Baseball History | The Baseball Zealot

A Stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum

I’m on vacation through Kentucky and Tennessee and a stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory was definitely in order. We were lucky enough to go through the museum during working hours so that we could actually see the bats be made in the factory. Unfortunately, the rules are, No Photos Allowed in the … Continue reading “A Stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum”

I’m on vacation through Kentucky and Tennessee and a stop at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory was definitely in order.

Louisville Slugger Museum

We were lucky enough to go through the museum during working hours so that we could actually see the bats be made in the factory. Unfortunately, the rules are, No Photos Allowed in the actual factory and being a rather rule-oriented guy, I obeyed. It was pretty awesome. The factory was working on the Mets’ bats that day and Carlos Delgado’s bat was being made while we watched, according to the tour guide.

The tour guide seemed to make digs against the Cubs any chance he could. Either he was a Sox fan or a Cub fan in guise. I vote for the latter considering he would come up to me (in my fine Cubs shirt) and make knowledgeable comments about the Cubs.

banks plate

Here’s my daughter pointing to Jim Baumer’s bat plate. I really wanted her to point to Ernie Banks’ plate. She’ll learn. I was ignorant of Jim Baumer so I looked him up. Played two seasons separated by 11 years. Very interesting. He was also a White Sox player for his first year in 1949. My daughter knows how to pick ’em.

I’ll post more pics when I get home.

GOODBYE MR. COMMISSIONER

Bowie Kuhn

Bowie Kuhn was the Commissioner of MLB from 1969 to 1984. This was the time of my youth, when I came to know and love baseball. I was touched upon learning of his March 15th death. Somehow it seemed Kuhn should’ve been older than 80, he’s been out of office for over 20 years, and he seemed old back then. Oh, how perceptions change.

Bowie’s reign was not without controversy. He denied Curt Flood’s request to become a free agent, when Flood challenged the reserve clause rather than report to the Philadelphia Phillies. He reinstated Mike Andrews to the Oakland A’s roster during the 1973 World Series, Charles O. Finley forced Andrews to sign an affidavit saying he was injured after Mike made two errors in the 12th inning of game #2. He voided the sale of A’s players for $3.5 million to the Yankees & Red Sox, saying it was bad for baseball.

There were also racial issues. In 1971 when the decision was made to induct Negro Leagues players into the Hall of Fame, Kuhn stated their plaques should be in separate wing, public outcry resulted in Negro Leagues players’ plaques to be included with the others. Bowie was not on hand to see Hank Aaron break Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record. He added Carl Yastrzemski to the 1983 All Star Game, Yaz’ last season, but did not do the same thing for Willie Stargell in 1982.

This story about Bowie Kuhn on drugs is classic. After being in office for over ten years, Kuhn had grown a strong reputation for being hard on players who abused drugs. Kuhn was quick to punish players who used drugs with heavy fines and suspensions. Cardinals catcher Darrell Porter told the Associated Press that during the winter of 1979-1980 he became paranoid, convinced that Kuhn knew about his drug abuse, was trying to sneak into his house, and planned to ban him from baseball for life. Porter found himself sitting up at night in the dark watching out the front window, waiting for Kuhn to approach, clutching billiard balls and a shotgun. Ironically, when Porter was named the most valuable player of the 1982 World Series, Kuhn was on hand to congratulate him.

TSN issues have been archived at Paper of Record

Paper of Record claims to have the largest searchable archive of historical newspapers. Fortunately for us baseball fans, one of those newspapers is The Sporting News. Let the searching commence! Paper of Record seems to have issues of TSN dating back to 1886. Here’s a screen cap from a 1905 issue: Needless to say, there … Continue reading “TSN issues have been archived at Paper of Record”

Paper of Record claims to have the largest searchable archive of historical newspapers. Fortunately for us baseball fans, one of those newspapers is The Sporting News.

Let the searching commence!

Paper of Record seems to have issues of TSN dating back to 1886. Here’s a screen cap from a 1905 issue:

laj

Needless to say, there is a plethora of sports information at your fingertips. A caveat: you will need to go through a painless registration process before you can embark on your historical journey.

Hat tip to CLuke who pointed this out to me.

