Card #127: Lonnie Smith

 

 

Who Can It Be Now?
Lonnie Smith was born on December 22, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to Los Angeles during his childhood, and, as a result, he was a part of the baseball-mad Compton, California, scene in the 1970s which included guys like Eddie Murray and, from Centennial High School where Smith attended, Al Cowens and Reggie Smith. 

Lonnie starred in baseball in high school, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to draft him with the 3rd overall pick in the 1974 June Draft. Smith was assigned to Auburn in the short-season New York Penn League to begin his minor league grooming. At Auburn and at every stop in his time in the minor leagues prior to becoming a major league regular in 1980, Smith did three things very well: he hit for average, he stole bases, and he got on base. In other words, other than not being a power hitter, he was always an asset at the plate. His worst year in the minor leagues came in 1977 in his second year at Triple-A -- and he hit .277/.347/.373 with 45 steals in 52 attempts that season. 

Yet, Smith stayed at Triple-A for four full seasons with barely a call-up included for probably three reasons. First, the Phillies were regularly winning the NL East -- doing so in 1976, 1977, and 1978 before dropping to fourth place in 1979. Second, the Phils had a fairly solid outfield with Greg Luzinski thundering around left field, Garry Maddox covering three-fourths of the known world in center, and Jay Johnstone or Bake McBride filling right field. 

Finally, something everyone knows about Lonnie Smith is that he was a brutally bad fielder. His nickname was "Skates," after all, because he looked like he was playing baseball while wearing rollerskates -- as one writer put it, "Lonnie Smith ran around like he was on skates. He would fall down anywhere. On the bases. Running for a fly in the outfield." Noted baseball analyst Bill James put it this way in 1987: "You've probably heard what a bad outfielder he is, and let me tell you: They ain't lyin'. He really does fall down almost every game. . . . He can't thrown and has a curious inability to position his glove on a ball hit right at him."

As a quick aside, James actually appreciated how skilled Smith was at disaster recover, as he wrote in his 1986 Baseball Abstract:

Many players can kick a ball behind them without ever knowing it; Lonnie can judge by the pitch of the thud and the subtle pressure through his shoe in which direction and how far he has projected the sphere.... He knows exactly what to do when a ball spins out of his hand and flies crazily into a void on the field, when it is appropriate for him to scamper after a ball and when he needs to back up the man who will have to recover it. He has experience in these matters; when he retires he will be hired to come to spring training and coach defensive recovery and cost containment. This is his specialty, and he is good at it.

Smith made his debut in the majors in 1978 with the Phillies in a late-inning double-switch/pinch runner role. He made the team out of spring training in 1979, but that lasted just 16 games before he was sent down to Triple-A again when he did not get a hit in his 6 plate appearances. 

Finally, in 1980, he stayed in the major leagues for an entire season, serving as a fourth outfielder with the Phillies. He played all three outfield positions, appearing more frequently early in the year in right field before the club starting using him in place of Greg Luzinski, whose struggles led Dallas Green to use Smith more frequently down the stretch. Smith responded with a .339/.397/.443 slash line, helping the team earn its first World Series title in its long history.

Smith's reward was to watch the Phillies trade pitcher Bob Walk to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for left fielder Gary Matthews. While Sarge had an awesome year in 1981, it indicated also that the Phillies seemed not to trust Smith. That lack of trust was confirmed on November 20, 1981, when Smith was traded away.  Smith was part of a three-team deal involving the Cardinals, Phillies, and Indians. The Cardinals gave up pitchers Silvio Martinez (who never pitched in the major leagues after this trade) and Lary Sorensen (a fungible innings eater who spent one year in St. Louis). The Indians sent catcher Bo Diaz to the Phillies. Meanwhile, Lonnie Smith came to the Cardinals and was plugged immediately in as the starting left fielder.

Smith responded with one of his best years in the major leagues in 1982. He led the National League in runs scored with 120. He stole 68 bases (though he was caught a league-leading 26 times) while hitting .307/.381/.434. He appeared on the only All-Star team of his career that year, and, to top it off, he finished second in the MVP voting behind Dale Murphy (though neither player was the best player in the league that year; that honor by WAR belonged to Andre Dawson). To top it off, he helped lead the Cardinals to the World Series title -- Smith's second in three years -- and he probably should have been the World Series MVP over Darrell Porter.

And all of this took place before Smith turned 27 years old. 

He remained in St. Louis until 1985. In the wake of Smith's admissions that he was addicted to cocaine (more on that below) and his testimony in the Pittsburgh drug trials, the Cardinals decided to ship him across Missouri to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for prospect John Morris. The result: ho-hum. Another World Series Title for Lonnie Smith -- this time over his former Cardinal teammates.

Smith's time in Kansas City, though, is one on which he does not look back fondly. After 1987 -- a season in which he played in just 48 games -- Smith was cut loose to make room for Bo Jackson. In the depths of that offseason, Smith literally contemplated going to Kansas City to shoot John Schuerholz (both links in this paragraph are to stories about this time in Smith's life). 

It did not help that Smith was still struggling with chemical dependency at this point. But, Smith was convinced that Schuerholz was bad mouthing Smith to other GMs around the league, and Smith wanted to take his frustration out on Schuerholz. Shortly after that, however, the Atlanta Braves then-GM (and later manager) Bobby Cox made Smith an offer of a minor league contract to show that Smith could still play. 

While Smith's 43-game stint for a terrible Braves team in 1988 was not overwhelming, he did get the opportunity in 1989 in spring training to show that he could still play. Smith responded by being the best player in the National League by WAR -- clocking in at 8.8 wins above replacement -- almost 2 wins better than NL MVP Kevin Mitchell and 0.2 wins better than second place Will Clark. Of course, with Smith being worth nearly 9 wins above replacement, the rest of that Braves team was godawful terrible since the team finished 63-97. And yes, a team slash line of .234/.298/.350 is terrible, no matter Smith's fantastic .315/.415/.533 line highlighted by 21 HR and 76 BB in 577 plate appearances.

With the Braves, Smith would appear in two more World Series. Strangely, if not for Otis Nixon's cocaine problem, Smith almost certainly would not have played a key role in the 1991 season for the Braves. But, as Rick James said on the Dave Chappelle Show, "Cocaine is a hell of a drug." Cocaine almost killed Smith's career, and another man's cocaine problem gave him another chance.

But this time, Smith was on the losing end. Indeed, Smith's brain-freeze may have cost the Braves the 1991 World Series. Smith led off the 8th inning by singling off Jack Morris. Terry Pendleton then hit a double into the left-centerfield gap. Inexplicably, the speedy Smith came to a stuttering stop around second base, having been fooled into thinking that the ball would be caught. Smith explained it a decade later as being the result of a delayed steal on which he did not know what happened with the pitch. Instead of scoring -- as one would expect -- he ended up on third base and never scored that run. The Twins won the game in the 10th inning, and the Braves would have to wait until 1995 for their only World Series victory during that incredible 1990s decade.

