Crusty Murray Chass has been oft-criticized for his anti-statistical analysis stance and “I’m not a blogger” platform, but what Chass does best is tell stories about some of the legends of the game. Chass has been around this game for a very, very long time and that’s afforded him a great perspective on some of the characters in baseball history. So while I vehemently disagree with his “get off my damn lawn” attitude towards guys like me, I am always happy to read something like this, where I learn a little bit about a player from baseball history who I knew little about prior:
For [Fred] Lynn to be eligible to play in the post-season should the Tigers make it, he had to be in Detroit by midnight that night. The Players Association later challenged the rule, but in the end the matter became moot because the Tigers finished a game behind the Red Sox.
But in the immediate aftermath of the trade, when the Tigers were still in first place, Lajoie had a decision to make. He knew that Lynn technically had not arrived in Chicago on his chartered jet from Anaheim, where the Orioles were playing, by midnight. He knew that the plane had not entered Chicago air space until 10 minutes after midnight.
Lajoie could have said that Lynn had beaten the deadline and, an official in the commissioner’s office said, the office would have accepted his word. But Lajoie chose to be honest.
“He didn’t get there,” Lajoie admitted the next day. “They were over the city limits about 10 after 12.” Asked why he didn’t fudge the time, Lajoie said, “I just felt a rule’s a rule. There’s no sense playing with it. That’s the rule and we’ll live by it.”
Good story about a man, Bill Lajoie, who I knew very little about. Nice work, Murray. Thanks for sharing that with us.
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