Baseball History

[67RedSox]

I’ve expressed my opinion on Lefty O’Doul previously and on more than one occasion. I know what you’re saying…please, not again. However, since he is #1 on my list of those who should be in the Hall of Fame but isn’t and because it is his birthday, he was born on this date in 1897, I’ll repeat what I’ve said before:

Obtuse: adjective, origin: 1500-1510, from late Middle English: from Latin obtundere, from ob- 'against' + tundere 'to beat'. Definition - annoyingly insensitive or slow to understand.

Acute: adjective, origin: 14th Century, Middle English, from Latin acutus, past participle of acuere to sharpen. Definition - having or showing a perceptive understanding or insight: shrewd.

Few, including most of those in the Hall of Fame, have matched his contributions to the game of Baseball. From the days of his youth until he turned 60 in 1957 his life was Baseball at all levels. Why he’s not a member of the Hall of Fame simply defies explanation. Clearly, Cooperstown has been obtuse in the matter of his selection. On the other hand, both the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame have been acute in the matter of his selection.

There, resume your regular activities, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

lefty O'Doul, baseball - Google Search

It was on this date in 1912 the first sod was turned in the construction of Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. The land included the site of shanties and a garbage dump called Pigtown, because of the pigs that once ate their fill there and the stench that filled the air. In 1912, construction began, and a year later, Pigtown had been transformed into Ebbets Field, where some of the game's greatest drama would take place. As was the case of Boston's Fenway Park and Detroit's Tiger Stadium the intimate configuration prompted some baseball writers to refer to Ebbets Field as a "cigar box" or a "bandbox."

BrooklynBallParks.com - Ebbets Field

It was on this date in 1913 the NY Highlanders, soon to be renamed the Yankees, became the first ML team to hold Spring Training outside of the United States. The NY Yankees were founded in 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles, one of the 8 Charter franchises in the AL but moved to New York in 1903 and became known as the Highlanders. This name arose because of the fact that they played their home games at Hilltop Park which was located not too far from where Yankee Stadium is today but even closer to the Polo Grounds where the Giants played. The true name of the ballpark was the New York American League Park which opened April 30, 1903. However, people called it Hilltop because the field was built on one of the highest elevations in the city. Thus…came the nickname Highlanders…oh, so original.
The Yankees enjoyed only modest success in their first several seasons. They had not won a Pennant and wouldn’t do so until 1921…perhaps the addition of Babe Ruth had something to do with that. The 1912 version of the team went 50-102 good enough for a last-place finish a mere 55 games behind Boston. So Frank Chance, who had led the Cubs to four Pennants and two World Championships, was brought from the NL to turn the club into a contender.
In an effort to improve the spring conditioning, business manager Arthur Irwin persuaded owner Frank Farrell to have the squad train in semi-tropical Bermuda, where the Jersey City Skeeters had conditioned in 1912. To provide exhibition competition, the Skeeters would go to the coral island again in 1913. Irwin felt that a combination of the climate, the isolation from the night spots of the mainland, keeping the players together in one place, Chance's disapproval of drinking, and food specially prepared by a jewel of a chef would make for a successful experiment. Irwin had visited Bermuda, which was becoming a winter playground, and had come back bristling with enthusiasm. On his next trip he leased the little Hotel Brunswick in Hamilton, the capital city, and had a diamond laid out on the cricket grounds.
The experiment seemed to work well. The players ignored the hotel's bar, worked diligently and spent their free time fishing, playing cards and buying summer clothes in the shops. The reporters found the hard training infectious and spent time warming up young pitchers and playing lawn tennis rather than making their headquarters in the bar. In intra-squad games and exhibitions with the Skeeters, the experiment and Chance's astute managing seemed to be paying off. By the end of March the venture appeared to be an unqualified success. But the proof of the pudding was in the season ahead. The club lost 94 games and finished seventh. The Yankees would not return to Bermuda in 1914 nor would Chance survive the season getting his pink slip 20 games before the end of the 1914 season.

When the Yankees came to Bermuda - Bermuda Sun

Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance was born on this date in 1891. His is one of the most remarkable stories in all of MLB. Arthur Vance had earned the nickname Dazzy for the dazzling fastball he had shown as a teenage semipro in rural Nebraska. He pitched professional baseball for 9 years and by the time he reached his 30s he had appeared in but 11 ML games, had yet to collect a victory and had a record of 0-4. Then something profound happened…while pitching in the Minors he got into a poker game in New Orleans. Vance banged his arm on the edge of the table while raking in a pot. He immediately felt intense pain. When the arm still hurt the next morning, Vance went to a doctor, who diagnosed an underlying injury that had not been discovered by all the medicos who had examined him previously. Exactly what the doctor did is unknown. Bill James speculated that the surgeon probably removed bone chips and debris from the elbow. That guess seems as good as any. At any rate, the operation was a success and the patient not only survived, but he thrived. After receiving this treatment, Dazzy was able to pitch again painlessly. The Dazzler rebounded to win 21 games for the Pelicans in 1921, his first 20-win season since 1914. He made it to the majors to stay the very next year.
In 1922 At the age of 31, still a rookie, and now a Brooklyn Dodger Vance wins 18 games and leads the NL in strikeouts and will go on to lead the NL in strikeouts his first 7 years in the League, win 197 games and will be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Snazzy Dazzy

This and That:

At 43, Pedro Martinez is the youngest living member of MLB’s Hall of Fame. Yogi Berra and Sandy Koufax are the longest serving HOF’ers alive, 43 years havng been elected in 1972. There are 16 HOF’ers who are or will be 80 years of age in 2015. In order of oldest living:

1 Bobby Doerr – will be 97 on April 7

2 Monte Irvin – was 96 on Feb 25

3 Red Schoendienst – was 92 on Feb 2

4 Yogi Berra – will be 90 on May 12

5 Tommy Lasorda – will be 88 on Sept 22

6 Whitey Ford – will be 87 on Oct 21

7 Doug Harvey – will be 85 on March 13

8 Willie Mays – will be 84 on May 6

9 Jim Bunning – will be 84 on Oct 23

10 Whitey Herzog – will be 84 on Nov 9

11 Hank Aaron – was 81 on Feb 5

12 Luis Aparicio – will be 81 on April 29

13 Al Kaline – will be 81 on Dec 19

14 Frank Robinson – will be 80 on Aug 31

15 Bob Gibson – will be 80 on Nov 9

16 Sandy Koufax – will be 80 on Dec 30


Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Can you name the last pitcher to win a Cy Young Award pitching for a team that the Mississippi River runs through. It is not Chris Carpenter of the 2005 St. Louis Cardinals.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Babe Ruth ( He’s the youngest pitcher to win an AL ERA title and the only pitcher to win a 14-inning complete World Series game.)

October 9, 1916 World Series Game 2, Dodgers at Red Sox | Baseball-Reference.com

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1860, Hall of Famer, Sam Thompson was born. Like a lot of pre-1900 players he’s been pretty much lost in the Baseball’s shadows but if you ever needed a player who could drive in runs he was the guy. He was considered the Game’s greatest slugger of the 19th Century. He was the NL Batting Champ in 1887 with a .372 average. It wasn’t his best year though…in 1894 he became 1 of 23 Major leaguers to hit .400 and Thompson played in the only Major League outfield of future Hall of Famers who had all three batting over .400 in one season. Sam batted .415, Ed Delahanty hit .404, and Billy Hamilton hit .403.

Most RBI Per 9 Innings | From Deep Right Field by Paul Gillespie

The Major Leagues adopted ERA as an official statistic in 1912 and in that first season of recognition Walter Johnson would lead the AL with a mark of 1.14 and Jeff Tesreau who was born on this date in 1888 led the NL with a mark of 1.96 as a rookie with the NY Giants.

jeff tesreau - Google Search

It was on this date in 1958 that the LA Dodgers signed Frank Howard. An All-American in both basketball and baseball at Ohio State, Howard was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors of the NBA but he instead signed with the Dodgers. He was named the Minor League Player of the Year in 1959 by The Sporting News after hitting 43 homers in the Pacific Coast League and then succeeded Carl Furillo as Los Angeles' right fielder in 1960. He was named the NL's Rookie of the Year after batting .268 with 23 home runs and 77 RBI, and was nicknamed "Hondo" by teammates after a John Wayne film. Howard would stay with the Dodgers long enough to win a Ring in 1963 and then be traded to the Washington Senators in 1964. It ended up being a pretty good deal for both teams. The Dodgers acquired a very good pitcher in the person of Claude Osteen who would be a 20 Game winner with the Dodgers and win a total of 147 games in his 9 years in a Dodger uniform. Howard, on the other hand, would win a couple of HR Crowns including in 1968 when he banged out 44. That was “The Year of the Pitcher” which Howard apparently paid no attention to. In all the years I’ve watched the Grand Old Game he was easily the scariest batter I ever watched at the plate. At 6’8”and about 255 lbs he looked like a giant standing there with a toothpick in his hands. If you were a pitcher I can’t think of anyone, other than perhaps Willie McCovey, you’d least like to face without one of those protective screens they use in batting practise.

frank howard 1963 world series - Google Search

Hitting a Home Run in First Major League At-Bat Stuff:

- There have been 117 players hit a HR in their first ML At-Bat. The first player to do it was Joe Harrington of the Boston Beaneaters (now, Atlanta Braves) in 1895. The most recent was Jorge Soler of the Cubs last August.

- Two Hall of Famers accomplished the feat and one was a pitcher, Hoyt Wilhelm in 1952 and it would be the only ML HR he would hit in 21 seasons.

- For 21 players it would be the only HR they hit in the Majors.

- For 26 players the HR they hit was on the first pitch they saw in the Majors.

- Gary Gaetti (360), Carlos Lee (358) and Jermaine Dye (325) went on to hit the most HRs in their careers among all who banged one out in their first AB.

- The first African-American pitcher in the Majors, Dan Bankhead of the Dodgers, hit a HR in his first At-Bat in August of 1947…it took his teammate Jackie Robinson 8 At-Bats and into his 3rd ML game to do the same, I wonder if Bankhead asked him why it took him so long. Ironically, the player who greeted Robinson at the plate after hitting that first HR ( see picture below ) was Tommy Tatum who was playing LF and batting 3rd in that game. It would be his only game in the regular line-up for the Dodgers that season as he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds after only 6 ABs for the Dodgers. Robinson would go to the plate 701 times almost always being followed by Pete Reiser in the line-up…but not on that one day of the season.

- In 1898 Frosty Bill Duggleby, a pitcher with the Philadelphia Phillies, was the first of four players to hit a Grand Slam in his first At-Bat. Frosty Bill got his nickname by shunning any companionship with teammates, preferring his privacy and he always wore heavy black suits even in the summer.

- Wally Moon hit a HR in his first AB in 1954. He is the oldest, still living player to do so.

YouRememberThat.Com - Taking You Back In Time... - Jackie Robinson - First Home Run

List of Major League Baseball players with a home run in their first major league at bat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There have been 45 Major leaguers who hit a HR in their last ML At-Bat before retiring. Among them are two Hall of Famers, Ted Williams and Mickey Cochrane.

List of Major League Baseball players with a home run in their final major league at bat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

In 2001 these two pitchers with the same initials (M.M.) would lead the NL an AL in Wins with 22 and 21 respectively. It would be the only time they were 20 Game winners in the Majors. ( Note – NL’er tied for the League lead with Curt Schilling )

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question… Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins, 2006 (Can you name the last pitcher to win a Cy Young Award pitching for a team that the Mississippi River runs through. It is not Chris Carpenter of the 2005 St. Louis Cardinals.)

 

[67RedSox]

Two HOF’ers, one who intimidated pitchers and one who intimidated batters, were born on this day… Willie Stargell was born on this date in 1940 and few players in the game enjoyed as much respect from their teammates as Stargell did. Lefty Grove, who many will argue is the best pitcher in the history of the game was born on this date in 1900. Grove pitching in hitter-friendly ballparks won 9 ERA Crowns.


Lefty Grove Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

3 Hall of Famers passed away on March 6th. Kirby Puckett on this date in 2006, way too young at 45. Joe Sewell on this date in 1990. Sewell was the toughest man in the history of the Grand Old Game to strike out… a mere 114 times in 14 seasons and over 8,000 times coming to the plate. He struck out less often in a season than some players do in a single game. Finally, Jimmy Collins died on this date in 1943. He was both a player, considered the Game’s best 3B prior to WWII, mostly in Boston and also a manager… the first manager of the Boston Red Sox franchise, then known as the Boston Americans. He was the winning manager in the first-ever World Series, as Boston defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1903 World Series, five games to three. He led the team to another Pennant in 1904 but there was no World Series played that year. Dropkick Murphys, a Celtic punk band from Quincy, Mass. do a great Baseball song, Jimmy Collins’ Wake, supposedly recounting the facts at his ‘wake’ in Buffalo when he died in 1943…apparently several of Collins' teammates made the trip to the house where he was laid out in the parlor, and after a few drinks and songs they propped him up in the casket and carefully placed in his stiff hands the silver trophy Boston fans had given him as an expression of their gratitude for the 1904 pennant.


August 8, 1903 started as a leisurely Saturday in Philadelphia. It would end being forever known as “Black Saturday” in Philadelphia. Over 10,000 people flocked to National League Park to watch the hometown Phillies take on the Boston Beaneaters in a doubleheader. By the end of the day several people would lay dead with hundreds more injured after a catastrophic ballpark accident replaced the summer sounds of a ballgame with screams of pain and horror.

It was on this date in 1907, almost four years after the tragedy, A.J. Reach and John Rogers, the former owners of the Philadelphia Phillies but still the owners of National league Park are acquitted of damages resulting from the 1903 disaster.

19th Century baseball parks were cramped, single-decked structures built entirely of wood. Typically, the grandstand encircled the area behind home plate and extended a few feet past first and third bases on either side. The grandstand had a roof that was supported by wooden pillars. Single-decked bleachers without a roof extended in foul territory down the 1st and 3rd base lines into the outfield. The expense of acquiring the land for a ballpark and excavating it often exceeded the ballpark's construction cost.

Such was the case with Philadelphia’s first ballpark, Recreation Park, hastily constructed in 1883 after Philadelphia had been awarded a NL franchise, It was a single-decked structure built entirely of wood and held just 6,500 people.

