Baseball History

[67RedSox]

On this date in 1941 it’s 2 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor is close to half way around the World from Cleveland but whatever the distance is I suppose in those days it seemed even further because there were no computers, no television… only radio and the newspaper and slow boats from China. Yet, the details of the horror just West of Honolulu reached home pretty quickly. Although having a 3-C draft deferment due to being the sole support of his family, Bob Feller, 1942’s American League leading pitcher with 27 victories for the Indians, becomes the first ML’er to enlist after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The 23-year old had already won 107 ML games. He would miss all but 9 games of 4 complete seasons to the War but still collect 266 lifetime Wins.
Feller heard about the bombing while returning from a visit to his terminally ill father in Des Moines. Originally he tried to enlist as a fighter pilot but failed hearing tests. Feller attended basic training at Norfolk Naval Base and served as a physical fitness instructor there. He also pitched in baseball games hosted by the military. Although he had received a military exemption owing to his father's failing health, he wanted to serve in combat missions. Feller said, "I told them I wanted to ... get into combat; wanted to do something besides standing around handing out balls and bats and making ball fields out of coral reefs." Feller was assigned to the USS Alabama; he had hoped to serve on the USS Iowa, but nearly all servicemen from Iowa had requested a place on that ship, and Feller was not selected.
Shortly before Feller left for combat, his father died of brain cancer in early January 1943. Five days later he married Virginia Winther whom he met while in Florida for spring training; she was a student at Rollins College. After the marriage, Feller returned to service as Gun Captain aboard the Alabama and kept his pitching arm in shape by throwing near a gun turret. Feller and the Alabama crew spent most of 1943 in the British Isles along with USS South Dakota, but in August were reassigned to the Pacific Theater of Operations. Feller's first taste of direct combat was at Operation Galvanic in November 1943. The Alabama also served during Operation Flintlock while primarily being used as an escort battleship in 1944. Feller participated in the Battle of the Philippine Sea before his combat duty ended in January 1945; he spent the rest of the war at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station as an instructor.
When the war ended, Feller was discharged as a Chief Petty Officer on August 22, 1945. Feller was decorated with six campaign ribbons and eight battle stars while serving on missions in both the Pacific and North Atlantic, and he was made an honorary member of the Green Berets.

Video: Hall of Fame Biography: Bob Feller | MLB.com

If you followed MLB during the 1960’s one of the best Outfielders of the decade was, in my opinion, Johnny Callison. It was on this date in 1959 the Phillies made a very good deal to acquire him from the Chicago White Sox. Guys like Willie Mays, Curt Flood and Roberto Clemente were busy winning Gold Gloves in those days but Callison was rock solid right behind them.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmduQGeF-6A]Midsummer Classics (1964) - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1965 that HOF’er Branch Rickey died. On November 13th he collapsed in the middle of a speech in Columbia, Missouri, as he was being elected to the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, never regaining consciousness. Although he was both a player (briefly…4 years and 343 At-bats) and a Manager (10 seasons) in the Majors he’s remembered, as he should be, for the half century he spent in the Front Offices in St. Louis, Brooklyn and Pittsburgh and some of the innovative changes he brought to the game such as the ‘farm system’ as we know it today.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bran...e%2Frandom-thoughts-on-a-rainy-monday;279;391

 

[67RedSox]

Some changes in Baseball are significant… some aren’t. On this date in 1919 there was one that began one of the most significant changes in the past 100 years when the first step to ban the spitball was taken.
The invention of the spitball has been popularly credited to a number of individuals, among them Elmer Stricklett and Frank Corridon. Numerous accounts, however, refer to different players experimenting with versions of the spitball throughout the latter half of the 19th century, and it remains unlikely that any one individual "invented" the spitball.
Ed Walsh, however, is certainly responsible for popularizing it. Walsh dominated the American League from 1906–1912 primarily on the strength of his spitball, and pitchers around the league soon copied his spitball or invented their own trick pitch.
The dramatic increase in the popularity of "freak deliveries" led to a great deal of controversy throughout the 1910s regarding the abolition of the spitball and related pitches. In his autobiography, Ty Cobb wrote that such "freak pitches" "were outlawed when the owners greedily sold out to home runs."
In addition, there were serious issues with the spitball, as a variation on the standard spitball called for the pitcher to smear the entire surface of the normally white ball with a mixture of tobacco spittle and dirt or mud in order to stain it the same deep brown color as the infield, making it nearly impossible for batters to see or avoid in low-light conditions. In August 1920, Ray Chapman was famously struck in the temple and killed by a spitball thrown by pitcher Carl Mays during a poorly lit game.
The spitball was banned in two stages. In the winter of 1919–1920, Managers voted to partially ban the spitball, allowing each team to designate at most two pitchers who would be permitted to legally throw spitballs. Then, following the 1920 season, the spitball was banned League wide, except for existing spitballers who were grandfathered in and allowed to keep throwing the pitch legally until they retired.
Seventeen existing spitballers were granted this exemption. Burleigh Grimes lasted the longest, retiring in 1934. The complete list: Doc Ayers (played through 1921); Ray Caldwell (1921); Stan Coveleski (1928); Bill Doak (1929); Phil Douglas (1922); Red Faber (1933); Dana Fillingim (1925); Ray Fisher (1920); Marv Goodwin (1925); Dutch Leonard (1925); Clarence Mitchell (1932); Jack Quinn (1933); Allen Russell (1925); Dick Rudolph (1927); Urban Shocker (1928); and Allen Sothoron (1926).
In March 1955, MLB Commissioner Ford Frick advocated for the return of the spitball, telling a sportswriter, "If I had my way, I'd legalize the old spitter. It was a great pitch”. Despite the Commissioner's enthusiasm, the pitch has remained illegal.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=the+...Fwhatever-happened-to-the-spitball%2F;223;272

It was on this date in 1924 the Majors adopted the rotation system for the then well entrenched World Series. Home team for the Series would alternate each year between Leagues and because the NL was the Senior Circuit they would host first under this format in 1925. The Series would be a best-of-seven games with 2-3-2 games in each city ( if necessary ).

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1925...-Buy-Any-2-Get-1-Free-%2F130856472154;521;786

It was on this date in 1958 that the University of Pittsburgh agrees to buy Forbes Field from the Pirates and lease it to them for 5 years‚ or until a new municipal stadium is built. One of my favourite Baseball pictures of all-time was taken during the 1960 World Series. It is one of University of Pittsburgh students cheer wildly from atop Cathedral of Learning on the school’s campus as they look down on Forbes Field where the Pittsburgh Pirates win their first World Series in 35 years against the New York Yankees on October 13, 1960. I literally get queasy in the stomach looking down at the cars in this picture because of the tremendous height of the shot and imagining that I’m there. If you have never seen the picture indulge me by looking at it in the attached 10 Greatest World Series Photos…it’s # 3...there's also a shot of the Cathedral of learning where the picture was taken from.


https://www.google.ca/search?q=cath...tp%3A%2F%2Fwww.cready.com%2Fpics.html;800;533

The 10 Greatest World Series Photos of All Time


If you’re a Baseball purist you may not like what happened on this date in 1972…the AL adopted the DH Rule…the NL declined to do so. Also, the “Save” Rule was also adopted by both leagues as an official statistic…A pitcher shall be credited with a Save if‚ when entering a game as a reliever‚ he finds the tying or winning run on base or at the plate‚ and he preserves the lead. Or he pitches 3 effective innings and preserves the lead. It is perhaps the most useless statistic in the Game after the Game-Winning RBI – if you remember that one.

There was a pretty significant trade on this date in 1981. I suspect there’s at least one person (4thefences) who has been to this Board in the past who remembers the Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton deal between the Cardinals and Padres. (There were two other players involved but Smith/Templeton were the headliners)

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ozzi...history-the-smith-for-templeton-trade;443;290

 

[67RedSox]

Here’s something that goes back to 1928 I found interesting particularly if you think today’s ballgames are too long. If I lived in a ML city, which I don’t, and went to ballgames regularly I think I would follow the lead of LA Dodger fans (some) who have the reputation of arriving at games after they start, say the 3rd or 4th inning. Frankly, I think 2 hours is enough to devote to any ballgame. Of course, one of the beautiful things about the Game is that there is no time clock and I know the Game revolves around TV today which requires breaks for commercials but it’s the individual At-bats that get to me. A batter stepping out of the box after every pitch should not be allowed. Most pitchers don’t know how to throw a ball past a batter or get them to hit it into an out and hitters don’t know how to get a bat squarely on the ball anymore. So many At-bats today last 7, 8 or 9 pitches with half the pitches foul balls because most don’t have the skills to be efficient…no wonder games approach 3 hours and more. Anyway, it was on this date in 1928 in an effort to speed up the game and add more offense that NL President, John Heydler, proposes the concept of a designated batter for the pitcher. The American League opposes the idea and the NL withdraws the proposal before Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis is asked to break the deadlock. Wow, it’s 1928 and it was felt games were too slow. There are not great records, like today, for the length of ballgames but there’s enough to know that the average ballgame in 1928 took between 1 hr and 50 minutes & 2 hrs and 15 minutes to play. That’s just around 2 hours give or take a few minutes. Today, it’s about 3 hours, give or take. If John Heydler was around today he’d likely be banging his head against a wall somewhere.

I know the above paragraph was a bit of a ramble but since John Heydler’s name came up he’s worth a mention because he did contribute to the Game for more than 50 years. He was born in 1869 and began working as a printer, eventually being employed at the U.S. Government Printing Office. He is reported to have recited Casey at the Bat to President Grover Cleveland, while presenting a drafted document for approval. Heydler later began working as an umpire in the National League from 1895 to 1897, and then became a sportswriter.
In 1903 he was hired as the private secretary to NL president Harry Pulliam, principally working to compile League playing statistics, a duty of every Baseball League office. Heydler's work caused him to record much of the League's early history, and he became an advocate for new ways to measure player accomplishments; for example, he was a strong supporter of recording runs batted in for batters and he began computing earned run averages for pitchers.
On becoming the NL's secretary-treasurer from 1907-1918, he served as the League President briefly after Pulliam's suicide in 1909. As NL president again from 1918 to 1934, he hired the Elias brothers to maintain as official keeper of playing statistics (1919), and he pushed for the selection of Kenesaw Mountain Landis as Commissioner of Baseball (1921), realizing the importance of an official who could keep the owners in check. Later he helped to establish the Baseball Hall of Fame.
After retiring as League president, he served as NL chairman until his death in San Diego, California in 1956, aged 86.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=john...ler-President-of-NL-Baseball-Magazine;491;653

It was on this date in 1951 that Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio announces his retirement claiming he "no longer has it" due to age and injuries can no longer jolt. He ends his thirteen year career with a .325 BA and 361 home runs.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N0Pe2_03Ww]Joe DiMaggio: His Life, Career, Romance, and Legacy - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1959 after their offer to deal Roger Maris for Dick Groat is rejected by the Pirates, the A's, who had been prohibited by the League from trading the slugging outfielder to the Yankees for 18 months after obtaining him from the Indians on June, 15, 1958, sends the right-fielder and two other players to New York in exchange for Hank Bauer, Don Larsen, Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry. The year and a half moratorium on the potential trade was put into place to alleviate the perception that Kansas City was serving as a 'Big League' farm club for the Bronx Bombers.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg7BN24qAFI]Yankeeography: Roger Maris - YouTube[/ame]

