Dr. Harvey Frommer The Book Review
The variety and range of sports books is seemingly endless. Big time publishers and writers along with smaller companies and less known scribes are all out there producing mostly quality products. What follows are a few cases in point."The Mudville Heritage" by Tristram Potter Coffin (gotta love that name) from Rvive Books, $15.00, paper, 171 pages is yet another re-issue of a wondrous tome first published in 1971. Anecdotes galore about the national pastime and many of its heroes grace the pages of this unique book.
"Joe Louis" by Randy Roberts (Yale University Press, is a long over-due book updating the role of the Brown Bomber in American sports and culture. Roberts has done his homework and we are the better for it. First hand interviews, and careful research blend together. The book is a knockout!
For the golf guys out there -"Golf and Philosophy edited by Andy Wible (University of Kentucky, $35.00, 275 pages) is all about lessons from the links. A range of contributors have their say on all kinds of philosophical implications the game has to offer. "Mr. Hogan, the man I Knew" by Kris Tschetter (Gotham, $22.50, 223 pages) is a bit over-priced for its size, but that's publishing. The author, an LPGA touring pro since 1988, lays it out nicely - -her relationship with a legend when both were at different phases of their life and golf game."Eddie Shore" by C. Michael Hiam (McClelland & Stewart, $27.95, 352 pages) is a wonder of a book about one of the true legends of hockey, of all sports. We are truly there and up close and personal with the man who came out of the Canadian prairie to impact hockey as few before or since have.
"Find A Way by Merrill Hoge (Center Street, $21.99, 205 pages) is his story of fighting back and beating all kinds of challenges and obstacles throughout his life including cancer. A former NFL running back and now an ESPN sportscaster, Hoge found a way. Moving reading.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Baseball Names and How They Got That Way! (P - -PART II)
The words and phrases are spoken and written day after day, year after year - generally without any wonderment as to how they became part of the language. All have a history, a story. For those of you who liked Part I, Part II, Part III, X, XV and all the others and wanted more, here is more, just a sampling. As always, reactions and suggestions always welcome. And bear in mind - - this is by no means a complete list.
PENGUIN, THE A Tacoma, Washington, native, Ron Cey of the Los Angeles Dodgers is one of major league baseball's top third basemen. His awkward movements when walking and, especially, when running have resulted in his nickname.
PENNANT A pennant-shaped banner that symbolizes the winning of a league championship (FLAG).
PEOPLE'S CHERCE, THE Fred "Dixie" Walker compiled a .306 batting average in an 18-year major league baseball career, with five different teams. From 1940 to 1947 he starred in the outfield for the Brooklyn Dodgers and won the affection of the fans at Ebbets Field. The team had bigger stars, more proficient players, but Walker somehow had a rapport with the fans that made him their favorite and earned for him his "Brooklynese" nickname.
PEPI Short for Joe Pepitone out of Brooklyn, New York, of brief major league fame with the Yankees and other teams.
PEPPER GAME Pregame warm-up action where a player chops the ball on the ground to teammates who field the ball and flip it back to him.
PERCENTAGE PLAYER OR MANAGER One who goes by past form or logical odds and acts on the basis of these considerations.
PERFECT GAME A no-hitter in which all 27 opposing batters in a nine-inning game, for example, do not get on base. The most famous of them all Don Larsen’s beauty on October 8, 1956.
“I have been asked a million times about the perfect game.” Don Larsen said. “ I never dreamed about something like that happening and everybody is entitled to a good day and mine came at the right time.
"I still find it hard to believe I really pitched the perfect game," Don Larsen said. "It's almost like a dream, like something that happened to somebody else."
The image of the Yankee right-hander casually tossing the ball from a no-stretch windup to Yogi Berra remains as part of baseball lore. Larsen struck out Junior Gilliam on a breaking ball to start the game. Then the 3-2 count on Pee Wee Reese – and the strikeout.
It all blended together - the autumn shadows and the smoke and the haze at the stadium, the World Series buntings on railings along the first and third base lines, the scoreboard and the zeroes for the Dodgers of Brooklyn mounting inning after inning.
The 6'4," 240 pound hurler threw no more than l5 pitches in any one inning against the mighty Dodgers of Campanella, Reese, Hodges, Gilliam, Robinson, Snider and Furillo.
A second inning Jackie Robinson line drive off the glove of Andy Carey at third was picked up by Gil McDougald. Out at first. Mantle’s great jump on a fifth inning line drive by Gil Hodges positioned him for a backhand grab of the ball. Hodges eighth inning hot shot down the third base line was converted into an out by Andy Carey. Sandy Amoros and Duke Snider of the Dodgers hit balls into the right field seats - foul but barely so.
Just two seasons before Don Larsen pitching for Baltimore had one of the worst records ever (3-21). He became a Yankee in the fall of 1954 in a 17-player trade. “ Nobody lost more games than me in the American League that year,” Larsen said. “ But two of my wins came against the Yankees. That's probably why I came to them.
In 1956, "Gooneybird,” his teammates called him that for his late-night behavior, posted an 11-5 record. In his next-to-last start of ‘56, Larsen unveiled his no-windup delivery. "The ghouls sent me a message," he joked explaining why.
Larsen started Game 2 in the World Series against Brooklyn. He was atrocious walking four, allowing four runs in 1 2/3 innings. There was no one more shocked than the big right-hander when he learned when he arrived at Yankee Stadium that he be the starter in Game 5.
Now he was finishing it. "Everybody suddenly got scared we weren't playing the outfield right," Stengel said. "I never seen so many managers." The Yankee infield of first baseman Joe Collins, second baseman Billy Martin, shortstop Gil McDougald and third baseman Andy Carey were ready for any kind of play.
The Yankees were clinging to a 2-0 lead scratched out against veteran Sal Maglie, age 39. Gilliam hit a hard one-hopper to short to open the seventh inning, and was thrown out by Gil McDougald. Reese and Duke Snider flied out. In the eighth, Jackie Robinson grounded back to Larsen. Andy Carey caught Hodges' low liner at third base. Amoros struck out.
The huge crowd of 64,519.at the stadium cheered each out. The game moved to the bottom of the ninth inning. "If it was 9-0, Larsen would've been paying little attention," Berra remembered. "It was close and he had to be extremely disciplined. He was. At the start of the ninth I didn't say a thing about how well he was throwing. I went to the mound and reminded him that if he walked one guy and the next guy hit one out, the game was tied."
"The last three outs were the toughest," the Indiana native recalled. "I was so weak in the knees that I thought I was going to faint. I was so nervous I almost fell down. My legs were rubbery. My fingers didn't feel like they belonged to me. I said to myself, 'Please help me somebody.'"
The 64,5l9 in the stands were quiet. Four pitches were fouled off by Furillo and then he hit a fly ball out to Batter in right field. Campanella grounded out weakly to Billy Martin at second base. Left-handed batter Dale Mitchell pinch hit for Sal Maglie. It would be the final major league at bat for the 35-year-old lifetime .3l2 hitter. Announcer Bob Wolff called it this way:
"Count is one and one. And this crowd just straining forward on every pitch. Here it comes....a swing and a miss! Two strikes, ball one to Dale Mitchell. Listen to this crowd! I'll guarantee that nobody - but nobody - has left this ball park. And if somebody did manage to leave early man he's missing the greatest! Two strikes and a ball. . . Mitchell waiting, stands deep, feet close together. Larsen is ready, gets the sign. Two strikes, ball one, here comes the pitch. Strike three! A no-hitter! A perfect game for Don Larsen!"
That final pitch - Larsen's 97th of the game that took just 2 hours and six minutes - was the only one that elicited controversy.
"The third strike on Mitchell was absolutely positively a strike on the outside corner," Berra maintains to this day. "No question about it. People say it was a ball and that I rushed the mound to hug Larsen to make the umpire think it was a strike. Nonsense. It was a perfect strike."
Casey Stengel was asked "Was that the best game he had ever seen Larsen pitch?"
"'So far,'" was the Yankee manager’s response.
The rest of Larsen's 14-year career - with eight teams - consisted of unbroken mediocrity punctuated with flashes of competence. He finished with an 81-91 record and 3.78 ERA.
Named the MVP of the Series by Sport magazine for his epic feat, Larsen received a Corvette. He also earned about $35,000 in endorsements and appearances, including $6,000 for being on Bob Hope's TV show. He spent $1,000 for plaques commemorating the game and gave them to his teammates, Yankee executives, the six umpires, his parents and close friends.
The man who the reached perfection also received many letters and notes including this one:
“Dear Mr. Larsen: It is a noteworthy event when anybody achieves perfection in anything. It has been so long since anyone pitched a perfect big league game that I have to go back to my generation of ballplayers to recall such a thing – and that is truly a long time ago.
“This note brings you my very sincere congratulations on a memorable feat, one that will inspire pitchers for a long time to come. With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Dwight D. Eisenhower
President of the United States
“I pitched for 14 years with 8 different clubs and won only 81 games,” Larsen said. “ Hey, I gave it my best shot and I tried and I wish my record had been better but I was very pleased to get into the World Series and pitch the Perfect Game. And I guess that is what I will always be remembered for.
“I have been asked a million times about the perfect game,” Larsen mused. “I never dreamed about something like that happening. Everybody is entitled to a good day, and mine came at the right time.”
“PESKY POLE” Right field foul pole at Fenway Park in Boston is only 302 feet from home plate. Its name allegedly came from former Sox infielder Johnny Pesky’s proclivity in hitting dingers past the pole. The facts - Pesky hit only 17 home runs in his entire 10-year career, and only a half dozen of those were at Fenway Park. The name “pesky Pole” is supposed to have been coined by Mel Parnell after Pesky hit a homer there that helped Parnell win a game. But the phrase didn't become popular until the late 1980s or early 1990s.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES The nickname derived from "Philly, an inhabitant of the city. In the early days, aso spelled Fillies. From 1943-1944, the team was known as the Blue Jays, and there was a time it was also known as the Quakers.
PIE Pie Traynor may have received his nickname for his favorite childhood food.
PINE TAR GAME (July 24, August 18, 1983) The 1983 season was an up and down one for the Yankees. But on July 24, things were on the upside. They were positioned to take over first place as they prepared to play the Royals of Kansas City at Yankee Stadium.
The game that was played that day was fairly ordinary. As it moved to the top of the ninth inning, the Yankees had a 4-3 lead. The Royals came to bat in the top of the ninth. No one could have forecast what would come next.
There were two outs. Goose Gossage was one out away from the wrap up of the Yankee victory. George Brett had other ideas. Home run, into the stands in right field!
The Royal superstar ran out the homer that had apparently given his team a 5-4 lead. But just seconds after crossing the plate and going into his dugout, Brett saw Yankee manager Billy Martin approach home plate rookie umpire Tim McClelland.
"I was feeling pretty good about myself after hitting the homer," Brett said. "I was sitting in the dugout. Somebody said they were checking the pine tar, and I said, 'If they call me out for using too much pine tar, I'm going to kill one of those SOBs.'"
McClelland called to the Royal dugout and asked to see Brett's bat. Then he conferred with his umpiring crew. Martin watched from a few feet away. Brett looked out from the bench. Then McClelland thrust his arm in the air. It was the signal that indicated George Brett was out - - excessive use of pine tar on his bat.
McClelland had brought forth rule 1.10(b): "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle." The umpire ruled that Brett's bat had "heavy pine tar" 19 to 20 inches from the tip of the handle and lighter pine tar for another three or four inches.
The home run was disallowed. The game was over. The Yankees were declared 4-3 winners. Brett, enraged, raced out of the dugout. Then mayhem and fury took center stage. Brett, not your calmest player, lost it.
At one point, umpire Joe Brinkman had Brett in a choke hold. That was the easy part for the Royal superstar. The next thing that happened to him was that he was ejected from the game and went berserk. Others did, too.
Royals pitcher Gaylord Perry grabbed the bat from McClelland who tossed it to Hal McRae who passed it on to pitcher Steve Renko who was halfway up the tunnel to the team clubhouse. Then Yankee Stadium security guards grabbed him and grabbed the bat which was then impounded.
The Royals lodged a protest of the Yankee victory. The Yankees went off to Texas where they won three games and took over first place for the first time that season.
The almost comical mess was debated by baseball fans all over the nation. The media couldn’t get enough of it. “Why a .356 hitter like George Brett,” Time Magazine commented would lumber along with a Marv Throneberry Model (lifetime .237) is the sort of paradox that, scientists say, has trees talking to themselves.”
Eventually American League president Lee McPhail over-turned McClelland's decision. Acknowledging that Brett had pine tar too high on the bat, McPhail explained that it was the league's belief that "game's should be won and lost on the playing field-not through technicalities of the rules."
Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was miffed. "I wouldn't want to be Lee MacPhail living in New York!" he snapped.
The Brett home run was re-instated. The Royals' protest was upheld. The contest was declared "suspended." Both teams were told to find a mutually agreeable time, continue playing the game and conclude it.
The date was August 18th. Play was resumed for the last four outs of a game that had begun on July 24th. The Yankees, strangely anxious to make a few more bucks, announced they would charge regular admission for the game’s continuation. There were fan mumblings of protest. The Yankees quietly changed the charging admission idea. It was too late and to no avail. Only 1,200 fans showed up.
The atmosphere was bizarre. To show their rage and annoyance at the whole turn of events, the Yankees for the final out of the top of the ninth played pitcher Ron Guidry in centerfield and outfielder Don Mattingly (a lefthander) at second base. Guidry played center field because the Yankees had traded away Jerry Mumphrey, who had come into the game for defensive purposes. New York’s George Frazier struck out McRae for the third out. In the bottom of the ninth Royals' reliever Dan Quisenberry was able to retire the Yankees in order. The “Pine tar Game(s)” belonged to history.
