Houk Is Next

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

I was hoping I'd be wrong and there wouldn't be another major death for awhile, but another legend is headed to his new eternal life.

This time, former New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox Manager Ralph Houk died Wednesday night peacefully because of natural causes at the age of 90 at his home in Winter Haven, Florida. He would have turned 91 on August 9 but was born in Lawrence, Kansas, the home of the Jayhawks.

Here is a trivia question.

Who was the first manager that worked for the late George Steinbrenner?

You guessed it, it was Ralph Houk.

He managed for Steinbrenner for one season in 1973, then resigned to accept a position for the Detroit Tigers where he piloted the club from 1974-1978.

Houk has nine World Series Championship titles. He earned six as a player with the Yankees a pair as manager of the Bronx Bombers and another as a Vice President in 1987 with the Minnesota Twins.

During his managerial career, he had a winning percentage of .514, and won 1,619 of 3,157 games. He is 15th all-time in wins in MLB history.

In Detroit, he compiled a 363-442 mark with a .450 percentage.

Of his three stops, this was undoubtedly his most challenging position. During his tenure, the team sunk to 102 losses in 1975 and had only one winning season. In three other seasons, the team lost 87, 88 and 90 games.

But in his final campaign of 1978, the Tigers finished with his lone winning year compiling an 86-76 mark.

I'll never forget the only time that I interviewed Houk in 1983 during Spring Training when he was managing the Boston Red Sox. I asked him about his experience in Detroit and I found "The Major" to be one of the nicest people I've ever met.

He took the job as Tigers Hall of Famer Al Kaline was retiring.

I asked Houk if the Tigers job was a bigger challenge than he expected. He laughed with a big grin and said it was but never regretted taking the position.

In fact, he told me because of the support from the Tigers front office, he worked harder to rebuild the franchise and bring it back to respectability.

Despite all of the losses, in 1976, the Tigers were the most exciting 74-87 team in baseball history and Houk had the best seat in the house on the perch of the dugout.

While fans paid good money to see a young pitcher by the name of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, the skipper watched the AL Rookie of the Year compile a 19-9 record, with a 2.34 ERA and 24 complete games.

Fidrych finished second in the AL Cy Young Award voting and along with Rusty Staub, Ron LeFlore, played in the 1976 All-Star Game and was the starting pitcher.

As I heard the announcement of Houk's death during the Washington Nationals VS Cincinnati Reds game featuring baseball's newest upcoming star Stephen Strasburg, be limited to 97 pitches and 5.2 innings, it made me think of Fidrych.

It's already been said that the Nationals will shut Strasburg down when he's reached the clubs innings limit for the season.

How many pitchers, especially Strasburg, would ever do what Fidrych did in 1976 when he had two complete game 11 innings wins? One of Fidrych's victories was over future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven. Would Strasburg have amassed 24 complete games? Absolutely Not!

In Houk's old Yankee Stadium stomping grounds, 52, 707 fans watched the skippers prize rookie win a 3-0 decision over Dock Ellis as "The Bird" talked to the ball, along with the rest of his mound antics, thus leaving more New Yorkers talking about what they saw on that September 12 evening.

To go along with Fidrych's memorable season, Houk piloted the Tigers against the Milwaukee Brewers as Hall of Famer Hank Aaron had his last at bat which was an RBI single to short stop off Dave Roberts in the bottom of the sixth inning on Oct 3 in Wisconsin.

In the end, Houk is the man that build the nucleus of the Tigers 1984 World Championship team which Sparky Anderson managed. Then, in 1987, with the Twins, it was Houk who saw his Twins defeat the Tigers and Minnesota won the World Series.

While Houk has nine championships, he's really responsible for 10 titles!

Houk's work in Boston from 1981-84 enabled him to build the core of this franchise that reached the 1986 World Series.

With all that he accomplished with four cities and even the lessons todays baseball people have learned how to handle young pitchers despite Fidrych's short and sweet career, it's unfortunate that I'm writing another tribute and feel like an obituary story.

Now the total is five legends since May 4 and it gets strange wondering when the next icon will pass. But stay tuned, we're on a roll for all of the wrong reasons. I hope another one doesn't bite the dust anytime soon!

Scott Morganroth can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com and his blog can be seen at www.scottsports33.com.

Long Overdue

BY SCOTT MORGANROTH

As I watch Mike Greenberg & Mike Golic, the hosts of Mike & Mike In The Morning on ESPN 2, debate whether NY Yankees Pitcher Andy Pettitte would be a future Hall of Famer, their discussion infuriated me as to which players should be immortalized in Cooperstown, NY.

