Category: Baseball History

1977: Fond All-Star memories

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One of my favorite All-Star memories as a kid was the last time the Summer Classic was played at Yankee Stadium.  It was 1977 and I was I was 13 years old.

I was a Cubs fan and my neighbor across the street was a Reds fan.  All summer long we argue who was better.  Of course, this was in the midst of the Great Red Machine dynasty and my Cubs would perennially find themselves in the bottom half of the East Division.  I had no love for his Reds but secretly I envied their lineup which included Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, George Foster, and Pete Rose.

But this was the All-Star game and in this, we could agree:  the National League ruled and the American League was plain bad.  And we were right, at least as far as All-Star Games were concerned.  Back then, the NL was in the middle of a 11-year All-Star winning streak stretching from 1972 to 1982.

I went across the street to my friend’s house to watch the game.  Dodger Don Sutton was facing the Orioles’ Jim Palmer.  The NL had big bats like the aforementioned Reds, LA’s Steve Garvey and Ron Cey, the Bucs’ Dave Parker, and Greg “Bull” Luzinski from the Phils.

The AL was equally stacked with the usual suspects you knew by one name.  “Yaz”, “Reggie”, Continue reading “1977: Fond All-Star memories”

Buzzie Bavasi dies at 92

buzzie Emil “Buzzie” Bavasi, former general manager and baseball executive, died Thursday at the age of 92. 

He helped the Dodgers to their first World Series championship in 1955 (their only one in Brooklyn) plus three more in LA.  In addition he brought the Angels to the playoffs twice. 

I seem to remember Bavasi being on the ‘A’ list of nominees for the 2007’s ballot of the Hall of Fame.

The LA Times has an excellent obit and bio. 

Book Review: Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty & the Say Hey Kid

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“Mr Aaron, for every one of those bad letters you receive, there are thousands pulling for you. Good luck in your quest… after you leave the Astrodome.”

Greeting on the Astrodome scoreboard welcoming Hank Aaron during his quest to break Babe Ruth’s homerun record in 1973

–

It was a nice gesture to be sure but it underscored the pressure Hank Aaron must have been going through the year he attempted to break Babe Ruth’s record.

That drama that unfolded that year is one of several that is detailed in the book Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty & the Say Hey Kid. The book essentially focuses on baseball during the year of 1973.

Now, when it comes to baseball history I love the 1970’s. I liked the style of play with its balance of speed, power and pitching. There were interesting players and other people of importance in the game. Before the era of “spin”, it didn’t take a scandal for a player to be “colorful”.

Author John Rosengren does a fine job picking his stories to tell. You’re not going to find a game-by-game account of the 1973 season. Rather he finds the important tales that remain relevant or at least interesting to today’s audience.

Speaking of relevance, Aaron’s story is told. Anyone who has not heard any version of it must read that chapter. There’s also Willie Mays’ last stand with the Mets. The rise of George Steinbrenner. And Orlando Cepeda making the most of the new Designated Hitter rule in Boston before his knees blow out.

Of course, Rosengen spends a lot of print on the World Champion Oakland A’s. We read much about the team interaction, with each other and with Dick Williams and Charlie O. Rosengren gives a pretty good insight into the workings of Reggie Jackson.

I’ve been asked to review books fairly often and I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed all them to some degree. But Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty & the Say Hey Kid has got to be one of my favorite. That’s partially because I like baseball history books and because of the time period written about. But John Rosengren did his research (the book is well documented) and wrote a book that didn’t put me to sleep. THAT makes it a keeper.

Hammerin’ Hank, George Almighty & the Say Hey Kid

Author: John Rosengren

Publisher: Sourcebooks. Inc

PBS special on Roberto Clemente airs April 21

RobertoClemente University of Illinois professor and author of “Playing America’s Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line”, Adrian Burgos wanted me to get the word out about upcoming PBS special on Roberto Clemente. He worked as an advisor to the project. Dr Burgos writes:

“Please spread the word about the PBS special on Roberto Clemente. I served as an academic adviser on this project and we have tried to give voice to Clemente as a complete person, not just a ballplayer, and as someone who was Puerto Rican and proud of being a black boricua, committed to social justice, and the dignity of all people.”

