Taking Rick Reilly's point to the max

Rick Reilly, the writer for ESPN.com, recently caused a lot of conversation with his piece, "Guilt by Association." And the conversation is understandable because the piece was all about newly elected managers, Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Tony LaRussa getting a pass into the Hall of Fame because "the three managers being inducted oversaw at least 34 players who've been implicated as PED users and never noticed a thing wrong." Naturally, any conversation that includes PEDs leads to polarizing views. Half of Twitter is shouting, "Right on!" While others are saying it is the worst thing ever written.

While my position on the PED players and era is firmly established in the, "I don't care" category and do not believe in banning any players or managers from the Hall of Fame, you might think that this piece will fall on the bashing Rick Reilly side of things. But I am not going to do that. This is America after all and everyone is entitled to their opinion. It was not long ago that everyone was piling on Rob Neyer for something he said, and yet, he was bashing Reilly today. 

Instead of focusing on the writer and on his intent or moralistic leanings here, I would rather focus on the logic of what he is saying. And if I paraphrase the entire thing, then he is saying in a nutshell that if the players are not getting a pass on the PEDs they may or may not have used, then the managers who were in charge of those players should not get a pass either.

In one aspect, he is right in that players did things they should not have done and the managers may or may not have known they are doing those things. So by either turning a blind eye or at worst, not paying attention, they are guilty by association.

So that should then mean that no manager from the PED era should ever make it into the Hall of Fame because perhaps as high as 60 to 80% of all players in the game were probably using. If you take Reilly's logic to the max, shouldn't that be the case? Forget about it, Jim Leyland or Joe Maddon or Mike Scioscia or any others that might have a case in the future.

If you are going to make this argument, then you have to take it all the way. The common belief is that all segments of the baseball society fell down the rabbit hole in the PED era. The scouts, the commissioner, the league presidents, the managers, the general managers, the trainers, the union, the publicists, the agents, and yes, the writers and broadcasters all had to know that something was not right in the game and yet it happened anyway. They were all complicit.

Take Reilly's assertion to the maximum and Bill Madden of New York, Nick Peters of San Francisco, Rick Hummel of St. Louis, Tracy Ringolsby of Denver and Peter Gammons should not have gotten a free pass to the J.G. Taylor Spink Award. 

Madden covered New York sports including many of the same players Joe Torre is being accused about. Peters certainly witnessed the Barry Bonds superhero show. Hummel should be just as complicit as LaRussa. Ringolsby was writing when Matt Williams was playing and others in Denver. And nobody knew more people or had more connections in the game in his heyday than Peter Gammons. So take those on too, Mr. Reilly.

Speaking of Matt Williams: Now that he is a manager, what is going to happen if he wins ten World Series in his managing career? What a mess that will be, eh?

And what of broadcasters who often traveled with these players and stayed in the same hotels. Should Jack Buck have gotten the Ford C. Frick Award? He called McGwire's homers after all. What about Eric Nadel who was voted in this year after his lifetime of broadcasting the Rangers. Did one broadcaster cover more PED users than Nadel? Bob Uecker has covered Ryan Braun's career since the beginning. Should "Uke" be a Frick Award winner?

No, this blame and punishment thing can go on and on and thus it is all pointless. You cannot erase history by executing all those who participated in the bad things that happened. You cannot have a Hall of Fame that does not include the best players of their era. You cannot have a Spink Award without the best writers and the Frick Award without the best broadcasters.

Let it go. The numbers are staying. There are no asterisks. The players that created them, the managers who managed them and the writers and broadcasters that breathlessly reported them all need to be drawn in the times that they played, managed, wrote and broadcast. Blame does not get us anywhere. Heck, even the commissioner is going to be in the Hall of Fame someday. My point and response to Rick Reilly is not to blast him but to simply remind him that the entire game of baseball, including those who covered and broadcast it, are guilty by association.

The Day Rocky Colavito Pitched For the Yankees

Groping around on the Web for any nugget of MLB news on the day before Thanksgiving is like searching for water in the Mojave Desert. In other words, it's not exactly a big day for breaking news. Even agents celebrate Thanksgiving. Since baseball is a sport that (more than any other) lends itself to nostalgia as baseball has bridged generations, this writer has taken a step back from the non-news, rumor-hungry world of the off season to share a memory.

The memory is of a twelve year old boy who was spending a summer Sunday at a man-made lake in Montvale, New Jersey. This twelve year old never went anywhere without a transistor radio, especially during baseball season. This particular Sunday was absolutely perfect because not only was his family at this gigantic concrete lake (later to become the site of condos) on a beautiful summer's day, but the Yankees were playing a double header. The day would consist of swimming, sun bathing, barbecued hamburgers and Phil Ruzzuto. Perfection!

