Baseball History Thread

OleMissCub · June 17, 2011

That memo is terrific

erik316wttn · June 17, 2011

Here's a rather amusing letter from 1898, addressing foul language by ballplayers when on the field.

NSFW, due to some obscene phrases (no offensive pictures, though)

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/06/special-instructions-to-players.html

Its far better when you imagine it being read with a British accent.

I imagined it as being read by Daniel-Day Lewis's character in "There Will be Blood."

Little Slide Rooter · June 18, 2011

Here's a rather amusing letter from 1898, addressing foul language by ballplayers when on the field.

NSFW, due to some obscene phrases (no offensive pictures, though)

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/06/special-instructions-to-players.html

Its far better when you imagine it being read with a British accent.

I imagined it as being read by Daniel-Day Lewis's character in "There Will be Blood."

Everything better when read by John Cleese.

imb · June 18, 2011

try to get through two paragraphs in samuel l jackson's voice without laughing out loud

erik316wttn · June 23, 2011

Mickey Mantle having some fun with the Yankees PR department (NSFW)

http://graphics2.snopes.com/risque/graphics/mantle.pdf

NCCubFan · July 4, 2011

Today in 1939 Lou Gehrig gave his famous farewell address when he said "today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth." Until I saw it mentioned in a "this day in history" column in my local paper I never realized he gave that speech on the 4th of July.

NCCubFan · August 5, 2011

90 years ago today was the first radio broadcast of a major league baseball game. KDKA in Pittsburgh broadcast the Pirates-Phillies game, with Harold Arlin as the announcer. The Pirates won 8-5.

EhDubya · August 8, 2011

was just looking at ted williams' stats. imagine a guy going for .406/.553/.735/1.287 with 147 walks and 27 strikeouts in his age 22 season. insane.

on another note, ted williams was listed on only about 93.5% of the bbwaa ballots cast, while 23 voters (out of 432) left willie mays off. seriously, if you omit a player like mays or williams from your ballot in their first season of eligibility, shouldn't you automatically be ejected from the organization?

If Derek Jeter dies before he's up for election he's got a chance at unanimous.

Will all of the voters with Boston ties be dead too?

erik316wttn · September 28, 2011

70 years ago today:

Ted Williams entered play with a BA of .3996 with a doubleheader against the A's. He went 6-for-8 in the DH, raising his average to .406.

Williams wanted to play as he didn't want to get .400 on a technicality, and Connie Mack ordered his pitchers to pitch to him.

In contract, today Jose Reyes was pulled from the game after getting a hit in his first AB.

MSG T · September 28, 2011

Holy crap, I hadn't realized this thread was three years old.

EhDubya · September 29, 2011

70 years ago today:

Ted Williams entered play with a BA of .3996 with a doubleheader against the A's. He went 6-for-8 in the DH, raising his average to .406.

Williams wanted to play as he didn't want to get .400 on a technicality, and Connie Mack ordered his pitchers to pitch to him.

In contract, today Jose Reyes was pulled from the game after getting a hit in his first AB.

Heathens on my facebook feed are denouncing Reyes as "unAmerican" and claiming he "doesnt deserve" the title now.

erik316wttn · September 29, 2011

70 years ago today:

Ted Williams entered play with a BA of .3996 with a doubleheader against the A's. He went 6-for-8 in the DH, raising his average to .406.

Williams wanted to play as he didn't want to get .400 on a technicality, and Connie Mack ordered his pitchers to pitch to him.

In contract, today Jose Reyes was pulled from the game after getting a hit in his first AB.

Heathens on my facebook feed are denouncing Reyes as "unAmerican" and claiming he "doesnt deserve" the title now.

I don't know if it was "Unamerican," but it sure as hell was bush league.

Ding Dong Johnson · September 29, 2011

He was born un-American.

NCCubFan · October 3, 2011

60 years ago today.....

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

It was Oct. 3, 1951 when Bobby Thomson hit "the shot heard 'round the world," a walk-off home run to beat the Dodgers in the deciding game of a tie-breaker series to determine the NL champion (back then the tie-breaker was a three-game series, not a single game as it is now).

MSG T · October 3, 2011

60 years ago today.....

THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS WIN THE PENNANT!

It was Oct. 3, 1951 when Bobby Thomson hit "the shot heard 'round the world," a walk-off home run to beat the Dodgers in the deciding game of a tie-breaker series to determine the NL champion (back then the tie-breaker was a three-game series, not a single game as it is now).

I'm related to him. My grandfather's cousin.

erik316wttn · October 3, 2011

The only reason we have that little piece of audio is because a Dodgers fan wanted to hear the "crying" of the Giants announcer as they lost and quickly started recording the broadcast right before Thompson hit that HR.

jersey cubs fan · October 3, 2011

The only reason we have that little piece of audio is because a Dodgers fan wanted to hear the "crying" of the Giants announcer as they lost and quickly started recording the broadcast right before Thompson hit that HR.

the kid who had his mom record it was a Giants fan

erik316wttn · October 3, 2011

The only reason we have that little piece of audio is because a Dodgers fan wanted to hear the "crying" of the Giants announcer as they lost and quickly started recording the broadcast right before Thompson hit that HR.

the kid who had his mom record it was a Giants fan

After consulting wikipedia, I stand corrected.

OleMissCub · November 2, 2011

pretty random, but was checking out Troy Glaus' B-R page tonight and saw that in 2000 he didn't receive a single MVP vote despite putting up this line:

.284/.404/.604/1.008, 150+, 47 HR (led the league), 102 RBI, 120 Runs, 7.6 WAR

I realize other guys had better seasons, but still, to not crack the top 20 with a line like that? Sign of the times I suppose.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_2000.shtml#ALmvp

Also interesting that year to see how the voters viewed the "Coors Factor" in ranking Helton fifth in the voting given that he led all of baseball in BA, SLG, OPS, Total Bases, Doubles, RBI, RC, XBH, WPA, and was second in WAR, Runs, Hits, and IBB.

OleMissCub · December 27, 2011

Amazing game action shot of Christy Mathewson from 1911 found at Baseball Hall of Fame Museum's collection. Keith Olbermann pointed out how much it looks like Tom Seaver.

http://mlblogskeitholbermann.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/mathewsonhof.jpg

http://www.goldenagebaseballcards.com/hall-of-fame/imagesbig/tom-seaver.jpg

J.R. · January 1, 2012

javy knows my name · January 16, 2012

Figured this was the most appropriate place to put this. Great article I found poring through old FJM posts. I would really, really like Silver/BP to update this for 2012, as Pujols' comps are just hysterical.