1909 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates - Babe Adams

We begin our look at the Pittsburgh Pirates championship teams with the 1909 squad. After their loss in the 1903 World Series, for several years the Pirates were bridesmaids but never the bride despite dominating the National League. In 1904, they won 87 games but finished fourth in the league. In 1905, a 96-57 record left them nine games behind John McGraw's New York Giants. The Chicago Cubs took the NL pennant from 1906 to 1908 and the Pirates finished third with 93 wins then second with 91 and 98 wins. But in 1909, Pittsburgh finally broke through to claim the National League crown.

The Pirates started off modestly enough, going 5-6 in April. They began May with a seven game winning streak which put them on top of the league for a while. The Cubs, though, were still a dominant team as well and after defeating Pittsburgh 8-3 in Pittsburgh on May 29th, the two teams left for Chicago with the Cubs holding a half game lead over the Pirates.

In Chicago, the Pirates swept the Cubs in a doubleheader to take the lead in the standings, a position they would not relinquish the rest of the season. The Pirates returned home after the doubleheader sweep and reeled off a twelve game winning streak, opening up a gap of five games over Chicago. It was smooth sailing from there and a sixteen game winning streak in September helped lift the Pirates to a 110-42 record, the third best winning percentage of the modern (post-1901) era. They especially dominated the doormats of the league, going 18-4 against Brooklyn, 18-3 versus St. Louis, and an astounding 20-1 when playing Boston.

The Pirates excelled at all aspects of the game. They had the highest batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage in the league as they led the league with 701 runs scored. The top four players in the National League in runs scored were all Pirates. Future Hall of Famers Honus Wagner (the batting champion and arguably best player in the league in '09) and Fred Clarke joined league leader Tommy Leach and mid-season acquisition Bobby Byrne as the only players to score 90+ runs.

On the pitching and defensive side, the Pirates were equally as stellar. The Pirates committed the fewest errors and had the highest fielding percentage in the league. The Pirates committed 227 errors. The rest of the league averaged 292. Howie Camnitz paced the pitching with a 25-6 record and an ERA of 1.62. Hall of Famer Vic Willis added 22 wins. Youngsters Nick Maddox and Lefty Leifeld rounded out a top-notch rotation.

Even though his pitching had been solid throughout the season, when it came time to face the mighty Detroit Tigers in the World Series, manager Fred Clarke opted to ride the hot hand. He tabbed handsome rookie Babe Adams to open up the World Series against Ty Cobb and his teammates.

Adams, despite being a rookie, was no stranger to professional baseball. He had won 20 games in the minor leagues in 1905, 1907 and 1908 and had seen action in the majors twice. He got a start for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1906 and pitched in four games for the Pirates in 1907. He was hit hard in all the games and did not seem to have the seasoning needed to be a regular, especially for a juggernaut like the Pirates.

In Louisville in 1908, though, he proved his readiness. Exhibiting excellent control by only walking 40 batters in 312 innings, he showed he was prepared to take on the National League.

Adams found it difficult to crack Pittsburgh's vaunted rotation as exhibited by his performance on May 4th, 1909. Adams had been used in relief a couple of times in the early part of the season but was given a start against the Chicago Cubs and their ace, Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown. Adams dueled Brown for eleven innings with both hurlers not allowing a run. The Pirates finally plated a run in the bottom of the eleventh to earn the victory and give Adams his first career shutout. Adams' reward was further usage in relief.

Although he appeared sporadically (complete games by a pitcher were still the norm), Adams fared well. By the end of August he had six victories and had saved a couple of other games (although the save was not an official statistic). At the end of August, Clarke started using Adams as a starter. He went 7-2 down the stretch with a pair of shutouts and finished the season with a 1.11 ERA.

The World Series opened in Pittsburgh and Clarke's decision to start Adams looked terrible. He walked two batters, got two groundouts and then gave up a single to Jim Delahanty which scored a run in the first. George Moriarty also singled but the ball hit Delehanty on the basepaths to end the inning. Adams settled down from there, though, allowing just four singles the rest of the way and not allowing any more runs in a 4-1 complete game victory.

