Baseball History

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1975 that Carlton Fisk, or as I think of him now as “The Catcher in the Corn” thanks to our friend 4thefences, hits one of the most dramatic HRs in World Series history. In the bottom of the 12th inning in Game 6 of the Series at Fenway Park he parks a Pat Darcy pitch, just fair, over the Green Monster to force a Game 7. Many will remember Bernie Carbo also hit a big HR in that game and for me his was far more dramatic than Fisk’s. In the 8th inning the Red Sox were down 6-3 to the Reds and down to their last 4 outs. With Freddie Lynn on 2B and Rico Petrocelli on 1B Bernie Carbo pinch-hits for pitcher, Roger Moret, and drives a 2-2 pitch to CF for a tying 3-run homer run to tie the game.
What few people know is that Bernie Carbo was apparently as high as a kite when he connected against right-hander Rawly Eastwick. "I probably smoked two joints, drank about three or four beers, got to the ballpark, took some amphetamines, took a pain pill, drank a cup of coffee, chewed some tobacco, had a cigarette, and got up to the plate and hit,'' Carbo said.
It wasn't a one-time binge, either: "I played every game high,'' Carbo said. "I was addicted to anything you could possibly be addicted to. I played the outfield sometimes where it looked like the stars were falling from the sky."
On the verge of killing himself, Carbo received help from collegues such as Bill "Spaceman" Lee, who saw his friend into drug and alcohol rehab, along with counseling for horrific abuses he suffered as a child. In 1993, Carbo founded the Diamond Club Ministry, an evangelical Christian organization that preaches a different kind of lifestyle than the one he lived in the '70s and says he hasn't touched alcohol or drugs since.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8Vw_H77Ts]1975 World Series Game 6 - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1976 the Reds complete their 4 game sweep of the Yankees to repeat as World Series Champions. At no point in that Series…absolutely no point…were the Yankees ever in that Series.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1976...-postseason-series-70s-part-iii.html;1108;802

I note with interest that on this date in 2002 Florida team president David Samson, in an effort to get fans "falling back in love with the Marlins,'' announces plans which includes free hot dogs and a cozier atmosphere at the ballpark (Pro Player Stadium). The average crowd of 10,038 per home game, more than a third less than the previous season, was next-to-last in the Majors in attendance that year. 11 years later I note Miami is still next-to-last in ML attendance. The more life changes the more it stays the same.

Whitey Ford was born on this date in 1928. At 85 years old Ford is the 7th oldest living Hall of Famer. The six who are older are: Bobby Doerr 95, Monte Irvin 94, Ralph Kiner 91 ( next week ), Red Schoendienst 90, Yogi Berra 88, Tommy Lasorda 86.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=whit...tey-ford-irish-american-baseball.html;400;375

The answer is 70. The question is how many have played in both the NFL and ML Baseball.

On this date in 1880 Jack Hayden was born and as we all know his first day in the Majors began at 4:00 P.M. on April 26, 1901 for Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. It was the first game for the new franchise and Hayden became the first ever Athletic to come to bat. In the 112 years since there have been 1,829 players follow Hayden in an Athletics’ uniform. If you came name all 1,829 of those players you are an Athletics pantomath.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jack...elphia-Athletics-(1901-Today)%2Fpage4;375;225

With Andy Pafko’s recent passing Lenny Merullo is the last living ex-player who played for the Chicago Cubs in a World Series. Merullo played shortstop for the Chicago Cubs for seven years during the 1940s, including their pennant-winning 1945 squad. Merullo's ML career began in 1941, and in 1942-45 he was a starting shortstop. In 1946, Billy Jurges, Bobby Sturgeon, and Merullo shared the position until Merullo won it back again in 1947. During this period, Merullo was known for having the quickest throwing arm in baseball. After retiring from this great game, Merullo was the chief scout for the Cubs from 1950-72, signing among others relief pitcher Moe Drabowsky. He left the Cubs in 1973 to join the then-fledgling Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau, where he served with distinction until his retirement at the age of 85 in and was given the prestigious Judge Emil Fuchs Award for long and meritorious service to baseball in 2006.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=lenn...otos%2F23481859%40N03%2F4690763781%2F;621;407

This and that in the NL West in 2013:

- The Dodgers were 23-32 before Puig—and 69-38 afterward.
- Luis Cruz seemed to be the only guy doing anything right for the Dodgers in 2012, but fate took a 180 for the third baseman this season as he hit just .127 in 118 at-bats while Juan Uribe rediscovered his game and took back the everyday position. Cruz was exiled to the Yankees, who later released him.
- In just his third season, the Diamondback’s Paul Goldschmidt graduated to superstar status, hitting .303 with 36 home runs, 125 RBIs, 103 runs scored and 99 walks. The Diamondbacks are pinching themselves for getting him to sign that five-year, $32 million deal before the season.
- Two years removed from an excellent 21-4 campaign, Ian Kennedy hit a wall with just three wins and a 5.42 ERA in 21 starts. Odd man out, he was dealt to the Padres for a reliever, minor leaguer and draft pick.
- Don’t feel bad for Barry Zito. They will pay him $7M just to go away. This is what Barry Zito gave the Giants in return for $126 million over seven years: A 63-80 record and 4.62 ERA. The Giants hold a $22 million option for 2014…won’t happen.
- The defending World Champion Giants were young, talented and still hungry—and yet it all fell apart. With some injuries nobody stepped it up and the Giants found themselves at season’s end as one of just five teams to finish at least ten games below .500 a year after winning it all.
- The Padres brought in the fences at Petco Park, but it didn’t translate to better play on the field or better numbers at the gate.
- Arguably the NL’s best hitter in the last half of 2012, Chase Headley was predicted to maintain the elite status for 2013 with the fences moved in at Petco; strangely, he retreated back to common player status, hitting a mediocre .250 with 13 homers—only five of which came at home.
- A franchise-record 27-game hitting streak fueled Michael Cuddyer’s second season with the Rockies, landing him a starting role in the All-Star Game before taking the NL batting title with a .331 average.
- When Rafael Betancourt bowed to Tommy John surgery (and, at age 38, perhaps forced retirement) in July, Rex Brothers took over as the team’s closer and put up un-Rockie like numbers with a superlative 1.74 ERA to go with 19 saves in just 21 opps.
- Tyler Colvin appeared to be on his way to stardom after a mild breakout 2012 for Colorado—but a rotten start (.160, no homers in 27 games) sent him down I-25 to Triple-A Colorado Springs, where his numbers failed to impress the Rockies into bringing him back.

 

[67RedSox]

October 22 is the date a couple of ML baseball players died way before their time. One is in the Hall of Fame and the other a virtual unknown:

"the greatest outfielder I ever saw on a ball field" – is how John McGraw described Ross Youngs who died on this date in 1927 at the age of 30. For 10 years he patrolled RF in the Polo Grounds for the NY Giants and was a vital member of the Giant teams that won four consecutive NL Pennants, 1921-1924. His career .322 BA ranks him in the top 50 all-time. Youngs's career was abruptly cut short in 1926 when he was diagnosed with the kidney disorder that, at the time, was called Bright's disease, now called acute or chronic nephritis. Too ill to play after August 10, 1926, Youngs returned home on McGraw's insistence and died a little over a year later. He went from weighing 170 pounds during his playing career to 100 pounds by the time of his death.
Youngs is in the Hall of Fame having been selected by the Veterans Committee in 1972 but there are two schools of thought as to whether he should be in Cooperstown. Youngs was included in the inaugural balloting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, but received less than 5% of the vote from the Baseball Writers. Youngs remained on the ballot every year through 1956, receiving his highest vote total in 1947 with 22%. Ford C. Frick, Commissioner of Baseball, and former teammate Bill Terry both championed Youngs' candidacy. Former teammates Terry and Frankie Frisch joined the Veterans Committee in 1967 and aided the elections of several of their former teammates. In addition to Youngs, Terry and Frisch shepherded the selections of Giants teammates Jesse Haines in 1970, Dave Bancroft and Chick Hafey in 1971, Kelly in 1973, Jim Bottomley in 1974, and Freddie Lindstrom in 1976. Youngs died at the earliest age of any current Hall of Famer. Youngs' selection, along with some of the other selections made by Terry and Frisch, has been considered one of the weakest in some circles. According to the BBWAA, the Veterans Committee was not selective enough in choosing members, and charges of cronyism were later levied against the committee. This led to the Veterans Committee having its powers reduced in subsequent years. Baseball statistician Bill James recognized this and wrote that Youngs does not belong in the Hall of Fame. In 1981, however, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included Youngs in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. They explained what they called "the Smoky Joe Wood Syndrome," where a player of truly exceptional talent but a career curtailed by injury or illness should still — in spite of not owning career statistics that would quantitatively rank him with the all-time greats — be included on their list of the 100 greatest players.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ross...2F04%2Fblow-out-candles-april-10.html;450;640

Curt Flood, Gene Conley, and Danny Ainge had nothing on Baltimore native Peck Lerian, who challenged the reserve clause and earned fame on both the basketball court and the baseball diamond. Showing great promise as the leading member of the Philadelphia Phillies’ young receiving corps at the close of the 1920s, he also stood out as the starting guard for the lauded Hagerstown Elks basketball team many years before the founding of the NBA or its precursors. Ultimately forsaking his basketball career to play ML baseball, he joined the Phillies for the launch of the 1928 season and progressed from a seldom-used bench warmer and occasional pinch hitter to become the team’s primary backstop by mid-summer. At the conclusion of the 1929 season, just as he was coming into his own, his life and career were tragically cut short by an out-of-control vehicle. After the season Lerian stayed in Philadelphia to watch the A’s defeat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series. On October 15, he returned home to Baltimore. Several days later, after leaving Church, Lerian walked to the trolley stop to catch a ride home. While he waited, a car collided with a delivery truck and the driver of the truck lost control of his vehicle. It was headed straight toward a group of children playing on the street. Given just a moment to act, the driver swerved again, missing the children. His truck jumped the curb, crashing through the trolley stop. Lerian, without a moment to react, was caught as the truck plowed into a brick building. The impact of the collision tore a hole in the building, and trapped Peck between the truck and crushed wall. It took over an hour to remove him from the accident site. A passing motorist rushed him to the hospital where Lerian was diagnosed with severe body bruises, internal injuries, and multiple broken bones. His doctor optimistically described his condition as “serious.” Upon hearing word of the accident, fifty men from St. Martin’s and six Baltimore firefighters lined up to offer blood for a badly needed transfusion. Two donors were selected, and when the doctors felt that Lerian was strong enough to withstand the transfusion, a risky procedure in those days, the donors each gave a pint of blood. Before the transfusion was completed, Lerian succumbed to his injuries on this date in 1929.
After news of his death spread, those who knew Lerian provided a clear picture of the player. Giants manager McGraw called him “the future catching star of the National League,” while Rogers Hornsby said he was the top young catcher in the League. While his time in the Majors was limited to 200 games and he is largely forgotten, his place in Maryland baseball history is not as he was inducted into the Maryland Baseball Hall of Fame in 1959, recognizing his position as one of Maryland’s baseball greats—one whose life and career were cut tragically short.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=walt...oncollection.com%2Fwalt-lerian-1.html;640;800

It was on this date in 1975 that the Cincinnati Reds defeat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3, with a run in the 9th inning to win the Series 4 games to 3. Some described the Series among the Top 3 of all-time. I don’t rate it near that high but it was certainly memorable.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1975....com%2Fcontent%2F1975-cincinnati-reds;425;340

The snow flurries and 38-degree game time temperature in Cleveland make it the coldest World Series in history on this date in 1997.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1997...%2Fbad.weather.games%2Fcontent.2.html;666;428

Ichiro Suzuki turns the big 4-0 today as he was born on this date in 1973. With 1,278 basehits in Japan and 2,742 in the Majors he has 4,020 as a professional.

