My Love Affair With Baseball

By Martin McGowan

I love baseball. There is no other way to say it. The crack of the bat on a horsehide ball is a sound unlike any other. The resulting action from the batted ball is thrilling to watch. A player scoops up the ball and in one pirouette he turns and throws the ball across the field to nip the runner before he can reach first base.

The ball might sail out into the outfield and with the grace of a gazelle the outfielder races toward the ball. If he catches it on the run and rolls over on the grass, then holds up the ball in a triumphant gesture, that draws cheers and applause.

As a youngster I was never good enough with the bat or glove to get into any games. I usually ended up on the bench keeping score. That was my fate during seasons of American Legion baseball and high school baseball. At least I learned the marking to put in the scorebook and learned the difference between a hit and an error.

My father was no fan of baseball, but when I was in high school I persuaded him to go to a game with me. It was a game between the early St. Paul Saints and the Kansas City Blues. It was played in Lexington Park, located at Lexington and University.

What I remember most about that game is that it featured the best minor league second base pair at that time. They were Phil Rizzuto and Gerry Priddy for Kansas City. The Kansas City team was a minor league affiliate of the Yankees at that time and it wasn't long before Rizzuto moved up to become one of the most outstanding shortstops in the game.

Across the Mississippi in Minneapolis that town also had a team in the American Association with St. Paul. The Minneapolis Millers, reflecting the milling industry of that city, had a stadium just south of the loop district. It was a bandbox like Fenway Park in Boston. The short field at Fenway is the left field wall while Nicollet Park in Minneapolis had a short right field with a screen on top. Businesses on the east side of Nicollet Avenue put down their awnings on game day with an additional canvas drop to the sidewalk to keep home run balls over that short fence from breaking their store windows. That team had some great hitters like Joe Hauser, who hit more home runs than Roger Maris, of the Yankees.

At one time the Millers had an affiliation with the New York Giants and Willie Mays had a stint in Minneapolis before going to the Giants. When the Millers were affiliated with the Boston Red Sox, we also got to see Ted Williams on his way up.

The Millers and Saints had a natural rivalry. On holidays like Memorial Day and July 4 they would play a double header, with one game in the morning at one city and an afternoon game at the other city.

I took my wife to a Little World Series game at Nicollet Park. The Millers played the Rochester (N.Y.) Redbirds of the International League for the minor league honors. That was the last series played in that park before it was torn down.

In college, Notre Dame had a good baseball team and a well regarded coach, Jake Kline. As a student athletic manager I wanted to be involved with that team but the nearest I got to it was when the football team practiced on the baseball diamond outfield and I had to lug around tackling dummies. However, I spent a lot of time listening to major league baseball games in Chicago 90 miles away. Bob Elson was the broadcaster preceding the legendary Harry Caray.

After graduation I joined my father on his weekly newspaper in western Minnesota. Later I took over the paper when he retired. All this time I did the sports writing and that involved scoring high school baseball games and eventually town team games. At most of the home games I also did the public address announcing and was the official scorer. I recall one home game where I received a scornful look from a distant relative when I scored an error what he considered to be a hit, or was it the other way around? Such are the problems of the official scorer, which continue to this day in the major leagues. On a questionable play the batter wants credit for a hit while the pitcher doesn't want to have one charged to his record.

A Game of Statistics

Baseball is a great game for number crunchers. There is an endless number of statistics that can be produced out of what happens n the field. There are batting averages for hitters, earned run averages for pitchers, errors by the shortstops who field most ground balls and assists by an outfielder. Kirby Puckett, of the Minnesota Twins, often led in this department, throwing out base runners from center field and right field. This requires some explanation.

For convenience in keeping records in the scorebook all positions are given numbers. The numbering system starts with the pitcher as No. 1. Then the numbers go to 2 for the catcher, 3 for the first baseman, 4 for second base. Then the numbers jump over the shortstop to 5 for the third baseman and back to 6 for the shortstop. The outfielders are 7, 8 and 9 for left, center and right field. Many plays are a ball hit to the shortstop who throws to first base. In that sequence the scorebook shows the play as 6-3. The shortstop gets an assist for assisting on the play and the first baseman gets credit for the putout..

