It has been 43 years since the St. Louis Cardinals appeared in consecutive World Series.  One has to go back before the advent of divisional play to find the last instance:  1967-68.  The Cardinals have won the National League in back-to-back years twice before, 1930-31, and 1942-44.  The Cardinals have never won the Fall Classic in consecutive years; the 1942 and 1944 titles are the closest they’ve ever come to accomplishing that.

Winning two straight titles is hard for teams not named the New York Yankees, and especially hard for National League franchises.  The first team to do so – the 1907-1908 Chicago Cubs – has not won a World Series since.  A historical oddity, sure, but let’s not miss a chance to tweak Cub fans. The list of NL franchises who have successfully defended their title is short and sweet.

• Chicago Cubs (successful defense in 1908)
• New York Giants (successful defense in 1922)
• Cincinnati Reds (successful defense in 1976)

That’s it.  A National League franchise has successfully defended its title once since the end of the Dead Ball Era.  St Louis will have to defy 9o years of history to join the Cincinnati Reds as the only NL team to accomplish the feat since Babe Ruth played.

That’s not the only challenge, of course – the Cardinals have to win the NL first to play for the World Title.  For the purposes of this discussion, we will assume St Louis qualifies for the playoffs either as a wild card or the NL Central champs.  As you might expect, it is considerably more difficult to win the National League today under the current post-season format.  During the 65 seasons when the league’s best record played in the World Series, a team won back-to-back NL titles 17 times.  Said another way, a defending champ had a 1 in 4 chance of a successful league title defense.  Since the playoff system was instituted, only 11% of World Series included an NL participant who was there the previous year (5 of 42).  The AL percentages are higher across the board, thanks to some team called the Yankees, but even in the AL there has been a drop in repeats since 1968.

Does this mean St Louis will not repeat?  No; each season is unique, just like each team is unique.  The loss of Albert Pujols weakened the middle of the order, but the acquisition of Carlos Beltran should replace most of that lost offense.  The return of Adam Wainwright makes the 2012 rotation far stronger than the 2011 version.  St Louis has as good a chance of repeating as World Champs as any recent team.  The hardest part won’t just be winning the Series; it will be getting there in the first place to defend their title.

Mike Metzger is a baseball writer based in San Diego. He also blogs about the Padres. Follow him on Twitter.

It was supposed to be the free agent rush of the short century: the best player in the game, maybe ever, was available to the highest bidder. No matter where he went, he would make his new team vastly better than they were last season and attract thousands upon thousands of new fans who wanted to get an up-close look at our Babe Ruth.

Yes, teams would fight like sharks in a fishbowl for Albert Pujols and for all the benefits he would bring to their teams with RBI on the field and jersey sales off of it. And after his contract negotiations went awry with the team he had been with for 11 years, many reasoned he wouldn’t return. But now I ask you, who will take him away?

There are only so many teams that can afford to pay Albert the huge contract he is looking for after being underpaid for 11 years now. Look at all of those teams* and tell me which he would go to.

The Yankees are baseball’s richest team and, if they had not signed Mark Teixeira at first base in 2009, would be an almost-certain destination for Albert. But Teixeira is there, and while the Yanks will be in need of a designated hitter come 2012, even they won’t be giving said DH over $200 million to come off the bench four times a night and sit back down.

Besides, New York’s GM, Brian Cashman, ruled out such a signing two weeks ago, saying, “Despite him being fantastic, it’s not an efficient way to allocate our resources. Offense is not an issue here. Our priority this offseason is pitching.”

So, how about the Boston Red Sox, the next-biggest wallet in the Big Leagues? Well, they signed the mighty Adrian Gonzalez to play first base last year, so there’s no room for Albert there either. And again, they wouldn’t give $200 million to a DH, especially with rumors that they will resign the one they have soon.

The big market Dodgers should have the capital needed to go out and get some big time free agents, but the McCourt disaster divorce is impeding that this offseason as the team looks for new ownership. They have enough to re-sign Matt Kemp, but that’s about it.

Next is the Cubs, where every writer needing a good storyline picked him to go. After all, the North-Siders have their new GM, the brilliant Theo Epstein, have plenty of money to spend–and wouldn’t it be something if Pujols went to the rivals of his career team, the Cardinals? It was just too perfect if you were a Cubs fan.

Unfortunately, if you’re a Cubs fan, you will lose here too. Epstein’s focus this year and next will be to get all of the bad contracts off the books that were put there by the old regime. Factor in that Pujols probably doesn’t want to be a loser for the rest of his career and the Chicago Cubs are off the list.

