Leaving with Gas in the Tank
Posted by Chris J. on August 5, 2007
OK, here's one for you - which players left the game still playing pretty durn well? Go to batting season finder, sort from last year to last year, from 1921-2000. (Why 1921-2000? If you toss in 1920 you get a bunch of Black Sox and if you get recent seasons you get guys still playing. Knocking it back a year or two and some still show up). Only 56 men have had an OPS+ of 100 or better with 400 or more PA.
Clemente was definately unavailable. The distorted batting averages of 1968 sunk Mantle. Kirby Puckett had his eye problems, and Albert Belle had a degenerative hip.
Same thing for pitchers - 150 IP and 100 or better ERA+. Only 26 qualify. Koufax I knew. Sirotka had arm problems (I'm guessing a lot of these guys had arm problems). No idea who Phil Douglas was. Don Wilson died. Larry Jackson really did just step away with some gas left in the tank.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Ted Williams just missed your cut-off to make the list. 390 PA in 1960 and an OPS+ of 189.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:59 am
Dave Nilsson quit MLB to play in the Olympics.
Buzz Arlett is the greatest hitting minor leaguer who apparently couldn't field.
Lyman Bostock was murdered.
Mike Sirotka = shouldergate.
Monty Stratton had an awful hunting accident.
Brian Holman was traded WITH Randy Johnson; Brian Holman nearly had a perfect game.
Britt Burns = degenerative hip.
August 6th, 2007 at 6:21 am
Jackie Jensen just missed the cut as well, 97 OPS+ in 1961, he retired to be with his wife.
August 6th, 2007 at 6:38 am
At the end of Daulton's career, there had been a lot of talk of him possibly trying to DH in the American League, but he left baseball to pursue some of his personal beliefs, about which he is apparently writing a book now.
This is taken from the wikipedia.com entry on Daulton:
"Daulton holds a series of beliefs related to conspiracies, metaphysics, and numerology. He maintains that the universe is created and sustained by numerical synchronicities, and that all matter is charged with vibrational energy, which has escaped human perception because it is extradimensional in origin. He believes that those who are conscious of this energy can manipulate it to affect reality in different ways, such as altering the weather. He also believes that the pyramids and Mayan temples were created by a lost civilization, and that people with knowledge of the workings of the system will "ascend" at the conclusion of the Mayan calendar on Dec. 21, 2012, at 11:11 a.m. (Greenwich Mean Time), vanishing into a new plane of existence. He recently claimed in a televised interview with ESPN that he has "skipped through time" and undergone "astral travel."
August 6th, 2007 at 8:45 am
Phil Douglas' story is pretty incredible. he was a notorious alcoholic, even for his time. John McGraw hired former player (and future HOFer) Jesse Burkett as Douglas' chaperon, to try and keep Douglas in line. in 1922, McGraw reportedly had Douglas kidnapped and taken to the equivalent of a rehab clinic. Douglas responded with the best season of his career.
then McGraw suspended Douglas after an argument, and Douglas responded by sending a letter to St. Louis' Les Mann reading "I want to leave here but I want some inducement. I don't want this guy [McGraw] to win the pennant and I feel if I stay here I will win it for him. If you want to send a man over here with the goods, I will leave for home on next train. I will go down to fishing camp and stay there."
Douglas was drunk when he sent the letter, and tried to get it back once he sobered up. unfortunately, Mann had already forwarded the letter to commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who promptly banned Douglas from baseball for life.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:12 am
Anybody care to guess what happened to Johnny Dickshot?
August 6th, 2007 at 9:29 am
according to Wikipedia: "Upon retirement, Ugly Johnny Dickshot opened a tavern in Waukegan, called the Dugout, which he ran for the next 20 years. In his obituary, his granddaughter said he would often call his wife at home from the bar, demanding that she look in his encyclopedia to settle a dispute over baseball trivia. He threw out a first pitch in the new Comiskey Park in June 1994."
August 6th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Several World War II guys on the list. Most of them probably retired when the "real" players got out of the service.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Given the right circumstances, Richie Ashburn could have continued and gone for 3,000 hits. After all, he had the highest ob% in the NL for 1962 (with only 470 plate appearances). However, that was a time when playing time and big salaries went to home-run hitters. And he was playing for arguably the worst team in baseball history, chasing down hit after hit in between some terrible defensive outfielders. If you really cared about winning, who needed the aggravation of playing for the 1963 New York Mets?
August 6th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Let me note that Ashburn (#9 above) was only 35 years old in 1962.
Ross Youngs contracted a kidney disease and died.
Pitcher Monty Stratton literally shot himself in the foot (movie starring Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson).
August 7th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Wikipedia says Larry Jackson was left unprotected in the expansion draft, and he was chosen by Montreal. Jackson retired instead.