Can you remember what you were doing in 1884? Old Hoss Radbourn set the ML record of winning 59 games that season. HOF’er Old Hoss was born on this date in 1854. Radbourn’s pitching achievements were hailed by contemporaries and sportswriters for decades as some of the greatest feats of 19th century baseball. Little known today, many considered an 18-inning game in 1882 as the finest athletic contest ever seen on a baseball diamond. That game was won, not by the pitcher Radbourn, but by the batter Radbourn playing right field. After a scoreless seventeen and a half innings, he clubbed one over the left field wall for the first walk-off home run in a 1-0 game in ML history.
It was on the mound though that Radbourn truly shined. For decades, his winning 59 games in 1884 was viewed as the greatest of all pitching feats. Until recently, most references cited him with sixty wins, a discrepancy arising from determining who should be credited with the victory in his July 28 relief appearance. Throughout his lifetime and well into the career of Cy Young, Radbourn was hailed as the “King of Pitchers.” He had an easy underhand motion from which he delivered a variety of pitches from varying arm angles. He was one of the first to truly dicker with his delivery day in and day out to keep hitters off balance.
Radbourn was a tireless worker who didn’t seek the limelight. As one observer noted, he “never worked the press or catered to the grandstand, and was, in fact, so indifferent to applause or criticism that people who didn’t know him well, regarded him as surly and capricious.” Year after year, he just took his turn in the rotation and produced what many of the era considered the finest career of all the hurlers.
Radbourn wasn’t above doctoring the ball to gain an edge. He taught Griffith how to cut a ball with his spikes or any available object to gain a firmer hold for the sinker. He tried anything to stack the deck in his favour. He wasn’t above pitching around the top batters to face lighter hitters and was known as one of the top fielding pitchers of his era. He also controlled the pitch selection and gave his own signals throughout his career, even after it was common for catchers to give most of the signs. He practiced with an iron ball, throwing it underhand to develop arm strength. He also long tossed to get his arm in shape before taking the mound. He babied his arm, soothing it with hot towels. As a result and despite racking up more innings than most, he was one of the few ML pitchers prior to Cy Young to attain a good amount of success after age thirty.
Old Hoss officially retired at age 36 to tend to his saloon in Bloomington, Illinois. At the time of his retirement, he was said to be worth $25,000 in real estate and bank stocks, a significant sum for the era. The money allowed him to spend much of his time away from the office. He spent countless hours hunting and fishing, passions he had indulged since childhood. He was skilled with a rifle by an early age and was a renowned field shooter as an adult, once issuing an open $1,000 challenge to the any and all comers, even national champions. Rad kept a kennel of “thoroughbred pointers” that honed their skills on long hunting trips. On April 13, 1894, Rad was accidentally shot in the face by a friend while hunting. He had stepped from behind a tree when his friend fired a shotgun. Radbourn lost sight in his left eye and received considerable damage to his face, including partial paralysis and some speech loss. Once a big, strong, good-looking athlete, his disfigurement weighed on him the rest of his life.
The ex-pitcher’s waning years were unpleasant. Because of his face and ill-health, he became somewhat of a recluse at his apartment. He suffered from the effects of the paresis of the eye and other ailments and drank heavily. During at least his last year, Radbourn had severe cognitive troubles, perhaps brain damage from syphilis. He was also subject to convulsions and abnormalities with his nervous system. As the Boston Globe described in December 1896, “Charley Radbourn…is now at his old home in Bloomington, Ill., a wreck of his former self, owing to sickness.” Disease gnawed at his mental and physical being, robbing him of speech, feeling and locomotion long before the final day arrived. On February 3, 1897, Radbourn suffered another convulsion which ultimately left him in a comatose state. He never woke up, dying at age 42 around 2 pm two days later. In 1939, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his proper slot among the first group of inductees.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=old+...F2010%2F03%2F15%2Ffifty-nine-in-84%2F;540;375

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1930 the “ground-rule” double was born when the Rules Committee decided a ball which bounces into the stands will no longer be a home run. Actually the correct definition is an “automatic” double. Prior to the 1930 season the American League adopted and played under the rule…the national league did not until it was mandated by the Rules Committee.
Most commonly, a ground rule double results from a batted ball hitting the ground in fair territory and landing out of play due to some unique aspect of the grounds, typically by bouncing over a fence or wall in the outfield. MLB rules also award an automatic double when a batted ball goes through or under a fence or through or sticking in shrubbery or vines on the fence. Specific rules also govern when fair fly balls are deflected into the stands by a fielder: for example, a fair fly ball deflected out of play by a fielder from a point within 250 feet of home plate is considered a double. This applied in an unusual play August 3, 2007 when Melky Cabrera of the New York Yankees hit a ball that ricocheted off Kansas City Royals pitcher Ryan Braun's foot ( Ryan Braun the pitcher ) and bounced into the stands in foul territory.

Some consider Lefty Grove to be the best LHP to ever play the game…some even the best pitcher ever. In 1998, Grove was ranked number 23 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players. He ranked 2nd, behind only Warren Spahn among LHPs. Clearly most agree he was one of the best. Grove led the American League in Wins in four separate seasons, in strikeouts seven years in a row, and had the League's lowest ERA a record nine times. Over the course of the three years from 1929 to 1931 he twice won the pitcher's Triple Crown, leading the League in wins, strikeouts, and ERA, while amassing a 79-15 record as the ace for the Athletics' dynasty teams. It was on this date in 1933 that he was traded by Connie Mack from the Philadelphia Athletics to the Boston Red Sox. The deal brought the Athletics $125,000.00 which was critically needed by the Depression and attendance battered Philadelphia team. Philadelphia was particularly hard hit by the Depression otherwise Mack would have kept Grove who averaged over 25 Wins a season for the six seasons 1928-1933.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=left...-presenting-lefty-grove-with-the-1931;590;726

It was on this date in 1902 Pee-Wee Wanninger was born in Birmingham, Alabama. His ML career consisted of one season with the NY Yankees in 1925 and 46 games split between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds in 1927. He made his mark in 1925 though…best known as the player who ended one consecutive-game streak and helped start another. As a rookie, he replaced Everett Scott at shortstop for the Yankees on May 5, 1925 to end Scott's then ML record of 1,307 consecutive games. On June 1, 1925 Lou Gehrig started his famous 2,130 game consecutive streak when he pinch hit for Wanninger.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=pee-...et%2Fviewtopic.php%3Ff%3D2%26t%3D2841;658;831

Baseball is a funny game. Ron Wright, played one game in the Majors as a DH for the 2002 Seattle Mariners. In three at-bats, he struck out, hit into a double play and hit into a triple play. Wright recently told the New York Times, “It was the best day of my professional life.”

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ron+...ll%2F15wright.html%3Fpagewanted%3Dall;190;240

 

[67RedSox]

Billy Cox was an important member of the Dodgers for 7 seasons from 1948 to 1954. He was pretty much their 3rd Baseman and went to the World Series with the 1949, 1952 and 1953 teams. Unfortunately, the Yankees were not very obliging to the Dodgers as the Yankees took all three. He came to the Dodgers from the Pirates in a trade that also brought the Dodgers, southpaw starter, Preacher Roe. What a treasure Roe was for the Dodgers going 93-37 in his 7 seasons for a Winning % of .715. His signature season was 1951 when he went 22-3. Like Cox he went to those 3 World Series against the Yankees but was never on the winning end.
Coming to the Dodgers together these roomates left the Dodgers together on this date in 1954 when the Dodgers traded them to the Orioles for Minor League prospects Harry Schwegeman and Johnny Jancse and $50,000. On the face of it, it seemed as if the Dodgers were losing on this deal bit just the opposite. Fact is Preacher Roe was 38 and pretty much done. He wasn’t going to Baltimore and announced his retirement, and the Orioles couldn’t talk him out of it. Cox, at 34, did go to Baltimore and Billy was an infield starter (principally at third base) and leadoff hitter for the Baltimore Orioles for the first half of 1955. After being pulled for a pinch runner on June 11, 1955 he was traded at the trading deadline, June 16, 1955. Cox, would not report to his new team, the Cleveland Indians, who were reigning American League Champions at the time. Even after a meeting with Indians' manager, Al Lopez, Cox resolved to retire and did so on June 17, 1955.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers used the $50,000.00 for a bonus to sign a southpaw from Lafayette High School with control problems named Sandy Koufax. I guess we all know how the story ends.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bill...ards%2F1954-red-heart-billy-cox.shtml;314;444

https://www.google.ca/search?q=prea...2F11%2Fsports%2Fbaseball%2F11roe.html;190;250

https://www.google.ca/search?q=sand...0178%2Frare-topps-baseball-cards%2F17;450;303

It was on this date in 1940 that Umpire George Moriarity is removed from active staff and transferred to the American League’s promotional department. Fiery and temperamental on the playing field but friendly and reserved off it, George Moriarty was one of the most colorful characters of the Dead Ball Era, gaining fame at various times as a third baseman, umpire, manager, poet, newspaper columnist, and songwriter.
In a famed incident that almost cost him his career, Moriarty fought four members of the Chicago White Sox simultaneously on Memorial Day 1932. Moriarty called a pitch by Sox hurler Milt Gaston ball three instead of strike three, and Gaston gave up a game-tying triple on the next pitch, eventually losing the game. When the White Sox heckled Moriarty as he walked off the field, he shouted back: "I'll fight the whole White Sox team!" The 47-year-old ump was promptly attacked by four White Sox, some scarcely half his age: Gaston, Charlie Berry, Frank Grube, and player-manager Lew Fonseca. Moriarty sustained cuts, bruises, and a broken hand, but fought them to a draw. "Mr. Moriarty must be slipping," columnist Williams quipped. "I can remember when he used to take on whole ball clubs as a warmup." Gaston was suspended for ten days by AL president Will Harridge, the other three players were fined, and Moriarty was given a public reprimand.
Rumored to be on the chopping block because of the fight, Moriarty saved his job by embarking on a goodwill tour on behalf of the American League that off-season, lecturing and reciting his poetry at schools, American Legion banquets, and the like. Using dramatic gestures as he spoke, Moriarty, according to one observer, "makes the dishes rattle when he pounds home a point. Has power to compel attention by his appearance, as well as his voice. Might be taken for a ship's Captain, a Chief of Police or a Major of Marines." The lecture tour was well-received, so much so that AL owners found it impossible to fire Moriarty as they had planned. It didn't hurt that he was also an excellent umpire; a 1935 poll of AL players conducted by The Sporting News named him "hands down" the best umpire in the League.
Moriarty has the distinction of ejecting three players from World Series play, more than any other umpire. In Game 3 of the 1935 Series, he berated and then booted the Cubs' Charlie Grimm, Tuck Stainback, and Woody English for, among other things, excessive heckling of Hank Greenberg. For that stunt, Moriarty was fined $200; he had violated Kenesaw Mountain Landis' rule against ejecting players from World Series games without the commissioner's prior approval.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=geor...akejazz.com%2Fdetail.php%3Fphoto%3D69;470;376

It was on this date in 1930 the 15-year career of George Sisler ends as the Boston Braves release him. Sisler would be among the first to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame‚ enshrined in 1939. Arguably the first great 1st Baseman of the twentieth century, Sisler was the greatest player in St. Louis Browns history. An excellent baserunner and superb fielder who was once tried out at second and third base even though he threw left-handed, Sisler's primary asset was his left-handed swing, which he used to notch a career .340 batting average. From 1916 to 1925, Sisler batted over .300 nine consecutive times, including two seasons in which he batted better than .400, making him one of only two players in American League history (the other was Ty Cobb) to post multiple .400 batting marks. Though Sisler's greatest feats occurred in the years immediately following the end of the Deadball Era, by 1919 he had already established himself as one of the game's top young stars, placing in the top three in batting average every year from 1917 to 1919, and leading the league with 45 stolen bases in 1918. That year one writer declared that Sisler possessed "dazzling ability of the Cobbesque type. He is just as fast, showy, and sensational, very nearly if not quite as good as a natural hitter, as fast in speed of foot, an even better fielder, and gifted with a versatility Cobb himself might envy."
At the peak of his powers following his historic 1922 performance when he hit .420, Sisler missed the entire 1923 season with a severe sinus infection that impaired his optic nerve, plaguing him with chronic headaches and double vision. Though he was able to return to the field in 1924, when he also agreed to serve as manager of the Browns, Sisler was never again the same player.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=geor...og.scpauctions.com%2Flot-23193.aspx;1400;1144

In 2013 there were 4,661 HRs hit in the Majors. It was on this date in 1922 alarmed at the increase in HR hitting (1‚054 in both Leagues‚ up from 936)‚ some AL owners back a zoning system setting a minimum of 300 feet for a ball to be called a HR. The motion dies. In another action‚ the League requires each club to furnish 2 home uniforms per player‚ plus extra caps and stockings on the road‚ to improve the players' appearance. In NL meetings‚ Charlie Ebbets proposes putting numbers on players' sleeves or caps. It's left to each club to do as it wishes.

