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Mariners fans, do you smell that in the air? Fresh cut grass, hot dogs fresh off the grill, it’s the signs that another spring training is here and the baseball season is on the horizon. While the Seahawks kept me happy this winter, my one true love is finally coming out of hibernation; baseball season is here!

Now that spring training is finally in full swing, we can ask about what you all think so far. There’s been no shortage of exciting performances, fun at-bats, or eye-popping velocity from Mariners prospects so far this spring. Yes, it seems the Mariners have come to play with solid outings from top prospects like Cole Young, all the way to veteran players looking for a second act like Patrick Wisdom. The Mariners’ farm system seems ripe for harvest at a time when this team seems to be on the precipice of something great. I’m excited, but what I wanna hear from you is who has impressed you so far this spring? I know it’s difficult to say, obviously, you don’t watch every game, you can’t see every play, and as I’ve stated before, I can’t list every option in the survey, but let us know via the survey below who you think has been the most impressive so far this spring. If you feel compelled to shout out a player who you don’t see here, feel free to do so in the comments!

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mariners fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Though it’s not just the regular season that’s around the corner, the return of competitive baseball will actually be the World Baseball Classic! As you may remember, a couple of weeks ago, I asked you all what Mariner you thought would do the best in the tournament. The results were unsurprising, to me at least:

I will say it’s a little tough for Muñoz to be in this poll because he is a relief pitcher, but I wanted to include players from different nations, and at least one pitcher, and it wouldn’t have felt right leaving out Cal or Julio. I can’t say I disagree with the poll’s findings either. As I said previously, I’m hopeful Julio can light it up for the DR and come out hot for the Mariners. I am surprised Cal didn’t do better. One would think, after last season, he could get a huge wave of support in terms of consistency of performance, but I guess the Dumper doesn’t have the mesmerizing effect I thought – or maybe our poll voters are bigger believers in the DR team’s chances? Let us know, was Julio your choice? Do you think Cal is gonna light up the whole tournament? Or do you have a dark horse pick you have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to talk about? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Yesterday Great Britain played in their first tune-up game for the World Baseball Classic. That meant we got to see Harry Ford in a Great Britain jersey. Ford, who has British parents, has represented the country for a while and will do so again at the WBC. In the last WBC, Ford rose to the occasion, and he will look to do so again.

If the first exhibition against the Brewers is a sign of things to come, Ford will have a big tournament. He had three hits, including a homer in the game yesterday. While there was no video of the homers, the Nats got some photos of Ford rounding the bases. It was his first homer of the spring.

The Nats acquired Ford in a trade that sent Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners. Despite being one of the best catching prospects in baseball, Ford was blocked in Seattle due to the presence of Cal Raleigh. That made the Mariners open to trading the 71st ranked prospect for a reliever. Ford has a well rounded offensive profile that is led by his strong plate discipline. His power and contact skills are just average, but his great eye makes him a potentially above average hitter.

While Ford has been a good player in the minors over the years, he seems to rise to a new level when he puts on that Great Britain jersey. The last World Baseball Classic was Ford’s coming out party. Despite just turning 20, Ford was one of Britain’s top players in 2023. His signature moment was a clutch home run against Colombia in pool play. Ford actually hit two homers during pool play.

With another home run yesterday, it really seems like Ford brings the boom when he represents the UK. While Ford was the young kid on the team in 2023, he will be playing a leadership role for Great Britain this time around. He is the co-captain of the team, alongside Yankees star Jazz Chisholm. The fact he is able to play a leadership role at 23 years old is very impressive and speaks to his high character.

It is not like Britain is full of no-name players either. There are several big leaguers or former big leaguers on the roster. Many of those guys are older than Ford, but it was the new Nats catcher who became captain. 

An interesting wrinkle in all of this is that Ford is leaving camp in the middle of a positional battle. Ford is battling with Keibert Ruiz and Drew Millas for a spot on the Opening Day roster. Ruiz has actually hit well this spring, though his defense has been shaky. Millas has also been solid, so leaving camp could cost him a job. However, a big WBC could force the Nats into considering him for the starting job.

I hope Ford wins the starting job, and if he does not, I want him to get an opportunity pretty quickly. The Nats need new blood behind the plate, and that is why they traded for Ford in the first place. Keibert Ruiz has had chance after chance, but he has not been able to establish himself as a productive starter. Ford should get that chance sooner rather than later.