The press release for the American Experience program, “Roberto Clemente” is below.

We are very pleased to announce the premiere of our first production,

Roberto Clemente, for PBS’s award-winning history series, American

Experience.

Roberto Clemente was not the first Latino to play in the majors, but he was

the first Latino star to have a clear and lasting impact on the game of

baseball. As an outspoken and at times controversial player, he helped to

shatter stereotypes about Latinos and paved the way for the next generation

of Latin American and Caribbean ballplayers.

In an era before players had handlers and press agents, Clemente was a bona

fide humanitarian and activist. “If you have the chance to make things

better for people coming behind you, and you don’t,” he famously said, “You

are wasting your time on earth.”

Please join us for the broadcast premiere on Monday April 21st at 9:00pm ET,

after which a Spanish-language version will be available for free viewing

online at

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/clemente/

 

Roberto Clemente features interviews with Pulitzer Prize-winning authors

David Maraniss (Clemente) and George F. Will (Men at Work: The Craft of

Baseball) as well as journalist and author Juan Gonzalez (Harvest of

Empire), Vera Clemente, Baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, and former

teammates. Golden Globe Award-winning actor Jimmy Smits (The West Wing, NYPD Blue) narrates.

I encourage everyone to check it out.

On This Date… women in baseball

Sixty-five years ago today on February 20, 1943, Phil Wrigley and Branch Rickey chartered the All-American Girls Softball League.  The purpose was to generate interest in the sport in case our government closed down major league baseball. 

The AAGSL eventually switched to hardball and became the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.  The pitching distance was 40 feet and bases were 68 feet apart.

Baseball Zealot Radio interviews Haunted Baseball author Dan Gordon

It’s spooky enough that a Red Sox fan and a Yankee fan can get together and accomplish anything but the book Haunted Baseball (which has its own brand of spookiness) is proof enough that it can happen.

Dan Gordon (the Red Sox fan) is my guest this week on Baseball Zealot Radio and he’s talking up the book. Here are the show notes:

Show Notes for Episode 37:

Hosts: Tom:

Summary: In this week’s show, I interview author Dan Gordon who has just come out with his book, Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends and Eerie Events with co-author Mickey Bradley. Dan talks about the impetus to write his book and relates some of the stories he heard when he and Mickey interviewed hundreds of baseball players in researching the book.

Links:

Haunted Baseball book web site

Haunted Baseball review on The Baseball Zealot

Time: 22:28

Date Recorded: 2/5/08

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Another Top Cub List from Bleed Cubbie Blue

Last winter, Al Yellon of Bleed Cubbie Blue counted down the Top 100 Cubs of All Time.  It was a great reason to check out his site (not that you need one).  Each day was another Cub waiting for me. 

In the winter of 2008, Al has another cool list to help us count the days down to spring training.  It’s the Top 20 Cub HR of All Time. 

Today’s is #16, Larry Biitner’s game winning home run on opening day in 1978. 

Similar to the Top 100 Cub list from last year, Al’s posts are exhaustively researched and bring back a little bit of history.  Today’s especially for me brings back memories as that was when I was growing up with the Cubs. 

Once again, thanks Al!

Library of Congress posting photos

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The Library of Congress has posted over 3,000 photos on the popular image sharing site Flickr.  The photos have no copyright restriction and are considered public domain. 

The interest to us is that many are baseball-related such as the photo at left (Managers Bobby Wallace and Hal Chase in the year 1911).  To view them, here is a good place to start.  There are some real priceless photos going back to early 20th century. 

As part of the project, the LOC wants the Internet community to “tag” them for easy categorizing.  I believe the new term for that is “crowdsourcing”.  If you are so inclined, get involved and help tag the photos.

Here’s a Zdnet article on the LOC project.

Browse around.  There are some cool pictures to see.