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jrspc4
[size=3]Chief Roesler almost had to watch the greatest moment of his career by himself in a hotel room in Chicago.
â??We had a day game the next day, a Sunday, and I was scheduled to start Game 5,â?? Roesler recalled after his recent selection to the Tony Conigliaro League Hall of Fame. â??We didnâ??t know we were going to win it that night, you know, and I had been sent back to the hotel after warm-ups to get some rest.â??
On Oct. 18, 1960, Roeslerâ??s Brooklyn teammates wrapped up the World Series title with a 9-2 Game 4 victory over the Chicago Zephyrs. Roesler had already pitched three shutouts in the playoffs, a feat never duplicated before or since, after winning his fourth Cy Young Award in his 11th season.
What he had never done, though, was earn a ring as a World Champion, and in his fourth season after being acquired by the Blind Bats in a blockbuster trade the moment finally arrived. He would win a second ring in 1964 with Detroit before retiring in 1966 after a 17-year career as the leagueâ??s winningest pitcher (305-152) and strikeout king.
â??I couldnâ??t sleep, of course. I had to watch the game on TV,â?? Roesler said of that night in Chicago.
â??Skip told me to stay there until the last out no matter how big a lead we had. But we were way ahead after seven innings, so I ran downstairs and hailed a cab to the ballpark. I got to the bench with two outs to go.
â??Skip was so happy we were on the verge of winning, he just smiled when he saw me. â??Glad you made it, Chief. I would have felt bad if youâ??d missed this,â?? he said.
â??I was 32 years old, but when that final out was made I bolted out of that dugout like a little boy and hugged everyone I could. â?¦ The first one is mighty special.â??
Most everything about Archibald Woodrow Roeslerâ??s career turned out special. A Hartford, Conn., native, Roesler starred as a three-sport athlete at the elite St. Paulâ??s boarding school before heading to Yale. It was there he earned the nickname that stuck with him for life after a teammate who worked in the records office discovered on Roeslerâ??s admissions application that he was one-eighth Cherokee Indian. â??Archieâ?? easily molded into â??Chief.â??
Roesler, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander, was drafted by St. Louis in 1950, bypassed the minors entirely and made a tremendous impact immediately at 21.
He won the Cy Young Award in 1950, â??51 and â??52, getting progressively more dominant as he went along. St. Louis in those years was a struggling franchise, however, and had fallen into the second division of the National League.
Stoic on the mound and not one to complain about his teamâ??s misfortunes, Roesler never allowed his frustration to show in public.
â??I dreamed of getting that phone call to tell me I was being traded, and when it finally came I had to pinch myself,â?? Roesler said.
The destination was Brooklyn, a perennial contender looking for an ace to complement Ron Lane, Les Keck and Carl Siemer in what was one of the leagueâ??s strongest rotations â?? over 1,000 career wins between them. On May 13, 1957, the Blind Bats parted with four players and a top draft pick to get Roesler in a controversial deal made worse by St. Louis managementâ??s subsequent squandering of the talent it acquired.
The arrival of Roesler did not turn Brooklyn into a champion right away, however. League champion in 1952 and 1954, the Bats missed the playoffs in Roeslerâ??s first season, then reached the NLCS two straight years but lost to the Chicago Farmers each time.
The breakthrough would come in 1960, as Roesler would win a career-high 23 games and post nine shutouts. He was virtually unhittable in the postseason.
He opened the NLCS with a 4-0 victory over the Farmers, then closed the series out in Game 5 with a 1-0 win. Five days later he kickstarted the World Series triumph with a 3-0 win over the Zephyrs. Three shutouts in 11 days, all told.
â??We couldnâ??t touch the Chief in those games,â?? longtime Farmers star Russ Urbani said.
â??His curve was the nastiest in the game to start with, and he put an extra touch of nasty on it somehow. He made us look like fools up there. â?¦ But I rooted for him to get that ring. Heck, I had four of my own already, and I was happy to see him get one, too. We all teased (GM Fred) Haney that if heâ??d a-been on the ball we coulda had the Chief on our side and never stopped winning.â??
