Wednesday, August 20, 2014

#76 Eddie Stanky



#76 Eddie Stanky
Progress: 1st of this card
128 of 407  31.4% complete
How acquired: $2.12 on ebay
Condition: poor

Eddie Stanky is a name I recognize, but prior to looking him up on baseball refrernce and wikipedia for purposes of this post, knew nothing about.  My bad.  This is a guy I should of known more about.  I'm not sure that I like him, but I certainly should have been more aware of his place in baseball.

 "He can't hit, can't run, can't field. He's no nice guy ... all the little SOB can do is win." -Leo Durocher

Here is some more lifted from his wiki page:

As a runner at third base with less than two out, he would station himself several feet back of the bag, in shallow left field. He would time the arc of any outfield fly and then take off running, step on third as the catch was being made and continue to run at full speed, making it almost impossible to throw him out at home, a tactic eventually outlawed as a result. He was also (in)famous for what came to be called "the Stanky maneuver", distracting opposing hitters by jumping up and down and waving his arms behind the pitcher from his second base position. Stanky was also a master of the "delayed steal" in which the runner feigns disinterest after the pitch; but instead of walking back to first breaks for second as soon as the infielders return to their normal positions. As Cardinal player-manager, he would hold up games close to being called on account of darkness or curfew when that would benefit his team, by walking leisurely to the mound from second base or the dugout (when not playing) after every pitch to confer with his pitcher, eventually resulting in the one-trip-per-inning rule.

Amazingly, he only led the league in being hit by pitch once.  

Stats: 11 seasons, 3x All-Star, 1,154 hits, 3x NL Walk Leader, 2x NL OBP Leader

Best Hall of Fame Showing: 1.1% 1960

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