Changing Sox - How a Spoiled Peach (and the Babe) changed baseball history

Part 12 – Amazing World Series (and pennant races) Plus Completing Integration – Sort Of



(18) Ford never pitched well in Fenway, though others would step up and be enough to overcome the other clubs in 1950. As you’ll see later, too, Ted Williams might wer on New York media and vice versa even more than the tougher Boston media, there being more of them.
I'm liking this more and Hank being a Sox I'd like also
 
Yes! I would. Us Sox fans are odd like that the story's of those Sox players have been told from Grandfather to father to Son here in New England

Fascinating. Well, come the next chapter you'll see that Teddy ballgame does wind up there, I sort of hinted of at it in the last post.
Interestingly, Ed Barrow have a chance at Ted Williams in our timeline. So I suppose I could have put him on the Red Sox in this timeline. But that would have just made that Boston team so ridiculously good with the others that it would have seemed a little ASB. :)
 
Part 13 – Five-Tool Stars and Middle America Baseball
Part 13 – Five-Tool Stars and Middle America Baseball


Artie Wilson had come from the Yankees to the Giants as a minor leaguer in the Johnny Mize trade. The Giants, who had that great pennant winning game before a thrilling comeback against the Yankees in the World Series, had sent the infielder to St. Louis in exchange for reserve outfield help early in ’51 and the Cardinals had penciled in at third, where he could hit for a decent average and not have to range as far as he would at short. Wilson is remembered for hitting for a good average and playing all four infield positions, but otherwise as one of those players Busch was using to integrate his club and yet build around a white superstar.


St. Louis’ new superstar’s name was Mickey Mantle.


They signed him after seeing him in a summer league days after his graduation.(1) Mantle and his family had been Cardinal fans, and while the Yankees had interest, the Cardinals had known about him first. Their scout had chosen to wait till after he graduated, but Busch’s front office people said to get him – they knew he was a switch hitter and had real power.(2) Plus, he was much more insistent on getting such a star than others might have been.


Mantle was up and down in ’51 but soon Musial could go to first full time, with Pennington as the fourth outfielder and Joe Black as a surprisingly really good starter and reliever on that Cardinals club, though they signed Satchel Paige in ’51 as well as a mop-up man not knowing he’d have a very good 1952, also.


Interestingly, were it not for this deal, Busch’s GM was looking at another one – the White Sox got Minnie Minoso from the Indians, but the Cardinals had him on their radar, too. As it was, the ’50-‘51 White Sox would continue dealing after the Jethroe trade to New York.


“It just happened to work well and give us just enough to be real close, till Wally Westlake’s 3 RBIs for Cleveland beat us in that playoff game in 1953,” one Chicago player later said. “Frank Lane sometimes made trades just to make them.” One of the White Sox’s black players who helped them stay ahead of quite a few other teams was Wilmer “Red” Fields. Fields, part of the outfield rotation in 1954 after a down year in ’53 –as Sam Mele was traded in yet another of Frank Lane’s many trades – helped the ’54 White Sox finaly get over the hump and win the pennant after two straight by Cleveland.(3) The Indians had won the World Series in ’53 as well, and would come within a game of the ’56 pennant, losing to the Red Sox.


Boston’s Red Sox had their own five-tool star. A man John Quinn insisted on signing. When he brought manage Casey Stengel out to see him as the team had an off day June 13 of 1953, Stengel’s first reaction was, ‘That kid’s got the quickest wrists I ever saw, and he don’t even hold the bat right. We gotta teach him to hold the bat right and he might really be something!” Stengel elicited from the playher a promise – if they signed him - after their class C season in Eau Claire to sharpen his skills in “Puerto Rico or someplace where you can get better practice batting. You’re something else now but you’ll really be something else then.” Quinn also hatched a plan to keep the Birmingham AA franchise in the Southern Association to keep the man away from the draft in a year or two by saying they were going to integrate it with him.


The man’s name was Hank Aaron.(4) He wasn’t thrilled about possibly having to play in Louisville, but it was relatively north, and other players had skipped leagues. Single-A Albany looked good for 1953, at least, and he figured if he did well enough, like Willie Mays, he might not spend much time in AAA.


Tom Yawkey was hesitant to spend the extra money, but a few things pushed him. First, he was bidding against the Giants. Second, Quinn and Stengel had given glowing reports; Quinn had pulled out all the stops on a man he thought was worth $100,000. And, he knew his club was getting old in places. While he wasn’t thrilled, he’d given his word that – if it was a “can’t miss” player – he’d trust his baseball people. He just planned to keep the number of black players for down – others could be traded. Indeed, at times where was a shuttle between Fields and Brown in the minors in ’48 and ‘49, or Marv Williams was sent down if Fields was needed.


“Quinn may have really been on the hot seat if Aaron hadn’t panned out, but [the owner] had been influenced by the right baseball men to someone they thought could be a star and then take the spotlight off of himself; Yawkey didn’t want to be the one asked all the questions That’s what he loved about Casey; Stengel was a very cerebral manager – Boston’s media enjoyed him because it took them a while to unpack everything Stengel said, especially when he rambled, but he was usually right,” one Boston writer said later of that era.


He later wrote of a different aspect of that era.


“Ted Williams trade rumors were still around, and Yawkey wondered, what if he traded a few younger players – including Bill Bruton, who was much faster, for Williams? Casey had worked this youngster, Whitey Ford, mostly on the road after aa few disasters in Fenway in 1950. He thought it was just rookie jitters, but it was just as bad in ’53, if not worse, after his 2 years of military service. George Kell had a good year or two left after ’53, but it looked like the deal might get done after all, and someone else could get Kell and help out in case New York wanted to ship some of the black players out.” That someone would be the White Sox.


