This day in baseball: Haas walks too many
Posted: June 23, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Bruno Haas, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Athletics, sports Leave a commentOn June 23, 1915, Bruno Haas of the Philadelphia Athletics pitched a complete game against the Yankees at Shibe Park. Haas lost the contest 15-7, however, giving up 16 walks over those 9 innings. It is a post-1900 record for a 9-inning game that stands to this day.
Records for most walks in a game are shown below, courtesy of Baseball Almanac.
Quote of the day
Posted: June 21, 2021 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, Cleveland Indians, Jim Thome, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports 2 CommentsThe strongest thing I put into my body is steak and eggs. I just eat. I’m not a supplement guy. Steroids are not even a thought.
~Jim Thome
legion.org
This day in baseball: Waner turns down his 3,000th hit
Posted: June 17, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Boston Braves, Braves Field, Cincinnati Reds, Eddie Joost, history, Jerry Moore, Major League Baseball, MLB, Paul Waner, Pittsburgh Pirates, Rip Sewell, sports Leave a commentOn June 17, 1942, Braves right fielder Paul Waner stood on first base during the second game of a double-header against the Cincinnati Reds and gestured at the official scorer not to credit him with a hit. Waner had just reached base on a ground ball in the hole that was knocked down by Reds shortstop Eddie Joost.
Waner had entered the game at Braves Field batting just .263 for the year, but he was nearing a major milestone — his 3,000th career hit. When the ground ball knocked down by Joost was initially scored a hit, Waner grew furious. “No, no. Don’t give me a hit on that. I won’t take it,” he yelled. Waner didn’t want a questionable roller to be his historic 3,000th hit.
Jerry Moore, who was acting as official scorer for the game, relented, and he changed the scoring on the play to an error by Joost. (I haven’t been able to find anything depicting Joost’s reaction to this decision, however.)
Two days later, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Waner laced an RBI single off Rip Sewell, his former teammate on the Pirates. In doing so, he became just the seventh player in major league history to hit the 3,000 mark.
Box score for Waner’s 3,000th hit game (The Sporting News)
Frank Thomas’s Hall of Fame induction speech
Posted: June 16, 2021 Filed under: 21st Century | Tags: Baseball, Chicago White Sox, Frank Thomas, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, sports Leave a commentFrank Thomas spent all but 3 years of his MLB career with the Chicago White Sox. He was a five-time All-Star, and he won the AL batting title in 1997 with a .347 average. He was a two-time American League MVP (1993 and 1994), won the Silver Slugger on four occasions (1991, 1993, 1994, and 2000), and his jersey number 35 was retired by the White Sox.
Frank Thomas was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
Quote of the day
Posted: June 15, 2021 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, Detroit Tigers, humor, Major League Baseball, MLB, quotes, Sparky Anderson, sports 2 CommentsJust give me 25 guys on the last year of their contracts; I’ll win a pennant every year.
~Sparky Anderson
New York Times
R.I.P. Jim “Mudcat” Grant
Posted: June 13, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century | Tags: All-Star Game, Baseball, Jim "Mudcat" Grant, Kansas City Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, Major League Baseball, Minnesota Twins, MLB, Mudcat Grant, sports Leave a commentJames Timothy “Mudcat” Grant was born on August 13, 1935 in Lacoochee, Florida. He was one of seven children of James Sr. and Viola Grant.
Grant was signed as an amateur free agent by the Cleveland Indians prior to the 1954 season. After four seasons in the minor leagues, from 1954 to 1957, he made his MLB debut on April 17, 1958, at the age of 22, winning a complete game against the Kansas City Athletics. In June 1964, he was traded to the Minnesota Twins, then in 1965, he went 21–7 for the Twins, helping to lead the team to the 1965 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Unfortunately, the Twins lost the series in seven games.
During the 1965 season, Grant became the first black pitcher in the American League to win 20 games, leading the American League in victories with a 21-7 record, also posting a 3.30 ERA in 270 1/3 innings, and starting 39 games. He started three World Series games, winning two. In Game 6 at Metropolitan Stadium, he gave up only one run in a complete game, and even hit a three-run homer en route to a 5-1 victory.
Grant pitched for seven teams during his 14-year big league career and was with the Twins for four of those seasons. Over the course of that career, he had a 145–119 record in 571 games, while starting in 293 of them and throwing 89 complete games. His resumé also includes 18 shutouts, 53 saves, with 2,442 innings pitched on a 3.63 ERA.
Grant was named to the All-Star team in 1963 and 1965. He received his catfish-inspired nickname when a minor league teammate thought he was from Mississippi.
Mudcat Grant died on June 12, 2021 at the age of 85.
Rest in peace.
Branch Rickey’s scouting report of Hank Aaron
Posted: June 11, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Baseball, Branch Rickey, Cincinnati Reds, Hank Aaron, history, Library of Congress, Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Braves, MLB, sports 3 CommentsHere’s an interesting find from the Library of Congress. Dated May 2, 1963, Branch Rickey wrote up a scouting report of Hammerin’ Hank Aaron.
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 2, 1963
Cincinnati vs Milwaukee
AARON, HANK
Surely one of the greatest hitters in baseball today. Can hit late with power, – good wrists. But in spite of his hitting record and admitted power ability, one cannot help think that Aaron is frequently a guess hitter. Will take three strikes down the middle and in fact frequently acts frozen on pitches. For years I have believed and I still believe that Aaron has more trouble with the breaking stuff. He stands close enough to the plate to pull the outside ball and does pull it. However, he is a foot length further from the plate than Frank Robinson of Cincinnati.
BRANCH RICKEY
[Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.]
It’s an interesting review of Aaron’s hitting, pretty much right in the middle of his MLB career. Looking at the box score, Aaron went 2-for-4 with a homer and 2 RBIs in this game, but also struck out twice.
While I am too young to have ever watched Aaron’s hitting, what limited knowledge I have makes me think Rickey might not have been alone in his perception of him as a “guess hitter.” At the same time, I would also wager that Aaron might have read pitches better than he sometimes let on.
If you’re interested, you can find the digital document on the Library of Congress website here.
Throw me a curve
Posted: June 9, 2021 Filed under: Pop culture | Tags: Baseball, comics, Dave Coverly, humor, sports 1 CommentThough I bet if the pitcher yelled this as he was cutting the pitch loose, it would be pretty damned effective.
Dave Coverly
This day in baseball: King and Robinson given honorary degrees
Posted: June 7, 2021 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers, Civil Rights, Civil Rights Movement, history, Howard University, Jackie Robinson, Major League Baseball, Martin Luther King Jr., MLB, sports Leave a commentOn June 7, 1957, Howard University awarded honorary Doctor of Law degrees to Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to recently-retired Dodgers infielder Jackie Robinson. In the years that followed, the former baseball great and the Baptist minister frequently appeared together at Civil Rights rallies, fundraising events, and demonstrations.
Quote of the day
Posted: June 4, 2021 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, Major League Baseball, MLB, New York Yankees, quotes, Roger Maris, sports Leave a commentYou hit home runs not by chance, but by preparation.
~Roger Maris
Brittanica.com
