Sexy Biscuits, Numbers Game

Tommy Coyle

"Pimpin ain't easy, but you look good doing it"
Mark Sappington


So true for the Biscuits this year, who have a great looking club but have been overwhelmed in the first half by underwhelming obstacles and a fair portion of bad luck.

However, luck changes.

  THE NUMBERS GAME
I focused so much on the history during the last homestand, I thought it was time to take a look at the stats. 

One of the first things I noticed was the team's lack of ability to capitalize on bases loaded opportunities, to the tune of a .130 batting average. Of the six hits Montgomery has gotten in that situation, three were off the bat of Johnny Field.

With men in scoring position and two outs, Biscuits don't fare much better. Batting .207 with RISP/2out as a team makes for lots of potential runs turned into Left On Base.

INDIVIDUAL STAT NOTES

Jake Bauers

Over the last 30 days, Jake Bauers has 19 RBI, second in the Rays organization. Also Bauers has 20 rbi with runners in scoring position, best on the current roster.

Mike Marjama is perhaps the teams best clutch hitter, batting .250 with runners in scoring position and two outs.


Willy Adames leads all Rays players in OPS over the last month with .971 on base+slugging. Willy also leads all Rays with minor leaguers with 57 total bases over the last month.

Adames has set a career high in Home Runs with seven already this season and dropped his strikeout rate nearly 7% from where it was last year.

PITCHER NOTES

Hu

Pitcher Kyle Bird has been stingy with the hits, allowing just 12 of 64 batters faced to reach base in the last month.

Biscuits starting pitchers Ryne Stanek and Jacob Faria have topped the 1K mark in pitches thrown this season. Guerrieri is third with 920 offerings, Hunter Wood has 875 tosses, Hu totals 845 pitches, Chris Kirsch has 779.

Reliever Brett Marshall was released during the last homestand, announced on May 31.

WHATS WRONG WITH JACOB FARIA?

Its a question I sort of expected to hear, and indeed someone brought it up during the first game against the Shuckers.

The win-loss total and ERA haven't been helped by bullpen woes and defensive lapses, yet both those numbers mean more to fans than to pitchers or their teams.

I pointed out the season stats, more than a strikeout an inning, forty-odd hits in over sixty innings pitched, opponents struggling to bat .200 against him.

"The walks though, thats too many" came the reply. Yet over the last ten Biscuits games Jacob has walked just three in 13.1 innings.

Jacob has been the victim of some bad bounces and bloop hits, perhaps the baseball karma for winning an extraordinary 17 games last summer.

What is wrong with Jacob Faria? Nothing at all is wrong, thats just the breaks!


 BISCUIT CATCHERS
Last summer catcher Justin O'Connor was seemingly impossible to run on, throwing out any who dared to run or even just stray too far from the bag.

 Keeping pace with him was Jake DePew, drafted eight rounds later and seen as the working man backup to the prospect O'Conner. This April fans were happy to cheer a Jake DePew return and Marjama drew fine early reviews for his arm skills as well.

However it hasn't translated into a trend for the first half, nabbing just one out of every three attempted thieves. Last summer the Biscuit catchers were nabbing nearly 50% of baserunners. Fans have started asking what happened to O'Conner and why the catchers cant throw out any base stealers this year.

Its not all on the catchers though, the pitcher has to get the ball to him with enough time to throw a runner out. Every staff has pitchers who are easier to run on and others who make it hard to swipe a bag.

THE GOOD
Starting pitcher Ryne Stanek has been on the bump for 16 steal attempts, only six have been successful.

THE BAD
Knuckleballer Jared Mortensen has allowed seven successful swipes and only two caught stealing.

THE UGLY
Reliever Buddy Borden has been pitching for 11 steal attempts, only one has been caught.

Buddy Borden

THE OTHER SIDE
LORD HADER

The Biloxi Shuckers are a pretty darn good team, sporting a P-Rat of 114 once Hader is activated. Top guys and veteran bench make a good combo, a fine pitching staff is doing most of the heavy lifting for the Brothers Guerrero.
 

Nottingham

Top pitching prospect Josh Hader was sent to High-A, but it was just a paper move, he will start on Monday night. The prospect lefty and teammate Brett Phillips were part of last summers trade that sent Carlos Gomez and Mike Fiers to Houston.