Ichiro Suzuki joins select group with 4,000th hit | MLB.com: News

Wilbur Wood was born on this date in 1941. Arguably the best left-handed knuckleball pitcher in ML history, Wood’s 19-year professional baseball career may be best described as a case study in patience, resiliency, and determination. Signing as a highly touted fastball-curveball pitching prospect in 1960, Wood failed five times (three times with the Boston Red Sox and twice with the Pittsburgh Pirates) to land a spot in the big leagues. Given his second outright option, in 1966, he toiled in the minor leagues and was purchased by the Chicago White Sox. Under the tutelage of future Hall-of-Famer Hoyt Wilhelm, Wood transformed himself into knuckleballer and enjoyed unimaginable success. After a three-year period (1968-1970) as baseball’s most durable reliever, Wood entered the starting rotation and racked up statistics reminiscent of Deadball Era pitchers during a four-year period from 1971 to 1974 winning a big-league best 90 games and averaging almost 350 innings per year. In 1973 became the first pitcher since Walter Johnson in 1916 to win and lose at least 20 games in one season when he went 24-20.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=wilb...otDetail.aspx%3Finventoryid%3D34650;1696;1522

 

[67RedSox]

During his ML career Babe Ruth hit HRs for three ML teams. Most people, if asked, what those three teams were would be able to answer…the Boston Red Sox (49), the New York Yankees (659) and at the tail end of his career the Boston Braves (6). Would you believe me if I told you he also hit 1 HR while playing for the New York Giants. Whether you answer yes or no to that you would be correct. He did in fact hit a HR in a Giants uniform but it was in an exhibition game and would only be recorded either in newspaper files or in people’s memories. For one day Babe Ruth wore not a NY Yankees uniform but a NY Giants uniform and it was on this date in 1923. Ruth makes an after the season appearance in a New York Giants uniform as the Giants defeat the Minor League Baltimore Orioles 9-0. Ruth hits a home run over the right field roof at the Polo Grounds. The game is a benefit for destitute former Giants owner John Day.
John Day was once the toast of New York City. He was in the tobacco business and in the 1880’s got into Major League Baseball in a big way by owning both New York teams…the New York Giants in the NL and the New York Mets (Metropolitans) in the American Association, then considered one of the Major Leagues. To accommodate the two ML teams Day leased the Polo Grounds and a second diamond with a grandstand was erected on the property. As accorded with its preferred status, the NL Giants (nee Gothams) were given the established field on the southeast corner of the Polo Grounds while the Mets were consigned to a new landfill-based playing field constructed on the southwest quadrant. Differences in standing between the two teams were reflected in the gate as well. The carriage trade sought by Day for the Giants was charged 50 cents general admission while the working classes cultivated for the Mets would get in for a quarter. Potent liquid refreshment, however, was available at each venue, Day defying the League ban on alcohol sales at NL games.
Between the formation of the ill-fated Players League in 1890 followed by business downturns and eventually a series of strokes Day fell on hard times. Once worth almost $1M ( $25M in 2013 $ ) Day went from being the owner of the team to earning $5 a game as a ticket-taker at the Polo Grounds. In the Fall of 1923 when Day’s plight became public knowledge the Giants were mildly embarrassed by the situation and Giants executives hastily arranged a Polo Grounds benefit game for Day. Ruth, happy to lend his services for the benefit game, wore the Giant uniform and hit the HR.

Google Image Result for http://bioproj.sabr.org/bp_ftp/images5/DayJohnB.jpg

It was on this date in 1945 Dodger President Branch Rickey announces that the team has signed two black players, shortstop Jackie Robinson and pitcher Johnny Wright, to play with Brooklyn's Triple A team in Montreal. We all know how things turned out for Robinson but what about Wright…in 1946, Wright was on the roster of the Montreal Royals at the same time as Jackie Robinson, making him a plausible candidate to have broken the baseball colour barrier. Instead, Wright was demoted from Montreal and returned the next season to the ***** Leagues. Here’s what Robinson had to say in his autobiography about Wright: “Johnny was a good pitcher, but I feel he didn't have the right kind of temperament to make it with the International League in those days. He couldn't withstand the pressure of taking insult after insult without being able to retaliate. It affected his pitching that he had to keep his temper under control all the time. Later I was very sad because he didn't make the Montreal team.”

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jack...watch-look-at-the-tour-de-france%2F;1017;1385

It was on this date in 1935 that Cubs catcher Gabby Hartnett was named as the National League’s MVP. Until Johnny Bench came along Hartnett was considered the greatest catcher in the history of the National League. Hartnett was an all-around player, performing well both offensively and defensively. Known for his strong and accurate throwing arm, he routinely led the National League's catchers in caught stealing % and was the first ML catcher to hit more than 20 home runs in a season. During the course of his career, he took part of some of the most memorable events in Major League Baseball history including; Babe Ruth's Called Shot during the 1932 World Series, Carl Hubbell's strike out performance in the 1934 All-Star Game and Dizzy Dean's career-altering injury during the 1937 All-Star Game. But the greatest moment of Hartnett's career came with one week left in the 1938 season, when he hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to put the Cubs into first place. The event, which occurred as darkness descended onto Wrigley Field, became immortalized as the Homer in the Gloamin'.
https://www.google.ca/search?q=gabb...Fwww.bandkgreen.net%2Fgoldenpress.htm;770;534

I’m glad our friend smf52 doesn’t read these Posts because on this date in 1974 the Cubs trade sweet-swinging Billy Williams, a fixture at Wrigley Field for 16 years, to the A's for second baseman Manny Trillo and pitchers Darold Knowles and Bob Locker. Those wonderful Cub teams from the mid 1960’s on were becoming a thing of history.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mk7IqW62Nfw]Billy Williams - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

Twenty years ago today, on this date in 1993, in one of the most dramatic endings in World Series history, Joe Carter hits a three-run, ninth inning walk-off HR off Mitch Williams for an 8-6 win and Toronto's second straight World Championship. Paul Molitor, who hits .500 in 24 at bats, is MVP.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX2dJ4K0Oew]Tom Cheek: "Touch 'em all Joe!" - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 2002 Darryl Kile will become the third player to appear on the Hall of Fame ballot before the mandatory five-year waiting period… Joining Roberto Clemente and Thurman Munson.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=darr...3DUS_Baseball%26hash%3Ditem4d10d790a4;223;300

HOF’er Jim Bunning who pitched with remarkable consistency during his 17-year career was born on this date in 1931. Bunning became the second pitcher to record 100 wins and 1,000 strikeouts in both the American and National Leagues. He also threw no-hitters in both Leagues, including a perfect game on Father's Day 1964. He accumulated 224 career Wins and was a seven-time All-Star selection.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNEG_gw1HYI]Final 3 outs of Jim Bunning's perfect game. Father's Day, June 21, 1964. - YouTube[/ame]

Lena Blackburne was born on this date in 1882. His given names at birth were Russell Aubrey but he was called Lena??? His MLB career was 5 seasons plus 3 other seasons where he appeared in a total of only 6 games spread over 19 years from 1910 to 1929. He both played for and managed the Chicago White Sox. Beyond his playing and managing Blackburne made an unusual and valuable contribution to Baseball when he discovered a special use for the clay from the Delaware River to take the shine off of baseballs before each game. At the time, the mid-1930s, baseball teams used a variety of substances to rub baseballs: tobacco juice, shoe polish, dirt from the baseball field or a combination, but nothing they tried gave the balls the right look or feel. Blackburne searched for the perfect rubbing compound until one day, he found a mud that he liked close to home. The actual location has never been revealed, but rumor says it was from a tributary of the Delaware River, near Palmyra, New Jersey where he lived most of his life. He marketed his idea, and by 1938, he was supplying the mud to all American League teams; because Blackburne was a diehard American League fan, he refused to sell the mud to NL teams until the mid-1950s. Since then, every Major and Minor League team has used only his product. The mud is still collected today, from a new secret location.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=lena...e-secret-mud-that-changed-baseball%2F;325;325

 

[67RedSox]

Like his father in 1996 Eric Young wins the NL Stolen Base Crown this season. Young, the younger, had 46 steals this season, 8 with the Rockies and 38 with the Mets. In 1996 the senior Young led the senior circuit with 53.

Baseball’s anthem…Take Me Out to the Ballgame, is introduced on this date in 1908.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hixNooSBqLU]Take Me Out to the Ballgame at Coors Field | Colorado Rockies - YouTube[/ame]

1939 was a busy year for Baseball. Ted Williams played in his first ML game, a tradition begins… the Baseball season opens in Cincinnati, Lou Gehrig, plays in his 2,130th consecutive ML game and no one knew it would be the very last of his career, the first Little League game took place in Williamsport, Pa., in Cooperstown, New York, the official dedication of the National Baseball Hall of Fame takes place. Grover Alexander, Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins, Walter Johnson, Nap Lajoie, Babe Ruth, George Sisler, Tris Speaker, Honus Wagner, Cy Young and Connie Mack all accept their plaques, the Dodgers acquire Red Sox farmhand Pee Wee Reese and it was on this date in 1939 that Joe DiMaggio ascended to top of the Baseball heap when he was named the AL’s MVP for the first time.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=joe+...ww.rarenewspapers.com%2Fview%2F565957;640;512

Jackie Robinson, the first black player of the 20th century, dies of heart disease at his home in Stamford, Connecticut on this date in 1972. On the same day three longtime infielders are released by their respective clubs: Bill Mazeroski (Pirates)‚ Maury Wills (Dodgers)‚ and Julian Javier (Reds)

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jack...org%2Fabout-us%2Fjackie-robinson.html;747;543

On this date in 1990 it was a sad day in Boston as the Red Sox announce that they will not renew the contract of veteran Dwight Evans‚ who had been with the club since 1972. Evans will eventually sign a one-year contract with Baltimore. It’s just one man’s opinion but I believe he was the most valuable player behind only Yaz in his time there and should be in the HOF, yes even ahead of Jim Rice.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=dwig...%2F2012%2F03%2F1991-dwight-evans.html;745;549

on this date in 1986 Bill Russell‚ 38‚ announces his retirement. He was the last member of the Dodgers Garvey-Lopes-Russell-Cey infield and is 2nd on the club's all-time games-played list with 2‚183. In the age of free agency, keeping a homegrown core of players together for more than a few years is a difficult task. It’s been more than 40 years ( June 23, 1973 ) since the debut of the Dodgers’ so-called “Longest Running Infield.” First baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey stayed together for nearly nine seasons (1973-1981). The quartet anchored four Pennant winners and one World Champion.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-Uv2VD_Gc]Los Angeles Dodgers Longest Running Infield Ever: Garvey, Lopes, Russell, Cey! - YouTube[/ame]

The player Frank Robinson gave the nickname. “Professor” to, Jim Brosnan was born on this date in 1929, a fine ML pitcher from the mid 1950’s to mid 1960’s. Brosnan wrote the first honest portrayal of the life of a baseball player. The Long Season, and subsequent works have earned him continued praise ever since. His writings paved the way for many other players’ “autobiographies,” usually written with considerable help, and filled with more tawdriness but less humor and heart. Fifty years on, Brosnan’s books remain the gold standard for baseball memoirs. Brosnan’s intellect and eccentricities stood out in the world of baseball. He read constantly, carrying a small library of books with him on the road, watched foreign movies, smoked a pipe, and used a baffling vocabulary. One time on the mound, he imperiously yelled, in French, at a confused batter. Around 1958 he began his writing career. He had become friendly with a writer for Sports Illustrated, who suggested that Brosnan should write about baseball. Brosnan had been keeping a diary off and on for years, but did not feel he’d done anything interesting yet. After his trade from the Cubs to the Cardinals, he sent Sports Illustrated an excerpt from his diary, and it ran in the July 21, 1958, issue. Brosnan’s intellect and writing ability were a revelation at a time when readers had been served vanilla depictions of their baseball heroes performing glorious deeds on the fields of battle. Brosnan drew himself and his teammates as complicated humans struggling to make their way. His article received positive reviews, and he soon had an agreement with Harper & Brothers Publishers to write a book in the same diary format, covering the upcoming 1959 season. Brosnan began keeping notes whenever something interested him. These events were just as likely to happen in the bullpen, or airport, or hotel, as they were during a ballgame. The Cardinals gave the story a dramatic twist when they traded him in June to the Cincinnati Reds for pitcher Hal Jeffcoat. Thus his journal could again directly address his feelings about the life of an itinerant ballplayer. For the season Brosnan finished 9-6 with a 3.79 ERA, and spent the summer tapping away on his typewriter. An excerpt from The Long Season, about his positive relationship with Reds’ manager Fred Hutchinson, was published in Sports Illustrated in the spring of 1960, and the book was released in hardcover in July and received good reviews. Brosnan broke new ground by letting the reader experience the day-to-day existence of the Major League player. His writing probably shortened his ML career but he didn’t care. By 1963 he considered himself more a writer than a ballplayer and his first career ended and his second began. In 1956 he and his wife had bought themselves a home in Morton Grove which is either part of Chicago, or maybe Evanston area where he spent his first 3 seasons in the Majors pitching for the Cubs. He still lives there today so if you’re in the area drop by and wish him a Happy 84th birthday.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jim+...fo%2F1960sBaseball_PP_JimBrosnan.html;698;502

