Rickey Henderson Passes Lou Brock With His 119th Stolen Base August 27, 1982

On this day in Baseball history August 27, 1982: Oakland A's speedster Rickey Henderson steals second base on a pitchout against Milwaukee Brewers starter Doc Medich to pass Lou Brock on the single season stolen base list. Brock set his career high of 118 stolen bases in 1974. By the time the game was over, Henderson would steal four bases giving him 122 for the season. Rickey would finish the season with 130 stolen bases.

And here is where things get a little murky.

I grew up thinking that with Rickey Henderson's 119th stolen base, he became the single season stolen base leader. Getting a total of 130 steals for the 1982 season would be the benchmark that many players would have a hard time matching let alone eclipsing. Now, I'm going to ask that you go to either the MLB.com page for the Single Season Stolen Base Record or the Baseball Reference.com page for the Single Season Stolen Base Record. Who do you see listed at number 1 on that list. In case you don't want to check out the links, here are a few screenshots

Ok. Still don't believe what you see? Here's one more screenshot, this one from the Baseball Almanac.com Single Season Stolen Base list:

Some of you out there are thinking to yourselves: Who the hell is Hugh Nicol. High Nicol played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings of the old American Association (AA). The AA played alongside the National League from 1882-1891 before merging with the National League. Four National League franchises have roots in the old AA: Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The article American Association remembered: MLB celebrates impact of the 'Beer and Whiskey League' by Mark Sheldon from MLB.com dated May 2, 2007 states the following which might clarify things a bit:

Only the Cubs and Braves have been continuously in the National League since its 1876 founding. The Reds, Cardinals and Pirates remain NL Central Division foes and have one of sport's longest-lasting rivalries. The Dodgers, who were formed in 1884 as the Atlantics, also started in the American Association. Like the Reds, Brooklyn joined the National League for the 1890 season.

"All of these teams have their roots in the American Association," Nemec said. "Really, the National League actually has stronger roots in the American Association in some ways than it does National League roots."

Eventually, the American Association was recognized as a full-fledged Major League and all of its players' statistics and career highlights are counted accordingly in the annals of Major League history.

So there in is the A-HA!!! moment. The AA and their statistics are recognized by MLB as being accumulated as a Major League. In addition to the AA, the Federal League (1914-1915), the Players League (1890) and the Union Association (1884) are all recognized as being a Major League. The question I have is when were the statistics of the AA formally recognized by MLB.

I sent a tweet to Mr. John Thorn who is the official historian for MLB. Here is what he said:

@BaseballSisco 1968-69 Special Baseball Records Committee ruling. But this only affirmed a view of long standing.
— John Thorn (@thorn_john) August 27, 2014

My other question to Mr. Thorn was concerning the treatment of the AA's statistics as being "Pre-Modern" in the context of today's "Modern" stats:

.@BaseballSisco Not a valuable distinction. When does one such period end and the other begin?
— John Thorn (@thorn_john) August 27, 2014

.@BaseballSisco MLB's official position is that its history and its records run seamlessly from 1876 to the present.
— John Thorn (@thorn_john) August 27, 2014

That makes perfect sense. I'm sure there will be fans that will dispute this and say that Rickey Henderson is the single season stolen bases record holder and not Hugh Nicol who played for the American Association back in the 1880's. If so, then what can you do. Based on MLB's position in terms of its history and the fact MLB has Rickey as number two on the list behind Hugh Nicol then who am I to argue that.

Many thanks to Mr. Thorn for his actually getting back to me. There are many Baseball historians and experts on Twitter whom I have asked questions of and never gotten a response, let alone numerous prompt responses. Definitely give him a follow @thorn_john.

On an aside, if you want to know more of the "Beer and Whiskey" league that was the American Association, I recommend you pick up the book: The Summer of Beer and Whiskey: How Brewers, Barkeeps, Rowdies, Immigrants, and a Wild Pennant Fight Made Baseball America’s Game by Edward Achorn. It is quite the entertaining book and provides amazing insight to the early years of organized Baseball. I think you all will like it.

