All Philly No-Hitters Broken Up With 2 Outs in the 9th
Posted: April 4, 2013 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Baseball | Tags: A's Herb Pennock, Cy Young, Dan Griner, Geroge Meakim, Grover Cleveland Alexander, Hooks Witlse, near no-hitters, Phillies | 1 Comment »
With Yu Darvish having his perfect game broken up with two outs in the 9th on Tuesday night, I thought we’d take a look at all no-hitters broken up with 2 outs in the 9th involving Philly teams. We’ll start with games that Phillies and A’s pitchers lost no-nos in the 9th, then later we’ll look at games in which Philly hitters broke up no-hitters.
April 14th, 1915. Herb Pennock (A’s) vs the Boston Red Sox. This game is particularly notable because it came on Opening Day. The Kennett Square native Pennock (above) mowed down the Red Sox for 8 2/3 innings. Then with two outs in the 9th, up came Harry Hooper. The young Philly lefty reared back, fired, and Hooper hit a bouncer just to the left of the mound. Pennock could have grabbed it, but decided to let his 2nd baseman Nap Lajoie do the honors. Lajoie tried to bare hand it, could not, and Hooper made it to first with a single. Pennock had to settle for a one-hit shutout. It would be the highlight of the disastrous 1915 campaign, not made any better when Mack released Pennock, who was quickly scooped up by those same Red Sox. With the Sox and later the Yankees, Pennock went on to a Hall of Fame career. Mack called releasing him the biggest mistake he ever made.
June 5, 1915. Grover Cleveland Alexander (Phillies) vs the St. Louis Cardinals. Less than 2 months after Pennock’s no-no was spoiled, the great Grover Cleveland lost one as well. With two outs in the 9th, light hitting Arthur Butler, a career .241 hitter, punched a single off of Alexander. It was to be a dominant campaign for the great right hander, as he would throw four one-hitters that season (still an MLB record), a season that ended with the Phillies in the World Series against the same Red Sox team Pennock nearly no-hit on Opening Day. Incredibly, the two best pitchers in Phillies history (Steve Carlton and Alexander) threw a combined 11 one-hitters and zero no-hitters in their careers.
So there were two near no-hitters for Philly pitchers within two months of each other and there hasn’t been a single one since in the next 98 years. Baseball is a funny game. But there is one honorable mention, for a guy who pulled off a reverse Yu Darvish. On May 13th, 1954, Robin Roberts gave up a homer to Bobby Adams of the Cincinnati Redlegs to lead off the game. Roberts then mowed down the next 27 guys in order and the Phils won the game 8-1. Another Robin Roberts near no-hitter fun fact: In 1963, while a member of the Orioles, he faced off against Gary Peters of the White Sox. Peters threw a one-hitter, and Roberts had the only hit. It is believed to be the only time a pitcher has had the only hit of a one-hitter. Roberts also once lost a no-hitter with one out in the 9th, but never with two outs.
Ok, now let’s look at no-hitters Philly batters broke up in the 9th.
July 9th, 1890. George Meakim (Louisville Colonels) vs A’s (A different A’s franchise, not the one founded in 1901). With two outs in the 9th, 38 year old George “Orator” Shafer (pictured right) broke up Meakim’s no-hit bid. Orator got his nickname because he talked so much, talking to himself when no-one else was around to listen. Meakim would never come close to another no-hitter, winning 15 games in his short career.
July 23rd, 1896. Cy Young (Cleveland Spiders) vs. Phillies. With two outs in the 9th, Cy Young was one out away from his first ever no-hitter. Unfortunately for him, the man stepping into the batters box was none other than Big Ed Delahanty, who would bat .397 on the year. Delahanty connected on a Young pitch for a clean single, and Young would have to wait another year to collect his first career no-no. You can learn more about his first no-hitter in this pretty cool video.
June 4th, 1908. George “Hooks” Wiltse (NY Giants) vs. Phillies. Right up there with the Armando Galarraga game in terms of controversial perfect games blown. Wiltse had a perfect game going through 8 innings, and the first two Phillies went down meekly in the 9th. Up stepped Phillies pitcher George McQuillan, who was having quite a day at the office as well: he had a shutout going. Wiltse ran the count to 1-2 and then unloaded a strike right down the middle of the plate. Unfortunately for Wiltse, home plate umpire Cy Rigler choked and called it a ball. Shaken, Wiltse hit McQuillan with the next pitch. He calmed down, got the 3rd out, and the game went into extras. In the 10th, the Giants pushed a run across, Wiltse took down the side 1-2-3, keeping his no-hitter intact, though not his perfect game. Rigler later admitted he blew the call, and sent Wiltse cigars for years to try to atone for it.
May 6th, 1918. Dan Griner (Brooklyn Dodgers) vs. Phillies. One look at Griner’s stats, and it’s amazing people didn’t discount wins way before they did. The righty had a perfectly decent 3.49 career ERA, and yet a record of 28-55. On this day, Griner (pictured, left) took the hill for Brooklyn, having not won a game since 1915. In 1916 he was used only in relief, in 1917 he didn’t play at all, and he started 1918 with an 0-3 record. But on this day, he finally seemed to be destined for his moment in the sun. He shut down the Phillies through 8 2/3, and who should come to the plate but our old friend Gavvy Cravath? Cravath cracked a single, spoiling the no-no. Griner did settle down and retire the next batter, however, and get the win. It would be the final win of his Major League career. Griner would be dropped from the team a month later. You can see the box score of that game here.
