Timeline of Baseball
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Baseball
Master
1791 A
document was released in 2004 from Pittsfield, Mass., that contained
a 1791 bylaw to protect the windows of a new meeting house from
baseball players.
(SFC, 5/12/04, p.A2)
1819 Jun 26, Abner Doubleday
(d.1893), Civil War General, was born. He was incorrectly credited
with inventing American baseball.
(HN, 6/26/99)(WSJ, 7/19/01, p.A20)
1820 Apr 17, Alexander
Cartwright, sportsman, was born. He developed baseball.
(HN, 4/17/01)
1839 Jun 12, Baseball was said
to have been invented. According to legend Abner Doubleday chased
cows out of Elihu Phiney’s pasture and invented the game of baseball
at Cooperstown, New York, later home of the National Baseball Hall
of Fame and the Cooperstown Bat Company. In 1939 on the 100th
anniversary of the day Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the
sport, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated
in Cooperstown, N.Y. Americans began playing baseball in the 1840s.
It was derived from the British game called rounders.
(SFE, 10/1/95, p.T-11)(AP, 6/12/97)(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R34)(WSJ, 7/19/01, p.A20)
1867 Mar 29, Cy Young, major
league baseball pitcher with the most wins (509 or 511 total) , was
born.
(HN, 3/29/02)
1869 Mar 15, Cincinnati Red
Stockings became the 1st pro baseball team.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1870 Baseball was brought to
Japan by American missionaries.
(http://tinyurl.com/6xjluk)(Econ, 3/29/08, p.83)
1871 Baseball's National
Association was formed and marks the beginning of the US major
leagues.
(WSJ, 1/30/04, p.A1)
1874 Mar 2, Baseball batter's
box was officially adopted.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1876 Feb 2, The National League
of Professional Base Ball Clubs with eight teams (Boston, Chicago,
Cincinnati, Hartford, Louisville, New York, Philadelphia, St Louis)
was formed in New York.
(AP, 2/2/97)(HN, 2/2/99)(MC, 2/2/02)
1876 Feb 12, Al Spalding opened
a sporting good shop.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1876 Apr 1, The first official
NL baseball game took place. Boston beat Philadelphia 6-5.
(OTD)
1876 Apr 25, The Chicago White
Stockings (later Chicago Cubs) beat Louisville 4-0 (1st NL shutout)
in the 1st NL game. Albert G. Spalding (1850-1915), former pitcher
for the Boston Red Stocking, had joined the Chicago White Stockings
after helping form the new National League. His move effectively
ended the National Association, baseball’s first professional
league. Spalding managed the White Stockings from 1876-1877 and
continued as a player to 1878.
(http://tinyurl.com/yb7u9ou)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Spalding)
1877 Apr 12, The catcher's mask
was first used in a baseball game, by James Tyng of Harvard, in an
exhibition game against the Live Oaks of Lynn, Mass. In 1878
Frederick Thayer, manager and 3rd baseman for the Harvard team,
applied for and received a patent for the mask. Thayer became a
lawyer after graduating and in 1886 successfully sued Spalding for
patent infringement.
(AP, 4/12/07)(ON, 6/08, p.12)
1880 Jun 12, Baseball’s first
perfect game. The southpaw, left-handed Lee Richmond of the
Worcester, Massachusetts, Ruby Legs, pitched himself to perfection
with a 1-0 shutout of the Cleveland Spiders in a National League
game.
(MC, 6/12/02)
1883 May 23, The first baseball
game between one-armed and one-legged players was played.
(HN, 5/23/98)
1883 Jun 2, The first baseball
game under electric lights was played in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
(HN, 6/2/98)
1883 Jun 16, The New York
Gothams admitted both escorted and unescorted ladies to the baseball
park free in the 1st ladies’ day game against the Cleveland Spiders.
NY won, 5-2.
(HNQ, 12/21/01)(AP, 6/16/03)
1884 Pitcher Charles Radbourn,
"Ol Hoss," led his team, the Providence Grays, to baseball’s
National League pennant.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, BR p.11)
1884 Moses Fleetwood Walker, a
black man, played 42 games for the Toledo Blue Stockings of the
American Association.
(WSJ, 1/30/04, p.A1)
1884 Hillerich & Bradsby,
makers of the Louisville Slugger bats, was founded, in Louisville,
Ky. John A. Hillerich turned a bat, called the Falls City Slugger,
for Eclipse slugger Pete “The Old Gladiator” Browning.”
(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T8)(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.D4)
1887 Jul 16, "Shoeless" Joe
Jackson, black sox player (Say it ain’t so, Joe), was born.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1887 Aug 21, Mighty (Dan) Casey
Struck-out in a game with the NY Giants.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1888 Jun 3, The poem Casey at
the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer was 1st published in the SF
Examiner. The poem was based on a game played in Stockton, Ca.
(SFC, 4/28/05,
p.A1)(www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE23.html)
1890 Aug 6, Cy Young gained the
first of his 511 major league victories as he pitched the Cleveland
Spiders to a win over the Chicago Colts. However, the score is a
matter of dispute, with some sources saying 6-1, and others saying
8-1.
(AP, 8/6/07)
1890 Sep 1, The 1st baseball
tripleheader was between Boston and Pittsburgh.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1893 Jan 26, Abner Doubleday
(b.1819), credited with inventing baseball, died on his 74th
birthday.
(MC, 1/26/02)
1893 Mar 24, George Sisler,
baseball player, was born.
(HN, 3/24/01)
1893 Nov 20, The struggling
Western League of Professional Baseball Clubs, meeting in Detroit,
Michigan, elected Byron Bancroft Johnson (29), a former ballplayer
and Cincinnati sportswriter, as president. He had been recommended
by Charles Comiskey, a potential investor in the league and manager
of the National League’s Cincinnati Reds.
(ON, 6/09, p.10)
1894 The Louisville Slugger
trademark was registered.
(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.D4)
1895 Feb 6, George Herman
"Babe" Ruth, baseball's most dominant player, was born in Baltimore.
He played with the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees and the
Boston Braves and was the first player to hit 60 home runs in one
season.
(USAT, 1/29/97, p.1D)(AP, 2/6/97)(HN, 2/6/99)
1896 Apr 27, Rogers Hornsby
(d.1963), among the greatest hitters in baseball history, was born
in Texas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Hornsby)
1896 The Minneapolis Millers
won the Western League baseball pennant. All the stars of the team
were soon drafted by the National League and the following year it
became one of the worst teams in the Western League.
(ON, 6/09, p.10)
1897 Mar 4, Lefty O’Doul
(d.1969), baseball star, was born in SF in the old Butchertown
neighborhood south of Market. He played for the SF Seals, and spent
11 years in the major leagues with the Phillies, Dodgers, Yankees
and Giants before returning to manage the Seals and the Pacific
Coast League. He was the National League batting champ in 1929 with
the Phillies and again in 1932 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
(SFC, 3/5/96, p.C1)(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A9)
1899 Nov 4, John Montgomery
Ward delivered a manifesto on baseball that said in part: "There was
a time when the League stood for integrity and fair dealing…"
(SFEC, 10/3/99, BR p.4)
1899 Oct 11, Byron Bancroft
Johnson, president of baseball’s Western League, renamed it as the
American League.
(ON, 6/09, p.11)
1900 Charles Comiskey, manager
of the National League’s Cincinnati Reds, bought the Western
League’s St. Paul team and moved it to Chicago as the White
Stockings.
(ON, 6/09, p.11)
1901 Jan 28, Byron Bancroft
Johnson announced that the American League would play the 1901
baseball season as a major league and would not renew its membership
in the National Agreement. The new league would include Baltimore
and Washington, DC, recently abandoned by the National League. The
league would also invade 4 cities where National League teams
existed: Boston, Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. The 8 charter
teams included: the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Americans, Chicago
White Stockings, Cleveland Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers,
Philadelphia Athletics, and Washington Senators
(ON, 6/09,
p.11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_League)
1901 Apr 25, Erve Beck hit the
1st home run in the American League.
(SS, 4/25/02)
1901 Apr 25, In last of 9th,
Detroit Tigers, trailing by 13-4, score 10 runs to win one of the
greatest comebacks in baseball (1st game in Detroit).
(SS, 4/25/02)
1902 Jul 2, John J. McGraw
became manager of NY Giants and stayed for 30 years.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1902 The Baltimore Orioles
baseball team was sold at the end of the season to former police
chief Bill Devery and casino operator Frank Farrell of New York, and
moved to NYC to play as the New York Highlanders.
(ON, 6/09, p.12)
1903 Jan, The American League
and the National League representatives met in Cincinnati and
produced the rough outlines of a deal in which each would maintain
independence, but coordinate schedules.
(ON, 6/09, p.12)
1903 May 17, James "Cool Papa"
Bell, baseball player, was born.
(HN, 5/17/01)
1903 Oct 1, The Pittsburgh
Pirates defeated the home team Boston Pilgrims (Red Sox), 7-3, in
the first World Series game. Boston, however, went on to win the
series, five games to three.
(AP, 10/1/03)
1903 Oct 13, Boston defeated
Pittsburgh in baseball’s first World Series. In 2003 Roger I. Abrams
authored “The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903;”
Louis P. Masur authored "Autumn Glory: Baseball's First World
Series;" and Bob Ryan authored "When Boston Won the World Series."
(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.A8)(HN, 10/13/98)(WSJ, 3/28/03,
p.W9)(SSFC, 6/8/03, p.M6)
1904 Mar 2, "Official Playing
Rules of Professional Base Ball Clubs" was adopted.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1904 May 5, Denton True Young
(Cy Young) of the Boston Red Sox pitched the American League's first
perfect game as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Philadelphia
Athletics, 3-0.
(SFC, 9/27/99, p.A23)(AP, 5/5/04)
1905 Jun 29, Archibald Wright
“Moonlight” Graham (1876-1965) of the New York Giants played for two
innings in right field in his only professional baseball game on
this day and was promptly forgotten until 1989 when the movie “Field
of Dreams” was released. “Moonlight” never got to bat, instead he
was left on deck, a late substitute in a lopsided 11-1 win. Graham
completed his medical degree from the University of Maryland in
1908. He obtained his license the following year and began
practicing medicine in Chisholm, Minnesota.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_Graham)
1905 Aug 30, Ty Cobb made his
major league batting debut, playing for the Detroit Tigers, hitting
a double in his first at-bat in a game against the NY Highlanders.
The Tigers won, 5-3.
(AP, 8/30/00)
1906 Apr 22, A new baseball
rule put the umpire in sole charge of all game balls.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1906 Jul 27, Leo Durocher,
baseball player and manager, was born.
(HN, 7/27/98)
1907 Dec 30, The Mills
Commission issued its final report, concluding that Abner Doubleday
was the inventor of the sport of baseball, a claim Doubleday himself
had never made. Few, if any, sports historians take this finding
seriously.
(AP, 12/30/07)
1908 Feb 17, Walter Lanier
“Red” Barber, baseball announcer for the Cincinnati Reds, the
Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees, was born in Columbus,
Miss.
(HN, 2/17/01)(AP, 2/17/08)
1908 Feb 27, Baseball’s
sacrifice fly was adopted. It was repealed in 1931 and reinstated in
1954.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1908 May 2, The original
version of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," with music by
Albert Von Tilzer and lyrics by Jack Norworth, was copyrighted by
Von Tilzer's York Music Co. It sealed the popularity of Cracker
Jacks, a popcorn candy.
(AP, 5/2/08)(AH, 10/01, p.34)(WSJ, 3/22/08,
p.W16)
1908 Sep 23, One of baseball's
most famous blunders occurred in a game between the New York Giants
and the visiting Chicago Cubs. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom
of the ninth and two runners out, the Giants batted in what should
have been the winning run. However, Fred Merkle, who was on first
base, began to leave the field apparently without bothering to tag
second; the Cubs then claimed to have forced Merkle out. Merkle was
eventually ruled out, negating the winning run and leaving the game
tied. The Cubs won a rematch game on Oct. 8 and with it, the
National League pennant; Chicago then went on to win the World
Series.
(AP, 9/23/08)
1908 Oct 10, The Chicago Cubs
won Game 1 of the World Series with a 10-6 victory over the Detroit
Tigers at Bennett Park.
(AP, 10/10/08)
1908 Oct 11, The Chicago Cubs
took a 2-0 lead in the World Series, defeating the visiting Detroit
Tigers 6-1 at the West Side Grounds.
(AP, 10/11/08)
1908 Oct 12, The Detroit Tigers
beat the Chicago Cubs 8-3 in Game 3 of the World Series, played in
Chicago.
(AP, 10/12/08)
1908 Oct 13, The Chicago Cubs
won Game 4 of the World Series, defeating the Detroit Tigers 3-0 to
take a 3-1 Series lead.
(AP, 10/13/08)
1908 Oct 14, The Chicago Cubs
won the World Series as they defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 5,
2-0, at Bennett Park.
