NBA Quiz: In 1984, who were the two players selected ahead of
Michael Jordan in the NBA draft?
NHL Quiz: Since 1950 (including that year), which city has
garnered the most Stanley Cup titles: Detroit, Toronto, Boston,
or Chicago? Answers below.
What May Have Been…Baseball and World War II
As we honored those who served in our nation”s armed forces the
other day, it”s a good time to also take a look back at some Hall
of Fame baseball careers.and the years lost to World War II.
You talk about bar chat, print this up, baseball geeks, and take it
to your favorite watering hole.
Again, the following 8 players are all Hall of Famers.
Pitchers
Ted Lyons: Finished his career with a 260-230 mark while
toiling for the Chicago White Sox.
1941: 12-10
1942: 14-6…Lyons was 41 years old and also had a 2.10 ERA.
1943-45: military service. Granted, Lyons wasn”t young, but in
1946, he returned at the age of 45 to go 1-4 for the Sox.
However, consider this. In 43 innings, he walked just 9 and had
a 2.30 ERA. Thus, for the 3 seasons Lyons” missed, I give him
an additional 25-30 victories, minimum. Does he get to 300?
Red Ruffing: 273-225…spends most of his career with the Red
Sox and Yankees.
1941: 15-6
1942: 14-7…at age 38.
1943-44: military service
1945: 7-3
1946: 5-1, at age 42. Does Ruffing squeeze out 27 victories to
reach 300 during the two seasons he lost?
Warren Spahn: 363-245. Spahn came up in 1942 with the
Boston Braves, appearing in just 4 games with no W/L record.
1943-45: military service
1946: 8-5, pitching just half the season.
1947: 21-10. Would Spahn have blossomed in ”43 or ”44? We”ll
never know. But consider this. He lost three and one-half
seasons to the army and still finished with 363 career victories,
#5 on the all time list. He certainly would have passed #3
Christy Mathewson (374) and maybe #2 Walter Johnson at 417.
Bob Feller: To me this is the most intriguing case. Feller
finished his sterling career with a 266-162 mark.
1940: 27-11 with 261 Ks…at the age of 21!
1941: 25-13 with 260 Ks
1942-44: military service
1945: 5-3 in half a season
1946: 26-15 with 348 Ks!
1947: 20-11. Feller conservatively wins 70 over the time he lost.
He then moves past #10 John Clarkson (327) and #9 Steve
Carlton (329). He also fans 700+ (easily) to move comfortably
into Top Ten in that category.
Hitters
Joe DiMaggio: Lifetime – 361 HR 1537 RBI .325 BA 2214 H
1941: .357 BA with 30 HR – 125 RBI
1942: .305, 21-114
1943-45: military service
1946: .290, 25-95…plagued by injuries ”46-”47
1947: .315, 20-97
1948: .320, 39-155. Joe D accumulates another 500 hits during
the time he lost, possibly finishing with 420 HR and 1850+ RBI.
[1860 RBI is #10 all time, Mel Ott.]
Hank Greenberg: Lifetime – 331 HR 1276 RBI
1939: 33 HR 112 RBI
1940: 40 – 150
1941: Just 67 at bats
1942-44: military service
1945: 13 – 60…only 85 games.
1946: 44 – 127. Greenberg is easily over 440 lifetime homers,
possibly up to 480 or so.
Johnny Mize: Lifetime – 359 HR 1337 RBI
1941: 16 HR 100 RBI
1942: 26 – 110
1943-45: military service
1946: 22 – 70.101 games
1947: 51 – 138…age 34
1948: 40 – 125. What happens with him? 450+ homers? And
1650 RBIs gets him into Top Twenty lifetime in that category.
You don”t normally think of Mize as an all time great, but he
was.
And then there”s.
Ted Williams: Lifetime – 521 HR 1839 RBI .344 BA 2654 H
2019 walks 1798 runs scored
1941: .406 BA 37 HR 120 RBI
1942: .356, 36 – 137…Triple Crown
1943-45: military service
1946: .342, 38-123
1947: .343, 32 – 114…Triple Crown
And then Williams missed basically all of 1952 and 1953 to the
Korean War! [He had 14 homers over those two seasons.]
So for 1943-45, let”s give him 105 HR and 360 RBI, then
another 55 HR and 200 RBI for ”52-”53. [His power numbers
were trailing off a bit by then.]
Williams then ends up with 680 HR and 2400 RBI. In the latter
category, Hank Aaron is #1 all time with 2297 (Ted”s 1839 rank
him #12).
As for hits, because Williams walked a ton, he would have
averaged about 160 a season.so let”s give him 480 for ”43-”45,
and another 250 for ”52-”53 (he did play 37 games in ”53
with 37 hits). 3380+ hits lifetime would put him #8.
Walks? Williams and the Babe defined the term, long before
Henderson (not that we are taking anything away from
Rickey”s own incredible accomplishments). Ted is currently
#3 all time with 2019. He had 145 walks in both ”41 and ”42. So
let”s tack on 390 for ”43-”45 (just being conservative) and
another 225 for ”52-”53. That”s 2600+, a mark no one ever hits.
[Rickey will end up with around 2200, if he plays in 2002.]
