National~ Pastime
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'II Welcome to baseball's past, as vigor TNP, ous, discordant, and fascinating as that ======.==1 of the nation whose pastime is cele brated in these pages. And to those who were with us for TNP's debut last fall, welcome back. A good many ofyou, we suspect, were introduced to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) with that issue, inasmuchas the membership of the organization leapt from 1600 when this column was penned last year to 4400 today. Ifyou are not already one of our merry band ofbaseball buffs, we ==========~THE-::::::::::::================== hope you will considerjoining. Details about SABR mem bership and other Society publications are on the inside National ~ Pastime back cover. A REVIEW OF BASEBALL HISTORY What's new this time around? New writers, for one (excepting John Holway and Don Nelson, who make triumphant return appearances). Among this year's crop is that most prolific ofauthors, Anon., who hereby goes The Best Fielders of the Century, Bill Deane 2 under the nom de plume of "Dr. Starkey"; his "Ballad of The Day the Reds Lost, George Bulkley 5 Old Bill Williams" is a narrative folk epic meriting com The Hapless Braves of 1935, Don Nelson 10 parison to "Casey at the Bat." No less worthy ofattention Out at Home,jerry Malloy 14 is this year's major article, "Out at Home," an exam Louis Van Zelst in the Age of Magic, ination of how the color line was drawn in baseball in john B. Holway 30 1887, and its painful consequences for the black players Sal Maglie: A Study in Frustration, then active in Organized Baseball. Its author,JerryMalloy, Herman Kaufinan 34 is quite real though, in publishing circles until now, as The Joe Wood Scrapbook, Debra A. Dagavarian unknown as old Anon. and Mark Rucker 39 Also new with this issue---and most welcome-is a The Great Days, the Great Stars, Gene Karst 48 far-flung staffofeditorial and design associates, listed at The Ballad of Old Bill Williams, "Dr. Starkey" 52 the right. Gentlemen, thankyou. And copious thanks go to Dean Coughenour, who again shepherded TNP to your The Freshman Class of 1964, Merritt Clifton 59 mailbox with extraordinary wisdom, care, and patience. The Making of a Baseball Radical, Cynthia Bass 63 Thanks as well to National Baseball Hall of Fame Li The Later Years ofJohn M. Ward, Lee Lowenfish 66 brarian Tom Heitz, and photographers Mike Saporito and William Ellsworth Hoy, 1862-1961, Joseph Levy, who photographed the work of art which joseph M. Overfield 70 adorns our covers. Bowing Out On Top, james D. Smith III 73 Which brings us to something else that is new: Mark Acrostic Puzzle, jiffrey Neuman 81 Rucker's "The Seamless Web," a stadium and twenty What's in a Name?, Doug Simpson 83 all-time greats painted in gouache. These are not Mark's Why I Research, john F. Pardon 84 nominations for the game's best players, nor the edi I Remember Harry, RDbert Cole 86 tor's-simply twenty picturesque, important men who The Book Log 88 span the game's history from 1860 to 1983. Wider dis tribution of his unique vision is being planned, ranging from a poster to full-dress stadium replicas, peopled by all-timers from each club. Inquiries maybe addressed to Editor: John Thorn Associates: Bill Felber, Jerry Tomlinson, TNP. Mark Rucker, Bill Deane And, for the last ofthe new-the charm ofwhich is age itself-:-your attention is called to the Gallery section on PICTURE CREDITS A.G. Spalding Collection, General Research &> pages 39-47, which consists of photos taken from the Humanities Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations: 5, 75. Library ofCongress: 52, 66 (top, bottom), 71. personal scrapbook ofJoe Wood. The marvel ofthe 1912 National Baseball Hall of Fame: 6, 11, 13, 16, 19,25,36,37,54,57,60 Red Sox,just turned 94, Mr. Wood graciouslygrantedTNP (top), 61 (both), 63, 66 (middle, both), 70, 87.joseph M. Overfield: 27. permission to reproduce these vintage views documenting james Rowe: 22. Pittsburgh Pirates: 60. Barbara Orr Brady: 78. Lew his notable life in baseball. TNP readers have the oppor Lipset: 88.john Thorn: covers, 7, 9, 76, 77, 79.james D. Smith III: 80.joe Wood: 39-47 (all). tunity to obtainanyofthe photos in the Galleryfrom: Big 3 Sports, Dept. P, 63 Arch St., Keene, NH 03431. Glossy THE NATIONAL PASTIME (ISSN 0734-6905, ISBN 0-910137-07-2), Fall prints may be purchased for $10 (8x10) or $15 (l1x14), 1982, Vol. 2, No. 1. Published by the Society for American Baseball less 15 percent to SABR members. Add $1.75 postage and Research, Inc., P. O. Box 323, Cooperstown, NY 13326. Editorial and handling for 1-6 prints (8x10), or $2.50 (l1x14); $3.00 Advertising Offices, 18 Virginia Avenue, Saugerties, NY 12477. Postage p&:>h for 7-20 prints (8x10) or $4.00 (l1x14). Order