The Daily Something Goes Green

Written by The Common Man

Thursday, 18 March 2010 09:42

As you all know (because you're all still drunk, ye bastards), yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, the day celebrated around the world as the day of St. Patrick's death, the day he drove the snakes out of Ireland, and/or the day he figured out how to turn beer green. I, unfortunately, was swamped by work yesterday, so I didn't get the chance to finish penning this essay for The Daily Something (let alone drink goblets of green beer and shots of Jameson), but Bill has kindly allowed me to run it a day late, since I already had it two-thirds of the way finished and I threatened him with a shillelagh.

Baseball's early history is inescapably entangled with that of Irish-Americans. For as much as baseball seems to be a pastoral game, the sport essentially grew up in the urban centers of the American Northeast in the last three decades of the 19th century, eventually becoming the sport we know and love today. As the largest demographic in the first great wave of immigration to the United States, Irishmen and women faced prejudice and injustice, and were largely relegated to either the rapidly closing frontiers or the urban jungles, where they provided the initial labor force for America's young industries. To lift themselves out of poverty, as baseball salaries were generally higher than a day's pay elsewhere, Irishmen with talent flocked to the game in droves. As Bill James wrote in his New Historical Baseball Abstract, "Baseball in the 1890s was dominated by Irish players to such an extent that many people, in the same way that people today believe that blacks are born athletes, thought that the Irish were born baseball players." And as Irishmen rose to prominence in the early game, they lured their countrymen to the ballpark to cheer for them, such that it's not inaccurate to assert that professional baseball couldn't have caught on and survived these early years without the support of the Irish.

So in honor of these first baseball heroes and the day they would have to miss morning infield drills because they had gotten absolutely plastered the night before, I present the All-Irish All Stars, 1880-1910:

Catcher: King Kelly
Perhaps no player personified 19th century baseball and Irish-hood like Mike "King" Kelly. The stories of his performances on the diamond, on stage, and in the saloons are so wild that it's hard to believe them. He used to cut across the infield when the umpire wasn't looking and he was going from 1B to 3B. He once took advantage of poorly worded rules, and announced himself into the game from the bench while a pop-up was in the air, because he had a better chance of catching it. He wrote the first autobiography by a baseball player. One of the first pop songs, "Slide, Kelly, Slide", was written about him. He rewrote and performed "Casey at the Bat" into "Kelly at the Bar." And my favorite story involved Cap Anson sending a detective to follow Kelly, who he suspected of breaking curfew. When Anson confronted him with the detective's report that the King had been seen drinking lemonade at a bar at 3 AM, Kelly called Anson's spy a liar, "Like Hell. It was straight whiskey. I never drank lemonade at that hour in my life." Kelly started his career at 20, but flamed out and became useless by the time he was 35. Still, he hit .308 for his career and had an OPS+ of 138. Also, he showed impressive speed for a catcher, stealing 87 bases in 1887.

First Base: "Big Dan" Brouthers
Brouthers was listed as Irish by the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame, and who am I to argue.. Brouthers was the greatest hitter of the 19th century, with a career 170 OPS+ He led his league in average and on-base percentage five times, and slugging percentage seven times. He led his league in OPS eight times. He also, at one time or another, led his league in plate appearances, runs, hits, doubles, triples, RBI, HBP, and homers. Before Babe Ruth came along, Brouthers' 106 homers were the all time record.

Second Base: Bid McPhee
Long before the Big Red Machine, Bid McPhee was synonymous with Cincinnati baseball. McPhee stuck with the Reds from 1882 to 1899 across both the American Associaation and National League iterations of the club. To be honest, it's not immediately apparent how great a player he really was. He was elected by the Veteran's Committee in 2000, presumably on the basis of his having 2200 hits and 568 SB, and because he was the last 2B to play without a glove. But given his long career and the era in which he played, neither number is really that remarkable, and isn't the decision not to use a piece of equipment that will improve your performance not actually all that laudable? His .272/.355/.373 marks were only just above average for his era (OPS+ 106), after all. However, after digging into the defensive statistics, it's impossible to conclude that Bid McPhee was not the single most phenomenal defensive second baseman in 19th century baseball, and perhaps the best defensive second baseman in history. McPhee combined excellent range with sure hands in an era where reducing errors was far more important than it is today. Indeed, when McPhee began his career in 1892, the American Association's league-wide fielding percentage was .886, and the average 2B fielded at an .882 rate. McPhee's fielding percentage, by contrast, was .920, he also finished second in range factor. If McPhee had fielded at the normal rate that year, he would have made 424 clean plays. As it was, McPhee managed to make 481 plays cleanly. That's almost two extra games worth of plays he made for his team based on his sure-handedness alone in just 78 contests. He also made 6.17 plays per game that year, against the league average of 5.86, meaning that over the course of his 78 games, he made almost another full game's worth of plays that no one else could get to. And this was not atypical either. McPhee led the American Association in fielding percentage five times in eight years, and finished second in every other season. In ten years in the National League, he led the league in fielding percentage by a second baseman three times, finished 2nd three times (once by a single point), third three times, and fourth once. However, in five of the seven years he did not lead the league in fielding percentage, he led the league in range factor. While the discrepency in fielding percentage between McPhee and his league fell over time, due to the introduction of fielding mitts, McPhee continued to be an excellent defensive 2B until he retired at the age of 39.

