Tag: Chicago Cubs

DEC 29 – The Bithorn Mystery

DECEMBER 29, 1951 | EL MANTE, MEXICO • It was a mystery then. It’s a mystery today. A one-time rising star for the Chicago Cubs was shot and killed in El Mante (Ciudad, Mante in Spanish) Mexico on this date in 1951.

Thirty-five year old Hi Bithorn, a native of Puerto Rico, was playing in the Mexican Winter League trying to make a comeback when he was killed.

According to an article written by Jane Allen Quevedo for the Society of American Baseball Research, the Bithorn family believes Officer Cano’s motive for shooting Bithorn was because he wanted to steal his car.

According to several articles in The Chicago Tribune in the days after the shooting, Bithorn was broke and trying to sell a car for cash. El Mante policeman Ambrosio Castillo Cano asked Bithorn for the car’s registration papers. There was an altercation and Bithorn was shot in the stomach. Cano said Bithorn attacked him.

According to an article written by Jane Allen Quevedo for the Society of American Baseball Research, the Bithorn family believes Officer Cano’s motive for shooting Bithorn was because he wanted to steal his car.

For some unknown reason, Bithorn was driven to a hospital more than 80 miles away. He died enroute. Cano was charged with homicide and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Bithorn was a shining star early in his career. He came up with the Chicago Cubs in 1942. He won 18 games in ’43, including a league leading 7 shutouts. It was the midst of World War II and Uncle Sam called. He missed the 1944 and ’45 seasons.

The luster Bithorn showed before entering the military wasn’t there when he got out in 1946. He bounced around the majors for a couple years, pitching two innings for the Chicago White Sox in 1947 until a sore arm put him out of action. He would never pitch in the major leagues again.

His attempt at a comeback in the Mexican Winter League ended violently, but the Bithorn mystery lives on. The largest baseball stadium in Puerto Rico is named after Hi Bithorn.

Contributing sources:
The Chicago Tribune, January 1-5, 1952
Hi Bithorn stats

Oct 1: Did Ruth call his shot?

OCTOBER 1, 1932 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – What did or didn’t happen in Wrigley Field on this date is debated to this day. Some believe Babe Ruth called his shot while batting in game-3 of the World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees – that is, pointed toward the bleachers, indicating he was going to hit a home run there, and then hitting one there. So did Ruth call his shot? I say no.

Ruth definitely gestured, as film from that day shows, but was he calling his shot? [I don’t have the rights to show a still frame from that film, but you can see it by Google-ing “called shot copyright Kirk Kandle”.]

The Yankees were up 2 games to none against the Cubs in the ’32 series. New York took an early lead in game three on a home run by Ruth, only to be tied by the Cubs.

It was the 5th inning and Ruth came to bat again. He and the Cubs were jawing back and forth at each other. It’s obvious from the film that Ruth was gesturing with the count 2-balls and 2-strikes. On the next pitch, he hit a mammoth home run about 450 feet.

Did Ruth call his shot? Sportswriter Joe Williams of Scripps-Howard newspapers started it with this headline in the next day’s paper:

“Ruth calls shot as he puts home run no. 2 in side pocket”

Cubs pitcher Charlie Root, who gave up the home run, insisted Ruth did not call his shot. “If he had made a gesture like that I’d have put one in his ear and knocked him on his (backside).” Ruth did not initially acknowledge that he called his shot, but embraced the story more and more as time went on.

What may be most definitive is the typed play-by-play from Retrosheet, data gathered by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) for virtually every MLB game ever played.

Below is how Ruth’s 5th inning at-bat appears, including the bold type:

YANKEES 5TH: Sewell grounded out (shortstop to first); the Cubs bench players were riding Babe Ruth mercilessly and Ruth yelled and gestured back; Ruth homered;

Whoever wrote that does not believe he called his shot. And if you look at Ruth’s gesture it appears to be straight ahead. When a left-handed batter stands in the box straight ahead is toward the 3rd base dugout, which is the Cubs dugout. My belief is Ruth was gesturing toward the Cubs, not center-field. Did Ruth call his shot? I say no.

