NASCAR Quiz: Name the eight drivers to win at least 3 Sprint Cup (Winston Cup, Nextel Cup, etc.) Series Championships. Answer below.
[I was in the Poconos the past few days, playing golf, freezing my butt off and quaffing domestic, thus some oldies but goodies from past chats as I have basically been out of touch.]
In the Fall issue of “Memories and Dreams,” the magazine for Baseball Hall of Fame members such as moi, there is a story on ballplayers and missed time as a result of World War II and Korea. Well, I first broached this topic back in 2001 and most recently ran the following over two years ago, but it’s worth repeating.
Gabriel Schechter writes for the Hall that of 427 players listed in the Neft-Cohen encyclopedia who played at least one game before World War II and lost at least one season to military service, 213 missed three or more seasons.
[Because of when the following was originally written, some of the stats may be a little out of date, due to pitchers like Maddux and Clemens moving up the career lists…or Barry Bonds and his numbers.]
Back on April 14, 1942, World War II was not going well for the United States and the Allies, but it was Opening Day for the baseball season nonetheless. What followed was the fact that over the ensuing four seasons the sport, like other American enterprises, saw its rosters decimated as players were drafted for the war effort.
The Times’ Michael Shapiro once wrote of the first game in ’42 between the Washington Senators and New York Yankees. “When the game was done, people left quickly, anticipating the air raid blackout set for 9 o’clock that night.”
So let’s take a look back at some Hall of Fame baseball careers and the years lost to World War II.
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 3 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 (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 the Top Ten in that category, until 2002 when Randy Johnson zips by, displacing Feller.
Hitters
Joe DiMaggio: Lifetime – 361 HR 1537 RBI .325 BA 2,214 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 in just 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 in only 101 games.
1947: 51-138 age 34.
1948: 40-125. What happens with him? 450+ home runs? 1650 RBI? The latter would have gotten him in the 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.
Williams then 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, and another 55 HR and 200 RBI for ’52-’53. [His power numbers were trailing off 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 ranks 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 Rickey Henderson and Barry Bonds. 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 even Barry Bonds probably doesn’t reach.
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 #15 lifetime. Getting him up to 2350 places him first.
Bottom line, not only was Ted Williams a great American for his incredible service to his country, but he’s possibly the greatest ever and the numbers would have backed it up.
And regarding one of my favorites, Bob Feller, following are a few excerpts from a 2007 interview by Jeff Idelson of the Baseball Hall of Fame with Feller, who at 90 has now been a member of Cooperstown for half his life.
HOF: Talk about your childhood and baseball.
Feller: We played on the hog lot and in the barn, before my dad built a field a quarter mile from the house on top of the hill overlooking the Raccoon River and all the Oak trees .
I played four years of American Legion ball, where I used to face Nile Kinnick, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1939 with Iowa. I became the first Legion graduate to make the Hall of Fame. I had a great childhood, and the neighborhood kids would catch me before school started. I also liked to throw a rubber ball off the roof of the barn and house and catch it when it came back down.
HOF: You made your major league debut at age 17 in an exhibition game against the Cardinals in Cleveland, one month after your junior year of high school ended.
Feller: I was living in a rooming house the Indians paid for, and pitching in an amateur league, about Class-A level, for Rosenbloom’s clothing store at 321 Euclid Avenue. In those days you could buy a three-piece suit, two pairs of pants and a coat for $25, and have the suit tailored when you went out. The Cardinals came to town and (Cy) Slapnicka [who discovered Feller] told Steve O’Neill, the Indians manager, that he wanted me to pitch the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, or at least give it a try. O’Neill came out and caught me. I struck out eight batters and allowed a couple of hits, walks and a run. I met (Dizzy) Dean and had my picture taken with him.
I was then supposed to go to Fargo to start my career for $75 per month. Instead, I went to Philadelphia and joined the Indians, the day before the All-Star Game. I got dressed that first day and was in the dugout when Connie Mack walked across from the other dugout. We met behind the batting cage. He stuck out his hand and said, “Welcome to the American League, Mr. Feller. I hope you have a good career.”
HOF: You made your first start against the St. Louis Browns in August and struck out 15 batters. Three weeks later, you struck out 17, breaking Rube Waddell’s American League record and tying Dean’s major league mark. Were you surprised with your success?
