One of our posters said he would like to see a story on Rube Walker. Rube was Campy’s caddy for several years. But I thought it would be more interesting to profile all of the catchers who played second fiddle to the best catcher in Dodger history. Mike Piazza would have easily been that guy had he not been traded. With a bat anyway. He was Campy’s equal when it came to hitting.
Campanella took over as Brooklyn’s primary receiver in 1948, his first season in the majors. He took the job from Bruce Edwards. Edwards came to Brooklyn in 1946. He would spend parts of 6 seasons with the Dodgers. His best season was 1947 when he hit .297 with 8 homers and 80 RBIs in 130 games. He would never play in 100 games again. As Campy’s back up, he got into 96 games in 48. On June 15th, 1951, one day after my third birthday, he was traded to the Cubs in the blockbuster trade that brought, Andy Pafko, Johnny Schmitz, Wayne Terwilliger and Rube Walker, his replacement to the Dodgers. Gene Hermanski, Joe Hatten and Eddie Miksis went with him to the Cubs.
Campy’s other part time caddy in 48 was Bobby Bragan, who had been in the Dodger system since 1943 when they got him from the Phillies. Bragan was 30 and in his last big-league season. He got into 9 games. Edwards was 2 years younger than Campy being 24 in 1948. In 1950 there was a guy named Steve Lembo who got into 5 games. In 1952 he would get into 2 games. He went a combined 2-11. In 1951, after the trade, Walker was the main back-up. He got into 36 games and hit .243 with 2 homers and 9 RBIs. But another player, I had never even heard of, Mickey Livingston, got into 2 games in his last big-league season. He had 2 hits in 5 at bats at age 36. Livingston, originally a Senator, he played parts of 10 seasons in the majors. The Dodgers got him in a trade with the Braves in the winter of 1950. Joe Pignatano, who would later back up John Roseboro, joined the team in 1957.
Rube Walker was from North Carolina. He would become an integral part of the coaching staff of the Miracle Mets. Rube would spend parts of 8 seasons with the Dodgers. He never appeared in more than 60 games in any of those seasons. He was considered a good defensive catcher, perfect for giving Campy a rest now and then. He was a good game caller and understood the way to handle his staff. He was a .214 hitter with the Dodgers and was with the Dodgers in 1958 when they played their first year in LA, but he only got into 25 games backing up John Roseboro. Walker managed a couple of years in the minors after a short stint as a Dodger coach after he was released in June of 1958. In 1965, he was slated to become the manager of the Greenville team of the Western Carolina’s League, a Mets affiliate. Old friend and teammate, Gil Hodges, who had been hired to manage the Washinton Senators expansion franchise, asked Walker to join him as the pitching coach.
The Senator’s pitching staff was not much to work with and when Hodges left the Senator’s in 1968, he took Walker to the Mets with him. There, Walker’s skills as a teacher and mentor came to fruition. He believed there were only so many pitches in an arm, and he watched over his young pitchers like a mother hen. He had Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and a young fire balling righty named Nolan Ryan. He also instituted for the Mets, the five-man rotation. Rube was not much into the mechanics of pitching, but he was a stickler for the mental side of pitching. And that is what he worked on most. He knew how to get the most and the best out of his staff. He instituted Walkers Law. None of his pitchers threw without him knowing about it.
The Mets went from 9th in the league in ERA in 67 to 4th under Walker in 1968. His pitchers also ran a lot. He felt that conditioning was very important. On the day after a start, his pitchers would not throw, but they would run hard. The second day, they would throw hard for 10 minutes. The next day it was back to running. In 1969 it paid off. It was the pitching that led the way to overcoming a 10-game deficit in August and catching the Cubs to win the division. Was it because the Mets pitchers had that extra day of rest and the Cubs pitchers melting in the heat of August? Whatever the reason, the Cubs folded and the Mets won the crown. Mets hurlers did not fare well in the NLCS, but the Mets bats carried them past the Braves in a sweep as they were picked up by the offense.