PISTOL PETE Pete Reiser played only a decade of major league baseball, less than 1,000 games, but Harold Reiser exploded like a pistol on the fans and players of baseball in the early 1940's. In his second season (1941), he led the National League in batting (.343), and twice he was the stolen-base leader. Tragic collisions against the outfield walls in St. Louis and then in Brooklyn damaged him, slowed his talent, and reduced his skills. There are those who still wonder how great he might have been if not for the pounding he took against those unpadded outfield walls.
Pitching symbols:
Avg A Batting Average Against (Hitter's batting average against that pitcher) H/AB
BB Bases on Balls (Walks)
BF Batters Faced
BF/9 Batters Faced Per Nine Innings
BK Balks
CG Complete Games
ERA Earned Run Average (Earned Runs/Innings Times Nine)
G Games
GB Ground Balls
GF Games Finished
GS Games Started
H Hits
HBP Hit By Pitch
HR Home Runs Allowed
IBB Intentional Bases on Balls
IP Innings Pitched
K Strikeouts
L Losses
R Runs
Sho Shutouts
Sv Saves
W Wins
WP Wild Pitches
PITTSBURGH PIRATES Pittsburgh entered the National League in 1887, assuming the Kansas City, Missouri, franchise. Regaled in garish, striped baseball uniforms at the start, the team was called the Potato Bugs, Zulus, Smoked Italians, and Alleghenies. The franchise was called the Innocents until 1891 when it signed second baseman Lou Bierbatter. His old club, the Philadelphia Athletics, and its fans weren't at all happy about the way Bierbatter was "obtained" and dubbed his new club the Pirates because they "pirated" the star player away from them. Not much happened after that as far as Bierbatter was concerned—he hit .206 that year—but he was the "loot" that earned the Pittsburgh franchise the name Pirates.
PITCHER The player who is positioned on the pitcher's mound who throws the ball to the plate (HURLER; MOUNDSMAN; CHUCKER; TWIRLER).
Language and Symbols
BB Bases on Balls (Walks)
BF Batters Faced
BF/9 Batters Faced Per Nine Innings
BK Balks
CG Complete Games
ER Earned Runs
ERA Earned Run Average (Earned Runs/Innings Times Nine)
FB Fly Balls
G Games
GB Ground Balls
GF Games Finished
GS Games Started
H Hits
HBP Hit By Pitch
HR Home Runs Allowed
IBB Intentional Bases on Balls
IP Innings Pitched
K Strikeouts
L Losses
R Runs
Sho Shut Outs
Sv Saves
W Wins
WP Wild Pitches
Pitcher’s Toe Attachment to the front of a pitcher's shoe on the pivot foot, used to protect the top of the shoe and made of leather or plastic.
PNC Park Ceremonial groundbreaking for PNC Park took place on April 7, 1999 and opening day took place just two years later on April 9, 2001 with a sellout crowd of 36,954 at the new home of the Pirates named after PNC Bank, who paid in excess of $30 million for the naming rights.
POLO GROUNDS During the 1880's, the National League baseball team was known as the New Yorkers. There was another team in town, the New York Metropolitans of the fledgling American Association. Both teams played their season-opening games on a field across from Central Park's northeastern corner at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue. The land on which they played was owned by New York Herald Tribune publisher James Gordon Bennett. Bennett and his society friends had played polo on that field and that's how the baseball field came to be known as the Polo Grounds. In 1889 the New York National League team moved its games to a new location at 157th Street and Eighth Avenue. The site was dubbed the new Polo Grounds and eventually was simply called the Polo Grounds. Polo was never played there.
POPS Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Stargell led Pittsburgh Pirate family for 21 years.
PORKY Former slabman Half Reniff, a bit on that side
POP Eddie Popowski didn't take the field in Major League as a player, but "Pop" spent 65 years as a member of the Boston Red Sox franchise. He first joined the Red Sox organization in 1937, spending time as a player.
POPS Willie Stargell led Pirate family - 21 years as a player.
PRIDE OF PENACOOK Yankee third baseman and Dartmouth graduate Robert Abial “Red” Rolfe's nickname came from the little town he hailed from in New Hampshire.
PRINCE OF THE CITY Derek Jeter, for his good lucks and almost elegant bearing.
PRIDE OF THE YANKEEES Lou Gehrig, and he was.
PRINCE HAL Charismatic, elegant, Hal Chase had a royal quality about him.
THE PRINCIPAL OWNER George Steinbrenner, no doubt here.
PRIDE OF THE YANKEES Lou Gehrig was that.
PUD was also known as "The Little Steam Engine," and "Gentle Jeems." "Pud" was short for "pudding."
PUDGE Hall of fame catcher Carlton Fisk was called by this nickname for his chunky physique as a youngster and teenager.
PUDGE ("I-Rod") Ivan Rodriguez as a youth earned the nickname not due to comparisons with catching great Carlton Fisk, but in reference to his weight.
PUSH BUTTON MANAGER Joe McCarthy, for his by the book ways
PENGUIN, THE A Tacoma, Washington, native, Ron Cey of the Los Angeles Dodgers is one of major league baseball's top third basemen. His awkward movements when walking and, especially, when running have resulted in his nickname.
PENNANT A pennant-shaped banner that symbolizes the winning of a league championship (FLAG).
PEOPLE'S CHERCE, THE Fred "Dixie" Walker compiled a .306 batting average in an 18-year major league baseball career, with five different teams. From 1940 to 1947 he starred in the outfield for the Brooklyn Dodgers and won the affection of the fans at Ebbets Field. The team had bigger stars, more proficient players, but Walker somehow had a rapport with the fans that made him their favorite and earned for him his "Brooklynese" nickname.
PEPI Short for Joe Pepitone out of Brooklyn, New York, of brief major league fame with the Yankees and other teams.
PEPPER GAME Pregame warm-up action where a player chops the ball on the ground to teammates who field the ball and flip it back to him.
PERCENTAGE PLAYER OR MANAGER One who goes by past form or logical odds and acts on the basis of these considerations.
PERFECT GAME A no-hitter in which all 27 opposing batters in a nine-inning game, for example, do not get on base. The most famous of them all Don Larsen’s beauty on October 8, 1956.
“I have been asked a million times about the perfect game.” Don Larsen said. “ I never dreamed about something like that happening and everybody is entitled to a good day and mine came at the right time.
"I still find it hard to believe I really pitched the perfect game," Don Larsen said. "It's almost like a dream, like something that happened to somebody else."
The image of the Yankee right-hander casually tossing the ball from a no-stretch windup to Yogi Berra remains as part of baseball lore. Larsen struck out Junior Gilliam on a breaking ball to start the game. Then the 3-2 count on Pee Wee Reese – and the strikeout.
It all blended together - the autumn shadows and the smoke and the haze at the stadium, the World Series buntings on railings along the first and third base lines, the scoreboard and the zeroes for the Dodgers of Brooklyn mounting inning after inning.
The 6'4," 240 pound hurler threw no more than l5 pitches in any one inning against the mighty Dodgers of Campanella, Reese, Hodges, Gilliam, Robinson, Snider and Furillo.
A second inning Jackie Robinson line drive off the glove of Andy Carey at third was picked up by Gil McDougald. Out at first. Mantle’s great jump on a fifth inning line drive by Gil Hodges positioned him for a backhand grab of the ball. Hodges eighth inning hot shot down the third base line was converted into an out by Andy Carey. Sandy Amoros and Duke Snider of the Dodgers hit balls into the right field seats - foul but barely so.
Just two seasons before Don Larsen pitching for Baltimore had one of the worst records ever (3-21). He became a Yankee in the fall of 1954 in a 17-player trade. “ Nobody lost more games than me in the American League that year,” Larsen said. “ But two of my wins came against the Yankees. That's probably why I came to them.
In 1956, "Gooneybird,” his teammates called him that for his late-night behavior, posted an 11-5 record. In his next-to-last start of ‘56, Larsen unveiled his no-windup delivery. "The ghouls sent me a message," he joked explaining why.
Larsen started Game 2 in the World Series against Brooklyn. He was atrocious walking four, allowing four runs in 1 2/3 innings. There was no one more shocked than the big right-hander when he learned when he arrived at Yankee Stadium that he be the starter in Game 5.
Now he was finishing it. "Everybody suddenly got scared we weren't playing the outfield right," Stengel said. "I never seen so many managers." The Yankee infield of first baseman Joe Collins, second baseman Billy Martin, shortstop Gil McDougald and third baseman Andy Carey were ready for any kind of play.
The Yankees were clinging to a 2-0 lead scratched out against veteran Sal Maglie, age 39. Gilliam hit a hard one-hopper to short to open the seventh inning, and was thrown out by Gil McDougald. Reese and Duke Snider flied out. In the eighth, Jackie Robinson grounded back to Larsen. Andy Carey caught Hodges' low liner at third base. Amoros struck out.
The huge crowd of 64,519.at the stadium cheered each out. The game moved to the bottom of the ninth inning. "If it was 9-0, Larsen would've been paying little attention," Berra remembered. "It was close and he had to be extremely disciplined. He was. At the start of the ninth I didn't say a thing about how well he was throwing. I went to the mound and reminded him that if he walked one guy and the next guy hit one out, the game was tied."
"The last three outs were the toughest," the Indiana native recalled. "I was so weak in the knees that I thought I was going to faint. I was so nervous I almost fell down. My legs were rubbery. My fingers didn't feel like they belonged to me. I said to myself, 'Please help me somebody.'"
The 64,5l9 in the stands were quiet. Four pitches were fouled off by Furillo and then he hit a fly ball out to Batter in right field. Campanella grounded out weakly to Billy Martin at second base. Left-handed batter Dale Mitchell pinch hit for Sal Maglie. It would be the final major league at bat for the 35-year-old lifetime .3l2 hitter. Announcer Bob Wolff called it this way:
"Count is one and one. And this crowd just straining forward on every pitch. Here it comes....a swing and a miss! Two strikes, ball one to Dale Mitchell. Listen to this crowd! I'll guarantee that nobody - but nobody - has left this ball park. And if somebody did manage to leave early man he's missing the greatest! Two strikes and a ball. . . Mitchell waiting, stands deep, feet close together. Larsen is ready, gets the sign. Two strikes, ball one, here comes the pitch. Strike three! A no-hitter! A perfect game for Don Larsen!"
That final pitch - Larsen's 97th of the game that took just 2 hours and six minutes - was the only one that elicited controversy.
"The third strike on Mitchell was absolutely positively a strike on the outside corner," Berra maintains to this day. "No question about it. People say it was a ball and that I rushed the mound to hug Larsen to make the umpire think it was a strike. Nonsense. It was a perfect strike."
Casey Stengel was asked "Was that the best game he had ever seen Larsen pitch?"
"'So far,'" was the Yankee manager’s response.
The rest of Larsen's 14-year career - with eight teams - consisted of unbroken mediocrity punctuated with flashes of competence. He finished with an 81-91 record and 3.78 ERA.
Named the MVP of the Series by Sport magazine for his epic feat, Larsen received a Corvette. He also earned about $35,000 in endorsements and appearances, including $6,000 for being on Bob Hope's TV show. He spent $1,000 for plaques commemorating the game and gave them to his teammates, Yankee executives, the six umpires, his parents and close friends.
The man who the reached perfection also received many letters and notes including this one:
“Dear Mr. Larsen: It is a noteworthy event when anybody achieves perfection in anything. It has been so long since anyone pitched a perfect big league game that I have to go back to my generation of ballplayers to recall such a thing – and that is truly a long time ago.
“This note brings you my very sincere congratulations on a memorable feat, one that will inspire pitchers for a long time to come. With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Dwight D. Eisenhower
President of the United States
“I pitched for 14 years with 8 different clubs and won only 81 games,” Larsen said. “ Hey, I gave it my best shot and I tried and I wish my record had been better but I was very pleased to get into the World Series and pitch the Perfect Game. And I guess that is what I will always be remembered for.
“I have been asked a million times about the perfect game,” Larsen mused. “I never dreamed about something like that happening. Everybody is entitled to a good day, and mine came at the right time.”
“PESKY POLE” Right field foul pole at Fenway Park in Boston is only 302 feet from home plate. Its name allegedly came from former Sox infielder Johnny Pesky’s proclivity in hitting dingers past the pole. The facts - Pesky hit only 17 home runs in his entire 10-year career, and only a half dozen of those were at Fenway Park. The name “pesky Pole” is supposed to have been coined by Mel Parnell after Pesky hit a homer there that helped Parnell win a game. But the phrase didn't become popular until the late 1980s or early 1990s.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES The nickname derived from "Philly, an inhabitant of the city. In the early days, aso spelled Fillies. From 1943-1944, the team was known as the Blue Jays, and there was a time it was also known as the Quakers.
PIE Pie Traynor may have received his nickname for his favorite childhood food.
PINE TAR GAME (July 24, August 18, 1983) The 1983 season was an up and down one for the Yankees. But on July 24, things were on the upside. They were positioned to take over first place as they prepared to play the Royals of Kansas City at Yankee Stadium.
The game that was played that day was fairly ordinary. As it moved to the top of the ninth inning, the Yankees had a 4-3 lead. The Royals came to bat in the top of the ninth. No one could have forecast what would come next.
There were two outs. Goose Gossage was one out away from the wrap up of the Yankee victory. George Brett had other ideas. Home run, into the stands in right field!
The Royal superstar ran out the homer that had apparently given his team a 5-4 lead. But just seconds after crossing the plate and going into his dugout, Brett saw Yankee manager Billy Martin approach home plate rookie umpire Tim McClelland.
"I was feeling pretty good about myself after hitting the homer," Brett said. "I was sitting in the dugout. Somebody said they were checking the pine tar, and I said, 'If they call me out for using too much pine tar, I'm going to kill one of those SOBs.'"