by paid at Manhattan, Kansas. Copyright © 1983 the Society for American Baseball Research, Inc., All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in page number in this issue and page position (40, top; 46, part without written permission is prohibited. bottom, right; etc.). FIRST PRINTING-Ag Press, Manhattan, Kansas. nary effort" varies from player to STATISTICS player, FA canbe a deceptive statistic: an agile, aggressive player may make an error on a ball a less mobile player would not reach or even try for. This The Best may help explain, for example, why such outfielders as Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente never won a field ing average title but Greg Luzinski Fielders of did. Over a period oftime, however, we will usually find that the players con sidered the most dominant at their the Century positions consistently emerge among the fielding average leaders. It is not coincidence when a Brooks Robinson BILL DEANE wins eleven FA titles, or Luis Aparicio eight. So, despite its flaws, FA is still the most useful statistic we have for measuring defensive performance at all positions, and the most practical one to apply toward a project ofthis kind. HO ARE THE BEST field though Bowa posts outstanding field Cross-era comparison would ap . ers of all time, at each ing averages, he may not be as valu pear to be a stumbling block with FA W position? How can we able as "The Wizard of Oz." as well. In the first decade of this compare a Bill Dickeywith a Bill Free! The TC/G method is not as useful century, the average league leaders in han, a Bobby Doerr with a Bobby in rating outfielders, since the stats of FA at second base, shortstop, and Grich, an Amos Strunkwith anAmos left, center, and right fielders are or third base had marks of .966, .946, Otis? dinarily lumped together. Further and .946, respectively. By the 1970s, With these age-old riddles in mind, more, TC/G has virtually no use in those figures were up to .989, .985, I closeted myself in a room with The appraising first basemen or catchers. and .975. While overall batting and Baseball Encyclopedia, a pocket cal A lookat the recordbooks shows us pitching performances have fluc culator, and a pad ofnotebook paper that almost all ofthe lifetime leaders tuated with the times, only fielding to find a solution. The result is a in TC/G, at each infield and outfield average can claim a constant statisti statistic I call Relative Fielding Aver position, are oldtimers, with names cal improvement (although FA has age (RFA), which places an in like Tom]ones,FredPfeffer, and]erry been at a virtual plateaufor 40years). dividual's fielding percentage in the Denny. For catchers, however, just There are three basic reasons for this context ofhis particular era, thus per the reverse is true: almost all of the phenomenon: better athletes, better mitting meaningful cross-era com leaders are modern players. The ob field conditions, and, especially, bet parison. vious reason for this state ofaffairs is ter eqUipment. The microscopic Currently, there are two principal that in a power-pitcher, home run fielder's mitts in usc at the turn ofthe ratings of defensive performance: swing era there are far more century were barely apt for keeping a fielding average and total chances per strikeouts-thus more putouts for hand warm, let alone snaring a vic game. Each has strengths and catchers and fewer chances per game ious line drive. weaknesses. for other fielders. How, then, to equate the FA of Total chances per game (TC/G) is Besides being of limited use in yesteryear with that of the present particularly effective in stating the cross-position and cross-era com time? First, we have to determine total defensive contribution ofshort parisons, TC/G is still a foreign sta how well a player stacks up against stops, second basemen, and third tistic to the average baseball fan. players of his own era. To compare basemen. It tells us, for example, that Fielding average (FA) is the most against the average performances of throughout his career· the Cardinals' comprehensive and widely used de an era tends to favor stars of lower million-dollar shortstop, Ozzie fensive statistic. Itmeasures, roughly, levels of competition. In 1910, for Smith, has consistently averaged a player's success ratio in negotiating about one more chance per game plays he should make with ordinary BILL DEANE is a freelance writer with a tl;1an Larry Bowa of the Cubs. AI- effort. As we know, because "ordi- lifttime RFA of .0000. THE NATIONAL PASTIME example, Terry Turner's .973 FA was over 4 percent higher than the .935 TABLE 1 average ofAmerican League regular Average League-Leading Fielding Averages, shortstops; to exceed 1982's .969 by Decade and Position, 1900-79 league average by 4 percent, an A.L.