Oops, skipped right over this one!
Who Can It Be Now?
Claudell Washington and Rick Mahler leading the 1981 Braves in batting average and ERA.
While many people are aware of the "Worst to First to World Series loser" of the 1990 to 1991 Atlanta Braves, how many people remember the 1982 Braves and their improbable run to the post-season? While the 1982 Braves were not "worst to first" -- a terrible San Diego Padres team propped up the rest of the NL West during the weird 1981 split season -- their first place finish in 1982 was still unlikely.
After the 1981 season, the Braves fired their incompetent nincompoop future Hall of Fame manager -- a 40-year-old named Bobby Cox -- and replaced him with another future Hall of Fame manager: 41-year-old former Braves player Joe Torre.
Give Ted Turner some credit here, in that the early 1980s were when he really had his business acumen in full flourish. In the space of 6 years, he turned Atlanta's Channel 17 from a UHF deadzone into the original cable Superstation, he hired two future Hall of Fame baseball managers, he came up with the idea for and then started the first 24-hour news station in CNN, and purchased the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. Oh, and he also won the 1977 America's Cup. Remember when that mattered to people?
Anyway, coming out of the 1981 season, the Braves made some minor changes at the margins -- letting Gaylord Perry, Brian Asselstine, and John Montefusco go, and trading for Donnie Moore -- but it wasn't like management decided that a complete overhaul was necessary. In fact, all 8 fielding positions were manned by the same starters in 1982 as in 1981. What changed, though, to make the Braves into a winning team?
First, just a little bit of luck. The team outperformed its expected winning percentage based on runs scored and runs allowed (the Pythagorean W-L record) by 4 games. So, instead of being 85-77, the team finished 89-73 -- one game ahead of the previous year's champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers and two games ahead of the San Diego Padres.
Second, the batting lineup's average age was exactly 27.0. Of the regular starters, only Chris Chambliss at age 33 and half-time left fielder Rufino Linares at age 31 were over the age of 30. Most of the hitters were 27, 26, or 24 years old (Claudell Washington at 27, Dale Murphy and Bruce Benedict at 26, and Glenn Hubbard, Rafael Ramirez, and Bob Horner at 24) -- ages at which greater improvement often comes about.
Who improved? Dale Murphy went from a decent centerfielder with some speed and some power to being MVP DALE MURPHY, hitting 36 HR, stealing 23 bases, and improving his slash line from .247/.325/.390 in 1981 to .281/.378/.507 in 1982. Bob Horner hit for more power (SLG: .460 in 1981; .501 in 1982) and improved his batting eye to keep his OBP at or around .350 despite a dip in AVG. Add in Rafael Ramirez going from total waste of a lineup slot (.218/.276/.303 in 1981) to nearly league average hitter (.278/.319/.379 in 1982), and you have the types of improvement a team needs to get better hitting-wise. That's especially true because no one else in the lineup regressed.
On the pitching side, the team made a couple of key changes. Jettisoning Perry and Montefusco (and Tommy Boggs's health issues as well) made room for youngsters Pascual Perez and Steve Bedrosian to play key roles. And, the team moved Rick Camp out of the closer role when he struggled and plugged in Gene Garber; Garber responded with 30 saves and a 2.34 ERA (with an 8-10 record). Torre used his bullpen to close out games more frequently than most managers as well -- the team led the NL with 51 saves, showing an effective use of bullpen arms that gives that 4-game bump over the Pythagorean winning PCT.
It also did not hurt that the team started out the season 13-0. Those 13 wins gave the team some leeway and made everyone else have to play catch up. Split those 13 games up as a 7-6 record, and suddenly the Braves are an 83-79 team.
The Braves finished up their storybook season by getting swept by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. The next season, the Braves regressed by one win, and their luck reversed as well -- their Pythagorean W-L was 92-70, 4 games worse than their actual 88-74 record. By 1985, the team had dug its way back near the basement in the NL West -- the hole from which the 1991 team emerged.
Mustache Check: Washington and Mahler make this card a clean sweep for the hirsute.
Trivial Pursuit
The Braves' 13-0 record to start the season set a major league record for best start to a season. That record was tied in the American League in 1987 when the "Team Streak" Milwaukee Brewers -- a team which lost 12 straight about two weeks later and also enjoyed Paul Molitor's 39-game hitting streak -- also won 13 in a row to start the season.
