You Are The Manager

Forgotten bits of The Sporting News

I’ve got a really quick post for you today, since I’m still in the process of setting things up again on my computer.

While scanning through issues of The Sporting News from 1949, I came across an interesting section embedded near the center. I thought that those who are interested in baseball replays might be particularly interested in these features.

Here’s one good example:

Don’t worry about how illegible the rules are at the bottom. If you were managing the Phillies in this situation, down by 2 in the bottom of the 7th at home, what would you do? There’s nobody out and there are two runners on.

Thanks to what we know about Baseball Reference, we can probably figure out a good answer. This particular contest form was printed in mid-April 1949. Normally I’d say that we should use the 1948 Phillies statistics — but there’s one problem: Eddie Waitkus didn’t join the Phillies until 1949. So we’ll take a look at the 1949 Phillies and try to figure this one out.

As you can see, we’re probably in the middle of the order. I suppose that was common knowledge to fans at the time, though I think you’d really have to pay attention to the boxscores to know this sort of thing off the top of your head.

I took a look at pitcher Ewell Blackwell to see if he offered any clues. He was a strikeout pitcher in 1948, though he wasn’t particularly impressive otherwise.

My guess here is that the best course of action would simply be to swing away. I don’t see any need to bunt with the heart of the order coming up. It also doesn’t make too much sense to play for a single run in this situation, since you’re at home and down by two.

What do you think?