 

[BigDDude]

Here are a few that I thought might be worth including as well.

Today in 1956, The Dodgers trade Jackie Robinson to the cross-town rivals, the Giants, for pitcher Dick Littlefield and $35,000. Jackie, according to some accounts had already decided privately to leave the game to work for Chock Full of Nuts, publicly retires from baseball rather than to accept the trade.

Today in 1969, Curt Flood attends the Players' Association executive board meeting to seek financial assistance in his attempt to sue major league baseball on the grounds that the reserve clause violates Federal antitrust laws. Although skeptical about the outcome of the suit, the player reps vote 25-0 to support the recently traded outfielder, who refuses to report to the Phillies after being dealt by the Cardinals.

Today in 1996, Roger Clemens leaves Boston after thirteen seasons of service and signs as a free agent with the Blue Jays. The 'Rocket' leaves the team tied with Cy Young for the Red Sox record for wins (192) and shutouts (38) and the career leader in losses with 112 (Cy lost 111).

Today in 1999, The Marlins obtain Johan Santana from the Astros in the Rule 5 draft, and later in the day Florida trades the 20-year old southpaw to the Twins for Jared Camp. The Venezuelan native will post a 93-44 record and will win the Cy Young Award twice (2004, 2006) during his 8-year tenure in Minnesota.

Today in 2000, Outbidding the Indians, the Red Sox sign free-agent Manny Ramirez to a reported eight-year, $160 million contract. The very lucrative deal pales in comparison to Alex Rodriguez's $252 million ten-year agreement with the Rangers which is also announced today.

Today in 2001, The Yankees sign free-agent Jason Giambi to a seven-year deal worth $120 million. The 2000 MVP and this year's runner-up drove in 120 runs, hit 38 home runs, and had a .342 batting average for the wild card Oakland A's this season.

And, finally, in 2007, all of this happened.

1)The Mitchell Report, a document of 409 pages as well as a paper trail of 115,000 copies of receipts, canceled checks, telephone records and e-mail messages, is released. The much anticipated investigative missive, the work of former Senator George Mitchell and his committee, calls the steroid era in the sport a collective failure and names 89 former and present big league players who allegedly used illegal, performance-enhancing drugs, including potential Hall of Famers Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Gary Sheffield.

2) Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees finalize a 10-year, $275 million contract making the deal the richest in baseball history. A-Rod, who surpassed the all-time salary record he signed with the Rangers ($252 million in 2000), chastised his agent, Scott Boras, and blamed himself for the poor handling of his opt-out clause with the team.

3) A collection of rare written documents, including personal letters and cancelled checks concerning the Chicago Black Sox scandal, is procured by the Chicago History Museum with a winning auction bid of approximately $100,000. The historical papers offer new details about the White Sox allegedly fixing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.

 

[67RedSox]

BigDDude...I remember at the time of the Giambi signing I took a lot of heat because I said he was on the wrong side of 30 to give a 7 year contract to... especially one that was back-end loaded. They did get good production out of him although he missed a lot of games.

This was a busy day in the history of the old Game.

 

[67RedSox]

In 1911 the NY Giants won the NL Pennant by 7 ½ games. Charlie “Victory” Faust whose ML career, statistically speaking, was only slightly longer than that of Moonlight Graham’s. The Manager of the Giants, John McGraw wrote, "I give Charlie Faust full credit for winning the pennant for me - the National League pennant of 1911."
Faust won a Spring tryout with the Giants in 1911, after informing Manager John McGraw that a fortune teller back home in Kansas had told him he needed to go pitch for the Giants and help them win the pennant. Faust was persistent in his belief that he could contribute to the Giants' success. Faust's delusion seems to have been associated with some mental disorder.
Faust had no real pitching ability, but McGraw was a superstitious sort, and the Giants had not won the League championship since 1905, so Faust became a Giant and a good luck charm, traveling with the team and warming up to pitch every game. McGraw actually put Faust on the mound for a couple of innings in different games, late in the season, after the Giants had already clinched the league title: October 7, then again on October 12 (the final game of the regular season). In both games, the Giants were already trailing.
When McGraw dismissed him from the Giants after the World Series ( the Giants lost in 6 games to the Philadelphia Athletics ) Faust was never able to adjust to his release and harboured hopes of rejoining Major League Baseball.
It was on this date in 1914 that Faust was confined to the Western Hospital for the Insane where he would die a few months later of pulminary tuberculosis.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=char...beautiful-madness-of-victory-faust%2F;350;590

It isn’t too often…at the Major League level… you see a player quit to become an umpire or an umpire quit to become a player. Firpo Marberry did both. It was on this date in 1935 Firpo Marberry resigns as AL umpire to sign with the Giants as a pitcher. He'll get in one game before moving to the AL with the Senators. Earlier in the season he developed a sore arm that led oddly to him being offered and accepting a job as an American League umpire, with no Minor League apprenticeship. He lasted only a short time. "Its too lonely for me. I like to be around the players and have companionship." Thus, he was a player to start the 1935 season, halfway through the season becomes an umpire and returns to being a player to start the 1936 season.
There’s a lot more to Marberry than his switching player and umpire uniforms. Fred “Firpo” Marberry, one of the best pitchers in baseball for a decade, was the first great hurler to be used primarily as a relief pitcher. He played a large role in Washington's only World Series triumph, and set many records for relievers that would not be bested for many years. Almost forgotten today, he has been denied larger fame by splitting his career between starting and relieving-had he done one or the other, he might be in Baseball's Hall of Fame today. His ML career began as a 24 year old in August 1923 with the Washington Senators. Early on in Washington Fred acquired the nickname "Firpo" because of his size and facial resemblance to Argentine boxer Luis Firpo. The fighter, dubbed "The Wild Bull of the Pampas," knocked Jack Dempsey out of the ring in a 1923 title bout before losing in the second round. Marberry never liked the nickname, especially as Luis Firpo's career fizzled out, but he would be "Firpo" Marberry for the remainder of his baseball years. One of the more interesting stories on the 1923 Senators was Allan Russell, previously a pitcher for several years with the Red Sox and Yankees, and one of the few pitchers still allowed to throw a spitball. Manager Donie Bush turned Russell into one of the first full-time relief specialists. He started five games, relieved in 47 (a new record), finished 10-7 and "saved" nine games. (Saves were not recorded in 1923, but were retroactively figured in the 1960s.) Of his 181 innings pitched, 144 came in relief (also a new record), meaning he pitched an average of three innings every time he came in as a reliever. This may have been the best season ever put forth by a relief pitcher up until this time.
Marberry began the 1924 season as an extra starter and as a second reliever to Russell. When the latter hurler struggled to repeat his 1923 success, new Senator Manager, Bucky Harris, turned to Marberry more and more often. Fred responded sensationally. He pitched in 50 games, 35 in relief, won 11, saved 15 and pitched 195 innings, fourth most on the team. Harris used Marberry as Bush had used Russell the previous year: an average of three innings per appearance and as early as the second inning if needed. Russell finished second in the league with eight saves, and the Senators set an all-time team record with 25.
The Senators won their first AL Pennant in 1924, and the Browns' George Sisler, among others, thought Marberry was Washington's MVP. Part of his success was surely due to the theatrics that surrounded his pitching. At the time, games at Griffith Stadium typically started at 4:00. In the faster-paced games of the time, this meant that "Marberry Time," as it was soon called, would arrive at about 5:30 or 6:00, with the shadows rolling across the diamond. For a fastball pitcher like Marberry, this was an ideal environment.
Marberry cut quite the figure when he entered a game. Teammate Al Schacht recalled: "Sometimes Bucky would go to the pitcher's mound just to talk to the pitcher, unsure about whether to take him out. But he'd no sooner get to the mound, and there would be Marberry-out of the bullpen coming in." Ossie Bluege remembered: "You should have seen Fred walk across the outfield when he was coming in to relieve. He moved just as fast as he could and just as determined and as confident as could be."
A big man for his time, Marberry stomped around the mound, throwing and kicking dirt, glaring angrily at the batter. He relied on no fancy stuff-he basically just reared back with a high leg kick, and fired the ball to the catcher. When Marberry warmed up between innings, catcher Muddy Ruel caught every pitch in the center of his glove to maximize the noise of his fastball. Along with the sound that could be heard in the opposing dugout, Ruel allowed himself to stagger as each pitch hit his glove.
For the next four seasons he pitched pretty much out of the bullpen. After the 1928 season, Walter Johnson, who had retired as a pitcher a year earlier, replaced Bucky Harris as manager. Johnson used Marberry both to start and to relieve, and Fred responded with a 19-12 record (16-8 as a starter) and 11 saves (the most in the league), starting 26 of his 49 games. He logged 250 innings, and his 3.06 ERA was second in the league to Lefty Grove. Fred had become enamored of a starting role: "Relief pitching is a job for a young pitcher. His arm can stand the wear and tear of uncertain work... In my own case, I feel that I have earned the right to a change." He was used in this dual role for the next two years, resulting in records of 15-5 (15-2 as a starter) and 16-4 (13-3 when starting), yet still hurling 34 games in relief over the two seasons.
Although he still had a good fastball, Marberry began using a curveball and changeup in mid-career, which made him all the more effective. In 1932, Johnson used him mainly out of the bullpen again (15 starts and 39 relief outings), and Fred responded with another excellent season: 8-4 and a league-leading 13 saves.
After the 1932 season, Johnson was fired, and the 34-year-old Marberry was traded with Carl Fischer to the Tigers. The Tigers skipper, old friend Bucky Harris, used Fred almost completely as a starter (32 starts and 5 relief appearances), and Fred finished 16-11 with a 3.29 ERA (fifth best in the league). In 1934, Mickey Cochrane replaced Harris and moved Marberry back to his dual role. Fred again finished with a solid record: 15-5 in 38 games.
After his ML career ended he continued to pitch in the Minors before retiring from Baseball. In 1949, he was in a serious automobile accident in which he lost his left arm. The injury did not noticeably slow him down as he even continued to pitch in oldtimer's games.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=firp...abr.org%2Fbioproj%2Fperson%2Fd7ce09aa;182;250

