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Quotes
Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech
David Letterman's Top 10
Quotes from 1999 World Series victory parade
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Baseball Dates
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BASEBALL QUOTES
"Baseball is a child's game, so you've got to be a bit of a child at heart to play it."
Red Barber, announcer: "Baseball is dull only to dull minds."
Leo Durocher, manager: "If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry Mom', but nobody beats me."
Wally Pipp: "I took the two most expensive aspirins in history."
Chris Chambliss: "If you're not having fun in baseball, you miss the point of everything."
Dave Henderson: "We're ballplayers. We fail most of the time."
Casey Stengal: "The secret to managing a club is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the five who are undecided."
Earl Weaver, Orioles manager: "My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like, 'C'mon Boog,' 'Get ahold of one, Frank,' or 'Let's go, Brooks.'"
Rex Hudler after his final game: "I picked a scab and rubbed some dirt in it so baseball would always be in my blood."
Yogi Berra: "I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?"
Lou Gehrig, when asked about playing in Babe Ruth's shadow: "It's a pretty big shadow. It gives me lots of room to spread myself."
Rogers Hornsby: "I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it."
Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own: "Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up."
Ted Williams: "You know what Rogers Hornsby told me 45 years ago? It was the best hitting advice I ever got: 'Get a good ball to hit.'"
Casey Stengal on the New York Mets: "The fans want home runs. I've assembled a pitching staff to please the fans."
Tony Gwynn on how he hits: "See the ball, hit the ball, run like hell."
Joe Girardi: "We have pitchers from all over. Rivera's from Panama, Hernandez is from Cuba, Irabu's from Japan... and Boomer Wells is from Mars."
Bill Klem, umpire, to a protesting rookie pitcher: "Young man, when you throw a strike, Mr Hornsby will let you know."
Charley Lau: "There are two theories to hitting a knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither one works."
Jim Murray, LA Times, 1962: "Baseball is a game where a curve is an optical illusion, a screwball can be a pitch or a person, stealing is legal, and you can spit anywhere you like except in the umpire's eye or on the ball."
Willie Mays: "Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what it most truely is, is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps."
Jim Bouton: "You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."
Casey Stengal: "The trick is growing up without growing old."
Red Smith, sportswriter: "Ninety feet between the bases is the nearest thing to perfection that man has yet achieved."
Roy Campanella: "You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you."
Art Hill: "With those who don't give a damn about baseball, I can only sympathize. I do not resent them. I am even willing to concede that many of them are physically clean, good to their mothers and in favor of world peace. But while the game is on, I can't think of anything to say to them."
Walter O'Malley: "Baseball isn't a business, it's more like a disease."
Jorge Posada: "I'm very proud of my area around the plate. I don't want anyone messing with my dirt."
OTHER QUOTES
NB: WebCT quotes will remain anonymous unless the person belonging to the quote
wishes to lay claim to it for all the world to see.
From WebCT, November 7: "The best thing about being an insomniac - I've only got three sleeps 'til Christmas!"
From WebCT: "Med 1022 was very thorough. What wasn't covered during semster was covered on the exams."
From an e-mail: "Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional."
Unknown: "You don't lead people by hitting them over the head."
Unknown: "Some people develop eyestrain from looking too hard for trouble."
Henry Lawson: "Beer makes you feel the way you should feel without beer."
Albert Einstein: "Education is that which remains when one has forgotten everything
learned in school."
Albert Einstein: "Intuition is a sacred gift and rationality its faithful servant."
Marsilio Ficino: "The body is the shadow of the soul."
Old Irish adage: "True strength lies in gentleness."
From the t-shirt of a friend: "Don't think of it as losing, think of it as being beat by a girl."
From a toilet door at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia: "To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides."
Scottish proverb: "I am wounded but I am not slain. I shall lay me down and bleed a while, then I shall rise and fight again."
From lecture theatre S5 at Monash Uni: "A truely wise man never plays leapfrog with a unicorn."
Unknown: "I honour my personality flaws for without them I would have no personality at all."
Unknown: "To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
Wayne Hodgson, a lecturer at uni, on asthma: "It is reversible, so the airways will relax, but in the meantime you might die."
From lecture theatre S3 at Monash Uni: "Fiction writing is good because you can make up almost anything."
Unknown: "Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused."
Unknown: "My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely."
Unknown: "A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand."