Brett Phillips - NotDatDudeBP is ranked #2 among Brewers prospects and looks solid.  He is a clutch hitter with two outs and a plus defender in the outfield.

Josh Nottingham - The Sheriff of Nottingham slugged a homer on Sunday, attacking a two strike pitch for a no doubter. He is ranked as the #10 guy in the Milwaukee chain.

Other prospects include OFs Tyrone Taylor & Victor Roache, as well as pitchers Adrian Houser and Brandon Woodruff.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Look for the Shuckers to do it on the pitching side, getting good innings from starters and the bullpen.

Pat Leonard

Look for Patrick Leonard to play all over the outfield, the former Biscuits 1b/3b return as an outfielder has looked smooth in defense at both corner spots as well as in centerfield.

Look for Shuckers tossers to find the plate, Biloxi is second in the SL for fewest walks surrendered and baserunners allowed per inning.

Look for the Shuckers to struggle at the plate, as a team, Biloxi has a .242 batting average.

Casey Gillaspie

Hot hitting Casey Gillaspie can start looking for lefty pitchers late in games as opposing managers figure out he is hitting just .250 vs lefties.

Look for the Shuckers to score in ones and twos, the team has trouble piling up big scores. Biloxi hitters have totaled 184 rbi's, and .667 OPS, next to last in the league.

Pat Blair

Biscuits fans can look for more Pat Blair, the super-utility man has been one of the hottest hitters on the team, batting over .300 in the last ten games.

If you look for the mustache, you will notice Pat shaved the one that he was sporting. It was probably to help end recent the losing streak, but he is already working on a new one!

Skitz Bombed, Talkin Turkey Stearnes

The Biscuits were drubbed 10-1 by the Generals. The beating was bad enough that even a player commented to me that we "might need a little help in the bullpen" soon. I felt that was a bit of an understatement, though to be fair the starting pitcher had already surrendered five runs before the pen got into the game.

The History Night was good, though the dignitaries weren't able to be there for their first pitches. The stuff I submitted worked well for between innings video stuff, very Ken-Burns-ish. I liked it and was really glad to help out. I think the original plan of using Faux-back uniforms would have really helped it out, fans love to see the Skitz in different uniforms!

Saturday is a doubleheader that Montgomery really needs to win both ends of to keep their first half playoff hopes alive. Gates open at 4:30 for Biscuits History Night. There will be former Biscuits players in attendance!

MY BAD
Shows you what I know, Brad Boxberger was brought into the game in the middle of an inning, shooting down my "rehab guy needs to start an inning" theory. Boxberger pitched well, giving up one hit and striking out one. I noticed Brad pitched with his mouth open on every pitch, looking a lot like an excited kid.

  Glad someone was having fun out there!

LIFE OF THE PARTY
Not sure who these guys were, but they really wanted their picture taken! They were having fun on Thursty Thirsday and were pretty much in charge of their section, I suspect they are Huntingdon College students, not sure why! haha

Todays history nod is a repost about a Montgomery favorite, one with much myth and misconception surrounding his playing days in our area, Hall of Famer Turkey Stearnes.

TALKIN TURKEY STEARNES

Turkey Stearnes is one of the most famous negro leaguers from our area, known even to fans just moderately familiar with the Alabama River Region baseball history. I studied his career and found out he isnt exactly what the legends say he is, he certainly isnt from the Montgomery area and he had a few things going on that even those who have heard of him maybe don't realize!


HERE WE GO
When Montgomery and the Biscuits celebrated Montgomery Baseball Leadership Heritage Day, (back in 2013) one of the main players noted was Turkey Stearnes.

Satch faced Stearnes often

As well it should be, as Turkey Stearnes was one of the best to don the Montgomery GraySox uniform, or any other for that matter. "If you don't put Turkey Stearnes in the Hall of Fame, they shouldn't put anybody" was how Cool Papa Bell felt, and he knew a thing or two about great hitting.

Legend has it that Satchel Paige gave up six consecutive hits to Stearnes. When he faced him the seventh time, Satchel rolled the ball along the ground to the plate saying "Let's see you hit that one!"



 WHY THE LONG FACE?
My complaint about the "event"?