Three-I League Exhibit at the Early American Museum

Two weekends ago, I went to an exhibit at the Early American Museum at Mahomet, IL entitled “A Whole ‘Nother Ballgame”. The speaker (whose name escapes right now) spoke about the Three-I League which existed 1901-1961. Apparently, it was the precursor of the current day Midwest League.

Ehm Franzen

Sitting behind me was an old man. During the Q&A he raised his hand and said he was a pitcher in the Eastern Illinois League and he faced Satchel Paige twice and defeated him both times. His name was Ehm Franzen and apparently he was quite a hurler in his day. I got a chance to listen to him after the talk. He says he struck Paige out to end one of the games.

More photos of the event here.

Maz giving tips, not cheering for Bonds

Bill Mazeroski was on hand at Pirate City to give Freddy Sanchez some tips on handling the ball. Who better than Maz who was a fair to middlin’ secondbaseman in his day? “When you watch film of Maz, you can’t see the transfer,” Sanchez said. “It’s like … nothing.” “Freddy can be a fine second … Continue reading “Maz giving tips, not cheering for Bonds”

Bill Mazeroski was on hand at Pirate City to give Freddy Sanchez some tips on handling the ball. Who better than Maz who was a fair to middlin’ secondbaseman in his day?

“When you watch film of Maz, you can’t see the transfer,” Sanchez said. “It’s like … nothing.”

“Freddy can be a fine second baseman,” Mazeroski said.

While some (including Commissioner Bud Selig) are side-stepping the Barry Bonds/homerun record issue, Maz was unabashed about the whole thing.

“I hope it doesn’t happen,” he said. “It’s just the steroids issue and all that stuff. I’d like to see Hank keep the record.”

It’s nice when some people, despite what you think about their opinions, aren’t afraid to speak their minds.

BCB’s Top 100 Cubs list reaches #1!

Everyone loves lists. And when it has to to do with baseball, it’s all the better. But when it involves the Cubs, well, that’s nirvana. That’s what Bleed Cubbie Blue has done. I’ve mentioned this list that Al from BCB has been doing all winter before. Since the end of the season last year, he’s … Continue reading “BCB’s Top 100 Cubs list reaches #1!”

Everyone loves lists. And when it has to to do with baseball, it’s all the better.

But when it involves the Cubs, well, that’s nirvana. That’s what Bleed Cubbie Blue has done. I’ve mentioned this list that Al from BCB has been doing all winter before. Since the end of the season last year, he’s been counting down the top 100 Cubs of all time.

banks

And today, he’s reached #1. Ernie Banks. No surprise there.

Ernie Banks is my first baseball memory. I must have been about 5. I was at Wrigley Field with the rest of my family. The only thing I can remember is that Ernie Banks hit a grand slam and my mom missed it because she went to the restroom. And the Cubs won. I remember that, too.

Ernie Banks was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977. I was there. That was my first visit to the Hall. I remember while waiting for the ceremonies to start, a Chicago Tribune reporter was looking for people who had traveled to Cooperstown just to see Banks inducted and I got his attention. I ended up being interviewed by him.

By the way, if you’re interested, Cap Anson was #2. Knowing Cap, he might feel a tad uncomfortable wedged in between Banks and Sosa. Chances are, he’d ask for a different seat.

Bleed Cubbie Blue’s Top 100 Cubs

6/25/70: STEVE HAMILTON & THE FOLLY FLOATER

Steve Hamilton My father and I went out to the ballpark to see MY White Sox on a Friday night. Not many other fans had the same idea, attendance 3,826. We had VERY good box seats, it was a special treat. My father has never been a baseball fan, so looking back on this night … Continue reading “6/25/70: STEVE HAMILTON & THE FOLLY FLOATER”

Steve Hamilton

My father and I went out to the ballpark to see MY White Sox on a Friday night. Not many other fans had the same idea, attendance 3,826. We had VERY good box seats, it was a special treat. My father has never been a baseball fan, so looking back on this night has special meaning, here’s a man, who after working heavy labor as a carpenter, 40 hours per week, plus side jobs, to make ends meet, was happy to take his young baseball fanatic out to see some baseball. Some very bad baseball, to boot! The White Sox were enroute to a 56-106 season.

