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Rube Walker's record
| Edgy DC May 03 2007 07:08 PM Edited 3 time(s), most recently on May 30 2007 04:37 PM |
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It's a puzzler to me why managerial won-loss records are kept for interim managers who take over mid-season for a departed manager, while the team has no intent to retain them long-term, but aren't kept for an interim --- like Don Zimmer, for instance --- who takes over during managerial leaves of absence for medical or personal reasons. And, for that matter, why aren't they kept for interim managers who take over after the regular manager has been ejected?
A lot of funky things hap'd during Ruby's brief reign. That game above was marked by a double steal by the Aaron brothers --- now the second and third players in the baseball encylopedia --- with Tommie stealing second in the seventh and 35-year-old Hank stealing home on the throw-down. When you think about it, that's a kind of rotten trick to pull on a team who just saw their manager turn white and stop breathing. Adding injury to insult, J.C. Martin mishandled the throw to the plate and Tommie ended up on third, from where he would score on a Marty Martinez squeeze. Freaking small ball bastiges. Perhaps a little pissed off, Tom Seaver earned his mentor Rube his first win the next day, going the distance on a three-hit shutout, despite striking out only three. Neither Hank nor Tommie reached base, the bastids, as the contest ended in 1:52. By the way , retrosheet shows five umpires that day. Pretty swanky considering only 2639 were in attendance in Atlanta. OK, the next game was unremarkable, as Walker took his first loss. The only thing notable was that Phillies manager Bob Skinner (their third skipper of the year) pulled a six-man defensive realignment in the 11th inning, leaving a pinch-hitter in to play right, sending the rightfielder to first, the firstbaseman to third, the thirdbaseman to second, and the secondbaseman out of the game. The next game protege two (Koosman) won his 19th (still a Metly rookie record) as he held the Phils to three hits and one run. The last game of the Walker era was a 10-3 loss. Seaver didn't pitch that badly, but the game (fan appreciation day) was notable for three huge homeruns hit by Richie (Dick) Allen --- one each to left, center, and right field, the last supposedly the most monstrous, a grand slam off of Dr. Ron Taylor, who had just entered. According to the UMDB, the fans ended up applauding him for the last shot. And that's the record, though maybe there's some wins and losses he got after a subsequent managerial ejection. Or maybe he took over during some long-forgotten Yogi Berra two-day suspension, or when Joe Torre was at some ceremony watching his sister profess her vows. What I'm saying is, if we credit the relief pitchers, we have to credit the relief managers.
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| G-Fafif May 03 2007 07:22 PM |
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Buddy Harrelson: 3-0 in 1988, sweeping the Dodgers in L.A. in late August, inserting Mookie into the lineup full-time. Davey was out on family business at the time. Also, he handed the keys to Bill Robinson on the last day of '84 or '85.
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