Category Archives: Baseball Reminiscences & History

Apr 15

Game 19, 2024

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Nationals at Dodgers, 7:10 PM PDT, TV: MASN2, MLBN (out-of-market only), SPNLA

LHP Mitchell Parker (0-0, 0.00 ERA) makes his MLB debut for the Nationals. He’ll face RHP Tyler Glasnow (3-0, 2.25 ERA) of the Dodgers. Glasnow has so far been everything the Dodgers hoped for when they signed him to a long-term contract over the offseason.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1909 On Opening Day, the Superbas are no-hit by the Giants’ Red Ames for 9.1 innings. The Polo Grounds contest will go thirteen innings before Brooklyn defeats the 26 year-old right-hander, 3-0.
  • 1930 On Opening Day, Phillies’ southpaw Les Sweetland throws a three-hitter at Ebbets Field. The 28 year-old southpaw doubles and scores the lone run in the eighth inning of his 1-0 complete-game victory over Brooklyn.
  • 1933 In his major league debut, Tigers rookie Lynwood “Schoolboy” Rowe tosses a six-hitter, blanking the White Sox, 3-0. During his 15-year career, playing also with the Dodgers and Phillies, Rowe will compile a 158-101 record, posting an ERA of 3.87.
  • 1947 A year before President Truman desegregated the military, Jackie Robinson debuts for the Dodgers, becoming the first black player to participate in a major league game this century. In front of 25,623 Ebbets Field fans, the 28 year-old first baseman is hitless in three at-bats, but scores a run in the 5-3 Opening Day victory over the Braves.
  • 1958 On Opening Day, the transplanted New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers play the first major league game on the West Coast. The California contest sees Ruben Gomez blanking Los Angeles and Don Drysdale at San Francisco’s Seals Stadium, 8-0.
  • 1959 Cardinal right-hander Bob Gibson makes his major league debut at LA Memorial Coliseum, tossing the final two innings in a 5-0 loss to the Dodgers. The 23 year-old rookie becomes the first future Hall of Fame hurler to give up a home run to the first batter he faces in the major leagues when third baseman Jim Baxes takes him deep in the seventh inning.
  • 2004 Major league baseball begins the tradition of Jackie Robinson Day, an annual celebration commemorating the day the color line was broken in 1947. At big league venues across the country ceremonies are being held to honor the ground-breaking historic event, including baseball commissioner Bud Selig and Jackie’s widow Rachel Robinson attending the festivities at Shea Stadium.
  • 2005 The Dodgers, to commemorate the 58th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s first game in the big leagues, wear replicas of the old road uniforms worn by the 1947 team which played in Brooklyn. Right-hander Derek Lowe throws a three-hitter, blanking the Padres in San Diego, 4-0.
  • 2007 To honor Jackie Robinson, some players on each team, including Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter and Braves’ outfielder Andruw Jones, wear the Dodger immortal’s uniform No. 42 on the 60th anniversary of his historic breaking the color barrier in baseball. In the Cardinals and Brewers contest at Busch Stadium, every player and coach on both teams dons Jackie’s revered number.

Lineups when available.

Mar 25

Freeway Series, Game Two, 2024

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Angels at Dodgers, 6:10 PM PDT, TV: KCOP, SPNLA

LHP Reid Detmers (1-0, 3.38 ERA Spring Training) pitches for the visitors and RHP Gavin Stone (3-0, 1.93 ERA Spring Training) does so for the Dodgers.

In the major news of the day, Shohei Ohtani is scheduled to speak to the media regarding his former interpreter’s alleged gambling at 2:45 p.m. PDT. It will be televised live on MLB Network and SPNLA and carried on the radio on AM570 in LA and on the iHeartRadio app. Apparently he’s just going to read a statement and not take any questions, which will undoubtedly anger every working member of the press within miles.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1934 For the third time in six days, track and field Olympian medalist (javelin, hurdles, high jump) Babe Didrikson takes the mound to face a major league team. The Orleans Pelicans’ hurler pitches two scoreless innings against the Indians and lines out in her only at-bat.(Ed. Note: Earlier this week, Didrikson pitched for the A’s against the Dodgers and the Cardinals with the Red Sox as her opponents.-LP)
  • 1945 Tryouts are granted to pitcher Terris McDuffie and first baseman Dave Thomas when a group of blacks appears at the Dodger offices in Brooklyn. The two players will work out at Ebbets Field in front of Branch Rickey on April 7.