Contributing sources:
October 1, 1932 Box score/play-by-play
Charlie Root quote, USATODAY, September 27, 2007
Sports Illustrated Greatest Teams, by Tim Crothers, 1998

June 30 in baseball history – It took balls

JUNE 30, 1959 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – On this date in 1959 St. Louis Cardinal slugger Stan Musial was called out on a play that, let’s say, it took balls. When nobody was looking two balls were in play at once during a Cubs-Cardinals contest at Wrigley Field.

According to Edward Prell’s story in the next day’s Chicago Tribune, Cubs’ hurler Bob Anderson walked Musial. Ball four got away from catcher Sammy Taylor. Rather than go after the ball, Taylor argued with home plate umpire Vic Delmore that the ball hit Musial’s bat.

While this was going on Musial, who was already at first, darted for second.

The ball that got away from the catcher was picked up by the batboy who was about to give it to field announcer Pat Pieper, who sat almost directly behind home plate. Piper was also in charge of the stash of extra baseballs.

Before the batboy could give Pieper the ball, Cub third baseman Alvin Dark, who had raced after it, grabbed it.

By now home plate umpire Delmore produced a new baseball and gave it to pitcher Anderson who had the same idea as Dark and fired it to second. Anderson’s ball sailed over the second baseman’s head into centerfield. Dark’s ball was caught by shortstop Ernie Banks on one bounce. Musial and stepped off the bag after seeing the first ball sail into center and was promptly tagged out by Banks.

After much consternation Musial was ruled out because the ball he was tagged out with was the one Bob Anderson threw for ball four and was never out of play. There would have been a protest no matter what the ruling was. As it turned out the call went against the Cardinals but St. Louis won the game. That was the end of it, but it took balls.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Edward Prell, The Chicago Tribune, July 1, 1959
The Chicago Daily News, July 1, 1959

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

March 27: How Cubs got name

MARCH 27, 1902 | CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. The identity of Chicago‘s National League team is so ingrained it’s hard to imagine the franchise not being called the Cubs. But for the first quarter century of the team’s existence it wasn’t. They were known at various times as White Stockings, Colts, even Orphans – more on that in a moment. Here’s how the Cubs got their name;

The Cubs moniker can be traced to the Chicago Daily News newspaper of this date in 1902. The term for young bears was used by a sportswriter at spring training to describe a team with a bunch of young but promising players. The story’s headline read:

Manager of the Cubs is in Doubt Only on Two Positions

A search of newspaper archives at Chicago’s Newberry Library shows that that March 27, 1902 story is the earliest known use of the term “Cubs” to describe the team. The article mentioned it once more in describing the intentions of the manager:

"Frank Selee will devote his strongest efforts on the team work of the new Cubs this year."

The name caught on, which wasn’t surprising considering the club was known as Orphans at the time.

Here’s how that came about, as a charter member of the National League in 1876 the team was known as the Chicago White Stockings. A few years later star Cap Anson became player/manager. Sportswriters began referring to the team as Anson’s Colts, and eventually just Colts.

Anson was also known as “Pop.” When he left the team in 1897 the team became known as Orphans. Get it? You knew “Cubs” would stick when rival papers such as the Chicago Tribune (which later owned the team) began to use it.

Interestingly, when the Cubs relinquished the name White Stockings, the new American League franchise grabbed it, shortened it, and have been known as the White Sox ever since.

When the National Football League came to town in the 1920’s, the team chose Bears because they played in the home of Cubs.

More info:
The Chicago Daily News, Thursday, March 27, 1902 (Thanks to Newberry Library, Chicago)
The New York Times, “Nicknames of Baseball Clubs,” by Joseph Curtin Gephart,
Retrosheet has a treasure of information
MLB team histories
More info on team names, wikipedia