Magic Number Thread

[Brewcrew82]

15 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

I wonder what it would have been like to be a fan of the Phillies in 1964?

Of course. Only you would insert that into this thread during a two game losing streak with the Brewers greater than 98 percent favorites to win the division. 

[Thurston Fluff]

22 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

I wonder what it would have been like to be a fan of the Phillies in 1964?

Considering they had three winning records over the past decade, won more games than they did since 1899 and the most they'd win until 1976 probably pretty good.

[BruisedCrew]

2 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

Considering they had three winning records over the past decade, won more games than they did since 1899 and the most they'd win until 1976 probably pretty good.

I think you would be wrong. 

[BruisedCrew]

27 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Of course. Only you would insert that into this thread during a two game losing streak with the Brewers greater than 98 percent favorites to win the division. 

What were the Phillies odds with 12 games to go in 1964?

I have no problem waiting until it’s official to pop the champagne corks. 
 

[owbc]

To be fair, there is one team in our division right now that is going through an epic collapse at the worst possible time. 

[Thurston Fluff]

1 hour ago, BruisedCrew said:

I think you would be wrong. 

I'm sure they were disappointed in how it ended but I think overall it was a good year to be a Philly fan. Their entire existence up to that point not so much.

[BruisedCrew]

17 minutes ago, Thurston Fluff said:

I'm sure they were disappointed in how it ended but I think overall it was a good year to be a Philly fan. Their entire existence up to that point not so much.

64 Phillies

I was around at the time and remember how shocking that collapse was. Baseball historians might enjoy this video. 

I went to college near Philly a few years later, and I can tell you that Phillies fans were as traumatized by 1964 as Cubs fans were by their collapse in 1969. When the Phillies got competitive again in the mid 70’s they were so “phatalistic” that they kept holding their breath until the magic number reached 0. 

[CheezWizHed]

And now back to the countdown!

 

[RedStickBrew]

[Brewcrew82]

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Even the over-the-hill version of Cirillo who wore this number was still a solid player.

[SomewhereInTime]

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

9 minutes ago, SomewhereInTime said:

Not real sure why, but I always really liked Keith Ginter. Maybe its because he was a bright spot on some pretty bad teams. 

[willie key]

[SomewhereInTime]

17 minutes ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Not real sure why, but I always really liked Keith Ginter. Maybe its because he was a bright spot on some pretty bad teams. 

He was good in '03 and '04.  I'd take a Keith Ginter or two on this year's team.

[Jopal78]

9 hours ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Not real sure why, but I always really liked Keith Ginter. Maybe it’s because he was a bright spot on some pretty bad teams. 

His career sure was a puzzler. I recall he had two pretty good years for the Brewers but with Rickie Weeks and Bill Hall on the roster they traded him to Oakland for Nelson Cruz, and Ginter’s career instantly fizzled out. 

 

[BruisedCrew]

Someone has to have a good picture of Sal Bando (Captain Sal) who passed away earlier this year. 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

4 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

Someone has to have a good picture of Sal Bando (Captain Sal) who passed away earlier this year. 

[BruisedCrew]

Very appropriate showing him against the team for which he played on 3 World Series winners. 
 

While his tenure as Brewers GM was not very successful, his signing with the Brewers as a free agent in 1977 gave the Brewers organization some credibility that opened the door to their success in the following years. 

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

26 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

Very appropriate showing him against the team for which he played on 3 World Series winners. 
 

While his tenure as Brewers GM was not very successful, his signing with the Brewers as a free agent in 1977 gave the Brewers organization some credibility that opened the door to their success in the following years. 

Regarding his time as GM, I always viewed him as a solid personnel guy whose hands were constantly tied by terrible, meddlesome ownership.

[CheezWizHed]

1 hour ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Regarding his time as GM, I always viewed him as a solid personnel guy whose hands were constantly tied by terrible, meddlesome ownership.

There were some high and troubling missing drafting thought. Selig was a better commission than owner, but shallow pockets (far more than Mark A) was the main issue with his ownership.  If Steve Cohen is a pair of cargo pants and Mark A is my jean's front pocket, then the Seligs were that tiny pocket in jeans that can hold exactly 1 quarter...

[Thurston Fluff]

1 hour ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Regarding his time as GM, I always viewed him as a solid personnel guy whose hands were constantly tied by terrible, meddlesome ownership.

This is my personal conspiracy theory on that. Selig was trying to get some amount of revenue sharing for the small market teams. If his team was doing well it would be hard for him to say they needed more revenue sharing to be competitive. It's hard to run a good ship when ownership has a vested reason not to. My non-conspiracy theory is it's hard to run a good ship when you don't have the money for sails.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

7 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

There were some high and troubling missing drafting thought. Selig was a better commission than owner, but shallow pockets (far more than Mark A) was the main issue with his ownership.  If Steve Cohen is a pair of cargo pants and Mark A is my jean's front pocket, then the Seligs were that tiny pocket in jeans that can hold exactly 1 quarter...

Hiring Bando was basically one of the last things Selig did as Brewers owner before he became acting commissioner. Granted many believe that Bud was still pulling the strings, at least early on, but as Bud's family took over more operation of the club, the downfall escalated. Bando made a major blunder by not re-signing Paul Molitor, and that left a terrible taste in the mouths of a lot of fans. But he did oversee that 1992 team that was a lot of fun and was an eyelash away from winning the division. Phil Garner was a very good hire IMO.  

[SeaBass]

2 hours ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Bando made a major blunder by not re-signing Paul Molitor, and that left a terrible taste in the mouths of a lot of fans.

Ahh the good ol' days when $3M per year was a nigh unthinkable amount of money to pay a ball player.

[CheezWizHed]

3 hours ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Bando made a major blunder by not re-signing Paul Molitor, and that left a terrible taste in the mouths of a lot of fans.  

I'm not crying, you're crying!