Given his performances in a Great Britain jersey, Ford seems poised for a big WBC. Hitting on the biggest stage would put a positive shine on him in this catcher battle. After his big day yesterday, I joked that Ford turns into Buster Posey when he puts that Great Britain jersey on.

The Nats only have a couple representatives at this WBC, and Ford is the most notable one. That means Nats fans’ eyes will be on the young catcher. Harry Ford seems like a young man who rises to the occasion, and he will have the opportunity to show that clutch gene again in the WBC. It would be very cool if he could lead the Brits on a Cinderella run in the WBC.

An outstanding hitter who started his career as a pitcher is involved in a trade between the Yankees and Red Sox. While this statement could be used to outline the career of the legendary Babe Ruth, it also rings true for the not-nearly-as-renowned Lefty O’Doul — a talented player in his own right and the next individual in our Birthday Series.

Francis Joseph “Lefty”O’Doul
Born: March 4, 1897 (San Francisco, CA)
Died: December 7, 1969 (San Francisco, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 1919-20, 1922

The San Francisco Giants are such a storied franchise in baseball that for those born around the turn of the century and even a bit older, it’s difficult to imagine a version of MLB without a team in the Bay Area. That being said, before the Dodgers and Giants moved to California in the late-1950s, there was still quality baseball played out in San Francisco. Few people could attest to that quite in such rich fashion as Lefty O’Doul, a late-blooming, MLB star and a legend of the San Francisco Seals, the Pacific Coast League team for which he played and managed.

Hardcore MLB trivia enthusiasts might know O’Doul as the record holder for most runs allowed in a single relief appearance, but his career went far beyond that curious bit of minutiae. If you’re curious about that specific game, back when he pitched for the Red Sox in 1923, O’Doul gave up an absurd 16 runs against Cleveland—only three of them earned due to a plethora of errors, which, of course, didn’t take the sting off that much.

Following his career in chronological order, O’Doul started out as a pitcher for the aforementioned Seals of the PCL and moved to the Des Moines Boosters, where he caught the eye of Yankee as a 20-year-old pitcher. O’Doul made the Yankees team in 1919 and spent a couple of seasons with the team, receiving minimal opportunities as a relief pitcher, failing to reach even 10 innings pitched in the two seasons. New York won 95 games in 1920 but still fell three short of Cleveland in the race for the American League pennant. In 24.2 innings for the Yanks from 1919-22, he had a 3.65 ERA and looked the part of a pitcher at the plate at .243/.282/.297 with a 55 OPS+.

New York made its first World Series in 1921 while O’Doul was farmed back to the Seals, and he appeared in eight games for the team that repeated as American League champs in ’22 (falling to the Giants in an all-Polo Grounds Wolrd Series in both years). O’Doul wasn’t around for the end of the latter year either, as he was shipped off to Boston in September of ’22 as the player-to-be-named-later of a July package deal that had seen the Yankees acquire Joe Dugan and Elmer Smith. In Boston, O’Doul struggled heavily the following year, allowing a 1.887 WHIP in a little over 50 innings pitched, playing for a team that finished 61-92-2.

Struggling to cope with the demands of pitching, O’Doul went back to the Pacific Coast League to try his hand at hitting. He hadn’t hit much in the majors for Boston, but in 1921 with the Seals, he’d caught eyes with a .338 average and a .529 slugging percentage in 75 games. Over a four-year stretch beginning in 1924 with the Salt Lake City Bees, he made a complete mockery of PCL pitching, never finishing the year with a batting average lower than .338, accruing over 2,500 PA across those four seasons in the California sun with Salt Lake City, Hollywood, and San Francisco. O’Doul hit .392 in ’24 and .378 in ’27, finishing runner-up for the batting crown in both seasons (the former by mere percentage points). Those superb averages and a 33-homer campaign in ’27 were a sign of things to come for O’Doul.

Picked up by the Giants after those outstanding numbers with the Seals in 1927, O’Doul hit the ground running in the bigs, managing a .319 average in a little under 400 plate appearances. Perhaps still a bit unsure of what exactly they had in this 31-year-old who had reinvented his career as a hitter, the Giants flipped O’Doul to the Phillies for Freddy Leach in a straight-up swap after 1928, one they’d come to regret.

