1.
Baseball
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of nine players each, who take turns batting and fielding. A run is scored when a player advances around the bases, Players on the batting team take turns hitting against the pitcher of the fielding team, which tries to prevent runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the team who reaches a base safely can later attempt to advance to subsequent bases during teammates turns batting. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the team records three outs. One turn batting for both teams, beginning with the team, constitutes an inning. A game is composed of nine innings, and the team with the number of runs at the end of the game wins. Baseball has no clock, although almost all games end in the ninth inning. Baseball evolved from older bat-and-ball games already being played in England by the mid-18th century and this game was brought by immigrants to North America, where the modern version developed. By the late 19th century, baseball was widely recognized as the sport of the United States. Baseball is now popular in North America and parts of Central and South America, the Caribbean, in the United States and Canada, professional Major League Baseball teams are divided into the National League and American League, each with three divisions, East, West, and Central. The major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series, the top level of play is similarly split in Japan between the Central and Pacific Leagues and in Cuba between the West League and East League. The evolution of baseball from older bat-and-ball games is difficult to trace with precision, a French manuscript from 1344 contains an illustration of clerics playing a game, possibly la soule, with similarities to baseball. Other old French games such as thèque, la balle au bâton, consensus once held that todays baseball is a North American development from the older game rounders, popular in Great Britain and Ireland. Baseball Before We Knew It, A Search for the Roots of the Game, by David Block, suggests that the game originated in England, recently uncovered historical evidence supports this position. Block argues that rounders and early baseball were actually regional variants of other. It has long believed that cricket also descended from such games. The earliest known reference to baseball is in a 1744 British publication, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, David Block discovered that the first recorded game of Bass-Ball took place in 1749 in Surrey, and featured the Prince of Wales as a player. William Bray, an English lawyer, recorded a game of baseball on Easter Monday 1755 in Guildford and this early form of the game was apparently brought to Canada by English immigrants
2.
1905 in art
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Summer – Henri Matisse and André Derain work together in the French Mediterranean village of Collioure. October – Salon dAutomne in Paris, the colors used by Matisse and others lead the critic Louis Vauxcelles to describe their works derisively as les Fauves. Die Brücke group of German expressionist artists formed in Dresden, léon Bonnat succeeds Paul Dubois as director of the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen open the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession photo art gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York City, opening of the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina. Jacob Epstein establishes his studio in London
3.
Christy Mathewson
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He was among the most dominant pitchers in baseball history, and ranks in the all-time top ten in several key pitching categories, including wins, shutouts, and ERA. In fact, he is the only pitcher in history to rank in the top ten both in career wins and in career ERA, if taking 19th century pitchers statistics into account. Mathewson grew up in Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and began playing baseball when he was 14 years old. He played in the leagues in 1899, recording a record of 21 wins. He pitched for the New York Giants the next season but was sent back to the minors and he would eventually return to the Giants and go on to win 373 games in his career, a National League record. He led the Giants to victory in the 1905 World Series by pitching three shutouts, Mathewson never pitched on Sundays, owing to his Christian beliefs. Mathewson served in the United States Armys Chemical Warfare Service in World War I and his respiratory system was weakened from the exposure, causing him to contract tuberculosis, from which he died in Saranac Lake, New York. Mathewson was born in Factoryville, Pennsylvania and attended school at Keystone Academy. He attended college at Bucknell University, where he served as class president and he was also a member of the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. His first experience of baseball came in 1895, when he was just 14 years old. The manager of the Factoryville ball club asked him to pitch in a game with a team in Mill City. Mathewson helped his team to a 19-17 victory, but with his batting rather than his pitching. He continued to play baseball during his years at Bucknell, pitching for minor league teams in Honesdale and Meridian, Mathewson was selected to the Walter Camp All-American football team in 1900. In 1899, Mathewson signed to professional baseball with Taunton of the New England League. The next season, he moved on to play on the Norfolk team of the Virginia-North Carolina League and he finished that season with a 20–2 record. He continued to attend Bucknell during that time period, in July of that year, the New York Giants purchased his contract from Norfolk for $1,500. Between July and September 1900 Mathewson appeared in six games for the Giants and he started one of those games and compiled a 0–3 record. Displeased with his performance, the Giants returned him to Norfolk, later that month, the Cincinnati Reds picked up Mathewson off the Norfolk roster
4.
