Baseball History

[67RedSox]

Yogi Berra came up to the Majors for a cup of coffee in 1946. Discounting that season he played in 14 World Series over the next 18 years. That just boggles the mind. The other end of the spectrum is that there are 27 players who never made it to the World Series despite playing more career games than Berra’s, 2,120. The Top 7 are:

Rafael Palmeiro ( The Shamed ) – 20 seasons, 2,831 games
Ken Griffey Jr. – 22 / 2,671
Andre Dawson – 21 / 2,627
Ernie Banks - 19 / 2,528
Julio ( Down by the School Yard ) Franco – 23 / 2,527
Billy Williams – 18 / 2,488
Rod Carew – 19 / 2,469
There have been three men who have worn a Rockies’ uniform who are in that group of 27 – Andres Galarraga - 19 / 2,257, Dale Murphy – 18 / 2,180 and Buddy Bell – 18 / 2,405.

The most games by an active player is now Miguel Tejada – 16 / 2,130

It was on this date in 1901 that the Washington Senators led Cleveland 13-5 with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th inning yet before they can record the 3rd out Cleveland scores 9 runs and wins the game 14-13…ouch!

The only AL MVP Award winner in the past 50 years who was a switch-hitter…was a pitcher…Vida Blue.

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

 

[67RedSox]

Something that should never have happened did happen on this date in 1916. In Boston, Giants outfielder Benny Kauff is picked off first base not once, not twice but three times by Lefty Tyler. The CFer's miscues don't hurt the team as New York won the game 12-1 but how can you get burned three times like that. Now before you say Kauff must have been a lousy baseball player he did win two Batting Titles in the upstart Federal League in 1914 and 1915 hitting .370 and .342, he also stole 75 and 55 bases those two seasons to lead the League. Now, since you asked about the Federal League…

The Federal League existed as one of Baseball’s “Major” leagues for two season, 1914 and 1915. Some will argue that it wasn’t a “Major” league, merely an outlaw league. In order for the Federal League to succeed, it needed Big League players. Walter Johnson signed a three year contract with the Chicago team, but the Senators' Clark Griffith went personally to Johnson's home in Kansas and made a successful counter-offer. Major League players that jumped to the Federal League included Bill McKechnie, Claude Hendrix, Jack Quinn, Russell Ford, Tom Seaton, Doc Crandall, Al Bridwell, Hy Myers, and Hal Chase. The Federal League also recruited Big League names to manage the new teams. Joe Tinker managed the Chicago team, Mordecai Brown managed the St. Louis team and Bill Bradley managed the Brooklyn team.
During the 1914-15 offseason, Federal League owners brought an antitrust lawsuit against the American and National Leagues. The lawsuit ended up in the court of Federal Judge (and future Commissioner of Baseball) Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who allowed the case to languish while he urged both sides to negotiate. Swift action might have made a difference, but without the lawsuit going forward, the Federals found themselves in deepening financial straits.
After the 1915 season the owners of the American and National Leagues bought out half of the owners (Pittsburgh, Newark, Buffalo, and Brooklyn) of the Federal League teams. Two Federal League owners were allowed to buy struggling franchises in the established leagues: Phil Ball, owner of the St. Louis Terriers, was allowed to buy the St. Louis Browns of the AL, and Charles Weeghman, owner of the Chicago Whales, bought the Chicago Cubs. Both owners merged their teams into the established ones. The Kansas City franchise had been declared bankrupt and taken over by the league office after the close of the regular season, and the Baltimore owners rejected the offer made to them. They had sought to buy and move an existing franchise to their city, but were rebuffed, and sued unsuccessfully.
The Federal league although only around for two years had a lasting legacy which we can still see today. One of baseball's most famous ballparks was originally built for a Federal League team: Wrigley Field, the home of the Chicago Cubs, began its long life as Weeghman Park, the home of the Chicago Whales. Also, of the locations of teams in the Federal League, five currently have MLB teams. Those are Baltimore, Chicago, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

Some might sat Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout, 1-hit shutout of the Astros on May 6, 1998 was the best pitched game in ML history. Some might argue Sandy Koufax’s Perfect Game against the Cubs on September 9, 1965 was. Others, I’m sure, will have different opinions. Maybe, just maybe the nod has to go to Harvey Haddix of the Pirates who on this date in 1959 pitched 12 perfect innings against the powerhouse Braves before losing the game 1-0 in the 13th inning.

