The World Series begins tonight with the Los Angeles Dodgers facing the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston. The Dodgers last won the World Series in 1988 and Boston won most recently in 2013. The matchup involves two of the oldest teams in Major League Baseball: the Dodgers were founded in 1883 in Brooklyn and the Red Sox were established in 1901. The Red Sox have won eight World Series titles and the Dodgers have won six. Both teams led their respective leagues in runs scored. Both have outstanding left-handed starters—Chris Sale for Boston, Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers. The Red Sox beat a 100-win Yankees team and 103-win Astros team to reach the Series. The Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers.
Looking for a local angle for the World Series, we looked over the rosters of the Red Sox and Dodgers and found that neither team had a player from Louisiana. Neither team even had a player who attended LSU or another Louisiana institution of higher education. So instead, let’s take a look at famous baseball players from Louisiana. This week we’ll look at hitters and next week we’ll come back and take a look at some famous pitchers.
 |
Let’s start with some general facts before delving into the background of the some of the players:
· There have been 256 players from Louisiana who have taken an at-bat in Major League Baseball.
· The first two players: John Peters and Dan Collins played in 1874.
· Fourteen players from Louisiana took an at-bat in the majors in 2018.
· Over the course of baseball history, 71 players from New Orleans have made the majors.
· Shreveport is second with 26. Baton Rouge has sent 18 players, followed by 12 from Lafayette and 11 from Lake Charles.
Mel Ott is the career leader in wins among replacement (WAR) by a player from Louisiana. His 107.8 career WAR rank 22nd all time. Born in Gretna, Louisiana in 1909, Ott made his first appearance for the New York Giants in 1926. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. In his career, Ott made eleven consecutive All-Star teams and was the first National League player to reach 500 career home runs. For his career, Ott had a .304 batting average, .414 on-base percentage, and .533 slugging percentage. His 511 home runs rank 25thall time. He retired in 1947 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1951.
 |
| Albert Belle and his corked bat |
Now let’s look at some other standout players from Louisiana.
· Tommy Harper, a speedy outfielder from Oak Grove, led the league in stolen bases in 1969 and 1973 with 73 and 54 steals.
· Albert Belle, a power hitting outfielder from Shreveport, hit 381 home runs in his eleven year career. In 1994, Belle was suspended for using a corked bat (corking a bat is a process of stuffing the inside of a bat with cork or a lighter substance than is allowed by the rules. Corking a bat makes it lighter and easier to swing.) Belle then convinced a teammate, Jason Grimsley, to climb through a ceiling panel in order to steal his corked bat out of the umpires’ dressing room and swap it with a different one. Belle had a reputation for destroying clubhouse equipment and being rude to teammates and the media.
· Former MLB shortstop and New Orleans native Ron Washington managed the Texas Rangers from 2007-2014. In 2010 and 2011, Washington led the Rangers to the World Series, but lost to the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals. He was only the third African American manager to lead a team to the World Series. His 664 career wins are the most in Rangers history.
Next week, we’ll finish up our look at Louisiana’s baseball history by looking at some famous pitchers.
No comments:
Post a Comment