Classic Baseball Broadcasts

Five Cool Things About December 1 in Baseball history 

When was the DH first discussed? 

1911 - Hall of Fame Manager Walter Alston was Born. Alston put himself through College playing pool, and despite just 1 at bat, would eventually come to manage the Dodgers from 1954 to 1976. 

1928 - The DH narrowly gets voted down by the AL 

1948 - George Foster is born and becomes a key cog in the big Red Machine blasting 52 homeruns in 1977.

1956 - Frank Robinson who tied the NK Rookie HR record with 38, wins the NL ROY. Luis Aparicio wins the AL Award. They will be teammates in Cooperstown some 20 odd years later.  

1965 - The KC A's get Joe Rudi back from Cleveland. It will be a key trade as he becomes a gold glove outfielder and contributor to the three title teams 

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• Events that happened on November 6   This Day in Baseball history. November 6 , 1887 Walter Johnson was born on this day in 1887. Considered by many to be the greatest right-hander in baseball history, Johnson was the hardest thrower of his time. He was a phenomenally successful pitcher on often terrible Washington Senators’ teams. As a veteran, he anchored the only Senators’ World Series winning club, in 1924. He and Christy Mathewson were the first pitchers inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was known as the “Big Train” and in later years, upon seeing Bob Feller throw his hard one, Johnson admitted that he had thrown harder in his day. Johnson is the greatest player to ever play for the Washington Senators, debuting on August 2, 1907, against the Detroit Tigers and Ty Cobb. “He’s got a gun concealed about his person. They can’t tell me he throws them balls with his arm.” – Famed writer Ring Lardner wrote of Johnson
• Sam Rice tells the truth about game 3 of the 1925 World Series  - On November 6, 1974, the contents of a letter written by the late Sam Rice to the Hall of Fame are revealed in Cooperstown, New York. In the letter, Rice, who had instructed the letter be opened after his death, says that he did successfully make a disputed catch in the 1925 World Series.
• Bud Selig goes toe to toe with the players association - November 6, 2001 — Denying it’s a negotiating ploy, major league owners give commissioner Bud Selig the authority to “begin the process” of eliminating two ‘to be announced’ teams by a 28-2 vote. Donald Fehr, the Players Association executive director, calls the action of possibly eliminating the Expos, Twins, or Marlins most imprudent and unfortunate, and the worst manner in which to begin the process of negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement. We had hoped that we were in a new era, one that would see a much better relationship between players and owners. Today’s announcement is a severe blow to such hopes.
• November 6, 1950, Branch Rickey signs a five-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates after selling his 25 per cent interest in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ franchise. On October 26, Rickey had resigned as Brooklyn’s president, giving way to Walter O’Malley. Rickey will serve as the Pirates’ general manager and executive vice-president. The ‘Mahatma’s’ magic doesn’t seem to work, as the Bucs will compile a 269-501 record (.349) during his tenure in Pittsburgh.

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• On November 5, 1936 — The Dodgers name Burleigh Grimes as their new manager. The former Brooklyn spitballer will be replacing Casey Stengel, who was fired last month during the World Series after compiling a 208-251 (.453) record during his four-year tenure. The Dodgers for a short period will be paying 3 managers, Max Carey, Grimes and Stengel. Grimes will last two seasons and win only 131 games and lose 171.
• On November 5, 1997 – In an unprecedented move, Davey Johnson resigns the same day he is named American League Manager of the Year. Despite the fact that Johnson ended the Baltimore Orioles’ 13-year playoff drought in 1996 and led the Orioles to the league’s best record in 1997 (98-64), a dispute over $10,500 in fines to second baseman Roberto Alomar ends Johnson’s reign in Baltimore. Johnson directed the fines to be paid to a charity. Orioles owner Peter Angelos is upset with the way the matter is handled and Johnson resigns.
• On November 5, 2010 — One of the approximately 60 rare T206 Honus Wagner baseball cards, auctioned off by the Baltimore-based School Sisters of Notre Dame, is acquired by a sporting card store owner Doug Walton, who pays $262,000 for the treasured piece of memorabilia. The School Sisters of Notre Dame plan to use the windfall from the sale of the valuable card of the Pirates’ third baseman to benefit ministries for the poor in 35 countries.
• Born November 5,  Selected by the Toronto Blue Jays as the second player overall in the 1978 free agent draft, Lloyd Moseby was rushed to the majors by the talent-hungry Blue Jays faster than the development of his potential would have ordinarily warranted. A talented center fielder, he combined with Jesse Barfield and George Bell to form what was sometimes called the best outfield in baseball in the late 1980s.In 1983 Moseby became the first Blue Jay to score 100 runs in a season, and tied teammate Damaso Garcia for a team-record (and league-leading) 21-game hitting streak. The following season, he tied with teammate Dave Collins for the AL lead in triples, and was a consistent run-producer and stolen base threat for the mid-80s Jays. By the end of the decade, the “best outfield” was being dismantled. Barfield was traded to the Yankees, and emerging prospect Junior Felix was gradually pushing Moseby out of center. When Moseby signed with the Detroit Tigers in December 1989, he left Toronto as the Blue Jays’ career leader in games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, total bases, extra-base hits, stolen bases, strikeouts, being hit by the pitch, and sacrifice flies.

