Jackie Robinson Day
Sixty-five years ago today Jackie Robinson took the field in Brooklyn for the Dodgers to become the first black player to play in the majors since the banning of black players became official league policy in the late 1880’s.
In 1997, the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s first season, Major League Baseball commemorated the historic event by officially retiring Jackie’s #42 league wide. Each year since, baseball has celebrated April 15th as Jackie Robinson Day.
Although I don’t think Robinson’s story can be told enough to baseball fans, especially younger fans that are just learning the game, I think in general most know of Jackie Robinson and what he accomplished.
What most fans don’t know is that Robinson wasn’t the only African-American to play in the majors in 1947 and that his arrival didn’t exactly inspire all other teams to integrate their rosters immediately after.
On July 5th 1947, just 10 weeks after Robinson’s first game, Larry Doby became the second black player in the majors, and the first in the American League when he joined the Cleveland Indians. Doby played sparingly that first season, starting in only 1 of his 29 games. But Doby was an excellent player, and after getting a chance to win a starting job in the spring of 1948 he went on to play in 7 All-Star games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.
Also playing in the majors that year was Hank Thompson. Thompson played his first game on July 17th 1947 for the St Louis Browns. Although he wasn’t the player that both Robinson and Doby were, Hank Thompson was a solid player over 9 seasons with the Browns and the NY Giants.
On August 9th 1947, Doby and Thompson became the first black players to play against one another in a major league game. Thompson started at second base for the Browns and went 3 for 3 with 2 RBI while Doby pinch hit for the Indians, drawing a walk and scoring a run.
Despite the success of Robinson though, not all the teams were quick to integrate. The Chicago White Sox first black player was Minnie Minoso in 1951, and the Cubs didn’t have their first black player until Ernie Banks played late in the 1953 season, some six and a half years after Robinson first played for the Dodgers.
Here is a list of the first black player to play on each team before expansion in 1961.
| Jackie Robinson | Brooklyn Dodgers, NL | April 15, 1947 |
| Larry Doby | Cleveland Indians, AL | July 5, 1947 |
| Hank Thompson | St. Louis Browns, AL | July 17, 1947 |
| Monte Irvin | New York Giants, NL | July 8, 1949 |
| Hank Thompson | New York Giants, NL | July 8, 1949 |
| Sam Jethroe | Boston Braves, NL | April 18, 1950 |
| Minnie Miñoso | Chicago White Sox, AL | May 1, 1951 |
| Bob Trice | Philadelphia Athletics, AL | September 13, 1953 |
| Ernie Banks | Chicago Cubs, NL | September 17, 1953 |
| Curt Roberts | Pittsburgh Pirates, NL | April 13, 1954 |
| Tom Alston | St. Louis Cardinals, NL | April 13, 1954 |
| Nino Escalera | Cincinnati Reds, NL | April 17, 1954 |
| Chuck Harmon | Cincinnati Reds, NL | April 17, 1954 |
| Carlos Paula | Washington Senators, AL | September 6, 1954 |
| Elston Howard | New York Yankees, AL | April 14, 1955 |
| John Kennedy | Philadelphia Phillies, NL | April 22, 1957 |
| Ozzie Virgil, Sr. | Detroit Tigers, AL | June 6, 1958 |
| Pumpsie Green | Boston Red Sox, AL | July 21, 1959 |
Cubs end ugly home stand with win
Losing 5 of the first 6 games of the season, particularly since they were at home, was not the way the Cubs had hoped to start. But an 8-0 win over the Brewers today is what Chicago needed as they head to St. Louis tomorrow to start the first road trip of the season.
Matt Garza was dominate today, striking out 9 Milwaukee hitters while allowing just 3 hits and 0 runs over 8.2 innings.
In fact; the Cubs starting pitching, save Paul Maholm, has been very good to start the season. In 7 games, the Chicago starters have a 2.89 combined ERA with 45 K’s in 46.2 innings.
The bullpen has been another story. Generally I hate to use small sample sizes to look at stats, good or bad, and 7 games is a small sample, but so far the Cubs bullpen has been shaky at best. Through the first 7, the relievers have a 6.19 ERA with 13 walks in 16 innings.
The Cubs offense also found a groove today with 8 runs on 13 hits, although the power outage continued as Chicago has hit just 3 home runs.
And so now the Cubs hit the road for 3 in St Louis and then to Miami where they will play the Marlins and the returning Ozzie Guillen.
Hey Miami…….Welcome to Ozzieville
I was originally going to name this post “Welcome to Miami, Ozzie”, but somehow that title implies that Ozzie will change his ways now that he is in Miami. If there is one thing I’ve learned about watching Ozzie Guillen from a local perspective the last eight years is that Ozzie doesn’t change.
