Thursday August 7, 2003

One Perfect Day

On the afternoon of October 8, 1956, a 27 year old pitcher had the most impressive, dominant World Series pitching performance to date (As a Twins fan, it’s really hard for me to say that, having watched Jack Morris pitch 10 innings in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series). With his infamous Perfect Game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, the only no-hitter thrown in World Series history, Don Larsen forever will be entrenched in the Yankee folklore.

Photo courtesy of www.cmgww.com

Today, Don Larsen turns 74 years old.  The game occurred almost 47 years ago, and yet when people think Don Larsen, they think: World Series, Perfect Game, only pitcher to do that. He must have been an unbelievable pitcher!

Well, before we get into Larsen’s career, it’s his birthday, so let’s be positive first and briefly discuss that game. Actually, it’s probably important to know that Larsen started Game 2 for the Yankees as well, but in that game, he was knocked out after just 1 2/3 innings. In Game 5, Larsen needed just 97 pitches to complete the game.  He had just one three ball count the whole game.  In 9 innings, he struck out 7 Dodgers. 

Sal Maglie pitched for the Dodgers and gave up just 2 runs on 5 hits. The big hit was a Mickey Mantle 4^th inning home run.

Years later, Larsen was asked how he feels about being remembered really only for his Perfect Game in the World Series, and if it bothered him. Larsen just said, “Why would it?  I want people to remember it.”

One Average Career

Don Larsen is forever famous for The Perfect Game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. That’s something to be very proud of, and something that is the highlight of his career.  But, what was the rest of his career like?

Let’s just let his stats speak for themselves:

Larsen spent the first half of his career primarily as a starter, before becoming primarily a reliever for the last six seasons of his career. His career 81-91 record is not great, but his 3.78 ERA is very respectable. The league average ERA for that era was 3.71, so he’s very near that average. A big pitcher, Larsen was 6-4, 227 pounds.  Control seemed to be the main problem throughout his career. Larsen averaged just 1.17 K/BB, walking 4.2 and striking out 4.5 batters per 9 innings. Larsen’s career ERA+ is 99 (remember 100 is considered the average), so Don Larsen’s overall pitching career could be considered average. He had some very solid, yet unspectacular seasons with the Yankees.

Looking at just his five years with the star-studded Yankees, his record was 45-24 with an ERA of 3.50.

Larsen’s record with the other 8 teams in his other 9 seasons was 36-67, with an ERA of 3.98.

Clearly the Yankees were the dominant team of the era. Doesn’t it make you wonder if Greg Maddux would have 283 career wins if he hadn’t spent the majority of his career with winning teams in Atlanta? What if Andy Pettite didn’t play for the Yankees? What kind of pitcher would he be considered?

To be completely fair, it should be pointed out that in 1954, Larsen went 3-21 for the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles finished that season with a record of 54-100!

Like teammates Whitey Ford and Mickey Mantle, Larsen was known to enjoy a night out on the town.  At one time, Larsen was involved in a one-car accident at 2 a.m.  Manager Casey Stengel responded to the media by saying, “He must have been going to the post office.”

Don Larsen was a very good hitter (for a pitcher!).  For his career, Larsen’s numbers were .242/.291/.371. He had 25 doubles, 5 triples, 14 home runs and 72 RBI.

But Don Larsen had One Perfect Day on October 8, 1956, in Game 5 of the World Series.  As Larsen himself said, it’s not a bad thing to be remembered for!

So, Happy Birthday Don Larsen!

TWINS THOUGHTS -

On Monday, I wrote that if the Twins win 2 out of every 3 games for the rest of the season, they would win 90 games.  I showed what that meant the White Sox and Royals needed to do to win just 89 games.  Well, the Twins have won 2 of the first 3 in their current series with the Orioles in Baltimore.  With game four of the series tomorrow, Minnesota could use the bonus win!

Also Monday was Eric Milton’s birthday, so I wrote about him, and how much the Twins have missed him this season. Of course, I also threw my opinion in there about what they should do with him this year.  Last night, Milton rejoined the Twins in Baltimore after being given clearance to throw off a mound.  Milton has lost 20 pounds due to the extensive rehabilitation he has gone through and says he’s feeling great.  Apparently the 10-minute bullpen session was deemed a success.

Ron Gardenhire admits being unsure of what will happen with Milton for the rest of this season.  By the time he is able to pitch a minor league rehab assignment, most of the minor leagues will be done, and it’ll be really tough to have him start games in the middle of a pennant race if he’ll only be able to throw a couple of innings.  That’s why I believe that if he is able to come back, he should come out of the bullpen to gain some strength in his arm and knee.

In last night’s game, Torii Hunter came up in the 4th inning with 2 runners on.  He didn’t swing at the first pitch. He actually took three pitches before drilling a 3-run homer into the right field bleachers.  Later in the game, Hunter actually had a 7 pitch at bat that resulted in a solid single up the middle.  I think those are a couple of at bats that Hunter should learn from.  It’s ok for him to sit back and watch a couple pitches go by before swinging.  Get the timing down, see the ball, see the movement, and in later pitches in the at bat, get a good swing on the ball.

In the 8^th inning, Orioles pinch hitter Jose Morban must have believed there were 2 outs when he took off from 3^rd on a deep fly ball to center field.  He ran past home plate, then saw that the ball had been caught, so he sprinted back to 3^rd base, clearly forgetting to re-touch home plate on the way back. The Twins wanted to appeal to home plate that Morban had missed the plate. Replays showed the home-plate ump was specifically watching to see if Morban re-touched home, so he would have called Morban out. However, instead of stepping off the rubber and throwing to home to appeal, LaTroy Hawkins threw a slow pitch for a ball.  Ron Gardenhire was livid in the dugout.  AJ Pierzynski caught the pitch while letting out some profane words!  Instead of being out of the inning with a 5-3 lead, Hawkins had to pitch his way to keep Morban from scoring, which he did.  Hawkins is having a great year.  One of my first entries on this site describes what I saw as the reason for the turnaround in his career. In it, I never commented on his intelligence, but it continually it amazes me that some major leaguers just don’t know the rules. Granted, an appeal to home rarely happens, but the process is no different than an appeal to any other base. Fortunately, Hawkins pitched out of that predicament and the Twins added two runs in the top of the 9^th and got a 7-3 win!

Today, in the last game of the series, the Twins will throw Rick Reed (5-10, 4.83) against the Orioles’ Rodrigo Lopez (4-6, 5.82).

DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE WEEK -

Send me your e-mails today. Tomorrow, I will show the results of this week’s Discussion Question.  Here’s the Question again, send me an e-mail today, and if it’s good, we’ll include it in tomorrow’s report!

1.) If you could go back in time and have a conversation with any former major league player, who is now deceased, who would you most want to talk to, and what questions would you ask?

2.) If you could talk to one former big leaguer, who is still alive, who would you talk to, and what would you most want to know?

3.) If you could talk to one current major league ball player, who would it be, and what would you ask?

I think these are really interesting questions. I have received some great responses on these questions, and I’d love to get more.

So again, here are the “rules”:

1.) Think through the above questions.

2.) Send me an e-mail with your thoughts.

3.) That’s it! It’s that simple. You can then just check back tomorrow for the results report.

Have a great Thursday!

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