The Ballad of Buddy

Editor's note: We've got a second icons blog coming in the next few days so we can fill in some gaps and report some findings (Eddie Mathews and Richie Ashburn are making a push!). We might even have a couple of special guests help with that as well.

He was born in Pittsburgh on an August Monday in 1951, the same day his father’s Pittsburgh Pirates were shut out by Brooklyn’s Ralph Branca 5-0. It was a fitting way for Buddy Bell to enter this cruel world. Ralph Branca would go on to have a pretty tough finish to his 1951 season.

Buddy Bell would go on to have a much tougher baseball life.

Buddy would spend much of his childhood in Cincinnati watching his father toil for some mediocre-to-bad teams in the 1950s. He was too young to remember seeing his Dad play for the 112-loss Pirates of 1952. But he remembers the Cincinnati teams. They weren’t much, for the most part. The things that stood out about those 1950s Cincinnati teams: A temporary name-change from Reds to Redlegs (to satisfy the McCarthy crowd); the immense power of Ted Kluszewski and Wally Post; the emergence of a young Frank Robinson and the every day professionalism of Gus Bell, Buddy’s Dad.

Gus was picked to four All-Star teams, he drove in 100 runs four times, and he was by all accounts a wonderful and honorable guy – he once got into a dispute in Pittsburgh, not over money, but because he wanted his family to travel with him.

When Gus was 32, he finally played on a good team – the 1961 Cincinnati Reds. He was not an everyday player by then, but it would still be his favorite year. He got three at-bats in the World Series against the Yankees, and even though he went 0-for-3, even though the Reds lost in five games, it was a thrill of a lifetime. As we will see, it was the thrill of TWO lifetimes.

The next year, things returned to normal for the Bells. Gus was drafted by the 1962 Mets, the worst team of the 20th Century. He was a player to be named later in a trade to Milwaukee. He kicked around for a couple more years, but his career was pretty much over.

Less than 10 years later, in 1972, Buddy Bell began his astounding career. He had learned a lot from his father. He was a good, sometimes great, ballplayer. He was a good glove, a class act, a family guy, a man respected and loved throughout the game.

He also had picked up another trait from his Dad.

Buddy Bell had an almost miraculous knack for losing baseball games.

* * *

Buddy Bell is the Wayne Gretzky of losing. I say this with great respect – I love the guy. But Buddy’s 35-year life of playing and managing baseball games is a marvel of mishaps. He has never played or managed in a postseason game. Never. He has never really come CLOSE to playing or managing a postseason game (well, there was the first half of the 1981 strike season when they finished four games out …).

Take a look at this chart (updated from Kansas City Star friend Brad Doolitle):

Most games played/managed without reaching the postseason.
1. Buddy Bell, 3,550
2. Mickey Vernon, 2,772
3. Ernie Banks, 2,528
4. George Sisler, 2,517
5. Nap Lajoie, 2,470
6. Luke Appling, 2,462
7. Doug Rader, 2,271
8. Ron Santo, 2,243
9. Toby Harrah, 2,231
10. Don Kessinger, 2,184

Wow, there is just so much to say about that list. Let’s start with the fact that it has Buddy Bell and Toby Harrah on it. The two were traded for each other straight up in 1978, one of those rare trades that hurt both teams’ karma. Also, they are very close friends. Between them, we’re talking THIRTY-SIX SEASONS of no playoff baseball.

The second thing worth noting is that three of the players on the list – Banks, Santo and Kessinger – all played for the Chicago Cubs in the 1960s, and were in the same infield for five seasons. The fourth member of that infield, Glenn Beckert, played 1,320 games without reaching the postseason.

But let’s get to the main point … Buddy Bell has played and managed almost EIGHT HUNDRED more games than anyone else on the list. That’s almost five full seasons. And even that doesn’t tell the full story. Look: Most of the people in the list played or managed before the expanded playoffs in 1969 – they played a time when only two teams made the postseason. Buddy played in a time when four made it.

Look again: ALL OF THEM EXCEPT ONE played or managed before the wild card was added in 1995, before a time when eight teams made the playoffs.

That one exception, of course, is the Leonardo of losing, the Mozart of misfortune, the Captain of Calamity, my friend and hero, Buddy Bell.

* * *

How much blame must Buddy Bell take for his almost unbreakable record of mediocrity? Well, he did hit Shane Costa cleanup for the Royals on Saturday. So you can’t say he’s entirely blameless. That Royals’ lineup is worth a brief mention because Buddy didn’t just hit Costa fourth (he’s hitting .197, though he did manage a bunt single in the game), he also batted Alex Gordon fifth (.183) and Ryan Shealy seventh (.211). Yes, I’m a believer than lineup order is overrated – and that there is only so much any manager can do – but some lineup orders are exceptions to the rule.

