Baseball History

[67RedSox]

From 1914 until 1931 the present-day Dodgers were known as the Brooklyn Robins in honour of their Manager, Wilbert “Uncle Robbie” Robinson. Upon his retirement after the 1931 season the team adopted the nickname of the “Dodgers”. Well, the ‘Robins’ did something very brilliant on this date in 1931…they acquired 22 year old Ernie Lombardi from Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. Technically it was a trade that involved two other players however, in reality, it was a purchase as the Robins sent $50,000.00 to the Oaks. In today’s crazy Baseball World where TV pays the bills most ML teams play with monopoly money and $50,000.00 doesn’t seem like much but in the depth of the Depression it was a sizable sum and factoring for inflation it would be equal to about $750,000.00 today.
Well, as brilliant as that move was for the future Hall of Famer the ‘Dodgers’ undid it all just one year later when they traded Lombardi to the Cincinnati Reds because they felt they had too much depth at the catching position.
Although Lombardi ( 6’3”, 230) may have been the slowest player in the history of MLB he played 17 years in the Majors. He started his professional baseball career for his hometown Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. He hit .377 in 1928, .366 in 1929 and .370 in 1930 for the Oaks before moving to the Robins who noticed both his hitting talent and strong arm. Lombardi played his rookie season for the Robins in 1931 and played well, batting .297. Brooklyn had too many quality catchers at the time and Robins manager Wilbert Robinson contemplated using the strong-armed Lombardi as a pitcher but instead he was dealt to the Reds shortly before the start of spring training for the 1932 season.
Lombardi flourished his first year in Cincinnati, batting .303 with 11 home runs and 68 runs batted in. He became a national star in 1938 when he hit a league-leading .342 with 19 home runs, drove in 95 runs, and won the National League's MVP award. Ernie Lombardi became one of the Reds' most productive and popular players. He also has the distinction of catching both of Reds left-hander Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no-hitters, accomplished on June 11 and June 15, 1938. Vander Meer's feat has never been matched. Lombardi's hitting skills and leadership helped the Reds to the National League pennant in 1939 and 1940, and the World Series title in 1940.
Lombardi’s hometown Oaks played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903 through 1955, after which the club transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia. The team used the oak tree and the acorn as its symbols. Over the years there’s been some Baseball notables wear an Oaks (Acorns) uniform either as a player or Manager…Casey Stengel, Chuck Dressen, Jackie Jensen, Billy Martin and Mel Ott.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=erni...mlblogs.com%2Ftag%2Fernie-lombardi%2F;350;489

It was on this date in 1961 that Don Newcombe is released by the Indians, ending his 10-year ML career with a record of 149-90. The one-time hard throwing right-hander, best known for his playing days with the Dodgers, won the Rookie of the Year (1949), Cy Young (1956) and Most Valuable Player (1956) awards while with Brooklyn.
His Baseball career was not over though. He would pitch with Spokane in the PCL in 1961 and then move to Japan and play First Base, yes First Base, for the Chunichi Dragons in 1962. He would slam 12 HRs for the Dragons that season. That season would end his baseball playing days which spanned 19 seasons across the Minors, Majors, the ***** League and Japan. I’m not sure if Newcombe is still involved with the Dodgers but he was still with them as a special advisor at least in 2009 at the age of 83.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=don+...o-service-like-wire-service-vol-17%2F;934;788

On this date in 1972 Sandy Koufax, 36, becomes the youngest player ever to be elected to the Hall of Fame…he was three months younger than Lou Gehrig at the time elected.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=sand...9228875%2Fscouts-exhibit-baseball-hof;576;324

Whitey Ford’s responding to a question as to whether he might have ever doctored up a ball on the mound…"It was as though I had my own tool bench out there with me."

https://www.google.ca/search?q=whit...layers.numbers.0-22%2Fcontent.19.html;666;444

Here’s Fox Sports Top 10 MLB Ball Parks:

1-PNC Field, Pittsburgh
2-AT&T Park, San Fran
3-Wrigley Field, North Side
4-Camden Yards, Baltimore
5-Coors Field, Denver
6-Fenway Park, Boston
7-Busch Stadium, St. Louis
8-Target Field, Minnesota
9-Dodger Stadium, La La Land
10-Kauffman Stadium, The place Wilbert Harrison’s going to

https://www.google.ca/search?q=pnc+...res%2Fig%2Fpnc_park%2Fsunset_view.htm;800;533

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbcY0qtJ1iY]Wilbert Harrison-Kansas City.wmv - YouTube[/ame]

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1947 that Josh Gibson dies from a stroke at the age of 35. Gibson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 and he is considered by many Baseball historians to be one of the Game’s greatest sluggers…a rival to say, Babe Ruth. The true statistical achievements of ***** League players is impossible to know as the ***** Leagues did not compile complete statistics or game summaries.
Recent investigations into ***** League statistics, using box scores from newspapers from across the United States, have led to the estimate that, although as many as two thirds of ***** League team games were played against inferior competition (as traveling exhibition games), Gibson still hit between 150 and 200 home runs in official ***** League games. (Baseball Reference credits him with 107) Though this number appears very conservative next to the statements of "almost 800" to 1000 home runs, this research also credits Gibson with a rate of one home run every 15.9 at bats, which compares favourably with the rates of the top nine home run hitters in Major League history. The commonly cited HR totals in excess of 800 are not indicative of his career total in "official" games because the ***** League season was significantly shorter than the Major League season; typically consisting of less than 60 games per year. This allowed the ***** teams to play more ‘exhibition’ and ‘barnstorming’ games which were more lucrative financially.
In early 1943 Gibson fell into a coma and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After he regained consciousness, he refused the option of surgical removal and lived the rest of his life with recurring headaches. In 1944 Josh was hospitalized in Washington, DC, at Gallinger Hospital for mental observation. When he died of a stroke in Pittsburgh… just three months before Jackie Robinson became the first black player in modern ML history some believed the stroke was linked to drug problems that plagued him in his later years. He was buried at the Allegheny Cemetery in the Pittsburgh neighbourhood of Lawrenceville, where he lay, surprisingly, in an unmarked grave until a small plaque was placed there in 1975…three years after he entered the Hall of Fame.

My favourite Josh Gibson quote…by Monte Irvin,

“He had an eye like Ted Williams and the power of Babe Ruth”.

Here’s a story about Gibson which I suppose isn’t true but does suggest how hard and far he could hit a ball:

In the last of the ninth at Pittsburgh, down a run, with a runner on base and two outs, Gibson hits one high and deep, so far into the twilight sky that it disappears from sight, apparently winning the game. The next day, the same two teams are playing again, now in Washington. Just as the teams have positioned themselves on the field, a ball comes falling out of the sky and a Washington outfielder grabs it. The umpire yells to Gibson, "You're out! In Pittsburgh, yesterday!"

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7AkM2usAi8]Josh Gibson - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

One of the AL’s very best pitchers for the six year period, 1959-1964, when he won 100 games and was an All-Star five times, Camilo Pascual was born on this date in 1934…Happy 80th.
In my time watching the game…Post 1960, this might be the Top 3 curveball pitchers there’s been:
1- Sandy Koufax
2- Bert Blyleven
3- Camilo Pascual
Pascual was twice a 20 Game Winner and for 3 consecutive seasons, 1961-62-63 he led the AL in Strikeouts. Ted Williams said that for the 17 seasons he pitched in the American League there was no one who had a more fearsome curveball than Pascual.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=cami...tp%3A%2F%2Fsonofatwin.blogspot.com%2F;250;350

Pascual inducted into Twins HOF | MLB.com

Charlie Pick was primarily a 2B who played parts of six seasons for four teams in the Majors from 1914 to 1920. His only full season came in 1916 and that could not have been too much fun as his Philadelphia Athletics went 36-117 to finish a mere 54 ½ games back. That team is often considered by baseball historians to be the worst team in American League history, and its .235 winning percentage is still the lowest ever for a modern (post-1900) Big-League team. On May 1, 1920 Pick is playing 2B for the Boston Braves in a game against the Brooklyn Robins. Now, fast forward to April 12, 1962 and the LA Dodgers are playing the Cincinnati Reds in the 3rd game of the season and the 3rd game ever at Dodger Stadium. The first two games have been split with crowds of 52,564 (Game 1) and 35,296 (Game 2) . Game 3 pits Joey Jay who Won 21 games in 1961 to lead the NL and who would win 21 again in 1962 against Stan Williams who won 15 for the Dodgers the year before, 1961. Neither one of those guys would be the pitching story of the game however. That honour would belong to a pitcher who had never pitched in a ML game before that date…Pete Richert.
What Charlie Pick and Pete Richert have in common is that each has done something that has been done only once in Major League history. In that May 1, 1920 game the Braves and Robins would go 26 innings in a 1-1 tie and Pick sets a futility mark of going 0-11 in the game. It’s never been matched since. In the April 12, 1962 game the Reds light up Williams for 4 runs in the top of the 2nd inning and Alston pulls him and replaces him with Richert, making his ML debut. Richert proceeds to strikeout the first 6 batters he faces in the Majors and no one before or since has done that.

Charlie Pick | Baseball Prospectus

https://www.google.ca/search?q=pete...o%2F1960sBaseball_PP_PeteRichert.html;250;350

 

[Silas]

Greats posts as usual, RS67.....

The Kershaw contract was pretty well handled. Now I believe all major league players are overpaid to one extent or another. The Kershaw contract is insane, but by baseball standards, Kershaw is probably underpaid. I certainly hope Kershaw can stay healthy during the term of this deal. If the Dodgers sign Tanaka, the Dodgers SP staff will be the best in baseball, at least on paper. I'll take the risk that with such a staff the Dodgers will keep pace with the Rockies! :rollseyes:

Willie Mays was the best every day player I ever saw, even if he was a Giant. I don't believe he was the best player ever ( that was Babe Ruth ), but he was certainly one of the greatest.

Orlando Cepeda was a terrific player, also, but after the drug situation and imprisonment, I never would have put him in the HOF.

Keep up the great work. ST is just around the corner.

 

[67RedSox]

Silas, yes ST is just around the corner…hard to believe it’s been 3½ months since the 2013 season finished. As far as your comments about Willie Mays I share exactly…”Willie Mays was the best every day player I ever saw, even if he was a Giant. I don't believe he was the best player ever ( that was Babe Ruth ), but he was certainly one of the greatest.”

Talking about great players and the Hall of Fame I’ll mention another. I’ll preface by saying that as a kid I lived and breathed the Yankees in the AL and everything about them. Of course, had Mickey Mantle played for the lowly Washington Senators I’d be saying that about the Senators. Mantle replaced an icon in Joe DiMaggio and here’s something which I find shocking…on this date in 1953, in his first year of eligibility, Joe DiMaggio receives only 44% of the Hall of Fame vote and thus is denied entry to the Hall of Fame. The same thing would happen the following year when he again fails to receive the required votes. How is it possible that the player many believe to be the greatest player ever is denied. It is truly mind-boggling. DiMaggio was before my time but here’s a guy who was voted to be the greatest living player, a guy who was so graceful on the field he made everything look easy and so polite off the field he could have played Father O’Malley in Going My Way. His nemesis, Ted Williams…the ‘bad boy’ as far as the writers were concerned went in on the first vote with 93%. Baseball, like the Caramilk chocolate bar, has its mysteries and I’ll just put DiMaggio’s HOF rejection up there with the Phillies losing the 1964 Pennant as one of Baseball’s greatest mysteries. ( By the way, there was a book written on the Phillies 1964 season…The Year of Blue Snow…sounds interesting, I’ll have to put it on my Christmas wish list. )

1953 Hall of Fame Voting - Baseball-Reference.com

It was on this date in 1921 that Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis officially becomes the Commissioner of Baseball. He would remain in that position until his death in 1944.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=judg...bin%2Ffg.cgi%3Fpage%3Dgr%26GRid%3D600;500;376

On this date in 1936 the first version of the Hollywood Stars‚ last place finishers in the Pacific Coast League in 1935 with a record of 73-99‚ move to San Diego where they will become the Padres. The Stars were unable to pay the annual rent of $8‚000 for Wrigley Field. When they moved to San Diego they played at Lane Field until 1957 before moving to a new ballpark.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=holl...s%2F2012%2Foct%2F05%2Ffirst-padres%2F;614;346

https://www.google.ca/search?q=lane...ince-joe-lane-field-cubs-vs-braves%2F;561;400