Third Base: John McGraw
While he's primarily in the Hall of Fame as a manager, John McGraw was a truly wonerful player in his own right. Despite a short career (McGraw played over a hundred games just five times), McGraw made getting on base an art form. He had two seasons with more than 400 plate appearances where his OBP was above .500, and his career .468 OBP is third all time behind just Ted Williams and Babe Ruth. McGraw was also an accomplished base stealer, swiping 436 bags in his brief career. McGraw's .334/.466/.410 line was good for a 135 OPS+. McGraw's leadership of the Baltimore Orioles before the turn of the century is the stuff of legend, and his willingness to flaunt the rules made him almost as much a character as King Kelly.

Shortstop: Hughie Jennings
Again, Jennings was claimed by the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame as a Son of Erin, so I'm going to go with their determination. Jennings was a teammate of John McGraw and shared The Little Napolean's affinity for getting on base. Jennings .312/.391/.406 line gave him a 118 OPS+, and was bouyed by his amazing ability to get hit by pitches. Though Craig Biggio is acknowledged as the modern record holder with 285 HBP, Jennings is still the All-Time leader with 287 free trips to first base.

Outfield: Ed Delahanty
Ed Delahanty was one of the first great sluggers in the 19th century. Perhaps more than any other hitter, execpt Ruth, it's hard to pick out Delahanty's best season. He hit better than .400 three times, and led the NL with a .410 average in 1899. However, he also posted a .500 OBP in 1895, when he hit .404 and slugged .617. He hit .397 and had a .631 SLG in 1896, led the NL in homers, doubles, and RBI, and had a career best OPS+ of 190. And he paced the fledgling American League in 1902 with a .453 OBP and a .590 SLG. In all, Big Ed totaled almost 2600 hits, 101 homers, and a .346/.411/.505 career line (and 152 OPS+). He is 5th all time in average, and would probably have been the pre-Ruth all time home run champion if he had not (presumably) fallen off a bridge and over Niagra Falls in 1903, at the age of 35.

Outfield: Jim O'Rourke
Orator Jim O'Rourke was a great star from the start of the National Legue in 1876, and is, perhaps, baseball's first great Irish superstar (probably either him or Cal McVey). Unlike many other Irishmen entering into the game, however, O'Rourke was impeccably educated. O'Rourke graduated from Yale Law and practiced the law in the offseasons. On April 22, 1876, O'Rourke had the first hit in National League history, one of 2639 he would have in his career. O'Rourke's .310/.352/.422 line was good for a 133 OPS+. As far as I know, O'Rourke is the oldest man to get a hit in the majors as well, going 1-for-4 with a single and a run scored as a 53-year old playing a single game for the 1904 Giants.

Outfield: Joe Kelley
Kelley was another Baltimore Oriole who excelled at the end of the 19th century. Unlike McGraw and Jennings, Kelley's productivity extended into the 1900s, even though his career as a productive hitter was over by the time he was 32. Kelley started slowly as a 19 year old, but blossomed upon being traded to the Orioles, where he would quickly become one of the best outfielders in the league. At the age of 22, he began a four season run, from 1894-1897, in which he batted .371/.469/545, with 231 SB, 574 runs scored, 463 RBI, and a 157 OPS+. Kelley finished with a .317/.402/.451 line and a 133 OPS+.

Pitcher: Tim Keefe
Keefe was the star of the New York Giants during their great run in the late 1880s. He paced the National League in ERA twice during this stretch, though that may have been in large part due to the defenses playing behind him. For instance, while he won 32 games and posted a 1.58 ERA in 1885, allowing just 70 earned runs in 400 innings, Keefe actually allowed 154 runs on the year. In fact over the course of his career Keefe allowed almost 1000 more runs than earned runs, making his RA something more like 4.40 as opposed to his 2.63 ERA. However, Keefe was generally regarded as the best pitcher on the best team in the league, and was payed like it. He won 40 games twice, and 35 in 1888, when he also won 19 straight games. He finished with 342 career wins. In an era where pitchers burned out rapidly, the slight (5'10") Keefe lasted until he was 36. He has been credited with pioneering the change-up, but I have no real idea how realistic that claim is.

Pitcher: Mickey Welch
The other great star pitcher of the Giants in the mid-to-late 1880s was Mickey Welch. Welch pitched just 13 years in the majors, and suffered the same problems as Keefe when we try to evaluate just how good they were. Even their records are deceiving because of the incredible team they played on (with John Montgomery Ward, Roger Connor, Jim O'Rourke, and Buck Ewing) made them tough to beat. In 1885, Welch won 44 games in 56 appearances (55 starts), against just 11 losses, and had a 1.66 ERA. Welch bookended that season with a 39 win and 33 win season respectively. And while he won 307 games in his career, he was washed up at 31.

Pitcher: Joe McGinnity
Iron Man was a stalwart pitcher who came to the majors late (in 1899 at the age of 28), but left an incredible mark on the game in just 10 years. Joe led the National League in wins five times over the course of his career, including the first two seasons in the league and two traight thirty-win campaigns in 1904 and 1905. He led the league in winning percentage twice, games pitched six times, and innings pitched four times. McGinnity's greatest year was undoubetedly 1904, when he won 35 games against 8 losses in 51 total appearances (44 starts). His 1.61 ERA easily led the National League, and even the number of unearned runs he let in was down significantly. McGinnity ended up with 246 wins over his 10 years, an incredible average, and a 2.66 ERA.