Card #136: Lenn Sakata

Who Can It Be Now?
Lenn Haruki Sakata was born on June 8, 1954, in Honolulu, Hawaii. I'm leaning on his SABR biography for his background here. Sakata was a fourth generation American on his father's side, while his mother was born in Niigata, Japan. His dad Haruki fought valiantly against the Germans in World War II alongside Hawaiian hero, the late Daniel Inouye, in the 442nd Infantry Regiment and also served in the field artillery battalion which liberated the Dachau concentration camp.

Lenn played baseball through high school. He graduated at the age of 17 and came to the U.S. mainland to study and play ball at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon. He was drafted for the first time by the San Francisco Giants in the 14th round of the 1972 June draft but did not sign. He transferred to Gonzaga University, and, while there, set a university record for RBI in a season that was not broken until Jason Bay topped the mark in 1999.

He was drafted for the second time with the first pick in the 5th Round of the 1974 June Draft, this time by the San Diego Padres. Once again, he did not sign. Finally, in January of 1975, the Milwaukee Brewers drafted Sakata in the 1st round (10th pick) of the Secondary Draft. Sakata's signing angered Gonzaga coach Larry Koentopp, with Koentopp claiming that the Brewers had pressured Sakata to sign -- saying that Sakata had "been hot-boxed." The Brewers said that they followed all the rules and the coach was simply upset. No matter -- Sakata joined the Brewers organization.

Based on his being an advanced college player, Milwaukee assigned Sakata to Double-A Thetford Mines in the Eastern League for the 1975 season. Sakata acquitted himself well at the plate and in the field that year (.257/.340/.356 with 9 HR and 16 SB in 486 PA, 4.68 range factor per game), so the Brewers promoted him to Triple-A Spokane for the 1976 season. And there, Sakata stayed for parts of three seasons. Indeed, the only thing that ended his return to Spokane (for a stay longer than when he attended college there!) was the fact that Milwaukee switched its Triple-A association to Vancouver in 1979. 

In his time in the minor leagues, Sakata always hit well -- even hitting with a little pop. But, he became well known for his glove. While certainly hyperbole sets in when you have the local Spokane paper talking about their old college pal Sakata, columnist Harry Missildine in 1977 said that the greatest fielding second baseman that he had EVER seen was Lenn Sakata. His instincts and reflexes while playing the field were excellent, but getting stuck in Triple-A due to his bat not coming alive in the majors became his biggest problem.

Sakata did see limited playing time from 1977 to 1979 in the majors with the Brewers. Despite getting his greatest playing time in 1977 under manager Alex Grammas, it appears that Grammas just hated Sakata. This Milwaukee Journal story from 1978 quotes an unnamed "Brewers starter" as saying that, "Lenny got up there in July, and Grammas got all over him right away. Hell, he hadn't yelled at the other 24 of us all year." As the Sab Reading between the lines, though, that story appears to reveal that Sakata had something of an attitude about not getting to play everyday due to the fact that Milwaukee had Don Money as its starting second baseman.

A funny thing happened in 1978, however: Sakata made the Opening Day roster. The problem for Sakata, though, was that the Brewers suddenly had a wealth of young talent in the middle infield that season. When Robin Yount held out/thought about becoming a pro golfer at the age of 22 while on the disabled list early in the season, the Brewers had a first round draft pick from the year prior who had spent 60 games in Single-A after signing from the University of Minnesota: Paul Molitor. When Yount returned to play baseball, the Brewers decided that Molitor would be their second baseman. The younger Molitor pushed Sakata back to a reserve role and, then, to the minors -- a move coinciding with Sakata's .192/.267/.244 slash line.

With the wealth of middle infield options (including Money and local boy Jim Gantner), Sakata became expendable. So, on December 6, 1979, the Brewers traded Sakata to their divisional rival, the Baltimore Orioles, in exchange for a spare part pitcher named John Flinn. 

In Baltimore, Sakata moved into Earl Weaver's rotation system eventually. It started out roughly in 1980, but then Sakata became Weaver's main shortstop when Mark Belanger was replaced. Sure, Sakata just kept the position warm for Cal Ripken to take over in 1982, but Earl loved little Lenny.

1982 would be the only season in which Sakata appeared in over 100 games. It was his most successful season offensively (1.7 WAR on offense...out of 1.9 WAR total on offense for his career) and overall -- 2.7 WAR. In 1983, he picked up a World Series ring as a member of the Orioles, flying out in the 8th inning of Game 4 as a pinch-hitter. Sakata stayed in Baltimore through 1985, filling in at second base when Rich Dauer got a rest and playing some when Alan Wiggins couldn't stay clean and sober from cocaine use.

He signed on for a short stint with the Oakland A's in 1986, appearing sparingly in the big leagues and spending most of his time in Triple-A Tacoma. He then signed with the Yankees in 1987. After an injury-plagued season which ended on June 28, 1987 with torn ankle ligaments from a slide into second base, he retired as an active player.

