Results tagged ‘ Brooklyn Dodgers ’
Frey’s history is alive Cooperstown
By Craig Muder
The black and white photograph speaks of another time, before televised games, multiyear contracts and franchises west of the Mississippi.
And yet the man in that photograph, Lonny Frey, lived to see all of those — and more. His memory lives on in Cooperstown.
Frey, an infielder for the Dodgers, Cubs, Reds, Yankees and Giants, died Sunday at the age of 99 in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He was the second-oldest living ex-major leaguer behind only Tony Malinosky, who will turn 100 in 17 days.
Ironically, Frey’s trade from the Dodgers to the Cubs following the 1936 season helped open an infield spot in Brooklyn for Malinosky, who appeared in all of his 35 major league games with the Dodgers in 1937.
Frey, meanwhile, spent 14 seasons in the big leagues and was named to the All-Star team in 1939, 1941 and 1943. He was the oldest living World Series veteran, having appeared in the 1939 and 1940 Fall Classic with the Reds and the 1947 World Series with the Yankees. That title now falls to former Yankee Tommy Henrich.
Frey was also the last surviving player to have suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants and New York Yankees.
Several photos of Frey are housed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s collection, which contains more than half a million photographs. Among the Museum’s 35,000 three-dimensional artifacts is a ball Frey signed — along with several other players like Hall of Famers Ernie Lombardi, Gabby Hartnett, Joe Medwick, Bill Terry and Billy Herman — during an old-timers reunion in the 1960s.
It is all a part of the Museum’s charge to preserve baseball history for generations to come — history that lives on in Cooperstown.
Craig Muder is director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Double dip: Reds and Pirates have history of multiple matchups
By Freddy Berowski
On Monday, the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates played a day-night doubleheader. The two games were only one game short of the record for the most games played between these teams in one day.
Like the day that the Reds and Pirates played three, this day began with consecutive losses for the Bucs. But that’s where the similarities between this Pirates team and the 1920s squad, one that had four future Hall of Famers on its roster, end.
It was the next to last day of the season, Oct. 2, 1920, and third place, as well as a share of the World Series receipts, was on the line. Four future Hall of Famers would compete in Major League Baseball’s last triple-header, including a little-known 21-year-old shortstop named Pie Traynor – who was 1-for-7 with a run scored and a hit by pitch in two games.
Going into the day, the Pirates sat three and a half games behind the Reds in the standings and needed a sweep in order to have a shot at securing third place on the season’s final day. By the end of the first game, third place was decided. The Reds’ clean-up hitter, future Hall of Famer Edd Roush, was 2-for-6 with a double in Cincinnati’s 13-4 rout of Pittsburgh. Roush would get the rest of the day off, but the Reds would still take the second game 7-3, a game in which the Reds started two pitchers in the outfield and one at first base. The Pirates won game three, a six-inning affair that was called due to darkness. The three games took exactly five hours to play. Future Hall of Famers Max Carey and Billy Southworth also saw action in the triple-header.
Ironically, all three tripleheaders in Major League history have a Pittsburgh Pirates connection. The first one, played on Labor Day 1890, saw Brooklyn sweep Pittsburgh. The second took place on Labor Day 1896 and saw the Baltimore Orioles sweep the Louisville Colonels, the team that would merge with the Pirates in 1900.
Freddy Berowski is a library associate at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Perfect Mark
By Trevor Hayes
There is a saying that you can’t mess with perfection and I’m sure that’s why the artifacts from Mark Buehrle’s perfect game arrived late last week instead of two weeks ago.
You see, when Buehrle hurled his second career no-hitter on July 23rd against the Tampa Bay Rays – the first perfect game in the majors since Randy Johnson’s on May 18, 2004 – history wasn’t over. Buehrle went on to retire the first 17 Minnesota Twins he faced during his next start on July 28th.
Mark Buehrle not only threw the 18th perfect game in major league history (17th during the regular season), but he set the major league record for scoreless innings during his next start. Counting the final out he recorded on July 18 versus Baltimore, Buehrle retired 45 consecutive batters. That broke the record of 41 set by Jim Barr in 1972 and Buehrle’s Sox teammate Bobby Jenks, a reliever, in 2007.
From the historic event, the Hall of Fame has received Buehrle’s jersey and a ball used during the perfect game.
Coupled with his 2007 no-no, Buehrle is the sixth pitcher to collect both a perfect game and a no-hitter during his career, joining Hall of Famers Jim Bunning, Addie Joss, Sandy Koufax, Cy Young and current Giants pitcher Randy Johnson. Coincidentally, both of Buehrle’s no-no’s have come at home at U.S. Cellular Field with umpire Eric Cooper behind the plate – a first for a pitcher-umpire combo.
Buehrle’s gem set a lot of other firsts too. It was the first against a current league or division champ, aside from Don Larsen’s perfecto against the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series. According to the Elias Sport Bureau, because the Rays were third in the majors in runs scored, Buehrle joins Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter (versus the Twins in 1968) as the only pitchers throw a perfect game against teams ranked in the top-five in the majors in runs scored.
There’s more: Josh Fields became the first player to hit a grand slam while his teammate threw a perfect game. Ramon Castro teamed with Buehrle to become the first battery to never start a game together before recording a perfect game. The final out was Jason Bartlett, who made the All-Star team this season and was hitting .342 coming into the game. No other pitcher completed a perfect game by retiring a batter hitting at least .300 or who had the All-Star team in the same season.
The story of Buehrle’s perfect game can’t be told without teammate DeWayne Wise. He was inserted into the game as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning. The first batter, Gabe Kapler drilled a 2-2 pitch to center. Wise bolted for the wall and brought Kapler’s drive back, robbing the Rays outfielder of a homer. In one last first: surely that catch is the most spectacular ever made to save a perfect game and almost certainly by a defensive replacement. Though it’s not an official stat, Wise was still kind enough to send his glove along with Buehrle’s jersey and the game ball to commemorate the special day.
Trevor Hayes is the editorial production manager at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
By the numbers
By Trevor Hayes
It’s been a great week for numbers in baseball. And here at the Baseball Hall of Fame, those numbers will be preserved forever.
A sample of the week that was:
500 for Todd: Last week, Colorado’s Todd Helton became the 50th player to collect 500 doubles. Hall of Famer Tris Speaker holds the record with 792, while 32 of the men who have 500 or more doubles are also enshrined in Cooperstown. Five, including Helton, are active and six others aren’t yet eligible. One other note: Helton achieved the feat in his 1,749th game. Only two players reached 500 quicker: Hall of Famers Joe Medwick (1,714) and Nap Lajoie (1,730).
Dodger Details: Tuesday night marked the 2,000th regular-season contest between the Dodgers and Cardinals, dating back to 1892, when the St. Louis Browns first played the Brooklyn Grooms as members of the National League. Brooklyn/Los Angeles holds a slight edge over St. Louis at 993-992 – with 16 ties – after losing to the Redbirds on Wednesday. The match-up includes a two-game tiebreaker series in 1946 when the Cards swept the Dodgers for the NL pennant.
One man who’s probably seen more of those games than anyone else is Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully. The 1982 Ford C. Frick winner announced this week that he may retire after the 2010 season – his 61st in the booth. The 81-year-old Scully started calling Dodger games in 1950, when they played at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
Ageless Pitchers: Jamie Moyer earned his 10th victory of the 2009 season in the Phillies’ 6-2 win over the Diamondbacks on Monday. At 46 years and 251 days, he is the second-oldest pitcher to reach double-digit wins in a season. Hall of Famer Phil Niekro holds the record, earning his 10th in 1986 for the Indians, at 47 years and 145 days. Knucksie won seven more games in 1987 for a total of 318 wins. Moyer’s most recent victory was his 256th.
Chasing Rickey: Curtis Granderson hit two home runs to lead off games this week at Texas. With 20 leadoff bombs, he has a long way to go to catch the leader. 2009 Hall of Fame Inductee Rickey Henderson holds the record with 81, followed by Alfonso Soriano, who tied Craig Biggio at 53 in May of this year.
Trevor Hayes is editorial production manager at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Turning four: Congrats Tommy and Happy Birthday MLBlogs
By Trevor Hayes
This weekend we were a little busy with the sale of Hall of Fame Classic tickets and the announcement of Mike Pagliarulo’s participation in the June 21st Father’s Day Game. But we did note that Saturday was the MLBlog-osphere‘s fourth birthday; and we’d like to send a shout out to one of our own who helped start this thing.
Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda wrote an introductory post on April 18, 2005, for the launch of this grand old network talking about this grand old game. Tommy has always been a great ambassador to the game (as you can see by that first post: “Remembering my friend Jackie” on Jackie Robinson). His blog has become an outlet for so many stories. As a newbie to the blog world, we here at Cooperstown Chatter are taking a page out of what he’s done and hope we can build the kind of community he has.
Today is the 41st entry for the Hall of Fame on Cooperstown Chatter and we are just over a month old, but we feel like we’re starting to connect to the vibrant community here on mlblogs.com. We have a wide variety of voices coming to you from recently retired Hall of Fame Chief Curator Ted Spencer to a special contributor Marty Appel, who made his debut last week. We’ve made a lot of progress very quickly in social networking (check out our Facebook site), and even though the Major League season is still young, we’re already chronicling the artifacts we’re collecting from the game’s historic openings, victories and defeats.
So here’s to you Tommy, and Happy Belated Birthday MLBlogs.
Trevor Hayes is the editorial production manager at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Jackie Robinson Day
By Trevor Hayes
All Major Leaguers wore the No. 42 yesterday in honor of one man. It’s amazing to me that a number can be retired throughout a sport to honor just one person. But then the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson are far beyond amazing.
I recently finished reading Jonathan Eig’s book Opening Day, about Robinson’s first season in the Majors. Let me just say this — I knew what he accomplished was hard, but I really had no clue. The truth about Robinson’s first season goes way beyond anything I ever knew beforehand.
The hatred he faced in the early part of the season is nothing I can even comprehend. Death threats — something Hank Aaron also received while chasing the Babe — were just the tip of it. 
He had really had no friends other than his wife and infant son. Players threatened to stop playing, thinking the game would continue without Robinson and other black players.
I was born after the Civil Rights Movement, so for me to try to understand the environment is tough. The book, however, gave me a good clue. One of Eig’s main sources was Jackie’s widow, Rachel Robinson. Between the research Eig did in newspapers and interviews with Rachel, the book painted a picture for me that I can more fully appreciate.
I had the good fortune to say hello and shake Rachel’s hand in November when the Hall of Fame dedicated the Character and Courage statues in the lobby of the Museum. Eig was also there that day and participated in a Voices of the Game event with Roberto Clemente‘s sons. I learned that day that baseball can mean so much more. The game follows the ebb and flow of the nation.
A lot of things have been said about why Branch Rickey signed Robinson. Regardless of the original reason, Robinson became an icon not just for African-Americans but for people throughout the country. He was Martin Luther King Jr. before the Civil Rights Movement had a face. Malcolm X charted Robinson’s batting average while listening to Red Barber on the radio.
The Robinsons were celebrated but were also outcasts. They lived a fairly secluded life, but Jackie may have been the most recognizable face in America — and most certainly was the most recognizable African-American next to Joe Louis.
His success that first season proved a color line should have never been drawn. He carried the team for parts of the season, and he made thousands of people instant Dodger fans. His style of play made the game a thrill ride. It was aggressive, it was fast-paced and it was exciting.
Babe Ruth changed the game with the home run, but Jackie Robinson revolutionized it. He opened the door, and talent flooded through. Larry Doby was in the Majors by July. Dan Bankhead joined the Dodgers for the playoff push. But Jackie was first. He faced unreal circumstances and showed he could flourish. The bravery, skill and spirit he displayed are attributes that we can admire.
Robinson deserves every bit of appreciation we can gather. He is immortalized here at the Hall of Fame in the Plaque Gallery. The month of November has been designated Character and Courage Month to celebrate Robinson and two players he shared those characteristics with — Clemente and Lou Gehrig. Their statues in the lobby serve as year-round reminders of traits we should all aspire to exhibit. The entrance to the Mets’ new ballpark, Citi Field, was dedicated to him. The Jackie Robinson Rotunda replicates the entrance to Ebbets Field where Jackie broke the color barrier. His No. 42 hangs in every ballpark, and yesterday it was on the back of every player to take the field.
Trevor Hayes is the editorial production manager at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
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