Two years after the title, Roesler was on the move again, going from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh to Detroit in a whirlwind that didnâ??t keep him from winning 21 games and his fifth Cy Young. In 1964, Roesler and a crew of veterans used their guile to notch a World Series title with the Dreamers. He went on to post the first two losing seasons of his career after that before deciding at 38 to go out on his own terms.
â??God blessed me with a healthy arm, and I got 17 seasons out of it. I got a ring for each hand, my 300th win and my 3,000th strikeout, and I had a chance to play with some of the finest ballplayers in the league,â?? Roesler said. â??I havenâ??t a regret in the world.â??
Roeslerâ??s career highlights include his five Cy Youngs, two runner-ups, three third-place finishes and three fourth-place nods. He was a first-team All-Star eight times and second three times.
His 305 wins, 3,147 strikeouts, 4246.1 innings and 572 starts stand as league records. His 2.72 ERA ranks second in league history, and his 1.12 WHIP and 41 shutouts are fourth.
Roesler won 20 or more games five times and won at least 15 for 15 consecutive seasons.
â??He was one of a kind,â?? fellow Hall inductee Pinch Meluskey, Roeslerâ??s teammate for nine seasons, said. â??I hated facinâ?? him all those years he was in St. Louis, and I loved havinâ?? him on my side. Every time he took the mound, you knew you were gonna win that day. He lost a few, sure, but it was probably because we didnâ??t score enough runs for â??im.â?? [/size]
[Edited on 4-3-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-3-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-3-2005 by jrspc4]
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[Edited on 4-5-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-5-2005 by jrspc4]
Hall of Fame
April 03, 2005 at 12:24AM View BBCode
[size=5][color=blue]Chief Roesler[/color][/size]
[size=3]Chief Roesler almost had to watch the greatest moment of his career by himself in a hotel room in Chicago.
â??We had a day game the next day, a Sunday, and I was scheduled to start Game 5,â?? Roesler recalled after his recent selection to the Tony Conigliaro League Hall of Fame. â??We didnâ??t know we were going to win it that night, you know, and I had been sent back to the hotel after warm-ups to get some rest.â??
On Oct. 18, 1960, Roeslerâ??s Brooklyn teammates wrapped up the World Series title with a 9-2 Game 4 victory over the Chicago Zephyrs. Roesler had already pitched three shutouts in the playoffs, a feat never duplicated before or since, after winning his fourth Cy Young Award in his 11th season.
What he had never done, though, was earn a ring as a World Champion, and in his fourth season after being acquired by the Blind Bats in a blockbuster trade the moment finally arrived. He would win a second ring in 1964 with Detroit before retiring in 1966 after a 17-year career as the leagueâ??s winningest pitcher (305-152) and strikeout king.
â??I couldnâ??t sleep, of course. I had to watch the game on TV,â?? Roesler said of that night in Chicago.
â??Skip told me to stay there until the last out no matter how big a lead we had. But we were way ahead after seven innings, so I ran downstairs and hailed a cab to the ballpark. I got to the bench with two outs to go.
â??Skip was so happy we were on the verge of winning, he just smiled when he saw me. â??Glad you made it, Chief. I would have felt bad if youâ??d missed this,â?? he said.
â??I was 32 years old, but when that final out was made I bolted out of that dugout like a little boy and hugged everyone I could. â?¦ The first one is mighty special.â??
Most everything about Archibald Woodrow Roeslerâ??s career turned out special. A Hartford, Conn., native, Roesler starred as a three-sport athlete at the elite St. Paulâ??s boarding school before heading to Yale. It was there he earned the nickname that stuck with him for life after a teammate who worked in the records office discovered on Roeslerâ??s admissions application that he was one-eighth Cherokee Indian. â??Archieâ?? easily molded into â??Chief.â??
Roesler, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-hander, was drafted by St. Louis in 1950, bypassed the minors entirely and made a tremendous impact immediately at 21.
He won the Cy Young Award in 1950, â??51 and â??52, getting progressively more dominant as he went along. St. Louis in those years was a struggling franchise, however, and had fallen into the second division of the National League.
Stoic on the mound and not one to complain about his teamâ??s misfortunes, Roesler never allowed his frustration to show in public.
â??I dreamed of getting that phone call to tell me I was being traded, and when it finally came I had to pinch myself,â?? Roesler said.
