Anyone remember? Eddie Murray the link to Pre-War BB?

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

A few years back, i remember SportsCenter did a segment on how Eddie Murray was the link to the first Pro ball players. In an attempt to explain this, it might get confusing so please ask for clarification. I can't remember exactly how many players it took, i think it was five, but basically the way it worked is that player 1's last year was player 2's first year. This continued until they got to Eddie where his first year was player 4's last year of pro ball. Anyone remember that? or have a good way of figuring it out? I think it would be cool to put together a set of those players using their rookie card and their last year card....of course, the first two guys in the bunch will probably be somewhat difficult to do..but you get the idea...

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Posted By: Al Crisafulli

Here you go. This is absolute genius.

He is out there somewhere in spring training. He’s probably 20 or 21, maybe 22. And he will retire in the year 2016. He will be the grand old man of baseball. And they will say, ‘He’s so old that the year he broke in, Eddie Murray was still playing.’ And he will become the ninth man. Eddie Murray’s the eighth man. When he broke in, Brooks Robinson was still playing. And when Robinson broke in, Bob Feller was still playing. And when Feller broke in, Rogers Hornsby was still playing. And when Hornsby broke in, Honus Wagner was still playing. And when Wagner broke in, Cap Anson was still playing. And when Anson broke in, Dickey Pearce was still playing. And when Pearce broke in, Doc Adams was still playing. Adams played for the Knickerbocker club inthe first organized game of baseball in 1846, number one of the eight men whose careers cover the 152 seasons since. And somewhere out there is the ninth man.–Keith Olbermann, 1997

-Al

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

Bingo ... many thanks! Wonder if that actually is the real list ... in other words, i wonder if there isn't someone less impressive that fits in to that lineup.

BlackSoxFan

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Posted By: Julie

first big part...whaddaya think, are we all related to everyone else on the planet by no more than six degrees (and does a "degree" include in-laws?). I think thery were talking about blood relatives, but Bob says friends will do...

Ted, someone has done what someone did with Eddie Murray with many players, starting in the late 1800s. taking five or six steps, and winding up today (it was in the '90s)...great players. Apparently, his theory is that there is at least one really great player every generation (20 years). I believe the careers had to overlap at least by one day...we did a sort of similar thing here with decades...had to choose a dominant player from each decade, and they had to make a baseball team, position wise.

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Posted By: BlackSoxFan

you can always fill this in with as many different players as you want, i think the idea of murray was to do it in as few steps as possible.

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Posted By: Paul

A related project is figuring out who the senior player in the major leagues was each year. For example, from 1990-94 it was Nolan Ryan (first game in '66). From 1984-1989, it was Tommy John (first game in '63), with Pete Rose sharing the title from '84 to '86. From 1979-83, it was Jim Kaat (first game in '59), with McCovey sharing the title in 1979 and 1980. In 1978, I think it was Ron Fairly (first game in '58). In 1977, Brooks Robinson, first game in '55. From 1975-76, Hank Aaron, first game in '54. In 1974, Al Kaline, first game in '53. From 1968-73 it was Willie Mays (first game in '51), with Mickey Mantle sharing the title in '68. In 1967, it was Whitey Ford (first game '50), unless you count Joe Nuxhall, whose first appearance at age 15 was in 1944, but he didn't play again for about 8 years. If you ignore Nuxhall, in '66 it was Robin Roberts. Whether you count Nuxhall or not, from 1964-65 it was Spahn (first game in '42). From 1960-63, it was Early Wynn (first game in '39), with Ted Williams sharing the title in 1960. From 1957-59, it was Enos Slaughter, first game in '38. From 1954-56, it was Bob Feller, first game in '36. In 1952 and 1953, it was Bobo Newsome, first game in '29. In 1951, it was Feller again, since Bobo was retired. In 1949 and 1950, it was Luke Appling, with his first game in '30. In 1948, it was Bobo again. In 1947, I believe it was Red Ruffing. And on and on. If you focus on these guys, you can string together a pretty short list of players that connect the game together all the way back to Cap Anson.

As you can see, I've thought about this before. This is all from memory, so there may be some mistakes.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

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Posted By: Brian

Ted,

Use this link -- http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/




Here is an example of Buck Weaver to Joe Crede


Buck Weaver played with Pat Ragan for the 1919 Chicago White Sox

Pat Ragan played with Jimmie Wilson for the 1923 Philadelphia Phillies

Jimmie Wilson played with Johnny Vander Meer for the 1939 Cincinnati Reds

Johnny Vander Meer played with Minnie Minoso for the 1951 Cleveland Indians

Minnie Minoso played with Harold Baines for the 1980 Chicago White Sox

Harold Baines played with Joe Crede for the 2000 Chicago White Sox

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

You can do something like this at Baseball-Reference.com:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/

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Posted By: Paul

I think it's cheating to use Minnie Minoso. His appearances in 1976 and 1980 were mostly publicity stunts.

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Posted By: jay behrens

publicity stunt or not, it counts in the major league records so it cannot be dis missed anymore than you can dismiss Eddie Gadel's appearance.

I have a bunch of friends that were convinced that there was no one in in Hollywood that was seperated by more than 6 degrees. There is a website to test this sort of thing and they could never find a combo that was greater than 6 until one day I plugged in the Antarctic exporer Amundson and Hal Hrbosky. The seperation was something like 9 or 10 degrees. Both only appeared in one movie and managed to appear in movies that did not involve any major bit actors of the day.

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

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Posted By: Peter Spaeth

Using Clemens, Rose, and Wynn you can get all the way back to 1939 with just three players. I am stumped from there though.

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Posted By: Max Weder

Forget about just playing, http://www.baseballreference.com gives us Clemens to Doc Adams in 9 steps with 2 players playing as teammates: http://www.baseball-reference.com/oracle/link.cgi?n1=roger+clemens&n2=dicky+pearce

the result lists 8, since Doc Adams didn't play in the majors but was teammates with Dicky, that is nine

Max