Strikeout
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In baseball or softball, a strikeout occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means the batter is out, a strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denoted by K. Although a strikeout suggests that the pitcher dominated the batter, the style that generates home runs also leaves batters susceptible to striking out. Some of the greatest home run hitters of all time — such as Alex Rodriguez, Gorman Thomas, Reggie Jackson, and Sammy Sosa — were notorious for striking out. A pitched ball is ruled a ball by the if the batter did not swing at it and, in that umpires judgment. Any pitch at which the batter swings or, that in that umpires judgment passes through the zone, is ruled a strike. Each ball and strike affects the count, which is incremented for each pitched ball with the exception of a ball on any count with two strikes. That is, a strike may only occur by the batter swinging and missing at a pitched ball. A pitched ball that is struck by the batter with the bat on any count, a batter may also strike out by bunting, even if the ball is hit into foul territory. In Japan, this is called furinige, or swing and escape, in Major League Baseball, it is known as an uncaught third strike. When this happens, a strikeout is recorded for both the pitcher and the batter, but no out is recorded, because of this, a pitcher may occasionally be able to record more than three strikeouts in one half-inning. In baseball scorekeeping, a strikeout is recorded as a K. A strikeout looking is often scored with a backward K, and sometimes as a K-L, CK, despite the scorekeeping custom of using K for strikeout, SO is the official abbreviation used by Major League Baseball. K is still used by fans and enthusiasts for purposes other than official record-keeping. The K may be placed backward in cases where the batter strikes out looking, the use of K for a strikeout was invented by Henry Chadwick, a newspaper journalist who is widely credited as the originator of the box score and the baseball scorecard. As is true in much of baseball, both the box score and scorecard remain largely unchanged to this day, Chadwick decided to use K, the last letter in struck, since the letter S was used for sacrifice. Chadwick was responsible for several other scorekeeping conventions, including the use of numbers to designate player positions and those unaware of Chadwicks contributions have speculated that K was derived from the last name of 19th century pitcher Matt Kilroy. If not for the evidence supporting Chadwicks earlier use of K, Kilroy raised the prominence of the strikeout, setting an all-time single-season record of 513 strikeouts in 1886, only two years after overhand pitching was permitted
5.
1905 World Series
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The 1905 World Series matched the National League champion New York Giants against the American League champion Philadelphia Athletics, with the Giants winning four games to one. Four of the five games featured duels between future Hall of Fame pitchers, each of the five games was a shutout. Three of those, over a span, were pitched and won by Christy Mathewson. NL New York Giants vs. AL Philadelphia Athletics Monday, October 9,1905, both got out of jams, shutting the offense down. In the Giants top of the fifth, Mathewson singled but was forced by Roger Bresnahan, after George Browne popped out, Mike Donlin singled to left, scoring Bresnahan and advancing Donlin to second. After Dan McGann walked, Sam Mertes doubled, bringing home Donlin, the Giants added an insurance run in the ninth, when Billy Gilbert scored on Bresnahans single. This was the first of Mathewsons three complete game shutouts, a Series record that may never be matched, tuesday, October 10,1905, at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, New York The As called on Chief Bender to turn the tables on the Giants. His opponent was 21-game winner Iron Man Joe McGinnity, the game was scoreless until the top of the third. Ossee Schreckengost, leading off, reached on a Dan McGanns error, Bender sacrificed, moving Schreckengost to second. After a groundout by Topsy Hartsel moved Schreckengost to third, Bris Lord singled to left, the slim margin held until the top of the eighth, when the As put a crooked number on the board. With one out, Schreckengost was once again the catalyst, singling to center, Bender continued to cruise, got out of late-inning jams and ended up with a complete game shutout that tied the Series at one game apiece. Thursday, October 12,1905, at Columbia Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Christy Mathewson once again took the mound for the Giants in Game 3, opposing him this time was Andy Coakley, who hit the first batter he faced, Roger Bresnahan, with a pitch. A single to right by Mike Donlin moved Bresnahan to third with one out, Dan McGann singled to right, bringing Bresnahan home. An error by Danny Murphy scored Donlin and put Sam Mertes on base, Bill Dahlen walked, loading the bases with one out. But Art Devlin hit into a play, to end the rally. But the Giants put the away in the top of the fifth. George Browne singled and went to second on the throw to third base, Donlin was walked intentionally, setting up a possible inning-ending double play, but things continued to crumble for Coakley and the As. McGann reached on another error by Danny Murphy, reloading the bases, Mertes singled, reloading the bases and driving in another run
6.