Mustache Check: Lenn Sakata is clean-shaven. 

Trivial Pursuit
Lenn Sakata is the answer to two trivia questions related to his heritage and to his being born in a United States territory.  First, Sakata was only the second Japanese-American to play in a major league baseball game, and he was the first position player (the first Japanese-American to play in the majors was pitcher Ryan Kurosaki of the Cardinals).

Second, he was the first Japanese-American player to appear in a World Series game with his pinch-hitting appearance in the 1983 World Series.

Third, in a record unrelated to his heritage, he was the emergency catcher in a game in 1983 in which Tippy Martinez picked off three straight runners from first base. Apparently, the Blue Jays believed that Sakata would be easy to steal against. So, Barry Bonnell, Dave Collins, and Willie Upshaw all took too large of leads and all got picked off in the Top of the 10th inning in that game on August 24, 1983. To top it off, Sakata won the game in the bottom of the 10th with a three-run walk-off homer.

Finally, Sakata holds a second record entirely unrelated to his heritage. In September of 2007, Lenn Sakata set a California League record for most career managerial wins with 527. Since that time, he's added another 146 wins to that total.

A Few Minutes with Tony L.
I think Lenn Sakata held a grudge against the Milwaukee Brewers for never giving him a chance to play ahead of two future Hall of Famers. Sakata had 25 career home runs. Of those, 5 came against the Milwaukee Brewers. His career SLG against Milwaukee was .436 -- the highest he had against any team -- and his OPS of .770 was higher against Milwaukee than against any one else by 20 points. If not for bad luck on his BABIP (.250 career), it would have been even worse.

In fact, as this game story from 1981 points out, of Sakata's first 6 homers as a big league player, three came against Milwaukee and two of those came in a game in 1981 that knocked the Brewers temporarily out of first place in the AL East's second season that year. Sakata was quoted as saying, "I still try to play extra hard against Milwaukee." Sakata did say that he understood being replaced by Molitor completely in that 1981 game story, and he believed that the Brewers treated him fairly. But still, this guy KILLED Milwaukee.

As the Trivial Pursuit above might hint at, Sakata is a baseball man through and through. After he retired from playing in organized baseball, he managed in the short-season Northwest League in 1988. After a detour to play in the Senior League in 1989, he returned to the minor leagues as the hitting instructor in Edmonton and, later, Vancouver.  

In an effort to move himself up the chain, he decided in 1995 to move to Japan with his good friend Bobby Valentine to coach with the Chiba Lotte Marines. He never learned Japanese while there, though, because of being assigned an interpreter by the team. He left Japan after clashing with ownership over the need for weight training. 

He then came back to the States and began his decade-plus (and counting) managerial career in the Single-A California League. He returned to Chiba Lotte in 2008 and 2009 to manage them, but came back to the US in 2011. In his time as a manager, his team made the playoffs 8 times and won the California League title three times. 

He is revered in his home state of Hawaii for his continued efforts to promote baseball there. He was inducted into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 alongside fellow former major leaguers Sid Fernandez and Mike Lum and alongside another Sakata: Harold Sakata, who was better known as playing Odd Job in James Bond movies but also was a silver medalist in weightlifting in the 1948 Summer Olympics.

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 #86: Dane Iorg

Who Can It Be Now?
Dane Charles Iorg was born on May 11, 1950, in Eureka, California.  He was a baseball star at Arcata High School and, as a result, was drafted in 16th Round of the 1968 June Draft by the Kansas City Royals.  

That draft position was not enough to convince him to forego his opportunity to play collegiate baseball at Brigham Young University, however, so Iorg went to Salt Lake City instead and majored in P.E.  For the Cougars, he played regularly all three years and drew attention his junior year when he finished his collegiate season in 1971 with a .401/.485/.685 slash line with 11 HR, 50 RBI, 4 SB, and 32 BB versus 10 K in 48 games.  Indeed, in 1982, he was inducted into the BYU Hall of Fame.  

The Philadelphia Phillies selected Iorg in with the 22nd pick of the 1st Round of the June Secondary Draft in 1971.  Despite being Mormon, Dane does not appear to have gone on a Mormon mission as most 19-year-olds in the Latter Day Saints (LDS) Church do.  Perhaps it was because he was a sports star, perhaps it was because his parents were not all that active in the LDS Church, or perhaps it was because of the Vietnam War getting kids drafted, but Iorg does not appear to have missed any time in his career for that.  Indeed, after being drafted, Iorg went directly to Walla Walla in the Northwest League and hit the cover off the ball -- .367/.459/.542 in 333 plate appearances.

