TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

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April 2 There are days in baseball history that feel almost too dramatic to be real and April 2 is one of them.

In 1931 a 17-year-old girl named Jackie Mitchell walked to the mound at Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee and struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the same inning of an exhibition game against the New York Yankees. She then walked Tony Lazzeri and was removed from the game. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis subsequently voided her professional contract on the grounds that baseball was too strenuous for women. The two most feared hitters alive in 1931 could not put the ball in play against a teenage girl and the response from the Commissioner of Baseball was to tell her she did not belong. Jackie Mitchell went on to pitch for the House of David team in 1933 and baseball history has never quite known what to do with her story ever since.

In 1972 Gil Hodges — the man who managed the Miracle Mets to the most improbable World Series championship in baseball history — collapsed on a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida and died of a heart attack two days before his 48th birthday. Yogi Berra was named to replace him and the Mets began a season without the manager who had defined them at.

In 1976 the Oakland A's sent Reggie Jackson, Ken Holtzman, and a minor leaguer to Baltimore for Don Baylor, Mike Torrez, and Paul Mitchell — a trade that set in motion the chain of events that would land Jackson in New York, give him the stage he was born for, and produce one of the most memorable World Series performances in history just two years later.

And in 1982 Billy Martin sent pitcher Steve McCatty to the plate carrying a fifteen-inch toy bat to protest the designated hitter rule in National League parks. The umpire said no. McCatty took three called strikes with a regulation bat. Billy Martin made his point the only way Billy Martin knew how — loudly, creatively, and unsuccessfully.

April 2, 1976, three-time world champion, and defending division champ the Oakland A’s make a blockbuster trade sending a future HOFer and All-Star Reggie Jackson with Bill Van Bommel (minors) and Ken Holtzman to the Baltimore Orioles for Don Baylor, Paul Mitchell and Mike Torrez just prior to the start of the 1976 season.

Jackson being traded was the beginning of the end of the Oakland A’s run and it was all over Charlie Finley’s wallet. Jackson said that Finley was a sharp businessman who taught him many things about the world of business, but said above all else, “he was cheap.”

As the financial rules shifted during the 1970’s players started gaining financial power. On February 1974, Jackson won an arbitration case for a $135,000 salary for the season, nearly doubling his previous year's $70,000. Despite the clubhouse battles the A’s will go on to win their 3rd straight title.

Prior to the 1975 season, Jackson sought $168,000, but arbitration went against him this time and he settled for $140,000. The A's won a fifth consecutive division title, but the loss of pitcher Catfish Hunter, baseball's first modern free agent, left them vulnerable, and they were swept in the ALCS by the Boston Red Sox.

Paid $140,000 in 1975 and one of nine Oakland players refusing to sign 1976 contracts, Jackson sought a three-year $600,000 pact. With free agency imminent after the season and the expectations of higher salaries for which Athletics owner Finley was unwilling to pay prompting the trade.

Holtzman said, “As much as I hate to leave Oakland, this might be my one chance to get some security in the game. I’m more glad for financial reasons.

Despite wanting to test the free agent market and often asking Finley to trade him, Jackson was devastated by the news. He had made his life in Oakland and considered it home. Despite fights with teammates and Finley’s tight-fisted oversight, he said of his time there, “The eight years I spent in Oakland were the best baseball years of my life.”

Jackson had not signed a contract and threatened to sit out the season; he was initially placed on the disqualified list. Jackson took his frustrations out on the Orioles, laboring to reach a suitable deal with GM Hank Peters and owner Edward Bennett Williams over the first few weeks of the season. His holdout impressed neither the Baltimore fans nor the players and when he finally signed at the end of April, he was out of shape.

He made his first plate appearance on May 2. Against Vida Blue and his former team going 0-2. Despite the fans frustrations they gave him standing ovations in his two plate appearances. Jackson would say after the game, “I didn’t know what would happen. But it was pleasing. I’m happy to be here and they let me know that they are glad I am here.”

After his low point with his batting average at .206 on June 15, over the next 99 games Reggie hit .302, 23 homeruns, 72 RBI’s with a .925 OPS. It was to little to late as, Baltimore and Oakland both finished second in their respective divisions in 1976; the Yankees and Royals advanced to the ALCS, the first without the A's since 1970. Had Jackson reported immediately and in shape (May 2 - June 14 was his spring training), the 1976 pennant race may have ended differently.

Jim Palmer later wrote, "I would say Reggie Jackson was arrogant. But the word arrogant isn't arrogant enough." However, he thought the Orioles made a "brick-brained" mistake by not signing him to a contract, allowing him to become a free agent.

