Tag: Dodgers

Oct 5: Dramatic dropped 3rd strike

OCTOBER 5, 1941 | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – It would have been the final out of Game-4 of the 1941 World Series and a 4-3 victory for the Brooklyn Dodgers had catcher Mickey Owen held on to strike three on this date in 1941. Instead, the ball went all the way back to the screen. The batter, New York Yankee right fielder Tommy Henrich ran safely to first instead of the dugout.

What followed was a single, double, two runs scored, a walk, another double, two more runs scored, another walk before a ground-out for the third out. The Yankees won 7-4. Instead of the series being tied 2-2, the Yankees were up 3 games to 1. They won the next day to take the Series.

What could have been had Mickey Owen held on to Hugh Casey‘s  3-2 pitch. Ironically, Owen set a record that season for the most consecutive chances without an error. He finished the season with a .995 fielding percentage, but he will always be remembered for his passed ball that snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
October 5, 1941 box score/play-by-play
More on Mickey Owen

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

April 7 – The “screen” monster

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES US TO LOS ANGELES FOR OPENING DAY, APRIL 7, 1958. It used to be common for football games to be played in baseball ballparks like Wrigley Field. Wrigley was the home of the Chicago Bears from 1921 to 1970. What you rarely saw was baseball played in football venues like the Los Angeles Coliseum Field. What the Dodgers had to do to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on this date in 1958 is why.

Before MLB’s transplanted Brooklyn Dodgers could play the first official major league game west of St. Louis they had to erect a 42-foot screen in left field because the foul pole was only 201 feet away – about the distance normally seen in slow-pitch softball. Straight away left was only about 250 feet.

On the other hand, because the Coliseum is rectangular, straight away right was 440 feet from home. 

There was a distinct advantage playing in the mammoth coliseum. It held a lot of people. Game 5 of the 1959 World Series between the Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox still holds the record for the biggest crowd to watch a major league baseball game – 92,706.

The Dodgers spent four seasons (1958-1961) in, at the time, the home of the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams waiting for Dodger Stadium to be completed.

As much as Dodger fans poured into the Coliseum with the screen monster, they liked the new Dodger Stadium more when it opened in 1962. A major league attendance record (at the time) was set with 2,755,184 fans.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE: 
The Coliseum revisited

FEB 8: Dodgers get wings

TODAY IN BASEBALL TAKES BACK TO LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA FEBRUARY 8, 1957. There was a time when baseball, and other professional sports teams, traveled with the rest of us – first by train, then by air. A new age was ushered in on this date in 1957. The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team to own a plane. It bought a 44-passenger twin-engine airplane for $800,000.

Teams began flying in 1934, but not for every trip. Expansion to the west coast made air travel a necessity.

Travel has always been a major consideration for professional sports. Early on it restricted major league baseball to a relatively small section of the country. Before the late 1950’s major league baseball was entirely in the northeastern part of the country. When the National League was established in 1876 that’s where most of the population was.

These maps show the locations of major league franchises at various times. National League teams are in red. American Association (after 1901, American League) teams in blue.

1882
1955
1962
2005

It took too long to travel outside the Northeast in the late 1800s. It took 20 hours to travel from New York to Chicago by rail. Smart scheduling kept teams from having to do that, but even New York to Buffalo was a 7-hour train ride, making travel days necessary.

Travel days are a thing of the past as all teams followed the Dodgers – the first team to own a plane.

Contributing Sources:
“How the automobile ruined ballpark design,” by Alex  Reisner, March 22, 2006 (also published in The Baseball Research Journal of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)

DEC 30: The great Sanford Braun

DECEMBER 30, 1965 | BROOKLYN, NEW YORK • The great Sanford Braun was born on this date in 1935.  Sanford who? Braun? Never heard of him.
He won 3 Cy Young awards
He’s in the Hall of Fame
He’s one of the greatest pitchers of all-time

You never heard of him? That’s because he’s better known as Sandy Koufax.

Koufax was born to Evelyn and Jack Braun, but his parents divorced when he was a child. His mother remarried Irving Koufax.

Sandy Koufax played baseball and basketball growing up. In fact, attended the University of Cincinnati on a basketball scholarship. He impressed baseball scouts enough though that they offered him a contract in 1954.

Koufax’s major league baseball career was not long, eleven years (1955 to 1966). It took him a few seasons to harness his talent, but for a six year stretch he was as dominating a pitcher as there’s ever been.

From 1961 to 1966:

  • He won 129 games, losing just 47
  • His ERA was 2.76, lead the league 5 of those six year, 3 seasons his ERA was under 2.00
  • Lead the league in strikeouts 4 times, striking out more than 300 three times
  • Won 3 Cy Young awards

He ranks 19th in the major leagues in winning percentage (.655).

Arm trouble forced Koufax to retire at age 30. The great Sanford Braun was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1972.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Sandy Koufax
Biography.com
Jewish Virtual Library