Louis Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot Indian tribe of Maine, remembered today as the first Native American, and first recognized minority, to perform in the NL was born on this date in 1871. He was signed by the Cleveland Spiders in 1897, appeared destined for stardom, but alcoholism derailed his promising career. He is, however, at least indirectly responsible for the nickname "Indians" as applied to the present American League team in Cleveland.
In 1894 Sockalexis enrolled at Holy Cross and he excelled as a baseball player. He may have been the best college player in the country, and began to draw interest from National League clubs. The Cleveland Spiders had the inside track, as two members of that team, outfielder Jesse Burkett and infielder James (Chippy) McGarr, coached for Holy Cross during the spring months. In December 1896, Sockalexis enrolled at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana. Sockalexis stayed there only a few months … he was expelled after a drunken row at a local tavern. He then signed a contract with the Spiders and reported to spring practice in Cleveland on March 19, 1897. Manager Patsy Tebeau was impressed with the Native American ballplayer, and the local sportswriters were so enamored of the exotic newcomer that a headline in the Cleveland Plain Dealer on March 20 referred to the team as "Tebeau's Indians." By the end of the month, the Spiders' moniker was virtually forgotten, and the Cleveland club became the Indians. Because of his drinking (stories abound) Sockalexis’ ML His career was brief, 94 games and 367 at-bats.
Cleveland's American League team (which began play in 1900) had been called the Naps in honor of playing manager Napoleon Lajoie, but when Lajoie left the team after the 1914 season, a new nickname was in order. In January 1915, team owner Charles Somers, after consulting with several local sportswriters, decided to revive the name that had defined the city's National League club 18 years before. Somers, perhaps recalling the all-too-brief period of excitement that Louis Sockalexis had brought to Cleveland in 1897, dubbed his team the Indians, a name that remains to this day.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=loui...ssive-field%2F266014-please-read.html;418;512

 

[67RedSox]

I will not mention what happened on this date in 1986 in consideration of Red Sox fans everywhere but you can watch it if you want:

Video: Greatest World Series Moments: No. 12 | MLB.com

Painful as it was for Cub fans it was on this date in 1973 that Ferguson Jenkins is traded to the Texas Rangers This after averaging 20 Wins a season over the last 7 seasons and leading the Cubs in wins in each of the past seven seasons‚ the only pitcher ever to do so and then be traded. He will win 25 games his first season in Texas.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBioKF9ezcI]Fergie Jenkins - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1978 Gaylord Perry becomes the first pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both Leagues. Perry cops the NL honor with a 21-6 record and a 2.72 ERA for the Padres. In 1972 he won the AL Cy Young Award going 24-16 for the Indians.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lr940giJf8]Gaylord Perry - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

Howard Ellsworth Wood or as Baseball fans know him, “Smokey Joe” was born on this date in 1889. Wood's reign as one of the most dominating pitchers in baseball history lasted a brief two seasons, but it left an indelible impression on those who witnessed his greatness first-hand. "Without a doubt," Ty Cobb later recalled, "Joe Wood was one of the best pitchers I ever faced throughout my entire career." In 1911 and 1912, Smoky Joe Wood won 57 games ( 23 and 34 ) for the Boston Red Sox, including a no-hitter against the St. Louis Browns on July 29, 1911, and an American League record-tying 16 straight wins in the second half of the 1912 campaign. He was by no means large or overpowering, standing 5'11 3/4" and weighing in at 180 pounds, but concealed in his lanky frame was one of the most overpowering fastballs of the Deadball Era. "I have seen a lot of speedy pitchers in my time," Red Sox catcher Tubby Spencer quipped in the spring of 1909, "but Joe Wood can make sparks fly better than anyone else I ever saw throw a ball." Three years later, Walter Johnson could only agree. "Can I throw harder than Joe Wood?" he asked a waiting reporter. "Listen, mister, no man alive can throw harder than Smoky Joe Wood."

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHmWwh8AvkE]Another Cracker Jack Moment - Smokey Joe Wood - YouTube[/ame]

On this date in 1871 the darkest of all players to ever wear a MLB uniform, Marty Bergen, was born. Bergen was one of the finest catchers in the National League during his brief stint. His defense was admired throughout the League. Over the course of his short baseball career, Bergen became increasingly despondent and irrational, continually accusing his teammates of plotting against him and of doing things to harm him. There were numerous verbal altercations and even some physical ones between the catcher and the rest of the team. At times he jumped his club and returned home to the comfort of his family. Naturally, this didn’t sit well with management and his teammates. He exasperated more than one manager. In April 1899, after Bergen’s oldest son died, the ballplayer’s mind started to stray from reality. By the end of the season, he was accusing his teammates of using his son’s death against him. Bergen more than once threatened his teammates’ lives and they were at their wits’ ends in dealing with their unstable catcher. The players feared for their safety and hoped that he wouldn’t return the following spring. As it turned out, they were right to be concerned. Bergen slaughtered his entire family that January and then killed himself. Bergen clearly had mental health issues and as a result of his actions the first made efforts, in and around Boston, to better educate professionals and the community about mental health issues.

Michael Wacha started this year as a 21 year old without ever having won a game in the Minor Leagues. ..not a single game. As recent as 5 months ago he was still toiling in the Minors. On the other side of the coin is Clayton Kershaw. He, who apparently, has turned down a $300M lifetime contract offer and who just happens to wear the crown of being the best pitcher in ML Baseball and that point is not subject to discussion. Well, Wacha is living the dream now with a record of 4-0 in the Post-Season, 2-0 face-to-face against Kershaw and last night winning his first WS start in a difficult pitcher’s park, Fenway. At 22 years and 116 days Wacha isn’t the youngest pitcher to start and win a WS game, in fact, there have been 16 pitchers younger than him over the years do so but his achievements this season are memorable.
Incidentally, there is a Cardinal pitcher younger than Wacha to start and win a World Series game but you have to go back 79 years for it when Daffy Dean of the ‘Gashouse Gang’ Cardinals won Game 3 of the fabled 1934 World Series against the Detroit Tigers. That was a 7 game Series won by the Cardinals and all four Wins in the Series came from the Dean brothers. Among the pitchers used by the Cardinals in the Series there was a Dizzy (Dean), a Daffy (Dean) and a Dazzy (Vance) with Dizzy and Dazzy both making it to the Hall of Fame.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=2013...ostseason-pressure-like-savvy-veteran;650;440

https://www.google.ca/search?q=dizz...Matted-Dizzy-Season%2Fdp%2FB009PQG9F0;500;375

Killorgin, Ireland is a quiet village of about 2,000 in County Kerry. There’s a rugby team, a football (soccer) and a golf course for the athletic minded but they don’t play baseball there yet on this date in 1869 one of three men ( Connie Mack & Clark Griffith being two ) who had a 70 year career in professional baseball, Jack Doyle was born there. Doyle would be one of the Game’s most colourful players in one of its most colourful eras. His career began in 1887 playing for Haverhill in the New England League. After making his Big League debut on August 27, 1889, he would go on to play 17 seasons in the Majors, manage two Big League teams and two Minor League teams, play a few more seasons in the Minor Leagues, umpire in both the Minors and the Majors, and spend the last 38 years of his life in various scouting capacities for the Chicago Cubs.
He was primarily a 1B but could and did play any position except pitcher. They called him "Dirty Jack," but John Joseph "Jack" Doyle never quite understood why. The name was given to him in recognition of his aggressive style of play. In all, Doyle played for ten different major league teams, but his greatest success came with the Giants and the Orioles. A steady hitter, he batted over .300 six times, while compiling a lifetime batting average of .299. His career-best was .368 in 1894. Always a fierce competitor, Doyle engaged in brawls and fistfights with umpires, fans, opposing players, and even his own teammates. Two of his more notorious assaults were on umpires Tom Lynch in August 1897 and Bob Emslie on the 4th of July 1900. On several occasions he went into the stands to battle fans, including a spring training game in Norfolk in 1896. He made another foray into the stands in 1901 on his first visit to the Polo Grounds after having been traded from the Giants to the Cubs. More than once these battles led to his being arrested. Despite this seeming lack of self-control, Doyle was a natural leader. Three different clubs, New York, Brooklyn and Chicago selected him as their team captain, and twice he served as an interim manager, for the Giants in 1895 and for Washington in 1898. And ironically, considering his arrests, he spent the only two years of his adult life outside of baseball as Holyoke, Massachusetts Police Commissioner. On September 29, 1957, the Giants, playing their final game at the Polo Grounds before absconding to San Francisco, paid tribute to Doyle as the oldest living ex-Giant. Fifteen months later, on New Year's Eve 1958, Doyle died of a heart attack at age 89.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=kill...Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FKillorglin;627;485

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jack...ia.org%2Fwiki%2FJack_Doyle_(baseball);200;367

 

[67RedSox]

Hank Greenberg was one of the greatest sluggers in the history of MLB. Between 1927 when Ruth hit 60 and 1961 when Maris hit 61 there was no one who hit more HRs in a season than the 58 Greenberg hit in 1938 ( Jimmie Fox also hit 58 in 1932 ). In 1935 he won the AL’s MVP Crown playing 1B for the Tigers hitting .328-36-170. On this date in 1940 he was named the AL’s MVP again but this time playing LF for the Tigers hitting .340-41-150 to become the first player to win MVP Awards at two different positions. At the end of the 1939 season, the Tigers asked Greenberg to take his big bat to LF and take a $5,000 cut from his $40,000 salary. The idea was to get Rudy York's bat into the lineup on a regular basis by putting him at first base, where they felt his fielding woes would cause the least damage. Greenberg had worked hard to become a more than adequate first baseman. Now, after all that work, he was asked to play a totally unfamiliar position as well as to take a salary cut. Hank thought it over carefully and came up with a counter proposal: "I want the same salary as last year. I will buy myself an outfielder's glove and I will go to spring training and work my tail off to become a good left fielder. You can decide after spring training is over, whether you want me to play the outfield. If you want me to stay in the outfield, you will have to give me a $10,000 bonus." Greenberg felt he was taking all the risks in this experiment and had the most to lose. Greenberg's work ethic kicked into high gear. In fact, he went to many spring training camps, at his own expense, to question the best left fielders of that time on how to play the position. The experiment of 1940 paid off. The Tigers took the American League pennant, and Greenberg got his $10,000 bonus.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zma3RHvXCB8]Hank Greenberg - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1949 that the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, led by their Manager, Lefty O’Doul complete a tour of Asia. O’Doul was one of the greatest hitters in the history of the Game and he probably did more for Baseball home and abroad than any other person. His abbreviated time in the Majors, 970 games and 3,264 at-bats is the only reason he’s not in the HOF despite his .349 career batting average (4th highest) where he truly belongs. In 2002 O'Doul was elected to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame for his promotion of the sport, particularly in helping to restore friendly relations between the United States and Japan after World War II but made a number of trips there promoting the Game in the 1930’s as well.
In 1949 Japan was still occupied by U.S. troops following its defeat in World War II. The demoralized and poverty stricken nation was still recovering and rebuilding, not just in terms of repairing bombed out buildings and roads, but emotionally, spiritually and politically as well. Tensions between the American and Japanese peoples remained high. Japan was still many years away from becoming the commercial powerhouse we know today.
Upon the personal request of General Douglas MacArthur, the 1949 U.S. Goodwill Baseball Tour of Japan was organized by Lefty O’Doul, a man beloved by Japanese baseball fans. It was one of the first peacetime cultural exchanges of the post-war era between the two nations. Over the course of the eleven game Tour they drew more than half a million spectators to the games played at Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. In the span of a month, O’Doul and the Seals had managed to restore some of the nation’s morale, break the post-war tension in Japanese-American relations, and lay a new foundation for friendship between the two countries. Emperor Hirohito was so grateful that he invited the Seals to the Imperial Palace to personally thank them for all they had done. General MacArthur was even more effusive in his praise, fervently claiming of O’Doul’s 1949 Tour, “This is the greatest piece of diplomacy ever.”