A Few Minutes with Tony L.
As the 1982 season wound down and the Braves and Milwaukee Brewers both won their divisions, a lot of fans in Milwaukee who had been around for the Braves' departure to the South really wanted the Brewers and Braves to square off in the World Series. It was something of a let down to those fans when the Cardinals beat the Braves so soundly in the 1982 NLCS in games that ended 7-0, 4-3, and 6-2.
I'm not saying that the team would have been motivated more to play against the Cardinals, however, nor am I saying that the fans weren't as vociferous during the 1982 World Series with the Cardinals being there. I attended Game 5 of that Series, and it was as loud as you would expect for a World Series.
But, the symmetry of the Brewers and Braves squaring off would have been a nice touch. I also have a feeling that the Brewers would have beaten the Braves that year.
Now, for the Brewers and HOF Countdown:
Former Brewers on the Checklist
Not a single one of these guys had appeared for the Brewers.
Former Brewers Appearing in 1982 for the Royals but not on Cardboard
There were two.
Donnie Moore made three appearances in four games for the 1981 Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers had purchased Moore's contract from St. Louis for the final month of the season, and then decided to give him back after the season. The Cardinals then traded him to the Braves on February 1, 1982.
The other pitcher to appear for the Brewers before being an Atlanta Brave in 1982 was Tom Hausman. Hausman pitched for the Brewers in 1975 and 1976 at the ages of 22 and 23 before becoming a minor league free agent and signing with the New York Mets. The Mets traded him to the Braves in September of 1982 in exchange for pitcher Carlos Diaz, and Hausman made three appearances before being cut at the end of the year and to end his career.
Future Brewers on the Checklist
There are no future Brewers players on the checklist. However, Jerry Royster "led" the Brewers to a 53-94 record in 2002 after the Brewers fired former Dodger Davey Lopes after 15 games and a 3-12 record. And wow, was that 2002 team a train wreck.
Future Brewers Appearing But Not on the Checklist
None.
Future Hall of Famers on the Checklist
The two "ancient" ones -- Phil Niekro and Gaylord Perry -- both hung around long enough and racked up enough wins over fairly pedestrian but lengthy careers, and both were elected to the Hall of Fame as a result.
Future Hall of Famers Appearing in 1982 but not on the Checklist
None.
I'll address Dale Murphy's Hall of Fame candidacy at his card in the set. Outside of Murphy, who stayed on the ballot all 15 years but never got more than 23.2% of the vote in his second year of eligibility, and the two who made the Hall, pretty much no one else on the team got much consideration for enshrinement nor did they deserve much consideration.
Don't get me wrong -- as was the case with the Royals, guys like Steve Bedrosian, Brett Butler, Bob Watson, Chris Chambliss, and Bob Horner had decent to good careers. But none of them fall outside that "Hall of the Very Good" category.
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.
Who Can It Be Now?
It's Astros team leaders Art Howe and his .296 batting average and future Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan for his 1.69 ERA from 1981.
Coming in to 1982, the Astros had high hopes. They had lost out to the eventual World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in Divisional Series in an epic five-game series in which the Astros blew a 2 games to zero lead. Whether the team in 1982 suffered from a year-long hang over, or whether they simply got a year older without getting a year better, their 1982 was a year to forget.
They started their season with Nolan Ryan on the mound against the eventual champion Cardinals at home in the Astrodome in front of just 33,521 fans. Ryan promptly gave up 6 runs, 8 hits, and 2 walks in three innings before the immortal Gordie Pladson replaced him. To be fair, they rebounded and won the final two games of that series, and were 1 game over .500 -- which was their high-water mark for the season. They dipped as low as 14 games under .500 on August 8, and "rallied" to finish 8 games under .500 by the end of the year -- a 77-85 season.
The season unraveled for the Astros at the plate. In 1981, the team finished 9th (of 12 NL teams) in runs scored, 5th in batting average, 6th in OBP, and 8th in SLG. In 1982, all those numbers regressed -- 11th in runs scored, 11th in batting average, and dead last in the National League in OBP and SLG.