O’Doul broke out as one of the game’s top players in 1929, finishing as the NL MVP runner-up and coming within an inch of hitting .400. O’Doul’s .398 average wasn’t all made of singles either; in fact, far from it. The San Francisco native hit 33 home runs and only missed out on the MVP award due to the magnificent efforts of the great Rogers Hornsby. Hornsby, who played for a far superior Cubs team that managed to make it all the way to the Fall Classic, a particularly meaningful distinction during that period. But O’Doul won the NL batting title and also led the Senior Circuit with a .465 OBP and the majors with a staggering 254 hits. That was just three knocks shy of George Sisler’s MLB record 257 in 1920 and remains third in MLB history behind only Sisler and 2004 Ichiro (262).

O’Doul took a couple of steps back, but remained a great player in 1930. As his team got worse, Philadelphia flipped him to the Brooklyn Robins, where he’d spend the next two-plus seasons, further cementing his legacy as a great hitter, including a top-three MVP finish in 1932, when he won his second and final batting title at .368.

As if in a twist of fate, O’Doul would get moved once again, this time back to Giants in June 1933. Hall of Fame Giants skipper John McGraw had retired the previous year, but he was enlisted to manage the first-ever NL All-Star team on July 6, 1933 at Comiskey Park, and he named O’Doul to the inaugural roster. (He grounded out as a pinch-hitter.) At age-36, O’Doul also got to play in his first Fall Classic that fall, and he singled to drive in two runs during his only at-bat as the Giants beat the Washington Senators in five to win the World Series.

O’Doul retired as a productive hitter in 1934, finishing that year with a .908 OPS in 197 PA. The left-hander walked away with an outstanding .349 career big-league batting average and .945 OPS in over 3,000 at-bats, having debuted as a full-time hitter in the majors after turning 30. It still stands as one of the more remarkable career comebacks in MLB history (with his career providing part of the inspiration for Roy Hobbs in “The Natural,” alongside Eddie Waitkus). Outside of the controversial Shoeless Joe Jackson, O’Doul has the highest average of any big-league regular not already enshrined in Cooperstown. He appeared on 10 different ballots from 1948-62 and again on Veterans Committee ballots in 2007 and 2022, most recently coming seven votes shy of induction in ’22.

Upon his retirement, O’Doul moved back to the Bay Area, where he managed the San Francisco Seals in the Pacific League for nearly two decades. There, he led his hometown team to six Pacific Coast League championships, including four in a row between 1943-46.

During his successful period at the helm of the Seals, O’Doul developed perhaps his most notable Yankee connection, working with a young center fielder by the name of Joe DiMaggio. The future “Yankee Clipper” had already agreed to join New York for 1936, but his final season with the Seals corresponded with O’Doul’s first as their skipper, and he hit an O’Doul-esque .398.

While the lack of a larger sample ultimately prevented O’Doul from joining Cooperstown, he was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame (the Lefty O’Doul Bridge near Oracle Park is named in his memory), the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame, and in 2002, the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. On top of his fascinating career on the field, O’Doul, who served in the United States Army, played a key role in helping baseball grow in Japan with several tours throughout the country to help promote the sport. O’Doul helped name their oldest and most successful pro team, the Yomiuri Giants, upon their founding in 1934. The club that would one day star the likes of Sadaharu Oh and Hideki Matsui retain the MLB Giants’ orange, black, and white colors to this day.

O’Doul’s first trip to Japan was back in 1931 as part of a group that included Lou Gehrig and Lefty Grove, and he returned at least 10 times for extended visits throughout the rest of his life — including a meaningful trip in 1949 to help thaw relations between Japan and the U.S. following the all-around devastation of World War II.