July 18th, 1972. Steve Arlin (San Diego Padres) vs. the Phillies. After Johan Santana threw that no-hitter last year, the Padres became the answer to the trivia question: what’s the only franchise in baseball to have never thrown a no-hitter? Well, the closest they ever came was in this game in 1972, against the woeful Phillies. That Phillies team is famous for one reason: Steve Carlton won 27 of their 59 games. On this day, Arlin, who had been drafted by the Phillies in 1966, mowed down the Phils easily. With two outs in the 9th, up came Denny Doyle, a career .250 hitter. Arlin quickly ran the count to 1-2. The following comes from an article in Sports Illustrated last year:
That’s when first-year Padres manager Don Zimmer thought Doyle, a lefthanded hitting second baseman, was going to bunt. Zimmer signaled from the dugout to have third baseman Dave Roberts move up about eight feet on the grass.
Doyle, connecting on an inside slider, hit a ball that bounced over Roberts’ head — a ball that he would have been able to field had he been playing in his normal position. Padres shortstop Enzo Hernandez couldn’t make the play.
Arlin gave up a hit to the next batter, too, before closing out the 5-1 win. To this day, he’s still ticked about it.
“It was a case of Zimmer over-managing,” Arlin says. “Zimmer wasn’t the sharpest nail in the toolbox. He was growing into the job, but we knew he (Doyle) wasn’t going to bunt with two strikes. And he never bunted in his life.
“Roberts knew he shouldn’t have been playing in. He took a couple of steps back, but Zimmer waved him in again. If Roberts were back in his regular position, it would have been an easy play. I wasn’t happy. Everything was working.”
After the game, Zimmer knew that he’d made a mistake so came up to Arlin and handed him a razor blade, and “told me to go ahead and use it on him.”
You can check out the box score of that game here.
August 3, 1990. Doug Drabek (Pirates) vs the Phillies. Although the game was in the Vet, by the 9th inning, the home crowd was cheering hard for a no-hitter. After all, it was far more likely than the Phils making up the 11-0 deficit they were in. After Drabek retired Charlie Hayes on a grounder to short and Ricky Jordan swinging, up stepped Campusano, who had replaced Lenny Dykstra in the 7th inning. Drabek ran the count to 3-2. Campusano carried the next pitch to right center and the no-no was over. The home crowd booed, which upset the Phillies. Said Tom Herr, “It’s kind of frustrating when the fans are rooting against the home team.”
You can read about the game here and check out the box score here. After the game, Drabek said,
“I knew (Campusano) was a good fastball hitter. I went inside, but not far enough and he burned me. I wanted (the no-hitter). When you get that close and you don’t get it, it’s hard.”
I’m sure Yu Darvish knows exactly how he feels.
(hat tip to mikeespress.com, where there was a list of all of these game. Incredible work by those guys putting their list together.)
LaSalle’s 1954 Title Team
Posted: March 21, 2013 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Basketball | Tags: 1950s, 1954 LaSalle Explorers, 1954 NCAA Championship, Charles Singley, Frank Blatcher, Ken Loeffler, Tom Gola | Leave a comment »
There was no question who the star of LaSalle’s 1954 championship team was. It was #15 Tom Gola, the 6’7″ junior forward who was more or less the original Magic Johnson, a player who would be at center court for jump ball and then moments later be bringing the ball up the court as point guard. But he wasn’t only a great ballhandler, he was also a superlative scorer and rebounder, averaging over 23.7 PPG and 21.7 RPG in the 1953-54 season. (He is the NCAA’s all time leading rebounder, with 2,201). As the Knicks coach Joe Lapchick stated when asked about Gola in 1954, “Gola is the most completely versatile player in the collegiate game. He can do everything, and do everything amazingly well.” According to the 1954 team program, he was “Calm and cool, off court and on. His lacksadaisical air cloaks a fiery competitive spirit.” According to his coach, Ken Loeffler, “Tom’s poise is his greatest asset.”
Gola takes it to the tin.
After a 21-4 start, LaSalle, the winners of the 1952 NIT, were invited to take part in the NCAA tournament. Their toughest test would come in the first round in Buffalo, as they came one second from losing to Fordham. Down by two with five seconds left, Gola took an inbounds pass at halfcourt and whipped a pass to Fran O’Malley, who was waiting under the basket. O’Malley laid it in with one second on the clock, and the game headed into overtime. LaSalle took an early lead in OT and held off Fordham to gain the 76-74 victory, led by Gola’s 28 points.
Their next game would be a shootout at the Palestra against a North Carolina State team that had won the first ever ACC tournament a week before in an overtime thriller over Wake Forest. Gola and Charles Singley, the 2nd leading scorer on the 1954 Explorers, each scored 26, and LaSalle poured in 52 2nd half points to win 88-81.
Charles Singley attacks the basket.
On to the Elite 8, where LaSalle again had a more or less home game at the Palestra against Navy. The game was close early on, and the two teams went into the locker room at halftime tied at 21. But LaSalle coach Ken Loeffler, who the 1954 team program said was “highly regarded as a court strategist by coaching and sports writing fraternities” must have made the right adjustments at the half. LaSalle blew the game wide open in the 2nd half, and waltzed into the Final Four with a 64-48 victory. Gola led the team with 22 points, and Singley poured in another 16.
