Last Wednesday, I wrote an article on Rube Walker – the Father of the Five-Man Rotation – which drew some comments for which I was grateful. Presently, I am not in mourning over the Dodgers untimely exit from post-season play. It happened, it is over, and life goes on. With my ninth decade now staring me in the face each year without one more WS victory is a bit problematic, but gifted with excellent health I plan to be around for a few more attempts to snatch the brass ring. I look forward to those attempts rather than looking back to a failed one.
In the meantime, my enthusiasm for baseball has not diminished because of a loss. The game, the Dodgers, my favorite players have given me so much over the years that there is always something to fall back on when things don’t go as well as I had hoped. For me, I often fall back to the Boys of Summer but I also look ahead to the youngsters on the horizon in the minor leagues. Both of those venues are safe and still provide enjoyment.
I love the game of baseball, I expect because I played some as a youngster and later played some fastball as a young man. It is an individual game played as a team. I was never much of a hitter but I could if you will permit some bragging, “go get ‘em” with the best players. That is, I was an excellent defender and loved playing in the field, especially leftfield as there were very few left-handed batters.
Because of my ability to play in the field, I reveled in Vin’s descriptions as the Dodgers in the fifties made plays behind their pitchers. And, plays they did make. Duke scaling the wall at Ebbets Field or climbing the vines at Wrigley Field or hearing Vin describe Carl Furillo, the “Reading Rifle”, taking caroms off the rightfield wall almost as a virtuoso uses the keys on a piano. I remember him describing Pee Wee and Jackie ranging wide and making double plays and his description of former catcher Gil Hodges at first base with hands “as soft as silk”. Oh yes, and Campy blocking balls in the dirt before blocking balls in the dirt was cool and throwing out 57 percent of all would-be base stealers.
I also have another recollection, brought forward by some comments in response to the Rube Walker article on October 16.
DodgerBlueMom wrote: “And AC. You and I share something in common, Brooks Robinson. He is my favorite 3rd baseman. I called him “the vacuum cleaner at third”! I was fortunate to see him play as a minor league player with the Mounties in BC. I followed his career with Baltimore along with being an avid Dodger fan and loved the antics of Earl Weaver.”
59inarow replied: “Brooks was a little before my time. I always thought that Graig Nettles was the Gold Standard at the hot corner, but Ron Cey was my favorite Dodger growing up as a kid.”
Always Compete added: “As DBMom said, Brooks is the one that everyone else is compared to.”
Those comments took me back to the little known and perhaps under appreciated complement to the Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese infield. He definitely was not underappreciated by his teammates. How many remember or have even heard of the third baseman that complemented that infield?
Many of the LADT readers are too young to have witnessed him play or to have heard about him because he never achieved all-star status, even once, as all of his infield teammates have done. Three of them – Jackie, Pee Wee, and Campy – are in the HOF and Gil Hodges should be, at least in my opinion.
For those who are not familiar with the invisible infielder, let me introduce you to Newport, Pennsylvania’s favorite son, Billy Cox, who was the complement to that revered infield. He attended high school in his hometown and following graduation from high school he played with Harrisburg of the Interstate League and achieved All-Star status as a shortstop.
In 1941 Cox led the Interstate League in batting, hits, doubles and total bases for Harrisburg. He had a 22-game hitting streak, hit .368 and set a league record for most assists as a shortstop. He was called up to Pittsburgh and debuted on September 20 and hit .270 in 10 games with the Pirates.
That was all the professional baseball he would play until the spring of 1946, with one exception. In February of 1942, he had entered the military service and spent four years with the 814th Signal Corps. The one exception was an exhibition game on May 28, 1942, between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Harrisburg Senators of the Inter-State League. Billy Cox was given a special dispensation to play with the Pirates on that day and registered four runs in their 14-5 win.
For the next four years, he served his country seeing action in North Africa, Europe, and Guadalcanal. Dealing with the sands of North Africa and the swamps and mud of Europe, along with contracting Malaria, his weight fell to 132 pounds on his 5’9” frame. His health never really fully recovered following the war.
