On This Day In 1970: April 26

[cboemmeljr]

#50THANNIVERSARY

On this day in 1970 the Orioles defeated the Kansas City Royals 10-9 in Kansas City.  Dick Hall recorded the win as starter Dave McNally lasted just 1/3 of an inning.  Dave Johnson and Don Buford both homered while Brooks Robinson went 3 for 5 with 1 run scored and 4 RBI.  Pete Richert was credited with his 4th save of the season with 2.0 innings of no run, no hit pitching.

BOX SCORE

[weams]

Three for five Brooksie. 

[Redskins Rick]

3 hours ago, weams said:

Three for five Brooksie. 

On this day, my Senators dropped another one.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS2/WS2197004260.shtml'

The next day they made this blockbuster trade (tongue in cheek)

April 27, 1970: Ken McMullen was traded by the Senators to the California Angels for Aurelio Rodríguez and Rick Reichardt.[7]

Aurelio briefly played the Orioles late in his career. While not Brooksie, of course, many were, he was pretty good with the glove and a decent bat.

 

[LA2]

5 hours ago, Redskins Rick said:

On this day, my Senators dropped another one.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WS2/WS2197004260.shtml'

The next day they made this blockbuster trade (tongue in cheek)

April 27, 1970: Ken McMullen was traded by the Senators to the California Angels for Aurelio Rodríguez and Rick Reichardt.[7]

Aurelio briefly played the Orioles late in his career. While not Brooksie, of course, many were, he was pretty good with the glove and a decent bat.

 

Aurelio Rodriguez had a very strong arm.

[DrungoHazewood]

12 hours ago, LA2 said:

Aurelio Rodriguez had a very strong arm.

He was kind of a poor man's 3B version of Mark Belanger.  He had a couple years as a decent hitter, and one year where his retroactive defensive numbers look great.  But otherwise he was an above-average 3B who'd OPS .600.  For the '83 Orioles he went 8-for-67 with no extra base hits and no walks, and was actually on the team from April until August.  After they picked up Todd Cruz he became redundant.

[DrungoHazewood]

On 4/26/2020 at 7:13 PM, cboemmeljr said:

#50THANNIVERSARY

On this day in 1970 the Orioles defeated the Kansas City Royals 10-9 in Kansas City.  Dick Hall recorded the win as starter Dave McNally lasted just 1/3 of an inning.  Dave Johnson and Don Buford both homered while Brooks Robinson went 3 for 5 with 1 run scored and 4 RBI.  Pete Richert was credited with his 4th save of the season with 2.0 innings of no run, no hit pitching.

BOX SCORE

In another thread we talked about extinct player types.  This game is an example of endangered strategies: the really quick hook.  McNally gave up three runs on four hits and a walk and was done for the day, and then he got four days rest.  So in an eight-day period he threw about 25 pitches.

From '54-59 the Orioles had about five games a season where a starter was yanked in the first inning after allowing four or fewer runs.  There were seven years in the 60s where that happened 3-5 times.  In the 70s and 80s it still happened almost once a month, with '76 seeing Earl do it seven times.

But since 1990 it's only happened 12 times, or about once every three years.  With the advent of all max-effort, one-inning relievers the starter who got bombed early has become the long reliever. I think this is also a realization that healthy pitchers don't really have games where they're going to allow five runs an inning, they just had some bad luck or put a couple balls over the plate.  If you leave them in you get them regular work and there's every chance they'll be their normal selves in the 2nd inning and beyond.

[Redskins Rick]

37 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

He was kind of a poor man's 3B version of Mark Belanger.  He had a couple years as a decent hitter, and one year where his retroactive defensive numbers look great.  But otherwise he was an above-average 3B who'd OPS .600.  For the '83 Orioles he went 8-for-67 with no extra base hits and no walks, and was actually on the team from April until August.  After they picked up Todd Cruz he became redundant.

The year he played for the Senators and I watched him, he had 19 HR and 76 RBIs with a OPS of .729

Hitting in front of Howard might have  helped a tad bit. But my recollections that year was he had a decent bat at the time time.

His career dWAR was significantly better than his oWAR.

[DrungoHazewood]

44 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

The year he played for the Senators and I watched him, he had 19 HR and 76 RBIs with a OPS of .729

Hitting in front of Howard might have  helped a tad bit. But my recollections that year was he had a decent bat at the time time.

His career dWAR was significantly better than his oWAR.