Feller: I never had any idea that I would not be a major league player, from the time I was nine years old. I played third, short and second and had two left feet and 10 thumbs, but I had a pretty good arm. If I could catch the ball, I could throw it from one cornfield to the next. I practiced long-distance throwing with my dad out in the pasture. I would take a beamish – a grain bag – to school full of catcher equipment, bats and balls, and we would play at the noon hour. Baseball was my life, and it still is.
HOF: You threw your first of three no-hitters on Opening Day in 1940. You thought you were lucky.
Feller: I didn’t have all that great stuff that day. It’s not tough to pitch a no-hitter if you hang around long enough and pitch enough games. You will always pitch an inning when you don’t allow any hits – you just have to string nine of them in a row. There’s a lot of luck in this game. Whether its 10, 50 or 90 percent. I don’t know. But there’s a lot of luck in this game and in life. Life’s not always fair.
HOF: How did you learn about Pearl Harbor, and did you hesitate when you chose to enlist?
Feller: I was leaving the farm to go to the Palmer House hotel in Chicago to sign my contract for the 1942 season. Most of my contracts were signed based on how many fans we would draw at home, and how many games I would win. Starting at 15 wins, I would get $2,500 for every five wins. As I crossed the river on Route 6 outside of Davenport, Iowa, I heard about Pearl Harbor on the radio. I had known this day would come since 1939.
I knew Gene Tunney, athletics director for the Navy, Jack Dempsey, athletics director at the Coast Guard, and I knew Frank Knox, who was secretary of the Navy. Instead of going to see Slapnicka, I called Tunney at home on Sunday. He flew to Chicago Monday, and I was sworn in on that Tuesday. I reported to boot camp the next day.
HOF: You served aboard the Battleship U.S.S. Alabama. Did playing baseball, a team sport, help?
Feller: Being in sports had nothing to do with being a good sailor. We had a baseball team aboard the Alabama. We played other ships and had the best team in the Pacific. We played in places like New Hebrides, the Fijis, Ulithi, Kwadule, Eniwetok and other islands across the Pacific.
In 1944, we crossed the equator 28 times. I was a gun captain. We did a lot of practicing, like in sports. You play like you practice. So when we got into a conflict, we had practiced. We had a lot of very good anti-aircraft gunners. We never lost a man to enemy action, and we were decorated eight times.
Admiral Nimitz, who ran the Pacific War for the Navy and did a great job, radioed our ship and asked the captain if I would play in the Army-Navy World Series in Honolulu. Nimitz wanted to beat the Army. Well, we were far into the Pacific, stopping in places like Guam. I told the captain that I wasn’t really in condition, that we had more important things to do, and I wasn’t going to go. I asked the captain to wire Admiral Nimitz and
thank him for the invitation, but I told him that I would see him when the war was won.
HOF: That 1946 season, all 26 wins came on three days rest, pitching for a team that finished 18 games under .500. In your 15 losses, the Indians scored 16 runs and you were shutout six times. You pitched your second no-hitter and had two one-hitters. You struck out 348 batters.
Feller: I pitched 10 shutouts and was shutout six times. The motto was, “Hey Bob, we got you a run, hold ‘em!” And then everyone on the bench would laugh. I walked out to the mound, won some and lost some. I didn’t lose 162 games in my career by accident. Good competition is what it’s all about, and baseball is a great game.
HOF: What did you think of Bill Veeck, your owner?
Feller: Bill was not money hungry. He loved baseball, and he loved the attention. He knew the game, and he brought all the minor league promotions to the big leagues. He never took himself too seriously. He loved life. He was a good baseball man, and he paid his players very well. He didn’t have any enemies at all. The only mistake he ever made in my book was putting (3-foot, 7-inch midget) Eddie Gaedel in a game, which made a mockery of the competition.
HOF: You knew Ronald Reagan for nearly 75 years.
Feller: “Dutch” was recreating games in Des Moines for WHO Radio, and Wheaties was the sponsor. The year before that, he was with WOC in Davenport. I got to be very friendly with Nancy and him over the years. We’d go out for dinner in California after exhibition games in October. I’d watch him on location making movies for Republic and Warner Brothers. I didn’t really care for Jane Wyman, who was a big deal in those days. She didn’t treat “Dutch” as well as I thought she should. I visited him many times in the White House, too.
He once sent me a letter from the hospital, after he had broken his leg playing in a game among actors at Gilmore Field in Hollywood. He had laid a bunt down and the pitcher tagged him and knocked him down. He (Reagan) asked for an autographed baseball for a 9-year-old kid whose dad had committed suicide. I sent him one signed by the team.