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1933 the National and American Leagues agree on a uniform ball to be livelier than the NL ball of recent seasons‚ to match the AL balls. Here’s how a baseball is made if you’re not familiar with the process:

How baseballs are manufactured

On this date in 1920 the NL reveals a most telling statistic‚ pointing out the changes in the game: the use of 27‚924 baseballs during the season‚ an increase of 10‚248 over 1919. One reason for the increase is the reduction in the number of ML pitchers allowed to throw the spitball. In the days of the spitter it wouldn’t take many pitches to turn a white ball into a brown ball from spit, tobacco juice, dirt or whatever other foreign substance you wanted to use. It was a more difficult for a batter to see a brown ball. With the crackdown on spitters umpires were also given more latitude to toss dirty, scuffed, beaten up balls out of the game. This was heightened after Ray Chapman’s death in 1920. Many have said he never saw the pitch that caused his death. For the 1920 season, the Leagues finally decided to crack down. The spitball and other defaced ball pitches were banned. Any player caught defacing the ball would be expelled from the game, and any pitcher caught pitching a defaced ball was subject to a 10 game suspension. An exception was made for up to two pitchers on each team, who would be allowed to throw spitballs but no other kind of defaced ball pitch. While the exemption was originally intended to last for just one season, the Leagues backed off slightly after the season. They identified 17 "bona fide" spitball pitchers who were allowed to continue throwing the spitball for the remainder of their careers. The last of these "grandfathered" pitchers (Burleigh Grimes) retired in 1934. The Minor Leagues had a similar list of "grandfathered" pitchers, but it applied only in the Minors so that spitballers who were in the minors in 1920 were effectively trapped there. Frank Shellenback was probably the most notable "grandfathered" Minor League pitcher. The spitball does not seem to have been outlawed in the ***** Leagues.
It’s no coincidence that the Dead Ball Era ended with these changes. Today the number of balls used in a game averages just under 50.

It was on this date in 1887 the first rendition of the Texas League was formed to begin play in 1888. The League ran through 1892. It was revived as a class D league in 1902, moved to class C in 1904 where it played through 1910 (except for 1906 as class D again), played at class B until 1920, and finally moved up to class A in 1921. The Texas League, like many others, shut down during World War II. From 1959 to 1961 the Texas League and the Mexican League formed the Pan American Association. The two Leagues played a limited interlocking schedule and post-season championship. In 1971, the Texas League and the Southern League were both down to seven teams. They played an interlocking schedule with the SL known as the Dixie Association. The two Leagues played separate playoffs.
Despite the League's name only its four South Division teams are actually based in Texas; the four North Division teams are located in surrounding states of Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. The League maintains its headquarters in San Antonio and has seen 104 different teams play during its more than 100 year existence.
I’ve mentioned it before but since I mentioned the Texas League I’ll use the opportunity to say the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas league (AA team of the Colorado Rockies) have one of my favourite team logos in all of Baseball. Below are what you’ll see on their uniforms and caps:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tuls...FTulsa_Drillers%2F2004%2FPrimary_Logo;625;222

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tuls...74%2FTulsa_Drillers%2F2004%2FCap_Logo;600;618

In the words of Ted Williams…“he was the most underrated and best clutch hitter I ever played against.” Williams was talking about Eddie Robinson who was born on this date in 1920. The former GM of the Texas Rangers was a pretty good 1st Baseman in his time, 1942-1957 while losing three full seasons serving in the Navy. It was there that a botched leg operation almost cost him his baseball career. He was able to come back, however, after a second surgery.
In all, Robinson had a stellar 13-year ML career, making four All-Star teams and playing for seven of the eight American League franchises (he missed only the Boston Red Sox). His 29 home runs for the 1951 White Sox stood as the team home run record for nearly 30 years. He was the seventh player and first White Sox to hit a ball over the roof at old Comiskey Park; the first six were Hall of Famers Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmy Foxx, Hank Greenberg, Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle. For a power hitter and run producer, Robinson had outstanding bat control and never struck out more than 56 times in a season. Only in two seasons did he whiff more than walk, and in those seasons he was a part-time player. In 1950, for example, he fanned only 32 times in 647 plate appearances.
After the 1976 season he was hired as the GM of the Rangers and remained so until 1982. Within hours of being fired George Steinbrenner offered Robinson the Yankees’ GM position. Robinson declined the job because he did not want to uproot his family and leave Texas. Instead, he became a special assistant to Steinbrenner for three years, consulting and scouting for the team but remaining based in Fort Worth. After his years with the Yankees, Robinson formed his own innovative one-man scouting combine and worked first for the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins, and later at various times for the Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox, Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves and the Yankees again. Along the way, his scouting and player evaluation helped three teams win pennants and the World Series, including the 1987 and 1991 Twins and the 1990 Reds.
When Robinson retired in 2004 after 65 years in pro baseball, he had received paychecks from 16 major league clubs, including several that he both played and worked for. Along the way he had come to know the likes of Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Rogers Hornsby, Hank Greenberg, Dizzy Dean, Brooks Robinson and Hank Aaron.
He may hold the record for the most times standing up for the National Anthem at a baseball game. His professional baseball career spanned 65 years, from 1939, when he broke in with the Valdosta Trojans in the Class D Georgia-Florida League, through 2004, when he retired from scouting for the Boston Red Sox. Robinson is still living and is 93 years of age. At least until he was 91 he was still going strong, playing golf several times a week and watching the Rangers play every day, either on television or at the ballpark.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=eddi...87%26grid%3DVintage%26categoryId%3D1;1194;876

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1926 that MLB says they haven’t had enough of Judge Landis and give him a new seven-year term as Commissioner with a raise to $65,000 per annum. That’s about $834,000.00 in 2013 dollars.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=kene...7%2F25%2Fkenesaw-mountain-landis%2F;2650;3946

The list of NL Batting Champs from the 1930’s and early 1940’s contains many familiar names like HOF’ers Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize and Stan Musial and stars such as Pete Reiser and Dixie Walker. Amidst this listing is an obscure name, Debs Garms. Little known, he is now recalled as the answer to baseball trivia questions -- "Who broke up Johnny Vander Meer's string of hitless innings?" or "Who won the National League batting title in 1940?" Several years ago, as if to underscore his obscurity, a booklet on batting champions devoted two pages to Garms, "Who Is Debs Garms?"1
There are several reasons for his anonymity. Garms played in an era of all-time greats including Jimmie Foxx and Babe Ruth. He was a regular for less than five seasons, never made the All-Star team, and was not a player whose personality or habits generated colourful stories. Despite this seeming lack of credentials, he was always sought for the attitude and hustle he brought to a team. Playing for five managers who eventually made the Hall of Fame, Garms was a fierce competitor on the field. He was a welcome addition to the Cardinal championship teams of the early 1940s despite his better playing days having passed.
Garms’ ML career began when he was called up to the St. Louis Browns in August 1932 and immediately put into their lineup as the center fielder. He had joined the weakest franchise in Baseball. Sixth in 1932, the Browns would not climb higher for another decade. Undercapitalized and playing before crowds averaging 1,500 per game, they could not field a competitive team. It made for a rather dismal environment. Despite the Browns' status, Garms was glad to be a Major Leaguer, making a salary of $5,000 per year, all the money in the world it seemed to him, especially at the depth of the Great Depression. Debuting on August 10 in St. Louis, he played against a Yankee lineup that included the likes of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Bill Dickey.
Rogers Hornsby would be the first of five Hall of Famers Garms played for and the most difficult. Years later Garms recalled that while he never played for a bad manager, he did not particularly care for Hornsby, an opinion shared by almost everyone who played for the irascible Texan. "He was egotistical, and he thought everyone should be a great hitter, just because he was." Hornsby had numerous rules such as not letting hitters swing on 3 and 1 or 2 and 0 pitches. He fined pitchers $50 if they threw a strike on a 0-2 pitch, which led Garms to witness the funniest incident he ever saw in baseball. During one game pitcher a rookie pitcher who had control problems found himself with a 0-2 count on the batter. His next pitch inadvertently slipped in for a called strike three. Knowing he was about to lose $50, the pitcher came off the mound screaming at the umpire that the pitch should have been called a ball!
During the first week of March 1940 Garms drove his family from Texas to Florida for Spring Training. Upon arrival at camp, he was informed the Pirates had purchased his contract. The Pirates, Garms realized, were holding spring training in San Bernardino, California, across the continent. After spending a few hours resting, Garms packed his family back into the car and drove them home to Texas, and then boarded the next available train to join the Pirates in California. Garms ended Spring Training with a mark of .472. Later he would recall, "That whole year [1940], the baseball looked as big as a grapefruit coming up to the plate."
For the season Garms played 103 games and had 127 hits in 358 at bats, finishing with a .355 average, and 36 points ahead of Lombardi who had 376 at-bats in an injury-shortened season. Garms was 38 points ahead of Chicago's Stan Hack, who had played in 149 games. He also led the majors, squeaking by Joe DiMaggio's American League leading .352 mark. Despite being regarded as a singles hitter Garms finished sixth in slugging with a .500 mark and struck out only six times the entire campaign to achieve a superlative ratio of one strikeout per sixty at bats.
Despite winning the NL Batting Crown his career was on the wane and he would become a part-time player over the rest of his ML career which would end after the 1945 season.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=debs...alleryP.cfm%2Fpid%2F2032%2FDebs-Garms;254;350

https://www.google.ca/search?q=debs...%2Fsiempre-ocurren-cosas-1973-1984%2F;640;800

The Ohio buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, and its name is an original term of endearment for the pioneers on the Ohio frontier. When you hear the word buckeye you likely think of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team which started play in 1890. Did you know long before there were the Buckeyes of football, there were the Buckeyes of baseball including the MLB Columbus Buckeyes in the 1880’s. In 1876 the Columbus Buckeyes became the first professional baseball team in the city, after a decade of amateur play as the Buckeye Baseball Club. After one year of playing an independent schedule, the Columbus Buckeyes joined the Nation’s first Minor League, the International Association of Baseball, which was organized by Columbus native James “Jimmy” Williams. Williams, who is considered to be the “Father of Minor League Baseball”. A few years later, in 1883, the Buckeyes made their first Major-League appearance in the newly formed American Association.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=colu....lostmag.com%2Fissue19%2Fcolumbus.php;450;298

 

[67RedSox]

He was playing in the Majors when Babe Ruth was hitting them out and he was playing when Hank Aaron was hitting them out. In fact, he’s the only player who could lay claim to that fact. He won a Batting Crown, he won an MVP Award. He was a multiple time All-Star. He played both in the Outfield and at 1B and played in a city that enjoyed both a NL and AL team. Right about now my guess would be Stan Musial but I’d be wrong. Had I said Phil Cavarretta, I would be correct. He was born in Chicago and played only in Chicago…20 seasons on the North Side with the Cubs and 2 seasons on the South Side with the White Sox. The name may not be well known outside of Chicago but Cub fans remember him.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=phil...sports%2Fbaseball%2F19cavarretta.html;190;274

Slim Sallee has a unique strikeout record. In 1919 he recorded just 24 K's while winning 21 games that year. It's the lowest K total for anyone winning 20+ games in a season. The modern day record, or at least Post-Dead Ball Era record, is held by Tommy John in 1980. He struck out just 78 batters while winning 22 games.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=slim...www.higginsportohio.com%2Ffamous.html;144;361

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tomm...b-tommy-john-surgery%2Fcontent.1.html;507;700

Here’s Hub Perdue Baseball Reference page. You can see he pitched 5 seasons with an overall record of 51-64. What the stats don’t show is he’s considered the godfather of baseball superstitions. In a sport rife with voodoo incantations, bald paganism, and unflinching belief in the supernatural, Perdue stands alone. Some of his notable habits:
He would not only spit after every pitch, but religiously alternated his expectorations between the right- and left-hand sides of the pitcher's mound.
He never ate before a game (remember: all games were day games), but would eat a plate of sausage and boiled cabbage immediately after each game. (Must have been a great guy to be around in the evening)
He remained wholly mute during games, refusing to talk to teammates between innings. One story claims that a brash rookie infielder once asked Perdue directions to first base during a game, and received a businesslike punch to the face in response.

