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ALL-STAR GAME HISTORY
Q: Can you tell me how the All-Star Game came to be? Who came up with the idea of bringing the best players all together to play one game?
-- Mark Silvestri
A: Chicago Tribune sportswriter Archibald Burdette Ward is credited with being the man who came up with the idea behind the All-Star Game. In 1933, the year of the Chicago Centennial, Chicago mayor Ed Kelly decided that he wanted a major sporting event to coincide with the World's Fair, which was being held in Chicago that year. Ward came up with the idea of creating an All-Star Game, where each league's best players, as voted by the fans, would compete in a mid-summer classic. After discussing the idea with the American and National League Presidents, it was decided that the first All-Star Game would be held on July 6, 1933, in Comiskey Park. It was originally intended to be a one-time occurrence, but it gained so much popularity that it was became an annual event.
Arch Ward died on July 9, 1955, at the age of 68, and was buried on the morning of the 22nd All-Star Game. The All-Star MVP award is named after him.
A: The first baseball game ever televised was broadcast by NBC on May 17, 1930. It was the second game of a college doubleheader played between the Princeton Tigers and the Columbia Lions at Baker Field in New York. The game was broadcast, using one camera positioned on a platform behind home plate, to about 400 people watching at home.
After the relative success of the college game, NBC decided to try broadcasting a major league game. Three months later, on August 26, 1930 it broadcast the first professional game, a doubleheader between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds from Ebbets Field. The two games were split between the two teams. Red Barber, radio voice of the Dodgers, has the distinction of being the first television announcer in baseball history.
Q: Why are the Yankees wearing a black mourning band around their sleeve? This is usually done when someone has died. If so, who died?
-- Rae Pinnisi
A: The New York Yankees wore black armbands on their uniforms last season to honor the memory of Bob Lemon. Lemon was a Hall of Fame pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, compiling a 207-128 won-loss record for them in 15 seasons. After retiring, he went on to manage the Yankees to the World Series title in 1978, and led them to another World Series in 1981, where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lemon died from a stroke on January 11, 2000, after several years of failing health.
Q: Who completed the first unassisted triple play in a World Series game?
-- DRAHTHAAR@aol.com
A: There has only been one unassisted triple play in World Series history. It was turned by Cleveland Indians' second baseman Bill Wambsganss in Game Five of the 1920 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. With runners on first and second, Wambsganns leapt to catch Clarence Mitchell's line drive, then stepped on second to force one runner, and tagged out the other runner coming from first.
Q: Which player has the record for most errors in a season?
-- Rich Wooler
A: Bill Shindle, who played shortstop for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1890, holds the all-time record for most errors in a season, with 115 errors in 130 games.
Since 1900, only one player has made more than 90 errors in a season. Charles Hickman made 91 errors in 118 games at third base for the New York Giants in 1900.
Q: Has any player ever hit .300 for four different teams?
-- Wantq@aol.com
A: Rogers Hornsby is the only player to accomplish this feat. In 12 years with the St. Louis Cardinals, he hit above .300 ten times and over .400 three times. After being traded, he hit .361 for the New York Giants in 1927, and .387 for the Boston Braves in 1928. He spent the next four years with the Chicago Cubs, and hit above .300 in two of those seasons. He played the last five seasons of his career with the St. Louis Browns as a pinch hitter. He hit above .300 in four of those five years, but didn't have enough at-bats for his average to be official. All in all, Hornsby had 14 years with an average above .300. He finished with a career average of .358, second all-time only to Ty Cobb's .367.
Q: Who was the first pitcher to use an intentional walk as a strategy?
-- LCADEY@aol.com
A: According to Paul Dickson's The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the first person to use the intentional walk as a strategy was New York Giants manager William Gleason, in 1896. Gleason told his pitcher, Jouett Meekin, to walk Chicago slugger Jimmy Ryan to get to weak hitter George Decker. Decker struck out to end the game.
Q: Which MLB team holds the record for the longest losing streak?
-- DisplacedC@aol.com
A: Since 1900, the team with the longest losing streak in baseball was the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost 23 consecutive games from July 26 to August 20 in 1961.
A: In 1961, left-handed reliever Johnny Antonelli wore #43. He appeared in 10 games for the Milwaukee Braves that year, picking up one victory in ten innings pitched. He finished his career with a 126-110 record, and a 3.34 ERA.
