TODAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

June 23, 1963, New York Mets’ outfielder Jimmy Piersall celebrates his 100th career home run by running in the correct order, but bases backward.

Willey retired the Phillies in the top of fifth, and the score remained 1-0 as Piersall led off the bottom half. In his monthlong tenure with the Mets, Piersall had yet to hit a homer. He had hit 99 home runs with his three previous teams, and had been planning for weeks what he would do when he hit his 100th.

When he informed his teammates that he was going to run the bases backward, they thought he would run them clockwise. He replied, “What do you think, I’m a nut? That’s against the rules, but there’s no rule against what I’m going to do.”3

Piersall lofted Dallas Green’s first pitch toward the 258-foot sign down the right-field line. The ball carried just long enough to plop into the second row of seats for a home run.4 As Piersall rounded first, he pivoted and started running backward. The crowd gave him a standing ovation as he looked over his shoulder while crossing second, third, and home.

Casey Stengel was not surprised that Piersall executed the maneuver. “He touched every base, didn’t he?” Stengel said. “He just wanted to let everyone know he hit a homer. That’s a backward dance step he got in a dance hall.”

The stunt angers Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dallas Green and Commissioner Ford Frick. The Mets' outfielder, who thought of the stunt after being disappointed by the lack of attention Duke Snider's 400th round-tripper received.

Piersall played in 13 more games for the Mets and, having batted only .194 for the team, was released on July 27. He signed with the Angels and played there until he was released on May 12, 1967. The landmark home run off Green was the only round-tripper he hit for the Mets. Piersall notched four homers with the Angels, circled the bases forward each time, and concluded his career with a total of 104 home runs.

June 23, 1911, In a 3 – 2 New York win against the Senators, Highlander 1B Hal Chase makes a major-league record 21 putouts. Chase also collects 2 hits and scores a run. Jack Quinn picks up the win (5-2), the losing pitcher was Walter Johnson (6-7).

June 23, 1917, the Washington Senators in the first game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park. Babe Ruth started the game, walking the first batter, Ray Morgan. As newspaper accounts of the time relate, the short-fused Ruth then engaged in a heated argument with apparently equally short-fused home plate umpire Brick Owens. Owens tossed Ruth out of the game, and the even more enraged Ruth then slugged the umpire a glancing blow before being taken off the field; the catcher Pinch Thomas was also ejected. Ernie Shore was recruited to pitch, and came in with very few warm-up pitches. With a new pitcher and catcher, runner Morgan tried to steal but was thrown out. Shore then proceeded to retire the remaining 26 Senators without allowing a baserunner, earning a 4–0 Red Sox win. For many years the game was listed in record books as a “perfect game,” but officially it is scored as a no-hitter, shared (albeit unequally) by two pitchers. Following the game, Ruth paid a $100 fine, was suspended for ten games, and issued a public apology for his behavior. He entered with the Babe and he left with the Babe. Shore, along with Babe Ruth and many other stars was sold to the New York Yankees by Red Sox owner Harry Frazee, where he closed out his career.

June 23 1930 — Hack Wilson hits for the cycle with two singles, a double, triple, and homer, and drives in six as the Cubs whip the Phils, 21 – 8, at Wrigley Field.

June 23 1934 — The Cards beat the Dodgers, 5 – 4, with the win credited to Bill Hallahan, who relieves in the 6th inning and gives up a run. In the bottom half, the Cards score five runs, and Dizzy Dean comes in and shuts out Brooklyn in the last three innings. The official scorer refers the decision on the winning pitcher to National League president John Heydler, who gives it to Dean, eventually making his 30-win season possible. Heydler’s telegram reads in part: “Dean pitched great ball during three innings to protect one-run lead and is winner. Hallahan pitched one inning rather poorly and did not stand to lose the game even had he continued.”

June 23 1940 — In Cleveland, 56,659 watch the Indians split with Boston. Cleveland wins the opener, 4 – 1, for their 8th win in a row, then Boston wins the nitecap, 2 – 0, on two Jim Tabor home runs. In the first game, Ted Williams and Doc Cramer collide chasing a fly ball. Williams is knocked unconscious and the ball goes for an inside-the-park home run.