The Mets are in the same boat as the Dodgers in that they are in a prime location, New York, but have mismanaged their finances enough that they cannot even re-sign their star shortstop Jose Reyes, let alone add Albert.

The Phillies are next up and are already spending an exorbitant amount of money this offseason before anyone else, but Ryan Howard is playing first there.

The San Francisco Giants need offense and a first baseman badly, but they are yet to even hit the rumor mill, minus their Chief Executive saying in a curiously-redacted piece in the LA Times, “[Relying on the farm system has] been a winning philosophy. That’s a good template. Don’t interpret that as we wouldn’t go after a premier free agent, but I don’t think we wake up in the morning and say that’s the first choice.” Hardly convincing.

The Rangers were looked at as a likely landing spot, but team owner Nolan Ryan said, “Making a seven-or-eight year deal for [Prince Fielder] or Pujols is not something our organization is prepared to do. I very much expect Mitch Moreland to be our first baseman next year.”

At the beginning of the offseason, the Angels were my biggest fear when it came to potential Pujols pilferers, but their new GM, Jerry DiPoto said last week, “You have to be open to the possibility, but it’s not something we’re going to aggressively pursue. I don’t think you’re going to get a financial bargain swimming in that pool.”

That’s about it, really. The Marlins, whose payroll will shoot up with the new stadium this year, made an offer to him on Friday night, but Joe Frisaro reported, “The Marlins certainly would love to add Pujols, but those connected with the club said the first offer probably isn’t close to being enough to lure in the biggest prize on the free agent market.”

The next teams on the list outside the top 10 probably cannot afford him. Besides, the White Sox have Paul Konerko at first, the Twins have Justin Morneau and the Braves have Freddie Freeman.

This brings me to the obvious conclusion: Albert has nowhere else to go. Sure, if he desperately wanted out of St. Louis, which he doesn’t, he could sign a lesser contract with Miami and wear orange the rest of his baseball days. (Or at least until Jeff Loria orders him traded after a few years.) That might be bad news for him once the Cardinals realize this (if they haven’t already) since they know that they are his best option.

*In order based on Forbes’ 2011 team values

Happy Birthday Mr. Hosmer

On Monday, October 24, Eric Hosmer turned 22 years old. He looks, acts, and plays like a 10 year veteran, but is still just a kid with only one year under his Major League belt.

Everyone in Kansas City knows who this “kid” is.

He’s the new face of the franchise. He’s the future All-Star. He’s the “savior” for the Kansas City Royals.

The word “savior” gets thrown around in the sports world quite a bit. Lebron James was supposed to be the Cleveland Cavaliers’ “savior.” Tim Tebow is supposed to be the Denver Broncos’ “savior.”

James obviously wasn’t the answer in Cleveland. Despite Tebow’s comeback win this past weekend against the Miami Dolphins, I highly doubt he will be the real answer for any NFL team.

The point is, that the Kansas City Royals don’t need any one guy to fill that type of role. They don’t need one mega superstar to take them to the “holy land.” Guys that can carry a team almost all by themselves only come around once in a lifetime (Michael Jordan).

All they need from Eric Hosmer is for him to play to the best of his abilities. They have enough talent to take the pressure (that builds by the day) off of him. The last thing the Royals need is for a super talented player to get bothered by that type of pressure (although I think Hosmer is level-headed enough to not sink to Adam Dunn status).

So enough with all this “Eric Hosmer: The Kansas City Royals’ Savior” talk. He’s a beast, he’s a stud, everyone knows how good he is. But the Royals are building a team to contend, so every player could wear that title.

One more thing… I saw a tweet this past week that I thought was great. I think it would be fun to hand out a Royals “Tweet of the Week” from here on out, so here it is. It comes from Brian McGannon in Kansas City.

Royals 1b Eric Hosmer joins Babe Ruth, Reggie Jackson and Albert Pujols as the only players to hit 3 HRs in a World Series game #FutureTweet

October 22, 2011 10:14 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@BrianMcGannon

Brian McGannon

Great tweet, Brian.

You can follow him @BrianMcGannon and myself @tbryant824

The following post was originally written for and published on BaseballDigest.com.

Legends are made in October.

That is the slogan that Major League Baseball has used through most of the postseason. Commercials that recount no hitters, hitting performances, great plays and moments that echo through baseball fans’ memories for all their lives. It was a marketing ploy inspired by Cliff Lee‘s dominant performance in the 2010 postseason. Network broadcasters FOX and TBS were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle and, to most, they found their thunder strike during game three of the World Series.

