The Southpaw

Cecil Travis, Hall of Famer?

Cecil Travis, an All-Star shortstop with the Senators in the 1930s and 1940s, died on Dec. 16. He was 93.

Travis is one of 27 players who the Veterans Committee will consider for the Hall of Fame in February. He only played nine full seasons, but among the greats who endorsed his enshrinement were Ted Williams and Bob Feller. "Cecil Travis is one of the five best left-handed hitters I ever saw," Williams told the Washington Post in 1993.

Travis posted a .314 lifetime batting average; the only shortstops who boasted better averages were Honus Wagner and Arky Vaughan. But in late 1941, at his peak, Travis was drafted, and when he got out of the army in 1945, he never recovered his pre-war form.

In fact, his last season before the war, 1941, was probably his greatest -- and one of the most forgotten great seasons by any player.  Ted Williams led the league with his .406 average, and Joe DiMaggio made history with his 56-game hitting streak, but Travis led the AL with 219 hits and finished second in batting with a .359 average. He also boasted 58 extra-base hits and 101 RBI.

He was named to the All-Star team in 1938, 1939, and 1941, and was considered a jewel throughout his career. After a 1937 spring training game between the Senators and Cardinals in which Travis made one spectacular and four great fielding plays, St. Louis manager Frankie Frisch told his counterpart, Bucky Harris, "You lucky stiff. That kid will be tops among the American League shortstops, or I don't know a ball player when I see one."

Though Travis played his entire career with the Senators, he was almost traded to the Tigers in March 1940 in exchange for Rudy York, but the deal, which the teams had been working on since the previous June, fell through. In 1941, Washington made him the team's highest-paid player, awarding him a $14,000 contract.

Money well spent by Clark Griffith. In an August column, Shirley Povich of the Washington Post wrote that Travis, batting .368, was tired, and had moved down from a 36-ounce bat to a 34-ouncer. Povich quoted the shortstop: "Ah like these big bats on account they got better wood in 'em. That's bad wood they put in those other bats. A bat's gotta be big to have good wood it seems. Ah kin tell soon's Ah hit a ball with good wood."

Povich also said that Harris thought that Travis could have had a change at catching Williams for the batting title (this despite the fact that Williams was hovering around .410 at the time). "There's too much work for Cecil out there around shortstop," said Harris. "He's got to be on the move so much, that it saps his strength." Harris added that if the Nats had another suitable shortstop, he would have moved Travis to third, a less taxing position.

In early January 1948, Travis announced his retirement. Many said the war, during which he suffered frostbite of two toes, was to blame. But not Travis. "I tried for two years to get back to normal," said Travis. "I just don't have it anymore and I'm not going to try playing again. I feel fine as I've ever felt. But I can't react any more and I can't cover any ground."

Travis was only 34 when he hung up his spikes.

Baseball Bugs

A cartoon contest takes place at the Polo Grounds, with the Gashouse Gorillas facing the Teatotallers. The Gorillas, led by a cigar-chomping slugger (in every sense of the word), take a huge lead until Bugs Bunny, playing every position, takes over.

How Willie Mays inspired "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

PopMatters has a  terrific feature on the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas, which premiered in 1965. Considering Chuck's love of baseball, it's not surprising that there's a baseball connection. San Francisco filmmaker Lee Mendelson tells Brian Heater (perfect byline for the story, huh?) why he decided to work on the special:

“I had done a Willie Mays documentary in 1963, A Man Named Mays, which had done really well. Then I was reading a Charlie Brown baseball strip, and the idea came to me: I’ve just done the world’s greatest baseball player; now I’ll do the world’s worst.”

It took two years, but Coca Cola called Mendelson and asked him to produce the Christmas classic.

Mendelson went on to produce a couple of baseball-themed Charlie Brown specials: Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown (2003), and It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown! (1992), in which Linus gets a hit while cheering himself on from the bench. That kind of thing always happens in spring training.

Mendelson has written a more complete account about the connection between the Mays documentary and A Charlie Brown Christmas at the Charles M. Schultz Museum Web site.

Steve Hamilton and the "folly floater"

The Eephus pitch, which may have been invented by Pirates pitcher Rip Sewell, is a slow, high-looping toss, the ultimate junk pitch that's sometimes traveling less than 50 mph when it crosses home plate.

I've never seen one thrown -- at least, I can't recall ever having seen one -- but I was probably watching when Bill Lee threw his "space ball" against the Reds in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series.  Other's who've thrown a variation of the pitch include Bob Tewksbury, Orlando Hernandez, and even Mark Buehrle of the White Sox, who tried to fool Ichiro with the pitch in a 2004 game. Casey Fossum of the Devil Rays also throws one; he's got a fastball that averages 90 mph, but his Eephus has been timed at 43 mph.

