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.

July 20th in baseball history: First BIG crowd

July 20, 1858 | LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK – It’s not significant by today’s standards, but it was monumental 150 years ago. According to Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, the first big crowd to watch a baseball game, “no fewer than 1,500” paying spectators, came to a race course built for horse racing on July 20, 1858 to watch an all-star game.

The best players of New York City took on the best Brooklyn had to offer. Back then they were two separate cities. New York won 22-18, and promoters saw dollar signs.  The main reason admission was charged was to defray the cost of converting a field into a baseball diamond – there weren’t too many around back then. The gate receipts added up to over $700 dollars – a big chunk of change before the Civil War.

The event showed that if you put teams together with good players, fans will pay money to watch, and there will be more money to buy better players. The first big crowd had a ripple effect. As Leonard Koppett wrote,

"...those who would travel far and then pay 50 cents to watch a game would undoubtedly pay a penny or two to read about one."

Newspapers soon found another way to attract readers; baseball scores, eventually box scores. And there were new ones every day.

Contributing Source:
Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, 2004, by Leonard Koppett, Carrol & Graf Publishers, New York 

 

July 19th in baseball history – Mass ejections at Fenway

JULY 19, 1946 | Boston, Massachusetts – Fourteen Chicago White Sox players were kicked out of a game against the Red Sox in mass ejections at Fenway Park. It all started when White Sox pitcher Joe Haynes put Red Sox slugger Ted Williams on his fanny, the result of a pitch too far inside.

Umpire Red Jones gave Haynes a warning not to throw at Red Sox hitters. Here’s how the Associated Press described what happened next:

"A chorus of yammering from the Chicago bench resulted in [Umpire] Jones ordering four White Sox players from the bench - Ralph Hodgin, Dario Lodigiani, Ed Smith and Bling Miller." The "yammerin" didn't stop."

Before the game was over 14 White Sox were ordered from the dugout for making derisive comments about Jones’ vision and judgment.

The Red Sox went on to win easily 9-2, and increase their lead against the second place New York Yankees to 11½ games.

A YAMMERING VENTRILOQUIST?

A story surfaced some days after the mass ejections at Fenway that it wasn’t the players doing the yammering. It was, get this, a ventriloquist in the stands. If you read John Branch‘s 2006 story from the New York Times you’ll find that the facts kind of get in the way of a good story.

The Red Sox went on to win the American League pennant in 1946 (this was before division play) before losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
New York Times, July 6, 2006
The Associated Press (AP), July 20, 1946, Boston, MA  

 

JULY 17 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – DIMAGGIO’S HIT STREAK ENDS

JULY 17, 1941 | CLEVELAND, OHIO – Joe DiMaggio’s hit streak ends in Cleveland, and 56 becomes an iconic number in the world of sports. “Joltin Joe” got at least one hit in 56 consecutive games – until this night in 1941.

The streak captivated the nation for weeks. A record-breaking 67,468 fans came to Cleveland Municipal Stadium on a Thursday night to watch the Yankee slugger try to extend his streak,

The streak started quietly at Comiskey Park in Chicago on May 15th. Interest intensified as DiMaggio reached 30 consecutive games with at least one hit. It grew into an obsession when DiMaggio surpassed Wee Willie Keeler‘s 45 game hit streak record on July 2nd and kept on going. Now DiMaggio was setting a new record every game.

It was stopped at the hands of two relatively unknown Cleveland pitchers, left-hander Al Smith and right-hander Jim Bagby. All-star third baseman Ken Keltner made two dazzling plays to rob DiMaggio of hits.

DiMaggio didn’t just break Keeler’s record, he smashed it by 11 games. Had 56 not been where DiMaggio’s hit streak ends, we could very well be talking about a 73-game hitting streak. After going hitless on July 17th, DiMaggio went on hitting in 16 more consecutive games.

How remarkable is DiMaggio’s display of hitting consistency? To this day no one has surpassed Wee Willie Keeler’s mark of 45 consecutive games with at least one hit – except Joe DiMaggio.