They then outpitched the mighty Orioles, hurling 19 consecutive scoreless innings and giving up just 5 runs over the last four games of the series. The Mets were 1969 Champions and Walker’s staff was a huge factor in that win.
Walker was well liked by his pitchers, and while he may not have been strong on mechanics, he was very good at spotting flaws in a delivery. He demanded that they think like a major league pitcher, and he taught them how. This aided in the maturation of his young staff. Jerry Koosman related how Walker had helped him by insisting he scrap his slider. That made his curve more effective. The guys also loved to play tricks on Walker, and they never ceased letting him know he called the pitch that was hit for one of the most famous homers in history, the Bobby Thompson shot.
Walker suffered a number of personal losses between 1969 and 1972. His mom died in 69, his brother, Verlon, a minor league catcher and a Cubs coach for a decade, died of Leukemia in 71. His father died in April of 1972, and right before that, Gil Hodges passed away on a golf course of a heart attack and Walker was there. Berra took over as the manager of the Mets, and he continued to let Walker run his staff the way he wanted. Injuries ruined a good start and the Mets finished third/
. The two bright spots were Seaver, who won 21 and Jon Matlack, who won 16 and earned ROY honors. The Mets rebounded in 1973 and won the pennant after defeating the powerful Big Red Machine in the NLCS. They then took the A’s to 7 games in the series before falling. The season was also notable as it was Willie Mays last season.
When Joe Torre came aboard as manager in 1977, he kept Walker as his pitching coach. When the Mets fired Torre in 1981, he took over the Braves and Rube went with him. Also on board was Walker’s old teammate, Joe Pignatano. The Braves won the division in 1982, their first since 1969, but they lost the NLCS to the Cardinals. After two seasons of finishing second, Torre and Walker were let go after the 1984 season. That ended Walker’s almost 40 years in uniform. He was invited to Tom Seaver’s HOF induction, but he had been diagnosed with cancer and was too ill to attend. He died on Dec 12th, 1992. He was a pitchers coach Seaver was quoted as saying. The quiet backup who led the Mets staff to glory.
Yusneil Diaz was outrighted by the Orioles!
Dodgers give Tyler Anderson a QO and are supposedly talking about a multi year deal. The QO buys them some time.
JT’s option just got declined! Wonder if they are still negotiating?
Doesn’t mean they can’t bring him back at a lesser amount, but he can now negotiate with all teams.
I wonder how badly he wants to end his career here vs. how insulted he is that they wouldn’t pay him the 16 mil.
Nobody is going to pay him 16 million. I would guess that someone would pay him 10 million. Will that team be the Dodgers?
No
If he comes back it will be for maybe $5m. He does get a $2m buyout. It would be a $10m pay cut but I don’t see them offering him more. Other teams likely will.
They keep saying they want him back, although they could be just blowing smoke. If they want him back, a 5 mil offer would be an insult, even coupled with the 2 mil buyout.
If he signs somewhere else, we may never know, but I’m guessing they offer him between $8-10MM.
Did I see where the Giants gave Joc a qualifying offer! Farhan has lost his mind! That’s 1 mil for every pound that Joc is overweight! I guess Dodger’s are serious about giving the youngsters a shot!
Joc had what is arguably his best year. He had his highest BA (.274), OB% (.353), while OPS’ing .874 (.876 was his best ever).
He had 376 PA against RHP and only 57 against LHP.
Still, that’s a lot to pay for a 1.3 WAR.
I predicted that he would be a 4th outfielder, and he is a little more than that… but not much more!
When I saw that come across Twitter, I assumed it was a fake account that had posted it.
Maybe they have an agreement that he’ll sign a multi-year contract for a substantially lower AAV and this was just a way of giving them more time to negotiate that deal.
Justin Verlander has opted out.
