OBSERVATIONS: Eric Davis, Elly De La Cruz — 2 Of a Kind (Almost)

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave as baseball’s regular season is drawing to a close and I’m still watching and writing about the Cincinnati Reds for no apparent reason, other than I must be the proverbial glutton for punishment.

—THE TWO ‘E.D.s’: Elly De La Cruz’s mentor is a guy with the same E.D. initials and the same uniform number 44. It’s Eric Davis.

In 1987, Davis became the first player in MLB history with 30 homers and 50 steals. He hit 37 homers and stole 50. And he only played 126 games.

In 1986 he stole 80 beses, but hit ‘only’ 26 homers.

De La Cruz has 64 stolen bases, but needs six homers in the final 11 games to reach 30. Won’t happen.
And let’s hope De La Cruz does one other thing Davis did. Eric The Red began his career at shortstop and was moved to center field, just as De La Cruz should do. He leads the majors (at all positions) with 28 errors.

Remember, though, the kid is only 22. And he was only 21 when Joey Votto saw him and played with him and said, “He’s the best runner I’ve ever seen. He has the most power I’ve ever seen. And he has the strongest arm I’ve ever seen.”

Votto called him, “A young Mickey Mantle,” and after watching him during the 2023 season he said, “He is breaking the rules of physics.”

And after watching the Reds all year, I’d say that without De La Cruz this season the Reds would have finished somewhere near Schenectady.

—THE COWARDLY YANKEE: New York Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole seems on a path to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

But for what he did in a game last week doesn ’t mean a straight and narrow path to me. If there were a Hall of Shame, he is a candidate.

In a game against the Boston Red Sox, he intentionally walked Rafael Devers in the fourth inning with one out and nobody on base.

Say what? He did it on his own because he fears Devers. . .and why would a pitcher of his calibre fear any hitter, even if Devers was 13 for 39 with eight homers against him.

That means he retired Devers 26 times in those 39 at bats. Maybe he learned a lesson. He led, 1-0, at the time. But the intentional walk, done on his own, led to a three-run Boston inning and the Red Sox won, 7-1.

“I didn’t expect that from a Hall of Fame pitcher,” said Devers. “I feel like he panicked a little bit.”

A little bit? Panicky? More like cowardly.

—NOW HEAR THIS: Minor league catcher Derek Bender told his Class A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels teammates, “I want the season over.”

So what did he do? In a Florida State League post-season game, he told the Lakeland Flying Tigers hitters what pitches were coming.

His team lost, 6-4, and was ousted from the playoffs. And Bender was ousted, too. The parent team, the Minnesota Twins, ousted him with an unconditional release. He was in his first year of pro ball after signing a $297,000 bonus.

Hey, big deal. In the movie ‘Major League,’ Cleveland Indians catcher Jake Taylor told New York Yankees slugger Clu Haywood what pitch Ricky ‘Wild Thing’ Vaughn was going to throw.
Three straight fastballs. And Vaughn still struck him out. The movie is art and doesn’t art imitate real life? Yes, I’m being facetious.

What was that kid thinking? And at 21 his baseball career is kaput.

—’54 WAS NOTEWORTHY: The 1954 World Series is famous — or infamous if you are/were a Cleveland Indians Fan — for ‘The Catch’ made by Willie Mays on Vic Wertz or the fact the Indians won 111 games then lost four straight to the New York Giants in the World Series.

There is something more noteworthy than any of that. Even though Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, there was no World Series in which both teams had black players. . .until 1954.

The Indians had five — Larry Doby, Luke Easter, Al Smith, Dave Hoskins and Dave Pope. The Giants had four — Monte Irvin, Hank Thompson, Ruben Gomez and (yech!) Willie Mays.

But who’s bitter?

—FOUR REAL BARGAINS: Four baseball icons were signed out of the old Negro Leagues — Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Henry Aaron and Jackie Robinson.

And how did that work? Well, the New York Giants paid the Birmingham Black Barons $10,000 for May and paid Willie $4,000.

The Chicago Cubs paid the Kansas City Monarchs $15,000 and paid Banks $2,000.

But the best ‘bargains’ were Aaron and Robinson. The Milwaukee Braves signed Aaron for $10,000 and gave his Indianapolis Clowns Negro American League team exactly nothing.

And it was the same when Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers broke baseball’s color barrier by signing Robinson, giving him $4,000. But he gave Robinson’s Negro League team, the Kansas City Monarchs, nothing.

—GO TRASH PANDAS: Whenver I can write something about the Rocket City Trash Pandas, I do it — just because I love typing Rocket City Trash Pandas.

The team plays in the Class AA Southern League with Chattanooga, a Cincinnati Reds affiliate. The Trash Pandas are located in Madison, Ala., and are affiliated with the Los Angeles Angels.

And the reason I bring up the Trash Pandas? Chase Chaney, a grandson to former Big Red Machine infielder Darrel Chaney, pitches for them.

On Friday night, he made his third straight quality start and has set a club record with 138 innings. And he leads the Southern League in innings pitched.

The Trash Pandas are third in the North Division with a 60-75 record. Chattanooga? The Lookouts are deep in the cellar with 45-80 record.

—WHO’S NUMBER ONE? There is a web-site called ‘Ranker’ that puts out Top Five and Top Ten lists on about everything, based on on-line votes.

They list the Top Ten female opera singers. I can’t list one. They list the most hated NFL franchises in order — Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots, Philadephia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders. The Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns are loved. Neither made the Top Ten hated franchises.

How about the Top Five all-time Dallas quarterbacks: Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman, Tony Romo, Don Meredith, Danny White. Current Cowboys QB Dak Prescott was sixth.

More than 22,000 folks voted on baseball’s all-time best hitters and Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Stan Musial, George Brett, Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs didn’t make the Top Five.

The Top Five: Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron.

—OH MY CAPTAIN(S) : The effervescent and enthusiastic Trevor Andrews, the University of Dayton football coach, recruited 32 freshmen for this year’s team. Twenty-eight were captains of their high school teams.

Sargeants and lieutenants need not apply.

—PLAYLIST 92: I’m still in a mellow mood:

I Honestly Love You (Olivia Newton-John), Three Times A Lady (The Commodores), Manic Monday (The Bangles), Let’s Go (The Cars), Darlin’ (Frankie Miller), Go Your Own Way (Fleedwood Mac), Be My Baby (The Ronettes).

Turn, Turn, Turn (The Byrds), God Only Knows (The Beach Boys), Knowing Me, Knowing You (Abba), Seven Bridges Road (The Eagles), Alone (Heart), All I Have To Do Is Dream (The Everly Brothers). Make The World Go Away (Elvis Presley).