Category: January

JAN 29: MUSIAL REWARDED

OUR STORY TAKES US BACK TO ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI JANUARY 29, 1958. 

Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals became the highest paid player in National League history. Stan “The Man” gratefully stroked his signature across a contract worth $100,000. Musial was being richly rewarded for winning his seventh batting title in 1957 with a .357 average. He drove in more than 100 runs for the tenth time in his career. The Associated Press reported that only Ted Williams of the American League’s Boston Red Sox probably makes more at an estimated $125,000.

 

The Cardinals made it clear they wanted Stan to stick around. According to the Associated Press the 37-year old former outfielder who now plays first base, told reporters, ”Baseball has rewarded me richly, and the Cardinals have always treated me more than fairly, this year in particular. I would have settled for less.”

 

Musial went on to hit .337 in 1958. He would play six more seasons, finishing with a lifetime .331 average. He was not considered a home run hitter, but hit over 30 six times and finished with 475 for his career.


Stan Musial was named to 24 all-star teams (there were two all-star games some years back then). The man richly rewarded with the biggest contract in National League history, was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.

 

Contributing sources:
Associated Press, January 30, 1958

JAN 27: MLB EXPANDS

TODAY’S STORY TAKES US TO JANUARY 27TH 10 YEARS APART – 1956 & 1966. EVENTS ON THOSE DATES FORESHADOWED A MAJOR SHIFT BY MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WEST & SOUTH.

On this date in 1956 the New York football Giants announced they would desert the Polo Grounds for Yankee Stadium. The New York baseball Giants also called the Polo Grounds home. The football team moving added to speculation that the baseball Giants wouldn’t be long for the Polo Grounds either.

The Associated Press reported that the baseball Giants were contemplating a “move across the Harlem River” to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx by 1957. Fat chance the Yankees would let that happen.

The baseball Giants ended up moving in 1958, but far beyond The Bronx. They moved across country to San Francisco. The Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles the same year.

Eight years later the City of Milwaukee tried to get the Braves back from Atlanta. The team left Wisconsin after the 1965 season, but hadn’t played any games in Georgia yet.

On this date in 1966 Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Elmer Roller stopped short of ordering the league to expand to Milwaukee. He instructed that Major League Baseball should do everything “within their scope” to get a team in Milwaukee.

As it turned out, the Braves stayed in Atlanta.

The American League franchise Seattle Pilots left Puget Sound for Milwaukee in 1970. They changed their name to the Brewers and remain there to this day.

The Dodgers and Giants have been in their respective Los Angeles and San Francisco homes for more than 6 decades, and continue to thrive.

The Polo Grounds in New York was demolished in 1964.

More information:
Chicago Tribune, Judge Orders NL: Stay in Milwaukee, January 28, 1966
“They took our hearts too,” New York Times, May 28, 1957
United Press International, January 28, 1966
Associated Press, January 28, 1956
New York/San Francisco Giants history

JAN 24: WHAT IF, DEION?

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US BACK TO  CINCINNATI, OHIO JANUARY 24, 2001.

What if Deion Sanders only played baseball? He decided to give baseball another try on this date in 2001. As the story goes, he was invited to spring training by the Cincinnati Reds. General Manager Jim Bowden gave the 2-sport star a non-guaranteed minor league contract to play for the Triple-A Louisville Riverbats.

The Washington Redskins‘ all-pro cornerback hadn’t played major league baseball in three years. Sanders played 115 games in the outfield for the Reds in 1997, hitting .273 with 56 stolen bases, 53 runs scored and 23 RBI, but he was 29 then. He was 33 in 2001.

Sanders made it up to the Reds for 32 games in 2001, but he hit just .173 in seventy-five at-bats. That was the end of his baseball career.

The debate that will never end is, how good a baseball player would Deion Sanders have been had he played with a bat and ball exclusively.

In a 9-year major league baseball career with the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Reds and San Francisco Giants Sanders played in 641 games, hitting .263 with a .319 on base percentage, but he was most known for his speed. He had 186 stolen bases, which average out to 47 per year.

His only World Series was an impressive one. He hit .533 (8 for 15) and had five stolen bases for the Braves in the 1992 World Series which was won by the Toronto Blue Jays. Sanders gave whichever baseball team he played for instant speed.

He had a more productive football career – eight time all-pro and played on two Super Bowl winning teams.

The debate that will never be answered is, how good a baseball player would he have been had he played with a bat and ball exclusively. He knew which was more challenging when asked by the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2000:

Q – What’s tougher: hitting off Greg Maddux or guarding Jerry Rice?
A – “Hitting a baseball is definitely the hardest thing in sports to do, not only for me but for a lot of guys, but guarding Jerry Rice isn’t easy either. I just make it look easy.”

Sanders was an exceptional athlete. We’ll never know how could exceptional a baseball player he could have been had he only played baseball.

Contributing sources:
Cincinnati Enquirer, February 27, 2000
Deion Sanders NFL stats

JAN 21: GREATEST RIGHT-HAND HITTER?

JANUARY 21,1942 | COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK – Rogers Hornsby was elected to the Hall of Fame on this day in baseball history. Hornsby was one of the greatest hitters of all-time, probably the greatest right-handed hitter. He finished with a .358 lifetime average. Only Ty Cobb, a left-handed hitter, had a higher lifetime average at .366.

Hornsby’s most productive years were with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1915 to 1926. He helped the Cardinals win the 1926 World Series. He hit .424 in 1924 – the 6th highest single season batting average ever. No one has come close to since. Only three players have hit over .400 since 1924. One of them is named Hornsby.

Hornsby had a monster season for the Chicago Cubs in 1929, hitting .380 with 149 runs batted in and 156 runs scored. Hornsby also played for the New York Giants, St. Louis Browns (today’s Baltimore Orioles) and Boston Braves (today’s Atlanta  Braves).

“Rajah” as he was called, played all infield positions but was mostly a second baseman. He was a two-time National League Most Valuable Player. Hornsby and Ted Williams are the only players to win the Triple Crown (most home runs, runs batted in and highest average in one season) twice.

Rogers Hornsby was born April 27, 1896 in Winters, Texas. He died in Chicago January 5, 1963. He was the fourteenth player to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Contributing sources:
Chicago Tribune, January 21, 1942 
More on Rogers Hornsby

JAN 20TH: BASEBALL & POLITICS

IT’S ALWAYS FUN TO TALK  BASEBALL & POLITICS… WELL, AT LEAST BASEBALL. 

Remember former New York Governor, and presidential candidate, Mario Cuomo? He had a promising baseball career cut short by a fastball. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1951 and assigned to their Brunswick minor league team. Later that first season he was hit in the head by a fastball. It was so serious doctors advised he give up baseball, which he did, and went on to finish law school.

Baseball’s loss was the Democratic party’s gain. Cuomo got involved in New York state politics. He served 3 terms as governor. He also, unsuccessfully, sought the democratic party’s nomination for president in 1988 and 1992.

Former Kentucky Senator and Congressman Jim Bunning is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a dominant pitcher for most of his 17 years in the majors. His best years were with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies. He finished his career with a 224-184 record, 3.27 ERA, and is one of the few to throw no-hitters in both leagues. Bunning was a congressman from 1987 to 1999, and in the US Senate from 1999 to 2011

Talk about term limits, Connie Mack managed, and owned, the Philadelphia Athletics (today’s Oakland A’s) for 50 years – 1901 to 1950. His grandson, Connie Mack III, was a Republican congressman from Florida from 1983 to 1989 and U-S Senator from Florida from 1989 to 2001.

Contributing sources:
Jim Bunning stats
Mario Cuomo