Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Musial, Weaver, and the Wandering Kings



Stan Musial and Earl Weaver


This week saw the passing of two baseball greats, Earl Weaver and Stan Musial. Although in some ways these two personalities could not be further apart – one the steady consummate gentleman, the other the impulsive firebrand – there are some interesting parallels between the two men. Musial, of course, spent his entire 22-year career with the St. Louis Cardinals. Weaver, while never appearing in an official major league game, came up with the Cards organization, and spent part of spring training of 1952 with the Redbirds, where his fiery temperament apparently made him know. (Here he is below, wearing the leftover ’51 Cardinal road uniform). The two men were in the same lineup exactly one time: One March 8, 1952 the Cardinals faced the Yankees with Weaver put in the lineup, replacing regular second baseman Red Schoendienst (as Cardinal player-manager Eddie Stanky was also a second-sacker,  Weaver’s chances of making the club were slim to none). The normally light-hitting Weaver went 2-for-5 (Musial was 1-for-three), but Earl didn’t make the big club, and played for the Houston Buffs that season. His lack of hitting ability kept him out of the majors, but the Orioles saw managerial potential in him, and the rest is history.

An interesting stat about Stan The Man: Although he played for Cards for 22 seasons, he appeared in 24 All Star Games. How was this possible? The interleague classic was played twice a season from 1959-1962.





Kings Wanderlust Continues

The news broke this week that the NBA’s Sacramento Kings will likely be coming to Seattle next season. If this happens, the club will adopt the departed Sonics’ name and colors, but Seattle will actually be getting one of the NBA’s original franchises. In fact, the team pre-dates the NBA by decades, starting in the 1920s as an semi-pro club sponsored by the Seagrams booze people in Rochester, NY. The team changed its name to Royals when they went professional and played in the National Basketball League and Basketball Association of America before teams from those two leagues combined to form the NBA in 1945. In 1957 the club moved to Cincinnati and seemed content until the journey west continued and they became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings for the 1972-73 season, with home games split between two cities. In 1975, the “Omaha” was dropped, and ten years later KC was abandoned as well in favor of Sacramento. So, assuming the Seattle move goes through, and counting Omaha, this franchise will have called six cities home, giving “traveling” in basketball a new meaning. Six home towns is also easily the record for North American major league sports teams.* While redeemed Seattle fans bask in the past glory of Spencer Heywood, Shawn Kemp, and Gary Peyton , perhaps the players from past years to be celebrated should be the likes of Al Cervi, Red Holzman,  and Tiny Archibald.

*It has been pointed out that the Nets franchise (who started life in the Teaneck Armory as the ABA’s New Jersey Americans and now grace Brooklyn’s new Barclay Center) have played more different cities than even the Royals/Kings, however they have only been known as the New Jersey Nets, New York Nets, and Brooklyn Nets (in addition to the Americans).

Thanks to EFF customers Kenneth Mall, Adam Klawitter, and Paul Dylan for contributing research to this post.

28 comments:

  1. Being a lifelong resident of the Rochester area you've made some errors in the Royals/NBA history.
    The NBA started in 1946-47 as the Basketball Association of America. The National Basketball League Royals, Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons and Minneapolis Lakers were asked to join the BAA for the 1948-49 season. The Syracuse Nationals, another NBL club joined the BAA for 1949-50. At that time the league name was changed to the current NBA. When the Royals moved to KC-Omaha in 1972 they gave up their nickname in deference to the KC Royals baseball team even though the hoopsters had used the nickname for 25-years prior to the baseball team being formed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a fun stat on Weaver and Musial. I figured they must have met in spring training, but never knew they played in a spring game together.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If I'm not mistaken, when the Rochester Seagrams joined the NBL as the Royals, wasn't the name "Royals" selected as a reference to Seagram's flagship brand, Crown Royal Whisky?

