March 17

⚾ Prince Hal gets his HOF Call March 17

March 17, 2025

TODAY ON THE DAILY HIGHLIGHT

CLICK HERE to go today’s Daily Highlight Page where you can see all of today’s happenings in Baseball History and listen to the original audio

March 17, 1992 — Pitcher Hal Newhouser and umpire Bill McGowan are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee.

Prince Hal - was one of the greatest pitchers in Tiger history, Newhouser is the only hurler to win back-to-back MVP Awards. The lefty won games five and seven of the 1945 World Series for Detroit. He was the best pitcher not to miss time during World War II, and he continued his mastery after the players returned from overseas, narrowly missing a third straight MVP to Ted Williams in 1946.

Best Season: 1945Newhouser had a 34-52 record to show for his first five seasons before exploding to win 29 games in 1944, 25 in 1945 and 26 in 1946. For those three seasons he was 80-27, improving his career mark to 114-79. In his 17-year career, Newhouser had ten losing or break-even seasons (he was 66-85 in those ten years), and enjoyed seven winning campaigns, in which he was 141-65 (a .684 winning percentage). In 1945 his 25 wins, 1.81 ERA and 212 strikeouts led the American League. For his career, he won two ERA titles, led the league in wins four times, strikeouts twice, complete games twice, and shutouts once (eight in 1945). In the '45 World Series against the Cubs he was 2-1 with a 6.10 ERA and 22 K's in 20 2/3 innings. He was rocked for seven earned runs in less than three innings in the opener, but rebounded to pitch complete game wins in Game Five and Seven, helping Detroit to their second World Series title.

FactoidsIn 1947, the Yankees offered Joe DiMaggio to the Tigers in a trade for Hal Newhouser, and Detroit refused. Newhouser was 80-27 over a three-year stretch (1944-1946).

Newhouser won more games before his 30th birthday than any other pitcher of the live ball era with 188. He won his 189th game on his 30th birthday but his arm had almost fallen off by that point, and he ended his career with "only" 207 wins.

Listen: The Prince HOF Speech

Game of the DayOctober 10, 1945 World Series Game 7 Chicago Cubs vs Detroit Tigers

The Prince delivers in game 7

👉 Listen to the clip here!

Did you know?

March 17, 1918: A young Babe Ruth, still primarily a pitcher, slugs a pair of home runs during a spring training game at Whittington Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The second long ball is thought to be the first 500-plus foot blast in baseball history. The Herculean shot—hit off Brooklyn Robins hurler Norman Plitt—soared far over the fence in deep right-center, coming to rest in the middle of an inhabited pond at the Arkansas Alligator Farm. The Boston Globe reported that “the intrusion” caused quite a “commotion among the Gators.” The epic drive was later measured at 573 feet—the distance from home plate to the pond’s center. To this day there is a marker where his blast landed.

👉 Listen to more on Babe Ruth here!

🎙️ 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!

With Classic Baseball Broadcasts, you can relive these legendary moments through the actual radio calls that made history!

Relive baseball history, one play at a time. Dive into the archives and feel the magic of baseball’s golden era.

CLICK HERE FOR SEVEN DAY FREE TRIAL!

Trivia:

In 1945, Hal Newhouser became the only pitcher in MLB history to win back-to-back MVP awards. What was his combined win total over those two seasons?

Hint: The answer is below

Explore Daily Highlight Page

TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

Born: March 17, 1917 in Pittsburgh, PA . . . Hank Sauer was a slow-footed slugger who didn't reach the majors to stay until 1948, when he was 31 years old. That season he hit 35 homers and drove in 97 runs for the Reds, but when he started poorly the next year, he was swapped to the Cubs. He found a happy home in Wrigley Field. In his first full month in Chicago he smacked 11 homers. In 1952, when he led the NL in RBI and tied Ralph Kiner for the home run championship with 37, Sauer was the NL MVP. After a broken finger slowed him in 1953, he bounced back with 41 homers in 1954.

Listen

March 17, 1921 — The New York Yankees, training in Shreveport, Louisiana, journey to Lake Charles to play a game against the St. Louis Cardinals, based in Orange, Texas. The game is proclaimed “Ruth-Hornsby Day,” but Hornsby hits only a single while Ruth lofts a home run over the short right field fence. The Yankees win, 14 – 5.

Listen

March 17, 1936 – Much-heralded rookie Joe DiMaggio makes his debut with the New York Yankees, collecting four hits including a triple. The day is marred when the St. Louis Cardinals win, 8 – 7.

Listen

March 17, 1946 Jackie Robinson finds himself a seat on Montreal’s bench as he joins the Royals for the first time in an exhibition game against their major league affiliate, the Brooklyn Dodgers. The game is played before a packed crowd of 3,100 in Daytona Beach, marking the first appearance of an integrated team in organized baseball since the 1890s. Robinson spends the 1946 season playing second base in Montreal, where he bats .349 with 113 runs scored and 40 stolen bases. A year later, Robinson breaks the majors’ color barrier, bringing an aggressiveness to the game unseen since Ty Cobb’s days and embarking on a 10-year career in Brooklyn culminates with his first-ballot election to the Hall of Fame in 1962

March 17, 1965 Jackie Robinson is hired to be an analyst for ABC’s Major League Baseball Game of the Week telecasts, becoming the first black network broadcaster. ABC provides the first-ever nationwide baseball coverage with weekly Saturday broadcasts on a regional basis. Robinson later worked as a part-time commentator for the Montreal Expos in 1972.

March 17, 1966 — Pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale play hardball when negotiating with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The duo signs movie contracts showing they are serious about retiring from baseball if their salary demands are not met.

Listen

Quote of the day:

"Hal had an overhand curve that nobody has got a hit off yet this season. It's the best pitch I've ever seen. ... He threw three of 'em to Joe DiMaggio and Joe couldn't even foul 'em." - Birdie Tebbetts, 1946