Lineups when available.

Nov 01

World Series Game Five, 2023

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Texas at Arizona, 5:03 PM PDT, TV: Fox. Texas leads the Series three games to one.

The Rangers send RHP Nathan Iovaldi (4-0, 3.52 ERA postseason) out to try to win the Series. RHP Zac Gallen of the Diamondbacks (2-2, 5.27 ERA postseason) will try to extend it.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1942 The Dodgers replace team president Larry MacPhail, who accepted a commission in the U.S. Army in September, with Branch Rickey, formerly the Cardinals’ vice-president before resigning three days ago. Brooklyn’s new boss will guide the team to two pennants during his eight-year reign in the “The Borough of Churches.”
  • 1966 In the final time when there is only one selection from both leagues, Dodger southpaw Sandy Koufax becomes the first three-time recipient of the Cy Young Award. The 30-year-old left-hander, recipient of the prestigious pitching prize in 1963 and 1965, posted a 27-9 (.750) record and an ERA of 1.73 for the National League champs.
  • 2001 The first major league game ever started in November becomes memorable when the Yankees, for the second consecutive night, make a dramatic comeback in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and go on to a World Series Game Five victory in extra innings. Scott Brosius hits a game-tying two-out two-run homer to knot the game at 2-2, and Alfonso Soriano singles in Chuck Knoblauch in the 12th, giving the Yankees a 3-2 victory and 3-2 lead in the Fall Classic over the Diamondbacks.
  • 2005 The unveiling of a bronze sculpture capturing the friendship of Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson takes place at Brooklyn’s KeySpan Park, home of the Mets’ Single-A team. The William Behrends sculpture captures the moment when the Dodger captain showed support by putting his arm around his black teammate’s shoulder, hushing an unruly crowd hurling racial slurs at his teammate at Crosley Field in 1947.
  • 2010 Edgar Renteria, who drove in the Marlins’ winning run against Cleveland during Game 7 of the 1997 Fall Classic, joins Yankees legends Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra as only the fourth player in baseball history to collect two World Series-winning hits. The Series MVP’s three-run homer off Cliff Lee in the seventh inning leads to San Francisco’s 3-1 victory over the Rangers, bringing a World Championship to the Giants for the first time since 1954.
Oct 31

World Series Game Four, 2023

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Texas at Arizona, 5:03 PM PDT, TV: Fox. Texas leads the Series two games to one.

LHP Andrew Heaney (0-0, 6.00 ERA postseason) goes for the Rangers while LHP Joe Mantiply (2-0, 4.26 ERA postseason) pitches for the D-Backs.

Today in baseball history:

  • 2001 The Yankees’ 3-2 victory over the Diamondbacks marks the first time a team comes back to tie a Fall Classic game in the ninth and then goes on to win in extra innings since the Philadelphia A’s Mule Haas hit a game-tying two-run homer in Game 5 of the 1929 World Series. Tino Martinez sent the contest into overtime with a two-out homer off Diamondbacks’ closer Byung-Hyun Kim, and Derek Jeter, dubbed Mr. November, wins the game after the stroke of midnight with a full count two-out round-tripper, giving the Bronx Bombers the walkoff victory.
  • 2005 On Halloween night, former Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein eludes the media on the night of his resignation parked outside Fenway Park disguised in a gorilla suit. The hairy costume will be auctioned at a future charity event, making $11,000 for the Jimmy Fund and Theo’s Foundation, To Be Named Later.
  • 2009 In Game 3, Alex Rodriguez’s fly ball in the right-field corner of Citizens Bank Park becomes the subject of the first instant replay call in World Series history. The umpires changed the Yankee third baseman’s hit, initially ruled a double, to a home run after the replay clearly showed the ball going over the fence before striking a television camera and bouncing back to the field.
Oct 30

World Series Game Three, 2023

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Texas at Arizona, 5:03 PM PDT, TV: Fox. The Series is tied at one game apiece.