Pettitte's current career record is 229-135 with a 3.90 ERA, 2,142 strikeouts, 2,926.1 innings pitched and 25 complete games.

He is a two-time All-Star, has six post-season clinching wins and has won five World Series titles.

I know that six more wins over .500 would put Pettitte at a point where he will have won 100 games more than he lost. At the moment every hurler that is 100 games over the .500 mark is in the Hall of Fame.

Pettitte's 18 post-season wins are the most ever and two more would put him at 20. Granted the post-season format has been extended to enhance these numbers, but to his credit, it takes thick skin to win in the clutch. Pettitte also led the Houston Astros to their lone World Series appearance in 2005.

Last season, he finished 14-8 with a 4.16 ERA during the Yankees World Championship season.

To his credit, Pettitte did own up to using performance enhancing drugs and in this forgiving society, the public perception he has might not take as big of a hit especially with his contributions in this years post-season.

As 300 game winners decline due to relief specialization, pitch counts and fewer complete games, the question remains, what will the new number be in order to be considered for enshrinement into Baseball's Hall of Fame?

I'd say the number should be between 250-275 wins, plus the post-season should be factored into the equation. I'm sure the baseball writers look at Cy Young Awards and All-Star Games.

Down the road, I'd say that Pettitte's body of work should get him major consideration to land in Cooperstown. There is plenty of time to wonder whether Pettitte should get in and a player is allowed to stay on the ballot 15 years to get in.

Last year, former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jim Rice made it in his final year of eligibility.

But instead of talking about Pettitte, there are two players that Greenberg an Golic should be talking about that are "Long Overdue" and that's Bert Blyleven and Andre Dawson.

Blyleven fell 67 votes short last year while Dawson missed out by 44, shy of the 75 percent needed for election.

I'd like to see a pitcher in todays game come close to Blyleven with these numbers. He was 287-250 with a 3.31 ERA. Blyleven had 242 complete games and 3,701 strikeouts. How many pitchers would even reach 50-75 complete games in this era? I could probably use my fingers and toes to get that answer.

Blyleven is the only player in the 3000 strikeout club not in the Hall of Fame and is fifth all-time in that category. He won a World Series in 1979 for the Pittsburgh Pirates and another in 1987 with the Minnesota Twins.

If he's not elected by 2,012, then the Veterans Committee will have to select Blyleven.

Meanwhile, Dawson played on a lot of bad Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs teams.

When he signed with the Cubs the first time, he wanted to play baseball at Wrigley Field because he felt the grass would be better for his knees than the artificial surface that he left behind at Montreal's Olympic Stadium. Dawson issued a blank check and told Cubs management to fill in that year's salary. He played for that amount but would see increases in pay as time progressed.

Dawson won an MVP for the last place Cubs in 1987. His resume includes a .279 batting average, 2,774 hits, 438 HR, 1,591 RBI, 314 stolen bases, was an eight time All-Star, plus has eight Gold Gloves.

He is one of only three members in the 400 HR and 300 Stolen Base Club with Barry Bonds and Willie Mays being the other two. These guys weren't too bad. Had Dawson played for the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, he'd already be in Cooperstown.

As we approach the holiday season, I can only hope that by next Christmas Blyleven and Dawson will have made their induction speeches in beautiful Upstate New York where their careers should reach their final conclusion.

As for Greenberg and Golic, both of you should spend future shows talking about the "present" and not the "far future."

I know you'll be taking time off to be with your families during the holiday season but when you come back to work, those Hall of Fame announcements will be made the week you return to work on Jan 6th. I would hope your shows leading up to this day include Blyleven and Dawson, in addition to some of the other worthy candidates that should be considered.

A few worth mentioning but will be discussed in detail at a later date include Barry Larkin, Alan Trammell, Don Mattingly, Jack Morris, Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Fred McGriff, Roberto Alomar and Andres Gallaraga.

Instead of spending quality time debating on Pettitte, it's time to mention the players careers that have been "Completed" rather than those that are currently "Incomplete" because it's all common knowledge that when a player retires, we'll have five years on your program to continue the debate.

For now, the candidates on this blog and on the ballot should be the primary focus.

I enjoy watching and listening to your radio show and some of your research is outstanding plus I've learned a lot!

But you guys are fortunate enough to be paid to do a radio show, where it takes advertising and sponsorship for the average individual to get on the air.

I can only hope that you use your airtime on meaningful timely subjects. If you do, I can just imagine how many more e-mails you'll get from all sports fans from all generations which as we know enhances your ratings and allows you to further your job security unlike everyone else in this day and age with the lackluster economy.

Scott Morganroth's blog appears on www.scottsports33.com and can be reached at scottsports33@aol.com.