Phillies' owner Alfred J. Reach quickly became aware of the inadequacies of Recreation Park, and his dissatisfaction rested primarily on two factors. First, wood was susceptible to fire and decay. Second, the seating capacities of single-decked wooden ballparks could not keep pace with the growth in population and the popularity of Baseball. Reach became frustrated watching his patrons get turned away because they could not be seated so in 1887 he built a larger and more grandiose facility which was christened Philadelphia Base Ball Park with a seating capacity of 12,500. Although revolutionary in its construction because of the use of brick jn the walls and massive pavilion at the entrance there was still a considerable use of wood and that drawback became apparent on August 6, 1894 as the Phillies were preparing for an afternoon game against the Baltimore Orioles when, at 10:40 A.M., a fire started in the grandstands, quickly spread and largely consumed the ballpark. Its cause was never determined, although various theories for the fire included sparks from a passing locomotive and a torch that a plumber was using to make repairs. Although there were no fatalities and only minor injuries, the fire caused $250,000 in damage and destroyed the ballpark with the exception of part of the outer brick wall that enclosed it.

Determined to avoid such catastrophes in the future, Reach planned and built a new ballpark at the same location that would be elaborate, elegant, and fireproof. Constructed mostly of steel and brick it was the first ballpark to feature cantilever construction, a radical new architectural technique in ballpark design which eliminated most of the columns supporting the upper deck. Dubbed National League Park (and later the Baker Bowl) when it opened in 1895, it seated 18,800 people. Tthe ballpark's construction was a defining moment for the future of Baseball. Reach's foresight and willingness to embrace improved building materials and innovative architectural features in his new ballpark moved Baseball decisively away from the small, crowded firetraps that had previously housed ball clubs. It also started a fundamental shift in ballparks moving from temporary structures to a lasting part of a city’s architectural landscape.

So, catastrophe was the furthest thing from Phillies' patrons' minds when they came to the ballpark to cheer on the hometown crew but that catastrophe was lurking just around the corner. In 1902, 7 years after National League Park opened, Reach and his partner John Rogers sold the team for $170,000 however retained ownership of the ballpark itself.

That doubleheader Saturday saw the Braves take the first game in 12 innings, edging the Phillies by a score of 5-4. In the second game, the teams were locked in a 5-5 tie in the fourth inning. At 5:40 PM, the Braves’ Joe Stanley was at the plate with two outs. However, the attention of the fans who had each paid 25 cents for seats in the bleachers down the left field line had been drawn to an incident occurring below on 15th Street outside of the ballpark.

Two drunken men were walking slowly down 15th Street followed by a small group of boys and girls who were teasing them. Suddenly, one of the men turned toward the children and grabbed one of the girls by the hair. In doing so, he stumbled and fell on top of her. The child shrieked in terror as did her companions. They cried, “Help!” and “Murder!” The commotion drew people in the ballpark to the top of the bleachers to see what was happening below.

They congregated on an overhanging wooden balcony at the top of the outer wall that ran along 15th Street and continued around the corner on Lehigh Avenue. The balcony was seven-to-eight feet wide and protruded beyond the wall by about three feet. It was intended as a footway for people to use for entering and exiting the grandstand and bleachers. The balcony had a handrail but was not independently braced underneath.

Instead, the same joists that were used to support the grandstand and bleachers held up the balcony. The joists extended through the top of the wall to provide support. According to newspaper accounts of the time, an estimated three hundred people jammed onto the balcony to witness the incident that was unfolding approximately 30 feet below on 15th Street. The Inquirer described what happened next in a headline story that ran the following day:

Suddenly, jammed with an immense, vibrating weight, the balcony tore itself loose from the wall, and the crowd was hurled headlong to the pavement. Those who felt themselves falling grasped those behind and they in turn held on to others. Behind were thousands still pushing up to see what was happening. In the twinkling of an eye the street was piled four deep with bleeding, injured, shrieking humanity struggling amid the piling debris.

The final count showed that 12 had been killed and 232 injured in the catastrophe, and it remains Philadelphia’s deadliest sports disaster as well as Baseball’s greatest disaster.

Black Saturday: Philadelphias Deadliest Sports Disaster | Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

There have been some memorable Game 7s in World Series history. In 1991 a Classic World Series ended with a Classic Game 7 a 1-0 nail-biter that went 10 innings. Can you name the two starting pitchers in that game.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Matt Morris, Cardinals, Mark Mulder, Athletics. ( In 2001 these two pitchers with the same initials (M.M.) would lead the NL an AL in Wins with 22 and 21 respectively. It would be the only time they were 20 Game winners in the Majors. ( Note – NL’er tied for the League lead with Curt Schilling )

 

[Indrid Cold]

Stargell's bat always looked like a giant war club to me. The way he spun it made me think he was Goliath.

 

[67RedSox]

J.R. (James Rodney) Richard was born on this date in 1950. His Major League career came to an abrupt end 34 years ago when on July 30, 1980 he collapsed during pre-game throwing drills with Wilbur Howard and was rushed to Southern Methodist Hospital. J.R. had suffered a major stroke and would have died that day without emergency surgery. When reporters asked about the condition of J.R.'s arm, the doctors replied that they were interested in saving his life, not his arm.

Much like the timeless Greek tragedies written thousands of years ago, Richard’s is the story of a great figure brought to ruin at the height of his glory by forces beyond his control. Losing his Baseball career was just the start of his fall. His personal life spiraled downward as well. His money was sucked away through his falling prey to business scams as well as two divorces. In the 1990s he was homeless, destitute and living under highway underpasses. His Baseball pension and friends help rescue him from that fate and he later became an ordained minister.
Richard for the 5 year period, 1976-1980 was one of the most dominant pitchers in Baseball winning 20 Games in a season, winning an ERA Crown, three times giving up the fewest hits per 9 innings and becoming the first righthander in ML history to have back-to-back 300 Strikeout seasons. For some reason the Astros have chosen not to retire his number despite calls to do so. The Astros have retired nine uniform #s plus Jackie Robinson’s # 42. This includes pitchers like Don Wilson, Nolan Ryan, Jim Umbricht ( cancer survivor then victim ) and Mike Scott. Their records, while with the Astros, are inferior to or no better than Richard’s yet they choose not to retire his number. It’s their call completely but seems strange they have remained steadfast on the matter.

J.R. Richard Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

In the history of the Grand Old Game there have been two pitchers with the name BoBo and they both pitched for the hapless St. Louis Browns. BoBo Holloman who was born on this date in 1923 and pitched one year in the Majors, 1953 and BoBo Newsome who pitched in the Majors over 4 different decades with his final season being 1953 with the Philadelphia Athletics. Therefore, in 1953 the AL was blessed to have not one but both BoBos pitching in its ranks. All three of the aforementioned…the Browns, BoBo Newsom and BoBo Holloman met with some degree of misery in their Major League lives so a brief look at all three.
On September 27, 1953 the St. Louis Browns played their last game and were finally put out of their misery, packed their bags and headed to Baltimore. For 51 of their 52 seasons they were irrelevant. Only in 1944, when they went to the World Series against their cross-town rival, did they rise above that irrelevancy.
That isn’t to say some of the players who wore their uniform didn’t have success. George Sisler twice hit over .400 wearing a Browns uniform. Between 1918-1931 Babe Ruth failed to win the AL’s Home Run Crown only twice and in both of those seasons there was only one player, Ken Williams, who tied or hit more HRs than Ruth and Williams wore a Brown’s uniform. Why, the Brown’s Urban Shocker won 27 games in 1921 and no one in the Majors won more than that.
Their final season was brutal, losing 100 games yet again. In fact late in the season, the Browns were running so low on baseballs that they were forced to ration them during batting practice. When the Browns' last game in St. Louis--a 2-1 loss to the White Sox--went into extra innings, the Browns had so few baseballs on hand that the umpires were forced to recycle the least damaged ones that had previously been used. Reportedly, the last ball used was gashed from seam to seam.

st. louis browns logo - Google Search

BoBo Holloman pitched only one year in the Majors, 1953 and finished his ML career with a 3-7, 5.23 record. However, he accomplished something that no other pitcher in the modern era of the Major Leagues managed to do before or since. On May 6, 1953 Holloman would become the only pitcher to throw a No-Hitter in his first ML start. Ever since it’s been referred to as “ BoBo’s No-No “. Like the Browns, BoBo’s star fizzled and within two months he was back in the Minors never to pitch in the Majors again.

Bobo Holloman Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

BoBo Newsom was the other end of the spectrum from Holloman on the longevity scale. His Major League career began in 1929 and ended in 1953. He won a lot of games over the course of his career, over 200 in fact but he lost even more. His career record was 211-222, 3.98. He had highs and lows. He was a 4-time All-Star, a two time 20 Game winner and won a Ring with the 1947 Yankees. On the other side of the coin he led the League in Losses 4 times with four different teams…the Browns, Senators, Tigers and Athletics and is the only pitcher, Post 1900 who won more than 200 games but lost lost more games than he won. Newsom is one of only 29 players in Baseball history to date to have appeared in Major League games in four decades. Al Benton is the only Major League pitcher to have faced both Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Newsom was the only other pitcher whose career spanned that of both hitters. He did face Ruth in 1934; however, in 1951, Mantle's first year, Newsom was out of the Majors, and in 1952, Newsom never faced the Yankees--and the one time he faced them in 1953, Mantle was out of the lineup with an injury.

Bobo Newsom Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Here’s a name few will remember but he was one of my favourite players when I was a kid. Jimmie Hall was born on this date in 1938. In 1963 he hit 33 HRs as a rookie with the Minnesota Twins and finished 3rd in the Rookie of the Year behind Gary Peters and Pete Ward. He was an All-Star center-fielder in each of 1964 and 1965 and went to the World Series in 1965 against the Dodgers. Unfortunately, the Twins lost the Series after beating Drysdale and Koufax in Games 1 and 2. Drysdale had Hall’s number in that Series striking him out 5 times in 6 at-bats with a weak ground out to Shortstop his other time up.

Jimmie Hall Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Freddie Hutchinson was a good ML pitcher for the Detroit Tigers for 10 seasons but was an even better Manager for the Tigers, Cardinals and Reds starting as a player-manager for the Tigers in 1952. He led the Reds to the NL Pennant in 1961 with 93 Wins and won a whopping 98 games in 1962 but both the Giants and Dodgers decided to win more than 100 that season so it isn’t often you win 98 games and finish 3rd. He died battling cancer in 1964 at the young age of only 45. In his honour one of the World’s leading Cancer Research facilities and a MLB Award were named.

First, about the Cancer Research Center…Hutchinson was born and raised in Seattle. His brother, Dr. William Hutchinson stayed in Seattle and in the year following his brother’s death founded the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. It has become one of the World’s leading cancer research institutes. Its interdisciplinary scientists research the prevention, early detection, and treatment of cancer and other diseases in the laboratory and at patient bedside in the United States and other countries. When Boston Red Sox rookie left-handed pitcher Jon Lester, a Washington native, was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma during the 2006 season, he chose to undergo chemotherapy at the Seattle facility. Second, about the Hutch Award…it’s given annually to an active MLB player who "best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire" of Fred Hutchinson, by persevering through adversity. The award was created in 1965 in honour of Hutchinson and created by Hutch's longtime friends Bob Prince, a broadcaster for the Pittsburgh Pirates and KDKA; Jim Enright, a Chicago sportswriter; and Ritter Collett, the sports editor of the Dayton Journal Herald. They also created a scholarship fund for medical students engaged in cancer research to honor Hutchinson's memory. Eleven members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame have won the Hutch Award. The inaugural winner was Mickey Mantle. Jon Lester won the award in 2008. The award is presented annually at the Hutch Award Luncheon hosted by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, at Safeco Field. Each winner receives a copy of the original trophy. The original trophy has been on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown since 1979.

Here’s a couple of quotes, one by Hutchinson and one about Hutchinson:

"For five innings, it's the pitcher's game. After that it's mine."

"If I ever hear a player say he can't play for Hutch, then I'll know he can't play for anybody." – Stan Musial in 1957.


Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Can you name the last player to win the Rookie of the Year Award who would later win back-to-back Batting Crowns. (He won the ROTY Award in 1997)

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Jack Morris and John Smoltz. (There have been some memorable Game 7s in World Series history. In 1991 a Classic World Series ended with a Classic Game 7 a 1-0 nail-biter that went 10 innings. Can you name the two starting pitchers in that game.)

 

[67RedSox]

An important decision was made in Baseball as the 1899 season closed and the 20th Century dawned. The decision made on this date in 1900 was the National League deciding to go with eight teams. Those selected eight cities would remain the same for 53 years until the Boston Braves move to Milwaukee in 1953. The Brooklyn Dodgers, NY Giants, Boston Braves, Phillies, Pirates, Reds, Cubs, and Cardinals would remain while the Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators, Louisville Colonels and Cleveland Spiders would go.

On this date in 1922 there were two future ML’ers born in Pennsylvania and they would end up playing side by side in the Outfield for the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1947 World Series. Carl Furillo was born in Stony Creek Mills and Al Gionfriddo was born in Dysart. The population of the two towns combined wouldn’t fill the outfield bleachers in Ebbets Field where they played but they ended up there side by side and in a film clip of one of the most famous catches in World Series history.
Carl Furillo enjoyed a solid ML career spending 15 years in a Dodger uniform, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Other than finishing his career with a .299 Batting Average including a mark of .344 in 1953 when he won the NL Batting Crown he would define how to play the right field wall at Ebbets Field. The wall was 19 feet high, with a 19 foot screen on top (which was in play), and the scoreboard with a Bulova clock atop it sat in right center. The wall was concrete and concave, a vertical top half and an angled bottom half. There were said to be nearly 300 angles a ball could take after hitting different parts of the wall.
Furillo described how he played the wall. “Will it hit above the cement and hit the screen? Then you run like hell toward the wall, because it’s gonna drop dead. Will it hit the cement? Then you run like hell to the infield, because it’s gonna come shooting out. I can’t even tell you what to do if it hits the scoreboard. The angles were crazy.” No one ran on Furillo’s arm…except the ill-advised. In one season alone he had 24 outfield assists and you didn’t round 1st base too wildly either or you’d be a dead duck because he wasn’t afraid to throw behind the runner.

carl furillo - Google Search

right field wall ebbets field - Google Search

Gionfriddo, on the other hand, did not enjoy a long career in the Majors. It consisted of 228 games spread over 4 seasons. In fact his famous catch in Game 6 of the 1947 World Series to preserve a Dodger win and send the Series to Game 7 took place in the final game he would ever play in the Major Leagues.
In Game 6 the Dodgers led the Yankees 8–5 going into the bottom of the 6th inning when Gionfriddo was brought in to play LF as a defensive replacement. Snuffy Stirnweiss and Yogi Berra were on base when DiMaggio drove the ball to the 415 marker. Gionfriddo raced across the field and caught the ball before crashing into the bullpen gate. Furillo had not yet become the Dodgers RF’er and was playing CF and you can see him retrieve Gionfriddo’s cap on the play. In one of the most famous images in baseball history, the taciturn DiMaggio shook his head and kicked at the dirt in frustration. At the time, there was no instant replay, and Gionfriddo was widely believed to have robbed DiMaggio of a home run. However, the game film, when developed later, clearly showed Gionfriddo catching the ball shy of the wall, and thus actually robbing DiMaggio of a double or triple instead of a home run. Still photos of the catch contributed to the misconception that it was a potential home run, since the images showed Gionfriddo with his glove behind the bullpen gate, and the ball inside the glove. However, these photos were taken seconds after the play, when Gionfriddo's momentum had carried his arm over the gate. Nevertheless, it stands as one of the most famous catches in history and it resulted in DiMaggio doing something you almost never saw happen…physically express his frustration. Exactly 52 years later, on this date in 1999, Joe Dimaggio dies at age 84.
Gionfriddo was also involved in the even more famous Game 4 of the 1947 Series when Cookie Lavagetto's pinch hit double not only broke up Bill Bevens' no hitter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but won the game as well when Gionfriddo (who had entered the game as a pinch runner for Carl Furillo and stole second) and Eddie Miksis scored on the play. His ML career was brief but finished with two amazing stories to tell for the rest of his life.


cookie lavagetto 1947 world series - Google Search

Richie “Call me Dick” Allen was born on this in 1942. He was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1964 and the AL’s MVP in 1972. His first season in the majors, 1964, ranks among the greatest rookie seasons ever. He led the league in runs (125), triples (13), extra base hits (80) and total bases (352); he finished in the top five in batting average (.318), slugging average (.557), hits (201), and doubles (38). Playing for the first time at third base, he led the league with 41 errors. Along with outfielder Johnny Callison and pitchers Chris Short and Jim Bunning, Allen led the Phillies to a six-and-a-half game hold on first place with just twelve games to play in an exceptionally strong National League. The '64 Phillies then lost ten straight games and finished tied for second place for the biggest collapse in the history of MLB Pennant races.


