A Midsummer Visit To The Baseball Hall of Fame

On the Friday that started July 4 weekend this year I took a trip to Cooperstown to visit the venerable National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. I traveled with one of my advisors, and noted beer aficionado, Tom Teatro. In addition to the Hall, we toured the excellent Ommegang Brewery, taking not one, but two tasting tours. And drinking several other of their fine Belgian-inspired beers at the bar on premises.

But as good as the Ommegang visit was, we were really there to see the Hall of Fame; as always, it did not disappoint. A few photos follow.

One of the things we wanted to accomplish over the weekend was to play catch on Doubleday Field. We gave it our best shot - eventually making it onto the field and throwing the ball back and forth for a few minutes - but then the Assistant Groundskeeper threatened to call the Cooperstown PD if we didn't exit the premises immediately. He even whipped out a walkie-talkie and pretended to radio the cops, a move he's no doubt honed by booting legions of teenagers ... and anyone who just spent the day drinking at Ommegang.

Before we "trespassed" onto the field, we caught the end of this game. We couldn't tell what level it was, but it appeared to be a Babe Ruth League game (does that still exist?) - maybe 14 to 16 year olds. They didn't look like varsity high-schoolers. I think this kid made the final out of the game when the ump called strike three on a ball a foot off the plate. Surprisingly, my drunken calls of "Blue, what are you doin'!" didn't change the call.

One of the great things about visiting Cooperstown is perusing all the memorabilia shops. They have some incredible stuff in these stores, often juxtaposing old jerseys and other memorabilia of stars of different eras in cool ways. For example, this store window showed off one of the greatest baseball players of all time. And Derek Jeter.

Like I said, I love the random groupings of gear from great players that otherwise wouldn't be grouped together. Here you have jerseys for Koufax, Clemente, and Musial, three of my top 5 favorite players of all time, hanging on the wall side-by-side. Unless you happened to be touring the locker room of the Ryan's Favorite Player All Stars, I don't know where else you'd see these jerseys hanging together. Except here, in Cooperstown.

The first World Series I remember watching was the 1982 Series between the Cardinals and Brewers. For that reason, even though I'm no fan of either franchise, I've always had a fondness for those two particular teams. These Cardinal colors worn by the '82 team - a team that featured former Padres Ozzie Smith, Gene Tenace, George Hendrick, and Steve Mura in prominent roles - are colors I'll always associate with early 80s baseball, a great, but often underrated time to grow up and learn about the game.

Really liked this Gwynn jersey except for one thing: when did the Padres ever wear a black jersey? Was this from an All Star Game? Was Tony secretly on the Pirates for awhile? Am I colorblind? Neither Teatro nor I could figure it out. Granted, we'd had 8 beers each at Ommegang, but still ...

Respect.

Another choice grouping. What's fun about these groupings, other than just being cool to look at, is that you can imagine these guys playing together. For example, let's say I get Mantle, Koufax, and Schmidt on my team. Then I let you go ahead and pick your entire team and you take, oh I don't know, Bench, Gehrig, Morgan, Ozzie, Brooks Robinson, Teddy Ballgame, Mays, and Aaron. And Bob Gibson to pitch. But then I fill out my team with Bill Dickey, Jimmie Foxx, Rogers Hornsby, Robin Yount, Barry Bonds, and Babe Ruth. I don't know who wins that game, but I'd probably buy a ticket to watch it.

High comedy. You know I love Tony, but I'm not paying $149 for his signed anything (okay, maybe that's too far; I could see buying a game-worn jersey from the '84 Series or one of his game-used bats maybe). But that's obviously not the funny part. $99.95 for an Ozzie Guillen signature? $69.95 for Travis Hafner? I mean you couldn't make this up.

The next day we started early at the Hall of Fame. I didn't take photos of everything; no one could. There's just too much good stuff. I did take some photos of things that caught my eye, or that had special meaning to me, and it started with this Christy Mathewson jersey. Christy has always been one of my favorite players based on his exploits in the 1905 World Series, and he wore this jersey, if I remember correctly, during a tour of Japan.

