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 19 – Almost perfect

*1981 | PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA – The first batter Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Jim Bibby faced on this date in 1981 got a hit. Terry Harper would be the only Atlanta Brave batter not to go right back to the dugout. Bibby was perfect after Harper’s hit. He retired 27 hitters in a row for a one-hitter as he and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Atlanta Braves and Phil Niekro 5-0.

Bibby was not unfamiliar with low hit games, especially in 1973. He threw a no-hitter, a one-hitter and a two-hitter his second year in the majors.

Except for going 19-6 in 1980 and 12-4 in 1979 Jim Bibby’s won-lost record was unremarkable. He finished his twelve-year career just over .500 at 111-101, but his career earned run average was a solid 3.76. The year of his almost perfect game he was 6-3 but a very stingy 2.50 ERA.

Bibby was not unfamiliar with low hit games, especially in 1973. His record was 9-10, but he threw a no-hitter, a one-hitter and a two-hitter that year, his second year in the majors.

Jim Bibby came from a family of athletes. His brother, Henry Bibby, was a professional basketball player in the NBA, also coached the University of Southern California basketball team. Jim’s nephew, Mike Bibby (Henry’s son) played for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
May 19, 1981 box score

 

MAY 18-Get me to the station on time

*1957 | BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – Dick Williams of the Baltimore Orioles hit a ninth-inning, game-tying solo home run against Chicago White Sox pitcher Paul LaPalme seconds before 10:20 p.m. on this date in 1957. If Williams had done anything else – taken a pitch, hit a foul ball, gotten a single, double or triple, struck out – any of those things, the game would have ended with the White Sox a winner because the Sox led and a curfew was about to put an end to the contest.

Curfews were fairly common in the major leagues into the 1950’s and 60’s. The initial impetus was World War II

The curfew was an agreement by the two teams ahead of time so the White Sox could catch the last train out of Baltimore. With the game now tied, it was suspended and replayed from the beginning at a later date. Baltimore ended up winning the next time.

Curfews were fairly common in the major leagues into the 1950’s and 60’s. The initial impetus was World War II, during which there were curfews to accommodate dim-outs (as in “dim” the lights) to save energy. Games all over the country had curfews putting a limit on how long a night game could last. By the 1970’s curfews were gone, and night games could last as long as it took.

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

MAY 17th-Overly friendly confines

MAY 17, 1979 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – On this date in 1979 the Chicago Cubs scored 6 runs in the first, 3 in the fourth, 7 in the fifth, 3 in the sixth, 3 more in the eight and still lost.

There were eleven home runs on this windy afternoon at Wrigley Field, a record at the time.

The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cubs 23 to 22 in ten innings, but not before the Cubs made a miraculous comeback from a 21-9 deficit in the 5th to tie it 22-22 in the eighth.

There were eleven home runs on this windy afternoon at Wrigley Field, a record at the time. The ‘friendly confines’ were overly friendly on this date. It’s as though former NFL great Gale Sayers sneaked into Wrigley Field, which his Chicago Bears called home during football season, and ran off a few touchdowns.

The Cubs’ Dave Kingman had three home runs. Teammate Bill Buckner had a grand slam and seven runs batted in. The Phillies Mike Schmidt hit two home runs, including the game winner.

_________________

The 45 combined runs by the Cubs and Phillies today in baseball is not even the record. You have to go back to August 25, 1922 when the same two teams combined for 49 runs when the Cubs beat the Phillies 26-23.

The most runs scored in an American League game is 36, done twice. The Boston Red Sox beat the Philadelphia A’s 22-14 on June 29, 1950. On August 12, 2008 the Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 19-17.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, IL, May 18, 1979
May 17, 1979 box score/play-by-play
Runs Scored Records
MLB Rare Feats

MAY 14-Stands collapse causing stampede

cropped-cropped-ball-2.jpg1927 | PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – A section of the stands at Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl collapsed on this date in 1927 causing a stampede which killed a fan and injured more than 50. The 50-foot section of the lower deck seats down the first base line gave way during a Philadelphia Phillies – St. Louis Cardinals game throwing some 300 fans out of their seats.

According to newspaper reports at the time, “The collapse threw the crowd into a panic and it swarmed on the field…” (The Charleston Gazette, West Virginia). The game was suspended with the Phillies ahead 12-3.

The ball park was officially named National League Park, but gained its moniker Baker Bowl or Baker Field as a reference to one-time owner William F. Baker.

“The collapse threw the crowd into a panic and it swarmed on the field…”

Since the ball park had to be squeezed into Philadelphia’s street grid there were some interesting dimensions. For example, the right field foul pole was just 275 feet from home plate. Right center was only 300 feet away. These softball-like distances required the erection of a wall 60 feet high in right field. By comparison, the “Green Monster” in Boston is 37 feet high.

Contributing sources:
The Pinstripe Press
The Baker Bowl
Philadelphia Phillies

 

MAY 12TH-NIGHT TRAIN REACHES 400

1926 | WASHINGTON, D.C.  – Walter Johnson won his 400th game on this date in 1926. Only one other pitcher has reached that plateau,  Cy Young, winner of an astonishing 511 games. You know Cy. They named an award after him.

Walter Johnson came from Humboldt, Kansas. He broke into the majors with the Washington Senators (today’s Minnesota Twins) in 1907 at age 19.

They called him “Night Train,” and he pitched for the next 21 years, finishing with records like 36-7, 33-12, 23-7, 25-13, 20-7, for a team that lost more than it won (The Senators finished under .500 eleven of the twenty-one seasons Johnson pitched for them).

Walter Johnson was said to have the fastest fastball in major league history, of course there were no radar guns in the teens and twenties, so we can’t really be sure.

Here are some figures from the “I didn’t know that” category that we are sure about;

• Johnson pitched 110 shutouts
• He won 38 games 1-0
• Remarkably, 26 of his losses were 1-0

Walter Johnson could hit too. Johnson finished the 1925 season with a .433 batting average, still a major league record for pitchers. His lifetime batting average was .235, not bad for a pitcher.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
300 win club
Walter Johnson, Hall of Fame