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 26 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – 1 DOWN, 60 TO GO FOR MARIS

TODAYinBASEBALL TAKES US BACK TO APRIL 26, 1961, IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN – New York Yankee outfielder Roger Maris began his historic pursuit of the most famous record in sports – Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs in a season – on this date in 1961. Maris hit a home run off Tiger right-hander Paul Foytack in the 5th inning at Tiger Stadium. It was 1 down and 60 to go for Maris.

Maris didn’t come out of the blocks in a full sprint that memorable season. He hit one, I repeat, one home run in the month of April. Teammate Mickey Mantle already had 7 home runs by the time May rolled around.

Forget about Ruth’s record. If Maris, the shy right-fielder from Hibbing, Minnesota wanted to hit 30 home runs in 1961 he’d have to shift it into gear. He did. Maris hit 50 home runs over a 4 month span that summer. Here’s how his record-breaking 61 home runs were spread out over the season:

April                 1
May                 11
June                15
July                 13
August           11
September     9
October          1

The race to break Ruth’s record was pretty much between Maris and Mantle. Maris eventually broke it on October 1, the 162nd and last game of the season.

This led to a controversial ruling by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick; since Maris didn’t break Ruth’s record by the 154th game of the season, an asterisk would be put next to his name because Ruth set the single season record in a 154-game schedule. There’s no evidence an asterisk ever actually appeared in the “record books,” but people think it did, so Maris’ name was unjustifiably tarnished.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, by Leonard Koppett, 1998

APRIL 25: Time for MLB to makeup

TODAYINBASEBALL.com TAKES US TO MIAMI, FLORIDA, APRIL 25, 1995. 42,125 fans turned out for the first Major League baseball game since a strike stopped play 257 days earlier. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Florida Marlins 8-7 on this day in 1995. Ramon Martinez got the win. John Burkett took the loss for the Marlins. Major League Baseball had a lot of making up to do after the ’94 strike, which stretched into 1995.

The previous season ended August 12 when the players went on strike. There was no World Series for the first time in over 90 years, no playoffs either.

San Diego Padres' Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 when the strike started. He had a legitimate shot at .400.

The predominant discussion from spring training on in 1994 centered on a strike, overshadowing some noteworthy events taking place.

Roger Maris‘ single season home run record (61) was in jeopardy.

  • Matt Williams of the San Francisco Giants had 43 home runs when play stopped with more than 40 games remaining.
  • Seattle Mariner Ken Griffey Jr. had 40 when play stopped
  • The Astros’ Jeff Bagwell was not out of range with 39 home runs
  • Nor was Frank Thomas of the White Sox with 38.

A .400 batting average was within reach.

  • San Diego Padres’ Tony Gwynn was hitting .394 when the strike started. He had a legitimate shot at .400.

Could those milestones have been reached? We’ll never know.

The division leaders when play stopped in August of ’94 were the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers in the American League, and Montreal Expos, Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Dodgers in the National. Only the Dodgers out of those six teams went on to win their division in ’95 (the Yankees made it to the post-season by winning the wild card). Oh, what might have been for the White Sox, Rangers, Reds and Expos. But the task at hand, Major League Baseball had a lot of making up to do after the ’94 strike.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
Koppett’s Concise History of Major League Baseball, by Leonard Koppett, 1998

 

A STORY FROM APRIL 20 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – THE SPLENDID SPLINTER ARRIVES

TODAYinBASEBALL.com TAKES US TO NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 20, 1939. For my entire life – I was born in 1952 – there has always been a “Splendid Splinter.” I didn’t have to wonder who or what it was. The “Splendid Splinter” was Ted Williams. But, what, in God’s name, is a “Splendid Splinter”? As my wife would say, “Bill, you’re over-thinking it.” I’ll leave it at that.

Before he became the “Splendid Splinter,” Theodore Samuel Williams was a skinny 20-year old kid from San Diego who joined Boston Red Sox in New York on this date in 1939 to play his first major league game. The first of his 2,654 hits was a 400-foot double in the vast outfield of Yankee Stadium as the Red Sox lost 2-0.