"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I
consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for 17 years
and I have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to
associate with them for even one day?
"Sure I'm lucky. Who wouldn't have considered it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the
builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrows? To have spent six years with that wonderful
little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding
leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure,
I'm lucky.
"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat and vice versa, sends you
a gift, that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeeper and those boys in white coats
remember you with trophies, that's something. When you have a father and mother work all their
lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it's a blessing. When you have a
wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the
finest I know.
"So I close in saying that I might have had a bad break, but I have an awful lot to live for."
David Letterman's Top 10, Baseball
theme
Top Ten Good Things About Playing Baseball in New York, April 26, 1995
10. If a ball gets hit out of the ballpark and breaks a car window, hey it's just another busted
car window (Right Fielder - Danny Tartabull)
9. Free bus fumes while you work out (Center Fielder - Bernie Williams)
8. Opposing players in a state of shock after a cab ride to the stadium (Second Baseman - Pat
Kelly)
7. Vendors selling corked hot dogs (Catcher - Mike Stanley)
6. New York has the nation's most affordable bail bondsmen (Pitcher - Steve Howe)
5. Plenty of spit for spitballs (First Baseman - Don Mattingly)
4. After the game, if you don't take a shower, everyone just assumes it's the city that stinks
(Third Baseman - Wade Boggs)
3. The greatest fans in the world always shouting, 'Mets suck!' (Left Fielder - Luis Polonia)
2. Knowing that if we ever got to the 7th game of the World Series, that with one phone call, we
could get the opposing pitcher whacked (Manager - Buck Showalter)
1. Two words: Rat Night (Shortstop - Tony Fernandez)
Top Ten Ways New Yorkers Are Celebrating The Yankees' World Series Victory, October
28, 1996
10. Loan sharks collecting debts with autographed Bernie Williams baseball bats.
9. Street vendors boiling their hot dogs in tobacco juice.
8. Statue of Liberty replaced with gigantic life-size statue of Cecil Fielder.
7. All chalk body outlines drawn in catcher's squatting position.
6. Sports bars serving beer in cups worn by actual Yankees.
5. Mob corpses in East River are now wearing those foam rubber "We're #1!" fingers.
4. Mayor Giuliani shaving "Yankees Rule!" into his combover
3. Cast of "CATS" ending every show by scratching themselves.
2. Two words: Pinstriped hookers.
1. Smokin', drinkin', and fightin'.
Top Ten Yankee Excuses, October 7, 1997
10. Distracted by Hideki Irabu banging on locked door of dugout.
9. Too relaxed after pregame massage from Don Zimmer.
8. Wanted to spare New York drivers the gridlock of a victory parade.
7. Them curve balls sure is curvy.
6. Did a little too much "choking up" the night before the game.
5. Wanted to spend more time at home watching CBS' new fall schedule.
4. Tough to concentrate on baseball when you're heartsick about the Siegfried & Roy breakup.
3. Tired from trying to help Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres have a baby.
2. Hard to resist chance to piss off George Steinbrenner.
1. Only gave 109%.
Top Ten Signs the New York Yankees are Getting Arrogant, August 12, 1998
10. Visiting team automatically given six run head start.
9. Most Yankees leave at the top of the 8th to beat traffic.
8. Infielders always tripping over their lawn chairs.
7. Team's stated goal is to "Go out there and give 41%."
6. Coaches give most of their hand signals to the beer vendors.
5. Have been using team practice to rehearse their World Series victory hug.
4. On odd days, Derek Jeter volunteers with the Mets.
3. New promotion: "Get a Refund Plus $10,000 If the Yankees Lose Day".
2. Tickets now read: "Game starts at 7:30 -- Game ends when the Yankees finish whoopin' ass."
1. Sometimes they let an American guy pitch.
Top Ten Little Used Slang Terms For Hitting a Home Run, September 9, 1998
10. "Spanking the horsehide monkey"
9. "Dropping mom off at the rest home"
8. "Going deeper than the Russian debt"
7. "A Mexican strikeout"
6. "Impeaching President Baseball"
5. "Making contact with a pitched ball in such a way as to cause it to leave the confines of the
playing field while remaining in fair territory"
4. "Allying the McBall"
3. "A homer-sexual" (joke sent in by Adam Kaye, age 12)
2. "A wonderful excuse for your teammates to pat you on the ass"
1. "Interrupting the drunken slugfest in the bleachers"