About 30 years later when he was president, I sent him the letter. He sent a note back asking why I had sent it to him and not kept it, and I wrote back and said, “Mr. President, I thought you might make something out of yourself. Someday.” He got a big laugh out of that.
—Angels-Yanks, Phillies-Dodgers…the matchups many baseball fans wanted, but now some of us want to see Dodgers-Yankees in the Series.
But give the Rockies, 3-1 losers to the Phils, a ton of credit after their 18-28 start. Manager Clint Hurdle was replaced and then Jim Tracy guided the Rockies to a super 74-42 record the rest of the way and the wildcard.
–What a great Monday Night Football game, unless you were a Jets fan. What happened to our freakin’ defense, Rex?! Drat! Everyone is using the same phrase, we laid an egg and now the criticism of Ryan\’s style is coming fast and furious.
—Al Martino, a k a Johnny Fontaine of “The Godfather” fame, died at the age of 82. Martino recorded pop hits such as “Spanish Eyes” and “Volare.”
–And we note the passing of former New York Giants hurler Larry Jansen, 89. Jansen had a fine 122-89 career mark, including 96 wins over a five-year period and led the league with 23 wins in the historic 1951 season.
—Wake Forest extended basketball coach Dino Gaudio’s contract through the 2013-2014 season. I understand going for continuity and how you don’t want to hurt recruiting, but it made sense to wait a bit before handing Dino a big prize when he hasn’t done anything, a la Barack Obama…not that I’m comparing the two….Gaudio at least having a winning record thus far.
“A 7-year-old Ohio boy playing a game of backyard football was tackled by a deer.
“Brandon Hiles says he encountered the buck when the ball rolled into woods while he was playing with friends Saturday in Wintersville, about 125 miles east of Columbus. The boy says the buck ran at him and flipped him with its antlers, leaving bruises and a gash.
“His 9-year-old friend Wyatt Pugh [ed. no relation to former football great Jethro Pugh] beat the deer with a stick to make it go away.
“Wintersville Police Officer Art Fowler Jr. says there were actually two bucks in the area gearing for a fight, and Brandon was attacked when he inadvertently got between them.”
How did the Wintersville police know a fight was in the offing? Wiretaps, of course. Brad K. adds that Wyatt’s actions brought back fond memories of his own youth, “when we’d play touch football and beat each other with sticks.”
–I saw the story of the man losing an arm to an alligator while playing golf in South Carolina, but Shu reminded me I hadn’t made note of it. The unidentified 77-year-old golfer was playing on Ocean Creek Golf Course on Fripp Island, S.C., when he leaned down to pick up his ball and didn’t notice a 10-foot alligator nearby. So the gator dragged him into a pond, applied ye olde death roll on the poor guy and yanked his arm off. Thankfully, the victim’s friends were able to get help, the alligator was killed, and the man’s arm taken out of the gator’s stomach and placed in a cooler with assorted domestic and premium beers.
–Jeff B. wanted me to note the passing of wrestler Lou Albano, 76. That’s Captain Lou Albano.
Top 3 songs for the week 10/12/68: #1 “Hey Jude” (The Beatles) #2 “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (Jeannie C. Riley) #3 “Fire” (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown)…and…#4 “Little Green Apples” (O.C. Smith) #5 “Girl Watcher” (The O’Kaysions) #6 “Midnight Confessions” (The Grass Roots) #7 “My Special Angel” (The Vogues) #8 “I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You” (The Bee Gees) #9 “Over You” (Gary Puckett and The Union Gap) #10 “Slip Away” (Clarence Carter)
NASCAR Championship Quiz Answer: The eight to win at least 3 titles are:
Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty, 7; Jeff Gordon, 4; Jimmie Johnson, David Pearson, Lee Petty, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough, 3.
And I just saw that NASCAR selected its first five inductees into the new Hall of Fame, soon to be opened in Charlotte which will become a must see for yours truly:
Bill France, Sr. (NASCAR founder), Bill France Jr. (NASCAR president 1972-2000), Dale Earnhardt, Junior Johnson, and Richard Petty.
We had been told there would be five initial inductees and I guess my only problem with this list is the omission of David Pearson over Bill France Jr. Richard Petty, for one, was not real happy that his rival isn’t going in with him. Pearson is one of the most underrated athletes of his generation.