Home run
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In modern baseball, the feat is typically achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles without first touching the ground, resulting in an automatic home run. There is also the home run, increasingly rare in modern baseball. When a home run is scored, the batter is credited with a hit and a run scored. Likewise, the pitcher is recorded as having given up a hit, a batted ball is also a home run if it touches either foul pole or its attached screen before touching the ground, as the foul poles are by definition in fair territory. A batted ball that goes over the wall after touching the ground is not a home run. A fielder is allowed to reach over the wall to attempt to catch the ball as long as his feet are on or over the field during the attempt. If the fielder successfully catches the ball while it is in flight the batter is out, however, since the fielder is not part of the field, a ball that bounces off a fielder and over the wall without touching the ground is still a home run. A home run accomplished in any of the above manners is a home run. This stipulation is in Approved Ruling of Rule 7.10, an inside-the-park home run occurs when a batter hits the ball into play and is able to circle the bases before the fielders can put him out. Unlike with a home run, the batter-runner and all preceding runners are liable to be put out by the defensive team at any time while running the bases. This can only happen if the ball does not leave the ballfield, with outfields much less spacious and more uniformly designed than in the games early days, inside-the-park home runs are now a rarity. They are usually the result of a ball being hit by a very fast runner, either way, this sends the ball into open space in the outfield and thereby allows the batter-runner to circle the bases before the defensive team can put him out. The speed of the runner is crucial as even triples are relatively rare in most modern ballparks, all runs scored on such a play, however, still count. An example of an unexpected bounce occurred during the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at AT&T Park in San Francisco on July 10,2007, by the time the ball was relayed, Ichiro had already crossed the plate standing up. This was the first inside-the-park home run in All-Star Game history, Home runs are often characterized by the number of runners on base at the time. A home run hit with the bases empty is seldom called a one-run homer, with one runner on base, two runs are scored and thus the home run is often called a two-run homer or two-run shot. Similarly, a home runs with two runners on base is a three-run homer or three-run shot, the term four-run homer is seldom used, instead, it is nearly always called a grand slam. Hitting a grand slam is the best possible result for the turn at bat
7.
