1944 June 6: D-Day and Baseball

This week marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day. To commemorate the event in a baseball related way I wanted to pass on a bit of the sports history from the era.

The pending Allied Invasion had been rumored for some time prior to D-Day and major league baseball made plans to postpone any games on the date if possible.  This possibility was discussed in the June 1 1944 issue of the Sporting News - issued just days prior to D-Day.

 

1944 JUN 01 The Sporting News pg 1

There were two MLB games scheduled for June 6 1944 and indeed neither were played. I am assuming the time difference between Europe and the States allowed for proper scheduling changes. Those rescheduling of those games was mentioned in the June 7 1944 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Horse Racing was the sport of kings in the era so you need to go a few paragraphs down to see a mention of the two games.

1944 JUN 07 Philadelphia Inquirer Pg 24

If you want to see a modern representation of the postponed games you can look to the terrific archive of baseball statistic history, Baseball-Reference.

Baseball-Ref Scores from Tuesday June 6 1944

Notice that when you do a search for games played on D-Day Baseball-Reference notes

"No Games Were or Have Yet Been Played on This Date"

 

Sources and Links 

Baseball-Ref 

Philadelphia Inquirer (1944 06 07)

The Sporting News (1944 06 01)

WAR Stories: What Team Phungo Knows about WAR

Absolutely Nothing! 

Zero, Nothing, Zilch, Nada.

Well it is slightly more than that, Like I know it is an approximation of the value a players has to their team. The value is a way of rating all players by one number regardless of position. The number also approximates that value in wins that player has over a replacement player (AAA/AAAA player)

A team full of replacement players would win an estimated 50 games, which means some recent Astros teams were basically replacement teams.

WAR is comparable between eras. and 8.0 WAR today is meant to be an apple to apple comparison to the WAR of previous eras. WAR can be used to compare Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Ted Williams to Clayton Kershaw, Cole Hamels, Mike Trout and Steve Jeltz or any other player past/present.   

But beyond that info, I am not really sure how WAR is calculated. I trust Sean Forman, Baseball-ref, FanGraphs and Baseball Info Solutions have done their due diligence and stand by the product they have created. 

I am presenting this purely as a reference to my own understanding of WAR and where I am coming from when referring to WAR and or making projections about WAR.

Phun Cards 1952 Topps #158 Eddie Waitkus

What would you pay for a vintage baseball card of the player that inspired Bernard Malamud's classic novel "The Natural"?  What would that card be worth to you if it was from the classic 1952 Topps set?

1952 Topps #158 Eddie Waitkus


Without much effort you can get this card for under $10.  Unfortunately this particular card has a huge TW stamped on the back, but it has a fine looking front and minimal wear.  Really it is a beauty for any 1952 card, but this is a 52 Topps of a noteworthy player.


Yes, Eddie Waitkus is the inspiration for "The Natural".  The novel was of course turned into the classic film by Robert Redford who also starred in the titular role.


Check the back of the card, which goes into a lot more detail about Waitkus then a contemporary card likely would (click to enlarge):

1952 Topps #158 Eddie Waitkus (b-side - Image swiped from Baseball Card Database)




There it is the Eddie Waitkus story.  Really not the entire story that we know from "The Natural", but the crazy woman and the shooting is all there. There is also the mention of Waitkus' military service.


Near as I can tell Waitkus career didn't have a Knock out the Lights moment.  He was a member of the 1950 Whiz Kids and did get to represent the NL in the World Series.  Waitkus played 11 seasons in the majors.  During his tenure he collected 1214 hits of which only 24 were homers.

Finally
And Yes, I finally did it, I sponsored a Baseball-Reference page.  I figured for the amount of enjoyment and information  that I have gotten from the site, I was overdue for a sponsership.  

Only 2 people like the Eddie Waitkus Baseball-Reference Page.  That is ridiculous.  Go and Like his page.

Phun Cards - The Essential Collection

Phun Cards is basically my version Cardboard Appreciation.  For all the reasons documented above, I deem the 1952 Topps #158 Eddie Waitkus card a member of the Phun Cards Essential Collection.   

