Clutch 30-2016: Baseball Heroes (and Goats) don’t Wear Capes

In the Clutch (no pun intended) the big star players are supposed to deliver. That’s what and why they get paid an outrageous ridiculous amount of money. Getting a bunch of key hits or striking out the side at a bunch of important moments is where the team benefits from giving a star that long-term bloated contract. Of course these players are also supposed to deliver on getting a team to that moment in addition to pushing them over the top.

You see this with a fair amount of regularity with great players doing their usual thing in the playoffs and the crown jewel: the World Series. The booming power-hitter bashes a couple of homeruns, the Ace of the staff picks up a couple of wins and shuts down the opposition and on and on. Since this is typically expected it’s often overlooked among the games of the series. The feeling is that since a player is doing with he’s “Supposed” to do it doesn’t necessarily draw headlines or long-term memories.

It’s the anomalies that become back-page news, watercooler talk and things later on discussed over a beer. There are two types of these situations. The first, which is the positive, is when an unknown player comes out of the woodwork and delivers in one or many spots on the biggest stage such as the World Series. The other type is quite the opposite were that star player folds like a cheap suit or broken down valise. Both types probably get equal storage in the prefrontal cortex to be recalled later on during baseball chat sessions.

Let’s first take a look at a few success stories. The first comes from the Boone family. No, not Daniel Boone, but the baseball Boones. Forget about the fact that the Boone family lineage goes back multiple generations, and if you don’t want to forget about it see the blog from a month or so ago that focused on ancestry in the major leagues. For now, let’s look at the current generation of Boones which spit out two big leaguers. One you likely heard of as he had a pretty solid career in the game. That of course is Bret Boone who spent 13 years in the league, a handful of awards, and solid career stats.  

The lesser Boone whose name might not be top of mind is Aaron Boone, Bret’s brother. Aaron kicked around for almost the same number of years, but with way less stellar stats, awards of general player notoriety over his career. That said, Aaron Boone is a bit of a hero in New York.  He spent the back half of one season (2003) with the Yankees, where he was traded to from Cincinnati in one of those “Rent a player” deals. One at bat summed up his career in the Bronx which was game 7 of the ALCS versus the arch-rival Boston Red Sox where he hit a dramatic walk-off home run in the 11^th inning to win the game and the series for the Yanks and propelled them into the World Series. It’s fair to say that no Yankee fan will ever forget that moment or that player. Yankee brass, on the other hand, must have thought differently as Aaron was cut from the team the next spring during camp.

In the fall of 1986 there were a string of heroes across town with the Mets. They were the guys that created and maintained the most drama filled come-back and rally in World Series history, bar none. Unfortunately for the city of Boston, this scenario also ends with them losing. If you are not familiar with “Game 6” I advise you to google it to get the full details. The Clutch research team is confident that the entire famous inning is well documented anywhere on the Internet. The hero focus that will be looked at here is on William Hayward Wilson. Though the name sounds like that of a historical US President, he is more affectionately known in these parts as “Mookie”.

Mookie Wilson had a pretty decent baseball career. He played for around 10 years, with the lion’s share of that being with the Mets. As a matter of fact, kid Clutch was (and still is) infuriated when Wilson was traded to the Blue Jays in the twilight of his career. Mookie was never the same as a player and his playing career ended up in Canada just two years later. Luckily the Mets “fixed” that debacle by hiring Wilson into several positions in the organization after he hung him his spikes and batting gloves. As a side-note teenage Clutch kind of met the Met legend. After a game one Sunday afternoon while catching a ride home from Shea on the Grand Central parkway a glance to right presented Mookie driving home after a day’s work in a customized van.

The simple reason that Wilson could do no wrong since that famous day is that he singlehandedly saved the 86 Mets from a disastrous end of season. Long story short, and as noted it’s highly recommended to look this up and watch it, The Mets and Mookie down to their last strike and were a pitch away from losing a World Series that they were highly favored to win. What did Mookie do? He managed to foul off four (4) pitches before the sound heard around the world: “Little roller up along first, behind the bag it gets through Buckner”. Mookie became a hero in literally 2.5 seconds.

Staying focused on New York for another moment or two, there were a couple of opposite cases where someone expected to deliver and didn’t. It was the malaise of game one of the 2000 subway World Series with the Mets pitted against the cross-town rival Yankees. Ironically they were the two teams that caused all that angst in Boston. The Yankees were favored to win the series with the star-studded and expensive lineup while the scrappy Mets got there by piecing together a great season with a collection of very good players plus star Mike Piazza. Clutch fun-fact that Robin Ventura and Joe McEwing batted 5^th and 6^th in the lineup in game one of the series and a baker’s dozen years later would be coaching side-by-side for the White Sox.

