Dodgers lose battle, Brooklyn loses war

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY - The Brooklyn Dodgers lost in extra innings to the Philadelphia Phillies on this date in baseball history, but Brooklyn stood to lose more than just a game. Don Drysdale pitched all 12 innings for the Dodgers, but lost to three Phillie pitchers 3-2.

The contest was played in Jersey City, New Jersey, the last of fourteen games Dodger owner Walter O'Malley scheduled at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City the last two years. Despite a crowd of only 10,190 on this day the Dodgers averaged more than 21,000 across the Hudson River. They averaged only 15,000 at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. This gave Dodger owner Walter O'Malley encouragement that he could draw crowds west of Brooklyn. After the 1957 season he announced the Dodgers were moving, but a lot farther west - Los Angeles.

Walter O'Malley is a villain to many for moving the beloved Dodgers out of Brooklyn, but there is also the view that O'Malley tried for years to buy land in Brooklyn to build a park to replace Ebbets Field but ran into political roadblocks.

Contributing sources:
September 3, 1957 box score & play-by-play

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An amazing string of dominance

CLEVELAND, OHIO • Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dave Stieb finally got the monkey off his back - if you call pitching three one-hitters in four starts a burden - and threw a no-hitter on this date in 1990. He beat the Cleveland Indians 3-0. Stieb made
it interesting in the 9th. He got the first two batters out before
walking the third. The last out came on a line drive out to right
field. Stieb's day was no runs, no hits, four walks and nine strike
outs.

But the stretch David Andrew Stieb went through two years earlier was a remarkable string of dominance where he came very close to tying, and even breaking, a record many thought was unreachable. On September 24, 1988 (box scores/play-by-play below), also in Cleveland, Stieb had not allowed a hit for 8 and 2/3 innings when Indians 2nd baseman Julio Franco came to bat. With a 2-2 count, Franco got a base hit to centerfield. Stieb retired the next batter for a 1-0, 1-hit shutout.

On September 30, Steib's very next start at home in Toronto, he had not allowed the Baltimore Orioles a hit going into the 9th. He induced two groundouts, bringing pinch hitter Jim Traber to the plate. Again, on a 2-2 count, Traber got a base hit. The next batter grounded out and Dave Stieb had his second consecutive 1-hitter after not allowing a hit for 8 and 2/3rds. He came amazingly close to tying Johnny Vander Meer's streak of two consecutive no-hitters, but still had none.

The following spring, April 10, 1989, in New York, Dave Stieb threw his third 1-hitter in two seasons. It wasn't quite as dramatic this time as Stieb gave up the 1 hit in the 5th inning when Yankee catcher Jamie Quirk singled.

Considering Steib's September 24th and 30th starts of 1988 were the last two of the season and April 10, 1989 was his second start of the next season, three of four starts in a row were one-hitters. Has there ever been a more dominating stretch by a pitcher in major league history?

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
September 24, 1988 box score & play-by-play
September 30, 1988 box score & play-by-play
April 5, 1989 box score & play-by-play
April 10, 1989 box score & play-by-play

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Let's play three

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - The first tripleheader in major league baseball history was played on this date in 1890. Yes, you read it right - TRIPLEHEADER, with a "T". You have to practically be a senior citizen to recall regularly scheduled doubleheaders. But on this date in 1890 the Brooklyn Bridegrooms played the Pittsburgh Alleghenys three games and won all three - 10-9, 3-2 and 8-4. (More on the team names later)

It's a wonder the players had anything left for two more games after the frenzied finish to game one. Here's what happened; Brooklyn had little trouble with Pittsburgh for the first nine innings. The Bridegrooms were up 10-0 with only three outs to go. Finally, Pittsburgh came alive. They scored 6 quick runs in the top of the ninth. Brooklyn remained in the control with a 10-6 lead and two outs, but Pittsburgh loaded the bases. Third baseman Doggie Miller blasted one to deep left field clearing the bases, making it 10-9. As Brooklyn left fielder Darby O'Brien chased the ball down Miller kept running. O'Brien hit the relay man shortstop Germany Smith as Miller rounded third. Smith fired a strike to the catcher. Miller was tagged out inches before he would have tied the game. Brooklyn squeaked by. One game down, two to go.

As for the names, The Brooklyn Bridegrooms eventually became the Brooklyn Dodgers, who later moved to Los Angeles, but the franchise went through several other nicknames early on, including the Robins and Superbas. The Alleghenys are the current Pittsburgh Pirates.

Contributing Sources:
The New York Times, September 2, 1890
Baseball team names
September 1, 1890

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Happy birthday, Pam

Hodges unloads on Braves

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS • Gil Hodges of the Brooklyn Dodgers (today's Los Angeles Dodgers) became the 4th player in major league history to hit 4 home runs in a game* on this date in baseball history (1950). The slugging first baseman's four round-trippers and a single helped the Dodgers beat the Boston Braves (now in Atlanta) 19-3. Hodges had 17 total bases that day.

Hodges had at least 25 home runs nine times in his career. He had 100 RBI or more seven times. He finished with a .273 lifetime average and 370 home runs - at the time, the most by a right-handed hitter. Gil Hodges was a pillar of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the 1950's, the decade they finally came through, after 66 years in the National League, and won a World Series in 1955. Hodges had 27 home runs and 102 RBIs that year.

Hodges finished his playing career with the New York Mets in 1963, and then became manager of the Washington Senators (today's Texas Rangers). The Mets came calling again in 1968 for Hodges to manage them. He helped turn the perennial last place team into the Amaz'in Mets who shocked the sports world in 1969 by winning the World Series.

*Chuck Klein of the Philadelphia Phillies and Pat Seerey of the Chicago White Sox each hit four home runs in one game prior to Hodges, but they needed extra innings to do it.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
The New York Times, Boston, Massachusetts, September 1, 1950

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An audience with the President

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The first "base ball club" to visit the White House did so on this date in 1865. The Atlantics, a dynasty of the 1860's, had an audience with President Andrew Johnson, just four months after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The Atlantics were escorted to the White House by an organization called the National Base Ball Club.

According to wikipedia.org, the Atlantics came by way of Brooklyn, New York. The team was organized in 1855. It was considered the champions of base ball through most of the 1860's, reportedly going 18-0 in 1865, thus the White House visit. Back then, baseball was run more like boxing in that if you defeated the champion, you became the champion, no matter what your record was.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
New York Tribune, Washington, D.C., August 31, 1865

More on The Atlantics

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