Dodgers Dugout: Zack Wheat, the forgotten Dodger

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. It’s such an amazing coincidence that the Fourth of July holiday happened on July 4. What are the odds?

The problem with writing a twice-weekly newsletter this season is that there’s one major problem with the Dodgers this season: pitching. If they don’t get it fixed somehow, they aren’t going to win the World Series.

However, if all I write about every time is pitching, then the newsletter will become monotonous. The newsletter has been mostly about pitching four of the last five times, so, with the understanding we all know pitching if the main topic this year, let’s turn our attention to something else.

One of the things the Dodgers don’t do very well is celebrate their rich and diverse history, especially if something happened before 1947.

As I watch the votes for “The 10 greatest Dodgers of all time” pour in (more than 15,000 ballots so far), there is one name who rarely turns up in the top 10, but probably should: Zack Wheat.

Wheat played for the Dodgers from 1909 to 1926 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1959. He is still the all-time Dodger leader in games played (2,322), hits (2,804), doubles (464), triples (171) and total bases (4,003). Of course, there aren’t a lot of people alive who saw Wheat play probably hurts him in the voting. Many voters tell me that they can’t judge someone they never saw, but I don’t need to have seen Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker or Al Simmons to know they were all-time greats.

Wheat’s best season might have been 1918, when he led the league with a .335 batting average. Or it might have been 1916, when he hit 32 doubles and 13 triples and led the league in slugging. Or it might have been 1922, when he hit .335 with 29 doubles, 12 triples, 16 homers and 112 RBIs. Or it might have been any number of other seasons. He finished with a .317 career batting average.

And don’t think he was only a hitting machine. He was a great defensive outfielder.

Baseball Magazine in 1918: “What Napoloen Lajoie was to infielders, Zach Wheat is to outfielders, the finest mechanical craftsman of them all. He is the easiest, most graceful of outfielders with no close rivals.”

Wheat got married during the 1912 season and his new wife, Daisy, became his agent. In the same Baseball Magazine story, she said, “I made him hold out each year for seven years and each time he got a raise.”

Other things of note about Wheat:

—He has an OPS+ of 130. Among Dodgers with 5,000 plate appearances (Wheat had almost 10,000), that is third all time, behind Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson.

—He is fourth in career WAR among batters, behind Snider, Robinson and Pee Wee Reese.

—To make money during the offseason, Wheat raised mules and sold them to the Army, which used them as pack animals during World War I. It was because of the money he made doing this that he was able to hold out for a better contract each offseason. The most money he earned in one season as a player was $16,000.

—Wheat recommended the Dodgers sign his longtime friend, Casey Stengel. It’s unlikely any other team would have signed him, so Wheat is basically responsible for Stengel career.

—Wheat and manager Wilbert Robinson never got along well. Longtime Dodgers owner and team president Charles Ebbets died in 1925 and was replaced as team president by Ed McKeever, who named Wheat the manager of the team, making Robinson a front-office executive. McKeever died two weeks later, and, with no team president, the Dodgers’ board of directors named Robinson manager again.

—No longer needing Wheat and thinking he was getting too old, the Dodgers released him before the 1927 season so he could negotiate with any club he wanted to, instead of trading him to a team he didn’t wish to play for. Wheat signed with the Philadelphia A’s and hit .324 in 88 games.

—Wheat was listed as 5-10, 170 pounds, but many thought he was smaller than that. He wore a size 5 shoe and suffered from ankle problems throughout his career. A bruised heel brought an end to his career.

—Wheat didn’t stay in baseball when he retired. When asked why years later, he said “Nobody asked me to.”

—Wheat was 10th all-time in hits when he retired, with 2,884.

—Wheat became a farmer after retiring, then became a policeman in Kansas City after the Depression caused him to sell his farm.

—While on a police call in 1936, Wheat crashed his car and suffered a fractured skull, broken wrist and 15 broken ribs. He spent five months in the hospital and retired as a policeman. He moved with his family to a lakeside house in Sunrise Beach, Mo., and opened a 46-acre hunting and fishing resort.

—Wheat was voted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1957. Unfortunately, he wasn’t eligible to be voted in by the Veterans Committee because he hadn’t been retired long enough. So they elected him again in 1959.

—When told he was finally elected for real, Wheat, 70, said, “That makes me feel mighty proud. I feel a little younger, too.”

—In 1971, Wheat was asked if he had any advice for boys who wanted to become major leaguers. “Yes,” he said. “Tell them to learn to chew tobacco.”

—Wheat was once asked his secret for playing so well for so long. He said: “I smoke as much as I want and chew tobacco a good deal of the time. I don’t pay any attention to the rules for keeping in physical condition. I think they are a lot of bunk. The less you worry about the effect of tea and coffee on the lining of your stomach, the longer you will live and the happier you will be.”

—Wheat died of a heart attack in Missouri on March 11, 1972. He was 83 years old.

You can see Wheat’s career stats here.

You can read much more about Wheat in this excellent bio by Eric Enders as part of the SABR bio project.

More injuries

Clayton Kershaw was put on the injured list Monday because of a sore pitching shoulder. Reliever Daniel Hudson, who just came off the IL and was expected to provide a big boost the rest of the season, injured his knee while getting the save in Wednesday’s game and might be out for the season. And it was announced this week that Dustin May will have elbow surgery and won’t return this season.

At this point, the Dodgers might want to consider reaching out to guys like Tom Niedenfuer and Antonio Osuna to see if they have any arm strength left.

Remember this ad?

For the last four days, every time I would hear the name of Pirates batter Jack Suwinski, I’d think to myself, “Stephan, Jack Stephan!”

