Saturday, July 23, 2005
July 23rd, 1918
Pee Wee Reese Born
Since I was very young, I've always liked Pee Wee Reese for the incident described in this book when Reese publicly showed his support for Jackie Robinson in front of a hostile crowd in
To that end, they passed out small birthday candles to all in attendance (one can only imagine the reaction of an insurance company if you tried this today). When the seventh inning stretch came around, the ballpark lights were dimmed and the fans lit their candles. Then, as a cake was presented to Reese from the Dodgers, the crowd all sang Happy Birthday to their shortstop.
However Reese celebrates his birthday today, it is unlikely to quite be of the scale of thousands of loyal fans lighting candles and singing. But he'll always have the memory, and that's pretty good. Happy Birthday Pee Wee.
Friday, July 22, 2005
July 22nd, 1912
Eddie Cicotte Purchased by White Sox
This one is a move that can filed under "Well, that was nice while it lasted," but more on that in a moment. Prior to being sold, Cicotte had been a pretty good pitcher on-and-off for the Red Sox as far back as 1909 but his inconsistency caused
However he was doing it, Cicotte came to the White Sox and became, while not necessarily a more consistent pitcher than he had been in
In Game One, Cicotte famously hit Reds' lead-off man Morrie Rath to confirm the fix and would go on to pitch poorly (three and two-third innings, 6 runs, 7 hits) and although his performance in Game Four seems better (9 innings, no earned runs) both of the Reds' two runs--the margin of victory--came after an error on should've-been-easy-play by Cicotte. He finally redeemed himself in Game Seven--the series was best of nine that year—when, with the fix possibly off due to a lack of funds, Cicotte threw a complete game, scattering seven hits while giving up just one run. The Sox would lose the series in Game Eight however.
In the course of the investigation into the fix Cicotte was the first to confess, although he would later recant the confession and demand a trial. For the waiver price then, the White Sox got several effective seasons but at the extreme cost, due to a variety of factors, of a pitcher who was willing and able to play a major role in the throwing of a World Series and would later be a crucial factor in unraveling the plot. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
July 21st, 1959
Boston Red Sox Integrate
as
The Red Sox were the last team to integrate, a subject which is of sometimes great controversy in
"Pumpsie Green was the first black player on the Boston Red Sox...in 1959 irate fans paraded around Fenway for three days protesting the Red Sox refusal to bring Pumpsie up from the minors. When he was finally brought up in the middle of the year, he disappointed even his most ardent supporters by being unable to either hit major league pitching or field major league hitting, thus achieving immediate and total equality with the rest of the Red Sox lineup. He disappointed no one, however, with his bizarre behavior. One summer weekend in 1962, when after a particularly humiliating defeat at the hands of the New York Yankees, he and [teammate] Gene Conley...walked off the team bus in the middle of a traffic jam in the
~Brendan C. Boyd and Fred Harris, The Great American Baseball Card Flipping, Trading and Bubble Gum Book
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
July 20th, 1896
Bob Meusel Born
Known as "Long Bob" for his height--6'3"--he was the tallest player on the 1927 Yankees and a member in good standing of Murder's Row, having his best season that year. (As an aside, 6'3" is still tall, but it’s interesting how ballplayers have changed; the last truly great Yankee team of 1998 had more than ten players 6'3" or taller.) Meusel had a relatively short career, playing just ten years, all but one for the Yankees, retiring after a single season with the Reds in 1930.
Besides their height, the primary difference between the men was their throwing arms. Bob was reputed to have one of the best arms in the league, possibly the best of his generation (he played left field because the Yankees had a right fielder you might have heard of, Babe Ruth) while Irish's arm was notoriously poor. This is best summed up by a story Bill James relates: Irish was walking down the street with John McGraw when a one-armed man came up--very drunk--and began his tale of woe:
"Pardon me, sir, I had the misfortune to lose my arm--"
McGraw cut him off, "get on your way, Irish ain't got it."
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
July 19th, 1993
Raul Mondesi Debuts
Apropos of nothing--which come to think of it, could be the motto for this blog some days--I went to this Orioles/Yankees game and sat in the right field bleachers, from where I could see Raul Mondesi man his post. Prior to the bottom of the ninth inning, Mondesi was warming up his arm with reliever Mike Stanton (filling in for a ball boy on this duty) and ended his long tosses with the ball in his hand. He turned towards the bleachers and briefly scanned them, before spotting an attractive young woman wearing a tank top. Mondesi pointed to her and threw her the ball. Before she could catch it, it was intercepted by a young man, her boyfriend I assume. After the inning's first pitch, he shouted for Mondesi's attention, and when Mondesi turned around, the boyfriend threw the ball back to the outfielder.
Mondesi caught the ball and regarded the boyfriend, but decided upon further reflection to simply toss the ball to a little kid in the bleachers, and all parties received a mock cheer from the rest of the bleacher crowd.
Monday, July 18, 2005
July 18th, 1956
Razor Shines Born
That's his real name, Anthony Razor Shines. Shines was a pretty decent minor league hitter with more than seven hundred RBIs and a hundred homers. He never shined (sorry, sorry) in the Majors however, hitting just .185 in four separate cups of coffee with the Expos as he was shifted around the infield in an attempt to find him a position since his natural one--catcher--was blocked by Gary Carter. He was briefly moved to first base, including an Opening Day start, but was turned away there by the emergence of another Expos' prospect: Andres Galarraga. Shines hung around in the minors into the early nineties but would never play in the Majors after 1987. The dual highlights of his career would be an inning pitched in a blowout in 1985 and a single to break-up a Dennis Eckersley no-hitter. After a few years out of baseball Shines returned to game as a coach; he managed in the low minors for a few years and this year is managing in
As to the name, Shines explains "Razor’s a family name. My grandfather was a Razor. He gave that name to my father and he gave it to me. My son’s middle name is Razor." So there's your explanation, somewhere along the line someone decided it would be a good idea if the family name was, in fact, a word. The mysteries of life.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
July 17th, 1941
Joe DiMaggio Goes Hitless
You may remember that I wrote about the start of his streak, waaaay back in May during my "Brief Phase" when I was moving. I'm writing about it here because I think it gives a sense of the length of DiMaggio's streak, not just in terms of the games which everyone knows, but also just in the passage of time. Every day from that one in May to this one in July 1941 DiMaggio either got a hit or the Yankees didn't play. It’s fairly remarkable.
Speaking of remarkable, a remarkable coincidence took place on that July 17th, as related by Bill James. The U.S. Army was conducting a draft in
One last bit on DiMaggio's streak. It is widely reported that Joe missed out on a $10,000 dollar endorsement (that was a good bit of money in those days) as he streak stopped short of 57, the magic number for Heinz and their "57 Varieties" brand line. The story is well known and whether it’s true or not may be difficult to say, but it's worth nothing that DiMaggio later claimed it was nothing but bunk.
