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 12 IN BASEBALL HISTORY–GREAT SPOT FOR A BALLPARK…NOT!

TODAY IN BASEBALL takes us back to APRIL 12, 1958 in SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. The first major league baseball game to take place in San Francisco was played on this date in 1958. The Giants new home, Candlestick Park, was beautiful, but the location was simply not a suitable place to build a ballpark. Unfortunately, New York Giants owner Horace Stoneham didn’t know that when he toured the site on a beautiful day in 1957. It turned out it was a great spot to build a ballpark — NOT!

San Francisco Mayor George Christopher promised that the city would build a ballpark at Candlestick Point if Stoneham would make his New York Giants the first tenants. What Stoneham didn’t know, and presumably Mayor Christopher didn’t volunteer, was that the sun isn’t the only thing that drops at sundown.

The temperature plummets too, and the fog rolls in. This made for some interesting events at Candlestick. For example, during the 1961 All Star game, Giants pitcher Stu Miller was blown off the mound. In 1963, New York Mets Manager Casey Stengel took his squad out for batting practice, only to watch a gust of wind pick up the entire batting cage and drop it on the pitcher’s mound, 60 feet away.

The most memorable phenomenon was an earthquake during the 1989 World Series, but the stadium weathered that event quite well.

The Giants moved to a much better location for baseball in 2000, Pac Bell Park, which is now called AT&T Park. Attendance has been phenomenal.

The NFL’s San Francisco 49ers continued to play home games at Candlestick until 2014. Candlestick worked for them because parts of the Bay Area are milder in the winter than in the summer. In 2014 the football 49ers moved into brand new Levi Stadium in Santa Clara. As long as nobody tried to play baseball at Candlestick, everyone was happy.

 

A STORY FROM APRIL 11 IN BASEBALL HISTORY-ANGELS LOOK LIKE THEY BELONG

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US TO BALTIMORE, MARYLAND ON APRIL 11, 1961. The Los Angeles Angels looked anything but like an expansion team in their first game on this date in 1961. The Angels looked like they belong. Slugging first baseman Ted Kluszewski hit two home runs and Eli Grba threw a complete game as the Angels beat the Baltimore Orioles 7 to 2 in Baltimore.

It wasn’t a fluke. The Angels were the most successful first year expansion team in baseball history. They won 70 games and did not come in last place — no small task. The Angels finished ahead of the expansion Washington Senators (big deal!). More impressive is the Angels finished ahead of the established Kansas City A’s (bigger deal!).

Remarkably, the Angels contended for the American League pennant in their second season – 1962. They were in first place on July 4th and finished in 3rd (this is before the American and National Leagues were divided into divisions), ten games behind the New York Yankees.

The Angels played their home games that inaugural season at Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field. Yes, P.K. Wrigley built a replica of the Cubs ballpark in Los Angeles years earlier for a minor league team. The Angels became a tenant of Dodger Stadium in 1962, which they referred to as Chavez Ravine. They built their own stadium in Anaheim in 1966 and became the California Angels. Today, they are the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. And on this date in 1961,  the Angels looked like they belong.

Answers to April 10’s stadiums question
1. Huntington Avenue Grounds (1901-1911) Boston Red Sox
2. West Side Park (1893-1915) Chicago Cubs
3. Jarry Park (1969-1976) Montreal Expos
4. Shibe Park (1909-1970) Philadelphia A’s & Phillies
5. Forbes Field (1909-1970) Pittsburgh Pirates
6. Polo Grounds (1911-1964) New York Giants, Yankees, Mets
7. Griffith Stadium (1903-1960) Washington Senators

APRIL 10: This Bud’s not for you

APRIL 10, 1953 | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick was not amused that the St. Louis Cardinals wanted to name their ballpark after a beer. On this date in 1953 the Cardinals got the hint and backed off. The ballpark they bought from the St. Louis Browns the day before was not going to be called Budweiser Stadium. In other words, this Bud’s not for you. Instead it was called Busch Stadium.

