#337 - All Star Center Fielders

Sliding over to center field we get a couple young guys in the prime of their respective careers. These guys were both speedy with a pretty decent bit of power, Amos Otis a little more consistent with the long ball and Cesar Cedeno a bigger base stealer. Amos was a few years older than Cesar so that they both had their best run about the same time says a lot about the shape of Cedeno's wheels down the line. Also Cedeno was a bit more of a people person back then while Amos was a pretty quiet guy. But they were both having their arguably best seasons when they were selected. Let's see the AL guys now:

Amos Otis - .291 with 20 homers and 59 RBI's
Pat Kelly - .294 with 1 homer and 27 RBI's
Paul Blair - .295 with 6 homers and 36 RBI's
Dave May - .330 with 17 homers and 56 RBI's.

A lot of these guys had significant years in '73. Amos' early numbers were good enough to nudge Bobby Murcer over to left. Pat Kelly came out of the gate fast and was still at nearly .400 a month into the season. Blair finally seemed to regain control of his hitting after a horrible beaning a few seasons back and Dave May was having his career season. For the NL guys:

Cesar Cedeno - .318 with 16 homers and 43 RBI's
Willie Davis - .302 with 13 homers and 58 RBI's
Willie Mays - .214 with 4 homers and 16 RBI's.

Cedeno would go on to his best season average with a .320. Willie Davis was mighty upset he wasn't voted on as a starter so it was a nice gesture for Sparky to throw him the bone. His stats deserved it though. And Willie Mays sort of dumbs things down a bit but it was his swan song game and he'd get a little more excitement later in the year. This is a tough one. Davis and Otis are neck-and-neck but I think May gets the nod over Cedeno and the other two AL guys kill the other Willie so I give this one to the AL.


Ok, now here is the only piece that I think makes the identity of the MVP less than certain. I think this part of the face looks a lot more like a young Frank Robinson than the person it actually is. But maybe that's just me. Plus I'm obviously trying to stretch out the whole drama of this exercise.

So we are now finally up to '73 with the big deal Watergate stuff. Let's pick up the action.

January 8 - Judge John J Sirica is picked to preside over the break-in trial. All seven known - or thought known - conspirators are on trial: the five burglars and G Gordon Liddy and E Howard Hunt. Judge Sirica would be pretty aggressive during the trial, questioning witnesses, interrupting summaries, and using other tactics to try to find out if there were other conspirators. The trial begins on this date.

January 11 - E Howard Hunt pleads guilty to all charges. It was surmised at the time that he pled so to keep potential evidence and testimony against him out of the trial. Also, around the time of the actual burglary his wife had perished in an airplane crash. With her at the crash site was also found a large check from CREEP. Both his perceived grief from his wife's passing and his wish to keep her from being sullied were thought to impact his plea decision as well.

January 15 - Four of the Watergate burglars - Barker, Gonzalez, Martinez, and Sturgis - pleaded guilty to all charges.

Here's a little tidbit to return us to baseball. On baseball-reference the player with whom Amos Otis has the highest similarity score is Cesar Cedeno. Pretty wild.