The destination was Brooklyn, a perennial contender looking for an ace to complement Ron Lane, Les Keck and Carl Siemer in what was one of the leagueâ??s strongest rotations â?? over 1,000 career wins between them. On May 13, 1957, the Blind Bats parted with four players and a top draft pick to get Roesler in a controversial deal made worse by St. Louis managementâ??s subsequent squandering of the talent it acquired.
The arrival of Roesler did not turn Brooklyn into a champion right away, however. League champion in 1952 and 1954, the Bats missed the playoffs in Roeslerâ??s first season, then reached the NLCS two straight years but lost to the Chicago Farmers each time.
The breakthrough would come in 1960, as Roesler would win a career-high 23 games and post nine shutouts. He was virtually unhittable in the postseason.
He opened the NLCS with a 4-0 victory over the Farmers, then closed the series out in Game 5 with a 1-0 win. Five days later he kickstarted the World Series triumph with a 3-0 win over the Zephyrs. Three shutouts in 11 days, all told.
â??We couldnâ??t touch the Chief in those games,â?? longtime Farmers star Russ Urbani said.
â??His curve was the nastiest in the game to start with, and he put an extra touch of nasty on it somehow. He made us look like fools up there. â?¦ But I rooted for him to get that ring. Heck, I had four of my own already, and I was happy to see him get one, too. We all teased (GM Fred) Haney that if heâ??d a-been on the ball we coulda had the Chief on our side and never stopped winning.â??
Two years after the title, Roesler was on the move again, going from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh to Detroit in a whirlwind that didnâ??t keep him from winning 21 games and his fifth Cy Young. In 1964, Roesler and a crew of veterans used their guile to notch a World Series title with the Dreamers. He went on to post the first two losing seasons of his career after that before deciding at 38 to go out on his own terms.
â??God blessed me with a healthy arm, and I got 17 seasons out of it. I got a ring for each hand, my 300th win and my 3,000th strikeout, and I had a chance to play with some of the finest ballplayers in the league,â?? Roesler said. â??I havenâ??t a regret in the world.â??
Roeslerâ??s career highlights include his five Cy Youngs, two runner-ups, three third-place finishes and three fourth-place nods. He was a first-team All-Star eight times and second three times.
His 305 wins, 3,147 strikeouts, 4246.1 innings and 572 starts stand as league records. His 2.72 ERA ranks second in league history, and his 1.12 WHIP and 41 shutouts are fourth.
Roesler won 20 or more games five times and won at least 15 for 15 consecutive seasons.
â??He was one of a kind,â?? fellow Hall inductee Pinch Meluskey, Roeslerâ??s teammate for nine seasons, said. â??I hated facinâ?? him all those years he was in St. Louis, and I loved havinâ?? him on my side. Every time he took the mound, you knew you were gonna win that day. He lost a few, sure, but it was probably because we didnâ??t score enough runs for â??im.â?? [/size]
[Edited on 4-3-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-3-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-3-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-4-2005 by jrspc4]
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[Edited on 4-5-2005 by jrspc4]
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[Edited on 4-5-2005 by jrspc4]
jrspc4
Stats and story will be posted soon.
[Edited on 4-5-2005 by jrspc4]
April 05, 2005 at 12:01AM View BBCode
[size=5][color=blue]Pinch Meluskey[/color][/size]
Stats and story will be posted soon.
[Edited on 4-5-2005 by jrspc4]
jrspc4
[size=3]
Born in Cuba, in 1925, Les Caraballo grew up in Bronx where his father worked as a plumber and raised three boys and a girl. Les was the oldest and was expected to work by the time he was 12, and never saw school passed the 4th grade. He worked on the docks, where he got his nickname.
But playing baseball was where the barrel chested young man belonged. And it wasnâ??t long before someone in one of the town leagues got the bright idea to tip off one of the scouts about â??The Bullâ??.
By the time he was 24, he was starting at SS in the majors and posting a TCL record 66 homeruns with a .399 batting average. But Caraballo was always an enigma to his coaches and peers, because he just didnâ??t seem to understand why it mattered so much to everybody else. To Les it was a game, and he just couldnâ??t take it as serious as those around him.
