Hello Cleveland!! Nick Swisher - His first Indians Card - 2013 Phungo #38

Apparently some huge card company is coming out with baseball cards this week.  Here at Phungo we are significantly smaller which makes us a bit more agile.

2013 Phungo #38 Nick Swisher

And allows us to get cards that have players repping their new squad somewhat quicker.  Not sure if Nick Swisher is in Series 1 Topps - but here he is in 2013 Phungo and he is on a Cleveland Indians card.
 
No airbrushing for us though.  I have opted for the hatless closeup.  This photo was actually taken while Swisher was still with the Yankees.  Swisher was walking off the field between innings and removed his cap. Perfect photo op for a free agent player. Days before Phungo '13 went to print the Cleveland Indians signed Swisher. 

Moneyball 2013
Swisher was the darling of Moneyball and has gone on to modest success including winning a World Series as a member of the 2009 Yankees.  He has had a fun career to follow and was on the Phillies rumor list this off season, but I don't think he was the proper fit. 

Moneyball 2012 - Kevin Youkilis

As you are aware by now, Kevin Youkilis was traded from the the Red Sox to the White Sox this past weekend.

 2011 Phungo #20 Kevin Youkilis

I am pretty sure Kevin Youkilis never really appears in the film "Moneyball" but he is definitely present.  He is referred to by the Paul DePodesta/Peter Brand charater as "The Greek God of Walks".  I don't know if this was ever a nickname for Youk prior to Moneyball the book being released, but it is so iconic sounding it is easy to understand why it stuck. 

The epilogue to Moneyball (flim) mentions that the Red Sox went on to win the World Series partiall using the theories developed by the Oakland A's - Those Boston Red Sox teams of course featured Kevin Youkilis.  

It is hard to imagine that a guy that could play a couple of different positions ended up as the odd man out in Boston - Glancing at his numbers I noticed two things 1) He hasn't played over 140 games since 2008 and the player for whom Youkilis has the best comparables with for a 32 year old is another Red Sox player. Trot Nixon. 

Trot Nixon.  

At age 33 and beyond  Nixon's career had less then 400 plate appearances remaining and only 4 more Home Runs (out of 137 career Homers)

The rest of Youkilis age 32 top-10 comps is a mixed bag:  

	Comp	Final MLB Season Age	Comments
1	Trot Nixon	34	395 AB after age 32 season
2	Mosies Alou	41	3 Time all-star at 33 and beyond.
3	Rusty Greer	33	Batted .296 in final season, 1 Homer - Retired due to back injuries.
4	Bob Nieman	35	400 PA beyond age 32, 7 Homers, Hit .378 in 82 AB at age 34.
5	Marty Cordova	33	Batted .233 in 39 PA during age 33 season then retired.
6	Dante Bichette	37	All Star in age 34 season (1998 Led League in Hits 219) Hit 20+ HRs at ages 33-36 (3 of those seasons were in Colorado)
7	Dolph Camili	38	1941 NL MVP (age 34 - 34 HRs, 120 RBI) DNP in 1944 retired following 1945 season at 38.
8	Brad Hawpe	32?	Hawpe is actually a few months younger then Youkilis - He had Tommy John surgery in 2011 and is currently out of baseball.
9	Bernard Gilkey	34	225 PAs at 33 and beyond, 3 Homers .254 BA.  Retired following age 34 season
10	Milton Bradley	33	Assorted off the field issues, never played more then 141 games in a season - at any age.

Three of the ten players in the group played beyond 35 Moises Alou who had a very good beyond 32 career, Dante Bichette with perhaps Rocky Mountain enhanced numbers and Dolph Camili who played in the 1940s.

So who is Kevin Youkilis Moises Alou, Marty Cordova, Bichette or Gilkey?

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com player pages

Wikipedia.com

Moneyball 2011-2012

Links to  previous MB 2011-2012 posts

Moneyball The Movie

 

Art Howe
Bennett Miller

Billy Beane

Chad Bradford

Jeremy Brown

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

Ron Washington

Tony LaRussa

 

etc

 

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

Moneyball 2012 - Chad Bradford

Time to return to Moneyball 2012 which I have neglected for so long that the feature started out as Moneyball 2011 and it is been at least 5 months since we posted on the subject.

 

 

Chad Bradford is one of Billy Beane's diamond in the rough trade pick ups.  The other thing that we find out about Bradford in Moneyball is that Bradford is a sindwinding righty.  Anytime an issue emerges with his pitching Bradford lowers his delivery slighty until at the time of "Moneyball" Bradford is actually dragging his knuckles on the ground when he pitches.