(AP, 10/14/08)
1909 Jun 16, Jim Thorpe made
his pro baseball pitching debut for Rocky Mount (ECL) with a 4-2
win. This later caused him to forfeit his Olympic medals.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1909 Aug 4, Baseball umpire Tim
Hurst instigated a riot by spitting at A's 2nd baseman Eddie
Collins, who had questioned a call. This lead to Hurst's
banishment.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1909 Aug 31, The A.J. Reach Co.
patented the cork-centered baseball.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1909 The America Tobacco
Company issued its T-206 baseball card collection, the first to be
done in color. New cards continued to be issued through 1911.
(AH, 6/03, p.50)
1910 Apr 14, President William
Howard Taft began a sports tradition by throwing out the first pitch
on baseball’s Opening Day. Taft threw to Washington Senator pitcher
Walter Johnson, who went on to hurl a shutout win, allowing the
Philadelphia Phillies just one hit and ending the day with a 3-0
victory for Washington.
(HNQ, 8/9/02)
1911 Jan 16, Jay Hanna Dean,
aka “Dizzy Dean,” one of baseball's greatest pitchers, hall of fame,
was born.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1911 May 13, NY Giant
Fred Merkle was 1st to get 6 RBIs in an inning (1st).
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1911 Jul 4, Ty Cobb went 0 for
4 & ended a 40 game hit streak. White Sox Ed Walsh stopped Ty
Cobb's 40-game hitting streak.
(Maggio, 98)
1911 The NY Highlanders (later
Yankees) signed Justin Fitzgerald (d.1952) from San Mateo, Ca., to a
$385 per year contract, the largest ever presented to an amateur
player from the West Coast.
(Ind, 4/17/00, 5A)
1912 Apr 20, Boston’s Fenway
Park, home to Boston Red Sox, opened with its first official
baseball game.
(SFC, 3/8/12,
p.A7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Park)
1912 May 15, Ty Cobb rushed a
heckler at a NY Highlander game and was suspended.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1912 Jul 4, Detroit Tiger
George Mullen no-hits St Louis Browns, 7-0.
(Maggio, 98)
1913 May 14, Walter Johnson
(1887-1946), Washington Senators baseball ace, ended his
record-breaking streak of 56 scoreless innings against the St. Louis
Browns. Johnson’s scoreless inning streak began on April 10, 1913,
and lasted 55 and 2/3 innings pitched. He threw six shutouts in a
row before finally being scored on by the Browns. The Big Trains
streak of 55 2/3 scoreless innings surpassed the Philadelphia
Athletics' Jack Coombs record of 53 scoreless innings achieved in
1910. It would take 55 years before Johnson's streak was broken by
the Los Angeles Dodgers' Don Drysdale.
(www.nationalsdailynews.com/columnists/archive.cfm?blog=mark&tag=The%20Big%20Train)
1913 The New York Highlanders
American League baseball team officially adopted the “Yankees” name.
Newspapers have begun calling them the “Yanks” as early as 1904.
Fans had earlier called them “the Americans” due to their league
affiliation.
(ON, 6/09, p.11)
1914 Feb 9, Bill "Rhymes with
Wreck" Veeck, baseball club owner, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1914 Apr 22, Babe Ruth's 1st
professional game as a pitcher was a 6-hit 6-0 win.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1914 Jul 10, The Boston Red Sox
purchased Babe Ruth (19) from the Baltimore Orioles for 30 pieces of
gold.
(Hem., 4/97, p.105)(MC, 7/10/02)
1914 Jul 11, Babe Ruth debuted
in the major leagues with the Boston Red Sox. He earned $2,900 in
his rookie season.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1914 Nov 25, Joe DiMaggio,
baseball star, was born in Martinez, Ca.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.F13)
1914-1915 The Cracker Jack prizes of baseball
cards of this time later became the most valued prizes. The shoeless
Joe Jackson card sold for $8,500 in 1998.
(SFC, 2/11/98, Z1 p.6)
1915 Mar 13, Dodgers manager
Wilbert Robinson tried to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane,
but the pilot substituted a grapefruit.
(MC, 3/13/02)
1915 May 6, Babe Ruth (20),
pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, hit his 1st HR. The Red Sox lost to
the Yanks 4-3 in 13 innings.
(http://baseballguru.com/hfrommer/analysishfrommer31.html)
1915 Sep 9, Albert G. Spalding
(b.1850), baseball star and promoter, died in San Diego, Ca.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Spalding)
1916 Apr 20, The Chicago Cubs,
after merging with the Chicago Whales, began playing at Weeghman
Park. In 1926 the stadium became known as Wrigley Field.
(http://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/nl/WrigleyField.htm)
1916 Sep 11, The “Star Spangled
Banner” was sung at the beginning of a baseball game for the first
time in Cooperstown, New York.
(HN, 9/11/00)
1917 Apr 11, Babe Ruth beat NY
Yanks, pitching to a 3-hit, 10-3 win for Red Sox.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1917 Jun 27, Hank Gowdy became
the 1st baseball player to enter WW I military service.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1917 The Chicago White Sox won
the Baseball World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1918 Feb 12, Dominic DiMaggio,
baseball outfielder (Boston Red Sox), was born.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1918 May 14, Sunday baseball
became legal in Wash, DC.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1918 Aug 30, Ted Williams
(d.2002), Hall of Fame outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, the last
man to hit .400 in a season, was born.
(HN, 8/30/98)(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A1)
1918 Sep 11, The Boston Red sox
beat Chicago 4-2 to win the World Series in the 6th game.
(www.1918redsox.com/augsep.htm)
1919 Jan 31, Jackie
Robinson, first black major league baseball player, was born.
(HN, 1/31/99)
1920 Jan 3, The Red Sox sold
Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $100,000, twice the amount of any
previous player transaction. The deal also included a $300,000 loan
secured by a mortgage on Fenway Park, a contractual clause that made
the Yankees owners the Red Sox's landlords.
(http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00242487.html)
1919 Oct 1, In baseball’s World
Series the Chicago White Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds in a best of
9 games. The White Sox intentionally threw the series to satisfy
gamblers in what became known as the Black Sox Scandal. 8 players
were banned from baseball for life. In 1963 Eliot Asinof described
the events in his book “Eight men Out.” The 1988 baseball film
"Eight Men Out" was directed by John Sayles.
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)(SFC, 7/14/96, DB
p.33)(AH, 10/04, p.14)
1919 Oct 9, The Cincinnati Reds
won the World Series, defeating the Chicago White Sox 10-5 at
Comiskey Park. The victory turned hollow amid charges eight of the
White Sox had thrown the Series in what became known as the "Black
Sox" scandal.
(AP, 10/9/08)
1920 Feb 13-1920 Feb 14, Andrew
“Rube” Foster (1879-1930) formed the 1st black baseball league, the
Negro National League, at a meeting at the Colored YMCA, Kansas
City, Mo.
(AH, 2/05,
p.17)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Foster)
1920 Mar 1, Harry Caray,
baseball announcer (Chicago Cubs), was born.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1920 May 2, 1st game of
National Negro Baseball League was played in Indianapolis.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1920 Aug 17, Ray Chapman died
after he was hit in the head by Yanks' pitcher Carl Mays.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1921 Feb 5, The New York Yankee
owners released plans for a new Yankee Stadium. Huston and Ruppert
had purchased a lumberyard site in the Bronx from William Waldorf
Astor for $600,000.
(http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=290522110)(http://tinyurl.com/cbg6oh)
1921
Jul 18, The prosecution gave its opening remarks in the trial of the
Chicago Black Sox, accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.
(www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/blacksox/chronology.html)
1921 Aug 3, Baseball
commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis refused to reinstate the former
Chicago White Sox players implicated in the "Black Sox" scandal,
despite their acquittals on a technicality in a jury trial.
(AP, 8/3/01)(SC, 8/3/02)
1921 Oct 5, The World Series
was broadcast on radio for the first time. By series' end, the NY
Giants had beaten the NY Yankees five games to three in the
best-of-nine contest.
(AP, 10/5/06)
1922 May 5, Construction began
on Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Stadium_%281923%29)
1922 May 25, Babe Ruth was
suspended for 1 day and fined $200 for throwing dirt on an umpire.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1922 May 29, The US Supreme
Court ruled that organized baseball is a sport, not subject to
antitrust laws.
(HN, 5/29/98)
1923 Apr 18, The first baseball
game was played in Yankee Stadium. Babe Ruth hit a three-run homer
as the Yankees beat the Red Sox 4-1. The stadium was called the
House that Ruth built. In 2011 Robert Weintraub authored “The House
That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the first Yankees Championship, and
the Redemption of 1923.”
(AP, 4/18/98)(WSJ, 10/12/99, p.A24)(Econ, 5/7/11,
p.90)
1925 May 12, Lawrence “Yogi”
Berra, baseball star, was born. He played as a catcher for the New
York Yankees and worked as a coach and manager for the Mets and
Astros.
(SC, Internet, 5/12/97)(HN, 5/12/98)
1925 Jun 2, NY Yankee Lou
Gehrig began his 2,130 consecutive game streak.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1926 May 1, Satchel Paige made
his pitching debut in Negro Southern League.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1927 Mar 2, Babe Ruth signed a
3-year contract with the New York Yankees for a guarantee of $70,000
a year, thus becoming baseball's highest paid player.
(HC, Internet, 2/3/98)
1927 Apr 15, Babe Ruth hit his
1st of 60 HRs of season off A's Howard Ehmke.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1927 Jul 18, Ty Cobb hit safely
for the 4,000th time in his career.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1927 Oct 29, In Fresno, Ca.,
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig led an exhibition baseball game as part of
an 18-state tour to promote major league baseball.
(SFC, 1/17/03, p.D3)
1929 Feb 23, Elston Howard,
Yankee catcher (1st black NY Yankee/1963 AL MVP), was born.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1929 Apr 17, Baseball player
Babe Ruth and Claire Hodgeson, a former member of the Ziegfeld
Follies, got married.
(HN, 4/17/01)
1929 Aug 11, Babe Ruth hit his
500th major league home run against the Cleveland Indians.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1929 The Univ. of Mich. men’s
baseball team under Fielding H. Yost (1871-1946) won 11 of 13 games
on its first tour of Japan and brought back a Japanese suit of armor
as an award from Meiji Univ.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.24)
1929 Lefty O’Doul hit .398
becoming the National League batting champ of the Philadelphia
Phillies. He went on to manage the San Francisco Seals and in 1958
opened Lefty’s, a bar in San Francisco.
(SFC, 3/5/96, p.C1)(SFC, 7/18/97, p.A9)(SSFC,
8/28/11, p.A2)
1930
Apr 1, Leo Hartnett (Gabby Hartnett) of the Chicago Cubs broke
the altitude record for a catch by catching a baseball dropped from
the Goodyear blimp 800 feet over Los Angeles, CA. He caught the ball
cleanly, saying, "Eeeeooooww!". His injuries included a broken jaw.
(OTD)(SFC, 10/23/99, p.B7)(MC, 4/1/02)
1930 Apr 28, The first night
organized baseball game was played in Independence, Kansas.
(HN, 4/28/98)
1930 Jun 10, In the 1st night
baseball game on the Pacific Coast the Sacramento club beat Oakland
3 to 0 at Moering Field.
(SFC, 6/10/05, p.F4)
1930-1931 Babe Ruth's highest salary was $80,000
annually. He suffered a $5,000 pay cut in 1932 despite hitting .373,
leading the majors with a .700 slugging percentage, tying for the
lead in homers with 46 and knocking in 163 runs in 1931.
(ttp://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00242487.html)
1931 Feb 12, Japan’s first
television broadcast was a baseball game.
(HN, 2/12/97)
1931
Mar 18, Jackie Mitchell became the 2nd female in professional
baseball as she signed with the Chattanooga Lookouts, a Tennessee
Class AA minor league team. In 1898, Lizzie Arlington played one
game, pitching for Reading (PA) against Allentown.
(www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/mitchell.html)
1931 Mar 28, Byron Bancroft
Johnson (b.1864), founder of the American League Baseball
organization, died. In 1937 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of
Fame.
(ON, 6/09, p.12)
1931
Apr 1, Jackie Mitchell became the first female in professional
baseball when she signed with the Chattanooga Baseball Club.
(OTD)
1931 May 6, Willie Mays, the
'Say hey ' kid who played baseball for the New York Giants, was
born. He made a great outfield catch in the 1954 World Series.
(HN, 5/6/99)
1931 Aug 21, Babe Ruth hit his
600th HR as the Yanks beat Browns 11-7.
(SC, 8/21/02)
1931 In San Francisco
Seals Stadium at 16th and Bryant streets, a $1.5 million single-deck
cement structure, was designed by H.J. Brunnier. The baseball
stadium had a public address system and lights for night games. It
was also home to the Mission Reds until 1938. Seals Stadium was
demolished in 1959.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4)(SSFC, 10/4/09, p.50)
1932 Jan 26, William K.
Wrigley, owner (Wrigley Gum, Chicago Cubs), died.
(MC, 1/26/02)
1932 Oct 2, The NY Yankees won
the World Series against the Chicago Cubs in 4 games.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1932_World_Series)
1933 Jul 6, The first All-Star
baseball game was played, at Chicago's Comiskey Park; the American
League defeated the National League, 4-2.
(AP, 7/6/08)
1933 Jul 20, Nelson Doubleday,
publisher (Doubleday), owner (NY Mets), was born.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1934 Feb 5, Hank Aaron,
American hall of fame baseball player, homerun hitter, was born
weighing 12.25 pounds. He broke Babe Ruth’s record in 1974. In 2010
Howard Bryant authored “The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron.”