https://www.google.ca/search?q=left...abr.org%2Fbioproj%2Fperson%2Fb820a06c;347;427

https://www.google.ca/search?q=base...25550-Early-Japanese-Baseball%2Fpage4;500;361

It was on this date in 1950 that Phil Rizzuto was named the AL’s MVP. Runner-up was someone who played for the Boston Red Sox and it wasn’t Ted Williams. Nor was it Walt Dropo who hit .322-34-144 for the Red Sox that season, nor Vern Stephens who went .295-30-144 or even Bobby Doerr with his .294-27-120 numbers. It was however the guy no one remembers who won the AL’s Batting Crown that season with a .354 mark and had a 16 year career in the Majors (1947-1962) with a lifetime batting average of .300. His name was Billy Goodman. One of the reasons people don’t remember him is that he was a man without a position. He played wherever needed at any position either in the infield or outfield. By finishing runner-up in the MVP voting he became the first player without a regular position to receive consideration for the award.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bill...an%2F401047%2FCards%2FBaseball%2F1958;760;540

On this date in 1977 Sparky Lyle becomes the first AL reliever to win the Cy Young Award. Lyle leads the League with 72 appearances, posting a 13-5 record with 26 saves and a 2.17 ERA.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spar...net%2F2010%2F01%2F28%2Fsparky-lyle%2F;494;698

In Game 1 of this year’s World Series we saw a terrible call by the umpire at 2B that was reversed after discussion with the other umpires. A unbelievable call but it didn’t affect the outcome of the game and therefore the Series. It was on this date in 1985 in Game 6 of the World Series, Don Denkinger's controversial ninth-inning call at first base enables the Royals to beat the Cardinals, 2-1. The play, in which Jorge Orta is called safe, when it appears first baseman Jack Clark's throw to Todd Worrell, covering the bag, clearly beats him, gives Dane Iorg the opportunity to hit a two-run walk-off single and to extend the Fall Classic to a decisive Game 7 that Kansas City will win to capture its first World Championship.

RealClearSports - Top 10 Blown Calls in Baseball History - Don Denkinger, The Call, 1985 World Series Game 6

Mention the names Shoeless Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Swede Risberg, Charles Comiskey and Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis and one’s mind immediately turns to the Black Sox Scandal. Mention the name Kid Gleason and most forget he was the Manager of the White Sox that season, the first of 5 seasons he would manage the team. Though Gleason was found to be uninvolved in the scandal, he was personally affected by it for the rest of his life. Kid Gleason was born on this date in 1866. He played 22 seasons in the Majors, the first eight as a pitcher winning 138 ballgames including a season when he won 38 games and led the NL in Saves. The next 14 seasons he was a 2B. Beyond that he was the Kid from the coal country of Pennsylvania who rose above his humble beginnings to become a much-loved figure in the national pastime as his counseling and humor became crucial to the success of many Big Leaguers in the years between the World Wars.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=kid+...ulsofshame.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fm%3D201008;480;354

 

[Silas]

RS67.......an outstanding series of "posts". You should consider writing a book! My favorite read of the day.

I miss the discussions here by Rockies' fans. It's the best bunch of fans on these Boards.

By the way, I have a ball autographed by Jigger Statz as well as a number of other old PCL players. It was a terrific league in the pre-MLB West Coast ERA.

Thank you for your continued labors.

 

[67RedSox]

Silas, thanks for your Post. I thought if anyone would be familiar with the name, Jigger Statz, it would be you but even more than that you have a ball with his autograph and that I find amazing. Tell you what...I’ll send you a personally autographed 8 X 10 glossy of myself in exchange for the Statz ball and Kenny Boyer’s glove.
Seriously, I had never heard of Jigger Statz until recently when I happened upon his name reading something. I’m almost embarrassed by that but it’s really only been in the past couple of years that I’ve paid any attention to the PCL and what a revelation that has been. I know you were fortunate to have a personal connection to the League through your father in the latter part of its heyday but I have come to learn just how important a League it was particularly to the West Coast prior to the arrival of the Dodgers / Giants and even on the international scene as evidenced by the O’Doul led Tour of 1949 to Japan.
Clearly, the history of the PCL would lend itself to providing any Baseball fan with more than enough interesting reading. On that note, I have a question…there’s a book, The Greatest Minor League: A History of the Pacific Coast League, 1903-1957 by Dennis Snelling. You might not be familiar with it as it’s a fairly new. It seems to be a pretty comprehensive read. The comments I’ve read on Amazon about it are positive and I like the way its chapters break down 2-3-4-5 year periods but if you're familiar with it I’d appreciate whether or not you think it would be worth a read.
I too miss the communications we used to enjoy with the rest of the Rockies’ posters. They are a great bunch. It’s going to be a long winter I think. At least the fortunes of the Dodgers and Rockies seem to be on the rise so there’s something to look forward to. I know the Rockies finished 5th in the West but their pitching was much improved and I’m looking forward to 2014. As for the Dodgers I watched with some interest the drama (might not be the right word) surrounding Mattingly. Frankly, I thought there was an even chance he wouldn’t be back next year, by his choice. Looks like he will be though and I think that’s a good thing. The big question then might centre around Matt Kemp and I hope that he comes back 100%.

 

[Silas]

I am unfamiliar with that book, but I will look for it. I think my father enjoyed his experience with the PCL more than MLB when it arrived. I have an old PCL LA Angels cap and it's amazing how heavy it is compared to the caps worn today.

I believe the Rockies were a much better team last season than their record otherwise suggests. Injuries certainly slowed them down and most teams are plagued by the injury bug as well. The Rockies' pitching has improved and if it keeps improving and Tulo and Cargo can stay healthy, they are going to vie for the Division and the post-season.

I too hope Kemp comes back and stays healthy for a change, not just because it would help the Dodgers, but because when healthy, he's one of the most exciting players in the League.

The Mattingly incident is a bit ugly and it will be interesting to see if the Dodgers sign him to a long term deal.

I wonder what Jigger Statz would think of all this modern day, baseball madness?!

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1992 that the Colorado Rockies sign Don Baylor to be the team’s first Manager.

It was on this date in 1960 the AL trying to jump ahead of the NL admits Los Angeles and Washington to the League with plans to have the new clubs begin competition in 1961. Calvin Griffith is given permission to move the existing Washington Senators franchise to Minnesota. One significant outcome of this is League president Joe Cronin says the AL will adopt a 162-game schedule which is still with us today. In the expansion draft to stock the two new clubs pitchers from the NY Yankees were selected with the first three picks. The Angels selected 1st and chose Eli Grba, Senators then selected Bobby Shantz and back to the Angels who chose Duke Maas. Here's a shot of Grba and the Angels first game in 1961 at Wrigley Field West:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=eli+...m%2F2013%2F04%2F19%2Fwrigley-field%2F;970;615

On this date in 1991 some will tell you the best game in World Series history was played when the Twins beat Atlanta behind Jack Morris’ masterpiece in Game 7. Even if you don’t agree you would be hard-pressed to justify it not being one of the best most exciting games ever. It was the first extra-inning Game 7 in 67 years. When mentioning this game in a Post some time ago I believe it was darkcloud who pointed out a critical defensive play by the Twins, or if you prefer, poor base-running by Lonnie Smith prevented the Braves from scoring in the 8th inning and likely winning the game. Lonnie Smith singled off of Morris to start the 8th inning for the Braves. With Smith on first and nobody out. Braves Manager, Bobby Cox, called for a hit and run with Pendleton at the plate. Pendleton responded by lacing a double into the left-center field gap, but Smith only advanced to third. Logically, Smith could have scored on the play, but after Pendleton made contact, Twins infielders Greg Gagne (shortstop) and Knoblauch (second base) feigned starting a double play by pretending to force out Smith at second. Smith hesitated, then ran to third as Pendleton headed for second. Smith claimed he hadn't been fooled by the decoy ( as any 14 year veteran should not have been ) and was waiting to see if Puckett or Gladden would catch the ball. Morris got Gant to ground out to1B Kent Hrbek for the first out, which didn't permit Smith to score. David Justice was then walked intentionally so Morris could pitch to the struggling Sid Bream, who only had three hits in the Series. Bream also had the reputation of being one of the league's slowest runners, a fact the Twins were able to take advantage of. Morris induced Bream to ground to first. Hrbek threw home to get Smith, and catcher Brian Harper relayed the throw to first in enough time to get Bream to retire the side…and the Braves would not have another baserunner in the game. Can't find a specific highlight of Smith's baserunning blunder but if you fast-forward to the 8th inning of the game video you can see the play that may have determined the 1991 World Series.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT_MODis138]1991 World Series, Game 7: Braves @ Twins - YouTube[/ame]

Pumpsie Green was born on this date in 1933. Although born in Oklahoma he grew up in Oakland. He was 13 when Jackie Robinson broke into the Major Leagues in 1947, but Brooklyn was a long way from California. The barnstorming Jackie Robinson All-Stars came to Oakland after the ’48 season was over. Pumpsie said, “I scraped up every nickel and dime together I could find. And I was there. I had to see that game…I still remember how exciting it was.”
As incredible as it seems 12 years after Robinson broke into the Majors the Boston Red Sox still had not had an African American ballplayer. On July 21, 1959 Pumpsie Green would become the first. He was a reluctant pioneer nevertheless he took pride in the fact that he helped accomplish the integration of the Boston Red Sox. As a kid growing up in Oakland all he wanted to do was play for the Oakland Oaks and although signed by them out of school he never played for them. Green did play 13 years of professional baseball, including four seasons in the American League (with the Red Sox) and one in the National League (with the New York Mets). At age 80 Green still lives in Oakland very close to where he grew up.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=pump...et%2F2007%2F02%2Fpumpsie_green_t.html;385;275

A HOF’er who played the minimum 10 years required for eligibility to the HOF but who won 7 National League HR Crowns in those 10 seasons, Ralph Kiner, was born on this date in 1922. Happy 91st birthday. Although he played his last ML game in 1955 he was still around in 2013. In 1961 Kiner began his baseball broadcasting career with the Chicago White Sox. In 1962 he joined the Mets broadcast team in their very first season of play. Despite a bout with Bell's palsy, which left him with slightly slurred speech, Kiner is still broadcasting… his 52nd year of doing Mets broadcasts at the start of the 2013 season, though only as an occasional guest analyst. He is the only broadcaster to survive all of the Mets history and is the oldest active announcer in Major League Baseball and has had the third-longest tenure with a single team behind Los Angeles Dodgers broadcasters Vin Scully and Jaime Jarrin.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z1XjmQa4I4]Ralph Kiner - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

At 21 Xavier Bogaerts’ triple in Game 3 of the World Series makes the Red Sox rookie the third youngest player in World Series history to hit a triple. The other two you might have heard of…Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle both hit one at age 20. The most triples ever hit in a single World Series is 4 and it happened in the very first World Series played in 1903 by Tommy Leach of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Though standing just 5' 6" and weighing as little as 135 pounds at the start of his career, "Wee" Tommy Leach was nonetheless one of the better "power" hitters of the first decade of the 20th century. Over the course of a 19-year career in the National League, Leach finished in the top ten six times each in triples, home runs and total bases. Years later, at a dinner in Florida, he explained his surprising long ball proficiency: "Sometimes they played me right in back of the infield. Every so often, I'd manage to drive a ball between the outfielders and it would roll to the fence. I was pretty fast, and by the time they ran the ball down and got it back to the infield, I'd be home. I don't ever recall getting a home run on a ball that hit outside of the park." Leach was exaggerating, but not by much: of his 63 career home runs, 49 were inside-the-park, placing him second on the all-time list behind Sam Crawford or some might argue third on the all-time list behind Crawford with 51 and Jesse Burkett with 55. Although there’s some argument as to whether Crawford or Burkett hit the most all-time there is no confusion on who has hit the most inside-the-park-homeruns since 1940:

