100 Years of Baseball
Bygone
baseball: The unfamiliar, the
unusual, the dramatic
By
C. Philip Francis
Part
3
Did
someone once say, “There is only one thing that never changes, and that is
change?”
From
the beginning of the American League in 1901, both the American and National
Leagues stayed intact for the next 50 years with eight teams each.
When the 1960’s came to an end, however, baseball had expanded to a
total of 24 teams.
In
February, 1960 a wrecking ball painted like a baseball began demolishing
Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field as Lucy Monroe
sang her last “Star-Spangled Banner” where she had performed so many times.
Two months later Candlestick Park opened in San Francisco.
That
same year, his fourth decade of ML baseball, Ted Williams retired. In
his last at-bat Ted hit career home
run number 521 off Oriole pitcher, Jack
Fisher, before only 10,454 fans. The
season came to a thrilling climax in Pittsburgh as Yankee left-fielder,
Yogi Berra, watched Pirate Bill
Mazeroski’s home run clear ivy-covered
Forbes Field. The Yankees
lost the World Series although they outscored the Bucs 55 to 27.
In
1961 many people were not pleased when Roger
Maris hit home run number 61 in the final game of the regular season.
The Yankees’ M and M Boys, Mantle
and Maris, challenged Babe
Ruth’s “untouchable” record of 60 home runs in one season, and both
had 50 in August. Injuries slowed Mickey,
and on the last day of the season Maris
hit number 61 off Boston’s Tracy Stallard in Yankee Stadium.
Nineteen-year-old Sal Durante caught the ball, and sold it for $5,000.
Events
and names: The Washington Senators
moved west becoming the Minnesota Twins; the schedule was expanded from 154 to
162 games; and on September 11, 1963 the San Francisco Giants became the first
team to have three brothers appear in the same game, Felipe, Jesus, and Mateo
Alou.
The
next decade began after a near baseball strike, and Cardinal outfielder Curt
Flood gave up a one-year salary of $100,000 and his career when he sued
Major League Baseball for contract freedom after being traded to the Phillies.
He was fighting the reserve clause that had kept a player tied to one
team since the previous century. He
lost, but in 1975 LA Dodger pitcher Andy
Messersmith became the first “free agent”.
It
could be baseball’s most memorable moment when Babe Ruth’s “unbeatable”
career home run record of 714 was shattered in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium on
April 8, 1974 at 9:07 p.m. when Braves Henry
Aaron hit number 715 off Dodger thrower, Al Downing.
And is Game Six of the 1975 World Series with the Cincinnati Reds and
Boston Red Sox the greatest Series contest ever when Carlton
Fisk hit a 12th inning homer off Pat
Darcy? The Sox stayed alive for
one more day, but were buried the following day.
Was it the Curse of the Bambino?
Events
and names: Pirate Roberto Clemente had a total of 3000 hits before he died in a plane
crash on December 31, 1972 during a mercy trip; Tiger hurler Mark
“The Bird” Fidrych talked to the ball and won the ’76 Rookie of the
Year honors after winning 19 games; and Yankee Ron
Blomberg went to bat on 1973 Opening Day as the first Designated Hitter.
The
Boston Red Sox were ready to win their first World Series since 1918 – ahead
three games to two, the New York Mets had two out in the bottom of the 9th,
none on, and two strikes on Gary Carter. The 1986 classic was all but over, but three singles and a
wild pitch tied the game. Mookie
Wilson’s easy grounder down the first base line should have been the final
out, but the ball squirted through Bill
Buckner’s legs. Two days
later the Mets finished off the Boston Red Sox who again allowed a World
Championship to get away.
Events
and names: On October 15, 1988,
Game One of the World Series, Dodger Kirk
Gibson smacked one out, but barely made it around the bases on his damaged
knees; the Cubs install lights in Wrigley Field, the last ML field to do so; and
an earthquake jolted the San Francisco Giants – Oakland A’s 1989 Series.