McClelland called to the Royal dugout and asked to see Brett's bat. Then he conferred with his umpiring crew. Martin watched from a few feet away. Brett looked out from the bench. Then McClelland thrust his arm in the air. It was the signal that indicated George Brett was out - - excessive use of pine tar on his bat.
McClelland had brought forth rule 1.10(b): "a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle." The umpire ruled that Brett's bat had "heavy pine tar" 19 to 20 inches from the tip of the handle and lighter pine tar for another three or four inches.
The home run was disallowed. The game was over. The Yankees were declared 4-3 winners. Brett, enraged, raced out of the dugout. Then mayhem and fury took center stage. Brett, not your calmest player, lost it.
At one point, umpire Joe Brinkman had Brett in a choke hold. That was the easy part for the Royal superstar. The next thing that happened to him was that he was ejected from the game and went berserk. Others did, too.
Royals pitcher Gaylord Perry grabbed the bat from McClelland who tossed it to Hal McRae who passed it on to pitcher Steve Renko who was halfway up the tunnel to the team clubhouse. Then Yankee Stadium security guards grabbed him and grabbed the bat which was then impounded.
The Royals lodged a protest of the Yankee victory. The Yankees went off to Texas where they won three games and took over first place for the first time that season.
The almost comical mess was debated by baseball fans all over the nation. The media couldn’t get enough of it. “Why a .356 hitter like George Brett,” Time Magazine commented would lumber along with a Marv Throneberry Model (lifetime .237) is the sort of paradox that, scientists say, has trees talking to themselves.”
Eventually American League president Lee McPhail over-turned McClelland's decision. Acknowledging that Brett had pine tar too high on the bat, McPhail explained that it was the league's belief that "game's should be won and lost on the playing field-not through technicalities of the rules."
Yankee owner George Steinbrenner was miffed. "I wouldn't want to be Lee MacPhail living in New York!" he snapped.
The Brett home run was re-instated. The Royals' protest was upheld. The contest was declared "suspended." Both teams were told to find a mutually agreeable time, continue playing the game and conclude it.
The date was August 18th. Play was resumed for the last four outs of a game that had begun on July 24th. The Yankees, strangely anxious to make a few more bucks, announced they would charge regular admission for the game’s continuation. There were fan mumblings of protest. The Yankees quietly changed the charging admission idea. It was too late and to no avail. Only 1,200 fans showed up.
The atmosphere was bizarre. To show their rage and annoyance at the whole turn of events, the Yankees for the final out of the top of the ninth played pitcher Ron Guidry in centerfield and outfielder Don Mattingly (a lefthander) at second base. Guidry played center field because the Yankees had traded away Jerry Mumphrey, who had come into the game for defensive purposes. New York’s George Frazier struck out McRae for the third out. In the bottom of the ninth Royals' reliever Dan Quisenberry was able to retire the Yankees in order. The “Pine tar Game(s)” belonged to history.
PISTOL PETE Pete Reiser played only a decade of major league baseball, less than 1,000 games, but Harold Reiser exploded like a pistol on the fans and players of baseball in the early 1940's. In his second season (1941), he led the National League in batting (.343), and twice he was the stolen-base leader. Tragic collisions against the outfield walls in St. Louis and then in Brooklyn damaged him, slowed his talent, and reduced his skills. There are those who still wonder how great he might have been if not for the pounding he took against those unpadded outfield walls.
Pitching symbols:
Avg A Batting Average Against (Hitter's batting average against that pitcher) H/AB
BB Bases on Balls (Walks)
BF Batters Faced
BF/9 Batters Faced Per Nine Innings
BK Balks
CG Complete Games
ERA Earned Run Average (Earned Runs/Innings Times Nine)
G Games
GB Ground Balls
GF Games Finished
GS Games Started
H Hits
HBP Hit By Pitch
HR Home Runs Allowed
IBB Intentional Bases on Balls
IP Innings Pitched
K Strikeouts
L Losses
R Runs
Sho Shutouts
Sv Saves
W Wins
WP Wild Pitches
PITTSBURGH PIRATES Pittsburgh entered the National League in 1887, assuming the Kansas City, Missouri, franchise. Regaled in garish, striped baseball uniforms at the start, the team was called the Potato Bugs, Zulus, Smoked Italians, and Alleghenies. The franchise was called the Innocents until 1891 when it signed second baseman Lou Bierbatter. His old club, the Philadelphia Athletics, and its fans weren't at all happy about the way Bierbatter was "obtained" and dubbed his new club the Pirates because they "pirated" the star player away from them. Not much happened after that as far as Bierbatter was concerned—he hit .206 that year—but he was the "loot" that earned the Pittsburgh franchise the name Pirates.
PITCHER The player who is positioned on the pitcher's mound who throws the ball to the plate (HURLER; MOUNDSMAN; CHUCKER; TWIRLER).
Language and Symbols
BB Bases on Balls (Walks)
BF Batters Faced
BF/9 Batters Faced Per Nine Innings
BK Balks
CG Complete Games
ER Earned Runs
ERA Earned Run Average (Earned Runs/Innings Times Nine)
FB Fly Balls
G Games
GB Ground Balls
GF Games Finished
GS Games Started
H Hits
HBP Hit By Pitch
HR Home Runs Allowed
IBB Intentional Bases on Balls
IP Innings Pitched
K Strikeouts
L Losses
R Runs
Sho Shut Outs
Sv Saves
W Wins
WP Wild Pitches
Pitcher’s Toe Attachment to the front of a pitcher's shoe on the pivot foot, used to protect the top of the shoe and made of leather or plastic.
PNC Park Ceremonial groundbreaking for PNC Park took place on April 7, 1999 and opening day took place just two years later on April 9, 2001 with a sellout crowd of 36,954 at the new home of the Pirates named after PNC Bank, who paid in excess of $30 million for the naming rights.
POLO GROUNDS During the 1880's, the National League baseball team was known as the New Yorkers. There was another team in town, the New York Metropolitans of the fledgling American Association. Both teams played their season-opening games on a field across from Central Park's northeastern corner at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue. The land on which they played was owned by New York Herald Tribune publisher James Gordon Bennett. Bennett and his society friends had played polo on that field and that's how the baseball field came to be known as the Polo Grounds. In 1889 the New York National League team moved its games to a new location at 157th Street and Eighth Avenue. The site was dubbed the new Polo Grounds and eventually was simply called the Polo Grounds. Polo was never played there.
POPS Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Stargell led Pittsburgh Pirate family for 21 years.
PORKY Former slabman Half Reniff, a bit on that side
POP Eddie Popowski didn't take the field in Major League as a player, but "Pop" spent 65 years as a member of the Boston Red Sox franchise. He first joined the Red Sox organization in 1937, spending time as a player.
POPS Willie Stargell led Pirate family - 21 years as a player.
PRIDE OF PENACOOK Yankee third baseman and Dartmouth graduate Robert Abial “Red” Rolfe's nickname came from the little town he hailed from in New Hampshire.
PRINCE OF THE CITY Derek Jeter, for his good lucks and almost elegant bearing.
PRIDE OF THE YANKEEES Lou Gehrig, and he was.
PRINCE HAL Charismatic, elegant, Hal Chase had a royal quality about him.
THE PRINCIPAL OWNER George Steinbrenner, no doubt here.
PRIDE OF THE YANKEES Lou Gehrig was that.
PUD was also known as "The Little Steam Engine," and "Gentle Jeems." "Pud" was short for "pudding."
PUDGE Hall of fame catcher Carlton Fisk was called by this nickname for his chunky physique as a youngster and teenager.
PUDGE ("I-Rod") Ivan Rodriguez as a youth earned the nickname not due to comparisons with catching great Carlton Fisk, but in reference to his weight.
PUSH BUTTON MANAGER Joe McCarthy, for his by the book ways
Monday, September 13, 2010
"The Open Golf's Oldest Major" and other tomes of note
Book Review
A collectible, a work of photographic beauty, a book replete with history, "The Open Golf's Oldest Major" by Donald Steel (Rizzoli, $60.00, 304 pages/240 color and b/w illustrations) is one of those books you buy for browsing, for research, for reading, for keeping in a prominent place on your cofee table.
This is the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship and "The Open Golf's Oldest Major" brings us back to the 14 links courses where the competition has been staged. From St. Andrews to Royal Liverpool to Prestwick and the others we are there with the incredible historic images from Getty , with the icons like Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
“Big Hair and Plastic Grass” by Dan Epstein (St. Martin’s Press , $25.99, 340 pages) is sub-titled “a Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ‘70s.” The book swings.
In another less swinging era there was George Gipp, Knute Rockne and the dramatic rise of Notre Dame football. “The Gipper” by Jack Cavanaugh (Skyhorse, $24.95, 294 pages) brings us back in telling detail through careful research. This is a book for football fans of all ages, tracing as it does, the life and times of one of the true legends of the collegiate gridiron game. More than 80 years after his death, George Gipp is looked upon as the best all around player of all those who played football for the Irish. With “The Gipper,” a fascinating up close and personal portrait, Cavanaugh has out-done himself with the unusually fine work.
“Tales from the 5th St. Gym” by Ferdie Pacheco (University Press of Florida, $27.50, 250 pages, many unique photographs) is all about the legendary place in Miami where Muhammad Ali trained and where his legend was born. The gym opened for business in 1950 and Pacheco explains how it became the University for Boxing presided over by Chris and Angelo Dundee. It also became a hangout for celebrities like Joe Louis, Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra. Pacheco is a man of many skills - physician, boxing analyst, artist and corner man - -now he he shows great skills as an author.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
“The Amazing Tale of Mr. Herbert and His Fabulous Cowboys Baseball Club” and Other Sports Tomes
The Book Review
Big and beautiful, carefully conceived and masterfully organized, “The Amazing Tale of Mr. Herbert and His Fabulous Cowboys Baseball Club” by DJ Stout (University of Texas Press, $34.95, 250 pages, coffee table Texas sized) is one of those books for your sports library that you keep.
Sub-titled “An Illustrated History of the Best Little Semipro Baseball team in Texas,” this work about the Alpine Cowboys is part cultural, all baseball. In the 1940s and 1950s mostly every small town in the USA had bragging rights to a baseball team as did the Big Bend Cowboys. The team played on Kokernor Field, a facility that rivaled many big league parks and many Cowboy players wound up as major leaguers “The Amazing Tale of Mr. Herbert and His Fabulous Cowboys Baseball Club” is a page turner, a wonderful addition to sports book history, a grand slam home run.
"The Most Memorable Games in Giants History" by Bernard Corbett and Jim Baker (Bloomsbury, $24.00, 372 pages) is an oral history of some of 13 top games ever of the legendary franchise. Such as Pat Summerall, Tucker Frederickson, George Martin, Phil Simms, Kerry Collins and Michael Strahan bring back the times of accomplishment and futility.
From Bison Books comes "Football's Last Iron Men" by Norman L. Macht ($14.95, 154 pages, paper) focuses in detail on 1934, Yale vs. Princeton, and a very stunning upset. Macht, author of more than 30 books, in vivid detail and with a marching narrative, shows how eleven Yale Elis on November 17, 1934 played the entire game with grit and guile - and defeated the previously unbeaten Bulldogs, 7-0. HIGHY RECOMMENDED
“Men of Kent” by Rick Rinehart (Lyons Press, $14.95, 210 pages, paper) is as its sub-title proclaims a book about “Ten Boys, A Fast Boat, And The Coach Who Made Them Champions.” If you are into the sport of rowing – this book is a must read.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Big and beautiful, carefully conceived and masterfully organized, “The Amazing Tale of Mr. Herbert and His Fabulous Cowboys Baseball Club” by DJ Stout (University of Texas Press, $34.95, 250 pages, coffee table Texas sized) is one of those books for your sports library that you keep.
Sub-titled “An Illustrated History of the Best Little Semipro Baseball team in Texas,” this work about the Alpine Cowboys is part cultural, all baseball. In the 1940s and 1950s mostly every small town in the USA had bragging rights to a baseball team as did the Big Bend Cowboys. The team played on Kokernor Field, a facility that rivaled many big league parks and many Cowboy players wound up as major leaguers “The Amazing Tale of Mr. Herbert and His Fabulous Cowboys Baseball Club” is a page turner, a wonderful addition to sports book history, a grand slam home run.
"The Most Memorable Games in Giants History" by Bernard Corbett and Jim Baker (Bloomsbury, $24.00, 372 pages) is an oral history of some of 13 top games ever of the legendary franchise. Such as Pat Summerall, Tucker Frederickson, George Martin, Phil Simms, Kerry Collins and Michael Strahan bring back the times of accomplishment and futility.
From Bison Books comes "Football's Last Iron Men" by Norman L. Macht ($14.95, 154 pages, paper) focuses in detail on 1934, Yale vs. Princeton, and a very stunning upset. Macht, author of more than 30 books, in vivid detail and with a marching narrative, shows how eleven Yale Elis on November 17, 1934 played the entire game with grit and guile - and defeated the previously unbeaten Bulldogs, 7-0. HIGHY RECOMMENDED
“Men of Kent” by Rick Rinehart (Lyons Press, $14.95, 210 pages, paper) is as its sub-title proclaims a book about “Ten Boys, A Fast Boat, And The Coach Who Made Them Champions.” If you are into the sport of rowing – this book is a must read.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Baseball Names and How They Got That Way! (P - -PART XXIII)
The words and phrases are spoken and written day after day, year after year - generally without any wonderment as to how they became part of the language. All have a history, a story. For those of you who liked Part I, Part II, Part III, X, XV and all the others and wanted more, here is more, just a sampling. As always, reactions and suggestions always welcome. And bear in mind - - this is by no means a complete list.
PAPA (“Steady Edgar”) Edgar Martinez was the Seattle Mariners’ family man and father figure in the clubhouse.
BIG PAPI David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox, sign of respect for a Hispanic person who leads.