(SSFC, 5/23/10,
p.F6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron)
1934 Feb 22, George "Sparky"
Anderson, baseball manager (Reds, Tigers), was born in SD.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1934 Apr 21, Moe Berg, Senators
catcher (and later US spy), played an AL record 117th consecutive,
errorless game.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1934 Sep 13, Judge Landis sold
the World Series broadcast rights to Ford for $100,000.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1934 Sep 24, Babe Ruth made his
farewell appearance as a regular player with the New York Yankees in
a game against the Boston Red Sox. The Sox won, 5-0.
(AP, 9/24/04)
1935 Feb 26, New York Yankees
released Babe Ruth. He signed with Boston Braves.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1935 May 24, The first
major-league baseball game played at night took place at
Cincinnati's Crosley Field as the Reds beat the Philadelphia
Phillies, 2-1.
(AP, 5/24/97)
1935 May 30, Babe Ruth
(1895-1948) in his final game went hitless for Braves against
Phillies.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1936 Jan 29, The first members
of baseball's Hall of Fame: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner,
Christy Mathewson & Walter Johnson were named in Cooperstown,
N.Y.
(AP, 1/29/98)(http://tinyurl.com/33ko5fd)
1936 May 3, Joe DiMaggio made
his major-league debut as NY Yankee and got 3 hits.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1936 Jul 23, Don Drysdale,
pitcher (LA Dodgers-Cy Young 1962), was born in Van Nuys, Calif.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1937 Jul 5, Joe DiMaggio hit
his 1st grand slammer.
(MC, 7/5/02)
1937 Sep 2, Peter Ueberroth,
baseball commissioner, was born. He organized the 1984 LA Olympics.
(MC, 9/2/01)
1937 Ted Williams (1918-2002)
of San Diego signed a contract with the Red Sox.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A13)
1938 Apr 4, Bart Giamatti,
baseball commissioner, president of Yale, was born.
(HN, 4/4/01)
1938 Jun 18, Babe Ruth was
signed as a Dodger’s coach for the rest of the season.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1939 May 2, Baseball player
Henry Louis Gehrig, “the Iron Horse,” asked to be taken out of the
NY Yankees starting lineup in a game where the Yanks beat Tigers
22-2. He had played 2,130 consecutive games. A few weeks later he
was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral schlerosis, a fatal
neuromuscular disease.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, Par. p.2)(SFEC, 3/30/97, BR.
p.10)(MC, 5/2/02)
1939 Jun 12, The National
Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated in Cooperstown, NY,
on the 100th anniversary of the day Abner Doubleday supposedly
invented the sport.
(http://baseballhall.org/museum/experience/history)(AP, 6/12/97)
1939 Jul 4, Baseball's "Iron
Horse," Lou Gehrig (1904-1941), said farewell to 61,808 fans
honoring him with a special day at New York City's Yankee Stadium.
He was suffering from A.L.S. (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a
neurodegenerative disorder that destroys the body's neuromuscular
system. Many now call it Lou Gehrig's disease. He did less than two
years later at the age of 37.
(SFEC, 3/30/97, Par. p.2)(AP, 7/4/97)(IB,
12/7/98)
1939 Jul 11, Yanks hosted the
7th All Star Game. McCarthy started 6 Yanks, AL won 3-1.
(PGA, 12/9/98)
1939 Aug 26, The first
televised major league baseball games were shown on experimental
station W2XBS, a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the
Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. The Reds won first, 5-2; the
Dodgers, second, 6-1.
(AP, 8/26/98)
1940 Apr 16, The 1st televised
baseball game on WGN-TV featured the White Sox vs. Cubs in
exhibition.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1940 Apr 18, Ed Garvey, labor
leader for the Major League Baseball Players Association, was born.
(HN, 4/18/98)
1940 Jul 14, Due to beanball
wars, Spalding advertised batting helmet with earflaps.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1940s-1950s The All-American Girls
Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) lasted from the late 40s to
the early 50s.
(SFC, 7/24/03, p.A22)
1941 Apr 14, Pete Rose,
Cincinnati Reds, (most hits in majors), was born.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1941 May 15, Joe DiMaggio
started his 56-game hitting streak. The Yanks lost 13-1. In 2011
Kostya Kennedy authored “56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number
in Sports.”
(www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats3.shtml)(http://www.kostyakennedy.com/)
1941 Jun 2, Baseball’s "Iron
Horse," Lou Gehrig, died in New York of a degenerative disease,
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at 37. The best book on Gehrig is
"Iron Horse" by Ray Robinson. In 2005 Jonathan Eig authored
“Luckiest Man: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig.”
(AP, 6/2/97)(Econ, 5/7/05, p.79)
1941 Jun 25, Joe DiMaggio ran
his hitting streak to 45 straight games.
(MC, 6/25/02)
1941 Jul 17, The longest
hitting streak in baseball history ended when the Cleveland Indians
pitchers held NY Yankee Joe DiMaggio, the Yankee Clipper, hitless
for the first time in 57 games. His hitting streak ended with 56
games.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/feats/feats3.shtml)(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A10)
1941 Ted Williams (d.2002)
finished the season with a .406 batting average.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A1)
1942 Mar 1, Baseball decided
that players in military can't play when on furlough.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1942 Mar 18, Black players,
Jackie Robinson and Nate Moreland, requested a tryout with the
Chicago White Sox. They were allowed to work out.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1942 May 13, Pitcher Jim
Tobin belted 3 HRs in a game.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1942 May 18, New York ended
night baseball games for the rest of World War II.
(HN, 5/18/98)
1946 Apr 16, On opening day for
Baseball in Boston with the Braves vs. the Brooklyn Dodgers, the
newly painted seats had not yet dried when guests seated themselves.
The Braves management picked up the cleaning tab for all.
(SFEC, 4/6/97, Z1 p.5)
1946 Apr 18, Jackie Robinson
debuted as 2nd baseman for the Montreal Royals.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1946 Apr 20, 1st baseball game
telecast was in Chicago with the Cards vs. Cubs.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1946 Jun 21, Bill Veeck bought
the Cleveland Indians for $2.2 million.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1946 The Boston Red Sox lost
the World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1947 Apr 10, Brooklyn Dodgers
president Branch Rickey announced he had purchased the contract of
Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals. John Sengstacke, black
publisher of the Chicago Defender, was instrumental in persuading
Mr. Rickey in his decision. In spite of intense pressure and
hostility, Robinson's athletic abilities earned him the Rookie of
the Year Award in 1947.
(AP, 4/10/97)(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A1)(HN, 4/10/01)
1947 Apr 11, Jackie Robinson
played in an exhibition between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New
York Yankees, the first Negro to play in Major league baseball.
Jackie Robinson became the first black to play major league baseball
as he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson
officially broke baseball's color barrier when he put on Dodgers
uniform No. 42 in April 1947. When Jackie Robinson joined the
Brooklyn Dodgers, talented black athletes toiled in relative
obscurity in the Negro leagues despite the exciting caliber of their
play. Brooklyn Dodgers' general manager Branch Rickey first
approached Jackie Robinson in August 1945 to participate in the
"great experiment" of integrating the major leagues.
(TMC, 1994, p.1947)(AP, 4/11/97)(HN,
4/10/98)(HNPD, 4/10/99)
1947 Apr 15, Jackie Robinson,
modern baseball's first black major-league player, broke the color
barrier and made his official debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on
opening day. The Dodgers defeated the Boston Braves, 5-3.
(AP, 4/15/97)(HN, 4/15/98)
1947 Apr 17, Jackie Robinson
bunted for his first major league hit.
(HN, 4/17/98)
1947 Apr 27, It was "Babe Ruth
Day" at Yankee Stadium as baseball fans across the country honored
the ailing star.
(AP, 4/27/97)
1947 Jul 5, Larry Doby
signed a contract with the Cleveland Indians, becoming the first
black player in the American League.
(AP, 7/5/97)
1947 Jul 8, The American League
defeated the National League, 2-1, in the All-Star game played at
Chicago's Wrigley Field.
(AP, 7/8/97)
1948 Apr 4, 84-year-old Connie
Mack challenged 78-year-old Clark Griffith to a race from home to
1st base; it ended in a tie.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1948 Jul 1, Brooklyn's Roy
Campanella debuted as catcher.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1948 Jul 9, Satchel Paige (42)
debuted in majors pitching 2 scoreless inning for Cleveland.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1948 Aug 16, Famed home-run
slugger George Herman "Babe" Ruth died at age 53 in New York City.
He is credited with turning baseball from a game of speed and skill
to one of power. During a flamboyant major league career that began
as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox in 1914 and ended with his
retirement from the Boston Braves in 1935, the Babe hit an
astonishing total of 714 homers, a feat that was not surpassed until
Henry Aaron of the Atlanta Braves broke Ruth’s record in 1974. The
fans loved the warm-hearted Babe Ruth, who had a reputation as a
hard drinker, carouser and womanizer. In 1931, at the height of his
career with the Yankees, Ruth earned $80,000, which made him the
highest-paid ballplayer in history. At a special "Babe Ruth Day"
just two months before his death, the cancer-stricken Babe donned
his uniform for the last time and appeared before a cheering crowd
at Yankee Stadium. In 2006 Leigh Montville authored “The Big Bam,” a
biography of Babe Ruth.
(SFC, 10/15/96, p.A19)(AP, 8/16/97)(HNPD,
8/16/98)(WSJ, 5/9/06, p.D6)
1948 The Cleveland Indians won
the World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1949 Jan 28, NY Giants signed
their 1st black players, Monte Irvin & Ford Smith.
(MC, 1/28/02)
1949 Feb 7, Joe DiMaggio of the
NY Yankees became the 1st $100,000/year baseball player.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1950 Jan 24, Jackie Robinson
signed highest contract ($35,000) in Dodger history.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/R/Robinson_Jackie.stm)
1951 Jan 22, Fidel Castro, as a
baseball pitcher, was ejected from a Winter League game after
beaning a batter.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1951 Feb 9, St. Louis Browns
signed baseball pitcher Satchel Paige (45).
(MC, 2/9/02)
1951 Mar 10, FBI director J.
Edgar Hoover declined the post of baseball commissioner.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1951 Apr 17, Mickey Mantle
played his 1st game as a NY Yankee and went 1 for 4.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1951 May 1, Mickey Mantle hit
his 1st HR.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1951 May 24, Willie Mays began
playing for the New York Giants.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1951 May 25, New York Giant
Willie Mays went 0 for 5 in his 1st major league game.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1951 Oct 3, Bobby Thompson won
the pennant for the New York Giants by hitting a home run off of
Ralph Branca of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the New York Polo Grounds
before 20,000 empty seats. Outfielder Bobby Thomson hit a home run
in the bottom of the ninth inning, beating the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-4
to win the National League pennant. In 2001 the WSJ confirmed
roomers that the Giants had concealed an electric buzzer and a
telescope to steal the signals of the opposing catchers. In 2006
Joshua Prager authored ”The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby
Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World.”
(HN, 10/3/00)(WSJ, 6/21/05, p.B1)(WSJ, 9/19/06,
p.B1)
1951 Dec 5, "Shoeless" Joe
Jackson, of baseball's "Black Sox" scandal, died.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1951 Dec 11, Joe DiMaggio
announced his retirement from baseball.
(www.thebaseballpage.com/past/pp/dimaggiojoe/)
1951 The US Negro Leagues went
out of business as the major baseball leagues integrated.
(SFC, 2/21/06, p.B5)
1952 Apr 23, Hoyt Wilhelm hit a
home run in his 1st major league at bat, then went on to pitch more
than 1,000 games in the next 21 baseball seasons. He never hit
another homer.
(AARP, 1/05, p.69)
1952 May 13, Minor-league
pitcher Ron Necciai struck out 27 in 9-innings.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1952 Topps Chewing Gum Company
issued its first large set of baseball cards. They included team
logos and facsimile signatures and were later considered as the
first true set of the modern era. Topps had issued a smaller card in
1951, but it flopped.
(AH, 6/03, p.52,54)
1952 Lorenzo Ponza (1918-2004)
developed the “power pitcher,” later considered the prototype of the
modern baseball pitching machine.
(SFC, 12/20/04, p.B4)
1953 Feb 17, Baseball star and
pilot Ted Williams was uninjured as his plane was shot down in
Korea.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1953 Feb 20, US Court of
Appeals ruled that Organized Baseball is a sport & not a
business, affirming the 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling.
(MC, 2/20/02)
1953 Apr 17, Mickey Mantle hit
a home run in Washington's Griffith Stadium off the Senator's Chuck
Stobbs that was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as
measuring 565 feet. The distance was later said to have been padded.
(WSJ, 7/9/03, p.A1)
1953 Nov 9, The Supreme Court
upheld a 1922 ruling that major league baseball did not come within
the scope of federal antitrust laws. President Clinton later signed
a bill overturning the labor relations aspect of the antitrust
exemption.
(AP, 11/9/03)
1953 Dec 8, Damon Miller and
his SF Seals Corp. offered the public 10,000 shares of stock in the
baseball club at $10 a share.
