Me, I loved the Cubs, especially Lou Brock. It broke my heart when they traded him to St. Louis, and my allegiance followed him.
That is, until 1968, when the Tigers bested them in the series with two infielders who, if I recall, were sub .200 with their batting average. One of them was Ray Oyler, the best fielding shortstop I ever saw play until Ozzie Smith came along. Mayo Smith made a really gutsy move benching him except as a defensive replacement to get an extra bat into the lineup.
Of course, it wasn't just the St. Louis loss in the 1968 World Series than made me switch my allegiance back to the Cubs, it was the awesome year the Cubs had in 1969. They were a better team than many World Series winners, but unfortunately the Mets fielded an even better team that year. If they ever write a book about the greatest second place teams in history, the 1969 Cubs will merit their own chapter. As, I am sure, will at least one Giants team from that era. I'm not sure which one, but I'd vote for the 1963 edition.
1. Masanori Murakami didn't debut until the 1964 season.
2. The best also-ran edition of the Giants in that era was probably 1965.
Amazing what you think the brain holds after all these years, then you have to look it up to check it. But I did remember the best runner up Giants was in Murakami's first full year, didn't I?
Having spent a long time in Japan, I do remember there was much consternation when Hideo Nomo first came up, that there would be another 20 year plus drought of Japanese players if he didn't achieve the star status which Murakami reached for but came up short.
“...1968, when the Tigers bested them in the series with two infielders who, if I recall, were sub .200 with their batting average. One of them was Ray Oyler,”
The other sub-.200 BA in that regular lineup would’ve been the net average of all batting pitchers except for Earl Wilson (12 HR) or Don Wert at 3rd base.
Ray wore no.1 and Wert wore no. 8...Earl Wilson (12)
Mayo Smith made a great call by moving centerfielder Mickey Stanley (24) to shortstop just before the Tigers went on to win the ‘68 World Series in St. Louis. Mayo Smith wore no. 10.
Jim “Jim” Leyland brought it all back when he benched JV in their final victory over the Yankees Thursday night.
This years Tigers should go all the way with Jim making the call.
Actually, Jim Leyland looks alot like Mayo Smith to me.
Jim for MVP!