And to prove the point, Philadelphia’s Jon Lieber faced that lineup, threw a three-hit shutout and struck out 11. That’s Jon Lieber. He hadn’t struck out 11 in his three previous games combined.

But let’s get back to Buddy and take a tour of his unlikely career.

Cleveland (1972-78)
Team record: 519-598
Closest playoff call: Indians had a winning record in 1976 (81-78) and finished 16 games behind the New York Yankees.

Buddy’s role: The Tribe was a complete mess before Buddy Bell ever got there. They lost 102 games in 1971, and then Buddy walked in. He was an outfielder at first (the Indians had Graig Nettles at third base when Buddy was called up), And despite Buddy’s heroic lack of speed (Buddy Bell is, percentage-wise, the worst baseball stealer in baseball history – he was caught 79 of the 135 times he tried to steal), he played reasonably well out there.

The next year, the Indians made one of their many boneheaded trades, sending Nettles to the Yankees for John Ellis and Charlie Spikes. The only good thing that came of that was that Buddy Bell was moved to third.

He was a terrific third baseman and a pretty good hitter for the Indians. The Indians’ only real moment of hope came in the 1977 off-season, after they had signed 20-game winner Wayne Garland and looked to have one of the better starting rotations in the American League. I think it’s fair to say the staff of Garland, Dennis Eckersley, Jim Bibby and Pat Dobson (with Al Fitzmorris as swing-man) didn’t quite live up to expectations.

Texas (1979 to mid-1985)
Team record: 458-543
Closest playoff call: The aforementioned 33-22 record in the first half of the 1981 strike year. Oakland won by four games. The Rangers did have one other winning record (83-79 in 1979) but finished third, five games behind California.

Buddy’s role: He emerged as one of the best third basemen in baseball after his trade from Cleveland. And his emergence happened immediately after the trade – in 1979, right away, Buddy hit .299 with 18 homers and a career high 101 RBIs. He also won the first of six consecutive Gold Gloves, and almost singlehandedly kept the Rangers in the race (well, not singlehandedly, he had help from another guy just acquired from Cleveland, big Jim Kern, who went 13-5 with 29 saves and a 1.57 ERA).

Buddy played at quite a high level for the next six years – he hit .301 and averaged 30 doubles, 14 homers and 162 hits per year, despite missing some games because of injury and the strike. Buddy was a tough strikeout (he finished in the Top 10 in strikeout per at-bat seven times in his career) and as mentioned he was an outstanding third baseman.

Unfortunately, the Rangers were pretty much a mess. He played for four managers in his six-plus year, most of those for – you won’t believe this – Doug Rader. Why won’t you believe this? Go back to that chart, the one that ranks the longest-running players and managers who never reached the postseason. See No. 7. Yep. Doug Rader.

It’s like the Six Degrees of Losing.

Cincinnati (mid-1985 to mid-1988)
Team record: 246-218.
Closest playoff call: Every year Cincinnati was reasonably close. The Reds finished second all three of Buddy’s years in his hometown. Of course, it depends what you mean by close. The first year, 1985, they finished 5.5 games behind the Dodgers. The next year it was 10 games behind Houston. And the last year it was 6 games behind San Francisco.
In none of those years, though, were the Reds ever a serious threat to actually win the division in the last month.

Buddy’s role: In 1985, Buddy came to Cincinnati and really sparked the Reds. He actually didn’t hit a lick, but for whatever reason the Reds played inspired baseball after his arrival, going 46-30 and finishing second. Buddy still had some baseball left in him – in 1985, he hit a career-high 20 homers. But those Reds teams were a mess. You still had ancient leftovers from the Big Red Machine (Dave Concepcion, Tony Perez). You had a few gifted young players trying to get into the game (Eric Davis, Paul O’Neill, Barry Larkin, Jeff Montgomery, etc). And managing between bets, you had Pete Rose.

In 1988, at age 36, Buddy lost it very quickly. He hit .185 in 21 games and was traded to Houston.

Houston/Texas (mid-1988-mid-1989)
Team record: 83-79
Closest playoff call: None.

Buddy’s role: He was just finishing up a career – 2,405 games, no playoff appearances. That placed him fifth all-time as a player – behind Ernie Banks, Nap Lajoie and JUST behind Mickey Vernon and Luke Appling. But with Buddy, the best was yet to come.