After the Braves let Smith go after the 1992 season, he signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates as a free agent. The Pirates were trying to replace Barry Bonds with a combination of Al Martin, Orlando Merced, Andy Van Slyke, and Smith. Obviously, that did not work out, and the Pirates ended up trading Smith to the Baltimore Orioles in September of 1993. Smith stayed with the Orioles in 1994, but he did not return to play after the 1994 strike.

Mustache Check: The stylish Lonnie Smith has cool sideburns and a little upper lip hair to match.

Pass the Dutchie
In many respects, Smith was one of the key witnesses in the Pittsburgh drug trials in 1985. The defendant in that case, Curtis Strong, was a former cook for the Phillies before going to Pittsburgh, and Strong supplied Smith with drugs regularly. Some of Smith's testimony included:

• He bought cocaine 3 weeks before the 1982 World Series
• He would use cocaine with teammates Keith Hernandez and Joaquin Andujar regularly
• Former Phillies teammate (and former Brewer) Dick Davis introduced Smith to Strong and, with Gary Matthews present, Smith bought cocaine from strong
• Smith would call Strong from his home in South Carolina to have Strong ship him cocaine through the mail
• Both Bake McBride and Nino Espinosa on the 1980 Phillies were regular amphetamine users
• Smith had heard that Pete Rose, Randy Lerch, Greg Luzinski, and Larry Bowa were regular amphetamine users, but he never saw any of them using.

A Few Minutes with Tony L.

In 1982, Lonnie Smith was the target of as much vitriol from 10-year-old Tony as anyone on that Cardinals team that beat the Brewers. As I said above, he easily could have been named as the World Series MVP for his .321/.345/.536 slash line in the 1982 World Series over catcher Darrell Porter, who hit .286/.310/.464.  

As I have softened over the years, I have to admit that it is more difficult now to hate Smith than it was as a 10-year-old. The guy has done the right things in kicking a deep cocaine habit, seeking help, and trying to live a clean life. From his time in Atlanta -- which overlapped with my moving to the South -- I got a better impression of him as a guy who just wanted to do well for his team, tried really hard, and sometimes just couldn't keep his feet. Especially after that 1991 World Series, I couldn't help but feel bad for the guy.

In writing this, I gained a new appreciation for Smith on a statistical level as well. I had no idea that he had a lifetime OBP of .371. A guy with that kind of ability to get on base -- based off walks, hitting ability, and not being afraid to get hit by a pitch (he led the league in 1982, 1983, and 1984 with the Cardinals with just 9 HBP each year).

I also was not aware of the deep-seated enmity that Smith felt for John Schuerholz. From the stories I read and linked to above, it's pretty clear that Smith still holds a grudge over the whole situation in the late 1980s. Smith stated that he avoided Schuerholz during the years that the two overlapped in Atlanta. However, Smith also made clear that he respected Schuerholz's baseball acumen. But, Smith just didn't trust the guy.

After baseball, Smith retired. Literally. He settled with his second wife in Fayetteville, Georgia -- about 30 miles south of downtown Atlanta in a comfortable gated house where he cooks for his three daughters before they go off to school.  

And, for what it's worth, Lonnie also spends some of his time responding to requests for autographs -- he rates at a 100% return rate on Sports Card Forum. So send him some mail!

Card #114: Ken Landreaux

Who Can It Be Now?
Kenneth Francis Landreaux was born on December 22, 1954, in Los Angeles. He grew up in Compton in a time when baseball was flourishing in that Los Angeles neighborhood, with guys like Ozzie Smith, Eddie Murray, Reggie Smith, Chet Lemon, Lyman Bostock, Dan Ford, and Darryl Strawberry, among others, playing baseball in and around Compton at that time.

Landreaux was a good baseball player even at Dominguez High School. He was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 8th Round of the 1973 June Draft, but he chose not to sign. As he put it recently, he felt he was "way too small" at 155 pounds to jump into minor league baseball, so he chose instead to attend Arizona State University on a baseball scholarship. 

With Arizona State, he played in the 1975 and 1976 College World Series and was named to the All-Tournament Team in 1976. The 1975 team set a record for having the most future major leaguers on it at thirteen, and the 1976 team matched that record -- Gary Allenson, Chris Bando, Floyd Bannister, Ken Phelps, and Bob Horner, just to name 5. Yet, ASU did not win the College World Series in either season.

Just before the 1976 College World Series began, Landreaux was drafted by the California Angels with the sixth pick overall in the 1976 June Draft. He was picked 5 spots after college teammate Floyd Bannister was selected by the Astros. The Angels recognized that Landreaux was an advanced hitting prospect and, once they got him to sign, they sent him to Double-A El Paso in the Texas League in 1976.  

After a 21-game introduction to professional baseball in 1976, Landreaux split his 1977 season between El Paso and Triple-A Salt Lake City. Between those two stops -- both of which were excellent hitters' environments -- Landreaux hit .357/.429/.637 with 27 HR, 116 RBI, 20 SB (11 CS), 33 2B, and 8 3B. No matter where you hit, you will get recognition if you hit .357 over a full season. For his efforts, Landreaux was named The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year in 1977. He also earned his first major league call-up to the big club.

In 1978, the Angels were trying to contend for the AL West pennant. Having signed free agents Lyman Bostock and Rick Miller in the offseason, the Angels decided to have Landreaux serve as their fourth outfielder to give Bostock, Miller, and Joe Rudi days off (though Don Baylor did that some as well in left field) in addition to providing a pinch-hitter and pinch-runner off the bench. Landreaux started just 57 games that season.

In today's game, perhaps Landreaux would have split time in 1978 between Triple-A and the majors, because he struggled at the plate that year (.223/.284/.346). Looking ahead to 1979, though, one might have assumed that the Angels would have pushed Landreaux into the starting lineup to replace Bostock, who was murdered in Gary, Indiana, in late September of 1978. 

Either the Angels did not trust Landreaux, or they viewed him as more of a chit to be traded rather than kept. In December of 1978, the Angels traded Danny Goodwin and Ron Jackson to the Twins in exchange for Dan Ford. Ford was installed as the starting right fielder,  Then, in February of 1979, Landreaux was traded to the Angels Triple-A team in Minneapolis, I mean, the Twins, with catcher Dave Engle and pitchers Paul Hartzell and Brad Havens in exchange for Rod Carew. 

Landreaux benefited from the trade greatly. Getting to play nearly every day, he hit .305/.347/.450 with 15 HR, 10 SB, and 15 3Bs.  Indeed, that season at the age of 24 made many think that Landreaux would live up to the advance billing from his 1977 minor league season.

Because he was toiling in relative anonymity in Minnesota, that .305 season did not necessarily draw all that much acclaim to Landreaux. But, early in 1980, every baseball fan knew the name Ken Landreaux. 

On April 23, Landreaux went 1-for-4 in a game in which the Twins were annihilated by Landreaux's former team, the California Angels. In hitting a double off Bruce Kison with one out in the 9th inning, Landreaux broke up Kison's bid for a no-hitter. Landreaux then proceed to get a hit in every game in which he appeared (except 1, in which he walked) from that day until May 31, when he went o-for-4 against lefty Scott McGregor. In between, Landreaux hit in 31 consecutive games, going 49-for-125 with 2 HR with a slash line of .392/.445/.496.

