The Baseball Digest Archives

Jul 01, 2024

April 1981

The April 1981 issue served as the season preview, with the standard array of spring training rosters and season predictions. As we know, 1981 was a season unlike any other up to that point; a lengthy midseason strike caused the season to be split in two, with the division leaders for each half season moving into the playoffs. That created the odd quirk of the Cincinnati Reds finishing with the best overall record in the league, yet missing out on the expanded postseason because they finished in 2nd place in the NL West in each half. So, even though predictions are tailor made for freezing cold takes second guessing, for this season it’s unfair to play a game of gotcha on the editors of Baseball Digest. For the record, they picked the eventual World Series champion Dodgers to win the NL West, and the AL champion Yankees to finish second in their division behind the Brewers.

This issue contains 2 separate surveys which produced let’s call it interesting results. In the first, a survey of executives asked this question - if you could have one player to build the franchise around, who would it be? There was a tie at the top. One was George Brett - good choice, he was at the very peak of his career & had flirted with hitting .400 the season before. The other? Garry Templeton. That selection did not age well. He was a wonderful hitter, with the caveat that he was helped by playing on turf. But his reputation would soon plummet, especially once he was traded for Ozzie Smith a year later.

The issue also included a survey of the 10 senior members of the BBWAA and asked them to choose the game’s all-time MVP, or more specifically of the previous half-century - so, no Ruth, Gehrig, Cobb. The format was just like the annual MVP vote; rank the top 10 with the points distributed 14-9-8-7, all the way down to 1. Joe DiMaggio was the runaway winner, receiving 8 out of 10 first place votes. Of the other 2 first place votes, 1 went to Dizzy Dean (?) and the other to Lou Boudreau (??) Nothing against Dizzy Dean, but Dizzy Dean as the best of the past fifty years? Neither Dean nor Boudreau received much support from writers who did not choose them as #1, so neither tallied very many points otherwise. The remainder of the top 5 in order were Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson.

Briefly touching on other articles, despite what the first entry on the table of contents would lead one to believe, Bob Horner did not become a home run king. Willie McCovey’s personal all-star team largely consisted of his National League contemporaries from the 1960’s. And being that this came out in 1981, the game that Bill Buckner will never forget is not the one you would think, it’s a 5 RBI game he had while playing for the Cubs in 1975. In a bit of foreshadowing, he discussed his chronic ankle problems.

I’ll end with this issue’s reprint of Gene Mack’s ballpark cartoons, this time of old Comiskey Park. Charlie Comiskey as The Noblest Roman?

So… How F***ed Are We?

I did not watch the debate, but it did not take very long until I started receiving notifications telling me how badly it was going. There’s no sugarcoating things, no spin, it was a terrible performance from Joe Biden. Remembering that incumbent Presidents have a history of doing poorly in their first debate is no reassurance either, as Biden affirmed many of his preconceived negatives. It’s time for damage control.

At least for now the Democratic party is publicly circling the wagons, and most crucially Barack Obama quickly defended Biden. There are a few crucial issues to keep in mind when it comes to possibly replacing him on the ticket. The first is that the uncomfortable conversation about his age and ability to serve another 4 years needed to have been held a year ago. Which leads to the second - there is only one plausible replacement for Biden if it comes to that, and that is Kamala Harris.

Set aside the fact that this year’s Democratic convention is being held in Chicago. I don’t think anyone wants to revisit history by holding a highly contested, brokered convention in the Windy City. What could go wrong? Also keep in mind that turnout will be so crucial in such a close election. Elbowing Harris out of the way to make room for a different bright, shiny object would have a devastating effect on African-American turnout.

I have mentioned this before, but few things are as revealing as a Presidential campaign. Recent history is filled with politicians that had high ambitions but fizzled as candidates. Remember the certainty over Scott Walker? There was a time when everyone was certain that Jeb! was on his way to the White House. The election is just over 4 months away, that is nowhere near enough time for a last minute savior to come in, introduce him or herself to a national electorate, and unite the assorted demographic groups within the Democratic coalition. The only youngish Dems who have been sufficiently vetted are Harris and possibly Pete Buttigieg. Any of the other half dozen or so rising Democrats (Whitmer, Newsom, Warnock, Shapiro, Pritzker, Moore) have impressive credentials, but are still untested at this level.

So, if Biden does decide to step aside, it’s Harris or bust. I think the people who belittle her are misinformed. True, her own run for the nomination didn’t go anywhere, but keep in mind that Biden himself unsuccessfully ran twice before finally grabbing the brass ring. The VP job is a thankless one, and she has been in a particularly uncomfortable position. With the 50/50 split in the Senate, she has had to remain close to Washington in case she is needed to cast tie breaking votes. That has left her little opportunity for her to make a mark. She is a loyal soldier, and if a voter likes Biden’s policies but is uncomfortable with giving him 4 more years, his obvious replacement is sitting right there. I pause to acknowledge that there are likely a few reasons why certain people are hesitant to embrace her but will not say why out loud.