Intent on resuming his baseball career, the 26-year-old Cox never complained: “I lost a good part of my career,” he told The Sporting News on May 2, 1946, “but I’m not kicking. I went through four years of the war and came out whole, so I guess I am lucky.”
He returned to active duty as an MLB player with the Pirates in 1946 and played two seasons with them, as a shortstop, hitting a combined .280. In December of 1947, he was traded to the Dodgers, along with right-hander Preacher Roe, in a deal that sent Dodger’s favorite, 37- year- old Dixie Walker, to Pittsburgh. Many Dodger fans were incensed to lose Walker known affectionately as, “The People’s Choice”. Walker apparently had demanded a trade because he did not want to play on a team that included Jackie Robinson.
However, those same fans soon came to believe it was one of the greatest trades ever made by Branch Rickey. Both Billy Cox and Preacher Roe went on to have seven-year careers with the Dodgers. Dixie Walker had two with the Pirates before retiring.
Cox, a shortstop with the Pirates, came over to the Dodgers with Pee Wee Reese firmly entrenched as the shortstop. Reese would go on to play 16 years with the Dodgers, missing three war years, and with 2014 games played at short.
Initially assigned to third base by manager Leo Durocher, and to a position he had never played, Cox quickly took over and played defense at the hot corner like no other third baseman at that time.
Cox later acknowledged that he didn’t know anything about playing third base: “They just expected me to play it by ear.” Like Carl Furrilo playing the caroms off the rightfield wall, Billy Cox was a virtuoso at third base snagging line drives and smothering ground balls most third baseman could only dream of corralling.
Walter O’Malley, then president of the Dodgers, said, “We regard Cox as the greatest gloveman Brooklyn ever had.” That was not just the greatest third baseman but the greatest, “gloveman.”
His most productive year offensively with the Dodgers was 1953. During the regular season, he hit .291 in 100 games played and followed that up with a .304 average in the World Series against the Yankees and had a team-leading six runs batted in.
During those seven years with the Dodgers, Billy Cox and his war-ravaged body only once was able to play more than 119 games in a single season. He struggled to maintain his weight and suffered from what we call PTSD nowadays. Cox didn’t really talk about it but at times it did show. Harold Burr of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote about one incident when the Pirates were playing in Boston, and a ballpark fireworks display sent Cox plunging for cover in the dugout. The roar of the crowd could also trigger a moment of terror. Cox told his teammates he was never wounded in action, though his helmet was once blown off by an explosion.
In 1955 he was traded to the Orioles and played his last 53 games with Baltimore. Unfortunately, his trade to the Orioles meant he missed the Dodgers 1955 World Series victory over the New York Yankees.
Billy Cox is not listed on any list of the Top 100 MLB third baseman and perhaps would not be among the top 150 or more. The shortness of his career pretty much excludes him and corner infielders are supposed to have thunder in their bats. The 5’10”/150-pound right-handed hitter did not have thunder in his bat. What made him special was the lightening in his glove as testified by his teammates and opponents.
His teammate Duke Snider – on a Montreal Expo broadcast – commented on Billy Cox and his glove following Cox’s death in 1978 at the age of 58. “If there was ever a better third baseman I’d like to have seen him. The thing I remember about Billy was that little three-fingered glove he used. They called it the ‘playmaker.’ There would be a ball that looked like it was by him and somehow, he’d come up with it. Then he’d seem to look at it for a minute before throwing the runner out.”
Former Dodger manager, Chuck Dressen, agreed with Duke Snider: “It’s almost as if he’s counting the stitches. But he never seems to get in trouble because he has such quick hands.”
A fan remembered a member of the Dodger announcing team describing Cox’s hesitation with the ball: “He checks to see if it’s broken, and throws to first for the out.