For those of you that are living under a rock and have no idea what happened in game three, Albert Pujols stepped onto baseball’s greatest stage and wrote himself into the game’s lore. The run down of his single game:

• Five Hits (ties Paul Molitor for most hits in a World Series Game)
• Three Home Runs (ties Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth, who did it twice)
• Six Runs Batted In (sets a World Series Record)
• Fourteen Total Bases (sets a World Series Record)
• Totaled line is considered the greatest offensive performance in the history of the Fall Classic

Legends are born in October.

Are they, though? For eleven years, Albert Pujols has defied logic. His career has been littered with “first player ever to…” footnotes. The Cardinal first baseman has become known around the league, nation, and possibly world as the “best player in the game”. Many have questioned if his career is on the decline after the 2011 season closed. The slugger produced career lows in runs batted in, triples, doubles, hits, walks, on base percentage, total bases, and slugging percentage. His home run total was the third worst season he has produced. He grounded into a league high 29 double plays. All of that considered, he was still one of the best players in the league. If his 2011 stats are a player on the decline, it simply reveals just how high he has set the bar.

Albert Pujols may be the only player in Major League Baseball, possibly in the history of the game, that could take the field and have a game similar to the performance he turned in during game three of the World Series and not become a legend.

Legends are made in October.

Albert Pujols was a legend before he even took the field this October. On October 22, 2011, he simply reminded the world that he was still here and still a force to be reckoned with.

As we prepare for the finale of this exciting series, and its marquee Game 5 matchup of two former Cy Young Award winners, let us take a walk down memory lane, and look at the Cardinal history in Game 7s (and Game 5 for the NLDS).

St Louis is the preeminent franchise in the National League, second only to the Yankees in terms of World Series wins. All that success means the team has had multiple occasions to play a one game, winner-take-all contest. For example, the Cardinals played seven consecutive World Series Game 7s from 1946 to 1987. How did they fare in those opportunities?

The Early Years (1926-1967)

Their first World Series appearance went seven games. The Cardinals won that game, which ended with my personal favorite game-ending play for any World Series, namely Babe Ruth getting thrown out trying to steal second. Can you imagine the amount of ink, hot air, and bandwidth that would be consumed dissecting that decision if it happened in 2006 instead of 1926?

Having started well, the Cardinals kept rolling. They defeated the Philadelphia A’s to win the Fall Classic in 1931, and took out Detroit in Tiger Stadium to win the Series three years later. Enos Slaughter’s mad dash home secured the 1946 title in front of the home town fans, and Bob Gibson wrestled those mighty Yankees into submission 18 years later in front of those same fans. The Boston Globe learned the price of publishing a great headline prematurely (‘Lonborg and Champagne’), as Gibson extended Cardinal dominance and Boston angst with a 1967 Game 7 win at Fenway.

So six Game 7s had come and gone, and the Cardinals had won all six. They were invincible when all the chips were down. No one wanted to play them in those situations, no matter where the game was to be contested.

The Desert of Futility (1968-2001)

Was it Curt Flood’s slip? Was it Lou Brock getting thrown out at the plate two games earlier? Was it the law of averages finally catching up to them? Probably some combination of the three. The Detroit Tigers, led by Denny McLain, beat St Louis at home in that 1968 Game 7. After that, Cardinal dominance in Game 7s ceased. They continued to win the Game 7s played at home, clinching the World Series against Milwaukee, defeating both Los Angeles and San Francisco in the LCS.

But on the road they were hapless. The Cardinals blew a 3-1 series lead in 1985, dropping Game 7 in Kansas City. They blew a 3-2 lead two years later, losing to the Twins in the Homer Dome. Then, when they returned to the post-season 10 years later, even their home mojo disappeared. They blew another 3-1 lead, getting embarrassed by the Atlanta Braves and losing the NLCS for the first time. Finally, to conclude their first best-of-five playoff series that went the distance, they lost a heartbreaker in the Arizona desert.

Return to Normalcy (2002-present)

They needed a great play or seminal moment to change their luck. They got one, and it occurred in a Game 7. The Cardinals played their next winner-take-all game to close out the 2004 NLCS against Houston. The Astros looked poised to take complete control of the game when with two on and one out, Brad Ausmus hit a fliner into the left-center field gap. Jim Edmonds ran it down, making a spectacular diving catch to keep the runners at their respective bases. St Louis went on to win the game and the National League.