PEBBLE PLAY In the 12th inning of the final game of the 1924 World Series between the New York Giants and the Washington Senators, a ground ball that bounced over the head of Giant infielder Freddy Lindstrom led to a score for Washington that gave it the World Championship. It was claimed that the batted ball hit a pebble. "It was never written up the way I looked at it," observed former Giant and Hall of Famer George Kelly. "Now it did hit a pebble, but Fred backed up on it, inexperience. It was his rookie year. This gave the ball an extra hop—the ball played Fred, he didn't play it."
PEERLESS LEADER, THE Frank Leroy Chance, the first baseman in the famous Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance Chicago Cub infield trio, was aptly nicknamed. In the years 1906-191 1, he led the Cubs to four pennants and two second-place finishes. Functioning as both a player and a manager, Chance recorded 405 career stolen bases—a Cub record—and his clutch hitting and spirited play served as examples of his leadership.
PEE WEE Harold Henry Reese was also known as the Little Colonel, for he hailed from colonel country in Kentucky, but most everyone called him Pee Wee. Various reasons have been advanced for his nickname—he liked playing marbles as a kid; he was small (5'10", 160 pounds); he came up at the same time as Harold "Pistol Pete" Reiser, and writers sought to have the two paired with alliterative nicknames. Whatever the derivation, Reese was anything but small in his influence on the fortunes of the Dodgers, with whom he played for 15 years in Brooklyn and a final year in Los Angeles. He could run, hit, bunt, field, steal, throw, inspire—and most of all win, and influence his team's winning.
Reese was anything but "Pee Wee" in his influence on the Dodgers in over 16 seasons. He could run, hit, bunt, field, steal, throw, inspire and most of all win. And he was especially instrumental in easing the way for Jackie Robinson to break the color line in major league baseball.
When the 1947 season started, some opposing National League players gave Jackie Robinson a hard time. In Boston one day, Reese made a gesture of acceptance for all the world to see. He went over to Robinson and simply put his arm around Jackie. This was at a time when even Robinson's own teammates staged a short-lived protest against having him on the team.
"I get a lot of credit and I appreciate it," Reese said. "But after a while, I thought of him as I would Duke Snider or Gil Hodges or anyone else. We never thought of this as a big deal. We were just playing ball and having fun."
Reese spent his entire 16-year career with the Dodgers, appearing in seven World Series. He played 15 years in Brooklyn and followed the team to Los Angeles for one more season before retiring in 1958. His uniform Number 1 was retired by Los Angeles on July 1, 1984.
One of the magical moments in Reese's career took place on June 22, 1955. It was a day after he had recorded his 2,000th hit. "Pee Wee" was given a birthday party at Ebbets Field. It was the first and only night dedicated to a player up to that time when fans were asked not to contribute anything.
All they were asked to bring was cigars, cigarettes, lighters, candles - - anything they could light up for Pee Wee who remembered, "When I came to Brooklyn in 1940 I was a scared kid. To tell the truth I was twice as scared on my birthday night at Ebbets Field."
And then the moment arrived. Fans at that old Brooklyn ballpark watched the lights dim, lit up whatever they had brought and sang Happy Birthday to Pee Wee with varying levels of competency:
There are those of a certain age who still remember Pee Wee Reese bringing the lineup card out to home plate, raising the right arm, leading the Dodgers onto the playing field.
"Being Captain of the Dodgers," Reese recalled, "meant representing an organization committed to winning and trying to keep it going. We could have won every year if the breaks had gone right."
PENGUIN, THE A Tacoma, Washington, native, Ron Cey of the Los Angeles Dodgers is one of major league baseball's top third basemen. His awkward movements when walking and, especially, when running have resulted in his nickname.
PEOPLE'S CHERCE, THE Fred "Dixie" Walker compiled a .306 batting average in an 18-year major league baseball career, with five different teams. From 1940 to 1947 he starred in the outfield for the Brooklyn Dodgers and won the affection of the fans at Ebbets Field. The team had bigger stars, more proficient players, but Walker somehow had a rapport with the fans that made him their favorite and earned for him his "Brooklynese" nickname.
PEPI Short for Joe Pepitone out of Brooklyn, New York, of brief major league fame with the Yankees and other teams.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Bobby Thomson's Famous Homer Lives On (Adapted From the Vault)
It was back in the late 1970s that I was researching and interviewing for my book “New York City Baseball 1947-1957 the Last Golden Age” for Macmillan Publishers. That work was about the old Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and New York Yankees.
The old Giant Bobby Thomson, not that far removed from “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World,” was one of my more intriguing and modest interviewees. We had such rapport that I suggested to the publisher that he be used when I went around talking and signing books. It didn’t happen. Too bad. The price was minimal and the rewards would have been maximum.
Now the sad news has come out that the man they once called “the Scot from Staten Island” has passed at age 86. His epic clout was tarnished when it was claimed decades later that Leo Durocher’s Giants had used a buzzer-and-telescope system that season to steal signals from opposing catchers. Thomson, however, always firmly denied that he ever knew what pitch was coming that long ago day – October 3, 1951 at the old Polo Grounds in New York City.
Some refer to that time as "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff." Others, especially in Brooklyn, call it "Dat Day." But no matter what label is applied it was a time to remember.
It was a time when the Giants played out of the Polo Grounds in Manhattan and the Dodgers entertained millions in their tiny Brooklyn ballpark, Ebbets Field. It was a time of tremendous fan devotion to each team.
In July, Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen had bragged, "The Giants is dead." It seemed to aptly describe the plight of Leo Durocher's team. For on August 12 the Giants trailed the Dodgers by 13 l/2 games in the standings.
Then, incredibly, the Giants locked into what has been called "The Miracle Run." They won 37 of their final 44 games - 16 of them in one frenetic stretch - and closed the gap.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime situation," recalls Monte Irvin, who batted .312 that year for the Giants. "We kept on winning. The Dodgers kept on losing. It seemed like we beat everybody in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.
The Giants and Dodgers finished the season in a flat-footed tie for first-place and met on the first day of October in the first game of the first play-off in the history of the National League. The teams split the first two games setting the stage for the third and final game.
Don Newcombe of the Dodgers was pitted against Sal Maglie of the Giants. Both hurlers had won 23 games during the regular season.
The game began under overcast skies and a threat of rain. Radio play-by-play filtered into schoolrooms, factories, office buildings, city prisons, barbershops.
The Wall Street teletype intermingled stock quotations with play-by-play details of the Giant-Dodger battle.
The game was tied 1-1 after seven innings. Then Brooklyn scored three times in the top of the eighth.
Many of the Dodger fans at the Polo Grounds and the multitude listening to the game on the radio thought that the Giants would not come back.
Durocher and the Giants never gave up. "We knew that Newcombe would make the wrong pitch," said Monte Irvin. "That was his history."
The Giants came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning - only three outs remained in their miracle season.
Alvin Dark led off with a single through the right side of the infield. Don Mueller slapped the ball past Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges. Irvin fouled out. Whitey Lockman doubled down the left field line. Dark scored.
With runners on second and third Ralph Branca came in to relieve Newcombe. Bobby Thomson waited to bat. Durocher said, "I did not know whether they would pitch to Thomson or not. First base was open. Willie Mays, just a rookie, was on deck."
Veteran New York Giant announcer Russ Hodges described the moment to millions mesmerized at their radios that October afternoon:
"Bobby Thomson up there swinging.... Bobby batting at .292. Branca pitches and Bobby takes a strike call on the inside corner. Lockman without too big of a lead at second but he'll be running like the wind if Thomson hits one.
"Branca throws ... there's a long drive...it's gonna be, I believe. . .' The precise moment was 3:58 P.M., October 3, 1951.
"... the Giants win the pennant!" Hodges screamed the words at the top of his voice, all semblance of journalistic objectivity gone. "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"
Hodges bellowed it out eight times - and then overcome by the moment and voiceless, he had to yield the microphone.
Pandemonium was on parade at the Polo Grounds for hours after the game. For almost half an hour after the epic home run, there were so many phone calls placed by people in Manhattan and Brooklyn that the New York Telephone Company reported service almost broke down.
Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca would play out their major league careers. But the moment they shared - as hero and goat that October day at the Polo Grounds - would link them forever.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 40 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is set for March 2011 publication. .
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
The old Giant Bobby Thomson, not that far removed from “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World,” was one of my more intriguing and modest interviewees. We had such rapport that I suggested to the publisher that he be used when I went around talking and signing books. It didn’t happen. Too bad. The price was minimal and the rewards would have been maximum.
Now the sad news has come out that the man they once called “the Scot from Staten Island” has passed at age 86. His epic clout was tarnished when it was claimed decades later that Leo Durocher’s Giants had used a buzzer-and-telescope system that season to steal signals from opposing catchers. Thomson, however, always firmly denied that he ever knew what pitch was coming that long ago day – October 3, 1951 at the old Polo Grounds in New York City.
Some refer to that time as "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff." Others, especially in Brooklyn, call it "Dat Day." But no matter what label is applied it was a time to remember.
It was a time when the Giants played out of the Polo Grounds in Manhattan and the Dodgers entertained millions in their tiny Brooklyn ballpark, Ebbets Field. It was a time of tremendous fan devotion to each team.
In July, Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen had bragged, "The Giants is dead." It seemed to aptly describe the plight of Leo Durocher's team. For on August 12 the Giants trailed the Dodgers by 13 l/2 games in the standings.
Then, incredibly, the Giants locked into what has been called "The Miracle Run." They won 37 of their final 44 games - 16 of them in one frenetic stretch - and closed the gap.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime situation," recalls Monte Irvin, who batted .312 that year for the Giants. "We kept on winning. The Dodgers kept on losing. It seemed like we beat everybody in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.
The Giants and Dodgers finished the season in a flat-footed tie for first-place and met on the first day of October in the first game of the first play-off in the history of the National League. The teams split the first two games setting the stage for the third and final game.
Don Newcombe of the Dodgers was pitted against Sal Maglie of the Giants. Both hurlers had won 23 games during the regular season.
The game began under overcast skies and a threat of rain. Radio play-by-play filtered into schoolrooms, factories, office buildings, city prisons, barbershops.
The Wall Street teletype intermingled stock quotations with play-by-play details of the Giant-Dodger battle.
The game was tied 1-1 after seven innings. Then Brooklyn scored three times in the top of the eighth.
Many of the Dodger fans at the Polo Grounds and the multitude listening to the game on the radio thought that the Giants would not come back.
Durocher and the Giants never gave up. "We knew that Newcombe would make the wrong pitch," said Monte Irvin. "That was his history."
The Giants came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning - only three outs remained in their miracle season.
Alvin Dark led off with a single through the right side of the infield. Don Mueller slapped the ball past Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges. Irvin fouled out. Whitey Lockman doubled down the left field line. Dark scored.
With runners on second and third Ralph Branca came in to relieve Newcombe. Bobby Thomson waited to bat. Durocher said, "I did not know whether they would pitch to Thomson or not. First base was open. Willie Mays, just a rookie, was on deck."
Veteran New York Giant announcer Russ Hodges described the moment to millions mesmerized at their radios that October afternoon:
"Bobby Thomson up there swinging.... Bobby batting at .292. Branca pitches and Bobby takes a strike call on the inside corner. Lockman without too big of a lead at second but he'll be running like the wind if Thomson hits one.
"Branca throws ... there's a long drive...it's gonna be, I believe. . .' The precise moment was 3:58 P.M., October 3, 1951.
"... the Giants win the pennant!" Hodges screamed the words at the top of his voice, all semblance of journalistic objectivity gone. "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"
Hodges bellowed it out eight times - and then overcome by the moment and voiceless, he had to yield the microphone.
Pandemonium was on parade at the Polo Grounds for hours after the game. For almost half an hour after the epic home run, there were so many phone calls placed by people in Manhattan and Brooklyn that the New York Telephone Company reported service almost broke down.
Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca would play out their major league careers. But the moment they shared - as hero and goat that October day at the Polo Grounds - would link them forever.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 40 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work REMEMBERING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is set for March 2011 publication. .
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Baseball Names and How They Got That Way! Part XXII (O)
The words and phrases are spoken and written day after day, year after year - generally without any wonderment as to how they became part of the language. All have a history, a story. For those of you who liked Part I, Part II, Part III, X, XV and all the others and wanted more, here is more, just a sampling. As always, reactions and suggestions always welcome. And bear in mind - - this is by no means a complete list.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS The former Philadelphia Athletics franchise from 1901-1954 was the Kansas City Athletics. Then from 1955-1967 the team was the Oakland A’s, in 1968 then to the Athletics in 1987.
OCTOPUS, THE Marty Marion was a fine fielding shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s into the 1950s – he had long arms and legs.
OIL CAN Former colorful hurler Dennis Boyd grew up and learned to play ball in the deep south. He would get so thirsty that the beverage drank in his phrase was”just like drankin' ole]."
OLD FOX Name given to pilot-manager Clark Grifith of the old Highlanders because of his cunning ways. OKLAHOMA KID The young Mickey Mantle came from Oklahoma.
OLD ACHES AND PAINS Luke Appling performed for two decades with the Chicago White Sox. A .310 lifetime batting average was just one of the reasons he was admitted to the Hall of Fame in 1964. His nickname stemmed from the
numerous real and imagined illnesses he picked up playing in 2,422 games, while averaging better than a hit a game. Appling was born April 2, 1907, and in 1950 was still playing major league baseball, aches, pains, and all. OLD HOSS Charles Radbourne was known as Charles or Charley until his amazing 1884 season, when he pitched 678 innings and earned the nickname.
OLD RELIABLE Tommy Henrich played for the New York Yankees from 1937 to 1950. His lifetime batting average was only .282, but the value of Henrich to the Yankees was in his clutch hitting. Time after time he would come up in a key situation and deliver. His nickname had its roots in his ability to function under pressure and to perform reliably with distinction.
