Tom Brennan: What If Kingman Was a Lifetime Cub? Mets Implode. RIP.

DIMENSIONS REALLY DO MATTER.

BEFORE MY REGULAR PROGRAMMING…

Mets? They utterly collapse.  Jorge Lopez goes on a glove tossing tirade, insulting the Mets’ team. He is now DFA, which is short for Dufas.

And Pete got hurt. After Edwin got hurt. Drop the curtain, roll the credits, start the selling. 

Note to Stearns: 

Luke Ritter is ready, hungry, and won’t throw his glove into the stands.

Good news is that the Mets will likely win at least 41 games and stay out of the record books. Tidwell shined in AAA, too. 6 scoreless.

Tell me how you feel about all that, brothers. The team you support? LOL.

NOW, ON TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

Ballplayers starting out, unless they go undrafted, have no say in where they play. You go where they pick you to go.  And you stay for a long time.

In the real world, you may have gone to college to be a software engineer, developed a bit of a resume, and went out hunting for the best job you could find.  

You weren't told you could only work for Acme Widgets.

Dave Kingman?

He was often vilified, and much of it was his fault. Attitude, etc. Playing on depressingly bad Mets teams didn't help.

He played first in San Francisco, not a power hitter's hitting mecca, and described thusly in Wikipedia:

"The stadium was infamous for the windy conditions, damp air and dew from fog, and chilly temperatures. The wind often made it difficult for outfielders trying to catch fly balls, as well as for fans, while the damp grass further complicated play for outfielders who had to play in cold, wet shoes.  

“When the park was expanded to accommodate the 49ers in 1971, it was thought that fully enclosing the park would cut down on the wind significantly. Instead, the wind swirled from all directions, and was as strong and cold as before." 

As a result, Dave in his career hit just .222 there.

Then he played for the Mets at Shea Stadium for a long time.  

Too long.

In good old Shea Stadium, he hit a sucky .218 in 1,376 plate appearances.  Ugly.  

We fans found out the hard way that while he may have hit some ballistic missiles that landed somewhere overseas, many of his towering long fly balls died instead in fielders' gloves out on the Shea warning track.

If he could have worked anywhere he wanted as a baseball crushing specialist, he would have headed straight to Chicago's Wrigley Field.

It has always been deemed a hitters' park, especially for righty hitters like Kong.

Kingman was a Cub during the 1978-80 seasons and obviously also played road games there while with the Mets and other NL teams.

In Chicago, he hit a terrific .297/.360/.608 in 940 plate appearances.

Well, how about that?  That's a HOF split, if he could have done that his whole career.

In his career overall, despite playing many years in pukey home parks, he hit an impressive 442 HRs - and batted .236.

What, though, might he have hit overall if he had been a life-long Cub?

Well his Wrigley ABs were roughly equal to a quarter of his total home ABs, so had his home ABs all been in Chicago, his home numbers might have been:

148 doubles, 32 triples, 276 HRs, 828 RBIs, and .297/.360/.608.

His road numbers were:

121 doubles, 14 triples, 225 HRs, 591 RBIs, .234/.300/.478.

Combine those road and hypothetical home totals and you'd get:

6,677 at bats, 269 doubles, 46 triples, 501 HRs, 1,419 RBIs, and .268/.330/.543.

A whole lot better than his actual career numbers. 

Almost worthy of HOF consideration.  

Maybe he would have tried harder and played longer if the HOF was a real possibility, and ended up hitting 600 HRs.  Ahh, speculation.

Consider that he had just 6,677 career at bats, while HR King Hank Aaron hit his 755 HRs while playing in admittedly hitter-friendly home parks, and having nearly double (5,700 more) the career at bats.

All to say, park dimensions do matter.  

Even today, based on recent career-to-date stats...

Pete Alonso on the road?  .261, 110 HRs, 279 RBIs.

Pete Alonso at Citi Field?  .239. 91 HRs, 241 RBIs.