The team then headed out to Kansas City to play in the Final Four (Where, interestingly, LaSalle plays Kansas State Friday afternoon). The games would take place in Municipal Auditorium (You can check out a pic here of the same arena at the 1957 Final Four, where you will notice #13 on Kansas, who you may recognize as another former Philly superstar). The first game would match LaSalle with Penn State, who had shocked Bob Pettit and LSU in the Sweet 16, then surprised Notre Dame in the Elite 8.
LaSalle would have an unlikely hero in the Final Four. Frank Blatcher (who you can read about here) was a 24-year old sophomore who had done a tour of duty after graduating from Southern. The 6’2″ outside gunner was too much for Penn State in the first Final 4 game, pouring in 19. The Nittany Lions held Gola to a mere 5 field goals, but he still nailed 9 from the line to also finish with 19, and LaSalle won going away, 69-54.
It was onto the championship game, against Bradley. The Braves had shocked the Hank Iba coached Oklahoma A&M (Now OK State) in the Elite 8, then edged USC 74-72 in the Final Four.
LaSalle head coach Ken Loeffler
The championship game was a thriller…for one half. Bradley took a 43-42 lead into the half, but again it was Gola keying a 2nd half run, and the Explorers ran away with the championship, 92-76. Blatcher again came up huge from the outside, pouring in 23 points. Charles Singley poured in another 23, and Gola added 19, as LaSalle set a new championship game record with 92 points. In the 59 years since, only 3 teams have scored more in the championship.
LaSalle’s stars were all juniors and sophomores, and the next year LaSalle made a serious push for back to back titles. But Bill Russell and the San Francisco Dons proved to be a little too much for the Explorers. Gola graduated that year, and the Explorers haven’t been back to the Final Four since.
Gola would go on to a successful NBA career, being named an All-Star five times while playing for the Warriors and the Knicks. He later coached the Explorers to a 23-1 record in the 1968 season (one player on that team was Fran Dunphy) while serving as a state representative and running for Philadelphia city controller. He would run for Mayor in 1983, but lost in the primaries. One of the greatest athletes in Philadelphia sports history, Gola is now 80 years old and living on Huntingdon Pike.
Behind the Scenes of the Worst Trade in Phillies History, and How Larry Bowa Got Back at the Phils
Posted: January 27, 2013 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Baseball | Tags: 1980s, Dallas Green, Larry Bowa, Luis Aguayo, Ryne Sandberg | 4 Comments »
In 1980, the fiery Dallas Green led the Philadelphia Phillies to their first ever World Series title. Just over a year later, Green was taken from the Phils, as the Chicago Cubs hired him to be their GM. He immediately went to work, firing Chicago fan favorites and bringing in Phillies players such as Keith Moreland, Dickie Noles, and Dan Larsen. But it was on January 27th, 1982, that the most memorable trade between the Phillies and the Cubs took place. The end result was the worst trade ever in a long Phillies history of terrible trades.
As soon as he ascended to the GM position, Green recognized that the Cubs needed some veteran leadership, and called his old friend Bill Giles in the Phillies front office. Phillies President Giles and Bowa were locked in a tense contract dispute, with Bowa wanting a 3-year extension and Giles (and GM Paul Owen) loathe to give so many years to a shortstop who was already 36-years old. Furthermore, the Phillies had two young shortstops waiting in the wings who were expected to take over at short in the near future. They were Luis Aguayo and Ryne Sandberg (above left).
By early January, rumors of an impending deal began to appear in the papers. In an interview on Philadelphia radio on January 7th, an angry Bowa said that the trade with the Cubs then being discussed by the two front offices would send him, Dick Davis, and Luis Aguayo to the Cubs for the all-glove no-bat Ivan DeJesus and a pitcher named Bill Caudill. DeJesus would essentially be a cheaper and slightly younger placeholder than Bowa until Sandberg came up, while also shoring up the defense.
But though the trade seemed imminent at that time, it wouldn’t be completed for another three weeks. Why? Because Dallas Green didn’t want Aguayo. He wanted the other young Phillies shortstop. The following comes from an interview with Green in the book Almost a Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the 1980 Phillies:
“Ivan DeJesus was a proven-and marketable-shortstop. At first the Phillies tried to keep Ryne Sandberg from us. But I insisted on him if I was to make the deal. I think the Phillies knew Ryne was a good athlete. They just had no place to play him for two or three years. They were going for a pennant and there was some skepticism that he could play shortstop in the majors. Schmidt was at third. I always thought Ryne could play center field, but Maddox was there. The Phillies never really thought of him as a second baseman and besides Trillo was already there.”
On January 27th, Green finally convinced the Phillies to part with Sandberg instead of Aguayo, and the trade went through. The papers paid little attention to Sandberg. After all, the young shortstop had hit a paltry .167 in 1981 in 13 games played for the Phils. He was good, but most people saw him as a throw in on the deal. Bowa (right) realized his potential, however. When told that the “throw-in” was Sandberg, Bowa responded, “Well then, I was the guy they threw in because Sandberg is going to be a great player.” Those were the only kind words Bowa had to say about the deal, as he lashed out at the Phillies front office, telling the Daily News that the Phillies had once been like a family, but “That all changed when Giles took over. It’s all corporate now. No more family.”
