The Burying of Devin Mesoraco

[dougdirt]

http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/7ef89b85

When Gehrig got his opportunity to start, he took full advantage of it. And a month later, when Pipp suffered a brain concussion, the changeover was complete. Rookie pitcher Charlie Caldwell, later the head football coach at Princeton, beaned Pipp in batting practice, and Wally spent the next two weeks at St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan. When he returned, Gehrig had won the first baseman's job, and Pipp's role for the rest of the season was as a pinch-hitter.

Things like this bother me.

Gehrig had already been given the job before the injury. That is why he played every game for a month before Pipp got hurt.

[RollyInRaleigh]

I am just tired of hearing how Gehrig took the job from an injured Wally Pipp. He didn't. That story has been told my entire life and I am sure it was told before I was born too. It didn't happen.

Gehrig, for the record, from the day he took over until the point in which Pipp went onto the DL, hit .321/.394/.574. From the day he took over until the end of the season he hit .303/.374/.547.

He did immediately take off and he was darn good for the rest of his career.

He was good, but he didn't "tear it up" like he did the majority of his career and reportedly had problems that year against LH pitching when he was frequently pinch hit for. Nobody is debating his eventual greatness, but he did take advantage of an opportunity when a veteran player had circumstances that caused him to be out of the lineup. Who knows how it would have turned out had Wally Pipp not been beaned. Pipp most certainly would have gotten some starts in that period of time, just because he was a veteran and a pretty good player for Huggins and the Yankees.

[RollyInRaleigh]

Sigh.

Things like this bother me.

[dougdirt]

He was good, but he didn't "tear it up" like he did the majority of his career and reportedly had problems that year against LH pitching when he was frequently pinch hit for. Nobody is debating his eventual greatness, but he did take advantage of an opportunity when a veteran player had circumstances that caused him to be out of the lineup. Who knows how it would have turned out had Wally Pipp not been beaned. Pipp most certainly would have gotten some starts in that period of time, just because he was a veteran and a pretty good player for Huggins and the Yankees.

Against lefties in 1925: .270/.337/.528

Not as good as he was against righties, but that is pretty darn good.

[Norm Chortleton]

Things like this bother me.

Gehrig had already been given the job before the injury. That is why he played every game for a month before Pipp got hurt.

I believe you have the story all wrong.

The "Pipping" didn't occur when Pipp was injured in July, it was June 2 when Pipp had the headache, as was posted earlier. Pipp had started every day up to that point in the season, then never started again even though he was healthy for the next month.

All of Gehrig's starts up until that time came in RF. His other ABs were mostly as a PH.

[dougdirt]

I believe you have the story all wrong.

The "Pipping" didn't occur when Pipp was injured in July, it was June 2 when Pipp had the headache, as was posted earlier. Pipp had started every day up to that point in the season, then never started again even though he was healthy for the next month.

All of Gehrig's starts up until that time came in RF. His other ABs were mostly as a PH.

I have the story right. You are not saying anything I didn't say.

[Norm Chortleton]

I guess I don't understand what part bothers you then.

[dougdirt]

I guess I don't understand what part bothers you then.

The part where the story linked Gehrig having already won the job by the time Pipp returned from injury. Gehrig had the job in early June.

[Norm Chortleton]

That's right. He won the job in June because Pipp was forced to miss a game. That's the moral of the story: miss even one game with a headache and you may never get back in the lineup.

I was thinking your first few posts on the subject said you heard all your life that Gerhig got his chance because Pipp was injured/beaned. If you heard the story that way, it was because the storyteller had it backwards.

[dougdirt]

That's right. He won the job in June because Pipp was forced to miss a game.

I just don't believe that is how it went down. Gehrig didn't win the job because he went 3-5 in place of Pipp on a single day. He went 0-8 over the next two days. If a manager was going to make a move like that based on one day, Pipp would have been right back in there two days later after 0-8. But he wasn't because that isn't why Pipp lost his job. He lost his job because he wasn't performing and the team decided to play someone else.

[mth123]

I just don't believe that is how it went down. Gehrig didn't win the job because he went 3-5 in place of Pipp on a single day. He went 0-8 over the next two days. If a manager was going to make a move like that based on one day, Pipp would have been right back in there two days later after 0-8. But he wasn't because that isn't why Pipp lost his job. He lost his job because he wasn't performing and the team decided to play someone else.

And last year Hanigan performed and Mesoraco's role was limited. This year Mesoraco gets his shot for the same reason as Gehrig. What's the beef?

[dougdirt]

And last year Hanigan performed and Mesoraco's role was limited. This year Mesoraco gets his shot for the same reason as Gehrig. What's the beef?

My beef was with the article claiming Gehrig had won the job in the absence of Pipp. He didn't. He was given the job well before Pipp was "absent". Mesoraco and Hanigan have nothing at all to do with this given "beef".

[OnBaseMachine]

Johnny Bench seems to be high on Mes:

CINCINNATI -- During the weekend, former Reds catcher and Hall of Famer Johnny Bench tweeted that current backstop Devin Mesoraco "will bat in the cleanup spot before his career is over." At the time of the tweet, Mesoraco hadn't started a game higher than seventh in the lineup all season, but on Tuesday, he was inserted into the sixth spot behind Jay Bruce.

In 16 games since the All-Star break, Mesoraco entered Tuesday batting .315 (17-for-54) with four homers and 12 RBIs. Reds manager Dusty Baker has been pleased with Mesoraco's play at the plate and behind it, especially with fellow catcher Ryan Hanigan on the disabled list since June 11.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...k_cin&c_id=cin

[westofyou]

Johnny Bench seems to be high on Mes:

I wonder if he uses a water pipe for that

[RedEye]

I wonder if he uses a water pipe for that

I am starting to get high on Rocco, too.