Leaders since 1940

1. Willie Wilson - 13
2. Roberto Clemente - 10
3. Stan Musial - 9
3. Lou Brock - 9
4. Willie Mays - 8
4. Richie Ashburn - 8

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tomm...aseball%2Fitem%2F1582-100-tommy-leach;640;463

Speaking of inside-the-park-homeruns here’s a video of Rajai Davis hitting one when the ball he hit travelled all the way to the pitcher’s mound. It’s a Little league inside-the-park-homerun but in the Majors they call it an infield single with about 18 errors thrown in.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZcyUKsMNQ]Rajai Davis Takes Lead Off Infield Home Run 08/14/2013 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1968 that Bob Gibson wins his first Cy Young Award. I guess winning 22 games with an ERA of 1.12, 13 Shutouts and leading the League in Strikeouts will do that for you.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxOOVvMbtWQ]Bob Gibson Highlight Video - YouTube[/ame]

On this date in 2001 the yet to be announced new Manager of the Washington Nationals, Matt Williams hit a HR in the World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks and became the first player to hit a WS HR for three different teams. It was also the third different decade that Williams had hit a HR in. In the 1980’s he hit one playing for the Giants and in the 1990’s he hit one playing for the Indians.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=matt...3-11e3-a94f-b58017bfee6c_gallery.html;606;466

Some called it “The Dump”, others called it "North Pole," "Candlestink," "Candlesuck," "Candleshit," "Cave of the Winds," and "Windlestick." Most just call it “The Stick”. It was on this date in 1958 construction begins on the Giants new ballpark in San Francisco on Candlestick Point so named because the rock formations on the point resembled the shape of candlesticks first noted in 1781 by the De Anza Expedition. The site, a disaster for the location of a baseball stadium, was selected because it was one of the few pieces of land available in the city that would accommodate a new ballpark with room for 10,000 parking spaces which was promised to the Giants as an inducement to move to the West Coast. It was the first modern baseball stadium, as it was the first to be built entirely of reinforced concrete.
The stadium was infamous for the windy conditions, damp air and dew from fog, and chilly temperatures. The stadium had the reputation as the coldest park in the Majors. The wind often made life difficult for outfielders trying to catch fly balls, as well as for fans, while the damp grass further complicated play for outfielders who had to play in cold, wet shoes. Giants owner Horace Stoneham visited the site as early as 1957 and was involved in the stadium's design from the outset. While he was aware of the weather conditions, he visited the park during the day—not experiencing the particularly cold, windy and foggy conditions that overtook it at night. Architect John Bolles designed the park with a boomerang-shaped concrete baffle in the upper tier to protect the park from wind. Unfortunately, it never worked. For Candlestick's first 10 seasons (until it was enclosed to accommodate the football 49er’s) the wind blew in from left-center and out toward right-center. It was initially built with a radiant heating system of hot water pipes under the Lower Box seats in a space between the concrete and the ground. However, the pipes were not embedded in the concrete, and did not produce enough heat to offset the cold air. Both the city and the Giants balked at the cost of upgrading the system so it would work properly (e.g., to removing the seats and concrete, embedding larger pipes, and replacing the concrete and seats). As a result, the Giants played more day games than any Major League Baseball team except the Chicago Cubs, whose ballpark, Wrigley Field, did not have lights installed until 1988. The Giants eventually played on the reputation to bolster fan support with promotions such as awarding the Croix de Candlestick pin to fans who stayed for the duration of extra-inning night games. The pins featured the Giants' "SF" monogram capped with snow, along with the Latin slogan "Veni, vidi, vixi" ("I came, I saw, I survived").
Candlestick was an object of scorn from baseball purists for reasons other than weather. Although originally built for baseball, foul territory was quite roomy. According to Simmons, nearly every seat was too far from the field and the heating systems in the dugouts were wholly inadequate.
The Giants escaped after the 1999 season and the end will come for Candlestick in less than two months or at least sometime after the 49’ers play their final home game on December 23rd. Their new home, Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clare some 40 miles down the road is now under construction and will be ready for their 2014 season. With no tenants remaining the plan calls for Candlestick Park to be demolished…imploded. I suspect few tears will be shed.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=cand...F2013%2F06%2Fstadium-postcards.html;1600;1015

The problem when you mention Candlestick Park is that you have to mention Shibe Park as well and when you mention Shibe Park you have to mention Doc Powers who was the first baseball player who died as a result of an injury sustained playing in a ML game. If you mention Doc Powers then you have to mention Ray Chapman who 11 years later became the only MLB player to be directly killed by an on-field injury when he was hit in the head by a pitch and when you mention Ray Chapman you have to mention the end of the Dead Ball Era. The problem with all of that is there’s too much to mention in one Post so I’ll have to do 2 Posts today and yes, that’s a warning…you can leave now and cut your losses.

Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Stadium was a baseball park located in Philadelphia and the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League. When it opened April 12, 1909, it became baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium. Unlike Candlestick Park it was constructed, only in part, of concrete and steel and that part was the lower deck while the upper deck was built of wood mounted on steel girders. The Philadelphia Athletics were an original AL franchise when the League began operations in 1901. They played at Columbia Park and even though it was new it only had a capacity of 9,500 which was later increased to 13,600. Baseball was a hot ticket in Philly back then and as many as 28,000 would show up for the game. Philadelphia Athletics president Ben Shibe and partner Connie Mack decided the A's needed a new place to play. He found a site to build his new ballpark and at a bargain in an area still primitive at the time, an area of high clay bluffs, rain-washed gullies, quagmires, open fields, even ponds where chickens pecked and pigs rooted. The area had "underachieved" due to the presence of the city's Hospital for Contagious Diseases (the "smallpox hospital") a block west but Shibe's privileged connections in town brought him word that the city would be closing the facility. Shibe quietly assembled title to his square block of land early in 1907, picking up parcels "through a complicated series of acquisitions, preventing price inflation by masking his intentions", even using straw buyers to keep his name out of the dealings. He spent a total of $67,500 ($1.75 million in 2013 dollars) on seven land packages totaling 5.75 acres, and in February 1908, he arranged to have two projected streets running through his block dropped from the city plan. For the design and its execution, Shibe hired William Steele and Sons and they came up with a very elegant French Renaissance design that was striking for the time. Shibe and the Steeles initiated 'the golden age of ballparks’. The city was excited about its new ballpark—the Philadelphia Public Ledger called it "a palace for fans, the most beautiful and capacious baseball structure in the world." American League president Ban Johnson pronounced that "Shibe Park is the greatest place of its character in the world" and the 23,000 seat stadium was ready for Opening Day in 1909 and was in use until 1970.

"Doc" Powers a ML Baseball player who caught for four different teams from 1898 to 1909. He played College baseball at the University of Notre Dame in 1897 and 1898. His nickname was derived from the fact that he was a licensed physician as well as a ballplayer. During a brief stint with the New York Highlanders in 1905, Powers caught while Jim "Doc" Newton pitched, creating the only known example of a two-physician battery in ML history. On April 12, 1909, Powers was injured during the first game ever played in Philadelphia's Shibe Park, crashing into a wall while chasing a foul pop-up. He sustained internal injuries from the collision and died two weeks later from complications from three intestinal surgeries, becoming possibly the first ML’er to suffer an on-field injury that eventually led to his death The immediate cause of death was peritonitis arising from post-surgery infections.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=shib...e-Park-Philadelphia--1930_p_5173.html;657;500

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOry-QwOT0c]Shibe Park - YouTube[/ame]

Ray Chapman and The Dead Ball Era will have to follow in a second Post.

 

[67RedSox]

As warned in my previous Post I will finish what I started. What started out as a mention of construction starting on Candlestick Park on this date in 1958 will end with a blurb about Roy Chapman and the Dead Ball Era. A bit silly to connect dots between Candlestick Park, Shibe Park and The Dead Ball Era but that's how my little mind works sometimes.

Ray Chapman, star shortstop for nine seasons with the Cleveland Indians, might have ended up in the Hall of Fame had he not been fatally injured by a Carl Mays fastball at the Polo Grounds on August 16, 1920. As good as Chapman was on the field, he was even more beloved for his infectious cheerfulness and enthusiasm off it. Chapman was one of the most popular players in Cleveland Indians history. Instead of being remembered for what could have been…as a member of the hallowed Hall of Fame… he’s remembered instead for what he was…the only player to die as a result of injuries sustained on the field. Chapman was 0 for 1 when he led off the fifth inning with Cleveland ahead 3--0. With a count of one ball and one strike, Chapman, who batted and threw right-handed, hunched, as usual, over the plate, waiting for the next pitch. He always popped back when the ball was thrown. Mays looked in and, detecting that Chapman was slightly shifting his back foot--probably to push the ball down the first base line--released a fastball, high and targeting the inside corner. The gray blur sliced through the heavy, humid air, possibly a strike. Chapman did not move.
Many of the players and 20,000 fans heard an "explosive sound"--Babe Ruth said it was audible where he stood far out in right field. Sportswriter Fred Lieb, sitting in the downstairs press box about fifty feet behind the umpire, heard a "sickening thud." The ball dribbled out toward the pitcher's mound on the first base side. Mays fielded it and threw it to first baseman Wally Pipp for the out, apparently thinking the ball had struck the bat. Pipp turned to throw the ball around the infield, but froze when he glanced home. Chapman had sunk to his knees, his face contorted, blood streaming from his left ear. Yankee catcher Muddy Ruel tried to catch Chapman as his knees buckled. Umpire Tommy Connolly ran toward the grandstand yelling for a doctor. Speaker rushed over from the on-deck circle to tend to his stricken friend, who was trying to sit. Speaker thought Chapman wanted to get up and rush Mays. Finally, two doctors (one of them a Yankee team physician) arrived, applied ice and revived Chapman. He walked under his own power across the infield toward the clubhouse in center field, but his knees gave way again near second base. Two teammates grabbed the shortstop, put his arms around their shoulders, and carried him the rest of the way. At the Hospital, doctors--operating on Speaker's authority--made a three-inch incision in the base of Chapman's skull, finding a ruptured lateral sinus and plenty of clotted blood. They removed a small piece of his fractured skull. Kathleen Day Chapman, pregnant with the couple's first child, was immediately summoned to New York. Chapman rallied briefly, but he died early the next morning before his wife's arrival.
Chapman’s death did have an impact on Baseball beyond the mere tragedy of his death. It played a significant role in bringing The Dead Ball Era of the game to a conclusion. Although already on the path of coming to an end it was quickened as Baseball immediately instructed umpires to replace any ball that had become dirty enough to present a hazard but more on this below.
We often hear the words…Dead Ball Era…when the history of Baseball is talked about and we generally have a vague idea of just what it was. As an average fan I am certainly not qualified to spout off about it as if I know any more about the era than anyone else. I’m sure entire books have been written on the subject and here in a few paragraphs is one humble individual’s summary of why the period came to be and why it came to an end.
The Dead Ball Era, or if you prefer The Deadball Era, was a period in the early 20th Century that was characterized by an emphasis on pitching and defense and had generally, though not uniformly, low scoring games. It is generally recognized to have stretched from the founding of the American League in 1901 to the elimination of the spitball in 1920. The Dead Ball Era marked the end of the sport's rapid development in the 19th Century and the beginning of relative stability in the rules and structure of the Major League game. The exact cause of the low offensive totals during the Dead Ball Era is unclear but may be attributable to:
- One significant rule change that was made was the introduction of the "foul strike" rule. Until 1901 in the NL and 1903 in the AL, foul balls (except on bunts) did not count against the batter in any way. A player could continue to foul off balls endlessly until he saw a pitch that he liked. Some players, most notoriously Roy Thomas, became very skillful at doing so, and the rules were changed to charge a player with his first two strikes on foul balls. This change obviously helped pitchers.
- Division of pitching workload. A long-term trend in the game has been to divide the pitching responsibility among an ever larger staff, and this trend was apparent during the Dead Ball Era. The number of innings pitched by top starters declined across the era, as did the number of complete games. Since pitchers are normally more effective when they're allowed to throw their hardest and not worry about workload, such changes may have helped pitchers.
- The spitball. The spitball is a devastating pitch in the right hands, and it first became a serious weapon for pitchers in the Dead Ball Era. Other defaced ball pitches. In addition to the spitball, pitchers developed a whole host of pitches- the emery ball, shine ball, mud ball, etc.- that gave the ball tremendous movement. While deliberately defacing the ball was against the rules, the rule was rarely enforced and pitchers continued to deface the ball.
- Improved defense. League fielding percentages improved markedly between the high scoring 1890s and the height of the Dead Ball Era, as did other measures of fielding effectiveness such as defensive efficiency.
- Inefficient offensive strategies. Dead Ball Era teams relied heavily on the sacrifice bunt, a strategy that tends to reduce overall scoring. They were also incredibly aggressive running the bases and ran into far more outs on the bases than any modern team. There was also a heavy emphasis on fielding defensively adept players, even at the expense of offensive skills.
By the time the Black Sox Scandal came to light, the Dead Ball Era was already effectively over. While the exact cause of the end of the Dead Ball Era is not entirely clear, several factors are generally agreed to be likely causes:
- A crucial factor was the end of the spitball. Fans and players had long questioned the desirability and legality of the spitball, but it remained at least de facto legal until 1919. That year the majors finally resolved to make the spitter illegal, although each team was allowed to designate two of its pitchers as being allowed to continue to use it. The rule was strengthened in 1920, when only 17 "bona fide" spitballers were allowed to continue to use it. At the same time, the leagues tightly clamped down on pitchers' attempts to deface the baseball in other ways. The elimination of spitters from most pitchers' repertoires undoubtedly favored increased hitting.
- Also of great importance was the in-game death of Ray Chapman, who was fatally hit by a pitch from Carl Mays. Accounts of the game suggested that Chapman had been unable to see the pitch that killed him because the ball was dirty from continued use. The baseball authorities promptly responded by instructing umpires to replace balls in play any time that they had become dirty enough to present a hazard. Since new, clean balls are easier to hit than old, dirty ones, this is also likely to have contributed to increased offense.
- Of somewhat uncertain importance is a change in the way that baseballs were made. Starting in 1919, baseballs were made with a higher grade of Australian wool yarn, and the cores were wound by machine rather than by hand. It's unclear whether these changes had any direct impact on the game. Pitchers of the era were certain that the balls were springier than the old ones and flew further off the bat, but the manufacturers claimed that there was no such effect. Whether or not the ball itself was changed, the changes in construction methods did make baseballs cheaper, facilitating the decision to replace them more frequently.
- A final factor was the rise of Babe Ruth. According to this theory, Ruth demonstrated that it was possible for a hitter to be successful by "swinging for the fences" and other players emulated him.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ray+...4046-gambo-t_wil1-photopack-577.html;700;1050