Furious at the Phils, Bowa decided to get back at them by helping to groom Sandberg into a star. Again from the excellent book above, Cubs teammate Dickie Noles talks about Bowa and Sandberg.
“Ryne and Bowa were inseperable. They were at the ballpark before anyone else, working their tails off, taking ground balls, hitting, working the double play. I think Bowa also loosened him up a bit. Ryne was a real quiet guy. But Bowa got him to come out of his shell, to talk a little trash. He gave him a little cockiness, but in a good way.”
By 1984, Ryne Sandberg was the best 2nd baseman in baseball, and was named NL MVP that year. He would go to the All-Star game 10 times and win the Gold Glove 9 times. His career .989 fielding percentage is the best ever for an MLB 2nd baseman. He is universally acknowledged as one of the best 10 2nd baseman in MLB history.
Ivan DeJesus turned out to be OK. He played for the Phils for three years, and it must be noted that his excellent defense did help the team make the 1983 World Series. And Luis Aguayo, the shortstop the Cubs didn’t want? He turned out to be…adequate is perhaps the kindest term, a utility player for the Phils for 9 years. As Whitey succinctly put it during one game during Aguayo’s tenure in Philadelphia: “Luis Aguayo is on deck. Aguayo hasn’t exactly been reminding anybody of Rogers Hornsby lately.”
Remarkably, most of these men’s futures would all also be tied in somehow to the Phillies. Bowa would return as their manager from 2001-2004. Sandberg currently manages in the Phillies farm system and is expected to be the Philadelphia squads’ next skipper. Green is currently a member of their front office. And Luis Aguayo was the New York Mets third base coach in 2008, the year they collapsed in September and blew it against the Philadelphia Phillies.
PREVIOUSLY: The Phillies trade Ferguson Jenkins to the Cubs for Larry Jackson and Bob Buhl.
Eagles Coach You Should Know: Jim Trimble, the Co-Creator of the Modern Goal Post
Posted: January 22, 2013 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Football | Tags: Eagles, goal posts, Jim Trimble | Leave a comment »
In 1951, the Eagles hired Bo McMillan to be their head coach, and McMillan hired an assistant named Jim Trimble to help him out. But two games into the 1951 season, McMillan was diagnosed with stomach cancer and had to step down. He handed the reins over to Wayne Millner. Millner coached the 1951 team to a 4-8 record, then stepped down two weeks before the 1952 season. Up stepped the unheralded Trimble, who struggled early on, as the Eagles fell to the Giants 31-7 and the mighty Browns 49-7. Afterwards, Philadelphia Bulletin writer Hugh Brown wrote, “The Eagles of 1952 are probably the worst football team to ever wear the Kelly green.”
Trimble posted the article in the locker room, and the team quickly got their act together. They then won 5 of their last 7 games to finish with a 7-5 record in 1952. The turnaround earned the 34-year old coach the NFL Coach of the Year Award. The next two years, they also won 7 games but finished 2nd to the Browns each year. In 1955, the team got stung with injuries and finished the year 4-7-1, losing 5 of those games by a touchdown or less. He was fired after the season, stating afterwards that, “I was completely stunned…It is the first time I ever lost a job.”
He was scooped up by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in 1956, and led them to a Grey Cup victory in 1957. He would later coach the Montreal Alouettes as well. But his impact on football wasn’t just as a coach. In 1966, he, a man named Joel Rottman, and an engineering friend, Cedric Marsh, took out a patent on a new type of goal post, known as the “sling shot”. Until then, goal posts were H-shaped and placed on the goal line. Trimble and Rottman’s design was the Y shape that is used almost exclusively today.
He would also work in the New York Giants organization from 1967 until 1991. Trimble passed away in 2006 at the age of 87. Below is a very cool interview of him in 1954.
The Time Jeff Lurie Interviewed Three Future Super Bowl Winners, and Didn’t Hire Any of Them
Posted: January 6, 2013 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Football | Tags: 1990s, Dick Vermeil, Jeff Lurie, Mike Shanahan, Ray Rhodes, Tony Dungy | 3 Comments »
With the Eagles on the hunt for a new head coach, I thought we’d take a look back at one of the most fascinating coaching hunts in Birds history.
On May 6th, 1994, a year after failing to buy his hometown Patriots, Jeff Lurie bought the Eagles from Norman Braman. At head coach he inherited Rich Kotite, coming off an 8-8 season. It was too close to the new season to fire him and start over, so Lurie reluctantly kept him on board. The Eagles surprisingly started the next year 7-2 under Kotite. Nonetheless, Lurie announced after the hot start that he would not be renewing Kotite’s contract, and Kotite made it clear that he was going to start looking for a new job. All momentum the team had built up was lost, as they dropped their next 7 games, and Kotite quickly got the ax. Lurie then turned his attention to a former Eagle coach in the hopes of returning the team to glory…Dick Vermeil.
Vermeil had quit coaching following the 1982 season, citing burnout. For the next 12 years he was an analyst on television. But like most coaches, he had the bug, and he almost took an offer from the Falcons in 1986 (When things fell through with Vermeil, the Falcons took former Eagle coach Marion Campbell instead).
Vermeil met with Lurie a few days before the Eagles last regular season game of 1994. By January 13th of 1995, it looked like a deal was imminent, according to the Daily News.