 

 

2003 Topps #29 Chad Bradford (image swiped from Baseball Card Database)

 

 

Bradford's tenure with the A's lasted until 2005 when he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. He eventually found his way to the Tampa Bay Rays and contributed to their 2008 American League Championship team.  Bradford made it to the postseason 7 times over a 12 year career.       

 

 

2 degrees of Separation 

 

I once met a college teammate of Chad Bradford.  Just some guy I met in a bar.  I am pretty sure he really knew Bradford, because who the hell is ever going to bring up that they played baseball with a set up reliever.  This happened several years ago - the bar has changed hands a few times since then - and all I remember about the conversation is that Chad Bradford was pretty much on the same level as the rest of the pitchers on the University of Southern Mississippi team, Then one year he shows up and has 5 more MPH and became an MLB prospect. It was also mentioned that Bradford was trying to hang on long enough for his major league pension to kick in.  I believe to get across the pension bridge you need to have 10 years of major league service, which Bradford should have cleared.

 

 

Chad Bradford 2012.

 

Tonight Bradford is representing the A's at the MLB draft.  He has been retired since 2009.  According to his Wikipedia page he is currently coaching in his native Mississippi.

 

 

Other draft Reps include HoFs Frank Robinson, Fergie Jenkins, and Tommy LaSorda. 

 

 

The Phils will be represented by their Hall of Famer, Pat Gillick along with Bill Giles.  Phils alums Pat Corralles and Bob Boone will be the Reps for the Nationals.

 

 

Moneyball 2011-2012

 

Links to  previous MB 2011-2012 posts

 

Moneyball The Movie

 

 

Art Howe
Bennett Miller

Billy Beane

Jeremy Brown

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

Ron Washington

Tony LaRussa

 

etc

 

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

 

Moneyball 2011 - Art Howe

Understandably Art Howe isn't very happy with his portrayal in Moneyball.  Google his name and you can find a bevy of articles that all mention his complaints.

For my part I will mention that the Brad Pitt version of "Moneyball" is a Movie and is just that.  The Film is based on "Moneyball" the book, which is the work of the talented author Michael Lewis.  That being said the book is only one persons interpretation of the events.

Opinion:  There really isn't anything such as unbiased journalism - we all have our slants and opinions - Michael Lewis is an author and he is in the business of selling books.  As a narrative "Moneyball" has lots of villains - to make the story more effective it was likely best for Lewis to find a way of personifying the villain (the possibly outmoded way of judging baseball talent - scouting) as a person - In the book and the movie this is largely done in the form of A's manager Art Howe - to a somewhat lesser extent the A's scouts were also villified.
 

I think this works for the story, casual baseball fans, and film fans.  And isn't the audience that Moneyball is after?

1979 Topps #329 Art Howe  (image stolen from the Baseball Card Database)

For the record, during each of the finals two seasons Art Howe was with the Athletics they 100 games.  The A's have not won a 100 games since Howe left almost a decade ago.  Howe took the A's to the playoffs during each of his final 3 seasons with the team.  In the 9 seasons since the A's have returned to the playoff only twice, Although they did win a series in 2006 under Ken Macha - Art Howe has never won a post-season series as a manager.  

After leaving Oakland Howe led the Mets through a couple of mediocre seasons in 2003-04.  He was in the Rangers organization as recently as 2008 but appears to be cuirently out of baseball.

Moneyball 2011

Links to  previous MB 2011 posts

Moneyball The Movie

Bennett Miller

Billy Beane

Jeremy Brown

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

Ron Washington

Tony LaRussa

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

Moneyball 2011 - Ron Washington

 

A few weeks back as part of Moneyball 2011 we profiled Tony LaRussa.  In the interest of equal time today we are going to look at Ron Washington.
 

I had forgotten that Ron Washington had a role in the book.  Washington is the man saddled with the task of moving Scott Hattieberg to first base  - Hattieberg is the broken down catcher w/ the bum arm, but he gets on base at nearly a 40 percent clip. 

The Ron Washington character in the film is minor, yet arguably has the funniest line in the movie.  The 2011 World Series is still fresh in our memories and we all know where Ron Washington has gone since Moneyball.  He was a strike away from being a World Serieis winning manager.  He has also piloted the Rangers to back to back AL Crowns.  I am not sure he is a great manager yet or a good manager with a really good team. 

The toughest season may be in front of the Rangers.  With free agency and player movement you only get so many chances at a title.  The Rangers have a lot of storylines I like - Josh Hamilton, Nelson Cruz, Neftali Perez, Nolan Ryan etc.  I would like to see them remain relavent on the national stage.

1984 Topps #623 Ron Washington (image stolen from the Baseball Card Database)

Apparently Washington's playing career goes back to 1977 when he got a callup for the dodgers.  I didn't see a Topps cards of him as a Dodger - sounds like a Cards that Never Were opportunty for someone.

Moneyball 2011

Links to  previous MB 2011 posts

Moneyball The Movie

Bennett Miller

Billy Beane

Jeremy Brown

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

Tony LaRussa

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter.  

Moneyball 2011 - the Movie

I am a little susprised that the film "Moneyball" received prededominently good reviews.  While I enjoyed the movie, I thought at moments it dragged a bit and I would think that a person that is not a baseball fan would find the film somewhat long.  Slow pacing is a pet peeve of mine - like when I am watching the Cardinals continually rotate in pitchers with a 5 run lead, I suppose that may happen less in the future...

 

Other than that I found Moneyball to be an enjoyable experience.  Brad Pitt played Billy Beane as a thoughtful and challenging leader.  Comedy stalwart, Jonah Hill, plays a straight roll as the stats guy well - The always enjoyable Phillip Seymour Hoffman has an excellent turn as the old school Manager Art Howe,   Bennet Miller is able to balance a little baseball into the story and conveys a bunch of ideas on film that might otherwise be dry - One Base Percentage, Major League Scouting, Bill James, Giving away outs via Sacrifices and small ball, Working Pitchers, etc.  There is a background story regarding the Beane family that is built into the narrative that I don't recall from the book.  The film also all but neglects Jeremy Brown and the draft that the book details which covers at least 2 chapters of the Michael Lewis story. 

 

We all know what happened because this is relatively recent history - but I must mention a minor spoiler alert here - don't read rest of paragraph if you fear this will ruin your experience.  During the epilogue of the Movie it is mentioned that the Bosox won the 04 World Series using Moneyball methods.  It does not mention that they also outspent the rest of the league other than the Yankees.  And I could go on further and mention that a key play for the Red Sox was Dave Roberts critical Steal of second base in the ALCS vs the Yankees. 

 

Moneyball works for a few reasons - Both Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill give likable performances in the lead roles of two guys trying to challenge the status-quo.  There is enough baseball in the film to provide a fan with a few chuckles - several players and people with Phillies connections are mentioned during the film.  Finally as a non-baseball movie about baseball "Moneyball" does successfully bring the romance of the game to the fore (even if they have to tell you they are doing so)

 

Moneyball 2011

 

Links to  previous MB 2011 posts

Bennett Miller

Billy Beane

Jeremy Brown

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

Tony LaRussa

 

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

Moneyball 2011 - Tony LaRussa

Tony LaRussa is only a bit player in Moneyball - he was Billy Beane's final manager.  LaRussa was also the final manager for the Athletics under the Walter Haas (Levi's) Ownership.  Haas operated the A's as a bit of a hobby and/or trust for the city of Oakland.  Haas was the type of owner that a fan would love - Winning was important, if the team lost money it didn't really matter.  The Moneyball era ownership of Steve Schott (distant relative of Marge) was of course distinctly different.
 

Schott would operate the A's on a much smaller payroll.  LaRussa was no longer affordable to the new regime and left Oakland for St Louis, where he remains today and happens to managing the team in a pretty big series which you may have hard opens this evening.

1989 Topps #224 Tony LaRussa

Tony LaRussa is probably as well a documented manager as any in history other than maybe (maybe) Joe Torre.  I have myself read more about LaRussa then any manager that is not affiliated with the Phillies.

 

His body of work is impressive.  The 30 years of managing and the 2728 wins(3rd all-time) are both monumental numbers.  Another impressive accomplishment are the two World Series Titles and the now 6 League Pennants.

  

But there will always be things that bother me about LaRussa.  One is he always appears so smug/arrogant, as if he is smarter than everybody in the room. Another problem I have is the constant fawning of the media - This isn't LaRussa's fault, but it bothers me regardless.

  

I particularly wonder why LaRussa is rarely questioned on his involvement with the Steroid era.