As one New York writer famously put it, “Williams’ hitting counts as two tools from a normal person.” Williams was a fan favorite, but he’d gotten on fans for booing him if he didn’t hit, and while he hadn’t totally been blamed for the ’51 loss, he had been for 1946, and while he’d hit better in the ’51 Series, some said a faster outfielder would have kept that third run from scoring on Willard Brown’s double or even caught it, though it would have required just the right placement.


“Stengel had ridden Parnell hard in ’49 along with Reynolds and Raschii because they hadn’t had a lot of depth, and Parnell did well, winning25 games. Still, Spec Shea had numerous arm troubles, so once Ford came up in ’50, and again in ’53, he’d begun to be more careful with all the hurlers, use them more in relief and such if it was a bad matchup for them. I guess you could say there was method to his madness – but, that’s why he gets called the ‘Nutty Professor’ at times, when others would have just ridden that foursome of Reynolds, Parnell, Raschii, and Shea a lot harder – but maybe worn their arms out earlier. Shea was still a competent reliever, though in the back of the bullpen, in ‘56,” that same writer said.


If the trade was going to get done, it would be in ’53 – Ford was back from the war but not doing well in Fenway. Parnell helped him some – he himself had said the short left-field wall looked really daunting, being so high – but this was more of a difference in pitching styles.


“There was so much going on in Boston,” one writer noted, “even with the middle of the country having such good baseball for a while. Williams for Bruton, Ford, and some others sounded like a good deal – the question had been how many years did he have left himself, now he wasn’t going to retire in ’54 like he talked about, he told Yankee brass he was going to, but that if they could arrange a trade to a place he like better, he would stay.”(5) Williams had struggled to stay above .280 for a couple months and finish only at .308 in ’51, a year after his broken arm, so trade rumors as well as retirement ones had been there for a while.(6)


If the Yankees got Bruton, it’d give them two black starters, with Elston Howard a full-time starter in ’54. George Weiss didn’t mind too much, but he considered that he might get Boston to take a back player in a trade – the Athletics wanted Vic Power, but would Boston take him?


No, it wasn’t likely. Boston, too, wanted black players who “didn’t make waves,” as Weiss put it. Never mind that Weiss himself was on thin ice for not winning a World Series yet. He had found some good players. Besides, he had a plan to possibly get the Milwaukee AAA franchise from the Red Sox for the ’54 season in exchange for their own, and now if he could get Arnold Johnson of Chicago to buy the Athletics, he could then get Milwaukee as sort of a pipeline for the Yankees.


There were plenty of other suitors for the Athletics, though, including the Carpenter family of DuPont Industries fame and even Bill Veeck.


Veeck had been hunting for a club to buy. Grace Comiskey was an older woman and doing okay as owner, and Veeck, tired of waiting after having sold his Indians after 1949 to pay for his divorce, chose to help his native Chicago. When Chuck Comiskey resigned in a huff as team president in January of 1952, Veeck offered himself for the position for even less pay but a small share of the club. When Comiskey came back in June after his media endeavor went bankrupt, Veeck gave him a part-time job and began discussions on how he could buy the team if the kids couldn’t agree – and it was looking like they might have trouble.


He’d encouraged Mrs. Comiskey about building up a good roster. He didn’t like Frank Lane’s constant trading, and meddled some, like getting George Kell before the ‘54 season in that trade with New York and Boston and signing Satchel Paige – though Paige was released at the end of spring training. He planned to build an exploding scoreboard as well, and he could become sole owner once she died.


However, he was getting flak from other Comiskeys. If he sold his share back to them, he could buy the Athletics – so he told President Harridge his plans, and that he’d sell his share if he could get enough money along with that to buy them.(7)


While this went on, Weiss – whose Yankees had slipped since losing the World Series to 4th at 82-72 in ’52, then only two games better and still in 4th in ’53 – decided that, while he had the chance, he needed to trade Williams, who was becoming unhappy as a Yankee. Williams was back from Korea, anxiouis to play several more years, and so had m ore value than he would anytime later in his career.


Whitey Ford – who looked marvelous on the road – Bil Bruton, and Bob Cerv – to replace Williams and Dom DiMaggio – were the keys. Elston Howard could move to catcher to back up Sammy White or stay in the outfield if Jackie Jensen’s offense didn’t pick up like it had in ’52; it would, though. Someone could be moved to first if need be. Weiss did guess right that Collins was a year away from really getting old – he had one more good year at first and that would be it. And, Johnny Mize was retiring, too, though when the Giants were in first in July they coaxed him out of it since he really wanted that Series ring – he’d get a few at bats and then get a ring as a coach mostly.


However, a fourth team was also needed. Boston wanted to give the Yankees Wes Covington, so New York took him and sent him to the N.L.’s Angels for Bob Boyd, and then sent Boyd to Boston for Dick Gernert, hoping he could play first if Moose Skowron didn’t work out. Boston planned on Boyd as a stopgap for Harry Agganis and a good pinch-hitter, though he’d have to play first full time again after the young star’s tragic death in 1955.


Elston Howard, upon learning of this trade, joked, “I’ll learn to play first now, too – maybe I can be a backup everywhere.” Although Gernert would also be traded, it would be because Moose Skowron was up part time in ’54 and full time in ’55, Howard would still spell all 3 outfielders in ’54 and ‘55as well as Sammy White, then be the full-time starting catcher by 1956. Other minor leaguers were also involved, mostly coming to Boston, though some to the others, too.


Thus, while the Yankees would have an outfield of Bruton, Jensen, and Cerv for ’54, with several other men (and even Billy Goodman) spelling Bruton at times, the Red Sox had Williams, Bauer, and a man who by June had forced his way up from AAA Louisville and into the Red Sox’ starting lineup – Hank Aaron. They struggled for outfield depth but would have it by 1955 when they won their first of 2 straight pennants. Williams felt rejuvenated, and hit better than he had since ’49 the next couple full seasons before injuries hurt him in ’56.