For whatever reason, it appears that Iorg was loaned or assigned to the Carolina League with a Texas affiliate in 1972 and, once again, he hit well.  That earned him a short call-up to Double-A, where he struggled.  After those initial struggles in 1972, though, his 1973 season was far better at Reading and it earned him a look at Triple-A in Toledo in 1974 in the International League.  Iorg took a while to adjust there once again, and his career appeared to have stalled out between Double-A and Triple-A as of 1975.

In 1976, though, in Oklahoma City, Iorg found his batting stroke and hit .326/.408/.528. The problem was that Iorg was already 26 years old by 1976 and he did not even get a call-up to the major leagues off that strong Triple-A season.  Iorg did receive a chance in spring training the next year, however, to make the team and he did so as an injury-replacement for regular 1B Richie Hebner.  Once Hebner came back, Iorg went back to Triple-A.

The Phillies were in the heat of the 1977 pennant race, though, and wanted to get an upgrade for their outfield.  As a result, the Phillies worked out a deal at the June 15 trade deadline with the St. Louis Cardinals, sending Rick Bosetti, Tom Underwood, and Iorg to St. Louis in exchange for Bake McBride and Steve Waterbury.  Iorg spent a few weeks with the Cardinals Triple-A affiliate before getting the opportunity to serve as a left-handed pinch-hitter off the bench.  

Iorg had a similar experience in 1978.  He started as a lefty pinch-hitter early in the year, but he struggled in that role -- hitting .143/.211/.143 when he was sent back down to Triple-A at the end of May.  The Cardinals gave Iorg a September call-up, though, and he started to hit the ball much better late in the year.  As a result, 1978 -- at the age of 28 -- was the last time that Iorg spent anything more than a three-game injury rehabilitation stint in the minor leagues.

That's not to say he became a regular, but he did become a regular bat off the bench for manager Ken Boyer, and, later, Whitey Herzog starting in 1979 and ending in 1984, when his contract was sold to the Cardinals in-state cohorts the Kansas City Royals.  He spent two years serving as a designated hitter/utilityman for the Royals before moving closer to home (well, not that close, but at least he was in the same state as Eureka) to San Diego to close out his career in 1986.

Iorg was a member of two World Series championship teams in 1982 with the Cardinals (more on that later) and 1985 with the Royals.  Indeed, Iorg came back to haunt his former team in that 1985 World Series, blooping a hit with the bases loaded in Game 6 (after that horrendous call by Don Denkinger) to drive in two runs and win the game for the Royals.

Iorg retired from baseball after the 1986 season.

Mustache Check: I'm not sure -- does the LDS Church allow mustaches? They didn't let Dane grow one here.

Family Ties
If you were a fan of baseball in the 1980s, you knew that Dane's brother Garth played major league baseball also.  More on him and his multiple baseball playing sons in a few hundred cards.  What you might not know is that Dane's son Seth also played baseball at Brigham Young.

Dane was the oldest of three Iorg boys, and Garth was the youngest.  The middle brother was Lee Iorg, and he also played baseball.  He was in the New York Mets farm from 1974 through 1977, getting promoted to Triple-A Tidewater before his .197/.248/.291 hitting caught up to him and he was released.

A Few Minutes with Tony L.
Welcome to the biography for one of my two least favorite major league baseball players in all of the 1980s.  It's not that Dane Iorg was a jerk -- I never met him.  Nope.  It's simpler than that: he absolutely destroyed the Brewers in the 1982 World Series.  

In that Series, the designated hitter was used.  At that time, the use of the DH alternated years, and Iorg served as the DH against right-handed pitching for the Cardinals.  In the five games in which he played, Iorg went 9-for-17 with four doubles, a triple, an RBI, and four runs scored.  He wasn't the MVP (Darrell Porter was) but Iorg was the guy who caught a hot streak at exactly the right time to sear himself into my brain as one of the most hated men in baseball.

I've gotten over it now -- I mean, it's been 32 years -- but it took a long time.  Hell, I even hated Garth because of Dane.

Some former LDS members have called out guys like Dane and Dale Murphy for being Sabbath-breakers, never going on a mission, and otherwise having different rules apply to them as opposed to others in the church.  I don't know much about that, but it seems to have really ticked those folks off.

These days, Dane is a distributor and some-time pitchman for a company called Synergy Worldwide.  According to this video, he absolutely loves Proargi9+, though he doesn't exactly explain what the product is.  If he were on one of those Food Network Stars or Apprentice "reality" shows, he would be booted off for that.

Anyway, it appears that the product contains l-arginine, which its website says is an amino acid that helps your body enhance its own cardiovascular system. It looks like it tastes terrible -- I mean, the guy on that page is getting paid to show off the product, and he's grimacing in the photo.  But, according to WebMD, it might have use "as a cream for sexual problems in both men and women."  

So, even if it tastes bad, it might make you feel real good.  Maybe that's why the product is so awesome!