Kevin Maas, Shane Spencer and Greg Bird
As I’ve watched (mainly listened to) the Yankees’ games this past month and a half and witnessed Greg Bird’s awesome introduction to the major leagues, I’ve been struck with a feeling of déjà vu (and since sadly, Yogi Berra recently passed away, I’ll go with “I’m having déjà vu all over again”). I feel like I’ve seen this before, and I have.
As Greg Bird hit home run after home run, in seemingly almost every at bat, I was immediately reminded of two people: Shane Spencer and Kevin Maas. I worked for the Yankees in 1998 and saw, first-hand, Shane Spencer’s awesome September. Spencer was a rookie and, though he was only a role player on a juggernaut of a team, he seemed to hit a home run every at bat and Yankee Stadium LOVED him. Similarly, in the summer of 1990, Kevin Maas was a rookie who came up to the majors at the end of June and hit a bunch of home runs.
But, since memory can be a tricky thing, I went to Baseball-Reference.com and did some research to see just how similar their rookie years were.
Kevin Maas hit his first home run in his fifth game on July 4, 1990, a 13-6 loss to the Kansas City Royals. Shane Spencer’s first and second home runs came in his tenth game on August 7, 1998, a 14-2 win over the same Kansas City Royals. Greg Bird also doubled up and hit his first two home runs in his fifth game on August 19, 2015, a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Delving a little deeper, and focusing on the home run stats (because let’s face it, that’s what caused this comparison and as Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine once famously said in this commercial, “Chicks dig the long ball!”), there are more similarities.
Maas was on the roster for the most games, 79, his rookie year and had 21 home runs in 300 plate appearances in 1990. Spencer was only on the roster for 27 games and had 10 homers in 73 plate appearances. Bird hit 11 home runs in 174 plate appearances throughout 45 games. Now, I’m not a mathematician, but even I can (I think) figure out the percentages. Rounding percentages up, and if I did the math correctly, Maas hit a home run in 7% of his plate appearances, Spencer in 14% and Bird in 6% (Bird’s percentage was rounded down).
However, each of them hit their home runs in seasons that were completely different situations.
When Kevin Maas hit his first home run on 7/4/90, the Yankees were already 17 games out of first and in last place. They were in first place for a whopping five days, the last being on Friday, April 13th (my birthday) and fell into last place on Saturday, May 26th (my mom’s birthday). They stayed there until the end of the season, when they finally finished 67-95 (.414), 21 games behind the very mediocre Boston Red Sox (88-74, .543)
When Shane Spencer hit HIS first home run on 8/7/98, the Yankees had already practically clinched the division. When the Yankees won the second game of the double-header against the Royals, they were 82-29 and led the second place team in the AL East by 17 games. They finished the regular season with a 114-48 (.704) record and a 22 game lead over second place Boston. The Yankees took over first place on Friday, April 30th and never looked back.
Both Spencer and Maas, while remembered fondly by Yankees fans for their home run outbursts, were essentially irrelevant. The 1990 Yankees would still have finished in last place without Maas and the 1998 Yankees did not need Spencer’s home runs to dominate their opponents. Maas’ home runs were a nice distraction from a terrible season, and Spencer’s were extra hot fudge on top of the best ice cream sundae in the world.
Bird, on the other hand, hit his home runs in the middle of a season in which the Yankees were fighting to make the playoffs. The Yankees clinched a playoff spot and barely hung on to home-field advantage to host the wildcard game, limping to the finish line of the season. On Wednesday, August 19th, when Bird hit his first home runs, the Yankees had a 2 game lead over second place Toronto. Yet, Toronto took over first place temporarily four days later and claimed first place for good on August 25th. Many of Bird’s home runs have helped win games, games that were essential in securing a play-off spot.
Maas went on to play three more seasons for the Yankees, with his best being 1991, in which he hit 23 home runs. Spencer played four more seasons for the Yankees, as a part-time player, and never hit more than 10 home runs. Who knows what the future holds for Bird. He has filled in well for the injured Mark Texeira, and while nobody has mentioned Texeira in the same sentence as Wally Pipp yet (or by extension, Bird and Gehrig), it will be exciting to see if Bird’s home runs are the start of a long and storied Yankees career.
What does all of this mean? Nothing at all, other than that three dudes who played for the Yankees had similar rookie season home run outbursts and the latest one reminded me of the other two.
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Photo: (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)