Can You Manage? (Part II)

REPLAYING THE 1957 NATIONAL LEAGUE

By Glenn Guzzo

This story begins the same way as that for the 1957 American League: If you have enjoyed re-living Strat-O-Matic’s past seasons by replaying the champs, but felt a bit guilty about taking the best team, the 1957 season will allow you a guilt-free experience. Both the Milwaukee Braves in the NL and the New York Yankees in the AL have rosters that require excellent juggling skills, despite winning their leagues by 8 games each.

For those of us who like to enjoy a past season by replaying the champs, but who feel just a smidge guilty about taking the best team, the 1957 Braves offer a guilt-free challenge.

A year after losing the NL pennant on the final weekend, the Braves earned Milwaukee’s first pennant in a battle with the Cardinals, Dodgers and their own injuries to key performers. With Joe Adcock and Bill Bruton lame and with production problems elsewhere, the Braves transformed themselves in the second half of the season:

n On June 15, they traded for Red Schoendienst, who hit .310 and provided “1” defense at second base to replace departed Danny O’Connell, who had hit .235 with mediocre defense.

n Wes Covington returned from the minors on June 17 and stabilized left field with his power.

n Don McMahon was promoted to the big leagues on June 26 to provide desperately needed relief pitching. His nine saves were more than twice anyone else’s on the team and his 1.53 was the only bullpen ERA below 3.54.

n World Series hero Nippy Jones arrived July 6.

n When Bruton went down for good on July 19, Hank Aaron moved to center field and, nine days later, Bob “Hurricane” Hazle arrived to platoon in right. For the rest of his ultra-brief and otherwise-forgettable career, Hazle was a .213 hitter with 2 home runs. But in the last two-plus months of 1957, Hazle hit .403, slugged 7 homers and had a Ted Williams-like 1.126 OPS.

The basic-format version of this team has played well for decades in Strat-O-Matic’s lineup of great teams without Hazle and Jones. But a realistic replay that forces you to shelve Schoendienst, Bruton, Covington and McMahon for half the season and Adcock for two-thirds of it ought to provide new appreciation for Braves manager Fred Haney. And for Aaron, who had his first great power season (44 HR, .600 slugging) and his career-best 132 RBIs. With all of his superstar talents in bloom, Aaron began a run of 17 seasons in which he hit at least 30 HR 15 times.

Adding to the managing challenge, future Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews socked 32 HR, but has “W” power vs. left-handed pitchers. The Braves’ big-three of Warren Spahn, Bob Buhl and Lew Burdette won 56 games. But Burdette, who gave up 25 HR, can be flammable in the slugger-friendly parks outside Milwaukee. Since he started 33 times, it will tough to limit him to County Stadium. Juan Pizarro (8 diamonds vs. RH) and Ernie Johnson (8 diamonds vs. LH) also need to be handled with care.

HISTORY ON YOUR TABLE TOP

Aside from the only World Series title for Milwaukee, the 1957 baseball season will forever be remembered as the Dodgers’ and Giants’ last in New York. The fireworks sendoff is represented by the ballpark home run ratings for Brooklyn’s Ebbetts Field (1-19 for RH and 1-14 for LH) and New York’s Polo Grounds (1-19 for LH and 1-16 for RH).

Now a decade after Jackie Robinson integrated Major League Baseball, the National League’s leadership in this area is showing. In the American League, Detroit and Boston had not yet fielded their first black players, but an NL All-Star team would start SS Ernie Banks and the all-black OF of Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson. That OF was 2-3-4 in hitting behind batting champ Stan Musial and black stars were 1-2-4-6-7 in the NL home run race. Add those black stars to a lineup with these whites: C Ed Bailey, 1B Musial, 2B Red Schoendienst and 3B Eddie Mathews. It’s quite a lineup.

There’s this little-known oddity about 1957 – a disproportionate number of 20-plus homer hitters who drove in significantly fewer than three runs per home run.