It was on this date in 1933 that the Pittsburgh Pirates sign Waite Hoyt. We all know Babe Ruth’s story of moving from the Red Sox to the Yankees in 1920 and his becoming the dominant offensive force for the Yankees in the decade of the 1920’s. Well, Waite Hoyt also came to the Yankees in 1920 from the same Boston Red Sox and he would become the dominant pitching force for the Yankees in the decade of the 1920’s. Hoyt would ride his 1920’s success of 155 Wins with the Yankees and 6 World Series all the way to the Hall of Fame. He spent only half his 21 ML career with the Yankees and even longer ( 24 years ) as the radio voice of the Reds after his playing career was over. (Lefty O’Doul was also a Yankee in 1920…how did he get away)
Hoyt was born in Brooklyn and was a Dodger fan growing up but had to suffer the ‘indignity’ of being signed as a NY Giant and having his greatest success as a NY Yankee before pitching the final two seasons of his career…1937, 1938 in Brooklyn.
Hoyt was also known as "The Merry Mortician", for when he was not playing baseball, he spent days working as a funeral director and nights appearing on vaudeville. As a vaudevillian, he appeared with many of the most well-known performers of the day, including Jack Benny, Jimmy Durante, George Burns, and others. He kept in shape during the off-season by playing semi-pro basketball.
He added to his repertoire by becoming an accomplished painter and writer. He was well known as the pre-eminent authority on Babe Ruth, who was his teammate for almost 10 years. On August 16, 1948, Hoyt paid tribute to Babe Ruth, speaking on the air without notes for two hours upon learning of his death after a game. A longtime member of Alcoholics Anonymous Hoyt said wistfully that he would have won 300 games if he had stopped drinking during his playing days. After joining A.A., he remained sober for more than 40 years.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=wait...9%2Fblow-out-candles-september-9.html;500;393

Lew Fonseca who must have known a few things about hitting was born on this date in 1899. He played in the Majors for 12 seasons (1921-1933) but a serious arm injury in 1930 really ended his career prematurely becoming a player/manager with the White Sox. He was a lifetime .316 hitter and in 1929 won the AL Batting Crown with a mark of .369. At the tail end of Leo Durocher’s time as the Manager of the Cubs Fonseca joined the Cubs as their Hitting Instructor and stayed on into his 80’s schooling players like Rick Monday and 4-time NL Batting Champion Bill Madlock who won a couple of those while both he and Fonseca were with the Cubs.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=lew+...Ffg.cgi%3Fpage%3Dgr%26GRid%3D13485790;250;413

Carl Furillo died on this date in 1989, 25 years ago. Of all ‘dem Bums’ from Brooklyn he was easily the toughest and hardest-working of the bunch in my opinion and that was so in both his playing career and afterwards. His departure from the Dodgers was not pleasant. The Dodgers released Furillo in May 1960 while he was injured with a torn calf muscle; he sued the team, claiming they released him to avoid both the higher pension due a 15-year player and medical expenses, eventually collecting $21,000. He would later maintain that he was blackballed as a result and was unable to find a job within the sport – a charge denied by Commissioner Ford Frick. He died way too young from heart failure due to leukemia.
Furillo wore uniform #6 and I know subsequent to him Ron Fairly and Steve Garvey did the Number 6 justice and players like Lefty O’Doul and Ducky Medwick also wore it briefly before Furillo but if I’m the Dodgers I’d retire the number in his honour.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=carl...otDetail.aspx%3Finventoryid%3D37229;1992;1633

 

[67RedSox]

I don’t know why but it always amazed me that there were two MLB teams, one in the National League…the NY Giants, and one in the American League…the NY Yankees, that played in ballparks that were virtually only a long Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays Homerun apart. The Giants resided in Upper Manhattan while the Yankees resided in the Bronx. The only thing that separated them was the Harlem River. It was on this date in 1913 the Giants agree to share the Polo Grounds with the Highlanders or soon to be re-named as the Yankees. They would share the Polo Grounds for 10 seasons until Yankee was ready to go for the 1923 season.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=polo...nkings.com%2Fbaseballquizstadiums.htm;159;192

It was on this date in 1929 the Yankees announce they will put numbers on the backs of their uniforms, becoming the first baseball team to engage in continuous use of numbers. The first numbers are based on positions in the batting order thus, Ruth will wear number 3 and Gehrig 4. By 1931 all A.L. teams will use them; it will be 1933 before all N.L. players are numbered.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1929...NIMALS%2Ftd-p%2F13554362%2Fpage%2F562;446;325

In the 50 seasons 1920-1969 ( from the end of the Dead Ball Era until the National & American Leagues were split into Divisions ) there were four occasions when a team won 100 Games in a season but did not win the Pennant. It happened twice in the NL…to the same team, the Dodgers. In 1942 the Brooklyn Dodgers, managed by Leo Durocher, finished the season at 104-50 but 2 Games behind the Cardinals. Twenty years later in 1962 the Los Angeles Dodgers finished at 102-63 ( Leo Durocher was a Coach that season ) but lost to the 103-62 Giants in a 3 game playoff. In the American league the 1954 Yankees won 103 Games but finished 8 games…yes 8 games behind the Indians and in 1961 the Detroit Tigers finished 101-61 but 8 games behind the Yankees.

The 7th Inning Stretch is a tradition at a Baseball game that goes back further than any of us. It likely goes back before the time of the oldest of any of our grandfathers. There’s a copy of stories out there as to how and when it started but David Emery, a freelance writer and avid chronicler of urban legends and popular culture, debunks them both.
The first attributes it to the 27th William Howard Taft who stood 6’2” and weighed in at over 300 lbs. It’s important to address his size because it’s central to the story. It was Taft, some 100 years ago, who launched the tradition of the Presidential first pitch on opening day. The occasion was a game between the Washington Senators and the Philadelphia Athletics on April 14, 1910 at Griffith Stadium. Apparently on the spur of the moment, umpire Billy Evans handed Taft the ball after the rival managers had been introduced and asked him to throw it over home plate. The President did so with delight. Nearly every chief executive since Taft (the sole exception being Jimmy Carter) has opened at least one baseball season during their tenure by tossing out the first ball. Legend has it that Taft inspired the 7th inning stretch on that same day, quite by accident. As the face-off between the Senators and the Athletics wore on, the rotund, six-foot-two president reportedly grew more and more uncomfortable in his small wooden chair. By the middle of the seventh inning he could bear it no longer and stood up to stretch his aching legs — whereupon everyone else in the stadium, thinking the president was about to leave, rose to show their respect. A few minutes later Taft returned to his seat, the crowd followed suit, and the "stretch" was born.
Well, that’s interesting but Brother Jasper of Mary, F.S.C. who was credited with bringing baseball to Manhattan College in the late 1800s can top that by about 30 years. Being the Prefect of Discipline as well as the coach of the team, it fell to Brother Jasper to supervise the student fans at every home game. On one very muggy day in 1882, during the seventh inning of play against the semi-pro Metropolitans, the Prefect saw his charges were becoming restless and called a time-out, instructing everyone in the bleachers to stand up and unwind. It worked so well he began calling for a seventh-inning rest period every game. The Manhattan College custom spread to the major leagues after the New York Giants were charmed by it at an exhibition game, and the rest is history.
Quaint, but baseball historians have located a manuscript dated 1869 — 13 years before Brother Jasper's inspired time-out — documenting what can only be described as a seventh-inning stretch. It's a letter written by Harry Wright of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first pro baseball team. In it, he makes the following observation about the fans' ballpark behavior: "The spectators all arise between halves of the seventh inning, extend their legs and arms and sometimes walk about. In so doing they enjoy the relief afforded by relaxation from a long posture upon hard benches."
Truth be known, we have no idea where and when the custom of the seventh-inning stretch began. Based on the evidence that exists, it's doubtful the phenomenon originated with William Howard Taft, or even Brother Jasper. We know it's at least as old as 1869, that it cropped up in various places afterward and that it eventually became a solid tradition. No record of the phrase "seventh-inning stretch" exists before 1920, by which time the practice was already at least 50 years old.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=will...%2Fwilliam-howard-taft-9501184%2Fnews;617;500

In 1903, lumber tycoon William Clyman Yawkey, the richest man in Michigan agrees to buy the Detroit Tigers from Samuel F. Angus but dies before the deal is closed. Frank Navin then the Tiger’s bookkeeper and vice-president persuades his son, William H. Yawkey‚ to complete the deal so it was on this date in 1904 that the 28-year-old heir to the lumber and mining fortune‚ buys the Detroit Tigers for $50‚000.
Yawkey took little interest in the Tigers, leaving day-to-day control in Navin's hands. In 1908, Yawkey sold almost half of the club's stock to Navin, making him for all intents and purposes a full partner.
During the Great Flu Epidemic William H. Yawkey contracts the flu and dies in 1919 at the age of 43 leaving his entire $40 million estate to his nephew and adoptive son, Tom Yawkey, who uses part of those funds to later buy the Boston Red Sox in 1933 and unlike his uncle he devotes his time and finances for the rest of his life to building winning teams.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1904...Detroit-Tigers-Team-Photos-Collection;999;516

I wonder if they advertised on Outfield walls in the old days:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=paci...2Ftherealbsmile.tumblr.com%2Fpage%2F6;500;226

 

[67RedSox]

A couple of Cardinals, Stan Musial and Joe “Ducky” Medwick lead off today’s Post with a detour to Cincinnati and Denver between the two. It was on this date in 1967 Stan the Man is named the GM of the St. Louis Cardinals replacing Bob Howsam who jumped ship to become the GM of the Reds. The 46 year old Musial is four years retired as a player and a successful businessman but he brings success to the Cardinals as they win NL Pennant and World Series that season. He doesn’t feel comfortable running a Baseball team however and resigns in December of the same year. Not a bad 10 months though as he becomes the first GM to win a WS in his first season on the job and to this date is the only GM to guide a team to a WS Championship in his only year on the job.

How did Bob Howsam fare. Well, in three words…pretty darn good. He became one of the architects of the very successful “Big Red Machine”. He was the GM in Cincinnati from 1967-1977 and if there was a more dominating baseball team in my time following the Game I must have missed it.
Howsam was born in Denver and tried very hard to bring ML Baseball to the Mile High City. He was almost successful but he and his family did bring the Broncos to town. Howsam first made a name for himself as a highly successful baseball executive. He led the family-owned Denver Bears of the Class A Western League and Triple-A American Association from 1947 to 1962. For building one of the most successful minor league franchises of the 1950s, Howsam was twice (1951 and 1956) named Minor League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News. The Howsams also built Bears Stadium, a minor league baseball park which, after renovation and expanded capacity, became famous as the Broncos' noisy, raucous and perpetually sold-out home from 1960 to 2001, Mile High Stadium. While the Bears achieved great success as a Triple-A farm team of the New York Yankees in the late 1950s, their earlier tie-up with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1952–1954) served to introduce Howsam to Pirates' GM Branch Rickey, the Baseball Hall of Fame executive, who had revolutionized Baseball in his earlier career with the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers. Rickey would play an influential role later in Howsam's career.
In an attempt to bring ML Baseball to Denver, Howsam was one of the founders of the Continental League, which in 1959 planned to become the "third Major League" following the epidemic of franchise shifts during the 1950s. MLB magnates, nervous about the possible rescinding of baseball's antitrust exemption by the U.S. Congress after the National League abandoned New York, agreed to study (and perhaps support) the formation of the new loop. Howsam was slated to become owner of the Denver franchise, one of the league's eight charter members. Howsam even went as far as to expand Bears Stadium to over 34,000.
As events unfolded, the new league never got off the drawing board; it was doomed once three of its key cities gained Major League franchises in 1961–1962 (New York and Houston got expansion National League franchises, while the American League Washington Senators moved to Minneapolis-St. Paul).
Howsam was now in a bind. He had taken on a large amount of debt in hopes of bringing the majors to Denver. However, there was little prospect of retiring it in the foreseeable future, as he was now saddled with a stadium far too big for a Triple-A team. In hopes of getting additional revenue, he sought an expansion NFL team for Denver. When that bid was turned down, Howsam, his brother Earl and his father Lee founded the Denver Broncos – one of the eight charter members of the AFL.
In retirement, Howsam served on the Colorado Baseball Commission, which succeeded in bringing the Colorado Rockies to Denver as an MLB expansion team in 1993—thus fulfilling his dream of bringing MLB to his hometown three decades later.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bob+...th%2F1111516792%3Fean%3D9780786439805;260;390

It was on this date in 1968 that Ducky Medwick is elected to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. For those not familiar with Medwick he was the Stan Musial of the Cardinals during the 1930’s. He could hit with the best of them including Musial. Musial’s lifetime BA was .331, Medwick’s was .324. Both of them led the NL in Runs (Musial’s highest season total was 135, Medwick 132), Doubles (they were both doubles machines, Medwick holds NL record at 64, Musial 53), Triples (Musial 20 twice, Medwick 18), RBIs (Medwick 154, Musial 131) and BA (Musial .376, Medwick .374). Musial had 3 MVP Crowns while Medwick had one which he won in 1937, the year he won the Triple Crown…the last NL’er to do so. One of my earliest baseball memories that has stayed with me is a picture of Medwick in the Street & Smith’s Baseball Annual ( I miss that publication ) back around 1964 or 1965.
I find it odd the Cardinals have never retired his Uniform #7.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=stan...08%2F13%2Fred_hall_of_famer_enos.html;400;544