They played another Game 7 two years later, and thanks to a Yadier Molina HR in the top of the ninth, St Louis beat the Mets 3-1 at Shea. It marked the first time since the 1967 World Series the Cardinals had won a Game 7 on the road.

Summation

Over 85 years of playoff baseball, the Cardinals have played 15 Game 7s and 1 Game 5. They are 7-1 as a franchise at home in those games, and 4-4 on the road. In comparison, the Philadelphia Phillies have never played a Game 7. They have played 2 Game 5s, winning the first, beating the Astros in extra innings to win the NL in 1980. But, they lost the second, to the Dodgers a year later* in the same situation.

What does it all mean? No Phillie on the current roster has ever played in a Game 5/7 for that franchise. The Cardinals have 4 men left from the 2006 playoff run: Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, Adam Wainwright, and … Chris Carpenter, tonight’s starter. Additionally, tradition here has to favor St Louis. Plus, the veterans who played in those games of yore – men like Lou Brock, Gibson, Red Schoendienst, Willie McGee, even Stan Musial – keep that tradition alive by being a part of the locker room during spring training, and passing that tradition on to the current generation.

Everyone looks for even the slightest edge in games like this. Only in games like this can intangibles play a role. Experience and tradition favor the Cardinals. That has to count for something. It might be the last straw they need to break the Phillies back.

* Editor’s Note: It should be noted that this game five in Phillies history in 1981 was the first ever division series. This series was mandated by the players strike that year.

After Adam Dunn’s recent signing with the White Sox, I pulled up his career stats, and could hardly believe his home run totals from the last seven seasons: 46, 40, 40, 40, 40, 38, 38. The consistency is stunning, but being a Royals obsessive, something else struck me: Adam Dunn has out-homered the Royals single season record for seven straight years. (The only other player I’ve been able to find with such a streak is Babe Ruth, who hit at least 41 for seven consecutive years, 1926—32.) Dunn’s incredible stretch prompted me to delve deeper into just how pitiful the Royals lack of home run power has been.

Steve Balboni

Royals fans have enjoyed some great players over the years, but the team has somehow never had a hitter bust out with even a 40 home run season. They are the only current franchise without a 40 homer hitter. The team mark is an embarrassingly low 36, set by Steve “Bye-Bye” Balboni in 1985. Barry Bonds’ all-time record of 73 is more than twice the Royals record.

Only ten times has a Royals player reached 30 homers:

Some of the lack of power is explained by the home run graveyard that is Royals/Kauffman Stadium. In recent years, the Royals inability to hang on to power hitters has also helped keep the record intact: Carlos Beltran had 15 home runs with KC in 2004 before he was traded to the Astros—he finished the year with 38, and then peaked at 41 with the Mets in 2006. Ex-Royal Jermaine Dye knocked 44 in 2006. Health problems have also played a role: had Bo Jackson and/or Mike Sweeney been able to stay healthy, they may have taken a run at the record.

Only the Twins join the Royals in failing to have a player hit more than 36 home runs in a season since 1985. The Twins do at least have the memory of some huge home run years: Harmon Killebrew alone had nine seasons over the Balboni line.

Some astonishing numbers:

The average home run record for the 29 non-Royals franchises: 53
Average number of 37+ home run seasons per franchise: 15
Times a Yankee has hit 37+: 38
Number of individual seasons of 37+ home runs since 1985: 244
Average number of seasons of 37+ per team since 1985: 8 (In other words, if the Royals had kept pace with home run hitters around the bigs, Balboni’s mark would have been surpassed eight times in the last 25 years.)

I posted a few of these stats on Twitter recently, prompting this response from Jeff Parker of Royally Speaking: “You are bumming me out.” So, hey, how about some hope: I asked Greg Schaum of Royals Prospects what he thinks the chances are of someone currently in the Royals system breaking the record. Greg feels Mike Moustakas has the best shot: “Moose should have 3-4 peak years where he could break that record…But he still needs to prove he can handle big league pitching (especially breaking stuff). But he would be the guy with the best chance.” Moustakas’s final home run tally last year in the minors was…36.

If you think African Americans were the only group to face an uphill battle toward acceptance on the baseball field, you’re sorely mistaken.

Peter Miller’s new documentary, “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story,” shows us how difficult it was for Jewish Americans in America’s Game.

An early star for the New York Giants, Andy Cohen was often called “Christ killer” by fans, even in his home ballpark. Hank Greenberg, the first Jewish baseball superstar, was also a victim of racism; people threw pork chops at him on the field. After Arnold Rothstein was accused of fixing the 1919 World Series, Henry Ford – yes, that Henry Ford – wrote that the biggest problem with baseball was “too much Jew.” Hotel owners in the South even threatened to ban Jewish players from their establishments.

