The San Diego Padres have lost their last nine games, and with rumours of the franchise moving to Washington, the management is looking for anything to bring the winning ways, and the fans, back to San Diego Stadium.

Is the answer Dave Winfield?

San Diego picked Winfield with the fourth overall pick in the first round draft. Winfield was a pitcher, but the Padres needed bats in the lineup, so they not only put Winfield out to left field, they also brought him straight into The Show. Winfield remains one of the handful of players to accomplish this feat.

Winfield developed into an All-Star with San Diego before moving to the Yankees for a then-record 10-year, $23 million contract, popping up next with the Angels, before heading to the Blue Jays to get a World Series ring in 1992.

We’re winding the clock all the way back to what is Dave Winfield’s first game. The Padres are anchored at the bottom of the National League, 20 games back behind the top spot held by the Dodgers. The Houston Astros are faring much better - third in the League and 4 and a half games back. 

Can Winfield’s bat be the spark that lights up the Padres' season?

Ewan Spence and the Classic Baseball Radio team bring you this recreated radio broadcast from 1973. This should not be considered a complete or fully accurate historical record. Nevertheless, this is our story of the game.

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN197306190.shtml 

This game was played on June 19, 1973..

We thank Retrosheet, Sports Reference, Sports Logos Net, Tom R Audio, and  Crafting The Call.

LINKS

Box Score:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SDN/SDN197306190.shtml 

Dave Winfield Profile, by Doug Skipper

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/dave-winfield/

We Are, We Can, We Will: The 1992 World Champion Toronto Blue Jays; Foreword, by Dave Winfield.

https://sabr.org/journal/article/foreword-1992-world-champion-toronto-blue-jays-by-dave-winfield/

No, Dave Winfield wasn’t traded for a dinner.

https://www.mlb.com/news/dave-winfield-traded-for-dinner 

Cito Gaston's contributions left a mark on the game; First African-American skipper to win the World Series built a strong legacy:

https://www.mlb.com/news/cito-gaston-left-his-imprint-on-the-game-c215951760 

Missouri Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Jerry Reuss:

https://mosportshalloffame.com/inductees/jerry-reuss/

The 50-20 Club:

https://tht.fangraphs.com/tht-live/the-50-20-club/

Looking back at… Cesar Cedeno:

https://www.astrosdaily.com/history/cedeno.html

Following an injury at the 1937 All-Star Game, Dizzy Dean lost his fastball, and the St Louis Cardinals traded away one of the leading lights of The Gashouse Gang. The Chicago Cubs picked up Dean in exchange for three players and the then-legendary sum of $185,000, convinced that his arm would recover.

The fastball never returned, but Dean equipped himself with a new arsenal of knuckles, screws and junkballs ahead of the 1938 season. Six games into the year, and the Cardinals visit the Cubs. 

Everyone wanted Dizzy Dean on the mound to face his old team, and Cubs manager Charlie Grimm did not disappoint a Wrigley Field crowd of over 34,000. Facing Dean were familiar faces from the Gashouse Gang, including Pepper Martin and Johnny Mize.

It’s time for a reckoning.

Ewan Spence and the Classic Baseball Radio team bring you this recreated radio broadcast from 1938. This should not be considered a complete or fully accurate historical record. Nevertheless, this is our story of the game.

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHN/CHN193804240.shtml 

This game was played on April 24, 1938.

We thank Retrosheet, Sports Reference, Sports Logos Net, Tom R Audio, and  Crafting The Call.

1956 is a year that Yankees fans have fond memories of... Mickey Mantle will take the triple crown, Don Larsen will pitch a perfect game in the World Series, and Whitey Ford will lead the American League in ERA and winning percentage.

Today, let's listen to Ford in action. The Chicago White Sox are visiting the Bronx for a doubleheader. Ford will face a line-up that includes a young Luis Aparicio and the hot bat of Minnie Miñoso, and he's going to use his mix of calm efficiency and ruthlessness that will lead the Yankees to the World Series.

Bob Elson is behind the microphone to take you through the game.

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA195605061.shtml

This game was played on May 6, 1956.