Jamie Moyer v Tony Perez - 1986 08 22

On Wednesday night Jamie Moyer earned another win resetting his own record of holding the distinction of being the oldest player to win a Major League ballgame AND he set a record with his BAT by recording an RBI an RBI - which has never been done by anyone older. 

Today I want to take a look at an event on the other end of Jamie's career that involved a Future Hall of Famer who also recently reached an age plateau. 

1984 Topps #385 Tony Perez (image swiped from Baseball Card Database)

On Monday 5/14/2012 Tony Perez celebrated his 70th birthday.  Here comes your Phun Phact - Jamie Moyer once pitched to Tony Perez - recording 3 Outs vs the Future Hall of Famer while recording a 3-2 victory in August of 1986.

The Topps RC for Tony Perez is the #581 card in the 1965 set.  Hard to believe that there is an active pitcher that pitched to someone who played in 1964 and had a card issued in 1965.

Moyer has pitched to batters whose birth years have ranged from 1942 to 1990 (Starlin Castro). 

21 Defunct Stadiums that Jamie Moyer has Pitched In

The Marlins have officially moved to their new Stadium, Jamie Moyer  has added yet another ballpark to the list of places he has pitched where they no longer play Major League Baseball.

He has pitched in 21 defunct stadiums.  Twenty-One.

I would assume that is a record for any player active or not.

TEX-Arlington St

ATL-Atl-Fulton

BAL-Memor. Stad

CHW-ComiskeyPk 1

CIN-Cinergy Fld

CLE-ClevelandStd

DET-Tiger Stad

HOU-Astrodome

FLA-ProPlayerStd

MIL-County Stad

MIN-Metrodome

MON-Stade Olymp.

NYY-Yankee Stad

NYM-Shea Stad

PHI-VeteransStad

PIT-3 Rivers Std

SDP-Qualcomm St

SEA-Kingdome

SFG-3Com Park

STL-Busch Stad

WSN-RFK Stad

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 Source: Baseball-Reference

2011 Phungo #50 Jamie Moyer

For more Jamie Moyer content clilck here

Phun Cards and a Phungo Challenge

Phun Cards is a new feature that we are going to try running here at Phungo.  There have been numerous series that have been started here and never quite finished or returned to at all.  Like everyone here, I have a bit of ADHD and bunches of ideas dance around my brain and don't make it to the page or only do in a half-ass way.

Well today I want to introduce one of those ideas.....and see where it goes.

I am hoping that Phun Cards can be our version of the Cardboard Appreciation err I mean CA feature.  Typically single cards that are interesting for one reason or another.  I would also like to bring Hall of Fame profile back and make it part of Phun Cards.

Enough blabbing - Here is the first ever Phun Card 

2000 Topps Stadium Club #148 Pat Burrell

yeah yeah I know, gotta get the scanner hooked up.  not a priority - I have all this house stuff to do and all these important twitter feeds to follow.  And it's a shame because this is a pretty decent looking action shot from way back at the turn of the century.  Stadium Club has always had banging photography - in 2008 I think it may have come at the expense of Topps Flagship product which had horrid photos.

This card features a young Pat Burrell at the other end of his career which appears to be coming to an end.  We also have a pretty decent guest star on the card in the Person of Andruw Jones.  Amazingly Jones had already been in the league 4 years and will likely bookend Burrell's career by playing for the Yankees this season. 

Phungo Challenge

It is a Friday and you read this far because you really don't feel like working so here is your Phungo Phriday Challenge ....

I have always wanted to do this - Ok all you Baseball-Reference junkies - you know where we are going here:  What day was this game played?

Baseball and iPad/Smart Phone Question

Philadelphia entertainment site Philebrity just mentioned a new iPad app Pennant which appears like Baseball-Reference for a Phone or iPad.

Can somebody that is more tech savvy tell me if this is actually a step above Baseball-Ref? 

Couldn't I just access Baseball-ref from an smart phone?

Of course Pennant has all the pretty graphics that I don't understand. 

Spoiler Alert/Warning:  In the video portion of the site the user accesses the Joe Carter game - ugh..

Curious Trade Posted on Baseball-Reference

Click to Enlarge

check the highlighted trade involving Jason Hirsh.