It was on this date in 1946 the first spring training game ever to be played in Arizona takes place at Tucson’s Hi Corbett Field. The Indians, behind the pitching of Bob Lemon, beat the Giants, 3-1, in the inaugural Cactus League contest. The Indians would train there for 38 seasons, until 1992. Hi Corbett Field is well known to the Colorado Rockies and their fans as when the Indians vacated they moved in and it was their Spring Training site from 1993 until 2010.

hi corbett field - Google Search

Here’s some vintage baseball photos:


Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Since Willie Mays led the NL in Base Hits with 190 in 1960 there have been only two Giants to do so since,..in 1990 ( 192 hits ) and in 2001 ( 206 hits ). Can you name either of those players…one an Outfielder and one an Infielder.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Nomar Garciaparra. (Can you name the last player to win the Rookie of the Year Award who would later win back-to-back Batting Crowns. (He won the ROTY Award in 1997)

 

[67RedSox]

Among the 1,581 players who have come to the plate and batted for the NY Yankees there has been only 1 who collected 6 hits in a 9-inning game. He was born on this date in 1908 and for most of the 1930’s he was an Outfielder with the Yankees winning 3 WS Rings in the process. He is 121st on the list of players with the most career base hits for the Yankees with 347. Myril Hoag is the man. His moment of glory came on June 6th, 1934 when he set the Yankee record that remains to this day. At Fenway Park that day the Yankees and Sox played a double-header. In the first game, the Yankees crushed the Sox 15-3 with Hoag playing in left field for Babe Ruth. Later in his career Ruth refused to play in left field at Fenway Park because it was the “sun field” and made more than one ML outfielder look like a Little Leaguer out there and Ruth had too much pride to be embarrassed by the sun. Something else about Hoag…despite being 5’11” and 180 lbs he wore the smallest shoe size of any ML player to play the Game (Eddie Gaedel aside). He wore size 4 on the right foot and 4½ on the left. He had to have them specially ordered.

Myril Hoag - BR Bullpen

Hall of Fame Shortstop, Arky Vaughan was born on this date in 1912. Vaughan played only 12 full seasons in the Majors but made the most of those seasons, mostly with the Pirates, by having a lifetime BA of .318 highlighted by a NL Batting Crown in 1935 when he hit .385. Sadly he died at the age of 40 as he drowned while fishing.

arky vaughan - Google Search

On this date in 1922 Rogers Hornsby signs a three-year contract with Cardinals' owner Sam Breadon for three seasons at $18,500.00 per season making him the highest paid player in National league history. Did he earn his money? The 25 year-old second baseman hit .404 over the three-year span of the deal, win 3 Batting Crowns and a Triple Crown.

rogers hornsby 1922 - Google Search

On this date in 1927 during a Spring Training practice session Joe Judge, the Senators 1st Baseman hits a line drive that hits his teammate Walter Johnson in the foot‚ breaking a small bone in the ankle and sidelining him for over two months. It’s the beginning of the end for Johnson as the 38-year-old will never completely recover from the injury and pitch only 107 innings that season, going 5-6 and retire at season end. His final numbers were 417-279 with an ERA of 2.17 supporting those who feel he was the best pitcher in the history of the Game.

Joe Judge: Washington's First Baseman and "That Other Washington Monument" - Ghosts of DC

While Johnson was getting line-drived Jackie Jensen was being born on this date in 1927. One of the AL’s best players during the mid to late 1950’s. For the six seasons 1954-1959 he averaged 26 HRs and 111 RBIs a season winning the AL MVP Crown in 1958.

Jackie Jensen Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com


One of the best defensive center fielders to ever play the Game, Jim Landis, was born on this date in 1934. My earliest recollection of MLB is a vague one… a photograph from the 1959 World Series (White Sox and Dodgers) in the local newspaper that included Jim Landis. Landis was the first American League CF’er to win 5 consecutive Gold Gloves, 1960-1964…in an era when winning a Gold Glove was a true indication of your excellence with the leather. His son, Craig is Mike Trout’s agent.

jim landis - Google Search

Willie Davis, one of the most productive CF’ers in the Game with both the bat and the glove, died on this date in 2010. Well, if you’ve ever wondered what sort of view you’d have if you were the 2nd Base bag here’s a sample compliments of Willie as he steals 2nd Base:

https://90feetofperfection.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/willie-davis-slide-neil-leifer.jpg

This and That:

A player hitting an Inside-The-Park-HR doesn’t happen often and hitting two in the same game even less but it does happen, 17 times since 1900. The last couple of players to hit 2 Inside-The-Park HRs in the same game are Greg Gagne of the Twins in 1986 and Richie “Call me Dick” Allen of the White Sox in 1972, his MVP season. Hank Aaron banged out 755 HRs over the course of his career but only 1 was of the inside-the-park variety. It was on May 10, 1967 off of Jim Bunning of the Phillies in Connie Mack Stadium…the 448th of his career. Aaron hit the HOF’er Bunning pretty good for average, .323 , but it was the only HR he hit off him in his career.

Among active players Carl Crawford is the ML leader in Stolen bases with 470. That puts him 44th on the all-time list.

The last pitcher in the American league to throw 300 Innings in a single season was Jim Palmer in 1977. In fact he did it back-to-back-to-back in 1975-76-77. The last National League pitcher to toss 300 was Steve Carlton in 1980.

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Last season Clayton Kershaw won both the MVP and Cy Young Awards in the National League. It doesn’t happen often that two different players from the same team win the League’s MVP and Cy Young Awards. In 1990 the MVP and Cy Young Awards were won by different players from the same team in both the National League and the American League. Can you name 2 of those 4 players.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question is…Brett Butler, 1990 ( tied with Lenny Dykstra ), 2001 Rich Aurillia. ( Since Willie Mays led the NL in Base Hits with 190 in 1960 there have been only two Giants to do so since,..in 1990 ( 192 hits ) and in 2001 ( 206 hits ). Can you name either of those players…one an Outfielder and one an Infielder.)

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1951 that the top cop in the United States, J. Edgar Hoover said no thanks to the job as Commissioner of Major League Baseball and his turning down the job has led MLB to turn the Office of Commissioner from one acting in the “best interests of the Game” into one acting in the “best interests of the owners”.
In 1920 Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis accepted the role of Commissioner on three provisos. The first being the appointment be as “sole” Commissioner as opposed to him being the head of a committee of commissioners. The second, that he have unlimited authority to act in the "best interests of baseball" in essence, serving as an arbitrator whose decisions could not be appealed. Finally, Landis insisted on a lifetime contract. Baseball felt it had little choice given the state of the Game in 1920. Yes, the Black Sox Scandal may have been the trigger leading to Landis’ appointment on his terms but there were a series of incidents in the late 1910s that jeopardized the integrity of the Game and that brought relations between team owners and AL President Johnson to a breaking point. In particular, Chicago White Sox owner Charles Comiskey was incensed at what he perceived to be Johnson's indifference to his suspicions that the 1919 World Series had been thrown. As a result, the National League, whose owners had never been on good terms with Johnson, agreed to invite the White Sox along with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to join their league. The NL also unveiled plans to put a twelfth team in Detroit. With the American League's status as a Major League and possibly its very existence suddenly in jeopardy, the five AL owners loyal to Johnson sued for peace. Eventually, at the urging of Detroit Tigers owner and Johnson loyalist Frank Navin, a compromise was reached in late 1920 to reform the National Commission with a membership of non-baseball men.
When Landis died in 1944 a replacement was found in the person Happy Chandler a Senator from Kentucky who had formerly been the Governor of the State ( and would be again after his contract as Commissioner was not renewed by MLB ). His tenure as Commissioner was short-lived because the very people who elected him Commissioner, the Owners, grew disenchanted with him for two reasons. First, he was seen as a “player’s Commissioner” for his work on their behalf. For example, he presided over the establishment of a pension fund for players. Secondly, he sealed his fate by leading the Major Leagues of the major leagues, beginning with the debut of Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. This move was controversial with team owners, who voted 15–1 against integrating the sport in a secret January 1947 meeting. The Dodgers' Branch Rickey met with Chandler, who agreed to back the team's move.
Had Hoover accepted to step down as the Director of the FBI and become Baseball Commissioner in 1951 it’s likely the landscape of the Grand Old Game would be different than it is today.

On This Day In Sports: March 10, 1951: J. Edgar Hoover turns down the opportunity to become the commissioner of Major League Baseball

Tropicana Field, the home of the Tampa Bay Rays is less than 20 miles from Clearwater. You would think the Rays rule supreme in Clearwater but they don’t. They have to share top billing with another ML team, the Philadelphia Phillies who preceded the Rays to the area by 50 years.
Jack Russell was a ML pitcher for 15 years, 1926-1940. He began his career as a starter but after 9 consecutive losing seasons and with a record of 52-112 including 1930 when he went 9-20 and led the AL in Losses he was converted to the bullpen by the Washington Senators and immediately had the best season of his career going 12-3 plus 13 Saves to lead all of MLB. His Baseball legacy however has less to do with his ML career and more to do with his contributions to the Game in Clearwater, Florida. After his playing career was over he settled in Clearwater and became the President of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce and later a City commissioner.
In 1947 the Philadelphia Phillies moved their Spring Training camp to Clearwater and are still there 69 years later. Jack Russell began campaigning to raise money for a baseball stadium as soon as the Phillies arrived. Russell was instrumental in the conception of the ballpark. Russell had the blueprints and plans drawn up himself in 1954 and then approached the Clearwater mayor and city commission with the plans in July 1954. The mayor and commissioners approved of the idea and then Russell obtained legal rights from the Florida State Supreme Court in Tallahassee to raise the money to build the stadium through revenue bonds. Work began in fall 1954 and the Mayor of Clearwater surprised Russell when he announced that the stadium would be named in his honour. It was on this date in 1955 Robin Roberts throws the ceremonial first pitch before the first game at Jack Russell Stadium‚ and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Detroit Tigers 4-2 before a crowd of 4‚209 fans. Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick, National League president Warren Giles and American League president Will Harridge were on hand for the ceremony. The ballpark served as the Phillies Spring Training site for 48 years until the Phillies moved 4 miles down the road in 2003 to new modern digs. Most of the ballpark was demolished in 2007 but the dugouts, offices, and other elements were retained as the field continues to be used today for amateur instruction and tournaments.

http://deadballbaseball.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/JackRussellAerial360-copy.jpg

Jack Russell Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

It was on this date in 1963 in Tampa that non-roster player Pete Rose makes his first appearance in a Reds uniform and shows a little of what’s to come doubling twice in two at bats against the White Sox. Rose enters in the 9th inning‚ and hits in the 11th and 14th‚ scoring the game's only run. By the end of that season he would be the overwhelming choice as the NL’s Rookie of the Year.

pete rose 1963 - Google Search

Do you remember the Dodgers – Cubs game on September 9, 1965…Sandy Koufax versus Bob Hendley. It was a 1-hitter, that is to say, both teams combined for 1 hit. Koufax tosses a Perfect Game and Hendley allows 1 hit and the Dodgers win 1-0 on an unearned run that scores not as a result of a hit but an error. I consider it as the best pitched game in ML history…how can it not be? Well, Emil Huhn who was born on this date in 1892 might argue. He won’t win the argument but he sure has a good case. Huhn was a part-time player with only a brief Major League career that totalled 60 games and 145 At-Bats with the Reds in 1916 and 1917 plus a year in the Federal League with the Newark Pepper. Despite his brief stay with the Big Boys he nevertheless managed to take part in a historic baseball event…the only MLB game to go 9 innings without a hit by either team and Huhn was catching for the Reds that day so he was right in the middle of it all. The date was May 2, 1917 in a game played in Chicago’s Weeghman Park ( later to be renamed, Wrigley Field. ) Fred Toney was pitching for the Reds and Huhn was his catcher. Toney’s mound opponent was James “Hippo” Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs. Nine innings later the game remained scoreless and, for the first time in MLB, hitless. In the tenth the Reds scratched out a pair of hits off Vaughn, the last an RBI infield single by Native-American and Olympic legend Jim Thorpe, to take the lead. In the bottom of the tenth, Toney, with Huhn still catching flawlessly in the midst of an 0-for-3 day at bat, retired the side to claim both a no-hitter and a 1-0 victory in a game witnessed by only about 2,500 fans. Incidentally, Toney was no stranger to extra-inning no-hitters. In the Minors he once tossed a 17 inning no-hitter for Winchester in the Blue Grass League.

May 2, 1917 Cincinnati Reds at Chicago Cubs Box Score and Play by Play | Baseball-Reference.com

Emil Huhn Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

There has been only one pitcher in MLB to give up 5,000 base hits since Cy Young retired in 1911. He’s a Hall of Famer and knows the joy of victory and the agony of defeat as he had 20 Win and 20 Loss seasons in his career and is the last ML’er to Win and Lose 20 in the same season.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Barry Bonds, Doug Drabek – Pirates, Rickey Henderson, Bob Wech – Athletics. (Last season Clayton Kershaw won both the MVP and Cy Young Awards in the National League. It doesn’t happen often that two different players from the same team win the League’s MVP and Cy Young Awards. In 1990 the MVP and Cy Young Awards were won by different players from the same team in both the National League and the American League. Can you name 2 of those 4 players.)

