TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

June 18, 1977, At Fenway Park “I am the straw that stirs the drink,” Reggie Jackson announced after signing with the Yankees in 1977. “Munson thinks he can be the straw that stirs the drink, but he can only stir it bad.”

Never mind that the Yankees were the defending AL champions, and team captain Thurman Munson was the reigning AL MVP. Jackson acted like a man determined to steal the New York spotlight from anyone who challenged him. Only one person stood in his way: Yankee skipper Billy Martin.

Like Jackson, Martin had a knack for stirring up trouble, except Martin let his fists — not his mouth — do the talking. As a player, Martin was best known for charging Jim Brewer in 1960 after the Cubs hurler dared to brush him back. Martin’s sucker punch to the eye landed Brewer in the hospital for two months.

But when it came to winning ballgames, Martin’s grit was invaluable. After attention-starved owner George Steinbrenner hired him in August 1975, Martin led the Yanks to their first AL pennant in twelve years in 1976.

Martin did not take kindly to the bombastic Jackson, whom Steinbrenner signed to a five-year deal after the Yankees were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series. Perhaps out to show “The Boss” who was in charge, Martin started the year with Jackson batting fifth. Jackson, who considered himself a cleanup hitter, was deeply offended.

All might have been forgiven had the Yankees been winning. But with the Yankees struggling mightily to live up to expectations in the first half of 1977, the simmering circle of resentment that began when Jackson pompously proclaimed his leadership in spring training finally boiled over on June 18 in Fenway Park.

The Yankees trailed Boston by three runs in the bottom of the sixth when Jim Rice hit a checked-swing fly ball to right field. But rather than charging the ball and making an easy catch, Jackson allowed it to drop in for a base hit. To make matters worse, he lazily picked it up and tossed it towards the pitchers’ mound as Rice coasted into second base with a surprisingly cheap double.

Incensed, Martin immediately yanked his sensitive slugger in favor of defensive whiz Paul Blair. With NBC cameras zooming in on the action, Jackson ran into the Yankee dugout. “What’s going on? What did I do?” he screamed at his manager. “You didn’t hustle,” replied Martin. “You have to be crazy to embarrass me in front of 50 million people,” Jackson yelled. “You’re not a man. Don’t you ever show me up again, you [bleep].”

Martin had enough. He charged toward Jackson, but before Martin could land a punch, Yankee coaches Yogi Berra and Elston Howard pinned his arms behind his back. Moments later, while being escorted to the clubhouse, Jackson turned around and yelled at Martin, “You never did want me on the ballclub. I’m here to stay, so you better start liking me!”

Having witnessed the entire debacle on television from his hometown of Cleveland, Steinbrenner (who already had gone through three managers in four years) was determined to rid himself of Martin. Without waiting for the game to end, Steinbrenner reportedly called Boston and ordered team president Gabe Paul to fire Martin. After much haggling, Steinbrenner relented, not wanting to make it appear as if Jackson ran the club.

After the game (which the Yanks lost 10-4), Jackson retreated back to his hotel room as Martin held center-stage in the clubhouse. “I ask only one thing of a player — hustle,” Martin remarked. “If a player doesn’t hustle, it shows the club up, and I show the player up.” Later that night, a clearly battered Jackson, thumbing through a Bible in his hotel room, said, “It makes me cry the way they treat me on this team. The Yankee pinstripes are Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio and Mantle. I’m just a black man to them who doesn’t know how to be subservient.”

By Aug. 9, the mutinous Yanks had fallen to third place, five games behind the Red Sox when Martin announced that Jackson would bat fourth. Sparked by rookie Ron Guidry’s eight straight wins, the Bombers won 23 of their next 26 games; during that stretch, Jackson smashed 13 homers and drove in 49 runs. The club finished the year in first place with 100 wins and, thanks to three consecutive homers by Jackson in Game Six of the World Series, won its first championship since 1962.

But the acrimony in the Yankee clubhouse cut short the celebratory period of tranquility that usually accompanies a World Series victory. The following season, Martin ordered Jackson to bunt with a July game against the Royals on the line. Jackson squared to bunt and took the pitch for a ball. Seeing the Royals pull their infield in, Martin took off the bunt sign. Jackson, in his final act of defiance, tried to drop down three consecutive bunts. All failed, and Jackson was suspended by the club for five games.

A few days later, after remarking to Murray Chass of The New York Times that Steinbrenner and Jackson deserved each other because, “One’s a born liar [and] the other’s been convicted,” Martin resigned as manager of the Yankees.

Under Bob Lemon, the Bronx Bombers again rallied from a disappointing first half in 1978, besting the Red Sox in a one-game playoff before once again topping the Dodgers in the World Series. Over the next decade (before his untimely death in 1989), Martin managed the Yanks on four more separate occasions. Jackson signed with the Angels after the 1981 season, retired with 563 career home runs in 1987, and entered the Hall of Fame in 1993.

