Baseball Quiz: 1) Who are the Top 3 active pitchers in wins? 2)
What 3 N.L. third basemen won the MVP Award in the decade of
the 90s? Answers below.
Opening Day
Through the summer, Mondays will be baseball days here at Bar
Chat. And we will have a little something on the game every
Wednesday and Friday as well. For today I have accumulated
some facts and figures of days gone by. All have to do either
with events that occurred in the off-season or Opening Day.
[This is a way of catching up with the calendar.] Some will be
slightly off-beat, others simply meant to honor players who may
not have been as well known as the stars, but deserve a mention
of their own.
–March 21, 1908: Ty Cobb signs a contract for $4,000. A
shrewd businessman (Cobb was an original investor in Coca-
Cola), he has a clause added whereby he is paid an extra $800 if
he hits .300. He leads the league with a .324 average.
–February 17, 1909: Rule change requires relief pitchers to retire
at least one batter. [If this was in play last year, the Mets” Rich
Rodriguez would still be pitching. Rodriguez threw 37 innings
and gave up 59 hits on the way to compiling a 7.78 ERA.]
–1910: The Chalmers Auto Company announced plans to award
a car to each league”s batting champion.
–April 14, 1910: William Howard Taft becomes the first U.S.
president to throw out the first ball on Opening Day.
–March 24, 1911: Mrs. Helene Hathaway Britton is the first
woman to own a major league team when her uncle died
unexpectedly and she inherited the St. Louis Cardinals.
–February 1, 1912: Cubs” second baseman Jim Doyle dies after
appendicitis surgery.
–April 5, 1913: Brooklyn”s Ebbets Field opened with an
exhibition game against the Yankees. Casey Stengel hit the first
home run.
–April 1, 1914: Rube Waddell died of tuberculosis at the age of
37. Hall of Famer Waddell had retired four years earlier, having
compiled a 196-138 record along with a spectacular 2.16 ERA.
–April 5, 1925: Babe Ruth collapsed and required surgery for an
ulcer. He appeared in only 98 games that season.
–January 6, 1933: Commissioner Judge Kenesaw Mountain
Landis voluntarily cut his pay by 40%. The action was seen as a
signal to players that all salaries will be reduced during the
Depression. In March, Ruth took a $23,000 pay cut.
–April 14, 1942: Ted Williams drives in 5 runs in the opener.
Red Sox fans project that Williams will get over 700 RBI for the
season, but they have to settle for Williams”s Triple Crown
(36-137-.356).
–February 18, 1944: Joe Nuxhall signs with the Reds at the age
of 15. Of course, it was during the war and rosters were
somewhat depleted. The Reds had Nuxhall pitch in one game
where he gave up 2 hits and 5 walks in an inning of work (45.00
ERA). Nuxhall didn”t throw again at the big league level until
1952. He did proceed to have a solid career, 135-117.
–1947: Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher is suspended for the
entire season by Commissioner Happy Chandler for “conduct
detrimental to baseball,” after Durocher accuses Yankee owner
Larry MacPhail of having gamblers in his box at an exhibition
game between the Yankees and Dodgers in Havana, Cuba.
–January 29, 1949: The Pittsburgh Pirates purchase pitcher
Murry Dickson from the Cardinals for $125,000, a very large sum
for the time. Dickson proceeds to go just 12-14 and 10-15 his
first two seasons for an admittedly awful team. His final won-lost
record is 172-181.
–January 18, 1950: Bob Feller suggested the Indians cut his pay
by $20,000 to $45,000 after a so-so, 15-14 season. The Indians
accept the invitation. Feller then goes 16-11.
–February 7, 1950: Ted Williams signs for $125,000 to become
the highest paid player in baseball history. He then only played 89
games due to a broken arm.
–April 17, 1951: Golf great Sam Snead helped the Cubs open
their season by teeing up at home plate and driving a ball off the
scoreboard in center.
