American League, 1963, here's the powerful starting lineup; Fox, Pearson, Kaline, Malzone, Leon Wagner, Battey, Pepitone, Versalles, McBride.

No offense to any of them, but that's not much of an All-Star starting lineup in historic terms.

Also, Duke Snider on the NL team? Sounds like an honorary spot for a retiring great.

Aaron hit second, Bill White third. Huh? Aaron only had 130 RBIs that year. (Over 700 plate appearances, don't see that often today.)

Ten pitchers used, only two pitchers (Drysdale, Bunning) you'd remember as stars. OK, Radatz, too.

Frank Malzone was a interesting case. Today it seems weird he'd be taken ahead of Brooks Robinson, but at the time of the All-Star game he was batting around .330. Also, he was a fine fielder who had won the Gold Glove a couple of times before Brooks got warmed up.

http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/news/...

The Kentucky Derby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RGP...

The Preakness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEOl...

Cepeda famously did not get along with Alvin Dark, his manager. Dark may have had issues with black players, so I am not saying we should take his views on Cepeda at face value, but:

In 1961, Dark said, "I'm sick and tired of players on this team leading the league in home runs and RBIs and not doing anything to help us win." It was pretty obvious he was referring to Cepeda. I don't know how you can lead the league in HRs and RBIs and not help your team win -- the idea, after all, is to score more runs than the other team. But that's what Dark said.

Dark used a plus and minus system to evaluate players (I'm paraphrasing Bill James' Hall of Fame book). A game winning hit might be 4 plusses. Hitting behind the runner is a plus; at a critical time it might be two plusses. A HR in a decided game might not count. Missing a sign, mishandling a cutoff, not running out a ground ball might be minuses.

Cepeda led the team in minuses.

But every player has different skills and a different role to play, and it's a mistake to evaluate them all using the same criteria. Hitting behind the runner is all well and good, but sooner or later somebody has got to drive the guy in.

The good manager is able to utilize these different skills. He doesn't ask Ted Williams to lay down a sacrifice bunt, Ron Herbel to execute the hit-and-run, or Gus Triandos to steal second base. And more importantly, he doesn't condemn them if they can't perform these skills consistently.

I certainly don't remember (I was a kid, though) that he built up his stats by hitting at less important moments. Seems difficult to have 140 unimportant RBIs, though. Of course there was a lot of discussion (not really a controversy) about whether he or McCovey should be playing, and if both were in the lineup, which one should go to the outfield.

At the same time I don't remember people thinking of Cepeda as a future Hall of Famer, not even after his two big years at St. Louis following his trade straight up for first-ballot Hall of Famer Ray Sadecki.

I'd be interested to know in which month Dark made that comment. 1961 was a frustrating year for the Giants. They had a strong team, especially with Marichal in his first full season, but just couldn't get going at the right moments, and finished eight games behind a less-than-great Cincinnati team.

It's likely Dark was just frustrated about having a such a good team which wasn't winning in his first year as a manager. Although there was a lot of complaining among fans about Dark, as on most highly talented teams, he was generally quite popular. Certainly liked a lot more than the guy who replaced him, Herman Franks. (Among Giants' managers, fans just loved Frank Robinson, ever as they disagreed with a lot of the things he did.)

Cincinnati 93 wins, 710 runs scored, 653 runs given up.

Los Angeles 89 wins, 735 runs scored, 697 runs given up.

San Francisco, 85 wins, 773 runs scored, 655 runs given up.

So statistically the Giants were far superior to both the Reds and the Dodgers, but finished eight and four games behind them respectively. Cincinnati must have been just great in close games, to have scored only 57 runs more than its opponents, yet managed a 93-59 record.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/...

Twins catcher Ratliff trapped the ball during the third strike. The umpire realized this and did not call Wilson out, but Ratliff thought the inning was over and rolled the ball back toward the mound as he and the rest of the team left the field.

Wilson started running, and was rounding third base when the Twins realized what was happening. Left fielder Alvea grabbed the ball, then he and shortstop Leo Cardenas managed to run down Wilson for the out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_...

Apparently, he also had trouble getting along with Charlie Finley. One could have worse faults.

The Newsday article may have been a misquote, but in light of his earlier statement I'd have to say this attitude had some basis in fact.

Watched part of a day game at Detroit's new stadium for the first time. Looks beautiful.

In the Yankees game, Posada took what he figured was a called third strike and started walking to the dugout. Ump didn't call it, though. Wonder if there were words when Posada came out to catch the next inning.

Dark was the type of player who tend to make good managers. A good player, a veteran, who was never a real star. It's often the superstar who can't manage well (Ted Williams, for example), because he fails to understand that less talented players just can't do what he did.

I've read about Dark's role in the Krausse affair on the team flight, with the A's in 1967. (This led at least indirectly to Finley cutting Ken Harrelson from the team, and he signed with the Red Sox for their great pennant drive.)

Dark was fired in the fallout to that mess. He refused to fine Lew Krausse for his behavior on the flight, and basically supported the players against Finley's stupidities.