April 17, 1955. Roberto Clemente begins his Hall of Fame career with a single off Johnny Podres of the Dodgers. Clemente would bang out 2,999 more hits before he tragically lost his life in a plane crash on December 31, 1972. Clemente was bringing relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua when the plane he was in crashed. His career slash line was .317/.359/.475 with 240 home runs and 1305 RBI. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in1973 via of a special election.
Clemente was an All-Star 12 times in 18 seasons of play, and saw action in 15 games . He was the National League MVP in 1966, and World Series MVP in 1971, 12 times he won the Gold Glove award from 1961 to 1972. He won four batting titles in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967. His number #21 was retired by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He will be remembered not only for his play on the field, but his charity work that participated in the off-season.
1979 was a banner year for the Pittsburgh Pirates and slugger Willie Stargell. Stargell would be named National League MVP, NLCS MVP, and World Series MVP in winning the three awards he became the only player to take home the awards. More remarkable he did it at age 39. He hit 32 home runs and had 82 RBI.
Overcoming racial prejudices in the minors leagues Stargell, he would make his debut with the Pirates in 1962 with his official rookie season in 1963. He spent 21 seasons with the Pirates. He hit 475 home runs and had 1540 RBI. After his award winning career in 1979, Stargell career went into decline. When Stargell retired in 1982, the Pirates retired his #8.
Stargell was a seven-time National League all-star. The Pirates would win the World Series championship in 1971 and 1979. In 1971, he would hit a league leading 48 home runs with 125 RBI both would be career highs. In 1988 he would be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
His career was like a shooting star, bright and brief pitching only parts of five major league seasons. As a long haired teenager with a mop of hair similar to the Mark "The Bird" Fidrych made his debut talking to the baseball, manicuring the pitching mound with his hands. This bit of insanity made me an immediate fan.
Fidrych took the American League by storm in 1976. Not expected to make the Tigers roster, he earned his place on the team as a non-roster invitee to spring training. He would wouldn't get a start until May 15, in era of four man rotations, and quality pitchers went the distance in games opportunities had been few. In his first outing he pitched six no-hit innings before allowing a single, and went the distance in a 2-1 game. It would be the first of twenty-nine starts that season. He would complete 24 of them. By comparison in today's era of specialization with pitching staffs the San Francisco Giants led all of major league baseball with 10 complete games as a staff.
Fidrych would go 9-1 in his first ten decisions, which included a seven game winning streak. He did his pitching with cunning, he allowed only 7.8 hits per nine innings, and 1.9 walks, and 3.5 strike outs per nine. He would finish the season with a won-loss record of 19-9, and he would finish second to Jim Palmer in the Cy Young balloting. He was named Rookie of the Year, and led the American League in ERA 2.34. He would be an all-star in both 1976 and 1977. He would only make 27 more starts in his career.
In 1977, he would begin the season by tearing cartilage in his knee during spring training. He was just as effective upon his return, but in July of that year he tore his rotator cuff in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. It was an injury that wouldn't be diagnosed by doctors until 1985, and was to bring about treatments that are remarkable today. He turned down his all-star invitation due to injury. He would finish his injury riddled career with a 29-19 record and a 3.10 ERA. In 2009, he would die in a tragic accident on his farm.
Joe Glasgow is
a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play
Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
When the Cleveland Indians last won the World Series in 1948, Lou Boudreau was the starting shortstop, and manager. He also won the American League batting title. That season he would hit 18 home runs and drive in 106 runs, a career high. In 676 plate appearances he struck out only nine times. He finished with a slash line of .355/.453/.534, and was the American League MVP.
He would spend 15 seasons in the major leagues, 13 seasons with the Cleveland Indians and part of two seasons with the Boston Red Sox. Boudreau managed the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Athletics, and Chicago Cubs. He would go on to serve as play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs.
In 1970, the eight time all-star was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The same year the Cleveland Indians retired his #5. Boudreau died in 2001.
Jim "Mudcat" Grant made his Major League debut in 1958 with the Cleveland Indians. He was given the nickname Mudcat by roomate Larry Doby. Who claimed he was "ugly as a Mississippi Mudcat." The name stuck, and Grant won ten games in his rookie season winning, in which he made 28 starts and 14 appearances out of the bullpen.