Q: I would like to see the box score from a double header where the Indians hosted the Yankees in the summer of '62. A player named Ty Cline had a great day. The reason I'm interested is that while my mom was pregnant with me, my dad took her to this game, and they named me after Ty Cline. Thanks for your help.
--Ty DeVault
A:The game you're talking about was played on June 17, 1962. Here's the boxscore:
Game of 6/17/1962 -- New York Yankees at Cleveland Indians (D)
New York AB R H RBI Cleveland AB R H RBI
Boyer C, 3b 5 0 0 0 Cline T, cf 5 1 3 1
Richardson B, 2b 5 1 3 0 Luplow A, lf 4 0 1 0
Maris R, cf 4 0 2 0 Francona T, 1b 4 0 0 0
Blanchard J, rf 5 0 1 1 Kirkland W, rf 2 0 1 0
Berra Y, lf 4 0 1 0 Romano J, c 3 1 0 1
Howard E, c 4 0 2 0 Kindall J, 2b 4 1 1 2
Skowron B, 1b 4 0 1 0 Phillips B, 3b 4 1 1 1
Linz P, ss 3 0 0 0 Mahoney J, ss 4 2 2 1
Stafford B, p 2 0 1 0 Donovan D, p 2 0 0 0
Pepitone J, ph 1 0 0 0 Latman B, p 1 0 1 0
Bouton J, p 0 0 0 0
Cerv B, ph 1 0 0 0
Clevenger T, p 0 0 0 0
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
38 1 11 1 33 6 10 6
New York 000 010 000 -- 1
Cleveland 040 011 00x -- 6
New York IP H R ER BB SO
Stafford B (L) 5.0 7 5 4 1 3
Bouton J 2.0 2 1 1 2 2
Clevenger T 1.0 1 0 0 0 0
Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO
Donovan D (W) 6.1 8 1 0 1 1
Latman B 2.2 3 0 0 0 6
Game winning RBI -- none
E -- Boyer C, Mahoney J
DP -- New York 1, Cleveland 1
LOB -- New York 12, Cleveland 7
2B -- Kirkland W, Luplow A
HR -- Kindall J, Phillips B, Mahoney J
SF -- Romano J
HBP -- by Donovan D (Maris R)
Balk -- Donovan D, Latman B
T -- 2:00
Game of 6/17/1962, game 2 -- New York at Cleveland (D)
New York AB R H RBI Cleveland AB R H RBI
Tresh T, ss 4 1 3 0 Cline T, cf 3 1 0 0
Richardson B, 2b 2 1 0 0 Luplow A, lf 3 2 1 0
Mantle M, ph 1 0 0 0 Francona T, 1b 4 2 2 3
Linz P, 2b 0 0 0 0 Kirkland W, rf 4 1 1 2
Maris R, cf 3 0 0 0 Romano J, c 2 0 0 1
Blanchard J, rf 4 0 0 1 Kindall J, 2b 2 0 0 0
Berra Y, lf 3 1 1 2 Phillips B, 3b 3 0 1 0
Howard E, c 4 0 1 0 Mahoney J, ss 3 0 0 0
Pepitone J, 1b 4 0 1 0 Ramos P, p 3 0 0 0
Boyer C, 3b 3 0 0 0 Bell G, p 0 0 0 0
Coates J, p 1 0 0 0
Sheldon R, p 1 0 0 0
Lopez H, ph 1 0 0 0
Ford W, p 0 0 0 0
Clevenger T, p 0 0 0 0
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
31 3 6 3 27 6 5 6
New York 200 001 000 -- 3
Cleveland 303 000 00x -- 6
New York IP H R ER BB SO
Coates J (L)* 2.0 4 6 6 3 3
Sheldon R 4.0 1 0 0 2 0
Ford W 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
Clevenger T 1.0 0 0 0 1 0
Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO
Ramos P (W) 6.2 6 3 3 3 3
Bell G 2.1 0 0 0 0 3
* Pitched to 3 batters in 3rd
Game winning RBI -- none
DP -- New York 1, Cleveland 1
LOB -- New York 5, Cleveland 4
2B -- Francona T 2, Tresh T
HR -- Kirkland W, Berra Y
SB -- Luplow A
SF -- Berra Y, Romano J
T -- 2:00
A -- 70918
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