His hesitation in throwing to first just about drove Pee Wee Reese out of his mind. On more than one occasion he would shout, “Throw the damn ball, Billy.”, upon which Cox would deliver a strike to first base.
Billy Cox was nicknamed, “Hoss”, because of his long and perhaps somewhat appearing sad face. However, this was not a sad man, but a grateful man, one who loved the game and his teammates and one whose teammates and opponents marveled at his glovework with his little three-fingered glove.
A story is told about the iconic Casey Stengel who had observed the third baseman at work from 1910 until 1975. You might say Casey knew something about third basemen. During a spring training game, one year Stengel in his gruff voice shouted out to Baltimore third baseman Brooks Robinson: “You’re the second greatest third baseman of all time!”
Puzzled at the out of the blue comment Robinson naturally asked who was the best ever to play the position. Stengel replied: “Number three over there in Brooklyn. He was the best of all time.” Number three happened to be Billy Cox.
Casey Stengel also said when Cox was taking the Professor and his Yankees to school with his glove: “He’s not a third baseman. He’s a blankety-blank acrobat.”
George Kell, a third baseman with the Boston Red Sox and not a slouch as a third baseman, supported Stengel’s assessment of Cox: “I never dreamed third base could be played with such artistry until I saw Cox in that series.”
When a statue of Brooks Robinson was unveiled at Camden Yards in 2012, Robinson told the Baltimore Sun that he was sorry he never got to meet Billy Cox in person. Robinson was signed the same summer Cox retired, and the former Dodger was one of only four or five men to wear the Orioles uniform whom the Baltimore third base magician has never met.
William Richard “Billy” Cox died on March 30, 1978, and was laid to rest in his hometown of Newport, Pennsylvania. He has not been forgotten as Newport’s youth baseball complex is known as Billy Cox Field.
Discussion (48)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Brooklyn Dodger,
I think you’re right that he’s the best pure hitter on the team. It’s like people don’t pay attention to all those doubles. He missed pretty much all of Spring Training and then missed an entire month in the middle of the season and still put up big numbers. People are absolutely crazy to talk about trading him. HUGE year next year, just need that big right handed bat in the middle of the order. A 30 HR guy.
I really like Seager too but has anyone noticed that the positive predictions for next year always include “he .would have been better but he was hurt then, and then he was hurt another time and then another time”. He is awfully young to be hurt almost every year and usually multiple times each year. I sure hope I am wrong. I also worry about a serious bad back for a player as young as Verdugo. If it hurts now will it get better as he gets older and puts more strain on it? To stay with the injury theme, Ryu has no chance of making it through another season intact and again I love JT but please don’t count on more than half a season. Just tell me I am wrong and I will be very happy.
59,
Couldn’t agree more about Seager. Of course, nothing is for sure, but I truly expect to see a brand new Seager. The only truly healthy year he’s had was his rookie year when he hit around .300 with 26 bombs. And he was only a 22 year old baby at that time. Given a growth in both physical and mental maturity, and lots of added experience, I would not be in the least bit surprised if we see a monster this year. As I pointed out in an earlier post, he’s similar in size to Bellinger, and I see no reason why he can’t generate the same kind of power. Fact is, at least in my mind, he’s the best hitter on the Dodgers.
Ken Gurnick answered some mailbag questions regarding the Dodgers today and one of them is on topic. He says…
“Take the three most expensive free agents over each of those five seasons — 15 players at an average guarantee of $166 million — only two of their teams won the World Series the next season”
Okay, at first glance this seems like a logical argument that of the 15 highest payed players over the last 5 seasons (3 per year) only two of the teams WON the World Series. He’s opining that it’s a bad deal to sign the top three highest paid free agents in a given year because of a 2:15 chance of winning the World Series.
