Long Stop Shortstops: Update
re cards long-running stabilty at ss (see jan'y 2d post): a very cursory survey of www.baseball-reference.com turned up sev’l equivalent or longer runs of rock-solidness, viz.:
1. dodgers, 1946-73 — 28 years, four cfs: carl furillo (46-48), duke snider (1949-58), don demeter (1959-60), and willie davis (61-73). at which point an upheaval ensued at the position, with six dodger cfs in 7 yrs, until kenny landreaux restored order from 1981-85.
2. yankees, 1959-88 — 30 yrs, four 2bs: bobby richardson (59-66), horace clarke (67-73), sandy alomar (74-75), and willie randolph (76-88). the position went aroil in the mid-1990s, with successive one-yr stints by pat kelly, luis sojo, mariano duncan; chuck knoblauch seemed to have it back under control until his throwing arm went daffy. position now wobbly again — stopgap service last year by miguel cairo, tony womack now in residence.
3. yankees, 1949-79 — 31 yrs, four cs: yogi (1949-59), elston howard (60-66), jake gibbs (67-69), and thurman munson (70-79). rock steady.
4. orioles, 1963-2002 — 40 yrs, four ss: contrary to my statement two days ago, ripken’s orioles in fact were more stable at ss than the smith-renteria cardinals. the run goes like this: five yrs of luis aparicio (63-67), fourteen of mark belanger (68-81), fifteen of cal ripken (82-96), and six of mike bordick (97-02). imagine: certain o’s fans matured all the way from college to social security, from skinny bach’lorhood to wheezing geezerdom, and never once had to worry about the home team’s shortstop woes. . . . . well, almost. this clean line of succession is marred, alas, by the garcia/sakata interregnum: after 1978 belanger remained the "regular" in name only, a dying monarch increasingly at the mercy of his conniving heirs. during those years he ceded a share of his title first to kiko garcia and then to len sakata — with wayne krencheki and bobby bonner sopping up a few starts each for good measure. sakata finally wrested the throne in ’82 but held it for barely half a season; earl weaver shifted ripken from third base to short in july, and the sport’s longest rein thereby commenced.
so the cards' run of 4 ss in 28 years is impressive but not historic. it is, however, the longest-running CURRENT streak of this type that i have yet found. . . . and i ain't a-looking for any others.
sorry, all you wheezing geezers.
1. dodgers, 1946-73 — 28 years, four cfs: carl furillo (46-48), duke snider (1949-58), don demeter (1959-60), and willie davis (61-73). at which point an upheaval ensued at the position, with six dodger cfs in 7 yrs, until kenny landreaux restored order from 1981-85.
2. yankees, 1959-88 — 30 yrs, four 2bs: bobby richardson (59-66), horace clarke (67-73), sandy alomar (74-75), and willie randolph (76-88). the position went aroil in the mid-1990s, with successive one-yr stints by pat kelly, luis sojo, mariano duncan; chuck knoblauch seemed to have it back under control until his throwing arm went daffy. position now wobbly again — stopgap service last year by miguel cairo, tony womack now in residence.
3. yankees, 1949-79 — 31 yrs, four cs: yogi (1949-59), elston howard (60-66), jake gibbs (67-69), and thurman munson (70-79). rock steady.
4. orioles, 1963-2002 — 40 yrs, four ss: contrary to my statement two days ago, ripken’s orioles in fact were more stable at ss than the smith-renteria cardinals. the run goes like this: five yrs of luis aparicio (63-67), fourteen of mark belanger (68-81), fifteen of cal ripken (82-96), and six of mike bordick (97-02). imagine: certain o’s fans matured all the way from college to social security, from skinny bach’lorhood to wheezing geezerdom, and never once had to worry about the home team’s shortstop woes. . . . . well, almost. this clean line of succession is marred, alas, by the garcia/sakata interregnum: after 1978 belanger remained the "regular" in name only, a dying monarch increasingly at the mercy of his conniving heirs. during those years he ceded a share of his title first to kiko garcia and then to len sakata — with wayne krencheki and bobby bonner sopping up a few starts each for good measure. sakata finally wrested the throne in ’82 but held it for barely half a season; earl weaver shifted ripken from third base to short in july, and the sport’s longest rein thereby commenced.
so the cards' run of 4 ss in 28 years is impressive but not historic. it is, however, the longest-running CURRENT streak of this type that i have yet found. . . . and i ain't a-looking for any others.
sorry, all you wheezing geezers.
posted by L Boros at 7:21 AM
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