After weeks of anticipation, questions, delay, no comments, media speculation and a Monday breakdown at the negotiating table, a source close to the negotiations told the Daily News yesterday that, barring unforeseen complications, an agreement is “not too far away…These things just take time, and I’m confident that it will eventually happen, but at its own pace. No one is trying to force anything.”
Two days later, things completely broke down. Apparently Lurie got nervous about the fact he was hiring a guy who hadn’t coached since 1982, and who wanted to not only be coach but GM. “Understand this was a risky offer,” Lurie told the Reading Eagle after negotiations broke down, “Because it was an offer to someone who hadn’t coached in 12 years, but yet someone I had great hope and respect for.”
Lurie continues, “He’s an intense competitive guy, and I think he was bitter that we were unwilling to really meet his requirements. I just don’t think that would have been responsible for this football team to put us in the situation where we just didn’t know how well Dick would do.”
Vermeil had a different take on why things broke down. “In nine hours of meetings-three, three-hour meetings, every time I mentioned football things, he said, ‘I’d like to be collaborated with, but the final decision will be yours’. And then when it (the contract) became written, it just wasn’t that way.”
And so the coaching search continued. Later that same week, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported, “Mike Shanahan appears to be the man at the top of Lurie’s head coaching wish list now that Dick Vermeil has been erased from the picture.”
But on January 31st, 1995, Shanahan was hired by the Broncos. Eagle fans were getting restless. Lurie was flying from town to town, interviewing seemingly every coach in the country. But at this point it was down to three men: Gary Stevens, offensive coordinator for the Dolphins; Tony Dungy, defensive coordinator for the Vikings (right); and Ray Rhodes, defensive coordinator for the 49ers. Sal Pal reported that Stevens appeared to be the frontrunner.
Lurie met with them all in Miami. He had a meeting with Dungy for 6 hours. It went extremely well, but he was still a longshot. Lurie and Stevens met on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 1st, and it seemed like things were set in stone. On February 2nd, Kevin Mulligan of the Daily News reported that “sometime today – barring breakdowns in the contract-writing process – Stevens is expected to have a new title: Philadelphia Eagles head coach.”
But as Mulligan was going to press at around midnight, Lurie was having a late-night meeting with Rhodes that lasted until 2:45 a.m. Wednesday morning. After the meeting, he made his decision. Ray Rhodes would be his guy. He spoke with Rhodes’s agent on Wednesday and started hammering out a deal. By Wednesday afternoon, Ray Rhodes was the Eagles new head coach, signing a 5-year, $5 million salary. He would last 4 years in Philly, going 29-34-1. After a great start, going 10-6 and winning Coach of the Year, things went downhill rapidly, and he was fired after a disastrous 3-13 season in 1998. He is currently a defensive assistant for the Browns.
Gary Stevens would never become an NFL head coach, remaining Dolphins Offensive Coordinator until he was fired in 1998. He never coached in any capacity in the NFL again. Mike Shanahan was a long shot for the Birds, as most people figured he would take the Broncos job. He did, and led them to two Super Bowl wins. Dungy would remain Vikings coordinator for one more year before he was hired to be head coach of the Buccaneers, and after turning that franchise around, he later won a Super Bowl with the Colts. And Dick Vermeil would return to coaching with the Rams in 1997, and lead them to a Super Bowl victory in his third season as coach. Pretty amazing that Lurie interviewed three guys who would go on to win Super Bowls, and didn’t hire any of them. Doesn’t give me a ton of confidence this time around.
How Have Previous Eagles Coaches Done After They Left Philly?
Posted: January 4, 2013 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Football | Tags: Bert Bell, Buddy Ryan, Dick Vermeil, Marion Campbell, MIke McCormack, Nick Skorich, Ray Rhodes, RIch Kotite | 1 Comment »
Andy Reid just signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s far from the first coach to leave Philly and find work elsewhere as a head coach in the NFL. So let’s see where previous Eagles coaches ended up, and how they did in a new town. (Spoiler: Other than Vermeil, the answer is “terribly”.)
Bert Bell- (Eagles coach from 1936-1940. Details on his disastrous tenure can be read here.) This one is complicated. But long story short, Bell helped Art Rooney sell the Steelers to Lex Thompson in 1940, then let Art buy half of the Eagles, but after buyers remorse Rooney and Bell traded the Eagles to Thompson for the Steelers (it was known as The Pennsylvania Polka). Anyways, Bell coached the Steelers for the first two games of the 1941 season. They lost their first two games of the 1941 season, then Rooney convinced Bell to step down. His combined coaching record with the Eagles and Steelers was 10-46-2, and for coaches with at least three years coaching experience, it’s still the worst win % ever.
Nick Skorich- (Eagles coach from 1961 to 1963. Pictured left.) He took over a team that had just won the NFL championship, and within 3 years, they were 2-10-2. He then got a job as an assistant for the Browns. He worked his way up to head coach in 1971. He had some success in Cleveland, leading them to a 10-4 mark in 1972, and nearly upsetting the undefeated Dolphins in the playoffs before falling 20-14. He would be fired after the 1974 season and then served as supervisor of officials for the NFL.
