The Baseball Digest Archive

June 1981

This month’s issue has a very aesthetically pleasing cover. Those wonderful powder blue Brewers uniforms. The even more wonderful ball in glove cap logo. Even the Robin Yount photobomb. Best of all, the spotlight on Cecil Cooper and the immediate image of his sweet swing that the photo inspires. The gist of the cover story came right with the lede. “If there were a Rodney Dangerfield award in baseball, Cecil Cooper would win it in a landslide.” True. In an age in which the triple crown stats were still the first (and only) thing that people would look at, Cooper was coming off a 1980 season in which he hit .352 with 122 runs batted in. Unfortunately for him, this was the same year that George Brett flirted with .400 so Cooper’s year had a tree falling in the forest feel to it. There were more good things to come in Cooper’s immediate future. In 1981 the Brewers made the postseason for the first time as part of the strike season’s expanded playoffs, and the much beloved Harvey’s Wallbangers team would go on to win the 1982 AL pennant, reaching the World Series for the first and to this date only time in franchise history.

This was a fascinating chart which appeared in the letters to the editor section - the most home runs per park from the previous season. Here was more evidence of how brutally difficult it was to hit homers in the Astrodome. Surprisingly, for its reputation as a launching pad, Atlanta Fulton County Stadium only finished third. It’s also worth looking a little more closely at how many of those home runs were hit by the home team; it demonstrates the relative strengths and weaknesses of the pitching staffs.

So, Steve Stone believed that he could improve on his Cy Young year? He won the award in 1980 after a season in which he won 25 games, but that was a real fluke. There was nothing special about his peripheral numbers, suggesting that he was the beneficiary of great run support. He’s always had a good sense of humor, so when he said that he believed he could win 30 in ‘81 it’s hard to know if he said that with tongue in cheek or if he was delusional. As it turned out 1981 would be his final major league season as he developed a career ending shoulder injury. He has since spent decades as a popular broadcaster for the Cubs and more recently the White Sox.

As we have seen time and time again, scouting in baseball is tricky. The number of #1 overall draft picks who failed to pan out is much larger in baseball than it is in any of the other team sports. So, this issue included an article of what they called the All-Overlooked Team, future stars who were drafted in later rounds. It’s slightly misleading; it includes players that were initially drafted out of high school but then went on to play college ball and increased their value. Still, some of these are real eye openers. Keith Hernandez in the 42nd round? Dave Parker in the 14th?

The Rick Langford article might as well have been accompanied by flashing red lights. The 1980 Billy Ball Oakland A’s team was famous for among other things leading the league in complete games by a massive margin - Oakland starting pitchers completed 94 of the 162 games, and predictably enough all 5 starters either suffered major arm injuries, lost their effectiveness, or both. Langford was the pitcher on that staff with the most complete games - 28 out of 33 starts. My own elbow started to ache just from reading that.

This was the year that Bob Gibson was elected to the Hall of Fame. He was one of the most ferocious competitors in the game’s history, but the reputation he developed as a headhunter has been a bit overstated. His hit by pitch numbers don’t stand out, and a line in this article flat out states “he never knocked down a batter intentionally but few of them ever took a toe hold at the plate, either.” That point is important because it was written while memories of his playing career were still fresh. I also mention this because if you read interviews with Gibson from late in his life, he seemed puzzled that discussions about his career were limited to how mean he supposedly was. He wanted proper credit for having been a great pitcher who came through when the stakes were the highest, not as some crazy guy aiming at hitter’s heads, which he was not.

Finally, I loved this photo from Wrigley Field in the 1930’s, pre-ivy. You can really see both the ways in which it has been modernized in the decades since as well as the features that still survive. That’s a great snapshot of history.

Reviewing Olympic Sports

Rowing - If you have been following this segment, you can probably guess my take on rowing. I love the simple joy of watching a race of any type. I love when an event has a picturesque background. Rowing clearly checks both boxes. A lot of what I had said about flat water canoeing also applies to rowing, but there is one crucial difference. The distances in canoeing events range from 200-1000 meters, whereas all rowing events run for 2000 meters. That adds a crucial strategical element to rowing races; the rowers need to properly pace themselves. Go too fast too early, and there is the risk that they will have emptied the tank well before the finish line. Lay back off the pace for too long, and there is the risk that there is not enough open water left for the closing sprint.

There is also a great visual that comes with the larger boats. To see the oars move in unison in a 4 or 8 person boat is a wonderful sight. I also cannot ignore this point. Nowadays the only event which still uses a coxswain is the eight person boat. In years past the race would specify if there was a coxswain or not, and that indication was abbreviated in a way that appealed to the 12 year old in all of us. Sadly, we no longer see listings for Coxless Pair or Coxed Fours. This used to be a proper country.

