"I'll always remember a game Scott played in Kansas City in August of 1979. He was 35 years old at the time, fat and slow and had warning track power, but he hit a ground ball triple, and then a couple of innings later scored from second base on a fly ball to deep
center field."
-Bill James, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: Free Press, 2001) 452.
George Scott was a power-hitting first baseman who was more noted for his girth than his speed. Listed at 215 lbs. in the encyclopedias, he was probably considerably heavier by the end of his career which is what makes the above story so amazing. But is it accurate?
It's pretty easy to check. Scott was no longer playing regularly in 1979, the last year of his career, and he only played 12 games in August. Although he started the month as a member of the Kansas City Royals, he only played one game in Kansas City as a Royal, then two more after being released and picked up by the Yankees. Scott's only triple of the month (the 60th and last of his career) came on August 30 in Kansas City as a member of the Yankees, when he tripled and scored in the ninth. It's impossible to tell if it was a ground-ball triple or not, but Scott didn't reach base in any of his other plate appearances, so he wasn't scoring from second on any fly balls. Scott hit 4 triples in 1979, and scored after 3 of them, but didn't score a second run in any of those games.
Perhaps James' memory condensed events from two different games into one. However, Scott didn't score from second on a sac fly in any of the games he played in K.C. or any of the games he played in August. However, if the search is expanded to all Scott's games as a Royal, it turns out James was correct, though he got the month and location wrong. On June 20, against the A's in Oakland, Scott singled, went to second on a fly by Amos Otis, and scored on a fly to left by Darrell Porter. James was trying to demonstrate Scott's baseball savy with this anecdote and, despite the fact that he got some of the particulars wrong, he certainly proved his point.
-Bill James, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (New York: Free Press, 2001) 452.
George Scott was a power-hitting first baseman who was more noted for his girth than his speed. Listed at 215 lbs. in the encyclopedias, he was probably considerably heavier by the end of his career which is what makes the above story so amazing. But is it accurate?
It's pretty easy to check. Scott was no longer playing regularly in 1979, the last year of his career, and he only played 12 games in August. Although he started the month as a member of the Kansas City Royals, he only played one game in Kansas City as a Royal, then two more after being released and picked up by the Yankees. Scott's only triple of the month (the 60th and last of his career) came on August 30 in Kansas City as a member of the Yankees, when he tripled and scored in the ninth. It's impossible to tell if it was a ground-ball triple or not, but Scott didn't reach base in any of his other plate appearances, so he wasn't scoring from second on any fly balls. Scott hit 4 triples in 1979, and scored after 3 of them, but didn't score a second run in any of those games.
Perhaps James' memory condensed events from two different games into one. However, Scott didn't score from second on a sac fly in any of the games he played in K.C. or any of the games he played in August. However, if the search is expanded to all Scott's games as a Royal, it turns out James was correct, though he got the month and location wrong. On June 20, against the A's in Oakland, Scott singled, went to second on a fly by Amos Otis, and scored on a fly to left by Darrell Porter. James was trying to demonstrate Scott's baseball savy with this anecdote and, despite the fact that he got some of the particulars wrong, he certainly proved his point.
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