Joe Leonard Morgan (born September 19, 1943) is a
former
Major League Baseball
second baseman.
He was inducted into
the Baseball Hall of
Fame
in 1990. Morgan is currently an
Emmy-winning
commentator for
ESPN
television and radio.
Biography
Playing career
Raised in
Oakland
, and nicknamed "Little Joe" for his diminutive 5'7"
stature, Morgan was a standout at Castlemont High School
before being signed by the Houston Colt .45's as an amateur free agent
in . Early in his career, he had trouble with his swing
because he kept his back elbow down too low. Teammate
Nellie Fox suggested to Joe that while at the
plate he should flap his back arm like a chicken to keep his elbow
up. Morgan followed the advice, and his flapping arm became a
familiar sight to baseball fans.
Cincinnati Reds
Although Morgan played with distinction for Houston, the Astros
wanted more power in their lineup. Additionally, manager
Harry Walker considered Morgan a
troublemaker.
As a result they traded Morgan to the
Cincinnati Reds as part of a blockbuster
multi-player deal on November 29, 1971, announced at baseball's
winter meetings. While the Astros got power-hitting
Lee May, the deal is now considered one of the most
one-sided trades in baseball history. To this day it is considered
an epoch-making deal for Cincinnati and one of the worst trades in
Astros' history. Included in the deal to the Reds were
César Gerónimo (who became their
regular center fielder) and
Jack
Billingham, who soon joined the Reds pitching rotation as a
leading starter. Veteran infielder, Dennis Menke along with
outfielder Ed Armbrister. In addition to May, all star second
baseman Tommy Helms and outfielder/pinch hitter Jimmy Stewart went
to the Astros. The deal facilitated a shift in Reds team philosophy
towards speed over power, with Morgan and outfielder
Pete Rose now two key figures batting
back-to-back. Morgan added unusual home run power (at that time)
for a second baseman to outstanding speed on the basepaths and
excellent defense.
After joining
The Big Red
Machine, Morgan's career reached a new level. This includes
eight consecutive
All-Star Game
appearances (1972-1979) to go along with his 1966 and 1970
appearances with Houston.
Morgan, along with teammates
Pete Rose,
Johnny Bench,
Tony Pérez, and
Dave Concepción, led the Reds to
consecutive championships in the
World
Series. He drove in the winning run in Game 7 of the
1975 World Series, now ranked as one of
the greatest World Series of all time. Morgan was also the
National League MVP in and . He was the first
second baseman in the history of the National League to win the MVP
back to back.
Morgan was an extremely capable batter—especially in clutch
situations. While his lifetime average was only .271, he hit
between .288 and .327 during his peak years with the Reds.
Additionally, he drew many walks, resulting in an excellent .392 on
base percentage. He also hit 268 home runs to go with 449 doubles
and 96 triples, excellent power for a middle infielder of his era,
and was considered by some the finest base stealer of his
generation (689 steals at greater than 80% success rate). Besides
his prowess at the plate and on the bases, Morgan was an
exceptional infielder, and captured the
Gold Glove Award from to .
After his career ended, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds
Hall of Fame in , and his jersey number 8 was retired.
Later career
In , he returned to
Houston to help the young Astros
win the
NL West. The Astros
then lost the
National League
Championship Series to the
Philadelphia Phillies.
Morgan went to the
San Francisco
Giants for the next two seasons. It was his home run in the
last game of the
season that eliminated the
Dodgers from the
division race. He won the 1982
Willie
Mac Award for his spirit and leadership. Then, he went to the
Phillies where he rejoined ex-teammates
Pete
Rose and
Tony Pérez. After
losing to the
Baltimore
Orioles in the
World Series,
Morgan finished his career with the
Oakland Athletics.
Legacy
In the
New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract,
Bill James named Morgan the best second
baseman in baseball history, ahead of #2
Eddie Collins and #3
Rogers Hornsby. He also named Morgan as the
"greatest percentages player in baseball history," due to his
strong fielding percentage, stolen base percentage,
walk-to-strikeout ratio, and walks
per plate appearance. That data was shown with the caveat that many
players in baseball history could not be included in the formula
due to lack of data.
In ,
Ryne Sandberg came out of
retirement and the next year broke Morgan's record for most home
runs by a second baseman. Morgan was unable to attend Sandberg's
Hall of Fame induction due to family commitments, leading to
speculation that Morgan disapproved of the act.