After watching Fossum throw a 46 mph strike to Mike Sweeney in a July 2005 contest, Scott Kazmir said, "I'll leave it to Fossum. It's hard to throw. I've tried throwing it in the bullpen. You have to keep the same motion."

Steve Hamilton, who had a 12-year major league career, pitched for the Yankees from 1963 to 1970. Hamilton was 6-feet-7-inches tall, so it's easy to imagine him being an intimidating figure when staring down batters from the mound. But he frequently used his "folly floater" with great effectiveness.

Here's the New York Times Leonard Koppett describing a Hamilton outing in the first game of a June 24, 1970 twin bill against the Indians:

In the first game, Sam McDowell pitched a five-hitter and had a 6-0 lead by the middle of the fifth inning, but his performance was completely overshadowed by Steve Hamilton's comedy act. Pitching the ninth for the Yankees, Hamilton unleashed his "folly floater," his stop-action, high-arc slow pitch, twice in a row on Tony Horton, who fouled out on it.

The crowd roared, both benches got hysterical, Horton acted appropriately disgusted, and the whole thing was praised by everyone as good, colorful baseball fun--since it really was an effective pitch, not just a stunt."

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology and a quirky little promotional film entitled "The Bullpen," we can watch the Hamilton-Horton sequence today (and get to hear narrator Lindsey Nelson call a famous Yankee announcer "Bill Rizzuto").

 

Hamilton was very effective with the pitch. About a week after the game against the Indians, he used the folly floater against the Senators in Yankee Stadium, trying it against Frank Howard, who nailed the pitch to left for a single. According to George Minot Jr. of the Washington Post, "it was only the fourth safe hit off the pitch in the two years since the left-hander has been throwing it."

The other three batters to hit Hamilton's floater were Tommie Agee, who succeeded against it in the old Mayor's Trophy exhibition game between the Yankees and Mets; Horton, who managed to single off the pitch, and Tony Conigliaro, who laid down a bunt that baffled both Hamilton and Thurman Munson, who both charged the ball and ended up knocking each other over as Tony C. ambled safely to first. Conigliaro hadn't been fond of the pitch, leaving the batter's box while Hamilton's first lob was on its way (it bounced before reaching the plate), and then getting fooled by a fastball on Hamilton's second pitch.

Johnny Sain, Hall of Fame uncle

Not long after I posted my tribute to the late, great Johnny Sain, I received a wonderful note from Christy Turley, Johnny's niece. I've read so little about the "private" Johnny Sain, and was greatly touched by Christy's note. She's allowed me to share it with you. And I share with her the belief that Sain should be in the Hall of Fame.

Uncle Johnny was very special to my family.  I can remember, when I was a kid, he would come home to Belleville and people would line up with baseballs for autographs and he would sign them for hours and never once complain about it.  He would talk to the kids that were playing baseball (and softball) about the game and how to improve same.

He was not only an outstanding player and pitching coach, he was also a loving and caring man in general.  Growing up I only realized that he was famous when I was in my teens.  I knew that he was pretty special, and thought it was cool when he would bring home spinner balls, trading cards, posters, Braves and Yankees jackets and hats, and the first time I heard Sphan and Sain Pray for Rain, it stuck out in my mind that he was pretty special and famous.  But never once when he came home did he ever boast or brag about how famous he really was.

My only hope is that maybe one day (before I'm gone or my 12-year-old son is gone) that he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with his teammate Warren Sphan.

Thanks, Christy.

Roger Maris, Roberto Clemente, and Branch Rickey

The New York Times digs up (forgive the pun) a few more "classic" obits from its files.

December 15, 1985

Roger Maris is Dead at 51, Set Record Home Runs
By JOSEPH DURSO

During the early 1960's when the New York Yankees reigned for five straight pennant-winning seasons, Roger Maris was all things to all people. But baseball history will remember him as the home-run twin to Mickey Mantle, and generations of fans will remember him as the man with the asterisk in the record books: *Hit 61 home runs in 1961 in a 162-game season.

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January 2, 1971

Clemente, Pirates' Star, Dies in Crash Of Plane Carrying Aid to Nicaragua

Roberto Clemente, star outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, died late last night in the crash of a cargo plane carrying relief supplies to the victims of the earthquake in Managua. Three days of national mourning for Mr. Clemente were proclaimed in his native Puerto Rico, where he was the most popular sports figure in the island's history. He is a certainty to be enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

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December 10, 1965

Branch Rickey, 83, Dies in Missouri

Branch Rickey, a dominant figure in baseball for half a century, died tonight in Boone County Memorial Hospital at the age of 83. He broke the color barrier in the major leagues and developed the farm system.

...

The cigar chomping Mr. Rickey, who throughout his career declined to attend Sunday baseball games because of a promise to his mother and who was seldom known to say anything stronger than his famous "Judas Priest," remained in the hospital's intensive-care ward until his death, continuously receiving oxygen.