June 23, 1946, Eddie Waitkus and Marv Rickert of the Chicago Cubs hit consecutive inside-the-park home runs in the fourth inning against the New York Giants. The dual inside-the-parkers, which occur at the spacious Polo Grounds, don’t prevent the Cubs from losing the game, 15-10.

June 23 1950 — Eleven home runs – a major league record – drive in all the runs scored in a 10 – 9 Tiger win over the Yankees before 51,000 Detroit fans. Detroit has four home runs in the 4th inning as Dizzy Trout, Jerry Priddy, Vic Wertz and Hoot Evers connect. Pitcher Trout’s home run, off Tommy Byrne, is his second-lifetime grand slam. Evers hits another home run, an inside-the-park two-run game-winner in the 9th off Joe Page to win it. For New York, Hank Bauer connects for two homers, including one in the 4th inning. Joe DiMaggio, Jerry Coleman, Yogi Berra and pinch hitter Tommy Henrich also belt round trippers. It is the first time that nine different players connect for homers in a game.

June 23 1956 –Hal Jeffcoat of the Cincinnati Reds hits Dodger SS Don Zimmer in the face with a pitch, breaking his cheekbone. This is the second time that Zimmer suffers an injury that nearly ends his career, and he is out for the season. The Dodgers win, 7 – 6.

June 23 1963 — A major league fielding record is set by Boston’s 1B Dick Stuart as “Dr. Strange Glove” handles three 1st-inning grounders and tosses to P Bob Heffner for putouts each time. Stuart’s teammates and Fenway Park fans give him a standing ovation. The Yankees beat the Sox, 8 – 0. Heffner is just the second pitcher to have three putouts in an inning: Boston’s Jim Bagby (1940) is the other.

June 23, 1964 Willie Crawford, 17-year-old prize plum from Fremont, signs Dodger contract calling for $100,000 bonus as Al Campanis, director of scouting for Dodgers, beams approval. Crawford was All-City in both football (1963) and baseball. With 9.7 speed in 100 yards, he was a highly recruited running back by colleges to play football.

June 23, 1971, At Riverfront Stadium Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Rick Wise puts on an awesome one-man display in pitching a 4-0 victory. Wise no-hits a powerful Cincinnati Reds’ lineup, he faces only 28 batters on 95 pitches. Pete Rose is retired as the final out of the no hitter. Wise also becomes the first man to hit two home runs while pitching a no-hitter, he goes deep against Ross Grimsley and Clay Carroll. The Phillies’ hurler will again hit two home runs in the same game this season on August 28th

June 23 1973 — In his major league debut, Baltimore Orioles Pitcher Jesse Jefferson loses his shutout when Red Sox SS Rico Petrocelli lofts a Fenway Park homer with two out in the 9th. Baltimore pushes over a run on Earl Williams singles in Paul Blair in the 10th to give the 24 year old Jefferson a 10-inning, 2 – 1 victory. Jefferson surrenders only 7 hits, and strikes out only 1 red sox in his 10 innings complete game.

June 23, 1973, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ken Brett hits a home run in the fourth consecutive game he pitches, setting a major league record. Brett’s longball helps the Phillies to a 7-2 win over the Montreal Expos. He hit home runs on June 9th, 13th, and 18th: he will total 10 for his career.

June 23, 1981, the Pawtucket Red Sox and Rochester Red Wings complete the longest game in professional baseball history. Dave Koza’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 33rd inning gives Pawtucket a 3-2 win. The game features several future major league stars, including Cal Ripken Jr.

June 23, 1984 — In a game that will be best remembered for Ryne Sandberg’s two late-inning game-tying home runs, Willie McGee hits for the cycle in St. Louis’ 12-11 loss in 11 innings to the Cubs. With his triple in the second inning, a fourth-frame single, a sixth inning home run, and an RBI double in the tenth, the Cardinals center fielder drives in six runs in the Wrigley Field contest.

 ANSWER TO TODAY’S TRIVIA

TRIVIA ANSWER:  Connie Mack

Playing for the Buffalo Bisons in the Players League in 1890, Mack came up to bat 570 X, a career high. Notwithstanding, due to the lack of complete game log box scores, there’s no way to eliminate the possibility that 1 of these three other catchers didn’t get to 500 PA before Mack did.

- #1 Mack poured $500 into the Bisons in 1890, but the Players League only lasted one year.

- #2 Mack managed 7,755 G, 1894-1950

Thank you Horsehide Trivia

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