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFcFtU1Q2zY]The Pitch That Killed - YouTube[/ame]

https://www.google.ca/search?q=dead...ear-of-pitcher-holistic-analysis.html;609;442

 

[67RedSox]

Tommy Thevenow played Shortstop in the Major Leagues from 1924 to 1938. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Bees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, and St. Louis Cardinals during his 15 year career. In the space of 5 days in September 1926 he hit two HRs (both inside-the-parkers), the only two he would hit in his career. Over the final 12 years of his ML career he would not hit another one and that covered 3,347 at-bats and that is a record for the most consecutive at-bats without hitting a HR.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tomm...yP.cfm%2Fpid%2F17683%2FTommy-Thevenow;253;350

The Yankees acquisition of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox on January 3, 1920 was significant for the Yankees, just about every Baseball fan of any generation learns that pretty early in their baseball life. Well, on this date in 1920 in a move less heralded than the acquisition of Babe Ruth earlier in the year, the Yankees hire Red Sox skipper Ed Barrow to be the team's General Manager. Under the future Hall of Famer's leadership over the next quarter-century, the Bronx Bombers will win 14 American League pennants and 10 World Series championships. The Yankee’s owners were Yankee Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston and all they did was squabble. The death of Yankee business manager Harry Sparrow during the 1920 season created an opportunity for the two sparing Yankee owners to bring in a strong experienced baseball man to run the team and thus help alleviate the friction between them. After a third-place Yankee finish in 1920, Huston and Ruppert plucked Barrow from Boston to run the baseball operation, technically as business manager, but practically as the General Manager.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ed+b...howstuffworks.com%2Fed-barrow-hof.htm;400;370

On this date in 1928 the NY Giants trade Lefty O’Doul to the Phillies in exchange for an outfielder named Freddy Leach. O'Doul will lead the League in hitting with a .398 batting average next season and will be the runner-up for the MVP to Rogers Hornsby.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=left...the-best-seasons-in-franchise-history;350;238

Have you ever heard of Slim Sallee. Hall of Fame catcher Roger Bresnahan claimed that Slim Sallee "had the best control of any southpaw that ever curved a ball over the plate." Pitcher Dutch Ruether said, "He is a wonderful pitcher. If I ever begin to learn all he knows about baseball I shall be satisfied." Baseball Magazine attributed Sallee's success to "imperturbable calm which nothing can disturb, faultless control, and behind all that a scheming, crafty brain wise to all the quirks and twists of the pitcher."
Despite his talents, Harry Sallee's career was checkered with training rule violations, fines, suspensions, threats of retirement, and a constant battle with alcohol that eventually ended his life. Further, he toiled in obscurity for eight and one-half seasons with what might have been the worst ML team of the Dead Ball Era, the St. Louis Cardinals. Through it all, Sallee was considered one of the National League's best pitchers. He consistently won but the most remarkable thing about him is he seldom struck anyone out and less often than that did he walk anyone. Guys like Tom Cheney, Kerry Wood, Steve Carlton, Randy Johnson, David Cone and Nolan Ryan had almost as many strikeouts in one game than Sallee had in 1919 when he went 21-7 and in 227 innings he struck out 24 and walked 20. Sallee had a rare and unique delivery known as the "cross-fire." Wearing his cap yanked low over his eyes, he went through a slow motion procedure that hypnotized batters and exasperated umpires. Placing his right foot to the third base side of the rubber, while keeping his left foot on the rubber at the extreme first base side, Sallee cranked his arms straight up behind his head, leaning far back as he threw his right leg skyward to a set position. He would then step or plant the right leg at a 45-degree angle between first base and home plate, finishing his follow-through on the extreme first base side of the pitching mound, delivering the ball at one of many possible arm angles. Batters constantly complained that it looked as if Sallee's ball was arriving from first base.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=slim...2Flibrary_of_congress%2F2909002959%2F;640;461

Luis Aparicio was born on April 29, 1934 in Maricaibo, Venezuela. Two years later Don Drysdale was born, July 23, 1936 in Van Nuys, California. On April 17, 1956 both the 21 year old Aparicio and 19 year old Drysdale made their ML debut and on the same day in 1984 they were inducted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown together.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoZaOzcw5GA]Luis Aparicio - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8cXwLg-Fug]Don Drysdale - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

Some this and that:
- Neil Allen pitched in the Majors for 11 seasons, 1979-1989. Most would remember him as the Mets Closer in 1980-81-82 when he averaged 51 Games and 20 Saves per season. However, it was something he did on May 31, 1988 for the cross-town Yankees that makes him unique. He is the only ML pitcher to have a season where he had 0 complete games and at least 1 shutout. The Yankees defeated the A’s in Oakland, 5-0. Al Leiter was the starter for the Yankees and faced one batter who singled. Allen relieved and completed the game giving up no runs. To get credit for a complete game you have to start and finish the game; to get credit for a shutout you just have to get all 27 outs without the other team scoring any runs the entire game.
- Frank Robinson is the only Triple Crown winner to never lead the league in a Triple Crown category in any other year.
- During Joe DiMaggio 56 game hitting streak he hit at a .408 clip. During the same 56 game stretch Ted Williams hit .412.
- In 1943, no doubt War II-related, the Chicago White Sox played 57% of their games as part of doubleheaders…88 out of 154 or 44 doubleheaders.
- Warren Spahn won 363 games lifetime and led the League in Wins 8 times. Pud Galvin won 365 games lifetime and never led the League in Wins. Eddie Collins, with 3,315, has the most career basehits without ever being the League leader in a season.
- Sandy Koufax posted records of 26-8 and 27-9 in his final two seasons. Therefore, he was 18 games over .500 each season. Since 1950, no other pitcher has put together back-to-back seasons of as many as 16 games over .500, let alone their last two seasons in the game.
- Esteban Yan from the Dominican Republic pitched 11 years in the Majors from 1996-2006. He is the only ML Player to have a lifetime 1.000 Batting Average in both the NL and the AL. I guess teams just didn’t know how to defend him. ( P.S. – he had 1 AB in each League )

 

[67RedSox]

Gabby Street, one of my favourite baseball names, is named the Manager of the St. Louis Cardinals on this date in 1929. It was a wise choice by the Cardinals as Street leads them to consecutive NL Pennants in 1930 and 1931 and a World Championship in 1931. He will even play in 1 game in 1931…his first in the Majors since playing for the NY Yankees in 1912 or 19 years earlier which is a ML record for the greatest gap between ML games.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=gabb...9784787_charles_evard_gabby_street%2F;640;800

It was on this date in 1941 Jim Ray Hart was born. A good hitter (career .278) with great power. Hart's shortcoming was his fielding. He was a 3B who didn’t like playing 3rd because, in his words, "you’re too damn close to the batter”. In today's game, he would have been the ideal DH. Although 1964 was his first full season he did make his debut on July 7, 1963 in a doubleheader against the Cardinals at Candlestick Park. I think the intent was that he was to play the rest of the season with Giants. Bob Gibson pretty much put an end to that.
Any time you mention Jim Ray Hart you must tell the story of how Bob Gibson welcomed him to the Majors. Although we all know Gibson was a fierce competitor Dusty Baker says it best when describing him:
"(Hank Aaron told me) 'Don't dig in against Bob Gibson, he'll knock you down. He'd knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him. Don't stare at him, don't smile at him, don't talk to him. He doesn't like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don't run too slow, don't run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don't charge the mound, because he's a Gold Glove boxer.' I'm like, 'Damn, what about my 17-game hitting streak?' …That was the night it ended."
Dusty Baker may not have been around to offer Jim Ray Hart his words of wisdom about Gibson but Willie Mays was and he told him exactly the same thing. Unfortunately, for Hart, he didn’t heed those words.
In the first game of the doubleheader Hart played and in the 15 inning game he got on base 4 times, two hits and 2 BB’s, scored a run and drove one in.
"Between games, Mays came over to me and said, 'Now, in the second game, you're going up against Bob Gibson.' I only half-listened to what he was saying, figuring it didn't make much difference. So I walked up to the plate the first time and started digging a little hole with my back foot...No sooner did I start digging that hole than I hear Willie screaming from the dugout: 'Noooooo!' Well, the first pitch came inside. No harm done, though. So I dug in again. The next thing I knew, there was a loud crack and my left shoulder was broken. I should have listened to Willie."
Hart was out until the middle of August and in his first game back was beaned by Curt Simmons then pitching for the Houston Colt 45s and after that the Giants sat him for the rest of the season.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jim+...logspot.com%2F2011_05_01_archive.html;712;496

