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| Richie Scheinblum was my favorite ballplayer as a kid, even though he batted only .218 for the Indians with one home run. |
My favorite baseball player as a kid? That's easy. He was Richie Scheinblum of my hometown Cleveland Indians. Why? Well, it's a little bit hard to explain, but Richie came along in the late 1960s when I was old enough to think about baseball a little. Richie represented inspiration, ambition and hope, and later I identified with his struggles against adversity. I also liked his name, which sort of rolls off your tongue, almost as good as Rocky Colavito. I didn't realize it was a Jewish name at the time, not that it mattered to me, but later I came to appreciate that he was one of a relatively small number of Jewish ballplayers in the Major Leagues.
The Cleveland Indians of 1968 were brilliant defensively and had one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, with Sam McDowell, Luis Tiant, Sonny Seibert and Steve Hargan. The ERA for the staff was 2.66, which was absolutely amazing. They just couldn't hit. Tony Horton and Duke Sims were the only real power hitters, with 25 home runs between the two of them. The entire rest of the team hit only 36 for the year, an unbelievably low number. Star rightfielder Rocky Colavito had been sent away the previous year, and so the stage was set for someone new to step in.
So, here comes Richie Scheinblum, who played right field like Colavito. He had bashed the baseball all over the place in the minor leagues, and most importantly, he was a switch hitter. That was huge. I knew that Mickey Mantle was a switch hitter, and that he had been taught by his Dad, "Mutt" Mantle. Mutt had the idea that switch hitting would be the wave of the future. The reason is that a right handed pitcher can throw a curve ball at your head, and have it curve for a strike. Now how can you hit something like that? Well, Mutt Mantle's solution was to learn to bat left-handed to take away the advantage of the curve ball from the right handed pitchers. His boy Mickey seemed to do okay, slugging the third most home runs in history up to that time, despite a difficult injury history.
In 1968, it wasn't crazy to think that everyone would become switch hitters, and in fact the Yankees took it seriously. They had a ton of them in addition to Mantle. Roy White, Tom Tresh, Horace Clark and Gene Michael could all switch hit. Then a bit south of Cleveland in Cincinnati, Pete Rose was a switch hitter in addition to being the most hustling ballplayer around. Pete only led the majors in batting average, so perhaps there was something to this switch hitting business.
Could Richie Scheinblum be the answer to the Yankees dominance in switch hitting? Why not?
But Richie got off to a horrible start with the Indians in 1969, going 0 for 34 to start the year. He was terrible. But if anything this only cemented my bond with him, because I was equally terrible. I was in a slump of my own that year, and in fact went hitless the entire year. In fact my slump would continue the rest of my adolescence, and it was not until my junior year in High School that I learned how to hit. 22 years later I would resume my hardball career playing in Japan, this time with moderate success, but that is another story. But back to Richie. I suffered with him, as he never did turn it around for the Indians, hitting only .186 with a single home run. But I never gave up on him. Never ever.
It crushed me when the Indians sent him down to the Minor Leagues. Back then, they had a rule that once you had been back and forth a few times between the Minors and Majors, you had to stay in the Minors for an entire season. At age 27, for Richie that represented the kiss of death.
So, here comes Richie Scheinblum, who played right field like Colavito. He had bashed the baseball all over the place in the minor leagues, and most importantly, he was a switch hitter. That was huge. I knew that Mickey Mantle was a switch hitter, and that he had been taught by his Dad, "Mutt" Mantle. Mutt had the idea that switch hitting would be the wave of the future. The reason is that a right handed pitcher can throw a curve ball at your head, and have it curve for a strike. Now how can you hit something like that? Well, Mutt Mantle's solution was to learn to bat left-handed to take away the advantage of the curve ball from the right handed pitchers. His boy Mickey seemed to do okay, slugging the third most home runs in history up to that time, despite a difficult injury history.
