The Baseball Digest Archive 9/76

September 1976

I want to get right to the most notable article in this month’s issue, so I’ll skip past the cover story. It points out how the double play tandem & 1-2 lineup combo of Dave Cash and Larry Bowa were crucial in the Phillies’ playoff hopes, and in fact 1976 turned out to be the first of Philadelphia’s 3 consecutive NL East crowns. But I need to talk about the article that made me roll my eyes with such force that I was in danger of hurting myself.

In what can only be described as the 1976 equivalent of “baseball is dying, folks” this issue asks the musical question, “will mercenaries ruin the game?” This was written in the wake of the decision that granted free agency to Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally and on the eve of the first offseason of full blown free agency, which resulted in among other things the deconstruction of the great Oakland A’s dynasty. The writer of the article lamented that this was a sign of the lack of loyalty among players.

I don’t think I need to tell you that loyalty is a two way street or that somehow, SOMEHOW the game has survived the “catastrophe” of player empowerment. Writer George Vass reluctantly acknowledges that the reserve clause didn’t have the best interests of the game at heart, but he was still acting as a major Chicken Little. It’s hard to pick out the most insane line in the piece. “The mercenaries are the greatest threat the game has ever known. They are sure to destroy it in the long run.” “Once baseball becomes suspect, an economic gambit rather than amusement for the millions, it will become as distasteful as the gladiatorial combats of Ancient Rome.” Amazing.

I was also taken aback by the article on umpire Ron Luciano. Arguably the most well-known ump of the era, he was very famous for his demonstrative calls - on a close play at first base he would not simply signal “out.” He would make about 4 or 5 emphatic out calls. He was also famously combative in any argument with a manager. But my gosh, this article. He made no bones about his displeasure with Earl Weaver. “I don’t care who wins the pennant as long as it isn’t Baltimore.” It’s astonishing that the league allowed an umpire, who is supposed to be impartial, say something like that publicly without any repercussion.

Much of the rest of this issue consisted of the type of material found in most other issues of Baseball Digest. There’s an article discussing the assortment of signs given by the third base coach. There’s one which retells colorful Casey Stengel stories. There’s a feature on the budding stardom of George Foster, who would go on to top 50 homers and win the NL MVP award a year later. There’s a piece on Carl Yastrzemski’s goal of reaching 3000 career hits (he was roughly 500 away at this time.)

Finally, this month’s entry in the regular The Game I’ll Never Forget feature came from Jerry Koosman. His choice should not come as a surprise. It was his complete game to finish off the 1969 World Series. He capped off his remembrance of the day by his description of pouring an entire bottle of champagne on Howard Cosell’s head on live TV. “It was beautiful! But then the whole year was.”

The HOF Cap Project - NL East

With a little more than a week until the 2025 Hall of Fame results are to be announced, the Ryan Thibs ballot tracker has compiled enough data that one can reasonably predict who will make it in this year. Therefore, I can safely award plaque caps for the NL East teams without worrying about Carlos Beltran, or Andruw Jones for that matter. I suppose I’ve spoiled my Billy Wagner selection by acknowledging that he will not have an NL East team cap. As a reminder, the Braves covers all three of their homes & the Nationals includes the Expos. Let’s get to it:

Atlanta Braves (9): Henry Aaron, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Rabbit Maranville, Eddie Mathews, Phil Niekro, John Smoltz, Warren Spahn

New York Mets (2): Mike Piazza, Tom Seaver

Miami Marlins (0)

Philadelphia Phillies (8): Grover Cleveland Alexander, Dick Allen, Richie Ashburn, Jim Bunning, Steve Carlton, Chuck Klein, Robin Roberts, Mike Schmidt

Washington Nationals (3): Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines

Differences: The only 20th century difference for the Braves is that Maddux asked to go with a blank cap. The Mets & Nationals both line up, although Dawson famously requested to change his plaque to the Cubs; a request which was rejected. For the Phillies, Alexander has a blank cap & I don’t believe the Allen selection is official yet.

And now for my explaining. I don’t need to do all that much because my selections line up fairly closely to the actual ones. I should note that both the Braves & Phillies have 19th century candidates, but I’m treating players from that era separately. I understand Greg Maddux’s reasoning. He didn’t want to insult Cubs fans, he won his first Cy Young award in Chicago, and all told he spent 10 years pitching for that franchise. Still, if you compare his Atlanta production to his Chicago production, there is no comparison. That’s why I’m removing emotion from consideration. Maddux as a Brave is an easy choice.

Mike Piazza might be the toughest choice of any player in the Hall. He played longer for the Mets, but accumulated more WAR for the Dodgers. He had more top 5 MVP finishes for the Dodgers than he did for the Mets. He was named to more All-Star teams as a Met. It’s basically a coin flip, but I ultimately chose the Mets. Of course I could have avoided making the decision by giving him a Marlins cap, thereby insuring that they would have a Hall of Famer, but he would have needed to play more than 5 games for that franchise to justify the selection.

On a more serious note, with that team’s checkered history, will the Marlins ever have a Hall of Famer? They trade away every young star that their farm system produces. Miguel Cabrera ain’t going in as a Marlin. If Christian Yelich can somehow recapture the magic and put himself back on HOF track, that would only mean that he goes in as a Brewer. Giancarlo Stanton is a possibility, but I still think he’s a longshot to remain healthy enough to surpass 500 career home runs, and if he falls short of that milestone I can’t see him making it in. I’m not even certain he would make it in if he does pass 500.

