TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

Hey Folks!

April 1 in baseball history is not a day for jokes. It is a day for stories that sound too good to be true but happened exactly as described. In 1938 Commissioner Landis freed nine Cardinals minor leaguers including a teenage outfielder named Pete Reiser — a player many scouts considered the most gifted they had ever seen. Brooklyn quietly signed him with a handshake agreement to send him back to St. Louis eventually. Then Leo Durocher watched Reiser destroy spring training exhibition games and decided the agreement no longer existed. Some players are too good to hide and Pete Reiser was one of them. In 1962 the Detroit Tigers signed a 21-year-old right-hander named Dave DeBusschere who compiled a respectable 3-4 record in 36 appearances for the White Sox — before deciding his future was in basketball and going on to win two NBA championships with the Knicks and earn a place among the 50 greatest players in league history. In 1970 a federal bankruptcy judge sold the Seattle Pilots to Bud Selig for $10.8 million and by Opening Day they were the Milwaukee Brewers — the fastest relocation in baseball history completed in the offseason chaos of a single winter. And on this date in 1977 a syndicated television show called This Week In Baseball premiered — and for the next three decades Mel Allen's voice and those Saturday highlight reels became the soundtrack of summer for millions of fans who grew up watching. Today we also remember Rube Waddell, Herb Carneal, and Felipe Alou — three men who gave everything they had to this game in very different ways.

April 1, 1914, George Edward Waddell, better known as “Rube” dies from tuberculosis in San Antonio, TX, at the age of 37.

A hulk of a man-child, left-handed Rube Waddell won six consecutive strikeout titles, two ERA titles, and anchored Connie Mack's pitching staffs that won the 1902 and 1905 AL flags. He possessed an excellent fastball, a sharp curve, and superb control. His eccentric behavior led to constant battles with his managers and teammates.

Best Season, 1904

Used in 46 games, Waddell threw eight shutouts, posting a 1.62 ERA. He went just 25-19 (talk about lack of support), pitching 383 innings, allowing 307 hits and 91 walks. Just five homers were hit off the big lefty - and he struck out a then league record 349 batters. Not until Sandy Koufax would a southpaw throw some many K's in one season.

In 1905, Waddell won a Triple Crown for pitching. He finished with a 27–10 win–loss record, 287 strikeouts, and a 1.48 earned run average. It was also his fourth consecutive season with 20 or more wins.

Waddell also gained more fame for saving the lives of people inside a department store when he picked up a burning oil stove that had overturned and carried it out of the building before it could start a fire. In Eliot Asinof's 1963 account of the 1919 World Series fix Eight Men Out (later made into a film of the same name), mention is made of Waddell being bribed not to pitch in the 1905 World Series against the New York Giants after he accepted a $17,000 bribe from gamblers to sit out. Connie Mack refuted that charge to his dying day, but the rumor followed Waddell until his death.

Waddell and Eddie Plank together won 267 games for the A's from 1902 through 1907, accounting for 56 percent of the team's victories.

Transactions

May, 1901: Purchased by the Chicago Orphans from the Pittsburgh Pirates; Before 1902 Season: Jumped from the Chicago Orphans to the Philadelphia Athletics; February 7, 1908: Purchased by the St. Louis Browns from the Philadelphia Athletics.

The Odd Couple:

Waddell roomed for some time with catcher Ossee Schreckengost, but the two ended up in many crazy quarrels. Schreck en gost hated Waddell's habit of eating in bed. One of Rube's favorite snacks was limburger cheese sandwiches, which left a less than desirable odor in their room. Waddell also enjoyed munching on crunchy animal crackers. Schreckengost refused to sign his 1903 contract until it included a clause forbidding Waddell from eating crackers in bed.

April 8, 1908, The Scranton Republican Newspaper published an interview with Waddell entitled "Unkissed Girl Sought by Rube Waddell". This article provided yet another example of Waddell's progressing instability. Waddell's intent was to use the article as an advertisement for his desire to find himself another wife and got into fistfight on a cross-country train after making fun of a teammate's straw hat.

Rube was heroic nature - diving into freezing water to help with rescue missions, or fighting fires, or working to save towns from floods. He often had to be found before starts because he was off chasing fire trucks.

There were stories about Rube's odd escapades dating back to his second game with Louisville and during offseasons papers would frequently carry some small slice of life story about Rube. It's extremely likely that Rube was the most famous player in the major leagues in the days prior to Babe Ruth.

Because of that, more stories about Rube have been passed down than most any other player; many being retold in the 1940s, especially in 1946 when Bob Feller made a run at Rube's single-season strikeout record. By then, however, the memories of those telling the stories failed and people starting mixing fact and fiction. Jimmy Austin tells a story about hitting a grand slam off a drunk Rube while playing with the Yankees in Lawrence Ritter's The Glory of Their Times.

There really should be a movies about Rube.

April 1, 1938 — Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, not a fan of Branch Rickey’s farm system, grants free agency to a group of nine St. Louis Cardinal minor leaguers that includes Pete Reiser. A reported gentlemen’s agreement that has Brooklyn signing and hiding the 19 year-old outfielder in the low minors to be traded back to St. Louis at a later date, doesn’t work when Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher disobeys orders, allowing the phenom to display his incredible ability in spring training exhibition games.

April 1, 1939, future Hall of Famer Phil Niekro is born in Blaine, Ohio. “Knucksie” will make his major league debut in 1964 with the Milwaukee Braves. He will win 318 games over a 24-year career and will gain election to the Hall of Fame in 1997

April 1, 1962, the Detroit Tigers sign University of Detroit basketball star Dave DeBusschere. He will pitch effectively in 1962 and ‘63 with the White Sox, the 21 year-old right-hander will compile a 3-4 record in 36 appearances, He will gain much more fame as a key member of the New York Knicks’ NBA championship teams of 1970 and ‘73 and become one of the 50 named greatest players in the history of the league

April 1, 1964 — Cleveland’s manager Birdie Tebbetts suffers a heart attack. George Strickland will fill in for three months until the 51 year-old skipper returns to the Indians dugout with limited duties. He will manage the Indians though the 1966 season winning 278 games and losing 259.

April 1, 1970 — Federal Bankruptcy Referee Sidney Volinn, after ruling the team is insolvent, orders the Seattle Pilots be sold to a group headed by mid-western businessman Bud Selig for $10.8 Million. The Pilots had lost $1 million during their lone season in Seattle. The American League expansion team’s tenure is over hastily in the Northwest is over after just one season when the club is hastily moved to Milwaukee to start the new season as the Brewers.

April 1, 1977 The syndicated tv show, This Week in Baseball, premieres. TWIB becomes a mainstay for millions of baseball fans for the next 32 years (1977-1998, 2000-2011). Enjoy!

TRIVIA

TRIVIA: Post 1901, Rube Waddell’s 349 strikeouts in a single season has been passed by just three pitchers, who are they?

IF you think you know the answer and bonus points for how many respond with details and if you are right I will give you a shut out! No Googling!

Know someone who loves baseball like you do? Earn rewards by sharing the Rewind!

 ANSWER TO YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA

YESTERDAY'S TRIVIA: Eck saved 390 games, 57 of them were for one pitcher, the two had the all time record until Mo Rivera and Andy Pettitte topped it. Who was it?

Answer: Eckersley saved 57 Bob Welch wins in his career, a record for a pitcher combination until Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte broke it in 2009

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