215-211

When you hear that some kook over at BallNine is putting together a list of the top moments in baseball history, you expect that certain names will be featured prominently on the list. Players like Babe Ruth, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial are sure to occupy lofty real estate in the countdown and would likely show up multiple times. You know you’ll come across Nolan Ryan, Jackie Robinson, Albert Pujols and Rickey Henderson too. But what we believe makes the countdown so interesting are the names you don’t expect to pop up. Names like Daniel Okrent, one of the founders of fantasy baseball, musician Terry Cashman or even Jeffrey Maier, a fan who lives on in Yankees and Orioles lore.

This week, we come across another of those oddball names that bring The Stud 400 to life: iconic American poet Ogden Nash. Nash wrote a poem in 1949 for Sport Magazine called “Lineup for Yesterday” and it’s such an awesome look at some of baseball’s greatest players from the first half of the 20^th century. The poem mentions 24 players, 18 of whom were in the Hall of Fame at the time the poem was written. Five more players would eventually be inducted with Bobo Newsom being the only non-Hall-of-Famer and, frankly, was never a serious candidate. In true Nash fashion, including a non-Hall-of-Famer like Newsom was a curve ball to the reader.

The mix of the obvious and not-so-obvious is what makes The Stud 400 special, and this week’s edition has both.

Before we move on to this week’s edition of The Stud 400, here’s a look at the last five entries as we count down the 400 greatest moments in Major League Baseball history:

220: Bobby Bonilla Day (2000)

219: Roberto Alomar spitting incident (1996)

218: Eric Gregg’s giant strike zone (1997)

217: Herb Score hit with a comebacker (1957)

216: MLB begins instant replay (2008)

And now, here’s Episode XXXVIII of The Stud 400.

215. Brien Taylor injures shoulder (1993)

From 1992-2007, the Yankees really didn’t need much help. We know all the statistics. They finished first or second in the AL East for 15 straight years, had 13 straight playoff appearances, six American League titles, four 100-win seasons and, oh yeah, four rings in five years – the last of which saw them win 12 of 13 World Series games. If things worked out the way most fans dreamed, they could have added someone considered to be a lefty Dwight Gooden to that mix. That fellow was Brien Taylor, the number one overall draft pick in 1991. Over the course of his high school career, the 6’3” flamethrower went 29-6 with an ERA of 1.25 while striking out an incredible 213 batters in just 88 innings. He walked just 28 as well, so his game was pretty refined. Scott Boras was Taylor’s agent and Boras said in 2006 interview that he still hadn’t seen a high school pitcher with the stuff that Brien Taylor had. You can’t blame Yankees fans for drooling over him and he was as clear a “can’t miss” prospect as anyone. Except he did miss… and is one of just three players to be picked #1 overall to have not made the major leagues.

In his first two pro seasons at the ages of 20 and 21, Taylor pitched 324 innings and struck out 337 batters while pitching to a 3.02 ERA. He was slated to take another step forward in the Yankees system and was likely to start 1994 in AAA. However, in December of 1993, Taylor got in a fight defending his brother and injured his shoulder in the altercation. Famed surgeon Dr. Frank Jobe called the injury one of the worst he’d seen as far as damage to the shoulder structure. Taylor missed all of 1994 and pitched in just 46 total games from 1995-2000 trying to overcome the injury. He never made it out of A Ball. Taylor remains one of the biggest “what if” cases in baseball history. Taylor would have been just 24 in 1996 and would have been in his prime through their best years. Imagine what that Yankees dynasty would have been with peak Aroldis Chapman in the starting rotation? That’s essentially what everyone missed out on.

214. Pete Gray’s Browns career (1945)

During World War II, over 500 Major League Baseball players and 2,000 minor leaguers left their sport behind to serve their country. In 1942, with so many men going off to war and the country in turmoil, Franklin Roosevelt penned the “Green Light Letter” encouraging Major League Baseball to continue to operate to help morale in America. With so many players off to war, it created opportunity for those who didn’t serve for one reason or another. Pete Gray was one of those people and he became an inspirational part of MLB history. Gray lost his right arm as a child, but that didn’t stop him from playing the game that he loved. Gray actually attempted to enlist in the Army after Pearl Harbor in 1941 and after he was turned away due to his handicap, he began his professional baseball career.

Gray had tremendous success in the Can-Am and Southern Association, batting .323 over 1117 at bats. Owners took notice not only of Gray’s success, but also of his draw at the gate. Fans loved Gray and flocked to stadiums to see the “one-armed wonder.” He finally got his chance in 1945 with the St. Louis Browns. Gray was the starting left fielder for the defending National League champion Browns on opening day and batted second in the lineup, going 1-4 in his debut. Gray lasted one season in the majors, batting .218 over 234 at bats in 77 games. Gray’s biggest day came in a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium when he had five hits and two RBIs as the Browns swept a depleted Yankees team. Gray spent 1946 in AAA, batting .250 in 48 games, but never made it back to the majors after that 1945 season.