It was on this date in 2008, 5 years ago, that Jamie Moyer and the Phillies defeat Jorge De La Rosa and the Rockies by a mere 15 runs, 20-5.

On this date in 1993, 20 years ago, Dante Bichette’s 3 hits and 3 RBIs leads the Rockies to a 3-2 win over the Astros.

 

[67RedSox]

A baseball player who had good hitting skills but virtually no skills on the field, Jimmy Hallinan was born on this date in 1849 in Ireland. By the age of 30 he was dead due to inflammation of the bowels. I believe that’s a polite way of saying death due to an excess of alcohol. It's interesting to read the verbage of the day about the problem. Not a pleasant topic but I mention it because in the early days of professional baseball, right up to about 1900, excessive use of alcohol by the players was one of the biggest issues the game had to contend with. This included players playing in games while under the influence, player’s skills being eroded and even labour strife because suspensions, releases and expulsions were quite arbitrary depending on the views of a particular team or owner. Hallinan was one of those players who was suspended or released for persistent alcoholism and the fact he was Irish didn’t help his case. Here’s written remarks from the day…
”it's interesting to note that there has always been some kind of link between drinking and baseball, going back to the first social clubs that played the game. It didn't become a "problem" until the vulgar folks joined the party. Once all those rowdy German and Irishmen started playing the game and filling the stands then the situation had to be addressed.”
Further, here's a quote from the Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1889:
EVILS IN THE PROFESSIONAL ARENA.
The two great obstacles in the way of the success of the majority of professional ball players are wine and women. The saloon and the brothel are the evils of the baseball world at the present day; and we see it practically exemplified in the failure of noted players to play up to the standard they are capable of were they to avoid these gross evils. One day it is a noted pitcher who fails to serve his club at a critical period of the campaign. Anon, it is the disgraceful escapade of an equally noted umpire. And so it goes from one season to another, at the cost of the loss of thousands of dollars to clubs who blindly shut their eyes to the costly nature of intemperance and dissipation in their ranks. We tell you, gentlemen of the League and Association, the sooner you introduce the prohibition plank in your contracts the sooner you will get rid of the costly evil of drunkenness and dissipation among your players. Club after club have lost championship honors time and again by this evil, and yet they blindly condone these offences season after season. The prohibition rule from April to October is the only practical rule for removing drunkenness in your teams.
Well, the Game can’t say it’s put alcohol behind it as a problem but it doesn’t dominate the game to the extent it did…it’s moved on to PEDs…wonder what’ll be next.

That's all I got & aren't you glad.

 

[67RedSox]