MOOKIE BETTS & TREA TURNER WIN LOUISVILLE SILVER SLUGGER
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts and shortstop Trea Turner win the 2022 Louisville Silver Slugger Award for their respective positions.
The duo becomes the first set of Dodgers to win the award in the same season since 2009 when Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier received the honors and are the sixth set of Dodger teammates to win the award in the same year, joining Dusty Baker and Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Kirk Gibson and Tim Leary (1988), Mike Piazza and Orel Hershiser (1993), Piazza and Eric Karros (1995), and Kemp and Ethier.
Betts, 30, wins his fifth Silver Slugger award and his second as a member of the Dodgers. He is now one of six Dodgers to win the award multiple times joining, Dusty Baker (1980-’81), Fernando Valenzuela (1981, 1983), Mike Piazza (1993-’97), Matt Kemp (2009, 2011) and Corey Seager (2016-’17). In 2020, he became the 20th player in franchise history to earn the award and he is one of four players in Major League Baseball history to win multiple Silver Slugger awards in both leagues, joining Miguel Cabrera (five in AL, 2 in NL), Gary Sheffield (2 in AL, 3 in NL) and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. (5 in AL, 3 in NL).
He becomes the first player in Dodger franchise history to receive the Rawlings Gold Glove and Louisville Silver Slugger in the same season on multiple occasions (2020 and 2022) and he is one of six players in franchise history to earn the Rawlings Gold Glove and Louisville Silver Slugger in the same year, along with Cody Bellinger (2019), Adrían González (2014), Matt Kemp (2011), Russell Martin (2007) and Dusty Baker (1981).
In his third season with the Dodgers, he played in 142 games, hitting .269 (154-for-572) and finishing with the team best in homers (35) and slugging (.533) while tying for the team lead in runs scored (117). He became just the second Dodger in franchise history to record 40+ doubles and 35+ homers in the same season, joining Babe Herman in 1930 and set the new franchise record for homers from the leadoff spot for a season, surpassing Joc Pederson (32). The Nashville, TN native ranked among the National League outfield leaders in hits (3rd), runs (117, 1st), batting average (4th), OBP (.340, 10th), SLG (.533, 1st), OPS (.873, 1st), doubles (3rd), total bases (305, 1st), extra-base hits (78, T-1st) steals (12, 7th) and homers (2nd).
Turner, 29, wins his first Louisville Silver Slugger award and becomes the second shortstop in Dodger franchise history to receive the honor, joining Corey Seager (2016-’17). Along with Betts, this will be the 30th time a Dodger has received a Silver Slugger award and he is the 21st Dodger to receive the honor since its inception in 1980. The Dodgers are tied for 10th-all time with the St. Louis Cardinals for most Silver Slugger awards by a team with 30.
In his first full season with the Dodgers, he played a team-best 160 games, hitting .298 (194-for-652) with 21 homers, 101 runs scored, 100 RBI and 27 stolen bases. He notched his third 100+ run season while tallying his first ever 100+ RBI campaign. He recorded the longest hitting streak in the Majors this season, hitting in 26 straight games from May 9 through June 3, batting .350 with nine doubles and four homers during the streak. On the campaign, he had four different hitting streaks of 16+ games, including two hitting streaks of 20+ games and was the only player in Majors with multiple hitting streaks above 20 games. No other player in the Majors had two hitting streaks of 16+ and the only organization with two hitting streaks above 16+ was Toronto (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. & Santiago Espinal). He finished the season hitting safely in 132 of 160 games, setting a new franchise record for games with 1+ hit, surpassing Tommy Davis (129 in 1962), and finishing tied for 11th all-time in Major League history in games with 1+ hit, three behind the all-time leaders in Ichiro (2001), Derek Jeter (1999), Wade Boggs (1985), Chuck Klein (1930) and Rogers Hornsby (1922) who hit safely in 135 games. The Palm Beach, FL native led all National League shortstops in hits (194), runs (101), batting average (.298), OBP (.343), SLG (.466), OPS (.809), doubles (39), total bases (304), extra-base hits (64) steals (27), while ranking second in RBI (100) and fourth in homers (21).
The Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Award is the top offensive honor in Major League Baseball. Coaches and managers of Major League teams vote for the players they feel are the best offensive producers at each position in the field in both the American and National Leagues. They base their selections on a combination of offensive statistics including batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, as well as the coaches’ and managers’ general impressions of a player’s overall offensive value. Managers and coaches are not allowed to vote for players on their own team.
Multiple social media posts that Correa is in LA right now.
Make of it what you will.
To me, it is “mixed emotions.”
The definition of “mixed emotions” is seeing your mother-in-law driving over a cliff in your new Mercedes!
Lost cat walking across freshly poured cement.
If we can’t resign Trea he is really good.What did you expect him to do in the trash can days.Refuse to play or turn his team in to the mlb authorities.It would not take long for people to enjoy his talent.Of course I am writing about Correa.
Dodgers and Kershaw agree to 1 year deal
Awesome,would have been happy to see2 years.
Evidently, there was no hesitation for Clayton to come back to LA.
It sounds like Texas was not even a thought.
JT would be a nice bench piece. Will his pride allow him to do that?
If what MLBTR Predicts about Andrew Heaney, he won’t be back with the Dodgers. They have him as the 18th best Free Agent:
18. Andrew Heaney. Three years, $42MM.
Steve: Mets / Tim: Cubs / Anthony: Mets / Darragh: Red Sox
Heaney was one of the buzziest arms on last year’s market, due perhaps in part to a his outstanding 19.5 K-BB% and the spin and whiff rate on his fastball. He fielded a large number of offers early on and, despite a 5.28 ERA and 2.01 HR/9 mark in 2021, signed a one-year, $8.5MM deal with the Dodgers as soon as the market opened.
The Dodgers scrapped everything but Heaney’s heater, had him begin throwing a slider, and watched him transform into a two-pitch monster. A pair of shoulder injuries limited Heaney to 72 2/3 innings, but Heaney notched a 3.10 ERA with eye-popping secondary marks. While he remained homer-prone (1.73 HR/9), Heaney also punched out an obscene 35.5% of his opponents against an excellent 6.1% walk rate. His 16.8% swinging-strike rate ranked No. 1 among the 188 MLB pitchers who tossed at least 70 innings this season. His 39.5% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate ranked third, trailing only Emmanuel Clase and Kevin Gausman. Only Spencer Strider posted a better K-BB% than Heaney’s 29.4.
There’s no getting around the injury concern associated with Heaney, who had Tommy John surgery in 2016, pitched just 21 innings in 2017, missed two weeks with elbow inflammation in 2018, missed two months with elbow inflammation in 2019, and now spent nearly three months on the IL with shoulder issues in 2022. No one’s going to sign him thinking he’ll deliver 150-plus innings and 30-plus starts, but he can justify the AAV we’ve predicted by pitching far fewer innings. If injuries keep yanking from the rotation, his two-pitch dominance could make him a candidate to move to the bullpen
Talking about mix feelings about Correa, my daughter the other day was wearing her Puerto Rico Team Rubio Correa shirt, just saying…
Old Bear, thanks for the article on Campy’s backup catchers. Rube Walker was that man for many years, though it certainly wasn’t for his bat. I knew that he was catching in “the shot heard ’round the world ” game (Campy was injured), but I never thought of the fact that he called for what pitch should be thrown to Thompson. Poor Ralph Branca. He’ll be remembered forever for making that pitch. Probably very few know that Walker was catching and that it was his call for that pitch.
Happy to oblige. What Walker forgot and probably should have remembered that Thompson had homered off of Branca in the 4th inning of game one on the same type of pitch. Branca started that game. Also, Erskine was up in the pen, along with Branca and was probably a much better option than Ralph. But he bounced a curveball just before the call came to the pen, and the coach out there thought he was not ready. I think the onus is on Dressen for A. Not pulling Newcombe before the trouble started and B., going with a pitcher who the hitter had faced and beaten only days earlier.