In , Morgan ranked Number 60 on
The Sporting News' list of the 100
Greatest Baseball Players, and was nominated as a finalist for the
Major League
Baseball All-Century Team.
Broadcasting career
Local gigs
Morgan started his broadcasting career in for the
Cincinnati Reds. On September
11, 1985, Morgan along with his television broadcasting partner
Ken Wilson were on hand to
call
Pete Rose's record breaking 4,192
career hit.
A year
later, Morgan started a nine year stint as an announcer for the
San Francisco Giants. Morgan
added one more local gig when he joined the
Oakland Athletics' broadcasting team for
the
1995 season.
ABC Sports
From - , Morgan served as an announcer for
ABC, where he helped announce
Monday Night and
Thursday Night
Baseball games, the
1988 American League
Championship Series with
Gary Bender
and
Reggie Jackson, and served as a
field reporter for the
1989 World
Series.
Morgan was on the field at San Francisco
's Candlestick Park
alongside Hall of Famer Willie Mays (whom Morgan
was getting set to interview just prior to the earthquake) the
moment the Loma Prieta earthquake
hit at 5:04 p.m.
NBC Sports
From – , Morgan teamed with
Bob Costas
and (until 1997)
Bob Uecker to call
baseball games on
NBC
(and in association with
The
Baseball Network from 1994-1995). During this period, Morgan
helped call three World Series (
1995,
1997, and
1999) and four All-Star Games (
1994,
1996,
1998, and
2000). Morgan had
spent a previous ( - ) stint with NBC calling regional
Game of the Week
telecasts.
ESPN
Currently, Morgan is a member of
ESPN's lead baseball broadcast
team alongside
Jon Miller. Besides
teaming with Miller for
Sunday
Night Baseball telecasts, Morgan has also teamed with
Miller for World Series broadcasts on
ESPN Radio. In 2006, he called
the
Little League World
Series Championship with
Brent
Musburger and
Orel Hershiser on
ABC, replacing the recently fired
Harold Reynolds.
During the 2006 MLB
playoffs, the network had Morgan, their lead baseball analyst, pull
double duty by calling the first half of the Mets–Dodgers playoff game at
Shea
Stadium
before traveling across town to call the Yankees–Tigers night game at Yankee
Stadium
.
He was also a broadcaster in the
MLB
2K series from
2K Sports.
Although Joe Morgan's partnership with Jon Miller began in , it
wasn't the first time that Morgan associated himself with ESPN.
From 1985–1988, Morgan called
college
baseball games for ESPN.
In his time at ESPN, Morgan has been a vocal critic of
statistics-based analysis of baseball, sometimes called
sabermetrics.
Michael Lewis' book
Moneyball, which describes
Billy Beane's sabermetric-influenced approach to
running the
Oakland Athletics, is
a particular target of Morgan's criticism. He has previously
refused to read the book reasoning that statistics are not more
helpful than observation.
In 2009,
Sports Illustrated's
Joe Posnanski spoke about the
perceived disparity between Morgan's celebrated playing style and
his on-air persona:
- "The disconnect between Morgan the player and Morgan the
announcer is one that I’m just not sure anyone has figured.
Bill James tells a great story about how
one time Jon Miller showed Morgan Bill’s
New Historical Baseball Abstract, which has Morgan ranked
as the best second baseman of all time, ahead of Rogers Hornsby. Well, Morgan starts griping
that this was ridiculous, that Hornsby hit .358 in his career, and
Morgan never hit .358, and so on. And there it was, perfectly
aligned—Joe Morgan the announcer arguing against Joe Morgan the
player."
Career statistics
See also
Notes
- Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.152,
David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New
York, NY, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
- Bill James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball
Abstract (Washington: Simon & Shuster, 2001),
479-481.
- Morgan's absence at Ryne's day odd
- http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/104775
- USATODAY.com - Networks take N.Y. minute to decide
baseball's two postseason money series
-
http://www.sfweekly.com/2005-07-06/news/say-it-ain-t-so-joe/
-
http://www.gelfmagazine.com/archives/the_sportswriting_machine.php
External links
- San Francisco Chronicle - Joe Morgan's
clutch homer knocked the Dodgers out of the pennant race on the
final day of the 1982 season and made the Braves champions.
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