My previous post The 13 TV Series of Actor Robert Urich got me thinking about this. A kid might say something like "Gee, he took 13 TV shows down the drain. He must have been a pretty bad actor." But that's not true, is it? Robert Urich was a fine actor, a lot better than most. Good enough to do more than his share of infomercials. If he really was a bad actor, he would have never been given those 13 chances, eh? In fact, he was an above-average actor who was given more opportunites to fail simply because he was above average. Sorta like Roger Craig.
Not Roger Craig the NFL football player, but Roger Craig the baseball player. In 1962 and 1963 he was a pitcher for the amzingly awful NY Mets. In 1962 he lost 24 games, and in 1963 he lost 22 games, leading the National League with the most losses both years. But in 1962 he also won 10 games, the most of any Mets pitcher that year (the entire team only won 40 games that year). Like Robert Urich, he was the best man available for the job at the time, and was given the most opportunites to fail.
Which leads to The Roger Craig Paradox: Someone who has been given the opportunity to fail a lot by someone else is almost certainly an above-average performer. Such as 3-time Democratic Presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan or 2-time candidate Adlai Stevenson. Both men were the best the Democrats had at the time. Doesn't apply to case of nepotism and the like, but I think you get the idea.
As proof that Roger Craig was above average, I simply point you to the Ultimate Mets Database:
Craig pitched his heart out for a terrible Mets club in '62 & '63, but everywhere else he was a winner. He won a pivotal game in the Brooklyn Dodgers ONLY World Championship in '55 and helped the Cards to their first Championship in 18 years in '64 with an incredible 5 inning/9K win in relief. He led the pennant-winning '59 L.A. Dodgers in winning PCT and ERA, outpitching Koufax, Drysdale and Podres. He was the first San Diego Padres manager to post a winning record (1978), improving on his predecessor's record by 25 games(!), and in 1989 managed the Giants to only the second pennant in SF history thus far. And let's not forget his work as pitching coach for the juggernaut Tigers in '84. Roger...over and out!
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