O’Doul lived long enough to see his Giants come to him, as the New York club moved west in 1958 to become the San Francisco Giants. They played their first two seasons in his old stomping grounds of Seals Stadium, and O’Doul led his last exhibition tour in 1960 when he brought the Giants to Japan. At the end of the decade, he passed away due to a stroke at age 72. He’s a somewhat-forgotten name today in New York baseball circles, but the ripple effects he had on baseball in San Francisco and Japan will last forever.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

Jonathan Pintaro went undrafted out of high school and spent five seasons at Shorter University, D2 school in the Gulf South Conference located in Rome, Georgia, without being selected by a Major League Baseball team. The 24-year-old still had the passion for baseball and refused to let his dream die, signing with the Glacier Range Riders of the Pioneer League for the 2023 season. Still, he had no takers. With his dream holding on by a thread, he decided to return to Glacier Range for the 2024 season. He made three appearances, all starts, posting a 4.40 ERA in 14.0 innings, with 13 hits allowed, 1 walk 1, and 23 strikeouts, and finally found a suitor. On June 3, 2024, the New York Mets officially signed Pintaro to a minor league contract.

The right-hander was assigned to the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones and pitched in Coney Island for two months, making 7 starts and 9 total appearances with a 2.50 ERA in 36.0 innings, allowing 28 hits, walking 14, and striking out 35. He was promoted to the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies in late July and was just as effective in the two months he was there, making 7 starts and posting a 3.18 ERA in 34.0 innings with 26 hits allowed, 10 walks, and 34 strikeouts. He was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse for his final start of the season, throwing four scoreless innings there, and posted a 2.68 ERA in 74.0 innings on the season in totality, allowing 58 hits, walking 28, and striking out 75.

Following the conclusion of the season, the Mets sent him to the Arizona Fall League, where he allowed 4 earned runs in 10.1 innings, good for a 3.48 ERA, with 9 hits allowed, 6 walks, and 10 strikeouts.

He began the 2025 season with Binghamton and once again put up solid results. In 42.1 innings over eleven starts, the right-hander posted a 3.40 ERA with 32 hits allowed, 15 walks, and 57 strikeouts. On June 24, Pintaro was promoted to Triple-A, and a day later, the New York Mets selecting his contract, showing that perseverance does pay off; almost a year to the day prior, he had been pitching in Kalispell, Montana in front of roughly 2,000 people; now, he would be pitching in front of almost twenty times that amount in the capital of the world.

It was expected that Pintaro would pitch out of the Mets’ bullpen and the big 6’3”, 235-pound right-handed did exactly that; he appeared in a single game against the Atlanta Braves on June 25, coming out of the bullpen in the ninth inning of a 7-1 lead, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks in 0.2 innings. He was optioned back down to Triple-A Syracuse and remained there for the remainder of the season, posting a 5.27 ERA in 39.2 innings over 17 games, five of which were starts.

Pintaro did not exactly impress in his brief MLB cup-of-coffee, nor did he put up particularly good numbers with the Syracuse Mets for the rest of the season, but as the Mets identified when they signed him out of the Pioneer League in 2024, the right-hander has the stuff to get MLB outs when he has his stuff working. The right-hander throws fastballs nearly 75% of the time, mixing in a high-spin cutter, a mid-90s fastball, and a low-90s sinker. He supplements those pitches with a mid-to-high-80s changeup that gives him a north-south option and a low-to-mid-80s sweeping slider that gives him a horizontal option.

Already on the 40-man roster with remaining options, Pintaro has an outside shot of making the major league bullpen if he is really impressive during spring training, but odds are, he will be optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to begin the year and will be one of a handful of internal starting or bullpen options the team can activate with when and if the need arises.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Rangers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Opening Day is getting closer and closer. The 2026 season is almost here. Let’s do a Rangers Reacts Survey that asks about it.

Who do you believe will lead the team in home runs in 2026?

Cast your vote below…

Like the undulating haze on a flat desert road to nowhere during a long road trip, the Athletics’ farm system is a mirage. Also like a long road trip on a flat desert road to nowhere, you had better strap in and prepare to be bored if the A’s are your second team. 

The Leo

Shortstop Leo De Vries was a huge get for the organization, the headliner for the bombshell Mason Miller trade, who arrived alongside three right-handed pitchers. From that haul, only one (Braden Nett) lands in the A’s top 10 prospects per Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America. De Vries is a legit No. 1 prospect candidate, with most giving him a 60 grade. Who wouldn’t love a teenage, high-floor, switch-hitting shortstop with superb bat-to-ball skills, a little latent pop, and good enough defense to stick there for now, even if he’s projected to eventually move off shortstop in their farm system? 

