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.

June 20: Lesson in Attendance

JUNE 20, 1948 | CLEVELAND, OHIO – Guess which team set the regular season attendance record on this date in 1948 (the dateline kind of gives it away)? It wasn’t the New York Yankees or some other storied franchise. It was the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians drew 82,781 fans to Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium on this date in 1948 to watch the Indians sweep a doubleheader from the Philadelphia A’s. Cleveland drew exceptionally well that entire year, and for good reason, they won the American League Pennant and beat the Boston Braves in the World Series.

The record for a game that mattered was set during the 1959 World Series when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox drew 92,720 to the Los Angeles Coliseum, better suited for football, for game 5. The Coliseum was used by the Dodgers while waiting for Dodger Stadium to be built.

Speaking of attendance, it has been generally uphill since the late 1800’s with downturns for major catastrophes such as World Wars and The Great Depression. Attendance usually picks up after those events resolve.

World War I
Year average
1916 5,215 – War goes on but United States not involved.
1917 4,186 – United States enters World War I
1918 3,032 – War still going during the season, ends in November.
1919 5,843 – 1st season after the Armistice

The Great Depression
1929 7,802 – Stock Market crash October
1930 8,211 – Attendance record set. Economic downturn not fully felt yet
1931 6,850 – Depression sets in
1932 5,657 – Depression continues
1933 4,967 – Depression at its worst
1934 5,694 – Some recovery seen
1935 5,982 – More modest recovery
1936 6,529 – More modest recovery
1937 7,216 – Recession sets in, lasts through most of ‘38

World War II
1941 7,789 – Pearl Harbor attacked in December
1942 6,988 – War continues
1943 6,031 – War continues
1944 7,063 – War continues, but attendance increases from previous year
1945 8,814 – Japan surrenders in August, war ends
1946 14,914 – Attendance boom in 1st full season after war ends

The Great Recession – 2007 to 2013

See: http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/2000-2009-mlb-attendance/

2007 – 32,785 Beginning of Great Recession

2008 – 32,694

2009 – 30,206

June 27: HS to “the show”

JUNE 27, 1973 | ARLINGTON, TEXAS – The Texas Rangers had their biggest crowd of the season on this date in 1973 to watch an 18-year old pitcher make his major league debut. David Clyde graduated from Houston’s Westchester High School just a few weeks earlier. The last time he pitched, he was facing high school talent. On this night David Clyde was facing the Minnesota Twins.

He must have felt some butterflies pitching in front of 35,698 fans because he walked the first two batters he saw, but he struck out the next three swinging. Clyde pitched five innings, walking seven, but only giving up one hit, a home run to Mike Adams. He struck out eight and got the win. It appeared to be the start of a promising career after high school numbers almost beyond belief. In his senior year, Clyde went 18-0 striking out 328 batters in 148 1/3 innings, walking just 18.

Despite an auspicious major league start, David Clyde’s success was fleeting. He spent parts of just five years in the majors, finishing with a record of 18 wins and 33 losses. He played his last major league game in 1979 at the age of 24. Clyde bounced around the minors for a few years, giving it all up in 1982.

David Clyde wasn’t the first presumed star whose glow faded too soon, but it was sad because Clyde was hyped and rushed to the majors amid tremendous publicity to get fannies in the seats. He has since said the issue for him wasn’t so much talent, as confidence. He had talent, but was never given the opportunity to build up major league confidence.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
“Sports of the Times; The mismanaged carerr of David Clyde” by David Anderson, The New York Times, June 23, 2003

David Clyde statistics from Retrosheet

DEC 10 – Spitter banned

DECEMBER 10, 1919 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK • National League owners went on record on this date in 1919 to ban the spitball and other “freak” pitches. It was considered an unfair advantage for the pitcher to put a “foreign” substance, such as saliva, petroleum jelly or mud on the ball because it changed its aerodynamics making it harder to hit.

The spitball was mastered by a number of pitchers in the early 1900’s. According to Baseball-Reference the pitch was invented by a collaboration of George Hildebrand and Frank Corridon in 1902.

Jack Chesbro of the New York Yankees and Ed Walsh of the Chicago White Sox got the most out of the spitter, each winning at least 40 games in a year – the only American League pitchers to do so.

The spitball was always controversial. There had been rules against altering the baseball since the 1870’s, but they weren’t enforced. The National League owners’ vote at their annual meeting on this date in 1919 was a big step toward finally cracking down.

In fairness to established pitchers who relied on the now illegal pitch, those who had been using the spitter could continue using it for the rest of their careers.

The Major League Baseball Rules Committee formally banned the spitball before the start of the 1920 season, and enacted tough penalties. Pitchers caught using a “foreign substance” on the ball faced a ten game suspension.

In fairness to established pitchers who relied on the now illegal pitch, those who had been using the spitter could continue using it for the rest of their careers. Burleigh Grimes was the last pitcher to legally throw a spitball in 1934.

Contributing sources: 
The New York Times, New York, NY, December 11, 1919 
The Spitball: wikipedia

Dec 16 – Circus back in town

DECEMBER 16, 1975 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Baseball showman Bill Veeck got the keys to the Chicago White Sox on this date in 1975. Veeck’s group bought the team for $10-million (The White Sox estimated value today is more than $900-million).

This was Veeck’s second tour as owner of the team. He purchased the Sox in 1959, which turned out to be good timing because they won their first American League pennant in 40 years that season.

William Louis Veeck left his mark on major league baseball with all kinds of attention-grabbing stunts, some appreciated by his fellow owners, some not. One that drew the ire of many was while owner of the St. Louis Browns he had a midget pinch-hit. He, of course, walked. Other “gimmicks” have become standard baseball attractions. He introduced the exploding scoreboard, fireworks displays, Fan Appreciation Day, and player’s names on uniforms.

There is one baseball attraction Veeck had a hand in – literally – that has become an endearing highlight of one of baseball’s great ballparks. As a teenager he helped plant the ivy on the outfield wall of Wrigley Field when his father, William Veeck Sr., was president of the Chicago Cubs. Many say the ivy was young Bill’s idea.

Contributing sources:
MLB team valuations, Bloomberg
The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, December 17, 1975
Bill Veeck: A Baseball Mastermind, BusinessWeek, October 27, 2004

July 3 – Pitcher power

JULY 3, 1966 | SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – On this date in baseball history Tony Cloninger of the Atlanta Braves became the first National Leaguer to hit two grand slam home runs in one game. Remarkable as that feat was, the display of power stands out mainly because Cloninger was the Braves’ pitcher. He drove in 9 runs, while pitching a 7-hit complete game as the Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 17-3.

Speaking of home run hitting pitchers, the best, most would agree, was Babe Ruth. In the four full seasons before he became an every day outfielder he hit 20 home runs. One of the home run leaders of the day, Gavvy Cravath hit 55 over the same time period, but being an everyday player, Cravath had about 1200 more at bats than Ruth.

Ruth was really a slugger who happened to pitch a few years. Let’s look at ballplayers who were pitchers their entire careers. The home run king was Wes Ferrell. He hit 9 in 1931 alone, a record for pitchers which stands today.

Top 10 career home run hitter who were primarily pitchers:
Wes Ferrell 38
Bob Lemon 37
Redd Ruffing 36
Warren Spahn 35
Jack Stivetts 35
Earl Wilson 35
Don Drysdale 29
John Clarkson 24
Bob Gibson 24
Walter Johnson 23

For the record, Tony Cloninger hit 11 career home runs.

Contributing Source:
Best hitting pitchers