TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

July 3, 1912 New York Giants’ Rube Marquard nips Nap Rucker, 2 – 1, to capture his 19th straight game this season. With two end-of-year wins in 1911, he has 21 in a row in regular season play. Both marks are records. On the 8th, the Cubs will beat him, but he will ultimately compile a league-leading 26 victories against 11 defeats. Today’s game is the Giants’ 16th consecutive win. Brooklyn will end the streak tomorrow.

Most players nicknamed Rube got the name because they came from farms or small country towns. But Marquard grew up in Cleveland, where his father was the city engineer. After making a name for himself as a sandlot pitcher, Marquard signed for $200 a month with Indianapolis in 1907. They optioned him to Canton in the Central League, where he won 23 and lost 13. After he won his first Indianapolis start, 2 to 1, against Kansas City in 1908, a newspaper account said, "He is so tall and skinny (6'3" 180-lbs) he looks like a big number one when he stands on the mound, but he pitches like Rube Waddell." They called him Rube ever after.

After he won 20 for Indianapolis and pitched a perfect game, the New York Giants paid a then-record $11,000 for his contract. At 18 he reported to the Giants in mid-September, just in time to see the game with the Cubs in which Fred Merkle failed to touch second base. New York was still in an uproar over the incident a few days later when Marquard made his big league debut against Cincinnati. Somewhat panicked by the size of the crowd, Marquard hit lead-off batter Miller Huggins in the ribs, then walked the next two batters. After a visit from catcher Chief Myers, the nervous rookie decided to "let up a little." "I let up, all right," Marquard later admitted. "Hans Lobert hit the next pitch right out of the park." As he departed for the clubhouse, the bleacher fans labeled him the "$11,000 Lemon."

After two mediocre seasons, Marquard blossomed in 1911, going 25-7. In the World Series against the Athletics, he was instrumental in the coining of another immortal's nickname. In Game Two he was locked in a 1-1 tie with Eddie Plank in the sixth inning when he threw a high, inside fastball to Frank Baker with a man on. Baker hit a game-winning homer, and was known thereafter as Home Run Baker.

Marquard and Christy Mathewson were writing daily commentaries on the games for rival newspapers. The next morning Mathewson's column criticized Marquard for the pitch he threw to Baker. That afternoon Baker hit a game-tying homer in the top of the ninth off Matty; the A's won in the 11th. Marquard had the last word in his column.

Marquard won 19 straight from Opening Day to July 3 in 1912, tying a mark set by Tim Keefe. Under present rules it would have been 20; he was not credited with a 4-3 win over Brooklyn when he relieved in the eighth inning with the score tied. That historic streak plus two 1912 World Series victories brought him a flock of show-business offers. He had made his vaudeville debut the previous winter, and after the 1912 season made a movie with Alice Joyce called "19 Straight." He teamed up with Blossom Seeley, a headliner, in a skit, "Breaking the Record," and later married her. They did a dance called the Marquard Glide. Rube was at home on stage. He'd say to the audience, "You wished it on yourselves, and I got nerve enough to sing it," and did. In 1913 they did an act, "The Suffragette Pitcher," in which Rube put on a dress and pitched for Blossom's all-girl team. Later Rube did singing and talking acts with other headline performers.

Marquard relied more on control and a forkball changeup than his fastball. "Any hitter can hit a fast one," he said. "But not many can hit slow ones." In 1914 Marquard and Babe Adams pitched 21 innings, Rube getting the win. Three days later Marquard shut out the Reds. He claimed he never had a sore arm. In 1915 he pitched a no-hitter against Brooklyn in one hour, 16 minutes. But he missed his old coach, Wilbert Robinson, now manager of the Dodgers, and was getting tired of McGraw's riding. With McGraw's permission, he arranged his own sale to Brooklyn for $7,500. He got into two more World Series with the Dodgers but never won a Series ring.

Marquard led the NL with 18 losses in 1918 despite a 2.64 ERA. Then, on June 9, 1919, he broke his left leg sliding into third base and was out the rest of the year. He returned in 1920 to go 10-7 for Brooklyn's NL champions, then spent a season with the Reds before finishing his career in Boston with the Braves. He missed most of 1924 with various illnesses and pitched mostly in relief in 1925.

Marquard managed Providence in the Eastern League in 1926, spent part of 1927 with Baltimore, managed Jacksonville in the Southeastern League, did a little umpiring, and was a scout and coach for Atlanta in the Southern Association. He worked for many years at mutuel windows at racetracks in Florida and Maryland.

Todays Podcast

July 3, 1912 New York Giants’ Rube Marquard nips Nap Rucker, 2 – 1, to capture his 19th straight game this season. With two end-of-year wins in 1911, he has 21 in a row in regular season play. Both marks are records. On the 8th, the Cubs will beat him, but he will ultimately compile a league-leading 26 victories against 11 defeats. Today’s game is the Giants’ 16th consecutive win. Brooklyn will end the streak tomorrow.

July 3, 1925 — Milt Stock sets a National League mark by having his fourth consecutive four-hit game, going 16-for-23 during the span to compile a .696 batting average. The 31 year-old second baseman’s offensive output, which includes three singles and a triple, helps the Robins beat the Giants at Ebbets Field, 6-3.