The head of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, an anti-alcohol group, wasn’t impressed by Anheuser-Busch‘s decision. “Busch” wasn’t the name of a beer back in ’53, but it was the name of the family that owned the brewery and the team. So, Temperance Union President Leigh Colvin said, “You could toss up the three B’s. Call it Beer Park, Budweiser Park or Busch Park and they all mean the same thing.”

The Cardinals’ ballpark is still known as Busch Stadium, though it’s on its third incarnation since 1953.

*    *    *

How about a little history quiz. Guess which teams played in these old stadiums?
1. Huntington Avenue Grounds
2. West Side Park
3. Jarry Park
4. Shibe Park
5. Forbes Field
6. Polo Grounds
7. Griffith Stadium

(For answers, see [April 11th story]

April 9: Take it inside

APRIL 9, 1965 | HOUSTON, TEXAS – Baseball goes indoors for the first time. The Houston Colt .45s (today’s Houston Astros) played the New York Yankees in an exhibition game at the Harris County Domed Stadium, the first domed baseball stadium in the world.

The Yankees won 2-1 in 12 innings. Mickey Mantle hit the first-ever indoor home run. President Lyndon Johnson, a Texas native, was among the 47,878 fans at the game.

The Harris County Domed Stadium name was soon changed to the Astrodome – the so-called eighth wonder of the world.

An architectural marvel, the Dome presented unanticipated challenges. It was built to allow sunlight to come through a series of clear plastic panels in the roof, thus allowing real grass to be planted. It didn’t work. The grass grew okay, but the players couldn’t see fly balls because of the tremendous glare each panel produced. The panels were painted over to block the sun, but of course the grass wouldn’t grow. Necessity being the mother of invention. Artificial grass was invented to put down on the field, hence the name Astroturf.

Astroturf became widespread in baseball and football stadiums for indoor and outdoor sports in the 1970s. Thankfully, many teams have gone back to real grass, including the Houston Astros. Today, those who want artificial turf can at least install something that looks and feels like grass. The most popular being FieldTurf. It all starts on this date in 1965 when baseball goes indoors for the first time.

Contributing Sources:
The Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas, April 10, 1965

April 8 – Aaron passes Ruth

APRIL 8, 1974 | ATLANTA, GEORGIA – Henry Aaron saved the best for the home town crowd. Four days after tying Babe Ruth‘s career home run record of 714 on the road in Cincinnati, Hammerin Hank broke the record before hysterical Atlanta Braves‘ fans at Fulton County Coliseum. He hit the 715th home run of his career off Los Angeles Dodger hurler Al Downing. April 8, 1974 Aaron passes Ruth.

Aaron would go on the hit 755 home runs for his career. He hit the last 22 playing in the city where he made his major league debut. He played the 1975 and 1976 seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers.

The term "home run" was originally a descriptive one. In the early days of baseball, fences were generally farther out than they are today. The batter had to literally run home before being tagged out to hit a "home run."

Babe Ruth held the career home run record for 53 years, the longest of any player. Here’s a list of the career home run record breakers and total home runs the new record-holder finished that year with.

Year  Player       HRs 
2007 Barry Bonds   762
1974 Henry Aaron   733
1921 Babe Ruth     162
1895 Roger Connor  124
1889 Harry Stovey  89
1887 Dan Brouthers 74
1885 Harry Stovey  50
1883 Charley Jones 33
1882 Jim O'Rourke  24
1881 Charley Jones 23
1879 Lip Pike      20
TOP TEN CAREER HOME-RUNS
1.  Barry Bonds     762
2.  Henry Aaron     755
3.  Babe Ruth       714
4.  Alex Rodriguez  696
5.  Willie Mays     660
6.  Ken Griffey Jr, 630
9.  Albert Pujols   615
7.  Jim Thome       612
8.  Sammy Sosa      609
10. Frank Robinson  586

The term “home run” was originally a descriptive one. In the early days of baseball, fences were generally farther out than they are today, so hitting a ball over the fence was rare. Inside-the-park home runs were more common because outfielders had more ground to cover. The batter had to literally run home before being tagged out to hit a “home run.” With home run number 715 on this date in 1974, Aaron passed Ruth. On only one of the 755 home runs did Aaron have to run as fast as he could.

Contributing sources:
Henry Aaron in the Hall of Fame
Career home run record holders