Top Ten Other Highlights of the 1998 Baseball Season, September 28, 1998
10. San Diego Chicken reveals 1-year relationship with Henry Hyde.
9. Opening day, when Bill Clinton threw out the First Lady.
8. David Wells pitches perfect game--goes on 18 day malt liquor bender.
7. Price of Yankee Stadium nachos breaks $20 barrier.
6. Cal Ripken's streak of 40 consecutive games without scratching himself.
5. This: (Video clip of Paul Shaffer throwing like a girl)
4. May 19th in Milwaukee: 1,000,000th fan teases Chipper Jones about his name.
3. Have-Sex-With-An-Oriole Night at Camden Yards.
2. The Yankees giving George Steinbrenner 114 reasons to shut the hell up.
1. Mets actually reach double figures in wins.
Top Ten Ways The Yankees Can Top Their 1998 Season, October 22, 1998
10. Become the first team to win World Series without using mitts
9. Champagne-drenched celebrations after every out
8. "In this corner, Mike Tyson. In that corner, the 1998 New York Yankees"
7. Let me, Dave, pitch
6. Send Steinbrenner on a homemade raft to Cuba
5. Goodbye Tino Martinez -- hello Tito Jackson
4. Parachute into Iraq and sort that whole mess out
3. Derek Jeter appearing at tomorrow's victory parade naked
2. David Wells appearing at tomorrow's victory parade sober
1. Maybe, just maybe, have Knoblauch work on his fielding
Top Ten Signs The Pressure Is Getting To You During A Perfect Game, presented by
David Cone, July 21, 1999
10. When the catcher visits the mound, you gaze deep into this eyes and whisper, "Hold me."
9. You decide to leave after the 7th inning to beat the traffic.
8. You think, "Hey, maybe Dan Quayle wouldn't be such a bad president..."
7. Between innings, you sit in the dugout eating rosin bags.
6. You start to wonder if maybe Dr. J is your real father.
5. You're fantasizing about a whirlpool bath with Phil Rizzuto.
4. Instead of shaking off the catcher, you flip off the catcher.
3. You try to borrow El Duque's raft and defect to Cuba.
2. After each strike, you rip off your jersey and run around in a black sports bra.
1. You help the umpire by licking home plate clean.
Top Ten Things Don Zimmer Said After Being Hit In The Head By a Baseball, October 6,
1999
10. "What am I doing at a baseball game? I'm a ballerina"
9. "I like bunnies"
8. "I think Hillary Clinton would make a fine New York senator"
7. "I like bunnies; did I say that already?"
6. "At least it got that damn 'Mambo #5' song out of my head..."
5. "I see dead people!"
4. "That Yogi Berra makes a lot of sense"
3. "Torre, you bum, put in Babe Ruth!"
2. "Someone tell Mariah that Derek Jeter's all mine"
1. "Go Mets!"
Top Ten Things The Yankees Have Always Wanted To Say, presented by the 1999 World
Champion New York Yankees, October 28, 1999
10. Take off the Yankee hat, Hillary. (Catcher Jim Leyritz)
9. You haven't lived until you've scratched yourself in front of 20 million viewers. (Pitcher
Jeff Nelson)
8. You know how you have to give 100%? When you play the Marlins, you gotta give 40 or 50%.
(Infielder Clay Bellinger)
7. Late Show audiences are the best in the world. (Pitcher Jason Grimsley)
6. We didn't win because of our pitching or hitting, we won because of our fans! (Pitcher Jason
Grimsley)
5. I really like saying things I don't mean to get cheap applause. (Pitcher Jason Grimsley)
4. Man oh man do I love betting on baseball. (Pitching coach Mel Stottlemeyer)
3. I don't play for the money, I play because I like having guys pat me on my ass. (Pitcher Roger
Clemens)
2. Chicks dig me. (Shortstop Derek Jeter--actually, building engineer George Clarke)
1. I was rooting for the Braves. (Manager Joe Torre)
Top Ten Things You Don't Want To Hear At The Bottom Of A World Series Pile On,
October 29, 1999
10. "Oh my God, we're missing the Bradley-Gore debate!"
9. "Uh guys, it's only the third inning."
8. "Hi, I'm Hillary Clinton, and I want to be your senator."
7. "This reminds me of last night at your sister's house."
6. "I can't move my hands--will somebody scratch me?"
