Parker, it was agreed later, had crushed the pitch, hitting the ball exactly in its middle with the middle of his bat, so that it flew toward Dauer without any spin - a knuckleball, in short, which took a sudden and characteristic knuckleball veer at the last instant and skipped free. Tim Foli, running toward second, was the nearest witness, and he said later, "I could see the seams of the ball, so I knew what had happened. It was so strange to see a ball hit that way, and hit so hard, that I yelled 'Look out!' as it went by me. Dauer never had a chance."
-- Parker's seventh inning single off Jim Palmer to break up a scoreless tie in Game 6 of the 1979 World Series. in Roger Angell, Late Innings
Dave Parker had been ill with Parkinsons for more than a decade and he knew his time was running out. He had reached a point where he simply hoped to live long enough to make it to Cooperstown for his Hall induction next month, or failing that, to at least hear his son accept the honour on his behalf. It didn't work out that way, and that's sad. At least he knew his name had been called. He was one of those guys, like Jim Rice or Dizzy Dean, whose Hall case isn't really about his career numbers - it's about how freaking awesome he was at his peak. And at his peak, Dave Parker was really awesome. As a hitter, he was a little like a left-handed Vladdy Jr, but better. Someone who was not really a slugger, but a guy who was so big and so strong and who hit the ball so hard that a few of them couldn't help going over the fence. Parker was even bigger than Vladdy - which made him simply enormous compared to your average 1970s ballplayer - and when he was young and trim he ran well enough to steal 20 bases while also possessing the most feared outfield arm of his time.
He had his last truly great season in 1979, when he was 28. A taste for cocaine knocked him off track, along with knee problems. But he was good enough to hang around until he was 40, finishing up with a September cameo with the 1991 Blue Jays. Which brings us, by a commodious vicus of recirculation, to Don Mattingly. Because if Dave Parker and Jim Rice are in the Hall, it might be hard to keep Mattingly out.
The classic Hall of Fame career path is based on being a great player, with an clear and obvious peak, in your 20s and then being good enough when you're past your peak to accumulate some impressive career numbers as well. Dave Parker took that usual path - he was a great player in his 20s, and he played until he was 40. Mattingly was a little more like Rice - neither hung around long enough to add to his career totals. Mattingly retired at 34 with 2,153 Hits, 222 HRs, and a .307/.358/.471 slash line, an OPS+ of 127. Parker, through his age 34 season, had 1,850 Hits, 216 HRs, a slash line of .304/.352/.492 and an OPS+ of 130. Mattingly was an even better defensive player than Parker, though at a less important position. (Rice was a better hitter, but merely a competent defender compared to either.)
Well, I don't know what the standards are, I don't know where the line is drawn. I know Jose Bautista has a six year peak that's more impressive than either Parker or Mattingly or Rice - but Bautista hit his peak so late (he did nothing whatsoever until he turned 29) that there was no time left to pad his career stats once his peak had passed. He's only going to Cooperstown to visit. Rice is there, Parker will be inducted in a few weeks, and I now expect Mattingly's turn will come.
Mattingly, of course, was a Yankee lifer, spending his entire playing career in pinstripes, and no sports franchise has as many of those guys as the Yankees. The Boston Celtics can field a team at least (Russell, Bird, Havlicek, McHale, Heinsohn, Lewis, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones) and the Montreal Canadiens have the beginnings of an impressive roster (Beliveau, the Rocket, the Pocket Rocket, Cournoyer, Lemaire, Gainey, Joliat, Lach, Blake, Laperriere, Bouchard, Durnan, Dryden, Price) although it gets very thin on the blueline. But the Yankees are something else altogether:
Catcher - Thurman Munson. It's actually awfully hard to choose between Munson and Bill Dickey - they're about as close as two players could be. Jorge Posada is a distant third, and Posada was quite a player.
First base - Lou Gehrig was merely the greatest first baseman the world has seen so far. It's no disgrace for Don Mattingly to take a seat behind him. Joe Collins was kind of Mattingly-lite.
