Baseball Throwback Thursday - Now THAT'S a Trade!

December 8, 1977

The Texas Rangers traded Adrian Devine, Tommy Boggs and Eddie Miller to the Atlanta Braves.

The Atlanta Braves sent Willie Montanez to the New York Mets.

The Texas Rangers sent a player to be named later (see below) and Tom Grieve to the New York Mets.

The Texas Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pittsburgh Pirates sent Nelson Norman and Al Oliver to the Texas Rangers.

The New York Mets sent Jon Matlack to the Texas Rangers.

The New York Mets sent John Milner to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Texas Rangers sent Ken Henderson (March 15, 1978) to the New York Mets to complete the trade.

Eleven players, four teams. That's a lotta trading!

Baseball Throwback Thursday - Spahn & Sain and Pray for Rain - The 1948 Boston Braves

Did you know that the Braves didn't start out in Atlanta? That they moved there from Milwaukee? And that they actually began in Boston? Well, that's all true. And in 1948, they had their last hurrah in Beantown.

In 1914, 'The Miracle Braves' of Boston, behind Hall of Fame shortstop Rabbit Maranville, unexpectedly won the World Series. They finished second the following season. In 1916 and again in 1947, they managed to finish third. From 1917 through 1946, THIRTY consecutive seasons, they finished fourth or worse. And it was usually worse. Twenty three times out of thirty seasons, they finished under .500 (and finished .500 once).

That’s only six winning seasons out of thirty years. Forgot the Red Sox: The Braves fans were the long suffering ones. They broke the century mark in losses five times. And in 1935, the Braves managed an execrable 38-115 record, averaging less than 3,100 fans per game.

In 1946, the team showed signs of life, improving from 67 to 81 wins and nearly tripling attendance. In 1947, they had their best season since 1916, finished third and broke the million mark in attendance for the first time ever. With many fans excited for Braves baseball for the first times in their lives, what would 1948 hold in store?

“Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.”

Warren Spahn finished serving in World War II and in 1947, his first full season in the majors, won 21 games and led the league in ERA and innings pitched. He would go on to be the winningest left handed pitcher in baseball history.

Johnny Sain returned from his military service and won 20 games in 1946 and 21 more in 1947. Though his career was much less successful than that of Spahn’s, he finished second in the 1948 MVP voting.

The Braves found themselves, surprisingly enough, in a three-way pennant race with the Cardinals and Dodgers as summer wound down in 1948. Those two squads had won six of the seven prior National League pennants.

 As Boston raced to the flag, Boston Post sportswriter Gerald Hearn overheard manager Billy Southworth say, “From here on I will rotate my pitching staff. Spahn one day, Sain the next.”

How fortunate for Hearn that ‘Sain’ and ‘rain’ rhymed! On September 14, the following poem appeared in the Post:

First we'll use Spahn, then we'll use Sain
Then an off day, followed by rain
Back will come Spahn, followed by Sain
And followed, we hope by two days of rain.

It was paraphrased as “Spahn and Sain, then pray for rain” and is still recognizable to baseball fans today.

The refrain is a bit misleading, though. Sain had a brilliant season, winning a league high 24 games. He would also lead the league in complete games and innings pitched. His ERA was a stellar 2.60. He certainly would have won the Cy Young Award if it existed yet.

But Warren Spahn actually had the worst season of his peak years. He only went 15-12 with a 3.71 ERA. Vern Bickford was 11-5 with a 3.27 ERA and even Bill Voiselle, 13-13 with a 3.63 ERA, was comparable. But Southworth knew he had a tough lefty who had just won 21 games the year before in Spahn. And of course, he would go on to win at least 20 games eleven of the next thirteen seasons.

Spahn and Sain started 74 games in 1948: the rest of the staff combined for 75. But the two started three of the six post season games (Spahn and Sain and somebody else…) as the Braves fell to the Indians.

It was nearly an all Boston World Series, as the Red Sox finished tied atop the AL with the Tribe, but lost a one-game playoff to the Tribe.

1948 was the last hurrah for the Boston Braves, who had joined the National Association in 1871 and moved to the National League in 1876. They would finish under .500 in three of the next four seasons, with attendance plummeting. It was only 281,278 in 1952: down almost one million from just four years before. So, the team packed up and moved to Milwaukee for 1953, drawing a stunning 1.8 million fans (Brooklyn owner Walter O’Malley paid attention to that!). They also got suddenly good, finishing first or second in seven of the next eight seasons.