It was on this date in 1930 Frank Sullivan was born. If you said who?...you wouldn’t be alone. For his first 5 years in the Majors, 1954-1958 he was one of the elite pitchers in the Majors…and almost no one knows him. He pitched for the Red Sox and was a better pitcher than the Red Sox were a team and averaged 15 Wins a season over those 5 years. He was a two-time All-Star and in 1955 led the American League in Wins (tied). In 1955 he also appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post in a Norman Rockwell illustration entitled “The Rookie” .
Perhaps one reason for his anonymity is due to the fact he disappeared after retiring in 1964 to his idea of paradise or Kauai the largest and oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands about 100 miles northwest of Oahu…about a ½ hour to Honolulu by air. He lives there still. He’s been inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame and loves to hear from Baseball fans and has always encouraged fans e-mailing him. I’ve never done that but if you feel so inclined his e-mail address is [email protected].

https://www.google.ca/search?q=fran...an%2F414084%2FCards%2FBaseball%2F1963;760;540

https://www.google.ca/search?q=the+...le%3ANorman_Rockwell_-_The_Rookie.jpg;337;450

In Detroit on May 2, 1939, Lou Gehrig missed his first game after 2,130 consecutive appearances with the New York Yankees. But in Hollywood, the significance of Gehrig's iron-man performance was momentarily ignored. On a sunny afternoon, the stars of Hollywood and the Hollywood Stars turned out at Gilmore Field--the new home of the city's beloved AAA baseball team--to see the first game played there. Bing Crosby was there, so was Jack Benny, Al Jolson and Buster Keaton as part of the crowd of 13,000. Alas, the ballpark site was abandoned after 1957 and razed in 1958, and much of the site is now occupied by a parking lot at CBS Television City.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=gilm...framework.latimes.com%2Fpage%2F318%2F;970;615

 

[67RedSox]

Boy, you would think being elected to the Hall of Fame would be the most difficult part of the process of entering the Hall of Fame ( without having to pay the admission price ) but it seems selecting the team logo to appear on your cap is.
I can understand the dilemma some players entering the Hall of Fame have when it comes time to choosing the team cap they want to wear and to be depicted on their HOF plaque. This year Greg Maddux is faced with that, won’t pick either the Cubs or the Braves over the other and consequently will be going in without a team logo on his cap. I can understand his dilemma.
The Hall of Fame actually has dozens of players who have gone into the Hall without any team logo on their cap and a number of others, like Mel Ott who played his entire 22 year career with the NY Giants, without even a cap.
Other players like Gary Carter and Andre Dawson both went in wearing Montreal Expo caps although they didn’t want to. Carter would have preferred the Mets logo and Dawson the Cubs but since both played the majority of their careers with Montreal the Hall overruled their choice.
Then there’s the oddities like Yogi Berra who played all but 4 of his 2,120 game career games with the Yankees but chose to have no team logo on his cap???
The following HOF’ers are not wearing a cap on their Hall of Fame plaque: Ed Barrow, Dan Brouthers, Morgan Bulkeley, Jesse Burkett, Alexander Cartwright, Henry Chadwick, Happy Chandler, Jimmy Collins, Candy Cummings, Ed Delahanty, Hugh Duffy, Ford Frick, Warren Giles, Ned Hanlon, Will Harridge, William Hulbert, Ban Johnson, King Kelly, Kenesaw Landis, Connie Mack, Larry MacPhail, Lee MacPhail, Joe McGinnity, Mel Ott, Branch Rickey, Frank Selee, George Sisler, Al Spalding, Bill Veeck, Bobby Wallace, George Weiss, Vic Willis, George Wright, Harry Wright and Tom Yawkey.
The following HOF’ers are wearing a cap on their plaque, but the team is not identifiable (if a number is, it follows their name): Grover Alexander, Cap Anson, Frank Baker, Dave Bancroft, Al Barlick, Jake Beckley, Cool Papa Bell (17), Chief Bender, Yogi Berra (8), Jim Bottomley (3), Roger Bresnahan, Mordecai Brown, Oscar Charleston, Jack Chesbro, Nestor Chylak, John Clarkson, Eddie Collins, Charlie Comiskey, Jocko Conlan, Tom Connolly, Roger Connor, George Davis, Martin Dihigo, Billy Evans, Johnny Evers, Buck Ewing, Elmer Flick, Rube Foster, Bill Foster, Frankie Frisch (3), Pud Galvin, Charlie Gehringer (2), Josh Gibson (20), Clark Griffith, Chick Hafey (4), Jesse Haines, Harry Heilmann, Harry Hooper, Rogers Hornsby, Cal Hubbard, Catfish Hunter (27), Judy Johnson (5), Tim Keefe, Joe Kelley, Bill Klem, Buck Leonard (32), Pop Lloyd, Rube Marquard, Bill McGowan, Joe Medwick (7), Johnny Mize (10), Jim O'Rourke, Satchel Paige (26), Eddie Plank, Old Hoss Radbourn, Wilbert Robinson, Amos Rusie, Ray Schalk, Tris Speaker, Turkey Stearnes (8), Sam Thompson, Joe Tinker, Rube Waddell, Honus Wagner, Ed Walsh, John Ward and Mickey Welch.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=mel+...2F03%2F02%2Fhappy-birthday-mel-ott%2F;550;734

https://www.google.ca/search?q=gary...s.tripod.com%2Fcatchers%2Fcarter2.htm;280;390

https://www.google.ca/search?q=yogi...n.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FYogi_Berra;1574;2072

https://www.google.ca/search?q=will...%2F05%2Fhappy-birthday-willie-mays%2F;425;540

https://www.google.ca/search?q=stan...y-21-1969-stan-musial-is-elected.html;279;391

 

[67RedSox]

This is from “ the more things change, the more they stay the same file “ It was on this date in 1955 that MLB expressed concern that ballgames were running to long…about 2:28 per game on average so they announced a new rule which requires a pitcher to deliver the ball within 20 seconds after taking a pitching position. This wasn’t the first time MLB addressed this issue because exactly 42 years earlier…on this date in 1913…there’s a story in the New York Times… Detroit Tiger President Frank Navin blames the length of the games on the "coachers boxes." Navin‚ reacting to AL President Ban Johnsons's complaint that too many games the previous season had taken two hours to play‚ says the boxes should be moved back so that the catcher can give the pitcher his signals more quickly. From where they are now‚ he said‚ the coaching players can detect the catcher's signals unless he takes a lot of time to hide them. Navin said this slow signalling is the reason for the longer games.
In 2013 the average game was around 2:58. The lowest average game time is in Seattle at 2:44 and highest is at Fenway Park at 3:08. Short of preventing batters from stepping out after every pitch there may be no solution to reducing the game time.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=leng...bill-james-baseball-2015-essay-part-2;704;343

It was on this date in 1962 that the Southern Association established in 1901, suspends operation…the explanation given is slumping attendance. For most of its existence, the Southern Association was two steps below the Major Leagues; it was graded Class A (1902–1935), Class A1 (1936–1945) and Class AA (1946–1961). Although the SA was known as the Southern League through 1919, today's Class AA Southern League is not descended from the Southern Association; the modern SL came into existence in 1964 as the successor to the original South Atlantic ("Sally") League.
The Southern Association's member teams typically included the Atlanta Crackers, Birmingham Barons, Chattanooga Lookouts, Little Rock Travelers, Memphis Chicks, Nashville Vols, and New Orleans Pelicans. Either the Knoxville Smokies, Mobile Bears, or Shreveport Sports typically comprised the eighth club.
After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1946 with the Montreal Royals of the International League, the Southern Association adhered to the Jim Crow segregation laws of the time and only once permitted an African-American to play in the circuit and that was for a mere two games. Nat Peeples of the 1954 Atlanta Crackers was the only black player in the League's history. On April 9-10, 1954, Peeples played in two road games in Mobile, and went hitless in four at bats. He was demoted to the Single-A Jacksonville Braves before the Crackers played a home game. The Southern Association then played the rest of its history, through the end of 1961, as a racially segregated league. As a result, its Major-League parent clubs were forced to field all-white teams during the 1950s, a period when African-Americans and Latin-American players of African descent were beginning to dominate Major League Baseball. By the end of the 1950s, the SA also was boycotted by civil rights leaders. The Association finally ceased operation after the 1961 season.
Member cities slowly began to join remaining leagues, which were racially integrated. The Atlanta club moved up to the AAA International League in 1962, with Little Rock following suit (as the renamed Arkansas Travelers) in 1963. Macon, a longtime member of the Sally League, returned to that circuit in 1962. After a one-year hiatus, Nashville and Chattanooga joined the Sally League in 1963; Birmingham and Mobile would field teams in the Southern League, and Memphis and Shreveport would enter the Texas League (and Arkansas/Little Rock would settle there), later during the 1960s.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=nat+...0942%26vkey%3Dnews_milb%26fext%3D.jsp;275;235

On this date in 1950 Jackie Robinson signs a contract for $35‚000‚ reportedly making him the highest paid Brooklyn player in history. Robinson was coming off his MVP season when he led the Dodgers to the NL Pennant by 1 game over the Cardinals. The Dodgers would lose to the Yankees in 5 games in the World Series. History was made in the ninth inning of Game 5, when the Ebbets Field lights were turned on, making it the first World Series game finished under artificial lights. (The first scheduled Series night game would not be held until 1971.)

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jack...80%2599s-ed-henry-on-branch-rickey%2F;595;325

It was on this date in 1951 that the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast league purchase Al Benton from the Cleveland Indians. If you’re a Yankee fan here’s a trivia question to either ask or answer…Who is the only Major League pitcher to pitch to both Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. The answer is the aforementioned, Al Benton who first pitched in the Majors in 1934 and finished his ML career in the early 1950’s.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=al+b...84046-gambo-t_wil1-photopack-285.html;220;330

Bob Gibson is the only pitcher to win 2 World Series Game 7s…Unfortunately, I got to watch both on TV against my Yankees in 1964 and the Red Sox in 1967. A degree of sweet revenge happened in Game 7 of the 1968 World Series when Gibson and Lolich entered the 7th inning of Game 7 with the game scoreless. Curt Flood, 7 time Gold Glove winner, misjudges a two-out fly ball to CF and turns an easy out into a 2 run triple and Gibson losses this Game 7 instead of winning it.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bob+...%2F2011%2F04%2F1967-world-series.html;375;250

It was on this date in 1955 that the Washington Senators release 43 year-old pitcher Connie Marrero thereby bringing his ML career to an end. Marrero began pitching back in the days when Ruth & Gehrig were banging them out of ballparks for the Yankees. To aging North American fans, Marrero, one of Cuba's grandest baseball legends, is remembered exclusively for his five brief seasons with the American League also-ran Washington Senators, the team he joined in 1950 as a grizzled 39-year-old rookie. Despite not reaching the Majors until he was almost 40 he still was a very good pitcher. At 5’5” he was one of the shortest players in the game and a huge distraction on the mound. "Connie Marrero had a windup that looked like a cross between a windmill gone berserk and a mallard duck trying to fly backwards," once noted Dominican slugger Felipe Alou.
Marrero’s badge as a short-haul Big Leaguer was his advanced age and his irrepressibly colorful style. On-field he was a sneaky-fast curveballer known for his exceptional control and infallible mastery of the strike zone. Off the field he was a genuine homespun character who puffed monster cigars and loved being in the spotlight.
After his ML career ended he returned to Cuba and today, Marrero is alive and well and will turn 103 in April. He is Baseball’s oldest living former MLB player and the only one currently 100 or older.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=conn...A%2F%2Frichardlangworth.com%2Fmarrero;412;232

 

[67RedSox]

