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Baseball history unpacked, March 22

Teenage Wasteland? Fowler’s natal anniversary, and other stories

I’d smile too
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Baseball history marches forth ... as always on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I bring a wildly popular Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review select scenes from the rich tapestry of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history. The embedded links often point to articles that I’ve chosen as illustrative of the scenes, from The Society for American Baseball Research, reproductions of period newspapers, images, and other such material. It’s all lightly unpacked and folded neatly, just for you.

You might learn something, but mostly, it’s for fun!

Today in baseball history:

  • 1889 - The All America team beats Chicago, 7 - 6, in England’s Old Trafford Cricket Stadium. The Manchester Guardian says: the “general verdict of the more than 1,000 spectators was that the American game was ‘slow’ and ‘wanting in variety.’”
  • 1962 - In the first meeting between the two clubs, the Mets defeat the World Champion Yankees in a spring training game. Casey Stengel, the former Bronx Bombers boss, now the manager of the new National League expansion team in New York, clearly wanting to beat his old club, calls upon veteran outfielder Richie Ashburn, who delivers a ninth-inning pinch-hit single, giving the Amazins’ the dramatic walk-off 4-3 victory at Al Lang Field. (1)
  • 1962 - A former member of the New York Giants requesting anonymity reveals that Bobby Thomson’s home run in the 1951 playoffs against the Brooklyn Dodgers was helped by a sign-stealing clubhouse spy. The spying is claimed to have gone on for the last three months of the season. Thomson, along with former Giants manager Leo Durocher, vehemently denies that he received help, but a source close to the team confirms the spy operation. (3)

Sources:

Thanks for reading. #Cubsnews