In addition to countless acts of racism, Jews also fell victim to a stereotype that they were simply no good at sports, a stereotype that persists to this day. In fact, the opening scene of “Jews and Baseball” is a clip from the popular comedy “Airplane,” where a passenger request some “light” reading material from a flight attendant. The attendant produces a pamphlet titled “Famous Jewish Sports Heroes.”

But if anything, “Jews and Baseball” – narrated perfectly by Dustin Hoffman – lets us know those stereotypes are wrong. In fact, many of the best baseball players in history have been Jewish.

At the very top of the list is the aforementioned Greenberg, a Hall of Famer who chased Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1938. And just like Hank Aaron, who chased Ruth’s career home run record decades later, Greenberg faced a huge outcry from the public – How could a Jew beat the Bambino?

Miller’s documentary also features extensive interviews with two of the other most famous Jewish ballplayers, pitcher Sandy Koufax, arguably the most dominating pitcher of his era, and Al “Flip” Rosen, an All-Star slugger for the Cleveland Indians.

Marvin Miller

“Jews and Baseball” also discusses Mo Berg, the Jewish catcher who served as a spy for the U.S. Government , as well as two people who influenced baseball outside the diamond. Albert Von Tilzer wrote the music for “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” which is not only a baseball tradition, but is the third-most played song in the country, behind “Happy Birthday” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” And Marvin Miller, formerly the president of the MLB Players Association, fought alongside Curt Flood to establish free agency in baseball. Commissioner Bud Selig (also a Jew) says Miller should be in the Hall of Fame, and broadcaster Red Barber said the three most important people in baseball history were Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Marvin Miller.

For fans in I-70 Baseball territory, there’s plenty here for you as well. Some of the most prominent Jewish baseball people have connections to St. Louis and Kansas City. Barney Pelty, a pitching star for the St. Louis Browns in the early 1900s, was the first Jew to be featured on a baseball card. Ruben Ewing was a star for the Cardinals in the same era; Ewing, like many other Jewish ballplayers back then, changed his last name from “Cohen” to be more readily accepted by fans. Art Shamsky, who grew up in St. Louis, played for the World Champion 1969 Mets, and pitcher Kenny Holtzman also grew up in St. Louis. The record for most career wins by a Jewish pitcher belongs not to Koufax, but to Holtzman.

Fewer connections can be easily made to Jews and Kansas City baseball, but the most prominent one is extremely important: the late Ewing and Muriel Kauffman, the father and mother of the Kansas City Royals, were Jewish.

The statue of Ewing and Muriel Kauffman outside Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

Miller’s documentary also points to some more modern-day Jewish ballplayers, many of whom have achieved All-Star status, including Kevin Youkilis, Shawn Green, Ryan Braun, Ian Kinsler, Brad Ausmus, Jason Marquis and others.

Perhaps the most poignant portion of the documentary is the story of Adam Greenberg, a Chicago Cubs prospect who in 2005 was hit in the head by a pitch in his first (and, so far, only) Major League at-bat.

“Jews and Baseball” is informative and entertaining, and should be considered one of the finest baseball documentaries ever made. Not only is it a comprehensive history of Jews in the sport, it also highlights the struggles faced by Jewish athletes in America.

The film also sheds light on the surprisingly parallel paths of Jews and African Americans in the game.

Elliott Maddox, an outfielder for the Yankees, Rangers and Tigers in the 1970s, summed it up perfectly: as an African American who converted to Judaism, Maddox said he was a good two-strike hitter.

The two strikes were that he was black and a Jew.

“Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story” now playing at the Screenland Crown Center, Kansas City, MO. Visit www.screenland.com for showtimes.

Matt Kelsey is a Royals writer and the content editor for I-70 Baseball. He can be reached at mattkelsey14@yahoo.com.

Taking a look back at baseball a quarter century ago, during the 1985 I-70 World Series review, sparked interest for a more in-depth historical look at managerial strategies. Whitey Herzog, former Royals and Cardinals Manager, utilized some of the classic “small-ball” tactics to create runs with an offense lacking power. Herzog’s version of small-ball quickly gained traction as “Whitey-ball.”

“Whitey-ball” was an adaptation of the way the game used to be played for a more current baseball climate. True ‘small-ball’ hasn’t been seen on a Major League level in nearly 90 years.