(SFC, 12/5/03, p.E13)
1954 Mar 1, Ted Williams
fractures collarbone in 1st game of spring training after flying 39
combat missions without injury in Korean War.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1954 Apr 23, Hank Aaron of the
Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his record 755 major-league home
runs against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Braves won, 7-5.
(AP, 4/23/97)
1954 May 13, Robin
Roberts gave up a HR then retired the next 27 men in a row.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1954 Jul 17, The 1st major
league baseball game was played where a majority of a team was black
(Dodgers).
(MC, 7/17/02)
1954 Sep 29, The New York
Giants beat the Cleveland Indians in the 1st game of this year’s
World Series. NY went on to win 4 games in a row. Willie Mays made a
spectacular catch and throw in the 8th inning. In 1955 Arnold Hano
authored “A Day in the Bleachers,” a classic account of this game.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1954ws.shtml)(SSFC, 9/17/06, p.D1)
1954 Nov 4, Frank “Lefty”
O’Doul announced that he will return to the Bay Area from San Diego
and manage the Oakland Oaks for owner C.L. Laws in 1955.
(SFC, 11/5/04, p.F7)
1955 Mar 7, Baseball
Commissioner Ford Frick said he favors legalization of spitter.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1955 May 5, The baseball
musical "Damn Yankees" opened on Broadway and ran for 1022
performances. It was produced by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop.
Ray Walston played the devil in the play and the 1958 movie.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, DB p.41)(AP, 5/5/00)(SFC,
10/23/00, p.F3)(MC, 5/5/02)
1955 May 13, Mickey
Mantle hit 3 consecutive HRs of at least 463'.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1955 Joe DiMaggio was elected
to the Baseball Hall of Fame. DiMaggio, often considered one of the
greatest center fielders to play the game, helped his team win ten
American League championships and nine World Series titles. After
paying in the minors in San Francisco, DiMaggio was acquired by the
New York Yankees where he played from 1936 until his retirement in
1951.
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A10)(HNQ, 9/25/00)
1955 The Brooklyn Dodgers beat
the New York Yankees in the US baseball World Series.
(WSJ, 4/2/96, p.A-12)
1956 Oct 8, Don Larsen pitched
the only perfect game in a World Series to date as the New York
Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in Game 5, 2-0.
(AP, 10/8/08)
1956 Oct 10, The New York
Yankees won the World Series, defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers, 9-0,
in Game 7 at Ebbets Field.
(AP, 10/10/06)
1956 Oct, The World Series was
won by the New York Yankees over the Brooklyn Dodgers 4-3.
(TOH, 1982, p.1956)
1956 Oct, The Brooklyn Dodgers
completed their last season in NYC. In 2003 Michael Shapiro authored
“The Last Good Season.” The team moved to LA after Robert Moses,
head of the Triborought Bridge and Tunnel District, blocked the
efforts of owner Walter O’Malley to build a new Brooklyn ballpark.
(WSJ, 4/3/03, p.D8)
1956 Jerry Sacharski
(1016-2009), summer baseball instructor, created a T-Ball league for
kids in Albion, Mich.
(WSJ, 3/7/09, p.A12)
1957 Feb 25, Supreme Court
decided 6-3 that baseball is the only antitrust exempt pro sport.
(MC, 2/25/02)
1957 May 28, The National
League approved the move of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants
baseball teams to Los Angeles and San Francisco.
(AP, 5/28/97)
1957 Sep 29, The New York
Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds, losing to the
Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-to-1. The Giants moved to San Francisco.
(AP, 9/29/97)
1957 Sep 29, The Brooklyn
Dodgers played their last game before moving to Los Angeles, losing
to the Phillies 2-1 in Philadelphia.
(AP, 9/29/07)
1957 Oct 8, The Brooklyn
Baseball Club announced it was accepting an offer to move the
Dodgers from New York to Los Angeles.
(AP, 10/8/07)
1957 Oct 10, The Milwaukee
Braves won the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees in Game
7, 5-0.
(AP, 10/10/07)
1958 Jan 28, Roy Campanella,
catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, was paralyzed in a car crash. In
1959 Topps Chewing Gum Company issued a baseball card in his honor
featuring Campanella in a wheelchair with the phrase “Symbol of
Courage.”
(AH, 6/03, p.56)(http://tinyurl.com/ry7spx)
1958 Feb 7, Brooklyn Dodgers
officially became the Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1958 Apr 15, The Giants
baseball team of Horace Stoneham, brought from New York to San
Francisco, opened at Seal Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Giants won 8-0.
(SFC, 10/8/97, p.A20)(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4,5)
1958 May 13, Stan Musial
made hit # 3000.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1958 Nov 21, Mel Ott (49),
Baseball Hall-of-Famer, died in New Orleans.
(AP, 11/21/08)
1959 Mar 3, The new home of the
San Francisco Giants baseball team was officially named, Candlestick
Park. The name was chosen in a contest to name the newly-built
stadium. Al Dermody (1910-2004), the contest winner didn't have to
look far, as the windswept and chilly confines of the National
League's least favorite stadium are located just a few hundred feet
from Candlestick Point, on San Francisco Bay. In 1995, the venerable
name, Candlestick Park was changed to 3COMM Park, after a relatively
small area computer software developer bid a half-million dollars
for the rights to the stadium name – beating out such giants as
Apple Computer, IBM and others.
(HC, Internet, 3/3/98)(SFC, 9/24/04, p.B6)
1960 Feb 3, Candlestick Park,
the new home of the SF Giants baseball team, was officially turned
over to the team.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4)(SSFC, 1/31/10, DB p.42)
1960 Apr 13, The SF Giants made
their opening day debut in the new Candlestick stadium before 42,000
fans. The stadium was built by Charles Harney (d.1962), a friend of
Mayor Christopher, who also sold 41 acres to the city at $66,853 per
acre. He had purchased the land just a few years earlier at $2,100
per acre. Harney received $7 million for building the stadium and
was named director of the corporation set up to build the stadium.
The stadium was designed by architect John S. Boles. A radiant
heating system for the 2nd tier seats failed to work.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.4)(SFC, 5/3/01, p.A8)(SFC,
4/10/10, DB p.50)
1960 Apr 19, Baseball uniforms
began displaying player's names on their backs.
(HN, 4/19/97)
1960 May 13, Phillies
lost their 3rd consecutive 1-0 game
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1960 Oct 13, The Pittsburgh
Pirates won the World Series at Forbes Field with a 9th inning
homerun by Bill Mazeroski. A Univ. of Pittsburgh academic building
was later built on the site.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
1961 Apr 25, SF Giants baseball
games began to appear on TV.
(SSFC, 4/24/11, DB p.46)
1961 Apr 26, Roger Maris of the
New York Yankees hit the first of a record 61 home runs in a single
season; the homer was off Detroit's Paul Foytack at Tiger Stadium.
(AP, 4/26/99)
1961 Apr 30, Willie Mays of the
SF Giants hit 4 home runs in a game with the Milwaukee Braves.
(SFC, 1/12/98, p.A18)
1961 Jun 11, Norm Cash became
the 1st Detroit Tiger to hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1961 Jul 17, Ty Cobb (74),
baseball great (Detroit Tigers), died of cancer in Atherton, Ca. He
was the first man elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
(SSFC, 7/17/11, p.42)
1961 Jul 24, Roger Maris hit 4
home runs in a doubleheader.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1962 Jan 23, Jackie Robinson
(1919-1972) became the first African-American elected to Baseball
Hall of Fame.
(www.imdb.com/name/nm0732697/bio)
1962 Feb 4, Russian newspaper
Izvestia reported baseball is an old Russian game.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1962 Mar 10, The Phillies
baseball club left the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel due to its refusal to
admit black players, and moved to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles
outside Clearwater, Florida.
(http://tinyurl.com/mdtvxu)
1962 Mar 23, William DeWitt
bought the Cincinnati Reds for $4,625,000.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1962 Apr 9, JFK threw out the
1st ball at Washington's new DC Stadium.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1962 May 19, Stan Musial broke
Honus Wagner's NL baseball hit record with 3,431.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1962 Jul 3, Jackie Robinson
became the first African American to be inducted into the National
Baseball Hall of Fame.
(HN, 7/3/98)
1962 Oct 3, The SF Giants beat
the LA Dodgers to win baseball's National League Pennant.
(SFC, 11/24/99, p.E9)
1962 Oct 12, Columbus Day
storms washed out the 1962 World Series game at Candlestick Park in
SF.
(SFCM, 9/25/05, p.4)
1963 Jun 15, Juan Marichal
(25), pitcher for the SF Giants, dueled for 16 innings with Warren
Spahn (42), of the Milwaukee Braves in a 5-hour game at Candlestick.
Willie Mays hit the 428th pitch of the night over left field.
(SFC, 4/4/03, p.D3)
1963 Jul 8, Reports were made
of Charlie Finley's intention to move KC A's baseball team to
Oakland.
(MC, 7/8/02)
1963 Sep 15, The Alou
brothers-Felipe, Matty, & Jesus-appeared in the San Francisco
outfield for 1 inning.
(http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=20238)
1964 Apr 23, Houston Colt 45s
Ken Johnson became the 1st major league pitcher to lose a 9 inning
no-hitter, Reds win 1-0.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1965 Apr 9, The newly built
Houston Astrodome featured its first baseball game, an exhibition
between the Astros and the New York Yankees. Mickey Mantle hit the
1st indoor homerun, but the Astros won, 2-1 in 12 innings.
(WSJ, 10/15/98, p.B8)(AP, 4/9/09)
1965 May 4, Willie Mays hit his
512th HR and broke Mel Ott's 511 NL record.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1965 Sep 9, Sandy Koufax,
baseball’s Great Jewish Hope, pitched a perfect game. It was the
first perfect game thrown by a left-hander since 1880. In 2002 Jane
Leavy authored "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy."
(WSJ, 10/22/02,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Koufax%27s_perfect_game)
1965 Major League Baseball in
the US began a draft program for American players. In 1990 the draft
was extended to include Canada and Puerto Rico.
(Econ, 2/4/12, p.40)
1966 Apr 6, Emmett Ashford
became the first African-American major league umpire. The highly
regarded umpire was known for his dynamic and distinctive style of
calling balls and strikes.
(HN, 4/12/99)(HNQ,
4/15/00)(http://netscape.net/picassoaustin/homepage)
1966 Apr 8, The AFL chose 36
year old Al Davis as commissioner.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1966 Jul 25, Yankee manager
Casey Stengel was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1967 May 13, NY Yankee
Mickey Mantle (b.1931) hit career HR #500 off Stu Miller.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/boxscore/05141967.shtml)
1967 The Boston Red Sox lost
the World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1968 Apr 8, The Academy Awards
and Baseball's Opening Day were postponed because of the M.L. King
assassination.
(www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/The-Assassination-of-Martin-Luther-King-201065.html)
1968 Nov 12, Sammy Sosa,
baseball outfielder (Chicago Cubs), was born in the Dominican
Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Sosa)
1969 Mar 1, Mickey Mantle of
the NY Yankees announced his retirement from baseball.
(HN,
3/1/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mantle)
1969 Apr 14, The first major
league baseball game in Canada was played in Montreal. The expansion
Montreal Expos hosted their first game north of the border, marking
the first time a regular season major league game is played outside
of the US. The Expos won their debut at Jarry Park, edging the St.
Louis Cardinals, 8-7.
(HN,
4/14/98)(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/1969_Expos)
1970 Aug 12, Curt Flood lost
his $41 million antitrust suit against baseball. On June 18, 1972,
the US Supreme Court upheld the lower court's rulings on Flood's
case. Baseball continued to be exempt from antitrust laws and its
reserve clause was upheld.
(www.scripophily.net/cuflasmi19.html)
1970 Oct 3, Baseball
umpires called their 1st strike. A one-day strike of the first game
of the championship playoffs, the first by umpires in major league
history, prompted the league presidents to recognize the Association
and negotiate a labor contract that set a minimum salary of $11,000
and raised the average salary to $21,000.
(www.sdabu.com/history_main.htm)
1970 Jim Bouton (b.1939)
published his controversial "Ball Four."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_Four)
1970 Robert Peterson
(1906-2006) authored “Only the Ball Was White,” the first history of
baseball’s US Negro Leagues.
(SFC, 2/21/06, p.B5)
1971 Feb 9, Satchel Paige
became the 1st negro-league player elected to baseball HOF.
(www.biographybase.com/biography/Paige_Satchel.html)
1971 Sep 20, The American
League Ok'd the Washington Senator move to Arlington, where they
became the Texas Rangers.
(WSJ, 4/7/99,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Washington_Senators_season)
1971 Sep 30, The Washington
Senators baseball team played their last game before leaving
Washington DC for Texas.
(WSJ, 4/7/99,
p.B1)(www.sportsecyclopedia.com/al/wastex/senators61.html)
1971 Veterans Stadium in
Philadelphia opened. Demolition felled it in 2004.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
1972 Apr 1, A US baseball
strike began and lasted to April 13.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Major_League_Baseball_strike)
1972 Apr 13,
The first US Major League baseball strike ended after 13 days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Major_League_Baseball_strike)
1972 May 11, The SF Giants
traded Willie Mays (b.1931) to the New York Mets.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1
p.5)(www.ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0201)
1972 May 13, Milwaukee
Brewers beat Minn. Twins, 4-3, in 22 innings. The game had started
the evening of May 12.