Well, except the Yankees stunk that year. 1968 was the year of the pitcher. The Yankees had a few of those. But they never had a worse year at the plate. Guys like Horace Clarke, Bobby Cox (yeah, that was him), Andy Kosco and Jake Gibbs couldn't hit their way out of the infield. A beat up, broken Mickey Mantle was in his last year and despite his lowest batting average of his career, he still was productive. But that was it. The Yankees needed help so they obtained Rocky Colavito from the Dodgers. Without the information we have at our fingertips today, they might not have known that Colavito was just about finished as a player. 1968 would be his last year too.

The twelve year old boy was excited about Colavito because he was somewhat of a legend AND he was Italian. Bonus! Colavito had some superb years with the Indians and Tigers and finished his career with 374 homers and a 132 career OPS+. He is one of the few players that ever hit four homers in one game. That made him a perfect candidate for the Hall of Very Good, but he didn't get enough counting stats for the Hall of Fame. But it wasn't just the homers that made him a legend. It was also his throwing arm from right field. In fourteen seasons, he threw out 123 base runners. Colavito hit five homers for the Yankees in 1968 but he only batted .220, which wasn't much different than anyone else on the team.

But the twelve year old didn't care. He was Italian, he was a Yankee, thus he was gold. So the first game of the double header started right after 1:00 P.M. on August 25, 1968 against the Detroit Tigers, one of Colavito's former teams. The boy was disappointed because Colavito wasn't in the starting line up. Steve Barber was the starting pitcher for the Yankees against Pat Dobson of the Tigers. Barber was a gangly left-hander who had some good seasons for the Orioles in the 60s including a 20-win season in 1963. But by the time the Orioles sent him to the Yankees, he was finished as an effective pitcher. He did hang around for another half a decade and was a part of the Seattle Pilots inaugural season.

Barber had nothing that day and the Tigers jumped on him for two runs in the first, two runs in the third and a run in the top of the fourth. He gave up ten base runners in three and a third innings while only striking out one batter. The Yankees had seen enough and Barber was taken out of the game. Back in those days, the Yankees had a little cart that would bring relief pitchers from the bullpen to the dugout. Who would step out of the cart to be the next Yankee pitcher? Rocky Colavito!

Phil Rizzuto went wild. The twelve year old went wild and called his little brother over. Rizzuto was calling Colavito a huckleberry and saying, "Holy Cow" (Bronx, got that right this time) a few dozen times because he couldn't believe that Colavito was actually going to pitch. Neither could we.

But there he was. The Yankees were down 5-0 without a team that could hit their way back into a game. They had another game to play after that one and they must have figured, what the heck. But Colavito succeeded. He held the Tigers in check for two and two thirds innings. He gave up a hit and walked two against one strikeout and he did not give up a run.

Meanwhile, the Yankees, the team that couldn't hit, actually climbed back into the game. They scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to make it 5-1 and then erupted for five runs in the sixth to knock Dobson out. Bobby Cox (hitting .226) hit a homer and Bill Robinson (batting .223) hit a three-run job. Rocky Colavito contributed a walk and a run scored. Since Colavito completed the top of the sixth, he became the pitcher of record. Could he actually get the win!?

The one, the only, the legend...Dooley Womack pitched a scoreless seventh (though he made  it interesting with two base runners) and Lindy McDaniel pitched the eighth and ninth without giving up a run and Colavito did get the win. All this Fan can remember about that day is laughing and smiling that something so unique was happening and so unexpected. Those barbecued hamburgers never tasted so good.

One other note: The only hit the Tigers got off of Colavito was a double by Al Kaline, Colavito's old teammate who was a very similar player to Rocky except that he hung around longer and got the numbers needed for the Hall of Fame.

As for Colavito, it wasn't his first pitching assignment. He had pitched in a game in 1958 (August 13), ten years before the game we are talking about. In that game, he pitched three scoreless innings and again, it was against the Tigers. Al Kaline didn't get a hit off of Rocky that day. Nobody did. And so this Hall of Very Good outfielder pitched twice in his career, then years apart, finished with a perfect 0.00 ERA in five and two thirds inning with a perfect 1-0 record. Holy Cow indeed.

Tons of Irony in Bobby Cox's Last Game

That the Giants could only beat this version of the Braves by a single run in their last two games together doesn't say a whole lot about San Francisco's chances against the Phillies. The last game managed by Bobby Cox will go down as a second straight stinker and finish a brilliant managerial career that, except for the one World Series win, will go down as the MLB equivalent to Marv Levy. That is no knock on Cox. It was a miracle they got into the playoffs at all. But most of his horses were gone and all he had left was one gimpy thoroughbred and a bunch of ponies. And in the end, ironies were abound.

First, the final game was lost on an error by Alex Gonzalez. Gonzalez was the shortstop the Braves received from the Blue Jays in a straight up deal because Bobby Cox and his staff couldn't take Yunel Escobar for another moment. Escobar played well for the Blue Jays and Gonzalez managed an 83 OPS+ with the Braves. But Gonzalez did provide the Braves with good shortstop play during the season. It's just ironic that this season should fall apart because the guy the Braves wanted made a critical error in exactly the wrong time.

