Baseball Stories of Yore

[westofyou]

I heard a story in the 1980’s of a former Negro League player who was in a Major League clubhouse or somewhere nearby a batting practice cage. He asked, who is that hitting? There are only two players in my lifetime that I have heard that unique sound off the bat. Those two players he referred to was Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson. He stepped outside to view the batting practice hitter and it was Bo Jackson.

That would be Buck O'Neil

[Roy Tucker]

Found this on Reddit.

TL;DR: Impossible records were set, and Hall Of Famers were made because of a drunken night of debauchery and sex in 1884.

On June 7, 1884, ace pitcher Charlie Sweeney set a major league record that would stand for 102 years, when he struck out 19 batters in a single game. After this game, however, arm trouble put him on the bench, putting the bulk of the Providence Grays' innings on the back of Old Hoss Radbourn, who was the Gray's only other pitcher of note. Radbourn complained, and eventually Sweeney was forced to take the mound again. What followed is possibly the most old-timey baseball story in existence.

After a game in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Sweeney got drunk and elected to stay in Woonsocket with a lady friend. Waking the next morning (still drunk) and realizing that he had to start in Providence, he rushed out the door. With an already-tight pitching staff, the Grays had no choice but to put the visibly hammered Sweeney on the mound.

They tried to pull him after five effective innings, but Sweeney was having none of it. This was a time where pitching anything less than a complete game brought your very manliness into question. He pitched another two against the wishes of his manager. When again they tried to pull him before the 8th, with the threat of a $50 fine, Sweeney told them to stuff their $50 fine and his whole contract. He walked off the field and watched the rest of the game with a woman in each arm, presumed to be prostitutes. This not only got him kicked off the team, but thrown out of the entire National League.

And that only sets up the final twist of the story. With the Grays being extremely understaffed, Old Hoss Radbourn offered to pitch the remaining games of the season for a small pay bump and an exemption from the reserve clause. He started 40 of the remaining 43 games in the season, and won 36 of them. His arm became sore enough that he couldn't raise it over his shoulders, and he had to warm up for hours before gametime just to get the ball to the plate. Just to add to his spectacular feat, Radbourn started and won every single game of the 1884 "World Series".

After an incredible 678.2 innings pitched, Radbourn amassed an official 59 wins for the season (sometimes reported as 60), an impossible record that will never be touched. And it's all because a man named Charlie Sweeney got laid on July 21, 1884.

[KeefeCato]

I heard a story in the 1980’s of a former Negro League player who was in a Major League clubhouse or somewhere nearby a batting practice cage. He asked, who is that hitting? There are only two players in my lifetime that I have heard that unique sound off the bat. Those two players he referred to was Babe Ruth and Josh Gibson. He stepped outside to view the batting practice hitter and it was Bo Jackson.

Buck O'Neil wasn't it him who said that?

[WrongVerb]

My all-time favorite defensive play ever (difficulty: Bob Boone catching):

[westofyou]

If you are pulled aside and asked to name two facts about the 1911 baseball season for a million dollars then I have something that might help you out. If anything is different and important about 1911 and major league baseball, then it would be the ball itself.

1911 was the first season that baseball was wrapped around a cork center. Seems innocuous to some, others might note that mass plays a part in physics and that any change in the mass of the ball would affect the actions of the ball and the actions of the ball is often the games main variable to scoring runs. The 1910 season had seen an average of 3.83 runs and 0.14 home runs per game. The 1911 season, by contrast, saw an average of 4.51 runs and 0.21 home runs per game. Frank Schulte led the league with 21 home runs, a figure that more than doubled the league-leading total in 1910. He became the only player from the 20th century to have more than 16 HR's in a season since the National League started. The Reds themselves would score 682 runs, which was a fantastic number for a team that had scored 530, 524, 488, 606 over the past 4 seasons. They would not score that many for another decade.

Cork… the magic ingredient.

The second thing is a signing by the Reds themselves.

In July of 1911 The Reds purchased the contract of two Cuban players, Rafael Almeida and Armando Marsans who became the first Cubans to reach the majors since 1873 also known as before the National League began. Neither made a huge splash statistically with Marsan’s settling in as the teams 4th outfielder, known for his aggressive running and fielding they both were novelties in the game and the city. Reds Business Manager Frank Bancroft had prior connections with barnstorming in Cuba and noting the lack of talent on the team was willing to try anything to enrich the win column.

This relationship enriched future relationships for manager Clark Griffith, who moved to Washington and over the next 44 years in charge of the Washington club, 63 Cubans debuted in the majors – 35 of them with the Senators.

[Bourgeois Zee]

Had there not been video, I doubt I'd have believed this. It's Evan Longoria being interviewed, btw:

[westofyou]

Great hands

[RedsBaron]

My all-time favorite defensive play ever (difficulty: Bob Boone catching):

I agree-looks like Bo got him.