Baseball history unpacked, April 20

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Bleed Cubbie Blue is pleased to present a light-hearted, Cubs-centric look at baseball’s colorful past, with plenty of the lore and deep dives into various narratives that we can observe as they expand over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along. We also include Cubs’ player birthdays and a bit of world history, for context. Perfectly useful information, largely unread. Enjoy!

Today in baseball history:

• 1908 - Henry Chadwick dies at age 83 in Brooklyn, New York. A sportswriter and historian, Chadwick was one of the prime movers in the rise of baseball to its unprecedented popularity at the turn of the 20th century. He will be elected to the Hall of Fame by the Special Veterans Committee in 1938. (2)
• 1910 - Addie Joss of the Cleveland Naps pitches his second career no-hitter. A busy Joss helps himself by recording 10 fielding assists during the 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. (1,2)
• 1916 - The Chicago Cubs play their first game in the newly-built Federal League Weeghman Park, which will be renamed “Wrigley Field” in 1926. The stadium, minus the upper deck added later, seats 14,000, but 20,000 fans are on hand. Greeting fans on the Addison Street side is JOA, a bear cub owned by Cubs (partial) owner J. Ogden Armour. Everyone goes home happy as Vic Saier’s 11th-inning sacrifice fly gives the Cubs a 7-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds. (1,2)
• 1941 - The Brooklyn Dodgers become the first major league team to wear protective headgear. Each player’s cap features a special plastic lining designed to fend off the effects of beanballs. It is a cautious response to the numerous beanball wars of 1940 that hospitalized Joe Medwick and Billy Jurges, among others. The liners in the caps are thin enough to be hardly noticeable, but most major league players disdain the protection. (2)
• 1943 - Embattled Boston Braves manager Casey Stengel is struck by a taxicab, fractures a leg, and will miss much of the season. The cabdriver is nominated Sportsman of the Year in Boston by a local newspaper for knocking Stengel from action for most of the season, weary of Stengel’s humor in the face of the Braves’ pitiful record. (2)
• 1946 - In their Opening Game at Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs are shut out by Harry Brecheen of the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0. The game is the first in Cubs history to be televised, as Bert Wilson does the play-by-play for WBKB. (2)
• 1967 - Tom Seaver of the New York Mets records his first major league victory with a 6-1 triumph over the Chicago Cubs. Seaver goes 7⅔ innings and gives up eight hits and one run. (2)
• 1986 - At Wrigley Field, the Pirates and Cubs go 13 innings and end 8-8 as darkness calls the game. It will be finished August 11th. (2)
• 1997 - The Chicago Cubs stop their season-opening losing streak at 14 games, rallying in the 6th inning to beat the New York Mets, 4-3, in the second game of a doubleheader. The Mets won the opener 8-2. Chicago’s 0-14 start sets a National League record and is the second worst behind the 1988 Baltimore Orioles, who began 0-21. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Charlie Smith, Willie Prall, Preston Gomez, Milt Wilcox, Mike O’Berry, Todd Hollandsworth. Also notable: Dave Bancroft HOF.

Today in world history:

• 1611 - First known performance of Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, London, recorded by Simon Forman.
• 1862 - First pasteurization test completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
• 1902 - Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride.
• 1971 - US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation.
• 1999 Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado.

Common sources:

• (1) — Today in Baseball History.
• (2) — Baseball Reference.
• (3) — Society for American Baseball Research.
• (4) — Baseball Hall of Fame.
• (5) — This Day in Chicago Cubs history.
• For world history.

And thanks to JohnW53 and our other reader for additional wisdom.

There is a very active baseball history community and there are many facets to their views. We strive for clarity. Please be aware that we are trying to make the historical record as represented by our main sources coherent and as accurate as is possible. No item is posted here without corroboration. Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources, so that we can address them to the originators. BBRef is very cooperative in this regard, as are SABR and the Baseball Almanac. We have removed thenationalpastime from our sourcing list, as there have been multiple complaints about their content and they do not respond to attempts to communicate.

Also please remember that this is supposed to be fun.

Thank you for your cooperation. And thanks for reading!