04-12-2008, 11:02 AM
For those of you who don't know, 1930 was "the year the hitters went wild" in the National League.
Every regular starter of the pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals hit more than .300. Hack Wilson had his famous 56 HR, 191 RBI season (the latter record still stands). Bill Terry was the last Senior Circuit player to hit .400- thus leading Ogden Nash to write "Bill Terry is the slugger from Memphis whose .400 average you can't overemphis."
It was such a good line nobody had the heart to tell Nash Terry was born in Georgia.
And the cellar struck Phillies- despite one of the best team averages in the league (led by Chuck Klien)- set a baseball record with a 6.70 ERA.
Coors Field- Meet the Baker Bowl.
They thought Grover Cleveland Alexander would be the drawing card. Unfortunately he was waaaay past his prime in his return to Philly and went 0-3. The rest of the pitchers were beyond lousy.
I mention this history lesson because it has come to my attention that the East Tennessee State Buccaneers have a team ERA of 7.07.
The top starter, Josh Means, has a 6.09 ERA.
ERA can often be a misleading stat nowadays since pitchers rarely go nine innnings anymore. Furthermore, in lower levels of baseball the fielders' range is not as great, thus leading to more offense and higher ERA.
Unfortunately, starting shortstop Nick Belcher is fielding .866. That should actually REDUCE ERA a bit.
By the way, they are going to tear up Cardinal Park in the back of the infield for the softball game which I'm sure will help Belcher's fielding a lot.
Look, I realize college baseball can be a different animal. Tony Skole put in the back end of his pitching staff to throw the last inning of last night's game and he allowed 8 runs.
Unfortunately, the score was 13-6 Bulldogs before he came in.
So the Bucs are bad.
Here's how they get better-
A- Move out of Cardinal Park as soon as you can. Even if ETSU dropped the ball on the softball thing, and it looks like they did, the Bucs are second-class tenants there.
Furthermore, last night's game got no attention. I'm online right now and neither Bristol nor Johnson City have game stories about the contest.
Move the game to Elizabethton and you will definitely get the Star out there covering the game.
Yes, I don't like playing out of Johnson City, either. But if handled the right way it could be viewed as a promotional tool- with games played throughout the area in the various ballparks. The new baseball park could attract a AA team- and the Bucs playing throughout the region would be a good way to promote such an activity for the entire region to get behind it.
B- To whoever is the coach next year- you have GOT to start recruiting the north.
The numerous geographical bigots of the area won't like it, but they aren't going to games anyway.
The fact is that northern baseball players think playing in the south is the thing to do. College baseball is bigger down here. I can honestly tell you that Pitt would kill for old Mooney Field for a facility.
There may be talent in Florida, but they will go to one of the A-Sun's Florida schools.
None of the players on the Bucs are from above the Mason Dixon line. They have two from Maryland- including Anthony Russell- by far the Bucs best player.
Other Tennessee A-Sun schools do it. Belmont's leading hitter, Carlo Testa, is from Ohio. And while Lipscomb does it with players from the South, they also have historically a strong baseball program that players want to play at.
Every regular starter of the pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals hit more than .300. Hack Wilson had his famous 56 HR, 191 RBI season (the latter record still stands). Bill Terry was the last Senior Circuit player to hit .400- thus leading Ogden Nash to write "Bill Terry is the slugger from Memphis whose .400 average you can't overemphis."
It was such a good line nobody had the heart to tell Nash Terry was born in Georgia.
And the cellar struck Phillies- despite one of the best team averages in the league (led by Chuck Klien)- set a baseball record with a 6.70 ERA.
Coors Field- Meet the Baker Bowl.
They thought Grover Cleveland Alexander would be the drawing card. Unfortunately he was waaaay past his prime in his return to Philly and went 0-3. The rest of the pitchers were beyond lousy.
I mention this history lesson because it has come to my attention that the East Tennessee State Buccaneers have a team ERA of 7.07.
The top starter, Josh Means, has a 6.09 ERA.
ERA can often be a misleading stat nowadays since pitchers rarely go nine innnings anymore. Furthermore, in lower levels of baseball the fielders' range is not as great, thus leading to more offense and higher ERA.
Unfortunately, starting shortstop Nick Belcher is fielding .866. That should actually REDUCE ERA a bit.
By the way, they are going to tear up Cardinal Park in the back of the infield for the softball game which I'm sure will help Belcher's fielding a lot.
Look, I realize college baseball can be a different animal. Tony Skole put in the back end of his pitching staff to throw the last inning of last night's game and he allowed 8 runs.
Unfortunately, the score was 13-6 Bulldogs before he came in.
So the Bucs are bad.
Here's how they get better-
A- Move out of Cardinal Park as soon as you can. Even if ETSU dropped the ball on the softball thing, and it looks like they did, the Bucs are second-class tenants there.
Furthermore, last night's game got no attention. I'm online right now and neither Bristol nor Johnson City have game stories about the contest.
Move the game to Elizabethton and you will definitely get the Star out there covering the game.
Yes, I don't like playing out of Johnson City, either. But if handled the right way it could be viewed as a promotional tool- with games played throughout the area in the various ballparks. The new baseball park could attract a AA team- and the Bucs playing throughout the region would be a good way to promote such an activity for the entire region to get behind it.
B- To whoever is the coach next year- you have GOT to start recruiting the north.
The numerous geographical bigots of the area won't like it, but they aren't going to games anyway.
The fact is that northern baseball players think playing in the south is the thing to do. College baseball is bigger down here. I can honestly tell you that Pitt would kill for old Mooney Field for a facility.
There may be talent in Florida, but they will go to one of the A-Sun's Florida schools.
None of the players on the Bucs are from above the Mason Dixon line. They have two from Maryland- including Anthony Russell- by far the Bucs best player.
Other Tennessee A-Sun schools do it. Belmont's leading hitter, Carlo Testa, is from Ohio. And while Lipscomb does it with players from the South, they also have historically a strong baseball program that players want to play at.