Joe Leonard Morgan was born September 19, 1943 in Bonham, TX
A fierce competitor renowned for his baseball smarts, Joe Morgan could single-handedly beat opposing teams with his multifaceted skills. He was a terror on the basepaths, topping the 40-steal plateau nine times during his career.
Welcome to the Baseball History Podcast: Featuring This Week in Baseball History, baseball dictionary and a tour of baseball cities. I’m your game announcer Bob Wright.
This is game 48 of the 2009 baseball season
In the first inning let’s take a look at This Week in Baseball History for the 3 week of November.
November 19
1975 In a landslide vote, Joe Morgan is overwhelming elected the National League MVP. The Reds’ second baseman had a league-leading on-base percentage of .419
Joe Leonard Morgan was born September 19, 1943 in Bonham, TX
A fierce competitor renowned for his baseball smarts, Joe Morgan could single-handedly beat opposing teams with his multifaceted skills. He was a terror on the basepaths, topping the 40-steal plateau nine times during his career. His skilled batting eye enabled him to lead the National League in on-base percentage and walks four times each. He also packed considerable power into his compact frame, hitting 449 doubles and 268 home runs.
Raised in Oakland, and nicknamed “Little Joe” for his diminutive 5’7″ stature, Morgan was a high school standout before being signed by the Houston Colt .45′s as an amateur free agent in 1962.
Early in his career, he had trouble with his swing because he kept his back elbow down too low. Teammate Nellie Fox suggested to Joe that while at the plate he should flap his back arm like a chicken to keep his elbow up. Morgan followed the advice, and his flapping arm became a familiar sight to baseball fans.
Morgan started his career in the spacious Astrodome, and actually spent more years with Houston than with Cincinnati. Although Morgan played with distinction for Houston, the Astros wanted more power in their lineup. Additionally, manager Harry Walker considered Morgan a troublemaker.
As a result they traded Morgan to the Cincinnati Reds as part of a blockbuster multi-player deal on November 29, 1971. He was the main player acquired by the Reds in the nine-player swap that sent Lee May to the Astros. The deal facilitated a shift in Reds team philosophy towards speed over power, with Morgan and outfielder Pete Rose now two key figures batting back-to-back. Morgan added unusual home run power, at that time, for a second baseman to outstanding speed on the basepaths and excellent defense.
Morgan’s power was shown to better advantage in Riverfront Stadium, helped by coaching from Ted Kluszewski. Morgan doubled his home run output in two seasons. His first year in Cincinnati, he made the All-Star team for only the second time, and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player when he singled in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth. He ended up leading the league in walks with 115 and runs scored with 122.
After joining The Big Red Machine, Morgan’s career reached a new level. This included eight consecutive All-Star Game appearances, from 1972 through 1979, to go along with his 1966 and 1970 appearances with Houston.
Morgan was an extremely capable batter-especially in clutch situations. While his lifetime average was only .271, he hit between .288 and .327 during his peak years with the Reds. Additionally, he drew many walks, resulting in an excellent .392 on base percentage. He also hit 268 home runs to go with 449 doubles and 96 triples, excellent power for a middle infielder of his era, and was considered by some the finest base stealer of his generation. Besides his prowess at the plate and on the bases, Morgan was an exceptional infielder, and captured the Gold Glove Award from 1972 to 1976.
In 1975 Morgan led the National League in walks for the third time with 132, while combining a .327 Batting Average with 17 Home Runs, 94 Runs Batted In, and 67 stolen bases.
Morgan’s Most Valuable Player season sparked the team into the 1975 World Series against the Red Sox, one of the most exciting Series ever played. Morgan, as usual, was in the thick of the excitement. In Game Three, Morgan knocked in the winning run with a single in the 10th inning. In Game Four, he made the last out in a 5-4 Boston victory. In Game Five, he drew 16 pickoff throws at first just prior to a single by Bench and a three-run homer by Perez. In the seventh and deciding game, Morgan’s Run Batted In single in the top of the ninth gave the Reds their first World Championship.
In 1976 Morgan topped his previous power totals with a career-high 27 Home Runs, became only the fifth second baseman to drive in more than 100 runs. He also batted .320, stole 60 bases, and had an on-base percentage of .516 to earn his second straight Most Valuable Player award. The Reds then swept the Yankees in the Series.
In 1980 he went back to Houston, where he helped the Astros to a division title, and then spent two years in San Francisco, almost leading the untalented Giants to a surprise pennant in 1982.
Still productive, even if unable to match his earlier high standards, Morgan ended up on a geriatric Phillies team in 1983 with fellow Reds alumni Pete Rose and Tony Perez, making it as far as the World Series but losing in five games to Baltimore. He ended his playing career in Oakland in 1984.
After his career ended, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1987, and his jersey number 8 was retired.
Morgan started his broadcasting career in 1985 for the Cincinnati Reds. A year later, Morgan started a nine year stint as an announcer for the San Francisco Giants. Morgan added one more local gig when he joined the Oakland Athletics’ broadcasting team for the 1995 season.
From 1988-1989, Morgan served as an announcer for ABC, where he helped announce Monday Night and Thursday Night Baseball games. From 1994 through 2000, Morgan teamed with Bob Costas and then Bob Uecker to call baseball games on NBC. During this period, Morgan helped call three World Series and four All-Star Games.
Currently, Morgan is a member of ESPN’s lead baseball broadcast team alongside Jon Miller. In his time at ESPN, Morgan has been a vocal critic of statistics-based analysis of baseball, sometimes called sabermetrics. Michael Lewis’ book Moneyball, which describes Billy Beane’s sabermetric-influenced approach to running the Oakland Athletics, is a particular target of Morgan’s criticism. He has previously refused to read the book reasoning that statistics are not more helpful than observation.
In the New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Bill James named Morgan the best second baseman in baseball history, ahead of #2 Eddie Collins and #3 Rogers Hornsby. He also named Morgan as the “greatest percentages player in baseball history,” due to his strong fielding percentage, stolen base percentage, walk-to-strikeout ratio, and walks per plate appearance. That data was shown with the caveat that many players in baseball history could not be included in the formula due to lack of data.
In 2009, Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski had this to say about the perceived disparity between Morgan’s celebrated playing style and his on-air persona: “The disconnect between Morgan the player and Morgan the announcer is one that I’m just not sure anyone has figured. Bill James tells a great story about how one time Jon Miller showed Morgan Bill’s New Historical Baseball Abstract, which has Morgan ranked as the best second baseman of all time, ahead of Rogers Hornsby. Well, Morgan starts griping that this was ridiculous, that Hornsby hit .358 in his career, and Morgan never hit .358, and so on. And there it was, perfectly aligned-Joe Morgan the announcer arguing against Joe Morgan the player.”
In this inning we’ll open up the Baseball Dictionary
Under the letter: B
Base stealing
The act of a runner advancing a base without the aid of a base hit, putout, error, force out, fielders choice, balk, passed ball, or wild pitch.
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Well, that’s it for today’s game of Baseball History Podcast. I’ll see you later at the ballpark.
Yay! Thanks Bob.