Weiss’s Yankees would improve, but he was let go after 1955, as was the manager.


While Yogi Berra, the more established Boston star, won MVP honors in 1956, Hank Aaron finished 2nd, and won Series MVP award in 1956 when he hit .400 while the rest of the club hit only about ..250.(8) Aaron would capture MVP honor in 1957, then, as the Red Sox were only a game behind the pennant-winning White Sox at the end. Williams hit .400 on the nose in ’57, because Aaron was often hitting behind him, but Williams missed quite a few games, especially in early September, and barely qualified for the battle crown. Plus, he'd already won three MVP awards.(9) He kept touting Aaron, in fact, though Aaron was very modest about whether he deserved such an award


Instead, Hank Aaron had his eyes set on records if he could make them. Aaron won a Triple Crown in 1959 – he hit .368, with Tito Francona his main challenger in batting average in the upper .350s.(10) Some started saying he could break Tris Speaker’s all-time record for hits, though few wanted to admit it(11). That same year, Williams had his worst year, and Red Sox fans had begun to embrace Aaron, though they realy loved the job Teddy Ballgame was doing, but were glad that Aaron gave proper due to Williams as aa hitter. It was often said that, “Aaron is remembered for the career, Williams for the moments – that .400 in ’57, or the home run in his last at bat of his career in ’60. Aaron was just let him soak in the fame.”


In 1958, New York finally won their first World Series since 1936 with a somewhat more integrated team. Elston Howard even won the 1958 A.L. MVP with his second highest batting average - .327 – and second highest home run total – 21 – along with being the clear team leader in the outfield and at catcher, where he played most of the time.(12)


“Some thought Bob Cerv should win(13),” one scribe noted, “and he had a very good year. Yankees finished in the top three, and they swept Pittsburgh, after losing a close race the year before where any of three teams could have won with breaks. But, Howard was a catcher, and with Campanella’s 3 in the early to middle ‘50s and Berra’s in 51, ’55, and ’56 – and a close loss to Minoso in ’54 – there was this string of love for catchers and how they handled pitchers as part of the equation.”


Veeck’s work on the White Sox would result in a new GM by ’54, one determined to keep the team intact after winning the pennant. “They were been allowed to get old,” one writer noted, “Connie Johnson and George Kell weren’t traded for younger talent like some might have – but then who knows what Frank Lane would have done. Instead, they were kept and prospects were sent for pitcher Jim Wilson, who wound up with Billy Pierce, Dick Donovan, and Johnson in an excellent pitching staff that played a great 7-gme Series against Mantle’s Cardinals in 1957 before losing.” It hadn’t been the first club with more than half a dozen black players on their roster, but Veeck’s influence certainly helped. Grace Comiskey had died, and he’d bought out the others’ shares bit by bit as they haggled over the will. Veeck was still a showman, but he didn’t have to be as big of a one. Chicaago’s 2 pennants in the ‘50s, Boston’s 3, New York’s 2, and Cleveland’s 3 meant it was a very good year for balnce among the top 4 teams, anyway, in the American League, and for baseball in Middle America joining the East Coast as a special place for the game.




Of course, Cleveland’s pennant in ‘59(14) was followed by more East Coast drama, as Kansas City fans were forced to lament the Yankees pulling the strings on a deal for the MVP of the next 2 years, Roger Maris, in the middle of the 1958 season once it became apparent that Jackie Jensen was having trouble dealing with air travel; he had an immense fear of flying, and Maris was available from the Indians. He also led them to a pennant in 1960 before losing the World Series. It would be part of how Kansas City fans grew to hate the Yankees for quite a while.(15)


This was especially when tutoring helped to improve his swing and give him a magical season that – while it didn’t quite get them the pennant – did give him admiration and applause from Yankee fans throughout the season as he chansed a record held by the hated Giants. While some fans disliked his breaking Babe Ruth’s home run mark, Yankee fans saw it as finally getting their moment in the sun.(16)


However, Boston was aging, and it would be 1967 when they would win another pennant, losing the pennant to the Cardinals. The world of baseball had changed greatly by then. Because, the greed of one man finally brought baseball back to one city and caused a chain reaction of events that would expand the season to 162 games and cement legacies while starting new ones.


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(1) The Cardinals knew about Mantle first OTL. Yankee scout Tom Greenwade wasn’t totally sold on Mantle at first, as shown here. https://bleacherreport.com/articles...-convinced-of-mickey-mantles-future-greatness Johnny Sturm asked him to come see him a second time and Greenwade didn’t recall him; Sturm had played for the Yankees in 1941. He wouldn’t have been on the Red Sox – they still had Jimmie Foxx. It’s unknown if he was signed by Barrow’s scouts, but Sturm was from St. Louis, and it’s also possible that the inclusion of Johnny Hopp in a trade - so Stan Musial could eventually play first full-time – means Sturm is acquired by the Cardinals in ’41. Needless to say, there are several ways the Cardinals could get Mantle TTL given that things are different than OTL.


(2) One article notes that the scout who signed him OTL didn’t know he was a switch-hitter till the second time he saw him, and that’s partly what sold him on Mantle. It’s not just a less aggressive Greenwade – Busch is pouring money into this club, but Fred Saigh wasn’t as much OTL when Mangle turned 18. His scouts would look harder. They could sign Mantle days after his graduation versus the day he graduated; and it could even be the day of if need be.


(3) TTL, the Indians haven’t been in second three straight years, so they don’t feel the need to focus their best pitchers on the worst teams in an effort to win the pennant after 5 straight Yankee wins. Their manager, of course, could be different since Al Lopez stays with Pittsburgh so is never with the Browns to be sent to Cleveland as he was OTL, but he was back with a Pirates’ minor league club in 1948 so likely still comes to Cleveland. The White Sox’s Pythagorean Win total was 98 OTL, with the Indians at 101.