The news stories started appearing about the new superstar in Minnesota. As this AP article started:

When the Minnesota Twins dealt Rod Carew to California two years ago, they hoped they were trading one bonafide superstar for a potential one -- Ken Landreaux.

Gene Mauch, the Twins manager at the time, was similarly exuberant, stating that he thought the trade "could turn out to be the best trade that was ever made in the history of the game" for the Twins. Landreaux was also named as the Twins representative to the All-Star Game in 1980.

Yet, outside of the hitting streak, Landreaux had a terrible year. He finished the season hitting .281/.334/.417. To put that into context, when he was not on the 31-game streak, he went 87-for-359 -- just .242. From May 31 to the end of the season, he hit just .238/.291/.384. 

So, about 9 months after Gene Mauch went into full Sparky-Anderson-talking-about-Chris-Pittaro mode, the Twins sent Landreaux back to the Greater Los Angeles area in exchange for two minor leaguers and outfielder Mickey Hatcher at the end of spring training in 1981. 

The move worked out well for Landreaux in many respects, not the least of which was leaving a terribly run Twins organization behind and joining a winning team in the Dodgers. While his hitting did not improve -- it regressed, in fact -- I believe Landreaux would tell you himself that it was all worth it when he caught the final out to win the 1981 World Series against the New York Yankees.

Landreaux played the last 7 seasons of his career with the Dodgers, first as a regular and later as a regular pinch hitter and pinch runner. He became one of Tommy Lasorda's favorite players, even though by the end of 1987 the Dodgers appeared to be actively trying to push him aside. Perhaps he became one of Tommy's favorites by being willing to do things like pinch hit even if Landreaux did not believe that pinch hitting was his "type of baseball" and that he played "best -- [and] hit best -- when [he was] playing every day." Landreaux's rationale for accepting it? "I'll do whatever Lasorda wants, but it's not what I want." Lasorda's response was, "Listen, the General (Landreaux's nickname) has been with me a long time, and he knows that I respect him as a player."

After the 1987 season, Landreaux's contract with the Dodgers ended. He hooked on with Baltimore's Triple-A affiliate in Rochester for 1988. He then played in Triple-A Albuquerque in the Dodgers organization and for Aguascalientes in the Mexican League in 1989 before calling time on his playing career.

Mustache Check: Yup, Landreaux has a thick mustache on this card.

Family Ties
Landreaux grew up about 15 minutes away from his cousin, Enos Cabell. Cabell's Baseball Reference page mentions that Cabell had another cousin -- Dick Davis -- who played in the major leagues. Davis must have been a cousin on the other side of Cabell's family from Landreaux. But geez, that must have been one hell of a family reunion softball game back in the 1970s.

Pass The Dutchie
Perhaps Landreaux never fulfilled his promise with the Twins due to drug and alcohol problems. Shortly after Steve Howe emerged from the first of his attempts at rehab, Landreaux checked into rehab himself. That story notes that Landreaux was receiving criticism at the end of the 1982 season for a "lack of stamina . . . amid rumors of an impending trade."

A Few Minutes with Tony L.
I was only 8 years old when Ken Landreaux went on his 31-game hitting streak in 1980, yet I was well aware of it. I had no idea that his 1980 season had ended so poorly, though. 

Surprisingly, he was the first player in major league history to have a hitting streak of thirty or more games in one season and finish the season with a batting average under .300. That feat has since been matched by Dan Uggla in 2011 (who had to hit in 33 straight games to get his batting average up to .233), Jerome Walton in 1989, Willy Tavares in 2006, Ryan Zimmerman in 2009, and Andre Ethier in 2011.  The last four guys all hit for exactly thirty games in a row, for what that's worth.

After his playing career ended, Landreaux continued to struggle with drug and alcohol problems. Eventually, he worked at it and became sober. As a result, he ended up being a family and drug-abuse counselor at Bellwood Health Center in Bellflower, California.

In 2000 to 2002, he worked as a hitting coach in the Toronto Blue Jays organization -- first at Single-A Hagerstown and then for two years at Triple-A Syracuse. Since then, he has served in an ambassadorial role for the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. 

More importantly, he has worked regularly with the Compton Urban Youth Academy. The Compton Academy brings in good players from the surrounding neighborhoods to help teach baseball and softball but also to teach life skills. As Landreaux himself put it, "I'm trying to teach these kids how to handle adversity and deal with any situation in life. Through baseball and the importance of learning the fundamentals, they can learn the discipline to become educated, to be good, productive citizens. That's what we're striving for here." 

The Academy has seen success already. In the 2013 Major League Draft, Academy graduate Dominic Smith was drafted 11th overall by the New York Mets. If you're interested in finding out more about the Compton Urban Youth Academy, you can visit its blog. It is one of many MLB Urban Youth Academies across the country.

Hats off to Ken Landreaux for his involvement with the Academy.

Card #96: Royals Team Leaders

Who Can It Be Now?
It's George Brett leading the Royals with a .314 batting average and Larry Gura's 2.72 ERA showing the way on the pitching staff.

Unlike most expansion teams, it did not take the Royals very long to begin contending. Starting in 1971 -- with a second place finish and a twenty-game improvement over their previous season -- the Royals finished the season under .500 in just 5 seasons and never finished worse than 10 games under .500.  It never hurts when you have a Hall of Famer at third base to pace your club, and with solidly above average outfielders and pitching, you get an excellent team overall.

Thanks to the split season and despite the fact that one of the five seasons under .500 was, in fact, 1981, the Royals still made the playoffs that season. The Royals never dug out from their 20-30 first half of the season under Jim Frey before the strike. After the strike, Frey led the team to a 10-10 record before being fired. The Kauffmans brought in Dick Howser, and the club responded by finishing the season 7 games over .500 for the second half. In the morass that was the AL West at that point, that 30-23 record was good enough for first place. Still, the Royals were swept in the Divisional Series by Oakland.

Thus, in the offseason, changes were needed. General Manager Joe Burke was pushed out of the player evaluation job and into the Team President role to replace Ewing Kauffman. Whether he was pushed or he jumped, the move let the team promote the new young front office superstar -- the then-41-year-old John Schuerholz -- to General Manager.  

The man who later built the Braves dynasty in the 1990s started turning over the roster some and stocking the minor leagues for the team that won the World Series in 1986. In a busy offseason before the 1982 season, Schuerholz started with what looked like a minor trade -- sending utility infielder Manny Castillo to the Mariners for a player-to-be-named-later.  That player ended up being Bud Black, who spent 7 years in the Royals rotation. Indeed, in total, in the time between the end of the 1981 season and the beginning of the 1982 season, Schuerholz released or traded away 14 players in various deals and received back 10 more. While a lot of these players were on the periphery of the team, it helped to refresh the bench some and get in new blood.