Jim Perry was born on this date in 1935. Unlike his younger brother, Gaylord, he did not go to the HOF but he did pitch well enough to last 17 years in the Majors and win 215 games. In 1960 he led the AL in Wins toiling for the Cleveland Indians and in 1970 he became the first of the Perry brothers to win a Cy Young Award when he went 24-12 for the Minnesota Twins. The same year Gaylord was the runner-up for the Cy Young Award in the NL winning 23 games for the Giants but Bob Gibson also won 23 that year and copped the Award. It was quite a year for the Perry brothers.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1970...Fmedia%2Fimage%2Fq%2Fproud%2Fpage%2F6;453;640

There were a couple of .400 hitters born on October 30th. On this date in 1867 one of the greatest hitters to play the game, Ed Delahanty was born in Cleveland. Three times he hit .400 and had a lifetime batting average of .346 topped only by Cobb, Hornsby, Shoeless Joe and Lefty O’Doul.
Delahanty dominated the 1890s like no other hitter. Known as "Big Ed," and the "King of Swat," the muscular Delahanty was more than a one-dimensional slugger; he was also a fleet-footed, rifle-armed left fielder who was good enough to play center, and an excellent base runner who once led the League in stolen bases. The temperamental star was destined to make more headlines off the field than on it, and his death, less than two years into his tenure with the Washington Senators, remains one of the most fascinating mysteries in the annals of the sport.
Despite his on-field success by the end of the 1902 season Delahanty's personal life was beginning to unravel, as his wife, Norine, became ill, and Delahanty squandered the couple's financial resources by gambling on horses and binge drinking. Although he won the AL Batting Crown in 1902, his first season in Washington, 1903 would be a disaster. He played his last ML game on June 25, 1903 and would be dead within a week.
He started the season out of shape and soon injured his back and ankle. He feuded with Manager, Tom Loftus, who ordered him to play right field, while Delahanty adamantly insisted that he only play left. Amidst the turmoil, Delahanty's drinking again increased, and his behavior became more erratic. Prior to embarking on a lengthy road trip with the Senators on June 17, Delahanty took out a life insurance policy on himself, naming his daughter Florence as the beneficiary. On June 25, Delahanty played the last game of his career in Cleveland. The next day he abandoned the Senators and went on a drinking binge which left him in no condition to play. He reportedly threatened to kill himself, and several teammates, fearing for his safety, felt it necessary to keep a close watch on him at the team hotel. Delahanty chased one of them away with a knife. He accompanied the Senators to their next stop in Detroit, where his mother and two brothers were summoned to help straighten him out. He continued to drink heavily, however, and again abandoned the team on July 2. Delahanty boarded a train to New York that afternoon but, perhaps tellingly, left his belongings in his Detroit hotel room. He misbehaved on the train, had to be subdued by three men. The conductor, John Cole, had understandably had enough of him for the evening and ordered him off the train. The train crossed the International Railway Bridge over the Niagara River into Buffalo.
In the darkness Big Ed walked out onto the 3,600 foot long bridge and was standing still at its edge, staring down into the water, when he was accosted by night watchman Sam Kingston, on the lookout for smugglers. A scuffle ensued, with Kingston dragging Delahanty back to the middle of the wide bridge, but Kingston then fell down and Delahanty got away. Moments later, according to Kingston -- who claimed it was too dark to see what happened -- he either jumped or drunkenly stumbled off the edge of the bridge, falling into the 40-foot-deep Niagara River. His naked body (except for tie, shoes and socks) was found 20 miles downstream at the base of Horseshoe Falls, the Canadian portion of Niagara Falls, seven days later.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ed+d...zeprock.com%2FDelahantyGallery.html;1482;2083

On this date in 1898 the last National Leaguer to hit .400, Bill Terry, was born in Atlanta. Terry was a superior first baseman in the 1920s and 1930s and one of baseball's premier managers in the 1930s. Terry had his signature season in 1930 with 254 hits and a .403 batting average. In his 14 seasons in the Majors ( 1923-1936 ) all with the Giants he hit .341 good for 15th best all-time. Starting in 1932 he was the Manager of the Giants for 10 seasons, the first 5 as a Player-Manager and won three NL Pennants and a World Series in 1933. His was a true success story as he was as good a businessman as a baseball player and after baseball became very prosperous and quite active until his death in 1989 at the age of 90.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bill...ww.qualitycards.com%2Fmemorabilia.htm;688;422

 

[67RedSox]

Well, another baseball season is over and for me I say, thank goodness. The regular season ended September 29th and four weeks of post-season is quite enough. It’s no wonder TV shows like the Big Bang Theory and NCIS outdrew any of the WS games this year. Even in 1989 when the Series was delayed 12 days between games because of the earthquake it still finished earlier than this year’s. At least it wasn’t as late as 2010 when the Yankees and Phillies were still playing on November 4. The Red Sox clinched the title in front of their own fans for the first time in 95 years. The last time Red Sox won the World Series at home, their pitching staff included the legendary Babe Ruth.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bost...corner.com%2Fcategory%2Fblog-index%2F;650;360

The TV numbers look slightly better this year over last year, roughly 14M viewers per game versus 12M last year when 7.6% of households tuned in. In the days before Selig was Commissioner 40M viewers and more than 30% of households would be tuned in. It’s been a rough slide for the grand old game in our lifetime.

Although the first official World Series didn’t take place until 1903, another championship came before it. Between 1884 and 1890, the National League and the American Association (a rival organization that went belly-up in 1891) played an exhibition series that pitted their respective champions against one another. These games were known as the Championship of the United States or the World’s Championship Series. Haphazardly thrown together by the teams themselves, the event was completely disorganized, with some series lasting three games and others as many as 15. When the American Association folded, the National League continued as the only game—and the only champion—in town. In 1900 it gained a new adversary when the American League was born. The organizations held a great deal of contempt for one other, leading to infighting and feuding among players and fans as each league tried to establish supremacy in the fledgling baseball marketplace. Finally, in 1903, the two sides met on an official field of battle when the National League’s Pittsburgh Pirates faced the American League’s Boston Americans in the first World Series. The Americans won the series five games to three, instilling the American League with legitimacy. Had the Pirates emerged as victors, there’s a chance the younger organization could have collapsed, and Major League Baseball as we know it might never have come into being.
Here the 1884 Providence Grays who won the 1884 World Series and the 1903 Boston Americans who won the first 'real' World Series:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1884...%2Fprovidence-grays-1884-champions%2F;374;251

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1903...boston_public_library%2F2350705236%2F;500;394

The Red Sox and Cardinals did not meet in the World Series until 1946, the first Series of the baby boomer generation. I don’t have numbers from this year’s Series but here’s some numbers from 1946 and ( last year ). I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that prices in 2013 would be higher than 1946
- Cost of a ticket 1946 – range from $1.20 - $6.25.....................$110.00 - $1,040.00 ( 2012 )
- Cost of a hot dog and beer – 50 cents............................. $10.25 ( 2012 )
- Cost of a program – 25 cents......................................... $15.00 ( 2012 )
- Winning Player’s share - $3,734.34................................... $377,002.64 ( 2012 )
- WS Ring - $100.00........................................................ $10,000.00 est. ( 2012 )

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1946...ipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F1946_World_Series;933;613

If you’re keeping score the AL has now won 63 World Series to the NL’s 46. In WS games won the AL has the edge 344-287.

Assuming Kershaw and Scherzer are CY Young winners in 2013 this year’s WS will be the 12th straight in which the Series was played without a CY Young winner for the season participating. The last was in 2001 when both Cy Young winners ( Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens ) were there.

It was on this date in 1916 that Ken Keltner was born. He player all of the 1940’s as the Cleveland Indians 3rd Baseman and a very good one at that. During the 1940’s he was a 7-time All-Star. Keltner met his date with baseball immortality on July 17, 1941 before the largest night crowd to that point in ML history… Joe DiMaggio attempted to extend his record 56-game hitting streak. 67,468 awaited the Yankees at Municipal Stadium. Keltner, unworried about DiMaggio bunting, was strategically stationed close to the third base line and deep to prevent doubles. Gold Glove backhanded stops of two hot grounders down the line and powerful throws enabled Keltner to retire the Hall of Famer by a step in both the first and seventh innings. "The Yankee Clipper" walked and grounded out sharply to shortstop Lou Boudreau for a double play in his other at-bats. Only this contest prevented DiMaggio from extending his streak to 73 as he continued his torrid hitting for 16 more games. DiMaggio was slowed a step by a damp field and stopped by the man Bob Feller claimed "was simply the best in the American League. He could go to his right better than anyone and had a great, great arm."

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ken+...oncollection.com%2Fken-keltner-1.html;640;800

How about some Baseball quotes:

Here’s what Rogers Hornsby said when he heard Babe Ruth had been traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Yankees and would no longer pitch: “Too bad about Ruth. If he had remained a pitcher, he might have lasted a long time and become famous."

“I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for three-thousand dollars. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough. But he eventually scraped it up.” - Bob Uecker

"Baseball is a dull game only to those with dull minds." -Red Smith

Stan Musial on the art of hitting, funny how the great hitters make it sound so simple: "You wait for a strike, then you knock the sh*t out of it."

One of my favourite quotes of all time and it was spoken by Jacques Barzun who was a French-born American historian of ideas and culture who died last year at the age of 104. Over seven decades, Barzun wrote and edited more than forty books touching on an unusually broad range of subjects, including science and medicine, psychiatry from Robert Burton through William James to modern methods, and art, and classical music. I can’t imagine there is anything he wrote that I would read but he hit a Home Run when he said something very profund…“Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball"

"...like drinking coffee with a fork" - Willie Stargell, on hitting against Koufax.

"I never shoulda ate that apple." Babe Ruth, while being carried off the field following a pre-game meal of 11 hot dogs and an apple.

"Baseball has to be a great game to survive the fools who run it."- Bill Terry

"It ain't nothin' till I call it." –Umpire Bill Klem

 

[67RedSox]

Unfortunately, Roy Campanella was before my time. It was on this date in 1951 he wins his first of 3 NL MVP Awards. Campanella was the sixth black player to appear in the Majors debuting with the Dodgers a year after Jackie Robinson. Campanella became the second black player, after Robinson, to win an MVP Award, and the second black HOF’er, again following in Robinson’s footsteps. Campanella, however, holds the distinction of being the first black player to capture the MVP award twice and at the time of his death in 1993 he was only black player to own three MVP trophies. Campanella spent his Big-League career with the Dodgers, taking over as their catcher in 1948 and serving in that capacity through 1957, the franchise’s last season in Brooklyn. In those years the Dodgers won 5 NL Pennants and a World Championship. His ML career was limited to 10 seasons, an automobile accident prematurely ending his playing days at the age of 35. At the plate he was a dead pull hitter. He was graceful behind the dish, supplementing surprising agility with a cannon-like arm. He was considered an astute handler of pitchers knowing when to provide encouragement and when to provide a good kick in the butt.

Video: Dodgers Retired Number: No. 39, Roy Campanella | MLB.com

Ron Guidry is named as the CY Young Award winner on this date in 1978. The selection was unanimous. He simply dominated hitters that season finishing the year at 25-3 thanks to a hard breaking slider that was virtually impossible to hit other than foul. I don’t think Ty Cobb, Shoeless Joe or Lefty O’Doul could have touched Guidry that season. After Koufax and Gibson he would be the pitcher I would have least liked to face.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXYczT46HmY]yankeeOgraphy guidry YouTube sharing - YouTube[/ame]

He has been described as the slowest ML’er to ever play the game. His name and the word sloth have been used in the same sentence often. Yes, he was a catcher. He was listed at 6'3" and 230 lbs, but approached 300 lbs towards the end of his career. Most opposition infields learned they could play him on the outfield grass and still have plenty of time to throw him out at 1st. You wouldn’t think that would translate into a HOF’er or a lifetime .300 hitter or a multiple Batting Crown winner but that’s exactly what Ernie Lombardi was. Gripping his bat, the heaviest in the League, Lombardi put the fear of God in opposing pitchers, who had no choice but to be sixty feet away from him. One of Ernie Lombardi patented line drives once broke three fingers on the glove hand of Cubs' hurler Larry French. It was on this date in 1938 Lombardi was named the NL’s MVP.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=erni...-Cincinnati-Reds-1940-%2F140397023469;560;700

It was on this date in 1966 Sandy Koufax becomes the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award. He is a unanimous winner for the second-straight year. The last year that only one Award is given for pitchers in both of the Major Leagues. Highlights of Game 2 of the 1966 World Series follow…important footage because it was Koufax’s last game in the Majors.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbFrxshbYoE]1966 World Series Game 2: Orioles @ Dodgers - YouTube[/ame]

Fernando Valenzuela is born on this date in 1960. As a 20 year old in 1981 he led the NL in Games Started, Complete Games, Shutouts, Innings Pitched and Strikeouts and is named not only the Rookie of the Year but the NL’s Cy Young Award winner.