However, the team struggled from 1961 to 1965, attendance declined and the Braves abandoned Milwaukee after only thirteen seasons, moving to Atlanta. Now they just abandon ballparks in the Atlanta area…

‘Casey at the Bat’ is baseball’s most famous poem. And dedicated fans will recognize ‘Tinkers to Evers to Chance.’ But "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" has certainly endured for close to seven decades.

Baseball Throwback Thursday - Rudy Meoli

Rudolph Bartholomew Meoli (Mee-oh-lee) graduated from Royal Oak High School in Covina, CA in 1969. He was the fifth player taken in the fourth round of that 1969 June Amateur Draft. Other players taken in that round include fellow infielders Pete Mackanin and Bill Stein, who would appear in over 1,500 major league games combined.

The eighteen year-old Meoli, a shortstop, would start out in rookie ball that summer and work his way up to the Angel’s AAA team in Salt Lake City in 1972 (he appeared in 7 games with the Angels in 1971 as a late season call up). He played in 128 games, hitting .265. The prior year in AA he stole 19 bases, so he did have a little speed.

The Angels had traded six-time all-star starter Jim Fregosi to the Mets before the 1972 season. Veteran Leo Cardenas handled the position in 1972 but he was winding down his sixteen-year major league career. Meoli was handed the job in April of 1973 when Cardenas was traded to Cleveland for two minor leaguers.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t hold onto it. In 120 games, which also included a few starts at second and third, Meoli hit only .223 and made 27 errors. In 1974, second-year man Dave Chalk took over at short and made the All Star team. Meoli spent most of the season back at Salt Lake City (hitting .308!) while appearing in 36 games for the Angels, primarily as a defensive replacement. He did hit a career high .244.

In 1975, Meoli did spend the entire season with the Angels. However, he hit only .214 in 143 at-bats while Chalk was an All Star reserve again. Meoli’s window had closed. In September, the Angels traded former super prospect Bobby Valentine (yes, the manager and announcer) and the ubiquitous “player to be named later” to San Diego for Gary Ross. Gary. Ross. In November, Meoli became the latest player to be named later.

It was a short stay in southern California, as he was shipped to Cincinnati in April of 1976 for outfielder Merv Rettenmund (Rettenmund had a charmed career, appearing in the post season six out of ten years).

The defending world champs had perennial all-star Dave Concepcion. Meoli may have hoped to land a utility infielder role with the team, but he failed to supplant Doug Flynn and was the starting shortstop at AAA Indianapolis in 1976 and at second in 1977. He hit .274 over the two years (Meoli was a career .281 hitter in the minors. He just could not handle major league pitching).

Still only 27 years old, the Cubs purchased him at the end of 1977. Steve Ontiveros was the Cubs’ starting third baseman and Meoli was one of a half-dozen backups who saw time at the position in ’78. He hit only .103 in 35 at bats, faring better at AAA Wichita, where he hit .293. The Cubs released him outright after the season ended.

The Phillies brought him to spring training in 1979. He started twelve games at short and ten at second. However, he hit only .178 in his last shot at the majors. He appeared in 20 games at AAA Oklahoma City when he was purchased by the Minnesota Twins: who promptly assigned him to AAA Toledo. He got in 51 games (hitting .265) before the season ended. And he was released.

The San Francisco Giants signed him in March of 1980 and released him three weeks later. His career was over. His nomadic days of playing baseball were done. During his last two seasons, as he tried to keep his career alive, Meoli played for Chicago, Wichita, Toledo, Philadelphia and Oklahoma City. That’s five cities, in five states, in three different leagues. Professional baseball isn’t all glamour.

Rudy Meoli played six years in the majors, appearing in 310 games and batting  .212 with 2 homers and 10 stolen bases. And 48 errors (a .942 fielding average).  

But you know what: he was on the field for three of Nolan Ryan’s four no-hitters. And he saved one of them. Ryan’s first no hitter was on May 5, 1973, against the Kansas City Royals. In the bottom of the eighth, pinch hitter Gail Hopkins hit a looper into shallow left. Meoli turned his back to the plate and sprinted into shallow left field and made an over-the-shoulder catch. It was the closest the Royals got to a hit all day.

When we give our best, even if we aren’t superstars, good things result.

Why did I decide to write about the non-descript Rudy Meoli? Because I’ve got his 1975 Topps card and I’ve always liked that one. Sadly, popping the ball straight up in the air typifies his batting career.