(www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN197205120.shtml)
1972 Jun 19, The US Supreme
Court voted 5-3 to confirm lower court rulings in the Curt Flood
case, which upheld baseball's exemption from antitrust laws.
(http://supreme.justia.com/us/407/258/)
1972 Oct 22, The Oakland
Athletics beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 in a 7th game to win the
World Series, bringing home the first Bay Area’s baseball
world championship. It was the first of 3 in a row.
(SFEC, 3/1/98,
p.W39)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_World_Series)(SFC,
12/28/99, p.A1)
1972 Oct 24, Jackie Robinson,
1st black baseball player (Brooklyn Dodgers), died at 53 of
complications from diabetes. In 1983 Prof. Jules Tygiel (1949-2007)
authored "Baseball’s Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His
Legacy." In 1997 Arnold Rampersad published the biography "Jackie
Robinson."
(WSJ, 10/17/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 4/2/00, BR p.1)(SFC,
7/3/08, p.B5)
1973 Jan 3, The Columbia
Broadcasting System (CBS) got out of the baseball business this day
by selling the New York Yankees to a 12-man syndicate headed by
George Steinbrenner III for $8.8 million. Steinbrenner (1930-2010)
put up barely $100,000.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_New_York_Yankees_season)(Econ,
7/17/10, p.38)
1973 Mar 5, During spring
training in Florida, Yankee pitchers Fritz Peterson and Mike
Kekich announced they had swapped wives.
(www.around-the-horn.com/?p=131)
1973 Apr 6, Yankee Ron Blomberg
(b.1948) became the 1st designated hitter. He walked.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Blomberg)
1974 Jan 16, NY Yankees Mickey
Mantle and Whitey Ford were elected to Hall of Fame.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mantle)
1974 Jan 25, Ray Kroc
(1902-1984), the head of McDonald's Corp., bought the SD Padres for
$12 million and prevented the team's planned move to Washington DC.
(www.addictsports.com/baseball/archive/index.php/t-28507.html)(SFC,
10/13/03, p.A19)
1974 Apr 4, Hank Aaron of the
Atlanta Braves tied Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th
round-tripper in Cincinnati.
(HN, 4/4/98)(AP, 4/4/99)
1974 Apr 8, Hank Aaron of the
Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the
Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth's record. The round-tripper
was off pitcher Al Downing.
(HN, 4/8/98)(AP, 4/8/07)
1974 Jun 4, Ten Cent Beer Night
was an ill-fated promotion held by the American League's Cleveland
Indians during a game against the Texas Rangers at Cleveland
Municipal Stadium.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Cent_Beer_Night)
1974 Jul 17, Jay Hanna "Dizzy"
Dean (b.1910), pitcher (St Louis Cards), died in Nevada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dizzy_Dean)
1974 Oct 3, Frank Robinson was
named major-league baseball's first black manager as he was placed
in charge of the Cleveland Indians.
(AP, 10/3/97)
1974 Gaylord Perry authored "Me
and the Spitter: An Autobiographical Confession." Perry admitted
that he threw illegal spitballs, yet was subsequently admitted to
the baseball Hall of Fame.
(SSFC, 4/4/04, p.E6)
1975 The Boston Red Sox lost
the World Series.
(SFC, 10/28/04, p.A7)
1975 Frank Robinson joined the
Cleveland Indians as the 1st African American manager in major
league baseball.
(SFC, 4/11/03, p.E15)
1976 Jan 6, Ted Turner
purchased the Atlanta Braves for reported $12 million.
(www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/S-Z/Turner-Ted-1938.html)
1976 Mar 2, Bob Lurie (b.1929),
real estate magnate, led a group to acquire ownership of the San
Francisco Giants baseball club. Lurie closed the $8-million
transaction with Arizona cattleman Arthur "Bud" Herseth as his 50-50
partner.
(www.stadiumforrent.com/sfr/sfr-ch23a.html)
1976 Jul 20, Hank Aaron hit his
755th and final home run off the California Angels' Dick Drago at
Milwaukee County Stadium.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron)
1977 Sep 3, Japan's Sadaharu Oh
hit his 756th HR to surpass Hank Aaron's total.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Sadaharu_Oh)
1977 Dec 15, Charles Finley
sold his Oakland A’s baseball team to Marvin Davis for a reported
$12.5 million. A lease with the Oakland Coliseum was still a
problem.
(SFC, 12/13/02, p.E8)
1978 Aug 1, Pete Rose of the
Cincinnati Reds, who had tied the National League record of hitting
in 44 consecutive games, saw his streak end in a game against the
Atlanta Braves.
(AP, 8/1/98)
1979 Jan 23, Willie Mays,
former outfielder for the SF Giants, was elected to baseball's Hall
of Fame.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.E2)
1979 Jul 12, "Disco Demolition
Night" at Comiskey Park, caused fans to go wild. It also caused the
White Sox to forfeit 2nd game of a doubleheader to Tigers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disco_Demolition_Night)
1979 Oct 23, Billy Martin
(1928-1989), NY Yankee baseball manager, was involved in a barroom
altercation when he sucker punched Joseph Cooper, a Minnesota
marshmallow salesman. Cooper required 15 stitches. Martin was fired.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/October_23)
1979 The song "We Are Family"
by Sister Sledge became a hit. It was made the theme song for the
1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_Family_%28song%29)
1980 May 13, Ray Knight
(b.1952) of the Cincinnati Reds, following an 0-for-15 slump, hit 2
home runs in the 5th inning vs. NY Mets.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Knight)
1981 Jun 12, US major league
baseball players began a 49-day strike over the issue of free-agent
compensation. The season did not resume until August 10.
(AP, 6/12/01)
1981 Jul 31, A seven-week-old
Major League Baseball strike ended.
(AP, 7/31/99)
1982 Jun 8, Leroy Satchel Paige
(b.1906), US baseball pitcher, died.
(www.nlbpa.com/8june1982.html)
1982 Jul 1, Cal Ripken
(b.1960), drafted as a pitcher in 1981, began playing his shortstop
position for the Baltimore Orioles.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Cal_Ripken_Jr_1960)
1983 Feb 8, Baseball ordered
Mickey Mantle (1931-1995) to sever ties with Claridge Casino.
(www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/February_8)
1983 Apr 27, Nolan Ryan became
the strikeout king (3,509), passing Walter Johnson.
(www.astrosdaily.com/history/sound/f.html)
1984 Mar 3, Peter Ueberroth
(b.1937) was elected baseball commissioner, effective Oct 1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Ueberroth)
1984 Mar 20, An indictment was
unsealed against Denny McLain, former Detroit Tiger pitching star,
on various charges of racketeering. McLain was named in all
the indictment's five counts, which accused him of racketeering,
conspiracy, extortion, possession and distribution of cocaine, and
conspiracy to import cocaine. He would face up to 90 years in prison
if convicted of all the charges.
(http://tinyurl.com/35zuwx)
1984 Apr 13, Pete Rose, playing
for the Montreal Expos, became the 1st NL baseball player to get
4,000 hits in a career, joining Ty Cobb to become only the second
player to enter the 4000 hit club.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4000_hit_club)
1984 Jul 4, The NY Yankee Phil
Niekro became the 9th pitcher to strikeout 3,000 batters.
(www.thebaseballpage.com/players/niekrph01.php)
1984 Jul 14, Al Schacht (91),
baseball player, died. He was known as the Clown prince of baseball.
The former Washington Senators pitcher turned top hat jester had
entertained the crowd before twenty-five World Series and eighteen
All-Star Games.
(www.baseball-almanac.com/yearly/yr1984a.shtml)
1985 Mar 18, Baseball
commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstated Willie Mays and Mickey
Mantle.
(http://tinyurl.com/y34t69)
1985 May 22, Baseball player
Pete Rose passed Hank Aaron as the National League run scoring
leader with 2,108.
(HN, 5/22/98)
1985 Jul 11, Houston Astro's
Nolan Ryan became the first pitcher to strike out 4000 batters as he
fanned Danny Heep of the New York Mets.
(www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/hallfame/ryan.htm)
1985 Aug 4, A pair of
milestones were achieved in major league baseball as Tom Seaver of
the Chicago White Sox gained his 300th victory and Rod Carew of the
California Angels got his 3,000th hit.
(AP, 8/4/05)
1985 Sep 8, Pete Rose of the
Cincinnati Reds tied Ty Cobb's career record for hits with a single
for No. 4,191 during a game against the Cubs in Chicago.
(AP, 9/8/99)
1985 Sep 11, Pete Rose of the
Cincinnati Reds made his career hit 4,192 off Eric Show of San Diego
Padres, eclipsing Ty Cobb's record.
(AP, 9/11/05)
1985 Oct 27, Billy Martin was
fired by Yankees for the 4th time.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/M/Martin_Billy.stm)
1985 Dec 14, Roger Maris (51),
HR hitter (61 in 61, NY Yankees), died of cancer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Maris)
1986 Willie McCovey (b.1938) of
the San Francisco giants was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
His 521 home runs put him in a tie with Ted Williams.
(SSFC, 1/9/11, DB
p.42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_McCovey)
1987 Apr 6, Los Angeles Dodgers
executive Al Campanis said on ABC's "Nightline" that blacks "may not
have some of the necessities" to hold managerial jobs in
major-league baseball. Campanis ended up being fired over his
remarks.
(AP, 4/6/07)
1987 Apr 8, Al Campanis, Dodger
executive for more than 40 years, was fired after saying on ABC's
"Nightline" that blacks may lack some of the "necessities" for
becoming baseball managers.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1987APRIL.stm)(AP,
4/8/97)
1987 Jul 14, The National
League took 13 innings to defeat the American League, 2-0, in the
58th All-Star Game in Oakland, Calif.
(AP, 7/14/97)
1987 Sep 14, Cal Ripken
(b.1960), baseball star for the Baltimore Orioles, ended his streak
of 8,243 consecutive innings (908 games).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Ripken,_Jr.)
1987 Oct 17, The 1st indoor
World Series game took place at the Minnesota Metrodome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_World_Series)
1988 Feb 23, Chicago gave the
Cubs baseball team the right to install lights and play up to 18
night games.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1988 May 2, Cincinnati Reds
baseball manager Pete Rose was suspended for 30 days by National
League president A. Bartlett Giamatti, two days after Rose shoved an
umpire during a game won by the New York Mets, 6-5. Giamatti died a
week later. In 1998 his musings on baseball were published as “A
Great and Glorious Game,” ed. by Kenneth S. Robson.
(AP, 5/2/98)(SFEC, 7/5/98, BR p.9)
1988 Jul 12, The American
League beat the National League 2-1 in the All-Star game played in
Cincinnati.
(AP, 7/12/98)
1988 Sep 8, A. Bartlett
Giamatti, the National League president, was named to succeed Peter
Ueberroth as baseball’s 7th commissioner.
(AP, 9/8/98)
1989 Mar 20, Baseball
Commissioner Peter Ueberroth confirmed that his office was
investigating "serious allegations" involving Cincinnati Reds
Manager Pete Rose. Ueberroth's successor, A. Bartlett Giamatti,
later banned Rose from baseball for betting on games.
(AP, 3/20/99)
1989 Apr 22, Nolan Ryan struck
out his 5,000th batter, Rickey Henderson.
(MC, 4/22/02)
1989 May 13, Minn. Twin
Kirby Puckett became the 35th to hit 4 doubles in a game.
(SS, Internet, 5/13/97)
1989 Jul 11, The American
League won the 60th All-Star Game, defeating the National League 5-3
in Anaheim, Calif.
(AP, 7/11/99)
1989 Aug 24, Commissioner A.
Bartlett Giamatti banned Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose from
major league baseball for gambling.
(AP, 8/24/99)
1989 Aug 26, A team from
Trumbull, Conn., became the first American team since 1983 to win
the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
(AP, 8/26/99)
1989 Sep 1, A. Bartlett
Giamatti (51), Baseball Commissioner, died of heart attack at his
summer home in Martha's Vineyard, Mass.
(AP, 9/1/99)
1989 Sep 13, Fay Vincent was
named commissioner of Major League Baseball, succeeding the late A.
Bartlett Giamatti.
(AP, 9/13/97)
1989 Oct 17, The 7.1 Loma
Prieta earthquake [Watsonville] hit the Bay Area minutes before the
start of a World Series game at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. 67
people died and 3,000 were injured. It caused $7 billion worth of
damage. The Spreckel’s Temple of Music in Golden Gate Park was
damaged and later restored. 28,000 structures were damaged and
several freeways ruined. 42 people died on the Cypress Freeway. At
the train station in SF Dr. Margaret McChesney commandeered a tour
bus to take frightened passengers home and navigated the driver
safely through barricades of cars and gangs of marauding youths on
3rd St. In 1999 new measuring methods changed the magnitude to 6.9.
