The Baseball Digest Archives

February 1980

Cover subject Paul Molitor was coming off his second season in the major leagues, a year in which he proved his big rookie year was no fluke. No sophomore slump here. The cover feature focused on the top second basemen in the league at the time, tying them together with the second basemen from the sport’s past. It included one of my favorite quotes. Leo Durocher observed of Eddie Stanky that “he can’t hit, he can’t field, he can’t run - all he can do is beat you.” Time really is a flat circle, I can so picture any number of grouchy old baseball men making a similar comment today as part of a tirade against analytics.

Baseball Digest was generally a rigidly formatted magazine - there were particular features that would run the same time year after year. One example was the annual gainers & losers list. It was a bit of statistical analysis that feels overly simple today. The batting list simply consisted of which players gained or lost the most points in batting average over the previous 2 seasons. The pitching lists were even more basic; those looked at W-L records to see who gained or lost the most games above or below .500. This year the pitcher who “dropped” the most was Ron Guidry. Remember, in his brilliant 1978 season he went 25-3; his 1979 was another near Cy Young caliber season, but since his record was 18-8 that somehow meant he had the biggest drop.

The article looking back at the top achievements of the 1970’s was limited to best single season marks. I would have preferred to see who piled up the top cumulative stats of the decade, but it did list the top team records of the decade. Before looking at these standings the Reds & Orioles would have been my guess for the teams with the top records. After all, among the teams that won multiple World Series in the decade the Yankees spent the first part of the decade in that barely above .500 quagmire, and the A’s hit rock bottom once the star players all left with the introduction of free agency. The fact that the Padres had the worst record was no surprise, I would have thought that the Indians, not the Brewers would have turned out to be the AL worst, although it was a close 3-way battle for that dubious crown.

The retro ad of the week once again comes from our friends at the CSN Gift Center. Normally I wouldn’t go down the same well 2 weeks in a row, but I actually still have my copy of one of the albums for sale in this ad - Baseball: The First 100 Years. Needless to say when I was a kid I listened to it so many times that I’m surprised that I didn’t wear out the grooves. So many of the classic radio calls were imbedded in my mind at a young age. “Here comes the tying run, aaaaannddd here comes the winning run!”

Briefly running through some of the other articles in this month’s issue - the rare home run feat discussed in the Dave Kingman article was his chance to follow in the footsteps of Ruth, Foxx, Kiner & Maris to become only the 5th man to hit 100 home runs over the course of 2 seasons. Spoiler alert - he didn’t come close. Kingman had his best season in 1979, which was such an odd one for him. His reputation as an all or nothing hitter was well established. You couldn’t even call him a precursor to the 3 true outcome hitter. He rarely drew walks, so it seemed he would either strike out swinging or hit a massive home run. But in 1979 he had an outstanding all around season. He not only led the league in home runs, but he also had an uncharacteristically high batting average/on base percentage. It was almost as if for one season alone he was showing the kind of player that he could be, but otherwise chose not to.

Despite what the article predicted, Carney Langford was not one of the stars of the 1980’s. He was a terrific player. He won the AL batting title in the strike shortened 1981 season, and he was a valuable member of the Bash Brothers era Oakland teams. He finished his career with over 2000 hits, and he garnered 3 votes the one year that he was on the Hall of Fame ballot. No shame in any of that.

SNL Recap

I don’t have much to say about this week’s episode. It was, let’s call it suboptimal. I admit that I didn’t exactly go into this with an open mind, but judging by the audience response to Shane Gillis’s monologue I wasn’t alone. He really died on stage; you could practically feel the flop sweat. He did acknowledge the fact that he was fired from the show, imploring the crowd not to Google why that happened. But his performance showed that the firing did not result in an irreparable loss for the show. His line readings were shaky, he appeared to miss several cues, and he had real trouble with the cue cards.

I was hard pressed to decide on a best sketch for this week. I suppose the best of a weak bunch was the HR meeting. In a week largely devoid of memorable jokes, this one at least had a couple that landed solidly.

One noticeable weakness this week is that many of the sketches ended poorly. To be fair, coming up with a good ending is often difficult, but this week it seemed that the plan was for each premise to go on until they ran out of gags to include. Take the cold open. It was set at a sad celebration party following the South Carolina primary. 4 senators (JAJ made for a very solid Lindsey Graham) quietly lamented the many ways in which Trump has degraded or insulted them only to loudly promise to endorse him. It went on and on, and then just simply ended.

Update felt like a retread this week as well. In the first correspondent piece Marcello portrayed a frozen embryo from Alabama. It was fine enough, but it felt a bit too much like the sort of bitchy, absurdly costumed character usually reserved for Bowen. Then Bowen himself came on as Truman Capote. It was a decent enough Capote impersonation, but he didn’t have any memorable jokes.

And the post-Update material was particularly shaky. A sketch set at Forrest Gump’s 20th high school reunion isn’t exactly timely. A commercial for “fugly” sex dolls marketed to incel losers was equally insulting to both genders. Yay?

Whether it was entirely due to shaky material or whether Gillis brought the cast down to his level, I’m also hard pressed to give out an Employee Of the Week award. Ego is probably the most deserving. Her depiction of a Jamaican priest in the sketch in which a vacationing Ohio family attended Sunday mass was the closest thing to a standout performance that we had.

This isn’t an episode that’s going to be saved in the time capsule. Next week Sydney Sweeney makes her hosting debut. She doesn’t have a whole lot of comedy in her filmography - unless you want to count Madame Web - but she is very talented, so I have a good feeling about this. The musical guest will be Kasey Musgraves. I have a very good feeling about that.

