the awkward scenario of giving the race winner his trophy only to quickly shoo him away from winner’s circle so that they can hand out the bigger prize.

And a fond farewell to former cup winner and future Hall of Famer Martin Truex Jr., who has now retired as a full-time driver. He will continue to race on occasion, but he is stepping away from the weekly grind. And Kyle Busch completed the season without a victory, meaning that his record setting streak of 19 consecutive seasons with at least one victory has ended.

Reviewing Olympic Sports

Surfing - Surfing perfectly epitomizes the conundrum of how difficult it is to introduce a lower profile sport into the Olympic program. It’s tough to think of a more attractive setting for a sport than the ocean, so the event itself is gorgeous to look at. The issue is that the event takes a long time to complete. In addition, the sport is in a natural conflict with the elements. If the weather conditions in a particular day don’t result in large enough waves, it is postponed for a day. The schedule makers take that into account; it is intentionally scheduled in the earliest portion of the Games, that way even if multiple postponements are necessary the competition will still finish well before the Games end. Even so, this presents a challenge to NBC. They can’t easily fit it into a broadcast schedule if they have no idea when it will actually take place.

As a result, only highlights of the sport are shown on television. That means it’s tough to convey the drama of the competition, and I don’t see enough of it to fully understand the scoring. And as is the case with many other sports that run long, there just aren’t enough hours in the day for me to have turned to Peacock and watched any of the competition in its entirety. As of 2028 surfing is no longer an optional sport; going forward it will be an official permanent part of the Olympic schedule. As much fun as it appears to be, I don’t see myself regularly watching the sport in future Olympics.

Swimming - Swimming is an easy sport to discuss. It has been one of the marquee events in the Olympics for my entire life, and it will continue to do so for years to come. It helps that it is very easy for television to cover. Each day’s competition easily fits into a 90 minute to 2 hour window, it’s very simple to differentiate the 4 strokes from each other, and since each swimmer remains in their lane throughout the race they are all easily identifiable.

To add to that, all of the multiple distances + relays means that the top swimmers have several opportunities to rack up high medal totals. NBC can build stars over time, “watch ____ swim for a potential 4th gold medal in these games!” Rowdy Gaines’s signature enthusiasm is merely the cherry on top of that sundae. I’ve said time and again that the simple pleasure of a race makes for an inherently exciting sport. Can’t get much better than in swimming.

TV Of the 21st Century - Treme

I tend to love television shows that have a unique quality to them. To be more specific, I appreciate if there is something to a show’s style that I can point to and say that no other series does something quite like this one does. Treme was a good case in point. Several times throughout the course of the series an episode would simply pause for several minutes for a performance by a local musician, or to simply watch a chef prepare a meal that looks mouthwatering. It was all part of the atmosphere.

David Simon’s first new series following The Wire was set in the Treme section of New Orleans in the months following Hurricane Katrina and followed a disparate group of people as they attempt to rebuild their lives and deal with the traumas of the tragedy, while maintaining the character of the city. The main characters cover the breadth of race and class, and while there was some interconnection, it was never forced. Character A knows character B, who knows character C, but A doesn’t necessarily know C. The cast was populated with fantastic actors - some of whom were regulars in The Wire (Wendell Pierce, Clarke Peters,) some of whom Simon had previously worked with on non-Wire projects (Khandi Alexander, Melissa Leo,) some of whom are the type of actors who do such consistently great work that they immediately elevate whichever project they are in (Kim Dickens, David Morse.)

And the show took advantage of its setting. I mentioned earlier that the show often paused for musical performances. Over the course of the show’s 4 seasons more than 2 dozen well-known New Orleans musicians made appearances as themselves. It was such a special treat. It wasn’t just musicians; prominent local chefs also popped in from time to time.

At the center of the show was the Katrina recovery. (In later seasons, vulturous developers became a prominent plot point as they were trying to swoop in and reshape the city in their own image.) The trauma that several of the characters showed was real and raw. A underlying thought throughout much of the first season was what would the first Mardi Gras look like? It is such an essential part of New Orleans culture, but is it appropriate to celebrate when the city was still in a collective state of mourning? There was also a powerful sequence at the end of that initial season in which the members of the main cast were shown making their final preparations in the weekend before the storm hit. There was a similarly gut wrenching scene in an episode in which a group of Mardi Gras Indians were staging a line funeral. A tour bus pulled up and a group of well-meaning but ignorant tourists started snapping photos. The driver soon realized to his embarrassment that they were intruding on something sacred and quickly tried to wrangle everyone back onto the bus.

The series lasted for 4 seasons, and although it never reached the same heights of acclaim that The Wire did, it was a very worthy successor.

Originally aired on: HBO

Currently streaming on: Max

Closing Laughs

I hope everyone was able to clear their heads this weekend. Have a great day you good people and I will see you again on Wednesday.