That was the one year he was really good.  Slightly above average offense, by far his best defensive metrics.  Looking at that I assume that his +24 defense (+30 (!) if you include the 17 games with the Angels) is an anomaly, that some combination of playing next to Ed Brinkman and the characteristics of the Senators' pitching staff gave him an unrealistically high mark that one season.  The year before he was +8, the year after +5.

Even with that 6+ win 1970 his career value was 15 wins in 17 years.  The last 10 years of his career he was worth three wins.

Weird comp: Larry Parrish.  Both he and Rodriguez were third basemen at about the same time.  They both played 15+ years in the majors.  They were both worth about 15 wins in their careers, so in a typical year they were regulars but below average.  They each had one big, All Star kind of season.  But while Rodriguez was a poor hitter but a good fielder, Parrish was a poor fielder but an above-average hitter.

[LA2]

Rodriguez was very good both at coming in on bunts and slow rollers and calmly back-handing hard shots down the 3rd-base line and getting an accurate throw off smoothly without taking extra steps. His partner on the left side of the INF in both Washington and Detroit was the good-field, no-hit shortstop Eddie Brinkman, who, from the age of 21 to 32, had an almost unbroken string of 12 seasons as a starter despite a career .224/.280/.300/.580, 65 OPS+.

[Redskins Rick]

26 minutes ago, LA2 said:

Rodriguez was very good both at coming in on bunts and slow rollers and calmly back-handing hard shots down the 3rd-base line and getting an accurate throw off smoothly without taking extra steps. His partner on the left side of the INF in both Washington and Detroit was the good-field, no-hit shortstop Eddie Brinkman, who, from the age of 21 to 32, had an almost unbroken string of 12 seasons as a starter despite a career .224/.280/.300/.580, 65 OPS+.

I remember Brinkman well.

Bob Short owner of the Senators, traded Rodriguez, Brinkman and others, for drug addict Denny McClain.

I found this nice writeup, written 15 years after the tragic death at 52.

Quote

Rodriguez was the kind of player for which statistics and awards do little justice in terms of summarizing his career. As an offensive player, Rodriguez was mediocre at best, with only a small measure of power and little ability to draw walks or steal bases. He was a far better fielder, a wonderful defensive player in fact, but he won only one Gold Glove (in 1976), mostly because his playing days coincided with the likes of Brooks Robinson, Graig Nettles, and Buddy Bell. Except for Rodriguez’ 1976 Gold Glove, those three defenders won every American League Gold Glove at the position from 1967 to 1983.

Rodriguez could do it all defensively. He had lockdown hands and superior lateral movement. His range was so good that he played shortstop at times, and played it acceptably. And then there was his throwing arm. Of all the third basemen I’ve watched over the last 40-plus years, none could throw with the power of Rodriguez, who typically pounded the ball into his glove after making the throw to first base. Broadcasters described him as having a “howitzer” for a right arm. He threw accurately, too, making life easier for his many first basemen, from Norm Cash to Nate Colbert to Jason Thompson.

https://www.vintagedetroit.com/blog/2015/07/23/recalling-the-death-of-aurelio-rodriguez/

 

[LA2]

"Rodriguez could do it all defensively. He had lockdown hands and superior lateral movement. His range was so good that he played shortstop at times, and played it acceptably. And then there was his throwing arm. Of all the third basemen I’ve watched over the last 40-plus years, none could throw with the power of Rodriguez, who typically pounded the ball into his glove after making the throw to first base. Broadcasters described him as having a “howitzer” for a right arm. He threw accurately, too, making life easier for his many first basemen, from Norm Cash to Nate Colbert to Jason Thompson."

Glad to know my memory was not deceiving me! In fact, I originally wrote that he had a "cannon" for an arm, but then changed it to "very strong," threw "without taking extra steps," and "accurate" just in case the years and nostalgia had muddled the facts, as they often do.

So now I feel more confidence in trusting the memory image I have of Rodriguez, in one quick, smooth motion, stabbing backhand at hard-hit shots down the 3rd-base line and immediately standing up straight and throwing perfectly while still back on his heels. No need to pump, take a step and replant, no urge to hot-dog it like Machado daring the runner to beat a deliberately delayed toss.

I also recall that his play at third also got him called the "Mexican Bandit" (or simply "Bandito"?).

Brinkman was not a flashy shortstop, but reliable and turned DPs well. Because of the strange beliefs of the time, he was also often at the top of the lineup (batting first or second), akin to our own Mark Belanger,  despite a sub-.300 career OBP and five season BA's below the Mendoza Line, although his most frequent spot was 8th.