A World Series fact I bet you didn't know

I was driving the other day doing what i do best... thinking about random baseball stuff.

And in my wandering mind I stumbled across a little factoid that surprised me.

Two expansion franchises have never met each other in the World Series.

In every World Series there has been at least one franchise that existed back in 1903 (the year of the first series.)

Think about it for a second...

Since 1961 there have been 14 new franchises added to Major League Baseball.

1961 gave us the Angels (whether they are from Los Angeles, California, Anaheim or Los Angeles of Anaheim) and the new Washington Senators (now the Texas Rangers.)

1962 gave us the Houston Colt .45s (now the Astros) and the Mets.

1969 was the beginning of the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers.) Also that year was the debut of the San Diego Padres and the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals.)

1977 marked the debut of the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners.

1993 the NL expanded to form the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies.

And the last expansion was 1998 with the Tampa Bay Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Now the Rangers, the Nationals and the Mariners have never played in a World Series.

The first ever expansion team to win a pennant was the 1969 Mets and they played the Orioles... who began as the Milwaukee Brewers and became the St. Louis Browns.

In 1973 the Mets played the A's... who were in Oakland but were a team in 1903.

The other two Mets pennants (1986 and 2000) were against the Red Sox and Yankees.

The next expansion franchise to win a pennant was the Royals. They played the Phillies in 1980 and the Cardinals in 1985.

The Brewers (formerly the Pilots) played the Cardinals in 1982.

The Padres played the Tigers in 1984 and the Yankees in 1998.

The Blue Jays played the Braves in 1992 and the Phillies in 1993.

The Marlins beat the Indians in 1997 and the Yankees in 2003.

The Diamondbacks beat the Yankees in 2001.

The Angels beat the Giants (San Francisco by way of New York) in 2002.

The Astros lone pennant was a loss to the White Sox in 2005.

The Rockies played the Red Sox in 2007.

The Rays played the Phillies in 2008.

There it is... no two expansion teams have ever faced off.

Oh there have been close calls.

The 1980 Astros had the pennant winning run in scoring position in the NLCS which would have clinched a Houston/Kansas City World Series.

The 1986 Angels were one strike away, a sacrifice fly away and a Gary Pettis near home run away from meeting the Mets in the World Series.

What does this mean?

What is the significance? 

Well if the Angels play the Rockies in the World Series... it will be unique. (Not that it will get good ratings.)

And if I am forced to have this little nugget in my head... then by God you will have it too!

Dueling MVPs...

I should be asleep right now.
Everyone in my home is...

But I had an idle thought:

Many people think the NBA Finals will be the Lakers vs. the Cavaliers this year.

And I am guessing most people also feel that Kobe Bryant and LeBron James will finish 1-2 in the MVP vote.

And I got to thinking... how many times has the World Series been played with the eventual NL MVP on one team and the eventual AL MVP on the other?

And I couldn't just let it go. I am up at this hour in my South Pasadena home with my family sound asleep writing a baseball list. 

And I found out that it is a lot more rare in recent years than you would think!

I am using the Baseball Writers Association MVPs for the applicable years. And for the years before that, I am using the League Awards. (The League Awards began in 1911... which is where we'll start.)

And I found out a few interesting things...

OK. Let's list!

THE WORLD SERIES MATCH UPS AGAINST EVENTUAL MVPS

1914 - BOSTON BRAVES (MVP: Johnny Evers) defeats PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS (MVP: Eddie Collins)

1927 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Lou Gehrig) defeats PITTSBURGH PIRATES (MVP: Paul Waner)

1931 - ST. LOUS CARDINALS (MVP: Frankie Frisch) defeats PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS (MVP: Lefty Grove)

1934 - ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (MVP: Dizzy Dean) defeats DETROIT TIGERS (MVP: Mickey Cochrane)

1935 - DETROIT TIGERS (MVP: Hank Greenberg) defeats CHICAGO CUBS (MVP: Gabby Hartnett)

1936 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Lou Gehrig) defeats NEW YORK GIANTS (MVP: Carl Hubbell)

1939 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Joe DiMaggio) defeats CINCINNATI REDS (MVP: Bucky Walters)