Until Then Keep Playing Ball,
Baseball Sisco
#baseballsisco
#baseballsiscokidstyle

For Further Reading:
- Click Here to access Rickey Henderson's career statistics at Baseball Reference.com
- Click Here to access the article MLB's 200,000th game: How it was determined by John Thorn from MLB.com dated September 23, 2011

Tony Mullane: The Apollo of the Box

I often wonder if the fans of the future will look back at today's players in the same way I look back of the players of yesteryear. I love reading stories of the characters that played the game back in the dead ball era. It seems to me that players today are so image conscious that genuine characters are few and far between. In reading The Emerald Diamond: How The Irish Transformed America's Greatest Pastime by Charley Rosen, One such character that I came across from the dead ball era was Anthony John "Tony" Mullane (January 30, 1859-April 25, 1944).

Now Mullane was a 13-year veteran of the American Association (Louisville, St. Louis, Toledo and Cincinnati) and National League (Detroit, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland) who compiled a 280-222 record with a 3.05 ERA winning 30 games in five consecutive seasons played (1882-1884/1886-1887). In 555 games started, he had 502 decisions with 468 complete games and 52 games finished out of the bullpen. He would strike out 1803 batters, walk 1408 and give up 4195 hits in 4531.1 innings pitched for a WHIP of 1.237. Pretty impressive. No? Well, it gets better.

According to Rosen:

Prominent among these Irishmen was Tony Mullane, who won 30 games in five consecutive seasons. During the 1880's, Mullane's excellence was rewarded with a average salary of $6,000 (equal to $85,000 in today's economy), which rightly placed him among the top earners of the time.

Because of his stylish clothes, his magnificent handlebar mustache, and his way with the ladies, Mullane had several nicknames, most notable "The Count" and the "Apollo of the Box." His incredible athleticism was proven both during and after he injured his right arm in throwing a baseball the prodigious distance of 416 feet, 7 3/4 inches, to demonstrate his strength. This feat was all the more remarkable since the leansome 5'10" Mullane only weight 165 pounds.

Mullane responded by pitching left-handed, with only minimal loss of effectiveness, until his right arm was fully healed.

The Apollo of the Box. Think about that. That meant that Mullane was a good looking dude to be compared to the Greek God Apollo. Check him out for yourself. What do you think. Back to the ambidextrous story.

In the article Two-Handed Approach: Ambidextrous pitching star Tony Mullane to be considered by Pre-Integration Era Committee By Bill Francis dated November 20, 2012 from the national Baseball Hall of Fame website, Mullane is quoted as recovering from his injury as follows:

“I simply put on two heavy sweaters, and although it hurt me even to raise my arm, I went to work and pitched ball after ball,” is how Mullane explained his method of recovery. “Great streams of perspiration poured off me, and it hurt me so badly that I had to grit my teeth. It was a case of grin and bear it. I was bound to work it out and I succeeded. The sweat did me good. Although the pain was intense I persevered and the soreness left me. The arm was a little weak at first, but now it’s as good as ever. Had I sat around nursing my sore arm, I am confident that I would not now be solid as a pitcher.”

Players today would have sat on the DL nursing the sore arm. Francis also states:

Among Mullane’s other notable pitching achievements was tossing a no-hitter for Louisville against Cincinnati on Sept. 11, 1882, and going all 20 innings, the record at the time for a big league contest, for Cincinnati against Chicago’s Ad Gumbert, who also went the distance, in a 7-7 tie on June 30, 1892.

I came across an article Cork’s Tony Mullane remains longshot for Hall of Fame by Dave Hannigan dated February 16, 2011 from the Irish Echo webpage that describes Mullane's chances at being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame (he was not inducted). One angle the article touches on is how Mullane was a racist. While it was not right, it was not rare for the era. I'll let you read on that for yourselves if you feel so inclined to do so.

Mullane would end up retiring from the game in 1894 and served as an umpire before joining the Chicago Police Department, rising to the rank of Detective. He would pass away on April 25, 1944 at the age of 85.

As I come across some of the more colorful members of the professional baseball fraternity, I'll post about them for your reading pleasure.