–April 15, 1952: Only 4,694 fans attend the Boston Braves” last
home opener in Boston. In 1953, the franchise is moved to
Milwaukee, the first major league transplant since 1903. The
Milwaukee Braves then draw a N.L. record 1,826,000, setting in
motion future franchise moves. Braves” 21-year-old Eddie
Mathews belts 47 homers that season.
–February 5, 1956: Owners turned down a request from players
to raise the minimum salary by $1,000 to $7,000.
–February 15, 1956: The Pirates and Athletics chose not to play
an exhibition game in Birmingham, Alabama because of a city
ordinance that prevented white and black players from
participating in the same game.
–February 15, 1964: 1962 N.L. Rookie of the Year Ken Hubbs
dies in a plane crash near Provo, UT. (Hubbs was piloting the
craft).
–April 8, 1964: Colt .45s” relief pitcher Jim Umbricht dies of
cancer at age 33. Umbricht, a journeyman, had his finest season
in 1963 when he compiled a 4-3 record with a 2.61 ERA.
–April 17, 1964: Mets open Shea Stadium with a 4-3 loss to the
Pirates.
–April 11, 1966: The A.L.”s Emmett Ashford becomes the first
black major league umpire.
–April 8, 1969: Expansion franchises Kansas City, Seattle,
Montreal, and San Diego all win their first games. I remember
the Expos win well, over my beloved Mets, as I “played sick” for
the third season in a year (“Opening Day Fever”). To her eternal
credit, my mother went along with the ploy. Montreal”s Coco
Laboy was a star in the game. In 1970 the now-bankrupt Seattle
franchise was moved to Milwaukee, just four days before the start
of the season. [It”s pretty clear, if you have any kind of problem,
move to Milwaukee.]
–February 17, 1971: The Red Sox sign Carl Yastrzemski to a 3-
year deal worth $500,000, believed to be the richest in baseball.
–April 2, 1972: Mets” manager Gil Hodges dies of a heart attack
at the age of 48.
–February 25, 1972: The Cardinals trade Steve Carlton to the
Phillies for Rick Wise in what is viewed as one of the worst trades
in baseball history. But let”s be fair about it. In 1971, 26-year-
old Carlton went 20-9 for the 90-72 Cards, while 25-year-old
Wise was 17-14 for the 67-95 Phillies. Wise then went 16-16 his
first year for the 75-81 Cardinals (a brief players strike impacted
the number of games played that season) but “Lefty” went 27-10
for the 59-97 Phillies, an astounding performance. And, yes,
while Carlton went on to his monster career, Wise did still
compile a 188-181 lifetime mark, not exactly chopped liver.
**Trades completed in the fall will be covered at the appropriate
time.
–January 5, 1975: Houston Astros pitcher Don Wilson commits
suicide. Wilson, just 29, was a flamethrower with two no-hitters
to his credit in his short, 104-92, career.
Connie Mack: “You”re born with two strikes against you, so
don”t take a third one on your own.”
On Saturday night, Mets” prospect Brian Cole was killed in an auto
accident. Cole was the organization”s player of the year last
season. The younger Mets players, in particular, are devastated.
Then you have the cases of Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden.
Gooden retired on Friday, the same day that Strawberry became
a fugitive. Both wasted their immense talent. But Cole, who
would have been called up at some point this season, never had
a chance to display his.
Ogden Nash
“All winter long I am one for whom the bell is tolling;
I can arouse no interest in basketball, outdoor fly casting or
bowling;
The sports pages are strictly no soap,
And until the cry of Play Ball! I simply mope.”
–Sports Illustrated, 1957
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/5/75: #1 “Lovin”You” (Minnie
Ripperton) #2 “Philadelphia Freedom” (The Elton John Band)
#3 “No No Song” (Ringo Starr)
Baseball Quiz Answers: 1) Wins: Roger Clemens, 260; Greg
Maddux, 240; Tom Glavine, 208. 2) 3B MVPs: Terry
Pendleton, 1991; Ken Caminiti, 1996; Chipper Jones, 1999.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…tales of animal destruction.
