Flashback
Japan Wins World Baseball Classic
While watching the recent World Baseball Classic, I couldn’t help but be reminded of some teams that led to this sites name. Whiteyball? Whiteyball is why I love the game of baseball so much today. Whiteyball is defined by urbandictionary.com as “baseball played by the St. Louis Cardinals and their manager Whitey Herzog. It was characterized by speedy base running, defensive fundamentals, a penchant for pinch hitting, a very intricate use of middle relievers and lack of power hitting. The team was built for speed instead of power because of the enormous size of the playing field at the old Busch Memorial stadium. The team won one World Series and three penants under Whitey Herzog. The team was always at the top of the statistics for stolen bases, earned run average, runs batted in and saves, but were at the bottom for home runs. The object was to manufacture runs by speed and sacrifices then hold the lead for their closing pitchers, Bruce Sutter or Todd Worrell.”. Japan’s performance in the World Baseball Classic reminded me of this style of play and made me question the current state of Major League Baseball. I know the USA roster for the WBC was not the best of the best, but it was a pretty darn good roster. The pitching didn’t hold up as most thought, but it was still an all star team of US talent. Is it possible that “whiteyball” can still win out over the “harvey wallbanger” style of baseball in 2009 as it did in 1982.
Major League Baseball has the greatest players in the world, but can those great players make the best team. The US has put out all star caliber lineups in both WBC’s and do not have a championship. The Japan teams continues to field a fundamentally sound, lightning quick ball club with a couple good starting pitchers and a phenomenal bullpen. Sound familiar?
Japan’s success in the WBC made me think about how small market teams could overhaul their rosters to try and be more successful. The players getting the big name contracts are the big boppers. If you can hit 40 homers every year, you are going to get $10 million per season. If you can steal 50 bases every year you probably will be looking for a place to play year after year (Juan Pierre and Willy Taveras). Could a major league club put together a fundamentally sound, speedy team to compete with the big mashers? I think a team could compete, but the pitching staff would have to hold up. Thinking back to some Cards teams in the 80’s, the starting pitchers were Joaquin Andujar, Bob Forsch, John Stuper, and Dave LaPoint in ‘82, Andujar, John Tudor, Forsch, and Danny Cox in ‘85, and Tudor, Forsch, Cox, Greg Mathews, and Joe Magrane in ‘87. I don’t know about you, but none of these pitchers were hall of famers. All of them had their best years of their careers in St. Louis. Was this due to the sensational defense behind them? Could a team today put out a ordinary pitching staff behind a great defense and be successful? Would an offensive created to manufacture runs, sustain enough offense to win 90 games? Would fans flock to the park to see a team play fundamentally sound defense, steal some bases and win baseball games 2-1, 3-2, or 4-3?
These are all questions that I thought about after watching Japan win the WBC with a team that in my mind was not too much different than the ‘82, ‘85, or ‘87 Cardinals. Let’s see if any clubs take a page from the Japan book on baseball and field a club that costs 1/4 of many current major league payrolls and competes on the field, just with a different style of play.
Matt Wilson
Photo from Yahoo Sports
Filed Under: Baseball • Uncategorized
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Great post. It really makes you think about different styles of baseball.
I’d have to say that a team could win with speed, but you’d have to combine that with a few other things. First the ballparks make it tougher. They are quite a bit smaller than those in the 80’s.
Second, I like speed, but you have to get on base to do it. Coleman could carry a team when he got an on base percentage above .340 (1987, 1990), even with a poor slugging percentage. When he had a .301 OBP and .280 slugging percentage (1986), his 100+ stolen bases weren’t enough to offset his liabilities in my opinion.
Ozzie Smith was the perfect example of how small ball can work. He stole bases, he got on base (.392 in 1987) and had a transcendant glove. If you get that type of player, you can win with small ball.
Just think what those 1980’s Cardinals would have done with Albert Pujols in their lineup. THAT would have been a juggernaut.