Hub Perdue Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

In 1884 Fred Carroll began his MLB career with the Columbus Buckeyes but spent the rest of his 8 year ML career in Pittsburgh. The team was first known as the Alleghenys and then the Pirates and he played for both versions. He was young, dashing and one of the best catchers in Baseball at that time. Bill James wrote in his book Baseball Abstract that Carroll was the best "young" catcher before Johnny Bench. He also was a competent outfielder and played shortstop, first base and third as well. James also remarks that Carroll from California (Sacramento) saw his ML career was shortened by his dislike of living on the East Coast. An above-average runner with good instincts, he compiled 137 stolen bases in his career. In 1887 Carroll became the first Pittsburgh player to hit for the cycle. Just before the beginning of the 1887 season Carroll’s pet monkey died and the team, which had adopted the monkey as its mascot, tried to ease Carroll’s pain by burying the body under home plate. No word on who the pallbearers were.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=fred...n.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFred_Carroll;200;342

The Cardinals may not have the remains of a monkey buried under home plate at Busch Stadium, but they had a player who told one of the greatest whoppers in Baseball history. Flint Rhem was the top pitcher on the 1926 Cardinals team that won the first World Series in the franchise’s fabled history. But Rhem was a heavy drinker and went on an occasional bender, even during the season. In 1930, during the heat of summer and a hot pennant race, Rhem disappeared during a road series in Brooklyn. He re-appeared a day or two later, looking very much like someone suffering from a hangover. He told the Cardinals he’d been kidnapped by gamblers, who forced him, at gun point, to drink whiskey because they were betting against the Cardinals. Rhem, who never needed anyone to force him to have a drink, stuck to his story until he finally drank himself out of Baseball, without the help of gamblers.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=flin...2075-6e09-553a-8db5-d424a9637de6.html;620;449

 

[67RedSox]

Ty Cobb was born on this date in 1886.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ty+c...because-ty-cobb-goes-in-high-and-hard;630;468

Bill ‘Moose’ Skowron who won WS Rings both as a member of the NY Yankees and against the NY Yankees as a member of the LA Dodgers was born on this date in 1930. Skowron was born in Chicago and played College Ball at Purdue. After his grandfather gave the seven-year-old Skowron a haircut that looked like the dictator's and his friends jokingly called him "Mussolini", his family shortened the nickname to "Moose." The name stuck throughout his career.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=moos....info%2F1960sBaseball_PP_Skowron.html;521;365

Zoilo Versalles was born on this date in 1939. Versalles was one of the great tragedies of his generation of Baseball players. When he won the AL’s MVP Award in 1965 he did so quite handily over his teammate Tony Oliva. Versalles copped 19 of the 20 1st Place votes but for the rest of his life there was always those who argued it should have gone to Oliva. Some have dismissed Versalles as a one year wonder but prior to 1965 he was both an All-Star and Gold Glove winner at Shortstop. His career was both shortened and robbed of its true potential by devastating injury – a freak back injury in 1966 that never properly healed – and also continued to plague him long after his retirement. Once the debilitating back problems arose in July 1966, Versalles was only a shadow of what he had once been. Zoilo Versalles spent his post-baseball years in the Minneapolis area. It was not a very pretty picture. An inability to find consistent employment was in large part related to a lack of both English fluency and any practical non-baseball skills. Repeated economic failure was also attributable to deteriorating health, notably the lingering back injuries. The quarter-century following his active baseball days represented little more than a continuation of the downward spiral that had defined his athletic career. Several spells of unemployment resulted in the loss of his house to foreclosure and forced him to sell such valuable mementos as his cherished MVP trophy, Gold Glove awards, and All-Star Game rings. He eventually suffered two heart attacks and also underwent painful stomach surgery. Zoilo finally separated from his wife María Josefa and their six daughters and barely subsisted on meager disability and Social Security payments plus the modest Big-League pension that he’d begun drawing in 1984. The ongoing tragedy finally ended when Versalles was found dead in his rented home on June 11, 1995. Coroner’s tests showed that he had apparently died two days earlier. The cause of death was not revealed at first but was eventually determined to be arteriosclerotic heart disease.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=zoil...F2011%2F03%2F1966-topps-glimpse.html;1111;810

I have never bothered to sit down and try to come up with a list of my Top 10 Baseball teams of all time or even of my time…Post 1960. I would find that task too difficult. The result would be partly objective and partly subjective and at the end of the day just one man’s opinion. Thus, I tend to let others do the work and enjoy the fruits of their labour. There are a few good Baseball “writers” left out there and in my opinion Tom Verducci is one of them. When a good old-school Baseball writer speaks I tend to listen and although there’s no assurance I’ll agree at least their comments are worthy reading.
Verducci has an All-Time Top 10 list of the Game’s best Baseball teams. Any Top Ten Teams list would have to include more than one entry from the NY Yankees given they’ve been to the Fall Classic 40 times and won 27 times. Verducci has five Yankee teams on his list including the top three. I’ll ignore those great Yankee teams because every single one of them has been talked to death. Two of the other five teams I remember well.
The 1975 Cincinnati Reds won 108 games and were outstanding. I can’t separate the 1975 Reds and the 1976 Reds and I can’t think of a more dominating team I’ve ever seen. Absolutely scary.
The 1970 Baltimore Orioles were almost as scary and were better from a pitching point of view. They also won 108 games and easily beat an earlier version of Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine in the World Series.
That leaves three teams I’ve only read about…the 1929 Athletics, 1907 Chicago Cubs and the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates. Here’s Verducci’s Top 10:
1-1927 NY Yankees
2-1939 NY Yankees
3-1998 NY Yankees
4-1929 Philadelphia Athletics
5-1975 Cincinnati Reds
6-1961 NY Yankees
7-1970 Baltimore Orioles
8-1907 Chicago Cubs
9-1932 NY Yankees
10-1902 Pittsburgh Pirates
Of the three remaining teams I’ve certainly read a lot over the years about the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics with HOF players like Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, Mickey Cochrane and Lefty Grove. Likewise for the 1907 Cubs with the trio of Tinkers to Evers to Chance. The Cubs dominated in those years going to the World Series 4 times, 1906-1910.
The 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates are the remaining team and I’ve never thought of them as a great team because I can’t remember ever reading or hearing about them. Shame on me because when you look at that team they may have been the most dominating team in the history of MLB. There have been four teams in the history of ML Baseball who finished the season with a Winning % of .720 or better. The Pirates of 1902 are second on the list with a mark of .741, based on a record of 103-36. In today’s 162 game schedule that would be equivalent to a record of 120-42.
The Pirates won a second straight NL Pennant, by an overwhelming 27.5 game margin over Brooklyn. It was the Pirates' first ever 100-win team. Ginger Beaumont won the batting title with a .357 mark, Tommy Leach led the League in HRs with 6, Honus Wagner led the league in RBI with 91, and Jack Chesbro led the League with 28 wins. As a team, the Pirates led the League in every significant batting category, the last time that has been done in the NL. They scored 775 runs, which was 142 more than any other team. They were not World Series Champions because the WS would not come into existence until the following season.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1902...com%2Fbaseball%2Ffred-clarke-stats%2F;500;436

 

[67RedSox]

Here’s a name that is sure to be immediately recognized…Wally Gilbert. What’s that you say…you don’t know who he is. Chances are then that you weren’t around and closely following the game in the late 1920’s or early 1930’s. I wasn’t, thus I don’t know him. I can tell you though that he was born on this date in 1900 and that he not only played Baseball at the highest professional level but football and basketball as well. Pretty unique. What might surprise you is that when the Dodgers moved West after the 1957 season the Sporting News selected an all-time Brooklyn team and Gilbert was named as the greatest 3rd baseman in Brooklyn history. My guess is a lot of Dodger fans don’t know the name.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=wall....wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWally_Gilbert;200;290

Hall of Famer Al Kaline was born on this day in 1934. In my time watching the grand old Game he is one of the classiest players I have ever seen. A very good hitter for sure with over 3,000 basehits but his play in the outfield was so good he made it look easy. Kaline made playing right field into an art form. He won 10 Gold Gloves in 11 years (1957-59, 1961-67). He was so graceful and quick. Never a wasted motion, never a wrong decision.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyyyvUvWuM8]Al Kaline - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

On this date in 1936 3B Eddie Mayo is purchased by the Boston Braves from the NY Giants. Mayo had just finished his rookie season in the Majors and hit an underwhelming .199. He wasn’t much more productive with the Braves hitting .227 in 1937. As the 1938 season opened he played 8 games and hit .214 and found himself on the way to the Minors, the PCL where he dwelled for 5 seasons playing for the Los Angeles Angels, and played very well hitting .303 over those 5 seasons. In 1938, Los Angeles sportswriters chose him as the Angels' Most Valuable Player.
The Wartime manpower shortage saved Mayo’s Major League career. After playing the 1943 season with the Philadelphia Athletics he moved to the Detroit Tigers and would play five more seasons before he retired. Like Miguel Cabrera nearly 70 years later, Mayo switched positions for the team’s betterment. Pinky Higgins owned 3rd Base in Detroit forcing Mayo to switch to 2B despite never having played a single game there. He responded by being the AL’s leading fielding 2nd Baseman in 1944 and he improved dramatically with the bat as well and even garnered some MVP votes. However, his season to shine would be the next season when he led the Tigers offensively to the World Series. Hal Newhouser led them on the pitching side with 25 Wins and when the dust after the 1945 season Newhouser and Mayo finished 1-2 in the MVP voting and the Sporting News named Mayo the World Series MVP.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=eddi...eleases%2F2006%2F12%2Fprweb486960.htm;720;886

On this date in 1954 Wally Moon ( Mr. Unibrow ) becomes the first of six St. Louis Cardinals to win the NL's Rookie of the Year Award.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=wall...2F12%2F1955-topps-67-wally-moon.html;1104;733

Cap Anson was Baseball's first superstar winning four NL Batting Crowns. Anson was the last bare-handed first baseman in the Major Leagues, finally donning a glove in 1892. In 1897 he became Baseball’s first 3,000 hit player. How good a hitter was he…at age 43 he hit .335 and at age 44 he hit .331.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=cap+...out-candles-april-17-cap-and-liz.html;456;640

 

[67RedSox]

Harry Stovey was born on this date in 1856. He is not in the HOF but in 2011 was voted as the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legend. He was first player in ML history to hit 100 HRs. Known as both a prolific HR and base-stealer, he led the League in both categories multiple times in his career, including a season record of 14 home runs in 1883 and a League-leading 97 stolen bases in 1890 (before the modern day definition of a stolen base came into being in 1898) and was the first to wear sliding pads and among the first to slide feet first.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=harr...rry-stovey-forgotten-five-tool-star;1287;1975