OLE PERFESSOR Hall of Famer Charles Dillon Stengel was an original. Born on July 30, 1890, in Kansas City, Missouri, he played in the majors for 14 years and managed for 25 more—with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Braves, the New York Yankees (10 pennants), and the New York Mets (four tenth-place finishes). He had seen it all, and in one of his more coherent statements, he said, "This here team won't win anything until we spread enough of our players around the league and make the others [teams] horseshit, too." The statement underscored the ineptitude of the early Mets. Loquacious, dynamic, vital, Casey could lecture on baseball and life for hours and hours, and that was just part of the reason for his nickname. Actually, in 1914 Stengel held the title of professor at the University of Mississippi, for he spent that year's spring-training coaching baseball at that institution. That's how he really came by his nickname.
ONE AND ONLY The” Babe Ruth, he was.
ONE-ARMED PETE GRAY Born Peter J. Wyshner (a.k.a. Pete Gray) on March 6, 1917, Gray was a longtime New York City semipro star who played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945. He actually had only one arm and played center field with an unpadded glove. He had an intricate and well developed routine for catching the ball, removing the ball from his glove, and throwing the ball to the infield. Gray hit .218 for the Browns, not bad for a hitter with only one arm.
$100,000 INFIELD That was the price tag and the nickname given to Eddie Collins, "Home Run" Baker, Stuffy McInnis, and Hack Barry, the players who composed the infield for Connie Mack's 1914 Philadelphia Athletics.
OAKLAND ATHLETICS The former Philadelphia Athletics franchise from 1901-1954 was the Kansas City Athletics. Then from 1955-1967 the team was the Oakland A’s, in 1968 then to the Athletics in 1987.
OCTOPUS, THE Marty Marion was a fine fielding shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s into the 1950s – he had long arms and legs.
OIL CAN Former colorful hurler Dennis Boyd grew up and learned to play ball in the deep south. He would get so thirsty that the beverage drank in his phrase was”just like drankin' ole]."
OLD FOX Name given to pilot-manager Clark Grifith of the old Highlanders because of his cunning ways. OKLAHOMA KID The young Mickey Mantle came from Oklahoma.
OLD ACHES AND PAINS Luke Appling performed for two decades with the Chicago White Sox. A .310 lifetime batting average was just one of the reasons he was admitted to the Hall of Fame in 1964. His nickname stemmed from the
numerous real and imagined illnesses he picked up playing in 2,422 games, while averaging better than a hit a game. Appling was born April 2, 1907, and in 1950 was still playing major league baseball, aches, pains, and all. OLD HOSS Charles Radbourne was known as Charles or Charley until his amazing 1884 season, when he pitched 678 innings and earned the nickname.
OLD RELIABLE Tommy Henrich played for the New York Yankees from 1937 to 1950. His lifetime batting average was only .282, but the value of Henrich to the Yankees was in his clutch hitting. Time after time he would come up in a key situation and deliver. His nickname had its roots in his ability to function under pressure and to perform reliably with distinction.
OLE PERFESSOR Hall of Famer Charles Dillon Stengel was an original. Born on July 30, 1890, in Kansas City, Missouri, he played in the majors for 14 years and managed for 25 more—with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Braves, the New York Yankees (10 pennants), and the New York Mets (four tenth-place finishes). He had seen it all, and in one of his more coherent statements, he said, "This here team won't win anything until we spread enough of our players around the league and make the others [teams] horseshit, too." The statement underscored the ineptitude of the early Mets. Loquacious, dynamic, vital, Casey could lecture on baseball and life for hours and hours, and that was just part of the reason for his nickname. Actually, in 1914 Stengel held the title of professor at the University of Mississippi, for he spent that year's spring-training coaching baseball at that institution. That's how he really came by his nickname.
ONE AND ONLY The” Babe Ruth, he was.
ONE-ARMED PETE GRAY Born Peter J. Wyshner (a.k.a. Pete Gray) on March 6, 1917, Gray was a longtime New York City semipro star who played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945. He actually had only one arm and played center field with an unpadded glove. He had an intricate and well developed routine for catching the ball, removing the ball from his glove, and throwing the ball to the infield. Gray hit .218 for the Browns, not bad for a hitter with only one arm.
$100,000 INFIELD That was the price tag and the nickname given to Eddie Collins, "Home Run" Baker, Stuffy McInnis, and Hack Barry, the players who composed the infield for Connie Mack's 1914 Philadelphia Athletics.
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Baseball Names and How They Got That Way! Part XXII (O)
The words and phrases are spoken and written day after day, year after year - generally without any wonderment as to how they became part of the language. All have a history, a story. For those of you who liked Part I, Part II, Part III, X, XV and all the others and wanted more, here is more, just a sampling. As always, reactions and suggestions always welcome. And bear in mind - - this is by no means a complete list.
Oakland Athletics The former Philadelphia Athletics franchise from 1901-1954 was the Kansas City Athletics. Then from 1955-1967 the team was the Oakland A's, in 1968 then to the Athletics in 1987.
OCTOPUS, THE Marty Marion was a fine fielding shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s into the 1950s he had long arms and legs.
OIL CAN Former colorful hurler Dennis Boyd grew up and learned to play ball in the deep south. He would get so thirsty that the beverage drank in his phrase was"just like drankin' ole]."
OLD FPX Name given to pilot-manager Clark Grifith of the old Highlanders because of his cunning ways.
OKLAHOMA KID The young Mickey Mantle came from Oklahoma.
OLD ACHES AND PAINS Luke Appling performed for two decades with the Chicago White Sox. A .310 lifetime batting average was just one of the reasons he was admitted to the Hall of Fame in 1964. His nickname stemmed from the numerous real and imagined illnesses he picked up playing in 2,422 games, while averaging better than a hit a game. Appling was born April 2, 1907, and in 1950 was still playing major league baseball, aches, pains, and all.
OLD HOSS Charles Radbourne was known as Charles or Charley until his amazing 1884 season, when he pitched 678 innings and earned the nickname.
OLD RELIABLE Tommy Henrich played for the New York Yankees from 1937 to 1950. His lifetime batting average was only .282, but the value of Henrich to the Yankees was in his clutch hitting. Time after time he would come up in a key situation and deliver. His nickname had its roots in his ability to function under pressure and to perform reliably with distinction.
OLE PERFESSOR Hall of Famer Charles Dillon Stengel was an original. Born on July 30, 1890, in Kansas City, Missouri, he played in the majors for 14 years and managed for 25 more--with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Braves, the New York Yankees (10 pennants), and the New York Mets (four tenth-place finishes). He had seen it all, and in one of his more coherent statements, he said, "This here team won't win anything until we spread enough of our players around the league and make the others [teams] horseshit, too." The statement underscored the ineptitude of the early Mets. Loquacious, dynamic, vital, Casey could lecture on baseball and life for hours and hours, and that was just part of the reason for his nickname. Actually, in 1914 Stengel held the title of professor at the University of Mississippi, for he spent that year's spring-training coaching baseball at that institution. That's how he really came by his nickname.
ON DECK A term describing a player stationed in the batter's on deck circle in front of the dugout, preparing to be the next batter to come up and hit.
ONE AND ONLY Babe Ruth, he was.
ONE-ARMED PETE GRAY Born Peter J. Wyshner (a.k.a. Pete Gray) on March 6, 1917, Gray was a longtime New York City semipro star who played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945. He actually had only one arm and played center field with an unpadded glove. He had an intricate and well developed routine for catching the ball, removing the ball from his glove, and throwing the ball to the infield. Gray hit .218 for the Browns, not bad for a hitter with only one arm.
$100,000 INFIELD That was the price tag and the nickname given to Eddie Collins, "Home Run" Baker, Stuffy McInnis, and Hack Barry, the players who composed the infield for Connie Mack's 1914 Philadelphia Athletics.
ONE-BAGGER (ONE-BASE HIT) A single.
OPPOSITE FIELD The part of the field opposite the batter's box a hitter occupies. Thus, right field is the opposite field for a hitter who bats right, and left field is the opposite field for a hitter who bats from the left side of the plate.
Oakland Athletics The former Philadelphia Athletics franchise from 1901-1954 was the Kansas City Athletics. Then from 1955-1967 the team was the Oakland A's, in 1968 then to the Athletics in 1987.
OCTOPUS, THE Marty Marion was a fine fielding shortstop for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1940s into the 1950s he had long arms and legs.
OIL CAN Former colorful hurler Dennis Boyd grew up and learned to play ball in the deep south. He would get so thirsty that the beverage drank in his phrase was"just like drankin' ole]."
OLD FPX Name given to pilot-manager Clark Grifith of the old Highlanders because of his cunning ways.
OKLAHOMA KID The young Mickey Mantle came from Oklahoma.
OLD ACHES AND PAINS Luke Appling performed for two decades with the Chicago White Sox. A .310 lifetime batting average was just one of the reasons he was admitted to the Hall of Fame in 1964. His nickname stemmed from the numerous real and imagined illnesses he picked up playing in 2,422 games, while averaging better than a hit a game. Appling was born April 2, 1907, and in 1950 was still playing major league baseball, aches, pains, and all.
OLD HOSS Charles Radbourne was known as Charles or Charley until his amazing 1884 season, when he pitched 678 innings and earned the nickname.
OLD RELIABLE Tommy Henrich played for the New York Yankees from 1937 to 1950. His lifetime batting average was only .282, but the value of Henrich to the Yankees was in his clutch hitting. Time after time he would come up in a key situation and deliver. His nickname had its roots in his ability to function under pressure and to perform reliably with distinction.
OLE PERFESSOR Hall of Famer Charles Dillon Stengel was an original. Born on July 30, 1890, in Kansas City, Missouri, he played in the majors for 14 years and managed for 25 more--with the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Boston Braves, the New York Yankees (10 pennants), and the New York Mets (four tenth-place finishes). He had seen it all, and in one of his more coherent statements, he said, "This here team won't win anything until we spread enough of our players around the league and make the others [teams] horseshit, too." The statement underscored the ineptitude of the early Mets. Loquacious, dynamic, vital, Casey could lecture on baseball and life for hours and hours, and that was just part of the reason for his nickname. Actually, in 1914 Stengel held the title of professor at the University of Mississippi, for he spent that year's spring-training coaching baseball at that institution. That's how he really came by his nickname.
ON DECK A term describing a player stationed in the batter's on deck circle in front of the dugout, preparing to be the next batter to come up and hit.
ONE AND ONLY Babe Ruth, he was.
ONE-ARMED PETE GRAY Born Peter J. Wyshner (a.k.a. Pete Gray) on March 6, 1917, Gray was a longtime New York City semipro star who played in 77 games for the St. Louis Browns in 1945. He actually had only one arm and played center field with an unpadded glove. He had an intricate and well developed routine for catching the ball, removing the ball from his glove, and throwing the ball to the infield. Gray hit .218 for the Browns, not bad for a hitter with only one arm.
$100,000 INFIELD That was the price tag and the nickname given to Eddie Collins, "Home Run" Baker, Stuffy McInnis, and Hack Barry, the players who composed the infield for Connie Mack's 1914 Philadelphia Athletics.
ONE-BAGGER (ONE-BASE HIT) A single.
OPPOSITE FIELD The part of the field opposite the batter's box a hitter occupies. Thus, right field is the opposite field for a hitter who bats right, and left field is the opposite field for a hitter who bats from the left side of the plate.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
FROMMER CLASSIC, IN HONOR OF BOB SHEPPARD
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Yankee Stadium."
We lost another Yankee Great, a Bomber Legend, A Great Man.
On April 11th, 2006 Bob Sheppard missed his first Yankees home opener in half-century, here is what Dr Harvey Frommer had to say then.
By Harvey Frommer
April 11, 2006
It's really not quite a Yankee home game without Bob Sheppard. The long time
"public address voice of the Yankees" threw out his hip at his Long Island home
making him miss his first Yankee home opener since 1950.
We lost another Yankee Great, a Bomber Legend, A Great Man.
On April 11th, 2006 Bob Sheppard missed his first Yankees home opener in half-century, here is what Dr Harvey Frommer had to say then.
By Harvey Frommer
April 11, 2006
It's really not quite a Yankee home game without Bob Sheppard. The long time
"public address voice of the Yankees" threw out his hip at his Long Island home
making him miss his first Yankee home opener since 1950.
But he promises he will be back.
"I am very disappointed," said Sheppard who won't give his age and is thought to
be in his 90s. "I am optimistic that I will return to the stadium for the next
homestand."
It has been said: "Every kid growing up has dreamed of lining up at Yankee
Stadium and having Bob Sheppard announce his name." The New York Yankees public
address announcer has announced many names working more than 4,000 games.
It began for Sheppard on April 17, 1951, Opening Day. The lineup that day was:
Jackie Jensen lfPhil Rizzuto ss
Mickey Mantle rf
Joe DiMaggio cf
Yogi Berra c
Johnny Mize 1b
Billy Johnson 3b
Jerry Coleman 2b
Vic Raschi p
Favorite Yankee moments for the former St. John's quarterback and first baseman
who works in the sound-proofed little glass both include: Larsen's Perfect Game,
Maris hitting 61 home runs, Reggie's three home runs against the Dodgers and
Mantle's shot almost over the roof.
Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle make Sheppard's all time favorite list.
"DiMaggio's name was symbolic of the early Yankees," Sheppard said, "and "Mickey
Mantle has a nice ring to it because the two 'Ms' make it alliterative. "I just
loved announcing his name. And one day, shortly before he died, we were both
being interviewed on a television program. All of a sudden, he turned to me and
said - right there on the air - that every time he heard me announce his name,
he got goose bumps. And I felt the same way about announcing him."
Hundreds of eulogies have been written and delivered by Sheppard. "They ask me
to do a eulogy. I try to tailor my remarks to the person I am eulogizing.
