The death of Jim Bouton prompted me to seek out Ball Four, that seminal book of my youth (on many levels). I am pleased to report -- Bouton recorded it HIMSELF for Audible:  

 

https://www.audible.com/pd/Ball-Four-Audiobook/B007RYI4XM?qid=1562976936&sr=1-1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=TS8SPC71QW1MXK85CFNC&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1  

 

Worth joining Audible all by itself. Here he is, arguing for money from the Yankees, every year, in the fat days of the 60s  

-- Bouton's AUDIO IMPRESSIONS of various Yankees  

-- Wise observations about sports (and life) ABOUT EVERY THREE MINUTES  

-- Funny funny anecdotes  

 

And I cannot emphasize how wonderful to hear it in Bouton's own voice. He's obviously in his 60s or so when doing it, but it's history, and he tells it with conviction and humor.  There are several times when his voice catches, chuckling, because he is STILL LAUGHING over a particular story. Again, this is a MUST, guys.

RE: Draft in WWII. Don't know anything about Musial, but can relay my father's experience. He was 18 on Dec 7th 1941 and at some point in Dec or Jan went down to volunteer. They refused him on the grounds that he had a spot on his chest x-ray, assuming that he might have TB or something. A year later he was drafted, saw the same draft Dr with the same x-ray (that spot was on every chest x-ray he had for the rest of his life, never figured out what it was) and was approved for induction. Obviously, by Jan 1943 they needed bodies. Perfection wasn't a requirement. Thanks.

I imagine I'm not the first to send this your way, but here's the game with Frank White's walk-off triple to complete the cycle -  

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/KCA/KCA198208030.shtml  

 

He actually reached base 5 ways that game: via single, double, triple, homer, and error.

Did you ever run a tracer on the Ernie Lombardi story where he claimed to have been thrown out at first on a line drive off the left field wall?  I used baseball-reference's tools to make a list of all 3546 of his non-strikeout outs, and none of them appear to match up.  No LF-1B putouts, or LF-(other stuff)-1B putouts at all.  I checked CF-1B and RF-1B, too, and nothing.

About game-winning hits:  

Rule 9.06(f): Subject to the provisions of Rule 9.06(g), when a batter ends a  

game with a safe hit that drives in as many runs as are necessary to put his team in the lead, the official scorer shall credit  

such batter with only as many bases on his hit as are advanced  

by the runner who scores the winning run, and then only if the  

batter runs out his hit for as many bases as are advanced by the  

runner who scores the winning run.  

 

Rule 9.06( f ) Comment: The official scorer shall apply this  

rule even when the batter is theoretically entitled to more bases  

because of being awarded an "automatic" extra-base hit under  

various provisions of Rules 5.05 and 5.06(b)(4).  

The official scorer shall credit the batter with a base touched in  

the natural course of play, even if the winning run has scored  

moments before on the same play...If the batter-runner reaches second base [before the run scores], the official scorer shall credit the batter with a two-base hit.  

 

Did you know that the Villisca murder house was famous as a "ghost house"?  I drove past it early in the year and saw a sign that suggested a museum was present, but apparently it closed.  https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12163

My favorite is Robin Ventura hitting a walkoff grandslam single (with the Mets, might have been a playoff game).  He just decided he didn't want to round the bases, so stopped after he touched first.  And it's especially noteworthy because Ventura has a historically high Grand Slam total.

Regarding the Frank White game where his walkoff hit was scored as a triple to complete the cycle… It would have been this 1982 game.:  

 

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1982/B08030KCA1982.htm  

 

Frank also hit for the cycle in a 1979 game against the Angels, incidentally, but that was in Anaheim.

This follows my earlier post (answered on 7/13) about hitters, this one shows strikeout totals for pitchers on the same three teams:  

 

1927 Yankees  

Waite Hoyt led with 86, followed by George Pipgras (81), Wilcy Moore (75), Herb Pennock (51), and Dutch Ruether (45).  