Now, let’s take some things into consideration. I would make the assumption that none of those teams signed more than one of the top 3 free agents. And only one team can win the World Series. So now this is more like a 2:5 ratio if you’re a team looking at getting the best of the best to put you over the top. Add in the fact that teams like the Pads and Phillies didn’t expect to win the World Series in the very next year as a result of the signing and the odds might get even more favorable. Sorry Ken, but some people can do math. That was a bad argument and a very simplistic way of looking at things. I’ll add that 2:5 odds of winning the World Series is absolutely worth giving out a top contract for if you have the money to do so. Are you listening AF? I wonder what the odds are for a team that signs the top two highest paid players are to win the World Series next year. Are you listening AF?
Next question…
Why didn’t the Dodgers start David Freese and get him more at-bats in the playoffs? Why were rookies starting over him?
— Michael F.
I’m with you. Manager Dave Roberts said he preferred to save Freese for a specific high-leverage at-bat.
But for a team with World Series aspirations, the Dodgers bucked conventional wisdom and leaned very heavily on rookies Will Smith, Gavin Lux, Matt Beaty and Dustin May. There’s a reason why so many postseason heroes are veterans, but the Dodgers chose to keep Freese and Russell Martin mostly on the bench during the NLDS. In his only playoff start, Martin drove in four runs.
I think we can put this to bed now. It was more because Doc is an idiot, than because Freese was too injured to play.
– See 2D2 Mr. MaGoo is fitting.
Next Question
I was just reading your story about Justin Turner. How does his positioning in the Dodgers’ shift alignment factor into his defensive ratings?
— Paul
I’ve wondered that, too. This explanation comes from Neil Weinberg of Fangraphs:
“Ground balls in which the over shift is on are excluded from the individual calculations. So it’s like the play never happened. Because both stats are relative to league average, this is basically like saying everyone plays like a league average defender when the shift is on. Obviously not ideal, but that’s how it works for now. However, DRS has a stat called Shift Runs Saved which measures how many runs a team saves by using the shift. So it’s not credited as a run saved to any single player, just the team as a whole.”
This is just another reason why defensive stats are better than nothing, but they aren’t good by any means. Guys like us have no idea how DRS and UZR are calculated and it seems like the guys that make these calculations manipulate things which muddy the output. I have also read that the official scorer’s decision about errors and hits also go into these calculations. We’ve all seen how impartial official scorers are – **sarcasm**
So stop making assumptions about a player’s defense based on one year of DRS or even worse UZR – it could just be an anomaly. A few questionable scoring decisions based on fan favorites, or some plays removed because the shift was on can really skew the final tally for a year.
I remember a play this year when our center fielder threw to third base with a runner advancing. The SS missed the cut that was clearly in reach. The ball bounced before the thrid baseman and was about waist height when he missed it, then it went passed the pitcher who wasn’t in the right position to back up the ball. The Center Fielder got the error, but the SS, 3B and P all caused the error to happen.
Stats are very misleading and none of them are perfect to fully appreciate a player and understand their contribution to winning. Even in a sport like baseball where stats paint a good picture. The best painted pictures still aren’t as clear as a photograph.
Just a thought…
Wasn’t it about 10 days ago that Andrew Friedman said his new contract will be finalized in “the next few days”?
I find it at least a little bit curious that we haven’t heard anything to that effect.
Mr. Magoo is the all time best nickname for Doc and he has it until he proves otherwise, shirt worthy!!
I just don’t see us outbidding everyone for Cole, too many suitors and don’t see Friedman being willing to wait until February.
Outside shot at Rendon, but I really see the Nats stepping up and getting it done, as I feel Stras is gone. If they win the series I think it is even more likely he returns to the Nats.
Trades seem like our best chance to improve.
What about kicking the tires on Diaz or Lorenzen(ac’s player). We have a lot of history with Reds recently and maybe they would want to redeem themselves after their horrific trade with us last offseason. Or maybe it is the opposite and they fear being taken again by Friedman. I do feel Diaz will bounce back, and would be worth trying to get, stuff is too electric for a repeat of last year. Perhaps we could send Stripling and a prospect or two and get it done.