For its part, the pitching did not help matters either. The team's ERA jumped from an NL-leading 2.66 in 1981 to a fourth-place finish at 3.42. Strikeouts per nine stayed about the same, but the team regressed in its league standing in batters struck out -- moving from 1st to 6th. The big problem here came from the bullpen -- by the Wins Above Average ranking, Houston had the worst bullpen in the National League. Further, the team did not perform well either in one-run games -- 22-29 record, a .431 Pct. -- or in games that were blowouts (winning margin of five runs or more) -- 8-16, .333 Pct.
The only real change of note that had happened from 1981 to 1982 was that the team jettisoned long-time first baseman Cesar Cedeno, trading him to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for Ray Knight. In the end, that trade was pretty much a wash. Perhaps the biggest problem offensively was that CF Tony Scott proved that his 1981 numbers with Houston -- .293/.338/.396 -- were a smaller-sample-size mirage and that Tony Scott really was the .249/.297/.327 hitter where his career numbers finished.
Mustache Check: Nope, neither Howe nor Ryan sported a hairy upper lip.
Don't You Want Me
On August 10, 1982, Astros chairman of the board John McMullen fired manager Bill Virdon. At the time, Virdon had been the manager of the Astros longer than any other manager in the National League. The next longest tenure at that time was shared by Pirates Manager Chuck Tanner and Dodgers Manager Tommy LaSorda, each of which was in their sixth season as manager in 1982.
According to the story about his firing, Virdon predicted at the beginning of the season that the 1982 team would be "the best team I ever had in Houston." Oops.
On his way out the door, however, Virdon diagnosed the team's problem as being exactly what the statistics said it was: the bullpen. He noted that injuries had decimated the bullpen -- as the Astros lost Joe Sambito to an elbow problem and Dave Smith to back issues while Frank LaCorte was ineffective. He added in a quote: "we couldn't close out anyone. The seventh, eight[sic] and ninth innings have been misery."
Virdon landed on his feet, though, as he was named manager of the Montreal Expos just days after the regular season ended and on October 11, 1982.
Totally Gnarly
I don't really like Danny Sheridan of USA Today. I feel like his statistical models are created in a way that he builds in his own inherent biases to the exclusion of relevant information. I really did not like how his numbers were used for the BCS College Football determinations either.
Now, my bias out of the way, it's funny to me to look back when he was making baseball predictions in 1982. According to his numbers, the Yankees and the Houston Astros should have reached the World Series. Some other numbers that were off: he said Milwaukee was "good on paper but haven't produced" and that the abysmal Texas Rangers were "deep everywhere, but not overpowering; best third baseman in baseball -- Buddy Bell." I think George Brett would beg to differ with that assessment.
A Few Minutes with Tony L.
Since 1982 is a decade and a half before the onset of interleague play, the Astros and Brewers did not play one another. Looking at the Astros for whom they did play, it is interesting to see against which clubs they played well or struggled. Keep in mind: the scheduling in 1982 was done at the league level rather than at the Commissioner's Office level. So, while the 14-team American League had fairly even scheduling -- 13 games against each divisional opponent, 12 games against each team in the other division -- the 12-team National League had weighted scheduling. That meant playing divisional opponents 18 times during the year versus 12 games against the teams in the other division.
The Astros had losing records against five opponents, winning records against four teams, and .500 records against two teams. Their two worst records came because the Astros really struggled against the San Francisco Giants (who finished 87-75; Astros went 5-13 against them) and the Chicago Cubs -- with the Astros having a 3-9 record against a team that finished 73-89. Turn those records around, and the Astros pick up fourteen games against .500.
Now, it's time for the Brewers Countdown.
Former Brewers on the Checklist
No one appearing on this checklist had pulled on a Brewers jersey prior to 1982.
Former Brewers Who Played in 1982 for the Astros
The Brewers and Astros made a trade at the end of August in 1982. So, coming to the Astros from Milwaukee and appearing in 1982 for the Astros were two players who had appeared previously for Milwaukee: outfielder Kevin Bass and pitcher Frank DiPino. Otherwise, the Astros stayed away from former Brewers, it appears.
Future Brewers on the Checklist
As I mentioned, the Brewers and Astros made a trade at the end of August in 1982. Going to the Brewers -- and becoming an integral part of the September and post-season rotation -- was thirty-seven-year-old Don Sutton. Sutton stayed in Milwaukee through 1984. After that season, the Brewers traded Sutton to the Oakland A's for two minor leaguers and Ray Burris.