 

[67RedSox]

Norwood Gibson was born on this date in 1877. He was a so-so pitcher for four ML seasons with the Boston Americans ( Red Sox ) 1903-1906 going 34-32 with an ERA of 2.93. As a rookie in 1903 he went to the first World Series ever played and won a Ring as Boston beat the Pirates in 8 games. Gibson is worth a mention here not so much for his Baseball career but what he did before and after his ML career which was particularly unusual in those days but even now. He attended the University of Notre Dame and graduated with a degree in chemistry before he played in the Majors and was a College Chemistry professor after his Big League career.

Norwood Gibson - BR Bullpen

On this date in 1882 the Providence Grays of the National League put season tickets on sale for $15.00. Of course, in those days the season was 84 games so it meant only 42 home games. Outrageous that you could only see 42 games for $15.00 or 36 cents a game. The sale would end on march 20th when the price of a season ticket would jump back up to $20.00. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me considering there were 4 Hall of Famers in uniform for the Grays that year… SS – George Wright, OF – Monte Ward, P – Old Hoss Radburn and Manager – Harry Wright who is referred to as “ The Father of Professional Baseball” .

1882 Providence Grays Batting, Pitching, & Fielding Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

It was on this date in 1933 that an exhibition game in Los Angeles between the Cubs and Giants got a bit dicey when a substantial earthquake, magnitude 6.3, and referred to as “ The Long Beach Earthquake” shook the ground they were playing on and both teams huddled at 2B until the threat was over. There were 120 people killed and thousands injured in the quake. The earthquake highlighted the need for earthquake-resistant design for structures in California. Many school buildings were damaged, with more than 230 school buildings that either were destroyed, suffered major damage, or were judged unsafe to occupy, that the Field Act was passed by the California State Legislature on April 10, 1933. The Field Act mandated that school buildings must be earthquake-resistant. If the earthquake had occurred during school hours, the death toll would have been much higher.


It was on this date in 1958 the American League mandates that batters in the AL would have to wear batting helmets or protective headgear such as a cap liner in their cap. American League voted 7-1 in favour of the helmets. The Red Sox dissent knowing their slugger Ted Williams adamantly is against wearing head gear, asserting it would interfere with his timing.

The Milwaukee Sentinel - Google News Archive Search

It was on this date in 1972 that Hall of Famer Zack Wheat died. He played 18 years with Brooklyn and although he played his last game for Brooklyn in 1926 he remains to this day the Dodgers all-time leader in Games, At-Bats, Base Hits, Singles, Double, Triples, Total bases and Hit by Pitch.

zack wheat - Google Search

O.K, O.K. I know I yakked about a spring training ballpark in Florida yesterday and the chances that I would do so again today should be remote…but guess what?...22 miles from Jack Russell Stadium is Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg and its truly a baseball shrine and needs to be mentioned. It was on this date in 1956 Mickey Mantle adds to the history of the place when he blasts a pitch from Larry Jackson in a Grapefruit League game over the left field wall into the bay. The Yanks top the Cards 4-3. Stan Musial contends‚ "no home run has ever cleared my head by as much as long as I can remember." Mantle was just tuning up for his Triple Crown season and 9 days later would crank another one into the water off of Bob Maye.

St. Petersburg began hosting Spring Training in 1914 and didn’t stop until the Spring of 2008 when the last of the teams to train there, the Tampa Bay Rays were lured away by the seductive baseball sirens in Port Charlotte. At the time Jayson Stark of ESPN wrote an article doing justice to the place and here’s some of what he said:

- Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg hosted more than 2,000 spring-training games, more than any site

- A place that, for some reason, has inspired about a million fewer tears and a billion fewer verses of poetry than Dodgertown this spring, even though the history of this site is even deeper, even longer, even richer.

- Lou Gehrig trained here. Stan Musial trained here. Grover Cleveland Alexander and Tom Seaver trained here.

- Joe DiMaggio got four hits in his first spring training game as a Yankee here. Don Zimmer hit the first Grapefruit League triple in the history of the Mets here.

- Babe Ruth once launched home runs here that traveled across First Avenue into the balconies of the now-defunct West Coast Inn.

- The Cardinals trained here for 60 years. The Yankees trained here for 36 years. The Mets trained here for the first 26 years of their existence. The Braves, Orioles, Giants and Rays also can say they called this home, at least for an idyllic month and a half. For nearly 70 years, it was the home for two teams every spring.

- The most picturesque setting ever to house any spring training ballpark -- just across the street from a harbor dotted with sailboats, along the St. Petersburg pier. Oh, the ballpark itself is no candidate for Architectural Digest. No brick. No ivy. No earth tones. No manufactured charms. Just a simple concrete shell with 6,439 seats. But the setting, the harbor and the palm trees beyond the outfield fence salvage the ambiance. And the history that has unfolded here oozes out of every blade of grass.

Andy Van Slyke had this to say about the place…There's no other field in the history of the game that produced as many stars as Al Lang. So I think they need to take out a cubic foot of dirt, take it to Cooperstown and say, 'This is the dirt that produced more major leaguers than any other field in the history of the game.'

Charlie Manuel had this to say…"I played a spring training game there one day, and I hit two home runs off Bob Gibson, the only two hits he gave up, too. And he pitched nine innings that day. When the game was over, Gibson was out there doing his sprints. And he looked right at me and said, 'You know, young fellow' -- I'll never forget him calling me 'young fellow' -- 'if you got those hits off me during the season, I'd have hit you.' So I guess I got lucky."

al lang field - Google Search

al lang field - Google Search


Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

I’ll give you 5 different letters of the alphabet and you provide the player whose last name begins with that letter to be the MLB leader in lifetime HRs. Example, “ A”…Hank Aaron, 755. The letters are “E”, “L”,”N”,”Q” and “V”. You only need to get 1 of the 5 to score full points…but you can have some fun and try all 5.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Phil Niekro. ( There has been only one pitcher in MLB to give up 5,000 base hits since Cy Young retired in 1911. He’s a Hall of Famer and knows the joy of victory and the agony of defeat as he had 20 Win and 20 Loss seasons in his career and is the last ML’er to Win and Lose 20 in the same season.)

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1903, New York is officially accepted as a team in the American League. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Baltimore, Maryland in 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles. The team moved to New York City in 1903 and became the New York Highlanders, before taking the "Yankees" as their official name in 1913.

Yankees Timeline | yankees.com: History

It was on this date in 1934 that Dizzy Dean’s younger brother‚ Daffy‚ ends his holdout. Dizzy predicts they will win between 40 and 45 games between them for the Cardinals. They do even better‚ winning 49‚ with Dizzy contributing 30…the last NL pitcher to Win 30 in a season. The Cardinals go to the World Series against the Tigers and the Cardinals win it in seven games. The Dean brothers win all four games for the Cardinals with Daffy winning Game 6 and Dizzy winning Game 7.

Baseball History in 1934: Dizzy, Daffy and Ducky

Cy Young Award winner, Vernon Law, was born on this date in 1930. He and the Pirates had quite a season in 1960 when the Pirates took the World Series and Law took the Cy Young Award when there was only one Award for both Leagues.

Baseball Savvy: Where Are They Now

Johnny Callison was born on this date in 1939. He is best known as the Phillies right fielder during the entire decade of the 1960’s. Early in his career he was compared to Mickey Mantle because he could run, throw, field, and hit with power. In 1964 he was runner-up to Kenny Boyer as the NL’s MVP. Many will argue the Phillies collapse in the final 12 games of the season cost him the MVP. Their offensive numbers were remarkably similar, virtually nothing between them. Defensively, they were both superb. Despite never winning a Gold Glove he was one of the best defensive outfielders to ever play the game.


The Toy Cannon, Jimmy Wynn, was born on this date in 1942. He was an underrated player who put up very good offensive numbers in a low-scoring era and had exceptional power despite his diminutive size. He hit the longest HR in the history of Cincinnati's Crosley Field. Nicknamed the "Toy Cannon" for his strong arm attached to a 5'9", 160 pound frame. The Astros have retired his uniform #24.


Dale Murphy was born on this date in 1956. There aren’t too many players to win MVP Crowns in back-to-back seasons but Murphy did in 1982-83.

A Hall of Fame case for Dale Murphy - Buster Olney Blog - ESPN

Frankie Frisch, the Fordham Flash, died on this date in 1973 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. He was the player-manager of the 1934 Gashouse Gang St. Louis Cardinals that won the World Series. He was born into wealth and was expected to end up in the family lace-linen manufacturing business. Funny thing happen in University though…sports sidetracked him. He was the captain of each of Fordham’s baseball, football and basketball teams. He was an All-American in football and was a track star to boot. In fact, it was on the track where he got his nickname, “The Fordham Flash”, not for leading the Majors in Stolen bases as he did on more than one occasion as I thought. From all of those choices he selected Baseball and was signed by the NY Giants and is one of those Baseball rarities of playing in the Majors without ever doing so in the Minors.


This and That:

We all know the tragic story of Ray Chapman the Cleveland shortstop who died as a result of a beaning in 1920. The tragedy didn’t stop there. Chapman was married and his 27 year old wife, Katie was pregnant at the time. She soldiered on, gave birth to a daughter but both would die before the end of the decade. Although Katie remarried she never recovered from her first husband’s death. She suffered bouts of depression and finally committed suicide in 1928 by drinking cleaning fluid. The daughter died the following year due to measles.

The 1950 Chicago Cubs weren’t a very good team going 64-89 for the season and finished in 7th place, in then an 8 team League, 26.5 games behind the Whiz Kids of Philadelphia. What’s interesting about the 1950 Cubs is something you rarely see any more…a team that played a doubleheader or two. In fact that season they played 31, yes 31 doubleheaders. They swept only 4 of those 31 and were swept in 19. Their record is single games was a respectable 48-45 however only 16-45 with 1 tie in the twin-bills. There are still 4 members of that team still living today, 65 years later however none of them are still playing in the Majors.

Since WWII there has been only one player hit .325 or better for three separate ML teams. The teams are Toronto, Baltimore and Cleveland and the player is a Hall of Famer…Roberto Alomar.

Frank Robinson is the only Triple Crown winner to never lead the League in a Triple Crown category in any other year.

In the history of the Grand Old Game hitting for the cycle happens slightly more often than tossing a no-hitter, 305 – 287. There have been only 6 players who have hit for the cycle in a game in which they hit not 1 but 2 HRs in the game. Joe DiMaggio was the first to do and the only player to do it twice and both times were in 1937. Gil Hodges did it in 1949, Ralph Kiner in 1950, Carl Yastrzemski in 1965, George Brett in 1979 and Greg Colbrunn in 2002.

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

There are six MLB teams who do not use red or blue as a team colour…how many can you name? I will say 3 of those teams are in the NL and 3 are in the AL.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…E-Darrell Evans, 414 L-Carlos Lee, 358 N-Graig Nettles, 390 Q- Carlos Quentin, 150 V-Greg Vaughn 355 ( I’ll give you 5 different letters of the alphabet and you provide the player whose last name begins with that letter to be the MLB leader in lifetime HRs. Example, “ A”…Hank Aaron, 755. The letters are “E”, “L”,”N”,”Q” and “V”. You only need to get 1 of the 5 to score full points…but you can have some fun and try all 5 .)

 

[67RedSox]

This date in 1953, also a Friday the 13th, became known as “Black Friday” in Boston as Braves' owner Lou Perini announces he will seek permission from the National League to move his franchise from Boston to Milwaukee, the first franchise shift in Major League Baseball in more than half a century.

Baseball History in 1953: Brave New World

Staying with the Milwaukee Braves it was exactly one year later on this date in 1954 that the man who hit the most famous HR in Baseball history and the only man to be teammates with both Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, Bobby Thomson, breaks his ankle in three places during an exhibition game and will be sidelined until July 14. The '51 National League playoff hero is replaced in the Braves' lineup by a promising prospect named Hank Aaron. Ironically, Aaron fractures his ankle in a game on September 5th that season and is replaced in left field by Thomson the man he replaced. Not quite the Wally Pipp / Lou Gehrig story but similar.

Matt Tavares Books: THE TRUE STORY OF HANK AARON'S FIRST START FOR THE BRAVES

It was on this date in 1960, much to the chagrin of other owners and most of his players, Bill Veeck's White Sox become the first team to put the players' names on the back of the jersey, unveiling the new look on their road uniforms in an exhibition game against Cincinnati in Tampa. After the rest of the League's clubs protest the Chicago owner's innovation, the Commissioner's office will rule that in addition to displaying traditional numbers each team will have the option to use monikered uniforms. Thus, it is at the discretion of each team as to whether or not they display player’s names. The New York Yankees do not display player’s names on either their home or away uniforms. The Red Sox and Giants do not display names on their home uniforms. If names are displayed it must be for all players on the team and it must be the player’s last name. If a name other than the last name is to appear it must have the approval of the Commissioner’s Office. Ichiro Suzuki, when he played for the Seattle Mariners, is the last player to have his given name rather than his family name displayed on the back of his uniform, having applied for this permission in order to continue being identified as he had been in the Japanese Leagues. Vida Blue also used his first name on the back of his uniform when he played for the San Francisco Giants in the mid-1980s.

National Baseball Hall of Fame - Dressed to the Nines - Timeline

The only player in MLB history to lead the League in RBIs four times who is not in the Hall of Fame died on this date in 1929. Except in the record books of the Philadelphia Phillies Sherry Magee is all but forgotten today. Today we would call Sherry Magee a five-tool player: he could hit, run, field, throw, and hit with power. For more than a decade, 1904-1914, he was the Philadelphia Phillies' clean-up hitter and greatest offensive star. Magee's defense was nearly the equal of his offense; sensational catches with his back to home plate were his trademark. He was undoubtedly the NL's best all-around ball player in his time. His talent on the field was matched by his grouchiness. He was hot-headed and often ran into trouble scrapping with umpires. The worst of those incidents was in July of 1911. With two strikes, rookie umpire Bill Finneran called Magee out on what appeared to be a high pitch, prompting Magee to turn away in disgust and throw his bat high in the air. Finneran yanked off his mask and threw him out of the game. Sherry, who had been heading to the bench, suddenly turned and attacked the umpire, clutching him for a second before hitting him with a quick left just above the jaw. With blood spurting from his face, Finneran fell to the ground on his back, apparently unconscious.

