Baseball history unpacked, July 17

... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you 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 pertain to the scenes, such as reproductions of period newspapers, images, and/or other such material as is often found in the wild.

Today in baseball history:

• 1890 - For the first time in baseball history, two 300-game winners are opponents as Tim Keefe of the Giants faces Pittsburgh’s Jim ‘Pud’ Galvin in a Players League match-up. New York beats the Burghers, 8-2, in the first of four historic confrontations between the two future members of the Hall of Fame. (1)
• 1918 - The Phillies play the longest game in franchise history, a 2-1 loss in 21 innings to Chicago at Weeghman Park. The starting pitchers, Philadelphia right-hander Milt Watson and Chicago southpaw Lefty Tyler, each go the distance, hurling a complete game in the marathon. (1,3)

Box score.

• 1934 - Cubs right-hander Lon Warneke, with his team ahead of New York, 3-1, loads the bases in the seventh inning with an intentional pass in order to face opposing pitcher Roy Parmalee. The strategy backfires when the hurler hits a grand slam, a drive that barely clears the right field wall, that will prove to be the difference in the Giants’ 5-3 victory in the opener of a twin bill at the Polo Grounds. (1)

Box score.

• 1961 - After checking in a month earlier at Emory University Hospital Tower, in Druid Hills, GA, where he placed beside his bed a brown bag filled with $1 million in negotiable securities along a with Luger, Ty Cobb dies at the age of seventy-four after a long battle with cancer. Only three former players, Ray Schalk, Mickey Cochrane, and Nap Rucker, along with Baseball Hall of Fame director Sid Keener, attend the Georgia Peach’s funeral services. (1)
• 1964 - In Los Angeles, the Chavez Ravine contest becomes the first Pay-TV baseball game as Subscription Television offers the cablecast to subscribers for a fee. The Dodgers beat the Cubs 3-2, with Don Drysdale collecting 10 strikeouts. (1)

Box score.

• 1966 - The Cubs clip the Cardinals, 7 - 2, behind the pitching of Ken Holtzman and the slugging of Billy Williams, who hits for the cycle. (3)

Box score.

• 1976 - Walter Alston becomes the sixth skipper to win 2,000 games when the Dodgers overcome a four-run first inning deficit and beat Chicago at Chavez Ravine, 5-4. ‘Smokey’ will leave at the end of the season, finishing his 23-year tenure in his only managerial position in the majors with a 2,040-1,613 record (.558). (1)

Box score.

• Cubs birthdays: Don Kessinger, Herb Hutson. Also notable: Lou Boudreau (HoF).

Sources:

• (1) — The National Pastime.
• (2) — Today in Baseball History.
• (3) — Baseball Reference.
• (4) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (5) — Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks for reading.