Another future Brewer was shortstop Dickie Thon, who finished his career with an 85-game stint in Milwaukee in 1993.
And, while he did not play for the Brewers, Phil Garner spent eight years -- from 1992 through 1999 -- in Milwaukee as the Brewers manager, finishing with a record of 563-617 (.477 Win Pct.). His first season saw the Brewers enjoy a 92-70 record and a second-place finish in the American League East behind the eventual World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays.
Future Brewers Appearing but Not on the Checklist
He did not get a card in the 1982 Topps set, but second baseman Bill Doran got 100 at-bats in September of 1982. He finished fifth in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1983. Then, in 1993, he capped off his career with a 28-game stint for the Brewers with Dickie Thon.
Future Hall of Famers on the Checklist
The starting rotation featured two future Hall of Famers -- Don Sutton and Nolan Ryan. Sutton started 27 games for the Astros and Ryan started 35, and both pitched fairly well. Indeed, even though Ryan was 35 to start 1982, he still had another eleven seasons to go in the major leagues. And, even though Sutton was 37 to start 1982, he pitched for another six seasons.
Future Hall of Famers appearing in 1982 but not on the checklist
No one else on the roster got any real consideration for the Hall of Fame, nor as far as I can tell should they have gotten any consideration.
The only players with even a shout at being looked at would be Joe Niekro -- who simply did not pile up enough counting statistics in his 22-year career to merit consideration -- or perhaps Jose Cruz, whose career numbers were harmed significantly by playing in the cavernous Astrodome. Still, that argument for Cruz only gets you so far, and it isn't far enough.
Who Can It Be Now?
It's Al Oliver and George "Doc" Medich on the Texas Rangers Team Leaders card. Since this is a team checklist card, this post will not be about Al and Doc but rather, it will be about the Texas Rangers in 1982.
Putting it charitably, the Texas Rangers in 1982 were a bad baseball team. They started the season off decently, though -- after 10 games, their record stood at 6-4 and included a three-game sweep of the eventual American League Champion Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee. It was all downhill from there. The Rangers then proceeded to lose 12 in a row and 15 of their next 16 to plunge into the depths of the AL West. After that losing streak of 16 terrible games, which ended on May 10 with a loss to the Detroit Tigers, the team never had a record better than 10 games below .500.
The Rangers finished with a 64-98 record -- a .395 winning percentage -- and were 29 games behind the division winning California Angels. The only thing that kept the Rangers from finishing last was the fact that the Minnesota Twins were even worse, with a 60-102 record. But, at least the Twins had a youth-laden roster with guys like Tim Laudner, Kent Hrbek, Lenny Faedo, Gary Gaetti, and Tom Brunansky all playing regularly and all being under the age of 24. The Rangers had 13 players aged 30 or over, including two -- Jim Sundberg and Buddy Bell (the team's only All-Star) -- that played over 130 games.
A major part of the Rangers problem in 1982 was hitting. As a team, the Rangers finished 12th in the AL in home runs, 13th in batting average, and dead last in OBP and SLG (and, of course, in OPS, since that is simply adding OBP and SLG together).
When a team loses 98 games, though, it is a team effort to be that bad. The Rangers pitching staff finished 12th in the American League in ERA, 13th in most hits allowed, 5th in home runs allowed, 5th in walks issued, and 13th in strikeouts. Their team WHIP (walks plus hits divided by innings pitched) was 1.423.
What's more is that neither Oliver nor Medich -- the "Team Leaders" from the previous season -- made it to the end of the 1982 season with the Rangers. Oliver was traded near the end of spring training to the Montreal Expos for Dave Hostetler and Larry Parrish. Medich was sold to the Milwaukee Brewers in August of 1982.
Don't You Want Me?
Not only was 1982 a bad season for the Rangers, it was also a bad season for their manager, the Gerbil -- Don Zimmer. Zimmer had been hired by the Rangers for the 1981 season after the Red Sox fired him near the end of their disappointing 1980 season. The Rangers played extremely well in the first half of 1981, finishing 33-22 and coming in second for the half. The team finished 24-26 in the second half, a disappointing third.