Thurman Munson, Dick Howser, Billy Martin. Mickey Mantle's seemed to strike a
cord because he died the night before."
Reggie Jackson pointed out that Sheppard's voice sounds like "the voice of God"
as it reverberates through Yankee Stadium. Clay Bellinger made the point that
"the first time I heard it, it was my realization of making the big leagues
after 10 years in the minor leagues. Just think of all the people he's
announced."
"There are three things that are perfectly Yankee - the pinstripes, the logo and
Bob Sheppard's voice," comedian Billy Crystal said. "When I go to heaven, I want
Bob Sheppard to announce me."
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Baseball Names and How They Got That Way! Part XXI (N)
The words and phrases are spoken and written day after day, year after year - generally without any wonderment as to how they became part of the language. All have a history, a story. For those of you who liked Part I, Part II, Part III, X, XV and all the others and wanted more, here is more, just a sampling. As always, reactions and suggestions always welcome. And bear in mind - - this is by no means a complete list.
NAIL The act of throwing out a runner.
NAILS Lenny Dykstra, allegedly this former major leaguer was as tough as nails.
NASTY BOYS Norm Charlton in 1990 split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen, where he teamed up with fellow relievers
Rob Dibble and Randy Myers to form the "Nasty Boys"- a fearsome trio that Cincinnati rode all the way to a World Series sweep of the favored Oakland A's.
NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM Located at Cooperstown, New York, the site where Abner Doubleday - as myth would have it - invented the game of baseball, the Hall of Fame, established in 1939, is the oldest institution of its kind in the United States.
NAUGATUCK NUGGET Born Francis Joseph Shea on Oct. 2, 1920 in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Frank "Spec" Shea won 2 games in the 1947 World Series as a rookie for the New York Yankees. His nicknames came from his place of birth and his poor vision.
NEW YORK YANKEES The Baltimore Orioles franchise was purchased for $18,000 by well known gambler Frank Farrell and former New York City Chief of Police William S. "Big Bill" Devery, who bragged that he had never read a book. Farrell and Devery owned hundreds of pool rooms and nearly as many politicians, and they knew their way around town.
The team was at first called Highlanders both after a famous British Army regiment named Gordon's Highlanders, and because Hilltop Park was their home ballpark and was located on a hilltop overlooking Washington Heights.
The name “Yankees” was used first by sportswriters Mark Roth of the New York Globe and Sam Crane of the New York Journal, the name appearing in print for the first time on June 21, 1904 in the Boston Herald.
NICE GUYS FINISH LAST As baseball player and manager, Leo Durocher prided himself on his combativeness. He schemed, argued, and fought with the opposition-and sometimes with his own teammates. His feelings about "nice guys" as revealed in the quote above, now almost a cliché attributed to him, expressed his baseball philosophy and underscored his attitude toward winning (see LIP, THE).
NIGHTCAP The second game of a doubleheader.
NINETY SIX William Symmes Voiselle was also known as "Big Bill" for his size. Born January 29, 1919 in Greenwood, South Carolina, he and friends were stymied on Sundays by the rules of the day - no baseball on Sundays. They would sneak over to a local creek area in Nine Six, South Carolina and play. Voiselle in the 1940s took his skills to the major leagues as a pitcher with the Pirates and the nickname from his early playing area.
NICKEL SERIES Refers to old days when New York City teams played against each other and the tariff was a five cents subway ride.
NIGHTRIDER Don Larsen of New York Yankees “perfect game” fame called himself that because it reminded him of comic books heroes he read about and it fit with his late-night bar wanderings.
NOMAR
Nomar Garciaparra’s “nickname” is unique. His first name (which is actually his middle name) is his father's name (Ramon), spelled backwards.
NUMBER 1/8 On August 19, 1951, Eddie Gaedel, wearing number l/8, came to bat for the St. Louis Browns against the Detroit Tigers. Gaedel, who was signed by Browns owner Bill Veeck, walked on four straight pitches and was then replaced by a pinch runner. The next day the American League banned Gaedel, despite Veeck's protests. Gaedel was a midget, only three feet, seven inches tall.
NUMBERS In 1929, the New York Yankees introduced identifying numbers sewn on the backs of player jerseys, the first time that uniform numbers were used on a full-time basis.
For the record, here is the list of the "original " ten Yankee uniform numbers:
#1 - Earle Combs,
#2 - Mark Koenig
#3 - Babe Ruth,
#4 - Lou Gehrig,
#5 - Bob Meusel,
#6 - Tony Lazzeri,
#7 - Leo Durocher,
#8 - Johnny Grabowski,
#9 - Benny Bengough,
#10 - Bill Dickey
NAIL The act of throwing out a runner.
NAILS Lenny Dykstra, allegedly this former major leaguer was as tough as nails.
NASTY BOYS Norm Charlton in 1990 split time between the starting rotation and the bullpen, where he teamed up with fellow relievers
Rob Dibble and Randy Myers to form the "Nasty Boys"- a fearsome trio that Cincinnati rode all the way to a World Series sweep of the favored Oakland A's.
NATIONAL BASEBALL HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM Located at Cooperstown, New York, the site where Abner Doubleday - as myth would have it - invented the game of baseball, the Hall of Fame, established in 1939, is the oldest institution of its kind in the United States.
NAUGATUCK NUGGET Born Francis Joseph Shea on Oct. 2, 1920 in Naugatuck, Connecticut, Frank "Spec" Shea won 2 games in the 1947 World Series as a rookie for the New York Yankees. His nicknames came from his place of birth and his poor vision.
NEW YORK YANKEES The Baltimore Orioles franchise was purchased for $18,000 by well known gambler Frank Farrell and former New York City Chief of Police William S. "Big Bill" Devery, who bragged that he had never read a book. Farrell and Devery owned hundreds of pool rooms and nearly as many politicians, and they knew their way around town.
The team was at first called Highlanders both after a famous British Army regiment named Gordon's Highlanders, and because Hilltop Park was their home ballpark and was located on a hilltop overlooking Washington Heights.
The name “Yankees” was used first by sportswriters Mark Roth of the New York Globe and Sam Crane of the New York Journal, the name appearing in print for the first time on June 21, 1904 in the Boston Herald.
NICE GUYS FINISH LAST As baseball player and manager, Leo Durocher prided himself on his combativeness. He schemed, argued, and fought with the opposition-and sometimes with his own teammates. His feelings about "nice guys" as revealed in the quote above, now almost a cliché attributed to him, expressed his baseball philosophy and underscored his attitude toward winning (see LIP, THE).
NIGHTCAP The second game of a doubleheader.
NINETY SIX William Symmes Voiselle was also known as "Big Bill" for his size. Born January 29, 1919 in Greenwood, South Carolina, he and friends were stymied on Sundays by the rules of the day - no baseball on Sundays. They would sneak over to a local creek area in Nine Six, South Carolina and play. Voiselle in the 1940s took his skills to the major leagues as a pitcher with the Pirates and the nickname from his early playing area.
NICKEL SERIES Refers to old days when New York City teams played against each other and the tariff was a five cents subway ride.
NIGHTRIDER Don Larsen of New York Yankees “perfect game” fame called himself that because it reminded him of comic books heroes he read about and it fit with his late-night bar wanderings.
NOMAR
Nomar Garciaparra’s “nickname” is unique. His first name (which is actually his middle name) is his father's name (Ramon), spelled backwards.
NUMBER 1/8 On August 19, 1951, Eddie Gaedel, wearing number l/8, came to bat for the St. Louis Browns against the Detroit Tigers. Gaedel, who was signed by Browns owner Bill Veeck, walked on four straight pitches and was then replaced by a pinch runner. The next day the American League banned Gaedel, despite Veeck's protests. Gaedel was a midget, only three feet, seven inches tall.
NUMBERS In 1929, the New York Yankees introduced identifying numbers sewn on the backs of player jerseys, the first time that uniform numbers were used on a full-time basis.
For the record, here is the list of the "original " ten Yankee uniform numbers:
#1 - Earle Combs,
#2 - Mark Koenig
#3 - Babe Ruth,
#4 - Lou Gehrig,
#5 - Bob Meusel,
#6 - Tony Lazzeri,
#7 - Leo Durocher,
#8 - Johnny Grabowski,
#9 - Benny Bengough,
#10 - Bill Dickey
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Baseball Names and How They Got That Way! Part XX (M)
The words and phrases are spoken and written day after day, year after year - generally without any wonderment as to how they became part of the language. All have a history, a story. For those of you who liked Part I, Part II, Part III, X and all the others and wanted more, here is more, just a sampling. As always, reactions and suggestions always welcome
M&M BOYS Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris
MAD HUNGARIAN Al Hrabosky, who arrived in the major leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1970, is a self-created image. Originally a clean-cut pitcher, Hrabosky allowed his hair to grow long and cultivated a beard and a moustache. He then developed a procedure on the pitching mound designed to annoy, frustrate, and sometimes anger batters. He would step off the mound, walk in the direction of second base, pound his glove, talk to himself, trot back to the mound, glower in to the catcher, and release his pitch. Pleasing to the crowds, an aid to, in Hrabosky's phrase, "psyching myself up," the image and the routine fattened the pitcher's paychecks. There are those who declare that Hrabosky may be Hungarian, but he surely isn't mad.
MAHATMA, THE Branch Rickey (1881-1965) was one of baseball's most influential personalities. Inventor of the farm system, the force responsible for Jackie Robinson breaking baseball's color line, the master builder of the St. Louis Cardinal and Brooklyn Dodger organizations, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1967. Sportswriter Tom Meany coined Rickey's nickname. Meany got the idea from John Gunther's phrase describing Mohandas K. Gandhi as a” combination of God, your own father, and Tammany Hall."
MAIL CARRIER Fans at Louisville in the minor where Earle Combs starred called him that because of his speed and base stealing skills.
MAN, THE (STAN THE MAN) Stanley Frank Musial, St. Louis Cardinal baseball immortal, batted .315 as a rookie in 1942, when he was 21 years old. In 1962, at the age of 41, he hit .330-one point under his lifetime batting average. Musial is the all-time Cardinal leader in games played, runs, hits, doubles, triples, homers, and total bases. His twisted, crouched, coiled stance at the plate enabled him to slash the ball with power or stroke it with finesse to any part of the playing field. Musial was an especially successful hitter in the small confines of Ebbets Field. His specialty was slamming frozen rope doubles off the outfield walls. Dodger fans had difficulty pronouncing his name, sometimes calling him "Musical." Many of the black Dodger fans simply referred to Musial as "the Man" in tribute to the power and style he displayed. Eventually fans all over the league used this nickname-a reference not only to Musial but to the respect due his power and authority.
MAN IN THE IRON HAT Yankee owner Captain Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Hutson wore the same squished derby hat over and over again.
MAN NOBODY KNOWS Catcher Bill Dickey, Yankee immortal, because of his blandness.
MAN OF A THOUSAND CURVES His nickname was a bit hyperbolic, but the major league batters who swung at his stuff and came up empty might not disagree with it. For Johnny Sain, talented star of the Boston Braves and other teams, curveball pitches were a trademark and the reason for his nickname. He allegedly had such pitching skill that his curves dropped, darted, hesitated, broke wide, broke fast, broke slow, broke twice. There may not have been a thousand curves, but there were enough variations on these curves Sain possessed that the effect on batters was the same.
MAN O’ WAR Sam Rice was a fleet-footed outfielder and was called Man O' War" after the famous racehorse of his era.
MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN During the late 1 940's and into the 1950's, Don Mueller of the New York Giants appeared to have a special gift with a bat in his hands. His lifetime batting average was a respectable .296, yet he never led the league in any hitting category. His nickname came from his expert bat-manipulation and his ability to hit the ball where he wanted it to go.
MAJOR Ralph Houk, for rank held in the Armed Forces and demeanor
MARSE JOE Hall of Fame Manager Joe McCarthy, , for his commanding style.
MARVELOUS MARV Marvin Eugene Throneberry was perhaps born to be a New York Met. His initials spelled out the name and his personality and limited skills underscored the characteristics of the 1962 New York expansion team. Throneberry, who looked like Mickey Mantle batting but did not get the same results, labored through a seven-year, four-different-team major league career- the Mets were his last team. He is a gentle, fine humored man, and sportswriters hung the nickname on him in good-natured jest.
Throneberry loved it and went along with their efforts to depict him as a clown. Once a teammate dropped an easy fly ball. Marvelous Marv smiled and shouted, "What are you trying to do anyway, steal my fans?"
MASTER BUILDER IN BASEBALL Jacob Ruppert, and that he was.
MASTER MELVIN Mel Ott was a power-armed right fielder for 22 years with the New York Giants. He smashed 511 home runs in a fabled career that saw him average better than a hit a game while compiling a lifetime batting average of .304. Ott became a Giant at the age of 16-and that's how his nickname came about. Ott's Hollywood-type beginning was recalled by Eddie Logan, Giants equipment manager, who was about the same age as Ott at the time and was sent to pick up the youth: "We had the 9th Avenue El at the time. Mr. McGraw had told him to ride the El to the last stop, which was the Polo Grounds. He took the El the wrong way and wound up at the Battery. I looked for the straw suitcase. I found him. I said, 'C'mon boy, let's go.' He got the biggest thrill riding back on the train." Labeled "McGraw's baby," Ott was in only 35 games in 1926, then 82 in 1927. "He's too young to play big-league ball," McGraw said, "but I am afraid to send him to the minors and have a manager there tinker with his unorthodox batting style. The style is natural with him. He'll get results as soon as he learns about big-league pitching." And he did.
