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 11: Babe’s debut

JULY 11, 1914 | BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – The major league debut of 19-yer old George Herman Ruth took place on this date in baseball history. Babe Ruth was the starting pitcher for the Boston Red Sox against the Cleveland Naps (today’s Cleveland  Indians). He won the game 4-3 win. The Red Sox had purchased the Babe from the Baltimore Orioles of the International League two days before.

Ruth didn’t astonish fans that first season, but he wasn’t bad either. He made 4 appearances as a pitcher, three as a starter. He finished with a record of 2-1 and ERA of 5.67. Ruth came to bat ten times, had two hits for a .200 batting average, two RBI, a run scored and struck out four times.

It didn’t take long for Ruth to show star quality. He won 78 games as a pitcher the next four seasons. His hitting was even more impressive, forcing the Red Sox to put him in the outfield just about every game in 1919 and Ruth didn’t disappoint, hitting 29 home runs and driving in 114 runs in 130 games.

Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, its owner needed money to finance a Broadway play, so Ruth was sold to the Yankees after the 1919 season.

And the rest is…

Contributing source: 
Baseball-Reference history of Babe Ruth

 

JULY 10 in baseball history: Best player you never heard of

JULY 10, 1936 | PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA – Ever heard of Chuck Klein? If you’re not a rabid baseball fan, chances are, no. He may have been the best player you never heard of. Klein hit four home runs on this date in 1936 and it was no fluke. His home runs in the first, fifth, seventh and tenth innings helped his Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-6. Klein became, at the time, the fourth player in major league history to hit four home runs in a game.

As of this writing (July 10, 2018) 18 players have hit four homers in a game, three did it in extra innings. No one has ever hit five home runs in a game.

Klein almost had a fifth home run in the second inning of July 10, 1936 when he sent Pirates outfielder Paul Waner to the wall in right to haul in a long fly ball.

It’s odd that Chuck Klein is not among the legendary names that roll off the tongue when talking great hitters, but he had one of the best offensive years in baseball history in 1930:

Batting average       .370
Home runs                 40
Runs batted in          170
Runs scored               158

Look at the runs scored and RBI. Klein accounted for a phenomenal 288 runs for the Phillies that year (RBI + runs scored – HRs). It’s difficult to rate the most productive offensive players in a team sport like baseball because someone has to be on base for you to drive them in, and you obviously can’t drive yourself in if you’re on base. However, baseball statistician Bill James came up with a Runs Created (RC) formula. According to James’ RC formula, Klein’s 1930 numbers make it the 11th best Runs Created season ever.

The other ten were accomplished by names fans are more familiar with; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Barry Bonds, Jimmy Foxx and Rogers Hornsby, some more than once. Think of all the other great hitters in baseball history; Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, etc.; none of whom had Runs Created years better than Chuck Klein, who very well could have been the best player you never heard of.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Home run records
Individual player records
The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Runs  Created
The Uniontown Morning Herald , Uniontown, Pennsylvania , July 11, 1936

July 8: Don’t blink, you’ll miss it

JULY 8, 1994 | BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – One of the most unusual events in baseball occurs so quickly you could miss it if you’re not paying attention – the unassisted triple play. Boston Red Sox shortstop John Valentin turned one on this date in 1994. It was just the 10th unassisted triple in major league baseball history (there have been 5 since).

Here’s how it happened… in the top of the sixth inning at Boston’s Fenway Park, Seattle Mariner Mike Blowers singles. Keith Mitchell walks. It looks like the start of a big inning for the Mariners. Two on, nobody out. Mariner DH Mark Newfield is at bat. It’s a 1 – 1 count. Red Sox pitcher Dave Fleming fires, the runners go. Newfield hits a line shot right to shortstop Valentin, who steps on second to double off Blowers who was almost to third, and tags Mitchell who’s almost at second. Three outs, just like that with the ball never leaving Valentin’s hands.

The drama doesn’t end there. Guess who leads off the bottom of the 6th, hero John Valentin. He homers. The Red Sox come from behind to win 4-3.

Unassisted triple plays almost always unfold the same way; all 15 started with runners on first and second and the batter hitting a line drive with the runners going. Eight were hit to the shortstop. Five were hit to the second baseman. Two were hit to the first baseman. When it’s hit to the shortstop he grabs the line drive steps on second and tags the runner coming from first. When it’s hit to the second or first baseman they tag the runner coming from first and then step on second.

If you want to see an unassisted triple play, wait for runners on first and second, and no outs. If the batter hits a line drive, by all means don’t blink.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
July 8, 1994 box score/play-by-play
Unassisted triple plays

July 6th in Baseball history: Dick Allen’s mammoth home-run

JULY 6, 1974 | DETROIT, MICHIGAN – Chicago White Sox slugger Dick Allen hit a mammoth home-run, one of the longest ever hit in Tiger Stadium, on this date in 1974. Allen was facing the Detroit Tigers’ Dave Lemanczyk in the 5th inning when he crushed a fly ball that struck the façade of the roof in left-center field at Tiger Stadium. Players and fans who witnessed the shot said it was still rising when it hit the roof, not likely, but still estimated to have traveled over 500 feet. The façade was 415 from home plate, 85 feet in the air.

He was known as Richie Allen when he came up with Philadelphia Phillies in 1964. He came out of the gate strong, winning National League Rookie of the Year honors.

His personality would prove to be as impactful as his bat. He had his share of verbal and physical altercations and suspensions. His relationship with sportswriters was contentious. He made life interesting for his managers, which is probably why he was traded five times in 15 years.

His bat matched his personality. Besides Rookie of the Year, he was the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1972. Allen twice led the American league in home runs. He finished a 15-year career with a .292 average, 351 home runs, 1,199 runs batted in and 1,099 runs scored.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
July 6, 1974 box score/play-by-play 

July 5 in baseball history -100 RBI before All-Star break

JULY 5, 1998 | ARLINGTON, TEXAS – Juan Gonzalez of the Texas Rangers drove in four runs on this date in 1998. It gave him 101 RBI by the All-Star break. Only Hank Greenberg had ever reached the century mark in RBI at the midway point of the season. Greenberg had 103 by the 1935 mid-summer classic.

Gonzalez had a crack at the all-time record for RBI in a season. It was held by Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs who drove in 191 in 1930.

Gonzalez ended up with 156 RBI in the 1998 season, 35 short of Wilson’s record. Hack Wilson never had 100 RBI at the mid-way point of the season, but his record for most RBI in a season stands to this day.

The top ten RBI in a season:

  1.        Hack Wilson 191 (1930)
  2.        Lou Gehrig 184 (1931)
  3.        Hank Greenberg 184 (1937)
  4.        Jimmie Foxx 175 (1938)
  5.        Lou Gehrig 175 (1927)
  6.        Lou Gehrig 174 (1930)
  7.        Chuck Klein 170 (1930)
  8.        Jimmie Foxx 169 (1932)
  9.        Babe Ruth 168 (1921)
  10.        Hank Greenberg 168 (1935)

Notice anything interesting about the list?

Eight of the top ten RBI leaders are from the 1930’s. The other two are from the 1920’s. Not a single top ten RBI year came after World War II. The first to show is #14 Manny Ramirez, who had 165 RBI in 1999. Why is that?

Contributing Sources:
Hack Wilson
Chuck klein
Retrosheet