Oh, Doctor! June 28
- ON PLAYING SECOND BASE
- By Jerry Coleman, San Diego Hall of Champions
One of the Padres I've enjoyed watching play the most this season has been Marcus Giles at second base.
Before Marcus signed with the Padres this year he was an All-Star in 2003 with the Atlanta Braves, so I knew he was a good player from seeing him play six or seven times a year. But you don't fully appreciate the work of a second baseman until you get a chance to see him on a daily basis at how he handles the little things.
I especially like how Marcus turns the double play. He is fearless. Some second baseman fade away, but Marcus doesn't give ground.
As an example of his aggressiveness, it was something like the game at Wrigley Field when Derek Lee swung at Chris Young. Marcus was quick to jump between Lee and Young and shield Young like basketball player boxing out a bigger man. Marcus gives up more than a foot to the 6-foot-10 Young, but Chris wasn't getting any closer to Lee.
The key to playing second base on turning double plays is where you start. You can't get there too late or too soon. It's sounds simple: get there, catch it and throw it. But it's not that easy.
To play second base, you have to be able to play backward. The shortstop gets the ball and he's heading toward first base. But the second baseman has to be able to pivot. You have to be able to handle a throw -- and the throws aren't always perfect -- and then you've got to make a move the other way to first base.
When I came up with the Yankees in 1949, I was converted to second base. I had played third base and shortstop in the minor leagues, but the move to second base was a good one for my career.
I was a little erratic at shortstop, and you can't miss the ball at shortstop. The Giants shortstop, Kevin Frandsen, missed a ground ball in the eighth inning on Wednesday in the Padres' 4-2 win. Two runs scored and it cost the Giants the game.
I learned to play second base cominig up with the Yankees by watching George Stirnweiss take infield -- something they don't do anymore in the big leagues, and I don't know why. I watched George's style; he just caught it and threw it.
But when George was injured in 1949, I was moved to second base. I played with one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball history, Phil Rizzuto. He never made a mistake in a game. He never lost track of the count or where to position himself. He couldn't jump, but it didn't make any difference. Rizzuto was very accurate and, like I said, never made a mistake.
Some people say since he didn't hit well that the only reason he got into the Baseball Hall-of-Fame is because he played for the Yankees in the media capital of New York. They're wrong. Rizzuto hit .307 in 1941, .324 in 1950 and played on 10 World Championship teams. He had great strength in his hands and he was the best bunter in baseball. He could run and do the little things.
If he came up today against Derek Jeter, he wouldn't play because he couldn't hit against Jeter. That's true of a lot of players, because they're so much bigger now. But nobody was better at shortstop than Rizzuto.
The best second baseman that isn't in the Hall of Fame is Joe Gordon of the Yankees. He was a great fielder with power. When he played at Yankee Stadium, the dimensions were 457 feet to left and 461 to center, but he still hit 253 home runs in his career. He played seven years with the Yankees and four in Cleveland. That's a lot of home runs in those parks.
Editor's note: Jerry Coleman was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1949 when the Yankees won the American League pennant, winning 97 games to finish one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox. He batted .275 and teamed with shortstop Phil Ruzzito to turn 102 double plays (Rizzuto was in on 118 double plays).
