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January 20
Daily Rewind - January 20 - Williams shift
January 20 Cooperstown Calls:
1966: The Baseball Writers Association of America elects former Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams to the Hall of Fame
1970 — Shortstop Lou Boudreau achieves election to the Hall of Fame, receiving 232 of a possible 300 votes from the BBWAA.
Without Lou Boudreau, the 1948 Cleveland Indians wouldn't have won the American League pennant nor the World Series. As a 30-year old shortstop/manager, Boudreau won the Most Valuable Player Award batting a career-high .355 (he hit a blistering .403 on the road) with 18 homers, 106 RBI, 116 runs, 199 hits, 34 doubles, 98 walks, and just nine strikeouts In the playoff game with Boston to decide the pennant, Boudreau blasted two homers and singled twice in the Indians 8-3 win.
Boudreau devised the defensive shift that was used to stop Ted Williams. Moving his third baseman to the right of second base, and positioning himself back of second, he placed six players in right field to shield against Williams pulled balls. The shift was quickly copied by other AL teams, but it was not an original. Twenty years earlier the AL had used a "Williams Shift" against Browns slugger Ken Williams, to equal success
New Cleveland owner Bill Veeck wanted to fire Boudreau when he took over in 1946, but when the word leaked that he planned to replace the popular "kid-manager," fans voiced their displeasure. Not done, After the 1947 season, the Indians and Browns had reached an agreement to send Lou Boudreau to St. Louis in a trade that would have netted Cleveland Bob Muncrief, Wally Judnich and a few others. St. Louis General Manager Bill DeWitt vetoed the deal, though the two clubs later made a pair of trades with many of the players involved. Boudreau stayed in Cleveland and led the Tribe to the 1948 World Series title. Veeck would later say he was happy he stayed.
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January 20 1916 — The New York Giants buy Edd Roush from the Newark Tip Tops (Federal League) for $7‚500. Roush will hit just .188 in New York before being packaged to Cincinnati‚ where he will blossom into a Hall of Famer.
Born January 20, 1934 – Despite a recurring bad arm and years pitching for bad teams, Camilo Pascual was one of the dominant AL righthanders for a decade beginning in the late 1950s. Originally recommended to the Senators by his older brother, Carlos “Big Potato” Pascual, who pitched briefly for the team in 1950, Camilo arrived in Washington in 1954 and spent five seasons struggling to a 28-66 with the hapless team. But his stuff was overpowering when he developed a wicked sidearm curve in 1959 to go with his blazing fastball and sharp control, and he posted a 17-10 record for a last-place club.
January 20, 1947 Second only to the legendary Satchel Paige among Negro League players in terms of fame and popularity, Josh Gibson is generally considered to be the greatest hitter in the history of black baseball. An almost mythical figure, Gibson was often referred to as the “Black Babe Ruth” during his playing days due to his tremendous power at the plate. Yet, those people who saw the Negro League catcher perform regularly preferred to think of Ruth as the “White Josh Gibson.”
January 20, 1965, the Cleveland Indians re-acquire popular slugger Rocky Colavito from the Chicago White Sox in a three-way deal involving the Kansas City Athletics. In the deal, the White Sox send a player to be named later (pitcher Fred Talbot) and outfielders Jim Landis and Mike Hershberger to Kansas City in exchange for Colavito. Chicago also sends catcher Cam Carreon to the Indians and receives catcher Johnny Romano, outfielder Tommy Agee and pitcher Tommy John from Cleveland. In 1960, the Indians had traded Colavito to Detroit for Harvey Kuenn, drawing the wrath of Cleveland fans.
January 20 1966 — The Baseball Writers Association of America elects former Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams to the Hall of Fame. Williams, the last major league batter to hit .400, receives 282 of a possible 302 votes. He won the Triple Crown twice, the American League MVP Award twice, and produced the highest career on-base percentage of all time (.483), even though he lost five years to military service.
January 20 1970 — Shortstop Lou Boudreau achieves election to the Hall of Fame, receiving 232 of a possible 300 votes from the BBWAA. Boudreau led the American League eight times in fielding percentage, won a batting title, and was named AL Most Valuable Player as player-manager of the 1948 World Champion Cleveland Indians.gust 26, 1939.
January 20, 1984, the Montreal Expos sign 42-year-old free agent Pete Rose. The veteran first baseman batted only .245 in 1983, the last of his five seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. Rose will play only 95 games for the Expos before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds.
HIGHLIGHTED GAME OF THE DAY:
Game of the day – October 11, 1948 World Series Game 6, Cleveland vs Boston, Cleveland was managed by their starting shortstop Lou Boudreau.
Trivia:
How holds the National League record of seven steals of home in a single season?
Jackie Robinson
Pete Reiser
Larry Doyle
Enos Slaughter
Hint: The answer is below
MILESTONES
Birthday Boys!
Camilo Pascual, Carl Taylor, Dave Boswell, Gale Wade, Jesse Gonder, Jimmy Outlaw and Joe Dobson
Passings.
Curt Flood, Gus Zernial, Jay Hankins, Jose Ortiz, Ron Herbel, Sal Bando and Vern Ruhle
Quote of the day:
Leo Durocher, who was Pete Reiser's first major league manager, reflected many years later that in terms of talent, skill and potential, there was only one other player comparable to Reiser: Willie Mays. He also said, "Pete had more power than Willie—left-handed and right-handed both. Willie had everything, Pete had everything but luck."
Hall of Famer - Leo Durocher
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Trivia Answer: Pete Reiser, 1946