 

Tony LaRussa was in the heart of BALCO country at the outset of the Steroid era.  Two of the big names on the three pennants winners in Oakland were Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.  McGwire is one of the men that LaRussa has brought back to the game to be his hitting coach.  A number of other players by LaRussa led teams have been connect to PEDs at one time or another, yet this is something we rarely hear about.  During the Phillies Cardinals NLDS McGwire was practially invisible - tough call - TBS didn't give Greg Gross much air time either and the Phils weren't hitting at all.  But Mark McGwire and Greg Gross are both very different in magnitude.  Perhaps TBS senses that we have suffered from steroid fatigue and they have moved on, but I think the PED portion of Tony LaRussa's resume cannot be ignored
.

A closing note - in that final game (link at top of the post) Billy Beane came in as a defensive replacement for....


Mark McGwire


#############################################################
 

Moneyball 2011

Links to  previous MB 2011 posts

Bennett Miller

Billy Beane

Jeremy Brown

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

Moneyball 2011 - Bennett Miller

Moneyball was directed by Bennett Miller, who has very few film credits listed in IMDB.  My quick -net searches have revealed the Miller is a casual baseball fan at best, but it appears that he is interested in making biographies. 

This card may not seem closely connected - but stay with me here...

 

 

The Clutter family card above is low level on my wish list for 08 Heritage Inserts.  I swiped this image from the dormant Bargain Baseball Cards.  It is typically pretty hard to tell when a blogger stops.  Most folks don't really announce it, it just sort of happens.  Regardless the evidence that their blog existed sticks around for a while perhaps forever. 

The demise of the Clutter family was documented in Truman Capote's book "In Cold Blood"  I believe ICB is considered one of the earliest works of the non-fiction novel  - A style in which the author wasn't at the events but reconstructs them as if he or she were.  This is a technique that would later be used frequently by 60/70s pop culure author Tom Wolfe is such books as "The Electic Kool-Aid Acid Test" which chronicled the acid-fueled adventures of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" author Ken Kesey. 

One my ask what this trading card has to do with Baseball or Moneyball...  

Well, As a director Bennett Miller has only a couple of films under his belt, his previous big budget film was 2005s "Capote" about Truman Capote.  Miller was one of the years nominees for Best Director, an award that went to Ang Lee for "Brokeback Mountain".  The titular character in "Capote" was played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman who plays A's manager Art Howe in Moneyball.

I suppose I can mention that it is quite fitting that a posting about a man who directed a non-Baseball movie about baseball and is admittiedly not a big fan of the sport - contains very little about baseball

Moneyball 2011

 

Links to  previous MB 2011 posts

 

Billy Beane

Jeremy Brown

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

 

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

 

Moneyball 2011 - Jeremy Brown

Jeremy Brown was the 35th overall pick of the 2002 MLB draft discussed in Moneyball.  He was the fat catcher that the scouts hated with the high On Base number which Billie Beane and Paul DePodesta.  

Because of compensation picks the A's had 7 picks in the first round of the 02 Draft which had 41 selections total.  Michael Lewis dedicated an entire chapter of Moneyball to the Jeremy Brown selection.  In hindsight he probably did not warrant the significant word count that he was given.  Brown announced his retirement in 2008 and his professional baseball career is likely he over.  He ended up with 10 career at bats in 5 Major League games all for the 2006 Athletics during a September call up.  

Of the 7 picks the A's made in the first round Brown probably ranks in the middle.  Nick Swisher would be at the top, followed by Phillies Pitcher Joe Blanton and Mark Teahan.  The A's 3 other picks from that first round never played in the majors.  That is pretty close to the hit ratio of the 1st round picks from the 02 draft.  To Date 27 of the 41 picks in that draft have reached the majors.  For comparison the Phillies 02 first round pick was Cole Hamels.  Prince Fielder, Matt Cain, Zack Greinke, BJ Upton were all drafted in the first round - all were drafted ahead of Jeremy Brown.
 

Brian McCann was likely the best catcher drafted after Brown - McCann was a High School product and not likely on the A's radar.  18 players were drafter as catchers in the 2002 Draft and have played more games then Jeremy Brown.  A couple of those players made it to the show at other positions (Joey Votto, Randy Wells).  Notable to Phillies Fans is Eric Kratz who is a local product that got a chance to play for his hometown club as a September Call Up for this years squad.  Kratz was the 866th overall pick in 2002.
  

I haven't seen the film yet, but Jeremy Brown is not credited as a character in the imdb listing.

For the Collector

I believe Jeremy Brown only had one topps card issued in their flagship product.

