Harry the Hat or Baseball God? Pick One...

[DOUGHBOYS]

I watch a lot of baseball. I have my whole life. Never have I thought a Batting Champion for any league as being 'lucky'.
Ok, maybe Matty Alou in 1966, but I know most of you were not alive to see Matty play. Alou was an infield hit artist.
A lot of balls have to be hit in the right place for a player like Matty Alou. Especially when hitting .342
Having no power and only hitting in the 230's for the Giants, Alou was traded to Pittsburgh.
There, he met a man named Harry 'The Hat' Walker. Manager for the Pirates.
Why can't we have nicknames like that any more?
The other day I saw a headline that said, 'T Rich Traded to Colts'.
Is that the best we can do? Combine first names with last names like ARod?
If that's the case, then at least have fun with them.
One day, maybe we'll see another football headline....

BRA PET GETS SIX TOUCHES!

'Bra Pet' would be Brandon Pettigrew.
But, I digress.
By the way, Harry the Hat got his nickname for perpetually adjusting his hat during an at bat. He played before helmets were made mandatory.

Anyway, Alou was traded to the Pirates where he would hit no less than .330 for the next four years. Even winning that batting championship in 1966.
Harry 'The Hat' changed Alou. He changed him from a slashing type hitter to a hitter with a downward swing on the ball.
A worm killer.
I don't know what Alou's ground ball rate was for those four years. They didn't keep track back then. If it didn't lead baseball all four years though, count me surprised.
Alou became a master at hitting home plate with a ball. He was 'small ball' before small ball became a term.
We may call a player of Alou's ilk, lucky. But we also recognize the skill it took to do that over a four year period.

The Alou story was mostly to talk about a guy I consider 'lucky' if he were to win a batting championship.
Chris Johnson.
I've seen a lot of Braves games this year. I've had to suffer listening to Chip Carey and the rest of his 'The Braves Walk on Water' cohorts in watching the Braves. Most of the time, turning off the volume to save me aggravation.
Never have I seen one hitter hit so many ground balls through infields like Chris Johnson.
Johnson could be a .245 hitter this year. He's not. Fate has directed his bouncing balls to the right places on the infield.
Johnson has something better than Harry The Hat. He has Baseball God on his side.
Johnson's batted balls (ouch, this sentence starts out as hurtful) have the eyes of rabbits looking for grass.


I don't need BABIP to see how lucky Johnson has been this year.
But, I peeked anyway.
It's over .400
I wasn't surprised.
Even with all these grass hungry ground balls, Johnson hasn't had much of a season. I have him on both my Main teams and have benched him several times. He only has 10 homers. From a corner position, that is like eating brussel sprouts.
He only has 64 rbi and worse, 50 runs.
His RUBI, a better fantasy indicator, is just .222.

Johnson is a funny case. He was drafted by his owners as a possible power guy. Helping in two and a half stats. Homers, rbi, while not hurting them with a .270 batting average.
Instead, he becomes a one category player.
A Baseball God driven category at that.
So.....Where does he go in drafts next year?
Well, this could be the first time that any batting Champ is soundly pummeled by the fantasy community.
Even Matt Dominguez has more rbi and runs than Johnson this year.
And more importantly, Baseball God does not usually help a player for more than a year.
And this is where a guy like Harry the Hat trumps baseball God.
Alou's skill of beating the ball into the ground and running out an infield hit would serve him beyond his only batting Championship.
Johnson won't be as 'lucky'.

[Edwards Kings]

Johnson's batted balls (ouch, this sentence starts out as hurtful) have the eyes of rabbits looking for grass.

Reminded me of an old joke...

An Scotsman moves to the USA and finally attends his first baseball game.

The first batter approached the batters box, in obvious disdain for working the count (ok, I added that part), took a few swings and then hit a double.

Everyone was on their feet screaming "Run," "Run."

The next batter hit a single and the Scotsman listened as the crowd again cheered "RUN, RUN."

The Scotsman enjoyed the game and began screaming with the fans.

The fifth batter came up and four straight pitches were called balls by the umpire (Votto, is that you?).

The umpire called "Walk" and the batter started his slow trot to first base.

The Scotsman stood up and screamed, "R-R-Run ye bastard, Run!"

The people around him began laughing. Embarrassed and confused, the Scotsman sat back down.

A friendly fan noted the man's embarrassment, leaned over and explained, "He doesn't have to run, he's got four balls."

The Scotsman stood up and screamed, "Walk with Pride, laddie, Walk with Pride!"

[DOUGHBOYS]

HA!
Excellent! I've never heard that one and will be telling it for the next couple of weeks.
Thanks Wayne