That is alot of Wins

Until the early 1990s, it was not uncommon for their to be teams in minor league baseball that did not have a MLB parent club. In order to remain in the league the teams had to recruit and sign players themselves. Most of the time the teams would do very poorly on the field. This was because the players, who did not have contacts with major league organizations usually were not good enough to have one.

In 1987 there was an independent team that was a huge exception to this rule. The Salt Lake City Trappers of the Pioneer League were the best team in the league thanks to a 29 game winning streak in July. The previous record for most consecutive wins by a National Association team in a row was 27. On July 24, 1987, they tied this record thanks to a 7-2 win over the Pocatello Giants at Derks Field in Salt Lake City. Three days later they tasted defeat for the first in over a month, when at Cobb Field in Billings, Montana, they suffered a 7-5 loss at the hands of the Billings Mustangs. If you remove the 29 wins from their record, it would still be 20-21.

One of more interesting things about this club is that not one player on the team ever saw a day in the majors. Even manager Jim Gilligan could not get a job working in a major league organization as a minor league manager. Six of the other 7 clubs in the league combined to send 28 players to the major leagues. The 29 game winning streak would last as a record for only five years, when the the 1992 Blue Jays- east club of the Dominican Summer League had a 33 game winning streak enroute to a 68-2 record in 70 games.

Tomorrow we will look at several basebakk games and a basketball game.

The Reds are coming

On July 22, 1866 the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club was formed. At the time the event did not draw headlines even in the SW corner of the State of Ohio. The importance of this event was not known for a couple of years. In 1869, the Reds became the first openly professional baseball team. All the naysayers said they would never make any money. When the books were balanced at the end of the season, the club showed a profit of $1.39. When the first baseball league was formed for the 1871 season, the Reds were no where in sight. The city that brought the world the first professional baseball team did not even play in the first league. When the National League replaced the National Association in 1876, the Reds joined up. The team did take the 1881 season off before joining the American Association for the 1882 season, the team returned to the National League for good in time for the 1890 season. For many years the Reds were given the honor of opening the season before any one else was allowed to.

Tomorrow we will look at the Salt Lake City Trappers.

Lots of Innings no hits

Today we looking at two extra inning no-hitters. On July 22, 1909 Albert J. Carson of the Portland Beavers pitched a 1-0 ten inning no-hitter over the Los Angeles Angels at Lucky Beaver Stadium in Portland, Oregon. After an excellent season with the Pacific Coast League club, Carson was drafted by the Chicago Cubs however, he only pitched in 2 games and had 6 2/3 innings. He returned to the Pacific Coast League for 3 more good seasons, however stumbled badly in 1913 and left Organized Baseball for good.

Exactly 7 years later, another pitcher went extra innings with his no-hitter. At Bay Street Park in Rochester, New York, Urban J Shocker of the Toronto Maple Leafs pitched a 1-0 11 inning gem. By the end of the season shockers minor league career was over, for different reasons then carson. Shocker launched a 13 year career pitching in the American League, splitting his time between the Yankees and the saint Louis Browns.

Tomorrow we will look at the founding of the Cincinnati Reds.

Will it ever end

In Major League Baseball history, 6 games have reached the 24th inning. The games are equally divided between the two leagues. Three of the six games have gone on to the 25th inning. Two of the games were called tie games. Today we are looking at the American League game played on July 21, 1945 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between the Philadelphia A's and the Detroit Tigers.

The game tied an American League record set some 39 years earlier for most innings in one game. The record was broken some 39 years later in 1984. The 24 inning game was called a 1-1 tie. The A's scored their run in the bottom of the 4th inning and had the lead until the top of the seventh, when the Tigers scored their run. The two teams combined for 27 hits but, each team scored only one extra base hit, that being a double for each team. The two teams combined to leave 33 runners on base. The pitching only walked 12 batters in the game. Each team also sent two pitchers to the mound. The Tigers Russ Christopher pitched the first 13 innings and Joe Berry pitched the last 11 innings. The A's starter Les Muellar pitched 19 2/3 inings before being relieved by Dizzy Trout. The game was played in 4:48 before a crowd of 4526. The teams sent an amazing 179 batters to the plate.

Tomorrow we will look at extra inning no-hitters.

Fifty Cents for a game

On July 20, 1858 a sports milestone first was made at the Fashion Race Course on Long Island, New York. For the first time admission to a game was charged. The game was an all-star game between Brooklyn Clubs and New York Clubs. The admission fee for the game was fifty cents.

The Brooklyn all-star team was drawn from the Atlantic, Eckford, Excelsior and Putnam Clubs. The New York all-star team was drawn from the Eagle, Empire, Gotham, Knickerbocker and Union Clubs. A rather large crowd witnessed the New York team win the game by a score of 22-18. The New York club was led by lower fielder Hoyt and pitcher Van Cott. Several of the clubs that were represented in the game would later turn professional and play in the first organized baseball league, the National Association.

Tomorrow we look at a very long American League game.

Home runs and Old Timers

Today is the anniversary of the first Cracker Jack Old Timers game. The game was played on July 19, 1982 at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. The biggest highlight of the game was a home run hit by 75 year old Luke Appling off Warren Spahn. The "Blast" traveled only 250 feet, however it was because fences had been brought in for the game. The game was played for the next 3 years at RFK Stadium through 1985. The game traveled after that, however I am not sure for how long. I have found solid evidence that the game was played as late as 1987. I am quite certian that I remember the game being played in Anaheim, California in 1989. Memory however can not be considered as solid enough evidence in this case. I have tried to do some research on the topic however my current sources have showed nothing. I would love to see this series renewed however, a willing corporate sponser would have to be found. What a great game, it would be. Anyone want to see Cal Ripkin swing a bat, just one more time?

Tomorrow we will look at a very early box office first.

A league first

Yesterday we looked at Florida's Gulf Coast League. Today we travel across the country to the hot deserts of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area's Arizona Rookie League. Like many other leagues its history has featured no-hitters, the longer the history the more no-hitters have been pitched. Some leagues waited several seasons to see their first and in some cases only no-hitter. Several leagues have witnessed no-hitters on the day the league first opened play.

When the Arizona Rookie League opened play on June 23, 1988, they had five MLB teams backing its four clubs. One of those clubs was backed by both the Mariners and Red Sox. That club was one of the more interesting clubs in minor league history. The two clubs would alternate days which the two clubs prospects would play a scheduled game. If one club needed an extra player, they would simply borrow them from the other organization. I believe that the team even had two managers. Even if a player was borrowed from the other team, he still wore the uniform of his parent club.

On July 18, 1988 the leagues wait for for its first no-hitter ended when the Padres Jeffery Hart pitched a 3-0 gem in Scottsdale against the Brewers, who had traveled from Peoria for the game. Although his 5-0 league record did earn him a late season promotion to the Northwest League, he never got higher then Class A ball, leaving the game after 3 seasons.

Today the league has 12 clubs playing in three divisions, unlike the GCL, league teams do play outside their division. This because the league is so tight geographically, that the longest road trip for a team is about an hour. The Chicago White Sox are the only team currently training in the Phoenix Area that does not have a team in the league. the might pick up two teams next year when the Diamondbacks and Rockies move north, from Tucson.

Tomorrow we are leaving the youngsters behind and looking at the Old timers.