This day in baseball: Yellow baseballs
Posted: August 2, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Baseball equipment, Brooklyn Dodgers, Ebbets Field, Frederic H. Rahr, history, Larry MacPhail, Major League Baseball, Mickey Cochrane, MLB, sports, St. Louis Cardinals Leave a commentFor the first game of a doubleheader played on August 2, 1938, Larry MacPhail had official baseballs dyed dandelion yellow, and the balls were used in the matchup between the Dodgers and Cardinals at Ebbets Field. The inspiration for this yellow ball came from a New York color engineer named Frederic H. Rahr, who developed it after Mickey Cochrane was severely beaned at the plate the previous year.
“My primary object is to give the hitter more safety and there’s no question that this will be achieved,” said Rahr. “That’s simply because the batter will be striking at a ball he can see instead of at a white object that blurs with the background.”
The Dodgers won that opening game with the yellow baseballs by a score of 6-2. The Dodgers went on to use up their yellow balls in three more games in 1939, but the yellow balls would not get used again after that season.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Infographic: 14 Things You Didn’t Know About the World Series
Posted: July 30, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, 21st Century | Tags: Baseball, Chicago Cubs, Don Larsen, history, infographics, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports, World Series Leave a commentI can’t seem to trace the origins of this infographic, but I found it an interesting one. For true baseball fans not all of these items are unknowns, and the graphic was obviously created prior to the 2016 season, given the bit of trivia about the Cubs. The detail about Don Larsen smoking in the dugout during his World Series perfect game was new to me, however, and it appears this tidbit is pretty accurate.
Quote of the day
Posted: July 25, 2020 Filed under: Quote of the day | Tags: Baseball, Cool Papa Bell, history, Negro Leagues, quotes, racism, sports Leave a commentThat was the system they had in those days. That’s what they called states’ rights. States’ rights doesn’t mean much to the Negro. You don’t get justice with states’ rights. Which is a bad thing to happen.
~James “Cool Papa” Bell
NLBM
This day in baseball: Slim steals home
Posted: July 22, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Superbas, Ebbets Field, history, Slim Sallee, sports, St. Louis Cardinals 2 CommentsSlim Sallee became the first pitcher in Cardinal history to steal home on July 22, 1913 in a game against the Brooklyn Superbas. The Redbird lefty performed the feat in the game’s third inning, scoring the first run in St. Louis’s 3-1 victory over Brooklyn at Ebbets Field.
Slim Sallee in 1911 (Library of Congress)
This day in baseball: Thompson’s MLB debut
Posted: July 17, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: American League, Baseball, Hank Thompson, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Philadelphia Athletics, sports, St. Louis Browns Leave a commentLess than two weeks after Larry Doby’s debut with the Indians, Hank Thompson became the second black player to debut in the American League on July 17, 1947. In the game, Thompson went 0-for-4 as the Browns suffered a 16-2 loss to Philadelphia at Sportsman’s Park. Thompson would play in only 27 games for St. Louis because his presence did not significantly raise attendance.
Hank Thompson (nlbm.mlbblogs.com)
Opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame clips
Posted: July 5, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Babe Ruth, Baseball, Cooperstown, Cy Young, Eddie Collins, history, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, Major League Baseball, MLB, National Baseball Hall of Fame, sports 1 CommentThis short video from the Baseball Hall of Fame is a few years old, but I love the fact that it includes brief snippets from the opening ceremony in June 1939. In the video, you’ll hear a few words from1939 inductee Eddie Collins as well as from Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, 1937 inductee Cy Young, and 1936 inductee Babe Ruth. Videos of many induction speeches from those early years have proven hard to find, so coming across this video feels like a positive step in the right direction.
This day in baseball: Cy Young dominates again
Posted: July 1, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Boston Americans, Chicago White Sox, Cy Young, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports Leave a commentIn a game against the White Sox at Chicago’s South Side Park on July 1, 1902, Boston Americans pitcher Cy Young drove in the only run of the game. Young’s shutout performance from the mound is his fourth consecutive complete game without allowing a run and is also the right-hander’s third 1-0 victory in nine days.
Cy Young (Bain News Service)
This day in baseball: Ironman’s double loss
Posted: June 25, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century, This day in baseball | Tags: Baseball, Boston Beaneaters, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, sports, St. Louis Cardinals, Wiley Piatt Leave a commentBoston Beaneaters pitcher Wiley Piatt lost both games of a doubleheader to the St. Louis Cardinals on June 25, 1903. Piatt pitched a complete game in each contest, making him the first pitcher in the 20th century to pitch two complete games in one day and lose them both. Fittingly, Piatt was known as “Ironman” to his teammates.
Wiley Piatt (public domain)
Nolan Ryan documentary
Posted: June 18, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Baseball, biographies, documentaries, George W. Bush, history, Major League Baseball, MLB, Nolan Ryan, sports 2 CommentsThis has to be the cheesiest documentary I have ever watched, but that characteristic actually made it pretty fun. As you’ll see, the cheese just oozes right from the intro, which I imagine is due in part to the era in which the film was made, while Ryan was still playing ball. (Seeing a young George W. Bush with dark hair was a little trippy, but not in an intentional way by the filmmakers.) Nevertheless, this video provides a great look at Ryan’s impressive career.
Pop Lloyd Baseball Field: PBS Investigations
Posted: June 9, 2020 Filed under: 20th Century | Tags: Atlantic City, Baseball, history, Max Manning, Negro Leagues, PBS, Pop Lloyd, sports 2 CommentsI stumbled across this PBS feature in the midst of some browsing yesterday. PBS Investigations ran an episode in 2004 about Pop Lloyd Baseball Field, a stadium in Atlantic City. What’s intriguing about the field is that not only was it named after a Negro Leagues ballplayer, but the stadium was built in 1949, at a time when racial prejudices ran particularly strong. Not only that, Atlantic City at the time was known to be especially discriminatory against the black community. The episode delves into why the stadium was built where it was built at the time it was built.
I wish PBS had posted the video of the episode on their site, but sadly, this is not the case. However, they do provide a link to the transcript of the episode, for anyone who is interested in the story behind the construction of this stadium. Reading the transcript feels a little trippy without the visual context to go along with it, but if you’re willing to venture into it, the history is pretty interesting (small spoiler: the motives behind the stadium’s construction were not exactly pure).
As part of the episode, PBS also interviewed pitcher Max Manning, which can be found in the transcript. What’s really cool, though, is that you can find an extension to his interview (with a video!) as a featured clip here.
Wikipedia