History of the Philadelphia Athletics
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The Oakland Athletics, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Philadelphia. This article details the history of the Philadelphia Athletics, from 1901 to 1954, see also, Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame The Western League had been renamed the American League in 1900 by league president Bancroft Johnson, and declared itself the second major league in 1901. Johnson created new franchises in the east and eliminated some franchises in the West, Philadelphia had a new franchise created to compete with the National Leagues Philadelphia Phillies. Former catcher Connie Mack was recruited to manage the club, Mack in turn persuaded Phillies minority owner Ben Shibe as well as others to invest in the team, which would be called the Philadelphia Athletics. Mack himself bought a 25% interest, while the remaining 25% was sold to Philadelphia sportswriters Sam Jones, the new league recruited many of its players from the existing National League, persuading them to jump to the American League in defiance of their National League contracts. One of the players who jumped to the new league was second baseman Nap Lajoie and he won the A. L. s first batting title with a.426 batting average, still a league record. The Athletics and the American League received a setback when, on April 21,1902, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court invalidated Lajoies contract with the Athletics and this order, though, was only enforceable in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Lajoie was sold to Cleveland, but was out of road games in Philadelphia until the National Agreement was signed between the two leagues in 1903. In the early years, the As established themselves as one of the dominant teams in the new league, winning the A. L. pennant six times and they won over 100 games in 1910 and 1911, and 99 games in 1914. The team was known for its $100,000 Infield, consisting of Stuffy McInnis, Eddie Collins, Jack Barry, Rube Waddell was also a major pitching star for the As in the early 1900s. According to Lamont Buchanan in The World Series and Highlights of Baseball, Plank holds the franchise record for career victories, with 284. In 1909, the As moved into the leagues first concrete-and-steel ballpark. This remains the second and last time in history where a new ballpark was built specifically for the As. Later in the decade, Mack bought the 25% of the stock owned by Jones. Shibe ceded Mack full control over the side while retaining control over the business side. In 1914, the Athletics lost the 1914 World Series to the Miracle Braves in a four-game sweep, Mack traded, sold or released most of the teams star players soon after. In his book To Every Thing a Season, Bruce Kuklick points out there were suspicions that the As had thrown the Series, or at least laid down. Mack himself alluded to that years later, but debunked it
8.
1905 in architecture
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The year 1905 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings. October 18 - London County Councils new street at Kingsway and redevelopment of Aldwych are opened, work begins on Stoclet Palace, Brussels, designed by Josef Hoffmann. Formation of the Dresden Die Brücke expressionist architecture movement, february 27 - Berlin Cathedral in Berlin, Germany, is inaugurated. June 11 - National Theatre of Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela September 27 - Arcade du Cinquantenaire in Brussels, Belgium, november - The Plaza Grill and Cinema, Ottawa, Kansas, possibly the oldest movie theater in the United States that is still in operation. Darwin D. Martin House in Buffalo, New York, USA, zacherlhaus in Vienna, Austria, designed by Jože Plečnik. Land Administration Building in Brisbane, Australia, designed by Thomas Pye, st. Stephens Basilica in Budapest, Hungary, completed by József Kauser to an 1851 design by Miklós Ybl. Hôtel de ville in Sfax, Tunisia, designed by Raphaël Guy, voewood, High Kelling, Norfolk, UK, designed by E. S. Prior. Antwerpen-Centraal railway station in Belgium, designed by Louis Delacenserie, murry Guggenheim House in West Long Branch, New Jersey, designed by Carrère and Hastings. Royal Gold Medal - Aston Webb, grand Prix de Rome, architecture, Albert Henry Krehbiel. C. August 2 - Cesar Castellani, Maltese architect working in British Guiana August 22 - Alfred Waterhouse, English architect of the Gothic Revival
9.
Elmer Flick
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In 1,483 career games Flick recorded a.313 batting average while accumulating 164 triples,1,752 hits,330 stolen bases, and 756 runs batted in. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963, Flick began his career in semi-professional baseball and played in minor league baseball for two years. He was noticed by George Stallings, the manager of the Phillies, Flick was pressed into a starting role in 1898 when an injury forced another player to retire. Flick jumped to the Athletics in 1902, but an injunction prevented him from playing in Pennsylvania. He joined the Naps, where he continued to play for the remainder of his league career. Flick was known predominantly for his batting and speed. He led the National League in RBIs in 1900, and led the American League in stolen bases in 1904 and 1906, Flick was born on January 11,1876, the third of five children of Zachary and Mary Flick, on the family farm in Bedford, Ohio. His father was a farmer and mechanic who had served in the American Civil War, Flick attended Bedford High School, where he played catcher on the schools baseball team. He also played American football, wrestled, and boxed, Flick entered semi-professional baseball by chance. When he was 15 years old, he was at a station to support the local baseball team as it left for a road trip. Only eight of the players showed up at the station. Though Flick did not have a uniform or shoes, he hit well in games of the doubleheader, though Bedford lost both games. He joined the Bedford team on a basis, and he continued to play semi-pro baseball throughout his teenage years. In 1896, the manager of the Youngstown Puddlers of the Interstate League signed Flick, because the team had an established catcher, Flick played in the outfield, where he struggled to learn the position. In 31 games, Flick had a.826 fielding percentage, however, Flick had a strong performance offensively. Using his fathers lathe, Flick crafted his own baseball bat, the next year, Flick played for the Dayton Old Soldiers, also in the Interstate League, as their regular left fielder. His defense improved, as he compiled a.921 fielding percentage and he also led the league with 20 triples and 295 total bases. George Stallings, the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League, Stallings signed Flick to the Phillies to serve as a reserve outfielder for the team in the 1898 season
10.