Last season, he ran a 125 wRC+ in 2025 split between High-A and Double-A as an 18-year-old, including a 144 wRC+ in his 20 games in Double-A. He hit 15 home runs, showing some future pop, and also went double digits on steals with 11. He also flashed some plus-potential with the glove and some soft hands, something he’s continued to demonstrate in Spring Training this year. 

De Vries is a clear-cut gem sitting atop the A’s farm system. He has potential to be a .270+, 30 home run, 20 steal player with strong defense. Considering his age and the Athletics’ approximate window, they shouldn’t rush him, especially considering the rest of their farm system. In a perfect world, De Vries would debut in 2028, ready to lead the Las Vegas Athletics to potential playoff contention. Realistically, I could see him getting a cup of coffee with a couple of injuries this season, and he will likely have the starting job this time next year.

Get ready for this guy to be a royal pain in the ass.

The Lefties

There’s either one or two other top-100 prospects in the system, depending who you ask: left-handed starting pitchers Gage Jump and Jamie Arnold. 

The big 4 prospect evaluators are split on which they are higher on. 

2024 Comp B pick Jump is a strike-thrower who has three good pitches, his mid-90’s fastball, a sharp slider and a single-plane curveball. A highly-regarded prep prospect, he elected to go to college, and saw his stock rise for it. He might have a slightly higher average evaluation than Arnold, likely due to his more conventional and projectable profile. You should expect to see Jump debuting later in 2026, unless he dominates out of spring training – the A’s current rotation doesn’t necessarily preclude that possibility.

2025 1st-rounder Arnold is a little more of a peculiar profile, an ultra low-slot lefty, throwing a solid fastball with a flat approach angle and a gnarly east-west sweeper that should trouble even right-handed hitters. Fangraphs published an interesting interview with him, and noted that he fell just outside of their Top 100 list.

He portrays himself as a bit of a tinkerer – he currently uses two change-ups, an outlier-kick change and a split change, as part of his six-pitch arsenal. Consider him a high-ceiling low-floor guy. 

The L-ugly

So, why is this system a mirage? It’s the depth. The farm has been ranked in the 10-14 range generally speaking, but that’s been buoyed by having three top-100, even top-50 guys. Most systems don’t have that. However, beyond Leo and the Lefties, it’s looking grim. The big-league team will likely improve and enter a window of contention starting next year, but it’s fair to say that barring huge breakout seasons from the depth of this system or a generational draft, I don’t see how this isn’t a bottom-10 or bottom-5 system by the 2027 Draft.

In honor of the Philadelphia Phillies playing host to the 2026 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park, we here at The Good Phight are launching a yearlong series that focuses on the history of the Phillies and the All-Star Game. Check back regularly for posts about the Phillies participation (or lack thereof) in the Midsummer Classic over its history.

We’re back to wrap up the rest of the long list of one-time All-Stars on the 1940s Phillies teams. Here’s part one of the 1940s, and here’s part one of this series with the 1930s. Without further ado, let’s wrap up this collection of good individual player seasons wasted on horrific teams.

Babe Dahlgren, 1943

The story of Ellsworth Tenney Dahlgren is one of a player who lost his chance to play in the majors in no small part due to something completely out of his control. His career started with the Boston Red Sox who purchased Dahlgren from the Mission Reds of the Pacific Coast League in 1934. The 23-year-old first baseman debuted with Boston in 1935, playing in 149 games and hitting a respectable .263 with nine home runs. Nevertheless, Dahlgren was sent to Triple-A Syracuse early in 1946 as future Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx arrived in a trade from the A’s and took his spot at first. Dahlgren made his displeasure of the trade known, as he claimed he was too valuable to be sent back to the minors and would rather be traded if Foxx was to have the first base job.

Fortunately for Dahlgren, his wish to find a new club was granted in the spring of 1937. But the monkey’s paw curled, as he was bought by the Yankees who were looking for insurance because their first baseman, Lou Gehrig, was in the middle of a holdout. Dahlgren found a new home but was still blocked for any significant playing time. When Gehrig and the Yankees eventually bridged the $19,000 gap in his contract, Dahlgren was once again sent to the minors, but this time with the task of learning third base. He would find his way back to the Yankees in 1938 but only appeared in 27 games. Dahlgren finally became the Yankees starting first baseman on May 2nd, 1939, notably the game that ended Lou Gehrig’s iron man streak of 2,130 consecutive games played. Gehrig, deteriorating due to ALS, requested to be taken out of the lineup, and Dahlgren was ready to step in to the enormous shoes, going 2-5 on the day with a home run.

