Now You Know Baseball. Doug Lennox

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СКАЧАТЬ Who is the only person to have been home plate umpire and pitcher for no-hitters?

      Bill Dineen’s career 170–177 record does little to suggest the flashes of brilliance in his career, which included three wins as pitcher for the Red Sox in the 1903 World Series. His best game as a pitcher was a no-hitter hurled against the Chicago White Sox on September 27, 1905.

      As an umpire, Dineen had a fantastic reputation, and over the course of his lengthy career he was umpire during five no-hitters. While other people have pitched or umpired no-hitters, Dineen is the only individual to have pitched a no-hitter and served as home plate umpire.

      Dineen’s no-hitter history includes one notorious event. On June 23, 1917, Dineen was working third base. Red Sox pitcher Babe Ruth walked the first batter of the game. Furious at the call of the home plate umpire, Ruth punched the umpire and was thrown out of the game. Ernie Shore replaced Ruth and retired every batter he faced — Ruth was credited with being part of a combined no-hitter, despite not having recorded a single out.

       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 СКАЧАТЬ