En route to Arizona, on Amtrack, I usually bring along the latest Elias Baseball Analyst, which is always good reading. The Analyst was not published this year, but fortunately, a new book, “Pure Baseball” (Harper-Collins, $21), written by Keith Hernandez, with the help of Mike Bryan, has proved an excellent alternative.
A former All-Star first baseman with the Cardinals and Mets, Hernandez dissects two games last June and in so doing offers some revealing insights of how baseball is played at the highest professional level:
– – –
“Experience against the pitchers makes all the difference. I probably hit against the Phillies’ John Denny for four years before I realized I could pick up his palmball before he threw it. You might think that batters would look forward to the arrival in September of all the young, unseasoned guys called up from the minors by the also-ran teams. A chance to fatten up the average for the contact drive.
“But, in fact, most good hitters hate to face these unknown pitchers who can give you more trouble than Randy Johnson and Juan Guzman. One story proves the point. In 1979, I hit .340 or so almost all year while Pete Rose was down around .295 in July before starting his late-season charge for the batting title. In late September, Pete got up to .336, and after a head-to-head series between St. Louis and Philadelphia, his team at the time, I still had a four- or five-point lead over him with one series to go.
“The Cardinals went into Shea Stadium to meet the terrible Mets and a bunch of new pitchers I’d never heard of. Oh, the buzzard’s luck, I thought. The first night was Roy Lee Jackson. Remember him? He was a pretty good reliever for five or six years, but in 1979, he was just starting out. I had to fight negative thoughts, but I must have done a pretty good job of it.
“I went 5 for 5 against Jackson and two relievers, including a three-run dinger off Roy. Rose went hitless that night. I jumped 8 or 10 points ahead of him, and that was all she wrote for the batting championship that year. I won.
“So far the story sounds as if it disproves my point, but move ahead to the following spring training, 1980. The Cardinals are playing the Phillies and Pete walks up to me with congratulations and then says, `Man, you go to Shea Stadium and go 5 for 5 off a guy who came up in September.’ “
– – –
“The ultimate defense against stealing signs was devised by Preston Gomez, a former third-base coach (who also a had a brief term managing the Cubs). Preston was amazing. He had one set of signs for all the pitchers but a different set for each of the other players. Think about it. Fifteen guys, four signs and an indicator apiece, that’s a lot of signs Preston had to keep track of.
“Touching the bill of the cap with the right hand might be the bunt for one player, but the steal for another. With runners on first and second base and a bunt in the works, Preston had to flash three sets of signs, and quickly, too, with no mistakes. And he did it without a hitch. Awesome.”
– – –
“Batters are often declared to be either high-ball or low-ball batters. Generally speaking, all reasonably good hitters can handle the low ball-and some, like Willie McCovey and Willie Stargell, were devastating on anything near the knees.
“A smaller number of hitters feast on the high pitch, though as Ted Williams pointed out, it should be the easiest to hit because the hands are held at that level to begin with. Simply extend them with a level swing. But right-handed batters find it easier to do this than their counterparts on the other side.
“Left-handed batters are almost always low-ball hitters. Maybe it has something to do with the left brain/right brain business. I don’t know. But it’s a fact that many more right-handed batters than left-handed batters can handle the high pitch.”
More Top Picks Computer Vision Syndrome In Children Warning Signs
– – –
“While the rising fastball always has great velocity, the sinking fastball has the least velocity of any fastball. Usually, Kevin Brown of the Texas Rangers throws his sinker ball very hard, and he’s about as tough to hit as anyone when he has control of the pitch. That’s the catch. The ball’s explosive movement downward can take it out of the strike zone.
“Brown’s sinkerball-Roger McDowell’s, too, and Bill Swift’s-can have so much downward action it might be mistaken for the screwball except no screwball could be thrown so hard. The sinker also bears a resemblance to the split-finger. When I faced Bruce Sutter, who gets a lot of the credit for developing the split-finger, I just thought of him as a sinkerballer in order not to get psyched out.”
– – –
Thank you, Mr. Hernandez, for your wonderful insights and helping me enjoy this annual train trip. Clickety-clack, clickety-clack. Flagstaff, Ariz., which has the cleanest air in the country, is the next stop.