(4) With the OTL Braves in San Francisco, they have the San Jose team, so Boston uses Eau Claire. Quinn had the idea of telling the draft board they might be ready to integrate with Aaron in Atlanta even though they didn’t, so since Birmingham is a Red Sox club in ’52, it doesn’t go to being a Yankee club like it did starting in ’53, when Boston had no Double-A club for a while, just the American Association Louisville AAA club.


(5) OTL, Williams did retire for a time in 1954 but called it off. Here, while it’s not as spacious as OTL’s Old Yankee Stadium, it is bigger than Fenway in left, and the press a bit worse. He first pondered it after 1950’s broken arm and injuries in ’51, so with that and likely his first divorce happening earlier TTL, if he marries the same person, he likely announces ’54 will be his last year even before ’53 ends. OTL he sat out the first weeks of ’55 before being lured out of retirement, but in a new city here he chooses not to.


(6) Even OTL, they swirled some, with Williams for Joe DiMaggio perhaps invented but when the Red Sox didn’t repeat, after the team was built up to be so good, there were rumblings. Here things \get worse, and it’s easy to imagine some saying he’s starting to get washed up. Boston’s Park Factor is a lot more favorable to hitters in the 1949-1955 era than it was the late ‘30s and early ‘40s, where it wasn’t much better than Yankee Stadium overall, though Fenway is more favorable for DiMaggio because he’s lefthanded.


(7) TTL he’s not in hot water over the wild schemes of the St. Louis Browns. He has a moderately successful franchise he is helping with which had over 1 million in attendance, 3rd OTL though likely 4th here behind Boston as well.


(8) The Braves had a similar series in ’57 against the Yankees; with Boston getting older, at it being Rizzzuto’s last year, it’s very plausible that Aaron would have this kind of year. The Yankees probably would fire Weiss if they didn’t have the success expected- this is still a very tough town to come up short in.


(9) OTL Williams won in ’46 (they won the pennant) and ’49 (close but DiMaggio played far fewer games) – here, he gets New York media voting more for him so that narrow loss in ’47 is a win, he still takes the Triple Crown. Meanwhile, Aaron likely hits about .340-.345 with 47-49 home runs and over 150 RBIs, given he had 132 OTL and would have Williams hitting ahead and walking a lot. He also wins MVP in ’59 as you’ll see.


(10) The White Sox, having just won the pennant, refuse to make the Early Wynn and Al Smith for Minnie Minoso deal, so Francona gets a few more at bats that Minoso would have gotten, with Smith getting the rest; enough to just qualify for the batting crown, though not as high as .363 – and Aaron hits about 15 points higher than OTL in Fenway anyway. Even OTL’s totals would be good enough in 2 areas, and he’d easily get 3 more home runs batting in Fenway Park half his time, rather than County Stadium in Milwaukee.


(11) Speaker is the leder without Cobb. Without the gambling thing forcing him away from Cleveland, he might play some more there and in ’28, so give him 25-30 more hits, but he still hits .345 with about 3550 hits. If you’re wondering about Joe Jackson, OTL he had just over 1700 hits and while playing in Boston helps, he was 32 in 1920, a year older than Speaker, and even figuring the lively ball era and Fenway boost his stats some, he’d still suffer a decline, too, and Speaker was lucky not to have many injuries. Jackson likely has in the 3200-3300 range in hits with perhaps a .350 career average, second only to Rogers Hornsby all time.

As for Reds fans – sorry, I did consider Aaron for the Reds but I have plans to get Frank Robinson to the Reds in time for 1961 anyway, involving something similar to an OTL incident, and also, I put Babe Ruth on the Reds in my timeline “Bit Win for the Little Guy,” so it’s sort of been done, though with the Bambino being the Reds’ superstar instead.


(12) Howard isn’t blocked by Berra and the Yankee outfielders of OTL, of course. 1958, is a likely year for him to win; Jackie Jensen (who started with the Yankees even OTL) is still pretty good but didn’t have as good of a season even OTL as other candidates, even with Fenway as a home park. And, it’s easier for voters to give the MVP to Howard – who has at least fifty percent more at bats TTL in 1958 – than a pitcher, Bob Turley, though Turley is likely second. Jensen won MVP OTL with Boston, but after a string of 4 Yankees voters likely wanted to give it to someone different OTL. Howard’s counting numbers would show a career year, plus Jensen would start dealing with his fear of flying by this time, forcing the Yankees to make a much more even trade than OTL for a rightfielder named Roger Maris during the season.


(13) He had a very good year OTL for Kansas City.


(14) Early Wynn doesn’t beat them in a few close games – he was 5-1 against them after being traded 2 years earlier – and Al Smith and 100 more Francona at bats, plus perhaps a different centerfielder help make up for Minoso not being there. However, also, Gil McDougald is with San Francisco, being from out west, so there is no line drive to hit Herb Score TTL. While his elbow also played a key role in his downfall, he was okay the 1st half and when he slips more in the 2nd half Gary Bell can simply enter the rotation to replace him rather than have to be a starter from the beginning. So, Chicago has 1-2 less wins, but Cleveland has about 5 more, just enough to barely win the pennant.


(15) No Arnold Johnson controlling the Kansas City A’s here, though; just the same frustration of OTL’s late ‘70s and barely missing out on a couple pennants.


(16) No Mantle or a few others (or Berra, who had a decent year yet) means Detroit overtakes them for the pennant. No, he doesn’t have Mantle to protect him in the lineup, but with Ruth not being the Yankees’ darling, New York media can at least sell it as one shining moment for the team that still seems to be a bit of a second banana in New York. Plus, the fans will be much more behind him, which will mean a lot. Actually, Foxx or Greenberg, with a couple breaks, probably tied it anyway, and the Babe may have only had 59 in 1927 in a different park. But, the big thing here is, less pressure balances things out.