That infamous, considered as such by Met fans, Game One was queued up for the Mets to win until two goat type moves. Timo Perez neglected to run out a Todd Zeile double, which would have delivered an all-important insurance run to the one-run lead being nursed by the Metropolitans. Then there was Armando Benitez, who was lights out all regular season, but just couldn’t get it down in the big situation. He blew the save in the 9^th inning causing overtime. Yup, the Mets lost it in 11^th inning – and there went the momentum of the series. To his credit Armando pitched OK the rest of the way, including a save in the only game the Mets would win in the series. That said – he will only be remembered for the game one performance!

On to 2016 where a young unknown named Kyle Schwarber is making some name for himself. The future star in his second season suffered a season ending injury after five (5) season at-bats. Schwarber made an “Ali like” return to the diamond in the World Series and was a key contributor in the Cubs “Must win” game two of the World Series. He even had a rare to find hit in game one where the Cubs bats were frozen. Fans spanning the country and possible the globe are all ears to see what he does the rest of the way.  The Clutch guess-o-meter says he puts on a performance that makes him an insta-hero in the Windy City.

Clutch 29-2016: Eve of the Eve of the Big Games

Mr. Clutch is coming to you live (well, live at the time of this writing) from somewhere between here and there. There is Philadelphia, PA and here is up in the air on a flight to Chicago. The guess is that the aircraft will be crossing over the Illinois border at some point soon. This normally wouldn’t mean much of anything except yesterday the Cubbies from the windy city reset the record books.  They are heading to the World Series for the first time since 1492.

OK, so it wasn’t 1492 – that’s when Columbus sailed the ocean blue and allegedly discovered America. The year was the early 1900s and in the paper today there was a fun article that listed all the things that didn’t exist the last time such an event occurred. It included most technology, color TV and probably most of the daily amenities that everyone takes for granted today. If time permits perhaps the exact list will make this post.

If the L.A. Dodgers, who by the way were on the list of things that didn’t exist last time the residents of Wrigley were in a world series, would have one won game six yesterday, then the Clutch team would be in route to watch game seven of the NLCS live between the two teams left from the National League. Those were the two teams that by the way the Mets motored through just a year ago in serious New York October baseball.  The coincidental trip to Chi-town could have been a bucket list knock off, and an elimination game no less.

Instead of witnessing some miniscule part of history, the 24 hours in the Windy city will likely not include a lot of baseball. That said, if time permits, which it certainly would of if a game was going to be played, a quick stop down at Wrigley field might be in order. The Clutch travel team believes that the excitement and aura of championship baseball will still be in air around the stadium despite the fact that the players will be on their way to Cleveland. The guess is that a fair amount of press, tourists and shocked locals will be wandering around the campus.

For anyone out there who is a baseball diehard seeing some places and possible games in being played in them are a must. On any list out there is Fenway park in Boston and Wrigley field in Chicago. They are two of the oldest old school stadiums that still exist and hold more history than any book or website. The best players of all time suited up and locked horns in these places. Records were set, classic games were played and of course these stadiums hold unbelievable historic significance.

As noted in a previous blog, Mr. Clutch and his gang from the old neighborhood visited Fenway a while back and was able to take in the full experience of a game, a tour and everything else that came along with visiting the great baseball town. Though during the off-season, and a time when the Cubs were playing poorly, Clutch, traveling solo like this trip, was in Chicago with time to kill.  The visit to the outside of Wrigley was relatively dull. It was cold, the tours were not running that day and not much was going on. The highlight was picking up some souvenirs to bring home. The hope is that this pilgrimage has better value.

Clutch is no stranger to being around World Series baseball.  Teenager Clutch was practically a resident of Shea Stadium back in October of 1986. Likely noted in previous blogs, ticket access was easy to come to that year and the Mets played home games in game one, two and six, seven (both if necessary). Four tickets to each game was obtained. These seats were right behind home plate and “Loge level”. For those not familiar with the seating chart of the old man, that was one level up and excellent seat.

What was the face value for these tickets? $1,000? $500? Keep going lower. The tickets were sold on the singular market for $30 each. It was hard to believe, and for those who don’t believe it there are many easy ways to validate it. Of course in this day and age the fastest way would be to “Google” the term “1986 Mets World Series ticket” and then click on images. That will bring up plenty of originals which you can select and zoom in on to see the price. Not that technically savvy? Then drive over to Clutch’s house, go down into his basement and look at the ticket from game six which is hanging in the LED lit glass shrine.

Having your team make it to a World Series is exciting. Having it happened when your team is coming off a pretty long losing streak like the Mets of 86 and now the Cubs of 16 is even more exciting. It brings people together and puts a smile on fans faces. The fact of the matter is that most fans of baseball are “Regular” folks with regular jobs and work to pay their bills and advance forward in life. Having a team that you cheer for get to or win a world title certainly brightens you day, week or year.

