I love being out there on the mound with the ball in my hand. I can control the game. I’m out there. No clock – nothing happens until I throw that thing. Nothing happens. I love that feeling.
~David Cone
The 1927 New York Yankees featured the renowned Murderer’s Row, which included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs, Bob Meusel, and Tony Lazzeri. The team won 110 games that year, and 1927 also happened to be the season when Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs.
This piece by Robert L. Harrison was first published in 1999.
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Gather ’round you fans of baseball
you lovers of season past,
let me take you back to the greatest team
that ever played on grass.
Guided by Miller Huggins
known as “murderer’s row,”
never was such a string of pearls
so feared this side of Hell.
Greedy was this awesome bunch
with Ruth and Gehrig leading the punch,
and Hoyt and Moore on the mound
shooting all the batters down.
Gasping crowds assemble
like sinners in a tent,
watching all the other teams
trying to repent.
God blessed those boys of summer
those pin-striped renegades,
with a winning passion
while others saw only the haze.
Gathering in the rosebuds
by playing excellent ball,
called the “five o’clock lightning”
taking the pennant in the fall.
Gone were any pretenders to the throne
no on stood wherever these Yankees roamed,
twenty-five men made up this team
and all had a year better than their dreams.
On December 9, 1941, just two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Cleveland pitcher Bob Feller enlisted in the United States Navy, becoming the first American professional athlete to volunteer for World War II. Feller was not required to participate in the war, being eligible for deferment because his father was terminally ill, but Feller was determined to join the fight. He would be discharged from the Navy on August 22, 1945, having earned six campaign ribbons and eight battle stars.
Last year, more Americans went to symphonies than went to baseball games. This may be viewed as an alarming statistic, but I think that both baseball and the country will endure.
~John F. Kennedy
Just 70 days until pitchers and catchers report!
On December 4, 1943, the Senators sold All-Star Bob Johnson to the Red Sox. Washinton owner Clark Griffith would later recall the deal as one of the worst he ever made, as Johnson went on to have two solid seasons with Boston, hitting .302 for the Sox before retiring at 39.
If I was traded to the Giants, I’d quit baseball.
~Rocky Colavito