5. "Oh, so that's what Luis Sojo's cleat tastes like."
4. "I'd like to talk to all of you about the benefits of Scientology."
3. "The season's over, so I'll finally have time to treat this mysterious, oozing skin
condition."
2. "Mmm, you smell like fresh lilacs."
1. "This is man-tastic!"
Top Ten Signs New York Has Baseball Fever, October 13, 2000
10. 98% of New Yorkers walking around carrying bats -- up from usual 94%
9. Teams are doing so well Hillary Clinton split on whom to pretend to root for
8. Inscription on Statue of Liberty reads "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,
and we'll beat them in a best-of-seven series"
7. Sirens on ambulances play "We Will Rock You"
6. Mayor Giuliani using "baseball fever" as excuse to spray city with toxic chemicals
5. More school absence notes mentioning "torn rotator cuff"
4. Crazy guys in subway adding infield chatter to usual rantings
3. New Trump Tower built in the shape of Mike Piazza's well-manicured mustache
2. Hookers offering baseball special: for $100 they'll be the Yanker and you can be the Yankee
1. Upsurge in newborns named "Knoblauch"
Top Ten Things A Manager Doesn't Want To Hear On Opening Day, April 2, 2001
10. "Okay -- who kicks off?"
9. "Is it okay if I leave after the 6th inning to beat the traffic?"
8. "Their pitcher is cheating -- he's throwing a ball that curves"
7. "Any chance I could get traded to a city with a more active musical theater scene?"
6. "The bad news: we had to trade Jeter, Williams and Rivera. The good news: we still have
Knoblauch"
5. "The game will have to wait -- I can't put down this new Rosie O'Donnell magazine"
4. "I know the pitcher is morbidly obese, but he's the owner's son"
3. "Bad news, boss -- all 30 of us just got called for jury duty"
2. "The new uniforms are in, and let's just say there's lots of lace"
1. "Check out the Diamondvision: the mascot's nailing your wife"
Top Ten Baseball Euphemisms For Sex, September 20, 2001
10. Working the rosin bag
9. Comebacker
8. Charging the mound
7. Riding the pine
6. Jerking one into the seats
5. Coming from behind
4. Doubleheader
3. Going deep in the hole
2. The big unit
1. Visiting Busch Stadium
Jason Giambi's list of "Reasons I Want to Play for the New York Yankees," as read on
the Late Show with David Letterman from December 14, 2001.
10. I want to help the team fight embarrassment of not winning world championship in 14 months.
9. When you say, "David Wells sent me," you get half-price drinks at Hooters.
8. Pinstripes are slimming.
7. After Chuck Knoblauch, people will think I have a great arm.
6. I hear Steinbrenner is a dream to work for.
5. Miss Cleo told me to.
4. Diving into the stands for a foul ball and "accidentally" landing on Donald Trump's date.
3. Have you ever been to Oakland?
2. In New York, I'm closer to my favorite talk-show host: Regis.
1. After the game, cruising bars with Giuliani and picking fights.
Top Ten Signs Your Baseball Team Isn't Ready For The Regular Season, March 27, 2002
10. Your lead-off hitter is 8 months pregnant
9. Every time pitcher throws ball, catcher screams, "Ow!"
8. Outfielders distracted by big fluffy clouds that sometimes look like bunnies
7. Best hitter refuses to work weekends
6. Only time players demonstrate hustle is when they're being chased by undercover vice cops
5. Spirited locker room debates about how many strikes to an out
4. Starters ask to be excused from fielding drills to watch "The View"
3. Most promising rookie recently swallowed a rosin bag
2. Team name contains words "Devil" and "Rays"
1. Nobody can keep his mind on the game with that sexy Derek Jeter running around
Top 10 things baseball has taught Roger Clemens, June 17, 2003
10. I look sweet in tight pants.
9. If you work hard enough you can be successful, oh yeah, and it helps to have 8 all-stars on
the field behind you.
8. There's not a damn thing to do in Milwaukee.
7. During a tense game I can eat 2 or 3 rosin bags.
6. You can melt an umpire's gruff exterior with a simple hug.
5. For Barry Bonds to be performing at this level at the age of 65 is truly remarkable.
4. The best practical joke? Tell a teammate they're traded to the Devil Rays.
3. It doesn't matter if you win or lose...Well, it didn't when I was on the Red Sox.
2. Good nickname: Rocket. Bad nickname: Lard-ass.
1. Adjusting your cup doesn't do anything...just makes you feel good.
Chuck Knoblauch: I want a platinum ring, George. That's all I want. Platinum. I have
three things. Three words to say. How Ya Doing?
