Baseball history unpacked, July 17

No simGame Thursday, but there will be one today as the simCubs open a three-game series at home against the simReds, who they seem to play every other series against. Frankly I’m sick of them and wish they would go away. Especially Eugenio Suarez.

Yu Darvish will be opposing Trevor Bauer. We’ll have the same crowd noise as in ‘real’ games. Al will have more about the game in the game post at 2:30 p.m. CT, after which I’ll post the actual URL to the stream at 3 p.m. CT. Or you can catch the game at the BCB Media Center and also catch past games and game videos, if you want the full #simCubs experience.

... on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue brings a you a lighthearted Cubs-centric look at baseball’s past. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along as we review hand-picked scenes from the rich tapestry of Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball history*.

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)
• 1906 - The Cubs beat back the Giants, 6-2, as Three-Finger Brown tops Christy Mathewson. Joe Tinker’s two-run homer in the sixth is the big blow for Chicago. The loss drops the Giants to six games behind the Cubs. (3)
• 1908 - In another classic match-up, Three-Finger Brown and Christy Mathewson pair off with Brown winning, 1-0. The Cubs pitcher allows six hits, with Matty giving up seven. The only run comes on a 5th-inning inside-the-park home run by Matty’s nemesis, Joe Tinker, who runs through the arms of third base coach Heinie Zimmerman to score. In the 12 match-ups between the two pitchers, Brown has won eight. A tragic occurrence happens during Tinker’s home run dash when a boy, standing on the roof of a nearby building to view the game, falls 50 feet to his death. (3)
• 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)
• 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. (1,3)
• 1961 - After checking in a month earlier at an Atlanta hospital, 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 74 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)
• 1961 - Commissioner Ford Frick decrees that Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a 154-game schedule in 1927 ”cannot be broken unless some batter hits 61 or more within his club’s first 154 games.”
• 1964 - In Los Angeles, the Cub-Dodger contest becomes the first Pay-TV baseball game as Subscription Television offers the cablecast to subscribers for money. The Dodgers beat Chicago, 3-2, with Don Drysdale collecting 10 strikeouts. (1,3)
• 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)
• 1978 - Just prior to the start of the Oriole game at Memorial Stadium, Doc Medich goes into the stands and saves the life of a 61-year-old fan suffering from a heart attack. The Ranger right-hander, a medical student in the off-season, administers a heart massage to the ailing man until medical help arrives. (1)
• 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.
• (6) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.

*We try to vet each item. Please let us know if an item is in error, especially if you have a source. A note: The history of baseball necessarily reflects certain political realities. My official view is centrist, regardless of my personal feelings or failings.

Also, for security reasons, I cannot friend you back on the Playstation network. Thanks for understanding. I appreciate you.