Its that there was exactly one picture of Stearnes used by the city, the newspaper and all other media covering the event, stolen from the BaseballHall.org website. And it is a particularly bad photo....

NOT the only known photo of Turkey Stearnes!

So, in order to make things better for future generations who hopefully plan their events a little farther in advance, I thought I would offer other images of one the few Montgomery players to have a berth in the Hall of Fame.

Norman T. Stearnes, Hall of Famer

Stearnes in 1971 w/grandson

  THE REAL TURKEY STEARNES
Stearnes, whose real name is Norman T. Stearnes (no the "T." does not stand for turkey!) was born in 1901 in Nashville Tn. - not Montgomery in spite of many considering him a Montgomery native.

In his twenty year career in baseball, Turkey would be known as one of the most dangerous hitters in the game, a four time All-Star and one of the top two all-time Negro league home run leaders, depending on who's stats we trust its either him or Mule Suttles.

Stearnes hit a homer every 16 at bats, an equal rate to Hank Aaron and Lou Gehrig.

His outfield play was usually in centerfield and always exemplary - Willie Mays often received comparisons to Stearnes defense.

He was a multiple AllStar, won pennants, batting titles, led the league in homers, triples, doubles and stolen bases.

Sixty years after his last game in 1940 the premier leadoff hitter of the Negro Leagues 1920-30s heyday was finally given a pass to Cooperstown.




MONTGOMERY MISCONCEPTIONS...
While many mistakenly think of Stearnes as having come from Montgomery, even more think he played his first pro games here - including otherwise well-educated baseball websites like MiLB.com, NegroLeagueBaseball.com and many others who have no excuse for not checking their facts.

In actuality Norman started his baseball career in Nashville, contributing 35 plate appearances while batting .265. This is very contrary to the idea of him turning pro and coming here in his first tilt. Even the term of "professional" is debatable, as the Montgomery team was with the Independent Negro League for the 1921 season.

In all, he spent only a single summer in Montgomery. The City of Montgomery press release erroneously states that he began his playing career here, as do many otherwise reliable sources, but the reality is he spent a year for hometown Nashville BEFORE signing on with the Grey Sox of Montgomery in the Negro Southern League at the age of 20 years old.

ONE HOMERUN?

rare photo of Stearnes in '27

Known records show him making a meager 18 trips to the plate for the 1921 GreySox, rapping just one lone home run towards his career total of 176 (or, alternatively 183, or maybe 181 depending on your source.)

Negro leagues famously didnt keep full statistics, and Stearnes likely posts numbers now lost to history, as did '21 GreySox teammate Steel Arm Dickey. Stearns himself said "I never counted my home runs, I had so many. If we didn't win it didn't matter."


In spite of his legendary status in the area, Stearnes wasn't exactly what we would call Montgomerys most prolific player - his one home run accounts for exactly half of the hits he records with the Mgm team, which usually played at College Hill Park, located on what is now the ASU campus.

That one home run, however, was the first professional home run of his long and storied Hall of Fame career. Perhaps that is why its a common misconception that he played his first games here, as well as one of the reasons Montgomery adopted him into their baseball pantheon.

In a bio of Stearnes on PitchBlack.com its said he struggled in limited at bats with the Montgomery team, which sounds alot more like what one would expect from a 20 yr old rookie with a funky batting stance on a pennant winning team loaded with talent - which the Gray Sox very much were.

FUNKY STANCE IN THREE PARTS
I have never seen anyone imitate Turkey Stearnes batting stance - unorthodox would be an understatement! Sadly, I have not seen a photo or even an illustration of Stearnes at the plate. However several descriptions give us the following details...

1. Stearnes, a lefty, stood in the middle of the left handed batters box with what we today would call an "open" stance - his bellybutton facing the pitcher, at the time pretty much unheard of.
2. Stearnes would hold his bat with both arms straight in front of him, pointing the bat straight up into the air over home plate and letting the barrel lean slightly toward the pitcher.
3. Most unusual of all, Stearnes would plant his right foot heel down on the ground and point his toes skyward while waiting for the pitcher to deliver the ball.

Of Turkey stearnes hitting stance Satchel Paige was quoted he "hit with his right foot in the bucket and twisted his right heel and pointed his big toe up." Stearnes had one of the most unusual hitting styles in history, but his legendary speed and talent for getting the bat through the hitting zone led him to a career .344 batting average.