(SFC, 4/15/96,A-6)(SFC, 10/17/96, A15)(SFC,
7/23/97, p.A13)(AP, 10/17/97)(AR,9/12/98)(HN, 10/17/98)(SFC,
10/7/99, p.A21)
1989 Oct 27, The third game of
the World Series, delayed by the Northern California earthquake, was
played at Candlestick Park. The Oakland A's defeated the SF Giants,
13-7.
(AP, 10/27/99)
1989 Oct 28, The Oakland A's
won the earthquake-interrupted World Series, completing a four-game
sweep of the San Francisco Giants.
(AP, 10/28/99)
1990 Apr 9, The baseball season
opened a week late because of a labor dispute.
(AP, 4/9/00)
1990 Apr 20, Pete Rose pleaded
guilty to two felony counts of filing false income tax returns.
(http://reds.enquirer.com/2004/01/06/red1timeline.html)
1990 Apr 21, Bob Engel, a
National League umpire was arrested in Bakersfield, Ca., for
stealing baseball cards.
(http://tinyurl.com/qfma3)
1990 Jun 27, Jose Canseco
signed a record $4,700,000 per year baseball contract with the
Oakland A's.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1990 Jul 10, The American
League shut out the National League, 2-to-0, in the 61st All-Star
game.
(AP, 7/10/00)
1990 Jul 19, Baseball’s
all-time hits leader Pete Rose was sentenced in Cincinnati to five
months in prison for tax evasion.
(AP, 7/19/00)
1990 Jul 25, Comedian Roseanne
Barr sparked controversy with an off-key rendition of the
"Star-Spangled Banner" during a double-header at Jack Murphy Stadium
in San Diego.
(AP, 7/25/00)
1990 Jul 30, George
Steinbrenner was forced by Commissioner Fay Vincent to resign as
principal partner of NY Yankees.
(http://tinyurl.com/bjbgt)
1990 Jul 31, Pitcher Nolan Ryan
of the Texas Rangers became the 20th major leaguer to win 300 games
as he led his team to victory over the Milwaukee Brewers 11-to-3.
(AP, 7/31/00)
1990 Aug 8, Pete Rose began a
5-month prison term at Marion (IL) Federal prison camp.
(MC, 8/8/02)
1990 Aug 14, Denver voted for a
1% sales tax to pay for a baseball franchise.
(MC, 8/14/02)
1990 Aug 20, George
Steinbrenner stepped down as NY Yankee owner.
(http://tinyurl.com/bjbgt)
1990 Sep 2, Dave Stieb of the
Toronto Blue Jays hurled a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians,
winning 3-0.
(AP, 9/2/00)
1990 Sep 14, Ken Griffey, Sr.
and Jr, hit back-to-back HRs in the 1st inning.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1990SEPTEMBER.stm)
1990 Dec 6, Shoeless Joe
Jackson's signature was sold for $23,100.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/J/Jackson_Joe.stm)
1990 George Will, political
columnist, authored "Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball." He told of
how the game was played through extended portraits of manager Tony
La Russa, pitcher Orel Hershiser, hitter Tony Gwynn and fielder Cal
Ripken Jr.
(WSJ, 5/21/03, p.D10)
1990 Joan Kroc (d.2003 at 75),
widow of Ray Kroc, sold the San Diego Padres to a group led by LA TV
producer Tom Werner.
(SFC, 10/13/03, p.A19)
1991 Jan 10, Baseball
officially banned Pete Rose from being elected to the Hall of Fame.
(http://tinyurl.com/czvp5)
1991 May 1, Nolan Ryan of the
Texas Rangers threw his seventh no-hitter at age 44, shutting out
the Toronto Blue Jays 3-to-0.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 May 1, Rickey Henderson of
the Oakland A’s set a major league record by stealing his 939th base
during a game against the New York Yankees.
(AP, 5/1/01)
1991 Jul 9, The American League
defeated the National League, 4-to-2, in the All-Star Game in
Toronto.
(AP, 7/8/01)
1991 Jul 28, Dennis Martinez
pitched the 15th perfect game in major-league baseball history as
the Montreal Expos beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-to-0.
(AP, 7/28/01)
1991 Aug 12, The National
Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, began hosting a
two-day reunion of former Negro League players.
(AP, 8/12/01)
1991 Oct 7, Leo Durocher,
baseball coach and manager (Dodgers, Giants), died at 86.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9031586/Leo-Durocher)
1992 Mar 3, Charges were filed
in Florida against New York Mets Darryl Boston, Vince Coleman and
Dwight Gooden for rape. They were dropped in April.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1992 Apr 6, Oriole Park at
Camden Yards opened and Baltimore beat Cleveland 2-0.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1992 Jun 11, Baseball owners
approved the sale of Seattle Mariners to a Japanese group.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/S/Seattle_Mariners.stm)
1992 Jul 14, The American
League won the All-Star game, defeating the National League team
13-6 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
(AP, 7/14/97)
1992 Sep 3, Baseball owners
voted 18-9-1 to ask commissioner Fay Vincent to resign.
(AP, 9/3/97)
1992 Sep 7, Baseball
Commissioner Fay Vincent resigned, four days after a no-confidence
vote by club owners.
(AP, 9/7/97)
1992 Sep 23, Bernice Gera, the
1st female baseball umpire (1969 NY-Penn League) died at age 61.
(www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/chronology/1992SEPTEMBER.stm)
1992 Oct 24, The Toronto Blue
Jays became the first non-U.S. team to win the World Series as they
defeated the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, in game six.
(AP, 10/24/97)
1992 Nov 10, Major League
Baseball rejected the $115 million deal for Tampa Bay to acquire the
SF Giants and Safeway pres. Peter Magowan led a local group to
acquire the team for $100 million.
(SFEC,12/797, Z1 p.9)(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.A14)
1992 The film "A League of
Their Own” with Geena Davis was produced. It was about women’s
professional baseball in the 1940s and 1950s.
(SFEC, 9/15/96, Par p. 5)(SFC, 5/22/10, p.C8)
1993 Mar 1, George Steinbrenner
was reinstated as owner of New York Yankees.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1993 Mar 22, Cleveland Indians
pitchers Steve Olin and Tim Crews were killed when the boat they
were riding in slammed into a Florida pier; pitcher Bob Ojeda was
seriously injured.
(AP, 3/22/97)
1993 Jul 3, Hall of Fame
pitcher Don Drysdale died in Montreal, Canada, at age 56.
(AP, 7/3/98)
1993 Jul 13, The American
League defeated the National League in the All-Star Game, 9-3, in
Baltimore.
(AP, 7/13/98)
1994 Jul 12, The National
League won the US baseball All-Star Game, defeating the American
League 8-7.
(AP, 7/12/99)
1994 Jul 15, During a baseball
game between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox in
Chicago's Comiskey Park, umpire Dave Phillips ordered the bat of
Albert Belle of the Indians to be removed from the game for later
examination for illegal cork. The bat was then stolen by pitcher
Jason Grimsley, who crawled through air ducts to take it. The
Indians won the game 3-2 and later returned the bat under umpire
threats and Belle was given a 10-game suspension that was reduced to
7 games.
(SFEC, 4/11/99, p.A3)
1994 Aug 12, In baseball's
eighth work stoppage since 1972, players went on strike rather than
allowing team owners to limit their salaries.
(AP, 8/12/99)
1994 Sep 14, On the 34th day of
a strike by players, Bud Selig, acting commissioner, announced the
1994 baseball season was over. All 28 baseball owners voted to
cancel rest of 1994 season.
(AP, 9/14/99)
1994 Sep 18, Ken Burn's
"Baseball" premiered on PBS.
(www.npr.org/programs/npc/2002/020918.kburns.html)
1995 Mar 31, Baseball players
agreed to end their 232-day strike after a judge granted a
preliminary injunction against club owners.
(AP, 3/31/00)
1995 Apr 2, Baseball owners
accepted the players' union offer to play without a contract, ending
the longest and costliest strike in the history of professional
sports.
(AP, 4/2/98)
1995 Jul 20, Baseball
Hall-of-Famers Duke Snider and Willie McCovey pleaded guilty in New
York to tax evasion.
(AP, 7/20/00)
1995 Aug 13, Baseball Hall of
Famer Mickey Mantle died at a Dallas hospital of rapidly spreading
liver cancer at the age of 63.
(HN, 8/13/98)
1995 Sep 6, Baltimore Orioles
shortstop Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record by playing his
2,131st consecutive game.
(AP, 9/6/00)
1996 Feb 19, Charlie O. Finley
(77), baseball showman died in Chicago.
(AP, 2/19/07)
1996 Apr 1, Baseball umpire
John McSherry died after collapsing during a season opener between
the Cincinnati Reds and Montreal Expos.
(AP, 4/1/97)
1996 Jul 9, The National League
won the All-Star game, defeating the American League 6-0 in
Philadelphia.
(AP, 7/9/97)
1996 Sep 6, Eddie Murray of the
Baltimore Orioles hit his 500th career home run during a game
against the Detroit Tigers, joining Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and
Willie Mays as the only players with at least 3,000 hits and 500
homers.
(AP, 9/6/97)
1996 The Walt Disney Co.
acquired a controlling stake in the Los Angeles Angels baseball
team.
(WSJ, 8/29/02, p.A1)
1997 Mar 5, Tommy Lasorda,
Nellie Fox and Willie Wells Sr. were elected to baseball's Hall of
Fame.
(AP, 3/5/98)
1997 Apr 15, Jackie Robinson's
number 42 was retired 50 years after he became the first black
player in major league baseball.
(AP, 4/15/98)
1997 May 13, Baseball's Exec
Council suspended NY Yankee owner George Steinbrenner.
(http://tinyurl.com/bjbgt)
1997 A jury convicted Denny
McLain, former Detroit Tiger pitcher, and his business partner of
stealing $3 million from a pension fund.
(www.clickondetroit.com/sports/2586043/detail.html)
1998 Mar 3, Larry Doby (d.2003
at 79), the first black player in the American League (1947), was
elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 3/3/99)(WSJ, 6/20/03, p.A1)
1998 Mar 19, Completing
baseball's transformation from family ownership to corporate
control, Rupert Murdoch's Fox Group won approval to buy the Los
Angeles Dodgers for a record $350 million. News Corporation later
sold the Dodgers to Boston real estate developer Frank McCourt.
(AP, 3/19/08)
1998 May 17, New York Yankees
pitcher David Wells became the 13th player in modern major league
baseball history to throw a perfect game as he retired all 27
batters he faced in a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
(AP, 5/17/99)
1998 Jul 7, The American League
defeated the National League 13-8 in baseball's All-Star Game,
played in Denver.
(AP, 7/7/08)
1998 Sep 1, Mark McGwire of the
St. Louis Cardinals hit his 56th and 57th home runs, breaking the
one-season record set by Hack Wilson in 1930.
(AP, 9/1/99)
1998 Sep 7, In baseball the St.
Louis Cardinal’s Mark McGwire hit his 61st home run at Busch Stadium
in St. Louis against the Chicago Cubs in the first inning. This tied
the 1961 record held by Roger Maris.
(SFC, 9/8/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep 8, Mark McGwire his
62nd home run off Chicago Cubs pitcher Steve Trachsel in St. Louis
and broke the 1961 record set by Roger Maris.
(SFC, 9/9/98, p.A1)(AP, 9/8/99)
1998 Sep 12, Sammy Sosa of the
Chicago Cubs became the fourth major league baseball player to hit
60 home runs in a single season.
(AP, 9/12/99)
1998 Sep 13 Sammy Sosa of the
Chicago Cubs hit his 61st and 62nd home runs of the season, passing
Roger Maris' record and pulling into a tie with St. Louis' Mark
McGwire.
(AP, 9/13/99)
1998 Sep 18, Mark McGwire hit
his 64th home run of the season, pulling out of a tie with Sammy
Sosa.
(AP, 9/18/03)
1998 Sep 27, St. Louis Cardinal
Mark McGwire hit his 69th and 70th home runs in his last game of the
season against the Montreal Expos at Busch Stadium. The ball was
later sold at auction for $3.005 million to Todd McFarlane, creator
of "Spawn" comic books.
(SFC, 9/28/98, p.A1)(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A2)
1999 Mar 8, Joe DiMaggio, New
York Yankees baseball star known as the "Yankee Clipper," died at
age 84 in Hollywood, Florida. In 1975 Maury Allen authored “Where
Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio.” In 1995 Joseph Durso authored the
biography “DiMaggio: The Last American Knight.” In 2000 Richard Ben
Cramer authored “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life.”
(SFC, 3/9/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/18/00, p.A24)
1999 May 3, In Baltimore the
Cuban baseball team beat the Baltimore Orioles 12-6. 7 members
missed the departure the next day and one coach, Rigoberto
Betancourt Herrera, was reported to have defected, as the others
over slept. The 6 stragglers departed May 5.
(SFC, 5/5/99, p.A1,6)(SFC, 5/6/99, p.A7)
1999 Jul 14, Major league
umpires voted to resign September second and not work the final
month of the season. The strategy collapsed, with baseball owners
accepting the resignations of 22 umpires.
(AP, 7/14/00)
1999 Jul 15, The Seattle
Mariners played their first game in their new home, Safeco Field,
losing to the San Diego Padres, 3-to-2.
(AP, 7/15/00)
1999 Jul 18, David Cone of the
New York Yankees pitched a perfect game against the Montreal Expos,
leading his team to a 6-to-0 victory.
