Hack Wilson's 191 RBIs is a record that hasn't even come close to being challenged in 18 years and Ramirez was still 26 away
Ryan's longevity is truly amazing considering his style as a fastball power pitcher, then consider how pitchers were used in his prime in the 70's. I always harp on complete games, but I think it gets lost that these guys had insane pitch counts and innings. From 1972-1979, Ryan pitched 156 complete games. When you started a game, you were expected to finish it. That killed the careers on tons of promising power pitchers who blew out their arms/shoulders/elbows, but Ryan was leading the AL and NL in strikeouts 4 years in a row from 1987-1990 in his 21-24th seasons in the majors.
On September 26, 1970, Jim Palmer pitched a 5-0 shutout for his 20th win. He became the fourth member of the Baltimore starting pitching rotation to win 20, along with Dave McNally, Mike Cueller, and Pat Dobson. The 1970 Baltimore Orioles win the World Series and have four different 20 game winners in their rotation.
Is there a more overvalued commodity in any sport than starting pitchers in baseball in 2017? There are examples of guys who deserve it, but overall, no.
Theres a good doc on Netflix about the history of the fastball. Goes into the science behind it, what makes it hard to hit, etc They calculated Ryan has the fastest pitch recorded, even though Chapman holds the record. Now they calculate pitch speed at 50ft from the plate. It used to be when it crossed the plate. Ryan threw a pitch that was calculated at like 102/103 when it hit the plate. Using physics, they calculated it at 107 when it would have been 50 ft from home. I can't even imagine what that would look like
I love reading stuff like this in this book #Detroit Tigers In his writeup making a case for Lou Whitaker: "The 1985 game produced one of the funniest moments of his career. After Whitaker left a bag containing equipment and at least part of his uniform in his car, he had to scramble, borrowing a glove from Cal Ripken, finding an Indians batting helmet, and resorting to a mesh-back adjustable Tigers cap and generic replica jersey from a souvenir stand at the Metrodome. A clubhouse attendant hastily stenciled his number 1 on the back of the ill-fitting jersey, which wound up in the Smithsonian."
On January 6, 1914, both the NL and AL introduced a rule change requiring every park to have a green centerfield wall. No batters wore helmets and too many batters were lost in the 1913 season after getting beaned in the head. With a green centerfield wall, it was thought the batter could see the ball more easily.
On January 25, 1945, the Estate of Jake Ruppert sold the New York Yankees to Larry MacPhail and two others for $2.8 million. Ruppert had owned the team since 1915. CBS bought the team in 1964 for $11.2 million. In 1973, George Steinbrenner paid $8.7 million.
On January 24th, 2018 the group of musty artifacts - otherwise known as the BBWAA - once again refused to elect the greatest player in history into their flimsy institution known as the Hall of Fame. Food for thought: Career wins above replacement (WAR): Barry Bonds - 164.4 Chipper Jones and Jim Thome combined - 153.6 Career walks: Bary Bonds - 2558 Chipper Jones and Vlad Guerrero combined - 2249 Career Stolen bases: Barry Bonds - 514 Chipper Jones, Vlad Guerrero, and Jim Thome combined - 350 Career seasons with an OPS over 1.000: Barry Bonds - 15 Chipper Jones, Vlad Guerrero, and Jim Thome combined - 14 MVP Awards: Barry Bonds - 7 Chipper Jones, Vlad Guerrero, and Jim Thome combined - 2
On February 9,1971, Satchel Page became the first Negro League player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He played MLB, but unfortunately MLB never saw him in his prime.
The correct answer is Connie Mack. To manage one team for 50 years, nobody will ever come close to that.
On February 12, 1878, Harvard baseball captain Fred Thayer received a US patent for the catchers mask.
Forbes Field officially opened in Pittsburgh on March 1, 1909. In the over 4700 games played there until the Pirates moved into Three Rivers in 1970, no pitcher for any team ever threw a no hitter at Forbes.
On March 26, 1960, political unrest caused the Baltimore Orioles to cancel a series with the Cincinnati Reds that was to be played in Havana, Cuba. From 1954-1960, the Cincinnati Reds triple AAA affiliate was the Havana Sugar Kings. Fidel Castro nationalized the team in 1960 and they moved the players back to the US. We invaded the Bay of Pigs the following April.
Little known fact that they actually brought the Skyline Chili recipe back from Havana, where it was known as Horizonte Chili.
Hank Aguirre pitched 16 major league seasons with the Indians, Tigers, Dodgers and Cubs from 1955-1970. He led the AL in era in 1962 with the Tigers 2.21. He also was possibly the worst hitter in baseball history. He had a .085 career average and struck out in 61% of his at bats.
On April 25, 1958, the Dodgers drew 60,635 for a game in the LA Colleseum. This was after they drew 78,672 in a game the week before. They outdrew the Yankee by 400,000 their first year in LA.
On May 3, 1936, Joe DiMaggio made his major league debut. He hit .323 his rookie year, with 206 hits, and led the AL in triples with 15. The next year he hit .346 with 46 HRs and 167 RBI. Dimaggio also had a 61 game hitting streak in the minors. The day after he ended his 56 game streak in 1941, he started another 16 game streak. From 1937-1941, Dimaggio had 5 straight seasons with more HRs than strikeouts, and at least 30 HRs a year. Dimaggio also was a right handed hitter batting in a Yankee Stadium that had a 457 left center fence.
On May 17, 1939, NBC broadcast the first baseball game, Columbia versus Princeton. There were fewer than 400 TV sets in use at the time. They perched this guy on top of this platform to film it. http://www.gocolumbialions.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=9600&ATCLID=3738874
On May 25, 1901, Ted Lewis threw the first shutout in Boston Red Sox (then the Boston Americans) history 5-0 blanking Cleveland. The game was played at Cleveland in a snow storm.
On May 31, 1869, professional baseball had its first rainout, as weather prevented the Cincinnati Reds from hosting the Antioch Nine. The 1869 Antioch Nine:
Warren Spahn signed his first professional contract with the Braves on June 6, 1940 as a 19 year old. We pitched his first game in 1942, but due to WWII, he didn’t appear until 1946. He missed three full seasons from 1943-1945, and part of 1946. He then won 20 or more games in 13 of his next 17 seasons to finish with 363 wins. That’s No 6 all time, 54 behind No 2 Walter Johnson and with 3 1/2 seasons on the sidelines at war.
On June 9, 1946, Ted Williams hit a 502 foot home run, the longest hit in Fenway Park’s 106 year old history. The right field seat is painted red, to mark the spot where it landed.
Way off topic but seems relevant...Havana had a hockey team back in the 30’s. Sort of. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/244.html
On June 13, 1973, the Dodgers field an infield with Steve Garvey (1B), Davey Lopes (2B), Bill Russell (SS) and Ron Cey (3B). Those four would be the Dodgers’ starting infield for the next 8 seasons, a major league record. The Dodgers finished 1st or 2nd in all but one of those years, won a World Series and finished Workd Series runner up three more. They each were selected to at least two All Star games and collectively had 20 All Star appearances in those 8 years.
On June 16, 1893, Crackerjack made its debut at the Chicago Worlds Fair, then became synonymous with baseball everywhere. Take Me Out To The Ballgame, full original 1908 version: