Now You Know Baseball. Doug Lennox
unlikely triumvirate of World Series appearances.
Ed Vosberg was the first. Vosberg’s Little League World Series performance included a one-hitter in the semi-finals of the 1973 tournament. Later, he was a member of the 1980 NCAA champions, the University of Arizona. Finally, he pitched three innings of relief for the Florida Marlins in the 1997 World Series.
The other veteran of the three different World Series is Jason Varitek. His Little League World Series performance was less impressive — he went zero for seven in 1984. He later helped Georgia Tech win the 1994 College World Series. As a pro, he was part of the curse-breaking 2004 World Championship won by the Boston Red Sox.
Varitek actually did Vosberg one better; in addition to the three World Series, he also played on the U.S. team in the 1992 Olympics.
How long was the 1989 World Series delayed by the Bay Area earthquake?
The 1989 season was an unhappy one for baseball. It was the year that Pete Rose was banned for life and commissioner Bart Giamatti died suddenly of a heart attack. But the misfortune that befell the World Series that year went far beyond baseball — a massive earthquake rocked the San Francisco Bay area, killing 63 people and injuring thousands.
The scope of the disaster made the disruption of the series — which featured the two Bay Area teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics — a minor inconvenience.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that Cal Ripken has the lowest career batting average of all members of the 3,000 hit club? His .276 lifetime average is just a shade below Rickey Henderson’s .279.
The quake occurred during the opening ceremonies of Game 3 on October 17, and forced the suspension of the series. Play resumed 10 days later, on October 27. The Athletics went on to sweep — the only World Series win for a team that many thought had “dynasty” written all over it.
How many times did the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees meet in the World Series?
World Series showdowns between the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees were starting to feel like annual events in the 1940s and 1950s, with the Yankees having the better of the Dodgers year after year before the Bums finally triumphed in 1955.
In the history of the rivalry, the two teams faced each other in the Series seven times: 1941, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1956. In fact, aside from appearances in the Fall Classic in 1916 and 1920 (at a time when the team was known as the Robins), the Brooklyn squad never played a World Series against a team other than the Yankees.
After the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, the teams did not meet in October again until 1963. They later renewed their rivalry in three memorable World Series confrontations in 1977, 1978, and 1981.
Who was the fi rst team to have a permanent spring training home?
Spring training had existed since the 19th century, but teams would generally move around from state to state, and sometimes their spring training would take place near (or even in) the city they represented in the regular season.
While spring training is, nowadays, played in Grapefruit League (Florida) or Cactus League (Arizona) locations, the first “permanent” spring training base was the New York Giants’ camp in Marlin Springs, Texas. The Giants trained there from 1908 to 1918.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that in the 1890s, American baseball teams played soccer in the off-season in order to keep their stadiums operating through the winter months? Often the same players who were on the baseball teams would also play soccer. The first American soccer championship was won by the moonlighting Baltimore Orioles of baseball’s National League. (Not the same Orioles who would later become the New York Yankees.)
Why did the Seattle Pilots only last one season?
Long before the Mariners entered the American League in 1977, the Seattle Pilots got the city on the Major League map in the 1969 season. The Pilots were one of four expansion franchises that year, the others being the San Diego Padres and Montreal Expos in the National League, and the Kansas City Royals in the American League.
The Pilots were rushed into existence. The original plan was that they, and their expansion partners, would not play until 1971, but folks in Missouri — particularly Senator Stuart Symington — were making noise about scrapping baseball’s antitrust exemption. They were hot over the decision to allow the Kansas City Athletics to move to Oakland, and weren’t prepared to wait two years.
So, the Royals — and the Expos, Padres, and Pilots — began life in 1969. The Pilots were not financially prepared, nor did they have an adequate stadium. Their home field was a converted minor league facility that seated 17,000 fans. Worse, they were barely able to cover the expansion fee.
Though they outdrew four other major league teams, their attendance was woeful and it was clear the Pilots would not last long enough for a new domed stadium to be built. So, when a group led by Bud Selig emerged with a plan to buy the Pilots and move them to Wisconsin, the nail was in the coffin for Seattle baseball for the time being, and the Milwaukee Brewers were born.
Which team played out of two home stadiums in 2003 and 2004?
The Montreal Expos had been struggling to bring in crowds for years, particularly since the 1994 strike put an end to a season in which the Expos seemed destined for the postseason and were thought by many to be poised for a World Series run. By 2003, the state of the team was dire, and Major League Baseball had assumed ownership.
With Expos fans already pointing fingers at MLB for the team’s woes, baseball decided that the Expos would have two homes for the 2003 season, and would play 22 games out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The arrangement continued in the 2004 season, which would ultimately be the team’s last as a representative of Montreal. In 2005, the Expos became the Washington Nationals — though to this day, Expos fans refer to the team not-so-lovingly as “the Gnats.”
Who were the division leaders when the 1994 season was halted by a strike?
One way or another, 1994 was destined to become a historic season for major league baseball. It was the first season with six divisions, and three rounds of playoffs were planned.
The postseason never arrived, however, as a players’ strike ended the season on August 11. The playoffs and World Series were scrapped.
The sudden end to the season was most keenly felt by fans of the teams that had playoff hopes, and in particular, the division leaders. The New York Yankees (AL East) and Montreal Expos (NL East) were the class of baseball, and held commanding leads in their divisions (six and a half and six games respectively). The Chicago White Sox held a one game lead in the new AL Central, while the Texas Rangers were also up by one in the AL West.
Notable Moments in the Early Days of Baseball
| 1845: | The rules of baseball aredeveloped by Alexander JoyCartwright. |
| 1846: | The Knickerbockers and agroup of cricket players playthe firstofficial game ofbaseball. |
| 1867: | The first (known) curveball inbaseball is thrown by CandyCummings. |
| 1869: |
An all-professional team, |