It was on this date in 1951 that Willie Mays collects his first ML Basehit…a Homerun off HOFer Warren Spahn…if you don’t mind. Mays was not impressive with the bat in his first several games with only 1 hit in 26 ABs for a .038 average however he did manage to win ROTY that year and collect another 3,282 hits along the way. Incidentally, over his career the pitcher he managed to hit the most HRs off of was Spahn with 18. Exactly one year later on this date in 1952 Mays enters the Army and will not play another ML game for almost two years. When he does come back in 1954 he doesn’t miss a beat winning both the NL Batting and MVP crowns not to mention leading the Giants to a 4 game sweep of the Indians in the World Series. And that, is how legends are born.
On this date in 2012 the Rockies win not one but two games when they sweep a DHer from the Astros thanks to a couple of rookies in Game 1, Jordan Pacheco and Wilin Rosario and Dexter Fowler in the nightcap.
On this date in 1910 Willard Hershberger was born. His is one of the most tragic stories in the history of America’s pastime. He is the only player in the history of the game to commit suicide during the season when he did so in 1940. There is an excellent story on Page 72 of The Baseball Pastime, A Review of Baseball History (see link below). I intended to talk a bit about his death but some might not appreciate using this forum to do so because of its graphic aspects…thus the reference to Page 72. The Reds out of respect to their fallen comrade retired his # 5 and dedicated their 1940 World Series to him and donated part of their WS winning share to his mother. He was the first NL player to have his uniform # retired and the second in the Majors after Lou Gehrig’s in 1939.
Does anyone know what a Cantabridgian is ? Well, I can tell you there have only been four of them to have played for the Boston Red Sox and chances are no one gives a tinker’s damn that a Cantabridgian is a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts . One of those four, Bill Barrett was born on this date in 1900. He played in the Majors from 1921 – 1930 and his career as a MLer was not as a star but he was a colourful character. His nickname was “Whispering Bill” and not because he was quiet…just the opposite. Just as a very large man sometimes attracts the nickname "Tiny," Barrett's nickname "Whispering Bill" grew from his loudness and loquaciousness. A Washington Post story in November 1925 began, "Bill Barrett's chief difficulty in life is to remain quiet. He doesn't succeed very well." Barrett was one of the game's great bench jockeys... so adroit at this secondary calling that a Chicago sportswriter of the day advised White Sox fans -- not completely tongue-in-cheek -- to wear earmuffs to Comiskey Park when the Yankees came to town. That was because ‘Whispering Bill especially loved to voice his views to the Yanks' home run duo, the Babe and Lou Gehrig. Barrett after the 1929 season turned his thoughts to another pursuit when both he and Boston right-handed pitcher Ed Morris attempted to get licenses to box professionally. On January 18, Commissioner Landis ruled that "any ball player engaging in the so-called manly art of boxing would be considered retired from baseball." [Chicago Tribune, January 19, 1930] The edict was aimed at White Sox first baseman Art Shires, who had already taken on five opponents, been challenged to a match by Hack Wilson, and reportedly anticipated booking as high as $50,000 in future matches. Landis suggested that having baseball players engage in boxing didn't reflect well on either sport and was tantamount to taking money under false pretenses. Ah, those Cantabridgians.
It was on this date in 2003, ten years ago, that Shawn Chacon in the midst of that fabulous 1st half he had beat the Dodgers 6-0 at Coors Field. He coughed up a mere 2 hits over 8 innings. The game was decided in the 1st inning when Mark Sweeney went deep off of Darren Dreifort for a two-run shot.
On this date in 1993, twenty years ago, the Rockies, at Mile High, pound out 15 hits and score 9 runs but lose to the Phillies because they pound out 20 hits and score 15 runs.

Willard Hershberger...http://research.sabr.org/journals/files/SABR-National_Pastime-20.pdf

I could go on but the June bugs bouncing off my window are too much of a distraction. Is there anything dumber than a June bug. I have no idea what useful purpose they serve other than causing me to end this Post which I’m sure is a great relief to anyone who chose to read it.

 

[Silas]

67RS.............just want you to know how much I appreciate your "baseball history" posts. You certainly put a lot of effort into your "past time" and it shows.

Any way, thank you for providing this information. It certainly is appreciated.

 

[67RedSox]

Thanks for that Silas. I consider your words a compliment given they come from an individual who knowledge of Baseball history is at a level beyond mine. Incidentally, these little blurbs will stop for a bit. I've been scrambling of late to get ready to go abroad, eh... for a couple of weeks. No, the law isn't after me rather a family health matter. I'm really not going to have access to a computer and that may not be a bad thing. The way my guys have been going down of late I need a break.

 

[BigDDude]

Great Job Mr 67!

Back in my CBS days, I would do posts like this on a faily regular basis, and, by and large, they were well received.

Now that I am here, with so much more room to cover, I am just placing intividual tidbits on teams 2013 pages, and hope that folks both enjoy them, and learn something new from them.

Keep up the good work!

 

[67RedSox]

BigDDude, I miss the CBS Boards.