Video: A look at the career of Fernando Valenzuela | MLB.com

Johnny Burnett was born on this date in 1904. Although he was a utility player for the Indians for most of his 9 seasons in the Majors on July 10, 1932 he had a ML record 9 hits in 11 at-bats in an 18-inning game against the Athletics. Burnett's record for hits in a game still stands today 81 years later.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=john...news-conlon-collection-aw3-92713.aspx;244;348

Here’s a Hall of Fame name that almost no one has ever heard of…Bid McPhee. He was born on this date in 1859, played 18 years in the Majors, all in Cincinnati, 1882 to 1899. His way to Cooperstown was earned by being Baseball's greatest 2B of the 19th Century. McPhee led American Association 2B in double plays every season the Red Stockings played in the League. In 6 of those 8 seasons McPhee led in fielding %. Playing bare-handed for most of his 18 seasons, McPhee led American Association (1882-1889) and National League (1890-1899) second baseman in putouts 8 times, assists 6 times, double plays 11 times, total chances per game 6 times, and fielding percentage 9 times. McPhee remains the all-time leader among 2B in putouts (6,545), and his 529 putouts in 1886 is the single-season ML record. He is also second in total chances (14,241) and fourth in assists (6,905).

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QurP03CX2vM]Bid McPhee - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1893 that Alex Burr ( “Tom” to his friends ) was born. The name likely is not familiar nor would the fact he played for the NY Yankees help. He played but 1 inning of 1 game for the Yankees in 1914. He was a pitcher yet his inning of action was as a CF’er. What is important is that he died in WWI serving his country and I will always acknowledge these individuals if I become aware of them. Burr was one of eight MLB players who died while serving in World War I. The others were: Bun Troy‚ Larry Chappell‚ Eddie Grant‚ Ralph Sharman, Harry Glenn, Harry Chapman, and Newt Halliday.
Burr’s initial assignment was to drive an ambulance or truck but when he discovered those tasks fell to older men he transferred to U.S. Air Service, the forerunner of the USAF and trained to be a pilot. One of the training areas Americans used was Cazaux near the Bay of Biscay in the Bordeaux region of southern France. On a training mission Burr’s aircraft, a Nieuport biplane collided with another at an altitude of 4500 feet and fell into Cazaux Lake at its deepest part. His body was recovered 12 days later. Burr was one of 87 Americans who gave their lives at Cazaux during the War. Below is some footage of 2 Nieuports flying over the countryside which offers some idea of the day Burr went down.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=alex...ce.com%2Fbiographies%2Fburr_alex.html;140;196

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilWs_c8Qk_A]Two WW1 French Nieuport 24 biplanes - YouTube[/ame]

Since a WWI veteran was mentioned it would seem appropriate to wind the hands of time back even further to the Civil War Days. At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000. These casualties exceed the nation's loss in all its other wars combined, from the Revolution through Vietnam. The Union armies had from 2,500,000 to 2,750,000 men. The Confederate strength, known less accurately because of missing records, was from 750,000 to 1,250,000. When you put that many men together they are going to find something to do when they have down time and even in a War you have down time. Baseball has become a major part of the American culture for a reason…stuff like that just doesn’t happen, it has to be earned, so to speak. Baseball has earned the right to be so described because it has often been responsible for bringing people together in times of crisis, like during a War. Although baseball was somewhat popular in larger communities on both sides of the Mason Dixon line, it did not achieve widespread popularity until after the War had started. The mass concentration of young men in army camps and prisons eventually converted the sport formerly reserved for "gentlemen" into a recreational pastime that could be enjoyed by people from all backgrounds. For instance, both officers and enlisted men played side by side and soldiers earned their places on the team because of their athletic talents, not their military rank or social standing. Often, the teamwork displayed on the baseball diamond often translated into teamwork on the battlefield. Baseball played during the war was very different than the game we know today. Some rules included: The Striker (batter) gets to choose where he wants the pitch. The Pitcher must throw underhand. No leading off the bag. No base stealing. No foul lines. All balls are fair. Many times, soldiers would write of these games in letters home as they were much more pleasant to recall than the hardship of battle.
Tracking down and verifying all the athletes who both served in the Civil War and played ML Baseball some 150 years after the War ended is a frustrating process. In fact, the nation’s most esteemed group of baseball researchers says producing a definitive list simply can’t be done but to date there is “persuasive” evidence that 30 ML players and managers were Civil War veterans.

 

[67RedSox]

Ah, it’s November. I know minds will turn to things other than baseball for many. Whatever good or bad you experienced with your team of choice this season, enjoy the break. There won’t be a lot going on other than some Awards being announced and free agents lining up at the trough to collect their Millions. I’m sure teams will use the down time to re-focus and get their houses in order as best they can for 2014, or more specifically, the year the Rockies become relevant again and play above .500. Remember there are only 27 days until Black Friday and 53 shopping days until Christmas. That should be more than enough time for the Rockies to obtain the good starting pitcher I’m asking for.
I know you were wondering so I’ll tell you Black Friday’s name originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving. Use of the term started before 1961 and began to see broader use outside Philadelphia around 1975. Later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that "Black Friday"
indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are "in the black".

On this date in 2000 Todd Helton is selected by the Associated Press as the Player of the Year. They got it right. The BBWAA which seldom gets anything right any more had him 5th in their voting behind Jim Edmonds who had 61 fewer basehits ( 155 / 216 ) and a batting average 77 points lower ( .295 / .372 ) and 39 fewer RBIs ( 108 / 147 ). Of course, Edmonds did have 5 more stolen bases which probably swung the vote.

Video: Vin Scully and the Dodgers pay tribute to Todd Helton | MLB.com

It was on this date in 1914 Johnny Vander Meer was born. He’s not in the Hall of Fame but did something 75 years ago no one else has done…toss back-to-back No-Hitters. He also did something only a few others have done…lead the League in Strikeouts in three consecutive seasons.

Vander Meer?s back-to-back no-hitters, 74 years ago today | Mets No-Hitters History at NoNoHitters.com

On this date in 1938 this player became the first three-time MVP Award winner. Do you know who it was? His first two MVPs were back-to-back in 1932-33 when he averaged 53 HRs / 166 RBIs and won a Triple Crown. If you said “The Beast” or “ Double X”, Jimmie Foxx you would be correct.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWWwaepGQig]Jimmie Foxx - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

Hammerin’ Hank Aaron played 23 seasons in the Majors and it was on this date in 1974 he was traded for the only time in his career…Atlanta to Milwaukee, then in the American League. Aaron, was pursued by both the NY Giants and Boston Braves and Aaron chose the Braves because the initial salary they offered him was $50.00 more a month. How times have changed.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll3G-2cZaxs]Hank Aaron - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1988 that Oakland Shortstop, Walt Weiss, was named the AL’s Rookie of the Year. Among all rookies who received at least one vote in either League that year the best of the group was Roberto Alomar already in the HOF. Playing for San Diego he finished 5th in the voting behind Chris Sabo, Mark Grace, Tim Belcher and Ron Gant.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=walt...ss%2F416008%2FCards%2FBaseball%2F1988;540;760

What do you think has been accomplished by the more pitchers…strike out four batters in an inning (technically a half-inning) or toss an ‘immaculate’ inning which is strike out the side on 9 pitches.
67 different pitchers have struck out 4 batters in a half-inning. Anibal Sanchez of the Tigers is the last to do it in this post-season against the Red Sox.
48 different pitchers have struck out the side on 9 pitches. The most recent was the Blue Jays Steve Delabar against the Athletics this season on July 30. Three pitchers…Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan are the only ones to do it twice.

Travis Jackson was born on this date in 1903. He played Shortstop in the NY Giant infield from 1922 to 1936. He never led the League in any offensive category in any year. He average season line would look like .291 with 10 HRs and 66 RBIs. Injuries kept him out of the line-up to the point where he played an average of about 118 games a season. In his first year of eligibility for the HOF he received 4.1% of the vote. Voting was not subject to the minimum 5% rule to stay on the ballot in those days. He was on the ballot for 12 years and received an average of 2.7% of the votes. Since 75% of the vote is required for election Jackson fell well short, but guess what, he’s in the HOF having been selected by the Veterans Committee in 1982. Just one of life’s mysteries.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=trav...ww.qualitycards.com%2Fmemorabilia.htm;682;408

Have you ever seen a No-Hitter whether in person or on television. I have never seen one, start to finish. Bert (Campy) Campaneris, the A’s Shortstop, on three WS winning teams in the 1970’s had a front row seat for No-Hitters, he played in 11 of them in the Majors. Hard to believe it was 40 years ago this season that he last played in the Majors.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bert...www.7th-inningstretch.com%2F1970.htm;800;1067

Do you remember John Olerud. Most don’t despite his 17 year ML career (1989-2005). The fact that he even played in the Majors is a bit of a miracle given he suffered a brain aneurysm in College although he did wear a helmet while playing 1B. In my opinion he had the best swing I’ve ever seen of any ML batter. That may account for his winning the AL Batting Crown in 1993 (.363) and finishing runner-up to Larry Walker in 1998 (.354). To boot he was a multiple Gold Glove winner at 1B. He and Bob Watson are the only two MLB players to hit for the cycle in both Leagues. Watson for Houston and the Yankees, Olerud for the Mariners and the Mets. In Olerud’s case the triples he hit in those games were the only ones he hit for the entire season.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=john...07%2F23%2Fjohn-olerud-1991-cards-2%2F;359;500

The Baltimore Orioles first year of existence was 1954 after the St. Louis Browns re-located. They were not a good team that season losing 100 games. Since that time their fortunes have improved and they have gone to the World Series 6 times winning 3 and losing 3 behind some pretty solid pitching staffs that have won 6 Cy Young Awards. Despite losing 100 games that first season Bob Turley, who would win a Cy Young for the Yankees in 1958, led the AL in Strikeouts…and a Baltimore pitcher has not won an AL Strikeout Crown in the almost 60 years since. Also in 1954 the Cleveland Indians second baseman Bobby Avila won the AL Batting Crown with a .341 mark. That was also almost 60 years ago and no Indian has done it since.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1954...ltimore-orioles-team-in-color-here-in;500;394

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bobb...id%2F35%2F1955-Bowman%3FPageIndex%3D2;375;268

For seven consecutive seasons, 1953 to 1959, the Most Valuable Player in the National League was a former ***** League player.

STRIKING OUT YOUR AGE - Bob Feller struck out 17 batters when he was 17. Kerry Wood struck out 20 batters when he was 20. That's the only two times it has ever been done.

 

[The Derski]

I think you probably average more words per post than anyone here.

Btw I enjoy reading these so keep it up.

 

[CatsTopPac]

If someone doesn't know who John Olerud was, they need to bang their head on a wall for a while, and never call themselves as a baseball fan.

I'm going to disagree with you though on him having the best swing. Ken Griffey Jr had the best swing in my opinion. My friends and I spent hours and hours trying to replicate that swing, and the pose afterward. Pure as the fresh driven snow. Thanks for the bit on baseball history. I love baseball, and I love history!

 

[The Derski]

If someone doesn't know who John Olerud was, they need to bang their head on a wall for a while, and never call themselves as a baseball fan.

I'm going to disagree with you though on him having the best swing. Ken Griffey Jr had the best swing in my opinion. My friends and I spent hours and hours trying to replicate that swing, and the pose afterward. Pure as the fresh driven snow. Thanks for the bit on baseball history. I love baseball, and I love history!

I think he was the guy who wore a helmet while playing defense?? Jk