The Tigers took two of the next three and Adams took the hill for game five. His control was much better as he only allowed one walk. He did serve up two home runs. Adams got a lot of support from his teammates as they belted out ten hits, including a home run by Clarke, and stole four bases. The Pirates gave Adams the 8-4 win.

Since you know already from me that this series went seven games, you can guess who won game six. For the final game of the series, Adams was selected to start with just one day of rest. He showed little sign of fatigue. The Tigers got six hits and drew just one walk. Adams blanked the Tigers 8-0 to give the Pirates their first World Championship.

Sixteen years later, the Pirates claimed their second championship and Adams again pitched for them, albeit in a lesser role. He pitched one inning of shutout relief (making him part of the answer to the trivia question from the previous post). As for the rest of that 1925 Series, you'll have to come back to read about Max, Harold and Hazen.

Pittsburgh Pirates, clutch baseball team extraordinaire

I keep coming across the Pittsburgh Pirates as of late and I thought I would write about them. Not the current version of the Pittsburgh Pirates. They're pretty awful. And not any of the miserable seasons over the last two decades. I had a post last year that looked back on what life was like when the Pirates last had a winning record. Nothing to add there.

No, the reason I want to write about the Pirates right now is to look at their five World Championships. Why? Because interestingly, all five times the Pirates have won the World Series, they won it in the seventh game of the World Series. In fact, they have never lost a seven game World Series. In World Series greater or less than seven games, they are 0-2 (the Pirates were swept by the Yankees in four games in 1927 and lost the best of nine series to the Boston Americans in 1903).

In 1909, 1925, 1960, 1971 and 1979 the Pirates were World Champions. I'll be looking back at each series and writing about a possibly unsung person (or just forgotten from those championship teams of 85+ years ago) who played an important role for that team.

For now, I'll leave with a trivia question (no cheating and looking up the answer). Name the five members of the Pittsburgh Pirates who won two World Series with the Pirates as a player.

Straight Man

I really enjoy ESPN.com's baseball analyst Keith Law. So much so, I asked Beardy to make a baseball card of him. We seem to share similar tastes in a bunch of things, especially books. Plus, he's a good writer/analyst. Shoot, I even have his Twitter feed in my RSS Reader (the only person about whom I can make such a claim (or would want to)).

In a chat of his recently, another reader, inspired by Law's love of books, stated that he wanted to become a reader and asked Law for a good first book to read. Law went with Richard Russo's Straight Man. Law is a big fan of Russo's but I had never heard him mention this book. Some of Russo's other books have been on my to-read list but I haven't gotten around to him until now.

Straight Man was fantastic. The story takes place at a college in a small Pennsylvania town. The main character, William Henry Devereaux, Jr. ("Hank"), is an English professor at the college and interim chair of the department. He is fifty years old but often behaves like a man much younger (say twelve). His father, a noted professor, left him and his mother for one of his graduate students when Hank was younger but has now reappeared in his life for the first time in decades. The department has no budget yet and Hank is suffering the brunt of the blame. The stress in his life has resulted in urinary problems. He fantasizes about his wife cheating on him. Hank has a lot of problems.

I think what makes this book great is that Russo is able to take a guy with a lot of problems (and the other characters do, too) and show the humorous side. Like in real life, there are good moments and bad. Russo balances the dark with the light extremely well. The characters are flawed. There are alcoholics, jerks, professors who sleep with students, guys who cheat on their wife, a couple who overspend their means. People who are greedy, envious, lazy. In short, they are normal.

Maybe a little funnier than usual. And the professors in the book might sleep with their students more than is typical (at least I'd like to think it's atypical). But really the human factor makes the characters interesting and many of them likable.

That being said, the more I think about it, the more I think the book might be a little light on plot. There's tons of conflict, the conflicts are resolved in a very nice fashion. The book moves fast with a lot happening just over the course of a week. I think the frenetic pacing coupled with the complex characters carries the book.

This was definitely one of the best books I have read this year and I look forward to reading more of Russo down the road.