Baseball lends itself to this sort of historical stuff and I never tire of learning something new even if it happened 100 years ago. I know not everyone finds the same things interesting as me but you take a shot that they might and as you say you hope , by and large, they're well received.

 

[67RedSox]

In the roughly 300,000 games of MLB that have been played there has been a mere 23 Perfect Games tossed…you could make that 24 if you count the one Armando Galarraga tossed but wasn’t given credit for because at exactly the same time as that was happening Jim Joyce’s brain stopped functioning. Whether it’s 23 or 24 the point is that a Perfect Game is a rare sighting. There have been even fewer Unassisted Triple Plays… Tulowitzki's and 16 others. Well in one 24 hour span 86 years ago there were Unassisted Triple Plays pulled off on back-to-back days. On this date in 1927 Tiger 1B, John Neun completes an Unassisted Triple Play against the Indians the day after the Shortstop for the Cubs, Jimmy Cooney, turns one. To make up for that there would not be another triple killing in the Majors for 42 years when Ron Hansen of the Washington Senators triples off three Cleveland Indians. How did the Senators reward their slick fielding Shortstop…by trading him. The Senators had acquired Hansen earlier in the season from the White Sox and two days after pulling off the Unassisted Triple Play the Senators traded Hansen back to the White Sox for Tim Cullen. It was the first time in baseball history where the same two players were traded for each other twice in the same season.
There’s a guy by the name of Ted Williams in the HOF. His place in Boston’s line-up was taken by someone called Carl Yastrzemski who would also make it to the HOF. They both knew a little something about hitting a baseball. They both won a Triple Crown and between them they collected 6,073 basehits. Only once in his career was Ted Williams pinch-hit for. Only once in his career was Yastrzemski pinch-hit for. The same player, Carroll Hardy, pinch-hit for both of them… and why not?...after all he did have 251 lifetime basehits to his credit. It was on this date in 1961 that Hardy pinch-hit for Yastrzemski.
Silas might be aware of what happened on this date in 1965…For the first time in history, an all-switch-hitting infield starts a Big League game. In the nightcap of a twin bill, the Dodgers, with Wes Parker at first base, Jim Lefebvre at second, Maury Wills at shortstop and Jim Gilliam at third, lose to the visiting Reds, 6-1 .
Tippy Martinez, a relief pitcher for the Orioles for most of his 14 ML career, was born on this date in 1950. Other than being older than anyone on this Board he’s a native of Colorado (La Junta). Still wondering why he would be mentioned…well he’s the only pitcher in MLB history to pick three runners off base in one inning which he did on August 24, 1983. The question is do you credit Martinez for that feat or discredit the three Blue Jays runners caught off base by a "LH" pitcher.

 

[Silas]

Not to mention, why three guys got on base in the first place!

I remember that Dodger infield very well, though I don't recall much mention at that time of the fact that all the players constituted the first all switch hitting infield. That was a fun team. What I remember the most was the pitching and "Sweet" Lou Johnson who saved the day after Tommy Davis went down.

RS67.........best wishes to you on your trip and I pray things work out well for your family member with health issues.

 

[67RedSox]

Quick, name a ML Shortstop who went by the name, Pee-Wee. Chances are you probably answered with Pee-Wee Reese. Let’s hope your answer wasn’t Pee-Wee Herman. Well, there was an even smaller version of Pee-Wee Reese who played in the Majors years before Reese and it was on this date in 1925 that the other version, Pee-Wee Wanninger, didn’t do anything. In a game against the Washington Senators with Walter Johnson pitching for the Senators Yankee Manager, Miller Huggins, needing some offense in a game the Yankees would lose 5-3, sends Lou Gehrig up to pinch-hit for his light hitting SS, Wanninger. The real significance in the move is that it was Game #1 of Lou Gehrig’s 2,130 consecutive game streak. Wanninger, thus becomes known as the player who ended one consecutive-game streak and helped start another. As a rookie, he replaced Everett Scott at shortstop for the Yankees on May 5, 1925 to end Scott's then major league record of 1,307 consecutive games. On June 1, 1925 Lou Gehrig started his famous 2,130 game consecutive streak when he pinch hit for Wanninger.