Here's a stretched animal hide commemorating the Red Sox 1915 World Series victory. Why don't teams issue commeorative animal hides anymore? Baseball should really get back to that.

Look at Babe load his swing. If you're like me, even though you've read all the stories and seen all the numbers, you still look at the old Babe footage and wonder sometimes how he could have been as good as he was. But then I see a photo like this and realize it was probably because he had ridiculous hand-eye coordination, a ton of strength, very quick hands through the zone, and perhaps most of all, loaded his swing like a slingshot. I know he's just messing around here, but wasn't he always?

Musial's stirrups. Now I can say I saw them.

The Hall of Fame celebrates moments as much as it does individual players. Here you have George Brett's bat from the pine tar incident. I thought the presentation was done well because they included Brett's jersey - the classy Royals blue and white - and his glove, and didn't just make it about the bat. Brett was a monster whose career was memorable for so much more than that one moment.

A jersey Dave Winfield wore with the Padres. It must have been one of his last seasons in San Diego because I didn't know the Padres had moved to this lettering until after Winfield left town. But more importantly, you should have seen what other items shared space in this glass showcase. There was a Red Sox jersey that Pudge Fisk wore in '76, the bat and ball Jim Rice used to get his 400th total base in '78, the glove Gary Carter wore in his NL record-breaking 1,862nd game behind the plate, Wade Boggs' bat and batting glove from '89, his 7th consecutive year tallying 200+ hits, the bat Cal Ripken used to hit a bomb in the '91 All Star Game, the jersey and helmet Robin Yount wore when he got his 3000th hit, and the hat, glove and ticket stub from Nolan Ryan's 5000th strikeout game.

I'm just a humble baseball fan, but I'd say that's one heck of a glass showcase.

Here is the uniform Eddie Gaedel wore during his famous at bat for Bill Veeck's St. Louis Browns in 1951. I took the photo in honor of Kyle Gaedele, Eddie's grand-nephew, who the Padres had drafted a few weeks earlier. Incidentally, I'm currently reading Bill Veeck's autobiography - Veeck: As In Wreck - and the opening chapter is a solid firsthand account of the events leading up to the Gaedel at bat. I hightly recommend it.

After touring the museum upstairs, we went downstairs to the Plaque Gallery. As good as the presentation is upstairs, I still love the plaques the best. You could read these all day long, literally. Goose's plaque is great. I loved this line: "Incredibly durable, posted 52 saves of at least seven outs." From the vantage point of being a fan in 2011, that's an incredible statistic.

"An artisan with a bat ...."

The Artisan in close up.

I'd either forgotten or never knew that Clemente led the NL in batting four times, and finished his career with a .317 average. There really was nothing he couldn't do on a ball field.

I'd grin like a goofball too if my nickname was "The Man."

And the end of the hallway housing the Plaque Gallery is a place of honor for the First Five Hall of Fame inductees: Ruth, Mathewson, Wagner, Cobb, and Walter Johnson. It's all very well done.

Here's a wide view of the First Five and some of the more recent inductees that surround them. Tony Gwynn's plaque is to the left of the First Five.

Here's the glass ceiling that lets in sunlight on the First Five and other recent inductees. The sky that day was perfect. Look at how the clouds are reflected in the marble.

Two lefties that would have no trouble hitting at Petco.

This was genius. In the gift shop you have to pass through to leave the Hall they have these sets of 50 random cards for each team. They cost $9.50 each so obviously I purchased a Padres set without even hesitating.

Finally, I couldn't leave the Hall without snapping a photo of these three statues honoring Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Clemente. The statues are placed so they greet you when you enter the Hall, and wish you well on your way out. There probably aren't three better ballplayers they could have chosen for this duty. Again, well done.