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Up first up a little trivia Burleigh Grimes played with an astonishing 36 hall of fame players, including 4 HOF first basemen can you name them . . . .  

On November 5, 1936 — The Dodgers name Burleigh Grimes as their new manager. The former Brooklyn spitballer will be replacing Casey Stengel, who was fired last month during the World Series after compiling a 208-251 (.453) record during his four-year tenure. The Dodgers for a short period will be paying 3 managers, Max Carey, Grimes and Stengel.

Grimes will last two seasons and win only 131 games and lose 171.

Grimes is one of the more interesting players I have researched . . . Burleigh Grimes won twenty games five times, and reached double-digits in wins fourteen consecutive years. He was a hard-nosed battler who used every edge he could to beat his opponents, including memorizing the rule book in case he had to argue a point with the men in blue. Grimes was the last man to throw a legal spitball in the major leagues. Despite shuffling among six of the eight NL teams, he pitched for three teams in the World Series. His greatest moment came in Game Seven of the 1931 World Series when he took a shutout into the 9th inning against the two-time defending A's. He won the game and the Cardinals had their second World Championship.

Factoid In 1921, Burleigh Grimes led the National League with 22 wins, but was paid the modest sum of $1,960 by Brooklyn.

Post-Season Notes Burleigh Grimes pitched the 1931 World Series with his swollen appendix frozen to numb the pain. After the Series, which the Cardinals won thanks to his 8 2/3 innings in Game Seven, Grimes' appendix was removed.

Grimes pitched in 4 World series and was 3-4 in his 9 starts.

Factoid In a 1925 game, Burleigh Grimes grounded into two double plays and a triple play in a loss to the Cubs. In his three hitless at-bats, he accounted for seven outs.

There is so much more I encourage you to check out his page on this day in baseball and if you are interested in listening to a game he pitched in September 20, 1934, regular season game Detroit Tigers vs Yankees he pitched 2 innings in relief. Check it out on

TriviaBurleigh Grimes played with nearly every National League Hall of Famer of his era, 36 in total and 8 different teams during his career and He was a teammate of four Hall of Fame first basemen . . . . George Sisler, Bill Terry Jim Bottomley and Lou Gehrig