On this date in 1941 Dean Chance was born. In 1964 he was the best pitcher in all of Baseball winning the Cy Young Award back in the days when only one was awarded for both the NL and AL. Another pitcher in Los Angeles that year with a 1.74 ERA, Sandy Koufax, missed out on the Award making it the only one he didn’t win in his last 4 seasons in the Majors. How good was Chance in 1964. Tossing 11 Shutouts might describe best how he pitched that year. Another description would be offered by Mickey Mantle who had this to say… “Every time I see his name on a lineup card, I feel like throwing up.” Chance made 5 Starts against the Yankees that year. He pitched 50 innings allowing only 14 hits and one run, a homer by Mantle. In five starts he threw four complete games and three shutouts, going 4-0 with a 0.18 ERA. Yet, his best game against them was a No-Decision. On Saturday, June 6 at Chavez Ravine, Chance was matched up against Jim Bouton. The two aces matched zeros for 13 innings, before Bouton was removed. Chance pitched one more inning before departing after the 14th inning. The Yankees scored twice against the Angels bullpen in the 15th and won 2-0. Chance earned a salary of $25,000.00 for that great season but in 1965 it jumped all the way to $47,000.00 but because he won only 15 Games in 1965 he had to take a pay cut the following season…oh, how the game has changed. The highest paid starting pitcher in 2013 isn’t even pitching, Johan Santana is earning $25.5M to do nothing or 1,000 times more than Chance earned winning a Cy Young.

Rudy Arias was a professional baseball player for 23 years but only one of those years was in the Majors with the pennant winning Chicago White Sox in 1959. The other 22 years were spent playing either in the Minors, Cuba or Mexico. He is still alive and his son, a retired Minor League catcher, is the bullpen cather coach for the Orioles. Arias began playing the game very young and continued as long as he could because he loved the game. Now there’s nothing significant about him as a player but in reading about I was reminded of a couple of my favourite players of yesteryear…Mickey Mantle and maybe the best natural hitter I ever saw, Tony Oliva. Arias admitted he feared facing only two batters, Ted Williams and Mantle and here’s a story he told about Mantle. He was facing him in a Spring Training game and the count went to 2 and 1. The next pitch was a strike making the count 2 and 2. The catcher called for a change-up which Arias threw and Mantle took a mighty swing. When asked what happened Arias replied… “The ball almost hit the sun.” As for Oliva when Arias was growing up in Cuba they never had proper equipment…the “ball” was a sphere tightly wound with black electrical tape until it took the shape and consistency of a baseball; the “bat” was simply a branch cut from a local hardwood tree, the guira. That mirrored what Tony Oliva had to say years later when someone asked him how he became such a good hitter and his response was… growing up in Cuba when the only equipment they had was a broom handle for a bat and rocks for baseballs you learned how to hit.

 

[67RedSox]

If you attended the first ML Baseball game played by the Rockies in either Mile High Stadium or Coors Field you didn’t have to wait long to see someone poke one over the fence for a HR. At Mile High Eric Young, leading off the 1st inning for the Rockies hit the first pitch tossed to deep Left Field and thus, the ballpark was christened, so to speak. At Coors, it took a bit longer. Rico Brogna, of the visiting Mets, hit one out in the 4th inning. The same story can be told in just about any MLB park in our time. If you attended the first ML game ever played at Petco Park you would have seen Marquis Grissom hit the first HR in the 10th inning. Dodger Stadium in 1962 saw Wally Post of the visiting Reds christen the ballpark in Game #1 and I suppose it wasn’t too surprising it was Post because he could do two things rather well…hit Home Runs and strikeout. How about Yankee Stadium…of course, Babe Ruth, popped one in the very first game played there. Now to the other end of the spectrum. It was on this date in 1921 that Reds OFer, Pat Duncan, hits one over the wall in Cincinnati’s Redland Stadium…and that was a first. Was it during the first game ever played there…not even close…it was in the ballpark’s 10th year, having opened for business in 1912. Yes, the ballpark was spacious and yes the ballpark opened during Baseball’s Dead-Ball Era but so was Wrigley Field spacious and it also opened in the Dead-Ball Era (1914) but one was hit out there in game #1.
Redland Field, it wasn’t re-named Crosley Field until 1934, was one of the quaintest and smallest of all ML parks. It’s end came in 1970 to be replaced by one of those horrid cookie cutter ballparks that were a blight on the landscape (IMO). It’s capacity was only around 25,000 and there were no bleachers in left or centre fields. There were in right field though and they were pretty unique narrowing down to a narrow point towards centre…sort of like a sideways V shape. During day games the right field bleachers were referred to as the ‘Sun Deck’ and during night games as the ‘Moon Deck’. Probably the most famous (or notorious) feature of Crosley Field was the fifteen-degree left field incline, called "the terrace". Terraces were not unusual in old ballparks. Most of them were constructed as a way to make up the difference between field level and street level on a sloping block. Could be awkward running uphill for visiting OFers.

