It’s Friday afternoon. Admit it, you don’t really feel like working anyway, so sit back, relax, and live or re-live these moments from the period April 5-11.
So You Think Your Boss is Tough to Work For? Part 1
April 6, 1984: At Arlington Stadium, the New York Yankees entered the top of the eighth inning, losing 6-3 to the Texas Rangers. The Yankees rallied for three runs to tie the game at 6-6, thanks to a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double by Roy Smalley, who pinch-hit for shortstop Tim Foli. That meant the Yankees needed a new shortstop, and manager Yogi Berra inserted 23-year-old rookie Bobby Meacham into the game. In the bottom of the eighth, however, the Rangers put a runner on third on two outs. Curtis Wilkerson hit a ground ball to Meacham, who bobbled it and then threw it low to first base, allowing the runner to score the winning run.
It was only the fourth game of the season, so one loss is no big deal, right? Well, it was a big deal to owner George Steinbrenner, who ruled his Yankees with all the patience and understanding of a social media troll. After the game, despite loud protests from Berra, Steinbrenner ordered Meacham to be sent to Triple-A Columbus and recalled 22-year-old shortstop Keith Smith. The Yankees’ players didn’t like it any more than Berra did. Designated hitter Don Baylor told the New York Times, “If you’re 22 years old and you’re coming to this club, you better have a strong heart.”
The Lead Singer
April 7, 1969: In the traditional National League opener at Crosley Field, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Drysdale had a 3-2 lead against the Cincinnati Reds after six innings, when his arm tightened. Enter hard-throwing righty Bill Singer, who pitched three hitless innings to preserve the 3-2 victory, thus earning the first official save in Major League Baseball history. Long-time Chicago sportswriter Jerome Holtzman created the save statistic in 1959, but it wasn’t recognized as an official statistic until 1969. Giving one credit for creating the save stat strikes this writer much like giving one credit for inventing the leisure suit, yet the stat endures to this day.
“My, my!”
April 8, 1971: Cleveland fans were used to being disappointed. That’s why many of the announced Opening Day crowd of 40,462 were headed for the exits in the home half of the ninth inning with their team down, 2-1, to the Boston Red Sox, despite having runners on second and third with two outs. After all, the batter against Boston right-hander Ken Tatum was 27-year-old rookie Gomer Hodge, a long-time minor leaguer who learned he had made the team on the last day of spring training, as though an afterthought. The switch-hitter was 2-for-2 so far in his brief career. In the previous inning, he pinch-hit and cracked a double off Sonny Siebert, scoring Cleveland’s lone run so far. He garnered his first major league hit in the season opener when he beat out a dribbler against Mickey Lolich of the Detroit Tigers. Fans doubted that lightning could strike for a third time. Strike it did, when Hodge stroked Tatum’s first pitch to center field to score both runners and give Cleveland a 3-2 victory. Hodge’s teammates rushed onto the field and carried him off.
As if this needed explaining, Hodge’s parents didn’t name him Gomer. Harold Morris Hodge was born in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, in 1944. He picked up his nickname because he resembled and spoke like the television character Gomer Pyle. Afterward, Hodge told Jim Taylor of The Blade, “I’m blushing a little bit. Nothing like this ever happened to me in all my years. . . my, my.”
Aaron Passes the Babe
April 8, 1974: Atlanta Braves outfielder Henry Aaron entered the 1974 season with 713 career home runs, one shy of the record held by the legendary Babe Ruth. It was thought to be an unbreakable record. The fact that a Black man was closing in on Ruth offended the sensibilities of a less-than-enlightened segment of the baseball-watching public. Thus, he was the recipient of numerous death threats and volumes of racist hate mail. Aaron saved every piece of hate mail and published the “highlights” in his book, which is a cut above your typical professional athlete’s autobiography. If you’ve never read it, find a copy. I’d call it a “good read” except I hate when verbs are used as nouns.
