Being from Kansas in the 80's, the coverage of the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals had breadth and depth. These were perennial contenders with future hall of fame players and coaches. The won Pennants and Titles, and they rarely had more than 2 legitimate power threats on either team. True, the Royals had George Brett, but both of these teams were more about defense, pitching, and manufacturing runs.
According to Baseball Almanac, here are the rosters for both teams in 1985, which just happens to be the year that these 2 teams played in the world series.
I don't know about you, but when I looked at these lineups, I was struck by the offensive advantage that the Royals appeared to have. George Brett was one of the all-time great hitters, and Frank White should be in the Hall of Fame. When you throw in that the Cardinals Offensive Leader Willie McGee, was nearly matched by Willie Wilson of the Cardinals, it would appear obvious that the Royals had an advantage. The numbers we are used to looking at would seem to bear this out. For goodness' sake, the Cardinals starters hit less Home Runs on the season than half of the Royals infield!!!
There is a stat involved here that we largely overlook in today's game. The Stolen Base. The Royals were an athletic team,and they had 2 players steal over 40 on the year. In today's game, that would make them a sight to behold, truly. The problem was, the Cardinals had one man who bested that by more than double and another who beat either of them by more than a dozen. The Cardinals starters stole 280 bases on the season, with 5 of them stealing more than 30.
To put that in perspective, last years' champions stole 57 AS A TEAM. Willie McGee stole 56 in 1985. I don't think anyone really believes that the players were faster then, or more athletic then, not with the advances in training and *ahem* supplements. Stolen Bases were a focus of offenses, as were sacrifices. It's very simple when you can steal a base. You get to first base, you turn that into a double by stealing a base, while encouraging the pitcher to throw the batter a fastball. Once you are on second base, the batter either bunts or hits a fly ball out to advance you. If you look at Vince Coleman, he of the aforementioned 110 stolen bases, you see what a unique weapons the base stealer can be.
Vince hit the ball safely 170 times, for a very mediocre batting avg of .267.
But, he stole 110 bases!!!
That means that with his single home run, 20 Doubles, and 10 Triples, he produced 340 bases in 636 at bats. That gives a ratio of .535
For perspective, last year's NL MVP had 306 total bases in 531 AB's. That gives a ratio of .576. There is some difference there surely, but when you recognize that Coleman was far from the offensive leader of him team, but rather the exemplar for Whitey Ball.
This is exciting baseball. Up and down the lineup, you have players who will press the issue with speed and athletic ability. You don't sit there and protect your baserunners until you get a 'big' hit. You press the defense, you make them be sharp, and you exploit their mistakes. You want proof the excitement that you will see from this style of play? The Cardinals outscored the Royals by 60 runs on the year, and would have outscored 25 of the teams in baseball last year, with Gold Glove winners all over the field.
It's with this in mind, that I bring to you the most exciting headline I have seen around baseball in years. Billy Hamilton is a minor leaguer in the Reds Organization. He is a switch-hitting shortstop who plays a solid short stop and has 100 steals through 78 games. If you extrapolate that out to 162 games, you get 207 stolen bases. Now, I realize that is not a fair comparison because he is doing it at Double-A. However, the minor league record is 145, set by Vince Coleman.
We need more players like Billy, and like Bryce Harper. We need guys who press the issue, and hustle to a fault. Bring some excitement back to the game. Stop taking things for granted and make sure that no one else does either..
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