On This Day in Baseball History

Fifty years ago this week, President Nixon enjoyed the 1970 All-Star baseball game, where he threw out the honorary first pitch!

Today, we are dreaming of the day we can all #playball again and enjoy America's pastime with friends! ⚾ pic.twitter.com/u13qSzDEcF

— Richard Nixon Foundation (@nixonfoundation) July 13, 2020

cursed tweets

Happy 98th Birthday, Rachel Robinson! pic.twitter.com/U5Z9PcwNE8

— John Thorn (@thorn_john) July 19, 2020

missed it

July 22, 1966: Ron Swoboda learns he is a new dad when the Dodger Stadium scoreboard relays the message. Cecilia Swoboda gave birth to Chipper, the couple's first child, at 12:02 a.m. (et). pic.twitter.com/KloLrgHaUI

— Mets Rewind (@metsrewind) July 22, 2020

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK198907290.shtml

Rickey Henderson: 0 AB, 4 BBs, 4 Runs, 5 SBs

Carl Mays' pitch killed Ray Chapman, 1920

https://mcusercontent.com/70117f7e29064e68418377637/files/28345305-ee0f-4b90-859c-bdf4095b3368/20067_Chapman_Tragedy.pdf

And happy **FIFTH** anniversary to this important sports moment. pic.twitter.com/qGJyHsWLXv

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 6, 2020

October 13, 1960 at 3:36pm.
The Maz Moment. pic.twitter.com/O04fLUzxck

— Pirates (@Pirates) October 13, 2020

14 years ago today, Endy Chavez robbed Scott Rolen in Game 7 of the NLCS.pic.twitter.com/fSLXhwv2ti

— SNY (@SNYtv) October 19, 2020

^^^this gets overlooked because the mets lost anyway, and i guess i wouldn't quite put it in the category of the mays/edmonds over-the-shoulder catches, but i think it has to be the best homer-robbing catch i've ever seen

"That is the furthest ball I have ever seen hit."

18 years ago, @BarryBonds hit an absolute moonshot in the #WorldSeries. 😳 pic.twitter.com/YPKzjGVUca

— MLB Vault (@MLBVault) October 20, 2020

still haven't seen that ball land tbh

Feel like Dr. M would have appreciated this inside-baseball (more like behind the scenes) story about perhaps the moment the collapse of the Bash Brothers-era A's became imminent:

https://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/1990-world-series-a-s-reds-upset-15667901.php?IPID=SFGate-HP-CP-Spotlight

The A’s outmatched the Reds in every way except one: Cincinnati had a deep, flame-throwing bullpen that wasn’t fully appreciated until the analytics era that Billy Beane helped usher in years later.

Reds advance scout Jimmy Stewart told the San Francisco Chronicle about a conversation he had with famed Dodgers scout Mel Didier at the American League Championship Series in '90: “Mel caught me under the stands when we were both getting a Coke,” Stewart said. “He told me, ‘You’ve got the kind of pitchers that can beat them.’”

Didier is credited with tipping the Dodgers’ Kirk Gibson about the likelihood of Eckersley throwing him a backdoor slider on a 3-2 count before his legendary World Series homer in 1988. He was right this time, too.

bait for Earl Nash as well...

The Nasty Boys were pretty tough, they were like a modern bullpen because there was three of them, so they could shut clubs down after the 6th. Their rotation had Jose Rijo at the top of his powers and Tom Browning was the Freddy Norman lefty who ate up innings but after that especially after injuries slowed up 'All American' Jack Armstrong (who was an Allstar that year and soon faded into obscurity) and Danny Jackson, who was really good when he was healthy - they were a bit thin.

Lefty Norm Charlton is the unsung member of the Nasty Boys and probably the best pitcher as he picked up some big starts down the stretch when the injuries piled up. Reds as usual bet on the wrong one giving Dibble the cash, which considering his rockem sockem robot motion, you know was not going to work after a while. I'd bet with the current radar though he would be 100+ on the gun, as he through mid-high 90s back then on the old Juggs gun. Randy Myers got expensive, but he was always solid and a character (supposedly had a disarmed hand grenade always in his locker). Lou Pinella loved Norm Charlton and got him to Seattle where he got hurt and was never quite the same. Dude was an A+ middle/swingman out of the pen though for a few years.

The always 2+ day growth bearded Rick Mahler who pitched a couple metric tons of innings for bad Braves teams on WTBS Superstation was another wiley vet pitcher who filled in out of the rotation and as a long man. Reds had the clean cut thing for Marge back in those days, so he looked weird being clean shaven after looking perpetually like was always waking up from a bender pitching for the Braves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKc_q30h8Kw

Dibble had to be a bit of the inspiration for Kenny Powers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJkhKBKg9MM

For the good Dr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63GbSuE045Y

Can't find Dibbles other meltdown against the Cubs where he tore off his jersey. It was a couple years later when they went back to the 50s sleeveless with the black shirt underneath.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71GMb2DrX0L._AC_SY445_.jpg
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KKbsSMGxCLE/VYodw4HQT3I/AAAAAAAAClE/hm8dYiMYTu8/s1600/rick%2Bmahler%2B1983.jpg
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71U1vT4yuWL._AC_SY445_.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41i9r4ix%2B3L._AC_.jpg

Forgot about this one...by Hal McCoy that covered the Reds for 25+ years through the whole Big Red Machine.