After the 1888 Baseball season, Albert Spalding one of the founding fathers of the National League, Baseball executive and co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company organized a World Baseball Tour. It was initially billed as Spalding’s Australian Baseball Tour, but Spalding had more nefarious plans. He put together an All Star team named the All Americas, that was to play his Chicago White Stockings in a series of exhibition games, starting in Chicago, moving west across the United States, and then sailing to Australia via Hawaii for another batch of exhibition games. Half way to Hawaii with a captive audience on the cruise liner Alameda, Spalding pitched his idea to expand the tour to Europe, Egypt, and Great Britain. Surprisingly all the players and their entourage didn’t throw him overboard and head back home. They agreed to turn their Australian adventure into a world tour.
Spalding’s goal for this tour was to spread the great “American” made game of baseball to the 4 corners of the world and use this opportunity to expand his sporting goods empire by marketing his bats, balls, gloves, and uniforms. Accompanying the players would be several journalists, servants, wives, a comedian by the name of Frank Lincoln, world famous aerialist Professor C. Bartholomew, and mascot Clarence Duvall.
The first game was played on October 20, 1888 in Chicago, and headed west via the Burlington Route Railroad with their new Cosmopolitan dining cars. They played games in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Des Moines, Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Los Angeles among others. Along the way ballplayers on a train would do what ballplayers do; raise hell, play practical jokes and in general do everything in their power to annoy their fellow passengers.
They set sail for Hawaii on November 16th. The practical jokes may have subsided a little during the voyage, do to rough seas, and the accompanying sea sickness. But do to a longer than anticipated voyage the tour arrived late to Hawaii. Their scheduled games could not be played, because their time of departure could not be postponed, and do to the no Sunday games rule they were not allowed to play, despite special pleading from Spalding. The players were still treated to a lavish luau with King Kalakaua. It was a testament to Spalding’s ambassadorial skills that the natives didn’t include the players on the menu.
After a quick stop in New Zealand, the tour arrived in Australia on December 14th. They played 11 games down under, with stops in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide, playing games on Christmas Eve, as well as New Years Day.
While in Adelaide the dashing, and daring Professor C. Bartholomew got a chance to perform his aerial act. Dangling from a hot air balloon from a height of approx. 2,000 feet, the one-eyed dare-devil performed on a trapeze that was dangling beneath the balloon. He then leaped from the balloon strapped to a parachute. Unfortunately for the Professor his parachute failed to deploy properly and he slammed into the chimney of a nearby hotel. He unbelievably suffered only minor injuries, but was reluctant to perform for the remainder of the tour.
Continuing the tour they set sail once again, heading northwest. They played in Cairo with the great pyramids of Ghizeh in the background, and the Sphinx looking quietly, yet stoically on. The players had a contest to see if anyone could throw a ball over the Cheops pyramid, but at 450 feet high it proved impossible. They also climbed all over the Sphinx for a photo op and threw baseballs at its right eye. Practices that would be considered felonious today.
Stops in Naples, Rome, Paris, London, Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin among others, would follow. Spalding tried desperately to get a game played in the Roman Coliseum, but was denied. Tours of the cities and their landmarks, as well as lavish banquets were held at every opportunity. Debauchery and mayhem was also on the menu.
The tour returned to the states on April 7th 1889 to a heroes welcome. Games were played in New York Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland before heading home to Chicago. All tolled they travelled over 30,000 miles and played 56 games, in 13 different countries, with the All Americas winning 29, the White Stockings 23, with 3 ties.
The Tour did not make money but everyone had an experience of a lifetime.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spal...ulsofshame.com%2Fblog%2F%3Fp%3D6737;3955;2688

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spal...rt-spaldings-world-tour-18881889-2%2F;640;441

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spal...rt-spaldings-world-tour-18881889.html;404;549

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spal...bert-spaldings-world-tour-18881889%2F;320;480

https://www.google.ca/search?q=albe...l-players-attacked-the-sphinx-in-1889;640;360

 

[67RedSox]

In 1933 the NY Giants win 91 games and the NL Pennant. The Brooklyn Dodgers finish 26.5 games behind with a dismal mark of 65-88. On this date in 1934 Giants manager, Bill Terry, jests, "Is Brooklyn still in the League?", during an interview with the New York press. The Dodgers file this away in their “We won’t forget that comment” file and pull it out when the Giants host them on the final weekend of the 1934 season. The Giants enter the weekend with a 1 game lead over the Cardinals. The Dodgers sweep the Giants, the Cardinals sweep the Reds and voila…the Cardinals win the Pennant, the Giants finish second.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bill...1934-Buy-2-Get-1-Free-%2F130611964863;736;597

Although success came late in his life Ray Kroc was named by Time Magazine among the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century. It was on this date in 1974, 40 years ago today, that he purchased the San Diego Padres.
At the age of 15 Kroc lied about his age to be a part of the Red Cross. He worked as an ambulance driver during World War I. In 1974, Kroc decided to retire from being the CEO of McDonald's and while he was looking for new jobs, he learned that the San Diego Padres team, its' assets and franchises were for sale he bought the team, for $12M, from their original owner, C. Arnholt Smith, a prominent San Diego businessman and former owner of the Pacific Coast League Padres.
The Padres in their 44 year history have had 10 players and one Manager who wore their uniform enter the Hall of Fame… Roberto Alomar, Rollie Fingers, Goose Gossage, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Greg Maddux, Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry, Ozzie Smith, Dick Williams and Dave Winfield.
The Padres are the only ML team who have never both had a pitcher toss a No-Hitter or a player hit for the cycle. ( The Marlins have also never had a player hit for the cycle )

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ray+...gspot.com%2F2013%2F01%2Fray-kroc.html;221;320

He played 27 seasons in the Majors and in every single one of them he was a regular…the first few as a 3B and Catcher but thereafter at 1B. Cap Anson, Baseball's first superstar, was the dominant on-field figure of 19th Century baseball. He earned his fame as the playing manager of the fabled Chicago White Stockings, the NL team now known as the Cubs. A larger-than-life figure of great talents and great faults, Anson managed the White Stockings to five pennants and set all the batting records that men such as Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth later broke. Anson was the second manager (after Harry Wright) to win 1,000 games and the first player to stroke 3,000 hits (though his exact total varies from one source to another). Although he retired from active play in 1897, he is still the all-time leader in hits, runs scored, doubles, and runs batted in for the Chicago franchise.
The stocky six-footer was no artist in the field. He holds the all-time record for most errors committed by a first baseman, but he played at a time when gloves were not used and errors were common. Longevity also helped account for his error record. It was on this date in 1895 he said, “nobody likes to see a play made with the aid of gloves." He was of the opinion that only catchers should be permitted the luxury of wearing gloves.
Anson participated in baseball tours of England in 1874 and of the world in 1888-89. He improved the quality of play in his time and spread the game's popularity. He raised the caliber of players with his own integrity and principles. Yet, at the same time, he was a bigot who once pulled his team off the field rather than play against a team with a black player. He is often cited as a force in the banning of black players from ML baseball, an unwritten rule that persisted until 1947. That Anson was a racist is beyond question. The extent of his influence in keeping blacks out of the majors in the 19th century is debatable.
Anson's later life was filled with disappointment and financial hardship. He was however a proud man and when the National League offered to provide a pension for him he stoutly refused all offers of assistance. He declared bankruptcy in 1910, and by 1913 he had lost his home and moved in with a daughter. Vaudeville allowed Anson to support himself, but barely, and he retired, penniless, from the stage in 1921. He died on April 14, 1922, three days shy of his 70th birthday…the National League paid his funeral expenses. Seventeen years later he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=cap+...a.org%2Fwiki%2FMarshalltown%2C_Iowa;1667;3000

 

[67RedSox]

If you think of the Wrigley family what do you think of first…either the Chicago Cubs or chewing gum. How many think about Catalina Island…my guess is not too many but that 75 square miles of land 22 miles off Los Angeles may have been as high on their priority list as anything, business aside.
In 1916 William K. Wrigley became an owner of the Cubs. It would be in 1921 that he acquired control and for the next 60 years the family would own the team selling to the Chicago Tribune in 1981.
It was on this date in 1932 that William K. Wrigley, owner of the Cubs dies at his Phoenix, Arizona mansion, at age 70. He was interred in his custom-designed sarcophagus located in the tower of the Wrigley Memorial & Botanical Gardens near his beloved home on Catalina Island. But a decade after his death, Wrigley's remains were moved during World War II due to wartime security concerns. Wrigley was reinterred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. His only son, Philip K. Wrigley, inherits the Cubs along with the Minor League Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League.
W.K. Wrigley played an instrumental role in the development of Catalina Island. He bought a controlling interest in the Santa Catalina Island Company in 1919 and with the company received the island. Wrigley improved the island with public utilities, new steamships, a hotel, the Casino building, and extensive plantings of trees, shrubs, and flowers. He also sought to create an enterprise that would help employ local residents. By making use of clay and minerals found on the island at a beach near Avalon, in 1927 Wrigley created the Pebbly Beach quarry and tile plant. Along with creating jobs for Avalon residents, the plant also supplied material for Wrigley's numerous building projects on the island. After the building of Avalon's Casino in 1929, the Catalina Clay Products Tile and Pottery Plant began churning out handmade glazed tiles, dinnerware, and other practical household items such as bookends. Nowadays, Catalina art pottery items are highly popular antique collectibles.
However, William Wrigley, Jr.'s greatest legacy was his plan for the future of Catalina Island—that it be protected for all generations to enjoy. His son, Philip, in 1972 established the Catalina Island Conservancy for this purpose and transferred all family ownership to it. In 1975, Wrigley deeded 42,135 acres of the island from the Santa Catalina Island Company to the Catalina Island Conservancy established in 1972. This gave the Conservancy control of nearly 90 percent of the island. The balance of the Santa Catalina Island Company that was not deeded to the Conservancy maintains control of much of its resort properties and operations on the island.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=cata...each.com%2Fpark-cruise-hotel-packages;600;428

 

[67RedSox]

In 1984 Buzz Arlett was voted the Greatest Player in Minor League History. He was long coveted by ML teams and long withheld by Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast league but on this date in 1931 he is sold to the Phillies. The 6'3" 225-lb Californian began as a pitcher with Oakland of the Pacific Coast League in 1918 and won 108 before becoming a full-time outfielder in 1923.
At the age of 32 he played his first and only season in the Majors and fared well at the plate hitting .313 with 18 HRs and 73 RBIs. He seldom struck out ( 39 times ) and had a very good On-Base % of .387 and slugged .538. After one season in the Majors he returned to the Minors and over the next 3 seasons averaged .334-47-148. How did such a talent spend 17 of his 18 professional seasons in the Minors, mostly on the West Coast as one of the biggest stars in the "third" Major League and not in the Majors. Part of that was due to the fact that he started out as a pitcher and in his first four full seasons he averaged 24 Wins a season. Detroit and Cincinnati both came to kick the tires but Detroit got cool feet because his primary pitch, the spitball, was banned. Cincinnati shied away because his pitching arm was damaged after throwing so many innings each season ( in 1920 he tossed 427 innings ).
Arlett, pretty much had to start over. He got tired of warming the pines, waiting for his arm to heal. He approached Manager Howard in Oakland and asked about playing the outfield. Arlett was already considered one of the better hitting pitchers in the league and was no stranger to pinch hitting assignments. Management approved the experiment. The next problem was also related to his bum right arm: he couldn't swing a bat. The right-handed hitting Arlett asked if he could practice hitting left-handed. An affirmative from the boss allowed Buzz to spend countless hours in the cage, practicing his portside swing. Adapting easily to the left side of the plate, Arlett soon began regularly patrolling the Oaks outfield.
Buzz responded in fine fashion, posting a .330 mark in 149 games as an outfielder. ML scouts were astonished when they came to check the progress of his damaged throwing arm, only to find him blasting the opposition with his potent bat.
In 1924, the Cardinals sent a scout to watch Buzz in action. Arlett responded with a particularly bad day in the field. One fly ball even landed squarely on the head of the outfield newcomer. The scout abruptly ended consideration, surmising the big guy would lose more games with his glove than he'd win with his bat. Arlett would soon improve to become, at best, an adequate fielder; however, the reputation of being a poor glove man would persist.
Buzz played some first base in 1924 while recuperating from an injury. His play around the bag was more than adequate for someone again thrust into a new position. Buzz put up more big numbers, contributing 33 home runs and a .328 batting average. The 1925 season would be more of the same, as big Buzz punished Pacific Coast League pitching to the tune of a .344 average with 25 homers.
Buzz had a phenomenal year in 1926, hitting .382, with 25 home runs and an impressive 140 runs batted in. A report he was sold to Brooklyn never materialized, due mostly to an excessive $ amount placed on the services of such a prized player, literally putting him out of the reach of prospective suitors.
The Minors were independent of ML ownership. In many cases, players were under contract to a team with no desire (or incentive) to sell valuable players. Often, owners would hold out trying to drive up bid amounts. Minor League players became stars in their own right and often earned salaries that exceeded the income of ML’ers. They were content with the system, enjoying the climate and lifestyle of cities where they played and Arlett was such a player. He earned a high salary, and the Oaks, always a top team in attendance, appreciated the number of fans he put in the seats.
Nevertheless, press and fans alike lobbied for Buzz's promotion to the Big Leagues. Oakland began to realize that Buzz would cost more as years passed and his age would cause a decline in value. In 1930 Brooklyn was interested and made an offer. The Oaks were playing a series in Sacramento. Arlett, not playing in the game, watched from the bench as home plate umpire Chet Chadbourne seemed to make one bad call after another. Buzz joined his teammates in riding the ump over blown calls.
For the second night in a row, benches cleared over pent-up frustration stemming from Chadbourne's calls at home plate. Order restored, Chadbourne decided to toss Arlett. After the game, as players cleared the field, Arlett sought out Chadbourne, in the tunnel leading to the clubhouse. Buzz wanted an explanation and asked the ump why he was thrown out of the game. Without uttering a word, Chadbourne turned, reached over another Oaks player and viciously struck Buzz in the head with his heavy iron mask. The glancing blow struck Arlett just above the left eye.
Buzz was rushed to the hospital, where he was listed in serious condition. The cut on his skull was bone deep and required 12 stitches to close; doctors were also concerned about permanent eye damage.
Brooklyn still seeking to spark to their lineup for the balance of the 1930 season, withdrew their offer. A wounded Buzz Arlett recuperating in a West Coast hospital would certainly not be of any short-term help. Arlett slowly got back to his old self. Despite the missed time he would end the season hitting .361, with 31 homers and 143 RBI. The Oaks realized they'd better entertain any legitimate offers for their aging star. The Oaks sold his contract to the perennial last-place occupants of the National League: namely the Philadelphia Phillies. The configuration of Baker Bowl was thought to be perfect for the Arlett swing.
When the 1931 season started on April 14 the aging rookie became the talk in all of Baseball. Six weeks into the season, his numbers showed a League-leading .385 batting average, while placing second with 11 homers but then injuries took their toll. The injuries began in Cincinnati when he hurt his leg while sliding and never quite regained his early-season form. In June, he fractured his thumb trying to steal second base. He was out of the lineup for two weeks and when he returned, he couldn't swing from the left side of the plate. He played some 1B while recuperating, but his overall performance was just not the same. Although popular with Phillies fans some personnel changes had to be made for 1932. Overall, the Phillies sought to improve the outfield by adding a speedy center fielder and moving Chuck Klein to right. The resulting move made Buzz expendable, and he was waived out of the League.
Lefty O'Doul, a contemporary of Arlett in the Pacific Coast League, offered a sobering commentary on Buzz's only season in the sun. He remarked to press that had Arlett been in the big leagues five years earlier, he would have been "the Babe Ruth of the National Circuit."
Arlett returned and played in the Minors until age and injuries caught up with him. Except for 4 at-bats in 1937 the 1936 season was his last.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=buzz...done-the-sparky-anderson-all-stars%2F;336;461