Trade for a right handed bat like a Merrifield form the Royals or Reynolds from the Pirates.
Sign Ryu or Wheeler.
Seager is key to next year’s success, I think you see a different hitter next year, replicating his sophomore season.
Interesting article from Forbes on the top 15 paid MLB players for 2019. The list comprises actual cash payments and does not consider any deferred contractual obligations (Greinke & Scherzer).
1. Mike Trout
2. Bryce Harper
3. Manny Machado
4. David Price
5. Clayton Kershaw
6. Justin Verlander
7. Yoenis Cespedes
8. Miguel Cabrera
9. Jake Arrieta
10. Albert Pujols
11. Giancarlo Stanton
12. Felix Hernandez
13. JD Martinez
14. Joey Votto
15. Jon Lester
Of the 15, only three made the playoff (Kershaw, Verlander, and Stanton), and only Verlander made the WS.
This list is from Forbes, and I did not audit it,. But it seems reasonably presented. Draw your own conclusions on the baseball value of large contracts.
How many people on this site just scratched Cole off their Christmas list for giving up 5 runs, something NONE of our starters did against the Nats in the NLDS?
DC – thanks for the Dodger history…
Nelly and his chaw of tobacco, which in my younger days seemed the size of a baseball… He could pick em… Heard he swallowed it once in an attempt by a player trying to break up a double play… Must have been a fun few hours…
Beltre and that dribbler to 3rd… A thing of beauty…
59, where did you get the MaGoo moniker for Doc???
Gotta real dicey yesterday at the end of the post, so I’ll just watch from the sidelines today..
Kid Soto is a pleasure to watch…
My Dad, who was born in Brooklyn and followed the Dodgers his whole life (he moved to SoCal during the Korean War and the Dodgers followed him out a few years later) always claimed that Billy Cox was the best defensive 3B that he ever saw. For me it was Brooks. I always admired (and hated) Greg Nettles too.
The two easiest to pick managers are signed; Maddon with LAA and now David Ross with Cubs. Now the interesting picks will start to clear up. Rumored for SF…either Mark Kotsay or Gabe Kapler. My son has been friends with both since high school. Joe Girardi favorite in Philly. Ron Washington supposedly in final two with Pads…
Speaking of the glove work of Izturis and Cora, weren’t they part of the 2004 infield that also included the slick fielding Adrian Beltre, and which went to the 2004 NLDS and unfortunately lost to the Cards?
It was fun to root for the Nats last night. I really like the Astros as well as they’re probably my favorite AL team. But, I really like how the Nats are handling themselves this post-season and how their lineup is constructed. I especially like how they have a couple of fast, table setters at the top of their lineup followed by their two big thumpers, one right and one left. Then Kendrick, Cabrerra and Zimmerman all veteran, professional hitters that seem to make a lot of contact. The lineup doesn’t change much day to day and they sacrifice a little in the field to keep hot bats in the lineup. They move runners with bunts, sacrifices and hit and runs and seem to be playing ball the old way. It’s refreshing and fun to root for.
I love the Dodgers, there are some teams I kinda like and others I can’t stand. I have a soft spot for the Nats because I was lucky enough to go see a game in DC during a work trip a couple of years back. I also always liked the Expos. I like the Astros because they used to be a NL West team, and they had that cool Astro-dome back when I was a kid. I also worked for a company that had corporate offices in Houston that I had to visit a couple of times. There’s other teams I like as well. The White Sox, possibly because they wore shorts one year! The Tigers because they were my dad’s favorite team as my family is from Detroit originally.
Anyways, just enjoying the series as much as I can while feeling that it should have been us in there. We should have won game 5. We could have won game 4 with a little luck. I sure hope they finally learn from their mistakes. Corey and Cody will be a year older next year and the game will slow down a little more for them.
I’m looking forward to the off-season like a kid at Christmas time. We have few holes, a grip of cash, some redundant pieces and a ton of prospect capital. Sadly, part of me thinks that Mr. MaGoo will screw it up no matter how strong the roster is. After all, we should be playing the Astros right now.