That refreshing process appeared to work. The team spent 53 total days in first place during the season and enjoyed a 2 game lead over second place California as late as September 17. But, the problem was that, starting on September 16 and ending on September 28, the Royals lost 10 of their 11 games starting with game 146 of the season.  That streak included a three-game sweep by the Angels from September 20 through September 22 -- a series which started with the two teams tied for first place. A late 5-game winning streak started too late to salvage the division title, leading the Royals to scratch their heads and play the "what-if" game.

Mustache Check: Team leaders on the Royals don't "do" facial hair. Or at least George Brett and Larry Gura did not on this card.

Pass the Dutchie
Not to beat a dead horse, but the Royals in 1982 had a pretty bad drug problem. Two of the players that John Schuerholz traded for were Jerry Martin and Vida Blue. This story from the New York Times news service details how deeply the problem went. The story mentions that, during the 1982 season, Kansas City drug dealer Mark Liebl had a room he called "The Cooperstown Room" to signify the baseball luminaries that had snorted cocaine there. 

The story mentions specifically the Kansas City "Four" who went to prison -- Blue, Martin, Willie Mays Aikens, and Willie Wilson -- but it also drops the names of other Royals who played on the 1982 team and other players in the league who bought cocaine from Liebl. Such players as Don Hood, U.L. Washington, and Al Cowens.  

While the story does not give all the names of the players, it mentions that Liebl's sworn testimony used in the investigative process named a total of thirteen players other than the four who went to prison, and that these players played on the Royals or on at least three other teams. Indeed, Liebl mentioned that orders for cocaine were placed from the telephone in the Royals clubhouse and that drugs were delivered to the stadium.

In other words, owners were probably relieved in the late 1980s when steroids replaced cocaine as the drugs of choice for major league baseball players. As much as many of us complain about steroids "ruining" the game in the 1990s and early 2000s, cocaine likely had as much of an effect -- and probably a more deleterious effect -- in the 1970s and 1980s.

A Few Minutes with Tony L.
The Royals of 1982 were an excellent baseball team. Apparently, as the story above seems to hint at, half of them were snorting cocaine and John Schuerholz's trades in the offseason added to that number. Now, other than the guys mentioned in that story above, I have no idea who was and who was not throwing their money away on drugs, nor am I going to speculate about it.  

How did the Royals blow their lead in September? The most difficult part of that losing streak to understand are the 5 losses in 6 games against the two worst teams in the division -- the Oakland Athletics and the Minnesota Twins. The Twins swept the Royals in a weekend series from September 17-19 before a grand total of 22,850 fans for the three games. 

The Friday night game saw Paul Splittorff give up 4 runs in the bottom of the third and reliever Bob Tufts give up a single run in the bottom of the eighth. That single run meant that the Royals' furious comeback in the eighth and ninth innings off Brad Havens and Ron Davis fell a run short.  In Saturday's afternoon game, Vida Blue and Don Hood both were hit early and often, giving up 10 runs by the end of 6 innings. Hey -- stay away from the nose candy, guys!  Then Sunday, the Royals started Bill Castro -- for only the second time that season and the seventh time in his career -- and hit was hit for 5 runs in four innings.  

In short, it was their pitching that did it -- and, frankly, their pitching had been an issue that season. A team ERA of 4.08 was good enough only for 10th in the league, and the club struck out just 650 batters all year.  That just was not good enough, and it made clear what Schuerholz's next steps had to be -- fixing the starting rotation.

Now, for the Brewers and HOF Countdown:

Former Brewers on the Checklist
There are two.

Ken Brett spent all of the 1972 season as a Milwaukee Brewer after spending four seasons in Boston. The Brewers sent him to the Phillies as part of trading for Don Money. 

Jamie Quirk was traded by the Royals to the Brewers after the 1976 season with Jim Wohlford and Bob McClure in exchange for Jim Colborn and Darrell Porter (boy, did the Royals win that trade) and, then, was traded back to the Royals in mid-1978 for a minor leaguer and money.  

Former Brewers Appearing in 1982 for the Royals But not on Cardboard
Brewers castoff Bill Castro -- who came back to Milwaukee later for many years and served as the bullpen coach and, later, as pitching coach -- appeared in 21 games and made four starts for the 1982 Royals. He pitched 75-2/3 innings in KC in 1982.

Future Brewers on the Checklist
Not a single one.

Future Brewers Appearing But Not on the Checklist
Once again, not a single one.

Future Hall of Famers on the Checklist
There's the obvious one, of course -- the hitter on the front of the card. George Brett had a pretty good 1982, hitting .301/.378/.505. Brett's the only one, though.

Future Hall of Famers Appearing in 1982 but not on the checklist
As was the case for the Astros, no one other than Brett played for the Royals in 1982 that made it to the Hall of Fame. 

The only guy who received some consideration for the Hall of Fame was Vida Blue, but Vida's career numbers were affected both by injuries and, more to the point, his personal drug demons. Certainly, he started off his career with an incredible 1971 -- Cy Young and MVP -- but the 312 innings at age 21 might have caused problems in 1972. He rebounded from that, but, from the age of 32 forward, his "decline" phase looked more like a "collapse" phase. 

Other guys who could have been considered: Hal McRae, Frank White, Amos Otis, Willie Wilson. As a collective, that is a lot of talent and is the core of a great team. None of them made it past their first year on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Card #78: George "Doc" Medich

Who Can It Be Now?
George Francis Medich was born on December 9, 1948, in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.  To say that "Doc" had an interesting career and full life would be an understatement.  He grew up in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and was a star in basketball, baseball, and football at Hopewell High School.  

He was not drafted out of high school for baseball, so he took his multi-sport talents to the University of Pittsburgh in 1967.  While his bio at SportsReference.com only picked up his 1968 season, his Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame biography notes that Doc served as the football team's punter and starting tight end/end for three seasons.  On top of those responsibilities, the 6'5", 225-pound Medich was also the Panthers best starting pitcher. Those pitching talents are what led the New York Yankees to take a late round flyer on him in the 1970 June Draft's 30th Round.

After Medich signed with the Yankees, he was assigned first to low-A Oneonta in the New York-Penn League.  He overmatched the youngsters there and was pushed up to Manchester in the Eastern League.  The more advanced Double-A hitters beat him up, so the Yankees assigned him back to Single-A Kinston in the Carolina League in 1971.  Medich dominated Single-A hitters in 1971, so the Yankees moved him to Double-A West Haven in 1972.  The complicating factor for Medich's development as a pitcher, of course, was that he probably was pitching during his summer breaks from medical school.   

Nonetheless, his 1972 season earned him a cup of coffee with the Yankees in 1972 -- a very forgettable game for Medich.  He started the game and was staked to a five-run lead in the top of the first inning.  He faced four hitters, walking two and giving up two hits, and exited the game in favor of Wade Blasingame without recording an out.  In the end, Lindy McDaniel came in to pitch in the third inning and ended up recording the victory for the Yankees. Despite that appearance occurring on September 5, Medich did not make another appearance for Ralph Houk's Yankees.

