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.

May 8: Plot Against Jackie Robinson?

MAY 8, 1947 | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – On this date in 1947 the sports editor of the New York Herald Tribune claimed to have uncovered a plot to put Jackie Robinson back behind the color barrier. Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers three weeks earlier. The thrust of sports editor Stanley Woodward’s story is that some members of the St. Louis Cardinals threatened to strike rather than play a team with a black player. Woodward reported that the alleged strike was thwarted by a stern warning from Cardinal team owner Sam Breadon that the league would suspend any player taking part in a strike. Breadon and others denied that any of what Woodward wrote ever took place, but several players were known to be vehemently opposed to Robinson playing and discussions of some kind of job action were not unheard of.

Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947 wasn’t the end of racism in baseball, in many ways it was just the beginning. Before April 15, 1947 there were no blacks in the game to put down, insult, threaten or force to stay in separate hotels. When Robinson began playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers White baseball and White America had to confront its racism. Some of it was ugly.

And some of it was hopeful, such as later that May in Cincinnati. Robinson was being taunted mercilessly until shortstop and team captain Pee Wee Reese, a White man from Kentucky, walked across the infield and put his arm around Robinson’s shoulder to show baseball and all of America that a White man born in segregated Ekron, Kentucky and a black man born in Cairo, Georgia were in this together.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
The Era: 1947-1957: When the Yankees, Dodgers and Giants Ruled the World, by Roger Kahn
Baseball’s Greatest Experiment: Jackie Robinson and his Great Legacy, by Jules Tygie

March 19: Tragedy at Cubs Camp

MARCH 19, 1965 | MESA, ARIZONA – Tragedy struck the Chicago Cubs on this date in 1965. Cubs’ play-by-play announcer Jack Quinlan, shown here with Cubs star Ernie Banks, was killed in a car accident on the outskirts of Mesa, Arizona where the Cubs were training.

The accident occurred late in the evening when Quinlan’s car struck a parked truck. He was returning to Chandler, Arizona after playing golf in Mesa.

Quinlan was a broadcasting boy wonder after graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1948. He started doing Cubs games in 1952 at the age of 25. Hall of Fame Cubs’ broadcaster Jack Brickhouse wrote in his book A Voice for all Seasons, “He was dynamic and authoritative, and with his sense of humor they added up to a superb announcer. Sometimes I thought you could actually hear his smile on the air.”

Jack Quinlan was 38 when he died.

Contributing sources:
“Thanks for Listening,” by Jack Brickhouse, 1996
The Chicago Tribune, March 20, 1965

DRAFT – DEC 15: NL decides to play ball

[TRIBUNE PROQUEST SEARCH SHOWS VOTE ON UNIFORM BALL WAS DEC 14, NOT DEC 15]

DECEMBER 15, 1933| CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Major League Baseball owners meeting in Chicago decided on a uniform baseball on this date in 1933. For several years the American League used a more lively ball, but the National League decided to conform.

Contributing sources:
Associated Press, Paul Mikelson, December 16, 1933

 

March 26:Louie’s career ends

WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA, MARCH 26, 1974. All good things must come to an end, and on this date in 1974 it was the 18-year Hall of Fame career of shortstop Luis Aparicio. “Little Louie” – 5’9″, 160 lb. – was given his walking papers by Boston Red Sox manager Darrell Johnson right after they beat the Montreal Expos in an exhibition game. Aparicio was still in uniform.

Aparicio would be 40 in a few weeks and be able to spend his birthday at home in Maracaibo, Venezuela for the first time in 21 years.

Being let go was a disappointment, but Aparicio took it in stride, “The first thing I thought about when I walked out of the office was about my five kids.” Aparicio would be 40 in a few weeks and be able to spend his birthday at home in Maracaibo, Venezuela for the first time in 21 years.

Aparicio had been with the Boston Red Sox for three years, but played most of his career for the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles. He was an 11-time all-star with 9 Gold Gloves and a prototype lead-off man with 506 career stolen bases.

Aparicio was on two World Series teams. He put the “go” in the 1959 “go-go” White Sox, which lost the Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He got some revenge playing for the Orioles in 1966 when they swept the Dodgers in 4 straight. But on this date in 1974, Aparicio’s HOF career ended.

Contributing sources:
United Press International (UPI), by Milton Richman, March 27, 1974
More on Aparicio

March 21-Fidrych here, then gone

MARCH 21, 1977, LAKELAND, FLORIDA – When Detroit Tiger pitcher Mark “The Bird” Fidrych twisted his knee shagging fly balls on this date in 1977 it seemed a minor bump in the road for the 1976 rookie of the year. He was expected to miss his next start. Unfortunately, what initially seemed like a minor injury had major consequences for Fidrych. He had torn cartilage in his knee and would need surgery.

Fidrych was never the same. He was out of baseball three years later.

But 1976 was magical.

Twenty-one year old Mark Fidrych wasn’t even expected to make the team out of spring training. He made his first start in May only because the scheduled starter had the flu. But Fidrych went on to win 19 games while losing 9.

He led the league with a 2.34 ERA and completed 24 games, also the league leader. He won Rookie of the Year honors and was second in voting for the Cy Young award.

Fidrych created a national sensation not only because he pitched well, but also because of his personality and antics. He was “a little out of left field,” but seemed to really have fun playing the game.

Fidrych was called “The Bird” because he resembled Big Bird from the Sesame Street children’s TV show. When he pitched he’d talk to the baseball. He’d stoop down and carefully manicure the mound. He’d throw balls back to the umpire because he said they still had hits in them. Detroit drew huge crowds every time he pitched even though the team was never in the pennant race. Opposing teams tried to get the Tigers to change their pitching rotation so he’d pitch in their park.

Fidrych took it all in stride. The name of his autobiography was “No Big Deal.”

He returned to his native Massachusetts after his baseball career was cut short by what seemed like a minor that had major consequences. Tragically, on April 13, 2009 Fidrych was found dead under the truck he was apparently working on. He was 54.

Contributing sources:
Mark Fidrych Baseball-Reference
The Associated Press, Lakeland, Florida, March 22, 1977
More Mark Fidrych
BaseballRace.com