This Day In History - Babe Ruth's NL debut

How The Great Bambino joined the NL

          On February 26, 1935 the Boston Braves member of the National League would sign Babe Ruth to a contract from free agency. As part of the contract Babe would get a share of the team's profits on top of his salary.

The Debut

          On Opening Day on April 16th in 1935 when Babe made his debut 25,000 fans would be in attendance to see the Braves beat the New York Giants 4-2. The Sultan of Swat would play a role in all 4 of the Braves runs this day. Ruth had himself a two hit day, one of which was a 430 foot 2-run home run.

Babe's 1935 season

          The 1935 season would be Babe's 22nd and final season of his historic all time great career. As Ruth only appeared in 28 of the Braves 38-115 season. The Babe was a shell of his once all time great self as he hit just 6 home runs and only 13 hits in 72 at-bats. It seemed all the years of high living had really begun taking their toll on Ruth on his conditioning. Babe Ruth would hit his last career home run at Forbes Field vs the Pittsburgh Pirates. Babe wanted to retire as early as May 12th but team owner Emil Fuchs wanted Babe to hold off until he played in every National League ballpark. That decision caused Fuchs to lose control of the team. The Braves were sitting at 9-27 when Babe retired.

This Day In History - Jackie Robinson Day

42

          As we all know by now April 15th is Jackie Robinson day in Major League Baseball. Every player on every team honors Jackie by wearing the number as their jersey number as well as leaving their names off the back of the jerseys. April 15th is the day we celebrate Jackie Robinson because on this day in 1947 was Opening Day when Jackie Robinson officially broke the color barrier in baseball by making his first big leagues appearance with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Younger Days

          Jackie was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919. He would later in life attended UCLA where he was the first student-athlete to letter in 4 sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track. After college, from 1942 to 1944 he would serve in the U.S Army. Jackie was honorably discharged for facing insubordination charges because he refused to move to the back of the bus. 

Leading Up To April 15, 1947

          Once discharged from the Army, Jackie would play Shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League. It would be around that time Dodgers GM Branch Rickey who was set out to end the unofficial segregation rule in Major League Baseball began recruiting Robinson. Shortly after Jackie would join the Brooklyn Dodgers farm team the Montreal Royals. It was for the Royals that Jackie would go on to lead that league in batting.

April 10, 1947

          On April 10, 1947 Jackie officially signed his first Major League contract as the Brooklyn Dodgers bought his contract out from the Montreal Royals. Just 5 days later is when he began his Major League career with the Dodgers and the reason why on this day every year since 2004 every player on every MLB team wears the number 42.

MLB Career

          Jackie who went through countless documented and undocumented rough patches in his career went on to have a very successful 10 year career in Major League Baseball. Robinson is a 6x All-Star, won Rookie of the Year, MVP, a Batting Title, and the 1955 World Series with the Dodgers. He finished with a career .311 average, 464 extra base hits (137 HRs), 734 RBIs, and .409 OBP. Jackie's career was topped off with an induction into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame on July 23, 1962.

This Day In History April 12th

Grand Slam X2

          38 years ago today in 1980 Cecil Cooper and Don Money of the Milwaukee Brewers both hit grand slams in the 2nd inning of an 18-1 win over the Boston Red Sox. 

Cecil Cooper

          Cooper was 21 years old when he busted into the big leagues in September of 1971 for the Red Sox. He played 17 years in the majors as he spent the first 6 years of his career in Boston before joining the Brewers in 1977 to finish out his career. Cooper finished his career with 2,192 hits, .298 average, 241 Home Runs, and 1,125 RBIs. Cecil was also a 5x All-Star, 2x Gold Glove winner at first base, 3x Silver Slugger, Roberto Clemente award winner.

Don Money

          Don Money was only 20 years old when he broke into Major League Baseball. He played his first game for the Phillies in 1968 and played 16 seasons in the big leagues. His first 5 coming with the Phillies and his last 11 with the Brewers. Money finished his career with 1,623 hits, a .261, 176 Home Runs, and 729 RBIs. Don was also a 4x All-Star.

-ZW

This Day in History April 10th

"The Kid" goes yard for the first time

         
          On this day 29 years ago, Ken Griffey Jr. at only age 19 hit his first of 630 career MLB home runs. With only having 21 MLB plate appearances in his career to this point he stepped in against White Sox pitcher Eric King. The Mariners were down 1-0 in the first inning. That's when "The Kid" took a hack at the first pitch of the AB and put it over the left field fence of the Kingdome. This home run was made a little more special as it came on his father and future teammate Ken Griffey Sr.'s 39th birthday. The father son duo made their first appearance on August 31st, 1990 when Ken Griffey Sr. batted 2nd for the Mariners followed by Junior 3rd.

Happy Father's Day

     
          Griffey Jr.'s first career home run on his father's birthday would not be the last time Junior hit a milestone home run on a special day for his father. On June 20th, 2004 playing for the CincinnatiReds with his family in attendance Junior hit his 500th career home run on Father's Day. This making another special career moment fall on a day to celebrate his father.

All Natural

     
          "The Kid" had arguably the sweetest swing ever in baseball as he finished his career with 630 home runs and in an era where steroids and PED's held a dark cloud over the sport of baseball, Griffey stayed out of the rumors of those who used them. Many of the names who were accused either have yet to be proven guilty or have already been proven guilty of using them. A few proven to have used a form of PED's are Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, and Sammy Sosa to name a few. I am personally happy to never have seen Ken Griffey Jr.'s name in any of those reports through the years. A true legend of the best sport of them all.

-ZW

On This Day In History- April 9th

On this day in history April 9th, 1962 President John F. Kennedy throws out the first pitch to open up the season in the new D.C stadium. Even with it being a rainy day a record crowd of 42,143 people showed up to watch as the Washington Senators defeat the Detroit Tigers 4-1.

Shortstop Bob Johnson led the way for the Senators as he went 3-4 with a 2-run Home Run in the 4th inning that gave the Senators a 2-0 lead that they would never give up. Bennie Daniels went the distance for the Senators giving up only 5 hits while striking out 7 in the win. The Tigers pitcher Don Mossi got the loss giving up 2 earned through 6.

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-ZW