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1937 in Cincinnati‚ the worst flood in the city's history inundates Crosley Field‚ covering the field to a depth of as much as 21 feet of water. The lower grandstand is completely covered. Reds pitchers Gene Schott and Lee Grissom row a boat out from the center field wall and the resulting photo appears across the country.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=cros...napshots.com%2Ftag%2Fcrosley-field%2F;517;410

https://www.google.ca/search?q=cros...day-in-reds-history-flood-leaves.html;400;305

A little of this and that:

- Lou Piniella’s first year in the Majors was 1964 with the Baltimore Orioles. In 1968 he played for the Cleveland Indians and in 1969 he’s selected as the AL’s Rookie of the Year…five years after his ML debut.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=lou+...rds.com%2Fshowcase%2Flou-piniella.htm;172;248

- The finest pitched game ever likely belongs to Harvey Haddix who lost his Perfect Game, on Memorial Day in 1959, in the 13th inning. Haddix was the WP in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series when Mazeroski hit the Series ending walk-off Home Run. Haddix had a nickname…”The Kitten “ How did he get such a nickname? It was when he was in St. Louis, based on his resemblance to Harry Brecheen. Brecheen was a thirty-seven year old ten year veteran nicknamed "The Cat" while Haddix was a twenty-six year old rookie ergo, Kitten.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=harv...tchers-paradise-lost-harvey-haddix%2F;330;267

- Jeff Montgomery (KC Royals) was the 9th pitcher to earn 300 Saves and the first to earn all 300 with one team (since joined by Mariano Rivera and Troy Percival). Montgomery was unique among his reliever brethren in that while most of them are associated with one single dominant pitch he had a starter's repertoire of four pitches: Fastball, slider, curve, and change-up. Common theory is that closers (and relievers in general) only have a pitch or two for two reasons: (1) If they had more than two pitches, they'd be starting and (2) If you're coming in with the game on the line, you don't want to be fiddling around trying to figure out what pitches are working that day. Montgomery succeeded in spite of these reasons proving, as always, that you can count on baseball teams to maintain convention despite contrary evidence.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jeff...Fpages%2Fcatholicbaseballcoaches.html;660;380

- Roger Connor was one of the game's early stars. Although it was not determined until well after his death, Connor--who hit more than ten home runs seven times in the 1800s, itself a record--held the for career record for home runs, 138, until Babe Ruth broke it in 1921. Of course, thanks to the shoddy record keeping at the time, no one (least of all Connor himself) had any idea what the record was or who held it. Connor was a large man even by modern standards, 6'3", 220 pounds, but for the 1800s he was huge and it was because of Connor and others that the "New York Giants" were so-named. Connor used his size to not just establish the home-run record but also to establish some home run firsts. According to the Hall of Fame, Connor was the first man to hit a HR over the fence at the Polo Grounds in New York. The Hall of Fame also credits Connor, on September 10, 1881 as hitting the first grand slam in history, a walk-off grand slam no less.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=roge...%3ARoger_Connor_(baseball_player).jpg;360;640

- How good a pitcher was Spud Chandler? The better question might be…does anyone remember Spud Chandler? He was a RHP for the NY Yankees playing his entire 11 year ML career in pinstripes, 1937-1947. He did something no other Yankee pitcher has ever done…he was named the AL's MVP in 1943 after anchoring the team's pitching staff with 20 wins and only 4 losses as New York won its third consecutive pennant; his 1.64 earned run average that season was the lowest by any ML pitcher between 1920 and Bob Gibson’s 1.12 in 1968, and remains a Yankees team record. In 11 seasons, he never suffered a losing record; with a total of 109 wins and 43 losses, his career winning percentage of .717 is the highest of any pitcher with at least 100 victories since 1876.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=spud...iew%2F82290%2F29489887%2F%3Fpg%3Dlast;609;471

- 1969 was the first ML season for the expansionist KC Royals. Leading them in pitching Wins that season was a 24 year old by the name of Wally Bunker. Funny thing about Bunker was that it was his 7th season in the Majors and 5 years earlier he led the Baltimore Orioles in Wins with 19 at the age of 19. At 26 his MLB career was over.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=wall...g-each-mlb-teams-greatest-rookie-ever;650;913

- Don Hoak was a 3B in the 50s and 60s, best known probably for his time with the Pirates where he was viewed as the emotional leader of the 1960 team that defeated the Yankees in the World Series. Hoak is one of only a few players in the post World War II era to have a rule change instituted based solely on a play he made. In April 1957, Hoak was on second base with Gus Bell on first and Wally Post at the plate. Post hit a groundball to shortstop Johnny Logan for a seemingly sure double-play. However, before Logan could field the ball, Hoak stepped in front, fielded the ball barehanded, and after a moment, flipped the ball to the confused Logan and trotted off the field. The umpires ruled Hoak out for being "hit" with a batted ball but Post received credit for a single and Bell advanced to second. The play caused a minor sensation… had Hoak opened a Pandora's Box, ushering in a new era of players interfering with balls in play. NL President Warren Giles (working with AL Umpire-in-Chief Cal Hubbard) soon modified the rule such that any play in which a runner intentionally interfered with a ball in play resulted in both he and the batter being out with no advance by any other runners. Hoak died in 1969, he was pursuing a car thief who had stolen his brother-in-law's car when he apparently suffered a heart attack. It was the end—quite literally, I suppose—of a bad day all around for Hoak. Earlier he had received word that his manager from 1960, Danny Murtaugh, had been named manager of the Pirates for the 1970 season, a job that Hoak had coveted after some successful seasons managing in the minors.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=don+....info%2F1960sBaseball_PP_DonHoak.html;385;275

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1953 Cardinals owner, Fred Saigh, is found guilty of income tax evasion and is sentenced to a 15-month jail term.
In 1947 Saigh, a St. Louis based tax and corporate lawyer purchased the St. Louis Cardinals from the ill and long-time Cardinals owner, Sam Breadon.
Breadon, was a self-made millionaire who prospered as the owner of Pierce-Arrow auto dealerships. Pierce-Arrow was an American automobile manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York. Although they had other lines like fire trucks and camper trailers their primary business was producing luxury cars. The Pierce-Arrow was a status symbol, owned by many Hollywood stars and tycoons. Most of the royalty of the world had at least one Pierce-Arrow in its collection. Along came the Depression…Pierce-Arrow was the only luxury brand that did not field a lower-priced car to provide cash flow, and without sales or funds for development, the company declared insolvency in 1938 and closed its doors. In 1917, Breadon became a minority investor – for $2,000 – in the Cardinals, then a struggling, second-division team chronically strapped for resources. But the club’s enterprising young president, Branch Rickey, discovered that the team could compete successfully against richer opponents by developing its playing talent on an assembly line of Minor League teams that it owned and controlled. This was the creation of the farm system and it was copied by the 15 other ML teams.
Under Breadon, the Cardinals would flourish winning six WS Championships. Saigh got wind that Sam Breadon wanted to sell. Breadon faced two problems. Besides being ill with prostate cancer and he'd been unable to find land on which to build a planned new ballpark. The Cardinals had rented Sportsman's Park from the city's other ML team, the AL Browns, since 1920. Although they had long since surpassed the Browns as the city's most popular team, Breadon wanted to build a park of his own.
Saigh persuaded Breadon to sell the Cardinals to him for $4M. Saigh inherited a team in transition. The Cardinals, though then just one year removed from their 9th NL Pennant and sixth WS championship since 1926, had begun to decay. Five years before, Breadon had forced out legendary GM Branch Rickey, who had quickly resurfaced with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Meanwhile, the Browns, under new owner Bill Veeck, began a concerted effort to drive the Cardinals out of town.
In April 1952, Saigh was indicted on federal charges of evading $49,260 in income taxes between 1946 and 1949. In January 1953, he pleaded no contest to two counts involving more than $19,000 in tax underpayments, and was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He served five months leaving in November 1953 when he was given parole for good behavior.
In February 1953, under pressure from Commissioner Ford Frick, Saigh put the Cardinals up for sale. Saigh would have almost certainly been thrown out of baseball if he hadn't sold the team. For a time, no credible offers surfaced from St. Louis interests, making it seem likely that the team would be purchased by someone interested in moving them to another city. The most promising offer came from a consortium of businessmen in Houston, Texas. The Cardinals owned the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League; under ML rules of the time, they also held the ML rights to Houston. The only question was whether Buffalo Stadium could be upgraded to ML standards.
Just before he was due to reach a final agreement with the Houston group, Saigh sold the Cardinals to Anheuser-Busch, the St. Louis-based brewery. Although Anheuser-Busch's offer was far less ($3.75 million) than what out-of-town suitors had on the table, Anheuser-Busch president Gussie Busch persuaded Saigh that civic pride was more important than money. This all but assured that the Cardinals would stay in St. Louis. Shortly afterward, the Cardinals bought Sportsman's Park from the Browns. With their remaining leverage gone, it was the Browns who left town by the end of the season, becoming the Baltimore Orioles.
Don’t feel bad for Saigh…he resumed his career in private business, amassing a large amount of stock in Anheuser-Busch – the largest shareholder outside the Busch family itself. He died in St. Louis, at the age of 94, worth approximately $500 million.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=fred...cc89-7b58-5e1d-93d3-62c223b5de25.html;620;484

Bill Doak was born on this date in 1891. Doak was a ML pitcher for 16 seasons, 1912-1929, and pitched primarily for the Cardinals, 1913-1924. His player stats reveal he was a pretty solid pitcher who won 169 ML games. In 1914, his first full season in the Majors, Doak came out of nowhere to lead the NL in ERA as the Cardinals achieved third place, their best NL finish ever. He followed with solid but unspectacular seasons for the Redbirds for the rest of the Dead Ball Era, earning 87 of his 169 career wins before 1920. A slow and deliberate worker who used a huge red handkerchief to wipe his brow a few times each game, Doak relied on good control and an effective "slow drop" (curveball) to go along with his signature spitball. Spittin' Bill Doak still ranks second in career shutouts (30) for the St. Louis Cardinals, behind only Bob Gibson (56). However, what his stats don’t reveal is how significantly he influenced the Game...Doak took two actions off the field in 1919 that changed his life considerably. First he approached the Rawlings Sporting Goods Company of St. Louis, where he played, about improving the design of the baseball glove, which to that point was meant mainly for hand protection, not functional fielding. He patented the the Bill Doak Baseball glove design. Working with Rawlings production chief William P. Whitely, Doak came up with a revolutionary new design that became a prototype of gloves for years to come. Bill explained what made it special: "By enlarging the thumb, bringing it up even with the first finger, a larger pocket is formed and many balls are caught on the very tips of the thumb and first finger." Rawlings first sold the model for $10 as the "Premier Players' Glove" in 1920. Doak gloves were quickly adopted as the glove of choice for players of all skills and levels, including many MLB Players of that era. They were even used as Government Issue (G.I.) for the military in the 1940s.
Bill Doak gloves were constructed to the highest of quality, featuring 100% leather (including the binding), and were made in various incarnations over the years.
While Doak gloves are relatively common with no cloth wristrap labels, or even with a single "Rawlings" cloth label ("patch"), the small number of those that survive with the second "Bill Doak Glove" label are highly prized, and continue to be sought after by collectors.
After the 1919 season Doak also played an active role in the successful campaign to grandfather pitchers like himself who already used the spitball from the new ban against "freak" pitches. Initially spitballers were to receive only one transition year, 1920, to use their wet delivery, but the owners reversed their stance and allowed Doak and 16 others to use the pitch for the remainder of their careers.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bill...Fwww.rmyauctions.com%2Flot-2018.aspx;787;1000