Hall of Famer, Branch Rickey was born on this date in 1881.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bran...light-Ronnie_King%2CSuperScout.html;1140;1600

Did you know Toledo had a MLB team. It was on this date in 1889 that the Toledo Maumees were admitted to the Majors (American Association) for the 1890 season. They played but that one season and folded. If you’re wondering about the team nickname, and I know you weren’t, Maumee is a suburb of Toledo and named after the Maumee River. Historically the river was known as the "Miami". Maumee is an anglicized spelling of the Ottawa ( Native American and First Nation people ) name for the Miami Indians, Maamii. Now you know.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=tole...sabr.org%2Fbioproj%2Fpark%2F30843621;1024;707

Another Hall of Famer, Gabby Hartnett was born on this date in 1900 and died on this date in 1972. He carved out a career as one of the finest catchers ever to play the game, and is still widely acknowledged as the best catcher in the National League during his playing career in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of the Game’s most memorable moments came with Hartnett an active participant…four in particular.
There was Babe Ruth’s “called shot” home run off Chicago Cubs pitcher Charlie Root in the 1932 World Series. “I don’t want to take anything from the Babe, because he’s the reason we made good money, but he didn’t call the shot. He held up the index finger of his left hand … and said, ‘It only takes one to hit.’ ” Regardless of whether Ruth did or did not “call his shot,” it was Hartnett who was crouched behind the plate at that scene.
Then there was the feat of NY Giants pitcher Carl Hubbell and his consecutive strikeouts of five future Hall of Fame hitters (Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons, and Cronin) in the 1934 All-Star Game. Again, it was Hartnett crouched behind the plate on the receiving end of Hubbell’s pitches.
For Cardinals fans and baseball historians the 1937 All-Star Game will remain forever cast in notoriety because of the injury to Dizzy Dean’s little toe from Earl Averill’s shot back through the box, an injury that caused Dean to change his delivery and led to an all-too-premature career-ending injury. Hartnett was also crouched behind the plate at that scene.
Finally, though certainly not least, was the famous 1938 “Homer in the Gloamin’ ,” a shot whose momentum propelled the Cubs past the Pittsburgh Pirates and into the World Series. On July 20, 1938, the Cubs languished in third place in the standings, six games behind league leader Pittsburgh. Chicago owner Philip Wrigley fired manager Charlie Grimm and replaced him with Hartnett. The move worked. By late September the Cubs were less than two games out of first and still had a series remaining with the Pirates. After the Cubs won the first game to pull within a half-game of the lead, the teams met at Wrigley Field on September 28.
With the score tied at 5-5 after eight innings, and as the early-autumn darkness threatened the unlighted stadium, the umpires agreed that the ninth inning would be the last of the day. They also decided that, in the event of a makeup the following day, the entire game would be replayed, and not just picked up where it was stopped. Hartnett came to bat against the Pirates’ standout relief pitcher, Mace Brown, with two out in the bottom of the ninth. Brown used the reduced visibility to his advantage and got two quick strikes on the catcher, but Gabby knocked the third pitch over the fence in left-center field, and into immortality.
The “Homer in the Gloamin’,” as it is remembered, remains one of the signature walk-off home runs of all time.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=gabb...-flying-dutchman-the-say-hey-kid%2F;2048;1564

On this date in 1921 at the Major League meetings, the AL votes to return to the best-of-seven World Series the NL votes to keep it best-of-nine. Judge Landis casts the deciding vote, and the best-of-seven format is reinstated.

I’m just asking…

On the presumption that you weren’t around to personally witness the 1928 NL Baseball season I will start by saying it’s unfair to ask the following question but I will anyway. In order to answer you sort put yourself as a Baseball writer and that you are eligible to vote for the NL’s most valuable player. The choices are between two real players with their actual stats for the season. There might be a host of other information you would want before answering but go with only the info provided.
1928
It was a great race for the pennant in the NL. Three teams duked it out, each winning at least 90 games. When the dust settles the Cardinals win the Pennant with 95 Wins followed by the NY Giants (93 Wins) and the Cubs (91 Wins). In the MVP voting there are 23 different players who receive MVP points in the voting. Jim Bottomly, the Cardinals slugging 1B, wins the MVP vote narrowly edging out Giants 3B Freddy Lindstrom. The top Cubs finisher is Hack Wilson who finishes 7th in the voting.
“Your mission…should you decide to accept it is to guess which of the following two players finished among the Top 10 MVP vote getters that season and which did not. As always should your guess be wrong we will disavow all knowledge of knowing you. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck."
Player #1, HOF’er Rabbit Maranville at age 36 was in his 17th ML season. A drunk by his own admission, he was considered washed up as a Big Leaguer when the Dodgers released him in 1926. He played with Rochester of the Int’l League in 1927 but he swore off alcohol and returned to the NL for 1928 season. In 366 at-bats he finished the 1928 season with a batting record of .240 with 1 HR and 34 RBI’s.
Player #2, HOF’er Rogers Hornsby at age 32 was in his 14th ML season. He won the NL Batting Crown with a mark of .387, his 7th batting title. He also led the League with an On Base % of .498 thanks to 188 basehits and 107 base on balls and in Slugging % with a mark of .632.
Did Maranville or Hornsby finish in the Top 10? I’m not trying to yank your chain here…I just wouldn’t do that to anyone who took the time to read this.
If you answered Maranville you would be correct. Maranville played SS for the Pennant winning Cardinals while Hornsby toiled for the Boston Braves who finished the season at 50-103, 44.5 games behind the Cardinals.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=rabb...ain-set-3rd-printing-330-cards.html;1455;1042

 

[67RedSox]

In the 2nd year of the American League’s existence (1902) Socks Seybold knocked out 16 HRs to establish the AL single season record that would not be topped until Babe Ruth shattered it with 29 in 1919. When Connie Mack formed the Philadelphia Athletics for the American League's first season (1901), he brought the 30 year old Seybold with him from the Western Association. "Socks" proved to be a durable and valuable player during the Athletics' first seven seasons.
While preparing for the 1908 season, Socks suffered a broken leg. The Philadelphia Record reported on April 7, 1908 that Socks would not play at the start of the season. Even when able, his playing time was limited, for Connie Mack had begun rebuilding with young players. Toward the end of the season, in which Seybold batted just .215 with only two extra base hits in 130 at-bats, Mack sent Socks to Greenville, South Carolina to collect the young outfielder, Shoeless Joe Jackson, who had been recently purchased by the club but had a hard time adjusting to the big city and kept returning to his hometown. Socks found Jackson and convinced him to return to Philadelphia. On the train Seybold bought Jackson his dinner, spent the evening with him and made sure he was in his berth and then settled in for the trip north. When Socks went to check on his companion in the morning he was gone. Jackson had gotten off the train in the middle of the night and headed back to Greenville. Socks went back for him again. Shoeless Joe had only 40 AB’s with the Athletics over the 1908 and 1909 seasons hitting a mere .150 before being sent to Cleveland. Few remember Jackson played with the Athletics and perhaps he only did due to Seybold’s perseverance.
It was on this date in 1921 that Socks Seybold died in an automobile accident. Socks and four of his friends left town for his brother's farm in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains. Traveling east on the Lincoln Highway past Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Socks tried to take a sharp curve at a high rate of speed and was unable to control the automobile. It plunged over an embankment, turning over four times before it stopped. When the others came to, they thought Ralph was still unconscious and waited for a passing motorist for help. After getting him to the hospital it was determined that he had died instantly of a broken neck. He is believed to be the first ML’er to die in an auto accident whilst driving the vehicle.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=sock...2Fwww.lonecadaver.com%2FSluggers.html;469;584

Speaking of Connie Mack he was born on this date in 1862. Connie Mack’s Hall of Fame career spanned 65 ML seasons as a player, manager, team executive, and owner. He posted 3,731 wins, a mark that exceeds any other manager’s total by almost 1,000 victories. He guided the Athletics to nine American League championships and won five World Series titles in eight appearances. He was the first manager to win three World Series titles, and the first to win consecutive titles two times. The valleys were as low as the peaks were high - he also endured a ML record 3,948 losses, and his team finished last in its League 17 times. He built his dynasties with rising young players, won championships with the stars he developed, and then sold off those stars when he could no longer afford them.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=conn...ssic.spring.training%2Fcontent.1.html;615;700

Another HOF’er, Steve Carlton, was born on this date in 1944. He was the first pitcher to win four Cy Young Awards in a career and it’s hard to believe that it’s been almost 20 years ( 1994 ) since he was inducted into the HOF with a vote of 95.8% on the first ballot.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdGRSDQaj1s]Steve Carlton - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

Forbes Magazine pegs the current value of the St. Louis Cardinals at $716M. It was on this date in 1995 William DeWitt Jr. and two partners purchase the team from Anheuser-Busch for $150M. Although the team was worth $300M because they agreed to leaving the team in St. Louis. Gee, where was I in 1995 that I didn’t get in on a deal like that.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=will...the-25-greatest-owners-in-mlb-history;265;400

For those of us who remember Baseball being played in the sunlight more often than not we are prone to lamenting about what we miss in the game…for example, one of my moans is World Series games starting on one day and ending the next day when one (on the East Coast) is deep in the arms of Morpheus. Well, here’s three things I don’t miss from days gone by (selected from a list of 10 by Joe Lemire of SI.com a couple of years ago).

Cookie Cutter Stadiums. Are we in Cincinnati? Or is this Pittsburgh? Philadelphia, maybe? St. Louis? In the 1960s and ‘70s several Municipalities came up with the cost-saving but characterless idea of building identical, “concrete donut” stadiums for the city's pro baseball and football teams. The venues -- which were also found in Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, Oakland, San Diego and Seattle -- were nearly indistinguishable, particularly on television (except, of course, for the home team's uniforms), and lacked any local flavor. Not only that, the dimensions of baseball and football fields are so different that one sport's fans inevitably suffered terrible views from seats angled in the wrong direction.
Faux Grass. Mercifully, only two ML teams (the Blue Jays, Rays ) still play on the short-pile synthetic turf, and there's hope for further improvement if the Jays take a cue from the Diamondbacks and install grass under their retractable roof. Baseball is about fresh air, the smell of cut grass (not to mention mowing new patterns in the outfield every few weeks) and, of course, groundballs that don't skip across a carpeted infield at 100 miles per hour.
Terrible Uniforms. O.K, the ‘70s were about freedom and experimentation, but that laxity also led to some of Baseball's worst-ever uniforms. The White Sox wore shorts -- what, is this softball? And don't even get us started on those red-yellow-orange striped Astros uniforms (the Rainbow Guts, as they were known back in the day). Purportedly created to earn the team notoriety and to take advantage of the improved quality of color televisions, the uniforms instead left fans blinded by solar glare.