Small-ball was once the standard play. Home runs and batting averages were at all time lows during the turn of the 20^th Century. This forced managers to employ other tactics to score runs, teams relied more on stolen bases and sacrifice bunts.

The strategy places a high value on methodically scoring individual runs, rather than waiting for ‘the big inning.’ Teams rely more on walks, sacrifice flies, hit and runs, and aggressive base running than extra base hits. These types of weapons helped prevent teams from grounding into double plays.

‘Small-ball’ was best suited for teams like the 1917 Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox totaled 310 sacrifice hits in 1917, the most in MLB history. They also swiped 105 bags, while walking 466 times, good enough for a .314 OBP. Boston manufactured 556 runs on only 14 home runs.

A few years after the 1917 season, the way the game was played began to change. League officials outlawed pitches like the spitball, and equipment continued to evolve. A new cork centered baseball was introduced. One of the biggest influences on the shift away from ‘small-ball’ was actually a member of the 1917 Red Sox. At the time he was a southpaw hurler for Boston, later Babe Ruth would help usher in a new approach many hitters would come to envy.

With enhanced baseballs and the introduction of the slugger, baseball quickly forgot about ‘small-ball.’ The power players like Joe DiMaggio, Hank Greenburg, Jimmie Foxx, and Ted Williams made the base-to-base operations of baseball obsolete. By 1950, the game had evolved so much the AL Leader in stolen bases was Dom DiMaggio, with only 15.

Since the early days of baseball, ‘small-ball’ is seen less as a standard of play, and more of a tool to be utilized in specialized situations. Currently, you won’t see many sacrifice bunts outside of pitchers and tight, late-innings scenarios. A few sharp edged managers over time have found it useful after evaluating their roster’s talents.

Paul Richards took over the Chicago White Sox in 1951. He recognized the lack of power within the organization and implemented an offensive strategy similar to ‘small-ball.’ Richards was dismissed in 1954, but built the foundation of the team later known as the ‘Go-Go Sox.’ The Sox eventually took home the 1959 AL Pennant, going 94-60. In the 1959 season, Chicago had 84 SH, 113 SB, 580 BB, 669 R, and 97 HR.

A decade later, Earl Weaver changed the MLB landscape drastically. 1969 marked the first of three consecutive AL Pennant’s for Weaver’s Baltimore Orioles. Weaver was one of the first managers to exploit matchups based on splits and head to head statistics. The St. Louis, Missouri, native was best known for his on field tirades and his new wave philosophy on the field, “The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers.”

Weaver led the likes of Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Boog Powell, to a 1970 World Series Championship over the Cincinnati Reds in five games. The O’s had 64 SH, 84 SB, 717 BB, clubbed 179 HR, good enough for 792 runs and a 108-54 record.

“On offense, your most precious possessions are your 27 outs,” said the Hall of Famer.

‘Small-ball’ was largely overlooked, especially in the American League, until Whitey Herzog displayed the first versions of ‘Whitey-ball’ in Kansas City. The Hall of Famer led the Royals to three division titles and a 410-304 record in his five seasons with the Royals. The differences between the 70’s Herzog offense and the 1985 World Series Championship offense are clear.

1976 – 71 SH, 218 SB, 484 BB, 65 HR, 713 R, .327 OBP, 103 GDP

1985 – 41 SH, 128 SB, 473 BB, 154 HR, 687 R, .313 OBP, 125 GDP

The Herzog driven offense had 30 more sacrifices and swiped almost 100 more bags. The ’76 Royals hit 89 less home runs, while scoring 26 more runs, grounding into 22 less double plays. Looking at the numbers Herzog implemented an offense which hit on all the major facets of ‘small-ball.’ The bottom line, the ’76 Royals lost in the ALCS, while the ’85 Royals brought it all home.

Herzog’s strategies evolved while managing the Cardinals, ‘Whitey-ball’ worked well enough for three pennants and a World Series victory in his 11 year tenure with St. Louis.

One of his most successful years happened to be 1985. Herzog’s methods were well documented in Missouri by the time of the I-70 Series, but new talent enhanced ‘Whitey-ball.’ The Cards had five players with over 30 swipes, headlined by NL Rookie of the Year, Vince Coleman’s 110. St. Louis amassed 314 stolen bases, while sacrificing 70 times. The Cardinals scored 747 runs on the strength of only 87 homers and 586 walks. They combined for a .335 OBP, while grounding into only 91 double plays.