In 1968, it wasn't crazy to think that everyone would become switch hitters, and in fact the Yankees took it seriously. They had a ton of them in addition to Mantle. Roy White, Tom Tresh, Horace Clark and Gene Michael could all switch hit. Then a bit south of Cleveland in Cincinnati, Pete Rose was a switch hitter in addition to being the most hustling ballplayer around. Pete only led the majors in batting average, so perhaps there was something to this switch hitting business.
Could Richie Scheinblum be the answer to the Yankees dominance in switch hitting? Why not?
But Richie got off to a horrible start with the Indians in 1969, going 0 for 34 to start the year. He was terrible. But if anything this only cemented my bond with him, because I was equally terrible. I was in a slump of my own that year, and in fact went hitless the entire year. In fact my slump would continue the rest of my adolescence, and it was not until my junior year in High School that I learned how to hit. 22 years later I would resume my hardball career playing in Japan, this time with moderate success, but that is another story. But back to Richie. I suffered with him, as he never did turn it around for the Indians, hitting only .186 with a single home run. But I never gave up on him. Never ever.
It crushed me when the Indians sent him down to the Minor Leagues. Back then, they had a rule that once you had been back and forth a few times between the Minors and Majors, you had to stay in the Minors for an entire season. At age 27, for Richie that represented the kiss of death.
But Richie starred again in the Minor Leagues and was ultimately traded to the Washington Senators. Richie destroyed Triple-A, batting over .400 most of the year before ending up at .388. Alas, he still could not succeed at the Major League level, once again hitting under .200 after a late season call-up. Not even having Ted Williams as a manager could help him.
But then something weird happened. He was traded to Kansas City and installed as the every day right fielder, and lo and behold he started to hit. A lot. In fact he was leading the league in hitting in June before getting injured, but still wound up at .300 for the year. Then just to prove it was no fluke, he hit .307 the next year. After that he slumped and bounced around for a few years and eventually went to Japan where he had two excellent seasons as a power hitting rightfielder for the Hiroshima Carp. An Achilles injury cut short his further adventures, but he was in the Bigs long enough to show that he belonged.
So Richie Scheinblum made it in the Major Leagues, though he did not revolutionize Cleveland baseball like I had expected. Maybe that is kind of symbolic in its own way. His Cleveland experience was sheer agony, but he went on to great success elsewhere. Cleveland sports fans would see that pattern repeated a few times over the years.
So Richie Scheinblum made it in the Major Leagues, though he did not revolutionize Cleveland baseball like I had expected. Maybe that is kind of symbolic in its own way. His Cleveland experience was sheer agony, but he went on to great success elsewhere. Cleveland sports fans would see that pattern repeated a few times over the years.
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Epilogue
I had an analogous experience as a late blooming ballplayer, though at the amateur level of course.. I never felt that I played up to my ability in Pony League, mainly because I psyched myself out worrying, kind of like Richie in his early days. So at age 39, 22 years after my last whiff in Pony League, I found myself in Japan working as a research scientist. I found out that they had hardball leagues for adults, which scarcely existed at that time in the US. N Softball yes, but this was hardball in Japan. Japanese people can not understand why grown adults would want to play soft-toss. Shouldn't that be for little children?
I was okay as a backup right fielder for the Sapporo O-Jays. We were named after the music group, a favorite of my manager Kanno-san. We played only like 10 games and I had fewer than 20 at bats. But I got a few hits, and stole a few bases despite my ripe old age. The next year I returned to Dayton and played two more years of amateur hardball, which was just starting up. I was not good but I did hit over .300.
I was okay as a backup right fielder for the Sapporo O-Jays. We were named after the music group, a favorite of my manager Kanno-san. We played only like 10 games and I had fewer than 20 at bats. But I got a few hits, and stole a few bases despite my ripe old age. The next year I returned to Dayton and played two more years of amateur hardball, which was just starting up. I was not good but I did hit over .300.
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| Sugoi Richie! Richie starred for the Hiroshima Carp for two full seasons before an Achilles injury ended his career. |
I was not a big success in Japanese baseball. But I felt like I belonged. Note my Ichiro Suzuki "Blue Wave" cap. Very stylish.
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