RHP Max Scherzer (0-1, 9:45 ERA postseason) starts for the Rangers; RHP Brandon Pfaadt (0-0, 2.70 ERA postseason) starts for the Diamondbacks.

Today in baseball history:

  • 2013 The Red Sox capture the World Championship at Fenway Park for the first time since 1918 when the team beats the Cardinals, 6-1, in Game 6 of the Fall Classic. After an 86-year drought between World Series titles, Boston has won three crowns in the past ten years.

  • 2019 After beginning the season with the worst record through 50 games of any champion, the Nationals win the World Series, beating the Astros 6-2 in Game 7. The Minute Maid Park victory marks the first time in the history of the Fall Classic that the road teams were a perfect 7-0 in the series.
Oct 28

World Series Game Two, 2023

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Arizona at Texas, 5:03 PM PDT, TV: Fox. Texas leads the Series one game to none.

The Diamondbacks’ RHP Merrill Kelly (2-1, 2.62 ERA postseason) faces the Rangers’ LHP Jordan Montgomery (3-0, 2.16 ERA postseason).

Today in baseball history:

  • 1953 Red Barber resigns as a Brooklyn Dodger broadcaster and will take the ‘catbird’ seat with the rival New York Yankees. The ‘Old Redhead’ reportedly left the team because he was upset with Brooklyn owner Walter O’Malley’s refusal to support him when he failed to get a higher fee from Gillette, the sponsor of the 1953 World Series on television.
  • 1981 After dropping the first two games of the Fall Classic, the Dodgers defeat the Yankees, 9-2, capturing the World Championship in six games. The victory at the Bronx ballpark marks the third time this postseason that Los Angeles will come from behind to win a series, having been down 0-2 against the Astros in the five-game strike-necessitated NLDS and 1-2 behind the Expos in the NLCS five-game series.
  • 1981 Entering Game 6 of the World Series in the fifth inning, Yankee right-hander George Frazier, relieving starter Tommy John, gives up three go-ahead runs in the team’s 9-2 elimination loss to the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. The 27-year-old reliever becomes the first pitcher to lose three games in a best-of-seven World Series and the second to drop that many decisions in any Fall Classic, joining White Sox Lefty Williams, the loser of a trio of games in the best-of-nine series played in 1919.
  • 1995 In Game 6, Tom Glavine and Mark Wohlers combine on a one-hitter to defeat the Indians, 1-0, giving the Braves their third World Championship, the first since moving to Atlanta. David Justice’s leadoff homer in the sixth inning off Jim Poole proves to be the difference.
  • 2011 After being down by 10.5 games on August 25 for the NL Central Division lead, the Cardinals beat the Rangers at Busch Stadium, 6-2, in Game 7 of the Fall Classic to win their eleventh world championship in franchise history. In Game 6, the Redbirds had been down to their last strike in the ninth and the tenth innings but rallied to tie the score and eventually win the game on David Freese’s leadoff, walk-off home run in the 11th.

Note: These historical notes are excerpts from a list of many more at the website linked above. I recommend you click it for more amusing or tragic baseball facts from this day.

Oct 27

World Series Game One, 2023

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Arizona at Texas, 5:04 PM PDT, TV: Fox

The D-Backs give the ball to RHP Zac Gallen (2-2, 5.24 ERA postseason) and the Rangers give theirs to RHP Nathan Eovaldi (4-0, 2.42 ERA postseason). Here’s a preview. Here’s a position-by-position breakdown.

How about that? Each team’s GM played baseball for Princeton, noted hotbed of the summer game. There have been 97 pro baseball players from the New Jersey school; 43 of them, including the D-Backs’ Mike Hazen and the Rangers’ Chris Young, played for the current coach, Scott Bradley.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1985 The Royals become the sixth team to overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the Fall Classic when series MVP Bret Saberhagen, who became a new dad yesterday, blanks the Cardinals on five hits, 11-0. Kansas City is the first home team in World Series history to lose the series’ first two games and win the World Championship.
  • 1986 With another dramatic comeback, the Mets defeat the Red Sox, 8-5, winning Game 7 of the Fall Classic to become World Champions for the second time in the franchise’s 25-year history. Third baseman Ray Knight, the Fall Classic’s MVP, makes amends for an earlier error by hitting a home run, which puts the Mets ahead in the seventh inning.

