Tag: Brewers

A STORY FROM MAY 9TH BASEBALL HISTORY – A GAME THAT WOULDN’T END

TODAYINBASEBALL.COM TAKES US TO CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MAY 9, 1984 – Every once in a while the baseball Gods decide not to let a game end. There was one of those kinds of games on this date in 1984. The Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox played a game that wouldn’t end.

The Brewers and White Sox‘ 25-inning marathon began at 7:30 p.m. on the 8th of May. It was halted at 12:59 a.m. due to a league curfew, and resumed later on the 9th.

The game was tied at 1 apiece going 9th. The Brewers scored 2 in the top of the inning. The White Sox matched it with 2 in the bottom. The two teams went for the next 11 innings without scoring. In the 22nd inning the Brewers scored 3 runs. Believe it or not, the White Sox did the same. Not until Sox slugger Harold Baines’ solo home run in the 25th inning did the game end.

MIL 000 000 102 000 000 000 003 000 0 –6 20 3
CHI 000 001 002 000 000 000 003 000 1 –7 23 1

Usually 2 hits in a game is a pretty good day, but not when you bat 10 or 11 times. Cecil Cooper, for example, had eleven at bats for the Brewers and 2 hits for a .181 batting average.

The longest game (by innings) in the National League, and in the Majors, was 26 innings between the Brooklyn Dodgers (today’s Los Angeles Dodgers) the Boston Braves (Today’s Atlanta Braves)  in 1920. That game, however, never ended. It was declared a draw. That truly was a game that wouldn’t end.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
May 8, 1984 box-score & stats
10 Longest games in baseball history
Game Length Records

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

MARCH 12: THE YANKEES WERE NOT AMONG THE FIRST

MARCH 12, 1903 | NEW YORK, NEW YORK – The New York Yankees are synonymous with Major League Baseball, especially the American League. Did you know they were not one of the original American League teams (I digress. Actually they were, but why let the facts stand in the way of a good story?)

Let me explain:
This much is true; there was no American League team in New York City when the AL was established in 1901. New York officially got a team on this date in 1903 when the owners approved a franchise move.

The franchise that would become the New York Yankees existed in Baltimore as the Orioles, not the Orioles currently taking up residence by Chesapeake Bay. Those Orioles trace their origins back to Milwaukee as the Brewers, no not the current Brewers, the Brewers of old that became the St. Louis Browns, which then moved to Baltimore and became the current Orioles.

Clear as pine tar?
This list of the charter American League franchises of the inaugural year of 1901 and what became of them may help:

  • Cleveland Blues – name changed to Bronchos in 1902, Naps in 1903 and finally Indians in 1914.
  • Milwaukee Brewers – Franchise moved to St. Louis in 1902 and became the Browns, moved to Baltimore in 1954 and became the Orioles
  • Baltimore Orioles – moved to New York in 1903 and became the Highlanders. Name changed to Yankees in 1913.
  • Chicago White Stockings – officially became the White Sox in 1903
  • Boston Americans – became the Red Sox in 1906.
  • Philadelphia Athletics – moved to Kansas City in 1956. Moved to Oakland in 1968. Named reduced to A’s over time.
  • Washington Senators – moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul in 1961 and became the Minnesota Twins
  • Detroit Tigers – remain in Detroit as the Tigers

It appears the Detroit Tigers are the only charter franchise to neither move nor change its name in the slightest.

Contributing sources:
BASEBALL-REFERENCE
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox,