It looks like we made it to another week. Welcome to another edition of This Week in Baseball History, where we cover the week of March 15 to March 21.
“I’m Not Here to Talk About the Past”
March 17, 2005: The United States Congress never met a circus that it could resist adding a few clowns of their own. So, with home runs flying out of ballparks at record paces since 1998, Congress held a hearing on steroid use in Major League Baseball. While Frank Thomas, Rafael Palmeiro, and Sammy Sosa strongly denied ever using steroids – the latter ridiculously speaking through an interpreter, even though he spoke English – it was Mark McGwire who struck out in the court of public opinion and forever tarnished his image. In his opening statement, he said, “My lawyers have advised me that I cannot answer any questions without jeopardizing my friends, my family, and myself.” How his testimony could have jeopardized his family is difficult to figure out, but in any event, that statement made him look guilty as hell. When the questioning began, he replied, “I’m not here to talk about the past.” Did he think he was there to talk about the future? If Congress wanted that, they could have subpoenaed The Amazing Kreskin.
Outfield Collision
March 18, 1949: Not only did the St. Louis Browns lose an exhibition game to the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League, but in the process, they also lost two outfielders. Dick Kokos and Paul Lehner collided violently in right-center field chasing a drive by Oakland’s Billy Martin. As Martin rounded the bases for an inside-the-park home run, Kokos and Lehmer were knocked unconscious by the head-on collision. Kokos was carried off on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital with a bloody head and a possible dislocated shoulder. Lehner lost two teeth but was able to walk off the field under his own power. Fortunately, both were in the Opening Day lineup. The 21-year-old Kokos was one of the few bright spots on the 53-101 Browns, socking 23 home runs and leading the majors with 17 outfield assists from right field.
“I Wanted Them Back in Baseball”
March 18, 1985: Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth reinstated Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, reversing a decision by former commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Kuhn banned the duo from working in baseball after they took jobs as goodwill ambassadors for gambling casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey. At the time, Mays was a coach for the New York Mets, and Mantle was a part-time spring training instructor for the New York Yankees. The casinos employed them as greeters, while their duties also included playing golf with the casinos’ biggest customers. Ueberroth ruled they could keep those jobs while also working in baseball.
As Mays and Mantle had virtually no power to fix baseball games, the ruling by Ueberroth was the right one, although his explanation indicated that the only rationale behind it was favoritism. He told Associated Press that he was working on even stricter guidelines governing the relationship baseball personnel could have with casinos, but made an exception for Mays and Mantle “because of what they mean to our game. It’s also spring training and I wanted them back in baseball.” Today, MLB is on its fourth commissioner since Ueberroth and has embraced legalized online gambling to the point where DraftKings (MLB’s authorized gaming partner), FanDuel, and BetMGM heavily advertise during MLB games via TV commercials and signage behind home plate in the ballparks. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
The Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth
March 19, 1969: The Pittsburgh Press revealed that during the offseason, Pittsburgh Pirates rookie third baseman Richie Hebner lost his two front teeth – for the fifth time. The first three times occurred while Hebner was playing high school hockey in his native Boston. “In my sophomore, junior, and senior years,” he explained to reporter Bill Christine, “I took a puck in the mouth, a stick in the mouth, and then there was a head-on collision.” The first time, it cost him his original front teeth. The Boston Bruins offered him $10,000 to play professional hockey. Hebner took the $35,000 the Pirates paid him when they drafted him in 1966 instead.
In the winter of 1969, Hebner lost his front teeth for the fourth time when a thrown baseball hit him while playing in the Florida Instructional League. He was then sent to Camp Lejuene in North Carolina to fulfill his military duties in the Marine Reserves. While lying in his bunk, he bit into a candy bar and lost the teeth for the fifth time, which must be an unofficial major league record. He wouldn’t reveal the brand of candy to Christine, for fear of losing out on a possible future endorsement opportunity. The guess here is that there were none forthcoming from denture cream manufacturers.
Clemente Voted into Hall of Fame
March 20, 1973: By special election, the Baseball Writers Association of America waived the customary five-year waiting period and voted for the posthumous induction of Roberto Clemente into the Hall of Fame, after the Pirates superstar died in an airplane crash on a mercy mission to Nicaragua the previous New Year’s Eve. Clemente spent his entire career with Pittsburgh from 1955-72, hitting .317/.359/.475, 240 HR, 1,305 RBI, and 130 OPS+ while accumulating 95.0 WAR. He was part of Pirates teams that won the World Series in 1960 and 1971, hitting safely in every World Series game he played. He was also a four-time batting champion, an All-Star in 12 seasons, won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1966, and ended his career with 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards for his play in right field.
Opinionated Roush Passes Away
March 21, 1988: Edd Roush, then the oldest living member of the Hall of Fame, passed away at the age of 94. Roush played in the major leagues for the Chicago White Sox (1913), Indiana (1914) and Newark (1915) of the Federation League, New York Giants (1916, 1927-29), and Cincinnati Reds (1916-26, 1931). For his career, the center fielder hit .323/.369/.446, 68 HR, 981 RBI, and 126 OPS+, and was worth 45.8 WAR. He won two batting titles and was a member of the Reds team that defeated the “Black Sox” in the 1919 World Series. To his dying day, he maintained that the White Sox weren’t trying to throw the Series. He felt that the pundits who made Chicago an overwhelming favorite needed an excuse.
Roush retired to Brandenton, Florida, where the Pirates train in the spring. During the exhibition season, he was a fixture in the ballpark’s press room, where he died of a heart attack and where he’s commemorated by a plaque. It was there that the outspoken Roush regaled reporters with his stories and opinions, and from where he never ventured out to watch a game. Roush hated the modern game and felt that the players couldn’t have played in his day. He didn’t care for sportswriters, either, and believed they shouldn’t be voting for the Hall of Fame. He didn’t even like the modern fan, finding them more interested in their beer than the game. This writer’s favorite Roush-ism comes from the Bradenton Herald: “[Babe Ruth] wasn’t worth a damn except as a hitter. All the ground Ruth covered was what he stood on. He could hit it farther than anybody I ever saw. But a great player? Nah.”