The field umpire, Cy Rigler, and the Phillies manager, Red Dooin, who was coaching first base, both rushed to the plate to assist Finneran; meanwhile Magee stood in front of the Phillies bench for a few seconds before several teammates led him under the stands. When he came to and realized what had happened, Finneran ripped off his chest protector and tried to reach the Philadelphia bench. Rigler tried to hold him back but only partly succeeded, his shirt becoming blood-covered in the process. Kitty Bransfield eventually intercepted Finneran and prevented him from reaching the bench. After he calmed down, Finneran went to the hospital for treatment of what was thought to be a broken nose. The game continued with Rigler behind the plate, and the Phillies won, 4-2, after which Magee expressed regret for the incident, offering as an excuse that Finneran had called him a vile name. Dooin added that the rookie umpire had been too aggressive all season, often bragging about his ability as a fighter and threatening to lick players, including Dooin himself during a late-June series in Boston.

Unsympathetic to the Phillies' pleas, NL President Thomas Lynch, himself a former umpire, announced that Magee had been fined $200 and suspended for the balance of the season-the most drastic punishment meted out since 1877 when three players were barred for dishonesty. The Phillies appealed to the NL Board of Directors, arguing that Lynch had been too severe, especially since one regular outfielder, Titus, already was out with an injury and the club was fighting for its first pennant. The Directors declined to overturn the suspension.

The story doesn’t quite end there because guess what Magee did after he retired…he became an umpire. In 1927 Magee served as an arbiter in the New York-Penn League. His work attracted so much positive comment that he was named to the NL staff for the coming season by John Heydler, who had been an assistant to President Lynch at the time of the Finneran incident in 1911. Picking up on the irony of umpire-baiter turned umpire, many veteran reporters expected Magee to be a disaster. but Sherry surprised the old-timers by his cool decisions on the field, the manner in which he ran his ball games and the cleverness of his work. Heydler commented that Magee had made good in his first year and was destined to become one of the game's leading umpires. It wasn’t to be though…Magee spent the 1928-29 offseason at his Philadelphia home working in a nearby restaurant. In early-March he came home complaining of a headache and fever. A physician diagnosed that he was suffering from pneumonia, and his condition worsened over the ensuing week. At the age of 44, Sherry Magee died on March 13, 1929.

Sherry Magee Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Cliff Mapes was born on this date in 1922. Mapes was an outfielder with the Yankees starting in the late 1940s as DiMaggio’s career was winding down and Mantle’s was about to begin. He won a couple of rings in 1949 and 1950. What’s unique about Mapes is before he was traded to the Browns, in part to make way for Mantle, is that he was the last Yankee to wear #3 before the Yankees retired it in honour of Babe Ruth and was wearing #7 when Mantle arrived. Mantle wore #6 until Mapes was traded and then switched to #7. He’s the only Yankee player to wear both Ruth’s #3 and Mantle’s #7. Pictures of Mapes wearing both #3 and #7 are below.

cliff mapes - Google Search

cliff mapes - Google Search

Hall of Famer, Home Run Baker of the Philadelphia Athletics, was born on this date in 1886. For 4 consecutive seasons during the Dead-Ball Era, 1911-12-13-14 he led the AL in HRs hitting a combined 42 over those 4 seasons, 11, 10, 12 and 9. He wasn’t just HRs as he averaged 113 RBIs and a BA of .334 over those 4 seasons. He earned his nickname by pounding 2 timely HRs in the 1911 World Series against the NY Giants. He would later drag his 52 ounce bat to New York and play a few seasons for the Yankees including a couple with the Babe.


Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Who is the only member of the 500 Home Run Club who never hit more than 33 HRs in a single season. He’s in the Hall of Fame and besides 33 being the highest number of HRs he ever hit it was also the only uniform # he wore in his entire 22 year, 5 team MLB career which ended in 1997 with him playing for both teams located in Los Angeles that year…sorry if I offend anyone from Anaheim.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, SF Giants, Colorado Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates. (There are six MLB teams who do not use red or blue as a team colour…how many can you name? I will say 3 of those teams are in the NL and 3 are in the AL.)

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1859 the Nassau Base Ball Club is organized on the Princeton campus by members of the class of 1862 and in doing so they became one of the Founders of the Grand Old Game. I came across an excerpt of a recently published book called Base Ball Founders: The Clubs, Players and Cities of the Northeast That Established the Game. The group at Princeton was led by Lewis Mudge, Henry Sampson and Henry Butler and included about 20 others. Initiation due of 50 cents plus a monthly fee of 10 cents was enough to cover operating expenses…the cost of bats and balls. Regular fees were supplemented by an array of fines ranging from 3 cents to 10 cents. A 3 cent fine might be for “expressing an opinion on a questionable play” before the umpire spoke while a 10 cent fine would be for the use of “profane or impious language”. The higher fine for bad language seems appropriate since most of the members of the team were preparing for the ordained ministry. Although membership was technically restricted to members of the Class of 1862 honorary memberships were available to upperclassmen which quickly led to the team ending up with the best players available. The history of the Game is rich with stories like this all of which contributed to Baseball becoming the national pastime.

Base Ball Founders: The Clubs, Players and Cities of the Northeast That ... - Google Books

On this date in 1932 the Brooklyn Dodgers and Cincinnati consummate a trade…to say the Reds came out on top of this deal would be a major understatement. Babe Herman is not in the Hall of Fame but was one of the most noted power hitters of the late 1920s and early 1930s, and hit for the cycle a record three times; his .532 career slugging average ranked fourth among hitters with at least 5000 at bats in the National League when he retired. His .393 batting average, .678 slugging average, 241 hits and 416 total bases in 1930 remain Dodgers franchise records, with his 143 runs being the post-1900 team record; he also set team records (since broken) that year with 35 home runs and 130 runs batted in. He was also renowned for his varied misadventures as a defensive player and baserunner, which earned him derision – and eventually affection – among fans. On two occasions in 1930 Herman stopped to watch a home run while running the bases and was passed by the hitter, in each case causing the home run to count only as a single. And the following year, he was thrown out trying to steal a base against the St. Louis Cardinals, even though opposing catcher was 48-year-old Cardinals manager Gabby Street, appearing in his first game (as an emergency substitute) since 1912. Pitcher Vance dubbed him "The Headless Horseman of Ebbets Field" for his various mistakes. When Herman’s BA slipped to .313 in 1931 reducing his career average to .339 the Dodgers shipped him off to Cincinnati in this trade. The Dodgers included a throw-in in the deal, Catcher Ernie Lombardi, who would give the Reds an MVP Award and 2 Batting Crowns on his way to the Hall of Fame.

babe herman - Google Search

Babe Herman - BR Bullpen

Ernie Lombardi - BR Bullpen

Hall of Famer, Kirby Puckett was born on this date in 1960.



This and That:

- The Giants, both the New York and San Francisco versions combined have won more games than any other MLB team. 1-2-3 are: Giants – 10,780, Cubs – 10, 511 and Dodgers – 10,489.

- Octavio Dotel during his ML career, 1999-2013, played for 13 ML teams, more than any other player in history.

- Ty Cobb - 15 times and Stan Musial - 14 times lead all players in finishing in the Top 3 in batting

- In the past 50 years Roy Halladay has led the League in Complete Games 7 times…more than any other pitcher. In fact, he is second only to Warren Spahn’s (9) all-time.

- With 2,306 games Roberto Clemente played more games in Right Field than any other player in the history of the Game. Clemente made 132 errors out there but Dave parker’s 134 leads the way.

- There’s been a number of players with the nickname “Babe” to have played in the Majors…the most noteworthy being some guy called Ruth and others like the aforementioned Babe Herman, Babe Young, Babe Adams and Babe Dahlgren but the first might have been Babe Doty back in 1890. His ML career began and ended on the same day, when the 22 year old tossed a complete game Win giving up only 1 run in a 5-1 triumph over the Brooklyn Gladiators, yes the Gladiators who were a ML team for only that 1890 season.

- Post WWII Mickey Lolich of the Tigers is the pitcher who has faced the highest number of batters in a single season…1,538 in 1971 just ahead of Wilbur Wood who faced 1,531 in 1973. All-time Lolich’s 1,538 ranks him 320th. In comparison the Major League leader over the past 5 seasons has averaged 973 batters per season.

- Justin Verlander, Zack Greinke and Tim Lincecum are the only active ML pitchers to both win a Cy Young Award and lead their lead in Losses…in different seasons, of course.

- In 2003 the difference in the number of Wins between the AL and NL Cy Young Award winners was 20. Roy Halladay had 22 Wins in the AL and Eric Gagne had 2 Wins in the NL.

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Between 1992 and 1996 the five NL’ers to win Rookie of the Year Awards were all LA Dodgers. The AL can’t boast such a streak but in 1986-1987-1988 they had three in a row. Canseco and McGwire won in 1986 and 1987. What player now a ML Manager won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1988.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Eddie Murray. (Who is the only member of the 500 Home Run Club who never hit more than 33 HRs in a single season. He’s in the Hall of Fame and besides 33 being the highest number of HRs he ever hit it was also the only uniform # he wore in his entire 22 year, 5 team MLB career which ended in 1997 with him playing for both teams located in Los Angeles that year…sorry if I offend anyone from Anaheim.)

 

[67RedSox]

With apologies to any Yankees/Red Sox fans or to any Cubs/Cardinals fans the greatest Baseball rivalry since 1890 has been the SF Giants / LA Dodgers. The first 67 years of that rivalry took place on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in New York. This coming season marks the 57th year since they took the rivalry to the shores of the Pacific Ocean in California. The rivalry spans 2,411 games entering the 2015 season with the Giants having a slight edge in Wins, 1,210 – 1,184. Someone has taken the time to prepare a pretty interesting breakdown of that rivalry if you wish to check out the site below and clicking on the various headings for in depth information…I particularly found the pitching/hitting match-ups between Koufax/Drysdale vs. Mays/McCovey interesting. Drysdale faced those two more often than did Koufax but still he coughed up 13 HRs to Mays and 12 to McCovey while Koufax was a stingy 5 and 1.

It was on this date in 1975 the greatest example of the rivalry came full circle when the Dodgers signed Marichal as a free-agent. If anyone who was around on August 22, 1965 ( Marichal/Roseboro/Koufax brawl ) thought that would happen you would have been strapped into a straight-jacket and removed to a place where you couldn’t harm yourself. Although Marichal’s tenure with the Dodgers was brief…6 innings spread over 2 games it was monumental in it ever happening in the first place.

Dodgers-Giants: Baseball's Greatest Rivalry

Two amazing photos of famous Juan Marichal-John Roseboro brawl - CBSSports.com

On this date in 1884 the St. Louis grounds-keeper, August Solari, starts something that is done to this day in MLB. He placed tarpaulins over the four base positions to protect them from wet weather. A number of other clubs will be quick to follow suit‚ and that some of them also cover the pitcher's area‚ the batter's area‚ and the baselines with separate tarpaulins. It wasn’t until the 20th Century though the entire infield was covered.

baseball tarps - Google Search

Close but no cigar can be said about a lot of players and Harold Baines who was born on this date in 1959 is certainly one of them when it comes to the Hall of Fame. 2,866 base hits, 1,628 RBIs, 384 HRs and 1,299 runs scored is not enough to get even 7% of the HOF vote in any of the five seasons he was on the ballot. His 4.8% in 2011 was low enough to get him booted off. Maybe it was the hair...

harold baines - Google Search

Arlie Latham, The Clown Prince of 19th Century Baseball, was born on this date in 1860. He was a 3B who was good enough to play 17 seasons in the Majors first in 1880 and finally with the NY Giants 29 years later in 1909 ( 2 At-Bats ). He gets a mention here for what he is remembered for on the field…but not as a player.

Arlie jockeyed and taunted opposing players not only from the bench but also as a third base coach. At that time there was no coaching box that the third base coach was supposed to stay in, so Arlie took full advantage of it by running up and down the third base line while yelling invectives at the pitcher while he was in the middle of his windup. The rule makers, taking notice of Arlie running up and down the line like a lunatic, soon put into the rules the coaching box. Arlie is reported to have been the first permanent base coach in ML history.

Arlie Latham | SABR

Whitey Wietelmann was born on this date in 1919. His baseball career as a player in the Majors wasn`t long…580 games over 9 seasons from 1939-1947 but his career in Baseball stretched over 60 years and he enjoyed every one of those years whether he was a player, a coach, assistant to the equipment manager or team cook. In San Diego he earned the nickname, `Mr. Baseball` and he both earned it and deserved it. He wore the number 19 in San Diego, long before Tony Gwynn arrived or ML Baseball.

He played 3 full seasons in the Majors in 1943, 1944 and 1945 in the Boston Braves infield mostly as their SS or 2B. His association with San Diego was first as a player from 1949 to 1952. He later coached for the team in 1957 and 1958 and from 1960 to 1965. He moved to the Major Leagues as a coach with Cincinnati in 1966 and 1967. When San Diego entered the NL in 1969 he was back and served as a coach for 11 seasons. After his coaching days he stayed with the Padres another 14 years in whatever capacity he was needed… doing anything from assisting the equipment manager to cooking the team's postgame meal. And more than once, he was known to fix a broken glove or refurbish a broken bat so that it can be used in practice. "If it breaks," Wietelmann said, "I fix it."

Whitey Wietelmann - Google Search

Cal Broughton died on this date in 1939. I know what you’re saying…who? and you would be perfectly justified because his career was brief…40 games spread over 4 seasons in the 1880s with 6 different ML teams. He’s worth a mention just to show how things have changed over the years. After retiring from Baseball, Broughton became the first chief of police in Evansville, Wisconsin. He captured a group of train robbers after a gunfight in 1900. What’s the chances that would happen today.

Cal Broughton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Can you name the last player to win Stolen Base Crowns in both the NL and AL. He was the NL leader with 65 in 2003 and the AL leader with 68 in 2010.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Walt Weiss ( Between 1992 and 1996 the five NL’ers to win Rookie of the Year Awards were all LA Dodgers. The AL can’t boast such a streak but in 1986-1987-1988 they had three in a row. Canseco and McGwire won in 1986 and 1987. What player now a ML Manager won the AL Rookie of the Year Award in 1988.)

 

[67RedSox]

If the opportunity presents itself I take advantage of it to mention the name of one of Baseball’s greats…it was on this date in 1988 that one of Baseball’s all-time most prolific hitters died at the age of 90…Jigger Statz. One of a very few ballplayers to ever collect more than 4,000 hits in Organized Baseball, Statz collected 737 of those hits in his eight seasons in the Majors and another 3,356 in his 18 seasons in the Minors. His career saw him in the Majors before he played Minor League ball. Only Pete Rose played more games professionally. He still holds three records as a professional ballplayer: most runs scored, most outfield putouts, and most seasons played with one Minor League club.

