BASEBALL’S MUSE DIES

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Saturday, May 14, 2005

Top of the 1^st

BASEBALL’S MUSE DIES

Baseball’s rich history is filled with hundreds of heroes whose names roll off our tongues with great ease. Too often we learn of an unknown hero only upon his death.

I read the obituary this morning of Charlie Muse, a longtime Pittsburgh Pirates executive, who changed the face of baseball. Actually he changed the “head” of baseball. Muse died May 5 in

Sun City Center

,

Fla.

, at age 87, retiring in 1989 after 52 years with the team serving the organization in a variety of roles, including ticket manager and head groundskeeper but his primary role was as the traveling secretary.

In the Pirates organization, Muse worked with one of baseball’s heroes, whose name is immediately recognizable - Branch Rickey, the man who brought Jackie Robinson into major league baseball. Not only was Rickey instrumental in breaking the color barrier, but he also invented the modern farm system, promoting a new way of training and developing players, he also initiated the use of baseball statistics and made the batting cage and pitching machines standard equipment for every ballclub. While the GM for the Pirates, Rickey was also the guiding force that led the Pirate to become the first players to wear protective batting helmets.

The latter wasn’t purely a selfless act on Rickey’s behalf. At the time, Rickey owned the American Baseball Cap Inc., and he chose Muse to run the company and design a suitable helmet. Muse was nicknamed "The Colonel" because of his all-business approach, and it was his military-like ability to improvise that helped speed the invention of the batting helmet. Hence, Muse became known for this contribution to baseball.

"It (the development) was more difficult than people would think," Muse told The Associated Press in a 1989 interview. "The players laughed at the first helmets, called them miner's helmets. They said the only players who would wear them were sissies.” Hall of Famer, Frankie Frisch remarked, "If we must have helmets, how about the one with a spike in the top-such as Kaiser Wilhelm's tough soldiers wore in World War I?"

There were many ballplayers who would regard wearing a helmet as a sign of weakness. Honus Wagner, once told a story concerning an occasion when he hit a triple against the old Baltimore Orioles of the 1890’s. It would have been a home run, he said, "except that the first baseman bumped him, the second baseman tripped him, the shortstop gave him a couple of shots when he went by and when he got to third, John McGraw pulled out a shotgun."

After Branch Rickey proposed that batting helmets be used in major league play, Casey Stengel remarked, "If we had them when I was playing, John McGraw would have insisted that we go up to the plate and get hit on the head."

On August 16, 1920, Yankee pitcher Carl Mays beaned and killed

Cleveland

shortstop Ray Chapman. Hall of Fame catcher, Mickey Cochrane’s career ended on May 25, 1937, when he took a Bump Hadley pitch above the right eye, breaking Mickey's skull in three places. There were many other players who would have prospered wearing a helmet at the plate and in the field a la John Olerud. Take the case of the Dodgers Pete Reiser who could have been one of baseball’s greats had he not collided with outfield walls seven times in his career, collapsing unconscious after five of them. The other two collisions resulted in a dislocation of his left shoulder and a fracture of his collarbone. While running the bases, he suffered fractures of both ankles, wrecked the cartilage in one knee and ripped the muscles of a leg. Two times he was beaned while wearing the most primitive and useless of batting helmets. All told, he was carried off the playing field 11 times.

There were some less than successful attempts at helmets prior to Muse. In 1941, the New York Giants became the first team to use plastic batting helmets during a June 6th double header against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although the batters appeared comfortable, they still went on to lose both games 5-4 and 4-3. But it was Muse who went through numerous designs before coming up with a comfortable plastic helmet that provided maximum protection above the ears, the most vulnerable area for batters. But even after the Pirates became the first team to wear the helmets in 1952 and 1953, there was enormous resistance. The Brooklyn Dodgers also introduced a padded cap liner that some batters elected to use.