(AP, 7/18/00)
1999 Jul 27, In an overwhelming
defeat for major league umpires, their threatened walkout collapsed
when all of the umpires withdrew their resignations; however, about
one-third of them ended up losing their jobs anyway.
(AP, 7/27/00)
1999 Aug 5, Mark McGwire became
the 16th member of the 500-home run club, hitting two homers—
numbers 500 and 501 -- in the St. Louis Cardinals’ loss to San
Diego.
(AP, 8/5/00)
1999 Aug 6, Tony Gwynn became
the 22nd major leaguer to reach three-thousand hits.
(AP, 8/6/00)
1999 Aug 7, Wade Boggs became
the first player to homer for his three-thousandth hit.
(AP, 8/7/00)
1999 Aug 14, Pee Wee Reese,
Baseball Hall of Fame shortstop for the Dodgers, died at age 81 in
Kentucky.
(WSJ, 8/16/99, p.A1)(AP, 8/14/00)
1999 Sep 1, Twenty-two of
baseball’s 68 permanent umpires found themselves jobless, the
fallout from their union’s failed attempt to force an early start to
negotiations for a new labor contract.
(AP, 9/1/00)
1999 Sep 11, Eric Milton
pitched a no-hitter for the Minnesota Twins in their 7-to-0 win over
the Anaheim Angels.
(AP, 9/11/00)
2000 Jan 31, Atlanta Braves
pitcher John Rocker was suspended by baseball commissioner Bud Selig
for disparaging foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in a Sports
Illustrated interview.
(AP, 1/31/01)
2000 Apr 15, Cal Ripken of the
Baltimore Orioles became the 24th player to reach three-thousand
hits when he lined a clean single to center off Twins reliever
Hector Carrasco. The Orioles won the game, 6-to-4.
(AP, 4/15/01)
2000 Apr 18, In his first game
back following a 12-game suspension for making disparaging remarks
about minorities, gays and immigrants, Atlanta’s John Rocker pitched
a scoreless ninth inning in a 4-to-3, 12-inning victory over
Philadelphia.
(AP, 4/18/01)
2000 Jul 11, The American
League defeated the National League 6-to-3 in the All-Star Game.
(AP, 7/11/01)
2000 Oct 26, The New York
Yankees became the first team in more than a quarter century to win
three straight World Series championships, beating the New York Mets
4-to-2 in game five of their "Subway Series." The Yankees matched
the Oakland Athletics' three in a row from 1972-74, and won their
fourth title in five years.
(AP, 10/26/01)
2001 Jan 16, Dave Winfield and
Kirby Puckett were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on their
first try.
(AP, 1/16/02)
2001 Feb 18, Eddie Mathews
(69), baseball Hall of Famer, died at age.
(AP, 2/18/02)
2001 Mar 6, Bill Mazeroski was
elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with former Negro League
player Hilton Smith.
(AP, 3/5/02)
2001 Apr 4, Hideo Nomo became
the fourth pitcher in major league history to throw a no-hitter in
both leagues with Boston's 3-to-0 victory over Baltimore. Nomo, who
threw a no-hitter for Los Angeles in 1996, joined Cy Young, Jim
Bunning and Nolan Ryan as the only pitchers with no-hitters in both
leagues.
(AP, 4/4/02)
2001 Apr 9, Baseball
Hall-of-Famer Willie Stargell died in Wilmington, N.C., at age 61.
(AP, 4/9/02)
2001 Apr 17, San Francisco
Giants slugger Barry Bonds became the 17th major leaguer ever to
reach 500 career home runs.
(AP, 4/17/02)
2001 Jul 10, In Seattle the
American League beat the National League 4:1 in the annual All-Star
game at Safeco Field.
(SFC, 7/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Aug 26, The Tokyo Kitasuna
beat Apopka, Fla., 2-1 to win the Little League championship in
South Williamsport, Pa.
(AP, 8/26/02)
2001 Sep 3, St. Louis Cardinals
pitcher Bud Smith became the 16th rookie in modern history to throw
a no-hitter, shutting down San Diego in a 4-0 win.
(AP, 9/3/02)
2001 Sep 6, In SF Barry Bonds
became the fifth player in baseball history to hit 60 home runs in a
season, connecting in the second inning of San Francisco's game
against Arizona.
(SFC, 9/7/01, p.A1)(AP, 9/6/02)
2001 Oct 7, In SF Barry Bonds
hit his 73rd home run in the final game of the season. Two men, Alex
Popov and Patrick Hayashi, fought over the ball and went to court.
In 2002 a judge ruled that the ball be sold and the cash split. In
2003 the ball was auctioned off for $450,000.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.B1)(SFC, 12/19/02, p.A1)(SFC,
6/26/03, p.A1)
2001 Nov 6, Baseball owners
voted 28-2 to eliminate two major league teams by the 2002 season.
(AP, 11/6/02)
2002 May 17, Joe Black (78),
the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, for the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1952, died in Scottsdale, Ariz.
(AP, 5/17/03)
2002 Jul 5, Ted Williams (83),
baseball Hall of Famer, died in Florida.
(SFC, 7/6/02, p.A1)
2002 Jul 9, To the boos of
disappointed fans, the All-Star game in Milwaukee finished in a 7-7
tie after 11 innings when both teams ran out of pitchers.
(AP, 7/9/03)
2002 Aug 9, Barry Bonds of the
SF Giants hit his 600th homerun and joined the ranks of Henry Aaron
(660), Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (755).
(SFC, 8/10/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 10, Sammy Sosa hit
three 3-run homers in Chicago's 15-1 rout of Colorado. Barry Bonds
of the San Francisco Giants broke Willie McCovey's 1969 record for
intentional walks in a season with his 46th of the year.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2002 Aug 16, Major League
Baseball players set a strike deadline of Aug. 30. The two sides
finally reached an agreement with just six hours to spare.
(AP, 8/16/03)
2002 Aug 30, Major League
Baseball players reached agreement with team owners on a four-year
labor deal, narrowly averting a strike that threatened to drive away
the sport's already embittered fans. It was the first time since
1970 that players and owners had agreed to a new collective
bargaining agreement without a work stoppage.
(Reuters, 8/30/02)(AP, 8/30/03)
2002 Sep 19, Kansas City first
base coach Tom Gamboa was attacked without warning by two fans, a
father and son, who came out of the seats at Chicago's Comiskey
Park. The father, 34-year-old William Ligue Jr., and his 15-year-old
son later received probation.
(AP, 9/19/03)
2002 Oct 27, The Anaheim Angels
beat the SF Giants in the 7th game of the baseball World Series 4-1.
(SFC, 10/28/02, p.A1)
2003 Feb 17, Baltimore Orioles
pitcher Steve Bechler died of heatstroke at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
hospital, less than 24 hours after complaining of dizziness during a
spring training workout.
(AP, 2/17/04)
2003 Jun 18, Larry Doby (70),
baseball Hall-of-Famer who broke the American League's color barrier
in 1947, died in Montclair, N.J.
(AP, 6/18/04)
2003 Jul 29, Boston's Bill
Mueller became the first player in major league history to hit grand
slams from both sides of the plate in a game and connected for three
homers in a 14-7 win at Texas.
(AP, 7/29/04)
2003 Aug 10, Atlanta Braves
shortstop Rafael Furcal turned the 12th unassisted triple play in
major league history against the St. Louis Cardinals. St. Louis beat
Atlanta 3-2.
(AP, 8/11/04)
2003 Aug 24, Japan’s
Musashi-Fuchu routed East Boynton Beach, Fla., 10-1 to win the
Little League World Series.
(AP, 8/24/08)
2003 Oct 5, The Chicago Cubs
won their first postseason series since 1908 when they beat Atlanta
5-1 in the decisive Game 5 of the National League playoffs.
(AP, 10/5/04)
2003 Oct 15, The Florida
Marlins defeated the Chicago Cubs 9-6 in game 7 for the National
League pennant.
(WSJ, 10/16/03, p.A1)
2003 Oct 25, The Florida
Marlins beat the NY Yankees 2-0 at Yankee Stadium and won Baseball's
World Series in 6 games.
(SSFC, 10/26/03, p.B1)
2003 Nov 7, The defending
champion US baseball team failed to qualify for the 2004 Athens
Olympics, losing to Mexico 2-1 in the quarterfinals of a qualifying
tournament in Panama City, Panama.
(AP, 11/7/08)
2003 Nov 11, Toronto's Roy
Halladay won the American League Cy Young Award.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2003 Nov 13, Baseball officials
said 5% of anonymous samples showed steroids present, triggering
mandatory tests next year.
(WSJ, 11/14/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 17, Texas Rangers
shortstop Alex Rodriguez won the American League Most Valuable
Player award.
(AP, 11/17/04)
2003 Nov 24, Warren Spahn (82),
the Hall of Fame pitcher who won more games than any other
left-hander in history, died in Broken Arrow, Ok.
(AP, 11/24/03)
2003 Dec 4, Barry Bonds, SF
homerun star, told a grand jury that he used a clear substance and a
cream supplied by BALCO, but that he never thought they were
steroids. The SF Chronicle obtained a transcript of his testimony in
2004.
(SFC, 12/3/04, p.A1)
2003 Michael Lewis authored
"Moneyball," the story of Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane
and his use of sabermetrics (a numerical study of what makes a
ballplayer valuable) in building a championship-caliber team.
(WSJ, 7/1/03, p.D8)
2004 Mar 11, San Diego opened
its new 46,000 downtown Petco Park baseball stadium with the Aztec
Invitational, a 4-day series between the San Diego Univ. Aztecs and
the Univ. of Houston Cougars.
(Econ, 4/10/04, p.23)
2004 Mar 17, Major league
Baseball banned THG, a steroid at the center of a criminal probe
involving a SF-area lab.
(WSJ, 3/18/04, p.A1)
2004 Mar 21, Veterans Stadium
(b.1971) in Philadelphia was demolished in 62 seconds following
2,800 explosions.
(WSJ, 3/25/04, p.D1)
2004 Apr 8, The San Diego
Padres hosted the SF giants at the new 46,000 downtown Petco Park
baseball stadium. It anchored a new 26-block re-development area.
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.D2)
2004 May 18, Randy Johnson (40)
pitched a perfect game to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 2-0
victory over the Atlanta Braves.
(SFC, 5/19/04, p.D1)
2004 Sep 17, In SF Barry Bonds
became the first new member of baseball’s homerun 700 club in 31
years, joining Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. Timothy Griffith (21), was
stabbed to death in a fight after the game. Rafael Antonio Cuevas
(22) was arrested Oct 1. On Oct 27 the homerun ball was auctioned
for $804,129. On Oct 10, 2008, Cuevas was sentenced 16 years to life
for 2nd degree murder and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.
(SFC, 9/18/04, p.A1)(SFC, 10/2/04, p.B4)(SFC,
10/28/04, p.B1)(SFC, 10/11/08, p.B2)
2004 Oct 20, Boston Red Sox
fans poured into the streets outside Fenway Park to celebrate their
team's victory over the New York Yankees. Victoria Snellgrove (21)
died the next day after a crowd control pellet hit her in the eye.
(AP, 10/21/04)(WSJ, 10/22/04, p.A1)(SFC,
10/23/04, p.A2)
2004 Oct 21, The St. Louis
Cardinals won the National League pennant with a 7th game win over
the Houston Astros.
(SFC, 10/22/04, p.D1)
2004 Oct 27, The Boston Red Sox
won the World Series over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in game 4. It
was Boston's sixth championship, but the first after 86 years of
frustration.
(AP, 10/28/04)
2004 Dec 5, Senator McCain
demanded that baseball players and owners take action to tighten
drug testing and threatened legislation to that end.
(WSJ, 12/6/04, p.A1)
2004 Pete Rose authored his
autobiography titled "My Prison Without Bars," in which he
acknowledged betting on baseball games.
(SFC, 1/6/04, p.A1)
2005 Mar 17, US Congressional
hearings began on steroid use among baseball players.
(SFC, 3/18/05, p.A1)
2005 Apr 14, Pres. Bush threw
out the 1st pitch at RFK Stadium as the Nationals brought baseball
back to the capital. Washington, DC, had last hosted a major-league
game in September, 1971.
(WSJ, 4/15/05, p.A1)
2005 May 5, Charlie Muse (87),
inventor of the baseball batting helmet, died in Florida.
(WSJ, 5/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Aug 1, Rafael Palmeiro,
Baltimore Orioles star, was suspended for 10 days for use of
steroids. The action raised the possibility of a perjury probe.
(SFC, 8/2/05, p.A1)
2005 Oct 26, The Chicago White
Sox beat the Houston Astros 1-0 to win their first World Series
title since 1917.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2005 Nov 15, US Major League
baseball owners and players agreed to tougher policy aimed at
curbing the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
(SFC, 11/16/05, p.A1)
2005 Howard Bryant authored
“Juicing the Game: Drugs, Power, and the Fight for the Soul of Major
League Baseball.”
(SSFC, 7/24/05, p.B1)
2006 Mar 6, Baseball Hall of
Famer Kirby Puckett died in Phoenix at age 45.