1940 - CINCINNATI REDS (MVP: Frank McCormick) defeats DETROIT TIGERS (MVP: Hank Greenberg)

1941 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Joe DiMaggio) defeats BROOKLYN DODGERS (MVP: Dolph Camili)

1942 - ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (MVP: Mort Cooper) defeats NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Joe Gordon)

1943 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Spud Chandler) defeats ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (MVP: Stan Musial)

1945 - DETROIT TIGERS (MVP: Hal Newhouser) defeats CHICAGO CUBS (MVP: Phil Cavaretta)

1946 - ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (MVP: Stan Musial) defeats BOSTON RED SOX (MVP: Ted Williams)

1950 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Phil Rizzuto) defeats PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (MVP: Jim Konstanty)

1955 - BROOKLYN DODGERS (MVP: Roy Campanella) defeats NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Yogi Berra)

1956 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Mickey Mantle) defeats BROOKLYN DODGERS (MVP: Don Newcombe)

1957 - MILWAUKEE BRAVES (MVP: Hank Aaron) defeats NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Mickey Mantle)

1960 - PITTSBURGH PIRATES (MVP: Dick Groat) defeats NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Roger Maris)

1961 - NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Roger Maris) defeats CINCINANTI REDS (MVP: Frank Robinson)

1963 - LOS ANGELES DODGERS (MVP: Sandy Koufax) defeats NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Elston Howard)

1967 - ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (MVP: Orlando Cepeda) defeats BOSTON RED SOX (MVP: Carl Yastrzemski)

1968 - DETROIT TIGERS (MVP: Denny McLain) defeats ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (MVP: Bob Gibson)

1970 - BALTIMORE ORIOLES (MVP: Boog Powell) defeats CINCINNATI REDS (MVP: Johnny Bench)

1975 - CINCINNATI REDS (MVP: Joe Morgan) defeats BOSTON RED SOX (MVP: Fred Lynn)

1976 - CINCINNATI REDS (MVP: Joe Morgan) defeats NEW YORK YANKEES (MVP: Thurman Munson)

1980 - PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (MVP: Mike Schmidt) defeats KANSAS CITY ROYALS (MVP: George Brett)

1988 - LOS ANGELES DODGERS (MVP: Kirk Gibson) defeats OAKLAND A'S (MVP: Jose Canseco)

I didn't get bored and stop. That's it!

It used to happen all of the time. I guess the voters for the award has always leaned towards the pennant winner and without divisions and rounds of post season play, each League champion would be well represented.

And these days you see the MVP awarded to players who didn't make the post season more and more. Last year Albert Pujols won it while his Cardinals played golf in October.

Since 1976, 7 AL MVPs and 12 NL MVPs were for teams that didn't even win their division. (I am not counting 1994 where there was no post season.)

But since 1977 it's happened two times? Not once in the 1990s or the 2000s?

Wouldn't it have happened by a fluke once or twice?

I wonder how many times Cy Young winners faced off?

Go to bed Sullivan!

Interesting George Brett clip

First of all, this clip would be rated R for its language and content...
As for this post, let's just say it's not one to read to the kids.

You've been warned.
Now enjoy this clip of George Brett.



This clip is amazing on about 921 levels

Not the least of which here is a rebuilding Royals team in 2005, fresh off of a 104 loss season with tons of young kids trying to make the squad.

And here s George Brett, undoubtedly the most famous player in Royals history talking to some of the young players (all wearing high numbers like 71) and is he giving them tips?

Is he telling them how to be a champion?

No, he is telling in great detail about how he takes a sh*t in his pants a few times a year (????)

I love that every once in a while you see Manager Tony Pena walking around looking at the young players while the Hall of Famer talks about soiling his blue jeans in Las Vegas.

And the players seem to be walking away from Brett towards the end to go to batting practice, and Brett won't let them go... he NEEDS to tell them how the story of ruining his clothes.

And the last line is brilliant.

Another note...
George Brett had a well publicized struggle with hemorrhoids during the 1980 World Series. I wonder if that could have been avoided if he had anything resembling bladder control.

One more note...
The most famous clip ever of Brett was him, well, losing his sh*t during the famous pine tar game. Knowing what I know know about his bowels... I wonder if he held it in then.



