Category: April

A STORY FROM APRIL 4 – MOVE OVER, BABE, HERE COMES HENRY

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US TO CINCINNATI, OHIO, APRIL 4, 1974. Hank Aaron didn’t waste time. In the first inning of the first game of the 1974 season the Atlanta Braves outfielder hit a 3-run homer off Cincinnati Reds starter Jack Billingham to tie Babe Ruth with 714 career home runs. Move over, Babe, here comes Henry.

It was only a matter of time before Aaron broke the record. Despite Aaron’s heroics, the Reds beat the Braves 7-6.

There’s an interesting side-light to this story. Atlanta Braves management wanted Aaron to break the record at home. They planned to sit him for the first three games of the season in Cincinnati. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn wouldn’t have it, and ruled that Aaron had to play two out of three.

The rest is history. Aaron tied Babe Ruth’s record in his very first at bat and, fortunately for the Braves, didn’t hit another home run in the series. So, the Braves returned home with the anticipation of Aaron breaking the record in front of the home crowd, which he did four days later.

Henry Aaron retired in 1976. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982. He is the only player in major league history to hit at least 20 home runs in 20 seasons. On this date in 1974 it was – move over Babe, here comes Henry.

Piece of trivia: Who was Sandy Koufax’s first strike out? Hank Aaron.

A STORY FROM APRIL 3 IN BASEBALL HISTORY – CUBS UNLOAD ECKERSLEY AT WRONG TIME

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US BACK TO APRIL 3, 1987, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. After two and a half mediocre seasons the Chicago Cubs got veteran right-handed starting pitcher Dennis Eckersley off their hands. He was traded to the Oakland A’s for three minor leaguers. This was just before Eckersley turned his life, and his pitching career, around. The Cubs unloaded  Eckersley at the wrong time.

Up to that point, Eckersley had won 165 games in 12 seasons, mostly with the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians. He was a mediocre 27-26 for the Cubs over 3 years. The Cubs thought Eckersley’s best days were behind him. He lost more games than he won in ’86, and personal demons caught up with him. Eckersley checked himself into an alcoholism treatment center after the season.

"Eck" didn't turn a corner, he made a complete about-face. A sober Dennis Eckersley was just getting started-on a second career as a reliever. He would go on to become one of the most dominant closers in history.

The trade to Oakland hit as hard as a hangover. “I’m in shock,” said Eckersley, but he realized a change of scenery can’t hurt, “It’s always nice to get into a new atmosphere. You get pumped up and you’ve got something to prove to other people.” And prove something he did.

“Eck” didn’t turn a corner, he made a complete about-face. A sober Dennis Eckersley was just getting started on a second career as a reliever. He would go on to become one of the most dominant closers in history.

In his first 12 seasons he started 359 games and saved 3. In his last 12 seasons he saved 387 and started 2.

Top ten Saves leaders in history (as of the start of the 2018 season):

  1. Mariano Rivera 652
  2. Trevor Hoffman 601
  3. Lee Smith 478
  4. Francisco Rodriguez 437
  5. John Franco 424
  6. Billy Wagner 422
  7. Dennis Eckersley 390
  8. Jo Nathan 377
  9. Jonathan Papelbon 368 
  10. Jeff Reardon 367

Impress your friends at your next baseball trivia party; Who went ten years without recording a save but ended up in the Hall of Fame as a closer? He could have entered the HOF as a Cub, but the Cubs traded him at the wrong time.

Contributing Sources:
MLB Saves leaders
Chicago Tribune, April 4, 1987
More on Dennis Eckersley

A story from April 2 in baseball history – Doubleday invented baseball: NOT!

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US BACK TO CHICAGO, ILLINOIS ON APRIL 2, 1908.  On this date, Major League Baseball owners declared the game was invented by Abner Doubleday in Cooperstown, New York in 1839. A commission came to this conclusion after studying the issue for two years. It was overwhelming, and false.

Doubleday, a civil war General, and Cooperstown, named for poet James Fenimore Cooper, had as much to do with inventing baseball as Babe Ruth had with inventing the hot dog. No matter, a man named Spalding was on a mission – he would later go on to build a sporting goods empire. Cooperstown would become a baseball mecca.

In 1905 Albert Spalding recommended that former National League President A.G. Mills head up a commission to study the origins of the baseball. Someone uncovered a letter describing Doubleday as being the first to set down “base ball” rules derived from a game called “town ball.” A myth was born, except the rules weren’t new, neither was “base ball” (see September 23, 1845).

This much apparently is true, Abner Doubleday once lived in Cooperstown. And the myth Spalding helped create was strong enough to make this sleepy town in the hills of western New York named after a poet, the site for the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 1930s.