Derek Jeter: I remember saying last season that the only thing that was wrong [was] we
didn't get a chance to win at home--we did that this year. Now everybody wants to talk about what
we can do to top next season.
Joe Girardi: I think the teams that come to our ballpark know what home-field advantage
is all about. George, last year you said three out of four [championships] is better than two out
of three. Well four out of five ain't bad, George.
Scott Brosius: I remember sitting here saying to all you guys what kind of story it
would be if we could be right up here doing this again. We apoligize it took so long. But there
is twelve months in a year. It was great being here. Thank you, guys. Three million plus this
year. It was awesome.
David Cone: (the fans are screaming "ONE MORE YEAR!" Cone holds up two fingers and says
"TWO MORE YEARS!") It's an honour for us to play for the Yankees and carry on this great
tradition. We are so much more than a baseball team. We lost our manager to the awful C word,
cancer. When he came back, it was like having our second father back. We also have some other
relatives. We got crazy, crazy uncle, Don Zimmer. And you always have to have a very wealthy,
eccentric grandfather. Mr. Steinbrenner. It really is a family.
Darryl Strawberry: I'd truly like to thank everyone, thank George, thank Joe and fans
and teammates and coaches and everyone for the support they gave me through my trials and
tribulations. The guys are very special to me. Without them, I don't know if I would have made it
back. I'd like to say to Joe, thank you for caring for me. I love you, guys.
Tino Martinez: We used to joke around with Bernie a lot last year. We used to tell him:
If you want to leave, leave. There are a lot of benefits for playing for other teams out there.
You get longer vacations. You get the whole month of October off. We'll save you some World
Series tickets for you and your family. Like the commerical says, there are some things you can't
buy. Days like this are priceless.
Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez: Thank you. A todos los fanaticos que nos spoyaron; desde
el principio hasta el final. Gracias a todos mis companeros. Gracias, New York. Gracias mi
familia. Thank you. Gracias. (Thank you. To all the fans that supported us from the beginning,
until the end. Thanks to all my teammates. Thank you, New York. Thanks to my family. Thank you.
Thank you. )
Bernie Williams: I have a little story for you. I was getting ready for the series with
the Boston Red Sox, and I was talking to Yogi [Berra], and just to put everything in perspective.
He told me, 'We've been playing these guys for eighty years--they can't beat us.' It made me
realize that I was part of a bigger thing. And I'm honoured to be part of this franchise and
honoured to be part of this team. Thanks, guys.
Andy Pettitte: Me and Boss [Steinbrenner] were sitting at the table together in Boston.
I asked him: Were you really going to trade me? He just started laughing. I took that as a yes.
Roger Clemens: I love you, man, I love you guys. I found out, after you win, you don't
sleep much. Your boss was right. I should have come two years ago.
Joe Torre: This stuff never gets old. I want to let you know that... I think you
appreciate it more every time you do it because you know how tough it is to get here. I can't say
enough about this ball club. None of this could have happened without a call from him
[Steinbrenner]. But he trusted me with his team, and I appreciate that.
George Steinbrenner: If we are indeed the team of the century, there can be no doubt
that New York is the city of the century.
This e-mail was received from an unknown sender
Ball Sports
1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.
2. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.
3. The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.
4. The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.
5. The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.
6. The sport of choice for corporate officers is GOLF.
AMAZING CONCLUSION: The higher you are in the corporate structure, the smaller your
balls become.
Baseball Dates
Selected dates from "The Baseball Chronicles", by Larry Burks.
1905: Roger Bresnahan experiments with a batting helmet in spring training but
discards it as too cumbersome.
April 1907: Roger Bresnahan of the New York Giants employs the first pair of
catcher's shin guards. Their use is slow to spread among catchers, who are concerned about
compromising the "manly" nature of their position.
June 18, 1909: Cincinnati's Palace of the Fans is host to an experimental night
baseball game (not involving major league clubs). The results were disappointing and the idea
was deemed unworkable for the majors.
