Why Marginal Players Matter
Ralph Miller and the 1924 World Series
Why Marginal Players Matter
I recently replayed the 1924 World Series using Strat-O-Matic’s basic game.
I wanted to try to stick to original lineups as best as I could. That meant taking Roger Peckinpaugh out of the Washington lineup when he was injured:
Peckinpaugh was replaced by Ralph Miller, a player I’m certain you never heard of.
Miller played for the Phillies in 1920 and 1921, proving that he was a singles hitter without any other offensive skills:
Miller wound up joining the Senators sometime around July 14 of 1924:
And he really was a marginal player at best:
I haven’t found any evidence that Miller went back down to the minors. The Senators had won the pennant before he got his second start of the season on September 30, which gives you an idea of what they thought of his talents.
And he wound up starting games 4 and 5 of the World Series.
Miller went in for Peckinpaugh in the 3rd inning of game 3, after Roger got his injury. He also replaced Tommy Taylor at third base in the 7th game, which Peckinpaugh sat out. Roger did manage to come back for game 6, but gave way after going 2 for 2 with a walk and scoring one of Washington’s two runs.
After game 7 of the 1924 World Series, Miller never played another Major League Baseball again. He went 2 for 11 in that World Series, driving in two runs and walking once. That went along quite nicely with his 2 for 15 performance in the regular season, also with a walk.
So should Strat have given him a 1924 card?
I have to say no, Strat shouldn't have given him a card. 15 AB are just too small a sample size.
This actually wasn't an abstract question for me. I'm running a World Series tournament involving every World Series team since 1920. When I made out the 1924 Senators roster, I had to have them play with a 22 man roster. In almost every case, I will cut anyone with under 50 AB or 50 IP, but will make the occasional allowance if they won't get enough players. In the Senators' case, I did allow three players with 36-47 AB. It's more than I would have wanted, but a 22-man roster is just better than a 19-man one.
By the way, the Senators beat the 2005 White Sox in 6 games in their first round matchup and will face the 2018 Red Sox in the second round. It will take a while to get to that one, since I'm currently working my way through the 1st round, loser's bracket. It's a double elimination tournament, with the 104 World Series champions since 1920 starting off in the main bracket and then the 104 World Series losers starting in the loser's bracket, since they did lose their series.
I think it is always important to have a full representative roster; especially in this case where the player identified took part in the World Series at a level on par with his regular season.