The guy loves to hear himself talk, loves the ‘Ozzie being Ozzie’ description, and if you give him enough time and a microphone…..he’s going to say something stupid or insensitive again.
He has made gay slurs about local reporters…..
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2494491
He criticizes other managers if they ever dare to question him….
And he has even made similar remarks about Castro before………
And that’s just to name a few…………….
Yeah Miami, Ozzie is gonna be Ozzie…….and he will do it again………….
Opening Day Disappointment!
For the fifth time in the last six years, the Cubs lost on Opening Day. They didn’t play bad, except they couldn’t get a timely hit or throw the ball over the plate, other than that, not bad.
Actually, Ryan Dempster had a really nice game as the starting pitcher. But after giving up a hit in the eighth, new Cubs manager Dale Sveum decided that it was time to go to the bullpen. Sveum called on Kerry Wood to get the last out in the eighth, which he did, unfortunately not until after he walked three straight batters and forced in the tying run. Carlos Marmol than gave up another run in the ninth and the Cubs dropped the first game of the year 2-1.
As for the day itself, I got down to Wrigleyville early. I went right to Murphy’s, were I had a burger and some tater-tots and washed them down with an extra spicy Bloody-Mary. The crowd was buzzing as it always is on Opening Day. We were all ready for a win that didn’t come.
I went into the park about noon to walk around and see the new fan deck out in right field. I was pleasantly surprised as the new video board and the seating area itself really fit in nicely with the existing bleachers.
Bill Murray did a nice job with the Opening Pitch and seventh-inning stretch.
All in all, not a bad day.
One Week……
One week until every team is in first…..at least for a day
One week until the Angels begin life with the best right handed hitter in the game
One week until the beginning of Chipper Jones’ farewell season
One week until Stephen Strasburg tries to recapture his rookie year magic
One week until the Pirates try to end a streak of 19 straight losing seasons
One week until Paul Konerko is just 4 homers away from 400
One week until the Theo Epstein era begins in Chicago
One week until Prince Fielder questions money over Comerica Park’s 420ft Center Field fence
One week until the ‘Carlos Zambrano Meltdown Watch’ starts
One week until Bobby Valentine tries to prove he’s the smartest guy he knows
One week until Kenny Williams questions why he traded Sergio Santos
One week until Kansas City fans look at the starting lineup and say “who’s that?”
One week until Magic Johnson wonders what $2 Billion just bought
One week until the fans actually listen to the starting lineup announcement
One week until Ryan Braun tries to prove it was all legit
One week until the Houston Astros become National League lame ducks
One week until the New York press declares the Mets out of the division race
One week until a first pitch ball outside will get a huge cheer
One week until I duck my head when an F-18 skims the top of Wrigley after our National Anthem
One week until the Red Sox don’t eat fried chicken during the game
One week until this passion we call baseball begins
One week until Opening Day!!!
Opening Days
I love Opening Day.
I look forward to it every year. I really love it when the Cubs home opener is the first game of the year, as opposed to the 7th game after starting the season on the road. This year, not only will I be at the Cubs home opener, but I’m heading over to the south-side a week later for the White Sox home opener.
Opening Day is the start of the season. The real start. Spring training is fine, but I just can’t get into number 78 ‘so-and-so’ pitching to number 63 ‘never-gonna-make-the-roster’.
I even love the first Opening Night game on ESPN the day before all the other teams start the year.
Unfortunately, that Opening Night excitement of being the first regular season game is ruined again this year as the season will officially began a week earlier in Japan. On March 28th and 29th the Mariners and the A’s will play two games in Tokyo. I’m probably not gonna get up at 5am to watch. But hey, you Oakland and Seattle fans can get up at 3am if you want to watch your favorite team.…..blah.
Look, I know the league wants to take the game to an international level, and I’m all for it, but we’ve had season openers in Japan now since 1999, and so far nothing has changed. You wanna show me that the game can be played on an international level, ok fine; schedule a three game series in the middle of July. Show me that two teams can finish a series on Sunday afternoon in Seattle and Oakland, and then meet for a three game series in Tokyo or Sydney or San Juan; then be back in Chicago to start a three game set on Friday night. Because if you can’t do that, then these games in Japan are about nothing more than putting some extra money in MLB’s pocket.
In the meantime, it really screws up Opening Day. Won’t it be fun opening up the paper every day for a week and seeing 28 teams at 0-0 and two teams with 2 games under their belt? Then again, if Seattle wins both games, that 1 week may be the longest time that they have spent in first place in over a decade.
Here’s an idea. People are always trying to make up drinking games, right? On the night of April 4th when the Marlins take on the Cardinals in what should have been the first official game of the season, get your favorite beverage ready. Every time an announcer on ESPN says that this is the start of the regular season – “except for those two games played in Japan last week”…..take a sip.