Reggie will leave Baltimore and go on to make history with the Yankees battling with ownership and Billy Martin. Over his five seasons in New York, the Yankees will play in the post season 4 times, go to 3 World Series and win two of them, the 1977 win was their first since 1962. Reggie will leave New York for happy trials in California, where he will help the Angels play in the ALCS twice in 5 years.

Above all else, including the showboating, his controversial opinions, and his bravado, Reggie Jackson was a winner. Over a 16-year stretch from 1971 to 1986, Jackson's teams advanced to the post-season 10 times, winning five World Series titles. He won the home run title for three different teams and produced some of the most dramatic homers in history. Though Jackson frequently offended teammates, opponents, and his owners, he always made sure to get along with the press. A member of the 500-homer club, Jackson was elected to the Hall of Fame by himself (fittingly) in 1993.

April 2, 1907, Lucius Benjamin Appling, is born in High Point North Carolina. Appling was one of the best hitting shortstops ever to play in the American League. An exceptional contact hitter, Appling struck out only 528 times in over 10,000 plate appearances for the Chicago White Sox, while winning two batting titles and posting a lifetime mark of .310. His .388 batting average in 1936 established a 20th-century record for major-league shortstops, one that was approached only by the mark of .385 posted by Pittsburgh’s Arky Vaughan one year earlier and the .381 figure compiled by Honus Wagner in 1900. Blessed with a keen batting eye, Appling accumulated more than 100 walks three times during his career, enabling him to compile a lifetime on-base percentage of just under .400. Nevertheless, Appling is often excluded from conversations involving the greatest shortstops of all time since he committed a total of 643 errors in his 20 big-league seasons, leaving him with the worst fielding percentage of any player with at least 1900 games since 1910

April 2, 1931 -- Thought by some to be a belated April Fools' Day hoax, At Engel Stadium Chattanooga Lookouts' pitcher Jackie Mitchell, a 17 year-old girl, strikes out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the first inning of an exhibition game, facing the Bronx Bombers sluggers after entering the game in relief. She also walks Tony Lazzeri in Chattanooga's 14 - 4 loss to the New York Yankees. According to legend, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis will void the teenager's professional contract, declaring women are unfit to play baseball as the game is "too strenuous”, In 1933 Mitchell will pitch for the House of David team.

April 2, 1960, Philadelphia Phillies OF Wally Post beats Milwaukee Braves OF Hank Aaron on the syndicated tv show, Home Run Derby. Post hits 7 HR to Aaron's 4 HR. Wally will be defeated the following week by Pittsburgh Pirates 1B Dick Stuart (11-9 HR in 10 "innings").

April 2, 1962 -- The Indians trade Gold Glove first baseman Vic Power and left-handed pitcher Dick Stigman to the Twins for 20-game loser Pedro Ramos, who will compile a 26-30 record during his 2+ seasons with the Tribe. Power Power will bat .290 with 16 home runs and 63 RBIs for the Twins in 1962 and their new southpaw will post a .702 winning percentage, the best in the American League this season, winning 12 of 17 decisions.

April 2, 1963 -The Houston Colt .45s send young Manny Mota to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for a prospect and cash. For five years, Mota will be a solid fourth outfielder for the Pirates and an outstanding pinch hitter.

April 2, 1972, New York Mets manager Gil Hodges collapses just minutes after completing a round of golf in West Palm Beach, Florida, and dies of a heart attack. The popular Hodges dies just two days before his 48th birthday. Hodges had guided the Mets to their "miraculous" World Series championship in 1969. The club will name current first base coach and former Yankee skipper Yogi Berra to run the team when the strike-delayed season begins.

April 2, 1982, Oakland A’s pitcher Steve McCatty walks to the plate during a spring training game carrying a 15-inch toy bat. A’s manager Billy Martin had ordered McCatty to use the toy bat as a protest of the rule preventing the use of the DH in National League ballparks. Umpire Jim Quick refuses to let McCatty use the bat. The right-hander takes three called strikes with a real bat.

April 2, 1992 — The Phillies acquire right-hander Curt Schilling from Houston in exchange for Jason Grimsley, who will never throw a pitch in an Astros uniform. ‘Schil’ plays nine seasons in the City of Brotherly Love, compiling a 101-78 (.564) record, along with 3.35 ERA during his 242 appearances with team.

TRIVIA

TRIVIA: Reggie homered 23 times off of 9 Hall of Famers can you name them?

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!

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 ANSWER TO YESTERDAY’S TRIVIA

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

Answer: Nolan Ryan 1973 & 1974, Sandy Koufax 1965 and Randy Johnson 1999 & 2001. Bob Feller nearly missed, chalking up 348 in 1946.

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