Q: Which do you rank better, Yasiel Puig trying to fight the entire Pittsburgh team or Pedro Borbon biting off a piece of a New York Mets cap in the 1973 playoffs? — RON, Vandalia.

A: Neither one. Puig seemed to be all yak while his teammates held him back and when he got loose he didn’t do any damage. And Borbon biting a hunk out of Cleon Jones’s Mets cap at the end of a fight was humorous. But my top ranking goes to a brawl the Reds and Houston Astros had when Rob Dibble threw behind the Astros Eric Yelding during a game in 1991. There was a skirmish on the mound, a huge pile-up with Dibble on the bottom. Houston first base coach Ed Ott had Dibble in a choke hold and Dibble’s face turned red, blue and black. He nearly became only the second on-the-field baseball fatality. (Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians died after getting hit by a pitch from Carl Mays of the New York Yankees in 1920).

The one where Dibble tore off his uniform was just as nutty, I seem to recall Andre Dawson being involved in it too.

I saw it and the Doug Dascenzo play happen on TV live. (Doug Dascenzo is the hart part of the trivia question on the Mississippi state team with Will Clark, Rafael Palmiero, and Jeff Brantley that made it to the big leagues. Dascenzo was also a pitcher on that MSU team and I seem to recall him doing a mop up apperance on the mount for the Cubs).

amir garrett actually *did* fight the entire pittsburgh team

Garrett is a big dude, he played D-1 basketball.

I had kinda forgot what a grade-A prick Dibble was.

Dibble had a brief stint as the varsity baseball head coach at Calabasas High School in Calabasas, California.[23] He was fired from his head coaching job on March 27, 2013, only ten games into the season.

20 years ago today: pic.twitter.com/mQ1meNBhG1

— Dan Riffle (@DanRiffle) March 24, 2021

May 7, 2016: Bartolo Colon hits his first career MLB home run. pic.twitter.com/B6snjDZelm

— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) May 7, 2021

June 1, 2007: AA Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman with one of the all-time great manager tirades.

The perfectly executed rosin bag hand grenade toss, preceded by suspense-building army crawl should be displayed in Cooperstown. pic.twitter.com/C4F20khNYM

— This Day In Sports Clips (@TDISportsClips) June 1, 2021

Via Facebook, so I'm not sure if this will embed properly.

55 years ago today, the @Athletics drafted @ASU_Baseball star Reggie Jackson with the second overall pick. Steve Chilcott, the No. 1 pick, would never play a major league game – but @mroctober was ticketed for Cooperstown. pic.twitter.com/L362hbOXmj

— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) June 7, 2021

Oops--yesterday!

40 years ago today, the Padres drafted Tony Gwynn. 40 years ago today, the Clippers also drafted Tony Gwynn. (Seriously, same day!)

A look back 4 decades later on a decision that seems so obvious in hindsight... but maybe wasn’t at the time.https://t.co/CGaqa6YqGF

— AJ Cassavell (@AJCassavell) June 9, 2021

whoa

Rick Wise, the Jacob deGrom/Shohei Ohtani of 1972:

https://www.mlb.com/news/rick-wise-s-no-hitter-and-two-homers

The Jerry Meals game was a decade ago. A decade.

pic.twitter.com/gHSKjXBFxM

— Dan Zangrilli (@DanZangrilli) July 26, 2021

The first baseball broadcast on radio is aired by KDKA of Pittsburgh, announced by Harold Arlin (pictured), for a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Philadelphia Phillies: pic.twitter.com/Cedocv5gkF

— 100 Years Ago Today (@CenturyAgoToday) August 5, 2021

https://i.imgur.com/euoCEnE.png

https://i.imgur.com/yrfChFz.png

https://i.imgur.com/8n4Z4ce.png

https://i.imgur.com/M43GujZ.png

https://i.imgur.com/niP7cqm.png

used 'em all up

When did that happen? I literally don't recognize a single name there.

a couple ex Jay farmhands in there!

roberto clemente got his 3000th and final hit 50 years ago today

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd6wHZoX0AI2UBh?format=jpg&name=small

so good

Rod Carew turns 77 today.

Now that Roberto Alomar has disgraced himself, I think Carew is my favourite player ever. His batting stance was so unique, and his career box is a thing of beauty. He flirted with .400 deep into the summer three or four times when I was a teenager, most notably in 1977. One of my favourite SI covers ever, and the accompanying piece was also great.

https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/ted-williams-and-minnesota-twins-rod-carew-july-18-1977-sports-illustrated-cover.jpg

On Oil Can Boyd's 63rd birthday, let me just say this again, no one has ever looked cooler on a baseball card than this: pic.twitter.com/b9k13f2K5T

— Kevin Glew (@coopincanada) October 6, 2022

i had the donruss version of that card. pretty sure that’s rocket roger in the background there.

the bad and hated Francisco Cabrera/Sid Bream Event took place 30 years ago tonight ;_;

i had to watch it in a room full of braves fans, too

happy 40th to the Willie McGee Game

rip roberto clemente, 50 years ago today

happy 60th to david cone and edgar martinez