Baseball
Happy Birthday to the Style Master himself Mr. George Hendrick! Known as the 1st MLB player to wear his pants down to his ankles. George sported a logo-less batting helmet for a bit too, after a hot streak. They called him ‘Silent George’ for his years of not talking to the media. Quiet guys rule!
October 17th, 1989
Can you guys name the scheduled starting pitcher for the Oakland A’s in Game 3 of the 1989 World Series? He was minutes away from taking the mound when the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck San Francisco, causing extensive damage to the city and the postponement of Game 3 for eleven days. In fact our guy never even got to throw a pitch in the series because when the Battle of the Bay resumed, Manager Tony Larussa opted to go back with his Game 1 starter, Dave ‘Smoke’ Stewart, instead of his # 3 Pitcher. Game #2 starter Mike Moore won again in Game #4, giving Oakland the sweep of the Giants.
He’s also an answer in the Blaze #10 Pop Quiz.
On this day, April 12th, 1993 Catcher Benito Santiago hits the 1st home run in Florida Marlins History.
April 15th, 1977 - Ellis Valentine of the Montreal Expos hits the 1st Home Run in the new Olympic Stadium. Ellis batted in the only two runs in a 7-2 Expos loss that day. The third inning solo shot off the Phillies Steve Carlton & an eighth inning two out rbi single. He teamed up with CF Andre Dawson & LF Warren Cromartie to form one of the coolest OF Trio’s of All Time.
Did you know that Danny Jackson is the only pitcher to have ever pitched an ‘Immaculate Inning’ in a World Series Game? That’s right in the 7th Inning of Game 5 during the 1985 World Series, Danny struck out the Cardinals Side with just 9 pitches.
Bake McBride stepped up to the plate 3,853 times and got 1,153 hits over his 10 year career for a .299 average. If Bake had just gotten one more hit, just one more measly hit, he would be able to put a .300 average on his resume instead of .299. Bummer Bake.
Hey Dudes! Did you know that former San Francisco Giants shortstop Johnnie LeMaster is one of only two players in MLB history to hit an Inside the Park Homer in their 1st at-bat?
Happy Birthday Dusty Baker. In the last game of the 1977 regular season, Dusty hit his 30th Homer of the year off Houston Astros pitcher J.R. Richard. It marked the first time that 4 teammates (Baker,Cey,Smith & Garvey) all hit 30 or more home runs in a season. It also became such an iconic moment because after he touched home plate, Baker was greeted by teammate Glenn Burke with his arm high in the air. Dusty reached up and slapped it, thus commemorating the 1st High Five in baseball history. Did you know that Glenn was up next and he too hit a home run? Dusty was there to greet him with the 2nd High Five.
April 4th 1988 (11) George Bell becomes the first player in MLB History to hit 3 homers on opening day. He walloped all three round trippers off Royals all star Brett Saberhagen.
This is Clemente Nunez. He became the 1st player signed by the Expansion Florida Marlins back on December 16th, 1991. Clemente was a 16 year old pitcher from the Dominican Republic at the time with an 88mph fastball.
He never did make it to the show however, but had a few decent seasons in the Marlins Farm system. His best outing came on May 28th, 1995 as a member of the Brevard Manatees, when he tossed a no-hitter against the West Palm Beach Expos. In fact he was only 1 walk away from a perfect game that day in the 2-0 decision.
The No-No was actually the 2nd one to occur for the new organization. A 25th round draft pick threw one in 1993 for the Elmira Pioneers of the New York-Penn League. Can you name him?
The Big League Marlins wouldn’t record their first no-hitter until the 1996 season. Who threw it?
Since 1961 there have only been 12 occurrences of a ‘Battery’ (Catcher & Pitcher) hitting back-to-back home runs. Montreal Expos Catcher Sal Buerta & Pitcher Bryn Smith hit back to back shots off Cubs reliever Ray Fontenot back on August 14th, 1985. It wouldn’t happen again until a couple of Cardinals did it in 1994.
I’ve got a FREE Issue of Blaze for the first person who messages over the Cardinals Battery who went back to back.
Ken Hubbs became the 1st Rookie to win a Gold Glove back in 1962. Sadly Ken would pass away at just 22 years old in February of 1964 as the small plane he piloted crashed in snowstorm near Provo,Utah.
An ** can go next to Boston Red Sox’s third baseman Frank Malzone, who arguably was first Rookie to win the award back in the inaugural year of the Gold Glove, 1957. See, Frank had already qualified as a rookie in 1956 by old standards, but using today’s eligibility guidelines, Malzone’s would have been considered a rookie in 1957.
Another fun fact is that Malzone, would win the 3B Gold Glove honor for the first three seasons of the awards existence, (‘57-’60) before a Baltimore Oriole named Brooks Robinson would emerge on the scene and take the award for the next sixteen seasons.
📅 On November 8th,1989, Chicago Cubs OF Jerome Walton was named the National League Rookie of the Year. He was the 1st Cubbie to win the award in 27 seasons.
Any Blaze fans out there who can tell the crowd that previous ROY winner from 1962?
Bonus points if you can also name the runner up in 1989.
(Hint) He happened to be Jerome's teammate. 🔥
We have another ‘On This Day’ for you guys celebrating this Friday April 17th. All the way back in 1976 every Phillies fan’s Main Man Mike Schmidt hit four home runs in quite the abnormal afternoon affair at Wrigley Field. The Phillies found themselves down 13-2 to the Cubs in the top of the 5th Inning when Mighty Mike stepped in & hit a two run homer off Cubs pitcher Rick Reuschel to ignite a Phillies Comeback. In each of his next three at-bats Mike went deep, including the go ahead two run shot off Rick’s older brother Paul in the top of the 10th inning. The Phils added another run & held on for an 18-16 victory. More from the Reuschel Boys in a future post! Have a nice weekend dudes!
On September 22nd, 1993 Pitcher Nolan Ryan made the final appearance of his storied career. Ryan’s elbow finally called in quits in the 1st Inning of a 7-4 Rangers loss to the Seattle Mariners. The 46 year old finished his 27 year career with 5,714 strikeouts, 324 Wins, and 7 No-Hitters!
Any Baseball Nerds out there who can tell the class the last batter that Nolan faced?
Ryne Sandberg sure did get the crowd at Wrigley Field going crazy back on June 23rd, 1984 in an afternoon matchup against the St. Louis Cardinals. Ryno went 5 for 6 that day with 2 HR’S & 7 RBI’S. His solo shot in the bottom of the 9th off master closer Bruce Sutter sent the game to extra innings. When Ryne came up again in the bottom of the 10th, with the Cubs trailing 11-9, he went ahead & sent another delivery from Sutter into the left field bleachers to tie the game at 11! Teammate Dave Owen would single in the winning run the next inning. Happy Birthday Ryno!!
Taking it back to August 31st, 1990. Kingdome. Seattle, Washington. In the bottom of the 1st inning, newly acquired, 40 year old Ken Griffey Sr. laces a ball sharply back up the middle for a base hit in his first Mariner at bat. Up next, his son, Ken Griffey Jr. takes a page right out the old man’s playbook, and connects on a single of his own. Any guesses on the Kansas City Royals right hander who allowed the Father/Son back to back?