Another Playoff Spot the Pirates Won’t Get
MLB has made it official; there will be two wildcard teams in each league this year.
I like the new format. The two wildcard teams will play one game, that’s it, just one game against each other. The victor will move on to face the division winner with the best record while the other two division winners will meet.
The holdup in the decision to announce the addition wildcard team was due to scheduling. MLB solved their problem by eliminating one off day from the LDS series. They also have changed the standard format of 2-2-1 to 2-3, with the club having the better record getting the last 3 games at home.
One of the concerns for the league was the worry that the regular season could end in a tie for a playoff spot, or worse, multiple ties, that would have to be played off before the actual playoffs could start. While it is possible, I’m not worried about it. In the 17 years since baseball has had the wildcard, only 3 times would two teams have tied for that fifth and final spot; that’s just 3 out of 34 chances (17 years X both leagues).
So now there is a real benefit to winning the division, although all teams are happy to make the playoffs, no team will happily want to risk their World Series chances on a one game playoff.
This brings the excitement of a division battle back. Instead of two division teams setting up their rotations and getting ready for the playoffs because they both know they are in, both teams will do their best to win the division and secure that first round bye.
Now if they could just add 6 wildcards, the Pirates might have a chance.
4 (+1) Things You Might Not Have Known- 3/2
Wild Card Edition
1.The first two Wild Card teams were the New York Yankees (79-65, 7GB) and the Colorado Rockies (77-67, 1GB) in 1995.
2. In the 17 post-seasons since the start of the Wild Card in 1995, 10 wild card teams have made it to the World Series. They are 5-5.
3. Wild Card teams have met in the World Series once. In 2002 the Anaheim Angels defeated the San Francisco Giants 4 games to 3.
4. If you have some free time, pick up Submarine at Redbox, it’s one of the better movies you have never heard of.
Bonus. The Florida (Miami) Marlins have never won their division; in fact they have only made the playoffs twice in their 19 year history, both times as a wild card. Both times they won the World Series (1997, 2003).
Playoffs for 10?
The players have reported, the spring games are about to begin, but unless an announcement is made today, we still don’t know exactly how many teams will make the playoffs.
We know it will be at least 8, or it could be 10.
Since 1995 each league has had 3 division winners and 1 wildcard. That format will change for sure in 2013 when the Houston Astros move to the American League. When that happens, each league of 15 teams will have 5 playoff teams. I’m a little hesitant to say it will be 3 division winners and 2 wildcards because the league alignment is not set in stone yet. (It could be 1 division of 15 teams, but that’s another post).
The question is; will the playoff format change for this year? We know Bud Selig wants to add 1 additional playoff team per league, and I would assume the players do also. They just can’t agree on how to schedule the one game playoff between the two wildcard teams. The season ends on Wed Oct 3rd, the division series playoffs are scheduled to begin on Oct 6th. It gives the league only two days to have the extra 1 game playoff between the two wildcard teams. This seems doable, unless the regular season ends in a tie, or worse, multiple ties.
Of course the players union might want to explain the new system to some of the players. “One game? That’s kind of crazy,” designated hitter David Ortiz said. “You know how many things we’ve got to move around and pack for one game? I guess Ortiz has forgotten last season already when he would have loved to have played a one game playoff against the Rays instead of watching on tv like he did.
It would seem logical to just back up the start of the LDS’ one or two days, however, that would also back up the start of the LCS’ and the World Series; and the league cannot change the WS dates.
My guess is that the league and the players will reach an agreement (probably agreeing to lose an off day in the middle of the LDS) and that we will have 10 playoffs teams for 2012.
The System Worked – Mostly
Well as if you hadn’t heard already, Ryan Braun has won his appeal against MLB and his 50 game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy has been vacated.
According to published reports and based on the statements that Braun made at his press conference this morning, it appears that Braun won his case by casting doubt on the chain of custody of his sample and for a violation of the procedures regarding his sample that were agreed to by the players and MLB.
I don’t know if Braun took an illegal substance or not, and it doesn’t matter. He has rights, and he used those rights to invalidate the sample. The testing system is set up and agreed to by both parties in advance, specifically to protect both parties. Every step of the procedure must be followed to the exact letter as it was written, or the sample MUST be declared invalid. It appears that that procedure was not followed 100% accurately in this case.
The biggest blunder in this case though is the fact that we know any of this ever happened. I don’t know how the initial positive test results were leaked; but it’s a black mark for MLB, it’s a black mark for the testing system in general, and it will forever be a black mark on Ryan Braun’s career.
WrigleyRegular
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