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• Frank Robinson was the first black manager when the Cleveland Indians hired him, but there was another black player who managed before Robbie . . . .
•  On November 4, 1948  Jake Powell, 39, former big league baseball star, shot himself to death in Washington police headquarters late today while being questioned on bad check charges.Powell had been picked up at the Union Station the complaint of a local hotel where he had been staying the past three days. After Powell was taken to the check and fraud division of local police headquarters and during the questioning police said he asked permission to leave the room for several minutes. Police said he stepped outside the door pulled out a 25-caliber revolver and shot himself once in the chest and once in the right temple. With him when he was taken into custody was a woman who identified herself as Josephine Amder, of Deland, Fla. she told police she and Powell had planned to be married during the day, but later changed their plans.But Mrs. Elizabeth Powell, to whom the ballplayer had been married several years, said she was still his wife and as far as she was concerned there had been no separation.
• On November 4, 1889 — After a formal meeting of representatives from all National League chapters, the Brotherhood issues a “Manifesto” in which it claims that “players have been bought, sold and exchanged as though they were sheep instead of American citizens.” This bold statement constitutes a declaration of war between the Brotherhood and major league officials which will soon explode into the formation of the Players League.
• 86 years later . . . .
• On November 4, 1976 — The first mass-market free agent re-entry draft is held at the New York Plaza Hotel. Among those available are Reggie Jackson, Willie McCovey, Joe Rudi, Don Gullett, Gene Tenace, Nate Colbert, Rollie Fingers, Don Baylor, and Bobby Grich. McCovey and Colbert are the only two players not selected, but McCovey will catch on with the Giants in spring training and have a banner year at his old first base position. Jackson will go onto star for the New York Yankees and win two World Championships. Fingers will have several excellent seasons for the Padres and Brewers including winning an MVP and Cy Young award. Baylor will go to win an MVP award.
• On November 4, 1959 — – Ernie Banks wins his second National League MVP Award in a row on the strength of his 45 home runs and 143 RBI for the Chicago Cubs. Eddie Mathews finishes second. What really made 1959 special for Ernie was his defense, his 3.5 Dwar is the highest of his career, he will be rewarded with a gold glove in 1960, but he was much better in 1959.   Fun fact from 1955 to 1960 his 248 home runs were more than anyone else in the majors, including Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. His 5 Grand slams in a single season is still tied for the single season record in the NL. And was the MLB record until 1987.
• On November 4, 2001, the Arizona Diamondbacks win their first World Series championship. Down a run to the Yankees in the ninth, the D-Backs rally against New York closer Mariano Rivera, winning on a single by Luis Gonzalez, 3-2. Tony Wolmack had tied the game 2 batters earlier, doubling down the right-field line.It was the first time since 1985, two twenty-game winners start Game 7 of the World Series when Yankee right-hander Roger Clemens (20-3) faces Curt Schilling (22-6) of the Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark in Arizona. Sixteen years ago, Bret Saberhagen (20-6) of the Royals squared off against Cardinal hurler John Tudor (21-8) in the Fall Classic finale at Kauffman Stadium.The four-year-old Diamondbacks, the youngest franchise to win a Fall Classic, end New York’s string of three consecutive World Championships. Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling share the Series MVP honors. The Arizona pitchers are the first multiple winners since the Los Angeles Dodgers trio of Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager shared the award in the 1981 World Series. Following the 2010 season, a panel of experts at the MLB Network will vote this game the 9th greatest game of the past fifty years.It was the first time since 1985, two twenty-game winners start Game 7 of the World Series when Yankee right-hander Roger Clemens (20-3) faces Curt Schilling (22-6) of the Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark in Arizona. Sixteen years ago, Bret Saberhagen (20-6) of the Royals squared off against Cardinal hurler John Tudor (21-8) in the Fall Classic finale at Kauffman Stadium.
• Birthday boy Dick Groat Born: November 4, 1930, Wilkinsburg, PA The acknowledged leader of the Pirates, Groat was a good-hitting shortstop with great range. He helped Pittsburgh to the World Series title in 1960, and after being dealt to St. Louis, played for their World Championship team in 1964. At Duke Univeristy, Groat was an All-American baskertball player who spurned offers to make professional basketball his career. In 1960 he was named National League Most Valuable Player, when he won the batting title. Best Season, 1960 groat staved off challengers to win the batting title with a .325 mark. He excelled at Forbes Field: batting .363 at home and .290 in road games. A singles hitters, Groat had just 32 extra-base hits, one of the lowest marks by an MVP winner, but he was sure-handed in the field, as usual. As he did much of his career, Groat hit well against southpaws: .376 in 178 at-bats. After he slumped in July, Groat responded by hitting .373 in August and .344 in September/October. On September 6, a Lew Burdette pitch broke Groat's wrist, sidelining the shortstop for nearly four weeks. He returned the last weekend of the year and played in the World Series.

After his playing career, Banks became the first African-American to manage in the Major Leagues on May 8, 1973, when, as a coach, he took over for ejected manager Whitey Lockman during extra innings of a 3-2 win over the Padres in San Diego

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November 4 This Day in Baseball history. 