Mike McCormack- (Eagles coach from 1973-1975.) Canned by the Birds after the 1975 season, he took an assistant job with the Bengals, then got a shot with the Colts in 1980. After leading them to a 7-9 record in 1980, the bottom fell out in 1981, as two wins over the Patriots by a total of 3 points were the only thing that stopped them from going 0-16. They were really one of the worst teams in NFL history, losing 12 of their 14 games by double digits, including 8 by 20 or more points. They were 26th in the league in scoring, and 28th in points allowed. He was fired after the season, and then got a front office job with the Seahawks. When Seattle fired its head coach two games into the 1982 season, he took over and guided the Seahawks to a 4-2 record in a strike shortened season. After the year he moved back upstairs, and eventually became GM and president of the team. He was later the first ever GM and president of the Carolina Panthers.
Dick Vermeil- (Eagles coach from 1976-1982.) Interesting to think how different things might have been here. It’s well known that Vermeil took over as Rams coach 15 years after burning out with the Eagles in 1982. But he interviewed for the Eagles job again in 1995, after Rich Kotite was fired. (I was not here and did not know that, and look forward to researching it further and writing about it in the coming days.) Anyways, he did not get the job and went on to coach the Rams to a Super Bowl victory in 2000, retiring after the game. He didn’t stay retired long, as he signed with the Chiefs in 2001. By 2003 he had led them to a 13-3 record and an AFC West title, but they lost a shootout to Manning and the Colts in the playoffs, 38-31. He would coach them for two more seasons, going 10-6 in 2005 before retiring for good.
Marion Campbell- (Eagles head coach from 1983-1985.) Campbell, Vermeil’s defensive coordinator and Chester native, was brought in to coach the Birds when Vermeil stepped down. The team hovered at mediocre for his three years there. In 1985, with a game left to go in the season he was fired. In 1987, he was hired by the Falcons to be their head coach for the second time (he had coached there for a season and a half in the 70s). Things were worse in Atlanta than they had been in Philly, and 2 1/2 seasons later he was out the door with a 11-32 record. His final NFL coaching mark was 34-80-1, third lowest all-time winning percentage for coaches with more than 3 years experience (only Bert Bell and David Shula had a lower mark.)
Buddy Ryan- (Eagles head coach from 1986-1990.) I don’t need to tell you much about Buddy Ryan’s tenure here in Philly. He was one of the few coaches in Philly to end his career with a winning record, a fairly respectable 43-38-1, though to hear the locals tell it he finished up undefeated with 5 Super Bowl wins. Anyways, he was fired after 1991, spent a year as defensive coordinator with the Oilers, and then returned to coaching with the Arizona Cardinals. It did not go well. He ended his two year stint with a 12-20 mark and retired to his farm in Kentucky.
Rich Kotite- (Eagles head coach from 1991-1994.) Kotite’s career in Philly started with promise, as he led the team to 10 and 11 win seasons. But then they went 8-8, and a 7-2 start in 1994 turned into a 7-9 finish, and he was out the door. He was quickly scooped up by the Jets, and the results were beyond disastrous. In two years with the Jets, he went 4-28 (Taking into account his last Eagles season, he was 4-35 in his last 39 games coached). He stepped down after the 1996 season and never coached anywhere else again.
Ray Rhodes- (Eagles head coach from 1995-1998.) Rhodes’s career in Philly also started with some promise, but like Kotite’s it ended poorly. After back to back 10 win seasons, the team slipped to 6-9-1, and then came 1998, which I wrote about recently. He was out the door after that disaster, but landed quickly on his feet, as the Packers scooped him up. He lasted all of one season in Green Bay, going 8-8 before being shown the door. He has been a defensive coordinator and assistant ever since, and currently works in the Browns front office.
Buzz Arlett, the Original Chris Coste
Posted: January 3, 2013 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Baseball | Tags: 1930s | 1 Comment »
For 13 long years, Buzz Arlett toiled in the minors, putting up incredibly gaudy numbers as both a pitcher and a hitter. Major league teams came calling, but his team, the Oakland Oaks, wanted far more money for his services (minor league teams used to sell their players to the Majors) than any team was ready to spend. And so, year after year, he destroyed Pacific Coast League pitching, setting a record for most home runs in the minor leagues that still stands today and regularly hitting in the high .300s. Finally, in 1931, the pitiful Philadelphia Phillies decided to pay the money and give him a shot.
He started the 1931 season on fire, and after six weeks, he was leading the majors with a .385 average and had already hit 11 homers. Fans at the Baker Bowl had something to cheer about for the first time since 1915. But he hurt his leg while sliding, then broke his thumb in June. His defense, always a liability, had certainly not improved with age and injuries, and he made regular blunders in the field. He would finish the season with a .313 average, 18 homers, and 72 RBIs. Despite those numbers, the Phillies decided to waive him, and he was claimed by minor league giants the Baltimore Orioles, where he played for several more years. He would play in the minors until 1937, never again getting a cup of coffee in the pros. In 1984, SABR named him the greatest minor league ballplayer of all time.
Terrible Teams: The 1968 Eagles (The Year the Fans Booed Santa)
Posted: December 18, 2012 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Football | Tags: 1960s, booing Santa, Ed Snider, Jerry Wolman, Joe Kuharich, Leroy Keyes, O.J. Simpson | 5 Comments »
With the Eagles stinking up the joint this year, we are looking back at some of their worst teams ever. Next up, the 1968 squad. In the photo at left are, from L-R, head coach Joe Kuharich, team treasurer Ed Snider (yes, that Ed Snider) and owner Jerry Wolman.
