We need a bat that hits during the playoffs, regardless of size. If we could drop a couple of smart slap hitters in the middle of this lineup, right now, we'd be up 2-0.
We need players who can hit in the playoffs, above all else, period.
Yes! As I shivered last night, I noticed how much this Nats team needs a clone of Cecil Travis and another of Sam Rice. Travis led the AL in hits in 1941, the magic year for Williams and DiMaggio. (higher average than Joe, longer hitting streak than Ted.).
"Travis hit .300 in eight of his first nine Major League seasons. A three-time All-Star, he had his best year in 1941, when he hit .359 (second in the American League), led both leagues in hits (218), and was named by The Sporting News as the best shortstop in baseball." SABR bio:
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/4d5ab420("The finest player never to get a single vote for the Hall of Fame", someone wrote. Travis joined the Army in 1942, froze his feet during the Battle of the Bulge and had lost some skill when he came back to the Nats in 1945.)
Sam Rice, originally a pitcher, switched to OF at 27, became full time at 29. Finished with a .320 lifetime average, .800 OPS, ten consecutive season with ten or more triples. Described as a throwback to the dead-ball-era, a CF who played almost his entire career in the Babe Ruth era. Ty Cobb -- no softheart -- campaigned to get Rice in the Hall of Fame, and succeeded.