Google Image Result for http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/5a/CrosleyField1970.jpg/300px-CrosleyField1970.jpg

This date in 1941 was a sad day for Baseball as the Iron Horse passed away at age 37 exactly 16 years to the day that he made his Yankee debut.
Speaking of Lou Gehrig who hit 493 lifetime HRs so did Fred McGriff. It was on this date in 2000 that McGriff hits his 400th Home Run. In all the time I’ve been watching the game I’ve never seen anyone hit a ball harder than he could. Line drives that would leave the ballpark before you could blink. One of the most underrated players of our time.
On this date one year ago the Rockies are defeated by the Dodgers 6-2 in front of 36,000 at Coors Field. Today the Rockies defeat the Dodgers 7-2 in front of 42,000 at Coors. Perhaps a statement of the Dodgers season to date can be expressed by comparing the line-ups of the two games. Despite only a year apart the Dodgers line-up today sported only one player from last year’s line-up of 15 different players, Andre Ethier.

 

[67RedSox]

I note a few things of interest happened on June 3rd:
- In 1953 in Mississippi Billy Joe McAlister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge.
- In 1851 the New York Knickerbockers were the first Baseball team to wear uniforms.
- In 1835 PT Barnum thought there might be a market for a travelling circus so he took his on the road for the first time.
- In 1964, if you’re a Stones fan, they make their debut on U.S. television…can’t remember but Keith Richards was likely playing either playing a Harmony Meteor or Les Paul Standard.
However, beyond all of that, it was on this date in 1888 Ernest L Thayer's poem Casey at the Bat makes its first appearance in print…in the San Francisco Examiner. If you haven’t heard it lately and want to give yourself a real treat listen to James Earl Jones’ rendition. Warning, if you listen to it you may also want to either watch Field of Dreams again or eat a hot dog.

Casey At The Bat - James Earl Jones - YouTube


It was on this date in 1902 that Mike O’Neill, a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, hits the first Pinch-Hit Grand Slam HR in ML history and by doing so he also becomes the first NL pitcher in the 20th Century to hit a Grand Slam. O’Neill was one of four brothers to play in the Majors, the best known of whom was Steve O’Neill who played 17 and managed 14 years in the Majors winning a WS ring both as a player (Cleveland, 1920 & Detroit 1945). Mike’s older brother, Jack was a Catcher, also for the Cardinals and they played together. They were both born in Ireland and to ensure opposing batters didn’t steal their signs they would speak Gaelic to one another.
Ever hear of Johnny Bassler who was born on this date in 1895? Chances are if you weren’t into following the AL in the 1920s or the Hollywood Stars of the 1930s you haven’t. If you did hang out at AL ballparks in the 1920s or PCL parks in the 1930s you got to see one of the best catchers to play the game. His ML lifetime OBP of .416 is second only to Mickey Cochrane’s .419 among catchers. He was one of the games toughest to strikeout. Chris Carter of the Houston Astros has struck out 81 times this season…Bassler struck out 81 times in his entire career.
If you were wondering there has only been one pitcher win back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back ERA Crowns in the history of the game. If you said it was Sandy Koufax from 1962-63-64-65-66 you’d be correct.

