RIP Toy Cannon

      James Sherman Wynn 1942-2020

I recently wrote of my decades-long dislike for the Houston Astros but I will always make an exception for a great nickname and they don't come much better than The Toy Cannon.  A vastly underrated ballplayer way ahead of his time in terms of on base percentage and power, he routinely cracked 20-30 homers out of the Astrodome at a time when most of his teammates had trouble hitting double digits. He only hit .250 but walked 100 or more times a year six times (sound familiar? told you he was ahead of his time).  He bounced around the league in his 30s to the Dodgers, Braves, Yankees, and Brewers but he was so good for the Astros in the 1960s that they retired his #24 in 2005.  Godspeed Jim.

Life of Pie.

      Things have gotten a little, um, weird, this week for most of us.  But really, is there anything going on that can't be solved with a hot cup of coffee and a beautiful slice of pie?  Alas, my love of Twin Peaks will have to wait for another time (my best friend got me this for Christmas and all that will show up here eventually).  I also was going to post my American Pie sets but I checked and saw that I did already.  That left me with the very obvious choice of Hall of Famer Pie Traynor.

Long ago I made a threat to put together a page of ol' Pie here and in the subsequent five years, look, I actually did.  Pie Traynor, despite his wonderful nickname, is one of those hall of famers that I don't know much about.  I know he was considered the best third baseman in history until Eddie Mathews and then Mike Schmidt and George Brett came along...and that's about it.  I couldn't even tell you his real name (Harold Joseph Traynor).  So a little bit of card back reading and SABR and wiki research has made a ten minute expert in the life and times of Pie. He was considered a wizard with the glove.  He only hit double digits in homers once and hit just 58 in his career.  He did, however, hit 164 triples and while that is a ton, it doesn't crack the top three in Pirates history - Honus Wagner, Paul Waner, and Roberto Clemente all have more.  In fact, those 164 would lead all but five teams in MLB history, including some very old ones (The Yankees and the Giants to name two - I also learned that Lou Gehrig leads the Yanks with 163, a number I wouldn't have come close to guess for him). He is the only player to steal home in an All-Star Game.  He was a player manager for a time and resigned as manager after the Homer in the Gloamin' (one of my favorite event nicknames in all of sport) ruined his confidence in himself and the team.  I also learned that he grew up in Somerville MA (a town I know well) and his nickname came from a grocer who called him Pie Face due to his...love of pie.  I am not sure what I was expecting from a nickname like that, but hey, that'll do. 

Happy Pi Day everyone!

RIP Le Grand Orange.

        Rusty Staub 1944-2018.

        Opening day is supposed to be a joyful day and instead it is a sad occasion this year because of the death of Rusty Staub.  Rusty was a great player and a great man.  He led many baseball lives: teenage phenom for the Colt 45s, expansion star Le Grand Orange for the Expos, World Series catalyst for the Mets, all-star DH for the Tigers, washed up fat guy for the Rangers, and then reborn pinch hitting specialist for the Mets (again).  He is also part of one of my favorite bits of useless trivia as one of only four men to hit homers as both a teenager and a 40-year old (with Ty Cobb, Ken Griffey Jr. and Gary Sheffield)***. 

Rusty is one of those players who I always use as an example of being not-quite a hall of famer (along with the likes of Rocky Colavito, Harold Baines, and Vada Pinson).  This is no insult what-so-ever; there is no shame at all in being in the top 3% of baseball players of all time but I like to imagine the hall being reserved for the best 1 or 2% at most.  And sure, there are players much much worse than Rusty in the hall of fame (Ross Youngs? Rabbit Maranville? Bill Mazeroski? I'm looking at you...) but there is a line that has to be drawn and it is a sad fact that Rusty would be on the outside of that line.  But few players in history are as beloved or will be missed more that they are gone.  I hope Jesus has a rack of ribs cooking for you up in baseball heaven.  Godspeed Le Grand Orange.


***It was not Griffey Jr., it was A-Rod who became the 4th person to pull this trick. Starting Nine regrets the error.