While Herzog was in the infancy of building his stolen base machine, the 1976 Oakland A’s had already perfected it. The ’76 A’s stole a MLB record 341 bags. The A’s had 58 SH, 592 BB, 686 R, 113 HR, .323 OBP, and 91 GDP. They finished 87-74, good enough for second in the division in Chuck Tanner’s only year in Oakland. The second place finish ended the run of five consecutive division championships by a much more power packed A’s squad.

Since ‘Whitey-ball’ ended, the game has continued to evolve further away from its ‘small-ball’ roots. The 2005 Rangers perfectly portray how offenses have changed. The Rangers only sacrificed nine times, along with only 32 sac flies. Texas stole only 67 times, but mashed 260 dingers in route to scoring 865 runs. Despite the power display, the Rangers finished 3^rd in the AL West.

Many different things have contributed to the death of ‘small-ball.’ It began with the introduction of new equipment, fresh sluggers continued the trend, but one of the biggest blows to the philosophy came with the introduction of Sabermetrics.

Sabermetrics proved factual evidence on the basis of Weaver’s earlier sentiments, outs were precious. It started to seem clear giving up an out to advance a runner wasn’t worth it. The average number of runs scored in major league games in 1999-2002 when there were no outs and a runner on first was .953 runs. The average number of runs scored when there was one out and a runner on second was .725 runs.

The owners realized the shift in baseball philosophies as well; naturally they found ways to profit. Owners noticed fans loved the long ball; often their favorite players were the ones who could hit it furthest. Owner’s started seeking sluggers and shortened fences to entice fans to come to the park.

Most recently, the use of performance enhancing drugs has had an obvious effect on the reliance of home runs.

Many team officials are now starting to value the defensive side of the ball, as well. One of the best defenses to a ‘small-ball’ offense is being able to throw out runners and field the ball cleanly. Currently all signs in baseball continue to devalue ‘small-ball.’

The flashes we see in today’s game of ‘small-ball’ usually are created upon individual talent. Many of the high stolen base numbers aren’t necessarily due to philosophy, but having a quality base stealer on the squad. When the two are combined they tend to feed off each other, like Coleman in 1985.

It’s interesting to look at how the various teams over time have had success through completely different methods. All have various levels of ‘small-ball’ intertwined, but the basis of offensive methods can be easily seen in statistics.

Now, ‘small-ball’ has been dissected into several different parts. Mangers have adapted a strategy to achieve the most out of a roster’s talents. A team may be successful at a part of ‘small-ball,’ while not utilizing other aspects. The ’76 A’s had more stolen bases than any other team, but still relied on the home run and didn’t sacrifice very often.

This is the type of ‘small-ball’ we are currently accustomed too. ‘Small-ball’ is considered one of the most pure ways to play the game, most likely because of its deep roots in the histories game. It’s intriguing to think what a game with today’s players would have looked like during the true ‘small-ball’ era of the early 20^th Century.

I started blogging because I like talking baseball. One of the unexpected benefits of that love is the occasional opportunity to review books on baseball. Recently I was asked if I was interested in receiving a copy of Roger Maris: Baseball’s Reluctant Hero, by Tom Clavin and Danny Peary. Of course I was.

One could sum up what I knew about Roger Maris (before reading this book) in about three sentences. He broke Babe Ruth’s single-season HR record in 1961. He was a Yankee in his prime and won 2 MVP awards. He spent the last 2 seasons of his career with the St Louis Cardinals. During the summer of 1998, his family was center-stage while Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa chased, and eventually broke, his record.

I read the 393-page book during a recent business trip. It was a surprisingly easy read. The main part of the book covers Maris’ 1961 season – for which he is most famous today – but the authors try to explain why Maris treated the media the way he did during that season by providing some insight into his childhood and family dynamics. Roger Maris was always a closely guarded man, not sharing personal details with just anyone, and certainly not with the media; his experiences as a youth, as well as a strong family tradition of being secretive, shaped that part of his personality.

Clavin and Peary make a reasonable case that Maris’ reticence, coupled with a new, younger breed of sports reporter who felt largely unencumbered by their predecessor’s code of keeping baseball player’s dirty laundry out of the press, were the causes of virtually all Maris’ trouble in New York. Roger did stick his foot in his mouth (and flash a prominent digit) on a couple of occasions, which didn’t help him, and the press was all too ready to publish those quotes/actions far and wide. No wonder Maris was so ready to get out of New York by 1966.

The book reminds the reader Roger Maris was much more than a home run hitter during his career. It talks about his defense (including his famous play in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series), his baserunning, and his all-around game instincts.

