MLB Update: 4/17

History of Baseball: 1966

World Series Champions: Baltimore Orioles (97-63, .606 WPCT).

Two new members easily made it into the Hall of Fame in 1966. Casey Stengel, who won one World Series as a player and seven as the manager of the New York Yankees from 1949-1960, was elected by the Veterans’ Committee after an illustrious baseball career that spanned over 50 years. The BBWAA convened and elected one player into the Hall of Fame, casting 282 of 302 possible votes for Ted Williams, good for a 93.4% rate. Williams, arguably the game’s greatest all time hitter, toted an incredible career that included 521 home runs, 1839 RBI, a .344 batting average, and 525 doubles despite missing all of 1943-1945 and most of 1952-1953 due to service in both World War II and the Korean War. On March 5th, a man named Marvin Miller was selected to head the Major League Baseball Players Association, a players’ union that had been in existence since 1953. Under Miller, the union would grow into one of the most powerful in the United States. More visibly, the Milwaukee Braves moved for a second time, this time to Atlanta. In just the second draft, the New York Mets selected high school catcher Steve Chilcott with the first overall pick. They would live to regret that decision, as Chilcott never made it to the majors. The Kansas City Athletics had just a little bit more success with the second overall pick, selecting Arizona State outfielder Reggie Jackson. The only major retirement during the season was Robin Roberts, the Phillies legend who had six straight 20 win seasons from 1950-1955 to build towards a 286-245 career record and a 3.41 ERA. However, after the season, the pitching ranks would receive a crushing blow. In 1966, the rookie class proved to be loaded with talent. Most notable was Nolan Ryan, the 19 year old fireballer who would strike out more batters than anybody else in the history of the game. Don Sutton, one of the greatest pitchers in Dodgers history and a future 300 game winner, joined Ryan in the rookie ranks, while the game’s first ever draft pick, Rick Monday, made his debut with the A’s. On May 8th, the Giants sent superstar first baseman Orlando Cepeda to the Cardinals for Ray Sadecki. Eight days later, his former teammate, Willie Mays, broke Mel Ott’s National League record with his 512th home run, doing just eight days after his 35th birthday. On June 9th, the Twins’ Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher, and Harmon Killebrew all knocked home runs in the seventh inning against the A’s, setting a major league record with five home runs in one inning. After the season, Sandy Koufax suddenly announced his retirement due to arthritis in his pitching elbow. His four year peak from 1963-1966 was the best, not even arguably the best, peak of any pitcher ever. Over 153 games (150 starts), he went 97-27 with a 1.86 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP, striking out 1228 batters in 1192.2 innings. He completed 89 of his 150 starts in that span, tossing 31 shutouts, four of which were no-hitters and one of which was a perfect game. Yes, you read all of that correctly.

The Baltimore Orioles easily clinched their first AL pennant, going 97-63 to finish nine games over the Twins (89-73). Interestingly, the New York Yankees finished dead last at 70-89, marking the first time since 1912, in the pre-Babe Ruth era, that the Bombers had finished last. In the NL, the Dodgers (95-67) barely earned the pennant by 1.5 games over the Giants (93-68), clinching the pennant behind Koufax’ complete game effort in his final regular season start. Though the Dodgers were favored to win the World Series, the Orioles swept them in four games to take home their first championship. Frank Robinson homered twice and batted .286 to win the World Series MVP Award, while Brooks Robinson and Paul Blair added homers for the winning side. First baseman Boog Powell hit .357 to pace the offense. On the mound, four different Orioles earned wins, with Jim Palmer tossing a four hit shutout and Wally Bunker tossing a six hit shutout. Overall, the Orioles pitching staff combined to go 4-0 with a 0.50 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP over the four games.