DBM – good memory. Ron Hansen came up to the Orioles as a shortstop in 1958. After two part seasons with the Orioles he played full time until 1963 when he was traded to the White Sox. January 14, 1963: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles with Dave Nicholson, Pete Ward and Hoyt Wilhelm to the Chicago White Sox for Luis Aparicio and Al Smith.
Luis Aparicio – now there was a glove. He teamed with 2B Nellie Fox of the White Sox from 1956 to 1962. Nellie is one of my all time favorite non-Dodgers.
DC, what a great article you wrote. I never knew about Cox but from what you described, he was an excellent third baseman. And I loved reading the story of his war experiences and how he played as a Dodger. Thank you for that history. I agree with you on Hodges. It mystifies me as to why he has not made it to the HOF. Ps…if my memory serves me right, the teammate that played with Brooks Robinson in BC, was Ron Hanson. I think he was called up and played for Chicago. He also had a good glove.
Beautifully written DC. I especially appreciate the sentiments in your first paragraph about looking forward rather than backward. I’m sure Billy is smiling today as I imagine it’s been a long time since anyone has written so glowingly about him. Thanks for the history lesson. Offense isn’t everything.
The more removed from the season I get the more resigned I become to the fact we will likely do very little this offseason. I could see a ryu signing and some hitter we have never heard of. We will of course be rumored to be in on every big name but that is the usual bs. Teams like to use us as leverage and Andrew Friedman likes to appear to be involved to keep up appearances. I believe the reality is he just will not give out big money or long term deals unless it is a proven commodity of his own or some short term large Aav that big names never accept. Somebody said yesterday that if I like to follow teams that are big game hunters then the Dodgers are the wrong team to follow. The Kasten model is pursue the playoffs and championships but always have an eye on the future and dope fiend moves are strictly prohibited. 21 division titles and one championship proves the above the statement is true. The thing that never gets talked about when discussing dope fiend moves is what if player A brings you a title in the first few years of his long term deal but then is a “boat anchor” in the last few is that a loss? I say not as I feel championships are what matter, give me one or two and I can miss the playoffs for a couple years.
We will of course still be great, likely looking at 90 to 95 wins but will still have a ton of unknowns entering the postseason. And hopefully one of these next 6 or 7 years all the stars will align for us in the postseason and we will win that elusive title. But don’t tell me the Dodgers don’t have the money and resources to make it less of a crapshoot, I call bs.
Thanks DC, you really outdid yourself today. I always enjoy your history lessons. AC, I totally agree about not wanting to give Yankees any love. My wife bought me a very nice framed picture of Babe Ruth one year for my birthday and I had her return it because I wasn’t going to put any damn Yankees on my wall. But, that doesn’t mean that I don’t like, respect, or acknowledge what he did. Just like Giants, there’s a few that I admire for their skills on the field, but it doesn’t mean I would put them up on my wall.
Speaking of glovework. I remember when we had Cora and Izturiz up the middle for a year or so. The Dodgers weren’t relevant during that time, and neither could hit much, but they could sure pick ’em. They made dazzling plays, it seemed, almost daily. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a double play combo that good with the glove ever.
Excellent read! Thanks.
Great post DC!! Bobby Cox was before my time, but I’m sure I would have ranked him as one of my favorites. I love “playmakers!” Three fingered glove- now that would be something to see.
I have never had the pleasure of watching Billy Cox play, even in any news reels. But as he was described, I am sure he would have been one of my absolute favorites. I love defense. I love complete ballplayers which is why Brooks meant so much to me in my childhood (as did Roberto Clemente). Someone mentioned Ken Boyer and I did love to watch him. He even ended his career as a Dodger. Graig Nettles? He was a NYY, just like Ken Boyer’s brother, Clete. Pass on NYY. Brooks was a 16 time GG. There is nothing like watching a great defender play his position.