Cy Seymour
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James Bentley Cy Seymour was an American center fielder and pitcher in Major League Baseball. From 1896 through 1913, Seymour played for the New York Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, primarily a center fielder, Seymour retired with 1,724 hits and a lifetime batting average of.303. He was a pitcher for his first five seasons, ending his MLB career with a 61–56 win–loss record, only Babe Ruth retired with more combined wins and hits. Seymour is the Reds career leader in batting average and holds the Reds single-season record for batting average, Seymour played semi-professional baseball in Plattsburgh, New York, receiving a monthly salary of $1,000. He began his career in minor league baseball with Springfield Ponies of the Class-A Eastern League. Seymour signed with the New York Giants of the National League during the 1896 season, a sometimes wild pitcher, The New York Times described him as having a $10,000 arm and a $00,000 head. Seymour set a MLB record with three errors in one inning, a record tied by Tommy John. However, he pitched to an 18–14 win–loss record in 1897, with a 3.37 earned run average, while recording 149 strikeouts, good for second in the NL. In 1898, he won 25 games, had a 3.18 ERA, during the season, Seymour pitched three games in two days against the Baltimore Orioles. Orioles manager John McGraw later said that Seymour deserved the title of Iron Man more than Joe McGinnity. Seymour held out from the Giants for the first month of the 1899 season in a dispute, eventually signing for $2,000. He finished second in the NL in strikeouts with 142, Seymour was briefly demoted to the minor leagues after walking 11 batters in a victory against the St. Louis Perfectos on June 7,1900. Due to injuries and the ineffectiveness of the Giants outfielders, the team began to play Seymour in the outfield, Seymour last pitched for the Giants that season, at which point he converted into an outfielder full-time due to injury from throwing the screwball. With the formation of the American League as a competitor to the NL, McGraw, remembering Seymours toughness in previous seasons, signed Seymour to his team, the Baltimore Orioles, before the 1901 season. Seymour batted.303 with the Orioles that year, by 1902, the franchise began to fall into significant debt. Joe Kelley, star player for the Orioles and son-in-law of part-owner John Mahon, unable to afford that debt, Mahon purchased shares of the team from Kelley and player-manager McGraw, who had resigned from the team and signed with the Giants. With this, Mahon became the majority shareholder, on July 17,1902, Mahon sold his interest in the Orioles to Andrew Freedman, principal owner of the Giants, and John T. Brush, principal owner of the Cincinnati Reds, also of the NL. That day, Freedman and Brush released Seymour, McGraw, Kelley, McGinnity, Roger Bresnahan, Jack Cronin, and Dan McGann from their Oriole contracts
11.