Until Then Play Ball,
Sisco Kid

Havana Sugar Kings 1954-1960

Continuing with the four part series on Minor League baseball in Latin America, this third entry is about the Havana Sugar Kings of the International League. This period was one where baseball and politics walked hand in hand. Things not only in the Minor Leagues changed but things were never the same in organized baseball.

The Havana Sugar Kings were an AAA affiliate of The Cincinnati Reds from the years 1954-1960. Playing within the prestigious International League, the league truly had an international feel, with teams in Cuba and Canada (Havana and The Hamilton Tigers, Montreal Royals, Toronto Maple Leafs).

Though the team was short lived, it did find success. Twice the team reached the post-season in 1955 and 1959, and it was in 1959 that the team reached its peak. Ending up with 3rd place in the league, The Sugar Kings upset both the Columbus Jets (AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to Terry Proctor for the correction in the comments section. The Columbus Jets played from 1955-1970 before moving to Charleston, West Virginia becoming the Charleston Charlies in 1971. The Columbus Clippers were created in 1977) and the Richmond Virginians in the playoffs for a berth in the Junior Series. Politically, the rise of the Havana Sugar Kings was paralleled by the rise to power of Fidel Castro.

Meeting the representative of the American Association and the defending Junior World Series champion Minneapolis Millers (An affiliate of The Boston Red Sox with a young Carl Yazstremski on the playoff roster), the series was a riveting affair. Going the full seven games, two of the games (including the decisive seventh game) were decided in the last of the ninth inning, as well as, two others being decided in extra innings.

The series opened at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. Though winter weather tends to come to the Minneapolis area earlier than other locations in the US, a rare blast of early winter weather arrived leading to small crowds. With the series tied at one (Havana won Game One 5-2, Minneapolis won Game Two 6-5), and snowflakes dotting the Minneapolis landscape, the series was shifted to the warm weathered locale of Havana. Though the weather was to the liking of both teams, the political climate was not. Armed troops were located throughout the city and especially at the Gran Stadium where the games were being played. The Millers were told not to leave the hotel during their free time, for their own safety.

Havana jumped out to three games to one lead on two consecutive extra inning victories (3-2 in 10 and 4-3 in 11). Not conceding defeat, the Millers roared back with two consecutive victories, tying the series and forcing a deciding Game Seven which Havana ended up winning leading to a massive celebration within the city of Havana. The celebration and joy would be short lived.

Though Castro vowed to support the Minor League endeavor, his nationalization of American industries in Cuba led to the eventual withdrawal of the Havana Sugar Kings. On July 13, during the 1960 season, The Havana Sugar Kings were no more. With the move to Jersey City, they became known as the Jersey City Jerseys. They played out the 1960 season in Jersey City to a 76-77 record. The move of the Sugar Kings not only signaled the end of Minor League baseball in Cuba, but also the end of all professional sports in Cuba. Many Cuban born professional athletes decided to stay in the United States, never again seeing their native land becoming enemies of the state. Throughout the years, a many number of players would also defect the island nation to the shores of the United States and the fulfillment of the dreams to play professional baseball.

Though the loss of Havana was felt throughout the International League, the league officials tried to maintain a foothold in the Caribbean. In 1961, the Miami Marlins (the same of the former Florida International League with the Havana Cubans from 1946-1954) were moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Financial difficulties led to the team to be moved to Charleston, West Virginia becoming the Charleston Marlins.

Playing on the Sugar Kings championship team of 1959 was Mike Cuellar, a Cuban from Las Villas who would pitch on the powerhouse Baltimore Orioles of the late 1960’s, Luis Arroyo, a Puerto Rican who played on the 1961 Yankees, and former major leaguer Cookie Rojas. Here is the final record count for the Havana Sugar Kings:

Havana Sugar Kings 1954-1960

Year	Record	Position	Playoffs
1954	78-77	5th	None
1955	87-66	3rd	Lost 1st Round
1956	72-82	6th	None
1957	72-82	6th	None
1958	65-88	8th	None
1959	80-73	3rd	Won JWS
1960	76-77	5th	None

Our next and last post on Minor League Baseball in Latin America is an ambitious effort to bring Minor League Baseball to the Latin Caribbean basin. Though the idea had potential, it was possible way ahead of its time.