Ain't over till its over

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK - There are rallies and there are rallies. How about one the Brooklyn Dodgers had on this date in 1954? The Dodgers scored 13 runs in the eighth inning, twelve after two were out. They went on to pound the Cincinnati Reds 20-7 at Ebbets Field.

Amazingly, only one of the 13 runs given up in the eighth was earned, despite four Reds pitchers giving up seven hits and seven walks. Neither pitcher Jackie Collum nor Frank Smith got anybody out, but their ERAs didn't budge (there's something not right about that type of scoring) because twelve of the runs scored after an error by Reds third baseman Chuck Harmon long before Collum or Smith got in the game.

The Cleveland Indians scored a colossal comeback August 5, 2001. They were down 12-0 in the third (14-2 in the seventh), and came back to beat the Seattle Mariners 14-12 in eleven innings. Ironically, 2001 was the year the Mariners won 116 games. Had they held on that night Seattle would have broken the all-time record for wins in a season held by the Chicago Cubs with 116 in 1906.

Contributing Sources:
August 8, 1954 box score
August 5, 2001 box score

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One down, 415 to go

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nineteen year old Walter Johnson got the first of 416 career wins on this date in 1907. The young pitcher who was raised on a farm outside Humboldt, Kansas, and soon to be nicknamed "The Big Train," led the Washington Senators over the Cleveland Indians 7-2. Only Cy Young has more career wins (511) than Walter Johnson.

Johnson's accomplishments are stunning:

• From 1910 to 1919 he won 25, 25, 33, 36, 28, 27, 25, 23, 23 and 20 games.
• He started 666 games in his 21 year career, completing 531.
• He pitched 110 shutouts (11 in 1913).
• He pitched over 300 innings 9 times.

Johnson could hit, too! He had a .433 batting average in 1925 - 42 hits in 97 at bats. He hit .283 in 1924, .270 in 1921, and had a career average of .235 with 24 home runs and 255 runs batted in.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
Walter Johnson: Baseball's Big Train, by Henry W. Thomas, 1995

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A "Paige" From the Archives

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI - Satchel Paige got a rare start today in baseball history (1952), and ended up in one of the greatest pitching duels of all-time. Despite the consensus among players, black and white, who played with and against him that he was the greatest pitcher of his day, Paige didn't make the majors until after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947.

Paige had been playing professional baseball in the Negro Leagues since the mid-1920's. He was finally invited to play for the Cleveland Indians in 1948. He was 41. Hence, Paige pitched mostly relief. But on August 6, 1952 he got the start for the St. Louis Browns against Detroit Tiger right-hander Virgil Trucks. They were two cagey veterans; though Paige had 10 years on Trucks. Virgil was 35. Satchel was 45. They matched each other pitch for pitch, inning for inning. Trucks pitched 11 scoreless innings. Paige pitched 12 and won 1-0.

Satchel Paige's long overdue major league career lasted six seasons. He went 6-1 with a 2.48 ERA in his first year, helping the Cleveland Indians win the 1948 World Series. He retired in 1953 at the age of 46, but came back to pitch in one game in 1965 at the age of 58. His career mark was 28-31, but three of those years were with the Browns who usually lost 100 games a year. He finished with a career Earned Run Average of 3.29.

Sources:
More Virgil Trucks
More Satchel Paige
No-hitters

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Making Waves

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - The first radio broadcast of a major league baseball game was heard today in baseball history (1921). Studio announcer Harold Arlin became the first play-by-play man as he described the Pittsburgh Pirates' 8-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies from Forbes Field on radio station KDKA.

Not everyone in major league baseball welcomed the exposure on this new medium called "radio." Many were concerned games on radio would keep fans at home rather than at the ballpark, an observation that seems shortsighted today. Staff at KDKA looked at that first broadcast as a one-time thing; baseball would be too slow moving to become regular programming.

It turned out radio's intimacy made it and baseball an ideal match. Radio's portability helped too; at home, in the car, at the office, a transistor radio under the pillow. Still, it took years for many teams to recognize the marketing ability of broadcasting games. It was 1938 before major league games were regularly broadcast in New York City, the country's largest market.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Radio's impact on sports
Why baseball is booming

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Cincinnati Reds get a nickname

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA • The powerhouse Cincinnati Reds of the 1970’s were known as the “Big Red Machine,” but who coined the phrase and exactly when are up for discussion. Tim Crothers, the author of Greatest Teams, published by Sports Illustrated in 1998, claims “Big Red Machine” first appeared in print today in baseball – August 4, 1969 – after the Reds and Philadelphia Phillies slugged it out the night before.

The Reds survived 19-17. Pete Rose was quoted in the August 4th papers saying, “We scored so many runs and it was still a close game, but the Big Red Machine did it again and we're in first place.” Crothers said Rose was inspired by a 1934 Ford he once had which he called “Little Red Machine.” The story the Associated Press told on August 14, 1969 was that Big Red Machine was coined by Reds Manager Dave Bristol.

Regardless of its origin “Big Red Machine” remains the moniker of Reds teams that performed with business-like precision from 1970 to 1976.

With manager Sparky Anderson now at the helm, the Reds went 502-300 during that span. They won four division titles, three National League Pennants and two World Series. They did it with the talents of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, Pete Rose, George Foster, Dave Concepcion, and others.

It’s odd that the Big Red Machine has a reputation of being the best team of the 1970’s though in fact it was the rambunctious, rebellious Oakland A’s – the antithesis of the buttoned up Cincinnati Reds – that won three World Series in a row (’72, ’73, ’74), including defeating the Big Red Machine in ’72.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
Greatest Teams: The most dominant powerhouses in sports, by Tim Crothers, published by SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, 1998
The Associated Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 4, 1969

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