Author: Bill Grimes

I'm from Chicago. I worked in broadcast journalism for much of the 1970's and 80's. In 1990 I became a litigation consultant, retiring in 2017. Around 2005 I recall flipping through the sports section of the newspaper coming across "On this day in baseball history Willie Mays hit his 600th home run." I enjoyed the one-liners, but I wanted more. I wanted a story. I took my news reporting skills and started researching and telling baseball stories, one for every day of the year. TodayinBaseball.com is the result.

Sept 4: One up on “Moonlight”

SEPTEMBER 4, 1933 | DETROIT, MICHIGAN • Twenty-one year old Merritt Lovett came to bat for the Chicago White Sox on this date in 1933. He did not reach base. It would be “Mem” Lovett’s only major league at bat.

Lovett was at least one up on Archibald “Moonlight” Graham. Graham was the character Burt Lancaster played in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams. Graham played one inning for the New York Giants on the last day of the 1904 season, but never came to bat. Rather than be sent down to the minors again, Graham quit professional baseball and went to medical school. He spent the rest of his life delivering babies and generally attending to the medical needs of the residents of Chisholm, Minnesota. 

In Field of Dreams, Graham, played by Frank Whaley as a young man, was granted one at bat against major leaguers who appeared on a baseball diamond an Iowa farmer carved out of his corn field.

Most of the film, Field of Dreams was fiction, based on the book Shoeless Joe by Ray Kinsella, but Moonlight Graham was a real life person. So was Merritt Lovett. He followed a similar path as Graham. He decided to do something to help others. Lovett, a native of Oak Park, Illinois and a University of Chicago graduate, soon quit professional baseball and turned his attention to youngsters in his hometown. He spent a number of years running the Oak Park recreation department.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Wednesday Journal, Oak Park, IL, October 27, 2004
Chicago Tribune, June 10, 2006, Mike Downey

Sept 3: Dodgers look west

SEPTEMBER 3, 1957 | JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY – The Brooklyn Dodgers lost in extra innings to the Philadelphia Phillies on this date in 1957. Three Phillie pitchers beat Don Drysdale, who pitched all 12 innings for the Dodgers. As it turns out, Brooklyn did not just lose a game, it was losing a team.

The September 3rd contest was played in Jersey City, New Jersey, the last of fourteen games Dodger owner Walter O’Malley scheduled at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City in 1956 and 1957.

While only 10,190 fans showed up on this day, the Dodgers averaged more than 21,000 fans in Jersey City. They averaged only 15,000 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. But the attendance at neither Jersey City nor Brooklyn was very encouraging to Dodgers’ owner Walter O’Malley who had been thinking of moving the team.

The Jersey City experiment appeared to strenghten O’Malley‘s resolve to move the team much farther west. After the 1957 season he announced the Dodgers were moving to Los Angeles. 

Walter O’Malley is a villain to many for moving the beloved Dodgers out of Brooklyn. But he tried for years to obtain land in Brooklyn and elsewhere in the New York City area to build a ballpark to replace run-down Ebbets Field. O’Malley ran into political roadblocks at every turn. He found welcoming arms in Southern California, and in 1958 the team became the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Contributing sources:
Sept 3, 1957 box score
1957 Dodgers 
“The Brooklyn Dodgers in Jersey City,” by John Burbridge, SABR Society for American Baseball Research

AUG 1: Colbert matches idol

AUGUST 1, 1972 | ATLANTA, GEORGIA – Eight-year old Nathan Colbert was in awe when he saw his favorite player, Stan Musial, hit five home runs in a double-header in 1954. Little did the St. Louis native and Cardinal fan know he would inspire the same awe eighteen years later. Today in baseball (1972) Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres tied Musial’s record by hitting five home runs in a double-header sweep of the Atlanta Braves, 9-0 and 11-7. Colbert hit two home runs in the opener and three in the second game, driving in a total of 13 runs.

The best of Colbert’s ten years in the majors was 1976; 38 HRs, 111 RBI, and though his batting average was a modest .250, his slugging percentage was .508. His abilities diminished rather quickly. His HR/RBI stats fell to 22/80 in 1973, 14/54 in 1974, 8/29 in 1975 and he was out of baseball by 1977. He remains in the record books, however, alongside is childhood hero Stan Musial.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES
Associated Press, August 3, 1972 

 


Aug 19: Eddie Gaedel goes to bat

AUGUST 19, 1951 | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI • A dwarf went to bat on this date in baseball history, and guess what? He walked. What a long shot that was. It was the famous, or infamous, depending on your outlook, marketing gimmick of that great baseball promoter Bill Veeck.

Veeck owned the old St. Louis Browns (today’s Baltimore Orioles) at the time, and needed to boost sagging attendance. He would only say that he planned a surprise between games of a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers. It didn’t seem like such a big deal when a huge cake was rolled out, out of it coming 3-foot 7-inch, 65 lb. Edward Carl “Eddie” Gaedel with number “1/8” on his back. Veeck’s real surprise, however, was having Eddie Gaedel pinch hit for the leadoff hitter, which took everyone off guard.

Veeck knew he’d get some resistance from the umpires, but he was ready. He had Gaedel sign a major league contract two days earlier. Veeck sent it to the Commissioner’s office on Friday, knowing it wouldn’t be looked at until Monday. Browns manager Zack Taylor had a copy of the contract in his pocket in the event home plate umpire Ed Hurley wanted proof Gaedel was a major leaguer. Hurley did. Taylor showed him the contract and Gaedel stepped into the batter’s box. The pitcher tried to find his strike zone. Gaedel walked on four pitches. He took a couple bows as he headed to first base, and received a standing ovation from the crowd.

The baseball establishment wasn’t crazy about the stunt. The rules were soon changed forbidding anyone from appearing in a major league game until after the Commissioner approves a contract.

Ironically, because walks don’t count as official times at bat, according to the statistics, Eddie Gaedel never batted.

Eddie Gaedel Statistics

SEASON-1951  TEAM-St. Louis Browns
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP    SLG   AVG
1 0 0  0  0   0   0    0   0  1 0   0   0  1.000  .000 .000
Career Totals
1  0 0  0  0   0   0    0   0  1 0   0   0  1.000  .000 .000

Contributing Source:
ESPN Outside The Lines

AUG 16: Ray Chapman Tragedy

AUGUST 16, 1920 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Cleveland Indians shortstop, Ray Chapman was hit in the head while batting in the 5th inning of a game against the New York Yankees on this date in 1920. He died the next day.

Chapman was beaned by Yankee pitcher Carl Mays. Mays was described as having an underhand delivery. Both Mays and Chapman were right-handed so a typical curve would have broken away from Chapman. Instead one of Mays pitches must have tailed inside striking Chapman in the head. 

Chapman was having a fine career with the Cleveland Indians – the only team he ever played for. He was their regular shortstop. He had a .278 batting average through nine seasons. He was known to be a good base stealer.

Mays was known to throw a spitball, which was a legal pitch at the time. A report in the San Antonio Evening News of August 17, 1920, said, “The crack of the ball hitting his head could be heard all over the Polo Grounds.” Chapman was rushed to St. Lawrence Hospital in New York. Doctors decided to operate at around midnight, but were unable to save him.

The Indians were in first place at the time of Chapman’s death and went on to win the American League pennant and the World Series. 

Ray Chapman is the only player to be killed by a pitch.

Contributing sources:
New York Times
Chicago Daily Tribune, August 18, 1920
The San Antonio Evening News, August 17, 1920