 

[67RedSox]

I’ll start by saying I was a Dodger hater growing up. I was a Yankee fan first and an AL fan second. Regardless of who was in the World Series I routed for the AL’ers and in the 1960’s the Dodgers were an obstacle to my happiness. There were two things though that I always liked about the Dodgers…the first was Dodger Stadium, now believe it or not the 3rd oldest ballpark in the Majors and the second was Jim ‘Junior’ Gilliam who was named as the NL’s Rookie of the Year on this date in 1953.
What a great team player he was. In the 1950’s he was the perfect lead-off man given his ability to get on base. In the 1960’s he was the perfect guy to hit behind Maury Wills. He would take pitch after pitch after pitch. And when Maury got to second, he'd give himself up by hitting the ball to the right side, even with two strikes, which most hitters won't do.
My most vivid memory of Gilliam is not a pleasant one. It was Game 7 of the 1965 World Series. Koufax was pitching for the Dodgers in Minnesota on two days rest after tossing a Shutout in Game 5. He didn’t have much in the tank (although he threw a CG Shutout ). He had to rely exclusively on his fastball because his dreaded curve was curving and his change-up wasn’t changing. Gilliam, 3 days before his 37th birthday, was playing 3B. In the bottom of the 5th inning the Dodgers were nursing a 2-0 lead when Koufax started to struggle. With one out Frank Quilici a light-hitting rookie 2B who hit .208 that season and .214 in his career doubled to left-centre and Rich Rollins follows with a walk putting two men on base for the AL’s MVP that year, Zoilo Versalles. On a 1-2 count he lines a ball over the 3B bag but Gilliam guarding the line snares back-handed and just beats the runner to third for the 2nd out. I knew then and there that the Dodgers would win the game and the Series and they did because the Twins really never mounted anything after that. Below is video of the entire Game 7 of the Series. If you scroll forward to about the 1 hr, 16 or 17 minute mark of the video you can see the bottom of inning unfold and Vin Scully is calling the action and as always he called a perfect half-inning.
I could yak for some time about Gilliam and how smart a ballplayer he was but I think I’ve done that before so suffice to say if there was more Jim Gilliams playing today it would be great for the Game.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeKbktNm0Mk]1965 World Series, Game 7: Dodgers @ Twins - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1958 the Dodgers trade minor league infielder Sparky Anderson to the Phillies for OF Rip Repulski and pitchers Gene Snyder and Jim Golden. Sparky will be the Phils' regular 2B in 1959‚ his only big league season as a player. His 152 games is the most for a one-season career and his 119 total bases is the fewest ever for a player with 500 at bats.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spar...anderson.rare.photos%2Fcontent.1.html;641;602

"Baseball isn't statistics, it's Joe DiMaggio rounding second base." (Jimmy Breslin-author)

"If you don't catch the ball, you catch the bus." (Something Minor League Manager, Rocky Bridges used to tell his players)

"It's the fans (not the players) that need spring training. You gotta get 'em interested. Wake 'em up. Let 'em know that their season is coming, the good times are gonna roll." (Harry Caray, broadcaster)

"Say this much for big league baseball--it is beyond any question the greatest conversation piece ever invented in America." (Bruce Catton, Civil War historian)

"If somebody had told me that you have a choice of being a rock star or playing left field for the Tigers, there would not have been a choice at all. I would have said, 'Where's my locker?'" (Alice Cooper, musician)

"It rained that day. Even the heavens wept at the passing of Babe Ruth." (Arthur Daley, sportswriter)

"The guy with the biggest stomach will be the first to take off his shirt at a baseball game." (Glenn Dickey, sportswriter)

"Not making the baseball team at West Point was one of the greatest disappointments of my life--maybe the greatest." (Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President)

"Prospects are a dime a dozen." (Charlie Finley, Baseball owner)

"A properly hurled knuckleball seems to make up its own rules on its way to the plate. It floats, flutters, twitches, lurches, and dives." (James Gleick, author)

"The fans like to see home runs, and we have assembled a pitching staff for their enjoyment." (Clark Griffith, Washington Senators owner)

"Baseball is fathers and sons. Football is brothers beating each other up in the backyard." (Donald Hall, poet)

"You know Earl (Weaver). He's not happy unless he's not happy." (Elrod Hendricks, Orioles catcher)

"The only thing bad about winning the pennant is that you have to manage the All-Star Game the next year. I'd rather go fishing for three days." (Whitey Herzog, Manager)

"For five innings, it's the pitcher's game. After that it's mine." (Fred Hutchinson, Manager)

"They (the Black Sox) can't come back. The doors are closed to them for good. The most scandalous chapter in the game's history is closed." (Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Commissioner)

"There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither one of them works." (Charlie Lau, Hitting Coach)

 

[67RedSox]

January 3 is a huge day in the history of the game of Baseball. It was on this date in 1920 that the Boston Red Sox and NY Yankees announce publicly the secret deal they came to eight days earlier to sell Babe Ruth to New York for $125,000 (twice the amount ever paid previously for a player). Harry Frazee, the cash-strapped owner of the Red Sox, also secures a $300,000 loan from the Yankees as part of the deal.
Some say the deal was the worst trade in the history of the game. At least one person will argue against that…Lee Andrew Henderson in Yahoo Sports cites seven reasons why it wasn’t the worst trade ever:
1) After the 1919 season Babe Ruth demanded to make 20,000 dollars a year because that was how much Ty Cobb was being paid. Babe Ruth said if he didn't get paid the amount he wanted he would sit out. The players, the coaches and the owner all realized this wasn't just an idle threat because Ruth had sat out of games for no reason many times in his career. Babe Ruth even sat out the last game of the 1919 season to prove a point to the Boston Red Sox. Any time a player refuses to play until he gets paid more and it forces you to trade him you're never going to get equal value for him. The other teams know that you have to trade him so they have all the leverage.
2) Other teams particularly in the AL would not cooperate. When the Boston Red Sox decided to trade Babe Ruth all teams except for two refused to work with the Boston Red Sox, They only had two offers to choose from so once again the two teams making offers, the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox, could make lowball offers.
3) The reason the majority of teams refused to deal with the Red Sox was Ban Johnson, President of the American League, who disliked Red Sox owner, Frazee, and wanted him out of the League and he applied pressure to the AL teams. Just like Babe Ruth demanding to be traded this hurt the chances of the Boston Red Sox making a good move.
4) With Babe Ruth in 1920 there was no such thing as fair trade value. Babe Ruth might not be the greatest baseball player of all-time. It might be Hank Aaron, it might be Willie Mays, it might be (fill in any name here). But one thing is for sure when Babe Ruth was playing there was a bigger Bgap between him and the rest of the League than there ever was in Baseball and maybe any sport. There was no such thing as fair trade value for Babe Ruth. In order to get trade value for Babe Ruth another team would have to give the Boston Red Sox so many players they wouldn't be able to field a team the next season. Babe Ruth might be the one example in sports history where a fair trade value was impossible.
5) The Babe Ruth trade was not the worst trade in Major League Baseball history because the Boston Red Sox got a lot of money. Most people quote the $125,000 dollars as what Babe Ruth was traded for. ( I did above because that’s generally what has been quoted ) Actually the Boston Red Sox were paid $25,000 a year for the next 3 years on top of the $125,000. The owner of the New York Yankees also loaned the Boston Red Sox $300,000 on top of that. The Red Sox had to pay back the $300,000 loan eventually but at the time the Boston Red Sox actually got $500,000, not $150,000.
6) The Red Sox took the best trade available. As mentioned only two teams came a calling. The Chicago White Sox offer was Shoeless Joe Jackson and $60,000. Shoeless Joe was a great player and $60,000 on top of that is a lot of money but if Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb were making $20,000 then how much was Shoeless Joe worth? $10,000? $15,000? The Boston Red Sox got $500,000 from the New York Yankees. They could have bought several players of Shoeless Joe's caliber for several years with the Yankees' offer. Let's also not forget that this was the offseason of 1919, the year of the Black Sox scandal. Though the White Sox didn't go in front of a grand jury until a year later Shoeless Joe's name had already been tainted by allegations that he helped fix the 1919 World Series and cheating in baseball is considered the worst possible crime.
7) Remember, these are Lee Andrew Henderson’s reasons, not mine…There is no such thing as curses. One of the reasons the Babe Ruth trade is considered so bad is because the Boston Red Sox were cursed. My short answer to that is that is crap and the Boston Red Sox fans need to stop making excuses for being the second best choke artists of all-time (thank you Cubs).
One can accept or dismiss some or all of Lee Andrew Henderson’s reasons why he believes the Ruth deal wasn’t the worst deal in the history of the game. At least, it’s an interesting read.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=harr...%3D31%26Itemid%3D57%26limitstart%3D40;665;600

The NY Yankees were dominant during the 1930’s and 1940’s and on the pitching side they were led by two HOF’ers Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing. No one questions Gomez’s HOF credentials but a lot of people do question whether or not Ruffing deserves to be in the HOF or did he just ride along on the coat tails of some very good Yankee teams. He won a lot of games for the Yankees (231) and won a total of 273 games in the Majors. He would have easily toppled 300 Wins had he not missed two seasons to WWII and played on some terrible teams in Boston for five full seasons and parts of two other. Regardless of that it was on this date in 1943 that Uncle Sam decides to draft the 37-year old Yankee right-hander into the Army. Rather surprising since he was missing four toes, was married with dependents and supported his mother-in-law who lived with them. The first doctors who examined him declared him unfit for military service, but an army doctor overruled them. Lieutenant Hal C. Jenkins said Ruffing could handle noncombat duty. On his first day of basic training, a sergeant said to him, ‘Ruffing, I understand you can pitch’ …‘That’s right,’ Ruffing answered... and the sergeant said, ‘Okay, Buddy, let’s see how fast you can pitch this tent.’
Ruffing’s noncombat duty was pitching baseballs and leading soldiers’ physical fitness training. He was stationed in California at the Long Beach Ferry Command. Pitching for a team of Army All-Stars he had a brief stint in Hawaii before returning to the States and after Germany surrendered in May 1945, the War Department discharged all soldiers and sailors older than 40 and Ruffing, after missing two seasons, returned to the Yankees but his career was really over despite winning 12 more games for the Yankees in 1945 & 1946 and 3 with the White Sox in 1947 to finish his career.
Ruffing died just short of his 81st birthday but the last 15 years or so of his life were hard years for he and his wife. He suffered a stroke that paralyzed his left side, and had to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He then contracted skin cancer and had part of an ear removed. His career had ended too early to qualify for a baseball pension and his wife cared for him while holding down a job at a nursing home to put food on the table. Despite this he insisted on going to Cooperstown every year for the induction ceremonies so his wife would load him and his chair into their car to make the annual trip from Cleveland.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=red+...onlon-Collection-TSN%3FPageIndex%3D23;253;350

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVX49qwiVuk]MovieTone News Clip of Red Ruffing & Lefty Gomez - YouTube[/ame]

Tony Conigliaro's career started in storybook fashion but tragedy repeatedly intervened and the great promise of his early years remained unfulfilled. On this date in 1982 while being driven to the airport by his brother Billy, Tony Conigliaro, at age 36, suffers a massive heart attack and shortly afterward lapses into a coma following a stroke. The former Red Sox outfielder, who had been in Boston to interview for a broadcasting job with the team, will remain unresponsive until his death in 1990.

Tony Conigliaro Feature on Vimeo

 

[Silas]

Welcome back from the Holidays. Hope they were great for you. Thank you for the continuing stories.

 

[67RedSox]

Thank you Silas…the Holidays were enjoyable. Far from Baseball suitable weather here as we had to dig out from a good old-fashioned Nor’easter today. Hope I can hold out another six weeks or so until Spring Training. I hope your Senor Puig uses that time wisely to sort things out. Speaking of the Dodgers it looks like they are the topic of discussion today.

