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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There's always hope

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON • The Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 2005, dominating the Boston Red Sox, the Angels of Anaheim and the Houston Astros enroute to an 11-1 post season record. Unless you're a die-hard Sox fan (guilty) however, most people forget the White Sox were almost humiliated by the worst collapse in baseball history. Oddly, it gives them and other struggling teams hope this season - 2010.

On August 1, 2005 the White Sox had a commanding 15 game lead. The Cleveland Indians began to eat away at the lead, but on this date in 2005, after losing to the Seattle Mariners, the Sox still had a 7 game advantage. By September 22 that lead had shrunk to a frightening 1.5 games with 10 remaining - Cleveland had gone 36-12 since August 1st.

The White Sox won 8 of their last 10 games and won the American League Central by 6 games. Cleveland went 3-6 down the stretch. It just shows how much leads can fluctuate.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Pennant races
2005 MLB schedule

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A slugger 2nd baseman

HOUSTON, TEXAS • Ryne Sandburg of the Chicago Cubs hit his 30th home of the season on this date in baseball history (1990) to help the Cubs beat the Houston Astros at the Astrodome. It was the second year in a row the future Hall of Famer hit at least 30 home runs, the first major league second baseman to do that. Sandburg wasn't done in 1990 either. He ended up with 40 home runs. He hit an even 30 in 1989.

Ryne Sandburg played 16 years in the major leagues, his first with the Philadelphia Phillies, but as a result of a classic ill-advised trade on the part of Philadelphia, was sent to the Cubs in year-2 and played the next 15 seasons on the northside of Chicago.

Sandberg was a career .285 hitter, appeared in 10 all-star games, was National League Most Valuable Player in 1984, and elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2005. Not bad for a kid from Spokane drafted in the 20th round in 1976.

August 28, 1990 box score

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A star is born

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK • A young, raw Brooklyn born, former basketball star from the University of Cincinnati showed some of his promise on this date in 1955. Sandy Koufax got his second major league start for the Brooklyn Dodgers and two-hit the Cincinnati Reds 7-0. The 19-year old struck out 14.

As a kid, Koufax showed more promise in basketball, and got a scholarship to Cincinnati. While there, he pitched a few games for the Cincinnati baseball team striking out 51, but walking 30 in 31 innings. A Dodger scout noticed, and he eventually got a bonus to leave the University of Cincinnati and the basketball team for baseball.

It took a while for a raw Koufax to be polished into a gem. He didn't hit his stride until 1961, his seventh season in the majors. Wild early in his career, Koufax became one of the best control power pitchers in history. He threw 17 wild pitches in 159 innings in 1958, but only 6 in 311 innings in 1963.

Once he put it all together, Koufax dominated. He was 129-47 from 1961 to 66. He won the Cy Young award in 1963, 1965 and 1966 by unanimous votes. All three seasons he led the majors in wins, strikeouts and ERA - the pitching Triple Crown - and was MVP of the World Series in '63 and ‘65. Koufax threw 4 no-hitters and 1 perfect game.

Unfortunately for him and baseball fans who marveled at his ability, Koufax's career ended early. He retired at 31 when arthritis in his throwing elbow threatened permanent disability.

Read on: Sandy Koufax

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A Million Can't Be Wrong

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY • The Louisville Redbirds became the first minor league baseball team in history to draw more than a million fans on this date in 1983. Louisville, the St. Louis Cardinals' triple-A team, reached 1,006,103 with a crowd of more than 31,000. Not long before that, a million in attendance was considered good for a major league team. Louisivlle outdrew three major league teams in '83 - the Cleveland Indians (768,941), Seattle Mariners (813,537) and Minnesota Twins (858,939).

It's been during more recent years however, that minor league baseball has experienced a renaissance. According milb.com, the official website of minor league baseball, minor league baseball draws more fans than the NBA or the NFL.

Total attendance has gone up 20 out of the last 24 seasons. A record was set for total attendance in 2004 with 39,887,755 fans, breaking the old record of 39,640,443 set in 1949. The record has been broken several times since '04, reaching 43.2 million in 2008.

Total attendance has continued to increase despite there being fewer minor leagues and teams than years ago. When the 1949 record was set there were 448 teams in 59 leagues. In 2004 there were 176 teams in 15 leagues .

[Minor league baseball does not include the attendance figures of numerous independent leagues around the country that are not associated with major league teams.]

Sources:
Minor League Baseball history
Major League Baseball attendance
More Major League attendance
The Hardball Times

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