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bill...ovesmitts%2Fbilldoakbaseballglove.htm;600;514

Do you have any idea what a Siwash is. It’s an American Indian of the northern Pacific coast. In 1903 the Seattle Siwashes were one of six charter members of the Pacific Coast League. They played in the first four years of the League’s operation. Though the team finished second in 1906, the PCL contracted from six teams to four after the season (mainly due to the failure of the Sacramento franchise). For the next 11 seasons the team played in the Northwest League until they re-entered the PCL. By that time their name had changed to the Indians . They would become the Rainiers after being acquired by the Rainier Brewing Company, which was in turn named for nearby Mount Rainier. They would remain in the League until 1968 when the ill-fated Major League Seattle Pilots came to town and began ( and ended ) their life in 1969. The now Seattle Mariners occasionally wear a throwback uniform of the 1950’s Rainiers.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=seat...8-retro-style-logos-uniforms-119.html;300;300

 

[67RedSox]

I think one player I would have loved to watch hit was Luke Easter. Most who saw him play say that he deserved more recognition than he received. His ML career was brief as he played only three full seasons with the Indians in 1950, 1951 and 1952 with bits and pieces of others thrown in. He was a left-handed 1B. At 6’4”, 240 lbs he towered over most players of his time.
Like so many players from the ***** Leagues who followed Jackie Robinson to the Majors Easter was already in his mid-30s by the time he arrived in Cleveland. He was a 34 year rookie who turned 35 mid way through the season. It was his age plus knee and ankle injuries that limited him to only three ML seasons. Those seasons however were pretty productive as he averaged 28 HRs and 102 RBIs per season.
Fans came to watch Easter hit not play in the field. Despite his bat some teams felt he was too big and awkward to be a good ballplayer. He proved them wrong. Ironically, my favourite picture of Easter is not one where he’s swinging the bat but one where he’s teaching a bunch of Spring Training hopefuls for the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League how to stretch for a throw at 1st Base. Not one of the 6 hopefuls is looking at Easter and my guess is that those 6 and Easter all wished that hokey picture be destroyed.
As a player, Easter was best known for his powerful home runs, commonly known as "Easter Eggs". While with the Grays in 1948, he became the first player to hit a home run into the center field bleachers at New York's Polo Grounds during game action, a section that was 475 feet from home plate. During his rookie season, he also hit the longest home run in the history of Cleveland's Municipal Stadium, a 477-foot blast over the auxiliary scoreboard in right field; the only other player to match that feat was Mickey Mantle, who did it in 1960. Finally, during his twilight days with the Bisons, he became the first player to hit a home run over the center field scoreboard at Buffalo's home park, Offermann Stadium, doing so twice in a month in 1957. When told by a fan one time that the fan had seen Easter's longest home run in person, Easter is reported to have replied, "If it came down, it wasn't my longest."
After his years in the Majors Easter continued to play professionally at the AAA level, even though the leg injuries had reduced his running speed to a limp. He played regularly for the Ottawa Athletics, Charleston Senators, Buffalo Bisons and Rochester Red Wings, and won the International League's MVP award with the Bisons in 1957. He ultimately retired as a player in 1963, at the age of 48, and worked for several years thereafter as a coach. His number (36) was retired by the Rochester Red Wings and number (25) by the Buffalo Bisons.
After his days as a coach, Easter returned to the Cleveland area and went to work for the Aircraft Workers Alliance in 1964, eventually becoming the chief union steward for at TRW in the east side suburb of Euclid, Ohio. On March 29, 1979 he was shot and killed outside a bank at East 260th Street and Euclid Avenue while transporting $5,000 from payroll checks. Police reports indicated that Easter was approached by two robbers armed with shotguns and after refusing to turn over the funds, he was shot twice at close range.

http://90feetofperfection.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/1953-san-diego-padres-lane-field1.jpg

https://www.google.ca/search?q=luke...a.org%2Fwiki%2FLuke_Easter_(baseball);200;315

Bill Voiselle was born on this date in 1919. He was a pitcher for 9 seasons in the majors in the 1940’s and as a rookie he was a 21 game winner in 1944 when he led the NL both in Innings Pitched with 313 and Strikeouts with 161.
In 1948 the Boston Braves went to the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. None of us were born then but we’ve all heard the refrain of…”Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain” regerring to the rather thin starting pitching the Braves had. Well, Bill Voiselle was Boston’s 3rd starter that season and arguably pitched better than Spahn. However, no one remembers Voiselle for any of this.
Voiselle is remembered not for any of the above. it’s the number 96 that remains his claim to fame. This is what Voiselle wore on the back of his Boston Braves uniform, a tribute to the tiny town of Ninety-Six, South Carolina where he was raised and spent most of his life. Until pitchers Mitch Williams and Turk Wendell both donned “99” late in the 20th century, Voiselle’s was the highest uniform number in ML history. Also known as “Big Bill,” the 6-foot-4, 200-pound hurler was dubbed “Ol’ Ninety-Six” in his Boston days, and the nickname stuck for nearly half a century. Even now, years after his January 31, 2005 death, mentions of Bill’s decorated number routinely pop up in baseball books and trivia games... making this oddity Voiselle’s sole legacy.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bill...sjammage.com%2Ftag%2Fbill-voiselle%2F;318;436

Between 1918 and 1931 Babe Ruth won the AL Home Run Crown every season but two. There was only one player who matched or exceeded Ruth’s HR totals those two seasons. Ken Williams of the lowly St. Louis Browns won the HR Crown in 1922 with 39 to Ruth’s 35 and in 1925 Williams tied Ruth’s total of 25. It was on this date in 1930 that the Yankees acquired Ken Williams from the Boston Red Sox who he was with by that time feeling it was better to having hitting for you rather than against you. Alas, he would never play a game wearing the Yankee uniform. He was 40 years by this time and instead went back to the Pacific Coast League from whence he had come from back in 1918. In 1930 he hit a modest .350 for the Portland Beavers playing in 148 games.
Williams was a legitimate MLB player. Over 14 seasons he played 1,397 games and all but 3 of those games were in the Outfield. His career batting average was .319 and after becoming a regular in 1919 he failed to hit above .300 only once in his career when he ‘slumped’ to .280 in 1926. He was the first player in the Majors to hit more than 30 home runs and steal 30 bases (37) in a season. He also became the first player to hit more home runs in a season (39) than he had strikeouts (31). In 1922 Williams became the first player to hit a homer in six consecutive games from July 28 through August 2. On August 7 he became the first American Leaguer to hit two home runs in one inning.
Williams is not remembered for the player he was primarily because he played in a time where he was usually over-shadowed by someone. If not Ruth in the power department it was George Sisler on his own St. Louis Browns. Sisler, one of the greatest hitters of all time who twice hit over .400 and held the single-season Basehit record with 257 until Ichiro came along did all of his damage while Williams was a teammate. In 1922 when Williams won 2/3 of the AL Triple Crown with 39 Hrs and 155 RBIs he hit .322. That was almost 100 points below Sisler’s .420 that season. Of the 26 players who received MVP votes that season ( won by Sisler ) Williams was not one of them. When voting for the Hall of Fame came along for Williams he was on the ballot two years ( 1956 and 1958 ). The first year he was ranked dead last among 106 vote getters with 1 vote out of 193 cast. The second time around he received 1 out of 266 votes so less than 30 years after his ML career ended he was all but forgotten about. More than 50 years later than that I suspect he’s all but forgotten about.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ken+...gonsportshall.org%2Fken_williams.html;300;386

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ken+...http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abarim.com%2Fwho.htm;554;273

 

[67RedSox]

When fan voting to determine the game's starters for the 1957 Mid-Summer Classic, also known as the All-Star Game, was completed seven Cincinnati Redlegs players (Ed Bailey, Johnny Temple, Roy McMillan, Don Hoak, Frank Robinson, Gus Bell and Wally Post) had been elected to start. The only non-Redleg elected to start for the National League was St. Louis Cardinal 1B, Stan Musial. Most Baseball observers agreed that while the Redlegs were known to be a great offensive team with many outstanding position players, they did not deserve seven starters in the All-Star Game.
An investigation launched by Commissioner Ford Frick found that over half of the ballots cast came from Cincinnati, with the Cincinnati Enquirer printing up pre-marked ballots and distributing them with the Sunday edition of the newspaper to make it easy for Redlegs fans to vote often for their favorite players, while stories emerged of bars in Cincinnati refusing to serve alcohol to customers until they filled out a ballot.
Frick appointed Willie Mays of the New York Giants and Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves to substitute for Bell and Post. Bell was kept as a reserve, while Post was injured and would have been unable to play in any event. Managers, players, and coaches picked the entire team until 1970, when the vote again returned to the fans, and to avoid a repeat of this incident, MLB officials evenly distributed the 26 million ballots to 75,000 retail outlets and 150 minor and major league stadiums, while a special panel was also created to review the voting.
Commissioner Ford Frick had one last penalty to assess on the poor Baseball fan who dared vote for their home-town favourites. No, it wasn’t a public flogging, it was something else…on this date in 1958 Commissioner Ford Frick announces fans will no longer vote for the players to play in the Mid-Summer Classic. The teams will now be selected by ML players and coaches.
To show you how flawed my memory is I thought it was the 1956 All-Star Game voting that got the Commissioner’s knickers in a twist. What did happen in the 1956 All-Star Game was Ken Boyer serving notice he would be a player to be reckoned with during his career. In fact, 1956 was a particularly good year to be a Baseball fan…so much so I’ll do a separate Post on that singular season in the next day or so.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=box+...almanac.com%2Fasgbox%2Fyr1957as.shtml;228;300

Jordan Pacheco was born on this date in 1986…Happy 28th. He was one of the best stories of an otherwise dismal 2012 season for the Colorado Rockies and unfortunately his talents were pretty much lost in 2013.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=jord...jordan-pacheco-story-and-interview%2F;450;298

Going back a bit further it was on this date in 1930 that Sandy Amoros was born. That name may not mean much to today’s fan but if you were a Dodger fan in the 1950’s you will very fondly remember Sandy Amoros. On October 4, 1955, this outfielder helped “Next Year” arrive at last for the Brooklyn Dodgers. His racing catch off Yogi Berra near the left-field line at Yankee Stadium saved the Bums’ 2-0 lead in Game Seven of the World Series. Johnny Podres held on for the remaining three innings to bring Brooklyn its only title. The grab by Amoros still stands as one of the greatest in Series history, and it was the defining moment of the Cuban’s career.
Here’s what author peter Golenbach had to say about him... “Amoros had been one of the greatest players ever to come out of pre-Castro Cuba. If he had spoken English, he certainly would have played more, because in Cuba he was a .300 hitter in a fast league, was fleet in the field, was excellent at stealing bases, and was a good bunter. But he didn’t learn the language, and it was a handicap that kept him from becoming a star. A manager just doesn’t trust employing a player when he isn’t sure whether the guy understands him or not.” Thus, in the Majors he remained a role player, spending just three full summers there along with fractions of four others.
Amoros moved to Los Angeles with the Dodgers but seldom played. By 1961 he was out of the Majors and spent 1961 with Denver in the American Association. After that season Fidel Castro decided to form an entire professional summer league in Cuba. He asked Amoros, who, as usual, was spending his offseason in Cuba, to stay home and manage one of the teams instead of returning to Mexico that summer. Amoros said no… telling Castro he didn’t know how to manage a team and could still play. Castro did not take Amoros’ refusal lightly. He stripped Amorós of his ranch, car, all his assets and cash.” By running afoul of Castro Amoros fell on hard times after playing a final year in Mexico in 1962. Poverty and ill health marked the last 30 years of his life. For many years he was not allowed to leave Cuba. He worked as a mechanic, repairman, or whatever he could find. His reduced circumstances led to other problems…he became an alcoholic and eventually a diabetic. When he did leave, John McHale, then assistant to Commissioner, found out that Sandy was seven days short of qualifying for a ML pension and he mentioned it to Dodgers GM Buzzie Bavasi, who took it in turn to club owner Walter O’Malley. The Dodgers put him on their roster for the few days he needed for his pension. That was in 1967.
He lived in New York and a few odd jobs followed until in 1977 he moved to Tampa and began to draw his pension of $495.00 a month. By 1987 his health significantly failed because of the diabetes and he lost a leg below the knee to the disease. His pension was not enough to maintain him and through the Baseball Assistance program it was increased by $400.00 a month. Five years later, in 1992, Amoros died from pneumonia at 62.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Li5QM_cxPg]Stock Footage - Dodgers Win World Series 1955 - YouTube[/ame]

Walt Dropo was born on this date in 1923. He was the American League’s Rookie of the Year in 1950 and why not since all the Red Sox rookie did was lead the League in RBIs, tied with teammate Vern Stephens, with 144 and this despite being in the Minors at the start of the season. Dropo also led the League in total bases with 326, on the strength of 34 home runs (second to Al Rosen’s 37), and placed second in both extra-base hits and slugging percentage. He also posted career marks in average (.322), runs scored (101), and hits (180.)

https://www.google.ca/search?q=walt...%2Fbobsbaseballmuseum.com%2Fphotos_3;800;1005

 

[67RedSox]

If time travel was possible ( perhaps it is ) then I’m thinking 1956 would be a great year to visit if you’re a Baseball fan. In a Post yesterday I mentioned the catch Sandy Amoros made in Game 7 of the 1955 Dodger/Yankee World Series that helped preserve the only Brooklyn version of a Dodger World Series triumph. Well, the New York Yankees opened the 1956 baseball season wanting revenge. Their target: The Dodgers. New York took hold of first place on May 16 and never looked back, giving Casey Stengel his seventh flag in eight tries. Mickey Mantle, age 24, became the newest Yankee Stadium legend, winning the Triple Crown and the Most Valuable Player Award with 52 home runs, 130 RBI, and a .353 average.