It didn’t take long for Aaron to tie the record once the 1974 season started. He hit No. 714 in his first plate appearance of the season, off the Reds’ Jack Billingham on Opening Day at Riverfront Stadium. Manager Eddie Mathews sat Aaron out for the next game at Cincy, intending to keep him on the bench so that Aaron could break the record in front of the home fans in Atlanta. Enter commissioner Bowie Kuhn, who never met a bright moment for baseball that he couldn’t ruin with something stupid. Kuhn ordered that Aaron play the third game of the series, lest Mathews and the Braves face “serious consequences.” That dragged Aaron into an unnecessary controversy when he went hitless in that game, leading to accusations that he may not have tried his best. Aaron bristled at that suggestion, telling Associated Press, “I have never gone on the field without giving my level best. I played two of the three games [in Cincinnati], and the way Clay Kirby pitched, he could have gotten anybody out.” (Journalistic integrity demands that I inform the reader that Kirby lasted just five innings on that day, surrendering five earned runs.)
Finally in Atlanta for the season’s fourth game, Kuhn was conspicuous in his absence, having gone to Cleveland to speak to the Wahoo Boosters Club. Meanwhile, Aaron, hitting fourth in the Atlanta order, walked in his first appearance against the Dodgers’ left-handed starter, Al Downing. In his second plate appearance in the fourth inning, Aaron launched No. 715 into the left field bullpen with teammate Darrell Evans on base. The rest of the game was academic. By the time the Braves’ 7-4 victory ended, Aaron had been replaced for defensive purposes.
At the postgame press conference, Aaron said, “It wasn’t one of my better ones, but the wind helped to carry it. I hit it fairly good. It was a fastball. It was inside, but I think he wanted it further inside.” President Richard Nixon called Aaron during the game to congratulate him and invite him to the White House. Kuhn took time out from boosting wahoo to say, “I wish I could have been there, but I’m thrilled for him. He’s one of the greatest we have ever seen.”
Millions watching on Monday Night Baseball heard Curt Gowdy’s call of No. 715. On the Braves’ radio network, announcer Milo Hamilton called it as he had been rehearsing it, believing that his verbose rendition would live on in baseball history. But as one might expect, it was these lines from Dodgers’ radio broadcaster Vin Scully’s description that have endured: “What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the Deep South for breaking a record of an all-time baseball idol.”
One Year Later, Another Milestone
April 8, 1975: On the anniversary of Aaron’s record-breaking feat, Frank Robinson broke down another racial barrier when he debuted as Cleveland’s manager, marking him the first Black manager in MLB history. His first game was a success, as the home Cleveland club defeated the Yankees, 5-3. Cleveland got off to a good start when its designated hitter hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. The designated hitter? Player/manager Frank Robinson.
Twelve Years Later, Not Everyone was Enlightened
April 8, 1987: The Dodgers fired general manager Al Campanis two days after he made stupid, insensitive remarks about the lack of Black managers in MLB on ABC’s Nightline. Host Ted Koppel reminded some of Alfred E. Neuman, but it was Campanis who came across as a Mad Magazine parody of Archie Bunker. Campanis appeared on the late-night program alongside New York writer Roger Kahn, an early champion of racial equality, whose stories were overshadowed by Campanis’s comments. Koppel asked Campanis, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers briefly in 1943 and was close to Jackie Robinson, why there were no Black managers, general managers, or owners in baseball.
Campanis replied, lamely, that managers have to start in the minor leagues where the pay isn’t good, and Blacks have found other ways to make a “pretty good living.” Said Koppel, “That’s a lot of baloney,” and asked, “Is there still much prejudice in baseball today?” That’s when Campanis dropped the bombshell that ended his baseball career: “No, I don’t really believe it’s prejudice. I truly believe that they may not have some of the necessities to be, let’s say, a field manager or a general manager.”
Koppel gave Campanis several opportunities to dig himself out during the 21-minute interview, and at one point even lobbed a softball at him, telling Campanis that that was what he was doing. But Campanis continued about the lack of Black pitchers and quarterbacks, and even said Black people are “not good swimmers” because “they don’t have the buoyancy.” Unfortunately, it was Campanis who needed “buoyancy” after rejecting Koppel’s offer of a life preserver.