January 4th has some significance in the history of two owners of the Dodgers…Charles Ebbets who became a part owner in 1890 and Walter O’Malley who came on board in 1944 as a minority owner. Although the team has seen other owners the Dodgers have played in only two ballparks in the past 100 years. The first, Ebbets Field was financed by Charles Ebbets and the second, Dodger Stadium by O’Malley opened for business in 1961.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=char...baseballfield.com%2FEbbetsField.html;1249;778

https://www.google.ca/search?q=walt...om%2Frewind%2Farticle%2Fartful-dodger;480;381

Ebbets started with the Dodgers as a bookkeeper in 1883 and after becoming a shareholder in 1890 he took an active role in marketing the sport to families and took over team operations on this date in 1898 when he became team President.
It had to happen when the Majors expanded westward and it did on this date in 1957…the ‘Los Angeles’ Dodgers became the first ML team to purchase their own airplane.
Prior to the 1950s, trains were the primary means of transportation from city to city for MLB teams; but all of that changed in 1948 when the Dodgers became the first franchise in baseball history to use their own airplane to travel from city to city.
The first airplane owned by the Dodgers was a 5-seat twin-engine Beechcraft used almost exclusively by Brooklyn Dodgers president and general manager Branch Rickey in 1948 and 1949 to travel between New York and Vero Beach, Florida for business dealings with Vero Beach businessman Bud Holman. Holman was trying desperately to convince the Dodgers to take over an abandoned World War II U.S. Naval Air base adjacent to the Vero Beach Airport to use as their spring training facility. Needless to say, the Dodgers did exactly that and Dodgertown was born (and its historic stadium later named in Bud Holman’s honor).
Dodger owner Walter O’Malley quickly realized the convenience and time-efficiency of flying rather than taking a train (or bus), and began exploring the idea of buying an airplane to transport the Dodgers from city to city. When O’Malley mentioned his idea to Holman, who also happened to be a representative for Eastern Airlines, Bud told him to hold off buying an airplane because he might have a better (and cheaper) way to acquire one.
A few days later, Holman gave O’Malley a used but well maintained DC-3 which he told the Dodger executive he had won in a crap game. The only catch was that O’Malley had to purchase a couple of spare engines at a rather significant cost. O’Malley couldn’t write that check fast enough; thus the Dodgers became the first team in MLB history to have their very own airplane for team travel. The Dodgers used the 20-seat DC-3 from 1949 through 1957.
Although the Dodgers initially used several different former Eastern Airlines pilots to fly the DC-3, Holman’s son Harry R. “Bump” Holman became the exclusive pilot in 1953 at the age of 21, after having co-piloted the plane since 1949 shortly after his 18th birthday. Although he didn’t know it at the time, young Bump would remain the Dodgers captain for the next 11 years.
Because the DC-3 only seated 20 passengers, it required Bump to make two trips every time the team traveled. As a result of this and because of the improvements in aviation technology, O’Malley decided that they needed a newer and larger airplane; so, on January 4, 1957, he purchased a Convair 440, thus making the Dodgers the first MLB team to actually purchase their own airplane (remember that crap game thing).
The Convair had a much longer range and could seat 44 passengers. To save money, O’Malley purchased the Convair as an “add-on” to a 20-plane order placed by his good friend and Eastern Airlines president of Eddie Rickenbacker, the famous World War I ace and Medal of Honor recipient. Rickenbacker agreed to do so and the new plane cost O’Malley $700,000, which was substantially less that it would have cost had O’Malley bought it separately.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=los+...%2F16%2Fthe-flight-of-the-dodgers%2F;1024;578

It was on Ebbet’s watch that a player, born in Kansas City, by the name of Charley Stengel was signed by the Dodgers and played the first 6 years of his 14 year ML career with. Stengel made an auspicious ML debut on September 17, 1912. Starting in center field, he singled four straight times, drew a walk, drove in two runs, and stole three bases as the ‘Superbas’ beat the Pirates, 7-3. The next day Charley joined a poker game as the players waited out a rain delay. When he finally won a hand, one of his teammates said, "About time you took a pot, Kansas City." The other players caught on, calling the rookie "K.C." After one week in the big leagues, Stengel had a nickname, a .478 batting average, nine RBIs, and a tremendous home run to right field that was said to be the longest hit in Brooklyn all season. Though he eventually cooled off, Casey still ended the season with a .316 batting average in 17 games.
It was on this date in 1932 Stengel was signed as a coach with the Brooklyn Dodgers to begin the second stage of his ML career, one that would include seeing him as a Manager for 25 years with 3 of those seasons managing the Dodgers.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=case....thedandelionwar.com%2Fnewsletter.htm;196;257

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1934 that Fenway Park sustained significant damage as a result of a 5 hour fire that ripped through the structure and spread to adjacent buildings. As a result of that fire changes were made to the design of the ballpark which made it what it still is today. Tom Yawkey had purchased the cash strapped ball club in 1933 and despite being in the midst of the Great Depression he undertook to modernize the ballpark. In the winter of 1933 those renovations began.
Just five days into 1934 the raging inferno interrupted Tom Yawkey's ambitious offseason renovation of Fenway Park. Though steel and concrete stands had been added throughout the ballpark during the winter months of 1933, wooden forms remaining underneath the bleachers provided the kindling for a ferocious, five-hour blaze that quickly spread to surrounding buildings. When the flames were extinguished, the new seating areas down the left-field line and in the center-field bleachers had been destroyed. Though only a portion of the damage was covered by insurance, an undaunted Yawkey redoubled the team's construction efforts, pledging to have the Park ready by Opening Day. With a greatly-augmented workforce, the club quickly re-started construction and completed the massive reconstruction on time.
When Fenway Park opened to the general public in April 1934, it contained over 7,000 new seats and had a dramatically-altered look. In place of the 10-foot embankment known as Duffy's Cliff and the 25-foot high fence above it, the new left-field wall stood 37-feet high and featured the first electronically-operated scoreboard in baseball. The grandstand was extended down the left-field line, replacing the space once occupied by the wooden bleachers that had burnt down in 1926.
Yawkey also renovated the right-field seating area, creating a pavilion with bench seating. He also added new seats near the field, moving home plate forward in the process. The renovations to the park reduced home run distances to all fields (from 320 feet to 312 in left; 468 feet to 420 in center; and 358 feet to 334 in right) and the distance to the backstop was shortened from 68 feet to 60. The ballpark also received a "Dartmouth Green" paint job throughout, taking on the characteristic color that it is known for today.
On April 17, 1934, an Opening Day crowd of nearly 33,000 packed into the reconstructed Fenway Park. Yawkey had spent over a million Depression-era dollars to transform Fenway Park and he was widely praised in Boston because his work had been performed by union labor. Fenway Park's reconstruction was the second largest contracting project after the Mystic-Tobin Bridge in Depression-era Boston.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1934...744624%2F-%2F11cfjau%2F-%2Findex.html;454;358

It was on this date in 1957 that Jackie Robinson retires rather than move across town from the Dodgers to the Giants, to whom he had been traded in December.

Don Wilson was a starting pitcher for the Houston Astros for nine seasons from 1966 through 1974 with a record of 104-92. On June 18, 1967, Wilson no-hit the Atlanta Braves 2–0 at the Astrodome. The no-hitter was the first ever pitched either in a domed stadium or on artificial turf. Along the way, he struck out 15 batters, and just to make it tough he had to face Hank Aaron for the final out…he struck him out. On May 1, 1969, the day after Jim Maloney of the Cincinnati Reds no-hit the Astros 10–0 at Crosley Field for his second career no-hitter, Wilson returned the favour and no-hit the Reds 4–0 for his second career no-hitter. On this date in 1975 Wilson died at his Fondren Southwest Houston home he shared with his wife, daughter and son. Wilson was found in the passenger seat of his brown Ford Thunderbird inside the garage with the engine running. The garage was attached to the house, which caused his son, Alex, to die also and his daughter and wife to be hospitalized. The official cause of death states that Wilson's death was accidental however many believe Wilson committed suicide.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=don+...logspot.com%2F2011_02_01_archive.html;500;704

On this date in 1943, in Chicago‚ the MLB teams agree to start the season later than usual and prepare to train in areas north of the so-called Eastman-Landis line (named after Joseph Eastman‚ head of the Department of Transportation‚ and Judge Landis)‚ an area East of the Mississippi and North of the Ohio and Potomac rivers. The two St. Louis teams are excluded‚ though they will train in Missouri. Resorts‚ armories‚ and university facilities are chosen for training sites. For example, the Dodgers will train at Bear Mountain‚ NY; Cards‚ at Cape Girardeau‚ MO; the Yankees‚ in Atlantic City. The Red Sox go to Tufts College.

If the name ‘Sewell’ is mentioned in Baseball circles it is more than likely that Joe Sewell comes to mind…with good reason:
- he’s in the Hall of Fame, has a lifetime batting average of .312
- his career began out of tragedy when he became the Cleveland Indians shortstop as a result of the death of Ray Chapman being beaned by Carl Mays
- his most remarkable gift, though, was in making contact with a pitched baseball. After striking out thirteen times in 1924, he whiffed only thirty-three times—in total—from 1925 to 1930 while playing every game of every season. The mighty mite with the forty-ounce bat simply refused to miss anything thrown his way, especially during one remarkable span of 115 consecutive games without a strikeout.
- he was on the field for two of the most memorable moments in the annals of the game. On October 10, 1920, the 22-year-old year old Sewell was playing shortstop when Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss recorded the only unassisted triple play ever in World Series play. Twelve years later, and now batting for the New York Yankees, Sewell was in the lineup with Babe Ruth when the Bambino hit his “called shot” off Charlie Root in Game Three of the World Series. Whether Ruth called his shot is still debated, but Sewell declared, “I don’t care what anybody says, he did it.”

However, there was another Sewell who played in the Majors at the same time, his brother, Luke Sewell. In fact, from 1921 to 1930 Joe and Luke were teammates with the Indians…Joe at shortstop, Luke catching. Luke was born on this date in 1901. Luke was involved in one of the oddest double plays that ever took place in the game. The 1933 season was in only its third week when the Washington Senators made a stop in New York to face the world champion Yankees in a two-game series, on April 28 and 29. For the Senators, it was an important series, as they were headed west on an 11-game trip in early May. They finished off the Yankees in the first game, 4-3 in ten innings. The next day Washington had a 6-2 lead behind starter Monte Weaver. Weaver, who had surrendered only four hits in the first eight innings, gave up three consecutive hits to start the ninth; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Dixie Walker all singled to cut the deficit to 6-3. With Gehrig at second base and Walker on first, the crowd of more than 35,000 cheered wildly when second baseman Tony Lazzeri stepped to the plate. “Poosh ‘Em Up” crushed an offering by Weaver to deep right-center field. Goose Goslin gave chase, but the liner averted his grasp. Gehrig had not strayed far from second base, to make sure Goslin did not catch the smash. But Walker was running all the way and when Gehrig did take off, Walker was right behind him.
Goslin retrieved the ball and fired it in to the relay man, shortstop and manager Joe Cronin. Cronin wheeled and threw home to catcher Luke Sewell. Gehrig was surprised the ball beat him to the plate, and did not slide. Instead, he seemed to break his stride just a bit, as Sewell tagged him with the ball clutched in his right hand. Gehrig hit Sewell hard, spinning him completely around. Recovering, Luke dived toward the third base line to tag the oncoming Walker, who had slid to the inside of the plate. Walker was out, and the unorthodox double play was completed.
The play turned the Bronx fans’ cheers into groans. Gehrig and Walker were both in disbelief. Weaver was also a bit stunned. “It’s two outs, Monte,” the veteran catcher made clear to Weaver. “Oh, do we have two outs?” replied the puzzled pitcher. “It was a swell job by Goslin and Cronin,” said Sewell. “I didn’t have to move for the ball. It was easy.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=joe+...175%2FLuke_SewellJoe_Sewell%2F2053694;760;540