The echoes of Jigger Statz's legend grow as Ichiro hits 4,000 - New York Baseball History | Examiner.com

Jerry Denny was born on this date in 1859. For 13 seasons he was a 3B in the National League and although he played his last ML game in 1894, 120 year ago, no one has ever matched the way he played the position since and it’s 100% certain it won’t happen in the future. He is worthy of mentioning and being remembered for two reasons. First, Denny holds the distinction of being the last Major League position player (non-pitcher) to play his entire career on the diamond without wearing a fielding glove. At the time Denny began his professional career, fielding gloves had not yet become a standard piece of equipment, other than padded mitts for catchers and first basemen. Fielding gloves gradually gained acceptance between 1885 and the mid-1890s, but Denny refused to adapt. Second, He was one of the few ambidextrous ML players and the last ambidextrous 3B; although he threw primarily with his right arm, he could also toss with his left. This gave him a defensive advantage at his customary field position—in ranging to his left on a ground ball, if he saw a play at second base, instead of having to transfer the ball to his right hand while pivoting and repositioning his body (as third basemen would customarily do), Denny could dispatch the ball to second with his left hand. This skill contributed to his refusal to wear a glove in the field, long after most players considered gloves essential.

Denny set ML career records for third basemen that still stand: 4.2 total chances per game and 1.6 putouts per game. Denny holds the Major League record for most chances by a third baseman in a single game, handling 16 chances during an 18-inning match on August 17, 1882. Though he also holds the NL career record for errors at third base (553), for five seasons he ranked 1st or 2nd in fielding average. On October 24, 1884 Denny hit the only home run in the first post-season series (a forerunner of the World Series) to defeat the New York Metropolitans and win the game and the Series for the Providence Grays.

Jerry Denny - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patsy ( Patrick ) Donovan was born on this date in 1865 and as the name suggests he was Irish and was born in Ireland. He immigrated with his family to Lawrence, Massachusetts, when he was only 3 years old. After completing elementary school, Donovan, like many of the Irish immigrants in his neighborhood, went to work in Lawrence's cotton mills, a career choice that promised little more than long hours and low wages, but he soon escaped that bleak future through baseball. He played in the Majors for 17 seasons from starting in 1890 and established himself as the most successful Irish-born ML’er. He consistently hit .300 and retired with a lifetime BA of .301.

In addition to his playing career he also managed in the Majors for 11 seasons. His last managerial job was with the Boston Red Sox after which he scouted for them. It was in that capacity in 1914 that he made his most important contribution to the success (and later sorrow) of the franchise by convincing owner Joseph Lannin to purchase Babe Ruth, Ben Egan, and Ernie Shore from the minor-league Baltimore Orioles. Donovan never claimed to have discovered Ruth— -- the young lefthander was too talented for his exploits to go unnoticed -- —but after watching the pitcher belt a grand slam against the Montreal Royals, Patsy immediately rushed back to Boston to recommend Ruth's purchase "at any price."

Patsy Donovan Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Hall of Famer Lloyd Waner was born on this date in 1906. He was nicknamed "Little Poison" and played in CF. His small stature at 5 ft 9 in and 132 lb made him one of the smallest players of his era. Along with his brother, Paul Waner ( Big Poison) he anchored the Pittsburgh Pirates outfield throughout the 1920s and 1930s. After brief stints with four other teams late in his career, Waner retired as a Pirate. He finished with a lifetime batting average of .316 and hit over .300 in 10 seasons. Lloyd and Paul Waner set the record for career hits by brothers in MLB with 5,611. Their hit total actually totaled more than all three Alou brothers and all three DiMaggio brothers.

Possibly, the most devastating season of the Waners career was Lloyd's rookie season. Paul had a career high of 237 hits and a batting average of .380. Lloyd batted in front of him and added another 223 hits. Paul led the league in RBI with 131 and Lloyd led the league in runs with 133. Paul won the National League Player of the Year and Lloyd also finished sixth in the voting. The two of them collected so many hits that they actually totaled more lifetime hits than all three Alou brothers or all three DiMaggio brothers.


Hall of Famer Pie Traynor died on this date in 1972. In addition to spending 17 years in the Majors with the Pirates as one of the finest 3rd Basemen to ever play the game he also managed the Pirates for 5 full seasons and the majority of a 6th.

pie traynor - Google Search

Dick Radatz, one of the most physically dominating pitchers of the 1960s primarily with the Boston Red Sox died on this date in 2005 at the age of 67 as a result of a fall at his home. His nickname was “The Monster” and Mickey Mantle, who called Radatz the toughest pitcher he ever faced, gave him the nickname by striking out several New York Yankees in a row at a game in Fenway Park in 1963. I would pay the price of admission to watch the dominating Radatz at 6’6” and clearly more than the 230 lbs he was listed at face the most dominating hitter I ever saw at the plate, Frank Howard. They did face each other on 10 occasions. Howard collected 2 singles and a walk and struck out twice. Mantle went 3 for 16 against Radatz with 1 HR but struck out in 12 of those 16 At-bats.


Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Three Finger Brown did it in 1908-09-10-11. Bruce Sutter did it in 1979-80-81-82. Dan Quisenberry did it in 1982-83-84-85. What they did was lead their League in Saves for 4 consecutive seasons. One pitcher has done it since…who?

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Juan Pierre ( Can you name the last player to win Stolen Base Crowns in both the NL and AL. He was the NL leader with 65 in 2003 and the AL leader with 68 in 2010.)

 

[67RedSox]

If you were waiting for an excuse to drink green beer…you’re in luck, ‘tis St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick was a 5th Century Irish bishop and the patron saint of Ireland. Depending upon what reference you choose to use there have been between 43 and 48 Irish born players in MLB history and none of them were born on St Patrick’s Day. Pitcher Joe Cleary, who was born in 1918 was the last native of Ireland to play in the Major Leagues. Appearing in just one game, Cleary had the misfortune to post a lifetime 189.00 earned run average, the highest on record for pitchers who retired at least one batter, when he yielded seven earned runs during 1/3 of an inning for the Washington Senators in 1945. Being taken out of the game with an ERA of 189.00 was bad enough but to add insult to injury he was replaced by the only one-legged player in the history of MLB…Bert Shephard.

Joe Cleary - BR Bullpen

Despite there being no Irishman born on St. Patrick’s Day to play in the Majors there have been 41 ML’ers who do have March 17th as their date of birth. I’ll mention 4 of them:

Cito Gaston was born on this date in 1944. He had a decent ML playing career spread over 11 seasons but is one of the few Managers in the Game to win back-to-back World Series Championships.

Cito Gaston Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Hank Sauer was born on this date in 1917 and had a career year for the Cubs in 1952 when he won 2/3rds of a Triple Crown, HRs (37) and RBIs (121) and won the NL MVP Award narrowly edging out Robin Roberts who won 28 games that season.

Hank Sauer Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Pat Seerey was born on this date in 1923. Seerey was an early version of the type of low-average slugger that became much more common in the 1980s with players such as Gorman Thomas, Rob Deer, and Pete Incaviglia. He played seven seasons in the Majors (1943-49), hitting only .224. He had 86 home runs in the Majors, with a high of 26 in 1946, good enough for fourth in the League. He also led the American League four times in most strikeouts. However…on June 18, 1948 he became just the 5th ML’er to hit 4 HRs in a game when he did so against the Athletics in Philadelphia. Here’s a quote from Ted Williams whose career batting average is 120 points above Seerey’s…"Seerey did something that I never did. He hit four home runs in one game."

Pat Seerey Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Pistol Pete Reiser was born on this date in 1919. Reiser was the toughest ( some say reckless ) player to ever step onto a MLB field. Although not Irish his middle name is Patrick because he was born on St. Patrick’s Day. Reiser was taken off the field on a stretcher a record 11 times, was temporarily paralyzed on another meeting with an outfield wall and even was once given his last rites in the ballpark. There is no official count of Reiser’s baseball injuries, but the best guess reads something like a dozen collisions with unpadded fences, five skull fractures (though he claimed only four), a chronically dislocated shoulder, two broken ankles, damaged knee cartilage and torn muscles in his left leg,

A Day In The Life Of The Most Reckless Ballplayer In History

The Sporting News, the weekly that will become "The Baseball Paper of the World‚" publishes its first issue on this date in 1886. If you were lucky enough to have been around when it was the Bible you would spend your last 50 cents to get it and spend hours pouring through it.

the sporting news 1886 - Google Search

Talk about leaving things to the last minute. It was on this date in 1953 the Boston Braves play their last game representing the city of Boston as the Milwaukee County Board, which oversees County Stadium, tears up their three-year deal with its Minor League team and offers the use of the ballpark to the Boston Braves and the National League approves its shift next month to Milwaukee. The next day, March 18th would see them as the Milwaukee Braves. You begin Spring Training as the Boston Braves but begin the regular season as the Milwaukee Braves.

Milwaukee Braves: 1953 Season and History

It was on this date in 1936 Joe DiMaggio plays his first game in Yankee pinstripes, an exhibition game against the Cardinals, and collects 4 hits…a sign of things to come. When the season starts he ‘only’ gets 3 hits in his ML debut, hits .323 for the season and a scorching .346 in his first World Series against the Giants to lead the Yankees to a WS Championship for the first time since 1932…proving you can have it all.

joe dimaggio first wears pinstripes - Google Search

This and That:

There have been six players in ML history collect as many as 170 RBIs in a single season…Hack Wilson 191, Lou Gehrig 184, 175, 174, Hank Greenberg 183, 170, Jimmie Foxx 175, Babe Ruth 171 and Chuck Klein 170. Klein is the only one not to lead his League…he chose to collect 170 in the same season Wilson knocked in 191.

Until last season Prince Fielder had missed only 1 game in the previous 5 seasons playing in 809 of 810 games.

Josh Hamilton is the last ML’er to hit .350 or better in the Major Leagues ( .359 – 2010 )

Teammates playing at least 2,000 games together has happened twice in ML history and no Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker did not do it…their total of 1,918 falls just short. Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio with 2,029 played the most followed by Ron Santo and Billy Williams with 2,015.

Lou Brock with 888 for the Cardinals holds the record for the most stolen bases by one player for one team. Followed closely by Ty Cobb with 869 for the Tigers and Rickey Henderson with 867 for the Athletics.

David Ortiz is essentially a HR hitter while Ichiro (Suzuki) is a singles hitter, however, they have been walked intentionally the same number of times in their career, 178.

Nolan Ryan walked 2,795 batters in his career. No other pitcher is even close. Steve Carlton, 2nd all-time is 962 back at 1,833. When you combine that with the number of strikeouts he had, 5,714 that means 8,509 batters came to the plate and failed to put the ball into play. In his career Ryan faced an average of 972 batters per season. That means for almost 9 full seasons Ryan and his catcher were the only two needed on the field when he pitched.

Roger Maris is the only AL player to win back-to-back MVP Crowns who is not in the Hall of Fame (Miguel Cabrera an active back-to-back MVP’er, is of course, ineligible)

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

He is the last San Diego Padre to win a HR Crown. When he did so in 1992 he became the first player in 84 years to win a HR Crown in both the National League and the American League.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Craig Kimbrel, 2011-12-13-14. (Three Finger Brown did it in 1908-09-10-11. Bruce Sutter did it in 1979-80-81-82. Dan Quisenberry did it in 1982-83-84-85. What they did was lead their League in Saves ( or tied ) for 4 consecutive seasons. One pitcher has done it since…who?)

 

[67RedSox]

The International League came into being on this date in 1886 making it more senior than the AL. It was created from the mergers of member teams from three precursor leagues: the Eastern League, founded in 1884; the New York State League, formed in 1885; and the Ontario League, also organized in 1885. The New York State and Ontario Leagues merged in 1886 to form the International League, and in 1887 the Eastern League was absorbed to create a 10-club league. In addition to once having clubs in Canada for a few years in the 1950’s it was also in Cuba. Today all 14 teams in the league are U.S. based and two of those teams, the Rochester Red Wings (1899) and the Indianapolis Indians (1902) are the two oldest Minor League franchises in American professional baseball.

International League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Al Benton was born on this date in 1911. He pitched in the AL first in 1934 and lastly in 1952 winning 98 games. He was more a reliever than a starter and in 1940 he led the AL in Saves with 17 but would be an All-Star in each of the next two seasons starting more games than he relieved in. However, he is the answer to an excellent trivia question…he is the only pitcher to pitch to both Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. He’s also the only player to have two sacrifice bunts in the same inning, which he did against the Cleveland Indians on August 6, 1941

Al Benton - BR Bullpen

Dick Littlefield was born on this date in 1926. He’s not in the Hall of Fame because, at best, he was a journeyman pitcher who had trouble winning. However, he did pitch well enough to last 9 years in the Majors, 1950-1958. Over the course of those 9 seasons he was both a starter and a reliever, never had a single winning season finishing with a career record of 33-54, 4.71 and pitched for 9 different ML teams. He does enjoy one claim to fame…he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers by the NY Giants in December 1956 for Jackie Robinson. When Jackie Robinson refused to report to the Giants, and instead retired in January of 1957, the trade was voided. Robinson had earlier decided to retire. His baseball skills were eroding as was his health due to diabetes and heart disease (not yet diagnosed ) and unbeknownst to the Dodgers, Robinson had already agreed with the president of Chock full o'Nuts to quit Baseball and become an executive with the company. Because of a business arrangement he had with Look Magazine Robinson could not immediately disclose his intentions. There was a lot written about just what happened and why…part of it due to a falling out between Robinson and the Dodger organization and I hope I’ve presented it properly. Caught in the middle of all of this was the aforementioned Dick Littlefield however it’s because of his involvement in the trade more than his mound work that he’s remembered.

Dick Littlefield - BR Bullpen

Herb Score as a rookie in 1955 led the AL in Strikeouts with 245 and win Rookie of the Year honours. The next season he would pitch even better winning 20 games and again lead the AL in whiffs with 263. The big left-hander had become one the Game’s top pitchers at 23. It was on this date in 1957 in what is believed to be the largest offer for a player ever made‚ the Indians reject a million-dollar offer for Score from Red Sox GM Joe Cronin. Cleveland GM Hank Greenberg refuses‚ saying that the team is interested in building for the future‚ not in selling its best ballplayers. Less than two months later, on May 7th during the 1st inning of a night game against the Yankees at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Score threw a low fastball to Gil McDougald with Jim Hegan catching. McDougald lined the pitch to the mound and struck Score in the face, breaking Score's facial bones and injuring his eye. McDougald, seeing Score hit by the baseball and then lying down and injured, ran immediately to the pitching mound instead of first base to help Score. McDougald reportedly vowed to retire if Score permanently lost his sight in one eye as a result of the accident. Score eventually recovered though he missed the rest of the season. He would never regain his pre-injury form however and despite lasting six more seasons won a total of only 17 games in those years. In 1964 after his playing career had ended Score was hired to provide color commentary on the Indians’ TV broadcasts. After four years in the TV booth, he moved over to the radio side and spent the next 30 years describing the action to generations of Tribe fans.