Getting To The Bottom of Gary Lucas' 1982 Season (Part 1)

I've written before about the greatness of the '83 Topps baseball card set, how it was the first summer I really collected baseball cards and the unbridled glee of opening a wax pack - usually purchased at the Convenient store where Gift and Loucks Avenues intersect with Sheridan Road in Peoria, IL while my Dad picked up a pack of Vantage cigarettes - and finding a brown, yellow and orange clad Padrino player staring up at me.

Like the Gary Lucas card above, for example.

No doubt I was mesmerized by Lucas's photo when I first saw it - for one, my Dad had a similar 'stache at the time - and, living in Peoria about 3 hours away from two of the best closers in the game - the Cubs' Lee Smith and Cardinals' Bruce Sutter - I had obviously asked my Dad who the Padres' "saves guy" was. He said Gary Lucas so I was instantly a fan.

But more than his photo and his closer status, what fascinated me about Gary Lucas were his '82 stats. He pitched in 65 games for the '82 Padres, finishing 39 of them. He posted a 3.24 ERA over 97.1 innings and racked up 16 saves. Not too bad for a lefty out of the pen.

But here is what stunned me.

His record was 1 - 10.

That's right. One win, ten losses. That discrepancy is hard to overlook, especially to a 6-year old who understands wins and losses more than any other stat. Looking at the card now I still can't get over the "1" in the W column juxtaposed with the "1" "0" in the L column. It's quite a sight.

I've often wondered about those 10 losses, especially since the Padres finished 81-81 in 1982. Given that record, Lucas probably pitched in some high-leverage situations, and some of those losses must've been daggers. Or so one might hypothesize.

Now, with the help of Baseball-Reference.com, I've decided to take a look at Gary Lucas' losses during the '82 season to see how each played out.

My bet is Gary was sometimes to blame, but not always to blame, and maybe sometimes he was only partly to blame.

Let's get started.

#1. April 28, 1982 - 5-4 loss to the Mets at the Murph in 15 innings: Gary enters in the top of the 12th and proceeds to throw 1-2-3 innings in the 12th, 13th and 14th. In the top of the 15th, however, Mookie Wilson leads off with a triple to right center and Bob Bailor follows up with a sac fly to put the Mets up 5-4. The legendary Pete Falcone then closes the game out for the Mets in the bottom half of the inning. Gary's line: 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. Conclusion: Gary not to blame.

#2. May 7, 1982 - 5-2 loss to the Phillies at the Vet: The Pads lead 2-1 going to the bottom of the 9th. Eric Show starts the 9th and Gary enters with 1-out and a runner on second. Gary gives up a single to Ozzie Virgil, an RBI groundout to Bob Dernier that ties the game, and an intentional pass to Pete Rose. Dick Williams then brings on Luis DeLeon in relief and DeLeon promptly issues a 3-run walk-off jack to an unknown, flash-in-the pan named Mike Schmidt. Gary's line: .1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. Conclusion: Gary partly to blame.

#3. May 10, 1982 - 3-2 loss to the Mets at Shea: The Pads go up 2-1 in the top of the 9th when a Terry Kennedy double plates Sixto Lezcano. In the bottom half of the 9th, Dick Williams brings in Show to start the inning (a common refrain in '82), and Show gives up a single to Ellis Valentine and K's Hubie Brooks. Dick then brings in Gary with 1-out and Ellis Valentine, the tying run, dancing off first. Gary gets Rusty Staub to ground out but Valentine moves up to second. After an intentional walk to pinch-hitter George Foster (the Mets, incidentally, had geriatrics Staub, Foster and Dave Kingman all on the roster in '82 ... I wonder how many Mets' fans knew then that they were only four years away from one of the great teams of all time), and with Wally Backman running for Foster, Bob Bailor strides to the plate and hits a 2-out, 2-run game-winning 2B, no doubt throwing the 9,670 Mets fans at the game (a Monday) into a frenzy. Gary's line: .1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K. Conclusion: Gary partly to blame. Bailor must be Gary's mortal enemy.

