Willie Stargell. Luke Easter. Honus Wagner. Mantle & Maris. Satchel Paige.

•May 23, 2012 • 5 Comments

1966. A great photo of a 26 year old Willie Stargell watching one of his 2232 career base hits. Click on this photo as it’s a large scan and provides some nice detail.

.

A 1949 AP photo of Luke Easter during first season with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League. Not only was this Easter’s first season in the PCL, it was also his first year in desegregated baseball as he spent the prior 2 seasons with the Homestead Grays of the Negro Leagues.

If you are Baseball fan and not familiar with “Luscious” Luke Easter, I strongly suggest doing so. Easter lead quite the interesting life which unfortunately ended in tragedy. Both Baseball Almanac & SABR have nice write ups on him that are worth reading.

.

The 1895 Warren Pennsylvania Baseball team of the old Iron And Oil League. This team featured a 21 year old Honus Wagner (back row, 2nd from right) and his older brother Albert “Butts” Wagner (front row, 2nd from right). Prior to finding this photo I had no idea that Honus Wagner had a brother in Baseball.

Also, I recently discovered that Honus did not play his entire career with the Pirates. The Flying Dutchman spent his first 3 years in the Major Leagues with the Louisville Colonels.

.

It doesn’t get much better than this: A 1961 color photo of Roger Maris being greeted at home-plate by Mickey Mantle after hitting one of his record breaking 61 homeruns.

.

1951. Satchel Paige and his St. Louis Browns teammates playing music at home plate. I would love to know the back story on this photo.

Posted in Baseball
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jackie. Shoeless Joe. Koufax. Moose. The Babe.

•May 18, 2012 • 5 Comments

1946. Jackie Robinson during Spring Training with the Montreal Royals. Words can not express how sweet this photo is.

.

A harsh letter from 1923 in which Kenesaw Mountain Landis responds to a reinstatement plea from Shoeless Joe Jackson.

If you are the least bit interested in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, I strongly suggest reading Jackson’s 1949 interview he gave to Furman Bisher of Sport Magazine. The interview is said to be the only time Jackson opened up regarding the 1919 World Series, his involvement in throwing supposedly throwing the series, and his subsequent banishment from the game.

.

1984, RFK Stadium. Sandy Koufax takes the mound during an old timers game. I would have loved to witness this and see what he still had in the tank at age 49 (and 18 years removed since his last season with the Dodgers). On an interesting note, Sandy was Jamie Moyer’s current age when this photo was taken.

.

1961. An amazing photo of the late great Bill “Moose” Skowron sliding into home against the Cleveland Indians.

Baseball lost a great one when Moose passed away last month. For some reason, Skowron was a player that I did not become familiar with until I became an adult. As a kid, I obviously knew about all the other Yankee greats from that era such as Mantle, Maris, and Berra; however it seems like Moose was lost in the shadows of Baseball’s history in some ways. When I did learn about him and his great career, he quickly became one of my favorite players from that era.

.

October 22, 1924, Dunsmuir, California. A very neat photo of Babe Ruth during a barnstorming tour.

I have actually stopped in Dunsmuir several times while on my way to Oregon and that place is TINY. I can only imagine how small it was in the 1920’s? I suppose barnstorming tours would literally play anywhere there was someone to play and money to be made.

Posted in Baseball
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The New York Mets Honor MCA & The Beastie Boys

•May 5, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Last night, The New York Mets honored the late-great Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys by having the starting lineup use Beastie songs as their walk-up music. Like so many people, I found this so incredibly cool. While this is strictly a Baseball blog and I generally feel uncomfortable writing about other topics; I must admit that I have a deep love for music and the Beastie Boys have always been some of my musical heroes. With that said, I feel somewhat comfortable tying in the 2 here.

I tip my cap to the New York Mets organization for such a classy move. Here is the starting lineup and what song each player walked out to. Also, below I have posted screen shots of relevant tweets. MCA forever.