Rube Waddell
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George Edward Rube Waddell was an American southpaw pitcher in Major League Baseball. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania, Waddell was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946, Waddell was a remarkably dominant strikeout pitcher in an era when batters mostly slapped at the ball to get singles. He had an excellent fastball, a curve, a screwball. He led the leagues in strikeouts for six consecutive years. Born in 1876 outside of Bradford, Pennsylvania, Waddell grew up in the country, biographer Alan Levy writes that Waddell was a decidedly different sort of child. At the age of three, he wandered over to a fire station and stayed for several days. Waddell did not attend school very often, but he was considered to be literate and he strengthened his arm as a child by throwing rocks at birds he encountered while plowing the familys land. He also worked on mining and drilling sites as a youngster, Waddells career wound through a number of teams. Waddell was unpredictable – early in his career, he would leave mid-game to go fishing and he had a longstanding fascination with fire trucks and had run off the field to chase after them during games. He performed as a wrestler in the offseason. He was easily distracted by opposing fans who held up puppies and shiny objects, an alcoholic for much of his short adult life, Waddell reportedly spent his entire first signing bonus on a drinking binge. Waddells eccentric behavior led to constant battles with his managers and scuffles with bad-tempered teammates and his first pro contract was with Louisville, pitching two league games and a couple of exhibitions with the team at the end of the 1897 season. When the season ended, he was lent to the Detroit Wolverines of the Western League to gain professional experience and he rejoined Louisville in the final month of the 1899 season and won seven of nine decisions. When the National League contracted to eight teams for the 1900 season, Louisville ownership bought the Pittsburgh franchise, louisvilles top players, including Waddell, Honus Wagner, Fred Clarke and others, were transferred to Pittsburgh. Waddell debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1900, leading the National League in ERA, on August 19, Waddell pitched the first game of a doubleheader for Milwaukee, winning in the 17th inning on his own triple. His manager, Connie Mack, offered Waddell a three-day fishing vacation if he agreed to pitch the second game, Waddell threw 5 scoreless innings for the victory, and headed to Pewaukee Lake for fishing. However, his behavior led manager Fred Clarke to suspend him. Milwaukee was in the newly named American League, formerly known as the Western League, when Waddell displayed his prowess for Milwaukee, Pittsburgh management asked for Rubes return
12.
Batting average
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Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batsmen in cricket and batters in baseball. The development of the statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. In cricket, a batting average is the total number of runs they have scored divided by the number of times they have been out. The number is also simple to interpret intuitively, if all the batsmans innings were completed, this is the average number of runs they score per innings. If they did not complete all their innings, this number is an estimate of the average number of runs they score per innings. Batting average has been used to gauge cricket players relative skills since the 18th century, most players have career batting averages in the range of 20 to 40. This is also the range for wicket-keepers, though some fall short. All-rounders who are more prominent bowlers than batsmen typically average something between 20 and 30,15 and under is typical for specialist bowlers. Under this qualification, the highest Test batting average belongs to Australias Sir Donald Bradman, given that a career batting average over 50 is exceptional, and that only four other players have averages over 60, this is an outstanding statistic. The fact that Bradmans average is so far above that of any other cricketer has led several statisticians to argue that, statistically at least, he was the greatest sportsman in any sport. As at 21 October 2016, Adam Voges of Australia has recorded an average of 72.75 from 27 innings played and it should also be remembered, especially in relation to the ODI histogram above, that there were no ODI competitions when Bradman played. If their scores have a geometric distribution then total number of runs scored divided by the number of times out is the maximum likelihood estimate of their true unknown average, Batting averages can be strongly affected by the number of not outs. A different, and more developed, statistic which is also used to gauge the effectiveness of batsmen is the strike rate. It measures a different concept however – how quickly the batsman scores – so it does not supplant the role of batting average and it is used particularly in limited overs matches, where the speed at which a batsman scores is more important than it is in first-class cricket. Table shows players with at least 20 innings completed, in baseball, the batting average is defined by the number of hits divided by at bats. It is usually reported to three places and read without the decimal, A player with a batting average of.300 is batting three-hundred. A point is understood, in only, to be.001. If necessary to break ties, batting averages could be taken beyond the.001 measurement, henry Chadwick, an English statistician raised on cricket, was an influential figure in the early history of baseball
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