It wasn’t until August 1, 1954 when the Dodgers Clem Labine beaned Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves that the batting helmet became accepted by most ballplayers. The day before, Adcock had hit four home runs and a double in a game in

Brooklyn

against the Dodgers and the game that followed the Dodgers threw at his head every time he came to the plate. Labine finally hit Adcock in the head in his third time at bat shattering Adcock's batting helmet that he had just started wearing that year.

After the game, Labine came into the Brave locker room and apologized to Adcock for hitting him. Labine told Adcock that he was instructed to hit him by his manager, Adcock was suffering from a concussion and was groggy. "That's allright, Clem," said Adcock.

That became a turning point for the helmet, yet batting helmets were not required until 1956 when the NL required it, and MLB rookies had to add the ear flap for protection in 1983. "There's no doubt about it, there was tremendous personal satisfaction from seeing the helmet become popular ... to see it save players from serious beanings," Muse said in 1989.

Some postscripts to the Muse legacy: Muse later had a prototype of the helmet molded into a lamp that sat on his office desk for years.

In July, 2003, Rawlings Sporting Goods purchased of the ABC Helmet Co., the 51-year-old company founded by baseball innovator Branch Rickey.

The '52 Pirates who first wore the batting helmets were a terrible team finishing 42-112. When asked if these helmets would be better if they had foam rubber in them, Clyde McCullough replied that they would be better if there were ballplayers in them.

Some ballplayers were a little more attached than others were to their helmets. After leaving the Detroit Tigers, Willie Horton still used the same batting helmet his entire career, having it painted to match the colors of the Texas Rangers, Cleveland Indians, Oakland A's, Toronto Blue Jays, and Seattle Mariners.

But I huess there was no one quite as attached as Met Ron Swoboda who on May 23, 1965, took his position in the outfield wearing a batting helmet on his foot. After kicking the protective head gear it got stuck on his spikes, and manager Casey Stengel ordered the young player to go out to the field just as he was.

Rest in peace, Mr. Muse.

Top of the 2^nd

BY THE WAY,

TACOMA

THAT’S “JOEL” AS IN “JOR EL”

In a somewhat surprising move, the incredibly disappointing Seattle Mariners sent starter Joel Pineiro to

Tacoma

for 10 days to work on his mechanics and moved Julio Mateo into the rotation. Mateo, who has a string of 15 straight shutout innings and has allowed just one earned run in 22 innings for the season, will make his first major-league start tonight against the New York Yankees.

The Yankees stretched their winning streak to 9 games, defeat the Mariners last night, 6-3 thanks to Bernie Williams' 7^th inning grand slam. The Yankees are back over .500, but still reside in fourth place in the AL East, 5 games behind the Orioles.

Top of the 3^rd

“THE CAN” CAN

Oil Can Boyd was back on the mound last night at beautiful Campanelli Stadium in

Brockton

making in his first professional appearance since 1997. In an exhibition game, the former Red Sox right-hander pitched three scoreless innings for the Brockton Rox against the Worcester Tornadoes striking out three, allowing one hit and walking two.

Boyd was 78-and-77 in a ten-year career with the Red Sox, Montreal Expos and Texas Rangers. He had 13 complete games with

Boston

in 1985 and won 16 games in 1986.

Since leaving the majors after the 1991 season, Boyd has pitched in

Mexico

and various independent leagues and Billy-Ball for one looks forward to seeing Dennis pitch for the Rox this coming season.

See you there.

Top of the 4^th

THE DEVIL RAYS OPENING DAY CURSE

Now that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays placed Opening Day starter Dewon Brazelton on the restricted list yesterday after he failed to report to Triple-A Durham. Brazelton had 72 hours to report to the Devil Rays' top minor-league club before he could be placed on the restricted list. He will not be paid while on the list and will be replaced in the rotation by left-hander Casey Fossum.