Second base - Tony Lazzeri maybe isn't quite a Hall of Famer, though he was inducted long ago. He was awfully good. Bobby Richardson couldn't carry Lazzeri's bat, but he was a wonderful defender.
Third base - Gil McDougald. Obviously Alex Rodriguez and Graig Nettles were the greatest third basemen in team history but neither is eligible here. Red Rolfe is, but he only had a few good (very good!) seasons. McDougald only played third base full time in his first few seasons- he was a superb infielder wherever you put him, and Stengel put him everywhere, with full seasons at second base and shortstop.
Shortstop - Derek Jeter, obviously. But Phil Rizzuto and Tony Kubek were very good players as well and Frankie Crosetti was a good glove for a long time.
Right field - Tommy Henrich started late, was platooned when he came up, and lost three years to the war. He did hit .282/.382/.491 for his career along with the first walk-off homer in World Series history. Huntsville's own George Selkirk started late, retired young, and was likewise platooned by McCarthy. Not quite as good as Henrich, I think. He may have to move over for Aaron Judge some day. I don't think they're going to let him get away.
Centre field - Mickey Mantle at his peak was about as great a player as it's possible to be. Before him, they had a fellow named Joe DiMaggio. Before him they had another Hall of Famer, Earle Combs. Since Mantle, they've had Bernie Williams.
Left field - Roy White was a wonderful player, who came up in the CBS era but stayed long enough to play with Reggie and Thurman. He was better than Brett Gardner, who was pretty good himself.
Pitchers - Whitey Ford, Mel Stottlemyre, Ron Guidry, Spud Chandler, Atley Donald, Mariano Rivera.
That's 28 players I've singled out with the bold type, who never played a game for any other team (and the franchise actually has others, who simply weren't good enough to bother mentioning.) And of those 28 immortals and near-immortals, Don Mattingly has a distinction all his own.
He never played in a World Series. He's the only one.
So surely, it's up to the Blue Jays to get him there.
Matchups!
Mon 30 June - Rodon (9-5, 2.92) vs Scherzer (0-0, 5.63)
Tue 1 July - Fried (10-2, 1.92) vs Gausman (6-6, 4.21)
Wed 2 July - Warren (5-4, 4.37) vs Berrios (4-3, 3.26)
Thu 3 July - Schmidt (4-4, 3.09) vs Bassitt (7-4, 4.29)
-- Parker's seventh inning single off Jim Palmer to break up a scoreless tie in Game 6 of the 1979 World Series. in Roger Angell, Late Innings
Dave Parker had been ill with Parkinsons for more than a decade and he knew his time was running out. He had reached a point where he simply hoped to live long enough to make it to Cooperstown for his Hall induction next month, or failing that, to at least hear his son accept the honour on his behalf. It didn't work out that way, and that's sad. At least he knew his name had been called. He was one of those guys, like Jim Rice or Dizzy Dean, whose Hall case isn't really about his career numbers - it's about how freaking awesome he was at his peak. And at his peak, Dave Parker was really awesome. As a hitter, he was a little like a left-handed Vladdy Jr, but better. Someone who was not really a slugger, but a guy who was so big and so strong and who hit the ball so hard that a few of them couldn't help going over the fence. Parker was even bigger than Vladdy - which made him simply enormous compared to your average 1970s ballplayer - and when he was young and trim he ran well enough to steal 20 bases while also possessing the most feared outfield arm of his time.
He had his last truly great season in 1979, when he was 28. A taste for cocaine knocked him off track, along with knee problems. But he was good enough to hang around until he was 40, finishing up with a September cameo with the 1991 Blue Jays. Which brings us, by a commodious vicus of recirculation, to Don Mattingly. Because if Dave Parker and Jim Rice are in the Hall, it might be hard to keep Mattingly out.
The classic Hall of Fame career path is based on being a great player, with an clear and obvious peak, in your 20s and then being good enough when you're past your peak to accumulate some impressive career numbers as well. Dave Parker took that usual path - he was a great player in his 20s, and he played until he was 40. Mattingly was a little more like Rice - neither hung around long enough to add to his career totals. Mattingly retired at 34 with 2,153 Hits, 222 HRs, and a .307/.358/.471 slash line, an OPS+ of 127. Parker, through his age 34 season, had 1,850 Hits, 216 HRs, a slash line of .304/.352/.492 and an OPS+ of 130. Mattingly was an even better defensive player than Parker, though at a less important position. (Rice was a better hitter, but merely a competent defender compared to either.)