The National League battle was waged by Brooklyn, Milwaukee, and, surprisingly, Cincinnati.

The defending champion Dodgers were carried by Don Newcombe, whose 27 wins earned him MVP honors and baseball's first Cy Young Award. Dodger Sal Maglie, obtained off waivers early in the season, won 13 and tossed a no-hitter against the Phils in September. Duke Snider clubbed a league-high 43 homers, teammate Gil Hodges belted 32 round-trippers, and Junior Gilliam hit .300 to pace the offense.

The Braves were led by Hank Aaron (the batting champ with a .328 average along with 26 homers) and Warren Spahn (20-11), Lew Burdette (19-10, a league-low 2.71 ERA), and Bob Buhl (18-8).

In Cincinnati Rookie of the Year Frank Robinson supplied 38 of Cincinnati's 221 homers (tied with the 1947 Giants for the most home runs by a team in a season) and scored a league-high 122 runs.

The Braves led the Dodgers by 1 game entering the final weekend of the season however Brooklyn swept the Pirates and the Braves lost two of three to the Cardinals and finished 1 game back. Cincinnati, ever lurking, ended up 2 games off.

The Bums cruised to a 6-3 victory in the World Series opener behind Maglie, then roughed up Don Larsen in their 13-8 Game 2 win. As the Series shifted to the Bronx, so did the tide. Ford and Sturdivant notched wins in the next two games. On October 8, Larsen made headlines by hurling a Perfect Game-the only No-Hitter in Series history. Using a no-windup style, the right-hander cut down 27 consecutive batters and struck out seven. There were some close calls: A deflected Jackie Robinson line drive in the second inning was saved by McDougald; Mantle caught Hodges's long drive with a sensational backhand catch in the fifth; and in the eighth, Andy Carey snapped up Hodges's line drive inches from the ground. In the ninth inning, Carl Furillo flied out and Roy Campanella bounced out. Up came pinch hitter Dale Mitchell. Larsen's first pitch was wide. His second, a slider, rendered a called strike. Mitchell swung and missed on the third pitch and fouled off the fourth. Hitting the outside corner, the last pitch was declared a called strike. The pitcher who claimed a 30-40 record over four ML seasons had himself a record-setting feat.
Clem Labine threw a scoreless ten frames and Jackie Robinson, in his next to last ML game, singled in the bottom of the tenth to give the Dodgers a 1-0 win in Game 6. The Yanks obtained the revenge they were looking for by scoring off five Dodger hurlers in Game 7 to make the Series finale a 9-0 blowout.
Of the three 1956 World Series games played at Yankee Stadium, only the first drew close to a sellout crowd. Game 5, the final contest at the stadium and the matchup in which Don Larsen achieved perfection, was played to some 10,000 empty seats.

Here are some highlights of the 1956 season:

- Don Newcombe wins the 1956 National League MVP and also wins the first ever Cy Young Award (only one was given each year until 1967).
- Mantle, the AL’s MVP, wins the Triple Crown, hitting .353 with 52 homers and 130 RBI and becomes the first switch-hitter since 1889 to win a Batting Crown.
- The Reds’ Frank Robinson clubs 38 homers to tie the National League rookie record
- Milwaukee’s Hank Aaron wins the National League batting crown (.328)
- Although Willie Mays steals 40 bases to lead the Majors it’s Luis Aparicio who serves notice in his rookie season that a dimension that had been missing from the game for some 30 years was about to return. Though he stole only 21 bases he was caught swiping just four times. Aparicio's high rate of success induced him to increase his attempts with each passing season.
- Jackie Robinson choses to retire at the finish of the 1956 season.
- On September 21, the Yankees leave a ML record 20 men on base in the nine-inning game vs. Boston.
- Jim Derrington of the White Sox, age 16, becomes the youngest pitcher in this century to start a game.
- Sal Maglie and Carl Erskine both of the Dodgers toss NL No-Hitters in the NL. Mel Parnell for the Red Sox tosses the only AL No-Hitter.
- Connie Mack dies at the age of 93
- Hank Aaron tops the National League in hits with 200. Detroit’s Harvey Kuenn leads the American League with 196.
- Herb Score wins 20 for Cleveland, tops the majors in Ks (263) for the second season in a row, and the American League in shutouts with 5. His last season before his world crumbles thanks to a line-drive.
- Kansas City rookie Troy Herriage goes 1-13 with a 6.64 ERA in his only major league season.
- Washington’s Eddie Yost leads the majors in walks with a whopping 151.
- Detroit’s Frank Lary leads the American League in wins (21) and innings (294).
- Clem Labine leads the Majors in saves with 19. He might have been the Dodgers most underrated pitcher of the 1950’s. He certainly had Stan Musial’s number retiring him 49 straight times.
- On April 18, 1956, umpire Ed Rommel was the first umpire to wear glasses in a Major League game. The game was played between the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators.
- The NL defeats the AL 7-3 in the All-Star Game which sees four future HOF’ers hit HRs…Mays, Mantle, Musial and Ted Williams but the hitting star is the Cardinals sophomore Ken Boyer with 3 hits.
1956 saw about 150 future ML’ers born that year including Hall of Famers Eddie Murray and Paul Molitor and a back-to-back MVP winner in Dale Murphy. On the pitching side a couple of future Cy Young Award winners were born, Bob Welch and Rick Sutcliffe not to mention the inspirational Dave Dravecky. On the Managers side Buck Showater and Ron Roenicke were born in 1956.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=base...ams%2Fimages%2F1956_yankees_cover.htm;644;805

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1956...a.com%2FTeamPhotos%2F1956Yankees.html;800;589

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1956...rs-166-Baseball-Card-Value-Prices.htm;438;303

https://www.google.ca/search?q=base...2F1956-brooklyn-dodger-baseball-cards;167;225

https://www.google.ca/search?q=base...d.com%2F1956-baseball-team-mascots%2F;640;858

 

[67RedSox]

In the history of the Grand Old Game more than 18,000 players have worn a Major League jersey. Of those, 211 have made their way to the hallowed halls of Cooperstown. Among that 211 are 74 pitchers. 96 of the 211 players, or 45%, were not elected in the annual voting process we see over the winter months each year ( Note: the summer months if you’re reading this in the Southern hemisphere ) but by the Veteran’s Committee or whatever they’re called these days. What this means is if the Baseball Writers don’t get things right ( I’ll make no comment ) there’s still the Veteran’s Committee to pick out the gold nuggets missed in that first sluicing. It was on this date in 1965, Pud Galvin, one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game was finally recognized after being ignored by virtually everyone who had the ability to correct that oversight. His making it to the Hall was undoubtedly only because of the efforts of a lay person, Joseph M. Overfield, a Buffalo baseball historian who took a special interest in Galvin. A title researcher and later vice president at the Monroe Abstract Corporation (later Monroe Abstract and Title), he discovered his passion for baseball history in the late 1940s when he discovered a financial report about the 1878 Buffalo Bisons while conducting records research. This began a lifetime of research, writing, and service related to Buffalo baseball and its biggest star in the 19th century, Pud Galvin. Overfield wrote several articles beginning in 1953, as well as a small book of records and statistics called Buffalo Bison Sketch Book, also published that year.
Overfield recognized the significance of Galvin as he discovered documents and images of early Buffalo baseball clubs and read 19th-century newspapers. He contacted Galvin’s descendants and started a campaign to get him inducted into the Hall of Fame, which was successful in 1965. Overfield took great pride in leading the successful effort, and Galvin’s two living children, Walter and Marie, were grateful to see their father recognized. Three generations of relatives attended the ceremony. Walter, 78 years old at the time of the induction ceremony, spoke at the event and said, “I thank you for remembering him. You waited a long time to catch up with the old gent.”
I haven’t even mentioned Galvin’s accomplishments and couldn’t begin to in the space available. Likely most wouldn’t want to wade through my ramblings anyway but if you ever do wish to read up on one of the Game’s greatest pitchers and maybe the brightest star ever forgotten the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) has compiled an excellent summary of his life from beginning to end and it’s worth the 5 minute, or so, read.

Pud Galvin | SABR

On this date in 1961 Houston voters approve a bond to finance a luxury domed stadium‚ the final hurdle standing between the city and ML baseball. From 1888 until 1961, Houston's professional baseball club was the Minor League Houston Buffaloes. Given MLB's refusal to consider expansion four men, George Kirksey, Craig Cullinan, Bob Smith, and Judge Roy Hofheinz formed the Houston Sports Association as their vehicle for attaining a Big League franchise for the city of Houston. They joined forces with would-be owners from other cities and announced the formation of a new league to compete with the established National and American Leagues. They called the new league the Continental League. The Continental League never materialized but on October 17, 1960, the National League granted an expansion franchise to the Houston Sports Association in which their team could begin play in the 1962 season. Until the Astrodome was opened in time for the 1965 season the Colt .45’s played their first three seasons in Colt Stadium…(sorry if I offend) in what I believe was the worst MLB stadium of our time…other than the cookie cutters in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and St. Louis. Rattlesnakes would often take up residence in the field so players had to be weary and mosquitos as big as baseball would, at some night games, carry fans away never to be seen again.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=hous...com%2Fvintage-houston-photographs.asp;780;600

It was on this date in 2001 that the Wall Street Journal prints a story detailing the means by which the dramatic comeback by the NY Giants in 1951 from 13 ½ games back and Bobby Thompson’s Pennant clinching HR ( the shot heard around the world ) was aided by espionage.
Monte Irvin, Sal Yvars and pitcher Al Gettel of the Giants revealed that for about the last ten weeks of the regular season they had a scheme to steal the opposing catcher's signs. The Giants clubhouse in the old Polo Grounds was in centerfield. The story goes that manager Leo Durocher had a player peer through an opening in the clubhouse wall with a telescope at the catcher's signals almost 500 feet away. An electrician sitting next to the spy activated a buzzer in the Giants bullpen before each pitch; one buzz meant fastball, two buzzes meant curve.
Giants utility player Sal Yvars is quoted in Dave Anderson's book Pennant Races as telling Giant batters, "Watch me in the bullpen. I'll have a baseball in my hand. If I hold on to the ball, it's a fastball. If I toss the ball in the air, it's a breaking ball." The Associated Press quoted Gettel as saying "Every hitter knew what was coming, made a big difference."
The Giants were 13½ games behind the Dodgers on August 11, 1951. They miraculously erased the deficit and tied the Dodgers on the last day of the season, forcing a best of three playoff. Bobby Thomson's home run in the bottom of the ninth of game three sent the Giants to the World Series and the Dodgers home.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8tHXFl0kTE]Stock Footage - Bobby Thomson 9th inning Home Run, 1951 - YouTube[/ame]

The San Diego Padres entered the Pacific Coast League in 1936. Here’s a picture of that team with apparently Ted Williams amongst the group although I’m not sure where. Paying at Lane Field the Padres were an instant success in San Diego, a city of about 150,000 at the time.

http://thefirstpadres.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/fp-prod-still_2.png

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1962 the NL releases its first 162-game schedule. In 1962 each NL team played every one of the 9 other teams 18 times in a season…9 home games and 9 away games...a balanced schedule. Far different today. The League is divided into Divisions and there is Inter-League play. In 2013 the Rockies, I presume representative, played 20 different teams. They played all other 14 NL teams either 6, 7 or if in the same Division 19 times. Obviously, not all with the same number of home and away games. They also played 6 AL teams either 3 times or 4 times. If there is still such a position as a Travelling Secretary I’m thinking it would have been an easier task in 1962 than today.