All 3 Nationals players were of course Expos, and despite Dawson’s wishes, he is clearly an Expo. I understand his thinking. It’s more advantageous for a player to be connected with a franchise that actually exists; the Nationals do little to acknowledge their Montreal roots. But The Hawk really only had 2 strong seasons in Chicago, by the end of his tenure his knee problems had so slowed him down that he was a net negative in the field and on the basepaths. He put up good home run/RBI numbers, but they were the sort of superficially productive years that Albert Pujols was putting together when he was with the Angels.

As for the Phillies, you could also make a strong Cubs case for Alexander, but as great as he was in Chicago he was otherworldly in Philadelphia. He achieved the pitching triple crown 4 times; 3 of those were with the Phillies. Bunning was almost as close of a call as Piazza was. He pitched for Detroit longer, but I believe his overall body of work was better in Philadelphia. And Dick Allen’s signature season was with the White Sox, but the bulk of his career was spent in Philadelphia. I would suspect that the Phillies retiring his number shortly before his passing helped mend some fences with the organization. The Hall is likely to choose Philly and I would imagine that Allen’s family would agree.

The Loss Of a Soul Man

The music world lost an inner circle legend with the passing of the great Sam Moore. As the tenor half of Sam & Dave, the duo were one of the most prolific hitmakers during the Golden Age of Stax Records. Soul Man is their most immortal track, but it is only one of many soul/R&B classics in their discography. Hold On, I’m Comin’. You Don’t Know Like I Know. When Something Is Wrong With My Baby. I Thank You. And many more. All of them brilliant, all of them timeless.

Dave Prater was a troubled soul, and the duo eventually had an acrimonious breakup. They briefly reunited when the Blues Brothers hit version of Soul Man sparked a resurgence of interest in Sam & Dave, but that reunion was short lived. Moore spent the bulk of his later years as a much in demand elder statesman of R&B. He was a centerpiece of so many all-star concerts and his voice remained magnificent and powerful well into his 80’s. A member of multiple music Halls of Fame, Sam Moore was 89.

Updates

Quick follow ups on two stories.

You probably remember the 2 idiot fans who knocked the ball out of Mookie Betts’s glove in last year’s World Series. Last week MLB dropped the hammer. The two have been indefinitely banned from not only all MLB games, but from any and all league related events as well, with threat of arrest for trespassing if either attempts to enter a stadium. Good. Even though there was ultimately no harm done and the umps immediately called the Yankee batter out due to fan interference, the fans were twisting Betts’s arm while jarring the ball loose. Betts could have gotten seriously hurt. Hopefully this punishment sends the message to any other fans that this behavior will not be tolerated.

It’s still very early, but Lindsey Vonn had two very encouraging results this weekend in her comeback attempt. In a pair of World Cup races in Austria she scored a 6th place finish in a downhill race, and a 4th place in a Super G. Not to splash cold water on the results, but time will tell if this is sustainable. As wondrous of an athlete as she is, Vonn is still 40 years old and has undergone dozens of surgeries, including a knee replacement. As we know, Father Time is undefeated, even with elite athletes. Still, her goal is to qualify for the 2026 Olympics, and now it doesn’t sound as outrageous as it did when she initially starting discussing a return to the slopes.

Non-Peak TV - Supertrain

You had to know this one was coming. Supertrain is used as shorthand to describe the very worst that television has to offer. Any montage of bad TV prominently features Supertrain. While it’s true that the show was a complete creative and ratings flop, there have been worse shows. What makes it stand out is that it was so expensive to produce that it was a huge money loser for NBC.

Supertrain was NBC’s attempt to cash in on the popularity of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Instead of what was essentially an anthology series set on a cruise ship or a tropical island, this show was set in a high speed cross country train. In order to open things up so that the action didn’t completely take place in the tight corridors of a train, the titular Supertrain was a mega luxurious vehicle, containing the sorts of amenities that you’re not gonna find on the Amtrak Acela.

Still, there is only so much you can do with a TV program that takes place on a train. There’s a good reason why a train makes for a great setting for a thriller. The inherent tight spaces create a claustrophobic atmosphere along with a limited number of places where one can hide from the bad guys. A train setting limits the type of stories that can be told. The show also made a crucial creative decision that differentiated it from the shows that it mimicked. The Love Boat generally had 3 storylines per week, Fantasy Island had two, usually with differing ranges in tone. If you had little interest in one story that week, you only needed to wait a few minutes before the show would return to a different one. Supertrain only had one main storyline per episode; if it bored you, tough.

And as I mentioned, this was a very expensive show. To its credit, NBC did not skimp on costs for the production design of the train. But because the show failed, airing only 9 episodes in total, it proved to be a money pit for the network. I don’t believe I watched more than an episode or two of Supertrain. My memory of it is that it was fairly dull, but not the complete train wreck (no pun intended) that its reputation holds. But then I watch the opening credits and I think that maybe it really was that bad.

Closing Laughs

Pencils down. Thanks to all for being part of this community. Be sure to tune in again Wednesday on the same bat channel. Have a great week.