The bias toward recent events and people
A sportswriter that I had a lot of respect for wrote a column last year in which he described a trade as the worst trade in the history of professional sports. Since he was not describing the deal made back in 1920 when the owner of the Red Sox, Harry Frazee sold George Herman "Babe" Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000, he was just plain wrong. That is the worst deal in the history of professional sports. By far.
So why did he write this? Because he was describing a trade that took place in the 21st century. He lost sight of the fact the history of professional sports goes back more than a century.
On the ESPN website they have a group of writers known as the Page 2 staff. They compiled a list of the ten worst trades in sports history. They had the trade of the Babe for cash to be the worst ever. But the other 9 trades on the list occurred in the following years:
1965
1971
1976 (2)
1980
1984
1987
1989
1993
See a pattern? Most of the deals on this list were really bad. But nowhere near as bad as others that took place much further back in the history of professional sports.
In 1910, the Philadelphia Athletics traded a kid named Joe Jackson to the Cleveland Naps. He would go on to earn the nickname "Shoeless" Joe and would become one of the best players in the game. His .356 lifetime batting average over his 13 season (10 full seasons) career. In the 1919 World Series where he and the other seven players would be forever branded as the "Black Sox."
Did he take the bribe? He maintained until his death that he had refused the money. In the eight games of the World Series that year, he made no errors and batted .375, setting a then World Series record with 12 hits.
What did Philadelphia get for Shoeless Joe? A man named Bris Lord who had an okay season in 1911, two lousy seasons after that and then he was out of baseball for good. A horrible trade.
In 1936, the Philadelphia Athletics pulled off another idiotic move. They sold the contract of Jimmie Foxx to the Boston Red Sox for $150,000. A's owner Connie Mack was in financial trouble as the Great Depression made it so that he could not pay all of his star player's salaries.
During the next five seasons playing for the Red Sox, he made the All-Star team all five years, won the MVP award for the third time (a record that wasn't broken until Barry Bonds won his 4th MVP) and nearly won another Triple Crown. Only Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams ever won 2 Triple Crowns for batting.
However, there is yet another long-ago deal that might be the 2nd worst ever in pro sports history. In December of 1900, the Cincinnati Reds traded a young pitcher named Christy Mathewson back to the New York Giants. Mathewson had been with the Giants and had a record of 0-3 in six appearances until he was sent back down to the minors. The Reds picked up his contract but traded him back to the Giants for a guy named Amos Rusie. Known as the "Hoosier Thunderbolt." He had a blazing fastball and had led the league in strikeouts three straight seasons. He also once walked 289 batters in a single season.
Rusie pitched badly in a couple of games before retiring. Christy Mathewson would go on to win 373 games as a pitcher, 372 of them with the Giants. He was one of the original inductees into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Sadly he was the only one of the five original inductees who didn't survive to be inducted.
* * *
And as long as I'm on this bender about the bias towards current players among sports pundits, I want to go back and look at a list that purports to be the best 6 catchers in MLB history. Here, in order, is the list as written by its author, Michael Laurila:
#6 - Mike Piazza (career ended in 2007)
#5 - Carlton Fisk (career ended in 1993)
#4 - Bill Dickey (career ended in 1946)
#3 - Ivan Rodriguez (career ended in 2001)
#2 - Yogi Berra (career ended in 1963)
#1 - Johnny Bench (career ended in 1983)
My problem with this list, which does have players from further in the past, is that the man at #6 hit a lot of home runs and extra base hits, but his defense was atrocious. He isn't even the greatest at his position on his initial team, the Dodgers. The man worthy of that honor (IMHO) is one of only two catchers to ever win the MVP award three times (Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench won it twice each).
Roy Campanella played for ten seasons (1948-1957) with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was an eight-time All-Star. In each of his three MVP seasons, he hit over .300 with more than 30 home runs and more than 100 RBIs.
But my reasoning for making Campanella one of the best ever is that he still holds the career record for percentage of baserunners he threw out trying to steal. His percentage of 57.2% is almost ten full percentage points better than that of Yogi Berra's 47.8%. Ivan Rodriguez is at 47.5%. Fisk, Dickey and Bench are not among the 100 best in this stat.