June 18, 1940, Joe Medwick of the Brooklyn Dodgers acquired in a trade less than a week ago is beaned by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Bowman and needs to be carried off the field on a stretcher. Brooklyn president Lee MacPhail accuses the St. Louis pitcher of deliberately hitting Medwick in the head because the two had quarreled in a hotel elevator prior to the game. Although Medwick will return from the injury in a few days, he will never regain his previous power-hitting form.

June 18, 1947, Cincinnati Reds Ewell Blackwell, elongated Cincinnati Reds right¬hander, pitched a beautiful no-hit, no-run game over the Boston Braves yesterday, 6 to 0. Blackwell felt pretty sure he had the no-hitter in the ninth although he felt a little “tight.” Said Blackie, “I wan pretty sure I had It when 1 got that two and one counts on ‘Bama Rowell. I said to myself ‘Just keep It high enough’ —and when he swung and missed, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.” First baseman Babe Young hits two three-run homers to account for all of Cincinnati’s runs.

June 18, 1961, former St. Louis Brown Eddie Gaedel dies from a heart attack at the age of 36. In one of owner Bill Veeck’s most outlandish promotions, the three-foot, seven-inch Gaedel had appeared in one game for the Browns in 1951.

June 18, 1962 – Hank Aaron belted a grand slam into the centerfield bleachers in the Polo Grounds, just the third home run that landed there since the park was remodeled in 1923. The Braves beat the Mets, 7-1.

June 18, 1967, Houston Astros right-hander, Don Wilson, just 22, fans Hank Aaron to complete his first no-hitter, a 2-0 gem over the Atlanta Braves . Aaron is Wilson’s 15th strikeout victim that Father’s Day afternoon. Jim Wynn’s double off Phil Niekro keys a two-run rally for the game’s only scoring. He becomes the tenth rookie to throw a no-hitter. Though it is the third no-hitter in franchise history, it’s the first shutout no-hitter and the first hurled in the Astrodome.

June 18, 1971, the Milwaukee Brewers hosted their first 10-Cent Beer Night at County Stadium. 27,472 fans showed up for the “shitload of dimes” promotion, which was brewed up as a way to boost lackluster attendance during the team’s second year as the Brewers. Predictably, things went awry.

June 18, 1972, colorful Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley holds baseball’s first ever “Mustache Day.” Finley agrees to pay $300 to each of his players for growing mustaches by Father’s Day and all do except Vida Blue, who is still bitter about his recent contract negotiations with the team owner. Reggie Jackson had started the trend by reporting to spring training with a mustache – the first major leaguer to do so since Wally Schang in 1914.

June 18, 1975, At Tiger Stadium 23-year-old center fielder Boston Red Sox rookie Fred Lynn drives in 10 runs, helping the Boston Red Sox to a 15-1 demolition of the Detroit Tigers.

June 18, 1976, Hank Aaron hits his 750th career homer, giving the Brewers a 3-2 win over Oakland. Aaron retires at the end of the season with a record 755 career homers.

June 18, 1976, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn voids the sales of Oakland A’s stars Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, and Joe Rudi. Kuhn orders the players to return to Oakland, but owner Charlie Finley will not allow manager Chuck Tanner to use any of them in a game until June 27…

June 18 1979 at Dodger Stadium the Los Angeles Dodgers took on the the Chicago Cubs on National TV with Don Drysdale and Howard Cousell on the call. Kingman off to a torrid start enters the game with 23 homeruns and was approach the NL record of the most homeruns through June, which Willie Stargell held.

June 18, 1986, at Anaheim Stadium, 43-year-old California Angels right-hander Don Sutton wins his 300th career game, becoming the 19th player to win 300 games. The future Hall of Famer pitches a three-hitter in winning a 5-1 decision over the Texas Rangers. His only real blemish on the day was a Pete Incaviglia 7th inning home run with 2 outs, Sutton will strike out Gary Ward for the final out of the game. Sutton will finish his 23-year playing career with 324 victories and will gain election to the Hall of Fame in 1998.

June 18, 2014 At Dodger Stadium Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws the second no-hitter of the year, shutting out the Colorado Rockies, 8 – 0. It comes less than a month after his teammate Josh Beckett had pitched a no-hitter on May 26th. With Beckett’s no-hitter just 24 days ago, it makes it the shortest span between no-hitters by a team since the Reds’ Johnny Vander Meer accomplished it in consecutive starts, four days apart, in 1938. Kershaw strikes out 15 without giving up a walk, the only baserunner coming on a two-base error by Shortstop Hanley Ramirez in the 8th.

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