  • 1989 After a ten-day delay due to the Loma Prieta earthquake, the World Series resumes with the A’s beating the Giants in Game 3, 13-7. Oakland joins the 1928 Yankees as only the second team in major league history to hit five home runs in a Fall Classic contest.
  • 1991 In Game 7 of the ‘Worst to First’ World Series, the Twins beat the Braves, 1-0, when Dan Gladden scores the winning run in the bottom of the tenth on Gene Larkin’s single, clinching its second world championship since relocating from Washington D.C. in 1961. Atlanta and Minnesota had both finished in last place in their respective divisions the previous season.

  • 1991 At the Metrodome, Jack Morris goes the distance in Game 7 of the World Series, blanking the Braves, 1-0, in the Twins’ ten-inning, dramatic walk-off win. The 36-year-old right-hander, who posts a 2-0 record along with a 1.17 ERA during his three starts, is named the Most Valuable Player of the Fall Classic.
  • 2002 In the team’s 42nd season, the Angels finally win a World Series title by beating the Giants, 4-1, in Game 7 at Edison Field. Garret Anderson’s three-run double provides enough offense for John Lackey to become the first rookie to win the seventh game since 1909, when Babe Adams accomplished the feat for the Pirates.
  • 2004 Under the moon’s reddish tint caused by a lunar eclipse, the Red Sox exorcised 86 years of agonizing losses by winning their first World Series since 1918. In one of the most dominating Fall Classic performances, Boston, who never trailed during the four games, blanks the Cardinals, 3-0, to complete the sweep.
  • 2015 Michael Conforto becomes the third player to accomplish the World Series Triple Crown, playing in the Little League World Series (2004 Redmond LL, WA), the College World Series (2013 Oregon State), and the MLB World Series (2015 Mets). The two other major leaguers who have participated in the rare event are Jason Varitek (1984 Altamonte Springs LL, FL, 1994 Georgia Tech, and the 2004 Red Sox) and Ed Vosberg (1973 Tucson LL, AZ, the 1980 University of Arizona, and the 1997 Marlins).
  • 2020 The Dodgers, the National League representative three out of the last four World Series, end their 32-year drought without a world championship, beating the Rays, 3-1, in Game 6 at Globe Life Field. After winning seven straight divisional titles, the team wins its first Fall Classic since 1988, a year best remembered for the heroics of Kirk Gibson.
Oct 24

NLCS Game Seven, 2023

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Arizona at Philadelphia, 5:07 PM PDT, TV: TBS

RHP Brandon Pfaadt (0-0, 2.13 ERA postseason) makes the start for the D-Backs and LHP Ranger Suárez (1-0, 0.64 ERA postseason) pitches for the Phillies. The series is tied at three games apiece.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1972 Jackie Robinson, weakened by heart disease complications and diabetes, dies of a heart attack in his North Stamford (CT) home. The 53-year-old nearly blind baseball pioneer and social activist’s death comes nine days after his appearance at the World Series, where he threw the ceremonial first pitch before Game 2 at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium.
  • 1987 The Twins, amidst the deafening crowd noise of the hanky-waving fans in the Metrodome, stave off elimination when the team scores eight runs in the fifth and sixth frames of Game 6 to beat the Cardinals, 11-5. Minnesota’s southpaw-swinging Kent Hrbek hits a sixth-inning grand slam off left-handed Ken Dayley to put the contest out of reach for the Redbirds.
  • 1992 In Game 6, Canada wins its first-ever World Series when the Blue Jays beat the Braves at Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, 4-3. Toronto’s 41-year-old right fielder Dave Winfield’s 11th-inning double is the key hit in Toronto’s victory.

  • 2020 Randy Arozarena sets the record for most playoff home runs in a single postseason after going deep for the ninth time, belting a fourth-inning round-tripper in the Rays’ 8-7 victory in Game 4 of the World Series against the Dodgers at Globe Life Field. The Tampa Bay DH surpasses the eight compiled by Barry Bonds (Giants, 2002), Carlos Beltran (Astros, 2004), Nelson Cruz (Rangers, 2011), and Corey Seager (Dodgers, 2020).
Oct 23

NLCS Game Six & ALCS Game Seven, 2023

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Arizona at Philadelphia, 2:07 PM PDT, TV: TBS. The Phillies lead the series three games to two.