Network: Score's infamous injury | MLB.com

Sticking with the Dodgers just a bit longer… Before the San Diego Chicken, the Phillie Phanatic, Chief Noc-A-Homa and Youppi the Brooklyn Dodgers had the most famous clown of all-time, Emmett Kelly as their mascot however on this date in 1958 the Dodgers announce they are ‘designating for assignment’ Emmett and he will not come to Los Angeles with them. Kelly’s costume of a Depression time hobo which seemed to fit Dem Bums from Brooklyn was deemed not flashy enough for the glitzy Los Angeles crowd. The Dodgers today are one of three ML teams who do not have a mascot… the Dodgers, Angels and Yankees.

dodgers and emmett kelly - Google Search

emmett kelly - Google Search

This, compliments of sportswriter, Joe Posnanski…

It’s your choice. Pick a team and I’ll take the other for a Fantasy World Series. Best of 7

3,000 Hit Team

1B - Stan Musial

2B - Eddie Collins

SS - Derek Jeter

3B - George Brett

LF - Ty Cobb

CF - Willie Mays

RF - Hank Aaron

C – Ivan Rodriguez (2,844 hits, highest total by a Catcher)

Non-3,000 Hit Team

1B: Lou Gehrig

2B: Rogers Hornsby

SS: Honus Wagner

3B: Mike Schmidt

LF: Ted Williams

CF: Mickey Mantle

RF: Babe Ruth

C: Johnny Bench


Darn it…you took the Non-3,000 Hit team…that’s the one I wanted.

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Can you name the only 4 time Batting Champion who is not in the Hall of Fame. In his first year of eligibility he received 4% of the vote, less than the 5% required to stay on the ballot and was therefore dropped from further voting. He was born in 1951.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Fred McGriff (He is the last San Diego Padre to win a HR Crown. When he did so in 1992 he became the first player in 84 years to win a HR Crown in both the National League and the American League.)

 

[67RedSox]

Quick…who made the only unassisted Triple Play in World Series history. I know you know but that’s the easy part of the question…the tough part is…can you either pronounce or spell his last name. That would be Bill Wambsgnss…the last name seems shy a couple of vowels doesn’t it and is pronounced (Whams-gans). He was born on this date in 1892. Many people think of him as a SS but in fact he played 2B for the Cleveland Indians for 10 seasons mostly in the Dead Ball Era, 1914-1923, before finishing his career with Boston and Philadelphia in the AL. Cleveland’s SS was Ray Chapman until he died as a result of the beaning in 1920. Wambsgnss was described as a ‘slick’ fielder and Chapman often remarked he would play beside no other second baseman.

bill wambsganss - Google Search

Unassisted Triple Plays by Baseball Almanac

Pete Smith was born on this date in 1940. Unless you’re an ardent Red Sox fan who remembers the early 1960s well you won’t know Pete Smith but he is turning 75 today. Smith, a pitcher, made it to the Majors in 1962 but his career was short-lived. He lost his debut to the Detroit Tigers and pitched a total of only 18 2/3 innings in the Majors. Despite this he wore both uniform #s 23 and 49 with the Red Sox. I mention him because he’s one end of the spectrum. At the other end of the spectrum are five players…Pete Rose (14), Carl Yastrzemski (8), Eddie Murray (33), Stan Musial (6) and Cal Ripken (8) who each played more than 3,000 games in their ML careers, all with the same uniform #.

pete smith, baseball - Google Search

Roy Evans was born on this date in 1874. He pitched in the Majors for 5 seasons between 1897 until 1903. He would have pitched more effectively and longer had he not been the biggest swindler ever to play the game. No player during the 20th century burned more clubs in organized baseball. He tore up the telegraph lines and mail system agreeing to pitch with one club after another, always asking for cash in advance. More often than not he took the money and was never heard from again. Baseball executives weren’t the only ones taken in by Evans’ cons. He was indicted in at least three states for passing bad checks and even for “borrowing” a woman’s jewelry. He left a trail of worthless IOUs as he traveled the country. Yet he was continually broke. Police, Pinkerton detectives and bail bondsmen were often on his trail. Occasionally they would catch him and Evans would spend a few months in jail. He also married three women within the space of one year, apparently forgetting to divorce one before marrying another.
He died in 1915 in the great Galveston Hurricane along with at least 275 other people. The only difference between him and the 274 others is that he came back to life to swindle and cheat again and again. Not even a stay in Leavenworth prison slowed him down. There has been no confirmation of his death… so be careful.

Roy Evans | SABR

In 1901, the rival American League declared Major League status and set about raiding National League rosters and on this date (1901) Cy Young jumps from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Boston Americans (Red Sox).

Cy Young - BR Bullpen

This and That:

Something that is of no interest to anyone but me…so I’ll tell you if you insist. There have been 14 players who suited up for the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants while they were in New York City. I was amazed to learn that Hall of Famer Tony Lazzeri was one of them.

Among watermelon, banana, avocado and strawberry there is only one that is not a berry. Which one of the four is not a berry. Of course, it has to be the strawberry otherwise the question would not have been asked.

We all know there’s a ground-rule double but there’s also a ground-rule triple. This occurs when a player attempts to use his hat to alter the path of a ball, either in the air or on the ground in fair territory. The act of using the hat holds a penalty of three bases awarded automatically to the batter and each baserunner currently on base.

Here are 10 of baseball's more obscure unwritten rules ( from Jason Turbow, author of, "The Baseball Codes."

1. Don't swing at the first pitch after back-to-back home runs

2. Don't work the count when your team is up or down by a lot

3. When hit by a pitch, don't rub the mark

4. Don't stand on the dirt cut-out at home plate while a pitcher is warming up

5. Don't walk in front of a catcher or umpire when getting into batter's box

6. Don't help the opposition make a play (bracing them from falling into the dugout, etc.)

7. Relievers take it easy when facing other relievers

8. Follow the umpire's Code when addressing them on the field. Apparently each umpire has a list of likes and dislikes from players when on the field. Teams often post a list of these for their players to read before heading out to play.

9. Pitchers stay in the dugout at least until the end of the inning in which they get pulled

10. Pitchers never show up their fielders ( Hall of Famer, Jim Palmer was well known for doing exactly this and was disliked because of it )

How long has it been since the Cubs last won the World Series. It’s been so long there are four current States that were not part of the Union when it happened. It last happened in 1908 when the Ottoman Empire still existed but Alaska, Hawaii, Arizona and New Mexico had not obtained Statehood.

Opening Day 1966 was the first game ever played at Atlanta’s Fulton County Stadium. Tony Cloninger was the starting pitcher for that day, and Joe Torre was catching him behind the plate. The final game played at the stadium was Game 5 of the 1996 World Series. The Braves ended up losing to the Yankees, who were managed by Joe Torre. His bullpen coach was Tony Cloninger.

In 1902 Lave Cross played 3B for the Philadelphia Athletics and had 108 RBIs. He’s the last player to collect 100 RBIs in a season…without hitting a HR. HOF’er Hughie Jennings is the only other player to drive in 100 and not hit a HR. He did it in 1896 playing for the Baltimore Orioles…knocking in 121.

Dick Groat in 1956 is the last ML’er to have at least 500 At-bats in a season and have neither a HR nor a Stolen Base.

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

He was born on this date in 1927 ( March 19, 1927 ). Can you name this Hall of Famer who led the Majors in base hits during the 1950s with 1,875. His final ML season was spent as a regular in the Mets outfield in their first season, 1962, where he collected the last 119 of his career 2,574 hits. He hit only 29 lifetime HRs.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Bill Madlock (Can you name the only 4 time Batting Champion who is not in the Hall of Fame. In his first year of eligibility he received 4% of the vote, less than the 5% required to stay on the ballot and was therefore dropped from further voting. He was born in 1951.)

Bill Madlock Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

 

[67RedSox]

Hall of Famer Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity was born on this date in 1871. Although he picked up the nickname by working in his wife’s family’s iron foundry in the off-season it applies equally as well to his pitching in the Majors and his longevity pitching professionally…until age 54. McGinnity was a Dead-Ball Era pitcher, spending 10 years in the Majors, 7 with the NY Giants. When his Major League career ended in 1908 he continued to pitch in the Minors until 1925 when he was 54 years old. McGinnity became famous for pitching both ends of doubleheaders. During his 10 years in the Majors he averaged 25 Wins a season with an ERA of 2.66. He also averaged 31 Complete Games and 344 Innings Pitched. He completed. Over the course of his career her completed 82% of his Starts. He set NL records for Complete Games (48) and Innings Pitched (434) in a single season, which still stand and somehow I see the 48 Complete Games record standing for a while yet.

Joe McGinnity Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

Mel Parnell, the greatest left-hander in Boston Red Sox history, died on this date in 2012 at the age of 89. He was 20 and pitching in the low Minors when WWII came calling. After the War, like with many ball clubs, the Red Sox had so many players coming out of the service that they didn’t know where to send them all. Parnell ended up in Scranton in the Eastern League which he lit up to the tune of 13-4 with an ERA of 1.30. The following year found him in the Majors…to stay. Fenway Park is notorious for eating up left-handers and spitting them out but Parnell withstood that challenge better than any other left-hander. From 1947 through 1956, he won 123 games while losing just 75. He ranks first among left-handed Red Sox pitchers in Wins, number of Games Started (232), and Innings Pitched (1,752 2/3). He performed exceptionally well in Fenway Park compiling a 71-30 mark there. In his final season, 1956, he threw a midseason no-hitter against the White Sox, also at Fenway.

Mel Parnell Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com

It was on this date in 1915 the construction of Braves Field, 1 mile west of Fenway Park in Boston, began. It would be home to the Boston Braves a until they moved to Milwaukee in 1953 and would come to be called “The Wigwam”. Construction was completed five months later when the Braves played the St. Louis Cardinals on August 18, 1915. Named after the team, Braves Field was the first ballpark to seat more than 40,000 fans. The owner of the team at the time the stadium was built, James Gaffney, wanted to see the game played in a wide open field conducive to allowing numerous inside-the-park home runs. So, the original dimensions at Braves Field were 402 ft. (left), 550 ft. (center), and 402 ft. (right) leading to many inside the park HRs. The field was surrounded by a 10 foot wall. Behind this wall were the tracks of the Boston and Albany Railroad. Outside the right field wall was one of Braves Field's most iconic structures, the team's ticket and executive offices that featured a facade of Spanish colonial and stucco with a red tile roof. With the advent of the Live-Ball Era in the 1920s fans became more interested in seeing HRs than a pitching matchup or inside the park HRs. This led the Braves to adding 6,000 seats in left and center field, shortening the dimensions of the ballpark to 353 ft. in left field and 387 ft. in centerfield. However this changed helped opposing teams more leading the team to push back the outfield fence. When the Braves packed up and headed to Milwaukee Braves Field was bought by neighboring Boston University. The old ballpark was used as-is until 1955, when the University reconfigured the stands, demolishing all but the pavilion grandstand at the end of the right field line, which was retained and remains today virtually unchanged. The stadium was initially called Boston University Field and was later renamed Nickerson Field. Along with the pavilion, Gaffney's original outer wall was retained and the stadium's ticket office was converted into the university police station. The rest of the stadium structure was replaced by dormitories covering the former main grandstand; and the Case Physical Education Center, which houses Walter Brown Arena and Case Gym in the vicinity of what was the left field pavilion along Babcock Street. Of the various demolished Jewel Box ballparks, Braves Field probably has the largest proportion of visible remnants still standing.

Braves Field - History, Photos and more of the Boston Braves former ballpark



It was on this date in 1973 a special ballot is held to consider the election of Roberto Clemente to the Hall of Fame. The Board of Directors had previously waived the usual 5 year waiting period. Clemente is elected when 93% vote in favour, 393 out of 424 votes. The only other player elected prior to the 5 year period expiring was Lou Gehrig in 1939.

21 Facts You May Not Know About Roberto Clemente on the Anniversary of His Debut | Bleacher Report

This and That:

- The Seattle Mariners are the last ML team to have both a Perfect Game tossed by one of their pitchers (King Felix – August 15, 2012) and a Perfect Game tossed against them (Philip Humber – April 21, 2012)

- Chuck Finley is the only pitcher in MLB to strike out 4 batters in 1 inning on three different occasions. Zack Greinke and A.J. Burnett have done it twice. Orval Overall, a star pitcher on the great Cubs teams that went to the World Series 4 times in the 5 years, 1906-1910 is the only pitcher to strike out 4 in an inning in a World Series game ( 1908 ).

- During the 2014 season there were 37 players who scored at least 4 runs in a single game. Jose Molina, on the other hand, scored four runs all year. In 80 games. And in 247 trips to the plate. Do you even have to ask how many other players in history got that much playing time and scored that few runs in a season? That would be none. Of course.

- Madison Bumgarner hit two grand slams this year at AT&T Park -- as many as all of the 278 position players who batted there combined.

- In a game on April 23 last year Yunel Escobar came to the plate in a game against the Twins and saw 6 pitches, 4 balls and 2 strikes but because the umpire lost track of the count and obviously so did Escobar and his Manager, John Maddon he struck out on a 4 and 2 count.

- Who needs Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera. This past season the Angels score 7 runs in an inning against the Phillies in which Trout strikes out twice. The Tigers score 7 runs against the Twins in a game in which all three outs in the inning come off the bat of Cabrera…a groundout to 2B and a double-play grounder to 3B.

- Mike Trout was the AL’s MVP in 2014 after two seasons of finishing runner-up to Miguel Cabrera. The Top 7 vote getters in the AL’s Rookie of the Year voting…were all older than Trout.

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

What is the only MLB team to have three different pitchers win a Cy Young Award in the past 8 years.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question…Richie Ashburn (He was born on this date in 1927 (March 19, 1927). Can you name this Hall of Famer who led the Majors in base hits during the 1950s with 1,875. His final ML season was spent as a regular in the Mets outfield in their first season, 1962, where he collected the last 119 of his career 2,574 hits. He hit only 29 lifetime HRs.

When It Was A Game: Historical Bats

 

[67RedSox]

Johnny Podres was signed by the San Diego Padres as a free agent on this date in 1969. 1969 would be the last of Podres’ 15 years in the Majors as a player but he would add 23 more as a pitching coach for the Padres, Red Sox, Twins and Phillies. Podres finest years were for the Dodgers both in Brooklyn and in Los Angeles. His importance in the history of the Dodgers will never be forgotten.

