Baseball history unpacked, October 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 various narratives to follow as they unfold over the course of time. Here’s a handy Cubs timeline, to help you follow along.

Hi, I’m Mister A. A for anonymous.

(with apologies to the great Jay Livingston)

A source is a source, of course, of course

And someone can talk to a source of course

That is, of course, unless the source is the famous Mr. A!

Go right to the source and ask the horse

He’ll give you the answer that you’ll endorse

He’s always on a steady course

Talk to Mr. A!

People yakkity yak a streak and waste your time of day

But Mister A will never speak unless he has something to say

A source is a source, of course, of course

And this one’ll talk ‘til his voice is hoarse

You never heard of a talking source?

Well listen to this...

I am Mister A!

Today in baseball history:

• 1900 - The St. Louis Cardinals withhold the final month’s pay of all but five players, including John McGraw and Wilbert Robinson, citing late hours, dissipation, and gambling as reasons for the poor showing of the team, which finished tied for fifth place in the National League. (2)
• 1901 - Seven St. Louis Cardinals, including half the pitching staff and the three top hitters - Jesse Burkett, Emmet Heidrick and Bobby Wallace - jump to the new St. Louis Browns American League team. (2)
• 1910 - On one day of rest, Jack Coombs of the Philadelphia Athletics pitches a complete game to beat the Chicago Cubs, 12-5, and give the Athletics a 3-0 lead in the World Series. Coombs also collects three hits and three RBI in the game. (1,2)
• 1947 - Radio rights for the World Series sell for $475,000 for three years. Every franchise but Pittsburgh has sold 1948 TV rights. The New York Giants get $400,000 for radio-TV rights from cigarette manufacturer Chesterfield. (2)
• 1992 - The Toronto Blue Jays take the World Series lead with a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Candy Maldonado’s bases-loaded single in the ninth inning. Duane Ward gets credit for the victory in relief of Juan Guzman as Joe Carter and Kelly Gruber hit home runs. In the 4th inning, Blue Jays outfielder Devon White’s sensational catch nearly results in a triple play. Atlanta OF Deion Sanders is ruled safe on the play, but replays show he should have been the third out. Braves manager Bobby Cox is ejected from the game in the 9th, becoming the first manager to be thrown out of a Series game since 1985. By starting in right field, Toronto’s Carter becomes the first player to start the first three games of a World Series at three different positions. He started Game 1 at first base and Game 2 in left field. (2)
• 1999 - Boston eye doctor Carmen Puliafito offers free surgery for Major League umpires during the postseason after umpires blow three calls against the Red Sox during the ALCS. Puliafito, who chairs the ophthalmology department at the Tufts University School of Medicine, suspects some umpires are secretly nearsighted. “That’s the only explanation I have for these three horrible calls.” (2)
• 2001 - Kazuhisa Ishii throws the first one-hitter in Japan Series history, opening the 2001 Japan Series with the gem. He shuts down a Kintetsu Buffaloes team featuring the greatest home run duo in Nippon Pro Baseball history, Tuffy Rhodes and Norihiro Nakamura. (2)
• 2004 - The Boston Red Sox become the first team in major league history to win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games, by beating New York at Yankee Stadium, 10-3, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series. Johnny Damon hits two home runs, including a grand slam in the fourth inning, backing up the solid pitching of Derek Lowe. Boston joins the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders, both of the National Hockey League, as the only teams in the history of North American professional sports to overcome a 3-0 series deficit to win a seven-game series. (2)
• 2015 - The Mets beat the Cubs, 5-2, to take a three-games-to-none lead in the NLCS. Daniel Murphy homers in his fifth consecutive postseason game, tying a major league record, while Jacob deGrom overcomes a rocky 1st inning to pick up his third win of the playoffs.
• 2016 - The Cubs move to within one game of the World Series with an 8-4 win over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLCS. Addison Russell breaks a 1-1 tie with a two-run homer off Joe Blanton in the sixth and Javier Baez adds a bases-loaded double in the eighth. Jon Lester gives up only one run in seven innings to pick up the win as the series heads back to Wrigley Field.

• 2019 - Umpire Eric Cooper*, a veteran of 24 major league seasons, passes away from a heart attack at age 52, only a few days after working the Division Series between the Yankees and Twins. (2)

Cubs birthdays: Marty Sullivan, Skel Roach, Arnold Statz, Leon Brinkopf, Jose Veras. Also notable: Mickey Mantle HOF, Juan Marichal HOF.

Today in history:

• 1097 - 1st Crusaders arrive in Antioch during the First Crusade. They do not have the Holy Hand Grenade yet.
• 1600 - Battle of Sekigahara sets Tokugawa clan as Japan’s rulers (shoguns).
• 1774 - American Continental Congress orders discouragement of entertainment.
• 1803 - US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
• 1888 - Chicago and All America baseball teams play exhibition in Auckland, New Zealand.
• 1908 - King Leopold II sells Congo to Belgium.
• 1917 - US suffragette Alice Paul begins a 7 month jail sentence for peacefully picketing in support of the women’s Suffrage (right to vote) Amendment at the White House in Washington, D.C.
• 1918 - In order to secure a WWI armistice, Germany agrees to further concessions.
• 1924 - 1st Negro League World Series: KC Monarchs shuts out Hilldales, 5-0.
• 1951 - The “Johnny Bright Incident” occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

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.

*pictured.

Some of these items spread from site to site without being verified. That is exactly why we ask for reputable sources if you have differences with a posted factoid, so that we can address that to the originators and provide clarity if not ‘truth’. Nothing is posted here without at least one instance of corroboration (this also includes the history bullets). Thanks for reading, and thanks also for your cooperation.