Regardless of the inauspicious debut, Medich never again pitched in the minor leagues.  He racked up his first career victory for the Yankees in 1973 against the Milwaukee Brewers, and he ended up staying in New York for three full seasons and rolled up a 49-40 record with a 3.40 ERA -- 7% better than the league average.  He kept his walks and hits allowed low as well.  But, as George Steinbrenner and his cavalcade of General Managers started trying to win now every year, Medich was pushed aside.  To be fair, the haul that the Yankees got after the 1975 season -- Ken Brett, Dock Ellis, and Willie Randolph -- was nearly a "Godfather" trade that the Yankees could not refuse.  

Being in Pittsburgh allowed Medich to complete the classroom portion of his medical degree by January of 1977.  On the field, though, his 1976 season in Pittsburgh was not a great one, as he finished with an 8-11 record and 3.52 ERA (3.24 FIP) in 179 innings pitched.  I mean, it wasn't terrible, but with the number and quality of players that the Pirates gave up for him, it appears that the franchise was expecting a number one starter and what they got was about a solid 4th and a guy who lost his spot in the rotation by season's end.  

Perhaps as a result, the Pirates traded Medich -- this time to Oakland -- along with Tony Armas, Doug Bair, Dave Giusti, Rick Langford, and Mitchell Page for Chris Batton, Tommy Helms, and Phil Garner. To say that Doc was not very happy with this trade is an understatement.  At first, Medich refused to report to Oakland because he had set up his medical internships with an eye toward his licensure.  He spoke to Oakland owner Charlie Finley about the issue and reiterated his request to be closer to Pittsburgh; Finley promised to try to trade him to a team closer to Pittsburgh.

Medich spent nearly the whole year in Oakland and did not do himself any favors in terms of getting traded to a locale closer to Pittsburgh.  His year in Oakland was not a good one -- his walks and homers allowed went up, as did his ERA, though he finished with a 10-6 record for the A's.  All that did was earn him a chance to start three games for the very first Seattle Mariners team in September of 1977 -- as the Mariners picked up Medich's contract off waivers from Oakland. Medich had refused to sign a contract extension, so the Mariners claimed him in an effort to sign him themselves.  Why they would think that Seattle would be a better place than Oakland for a guy trying to get closer to Pittsburgh is beyond my comprehension, but that's what Seattle did.

Medich spent three games in Seattle before the Mariners -- realizing that Medich would not sign with them and, therefore, would be a free agent after the season (and in an effort not to lose their entire waiver fee) -- put him on waivers themselves.  The New York Mets then claimed him off waivers and put him on the mound for one 7-inning, 3 run start at the end of September.  

Now, I don't know if the Mets tried to sign Medich or if he refused to sign with them, but Medich ended up being a free agent after the 1977 season.  But 9 days after he was "granted" free agency, he signed a contract with the Texas Rangers paying him $175,000 a year, giving him a $100,000 signing bonus, and paying him an additional $50,000 for his medical schooling.

Medich spent most of five seasons with the Rangers.  He led the team in ERA in 1981 with a 3.08 ERA and, indeed, lead the American League in shutouts with 4, so he got his photo on the Team Checklist card at card #36 as a result.  He won 50 games for the Rangers over those seasons.  

His contract was sold in August of 1982 to the Milwaukee Brewers, who picked him up as pitching help for the pennant race.  The Brewers saw three weeks of Medich and decided that they still needed pitching help (trading at the end of August for Don Sutton).  That said, Medich appeared in one game of the 1982 World Series for the Brewers -- the Game 6 debacle -- and, after that, called time on his career as he opted to finish his studies in orthopedic surgery at that point.

Mustache Check: Not that I can see.  And he is distinctly mustache-free on his portrait on the Team Leaders card.

Nanu Nanu
This 1982 Topps card was the last Topps card on which Medich appeared.  His trade took place too late in the season to appear in the Traded set that year, and his retirement was early enough such that Topps decided to leave him out.  Fleer included him, though, ensuring that Brewers fans would never forget his horrendous pitching in 1982.  Since 1983, Medich appeared in a few different sets celebrating his time as a Yankee, and he even appeared in one set as a New York Met -- the "Nobody Beats the Wiz" New York Mets in 1991 series, issued as part of the Mets 30th anniversary celebrations.

Pass the Dutchie
One thing that cannot be ignored with Medich is the fact that his license to practice medicine was suspended in 2002 in Pennsylvania due to his guilty plea to 12 counts of knowingly or intentionally possessing controlled substances.  

His dependence on prescription painkillers has been a lifelong struggle for Medich.  Indeed, in November of 1983, Medich was charged with seven counts of writing prescriptions for nonexistent patients so that he could keep the painkillers for himself. The head of his orthopedic surgery specialization program said that Medich "had this problem and had treatment for it in the past, when he was in baseball, and he was all cured. He's had a relapse and now he is undergoing treatment again."

Trivial Pursuit
Even though his time in Milwaukee was relatively short -- about three months, including the post-season, Medich was involved in two records being set or tied.

First, on August 26, 1982, Doc Medich was the pitcher on the mound at Milwaukee County Stadium when Rickey Henderson stole his 119th stolen base of the 1982 season -- setting a major league record for most stolen bases in a season.  Medich threw over to first 4 times to keep Henderson close and almost picked him off.  As Medich said, "I held him as good as I could hold him. I knew he was going."

Second, Medich's one World Series appearance set a bad record -- he tied the record for most wild pitches in a single World Series inning with 2 in the sixth inning of the Game 6 13-1 shellacking put on the Brewers by the Cardinals.

Finally, Medich was the winning pitcher in the final game held at Yankee Stadium I -- the REAL House that Ruth Built -- on September 29, 1973. Medich threw a 3-0 complete-game shutout against the Tigers in front of just 9,502 people.  That type of crowd for such a momentous occasion would be unheard of in today's game.

A Few Minutes with Tony L.
As a fan of the 1982 Brewers, I cringed when Doc Medich took the mound. He pitched so badly in 1982 -- a 5.00+ ERA, which was not equivalent to a 5.00 ERA if it occurred in, say, 2004 -- that I came to expect nothing but pain and heartache when he took the mound.  In the World Series, the Brewers brought him in to try to keep the game -- already a bad game at 7-0 -- from going completely away.  That failed.  It didn't help that the Brewers committed four errors that game (Yount and Gantner each with 2), but dear God Doc, keep the ball where the catcher could catch it.

Frankly, I was hoping for a more uplifting life story for Doc since his baseball career ended. I appreciated the fact -- even in 1982 -- that being a medical student and a professional athlete at the could not be an easy task. As a good student with athletic designs myself, I wanted Doc to be a good player and to have lived a good life.  But his problems with prescription drugs tore him down.

To avoid leaving on a completely dour note akin to listening all day to The Smiths while wearing black and chanting that the only person who understands you is Morrissey, let me leave you with the uplifting stories from Medich's career.  