In 1950, the Pittsburgh faithful were stunned when he sat out the last game of the season batting .399, needing one hit to go over .400 and more importantly only one game out of a wildcard spot. Asked about the choice by a reporter after the game Les said â??He had missed breakfast and just didnâ??t feel up to playingâ??.
The Bull helped Pittsburgh win four National League Division Titles (â??51, â??53, â??54, â??57), but in all four of those campaigns he and his team came up short. 1953 was the toughest for the Silver Cats as they entered the 8th inning of game 7 (in the WS) with a two run lead, only to fumble the championship away. Caraballo never appeared upset after the losses, an image that didn't sit well with his manager.
But what â??The Bullâ?? lacked in terms of charisma he more than made up for with his mind numbing performances. The guy started at SS for 15 years and only made 30 errors in that entire time. In fact, the kid that replaced him in Pittsburgh made more errors at SS in the very first season than Caraballo made in a career. Over 3000 hits, 2nd on the all-time Homerun list with 568, a .325 lifetime batting average, batted over .330 ten seasons in a row, and 11 consecutive seasons with over 100 rbis.
Falling short in the post season five times was not a fitting end to his career, and all his critics where finally answered when he helped Detroit to the 1964 TCL championship.
Asked to reflect on his days in the game Les said â??Itâ??s a gameâ??.
[/size]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
April 23, 2005 at 02:40AM View BBCode
[size=5][color=blue]Les "The Bull" Caraballo[/color][/size]
[size=3]
Born in Cuba, in 1925, Les Caraballo grew up in Bronx where his father worked as a plumber and raised three boys and a girl. Les was the oldest and was expected to work by the time he was 12, and never saw school passed the 4th grade. He worked on the docks, where he got his nickname.
But playing baseball was where the barrel chested young man belonged. And it wasnâ??t long before someone in one of the town leagues got the bright idea to tip off one of the scouts about â??The Bullâ??.
By the time he was 24, he was starting at SS in the majors and posting a TCL record 66 homeruns with a .399 batting average. But Caraballo was always an enigma to his coaches and peers, because he just didnâ??t seem to understand why it mattered so much to everybody else. To Les it was a game, and he just couldnâ??t take it as serious as those around him.
In 1950, the Pittsburgh faithful were stunned when he sat out the last game of the season batting .399, needing one hit to go over .400 and more importantly only one game out of a wildcard spot. Asked about the choice by a reporter after the game Les said â??He had missed breakfast and just didnâ??t feel up to playingâ??.
The Bull helped Pittsburgh win four National League Division Titles (â??51, â??53, â??54, â??57), but in all four of those campaigns he and his team came up short. 1953 was the toughest for the Silver Cats as they entered the 8th inning of game 7 (in the WS) with a two run lead, only to fumble the championship away. Caraballo never appeared upset after the losses, an image that didn't sit well with his manager.
But what â??The Bullâ?? lacked in terms of charisma he more than made up for with his mind numbing performances. The guy started at SS for 15 years and only made 30 errors in that entire time. In fact, the kid that replaced him in Pittsburgh made more errors at SS in the very first season than Caraballo made in a career. Over 3000 hits, 2nd on the all-time Homerun list with 568, a .325 lifetime batting average, batted over .330 ten seasons in a row, and 11 consecutive seasons with over 100 rbis.
Falling short in the post season five times was not a fitting end to his career, and all his critics where finally answered when he helped Detroit to the 1964 TCL championship.
Asked to reflect on his days in the game Les said â??Itâ??s a gameâ??.
[/size]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-23-2005 by jrspc4]
jrspc4
Stats and story will be posted soon.
[Edited on 4-26-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-26-2005 by jrspc4]
April 26, 2005 at 03:09AM View BBCode
[size=5][color=blue]Dan Kloza[/color][/size]
Stats and story will be posted soon.
[Edited on 4-26-2005 by jrspc4]
[Edited on 4-26-2005 by jrspc4]
jrspc4
Stats and story will be posted soon.
May 16, 2005 at 11:24PM View BBCode
[size=5][color=blue]Mookie Smoll[/color][/size]
Stats and story will be posted soon.
jrspc4
Image, Stats and story posted soon.
June 07, 2005 at 02:19PM View BBCode
[size=5][color=blue]Russ Urbani[/color][/size]Image, Stats and story posted soon.
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