Sports fans like to play games based on games. So we fool around with best and worst, "what-ifs", outrageous comparisons and the like. Here are two examples of my going off into left field to project intriguing, or what I believed were intriguing, " what-ifs" arrangements. July 1: Now Batting, Babe Ruth; Pitching, Sandy Koufax Baseball's Great Debate: pitching vs. hitting. Pitching is more important and getting more significant all the time. How much more important? Could a team get by merely on pitching and defense? I think so. And to illustrate the point I devised a hypothetical matchup: a team of all-time great hitters with poor pitching versus a team of great pitchers with a line-up of strong fielding but weak hitters. The hitting team consists of the all-time greats, all of whom were outstanding hitters at their positions. Some of them were outstanding fielders, too. The pitchers are ex-Mets who can be described as, well, unsuccessful. The pitching team consists of four great pitchers backed up by fellows who were not strong with the bat, but who were good fielders. These are the teams Out of Left Field presented to various baseball men:
Who do you think would win? Consider the matchup for a moment and and follow us around Shea Stadium where the question was put to some professional baseball men. Mets manager Gil Hodges, who has cultivated that special New York knack of answering a question by asking a question, looked at the two lineups and said, "Hmmm, who do you like?" "Never mind that," I said. "I will tell you that most of the guys in the press box picked the pitching team." "Well," Hodges said, "The first thing I'd like you to do is get Rizzuto off the hitting team. My friend Pee Wee Reese should be playing for that team.." "Okay. For you I'll do it. Now, which team do you like?" "I'll take the hitters. Theyre's too much hitting in that lineup. They'd win eight of 10 games every time against this opposition."
"Cisco and Hook and MacKenzie would beat Koufax and Ford?" "Eight of 10," Hodges said. "If you'll look it up, you'll see that some of those fellows pitched well when they had a lead. These hitters will give them a lead." Hodges' coaches, Eddie Yost and Rube Walker, looked over the lineups carefully and shook their heads. "Can't I switch the pitching staff, "Walker asked. Yost said, "I'll take the hitters. I want guys like Babe Ruth on my team." Walker concurred. Yogi Berra said, "I'll take the pitchers. In a short series like the World Series, pitching is very important." Joe Pignatano, the fourth Mets coach, glanced at the lineups and said, "Chuck Diering? You must be kidding. I take the hitting team." "But did you look at the pitchers, Joe?" Pignatano looked again. "Oh-oh, I see. Hmm, it's pretty tough. But I'll stick with the hitters. Those other guys won't get a run." Two Mets pitchers, Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan, were given a peek. Seaver said, "You must be kidding. With pitchers like that and good defense I don't care who the hitters are. I'll take Koufax and Ford and the others." Ryan agreed and then asked for another look at the list. "I want to see if I'm on the list," he said. "No, Nolan, maybe in 10 years. If you come on strong, we'll put you in with Koufax &Co." . Ryan said, "Oh, I wasn't thinking about that. I just wanted to make sure you didn't put me down with the unsuccessful pitchers." The findings were taken back to Hodges. When he noted that only Berra among his coaches had chosen the pitchers, he said, "Well, Yogi is not really one of my coaches. You can see that my guys-and he smiled-went along with me." The best hitters hit safely only a little more than three times in every 10 at bats. Against these superlative pitchers the hit-safely figure would be lower than that. With dandy fielders like Miranda, Landis and Cox behind Koufax and the like I cast an emphatic vote for the pitchers and 1-0 victories.
Looking at it now, I admire Hodges for sticking up for his pal Reese, who was a better hitter than Rizzuto. I should have picked a slugger like Ernie Banks for shortstop. I would have picked Carl Hubbell as one of the top pitchers, but that would have given me three lefties. I should have added relief pitchers because they have become such a dominant part of the game. I would add Dennis Eckersley to the Pitchers and say, Toby Borland, to the Hitters squad. Borland, as I recall, couldn't get a man out in his brief stay with the Mets during the 1997 season.
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A View of Baseball from a Fire Escape 