I’m not sure if this is about Harry Bemis, Ty Cobb or Paul Krichell. I’ll start with Bemis and see where it goes. Harry Bemis was born on this date in 1874. Chances are you’ve never heard of him. Well, TY Cobb heard of him…ran into once you might say… and made sure he never forgot him.
Cobb’s philosophy when he got on base was simple…he owned the base paths and pity anyone in his way. Think of how it was when Ray Fosse got in Pete Rose’s way. Cobb had a reputation of sliding into a base with his spikes high. Below are a couple of pictures showing him doing just that. The first photo is a typical slide with cleats high ready to carve into any obstruction that got in his way. The second photo is him attempting to score in a game against the Cleveland Indians in 1912. Waiting at the plate for the air born Cobb with spikes leading the way is catcher Paul Krichell.
Back to Harry Bemis. He was the Cleveland Indians catcher for the naught years of the 1900’s from 1902 to 1910. He stood 5’6” and weighed 155 lbs so he wasn’t biggest backstopper who ever played the game. In June of 1907 in a lopsided game against the Indians at Bennett Park in Detroit Cobb triples to the scoreboard in left-center field but decided to try to turn it into an inside-the-park-homerun. Bemis was waiting for him with ball but Cobb with a head-first lunge, got a shoulder into Bemis knocking him over and the ball loose. Enraged Bemis picked up the ball and began beating Cobb over the head with it until the umpire managed to pull him off. Cobb later claimed that because of that Bemis was one of only two intentional spiking targets in his entire career and because of that Bemis never bothered him again.
Paul Krichell was a back-up catcher with the St. Louis Browns in 1911 and 1912. His MLB playing career was brief but long enough to have him captured forever in the photo with Cobb below. I’m not sure how the play with the air born Cobb ended but Krichell at 150 lbs was even lighter than Harry Bemis so it may not have been good. After his playing career ended after 87 games in the Majors he continued to play in the Minor Leagues and began to move into coaching before new Yankees GM, Ed Barrow, signed him as a scout in 1920. Considered one of the greatest scouts in Baseball history, Krichell signed over 200 players who later played professional baseball, including future Hall of Famers Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, and Tony Lazzeri. His recommendation of Stengel as the Yankees Manager was instrumental in Stengel's appointment in 1948. Barrow called Krichell "the best judge of baseball players he ever saw". His style of scouting was used as a blueprint by scouts to evaluate players. He usually ignored the obvious tools such as ability to hit, size, speed, and human power, saying that "any dope" could see it. When he scouted a prospect, his top priority was checking that the subject could handle the pressure of playing Major League Baseball. He tended to take a risk with players passed by other teams. He discounted some of a player's weaknesses if their remaining skills were up to par, for example with Tony Lazzeri, who was a poor fielder. Krichell also was one of the first to notice that intelligence mattered in a game filled with uneducated people. Most of his signings were college graduates who Krichell believed could take advantage of their ability to think.
At the time of his retirement he was the longest serving employee of the Yankees. After his death in 1957 there was a movement to have him inducted into the Hall of Fame launched. Under Hall of Fame rules, scouts are not eligible for induction. Appeals to the Hall of Fame Board of Directors every year from 1981 to 1986 to make him and other scouts members of the Hall of Fame met with no success.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=harr...ingoregon.com%2Fp799838731%2FhAD93341;289;450

https://www.google.ca/search?q=ty+c...edu%2Fpubaffs%2Fjackie%2Fearly1c.html;678;514

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

On May 1, 1920 the longest game in MLB history was played at Braves Field in Boston between the Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Robins. The game lasted 26 innings ending in a 1-1 tie called due to darkness. Incredibly both starters, the Robins' Leon Cadore and Braves' Joe Oeschger , went all 26 frames, facing 186 batters and scattering 24 hits between them. Eight players saw 10 at-bats and two Braves players each stepped up 11 times including Charlie Pick mentioned in a Post not too long ago who set the mark for futility by a batter in a game, going 0-11. Despite the onsetting darkness Ivy Olsen, the Robins shortstop asked the ump for one more inning so he could boast of playing in three full games in a single afternoon. "Not without a miner's lamp," replied umpire Barry McCormick.
That 26 inning game eclipsed the then record 23 inning affair in 1906 between the Boston Americans (later known as the Red Sox) and Philadelphia Athletics. In that game on August 30 Joe Harris, born on this date in 1882, started for Boston, Jack Coombs for the A’s. Both pitchers went the full 23 innings.
Coombs was a rookie and finished the year at 10-10 but his ‘season in the sun’ was yet to come. In 1910 "Colby Jack" Coombs was the equal of any pitcher of the Dead Ball Era, Mathewson, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander included. With an above average fastball and a devastating drop curve, Coombs had one of the most dominant pitching seasons in history...a 31-9 record to propel Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics to the AL Pennant. He had a remarkable 1.30 ERA in 353 innings pitched and completed 35 of the 38 games he started. In addition, Coombs threw 13 shutouts, an AL record that will stand for the ages. In 11 other games he held the opposition to one run. Enough about Coombs though.
Back to Joe Harris the Boston starter who would never have his ‘season in the sun’. This 23 inning game would be his ‘game’ in the sun not only for that season when he finished the year 2-21 but his career that ended with a W-L record of 3-30. The game resolved itself in the 24th inning, when Harris faltered. Although the win went to Jack Coombs it was Harris who threw 20 consecutive scoreless innings – a one-game AL record that will likely never be approached.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=joe+...ston.com%2Fred-sox%2Flongest-game.htm;300;200

I know in decades past MLB ballparks were commonly built in the heart of the city perhaps squeezed into an odd shaped lot surrounded by neighbourhoods and business districts but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a baseball park anywhere as close to a private residence as Edmonds Field, the old ballpark of the Sacramento Solons of the Pacific Coast League. Following is a photo of the field and you’ll notice a house virtually up against the outfield fence in centrefield.
Fires were not uncommon in ballparks in the days before they were constructed of concrete and steel. At least three Big League ballparks burned down. Edmonds Field was a firetrap, on the waiting list for disaster. ”It was a wood park with high fences. The clubhouse was all wood. The floor in the clubhouse was old-time, ancient wood,” said Solons pitcher Hershel Lyons. Bud Beasley, who pitched at various times for both Seattle and Sacramento, recalled that “there were fires at Edmonds Field every Sunday doubleheader but they’d go around and put them out.” One day they didn’t. ”We were at the train depot, waiting for our train to back to Seattle, when we saw the smoke and the red glow coming from the fire.” That was in July 1948 and the ballpark burned to the ground and the Solons played the rest of the season on the road until the park was rebuilt…I’m not sure if the photo below is pre or post that fire.

http://richardleutzinger.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/edmonds-field-o22connor-e1379020936888.jpg

 

[67RedSox]

Quick now…what’s the first team you think of when the name of Leo Durocher is mentioned. Likely the Dodgers or Giants pop in mind first but for me it’s my beloved Cubs of the 1960’s and early 1970’s when he managed them. My guess of all the MLB uniforms he wore the last to come to mind is the Yankees and that’s only if one even knew he was a one-time Yankee. His first three seasons playing in the Majors were with the Yankees in the 1920’s. He wore out his welcome with the Yankees however and on this date in 1930 they waive him out of the AL and sell him to the Reds. Whispered rumors‚ repeated by Urban Shocker in his 2001 autobiography‚ contend that Leo was stealing money and jewelry from his teammates. Allegedly‚ roommate Babe Ruth beat up Durocher after a theft of marked money confirmed his suspicions. The Yankees‚ according to Shocker‚ prevail on the rest of the AL to waive Durocher. Another story has Durocher‚ in debt‚ asking for a $1‚000 advance on his salary from Ed Barrow so he can pay a hotel bill. When Barrow turns him down‚ Leo curses him‚ and Barrow trades him the next day to the Reds.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=leo+...hp%3F102928-1926-28-New-York-Yankees;1226;908

It was on this date in 1936 the baseball writers vote for the first players to be named to the new Baseball Hall of Fame. Ty Cobb‚ Babe Ruth‚ Honus Wagner‚ Christy Mathewson‚ and Walter Johnson each receive the requisite 75 percent of ballots cast. Active players also are eligible in this first election‚ with Hornsby finishing 9th‚ Cochrane 10th‚ Gehrig 15th‚ and Foxx 19th. Tainted former star Hal Chase receives 11 votes for 25th place‚ and Joe Jackson has 2 votes to tie for 36th place. The induction ceremony would not occur until 1939 when the Museum at Cooperstown opened its doors for the first time.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=1939...ival-to-his-hall-of-fame-induction%2F;390;220

Watch First Baseball Hall of Fame Induction - 1939 | Game7.Tv Episodes | Sports & Cars Videos | Blip

Red Schoendienst was born on this date in 1923 making him 91 today. You would think that would make him one of the oldest living MLB players and he is but still he’s only 54th on the list of the oldest living. It must be the chewing tobacco that accounts for their longevity.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utjPsGPssZM]Red Schoendienst - Baseball Hall of Fame Biographies - YouTube[/ame]

It was on this date in 1876 it all started… The National League is officially formed with teams located in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis. Chicago President William Hulbert organizes a meeting at the Grand Central Hotel in New York to establish the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. At the meeting are representatives of the Philadelphia Athletics‚ the Boston Red Stockings‚ the Hartford Dark Blues‚ and the New York Mutuals. To win the support of 4 eastern clubs‚ Hulbert proposes that Morgan Bulkeley of the Hartford club be president and Nick Young of Washington be secretary. The National League is officially organized‚ with 4 Eastern clubs and Chicago‚ St. Louis‚ Louisville‚ and Cincinnati in the West. The group passes several resolutions‚ the first preventing two clubs from any one city entering for the championship‚ while a second prevents any two clubs from playing in a city in which neither of them belongs. "This was done for the purpose of heading off two or three clubs and preventing them from going to Philadelphia" to play exhibition games‚" states the New York Times.
The early years were a struggle. The first game in National League history was played on April 22, 1876, at Philadelphia's Jefferson Street Grounds, 25th & Jefferson, between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston baseball club. Boston won the game 6–5.
The new league's authority was tested after the first season. The Athletic and Mutual clubs fell behind in the standings and refused to make western road trips late in the season, preferring to play games against local non-league competition to recoup some of their losses rather than travel extensively. Hulbert reacted to the clubs' defiance by expelling them, an act which not only shocked baseball followers (New York and Philadelphia were the two most populous cities in the league) but made it clear to clubs that league schedule commitments, a cornerstone of competition integrity, were not to be ignored.
The National League operated with six clubs during 1877 and 1878. Over the next several years, various teams joined and left the struggling League. By 1880, six of the eight charter members had folded. The two remaining original NL franchises, Boston and Chicago, remain in operation today as the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs. When all eight participants for 1881 returned for 1882—the first off-season without turnover in membership—the "circuit" consisted of a zig-zag line connecting the eight cities: Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Troy (near Albany), Worcester, Boston, and Providence.
In 1883 the New York Gothams and Philadelphia Phillies began NL play. Both teams remain in the NL today, the Phillies in their original city and the Gothams (later renamed Giants) now in San Francisco.
The NL encountered rival organizations in the 1880’s like the Union Association and Players League but each only lasted a year. Its strongest opposition was when the American Association began play in 1882. The A.A. played in cities where the NL did not have teams, offered Sunday games and alcoholic beverages in locales where permitted, and sold cheaper tickets everywhere (25 cents versus the NL's standard 50 cents, a hefty sum for many in 1882).
The National League and the American Association participated in a version of the World Series seven times during their ten-year coexistence. These contests were less organized than the modern Series. lasting as few as three games and as many as fifteen, with two Series (1885 and 1890) ending in disputed ties. The NL won four times and the A.A. only once, in 1886. The labor strife of 1890 hastened the downfall of the American Association. After the 1891 season, the A.A. disbanded and merged with the NL. The National League became a 12-team circuit.
The League became embroiled in numerous internal conflicts and as the 20th century dawned, the NL was in trouble. Conduct among players was poor, and fistfights were a common sight at games. In addition to fighting each other, they fought with the umpires and often filled the air at games with foul language and obscenities. A game between the Orioles and Boston Beaneaters (a precursor to today's Atlanta Braves) in 1894 ended up having tragic consequences when players became engaged in a brawl and several boys in the stands started a fire. The blaze quickly got out of hand and swept through downtown Boston, destroying or damaging 100 buildings. Team owners argued with each other and players hated the NL's $2,400 salary cap. Many teams also ran into trouble with city governments that forbade recreational activities on Sunday.
After eight seasons as a 12-team League, the NL contracted back to eight teams for the 1900 season, eliminating its teams in Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville (which has never had another major league team since), and Washington. This provided an opportunity for competition. Three of those cities received franchises in the new American League (AL) when the AL opened for business in 1900, with the approval of the NL, which regarded the AL as a lesser league. The AL declined to renew its National Agreement membership when it expired, and on January 28, 1901, the AL officially declared itself a second major league in competition with the NL. By 1903, the upstart AL had placed new teams in the National League cities of Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and St. Louis. Only the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates had no AL team in their markets. The AL among other things enforced a strict conduct policy among its players.
The National League at first refused to recognize the new League, but reality set in as talent and money was split between the two leagues diluting the league and less financial success. After two years of bitter contention, a new version of the National Agreement was signed in 1903. This meant formal acceptance of each League by the other as an equal partner in major-league baseball, mutual respect of player contracts, and an agreement to play a postseason championship—the World Series.
The rest as they say is history…

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