RHP Merrill Kelly (1-1, 3.00 ERA postseason) goes for the Diamondbacks and RHP Aaron Nola (3-0, 0.096 ERA postseason) pitches for the Phillies. Preview here.

Texas at Houston, 5:07 PM PDT, TV: Fox. The series is tied at three games apiece.

The Rangers give the ball to RHP Max Scherzer (0-1, 11.25 ERA postseason). The Astros hand their ball to RHP Cristian Javier (2-0, 1.69 ERA postseason). Preview here.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1945 Dodger President Branch Rickey announces that the team has signed two black players, shortstop Jackie Robinson and pitcher Johnny Wright, to play with Brooklyn’s Triple-A team in Montreal. The 26-year-old Negro League infielder will be the first black player in organized baseball since 1884.
  • 1952 The Pacific Coast League announces its teams will play a reduced 176-game schedule next season. However, the PCL clubs will continue to play 180 contests next season, similar to the past two years.
  • 1993
    “Touch ’em all Joe, you’ll never hit a bigger home run in your life” – Tom Cheek, radio voice of the Blue Jays.

    Thanks to Joe Carter’s dramatic ninth-inning three-run homer over the left-field wall, the Blue Jays beat the Phillies 8-6 to win their second consecutive World Championship. The Toronto outfielder becomes the second player to end the World Series with a home run, joining Bill Mazeroski, whose Forbes Field’s round-tripper beat the Yankees in 1960.

  • 2005 For the 14th time in World Series history, a walk-off home run ends the contest when Scott Podsednik’s ninth-inning blast in Game 2 at Chicago’s U.S. Cellular Field beats the Astros, 7-6. Bill Mazeroski remains the only player to accomplish the feat in the seventh game of the Fall Classic.
Oct 22

ALCS Game Six, 2023

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Texas at Houston, 5:07 PM PDT, TV: FS1. The Astros lead the series 3-2.

The Rangers send out RHP Nathan Eovaldi (3-0, 2.29 ERA postseason) to face the Astros’ LHP Framber Valdez (0-2, 11.57 ERA postseason).

Here’s a preview of the potential series-ender.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1845 The first known box score appears in the New York Morning News. Alexander Cartwright’s notation detailing the game comes a month after some of his fellow Knickerbockers wrote the first set of rules.

  • 1910 After three straight defeats and trailing Philadelphia by a run in the ninth, the Cubs tie the score, winning 4-3 in ten innings for their only World Series victory. The A’s will easily take the Fall Classic in five games.
  • 1960
    “But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters.” – JOHN UPDIKE

    The New Yorker magazine publishes Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu, an article by 28-year-old John Updike chronicling Ted Williams’ last game in the major leagues. The future Pulitzer Prize-winning author, among the 10,000 fans at the fabled game, ends the much-celebrated baseball essay with, “Gods do not answer letters,” as an explanation of the superstar not acknowledging the Fenway faithful after homering in his final major league at-bat.

  • 1975 In a fitting finish to one of the most classic World Series ever played, the Reds beat the Red Sox in a thrilling Game 7 victory, 4-3. Future Hall of Fame infielder Joe Morgan’s ninth-inning bloop single into center field, scoring Ken Griffey, proves to be the decisive hit in the Fenway Park contest.
  • 2011 In the Cardinals’ 16-7 rout of the Rangers in Game 3 of the Fall Classic, Albert Pujols hits three homers, drives in six runs, and collects five hits, equaling three World Series records. ‘Prince Albert’, who also set a Series mark with 14 total bases, connects on fastballs from three different Texas pitchers, joining Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for the most round-trippers in a World Series game.

  • 2016 The Cubs win their first pennant since 1945, blanking the Dodgers 5-0 at Wrigley Field in Game 6 of the NLCS. Kyle Hendrick, who goes 7⅓ innings, and Aroldis Chapman combine to face the minimum 27 batters, allowing only two hits and one walk, making it the first time this has occurred in the postseason play since Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series.