Detroit (manager, 1996-1998)
Team record: 184-277.
Closest playoff call: In 1997, they finished 19 games behind Baltimore.

Buddy’s role: The Tigers were already a bad team. But they had not quite hit bottom (though they came close in 1989, going 59-103 with an old team). Buddy took over for the ancient Sparky Anderson, who had lost interest sometime during the Reagan era. So he inherited a bad team, and everybody understood it would take time to get things turned around in Detroit.

Still, that first year was shocking. That 1996 Tigers pitching staff might be the worst in baseball history. They posted a 6.38 ERA. We’re talking the WHOLE TEAM. Greg Gohr went 4-8 with a 7.17 ERA. Brian Williams went 3-10 with a 6.77 ERA. Greg Keagle (I have yet to see his name listed among Detroit icons) went 3-6 with a 7.39 ERA.

And that was the year when Todd Van Poppel was beyond amazing. The Tigers got him from Oakland and he made his first start on August 14. He was terrible. His next time out he was lousy, and the third time he was OK. His fourth time, he pitched a five-hit shutout against the Royals, naturally (though Shane Costa was not hitting cleanup that day). Van Poppel was in complete control – at one point he retired 13 Royals in a row – and he had a three-hitter going into the ninth. He looked like the stud everyone had expected.

He made five starts after that. Get ready. He went 0-3 with a 21.89 ERA. The league hit .429 against him in those five games and slugged .937. He gave up seven homers in 12 innings, the final outing being a fabulous 1/3 of an inning, 4-run performance against Milwaukee where he somehow managed to give up those 4 runs despite allowing one hit (back-to-back-to-back-to-back walks helped).

Anyway, it’s hard to determine Buddy’s role in a fiasco of that magnitude. The next year, the team showed marked improvement – won 79 games – and Buddy actually received some manager of the year votes. The next year the team collapsed again, and Buddy was fired.

Colorado (manager, 2000-early 2002)
Team record: 161-185
Closest playoff call: Buddy’s only winning record as manager came in 2000, 82-80. Rockies finished 15 games back.

Colorado was a weird place to manage. The fan support when Buddy took over was amazing. The ballpark effects were severe which could (should?) help the home team. There were a couple of talented players on the team, including a young Todd Helton and still powerful Larry Walker.

But oh that pitching. Buddy has had an amazing knack for managing awful pitching staffs. In 2000, the Colorado staff had an ERA of 5.26. Then, the Rockies (apparently with Buddy’s prodding) signed some big-money pitching free agents. They signed Mike Hampton and Denny Neagle. They already had Pedro Astacio and a young Shawn Chacon. They were thinking pennant in Denver. Naturally, Hampton and Neagle pitched disastrously, the staff finished dead last in the league in ERA, Walker got hurt, the team lost 89 games, and Buddy started grumbling.

It’s funny, I haven’t known too many people in baseball who take losing harder than Buddy Bell – this is where Alanis sings about it being ironic, don’t you think.

In the end, Buddy warred with upper management, the team got off to a lousy start in 2002, and he got fired. Buddy probably has to take a lot of blame for what happened here, though I don’t think he had a real playoff team anyway.

Kansas City (2005-present)
Team record: 128-209
Closest playoff call: When the Royals beat Curt Schilling* and won Opening Day this year, they were 1-0 and in first place.

Buddy’s role: He has not only hit Shane Costa in the cleanup spot. He has led off Shane Costa in a game too.

* * *

So where does it go from here? Unless something unlikely happens (the Royals really improve, the Royals really collapse), Buddy will finish out the year with the Royals, get fired, and pick up somewhere as a coach maybe. He probably won’t get another managing job, though you never know. He has respect in the game.

But assuming things play out as they will, Buddy Bell will have played managed more than 3,600 games without sniffing the postseason. I’d say, in large part, he’s simply been a victim of circumstance. Casey McGraw Weaver Cox doesn’t win with the teams he’s been given. And Michael Jack Brett Mathews probably doesn’t drag any of those teams to the playoffs. Buddy has, on the whole, been a victim of bad luck.


Then again, I don’t entirely believe in luck. I like the lead-in to the movie “The Color of Money” (disappointing movie, good lead-in).

“Nine-ball is rotation pool. The balls are pocketed in numbered order. The only ball that means anything – that wins it – is the 9. A player make eight trick shots in a row, blow the 9 and lose. On the other hand, a player can get the 9 in on the break, if the balls spread right, and win.

“Which is to say that luck plays a part in nine-ball. But for some players … luck itself … is an art.”

Maybe that goes for bad luck too. And maybe Buddy Bell is an artist.