Now That was a Game

Most baseball games that go into extra innings do so because the pitchers have the best of the hitters on any given day. Most games going into extra innings do not so because the home team scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 15 all. Yet on July 10, 1932 in the American League game played at league Park in Cleveland, Ohio this is exactly what happened.

The Cleveland Indians were hosting a slugfest with the Philaldephia A's when the tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the contest into extra frames with a 15-15 score. With only the second and eight innings being scoreless, the pitching finally took control of the game. The hitters were not heard from again until the 16th inning when the the two clubs traded two run rallies. The A's broke through again in the top of the 18th and their pitchers slammed the door on the Indians to produce an unorthodox 18-17 win in 18 innings.

The A's were led by first baseman Jimmy Foxx who went 6 for 9 with 3 home runs, 1 double, 4 runs scored and 8 RBIs. His last home run accounted for the A's 16th inning runs. The Indians were led by shortstop Johnny Burnett who went 9 for 11 with 2 doubles and 4 runs scored in the 4 hour, 5 minute game. The Indians had 5 of the games 6 errors and 33 of the games 58 hits. Eddie Rommel of the A's led the pitching with a 17 inning relief effort after starter Lew Krausse only lasted an inning.

Tommorrow we move forward just one day with a troubling look at the state of minor league baseball at the height of the Great Depression.

A Couple of Firsts

Today we are marking a couple of firsts when the Sports World. The first was on July 9, 1877 in London, England. On that date the first Wimbleton tennis matches were played. For the first 7 years the mens singles was the only event. The first tournament only 22 players were entered.

Exactly 45 years later, a swimming first occured. American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller became the first swimmer to swim a sub 1 minute, 100 meter freestyle race. Weissmuller swam the course in 0:58.6.

The great thing about sports is that firsts and new records and interesting events can occur on any given day. Tomorrow we travel back to 1932 for a look at .....

A neat baserunning feat

In the lower leagues of minor league baseball, players can sometimes get away with things they cant get away with in the higher levels. Take an event that occurred on July 8, 1981 at Chemeketa Field in Salem, Oregon. In the Northwest League game between the Salem Senators and the Eugene Emeralds, the home team managed to steal three bases in one play. Although the triple steal seems to be a lost art anymore, the Senators managed to do it with only two runners on base.

In the fourth inning with two outs, the Senators had Lonnie Garza on third and James "Sap" Randall on first base. The play began with Randall taking off for second, a throw was made to attempt to catch him at second. When the throw was made, Garza took off for the plate and the fun began. A return throw was made in an attempt to catch Garza, that throw was unsuccessful. When the return throw was made, Randall forgot to stop at second and kept going. The throw to third was just late to catch him. Randall was credited with two stolen bases on the play. Garza went on to play only three seasons of minor league baseball, while randall went on to play 4 games with the Chicago White Sox.

Tomorrow, we are going to look at two first in the Sports World.

PCL Perfect

John T. Halama enjoyed one bright spot in the sun during what has been an otherwise unremarkable pitching career. On July 7, 2001 Halama, while playing with the Tacoma Rainers, greeted the Calgary Cannons at Ben Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Washington. The Pacific Coast League had entered its 99th season of play in April without a 9 inning perfect game in its recordbook. Halama became the first 9 inning perfect game pitcher that night in league history with a 6-0 gem. Most leagues are not operating after 10 seasons let lone 99 seasons. Many leagues with less then 10 years in their history had nine inning perfect games in their record books. It took less then 2 years for the league to see its second nine inning perfect game. The question now is when will the league see its third?

Tomorrow we will look at a base running feat in the Northwest League.

All-Star Game beginnings

Most of the time I have been using this forum to make light of interesting yet lesser known events in the history of sports. Today I am taking the easy way out. Next week many fans will be watching Baseball All-Star game from Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California, a stadium built less then a mile north of where I was born. How many of todays baseball fans know and understand the history of the All-Star Game.

Being that today is July 6, many of you must be guessing that the first game was played on July 6. You are correct, July 6, 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois. The game was orginally set up as a one time event by Arch Ward, the Sports editor of the Chicago Tribune. The American League won the game by a score of 4-2. The game was played as a part of the 1933 Worlds Fair. The managers were the recently retired John McGraw formerly of the New York Giants and Connie Mack long time manager of the Philadlephia A's. Mack would go on to manage for 17 more years.

One of the lesser know facts here was that just 2 months later on September 10, Comiskey Park hosted the first ever East-West Game, the All-Star game for the Negro Leagues.

Comiskey Park would host the MLB All-Star game three times, the last was the 50th anniversary game played on, of course, July 6, 1983. When Fred Lynn of the American League came up in the third inning with the bases loaded, he became the first and so far, only player to hit a grand slam in all-star play.

Tomorrow we will talk about a rare event in the Pacific Coast League.

Another Tradition

Yesterday we discussed an event that did not catch on as a Fourth of July tradition, that being the accidental burning down of the local ballpark. Another tradition seemed to make its rounds through minor league baseball in the years before World War II ended. That tradition was team and league failures. Many teams and league depended on a strong gate on the Fourth of July to be able to make through the rest of the season. A weak holiday gate all too frequently would doom a team or a league.

My records indicate that 9 leagues failed on July 5. I also count 17 clubs folding and six franchise shifts being made on July 5. Sometimes, these events are teams giving up for the season and other times they are giving up for good and never heard from again. The leagues that have failed were the 1898 New England League, the 1899 Texas League, the 1900 International League, the 1910 West Virginia League, the 1911 Northeast Arkansas League, the 1915 Buckeye League, the 1915 Rio Grande Valley Association, the 1942 West Texas- New Mexico League and the 1995 Golden League. The 1898 New England League was reorganized the following year and would continue with several other breaks until 1949. The 1898 Texas League was a war time failure and reorganized the following year and except for World War II has operated every year since 1902. The 1900 International League, was not the same as the International League that we know and love today but, a small league in the Michigan-Ontario area. This league was reorganized in 1908. The 1910 West Virginia League gave it one more season in 1913. The 1911 Northwest Arkansas League was reorganized for a 5 year run in 1936. The 1915 Rio Grande Valley Association was reorganized as the Arizona State League in 1928 covering a smaller area until it became the Arizona-Texas League in 1931. The 1915 Buckeye League was clearly the one year wonder as it was never reorganized after its lone season. The 1942 West Texas-New Mexico League was a special exception as it was a war time suspension. The league did reorganize for a long post war run. The 1995 Golden League was another one year run.

For a complete run of July 5 events or the 3 leagues that failed on July 6, please see my website or write me at sabrkev@gmail.com


Tomorrow we look at some MLB All-Star Game history.

Fourth of July fireworks

Fireworks and bonfires have been a part of the fourth of July holiday since the beginning. many Americans have enjoyed these traditions year after year. Sometimes these traditions end up getting out of hand. Take for example, Dugdale Field in Seattle, Washington. On July 4, 1932 a fire at the field burned the park to the ground. The Indians were forced to play at Civic Field for the next 6 years until Sicks Stadium opened in June of 1938.

In 1944 disaster struck again. Oriole Park in Baltimore, Maryland suffered the same fate. The Orioles like the Indians were forced to play in another park for years afterwords. The orioles played at Memorial Stadium even after joining the Aamerican League. Thankfully the loss of a baseball park is not a holiday tradition.

Tomorrow we look at three leagues that failed to complete their only season of play.