1. SS Ruben Tejada – “Intergalactic”
2. 2B Daniel Murphy – “No Sleep ’til Brooklyn”
3. 3B David Wright – “Brass Monkey”
4. RF Lucas Duda – “The New Style”
5. LF Scott Hairston – “Root Down”
6. 1B Ike Davis – “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)”
7. CF Andres Torres – “So What’cha Want”
8. C Josh Thole – “Make Some Noise”
9. P Dillon Gee – “Body Movin'”

Posted in Baseball
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ted Williams.

•April 28, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Teddy Ballgame graces the cover of the September 1st, 1941 issue of Life Magazine. Two things cross my mind while looking at this: 1) I want this issue & 2) I wish I was around in 1941 to witness the amazing hitting feats accomplished by both Williams and DiMaggio.

.

I came across this today while doing some reading on the relationship between Tony Gwynn & Ted Williams. I find it pretty interesting and funny at the same time. I could sit and listen to the dialogue between these great hitters for hours and never get bored. This is only 3.5 minutes long, so do yourself a favor and listen to it.

.

Williams sits in on the production of his signature model gloves with a watchful eye. One thing that everyone knows about Ted Williams is that he was a serious perfectionist and this photo falls right in line with this perception of him.

.

A scan of a San Diego based newspaper from 1937 in which Williams poses with his Padres teammates. 1937 was Williams’ 2nd season in professional ball and with the Padres.

This photo is from the VERY amazing book “The Kid – Ted Williams in San Diego” which I suggest anyone read if they are remotely interested in Ted Williams, the old Pacific Coast League, and life in San Diego during the early 1900’s.

.

Ted Williams was potentially the greatest hitter of all time and had incredibly high expectations of himself. With that said, it’s well known that when he did not fulfill these expectations it strongly affected him as he wore his emotions on his sleeves. These photos capture this disappointment in himself for striking out and his remorse for throwing his bat afterwards is on display in a not so admirable way.

I found this scan during an image search last year and wish I knew where it came from? If you happen to know, please let me know so I can give credit and so I can purchase the book myself.

.

A baby-faced Ted Williams during his rookie season with the Red Sox in 1939. What’s great about this photo is that it was taken at Fenway Park prior to the ads being taken down from the outfield walls. While I’m not entirely sure if it’s true, I have heard that Williams was instrumental in having the walls stripped clean from ads so he and his Boston teammates could see the ball better while at bat.

Posted in Baseball
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Satchel Paige. Jerry Coleman. New York Yankees. Joe DiMaggio. Prince & Cecil Fielder.

•April 10, 2012 • 2 Comments

If you know anything about Satchel Paige, then you probably know that he was not always the most dependable guy. He often disappeared without notice in between starts, showed up to games late, and was notorious for often ditching his teams for a highest bidder. The fact that this article mentions Paige not being in attendance during a game between his Kansas City Monarchs and a team called Boston Navy Yard is not at all surprising.

.

This last Thursday Hall of Fame broadcaster, former San Diego Padres Manger, and New York Yankees second baseman Jerry Coleman threw out the ceremonial first pitch to kick off the 2012 MLB season in San Diego. The 87 year old Coleman is one of my all-time Baseball heroes and has been the one constant member of the Padres organization for my entire life as he been with them since 1972.

I know I wrote about it before in THIS post from a couple years ago, but if you’re ever looking for a great Baseball book to read, I would suggest picking up Coleman’s autobiography “American Journey: My Life on the Field, in the Air, and on the Air.” A great book about a great guy’s life.

.

I came across this photo awhile back and unfortunately I have been able to figure out who’s on the ground, knocked out cold. It’s a very interesting and frightening photo that I would like to know more about. If you happen to know the back-story on this photo and who that is on the ground, please contact me!

.

Joe DiMaggio crossing home plate after what looks like a home run during his time with the San Francisco Seals, which lasted from 1932 to 1935. How about that awesome Seals uniform??

.

I saw this photo floating around a few months ago and liked it so much that I felt that I had to share it again. As much as I wish Prince would have played out his career in Milwaukee, I must admit that it is very cool that he is playing for is Dad’s old team.

Posted in Baseball
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »