Who was the fi rst black player in major league baseball?
While Jackie Robinson is the man who broke baseball’s shameful colour barrier, he was not the first African-American to play in the major leagues.
Catcher Moses “Fleetwood” Walker was a member of the Toledo Blue Stockings when they joined the American Association (a predecessor of the American League) in 1884. Walker played in only 62 games in an injury-plagued season, and was released at the end of the year.
Others followed Walker, but by the 1900s there were no black players in the major leagues. While the big leagues never had a formal ban, owners adhered to an unwritten rule that prevented African-Americans from playing until 1947, when Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey made the bold move of bringing Jackie Robinson to Brooklyn.
Who applied the “unfavourable chance deviation theory” to baseball?
Though he’d later go on to be a successful manager, winning the World Series with the 1986 Mets, Davey Johnson had a solid career as a player, too. Not only could he play, but he had a brain in his head as well … though perhaps he over-thought things once in a while.
When Orioles pitcher Dave McNally was struggling with his control, Johnson, a former math major, resorted to theories of mathematical probability. “Haven’t you ever heard of the unfavourable chance deviation theory?” Johnson asked. “Aim for the middle of the plate when you’re wild. The ball will end up in the corners, which is where you want it, anyway.”
They Said It …
Reporter: “Do you think Ty Cobb is up there looking down at you as you chase the record?”
Pete Rose: “From what I know about the guy, he may not be up there. He may be down there.”
Where was baseball fi rst played?
The origins of baseball are murky at best. While the legend that baseball was invented by Abner Doubleday and first played in Cooperstown, New York, was once the “official” story, it was, alas, baseless. The committee that gave Doubleday and Cooperstown the nod has been accused not of trying to find out where baseball was invented, but of trying to prove that it was invented in the United States.
Various places in the United States and Canada have claimed to be the birthplaces of baseball, but in reality the game developed from a number of bat-and-ball games played in England. In fact, there are many references in British writings to a game called “base-ball” or “baseball.” The game is even referenced in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (written in 1799).
The United States can lay claim to hosting the first organized baseball game played between two clubs. On October 6, 1845, the Knickerbocker Club took on the New York Nine at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Who was the fi rst black umpire in the majors?
In the history of baseball’s integration in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, Emmett Ashford is often overlooked.
“Ash” first made history by becoming the first African-American to umpire in professional baseball when he took the field in the Southwest International League in 1951. There he became known for his exaggerated calls and ritzy wardrobe. But it wasn’t until 15 years later, on April 1, 1966, that he got his shot as the first black major league umpire.
Which team played their fi rst game in the snow?
After the National League’s successful expansion into Canada with the Montreal Expos in 1969, the American League decided to go international as well, adding the Toronto Blue Jays for the 1977 season.
Quickies
Did you know …
• that the baseball tradition of spring training came about in 1885 when the Chicago White Stockings went to Hot Springs in Arkansas to prepare for the new season?
But the weather seemed to be uncooperative. Snow blanketed the field at Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium for the scheduled home opener on April 7. The Blue Jays organization was determined to get the first game in, and the Jays and Chicago White Sox took to the field in weather that may have resulted in a postponement on any other day. The Jays won their franchise opener 9–5 on the strength of two home runs by Doug Ault.
Who wrote the book Ball Four ?
It was long assumed that professional athletes engaged in hijinks while on the road, but until Jim Bouton’s 1970 book Ball Four blew the lid off of ballplayers’ not-so-wholesome lifestyle, few knew just how much trouble big leaguers actually got into.
Bouton had been a pitcher for nine seasons from 1962–70 (he later made a comeback bid in 1978), and freely implicated himself while storytelling. Ball Four depicted major league players as heavy drinkers and frequently unfaithful to their spouses.
Many players and some owners criticized Bouton for the book. Even some baseball wives were upset with him. Nancy Marshall, wife of pitcher Mike Marshall, said that many wives “didn’t want to think about the times when their husbands were on the road, let alone read a story that confirmed their worst suspicions.”
Quickies
Did you know …
• that in 1910, the cork center was added to the official baseball?
What previously unexplored market did the Detroit Tigers tap into when they signed Gates Brown and Ron LeFlore?
Though signed four years apart, in 1968 and 1972 respectively, it’s hard not to think of Gates Brown and Ron LeFlore as part of the same baseball class, since both were picked up by the Detroit Tigers out of prison.
Brown had been serving time in a prison in Ohio for breaking and entering convictions, and he played on the prison baseball team. His coach was so impressed with his abilities that he brought him to the attention of major league scouts. The Tigers eventually signed Brown after a bidding war for his services. Though never a major part of the starting lineup, Gates was strong off the bench, batting .370 off the pines in 1968.
Ron LeFlore was an even bigger success, after his prison years. LeFlore had had drug problems as a youth and was eventually imprisoned after he and a group of friends held up a bar in Detroit, making off with $35,000. While in prison, LeFlore played for the prison ball team, and though he was never a fan of the sport, he excelled. He was given a tryout with the Tigers after another inmate contacted a friend who knew then-Tigers’ manager, Billy Martin. LeFlore made the team and proved to be a valuable contributor. Ironically, he was especially adept at stealing bases. He led the league in stolen sacks twice, including 97 swipes in 1980.
They Said It …
“Happy left office for reasons of health; that is, the owners got sick of him.”
Sportswriter Red Smith on the departure of commissioner Happy Chandler.
How many players have played in both the Little League World Series, the College World Series, and the Major League Baseball World Series?
Only