Sometimes these statistics can become quite esoteric. The Minneapolis Baseball Review devoted one entire issue to an analysis of the 3-6-3 double play. They noted that this double play is less successful with a right handed first baseman. This is because when a right handed first baseman fields a ground ball he must make an instant decision. Should he be satisfied to put out the batter running to first or should he try for two outs?

If he decides to go for two he is in a poor fielding position to make a throw to second base. The right hander must pivot towards second base to make a good throw or turn completely around to make a good throw with any speed. All this movement consumes precious time which might allow the runner on first base to reach second before the throw as well as allowing the batter to reach first before the ball comes back from second base..

On the other hand a left handed first basemen can scoop the ground ball and is already in a good position to flip the ball from the glove to his left hand and throw to second without a lot of movement.

There is another aspect to this play. If the first baseman throws to second immediately the force play comes into being. The runner is forced out by the shortstop touching second base because he runner has no choice. He must to go second. However, if the first baseman chose to step on first base the batter is put out but the force play is removed. The base runner theoretically has the option of returning to first base because that base is open after the batter has been put out. However, for the base runner to be put out at second he must be tagged by the ball, not merely by stepping on the base. Either way, if the play works the shortstop and firsts baseman each get credit in their records for an assist an d a putout. From all this you can see why addicts of the game have so much fun with statistics.

A Dull Game

My wife thinks baseball is a dull game. "It is just a bunch of people standing around. Nothing happens," she says.

I explain to her that when those players appear to be standing around doing nothing, there is a lot of thinking going on. The manager of the team at bat is debating what he should tell his hitter to do. Should he lay down a bunt or should he hit away? After the decision he signals it to his third base coach, who lets the hitter know what the manager wants. The signal also goes to the first base coach to let him know what play is on. If three is a runner on first base, he is also advised from third base what he is supposed to do if the batter hits the ball or what to do if the batter strikes out.

On the defensive side there is also a lot of thinking going on with the team in the field. The catcher is considering what kind of pitch he should ask the pitcher to throw, curve, fast ball or changeup. He may be getting advice on that from his manager in the dugout with signs. When the pitch is called the pitcher may disagree with the call and shake off the catcher. Then something else will have to be called.

The first baseman is deciding if he should stay close to the base if there is a runner on base or play away for a ground ball. He, too, may be getting advice from his manager on that decision. The second baseman and shortstop talk to each other or signal by a wave of the glove which one will be covering second base if the runner comes that way or if the catcher tries to throw out the runner. The third baseman is also considering how he should play, more to the shortstop position for a left handed batter or guard the line, as they say, by staying close to third base.

The three outfielders also have to consider their next step. They will move to one side or the other depending on whether a batter is right handed or left handed. Depending on where the ball might be hit, one outfielder has to back up the fielder going for the ball. The outfielders have to consider where to throw the ball once they get it. Do they have a chance to catch the runner going around the bases or should they throw behind a runner to prevent the batter from taking more than one base? Of course, a home run settles all those decisions.

All this is a lot of action for what appears to be a dull game. This involves strategy and what the spectator gets out of it is thinking along with the players to see if he guesses what the players will do. The spectator also gets to supply a Bronx cheer of derision if the play is mishandled.

Notable Games

Attending my first major league baseball game came in 1934 when I went to Chicago to attend the World's Fair with my uncle, aunt and cousins. We went to Wrigley Field and saw the Cubs play the Philadelphia Phillies. The most notable event of that game was a triple play, three outs on one play. I remember it went 'around the horn' the long way from third to second to first. It was a real treat to see such a rarity at my first major league game.

In 1947 after attending the Breadloaf Mountain Writers' Conference at Middlebury college in Vermont I managed to see a game at Braves Field, the National League park in Boston. That was before the Braves moved west to Milwaukee and then on to Atlanta.

