Gleanings from a week in the East:
Aside from Reggie Jackson, the principal topic during the Hall of Fame inductions was the bid by Toronto’s John Olerud to become the first .400 hitter since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
Robin Roberts, a superstar pitcher of the previous generation, believes Olerud has a 50-50 chance. “He has a base-hit swing,” Roberts said. “We’re already into August. If he can do it this long, he can do it for the rest of the season.”
Rollie Fingers, the former bullpen star and like Roberts a Hall of Famer, expressed the view that it is much more difficult to hit .400 today because Olerud usually faces as many as three pitchers in the same game.
Fingers also pointed out, correctly, that relief pitchers are considerably more effective than in Williams’ time. In the 1940s and into the ’50s, managers didn’t open the bullpen nearly as often. Also, the bullpen essentially was stocked with second-line pitchers, failed starters who were trying to regain their stuff.
After the inductions, Olerud went into a mild slump. After the Jays played the Yankees in a big four-game series, Olerud departed with only three hits in his last 13 at-bats and his average dropped from .400 to .394. But Olerud fans shouldn’t despair. He had dropped under .400 on 15 previous occasions this season. His lowest average was .388 in mid-June.
There also are some interesting possibilities for Andres Galarraga of the Colorado Rockies, the other half of the .400 equation. Galarraga has been over .400 much of the season but currently is hitting .392. Galarraga injured his knee and has been on the disabled list since July 24. The Rockies have since lost 13 in a row.
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Galarraga is expected to return Aug. 17-when the Rockies will have 43 games to play. Assuming he has four plate appearances in each of the remaining games, he will finish the season with 504 appearances, which will be cutting it close.
A minimum of 502 plate appearances is required to be eligible for the batting title. Anything less and Galarraga’s .400 will become nothing more than a footnote. But there is a potential helper: If, for example, he is short 12 appearances and hitting .415 or .420, he can be charged with going 0 for 12 and would win full honors, providing he still had a .400 average after the correction.
Appearances include at-bats, walks, sacrifices and times he’s hit by the pitcher. The 502 requirement is based on an average of 3.1 appearances for the full 162-game regular-season schedule. George Brett, when he hit .390, lost a month of the season but had the required number of appearances.
According to statistician Steve Hirdt of the Elias Bureau, this rule was put into play only once, in the International League in 1970. Ralph Garr batted .386 but was short two appearances. Roger Freed was a distant second at .334. Garr was charged with going an extra 0 for 2 and was declared the league batting champion.
– Fernando Ferrer, president of the Bronx borough, has been accusing owner George Steinbrenner of purposely undercounting the crowds at Yankee Stadium in an effort to demonstrate the necessity of moving the club to the New Jersey Meadlowands or Staten Island, or possibly to a site in mid-Manhattan.
But Ferrer and his fellow politicians are unable to dispute Steinbrenner’s argument that many fans fear going to and from Yankee Stadium. Steinbrenner has the figures to back him up. At the conclusion of their homestand Thursday, the Yankees were averaging 34,536 for 22 day games, compared to 23,802 for 35 night games.
When I visited with Steinbrenner in his office last week, he revealed his new hero is Jerry Reinsdorf, chairman of the White Sox. Why Reinsdorf? Because Reinsdorf, after threatening to move the White Sox to Florida, got a new ballpark. But Steinbrenner has a much more difficult task. The White Sox merely moved across the street. King George wants both a new ballpark and a new location.
– There is no telling the final scenario in the Vince Coleman ugliness, but you may be surprised to learn, as I was, that if the Mets release him, he would probably wind up with another team. Here is the applicable rule that is part of the standard players’ contract, which is endorsed by the Major League Players Association:
Section 7 (b)-The club may terminate this contract on written notice to the player (but only after requesting and obtaining waivers of this contract from all other major-league clubs) if the player shall at any time fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship.”
The baseball honchos should throw the book at Coleman, just as he threw an explosive into a cluster of worshiping fans. But whatever action is taken against him, this much is fairly certain: The players union will rush to his defense.