#4. May 30, 1982 - 6-5 loss to the Cardinals at Busch Stadium: A major dagger loss to the eventual World Champs. But what a game. The Pads lead 3-0 going to the bottom of the 9th. Gary comes on in the top of the 7th with a runner on second and K's Julio Gonzalez to end the inning. Then he works a mostly harmless bottom of the 8th against the likes of Darrell Green, Tito Landrum, Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee, no small feat, mind you. In the Padres half of the 9th, current Mets manager Jerry Manuel triples home Luis Salazar to give the Pads the 3-0 lead. Interestingly, to show how baseball has changed over the past 25 years, in the top of the 9th, after Manuel's triple, the Padres have Terry Kennedy up with 2-outs and a runner on third. Whitey Herzog orders an intentional walk to bring up Gary's spot in the lineup. What does Dick Williams do? He bats Gary who promptly K's to end the inning.

Which brings us to the bottom of the 9th where the wheels come off. Keith Hernandez singles, then George Hendrick singles, then Lonnie Smith doubles, all off our boy Gary. That makes it 3-1 Pads, runners on second and third, with nobody out. Gary next induces a groundout from Mike Ramsey that holds the runners, but then, on what must have been a crazy play, Julio Gonzalez grounds to third and there is an E5/interference called on Luis Salazar. The end result is that Hendrick scores and the Cards have runners on second and third with 1 out. Dick orders an intentional walk to Darrell Green to load the bases. With two outs and the bases juiced, Tommy Herr steps up and and hits a sac fly to tie the game. Gary then gets The Wizard to ground out to end the inning.

Extra innings. The Pads face Sutter in the top of the 10th. Alan Wiggins leads off with a single, followed by a Gene Richards single that allows Alan - what a speedster - to move to third. Then Joe Lefebvre hits a double to score Alan. After an intentional walk to Ruppert Jones to load the bases, Sixto hits a grounder to short and Ozzie Smith - former Padre and probably the best defensive SS of all time - throws home to force Gene at the plate. Huge play. Next up, Luis Salazar grounds out to score Lefebvre from third. After a Luis steal, with runners on second and third and 2 outs, Sutter K's Jerry Manuel to end the inning.

So we arrive at the bottom of the 10th with a 5-3 Padre lead. What really shoves the dagger in here is that Gary gets 2 quick outs - an Orlando Sanchez groundout and a Keith Hernandez lineout to Ruppert in center. But then Hendrick singles, Lonnie doubles him home and then Mike-effing-Ramsey singles Lonnie home to tie the game. Gary then plunks Julio Gonzalez (of course he does) and Dick replaces him with Floyd Chiffer with Gary's runners on first and second. Dane Iorg - yes, the same Dane Iorg who would help the Royals beat the Cards in the '85 Series - promptly hits a game-winning single. Gary's line: 3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. Conclusion: Despite the Salazar error in the 9th, Gary to blame. You can't give up three straight hits to lead off the 9th and also give up another lead in the 10th.

[Trivia Interlude: According to Baseball Reference, this was Jerry Manuel's final game. He only played 2 games for the '82 Padres and his only hit was the triple in the top of the 9th against Bruce Sutter.]

#5. June 22, 1982 - 7-5 loss to the Reds at Riverfront Stadium: Gary enters with 1-out in the bottom of the 7th with the tying run on second base. He gives up a tying double to Eddie Milner. He then gets Rafael Landestoy to ground out but Dan Driessen draws a 2-out walk. Dick then removes Gary in place of Floyd. The inning is extended and a run scores on an E5 (thanks again, Luis). Floyd gives up another single, scoring another unearned run (though Cesar Cedeno was out at home on what was no doubt a laser by Ruppert from centerfield). The Padres never recover and go on to lose the game. Gary's line: .1 IP, 1 H 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, O K. Conclusion: Gary mostly to blame. The double to Milner is not good, nor is the two-out walk to Driessen. The E5 made Gary's runs unearned but he allowed the inherited runner to score which you never like to see.

So there you have Gary Lucas' first five losses of the '82 season. I'll examine the next 5 losses in another post sometime in the next few days.

Until then, think Padre thoughts.