Poll results

Will the Dodgers make the postseason this year? After 19,453 votes:

Yes, as a wild-card, 50.7%
Yes, as NL West champ, 24.9%
No, 24.3%

Was the 2020 World Series title legitimate? After 17,733 votes:

Yes, 83.2%
No, 16.8%

Who is the greatest Dodger of all time?

We haven’t had much fun this season. With the recent skid, off-field issues and everything seeming heavier this year for some reason, it’s time to inject some fun back into this newsletter by bringing back something we haven’t done since 2018.

Who is the greatest Dodger of all time? Jackie Robinson? Sandy Koufax? Vin Scully? Clayton Kershaw? Lance Rautzhan? The list is endless. So, I am asking for your help.

I want you to send me your list of the 10 greatest Dodgers of all time. They can be L.A. Dodgers or Brooklyn Dodgers. Managers count, as do general managers, owners and announcers. In short, anyone who has been connected with the Dodgers in some way is eligible. You and the rest of the readers of this newsletter will decide who is the greatest.

So, I need you to email me your list of whom you consider to be the 10 greatest. Please list them in order from 1-10. Points will be assigned based on their place in the ballot, with 12 points going to your No. 1 choice, nine points for No. 2, eight points for No. 3, seven points for No. 4, all the way down to one point for No. 10. And please, please, please don’t say “this is just in any order.” Give it some thought. Travel down memory lane and enjoy it. If you have already sent me your list, I have it, so no need to vote again.

Voting will remain open through July 15, and we will count down the top 20 vote-getters soon after that. So, send me your list! Send to [email protected] and please make sure the subject line says 10 greatest Dodgers.

Injury report

10-day IL

INF-OF Chris Taylor (right knee): He has a bone bruise and is still feeling discomfort.

15-day IL

LHP Clayton Kershaw (left shoulder): He is expected to be out a minimal amount of time and should return the week after the All-Star break.

RHP Shelby Miller (neck): Miller will be out until at least the end of July.

RHP Noah Syndergaard (blister): It’s possible Syndergaard has pitched his last game for the Dodgers. At the moment there is no timetable for his return.

60-day IL

RHP Walker Buehler (Tommy John surgery). It’s possible he returns at the end of this season but 2024 is more likely.

RHP Tyler Cyr (shoulder). He’ll be out for a few weeks after making two appearances for the Dodgers.

SS Gavin Lux (right knee). Lux is out for the season after undergoing ACL surgery in March.

RHP Dustin May (right elbow). Out for the rest of the season.

RHP Jimmy Nelson (right elbow inflammation). He is on a rehab assignment in triple-A Oklahoma City.

RHP Ryan Pepiot (left oblique strain). Pepiot has finally started to throw, but is not ready for a rehab assignment yet.

RHP Alex Reyes (right shoulder). Signed before the season after shoulder surgery, Reyes needs another shoulder surgery and is out for the season.

OF Trayce Thompson (left oblique). Thompson is not eligible to return until sometime in August.

RHP Blake Treinen (right shoulder). Treinen had surgery in the offseason and if he returns this year, it probably won’t be until September.

What Vin Scully meant to me

Last season after Vin Scully died, I asked readers to send in what he meant to them. I ran them the rest of the season and wanted to circle back and run the rest, which will take a few weeks at least. If you wish to contribute (if you sent it to me last season, I still have it, so no need to send again), please email it to [email protected] and put “Vin Scully” in the subject line.

From Wilson Tang of Los Angeles: One of the ways Vin Scully has impacted our lives is that my oldest grandson is named Vincent after Vin Scully. His full name is Vincent Ricardo Soto-Michelob. Our daughter loved Vin calling the games and when she was pregnant, she and her husband immediately thought of naming the child Vincent when they found out the gender. Our grandson is a great kid, a gentle soul and very thoughtful. We will always have a remembrance of Vin because of our grandson.

From Richard Lakes of Keswick, Va.: In 1995, my wife and I were fortunate to win an all-expense paid trip to see the Dodgers play at any location that we wished. We decided to visit Dodger Stadium to see a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates later that year. When we arrived at Dodger Stadium, we were escorted to the lower level just outside the Dodger clubhouse where we waited in a small hallway for Tommy Lasorda to come out to speak with us. While we waited, Vin Scully passed by and saw us standing there. He stopped to ask if he could help us. I told him we were waiting for Mr. Lasorda and we were waiting for him. Vin introduced himself to us and stayed there to talk with us for the next 15 minutes.

He asked where we were from and if it was our first trip to Dodger Stadium. We told that it was and he invited me to accompany him upstairs to see his broadcast booth and the press box. We were just two old baseball fans but he treated us like family. It was such a pleasant experience and an incredible welcome. When Vin learned that I had been a Dodger fan for most of my adult life he noted that I was holding a baseball to get autographed. Mr. Lasorda came out and told us that I likely would not be able to get the ball signed. Vin then told me he was “a nobody” but he would be honored to sign my baseball, which he then autographed. I still have that ball today. We left that day with a memory of class and dignity from Mr. Scully that we will hold forever.

Up next

Friday: Angels (Griffin Canning, 6-3, 4.29 ERA) at Dodgers (Tony Gonsolin, 4-3, 3.69 ERA), 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Angels (*Reid Detmers, 2-5, 3.72 ERA) at Dodgers (TBD), 6:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Plaschke: Enough! Dodgers need to rescue lousy rotation and trade for an ace, now!

With Dustin May set for season-ending elbow surgery, Dodgers’ rotation needs grow

Dodgers place Clayton Kershaw on injured list with shoulder soreness

Mo’ne Davis is not just your average summer intern for the Dodgers

And finally

Jerry Reuss, Jay Johnstone, Rick Monday and Steve Yeager sing “We Are the Champions” on “Solid Gold.” Watch and listen here.