WE DEMAND A RE-COUNT!
TURKEY STEARNES stats with Montgomery Gray Sox in 1921, from Baseball Reference dot com.

18 plate appearances
3 runs scored
2 hits
1 home run
3 runs batted in
3 stolen bases
.111 Batting Average
.278 Slugging Percentage
5 total bases

Uhhh, really? Someone get on the horn and ask them how a guy hits a home run and steals three bags but only has 5 total bases. I think we have to ask for a recount on those totals. A homer is four bags, three steals bring us to seven total bases and there is yet another hit listed, so he HAD to have at least 8 TB.

Just another example of how little people have fact checked Turkey Stearnes info and rely on what they are told in spite of what can plainly be seen.




THAT'S OUR TURKEY

Norman Stearnes

The city of Montgomery likely adopted him as their own at the end of his GraySox tenure - the Sox won the Southern Negro League pennant by defeating the Nashville Elite Giants in a cool four game sweep.



The GraySox had a reputation for being one of the top negro league teams in the nation that year, sporting great players at every position.

Its quite possible Stearnes one listed homer came from that huge title series, when every hit counted and the teams likely made sure to bring the score book, keeping a running tally of stats to send out to the major national newspapers that covered the Championship Series.

Stearnes stats are the only ones listed for the Montgomery Gray Sox of 1921. This is likely owing to the fact that he is a Hall of Famer, his career having been researched to complete his stat line at Cooperstown.

Being Champ means post-season appearances!

BIG SERIES FOR TURKEY

Turkey raps four hits, steals base in first game

After the victory against Nashville, the GraySox were league champs.

They then went north to play an exhibition series against the StLouis Giants, the winner of the Negro Southern championship against the Negro National Leagues regulars. The Giants were led by Oscar Charleston, himself a future Hall of Famer, and ran a nice second in the NNL that season.

Oscar Charleston

 

Biscuits Beaten, The Goat

The Biscuits fell to the Generals on Thursday. Lets ask Manager Brady Williams what he thought...

Yeah, thats about how everyone felt about it!

SP Hu was ejected too

It was tough to watch as the umpire crew blew call after call, pretty much screwing up anything that could be screwed up. Everyone has bad days, but it made it a long and frustrating game.

Da Beers Man!

At least it was cheap beer night!

Its good to know that the season isn't lost, the Generals have to face us a few more times over the next couple days and Montgomery doesn't quit when they are down a few runs.

The Skitz did try to make a game of it late, but came up short in the end. Its a huge series, the biggest one of the first half, the team needs to put it in the past and bounce back.

RP Jeff Ames

I asked Jeff Ames about his new pitch, a cut fastball, "A work in progress" he called it but said he was throwing it regularly in his appearances and felt it was coming along. Ames agreed a person doesn't just roll out of bed one day and start throwing a cutter, calling it "a feel pitch".




"First pitch fastball" and a big smile was the reply I got when I asked Johnny Field what the pitch he had hit to tie Wednesdays game was, it sparked a tenth inning walk off rally. Johnny tripled in the late innings on Thursday, sparking late inning runs for the second day in a row.


SO NICE WE WANT IT TWICE
Look for Brad Boxberger to make his second rehab appearance in Fridays game, likely the first guy to come out of the bullpen. Unless a reliever is needed in the middle of an inning, rehab guy needs to start the inning!

Biscuits rehabbing MLB reliever Brad Boxberger

HISTORY TIME!
Friday is Montgomery History Night, a promotion I have been looking forward to since the last one got rained out in 2013! Lots of cool presentations on the board with facts and history, probably former Rebels to toss out the first pitch and plenty good stuff on tap.

To go with the History Theme, today I have the info on Montgomery's GOAT. The

Greatest Of All Time pitcher for us is actually a Goat himself. A knuckleball hurler so popular the team held "Goat Walker Day" to honor him.

THOMAS ROYAL WALKER - THE GOAT

Roy Goat Walker, likely on Goat Walker Night, he played all nine positions that game!

I stumbled across him as I went over old newspaper clippings. One sentence in a Milwaukee paper from 1942 led me to one of the most significant players in our cities baseball-rich history. 

He is called Roy or more often by his nickname, Goat.


