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.

A story from April 2 in baseball history – Doubleday invented baseball: NOT!

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US BACK TO CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ON APRIL 2, 1908.  On this date, Major League Baseball owners declared the game was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. A commission came to this conclusion after studying the issue for two years. It was overwhelming, and false.

Doubleday, a civil war General, and Cooperstown, named for poet James Fenimore Cooper, had as much to do with inventing baseball as Babe Ruth had with inventing the hot dog. No matter, a man named Spalding was on a mission – he would later go on to build a sporting goods empire. Cooperstown would become a baseball mecca.

In 1905 Albert Spalding recommended that former National League President A.G. Mills head up a commission to study the origins of the baseball. Someone uncovered a letter describing Doubleday as being the first to set down “base ball” rules derived from a game called “town ball.” A myth was born, except the rules weren’t new, neither was “base ball” (see September 23, 1845).

This much apparently is true, Abner Doubleday once lived in Cooperstown. And the myth Spalding helped create was strong enough to make this sleepy town in the hills of western New York named after a poet, the site for the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 1930s.

Contributing Sources:
Spaldings World Tour, by Mark Lamster, 2006, Published by Public Affairs
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) www.sabr.org

A TRAGIC LOSS ON OPENING DAY – JOHN McSHERRY’s LAST BREATH

A TRAGIC STORY APRIL 1, 1996 FROM CINCINNATI, OHIO. It was opening day, the unofficial beginning of spring, a sign of rebirth, a starting over. Everybody’s in first place. The Cincinnati Reds are hosting the Montreal Expos (today’s Washington Nationals). Reds pitcher Pete Schrouek fires the first pitch to John Grudzielanek right down the middle. Home plate umpire John McSherry shouts, “Ball.” Schrouek is stunned. Grudzielanek eventually flies out. Mike Lansing strikes out. The count on Rondell White is 1 and 1. “Hold on,” McSherry says. It’s only the seventh pitch of the game, but the 380-pound man in blue is in trouble. He walks haltingly toward the dugout then staggers and falls face forward. A gasp rises from the crowd. The opening day air is the source of John McSherry’s last breath. He is pronounced dead an hour later. McSherry was 51.

The game is postponed. Players, coaches, managers are in no mood to continue. John McSherry was truly one of the game’s most beloved umpires. Reds shortstop Barry Larkin stood helplessly on the field the day McSherry died, “It’s often thought that baseball players and umpires have an antagonistic relationship. If any one person could prove that theory wrong, it was John McSherry.” McSherry had one of the lowest ejection rates of any umpire.

Like many umpires, McSherry wanted to be a ballplayer. Born and raised in New York City, he got a scholarship to St. John’s University for academics, not sports. He left St. John’s before getting a degree. If he was going to be in a classroom, he wanted it to be in an umpire’s school in Florida. After umpire’s school, McSherry worked in the Florida Instructional League and then the Carolina and International Leagues. He broke into the majors in 1971.

McSherry battled weight issues in his adult life, in fact had a physical scheduled for the day after he died. His death spurred a movement to require fitness of umpires and avoid situations such as John McSherry’s last breath be taken at a distinctly young age.

Contributing sources:
The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 2, 1996
The New York Times, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 2, 1996

A STORY FROM MARCH 31st IN BASEBALL HISTORY – EARLIEST KNOWN REFERENCE TO “BASE-BALL”

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US WAY BACK TO SHERE, ENGLAND, MARCH 31, 1755. The earliest known reference to “base-ball” was made on this date.

That was not a misprint – 1755.

And it was made in England, not America. The entry was made by William Bray, a successful lawyer and meticulous recorder of daily life in County Shere outside London.

Here’s what he wrote some 260 years ago:

“Went to stoke church this morn. After dinner went to Miss Jeal’s to play at base-ball with her, the three Miss Whiteheads, Miss Billinghurst, Miss Molly Flutter, Mr, Chandler, Mr. Ford, Mr. Parsons. Drank tea and stayed til 8.”

It was a startling discovery. While British games like “Rounders,” “Town Ball,” and “Cricket,” were believed to have influenced base ball, it was thought to be a purely American invention. But if that was the case, what was the earliest known reference to base-ball doing in the diary of a  Brit in 1755?

Contributing sources:
John Thorn is the Official Biographer for Major League Baseball
David Block, baseball historian, author of “Baseball Before We Knew it: A Search For the Roots of the Game”
Origins of Baseball

MARCH 30: SOSA FOR BELL

MARCH 30, 1992 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – The Chicago White Sox traded Sammy Sosa and reliever Ken Patterson to the cross-town Cubs for George Bell on this date in 1992. It was one proven star at the end of his career for an unproven star at the beginning of his. The Cubs got the better end of the deal in Bell for Sosa.

The big name was Bell, whom the Sox hoped would be the final piece of the puzzle to get to them to the World Series.

Bell had averaged 27 home runs and 102 runs batted for the six previous seasons. Sosa was a 23-year old outfielder who showed promise as the regular right fielder in 1991 hitting 15 home runs and driving 70 for the White Sox, but he also struck out 150 times in 153 games.

It took a couple years after Sosa joined the Cubs for him to blossom into the RBI and home run hitting machine he became. Sosa’s break out year was 1993 when he hit 33 home runs and drove in 93. Sosa would hit at least 25 home runs for the next 13 seasons, three times hitting more than 60.

George Bell had a good year for the Sox in ’92 with 25 home runs and 112 RBI, but tailed off considerably in 1993, which turned out to be his final year in the majors. The White Sox found a right-field star of their own a few years later in Magglio Ordonez. He was not the home run/RBI producer Sosa was, but he was probably a better all-around player. In this trade it’s quite obvious, the Cubs got the better end of the deal. The Cubs got the better the better end of the deal in Sosa for Bell.

Contributing sources:
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, March 31, 1992.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bellge02.shtml
http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sosasa01.shtml

A STORY FROM MARCH 29 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – The one & only Cy Young

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES YOU TO GILMORE, OHIO MARCH 29, 1867. Denton Young was born on an Ohio farm on this date in 1867. Better known as Cy Young, he won more games, 511, than any other pitcher in baseball history. The pitcher in second place, Walter Johnson, had 94 fewer wins than the first and only true Cy Young.

Young’s nickname was coined by a catcher who, after warming him up, compared his fastball to a cyclone. He played for four teams during a 22 year career lasting from 1890 to 1911. His 511-wins and 316-losses are not the only stats that are eye-popping:

 • 15 seasons of at least 20 wins
 • 5 seasons of at least 30 wins
 • 19 double digit winning seasons
 • A 2.63 lifetime Earned Run Average

And of course, today the best pitcher in each league is recognized with the “Cy Young” Award.  Here are the fifteen winningest pitchers of all time:

Cy Young – 511
Walter Johnson – 417
Pete Alexander – 373
Christy Mathewson – 373
Pud Galvin – 365
Warren Spahn – 363
Kid Nichols – 361
Greg Maddux – 355
Roger Clemens – 354
Tim Keefe – 342
Steve Carlton – 329
John Clarkson – 328
Eddie Plank – 326
Nolan Ryan – 326
Don Sutton – 324

There have been dozens of Cy Young award winners. Denton Young is the first and only true Cy Young.

Contributing sources:
More on Cy Young
300 win Club
Most wins career