I will also add this - yes, Joe Biden is old and he is only going to get older. He’s the President, so we see him on TV almost every day and we have all watched him age in real time. Let’s not kid ourselves, the Former Guy is equally diminished both physically and mentally. The more visible he will be as the campaign goes on, the more evident that will be. He is a convicted felon who is telling everyone ahead of time just how much of an existential threat he is to democracy, yet I have not heard many somber discussions saying that he needs to drop out for the sake of the country.

Some RIP’s

Over the past week we have lost a few noteworthy people whose passings are worth acknowledging. We begin with the loss of another member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, as the great Orlando Cepeda has died at the age of 86. The 1958 NL Rookie of the Year, he became the second Puerto Rican native to make an impact in the major leagues following Roberto Clemente. He was a perennial all-star for the San Francisco Giants, leading the NL in home runs & RBI in 1961. He would be traded to St. Louis in 1966, and it was with the Cardinals where he won the MVP award in 1967 as well as a World Series title. I was too young to have seen him at his best, by the time I knew who he was it was at the end of his career when he was serving as the DH for the Red Sox. It took him longer than it should have to make it into the Hall, an arrest for possession of weed probably offended some of the pearl clutchers in the BBWAA. The man known as the Baby Bull was finally selected by the Veterans Committee in 1999. Viva Cepeda!

Martin Mull was around forever, and although he never quite became a star, he was a reliable presence in the comedy scene. He first caught my eye on the rare occasions when I stayed up late enough to catch an episode of Fernwood Tonight, and he and Fred Willard made for a great team. Mull seemed to specialize in portraying smug characters, perhaps best exemplified by his role as Teri Garr’s boss in Mr. Mom, or as Colonel Mustard in the Clue movie. He also had a long run on Roseanne as Roseanne’s boss, a gay character in a time when an LGBTQ character in a sitcom was more likely to be the butt of a joke than a fully fleshed out person such as his was. Arguably my favorite role of his was Gene Parmesan, the Bluth family’s private eye in Arrested Development. This is how big of an impression that character made; I was stunned to realize that he only appeared in one episode during the show’s original run; the bulk of his appearances were in the revival. Mull was 80.

We also lost one of the great That Guys with the passing of Bill Cobbs. A few weeks back I had written about the TV show I’ll Fly Away and he did some outstanding work there as Regina Taylor’s father. With a deep voice, imposing presence, and a mature vibe (he was one of those actors who always seemed old even when he was relatively young) he frequently made for a strong authority figure. One of the hallmark qualities of a great That Guy is if he is so committed to the work that he gives a professional effort even if the material isn’t exactly top notch. Cobbs was in Air Bud, for goodness sake. But you knew that when you saw him on screen, whether it was as the security guard in Night At the Museum, or as a record company exec in That Thing You Do, that you were going to see some great work. My personal favorite role of his might be the mystical clock operator in The Hudsucker Proxy. I had a chance to meet him once, and he seemed to have been a very nice gentleman. Cobbs was 90.

50 Years Ago - Radio City

I have no way of proving this but I’m fairly certain that when the assorted alternative and college radio bands studied at the School Of Rock they were instructed to tell every interviewer that their chief influences were the Velvet Underground and Big Star. There is a key difference between those two seminal bands. The VU eventually became a radio staple, with a few songs in the classic rock canon, but Big Star never gained much of a foothold on radio. This despite the fact that co-leaders Alex Chilton and Chris Bell were master pop craftsmen. They knew how to write great hooks, but success for Big Star just never happened. It’s ironic that the 2 songs of theirs that casual fans may know are not recognized from their own versions, but via covers. September Gurls was an album cut on the Bangles’ Different Light album, and a cover of In the Street was the theme song for That 70’s Show.

Radio City was the second Big Star release, and the last to be released while they were still a band. Chris Bell had already departed by this point, leaving Alex Chilton to handle the majority of the songwriting duties. Chilton had one of the more interesting careers in pop history. He gained fame while still a teenager as the lead singer of the Box Tops, hitting the top of the charts with the classic The Letter. That deep soulful voice of his gave him an air of precocity. He went on, both with Big Star, and with his solo career, to carve out a niche as one of the great pop eccentrics.

Big Star was a band whose importance was stronger than their record sales were. Generations of power pop bands owe an obvious gratitude to Big Star, and the Replacements memorably wrote the song Alex Chilton in honor of the man. Radio City still usually ranks high on various critic’s polls of the top albums of all time. I wouldn’t personally rank it all that highly, but it is a pleasant listen filled with catchy tunes.

Tending The Herd

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