But Dahlgren’s life would forever change in 1940. Despite Dahlgren appearing in every regular season game and hitting .264 with 12 home runs, Yankees manager Joe McCarthy blamed the first baseman for costing New York the pennant and pointed to a particular loss to Cleveland where Dahlgren committed an error. McCarthy told John Drebinger of The New York Times that “Dahlgren doesn’t screw up that play if he wasn’t a marijuana smoker.” That comment started a lifetime of unsubstantiated rumors that Dahlgren was a frequent marijuana user, something he vehemently denied.

Dahlgren was released by the Yankees despite a good 1940 season and spent the next two seasons playing for four different teams. He ended 1942 with the Dodgers who then traded him to the Phillies prior to the 1943 season. The impetus of the trade was a dispute with Brooklyn that involved Branch Rickey asking Dahlgren in a meeting if he was a marijuana smoker, something that outraged Dahlgren. So, Rickey traded him to Philadelphia, where he became an All-Star for the first and only time in his career after hitting .323 in the first half. Dahlgren didn’t start in the All-Star game at his shared home stadium of Shibe Park, but he did appear as a pinch hitter in the sixth and grounded into a double play. He ultimately went 0-2 as his NL team fell 5-3 to the AL in the first All-Star game played in Philadelphia and the first one to be played at night under the lights.

Dahlgren went back to the Phillies and finished the year hitting .287 across 136 games. But 1943 was his only season in Philadelphia, as he was traded to the Pirates following the season. Rampant rumors of his marijuana usage continued to follow Dahlgren, so much so that he went to Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis in 1944 and asked to be drug tested, becoming the first player to do so. Landis was not able to do much to help end the rumors though, as he died on November 25th, 1944.

Dahlgren played two more years in the Majors before embarking on a postretirement career that involved ownership of a minor league team, scouting, bringing Little League Baseball to Arcadia, California, and song writing. However, he was never able to escape the marijuana rumors, leading his grandson to write a book entitled “Rumor in Town: A Grandson’s Promise to Right a Wrong” in 2007 to try and put an end to the rumor once and for all.

Ken Raffensberger, 1944

Stop me if you’ve heard something like this before, but Ken Raffensberger was an above average pitcher who was cursed to play for losing teams, especially the 1940s Phillies. Perhaps this was the cosmic payment his Pennsylvania Dutch father had to pay for receiving his wish of a lefthanded pitcher for a first born. Despite playing for a high school without a baseball team that he dropped out after his junior year, Raffensberger signed a professional contract with the Cardinals in 1937 after pitching American Legion and semi-pro ball. It wasn’t long before Raffensberger found himself at the highest level of the Cardinals minor leagues in Rochester, and he was soon invited to big league spring training in 1939. He made his MLB debut not much later, pitching a scoreless inning of relief on April 25th, 1939, at the age of 21.

But Raffensberger found himself back in Rochester for the rest of the 1939 season where he posted his second straight season of 15 wins. The Cardinals decided to trade him to the Cubs in December however, in exchange for two players and cash considerations. Raffensberger was pleased by the trade, as he told his hometown York, Pennsylvania newspaper The Gazette and Daily that he was “tickled” and added “You see I know they’re short on left handers and I confidently feel that with exception of Larry French, I’m as good as any left hander the Cubs will have in camp this spring.”

Raffensberger appeared in just 49 games with the Cubs in 1940, mostly being used as a relief pitcher. His 3.38 ERA across 114.2 IP was impressive for a 22-year-old, but it wasn’t good enough to earn Raffensberger more than 10 games with the Cubs the following season, as he spent most of 1941 in the Pacific Coast League. Raffensberger remained with Los Angeles Angels of the PCL for another two full seasons despite winning a total of 36 games and sporting ERAs of 3.46 and 2.14.