Besides, OTL the Yankees’ 154th game was in Baltimore, and he had 3 balls crushed, 2 of which were held up by8 the wind or he’d have had 61 that day. Here… you’ll see.
 
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Part 13 – Five-Tool Stars and Middle America Baseball



(6) Even OTL, they swirled some, with Williams for Joe DiMaggio perhaps invented but when the Red Sox didn’t repeat, after the team was built up to be so good, there were rumblings. Here things \get worse, and it’s easy to imagine some saying he’s starting to get washed up. Boston’s Park Factor is a lot more favorable to hitters in the 1949-1955 era than it was the late ‘30s and early ‘40s, where it wasn’t much better than Yankee Stadium overall, though Fenway is more favorable for DiMaggio because he’s lefthanded.
Assume you mean "righthanded" here...
 
Part 14 – Start Spreading the News, Who’s Leaving Today?
Part 14 – Start Spreading the News, Who’s Leaving Today?


There might have been more concern if a handful of teams had all moved in the mid-‘50s, but three teams that looked to need to had done so a decade earlier. It wasn’t as odd for people to wonder about the Athletics.


The Blues were having some trouble, and rebranded (okay, a more modern term, but that’s what it was) themselves the Royals with a new logo with a crown around the late ‘50s, with similar royal blue script, the idea of Ewing Kaufman, who bought some shares then and bought the rest in the ‘60s.


There were several suitors for the Athletics. If Veeck couldn’t get them – and it was an uphill battle – he would at least be listened to about a man he knew named Charlie Finley, who was part of his “baseball is a show for fans” group of believers, though the stingiest. He might also be in line for an expansion club if the league expanded – which was discussed so they, too, could reap the benefits of West Coast baseball.(1) A group was already looking into it.


Milwaukee, of course, with Arnold Johnson was a thought, too, as were a variety of others, but the Macks kept flip-flopping, leading to jokes that Connie Mack’s sons had gone senile before he had.(2) Bill Veeck’s influence meant that Los Angeles was evena possibility; he had an option to buy Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field – the Angels played int heir own park – and he could sell that to the group led by Charlie Finley.(3)


The distance was a problem, but William Harridge had been frustrated by the fact that the A.L. had been shut out of the West Coast. Perhaps he could get a team there and have at least some support for his league; prospects in Philadelphia, even if the Carpenters did buy, were dim. An expansion club would work better.


Expansion? Yes, and not just there. While Philadelphia might sit idle for a while, there were rumors that Washington could move, too – and given baseball’s quest to keep their antitrust exemption, if the Senators moved, they would want to put a team there right away.


There was no team in Baltimore yet, but while Clark Griffith would never move the team, his son, Calvin would. They had seen attendance decline quite a bit even without a major league team in Baltimore. Baltimore was still a rather large city, and the initial rumors were that he might take the team there. However, while in 1950 24 precent of Baltimore residents were black, Calvin was looking at Minnesota, which had an even smaller black population.


His dad had started to convince him that Baltimore might be a fine idea – if only to keep him from wandering much further - but when Walter O’Malley began visiting the area in 1954, Calvin Griffith was apoplectic. The Senators could never compete against a really powerful club like the Dodgers, even in the other league. At least a poor team like the Browns, had they moved there, even in the same league could have planned to play on each other’s off days and been part of aa western swing. They’d never reach such an agreement with the Dodgers


Or Giants. Horace Stoneham was concerned, even after the Giants’ World Series win in ‘54, their 2nd in 4 years, about attendance. O’Malley was starting to push for a new stadium, but now Stoneham was looking elsewhere, too.


The Giants, however, had been the team of Baabe Ruth and so many stars of just 25-30 years earlier. While the Babe was gone, he’d allowed a lot more money than might have been to flood the franchise, and it brought them time. The Giants’ resurgence, with the Yankees being mediocre after 1951, had made them once again the city’s media darlings as they had been.(4) Joan Whitney Payson, a member of the Giants’ ownership council with a small, minority share, was one of those who suggested moving the club out of Manhattan as a solution.


The Yankees weren’t that popular – memories were still fresh of protesters 14 years after the Dodgers integrated, and now that New York had two blacks starting, Elston Howard and Bill Bruton, they seemed to not want to find another. George Weiss was soon to be fired because he hadn’t been able to do anything with the club. Del Webb, one of the owners, wanted to see the league expand to the West Coast, and without the fan support and history they might have had, there was even talk the Yankees could move out West. (5)


William Shea was approached about working with city planners to find a place for the Giants – or, possibly, the Yankees – since O’Malley was insisting that the team had to be in Brooklyn. He couldn’t move West, but if he got a great offer, that proposed new stadium in Baltimore would be great, though he wouldn’t get a dome like he envisioned at times. And, the team could play in the NFL Colts’ Memorial Stadium for a couple years till it was ready.


Without the Yankees dominating, there was more interest in working with the Giants – the Yankees had never replaced them as New York’s media darlings. On the contrary, if anyone had it was the Dodgers, with the Yankees playing third fiddle. However, they at least had some staying power in the Bronx; Webb and Topping didn’t really want to leave.


O’Malley won yet another World Series for Brooklyn in 1955; their third after ’42 (the onlhy one clinched in Brooklyn itself) and ‘47. The city was wild with excitement, but Ebbet’s Field was small and really needed to be replaced, it held only 30,000. So, it made sense that O’Malley might want to go to a bigger ballpark. “Branch Rickey integrated baseball,” he reportedly said to a friend, “But I want to go to a city where I can be part of integrating it, if I can’t be on the West Coast; not too far south, of course.”(6) He meant Baltimore.