Perhaps, Brazelton who is 1-7 with a 6.43 ERA in eight starts and leads the American League in losses and walks (29) is cursed. Other Opening Day starters for the Rays who have met “misfortune” include Wilson Alvarez (6-14 in 1998; sustained a two-season injury in 1999), Steve Trachsel (6-10 and traded to Toronto in 2000), Albie Lopez (5-12 and traded to Arizona in 2001), Tanyon Sturtze (4-18 in 2002), Joe Kennedy (3-12 in 2003) and Victor Zambrano (9-7 and traded to New York Mets in 2004).

My mistake, no curse here; you can find the same results for any Rays pitcher whether they pitched on Opening Day or not.

Top of the 5^th

JUST CALL ME ANGEL IN THE MORNING

On the field, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim had a good night. Paul Byrd pitched seven shutout innings to remain perfect in five career decisions against

Cleveland

, as the Angels defeated the weak-hitting Tribe, 3-1.

Cleveland

’s major league-worst batting average dropped to .233.

The Angels didn’t fare as well off the field however as the California Assembly decided that the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are engaged in what amounts to false advertising and approved a bill that would require the team to disclose on their tickets, ads and other promotional material that its home is in Anaheim. The measure, sent to the Senate by a 41-17 vote, also would apply to any other professional team that used a geographic location in its name that did not reflect where it played the greatest number of its games -- unless the team's home city or county agreed to waive the disclosure requirement.

The Angels began play in 1961 as the Los Angeles Angels, then changed their name to the California Angels when they moved from

Los Angeles

to

Anaheim

in 1966. They became the Anaheim Angels in 1997.

Top of the 6^th

PLAYERS TO WATCH

You know the Milwaukee Brewers have become known for their farm system. Keep your eyes on reliever Mitch Stetter pitching out of the Huntsville Stars bullpen. As of last week, the lefty closer was 0-1 with a 1.53 ERA and three saves and hadn't walked a batter in 17 2/3 innings, allowing only 11 hits while striking out 15.

The Stars also have Dennis Sarfate, in their starting rotation. Sarfate is 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA, but has struck out 40 batters in 40 1/3 innings while allowing 32 hits and walking only nine.

Top of the 7^th

BILLY-BALL-A-GRAM - 5/17/2005

R.I.P. this .300 lifetime hitting outfielder who died in 1982. He was “The People's Cherce”

RELAXED KIWI

BILLY-BALL-TRIVIA - 5/17/2005

Name the Cy Young Award winning pitcher who was cast as an intimidating slugger in the film “Major League?”

Send your answers to Bill@billy-ball.com 

Bottom of the 7^th

BILLY-BALL-A-GRAM ANSWER - 5/16/05

This birthday boy once had 9 consecutive pinch hits.

EVIL HELP DAY - DAVE PHILLEY

BILLY-BALL-TRIVIA-ANSWER - 5/16/05

Name the five pitchers who faced both Mark McGwire and Roger Maris.
Don Sutton, Nolan Ryan, Phil Niekro, Joe Niekro and Tommy John.

Top of the 8^th

DID YOU KNOW?

Former Twins’ first baseman Kent Hrbek was asked recently if he ever used performance enhancing substances during his career, “Budweiser and Michelob Golden Draft Light. Mix those two together and wow!”

Top of the 9^th

WHITE SOX STREAK

The Chicago White Sox dropped their third straight last night, falling to the Texas Rangers, 7-6 on a pair of Kevin Mench homers. However it was in Sunday’s loss to the Orioles that they did something significant. For the first time this season they didn’t have the lead in a game.

Chicago

set a major league record by having a lead in 37 straight games to begin a season. That also tied the 1934 Yankees and 1942 Cardinals for the third-longest overall streak with a lead. The 1998 Yankees had the longest streak of leading in consecutive games, doing so in 48 straight from June 30 to Aug. 19 en route to 114 wins. This kind of ordinarily bodes well for a team. Other teams with a streak of at least 34 leads have had very successful seasons: the 1932 Yankees (40 games, 107 wins), 1942 Cardinals (37 games, 106 wins), 1934 Yankees (37 games, 94 wins), 1942 Red Sox (36 games, 93 wins) and 1942 Yankees (36 games, 103 wins).

Have a great day!