Luckily(?) for Raffensberger, his performance did finally earn him another crack at the Majors, except now it was in Philadelphia with the Phillies. He was acquired by the Phillies along with Cubs first baseman Glenn David Russell in exchange for cash and two players to be named later. It was originally planned for both newly acquired players to not make their Phillies debut until 1944, but Raffensberger was called up on September 29th for a start against the Reds. He performed well, going eight innings and allowing only one run on seven hits, but Cincinnati’s Johnny Vander Meer, of two consecutive no-hitters fame, was better, hurling a complete game shutout with nine strikeouts, sending the Phillies to a 3-0 loss.

When the calendar turned to 1944, the Phillies were looking to continue their upswing, as they improved from being dead last with 109 losses in 1942 to only 90 losses and next to last in 1943. Raffensberger was primed to be a big reason for said theoretical improvement. He held up his end of the bargain, turning in the best season of his career to date and making the 1944 All-Star team at Forbes Field as the Phillies lone representative.

Raffensberger ended up pitching two scoreless innings in the game while allowing one hit with two strikeouts. He actually earned the win for that performance, as he left in the top of the fifth when the score was 1-0 AL, but the NL plated four in the bottom of the fifth and went on to win 7-1. Unfortunately for Raffensberger, the Phillies did not hold up their end of the improving angle, as the 1944 Phillies settled back into last place with 92 losses and even saddled Raffensberger with a league high 20 losses despite a 3.06 ERA across 258.2 IP.

The now 27-year-old lefty returned to the Phillies for just five games in 1945 after a quick five-month service with the Navy. Raffensberger turned in another solid effort for a losing team in 1946 before a slow start to 1947 earned him a trip out of Philadelphia and to Cincinnati. That’s where he would pitch the final full seven seasons of his MLB career. Over that span, Raffensberger went 83-94 with a 3.60 ERA for the Reds. In return, the Phillies received catcher Al Lakeman who appeared in 87 career games with the Phillies and hit .160.

Andy Seminick, 1949

A mainstay catcher for the 1940s Phillies, Seminick would probably be remembered as more of the Phillies lifer he was if he played in an era where there was more winning in Philadelphia. Nicknamed “The Mad Russian” due to his aggressive playing style and his status as the son of two Russian immigrants, Seminick spent twelve seasons total with the Phillies from 1943-1951 and from 1955 to 1957. The team averaged just under 70 wins per season during his tenure.

He dropped out of high school at 17 to play semi-professional baseball and work in the mines of his Muse, Pennsylvania town rather than attend Duquesne University and play football. Despite his father and brothers working for the same mining company, Seminick was the only one of his family who physically worked inside the mines. He suffered a back injury after stepping on some coal in 1940 and decided to be done with mining and focus solely on baseball.

Seminick spent the next few years playing independent ball and working various jobs including as a meatcutter and running a bulldozer at a defense plant after a knee injury disqualified him from the military. The Phillies tried to purchase Seminick’s contract from his semipro team the Knoxville Smokies in 1943, but Bill Veeck, then with the Triple-A Milwaukee Brewers, obtained Seminick’s rights first for $15,000. But Veeck then immediately sold Seminick to the Phillies anyway for $35,ooo. It must also be noted, the reason Seminick started playing catcher in Knoxville despite originally being a utility infielder is that the Phillies purchased Knoxville’s starting catcher Bob Finley earlier in 1943.

Seminick made his MLB debut on September 14th, 1943, in a game against the Giants that ended in a 4-4 tie after ten innings, quickly acquainting him to what life would be like with the Phillies. He collected his first big league hit with a home run to left in the second half of a double header the next day, snapping an 0-8 to begin his career. Seminick followed his Knoxville teammate Finley’s lead once again, as both catchers collected their first hit in the second day of their career with home runs to left field. However, Seminick broke a bone in his wrist a few days later after falling over the mound while tracking a pop-up. He did not tell his manager and convinced the team trainer to keep it quiet so he could finish his rookie season. Seminick ultimately played 22 games in 1943 and hit .181.