July 3, 1947, Cleveland Indians owner Bill Veeck purchases the contract of outfielder Larry Doby from the Newark Eagles of the Negro American League. Doby will play in his first game two days later, becoming the first African-American player in American League history.

July 3, 1950 At Griffith Stadium in Washington, With rookie Joe Collins not hitting and Tommy Henrich still injured, Casey Stengel afraid to ask Joe DiMaggio to play first base because of frosty relations has the co-owner, Dan Topping ask DiMaggio to play 1B in an experiment. In the 7 – 2 loss he handles 13 chances cleanly but is clearly not happy with the move. DiMaggio, looked extremely awkward on one play something terribly embarrassing to a man known for his amazing grace in the outfield and at bat. It happened on a swinging bunt down the first-base line. DiMaggio raced in, but pitcher Tom Ferrick got to the ball first and yelled, “I got it.” Trying to scramble back to the bag, DiMaggio fell and nearly was stepped on by the runner. Cameras clicked, and papers the next day carried a picture of the great DiMag crawling around on his hands and knees. “He was furious to look so clumsy,” Ferrick said many years later. “He was enraged.” Said Tommy Henrich, who alternated between the outfield and first base, before the game: “He’s afraid of making a dumb play. It would have killed him to make a stupid play.” Nowadays, of course, such a play would be shown endlessly on TV. But veteran sportswriters of the day, who generally idolized DiMaggio, covered for him. In the New York Times, John Drebinger wrote, “It may be reported without fear of contradiction that the Clipper acquitted himself exceptionally well.” In the Washington Post, Shirley Povich told readers, “DiMaggio didn’t botch anything around first base.” After this one-game experiment, Joe returns to the outfield.

July 3, 1966 Mickey Mantle hits a 1st-inning homer, and for the second time this week has hit three home runs in consecutive times at bat. New York blows a 5 – 0 lead in the 8th as the Senators storm back. Bobby Richardson homers in the 11th to give New York a 6 – 5 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Paul Casanova is on first when a sacrifice bunt moves him to second base. He overruns the bag and decides to head to third where he knocks the ball away from Tom Tresh. He then continues home where he is thrown out by a mile.

July 3, 1966 Braves Pitcher Tony Cloninger hits two grand slams and drives in nine runs, as the Braves rout the Giants at Candlestick Park, 17 – 3. Pitcher Tony Cloninger hits two grand slams and drives in nine runs, as the Atlanta Braves rout the Giants at Candlestick Park, 17 – 3. Cloninger is the first National League player to slam two in a game, and the first pitcher ever, and his nine RBIs are a major-league record for pitchers, breaking Vic Raschi’s mark of 7. The National League record for pitchers was 5, held by several; the last hurler to collect five RBIs in a game was Cloninger himself, who had five on June 16th against the Mets. The first Slam came in the first inning, with only 2 outs Collinger was the 9th man to hit in the inning and he took Bob Priddy, Deep and gave the Braves a 7-0 Lead. Collinger would face Ray Sadeck 3 innings later, again with the bases loaded and two men out, Collinger homered again giving the Braves a 13-0 lead. Ray Sadeck would later homer himself of Collinger in 5th, but the fireworks were not over as Collinger would again face Sadeck in the top of the 8th and drive in the 16 run of the game for the braves with a 2 out single. Collinger in good form also pitched a complete game for the Braves.

July 3, 1968 — Luis Tiant strikes out nineteen Twins and scatters six hits in a ten-inning 1-0 complete-game victory against Minnesota at Cleveland Stadium. ‘El Tiante’, who equals Sandy Koufax’s record for 41 strikeouts for three consecutive games, becomes the second hurler to whiff more than 18 batters in an American League contest, behind only Tom Cheney of the Senators, who recorded more when he punched out 21 Baltimore batters in a 16-inning game in 1962. Tiant also sets two modern major league records – most strikeouts in a 10-inning game; and 32 strikeouts in consecutive games -He will top the American League in ERA with 1.60.

July 3, 1987 — On ‘Dick Howser Day’ at Royals Stadium, the former manager, who died last month from brain cancer, is inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame. The club honors their late former manager (1981-86), by retiring his uniform number 10, the first digits retired in the history of the franchise. Paul Splittorff, the team’s all-time leader in victories, is inducted into the Royals’ Hall of Fame, along with infielder Cookie Rojas. The slender southpaw was the first player selected by the franchise to appear on its major league roster.

July 3, 1993, Hall of Famer Don Drysdale dies from a heart attack. The 56-year-old Drysdale had been serving as a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers. During his 14-year playing career with the Dodgers, the hard-throwing Drysdale won 209 games and pitched 49 shutouts, earning him Hall of Fame election in 1984.

 ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA

TRIVIA ANSWER: Devon White

White was in 8 such series:

1991 ALCS – TOR;

1992 ALCS & WS – TOR (2 series);

1993 ALCS & WS – TOR (2 series);

1997 NLDS, NLCS, WS – FLA (3 series)

Thank you Horsehide Trivia

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