MEAL TICKET, THE Through the long Depression years, one of the great constants in the fortunes of the New York Giants was pitcher Carl Hubbell. The Hall of Famer possessed a left-handed screwball that he threw at different speeds and blended with a dazzling change of pace. He could make the ball almost disappear, so sophisticated was his pitching style. Hubbell won 253 games for the Giants in a 1 6-year career and notched a 2.97 earned-run average. His nickname came from his value to the Giants. He was a selfless performer. "In a close game, he'd go down to the bullpen and start warming up. He wanted to show that he was willing and ready, and he'd defy the manager not to put him in," recalled former Giant owner Horace Stoneham.
THE MECHANICAL MAN A Tiger superstar in the 1930s, Charlie Gehringer was given that nickname by Yankee pitcher Lefty Gomez who said he was automatic.
MENDOZA LINE Batters hitting below .215 are referred to as below the Mendoza line, a reference to Mario Mendoza, lifetime batting average - .215.
MERRY Mortician Waite Hoyt was a cheery soul and worked off-season as a mortician.
MICK THE QUICK Mickey Rivers, for his speed.
MICKEY MOUTH Mickey Rivers, for his motor mouth.
MIGHTY MITE Hall of Famer Miller Huggins played 13 years in the major leagues and managed for 17 more with the Cardinals and Yankees. A 5'6", 140-pounder, his small physical stature and his outstanding playing and managing ability merged into the qualities that produced his nickname.
MILKMAN Former Yankee pitcher Jim Turner because of his off-season job delivering milk
MILWAUKEE BREWERS The franchise began as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, then moved to Milwaukee in 1970 and picked up its nickname for the famous breweries in the City.
MINNESOTA TWINS Named for the "Twin Cities" where the team is located, Minneapolis and St. Paul. Franchise moved from Washington DC, as the Senators (from 1901-1960), then to Bloomington, Minnesota as the Twins (1961-81) then to Minneapolis in 1982.
MINNIE MINOSO His real name was Saturnino Orestes Arrieta Armas Minoso, but everyone knew him as Minnie, which made it easier for typesetters, reporters, and fans. Born November 29, 1922, in Havana, Cuba, Minoso played 15 years in the majors, from 1949 to 1964 (he also appeared in one game in 1977, while a coach with the Chicago White Sox).
MIRACLE AT COOGANS BLUFF Throughout the long history of baseball there have been poignant, exciting, dramatic moments. But very few can compare to what happened on October 3, 1951 at the old Polo Grounds in New York City. Some refer to that time as "The Miracle at Coogan's Bluff." Others, especially in Brooklyn, call it "Dat Day." But no matter what label is applied it was a time to remember. It was a time when the Giants played out of the Polo Grounds in Manhattan and the Dodgers entertained millions in their tiny Brooklyn ballpark, Ebbets Field. It was a time of tremendous fan devotion to each team.
In July Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen had bragged, "The Giants is dead." It seemed to aptly describe the plight of Leo Durocher's team. For on August 12 the Giants trailed the Dodgers by 13 l/2 games in the standings.
Then, incredibly, the Giants locked into what has been called "The Miracle Run." They won 37 of their final 44 games - 16 of them in one frenetic stretch - and closed the gap.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime situation," recalls Monte Irvin, who batted .312 that year for the Giants. "We kept on winning. The Dodgers kept on losing. It seemed like we beat everybody in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning.
The Giants and Dodgers finished the season in a flat-footed tie for first-place and met on the first day of October in the first game of the first play-off in the history of the National League. The teams split the first two games setting the stage for the third and final game.
Don Newcombe of the Dodgers was pitted against Sal Maglie of the Giants. Both hurlers had won 23 games during the regular season.
The game began under overcast skies and a threat of rain. Radio play-by-play filtered into schoolrooms, factories, office buildings, city prisons, barbershops.
The Wall Street teletype intermingled stock quotations with play-by-play details of the Giant-Dodger battle. The game was tied 1-1 after seven innings. Then Brooklyn scored three times in the top of the eighth. Many of the Dodger fans at the Polo Grounds and the multitude listening to the game on the radio thought that the Giants would not come back. Durocher and the Giants never gave up. "We knew that Newcombe would make the wrong pitch," said Monte Irvin. "That was his history."
The Giants came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning - only three outs remained in their miracle season.
Alvin Dark led off with a single through the right side of the infield. Don Mueller slapped the ball past Dodger first baseman Gil Hodges. Irvin fouled out. Whitey Lockman doubled down the left field line. Dark scored.
With runners on second and third Ralph Branca came in to relieve Newcombe. Bobby Thomson waited to bat. Durocher said, "I did not know whether they would pitch to Thomson or not. First base was open. Willie Mays, just a rookie, was on deck."
Veteran New York Giant announcer Russ Hodges described the moment to millions mesmerized at their radios that October afternoon:
"Bobby Thomson up there swinging.... Bobby batting at .292. Branca pitches and Bobby takes a strike call on the inside corner. Lockman without too big of a lead at second but he'll be running like the wind if Thomson hits one. "Branca throws ... there's a long drive...it's gonna be, I believe. . .'The precise moment was 3:58 P.M., October 3, 1951.
"... the Giants win the pennant!" Hodges screamed the words at the top of his voice, all semblance of journalistic objectivity gone. "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!"
Hodges bellowed it out eight times - and then overcome by the moment and voiceless, he had to yield the microphone.
Pandemonium was on parade at the Polo Grounds for hours after the game. For almost half an hour after the epic home run, there were so many phone calls placed by people in Manhattan and Brooklyn that the New York Telephone Company reported service almost broke down.
Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca would play out their major league careers. But the moment they shared - as hero and goat that October day at the Polo Grounds - would link them forever.
MIRACLE BRAVES The year was 1914, the year World War I began. The Boston Braves marched from last place in July to the National League pennant by winning 61 of their last 77 games. That accomplishment was only a part of what earned the Braves their reputation as a "miracle" team. In the World Series, the Braves were given no chance to defeat a powerful Philadelphia Athletics team that boasted such pitching stars as Chief Bender, Bullet Joe Bush, Eddie Plank, Jack Coombs, and what was referred to as the "$100,000 infield" of Baker, Barry, McInnis, and Collins. Boston manager George Stallings was confident. "We'll stop them. We're coming and they're going."
Behind their powerful pitching trio of George Tyler, Dick Rudolph, and Bill James, the Braves won the first game, shocking the baseball world, then the next three, to demolish a dynasty and become the first team in the history of baseball to win four straight World Series games.
MIRACLE MAN The manager of the "Miracle Braves," George Stallings, piloted four different teams in a 13year managing career. He won only a single pennant in all those years-with the 1914"Miracle Braves"-but the accomplishment was good enough to earn him his nickname.
MR. AUTOMATIC Mariano Rivera, for his unflappable behavior and skills as a Yankee stopper.
MR. MAY George Steinbrenner's sarcastic jibe at Dave Winfield because of his postseason struggles as compared to Reggie Jackson's successes. It was a taunt from the Yankee principal owner that Winfield did well in the month of way when there was no real pressure.
MR. OCTOBER In Game Five of the 1977 ALCS Billy Martin benched Reggie Jackson. In a comeback win against Kansas City Jackson retuned to slap a single. Thurman Munson sarcastically called Jackson "Mr. October." The nick-name would have taken on a different meaning but Jackson fitted the nick-name to his persona.
MR. NOVEMBER Derek Jeter, for his World Series home run, the first of November, 2001.
MONSTER, THE His size (6'6" and 230 pounds) and his pitching efficiency during his seven-year stint for the Boston Red Sox in the 1960's earned Dick Radatz his nickname.
MONTREAL EXPOS Nickname derived from the 1967 World Exposition staged in Montreal. It was held two years before the team's inaugural game. The fair ran for the entire year and drew approximately 50 million people.
MOOKIE Willie Wilson was given this nickname by his family because of the funny way he said “milk” when he was a child.
MOON SHOT Home run hit high and far. See Wally Moon and LA Dodgers.
MOOSE Bill Skowron's, grandfather as a joke called him Mussolini, but his family shortened the nickname to Moose. This is another version - that he was named "Moose" because of his resemblance to Mussolini.
Pitcher Mike Mussina earned this name for size: Baltimore Orioles ( 1991-2000), New York Yankees 2001-present.
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MY WRITERS Casey Stengel's phrase for journalists he was close to.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 40 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball."Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next.FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
The Book Review: "Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert" & "Blows To The Head" and more
A very important yet not too well documented corner of baseball history - - interracial baseball prior to the arrival of Jackie Robinson on the scene is the subject matter of "Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert" by Timothy Gay (Simon & Schuster, $26.00,349 pages).
We are there with Leroy "Satchel" Paige, Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean and Robert William Andrew "Bob" Feller. We are there in the barnstorming and amidst Jim Crow, there for the elation and joy and humor and also for the degradation, hurt and racism. There are many never before told stories in this well researched and important tome.
"Blows To The Head" is a slim but fascinating and virtually inspirational story by Binnie Klein (Suny Press, $19.95, 195 pages) all about as the book's sub-title proclaims "how boxing changed my mind." The prime focus of this appealing narrative is how in the mid 1950s the author, a Jewish psychotherapist, became interweaved with boxing and in the process discovered so much about her roots. A KNOCKOUT OF A BOOK
Back in the day there was arrogant and in-your-face Charlie Finley, possessor of hype, hoopla and histrionics. He was the owner who moved his team from KC to Oakland, winning three straight division titles, three World Series, developing such players as Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers and more. "Charlie Finley" by G. Michael Green and Roger D. Launius,(Walker,)$27.00, 336 pages) could have used some tighter editing and perhaps 75 less pages; nevertheless, it brings back a time, a place and one of baseball history's more zany characters.
Douglas J. Gladstone's slim paperback "A Bitter Cup of Coffee (Word Association, $18.00, 192 pages) is a carefully researched look at how MLB and the Players Association and the vexing issue of 874 players who played in the Majors for that proverbial "cup of coffee" and never were retroactively included in amended vesting requirements.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
NBA Draft history (From the Vault)
The NBA draft is all the rage. Prospects are dissected, analyzed, and compared to heroes of yesteryear. There is the pre-draft camp, the endless talk show hustle as well as fantasy drafts. Preceded by hype, hope and hoopla, the NBA Draft finally arrives with a cast of hundreds of personalities, nationally televised hour after hour. And then there is the endless post-draft commentary.
Once upon a time things were quite different in a simpler world and a smaller NBA. The first draft in 1947 saw first-round selections made by Pittsburgh, Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington and Baltimore. No name from that first-round faraway time (aside from Knicks draftee Walt Dropo, who went on to a distinguished Major League baseball career) had any kind of real basketball impact.
The records from that primitive time are so shrouded in a time warp that a couple of the players drafted in '47 like Bob Alemeida and George Petrovick have a question mark next to their name signifying a lack of information as to the college they played for.
A few non-first-round players went on to make a name for themselves in pro ball like Andy Phillip out of Illinois, Jim Pollard from Stanford, Bob Kurland of Oklahoma A&M, and Red Rocha who had played at Oregon State.
A footnote to NBA history is Tony Lavelli of Yale, taken by Boston in the 1949 Draft. He went on to play the accordion for the Celtics at half time, sometimes. But contrary to rumors, his musical skill was not one of the reasons for Boston drafting him.
The 1950 Draft went 10 rounds for some teams and 12 for others, as a few teams lost interest. Territorial picks were sometimes much fought over and debated. The exclusive right to draft a player who came from a team's geographical region gave Philadelphia the legendary Paul Arizin in 1950.
A couple of others who went on to fame and glory were picked in that draft: Bud Grant (NFL) by Minneapolis and Bob Cousy by Tri-Cities.
The 1951 NBA Draft lasted 12 rounds, but most teams stopped picking by then.
The First Round went this way:
Team Player College
1 (Baltimore) Gene Melchiorre, Bradley
2 (TriCities) Mel Hutchins, Brigham Young
3 (Indianapolis) Marcus Freiberger, Oklahoma
4 (Ft Wayne) Zeke Sinicola, Niagara
5 (Syracuse) John McConathy, NW Louisiana
6 (NY Knicks) Ed Smith, Harvard
7 (Boston) Ernie Barrett, Kansas State
8 (Rochester) Sam Ranzino, North Carolina State
9 (Philadelphia) Don Sunderlage, Illinois
10 (Minneapolis) Whitey Skoog, Minnesota*
*The pick of Skoog was a Territorial one.
In the sixth round, the New York Knicks plucked Al McGuire from St. John's. The last player picked was John Burke of Springfield, Massachusetts by Baltimore in the 12th round. By 1966, the territorial selections were eliminated. A year later, the New York Knicks used their fifth pick to get Walt Frazier and their 17th to obtain Phil Jackson.
In the ensuing years, all kinds of marquee players and also-rans have made their way onto NBA rosters through the draft. In my opinion, the 1970 and 1981 NBA Drafts rank among the all-time best yielding bumper crops of players.
The 1970 NBA Draft yielded such greats as Dave Cowens by Boston (4th); Pete Maravich by Atlanta (3rd); Bob Lanier by Detroit (1st); Calvin Murphy by San Diego (18th); and Geoff Petrie by Portland (8th).
The 1981 draft included such gems as Isiah Thomas by Detroit (2nd); Mark Aguirre by Dallas (1st); Buck Williams by New Jersey (3rd); Tom Chambers by San Diego (8th); Rolando Blackman by Dallas (9th); Danny Ainge by Boston (31st); Kelly Tripuka by Detroit (12th); Orlando Woolridge by Chicago (6th); and Eddie Johnson by Kansas City (29th).
Who knows what the NBA Draft 2010 has in store. Stay tuned.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 40 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed REMEMBERING YANKEE STADIUM, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball."
Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Father’s Day Weekend 2010 at Fenway
Fenway Park, Circa 1960 Saturday, June 19th, was a day that was perfect in every way for Red Sox Nation. Game time temperature was 83 degrees and sunny. Another sellout at Fenway, 37,454 (101.4% full)
Fathers and sons and others bonding and enjoying this great game of ours at America’s most beloved ballpark. Fans following every pitch, friendly and competent staff - - there at the ready with directions, security, food and drink.