Let's celebrate Pete Alexander on his birthday - https://thisdayinbaseball.com/pete-alexander-page/

All of Today's amazing events - https://thisdayinbaseball.com/this-day-in-baseball-november-4/

Reggie Jackson - https://thisdayinbaseball.com/reggie-jackson-biography/

Please help us out and commemorate a page with a dedication - https://thisdayinbaseball.com/donations/donation-form/

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Day of Cy Young Awards, 8 Cy Youngs are awarded with 3 multiple winners –

• Vern Law 60 he went 20-1 and started game 1, 4 and the historic game 7 of the 1960 World Series and went 2-0 you can listen to all three of those games in our community.
• Sandy Koufax wins his 3rd, setting the NL record with 382 stakeouts in 1965. You can listen to his starts from 1965, April 22, June 20 and August 10, the 9th inning of his perfect game and for good measure Game 7 of the 1965 World Series on 2 days rest.
• Jim Lonborg 67, 22-9 the leader on the mound for the impossible dream red sox, you can hear his Sept 2, and all three of his world series starts
• Bob Gibson 2 70, Gibson posts his career high in wins with 23, you can listen to Gibson in the 68, 64 and 67 World Series, and his no hitter in 1971.
• Fergie Jenkins 71. Finally gets his after 2 close calls and you can hear him in the 1971 All Star game.
• Rollie Fingers 82 and Pete Vuckovich 82 – back to back for the Brewers and they were both acquired by the brewers from the Cardinals in the same trade on December 12, 1980.
• And Greg Maddux wins his (2) in a row in 1993, and he will win the next two as well becoming the first pitcher to win 4 in a row. Maddux went 20-10 with a 2.36 ERA

All but Law, Lonborg and Vuckovich will end up in Cooperstown

On November 3, 1928 — Voters in Massachusetts approve Sunday baseball in Boston, provided that Braves Field is more than 1,000 feet from a church. This leaves Pennsylvania as the only state with no Sunday baseball in the major leagues.

On November 3, 1987 — Oakland Athletics first baseman Mark McGwire, who hit 49 home runs with 118 RBI, wins the 1987 American League Rookie of the Year Award. McGwire is the second player to win that league’s award unanimously. Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox was the first to do it in 1972. McGwire set a rookie record with 49 homers and was the first rookie to lead the majors in homers since Al Rosen in 1950.

On November 3, 1968 — Harry Caray, trying to cross the busy Kings Highway near the Chase Park Plaza Hotel in St. Louis suffers two broken legs, a broken nose, and a dislocated shoulder when he is knocked 40 feet in the air after being struck by a car at 1:15 AM on an inclement Sunday morning. The popular Cardinals broadcaster, whose hospital room will become party central before he is discharged, will recover in time to be on the air for Opening Day. We have countless games he called, including the game where Dick Allen hit his famous blast over the Coke sign on May 29, 1965.

Happy Birthday to Ken Holtzman, Born: November 3, 1945 in St. Louis, MO Holtzman was compared to Sandy Koufax early in his career. Both were left-handed, both were Jewish, and both had devastating curveballs. But that comparison was unfair to Holtzman, who went on to have an excellent career, winning 174 games in 15 seasons. The St. Louis native was involved in three big trades, one sending him from the Cubs to Oakland, one sending him from the A’s to Baltimore, and the other shipping him from the Orioles to the Yankees. With the A’s he joined Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter in a formidable starting rotation that led Oakland to three straight World Series titles. A crafty left-hander who preferred to induce a groundball rather than a strikeout, Holtzman won 17 or more games six times, and pitched two no-hitters. A clutch performer, Holtzman was 4-1 with a 2.54 ERA in eight World Series starts.

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On November 2, 1972 -- Leading the league in victories (27), ERA (1.97), starts (41), complete games (30), and strikeouts (310), Steve Carlton wins the 1972 National League Cy Young Award, the first of three he will win. 'Lefty's' 27 victories account for nearly half (45.8%) of the last-place Philadelphia Phillies 59 wins.