The Boston Red Sox are in trouble. They are 36-37 at home, and have three games left to avoid the losing record; and they've just lost the first game in a two-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Locked in fourth place, they are playing for pride and to avoid a losing season in Fenway Park.

But they have an ace in the line-up. Ted Williams, returning from military service in Korea, is coming back into the Boston lineup and batting .400 for the season. Ahead of him in he line-up is Jim Piersall, finding his form after spending most of 1952 being treated for bipolar disorder.

In the Red Sox way is soon to be crowned Rookie of the Year Harvey Kuenn, and Mr Tiger himself Al Kaline… however, at this point in his storied career, Kaline is a rookie who’s only been playing in the Majors for three months.

Ewan Spence and the Classic Baseball Radio team bring you this recreated radio broadcast from 1953. This should not be considered a complete or fully accurate historical record. Nevertheless, this is our story of the game.

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS195309170.shtml

This game was played on September 17, 1953.

We thank Retrosheet, Sports Reference, Sports Logos Net, Tom R Audio, and  Crafting The Call.

The SF Giants have just lost a place in the World Series, with arch rivals the Dodgers taking the National League's spot the previous evening. The Giants' 94-67 record with one game to go is not enough. Game 152 has become one to win for the pride of the club and to end the season with a W.

The Cincinnati Reds were even further back in the National League. The core trio of Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, and a young Pete Rose was promising, but as a team, the Reds fell short of the Dodgers' power or the Giants' finesse. Coming into this final game at 89-72, the totemic 90-win mark is within reach and a chance to overhaul Pittsburgh to finish third in the NL.

High above Candlestick Park is another final moment, as Waite Hoyt prepares to call the game for the listening Reds fans back home. Following a career that included three World Series rings over twenty-one years and seven teams, he became one of the first players to transition into broadcasting. Now, after 24 years of calling strikes, balls and fouls, this would be Hoyt's commentating swansong.

Featuring around two-thirds of the game, today's classic game is not a complete record of Hoyt's last game, but it is a record. And with so much of the early days of broadcasting lost to time, it's an excellent record of a baseball legend

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196510030.shtml

This game was played on October 3, 1965.

The records credit Jim Bouton with the win, but everyone who followed the Yankees' 1963 season knows that the driving force in the middle of the year was Elston Howard.

Stepping up into a leadership role after Mickey Mantle broke his foot and moved to the Injured List for ten weeks, the Yankees catcher would shepherd the rotation through the summer months with performance like this one, taking the young Bouton through 8 scoreless innings.

Howard earned his American League MVP award by putting the Yankees on his broad shoulders.

Neither should we ignore opposing pitcher Claude Osteen. The left-hander packed heat alongside an arsenal of breaking pitches. Already established as the Senators' ace, the offence would rarely back him up, and 1963 would end with a 9-14 record. The Dodgers would offer him a lifeline, and in 1965, he would join Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax, and Johnny Podres in a devastating rotation in Los Angeles.

Today? Today, you can see the difference Howard makes when supporting a young pitcher.

Ewan Spence and the Classic Baseball Radio team bring you this recreated radio broadcast from 1963. Just as radio stations recreated baseball games from ticker-tape messages, we can research this classic game and present it to you as if you were listening to the radio in 1963. This should not be considered a complete or fully accurate historical record.

Nevertheless, this is our story of the game.

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA196306190.shtml

This game was played on June 19, 1963

We thank Retrosheet, Sports Reference, Sports Logos Net, Tom R Audio, and  Crafting The Call.

You can’t talk about Nolan Ryan without talking about the moments he flirted with Baseball Immortality. In a career that lasted 27 seasons, he threw a record seven no-hitters, three more than the number two on the list, Sandy Koufax. He also threw twelve one-hitters, sharing that record with Bob Feller.

Today, we turn back the clock to 1970, as Nolan Ryan returns to Major League Baseball after a stint in the National Guard. The “Miracle Mets” of 1969 have a World Series under their belt, and their young fire-throwing rookie is on the bump, facing the wily legend of Jim Bunning, to bring that momentum into the seventies.

You never know when your name is going to be written into the history books; you never know why, you just play the game as best you can. Will this be a memorable day for Nolan Ryan? For Jim Bunning? Or the Phillies' opening batter, Denny Doyle?

Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner, and Lindsey Nelson are on Mets Radio to take you through the game. And if you want a bit of broadcast trivia, Ralph Kiner’s future broadcast partner Tim McCarver is in the Phillies line-up.

You can find the boxscore here https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN197004180.shtml

This game was played on April 18, 1970.

Knuckleball pitcher Dick Fowler spent his entire career in the Majors with the Philadelphia Athletics. During the Second World War, he enlisted at the age of 22 and served three years with Canada’s 48th Light Highlanders, known as "The Ladies from Hell" thanks to wearing kilts on the battlefield.

His first start on returning from service saw him face the St Louis Browns and hurl a no-hitter, the first Canadian to do so.

Fowler is on the mound to face the Browns once more in today’s game.

The Philadelphia Athletics are sitting in third place in the American League. Managed by 84-year-old legend Connie Mack, the Athletics are coming off 14 years without a winning record. Can the old-school tactic of manufacturing runs with small-ball batting and pitching bring back the glory years?

They face a team fighting to escape a slump. The St Louis Browns have lost eight of their last ten games, but took the first game in this two-game series by 12 runs to 3. On the mound is Fred Sandford, who’s looking to find confidence in his fastball.

This episode is a new approach to telling the history of America’s favourite game. Just as radio stations would recreate baseball games from tickertape messages, we can research this classic game and present it to you as if you were listening to the radio in 1947. Your comments are welcome.

Ewan Spence and the Classic Baseball Radio team bring you this recreated radio broadcast from 1947. This should not be considered a complete or fully accurate historical record. Nevertheless, this is our story of the game.

You can find the boxscore here:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHA/PHA194706250.shtml

This game was played on June 25, 1947.

We thank Retrosheet, Sports Reference, Sports Logos Net, Tom R Audio, and Crafting The Call.

The Boston Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates prepare to meet for the first time in the 1930 season, with the two clubs starting the campaign facing different challenges.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, under manager Jewel Ens, have been playing inspired baseball. They have stormed out of the gate with a 9-3 record, establishing themselves as an early pennant contender alongside the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League standings.

Meanwhile, the Boston Braves, guided by the steady hand of manager Bill McKechnie, are treading water. They arrive in Pittsburgh playing .500 ball through their first ten contests, holding a 5-5 record that places them in sixth.

And while the two teams are preparing for the first of twenty-two meetings this year, rookie outfielder Wally Berger is looking to make his mark on the game. Ahead of him lie 11 years in the majors, four call-ups to the All-Star game, and reaching the World Series twice.

This episode is a new approach to telling the history of America’s favourite game. Just as radio stations would recreate baseball games from tickertape messages, we can research this classic game and present it to you as if you were listening to the radio in 1930. Your comments are welcomed.

This broadcast should not be considered a complete or fully accurate historical record. Nevertheless, this is our story of the game.

Ewan Spence and the Classic Baseball Radio team bring you this recreated radio broadcast from 1930. We thank Crafting the Call, Retrosheet, and Sports Reference.

You can find the boxscore here: ⁠⁠https://www.reddit.com/r/BaseballScorecards/comments/1oqumwq/boston_braves_4_at_pittsburgh_pirates_3_may_1/⁠⁠

This game was played on May 1, 1930.⁠

The 1969 World Series saw the Baltimore Orioles humbled by the Miracle Mets. The team carried that burden through the 1970 season, using it not to fall, but to rise. After 108 wins in the regular season, they stormed back to the World Series.

Facing them were Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine." While the Orioles' offence delivered the runs, it's widely regarded that the defence won the World Series in 1970. And if the defence won the series, the MVP holding back the Reds was Brooks Robinson.

For five games, Robinson put on a defensive clinic that has never been equalled. He repeatedly dove to his left and right, backhanded rockets down the line, and made seemingly impossible throws from foul territory to rob Johnny Bench and Lee May of base hits.

And he hit.429 into the bargain.

Today's broadcast is Game 5 of the series. The Orioles won two on the road and have split the first two games in Memorial Stadium. Can they seal the win, wipe away 1969, and lift the trophy?

Jim Simpson calls the game.

You can find the boxscore here:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL197010150.shtml

This game was played on October 15, 1970.