The first perfect game

Last month two MLB pitchers pitched perfect games. This was the first time since the first two perfect games were pitched in the same season, as well as the same month. Today we mark the anniversary of the first perfect game ever pitched. On June 12, 1880 at the Agricultural County Fair Grounds in Worcester, Massachusetts, John Lee Richmond of the Worcester Ruby Legs pitched the very first perfect game ever. Richmond pitched a 1-0 gem against the Cleveland Blues. Just five days a second perfect game was pitched. Fans of the day believed it would become a common occurance. Many would never read or hear of another perfect game being pitched as it would not occur until 1904. The National League would not see its third perfect game (Between league clubs) until amazingly enough until 1964. The league would wait only one year before its fourth.

Tomorrow we look at a long game in the Southern Association.

Thats a lot of strikeouts

In honor of the recent debut of Stephen Strasburg and his 14 strikeouts, we present a gallery of strikeouts. We start on June 11, 1946 in the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri League at Bartlesville, Oklahoma. At Municipal Stadium Jack Baumgardner of the Bartlesville Oilers struck out 19 batters in a game against the Carthage Cardinals in a three hit 5-0 victory. Baumgardner has a more famous brother, his youngest brother James made a name for himself in Holllywood. James and Jack both dropped the "Baum" part from their last name. James Gardner starred in Maverick and the Rockford Files and many other roles.

Jack could not even set the June 11, 1946 record for most strikeouts that day. That honor instead went to William Kennedy of the Rocky Mount Rocks of the Coastal Plain League. At Briles Field in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Kennedy struck out 25 batters in a game against the Goldsboro Goldbugs. Kennedy, like Baumgardner pitched a 3 hit shutout, but Kennedys gem was a 2-0 score.

Exactly 20 years to the day later, another pitcher struck out 19 hitters and matched Baumgardners' feat. This pitcher was pitching for the Greenville Mets of the Western Carolinas League. Nolan Ryan then of the Greenville Mets pitched an 8-0, four hitter against the Statesville Tigers at Meadowbrook Park in Greenville, South Carolina before 1103 fans. Unlike the other two Ryan did manage to start a Hall of Fame career striking out 5714 hitters in his 27 year career. Can Strasburg generate Nolan Ryan type numbers? It is possible but, not likely, get back to me in say 25 years. Good Luck Stephen!!!

Tomorrow we will look at the very first perfect game ever.

Horse Racing History

Today we take a brief look at horse racing history. On June 10, 1938 Hollywood Park race track opened in Inglewood, CA. The track remains open today to some of the best horse racing in the country. Twice in its history, the track was forced to close. The first time was during World War 2 and the other time was in the spring of 1949, when the grand stand burned down and the racing card was transferred to nearby Santa Anita race track.

Tomorrow we take a June 11 look at strikeouts.

Where was the goalie?

Today we look at the 2003 Asian Womens' Football Confederation Championships. The Tournament was played in Thailand. The Tournament ran from June 8 until June 21.

On the second day of play at Rajamangala National stadium in Bangkok, the team from Japan defeated the team from the Phillipines by a score of 15-0. For this tournament this really was not an unusual score as there were six games in the tournament where one team scored at least 11 goals in one game.

All of the big score games were shutouts on top of that. This game was not even the highest scoring game, just the first of six. Neither team was involved in another big score game. The team from North Korea won three of the games, winning them by a combined score of 43-0!! The North Korean team still finished pool play with a record of 3-0-1 as they were tied by the team from South Korea. The North Korean team then went on to win the tournament. They beat the team from China in the finals.

Tomorrow we look at the opening of one of todays great horse racetracks.

Big Moment

Few events in the history of the National Football League have had the impact of the June 8, 1966 merger with the American Football League. Mergers between sports league have been going on since at least 1885 when the National League allowed some clubs from the Union Association to join the league.

Most sports league mergers the league being bought out quickly disappears into the history books. This merger was a bit on the strange side as the American Football League continued to function as its own league until the 1969 season was completed. Most league mergers result in one league picking and choosing teams in the league being bought out and leaving some clubs out in the cold. That was not the case this time as all 10 AFL clubs plus a yet to be awarded expansion team were allowed to join the NFL. The AFL brought much more then just 11 clubs with it, when the final merger went through. The brought several innovations with them that are very much part of football today.

Tomorrow we will look at a lopside soccer game in Thailand.

Good Hockey in June

Today we look at the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals between the mighty Montreal Canadians and the upstart Los Angeles Kings. On June 7, 1993 the Canadians beat the Kings 3-2 in overtime, to take a 3-1 lead in the star studed series. The game played at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, was the Canadians third overtime win in a row. All three overtime wins were in single overtime. Two later, the Canadians were crowned Stanley Cup Champions. I for one enjoy a good overtime game, but three in a row, WOW.

Tommorrow we look at very historic football moment.

The NBA beginnings

Today we look at the beginning of the National Basketball Association. At the end of World War 2, major league basketball was not well organized. At least not quite as well as Baseball, Football and Hockey. Some sports leagues are formed by teams that are dissatified with the league they are in the go out and organize a league that will be run more like the way they want it run. That was not the case with the founding of the NBA. The league was founded by arena owners looking to fill empty dates on their schedules.
Thus on June 6, 1946 the league was founded as the Basketball Association of America. The league awarded 11 franchises on that date to the cities of Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; New York, NY; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Providence, Rhode Island; Saint Louis, Missouri; Toronto, Ontario and Washington, DC. The league was fortunate that no changes were made in the league lineup between the founding and the first opening day. Many leagues look quite different from the time they are announced and the time that they begin pay. On the eleven cities that did begin play, two of them remain in the league since that day, Boston with the Celtics and New York with the Knicks. Seven of the other cities are currently in the league and two cities Pittsburgh and Providence remain out of the league. The league founders should be congratulated for the fine beginning for the league.
Tomorrow we look at a hard fought sweep in the Stanley Cup Finals.