It also reminds us of what the game used to be like. Two separate leagues, with two separate styles of play, where players rarely jumped leagues and most major leaguers learned about the other league’s players by reading about them in the press. It’s interesting most of the 1967 Cardinals thought they knew what kind of a guy Roger Maris was based on the descriptions of him in the newspaper. They were surprised when Maris the man turned out to be nothing like the Maris they had read about.

Once Maris hangs them up following the 1968 season, Clavin and Peary take us rather quickly thorugh the remaining years of his life, touching on his Old-Timers Day appearances, his charitable work, and his business venture as a beer distributor for Anhieser-Busch in the Gainesville Florida area. The authors also talk about the effort George Steinbrenner made to repair the burnt bridges between Maris and the Yankee organization. Maris vowed never to go back to Yankee Stadium after he left the team in 1966. Steinbrenner believed a grave injustice had been done to Maris because of how he had been treated while a Yankee and really worked overtime to fix it. The description of Maris’ first appearance in the House that Ruth Built after he retired (April 1978) may bring a tear to your eye.

I try to keep it simple with book reviews. Was it well-written, did I learn something, and do I recommend it.

Was it well-written? Yes. As mentioned, it was an easy and informative read. I did get a little lost in the beginning when all the relatives were introduced and described. A flow chart would have been a nice touch. Then again, I have trouble following all the ‘begats’ in the book of Genesis, so that’s more a knock on me than anything.

Did I learn something? Yes. I learned a ton. Some examples:

• Frank Lane, GM of the Cardinals in the late 1950s, tried to trade Stan Musial. Owner Gussie Busch had to step in and stop it (page 92). Can you imagine the outcry if Lane had succeeded?
• Bob Turley tipped pitches for Mickey Mantle when Mantle was at the plate (page 132).
• Maris was the first player in the modern era to hit 50 HR in a season before 1 September (page 189).
• In 1961, Maris hit 60 HR in 684 plate appearances. In 1927, Babe Ruth did it in 687 PA. Puts the whole asterisk discussion in a different light, doesn’t it? (page 217)
• Mike Shannon had to move to 3B from RF after Maris was acquired (page 311). I suspect some of you already knew that, but I didn’t.

Do I recommend it? Yes. I found it well written and well researched. I was entertained, and the book made two cross-country flights much more enjoyable, not to mention pass much faster than they typically do.

Disclaimer: The author received a complimentary copy of this book from Simon and Schuster, Inc., and received no compensation for this review.

With two outs in the bottom of the first inning, and Ryan Dempster on the mound, Albert Pujols promptly lifted a solo home run over the fence in right center. It was Pujols’ 30th home run of the season and his 396th of his career.

The blast extended his own Major League record of consecutive 30 home run seasons to begin a career. It was Pujols’ tenth straight season of 30 home runs, and I’ll venture to say it won’t be the last.

In seven of Pujols’ ten seasons in the bigs, he has hit his 30th home run in August. It has certainly been his best month over the course of his excellent career. In 258 games and 988 at bats in August, Pujols has hit .347/.429/.667 with 220 runs, 76 home runs, and 206 RBI. In 2010, Albert has raised his average from .295 to .316 and has hit six home runs in 12 August games.

The Machine is on pace to hit 42 home runs and 120 RBI in what some people have called an “off” year. If his numbers at the end of the season are close to what he is projected for, we could be talking about the first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski did it in 1967. Pujols is second in the league in home runs (Adam Dunn – 31), he leads the league in RBI with 86, and is only eight points behind the league leader in average (Carlos Gonzalez – .322).

Regardless of how the season ends and where the three-time MVP finds himself among the league leaders, nobody in the history of the game has ever done what Pujols has been able to do. Not Barry Bonds, not Ken Griffey Jr., not Hank Aaron, not Alex Rodriguez, not Babe Ruth, not Ted Williams, not Jimmie Foxx, not Lou Gehrig. Nobody. He’s as good as it gets and as good of a hitter you will ever see. Have fun building an argument against that, because you simply can’t.

Even Cardinal fans take him for granted. I have been very hesitant to say this, but it is the truth. When Albert Pujols retires, barring a major injury, he will go down as the greatest hitter of all time. People do not understand how good he is, and maybe they never will.

Like the “Beyond Baseball” commercial puts so perfectly, I can’t wait to look back and say, “I saw Albert Pujols do… everything.”

Justin Hulsey covers the Cardinals for i70baseball.com and his blog, Cardinals Front Office, that is also dedicated to Cardinal baseball.You may follow him on Twitter @JayHulsey by clicking here.