I wonder what Royals fans think of this.

Bruce at the Royal fan zone, what do you think of the greatest Royal of all time not showing the same control with himself as he did with the bat?

Hey Royals Retro, is this something Royals fans knew about Brett?

I wonder how much this affected the 2005 season for the Royals. Keith at Royal Tower, do you think a story like this would be a point of distraction? I know if Yaz showed up to spring training and started talking like that... it would screw me up a little.

He said this knowing he was miked. Joe at Royals fan in Atlanta, can you imagine what he would say if he WASN'T miked? Should we even want to?

A couple of times a year? Doesn't that seem... oh I don't know... like he's sick, Royals Review?

Finally let me ask you House of Georges. Had you seen this clip already? Has this been floating around Royals fans?

Either way, I want to thank my brother for sending me the most disturbing piece of video of the day.

Keep up the good work, Ted.

The Phillies should rebuild the Vet!

When the Phillies lost to the Rockies 12-0, they fell behind 7 1/2 games to the Mets with only 17 games left. What happened since?

The Phillies have gone on a rampage... winning 10 of the next 13 and pulling within one game of the Mets with 4 to play.

They could knock the Mets clean out of the Playoffs and start a civil war between my cousins who are Mets fans and my cousins who are Phillies fans.

If their playoff push falls short (like it did in 2003, 2005 and 2006) I have a proposal.

Tear down the new Citizens Bank Ballpark and rebuild Veterans Stadium.

That's right... I am calling for the rebuilding of one of those awful cookie cutter nondescript multipurpose stadiums.

The cold, dark, ugly, urine smelling Vet.

Why would I propose such lunacy?
Because the Phillies need to be nostalgic and go back to their roots!

They need to change their uniforms back to the Mike Schmidt curly P and play in the Vet again!

I know they are wearing the same design uniform from their past. I know they hearken back to the old days... but those old days SUCKED.

Want a history lesson for the Phillies?

The franchise started in 1883 when they were called the Quakers.
The name was appropriate because they didn't put up a fight.
They finished 17-81... or a .173 winning percentage.

And thus a legacy of losing was born!
They wouldn't finish in first place until their 32nd year... where they were drubbed in 5 games by the Red Sox in the 1915 World Series.

In the Phillies first 92 years they finished in first place twice.
Read that sentence again.

And in their two World Series appearances (1950 was the other) they combined for 1 win. Not a series win... one game.

This is the past that the new uniforms are celebrating.

Then, in the smelly Vet... with their simple uniforms... they went on the single greatest run in franchise history.

In an 8 year span, they played in the post season 6 times.
The franchise that never had a 100 win season suddenly did it back to back.

The team that was the standard bearer of bad franchises (especially since the laughable St. Louis Browns became the formidable Baltimore Orioles) suddenly became a marquee franchise.

They had the best player in the National League in Mike Schmidt... the best pitcher in Steve Carlton and swiped the biggest Free Agent in Pete Rose.

In 1980 they did the unthinkable and won their only World Series.

And the winning ways continued as they won another pennant in 1983.

It was a sports renaissance in Philadelphia as the Flyers won the Stanley Cup twice, the 76ers were a fixture in the NBA finals, winning in 1983, the Eagles made the Super Bowl and Rocky Balboa won the heavyweight title from Apollo Creed and later from Clubber Lang and defended it against Ivan Drago.

Then hard times came and in 1992 they changed their uniforms and won another National League pennant. Like the Orioles dropping the smiling bird, the good fortune turned out to be a fluke.

The Phillies have yet to make the playoffs in the Wild Card format.

And I for one think they are missing the good karma of the Vet.
It was a tough place to play.
It was mean. It was dark. It was hostile.

And the players looked tough, acted tough and had names like Bake. This Phillies team would have fit right into the Vet.

Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard have a swagger that would have worked wonderfully between Schmidt, Bowa and Luzinski.

The fans in Philadelphia, who saw the Lindros era and the Iverson era come and go without a title and the McNabb era probably ending the same way too, are starving for a new era of glory.

They want titles, not beauty.
When they won titles, it was ugly... but it worked.

If it doesn't work this year, bring back the Vet.
And let the new good times roll.