Misc. Bull$h!t

1980:

The Cincinnati Reds' Cesar Geronimo experienced déjà vu at the plate, as he became the three-thousandth career strikeout of the Houston Astros' Nolan Ryan. Ironically, he was also Bob Gibson's three-thousandth career strikeout victim six seasons earlier…

The Templeton factoid caught my fancy, so I checked his game logs. He was a robust 11 for 33 in those 9 games, including 6 for 15 on right vs. right at bats… Just enough hits to reach the 100 mark from the right side…

In the same vein, Casey Stengel used to say that the secret to managing was to keep the guys who hated you away from the guys who hadn't made up their minds.

This question has interested me for a long time.  When I was a kid I used to hear people say it.  Newhouser was not a popular player, especially among his Tiger teammates.  He had a volcanic temper and was known to berate his fellow players and cause considerable property damage when he was removed from a game or if he had a bad outing.  Apparently he was as tough on himself as he was on others, although that still doesn't win you many fans.  In addition, the fact that he was not in WWII rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, even though he twice tried to enlist but was rejected because he had a heart condition.  If the draft board made you 4-F in WWII, you had a real issue.

In looking at his record, it is clear that he did not really hit his stride until 1944, several years into war time baseball.  In 1943, he had a record of 8-17 with a decent but not special ERA+ of 115.  Then in 44-45, he put up an ERA+ of 159 and then 195 while going a combined 54-18 and winning back to back MVPs.  Unquestionably the caliber of baseball then was lower, with most stars missing all of 1944 with a slow straggling back midway through 1945.

However, by 1946, baseball was back full tilt.  Ted Williams led in most offensive categories and was MVP, just beating out Newhouser.  Hank Greenberg led the league in HRs and RBIs.  Joe DiMaggio had some injury issues that hampered him but was still among the league leaders in many offensive categories.  But it was normal baseball and Prince Hal went 26-9 and had an ERA+ of 190.  So I don't think we can lump that in with the war years.

In 1947, Newhouser was only 17-17, but put up a very good 132 ERA+.  He wasn't getting much run support.  In 1948 he led the AL in wins, going 21-12 with an ERA+ of 145, which is of course outstanding.  Late in 1948 he sustained a shoulder injury that really cut down on his fastball, but still managed to go 18-11 with an ERA+ of 124 in 1949.  But the effects of that injury really kicked in starting in 1950, his age 29 season, when he went 15-13 with a modestly above average ERA+ of 108.  He followed this with three injury-shortened seasons where overall he pitched around the league average in ERA.  The Tigers released him in July of 1953.  He appeared to be washed up.

His old Detroit teammate Hank Greenberg was part owner and GM in Cleveland by then.  Greenberg believed that if used sparingly, Newhouser still had enough left to help his team.  So he signed Newhouser as a free agent for 1954 and the Indians used him as a spot starter and long reliever on a team that went 110-44.  No longer able to throw the ball by hitters, Newhouser relied on breaking stuff -- Joe DiMaggio said Newhouser threw the best curveball he had ever tried to hit -- and he responded beautifully, going 7-2 with an ERA+ of 187, the third best of his career.

It was his last hurrah.  He pitched just two games in 1955 and that was it.

So I think we can make a case that while of course two years of war baseball made things a lot easier for him, he was still an outstanding pitcher.  How different his record might have been under normal conditions we can never know.  Just a goofy aside I came across -- Detroit owner William Briggs was the last American League owner to put lights in, not doing so until 1948.  Newhouser pitched the first night game ever at what later came to be called Tiger Stadium, but what caught my eye was that the game started at 9:30 PM!!  Fashionably late.

Newhouser became a scout, working only in Michigan (that would definitely limit your possibilities) and the first prospect he signed was Detroit's own Milt Pappas, who went on to win over 200 games.  He also signed Dean Chance, who won a Cy Young Award, and tried to sign Iron Man reliever Mike Marshall, but his Cleveland employers weren't going for it.  Famously, as you related awhile back, he urgently recommended to his Houston employers that they sign Derek Jeter, who Newhouser understood was an exceptional talent, but the Astros went for Phil Nevin and Newhouser, temperamental as ever, simply quit at age 71 and never worked in baseball again.

 

Excellent treatise, Pipps!  And, you wove in Newhouser's irascible nature, sewing it up comically at the end.  How different the Yankees would have been without Derek Jeter?  And, the Astros could have had Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Carl Everett, Ken Caminiti, Moises Alou, Lance Berkman, Derek Bell, and Derek Jeter instead of the likes of Tim Bogar or Ricky Gutierrez at shortstop.

Pipps, who does Mayo remind you of on the Yankees?  By the way, I love the name Virgil Trucks.