The 1968 Eagles are famous for one game, the game in which Santa Claus got booed. That was the final game of the season, on December 15th against the Vikings. But you’ll have to forgive Eagles fans if they weren’t really in a festive spirit. The season could not have possibly gone worse.
It started with the coach. “Joe Kuharich couldn’t sell iced tea to a Tasmanian at a dried up water hole,” wrote Sandy Grady in the Philadelphia Bulletin. He had been hired in 1964, and even at the time it was a poorly received choice. After all, Kuharich was at the time best known for being the only coach to have a losing career record at Notre Dame (a distinction he still holds). Incredibly, new Eagles owner Jerry Wolman gave Kuharich coaching and GM duties, and signed him to an unheard of 15-year contract. He instantly started making foolish moves. He traded fan favorite Tommy McDonald for two guys only their mothers could recognize. He traded Hall of Famer-in-the-making Sonny Jurgenson to the Redskins for a steady but unspectacular Sam Snead.
He did have one year of glory, a 1966 campaign that saw the Birds go 9-5 and finish 2nd to the Cowboys. But things went downhill fast after that. They went 6-7-1 the next year, and then the bottom fell out. The team opened the 1968 season with a 30-13 loss to the Packers. The Cowboys would humiliate them twice in 3 weeks, 45-13 and 34-14. In a battle between pitiful Pennsylvania teams, they lost to the Steelers 6-3. Philadelphia let out it’s frustration on Kuharich, wearing “Joe Must Go” buttons and even hiring a plane to fly a “Joe Must Go” banner over the Franklin Field.
By Thanksgiving day, the team stood at 0-11 and coming off a 47-13 loss to the Browns, looked like they were headed for an 0-14 season. There would be quite a silver lining in doing so: they would therefore have the number one pick in the draft, and acquire the electric OJ Simpson out of USC. Needless to say, they botched this opportunity too.
It poured rain nonstop for two days before their Thanksgiving day game against the Lions, and the teams played in a mess that came to be known as the Mud Bowl. In the end it was Eagle kicker Sam Hall booting 4 field goals to lead the Birds to a 12-0 win. Buoyed by their success, the team then came back to Philly and knocked off the Saints, 29-17, led by Tom Woodeshick’s 122 yards (he led the team in rushing that year with 947). It was a disaster. Needing only to lose their final three games, they had instead won 2. With the Bills already having finished their regular season at 1-12-1, the Eagles had cost themselves OJ Simpson before they even took the field for the infamous Santa game.
Say what you will about Eagles fans, they are nothing if not loyal. Almost 55,000 of them came out to Franklin Field on a snowy 28 degree day (Wind Chill 15) to cheer on a team so pathetic that it couldn’t even lose when it needed to. After a listless first half that ended in a 7-7 tie, the halftime Christmas pageant was set to begin. But the field had turned to muck, and the float Santa was supposed to be on got stuck in the mud. Furthermore, no-one could find Santa (Rumor had it that he got drunk). Whereas in Miracle on 34th Street, the real Santa took over for the drunk Santa, in this case the real Santa had decided not to attend this game (hard to blame him). The Eagles brass, desperate for a Santa, picked 20-year old Frank Olivo out of the crowd. Despite his 5’6″, 170 pound frame, he had decided to wear a Santa outfit that day. (You can read a great ESPN piece on what Olivo is up to today here.)
As this meager, skinny Santa ran around the field waving at fans, they began to boo. Olivo described it years later.
“At first I was scared because it was so loud. But then I figured, hey, it was just good-natured teasing. I’m a Philadelphia fan, I knew what was what. I thought it was funny.”
The booing soon turned into snowballs, as fans pelted him from the upper deck. Olivo took it all in stride, saying that he laughed it off. Nonetheless, when the Eagles asked him if he’d do it again the next year, he answer, “No way. If it doesn’t snow, they’ll probably throw beer bottles.”
The Eagles went on to lose the game 24-17 and finish the season 2-12. Their consolation was the third pick in the draft. The Bills got OJ Simpson, who would rush for 11,236 career yards. The Eagles took Leroy Keyes, who would rush for 369. With the 4th pick, the Steelers took Mean Joe Greene. Kuharich was fired in the offseason, when Wolman sold the team to Leonard Tose.
Nonetheless, he continued to get paid for the remainder of his incredible 15-year contract. Kuharich passed away from bone cancer on the same day the Eagles played in Super Bowl XV against the Raiders. Eagles GM Jim Murray visited him in the hospital a few days before, right before the Eagles left for New Orleans.
“The man is lying there devastated by that disease, and you know he’s in agony, and all he can do is wish us luck. The team that fired him, the city that crucified him, he’s wishing them nothing but success. There are more records in this life than winners and losers. And I’d love to have his report card.”
Some information taken from Pro-Football-reference, and some take from the excellent Ray Didinger and Bob Lyons book, The Eagles Encyclopedia.
Terrible Teams: 1998 Eagles
Posted: December 4, 2012 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Football | Tags: 1990s, Bobby Hoying, Eagles, Ray Rhodes | 2 Comments »
With the Eagles totally in the tank this year, I thought we’d take a look back at some of their worst teams of all time. We’ll start with their last truly awful team and work our way backwards. We begin with the 1998 Eagles.