As per Josh Thomas on Twitter:
Get to know these names now.
Here are the All-Stars and award winners from the Florida Complex League, Arizona Complex League and Dominican Summer League: https://atmilb.com/3hC36ff
ACL
C Thayron Liranzo, 122 wRC+ in his age-18 season (yep, another catcher who bangs)
DSL
DH/OF Samuel Munoz, age-17, 146 wRC+
OF Josue De Paula (I think Baseball America has mentioned him once or twice), age-17, 162 wRC+, with more walks than strikeouts
Thx Bluto
DODGERS BLAKE TREINEN HAS SHOULDER SURGERY
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers right-handed pitcher Blake Treinen has right shoulder labrum and rotator cuff repair surgery performed by Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
Treinen, 34, made six appearances last season, including one appearance in the National League Division Series, allowing two runs in 6.0 innings with seven strikeouts after missing the majority of the 2022 season on injured list. In his nine Major League seasons with Washington (2014-’17), Oakland (2017-’19) and Los Angeles (2020-’22) and he is combined 36-31 with a 2.86 ERA (160 ER/503.0 IP) and 504 strikeouts. He has been with the Dodgers three seasons, posting an 18-11 record with a 2.45 ERA (28 ER/103.0 IP) and 113 strikeouts with eight saves. He was originally drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the seventh round of the 2011 First Year Player Draft out of South Dakota State University.
Glad he didn’t wait any longer, but he should have done it 6 months ago.
At least AF knows he won’t have him next year and can plan accordingly.
Freaking unbelievable
Probably should have had it done 6 months ago.
But hindsight is what they say it is.
Sounds like he is gone for the year!
Gotta feel bad for him. Bummer!
Best Fastball Hitters in the minors:
https://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2022/11/9/the-best-fastball-hitters-in-the-minors
The wonderfully named HUNTER FEDUCCIA gets a mention.
The Astros essentially fired their GM, James Click, after winning the WS. They didn’t fire him, actually, BUT they only offered him a one-year deal.
David Stearns? Maybe…
Stearns is very highly thought of in the industry and was Pres. of Baseball Operations (technically a step above GM). Do the Astros even have that position? If not it would be a step down for him.
Also, Astros owner is getting a reputation as a very hands-on guy. Not sure Stearns wants to work with a guy like that since he’ll basically have his choice as to where he wants to go once his last year is finished under contract in Milwaukee.
I’m guessing he doesn’t wind up in Houston.
Stearns was originally from Houston. I’m not saying he will end up back there, but if he does, it will be as President of Baseball Ops.
. and now we hear that the Astros fired Assistant GM, Scott Powers, whom Click hired from the Dodgers in January.
They are cleaning house for someone.
This is mostly for Bulldogs and Penguins:
Jason Martin elected free agency yesterday so his Dodger organization career appears to be over. I know you’ve followed his career and were hoping he’d get a chance with the big club. Hopefully he’ll sign on with a team where he’ll have a better shot at making the major league roster. He deserves it.
Others who elected free agency (just a partial list courtesy of Josh Thomas on Twitter):
Yadier Alvarez
Jon Duplantier
Guillermo Zuniga
Leonel Valera
Andy Burns
Omar Estevez
Valera best name there.
Valera had a very strange season.
Was really pretty lousy at Great Lakes the first third of the year and for some reason they promoted him to Tulsa. His numbers at Tulsa were great. So here’s the unusual situation where a player hits better in a higher classification, and it wasn’t just a little better. Batting average went up by 80 points and OPS by even more.
Lots of those guys deserve to be backups on MLB teams. They had no opportunity on the Dodgers.
Leonal Valera is the one I am going to miss the most.
Powers was just fired by the Astros who just plucked him from LA last year.