 

2007 Topps #624 Jeremy Brown (image swiped from baseball-simulator) 

 

Moneyball 2011

 

Links to  previous MB 2011 posts

 

Billy Beane

Michael Lewis

Michael Oher 

 

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

 

Moneyball 2011 - Michael Lews and Michael Oher

2009 Topps #342 Michael Oher RC (click to enlarge)

There is likely no baseball card for Michael Lewis, in lieu of that I am featuring this Baltimore Ravens Rookie Card of Michael Oher which was featured here in 2009.  Oher is a Tackle for the Ravens and the subject of the Film adaptation of one of Lewis' other books "The Blind Side"

I find it odd timing for the film version of "Moneyball" to surface.  The book is from 2003, the Baseball Draft featured in the book occurred over 9 years ago.  I think at least part of the reason the movie finally got done was the success of "The Blind Side" in 2009.

Michael Lewis is a gifted writer, and  have read several of his books - many of which are related to business and finanacial tycoons.  He takes what otherwise may be a dry subject and adds interesting and funny insights and anectdotes.

  

While Moneyball is a non-fiction work, inevitably part of the story and the Moneyball version of Billy Beane is the creation of Michael Lewis.  One can give you straight facts, but the author still chooses which facts to keep and which to ignore and Billy Beane comes out of Moneyball pretty favorably - the same cannot be said of field Manager Art Howe.  The Paul DePodesta character goes by a different name in the film version of the story as DePodesta would not sign off on the veracity of the script. 

Michael Oher

The Blind Side was a box office success and can currently be seen on cable movie channels.  Micheal Oher has also proven to be a success at the NFL level as well starting all 32 games for the Baltimore Ravens in his first two seasons.  Oher has written (w/ Don Yaeger) his own Biography "I Beat the Odds".  

Moneyball 2011

Past Moneyball 2011 related posts:

Billy Beane

etc

Here is a link to a Moneyball and Collecting related article in Beckett that I first saw referenced by Chris Olds via Twitter. 

Phugo Profile - Michael Oher, Michael Lewis and Billy Beane

2009 Topps #342 Michael Oher RC (click to enlarge)

Today the NFL Playoffs will commence. One of the teams I will be rooting for this weekend is the Baltimore Ravens. This years edition of the Ravens will feature at rookie Right Tackle named Michael Oher. As many of you know Oher is feature in the film "the Blind Side". I am sure that Oher will get plenty of coverage from the major networks if the Ravens go deep in the playoffs.

The Blind Side was based off a portion of the book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" by Michael Lewis who many of us Baseball Junkies know as the author of "Moneyball: The Art of Winning and Unfair Game"

Looking back I am not sure a lot of people got the right message out of Moneyball. As it turns out the A's were largely successful because of their stacked starting rotation of Hudson, Mulder, and Zito. This is mentioned in the book, but how the three landed in Oakland is somewhat marginalized in the book. On the other hand Lewis spends an entire chapter on Jeremy Brown who only ever played 5 games for the A's in 2006.

Here is a look at the A's 2002 Draft featured in Moneyball. The top two picks are Nick Swisher and Joe Blanton, both of whom have had pretty good careers albeit not with the A's. In fact the two faced each other in the 2009 World Series and each has a World Series ring (just not with the Athletics). After them the 02 Draft is pretty mediocre. Jonathan Papelbon would have been a good pick had the A's been able to sign him.

In the 02 Draft the Phils picked up Cole Hamels right behind Swisher. Hamels is unmentioned in Moneyball.

A lot of folks took away On Base Percentage as the way to win Baseball games, but that isn't what Moneyball was trying to point out. Lewis and Billy Beane were trying to find out what winning traits and stats that other teams were over and underpaying for. At the time Beane thought Major League Baseball was undervaluing players that got on base. But that has come more into vogue now and perhaps teams are overpaying for OBP - perhaps teams can now win by picking up cheap players that steal bases. It will always be in flux and I am sure a lot of GMs are looking at those numbers as they build there teams during this off-season.

Michael Lewis
Contrary to my analysis of Moneyball above I did enjoy the book as with all the Lewis books I have read including "the New New Thing", "Liars Poker", and "Trail Fever"

For The Collector
The Chrome version of the Michael Oher Card above has sold as high as $4.25 on ebay. His bowman RC has gone for as low as $1.24.

His Autos are going in the $30 to $50 range. An 09 Rookie Threads Letterman (Letter H #d to 30) went on Christmas day for $25.50. That was the cheapest available card auto. Similar letterman autos went as High as $55.00.

One last comment - while researching this I discovered a minor error on the Blind Side (book) wiki page and corrected discrepency. It is the first time I have ever edited a Wikipedia page and it was kind of a thrill.