Tuesday, November 2, 2010
2010 MLBPAA Legends for Youth Dinner, November 5, 2010 New York City
Monday, November 1, 2010
Artie Wilson, Negro Leagues great and New York Giants shorstop dies at 90
Artie Wilson, who was one of the first black players for the New York Giants died Sunday in Portland after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He was 90.
While Wilson only batted .182 in 22 at-bats for the Giants in 1951 as a "rookie" at the age of 31, he is regarded as the last .400 hitter from the Negro Leagues, batting .402 for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948. At the time, his teammate was a 16 year-old outfielder named Willie Mays. Ironically, it would be Wilson who was farmed out by the Giants in 1951 to make room for the future Hall of Famer.
In a September 2000 interview, Wilson reflected on his short time with the Giants. His opportunity to crack their infield was stifled by an established double play combination.
“I figured I’d get a chance," he said. "If anybody could make it, I could make it. If I’d gotten with some other club, I’d have been the main shortstop, but the Giants had a tough combination: Alvin Dark at short and Eddie Stanky at second. It’s pretty tough to break into a lineup like that. I was a rookie and didn’t know the club, didn’t know the players. So I just sat there and waited.”
Wilson would find tremendous success in the Pacific Coast League, swatting over 200 hits during five different seasons between 1949-1954. A notorious spray hitter, teams tried to employ a shift on him while batting left-handed, moving the infielders to cover the hole between third base and short stop. The effort proved futile as Wilson continued to rattle the veterans of the PCL.
The gifted shortstop appeared in four East-West All-Star games in the Negro Leagues alongside Hall of Famers Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige, Leon Day, Monte Irvin and Willie Wells.
After his baseball career, he found success working at a car dealership in Portland.
I had the good fortune of being able to interview Wilson in 2008 on the telephone. He gave me about an hour of his time talking about a young Willie Mays and his teammates Piper Davis and Ray Dandridge. He was humble and gracious, playing down his achievements and yet so willing to highlight the strengths of the greats that he played with. I was so captivated by the interview that I forgot to start my tape recorder. Future attempts to interview Wilson proved futile and I am left with the fleeting memories of an evening phone call between Wilson and myself.
As the San Francisco Giants attempt to lock up their first World Series championship since moving from New York, Wilson's death marks the third former New York Giant in as many weeks and leaves 37 living players who donned the uniform in the Polo Grounds.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Selig supports more teams in the playoffs
Does baseball really need another round of playoffs? Check out the following statement from Commissioner Bud Selig regarding his feelings on expanding baseball's playoff format. How do you feel about baseball wanting to add another round? Where is the support coming from?
Book Review: Stan the Man: The Life and Times of Stan Musial
Stan the Man: The Life and Times of Stan Musial
Wayne Stewart
Triumph Books, 2010
256 pp.
Somehow Stan Musial's name seems to be omitted when discussing the upper echelon of baseball's royalty. He ranks fourth all time in hits (3,630), sixth in RBI's (1,951), appeared in 24 All-Star games and won the National League MVP award three times. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969 with over 93% of the votes.
Donora, PA native Wayne Stewart does his best to elevate Musial's standing in the public eye with his biography, "Stan the Man: The Life and Times of Stan Musial."
Stewart treads down a similar path that others have traveled chronicling Musial's upbringing in the small town of Donora. We watch Musial develop into a multi-sport athlete at Donora High School where he would play with Buddy Griffey, the patriarch to the Griffey baseball legacy. He was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals at the age of 18 out of high school and the rest shall we say has been well documented.While Stewart attempts to follow Musial through his Hall of Fame career, he leaves bits and pieces of different stories hanging, leaving you wondering why certain anecdotes weren't further developed or why they were mentioned in the first place. He attempts to fill the gaps by quoting some of Musial's living teammates and opponents, most notably Carl Erskine, who is frequently quoted during the book. Conspicuously absent are testimonials from Musial's long time teammates Red Schoendienst, Marty Marion and Musial himself.
For the younger fans who aren't familiar with the achievements of Musial, "Stan The Man" will serve as a primer about the Cardinal great to whom Albert Pujols respectfully deferred the title of "El Hombre". For the baseball fan or historian that is searching for greater depth into the annals of Musial's career, they may not be satisfied by Stewart's work.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Rudy Rufer, former New York Giants infielder dies at 83
Rudy Rufer, who played 22 games for the New York Giants from 1949-1950 died October 25, 2010. He was just three days shy of his 84th birthday. Rufer grew up in Ridgewood, Queens and attended Aviation High School. He attended Dartmouth College, the University of Oklahoma and served in the Navy.
Rufer was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1948 and was quickly drafted by the Giants the next season. After hitting .266 at Jersey City in AAA, Rufer made his major league debut on September 22, 1949 in only his second year in professional ball. He would receive another cup of coffee in 1950, compiling two hits in 26 at-bats. He would play minor league ball until 1957, serving as a minor league manager from 1956-58 with the Class D Thomasville Dodgers.
Rufer transitioned into the role of a scout for the Dodgers organization, working in that capacity for 25 years. Unfortunately, in his waning years while recovering from cancer surgery, Rufer was robbed by one of his nurse's aides, stealing most of his baseball memorabilia including his World Series ring. Luckily the material was quickly recovered by police.
Rufer's passing leaves only 38 living players who played for the New York Giants before they moved to San Francisco in 1958.
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| Rudy Rufer |
Rufer was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1948 and was quickly drafted by the Giants the next season. After hitting .266 at Jersey City in AAA, Rufer made his major league debut on September 22, 1949 in only his second year in professional ball. He would receive another cup of coffee in 1950, compiling two hits in 26 at-bats. He would play minor league ball until 1957, serving as a minor league manager from 1956-58 with the Class D Thomasville Dodgers.
Rufer transitioned into the role of a scout for the Dodgers organization, working in that capacity for 25 years. Unfortunately, in his waning years while recovering from cancer surgery, Rufer was robbed by one of his nurse's aides, stealing most of his baseball memorabilia including his World Series ring. Luckily the material was quickly recovered by police.
Rufer's passing leaves only 38 living players who played for the New York Giants before they moved to San Francisco in 1958.