Word: fregosi
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Surfeit of Sophistication. "It began about 1953 in the Little Leagues," says California Angels Shortstop Jim Fregosi. "They started taking all the good athletes and making them pitchers." By the time he is twelve, today's Little Leaguer can cut the corner of the plate with a curve and he has the confidence to throw one on a three-and-two count. When he reaches the majors at an average age of 20, after progressing through the Pony League, high school, American Legion baseball, college and/or the minors, he is already a polished pro. Never before have the majors...
...appreciate perfection, but more abhor monotony. Already this season there have been 176 shutouts in the majors-including 44 games with 1-0 scores-and attendance around the big leagues is down 4% from 1967. "I'm tired of 1-0 games myself," says the Angels' Fregosi, whose suggested remedy for baseball's power failure is to eliminate the mound and make pitchers throw out of a waist-deep hole...
...Cleveland's Joe Azcue is the league's only catcher to hit above .256 last year and major league catching has been universally weak since the glory days of Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Wes Westrum, and Del Crandall. Around the Keystone, the league's best combinations belong to California (Fregosi-Knoop) and Kansas City (Campaneris-Green). How many people could match Gil, Oyler, Johnson, Carew, and Adair with the pennant contender for which each is starting second baseman? Moving out to center field, the only player worth getting excited about is the White Sox's Tommy Agee...
...Angeles and Detroit also have great spoiler potential. Jim Fregosi, who is a strong contender in the rookie-of-the-year derby against hot shots Conigliaro and Oliva, may be the best hitter in the Angels' abbreviated history, and should be able to help even Bo Belinsky win more than women. The Tigers haven't changed much, but they always had their share of Yalnkee meat in the past...