Rumors of the Dodgers moving to Jersey City were greater, of course, which meant the city tried to talk with him. The Giants were also approached.(7) Flushing Meadow in Queens looked like a great spot, Stoneham just wanted assurance as 1956 wore on that parking and the area around the park and other things wouldn’t become too bad. “I want to draw over a million consistently, or I can’t even think about it.” He had Minnesota, after all.


Someone else had Minnesota on his mind, too – Calvin Griffith. He might have rejected Minnesota’s first bid(8) but now he was desperate. Before the 1957 season began Walter O’Malley had agreed to move the Dodgers to Baltimore.(9) He knew he’d never compete with sucha good club there.


The wheels began turing. During the ’57 season, the Giants threatened that they, too, could move, putting into motion a lot of work on what would become a new stadium in New York, Shea Stadium.(10) There were still places he could move, after all – including Washington. He didn’t want Washington necessarily, but the Senators were bound to move, and now baseball was worried about its exemption.


Rarely can it be said that choices a few years back would have meant one or the other rhings happens, but here it pretty much does. Three cities were prime candidates for expansion in 1958 and 1959; a fourth if you count Houston, which voted on and approved a domed stadium project to get the go-ahead for ’59.


One was Washington – once the Giants stayed in New York, Washington was guaranteed an American League club to start 1958 to replace the senators, who moved to Minnesota to become the Twins.


One was Philadelphia, and one was Los Angeles – if the Athletics move to L.A., they have a team and Philadelphia gets the expansion team, owned by the Carpenters.(11) If not, with Veeck’s pull Charlie Finley and he get an expansion team in L.A. for 1958, as Finley gets together with other Hollywood people who haave money.


In other words, L.A. would have been an A.L. city regardless by 1958 at the latest.


The other city was Milwaukee, where a group of brewers was looking to buy a team and, failing that, get an expansion team. They already had a brand new stadium in 1953. Of course, if Arnold Johnson moves there in 1955 with the Athletics, then Philadelphia would have become a National League city again, as the A.L. would have gone to Washington and L.A..


Well, no, O’Malley was confident enough he could beat other competition, perhaps the N.L. could have gotten a team in Washington, but the prospects weren’t great, and the N.L. would have had to expand in 1958, not 1959 like they did. But, those cities were sure to be involved in the late ‘50s,(12) partly also because of the rising Continental League threat.


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(1) OTL it only took 3 years but there was a ready buyer and the Dodgers were wildly successful – the Phillies, now Angels, would be a bit less so, and logistics would be a lot rougher. Still, it would be discussed by President Harridge and company for a while.


(2) A good summary of the mess is here. https://tht.fangraphs.com/connie-ma...it/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter


(3) Ibid (always wanted to say that in a footnote ON THIS SITE :) ) Veeck OTL had been dcrummed out of the league recently, here he’s not a pariah and his presence won’t dissude people, though the distance still could.


(4) The Giants had been the media darlings of the city even in the ‘20s, since they won 4 straight pennants, and were close to the Yankees even into the ‘30s; it was only when they declined did the Yankees become #1 and the Giants and Dodgers feel like about #5.

Here, the Giants fell back and the Dodgers came up to them, but they still had the legacy and both were ahead of the Yankees, especially after the Giants’ resurgence. Only enough to buy them some time, but it gets more people interested in saving them, since the Yankees have only 2 Series titles to their name.


(5) They have 6 pennants to their name, and the Dodgers moved after 6 in 10 years. This Yankee Stadium is likely a 50,000-60,000 seat stadium that doesn’t draw the 1.8-2 million fans a year of OTl but more like the 1.3 million of a moderately successful club, though probably just enough to be first or second in attendance most years.


(6) He held some animosity against Rickey OTL, not wanting to have the man aappear bigger than him in Dodger lore; that would be similar here, too. If he couldn’t open up the West Coast, this is the type of thing he’d want to do, yet he’d know the Deep South wouldn’t be ready for them like Baltimore would.


(7) There is more interest here with the Giants’ greater history and also not having the Yankees be the true “team of the city” they were OTL.


(8) OTl he did in 1957.


(9) Basically the same machinations that occurred OTL with Los Angeles.


(10) Whether he’d like Flushing is uncertain, fans can figure out where would be best. It ws offered to the Dodgers, if meory serves, though not sure how far along tht was.


(11) Arnold Johnson had cash on hand to pay – others didn’t OTL. TTL, the Carpenters might have decided to come up with it, but as noted, Los Angeles is also a sweeter offer.


(12) So, which is it? Well, that’s why this timeline will stall unless someone knows for sure. (I’ll be on vacation at the end of the month, so it would have anyway, but the point is that my main struggle is do the Athletics move to Los Angeles, stay in Philadelphia, or go to Milwaukee for the 1955 season. Part of me is thinking Los Angeles, only because Harridge would want to get the A.L. out there (and I’ve done the Athletics staying in Philly before, in “If Baseball Integrated Early” and I think in one of my timelines on here, too.). Veeck’s presence sort of killed that possibility OTL and it’d be looked at more here. Plus, it’s fun to have fun with whaat Finley could do trying to promote a team named after the Hollywood Stars. Finley is just goody enough to do that kind of thing with in a timeline.

However, for now there will just be the one more part wrapping up some things. And, others can tell me if they think in this scenario, the A.L. would push for it just to be on the West Coast, too, or if the Carpenters are just so rich they’d outbid anyone and have cash. I’ve got some ideas there, too. Also, if that happens, which league expands back into Philadelphia, that too is a problem. (Or, would the Giants move to Philadelphia? Not as likely but maybe.)
 
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Part 15 – Snippets of Future Baseball History
Part 15 – Snippets of Future Baseball History


The emergence of Mantle with St. Louis was a major part of keeping people everywhere interested in the game – this was a model franchise which was seen to have had New York teams ruin their chances – the ’34 Cardinals’ pennant race win over the Giants was a great victory since the Giants had ruined their pennant chances in ’28, ’30, and possibly ’27 and even 1941, while the Dodgers had been their nemesis throughout the ‘40s.