In the NL, Banks had 102 RBIs, but as a one-man offense for the seventh-place Cubs, he had to hit 43 HR to manage it. Banks, who had been the first SS to hit 40 HR when he did it in 1955, accounted for nearly one-third of Chicago’s 1957 run production. Brooklyn’s Duke Snider hit 40 HR, but had only 92 RBIs, second worst in history (Ken Griffey Jr. had 92) among players who hit exactly 40 HR in a season. Mays hit 35 HR, but drove in only 97. Cincinnati’s Robinson hit .322 and homered 29 times, but had only 75 RBIs, while teammate Bailey had 20 HR and only 48 RBIs.

(The American League was similary afflicted. Ted Williams hit .388 and had 38 HR, but an embarrassing 87 RBIs. Mickey Mantle hit 34 HR but had only 94 RBIs. And Woodie Held smashed 20 HR while driving in only 50.)

TEAM-BY-TEAM ANALYSIS

Milwaukee (95-59, 1^st place) – The fastest way to find out who has a monster hitting card is to look for a note like this at the bottom of the roster sheet: “Please restrict B. Hazle to 41 games.” Hazle’s hugely lopsided card hazes right-handed pitchers with 60 on-base chances, 47 hits and power (8 ballpark diamonds, 4.8 HR and 12.7 doubles). As impressive, he also has 21.5 chances of SINGLE** and goes up 4 in the clutch with only 4 double play chances. He’s the ideal cleanup or No. 5 hitter behind high-average Aaron … The diamond-studded Braves cards will provide sharp contrast when playing at home – in the best pitcher park by far (HR 1, SI 1-3) – compared to such homer-happy places as Brooklyn, Cincinnati, New York, Chicago and St. Louis (and even Philadelphia for righty hitters). Hank Aaron and backup C Del Rice (9 HR in 144 AB) have 8 diamonds on both sides of their cards. Hazle, Wes Covington, Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock and backup C Carl Sawatski also have 8 against righty pitchers, while starting C Del Crandall, OF Andy Pafko and IF Felix Mantilla have 8 against lefties.

The slugging Braves have five “B” hit-and-run men, but otherwise will have trouble with the small-ball game where it may be needed in their home park. Bill Bruton is the only * base-stealer. Eight of the nine rated OF have plus arms (Aaron is -2). And once Bruton (a 2 in CF) goes down, and Aaron shifts from RF (where he’s a 2) to CF (a 3), the Braves will have nothing but 3s and 4s in the OF. Hazle is Halloween-scary at 4e25 with a +2 arm in RF.

St. Louis ( 87-67, 2^nd place) – Stan Musial won his seventh and final batting championship (.351) at age 36. Musial is awesome in the clutch, adding 12 hit chances to a card that already features 35 hits, plus 8 ballpark diamonds vs. LHP and 7 vs. RHP. Teammate Dale Ennis (+12), who led the Cardinals with 105 RBIs, Joe Cunningham (+7), who hit .318, and Don Blasingame (+4) make this a formidable team in the clutch, offset somewhat by Ken Boyer (-16/-15) and Wally Moon (-15) … Boyer is bizarre defensively. He was the Cardinals’ primary CF (105 games), where he is a 4 with a +2 arm, but he’s a 1 for his 41 games at 3B … Defensively, .211-hitting sub Bobby Gene Smith is the only one among six St. Louis OFs to be a 2 or to have a minus arm (-1) … Blasingame, a 2 at 2B, is the only regular better than a 3 … St. Louis is the only team with no asterisk starting pitchers, but Sam Jones, 15-game winners Lindy McDaniel and Larry Jackson, and Vinegar Bend Mizell form a solid foursome anyway. Billy Muffett (2.25 ERA) has one of the best closer cards.

