View Full Version : Leading off: Carl Furillo???
shlevine42
12-27-2007, 09:53 AM
I was looking at the box score of a certain game played on October 3rd, 1951
and noticed that Carl Furillo batted lead-off.
We know that Charlie Dressen was the author of several decisions that would cross a rabbi’s eyes,
but I had forgotten that for some inexplicable reason, he apparently had Furillo batting lead-off
for that entire year. (Carl led the league in plate appearances and at-bats in ’51).
Furillo…a solid RBI man who thrived in the 6th or 7th spot in the batting order.
Furillo…a notorious first-ball hitter who almost never walked.
What was Dressen thinking by batting him first???
I was looking at the box score of a certain game played on October 3rd, 1951
and noticed that Carl Furillo batted lead-off.
We know that Charlie Dressen was the author of several decisions that would cross a rabbi’s eyes,
but I had forgotten that for some inexplicable reason, he apparently had Furillo batting lead-off
for that entire year. (Carl led the league in plate appearances and at-bats in ’51).
Furillo…a solid RBI man who thrived in the 6th or 7th spot in the batting order.
Furillo…a notorious first-ball hitter who almost never walked.
What was Dressen thinking by batting him first???
In 1950 he had 620 Ab. did he lead-off then?
shlevine42
12-27-2007, 03:11 PM
In 1950 he had 620 Ab. did he lead-off then?
He must have.
In no other seasons did he approach 600 AB.
My clearest memory of the Dodger batting order has him batting 7th -- right after Hodges and just in front of Cox.
As much as I liked Carl, he was NOT my idea of the ideal lead-off man.
Once again, a Dressen decision leaves me scratching my head.
He must have.
In no other seasons did he approach 600 AB.
My clearest memory of the Dodger batting order has him batting 7th -- right after Hodges and just in front of Cox.
As much as I liked Carl, he was NOT my idea of the ideal lead-off man.
Once again, a Dressen decision leaves me scratching my head.
Dressen, could make any half a-ssed baseball fan scratching their heads. I certainly didn't mean to imply that your a half a-ssed baseball fan, bad choice of words, sorry.
VIBaseball
02-06-2009, 07:58 AM
I did a quick random sample of box scores for 1950. Unfortunately, Retrosheet doesn't go back that far yet, and The Sporting News is no longer available online. So box scores were a little hard to come by.
I saw Reese, Cox, and Bobby Morgan leading off, among others. Furillo was typically fifth or sixth in the order, but that's not to say he didn't lead off some that year.
Skoonj led off in 91 games in '51 (NY Times, March 5, 1952). He led the NL in homers to lead off the game with 5. I haven't been able to find anything discussing Dressen's logic for this approach, though.