Ballot Breakdown - Eric B & Rakim

Eric B & Rakim’s nomination is encouraging on several levels. There is of course the obvious one that it’s a sign that the nominating committee is gradually accepting the fact that they need to better acknowledge hip-hop’s cultural dominance. Taking closer looks at some of the genre’s pioneers is a crucial step in that process. In their case, this is their second nomination, coming a full dozen years after what appeared was going to be a one-and-done appearance on the ballot. It’s still difficult to say how welcoming the larger voting population will be. We’ll know more in a couple of months.

One of the earliest hip-hop acts to emerge from Long Island, their chief argument comes from the fact that Rakim remains near the top of the list of the greatest MC’s in history. Blessed with a deep commanding voice he had an impeccably smooth flow. He was also very distinctive; his laidback style clearly set the stage for a lot of the G-Funk rappers who would emerge years later.

Like a lot of the early generation hip-hop stars, their career was relatively brief, with only 4 albums to their name. That does match the profile of some of the pioneering rock & rollers that are already in the Hall. Historical importance means something & should make up for a sparse discography. Plus, their debut album Paid In Full is a stone cold classic.

The 2 stopped working together early in the 90’s. By that time Rakim had already established a side career as a much in demand guest rapper. His deep tones were a great way to add an air of authority to a record. Rakim’s solo career never really took off, but he has always maintained a tremendous level of respect among the rappers who have followed in his footsteps. He is a certified Respected Industry Veteran.

If I try to read the tea leaves they seem to be a bit of a long shot, but then again, they are one of only 2 pure hip-hop acts on this year’s ballot. It’s possible there is an open lane for them, especially now that voters can choose as many as 7 names from the ballot. Regardless of what happens, we’re well into the era in which voters need to better reflect the times, and inducting more than 1 hip-hop act per year would be an important step. Taking closer looks at the pioneers needs to be part of that process.

If elected, will they perform at the ceremony? - Likely. They went on a reunion tour a few years ago, so they appear to be on good terms with each other.

Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hit - Juice

My Personal Favorite - I Know You Got Soul

Oh, Doctor!

I meant to tell this a couple of weeks ago, but some of this Baseball Digest nostalgia reminded that I hadn’t. Better late than never I guess.

I recently sat in on a Zoom call in which Joe Posnanski discussed his Why We Love Baseball book. (Side note, Joe Pos appears to be as nice of a man as you would think.) He elaborated a bit on a story that he had briefly talked about in the book, and that concerns the famous catch that Al Gionfriddo made off of Joe DiMaggio in the 1947 World Series. Posnanski initially intended to leave it out of the book, because the film of the catch doesn’t make it look as impressive as its reputation suggests.

Upon doing research he discovered a fascinating twist. The film clip we’ve all seen many times was NOT the actual catch. Which makes sense, in 1947 the stadium would not have been as ringed with cameras the way it would be now. So, the catch was not caught on film. The league wanted visual evidence of the moment, so before the next day’s game they had someone hit fungos to Gionfriddo so that he could simulate what had happened the previous day. That’s why if you look closely at the footage not all of the fans in the stands seemed very excited over what they had just seen. They wanted to get the re-creation over with so that they can get to the actual game to be played. Just a wonderful footnote to one of the more well known moments in baseball history.

Read Of The Week

Behind a paywall, but here’s a tale from the days of NBA yore that’s worth a look if you have access to The Athletic. It involves former NBA big man Clifford Ray, an ill dolphin, and, somehow, Elizabeth Taylor. Enjoy.

A Few Quick Follow Up Notes

The first of the Boras 4 has finally signed a free agent contract, and the destination was so predictable that one must wonder why it took so long to get done. Cody Bellinger is returning to the Cubs on a 3 year deal with 2 opt outs. Opening Day is a lot closer than we think. The sense of urgency is about to really ramp up. It’s one thing for a position player. There’s still plenty of time for a hitter to get prepped for the season. We’re already getting uncomfortably close to the point where a pitcher won’t have enough time to stretch himself out enough to make readiness for Opening Day feasible. This week is crucial. Any pitcher still unsigned by the end of the week will likely need to start the season in extended spring training.

I’m still fascinated by the Yankees’ grooming policy. It amazes me that they continue to act like it’s 1954. I love seeing how the majority of former Yankees make passive aggressive statements at their introductory press conferences with new teams by sporting freshly grown beards. It’s even better with coaches & managers. For Hal Steinbrenner to tell a grown man, who could be older than he is, that he needs to shave in order to work for him is such a pointless power play. I see that Mets manager and former Yankees bench coach is now sporting a goatee. Even better, Toronto bench coach and Yankee icon Don Mattingly has grown out a full gray beard. Looking at him now I can’t help but think that if the team would hire Santa Claus as an assistant hitting coach they would even give him the razor.

I have to believe that before next season the NCAA is finally going to institute new rules to prevent court storming. A couple of weeks after the sport dodged a bullet after a fan inadvertently ran into Caitlin Clark, this weekend Duke player Kyle Filipowski suffered an ankle sprain after a collision with Wake Forest fans. I haven’t seen news about the severity of the injury, but the NCAA can’t continue to temp fate. Will they wait for a player, coach, cheerleader or fan to get seriously hurt before they put the hammer down? Because you can be sure that if/when it happens the stampede of lawyers descending on the campus would be just as massive as the gathering of masses on court following a big victory.

Closing Laughs

That’s all for today. Wishing everyone a wonderful week, and let’s do this again on Wednesday. Peace out!