Baseball
While 60,000 fans are attending a World Series game in Candlestick Park, an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco.
The Philadelphia Phillies are the oldest one-name/one-city professional sports team in the United States, and as they are also heading to the World Series for the second year in a row (hoping to get their third Championship), I thought it would be good to cover some of the highlights of their long history. Enjoy this look through old newspaper headlines!
The Philadelphia Phillies have returned to the World Series, the first team to make the Championship game twice in a row since the New York Yankees in 2000 and 2001. The Series begins on October 28th, and the Phillies are facing off against either the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Angels.
Crosley Field in Cincinnati made major league baseball history today as it hosted the first flood-lit night game. The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2 to 1 during the historic event. "With the flood lights of Crosley field throwing brilliance into every corner, the Reds scored their first run in the first inning when Myers doubled, went to third on Riggs' grounder, and came home as Goodman grounded to Camilli at first," reported The Evening Tribune on May 25, 1935.
Baseball great Cy Young pitched the first perfect game in the history of modern professional baseball today . "Not for twenty-four years has any pitcher been able to accomplish the feat that big 'Cy' Young of the Boston Americas performed this afternoon -- that of retiring a team in succession without allowing a single man to get to first," explained The Mansfield News on May 6, 1904. NOTE: Prior to the formation of Major League Baseball, there had been other no hit games in the late 1800s.
The New York Giants traded Bobby Thomson, their 1951 pennant star, to the Milwaukee Braves today in a deal that involved six players . "To get the brilliant, veteran outfielder Thomson and second string catcher Sam Calderone, the Braves had to give up lefthanded pitchers Johnny Antonelli and Don Liddle, utility catcher Ebba St. Clair and rookie Billy Klaus, plus an undisclosed amount of cash," explained the Long Beach Press-Telegram on February 2, 1954.
Atlanta Braves player Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record today when he hit his 715th home run . With a crowd of 53,775 watching, a record attendance at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Aaron's famous hit was made in the fourth inning of the Braves' 7-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Jackie Robinson made history today when the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey, announced the purchase of his contract from the Montreal Royals . The purchase made Robinson the first African American to play baseball in the major leagues, breaking baseball's color barrier.
Leroy "Satchel" Paige became the first player in the Negro League to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame today. "Paige, who does not qualify for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame through normal channels because he did not play the required 10 years in the majors, barnstormed for years with considerable success against major league starts while his color prevented his playing in the big leagues," informed The Modesto Bee and News-Herald on February 9, 1971.
President Taft attended the opening game of the American League baseball contest between Philadelphia and Washington today. "For the first time on record, a president of the United States tossed out the first ball, and what was more, he sat through the entire nine innings, and seemed greatly to enjoy the contest. The attendance broke all records," informed The Racine Daily Journal on April 15, 1910.