1944 began with Seminick breaking camp with the Phillies but ultimately being demoted to Double-A on June 18th due to his weak hitting. That is where he excelled with the Buffalo Bisons, hitting .273 with 14 home runs in 87 games before ending the season once again in Philadelphia. That’s where he would stay for all of 1945 as the backup catcher, quickly becoming the target of new manager Ben Chapman’s frustration. Chapman frequently berated Seminick over his defense behind the plate. But with the arrival of two former catchers to the coaching staff in Cy Perkins and Benny Bengough for 1946, Seminick’s defense improved enough to keep his vastly improving hitting in the lineup. He secured the starting catcher’s job that year and ran with it, hitting .247 with 38 home runs from 1946-1948. Nevertheless, he was frequently booed in Philadelphia due to his defensive lapses, so much so that three local teenage girls started the official “Andy Seminick 21 Fan Club,” producing their own newsletter and hosting various days of celebration for Seminick at the ballpark.

Their attempt at positive reinforcement seemed to help Seminick in 1949, as he started on a torrid pace, hitting .274 with 13 home runs through the first half of the year, earning him a selection to the NL All-Star team. The 28-year-old catcher was in the starting lineup that day at Ebbets Field for the NL, batting eighth in a lineup that featured Pee-Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, and Ralph Kiner. On the mound throwing to Seminick was Warren Spahn who only lasted 1.1 innings and surrendered 4 runs. Seminick had two plate appearances in the contest, getting hit in the elbow by a pitch in the second and grounding out in the third with the score tied 4-4. Roy Campanella then replaced Seminick as the NL ultimately went on to lose 11-7 thanks in part to Joe DiMaggio’s three RBIs.

Seminick cooled off a little after the break, hitting .212 with 11 home runs. But the Phillies finished in third place with an 81-73 record. It was Philadelphia’s first winning record since 1932 and the first time they crossed 80 wins since 1917. The team and Seminick continued to improve in 1950, as the Phils’ backstop hit a career-high .288 with a career-best .925 OPS and had his second straight seasons of 24 home runs while helping lead the Phillies to their first NL pennant since 1915. Seminick, then 29-years-old, was an elder statesman on the “Whiz Kids” but was third on the team in home runs and guided a pitching staff that featured young starters like Robin Roberts and Jim Konstanty to the best ERA (3.50) in all of baseball. Unfortunately for Seminick and the Whiz Kids, they were quickly dispatched in a sweep at the hands of the Yankees in the World Series.

Seminick regressed in 1951 and so did the Phillies, who finished the season in fifth place. He was then traded along with Dick Sisler to the Reds in a seven-player deal in December. That’s where Seminick would spend the next three and a half seasons before being traded back to the Phillies in April of 1955 where he would reassume starting catching duties. However, Seminick was relegated to a backup role by 1956 behind the better hitting and younger Stan Lopata. He started 1957 as a coach on the Phillies staff but was activated as a player in September due to injuries, appearing in eight games as a 36-year-old.

Seminick then embarked on a coaching career that led him back to the Phillies in 1967 and saw him manage a young Double-A MVP Greg Luzinski with the Reading Phillies in 1970. He later managed Mike Schmidt and Bob Boone with the Eugene Emeralds of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League in 1972. It was Seminick who moved Boone to catcher after the latter was originally an infielder. Seminick then converted into a role as a scout after being passed over for the Phillies manager job in favor of Danny Ozark in 1973. He would remain with the Phillies in his new role as a scout until his retirement in 1986 at the age of 66. Seminick is third among all Phillies catchers in career home runs with 123 and fifth in career WAR with 16.4.

Sources

Baseball-Reference.com

Bill Nowlin, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography for Babe Dahlgren

Gerry Moore, The Boston Globe, April 4th, 1935

James C. O’Leary, The Boston Globe, Jan. 28, 1936

Bill King, The Atlanta Constitution, Jan. 14, 1936

James C. O’Leary, The Boston Globe, February 18th, 1937

Stan Baumgartner, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 13th, 1943

Warren Crobett, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography for Ken Raffensberger

The Gazette and Daily, Dec. 28th, 1939

The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 5th, 1943

The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sept. 30th, 1943

Orlo Robertson, The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 12th, 1944

C. Paul Rogers III, Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography for Andy Seminick

The Gazette and Daily, Sept. 16th, 1943

The Daily Item, Jun. 24th, 1944

Art Morrow, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jul. 13th, 1949

Mike Capuzzo, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mar. 27th, 1992

Stan Baumgartner, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 11th, 1951