Brooklyn (84-70, 3^rd place) – The pitching staff with the lowest ERA in the NL has one big winner (Don Drysdale, 17-9, 2.69), the NL ERA leader (Johnny Podres, 12-9, 2.66), another sub 3.00-ERA starter (Sal Maglie, 2.93) and a lot of juggling to do. No one started more than 29 times. Six of the 11 carded pitchers have a computer balance rating of 5 to 9. … One of them, 21-year-old Sandy Koufax, fanned 122 in 104 IP … Four SP have at least 1-12 running: Drysdale, Podres, Carl Erskine and Don Newcombe … Gil Hodges has a memorable slugging card vs. LHP, with automatic HRs at 2-4, 2-5 and 2-6 (plus HR 1-6, TR 7-20 at 2-7). Counting ballpark diamonds, he’s got solid extra-base hits from 2-3 through 2-12 (except for a walk at 2-9). Trouble is, the lefty-bashing that Hodges, Roy Campanella and Charlie Neal do will seldom be needed – the Dodgers faced fewer than 10 lefty starters in ‘57 … With a defense featuring three 1s and three 2s, the Dodgers will be scored on even less thanks to the deadly arms of C Campanella (-3), RF Carl Furillo (-5), CF Snider (-4) and LF Gino Cimoli (-4)

Cincinnati (80-74, 4^th place) – In 1956, the Redlegs became contenders by slugging a record-tying 221 HR. With the league’s worst pitching in ’57, an offense that trailed only Milwaukee in HR (the Reds hit 187) and runs was only good enough to produce a mediocre won-lost record.

Most of the homer shrinkage was caused by Ted Kluszewski’s power outage following a clubhouse fight. “Big Klu,” who led the league in HR in 1954 and hit 35 in 1956, settled for 6 HR in 127 AB in ‘57. George Crowe took over at 1B and slugged a team-best 31 HR, but his .314 on-base percentage, second worst among the Cinci regulars, makes him a bottom-half-of-the-order hitter. However, five regulars have on-base percentages above .370, so there are table-setters for the trio of .500-plus sluggers (Crowe, OF Frank Robinson and backup C Smokey Burgess) … Brooks Lawrence (16-13, 3.52) has the only respectable pitching card. None of the other nine carded pitchers has an ERA lower than Don Gross’ 4.31. Only Lawrence and reliever Raul Sanchez (62 IP, 61 hits) allowed fewer hits than innings pitched … Hang your heads: Cincinnati has three “5” fielders – backup C Burgess and sub corner OFs Jerry Lynch and Bob Thurman.

Philadelphia (77-77, 5^th place) – The Phillies will be fighting their ballpark in addition to the rest of the NL. Philly is famine for lefty power (1), but plus for righties (1-12). Too bad that only two righty-hitting regulars (C Stan Lopata and RF Rip Repulski) have diamonds against RHP, and then only four apiece (although righty-hitting 2B Granny Hamner and 3B Willie Jones can jolt LHP). Meanwhile, pitchers who started 62 percent of the Phillies games have at least three diamonds each vs. right-handed hitters. Robin Roberts, who lost 22 games while yielding 40 HR in 250 IP, is one of them. Still, try to get as many of his 32 starts as possible at home, and in Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, where his eight(!) diamonds against left-handed hitters won’t hurt him. With his diamonds as outs, the control-freak Roberts yields just 19 on-base vs. lefties and 11 vs. righties. Then, he’ll be a useful addition to a rotation that features NL rookie-of-the-year Jack Sanford (19-8, 3.08), who was second only to Spahn’s 21 wins in the NL, and LHP Curt Simmons (12-11, 3.44), who has very good control and who keeps the ball in the park. The bullpen is better than most with closer Turk Farrell (10-2, 2.38, 10 saves) and Bob Miller (2.69 ERA).

The pitchers need to be sharp, because the defense won’t help and Philadelphia was seventh in NL run-scoring. 1B Ed Bouchee led the team with 76 RBIs, but his .293 BA, .394 on-base percentage, 35 doubles and 17 HR make him a decent No. 3 hitter behind leadoff man Richie Ashburn (.390 on-base and 17 speed). The No. 2 hole is problematic. Hamner hit there most often, but his .227 BA, .274 on-base and +10 clutch (he had 62 RBIs) dictate that he bat lower. Lopata, who hit .237-18-67 is the only other hitter helpful in the clutch (+9).

Defensively, CF Ashburn is a 2, but with a +2 arm, between a pair of 4 corner OFs (Repulski and LF Harry Anderson). 3B Jones is a 2e17, but it’s mostly 4s at 2B. SS Chico Fernandez is a 3e30. C Lopata is a 4(+3). Defensive replacements can improve the situation at 1B, 2B, RF, LF and C.