Opening Day Postponed
April 9, 1968: On the day of the funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated the previous week, Opening Day was postponed as professional sports offered a three-day moratorium on sports in his honor. The Dodgers were the lone holdout at first, intending to play their night game against the Philadelphia Phillies, reasoning that their west coast game would begin hours after King’s funeral had concluded. However, the Phillies announced that they wouldn’t take the field under any circumstances, even if it meant a forfeit and a fine.
The Dodgers initially decided to play the game after ownership discussed the matter with center fielder Willie Davis and coach Jim Gilliam. The Dodgers’ official statement quoted them as saying, “Men like Dr. King made it possible for us to be in baseball and we have the greatest respect for his memory and we will do our mourning for him at church – not on the ball field.” (I’ve always wondered about joint statements. Do the participants recite them in unison?) Eventually, the Dodgers relented and joined the rest of the major league teams in postponing the opener.
So You Think Your Boss is Tough to Work For? Part 2
April 9, 1974: Ray Kroc’s rise to wealth and success started innocently enough. He was selling milkshake-mixing machines to restaurants when he became interested in buying a McDonald’s franchise in 1954. Somehow, he managed to secure financing and bought the entire company for $2.7 million in 1961. By 1973, he retired from running McDonald’s and purchased the San Diego Padres for $12 million.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers swept the Padres in the opening series of 1974, but Kroc was optimistic about his team and their home opener against the Houston Astros. In his pregame speech to the crowd of 39,083, he said, “We’re going to give ‘em hell tonight!” Unfortunately, his team didn’t live up to the hype, losing 9-5. The Padres made three errors that led to two unearned runs and left nine men on base. In the fourth inning with the bases loaded and one out, San Diego’s Derrel Thomas was doubled off second base on a foul pop to the catcher, of all things.
When the Padres came to bat in the eighth inning, Kroc had seen enough. Grabbing the public address microphone, he blared, “I suffer with you.” His train of thought was interrupted briefly when a streaker ran across the field. Kroc recovered and continued, “I have some good news and bad news. The good news is that we’ve outdrawn the Dodgers. . . The bad news is that I’ve never seen such stupid ball playing in all my life.” The crowd roared in agreement.
After the game, Padres first baseman Willie McCovey told Associated Press, “I wish Mr. Kroc hadn’t done that. I’ve never heard anything like that in my 19 years in baseball. None of us like being called stupid.”
It didn’t sit well with the opposition, either. Houston’s Denis Menke said, “[Kroc] made this a bad night for baseball. He isn’t dealing with hamburger people. He’s dealing with professional athletes.” This writer was “hamburger people” some 52 years ago. We wouldn’t have sat still for this kind of treatment, either. If my boss had criticized me publicly like that, I would have stuck his face in the deep fryer.
Gol-lee!
April 11, 1971: Let’s return to the lighter side of baseball and check in on Hodge. Cleveland was again hosting the Red Sox in the season’s fourth game. Hodge didn’t appear in the previous game and was sitting on his 1.000 average. On this day, Cleveland put together a big eighth inning and was ahead, 6-2. Meanwhile, now fully in the throes of “Gomer Mania,” the fans had been chanting, “We want Gomer!” When Boston manager Eddie Kasko went to the mound and signaled for Tatum to face right-handed batter Buddy Bradford, Cleveland manager Al Dark could ignore the chants no longer. Pinch-hitting for Bradford, Hodge launched a 400-foot drive off the top of the center field wall for an RBI double, sealing the 7-2 victory. Hodge resented the way the media portrayed him as a hayseed, but he didn’t help his cause very much when addressing a gaggle of reporters after the game. When asked how it felt to be hitting 1.000 after going 4-for-4, Hodge said, “Golly, fellas, I’m hitting 4.000!”
Full Circle
April 11, 1975: Aaron started his career with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954. Now he was back, as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers after a trade the previous November. The Opening Day crowd of 48,160 at County Stadium was there to see Aaron’s return. Batting third in the designated hitter spot, Aaron went 1-for-3 with an RBI single and a run scored in the Brewers’ 6-2 victory over Cleveland. It’s interesting that three of the game’s biggest stars, Ruth, Willie Mays, and Aaron, each finished their careers in the city where it started, but with a different team.