Grant would write his own chapter into baseball history by becoming the first black pitcher in the American League to win twenty games. He did it in 1965 with the Minnesota Twins, when he went 21-7 with an ERA 3.30. His 21 wins were the best in the American League, along with a league leading 6 shutouts in the leading the Twins to the American League pennant. In the World Series, he would become the first black pitcher to win a World Series game, and in game six of the series he launched a three run homer, making him only the second pitcher from the American League history in accomplish the feat. He was honored by The Sporting News that season as their Pitcher of the Year.
Grant was an American League all-star in 1963 and 1965. After 1966, he worked out of the bullpen, and as with many relief pitchers it was have arm will travel. He made stops with the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Montreal Expos, Pittsburgh Pirates and two tours with the Oakland Athletics. He finished with a won-loss record of 145-119 with a career ERA of 3.63. He earned 54 saves along the way.
Grant wrote a book titled The Black Aces: Baseball's Only African-American Twenty-Game Winners. Featuring a chapter on each of the African-American pitchers who have accomplished the feat. A book I can recommend.
The restrictions on travel during World War II denied the Cincinnati Reds the opportunity to train in sunny Florida. They were relegated to training at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The groundskeeper at the time for the Reds, a man named Marty Schwab watched as a big strong hammered baseballs up and over an embankment that players on the big league club weren't doing in training camp that spring.
The Reds had discovered Ted Kluszewski, standout tight end on the Indiana University football team. The Reds anxious to sign the lefthand hitting first baseman were initially rebuffed. Big Klu didn't want to give up his college eligibility. He waited to sign with the Reds in 1946, and after two dominating seasons in the minor leagues he got the call to the show.
He went to play 15 seasons in the major leagues, his best four stint was 1953-1956, where was named a National League in each season. In 1954, he hit 49 home runs with 141 RBI, he put together a slash line that season of .326/.407/.642. Finishing second in the MVP voting to a guy from the New York Giants named Willie Mays.
He would play 15 years in the major leagues and finish with a career slash line of .298/.353/.498 with 279 home runs and 1028 RBI. He walked 492 times with only 365 strikeouts in 6469 plate appearances. On heard of numbers by today's standards. Injuries took their toll on Big Klu after the 1956 season, and his numbers diminished as a result. He was the hitting coach for the Big Red Machine teams of the 1970's under Sparky Anderson.
Known for cutting off the sleeves of his shirts to fit his huge biceps, the slugging first baseman was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1962. His #18 was retired by the Reds.
Joe Glasgow is
a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play
Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
Tony Oliva exploded onto the American League scene during his rookie year of 1964. Where Oliva would win the batting hitting .323, adding 32 home runs and 94 RBI, and led the league in doubles with 43, 217 hits, and 109 runs scored. It was the first of back-to-back batting titles for the rightfielder. He would be named the American League Rookie of the year at the conclusion of the season.
It was a career that almost wasn't for Oliva. Born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba in 1938. He arrived in the United States in the spring of 1961, and managed to play in the Twins final three games showing exceptional hitting going 7 for 10. The knock was on his defense, and with minor league rosters set the young outfielder was released. While working out in North Carolina with a friend in the Twins farm system at Charlotte, North Carolina, general manager Phil Howser convinced the front office of the Twins to re-sign Oliva, and the rest as they say is history.
Oliva displayed his offensive prowess during era that was dominated by pitching, and referred by many as the second dead ball era of baseball. He would be an all-star eight consecutive seasons until the ravages of knee, leg and shoulder problems put a damper on this can't miss Hall-of-Fame career.
A career that included three batting titles (1964-65, and 1971), and a Gold Glove in 1966. He ended his career with 220 home runs, 947 RBI, and a slash line of .304/.353/.476. He only struck out only 664 times in 6880 plate appearances. In 2014, he narrowly missed being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Golden Era Committee by one vote. Always popular in Minnesota with the Twins fans and media. Oliva's #6 was retired by the Minnesota Twins, and 2011 a statue of Oliva was unveiled at Target Field.
Joe Glasgow is
a former senior staff writer at Fanstop.com, and is the author of the book Play
Ball! Growing Up With Baseball https://amzn.to/2o4M62h
