The time has come to talk of many things:
Of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax,
Of cabbages and kings.
Yeah, I know those aren’t my words. You try coming up with a clever introductory paragraph every week. Let’s get right to our summary of what happened on the days May 17-23.
Aaron First to Reach Milestone
May 17, 1970: In the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader at Crosley Field, the Atlanta Braves’ Henry Aaron hit a ground-ball single behind second base off Cincinnati Reds righty Wayne Simpson to become the ninth player in major league history to amass 3,000 hits and the first to do it with 500 home runs. The game was stopped after this milestone was hit, so Aaron could be presented with the ball by the eighth player to reach the 3,000-hit mark, Stan Musial. Aaron also hit a home run and another single in the game, which the Reds won in 15 innings.
Aaron wasn’t in much of a mood to celebrate after the game, however. He had just played 24 innings, only to have the Reds sweep the doubleheader, 5-1 and 7-6. The emotion he felt was one of relief. “The phone was ringing so much the last three days, I couldn’t get any rest,” he told United Press International. One caller suggested that he lay down a bunt for the hit. Said Reds left-hander Jim Merritt, who held Aaron hitless in the first game, “If Aaron will promise to bunt, I won’t field it.”
The Shortest Home Run?
May 17, 1971: It was believed to be the shortest home run ever hit. At least it was the shortest ever seen by Cleveland manager Al Dark and Washington Senators manager Ted Williams, and they saw a lot of baseball. In the fourth inning at rain-soaked RFK Stadium, Washington’s Tommy McCraw hit a fly ball off pitcher Steve Dunning into a muddy, short left-center field where three Cleveland fielders gave chase. Left fielder John Lowenstein dove for the ball, clipping shortstop Jack Heidemann, who flipped in the air and caught center fielder Vada Pinson with his cleat. Lowenstein and Heidemann suffered leg injuries, and Pinson’s jaw was cut, requiring eight stitches. McCraw circled the bases as the three players lay on the ground. All three came out of the game, which Cleveland won, 6-3.
Dark blamed the injuries on the field conditions. Pinson explained the play to Associated Press thusly: “You don’t call the other fellow off until you think you’ve got it and no one said anything. It’s the toughest play in baseball because you can’t call for it. Either you go after it or you stay back and look at each other.”
Next Time, Hold the Mayo
May 17, 1986: Seven Chicago Cubs came down with food poisoning in Houston after eating sandwiches with extra mayonnaise. They had gotten together in one of their hotel rooms and ordered room service sandwiches while watching an afternoon game. Of the seven, only Leon Durham and Bob Dernier played in that night’s game against the Houston Astros. Pitcher Rick Sutcliffe left the dugout in the fifth inning and had to be admitted to a hospital, where he was fed intravenously. Needless to say, the Cubs lost the game, 5-1. The moral of the story: Never eat mayo outside the home because you don’t know how long it’s been out of the refrigerator.
Perfect
May 17, 1998: What are the odds? Yankees left-hander David Wells became the 15th pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw a perfect game when he defeated the Minnesota Twins, 4-0, at Yankee Stadium. Among the previous 12 pitchers to accomplish the feat was Don Larsen, who also did it in a Yankee uniform and went to the same high school as Wells, Point Loma High School in San Diego. The beefy Wells did it with 11 strikeouts and without the need for any difficult plays from his defense. Twins manager Tom Kelly thought there were only two hard-hit balls by his club all afternoon. Larsen’s perfect game came in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Wells and Larsen had one other thing in common: Both were rowdy and loved to party. From his home in Idaho, Larsen told Hal Bock of the AP, “I knew that high school thing. I understand he’s goofy, too.” Larsen didn’t know he was starting Game 5 until he got to the ballpark. He had been out drinking until 4:00 AM the night before and was hungover during the game. Years later, Wells told radio/podcast host Rich Eisen that on the night before his perfect game, he partied until 5:00 AM with Jimmy Fallon, then of Saturday Night Live, and pitched the Sunday afternoon game on two hours of sleep.
“A Joke Affair”
May 18, 1912: Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers began serving an indefinite suspension for entering the stands at Hilltop Park in New York three days before and mercilessly beating up a fan who had been heckling him throughout the series. In protest, his teammates went on strike until Cobb was reinstated. For this afternoon’s game against the Philadelphia Athletics at Shibe Park, the Tigers fielded a team of replacement players, many literally pulled off the streets. The wire service headline called it a “joke affair.”
