Lefthander Andy Pettitte was an integral part of the Yankees rotation in 2001, posting a 15-10 record with an ERA of 3.99. But Pettitte got bombed against Arizona in the World Series, going 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA. In nine innings, Pettitte gave up 12 hits and 10 runs.
“He was tipping,” Torre said. “We knew [Arizona] had picked up on something, but when we looked at our video, we weren’t seeing it. We realized later it was because he was tipping in the early part of his windup, and our guys were only filming his delivery. We changed the way we did our video after that.”
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I love it. I mean, here’s genius Joe Torre basically admitting, “…yea, we messed up and lost the World Series”. I’ve always felt that this has to be the biggest baseball story ever NOT written. And to me, it just reeks of the media’s pro-Yankee bias. The writers are all a bunch of little boys who do not want to contemplate, even for a minute, that their “heroes” Torre and Pettite, are to blame for losing the Yankees another, nauseating World Series ring.
Other mere mortals would have been run out of the country. Torre? Stottlemyre? They are guilty of malfeasance in this case and yet you never read a word about it, didja? Nope. Everyone clams up and talks about what a cheap little hit Gonzalez got off of Mariano (another who can do no wrong despite blowing 3 postseasons: ‘97 Alomar HR, ‘01 Throwing ball into CF in G7, ‘04 getting ball with lead over Sox), but no one mentions the Yankees’ own part in the story.
And in baseball terms, it should be a HUGE story. But it isn’t. Why? For generations, you could read about the A’s having the Giants’ signs in the 1911 World Series, and also stories about whether the 1911 World Series was cooked, because gamblers got to the Giants. I think the Giants were probably dirty back then. McGraw was not above it. He had a man take money to the umps before the famous 1908 Merkle-replay game. And the A’s certainly were not above it as they threw the 1914 series to a seriously inferior “Miracle” Boston Braves team. After that double cross, Connie Mack KNEW he had a dirty team, but he didn’t know which ones, so he sold it all off. People still erroneously blame Mack for the fire sale, but he had no choice; he had dirty players and he couldn’t say for sure exactly who it was. And look at Eddie Collins: He was on BOTH of the dirtiest clubs in history: The 1914 A’s and the 1919 White Sox–and yet he was considered to be beyond reproach. Amazing. It must have been mighty frustrating to be on the level and see that going on around you in the days when, remember, the difference between the winners’ and losers’ share, was a journeyman’s yearly salary.
Anyway, my point was pitch-tipping and why wasn’t it getting more play in NY in 2001? But we all know why, don’t we? Suuure.
And some will argue (and do quite convincingly) that it isn’t such a great advantage as you might think. But tell that to the 2001 Dbacks. It IS a big deal. It does cost you ballgames. Sure, not everyone wants the info, but that doesn’t mean you don’t try. When teams steal signs from the scoreboard (very common throughout baseball history), typically, one in three or four, does NOT want the info. They feel it does more harm than good.
And not everyone is immune to tipping. In fact, some pretty good twirlers tipped. Koufax tipped everything out of the stretch for his entire career. It didn’t matter. Bunning tipped during his perfect game no less! It didn’t matter. Pedro and Randy and Schilling have all tipped or been suspected tippers, at one time or another in there HOF careers. It happens.
It happens because throwing a pitch is a physical act and you may very well do things differently for different pitches and it isn’t just about the old high school pitcher, “…wrapping the curve ball”. No, not at the top level. Any wrappers have long since had a high school coach yell that out of them (High school coaches can yell, yes?). No, it’s a glance into a glove. It’s a finger waggle outside the glove. It’s the glove open or closed or wiggling or held high or held low or looping in the stretch or it’s a breath or facial tick or something that is consistent but not overt, and you don’t even know you are doing it.
I think it’s great fun to try and call pitches but the TV coverage is so lousy that you don’t get a chance. The director cuts to a closeup of the runner, the batter, the pitcher, the manager. It’s stupid. I want to see the shot from CF, over the pitcher’s shoulder, EVERY time. I want to see the sign put down and the location, and then see the catcher move to the location and set the target, and most of all, I want to see the pitcher’s full regimen each time. But the directors in the truck don’t get that and they never will.
How would I cover a ballgame? First off, the camera would never be anywhere except over the pitcher’s shoulder. Only VERY noteworthy things would trump that continuous shot. I owe that to the intelligent baseball fans watching. And almost NO crowd shots, please. Never. They aren’t the story.
As the batter is walking up to hit on each at-bat, the announcer would have to review that last AB’s pitch selection. If there is none, then the “book” on that batter, from that pitcher should be reviewed. You want to get fancy and show those montage shots of all the pitches? Now’s the time. But I’d be satisfied with a verbal, “…here’s Joe Blow, Webb started him with the sinker away last time and then sinker in and then slider away. Let’s see…”
That’s it! That’s what I want. Why is that so hard?
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