Finally, runs scored. Ted led the league in ”41 and ”42 with 135
and 141 respectively. Let”s give him 125 per for ”43-”45, and
175 for ”52 – ”53…for another 550. With 1798 lifetime, he is
currently #14 lifetime. Getting him up to 2350 places him first
(Cobb is #1 all time at 2245, which Henderson is threatening).
Bottom line, not only is Ted Williams a great American for his
incredible service to his country (that”s a separate story some
day), but Ted Williams is possibly the Greatest Ever…and the
numbers would have proved it.
The Zombies
Here at the world headquarters of StocksandNews, as well as at
the home office, one of the most frequently played groups on the
Bose Wave Radio with CD is The Zombies. Unless you get one
of their greatest hits compilations (“Absolutely the Best: The
Zombies” is a good start), you can”t begin to appreciate how
good they were. After all, they only had 3 Top 40 Billboard
singles in the U.S., but all three did reach the Top 6.
Formed in Hertfordshire, England (just north of London), Paul
Atkinson, Rod Argent and Hugh Grundy met at grammar school
(really high school by American standards) and later added Colin
Blunstone and Paul Arnold (quickly replaced by Chris White).
Blunstone and Argent were the vocalists.
It”s 1963 and most of the lads are about 18 years of age. But
they were an intelligent bunch. Argent and Arnold had been
accepted into university and the others had regular jobs. [Arnold
became a doctor.] The commitment wasn”t really there when, at
the last minute, they entered a local rock contest and won it.
Soon, they were auditioning with Decca records, and, typical of
these times, in less than a year (July 1964) they had released
“She”s Not There,” which almost immediately became a
worldwide smash, peaking at #2 in the U.S.
In December ”64, U.S. immigration officials banned the group
from playing in the States for a few days because, it seems,
authorities were concerned over the number of UK groups that
were “invading” America to work. Eventually, the Zombies
received permission and they played New York for ten days with
the Shangri-Las and the Shirelles.
In 1965, “Tell Her No” hit #6 in the U.S. and more touring
followed. [I”m always fascinated by the tours themselves. I
know that some of you had the pleasure of attending the best
concerts in music history, all for about $2 back then. For
example, in October ”64, the Zombies were touring the UK with
Dionne Warwick, the Searchers and the Isley Brothers.]
But the group was frustrated by its lack of acceptance in the UK
itself and the record companies were dictating what they should
play. Finally, in 1967 the Zombies were allowed to record an
album their way and the result was “Odessey and Oracle.” The
weird spelling is probably the result of the sleeve designer
getting it wrong…seriously. There are some who say this is one
of the Top 3 rock albums of all time, right up there with
“Revolver” and “Pet Sounds.” But when it was released in 1968,
there were no Zombies! They had disbanded at the end of ”67.
“Odessey and Oracle” received critical acclaim and the album
had a song, “Time of the Season,” which began to receive
increasing airplay. Actually, Blood, Sweat and Tears” leader Al
Kooper was the one who convinced CBS to release the album
and the single. From there it became a classic case of a Mid
West station picking up the tune, with word of mouth propelling
it up the charts. By early ”69, “Time…” was peaking at #3. The
Zombies were offered all kinds of incentives to reform, including
$20,000 for a single concert, but the group declined them all.
[Also, it was during this time that a bunch of dirtball groups went
around the U.S. using the Zombies name…imagine how many
suckers thought they were seeing the originals!]
And so it came to pass (this is always a good phrase to use when
the editor has no clue where he is taking the story…kind of gets
the brain flowing, know what I”m sayin”?), Rod Argent went off
to form the band bearing his name (big ego), which would have
one hit, “Hold Your Head Up,” written by Chris White, which
peaked at #5.
Blunstone, who had gone back to the insurance industry, tried his
hand at a solo career with limited success. Atkinson went into
computer programming, Arnold became a doctor and White,
after the aforementioned songwriting, helped discover the group
Dire Straits.
But you want to know why I did my little piece on the Zombies
today? Because I saw earlier in the week in a gossip column that
Springsteen and Silvio Dante (err, Little Steven) had attended a
concert in the Village which featured Argent and Blunstone! I
wish I knew about this earlier…now I”ll keep my eyes peeled.
Top 3 songs for the week of 6/2/62: #1 “I Can”t Stop Loving
You” (Ray Charles) #2 “Stranger On The Shore” (Mr. Acker
Bilk) #3 “Soldier Boy” (The Shirelles)
NBA Quiz: 1984 draft: #1 Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston) #2 Sam
Bowie (Portland) #3 MJ #4 Sam Perkins (Dallas) #5 Charles
Barkley (Philadelphia)…and John Stockton #16 (Utah).
NHL Quiz: Stanley Cup titles since 1950: Detroit, 6 (last one,
1998); Toronto, 5 (last one ”67); Boston, 2 (last – ”72); Chicago,
one (”61).
Congratulations to Temple”s John Chaney for being selected to
the Basketball Hall of Fame. No one is more deserving. He
takes “projects” and molds them into men. Just look at Aaron
McKie.
Next Bar Chat, Monday…Casey Martin and Jenna Bush.
Actually, the latter is just a tease…I mean the use of her name is
a tease, not her, personally…actually, oh, forget it.