November 2, 1999 Ken Griffey Jr., who wants to be nearer his family in Orlando, asks the Mariners to move him to a team that is closer to Florida. The superstar outfielder will get his wish in February when Seattle trades him to the Reds for Mike Cameron, Antonio Perez, and Brett Tomko, and minor leaguer Jake Meyer.

Pat Gillick signs on with the Phillies and will lead them to the 2008 World Series Title.

Today's Birth boy Bob Feller A farmboy from Van Meter, Iowa, Feller was only 17 when he struck out eight members of the St. Louis Cardinals in three innings of an exhibition game. After this awesome display of pitching, Feller was advised to seek voluntary retirement from high school in order to sign a pro-baseball contract. In his first major league start, against the St. Louis Browns, Feller fanned 15 hitters and never looked back. For twenty years, all with the Indians, the teenage phenomena dominated AL batters with his blazing fastball and bending curve. He hurled three no-hitters, including the only opening day gem, notched 12 one-hitters, served in World War II, and won 19 games for Cleveland’s 1948 World Championship team. Feller was the second big league star to enter the service for World War II (following Hank Greenberg). He lost almost four seasons to military duty but was still at the top of his game when he returned. His first year back from the war he set a new record for strikeouts in a season (348 in 1946). While in the U.S. Navy, Feller won eight battle stars.

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On November 1, 1892 –Statistics for the first 154-game season show that Dan Brouthers of the Brooklyn Grooms was the top hitter at .335, and Cy Young of the Cleveland Spiders the top pitcher in terms of wins with a 36-11 record.

On November 1, 1951 — Future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella (.325, 33, 108) wins the first of his three National League MVP Awards. The Dodger backstop will also receive the prestigious honor in 1953 and 1955. Campanella outpoints Stan Musial, Monte Irvin and teammates Preacher Roe and Jackie Robinson. By the standards of WAR Robinson was the best player in the league with a 9.7 WAR.

November 1, 1968 -- Denny McLain is the BBWAA's unanimous choice for the American League Cy Young Award, after the right-hander posts a 31-6 (.838) record with 280 strikeouts and a 1.96 ERA, for the World Champion Tigers. The 24 year-old Chicago native, who will win the prestigious pitching prize again next season, will be also named this year’s American League Most Valuable Player.

On November 1, 2010 -- Tim Lincecum pitches 8 strong innings in besting the Rangers' Cliff Lee for the second time in the series and Edgar Renteria, who drove in the winning run for the Marlins against Cleveland in the 11th inning during Game 7 of the 1997 Fall Classic, joins Yankees legends Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, and Yogi Berra as only the fourth player in baseball history to collect two World Series-winning hits. The Series MVP's three-run homer off Lee in the seventh inning leads to San Francisco's 3-1 victory over the Rangers, bringing a World Championship to the Giants for the first time since 1954.

Happy Birthday to Vic Power who on May 7, 1957, Vic Power becomes the first modern major leaguer to hit both a leadoff and walkoff home run in the same game. The A’s first baseman, who went deep off Hal Brown leading off the game, ends the contest in the 10th frame with a round-tripper off the right-hander, giving Kansas City a 3-2 victory over Baltimore.

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October 24, 1994 Atlanta Braves Pitcher Greg Maddux is named the National Leagues Cy Young award winner for the strike-shortened 1994 season. Maddux became the first player to win three consecutive Cy Young Awards in the National League and would add a 4th the following year. The 1994 Major League Players Association struck over their refusal to allow a league imposed salary cap. The 232 day strike halted the season with roughly 50 games left on each team's schedule and led to the cancellation of the World Series. Tony Gwynn was batting .394 with a legitimate chance to become the first .400 hitter since Ted Williams. San Francisco's Matt Williams, with 43 home runs, was on pace to at least tie Roger Maris's single season record of 61. And the doomed Montreal Expos, who in 2005 would become the Washington Nationals, had baseball's top record, 74-40 and would lose what would prove to be their only chance at the World Series. Other National League award winners included Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell who was MVP, and Los Angeles Dodger outfielder Raul Mondesi who was named Rookie of the year. The American League award winners were all unanimously selected. They included: Chicago White Sox first baseman Frank Thomas as MVP, Kansas City Royals pitcher David Cone as Cy Young, and Kansas City Royals designated hitter Bob Hamelin was Rookie of the Year.

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