 

[Silas]

I've read a bit about Johnny Bassler and also Steve O'Neil. They were indeed both very good catchers. I didn't realize O'Neil had three other brothers in the Big Leagues.

There was none better than Mr. Koufax.

 

[4thefences]

You are correct on both guitars used by Richards in '64 which was actually the last year he used the Harmony Meteor. His Les Paul Standard "Burst" really came into use in the fall of '64 so on the show it still may have been the Harmony. Richards was one of the 1st to use the Burst and soon Clapton, Page and others followed the trend.

 

[mrwallace2ku]

I love baseball history from my childhood on. Not so much before that. My alltime fav player has to be Roberto Clemente and his Pirate clubs.

Guy was a standup human being and never forgot where he came from. He used the game of baseball to help other human beings on this planet far away from the game itself.

 

[67RedSox]

If you were asked what pitcher holds the Phillies team record for most strikeouts (17) in a single game you might throw out names like…Pete Alexander, Steve Carlton, Curt Schilling, Robin Roberts, Jim Bunning, Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay and they would all be reasonable responses but none of them would be correct. Art Mahaffey, who was born on this date in 1938, would be the correct answer but his is a name that generally falls through the cracks. He was very good on a very bad team when he came into the League in 1960. The Phillies that year lost 95 games but Mahaffey did his part and finished 3rd in the ROTY voting in a pretty good class. Frank Howard won the Award followed by Pancho Herrera, Mahaffey, Ron Santo and Tommy Davis. In 1961 the Phillies were even worse with a record of 47-107 and Mahaffey led the Phillies in Wins and the NL in Losses with a record of 11-19 and was an All-Star. It was that season that he set the strikeout record in a game against the Cubs. In 1962 Mahaffey wins 19 games and again is an All-Star. Over the next 2 seasons his record would be a combined 19-19 and the end of his career was looming on the horizon and by age 28 he was a retired MLer. He also had one of the best pick-off moves to both 1st and 2nd Base. In fact, the first three batters to reach base against him in his ML career, Curt Flood, Bill White and Jim Marshall were all picked off by his move. The Phillie Phaithful remember him because of the strikeout record but his name has pretty much faded to gray.

Speaking of the Phillies it was on this date in 1964 that Sandy Koufax tossed his 3rd No-Hitter... against them in Philadelphia. The only blemish on perfection was a two-out Walk to Richie Allen on a 3-2 pitch.

It was on this date in 1974 that the Cleveland Indians decide to have a 10 cent beer night. Guess what happens…the game has to be called and forfeited to the Rangers because of unruly fan behaviour…gee, who would have thought!

Colorado Springs, Tulsa, Modesto, Asheville, Tri-City and Grand Junction are farm clubs of the Rockies. Not quite but you can almost count them on one hand. Despite the relatively few stops a prospect has to make before he makes the Big Team it can still take a bit of doing to make it from one rung to the next. Rewind to just prior to WWII. Bob Klinger who was born on this date in 1908 was trying to wind his way to a ML career from his hometown in Allenton, Missouri 30 miles up Route 66 to St. Louis where his beloved Cardinals played. Like many talented ballplayers in the area, Klinger was brought into baseball through the St. Louis Cardinals’ “chain gang” system. The St. Louis farm system was so extensive -- at one time numbering more than 40 clubs -- that it was often difficult to advance within it (or "escape from it") and for a journeyman right-handed pitcher like Klinger, it took nearly a full decade of persistence to finally make it to the major leagues. He wanted to play for his hometown team, the Cardinals but it didn’t happen…he escaped the St. Louis system and ended up making the Majors with the Pirates just shy of his 30th birthday. He was in the Pirates starting rotation for 6 years from 1938 until 1943 when he was called to serve in the Navy at age 36. After missing the 1944 and 1945 seasons he returned to the Pirates but at age 38 he was released and caught on with the Red Sox and effectively became their Closer or whatever term was used then. He had a decent year leading the AL with a whopping 9 Saves and finally got to play in St. Louis in the WS that year. He had another season in Boston before hanging his spikes up. That 30 mile jaunt up Route 66 to St. Louis which was all the road he ever wanted to travel to play for the Cardinals was where he died after apparently suffering a heart attack and crossing the center-line into oncoming traffic.