Second, Bobby Cox's major league career ended exactly like it began back in 1968 and 1969 when he played his only two years in the big leagues for the Yankees. When he started, he couldn't hit and he was a pretty lousy fielder. At the end, he managed a team that couldn't hit and were lousy in the field. Talk about a full circle!

And last but not least, just like all those years when he had Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz, he had all the pitching he needed. Hudson and Lowe were heroic in their efforts. But just like those magical three of the past, good pitching wasn't enough to get the prize.

But, though the final outcome is a bit sad, Bobby Cox won 55.6% of his games as manager in his career with just over 2500 wins. He'll long be remembered as one of the most beloved of all managers. It's just a shame that he had his last hurrah with such a beat up and terrible team. But on the bright side, we'll see you in five years Mr. Cox. Start writing that speech.

Thoughts About Bobby Cox

Switching to the first person: I always liked Bobby Cox. How could I not? As a twelve year old kid keeping score for every Yankee game as a New Jersey youngster, Cox played third base for the Yankees for two years in 1968 and 1969. It would end up being his only two years in the majors. And for that team, he was pretty good.

The 1968 Yankees were perhaps the weakest hitting team in the history of the majors. The team batted .214 for the year. That was easily the worst in the American League that year. It was the last year for Mickey Mantle, the hero. Many, including Mantle, say he shouldn't have played that year. He only hit .237. But he walked over a hundred times and still had an OPS+ of 142. That was certainly better than anyone else on that team.

Cox was a proud member of the weakest hitting collection of infielders ever. Horace Clarke was given 607 plate appearances and put together this incredible line as a lead off guy: .230/.258/.254. He scored 52 runs. He had nine extra base hits. Nine. The guy was terrible. But he wasn't alone. There was Tom Tresh, who played 150 games and batted .195. There was Gene Michael, who batted .198 in 119 plate appearances. There was Dick Howser, who batted .153 in 190 plate appearances. There was Mike Ferraro, who batted .161 in 87 at bats. There was Ruban Amaro who batted .122 in 50 at bats.

Bobby Cox was a stud among those guys. His line for that season? .229/.300/.316. Hey, compared the the litany you just heard, that's a stud. So certainly he was one of our favorites. At least he got on base once in a while. But again, he only played two seasons and then disappeared.

Wasn't I surprised when ten years later (1978), he shows up as the manager of the Atlanta Braves. Cool! But not so cool because the Braves were awful. They lost 93 and 94 games his first two years there. The 1978 Braves posted the worst batting average in the National League that year. Cox's streak continued!

The 1979 Braves were worse. Their batting improved to eighth in the league, but their pitching was dead last. That was the year Phil Niekro won 21 games, but lost 20, a feat that may never happen again. The rest of the starters were 24-46. Gene Garber lost 16 games in relief. To lose 16 games as a relief pitcher may never happen again either. It's an amazing fact.

1980 saw the Braves improve to a .500 club. They finished in fourth place. A moral victory of sorts. But when the strike year of 1981 saw a regression for the Braves, Cox was done for his first stint as a Braves' manager. Few remember that he spent the next four seasons as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.

I would say he had a successful run for the Blue Jays. He inherited a bad team there in his first season as manager in Toronto. The team finished last in the division in 1982. But the team went on to win 89 games the next two seasons and finished fourth and second respectively.

But 1985 is the season to remember. The Blue Jays won 99 games that year and easily won the division. Then they played one of the most memorable American League Championship Series ever against George Brett and the Royals. The Royals won it in seven games but it was nip and tuck all the way. Bobby Cox came a game away from taking that team to the World Series. It was the last game he would manage for the Blue Jays.

Remarkably, he didn't manage for the next four seasons. He almost didn't manage for the fifth, but the Braves fired Russ Nixon half way through the 1990 season and Cox took over. It was too late to turn that team around as they finished sixth. But the rest is history as the 1991 season started a run of success that is unparalleled in the history of Major League Baseball. During that run, the Braves finished: 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1.

Of course, the knock on Cox is that in those thirteen first place finishing seasons, his teams only won the NL pennant five times and the World Series once. But I don't think that diminishes the job Cox did at all. He won all those years in all kinds of ways. He won with a big offense and with hardly any offense. He brought in young players and the team stayed consistent through all those years. And sure a manager probably gets too much credit when a team is successful. The team's general manager and scouts deserve a lot of the credit, the players deserve a lot of the credit, but the constant was Cox. He was always there to get the most out of his teams and they did nothing but win.

The Braves fell on harder times in recent years. There fabulous starting pitchers got old. Their ownership faltered. But they were never really a rollover team. Cox kept them competitive and they are in second place this year and were only a Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez away from being able to give the Phillies a run for the money. It will be fun to see what they can do next year.

And it should be a year to celebrate Bobby Cox. Look, I have always hated the Braves. In fact, it's one of my security questions on one of my accounts: "Which team do you root against the most?" The Braves. But you can't hate Bobby Cox. He has earned too much respect for too long and he's always been a first-class guy. I hope the Braves' fans and all baseball fans appreciate him and give him a loving ride next year. He deserves it.