You see, on several occasions, Medich lent a hand to people suffering from life-threatening medical ailments.  He saved the life of 73-year-old Joseph Corbett of Newport, Delaware, by giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR to the man prior to a game between the Pirates and the Phillies in late April of 1976.  According to this People Magazine story from May 3, 1976, Medich had helped first responders in a game in New York in 1973 and had assisted when Whitey Ford started having trouble breathing during spring training.  

This man later died, however, from this heart attack.  In 1978, though, Medich provided emergency treatment an hour before a game in Baltimore to Germain Languth.  Once again, Medich provided mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and external heart massage.  Indeed, Medich was the only one who responded in this situation when the public address system asked for a doctor.

Though his medical career was curtailed by his own demons, it is safe to say that Medich still gave back to the world through his medical training.

Card #47: Jeffrey Leonard

Who Can It Be Now?
Jeffrey Leonard was born on September 22, 1955 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he attended Overbrook High School.  Leonard is the only baseball player to have attended that school, but he is in no way the most famous alumnus of Overbrook -- that title certainly belongs to actor/rapper Will Smith.  Indeed, Leonard isn't even the best athlete to come out of Overbrook since NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain attended Overbrook around the time Leonard was born.

Leonard was more highly regarded by colleges for football and basketball than for baseball. In a story about Leonard near the end of his career in the Seattle Times, the story was told that Leonard "got 60 scholarship offers for football, five for basketball and none for baseball, where he played shortstop and twice hit two home runs in one inning."  It should not be surprising, then, that he was not drafted.  

His signing by the Los Angeles Dodgers sounds like a 1970s version of a Horatio Alger tale -- poorer African-American boy grows up in tough neighborhood, rises above his circumstances, and ends up in the big leagues.  That's not far off from the truth.  As a high school player, baseball scouts ignored Leonard. Leonard believed that he was ignored because his school only played a 12-game season and lost several of those to rainouts.  

One day, a Dodgers scout, Ed Libertadore, saw Leonard play and gave Leonard a business card.  Leonard was certain that the Phillies were going to draft him so he stuffed the card into his uniform pocket and forgot about it.  When Leonard went undrafted,  he went back to retrieve it from the dirty laundry pile at his high school. Leonard's father called Libertadore, who came to watch a game (with three Phillies scouts also in attendance) that was -- surprise -- rained out.  The next day, the Phillies scouts did not return, but Libertadore did and ran Leonard through some drills.  Libertadore said Leonard was"raw, but had tools, a pretty good prospect."  Leonard continued, "I took him over to my car and signed him."

Leonard got a $500 signing "bonus" and a new baseball glove.  Libertadore threw in some extra money for equipment and a new suit.  

Leonard was just 17 years old when he signed in 1973, and his first minor league assignment sent him clear across the country to Bellingham, Washington -- a Navy town nearly on the Canadian border.  He spent the better part of two seasons at Bellingham in short-season ball and hit very well.  

Perhaps because he was not drafted and, therefore, did not have a "pedigree," he wasn't really pushed to advance through the Dodgers system until around 1976.  The Dodgers gave him a 7-game preview of Triple-A at the young age of 20 after Leonard spent the season in the Single-A California League.  Leonard hit .296 and slugged .556 in 27 at-bats and did not appear overmatched other than not taking any walks.  

The Dodgers organization realized that Leonard could hit, and they moved him up to Double-A San Antonio in 1977.  The Dodgers gave Leonard a brief September call-up in 1977, and Leonard hit .385 in 27 at-bats.  

Leonard moved up to Albuquerque in 1978, but he was stuck in an organization that had Dusty Baker, Bill North, and Reggie Smith in its outfield and was contending for World Series titles (they lost to the Yankees that year). So, when the Dodgers needed to come up with a player to be named later to send to Houston in September to complete a trade made earlier in the year for backup catcher Joe Ferguson, Leonard was made available.  The Astros grabbed Leonard.

In 1979, Leonard got his first opportunity to play regularly at the major league level.  He did not hit for power, but he did hit and get on base well -- .290/.360/.350.  He finished a distant second in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Dodgers pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, but it was certainly a successful year.

Despite the good season in 1979, the Astros made Leonard their fourth outfielder in their run to the National League West title.  Leonard struggled early in 1981, and the Astros felt he was expendable. So, on April 20, 1981, Leonard and Dave Bergman were sent to San Francisco for first-baseman Mike Ivie.  Leonard was sent down to Triple-A immediately on his arrival with the Giants, and he flourished in Phoenix -- in 204 plate appearances, he his .401/.451/.636 and added 18 stolen bases in 19 attempts.  So, when the major leagues resumed after the strike, he was in San Francisco.

He played in the minor leagues again in 1982, but that was to get himself back into shape. Leonard came clean that year about the fact that he had a cocaine problem and sought and received treatment for his addiction.  

After that time, Leonard was clean and his performances improved as well in many respects. He was an all-star twice -- once in San Francisco in 1987 and again in Seattle in 1989.  That did not stop him from being a divisive character, however. In 1987, Leonard and Will Clark got upset with each other in the visitors clubhouse in Philadelphia due to what Clark called later to be Leonard's "unyielding abuse." With the Giants in Philadelphia, Leonard had a nephew in the clubhouse.  The nephew asked Clark for an autograph.  Clark turned Leonard's nephew down and added a gratuitous racial epithet to boot.  Clark says that did not cause the fight between the two, but they did fight. 

Two years later, when the Giants made the World Series, Clark still had not let the incident go -- calling Leonard a "tumor" and saying, "we got rid of him; now look where we are." Clark was referring to the fact that Leonard was traded in June of 1988 to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for shortstop Ernest Riles. At least one San Francisco Examiner columnist, Art Spander, was not a fan of the trade, calling it a "joke" and saying that the Giants "are giving away ballplayers."

Leonard responded to Clark by saying, "It's about time Will Clark came out of the closet. Talk about my personality! Let's unveil his true personality. He's a talented hitter, but he's a prejudiced bastard."

The idea that Leonard was a difficult character was not new.  Former Brewers and Mariners manager Del Crandall managed Leonard at Albuquerque.  His comment in 1990 was that Leonard, "had considerable talent.  But he really wouldn't talk to anyone but his teammates. At times he appeared, I'm not sure of the right word, maybe angry.  It might have been a defense against management or anyone who had to evaluate him."

The Brewers kept Leonard only for the rest of the 1988 season, letting him go to Seattle for the 1989 and 1990 seasons. By that time, Leonard had become an elder statesman of sorts, especially with younger African-American players.  For instance, a July 30, 1989 story in The Milwaukee Journal questioned openly whether Gary Sheffield would have settled better in Milwaukee had Leonard still been with the Brewers.  In fact, in Seattle, none other than Ken Griffey Jr. cited Leonard as being a major positive influence on him.

After his two-year contract with the Mariners ended, though, the Mariners released him on October 13, 1990.  Leonard played in 1991 for the Royals' Triple-A farm team in Omaha, but never made the majors and retired after that.