The Athletics won, 24-2. They had 26 hits, including four doubles and six triples, and stole 10 bases, with Eddie Collins accounting for half of them. Detroit committed seven errors. For most of the Tigers players, this game was the only professional baseball game they played. The exceptions: Catcher Deacon McGuire played for 25 years in the majors and was a ripe 48 years old when he was activated one last time. First baseman Joe Sugden played 12 years in the majors and retired after the 1905 season. He was 41 years old when he was recruited for this game. Bill Irwin was a 30-year-old who had six years of minor league experience. Oddly, he didn’t even start the game. He entered in the fourth inning as a pinch-hitter, played third base, later caught, and hit two triples. Manager Hughie Jennings, 44, inserted himself as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning.
Last but not least, Allan Travers, who later became a Catholic priest, pitched the entire game and batted third in the order. He finished his one-game career with a 15.75 ERA, 4.125 WHIP, and 5.23 FIP, indicating he had poor defensive support, as if that needed explaining. The next day, threatened with their jobs and encouraged by Cobb, the regular Tigers returned to their team.
Good Luck with That
May 18, 1998: Florida Marlins fans filed two class action lawsuits against the team for lowering its payroll from $53 million in 1997 to $24 million in 1998. One suit was a breach of contract action in the Palm Beach County Circuit Court. The other was a false advertising suit in the Dad County Circuit Court. During the offseason, the Marlins pared their payroll by cutting loose 12 players from the team that won the World Series the year before.
For these fans, the last straw was a trade the Marlins made on May 14, sending five players, including four more from their World Series squad, to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who didn’t mind taking on the extra payroll. (Sound familiar?) In return, Florida received Mike Piazza and Todd Zeile. The Marlins kept Piazza for eight days and Zeile for two-and-one-half months before trading them, too. At this point, the only position players who remained from the World Series Game 7 starting lineup were Craig Counsell and Edgar Renteria. Of course, these lawsuits went nowhere. Neither did the 1998 Marlins, who went 54-108 and finished last in the National League East Division.
“Hire This Man!”
May 19, 1994: NBC-TV aired “The Opposite,” the 22nd episode of Season 5 of Seinfeld. George Costanza, realizing every decision he ever made in his life had been wrong, followed Jerry’s advice and did the opposite of what he’d normally do. When his girlfriend landed him a job interview with the Yankees, George decided to berate owner George Steinbrenner for reducing the Yankees to “a laughing stock, all for the glorification of your massive ego.” Steinbrenner immediately hired him as Assistant to the Traveling Secretary. George kept his job until May 1997. In the interim, the Joe Torre Yankees dynasty had its genesis. Coincidence? I think not.
That Didn’t Last Long
May 21, 1938: Satchel Paige was banned for life from “organized Negro baseball” for his “constant refusal to comply with the league’s rules.” The rubber-armed pitcher refused to sign his contract with the Pittsburgh Crawfords, then refused to report to the Newark Eagles after the Crawfords sold his contract. Paige then played in Mexico in 1938 and Puerto Rico in 1939 and 1940. In between, he barnstormed with the Kansas City Travelers. Somehow, the ban was lifted in 1940, and he joined the famed Kansas City Monarchs. I guess it was hard to keep the Negro Leagues’ top gate attraction away.
The Return of the Conquering Hero
May 23, 1971: Pitcher Denny McLain returned to Tiger Stadium as a member of the Washington Senators for the first time since the Tigers traded him after the 1970 season. McLain was 31-6 and won the American League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player Awards in 1968 when he led the Tigers to a World Series title. He followed that up with a 24-9 record and another Cy Young Award in 1969. However, alleged ties to gambling caused commissioner Bowie Kuhn to suspend him indefinitely in 1970. McLain finally returned to the mound that July. However, his season ended in September, when the Tigers suspended him for dumping buckets of water on two reporters, and Kuhn suspended him for carrying a gun on an airplane. After he finished the 1970 season with a 3-5 record and a 4.63 ERA, the Tigers decided to cut their losses by sending him to a desperate Senators team.
On this day, McLain was slated to pitch the first game of a doubleheader. The Tigers started left-hander Mickey Lolich, who now carried the mantle as their staff ace after playing second banana to McLain. Lolich tossed a four-hit, complete-game shutout in winning, 5-0. Greeted with a mix of cheers and boos, McLain worked seven innings, giving up four runs, including home runs by Al Kaline and Norm Cash.
After the game, both pitchers downplayed the significance of McLain’s return and the matchup between two former teammates who were never good friends to Tom Loomis of The Toledo Blade. “These pitching matchups are the biggest fizzles,” said McLain, who then cited as an example a game that never happened.
“I beat the Senators, not Denny,” said Lolich. “He pitched a good ball game other than the two home runs. . . I know what you want me to say. But I won’t.”
“I didn’t think of it as a personal duel,” said McLain. “You guys did. I don’t think anyone has a vendetta. There’s nothing personal there.”