Maybe if he had his resume ready and could have played anywhere from day 1, and decided on Wrigley, Pete's home #s would be .280, 125 HRs, 300 RBIs instead.  Maybe that would be iffy in terms of HOF potential, but his HOF chances playing in Citi Field can only be considered an extreme long shot.

It sure matters to sluggers if they play in friendly dimensions.

What was a deciding factor for JD Martinez signing with the Mets? 

He had 2 choices: The Mets' pitcher friendly park, or the Giants' VERY pitcher friendly park.  He made the best of two lousy choices.  He'd have at least 2 more HRs already if Citi's fences were shortened a bit to make the park simply neutral.

Just call me Mr. Dimension.

See, I know at times my message seems one-dimensional.

Some points just bear repeating.  A bad park can mess with hometown players' heads.

Lastly: 

Saw this intriguing historical info (unverified by me).

Arguably the "goat" pitcher of pre-modern baseball, Tim Keefe played through and adjusted to some incredible rules changes throughout his career.

When he started out in 1880:

1) Pitchers couldn’t throw overhand

2) You could get a running start before pitching

3) You were allowed 9 balls before a walk

4) Pitchers box was 45 feet from the hitter

Keefe was born in Massachusetts to an Irish immigrant father who served the Union in the Civil War. His father was a POW for several years and either 2 of his uncles or some of his brothers were killed in action. Differing accounts - but either way - relatives died! Basically your normal 19th century childhood.

When his father returned from war, Tim was already playing baseball. This apparently led to some big father-son confrontations on whether he should use his brain for math or use his brain for baseball. Ultimately, Tim got his way.

As a pitcher, Keefe was known for his guile more than his overpowering velocity. His “change-of-pace” ball or change-up was his most devastating pitch.

In his rookie season (1880) for the Troy Trojans of the NL, Tim Keefe set the single season ERA record with a 0.86. Heck of a way to bust on the scene!

After his first professional year, baseball changed the distance of the pitchers box from 45 to 50 feet. In 1881 and 1882, logged around 400 innings a year as part of a two-man rotation.

In 1883, he signed with the New York Metropolitans of the American Association. He went on to have his “Old Hoss monster innings pitched” year. In 1883, Keefe went 41-27 with a 2.41 ERA and an AA league leading 619(!) innings pitched and 359 strikeouts.

If hardware were a thing, he’d have been Cy Young. But Cy Young was a teenager at this time, probably farming…

Due to unclear and inconsistent rule changes, around that season was when the ban on overhead deliveries was lifted. Prior to this pitchers had to pitch in some sort of underhand/submarine style. Keefe adjusted to the new style of overhead pitching well and mixed in multiple arm angles into his pitching.

1884 to 1886 Keefe went on a historic run:

1884 - 2.25 ERA, 37-17, 483 innings pitched

1885 - 1.58 ERA, 32-13, 400 innings pitched

1886 - 2.56 ERA, 42-20, 535 innings pitched

More changes though!

Pitchers getting a running start was banned in 1887 and (strangely) for a year pitchers had to get 4 strikes for a strikeout. All pitchers suffered but in 1888, at age 31, Keefe must have figured it out. He had a NL leading 35 wins and a 1.74 ERA in 434 innings. He also had a record 19 game-winning streak.

For the 1889 season, it hit the fan! Prior to this year, rules required 9 BALLS to walk a batter. (Some accounts that say it was 6 - either way, that’s a lot of balls).

They changed it to the present day 4 balls for a walk.

Not surprisingly, walks went up and all pitchers seemed to struggle.

Like with every other adjustment, Keefe figured it out. He returned to dominant form in 1892 at age 35 with a 2.36 ERA over 300 plus innings.

Finally, in Tim’s last year 1893, the pitching distance went from 50 ft from the “pitcher’s box” to the present day 60.5 ft and a pitcher’s rubber.

While Keefe did better than league average, he posted a 4.40 ERA and “retired” to become an umpire. He started umpiring two days after his last game. Bills gotta get paid.

His 342 wins ranks 10th all-time and he retired with the most strikeouts in MLB history.