I also re-read Simon Rich's Free-range Chickens. Not so much because it's a great book, but more because it is such a quick read. Seriously, twenty minutes tops. Something to read when you need a quick laugh.

Also finished my friend Jason's novel (at least my first time through it. I intend to go through it again in the near future). Since it has not been published, I'm not going to review it but I will say that it would fall in the one-star range for me. I'm hoping he does get it published.

Hall of Famer George Steinbrenner

Color me cynical. When I was at the Hall this summer, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died (July 13th).

Stunningly, the Baseball Hall of Fame announced two weeks later that they were overhauling the way the Veterans Committee worked. Under the revised procedures, candidates will now be lumped into an era: Pre-integration (pre-1946), Golden (?!?!) 1947-1972, and Expansion (1973-present). This in itself is baffling. What makes the first quarter century after integration Golden? Why does the Expansion Era begin in a year where no expansion took place (expansion took place in 1961, 1962, 1969, 1977, 1993 and 1998). Every year, the Veterans Committee will vote on candidates from a single era.

Any idea which era is up for vote first? I'll give you a hint. George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees on January 3, 1973.

Two weeks after Steinbrenner dies, the rules for election change, a fabricated era is created that just happens to coincide with Steinbrenner's reign, and that era just happens to be the one the voters will vote on first. Surely it is just a coincidence.

Well, the ballot was released today. Sure enough, Steinbrenner is on the ballot. Five-time Yankee manager Billy Martin is also on the list. I can't help but shake the feeling that there will be two members elected this year and that the plaques are already being made.

I just hope that the Hall doesn't follow the Yankees lead and give Steinbrenner a super-sized plaque.

How to be an MVP

Kids, do you want to be a Most Valuable Player? If so, there are two important rules to follow. The first is, swing at the ball. Walks won't win you awards. The second rule is don't play unless it's really, really important. The rest will help you be strong so when you do swing, you will hit home runs.

Look at San Francisco Giants shortstop Edgar Renteria. He just won the World Series MVP. And from August 4th until the end of the World Series last night, Renteria drew exactly one walk. That's right. From the time you were at the beach enjoying summer vacation and 100 degree weather until early November, when the first marking period is about to end, he took four balls just once. Very important lesson.

Nopw let's look at rest. During that time span in which Renteria drew one walk, he played in just 15 regular season games followed by 11 postseason games. That's 26 games. His team played 70 games. Renteria started the season playing a bunch of games. He played in 72 games during the regular season and hit three home runs. That's a home run every 24 games. In 2009 he hit five home runs in 124 games for one home run every 25 games.

But in five World Series games, coming off a bunch of rest, Renteria hit two home runs.

So remember, kids, if your coach wants you to play, tell him you'll be ready when the games are important and when you do play, make sure the only walking you do is during your home run trots.

Talking Candy

I've been thinking about candy for a couple of reasons, one of which I'll share next week and one I'll share now.

For some reason, the small town I live in made the decision years ago that if Halloween fell on a weekend, the night for kids to trick-or-treat would be Friday. As a result, my youngest son went out last night for a candy haul. In a way, this is nice, especially since the weekend is not disrupted. On the other hand, savvy (or conniving, depending on your stance) children and their parents from other parts of the county will commute to our town to get a start on their sugarhoards before their own candy grabbing on the 31st. I can't really complain much since my sons will be going to Delaware to visit my ex and doing the trick-or-treating scene there on Sunday.

So with buying and distributing and eating and thinking about candy, I thought I would come up with my all-time top five candy list. The only criteria here are that they have to be wrapped. I like fine chocolates and handmade stuff and all that. I'm only considering candy you could pick up at a gas station or convenience store.

I also thought about doing ten but 1. I don't feel like putting a huge amount of time in this and 2. when I was thinking about this, I sort of felt like once you got out of the top handful, it was really an issue of mood. I wouldn't always put number 10 behind number nine or even six. So we'll go with five.

5. Kit Kat Dark - A sleeper in the candy world as Hershey has only issued it in limited-editions. The Kit Kat is one of those candy bars that doesn't seem like anything special and you can almost wonder why anyone would choose it over other candies. The dark chocolate, though, turns it into a top five candy bar for me, though.