Ted Williams’ career spanned 19 seasons and 4 decades – interrupted twice by military duty. He amassed some of the greatest offensive numbers of all time:

Lifetime Stats
• .344 lifetime batting average
• 521 home runs
• 1,839 RBI
• 2-time Triple Crown winner (1942, 1947)
• 2-time MVP (1946, 1949)

… this despite missing three full seasons – 1943 to 45 – to serve in World War II, and playing only 43 games during the 1952 and 1953 seasons because of the Korean War.

Take a close look at the stats above. Williams’ 2 MVP years and 2 Triple Crown years do not overlap. They’re 4 separate seasons. How he could win the Triple Crown and not be MVP is a mystery, but it is what it is.

And consider this; there was a 45-year stretch (1967-Carl Yastrzemski to 2012-Miguel Cabrera) where no one won the Triple Crown (lead either league in home runs, runs batted in and batting average). Williams won it twice in five years. In addition, “Teddy Ballgame” won the batting crown at the age of 40.

Williams was truly larger than life; a Hall of Famer, a decorated fighter pilot, a tireless champion of charity and the loudest guy in the room almost until his death July 5, 2002.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
The Boston Globe, New York, New York, April 21, 1939
Sports Illustrated reviews 2 books about Ted Williams
The Triple Crown

A STORY FROM APRIL 19 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – RANGERS BY 3 TOUCHDOWNS

TODAYinBASEBALL.COM TAKES US TO ARLINGTON, TEXAS ON APRIL 19, 1996. The Texas Rangers ran up a heck of a score against the Baltimore Orioles on this date. The host Rangers showed no mercy in beating the Orioles 26 to 7. Both teams were in first place in their respective divisions at the time. 

The game was relatively close into the bottom of the eighth, the Rangers last at bat if they were ahead, which they were; 10 – 7. But the Rangers scored an astounding 16 runs in an 8th inning that lasted almost an hour. No team ever scored that many runs in an 8th inning.

The inning consisted of a grand slam home run and an Oriole reliever walking four – three with the bases loaded. Some sniping developed between the managers, Davey Johnson for Baltimore and Johnny Oates for Texas. Each thought the other had run up the score in previous games

That was not the only time Texas and Baltimore were involved in a massive slugfest. Texas set a new record for the most runs scored in an American League game by beating Baltimore 30 to 3 August 22, 2007. But on this date the Rangers win by just 3 touchdowns.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Runs scored records: Baseball-Almanac
April 19, 1996 box score, etc: Retrosheet

A STORY FROM APRIL 18 IN BASEBALL HISTORY-HOUSE THAT RUTH BUILT OPENS

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US TO NEW YORK CITY, APRIL 18, 1923. ‘The house that Ruth built’ opened on this date in 1923. That’s what Yankee Stadium quickly became known as.

Babe Ruth  came to the Yankees in 1920, the result of an infamous purchase from the Boston Red Sox. He went on to become the biggest drawing card in all of sports.

The Yankee Stadium that Ruth built, in effect, disappeared in the mid-1970's when it was completely overhauled.

Yankee Stadium was baseball’s first triple deck structure. It was also the first baseball venue to be called a “stadium.” Others were usually called “Parks” or “Fields.”

It had some interesting dimensions that changed from time to time. For most of the original stadium’s history the fences down the foul lines were quite inviting: 301 down the left and 296 down the right. Left quickly ballooned out to over 400 feet. Straight-away center-field was 461 feet from home plate. The Yankee Stadium that Ruth built, in effect, disappeared in the mid-1970’s when it was completely overhauled.

Before Yankee Stadium, the Bronx Bombers played their home games in the Polo Grounds as tenants of the New York Giants. Tenant and landlord had a falling out in 1920. The Yankees were told to leave as soon as possible. The discord was partly due to the Yankees Bronx Bombers doubling their attendance that season to almost 1.3 million fans, 100,000 more than the Giants. Babe Ruth, with his prodigious home runs, was the main attraction. So Yankee Stadium was built a quarter mile from the Polo Grounds.

The Yankees won the first of many World Championships in that inaugural year of 1923. The victim – their former landlord, the New York Giants. The Giants couldn’t wait for the Yankees to move into the house that Ruth built.