It was one year ago today that the Rockies, behind the 4-1 Christian Freidrich, shutout the Diamondbacks in the Bowels of Hell. Game time temperature was a ‘cool’ 100 F. With the Win the Rockies and Diamondbacks have virtually the same record…the Rockies are 24-30 and the Diamondbacks, 25-30. However, this is where the wheels came off the cart for the Rockies as they lose 12 of their next 13 and our frustration mounts.

 

[Silas]

67RS.......hope all is going well for you on your travels. I miss your baseball history "column"!

I see where former catcher, Stan Lopata, passed away. I don't remember ever watching him play, but he must have come through L.A. during the latter stage of his career so it's possible I saw him without realizing it. He was a pretty fair catcher and the first catcher to wear eyeglasses while playing. He had some pop in his bat, but was best remembered as a very good defensive catcher.

So, another old timer has passed on and Mr. Lopata can be proud of his career.

 

[67RedSox]

Silas, a really good call on Lopata. While in England I didn’t have internet access so I was removed from baseball for over two weeks except for some baseball books I had on an e-reader. Coincidently, one talked about Lopata and ranked him #92 on the list of Baseball’s All-Time Top 100 Catchers and that’s not bad because he never really got a chance to play as a regular until he was 30 and then he played as an All-Star for a couple of seasons before injuries started to spell the end. His career was pretty much finished by 1958 so he was before my time but I certainly know about him and if someone doesn’t remember Lopata but remembers Earl Battey or Gus Triandos or Sherm Lollar he has been likened to them.
The Phillies valued him for his arm and ability to block the plate but he became a pretty good hitter once he took advice from Rogers Hornsby about three or four years into his career. Up until then his problem with the bat was making contact. Hornsby who was not the nicest of human beings, considered cold and heartless by some ( he missed his own mother’s funeral because the day of her funeral was the day before the 1926 World Series and as player/manager of the Cardinals he considered that a greater priority ) nevertheless offered Lopata some advice when at the plate. He watched Lopata hit and concluded he wasn’t making contact because he wasn’t following the ball as it left the pitcher’s hand. He suggested that if he wanted to improve he find a way to concentrate on following the ball. I guess if a seven time Batting Champ, two time Triple Crown winner, 3 time .400 hitter and .358 lifetime average hitter offers advice about hitting you take it and Lopata certainly did by going into a rather extreme crouch at the plate . It was extreme because it made his strike zone about the size of a marble. He walked a lot and both pitchers and managers complained his stance ought to be illegal. You’re right about him wearing glasses and that was also partly to improve his hitting. He was also the first player to wear ‘tinted’ glasses as he had trouble picking up the ball because of the glare from the lights of the Connie Mack Stadium scoreboard. (There’s another little thing that has changed in Baseball. A few weeks ago I was watching a game on TV and the umpire behind the plate was wearing a pair of designer sunglasses under his mask. I should have been surprised but then I remembered umpires do whatever the heck they want these days.)
Something else I didn’t know was Lopata went into the Army in December 1943. He served in the 14th Armored Division as it fought across Europe, and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart and all of this before he was 20 years old.
Something else about Lopata…he was a baseball artist. It was something quite novel. He painted game-used baseballs. How novel was that. See below.
You’re also right about him being able to be proud of his career and he was both proud and grateful for the career he had and was not hesitant to express that so I also salute Mr. Lopata.

Phungo: Stan Lopata 1925-2013

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[BigDDude]

If you like your daily baseball history, and as I no longer do an "On this date in baseball history" thread, let me just share my main link for said info, so all who care to can enjoy.

Baseball History June 20th - National Pastime - Baseball History