Busch’s scouts outhustled the Dodgers in ’49 on a late blooming pitcher (partly due to World War Two and college) named Joe Black – one of the keys in the Cardinals besting the Dodgers by several games in 1952. This was a sign that the Cardinals were finally starting to fulfill the destiny they seemed to have when Rickey built the great farm system only to come away with 3 pennants – and 2 more from his efforts in 1943 and ’44, one could argue.


Still, Mantle would be the key cog for them; though his partying lifestyle would become rather well known (to the point where he and Musial were called “The Odd Couple”, among other things, by sportswriters contrasting Musial’s very clean image with Mantle’s. Still, he never got in near the trouble he could have with someone like Whitey Ford or the Seals’ Billy Martin. He appeare3d in five World Series, winning in 1952, ’57, ’64 (over the Royals, who finally broke through the barrier with MVP Brooks Robinson) and ‘’67, before losing to Detroit in 1968. He payed till the erly ‘70s and collected over 600 home runs,(1)including the famous battle between him and Roger Maris in the rival A.L. during the 1961 season when Maris – in the words of one writer – “finally brought the home run crown to the American League.” Mantle wound up with 58 home runs, Maris 61.(2)


Mickey Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956,(3) as well as the MVP ahead of second place Don Newcombe (who won the Cy Young Award for baseball that year) and San Francisco Rookie of the Year Frank Robinson, who led the club to the ’56 pennant but who would be on the Reds’ Series winning club by 1961. It’s said that Reds’ superscout Bobby Mattick was outhustled by the Seals for Bay Area product Frank Robinson, with ownership threatening to fire Cronin if he didn’t sign him. However, an incident involving a fight in a restaurant and Robinson pulling a gun after someone else held a knife to him caused them to decide to trade him in a blockbuster deal in time for the Reds to win the ’61 pennant.(4)


Seals owners had convinced Joe Cronin he had to sign black players or risk being fired; he finally gave in, and the Seals had their first play in the majors in 1954, with the Tigers not having one in the majors till 1957, 17 years after Buck Leonard broke the color barrier.(5) Because the Seals won 3 pennant and a World Series between 1948 and 1959, more is made of them, but the Angels – the former Phillies – were just as glamorous, winning the pennant in 1950 as the Whiz Kids. Pitcher Connie Johnson had been one of the first signees once they moved west, and Buck O’Neil joined him by 1950 as a pinch-hitter, as had Luis Marquez, a utility player, and the Angels’ starting first baseman Bob Boyd.


1956 is the year most people associate with the Seals being integrated, because that’s when Robinson came up. He was signed the night after his graduation so the Seals could avoid being outdone by Reds’ superscout Bobby Mattick. Legend has it that a confrontation between Seals’ ownership and Cronin also led to the Seals’ integration. The young man became one of the great players in the Seals’ owners’ sights in his junior and senior year, because area scouts – Robinson lived in Oakland – kept begging Seals’ owners to look at him after Cronin kept ignoring them.


Robinson won Rookie of the Year and was third in MVP voting in ’56. The outfield of Joe Adcock, Frank Robinson, and Bobby Thomson was a potent one, they’d traded for Ted Kluzewski back in 1950, meaning Adcock stayed in left though his best position was first, and they also had a couple other black pitchers, including Brooks Lawrence, a minor leaguer at the time obtained in a trade who – along with Spahn, Lew Burdette, and Bob Buhl, formed an incredible pitching staff. The Seals would lose the pennant in ’57 as Mickey Mantle finally got in another one, then lose to Pittsburgh – which had acquired Kluzewski in mid-’57 - in a playoff in ’58 before finally winning a tight race in 1959 after trading for Bill Bruton, though you could tell the outfield of Adcock, Bruton, and Robinson had 2 stars aging quite a bit, with Robinson even not quite as good as his first couple years, leading them to trade him later.


The Reds had also acquired players like Joe Cunningham to replace Gus Bell – who was expendable with Robinson coming over. They had a slightly better team, some said, in 1962, but the New ork Giants beat Bltimore’s Dodgers in a 3-game playoff before downing the Twins in 7 games on Willie McCovey’s walk-off hit in a new ballpark which they moved into in 1961.


It was around this time that the Giants also had adopted mascot meant to poke some fun at the Dodgers and “take some of Baltimore from them.”


The Baltimore Dodgers and the New York Yankees met in the World Series in 1963, and the Dodgers won in 4 straight. The entire city embraced them and, s O’Malley had hoped, the team was helping somewhat to foster more integration of Baltimore. However, the Orioles for years had had orange and black as their uniform colors, and the Dodgers refused to put any of that onto their uniforms – those were Giants’ colors! Even when it was suggested that the numbers on the front of the shirt could be orange and the back still blue, they chose to change to red numbers for the front with the tradition Dodgers or Baltimore in blue script and blue numbers on the back.


So, the Giants decided, since the Dodgers had abandoned the Oriole, they would “bring the evicted bird to New York and give it a new home.”


The Giants would never officially change their name, but they invited their minor league teams to become the Orioles if theyc hose, and also later would have an Oriole mascot at new Shea Stadium, soon after the Famous Chicken began to make apeparances in San Diego.


The Oriole began to be noticed by the ’62 team’s pennant and World Series win, but the Baltimore Dodgers won world Series in 1963 and 1965 and the pennant in ’66, before Baltimore was swept in 4 straight by an American Leagbue team which by this time featured Frank Robinson, who won a Triple Crown after coming over in a trade in the offseason.(6)


Other great memories would dot the landscape of baseball over the years. There would be Charlie Finley’s 3 straight World series with Los Angeles in 1972-4, with two ALCS wins over Hank Aaron’s Red Sox.(7) There are quite a few other classic moments.


