Use of Retrosheet Data for Assessing Player Memories

In a recent Joe Morgan column he says in the sidebar

In 1982, I was hitting better than any other National League second baseman. But Manny Trillo won the fan vote, and Tommy Lasorda, who was managing the NL team, took Steve Sax over me. Because I was a 10-time All-Star and a future Hall of Famer, I thought I would at least be picked as a backup over a rookie. But Sax was Lasorda's guy. I wasn't happy at the time, but I didn't say anything publicly because somebody has to be left off the team. I never cried about it. My manager, Frank Robinson, said something to me because he knew I was having a better season than the other second basemen. Jokingly, I told Frank, "I'll get even with him (Lasorda)." And I did. On the last day of the season, I hit a three-run home run off Terry Forster to beat the Dodgers and keep them out of the playoffs. -- Joe Morgan

That's a pretty nifty story. Let's compare Morgan's 1982 to Sax's 1982 using the pre-all star game data (from April, May, and June 1982) from Retrosheet.

Using the types of data that Morgan probably would use when comparing hitters, the pre-all star game data is as follows:

Morgan actually had better rate stats such as OPS (like that matters to Morgan!), but Sax had a significant advantage in the counting stats due to having 104 more PA than Morgan. So Lasorda's choice of Sax was a relatively easy one, all homerism aside!

Now, what about Morgan homering off of Forster in the last game of the season to keep them out of the playoffs? Did it happen? Yes. Morgan hit a 3 run homer off of Forster in the 7th to make it 5-2. The game ended 5-3. Looking at the final standings you see that LA finished 1 game back of ATL. So the Giants and Morgan's homer did keep LA from a play-in game against ATL.

However, note on that same page that SFG finished 2 games back of ATL. From the Giants 1982 game log. We see that LA and SF played a 3 game series to end the season. Both LA and SF neededa sweep to make the postseason. LA won the first two and SF, due in large part to Morgan's season-finale performance, won the last game keeping both teams from the playoffs. We know Morgan did well in the third and final game, but how about the first two? Morgan didn't do so well in Game 1 and Game 2 of the series.

Here are Morgan's and Sax's stats from the first two games:

Morgan was a non-contributor in the 2 losses while Sax, whose ASG managerial selection provided the motivation for Morgan in the last game, was a contributor in the two wins. Morgan may have kept LA out of the playoffs, but he also didn't do his part in getting his team to the playoffs in the last series of the season.

Morgan's recollection of the historical events are most likely accurate. However, Retrosheet's "splits" data shows the hazards of relying on the performance evaluation by a baseball player of his contemporaries. Furthermore, Retrosheet's box scores and play-by-play data reconstruct the factual setting in which baseball's lively stories are told.