Oh, fame…err…umm…wait. This is
about Lenn Sakata. Scratch the word “fame.” Howzaboot – oh,
the ways one car rise from mediocrity to some semblance of
semi-notoriety. Lenn Sakata is basically semi-remembered for 3
things –
- He was the
first Japanese-American to be a position player in the major leagues - He was the guy
who replaced Mark Belanger as Orioles SS, before himself being replaced
by Cal Ripken Jr. - The August 24,
1983 game of his life
Also, he wore glasses and looked
more like an engineer than a baseball player…which may or may not have
lead to this exchange…
ED: OK ED: now I really must work on the
Sakata piece ED: do you even know who Len
Sakata is? BillIZCharliesStomachStaples:
yeah, he played the Asian nerd in revenge of the nerds ED: aww
Yes, I do realize that I may be
giving Bill far too much credit in knowing what Lenn Sakata looks
like. But there ya go.
Anyway, being semi-notorious for
those three things is three things more than I am semi-notorious
for…unless you count that fantabulous mullet I had in college. So
maybe, I’m only two short. Oh, and I know Bill Barnwell before he
was a star on morning TV. So just one thing short, really.
Well, Phil is bound to start his shooting rampage soon, so really, we
are kinda equal. Except I am bigger and not Asian. But
otherwise…thisclose.
First off, before we get into the
good stuff…let’s touch upon why the hell Lenn Sakata even had a big
league job to being with. For that, I have no answer. His
closest career comp is Manny Alexander. Yeah, Manny
Alexander. That Manny Alexander. Why Manny Alexander had a
big league job is…well, that’s for a Bill FPOTM. Feel free to ask
for that next NFL season. As for our boy, Lenn…hmm…let’s see, he
hit nothing, had below average range factor and wasn’t especially
fast. But he was a Japanese-American so…umm…he could do their
math? I’ve got nothing, really. But remember, all hate mail
should be addressed to Phil.
Which leads me to Earl Weaver –
Oriole manager. Just a couple of months ago I re-read Sir Earl’s
Weaver On Strategy for the first time in years. And while his
theories, of course, makes the statheads harder than Chinese Algebra,
putting said theories to practice sure didn’t always fly. Earl
loved his big, slow footed sluggers who could put a ball over the
fence. Hardly, Sakata. He loved fast guys who could cover
lots of ground. Again, no dice with Sakata. He liked his
platoon people who could be used sparingly to bash pitchers who threw
with the opposite hand. And yet again, after looking at the
splits, we have no match with Sakata.
Which leads me to another book I
just read recently – Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Blunders (Hey, I
didn’t pay for it. Honest.), in which Neyer points out that the
82 Orioles may have lost the AL East title because they gave too much
playing time to Glenn Gulliver. Really? Giving Glenn
Gulliver 145 AB’s in which he put up a .363 OBP (granted, with no pop
and at 3B) is worse than giving Len Sakata 343 AB’s at SS (initially,
until Earl wised up and replaced Sakata with Ripken) and 2B in which he
put up a .323 OBP? (Of course, to be fair, Ripken was pretty not
good at that stage and the entire Oriole’s OF, sans the Gary
Roenicke/John Lowenstein platoon and the exquisite Ken Singleton, was a
complete disaster too.) OK. Whatever floats your
boat. Seems to me, that Earl was clearly losing his touch at this
point and giving away far too many outs to guys who were clearly
fungible. But who am I to call Earl Weaver a non-genius?
Anyway, back to Sakata.
Yeah, clearly a guy to be forgotten except for the trivial nature of
his sorta-fame based on ethnicity and him being the place holder at SS
between Belanger and Ripken. Oh yeah…and the game of his life in
1983. See below for links to the full recap and box score…but,
essentially, in a nut-shell – Orioles-Blue Jays in old Memorial
Stadium. Sakata is forced to catch thanks to a strange bit of
overmanaging by then-Orioles Manager Joe Altobelli (honestly, you have
to check out that box score. I am certain Tony LaRussa reads that
pantsless.). Cliff Johnson starts off the Blue Jays 10th inning
with a homer, Barry Bonnell follows with a single. The Orioles
bring in Tippy Martinez to relieve. Martinez then picks off
Bonnell. Dave Collins is walked…and is picked off first by
Martinez. Willie Upshaw then singles…and is picked off first by
Martinez. Yep, the Jays got all ready to steal off Sakata that
they started playing like a little league team. The O’s then come
to bat in the 10th – Cal Ripken starts things off with a homer to tie
the game. Two more O’s get on and our boy Len Sakata comes to bat
with one out and the game tied. Of course, you know where this is
going – Sakata hits one of his 3 homers on the season off of Billy Jean
King’s brother to win the game. And, for a week in 1983, Len
Sakata is a household word.
And that was probably where Sakata
should have just retired – though, of course, the O’s went on to win
the World Series that year, so maybe not – as the rest of his career
was uneventful. He stuck around until 87, finishing up with the
A’s and Yankees, then went on to coach and manager in the Chiba Lotte
Marines organization before coming back to America to coach and manage
in the Giants organization…where, presumably, he is teaching the
catchers to let the pitchers do all the work for them or something.