One final noteworthy item about the Cubs making it to the World Series comes from the same place the team they just beat does: Hollywood. Mr. Clutch is a fan of many things and after baseball is the great movie trilogy “Back to the Future”. In the sequel, BTTF 2, Marty played by the even greater Michael J. Fox, travels into the future from 1985ish to October 21, 2015 – which happens to be a year and two days ago today. While walking through the town square he sees a digital billboard with a joke which reads “Cubs win the World Series”. Like the self-tie laces and flat screens perhaps this fictional prediction was also right on – just a year late! 

Clutch 26-2016: Injuries and Worse

Generally speaking natural instinct is to not purposely do anything that would jeopardize one’s ability to do their job. That could be said for the short-term as well as something that would affect the ability to do the job ever again. Your job is typically your livelihood and one would not want to put that risk. This goes doubly if the person has no other skills or ability to get “Another” job that they would be physically able to with a similar compensation level.

It’s fair to say that this would be a main and golden rule if your job pays up in the higher stratosphere like a major league baseball player. Now, unlike professional football, an MLB player generally has a longer career which brings with it a longer ability to make money. Smart players would “Make hay while the sun shines” and try to best capitalize on the amount of years that they are granted. Even those who stay involved in the game after retiring as an active player can make a few bucks, but nothing like what they made on the field.

There have been many intentional, kind of intentional and accidental while at risk incidents that have happened through the years with active baseball players. These all ended with bad results, some not too bad, some pretty bad and some flat out fatal. In all cases a player’s action or lack of led to their career going sideways or ending. That leads to deeper affects like how their families could be supported, etc.

The first player to discuss is the reason for this blog due to the close timing of the incident. This is referring to the budding star from the Miami Marlins, 24 year old pitching sensation Jose Fernandez. From all accounts Jose was a great guy on and off the diamond. He was only at the beginning of what was going to be a long and prosperous career with Jose likely being a perennial all-star and a feared pitcher. During an off-day in Miami Jose and two friends were excessively speeding on a boat recklessly in the literal middle of the night. They crashed and all three of the guys died on the scene. RIP #16.

That case is of course a tragedy on all counts and for all reasons. What makes it just worse than worse is that someone in Jose’s position should not be participating in fun activities that put his life at risk. Really nobody should, but especially when you are a public figure of sorts with a tremendous revenue upside and you are someone beloved by a global fan base. In Jose’s case his fiancé has a baby on the way and will now need to find ways to support that. Things happen and Clutch’s handbook doesn’t say that players or regular people should not leave the house, but controlled risk is probably a better option.

There are also many cases of reckless activities on the field that led to injuries of all shapes and sizes. These cases usually only put a team’s ability to win at risk, but can cause a player his career. There is a couple from the Clutch archives of a “Lighter” note than above. Met icon Pat Zachry once kicked the dugout bench after getting the hook during a bad outing. This lead to a broken leg and missing most of the season. Of course this was during the bad Met era of the late 70s so it didn’t affect “Winning” too much.

Another Met that was the recipient of a bizarre injury that kind of was a negative turn to the Met season and may have put the kibosh on a possible World Series win. It also wound up ending his career, which was a shame. His name was Duaner Sanchez, and he was the setup man for the 2006 club. With him and Billy Wagner the Mets had a pretty dynamic back of the bullpen.  On a summer night he went out to dinner after a game with a few guys and was in a taxi when a drunk driver hit the taxi connecting the two cars and separating Duaner’s shoulder.  He missed a season and a half with the injury, made a short comeback and then was released. Middle to late inning relief guys can usual play forever, or until they stop throwing strikes. Sanchez had around a five year career and was last seen a few years after his last Major League appearance trying out for Long Island Ducks.

Though the name escapes Clutch’s memory banks there was a player recently who broke his leg during a home-plate celebration. He had just hit a game winning homerun and his teammates met him at home plate where everyone proceeded to jump around hooting and hollering. The end result was a trip to the ER and a cast on the leg. This clearly could have and should have been avoided. This was basically a super-sized version of getting injured while issuing or receiving a high-five.

The last Met who was victim of preventable injuries is the great Bobby Ojeda. Ojeda was a key cog of the 1986 championship Mets. Though he had a pretty good career it was derailed by two pretty preventable incidents. The first was when a year after winning the title he lost part of a finger or two on his pitching hand while trimming the hedges at his house. You would think he would hire someone for that. A few years later during spring training with the Cleveland Indians Bob went on a boat ride with two fellow players, Steve Olin and Tim Crews.  Crews was legally drunk and the boat crashed. He and Olin died, while Ojeda survived but missed the entire season and was never the same.

Things happen all the time and there were many active players’ fatalities over the years for one reason or the other. As noted earlier it’s a matter of controlled risk. Players and their entourages should be smart enough to not do anything to put their livelihood in jeopardy. Maybe they think their invincible because of the ability to throw a hard to hit curve-ball or hit a ball over the fence at will. That works and is likely true in the game, but doesn’t apply to real life. This blog is dedicated to all the players we lost way too early.