213. Red Sox remove Duffy’s Cliff (1933)

Remember how dumb Tal’s Hill was when they built Minute Maid Park? We at BallNine love ballpark quirks and also enjoy when baseball harkens back to bygone eras, but that wasn’t thought out too well. Tal’s Hill, at least in part, drew inspiration from an even bigger mound that once graced a famous MLB stadium for decades: the hill in Fenway Park that came to be known as Duffy’s Cliff. Named for Red Sox left fielder Duffy Lewis, the mound was a 10’ high incline that stretched from the left field corner of the stadium to the centerfield flagpole along the base of the Green Monster. In the Dead Ball era, overflow fans could actually stand on the hill to watch games since balls did not typically travel that far back then. At times, there was also seating installed on the hill. The hill was in place from 1912-1933 and was even in place when a young Babe Ruth patrolled left field at times during his final two seasons in Boston. The hill was flattened in 1933, but images of Duffy’s Cliff survive in some fantastic photos from Fenway Park from that era.

212. Ogden Nash publishes “Lineup for Yesterday” (1949)

Is this poem lengthy? Sure. Does that mean it’s going to keep us from including it in its entirety in this installment of The Stud 400? Nope. Enjoy.

“Line-Up For Yesterday: An ABC of Baseball Immortals”

By Ogden Nash

A is for Alex
The great Alexander;
More Goose eggs he pitched
Than a popular gander.

B is for Bresnahan
Back of the plate;
The Cubs were his love,
and McGraw his hate.

C is for Cobb,
Who grew spikes and not corn,
And made all the basemen
Wish they weren’t born.

D is for Dean,
The grammatical Diz,
When they asked, Who’s the tops?
Said correctly, I is.

E is for Evers,
His jaw in advance;
Never afraid
To Tinker with Chance.

F is for Fordham
And Frankie and Frisch;
I wish he were back
With the Giants, I wish.

G is for Gehrig,
The Pride of the Stadium;
His record pure gold,
His courage, pure radium.

H is for Hornsby;
When pitching to Rog,
The pitcher would pitch,
Then the pitcher would dodge.

I is for Me,
Not a hard-hitting man,
But an outstanding all-time
Incurable fan.

J is for Johnson
The Big Train in his prime
Was so fast he could throw
Three strikes at a time.

K is for Keeler,
As fresh as green paint,
The fastest and mostest
To hit where they ain’t.

L is for Lajoie
Whom Clevelanders love,
Napoleon himself,
With glue in his glove.

M is for Matty,
Who carried a charm
In the form of an extra
brain in his arm.

N is for Newsom,
Bobo’s favorite kin.
You ask how he’s here,
He talked himself in.

O is for Ott
Of the restless right foot.
When he leaned on the pellet,
The pellet stayed put.

P is for Plank,
The arm of the A’s;
When he tangled with Matty
Games lasted for days.

Q is for Don Quixote
Cornelius Mack;
Neither Yankees nor years
Can halt his attack.

R is for Ruth.
To tell you the truth,
There’s just no more to be said,
Just R is for Ruth.

S is for Speaker,
Swift center-field tender,
When the ball saw him coming,
It yelled, “I surrender.”

T is for Terry
The Giant from Memphis
Whose .400 average
You can’t overemphis.

U would be ‘Ubell
if Carl were a cockney;
We say Hubbell and Baseball
Like Football and Rockne.

V is for Vance
The Dodger’s very own Dazzy;
None of his rivals
Could throw as fast as he.

W is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.

X is the first
of two x’s in Foxx
Who was right behind Ruth
with his powerful soxx.

Y is for Young
The magnificent Cy;
People battled against him,
But I never knew why.

Z is for Zenith
The summit of fame.
These men are up there.
These men are the game.

211. Dave Dravecky’s comeback (1988)

Going into the 1988 season, Dave Dravecky was the definition of a solid, reliable pitcher who was valuable in a number of ways. The lefty had started 137 games in his career and appeared in an additional 80 games in relief. At 31 years old in 1988, his career record was 60-55 with a 3.13 ERA and had just come off two stellar performances for the Giants in the 1987 NLCS. In fact, in 25 postseason innings he allowed just one earned run for a 0.35 career postseason ERA. He pitched an Opening Day complete game, three-hitter as the Giants beat the Dodgers to start the ’88 season. He made just five more starts before arm soreness ended his season in May.

That September, baseball fans learned the shocking news that cancer was found in Dravecky’s arm and that he would undergo surgery to remove half of his deltoid muscle and freeze the humerus bone in his pitching arm. Remarkably, from the start Dravecky was determined to make a return to an MLB mound. On August 10, Dravecky returned to the Giants and, with the entire baseball world watching, it didn’t look like Dravecky lost a step. He pitched eight innings as the Giants beat the Reds 4-3. However, in his next start against the Expos, Dravecky’s arm snapped and he crumpled to the ground in pain. The Giants went on to win the pennant that year and in the ensuing celebration, a recovering Dravecky broke his arm again. Cancer was found that November, ultimately forcing the lefty to retire from the sport. Additional surgeries were required in 1990 as his cancer battle continued and ultimately, Dravecky’s left arm and shoulder had to be amputated. To this day, Dravecky has found a successful second career as a highly regarded motivational speaker and, thankfully, has been leading a healthy life.

Stay tuned for next week’s episode of The Stud 400 when we go long with double-X, swing away from both sides with The Mick and set the base paths ablaze with The Rocket. We’ll also travel back to 1952 for a watershed off-field moment that has become a huge part of the fabric of the game, as well as a massive business. Don’t let your mom throw away next week’s Stud 400 and remember, always eat the gum!