Again, it is subjective but I'm guessing that this writer didn't even give Roy Campanella a second though. It's all about the offense for him.
So why did he write this? Because he was describing a trade that took place in the 21st century. He lost sight of the fact the history of professional sports goes back more than a century.
On the ESPN website they have a group of writers known as the Page 2 staff. They compiled a list of the ten worst trades in sports history. They had the trade of the Babe for cash to be the worst ever. But the other 9 trades on the list occurred in the following years:
1965
1971
1976 (2)
1980
1984
1987
1989
1993
See a pattern? Most of the deals on this list were really bad. But nowhere near as bad as others that took place much further back in the history of professional sports.
In 1910, the Philadelphia Athletics traded a kid named Joe Jackson to the Cleveland Naps. He would go on to earn the nickname "Shoeless" Joe and would become one of the best players in the game. His .356 lifetime batting average over his 13 season (10 full seasons) career. In the 1919 World Series where he and the other seven players would be forever branded as the "Black Sox."
Did he take the bribe? He maintained until his death that he had refused the money. In the eight games of the World Series that year, he made no errors and batted .375, setting a then World Series record with 12 hits.
What did Philadelphia get for Shoeless Joe? A man named Bris Lord who had an okay season in 1911, two lousy seasons after that and then he was out of baseball for good. A horrible trade.
In 1936, the Philadelphia Athletics pulled off another idiotic move. They sold the contract of Jimmie Foxx to the Boston Red Sox for $150,000. A's owner Connie Mack was in financial trouble as the Great Depression made it so that he could not pay all of his star player's salaries.
During the next five seasons playing for the Red Sox, he made the All-Star team all five years, won the MVP award for the third time (a record that wasn't broken until Barry Bonds won his 4th MVP) and nearly won another Triple Crown. Only Rogers Hornsby and Ted Williams ever won 2 Triple Crowns for batting.
However, there is yet another long-ago deal that might be the 2nd worst ever in pro sports history. In December of 1900, the Cincinnati Reds traded a young pitcher named Christy Mathewson back to the New York Giants. Mathewson had been with the Giants and had a record of 0-3 in six appearances until he was sent back down to the minors. The Reds picked up his contract but traded him back to the Giants for a guy named Amos Rusie. Known as the "Hoosier Thunderbolt." He had a blazing fastball and had led the league in strikeouts three straight seasons. He also once walked 289 batters in a single season.
Rusie pitched badly in a couple of games before retiring. Christy Mathewson would go on to win 373 games as a pitcher, 372 of them with the Giants. He was one of the original inductees into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Sadly he was the only one of the five original inductees who didn't survive to be inducted.
* * *
And as long as I'm on this bender about the bias towards current players among sports pundits, I want to go back and look at a list that purports to be the best 6 catchers in MLB history. Here, in order, is the list as written by its author, Michael Laurila:
#6 - Mike Piazza (career ended in 2007)
#5 - Carlton Fisk (career ended in 1993)
#4 - Bill Dickey (career ended in 1946)
#3 - Ivan Rodriguez (career ended in 2001)
#2 - Yogi Berra (career ended in 1963)
#1 - Johnny Bench (career ended in 1983)
My problem with this list, which does have players from further in the past, is that the man at #6 hit a lot of home runs and extra base hits, but his defense was atrocious. He isn't even the greatest at his position on his initial team, the Dodgers. The man worthy of that honor (IMHO) is one of only two catchers to ever win the MVP award three times (Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench won it twice each).
Roy Campanella played for ten seasons (1948-1957) with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was an eight-time All-Star. In each of his three MVP seasons, he hit over .300 with more than 30 home runs and more than 100 RBIs.
But my reasoning for making Campanella one of the best ever is that he still holds the career record for percentage of baserunners he threw out trying to steal. His percentage of 57.2% is almost ten full percentage points better than that of Yogi Berra's 47.8%. Ivan Rodriguez is at 47.5%. Fisk, Dickey and Bench are not among the 100 best in this stat.
Again, it is subjective but I'm guessing that this writer didn't even give Roy Campanella a second though. It's all about the offense for him.
posted by me at 3:18 PM
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