(AP, 3/6/07)
2006 May 20, Barry Bonds tied
Babe Ruth for second place on the career list with his 714th home
run.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2006 Jul 11, The American
League edged the National League 3-2 in the All-Star Game in
Pittsburgh.
(AP, 7/11/07)
2006 Sep 23, Barry Bonds hit
his 734th career home run in the Giants' 10-8 loss to the Brewers,
breaking Hank Aaron's NL record.
(AP, 9/23/07)
2006 Oct 7, The NY Yankees were
eliminated from the first round of the AL playoffs, losing to
Detroit 8-3 in Game 4. It was the second straight year New York lost
in the opening round.
(AP, 10/8/06)
2006 Oct 27, In Missouri the St
Louis Cardinals won the World Series by beating the Detroit Tigers
4-2 in game 5, claiming their first MLB crown in 24 years.
(Reuters, 10/28/06)
2006 Nov 14, Brandon Webb of
the Arizona Diamondbacks won a wide-open race for the NL Cy Young
Award.
(AP, 11/14/07)
2007 Mar 15, Bowie Kuhn (80),
former baseball commissioner died in Jacksonville, Fla.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2007 Apr 29, St. Louis
Cardinals relief pitcher Josh Hancock, 29, was killed in the crash
of his sport utility vehicle.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2007 Jul 29, Cal Ripken Jr. and
Tony Gwynn took their place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(AP, 7/29/08)
2007 Aug 4, Barry Bonds of the
SF Giants hit his 755th home run tying a 1976 record set by Hank
Aaron. The Giants lost to the San Diego Padres 3-2 in 12 innings.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron)(SSFC,
8/5/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 4, Alex Rodriguez
became at age 32 the youngest player in major league history to hit
500 home runs with a first-inning homer in a 16-8 NY Yankee victory
over Kansas City.
(AP, 8/4/08)
2007 Aug 7, In SF Barry Bonds
his record breaking 756th homerun. He had just tied Hank Aaron’s
record on August 4. The Giants lost to the Washington Nationals 8-6.
The ball was later auctioned to fashion designer Marc Ecko for a
record $752,467, which included a 20% buyer’s premium.
(AP, 8/8/07)(SSFC, 9/16/07, p.B1)(SFC, 9/18/07,
p.A1)
2007 Aug 14, Phil Rizzuto (89),
the Hall of Fame shortstop during the Yankees' dynasty years and
beloved by a generation of fans for exclaiming "Holy cow!" as a
broadcaster, died.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Sep 1, Clay Buchholz
threw a no-hitter in his second major league start, just hours after
being called up by the Boston Red Sox. Buchholz struck out nine,
walked three and hit one batter to give the Red Sox a 10-0 victory
over Baltimore.
(AP, 9/1/08)
2007 Sep 19, Topps Co. CEO
Arthur Shorin said shareholders had approved a deal in which Michael
Eisner’s Tornante Co. investment firm and Madison Dearborn Partners
LLC would take the baseball card and candy company private for $9.75
per share.
(SFC, 9/20/07, p.C3)
2007 Sep 20, The SF Giants told
Barry Bonds, a 15-year baseball star with the Giants, that his
career with the Giants would end with the conclusion of the 2007
season. The decision was made public the next day.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A8)(SSFC, 9/23/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 21, The Boston Red Sox
won the American League championship in Game 7 of their series with
the Cleveland Indians, 11-2.
(AP, 10/21/08)
2007 Oct 21,
Paul Byrd, pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, acknowledged
that he had used human growth hormone from August 2002 to January
2005 due to a pituitary gland issue. An investigation was pending as
Major League Baseball and the Indians said they had not been aware
of Byrd’s use of the muscle building substance.
(SFC, 10/22/07, p.A1)
2007 Oct 28,
In Denver the Boston Red Sox swept to their second World
Series title in four years with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies
in Game 4.
(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Oct 29, Police in riot
gear cleared several large crowds gathered around Fenway Park in the
early morning after the Red Sox won their second World Series title
in four years.
(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Nov 12, Ryan Braun won the
NL Rookie of the Year award in one of the closest votes, while
Dustin Pedroia ran away with the AL honor.
(AP, 11/12/08)
2007 Nov 13, CC Sabathia won
the AL Cy Young Award to become the first Cleveland pitcher in 35
years to earn the honor.
(AP, 11/13/08)
2007 Nov 15, Barry Bonds,
former SF Giant, was indicted on 4 counts of perjury and one count
of obstruction of justice related to a December, 2003, grand jury
investigation on the BALCO steroid ring. A revamped indictment was
unsealed last May.
(SFC, 11/16/07, p.A1)(AP, 11/15/08)
2007 Dec 3, Former commissioner
Bowie Kuhn was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; former Dodgers
owner Walter O'Malley, managers Dick Williams and Billy Southworth
and ex-Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss also were elected.
(AP, 12/3/08)
2007 Dec 7, Barry Bonds pleaded
not guilty in San Francisco to charges he'd lied to federal
investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2007 Dec 13, US Sen. George
Mitchell presented his report on steroid use among professional
baseball players. The 409-page report described wide-spread use and
recommended tough new measures for testing and investigations.
(SFC, 12/14/07, p.A1)
2008 Mar 25, America’s baseball
season opened in Japan as the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland
Athletics 6-5.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.83)
2008 Jul 12, Bobby Murcer (62),
former Yankee baseball player and broadcaster, died from a malignant
brain tumor in Oklahoma City. The only person to play with Mantle
and Mattingly, the popular Murcer hit .277 with 252 home runs and
1,043 RBIs in 17 seasons with the Yankees, San Francisco and the
Chicago Cubs. He made the All-Star team in both leagues and won a
Gold Glove.
(AP, 7/13/08)
2008 Aug 12, Dorothy Wiltse
Collins (b.1923), star pitcher in women’s professional baseball in
the 1940s, died in Fort Wayne, Indiana from a stroke. Pitching for
six seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League,
created in 1943 to provide home front entertainment while many major
leaguers were off to war, Collins dazzled opposing batters. The
All-American league went out of business after the 1954 season. She
drew on her contacts to provide the Baseball Hall of Fame with
memorabilia from the league, spurring creation of its Women in
Baseball exhibit in 1988.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dottie_Wiltse_Collins)
2008 Sep 21, NYC police
arrested more than a dozen people for stealing pieces of Yankee
Stadium during the 85-year-old ballpark's final game.
(AP, 9/23/08)
2008 Sep 30, In the Dominican
Republic a Hummer truck registered to New York Mets pitcher Ambiorix
Burgos struck pedestrians Josefina Minaya Martinez (38) and Angely
Fana (29). They died later at a hospital. An arrest warrant for
Burgos was issued on Oct 3.
(AP, 10/4/08)
2008 Oct 29, The Philadelphia
Phillies won the baseball World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3
with the conclusion of Game 5, which had been stopped by rain 2 days
earlier.
(SFC, 10/30/08, p.D1)
2008 Nov 11, Tim Lincecum,
pitcher for the SF Giants, was named winner of the Cy Young Award.
(SFC, 11/12/08, p.A1)
2009 Feb 9, Baseball player
Alex Rodriguez admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs with
the Texas Rangers from 2001 to 2003.
(WSJ, 2/10/09, p.A1)
2009 Apr 9, In Fullerton, Ca.,
Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart (22) was killed along with
2 others in a car accident with a suspected drunk driver.
(SFC, 4/10/09, p.C1)
2009 May 7, LA Dodger’s star
Manny Ramirez (36) was suspended by Major League Baseball for 50
games for using HCG, a banned drug.
(SFC, 5/8/09, p.A1)
2009 Oct 25, The New York
Yankees, baseball's biggest spenders, finally cashed in with their
first pennant in six years, beating the Los Angeles Angels 5-2 in
Game 6 of the AL championship series behind the savvy pitching of
Andy Pettitte.
(AP, 10/26/09)
2009 Nov 4, The New York
Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-3 in Game 6, finally
seizing the World Series crown, the team's first since winning three
straight from 1998-2000, making it championship No. 27.
(AP, 11/5/09)
2009 Allen Barra authored “Yogi
Berra: Eternal Yankee.”
(WSJ, 3/19/09, p.A13)
2010 Jan 11, Mark McGwire ended
more than a decade of denials and evasion admitting that steroids
and human growth hormone helped make him a home run king. His record
of 70 home runs in 1998 was surpassed by Barry Bonds' 73 homers in
2001, the year of McGwire's retirement and the apex of the Steroids
Era. McGwire said he first used steroids between the 1989 and 1990
seasons, after helping the Oakland Athletics to a World Series sweep
when he and Jose Canseco formed the Bash Brothers. He returned to
steroids after the 1993 season, when he missed all but 27 games with
a mysterious heel injury, after being told steroids might speed his
recovery.
(AP, 1/12/10)
2010 Apr 24, The Texas Rangers
filed for bankruptcy. Hicks Sports Group, the holding company that
owns the Rangers, stopped paying interest on its $525 million of
debts last year.
(Econ, 5/29/10, p.64)
2010 May 23, Jose Lima
(1972-2010), a right-hand Dominican pitcher who was a 20-game winner
and an All-Star during a 13-year major league career, died in
Pasadena, Ca., of an apparent heart attack.
(AP, 5/23/10)
2010 Jul 13, George
Steinbrenner (80), who rebuilt the NY Yankees into a sports empire
with a mix of bluster and big bucks that polarized fans all across
America, died in Tampa, Fl.
(AP, 7/13/10)
2010 Aug 14, South Korean Lee
Dae-Ho broke a world record by scoring a home run for his ninth
straight game.
(AFP, 8/14/10)
2010 Oct 3, The SF Giants
baseball team clinched a division title with a 3-0 win over the San
Diego Padres.
(SFC, 10/4/10, p.A1)
2010 Oct 11, The San Francisco
Giants beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 at Turner Field to clinch the
National League Championship Series.
(SFC, 10/12/10, p.A1)
2010 Oct 23, The SF Giants won
a trip to the World Series. In Pennsylvania Juan Uribe hit a
tiebreaking homer off Ryan Madson with two outs in the eighth inning
and the Giants held off the Phillies 3-2 in Game 6 of the NL
championship series. This finished off the Phillies' bid to become
the first NL team in 66 years to win three straight pennants.
(AP, 10/24/10)(SSFC, 10/24/10, p.1)
2010 Oct 27, The SF Giants
battered the Texas Rangers 11-7 in Game 1 of the World Series.
(AP, 10/28/10)
2010 Oct 28, The SF Giants at
home won game 2 of the world series, 9-0, over the Texas Rangers.
(SFC, 10/29/10, p.A1)
2010 Oct 30, In Texas the SF
Giants lost game 3 of the World Series 4-2 to the Texas Rangers
leaving SF up 2 games to 1.
(SFC, 11/1/10, p.A1)
2010 Nov 1, The SF Giants won
the Baseball World Series beating the Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 in
San Francisco. Edgar Renteria blasted his second home run of the
2010 Fall Classic, a three-run shot, to win the championship.
Renteria had the game-winning hit in the 11th inning of Game 7 in
the 1997 World Series for the Florida Marlins.
(AP, 11/2/10)(http://tinyurl.com/29joxc3)
2010 Nov 3, In San Francisco
tens of thousands of baseball fans flocked downtown to toast the SF
Giants' World Series championship and see their hometown heroes take
a victory lap in a ticker-tape parade.
(AP, 11/4/10)
2010 Nov 4, Sparky Anderson
(76), Hall of Fame big league baseball manager, died from
complications of dementia in Thousand Oaks, Ca. He was the first
manager to win World Series titles in both leagues and the only
manager to lead two franchises in career wins. Anderson won 863
games in nine years with the Cincinnati Reds and 1,331 in 17 seasons
with the Detroit Tigers.
(AP, 11/5/10)
2011 Mar 31, SF Giants fan
Bryan Stow was beaten and left in a coma following a game outside
Dodger Stadium. LA police on May 22 arrested suspect Giovanni
Ramirez (31). On June 20 Ramirez was given a 10-month prison
sentence for alleged gun possession. On July 21 police arrested two
new suspects in the case, Louis Alex Sanchez (29) and Marvin Eugene
Norwood (30).
(SFC, 5/23/11, p.A1)(SFC, 6/21/11, p.C2)(SFC,
7/22/11, p.A1)(SFC, 7/23/11, p.A8)
2011 Apr 13, A jury in San
Francisco, Ca., convicted former baseball star Barry Bonds of
obstruction of justice regarding his use of performance-enhancing
drugs.
(SFC, 4/14/11, p.A1)
2011 Jul 6, SF Giants
management dismissed payroll manager Robin O’Connor (41) after she
admitted to diverting over $608 thousand to her personal bank
account. Further reviews found that she had diverted over $1.5
million to her own accounts since June, 2010. On March 26, 2012,
O’Connor admitted embezzling $2.2 million and was sentenced to 21
months in federal prison.
(SFC, 8/31/11, p.A1)(SFC, 3/27/12, p.C2)
2011 Nov 9, In Venezuela
Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos (24), who had just
finished his rookie season, was seized from his home in the town of
Santa Ines by kidnappers. Ramos was reported rescued on Nov 11.
(AP, 11/10/11)(AP, 11/11/11)
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