Despite my wife's boredom with baseball, on a belated honeymoon in 1951 she accompanied me to all the major league games we could find on the trip. We started at Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs and Dodgers before they left Brooklyn. My wife enjoyed watching the crowd.

In Boston we spent one hot afternoon in the center field stands at Fenway Park watching the Red Sox play the New York Yankees. I was thrilled to see Mickey Mantle in right field for the Yankees and Ted Williams in left field for the Sox. Williams was quite a diffident fielder but he hit one shot on one hop into the right field bullpen, where substitute pitchers warm up. That was the longest part of a weird playing field.

In Washington we went to see the Senators play before they moved to Minnesota and became the Twins. There were two outstanding players on that team, Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison. Killebrew hit some tremendous home runs for the Twins. Allison was also a greet hither and he made the outstanding catch in left field in the 1965 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. This was in a game featuring Sandy Koufax pitching for the Dodgers in a game played in Minnesota. When Allison was crippled by a muscular disease he had a summer home on the same lake in northern Minnesota where I live.

In 1957 I took my two oldest sons, then only 13 and 12 years old, to three World Series games at Milwaukee involving the Yankees. They were good games and the boys can still recite what happened there. What I most remember is that our seats were in the row in front of Bob Feller, the famed Cleveland fireballer. He had his sons at the games, too.

Right after World War II before Minnesota had a major league team the state had several leagues of semi-pro teams. They were allowed to import a professional pitcher and catcher but the other players had to be locals. They had lighted fields for night baseball and drew some large crowds. Rudy York, of the Detroit Tigers, was one of the players in this league at the end of his major league career.

Before the war some of our local talent played semi-pro ball. Some of them played with the House of David team. This was a traveling team where the players had long beards. We used to think that would be a great life, but in actuality it was a hard life that didn't pay much.

A native son from our little town in western Minnesota who made it big in the major leagues is Jerry Koosman. He is a farm boy who came out of the many teams who played what was called 'pasture pool,' in the agricultural area. When he played American Legion ball with one of my sons, the coach put him on first base because he was left handed. When he was in military service it was found he could pitch. From there he progressed to the New York Mets. Left handed pitchers are a premium and he was one of the best. He won the final game for the Mets to win the 1969 World Series. Ten years later in 1979 he won 20 games for the Minnesota Twins.

We had some other players in our town who played pro ball in the Northern League before the war. That league folded with the war but in recent years the Northern League has returned. The St. Paul Saints are an outstanding example of this brand of ball. Owned by Mike Veeck, son of Bill Veeck, the innovative owner of several major league teams, and comedian Bill Murray, the younger Veeck follows his father's pattern of entertaining the customers. Bill Veeck used a one armed player and a midget during the lean war years with the St. Lois Browns. The younger Veeck used chasing pigs and other gimmicks to entertain the fans. Veeck has sold his interest in the Saints and has bought into the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Canaries, hoping to parlay this into acquiring a major league team.

Coming Full Circle

Major league baseball finally has a permanent commissioner plucked from the ranks of team owners. The owners are paying such obscene salaries to players as a result of a strike that this results in higher ticket prices. A combination of the strike and high player salaries discouraged all but the most dedicated baseball fans from attending. The home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa captured the attention of the nation and brought the fans back to the ball parks and restored some of the lost credibility of the game.

At the same time the St. Paul Saints charge modest ticket prices and sell out every game. They get 5,000 fans who enjoy the game and the caliber of ball that is played. After a brief stint with the Saints, Darrell Strawberry played his way back into the major leagues with the Yankees.

The Atlantic Coast League has been doing the same on the east coast. A new stadium in Bridgeport, Conn., has brought fans back to home town ball in that community and restored community pride to a town suffering from an economic decline.

At this rate the circle may be complete and home town ball will return. Baseball is the national pastime. It should be seen by as many as possible. That may be possible only with the spread of minor league teams playing entertaining baseball at reasonable prices.

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