Top 10 Consecutive game hit leaders and year accomplished:
Joe DiMaggio 56 (1941)
Wee Willie Keeler 45 (1897)
Pete Rose 44 (1978)
Bill Dahlen 42 (1894)
George Sisler 41 (1922)
Ty Cobb 40 (1911)
Paul Molitor 39 (1987)
Jimmy Rollins 38 (2006)
Tommy Holmes 37 (1945)
Gene DeMontreville 36 (1897)

Contributing sources: 
The Associated Press, July 18, 1941
Longest Hitting Streaks

July 14th in baseball history – Sibling Rarity

JULY 14, 1972 | DETROIT , MICHIGAN – There have been a number of baseball playing brother combinations; the Alou’s being the most famous. Three times in September of 1963 Matty, Felipe and Jesus Alou played all three outfield positions at the same time for the San Francisco Giants (according to the New York Times it’s a myth that the Alou brothers ever started a game playing all three outfield positions.)

Here’s something even rarer.

Today in baseball history – July 14, 1972 – home plate umpire Bill Haller looked over the shoulder of his brother Tom Haller, the catcher for the Detroit Tigers in a game between the Kansas City Royals and the Tigers. It’s believed to be the first time in major league history brothers played and umpired the same game. It ended up being a very well played game with the Royals winning 1-0.

Did Tom Haller, the player, get rung up by Bill Haller, the umpire? The answer is no. A check of the box score from that day in July 1972 shows Tom going one for four, with a single. He did not strike out or walk.

Umpire-player sibling combinations are extremely rare, but not playing brothers. Here are some:

DiMaggio – Joe & Dominic
Boyer – Clete & Ken
Niekro – Phil & Joe
Aaron – Henry & Tommie
Perry – Gaylord & Jim
Brett – Ken & George
Maddux – Gregg & Mike
Giambi – Jason & Jeremy
May – Lee & Carlos
Drew – J.D. & Steve
Upton – B.J. & Justin
Young – Dimitri & Delmon
Patterson – Corey & Eric

There are some famous father & son combinations:
Alou – Matty (brother) , Felipe (brother/father), Jesus (brother) and Moises (son of Felipe)
Boone – Ray (grandfather), Bob (father), Brett (son) and Aaron (son)
Bell – Gus (grandfather), Buddy (son), David (grandson), Mike (grandson)
Ripken – Cal Sr. (father), Cal Jr. (son) & Billy (son)
Griffey – Ken Sr. (father) & Ken Jr. (son)

Contributing Sources:
New York Times, November 3, 2011
July 14, 1972 Tigers/Royals box score/game stats
Brothers

July 12th in baseball history – “Strange brew” at Comiskey Park

JULY 12, 1979 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – A “strange brew” was created at Comiskey Park on this date in 1979. It caused the Chicago White Sox to forfeit the second game of a doubleheader. The “strange brew” was disco music, rock & roll and baseball.

In one of the first examples of sports cross-promotion, Chicago radio “shock jocks,” Steve Dahl and Garry Meier joined forces with Mike Veeck, the son of Sox owner Bill Veeck. Dahl and Meier despised disco music and wanted to bring about its demise. Veeck wanted more fans in the stands.

They agreed to have a “Disco Demolition Night.” Dahl and Meier invited thousands of their fans to bring disco records to the Sox-Detroit Tiger doubleheader in exchange for a free ticket. The records would be blown up in center field between games.

The problem was, many more thousands of fans than they expected brought disco records to the game in exchange for a free ticket.

Once this triumphant disco demolition took place the “fans,” most of who, you could safely bet, were not your average baseball fans, became oblivious to a second game soon having to be played on the field they were trampling.

After more than an hour of trying to clear the field, chief umpire Dave Phillips postponed the game. American League President Lee McPhail went further and ruled the game a forfeit win for the Tigers, who also won the first game 4-1.

It was an embarrassment for the hometown White Sox, but as the late 1960’s Cream lyrics say, “Strange brew, kill what’s inside of you.” Maybe it helped bring about the demise of disco.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
The Chicago Tribune, July 13, 1979
ESPN program on Disco Demolition