It was a beautiful night. Andy the Clown offered me a flower, but when you grabbed the stem, that’s all you had, the flower was still in Andy’s hand. Throughout the empty ballpark you could hear Andy urge, “COME ON YOU WHITE SOX!” The “Things go better with Peanuts” vendor came down our aisle, I still can see his SMILE, his nephew Maurice sells beer in the CF Fan Deck of the new Comiskey (and is a good friend of mine).

Of course the White Sox would lose the ballgame 3-2, but the thing I’ll never forget is when Chicago brought on newly acquired relief pitcher Steve Hamilton. Hamilton was an aging 34 year old relief pitcher who was picked from the NY Yankees, with whom he pitched the majority of his career. With his skills to get big league hitters out diminishing, Steve came up with a gimic, the eephus pitch, or as he called it, the Folly Floater.

Some of the fans in the stands had heard of what might be coming, but I had no idea. Hamilton pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, allowing two hits, and striking out two. I’m sure both strikeouts were on Folly Floaters, I think a basehit might have come that way as well. But I can still see the frustration some of the Milwaukee Brewer hitters had with the slow pitch and the smiles on the fans faces as this secret weapon was unleashed.

6/20/78: A DAY TO REMEMBER

Jim Breazeale CLuke & Teddy Ballgame were there, sitting in the RF upperdeck at Comiskey Park, when history happened. The Seattle Mariners were in town, battling the White Sox, 13.057 were in attendance. Paul Mitchell defeated Steve Stone 4-2, with Enrique Romo picking up the save. But the reason this game will forever be etched … Continue reading “6/20/78: A DAY TO REMEMBER”

Jim Breazeale

CLuke & Teddy Ballgame were there, sitting in the RF upperdeck at Comiskey Park, when history happened. The Seattle Mariners were in town, battling the White Sox, 13.057 were in attendance. Paul Mitchell defeated Steve Stone 4-2, with Enrique Romo picking up the save. But the reason this game will forever be etched in our memories is Jim “BoBo” Breazeale. Breazeale went yard, not once, but twice in the game! Those were the first two homers Jim hit for the Sox, he would hit one more, one week later. On this day, excitement ruled, what if this guy could get 500 at bats in a season!

What does a guy have to do?

During our interview with baseball-reference.com’s Sean Forman, we got talking about his Cup of Coffee feature. That lists all players who have played in exactly one game in the bigs. No one has hit a homer in their only appearance in the majors. However, some have made the most of their short time. John Paciorek … Continue reading “What does a guy have to do?”

During our interview with baseball-reference.com’s Sean Forman, we got talking about his Cup of Coffee feature. That lists all players who have played in exactly one game in the bigs.

No one has hit a homer in their only appearance in the majors. However, some have made the most of their short time. John Paciorek comes to mind. John had a pretty good game in his only MLB appearance in 1963.

John Paciorek’s linescore:

3 for 3, 4 runs, 3 rbis, 2 BB

There is actually a web page at astroland.net dedicated to John’s efforts. Which is probably good because stats tell only part of the story.

Paciorek had had problems with his back throughout 1963, and sometime during his 1964 season (spent at Durham and Statesville) had back surgery performed. He was inactive in ’65, then tried to come back in 1966. But bad back or no, it looks like Paciorek had a problem hitting for any kind of average, although the power seems to have been there.

Tom Paciorek was rumored to quip that John was the better player in the family.

Learning about Curt Flood

As a followup to my post on Marvin Miller and Curt Flood yesterday, I’d like to point you to the Baseball History Podcast who did an excellent overview of Curt Flood’s life and career. He ends the show by reading Flood’s famous letter to Bowie Kuhn. Bob Wright of BHP always does a good job … Continue reading “Learning about Curt Flood”

As a followup to my post on Marvin Miller and Curt Flood yesterday, I’d like to point you to the Baseball History Podcast who did an excellent overview of Curt Flood’s life and career.

He ends the show by reading Flood’s famous letter to Bowie Kuhn.

Bob Wright of BHP always does a good job researching his topic and the end product shows it.