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Batting Eighth

MFS62 Jul 31 2007 09:50 PM

When Leo Durocher was the manager of the Cubs, he had a young outfielder with lots of potential named Adolfo Phillips. He put Phillips in the number eight spot in the batting order and told him (IIRC) "Adolfo, you're going to be my second cleanup hitter". Phillips responded with his best year in the majors. Later, when Phillips was moved higher in the order and I don't recall his ever having a comparable year. That said, can someone please post the stats for how Lastings does batting in the eighth spot compared to how he performs elsewhere in the order? Thanks, Later

Frayed Knot Jul 31 2007 09:54 PM

UMDB would have that info I believe. As would any one of several stats sites like Baseball-Reference.com But do you really expect the info you get - particularly with the small sample size that Milledge's career would provide - to give you some kind of answer that would indicate cause-and-effect?

MFS62 Jul 31 2007 09:57 PM

Nope on the cause/ effect. Just curious. B'sides, I always thought it was a funny story about how psychology once worked with a young player, and always enjoy telling it. Later

Frayed Knot Jul 31 2007 10:00 PM

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=millela02&year=00 Scroll down for Batting Order positions. Worthless data IMO, particularly in this case.

MFS62 Jul 31 2007 10:02 PM

Thank you. Hope you enjoyed the story, anyhow. Later

Frayed Knot Jul 31 2007 10:18 PM

Not a bad story, but you're still assuming that it was the batting spot and the psychology of Leo's suggestion that caused the good year. I don't.

seawolf17 Aug 01 2007 06:19 AM

If only we could get Lastings to only step to the plate at home, after the break but still in July, batting seventh in the order, starting with a 2-0 count, with a runner on third with two out, in innings 4-6 but facing the lefthanded finesse pitcher from the Pirates or the Rockies for the third time. He'd probably be an MVP candidate.