An RBI machine

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK – Twelve runs batted in is a pretty good month for many ball players. Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals had twelve RBI in one game on this date in 1924. He went six for six that day; three singles, a double and two home runs helping St. Louis beat the Brooklyn Robins 17-3.

Certainly not a household name the likes of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb or Honus Wagner, but "Sunny" Jim Bottomley had a pretty good career, at least offensively. He played 16 years for the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds. He had a career batting average of .310. He drove in more than 100 RBIs six times, and had 219 career home runs. Bottomley’s best year was 1929 for the Cardinals when he hit .314, hit 29 home runs, drove in 137 runs and only struck out 54 times.

Fielding was another story for the Oglesby, Illinois native. Except for one game at second, the only position he ever played was first, the least challenging position -no offense to all the gold glove first baseman out there. Four times he committed 20 or more errors in a season – a lot for a first baseman. For example, today’s Frank Thomas, not known for his fielding, that’s why he’s primarily a DH, never committed more than 15, and that was in 150 games. Bottomley had 24 errors in 1924 when he played 133 games. Fortunately he could hit.

Contributing sources:
The National Pastime: A Review of Baseball History, Page 21, 2007 by SABR (Society of American Baseball Research), “Sunny Jim Bottomley’s Big Day,” by David W. Smith

www.retrosheet.org/

50 saves reached for 1st time

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox became the first pitcher in major league history to record 50 saves on this date in 1990. He went on to set a record for saves in a season with 57. Thigpen finished his 8-year career with 201 saves. He kept the saves in a season record until Francisco Rodriguez, K-Rod, of the Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim broke it in 2008.

So what is the history of the save?

The save is a relatively new baseball statistic. It was officially adopted in 1969 after a decade of research and lobbying by Chicago sportswriter Jerome Holtzman, a member of the Hall of Fame. It is the premier benchmark to gauge the effectiveness of closers. The save rule, officially Rule 10.19, basically states that to get a save a pitcher must satisfy one of these three conditions:

1. Enter the game with a lead of no more than three runs.
2. Enter the game with the potential tying run either on base, at bat or on deck.
3. Pitch at least three innings

The pitcher cannot surrender the lead at any point to get a save (but he can get the win if his team comes back which means he can get the win (if his team comes, and of course the pitcher's team must win the game without him getting the win.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
September 15, 1990 box score/game notes

McLain gets 30th win

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers won his 30th game of the year on this date in 1968. The Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics 5-4. Reggie Jackson's second home run of the game had put the A's ahead 4-3. The Tigers scored two in the bottom of the ninth to win and give McLain the victory. The tying run scored by Al Kaline who had pinch hit for McLain.

Nobody has won 30 games since McLain did it over 40 years ago, and you have to go back to Dizzy Dean in 1934 for the last time it had been done before McLain.

Nineteen sixty-eight was the year of the pitcher. McLain finished with 31 wins, 28 complete games and an ERA of 1.96. In the National League, St. Louis Cardinals' hurler Bob Gibson finished the season with a 1.12 ERA and a remarkable 13 shutouts on his way to a record of 22-9. Starters today get multi-million dollar contracts for winning 13 games in a season. Gibson went that many games without allowing a runner to score.

CONTRIBUTING SOURCE:
September 14, 1968 box score & more

Photos courtesy of Baseball-Almanac

Move over Ty Cobb

CINCINNATI, OHIO • Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds became the all-time hits leader on this date in baseball history (1985). Charley Hustle, as he was known, got hit number 4,192 in the first inning to break Ty Cobb's record. Rose was 44 years old and in his 23rd major league season when he set the new record.

Rose, long admired for his fierce competitiveness, has since become persona non grata around baseball. He was banned from the game by Commissioner Bart Giamatti for gambling on baseball while he was a manager. Evidence surfaced that he even bet on his own team. His banishment has also made him ineligible for the Hall of Fame.

But you can't argue with Rose's lifetime numbers:

Hits: 4,256
Batting average: .303
Runs scored: 2,165
All-star games: 17
MVP: 1973

CONTRIBUTING SOURCES:
September 11, 1985 box score

[Photo courtesy Baseball-Almanac]

Get out the tape measure

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - Some say the ball traveled over 600 feet. That's probably more hyperbole than fact, but there is no doubting that on this date in 1960 Mickey Mantle hit a tape measure home run to beat all tape measures - well, except maybe for one.

United Press International (UPI) reported the next day that Mantle's home run, "... was a tremendous shot that soared over the third deck of the right field stands and into the street outside the park." You can see by the photograph that Briggs Stadium, later known as Tiger Stadium, was almost completely enclosed, so hitting a ball "into the street" is nothing short of Herculean.

UPI went on to say that "... it was only the fourth time in the history of Briggs Stadium that a fair hall has cleared the roof." Three of them were hit by Mantle. Ted Williams hit the other.

Mantle hit 40 home runs and had 94 RBI that year. The Yankees went to the World Series for the 8th time in his career, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run to win game 7.

CONTRIBTING SOURCES:
United Press International (UPI), Detroit, Michigan, September 11, 1960
September 10, 1960 box score, play-by-play, etc.