With Spring Training well underway, baseball's teams are split between the Cactus League in Arizona, and the Grapefruit League in Florida. While attempting to uncover any tidbits regarding the naming of the leagues, we ran into some interesting bits of information.
Earlier this month, Milwaukee Brewers' reliever Francisco Rodriguez stepped on a cactus and was unable to make his first start of spring. A cactus related injury in the Cactus League. What about funky Grapefruit related injuries in the Grapefruit League? Let's go back to 1915 for this one.
The Brooklyn Dodgers were in Daytona Beach, Florida for that year's training camp. Their newish manager, Wilbert Robinson, was about to a part of an incident for which he would come to be best known for. Ruth Law, a local aviator, was making daily flights in the area, dropping golf balls as a publicity gimmick for a local golf course. Someone came up with the great idea of catching a baseball dropped from the plane. When none of the players found the guts to try to catch it, Robinson volunteered. The day came, and Law forgot the baseball back in her hotel room. Improvising, she substituted a grapefruit from the lunch of one of her ground crew at the last minute. The grapefruit landed in Robinson's mitt and exploded, knocking him down and drenching him in warm Grapefruit juice. Thinking he was covered in his own blood, Robbie called for help. The players rushed over and began ribbing him when they realized what had happened. Thus, we have the closest grapefruit related injury in the Grapefruit League.
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Monday, March 31, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Lost Home Runs
There's a curious page being hosted over at Retrosheet.org that has to do with the subject of lost home runs. The premise is simple: There have been home runs hit over the years that do not appear on any stat sheets. How can this be so? Well, that's where it gets interesting.
There are a variety of reasons why a home run would not appear in a stat sheet. Some of these are attributed to weather. The most reason example happened on May 11, 2011. The Oakland Athletics were paying a visit to the Texas Rangers. The teams managed to get in 3 and a half innings of playing time before a two hour rain delay ultimately caused the game to be postponed. Mitch Moreland had hit his first career grand slam in the third, but you won't find a mention of that hit anywhere in the stat sheets. The game was replayed later on, and Moreland did not repeat his feat.
Other reasons why home runs are lost to history are due to human error. For example, on May 19th 2010 Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers hit what would have been his second home run of a game against the Baltimore Orioles. His fly cleared the 14-foot fence in left field, but somehow made its way back to the field. The ball was thus ruled in play. The crew chief admitted after the game that the umpires were wrong, and he should have watched the replay and then overturned the call. Another home run stricken from the books.
There are another neat examples on that page demonstrating lost home runs. Make sure to give it a glance over!
There are a variety of reasons why a home run would not appear in a stat sheet. Some of these are attributed to weather. The most reason example happened on May 11, 2011. The Oakland Athletics were paying a visit to the Texas Rangers. The teams managed to get in 3 and a half innings of playing time before a two hour rain delay ultimately caused the game to be postponed. Mitch Moreland had hit his first career grand slam in the third, but you won't find a mention of that hit anywhere in the stat sheets. The game was replayed later on, and Moreland did not repeat his feat.
Other reasons why home runs are lost to history are due to human error. For example, on May 19th 2010 Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers hit what would have been his second home run of a game against the Baltimore Orioles. His fly cleared the 14-foot fence in left field, but somehow made its way back to the field. The ball was thus ruled in play. The crew chief admitted after the game that the umpires were wrong, and he should have watched the replay and then overturned the call. Another home run stricken from the books.
There are another neat examples on that page demonstrating lost home runs. Make sure to give it a glance over!
Monday, March 17, 2014
Chief Tokohama
Last week (March 11th, to be precise) The History Channel website highlighted a baseball related "This Day in History." It related to the first African-American baseball player, and it was not about Jackie Robinson.
It begs the question what would have happened if they would have continued to allow Grant to play baseball? How would the game have evolved, with this new talent pool entering the game so early on? We'll never know.
On this day in 1901, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports the signing of a mysterious player named "Chief Tokohama" to baseball’s Baltimore Orioles by manager John McGraw. Chief Tokohama was later revealed to be Charlie Grant, an African-American second baseman. McGraw was attempting to draw upon the great untapped resource of African-American baseball talent in the face of baseball’s unspoken rule banning black players from the major leagues.
John McGraw, manager of the Orioles from 1899 to 1902 and the New York Giants from 1902 to 1932, had great respect for African-Americans’ baseball abilities and was at the forefront of the effort to integrate the major leagues. Reporters often spotted McGraw in the stands at Negro League games, watching and taking notes, and later copying the strategies used by black teams. In fact, legend has long held that McGraw had pitcher and Negro National League founder Rube Foster teach Giants star Christy Matthewson how to throw his "fadeaway" pitch. McGraw also held exhibition games between his team and Negro League teams, providing them with a good payday and publicity. In October 1917, Negro Leaguer "Smokey" Joe Williams pitched against the National League champion Giants, striking out 20 batters before losing 1-0 on an error in the 10th inning. Had records been kept in those exhibitions, the mark of 20 strikeouts would stood for 69 seasons. McGraw was not the only big leaguer who favored integration, or took up the cause. Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Ted Williams, Dizzy Dean, Paul Waner, Lloyd Waner and Jimmie Foxx were among the players who would barnstorm with all-star Negro League teams in the off-season before black players were allowed to play with them in the regular season. In 1901, however, integration was still a long way off.
After Grant signed with the Orioles as Chief Tokohama, Chicago White Sox owner Charlie Comiskey discovered his real identity and led the charge to ban him from the league. Grant ended up spending the 1901 season playing stand-out second base for the all-black Columbia Giants. John McGraw went on to win eight National League pennants as the manager of the New York Giants, as well as three World Series. He died in 1934, 12 years before Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, finally integrating Major League Baseball.
It begs the question what would have happened if they would have continued to allow Grant to play baseball? How would the game have evolved, with this new talent pool entering the game so early on? We'll never know.
Monday, March 10, 2014
21 Aces
A special anniversary in the baseball world happened last Friday, March 7th. This nugget comes from The Writer's Almanac radio show:
With the way pitchers are dominating the game these days, it's a good thing this rule was changed!
On this date in 1857 it was wisely decided that a baseball game would be made up of nine innings instead of 21 "aces" or runs.
The National Association of Baseball Players decided this. They were a group of men in New York and Brooklyn baseball clubs playing under what was known as the "Knickerbocker Rules," and they had just gotten together formally for the first time in January.
They had agreed that baseball was "manly and healthful" and should be promoted that way to young men as, they told the paper, an "alternative to billiards ... and other unmentionable night amusements." And they had done away with the practice of hitting the runner with a thrown ball to get him out, which caused fistfights.
But they knew that spectators were coming to baseball games, and under the Knickerbocker Rules a game could be over very quickly. So they changed the rules so as not to disappoint the sport's new fans, which might pay money to see them.
With the way pitchers are dominating the game these days, it's a good thing this rule was changed!