Pass the Dutchie
As mentioned in passing above, Jeffrey Leonard was one of many major league baseball players who got caught up in the cocaine-fueled early 1980s.  Not only that, but Leonard also testified at the Pittsburgh Drug Trial of Curtis Strong.  The book citation here says that Dave Parker allegedly smuggled drugs into the US in a catcher's mitt and sold it himself.  Initially, Leonard received a one-year suspension that was never enforced, and rumors were that his punishment was reduced by then-Commissioner Peter Ueberroth.

The Message
I've forgotten to use this subject a few times for others who have done or are doing a great deal of charity work.  I'm bringing it back here, though.

Jeffrey Leonard's daughter Christine suffered through stage 3 breast cancer.  As a result, he set up a charity called "Jeffrey 'HacMan' Leonard Runs Bases for a Cure" to promote cancer awareness and to seek support for his daughter.  Leonard and his wife Karen have a joint Facebook page that is listed as the administrator for the Cancer charity.

A Few Minutes with Tony L.
In 1982, I was not all that familiar with Leonard.  By 1988, though, I obviously was since he played for my Milwaukee Brewers. I remember Leonard as the archetypical anti-hero in many respects.  He was great to his own teammates, yet he kept his distance from the media and the fans.  Perhaps because of that -- and perhaps because of the fact that I was a trying-to-be-rebellious 16-year-old -- I loved Leonard's "One Flap Down" home run trot.  In the video at this link, Leonard explained that the One Flap Down trot actually originated somewhat by accident.

Since retiring as a player, Leonard managed for a while in the minor leagues in the Oakland A's organization. In the story about his appointment to the position with the Modesto A's, he mentioned that he had become religious and credited Jesus Christ for his turnaround. Leonard hung around for a little while in the minor leagues before coaching the Antelope Valley College Marauders in 2003 and 2004.

More recently -- as in 2014 -- Leonard rejoined the San Francisco Giants organization as a Community Ambassador.  According to the press release regarding the position, Leonard is scheduled to attend the Breast Cancer Awareness Night at AT&T Park on Wednesday, July 2.  

His "One Flap Down Foundation" is still active and aims to assist single parents who have cancer.  If you wish to learn more about that fight, you can click through here. That website tells the story of his stepdaughter's fight against breast cancer -- it is worth your time to read it.

Card #35: Willie Aikens

Who Can It Be Now?
Willie Mays Aikens was born on October 14, 1954, in Seneca, South Carolina.  He attended Seneca High School, but he was not drafted out of high school.  He went on to attend South Carolina State University, a historically black land-grant university located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, which is notable in its past for churning out multiple NFL players in its history including NFL Hall of Famer Deacon Jones and is notable today for teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.  He went to SC State for only a year, as the school dropped baseball after his freshman year in college.  

Aikens grew up in poverty in the Bruce Hill neighborhood in Seneca.  He believes that his name -- making him seemingly predestined to be a baseball player -- was not in homage to the great Giants centerfielder, but rather was a combination of putting his Uncle Willie's name with Dr. Mays's last name from the down the street in his neighborhood.  

Whichever is true, multiple people interviewed for a story for a 2004 article about Aikens said that he grew up in a "shack" that had either a dirt floor or a floor so worn that you could see the dirt through it.  Aikens's mother often worked the streets, and he never met his natural father. Worse still, he lived in a house with an alcoholic stepfather who abused him physically.  

A major influence in his early life was his high school baseball coach, Willie McNeil.  McNeil helped place Aikens at South Carolina State and bought Aikens clothes when Aikens's family could not afford to. More importantly, McNeil encouraged Aikens and told him that Aikens had a special talent for hitting the ball that most players did not have. 

While Aikens was at SCSU, they played a series in Baltimore.  A scout for the Orioles, Wally Youse, walked up and invited Aikens to play in a semi-pro baseball league in Baltimore where, supposedly, Reggie Jackson had played before.  In Baltimore, Aikens played well and showed off his prodigious power.  In the meantime, SCSU dropped baseball, so Aikens waited out the fall semester and was the 2nd pick overall in the 1975 January Regular Draft.  He was selected by the California Angels on the advice of one of their new scouts -- Wally Youse. As an aside, Aikens's former SCSU teammate Gene Richards went first in that draft to the Padres.  

Aikens signed nearly immediately and began his minor league career in Quad Cities in the Midwest League.  There, he showed the the power scouts had seen, but his fielding was indifferent at best and horrible at worst -- he hit 17 home runs, but made 26 errors.  Aikens moved up to the Texas League and Double-A El Paso -- one of the most hitter friendly parks in the minor leagues at the time -- where he swatted 30 homers.  

In 1977, Aikens started his season at the age of 22 in Triple-A.  The Angels called him up in May of 1977 in the wake of trading Bruce Bochte to the Cleveland Indians.  The call to the majors came too early for Aikens, who started off well when he received regular playing time, but then struggled when he was called upon mainly in pinch hitting duties.  As a result, Aikens split 1977 between the majors and Triple-A Salt Lake City and, then spent the entirety of 1978 in Utah.  

After showing in 1978 that he really had nothing more to prove in Triple-A -- a year of 29 home runs and a .326/.419/.551 slash line will do that -- the Angels kept him on their roster for all of 1979.  He hit very well - an OPS of .869 was highlighted by 21 home runs in 447 plate appearances.  Things were going well, except for the fact that 1979 was also the year that teammates introduced Aikens to cocaine.  

Aikens was blocked at first base by future Hall of Famer Rod Carew. Aikens was not an outfielder, and the Angels needed the designated hitter role for Don Baylor because Baylor was a major defensive liability in left field.  Since Baylor was the reining American League MVP, the Angels chose Baylor over Aikens and traded Aikens to the Kansas City Royals with Rance Mulliniks for Al Cowens, Todd Cruz, and Craig Eaton.

The trade worked out well for the Royals, who went to the World Series in 1980.  It also worked for Aikens.  Despite the Royals loss in the Series, Aikens had two different games in the series where he hit two home runs -- Game One and Game Four.  By this time, Aikens told Amy Nelson of SBNation, he was high on cocaine every day:  "Every day, every game of the World Series ... I snorted cocaine.  It had become a part of my life."  

Aikens played well in 1981 as well, hitting 17 home runs in just 101 games in a season that ended unhappily again for the Royals, who lost to the Oakland A's in the ALDS series after the strike-shortened season.  The 1982 season was not as happy for the Royals, as they finished three games behind Aikens's former club, the California Angels.

It is impossible to tell the story of Aikens's career, however, without mentioning the off-field problems.  In 1983, an FBI agent warned the entire Royals team that a prominent cocaine dealer had a wiretap on his phone line such that calling the dealer would be a bad idea. Even team leader Hal McRae pulled Aikens aside on two different occasions to warn Aikens that there was trouble ahead. Despite this warning, Jerry Martin, Vida Blue, Willie Wilson, and Willie Aikens all called the dealer and all were charged with federal drug crimes.  