Going into the 1955 World Series the Dodgers, amazingly, had never won a World Series despite going to the Fall Classic seven times…1916, 1920, 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953. In addition to those appearances the forerunner of the Dodgers, the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, lost the original version of the World Series in 1889 and ended up in a tie in the 1890 World Series.

The ’55 Series opened with two games in Yankee Stadium and the Yankees had it their way taking both games. The Series shifted 12 miles to Ebbets Field for Game 3. The Dodgers were in tough and a Win was essential. Podres started Game 3 and pitched a Complete Game win…Mantle dinged him for a HR in the 2nd inning but the Dodgers easily won by 5 runs to get back in the Series. The Dodgers also won Games 4 and 5 in Brooklyn to take a Series lead, 3 games to 2 but had to go back to the Bronx for Games 6 and 7. Game 6 was a disaster for the Dodgers as the Yankees were up 5-0 in the 1st inning and Whitey Ford did the rest giving up only 4 hits. Podres had the tough chore, as a 22 year old, of facing the Yankees and 60,000+ partisan fans in Game 7. He tossed a shutout, the Dodgers win 2-0 and his place in Dodger history secured. That would be his last game in a ML uniform for 1 ½ years as due to Military Service. In his first game back, April 20, 1957 he tossed another 2-0 shutout.

Johnny Podres - BR Bullpen

Mysterious Walker was born on this date in 1884. Mysterious pitched in the Majors for 5 seasons between 1910 and 1915 but was anything but mysterious to opposing hitters as his ML record ended up at 7-23 in 61 games and 36 starts.

Mysterious Walker - BR Bullpen

In 1930 Hack Wilson led the NL with 191 RBIs which remains, to this day, the all-time record for RBIs in a single season. In the 60 years that followed there were only two NL’ers to top 150 RBIs in a season. In 1937, the first of those two, Hall of Famer Joe “Ducky” Medwick drove in 154 runs when he became the last NL player to win a Triple Crown. The only other player to do it, Tommy Davis, was born on this date in 1939. Davis won back-to-back Batting Crowns in 1962 and 1963 with marks of .346 and .326 and it was in the 1962 season his 153 RBIs led not only the NL but the Majors as well.

Tommy Davis - BR Bullpen

We have to stay with Joe “Ducky” Medwick for a bit because it was on this date in 1975 he died.

While playing with Houston in the Texas League, Medwick acquired the nickname Ducky. Some say it was because he waddled like a duck when he walked. The New York Times reported that a young woman spotted him splashing around a swimming pool and remarked, “He swims just like a duck.” His teammates picked up on it and started calling him Ducky or, even worse, Ducky Wucky. Joe detested the name, but it caught on and for years sportswriters routinely referred to him as Ducky. Medwick much preferred to be called Muscles and induced some of his teammates to use that appellation.

During a USO tour by a number of players in 1944, Medwick was among several individuals given an audience by Pope Pius XII. Upon being asked by the Pope what his vocation was, Medwick replied, "Your Holiness, I'm Joe Medwick. I, too, used to be a Cardinal."

In the 1934 World Series, he was pelted with garbage. After the game he said, "I knew why the Tiger fans threw that garbage at me. What I don't understand is why they brought it to the Park in the first place."

His career took a drastic turn in 1940 when a beaning nearly cost him his life. He recovered and continued to play but not at the same level.

Of course Medwick is in the Hall of Fame but is another example of why the HOF vote should be taken away from the BB writers. Medwick and the press never got along and in his first year of eligibility for the HOF only 1 of 201 voters voted for him. After about 20 years of this silliness and holding a grudge the BB writers finally voted him in, in 1968 with 85% of the vote.

joe ducky medwick - Google Search

Hall of Famer, Edd Roush, died on this date in 1988 at the age of 94. He’s one of the forgotten stars of the Game playing in an era when the ball was dead. His career spanned the Dead-Ball and Live-Ball Eras and with the explosion of offense in the 1920s, Roush averaged .350 over a four year period, 1921-1924, but won no additional Batting Crowns. He did lead the NL with 41 doubles in 1923 and with 21 triples in 1924. A left-handed hitter with a lifetime average of .323 in 18 seasons, Edd Roush was the best place hitter in the National League toward the end of the Deadball Era, winning batting championships in 1917 and 1919 and finishing second in 1918. All of 170 lbs. Roush wielded a short, thick-handled bat that weighed 48 ounces, one of the heaviest ever in Baseball. On defense Roush combined excellent speed with an ability to turn his back on the baseball and run to the spot where it would drop to earth. Edd was considered by many to be the premier defensive outfielder of the National League during the Deadball era. He was often compared defensively with Hall of Famer Tris Speaker.

Edd Roush - BR Bullpen

We are far removed from the Dodgers and Giants moving from New York to California. It’s important to remember that if you wanted to drive from MLB’s most westerly city, St. Louis to either Seattle, San Fran/Oakland, Los Angeles or San Diego it was a trip of 2,145 / 2,058 / 1,827 or 1,54 miles…in other words, a heck of a distance. The Pacific Coast League was “Major League Baseball” for many who lived west of the Mississippi. The Oakland Oaks were one of the Pacific Coast League’s charter members in 1903 and remained until 1955 when they moved two States and 1 Province north to Vancouver. The team used the oak tree as its symbol and was referred to as the “Acorns” as much as the “Oaks”. I consider some of their uniforms over the years, especially when they incorporated the colour green were among the best in all of Baseball. The 1948 version of Oaks were nicknamed the “Nine Old Men” in that many of the star players were older veterans of the Major Leagues, including Ernie Lombardi, Cookie Lavagetto, Nick Etten and Catfish Metkovich. They were led by another “old man”, 58 year old Casey Stengel. They were considered too old for anything other than sitting on the front porch and whittling but instead they surprised everyone and won it all. Casy Stengel was noticed and hired by the Yankees. Other than win 5 World Series in row in his first 5 years managing the Yankees and 10 AL pennants and 7 World Series in his 12 years he didn’t do much but still it wasn’t bad for an “old man”.


Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

He was the first, and so far the only, Relief Pitcher to be selected as the NL’s MVP. It was a landslide win…he collected 18 of the 24 1st Place votes. Others getting votes were Granny Hamner (2), Eddie Stanky (2), Ralph Kiner (1) and Stan Musial (1).

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question is… Cleveland Indians, Corey Kluber 2014, Cliff Lee 2008, C.C. Sabathia 2007 (What is the only MLB team to have three different pitchers win a Cy Young Award in the past 8 years.)

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1972 a trade between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees is made…Sparky Lyle goes to the Yankees for 1B Danny Cater and a player to be named later. Lyle will not go on to the Hall of Fame but in 7 years with the Yankees will post a 57-40 record with 141 saves and a 2.41 ERA‚ win a Cy Young Award‚ and help the team to get to 2 World Series. That trade can easily bring back visions the first deals between the same two teams when Boston Red Sox owner, Harry Frazee, made several deals with the NY Yankees over the 3 year period, 1919-1922, the biggest of which was some guy named Babe Ruth. Yes, it’s true Frazee needed money and netted over $300,000.00 cash from this deals with the Yankees and much of that went to support his Broadway productions but many don’t know the League politics that went on behind the scenes of those deals. I was never into Shakespeare myself and when forced to read his works in school I would dread when he drifted off into a soliloquy. I hope what follows isn’t one of those…just a quick look at what led Frazee and the Yankees to consummate so many deals.

Ban Johnson was the founder ( with Charles Comiskey ) and first President of the American League. The AL gained instant credibility when they lured over 100 NL players to their ranks by offering them more money than they could earn in the NL. The NL then made a critical blunder by limiting salaries to $2,400–a low sum even by 1901 standards. After a two-year war in which the AL trounced the NL in attendance both seasons, the NL sued for peace. Under a new National Agreement, the AL was formally recognized as the second Major League. A three-man National Commission was set up, composed of both League Presidents and Reds owner Garry Herrmann. Although Herrmann was nominal president of the commission, Johnson soon dominated the body.

Ban Johnson was that type of personality…domineering and not accepting of criticism. He made it very difficult for men he didn't like to buy into the League and when Harry Frazee bought the Boston Red Sox in 1916, he tried almost from the start to drive him out because Frazee had not been hand-picked by Johnson. The feud was just beginning and that feud would be one of the things that would lead to Johnson’s downfall. Eventually, the AL divided into two factions, with the Red Sox, White Sox and New York Yankees on one side. They became known as "The Insurrectos". By this time, Comiskey and his White Sox had become a bitter enemy of Johnson. The other five clubs, the Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Athletics, St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers and Washington Senators became known as the "Loyal Five".

Ban Johnson's authority was eroded further when the Red Sox traded Carl Mays to the Yankees in defiance of a Johnson order to suspend him after Mays had jumped the club. The Yankees went to court and received an injunction to allow Mays to play. Later that year Babe Ruth backed Frazee into a corner when he held out. Frazee lost patience with him and tried to deal him. His options were severely limited because under pressure from Johnson, the Loyal Five rejected Frazee's overtures for Ruth almost out of hand. In effect, Johnson limited Frazee to dealing with either the White Sox or the Yankees. The White Sox offered Joe Jackson and $60,000, but the Yankees offered an all-cash deal--$25,000 up front and three promissory notes of $25,000 each, plus a $300,000 loan to be secured by a mortgage on Fenway Park. With the note from Lannin that he'd used in part to finance his purchase of the Red Sox having come due in November 1919, Frazee had little choice but to take the Yankees' offer. Ruth became the property of the Yankees on January 5, 1920.

The final nail in Johnson's coffin proved to be the Black Sox Scandal. Johnson paid no attention to Comiskey's claims that his White Sox may have been on the take from gamblers.[2] However, when the scandal broke after the 1920 season, the White Sox, Red Sox and Yankees threatened to pull out of the AL and join a new 12-team National League. The enlarged league would include a new team in Detroit unrelated to the Tigers, who were owned by Johnson loyalist Frank Navin. However, Navin was in no mood for another war and persuaded the other five clubs to agree to appoint a new National Commission of non-baseball men. Federal District Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed as chairman. However, Landis would only accept an appointment as sole Commissioner of Baseball, with unlimited power over the game.[8] The owners were still reeling from the damage to baseball's reputation due to the Black Sox Scandal, and readily agreed to Landis' demands.[8]

Under the circumstances, a clash between the iron-willed Johnson and the iron-willed Landis was inevitable, and it happened prior to the 1924 World Series. Landis banned two New York Giants from the Series for attempting to bribe members of the Philadelphia Phillies late in the season. After Frankie Frisch and two other Giants stars were implicated, only to be cleared by Landis, Johnson demanded that the Series be canceled. He publicly criticized Landis for his handling of the affair, and Landis threatened to resign if the AL owners didn't rein Johnson in. After the Series, the AL owners promised to remove Johnson from office if he stepped out of line again. Johnson remained on good behavior for two years, even getting an extension of his contract to 1935 and a raise to $40,000 (he'd previously made $25,000).

However, in 1926, Johnson criticized Landis for granting Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker an amnesty after evidence surfaced that they had fixed a game in 1919. Landis demanded that the AL choose between him and Johnson. The AL owners were prepared to remove Johnson from office at their annual meeting in January 1927. Because Johnson was in ill health at the time, the owners decided to put him on an indefinite sabbatical instead. Johnson tried to return in the spring and acted as if nothing had changed. However, the situation had become untenable, and Johnson was forced to resign at the end of the season.

Ban Johnson - BR Bullpen

Ernie Shore was born on this date in 1891. His tenure in the Majors was brief, 5 seasons and brief parts of 2 others but his name will always be remembered by students of the game and most residents of Forsyth County and Winston-Salem as he was the Sherriff there for 34 seasons after his Baseball career ended.

Pitcher Ernie Shore is forever linked with Babe Ruth. Teammates on three clubs and in two World Series, they together tossed what many fans and some historians long considered a perfect game—albeit an odd one in which the Babe faced the first batter and Shore the final twenty-six.

The Babe took the mound at Fenway Park for the first game of a Boston-Washington doubleheader on June 23, 1917. Umpire Brick Owens called the first three pitches to leadoff batter Ray Morgan all balls. After heated jawing, Ruth blew up on Owens’ ball four call and charged with fists flying. Shore loyally maintained decades later that Ruth hadn’t actually struck Owens, but the Bambino admitted in his autobiography, “I really socked him—right on the jaw...They’d put you in jail today for hitting an umpire.” Teammates had to drag the ejected hurler off the diamond.

Player-manager Jack Barry summoned Shore from the bench for an emergency start. “Try to get through this inning,” he said. Shore tossed his five allotted warm-up pitches and began. Morgan tried stealing on the first pitch but Boston catcher Sam Agnew gunned him down. Shore then retired two batters with five more pitches and returned to the dugout. The big right-hander said he felt fine, so Barry sent him to the bullpen to warm up properly while Boston batted.

Shore came back out and retired the next 23 consecutive batters. Then Mike Menosky stepped up to the plate, the last chance for the Senators. The speedy outfielder laid down a bunt ordered by manager Griffith. The bunt was “pretty good,” Shore recalled, but Barry rushed in from second for a bare-hand grab and flip to first for the out. Shore had retired each of the 26 batters he’d faced, plus the man left on base by Ruth.

Years later Shore calculated that he hadn’t thrown 75 pitches the whole game, which he called the easiest he ever pitched. “I just threw it up there,” he said years later, “and they hit it to the outfield or the infield.”

Whether it constituted a perfect game or simply a unique no-hitter would be debated for decades and not finally decided until 1991 when an eight-man “committee of statistical accuracy” headed by Commissioner Fay Vincent dropped Shore’s game from the list of perfect games. It instead became a combined no-hitter with Ruth. The committee also took away Harvey Haddix’s no-hitter for his 12 perfect innings for Pittsburgh in a 13-inning loss to Milwaukee, and removed the asterisk from Maris’ home run record (the main issue it was created to address).

Ernie Shore - BR Bullpen

Baseball Trivia: ( Answer Tomorrow )

Who are the only two players to win Batting Crowns in both the 20th and 21st Centuries. Each of the two saw one of those Batting Crowns come with a Batting Aaverage above .370.

The answer to yesterday’s trivia question is…Jim Konstanty, 1950 Philadelphia Phillies, Whiz Kids. (He was the first, and so far the only, Relief Pitcher to be selected as the NL’s MVP. It was a landslide win…he collected 18 of the 24 1st Place votes. Others getting votes were Granny Hamner (2), Eddie Stanky (2), Ralph Kiner (1) and Stan Musial (1).)