Well, I don't know what the standards are, I don't know where the line is drawn. I know Jose Bautista has a six year peak that's more impressive than either Parker or Mattingly or Rice - but Bautista hit his peak so late (he did nothing whatsoever until he turned 29) that there was no time left to pad his career stats once his peak had passed. He's only going to Cooperstown to visit. Rice is there, Parker will be inducted in a few weeks, and I now expect Mattingly's turn will come.
Mattingly, of course, was a Yankee lifer, spending his entire playing career in pinstripes, and no sports franchise has as many of those guys as the Yankees. The Boston Celtics can field a team at least (Russell, Bird, Havlicek, McHale, Heinsohn, Lewis, Sam Jones, K.C. Jones) and the Montreal Canadiens have the beginnings of an impressive roster (Beliveau, the Rocket, the Pocket Rocket, Cournoyer, Lemaire, Gainey, Joliat, Lach, Blake, Laperriere, Bouchard, Durnan, Dryden, Price) although it gets very thin on the blueline. But the Yankees are something else altogether:
Catcher - Thurman Munson. It's actually awfully hard to choose between Munson and Bill Dickey - they're about as close as two players could be. Jorge Posada is a distant third, and Posada was quite a player.
First base - Lou Gehrig was merely the greatest first baseman the world has seen so far. It's no disgrace for Don Mattingly to take a seat behind him. Joe Collins was kind of Mattingly-lite.
Second base - Tony Lazzeri maybe isn't quite a Hall of Famer, though he was inducted long ago. He was awfully good. Bobby Richardson couldn't carry Lazzeri's bat, but he was a wonderful defender.
Third base - Gil McDougald. Obviously Alex Rodriguez and Graig Nettles were the greatest third basemen in team history but neither is eligible here. Red Rolfe is, but he only had a few good (very good!) seasons. McDougald only played third base full time in his first few seasons- he was a superb infielder wherever you put him, and Stengel put him everywhere, with full seasons at second base and shortstop.
Shortstop - Derek Jeter, obviously. But Phil Rizzuto and Tony Kubek were very good players as well and Frankie Crosetti was a good glove for a long time.
Right field - Tommy Henrich started late, was platooned when he came up, and lost three years to the war. He did hit .282/.382/.491 for his career along with the first walk-off homer in World Series history. Huntsville's own George Selkirk started late, retired young, and was likewise platooned by McCarthy. Not quite as good as Henrich, I think. He may have to move over for Aaron Judge some day. I don't think they're going to let him get away.
Centre field - Mickey Mantle at his peak was about as great a player as it's possible to be. Before him, they had a fellow named Joe DiMaggio. Before him they had another Hall of Famer, Earle Combs. Since Mantle, they've had Bernie Williams.
Left field - Roy White was a wonderful player, who came up in the CBS era but stayed long enough to play with Reggie and Thurman. He was better than Brett Gardner, who was pretty good himself.
Pitchers - Whitey Ford, Mel Stottlemyre, Ron Guidry, Spud Chandler, Atley Donald, Mariano Rivera.
That's 28 players I've singled out with the bold type, who never played a game for any other team (and the franchise actually has others, who simply weren't good enough to bother mentioning.) And of those 28 immortals and near-immortals, Don Mattingly has a distinction all his own.
He never played in a World Series. He's the only one.
So surely, it's up to the Blue Jays to get him there.
Matchups!
Mon 30 June - Rodon (9-5, 2.92) vs Scherzer (0-0, 5.63)
Tue 1 July - Fried (10-2, 1.92) vs Gausman (6-6, 4.21)
Wed 2 July - Warren (5-4, 4.37) vs Berrios (4-3, 3.26)
Thu 3 July - Schmidt (4-4, 3.09) vs Bassitt (7-4, 4.29)