Aikens told the Washington Times last October that his attorney called the Player's Association to find out what would happened if a ballplayer got convicted with a felony.  The response was that the player probably would never play in the major leagues again.  So, the players worked out a plea deal to a misdemeanor and first-time offender status.  The judge made examples of the players and sent them to prison, meaning that Aikens and his cohorts were the first ever active major leaguers to spend time in federal prison.  Aikens missed the first six weeks of the 1984 season as a result.  Also while Aikens was in prison, the Royals shipped him to the Blue Jays for Jorge Orta.

1984 would be the last full season that Aikens spent in the majors.  Teams do not have much patience with convicted cocaine users who hit .205/.298/.376 -- or for that matter, for any player with that slash line who can't field a position.  In 1995, he spent 105 games in Triple-A and hit well again, but Toronto gave him just 12 games in the majors and did not resign him. He did finish on a high-note, though -- he homered in his last at-bat.

That was not the end of his playing career -- just the end of his major league career.  Aikens spent the years 1986 to 1991 in the Mexican League and hit like crazy once again.  There was interest from Japan in having Aikens play there, but his criminal record meant that he could not qualify for a visa there.  He just didn't get the chance back in the US to play again.  

Pass the Dutchie
Steve Howe got chance after chance -- 7 in total -- to rehabilitate himself and play again in the majors.  Left-handed pitchers get tons of chances.  Overweight, stone-hand first basemen are apparently a dime-a-dozen and get tossed aside.  Or, perhaps, that is how baseball justified giving Howe all the chances he had.  For his part, Aikens recognized that he got a rap in baseball when he rebelled against being platooned by Dick Howser -- in addition to the jail sentence of course -- and so those two issues together led to a much shorter leash for Aikens.

Just as with Steve Howe, you cannot talk about Aikens without talking about his drug use, abuse, and eventual prison sentence. His sentence -- and the crimes he committed -- in some respects reflect a female police officer who knew Aikens used crack and used Aikens to get her enough crack to hit the federal guideline minimums for a very, very long sentence.

Some background: in the mid-to-late 1980s, the Reagan years of "Just Say No" were in their height.  The US staggered back away from the sexual and chemical permissiveness of the 1960s and (especially) 1970s and into the more repressive 1980s.  Helped down this path in part by the discovery of the AIDS epidemic -- especially in gay communities and among intravenous drug users -- the hysteria toward drug use reached new levels.  

America began a "War on Drugs."  This caused the supply of illicit drugs such as cocaine to dwindle and, as any Econ 100 student could tell you, when supply dwindles without a corresponding change in demand, prices soar. When the prices for powder cocaine soared, street dealers found that they could cook down small amounts of cocaine to create little rocks -- crack rock.  Because other chemicals were added to the cocaine, the actual amount of cocaine in each rock got smaller.  In other words, the cocaine supply lasted longer as a result. The side effect to this was the fact that crack was affordable to nearly anyone -- with prices as low as $2.50 a dose according to Wikipedia.

Politicians saw this "crack epidemic" -- which was mainly a problem in neighborhoods that were predominantly poor and predominantly black -- and believed that harsher penalties for selling crack were needed.  Those penalties were enacted right after the death of Len Bias, the former University of Maryland star and first round pick of the Boston Celtics who died two days after the draft from a cocaine overdose.

This brings us back to Willie Aikens.  Aikens saw a woman he liked on the streets of Kansas City in December 1993 and struck up a friendship with her.  She was an undercover narcotics officer.  She asked him on several occasions to get crack for her.  In fact, knowing that the sentences for crack were much harsher, she asked him specifically to cook powder cocaine into crack.  

He was convicted of multiple counts of trafficking crack cocaine -- a total of 2.2 grams of the stuff.  The sentence he received was a mandatory sentence under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines -- 248 months...20 years, 8 months, no parole.  To be sentenced to the same amount of time in jail for selling powder cocaine, Aikens would have had to deal 15 pounds of cocaine.

I tend not to have too much sympathy for those people who break the law, but that sentence rightfully became a cause celebre for advocates against the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. In a strange way, Aikens was lucky -- had he not be imprisoned, he would not have changed his life and, quite frankly, he probably would not be alive today.  

Aikens got out of prison in June of 2008. George Brett helped him get his life back on track by starting with a small step -- inviting Aikens to tell his story to a group of middle schoolers that included Brett's own son.  After hearing Aikens speak -- and in Amy Nelson's video Brett talks about this -- Brett knew that Aikens needed to get back into baseball to help the young players today to avoid his pitfalls. Another helping hand was extended again by Hal McRae, who got Aikens a job in construction when Aikens first got out of prison. 

Thanks to his Hall of Fame former teammate and friend getting him started and, after that, Aikens's own responsible actions after that, the Royals named Aikens as a minor league coach in 2011.

The World According to Garp
Much of the information for this post resulted from the fact that Aikens was doing publicity for his memoir about his past failings, his prison life, his reaching for his Bible while there, and his redemption on leaving prison.  The book is called Willie Mays Aikens: Safe at Home.  After doing the research I've done for this entry, I may just buy the book.

In the wake of the book coming out, my fellow Vanderbilt graduate Tyler Kepner wrote a moving story about why all of us should read that book.  It's an uplifting story of redemption, and based on that alone, it would not be surprising to see a movie made.  Perhaps Mark Ciardi -- the former Brewers pitcher and producer of The Rookie -- can take that on as his next baseball movie.

A Few Minutes With Tony L.
I distinctly recall when Aikens, Vida Blue, Willie Wilson, and Jerry Martin went to prison. By that point, I was nearly 12 years old so I knew what it meant to be going to jail when someone talked about it.  From that point on, a Pavlovian response of "druggie" came into my head whenever I saw a story about one of those players or saw a baseball card of one of them or even just heard someone mention them in conversation.

Aikens deserves better than that now.  He is brutally honest -- calling alcohol the worst drunk available.  He says very honestly that if he had had access to steroids in the early 1980s, he absolutely would have used them: "If I did illegal drugs while I was a player, why wouldn't I do something that would enhance my performance on the baseball field? Of course I would have done them."

The SB Nation Royals Review website in 2009 called Aikens the #36 Greatest Royal in their history for his four seasons in Kansas City.  Certainly based on his on-field exploits, Aikens deserves that honor.  

The great thing about Aikens to me is that he has turned himself around from all indications. He has had a lot of bad things happen to him in his life -- from a 42-year-old wife having a stroke to being brought up in an abusive household.  He has also brought a lot of bad things on himself too because of his drug use -- from being denied the ability to get a lucrative contract in Japan to spending the years in prison that he did.  Avoiding recidivism -- avoiding the issues that puts a person in jail -- is tough.  It appears that Aikens is succeeding.

If you are interested, you can follow Aikens on Twitter.  His e-mail address is there on his account, and he has a website as well.  Indeed, from that second link, you can get a signed version of the card featured above for $10 in either blue or black sharpie.  

For whatever reason, I feel like Aikens deserves our support as baseball fans -- not sympathy, mind you, but support.  He deserves it a lot more than, say, Pete Rose does -- that is for sure.