In 1999, Fernando Tatis of the Saint Louis Cardinals became the only player to hit two grand slam home runs in the same inning. Cal Hubbard is the only person who is in both the baseball and football Halls of Fame Pitcher Phil Niekro holds the record for having the most wins (318) without ever appearing in a World Series. He played twenty-four seasons, mostly with the Braves. Eddie Matthews is the only ballplayer to play for the same franchise in three different cities, playing for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee, and Atlanta. When Cy Young started pitching, the pitcher stood five feet closer to the plate than today. He also had to throw underhand. Cy Young didn't wear a glove during his first few seasons.
I'm from back east, but I've lived in Southern California for the past 73 years. I never liked Los Angeles acquiring the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1958. To this day, I'm always glad to see the Dodgers lose a game! The Brooklyn Dodgers should have remained in Brooklyn! The Dodgers got their name from the residents of Brooklyn always having to "dodge" the trolley cars while crossing their streets. Hal
No ground ball could be gotten past Ernie Banks and Gene Baker, playing infield for the Chicago Cubs! Frank
Although I was only six years old, I remember very well the 1957 Milwaukee Braves. My oldest brother took me to several of the games, and that was the first and only time that they won the World Series, although I didn't see the World Series games. I also saw some of the 1958 and 1959 seasons, and sporadically after that, but have never been to a Brewers game. Although I sometimes remember more than others, I have since been able to name the main Braves players: Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock, Billy Bruton, Bob Buhl, Lew Burdette, Wes Covington, Del Crandall, Don Hazle, Johnny Logan, Eddie Matthews, Don McMahon, Andy Pafko, Red Schoendienst, Warren Spahn, Chuck Tanner, and Frank Torre. There were others, of course, but I don't remember them. My favorite was Red Schoendienst. At that time, the ball players would sign autographs at the fence. I got autographs from several of the others once but they left before I could get to Schoendienst and some of the others. I wrote to them, sending a baseball card for them to sign. The others ignored me, but Red Schoendienst autographed the card I had sent him, plus he added four more, including his rookie card, and a post card. Unfortunately, they were in my dad's house when it burned to the ground while I was in college.
Regardless of archival statistics, I'll always feel that "The Bambino" was the all-time home run record holder. Hal
The one new baseball rule I would like to see imposed is setting a limit for the number of foul balls hit in succession. I would say that four foul balls in succession should constitute an out. Hal
Red Schoendienst died. He was the oldest living member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. - MLB Trade
Heck, wife and I go all the way back to the famous infield of the Los Angeles Dodgers that included Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Davy Lopez and Bill Russell. They played together for 8 1/2 years. Never went to a Dodgers game, but did go to a few Angel games in Anaheim and a few Rockies games in Denver, CO.
When I was a boy Fort Smith had a very minor minor league team. During spring training some major league teams would have games there. I remember when I was in junior high a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburg Pirates. I'm pretty sure Red Schoendiest was there and Wally Moon but the main players I remember were Stan Musial and Roberto Clemente. My favorite though was Enos Slaughter. He was playing right field and we were seated on the sidelines along that side. He would come by between innings and talk and joke with us kids. We all loved him.
Schoendienst preferred playing for Saint Louis, which is where he lived, and resented being traded to the Braves, although his best playing years were spent with the Braves. Before going to the Braves and after going back to St. Louis, he was with the Cardinals for 67 years. He was still coaching for them a few years ago, at the age of ninety, give or take a year or two.