I'm not going to blame Don Zimmer for the 1982 Rangers' woes, because statistical analysis shows that managers tend to have very little impact on the day-to-day results a team gains. In addition, it's not like the team suddenly started winning after he was fired -- they went 38-58 with him (a .396 winning percentage) and 26-40 (a .394 winning percentage) without him when the late Darrell Johnson took over.
The story of Zimmer's firing is an interesting one, however. Zimmer was officially fired on July 28 after the third game in a three-game series against Milwaukee. Then-majority owner Eddie Chiles had informed Zimmer at the beginning of that series that Zimmer was going to be fired. Chiles then asked Zimmer to manage through Wednesday. Despite this fact, Chiles denied through Tuesday night of that week that Zimmer would be fired.
It got more bizarre than that. Chiles claimed that "Zimmer was not fired because of the Rangers' pitiful play but because of 'something personal' that Chiles refused to explain." Later in the article, Chiles said, "Don didn't do anything wrong. He's my friend, and I hope I'm his friend."
Even more interestingly is this tidbit hidden in the third column. Basically, Zimmer claimed to be the victim of sabermetrics:
Zimmer said a confidential report on his managerial abilities, prepared by team statistician Craig Wright, was a key to his downfall but Chiles said otherwise. "It had nothing whatsoever to do with my decision," he said. "I haven't even read it fully."
When Zimmer was asked if he understood his firing, he said, "No. Hell, no. He (Chiles) says he understands, but I don't."
Totally Gnarly
Before the 1982 season, the Rangers hired Lou Tice, a motivational speaker from the Seattle-based Pacific Institute, to come in to speak to the team. The story mentions that Tice was not a psychiatrist, but rather came in:
to establish clearly in [the Rangers'] minds what they can accomplish personally and collectively. The purpose is to show them that, regardless of their physical skills, their performance can suffer mental letdowns. They must learn to block from their minds outside distractions and obstacles to reaching their full potential.
Either the Rangers were really bad at blocking outside distractions, or their full potential was pretty awful.
As an aside, Tice was in his early years as a motivational speaker and guru. He went on later to serve as a mentor and advisor to coaches such as Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian before he passed away in 2012 at the age of 76.
A Few Minutes with Tony L.
I don't think that I saw the Rangers play any games against my Milwaukee Brewers in person in 1982, so I can't say that I remember anything specific about this team. The Rangers had winning records against just two teams -- the terrible Twins and the nearly-as-bad-as-the-Rangers Oakland Athletics -- finishing 8-5 against each.
So, with this being our first team leaders card, I'll close this out by some counting and listing -- counting and listing former and future Brewers who are on the team checklist and, in addition, who actually played for the team in 1982 if they are not on the checklist, and then, finishing it off with identifying the Hall of Famers on the team.
Former Brewers On the Checklist:
Not a single one. Tom Poquette grew up in Wisconsin, though.
Former Brewers Who Played in 1982 for the Rangers:
Pitcher Dan Boitano appeared ineffectively in 19 games for the 1982 Rangers. He appeared in 16 games total between the 1979 and 1980 seasons for Milwaukee. He was lit up like a Roman candle in 1980, though -- an 8.15 ERA.
Future Brewers on the Checklist:
I guess one could foretell how bad the future might be for Milwaukee by the number of players on this team that showed up later at County Stadium:
Danny Darwin (1985-1986)
John Henry Johnson (1986-1987)
Jim Kern (1984-1985)
Doc Medich (1982-1983)
Jim Sundberg (1984)
Future Brewers Appearing but Not on the Checklist
Paul Mirabella (1987-1990)
Future Hall of Famers on the Checklist
Ferguson Jenkins. He spent 1974-1975 in Arlington, left for Boston, then came back in 1978 until 1981. He left the Rangers as a free agent for the 1982 season, signing with the Cubs.
Future Hall of Famers Appearing but Not on the Checklist
Not a single one.
The only ones who might have even a remote argument for induction in Cooperstown are Buddy Bell -- who was discussed briefly in the Darrell Evans post -- and, even further away, Tom Henke, who appeared in 8 games in 1982 with the Rangers and got 1.2% of the vote in 2001 from the BBWAA.