Rugby Sevens - This was a very welcome addition to the Olympic program. My only real previous experience with rugby had been the number of rugby players I personally knew who, let’s just say enjoyed the occasional beer or two or thirty. It should be specified that it is rugby sevens in the Olympics, not the full 15 per side form of the game. Sevens is perfect for the Olympics. It’s fast paced, & the games only take a half hour to complete. It’s very easy to follow the tournament and still have plenty of time leftover to watch the other sports as well.

Because it is conceptually very similar to American football it is fairly easy for neophytes to quickly pick up the rules. Therefore I don’t waste a lot of time trying to figure out exactly what it is that I’m seeing. I still haven’t been able to get into 15 man rugby; I find it a bit of a slog. But sevens is a keeper.

Playoffs, Playoffs, Playoffs

Loads of playoff action across the sports spectrum this weekend. Game 1 of the NLCS was last night. We can ignore the result, can’t we? It’s only one game. It’s only one game. It’s only one game. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Sorry, got sidetracked there. If there is anything to say about the 2024 Mets, it’s that they have gumption. Obviously it’s not ideal to lose game 1, whether it was a close game or a thumping. Let’s see how they respond today.

In the American League, it’s a New York/Cleveland battle, aka the Oscar Gamble Cup. Hmm, the Yankees playing October games in Cleveland? Somewhere the midges are congregating and saying, “come into my parlor!”

Turning to the hardwood, the Liberty evened up the WNBA Finals with an 80-66 victory over the Lynx in Game 2, but that margin of victory is a bit misleading. For a while there it sure looked like it was going to be deja vu all over again. The Liberty had a double digit lead for a big chunk of the second half, but the Lynx systematically chipped away until it was only a 2 point lead. The Lynx were swarming on defense and the Liberty were clearly rattled. New York did eventually regain their footing and went on a big run of their own to reach that final points margin. It’s now a best of 3, and with the split Minnesota has seized home court advantage.

Yesterday was also an elimination race in the NASCAR playoffs at the Charlotte Roval. The playoff field was cut from 12 down to 8, and for a while there things were very tense for my pre-playoff selection to win the cup, Tyler Reddick. He got into an accident which had placed him far back in the field and below the provisional cut line. He made up the ground that he needed to and did in fact secure a spot in the final 8. This shows how crucial regular season results are; had Reddick not had the bonus points he accumulated from winning the regular season title he would not have advanced. But then, that point (and the tension from those final laps) became moot once Alex Bowman’s car failed post-race inspection. The subsequent penalty knocked Bowman out of the final 8, giving Joey Logano - who was the driver eliminated by Reddick - a reprieve.

This is all taking place against a backdrop of what could be a seismic change in the way that the organization conducts business. Without wandering too deeply into the tall weeds, the France family which founded and still runs NASCAR, has long acted as a sort of take it or leave it dictatorship. Two teams last month refused to sign a renewal of the charter deal that the owners have with the circuit; one of which is 23XI Racing, the organization co-owned by Michael Jordan. Those teams have since filed a lawsuit against NASCAR. We all know how competitive Jordan is; this has the potential to be a very contentious process.

50 Years Ago - Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

From the strange but true file: a long running sitcom was based on a Martin Scorsese film. No, not Taxi Driver. Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore was his first movie following the breakthrough of Mean Streets. It starred Ellen Burstyn in her Oscar winning role as a newly widowed woman with a young son who leaves her New Mexico home with the intent to establish a singing career in California. Along the way she sets what she intended to be temporary roots in Arizona, where, yes, she works as a waitress in a roadside diner.

ADLHA and Alice the sitcom were vastly different in tone. The movie was one of many movies of the era which took a serious look at burgeoning feminism. The sitcom was a typically broad farce, and the contrast was very clear in the diner portions of the movie. The characters were the same, but were more realistically portrayed in the movie. Movie Vera was flighty; TV Vera was implausibly stupid. Movie Flo was sassy; TV Flo was an outlet for an overplayed catchphrase. (Fun fact, Diane Ladd portrayed Flo in the movie. When Polly Holliday left Alice for an ill-fated spin-off, the replacement character on the show was played by Ladd.) Vic Tayback as Mel was the sole actor who reprised their role from film to TV. Movie Mel was a gruff tough guy; TV Mel was still gruff but enough of a softie that the waitresses could put him in his place when he was out of line.

Among the other actors in supporting roles were Scorsese regular Harvey Keitel at his sleaziest, and a pre-Taxi Driver Jodie Foster. The other main standout was a man whom we have recently lost, Kris Kristofferson. This wasn’t his first movie role, but it was one which showed that he had leading man potential. In the long run, I think he was at his best once he aged into character roles, but here his rugged good looks were an ideal match for his character.

It may seem odd to watch this movie without constantly hearing the phrase “kiss my grits!” but it is an effective representation of a specific time - an early era feminist having to deal with awful men. And Scorsese was just getting started.

Closing Laughs

That will be all for today. Have a terrific day everyone, and be sure to come back for more on Wednesday. Peace out!