Odd card: 1B Marv Blaylock hit .154, but his 2 HR in 26 AB gets him 7 HR chances and 8 diamonds vs. RHP. And he has 22 HBP chances to go with 11 walks. That’s 40 on-base with strong power. And he’s a 2 at 1B.

New York (69-85, 6^th place) –Despondent Giants fans, who lost their pennant hopes not long after learning they would lose their team, had much to admire in Willie Mays, who hit .333-35-97 with an explosive combination of power and speed. He led the NL in slugging (.626) and the majors in triples (20) and stolen bases (38). In the era of great New York CFs, Mays didn’t hit for as high an average as Mantle (.365) or smash as many homers as Snider (40), but he had the best all-around season of the trio, including 1(-5) defense (Mantle and Snider are 2s) … Mays’ teammates don’t help much, as the Giants record shows. Eight of the other 15 carded batters have on-base percentages below .300 and only two are above .320. Alas, the glory of the Giants’ championship in 1954 is a distant memory already in ’57, as C Wes Westrum (.165-1-2), 1B Whitey Lockman (.248-7-30) and OFs Bobby Thomson (.240-12-61), Don Mueller (.258-6-37) and Dusty Rhodes (.205-4-19) have lost all appeal. ’54 regulars Alvin Dark, Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson are gone altogether.

LF Hank Sauer (.259-26-76, +5 clutch) and 3B Ray Jablonski (.289-9-57, +10 clutch) provide what little lineup protection the Giants offered Mays in ‘57, at the price of defensive 5s at both positions. With 4s at SS and the only 2 at 1B, the pitcher cards look better than their stats, but still only SP Ruben Gomez (15-13, 3.78), starter-reliever Stu Miller (7-9, 3.63) and closer Marv Grissom (14 saves, 2.61) offer much promise.

Chicago (62-92, 7^th place tie) – In RF Walt Moryn (.289-19-88), SS Ernie Banks (.285-43-102) and 1B Dale Long (.298-21-67) the Cubs have a solid left-right-left middle of the lineup against RHP, but against lefties this team dies on the Wrigley Field vine. Lefty-hitting Bob Speake has excellent power against LHP, but it comes with a .232 BA and 4 defense in CF. While Banks stands majestically for his power as a middle infielder, the other five Cubs who play 2B-3B-SS combine for only .202-13-69 as the equivalent of two full lineup spots with bad defense to boot. The Cubs routinely will field 4s at C, 1B, 3B, CF and RF.

On the mound, mediocrity is as good as it gets. Reliever Jim Brosnan’s 3.37 is tops on the team. Starter-reliever Don Elston (6-7, 3.54) and SPs Dick Drott (15-11, 3.58) and Moe Drabowsky (13-15, 3.53) are the best of the rest. Still, that’s 84 starts. We’ve seen worse Cubs pitching in the 1950s.

Pittsburgh (62-92, 7^th place tie) – Forbes Field offers only warning track power (HR 1), but by far the most singles (1-17), which is just as well for these punch-less Pirates, who hit only 92 HR and were last in the NL in runs. Frank Thomas, who had 594 AB and played almost every day as the backup at 1B, 3B, LF and CF, has as many diamonds (7) vs. RHP as the regular seven IFs and OFs combined. To make matters more desperate, six of them are -8 or worse in the clutch. Thomas’ 89 RBIs were 35 more than the next-best Pirate. His 23 HR were more than the corner regulars – 1B Dee Fondy, 3B Gene Baker, LF Bob Skinner and RF Roberto Clemente – combined.

But by 1957, the Pirates had begun putting together the pieces for their 1960 championship. 2B Bill Mazeroski (.283-8-54) and SS Dick Groat (.315-7-54) are 2s defensively and can hit some, albeit without power. LF Skinner hit .305, CF Bill Virdon is a 1 and RF Clemente is a 2(-5). Clemente didn’t become SOM’s only -6 arm OF until 1960 … Top winner Bob Friend (14-18, 3.38), top ERA man Vern Law (10-8, 2.87) and top closer Roy Face (10 saves, 3.07) – the core of the 1960 pitching staff – also were showing potential in ‘57.