A mention as part of an article on older players who might inhabit MLB rosters if WW2 takes its toll on the available players includes....

YOUNG WALKER

Walker w/MGM

Thomas Royal Walker first pitched for Montgomery in 1927, winning 17 games. He is a mainstay in the pitching rotation through 1929, picking up double digit victories each season to put his total at 63 wins in three seasons for the Lions.

An average season for Walker is about 16 wins, over 200 Innings Pitched and an ERA usually under 3.25. His knuckleball tossing helps Montgomery win a title in 1928.

Walker also gets into games in the outfield. For three straight seasons Walker picks up over a hundred at bats a year, batting as high as .299. In his first season with Montgomery, 1927, he hits a pair of homers to win a game.


He gets sold, as an outfielder, to Nashville at the end of the 1930 season. Its a deserved promotion for his fine work in B league Montgomery. Nashville is about as close to the major leagues as Roy will get.

Walker with Montgomery 1928

I'm pretty sure that 63 victories would put Goat Walker at or near the top of the Montgomery Wins list. But Goat isn't done. He kicks around the Piedmont and Sally leagues through the 1930s. Roy is just as good for them, twice winning twenty games for Jacksonville with his knuckleball.

In one game story from Goat's time at Jacksonville, he is mentioned as having helped hold the crowd back while police escort umpires from the field after a questionable call. While in the sixth inning of the second game of a doubleheader, with the tying runner at second base, umpires called the game at midnight in favor of the visiting team. Fans knew the league rule was that no inning could be started after midnight, and were up in arms that the game was handed over. Goat helped distract the mob while police helped the umps to the train station for a get-away!

WONT STOP
The Goat just keeps pitching and he keeps winning games. After four seasons in Jacksonville where he won 74 games, he lands back in Montgomery in 1940.

1940 Goat note

 At the age of 36 he is living up to the nickname Goat, but he is still wins games on both sides of the ball. In 1940, Tom is a 20 game winner and leads the circuit in victories.

1941 Goat note

1941 is a down year, he gets just 11 wins for the Rebels. Its the only year he has a losing record in Montgomery. Goat is the hero in at least one contest, driving in the winning run with an 11th inning bunt.


1942 is one of the great seasons by a pitcher in Montgomery history, as Goat Walker wins 20 games, loses just 7 and posts an ERA of 2.76.


GOAT TOPS THE LIST

1940s Cramton Bowl

Walker totals 116 Wins for Montgomery, which is going to be tough to beat! Not to mention he makes the twenty game winners list twice.

Goat Walker Night - a career highlight for Walker as he managed Montgomery - probably in 1940 - the team held a night in his honor. During the game, Walker played all nine positions in front of one of Cramton Bowls biggest crowds.



JUST WONT STOP

Goat Walker

Walker keeps on chugging along, at age 39 he moves on for one season with Memphis where he wins ten more games. After a year in indie ball, Goat is back with Memphis in 1945. In 1946 Roy Walker pitches for the Selma Cloverleafs in a handful of games.

After two years out of the game, Walker returns to pitch again for Selma in 1949 at the ripe age of 45. He wins four and loses a few more in 23 appearances. He is now almost 20 years older than the average age of the Southeastern league players!


GOAT FINALLY HEADS HOME

Roy Walker hangs up the spikes for good after 1949, closing a career with an eye-popping 226 Wins -169 Loss total.

His lifetime 3.16 ERA is stellar over nineteen seasons. He hits .256 at the plate in his career, picking up over 100 at bats in most years by being a serviceable outfielder as well as a great starter.

His career could be even more impressive than is known, there are gaps in the B-Ref data. Unaccounted for are three prime seasons, age 29-31, and a couple years later around age 40. Those uncredited seasons could be time spent in indie ball or simply with a different spelling or assumed name.


Born in 1903 on November 5th, in Pike County, the righthander is listed as 5'11 and 165lbs. There were ten Walker kids, but only Roy and two others survived past the age of three.

 Walker lived in Selma after his time pitching, he also spent some time in Pensacola and around the South.

Thomas Royal Walker - the All Time Montgomery Leader in Wins.

I learned he passed away on 11 September, 2003, at 99 years of age Goat Walker's endurance went beyond the diamond.


Roy Walkers 12 straight victories is a Montgomery record.