“You know what I want? I want the Eagles to lose the rest of their games,” one raspy voiced man said, “so Lurie will give up and sell the team.” A call on WIP earlier tonight? Nope, a call on WIP in November of 1998, as documented by this New York Times piece about the disastrous 1998 Eagles season.
In 1997, the Eagles had gotten quite excited about their young QB Bobby Hoying. After his first start, Rich Hoffmann wrote, “Bobby Hoying leaves you wanting to see more. It’s that simple.” He would have a couple of spectacular games and end the ’97 season looking like the QB of the future. He completed 57% of his passes and threw for 11 TDs and 6 Int’s. But at the end of the ’97 season the team lost offensive coordinator Jon Gruden, who went to Oakland, and running back Ricky Watters, who went to Seattle. Even with this exciting young QB, it would be tough to build on their 6-9-1 season the year before.
It was. The team was awful. The nightmare season started in their home opener against the Seattle Seahawks, who beat them 38-0. Hoying went 9-23 for 60 yards and had an INT returned for a touchdown. It would be the only TD he would throw all season.
There were more blowout losses on the horizon. The Broncos crushed them 41-16. The Cowboys beat them 34-0. The Redskins rocked them 28-3, the Giants 20-0. The offense was atrocious. They scored more than 20 points in a game once all season (a 24-21 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.) In fact, their 162 points (10 ppg) was the third lowest scored by any team since the NFL went to a 16 game game season in 1978.
Bobby Hoying was a complete disaster. Without Gruden as his offensive coordinator, he lost all confidence. He threw for zero touchdowns and 9 Interceptions and convinced the incoming administration that it was time to get a new QB and not Ricky Williams in the draft. In addition to not being able to complete passes, he was sacked constantly. His lone victory as QB was a 10-9 win over the Lions, a game in which he managed to throw for all of 97 yards.
There was some good to come out of that year, however. Young RB Duce Staley had a 1,000 yard season. Hugh Douglas, who had just come over from the Jets, was a breakout star, garnering 12.5 sacks. The team (with Rhodes as GM) picked well in the draft that year, getting Tra Thomas in the first round, Jeremiah Trotter in the 3rd, and Ike Reese in the 5th.
Rhodes, whose career with the Eagles had started with so much promise, was let go at the end of the season. Though Jim Haslett was considered the front runner for the job, it was Andy Reid who was the surprise hire. The rest, as they say, is history.
So What’s the Longest Losing Streak In Eagles History?
Posted: November 19, 2012 | Author: Johnny Goodtimes | Filed under: Football | Tags: 1930s, Bert Bell, Eagles | 1 Comment »
“Yes, we’ve got to put Eggs Manske in a better position to make plays.” -Bert Bell
It’s looking right now that the Eagles might honestly not win another game this year. If that is in fact the case, they will end the season with 12 straight losses. That would bring them close to the team record, and it would set a record for most consecutive losses in one season.
1936 was the first year that the NFL had a draft, which was done on the insistence of Eagles owner and coach Bert Bell (left), whose team had gone 2-9 the year before. Bell not only made the first selection of the draft as owner of the Eagles, he acted as emcee for the evening, as the draft was held at the Ritz Carlton in Philadelphia!
With their first pick, the Eagles selected the first ever winner of the Heisman Trophy, Jay Berwanger. (Incidentally, with the 3rd pick of the draft, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected a player named William Shakespeare, who had possibly the greatest nickname in NFL history: “The Merchant of Menace”). But the Eagles couldn’t meet Berwanger’s money demands, and he was traded to the Bears (he never signed with them either). Much like the Eagles now, whose inability to sign even moderately effective offensive lineman has cost them the season, in 1936 their inability to sign a player of Berwanger’s ability hurt them greatly, both on the field and at the box office.
The season started promisingly enough, with a 10-7 win over the New York Giants at Municipal Stadium (below right). Then things went downhill, and fast. In their next 5 games, they were outscored 101-3. Finally, in week 7, they scored their second TD of the season, but still lost to the Boston Redskins, 17-7. The next week, they cracked double digits again, again versus the Giants, but lost a shootout 21-17. They then went on to score a total of 2 TDs for the rest of the season to finish 1-11, with 11 straight losses. They were outscored that season 206-51, with over half of their points coming in two games against the Giants.
Their stats for the 1936 season are absolutely hilarious. They had 8 different players throw at least one pass that season. These QBs combined to complete 22.9% of their passes for 603 yards, with 3 Touchdowns and 36 interceptions. The Eagles completed 39 passes that year, and threw 36 interceptions. Not a good year for the likes of Swede Hanson, Stumpy Thomason, and Reds Bassman. The leading receiver on that team was Eggs Manske with 325 yards. Hanson led the team in rushing.
1937 started out no better. They lost their first 3 games, then broke their losing streak at 14 with a thrilling 6-6 tie against the Chicago Cardinals. They would lose the next week, then finally go into Washington, where the Redskins were playing their first season after moving from Boston, and win 14-0. They would finish the 1937 season 2-8-1.
Their first decade as a franchise (1933-1942) has to be some sort of record for futility. They went 23-82-4 (23.8%). The 14 game losing streak was no apparition. Let’s hope the Eagles current losing streak is just a sign of a bad season, not of a franchise heading backwards to 1930s levels of ineptitude. And let’s hope we can sign this year’s first round draft pick. (Special thanks to Reuben Frank who told me on twitter what the longest losing streak in Eagles history was.)
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