Contributing Sources:
Spaldings World Tour, by Mark Lamster, 2006, Published by Public Affairs
Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) www.sabr.org

A TRAGIC LOSS ON OPENING DAY – JOHN McSHERRY’s LAST BREATH

A TRAGIC STORY APRIL 1, 1996 FROM CINCINNATI, OHIO. It was opening day, the unofficial beginning of spring, a sign of rebirth, a starting over. Everybody’s in first place. The Cincinnati Reds are hosting the Montreal Expos (today’s Washington Nationals). Reds pitcher Pete Schrouek fires the first pitch to John Grudzielanek right down the middle. Home plate umpire John McSherry shouts, “Ball.” Schrouek is stunned. Grudzielanek eventually flies out. Mike Lansing strikes out. The count on Rondell White is 1 and 1. “Hold on,” McSherry says. It’s only the seventh pitch of the game, but the 380-pound man in blue is in trouble. He walks haltingly toward the dugout then staggers and falls face forward. A gasp rises from the crowd. The opening day air is the source of John McSherry’s last breath. He is pronounced dead an hour later. McSherry was 51.

The game is postponed. Players, coaches, managers are in no mood to continue. John McSherry was truly one of the game’s most beloved umpires. Reds shortstop Barry Larkin stood helplessly on the field the day McSherry died, “It’s often thought that baseball players and umpires have an antagonistic relationship. If any one person could prove that theory wrong, it was John McSherry.” McSherry had one of the lowest ejection rates of any umpire.

Like many umpires, McSherry wanted to be a ballplayer. Born and raised in New York City, he got a scholarship to St. John’s University for academics, not sports. He left St. John’s before getting a degree. If he was going to be in a classroom, he wanted it to be in an umpire’s school in Florida. After umpire’s school, McSherry worked in the Florida Instructional League and then the Carolina and International Leagues. He broke into the majors in 1971.

McSherry battled weight issues in his adult life, in fact had a physical scheduled for the day after he died. His death spurred a movement to require fitness of umpires and avoid situations such as John McSherry’s last breath be taken at a distinctly young age.

Contributing sources:
The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 2, 1996
The New York Times, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 2, 1996

April 29-The Lee Elia rant

APRIL 29, 1983 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – Former big league player, coach and manager Lee Elia came across as a friendly, mild mannered guy – except on this date in 1983.

Elia was managing the Chicago Cubs at the time. They may have been loveable losers, but they hadn’t created the cult following they enjoy today.

The Cubs suffered in relative obscurity on many weekday afternoons back then (lights in Wrigley were still 5 years away). The paid attendance on April 29, 1983 was 9,391, and it was a Friday! Two days earlier 3,384 fans showed up. Twenty years later there would typically be that many people standing in line for a Budweiser.

They lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on this date. It was the 14th loss in the first 19 games of 1983.

Lee was not happy, but it wasn’t his players who ticked him off. The following is unedited transcript of what Elia told a reporter who had an audiocassette recorder rolling:

CAUTION: EXTREME PROFANITY

“Fuck those fuckin’ fans who come out here and say they’re Cub fans that are supposed to be behind you, rippin’ every fuckin’ thing you do. I’ll tell you one fuckin’ thing, I hope we get fuckin’ hotter than shit, just to stuff it up them 3,000 fuckin’ people that show up every fuckin’ day, because if they’re the real Chicago fuckin’ fans, they can kiss my fuckin’ ass right downtown and PRINT IT.

They’re really, really behind you around here…my fuckin’ ass. What the fuck am I supposed to do, go out there and let my fuckin’ players get destroyed every day and be quiet about it? For the fuckin’ nickel-dime people who turn up? The motherfuckers don’t even work. That’s why they’re out at the fuckin’ game. They oughta go out and get a fuckin’ job and find out what it’s like to go out and earn a fuckin’ living. Eighty-five percent of the fuckin’ world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here. A fuckin’ playground for the cocksuckers. Rip them motherfuckers. Rip them fuckin’ cocksuckers like the fuckin’ players. We got guys bustin’ their fuckin’ ass, and them fuckin’ people boo. And that’s the Cubs? My fuckin’ ass. They talk about the great fuckin’ support the players get around here. I haven’t see it this fuckin’ year. Everybody associated with this organization have been winners their whole fuckin’ life. Everybody. And the credit is not given in that respect.

Alright, they don’t show because we’re 5 and 14…and unfortunately, that’s the criteria of them dumb fifteen motherfuckin’ percent that come out to day baseball. The other eighty-five percent are earning a living. I tell you, it’ll take more than a 5 and 12 or 5 and 14 to destroy the makeup of this club. I guarantee you that. There’s some fuckin’ pros out there that wanna win. But you’re stuck in a fuckin’ stigma of the fuckin’ Dodgers and the Phillies and the Cardinals an all that cheap shut. It’s unbelievable. It really is. It’s a disheartening fuckin’ situation that we’re in right now. Anybody who was associated with the Cub organization four or five years ago that came back and sees the multitude of progress that’s been made will understand that if they’re baseball people, that 5 and 14 doesn’t negate all that work. We got 143 fuckin’ games left.

What I’m tryin’ to say is don’t rip them fuckin’ guys out there. Rip me. If you wanna rip somebody, rip my fuckin’ ass. But don’t rip them fuckin’ guys ’cause they’re givin’ everything they can give. And right now they’re tryin’ to do more than God gave ’em, and that’s why we make the simple mistakes. That’s exactly why.”

The amazing thing is Elia didn’t get fired for his obscenity laced tirade, at least not right away. He kept his job for four more months. He even managed again – the Philadelphia Phillies in 1987 and ’88.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
The Philadelphia Enquirer Multimedia, April 23, 2008
Lee Elia managerial record