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April 7
⚾ The Save becomes an official stat
TODAY ON THE DAILY HIGHLIGHT
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April 7, 1969, Bill Singer of the Los Angeles Dodgers earns the first official save in history. Making his only relief appearance of the season, The ‘Singer Throwing Machine’ does not allow a hit, hurling three scoreless innings en route to saving Don Drysdale’s 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. Thanks to the efforts of sportswriter Jerome Holtzman, the save had become an official statistic during the off-season…
Bill Russell makes his major league debut, he will be game the all time leader in games played at shortstop and be part of the Dodgers infield that set the record for games played together.
The save has become so much an integral part of the contemporary game that a special category of relief pitcher - the closer - has emerged. Closers rarely enter a game except in save situations. This practice is in marked contrast to earlier patterns of bullpen usage, where the relief ace would be used in all situations where the game was close, either with his team in the lead, or tied, or trailing by one or two runs, and often for two or three innings or more. Nowadays, closers generally record few victories and often have losing records. This was not the case previously, as pitchers such as Roy Face in 1959, Dick Radatz in 1963 or 1964 and John Hiller in 1973, would pick up large numbers of victories in addition to saves (figured retroactively in the case of those pitching before 1969).
Another way to illustrate how the usage of top relievers has changed over the past four decades is to compare Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers, who pitched in the 1970s and early 1980s, and Trevor Hoffman, who retired after the 2010 season and is second on the all-time list, have been used. Of Fingers' 341 career saves, 135 entailed pitching two or more innings, including 36 of three or more innings. In contrast, at the end of the 2006 season, Hoffman had 482 career saves, but only 7 of two or more innings, and none of three or more. Fingers obtained 101 of his saves when he entered the game with either the winning or tying run already on base; for Hoffman, only 36 of his saves had come in such situations.
There has been a lot of criticism of how the emergence of the save as the master statistic in evaluating contemporary relief pitchers has affected usage. Modern closers often pitch no more than about 70 innings a season, and in most of the games in which they pitch, their teams are already in the lead. Teams rely increasingly on a group of often unheralded middle relief specialists to hold the lead until the closer enters the game. The save thus measures only one task asked of relievers.
Game of the Day
April 7, 1969 Washington Senators vs New York Yankees
Ted Williams makes his debut
Did you know?
April 7, 1958, the newly transplanted Los Angeles Dodgers erect a 42-foot screen at the Los Angeles Coliseum as part of an effort to cut down on home runs to left field, which is only 250 feet from home plate. This creates the term, Moon shots, for Wally Moon's famous homeruns.
🎙️ Classic Baseball Moment of the Day! 🎙️
Don Larsen(1956), Sandy Koufax(1965), Bob Gibson (64,67 and 68), Mantle, DiMaggio, Williams (1941), Clemente 1971, Brooks 1970, Oakland Three Peat and so many others!
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Trivia:
Bill Russell makes his major league debut, he will be game the all time leader in games played at shortstop and be part of the Dodgers infield that set the record for games played together.
Name the other 3.
Hint: The answer is below
TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY
April 7, 1969, At Washington’s RFK Stadium, Ted Williams makes his managerial debut for the Washington Senators, in front of President Nixon and a crowd of 45,113, a franchise attendance record for Opening Day. The Commander-in-Chief throws out the ceremonial first pitch. Williams loses his first game to the New York Yankees, 8-4, on Opening Day at RFK Stadium. Williams will manage the Senators for three seasons, before moving with the team to Texas in 1972.
April 7, 1970, The team formerly known as the Seattle Pilots plays their first home game in Milwaukee as the Brewers in front of 36,107 enthusiastic fans at County Stadium. After a five year absence. The Seattle Pilots were the only team in MLB history to only play one season in a city and move.
The California Angels, behind Andy Messersmith's four-hit complete game, rout the transplanted Brew Crew, 12-0.
April 7, 1971 -- The dismissal of Curt Flood's suit against Major League Baseball is upheld by a three-judge U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The verdict will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
April 7, 1976 – Joe Niekro strikes out 5 batters in a single inning, with two of the strikeout victims reaching first base as Niekro’s fluttering knuckleball eludes his catcher. The feat occurs, however, during the final pre-season game of the 1976 season, preventing it, by one day, from becoming a major league record.
April 7, 1979, Ken Forsch, who almost didn’t make the start due to swelling in his right arm caused by an insect bite, holds the Atlanta Braves hitless, throwing the earliest no-hitter in baseball history. The Houston Astros hurler’s no-no makes the Forsch brothers the first siblings to both accomplish the feat, with Bob, as a member of the Cardinals, throwing a no-hitter against the Phillies last season.
Jack Morris will match Forsch’s feat, and in 2001, Hideo Nomo will pitch a no-hitter on an earlier date, April 4th.
April 7, 1986 – At Tiger Stadium, Boston Red Sox outfielder Dwight Evans becomes the first player to hit the first pitch on Opening Day for a home run. Jack Morris throws the gopher ball but gets the victory as Detroit edges Boston, 6 – 5, behind two home runs by Kirk Gibson.
Quote of the day:
Dodger announcer, Vin Scully, referred to Singer as "the Singer Throwing Machine."
MILESTONES
Birthday Boys
Bill Stoneman, Bobby Del Greco, Bobby Doerr, Joe Hicks, John McGraw and Tom Phoebus
Debuts
Chris Speier, Dwight Goode, and Ozzie Smith highlights todays debuts
Final Games
Passings
Bob Kennedy and Frank Secory
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Trivia Answer:
From 1973 to 1981, the Los Angeles Dodgers played a majority of their games with a starting infield consisting of four players: Steve Garvey at first base, Davey Lopes at second, Ron Cey at third, and Bill Russell at shortstop. Beginning on June 23, 1973, and lasting until Game 6 of the 1981 World Series, the quartet set a record in Major League Baseball for the length of time the same four players were designated as starters at those positions—eight-and-a-half years.