And this father and his son (a Dodger fan) there, too.
And Manny Ramirez was back - - wearing a Dodger uniform.
In the game’s early going it was almost like old times for Manny who got the Dodgers off and running in the second inning, singling, stealing second base and scoring on a Garret Anderson single to get L.A. on the board. He smashed a 356- foot shot off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield into the Green Monster’s second row seats in the sixth inning, cutting the score to 3-2 Sox. Fenway exploded with cheers and boos for Red Sox’s Nation’s one time favorite as he ran out the circuit clout.
The game see-sawed back and forth, tied at four all in the bottom of the ninth. “BEAT L.A. BEAT L.A.” The crowd roared. The Celtics almost had done it. Now the Sox had their shot.
Bill Hall singled off Dodger reliever Ronald Belisario to start the home team off, but was snuffed out at second on a poorly executed sac bunt by Daniel Nava. Darnell McDonald fanned for Boston. Marco Scutaro walked.
It was now little Dustin Pedroia at 5 feet and 9 inches versus the 6 feet 5 inch Jonathan Broxton, star Dodger closer. Two outs.
"When you go out and the guy's throwing 100 and it looks like he's 9-feet tall, I was thinking I've got to wake up," the Red Sox peppery player said. "I check swung twice. When I check swung, it really wasn't going that good. I just stepped out, thinking I've got to put the ball in play."
“The two breaking balls Broxton threw were filthy,” said manager Terry Francona. “ I know how good Broxton is, but any time Pedey has something to do with the outcome of the game, we feel good. He kind of wills himself to do something good.’’
Pedroia did something real good. He lined a 98-mile-per hour fast ball for a two-strike single into right. Nava raced around the bases.
“I was trying to make up for that bunt,’’ Nava said. “I was just saying to myself, ‘I’ve got to get home.’ I was at least trying to make it close. I just wanted to get my hand in there. There was no way I was going to get punched out at home.’’
Nava’s headfirst slide gave the Sox a 5-4 dramatic win, their fifth straight victory. The huge crowd was on its feet celebrating, high-fiving, some fans were deliriously happy, thrilled. Just another miraculous moment in the 98 year fabled history of Fenway Park – and even Dodger fans seemed to love it.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Baseball Names - and How They Got That Way! (L)
The words and phrases are spoken and written day after day, year after year - generally without any wonderment as to how they became part of the language. All have a history, a story. For those of you who liked Part I, Part II, Part III, X and all the others and wanted more, here is more, just a sampling. As always, reactions and suggestions always welcome
LE GRANDE ORANGE Rusty Staub played for the Montreal Expos in the years 1969-71. "He came here as an unknown, and not only was he our first big star," Expo President John McHale remembers, "but he had a way of relating to the people and a sense of being a star. His reddish hair, his physical stature, his unselfishness made him an easily identifiable figure. He was a very important factor in those years in the success of the team." Staub's size, red hair, and personality all merged into the nickname the Montreal fans coined for him.
LEFTY Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton was a private man who never talked to the press. He was a southpaw and a man with some odd habits. letters team name printed on the front of a jersey.LIP, THE When he was an infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1930's, Leo Durocher was known as Screechy because of his high-pitched voice and bench-jockeying ability. As he moved through his 17 year playing span and 24-year managing career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, and Houston Astros, Durocher attracted the ire of umpires and the hostility of rivals with what they termed his motor-mouth. A tough, combative, at times profane individual, Durocher's nickname was an apt one.
LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL In 1939 Carl E. Stotz founded the first Little League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Within two decades, kids and parents all over the United States and other countries were competitively involved. Williamsport has been the site of the Little League World Series since 1947. And the enterprise begun by Stotz is a big time sports phenomenon.
LITTLE NAPOLEON John J. McGraw came from the old Baltimore Orioles to take control of the New York Giants on July 16, 1902. He inherited a last-place team that had had 13 managers since 1891. The man they called Muggsy immediately released half the players on the roster of the Giants. "With my team," he said, "I'm absolute czar." Driving, cajoling, innovating, McGraw moved the Giants from a last place finish in 1902 to a second-place finish in 1903. He drove the New York team to a pennant in 1904. In his 30 years as manager, the Giants won ten pennants and finished second 11 times. McGraw's small physical stature contrasted sharply with the giant power that his gait, his face, and his name, projected throughout the world of baseball. He was famous for such lines as "The only popularity I know is to win," "Do what I tell you, and I'll take the blame if it goes wrong," and "I do the hiring and the firing around here." He was little in size but had Napoleonic power, and these two traits merged into the nickname of the man who was one of the greatest managers in baseball history.
LITTLE PROFESSOR Joe DiMaggio's younger brother, Dom, played center field for the Boston Red Sox for 11 years and compiled a lifetime .298 batting average. He wore glasses, was a keen student of the game, and was but five feet, nine inches tall and 168 pounds-and these characteristics supplied the reason for his nickname.
THE LINE Detroit Hall of Famer Al Kaline was called this as a tribute to his reliability and a play on his last name.
LITTLE LOOEY Small in size, shortstop Luis Aparicio made his mark as a member of the Chicago White Sox in the 1950s.
LOLO Mickey Lolich, former pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, for his last name, and how low his leg drive was in his delivery.
“LONESOME GEORGE Former legendary Yankee General Manager George Weiss, for his aloof ways.
LOOK THE RUNNER BACK A situation in which a pitcher attempts to control a base runner by staring at him, implying a throw; the pitcher's gaze alone will most times convince a runner to stay close to the base.
LOOPER A batted ball that drops in flight.
LOSING PITCHER One year he won eight games and lost 18; another year he won ten games and lost 20; in 1939 he lost 16, and in 1940 he led the National League in losses with 22. These statistics earned Hugh Noyes Mulcahy his nickname. In a nine-year career, Mulcahy won 45 games and lost 89.
LOU GEHRIG’S DISEASE Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), named after the famed New York Yankee who had the disease
LOUISIANA LIGHTNING The 95-mph speed he can put on a fastball and his Louisiana birthplace have earned for Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees his colorful and alliterative nickname.
LOUISVILLE SLUGGER This bat is named for the Kentucky city that was named for a French king, Louis XVI, in 1780. The Hillerich and Bradsby bat factory has been manufacturing Louisville Sluggers since 1884. One white-ash tree is needed to produce 60 bats. More than 6 million bats are manufactured annually. Major league ball players use 2 percent of the annual production, but each of their bats is built according to precise individual specifications. Babe Ruth's Louisville Slugger model weighed 48 ounces, while the one wielded by Wee Willie Keeler weighed just 30 ounces.
LE GRANDE ORANGE Rusty Staub played for the Montreal Expos in the years 1969-71. "He came here as an unknown, and not only was he our first big star," Expo President John McHale remembers, "but he had a way of relating to the people and a sense of being a star. His reddish hair, his physical stature, his unselfishness made him an easily identifiable figure. He was a very important factor in those years in the success of the team." Staub's size, red hair, and personality all merged into the nickname the Montreal fans coined for him.
LEFTY Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton was a private man who never talked to the press. He was a southpaw and a man with some odd habits. letters team name printed on the front of a jersey.LIP, THE When he was an infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1930's, Leo Durocher was known as Screechy because of his high-pitched voice and bench-jockeying ability. As he moved through his 17 year playing span and 24-year managing career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Chicago Cubs, and Houston Astros, Durocher attracted the ire of umpires and the hostility of rivals with what they termed his motor-mouth. A tough, combative, at times profane individual, Durocher's nickname was an apt one.
LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL In 1939 Carl E. Stotz founded the first Little League in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Within two decades, kids and parents all over the United States and other countries were competitively involved. Williamsport has been the site of the Little League World Series since 1947. And the enterprise begun by Stotz is a big time sports phenomenon.
LITTLE NAPOLEON John J. McGraw came from the old Baltimore Orioles to take control of the New York Giants on July 16, 1902. He inherited a last-place team that had had 13 managers since 1891. The man they called Muggsy immediately released half the players on the roster of the Giants. "With my team," he said, "I'm absolute czar." Driving, cajoling, innovating, McGraw moved the Giants from a last place finish in 1902 to a second-place finish in 1903. He drove the New York team to a pennant in 1904. In his 30 years as manager, the Giants won ten pennants and finished second 11 times. McGraw's small physical stature contrasted sharply with the giant power that his gait, his face, and his name, projected throughout the world of baseball. He was famous for such lines as "The only popularity I know is to win," "Do what I tell you, and I'll take the blame if it goes wrong," and "I do the hiring and the firing around here." He was little in size but had Napoleonic power, and these two traits merged into the nickname of the man who was one of the greatest managers in baseball history.
LITTLE PROFESSOR Joe DiMaggio's younger brother, Dom, played center field for the Boston Red Sox for 11 years and compiled a lifetime .298 batting average. He wore glasses, was a keen student of the game, and was but five feet, nine inches tall and 168 pounds-and these characteristics supplied the reason for his nickname.
THE LINE Detroit Hall of Famer Al Kaline was called this as a tribute to his reliability and a play on his last name.
LITTLE LOOEY Small in size, shortstop Luis Aparicio made his mark as a member of the Chicago White Sox in the 1950s.
LOLO Mickey Lolich, former pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, for his last name, and how low his leg drive was in his delivery.
“LONESOME GEORGE Former legendary Yankee General Manager George Weiss, for his aloof ways.
LOOK THE RUNNER BACK A situation in which a pitcher attempts to control a base runner by staring at him, implying a throw; the pitcher's gaze alone will most times convince a runner to stay close to the base.
LOOPER A batted ball that drops in flight.
LOSING PITCHER One year he won eight games and lost 18; another year he won ten games and lost 20; in 1939 he lost 16, and in 1940 he led the National League in losses with 22. These statistics earned Hugh Noyes Mulcahy his nickname. In a nine-year career, Mulcahy won 45 games and lost 89.
LOU GEHRIG’S DISEASE Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), named after the famed New York Yankee who had the disease
LOUISIANA LIGHTNING The 95-mph speed he can put on a fastball and his Louisiana birthplace have earned for Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees his colorful and alliterative nickname.
LOUISVILLE SLUGGER This bat is named for the Kentucky city that was named for a French king, Louis XVI, in 1780. The Hillerich and Bradsby bat factory has been manufacturing Louisville Sluggers since 1884. One white-ash tree is needed to produce 60 bats. More than 6 million bats are manufactured annually. Major league ball players use 2 percent of the annual production, but each of their bats is built according to precise individual specifications. Babe Ruth's Louisville Slugger model weighed 48 ounces, while the one wielded by Wee Willie Keeler weighed just 30 ounces.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Book Review: “The 300 Club,” “The Only Game in Town” and more
The highly prolific Dan Schlossberg is at it again with another winner – “The 300 Club” (Ascend Books, $24.95, 293 pages). Carefully crafted, brilliantly organized, this terrific tome focuses on that rarest of baseball fraternities, the two dozen hurlers who won 300 games in their careers.
We are there with the great Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Cy Young and his 511 wins, Lefty Grove and Early Wynn who just made it into the exclusive club with 300 victories and Pud Galvin (361 victories) who was there first way back when. Painstakingly researched - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
“The Only Game in Town” edited by David Remnick (Random House,$30.00, 492 pages) is a mother lode of fabulous sports writing from the pages of the New Yorker Magazine where the editor of this book is the editor.
We are able to enjoy works by Roger Angell, John Updike, Ring Lardner, Dom Delillo, John Cheever, Nancy Franklin and others on all matter of sports representing 80 years of writing in the storied magazine. GO FOR IT
“Batting Stance Guy” by Gar Ryness and Caleb Dewart (Scribner, $18.00, 255 pages, trade paperback original) is part unique and detailed analysis of what the authors deem to be the 50 most interesting stances of the last three decades, part book of lists (like best home run trot, etc.), part all over the map insights into the facts and factoids and stats of the national pastime. YOU HAVE TO LOVE IT
“Dream Golf” by Stephen Goodwin (Algonquin Books, $24.95, 344 pages) is about golf, architecture, dreaming, adventure. It is a must read containing as it does splendid writing about the adventure of the creation of a quartette of top courses that grace the coast of Oregon.
“Miracle Ball” by Brian Biegel (Three Rivers Press, $15.00, 231 pages, paperback reprint) is a narrative focused on the author’s quest to find the Bobby Thomson “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” baseball. Biegel’s two year effort reads like a detective story.
Interesting, beautifully written, “Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling” by Ruth Raymer (Random House/Spiegel & Grau, $25.00, 226 pages) is sort of like a coming of age adventure. The “sort of” is the key word here in a book that takes on a roller coaster Damon Runyan world of hipsters and gamblers and touts and gaming – all of which is sort of a sports universe.
Children’s Corner: “Bases Loaded” by Mike Knudson illustrated by Stacy Curtis (Viking, $14.99, 155 pages) showcases the duo Raymond and Graham and a thrill a minute scenario spinning of the pair’s goal to have their Little League team beat their rival and cop the championship. Suitable for ages 8 and up, but a nice “read to” for lower ages – this is a home run of a book.
Harvey Frommer is in his 34th consecutive year of writing sports books. A noted oral historian and sports journalist, the author of 41 sports books including the classics: "New York City Baseball,1947-1957" and "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball," his acclaimed Remembering Yankee Stadium, an oral/narrative history (Abrams, Stewart, Tabori and Chang) was published in 2008 as well as a reprint version of his classic "Shoeless Joe and Ragtime Baseball." Frommer's newest work CELEBRATING FENWAY PARK: AN ORAL AND NARRATIVE HISTORY OF THE HOME OF RED SOX NATION is next.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
FROMMER SPORTSNET (syndicated) reaches a readership in the millions and is housed on Internet search engines for extended periods of time.
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