“Finally hit my first homer. 111 f-in’ at-bats. I don’t want your stinkin’ applause. I average 42 home runs a year. Don’t take pity on me. Scoscia benched me. He wouldn’t let me take batting practice. I freakin’ shaved! It’s about damn time.” - Fictional thoughts that ran through Albert Pujols’ head, based on the picture on MLB.com.
When Paul Minnick headed to Crosley Field on April 14, 1936, he watched his Cincinnati Reds lose 8-6 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. In the lineup that day were future Hall of Famers Ernie Lombardi, Kiki Cuyler, Paul Waner, and Arky Vaughan.
He would then be in the stands at Crosley, then Riverfront Stadium, and finally, The Great American Ballpark for every Reds’ home opener for the next 75 years. His final Opening Day was in 2011 when his Reds defeated the Brewers, 8-6. (He was too ill to attend the 2012 opener.)
Paul Minnick died at the age of 93.
(Source: suntimes.com)
That’s the worst start after 22 games in the history of the Angels. (They began play in 1961.)
Coincidentally that’s also the Angels worst start since they signed Albert Pujols.
(Info courtesy of KLAC Radio)
The Boston Globe published a list of every Red Sox alum in attendance at the 100th anniversary celebration for Fenway Park on April 20, 2012. (Here’s a clearer version.)
All the pagaentry aside, I assume they were most excited about the attempt by Welch’s Grape Juice to host the largest single event toast in history. No confirmation as to whether it was a world record. But I’m sure MLBOffseason.com will break it first if it was…because we care about our readers.
(h/t to Old Time Family Baseball - a great site)
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- Dave O’Brien, Red Sox play-by-play announcer on WEEI-FM The Yankees had come back to take a 10-9 lead after trailing 9-0 after 6 innings. The Yankees won 15-9. |
After defeating the Miami Marlins 3-2 in 10 innings the Nationals now have 12 wins against 4 losses with a dominating 8-2 record at home. (If the Dodgers win this afternoon they will be tied with the Nats for the NL lead.)
Plenty of room on the Nationals bandwagon for those who want to jump on board.
In the AL, the Rangers won their 12th this afternoon, scoring 8 runs in the first against the Tigers. They can reach 13 if they win the night half of their doubleheader.
There are now six major league teams with 10,000 franchise wins:
San Francisco/New York Giants - 10,528
Chicago Cubs - 10,314
Los Angeles/Brooklyn Dodgers - 10,227
St. Louis Cardinals - 10,204
Atlanta/Milwaukee/Boston Braves - 10,042
Cincinnati Reds - 10,000
Up next: Pittsburgh Pirates - 9,887; New York Yankees - 9,774
Source: baseball-reference.com
(Logos are all copyright of their respective teams and Major League Baseball.)
Fenway Park - April 20, 1912
Fenway Park was supposed to open on April 18, 1912, a Thursday. The game was rained out. A doubleheader was scheduled for April 19, Patriots’ Day. Again the weather failed to cooperate. Finally, on Saturday April 20 at 3:00 pm the Boston Red Sox took the field against the New York Highlanders. (They wouldn’t be called the Yankees until the following season, and the heated rivalry was eight years - and an infamous trade - away.)
Anywhere from 24,000 to 27,000 fans were in attendance, enough that overflow was allowed to watch the game behind ropes in the outfield. (Not the outfield seats, the grass itself.) Seats were priced from 25¢ for the bleachers up to $1.50 for box seats. The crowd got its money’s worth.
The Highlanders jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first inning. By the end of the 3rd it was 5-1. But in the bottom of the fourth, the Red Sox had three men cross the plate to bring the score to within one. Boston tied it up in the sixth, and both teams traded runs in the 8th.
The score was 6-6 after nine. In the bottom of the 11th the Sox scored again earning a 7-6 walk-off win in their brand-new park. (No more details are known because there is no complete box score from the game.)
The Sox starter, Buck O’Brien, would earn the win and finish 20-13 that year. Ray Caldwell earned the loss, one of 16 against only 8 wins.
By October the Sox had run away with the AL pennant, with a final record of 105-47, fourteen games up on the 2nd place Washington Senators. (The Highlanders would finish last, 55 games behind Boston.) In the postseason, the Sox defeated the Giants five games to three (best of 9 back then), clinching it in their shiny new park on October 16, 1912. They would win three Series more by 1918…then a small championship drought you may be familiar with…before winning again in 2004 and 2007.
Favorite random fact: Fenway has been the home park for more football teams (5 - Boston Bulldogs, 1926; Boston Shamrocks, 1936-1937; Boston Redskins, 1933-1936, later moved to Washington; Boston Yanks, 1944-1948, the owner originally hoped to play in Yankee Stadium - awkward; and the Boston Patriots, 1963-1968) than baseball teams (2 - Sox and the Boston Braves for the 1914 World Series and 1915 season).
Sources: retrosheet.org, Boston’s SABR chapter (great stuff on 1912 there), and wikipedia.org
(Image of first ball thrown at Fenway on April 20, 1912 is courtesy of ESPN.com and copyright Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images)
Jamie Moyer’s 1st Win
June 16, 1986, Wrigley Field
Cubs - 7
Phillies - 5
WP - Jamie Moyer - 6.1 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 3 K, 2 BB
LP - Steve Carlton - 3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 K, 2 BB
S - Lee Smith
Attendance: 20,614
Players also in the game that day: Mike Schmidt, Juan Samuel, Kent Tekulve, Davey Lopes, Shawon Dunston, Ryne Sandberg, and Keith Moreland
Starting pitchers around MLB on June 16, 1986: Frank Tanana, Charlie Hough, Kirk McCaskill, Doyle Alexander, Roger Clemens, Ron Guidry, Bud Black, Rick Rhoden, and Andy Hawkins (Dan Quisenberry and Todd Worrell each earned a save that day, as well.)
(Image of Moyer’s 1987 Topps card - his rookie card - is courtesy of baseballtoaster.com)
(Source: retrosheet.org)
(Toronto Blue Jays Jose Bautista, left, celebrates his solo homer with teammate Edwin Encarnacion in the first inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Tuesday April 17, 2012. Photo: The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn / AP)
Jose Canseco is a poet warrior with theories about the Titanic.
Jose Canseco’s Twitter is a national treasure.
Jose Canseco’s twitter account is comedy on steroids.