AL Triple Crown winner and World Series MVP Frank Robinson added yet another trophy to his trophy case by winning the AL MVP Award, having batted .316 with 49 home runs, 122 RBI, and 122 runs scored for the Orioles. Pittsburgh outfielder Roberto Clemente won the NL MVP Award after batting .317 with 29 home runs, 119 RBI, and 105 runs scored for the third place Pirates (92-70). Teammate and fellow outfielder Willie Stargell had a huge breakout season, batting .315 with 33 home runs and 102 RBI. A third Pirates outfielder, Moises Alou, despite hitting only two home runs and driving in precisely 27, won the batting title at .342 while stealing 23 bases and scoring 86 runs in 141 games. His brother, Braves outfielder Felipe Alou, had a monster season, batting .327 with 31 home runs and 122 runs scored in 154 games. The Phillies’ Dick Allen managed to bat .317 with 40 home runs, 110 RBI, and 112 runs scored. Hank Aaron once again led the NL in home runs, knocking 44 while driving in a major league leading 127 and batting .279, scoring 117 runs. The Twins’ Harmon Killebrew posted one of the highest batting averages of his career, finishing at .281 while crushing 39 home runs and driving in 110. Willie Mays, at this point beginning to decline, batted .288 with 37 home runs, 103 RBI, and 99 runs scored for the Giants. Braves catcher Joe Torre put up the best year of his career, batting .315 with 36 home runs and 101 RBI. The Rookie of the Year Awards went to a pair of Tommies in 1966; the White Sox’ Tommie Ageesmacked 22 home runs, drove in 86, and batted .273 with 44 stolen bases. In the NL, Cincinnati’s Tommy Helms hit .284 with nine home runs and 72 runs scored in 138 games. The Cardinals’ Lou Brock led the majors with 74 steals, adding 15 home runs and a .285 average to boot. It may have been his last season, but pitching began and ended with Sandy Koufax. The left hander, pitching through intense pain in his elbow, still won the Cy Young Award for the third time in four years (all unanimously, of course). The 30 year old put up arguably his best season yet, going 27-9 with a 1.73 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP, and 317 strikeouts in 323 innings. Though no pitcher could come close to matching Koufax, Juan Marichal led the rest of the pack, going 25-6 with a 2.23 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP over 37 games (36 starts) for the Giants. Jim Kaat came up huge for the Twins, going 25-13 with a 2.75 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP to lead them to a second place finish. In Jim Palmer‘s first full season, he paced the Baltimore rotation by going 15-10 with a 3.46 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP over 30 starts. Bob Gibson led the Cardinals staff, going 21-12 with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP, tossing up 20 complete games (third only to Koufax’ 27 and Marichal’s 25). The Giants’Gaylord Perry had a huge breakout season, finishing 21-8 with a 2.99 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. Jim Bunning continued to rack up big numbers with the Phillies, going 19-14 with a 2.41 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP for his fourth place team. Dodgers rookie Don Sutton managed to impress, going 12-12 with a 2.99 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in 37 games (35 starts) in his age-21 season. A’s closer Jack Aker set a new major league record with 32 saves, also putting up a glittering 1.99 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP in 66 appearances.

News

Braves traded Craig Kimbrel (0-3, 1.61 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 47 SV, 2015 age: 27) and Melvin (B.J.) Upton (12 HR, 35 RBI, .208 AVG, 20 SB, 2015 age: 30) to the Padres for Cameron Maybin (1 HR, 15 RBI, .235 AVG, 4 SB, 2015 age: 28), Carlos Quentin (4 HR, 18 RBI, .177 AVG, 0 SB, 2015 age: 32), minor leaguers Matt Wisler (10-5, 4.42 ERA, 1.36 WHIP at AA and AAA, 2015 age: 22) and Jordan Paroubeck (4 HR, 24 RBI, .286 AVG, 4 SB at AZL, 2015 age: 20), and the 41st overall pick in the 2015 draft.

Former Indian and 1953 AL MVP Al Rosen passed away at 91 years old.

Rangers starter Yu Darvish has opted to undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2015 season.

Nationals traded Jerry Blevins (2-3, 4.87 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 2015 age: 31) to the Mets for Matt den Dekker (0 HR, 7 RBI, .250 AVG, 7 SB, 2015 age: 27).

Ervin Santana and Jenrry Mejia have been suspended for 80 games each for PED use.

Game Scores

Nationals (4-6) beat the Phillies (3-7) 5-2.

Rays (6-4) beat the Blue Jays (5-5) 4-2.

Cardinals (5-3) beat the Brewers (2-7) 4-0.D

iamondbacks (5-5) beat the Giants (3-8) 7-6 (12 innings).

Mets (7-3) beat the Marlins (3-7) 7-5.

Twins (3-6) beat the Royals (7-2) 8-5.

Standings

AL East: Red Sox (6-3, .667 WPCT). AL Central: Tigers (8-1, .889). AL West: A’s (5-5, .500).

NL East: Mets (7-3, .700). NL Central: Cubs/Cardinals (5-3, .625). NL West: Rockies (7-2, .778).

AL Wild Cards: Royals (7-2, .778) and Rays (6-4, .600). NL Wild Cards: Dodgers and Braves (6-3, .667).

Bottom team: Brewers (2-7, .222). Longest W Streak: Mets, 5 games. Longest L Streak: Giants, 7 games.

Nationals: 4-6, .400, 3rd in NL East (3 back of division, 2.5 back of wild card).

League Leaders

Offensive: AVG: Adrian Gonzalez (LAD), .528 (19-36). Home runs: Nelson Cruz (SEA), 6. RBI: Paul Goldschmidt (ARI), 12. Stolen bases: Billy Hamilton (CIN), 8.

Pitching: Wins: Joaquin Benoit (SD), 3. K’s: Chris Archer (TB), 21. ERA: Shane Greene (DET), 0.00 (16 shutout innings). Saves: Brad Boxberger (TB), Jeurys Familia (NYM), Jason Grilli (ATL), and Joakim Soria (DET), 4.

Top Performers

Offensive: Lorenzo Cain (Royals): 3-4, double, home run (2), 3 RBI, 3 runs, walk, stolen base (2), AVG up .042 from .387 to .429, hitting streak to nine games (15-35, .429 AVG).

Pitching: Chris Archer (Rays): Win (2-1), 7 shutout innings, 2 hits, 2 walks, 11 K’s (21), ERA drop: 0.76 runs from 2.13 to 1.37.

Worst Pitching Performance: Jason Vargas (Royals): Loss (1-1), 3 innings, 5 runs (4 earned), 10 hits, 1 walk, 1 K (4), ERA jump: 3.00 runs from 3.00 to 6.00.

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Zack Silverman