For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.
Willie Mays
I spend more time thinking about newspaper columns than actually writing them.
But the first step in that process is finding the subject matter.
Once I settle on an idea, producing the column is relatively straightforward.
For example:
This week I was considering a column comparing the Biden administration to the Cleveland Spiders, who lost 134 games while winning just 20 during the 1899 National League season, the worst record in MLB history.
The team wasn’t really at fault, though.
The brothers who owned the Spiders also owned the St. Louis Browns and believed the St. Louis team would draw more fans, so they transferred the team’s best players to St. Louis, including pitcher Cy Young.
The Spiders had finished the 1898 season with a respectable record of 81-68 to finish fifth. (The Boston Beaneaters, who later became the Braves, finished first).
The season was so bad, the Spiders were contracted out of the National League and reappeared in 1901 as the Cleveland Blues in the American League. Now they are the Cleveland Guardians.
But I decided to give Uncle Joe a break. After all, gas prices dropped a little bit and the dude reportedly has COVID. Get well soon, Joe.
So, I decided to find something else I could sink my teeth into.
Since the MLB All-Star Game was played last week, I decided to scour past rosters of the Atlanta Braves for the absolute worst players in franchise history.
Negative, yes, but it sounded like fun to me.
I started my research by looking for the worst player on the 1966 roster at baseballreference.com.
There were several candidates, but I settled on southpaw pitcher Herb Hippauf who posted an ERA of 13.50 and a WHIP of 2.625.
But then I read Herb’s biography on sabr.org and decided that throwing Herb under the bus wasn’t entirely fair.
Herb had won 14 games for the Boise Braves in 1960 and 10 more for the Yakima Braves in 1961 until elbow problems cut short his season after only 16 starts.
Poor Herb then suffered a fractured jaw in 1962 while playing in AA for the Austin Senators when Amarillo pitcher Ed Merritt hit him with a pitch less than a month into the season. He lost 25 pounds after having his jaw wired shut.
In 1965, Herb was back on track, winning 15 games for the Senators with a sterling ERA of 2.87.
He was promoted to AAA the next year and got called up to the majors on April 27. He got into a game at Dodger Stadium pitching against future Braves announcer Don Sutton.
Herb came on in relief and pitched out of a jam in the third inning, but in the bottom of the fourth John Roseboro doubled and pitcher Don Sutton singled, advancing Roseboro to third. Then Maury Wills singled to score Roseboro. The big blow came when Wes Parker tripled to bring home Sutton and Wills. Dodgers 3, Braves 0.
Hippauf got Willie Davis to ground out, but Chi Chi Olivo took over on the mound in the bottom of the fifth. The Braves lost 4-1 with the only run coming on a Henry Aaron home run in the top of the ninth off Sutton.
Herb fared better in his next appearance against the Astros on May 1 in Atlanta, entering the game with the Braves behind 7-0 in the top of the ninth.
Rusty Staub singled; Bob Aspromonte hit a fly ball to center that Felipe Alou caught. Herb walked Lee Maye, but John Bateman hit into an inning-ending double play.
Coincidentally, Aaron hit another too-little-too-late home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Herb’s last chance came on May 3 when he failed to get an out and was charged with two runs.
Herb was sent down. He was called up at the end of the season, but he didn’t get into a game.
According to sabr.org, Hippauf was invited to spring training in 1967 but decided to retire at age 28 due to recurring tendinitis in his left elbow.
But Herb wasn’t out of the game for long.
“In 1968, he began a career spanning four decades as a respected major league scout,” according to his sabr.org biography written by Gregory H. Wolf.
In Wolf’s bio, Pat Daugherty, the Colorado Rockies scouting director who hired Hippauf said, “Herb was an outgoing, gregarious and easy-to-get-to-know man who loved a practical joke and could take one, too.”
Hippauf’s life was cut short by cancer in 1995 at the age of 56, but the Rockies have established the Herb Hippauf Scouting Award to honor his legacy.
So, now that I know a little bit more about the man, a lousy week in 1966 doesn’t seem so important. A ballplayer is always more than his stats.
Which leads me to believe that maybe I should have more patience with our president and stop throwing him under the bus.
Then again . . . gas prices didn’t drop THAT much.
Selah.