Paths to Glory

Introduction

We have read many books, some of them outstanding, devoted to telling the stories of great baseball teams.  Most of these works have dealt primarily with what the teams accomplished: thrilling victories, hard-fought pennant races, and post-season heroics.  In 1948 Tom Meany wrote a wonderful book, Baseball’s Greatest Teams, which explored the histories of many of baseball’s famous clubs.  Meany generally began his discussions with the team already in place, and then presented the highlights of the season and the World Series.  The story of the 1927 Yankees began in April and ended in October.

As recently as 2000, Rob Neyer and Eddie Epstein wrote Baseball Dynasties, in which they select the fifteen greatest teams in baseball history and present their stories.  The backbone of the book was an interesting statistical justification of their selections, and it included a discussion of some of the noteworthy players on those clubs.  Most books on great teams address largely the same things: What did they do?  How good were they? 

What has gone largely untold, it seems to us, are the stories of how teams have been constructed.  If you begin the story of the 1927 Yankees in April, a reader is likely to think, “Well, of course they are going to win, they have Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri and Bob Meusel and Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt.  It hardly seems fair.”  If one wants to understand why the Yankees became so dominant the discussion should begin in January 1920 when owner Jake Ruppert bought Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox.

Many baseball fans have imagined themselves running a baseball team and formed opinions about how they would proceed: sign a bunch of free agents, trade for more pitching, build a great farm system, acquire veteran leadership, or some combination of these and many other alternatives.  We hope to provide insights into some of these strategies by presenting the stories of the building of several successful teams—and a few that fell short. 

Fortunately, baseball history has produced more than 200 league champions, each with a story of how its management built the team.  By studying the decisions of these past champions and isolating those responsible for their success, some of the most worthwhile strategies become apparent. Conversely, by examining the formation of teams that disappointed, we can focus on common mistakes and decisions that did not work as intended.

Our book is not a comprehensive study, but a presentation of the stories of several interesting ballclubs.  We make no attempt to choose the best teams, or the even the best-built teams.  The clubs were selected largely because (a) we found their stories compelling, (b) facets of their stories have not been well told, and (c) lessons can be learned from them.  We also chose teams that represent many different baseball eras, and therefore a wide variety of contexts in which teams have competed.  Along the way, we also meander off to discuss other topics we believe are helpful in understanding the stories of these and other teams.

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In the broadest sense creating and maintaining a successful baseball team depends on several factors, but especially the following:  (1) sound baseball judgment; (2) an understanding of the existing and potential future economic structure of the game; (3) the willingness and the wherewithal to work within that structure; and (4) luck.  We make no claim that any of these requirements are particularly profound, but they offer a good general framework to examine specific issues surrounding the assembly and decline of baseball teams.

Saying that a team has sound judgment implies an understanding of a whole gamut of assessments that a baseball team’s management might be called upon to make.  Where is the franchise in the development cycle: does it need to start rebuilding or can it fine-tune its existing personnel?  Is it trying to remain on top for a couple of more years? How much are the players on the current team contributing right now to the winning of games?  Can a particular player handle the role assigned him?  Which of a team’s veteran players are likely to decline in the next year or two? (In this book when we refer to a player’s age we mean his age as of July 1 unless noted otherwise.)  Will a team's young players develop the way expected?  Does the organization have a plan?  In today’s game, these assessments often need to be made within the entire organization, from ownership down to the field manager and his coaches.

Economics has always played a significant role in the rise and fall of baseball clubs.  In the nineteenth century, franchises banded together to form “syndicates”: teams that combined players and management to better insure financial success.  Many times in baseball history, most recently during the reign of the Federal League in the 1910s, owners have had to deal with an unfriendly competitive league.  The great depression saw many major league teams willing to sell nearly anyone on their roster in order to keep afloat, creating opportunities for teams that had remaining capital.  The 1960s brought the first wave of expansion, allowing a group to create a team from scratch for the first time since early in the century.  In the past twenty-five years, teams have had to understand a new reality: the end of the reserve clause that tied a player to a team for life.  In each of these eras some teams have operated more successfully than others.

Luck, unfortunately, might be just as critical as anything else.  In a world with thirty major league teams, or even sixteen, there is only one champion and the difference between that champion and the next several teams might be razor thin. 

The Minnesota Twins in the 1960s saw a rapid decline of many regulars after their 1965 pennant.  By the time the team had been successfully rebuilt in 1969, the Baltimore Orioles had assembled a juggernaught, effectively squashing any realistic pennant hopes for the rest of the league.  The 1971 California Angels suffered through one stroke of bad luck after another.

Baseball history is replete with teams that missed out on the Holy Grail because they picked the wrong year to get good.  The 1993 San Francisco Giants won 102 games, the most in their history, only to lose the division race to the Atlanta Braves. On the other hand, the 2000 Yankees won 87 games in a weak division, played well in October and enjoyed another parade.  Building a solid baseball team requires smarts, money, and determination, but sometimes the time and place can make a critical difference.

Every baseball team is assembled by making numerous decisions, both large and small, both conscious and unconscious, regarding many potential options.  Sometimes these decisions occur within the framework of a larger plan; often times they are simply made on an ad hoc basis.  With a number of interesting teams as the backdrop, the following chapters delve into the choices, logic, and results of various team building strategies and decisions.