 

1961 Yankees  

Whitey Ford led with 209, followed by Bill Stafford (101), Luis Arroyo (87), Ralph Terry (86), and Rollie Sheldon (84).  

 

1998 Yankees  

David Cone led with 209, followed by David Wells (163), Andy Pettitte (146), Orlando Hernandez (131), and Hideki Irabu (126).  

 

It seems that strikeout totals have increased over time, or at least were very low around 1927. I was surprised at how few strikeouts the 1927 Yankee pitchers had. I’m used to seeing starting pitchers with at least 100 strikeouts. Some pitchers have even struck out 300 hitters in a season, however.

HeyBill, there is a very good JFK analysis in Season 2, Episode 6 of Unsolved History, available on Amazon Prime for free. They gathered film from 14 different cameras, film and snapshots, that were in Dealey Plaza, and did a very interesting computer simulation combining them all. Far more visual documentation than I realized was available. Just say thanks.

Hey Bill, what are your thoughts on the big Mets/Mariners trade last off-season? Or what you've heard of others' opinion of it? I'm fascinated by it because as a Met fan it's by far the most ridiculous trade I've ever seen or could even imagine. Thanks.

It's not like the great defensive play thing. The thing I was trying to say is that a walkoff double is rare because by definition the game ends during the course of the play and the value of the extra base is essentially nil and does not affect any outcome. It's closer to a bookkeeping nicety. If you watch Harper two nights ago the on-field ecstasy is already well underway by the time he reaches second base, and there isn't really any point to him completing the double, the only thing that matters is reaching first base successfully.

Hey Bill,  

 

"I am trying to measure the SUPPORT for each candidate.  Donald Trump, in that sense, is no different than any other candidate."  

 

I understand the difference between support now and actual votes sixteen months from now.  In no way, however, is a sitting President the same as any other candidate.  Trump has more support than 8-10% versus a thousand candidates, let alone 25. I rule you checked your swing - barely. Next pitch?  

 

Inspired by your writings and rankings, I was wondering what might have happened to the Astros of the early 1970s if they didn't trade Joe Morgan and had hung on to John Mayberry, who quickly blossomed with your beloved Royals. Ballpark effects and other tangibles and intangibles aside, here are the OWAR numbers for the 1972 Astros with Morgan and Mayberry rather than Helms and May, compared to some other formidable starting eights:  

 

1972 OFFENSIVE WAR per Baseball Reference  

8.4 Morgan (Helms 1.3)  

7.6 Cedeno  

6.5 Wynn  

5.7 Mayberry (May 4.3)  

4.6 Watson  

2.7 Rader  

2.1 Edwards  

0.6 Metzger  

_________  

38.2  — 4.775 per player!  

 

O WAR Comparison - Starting eight position players  

41.5 1927 Yankees  

40.1 1953 Dodgers  

39.4 1976 Reds  

38.2 1972 Astros  

38.2 1982 Brewers  

33.8 2001 Mariners  

32.8 1998 Yankees  

32.2 1999 Indians  

29.3 1962 Giants  

29.2 1993 Blue Jays  

 

That's pretty lofty company. Any thoughts about the "what if" ramifications of that trade?  

Thanks and Cheers,  

Mark P

December 6th, 1941 USC played UCLA in a football game at the coliseum. There was a poll done, and almost 90% were against getting involved in the war. The next day’s poll was basically a mirror image, with 90% wanting to enter the war.  

 

Admiral Yamamoto was entirely correct in his statement: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."  (In defense of Japan the US had done everything in its power to cut off their oil supply while they were involved in a war in China).  

 

That giant hasn’t slept much since. Eisenhower tried to warn us with his "military industrial complex" term that this might become a permanent state of affairs. He seems to also have been quite prescient.  

 

On a side note, Ho Chi Minh showed up at Versailles asking for Vietnam to get sovereignty... but since the French controlled it they convinced us not to listen. When we don’t live up to our stated ideal of self-determination we pay a horrible price.