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Kings also played 6 home games in St Louis for one or two years along with the games in Kansas City and Omaha.They played at The Arena , the venue the hockey Blues and the ABA Spirits of St Louis used in the 70s (also called The Checkerdome when owned by the Purina Co. )

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's not "easily the record," not even in basketball (the most peripatetic of sports) as the Atlanta Hawks started out as the NBL Buffalo (New York) Bisons, became the Tri-cities (take THAT, by a score of 3-2 over KC/Omaha!)of Moline and Rock Island (Illinois) and Davenport (Iowa) Blackhawks, to Milwaukee, where they became simply Hawks,to St. Louis, and finally, Atlanta. You can also make a case for the football Boston Yanks, who moved to New York as the Bulldogs, change their name to the Yankees Dallas as the original Texans, and finally settled Baltimore as the Colts (where they soon folded and were then essentially omitted from NFL history), with the name resurrected shortly thereafter for a franchise officially considered separate, which moved (not without controversy) to Indianapolis.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Musial and Weaver were in the Cardinals' lineup far more frequently than once during the spring of 1952. I count eight times in the lineup together, and nine times in the game together. The differentiation is that once Musial was in the lineup and Weaver was used as a pinch hitter. The 1952 dates, teams and scores, and Florida locations follow.

    Saturday, March 8, Yankees - 11, Cards 5, at St. Petersburg
    Sunday, March 9, Cards - 3, Yankees 1, at St. Petersburg
    Monday, March 10, Cards - 8, Braves 5, at Bradenton
    Tuesday, March 11, Cards - 3, Braves 0, at St. Petersburg
    Thursday, March 13, Reds - 2, Cards 1, at St. Petersburg
    Friday, March 14, Senators - 6, Cards 5, at St. Petersburg
    Saturday, March 15, Cards - 4, Phils 2, at St. Petersburg
    Monday, March 17, Cards - 6, Phils 5, at Clearwater (Weaver PH)
    Friday, March 20, Yankees - 5, Cards 2, at St. Petersburg

    My sources for the box score were the Sporting News issues of March 19, March 26, and April 2, 1952.

    Earl Weaver was cut from the Cardinals on April 1, 1952.

    ReplyDelete
  7. bảng giá chung cư Smart City The city is most alive in Viet Nam. Ideal destination for every family

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mẫu biệt thự đẹp beautiful villas for the rich, beauty consultant famous villas,luxury villas Cheap Beautiful villas for sale, luxury villas for sale

    ReplyDelete
  9. thoitrang247 Những tin tức thời trang mới nhất được cập nhật thường xuyên. blogmeovat.info Tổng hợp những mẹo vặt hay trong cuộc sống

    ReplyDelete
  10. “When I was introduced to Mr. Lee Ben ( A Loan Officer), I was entering the market as a first time home buyer.My needs were a bit different and I had loads of questions, before he sent me my pre-approval letter, he called to speak with me about what it meant and what could change. He made himself available to me at pretty much any hour via email and texts, he was very responsive and knowledgeable. He’s also very straightforward, I explained to him what my expectations were in terms of closing time and other particulars. He said he would meet those expectations but he surpassed them. I closed so quickly my realtor and the seller of course were excited about that. But as a buyer I appreciated being walked through the process in a succinct yet thorough fashion. From pre-approval to closing- the journey was so seamless and I consider myself lucky because I’ve heard horror stories about the internet . I recommend A loan officer ben lee contact email: 247officedept@gmail.com & Whatsapp Number :+1-989-394-3740 to anyone looking for a loan in any market. Everything was handled electronically expediently and securely :)”  

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great blog here! Also your site a lot up fast! What web host are you the use of? Can I get your associate hyperlink for your host? I want my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol
    바카라사이트

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've recently started a site, the info you provide on this web site has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work.바카라사이트

    ReplyDelete
  13. I’ve been absent for some time, but now I remember why I used to love this blog. Thanks, I’ll try and check back more frequently. How frequently you update your website?
    바둑이게임

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very informative blog, This blog is very easy to understand when compared to other blogs.

    경마

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks for sharing this wise and mindful content.

    릴게임

    ReplyDelete
  16. This is frequently an awesome post. this educational article give genuinely best quality information.

    토토

    ReplyDelete