A local pastor goes through town every Thursday and hands out little candy bars with small sermons related to the candy bar attached to them. He introduced me to the Kit Kat Dark when it was the candy of the week. So by definition it has to be good.

4. Peanut Chews - Originally a product of Goldenberg's and now made by Just Born, this is a regional candy but one I have always enjoyed. For me, the high point of Halloween (arguably my least favorite day of the year) now is that my youngest son hates these things and so I get any that he receives trick-or-treating. They, too, are dark chocolate.

3. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - Undoubtedly would hold the top spot if not for the fact that I find them addictive and either find myself craving more after eating a pack, or eating more than one pack and making myself sick. This lose-lose situation prevents a higher ranking.

2. Take 5 - An almost perfect package of deliciousness. Pretzel, caramel, peanuts, peanut butter, chocolate. Salty, sweet, crunchy, smooth. It doesn't get any better.

1. Good Stuff - Oh yes it does. At least it once did. A company called Grist Mills made Good Stuff in the early nineties. They sold for a quarter a piece when you could find them which, in North Carolina, was impossible. I even wrote the company trying to find somewhere in the state to find them.

My junior year of college, I traveled with my school's baseball team to spring training as I was the statistician. We went by van down to Florida and we stopped at a gas station in Georgia late at night to fuel up and get some caffeine. I went in and there in all it's neon blue glory was a box of Good Stuff candy bars. I bought the entire box. I only ever found them one other time after that.

Much like the Take 5, it was a mix of things. Caramel, chocolate, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and either or both rice crispies and oats. It was almost like a chocolate covered granola bar but didn't have the thick, chewy consistency you get with them.

Ugh. I'm feeling sick writing about candy so early. More about candy (and other food) in a few days.

The Art Detective

I didn't fool around with getting this book. One copy was entering our library system and I put a hold on it before the library even got it. It came in to their branch and went right back out to me. You know (if you read this blog) that art forgery is of huge interest to me. I wasn't exactly sure if The Art Detective was about forgeries or not but it sparked my interest.

The author, Philip Mould, is an art gallery owner and part of the Antiques Roadshow broadcast in England who has specialized in portrait paintings. Each of the six chapters of his book details the story of some interesting find he has come across during his career: Chapter 1 tells the story of a pack rat who hoarded portraits in a dilapidated church in rural Vermont; the second chapter talks about a Gainsborough that had been so overpainted as to be unrecognizable; overpainting plays an important part in a chapter on a Rembrandt and a lesser role when Mould covers a purchase of a Queen Elizabeth I painting. There is a chapter on Norman Rockwell forgeries and then Mould concludes with a tremendous, unfinished at publication, Antiques Roadshow tale involving an unusual Winslow Homer found in a pile of garbage.

Perhaps what amazed me the most is how much overpainting has been done on paintings of noted artists. Overpainting is what it sounds like. Another artist goes and paints over the original painting for various reasons. In the case of the Rembrandt, it was done in order to update the painting to fit the time period in which it was displayed. Sometimes it is done to cover up damaged areas of the painting. Restorers can painstakingly often remove the overpainting and bring the painting more towards its original appearance. One of the fascinating things about the book is the before and after photos of some of the paintings, especially the Rembrandt.

My only complaints about this book are petty. One, I wish the pictures were with the chapters in which they are discussed. There are two sections of photos, each about a third of the way from the ends of the book. I didn't like leaving back and forth or seeing the pictures of future chapters before I read about them. Second, the book is too darn short. Six chapters? I could have read twenty or more. Lastly, as with most non-fiction, I would love a book of references, especially for the chapters on QEI and the Antiques Roadshow where Mould and his assistant conducted a lot of research. What tools does he use?

I really enjoyed Mould's writing. He is very engaging and he realizes that the stories, and not Mould himself, are most important (at least to the reader). Just a thoroughly entertaining and fascinating read. It appears, too, that Mould will be hosting a television show in England called Art Sleuth which will be in much the same vein.