However, at lest for now, though this tome could be finished at a later date, two monumental events in baseball history involving the Red Sox, who don’t win a World Series between 1956 and 1977 and only pennants in 1967 and 1975, but who win a couple divisions and are very competitive other years, but who have incredible individual accomplishments like Carl Yastrzemski’s Triple Crown in ’67 and a couple milestones from Hank Aaron.


The Red Sox are on the road in Atlanta(8), with Vin Scully doing the Game of the Week. Hank Aaron had tied the all-time home run record earlier in 1973, and now, just before the end of the season… “There’s a long fly to left, and it is…gone! There’s a new all-time home run king, and it’s Henry Aaron!…in the Deep South, a black man is getting a standing ovation!”


And then, a couple months before Hank Aaron left the Red Sox after 1974 to sign with the Cubs his last 2 years of his career…(9)


“…There’s a sharp drive off the bat of Aaron, and thre it goes! Off the wall in left, about 25 feet high, he digs for second and he slides in with double! The new, all-time hit king is Hank Aaron, and he got the perfect hit to define his career.”(10)


Hank Aaron would go down in Boston baseball history and in the annals of baseball as one of the greaest to ever play the game with those totals, and his home run record still stands despite the efforts of Baarry Bonds. The joke would go that “not even steroids could match the fairy-tale-like situation that occurred back when the Boston Red Sox landed Hank Aaron.”


When Quinn made the Hall of Fame after being Red Sox GM for many years and then A.L. President, Tom Yawkey remarked that, “I might not have accepted being pushed so hard except I saw everyone else doing well with these guys and I just wanted to win. As it turns out, Mr. Quinn was right. And the best thing he ever did in baseball was to insist I look at that man and sign him no matter what it took.


“Who knows; if we’d had Babe Rush all his career, I would haave figured we’ve already got the history of having the best hitter ever. Sure, I had asome really good ones soon after I bought the team; all of them were telling me to sign a black player, too. But, Quinn kept telling me I needed my own Babe Ruth,” Yawkey said. “Who knows. In some strange way, maybe trading Babe Ruth back in 1919 worked out for the franchise after all.”(11)


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(1) He still had osteomyelitis, though without the injury in the ’51 World Series his knee isn’t nearly aas messed up. He also hurt his shoulder later, too, and so I don’t quite give him Ruth’s record, but 600-650 is likely with better health and a few extrea seasons, say an average of 3 extra homers per 18 years and 15 or so the last 3 years he didn’t play OTL. His decline would be marked by the era ’63-’68 when pitchers dominated more.


(2) As noted in a previous chapter, TTL’s Yankee Stadium is a bit smaller, there are no games in Baltimore to knock down home runs like game 154 OTL, and there is less pressure and in fact a number of people would be rooting for Maris, most likely.


(3) Mantle won the Triple Crown of baseball in 1956, his totals would have led either league. The MVP of the American League is likely Yogi Berra, but it’s only his 3rd – 1954 and 1955 are so close that one of the two is won by someone else, probably 1954 with Minnie Minoso on the White Sox to help them to the pennant, which gets him just enough more support he gets into the Hall of Fame, though perhaps only with the Veterans’ Committee.


(4) Such an incident happened OTL in the ’60-’61 offseason as shown here https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/04/archives/a-fighting-leader-frank-robinson.html and een if he’s in a different city it’s still likely to occur sometime, then or earlier in his career.


(5) A glut of teams signed black players and integrated 6-9 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color line, and the same happens here. 1956 as the first year for the Seals makes sense as this is still a bit later than Cronin’s OTL Red Sox, and as noted above, they would be facinga lot of pressure because the other West Coast team will have done so very early.


(6) Another of those where I can’t make up my mind – either the Philadelphia Athletics or maybe Milwaukee.


(7) Whether this is the Los Angeles Athletics or the expansion Stars, I can’t decide. The Athletics were built around pitching and defense and beat a very good Baltimore team OTL in the ALCS in ’73 and ’74. Yes, Boston won in ’75, but without Hunter on the A’s. Here, they meet 3 times in 4 years, and in ‘73, Los Angeles would have home field advantage. (Detroit seems to have been the better team in ’73 – if the Red Sox have Aaron they don’t acquire Orlando Cepeda who had a good year for them. But, Aaron seems to have had an even better one, and the A’s won with Reggie Jackson getting hurt in ’72. So, it’s figured that they can knock off Boston enough. Besides, if there isn’t a little angst it wouldn’t be Boston baseball, would it? :)


(8) This could be an expansion team, it could be Bill Bartholomay getting it or getting the Indians and moving them, as they almost moved to Seattle TTL but Bartholomay can’t et the Braves TTL so he’d likely wait for the Indians. If he doesn’t get them, he gets an expansion team in ’69 or so as the American League tries to capture the hearts of the Deep South.


(9) Aaron said in “I Had a Hammer” that he considered signingwith the Cubs to play in Wrigley Field in 1975 after he left the Braves because of all the day games. Here, he switches leagues and does, wanting something new since he never experienced the N.L..


(10) He originally thought, after 1959, he could try for Ty Cobb’s hit record OTL. Here, Ty Cobb didn’t get much more than 2,000, and when he starts, Tris Speaker is the hit king as noted with close to 3,600. Stan Musial might have a few more with Mantle behind him, so even with OTL’s totals, Aaron would beat him. But, his 3,600 hits of OTL’s 1954-1974 would be at least 100 higher after 1974, and maybe close to 200 higher. In fact, he could possibly play one more season if he has enough to try to get to 4,000. And, while Pete Rose eventually passes him, he is hit king for a number of years, too, along with being the home run king.


(11) Yawkey, of course, doesn’t know OTL’s Red Sox history where they traded Ruth and it didn’t work out, but it’s still fun to play around with AH quotes.
 
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