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I don't know why this crazy narcissist has such a thing for Maranville. If he wants to go aboard a HoFer, there is always Elmer Flick and Freddie Lindstrom to castigate.
In Baseball Reference's Similarity chart, Maranville is compared to 7 present or future HoFers in batting similarity, and the article admits that Maranville was a great defensive infielder. The only HoFers Flick and Lindsrom are similar to are each other, and to the immortal Joe Vosmik.
The only thing remarkable about Vosmik, that I can think of, is that he wore four different single-digit uniform numbers during his career, but never wore a 2-digit number. I don't know if anyone else has ever done that.
I don't know why this crazy narcissist has such a thing for Maranville. If he wants to go aboard a HoFer, there is always Elmer Flick and Freddie Lindstrom to castigate.
In Baseball Reference's Similarity chart, Maranville is compared to 7 present or future HoFers in batting similarity, and the article admits that Maranville was a great defensive infielder. The only HoFers Flick and Lindsrom are similar to are each other, and to the immortal Joe Vosmik.
More importantly with Rabbit Maranville, he was probably the most crazy and entertaining man (that includes mascots and clowns) to ever step on a baseball field. Maranville's antics and likely popularity with everyone who watched him is probably the biggest reason why he's in the Hall of Fame.
More importantly with Rabbit Maranville, he was probably the most crazy and entertaining man (that includes mascots and clowns) to ever step on a baseball field. Maranville's antics and likely popularity with everyone who watched him is probably the biggest reason why he's in the Hall of Fame.
One of Maranville's favorite practical jokes was to glue his roommate's house shoes to the floor. The victim would usually get up, start to take a step forward and fall flat on his face.
And John Rocker, on the list because of supposedly racist remarks. While ignoring Cap Anson, who created the color bar in the first place in a then-integrated game, right through Dixie Walker and Ben Chapman and others too numerous to mention, and the whole Phillies and Red Sox organizations that kept the color bar for 12 more years, and even 25 years after Robinson, Alvin Dark still a racist. John Rocker, the token racist, one out of 100. What a shameful selection.
I forgot about this one, and it might in fact be the most shameful on-field in-play event in MLB history. But it still remains conjecture.
In the final game of the '76 season, Hal McRae was less than a point ahead of his white teammate George Brett for the AL batting championship. In the 7th, they got back to back hits, and McRae was still slightly ahead. In the ninth, Brett lofted a fly to left, that Twins LF Steve Brye backed off on, let it fall, and it bounced over his head for an inside-park HR. McRae then grounded out, and the White man won the league batting championship, not the Black man.
The story was buried, almost nothing was said about it, and nobody had ever heard of Al Sharpton, celebrating his 22nd birthday that very day. There were remarks that Brye lost the ball in the sun. There were remarks that Twins manager Gene Mauch ordered him to play too deep. Most people acted like gentlemen after the game. Brett acknowledged that it was a routine fly and he deserved neither the hit, nor, consequently the batting title, which he said he would share with McRae if he could. But the question continues to burn, as to whether Brye intentionally let the ball fall for a hit in a gesture of racism.
But the question continues to burn, as to whether Brye intentionally let the ball fall for a hit in a gesture of racism.
Why does racism have to have been the motive? Isn't it possible that Brye might have simply liked or been friendly with Brett, while either not liking McRae or having no particular relationship with him at all?
McRae thought it was racism at the time. I don't know if he's changed his mind on that. But he was a DH and perhaps the baseball players of the day didn't want to see a batting title won by a non-position player. Or else... Brye actually muffed the play, which is kinda what I'm thinking. Awfully hard to tell without some video and I can't find any out there. I believe that Rod Carew was also in that race for the batting title on the final day. Theories abound.
If Brett's ball had been caught by Brye, then Carew, Brett and McRae would have all been 2-for-4 for the day, and the final BA race would have ended McRae .33075, Brett .33071 and Carew .33057. Prior to that 9th inning, all three had gotten a hit in his last AB, Carew off Steve Mingori, and Brett and Mcrae off Jim Hughes. Even with outs, Brett and McRae would have finished ahead of Carew, so at that point in time, for the first time, Carew was out of the race. If the Twins has been trailing at the time, Brett and McRae would not have come to bat for that last time.
Both Brett and McRae sat out the game the day before. With a month to go, McRae had a 20-point lead in the BA race, but with two weeks to go, the difference had diminished to 2 points. Racism being what it is, it is highly likely that at least once in that final two weeks, Brett was given the advantage on a H/E official scorer's ruling, and therein lies the racist card, if indeed one had been played to determine the batting champion.
Side note: I know of at least one case, in the September that Brett was flirting with .400, that Brett was awarded a hit by the KC scorer, in clear and flagrant violation of the letter of the rule on scoring. Brett grounded to short in what would have been an easy force, but nobody covered second and the SS ate the ball. The rule specifically states that a FC is scored, if ordinary effort would have produced an out, even though no error is charged and no out is recorded. But Brett was given a Hit. Brett finished the year 5 hits shy of the .400 mark.
McRae thought it was racism at the time. I don't know if he's changed his mind on that. But he was a DH and perhaps the baseball players of the day didn't want to see a batting title won by a non-position player. Or else... Brye actually muffed the play, which is kinda what I'm thinking. Awfully hard to tell without some video and I can't find any out there. I believe that Rod Carew was also in that race for the batting title on the final day. Theories abound.
My theory is that McRae lost the batting title because he hit .243 after August.
My theory is that McRae lost the batting title because he hit .243 after August.
Actually, McRae lost the batting title because he batted .000 (0-for-1) after Brett's tainted hit, and a paltry .500 (2-for-4) on the last day of the season, compared to Brett's .750* (3*-for-4).
In fact, one could say that McRae lost the batting title way back on May 4, when he lined a Jim Wolloughby pitch right at 3B Rico Petrocelli in top of the 9th with a 7-5 lead in Fenway Park. A foot higher, the ball goes into the corner for a double, and McRae wins the title, whether Brye catches Brett's ball 5 months later or not. Who knew?
Last edited by jtur88; 07-25-2011 at 09:13 AM..
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