1915: Cardinals player-manager Miller Huggins used a ploy to get a runner home
with 2 outs in the 7th inning of a tied game. Huggins, coaching at third, shouted to Brooklyn
rookie pitcher Ed Appleton, "Let me see that ball!" Appleton, apparently one to respect his
elders, tossed the ball Huggins' way and watched in shock as Huggins stepped aside while the ball
flew past him and the go-ahead run scored. The Dodgers protested but the umpire reminded them
that because time hadn't been called, the ball was still in play and Appleton was throwing it at
his own risk.
April 1916: Fans at Chicago's Weeghman Park (later Wrigley Field) are allowed to
keep baseballs hit into the stands. Around the majors, other teams soon adopt this policy, which
is popular with the fans.
April 18, 1929: The defending World Champion Yankees, repeating an experiment
tried by the Cleveland Indians 13 years earlier and the Cincinnati Red Stockings 33 years before
that, make their first appearance with numbers on the back of their jerseys. This time, the idea
catches on.
April 28, 1930: Kansas of the Western Association holds the first professional
night baseball game. The same night in Oklahoma City, the Negro Leagues' Kansas City Monarchs
play a night game under portable lights.
June 3, 1932: Giants manager John McGraw, age 59, announces his retirement after
thirty years on the job. On that same day, Lou Gehrig, perennially upstaged by Babe Ruth, hits 4
home runs in a game but loses the headlines again.
October 1934: With a .363 batting average, 49 home runs and 165 RBI, Lou Gehrig
wins the only Triple Crown of his career- an honour that his more celebrated teammate, Babe Ruth,
never won.
May 24, 1935: Picking up on an idea that their GM, Larry MacPhail, tried in the
minors, the Cincinnati Reds play a night game against the Phillies under the lights. A crowd of
20,422 turns out on a chilly evening and President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushes a button in the
White House that illuminates Crosley Field for the contest. Cincinnati wins 2-1 on Paul
Derringer's 6-hitter in what is the first on the Reds' seven home night games in 1935, all
sellouts.
May 16, 1939: The Indians beat the Athletics 8-3 under lights at Shibe Park in the
AL's first night game.
1941: The Brooklyn Dodgers experiment with baseball's first batting helmet. The
helmet is not adopted officially until the mid-1950s.
June 2, 1941: Lou Gehrig dies in Riverdale, NY, at age 37.
July 1942: "The Pride of the Yankees", a movie based on the life of Lou Gehrig,
opens. Gary Cooper portrays Gehrig, while Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel, Mark Koenig and
sportscaster Bill Stern play themselves.
February 24, 1943: With many of their players lost to military service, baseball
teams advertise for players in "The Sporting News."
October 23, 1945: Branch Rickey signs Jackie Robinson to a minor league contract.
April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson makes his debut for the Dodgers. During the year,
he takes plenty of abuse both on and off the field, but proves he has the strength of character
to stand up to it. He ends up winning the first Rookie of the Year.
August 16, 1948: Babe Ruth dies in New York of throat cancer at the age of 53.
1951: The Topps Company introduces the first pack of baseball cards, packed with
caramel candy, not chewing gum.
August 19, 1951: In what is St Louis Browns owner Bill Veeck's most outrageous
promotional stunt yet, 26 year old Eddie Gaedel, 3-7 (109.2cm) annd 65lb (29.5kg), comes to bat
as a pinch hitter against Detroit wearing uniform number 1/8. Tigers pitcher Bob Cain walks him
on four pitches but irate AL president Will Harridge sees to it that Gaedel never plays in the
majors again.
1952: By signing a contract with the Harrisburg Senators of the Interstate League,
Mrs Eleanor Engle becomes the first woman to sign a modern-day playing contract in organised
baseball. However, Minor Leagues Commissioner George Trautman, with Commissioner Ford Frick's
approval, voids the contract.
1973: Rules change- the AL institutes the DH rule. Ron Blomberg of the Yankees
becomes the first official DH in what is initially adopted as a three year experiment to put more
offense in the game. By 1975, the AL has permanently adopted the DH rule.
October 1982: By season's end, Oakland's Rickey Henderson steals a record 130
bases, breaking Lou Brock's single season mark of 118.
August 8, 1988: Having ended their holdout as the last major league team without
lights for night baseball, the Chicago Cubs face the Mets in the first night contest in Wrigley
Field history. Rain ends the game before 5 innings have been played, so the park's first
official night game is played the following night. The Cubs beat the Mets 6-4.
